Leftist Protester Roundup

• Joshua Claybourn has this picture of the possible future of America. And it ain’t pretty either.
• Little Green Footballs has this picture of some Spanish “peace” protesters. Their sign says “No War” but yet they're wearing fake homicide bomber belts. There you have “pacifist” hypocrisy wrapped up with a neat little bow.
• Mean Dean at blogs4God has a great essay on the protesters who came to DC this weekend. He perfectly nails the selfishness and immaturity of these supposedly “socially conscious” people.
• Old Oligarch posts a very interesting memoir of similar protests from a couple of years ago.

A Devastating Response

Since this has been linked on InstaPundit and Spleenville, it's probably redundant for me to link it here. But I'm going to do it anyway for my own reference and because it's just so powerful: Big S Blog - A Silent Fisking

Post-Storm Update

I didn't lose power this time, probably because T.S. Hanna had already blown down all the weak tree limbs around the power lines. However, it looks like the roof may be leaking in my dining room. *sigh*

It Is Time for Stormy Weather

Well, it wouldn't be fall on the Gulf Coast without a hurricane/tropical storm or two. A couple of weeks ago, Tropical Storm Hanna blew through, knocking out my power for six and a half hours. That wasn't so bad, though, considering I've been without power as long as six days before.

Now, it's Tropical Storm Isidore. The center will come ashore in Louisiana. But since the Florida Panhandle is on the eastern side of the storm, we've been getting a lot of bad weather. It's been raining nearly constantly all day -- about six inches so far. The rain is accompanied by lots of wind, making umbrellas nearly useless. I'm sure we'll continue to get heavy rain and wind for another day or so.

At least Isidore didn't regain its strength enough to become a hurricane (or at least not yet). Even less powerful hurricanes can cause quite a bit of damage. The thing we all dread here is The Big One -- a category 4 or 5 hurricane. Mostly, I see these storms as an inconvenience -- they knock out the power and make a mess. However, I would be truly afraid of a category 4 or 5.

I wonder if we'll have to worry about Tropical Storm Lili a week or two from now...

This sounds about right...

Which Computer Component Are you?

(Via E-Pression.)

Bizarre Things I’ve Seen on the Web Lately

Maybe I’ll make this a regular feature on this blog...

Here’s some “good, old-fashioned nightmare fuel,” courtesy of this page.

Then there's the latest in Arab radical chic.

About "Cheap Grace"

Regarding that Jacoby column...he mentioned what Dietrich Bonhoeffer (one of my heroes, by the way) called “cheap grace”. I could very well be wrong, but I think that “cheap grace” applies more to how an individual looks at his own sinfulness than how he looks at others’ sins. For example, someone who sins without any real repentance because he thinks, “well, God will forgive me,” believes in cheap grace.

Forgiveness and Mercy

I know I'm a little late with this subject, but so what.

The subject is the one brought up by this Jeff Jacoby column, which was linked by Rod Dreher on NRO's The Corner. I have to admit, I was offended at Pope John Paul II for praying for mercy and forgiveness for the 9/11 terrorists. I'll quote from Jacoby's column because it summed up my thoughts perfectly:

[F]orgiveness must be earned. It is no part of Christian compassion (or Jewish or Muslim compassion) that forgiveness be extended automatically, no strings attached, to someone who has committed a terrible sin. There is a term for the notion that forgiveness is a freebie that sinners are entitled to as a matter of right: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Protestant theologian killed by the Nazis, called it ''cheap grace.''

Yet countless Christians embrace cheap grace. They believe their religion requires them to forgive every offense and pray for every offender, no matter what the offender did or whether he wants to be forgiven. No crime is too heinous, no cruelty too monstrous, to qualify for this instant absolution.

I agreed with Jacoby that the prayer was an affront, because the Pope was asking God to forgive and have mercy on unrepentant people. That sounds very unjust. To me, it seems wimpy and weak to forgive people who are unrepentant. It seems to be a way of excusing their behavior and allowing them to continue in that behavior without making them accountable. It often seems like mercy is in conflict with justice.

But I'm wrong.

I refused to accept that at first. I read a lot of commentary disagreeing with Jacoby, but none of it was very convincing. And then this post by Mark Shea got through to me. He's right. And what he says about embittered people who never forgive rings true to me because I know people like that.

Understanding what forgiveness is has always been a difficulty for me. But I think I'm a little closer to understanding it now. I'm no longer offended by the Pope's prayer. However, I'm not able to pray the same thing myself. Not yet. Hopefully, someday I'll be able to.

Speaking of Farscape...

What Farscape Character are you?

Can Farscape be saved?

I should have known this would happen. Every TV show I take a liking to gets canceled.

(Via Blogcritics.)

No, I won't "get over it".

I don't know why I bother with reading letters to the editor in my local paper. There is always something that makes my grumpy mornings grumpier. Here's an example, which appeared in today's paper:

Get over it

How long is America going to milk the 9/11 cow? Give it a rest. For years, New York has boasted of being the toughest, baddest, hardest city in the world, yet as soon as it gets its nose bloodied it is whining and crying for sympathy. Well, boo hoo hoo!

I don't recall NYC showing much sympathy, support or financial aid for Homestead after Hurricane Andrew or San Fransico after the earthquake or the small western towns threatened or destroyed by forest fires or North Carolina towns destroyed by floods. NYC is raking in millions by playing the patriot card and people are falling for it hook, line and sinker. How pathetic.

Had the planes on 9/11 hit buildings in Dallas, Atlanta or Los Angeles I am sure the response from NYC would have been "Yo, it's a building, get over it". Hey NYC, if you want to have an attitude, that's fine, just quit the whining and "get over it."

And for those of you that think that 9/11 was the biggest event in your life, get a life! - Robert Collins, Pensacola

Where do I begin? First of all, 9/11 was not just something that affected New Yorkers. He seems to have forgotten about the Pentagon and the people on the planes. Also, the people killed in those buildings and on those planes had family and loved ones all over the country and all over the world.

Second, there is a monster difference between people being tragically killed in a hurricane, earthquake, other act of God, or even a terrible accident, and people being deliberately slaughtered by enemies of our country. This is why most American’s can’t just “get over” 9/11, even if they didn’t lose anyone they knew or loved. It was an act of war. It affects all of us, whether we like it or not.

As for Mr. Collins urging those of us who believe this way to “get a life”, I suggest that he get a clue, get some decency, and get a soul.

In the same vein, here are some soul[less]mates for Mr. Collins: Jill Stewart, writer of this column (via “Jane Galt”) and the thinkers of “Forbidden Thoughts” (via Damian Penny).

In Remembrance

9/11/01

September 11, 2001 started as just another ordinary day for me. I got out of bed, grumpy as usual, because I'm not a morning person. I got my breakfast of orange juice and a banana, looked at the paper, and turned on the TV to MSNBC to watch a little of Imus.

Except, this time, Imus wasn't on. Instead, was a shot of the WTC, with one of the towers pouring smoke. My mother, who lives with me, came in the living room and saw it too. They said a plane hit the building. We both assumed it was a terrible accident.

After a couple of minutes, I caught a glimpse of a fireball erupting from the other tower. I heard them say that a plane hit the other tower and they replayed it. It was obvious then what was happening. I yelled to my mother, who was now in another part of the house, and told her a plane just hit the other tower, that it was a terrorist attack.

I remember praying for the people in the buildings, praying that they would be able to get out. At the time, I didn't know the planes were passenger planes.

Numb and on autopilot, I went to go take my shower and get dressed. I was already running late as it was.

When I got out of the shower, I heard about the Pentagon. I was also horrified to find out passenger planes were used.

I drove to work, which is just five minutes from my house. As I pulled into the parking lot, I heard on the radio that one of the towers had completely collapsed.

At work, I got on the internet to keep track of the news. I also turned on my radio to listen to the coverage. The whole office wanted to hear, so I turned it up. It stayed on most of the day.

As time progressed, there were additional horrors...the other tower collapsed and another plane crashed. There were wild rumors about other missing planes.

I remember spending the whole day feeling sick and holding in tears. I did allow myself to cry later. The first few days, I felt deep sadness, which then turned to rage. I'm still angry...I believe I always will be.

Fun with Referrals

I don't check the referrals on my site meter too often. But I decided to take a look today. I've seen other bloggers post the...um...interesting Google searches leading people to their blogs. Now it's my turn...

Of course, there were many music-related searches, like people looking for info on Woven Hand and Scarlet Crush. There was a search looking for Blue Angels pictures. There were several searches about the new adoption law in Florida.

There were also a ton of searches looking for the Playboy Bunny icon. Sorry, not here...

Then there were these searches:

playboy+with+muslim+girls (#2)
playboy+philosophy+download (#1)
hugh+hefner+blog (#4)
huge+hefner+jewish (#25)

Funny how this one little post has caused this blog to show up on all these Playboy/Hugh Hefner searches. And this post is just going to make things worse. To all those who get here because of those searches, here's an article you might find interesting.

A Thank You

Thanks to Christopher Johnson of Midwest Conservative Journal for adding me to your blog roll!

The Religion of Peace™

I was reading this thread on Little Green Footballs today and one of the readers linked to this article. I remember reading it months ago. It's an excellent article. This quote still enrages me:

"Did you see the yuppies flying out the windows of the trade center?" laughed a young man outside a mosque in North London. "That was so funny."

Yeah, it was real funny, you hideous piece of filth!

Nice peaceful religion, that Islam. You emerge from a mosque after supposedly praying to and worshipping the One True God and then chortle at people dying a horrible death to avoid another horrible death.

The only thing I can think of is this.

Revolution!

This is appropriate, being American and all...

What revolution are You?
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