Soldier of Fortune: John Smith before Jamestown

Mercenary, pirate, Turkish slave…

Most of what we know about Smith’s life before Jamestown comes from his The True Travels, Adventures, and Observations of Captaine John Smith (1630). He provides such a daredevil account of his life that critics have sometimes accused him of exaggerating his exploits. But by comparing Smith’s own account with letters and documents of the time, scholars such as biographer Philip Barbour have confirmed his story and clarified it. It is an amazing story.

Source: Soldier of Fortune: John Smith before Jamestown

NYC now has a ban on saying “illegal alien”

So using the same phrase that appears all through Title 8 of federal law to identify an illegal alien in New York City can now land you in hot water. And if you inform the illegal alien that you are going to report their unlawful presence in the country to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), not only will the police not assist the feds in taking the illegal into custody, but they may be dispatched to take you in if the person files a complaint.

I would just blast Genesis from my sound system! (better download this before it’s banned…)

Source: NYC now has a ban on saying “illegal alien”

What Is a Man?

If you don’t have to worry about food, clothing and shelter, and if war and violent crime are distant enough as to pose no threat to your safety, then it’s possible to think that masculine traits are no longer essential.…

… For the woman raised in the more affluent sectors of our society — the college-educated journalist or academic — the manly virtues may seem superfluous.…

… such women are apt to make nitpicking complaints about men failing to measure up to the standard of equality, in terms of doing housework or performing “emotional labor” in relationships. It does not occur to such a woman, in the air-conditioned comfort of her existence, that a man might have inherent value as a man,…

Source: What Is a Man?

From today’s Scripture reading

Each day (well, almost) my wife and I read the scriptures out loud to each other. Today we read 2 John:

9. Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

10. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:

11. For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

As I pointed out to my wife, here we find that it is, indeed, very Christian to exclude some types of people. ‘Inclusiveness’ and ‘diversity’, for their own sakes,  are NOT Christian teachings. I won’t receive him in my house. I won’t ‘bake the cake.’

I mention this because I was recently castigated by some atheist on Facebook for being unChristian for my lack of inclusiveness.

I’m always amused by non-Christians, who apparently have never read the Scriptures, telling Christians what they should believe.

The Morning Rant

“If the mainstream media were doing its job, J-school students would be taught that their job is to report the facts, not change the world.”

And that is why they are ‘fake’ media. I don’t care what you call it, “changing the world,” “making a difference,” “saving the planet,” it’s all fake because they are pathetic little sick people who refuse to work on improving themselves. They’d rather play God than follow Jesus…

Source: The Morning Rant

Um, No

“It’s debatable whether even the most stringent gun-control measures would prevent mass shootings, and it’s doubtful that those measures would survive the Roberts Court’s scrutiny. But time and time again, these proposals reveal a troubling window into the mindset of the gun-rights activists who oppose them. That, in turn, only makes the case for enacting such measures much stronger. If the main reason you need an AR-15 is to murder civil servants and elected officials, you shouldn’t have it in the first place.”

Well no, that’s not quite accurate.  We don’t want to own AR-15s “to murder civil servants and elected officials”, we need them to hold off government agents when they arrive at our door to disarm us — in clear violation of the Constitution (which, lest we forget, said gummint agents swore to uphold as part of their office-taking oath).

And by “hold off” I don’t necessarily mean “kill them” (it’s not murder  if they attack you first, BTW, no matter what un-Constitutional law they hide behind);  “holding off” also means making them a little more fearful of the consequences of their actions, and a little more reluctant to be statist bullies

Source: Um, No

On Constitution Day, Leftists assault the Constitution – Bookworm Room

For most of America, September 17 was “Constitution Day.”  For progressives, it was a day to launch a multi-pronged assault on the Constitution.

For the last century, a left-leaning Supreme Court has systematically and methodically changed our nation’s fundamental nature. They have removed Christianity from the public square, found a hidden right to abortion, expanded the regulatory state, approved disparate impact theory, authorized gay marriage, and given us a whole host of other decisions that, in ways both large and small, have gone beyond jurisprudence and, instead, fashioned new laws and amended the Constitution — acts beyond the Court’s powers, both statutory and Constitutional.

Source: On Constitution Day, Leftists assault the Constitution – Bookworm Room

Is Islam a Religion?

Short answer; no.

The standard rebuttal that all faiths have at one time or another shown themselves prone to violence and repression misses the essential point. All the major religions have reformed themselves, reducing or eliminating the all-too-human tendency to sanctimonious oppression—and none of these faiths, let us remember, endorsed oppression as a universal creedal or Divine imperative. Such is not the case with Islam, a communion that since its inception in the 7th century has seldom strayed from its sanguinary path of carnage and subdual.…

… The Founders, Bynum asserts, “clearly meant to define religion in a Judeo-Christian context.” Islam, however, “is self-segregating, fosters ideas of Muslim supremacy and thereby sows seeds of social discord.” What kind of religion, we might ask, degrades women as second-class citizens, approves anti-Semitism, preaches hatred against “infidels,” sponsors terrorist attacks on an almost daily basis with Koranic warrant, and wishes to impose Sharia, “a parallel legal system based on inequality,” on its Western host countries?

Furthermore, as we have seen, Islam insists on territorial sovereignty and does not distinguish between theology and politics, which is why its definitional status as a “religion” is or should be moot.

Source: Is Islam a Religion?