What my friends are saying — Part 1
It’s been way too long since I gave myself the pleasure of a visit to the blogs I list in my own blogroll. As always, I urge you to do the same, since there are so many good sites visited there. Here’s a sampling of some of the interesting reading you can find:
At A Rose By Any Other Name, every Wednesday, Anna writes a post about an American hero on the front lines in Iraq or Afghanistan. She does not view these men and women as sacrificial lambs, whose deaths or injuries need to be highlighted to score political points, but as human beings who put their lives on the line for their beliefs.
At Benning’s Writing Pad, you can read about former Congressman J.C. Watts, a rock-solid conservative who sounds very much like someone who should be short-listed for McCain’s Veep choice.
The Confederate Yankee explains why Ayers is a terrorist (and, although he doesn’t mention Coburn at all, one can see why Coburn, who supports rule of law, is not). Obama’s choice of friends isn’t explained away by his weak defense of Ayers’ current status as an ordinary guy.
I’ve always been ambivalent about the Poles in WWII. On the one hand, they were the first to bear the brunt of Nazi brutality, and the first to fight back with insane ferocity. On the other hand, many of them were delighted to turn their Jews over to the Nazis and, whatever else they thought of Nazi policies, were complicit with the genocide. Heck, when it comes to the Jews, the Poles have always been a little schizoid. They were one of the few countries that, for centuries, allowed in Jews who had been thrown out of their own countries, only to turn around and become a pogrom wonderland in the 19th Century.
Still, if there is a cosmic wheel, the Poles’ decades under Communist rule could be seen as a karmic strike for the moral stain they incurred in their behavior to Jews. And it was with another flip of the cosmic wheel, that the Poles, through Solidarity, first enabled the world to see that the Borg-like Soviets were, in fact, vulnerable. To me, Polish resistance was the beginning of the end.
Why am I waffling on this way about the ups and downs of Poles and Poland? Because since the end of the Communist era, Poles have distinguished themselves by their deep understanding of the gulf between freedom and tyranny, and have consistently acted on the side of right in this regard. At Conservative Liberal, you can see only the latest example of their principled stands. Whatever their past acts, right now, Poles are definitely the good eggs of modern history.
As you know, Ben Stein’s movie attacks the people who challenge Darwin’s view. I’m a Darwinist, but I also believe that it’s better to (a) acknowledge that we don’t know what preceded Darwinism (and I have no guesses, scientific or religious); (b) to acknowledge that this absence of knowledge can allow people of good will (as opposed to blithering idiots) to have views that differ from the conventional wisdom; and (c) to acknowledge with a certain degree of humility that conventional wisdom can be open to challenge. Callimachus is also a Darwinist, and doesn’t like Ben Stein’s movie. But what he really doesn’t like is the New York Times‘ attitude to Ben Stein’s movie, and he carefully explains why.
I really like the Ex Cathedra blog. It’s beautiful, although the images are sometimes R rated, so I wouldn’t send kids over. It’s well-written, which always appeals to me. And its author is both gay and conservative. As a liberal Jew who made the break with the Democratic party because I realized that its values were completely inconsistent with mine, I tend to admire very much people who can examine the intellectual strangleholds in their community and, if they don’t stand up to scrutiny, reject them. It’s a reminder of the fact that we don’t need to march in gray lockstep with those we perceive as sharing our most distinguishing common trait. I wish black Americans could rip off their Democratic blinders and really look at which political ideology would most benefit them.
I really and truly don’t get baseball, which I consider to be about as exciting as darts. I appreciate the skill it takes to throw and hit balls the way those guys do, but not all skilled activities are actually fun to watch. However, if you do like baseball, you’ll probably like the photos Gail, at Crossing the Rubicon, took of a game at the new Nationals’ ball park. As for me, I’ll take soccer, football, martial arts, swimming, skiing, etc., anytime as my preferred spectator sports. (And I’ll have to sign off here soon to go to my son’s baseball game today. Sigh….)
Click on this link, at the Extreme Wisdom blog, and you’ll see a nice laundry list of Obama’s failings. You’ll also see a thumbnail photo. Click on the thumbnail. Bruno’s right that this picture should be getting more airplay, at least for those who have noticed little things like the coming and going of Obama’s flag lapel pin.
Well, it’s feed the kids and watch baseball time, so I’ll resume this later.
