Are the World's Muslims More "Civilized" Than Americans? is the title of an article by RJ Eskow at the Huffington Post. He makes a case that the majority of Muslims are more civilized (surprise). Eskow followed the reasoning of Terror Free Tomorrow, whose survey said Americans were more approving of terror attacks on civilians than the citizens of the Muslim countries surveyed.

Of course, some of the most hard-line Muslim countries were not surveyed. Albeit there are Muslims who do not support the Jihadists, the real question is whether Jihadists are more civilized.

The most interesting part of the article is the comments where the definition of "civilized" is debated. Exerpts follow:

SRegnet:
To answer with a question, you may just ask
"Is there anything less 'Civilized' than
Suicide Bombing?"

YoImaNiggaGirl:
Americans generally believe it's OK to win a war - that is, to attack and occasionally kill civilians when a war is declared, and that's part of the way of war. You fight to win.

Islamists, when they mean attack civilians, mean sending random people at any random time into a cafe in Israel or a World Trade Center in NY.

The Islamists are obviously far less civilized by any traditional definition (which are good definitions). They believe in terror. Americans believe in winning war.

kenoshaMarge:
Seems to a lot of us that a country that makes a mega-hit out of a program that promotes torture like "24" and obsesses for weeks over the rotting corpse of a blond bimbo has no creds as being civilized.

1Will:
Aside from dancing in the streets whenever a successful suicide bombing occurs, funding terrorism, cutting off heads (hands and feet), beating and oppressing your wives, female genital mutilation and believing Jews and Christians are pigs then yeah...they beat us hands down in the civilization catagory.

A film maker claims his new documentary will show that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a son and were all buried in a tomb discovered over 25 years ago. Publicity stunt? Likely. Archeaologists doubt the tale. Comments of one:

     The archeologist, Amos Kloner, said the 2,000-year-old cave contained coffins belonging to a
     Jewish family whose names were similar to those of Jesus and his relatives.

     "I can say positively that I don't accept the identification (as) ... belonging to the family of Jesus in
     Jerusalem," Kloner told Reuters. "I don't accept that the family of Miriam and Yosef (Mary and
     Joseph), the parents of Jesus, had a family tomb in Jerusalem."

     "They were a very poor family. They resided in Nazareth, they came to Bethlehem in order to have
     the birth done there -- so I don't accept it, not historically, not archeologically," said Kloner, a
     professor in the Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archeology at Bar-Ilan University
     near Tel Aviv.

The Jerusalem Post also has a detailed article.

We visited the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum yesterday. Here are reflections from the experience:

Worth the Trip
Travel to Springfield, IL and visit the museum! It is worth the trip. We thoroughly enjoyed everything. Of special note is the two theater shows Lincoln's Eyes and Ghosts of the Library. We left the Ghosts show asking, "How'd they do that!?"

Politics Hasn't Changed
The display of political cartoons about Lincoln showed that politics has long been vicious. Also apparent was the snobbery endured by Mary Lincoln from the Washington social establishment. We still see some of this in the sneering coverage of the Northeast media.

Unpopular Presidents Can Achieve Great Things
Lincoln did not receive the majority of the popular vote. He was attacked over the war.  Yet he still was one of our greatest presidents.

They do. Surprised?

We all know that politicians lie – and those we oppose lie more!

Journalists lie. Of course, they are far more sophisticated about it. Rarely do they state the lie, they just "report" it.

Which brings us to scientists. Like all people, they often tell the truth but also have an amazing capacity to lie. In addition, they often have powerful motivations to lie.

Motivations to Lie
Scientists lie for personal gain. They may do so to receiving recognition, claim a patent or secure research funds. Plagiarism and doctoring research results are often methods used.

Scientists also lie to protect and promote their views. Like all humans, they hate being proved wrong. They have invested lives and careers into certain ideas.

Famous Examples
We see both motivations within the following examples of lies.

Piltdown Man, "discovered" in 1912, was presented for 40 years as the fossil of an early human ancestor. It was really the fragments of an orangutan jaw bone and of a human skull.

Hwang Woo Suk, a stem cell researcher, falsified data and reported cloning human embryos in 2005. This scandal also revealed how the scientific publishing system does little to prevent reporting fraudulent work.

In the 1860s, Ernst Haeckel drew the stages of embryonic development of several animals to support Darwinian evolution. He faked the drawings to make them appear more similar than they are, and excluded stages of development that were more dissimilar. Though repeatedly exposed, the drawings have continued to be used to support Darwinism.

In the 1950s Alfred Kinsey interviewed sex offenders, rapists, prostitutes and pedophiles and passed it off as a cross section of Americans. He also excluded data that didn’t support his views. His Kinsey Reports revolutionized American views of sexuality – all from doctored research. Yet he is still used as an authority by those sympathetic to his conclusions.

Bottom Line
First, never accept scientific results or recommendations without critical examination. Scientists often have strong motivation to reach certain conclusions. We see this in the gold rush of embryonic stem cell research. Investments, patents, research grants and more are at stake. Scientists downplay the technical issues and promise miracles. They also dismiss the ethical issues with little thought.

Second, beware when one set of scientists shuts off debate with other scientists. We see this with global warming and Intelligent Design. Rather than debate the issue, one side often seeks to silence the other, as in the recent suggestion to decertify meteorologists who deny human-caused global warming.

Remember, scientists are people. Lying is always a possibility.

Yes, illegal aliens kill more Americans per year than soldiers killed in Iraq according to recent report. Details.

Don't miss the film Amazing Grace, the story of William Wilburforce and the abolition of slavery in Great Britian. It opens Friday, Feb. 23. We'll be out of town, but we plan on finding a theater. Find a theater near you.

A peer-reviewed paper  published by Medistem Laboratories may pave the way for use of umbilical cord stem cells in more medical treatments. More.

Thanks to The Evangelical Outpost for the link to this fun video!

The Wide Awakes have a great bumper sticker about hillary. Check it out.

Here's the video invitation to the Cooper Union debate to be webcast on Feb. 28:

Accuracy in Media has published a report entitled North American Union "Conspiracy" Exposed. It details a Feb. 16 meeting and other evidence confirming efforts to create a North American Union. Excerpts follow, emphasis added:

Robert Pastor, a former official of the Carter Administration and director of the Center for North American Studies at American University (CNAS), made the remarks at an all-day February 16 conference devoted to the development of a North American legal system. The holding of the conference was itself evidence that a comprehensive process is underway to merge the economies, and perhaps the social and political systems, of the three countries.
.....
...several speakers at the conference ridiculed the idea of protecting America's borders and suggested that American citizenship was an outmoded concept.
.....
Academic literature distributed in advance to conference participants about a common legal framework for the U.S., Canada and Mexico included proposals for a North American Court of Justice (with the authority to overrule a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court), a North American Trade Tribunal, a North American Court of Justice, and a Charter of Fundamental Human Rights for North America, also dubbed the North American Social Charter.
.....
Conservative concerns about Pastor's agenda were not assuaged by conference literature disclosing that the CNAS is sponsoring an event in May in which students participate in a model "North American Parliament." The concept suggests creation of a regional body to supersede the U.S. Government itself.

 Without political will and military capability, war is impossible. Only retreat or defeat remain. This is the formula of retired U.S. Airforce Colonel Tom Snodgrass. He has a detailed analysis of the war, which he calls World War IV.

HT to The Loft

Liberalism is collapsing intellectually and psychologically. Seven symptoms point to the collapse, according to Fred Hutchinson:

"1) group think, 2) the inability to formulate a logical argument or to develop a positive program, 3) the rise of left-wing conspiracy theories, 4) the use of indoctrination techniques in schools, 5) the demonization of opponents, 6) the shouting down of opponents, and 7) paranoid obsessions with catastrophe, such as the post-nuclear Armageddon fantasies of Hollywood and the faddish warnings of environmental catastrophe of junk science."

Hutchinson has a long and deep discussion entitled The rise of conservatism and the decline of liberalism. In it he explores the failing world view of liberalism and the four main streams of conservative thought.

The sandy foundation of liberalism is the belief that people are by nature good and corrupted by their institutions. This belief results in the following "quasi-religious presuppositions":

"1) the belief in the inherent goodness of man, 2) the belief that society is the source of human evil, 3) the belief in the inevitability of progress toward a future utopia, and 4) the belief that government can play a redemptive and messianic role for mankind."

Hutchinson is deep. Rush Limbaugh reaches the same conclusion, but states it differently. He states that one day liberals will only be found in museums!

Buy human eggs. Clone them to begin a baby. Kill the baby at the embryonic stage of development and harvest the stem cells.

This is where we're headed, folks. Consider...

Women are already compensated for egg donation for the purpose of fertility.

Women will soon be paid in Britain for egg donation for stem cell research.

Look for pressure to pay women in the US.

And on a side note, listen to this comment from a donor:

“It would be a relief to know that my eggs were being used to find medical cures,” she says, “rather than being used to produce additional kids for well-to-do American families.”

Outrageous! Children are less valuable than research!

Understanding the Social Issues Conflict

Have you noticed – those who believe in the sanctity of human life also believe in the sanctity of sex? Oh sure, the words sanctity of sex are not used, but maybe they should be.

A common set of values on social issues flows from the sanctity of human life. One is the belief that human sexuality is special, powerful and worth protecting. Yes, the "prudes" who oppose pornography and favor abstinence understand that sexuality is like nuclear energy – capable of great benefit or destruction. That's why they typically view rape and child abuse more seriously than the "sexually liberated" – and why churches are more likely to help battered and abused women.

The Sanctity Crowd
The same people who speak of the sanctity of life and sex also speak of the sanctity of marriage and family. Where does this common set of values originate? From the belief that human beings are created and distinct from animals. Therefore, human sexuality is different from animal sexuality. The "liberated" cheapen sex into a recreational pastime and, like animals, pursue it at the "watering hole."

So, what is the source of the common set of values for the pro-abortion, anti-marriage, anti-family, cheap sex crowd?

The Selfish Crowd
The belief that man is an autonomous animal is the source for those opposing traditional social values. Since humans are autonomous, each serves his or her own interests.

Think how "what's best for me the adult" permeates the following:

• "I want out of this marriage, the children will adjust. Besides, if I'm happier, I'll be a better parent."
• "Why marry, living together gives me everything I need. Besides, if things go bad, I can leave easier."
• "I just can't handle being a mom. The stress would be too great. I really need to terminate my pregnancy."
• "By using the embryo, we will deliver wonderful cures for people."

The Conflict Rages

The intensity of emotion in debates on social issues is easy to understand. The sacred trumps individual preference or interest. The very word sanctity sets the selfish crowd's teeth on edge. To them, their individual beliefs and interests are more sacred than anything. That's why they scream "It's my body, my choice."