The week ahead

From the Economist
THE extent of America’s economic woes will become clearer with the release of first quarter GDP figures on Wednesday April 30th. They are likely to show that the economy contracted in the first three months of 2008, perhaps by around 0.5% compared with a year ago. The Federal Reserve concludes a two-day meeting on Wednesday and is widely expected to announce a cut in interest rates of at least a quarter of a percentage point and perhaps half a point. Further economic stimulus will come in the shape of tax-rebate cheques that will be posted out by America’s Internal Revenue Service on May 2nd. more

Bill’s Wife Eye

From the American Spectator
Citing President Bush’s recent cameo appearance on NBC’s “Deal or No Deal,” former President Bill Clinton today suggested that his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, might want to appear on a network show, too, “like, I dunno, maybe ‘Wife Swap’ or something, you know, just to mix it up.”Speaking to a crowd in Evansville, Ind., before the Indiana primary, Clinton said he saw the reaction President Bush got when his face popped up on the video screen on “Deal or No Deal,” and he thought his wife might generate a similarly positive reaction were she to switch places with Sen. Osama’s “very attractive” wife, Michelle, for a week. (more)

"Are the Gospels Myth?"

Good article from Ignatius
…Merkley observed that those skeptics who either scoff at the historical reliability of the Gospels or reject them outright as “myth” do so without much, if any, regard for the nature of history in general and the contents of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in particular.
The Distinctive Sign
So, are the four Gospels “myth”? Can they be trusted as historical records? If Christianity is about “having faith,” do such questions really matter? The latter question is, I hope, easy to answer: Yes, it obviously matters very much if the narratives and discourses recorded by the four evangelists are about real people and historical events…. more

Some Notes on Diction

Over at Touchstone a discussion on the difference between enormous and enormity and what “begging the question” really means and why it might matter, summed up nicely like this:
But people who suspect the Spirit of the Age encourages loose thinking in one area to put his subjects in practice for the same in another are, I think, on to something. Those who are concerned with getting their grammar right are not necessarily obsessives or antiquarians. They may intuit that the mind in love with virtue, so willing to name sin and error, is in some way related to that which is uncomfortable with barbarism. To equate the two is a mistake–but not to relate them. The trick is in understanding the nature of the relation. (go to the blog here for the rest)

McLaren Advocates "Rethinking" Second Coming

From STR:
“When a Christian understands that he does not fight for his own honor, but that justice will be done by God, either through union with Christ and His cross or at the judgment itself, the Christian is freed then to trust God, not his sword or his gun or his fists or his tongue,” he said. “It is McLaren’s vision of a life that consists only of the justice achieved in this era that leads to violence and Darwinian struggle to see that a pound of flesh is exacted.” (More)

Poland Pressured on Abortion and Sexual Orientation by UN Human Rights Committee

Let’s pray that the moral clarity of Poland spreads like wildfire to the rest of the world badly in need…
From LifeSite:
Canada pushes Poland to advance homosexual rights.
WASHINGTON, DC, April 24, 2008 (C-FAM.org)- The government of Poland was pressed on the issue of abortion and sexual orientation by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva last week. The grilling came during something called the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a process mandated by the UN General Assembly.
At the meeting on April 14th, the Polish delegation was questioned by various members of the committee about Poland’s human rights record. Norway said that Poland should “facilitate access to abortion for women who qualify for this under Polish law.” Slovenia, the United Kingdom and Sweden pushed for sexual orientation to be one of the grounds for non-discrimination in the new equality law being debated in the Polish parliament. Slovenia recommended that Poland stop legislation “punishing anyone who promotes homosexuality…in education…”. Canada said that “those who campaign for equality and against discrimination based on perceived sexual orientation, (should be) allowed to carry out their work in a secure environment…” (more)

Rev. Wright: I’m the Target of Hatred

You must be kidding. If you’re gonna say such things at least be man enough take the heat from those who find it out of line.
From Newsmax:
NEW YORK — The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, former pastor to Barack Obama, said that publicizing sound bites of sermons in which he condemned U.S. policies was “unfair” and “devious,” and done by people who know nothing about his church, according to excerpts of a PBS interview released Thursday.
Wright said that, as an activist, he is accustomed to being “at odds with the establishment,” but the response to the sermons has been “very, very unsettling.” (more)

Is Media Missing Another Unsavory Obama Associate? Official Blogger a Communist?

Newsbusters:
The list of Barack Obama associates that hold views that clash with mainstream America is getting longer every day and now we can add another notch in the “anti-American” column of Obama campaign workers and supporters. This time we find that the Obama campaign’s official blogger, Sam Graham-Felsen, has spent time in France participating in labor riots, has written for a socialist magazine, hung a communist flag in his home, and was a fan of Marx while at Harvard. (more)

A curious case of nuclear intrigue

From the Economist:
WHAT did Israel bomb in Syria last year? What did the Israelis know, and how did they know it? And why did American administration officials present Israel’s intelligence to members of Congress in a closed-door briefing on Thursday April 24th? As many questions swirl around the politics of the moment as around the facts of the Israeli attack.
About all that is certain is that on September 6th Israeli jets destroyed a target near the town of Deir ez-Zor in Syria. The Syrians protested, but initially said that the bombs had fallen on farmland or on unimportant military buildings. Israel and America, at first, maintained a smug silence but it gradually emerged that the Israelis believed they had destroyed a partially built nuclear reactor and, moreover, one that North Korea was helping to construct. The Syrians have since acted guiltily, building over the site and preventing international inspectors from visiting. (full story)

Taliban commander calls for ceasefire in Pakistan border area

Of course that is the way of Islam- a cease fire is only a time to re-group and only if not in a position of strength. Let’s hope I’m wrong.

From the UK Guardian:
A senior Taliban commander in Pakistan’s tribal areas has declared a ceasefire as part of secret peace talks with the new civilian-led government.
Baitullah Mehsud has boasted of training legions of suicide bombers and has been accused of orchestrating the assassination of Benazir Bhutto last December.
Now he has posted leaflets across his mountain redoubt in the lawless South Waziristan tribal area, ordering fighters to halt attacks on Pakistani security forces or face severe punishment.
The pause is a triumph for Yusuf Raza Gilani’s new government, which has promised to tackle militancy through dialogue, in contrast with President Pervez Musharraf’s iron-fisted approach, which failed to stem a wave of violence that has killed hundreds in the past year. But analysts and American officials reacted coolly to the news, fearing the militants would use the ceasefire as an excuse to re-arm and intensify attacks into Afghanistan. “We have been concerned about these types of approaches because we don’t think they work,” said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. (full story)