November 2006

Christmas Gift Ideas: Books!

by La Shawn on 11.30.06

in Pop Culture

Who Killed Albus Dumbledore?The Harry Potter fan in your life probably will love Who Killed Albus Dumbledore?: What Really Happened in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?, written by hard-core Harry Potter fans.

John Granger, author of Looking for God in Harry Potter, is a contributor. I mentioned him in a two-part Christian perspective review of the books.

What Will Harry Do?You also may want to buy Christian writer and blogger Janet Batchler’s cool new book, What Will Harry Do? The Unofficial Guide to Payoffs and Possibilities in Book 7. I followed the series on her blog and look forward to reading the expanded version. Janet blogs at Quoth the Maven.

SPOILER ALERT! To discuss Harry Potter and/or the books, surf over to the Fantasy Fiction for Christians blog post (from which this one was adapted).

If you’d like to buy this blogger a Christmas gift, cool. With absolutely no shame whatsoever, I’ll point you to my Amazon wish list.

It’s Open Thread Thursday!

Want to promote your blog or a post? Drop a link. Want to talk about the weather or a hobby? Knock yourselves out. Whatever you want to discuss, discuss.

Suggested topics:

Word FM

by La Shawn on 11.29.06

in Faith

I’m scheduled to be interviewed at 5:05 p.m. EST today on Word FM.

Today’s Christian Woman posted my 2003 testimony article on the home page, and a show host read it. I’ll talk about that and, most likely, some hot news item.

Update: Unrelated to this post is a must-read article by Victor Davis Hanson, “Losing the Enlightenment.” (via Memeorandum) It begins:

Our current crisis is not yet a catastrophe, but a real loss of confidence of the spirit. The hard-won effort of the Western Enlightenment of some 2,500 years that, along with Judeo-Christian benevolence, is the foundation of our material progress, common decency, and scientific excellence, is at risk in this new millennium.

But our newest foes of Reason are not the enraged Athenian democrats who tried and executed Socrates. And they are not the Christian zealots of the medieval church who persecuted philosophers of heliocentricity. Nor are they Nazis who burned books and turned Western science against its own to murder millions en masse.

No, the culprits are now more often us. In the most affluent, and leisured age in the history of Western civilization–never more powerful in its military reach, never more prosperous in our material bounty–we have become complacent, and then scared of the most recent face of barbarism from the primordial extremists of the Middle East.

Take the time to read the entire article. I feel an essay-post of my own coming on. :?

Also see “Sharia law is spreading as authority wanes.”

Think it can’t happen here? I hope most Americans are willing to defend against this with force, if necessary. I know I am…

asian studentsUpdate II (11/29): Hard truth #101 (free reg. req.): “To ensure diversity among new associates, the study found, elite law firms hire minority lawyers with, on average, much lower grades than white ones. That may, the study says, set them up to fail.”

Regardless of what anyone reading this blog thinks about me or why I write about preferences, “diversity” is code for “lowering the bar to admit and hire black people.”

There just aren’t enough blacks competitive with whites to go around, so in order to meet some elusive skin color goal, businesses and government must lower hiring and admissions standards for blacks. (Lowering standards for all would be impractical, not to mention detrimental.) This is fact, not opinion. Black affirmative action proponents know this, and they also know that race-neutral policies will not work to their benefit, at least not in the short run. It has nothing to do with white people “oppressing” or “discriminating” against them.

What’s the solution? It may sound simplistic, but I believe reversing the trend of fatherlessness in the black community, focusing on education (and enduring the attendant sacrifices to make it a top priority in practice, not just in theory), and quashing all tendencies to blame white people for anything would be ideal places to begin.

Later…Commenter and blogger Thomas Nguyen writes in the comment section:

It’s clear just from the tenor of this debate that multiculturalism is as divisive as ever. The assimilation model that America had before all these “isms” worked wonderfully for all Americans.

America is an idea sown together by a common language and a common reverence for two revolutionary documents – The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. All who immigrate and live in America are free to have these ideas imbued in their hearts and minds.

Multiculturalism and their concomitant ideologies say that differences are more important than what we all hold in common. It is the poison of this age that insists on being different, when to be fully human is to acknowledge and take delight in finding commonality, that is, having affinity and empathy for you fellow man.

[click to continue…]

Racial Double Standards, Part 201

November 27, 2006

Not that I really care what former football player Michael Irvin said, but apparently he’s going to get away with what would get a white man fired and/or ostracized. Last week Irvin said that Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, who is white, must have some “black” in him because he’s a good athlete. I won’t [...]

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Do ‘Whites Only’ Scholarships Prove the Point?

November 27, 2006

Race, race, race, race, race, race! There’s no escape!!! A few days ago, someone sent me a tip about a scholarship contest at the University of Rhode Island (URI) for “White, Heterosexual, American Males,” held last Friday on campus. Ryan Bilodeau, Chairman of the URI College Republicans told me he wanted to raise awareness of [...]

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We Gather Together…

November 22, 2006

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts [...]

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Duke Rape Case: Bloggers Black and White

November 21, 2006

*** Updates already! Keep scrolling, scrolling, scrolling… *** Perhaps next week I’ll write a long and in-depth post about my opinion of the latest news in the Duke case. But the other “Duke bloggers” have done such an outstanding job blogging about the case, my commentary seems superfluous. But I’ll say this. I do have [...]

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La Shawn Barber, Light Blogger

November 21, 2006

Although I’m not the kind of blogger who’d apologize for light posting, I feel I ought to warn people who come here every day and expect lots of fresh content. My blog has grown so much in the past three years because of the time and energy I’ve put into it. That hasn’t left me [...]

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Welcome Back, Trent Lott!

November 20, 2006

Tuesday, November 21: I need to share a secret. I get a kind of perverse pleasure from receiving e-mails in which people tell me how or what I ought to think, write, or blog because of the color of my skin. The pleasure comes from knowing I’ll continue thinking, writing, and blogging as I damn [...]

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Update on the Porous Border Situation

November 20, 2006

As long as idiot business owners and the elite continue hiring illegal aliens, the demand for illegal aliens and their urgency to cross the border by any means necessary aren’t going away. But enforcing the law certainly would make a dent in the supply. But for reasons unknown to this American, the federal government will [...]

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Pardon the Interruption…

November 15, 2006

…but I’m taking a brief blogging break. The best part of life has been passing me by (whoosh!) and I need to start enjoying it, if only for a few days. I’ll return shortly.

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O.J. Simpson: Hellbound

November 15, 2006

Tuesday, November 21: Excellent news. Now if only there were a legal way to retry and convict him… Monday, November 20: Well, what do you now? There’s still decency in the world… ——————————————————————— Shameless double-murderer O.J. Simpson will be interviewed on the Fox network on November 27 and 29 to publicize his new book, If [...]

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I’m Blogging!

November 15, 2006

Click the image to watch the video or follow this link. It’s so funny. The guy is trying to do some serious blogging, and people keep interrupting him. Does that ever happen to you? It happens to me all the time! I’m trying to blog, and my telephone is ringing and people are e-mailing, asking [...]

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John Murtha and Alcee Hastings: A Tale of Two Crooks

November 15, 2006

Soon-to-be Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is wielding her unwieldy power. She wants Congressman John Murtha to be House Majority Leader and Congressman Alcee Hastings to chair the House Intelligence Committee. Remember when I told you I was going to enjoy watching and blogging Democrats’ missteps? Well, the circus has begun. (More peanuts, please!) [...]

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