Bible Publishers in Turkey Killed

Foxnews.com is reporting that three persons who worked at a publishing house in Malatya, Turkey, that distributed Bibles were killed.

Attackers killed three people Wednesday at a publishing house that had been the subject of protests for distributing Bibles in Turkey, the government-run Anatolia news agency reported.

One person who had his throat cut inside the publishing house and another who jumped from the third floor to escape were taken to local hospitals for treatment, the private Dogan news agency said. Anatolia said one of those taken to the hospital later died.

Nationalists previously had protested outside the Zirve publishing house in the city of Malatya, accusing it of proselytizing, Dogan reported.

Video footage broadcast on private NTV news channel showed one man being tackled by police outside of the building, and another in a neck brace being loaded into a stretcher.

Malatya is known as a hotbed of nationalists and is the hometown of Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish man who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981.

More on Evil

The Sun Times of Chicago echoes my last post about how the presence of evil in man is to blame for the massacre at Virginia Tech and the debate that will begin about allowing students and faculty to carry concealed weapons on campus.

In 2002, according to a report on CNSNews.com, a disgruntled student at the Appalachian Law School, Peter Odighizuwa, allegedly shot and killed the school's dean, a professor, and a student on campus. He was subdued, CNSNews.comreported, only when two students reportedly ran to their cars to fetch their own guns and returned to confront the killer, who surrendered.

This led the president of the Second Amendment group at another school, George Mason University, to start looking into reforming bans on weapons on campus. That issue, already alive on campuses across the country, will grow only larger in the wake of the tragedy at Virginia Tech. It will be an important debate. We don't believe any public policy will be able to expunge from society the kind of insanity or evil that leads to the kinds of acts witnessed yesterday. But we do believe that Americans have the capacity to reason out their own choices about how to defend themselves. And to reach out in their thoughts and prayers to the families who lost loved ones on the campus of Virginia Tech.

Virginia Tech continued

I spent a lot of time in the car yesterday, so all of the info about the shooting that I received during the day came from the local AM news station. They played a lot of interviews of students and teachers, both from Virginia Tech and Southern Cal (the local reaction). I remember hearing one female student say that there had to be mental illness involved. Sadly, this has become the normal reaction to senseless events like this. Either there was something wrong with the perpetrator's brain or that person (or group in the case of Islamists) has been so mistreated by family, peers, society, or the United States, that it's no wonder that they did what they did. How can we blame them? I don't remember hearing one mention of the word "evil" during all of yesterday's coverage. That's because in our secular society, we've been taught that man is basically good inside. If one of us loses it and guns down dozens of people around us, it must be the fault of said gunned-down people. Let's study the shooter and figure out what kind of victim he was. To think of it in any other way means that we have to admit that the shooter was wrong in his action. Which means that there is a right and wrong. Which means that there is a standard for us. Which means we are responsible for our actions. No, that can't be right.

Shooting at Virginia Tech

The worst campus shooting in U.S. history occurred today at Virginia Tech University, apparently by a lone individual. Here's the latest. How long do you think before the gun-control freaks start to use this event as more evidence of the need for ridding the population of all firearms? If anything, this incident makes a good argument for allowing teachers to carry concealed weapons. These students that died today were sitting ducks.

Would you stop to listen?

Just found this great article, thanks to The Evangelical Outpost. The Washington Post has an excellent story about what happened when a world class musician started playing outside a Washington DC metro station. I've ridden on the metro and heard musicians playing as I left the stations. I wonder if I would have stopped to listen and appreciated what I was hearing...

Progress in Iraq

Although he's not my first choice for President, John McCain would be a much better leader than anyone the Democrats can offer. Sunday, Senator McCain wrote a great piece in the Washington Post about his recent trip to Iraq. Thanks to Marcus for the heads-up.

I just returned from my fifth visit to Iraq since 2003 -- and my first since Gen. David Petraeus's new strategy has started taking effect. For the first time, our delegation was able to drive, not use helicopters, from the airport to downtown Baghdad. For the first time, we met with Sunni tribal leaders in Anbar province who are working with American and Iraqi forces to combat al-Qaeda. For the first time, we visited Iraqi and American forces deployed in a joint security station in Baghdad -- an integral part of the new strategy. We held a news conference to discuss what we saw: positive signs, underreported in the United States, that are reason for cautious optimism. . .The new political-military strategy is beginning to show results. But most Americans are not aware because much of the media are not reporting it or devote far more attention to car bombs and mortar attacks that reveal little about the strategic direction of the war. I am not saying that bad news should not be reported or that horrific terrorist attacks are not newsworthy. But news coverage should also include evidence of progress. Whether Americans choose to support or oppose our efforts in Iraq, I hope they could make their decision based on as complete a picture of the situation in Iraq as is possible to report.

McCain goes on to give some examples of the progress actually being made. It's well worth the read. We need to start writing the mainstream sources of news and begin demanding that they start doing exactly as McCain suggests: stop focusing solely on the negative incidents that are more anecdotal and begin reporting on the big picture.

Bill Roggio, of The Roggio Report, validates and expands on the progress being made in Iraq.

Drama for Air Force's next season

David Ramsey at The Gazetteof Colorado Springs has a great column this week about the drama that could unfold next season. But first, in case you haven't been following this story, here's the quick version: Air Force's basketball coach of 2 years, Jeff Bzdelik, just left Air Force to coach at Colorado University, which Air Force demolished this season. The two teams have a 2-year contract, which means that CU is supposed to come play at Clune Arena. Well, here's his column. I think he's got something...

Betrayal has long served as a gripping plot device, most notably the day Judas sold his friend, a man named Jesus, for 30 pieces of silver.

Betrayal is why the Air Force Academy cannot — under any circumstance — allow the University of Colorado to wriggle out of its commitment to a basketball clash next season.

Think of it. Jeff Bzdelik will walk into Clune Arena to face the players, fans, athletic director and, most delicious of all, the Section Eight he abandoned.

His return is priceless. Air Force athletic director Hans Mueh must refuse to allow the school that stole his coach to escape its contract.

If the Buffaloes seek a release, which would cost them $50,000, Mueh should call them cowards. He should roar to the heavens about the absolute requirement that these teams meet. He should refuse to go quietly.

Colorado — the state, not the school — needs this game. This is hardly the center of the basketball universe, and games this juicy come along, oh, once every century.

Colorado athletic director Mike Bohn chuckled when asked about Colorado’s plans.

“Yes, of course we’re coming,” Bohn said. “We have an agreement with them.”

Great to hear, Mike, but I still have doubts.

There have been rumblings at the academy that the Buffaloes won’t make the trip. When the Falcons annihilated lame-duck coach Ricardo Patton’s team in November at the Coors Events Center, the Buffaloes looked helpless, clueless and lazy.

That was just in the first five minutes.

After the game, Bzdelik told academy confidants he expected the Buffaloes to refuse the return trip to Clune. Consecutive losses were too risky for Colorado, he reasoned.

Don’t let the man become a prophet.

Trust me, the next meeting will not be another comedyfilled rout. Bzdelik will bring an enraged bunch of Buffaloes to Clune. He’ll shout at them about last season’s slaughter. He’ll thirst for this win like a man who’s wandered without water in the desert for 40 days.

The Buffaloes don’t have much, but they do have Richard Roby. Sure, Roby all but took a nap during last season’s mismatch, but he’s a major talent. If he doesn’t play with a surging fire against the Falcons, Bzdelik might make him run to Cheyenne and back.

To add to the fun, Bzdelik will be joined by freshman guard Levi Knutson, who was Air Force’s top recruit last fall. Knutson decided he wasn’t interested in the rigors of a military education and instead chose Colorado. Now, in a strange twist, Bzdelik and Knutson will travel together to the arena they rejected.

Here’s one more multiplier to the drama: The Falcons will desire to crush the coach who deserted them.

On Tuesday evening, Bzdelik motored down Interstate 25 to meet with the Falcons. Don’t let him fool you. He knew he would be introduced the next morning as Colorado’s new coach, but he lacked the courage to speak clear truth to his soon-to-be former players.

He claims he told the Falcons he was “leaning heavily” toward Colorado. Air Force teammates Andrew Henke and Matt McCraw politely disagree. Both say Bzdelik said it was “50-50” between the Falcons and Buffaloes.

That night, Bzdelik called only a few of the Falcons to say he was leaving. He declined to take an extra 30 minutes to speak to each of his players man-to-man. Remember, he frequently told these same players he “loved” them. This will be their chance to deliver a harsh, and deserved, payback.

Air Force fans should remind Bzdelik of his faithlessness. They should shout and wave signs — no obscene words, please — and stomp.

The betrayer’s return will be loud. It will offer stupendous basketball theater.

It must happen.