News Weakly - 5/12/18

Through the Fire
I know ... young people won't know what I'm talking about ... but that picture from Vietnam (1973) that depicts the little girl in the center running naked, screaming, with a group of children and some soldiers behind her and a napalm plume billowing in the background is not something you forget. The tragedy of a group of children running from a fire-bombing is awful. Which only goes to make this story all the more amazing. The little girl in the picture is all grown up now and sharing her story of how those bombs -- the pain of which she still feels today -- brought her to Christ. Really remarkable.

(Not) In It to Win?
You remember Bradley Manning, right? Maybe you know him now as Chelsea. He was a U.S. Army soldier convicted of leaking more than 700,000 documents to WikiLeaks. While in prison, he got the Army (read "you and me") to pay for his "sex change," got President Obama to commute his sentence, and is now running for senate in Maryland. At the top of his agenda? "Close prisons and free inmates; eliminate national borders; restructure the criminal justice system; provide universal health care and basic income." What makes him qualified for the job? He offers the time he was homeless in Chicago, his treason in Iraq, and his 7 years in prison. I just hope that the political analysts are right; "the convicted felon is not running to win." Given his "cult of personality" status and the breakdown in the thinking processes of American voters these days, I am not certain he won't.

Online Dating
Paradise Valley police in Arizona say that the victim met her online and they went out on a date. That's when "things quickly went awry." She sent him 65,000 text messages, up to 500 a day, including heart-warming messages like, "Don't ever try to leave me ... I'll kill you ... I don't wanna be a murderer!", "I'd wear your fascia 'n the top of your skull 'n your hands 'n feet", and "Oh, what I would do w/your blood ... I'd wanna bathe in it." She really had an endearing way with words. She would get into his residence when he wasn't home, show up at his workplace claiming to be his wife, and kept a large butcher knife on the passenger seat of her car. Quite an advertisement for eHarmony.

The Value of Human Life
David Goodall was an English-born Australian botanist and ecologist. He died this week at the age of 104. By suicide. By traveling to Switzerland where assisted suicide is legal. With a trip paid for by Exit International, the group that helps kill people who want to die. Because he regretted living so long. Clearly a man who knew plants, but had no idea of the value of human life. Paid for by people who have no idea of the value of human life. In a society that demands the right to kill babies at will. There is something really wrong here. (Not to suggest I'm opposed to euthenasia; I think young people should visit all the continents they can, including Asia.)

Contrast David Goodall with Delphine Gibson in Mount Union, PA. She died this week at the age of 114. She was the oldest living American. Blind and deaf at the end, she loved to sing "Amazing Grace". "She always singing to us or sharing the gospel," said the hursing home unit manager. "She is a treasure to the nation." She "attributed her long life to good food, her faith in God and her church." Quite a different story.

I Just ... Wait ... What? Seriously?!
A sex education expert and the CEO of youth relationship service Body Safety Australia, said during a segment on ABC News that parents should ask their babies' permission before changing diapers in order to foster a 'culture of consent' in homes from the earliest."

Now, think it through, folks. We know that kids these days are considered the wisest beings, so this makes sense. We know that today's entire moral code is constructed almost exclusively on "consent". "Is it okay for me to kill you now?" "Sure." "Okay, then it's moral." Besides, children are the highest priority and parents shouldn't think that there is some sort of "parental authority structure" at work here. So this makes sense. It all ... no, can't do it ... no sense at all.

"Lady, your little girl is running around in dripping diapers." "Yeah, I know, she wouldn't give me permission to change her." "Ma'am, your son is running around the front yard naked." "I know; I'm sorry. He wouldn't give me permission to put clothes on him." "Sir, your son has been shot and killed by the police for robbing a neighbor." "What??! I mean, I know he wouldn't give me permission to prevent him from breaking and entering, but did they have his permission to shoot him?" And now that we're becoming a "culture of consent" by asking the consent of infants about their nappy change, do we eliminate statutory rape laws if the 10-year-old gave her consent to have sex with her 22-year-old boyfriend? No sense. No sense at all.

Bigotry in America
Those bigoted Boy Scouts are changing their name because they allow girls to join, but they still exclude the other 49,247 genders. Losers. Must be true; I read it on the Internet.