I’m a Christian – specifically, of course, a Catholic Christian. As such I hold that homosexual acts are inherently disordered and can never be considered licit. But here’s the difference – I and the rest of my Christian brothers and sisters will not deny the right of homosexuals to live as they please. We are free – and that means free to do wrong things. As G. K. Chesterton put it:

The free man owns himself. He can damage himself with either eating or drinking; he can ruin himself with gambling. If he does he is certainly a damn fool, and he might possibly be a damned soul; but if he may not, he is not a free man any more than a dog.

The gay man owns himself – if he chooses to engage in behavior which puts at risk both his health and his immortal soul, then that is his choice…his decision. He will bear all the consequences of his decisions before God. The problem with Islam is that in their search for virtue, all they’ve done is create a society of dogs – whipped dogs who don’t dare stir from the kennels. The problem here in the West is similar – our whipped dogs are the liberals, who have so shackled themselves to a series of lies (in this case, most notably, the insane, politically correct concept that no society is better than any other) that they, also, don’t dare stir…and so we have Islamists demanding that everyone be put in to a moral straight jacket, while liberals refuse to call them on it because to do so is to assert – correctly – that our society is better.

Those of us who are neither Islamist nor liberal are the only people who can set things right – who can both instruct liberals in the truth of our society as well as instruct the Islamists that you can be morally good without resort to a whip. Our problem is that we are caught between two fires – we must both defend morality against western liberalism while also defending liberty against Islamist tyrants. A difficult task, to be sure, and we cannot tell if we’ll be able to do it.

From ABC:

Just over ten months before next February’s Iowa caucuses Sarah Palin is returning from a recent trip to Israel. But Tea Party darling Rep. Michele Bachmann is already hitting the Hawkeye state capital.

Unlike Palin, all signs point to Bachmann running for the Republican presidential nomination later this year. In an Iowa version of ABC News’ “Subway Series” shot on the Des Moines city trolley, the Minnesota Republican told ABC’s Jonathan Karl, “I’m in.”

Well, sort of.

“I’m in for 2012 in that I want to be a part of the conversation in making sure that President Obama only serves one term, not two, because I want to make sure that we get someone who’s going to be making the country work again. That’s what I’m in for,” Bachmann said…

To translate from the politician, “I really, really want to run, but before I go putting myself out there as an official candidate, I want to raise some money, raise my national profile and do some polling to see if I’ve got a chance…”. If you want to bet, then bet she throws her hat in to the ring.

Now, does she have a chance? Not much. House members tend to lack the “oomph” necessary to win a major party nomination. They often don’t even have full name recognition their home States, let alone name recognition around the country (I bet that not 4 in 10 Americans could identify who the Speaker of the House is…for a back bencher like Bachmann, though a darling to the right, it would be less than 1 in 10). It is an extraordinary uphill climb for Bachmann to even become competitive in Iowa and New Hampshire, though she is helped in Iowa by her roots in that State, and she does represent neighboring Minnesota. For Bachmann to really have a shot, she’s going to have to do it entirely by retail…she’s going to have to stump from one end of Iowa to the other and then duplicate that in New Hampshire.

That can be done – but it takes enormous dedication and discipline. Essentially, from now until next January, she’ll have to do pretty much nothing but campaign. And that, on the other hand, puts her at risk of becoming stale in both States – allowing someone else to rush in late and scoop up her voters (which does make me think she might be a stalking horse for Sarah Palin). The one thing to keep in mind for 2012, however, is the fact that while someone like Bachmann doesn’t have much of a shot, she does have that shot…literally anyone who can put together any sort of credible campaign can catch fire for 2012 and sweep it all. The GOP base is that restive and the American electorate in that revolutionary a mood. So, don’t count anyone out – but don’t sell yourself on any one candidate any time soon.

President says it will be a short engagement…just a bit of bombing and we’re out out of there. Not so fast, says Defense Secretary Gates:

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday there was no “timeline” for when UN-backed military operations in Libya would end, and that the outcome of the conflict remained unclear.

Speaking during a visit to Cairo, Gates said the UN Security Council resolution that authorised a no-fly zone was “not time-limited” and that it was unrealistic to expect military action to be over in a matter of weeks.

“So I think that there is no current timeline in terms of when it might end,” Gates told reporters…

No surprise here. After all, our stated goal is democracy but not getting rid of Gaddafi, though we’d be happy if he were forced out…but its not like we’ll try to kill him, or anything. This is turning in to quite a nightmare…a genuinely aimless military operation being done for who knows what real reason…or perhaps being done for no reason at all, but just because someone in the Administration figured we had to do something.

As you all know, I favor US intervention in Libya – but only if its assist in forcing out Gaddafi. If we’re not doing that – if we’re not acting with a specific, measurable goal – then it is best we shut down the operation as swiftly as possible. If we keep going without a goal then we’ll just be sucked in, step by step, and might be deeply involved in Libyan affairs for a decade or more…and still never get Gaddafi out of power. All the way in, or all the way out…pick a course of action and stick to it to the end. But don’t just fritter away lives and resources in service to an attitude, or to the worthless United Nations.

Its really just a government bubble – from SBS:

Vast new cities of apartments and shops are being built across China at a rate of ten a year, but they remain almost completely uninhabited ghost towns.

It’s all part of the government’s efforts to keep the economy booming, and there are many people who would love to move in, but it’s simply too expensive for most.

Video journalist Adrian Brown wanders through malls of vacant shops, and roads lined with empty apartment buildings… 64 million apartments are said to be empty across the country and one of the few shop owners says he once didn’t sell anything for four or five days.

Click here for the video report. It is a must-see report – not because it shows the whole truth (no short, video presentation can) but because the truth of China is only slowly dribbling out…most “experts” are still talking up China’s growth as if it is real. It isn’t – it is a fraud; the Chinese government has built up a gangster economy in which a select few are allowed to rob the people of China (and foolish western investors) to their heart’s content as long as they provide swag for the Ruling Class and, of course, agree to the continued repression of the Chinese people.

The most telling quote in the piece is where it is noted that if the Chinese government sets a GDP growth target, the lower level officials will make it happen – regardless of whether or not there is any economic sense. This will come crashing down – you can’t actually do this. You can’t command an economy to prosper…and the people of China are noticing that a very few are getting fabulously wealthy while most Chinese continue on in poverty, a lot of it quite grinding.

Here’s the really bad news – a lot of large, western banks are deeply invested in China, and when China goes down, they go down with it…and take us with them.

HAT TIP: Mish’s

And here’s why – from Inside Higher Ed:

…The first, which was reported favorably by the Appropriations Committee to the House, would bar any public union from automatically deducting dues from members’ paychecks. Specifically, the language of the bill would bar deductions for dues that fund an employee organization or its political activity. The measure also would require unions to get written authorization, each fiscal year, from members to use their money. Unions would, moreover, have to produce reports detailing their revenues and expenses over the preceding 24 months…

Unions will fight this tooth and nail because it cuts in to their main function – money laundering for the Democrat political campaigns. Essentially, the unions are just slush funds for politics…collective bargaining takes a gigantic back seat to providing the funds to elect Democrats who will expand the size of government, thus expanding the number of dues-paying union members, thus providing more funds to elect Democrats, ad-nauseum. This is what it really is all about – don’t buy stories about “workers rights” or other such nonsense…this is about raw, political power and the money necessary to secure it.

On its merits, the law must be enacted – before any group proposes to speak for a person, that group must first obtain permission…and getting it in writing is just the best and most secure means of doing so. If you don’t get permission, you can’t act on that person’s behalf, period. This is a very American act – it holds, per the principles of our Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, that the individual must be allowed to govern himself…and those who would act in place of a person must do so only by consent.

These are the sorts of laws we need to de-fund the left and restore American constitutional government – and I hope more and more States and localities will follow suit.

…then why is the use of petroleum distillates 13% lower in Q1 2011 than in Q1 2007?

As I keep saying about everything – never pay attention to what people are saying, look at what they are doing. Right now, people are buying a lot less gasoline and other petroleum products…that isn’t what would be happening if the economy was really in recovery.

From National Journal:

The pace of new home sales plummeted to a record low last month, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday in a further sign that the battered housing market is only slumping further.

Sales fell 16.9 percent from January, delivering a shock to analysts who had expected a gain for last month. The seasonally adjusted annual rate of 250,000 homes sold marks the slowest pace recorded since the data series began in the 1960s…

How on earth could anyone expect a gain in home sales? Oh, I know – the “experts” are all a bunch of dimwits who just do what Bernanke says…he says the economy is getting better so they “expect” home sale so to rise. The same experts are now telling us that rising gasoline prices won’t be a problem for the US economy.

Our choices are:

1. Fire up the printing presses and shove through another “stimulus” package. This will get us two or three quarters of “growth”…and finish bankrupting the nation, leading to complete economic collapse.

2. Just stop the nonsense. Let things fall to their real value and then enact policies which allow us to start making, mining and growing more of our own stuff. This will be painful, but we’ll be out of the mess in two or three years.

What will Obama do? Hard to say – baseball season is heading our way and he might be trying to figure out who will win the pennant.

Too much happening too fast for me to figure out what will be the hot topic come the morning…so, once again, the Open Thread.

Things are shaping up to be a fiasco in Libya. Hope to goodness that someone in the Administration is sitting down and thinking things over carefully.

Hey, maybe we should stop printing up bags of money and handing it to the banks? Could cause a problem, you know?

Pan handling our way out of fiscal crisis?

Banksters are starting to officially notice that the PIIGS of Europe are about to go under. They’re only six months behind the curve and, once again, demonstrating that financial savvy which saved us from melt down in 2008…oh, wait…

Democrats are worried that the Libya war might cause political problems in 2012. Hint to Dems: it will. Second hint: there’s not much you can do about it. Third hint: you really should be more concerned about America than about 2012 political prospects. Just saying…

As could be expected, Scott Brown has gone a bit RINO. He’s opposed to de-funding Planned Parenthood. Look, I can understand going pro-choice in uber-liberal Massachusetts (understand it even while not agreeing with it)…but even the most pro-choice person on the right has to accept that we’re broke and can’t keep shoveling money at everything. If there’s a group which needs de-funding, its Planned Parenthood. Sure, Brown is trying to square the circle by saying he’s in favor of PP’s “family planning” activities while not wanting to fund PP’s abortion activities…but if you give money for one, you free up money for the other. This is a simple thing – it is wrong to fund PP. Brown made an exceptionally bone-headed move on this…

Poll: Not much rally-round-the-flag for Obama on Libya. Support has increased, but only from 22% to 34%. I don’t think we’ve ever had a President take a more unpopular military action.

Why Don’t We Just Kill All Dictators?

The Mail has the story of photo-jounalist Lynsey Addario, taken captive by Gaddafi’s men during the fighting. As can be expected, she was beaten and sexually abused – though the story does not say she was actually raped – and threatened with death. She got out of it a lot better than CBS’ Lara Logan, who was set upon and gang raped in Egypt during that revolution. The astounding thing about it all is that any western woman would allow herself to come under the power of Moslem society. For crying out loud, a woman dressed in western clothes is considered nothing better than a whore by the Islamists – and these are people who will set off bombs in schools. Where does one expect to find the restraint necessary to protect a woman in such circumstances?

I understand – women can be perfectly fine reporters. This is not a question about whether or not Addario or any other woman out there can do a job, but a question of common sense. It is just stupid for a western woman to enter in to such a situation – not only is she at risk, but any men around her who are decent are placed in harms way…they’ll either have to stand back and let an assault happen, or risk their lives to try and stop it; a situation which would not arise if the woman wasn’t there. It is grossly irresponsible to do such a thing – to deliberately court disaster in servile devotion to an idiotic theory that a reporter is a reporter is a reporter. Circumstances must always be considered and truth must always be spoken.

This is not playing around. This is not a college discussion group. This is real life – and what is happening in the Moslem world is real fascism, real oppression, real war, real revolution…there is blood flowing and this is no place for someone to be when their very presence could provoke more violence and bloodshed. Wise up, for crying out loud.

One step at a time – from CNS:

The chair of the U.S House Foreign Affairs Committee said Monday she will introduce legislation that makes U.S. funding for the United Nations contingent on reform. It also calls for the U.S. to withdraw from the Human Rights Council.

Describing the Obama administration’s attempts to reform the HRC as a failure, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said the U.S. should quit the HRC and “explore credible, alternative forums to advance human rights.”…

As the story goes on to note, the HRC is going to have a session right quick in which six different resolutions condemning Israel will be discussed…and, you can bet on it, adopted. Who is on the Human Rights Council? Well, among the membership is:

Angola (dictatorship); Bahrain (monarchy); Burkino Faso (dictatorship); China (dictatorship); Cuba (dictatorship); Djibouti (dictatorship); Jordan (monarchy); Libya (dictatorship, membership suspended for the moment); Mauritania (dictatorship); Pakistan (dictatorship); Qatar (monarch); Saudi Arabia (monarchy)…

So, the likes of Saudi Arabia and Cuba are working out human rights…and we’re supposed to provide taxpayer support for this anti-human charade? I don’t think so. In fact, we should get out of the UN and form a new world body…one which only has membership for free nations. Just disgusts me that we’re even part of the UN…or that we allow its dishonorable presence on American soil.

Out with it – and I applaud Ileana Ros-Lehtinen for getting the ball rolling.