Real debateable subjects

after all the debate surrounding my posts on a kinder gentler Internet and blog bullies, here are some much more interesting things for you to read and debate... with me or with others.

Read.

Think.

Discuss.

• Did the Beatles destroy Rock and Roll? The NPR post, the website and the book review. Instead of helping us "join together" did the Beatles make us tear apart into smaller race based sub genres? Very provocative stuff and more worthy of debate and conflict than anything theological or political. As an armchair rock historian, I am terribly interested in this premise, even if I disagree with it right now. Who says there are no original ideas?

• Who is right when it comes to eating fish ethically... and does it matter? link

• Does kissing dating goodbye create lifelong problems in dealing with the opposite sex? It has been 10 years, so we can look at it more objectively. link

• Wanna cause trouble and make people see how screwed up their system is? Vote for Manny Ramirez to be in the All Star Game.

• Is Will Ferrell an annoying cod or a great comic genius? link

• Should Scott Roeder be tortured to give up his intelligence regarding domestic terrorism if it will save lives? Link

• Was Che a murderous oppressor of people or a revolutionary role model to be praised? link

• What about Christians and guns? Link

Yes, I have opinions on all of these.

links on Resurrection and Recession

Here are a couple of good articles I ran across today.

First of all, we have Bishop Tom Wright (N.T.) writing in the Times of London. His essay, entitled The Church Must Stop Trivializing Easter is a nice companion to the ongoing conversation Tony Jones is having at his blog on why Jesus died and why Jesus rose from the dead. Bishop Wright and Tony have different approaches, but end up saying similar things about the implications of the resurrection (which is what matters more than arguments on which theory of the atonement is blessed by any of us). Wright points out that church has missed the point of the resurrection much of the time, seeing it as the Good Ending (Jesus raising from dead and going to heaven) to a Sad story (crucifixion) instead of seeing it as the event that changes everything.

Secondly, Tom Sine gives us the best practices of some churches which are proactively dealing with the recession, financial crisis and job loss of those in their surrounding community. Last month, in a profile of Drive By Truckers, I said that the blind spot of the emerging church could be the lower middle class, or working poor (the emerging church is responding to extreme poverty and rich intellectuals well enough). Tom is asking similar questions and giving us the ways some are answering them. If you are part of a church, consider some of these suggestions or practices as you help those caught in the middle of the recession.

Link to article

2 quick things you may be interested in

• Thanks to Zoe Incarnate's twitter, I caught a free E-Book on the end times. If interested, you send the info to 3 friends and you download a book for free. Not sure how great it is, but I like stuff I have read from the group the author is part of. Click here for information on the book, the group and Mike's posting.

• Did you catch this a few days ago? My friend Ron sent it to me. It is an article about the dangers of twitter and tweeting information that those reading may take offense at when reading. It is worthy of a read and thought. Link

some great links

here are a few good links to peruse:

• American Idol is poison. AMEN

• Obama and and his supporters have Family Values (link to Crunch Con). Link

• Matt Taibbi is at it again. Link

• There is nothing that blows me away in this week's list of Music Deals at Amazon's MP3 store. Sorry, but you can look around here.

a list of Bushisms

Political Humor's Top 10 Bushisms

You will miss it, you know you will.

A Top 10 of links for the day

since everything has been in list form on this blog for a while, here are 10 good links for the day to waste your time:

1. a good list of some "awards" for the worst in journalism in 2008. 
   
2. The recession is sending people to church, but only Evangelical churches.
   
3. Sean Hannity, the worst, most useless, dumbest talking head on television (one that has no points to make beyond those handed to him by the RNC- BTW, Rush Limbaugh thinks lowly of him) is named Misinformer of the Year.
   
4. No surprise here and I am sure TLW will come out with their own "facts" but virginity pledges don't really work, according to a study (I could have told you this while a Youth Minister 10+ years ago).
   
5. a foreign policy and news Year End List.
   
6. A list of 10 Ways Tampa can catch up to Culinary trends throughout the rest of the big cities. Interestingly, I have thought about or complained publically (usually to my wife) about 7 of these (not including #4, #6 or #7).
7. New York Times list of Buzz Words of 2008 (thanks to MarkO for the link). My favorite is "Nuke the Fridge." The word of the year should be (according to David Plotz at Slate) Temperament. I would agree. Thank God the word MEME was not on the list.
8. Poop Freeze, to clean up dog poop. 
9. Rick Warren has horrible taste in music, but seems like a nice guy. Mother Jones reports on a meeting of the minds between Warren and Melissa Ethridge (the female Creed). Sorry this one is old and snarky.
10. As you may know, I was a Youth Pastor during my years in Richmond, VA. I was also a concert promoter with some friends. One of those friends has done something great. He and some investors bought and renovated a 1923 Vaudeville Theater to make what will be one of the top music venues in America. I visited it while on Christmas break. It is amazing. Check it out. 

Conservative Fratricide

this was to be merely a link to an excellent article by an Conservative Independent that has left the Republican Party behind and thinks it is doomed to destruction. Link Here

_____________________________________________

As you may have noticed, evidenced by Colin Powell's endorsement of Obama, over the past few weeks,* the Republican Party has been breaking apart under its own weight, due in part to fiscal mismanagement, incompetence from a Republican Administration, an ill conceived and ill managed war, misanthropic behavior towards those outside the fold and the ill conceived VP nomination of Sarah Palin. This has caused the exodus of many PBRs (pre-Bush Republicans), Conservatives with conscience, Libertarians, Independents, Moderates and Religious Folk (those that care about issues broader than abortion** and gay marriage). While McCain could win in the case of unpolled racism or an October Surprise (like the Bosox coming from 7 down in the 8th in game 5), the party is still in pieces.

The Democratic Party, through no effort of its own, beyond nominating someone appealing has been the beneficiary. The victims have been the Republicans and Conservatives that dare speak against the President, the Party line or the potential VP, some of whom are shining lights of the movement or true believers. Many have left of their own accord, while others are unceremoniously dumped, metaphorically fragged by teammates, or called RINOS (Republicans In Name Only). 

What many ultra-conservatives do not understand is that they are the cause for the dismantling of their movement. They supported Bush's incompetence, DeLay's crookedness, along with issues like torture, big government for their benefit and borrowing and spending-drawing a line in sand that many conservatives of good conscience (especially Religious ones) had no choice but to cross. They took a movement and turned it into a racket. 

It is not a coincidence that many smart conservatives are questioning their party, considering a vote for a Third Party or a Democrat. It is not a coincidence that Right Leaning newspapers are lining up to endorse Obama and Reagan/ Bush I era Republicans are leaning towards Obama or away from McCain/ Palin. It is not a coincidence that many reliably Republican strongholds are breaking blue and many Evangelical church members are speaking up about once secret party affiliations. This is an indictment of the Conservative movement and the Republican party, not an endorsement of Democrats and Liberalism.

In fact, I think the best thing that can happen to the Republican Party for the sake of America is to lose big. Such a loss can be cleansing.

Sadly, many in the Christian Right are among the last vestiges, valuing personality and profession of belief over competence and intelligence, assigning their names to non-Christian attitudes on torture, race, hospitality to the other, war and truth speaking (among others). They support a candidate for VP that would not qualify to lead many of their churches (not just because she is a woman). 

Does this make the Democratic Party good? No. It makes it the only option in town for many since the Republicans started this friendly fire campaign and closing the tent.*** The Democratic Party is doing nothing besides opening its arms to people it might disagree with if the conversation ever got too deep. It is growing, not because of new ideas, but because the Republican Party is seen as bankrupt, the party of DeLay, Foley, Cheney, Bush and all things bad during the previous 8 years. 

Instead of blaming Democrats and Liberals, closing ranks ever more narrowly, trying to find any dirt possible on Obama,**** and shooting their wounded (killing the messenger is never a good idea), each Conservative/ Republican should look inside themselves, seek guidance from the smart conservatives with a conscience and take time to clean their own house instead of pointing out how dirty the Democratic House is (I think there is a Scripture about this). 

They should stop reading, watching or listening to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity (seriously the guy is a joke), Hugh Hewitt, Bill Kristol, the guys at Townhall and Fox News. They should not start listening to Rachel Maddow and Kieth Olbermann. They should find conservative voices that are questioning assumptions, listen to them and ask similar questions (see list below).

Some of the bad Conservatives and Republicans- those that must be either misguided, stupid, or not following God:

Peggy Noonan,George Will, Christopher Hitchens, The Chicago Tribune and 25 other papers that endorsed Bush (and counting), Christopher Buckley, Colin Powell, Rod Dreher, Kathleen Parker, K Lo, Andrew Sullivan, Ross Douthat, Reihan Salam, Daniel Larison, David Brooks, some of the guys at Culture 11, even Charles Krauthammer and an Eisenhower. not all these support Obama, but they all question the direction of the Republican Party, McCain and/or Palin.

For a list of prominent Republicans supporting Obama, click here. While much of this support for Obama is due to his talent, vision and temperament, if there was a credible Republican alternative (and party) this would not be the case. Note that much of Powell's decision to support Obama revolved around his feelings regarding the Republican lurch to the right (as it dies).

Some thoughts on the Civil War brewing in Conservatism and the Republican Party: 

The Civil War

The Next Right on what the Right needs to do

the excellent blog posting that got this going

a previous article on the historic underpinnings of modern conservatism's fall. 

Andrew Sullivan, Rod Dreher and Ross Douthat are obsessed with this subject. Read any of their blogs.

* the breakup actually began in the aftermath of September 11, followed closely by the Iraq War, Mission Accomplished, the lack of WMDS, no Osama, vilification of John Kerry's Vietnam record, Katrina, DeLay/ Foley, financial mismanagement, Obama coming on the scene, no good Republicans in the primary, the McCain campaign, the financial meltdown and Sarah Palin. It will continue in the aftermath of the Nov 4 loss of McCain and subsequent blame shifting and scapegoating.

**many of whom that are still very Pro-Life.

***full disclosure- I registered as a Democrat at 18, became and Independent in 1994 (after working on a Republican presidential campaign). I became a Democrat this year to vote in the primaries. I will become unaffiliated once again (Independent) after the election. I have voted for Republicans as often as Democrats (if not more) in state and national elections. I have even voted for 3rd parties on occasion. I am not a Liberal (though, if I were, I would proudly wear the label- as I would if I were a Conservative. I find nothing wrong with principled conservatives and liberals).

 ****I heard 1 on the radio complaining yesterday about Obama's 2-faced support of both World Series participants as reason to vote against him.

food, politics and music (links to waste your day)

a few assorted things from the Interweb...

• Ever try to figure out which eggs to buy at the grocer? Us too. It is among the most confusing set of labels ever. Organic is not always the best, if you like chickens treated humanely. Try finding local egg? Good luck. We have actually traveled 30 miles for the perfect farm fresh egg and will eventually just get darn chickens for the back yard. Our favorites are eggs from a local egg producer that seems to do the right thing (and is not organic). However, we can only get those eggs from one grocer (not Whole Foods). I must say that how the birds are treated is as important to me (if not more) as what they are fed.                                                                                                                                                                Well , New York Times tries to "unscramble" the egg claims. Link (hat tip to Treehugger)

• Tired of Red and Blue states? Think purple does not suffice? Check this one out.

• What is this election really about? According to Daily Kos, these are things the President should be doing and we should evaluate our current president according to the list and evaluate whom we should vote for according to that list. here is the list (the source of the actual list should be important to conservatives and liberals) .

• A friend of a close friend in Atlanta made a great documentary on Sacred Harp Music. The right people have shown interest in the project, including John Paul Jones from LZ and some other great artists. They are covering the hymns and a CD is coming out. Check out the news article on Pitchfork.

• Just in case you thought John McCain was running the sleaziest campaign in history, some historians want to let you know he is not. There have been worse. According to them, nothing this year compares to the Swift Boating of Kerry, The foreignizing of Dukakis, the Anti-Catholic campaigns against Al Smith and the normal mundane 19th Century mudslinging. I guess we should all feel much better that this campaign can get much worse (notice that most really negative campaigns have led to a victory by the mud slinger). Link to story

• the Moderate Voice, one of my favorite places for political analysis and coverage, has its analysis of McCain's new found negativity. It may be too overarching to fail, but voters must rebel against it and make him pay (not to elect Obama, but to end this type of campaigning- and stop Obama before he begins it). Link to the always excellent Moderate Voice. 

• 50 Questions to ask about the Last (almost) 50 Days before the Election. Link

I have some more good stuff I have found, but will leave you with this as I head to a long meeting.

random tidbits

here are some things that caught my attention during the past weekend, or so...

• It is one thing to support McCain or Obama. It is quite another to vilify an opponent with such a vile T-shirt. The first goes beyond humor to just plain wrong... on so many levels (especially since Tim LaHaye- the worldwide "expert" on the Anti-Christ declared that Obama is not him). link

• Is Obama the end of black politics? link

• Should you eat local... always? link

• Acting like you live in the country, even when in the city. urban homesteading

• I love the Lifehack site.

• Could this be the next Cubs curse to stop them from EVER winning a World Series? By the way- i think Mark Cuban would be a wonderful Cubs owner. He brings hype, but no championships. I can handle the Cubbies being the Mavericks of baseball.

Great Commercial

quite simply one of the coolest commercials I have ever seen. It was banned due to "violence." Of course, this is the kind of violence of 8 year old boys.*

If this had been on during the Super Bowl, people would have been talking about it for days (and copying it). Have fun.



thanks Huffington Post for the link and a list of other commercials.

* if your pacifism or anti-consumerism keeps you from laughing, you are no longer a pacifist. you are fundamentalist.

good stuff

• there is quite the kerfuffle going on over at the Emerging Women blog. In fact, people I know have been accused of cyberbullying. Of course, it is my contention that the accuser is the same as the one that started the ruckus. The posting is about Hillary's lame concession speech and how good it was for women. The problem child is talking smack about Americans and how people on the blog only claim Christianity. Gillian has some wonderful points on the speech (in the comments).

• Conservative pundit, David Brooks decries the economic problems in America and squarely puts the blame on ALL of us, especially our desire for cheap credit and lack of concern for long term debt (coupled with rampant consumption). It is an article some on the left and right will love (and some hate). Read it here.
  

• Excellent speech at Harvard by JK Rowlings on the benefits of failure and need for imagination. thanks mycotn for the hit.

• she is no longer married to or produced by T Bone Burnett, but the latest by Sam Phillips is still wonderful.
  

• Kung Fu Panda is a trip. Go see it, especially if you have kids.

• list of the best ever Southern Fiction. I totally agree with the Top 2, number 4 and 5.
  

random goodness

• long article in the New Yorker, The Fall of Conservatism about the history of modern conservatism in America (Republican style), its decline and its future course (more sociological and historical than political).

• another long article in the New Yorker in which Pulitzer Prize winner Lawrence Wright (one of my favorite writer/ reporters) details the philosophical shift away from jihad by one of Al Qaeda's masterminds; The Rebellion Within.

• From its Inconvenient Truths series on rethinking what it means to be green, Wired magazine examines the dangers of focusing all of our energies on Global Warming at the expense of other environmental crises. Thanks to Kellie for the link.

• My friend Mike shared this amazing photo.
  

• Just finished reading Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove's latest tome New Monasticism. The subject is pretty easy to figure out. Wilson-Hartgrove weaves history and his own personal account from typical Southern Church world to radical community. it is compelling and timely. I recommend it to anyone, especially those in traditional churches. He spends much time helping non-adherents learn from the movement. I would recommend it to any fan of Shane Claiborne or one that wants to learn from Anabaptists.
  

random

• Focus on the family sent out a newsletter to remind its constituents why they need to not be swayed by Obama's rhetorical skills, hope and serious discussions of his own faith. Here is March's newsletter.

• It may be shocking to learn, but apparently some of those "facts" in their newsletter are a bit lacking in truth or context, but that has never stopped any of these groups before. The excellent site, Politifact has done some digging and found these mistruths- here is the 1st, the 2nd , the 3rd (this is about context, which FOTF leaves out) and the 4th. As a "Christian" organization, FOTF should share its disagreement with Obama while still telling the truth and representing the words of any politician in the proper context.
  

• Aaron Graham, who helped us start our church in Boston (and was a student in my youth ministry), is the National Organizer for Sojourner's Justice Revivals. Watch his youtube video explaining the revivals here.

• Jordon Cooper mentioned it first. But, here is a great article on what we can do to help the earth by Michael Pollan quoting Wendell Berry.

• I have an interview with a great organization on Tuesday. Be mindful of that.
  

lots to read

for your perusal;

• a whole website dedicated to debunking Tony Jones and his new book. Hey Tony, congratulations you have made it. link here
• everyone's favorite atheist, Christopher Hitchens, thinks this Bosnia flap is a very big deal. According to him, not only does it uncover a history of lies (not misspeaking), but also Senator Clinton's influence in keeping the US from intervening in the Civil War there earlier (it would have distracted the administration from health care reform). He blames her and her husband for thousands of deaths. link here
• speaking of atheists, Chris Hedges thinks the new atheists are terribly dangerous for everything from "demonizing Muslims to believing we can use science for our own moral advancement." he tells us they are preaching a dangerous new faith in his article from a new book (this is not from a conservative Christian POV, which makes it cooler), link here
• New York Times blogger and professor of everything, the self described non-foundationalist, Stanley Fish tears those same "New Atheists" a new one for being the very thing they decry (fundamentalists believing in something they cannot see). There are 4 articles. Link 1, Link 2, Link 3, link 4.
  
• His blog on secularism and liberalism being the same thing is also quite good. Link here
  
• Those welfare cheats living at the tax payer's expense and threatening the very values of our nation. Meet the super wealthy. link here
• N.T. Wright reminds us "heaven is not our home" and that we have gotten the afterlife terribly wrong. link here
• An experiment towards a more caring economy. The Pentecost Project
• The story of one war hero ("the face of the war") and the tortured life he is leading upon returning home, forgotten by his government (I am sure the War is "worth it" for guys like him). link here
• Great article on what goes on in black churches and around the dinner table. link here and read to the end.
  

free song and other Bill Mallonee/ VOL news

One of my music friends and all time favorite artists is Bill Mallonee, formerly of Vigilantes of Love. Until 10PM tonight you can download his cover of Larry Norman's U.F.O. from his myspace account. I hate downloading from myspace, but it is worth the hassle for a great performance of the classic from the father of CCM.

Find it here.

Also, for a limited time, Bill is trying the Radiohead route with his Bill Tunes site.
You pay what you can for access to his new songs.

Of course, if you want his wonderful Vigilantes of Love albums, you can head over to Vol Sounds and buy them up for cheap! it works for you because it is cheaper than iTunes and works for him because he gets all the money! Albums cost $7.99

If you have never listened to Bill and VOL, shame on you. He is a step below Bob Dylan as a songwriter and a notch about Josh Ritter. He is a profound thinker and lyricist, influential to many of those you love. In fact, Paste Magazine named him one of the 100 Best Songwriters Ever a few years ago. I can give you suggestions, if you want to go deep into the catalog.

A Quick Top 10 of what is available on the site (and I have not heard everything) would be...

1. V.O.L. (for the uninitiated- a greatest hits package)
2. Killing Floor (one of the best Americana albums ever- produced by Mark Heard and Peter
Buck of REM)
3. Welcome to Struggleville (major lable debut with bigger production. Shoulda been huge- lyrics
are his best. Rootsy Rock and Roll)
4. Audible Sigh (I think of Austin, TX when I hear this)
5. Summershine (much poppier and Beatlesque- for VOL)
6. Blister Soul (Raw, Rock and Roll- while still on a major label)
7. Jugular (one young guy and a guitar with lots of faith and a foul mouth)
8. Permafrost (sounds like the old stuff- updated and darkly optimistic)
9. To the Roof of the Sky (a little more country)
10. Slow Dark Train (rock and roll, baby)

All of these are great albums and you cannot go wrong with his live stuff (but I would steer you to the studios first). Even those I have not mentioned (because he is so prolific) like Driving the Nails, Dear Life and Perfumed Letter are very good. Once you listen a bit more, you will love his outtakes (my list of the best could change tomorrow or in 5 minutes)

Also, Bill is touring the nation this year. It is just him and his wife, their guitars and harmonica collection. If you have a good sized living room, a nice basement, access to a coffeeshop, a church fellowship hall or another venue, contact him and bring him to your town. Get close to an artist and support musicians.

For information email Muriahrose@aol.com or call us at 706-202-0961 and leave a message/

Anyone out there want to back me up on Bill?

Garfield minus Garfield

I saw this in the latest Rolling Stone. Someone took Garfield and Odie out of the Garfield comics, leaving John alone with his conversations. Has a major comic character suffered from such mental illness?

It is quite sad and disturbing, psychologically. Look at it here.

is this the Best Week Ever?

What a strange week. The convergence of Holy Week, St. Patrick's Day and the 5th Anniversary of the Iraq War and the start of the NCAAs in a span of a few days. As an ESPN-watching Irish American Christian Pacifist* where should I put my energy?

on the campaign of course.

Anyway, here is an article on the Real St. Patrick to read as you drink cheap beer tinted with food coloring and pinch people wearing the wrong shade.

Here is Bob Knight on who will win the tourney.

Here are some readings for Holy Week.

Here is a constantly updating cost of the Iraq War. Here is an article just in time for the anniversary celebrations.


* okay I am not really a pacifist. I am a realist and a proponent of the spiritual discipline of active nonviolence and peacemaking, which is more nuanced and complex lacking simplistic formulas and answers. But, that makes for a lousy label.

article on the EMC Tour stop in Tampa

As you may know Brian McLaren is coming to Tampa tomorrow as part of his Everything Must Change Tour. It looks to be a great event and I just found out I will be part of the panel discussion on Saturday morning. I am not sure what I can add, but I have been asked numerous times and finally came around (I hate anything that smacks of self-promotion- except on this blog*).

As part of the promotion for the event I was interviewed by a local journalist. Here is a link to the article in the Tampa Tribune. I did not exactly say what the article says I said (it is a summation, not exact quotes), but I agree with much of the premise. Hopefully I don't sound like too much of a dork, which I usually do in print.

*this is my little fiefdom, so I can promote the ruler of this corner of the Internet.

random tidbits... (updated)

• I did not do exceptionally well in this year's Oscar pool (I have had a 100% before and usually score in the 80s and 90s). This year I went 17 of 24 (horrible). While many of the wins were obvious (the 4 No Country awards were obvious), some came so far out of left field, I would guess no one got them right. Who saw Tilda Swinton winning for Michael Clayton? Is so, I hope you won your pool! Most of the technical awards were easy. Do you give it to a techy film critics hated or to a well respected film that was pretty cool technically? That is why Bourne beats Transformers. I usually sweep the minor awards, but did not do so well this year. There was a Holocaust film and an AIDS film (always winning bets), but how do you handicap when there are 3 Docs on the Iraq War? I blew that one. My best pics were Falling Slowly for best song (thank God for the best song winning- that NEVER happens, I guess the Disney pablum split the vote) and There Will Be Blood for Cinematography.

• I am one of those guys that watches the Oscars for 1 reason...to complain about the Oscars. I cannot tell you how much I like to point out to anyone in earshot that yet another injustice is upon us due to the stodgy Academy lacking the alertness or courage to appreciate the art that a plebe like me sees. In fact, one of my favorite bathroom reads of all time is Danny Peary's Alternative Oscars which gives us the real best film, actor, director and actress for each year since 1927. Too bad it was published in 1993 and he has not made a sequel or updated his picks on his website. If, like me, you like to point out Oscar's flaws, look at this great posting on how many deserving people and films have been overlooked over the years (I especially like the defense of Jeff Bridges as one of the greatest actors of our time).

• I have seen the first bit of information that gives me pause concerning an Obama presidency. According to this article in Slate, Obama is an ENFP on the Meyers-Briggs personality inventory. Why does this concern me? Well, I look at an ENFP every time I look in the mirror and question the ability of anyone like me to lead the free world. Of course, the other personality types don't give me a lot of confidence in those presidential candidates either. Read the article here.

• Is Obama the Messiah?

• For some reason I have read a bunch of books in which Islam is a central theme lately. I can recommend all of them. Last year I read the 2006 Pulitzer Prize winning The Looming Tower Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11), a ridiculously compelling piece of modern history and journalism. If you want to understand the context of 9/11 and what led people to do it, read this book (it is also an indictment of the mistakes by the US Intelligence community). It is not particularly political.

• If you would like to get into the mind of what makes Islam tick as a religion, as well as understand where it went wrong in the eyes of modernists, read No god but God by frequent Daily Show guest Reza Aslan. In his historical and sociological critique of his own religion (he is an Iranian Shia), Aslan shares that Islam is in the midst of a reformation much like Christianity's 500 years ago (Islam is roughly the same age as Christianity of that era). I would recommend it for lay people, ministers and seminary students (it works on a number of levels). Most readers will find themselves drawn to Muhammad and frustrated by the perversion of his message (it will remind many Christians of our own story).

• yeah, what he said- Franky Schaeffer on "why he is prolife and pro-Obama."

Is the "surge" working?

for information purposes only. I am just a conduit with no actual opinion on these matters...

Some journalists are not falling into line with the propaganda from the White House and Defense Department. They have the nerve to point out that the surge is not working (maybe a troop buildup is having an effect, but it is not the surge we were promised). Here is Michael Kinsley in Defining Victory Downward,*

But we needn't quarrel about all this, or deny the reality of the good news, to say that the surge has not worked yet. The test is simple, and built into the concept of a surge: Has it allowed us to reduce troop levels to below where they were when it started? The answer is no.

In fact, President Bush laid down the standard of success when he announced the surge more than a year ago: "If we increase our support at this crucial moment, and help the Iraqis break the current cycle of violence, we can hasten the day our troops begin coming home." At the time, there were about 130,000 American soldiers in Iraq. Bush proposed to add up to 20,000 more troops. Although Bush never made any official promises about a timetable, the surge was generally described as lasting six to eight months.

and

The proper comparison isn't to the situation a year ago. It's to the situation before we got there. Imagine that you had been told in 2003 that when George W. Bush finished his second term, dozens of American soldiers and hundreds of Iraqis would be dying violently every month; that a major American goal would be getting the Iraqi government to temper its "de-Baathification" campaign so that Saddam Hussein's former henchmen could start running things again (because they know how); and "only" 100,000 American troops would be needed to sustain this equilibrium. You might have several words to describe this situation, but success would not be one of them.

Also Rolling Stone (of course), gives us The Myth of the Surge.

To show I am even handed, I will point you to another article. This writer tells us how we can still "win" in Iraq and Afghanistan (not just calm things down a bit- which is what the "surge" has done so far). Click here for more.

*if you want more interesting reads on the subject, scroll to the end of the article.