One of the beauties of living in the great state of Tennessee is our proximity to the Battle of Franklin. Last week the remains of a Union soldier was found just below the slope of Winstead Hill, but far in front of the forward Union line from the battle of November 30, 1864. The likelihood that this unknown soldier died in the combat of the 30th is slim; more likely he was killed in the skirmishing following the rout of the Army of Tennessee after the Battle of Nashville, December 16, 1864.

The Confederates under Hood fled the debacle at Nashville over the same ground that they had fought on the 30th of November. Skirmishing was reported in this area and this is the likely origin of this unfortunate Union soldier. Another unknown from America’s Civil War has been found. History speaks to us in many ways. As Robert E. Lee said just prior to his death, “History gives us hope”. I hope that this poor Union soldier lost in our Civil War will somehow be identified, at least his home state, so that the proper honors can be bestowed upon him. One of the many tragedies of war, is the loss of loved ones and never knowing what fate has befallen them.

Today we spent the afternoon of Memorial Day walking the battle ground of the Battle of Franklin, November 30, 1864 one of the hardest fought and bloodies battles of that war. Our hearts are always full when we go to the Carter House or stand on Winstead Hill wondering at the bravery of the men of both blue and gray,  Americans all.

A Union soldier is found on Columbia Pilke at the base of Winstead Hill, late May 2009.

I took photos of our day in Franklin… come along.

View from Natchez Trace Parkway bridge over Highway 96 in Franklin, Williamson County, TN

One of the prettiest bridges in the country. Built as a WPA project in the 30s this art deco bridge is a national landmark. Bridge over Highway 96, Franklin, TN

Carter House, Franklin, Tn. The epi-center of the great battle of November 30, 1864. This was the HQ of General Jacob Cox. Fighting raged around this house, front and back in some of the most vicious hand to hand combat of the war.

The backyard of the Carter House. Brutal hand to hand combat raged in this yard as hundreds of men clubbed and battered each other to death, November 30, 1864.

Combat even raged on the porch of the home as Union soldiers fought against desperate Confederates who had broken the Union lines at the Carter House. Bodies were on the porch and the lawn after the battle.

Confederates broke the Union lines centered at Carter House and poured into the yard and all around the house. Brutal combat raged here for an hour. When it was over there were at least 58 dead in the yard. Moscow Carter said later that he cleaned up brains with a shovel from the yard. Few battles in the War surpassed the savagery of the combat here.

The buildings on the Carter property are the most battle damaged buildings in North America. Hundreds of bullet holes and cannon ball damage can be seen on all the buildings. The brutality of the close combat around the Carter House made an impression on every survivor of the battle on both sides.

Every American should visit the Carter House.

5 Confederate generals were killed at Franklin, another died 10 days later. General Otho F. Strahl was at the front with his men and made it to the works at the Carter House. Pinned down on the opposite side of the works Strahl was wounded again and again as he passed loaded weapons to his men in the ditch at the Union works. Shot again as he was carried to the rear, Strahl was killed. The ditch before the Union works at Carter House was a kind of hell that Confederates spoke about and wrote about for years after the war. Blood in the ditch was past the ankles with dead and wounding soldiers falling one on top of the other. In sections of the ditch on the Confederate side of the works bodies of men were found 5 and 6 deep. Franklin was a hellish battle. The red post marks a point very close to where General Strahl was killed in the evening of November 30, 1864.

The cap that General Patrick Cleburne was wearing when he was killed at the Battle of Franklin, November 30, 1864. Killed just in front of the Union lines at the Carter Cotton Gin, Cleburne was considered one of the greatest Generals in the entire Confederate army. His actions at Ringgold Gap after the fall of Missionary Ridge and evacuation from Chattanooga earned Cleburne the official thanks of the Confederate Congress. His leadership of the rear-guard at Ringgold Gap saved the Army of Tennessee. See, Patrick Cleburne's Proposal to Free the Slaves. (photo courtesy of Battle of Franklin Blog)

This is the view that the Confederates saw from Winstead Hill as they formed up in the last grand charge of the Civil War. Larger than Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg, the site of 20,000 soldiers in gray marching in battle order down Winstead across the two miles of open ground to the Union main line centered at Carter House struck awe into every Union soldier who saw it. This was the only charge of the Army of Tennessee in which the regimental and divisional bands played as they stepped off and began the long march to Carter House and a combat so astoundingly brutal that no one involved would ever forget it.

Northern slope of Winstead Hill. Behind the trees General Hood had made the decision to attack. Patrick Cleburne who would soon be dead said to his friend, Daniel Govan, "If we are to die, let us die as men." This is the area where Confederate soldiers formed in ranks to prepare for their 2 mile charge into the Union entrenchments at Franklin.

Another view of where the Confederates lined up. The gray line was almost 2 miles long, with 100 regiments in the line. Forrest and Cleburne had argued against the frontal attack, but Hood had ordered it anyway. Believing that the Union army was escaping across the swollen Harpeth River, Hood believed that a rapid advance and attack could carry the day. But what happened next would be seared into history as one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. When the battle was over, and the Union army had evacuated the town heading to Nashville 18 miles north and Hood saw the devastating loss of life, he sat on his horse and wept.

Sunshine breaking the clouds over Hoods observation post at the top of Winstead Hill. After some short discussion with his top officers Hood announced, "Gentleman, we will make the charge". In his memoirs, Hood talked of the frustrations of the debacle of the previous day in Spring Hill when the Union Army had escaped a trap set by Hood. Spring Hill could have been one of the greatest victories of the war, but the mistakes made there allowed the Union army to escape northward and entrench at Franklin. Hot on their heals, the Confederates were itching for a fight to teach Schofield the lesson that should have been taught the previous day at Spring Hill. Hood admitted in his memoirs that doing nothing was not an option. They had to do something, if Schofield was allowed to leave Franklin he would get to Nashville and escape Hood. This was unacceptable. The decision to make the frontal assault at Franklin is one of the most controversial of the war. The truth is that the Confederates came extraordinarily close to victory at Franklin.

The Great Seal of the Confederacy etched into the rock at Hood's observation post on the top of Winstead Hill. Winstead Hill is something of a shrine, like the Carter House; a shrine to losses, to bravery, to what could have been; to what brave men will do when they fight for ideals greater than themselves. Every American should appreciate the sacrifices made by both sides in this brutal battle, and learn from them.

One of several monuments to Confederate Generals killed at Franklin. Otho F. Strahl was killed just outside the Carter House line. Well-loved by his men, his loss was deeply felt across the Army of Tennessee. The example of these men is nothing short of inspirational and should be held up for all Americans to appreciate.

Cannon at top of Winstead Hill in front of monument to Freemont's Battery of Forrest's Divisional artillery.

Sam Watkins quote on monument at Winstead. Author of Company Aytch one of the finest memoirs of the entire war, Watkins was a survivor of Franklin. He wrote, ""(Franklin) is the blackest page in the history of the War of the Lost Cause. It was the bloodiest battle of modern times in any war. It was the finishing stroke to the Independence of the Southern Confederacy. I was there. I saw it."

Sam Watkins on The Battle of Franklin

Kind reader, right here my pen, and courage, and ability fail me. I shrink from butchery. Would to God I could tear the page from these memoirs and from my own memory. It is the blackest page in the history of the war of the Lost Cause.  It was the bloodiest battle of modern times in any war.  It was the finishing stroke to the independence of the Southern Confederacy.  I was there.  I saw it.  My flesh trembles, and creeps, and crawls when I think of it today.  My heart almost ceases to beat at the horrid recollection.  Would to God that I had never witnessed such a scene! I cannot describe it.  It beggars description.  I will not attempt to describe it.  I could not.  The death-angel was there to gather its last harvest.  It was the grand coronation of death.  Would that I could turn the page.  But I feel, though I did so, that page would still be there, teeming with its scenes of horror and blood.  I can only tell of what I saw…
It was four o’clock on that dark and dismal December day when the line of battle was formed, and those devoted heroes were ordered forward, to

Strike for their altars and their fires,
For the green graves of their sires,
For God and their native land.

As they marched on down through an open field toward the rampart of blood and death, the Federal batteries began to open and mow down and gather into the garner of death, as brave, and good, and pure spirits as the world ever saw.  The twilight of evening had begun to gather as a percursor of the coming blackness of midnight darkness that was to envelop a scene so sickening and horrible that it is impossible for me to describe it.  “Forward, men,” is repeated all along the line.  A sheet of fire was poured into our very faces, and for a moment we halted as if in despair, as the terrible avalanche of shot and shell laid low those brave and gallant heroes, whose bleeding wounds attested that the struggle would be desperate.  Forward, men!  And the blood spurts in a perfect jet from the dead and wounded.  The earth is red with blood.  It runs in streams, making little rivulets as it flows.  Occasionally there was a little lull in the storm of battle, as the men were loading their guns, and for a few moments it seemed as if night tried to cover the scene with her mantle.  The death-angel shrieks and laughs and old Father Time is busy with his sickle, as he gathers in the last harvest of death, crying, More, more, more!  while his rapacious maw is glutted with the slain.

But the skirmish line being deployed out, extending a little wider than the battle did — passing through a thicket of small locusts, where Brown, orderly sergeant of Company B, was killed–we advanced on toward the breastworks, on and on.  I had made up my mind to die–felt glorious.  We pressed forward until I heard the terrific roar of battle open on our right.  Cleburne’s division was charging their works.  I passed on until I got to their works, and got over on their (the Yankees’) side.  But in fifty yards of where I was the scene was lit up by fires that seemed like hell itself.  It appeared to be but one line of streaming fire.  Our troops were upon one side of the breastworks, and the Federals on the other.  I ran up on the line of works, where our men were engaged.  Dead soldiers filled the entrenchments.  The firing was kept up until after midnight, and gradually died out.  We passed the night where we were.  But when the morrow’s sun began to light up the eastern sky with its rosy hues, and we looked over the battlefield, O, my God! what did we see!  It was a grand holocaust of death.  Death had held high carnival there that night.  The dead were piled the one on the other all over the ground.  I never was so horrified and appalled in my life.  Horses, like men, had died game on the gory breastworks.  General Adams’ horse had his fore feet on one side of the works and his hind feet on the other, dead.  The general seems to have been caught so that he was held to the horse’s back, sitting almost as if living, riddled, and mangled, and torn with balls.  General Cleburne’s mare had her fore feet on top of the works, dead in that position.  General Cleburne’s body was pierced with forty-nine bullets, through and through.  General Strahl’s horse lay by the roadside and the general by his side, both dead, and all his staff.  General Gist, a noble and brave cavalier from South Carolina, was lying with his sword reaching across the breastworks still grasped in his hand.  He was lying there dead.  All dead!  They sleep in the graveyard yonder at Ashwood, almost in sight of my home, where I am writing today.  They sleep the sleep of the brave.  We love and cherish their memory.  They sleep beneath the ivy-mantled walls of St. John’s church, where they expressed a wish to be buried.  The private soldier sleeps where he fell, piled in one mighty heap.  Four thousand five hundred privates!  all lying side by side in death!  Thirteen generals were killed and wounded.  Four thousand five hundred men slain, all piled and heaped together at one place.  I cannot tell the number of others killed and wounded.  God alone knows that.  We’ll all find out on the morning of the final resurrection. (quoted from, “Company Aytch” by Sam Watkins)

Our greeting upon returning to Nashville from Franklin.

Memorial Day, Nashville, TN 2009 - With respect to all of our heroes and great hope for the future of this great country.

by Daniel Mallock

Let the Right One In is the finest vampire film. After viewing it, you may have a different opinion, and if you do I’d like to hear it. I don’t think that you will.

This Swedish film from last year is suspenseful, artistic, edgy, and beautifully made. All the boundaries of the genre are now broken and all the stupid cliches so common in vampire films, shattered by this film.

The film is directed with subtlety. The actors downplay all their roles, playing everything straight as daggers. The vampire in this film is a lovely, distraught, lonely 12-year old girl. She meets her neighbor, a 12-year old boy out in the playground in the courtyard of their apartment complex in the middle of the night. Snow is everywhere. It’s clearly freezing, but it’s beautiful, too. The boy has a rubick’s cube, his new friend doesn’t know what it is. She seems outside of existence, not involved in daily life, the commonalities of existence – things that most 12-year olds should know. She clearly does not belong, anywhere.

The  boy a quiet, thin, lonely, bright blond fellow named Oscar says, “Here, I’ll show you how to do this.” He gives her a rudimentary lesson on the rubick’s cube, and he gives it to her. The next day he goes into the courtyard to look for his new mysterious dark friend and there is the rubick’s cube, entirely solved.

He says, “I can’t understand how you could do this.”
She replies, “I just did it.”

What follows is a very deeply felt building friendship between the two 12-year olds. The little girl, Ellie, is clearly not well. She is pale and wan, and cannot keep down any food. There are murders (not graphic), and bizarre events in the town involving attacks on people who are savagely bitten at the neck. The violence is not excessive and is understated. One scene where a woman who was bitten by Ellie arrives at a friend’s house is amazing. The friend has 20 cats in his apartment. All of them attack the woman in one of the more bizarre scenes in recent film.

The growing friendship and love between the two young people are at the center of this film, which makes it something special. This is a beautifully shot movie, it’s a treat for the eyes. The dialogue is clipped, minimalist, almost like a Mammet play but much more realistic. There is a confusion of morality in this movie which adds to its complexity.

Ellie is a killer, but she is also very sick. The viewer starts to see her as a tragic hero, and the two of them in a tragic friendship. We keep saying, “how can she live?” But the success of the film is in the fact that the reply must be, “She must live! There must be a way that she can overcome this nightmare life.” And perhaps there is, but we will never know it. Ellie is not evil, she is actually quite good.

Oscar slowly begins to realize that there is something very strange and not-quite-right about Ellie. He asks her, “Are you a vampire?” She says yes. Later, he repeats his earlier question, “How old are you?” She says, “12, but I’ve been 12 for a long long time.” Ellie is trapped at 12. There is something deeply attractive about her character and her love of life while she destroys others so that she can survive.

The starkness of the Swedish scenery and the snow covered fields lend a clear, cold realism to her plight.

“Let the Right One In” is not flighty chick flick vampire fare, nor does it owe anything to any previous vampire or horror movie. This film seems to stand on its own outside of the ongoing fascination with vampires in the film world. This is a beautiful movie that happens to be about a gory vampire. The center of this film is a relationship between two very lonely children who find each other when they both so desparately need a friend.

This is a brilliant film. “Let the Right One In” will not affect your feelings, if you have any, on vampire movies. This film is outside the genre just skirting its edges though one of the main characters is a vampire. This is not a vampire movie, it is something special something so unusual that I sat to watch it though I despise the genre entirely.

I cannot say that I loved this movie, but I respect it deeply. I think it very successful on many levels.

While I cannot say I loved the movie, I can say that I loved the main characters, and that is something that I rarely can or do say.

Yep! It’s difficult to believe, but it’s true. E-cig folks are now at the forefront of fighting government corruption and nanny-statism. Lots of folks have switched from tobacco use by going to e-cigarettes. These are alternatives to tobacco whereby there is a cigarette-looking thingy with a vaporizer in it, the user inhales vaporized glycerin and nicotine solution. It looks like smoke, but nothing is combusted. (I know… it sounds strange, but this is extraordinarily popular, and interest in it is growing daily around the world, especially in the US.)

Read about the inventor of these things, a fellow from China.

What is important in this case is that FDA is trying to ban these electronic devices without giving these “vapers” (as they call themselves) a fair hearing. There does appear to be some tobacco company shennanigans from Philip Morris company involved, too. So, I back these folks to get the fair hearing that they deserve as any American should, and fight “big tobacco”, too! After all, what could be more fun!

Click here for the leader in this fight: http://www.ecassoc.org/

If you are a smoker, well this could be an alternative. So, we ought not let the government ban these things unless they are found to be at least 1/10 as harmful as tobacco, which they are most likely certainly not.

This article was originally in the Wall Street Journal:

WASHINGTON, May 04, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Today the Electronic Cigarette Association (ECA) issued an official statement on its website – www.ecigaretteassociation.org – in response to the FDA’s recent inquiry into electronic cigarettes, many of which are being withheld from entering the country in what prominent harm reduction and policy experts are calling a potential public health disaster.

Can there be a more tragic literary and human scenario than this?

Plath commited suicide some 46 years ago. Now, her son Nicholas Hughes is dead by his own hand at 46. Nicholas was but an infant when Plath gassed herself to death in her kitchen with her two children in the next room. Long considered a great poet, Plath is often looked upon as a victim of her own depression and a deep angst at the infidelities of her husband Ted Hughes (another poet). But it’s the lurid and tragic nature of her death that perhaps has kept her so long in the public eye.

Suicide is often described as a victimless crime. But it is not so. The devastation that a suicide leaves behind can often never be repaired or recovered from, the loss of the loved one an unrecoverable and mystefying horror for all those left behind to wonder at and grieve.

There is no comfort that poetry or anything else can give when the survivors ponder “what might have been”, and try to deal with the tragic frustration of not having been able to stop the suicide from happening.

Guilt, sadness, horror, frustration, angst, grief – it’s a cauldron from which many do not ever escape.

My sympathies to Mr. Hughes’ friends and sister. What may appear to be an impossible situation today and seem to have no solution may look entirely different tomorrow or next week. Suicide is a permanent solution to temporary matters. There are solutions waiting to be found. Life is precious.

The Times of UK has an extensive story on Hughes here.

Why the White House Rejects Winston Churchill

A symbol of solidarity and friendship from a great ally - rejected.

Early on in President Obama’s administration, a bust of Winston Churchill was removed from the Oval Office by order of the President and returned to the British government. The bust was a gift of friendship between England and the United States presented to George W. Bush after September 11, 2001 by then British PM Tony Blaid. Certainly, a place of honor could have been found at the White House for the bust of Churchill. Now, a bust of Abraham Lincoln is on display in the White House where Churchill formerly resided.

The return of the bust caused a small diplomatic incident at the time, but has not lately been discussed. The removal and return of the bust occured only several weeks before the visit of Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his wife to Washington. The lack of diplomatic courtesies and friendliness similar to those extended to Tony Blair by former President G.W. Bush was noted by not a few observers, particularly in Europe. While diplomatic maneuvering between Obama and Blair can explain the apparent snub of Brown what is not so readily understood is why the bust of Churchill was returned prior to the visit.

Considered one of the great men of the 20th century Churchill’s leadership of England during WW2 was inspirational to Americans and British during the war and after. As a symbol of great leadership and personal strength the symbolism of the gift of a bust of Churchill to the President of the United States by our greatest ally the United Kingdom is clear. The bust of Churchill was meant as a show of deep friendship and and to provide President Bush with inspiration during a time of great crisis for the United States.

President Obama in his inaugural address described the United States as a “nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers.” This was the very first time that Islam was given 2nd level stature to Christianity in describing America by any American leader. After his inaugural, President Obama gave his first interview to the Arab television network, Al Arabiya. He then declared that he will open discussions with Iran, an acknowledged terrorist state thus overturning decades of American foreign policy of refusing to negotiate with terrorists and terrorist entities. His first phone call to a foreign leader after his inauguration went not to an ally, but to the president of the Palestinian Authority, an old PLO terrorist in the Arafat mold.

During the Al Arabiya interview President Obama said,

“And so what I told him (George Mitchell) is start by listening, because all too often the United States starts by dictating – in the past on some of these issues – and we don’t always know all the factors that are involved.”

This is an astounding statement for a US President to make. In many situations “listening” is not the best path. When dealing with terrorist states like Iran working diligently to develop nuclear weapons to use against our allies and ourselves in contravention of UN resolutions and earning the anger and reticence of the bulk of the international community what can the subject of discussions be? Iran is now so close to developing their bomb essentially because “discussions” have failed entirely. For Iran, there can only be an ultimatum then decisive action to prevent them from acquiring a nuclear weapon. When one party is intransigent and ignores all international laws, there can be no substantive or valuable “discussions”.

President Obama’s interest in Islam is widely noted. His support of Raila Odinga in Kenya’s presidential elections several years ago while Obama was a sitting Senator in Illinois is instructive mainly because Odinga is a supporter of Sharia law.

This brings us back to the bust of Winston Churchill. Among his many accomplishments Churchill understood the threat that political Islam poses to the West. Perhaps Churchill’s position on Islam is why Winston is out of favor at the Obama White House.

Churchill on Islam

How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy.

The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.

A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.

Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it.

No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome.

– Sir Winston Churchill (The River War, first edition, Vol. II, pages 248-50 [London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1899]).

….

“Indeed it is evident that Christianity, however degraded and distorted by cruelty and intolerance, must always exert a modifying influence on men’s passions, and protect them from the more violent forms of fanatical fever, as we are protected from smallpox by vaccination. But the Mahommedan religion increases, instead of lessening, the fury of intolerance. It was originally propagated by the sword, and ever since, its votaries have been subject, above the people of all other creeds, to this form of madness.”

After 9/11, George W. Bush famously described Islam as a “religion of peace”. Churchill entertained no such fancy notions. In his history of the Malakand Field Force, Churchill wrote that “civilisation is confronted with militant Mahommedanism. The forces of progress clash with those of reaction. The religion of blood and war is face to face with that of peace. Luckily the religion of peace is usually the better armed.”

For further information on Churchill and Islam please see “Islam Watch” here.

A Case Study: FrontPage Magazine and the Folly of Automated Web Advertising

Several months ago I strongly questioned National Review magazine’s consistency, and condemned their shoddy oversight of the advertising content on their website. Publications that have a strong editorial voice and an important mission to educate should be very careful about anything that might dilute or confuse their message or worse give credence or support to those ideas, organizations, and people they purport to oppose.

Now, it’s happpening again, this time with Frontpage Magazine.

The Horror of Automated GoogleAdsense

David Horowitz the former Leftist radical and now defender of Israel and America from leftist political correctness/ignorance/dogmatism and Islamism does very important work with this site. The quality of the content posted on this site is more often than not insightful, accurate, and entertaining.

Many highly regarded authorities in the study of political Islam, and international relations are published there. Insightful articles of importance and value written by top writers and analysts appear there daily. The cruelties of sharia, the brutality of jihad and the threat that political Islam represents to all non-Muslim people across the world are exposed on Frontpage often.

I read this fantastic site daily and value greatly the work that they and their contributors do. So, it is particularly disturbing when a site whose mission I support does something, without perhaps being aware of it, that undermines their purpose and cannot help but dillute the messages of their authors and confuse their readership.

While reading an interview this morning on Frontpage by M. A. Khan author of a new book called “Islamic Jihad: A Legacy of Forced Conversion, Imperialism and Slavery” I glanced to the right of the text section of the page and saw an advertisement for “SingleMuslim.com” (a website encouraging the growth of political Islam through marriage). The contradiction between the content and the advertisement that appeared beside it could not be more unfortunate, jarring, or confusing.

The text of the interview was clearly a stunning indictment of the cruelties of Islam throughout history and its largely unknown (among Muslims and non-Muslims) extensive record of violence and warfare. But the advertisement encouraged the growth of Islam through marriage.  What could this be about?

FrontPage magazine is likely not a business partner or supporter of the website espousing marriage for single Muslims that was displayed on its page today. So how can such a bizarre situation occur? I suspect that what happpened today on Frontpage was the same thing that happened several months ago on National Review’s website - GoogleAdwords was set to “Automatic Match”.

When automaticmatch is set to “on”, Google automatically places ads on a webpage based only on the words that appear within the content on the page. Google does not make any value judgments, it just decides which advertiser might be a good match for content (i.e., repetitive words) that their search “bots” found on the webpage.  This is an excellent strategy for Google to build it’s ad revenues and for advertisers to get their ads posted, but it is a very risky business for website owners, particularly those with a very clear message.

The automated system is simply doing its job when it places an ad for an Islamic singles website on a webpage on which the terms “Islam”, and “Muslim” repeatedly appear. For Google’s purposes the match is a good one; for Frontpage (or National Review) such a match is a disaster.

One of Mr. Khan’s central assertions is that jihad is at the core of Islam.

“This book also makes it thoroughly transparent that Jihad, in its violent form, is the foundation, the heart, of Islam as I assert: ‘Violent Jihad is the heart of Islam; without it, Islam would, most likely, have died a natural death in the seventh century itself’ (p. 79).”

Mr. Khan would likely be more than slightly “put out” (I’d assume) to know that Frontpage magazine, one of the leading sites on the internet that exposes the unpleasant truth about political Islam was running advertising for a Muslim marriage website on the same page that his highly charged and quite critical interview appeared.

This situation is likely nothing more than laziness on the part of Frontpage magazine site administrators and doesn’t necessarily (I suspect) signal some seachange shift in its ideals and purposes, at least one hopes.

These embarrasing and disturbing lapses of oversight on the part of National Review and now Frontpage magazine are important reminders to website owners, especially those having multiple pages and constantly updating content, to do their jobs of site administration diligently. Any website that contains sensitive and important content that requires consistency of message and an unimpeachable and ethical approach to the truth should always have any automated content/advertising generator switched OFF. The danger that automatching advertising represents to the site, and to the reputation and mission of the organization that sponsors it is now obvious.

The failure of the site administrator(s) to understand that Google might match an article critical of political Islam with a website touting Muslim dating/marriage is perhaps just barely forgivable.

However, allowing such bizarre and confusing juxtapositions to exist on their site for any length of time (National Review kept up their Muslim marriage advertising for days) is not; it is nothing less than malfeasance and/or incompetence.

The message of Mr. Khan and all the other superb writers of Frontpage is far too important to be muddled and diluted by any confusions caused by GoogleAdWords fulfilling its stated purpose.

One web advertising expert suggests that many users of Google AdSense aren’t aware that “automatch” is switched ON by default and must be manually switched off. “We found the program added keywords that were very wide of the mark and reduced ROI,” she said.

This ridiculous situation is exactly what happened at National Review Online several months ago. It is a simple problem and easily resolved. Managing automated advertising campaigns is an important part of any webmaster’s job. Frontpage’s excellent content demonstrates a clear tone and purpose but it is muddled by inappropriate advertising content. Excellent sites like Frontpage should have equally excellent site management to support it. Advertising content should be vetted and approved just as the main content is.  Such vetting and oversight is impossible with automated advertising.

Frontpage’s unfortunate and confusing juxtaposition of this morning shows that without active involvement in site management and serious due diligence work by administrators, a highly regarded website’s reputation can be compromised too easily. Frontpage – wake up!

An extraordinary event held in Nashville, Tennessee last evening signals the birth of a new movement of Jewish/Christian understanding and cooperation.

Unified by a deep love of and support for Israel and the Jewish people, Christians, Catholics, and Jews joined together in affirming a mutual bond in their affection for Israel and their pledge to support the Jewish people of Israel and elsewhere.

The event held at Gaylord Opryland Hotel in a magnificent hall featured keynote speeches from Pastors, Rabbis, Reverends, and a Bishop. Songs were sung, prayers were  offered and viewers and participants alike were exhorted to understand that Israel binds the Jewish people and the Christian community forever together.

Michael Little, chief of the Christian Broadcasting Network received the “Tree of Life” award from the organizer of the event, Laurie Cardoza-Moore of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations, for his lifelong support of Israel. In an impassioned address Mr. Little spoke of his own lengthy experience with Israel and deep affection for the country and its people. He has visited Israel 48 times and is looking forward to his next trip there. He told the assembled guests, dignitaries, clergy, and broadcasters that getting the message out to Christian CBN viewers of the importance of Israel to both Christians and Jews and the responsibility that we all share in assuring its continued existence and success is one of the most important missions for the future of the CBN network.

I have never before attended any event during which the refrains “We stand with Israel!” and “We Christians will never again be silent!” were heard again and again. The clergy made a unified appeal from the podium each in turn: support for Israel and the Jewish people is a moral and religious obligation that all Christians must embrace.

The message from the Rabbis was one of deeply humble thanks and affection for their Christian brothers and sisters. There were strong words, exhortations, and promises made from the stage. And there were tears, real tears of joy and thanks from Jewish leaders so appreciative of offers of succor and aid from an assembly of Christian leadership.

This was an extraordinary event that heralds a new beginning in Christian and Jewish relations in the United States, certainly in Nashville, TN where the event occurred.

The results of this event and a new sense of purpose and cooperation will hopefully take root across the United States and the world, and Jews everywhere can take heart that a new flame of hope has been kindled, a new relationship between Christians and Jews united in love of G-d and love of Israel is rising.

Proclaiming Justice to the Nations is doing extraordinarily important work in raising awareness in the media war about the truth of the dangers of political Islam and the truth about Israel. A united Jewish world and Christian world is an astounding concept. United in support of Israel while appreciating and accepting each others differences, yet cognizant and understanding of the many similarities, this new and powerful combination must significantly change the balance in the ongoing ideological and existential conflict against the cruel and violent philosophy of political Islam. Israel is in the front line of this conflict. On 9/11 the United States was on the front line. Only last month Mumbai had the dubious honor, and bloody horror of jihad terror and mass murder in their midst. Cooperation between Jews and Christians is beneficial for all men and women of good will, and bad for Islamists and jihadist terrorists.

Last night’s PJTN event at the Gaylord Opryland was a victory. Hopefully, it will be remembered  as the start of a great and unified movement of Christians and Jews in defense of Israel and of one another against tyranny and cruelty.

The beacons of hope are being lit.

Two recent very disturbing cases of callousness tend to epitomize the current crisis of identity and meaning in our culture. They illustrate graphically the root cause of our current disastrous fiscal crisis and a growing problem on the international horizon. Both cases come from Michigan though Michigan is not special in this regard – this crisis of values is a national one.

Two days ago the body of a man was discovered frozen in a block of ice in an abandoned warehouse in Detroit. Twenty four hours would pass before the authorities arrived and recovered the unfortunate man from his frozen tomb. The body was removed yesterday. One week before, however, a group of men were playing hockey in the same abandoned warehouse and discovered the body. They chose not to report their grisly find. The unfortunate man lay unnecessarily another week unattended and disregarded by the world.

“”Why didn’t your friend call the police?’
‘He was trespassing and didn’t want to get in trouble,’ the caller replied. As it happens, the caller’s friend is an urban explorer who gets thrills rummaging through and photographing the ruins of Detroit. It turns out that this explorer last week was playing hockey with a group of other explorers on the frozen waters that had collected in the basement of the building. None of the men called the police, the explorer said. They, in fact, continued their hockey game.“

This revolting lack of concern for others and the dignity due the deceased might otherwise be an isolated incident, another in a long line of stories that make us all shake our heads in disbelief and cause us to wonder in amazement that we can still be shocked at the callousness and thoughtlessness of others.

In a wider context the abandonment of the man in the block of ice is symptomatic of a much larger culture-wide failure of compassion that has implications not only for our domestic tranquility but for how our country interacts with other nations and political philosophies.

In a related case the entirely avoidable callousness-caused death of a 93-year old WW2 veteran in Bay City, Michigan has caused a great deal of soul searching across the country.

“When neighbors went inside Marvin Schur’s house, the windows were frosted over, icicles hung from a faucet, and the 93-year-old World War II veteran lay dead on the bedroom floor in a winter jacket over four layers of clothing.

He froze to death — slowly and painfully, authorities say — days after the electric company installed a power-limiting device because of more than $1,000 in unpaid bills.”

The idea of any utility shutting off power to any occupied home during the winter is immoral and heartless a notion enough, no one should be made to freeze to death purposefully on account of lack of payment of a power bill. Mr. Schur, the 93-year old WW2 vet had intended to pay his bill but for some reason failed to do so (cash was on his kitchen table clipped to the power company bill). Rather than check on the aged fellow, the utility decided to discontinue power to his home, thus eventually directly causing Mr. Schur’s death by freezing.

Mr. Schur’s death challenges the accepted belief that we revere our veterans, particularly of the WW2 (”the greatest”) generation. As a society, we apparently do not.

We want to believe that we respect and revere our warriors but it is not so. We have failed Mr. Schur and many, many others like him. Did the utility have any mechanism by which their staff could be made aware that the resident of the home in Bay City about to be denied power was the domicile of an aged veteran of America’s military? I strongly doubt it.

Finally, and this is no indictment of anyone, why hadn’t Mr. Schur’s neighbors checked on him? Photographs of the home show neighboring houses just feet away. The neighbors did not bother making sure that he was alright because our American concept of “neighborhood” and what it means to be a neighbor living in close proximity to others has been entirely smashed over the last several decades. We are all mobile, and roots are difficult to plant. We have yet to replace the old concepts of “neighborhood”- places where multiple generations live and participate in the community with the modern reality of families being far less stable and less rooted and linked to/involved in a place than ever before.

We retain our common humanity regardless of where we are, don’t we? The utility failed Mr. Schur as did American society in general. His death was horrible and avoidable and tragically without dignity. We failed our warrior Mr. Schur when he was most in need.

Is it possible that American society and culture suffer from a national “Compassion fatigue”? Caregivers, medical professionals, emergency personnel, people who provide daily care to others know of this phenomenon – you may have seen it yourself.

“Studies confirm that caregivers play host to a high level of compassion fatigue. Day in, day out, workers struggle to function in care-giving environments that constantly present heart-wrenching, emotional challenges. Affecting positive change in society, a mission so vital to those passionate about caring for others, is perceived as elusive, if not impossible. This painful reality, coupled with first-hand knowledge of society’s flagrant disregard for the safety and well being of the feeble and frail, takes its toll on everyone from full time employees to part time volunteers. Eventually, negative attitudes prevail.” (courtesy of compassionfatigue.org)

We see the results of Compassion Fatigue daily with the deaths in Detroit and Bay City, Michigan being particularly eggregious examples of avoidable tragedies and the callousness of individuals and organizations. Even more troubling perhaps than the daily toll on our souls and spirits and the diminishment of our cultural life is now our approach to countries that have a compassionless political philosophy.

President Barack Obama promised “Change”, and he is delivering. But the change he is rapidly pushing on the international stage is detrimental to our national security and sends a message of weakness to our enemies. The strong rebuff from Iran of Obama’s invitation for discussions with them regarding normalization of relations is proof of this point.

This request means Western ideology has become passive, that capitalist thought and the system of domination have failed,” Gholam Hossein Elham was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency (see link above).

President Obama mentioned that ours is a country of “Christians, Muslims, Jews, and Hindus” in his inaugural address thus elevating Islam above the traditional concept of America as a “Judeo-Christian” society. The symbolism of the list order in his speech cannot be missed nor mistaken.

President Obama’s first phone call to a foreign leader went not an ally like Britain, France, Australia, Germany, or Japan or Israel but to the terrorist leader of a failed terrorist organization in the failed statelet of the Palestinian Authority on the West Bank, Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu Mazen). President Obama’s first interview went not to an American network like CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, or FOX but rather to a network owned by Saudi Arabia based in Dubai. His first initiative in foreign affairs is to send George Mitchel back to the Middle East to fail again when his first failure was apparently insufficient. He has sent a letter to the mad, Holocaust-denying president of Iran and addressed the Arab world on Dubai television in conciliatory and apologetic tones:

“‘All too often the United States starts by dictating — in the past on some of these issues — and we don’t always know all the factors that are involved,’ Obama told al-Arabiya. ‘So let’s listen.’”

The problem with this approach is that efforts to resolve the “Middle East conflict” and the so-called “Arab-Israeli conflict” are all doomed to failure. Why?

Failure for George Mitchell and Obama’s approach to Saudi Arabia and Iran and the Palestinean Authority is all but assured because our leadership does not understand the real nature of the problem. The constitution of Hamas makes it very clear that destruction of Israel is its fundamental mission. Everything else is sacrificed for this mission including the well-being and possibilities for prosperity and peace for the residents of Gaza. Hamas is not a state-building entity but an Israel-destroying one. Hamas, the PLO, Iran, and Saudi Arabia have one thing in common. They are all Islamic states (or statelets) in total submission to the doctrine of political Islam.

Israel is in the front line of global Jihad. Several weeks ago the front line shifted temporarilly to Mumbai, India and, prior to that attack, elsewhere in the world. On 9/11 the front line was New York, Washington, and in the sky above Shanksville, PA. Jihad is a global and never-ending/universal threat. Israel will always be in the front line because of its geographic location and most importantly because Israel borders Arab/Islamic states on every border but for the sea. The conflict between Israel and Gaza/West Bank is not about any frustrated national aspirations on the part of Palestinians but rather it is simply Jihad – the destruction or conversion of all Jews, Christians, and unbelievers (kafirs) and the creation of Islamic/Sharia states across the world. The so-called “Middle East conflict” is nothing but jihad, and nothing more.

As a nation whose compassion for ourselves and others is now shown to be at tragically low levels, perhaps we are more forgiving of other cultures that also have a lack of compassion. Perhaps President Obama’s embrace of political Islam is an unfortunate and dangerous result of the compassion fatigue that is shattering our trust in our institutions and each other and undermining the foundations of our culture.

The literal translation of Islam is “submission”, a “Muslim” is “one who submits”. Islam sees the world, according to its core doctrinal documents the Koran, the Sunna, and Hadith as dualistic – there is Dar-al Islam, and Dar-al Harb. Dar al-Islam is the “House of Peace”. Everywhere in the world where Islam is dominant and Sharia (Islamic Law) is in force is considered “at peace”. Wherever Islam is not dominant or another form of government other than Sharia is in force that is the House of War, Dar-al Harb. Islam is forever at war with those countries and peoples who do not accept Mohammed and do not accept Islam. The solution for Islam is jihad. All Muslims are required to participate in Jihad. When you see terrorists committing atrocities they are following the Way of Mohammed. Mohammed is the greatest example of humanity for all Muslims to follow. Unfortunately, Mohammed hated Jews and Christians and all unbelievers. So hating Jews and Christians and all unbelievers is what Muslims are supposed to do because that is what Mohammed did. The doctrine is very clear on these points.

In the midst of an existential struggle with a political philosophy whose goal is our conversion and eventual overthrow it is troubling to see our leadership making conciliatory rationalist-based peace approaches to those whose purpose is our defeat and destruction.

To the Islamic world these overtures by President Obama are nothing if not a signal of weakness.

Iran must be strongly challenged and their weapons program verifiably dismantled or destroyed. They are actively working towards nuclear weapons and will use them on Israel then on American interests and allies and on our country itself. They have said as much, and I take them at their word.

There is a precedent for rationalist-based societies attempting negotiated solutions with intractable irrational adversaries: Chamberlain at Munich is the perfect example. And the lesson is that there is no peace in our time regardless of promises made by extremists and anti-civilizationalists or fancy papers upon which such promises are inscribed.

The implication is that President Obama and his advisors believe that the intractable unchangeable forever hatred of Islam for our country and our culture can be rehabilitated.

The obvious problem is that the Koran and all the Islamic doctrine is considered perfect and unchangeable by the Muslim world and cannot be questioned. Since Islam means “to submit” then all Muslims must submit to Koran/Hadith/Sunna, the foundational texts of Islam. Most importantly, since Koran and Sunna specifically command jihad against Jews, Christians, and all unbelievers (kafirs) until the world is in dar al-Islam (under Islamic rule/Sharia), how then can any Islamic country be “rehabilitated” so that there can be a lasting peace? How can they be made to move away forever from jihad when they are specifically commanded to do jihad? The only rehabilitation that can be effective is a reformation in Islamic doctrine that removes the obligation for jihad and eliminates dhimmitude (etc., etc) and, since that will not occur/cannot occur (Islamic foundational texts cannot be changed nor questioned), then there can’t be any true “rehabilitation” of Islamic countries and their policies as per the wishful thinking of Chamberlain/Obama.

Our compassion fatigue carries a devastating price at home and abroad – we now forgive others for the failures that we see in ourselves.

The empty house in Bay City and the dark, miserable frozen shaft in Detroit are the keys to our failure. Our economy, based upon our culture, is in shambles. Only when we have compassion for each other and reject lack of compassion in others and other countries/societies can we truly recover. If we fail to acknowledge the truth about ourselves and about those with whom we would have peace on our terms but cannot, only then can we rise again as a great nation. America is not about banks, and slick Wall Street investors, it is about compassion. We’ve forgotten. We must remember very quickly.

The rancor and domestic strife of the 2008 Presidential election is over. A new era has arrived. The handover from Bush to Obama is described as easy and friendly and smooth. Hope is sweeping the land. During this time of economic crisis and ongoing global jihad that threatens our people and our shores the new President has weighty challenges ahead of him.

There is great hope in the land – for a new perspective, new approaches, new solutions. There is hope that our painful history of strained race relations is now, finally, past. The inauguration of Barack Obama is the signal that the War, the Civil War, is finally over. Martin Luther King’s dream of equality and a color-blind society has been advanced.

The circle of history that started in 1861, moved forward with the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th Ammendment, then MLK, is now closed with the inaugural this morning of Barack Obama.

The inauguration of this new President demonstrates that everything and anything is possible in the United States and that skin color is no determinant of one’s fate or future or opportunities.

Obama will be inaugurated with his hand on Abraham Lincoln’s bible, the same bible upon which Lincoln gave his first oath of office. The symbolism is inescapable and entirely pertinent. If Obama fulfills the promise of this symbolism, to bind up the nation’s wounds and reinvigorate our sense of a unified people he can be one of our greatest Presidents. The moment is his. I pray that he is successful, that we all are successful.

I did not support Obama during the election cycle, but I support him now. He is my President and he has my support. Now is the time for great and decisive leadership, brilliant ideas, and new solutions to old problems that have brought the nation to economic crisis.

We certainly need a new direction and new hope. The feeling across the land is positive, hopeful, and upbeat. A new President could not ask for more popular support than President Obama now enjoys. I hope that he moves swiftly to bring the country back on course, and I hope and pray that he recognizes and responds to the great threat from global jihad that we and our friends across the world face. This is the greatest threat to world peace.

Recognizing this threat will allow us to sever our relationships with countries that support jihad and whose mission is our destruction. This must be a national mission, akin to the Manhattan Project. For far too long has the Arab world waged economic warfare against us with oil. We must make a great national effort to produce our own sources of energy and end our reliance on Middle Eastern and OPEC oil. This national mission could be the foundation for a national economic recovery much like the internet boom of the 80s and 90s. But, in this case, our national recovery will transform into a national sovereignty that is no longer reliant upon oil blackmail. Such a recovery based upon our own resources and our initiatives is sustainable and will be a model for the world to follow.

Abraham Lincoln’s 2nd Inaugural Address (1864) struck a deep chord in a nation weary of three years of Civil War. It was a message of hope, of forgiveness and of rebuilding. Obama’s moment is similar in many ways to Lincoln’s moment on the steps of the Capitol. We must rebuild our economy and shift our cultural imperatives more towards service and support of others and away from careerism and greed. In the 80s “greed” may have been “good”, at least according to the movie character Gordon Gecko. But greed is not a sustainable foundation for a society. Only through service can we move forward, rebuilding our institutions and re-establishing our connections with each other and with our fundamental concepts of personal responsibility and societal responsibility. We stand on the brink but there is hope. God Bless America and President Obama.

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan – to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations. (Abraham Lincoln, 2nd Innaugural)

Advertising seems to work best when it’s not really advertising at all.

The idea that a thing is at its best when it is not the thing that it is purported to be is a challenging one. The following video proves the point, I think.

A mixture of superb timing and superb artistry this amazing romp for TMobile never mentions the product it is advertising. Rather, it creates a stunning euphoric mood that is difficult to resist.

During this time of economic collapse, political uncertainty, ongoing global jihad, and rising doubts about the foundations of core economic and social structures people need something to lift them up a bit. This advert is just the ticket.

I have been in many train stations, many airports, places where people by the thousands are in transit moving from place to place. These “in between places” are loaded with almost always unspoken emotions – they are places that are loaded to the brim with kinetic energy. The creators of this advertisement know this and use this truth to great effect.

The images in the video are comfortably non sequitor, and so perfectly juxtaposed with time and place. The faces of those not “in the know” are perfect.

Enjoy.