Scrolling around...September 20, 2012

Pew Research: Rising Tide of Restrictions on Religion

Changes in Government Restrictions

Changes in Social Hostilities

Changes in Overall Restrictions

Patterns among Specific Types of Restrictions and Hostilities

Harassment of Specific Groups

Regions and Countries

About the Study

The Obama You Don't Know
...Over the years and in two autobiographies, Obama has presented himself to the world as many things, including radical community organizer, idealistic civil rights lawyer, dynamic reformer in the Illinois and U.S. senates, and, finally, the cool presidential voice of postpartisan hope and change.

With his air of reasonableness and moderation, he has projected a remarkably likable persona. Even in the midst of a historically dirty campaign for re-election, his likability numbers remain impressive, as seen in a recent AP-GFK Poll that found 53 percent of adults have a favorable view of him.

But beyond the spin and the polls, a starkly different picture emerges. It is a portrait of a man quite unlike his image, not a visionary reformer but rather a classic Chicago machine pol who thrives on rewarding himself and his friends with the spoils of public office, and who uses his position to punish his enemies...

'Planned Bullyhood'
A former executive at Susan G. Komen for the Cure has written a book about how Planned Parenthood "bullied" the organization she loves into being affiliated with it.

Islam and the Closing of the Secular Mind
...Then there is the sheer ignorance of history prevailing among much of the secular intelligentsia. This was unfortunately exemplified by the lamentable historiography that was on full display in President Obama's once much-touted, now much-forgotten2009 Cairo speech. Among other things, the President referred to how Islam "carried the light of learning through so many centuries, paving the way for Europe's Renaissance and Enlightenment."
Really? Did the President's advisors and speechwriters know that this thesis has been subject to withering critique for over 100 years? Were they conscious that, as the French professor of Arabic and religious philosophy Rémi Brague demonstrated in his bookEurope, La voie romaine (1992/1999), the statesman-scholar-monk Cassiodorus (c.485-c.585 AD) not only collaborated with Pope Agapetus I in arranging for the translation of classical Greek texts into Latin, but also established a monastery-school on his family estate to safeguard and study the same works? Were they aware that the works of Antiquity never somehow vanished but were preserved for centuries by Greek-speaking Eastern Christians? Or that Aristotle was known and read in the medieval West long before Arabic translations appeared in Europe?...

Muslim Riots Reach Europe: Free Speech Under Threat
Protests over an American-made anti-Islamic YouTube film, Innocence of Muslims, have spread to Europe. Muslim rioters have clashed with police in several European cities, and more demonstrations are being planned. The protests are part of widespread anger across the Muslim world about the amateur film, which ridicules Islam and depicts the Muslim Prophet Mohammed as a fraud, a madman and a sexual deviant.
Muslims in many European countries are calling on governments to outlaw the controversial film. They are also pressing elected officials to enact anti-blasphemy laws that would criminalize the criticism of Islam. As most European countries lack American-like First Amendment protections, the momentum is building for the imposition of legal curbs on free speech when such speech is perceived to be offensive to Islam...

Military flaunts ‘gay marriage’ in state where it’s illegal

The Bride of Christ?
“Oh no,” I thought, “here we go again.” News of a long lost textual fragment which many will think could undermine traditional Christian faith is breaking, the latest in a long line of interesting discoveries sensationalized by the media into something supposedly subversive of traditional Christian faith. Whether the frenzy concerned the claims of The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross, the Secret Gospel of Mark, St. James’ supposed ossuary, or the Gospel of Judas, when the smoke cleared, traditional Christianity was left standing...

Now Transhumanists Want to Control Animal Evolution

Oh, good grief. Should we “uplift” the intelligence of animals? Transhumanists generally say yes, if only to shatter human exceptionalism. But really...

Two DOJ Officials Step Down In Wake of Fast and Furious Report
The Justice Department's internal watchdog on Wednesday faulted the agency for misguided strategies, errors in judgment and management failures during a bungled gun-trafficking probe in Arizona that resulted in hundreds of weapons turning up at crime scenes in the U.S. and Mexico...

Orlando:‘Kill Your Baby for Free’ Day Sees Dozens Slaughtered
Dozens of babies were literally massacred in Orlando, Fla., on Tuesday in what area pro-lifers will remember as "free baby-killing day."...

Here Comes Incest, Just as Predicted
...A gay man and his partner once asked me, “But how can you say our relationship is wrong? We’re not hurting anyone and there is no victim.” I asked them, “Would you approve of two adult gay brothers having a relationship?” They both replied, “But that is so wrong!” Yet when I pressed them further, they could not say why their relationship was fine but that of two consenting brothers was not...

New York City: Soft Drinks Bad, Late-Term Abortions Okay
New York City has two endangered species: Soda and babies. Unfortunately the city cares more about the soft drink than the human life...

Obama 'flag' reminds some of blood-stained walls at Benghazi consulate
A new Obama "flag" poster sold by the campaign is designed to look something like the U.S. flag, but on Thursday, a post at the Gateway Pundit noticed that the "stripes" are eerily similar to blood stains on the walls at the Benghazi consulate where Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed.