We are just as dumb as dirt. That is according to Mark Malloch Brown, the Deputy Secretary of that organization that can do no wrong, the United Nations.

The United Nations’ No. 2 official accused the U.S. government of keeping Middle America in the dark about the world body’s good works, a rare direct criticism that drew an angry response Wednesday from Ambassador John Bolton.

But it gets better.

In the speech, Malloch Brown said the United States relies on the United Nations as a diplomatic tool but doesn’t defend it against criticism at home, a policy of “stealth diplomacy” that he called unsustainable.

He lamented that the good works of the U.N. are largely lost because “much of the public discourse that reaches the U.S. heartland has been largely abandoned to its loudest detractors such as Rush Limbaugh and Fox News.”

What good works was he referring to? The oil for food scandal? Raping of African girls by UN personnel? Calling the US stingy when it came to tsunami relief? Backing up its own referendum against Saddam?

Anyone ever heard of the expression “don’t bite the hand that feeds you”? The United States pays 22% of the total dues assessed. (Only Japan comes close to that amount at a little under 19.5%. See this table.) For 2006, that’s over $423 million. But there are also assessments paid to special UN agencies. In 2004, that was over $400 million. We also contributed $1.1 billion in 2004 for peacekeeping efforts. See this report Financial Contributions to the UN.

Well, if this post is a “distraction”, then I am proud to be lumped into the class with Rush Limbaugh and Fox News. This is a corrupt organization that is in over it’s head with a civil servant at its head who has probably never had a real job in his life. This is an organization that is in dire need of reform and that includes getting rid of Mark Malloch Brown and Kofi Annan.

Cross posted at Hang Right Politics

Remember the jingle for the Bryant air conditioner units? Well, I’m having a little bit of a “rescue me” situation as I write.

Last night, neither the sig.other nor I noticed when it happened. He went to bed early, while I waited for a huge load of whites to dry. He had needed… ahem… underwear after having sweated by mowing the entire lawn and braving the TX-sized mosquitoes that breed around here. Besides, we invited a couple friends of ours from church for dinner at a BBQ joint. When he looked for a pair in his drawers, he found none. I looked around the laundry that I had recently done for a pair or two… nothing. As a result, he had to wear his old boxer shorts - those ones with the Kings Point seal all over the place. Those are the boxer shorts he hates, yet keeps for sentimental value.

Needless to say, I felt guilty enough to stay up late and do laundry.

At one in the morning, I noticed that my pregnancy anomaly wasn’t happening. Weeks before I found out that the Little Fig was on the way, I noticed that I could not stay in a room cooler than 75 degrees without wearing a light jacket. Any cooler temperature than that, and I become so hyper-sensitive… So, every evening, I wear a light jacket before going to bed, and cover myself in lots of sheets before I sleep. Last night, though, I noticed that I had to take the jacket off.

Then, I checked the thermostat. The room temperature is usually set for 73 or 74 at night. It was 79.

I immediately put my shoes on, took the flashlight, and checked the air conditioning unit outside. It has been cranking like a machine that needs oil lately. The sig.other has been monitoring the situation for a while. But last night, the A.C. went bust. It still cranks, but gives zero cool.

I then wrote a note to the sig.other on the situation, so he would know in the morning why he slept sheet-less all night. I changed to the lightest cotton vest that I could, and then went to bed. The sig.other then opened his eyes, and looked at me with a bit of disdain: he thought I had the Victoria’s Secret look.

“Honey! At this hour?!?”

“No, I’m not provoking you. I’m going to bed like this.”

“Huh?”

Of course, I told him about the A.C.

Needless to say, he checked on the A.C. unit and realized that the compressor went bust. We spent the rest of the night sheet-less and flanked by fans.

Now, the temperature has reached 82 degrees. The A.C. repairman is coming here at 10 a.m. And Duchess, my most favorite fluffy feline in the whole wide world, is begging for scissors.

So there, here’s my home situation right now. I’m drinking water like it’s going out of style. I can’t return to bed, because the heat is unbearable. The irony of it all is that I should be used to it. I lived in Puerto Rico, where it gets hot and humid at the same time. I know the meaning of sleeping in hot weather with no A.C., but a useless fan. Yet, I’ve been spoiled here in the States.

And yet, I don’t feel that bad for the sig.other, the felines, or myself. Based upon the headlines this morning, I’m sure that certain somebody, whose name should be thankfully forgotten forever in the Eternal Economy, is now begging to be rescued from, not a room without A.C., but a burning hell that he had willingly invited himself into.

Problem is, there’s no iced water down there.

Addendum: Dr. Sanity said it in just a few words:

My spin: I’ll bet he didn’t expect “paradise” to be so hot.

Hee-hee-hee!

Another Addendum: The A.C. repairman arrived at about ten: the sig.other, too. The compressor has been fixed: the house is now cooling down, little by little. The sig.other is going to take the unit apart tonight and fix the fan.

Yet, both the repairman and the sig.other are anticipating that the unit will have to be replaced this coming winter.

Yep. We’re still in a much better position than that terrorist who’s roasting right now!

*** Cross-posted at Free Circuses. ***

The late Abu Musab Zarqawi goes to meet his 72 virgins.

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Al Qaeda-linked militant who led a bloody campaign of suicide bombings, kidnappings and hostage beheadings in Iraq, has been killed in a U.S. air raid north of Baghdad, Iraq’s prime minister said Thursday.

Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki said al-Zarqawi was killed along with seven aides Wednesday evening in a house 30 miles northeast of Baghdad in the volatile province of Diyala.

“Today, al-Zarqawi was eliminated,” al-Maliki told a news conference, drawing loud applause from reporters as he was flanked by U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and U.S. Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.

Al-Maliki said the air strike was the result of intelligence reports provided to Iraqi security forces by residents in the area, and U.S. forces acted on the information.

“Those who disrupt the course of life, like Al-Zarqawi, will have a tragic end,” he said.

Khalilzad added “the death of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi is a huge success for Iraq and the international war on terror.”

In London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Thursday the death of al-Qaida leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was a blow to the terror network.

“Today’s announcement was very good news because a blow to Al Qaeda in Iraq is a blow against Al Qaeda everywhere,” Blair told Cabinet members.

The prime minister also praised U.S. and coalition troops for their work in Iraq and its new democratically elected government.

The Jordanian-born militant, who is believed to have personally beheaded at least two American hostages, became Iraq’s most wanted militant, as notorious as Usama bin Laden, to whom he swore allegiance in 2004. The United States put a $25 million bounty on his head, the same as bin Laden.

In the past year, he moved his campaign beyond Iraq’s borders, claiming to have carried out a Nov. 9, 2005, triple suicide bombing against hotels in Amman, Jordan, that killed 60 people, as well as other attacks in Jordan and even a rocket attack from Lebanon into northern Israel.

U.S. forces and their allies came close to capturing Al-Zarqawi several times since his campaign began in mid-2003.

His closest brush may have come in late 2004. Deputy Interior Ministry Maj. Gen. Hussein Kamal said Iraqi security forces caught Al-Zarqawi near the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah but then released him because they didn’t realize who he was.

In May 2005, Web statements by his group said Al-Zarqawi had been wounded in fighting with Americans and was being treated in a hospital abroad — raising speculation over a successor among his lieutenants. But days later, a statement said Al-Zarqawi was fine and had returned to Iraq. There was never any independent confirmation of the reports of his wounding.

U.S. forces believe they just missed capturing Al-Zarqawi in a Feb. 20, 2005 raid in which troops closed in on his vehicle west of Baghdad near the Euphrates River. His driver and another associate were captured and Al-Zarqawi’s computer was seized along with pistols and ammunition.

U.S. troops twice launched massive invasions of Fallujah, the stronghold used by Al-Qaeda in Iraq fighters and other insurgents west of Baghdad. An April 2004 offensive left the city still in insurgent hands, but the October 2004 assault wrested it from them. However, Al -Zarqawi — if he was in the city — escaped.

Right now this is a breaking story. Positive identification of the body has been made. He is definitely dead. Please read the story.

He was killed in a safe house so somebody gave him up. It seems his little video of a few weeks ago helped intelligence agencies to determine where he was. Now the websites of the Arabs are talking about what a sad day this is. Not for me!

Captain’s Quarters is also blogging this story.

Update:
Looks dead to me.

Update 2 Berg’s Father Quoted:

DOVER, Del. — The father of Nicholas Berg, the kidnapped U.S. contractor who was believed to have been beheaded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq, said Thursday that he doesn’t see any good coming from al-Zarqawi’s death.

“I see more death coming out of al-Zarqawi’s death,” Michael Berg said.

Berg, a pacifist who is running for Delaware’s lone U.S. House seat on the Green Party ticket, said Zarqawi’s death is likely to foster anti-American resentment among Al Qaeda members who feel they have nothing left to lose

“Likely to foster anti-American resentment amoung Al Qaeda members…” Ummm, what exactly was it that caused this pig to slice off your son’s head with a dull knife? Link

newton adds: The Mudville Gazette adds one more thing, confirmed by Lt. Smash:

After the air strikes, CoalitionForces launched 17 raids against terrorist targets in Baghdad “within hours” of identifying Zarqawi, uncovering a “treasure trove” of intelligence information. The targets were previously being exploited to track Zarqawi’s movements. Now the Coalition is pushing rapidly to roll-up the al Qaeda network in Iraq.

A link to this should be available soon.

Hat tip: Vodkapundit.

Another addition from newton: You gotta love PowerLine’s headline: The Meeting Ended Early. Heh!

Cross-posted at Hang Right Politics

Welcome to readers of Bennings Writing Pad, the Anchoress and the Wide Awake Cafe. Take a look around and visit our sister site also, Hang Right Politics.

It used to be that films like The Ten Commandments were highly recommended and awarded.

Nowadays, if someone makes a film with Christian evangelistic overtones, you cannot count on the MPAA to give it a fair rating. And it gets better: it seems Christian evangelism is too much for those types.

The MPAA, noted Fuhr, tends to offer cryptic explanations for its ratings. In this case, she was told that it “decided that the movie was heavily laden with messages from one religion and that this might offend people from other religions. It’s important that they used the word ‘proselytizing’ when they talked about giving this movie a PG. …

“It is kind of interesting that faith has joined that list of deadly sins that the MPAA board wants to warn parents to worry about.”

The MPAA has long been in the can for Political Correctness and against Christianity. No surprise there. But how long before VeggieTales - of which I’m not a huge fan - is given a PG rating because it too preaches Christianity? Or worse: how about giving all Christian-themed movies an “R” rating, thus assuring Hollywood elites that no one ever gets to see the work of Christian filmmakers?

Go here to Cao’s Blog for a sign from God!

DO IT!

Hat tip: Musing Minds

A young woman who was left for dead near a highway as a newborn is now going to college.

The temperature outside on the night of Dec. 30, 1987, was 45 and dropping. Cold for most anyone, but perilous for a newborn baby girl wrapped in a towel and stuffed in a brown paper bag like trash.

She probably wasn’t meant to be found alive.

When Steve Gibbons, a California Highway Patrol officer, pulled off Interstate 280 to stop and stretch his legs, she was just hours old. Her temperature had plummeted to a dangerous 90 degrees. If she had been there much longer, she would have died near the intersection of Cañada and Edgewood roads in Redwood City.

But Gibbons heard the baby’s cry.

Read all of it. Have your Kleenex nearby.

*** Cross-posted at Free Circuses. ***

Remember what I said in my last post, regarding the all-too-real possibility of the role of our advanced human science in bringing forth the Man of Sin?

Our modern times are characterized by the exponential increase in knowledge, science, cultures and travel - exactly what was foretold to the Prophet Daniel as a sign that the Times of the End were at hand. (Sounds familiar?) We, in the United States, have restrictions on the things that we can do with some specific aspects of that knowledge - especially in research related to embryonic stem cells. Those ones fall within the realm of ethics. On the other hand, other developed countries don’t have those restrictions. More R & D funding is now reaching countries where once it was near impossible to develop anything in the realm of micro-science and nanotechnology - look at China, India, and Singapore. Many scientists are coming to the realization that, eventually, nothing will be impossible for them to do - exactly what God perceived in the true thinking of the people building the Tower of Babel.

It is not a matter of “if”, but a matter of “when.” The day is coming when science will say that “We can do anything we want!” and yet, will forget to ask “But, should we do it?”

Give it enough time, and something appears that you begin thinking, “Are you trying to tell me…?”

Harvard Researchers to Clone Human Embryos

Harvard-affiliated researchers said Tuesday they have begun efforts to create stem cells by cloning human embryos, joining the race among a small group of scientists in this controversial pursuit.

The work at Children’s Hospital Boston, the main pediatric teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, is aimed at eventually creating stem cells for treating blood diseases like sickle-cell anemia, leukemia and other blood disorders.

As noble as their intentions are, you have to wonder about that little saying, “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.”

Good and noble intentions - the improvement in the health and life expectancy of human beings, for example - are the greatest strength of our modern scientific research environment. They’re also our greatest weakness - in the Eternal Scheme of things. Remember that the intentions of the first Man and Woman was to “improve their lot”. We seek to improve our lot every single day… but what are the limits? Would there be a time when there will be no moral/ethical/spiritual limits and constraints to this ever-consuming search for the ultimate improvement of the human race?

I wonder…

Today I’m supposed to have an appointment with my psychiatrist to get my meds checked and refilled. I’m not sure I’m going to make it because the old left foot is bothering me after shedding quite a bit of skin. (Sometimes I feel like a snake ) I’ll call him and get the scripts refilled and then see him at a later date.

Tomorrow my beloved has carpal tunnel surgery scheduled for his right hand at 6:15 AM so I will be at the outpatient surgery hospital until I bring him home. Depending on how awake he is we may or may not attend Wednesday night services.

Today “L” has a brain scan at 11:30 CT, and I ask for everyone to be in prayer for her that the tumors have not increased in size.

That’s it and I’ll get back with you as soon as possible. Now read the thread below this and get a blessing as well as a lesson.

For the longest time, I have believed that the spiritual realm - those principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world that the Apostle Paul talked about to the Ephesians - is real, and I still do. Yet, I have learned, over the years, to differentiate between what’s real and what’s hocus-pocus - superstition.

Just a half an hour ago, I took a quick trip to Wal-Mart for a pint of cookies-and-cream ice cream (the sig.other gets a pint of strawberry ice cream, to give him a reason to be happy when I make these little trips). As I drove down the road, away from Wal-Mart and back home, I took a look at my little town’s budding, barely six-month-old movie theatre. (It is a very comfortable place: stadium seating, plump and comfortable, recliner-looking chairs, great visuals, great sound, among the cheapest price you pay for a ticket in the Corpus Christi area.) I noticed that the theatre was a bit… shall we say… full.

Then, I looked at the film posters in the front area. I noticed one that was red and black. Mind you, I wasn’t close enough to see what that poster was about. But, even driving home from Wal-Mart, I recognized it immediately: Matt Drudge had shown the self-same poster on his site a while back. It was the promotional poster for the one film that I swore, at age 9, after having seen it once, to never see again, for as long as I live: The Omen.

I still remember my reaction as a nine-year old, when I watched it: chills through my spine; fear; a sleepless night or two. I wonder why my mother allowed for me to watch it in the first place.

Then, I remembered: tomorrow is the “It” date for Omen afficionados, and for those who hold a date of that magnitude a terrible… omen.

Now, there are better reasons to remember this date in particular. It is the sixty-second anniversary of D-Day, the major battle of the Europen Theatre that became the beginning of the end for the Nazi occupation of Europe. So many Allied soldiers died sixty-two years ago on this date, in order to free the continent and the world from a man who definitely had the spirit of Antichrist that the Apostle John talked about. No, there was no need to check Adolph Hitler’s scalp for the identifying mark. Actions speak much louder than any visible sign, IMHO. (Thanks to Varifrank for reminding us what’s really important on a day like this.)

After much thinking on the matter of the Mark of the Beast - and the whole hoopla that has accompanied it for centuries, and especially the years after the release of films such as this one and Rosemary’s Baby, - I have come to the conclusion that those who have given it a hige deal on film don’t get it. They have picked something out of Scripture and have made a whole speculation out of it… which is not different from what LaHaye and Jenkins have done in the Left Behind series. Making conjectures and theories as to what’s going to happen in the time before the Second Coming of Our Lord and Savior is not confined to this century. But I marvel at how so many people seem to drive themselves into explanations that, in the end, indicate exactly what Jesus told the Saducees a long time ago in response to a trick question they gave Him concerning the Resurrection of the Dead:

Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.

(more…)

This Lubbock baby is now back with her parents, and the woman who abducted her is now in custody.

When I checked the article above, I also took a look at the pictures. The parents of the little girl are so… (shall I say it?)… young! Barely teens, from the way they look…

I must remember that South TX, where I live, has the highest rate of teen pregnancies in the entire state. I don’t walk through a store or supermarket without noticing the young’uns with… young’uns. And many of these young’uns are barely above 15 or 16.

I believe more education in matters of planning a better future for yourself and yours should be clearly emphasized, especially to our teenage girls. The need for focus on their futures as productive members of society is greater than ever before. You cannot live in illusions of teen love alone. The teen years pass rather quickly. They’re not the time to put a monkey wrench on the rest of your life because of an illusion.

I hope that little girl learns to focus on a better future for herself as she grows.

Now this is an interesting turn of events.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Monday he will call a referendum on a plan implicitly recognizing
Israel after he failed to persuade Hamas to agree to the idea.

The referendum will go directly to the Palestinian people rather than Hamas. The results would be non-binding, but it may put pressure on Hamas to recognize Israel.

Many Palestinians are uneasy about the referendum, though polls show the document would be approved easily.

In Gaza, Mohammed Abu Seido, 30, a coffee shop cashier, said he would vote for the document, but he worried that Hamas would react with violence if it is approved.

“Hamas is already failing,” he said.

The Palestinians have never held a referendum before, and officials said the vote would not be binding. But passing the referendum could give Abbas an important boost in his standoff with Hamas.

I wonder if democracy will work. Stay tuned.

Article here.

First, she forgets her contraceptive while playing around with her husband. Next, she goes nuts about finding an emergency contraceptive. Then, she has an abortion - a baby concieved within marriage, which both can support, BTW.

Then, she blames it on the President. The President!

Is that a non-sequitur or what?

Worst: she whines about it in the Washington Post. And, since she knows she’s whining like Tippie, my psychotic cat, she conceals her name. Oh, “for privacy reasons”, of course.

Here’s pregnant newton’s take: boo-hoo!

I must confess: I wasn’t expecting the Little Fig to come. We weren’t planning for the Little Fig. In fact, we weren’t even trying. Yet, when we both realized that the Little Fig is a fact, there was no question as to what to do. This was not an “inconvenient”. This is our child. This is not a property that you can dispose of whichever way you please. It is a gift from God. If He gives it, don’t refuse it. Be thankful for it.

If the contraceptive or the “slip-ups” fail, there’s always a 50/50 chance. When the extra line appears on the pregnancy test, it’s Game Over.

Did I go nuts to find the number for the local RU-486 dispenser? Or the abortion doctor? Did I even think of getting the “emergency contraceptive” - which, let’s be brutaly honest here - it’s an overdose of birth-control pills rolled into one little convenient package? A very potent abortifacient? (Remember: I’ve been at “feminism central.” It is no secret to me.)

I knew that in this, there was no question or complaint that would make it different. That was it. No more games. Besides, isn’t that the ultimate purpose of marriage? I, who doesn’t have a legal education, understand it quite clearly.

When I read pieces by women like her, I have no other recourse than to say to myself, “newton, you could have worked for and gained a whole lot, and even have “the world” at your disposal, but at the cost of your own soul… your own natural affections. That woman could have been you.”

Yes, people: I could have been as selfish as her… and blame my missteps on somebody else who doesn’t even know me! Was the President supposed to have given her a truck-full of diaphragms, or birth-control pills? Should he please every little whim she has?

She only elicits one feeling: pity. Pity, because she will never know the joy of having that little creature in her life. But again, maybe the little creature is most fortunate: he/she will never get to spend life tied by blood to someone as self-centered as her.

Wonder if her husband reads the Washington Post… I wonder what his opinion is… He’s 50 percent of the baby-making deal, remember?

Maybe she wants to say now, “Maybe he should have gotten a vasectomy…” Hey, woman: how about the “vasecto-you”? But don’t question her motives or intentions. Oh, no, no, no, no!

*** Cross-posted at Hang Right Politics and Free Circuses. ***

From Chambers’ My Utmost For His Highest:

What line of thinking do my thoughts take? Do I turn to what God says or to my own fears? Am I simply repeating what God says, or am I learning to truly hear Him and then to respond after I have heard what He says? “For He Himself has said ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper, I will not fear. What can man do to me?’ ” (Hebrews 13: 3-5)

“I will never leave you…” - not for any reason; not my sin, selfishness, stubbornness, nor waywardness. Have I really let God say to me that He will never leave me? If I have not truly heard this assurance of God, then let me listen again.

“I will never … forsake you.” Sometimes it is not the difficulty of life but the drudgery of it that makes me think God will forsake me. When there is no major difficulty to overcome, no vision from God, nothing wonderful or beautiful — just the everyday activities of life — do I hear God’s assurance even in these?

We have the idea that God is going to do some exceptional thing — that He is preparing us and equipping us for some extraordinary work in the future. But as we grow in His grace we find that God is glorifying Himself here and now, at this very moment. If we have God’s assurance behind us, the most amazing strength becomes ours, and we learn to sing, glorifying Him even in the ordinary days and ways of life.

Marvelous wisdom in those words! Today the whirlwind encircles me - I was looking for the eye of the storm when I found that my little daily devotional was there to give it to me. Sometimes it isn’t the big catastrophe that brings us low, it’s the sum of several small things, the weight of each not unbearable, but thrown all at once are insupportable. God’s voice is reminding me that He has not forsaken me.

Back to the drawing board. I must reassess these ordinary things, put them into the perspective God has instructed and praise Him for the hope and peace that He has given me in the center of the storm. Thanks be to God - His love is everlasting.