Qur'an Project

Someone (link removed by request) in the "tolerance" brigade takes me to task for using the term "nutjob" in reference to UBL and his murderous gang of assholes.

It surprises me to find out that I am "ignorant". I am sure glad to have these "good friends" and "patriots" on the left around to help me get my priorities in order.


On a more serious note, life intrudes again here at "nutjob central". I have been very busy/distracted again. I have been getting lots of very interesting email since Matthew Good linked me. It is always nice to hear from people that have differing views when they are nice and refrain from name calling and worse.

If you were having an email conversation with me and I dropped out unexpectedly, please understand that life is bad right now and I have other isses to deal with. Please write again if you have questions or comments and I will try to catch up.

Thanks for understanding

UPDATE: The author of the referenced post has deleted it and apologised. A very nice and classy thing to do. Please disregard previous snark, thanks.

For the benefit of new readers, I will recap the story so far.

I started out a touch over a year ago to read the Qur'an in the hope I would gain some insight into the minds of the nutjobs. I wanted to keep an open mind and kept that up until this post and this post. The murders of the Hatuel family made a lasting impression, one that colors everything I will do, read and say on this topic as well as in everyday life. I cannot express the depth of emotion this event has for me. Those posts tells you everything you need to know about how I view the whole subject.

A whole lot of the story is contained in the 2 posts on Misconceptions About Islam (post 1 post 2).

I am reading again after a post-election break and have not run into anything I deem "post-worthy". The Suras are rather small at this stage (they are arranged longest to shortest) and don't have much to say that has not been said before.

It seems that a Canadian blogger started a minor kerfuffle but asking some lefty-leaning questions of America and Americans. I can't even find the original post now, but Alarming News has a response.

I wondered over there to see what the hubub was and saw that the owner had posted an offer to link to conservative blogs. In this offer, he made a point about religion that would be familiar to my readers.

I’m not particularly religious, though I have read most of the world’s major religious texts. I find them to be stunningly similar in many respects, which leads me to believe that our fundamental beliefs are all far more alike that we care to admit. Unfortunately, every religion also seems to produce those that would use them to promote separation, condemnation, intolerance, and ignorance. I think that’s very unfortunate, especially given the fact that most religions are founded on the principles of love and understanding.

We have all seen these kind of offers posted on blogs on both the left and the right that usually don't get any action (see Ted Rall), but I decided to send a nice email and take him up on the offer. Much to my surprise, I found his index page as a referrer and now see that he actually put up the link.

My regular readers know that I am excitable at times and overtly pessimistic when it comes to the left, but I am excited to find someone that I have vast disagreements with willing to link here and to be open to dialog. Could this be the beginning of something larger? Only time will tell.

I return for a quick thought on Social (In)Security. I am reading and will be commenting on the Qur'an again very soon...really...I mean it!

In the past few months, I have often asked why on earth anyone would be against private accounts. How could anyone be against people building an asset that can (and will) be passed on to their children? The alternative is a government stipend that ends with your death and can be voted out of existance by Congress. If I were to die at age 68-1 Day, I would get SQUAT for my lifelong investment. How does that help my kids pay for college?

Private accounts make sense.

Dale Franks on the excellent QandO blog asks much the same question:

So, really, why care if the savings are in private accounts or public accounts—especially if private accounts offer a greater return? What would be the difference?

Then answers it for both of us.

One difference immediately occurs to me, though. Once the money is in private accounts, Social Security can't be raided by the Federal Government to be spent on general budget items. One wonders if that has some bearing on the Left's calculations.

Its about the POWER stupid...