Matt 24 watch, 224: Matthew Cook of MercatorNet on the Matthew Shepard case and manipulative public relations and court case lies used to build myths to create social revolutions

Michael Cook of MercatorNet writes:

"Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest do not happen at all,” Mark Twain wrote. “The conscientious historian will correct these defects". Which is exactly what activists for abortion right and gay rights have done. They drafted scripts of pathos and injustice and then did a talent search for actors to play the part. Convenient facts were highlighted; inconvenient ones were suppressed.
Does this make a difference? Even if the facts were massaged, the courts of law and public opinion had already reached a decision. Sooner or later a case would have emerged whose facts fit the ideology perfectly.
But it does make a difference. Only a cause which is not confident of its own righteousness needs to lie to prove its point. As the leading gay journalist in the US, Andrew Sullivan, comments about The Book of Matt, “No one should be afraid of the truth. Least of all gay people... Shouldn’t we understand better why and how?"
And worst of all, massaging and rearranging the facts makes it likely that you will omit facts that don’t fit into the myth. Perhaps that’s why “The Laramie Project” is opening in Ford Theater in Washington DC this month, while the 2002 murder of Mary Stachowicz, a housewife who was beaten, stabbed, strangled and killed by a gay co-worker because she questioned his lifestyle has been forgotten. She doesn’t fit into the myth of gay oppression.
- See more at: http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/three_lies_that_built_a_revolution#sthash.sUjBqMy4.dpuf

"Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest do not happen at all,” Mark Twain wrote. “The conscientious historian will correct these defects". Which is exactly what activists for abortion right and gay rights have done. They drafted scripts of pathos and injustice and then did a talent search for actors to play the part. Convenient facts were highlighted; inconvenient ones were suppressed.
Does this make a difference? Even if the facts were massaged, the courts of law and public opinion had already reached a decision. Sooner or later a case would have emerged whose facts fit the ideology perfectly.
But it does make a difference. Only a cause which is not confident of its own righteousness needs to lie to prove its point. As the leading gay journalist in the US, Andrew Sullivan, comments about The Book of Matt, “No one should be afraid of the truth. Least of all gay people... Shouldn’t we understand better why and how?"
And worst of all, massaging and rearranging the facts makes it likely that you will omit facts that don’t fit into the myth. Perhaps that’s why “The Laramie Project” is opening in Ford Theater in Washington DC this month, while the 2002 murder of Mary Stachowicz, a housewife who was beaten, stabbed, strangled and killed by a gay co-worker because she questioned his lifestyle has been forgotten. She doesn’t fit into the myth of gay oppression.
- See more at: http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/three_lies_that_built_a_revolution#sthash.sUjBqMy4.dpuf

 "Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest do not happen at all,” Mark Twain wrote. “The conscientious historian will correct these defects". Which is exactly what activists for abortion right and gay rights have done. They drafted scripts of pathos and injustice and then did a talent search for actors to play the part. Convenient facts were highlighted; inconvenient ones were suppressed.

Does this make a difference? Even if the facts were massaged, the courts of law and public opinion had already reached a decision. Sooner or later a case would have emerged whose facts fit the ideology perfectly.

But it does make a difference. Only a cause which is not confident of its own righteousness needs to lie to prove its point. As the leading gay journalist in the US, Andrew Sullivan, comments about The Book of Matt, “No one should be afraid of the truth. Least of all gay people... Shouldn’t we understand better why and how?"

Cook continues, tellingly:

And worst of all, massaging and rearranging the facts makes it likely that you will omit facts that don’t fit into the myth. Perhaps that’s why “The Laramie Project” is opening in Ford Theater in Washington DC this month, while the 2002 murder of Mary Stachowicz, a housewife who was beaten, stabbed, strangled and killed by a gay co-worker because she questioned his lifestyle has been forgotten. She doesn’t fit into the myth of gay oppression.

He is of course writing in the aftermath of revelations in a new book, The Book of Matt, by Steven Jiminez. based on his investigations -- including interviews with over a hundred people including the actual murderers,  it seems that:

Shepard was a regular crystal meth user and a meth dealer, that his killer, McKinney, had been on a meth bender, that McKinney and possibly Henderson dabbled in gay sex, that McKinney had partied with Shepard and had even had had sex with him. It is a seamy story, full of gut-wrenching violence. But it is not a story of homophobic rednecks torturing and murdering a refined, gentle gay activist.
Writing in The Advocate, the leading US gay paper, Aaron Hicklin asks, “did our need to make a symbol of Shepard blind us to a messy, complex story that is darker and more troubling than the established narrative?”
- See more at: http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/three_lies_that_built_a_revolution#sthash.KUSuiiN1.dpuf

Stephen Jimenez

Stephen Jimenez, a homosexual and journalist.

It turns out that Shepard was a regular crystal meth user and a meth dealer, that his killer, McKinney, had been on a meth bender, that McKinney and possibly Henderson dabbled in gay sex, that McKinney had partied with Shepard and had even had had sex with him. It is a seamy story, full of gut-wrenching violence. But it is not a story of homophobic rednecks torturing and murdering a refined, gentle gay activist.
Writing in The Advocate, the leading US gay paper, Aaron Hicklin asks, “did our need to make a symbol of Shepard blind us to a messy, complex story that is darker and more troubling than the established narrative?”
- See more at: http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/three_lies_that_built_a_revolution#sthash.sUjBqMy4.dpuf

Shepard was a regular crystal meth user and a meth dealer, that his killer, McKinney, had been on a meth bender, that McKinney and possibly Henderson dabbled in gay sex, that McKinney had partied with Shepard and had even had had sex with him. It is a seamy story, full of gut-wrenching violence. But it is not a story of homophobic rednecks torturing and murdering a refined, gentle gay activist.
Writing in The Advocate, the leading US gay paper, Aaron Hicklin asks, “did our need to make a symbol of Shepard blind us to a messy, complex story that is darker and more troubling than the established narrative?”
- See more at: http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/three_lies_that_built_a_revolution#sthash.KUSuiiN1.dpuf

Shepard was a regular crystal meth user and a meth dealer, that his killer, McKinney, had been on a meth bender, that McKinney and possibly Henderson dabbled in gay sex, that McKinney had partied with Shepard and had even had had sex with him. It is a seamy story, full of gut-wrenching violence. But it is not a story of homophobic rednecks torturing and murdering a refined, gentle gay activist.
Writing in The Advocate, the leading US gay paper, Aaron Hicklin asks, “did our need to make a symbol of Shepard blind us to a messy, complex story that is darker and more troubling than the established narrative?”
- See more at: http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/three_lies_that_built_a_revolution#sthash.sUjBqMy4.dpuf

Shepard was a regular crystal meth user and a meth dealer, that his killer, McKinney, had been on a meth bender, that McKinney and possibly Henderson dabbled in gay sex, that McKinney had partied with Shepard and had even had had sex with him. It is a seamy story, full of gut-wrenching violence. But it is not a story of homophobic rednecks torturing and murdering a refined, gentle gay activist.
Writing in The Advocate, the leading US gay paper, Aaron Hicklin asks, “did our need to make a symbol of Shepard blind us to a messy, complex story that is darker and more troubling than the established narrative?”
- See more at: http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/three_lies_that_built_a_revolution#sthash.sUjBqMy4.dpuf

Shepard was a regular crystal meth user and a meth dealer, that his killer, McKinney, had been on a meth bender, that McKinney and possibly Henderson dabbled in gay sex, that McKinney had partied with Shepard and had even had had sex with him. It is a seamy story, full of gut-wrenching violence. But it is not a story of homophobic rednecks torturing and murdering a refined, gentle gay activist.
Writing in The Advocate, the leading US gay paper, Aaron Hicklin asks, “did our need to make a symbol of Shepard blind us to a messy, complex story that is darker and more troubling than the established narrative?”
- See more at: http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/three_lies_that_built_a_revolution#sthash.sUjBqMy4.dpuf

It turns out that Shepard was a regular crystal meth user and a meth dealer, that his killer, McKinney, had been on a meth bender, that McKinney and possibly Henderson dabbled in gay sex, that McKinney had partied with Shepard and had even had had sex with him. It is a seamy story, full of gut-wrenching violence. But it is not a story of homophobic rednecks torturing and murdering a refined, gentle gay activist.
Writing in The Advocate, the leading US gay paper, Aaron Hicklin asks, “did our need to make a symbol of Shepard blind us to a messy, complex story that is darker and more troubling than the established narrative?”
- See more at: http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/three_lies_that_built_a_revolution#sthash.sUjBqMy4.dpuf

 Shepard was a regular crystal meth user and a meth dealer, that his killer, McKinney, had been on a meth bender, that McKinney and possibly Henderson dabbled in gay sex, that McKinney had partied with Shepard and had even had had sex with him. It is a seamy story, full of gut-wrenching violence. But it is not a story of homophobic rednecks torturing and murdering a refined, gentle gay activist.

Writing in The Advocate, the leading US gay paper, Aaron Hicklin asks, “did our need to make a symbol of Shepard blind us to a messy, complex story that is darker and more troubling than the established narrative?”

Unfortunately, this is only the latest of a long string of cases and "narratives" used to push agendas by portraying sympathetic victims and benighted opponents, including major court cases.

Cook is right to highlight the issue of the taint and sign of deception as a mark of agendas that need to be far more closely assessed than they usually are once this sort of dominant narrative captures the popular mind. 

Or at least, the dominant media mind.

In context, we need to carefully reflect again at the problem of the perverse marketing of evil by desensitising us, jamming out objectors and converting a critical mass into supporters. All, in accord with the Marlboro Man advertising revolution: led by Leo Burnett, who:

concentrated on style, creating icons as a symbol of the product. He stressed that the creator of an ad needed to somehow capture and reflect what he called the "inherent drama" of the product.

Obviously, we are being routinely led by the nose, through the technique of creating iconic images made to look sufficiently real to be vivid and arresting, and stories meant to capture our visual memory and seem plausibly true. Never mind that they may be full of half truths and perhaps outright fabrications (as in some of those court cases).

I therefore call our attention back to the straight vs spin grid as an antidote to such manipulative idolatry in our time, whether used to sell cigarettes, beans, cynical and devious politicians or rank perverted agendas:

(I) The "Straight or Spin?" News, Education & Views Evaluation Grid:

We may begin by giving a description of what news at its best "should" be like if it is to be a "rough, first draft of History":

. . . a well-informed, easily readable report on a noticeable and significant current event; presented in an accurate, fair, balanced, factually based fashion; and, with enough background context to give the viewer a basis to make up his or her own mind.

In that light, I believe the following analytical "straight or spin" grid will be helpful in assessing the quality of news, commentary and education we are exposed to in our region:

STORY ELEMENTS:	(a) Headline & Lead	(b) Story &/or Views presented	(c) Characterisation of People &/or Institutions	(d) Context: underlying Issues, Alternatives and Historical Setting
(1) Factually Accurate?	Y/N	Y/N	Y/N	Y/N
(2) Fair, or Just?	Y/N	Y/N	Y/N	Y/N
(3) Kind or Gracious?	Y/N	Y/N	Y/N	Y/N
(4) Balanced, or provides a Counter - balance?	Y/N	Y/N	Y/N	Y/N

Fig. 1: News, Education and Views: "Straight or Spin?" [Key: Y, "yes" = 1; N, "no" = 0]

---

(II) Using the "Straight or Spin?" Grid:

As can be seen, the straight or spin grid gives four main facets of a typical item of news or commentary, or a lesson/lecture (or even a textbook chapter): (a) the head and lead, (b) the story proper, (c) characterisation, and (d) context. It then asks a basic question:

Is the presented information: (1) accurate, (2) fair, (3) kind and (4) balanced?

It is a reasonable expectation that, consistently, the answer should be YES, for all components of a news, educational or commentary item, or a presentation or even a sermon. However, to err is human, so there might be an occasional slip that requires minor correction. So, we can now grade the quality of our news, education and commentary services:

• B to A: Consistent Score 13 - 16: a reasonably good to excellent service, but if errors keep on cropping up in any one square (e.g. cells 1a, 2c, 3b or 4d), there is a systematic problem (e.g.; 1a: inaccurate headings and leads, 2c: unfair or unjust characterisations of people or institutions, 3b: unkind (say, through sensationalism that exploits people's pain) presentation of stories, 4d: biased context), and corrective action is obviously needed. [The examples make the "structured common-sense" approach plain: do you wish to consume information from sources that are consistently inaccurate in how they headline and lead stories on issues and news? Or, from one that often slanders people or institutions it does not like? Or, tries to make money off sensationalising the suffering of others? Or, tells only half the story through suppressing materially relevant context? Etc.?]
  
  
• D to C: Consistent Score 8 - 12: This source has a major, systematic problem with at least one of the four requirements of sound, straight information, and is probably pushing an agenda counter to the interests of the people of God and the wider community. The source and the editorial policy require major reformation.
  
  
• F: Consistent Score 7 or less: Do not trust this source, period. Warn others about the evident distortion, bias, deception and agenda. If the source has significant institutional power and is unwilling to be corrected, make the creation of an alternative that will consistently correct and expose the errors and agenda a top priority.

Unfortunately, for far too many local, regional and international sources of news, entertainment, commentary and even education available in or to the Caribbean, the proper assessment in this post-modern relativistic age is: F.

_________

It is time to wake up and turn away from cleverly invented myths designed to tickle our itching ears with what we want to hear and twist our hearts and minds to accept what evidently cannot pass the basic test of truthfulness. END

ery few things happen at the right time, and the rest do not happen at all,” Mark Twain wrote. “The conscientious historian will correct these defects". Which is exactly what activists for abortion right and gay rights have done. They drafted scripts of pathos and injustice and then did a talent search for actors to play the part. Convenient facts were highlighted; inconvenient ones were suppressed.
Does this make a difference? Even if the facts were massaged, the courts of law and public opinion had already reached a decision. Sooner or later a case would have emerged whose facts fit the ideology perfectly.
But it does make a difference. Only a cause which is not confident of its own righteousness needs to lie to prove its point. As the leading gay journalist in the US, Andrew Sullivan, comments about The Book of Matt, “No one should be afraid of the truth. Least of all gay people... Shouldn’t we understand better why and how?"
And worst of all, massaging and rearranging the facts makes it likely that you will omit facts that don’t fit into the myth. Perhaps that’s why “The Laramie Project” is opening in Ford Theater in Washington DC this month, while the 2002 murder of Mary Stachowicz, a housewife who was beaten, stabbed, strangled and killed by a gay co-worker because she questioned his lifestyle has been forgotten. She doesn’t fit into the myth of gay oppression.
- See more at: http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/three_lies_that_built_a_revolution#sthash.sUjBqMy4.dpuf

"Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest do not happen at all,” Mark Twain wrote. “The conscientious historian will correct these defects". Which is exactly what activists for abortion right and gay rights have done. They drafted scripts of pathos and injustice and then did a talent search for actors to play the part. Convenient facts were highlighted; inconvenient ones were suppressed.
Does this make a difference? Even if the facts were massaged, the courts of law and public opinion had already reached a decision. Sooner or later a case would have emerged whose facts fit the ideology perfectly.
But it does make a difference. Only a cause which is not confident of its own righteousness needs to lie to prove its point. As the leading gay journalist in the US, Andrew Sullivan, comments about The Book of Matt, “No one should be afraid of the truth. Least of all gay people... Shouldn’t we understand better why and how?"
And worst of all, massaging and rearranging the facts makes it likely that you will omit facts that don’t fit into the myth. Perhaps that’s why “The Laramie Project” is opening in Ford Theater in Washington DC this month, while the 2002 murder of Mary Stachowicz, a housewife who was beaten, stabbed, strangled and killed by a gay co-worker because she questioned his lifestyle has been forgotten. She doesn’t fit into the myth of gay oppression.
- See more at: http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/three_lies_that_built_a_revolution#sthash.sUjBqMy4.dpuf

"Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest do not happen at all,” Mark Twain wrote. “The conscientious historian will correct these defects". Which is exactly what activists for abortion right and gay rights have done. They drafted scripts of pathos and injustice and then did a talent search for actors to play the part. Convenient facts were highlighted; inconvenient ones were suppressed.
Does this make a difference? Even if the facts were massaged, the courts of law and public opinion had already reached a decision. Sooner or later a case would have emerged whose facts fit the ideology perfectly.
But it does make a difference. Only a cause which is not confident of its own righteousness needs to lie to prove its point. As the leading gay journalist in the US, Andrew Sullivan, comments about The Book of Matt, “No one should be afraid of the truth. Least of all gay people... Shouldn’t we understand better why and how?"
And worst of all, massaging and rearranging the facts makes it likely that you will omit facts that don’t fit into the myth. Perhaps that’s why “The Laramie Project” is opening in Ford Theater in Washington DC this month, while the 2002 murder of Mary Stachowicz, a housewife who was beaten, stabbed, strangled and killed by a gay co-worker because she questioned his lifestyle has been forgotten. She doesn’t fit into the myth of gay oppression.
- See more at: http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/three_lies_that_built_a_revolution#sthash.sUjBqMy4.dpuf

"Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest do not happen at all,” Mark Twain wrote. “The conscientious historian will correct these defects". Which is exactly what activists for abortion right and gay rights have done. They drafted scripts of pathos and injustice and then did a talent search for actors to play the part. Convenient facts were highlighted; inconvenient ones were suppressed.
Does this make a difference? Even if the facts were massaged, the courts of law and public opinion had already reached a decision. Sooner or later a case would have emerged whose facts fit the ideology perfectly.
But it does make a difference. Only a cause which is not confident of its own righteousness needs to lie to prove its point. As the leading gay journalist in the US, Andrew Sullivan, comments about The Book of Matt, “No one should be afraid of the truth. Least of all gay people... Shouldn’t we understand better why and how?"
And worst of all, massaging and rearranging the facts makes it likely that you will omit facts that don’t fit into the myth. Perhaps that’s why “The Laramie Project” is opening in Ford Theater in Washington DC this month, while the 2002 murder of Mary Stachowicz, a housewife who was beaten, stabbed, strangled and killed by a gay co-worker because she questioned his lifestyle has been forgotten. She doesn’t fit into the myth of gay oppression.
- See more at: http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/three_lies_that_built_a_revolution#sthash.sUjBqMy4.dpuf

"Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest do not happen at all,” Mark Twain wrote. “The conscientious historian will correct these defects". Which is exactly what activists for abortion right and gay rights have done. They drafted scripts of pathos and injustice and then did a talent search for actors to play the part. Convenient facts were highlighted; inconvenient ones were suppressed.
Does this make a difference? Even if the facts were massaged, the courts of law and public opinion had already reached a decision. Sooner or later a case would have emerged whose facts fit the ideology perfectly.
But it does make a difference. Only a cause which is not confident of its own righteousness needs to lie to prove its point. As the leading gay journalist in the US, Andrew Sullivan, comments about The Book of Matt, “No one should be afraid of the truth. Least of all gay people... Shouldn’t we understand better why and how?"
And worst of all, massaging and rearranging the facts makes it likely that you will omit facts that don’t fit into the myth. Perhaps that’s why “The Laramie Project” is opening in Ford Theater in Washington DC this month, while the 2002 murder of Mary Stachowicz, a housewife who was beaten, stabbed, strangled and killed by a gay co-worker because she questioned his lifestyle has been forgotten. She doesn’t fit into the myth of gay oppression.
- See more at: http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/three_lies_that_built_a_revolution#sthash.sUjBqMy4.dpuf

"Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest do not happen at all,” Mark Twain wrote. “The conscientious historian will correct these defects". Which is exactly what activists for abortion right and gay rights have done. They drafted scripts of pathos and injustice and then did a talent search for actors to play the part. Convenient facts were highlighted; inconvenient ones were suppressed.
Does this make a difference? Even if the facts were massaged, the courts of law and public opinion had already reached a decision. Sooner or later a case would have emerged whose facts fit the ideology perfectly.
But it does make a difference. Only a cause which is not confident of its own righteousness needs to lie to prove its point. As the leading gay journalist in the US, Andrew Sullivan, comments about The Book of Matt, “No one should be afraid of the truth. Least of all gay people... Shouldn’t we understand better why and how?"
And worst of all, massaging and rearranging the facts makes it likely that you will omit facts that don’t fit into the myth. Perhaps that’s why “The Laramie Project” is opening in Ford Theater in Washington DC this month, while the 2002 murder of Mary Stachowicz, a housewife who was beaten, stabbed, strangled and killed by a gay co-worker because she questioned his lifestyle has been forgotten. She doesn’t fit into the myth of gay oppression.
- See more at: http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/three_lies_that_built_a_revolution#sthash.sUjBqMy4.dpuf

"Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest do not happen at all,” Mark Twain wrote. “The conscientious historian will correct these defects". Which is exactly what activists for abortion right and gay rights have done. They drafted scripts of pathos and injustice and then did a talent search for actors to play the part. Convenient facts were highlighted; inconvenient ones were suppressed.
Does this make a difference? Even if the facts were massaged, the courts of law and public opinion had already reached a decision. Sooner or later a case would have emerged whose facts fit the ideology perfectly.
But it does make a difference. Only a cause which is not confident of its own righteousness needs to lie to prove its point. As the leading gay journalist in the US, Andrew Sullivan, comments about The Book of Matt, “No one should be afraid of the truth. Least of all gay people... Shouldn’t we understand better why and how?"
And worst of all, massaging and rearranging the facts makes it likely that you will omit facts that don’t fit into the myth. Perhaps that’s why “The Laramie Project” is opening in Ford Theater in Washington DC this month, while the 2002 murder of Mary Stachowicz, a housewife who was beaten, stabbed, strangled and killed by a gay co-worker because she questioned his lifestyle has been forgotten. She doesn’t fit into the myth of gay oppression.
- See more at: http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/three_lies_that_built_a_revolution#sthash.sUjBqMy4.dpuf

Today, Sept 15 is the 73rd anniversary of Battle of Britain Day . . .

Hurricane, showing the characteristic
humpback and the fabric on stringer
construction in the rear of the fuselage
-- yes, WW I tech but it meant  easier
repair (Cr: Stephen Fox)

Today is also -- IIRC -- a Sunday, Battle of Britain day. 

The day commemorating when The Few in their Hurricanes (mostly!) and Spitfires stood between civilisation, however flawed, and a nightmare of aggressive barbarism.








Let us remember by watching:



(In watching, while the broadening attempted is important, never forget that if Fighter Command had been knocked out, all would have been lost, as the air would dominate all else. As happened with the Blitz in the West . . . yes, even the tank was secondary to the impact of the air.)

Churchill's speech:




Then, let us take heart and courage, learning to stand in an evil day against all odds.

In that context, I call on Paul's counsel:

Eph 5:⁸ . . . Walk as children of light ⁹ (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), ¹⁰ and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. ¹¹ Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. ¹² For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. ¹³ But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, ¹⁴ for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,

“Awake, O sleeper,
    and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”

¹⁵ Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶ making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. ¹⁷ Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. ¹⁸ And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹ addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, ²⁰ giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. [ESV]

Let us move ahead, having learned. END

Matt 24 watch, 223: Ben Birnbaum -- Flip-flopping by the Obama administration on Syria makes an Israeli strike against Iran far more likely (and it is US pressue that has stopped such a strike from having already happened)

From The New Republic, over Ben Birnbaum's by-line, we read:

[T]he White House’s indecisiveness of the last few weeks will cast a long shadow. Israel has kept a low profile in the Syrian civil war, launching anonymous strikes periodically to prevent the transfer of weapons to Hezbollah, but otherwise keeping mum—and with good reason. A collapse of the Syrian state and the rise of jihadist groups would threaten the long-standing calm along the Golan Heights and is no less distasteful to Israel than Assad’s continuation in power. Israel certainly has a vital stake in the destruction of Syria’s chemical arsenal (Assad has missiles that can reach Tel Aviv; so does Hezbollah), but Benjamin Netanyahu still sees the issue through the same prism he sees all issues these days: As he said Wednesday, “the message Syria receives will resonate very strongly in Iran.” It will resonate very strongly in Israel as well.

The Obama administration (and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee) has argued to Congress that a failure to enforce the president’s red line on chemical weapons would embolden the Iranian leadership to test his red line on nuclear weapons. And, indeed, a no vote on the Syria resolution would devastate American credibility in Tehran. But Iran has shown few signs of being deterred even in the face of crippling sanctions and an American threat of military action, so the more salient question is how the handwringing in Washington will affect the calculus in Jerusalem as Israel continues to debate military action.

Birnbaum notes:

conversations over the past two years with individuals who have been directly involved in the decision-making process have convinced me that Netanyahu is quite serious about striking Iran and would have done so by now had it not been for intense American pressure . . . . 

Netanyahu draws the Red Line at the UN
Iran is now dangerously close

Virtually all top Israeli officials agree that given the choice between “bomb or bombing,” bombing is the lesser of two evils. The debate instead has been over whether Israel has more time to wait for other measures to take their toll or whether, by waiting too long, it risks allowing Iran to enter what former defense minister Ehud Barak called the “zone of immunity,” when the Iranian nuclear program would be beyond Israel’s military reach [--> i.e. with conventional weapons] . . . the major question before Israel has always been whether it could trust the U.S.—with its superior military capabilities—to strike in the event that its own window of military opportunity closes.

Until now, a number of senior Israelis have believed it could. “I heard very carefully what President Obama said,” former Mossad chief Meir Dagan told "60 Minutes" last year. “And he said openly that the military option is on the table, and he is not going to let Iran become a nuclear state.” Current president Shimon Peres was even more emphatic in an interview with The New York Times Magazine, arguing that Israel should give the U.S. more time to pursue sanctions and diplomacy. “If none of this works, then President Obama will use military power against Iran,” he said. “I am sure of it.”

 He then chillingly notes: "Netanyahu is, well, less sure."

He explains:

Netanyahu had a fellow skeptic in Barak, who with him lobbied fellow members of Israel’s security cabinet in support of a strike before last year’s U.S. presidential election. While the details remain murky, all indications are that Barak changed his mind in the final weeks after receiving American assurances. The question in the wake of the great Syria zig-zag is what an American assurance is worth. If Syria is a test case for American reliability, it hasn’t been an encouraging one for Israelis.

This of course chillingly corroborates my thoughts in an earlier post of Sept 1st,  here at KF blog.

There is a lot more at stake in the Middle East's ever boiling pot than we may want to think.

And, we in the Caribbean need to be prepared for predictable implications of such a strike, destabilisation of the global energy markets leading to surging fuel prices and massive economic dislocation.

We need to be thinking survival mode in a time when import prices would surge (including FOOD) -- if we can get them at all. Sobering. END

Today is Sept 11, 2013, lest we forget . . .

Twelve years ago today, courtesy CNN and YouTube -- the unedited footage:



 (This carries on to 9 pm, from the time of the Pentagon attack.)

And, the story of the firemen.

We simply must not allow ourselves to forget. END

Matt 24 watch, 222: "Your soul or your head" in Syria -- the extremist rebels in action

According to a Sept 8, 2013 UK Daily Mail report:

Terrified Christians claim Syrian rebels ordered them to convert to Islam on pain of death when they ‘liberated’ their ancient village [later, DM notes: "The beautiful mountain village, 25 miles from Damascus, is one of the few places in the world where residents still use the ancient language of Aramaic, which was spoken by Jesus and his disciples."].

Opposition forces, including fighters linked to Al Qaeda, gained temporary control of the Christian village of Maaloula after fighting with regime forces.

The reports have reignited fears about western support for the rebel groups, which are increasingly being infiltrated by Islamic extremists. [--> or should that be, increasingly dominated by Islamist extremists?]

One Maaloula resident said the rebels, many of whom had beards and shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ (God is great), attacked Christian homes and churches shortly after moving into the village.

‘They shot and killed people. I heard gunshots and then I saw three bodies lying in the middle of a street in the old quarters of the village. Where is President Obama to see what has befallen us?’

Another Christian resident said: ‘I saw the militants grabbing five villagers and threatening them and saying, “Either you convert to Islam, or you will be beheaded”.’ ["Syrian village is 'liberated' by rebels... who then forced Christians to convert to Islam," Daily Mail, Sept 8, 2013.]

This disturbing report underscores the basic problem with the Syria situation. As time has gone on, the rebels are increasingly dominated by Islamist extremists -- many linked to Al Qaeda or its affiliates. At the same time the government is an odious dictatorship and client of Iran. So much is this the case that Iran has sent its "foreign legion" branch of its Revolutionary Guards, Hezbollah, to stiffen the Government forces.

The dilemmas faced by long oppressed Middle Eastern Christians, Jews and other minorities can only be imagined.

This situation is rather like the common dilemma in the cold war era where the state was often an authoritarian dictatorship and kleptocracy, and the rebels blood-thirsty communists.

In the short term, the answer is to break the fighting and bring all stakeholders to the table, backed up by enough will and force to get a reasonably civilised compromise.

Unfortunately, will is plainly lacking, and we need to realise that Syria reportedly disposes of the largest stockpile of chemical weapons left in the world.

Longer term, Islamist extremism needs to be exposed, shamed and decisively defeated ideologically, leading to collapse.

That means, scream, menace and worse, they must be exposed. 

And, refuted. 

And then, again and again, for years. 

Until they break.

Then we need to hammer the proverbial stake through the heart and mount a guard on the grave.

That is what happened with Communism. 

So, we know the approach works. 

All that is needed is the will to stand in the face of every attempt to distract, discredit the bearer of unwelcome truth, or even murder attempts and terrorist attacks.

If we do not lance the boil, blood poisoning lurks.

And, as our Lord tells us, the spiritual strong man must be bound and stripped of his armour and arms, if those he holds captive are to be set free. END

Matt 24 watch, 221: An outbreak of HIV/AIDS infections among "stars" in the porn "industry" in the USA

It has been noted that there is a cluster of HIV/AIDS infections among so-called "stars" in the pornography "industry" in the USA.

Radar Online notes:

Another porn star has revealed he has tested positive for HIV, the fourth such case reported in less than three weeks, RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned.

The male actor confirmed his diagnosis to the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the largest nonprofit global HIV/AIDS organization in the world which is presently fighting for a statewide condom rule in California . . . 

Last month, an actress who goes by the screen name Cameron Bay [in context, female] tested positive for HIV, prompting a weeklong voluntary halt on shooting.

On Tuesday a second performer, Rod Daily, who performs primarily in gay porn but is romantically linked to Bay, announced that he had also tested positive
.
Then, on Friday, a third actor — whose name was not been released — also reported a positive read, as first revealed by Radar. [HT, WND]

While, the outbreak of such a deadly disease is sad, and it is always tragic to see people suffering, we need to realise that this is a so-called "industry" built on willful involvement in sin that undermines lives, souls, families and society, and addictive bondage that too often leads to other horrors (such as the acting out of porn fantasies . . . including that of the Castro case of kidnapped women in Cleveland, Ohio). Behaviours that are implicated in all sorts of devastating consequences. 

Including, here, the spreading of diseases associated with sinful lifestyles.

We cannot but notice as well, the close association revealed between the promotion and "mainstreaming" of pornography and that of perversion.

(While we are at it, the recently formed group of Christians advocating for homosexualisation of marriage, is in obvious, gross error. Cf. a recent remark at KF here.)

So, perhaps the most troubling point is the implication of terms like "stars" and "industry" -- namely, that yet again perverse, destructive evil is being accepted into the mainstream of our civilisation.

Paul's words in Eph 4 - 5 are apt:

Eph 4:¹⁷ Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. ¹⁸ They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. ¹⁹ They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. ²⁰ But that is not the way you learned Christ!— ²¹ assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, ²² to put off your old self,^[f] which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, ²³ and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, ²⁴ and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness . . . .

  Eph 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. ² And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

³ But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. ⁴ Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. ⁵ For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. ⁶ Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. ⁷ Therefore do not become partners with them; ⁸ for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light ⁹ (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), ¹⁰ and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. ¹¹ Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. ¹² For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. ¹³ But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, ¹⁴ for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,

“Awake, O sleeper,
    and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”

¹⁵ Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶ making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. ¹⁷ Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. ¹⁸ And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹ addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, ²⁰ giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. [ESV]

Words to the wise in a civilisation spinning out of control and sliding faster and faster towards the cliff. END

Matt 24 watch, 220: Columnist David P Goldman reports: "President Obama stopped Israel from launching an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities a year ago, according to the then head of Israel’s National Security Council, Gen. Giora Eiland"

According to the columnist David P Goldman: "President Obama stopped Israel from launching an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities a year ago, according to the then head of Israel’s National Security Council, Gen. Giora Eiland."

He then translates an article by Israeli journalist Rotem Sella, which we clip as follows:

Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was about to order an attack on Iran in September 2012, but canceled the operation in response to U.S. pressure, the former head of Israel’s National Security Council said last month. Gen. Giora Eiland (retired) added that Israel “has a real ability to destroy Iran’s nuclear program,” and that it is possible that the American veto was related to the presidential election then in progress.

“At the time [September 2012] the Prime Minister thought that we had gotten to a critical point on the Iranian issue and planned to carry out attacks,” Gen. Eiland said at a closed-door conference held on August 19, adding that “Israel did not have in principle approval of U.S. military operations, unless Americans require one – cut prevented any action. ” According to Eiland, the issue was raised at a meeting between Netanyahu and the Americans, who said that the planned attack was out of the question for them, which led to its cancellation.

Since the cancellation of the planned Iran’s nuclear program has continued to progress. Today, argues Eiland, Israel again faces a difficult choice. “Time has passed and we stand before exactly the same decision, with less time. ” He added, “The lack of resolution is dramatic.”

Sella then continues, concluding with:

In September 2012, when Eiland headed Israel’s National Security Council, Obama was in trouble due to his poor performance in the first televised debate with Romney. He may have preferred to avoid a war that could harm his re-election campaign.

Do circumstances today allow Netanyahu to attack? That is difficult to assess. But while the Syrian story and Obama’s hesitations occupy the headlines, it is important to remember that the real drama is  in Iran.

Chilling.

To give context, in 1967, Israel first appealed to the international community to break the blockade of Tiran, then the US -- which had given assurances to Israel in 1956 - 7, on which Israel had withdrawn from the Sinai after the1956 campaign. 

As usual, there were promises, but no effective action, and the Americans were in disagreement with Israel striking to defend itself in the face of strangulation by blockade -- an act of war --  backed up by an iron ring of tanks.

Israel then struck without warning, struck decisively and by rolling all it had on the table in one toss. As the opening blow, it sent out everything that could fly (leaving only a handful of aircraft to guard Israel's air space) to strike the Egyptian air force. This proved to be the decisive -- though highly risky -- blow. But, at that time the Israelis saw themselves as facing an existential threat, complete with open advocacy of genocide on defeating Israel.

So, as Iran continues to sprint to nukes (having made genocidal threats) and as it continues to play with its cat's paws in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza, we can rest assured the Israelis are watching.

Beyond a certain point, the Israelis will act, regardless of world opinion and how inconvenient such an act will be, or how much disapproval it will bring down on Israel. 

Israel will act, because Iran has made its genocidal intentions quite brutally plain. In the end, it will act regardless of what the Obama administration thinks. And, in the end I think the cynical attitude in too many quarters is, if the Israelis will act in the end, why should we take the matter too seriously. (Which is exactly one of the key reasons why it is spinning out of control as the Mullahs think they may be able to cross the nuke finish line before they can be stopped.)

So, the Middle East is evidently even more unstable than we might think.

Which directly implies the global economy is fundamentally unstable, through impacts on the price and availability of energy, specifically oil and oil based fuels.

We had better get ourselves ready for a wild ride, which can come on at almost any time without warning. END

Matt 24 watch, 219a: Germany's BND says it has wiretap evidence ASSAD ordered a poison gas attack in Syria

Here.

Clipping:

German intelligence agents say they have new evidence that the Syrian regime was behind the chemical weapons attacks on rebel-held areas of Damascus which left more than 1,400 dead.

The agents added they were almost certain that the chemical agent used was the nerve gas sarin.

German intelligence intercepted a telephone conversation between a senior member of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Iranian diplomats in Beirut, said Gerhard Schindler, the head of Germany's foreign intelligence agency, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND).

The high-ranking Hezbollah operative admitted that poison gas was used but said that he believed that Assad had "lost his nerve" and "made a big mistake" by ordering the attack.

  Not good. 

And you had better realise Iran will use this as a smokescreen as they continue sprinting to the nuke finish line, putting millions under threat. END

Rom 1 reply, 40: Ray Comfort spotlights the blind faith commitments of ever so many adherents of evolutionary materialism

Recently, Evangelist Ray Comfort of Australia (who produces the The Way of the Master TV series) did a series of on-campus interviews of both students and professors (including the somewhat notorious P Z Myers) on what they know regarding directly observed evidence of body plan origin level Macro-Evolution. Comfort, a Creationist, of course speaks in terms of "kinds," such as dogs vs cats, i.e. essentially the taxonomic Family and up.

Let's pause and watch:


(For wider context, I suggest a glance at the recent KF post here, and you may want to look at the following F/N with a list of links.)

So far, the video has had 616,455 hits on YouTube and has stirred quite a controversy, [56,842 comments, and just over ten thousand each thumbs up and down . . . ] prominently featuring the accusation that Comfort has snipped the respondents out of context. There are demands for unedited, raw video. 

(BTW, Comfort is doing essentially what the likes of Michael Moore and even TV news crews have been doing for years. And on the specific point he is asking about, he is dead right in what he has set out to do: show that there is in fact a lot of blind faith that has transmuted an inference that lacks an observationally warranted mechanism, into a perceived fact believed on the perceived authority of the Science and Science Education establishment.)

However, given the very specific challenge he is putting on the table -- to show that so-called Blind Watchmaker mechanisms of chance variation and differential reproductive success leading to claimed incremental descent with unlimited modification has been actually directly observed to give rise to novel body plans at or above roughly the taxonomic family level -- it is known that there is no such direct observation of the claimed capacity of such asserted evolutionary mechanisms. 

And indeed, some of those interviewed acknowledge this point.

So, what Comfort is doing is first of all highlighting that there is no mechanism demonstrated per actual observation, that has the capacity being claimed for macro level evolutionary changes. 

Second, he is directly documenting by interviewed examples, the way that an inference in absence of empirically demonstrated mechanisms adequate to do what is claimed, is often being taken at face value as FACT (a very different thing from an inference) by many students and members of the public on faith in the authority of the dominant school of thought on biological origins.

Third, he is showing by further interviews that the professors the students are relying on do not in fact have the direct observational evidence for their claimed mechanisms that many imagine they have.

Underlying all of this is the force of the damaging admission made by Richard Lewontin in a January 1997 review of Carl Sagan's last book, when he said:

the problem is to get them [--> the general public] to reject irrational and supernatural explanations of the world [--> notice the unjustified close association if not equating of the one with the other . . . ], the demons that exist only in their imaginations, and to accept a social and intellectual apparatus, Science, as the only begetter of truth [[--> NB: this is a knowledge claim about knowledge and its possible sources, i.e. it is a claim in philosophy not science; it is thus self-refuting]. . . . To Sagan, as to all but a few other scientists, it is self-evident [[--> actually, science and its knowledge claims are plainly not immediately and necessarily true on pain of absurdity, to one who understands them; this is another logical error, begging the question , confused for real self-evidence; whereby a claim shows itself not just true but true on pain of patent absurdity if one tries to deny it . . ] that the practices of [a priori materialistic, cf. below] science provide the surest method of putting us in contact with physical reality [--> Which, to a priori materialists is all of reality; self evident is here being misused, what is really going on is thinking in a materialistic, question begging circle confused for accurately seeing reality directly] . . . .

It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we [--> the materialistic, Scientistic elites] are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes [[--> another major begging of the question . . . ] to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute [[--> i.e. here we see the fallacious, indoctrinated, ideological, closed mind . . . ], for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door. [“Billions and Billions of Demons,” NYRB, January 9, 1997. Emphases and comments added. NB: If you imagine that I have "quote mined" Lewontin here and/or that his appeal to Kant justifies the censorship being described, I suggest you read the fuller cite and notes here on.]

  Similarly, we note how the US National Science Teachers Association Board declared in July 2000:

The principal product of science is knowledge in the form of naturalistic concepts and the laws and theories related to those concepts . . . .

Although no single universal step-by-step scientific method captures the complexity of doing science, a number of shared values and perspectives characterize a scientific approach to understanding nature. Among these are a demand for naturalistic explanations supported by empirical evidence that are, at least in principle, testable against the natural world. Other shared elements include observations, rational argument, inference, skepticism, peer review and replicability of work . . . .

Science, by definition, is limited to naturalistic methods and explanations and, as such, is precluded from using supernatural elements in the production of scientific knowledge. [[NSTA, Board of Directors, July 2000.]

No wonder, ID thinker Philip Johnson, replying to Lewontin in November 1997, remarked:

For scientific materialists the materialism comes first; the science comes thereafter. [[Emphasis original] We might more accurately term them “materialists employing science.” And if materialism is true, then some materialistic theory of evolution has to be true simply as a matter of logical deduction, regardless of the evidence. That theory will necessarily be at least roughly like neo-Darwinism, in that it will have to involve some combination of random changes and law-like processes capable of producing complicated organisms that (in Dawkins’ words) “give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose.”

. . . . The debate about creation and evolution is not deadlocked . . . Biblical literalism is not the issue. The issue is whether materialism and rationality are the same thing. Darwinism is based on an a priori commitment to materialism, not on a philosophically neutral assessment of the evidence. Separate the philosophy from the science, and the proud tower collapses. [[Emphasis added.] [[The Unraveling of Scientific Materialism, First Things, 77 (Nov. 1997), pp. 22 – 25.]

Whatever the merits and demerits of Comfort's video, he is to be commended for spotlighting the ideological aspects of the dominant evolutionary materialist frame of thought, and particularly the lack of direct observational support for the claimed capability of key mechanisms. Hardly less significant is the highlighting of confusion of inference for fact, and the blind adherence to the aura of authority attaching to the lab coat.

We need to do some serious reflection on such issues. END

______________

F/N: Some useful onward readings:

The Intelligent Design issue:

• A "simple" summary of the case for the design inference as a legitimate scientific endeavour
• Judge "copycat" Jones and the Kitzmiller Dover anti-ID ruling
• ID in a simple nutshell
• Independent Origins Science Education
• FAQs on the Intelligent Design Controversy
• Correcting weak Anti-ID Arguments
• Joseph Kuhn's critique of Darwinism
• ID Foundations Series at UD (WIP)
• Uncommon Descent (a leading ID Blog)

Matt 24 watch, 219: A quick thought on Syria -- are 1,400 murdered people serving as a smokescreen for Iran to sprint across the nuke finish line . . . putting millions at peril?

(NB: Cf follow up here)

Let us remember, first, that there seem to be no genuinely good sides in the Syrian conflict. This is a contest as to which of the various bad apples is the strongest. And that, in a dictatorial state reputed to have the largest remaining chemical weapons stockpile in the world.

(I am moved to ask: how much of that stockpile came across the border from the sister Baathist state, Iraq, in the delays leading up to the renewal of major hostilities in 2003?)

However, we need to be thinking three- moves- ahead geostrategic chess here.

As in, the Syrian regime is an Iranian client state, with Iranian proxies deeply involved in the conflict.

So, I ask: what if the latest atrocity is being used -- or was even instigated -- as a smokescreen to distract from and hide Iran's closing sprint to the nuke finish line?

(Which, is known to be ongoing.)

1400 -- including 400 children -- have been murdered through use of chemical weapons, with question-marks on whodunit.

We have the West as an obvious house divided.

Mr Cameron in the UK just lost a war vote -- it seems, the first time that has happened in the UK since the 1780's. 

But there is more.

We have an Iran noted as a decades long ruthless terrorism sponsor, also known to be up to its eyeballs in the Syrian chaos.

The global attention -- through a horrific terrorist act -- is suddenly focussed on the Syrian mess, with all sorts of nasty possibilities.

Israel has been threatened with attack to hold it hostage against the behaviour of western powers. (I suspect, the Israelis will make the simple conclusion that any aggressive action by Syria is -- by implication of the principle that the cat controls its paws and claws, an act of war by Iran.)

And all the time, that same Iran is sprinting hard for the nuke finish line, even as we speak.

Coincidence?

I doubt it.

And we had better be thinking about consequences of an irresolute, divided and confused West confronting a nuke armed Iranian empire spreading from Tehran through Baghdad to Damascus and Beirut -- or at least southern Lebanon.

And here in the Caribbean, we need to remember that Venezuela is allied to Iran.

A mess, one we had better think through very, very carefully, and fast. END