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Re: Pope Francis Enters His Third Year of Scolding of Introverts

red speck — Fri, 13 Mar 2015 10:49:23 -0000

Guess I'm the only one who thought the author too quickly dismissive. I'm not Catholic. I read the pope's words as an exhortation to spread the Gospel through normal living; not to be cloistered away, trying to get the liturgy just right or make sure every dot and tittle of orthodoxy is in line. Wasn't that, after all, the Pharisees' problem?

Cut the guy some slack.

Re: That Iran letter, &c.

red speck — Fri, 13 Mar 2015 11:01:08 -0000

Re: Clintons' stonewalling technique and whether it would still be effective, see: "Benghazi."

Re: Pope Francis Enters His Third Year of Scolding of Introverts

red speck — Fri, 13 Mar 2015 11:25:11 -0000

As a Christian, it wasn't my intent to be insulting or impertinent. It seems to me that the new pope can't say anything without reactionaries going off on tangents without considering the possibilities of what he actually says.

Re: Pope Francis Enters His Third Year of Scolding of Introverts

red speck — Fri, 13 Mar 2015 11:36:27 -0000

I read his words as shorthand for the sentiment given in the 2nd chapter of James, so I saw nothing terribly wrong -- certainly not Alinskyite -- with his statement.

Re: Pope Francis Enters His Third Year of Scolding of Introverts

red speck — Fri, 13 Mar 2015 11:41:22 -0000

Oh, I get Catholicism, just as Martin Luther did. I also live among throngs of Catholics in New England, and I can tell you: The biggest problem with the Church is not its head.

Re: The Corner

red speck — Fri, 13 Mar 2015 12:22:42 -0000

Why would Obama and Holder remind citizens that they have an obligation to obey law enforcement, when it is they who have told law enforcement to selectively enforce laws according to their administration's whims?

Re: The limits of arousal, &c.

red speck — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 11:47:10 -0000

Yeah, sure, Jerry: California is prospering. Just read a story about how CA has a year of water left, owing to its horrendous droughts. The breadbasket of the state is in a panic, tech is hanging on but being courted by lower-tax states, and you're earmarking billions for high-speed rail from LA to Vegas instead of desalination plants along the coast. Lay off the medicinal pot there, buddy.

Re: The limits of arousal, &c.

red speck — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 15:08:58 -0000

I grew up in CA and moved to MA 15 years ago -- frying pan, meet fire -- so I'm well aware of the numerous problems the state faces. Its main problem is that there are really 3 states in one, with vastly differing needs, but the idea of splitting it up will never go through and Sacramento will never find real solutions to actual problems as long as it's run by the ideologue schlubs that fill the state house. Best of luck to you!

Re: Why Pelosis Syria Visit Remains Indefensible

red speck — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 15:17:45 -0000

Were any of these Democrats alive during Bush's 2nd term? This letter is nothing more than a "tsk, tsk" from GOP senators; what the Dems engaged in was full-throated, bat-$hlt crazy defiance of the President from The Surge onward. From the former VP -- in full preacher growl -- declaring Bush "played on our fears!" to the Senate Majority Leader declaring the war "lost". Despicable little cockroaches, all of 'em.

Re: Minimum-Wage Laws: Ruinous Compassion

red speck — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 10:51:35 -0000

Also not to be forgotten is the way the unemployment number is reached. With 93million people having given up trying to find work and being removed from the employment rolls, it makes the US figures look far better than they are. I'm guessing Switzerland, Australia, et al, do not count "saved or created" jobs either.

Re: Minimum-Wage Laws: Ruinous Compassion

red speck — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 10:54:13 -0000

Talked briefly to a girl who was a night manager at a local Burger King. She was bemoaning the fact that she had an advanced degree and couldn't find meaningful work. I asked what her degree was in. 19th Century French Literature.

Re: Minimum-Wage Laws: Ruinous Compassion

red speck — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 10:59:14 -0000

Or to react to obvious flaws.

They never, ever go back and look what can be done to fix errors; they just assume inadequate funding and make the whole mess bigger.

Re: No, Jon Stewart, Senate Republicans Arent the Ones Blocking the Sex Trafficking Bill

red speck — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 16:17:08 -0000

Makes you wonder where his audience will go for "news" once he and Colbert have moved on.

Re: Narrative of an American Slave

red speck — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 10:07:28 -0000

The Dem position here is nothing less than what would be expected by applying ideology sans morality. Both morally and logically indefensible, yet still useful as an emotional issue with which to bludgeon their opposition.

Re: Student Banned from Class for Pointing Out That a False Rape Statistic Was False

red speck — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 16:45:09 -0000

What was he thinking? College is no place for truth-seeking or independent thought.

Re: Where God Loves Abortion and Hates Israel

red speck — Fri, 20 Mar 2015 12:44:35 -0000

Marriage is not in the least bit unique, as PCUSA defines it and as your questions so easily reveal. And it's not even a "commitment" since it is readily dissolved upon discomfort from any party. (I almost said "either party", but that would be so Christo-normative of me.)

So, what they're ultimately saying is, "Marriage is just a piece of paper," which is exactly what Christians in this country have been fighting for 240 years.

Re: Where God Loves Abortion and Hates Israel

red speck — Fri, 20 Mar 2015 13:11:55 -0000

Isn't that a Chesterton quote? “When people stop believing in God, they don’t believe in nothing—they believe in anything.”

Re: Where God Loves Abortion and Hates Israel

red speck — Fri, 20 Mar 2015 13:16:09 -0000

Just tell 'em to go Universalist and drop all pretense.

Re: The Real Price of Lies

red speck — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 10:18:01 -0000

Critical thinking is not a skill that's honed or even sought in schools, and "news" is less about information than it is about narrative. Combine a strong propaganda machine with a sea of impressionable rubes, and the result is two terms of an incompetent and dangerous liar.

Re: Beware the cocky, &c.

red speck — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 12:49:48 -0000

I like to think I'm reasonably well-rounded in how I think; try to take in both sides, be aware of the arguments and make a proper judgment. What I can't stand is lying -- both to my face and to oneself. It seems to me that the Left is particularly good at lying to its followers, and its followers to themselves. That common thread runs through nearly all of your posts today -- from North Korea to Clarence Thomas to Clinton. God help us if we're so pickled in our own ideology that we can't recognize bald-face falsehood when it's right in front of us.

Re: VIDEO: I Actually Went to Starbucks and Asked About Racial Issues — Heres What Happened

red speck — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 15:53:10 -0000

Hah. Leftist discussion means: browbeating the opposition with bumpersticker slogans until they give up or have to go to work.

Re: Ted Cruzs Preacher Problem

red speck — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 10:07:18 -0000

This was the first time I'd listened to an entire Cruz speech. He was passionate, articulate, geared his message to the audience, spelled out a vision for the country and gave an outline of how he might reach the goal -- and all without a teleprompter. My reaction? It's about time a conservative came out and owned up to what he believed. Whether you liked it or not, he was genuine and comfortable in his skin. This was no act, which is why he's unlikely to get stuck in some "gotcha" ploy by his detractors.

Re: Ted Cruzs Preacher Problem

red speck — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 10:22:58 -0000

Except for one thing: Cruz' achievements are his own, while Barry's are undeniably due to affirmative action; Cruz' family history is Americana, Obama's is choom-gang socialist; one has a life built on character, the other has a life contrived out of grievance and untested declarations of superiority.

Re: Would the Media Allow Cruz Crushing if He Were a Hispanic Democrat?

red speck — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 12:41:10 -0000

My 3-yr-old constantly got in trouble for hitting his 6-yr-old brother. He continued until one fateful day, when he came in, crying, "He hit me back!"

Sounds like Obama got hit back.

Re: Would the Media Allow Cruz Crushing if He Were a Hispanic Democrat?

red speck — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 12:44:40 -0000

The administration that is crying "foul" for Israel's eavesdropping is the same one that was so cavalier about MI5's operations in the mideast that they blew the cover on Britain's operatives that took years to infiltrate, just so they could do the Bin Laden victory dance.