Why did Columbus sail?

The always controversial Columbus Day Parade in Denver will take place this Saturday. Organizers of the parade like to celebrate Columbus’ discovery of the New World. Protestors claim they are celebrating genocide of American Indians. I’m skeptical of that belief since I’ve not once seen anyone claiming Indians should be wiped out.

Beyond that, I’ve coincidently read a little about Columbus this week. American education teaches children that Columbus sailed to prove the Earth is round. Columbus had to overcome the objections of the Roman Catholic Church which taught that the bible proved the world was flat. He was able to overcome the Church’s ignorant assumption and convince the Queen of Spain to fund his expedition. Even after his voyage the church still taught the world was flat until Magellan circumnavigated the globe in 1512 give science a “crushing blow” against the teachings of the church.

The problem with that story is that it is entirely a lie. Every educated person during the time already knew the world was round. Learned men like the Venerable Bede (ca. 673-735) Bishop Virgilius of Salzburg (ca. 720-784), Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), and Thomas Aquinas (ca. 1224-1274) all taught the world was round hundreds of years before Columbus ever lived. Incidentally all four of those men are Catholic saints.

Learned men (who were catholics) did oppose Columbus voyage. Not because they thought the world was flat. Rather they thought Columbus calculations of the circumfrence of the world was too small and that he would starve before he got to Asia. Turns out they were right. Only (unknown to both Columbus and his critics) a couple of other continents were in the way. This doesn’t take away from Columbus’ bravery as an explorer. It does show that Medieval scholars were a lot brighter than we give them credit for.

So where did this lie that is even taught in today’s schools come from? The most influential person in spreading the myth of oppressive Christianity including the Roman Catholic Church fighting science was Andrew Dickson White, the founder and first president of Cornell University. It seems he didn’t like Christians and wrote his book A History of the Warfare of Science with Tehology in Christendom to get even with Christians who were critics of his plans for Cornell.

Rodney Stark documents how the story of Columbus was corrupted in his book For the Glory of God. Incidentally, Stark is a sociologist who denies being a catholic. His book details how science was only able to develop because of Christianity, not in spite of it.

OU suicide bomber

This past Saturday a student at University of Oklahoma died when a bomb he was carrying on his body blew up about 100 yards away from the crowded OU football stadium.

Michelle Malkin has been following the story. The national media is strangely silent on this. The student carrying the bomb was known to frequent a mosque. He wore a muslim style beard. He had tried to purchase a large amount of ammonium nitrate (the same compound used in the bombing of Okalahoma City federal building). Being unable to purchase that, the bomber used another explosive – but very unstable chemical – TATP that can be created out of household cleaners.

OK. So a muslim decides to commit suicide by detonating a bomb near a crowded stadium but has no terroristic motive? Or is it more likely that a wannabe martyr was waiting for a crowded stadium to begin emptying where he could get access to a crowd of people but his homemade unstable bomb exploded prematurely.

Yes, I’m speculating but the story that a depressed muslim decides to commit suicide by blowing himself up in public where no one else gets hurt is not a convincing story. That may be because of all the other muslims who have blown themselves up in the world, most recently in Bali, where they were seeking out crowded places. Muslim bombers don’t have a history of seeking out isolated public places. They want crowds and a stadium of tens of thousands of people were just a few hundred feet away?

Thank God he didn’t get to buy a ticket to the football game that day.

Miers – a great pick

Powerline is still convinced that Harriet Miers is a bad nomination for the U.S. Supreme Court. The say

The two most relevant issues now are (1) is she qualified and (2) is she conservative (and if so, in what sense). We don’t know the answer to either question, which confirms how bad Bush’s decision was.

While I agree that we don’t know the answer to those questions I disagree that it somehow proves that her nomination was a bad decision. President Bush believes he knows the answers to these questions.

What we do know is that President Bush knows Harriet Miers. We also know that she already has the votes to get confirmed – the Democratic leadership can’t reject her after asking for her nomination. We know that she has worked to further George Bush’s conservative agenda.

Why are conservative bloggers so convinced that Miers has worked for George W. Bush for years in a conservative administration all the while successfully hiding her liberal agenda only so she can reveal her liberal policies as a Supreme Court Justice? Evil genius, that’s what she is! Please.

Chill conservatives. You have been aching for President Bush to get in a show down with the democrats for years. That is not the purpose of a supreme court nomination. The purpose of the nomination is to get someone on the court who will justly interpret the constitution. Conservatives are forgetting the means (i.e. the showdown they want) is not the end (getting a conservative justice on the court).

President Bush has already successfully placed a Chief Justice of his choosing. Now he has another nominee that democrats are obligated to approve. Chill. President Bush knows what he is doing. Everything is going according to plan.

Justice Miers?

President Bush nominated Harriet Miers today to replace Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme Court. The conservative blogosphere is worried that Miers isn’t a conservative choice. Powerline calls the pick “a disappointment”. Instapundit is “underwhelmed”. Michelle Malkin shares his sentiment. Apparently senate minority leader Harry Reid even suggested Miers name for nomination.

I’m with Hugh Hewitt. George Bush has a history of not revealing his strategy. He has five years at beating the Democrats at every turn. Some may say that is all Karl Rove. The fact is President Bush has not over extended his hand politically. When he has been attacked he doesn’t not immediatly respond. He has patiently waited and let his critics destroy themselves.

We don’t know Miers (which is why some conservatives are expressing disappointment) but President Bush does. The president already has the support of Democratic leadership guaranteed. Reid can’t suggest her then back out once Bush acts on his advice. Schumer has already gone on record as saying he is happy with the pick.

I think President Bush knows what he is doing.

Weeds of communism

For most of the summer I fight dandelions in my front yard. I spray the yard with weed killer and have green grass (well, kinda green) for a few weeks. Then one day I’m in front of the house and see another dandelion. Thankfully, there are no mainstream media reports around my house. If there were, they would be standing in front of each weed saying, “Look at all this green grass. Look at this close up. Nope, no weeds around here.”

That’s pretty much what they do with communists. Just like the San Francisco Chronicle did. Zombietime.com shows how they do it. First, start with a young protestor in San Franciso. Run photo of said idealistic youth protesting against the United States. Be sure to hide the fact that communists organized the rally. Nope no communists here.

Surely the fact that the protests are being organized by communists is significant. These are not people who love their country as much as the Chronicle may wish you to believe it.

When Cindy Sheehan protests, remember she is supported by ANSWER. Chrstopher Hitchens points out their pro-communist/anti-U.S. views.

No, the war protestors are not patriots. They don’t love their country as they are sometimes likely to claim. They want the U.S. to lose.

Idiot protesters

Wackos from both the extreme left and right are competing to demonstrate who are the bigger idiots.

This past week Code Pink has been criticized for harrassing war wounded at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Now the Kansas based Westboro Baptist Church is protesting at soldiers’ funerals in Tennessee. They claim that God punished the soldiers for defending a country that harbors gays.

I’m curious where this story about the Baptist Church will go. The news article so far is short on background. The Westboro group is the same people that protested at the Matthew Shepard funeral. They do not represent a mainstream Christian view and are frequently criticized for their tactics. Their lack of influence is apparent as well. They only had 10 people at this latest “protest”. That isn’t a movement. It is a group of morons with nothing better to do.

Code Pink and Westboro Baptists. Who knew opposites could have so much stupidity in common?

School daze

The new semester started this week. It starts for me today. I got my pens and paper, same old computer. I’m buying books today. I think the only thing I’m missing is an i-pod…