North Western Winds

There are a lot of interesting points in this comparison of Christianity and Judaism by Peter Kreeft, including: ... Rarely did a few gentiles like Socrates and Akenaton ever reach to the heights and simplicity of monotheism. A world of many forces seemed to most pagans to point to many gods. A world of good and evil seemed to indicate good and evil gods. Polytheism seems eminently reasonable; in fact, I wonder why it is not much more popular today. There are only two possible explanations for the Jews' unique idea of a single, all-powerful and all-good God: Either they were the most brilliant philosophers in the world, or else they were “the Chosen People” — i.e., God told them. The latter explanation, which is their traditional claim, is just the opposite of arrogant. It is the humblest possible interpretation of the data. Kreeft continues: The so-called “creation myths” of other religions are really only formation myths, for their gods always fashion the world out...

Belmont Club observes about the new OBL tape that: It is important to notice what he has stopped saying in this speech. He has stopped talking about the restoration of the Global Caliphate. There is no more mention of the return of Andalusia. There is no more anticipation that Islam will sweep the world. He is no longer boasting that Americans run at the slightest wounds; that they are more cowardly than the Russians. He is not talking about future operations to swathe the world in fire but dwelling on past glories. He is basically saying if you leave us alone we will leave you alone . Though it is couched in his customary orbicular phraseology he is basically asking for time out. The American answer to Osama's proposal will be given on Election Day. Sure makes the "root causes" crowd look dumb. Unless you think W. called OBL and asked for some help, in which case it is you who needs help.

George Weigel writes: The National Catholic Reporter editorially accused Archbishop John Myers, Professor Robert George, Father Richard John Neuhaus, and me of “a deliberate...attempt to delegitimize the Democratic Party in the eyes of American Catholic voters.” This was, the editorial continued, an unprecedented attempt by a “small band of ideological partisans...to make their narrow reading of a political race the undisputed view of the Church.” Oh. Really? The truth of the matter, as Senator Kerry’s ill-informed approach to the stem cell and abortion issues reveals, is that the Democratic Party has delegitimized itself in the minds of millions of Catholic voters (including many former Democrats) who require no instruction on these matters from the archbishop of Newark, the holder of Woodrow Wilson’s chair at Princeton, America’s most influential Catholic public intellectual, or me. This severe division of the electorate is probably not a good thing in the long haul. The o...

Very Funny. See it to the end .

NRO's Myrna Blyth on Teresa K : In her "enough about him, let's talk about me " convention speech Teresa declared, "My only hope is that one day soon, women — who have all earned the right to their opinions — instead of being labeled opinionated, will be called smart and well informed, just like men." With that much-quoted remark she was playing, of course, to those few perpetually disgruntled 60s-era feminists still among us — many of whom, by the way, are part of the media. The only problem is that, throughout the campaign, Teresa has not been "smart and well informed" — she has been a dopey near-disaster. From telling a reporter asking a tough question to "shove it," to winning the New York Times 's Marie Antoinette Award (for suggesting that Caribbean children who were victims of a hurricane "go naked"), to last week's diss of Mrs. Bush, it has been gaffe after gaffe after gaffe. I much appreciated Blyth's ...

Political Zealotry No sooner do I post about British Columbia's Citizens Assembly on Electoral Reform than Andrew Coyne from the National Post runs a long column on the topic. Unlike me, he rasphodizes about it (no surprise). The process is, he says: One of those rare, inspiring moments when democracy bursts out of the pens the political class have built around it [and] the people's voice is actually heard. I don't mind Coyne -often he's interesting and thoughtful - but there are times when his pointy head screams for some rounding. This is such an occasion. The Warmup Let's start by exploding the concept of 'the people.' It does not exist. It is a fiction, created by the political class, i.e. by people like Coyne himself. It gives them something easy to write about. Arguing that countries with Proportional Representation have a better political track record than those using Westminster style government is hard . And that is why no one does it. ...

From The Curt Jester , two good posts. Road Sign Catechism is good for a giggle. And a Jester reader points to a critical approach to the condoms in schools issue that hadn't occurred to me before: More people need to point out the foolishness of the condom programs by capitalizing on the contrast with anti-smoking programs. How about we start our own anti-smoking campaign? -Pass out filtered, low nicotine cigarettes to kids: They're Gonna Try It Anyway, So Give Them Some Protection! Also worth a look is the Catholic Carnival , held at a good blog, Living Catholicism . Living Catholicism also has information about the traditions Halloween springs from and how we might keep them alive. The Carnival, btw, is a bit like the Red Ensign Roundup - posts collected from all over.

Mark Shea is, in my teeny weeny mind, the best Catholic apologist in the blogosphere . Family, family, family. Not the individual. Not the state. Not the corporation. Family. That's the key. And that, of course, is because the Trinity is at the core of the Church's teaching. Scott Hahn once remarked to me that "Calvinism is monotheism come of age. But Catholic faith is *Trinitarianism* come of age." That more or less summarizes the difference between the American vision of society, which is rooted in a sort of quasi-Calvinist vision of the Individual made in the image of One Ruggedly Individual God of Hosts, and the Catholic vision, which sees the Person (who is always in relationship ) made (along with the Family) in the image of the Trinity of Love. On both left and right, the vision of the Individual, fighting to be free of the intrusions of Church, State, and Society, dominates the American psyche. But Catholic teaching sees us not as Darwinian Individuals ...

From Peggy at Speak Up For Truth , a link to a site that I thought I ought to share: Strengthen The Good . This is done by Alan Nelson at The Command Post . Peggy also has good things to say about NWW, for which I'm grateful.

I went to vote and all I got was this lousy compromise Here in British Columbia, Canada, our next provincial election will include a referendum on the electoral process itself. A 'Citizens Coalition' selected by the Provincial Government has recently finished its deliberations and has begun to reveal its suggestions for reform. The most important suggestion is that we move to a ballot that allows voters to select more than one candidate, and to rank them in order of preference. They are also suggesting that areas with large populations might have more than one representative in the legislature. Media experts (if that isn't an oxymoron) seem to think this is a great idea. Not me. I addressed this topic during the last Federal election, when noises were being made to the effect that maybe Canada as a whole had something to learn from B.C. Executive summary : Hell no. What are commonly considered to be flaws in the existing system are in fact features. Virtuous fe...

Aus Deutschland, it's relative From left to right: Cousin Sandra, my Mom, Aunt Erma, and Cousin Carston I spent two days last week playing tour guide for my mother, who had relatives from Germany staying with her for two days. My aunt Erma, and my cousins Sandra and Carston had only a week to spend in North America and it had to be split between San Francisco, where Sandra is studying, and greater Vancouver, where my parents live. Since we had only two days to show them around, they were pretty long days! On day one we showed them Stanley Park, since there is a rule that all tourists in Vancouver must see Stanley Park. We saw the Totem Poles, some of the Seawall, and Prospect Point. Did I mention that at Prospect Point we saw a raccoon? Raccoons are not native to Europe, so this was a big hit. Too bad he spent a lot of the time cleaning himself and taking care of... um... business. Then we had lunch at Steamworks in Gastown, and saw a bit of Gastown itself. Then we quick...

Four years of this? "Another thing that drives me crazy, and I hope I don't offend anyone here, is WAL-MART," Mrs. Kerry told a group of Democratic women activists at a luncheon in St. Paul last Tuesday. "They destroy communities." Drudge says... Teresa Heinz Reality : H.J. Heinz III Marital Trust Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Assets: Over $1,000,000 Dividends, Income: $2,501 - $5,000 Transactions: 04/04/02: Purchase: $500,001 - $1,000,000 04/05/02: Purchase: $500,001 - $1,000,000 06/04/02: Purchase: $15,001 - $50,000 06/06/02: Purchase: $50,001 - $100,000 11/13/02: Purchase: $50,001 - $100,000 11/14/02: Purchase: $15,001 - $50,000 11/14/02: Purchase: $15,001 - $50,000 via Colby and beyond!

This would make a fine Christmas present . We saw Saved! last night and I must confess I didn't really understand why it got under some people's skins the way it did. The movie seemed to say that you can't use religion as a bully pulpit, or as a shield for your own agrandizement or power. It said that our relationship with God is not about mouthing the right words or doing the right things robotically. Today's reading backs that up: The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, 'O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity-- greedy, dishonest, adulterous--or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.' But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, 'O God, be merciful to me a sinner.' I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for whoever exalts himself will be humble...

$#@! the Dems .

I must famous. I'm being linked to and read by people with whom I would probably disagree. A lot. Well, I promise to play nice. I've also been blogrolled a bit recently, so many thanks to everyone who's expressed some confidence in this blog. I must also confess that I have not been able to keep up with the always expanding Red Ensign group. There are some new members whose sites I have not really had time to read. I'll try to get to them soon. In the meantime, thanks for your patience.

An excerpt from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings : [Frodo] said nothing, indeed he hardly spoke at all; he did not complain, but walked like one who carries a load, the weight of which is ever increasing; and he dragged along, slower and slower, so that Sam had often to beg Gollum to wait and not to leave their master behind. In fact with every step towards the gates of Mordor Frodo felt the Ring on its chain about his neck grow more burdensome. He was now beginning to feel it as an actual weight dragging him earthwards. But far more was he troubled by the Eye: so he called it to himself. It was that more than the drag of the Ring that made him cower and stoop as he walked. The Eye: that horrible growing sense of a hostile will that strove with great power to pierce all shadows of cloud, and earth, and flesh, and to see you: to pin you under its deadly gaze, naked, immovable. So thin, so frail and thin, the veils were become that still warded it off. Frodo knew just where...

I'm back and rested after a couple of very long and busy (but fun!) days. Things should be getting back to normal around here. Long boring posts on philosophical topics, tearing at our hapless Feds, as well as links to amusing things, will all resume shortly.

My blogroll has been expanding a lot recently and I have not said much about it but I want to point out three new additions because I think they are all fine blogs - Sirius Back of the North Wind (no relation) Was Ever Thus The Dawn Treader All of them are thoughtful and Christian and Was Not Ever Thus is Canadian and Catholic. Dawn Treader is CS Lewis inspired, and Back of the North Wind is big on George MacDonald, a less well known member of Lewis' Inklings. I am off to show some relatives from Germany around Vancouver again today. Actually, today we are off to Whistler and that's a ways off so I must be going.... !

The Preisthood The National Post's Elizabeth Nickson made up for her somewhat off last column this past Saturday. Her topic was a quietly resurgent Christianity; she claims that Christian books are enjoying a banner year in 2004, while sales of New Age books are flat. Sadly, some of these so called Christian books are merely New Age books is Christian drag: The Da Vinci Code , The Pagan Christ , etc. In discussing these trends, Nickson hits on something important: What bothered me, frankly, was the assumption that Christianity presents "insurmountable problems for reasonably educated people today." Well, I am a reasonably educated person and I have no difficulties. I do have friends who have difficulties, but they are heathens [hung up on] Jung and Campbell. I had a good chuckle over her description of her friends here, and I appreciated her point that there is nothing simplistic about Christianity if it is approached with maturity and honesty. One does not need to ...

Johny Dee has done a post about my lame attempts to understand the concept of a 'foundational thought.' I say lame because I fear I'm no closer to following him. I'm not sure my response here can still be called a discussion of Foundationalism. I appear to be taking things in another direction entirely. For this I have to apologize and to admit my credentials in philosophy are somewhat slim: two undergrad courses (an introduction to logic and arguments, and an introduction to the philosophy of science) and a small pile of books on the subject, most of them of the survey type. John, on the other hand, has a lot more specialized schooling behind him. Nevertheless- I mentioned in my first post on the subject, that a belief in God might be a candidate for a foundational thought. It seemed to me, and I was thinking of Descartes when I wrote it, that being is the basic ontological building block, but being hasn't necessarily got awareness or thought. If we are ...

detente or interlude? As it appears to wind down, I thoroughly agree with Jay Currie's summation of the weekend's kerfuffle with Warren Kinsella: Biggest lessons: stand your ground with bullies, the Canadian blogosphere will band together across party lines if one of its members is threatened with bogus legal action, bloggers are passionate about their right to express their opinions. The strength of blogs lies in the network rather than any individual blog. Poke a stick into the hive and you are going to get stung. Interesting times.

Equality trumps Diversity? Robert Bork on abortion : No amount of discussion, no citation of evidence, can alter the opinions of radical feminists about abortion. One evening I naively remarked in a talk that those who favor the right to abort would likely change their minds if they could be convinced that a human being was being killed. I was startled at the anger that statement provoked in several women present. One of them informed me in no uncertain terms that the issue had nothing to do with the humanity of the fetus but was entirely about the woman's freedom . It is here that radical egalitarianism reinforces radical individualism in supporting the abortion right. Justice Harry Blackmun, who wrote Roe and who never offered the slightest constitutional defense of it, simply remarked that the decision was a landmark on women's march to equality. Equality, in this view, means that if men do not bear children, women should not have to either. Abortion is seen as wome...

It's Sunday, a day when I try to minimize my blogging, but here is something to mull over. It is taken from D. McManaman and the subject is Christian relations with other faiths and those unchurched. If Christ is the source of grace, can a non-Christian be in a state of grace? Strictly speaking, it is not possible to know with certainty if anyone in particular is in a state of grace, including we ourselves. When asked if she knew she was in God’s grace, St. Joan of Arc replied: “If I am not, may it please God to put me in it; if I am, may it please God to keep me there” (Acts of the trial of St. Joan of Arc). ... Being in the state of grace is not about having correct theology or knowing specific truths . A Muslim may respond to the movements of interior grace to a much greater degree than the lukewarm Catholic, who is so indifferent to the demands of his religion that he does not even bother to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, let alone an entire month of the year...

From Eternity Road , a good post from a good blog: the theory of natural-rights liberty is largely correct. But it has a border around it, and a gray zone near that border where insistence on natural-rights absolutes puts one at odds with 99% of humanity. The border is the demarcation line at which individual options end and a requirement for collective action begins: When individuals don’t have a way to settle their differences as individuals, but must perforce act as collectivities; When individuals do not possess the competence to act as the guardians of their own rights and well-being; When individuals’ rights clash in an absolute and irreconcilable way. These are the kinds of issues, particularly in regards to family issues, that put me off libertarianism. I still think it is often desireable to see if an issue can be left to a person and God to work out. Often we have to fall a few times before we can accept God's grace. But it really is true that "n...

Like we needed this Quite unintentionally, I just bumped into this at Amazon.com . I wonder if I ought to take my shopping elsewhere. Things like this infantalize the culture. Oh, I know, I know, it might have been made as a gag gift- a parody of The Rules- and never intended to be acted out on. But still. If it were in my power, the people behind such hate would be fined quite heavily, and jailed for repeat offences. Advocating hate is not a freedom of speech issue. Chapter Titles and tips include: Gimmie my toy, you bitch! Roughing up the suspect Chicks are the enemy Banging a wife who's not yours Don't give her a cent Sexual deviance is entirely acceptable Not funny. Any woman with any sense will drop a man caught with material like this. If you think this is cool, you're pathetic.

Warren Kinsella's upset by Damian Brooks saying that he might in some small way have responsibility for the death of a Canadian submariner, since he (Kinsella) was a part of a government that has cheaped out on things military for a very long time - since 1993, I believe. The obvious comparison is to comments that the leader of the NDP made during the last election, where Mr. Layton accused the Liberal government of responsibility for the death of a homeless person. That accusation was, rightly I think, laughed off by Paul Martin, and most Canadians that I know thought that Layton was a bit off in suggesting it. Is this a comparable case? Submariners, and all Canadian military personnel are making a very large sacrifice, by the nature of their profession. It is done voluntarily, but in a moral sense I think we are bound to recognize the scope of what they are doing. The sacrifice they make is among the highest we can make for our countrymen, and since it is so high, we ought to...

Quote: "High fertility rates," [says Phillip] Longman, "correlate strongly with support for George W. Bush." Looking back to 2000, " if the Gore states seceded from the Bush states and formed a new nation, it would have the same fertility rate, and the same rapidly aging population, as France." Very interesting and short little article at the National Review today. Peter Augustine Lawler continues: "Fertility rates," Longman goes on, "correlate strongly with religious conviction. In the United States, fully 47 percent of people who attend church weekly say that their ideal family size is three or more children. By contrast, only 27 percent of those who seldom attend church want that many kids." Here's a bit more: Our religious conservatives are the reason we are not fading away like France. That fact is as important as any other for our national security. Surely there is some deep connection between our nation...

Tonight is pizza night in out house, and in order avoid getting cheese and pepperoni all over my keyboard, there will be no blogging tonight. But before I go- The whole Kinsella thing is just too weird . I will say that if need be, I think we bloggers ought to consider helping in whatever way we can. These guys need to be taken down a notch or three. I can think of good things that might come of it, if it is played well. I can think of people who might like to help. We shall see. My computer does not appear to have a virus after all. It's just Microsoft being, well, Microsoft . First one of the Windows updates disables Window's search function. I fixed that with a reigstry hack . But I still can't edit, move, or delete icons or image files using Windows itself. Something is weirded out in the explorer shell . None of the patches or anything else I've done has fixed it. I'm open to suggestions.

Truly Hilarious And a Must See: Fellowship 9/11 Michael Moore takes on Gandalf and Aaragorn. via Catholic and Enjoying it!

Jacques Derrida's death has unleashed a lot of commentary on the web and it is giving me the same headaches it did when I was an undergraduate at Simon Fraser University in the early 1990s. I offer the following links... From Englishman Roger Scruton , an article published by City Journal in 1999: If you study the opinions that prevail in modern academies, you will discover that they are of two kinds: those that emerge from the constant questioning of traditional values, and those that emerge from the attempt to prevent any questioning of the liberal alternatives. All of the following beliefs are effectively forbidden on the normal American campus: (1) The belief in the superiority of Western culture; (2) The belief that there might be morally relevant distinctions between sexes, cultures, and religions; (3) The belief in good taste, whether in literature, music, art, friendship, or behavior; and (4) The belief in traditional sexual mores. You can entertain those beliefs, but...

A voice for Canadian Conservatives In my humble opinion The National Post is not as good a paper as it used to be when Conrad Black still had a hand in it, but it is still pretty much the best thing going north of the 49th. Today they published the first of a series on Australia, with an eye to how different a course that country has taken in recent years compared to Canada. For the record: I love Aussies. And Kiwis too. I wish Canada were more like that. But we have problems, boy do we, on both the anglo and the french wings of the plane. Quebec suffers from the same problems as France, and that is that its culture has been given over to Rationalism since at least the 1960s, even earlier in France proper. Canadian anglos (too many of them in this writer's opinion) take their bearings from British Labour and Europe. Not Tony Blair, but the old British Labour. Those two cultures, and the way the population is distributed account for the seemingly endless Liberal government ...

Bill Vallicella (aka The Maverick Philosopher ) asked me the other day, "Is it true that the Fox News Network is not available in Canada? Why are Canadians so big on socialized medicine? What's your take on it?" Since you asked, Fox News is coming to Canada, finally, and it has the chattering classes at McLeans (Canada's version of Time), all aflutter. Our broadcasting regulations are handled by a Federal body called the Canadian Radio and Television Commission (CRTC) and that body has finally given the OK. Earlier, the CRTC had ruled that Canada already had enough American news networks and did not need more. We do have CNN and MSNBC among others. The problem is that the CRTC's regulation stems from the days when nobody had cable and it was seen as prudent to allocate the radio spectrum in such a way that there was diversity on the dial; diversity that it was said capitalism could never provide. I'm not sure about dates, but I think this would have bee...

Epistemology John at Fides Quaerens Intellectum has an interesting series of posts in which he discusses how our beliefs might be justified. I am enjoying the posts quite a bit. I have not commented to this point because it is a subject that I have not encountered before (my degree was in English Literature and Mass Communications, not philosophy) and I'm loath to put a foot in my mouth so publicly. But maybe I can dip a toe in. I like the stance that John is backing, called Foundationalism . The main alternative, as far as my own quick searches have been able to find, is called Coherentism . Despite never hearing of either term until I saw them on John's blog, I have thought about them under other names. For instance, I dislike Rationalism (of which Coherentism would be a sub heading) because it seems to me to be inherently troubled. My objection is a common one: there is no obvious way in which a coherent system relates to anything that might exist outside of it. So,...

Truth Claims The Maverick Philosopher is a very wise man : The point is that for a typical religious claim R and a typical political claim P, there is what I will call evidential parity : R and P are on a par with respect to the question of whether or not there is sufficient evidence for their truth. Therefore, either there is insufficient evidence for both R and P, or there is sufficient evidence for both R and P. What cannot be allowed as true is what van Inwagen calls the Difference Thesis, namely, that religious claims are different from non-religious claims in respect of their belief-worthiness. Accepting the Difference Thesis is just to employ a double standard. One sets religious beliefs a test they cannot possibly pass, all the while exempting our other beliefs from this exacting standard. Also from the Maverick- a Stanford grad proves that HATE is alive and well on the campus and it gets a big soft pass from the media. Apparently in the snot world of big US Universities...

no "small c" I see that Ben and Flea and a few others are taking a swing at a group Blog called Urban Conservative . I think this is a great idea and I wish them every success. The new blog is not what I want to write about here, however. Reading it over only reminded me of some thinking I've been doing about North Western Winds. When you start a blog, you have some ideas of what it might be and who might be interested in reading it. You expect it might not turn out just like you thought and you might find yourself changing things just a bit as readership information comes in. There have been surprises indeed. I'm surprised that I seem to enjoy doing longer posts, even if I can't do them every day. I'm surprised - and pleased - that people seem to enjoy those longer, more philosophical posts. I still plan to do the short ones, just maybe not three or more in a day. I'm surprised that I've hooked up with a likeable group of conservative Canadi...

I think my computer has a virus- it is acting very oddly. It's not affecting Firefox so I can blog, but until I get this straightened out my time might be a bit short. Not to mention my mood. On a better note, happy Thanksgiving to all the Canucks out there, especially the Red Ensign Brigade!

David Warren writes: If... a President Kerry were to take the Americans out of Iraq, mission unaccomplished as in Vietnam, we would see a storm-tide of Islamist triumphalism, and the belief would quickly spread through the Muslim world that an aggressive, Jihadist, politico-religious Islamism is the wave of the future. The same, of course, would happen if a President Bush did that. But everything we know about the man suggests he wouldn't. The upcoming US election is important, even more so than usual. If there are better candidates than GW Bush - and there could be- they are not on the ballot. I hope the Americans will vote accodingly. If the vote took place in Canada, there would be very little to be hopeful about. Sad but true.

Jacques Derrida dies from cancer Via Maverick Philosopher , I learned that Jacques Derrida passed away today . Gosh, I really really dislike his theories and as hard as it is to believe, his writing is even worse. Some of the most awful, crabbed things I ever read came from the mind of dear Jacques . His thinking is incoherent nonsense and yet he managed to puff out his chest in a way that makes pin-head art farts swoon. I still shake my head at all the English profs I had who, when confronted by many, many students about what a waste of time Derrida was, just repeated as nauseeum, "Yes, well, we must address him and not just dismiss him and no one has done that..." It leaves a rank taste in my mouth still; it is one of the reasons I never pursued a Masters Degree. I became convinced that it would be a waste of time, money and effort. Nothing has happened in the last ten years to change my mind. Deconstruction - Pffffttt!!!

Taylor and Co., the best looking blog in the Red Ensign Brigade, have the latest round up of what's been happening under the Red Ensign. Check it out. They even called me a "though provoking spanker." Hey! You in the back - that's not funny.

I think it was one of Chesterton's books - don't ask me which, he wrote lots - in which he employs this pithy conversation to make his point. One old gent says to another, "I've been having second thoughts about religion." To which the second man replies, "So you have a mistress. Why didn't you say so?" Chesterton's point, of course, is that even the deepest seeming and most complex rationalizations often have their roots in the mundane. Another of Chesterton's images involves an explanation for why the Catholic Church is so strict about some things - life issues, mostly. He asks us to imagine a playground high on a precipice, with walls around it to keep the children from falling over the cliffs on all four sides. Inside the walls there is as much freedom and fun as could be desired. The Church's strictest teachings, he suggests, are like the walls of that playground. If you take them down, you have not increased the fun or the fre...