Evangelical Outpost has an interesting post about Richard Sternberg, the editor of a peer-reviewed biology journal who was undiscerning enough to permit an article –”The Origin of Biological Information and the Higher Taxonomic Categories.”–which laid out some of the evidence for intelligent design– to be published. Never mind that it did pass the peer-review process– how could he allow such a thing?

I guess there are some things that can’t be questioned in scientific circles.

Update: We just got a comment from RAND External Communications, letting us know that this picture is a hoax, and actually is not real, but just a slightly manipulated picture of a submarine at the Smithonian Institution. For more information please visit here. I’ll try to be more careful with checking things out next time.

Here is a very interesting picture, from a 1954 Popular Mechanics Magazine, a prediction of what a home computer will look like in the year 2004. It looks more like what a “museum-computer”, not a “home-computer” looked like in 2004:-)

The caption underneath the picture reads thus:

Scientists from the RAND Corporation have created this model to illustrate how a “home computer” could look like in the year 2004. However the needed technology will not be economically feasible fro the average home. Also the scientists readily admit that the computer will require not yet invented technology to actually work, but 50 years from now scientific progress is expected to solve these problems. With teletype interface and the Fortran language, the computer will be easy to use.

With a 70% turnout, Iraq’s first multi-party election’s of 50 years has been a great success! Although anti-war liberals had all predicted that their would certainly be a terrible bloodbath yesterday, and although they probably would have rather it happened–to give them more opportunity for bashing the president–the elections are peacefully over!

Iraq the Model, & Free Iraqi are a couple good blogs from Iraqi’s who are in Iraq and voted, and they have some interesting posts about this. Joshua Claybourn of In the Agora has also written a interesting post on the elections.

As you can imagine, I am extremely sad and upset that Mr. Justice Hedley (the Judge) has refused to annul his order concerning Charlotte, and still tonight, law-abiding doctors, could, and would leave her to die if she needed emergency treatment.

When the judge first ordered that Charlotte should not be helped in case of an emergency, the doctors lied to the judge, saying she would never improve, and would have to stay in an oxygen box all of her life, and would be in pain all the time, now according to The Times:

“One of the medical experts, Dr C - none of the doctors in the case could be identified because of fears of attacks by pro-life activists - had reported that Charlotte now had “genuinely good days” when she received no sedatives and was taken out of her oxygen box and given an oxygen mask instead. She would frown and grimace, although she did not smile, and responded in a limited way to light and sound.”

They think however, that her brain has not grown at all, and that she has not gotten healthy enough to deserve life. Of course, if her brain has not grown at all, what accounts for the limited way in which she responds to light and sound? Since, according to the Doctor’s she could not before?

Their is still, however, some hope for Charlotte, the story could still end well if her parents can collect expert medical evidence that would convince Mr Justice Hedley that the situation has improved, and if she survives till the hearing (which will be held sometime before Easter). Also, the story could end well if she never succomb to an infection that would make her need aggresive medical treatment, or at least for a few years till things have changed a bit in her favour.

Sounding the Trumpet is participating in Israpundit’s blogburst in commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz:

The Holocaust, symbolized by Auschwitz, the worst of the death camps, occurred in the wake of consistent, systematic, unrelenting anti-Jewish propaganda campaign. As a result, the elimination of the Jews from German society was accepted as axiomatic, leaving open only two questions: when and how.

As Germany expanded its domination and occupation of Austria, Czechoslovakia, France, the Low Countries, Yugoslavia, Poland, parts of the USSR, Greece, Romania, Hungary, Italy and others countries, the way was open for Hitler to realize his well-publicized plan of destroying the Jewish people.

After experimentation, the use of Zyklon B on unsuspecting victim was adopted by the Nazis as the means of choice, and Auschwitz was selected as the main factory of death (more accurately, one should refer to the “Auschwitz-Birkenau complex”). The green light for mass annihilation was given at the Wannsee Conference, January 20, 1942, and the mass gassings took place in Auschwitz between 1942 and the end of 1944, when the Nazis retreated before the advancing Red Army. Jews were transported to Auschwitz from all over Nazi-occupied or Nazi-dominated Europe and most were slaughtered in Auschwitz upon arrival, sometimes as many as 12,000 in one day. Some victims were selected for slave labour or “medical” experimentation. All were subject to brutal treatment.

In all, between three and four million people, mostly Jews, but also Poles and Red Army POWs, were slaughtered in Auschwitz alone (though some authors put the number at 1.3 million). Other death camps were located at Sobibor, Chelmno, Belzec (Belzek), Majdanek and Treblinka.

Auschwitz was liberated by the Red Army on 27 January 1945, sixty years ago, after most of the prisoners were forced into a Death March westwards. The Red Army found in Auschwitz about 7,600 survivors, but not all could be saved.

For a long time, the Allies were well aware of the mass murder, but deliberately refused to bomb the camp or the railways leading to it. Ironically, during the Polish uprising, the Allies had no hesitation in flying aid to Warsaw, sometimes flying right over Auschwitz.

There are troubling parallels between the systematic vilification of Jews before the Holocaust and the current vilification of the Jewish people and Israel. Suffice it to note the annual flood of anti-Israel resolutions at the UN; or the public opinion polls taken in Europe, which single out Israel as a danger to world peace; or the divestment campaigns being waged in the US against Israel; or the attempts to delegitimize Israel’s very existence. The complicity of the Allies in WW II is mirrored by the support the PLO has been receiving from Europe, China and Russia to this very day.

If remembering Auschwitz should teach us anything, it is that we must all support Israel and the Jewish people against the vilification and the complicity we are witnessing, knowing where it inevitably leads.

If you’ve been following the Club for Growth recently, you know that Pat Toomey (the Pennsylvanian congressman who almost beat Senator Specter) has become their new president.

It is sad to see Steve Moore go — he has done an awful lot to elect pro-growth leaders in the House and the Senate, and I’m sure instilled a lot of fear in liberal Republicans. However, he isn’t retiring from politics — instead he started a new organization to make sure politicians keep their promises once they’re elected.

The conservative blogsphere has been muttering that we really need a social security blog to win this next phase of the war on ideas. Pat Toomey must have heard, because Club for Growth has just started a new blog to do just that.

Check it out at Social Security Choice. It already looks promising.

Last fall the British High Court ruled that if Charlotte Wyatt would stop breathing, doctors should not resuscitate her. I was very sad and upset, and did not think that little Charlotte had very much hope left, but, too my great surprise and joy, Charlotte is still alive today, and doing very well, according to a report from Debbie and Darren Wyatt (her parents) Charlotte is much healthier than before, and her breathing has gotten a lot stronger, with her being able to be out of the oxygen box much longer then before. The doctors have confirmed this report, but say that even though her condition has improved, it has not improved enough so that to warrant reversing of the previous court order (from this fall). Since she has survived these three and a half months, and is improving, her parents are once again pushing for the court to reverse the falls order, and allow for emergency treatment if Charlotte should need it. I think their is a chance…the doctors said she could not get better, and now she has.

The Times also has a very good article on this: Baby Charlotte’s survival sparks new legal battle

22 cases of child euthanasia have been reported in the Netherlands, according to one study, according to another one, 15 to 20 disabled children have been killed per year, and not reported! Even thought child euthanasia is illegal, prosecutors will not file charges if the doctors keep themselves to these four unofficial rules: (via BBC)

• The child’s medical team and independent doctors must agree to the euthanasia

• There is no prospect of improvement and the pain cannot be eased

• The child’s parents give their consent

• The life must be ended in the correct medical way

So, first you start killing unborn babies (and call it abortion), then you start killing the elderly, and then the young and disabled (This was also done as part of Hitlers “purge”), I wonder who will go next?

I didn’t, but I did want to be proven wrong! The American Spectator has a good article on recent developments.

Hat tip: Le Sabot Post-Moderne

Paul Ibrahim (president of CCFL) has e-mailed me some fabulous pictures from the march:

In spite of the severe weather we’ve been having here in the North-east, several Cornellians were able to make it for this year’s national March for Life. Paul Ibrahim, president of Cornell’s pro-life club, Cornell Coalition for Life, e-mailed this to us about the march:

The March For Life this year was amazing. Although 20 or so Cornellians were unable to go to DC because of the weather, a number of pro-lifers from Cornell managed to represent the university at the march.

It was a truly great experience. We met a large number of Cornell alumni who saw our banner, walked up to us, and thanked us for what we were doing. We even met current Cornell students who were unaware of the existence of the Cornell Coalition For Life.

After we stood on a high point that overlooked all of the marchers passing by, we got an unbelievable amount of attention. Most of the people who walked by started cheering us on, yelling out things like “I didn’t know pro-lifers even existed at Ivies.” It was a truly wonderful time, and we hope that Cornell will be represented by an even larger number of pro-lifers next year.

It seem from this article that ever since he has become “President” of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas has been negotiating with different armed terrorist groups (Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades), trying to negotiate a truce, and it seems like he is making good progress. What I’ve heard of him so far I like. He is not as bad a man as Arafat, and it looks like he is really interested in what is best for Palestinians, and for the whole of the Middle East.

Also, According to this interesting article from The Globe and Mail, it seems like Isreal’s PM Ariel Sharon finally has hope for something good also:

On the Israeli side, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was responding positively to Palestinian moves for the first time, reflecting some confidence in Mr. Abbas, in stark contrast to Israel’s attitude toward Mr. Arafat.

Just before he left on a one day trip to Russia to work on recently strained relations with that powerful and unhappy neighbor, President Yushchenko appointed Yulia Tymoshenko as Prime Minister of Ukraine! She’ll be doing the duties of Prime Minister, but will only be “acting” until mid February, when the Ukrainian parliament which will have just reconvened confirms her.

According to the Associated Press (via guardian.co.uk), in a recent AP interview with her…

“Tymoshenko said her first tasks as prime minister would include reviewing the national budget and restarting Ukraine’s efforts to join the European Union.”

You can find updated news about what Yushchenko is doing from his personal website: My Ukraine!

I was planning on posting these earlier, but with classes starting this Monday, it didn’t get done.

Anyway. . . I thought these were some interesting perspectives on Bush’s speech.

Neeka’s Backlog, has been liveblogging the Ukraine inauguration, and she posted some nice pictures that she has collected from AP and Reuters.

(Photo by: Reuters/Gleb Garanich)
Singing the National Anthem

(Photo by: Reuters/Vasily Fedosenko)
Sending off the “Orange Dove” (A dove with an Orange ribbon attached to him)

Hat Tip: SiberianLight

The end of a long, drawn out saga– Victor Yushchenko was sworn in the Ukrainian Supreme Rada in Kiev today, Ukraine’s third post-soviet president.

In spite of all that was stacked up against them, the Ukrainian people rose to meet their challenges and show the entire world how democracy could be won.

It is over in a way, and yet it is not over. Victory for the Orange Revolution, but the fight for a truly free– in Yushchenko’s words, an “authentically independent and democratic” Ukraine is just beginning. May the impetus gathered in the streets of the tent city not loose its potency in the halls of power, and reform find its way into the most entrenched corners of the establishment.

Today is the 32nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

We’ve been negligent in marking this sanctity of life week (it started last Sunday), but even though the week ends today, the national march for life is Monday, and we’ll be covering that. Several Cornell students are taking part, and although I haven’t been able to contact them yet, hopefully we’ll be able to get some first hand accounts of the march.

It seemed to me the best way to end this week of mourning and dedication is to reflect on the humanity of the unborn. So I decided to follow Eric Seymour example by posting one of the pictures that really shows this the best. (I want to thank Michael Clancy for graciously letting us post his picture.)

In this picture the surgeon is performing utero surgery to treat Samuel Armas’s spina bifida. Samuel was 21 weeks old at the time.

Pictures such as these really do change people’s hearts. According to his own account, Michael himself was ambivalent towards abortion. . . .but not after he took the picture. According to NRL News:

Michael had no idea that the shoot would change his life forever.

As he explained to NRL News, “Before the picture, I felt that as a man I could never be pregnant and alone, so it wasn’t for me to decide whether abortion was right or wrong. I was indifferent.”

Michael described for the Senate hearing the details of his experience during the surgery:

“The tension could be felt in the operating room as the surgery began. The procedure would take place within the uterus, and no part of the child was to breach the surgical opening. The entire surgical procedure on the child was completed in one hour and 13 minutes. When it was over, the surgical team breathed a sigh of relief, as did I.

“As a doctor asked me what speed film I was using, out of the corner of my eye I saw the uterus shake, but no one’s hands were near it. It was shaking from within.

“Suddenly, an entire arm thrust out of the opening, then pulled back until just a little hand was showing. The doctor reached over and lifted the hand, which reacted and squeezed the doctor’s finger.

“As if testing for strength, the doctor shook the tiny fist. Samuel held firm. I took the picture. Wow!”

You can see Samuel when he is three here.

There is an interesting discussion going on at Redstate concerning the appointment of JoAnn Davidson, abortion advocate and founding member of Republicans for Choice, to the co-chairmanship of the party. If this isn’t a betrayal of pro-lifers by the party, it looks very much like it. And our eyes aren’t closed– we’re watching, and we care.

Sure, she’s made some promises. I guess with the deluge of phone-calls the RNC was faced with before that vote, she had to. What kind of promises can you take for someone who’s served on the advisory board of a pro-choice lobbying board for fifteen years? And how much is it worth anyway, when its drawn out as the price for a much-desired position?

I’m not entirely against a big-tent philosophy. But the party is either pro-life or not, and if it’s not, I’m not in it. And neither are a great many other strong conservatives, the backbone of our party.

If this was an independent incident perhaps I would make no objections. You have to be fair to the other guys sometimes, and we don’t want to go with a litmus test. But it isn’t like JoAnn Davidson is just personally opposed to the pro-life cause– there is a bit of difference between someone who isn’t sure abortion should be illegal, and a pro-abortion activist. And after Specter, and the President’s pro-choice cabinet nominees . . .

Thomas puts it well:

There is a point past which loyalty to a cause that shows no reward to you is either blind religious devotion or utter idiocy. I’m Catholic, and I’m not (that) stupid. If the Party thinks we’re along for the ride and too benighted to notice things like this, well, that’s at their own peril. We may not be the majority of the Party apparatus, but I note that when it came time to gather votes for the election, Team Bush manifestly did not rely on getting out the pro-choice vote. And it showed.

The next round of Supreme Court Justices — what I, at least, am fighting for — had best not be Souters. It would be … interesting to watch the Party try to win without pro-lifers.

James Glassman at TCS tallies up the conservative influence in our major institutions, and the score is not pretty. While I would disagree with some of his individual assessments, overall they are far too accurate. Seven of the ten major institutions he lists in liberal hands, just two in conservative, and one split. . .

Why is our redstate, conservative majority so passive? We have some work to do.

Roger Clegg at the Corner has some interesting comments about this statement in Bush’s speech:

“A little odd for the President to use this phrase in his speech. It’s from—or also appears in—Dostoevsky’s The Possessed, and was taken by James Billington as the title for his book. From a review of the latter: ‘Billington published Fire in the Minds of Men: Origins of Revolutionary Faith, a study of small groups and idiosyncratic people who ‘created an incendiary legacy of ideas.’ The title of the book came from Dostoyevsky’s novel The Possessed, in which one character, looking out at a town torched by revolutionaries, said, ‘The fire is in the minds of men, not in the roofs of buildings.’”

I like that.

Jim Geraghty on TKS says, “Even the unwanted have worth.” is a shout-out to pro-lifers. . . .

FOXNews has an interesting list of Bush trivia questions

1. What is Bush’s nickname?

2. What kind of vehicle does Bush drive on his ranch in Crawford, Texas?

3. If you hooked up headphones to Bush’s iPod, what music would you hear?

4. What trait does Bush hate?

5. What has Bush banned from the Oval Office?

6. What three states has Bush never visited during his time as president?

7. What state has Bush visited the most? Second most?

8. The president has hosted just four state dinners at the White House. What world leaders received this rare tribute?

9. What was Bush’s favorite movie of 2004? Top flick in 2000?

10. If stranded on a desert island, what would be his must-haves?

11. Where did the first couple meet?

12. George and Laura Bush were the same age when they got married. How old were they?

13. Seated in the family quarters to watch a game on television, what sport does the president prefer?

14. What does the president consider one of his hidden talents?”

You can find the answers here .

Ah! Blogger seems to be down . . .too many people must be blogging.

I liked how he showed the connection between defending freedom abroad with advancing freedom here at home.

Bush has really done more to ‘abandon the habits of racism’ than many presidents, especially with all his minority appointments.

Bush will be sworn in 11:30 a.m. eastern time today. I believe they’ll cover it on cspan (via How Appealing).

Update: You can find the schedule here.

Bush has written a short op-ed for the Washington Times; check it out here (via Lorie Byrd at Polipundit).

Nothing directly about his support for marriage, but he did state that he’ll promote a culture that values life and value cultural institutions. . . .