Tashbih Sayyed Agrees With Me

Again, maybe I'm not alone after all.

From a column at NRO today:

.... While the overwhelming majority of Jews, over 70 percent according to opinion polls, have gradually come to recognize a Palestinian right to self-determination, the Palestinian national movement continues to this day to oppose Jewish self-determination. The Hamas Charter and Hezbollah's literature make no secret of their desire to destroy the Jewish state. Arafat clearly makes common cause with Hamas, not least by authorizing his Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade to participate with Hamas in terrorist operations. Even the new Palestinian Authority prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, dares not say he accepts Israel as a Jewish state.

To create a Palestinian state before this mindset is changed can only ensure that the new state will be yet another terrorist sponsor. And that will have much broader consequences than merely empowering Palestinians to continue their genocidal campaign against Jews in the Middle East. Such a victory would galvanize Islamist terrorist movements worldwide....

If Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims worldwide see a Palestinian state created before the terrorist movements and extremist ideologies are discredited and defeated, they will be convinced that terrorism succeeds where other approaches have failed. That can only engender more terrorism, directed not only at Israel but also at the United States and the rest of the free world.

See my Diana West Seems to Agree With Me and my Roadmap to Terrorism?

(Thanks, Charles.)

P.S. Charles Johnson agrees with me, too:

At NRO, Tashbih Sayyed makes what would seem to be an obvious point — that rewarding Palestinians with a state before they have done anything to renounce terrorism as a tactic to destroy Israel would only engender more terrorism: Defeat Terrorism First. It seems obvious, yet much of the world is in total denial of this simple fact; so it needs to be said again and again to overcome the blindness....

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Wed. 06/18/03 06:53:20 PM
Categorized as International.

Capitulation to the Zeitgeist

Catholics can take some small, cold comfort from seeing that the Episcopalians are always a few steps ahead — formally and officially, too — of the most over-the-top Catholics. Episcoplian blogger Christopher Johnson sums things up quite neatly, yesterday:

.... To sum up, the Episcopal Church's approach to evangelism seems to run as follows: if you're an immigrant we'd really love to have you. And if you don't feel like becoming an American, it's no skin off our backs. We think this country blows too. So we'll write services, hymns and anything else you want in your own language. But if you're white, we think you suck so why don't you try that Southern Baptist church over there. It's filled with racists just like you.

Of course, lots and lots of Catholic clergy and religious look longingly at the ECUSA and the direction it has been taking. The honest among them jump ship; the others stay aboard and try their best to mess with the rudder when they think nobody's looking.

P.S. I thought I should make it explicit that the reference to "lots and lots of Catholic clergy and religious" by no means excludes bishops.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Wed. 06/18/03 03:55:58 PM
Categorized as Religious.

"Hit and Run Liberals"

One could hardly say it better than does George Neumayr at The Spectator today:

Phoenix Bishop Thomas O'Brien's hit-and-run incident is a metaphor for the America Catholic Church under limousine liberals. It speaks of "social justice," then leaves a trail of victims in its wake. It calls for "responsibility," then shirks it with surreal cravenness.

A carpenter is left to bleed to death while the bishop who hit him speeds away in a luxury car. This is an apt image for a liberal club that preaches a Christianity indifferent to Christ the carpenter -- a Christianity so flabby, secularized and morally empty that it barely aspires to the philosophy and holiness of Chappaquiddick Ted Kennedy.

Let us make the obvious point: O'Brien did starkly what the Mahonys of the American church do subtly. They, too, create the most hapless of victims, then sprint for the high grass. They witness life-altering accidents but don't bother to call the cops....

Nor is it surprising that in this hit-and-run ecclesiastical culture Frank Keating is intolerable. Didn't he know Cardinal Mahony wanted a lapdog not a watchdog? Didn't he know that the bishops set up the sex abuse review panel to save their own skin? Keating was altogether the wrong man for the job. He told the truth, and that's too "off the wall" for the Mahonys of the church to handle. The men who have shredded the credibility of the church decided he lacked the requisite credibility for the job. They stay, he goes.

While they puffed and pouted about Keating's comparison of their conduct to "La Cosa Nostra" -- and angled against him because he had violated their unspoken wishes, thereby confirming his comments -- a protected member of their club plowed down a pedestrian and kept driving. Only to wonder later, with a casualness that would make a mafioso proud, if he had struck a "dog" or "cat."

"As I have recently said, and have repeated on several occasions, our church is a Faith institution. A home to Christ's people. It is not a criminal enterprise. It does not condone and cover up criminal activity. It does not follow a code of silence. My remarks, which some bishops found offensive, were deadly accurate. I make no apology," Keating wrote in a parting letter.

He needn't apologize. As the carriage carrying corrupt clerics tramples on peasants, the "deadly accuracy" of his criticism is obvious to all.

(Thanks, Amy.)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Wed. 06/18/03 11:48:18 AM
Categorized as Religious.

"Canada to Allow Same-Sex Marriage"

As reported in this AP story in The Washington Post. Note how the closest thing to a dissenting viewpoint is a sneering dismissal of any dissenting viewpoint. And don't miss the condescending mini-lecture at the end. I have seldom read a more one-sided article.

(Thanks, Fr. Wilson.)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Wed. 06/18/03 11:43:11 AM
Categorized as Media.

Subversive Traitors Defend Abject Capitulation to the Zeitgeist

Big goings-on in the Church of Minneapolis-St. Paul, as reported in this article in the Star-Tribune today:

Archbishop Harry Flynn held a 55-minute closed meeting Tuesday with the leaders of St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, a highly unusual gathering that focused on the parish's approach to doctrine, specifically homosexuality....

The Rev. George Wertin, St. Joan's pastor, declined to comment, but one of the parish council members, Raymond Spack, said, "He [Flynn] listened. The archdiocese has set the process in motion of listening and dialoguing and clarifying." ....

In a carefully worded message in last Sunday's bulletin, Wertin wrote, "We want to reaffirm to the Archbishop our commitment to faithfully proclaiming the Gospel and breaking open the Word of God at our Sunday liturgy." ....

Gee, Father. That's a mighty vague commitment. It sounds like something Benny Hinn could say. How about the other, more specific, commitments you have made?

.... to discharge without fail the office of priesthood in the presbyteral order as conscientious fellow workers with the bishops in caring for the Lord's flock.... to celebrate the mysteries of Christ faithfully and religiously as the Church has handed them down to us, for the glory of God and the santification of Christ's people.... to exercise the ministry of the word worthily and wisely, preaching the Gospel and explaining the Catholic faith.... (from the Examination of Candidates for the Priesthood during the Ordination Mass)

And don't forget that promise of obedience to your bishop.

Oh. Sorry. You've probably outgrown all that old-fashioned crap.

(Thanks, Mark.)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Wed. 06/18/03 09:58:29 AM
Categorized as Most Notable & Religious.

"Germans Likely to Visit France"

"A similar trend was noticed 63 years ago."

LOL.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Wed. 06/18/03 07:44:10 AM
Categorized as International.