Drugs as a Health Issue, Not a Crime

Assume the Position

We reproduce below a piece on a serious problem--the over representation of blacks and hispanics in US jails.  This has led to an unfortunate consequence of police profiling of blacks and hispanics in poor neighbourhoods, which in turn has many deleterious additional unintended consequences.   A major contributor to this vortex of bad consequences is the policy of drug prohibition and criminalisation.

H. David Schuringa is  the president of Crossroad Bible Institute, an international discipleship and advocacy agency for prisoners and their families, with headquarters in the United States.  Crossroad Bible Institute is active in New Zealand prisons providing educational material, Bible studies, tutoring, and other support to prisoners. 

Dr Schuringa wrote the following piece in a US blog:

The Annals of Soft-Despotism

It's Unique, So It's Gotta Be Good

A government which sets forth to care for everybody becomes an inevitable soft-despotic monster.  But the monster is incompetent, bumbling, and stupid.  Irremediably so.  The only solution the monster can proffer to overcome its bumbling failures is to throw millions more of "good money" after bad.  It's only solution is to double down on folly. 

Now this is not to say that private (non-state) enterprise is always efficient.  Far from it.  But private enterprise has an enforcer, a ruthless, take-no-prisoners punisher of business incompetence and failures.  Mr Competition is relentless in punishing and driving the bumbling incompetent out of business.  But the soft-despot has no competitors.  It is a despot after all, protected by law. 

We offer yet another illustration of the follies and self-destructive pathogens of a bumbling  soft-despotic government: the Obamacare website.

Obamacare: 500M Lines of Code, $500M, 60% Complete, No Surprise

by John J. Xenakis  

30 Nov 2013, 9:59 PM

Breitbart

The historic IT disaster known as the Obamacare web site has been of intense interest to me, since I've been a Senior Software Engineer for decades, and I have personally participated in, witnessed, and reported on (as a technology reporter) a number of IT disasters. But even so, the size of the Obamacare web site catastrophe on October 1 still takes my breath away.

When I first heard, shortly after October 1, that there was 500 million lines of code in Healthcare.gov, I quickly rejected that figure, because it's impossible.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

December 03

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Reproduced from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way. —Psalm 119:128

Devotional:
Assuredly when we see that the ungodly mock God with such effrontery, at one time rising up audaciously against him, and at another perverting every part of the law, it becomes us to be more inflamed with zeal, and to be the more courageous in maintaining the truth of God. The extreme impiety of our age especially demands of all the faithful that they should exercise themselves in this holy zeal.

Profane men strive to outdo each other in scornfully aspersing the doctrine of salvation, and endeavor to bring God's sacred Word into contempt by their derisive jeers. Others pour forth their blasphemies without intermission. We cannot, therefore, avoid being chargeable with the crime of treacherous indifference, if our hearts are not warmed with zeal, and unless we burn with a holy jealousy.

The Prophet not merely says that he approved of God's law wholly and without exception, but he adds that he hated every way of lying, or every false way. And, undoubtedly, no one subscribes in good earnest to the law of God, but he who rejects all the slanders by which the wicked taint or obscure the purity of sound doctrine. —Commentaries

Copyright © 2013, The Orthodox Presbyterian Church. All Rights Reserved. 

Freedom For the Privileged

Virginian Heresies

Much negative commentary has been issued on the New England Puritan settlements in the seventeenth century.   Most of it is misleading.  Much less negative commentary has issued forth on the English settlements in Virginia.  This is surprising in some respects, but on the other hand, maybe not unexpected.  After all, if one had to compare the two settlements: New England and Virginia, why the latter would be superior in every respect. 

It is true that they were different.  The New England Puritan settlements (and the Quaker settlements in what later became Pennsylvania) were animated by principles of freedom from persecution and oppression.  Virginia's animus, however, was a replication of royal prerogative and aristocratic privilege.

Thanksgiving

G.K. Chesterton on Thanksgiving

Justin Taylor
November 28, 2013

“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”—G. K. Chesterton

“The aim of life is appreciation; there is no sense in not appreciating things; and there is no sense in having more of them if you have less appreciation of them.”—G. K. Chesterton

“When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.”—G. K. Chesterton

“You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.”—G. K. Chesterton

“When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?”—G. K. Chesterton

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

December 02

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Reproduced from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. —John 13:8

Devotional:
"Thou shalt never wash my feet." Hitherto Peter's modesty was excusable, though it was not free from blame; but now he errs more grievously, when he has been corrected, and yet does not yield.

And, indeed, it is a common fault that ignorance is closely followed by obstinacy. It is a plausible excuse, no doubt, that the refusal springs from reverence for Christ; but since he does not absolutely obey the command, the very desire of showing his respect for Christ loses its beauty.

The true wisdom of faith, therefore, is to approve and embrace with reverence whatever proceeds from God,

Anti-Human

Reactionary Greenist Nonsense

Readers of Contra Celsum will know that we do not have much respect for Greenism.  One reason is its persistent anti-intellectual stance.  A second is its admixture of reactionary luddite philosophy, mixed with idolatrous nature worship.  A third is its serial ignorance of economics, trade, and markets.  It's not just that Greens tend to despise these things, it's that they appear to have a profound ignorance of them and how they operate.  

Finally, Greenism has a pathological hatred of wealth and economic prosperity, for in the Greenist world view, economic prosperity amounts to destruction of the environment.  But it is always "other people's prosperity" that Greenism is fixated upon rejecting.  Greenism appears satisfied with economic deprivation and poverty as a morally superior position to a modern, industrial economy. 

Whilst it is true that Greens sometimes talk about "green jobs" they struggle to define precisely what a "green job" is, let alone how such "jobs" might actually come into being and be perpetuated.  So, their reflex is always causation by government.  It is the state which must promote, subsidise and protect these "green jobs" if they are to exist at all.  But what this demonstrates is a persistent despite toward humanity and human endeavour, enterprise, creativity, and ingenuity.  The Greenist version of economic development always proceeds by force and compulsion.

In a nutshell, Greenism shows every sign of hating the human race.  It's environmental "activism" appears more driven by collective self-loathing of the human species, rather than genuine, meaningful ecological protection. As such, Greenism is anti-Christian. 

Below is Rodney Hide's take on the NZ Greens.  There is a lot of truth in his telling.

The Long Dark of Moria

EU: Belgium introduces death penalty without trial for minors. It is called “euthanasia”.

Posted on | November 28, 2013 

By J.C. von Krempach, J.D.

Turtle Bay and Beyond

A day of shame at the Belgian Senate: a country abandons civilization.

The culture of death, which is bound to lead to the self-destruction of any society that adopts it, is making great strides in Europe. The latest development is that the Belgian Senate has voted in favour of a new bill that extends the legalisation of “euthanasia” to minors. There is no lower age limit, nor is it a requirement for the victims of those so-called “mercy-killings” to have asked for such “mercy”.

Instead, the basis for killing these children is the choice they hypothetically would make if they only understood their condition. In reality, however, they will be killed either at the request of their parents, or may be even (for example if the parents are unavailable, or if they unable or unwilling to make such a request) at the initiative of a public administrative body. In other words, this is a death penalty without trial, without criminal charges, without a right to defence.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

November 30

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Reproduced from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee. —Psalm 51:13

Devotional:
"I will teach transgressors thy ways." Here he speaks of the gratitude which he would feel should God answer his prayer and engages to show it by exerting himself in effecting the conversion of others by his example.

Those who have been mercifully recovered from their falls will feel inflamed by the common law of charity to extend a helping hand to their brethren;

Prophetic Bombers

Anglican Church Definitively Condemned 

It seems inevitable that severe disruption of some kind, if not a split, is going to occur in the Anglican church.  This ought not discourage us on the face of it, for not all separations and splits are bad.  The call to "come out from among them and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing" (II Corinthians 6:17) remains, reminding us that it is the Living God Who is sovereign and His Word rules over churches, not the reverse.

What is discouraging is the extent of judicial blindness now manifest in the Anglican church.  The Telegraph recently presented the thinking of bishops via a report, compiled by a panel of bishops, and  issued by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York over the issue of homosexuality.  As is so often the case in such matters it is the childish, asinine reasoning that accompanies the attempt to justify what is wicked that reveals so much about the spiritual condition of the denomination.  What is the recommendation of the report?

Douglas Wilson's Letter From Moscow

The Gravy of Grace and Gratitude

Posted on Tuesday, November 26, 2013  

By Douglas Wilson 

Blog and Mablog

If you like to eat what you like to eat, this means that you are a human being. If you are morally indignant about the food choices of others, this means you are well on the way to becoming a food leftist.

Leftism is that impulse that wants to establish coercion and call it community. Apply the coercive impulse to food and farming choices, and you have the food leftist.

And it begins with the indignation. Once the indignation is established, it becomes possible to draw on a hidden premise that too many Americans share — that sins should be crimes — and move from that position to the idea that made up sins should be made into real crimes.

When the food regulators change their minds, and start cracking down on this product instead of that product, this is simply part of the way authoritarian regimes operate.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

November 29

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Reproduced from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. —II Timothy 3:14, 15

Devotional:
Timothy, even from his childhood, had learned the holy Scripture. By this he means that Timothy had much more advantage than if he had but recently been brought to the faith from heathendom. True it is that his father was a heathen, but God of his gracious goodness made him follow the faith of his mother and his grandmother. And therefore he had been faithfully brought up, and instructed in the doctrine of God, and in true religion, even from his mother's breast.

For if a man be sixty years old, being already old and frail for the knowledge of the Gospel, still he must strive with himself, seeing he has erred all his life long, to make up for that which he has lost.

Unclothed Emperor

Poor Qualifications Exposed

The education establishment, which is made up of educrats, principals, many teachers, teacher unions and politicians, have long celebrated the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) testing system in New Zealand secondary schools.  Recently, however, tertiary institutions provided anecdotal and experiential testimony that our official education system is failing to prepare students for study at universities, colleges, and other tertiary institutions.  The report was prepared by the Tertiary Education Commission--a government quango.

According to the NZ Listener:

A confidential Tertiary Education Commission report reveals profound and widespread concerns about the way NCEA prepares students for further study. It paints a picture of substandard mathematics and science education, NCEA students coming unstuck in their first year at university and tertiary providers scrambling to come up with their own diagnostic tests and remedial courses. The document is a summary of formal reports from 15 tertiary institutions – universities and polytechnics – that offer engineering courses.

How does the problem manifest?

Trust, But Verify

Reclaiming Vital Liberties

Blogger Patterico has been consistently has been critical of Snowden leaks.  Like many, he sees it as undermining the government which necessarily has to conduct some activities in secret.  Recent revelations, however, find him rethinking.

Snowden Document Reveals The Government Is Tracking Individuals’ Online Activities for the Explicit Purpose of Embarrassing Them

Filed under: General — 

Patterico @ 7:30 am

The latest Edward Snowden document shows the government tracking online activities of people in order to discredit them with charges of hypocrisy for viewing porn and such. But it’s OK, nothing to worry about . . . they’re all Muslims:

The National Security Agency has been gathering records of online sexual activity and evidence of visits to pornographic websites as part of a proposed plan to harm the reputations of those whom the agency believes are radicalizing others through incendiary speeches, according to a top-secret NSA document. The document, provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, identifies six targets, all Muslims, as “exemplars” of how “personal vulnerabilities” can be learned through electronic surveillance, and then exploited to undermine a target’s credibility, reputation and authority.

The NSA document, dated Oct. 3, 2012, repeatedly refers to the power of charges of hypocrisy to undermine such a messenger.”

It doesn’t take a genius to see how a brass knuckles politician might drool over access to information that would embarrass and destroy their critics and political opponents.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

November 28

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Reproduced from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. —Zechariah 4:6

Devotional:
Here we are reminded that if we desire to become proficient in the mysteries of God, we must not arrogate anything to ourselves; for here the Prophet honestly confesses his own want of knowledge. And let us not at this day be ashamed to lie down at God's feet, that he may teach us as little children; for whoever desires to be God's disciple must necessarily be conscious of his own folly, that is, he must come free from a conceit of his own wisdom, and be willing to be taught by God.

The angel bears witness that the power of God alone is sufficient to preserve the Church and there is no need of other helps. For he sets the Spirit of God in opposition to all earthly aids; and thus he proves that God borrows no help for the preservation of the Church, because he abounds in all blessings to enrich it.

Uneasy and Sleepless

 The Foment Of Fairness

We have been working through David Fischer's Fairness and Freedom, which claims to be a "history of two open societies--New Zealand and the United States".  It represents a history of the idea of freedom and liberty, as developed in the two respective countries.  [David Fischer, Fairness and Freedom: A History of Two Open Societies, New Zealand and the United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012).]

In a nutshell, the thesis is that the United States has been built upon and moulded around the idea of freedom as liberty from state oppression, whilst New Zealand has been built upon the idea of freedom as fairness throughout society.  The brush strokes of the thesis are necessarily broad and all-encompassing.  Critics would allege that this necessarily leads to over-simplification.  However, wrinkles aside, the basic thesis has enough correspondence with reality to warrant consideration.

Letter From Australia (About Resuming Normal Service)

The Great Climate Grind

Tim Blair
The Daily Telegraph
November 25, 2013

AUSTRALIAN pride is restored. This is no small accomplishment, considering the depths to which we sank in 2009, when prime minister Kevin Rudd offered this wince-making speech to that year's United Nations climate conference in Denmark:

"Before I left Australia, I was presented with a book of handwritten letters from a group of six-year-olds. One of the letters is from Gracie. Gracie is six. 'Hi,' she wrote. 'My name is Gracie. How old are you?' Gracie continues, 'I am writing to you because I want you all to be strong in Copenhagen. Please listen to us as it is our future.' I fear that at this conference, we are on the verge of letting little Gracie down."

We were a different country back then, outsourcing economic policy to babies and actually admitting it to the world. Happily, things have changed. For this year's UN climatefest in Warsaw, Poland, Tony Abbott's government didn't even bother to send the environment minister, much less the Prime Minister and his pre-teen fan mail.

Instead we sent some delegates who quite properly treated the whole exercise as a lark, much to the consternation of Gaia's little Gracies.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

November 26

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Republished from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
Jesus saith unto him, 1 am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. —John 14:6

Devotional:
"I am the way." Though Christ does not give a direct reply to the question put to him, yet he passes by nothing that is useful to be known. It was proper that Thomas' curiosity should be checked; and, therefore, Christ does not explain what would be his condition when he should have departed out of this world to go to the Father, but dwells on a subject far more necessary.

Thomas would gladly have heard what Christ intended to do in heaven, as we never become weary of those intricate speculations; but it is of greater importance to us to employ our study and labor on another inquiry, how we may become partakers of the blessed resurrection.

The statement amounts to this, that whoever obtains Christ is in want of nothing; and therefore that whoever is not satisfied with Christ alone strives after something beyond absolute perfection.

Throwing Down the Gauntlet

Luddite Zealots

Here comes yet another confrontation between the law-abiding and Greenpeace.  West of Taranaki a Greenpeace flotilla is attempting to stop a deep-sea drilling rig commencing exploratory drilling for oil.  As things stand, Greenpeace is currently (and proudly) breaking the law.  This from the NZ Herald:

The scene is set for a skirmish off the North Island's west coast this morning as protest vessels hold fast to Anadarko oil drilling ship the Noble Bob Douglas. Anadarko had intended to begin drilling 185km off the coast of Raglan on Thursday or Friday but has been shadowed by a flotilla of six protest vessels. One, the Vega, remains within the 500m exclusion zone. Among those on board the 11.5m ketch are Greenpeace NZ chief executive Bunny McDiarmid and former Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons.

This confrontation is a bit more interesting this time around, however.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

November 25

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Reproduced from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. —Matthew 11:28

Devotional:
So we see that our Lord Jesus Christ only calls those who are "heavy laden and travail." Therefore, he excludes all those who slumber in their iniquities, who flatter themselves, or hurl themselves without any fear of God into reckless living. Those who have burst out into evil cannot approach our Lord Jesus; that is certain. For what will bring us to him save the voice by which he invites us?

It is certain that the door is shut to as many as blind themselves with their pride and presumption, who make themselves believe they are righteous in themselves; they cannot hope that our Lord Jesus Christ will bring them any comfort.

Don't Steal--The Government Does Not Like Competition

It's Redistribution, But Not As We Had Thought of It

Quantitative easing has been a massive thievery of ordinary citizens and a redistribution of wealth to the monied classed operating in the financial sector.  A Mckinsey report documents how this has played out in the UK (and in the US, and Europe in general).

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

November 23

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Reproduced from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. —Isaiah 40:8

Devotional:
"But the word of our God shall stand forever." This passage comprehends the whole Gospel in a few words; for it consists of an acknowledgment of our misery, poverty, and emptiness, that, being sincerely humbled, we may fly to God, by whom alone we shall be perfectly restored. Let not men therefore faint or be discouraged by the knowledge of their nakedness and emptiness; for the eternal word is exhibited to them by which they may be abundantly supported and upheld.

We are likewise taught that we ought not to seek consolation from any other source than from eternity, which ought not to be sought anywhere else than in God; since nothing that is firm or durable will be found on the earth.

The Magic of Free Trade

Mutual Understanding Not Enough

What causes wars?  An almost universal consensus (in the West) is that wars are the result of misunderstandings.  When wars break out it is widely believed that they could have been avoided if only the protagonists had a better understanding of each other.  Why do Muslim imams and religious leaders label the West with the sobriquet Great Satan?  It's because they do not understand us.  If they did, they would like us better and would not say such things.  A suppressed snide corollary usually goes with this cliche: Islamic misunderstanding is due to ignorance.  If they knew more, if they were better educated, they would like us Westerners better. 

As Jonah Goldberg put it

Follow the Money

Epic Fail

UN climate talks fall apart as 132 countries storm out

Posted By Michael Bastasch 

On 12:25 PM 11/20/2013 

The Daily Caller

Poor countries pulled out of the United Nations climate talks during a fight over transferring wealth from richer countries to fight global warming.

The G77 and China bloc led 132 poor countries in a walk out during talks about “loss and damage” compensation for the consequences of global warming that countries cannot adapt to, like Typhoon Haiyan. The countries that left claim to have the support of other coalitions of poor nations, including the Least Developed Countries, the Alliance of Small Island States and the Africa Group.

Poor countries have demanded that the developed world give them $100 billion annually by 2020 to prepare for the impacts of global warming, such as heat waves and droughts. Brazil even put forward a proposal last week that would have made rich countries pay for historical greenhouse gas emissions.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

November 22

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Reproduced from the OPC website

Bible Text:
Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. —Psalm 91:5, 6

Devotional:
Wherever you turn, all the objects around you are not only unworthy of your confidence, but almost openly menace you, and seem to threaten immediate death. Embark in a ship; there is but a single step between you and death. Mount a horse; the slipping of one foot endangers your life. Walk through the streets of a city; you are liable to as many dangers as there are tiles on the roofs.

If there be a sharp weapon in your hand, or that of your friend, the mischief is manifest. All the ferocious animals you see are armed for your destruction. If you try to shut yourself in a garden surrounded with a good fence and exhibiting nothing but what is delightful, even there sometimes lurks a serpent. Your house, perpetually liable to fire, menaces you by day with poverty and by night with falling on your head....

Extenuation by Race

Wretched Argument for Racial Inferiority

If we were Maori, with just the slightest smidgeon of self-respect, honour and decency, we would right now be hanging our head in shame and boiling with righteous anger, both at the same time.  On what provocation, we hear you ask? On this:

Christchurch defence lawyer James Rapley said Maori should receive shorter prison sentences because they come from an environment of social deprivation and inequality.  "Fifty-one per cent of the prison population is Maori," he told the Court of Appeal. "Everyone says everyone should be treated alike and equally, but not everyone is equal."[NZ Herald]

Rapley was arguing before the Court of Appeal to get the sentence of one Fabian Mika reduced by ten percent on the grounds that he was Maori.  Not, notice, on the grounds of Mika's remorse over his crime, his early guilty plea, his efforts at restitution of his victims, or extenuating circumstances, but because of his race.

Douglas Wilson's Letter From Moscow

Obamamandias

Posted on Sunday, November 17, 2013  

By Douglas Wilson 

Blog and Mablog

With apologies to P.B. Shelley . . .

I met a traveler from bankrupt land
Who said: ‘One vast and hapless head of stone
Lies in the desert. Near it, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered website lies, still down.
That haughty look, and sneer of cold command,
And photo-op poses, a myriad!
Still cannot get it, overwhelmed by “things”
Like “If you like it, you can keep it. Period.”
And on the teleprompt these words appear—
“My name is Obamamandias, king of kings:
Look on my work, ye uninsured, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
A once great health care system stretches far away.’

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

November 19

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Reproduced from the OPC website.

Bible Text:
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. —Matt. 7:21

Devotional:
It is easy to perceive what we are to learn from the law; namely, that God, as he is our Creator, justly sustains towards us the character of a Father and a Lord; and that on this account we owe to him glory and reverence, love and fear. Moreover, that we are not at liberty to follow everything to which the violence of our passions may incite us; but that we ought to be attentive to his will, and to practise nothing but what is pleasing to him.

Not so Fast

Tweaks to China's One-Child Monstrosity

The Chinese government announced some changes to their one-child policy and to labour camps.  Everyone in the West was excited--well, sort of.  Things might be looking up.  Firstly, the changes to the one-child policy.

Far from sweeping away all family planning rules, the party is now providing a new, limited exemption: It said families in which at least one parent was an only child would be allowed to have a second child. Previously, both parents had to be an only child to qualify for this exemption. Rural couples also are allowed two children if their first-born child is a girl, an exemption allowed in 1984 as part of the last substantive changes to the policy. [NZ Herald]

The Herald article is right on the nose.  This represents just a minor tweak to an horrendous policy.  Wendy Wright reports how the Chinese government itself quickly rushed to qualify and downplay the change.

Fissures in the Ranks

Human Depravity

Last time we checked Kim Jong Un was a human being.  We presume he still is.  He is one of us.  As one of us he is demonstrating the relentless evil that lies in every human heart.  Relentless evil that can become regnant. 

Whilst most human beings will recoil in horror at the recent accounts of public executions in North Korea, we also have to acknowledge that Kim Jong Un is one of us.  He is not an animal.  He is not a demon.  He is blood of our blood and flesh of our flesh.  Either we must own him and his depravities, or we must implore the  King of kings to judge him speedily, in this life and the next.