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  • USSR, UK Style, and Heavy-Handedness Here, Too

    The proposed plan to store in a central database every cell call, text message and email in the United Kingdom reminds me of a line from Bill Atwood’s song "USSR," from his album 3:25 A.M.:

    …and everything I do they see; there’s always somebody near.

    He also sings about "across the sea, where men are free."  Presumably that’s the North Sea (since Atwood was British,) but the freedom is slipping away.

    Sometimes the loss of freedom goes both ways, however, as Lord Rees-Mogg comments in Bring Back the Prima Facie Test:

    British businessmen do not trust American criminal law because of plea bargaining, in which the horrors of some American prisons are used as a threat to impel people to plead guilty in return for an agreed sentence.  The difference between a possible fifty years in a violent prison and two years in a country camp can be a very compelling argument.

    The U.S. is put at a disadvantage, since this makes businessmen reluctant to trade with the United States when there is the faintest chance of any party to a negotiation – such as Enron was in the Natwest case – being accused of illegal conduct, under the very wide U.S. laws which cover conspiracy.  Counter terrorist laws, and laws against organised crime can apply to ordinary businessmen, and frame the judgment of business transactions.

    The U.S. puts way too much stock in incarceration as the method of choice to enforce social policy, and passes way too many complicated laws to micromanage that policy.  Americans take this kind of thing for granted, but others don’t.  And frankly I don’t see why they should.

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  • Gospel for Trinity Sunday

    Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who was a leading man among the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night, and said to him: “Rabbi, we know that you are a Teacher come from God; for no one could give such signs as you are giving, unless God were with him.”

    “In truth I tell you,” exclaimed Jesus, “unless a man is reborn, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

    “How can a man,” asked Nicodemus, “be born when he is old? Can he be born a second time?”

    “In truth I tell you,” answered Jesus, “unless a man owes his birth to Water and Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. All that owes its birth to human nature is human, and all that owes its birth to the Spirit is spiritual. Do not wonder at my telling you that you all need to be reborn. The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes, or where it goes; it is the same with every one that owes his birth to the Spirit.”

    “How can that be?” asked Nicodemus.

    “What! You a teacher of Israel,” exclaimed Jesus, “and yet do not understand this! In truth I tell you that we speak of what we know, and state what we have seen; and yet you do not accept our statements. If, when I tell you earthly things, you do not believe me, how will you believe me when I tell you of heavenly things? No one has ascended to Heaven, except him who descended from Heaven–the Son of Man himself. And, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up; That every one who believes in him may have Immortal Life.”  (John 3:1-15)


    (From the 1928 Book of Common Prayer)

  • Of Course It’s Better to Visit Bethesda!

    ACI’s Dr. Philip Turner’s case about Episcopal Presiding Bishop Kathering Jefferts Schori not knowing what she was doing was going pretty well until he said the following:

    When first I learned that the Presiding Bishop was not going to greet the Pope, I wondered if, because of her gender and her controversial positions on a number of issues, she had not been invited.  I was relieved to learn that she had been invited, but troubled by the fact that she sent regrets because of scheduling conflicts.  Upon further enquiry, I learned that the scheduling conflicts involved visits to the parish of Bethesda by the Sea in Palm Beach and the Cathedral in Miami and the Episcopal Diocese of Utah (where she was scheduled to dedicate a new diocesan center).

    Silly boy!  Doesn’t he know that to be called to Palm Beach and Bethesda is far greater than to meet with the Pope?  It is the centre of the universe, after all!

    However: if His Holiness had visited St. Edward’s, he could have trumped (pun intended) the Presiding Bishop, and added immeasurable glory to his visit.

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  • Brian McLaren: Right at Home with the Reappraisers at Lambeth

    As if he hasn’t caused enough trouble with his fellow Evangelicals, Brian McLaren takes his Emergent roadshow to the upcoming Anglican Lambeth conference:

    Rumor has it that Brian Mclaren, one of the leaders of the emerging church movement, has been invited to address the assembled bishops at Lambeth. This should not be a surprise as McLaren is wholly committed to repackaging all the vague, undefined, and frankly antinomian aspects of mainline protestantism and infusing them into evangelicalism under the guise of a sort of "hip" mysticism fused with bad hygiene.

    And serious hair loss too; just take a look at this thirty-year old photo.  (Music’s not too bad, though…)

    The Stand Firm article gives space to Mark Driscoll’s refutation of McLaren (or one of them.)  Travis Johnson gave this a fuller treatment last year.

    I will say that my years following Anglicanism has been a good preparation for what’s ahead on the Pentecostal/Evangelical side, but in this case the heterodoxy is going the other way.

     

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  • The Saudis, and Our Weak Bargaining Position

    Ambrose Evans-Pritchard can see sour relations all he wants to…

    The US-Saudi tango has been on thin ice ever since the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Sixteen of the hijackers were Saudi nationals. The Bush family has cleaved closely to the Saudi monarchy, but strong factions in Washington see Riyadh’s Wahabi monarchy as part of the Mid-East problem– not the solution.

    Saudi Arabia’s one saving grace — in the eyes of US critics — is that it has over the years been willing to cap extreme surges in the price of oil, deploying its power as the world’s swing producer. This time Riyadh is giving no ground.

    …and the Democrats can fulminate and pass legislation all they want to…

    New York Senator Charles Schumer is pushing for sanctions against Saudi Arabia, targeting $1.4bn in sales of bomb kits, light armoured vehicles, as well as gear for AWACS aircraft and F-15 fighters.

    "You need our arms, but we need you to cooperate and not strangle American consumers.

    "Saudi Arabia could do a lot more than they have done," he said.

    The Democrats are also pushing legislation that would penalize the OPEC producers cartel for "anti-competitiveness practices".

    The Bush White House has rolled its eyes in exasperation at such blunt methods, but hot feelings are aroused in American public discourse.

    …but the U.S.’ leverage is limited, since a) it has never bothered to properly develop its own oil resources the last forty years and b) we now have to compete with the rest of the world’s rising demand.  Best to hope that the rising price will lead to a drop in demand.

     

  • Same Sex Civil Marriage: There’s Always Plan B

    The People’s Republic finally did it:

    California’s supreme court ruled that a ban on gay marriage was unlawful Thursday, effectively leaving same-sex couples in America’s most populous state free to tie the knot in a landmark ruling.

    In an opinion that analysts say could have nationwide implications for the issue, the seven-member panel voted 4-3 in favor of plaintiffs who argued that restricting marriage to men and women was discriminatory.

    As noted earlier, there’s a constitutional amendment floating around to reverse this.  But there’s always Plan B, too, as I wrote back in 2004:

    When courts short-circuit the legislative process in the way they’re doing now, they tell people that it doesn’t matter how their representatives vote because they–the judges and the elites from which they are drawn–are in charge. When that realisation sinks in, the whole dynamic of American society will experience a sea change that will dwarf the legalisation of homosexual marriage.

    This could manifest itself in a number of ways. For example:

    • Christian churches could revert to their pre-Constantinian position and discourage service in the military, as holiness and Pentecostal churches did during the early part of the last century. The Church of God, for instance, waited until V-J day in 1945 to adopt a friendlier position on military service by its members.
    • They could also opt out of opposition to illegal immigration, figuring that those which jump the fence or swim across the river are fit members for their church (which they are in many cases.)
    • Anyone who works for or is economically dependent upon a foreign corporation–especially if it’s state owned–is an agent of a foreign government, albeit legally.
    • Christian churches could finally expect their members to either home school their children or send them to a Christian school, which would spare them both state indoctrination and mediocre education.
    • Christians would have to interpret passages such as Roman 13 in the context they were originally written in–a dictatorial state whose actions they had no input in and the obedience of whose laws is done solely as a Christian witness, not as a civic obligation.
    • With a little organisation, Christian churches could even enable their members to opt out of civil marriage altogether, divorcing themselves from an institution that first came from God Himself but has been nationalised to suit the needs of the state, and putting it back in the hands of Him who joined the first man and woman in the Garden.

    Since this was written, Calfornia has also take a shot at home schooling as well.  But then again, that’s offset by the fact that the third bullet point gets better all of the time with the decline of dollar hegemony.

  • The 1997 Asian Bank Crisis, and Financial Crises of Today

    This week’s podcast is a departure; it’s a speech given on 6 September 2007 by Paul Speltz, former U.S. Ambassador to the Asian Development Bank, now President of Kissinger Associates (as in Henry Kissinger, Nixon’s Secretary of State.)  Paul’s address is actually two speeches in one:

    1. An analysis of the 1997 Asian bank crisis and its lessons for today, based on a paper by Andrew Crockett (paper downloadable here.)
    2. His own reflections on trends in Asian economies and banking systems, their relationship with the U.S. economy, the effect of U.S. politics on our vital relationships with Asian economies and nations, the current financial crisis, and other issues.

    Long before his career as a U.S. Ambassador, Paul Speltz was a business associate of mine, one of the people who facilitated my family business’ success in the People’s Republic of China in the early 1980’s.  You can learn more about that by clicking here or on the graphic to the right.

    It’s a view of the world from a very elevated perch, one that certainly deserves a hearing.

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  • A Place in Church

    I was saddened to hear the following news from my home church:

    James “Jimmy” Heyman spent the last Sunday of his life doing what he loved best — serving God.

    Mr. Heyman, a longtime acolyte at The Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea, served as crucifer at the May 4 service. Clad in the red acolyte’s robe, he carried the cross.

    “He always wore either red pants or green pants,” said the Rev. Ralph R. “Hap” Warren, rector of the Episcopal congregation. “On that day he wore green pants with the red cassock over them. We all teased him about wearing his Christmas tree outfit.”

    Warren will officiate at a memorial service for Mr. Heyman, who died May 5 in a fire at his Brazilian Avenue home.

    I remember James Heyman.  He was an acolyte at Bethesda when I was.  The difference was that he was in his twenties while I and most of my colleagues were in our teens.  Traditionally, graduating from high school was the end of an acolyte career.

    Right: Bethesda acolytes, June 1968.  My brother is holding the cross.  Click here for the rules the acolytes followed.

    But Heyman was developmentally disabled.  He served before the altar with the capabilities he had, and he did so faithfully (for forty years, not the thirty that Dr. Warren said.)  I violently disagree with many things that TEC in general and Bethesda in particular believe and do, but this time they got it right.

    Church should be a place for people with all levels of capabilities, not just the superstars or those with a lot of money.   We need to remember that when we look at our congregations.  I’ve seen many James Heymans in my time in churches.  We should never forget them or their contributions.  God won’t.

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  • Obama and the Cross

    CBN’s David Brody always has a nose for a good story, and this, as my grandfather (the Duesenberg dealer in Washington) would say, is a "doozy:"

    I have been telling Brody File readers for months that if Barack Obama becomes the Democratic nominee he will make a pitch to win over independent/moderate Evangelicals. Well, we now have evidence.

    In Kentucky, he is making a direct appeal to Evangelicals with flyers that mention his conversion experience and they highlight a big old cross. Remember Mike Huckabee’s supposed subliminal cross in his Christmas campaign ad? Well, Obama campaign ditches the subliminal and goes for the in your face cross. Look at the flyer here.

    Many secularists are tired of seeing candidates–Republican or Democrat–appealing to religious voters.  After this, I’m getting to the point where I agree with them.  Policies–those relating to religious freedom in the public square and especially in schools–are what count.

    The good feelings won’t matter much when emotionalistic pandering turns to demonisation and incarceration, the favourite activities of American advocacy groups and the government, respectively.

  • Never a Dull Moment in the Middle East

    The present flap in Lebanon is one more example of this:

    The crises was sparked last week in Beirut when the government of Prime Minister Fouad al-Siniora ordered the communication and surveillance network at Runway 17 of Beirut Airport be dismantled, claiming it was "illegal and unconstitutional"…

    Hezbollah cried foul, claiming the network had been in place for years, adding that dismantling it was a red line because otherwise Beirut Airport would be "transformed into a base for the the CIA, the FBI and Mossad, referring to American and Israeli intelligence.  Hezbollah secretary general Hasan Nasrallah spoke just hours after the crisis started, saying the communication system and Shuqyar were "red lines" that could not be crossed. He reminded his audience that when Siniora became prime minister in 2005, one of the main points of his political program was "supporting the resistance" and giving it (Hezbollah) a free hand to wage its "war of liberation" against Israel in any way it saw fit.

    And Hezbollah showed it had the "right stuff" to back itself up too, blowing away the government, the Sunnis and the Druze in one shot.

    That illustrates the central problem in the West’s approach to "peace in the Middle East:" whom do you negotiate with?  The Israelis are in the same boat with Fatah vs. Hamas, while the U.S. tries to sort out an even bigger mess in Iraq with the Kurds, Sunnis, Shi’ites, the various factions in each and the foreign powers (Gulf states, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Syria, etc.)  In the region which invented power holder/power challenger/careerist politics, it’s sometimes hard to know where to start a "peace process," let alone finish one.

    The Arabs and others in the Middle East are going to have to decide for themselves that they want stable, transparent government before we can even consider rationally negotiating with anyone.  Until then, we’re best off letting them fight amongst themselves and exerting enough damage control to minimise the effects of the chaos.

    As far as Lebanon is concerned, my guess is that the Saudis, having been shamed by Hezbollah’s success, will do what they have to do to restore their honour.  It won’t be pretty either.

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