A bit of caution:

“But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. In (those) days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark. They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. So will it be (also) at the coming of the Son of Man…” – Matthew 24:36-39

Anyone ever trying to sell an end of the world story is lying. Period. No one can ever know this bit of information.

Naturally, because a few misguided people are claiming that today is the day, lots of people are trying to make it out as a Christian thing. As if Christians, in general, believe this to be the case. The work of a few fools is being used to ridicule the faith.

Of course, one thing which can happen literally at any moment is your own death. You do not know if you’ll be alive even to read the end of this post…so, be prepared. Do not wait until tomorrow to make your peace with God. The only time you have is right now, this very moment. Make the most of it.

UPDATE: The Anchoress has a Rapture Roundup

It has been announced that China will provide Pakistan, free of charge, 50 fighter jets. These are the JF-17 fighters built in cooperation between China and Pakistan, with Pakistan already set to obtain about 150-250 of the machines (these jets are built so that nations with worthless military forces can pretend they are powerful…for the most part, they get run down for lack of proper maintenance and then, if they offend us, shot down in droves by superior American pilots and aircraft…and the F-35 is so vastly superior to this JF-17 that they should be built with a self-destruct device so those who buy then can destroy them on the ground and save us the trouble). And so, the whole point of China saying they’ll pony up for 50 (whether additional to the original order or just as a discount) is to tweak America. China wants to do this because China is an enemy States which seeks to displace us in Asia. Pakistan wants to do it because parts of Pakistan are upset that we killed bin Laden. So, what do we do?

Tell the Pakistanis that if this happens, we’ll cut them off without a cent. It is, perhaps, time to advise the Pakistanis that while they are sandwiched between Afghanistan and India and are barely able to control their own territory, offending us is a bad idea. This can be done quietly – there is no need to rub Pakistan’s face in it – but it needs to be done. Third rate powers which seek to play us off against another power need to know that we don’t go along with that. We don’t need Pakistan, but they do need us – if for no other reason than to keep India from squashing them like a bug. It is best to advise the Pakistanis of this state of affairs as soon as possible.

From NRO’s The Corner:

An instant classic and hard-to-beat quote of the day:

In matters of sex, as of war, Europeans are from Venus. They mock Americans’ puritanism about the sex lives of public figures. For a politician to cheat on his wife in America is a sign of dishonesty. Witness the opprobrium heaped on Arnold Schwarzenegger over the new revelation that he had fathered a child out of wedlock. In much of Europe, affairs can be a badge of virility. That is the insinuation of an interview given by none other than Mr Strauss-Kahn’s wife, Anne Sinclair. Asked in 2006 whether she minded her husband’s reputation, she replied: “No, I’m rather proud of it! It’s important for a politician to seduce. As long as he seduces me and I seduce him, that’s enough for me.”

I hate to break it to the gentle lady, but unless her marriage vows included her husband saying, “I won’t forsake all others and will diddle with every tart I can find”, then he has broken his word each and every time he had an affair. In some circles, this is known as lying – as being dishonest. Traditionally, people who are routinely dishonest are not the best people to have in charge of important issues – such as where the International Monetary Fund sends money. The reason for this is that is that it is highly likely that a person who is commonly found to be a liar about one thing will almost certainly prove to be a liar about other things.

In addition to this, while Mrs Strauss-Kahn might have that degenerate, European upper class attitude about sexual affairs (and this has been prevalent in Europe for a long time – Google “Restoration rake” and see how far back it goes), there is the possibility that some of Mr Strauss-Kahn’s conquests had different ideas. Like, perhaps, that a sexual affair is a matter of importance and involves more than a rich, middle aged sex maniac getting his rocks off. When such a man set out to gratify his lusts, he almost certainly leaves a trail of women who have been hurt – even if the rape allegation proves false, that would not be an indication that all of Mr Strauss-Kahn’s affairs were harmless.

Such is the Ruling Class, my friends; much worse in Europe than in the United States, but our side seems to be determined to catch up – or, more accurately, “catch down”. It is a race to the gutter after all – even if it perfumed with money and fashionable clothes.

But out of this sewer, our Ruling Class proposes that we continue to allow them to tell us how to live. They really think they are above all that; superior alike to us and to basic decency. They know better than us, you see? All that tiresome bit about being honorable – in marriage, in government, in business – that is just for the little people, not for them.

And in case any out there still wondered why I’m a revolutionary…

According to the Daily Ticker:

The world is headed for an economic slowdown, according to the Economic Cycle Research Institute’s (ECRI) Long Leading Index of global industrial growth.

“It is not country specific, but imagine if you could add up all the activity in factories around the world and see if it was accelerating or decelerating, that is what this indicator is focused on,” says Lakshman Achuthan founder and managing director of the research center. “And it has been telling us very clearly, unambiguously, that we have a peak in global industrial growth this summer.”…

The good news is that they don’t predict a full-blown recession – the bad news is that I think that a lot of the data they are using to say it won’t be that bad is not exactly true…such as the alleged job creation numbers we’ve been seeing. But, the bottom line is that the economy is about to slide down – how far remains to be seen.

Fundamentally, a sound economy is based upon low debt, sound money, high productivity and careful savings. We have high debt, a weak currency and little to no savings – our productivity is good, but we’re also not producing nearly as much in the United States as we can or should. Our economy is unbalanced and incapable under current tax and regulatory policy of the sustained wealth creation necessary to re-employ all those who lost their jobs, let alone provide the rise in living standards Americans are accustomed to.

While Obama is President, we will simply not get the policies necessary for a genuine economic recovery. Even if collapse doesn’t happen, the economy will not recover until the brakes to recovery set up by Big Government and Big Corporation are removed. The doldrums is the best we can expect…but I fully expect things to get a lot worse.

HAT TIP: Mish’s

From the AP:

Showing no (willingness to commit national suicide), Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sat alongside President Barack Obama on Friday and declared that Israel would not withdraw to 1967 borders to help (ensure further attacks upon Israel). Obama had called on Israel to be (willing to surrender) just a day earlier.

The Israeli leader said he would make some concessions but Israel (simply isn’t that stupid)…(MSM report edited to reflect reality)

More important than that, what Obama did in his speech was give away the store – now the starting point for the Islamists is an Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders, and they’ll be able to cite an American Presidential statement in support of their demand.

Obama’s speech goes beyond asinine. It is a complete refusal to see the plainest facts. Does anyone in Obamaland realize just how many Israelis would have to be “ethnically cleansed” in order to withdraw to the 1967 borders? Do they think that Jews would want to live under Hamas rule? Do they think that Hamas would permit Jews to live freely? When Obama talks about “land swaps”, does he mean that Israel would have to surrender part of its pre-1967 territory in order to “pay” the Islamists for cessions of formerly Arab territory? Obama’s statement is the result of someone who is sitting in an ivory tower – I refuse to believe that anyone in Defense or CIA had a hand in crafting it – no one in those two organizations can possibly be this stupid.

The best course of action is for the Israelis to pretend it was never said – nod your head, smile and then go back to the normal routine. If Obama brings it up again, just smile and nod one more time.

We simply have to get this clown out of office next year – the world is in danger as long as this utter fool is the head of our affairs.

If this is here, it means I’m still frightfully busy – so, enjoy this chance to vent in any way you want. There are still the standard discussions (how badly does Obama suck? can he suck even worse? If his suckiness increases, would even something like President Hillary seem better?), but you are also free to discuss the full range of current issues.

So, have at it.

From First Things – the conservative side of Generation X:

…X-Cons are often Goldwater-style conservatives, holding views that are more individualistic than aligned with historical conservatism. We also tend to have many cafeteria libertarians, those who pick and choose from the buffet of libertarian ideology. X-Cons may, for example, be in favor of the decriminalization of marijuana while opposing the legalization of prostitution. The libertarians in our cohort tend to be less pure than those that came before or after…

Do read the whole thing – I am not an X-Con; nor am I a Boomer. I was born in the last, technical year of the Baby Boom (1964), but am really of neither Boomer nor X generation. I’m kind of generation-less…though more in tune with X than with Boom.

Where do you stand?

By G. K. Chesterton:

It is something to have wept as we have wept,

It is something to have done as we have done,

It is something to have watched when all men slept,

And seen the stars which never see the sun.

It is something to have smelt the mystic rose,

Although it break and leave the thorny rods,

It is something to have hungered once as those

Must hunger who have ate the bread of gods.

To have seen you and your unforgotten face,

Brave as a blast of trumpets for the fray,

Pure as white lilies in a watery space,

It were something, though you went from me today.

To have known the things that from the weak are furled,

Perilous ancient passions, strange and high;

It is something to be wiser than the world,

It is something to be older than the sky.

In a time of sceptic moths and cynic rusts,

And fatted lives that of their sweetness tire,

In a world of flying loves and fading lusts,

It is something to be sure of a desire.

Lo, blessed are our ears for they have heard;

Yea, blessed are our eyes for they have seen:

Let thunder break on man and beast and bird

And the lightning. It is something to have been.

If J Street has its way, he will – from P J Tatler:

There is a great deal of speculation that in the wake of the bin Laden’s killing President Obama might try to curry Arab favor by striking out at Israel. There are some reports the President will do just that in a special Middle East address planned for delivery at the State Department on Thursday.

The reports are that the President will issue new demands upon the Jewish state to unilaterally withdraw to 1967 borders and make other concessions in the name of the peace process. This prospect was stoked by an article in the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, which was reported yesterday in the Tatler by colleague Bryan Preston.

Now it appears pacifists in Israel and the left leaning J Street organization are anticipating such a call and pushing for it with an ad campaign that will include a full page ad in the New York Times on the eve of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Washington visit scheduled for next week. Over the years there have been numerous reports the President’s advisers have regularly briefed J Street leaders in advance on the President’s Middle East policy…

Remember that “1967 borders” means that the Golan Heights go back to Syria, and the “old city” of Jerusalem goes to the Palestinian leadership…which recently made up with the terrorists of Hamas under the auspices of a soon-to-be-Moslem-Brotherhood Egypt. Israel, back against the wall, fought a series of wars against extremely long odds and won a bit of security for herself…and she is to surrender all of this in return for a vague promise that such a capitulation will bring peace. There is a word to describe this, and it begins with “bull”.

The only thing such a move would do is whet the appetite of the Islamists for even more. The reason for all the rocket attacks, suicide bombings, having kids throw rocks at soldiers – all of the effort has been directed at just this goal: getting Israel to surrender the gains of 1967 in preparation for further attacks on Israel, proper. The Islamists don’t want Jerusalem – they want Tel Aviv. Remember, to an Islamist, once a bit of territory becomes Islamic, it remains Islamic for all time to come. This is why they still claim Spain as part of Islam – and they were forced out of that country more than 500 years ago.

I hope this is just a rumor and that Obama won’t go down this path – but he’s horrendously inexperienced in these matters and simply does not understand the mendacity and savagery at the bottom of Islamism. These are not people you can get along with – these are people you can only fight until they are so badly beaten that they’ll take peace on any terms…then you can be generous with them, but not before. A mis-step here by Obama will set a bad course for the next 20 years…I pray he doesn’t take it.

Hey, everyone, I’m going to be light on the blogging from Thursday evening until at least Saturday morning. Matt and Leo will pick up a bit of the slack, but for there might not be as much new content over the next couple days as you’ve come to expect. Sorry about this, but just have a lot to do.

By Sunday, for sure, we’ll be back to our normal blogging. Thanks for your patience.