Obama, Lincoln & Niebuhr

There are numerous defenders of President Obama’s prayer breakfast appeal for Christians to not “get on our high horse” about criticizing Islamic violence and to recall the Crusades, Inquisition and American racial segregation. These defenders seem not to understand that most critics of the speech are not disputing wickedness by Christians but are concerned about the context, timing, and implications of such comments, especially in the present conflict with ISIS.

Some defenders have likened Obama’s speech to appeals by Abraham Lincoln and theologian Reinhold Niebuhr for national modesty, especially in time of war, without fully considering their different context, timing and tone.

Read more at First Things >>

Stanford Viennese Ball 2013 - Opening Committee Waltz

Hat Tip to Regina Magazine.  The Stanford Viennese Ball Opening Committee waltzes to Künstlerleben, or Artists' Life, op. 316 , by Johann Strauss Jr. Choreography by Joachim De Lombaert and Kseniya Charova. For more information about the ball, go to http://www.vienneseball.com or visit their YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/StanfordV....

Parents Release Letter From Kayla Mueller Who Was Killed by ISIS

From Fox News

The parents of Kayla Mueller, just released the last letter received from their daughter: 

Everyone, If you are receiving this letter it means I am still detained but my cell mates (starting from 11/2/2014) have been released. I have asked them to contact you + send you this letter. It’s hard to know what to say. Please know that I am in a safe location, completely unharmed + healthy (put on weight in fact); I have been treated w/ the utmost respect + kindness.

I wanted to write you all a well thought out letter (but I didn’t know if my cell mates would be leaving in the coming days or the coming months restricting my time but primarily) I could only but write the letter a paragraph at a time, just the thought of you all sends me into a fit of tears.

If you could say I have “suffered” at all throughout this whole experience it is only in knowing how much suffering I have put you all through; I will never ask you to forgive me as I do not deserve forgiveness.

I remember mom always telling me that all in all in the end the only one you really have is God. I have come to a place in experience where, in every sense of the word, I have surrendered myself to our creator b/c literally there was no else…. + by God + by your prayers I have felt tenderly cradled in freefall.

I have been shown in darkness, light + have learned that even in prison, one can be free. I am grateful. I have come to see that there is good in every situation, sometimes we just have to look for it. I pray each each day that if nothing else, you have felt a certain closeness + surrender to God as well + have formed a bond of love + support amongst one another…

I miss you all as if it has been a decade of forced separation. I have had many a long hour to think, to think of all the things I will do w/ Lex, our first family camping trip, the first meeting @ the airport. I have had many hours to think how only in your absence have I finally @ 25 years old come to realize your place in my life. The gift that is each one of you + the person I could + could not be if you were not a part of my life, my family, my support.

I DO NOT want the negotiations for my release to be your duty, if there is any other option take it, even if it takes more time. This should never have become your burden. I have asked these women to support you; please seek their advice. If you have not done so already, [redacted] can contact [redacted] who may have a certain level of experience with these people.

None of us could have known it would be this long but know I am also fighting from my side in the ways I am able + I have a lot of fight left inside of me. I am not breaking down + I will not give in no matter how long it takes. I wrote a song some months ago that says, “The part of me that pains the most also gets me out of bed, w/out your hope there would be nothing left…” aka- The thought of your pain is the source of my own, simultaneously the hope of our reunion is the source of my strength.

Please be patient, give your pain to God. I know you would want me to remain strong. That is exactly what I am doing. Do not fear for me, continue to pray as will I + by God’s will we will be together soon.

All my everything, Kayla

Pat Buchanan: Rev. Wright’s Star Pupil

By Patrick J. Buchanan

“A steady patriot of the world alone,
“The friend of every country — but his own.”

George Canning’s couplet about the Englishmen who professed love for all the world except their own native land comes to mind on reading Obama’s remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast.

After listing the horrors of ISIS, al-Qaida and Boko Haram, the president decided his recital of crimes committed in the name of Islam would be unbalanced, if he did not backhand those smug Christians sitting right in front of him.

Scott Walker's Underappreciated Strengths

From American Thinker

By Bruce Walker

Scott Walker has a bundle of connected political virtues – a strength that will remain largely hidden but which will become increasingly apparent as his public career unfolds.  Most presidential candidates fail and most presidents in office fail.  Walker will not be among that gaggle of losers.  He will, instead, be among that select number of presidential winners.

Consider the two most politically successful presidents since the end of the Second World War: Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan. Eisenhower and Reagan won every election in which they were candidates.  Both men won their first presidential election with a majority of the popular vote and an electoral landslide. 

Eisenhower in 1952 swept Republicans into control of both Houses of Congress while Reagan in 1980 gave Republicans control of the Senate and huge gains in the House.  Eisenhower in 1956 and Reagan in 1984 won reelection by bigger landslides than the first time around.  When these two men left office after eight years, they were genuinely popular among the American people.

Conservatives need not laud the policies of Eisenhower, who was definitely a RINO, but Eisenhower was very effective in actually implementing his policies.  Reagan, who we all love, was as successful in implementing his policies as any president since Eisenhower; and more than that, Reagan was more successful implementing conservative policies than anyone in American history.   Walker naturally possesses those qualities that made Eisenhower and Reagan successful presidents.    

First, Walker strikes no one as an egghead or a wonk. He has the personality of an ordinary, good-hearted American – the kind of guy who coaches youth baseball teams or teaches Sunday School classes or gives us a ride to work when our car is in the shop.  We see this as an understated but palpable decency – not sainthood or anything that fancy, but rather inherent American goodness.  

Second, Walker speaks plainly.  Reagan was eloquent and Eisenhower was not, but both men talked like the Midwesterners they were.  Forget speeches.  Think, instead, of Reagan after he was shot and facing death, telling the doctors treating his gunshot wound “I hope you are all Republicans” or to Nancy as she was rushed to his side, telling her “Honey, I forgot to duck.” 

Think of Eisenhower responding to a reporter’s question about how much German he knew (regarding an upcoming presidential visit to Germany), when Ike answered:  “One word:  Eisenhower.”  Or think of Eisenhower’s written statement, to be used if D-Day failed, accepting personally all the blame.  This plain and honest language is the utter antithesis of everything Americans have come to hate in politicians. 

Third, this plain talk followed by clear action is courageous because it rejects all the qualifications guided by polling data or political advisers.  This sort of courage itself is the third aspect of successful presidents.  When was the last time a politician displayed the same sort of political guts that Walker showed when legions of union goons overran Madison?  It was when Reagan fired the striking air traffic controllers, who threatened to paralyze civil aviation in America. The ripples of that boldness reached the Kremlin, which grasped that a tough and decisive leader now confronted them on the world stage.

Fourth, because pseudo-intellectuals who pine to lead and to lecture us scorn ordinary decency, plain talk, and simple courage, these cloistered monks of Leftist orthodoxy invariably underestimate men who embody those vital virtues.  So right up to the eve of the November 1966 general election, Leftist news anchors confidently predicted that Reagan would lose his bid to become California’s governor and then told us Reagan would be voted out in 1970 and that he could not win the 1980 presidential election.  Only in 1984 did the Left, slobber-knocked so many times by Reagan in general elections, concede that Reagan would win re-election.

Watch how Scott Walker’s unfolding campaign is covered by the media.  The very strengths that let Reagan not only win election but implement policies will be sneered at in Walker by a Leftist oligarchy that has no real notion of decency, sincerity or guts.  Note that Walker has already said that his goal is not to win elections but then to do something with that victory (i.e. simply gaining power is not important.)  This sort of talk befuddles Leftists who love power for its own sake and love, really, nothing else. Do not be surprised if Scott Walker becomes our long lost dream, the Next Reagan.  

Cathedral Chests Thought to Contain Remains of Early Royal Family

From ITV News

Chests in Winchester Cathedral that are thought to contain the remains of Royal Families of Wessex and three bishops.

A discovery in Winchester Cathedral could provide clues to the birth of our nation.

The chests are being analysed after its thought the bones of early royal families of England and three bishops could be inside.

Experts from the University of Oxford and Bristol are working to record and analyse the chests' contents and find out what they could uncover about the nation's history.

"This is an exciting moment for the Cathedral when we seem poised to discover that history has indeed safeguarded the mortal remains of some of the early Saxon Kings who became the first monarchs of a united England.

Winchester holds the secrets of the birth of the English nation and it does seem that some of those secrets are about to be revealed as future research continues.

The presence of the bones in the Cathedral, where they would have been placed near the High Altar and the relics of St Swithun, remind us just how significant the inspiration of the Christian faith was for the foundation of our national life.”

– The Dean of Winchester, The Very Revd James Atwell

The Choir of King's College, Cambridge - "Come Down, O Love Divine"