Get Your Weekend Mark Steyn Here!

Mark Steyn never bores. Here’s his latest — a glimpse into where the world is headed.

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Six Imams, Pray-Ins, and Your Safety

You probably heard that earlier this week, six imams who boarded a US Air flight in Minneapolis acted strangely enough to make their fellow passengers nervous.

It wasn’t just that some of the imams prayed as a group, presumably in Arabic, before the flight — although given that terrorists who killed innocent people on 9/11 and other dates have preceded and accompanied their murderous acts with prayers to Allah, that was disconcerting enough.

The imams also made critical comments about the war in Iraq — not a crime in itself, but a little worrisome under the circumstances — and asked for seat belt extensions that they reportedly didn’t need. Also, some of the imams had purchased one-way tickets and had no checked baggage — red flags for possible suspicion at times of heightened alert. All of this resulted in the imams being disinvited from the flight.

Predictable umbrage followed.

How unenlightened the passengers are! was the refrain. It’s almost as if they fear that groups of Muslim men who engage in unusual behavior before boarding a flight might be up to something!

Where could they have gotten that idea?

The incident with the six imams may have all added up to nothing, or it may have been a trial run to test defenses, or it may have been an attempt to provoke a reaction, or something more. Who knows? More importantly, who knew then?

As I’ve pointed out elsewhere, instead of demanding that all the other airline passengers be more culturally sensitive — i.e., willing to shut up and bet their lives that nothing was amiss — why not ask the six imams to be more culturally sensitive? Why couldn’t they pray 15 minutes earlier, preferably in a private room? If they had to pray in the airport waiting area, why couldn’t they give the folks around them reassuring smiles and tell them that they would be praying now? At least one Muslim commentator at Gateway Pundit says the imams could have been more discreet.

But no. The usual victimology has begun. Some Muslims are threatening to boycott the airline.

Now we already have Muslims holding pray-ins at airports to protest the reasonable judgment call that US Airways made.

Pray-ins are fine. America could use more public prayer, especially by Christians. But when it comes to these six imams, it’s not the praying per se that most people object to.

It’s the veiled threat.

And there is a threat here; make no mistake about it. As Thinkinboutstuff points out, making passengers and crew members hesitant to act through repeated provocation followed by cries of discrimination could be used as a strategy to weaken our defenses.

That makes the Muslim pray-ins a threat to your safety. Don’t stand still for it.

Maybe we should hold Christian counter-pray-ins right next to the Muslims and pray for, among other things, Americans with the courage to object when something seems wrong before an airline flight, and for Muslims with the courage to speak out against terrorism.

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What is Going on in Russia?

Events of the last week raise the question: Is the Cold War really over, or not?

We’ve had a glimpse into the ruthlessness of public life in Russia this week when a former Russian spy and critic of the Kremlin was poisoned with a high dose radioactive substance.

Former spy Alexander Litvinenko has now died in a London hospital. He left a statement pointing to Russian President Vladimir Putin in his death.

According to reports, polonium-210, a radioactive element, was found in Litvinenko’s body.

Before his death, Litvinenko had been investigating the death of Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian investigative journalist who was gunned down Oct. 7 in her Moscow apartment building. Litivinenko had also been seeking to uncover corruption in Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB.

According to a report at Brietbart.com, Litvinenko worked for the KGB and its successor, the FSB. In 1998, he publicly accused his superiors of ordering him to kill tycoon Boris Berezovsky and spent nine months in jail on charges of abuse of office. He was later acquitted and in 2000 sought asylum in Britain, where Berezovsky is now also living in exile.

Litvinenko’s father told reporters tearfully that, “This (Russian) regime is a mortal danger to the world” and that “It was an excruciating death.”

The U.K Times has an account of a final interview with Litvinenko before he died. The text of his final statement is here.

Meanwhile, Russia is selling rockets to Iran. Russia has begun deliveries of the Tor-M1 air defense rocket system to Tehran:

The United States has pressed Russia to halt military sales to Iran, which Washington accuses of harbouring secret plans to build a nuclear weapon.

Moscow has consistently defended its weapons trade with Iran. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said the contract for 29 rocket systems, signed in December last year, was legitimate because the Tor-M1 has a purely defensive role.

ITAR-TASS reported that the rockets were to be deployed around Iran’s nuclear sites, including the still incomplete, Russian-built atomic power station at Bushehr.

It looks to all the world as if Russia is killing its critics and arming our enemies.

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Happy Thanksgiving and Food for Thought

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Here are some things to think about today.

What are the ten best things that happened in your life so far this year? Make a list with whatever big or small things come to mind. You may want to give it a few days of thought.

Who are you most grateful for in your life?

Who are you most grateful for in our public life?

If you prayed for anything this year, will you also say a prayer of thanksgiving today?

You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might pray also in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance. (Kahlil Gibran)

What brings you joy?

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Amazing Pictures of Animals in the Womb

The U.K. Daily Mail has some amazing close-up pictures of animals in the womb.

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Cruisin’ the HIGH Seas

Besides the mid-sixty, rainy, dank, damp weather, besides the twenty foot swells, besides the cross ship winds rocking the ship from side to side, besides the smoke smell pervading the entire craft, the cruise has thus far been enjoyable. I had been feeling poorly when I got on the ship, my husband was feeling perky and hopeful. Let’s just say that he didn’t want me to feel left out.

At least the on-ship papparazi can’t going into your postage stamp-size state room to take pictures is all I have to say.

Good grief! I’m green. Key West has never looked so good and can’t come soon enough. I know, I’m on the second cruise of my life in the last two months, and I’m complaining. That should be a no-no. Alas, I complain. It’s what I do. (It’s genetic.)

Food sampled thus far: apple, tomato soup, lemonade, scone, crackers, frosted flakes. Bland, bland and more bland.

I just know this is going to get better. It’s not fair feeling this bad and no alcohol whatsoever is involved.

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Guess Who Wants to Draft You?

Hint: It isn’t George Bush.

No, if you want to find support for the draft you have to look to a Democrat.

Democratic Congressman Charles Rangel, who is set to head the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, has announced that he wants everyone in America to be forced into compulsory national service for two years.

WASHINGTON – Americans would have to sign up for a new military draft after turning 18 under a bill the incoming chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee says he will introduce next year.

Rep. Charles Rangel D-N.Y., said Sunday he sees his idea as a way to deter politicians from launching wars. . . . .

He said having a draft would not necessarily mean everyone called to duty would have to serve. Instead, “young people (would) commit themselves to a couple of years in service to this great republic, whether it’s our seaports, our airports, in schools, in hospitals,” with a promise of educational benefits at the end of service.

Now, does Charles Rangel actually want all of America’s youth serving in the military? Is there some national security emergency that Rangel wants to address?

No! His whole idea is to take all of America’s youth hostage and occupy them with whatever busywork the government can concoct (schools! seaports!) to achieve a political objective. He just wants to co-opt all the time of America’s young adults to serve his political aims.

This is literally a call for involuntary servitude — slavery if you will.

It rubs me so far the wrong way that I can’t even begin to tell you.

I’ve written more here.

For other reaction, check out Michelle Malkin, Don Surber, Gateway Pundit, Blogmeister USA, ScrappleFace, Public Figures. . . Beware, Hot Air, and Nasty Brutish & Short

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Christian Givers

Anyone who has been through a Hurricane (a Red-State phenomenon), knows that it wasn’t the Federal Government who saved ordinary citizens from harm or helped them recover from catastrophe. No, other ordinary citizens, predominantly Christian citizens, from churches and business stepped in to help.

The local church-goers gave time, food, clothing, microwaves, beds, bedding, housing, nearly every concrete thing someone needs to live. They also gave money. They gave lots of money and they kept giving until, as the old Christian saying goes, it hurt. Lots of sermons about the Widow’s two pennies and lot’s of empathy for the pain and suffering.

Then there was the indirect giving. In Houston we have hospitals sponsored by Secularists, no by Methodists and Baptists (Baylor). There are Catholic charities. The majority of hospitals and all their affiliates are funded by church-going people…again.

Well a Behavioral Economist named Arthur Brooks has drawn attention to what most of us have observed in his new book titled “Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism”. Here are his conclusions:

The book’s basic findings are that conservatives who practice religion, live in traditional nuclear families and reject the notion that the government should engage in income redistribution are the most generous Americans, by any measure.

Conversely, secular liberals who believe fervently in government entitlement programs give far less to charity. They want everyone’s tax dollars to support charitable causes and are reluctant to write checks to those causes, even when governments don’t provide them with enough money.

Such an attitude, he writes, not only shortchanges the nonprofits but also diminishes the positive fallout of giving, including personal health, wealth and happiness for the donor and overall economic growth.
All of this, he said, he backs up with statistical analysis.

Well, we’ll see. If my experience is any indication, it would be true. The local very conservative, very Christian community where I live, gave and gave. Our business was slow for six months and we weren’t the only ones, as people gave any extra income they could to help Katrina and Rita survivors.

When the Government raises taxes and redistributes wealth it’s way, I think spontaneous giving gets restricted. One, people just don’t have as much money to give, so charities suffer. Two, people are less psychologically inclined to give because they feel that they are being taken from themselves. This creates resentment towards the “needy” because the giver has no direct connection–emotional, spiritual or otherwise to the recipient.

I am just curious, too. When 9/11 happened, a huge outpouring of money went from the Red States to the Blue States. I wonder, did the reverse happen during the Hurricanes?

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Home for the Holidays

Sigmund, Carl and Alfred, a psychiatrist, is doing a three-part series about home. They are all worthy reads. (Part III is coming.)

He talks about the phenomenon of removing material things (going camping as a family) to reveal what really matters–the haven we create together, that forms family.

Here is Part 1. How does our perspective on home shape our life?

It is from home that our most important life decisions are made. It is home that shaped many of our beliefs and attitudes, our awareness and self esteem, that feeling of worth- and in a healthy individual, that motivator to give to others. It is from our homes and families that we learn to share, to cope, to play and to forgive. We learn to be comfortable with ourselves. Most importantly, in a healthy home, we learn to laugh and be happy.

Or not.

Not everyone is so fortunate. Some people are so detached and resigned- they have no concept of what a healthy home really is. They believe that every home is like their own- broken, dysfunctional and abusive. They believe that the idea of a happy home is veneer thin, with everyone playing a role in what they know to be a farce. Beneath the surface, they believe, is the same living hell they have endured- every time they go home, history repeats itself. The fights, the anger, the humiliation, all replayed in an endless loop.

Part II:
What happens when a child has no home to go home to?

When a person grows up in an environment that is lacking in nurture, love and safety, they are in fact, incapable and lacking in the coping mechanisms they need to compensate for what was stolen from them. When a child does not experience the comfort of some cradling him or her, or someone who says, ‘I’m glad you’re here,’ or ‘I want you next to me,’ that child will never cultivate the self esteem needed to go out and make a go of it. In fact, often, an unhealthy narcissism replaces that self esteem (see Dr Sanity , Neo-neocon and Shrinkwrapped for further discussion), something in no short supply nowadays.

To escape the inevitable narcissism, and I say inevitable, because a child with no anchor wonders eternally “why me”? Am I unlovable? Since my parent couldn’t possibly be wrong, it must be me. So this person goes through life trying to figure out the reason, trying to prove mom and dad wrong. I AM lovable! Demanding the impossible from lovers and friends, this person must find a way to transcend the loss and only soul-searching and God-searching can do this. Otherwise, the narcissism becomes hopelessly fixed in the person’s character. It will forever be “all about me” to make up for the fact that “it was never about me”.

The consequences of this narcissism are exactly what the deprived child-cum-adult does not intend. Over and over, this person will be literally or figuratively abandoned because healthy people realize the impossible task eventually–to fulfill the adult-child’s unmet childhood family needs. So the narcissist drives people away, proving, once again, that mom and dad were right after all–I am unlovable.

Ultimately, growing up depends on the adult child recognizing his or her parents for the fallible humans they are, that they were wrong, and that seeking validation externally won’t work. If the adult child makes this difficult journey, he then must decide how to he wants to live his life now. He has no blue-print. He knows he doesn’t want to do what his parents did to him, but what and how does he do for his children and family?

If a person from a dysfunctional background does not make this journey, the results will be as destructive in his own family. Unconsciously, or semi-consciously, he will make the same decisions, as if on auto-pilot and hate himself every minute, but feel helpless to stop it.

There are ways to turn this ship around:

1. Trial and error: I remember spanking my first son and his horrified reaction, and feeling absolutely sick at myself. Not that I’m entirely against spanking, mind you, but for my autistic son (we didn’t have a diagnosis yet) it was absolutely a disaster. That did not work, so I started reading about positive reinforcement–which did work.
2. Re-education: What do “experts” say about family? I’m not a huge Dr. Phil fan, but his book on family is actually very good. Personally, I went and read Skinner, Lovaas, Maslow, Jung, etc. I also read Dr. James Dobson.
3. Training: A good therapist, life coach, church Bible-study group, you name it, there are parenting classes and courses. The best ones challenge beliefs. I’ve seen people throw everything from their parents out in a fit of rebellion. They don’t realize that they’re still operating in their parent’s context. True healing is recognizing the good, retaining it, and recognizing and letting go of the bad.

Starting your own family, creating your own traditions can be very satisfying. Like Siggy says:

Why we envy the mythical Bob Cratchit is because the values of a real home and the comforts that real home brings, are eternal. There is no later or newer model, no ‘next generation.’ In fact, what is real home and comfort becomes even more valuable with the passage of time- our lives, our experiences all add texture and meaning to ‘home.’ Those that have been fortunate enough to have had that can attest to it. Those that have not been so blessed, see it clearly- like the cancer patient who sees the healthy person. That person understands more than most, the value of the gift of health.

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Understanding the Enemy

MaxedOutMama‘s fears about the Democrats notions of “the enemy” (I saw this early in the week and somehow didn’t link it):

Nonetheless, it is this type of sentiment which is the driving force behind Pelosi’s contingent. I think David of Photon Courier accurately summarized my worries:

…what scares me most about the Democratic victory is that the leadership of this party does not seem to understand that the threats we face are existential in nature–that devastating harm to this country, and to civilization itself, are well within the realm of possibility–and still less does the Democratic leadership understand the nature of those who oppose us.

He’s right – they really don’t. They are self-referential; they assume that everyone shares their worldview, and they believe that somehow the US is not threatened. Nancy Pelosi has been consistently against any realistic effort to bolster our internal energy sources, consistently against fighting terrorism abroad, and consistently against any real efforts to increase internal security. It’s an amazing record.

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