http://www.billygraham.org/SH_StepsToPeace.asp
My other thought for this blog entry: I wanted to comment on a grave and significant threat to our livelihood and the future generations' livelihood. Ultimately this threat could cripple and threaten the existence of our civilization as we know it. Islamic Jihadism. Former Sen. of Pennsylvania , Rick Sentorum, was interviewed by the Pittsburg Tribune-Review about this threat and what we can do about it now, to save many lives.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/today/s_484790.html
Some highlights:
- "This is a threat that is based on what I would argue is a corruption of a religion, for religious purposes and worldly purposes. ... In modern times we have never faced this kind of threat."
- "But I am not a Paul Revere. I am not just running around screaming, "The Islamafacists are coming!" What I am trying to do is put forth ideas and policy solutions on how we can stop this before it becomes an even more grave threat. ... Acting now could potentially save thousands of lives later."
- "... If we don't have this debate and we simply ignore the religious implications of this war, then we are destined to lose this war. And not just lose it from the standpoint of confronting it in the Middle East, but we are destined to lose it in our own public discourse and all around the world, particularly in Europe right now."
- "And the intangible sacrifice is not to be terrorized. It is not to allow the terrorist tactic to work. We are failing at that right now."
- Our energy situation is making things worse: "These folks use oil as a weapon. Chavez, Ahmadinejad -- both have been very clear that oil is a weapon. And the fact is that we are sending over 60 percent of our money out to foreign nations, many of whom -- although not most -- are hostile to the United States."
- Is congress helping to make us more energy independent? "mentioned during the campaign, just in Western Pennsylvania alone we drilled over 3,500 gas and oil wells last year. Thirty-five hundred! We go through floor debates to stop us from drilling less than 1,000 wells in all of Alaska for the next 25 years."
- Can we count on the media in this war? Look at Iraq: "I have always said that if World War II was covered like this war, I really, very seriously doubt that we would have ever won that war. Certainly, we might have been willing, when the losses got so high, to negotiate a compromise or negotiate some sort of surrender. The death that went on -- I always remind people that we lost more people in a couple of hours on D-Day that we have in the entire war (in Iraq)."
An Liberal who seems to be a Secular Athesis seems to get this threat right and cricizes other Liberals (Sam Harris talking to Tucker Carlson): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBOGQckaF0U
- Liberals instinctively make excuses for Muslim extremists
- Liberals must realize there are 10's of millions of Muslim extremists that are scarier than Dick Chaney
- While he does argue against dogmatism, which I don't support fully, he said liberals have dogma, if the poor people of the world were treated well and given enough economic opportunity they would be garenteed to be reasonable and tolerant. Clearly not true with Islam. Islam is kind of death cult.
- Studies say that support for suicide bombing goes up when you correct for literacy, and economic opportunity.
- We are not at war with all Muslims but we are at war with the idea that cartoonist should be beheaded for drawing Mohamed, women should be stoned for adultry, and converting away from the faith is a capital offense.
- Liberals on the side of those that don't support free speech (violence against the Pope for example and defending the violence against the cartoonists)
- "Liberals almost by definition do not know what it's like to really believe in God. They don't know what it's like to be sure that the book they keep by there bedside is the literal word of the creator of the universe and that death is mearly a passage to an eternity of happiness.... so they find it difficult to believe that anyone believes this stuff and so are motivated by the content of there religious beliefs. ". They are thinking it's just propaganda that no really why he blow himself up. While putting down our own religious, calling them loonitics, he says that they are in a better position to understand the people actually believe in this.
- Tucker said "The first people to be rounded up in this country would be the gay, the secular... almost like masochism or self hatred... "this idea that Western power is at it's roots is malevolent, this idea isn't serving us"
- While I don't agree with where Sam Harris may be taking the discussion to getting rid of religious dogma into a more secular society. I do agree that it's a war of ideas.
- Terrifying # of Muslims are sympathetic to acts of terrorism, not 1% or 0.5%. 1% is 14 million people but he's sure it's an order of magnitude or more larger
- Human beings first not Christians against Muslim against Jews... he argues... I think there is something to that, we are in a global community
