Blogworthies XXVII

Because The Blog from the Core simply can't cover everything.

Noteworthy entries @ Captain's Quarters, The Mighty Barrister, Thrown Back, Hoystory.com, Discriminations, Power Line, Thrown Back (again), Catholic and Enjoying It, Belmont Club, GetReligion, Chronicle of the Conspiracy, Catholic Analysis, QandO, GetReligion (again), Dust in the Light, Power Line, BeldarBlog, and Cor ad cor loquitur.

Did David Alston Ever Serve On Kerry's Swift Boat? @ Captain's Quarters:

Swiftvet and CQ reader Tom "River Rat" Mortensen sent me an article that he also sent to media outlets as part of the campaign to reveal the truth about Kerry's service in Viet Nam. Much has been made about the Swiftvets not having served on John Kerry's boat, except for Stephen Gardner, who has been a tireless advocate for SBVT. Kerry's campaign keeps pointing to the men who sailed with Kerry on PCF-44 and PCF-94. One of them, David Alston, spoke at the Democratic convention in support of Kerry and remarked constantly about their service together....

Apologizing For Apologists @ The Mighty Barrister (emphasis in original):

Over the course of her last several posts Dawn Eden relates some excellent examples of poor witnesses to the Catholic faith, and gives us a well-needed lesson on how not to evangelize.

Dawn recently went on a “Chesterton Pilgrimage” to England to soak up some of the sights and history associated with G. K. Chesterton, renowned Catholic author and commentator. She was the only non-Catholic on this trip....

Christ Makes Us Worthy @ Thrown Back:

My friend, Fr. Brian Stanley, reacted about as strongly to some comments on women's ordination and "modern priestly formstion" over at Amy Welborn's blog as I did Tuesday. Fr. Stanley sent me the following note, with his observations on the matter: ....

Silence of the Libs @ Hoystory.com:

Last month Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (aka FAIR) came out with a report entitled: "Still Failing the 'Fair and Balanced' Test."

The report is an indictment of Fox News' main nightly news show, "Special Report with Brit Hume," for featuring very few liberals in the news interview portion of the program.

One interesting thing is that FAIR uses the term "liberal" only once in the story and its two sidebars to describe liberals — the remainder of the time it refers to "progressives" or people who are "left-of-center." (It does refer to the "liberal media" in the appropriate scare quotes.)

A couple of things to think about when it comes to Fox News and liberals nowadays....

Is Kerry Lying? Who Cares? Or, Déjà Vu All Over Again @ Discriminations (quoted ellipsis in original):

Given the power of the Swift Boat Veterans' criticisms of Kerry's war record, his "Bring it on!" invitation to make an issue of his national security credentials is beginning to seem like a re-run of Gary Hart's famous invitation to the press in 1987 to "follow me around... it will be boring.'' But it also reminds me of another scandal that emerged, or didn't, during a presidential campaign....

John and Elvis's excellent adventure? @ Power Line:

From a reader whose email address does not closely match that of the purported sender, we have received the following message: ....

"My Grace Is Sufficient For Thee" @ Thrown Back:

I would have preferred to narrate the following experience according to the promptings of a spirit of peaceful reflection or the like. But recent events have induced me to relate it in almost a spirit of self-defense, or perhaps more importantly, in a spirit of defense of the priesthood, as it is and has been understood by the Church, and lived out by some of the best men I know: the priests whom I attended seminary with and are products of "modern" priestly formation.

I have been reticent about sharing the following, except with a few close friends, because intense spiritual experiences, experiences which hindsight reveals to be turning points in one's life, are initimate matters. To reveal them too widely risks a sort of spiritual nakedness, which can perhaps render one more vulnerable than the physical variety. I am also reluctant to share this because I do not want to be seen as "tooting my own horn"....

My Atheist Readers and the Prophet Chesterton @ Catholic and Enjoying It:

Whenever I talk about the extreme over-simplicities of atheism and its tendency to try to resolve the problem of evil by dissolving the humanity and sacredness of those who suffer evil (for that is inevitably what "Everything is just a mindless meaningless accident" boils down to: the categorical declaration that those we love are meaningless)....

World War 3 @ Belmont Club:

The US is rolling on three fronts....

New York Times visits Mizzoo red pews: And the blue? @ GetReligion:

David D. Kirkpatrick is back, with another scary story on the "issues that moral conservatives argue about" beat at the New York Times.

This report — entitled "Churches See an Election Role and Spread the Word on Bush" — is an example of an interesting trend on this beat. This story includes no reaction whatsoever from voices on the religious and cultural left. You read that right, with one possible interesting exception, Kirkpatrick has built an entire report in the Times on voices from the right....

Kill Bill? No, Paul is Dead @ Chronicle of the Conspiracy:

There could only have been two possible outcomes when the arch-shockpundits of the left and the right, Paul Krugman and Bill O'Reilly, met on Tim Russert's CNBC show for a televised showdown. It was either going to be The Beatles, or Quentin Tarantino — "Paul is dead," or "Kill Bill."

It was the former, I'm happy to report. Bill O'Reilly didn't just win the debate. He cut out Paul Krugman's heart and stomped on it. Welcome, Bill O'Reilly, to the Krugman Truth Squad....

Spoiled Nation @ Catholic Analysis:

As a former economics professor, I cannot help but comment on the exaggerated, shrill, and unfounded pessimism surrounding the latest employment figures for July. We live in a world where it is common for other countries to have unemployment rates in the double digits. In many developing nations, starvation for large segments of the population is a routine reality. Thousands still do whatever they have to — cross the Rio Grande, sail off in makeshift boats through shark-infested waters, even stowaway in ships or planes — to come to the United States....

Fact Checking FactCheck.org @ QandO:

The usually reliable FactCheck.org sent out a release concerning the Kerry medal flap which I can only characterize as incomplete, if I chose to be kind about it. It pertains to the ad the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have been playing in battleground states....

Talking about the power of faith, with "anonymous" at the CIA @ GetReligion:

I have been dealing with the side effects of a computer crash for some time now at home, yet another sign that this is a fallen world and that Microsoft may have played some role in events at the Tower of Babel.

But I digress. Several items that I meant to blog some time ago were locked up and I couldn't get to them. But I still think they are worth noting, because of ties into several ongoing threads here at GetReligion.

The first is a quote appearing near the end of a USA Today interview with Michael Scheuer, who is also known as "anonymous." Scheuer is a CIA terrorism expert who, at the insistence of the agency, does not use his own name when he writes. This 23-year veteran in the war on terror directed research into the life and work of Osama bin Laden from 1996 to 1999 and his most recent book is entitled "Imperial Hubris." ....

A Different World Behind the Same Eyes... and Others' @ Dust in the Light:

I was blessed, yesterday, to slip into a much-needed reminder of the human reality in which disagreements must be resolved. The experience through which it came is probably one that many people will find familiar, but for all I know, it'll represent one more reason for readers to think me odd. (Truth often merits a bit of both reactions, anyway.) ....

Celebrities, Theirs and Ours @ Power Line:

This news item caught my eye, and caused me to meditate on the intellectual firepower of the contemporary celebrity: ....

What the other Swifties say about Kerry; and another type of "war story" about Beldar's courtroom cross-examination of one of those Swifties @ BeldarBlog:

Those favorably influenced by the glowing tributes to former Navy Lt. John F. Kerry at last week's Democratic National Convention may also wish to hear from some of the other veterans who served with him on the Swift Boats in Vietnam....

Reply to Pastor Steve Schlissel's Reflections on "Romanism" @ Cor ad cor loquitur:

See his article....

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sat. 08/14/04 07:13:58 AM
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