Questions about WMDs

There has been much concern among bloggers who supported the Iraq war as to where the WMDs are. This is a legitimate concern, but I think some patience is in order.

Here are a few posts on this subject. I may add more later as I come across them:

• Joshua Claybourn is very concerned about this situation. He believes that a potential scandal is in the works if something doesn't happen soon.
• John Hawkins at Right Wing News still expects that WMDs will be found. He makes the following case:

  After all, you don't refuse to tell how you destroyed your WMD, have thousands of chem protection suits made for your soldiers, refuse to cooperate with inspectors, build rockets that can carry WMD, keep your scientists from talking to inspectors, have bioweapon labs made, & take tens of billions of dollars in sanctions losses if you don't have a WMD program.

• Bobby Allison-Gallimore looks at four possible explanations as to why WMDs haven't been found yet. One of the explanations is that they may have been hidden or moved before the war.

  If they are never found, I am inclined to accept that explanation. After all, what better way to humiliate the United States and President Bush than to smuggle the weapons out of the country or destroy them on the eve of war. Saddam knew darn well the anti-war crowd would believe him over the U.S. any day.

I have to say, if it turns out that the Bush Administration did lie and mislead the public, I will have no more use for them.

But, if there were no WMDs, was the Iraq war for nothing? No. It was worth it to take out a dangerous, terror-supporting regime and to free the Iraqi people.

Update: In Friday's Nealz Nuze, Neal Boortz has this to say:

WHY AM I UPSET THAT WE HAVEN’T FOUND THOSE NASTY WEAPONS YET?

Yes – it does bother me that we haven’t found Saddam’s chemical and biological weapons, but not for the reasons you might suspect. Saddam was removed from power because he failed to provide the evidence that he had destroyed those weapons. The U.N. resolutions required this of him, and he failed to comply. Those same resolutions said that any member nation could use force to compel him to comply .. and that’s exactly what some member nations did.

My reason for concern is our intelligence capabilities. If we were so sure he had those weapons, why haven’t they been found? Certainly our intelligence agencies were telling Bush that Saddam definitely had them … so, where are they? If they’re not to be found, what does this say about our intelligence capabilities? In this age of Arab Islamic terrorism directed against the people of the United States we can ill afford intelligence lapses like this.

Update 2: For more about WMDs, please see my latest post on this subject.

Just enough to be dangerous...

(Via Rodent Regatta.)

A Discussion Between Christians and Gays

Dean's World has invited Christians and homosexuals only to participate in this post. So far, it has been a civil discussion, which is pretty incredible considering the subject matter. Over the years, on various political boards, the ugliest flamewars I've seen have been on threads about homosexuality. That's why I have studiously avoided discussing this subject on my blog until now.

In case you're interested, here are the comments I added to that post. I was afraid that they would pretty much offend everybody, but I got some positive feedback on them, which was very encouraging:

My status: a heterosexual, orthodox (small “o”) Christian.

Here is what I believe on the whole homosexuality issue:

• I believe that homosexual behavior (but not orientation) is sinful.
• There’s a lot of heterosexual behavior that is sinful, too.
• I don’t believe that homosexual behavior is some “special” sin that’s somehow worse than all others.
• I think some Christians are way too fixated on homosexuality.
• I think heterosexual behavior that is sinful causes much more damage to society. Examples are abortion, illegitimacy, infidelity, divorce, broken families, etc.
• Because of this, I think Christians should pay more attention to heterosexual sins and quit obsessing on homosexuals.
• I don’t necessarily think that sex should only be procreative. But, I think that Catholics make a good point when they say that separating sex from its procreative potential is not a healthy thing.

I’ll probably regret posting this, but there is where I stand.

Blog Posts of Note

Here are some miscellaneous notable posts I've run across the past couple of days:

• Lee Anne Millinger has a teen sex rant that is well worth reading.
• Lynn S. fisks Amnesty International's statements that fighting terrorists somehow makes the world more dangerous. (Yes, by all means, let's leave the terrorists alone. That will make the world much safer! [/sarcasm]).
• Joshua Claybourn posts about WMDs found right here in America. I agree with him that this looks bad and gives ammunition to the America-is-evil crowd (although these weapons programs were abandoned long ago). However, I do have to disagree with his contention that evidence of WMDs has yet to be found in Iraq. What about these mobile bioweapons labs?
• Steve at Little Tiny Lies defends sexism. No, it's not what you think. It's about recognizing what being a good woman really means.
• Ben Domenech has an interesting post about the Millennial Generation and their growing influence.
• Patty questions the wisdom of hormone replacement therapy. I agree with her -- why not just let nature take its course rather than taking a bunch of possibly dangerous hormones?

BTW, I'm sorry I've been so scarce this week. It's been a rough week and I feel like a deflated balloon.

If Purgatory Exists...

...it looks like I'll be spending a little time there:

The Dante's Inferno Test has sent you to Purgatory!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

(Via Peppermint Patty.)

Another Blogspot Escapee

Mac Swift is the latest blogger to escape from Blogger/Blogspot. Here's Vessel of Honour - Reloaded!

Update: Bloggers seem to be leaving Blogspot in droves lately. Wizbang is compiling a running list of Blogspot defectors. (Via Jay Solo.)

Memorial Day

Please take a moment to remember those who died so that you could live in freedom.

Bearing False Witness

King's Kid posts about Christians emailing urban legends, chain letters and other junk. He makes a good point that when Christians spread these things, they are spreading lies, which is no small concern.

Of course, I've ranted before at my annoyance at receiving junk email from well-meaning folks.

Wondering Why

Roy M. Jacobsen at Dispatches from Outland has a thoughtful post about tragedy and suffering. He begins his post with this thought: "Every day is, for someone, 9/11. It's just the scale that's different."

As Roy points out, our reaction to tragedy is "Why?" and "It's not fair!" I have said those things many times in my life: when my brother died of a brain tumor, when my Dad died of lung cancer, when a co-worker of mine was recently diagnosed with brain cancer, when a sweet elderly couple at my church were killed in a car accident one block from their house...these are just a few tragic events that have left me confused and angry at God.

Roy says that the most important thing is knowing God, rather than being happy and being free from suffering. It's true that there will always be suffering in this world. That's why saying to God, "Thy will be done," is one of the most difficult things for me. What if His will means more tragedy and suffering? I admit that this is one thing that stands in the way of me knowing God better. Roy says he's just starting to "get it." However, I'm still pretty far from "getting it" most of the time.

He's Escaped!

Damian Penny has escaped from Blogspot and now has his own domain with MT. And don't miss his referral page -- it's a hoot!

Tax n' Spend!

Mac Swift has a good fisking of a liberal blogger's complaints about Bush's tax plan. All the typical, worn-out arguments are presented and deftly refuted.

When in Doubt, Make a New Skin

Although I am having a bout of "blogger's block," I did get inspired to create a new skin. (It seems that lately, making new skins is much easier than thinking of things to post.) This one is supposed to look like a fancy, old book, so it's called "Elegant Book."

Uninspired

I'm sorry for the lack of posts lately. I've been suffering from a bit of burn out lately, especially when it comes to news and current events. I just haven't felt like posting much of anything the past few days. I'm sure this phase will pass and I'll be posting again soon.

Grrrr!

What Is Your Animal Personality?
brought to you by Quizilla

(Via Dean's World.)

Quote of the Week

From this article about Margaret Thatcher:

Lady Thatcher warned that America and Britain faced “a pervasive culture of anti-Westernism" that needed to be challenged. "There are too many people who imagine that there is something sophisticated about always believing the best of those who hate your country, and the worst of those who defend it."

Ain't that the truth...

Referrals

I get enough hits on this blog now to check the site meter every day. It's always interesting to see what things people are searching for. Right now, I'm getting a very large amount of "William Bennett gambling" searches. And here I thought that story had already run its course...

I'm also getting tons of "round-heeled woman" searches because of this post. (In fact, I got a comment on that post today from someone who thinks I'm a big meanie.)

For months, I've been getting several searches a day looking for a "muppet quiz."

Sometimes people will search for things that are not on my site, but yet are things I would be very interested in reading about. One such search is for a C.S. Lewis essay called "Why I'm Not a Pacifist."

I can't believe people actually search for "p0rn." I mean the obfuscated word for it, not the actual word. Why would somebody do that? I mean the whole reason you obfuscate the word is because you don't have it and don't want searches for it to lead to your site.

And the ickiest search I've gotten lately: "senior granny sex." Ewwww!

Lite-Brite

Growing up in the 1970s, I had one of these. (I had no idea they still sold Lite-Brites.) You can now recapture part of your childhood with this site.

Look what I made:

Women in Combat

It looks like my opinion that women do not belong in combat roles is very much in the minority in this post. Well, I stand by that opinion. Men and women are different. And I don't think sending women into combat is a positive thing for women. It's bad enough that men have to do it.

While on this subject, Bobby Allison-Gallimore points out some problems with this InstaPundit item about women in combat.

What Am I?

First of all let me say, I'm no theologian or intellectual. I don't seem to fit in with any group of Christians in blogdom or the "real world." Although I like a lot of Catholic blogs, I'm not Catholic and I have some serious disagreements with many Catholic teachings. I'm a conservative Lutheran, so you would think that I might be more comfortable with evangelicals. But I'm not. Nor do I have much in common with the mainliners. And I definitely don't fit in with the pacifist, liberal Christians. So here I am...a misfit.

Here are a few things about where I stand as a Christian:

• I believe the Bible is the word of God. I do not put tradition on equal footing with Scripture.
• I believe that God created the universe, this world and everything and everyone in it. I believe that the creation account in Genesis is largely a symbolic way of describing a complex process. I do not believe the earth is only 5,000 years old. I do not believe that life just randomly evolved.
• I am not a Calvinist. I do not think God only loves and saves certain people. People have free will to accept or reject God. God gives us this free will -- we are not robots programmed to be either saved or damned. Since God is outside of time and sees all moments in time like the present, He knows what choices we will make.
• I am not fixated on end-times stuff. I can't understand people who are. When Jesus comes, He'll come. Until then, I will just work on making it through each day.
• I am not a pacifist. I have no problem with pacifists as long as they keep it to themselves. (Update: For the sake of clarity, what I mean by that is they should not attempt to force their pacifism on the rest of us.)
• My church believes in the Real Presence of Christ in Holy Communion. This is a belief I share.
• I'm undecided about Purgatory. As a Protestant, I was always taught that it's a false teaching. Any Scriptural support for it seems to be rather flimsy. And it would seem that Christ's sacrificial work on the cross would make it unnecessary. But I find some of the arguments in favor of it compelling.
• I have no use for "health and wealth" theology.
• I think the "King James Only" people are very silly.
• There are a lot of things I don't understand. I get angry at God sometimes. I get angry at other people as well. I'm not perfect and I sin and fall short every day.

I'll be the first to admit that I don't have everything figured out. These are just some beliefs I have. If you agree, that's great. If not, that's fine too, unless you start attacking or talking down to me. If you do that, I'll either ignore you or tell you off (depending on my mood).

A Day at the Beach

That's the name of the latest skin. The colors are inspired by things you would see at the beach. The images are from iStockPhoto. The two beach scenes on the main page are from beautiful Pensacola Beach. I hope you enjoy this skin...I think it turned out pretty good. (It will be added to the skins gallery shortly.)

Will the "Christian Right" bolt from the GOP?

Joshua Claybourn discusses the balancing act between political compromise and not offending the base voters. He links to this article about how many on the Christian Right are upset with the GOP and may bolt from the party. I commented on Josh's post -- here are the comments I made:

If the "Christian Right" bolts, it will be one of the dumbest moves they could make. All it would do is make social conservatism even more marginalized and alienated from mainstream American than it already is.

Let's face it; the Republicans have to straddle the fence a little when it comes to social conservatives (and let me just say that I'm very much a social conservative). There are a lot of GOP voters who are not social conservatives. While they want lower taxes and a strong defense, they are pro-choice on abortion and have liberal views on other social issues. If the Republican's are too vocal about social issues (like they were in 1992), they will turn off those voters -- and lose.

It seems some of the Christian Right are being unreasonable and short-sighted. There are many things that can be done to push the agenda without spouting fire and brimstone and scaring off the fiscal and defense conservatives who are social liberals. There are the very important judicial nominations. Also, a ban on PBAs is just around the corner -- this is something Bush's predecessor consistently refused to do.

So, to my fellow social conservatives I say, be patient and don't petulantly run off just because the changes you want are not happening as fast as you want them to.

Another thought occurred to me after posting the above comments. In a post-9/11 America, are social conservatives still the base of the GOP, or have pro-defense voters become the new base? Any thoughts?

One Year

One year ago today, I started this blog. It had a couple of other names before I settled on LilacRose (which is a screenname I used in a couple of political forums). It started out as a Blogger blog on my ISP webspace. Then, on New Year's Eve, I moved to my own domain and server space and started using Movable Type. In the past four months I've posted more than I did the entire first eight months of this blog.

I've learned a lot about HTML, style sheets and how to add skins to my site. I also think that my writing has improved some since I started out (which isn't saying much).

Anyway, I've had a lot of fun with this blog the past year, and I want to thank everyone who reads and has linked to this site. I really do appreciate it!

William Bennett, Gambling and Morality

William Bennett, who has written books about virtues and morality, is a high-stakes gambler. As you can imagine, the media are all over this. Amy Welborn has much to say about this. (No permalinks on Amy's blog...just scroll down.)

Does this make Bennett a hypocrite? I agree with Amy that Bennett is not a hypocrite because he has never denounced gambling and has never tried to conceal that he is a gambler.

Is gambling sinful? Well, my opinion is that gambling is a waste of time and money. And I think it can play on a person's greed. There are people in my family who go to Biloxi and play the nickel slots for fun. I went one time and I have to say it was not fun to me. It gets boring and depressing pretty quickly. And Amy has one of the most accurate descriptions of casinos that I've seen:

I've been to casinos - in Biloxi, Montreal, Niagara Falls and Atlantic City - and those few minutes that we spend walking through and playing a few nickel slots are, to me, like some cacaphonic vision of hell. I do think casinos are some of the most depressing places on the planet: caverns illuminated by artificial light, no windows, filled with the constant dings of the slots with row upon row of mostly older women slouched at the machines, staring and alone.

Yup, that pretty much sums it up.

But I digress...the original question was if gambling is a sin. Well, I just don't know. Some say it is, some say it isn't. Yes, it's wasteful of money and yes it can lead to greed. But there are lots of things that are wasteful and can cause you to be too fixated on money. If you can make a good case for the sinfulness or non-sinfulness of gambling, feel free to do so in the comments.

Does Bennett's gambling habit lessen his authority on moral issues? Perhaps it has. David Mills at Touchstone's Mere Comments thinks Bennett should not be let off the hook, since he is generally held up to a higher standard than most. Those who firmly believe gambling is sinful will certainly be skeptical of Bennett from now on.

And finally, Mark Shea thinks the whole story has been blown out of proportion.

What do you think? Has Bennett been "caught," or is this no big deal?

Update: Joshua Claybourn and Susanna Cornett have more about Bennett and gambling. Joshua says that Bennett's gambling, while excessive, does not make him a hypocrite. Susanna says that Bennett is a hypocrite and his credibility is pretty much gone.

The Record Industry Gets Aggressive

The record companies are exploring some rather questionable means to stop music downloads:

New York Times: Software Bullet Is Sought to Kill Musical Piracy

The record companies are exploring options on new countermeasures, which some experts say have varying degrees of legality, to deter online theft: from attacking personal Internet connections so as to slow or halt downloads of pirated music to overwhelming the distribution networks with potentially malicious programs that masquerade as music files.

The covert campaign, parts of which may never be carried out because they could be illegal under state and federal wiretap laws, is being developed and tested by a cadre of small technology companies, the executives said. [...]

Among the more benign approaches being developed is one program, considered a Trojan horse rather than a virus, that simply redirects users to Web sites where they can legitimately buy the song they tried to download.

A more malicious program, dubbed "freeze," locks up a computer system for a certain duration — minutes or possibly even hours — risking the loss of data that was unsaved if the computer is restarted. It also displays a warning about downloading pirated music. Another program under development, called "silence," scans a computer's hard drive for pirated music files and attempts to delete them. One of the executives briefed on the silence program said that it did not work properly and was being reworked because it was deleting legitimate music files, too.

Other approaches that are being tested include launching an attack on personal Internet connections, often called "interdiction," to prevent a person from using a network while attempting to download pirated music or offer it to others. [...]

"Some of this stuff is going to be illegal," said Lawrence Lessig, a professor at Stanford Law School who specializes in Internet copyright issues. "It depends on if they are doing a sufficient amount of damage. The law has ways to deal with copyright infringement. Freezing people's computers is not within the scope of the copyright laws."

Okay, I know I said this before, but I'm going to say it again -- if only the record companies would put all this effort into innovating and embracing music downloads instead of coming up with all these invasive schemes to stop downloads. Most of these approaches will never be used because they are just plain illegal. And any that are used are only going to make the consumer even angrier.

Incidentally, I've been reading a lot of good things about Apple's new music download store. Now, if they'd just let us PC users in on the fun...

Very Cool!

President Bush lands on the USS Abraham Lincoln:

  
  
(Click on images for larger view.)

Outrageous and so typical...

Hollywood liberals have whined incessantly that disagreeing with them and boycotting them were violations of their right to free speech. Now, it seems Hollywood is shutting down Boycott Hollywood, a website that dared question the latest brain droppings by the Hollywood left. That's right folks, refusing to see a movie because you disagree with an actor's politics is suppressing free speech, but shutting down a website that criticizes the actor's political views isn't. Bah!

Update: Boycott Hollywood lives! They are apparently moving their site and they may end up with a new URL. But the enemies of free speech have failed to silence them and for this I'm glad.