Why wars start:

History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap. – Ronald Reagan

And Obama is telling Iran and the rest of our enemies that the price of aggression is very, very low.

First, the attention grabbing, please-every-liberal-out-there opening paragraphs:

U.S. states whose residents have more conservative religious beliefs on average tend to have higher rates of teenagers giving birth, a new study suggests.

The relationship could be due to the fact that communities with such religious beliefs (a literal interpretation of the Bible, for instance) may frown upon contraception, researchers say. If that same culture isn’t successfully discouraging teen sex, the pregnancy and birth rates rise.

But then, on starting on paragraph 16:

Other factors that may have been important to consider include ethnic backgrounds of state residents, according to Adamczyk, the City University of New York sociologist.

“We know that African American women on average tend to underreport their abortions, which means they could also underreport the likelihood that they got pregnant,” Adamczyk said. “If you’re dealing with states with a high number of African American women, you might run into that problem.”

Adamczyk’s own, separate research has shown a nearly opposite correlation, at the individual level. “What we find is that more religious women are less likely to engage in riskier sex behaviors, and as a result they are less likely to have a premarital pregnancy,” Adamczyk said during a telephone interview. But for those religious teens who do choose to have premarital sex, they might be more likely to ditch their religious views and have an abortion, she has found.

Since we have a noted and respected sociologist who came to the conclusion that Christianity leads to sexual morality, why not write that as the story? Because its not what liberals want to hear – its really nothing more than that. But the real kicker, here, is that if you take a look at the graph which allegedly shows the correlation between a State’s religiosity and teen pregnancy, you’ll find that only five of the top ten teen pregnancy States are also top ten religious States. How can you get correlation from something like that? While Mississippi is rated number one in both categories, number two in teen birth rates is New Mexico, rated 22nd in religiosity.

The study is bull – but its put out there and you can bet that for years now we’ll have liberals linking to it claiming that it proves Christianity to be a crock. This is how liberals are sustained – fools fed lies.

First, some quotes from the old gal:

“Bush is an incompetent leader. In fact, he’s not a leader. He’s a person who has no judgment, no experience and no knowledge of the subjects that he has to decide upon.”

“He has on his shoulders the deaths of many more troops…”

“They’ll take food out of the mouths of children in order to give tax cuts to the wealthiest.”

And now:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “I have concerns about some of the language that is being used because I saw … I saw this myself in the late ’70s in San Francisco,” Pelosi said, choking up and with tears forming in her eyes. “This kind of rhetoric is just, is really frightening and it created a climate in which we, violence took place and … I wish that we would all, again, curb our enthusiasm in some of the statements that are made.”

Nancy – go jump in a lake.

Very interesting:

The House ethics committee revealed Wednesday it is investigating allegations involving three lawmakers in unrelated incidents.

The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, commonly known as the ethics panel, issued separate statements Wednesday identifying inquiries into Reps. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Sam Graves (R-Mo.).

A statement issued by the ethics committee said each of the investigations is ongoing, but the panel will defer its efforts in Jackson’s case in light of an ongoing Justice Department inquiry.

Each of the investigations was referred to the ethics committee by the Office of Congressional Ethics, although the ethics panel noted in its statement that it had previously begun its own investigation into Jackson.

Although the committee did not detail what allegations it is investigating with regard to Graves, the Missouri lawmaker issued a statement Wednesday referring to allegations about testimony before the Small Business Committee.

In March, Roll Call reported that the Congressman invited his friend and neighbor Brooks Hurst to testify before a Congressional hearing on renewable fuels, without mentioning that his wife and Hurst are investors together in renewable fuels plants in Missouri.

So, the Graves issue is probably small beans and placed in the mix to give a bi-partisan flavor…but I’m really wondering what must Waters and Jackson have done to merit this sort of scrutiny. Jackson, of course, is the son of the ill-famed “civil rights” leader, while Waters is a long-time hero of the kookiest of the kook left. In writing Caucus of Corruption, Matt and I found out that Waters is a grafter – putting her family on the payroll and making everyone pay for access, so I wonder if this has something to do with it – did she, at last, go too far? As for the younger Jackson – is it “like father, like son”?

If you wish to understand:

Without the way, there is no going; without the truth, there is no knowing; without the life, there is no living. – Thomas a’ Kempis

Democrats, make my day:

A group of House Democrats introduced legislation Tuesday that would overturn a federal marriage law that denies recognition of gay marriage and gives states the right to refuse recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.

Same-sex marriages are now legal in six states.

The Respect for Marriage Act, unveiled by Reps. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Jared Polis, D-Colo, has the support of more than 90 lawmakers.

The legislation would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a 1996 law signed by President Bill Clinton.

This is the “first step to overturning DOMA,” Nadler said, who called the law “irrational and hateful.”

“Democracy doesn’t always get it right,” said Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., who also supports the Respect for Marriage Act. “This should have been corrected a long time ago.”

I love the Orwellian name – “Respect for Marriage”…naturally chosen because liberals would prefer if the average Joe out there doesn’t realize that what is happening is changing the law so that, say, Nevada can be forced to recognize gay “marriages” from Massachusetts. Even on the issues they care most about, liberals feel it necessary to lie.

The plain fact of the matter is that the American people have spoken: gay marriage is not wanted. Only by thwarting the will of the people is gay marriage legal, anywhere…and now Democrats want to allow a judicial back-door for imposing gay marriages in States which have explicitly rejected it. Democrats push this, and we’ll make all sorts of hay over this attempted usurpation of the rights of the States, and of the people.

This will be a grand debate:

The first ever Festival of Dangerous Ideas will pit Sydney’s archbishop, Cardinal George Pell, against one of the most prominent exponents of modern atheism, British journalist Christopher Hitchens.

A press release from the Sydney Archdiocese announced today that this festival will take place Oct. 3-4 in the Sydney Opera House.

In his address, titled “Without God We Are Nothing,” Cardinal Pell plans to speak about secularism as a “minority sport and a temporary phenomenon” that only survives “by attacking Christianity or living off Christianity’s moral capital.”

Our liberal friends like to think of themselves as the holders of dangerous ideas – but this is because they are mostly very ignorant and don’t realize that their oh, so “advanced” ideas are actually just endlessly warmed-over heresies long put to rest by Christians enlightened by Truth. And so, putting one of the smartest atheists up against Cardinal Pell will make for a fascinating debate – atheism will be as well represented as it can be…and my belief is that once done, it will be shown up as the sad, tattered thing it is…

Now you youngsters out there understand why we older folks hold Jimmy Carter in complete contempt.

Geesh:

The College Politico has received a cease-and-desist letter from lawyers for Politico, demanding that he stop using the word “Politico” in his name — and that he give them control of his domain.

Stephen Gutkowski, the operator of the domain, has broken several stories, including one that proved that Obama=Hitler signs were being wielded by Lyndon LaRouche supporters.

Spread the word far and wide: we will not stand for such thuggish tactics.

UPDATE: Until this threat is withdrawn, I plan to boycott Politico, and I encourage others to do the same.

Agreed – I’ve liked Politico since it came out and have found it an endlessly useful source for news and views…but until they knock this nonsense off, I won’t go near that site, and I urge everyone else to stay away, too.

Goodness – amazing what a bit of investigative journalism will do:

ACORN, calling the actions of some of its employees “indefensible,” has suspended advising new clients as part of its service programs and is setting up an independent review to see what happened.

ACORN chief executive Bertha Lewis said in a written statement that she was “ordering a halt to any new intakes into ACORN’s service programs until completion of an independent review.”

There is some thought that the New York Times and the Washington Post might look in to this “investigative journalism” thing…