Psalm 102:1-7

There are days when this prayer takes over (from the New Jerusalem Bible):

LORD, hear my prayer, and let my cry come before you; hide not your face from me in the day of my trouble.



Incline your ear to me; when I call, make haste to answer me,



For my days drift away like smoke, and my bones are hot as burning coals.



My heart is smitten like grass and withered, so that I forget to eat my bread.



Because of the voice of my groaning I am but skin and bones.



I have become like a vulture in the wilderness, like an owl among the ruins.



I lie awake and groan; I am like a sparrow, lonely on a house top.

I love the Lord, because he has heard the voice of my supplication, because he has inclined his ear to me whenever I called upon him.

Apollo 11 and The Moon: 35 Years Later

The Apollo 11 mission to place a man on the moon began on this date, and NASA has a great website to commemorate the event.



The moon landing has always had a special place in my heart. The mission ended on July 24th, 1969, and my life began the next day, capping what must have been an amazing week for my parents. The picture at the right is in my baby book.

Terror Scare

Annie Jacobsen's "Terror in the Skies, Again?" is making serious headway across the blogosphere. This is a very chilling read, and the FBI's response -- that agents cannot be deployed unless there is an actual event -- is causing me to wonder how much progress the terrorists have made lately, and if we are properly prepared to deal with another devastating attack.



Be vigilant, everyone.



UPDATE: More on Annie Jacobsen's story thanks to the diligent work of Michele Malkin here, and here.



MORE: There are several skeptics.

The "Who Knew?" Files

Who knew that The Incredible Hulk had a blog?

Wow! Blogger Releases New Editor

The good folks at Blogger have just released a new WYSIWYG editor. This is a test post using the editor.







It's pretty nifty. You can include images and resize/position them right in the editor window. Additional functionality makes it easier to upload pictures as well as change fonts/sizes. VERY cool stuff.

Move Update: A Discovery and Reflection

How Much Longer?

I wonder how quickly this will disappear from John Kerry's website?

"I'm not a politician and I'm not a political partisan." Yeah, right.



UPDATE: A great Wall Street Journal slammer piece on Joe Wilson can be read here.



MORE: More on the irony of RestoreHonesty.com at Instapundit.

The Cultural Tipping Point

I have a very close friend up in Seattle with whom I regularly chat over the phone and online. Recently, I called him up to discuss some personal issues that were bugging me, and as our conversation bobbed and weaved, we eventually got to the point where we were discussing the cultural "tipping point" I think we are rapidly approaching.



Much has been made about the "culture war" that has been underway for the past several years. In reality, I think we've been having a cultural shouting match. Whether the topic is abortion (and the use/abuse of birth control), the high rate of divorce, or, most recently, homosexual "marriage", I think we're approaching a significant cultural debate, the results of which will determine whether the United States will continue to be a great nation, or slide into a permanent, Euro-esque cultural malaise.



My own thoughts on this were prompted by Ramesh Ponnuru over at National Review Online (Highly recommended). Ponnuru comments on a recent American Prospect piece by Robert Reich, entitled "Bush's God." Here's Reich's conclusion:

The great conflict of the 21st century will not be between the West and terrorism. Terrorism is a tactic, not a belief. The true battle will be between modern civilization and anti-modernists; between those who believe in the primacy of the individual and those who believe that human beings owe their allegiance and identity to a higher authority; between those who give priority to life in this world and those who believe that human life is mere preparation for an existence beyond life; between those who believe in science, reason, and logic and those who believe that truth is revealed through Scripture and religious dogma. Terrorism will disrupt and destroy lives. But terrorism itself is not the greatest danger we face.

Ramesh responds:

This goes well beyond the common denunciation of "fundamentalism" where that term is meant to describe an ideology that seeks the imposition of religious views on non-believers. (That's what Andrew Sullivan means when he uses the term.) It is a denunciation — as a graver threat than terrorists — of people who believe that the world to come is more important than this world, or that all human beings owe their allegiance to God.

I join Ramesh in his prayers for peaceful coexistence, but I think Reich's comment points to a coming conflict that is unavoidable, particularly in a nation where a significant segment of the population classifies religious belief as a threat worse than terrorism; and where there is increasing tendency within US judiciary to craft law out of whole cloth, and to change basic cultural institutions without any regard for the electorate.

Categorical Debunking

Dave Kopel's "Fifty-nine Deceits in Fahrenheit 9/11" can be found here. Kopel's rundown is huge, and includes Moore's "responses."

This Land

It seems that everyone in the blogosphere is posting this hilarious flash movie parody of John Kerry and W. (Because everyone is linking to the movie, you may have to revisit the site several times in order to watch. Good luck!)

What Will They Think of Next?

If you want to hear what my voice sounds like, you can listen to me blather by clicking the link to this audioBLOGGER test post:

The "Intelligence" Report

Instapundit (here and here) and others have now expounded on the big Washington Post revelation that Joe Wilson fabricated accusations about the President and the infamous uranium/Niger story.



Michael Ledeen and Dan Darling have the best rundowns of the Senate's report, and Mark Steyn shreds Wilson here.



The Wilson revelation, apart from the blogosphere, will get almost no coverage, unlike Wilson's original accusation, which was plastered all over the place.



Oh, and there were intelligence failures.



UPDATE: The Senate report can be downloaded here.

Preparation Continues

My move preparations continue. Posting limited today.