Things that Make My Head Hurt Today

1)

Speaker Nancy Pelosi tries to justify "family planning services" (including abortion) as economic stimulus.

Why? Because if low-income and impoverished women keep their babies, the government will be liable to feed and educate them.

I've heard this argument over and over: that abortion is better than children being destitute. And I've almost stopped trying to argue against it because it belies a certain ideological or philosophical blindness I just can't overcome by rhetoric.

But I've never heard it from a politician's mouth, let alone the Speaker of the House. And I never thought I'd hear the implication that infanticide is a financially beneficial concept.

2)

American Christians are losing some of the key concepts of Christian theology, according to a recent Barna survey.

Here's the key quote:

Evidence of people’s willingness to part with church teaching was shown in other data from the survey regarding what people believe. Among individuals who describe themselves as Christian, for instance, close to half believe that Satan
does not exist, one-third contend that Jesus sinned while He was on earth, two-fifths say they do not have a responsibility to share the Christian faith with others, and one-quarter dismiss the idea that the Bible is accurate in all of the principles it teaches.

*head-desk* *head-desk* *head-desk*

Okay. First, I have to hope that Barna's definition of "Christian" (or the responders' understanding of it) plays a part here. But even so, this shows a troubling circumstance for those who claim Christianity.

Here's the deal, gang. If you are a Christian, a Jesus-follower, there are certain beliefs involved. This is part of what the belief system entails.

First, the Bible says clearly, that Satan is real, that He is our enemy, and He will one day be eternally condemned by God. Second, the Bible says that Jesus was sinless, because in order for Jesus to be our high priest before God, and our substitute who takes on the wrath of God for our sin, He could not have sin of his own. Further, a God who sins is not holy. Read the books of Romans and Hebrews, people, c'mon! Third, IF you believe in that the only way to Heaven is through Jesus, and IF you believe that anyone who doesn't enter through that narrow gate is condemned to hell, then you have a MORAL OBLIGATION to communicate that truth to as many people as you can. As Penn Teller so accurately stated in a video a few weeks back, how much do you have to hate someone in order to let them be hit by the (metaphorical) dumptruck hurtling toward them??? Finally, the accuracy of the Bible is the lynch-pin to all of this, I think, because all of the links I'm putting up are practically meaningless if you don't think the Bible is trustworthy. Because I find it logically inconsistent that someone claims to base their belief about God on a book that they second-guess half the time, because at that point there's no way to know what's accurate and what's not. (But we've had this argument before, haven't we?)

So there. A great big "gaaaah." Why can't Christians just read the Bible? Dang.

3)

Because I haven't pissed off enough people so far, how about this: Annalee Newitz is an IDIOT.

[Before dissecting her arguments, I have to take issue with the phrase, "the Obama Era." This "era" has lasted (at most) ten weeks or so. Yes, I'll even allow the time since the election to be included. So far, I've heard a lot of jabbering about "the Obama Era." Hells bells, Gwen Ifill even wrote a book about it. But I beg of you, please pretty please, can we tone down the purple haze of "hopenchange" until the man (MAN, I said) has actually DONE stuff?]

Newitz asks if the blockbuster TV show "Battlestar Galactica" is still relevent in the current administration. For those of you uninitiated, BSG is a brilliantly conceived and produced, but admittedly left-leaning, sci-fi program. Yes, it's left-leaning, and if Adama's "is our civilization worth saving?" question doesn't convince you, the subtext of moral equivalence should. However, I still dig the show, and watch it every week. But Newitz gives point/counterpoint on whether the show has become a relic of the past "age" (the "Dark Ages" apparently).

She commends the show's multi-cultural, gender-equal leadership. As one commenter astutely points out, the Bush Administration was the most diverse (in regards to race and gender) of ANY administration up to that point, and so far the Obama "era" is only equally so. But then Newitz says the show exhibits liberal siege mentality, and adds, "Zarek and Gaeta's mutiny plot feels like something written for the Bush Era, a cautionary tale of what happens when xenophobia creeps into national policy." Because that's what it was about, hating all foreigners. *eyeroll* Newitz then cites the show's dwindling relevance by stating "the torture years are over."

Maybe this should be a whole post by itself. Suffice it to say, those five words speak volumes. Her next sentence: "Now that Obama has shut down Gitmo and other foreign prisons, we lack that feeling of panicked recognition as we watch the humans and cylons abusing each other." Okay, first, Gitmo? Not closed. Not yet. There's SO MUCH TO DO before that happens, but folks like Newitz are already dancing in the streets over it. After a quote, Newitz asks if the show won't be taken as seriously without a president who's "beating the 'war on terror' drum". Ugh. That's right, folks. Bush made the whole thing up.

Here's the killer: Newitz describes the show's still relevant examination of the connectedness of religion and politics, but then says that "religious war is being replaced by religious peace."

Um, what?

"Culture wars between Judeo-Christians and Muslims may be on the wane with Obama addressing his inaugural speech to 'a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and non-believers.' ... Under Obama, it's possible that this civilization gap will start to close... If Obama makes good on his promises of religious tolerance, in eight years BSG's religious anguish and culty weirdness may look as dated as Logan's Run."

...Wow. Really?

Is Ms. Newitz's life SO sheltered that she doesn't see that there is GLOBAL conflict? Radical Muslims targeting ALL faiths? And she thinks, as so many do, that Obama is somehow going to calm all world conflicts, and unite us in peace and harmony?

I'm sorry, kids. It's not going to happen. And it's the peak of naivete to buy into that. Because like it or not, we have enemies that are even now burning Obama in effigy and still crying out "death to America." That's not going away. Not in four years, not in eight, maybe not ever.

Come back to the real world, Annalee. It's scarier, sure, but it's still worth living here.

4)

This is just freaking ridiculous. Not on par with the idiocy above, but still ridiculous. Thanks, Manders.