RUTHFULLY YOURS

The trouble with natural theology (the notion that nature itself points us to an understanding of the divine) is that nature herself is a nasty piece of work. When St. Francis of Assisi and his namesake, the reigning Pope, laud nature as “mother” and “sister,” they open a can of theological worms. Nature is no sister of mine. Christians like to view things in terms of teleology–their ultimate goal–and the teleology of the world we know is to be destroyed in a fireball.

Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ opens with this praise of nature:

“LAUDATO SI’, mi’ Signore” – “Praise be to you, my Lord”. In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. “Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs”.

If my dear mother were here she would say….” Go figure that….”rsk

In South Korea, widespread admiration for Jews and especially for the Talmud has led some schools to include Talmud classes in their curricula. But the book being studied is a digest of selected passages compiled by an American rabbi for translation into Japanese in 1968. Unbeknownst to the compiler, Korean publishers then began producing their own translations—some abridged, some illustrated. Ross Arbes writes:

In 2011, the South Korean ambassador to Israel at the time, Young-sam Ma, was interviewed on the Israeli public-television show “Culture Today.” “I wanted to show you this,” he told the host, straying briefly from the topic at hand. . . . It was a white paperback book with “Talmud” written in Korean and English on the cover, along with a cartoon sketch of a biblical character with a robe and staff. “Each Korean family has at least one copy of the Talmud. Korean mothers want to know how so many Jewish people became geniuses.” Looking up at the surprised host, he added, “Twenty-three percent of Nobel Prize winners are Jewish people. Korean women want to know the secret. They found the secret in this book.” . . .

Walter Laqueur, born in 1921, is the author of, among other books, Weimar, A History of Terrorism, Fascism: Past, Present, Future, and The Dream that Failed: Reflections on the Soviet Union. His newest book, Putinism: Russia and Its Future with the West, has just been released by Thomas Dunne/St. Martin’s.
There’s a new national ideology forming in Russia—and “the Jews” play a big part in it.

Vladimir Putin’s steely nationalist rule has raised fears in the West of a return to Soviet-style dictatorship in Russia. But what many outsiders fail to understand is that the country is still in a period of ideological transition, with a new national idea gradually emerging from the Marxism-Leninism of old. Among the more noteworthy aspects of this new “Russian idea” is the explanation it provides for the upheavals of the 20th century and the country’s perceived current decline. Unfortunately, as is often the case with such overarching narratives, Jews play a disproportionately significant role.

Home to a prominent anti-Semitic tradition under the tsars, and again under the Communist regime that replaced them, Russia has long been seized by the “Jewish question.” During the Soviet Union’s first two decades, many among its key leaders were themselves Jewish—and Marx himself, of course, was of Jewish origin—but within the party apparatus, though less strong at the top than in the middle and lower echelons, there was a great deal of animosity toward Jews.

90% of the Racism in America Comes from the Democratic Party and the Left

Posted By Roger L Simon On June 24, 2015 @ 9:10 pm In Uncategorized | 17 Comments

Ninety percent of the racism in America today comes from the Democratic Party and the Left. They live off it and exploit it. It is unconscionable to the degree they do this, ruining the lives and futures of the very people they say they are helping in the process.

I am uniquely positioned to say this because I spent most of my life on the Left and was a civil rights worker in the South in my early twenties. I was also, to my everlasting regret, a donor to the Black Panther Party in the seventies.

To the colossal compost heap of anti-Israel screeds churned out by the United Nations, we can now add the so-called Schabas Report on the 2014 summer war between Gaza and Israel.

Not that the eponymous William Schabas saw the production of this report right through to the end. Appointed last summer as chair of this UN inquiry, Schabas was forced to resign this past February when news emerged that he had served as a paid adviser to the Palestinian Authority. (This UN report notes that he resigned – but does not say why.)

Officially, this document is titled: “Report of the independent commission of inquiry established pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution S-21/1.”

The Center for Security Policy (CSP) has released the results of a poll showing alarmingly high levels of support for shariah law and violence among the American Muslim community.

According to the nationwide survey, “significant minorities embrace supremacist notions that could pose a threat to America’s security and its constitutional form of government.”

A majority (51 percent) of Muslims surveyed said they “should have the choice of being governed according to shariah.”

Almost 30 percent of American Muslims believe it is legitimate to use violence “against those that insult the prophet Muhammad, the Qur’an, or Islamic faith.”

One-quarter of Muslims said that “violence against Americans here in the United States can be justified as part of the global jihad.”

Seven years of purposeful race-baiting, deliberate legal bias against white people, and executive decisions that engage in the soft bigotry of low expectations of black people create the very brew that would lead to the horrific events in South Carolina–an occurrence that feeds right into the self-fulfilling prophecies of Obama.

Early on, Michelle Obama demonstrated her animus toward America and injected race into the conversation notwithstanding that white America twice voted her husband into office. Yet, as Allen West has asserted, white America needs to understand that Obama “abjectly despises” whites. Economist Ben Stein has called “President Barack Obama the most racist president in U.S. history.”

Journalism from places like North Korea and Iran should be prefaced with a disclaimer: Big Brother Is Reading This, Too.

The New York Times recently featured a photo and video essay by the celebrated photojournalist David Guttenfelder titled “Illuminating North Korea.” It’s a potent reminder that nothing is so blinding as the illusion of seeing.

I don’t mean to disparage Mr. Guttenfelder’s photographic skills or his sincerity. But what are we to make of a photo essay heavy on pictures of modern-looking factories and well-fed children being fussed over in a physical rehabilitation center? Or—from his Instagram account (“Everyday DPRK”)—of theme-park water slides, Christian church interiors, well-stocked clothing stores and rollerblading Pyongyang teens—all suggesting an ordinariness to North Korean life that, as we know from so many sources, is a travesty of the terrifying truth?

Mr. Morgenthau, Manhattan district attorney from 1975 to 2009, is of counsel with the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.

A nuclear deal will mean billions for Iran, but no means for curtailing its support for terrorism.

As the deadline for a nuclear agreement with Iran approaches, it is vital to recognize what the agreement doesn’t address: the Islamic Republic’s continuing support of terrorism.

By no means do I minimize the importance of nuclear weapons. An agreement to curtail the Islamic Republic’s nuclear ambitions would serve U.S. interests, if we have assured verification and the ability to punish noncompliance. Still, any deal that fails to hold Iran accountable for its criminal and terrorist conduct, past and present, will fail to curtail such conduct in the future.

President Obama on Wednesday announced a new U.S. government policy for dealing with Americans who are kidnapped abroad, and as always he stressed compassion for the hostages and their families. The danger of Mr. Obama’s good intentions is that he is giving terrorists even more incentive to snatch more Americans.

Mr. Obama made the announcement after a government-wide review of U.S. hostage policy, which has drawn criticism for inconsistency and lack of coordination. “The families of hostages have told us—and they’ve told me directly—about their frequent frustrations in dealing with their own government: How different departments and agencies aren’t always coordinated,” Mr. Obama said in remarks at the White House.