Dream of what the western world used to be

Another good post by Victor Davis Hanson on his dream that the western world of old still lived on today.

And then I woke up, remembering that the West of old lives only in dreams. Yes, the new religion of the post-Westerner is neither the Enlightenment nor Christianity, but the gospel of the Path of Least Resistance — one that must lead inevitably to gratification rather than sacrifice.

Family Photos - Sul Dyeing

Sul dyeing Easter eggs. (taken 04/06/07)

Michael Yon reporting from Iraq

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this site before, but Michael Yon is a citizen journalist who is posting some interesting first hand pieces on happenings in Iraq. His latest post tells about his experience tagging along with some British soldiers.

Its nice to hear from guys like Yon, since we're never going to get any unspun information on Iraq from the main stream media. I can practically quote what I hear every night on the local WRAL newscast here in NC. "Today was another violent day in Iraq. X (insert the daily number) of soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in Bahgdad and Y (insert the daily number) of civilians were killed as a suicide bomber detonated an explosion in a crowded marketplace."

I know that bad things are happening, but I'm also equally sure that there is good being done. Good news is news too. Why not report it too?

Lileks on Hugh on Romney

Lileks' bleat starts a bit slow today. It sounds like he's suffering fromt he same sort of spring cold that I've got, runny nose, etc. Then he gets into a review of Hugh Hewitt's latest book "A Mormon in the White House?: 10 Things Every American Should Know about Mitt Romney." His review of the book leads to a few statements about Romney and Mormons that I found interesting. For instance:

"Romney’s religion isn’t the main reason his campaign isn’t out front by 10 points. There’s something else at work; could be the YouTube flip-flop problem. But I think I know what it might be. He’s in a hard position: he’s too good to be true, but he’s truly that good."

Lileks mentions that he recently had a pair of Latter-day Saint missionaries knock on his door, and although he wasn't interested in their message, he adds this comment about their desire to offer service if he needed any help.

"If at that moment I had some sort of domestic emergency that required me to leave the house but also required someone to stay at the house – I don’t know, to watch a scientific experiment or take a cake out the oven (a cake – for the Pope!) – I would have trusted both of them to hold down the fort until I returned, and I know I would have found both of them sitting in the living room when I returned, with nothing in the house out of place or moved to a pocket.

Surely how one lives one’s life is as important as the things the curious things they believe, no?"

Say what you want about our beliefs. Hey, I know that it takes a lot of faith to believe and live as we do, and if you don't have it then you can't be expected to understand or accept the many non-emperical aspects of our religion. But, you can't argue with the fact that we, as a whole, are a good and wholesome people. I don't say that with pride, it just naturally follows from living how we're taught to live, and very many Mormons do.

I haven't yet read the book myself. I haven't decided if I will or not. I don't think I can learn anything about Romney's religion and the fact that he was a Stake President tells me an awful lot about him personally. I could buy the book to loan to friends, but most of the people I work with are so far to the left that Romney isn't on their radar screen and most of my non-Mormon friends are not interested enough in Politics to read a whole book.

A warmer climate could prove to be beneficial

I haven't blogged on global warming for a while, so here is a good article by Dr. Richard S. Lindzen (Professor of Meteorology at MIT) summarizing some of the common misinterpretations of global warming data and addressing other fallacies of global warming alarmism.

The current alarm rests on the false assumption not only that we live in a perfect world, temperaturewise, but also that our warming forecasts for the year 2040 are somehow more reliable than the weatherman's forecast for next week.

Many of the most alarming studies rely on long-range predictions using inherently untrustworthy climate models, similar to those that cannot accurately forecast the weather a week from now.

Family Photos - Nae in the Forest

Nae in the Forest (taken 04/06/07 at Umstead Park, NC).

Images - Wildflower

Wildflower (taken 04/06/07 at Umstead State Park, NC).

Images - Reedy Creek

I captured this image of Reedy Creek on our hike at Umstead State Park, NC (taken 04/06/07)

Family Photos - Dyeing Easter Eggs

Can and his brothers had fun dyeing Easter eggs last Saturday. The trick was getting him to put the egg in the dye gently enough so that it didn't break or splash all over the place.

A soldier's eye view of Iraq

I would much rather trust the word of a soldier who is on the ground in Iraq than the main stream media, which has proven itself untrustworthy time-and-again. (Thanks to Hugh for bringing us the positive news and not just the bad)

Easter Morning

The morning Easter egg hunt at our house. Sorry for the poor quality and lack of sound. Our video camera is broken so I had to use the video function on the digital camera and I forgot to turn on the audio setting. Can was a little slow with the broken leg but seemed to manage just fine.

Family Photos - Happy Easter

The boys look very nice in their new Easter outfits. It was a little tricky getting them to all hold still long enough to take this picture, since they were all hopped up (pun intended) on chocolate.

Images - Dogwood Blossoms

I love that the dogwoods are blooming. (taken 04/06/07 Umstead Park, NC)