November 9, 2015

"When I look at humankind’s great achievements, I also see the hand of God, and what astonishes me isn’t that He had to literally and specifically intervene—it’s that He didn’t."

"The miracle of the pyramids and Machu Picchu and the Mona Lisa isn’t God’s literal presence, but the capacity for genius He instilled in every human being whether or not they asked for it, whether or not they think He exists. There is an assumption of individualized divine intervention in Carson’s telling of his own life story, in the myths he’s created about himself. The fight with his mother, the knife hitting the belt-buckle: Carson has imposed a radical conversion story onto his trajectory, complete with miracles, because—I can only guess—the more mundane explanation (he was a smart kid who became a brilliant brain surgeon) is not satisfying to him. You can see the 'thug' tale as self-aggrandizing, but to me it is strangely self-denying—on some level, a kind of blasphemy. In making up a story filled with drama, he has failed to credit God for the original and true, if subtle, miracle within Carson: that a soft-spoken, nerdy young man born in inner Detroit did not have to become a thug at some point, that he was wise and respectful of his own potential without needing God to perform a parlor trick."

Writes Ana Marie Cox in "Ben Carson Thinks You’re the Crazy One/The real reason we should mock Ben Carson's pyramid theory? Because it reveals a very dim view of humankind." Read the whole thing. Apt analysis from a religious point of view.

112 comments:

eric said...

Or the stories are true and the credit to God is his change of heart. Instead of becoming the thug, he becomes the surgeon.

If he were a Democrat, or named Obama, she would believe him. So would Althouse.

As for me, I think it's all true. Of course, in our own history we can get details wrong because memory fails us. But I find Dr. Carson to be refreshingly honest.

I think, especially when you vote for Democrats as Cox and Althouse do, that you learn to accept everyone lies. So, what do you do when someone is so honest and running for President?

Turn them into a liar, of course. You're mind can't accept anything else about them.

Known Unknown said...

What were Carson's grades in college?

Paco Wové said...

FYI, link's busted. I still won't read Ana Marie Cox, though.

jr565 said...

""When I look at humankind’s great achievements, I also see the hand of God,"

And by extension others' don't. So she is basically pushing her view of how we are supposed view God onto Carson. Why is her interpretation more valid than is?

$9,000,000,000 Write Off said...

Seems right. I'd also love to hear her psychological diagnosis of Obama's presence in Jeremiah Wright's pews. What was he faking?

James Graham said...

Ana Marie Cox believes in God.

Who knew?

Chris said...

She starts off from the wrong premise. That Carson lied about the stabbing attempt. Except he didn't. Here's evidence he did not lie from his mother in 1997:

https://twitter.com/BuzzFeedAndrew/status/663518863145963520/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

jr565 said...

Cox's view of God is that he is the watchmaker. He winds up the clock then sits back and lets the clock run. Which is a view that many religious people in fact share. That God doesn't really intervene. Its not the only interpretation of how to view God though.
And its not that different than an atheists view by the way. They would just say "there's no clock designer".

Sebastian said...

"the capacity for genius He instilled in every human being"

And Carson is the crazy one?

Anonymous said...

Ms Cox makes some interesting points but skirts the big question : how totally improbable is it that an accomplished man like Dr. Carson would make up a story that he tried to hit his own mother in the head with a hammer, and then retell the story while he was running for president?

Ann Althouse said...

Sorry about the bad link. Fixed.

Ana Marie Cox is religious. Here's her piece from last February: "Why I’m Coming Out as a Christian/I’m not scared that non-believers will make me feel like an outcast. I’m scared that Christians will."

themightypuck said...

I thought Cox came out as a Christian? That at least requires some version of salvation through Christ.

Michael K said...

"The real reason we should mock Ben Carson's pyramid theory?"

I stopped there. I don't believe the pyramids were what he says but I don't understand why the people who push global warming and who think London would be submerged ten years ago should be mocking anything.

eric said...

I have a feeling in the coming days we will see more and more evidence that supports Carson. And the story will change from, "He lied!" To, how did he handle the accusations?

I expect Althouse to remain skeptical no matter the evidence.

Ann Althouse said...

"Ms Cox makes some interesting points but skirts the big question : how totally improbable is it that an accomplished man like Dr. Carson would make up a story that he tried to hit his own mother in the head with a hammer, and then retell the story while he was running for president?"

No, I don't think that's so hard to understand. I analyzed that in a post a few days ago:

"The stories Carson has told about himself are not the usual resume padding. They're negative. You could say they're inherently believable, because why would a candidate tell tales against himself?

"But the context of telling those stories was an autobiography written a quarter century ago. The tales of a violent temper lend drama to the narrative of impoverished childhood and salvation through religion. I'd like to know more about how this book was written and why. It was co-written by Cecil (Cec) Murphey, who's worked on other inspirational books, including "90 Minutes in Heaven," which doesn't sound as though it's rigorously framed in factual accuracy.

"Salvation isn't very interesting if you are not a sinner. In the history of dishonest memoirs, what is more likely to be exaggerated and faked — the positive or the negative?"

Carson was in the inspiration business. Who would be interested in the tale of a good little boy who grew up to be a good man?

YoungHegelian said...

So, we're not supposed to have religious tests for office, but it's okay to for pundits to compare & contrast a candidate's idea of theodicy? Oh, this is going to be fun.....

Brit Hume: "So, Mr. Trump, in your life, what have you found useful in explaining the ways of God to man?"

Donald Trump: "Well, Brit, I just don't think you can go wrong starting with Liebnitz's Theodicy....."

PackerBronco said...

"In making up a story filled with drama ..."

So Ana Marie Cox has an unshakable faith --- an unshakable faith in Carson's mendacity.

eric said...

Carson was in the inspiration business. Who would be interested in the tale of a good little boy who grew up to be a good man?

I remember when you wrote about Obama like this too. How you didn't believe he actually used cocaine or was a member of the choom gang.

It's not like he wrote a biography about himself or anything.

Ask yourself, why do some of us believe both Obama and Carson when they wrote negative things about themselves, but you choose to only believe Obama?

Danno said...

Why would anybody read something from Ana Marie Cox? Google her sex life and it is obvious she could make even Laslo Spatula blush.

traditionalguy said...

A narrow minded approach to scripture is traditional among the faith filled because they want to make their group seem to be exceptional.

That all goes under the category of adding in neat legalisms to the message in Paul's Gospel summed up in Romans 8. Rules Lists to be kebt is a satisfying activity. The only trouble is that it requires men to tell lies.

Paco Wové said...

"I'm coming out as a Christian, but I still think other Christians are icky."

What a nasty little piece of work she is.

Gusty Winds said...

Carson is a great man and I admire his faith. But I do not believe he is Presidential material. It is still a shame that any African-American, or any woman who does not tow the line on liberal ideology must be crazy, and therefore destroyed.

The liberals in the Democrat Party and the media think Carson is crazy because he actually believes in God. As did George W. Bush.

But when Obama or Hillary! make the claim to be Christians for political gain, we all know it's not true. Even libs who throw shit fits if you don't correct someone who questions Obama's faith, know he is not a Christian.

Heck, we all know Obama and Hillary! both think Climate Change is bullshit. Do we actually expect anything genuine?




dreams said...

"HEY MEDIA: BEN CARSON’S MOTHER VERIFIED HIS STABBING STORY WAY BACK IN 1997!!"


http://therightscoop.com/hey-media-ben-carsons-mother-verified-his-stabbing-story-way-back-in-1997/#ixzz3qxnuoPmg

Bay Area Guy said...

I'm probably not voting for Dr. Ben Carson in the primary, but a few points are in order:

1. As a neuro-surgeon, Carson once separated conjoined twins in a marathon surgery at Johns-Hopkins.

2. As a 30-something Leftist commentator, Anne Marie Cox blogs/writes about stuff.

3. Because of his incredible career as a surgeon, and his fascinating life-story of growing up in Detroit poverty, they made a move about Carson, called, "Gifted Hands," starring Oscar-winner, Cuba Gooding, Jr.

4. Again, as a 30-something Leftist commentator, Anne Marie Cox blogs/writes about stuff.

Ahh, that felt better. Onto the merits:

I like the Egyptian Pyramids, never seen them in person. I don't know or care whether grain was stored in them.

As for religious tales, I give a lot of slack to believers. Clearly, there is something intrinsic to humans that they seek some explanation as to why we are here, why we feel love, loyalty, courage, fear, what it all means. Often, they attribute it to some higher power, and I can live with that. So, I would give Carson and leftist blog-writer, converted Christian, Anne Marie Cox a lot of slack on these ephemeral, subjective beliefs.

Unknown said...

I'm not a Carson fan, but this is a really stupid and poorly written article. Something my middle schooler might have written.

MayBee said...

We should *mock* him?

Can't we just ignore it or disregard it?

HoodlumDoodlum said...

No, it's not apt w/r/t Carson's "myth" of himself. It's a good point regarding people ascribing the works of man to a divine or alien source--doing that does fail to credit God with creating and inspiring Man capable of such works.

As far as Carson himself, though, this narrative only works if you assume or conclude that Carson is making it up--if he really was just a nerdy shy guy all along and there wasn't any conversion. What evidence is there of that? I haven't seen any. People are casting doubt on the degree to which Carson changed (ie over how "bad" he really was) but I don't know of anyone other than this author who has essentially asserted that there was NO change, NO conversion. Since that's the case this is not apt analysis.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Cox assumes Carson is a liar and then goes on to say that his lies are a form of blasphemy. She doesn't make a case that he's a liar, though, so the rest fails.

dreams said...

"What a nasty little piece of work she is."

Because she is motivated by hate, liberals hate.

“I think that, in the end, there is something that unites all conservatives, which is that they are pursuing something they love. My view is that the Left is united by hatred, but we are united by love: love of our country, love of institutions, love of the law, love of family, and so on. And what makes us conservatives is the desire to protect those things, and we’re up against people who want to destroy them, and it’s very simple.”

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/426772/conservatives-united-by-love

HoodlumDoodlum said...

I mean, how do we KNOW Saul of Tarsus was really such a bad guy? Sure, that's the narrative, the "myth" from the Bible, but both of that's from his own writing (Corinthians, Philipians) or that of his partisans (Acts). Color Cox skeptical.

Anonymous said...

"I'm coming out as a Christian, but I still think other Christians are icky."

Well, sure. Who's more religious than a Pharisee?

traditionalguy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
traditionalguy said...

Her basic argument is the same one used on Crack Emcee once upon a time. Crack was an avowed, avowed atheist, so we told him that his extreme talents were proof that God had created him. That at least slowed him down some.

n.n said...

Both Carson and Cox are talking about their faith. Neither knows, can possibly know, the nature of human existence. This is not something that can be perceived, let alone determined, in the scientific domain. There are few, if any, people who are operating without their peculiar articles of faith.

buwaya said...

Her theology is rather limited.
Catholics do indeed think that God intervenes.
Heck, popular Catholicism is chock full of traditional ways to plead for divine aid.
Even for very prosaic things.
As a kid - well, even in college - we used to pack the university chapel before exams.

Robert Cook said...

"...I find Dr. Carson to be refreshingly honest."

The quality of appearing to be "refreshingly honest" is a quality that all top notch liars and con-men possess. Otherwise, they wouldn't be successful in their lies.

Do you have the facts at hand to know if Dr. Carson is actually honest?

(I don't say this to assert or imply that Dr. Carson is a liar or conman; as I would never vote for him under any circumstances, I haven't the interest to bother getting up to speed on the stories he has told about his life and those who contest these stories. He may be telling the truth 100% and those who dispute his stories may be 100% wrong. I merely point out that one cannot rely on how "refreshingly honest" someone seems to be. When any account is in question, one has to refer to the available and discoverable facts, not on how convincingly sincere someone can be.)

Michael K said...

It's amusing to see the left, and the near left like Ann, try to understand Carson.

First, the left has a very hard time believing a black can be intelligent. Like really intelligent. Some of that is their inability to understand statistics and such things as normal distribution.

Normal distribution shows that data points cluster but there are these things called "tails." Tails explain why men are better at high level math and why brilliant people still occur among blacks whose mean IQ is less than whites.

Brilliant people can still have odd beliefs, like the conviction that global warming will kill us all in a few years and that the pyramids were used to store grain.

Some of us are more tolerant than others.

narciso said...

Well it is off a piece with other work from that author when she's not peddling soft porn, that account of a congressional staffer.

Michael K said...

Cookie just made my point about tolerance. Thanks Cookie.

Robert Cook said...

"I'd also love to hear her psychological diagnosis of Obama's presence in Jeremiah Wright's pews. What was he faking?"

Given how how quickly he betrayed his "trusted" clergyman of, what?--20 years?--the answer is of course Obama was faking! He's a counterfeit person, becoming who he must be in any circumstances in order to advance himself, (as are so many of the wretches who convince the American people to vote for them).

Robert Cook said...

Sorry, Michael K., I don't see your point.

Paul Snively said...

Cox is a mainline American Christian. Dr. Carson is a 7th Day Adventist. This is just a public working out of inside American Christian ball. Take out the "American" part and it dates to at least the Protestant Reformation, and if you squint a little, the Patriarchs would like a word about the Great Schism.

Where Cox is on the most solid ground is in her commonsense observation that Dr. Carson's belief is not actually a religious one—that is, it's not a matter of 7th Day Adventist doctrine, but rather is a just-so story that derives from a literalist reading of the Bible that is 7th Day Adventist doctrine. What's kind of ironic is that Dr. Carson ultimately still uses his belief as a metaphor—a "real world example" of "with faith, all things are possible." The point is not ultimately damaged by the specific example being questionable, any more than Kant's categorical imperative was killed by his choice of Euclid's postulates as an example given the subsequent discovery of non-Euclidean geometries. The intellectually honest response either way is to say "OK, that example isn't as successful as we'd like."

There's other theological stuff about miracles, whether they violate God's better-known laws such as F=ma, predestination vs. free will, "evil" culminating in Tolkien's "eucatastrophe," etc. but on none of those points would I refer to Cox or Dr. Carson for guidance.

Fernandinande said...

The miracle of war and concentration camps and prisons and torture and and slavery isn’t God’s literal presence, but the capacity for cruelty He instilled in every human being whether or not they asked for it, whether or not they think He exists.

And don't forget the the miracle of clowns, circus and otherwise.

damikesc said...

Seems right. I'd also love to hear her psychological diagnosis of Obama's presence in Jeremiah Wright's pews. What was he faking?

Given the number of times he's been in a church since 2008...likely.

Fernandinande said...

Michael K said...
First, the left has a very hard time believing a black can be intelligent.


That may be true, and might be the reason why they loudly proclaim otherwise.

Like really intelligent. Some of that is their inability to understand statistics and such things as normal distribution.

Starting with the same number in each group, for every black with an IQ > 120, there are 50 whites and 100 Chinese. When you get up to IQ's of 150 or 160, like good physicists or mathematicians, there might be one black in the whole country. And it ain't Carson (or Obama).

"No wonder so many physicist's kids end up as doctors and lawyers. Regression [to the mean] indeed! ;-)"

traditionalguy said...

The trouble with Ben Carson is that he uses a cult Christianity ploy which insists that men believe what are obvious half truths.

An alert logician reacts to that technique because it is used solely for deception.

If we believe the true half of his group's stories, then he makes us swallow the untrue half with it. If we don't, and we reject the untrue half, then we lose the true half.

I am astounded at the ease with which he rallies the Conservative warriors around his half truths.

Karen said...

On the idea that believing in God's intervention in the affairs of men is somehow outside the mainstream, may I just mention God's intervention in Washington crossing the Delaware, the saving of the Constitutional Convention, and Lincoln's pleas for wisdom from God during the Civil War. He does intervene. Ana Marie Cox may be writing from a "religious" perspective, but that is not the Christian perspective. We are taught by Jesus to pray specifically and that God will answer specifically.

bgates said...

Given how how quickly he betrayed his "trusted" clergyman of, what?--20 years?

See, Cookie, some of us think the generation-long relationship is more meaningful than the conveniently timed "betrayal", especially given the public split occurred during the short period of time between when Obama compared the guy to his own grandmother and when Obama had access to the most secure communications channels on earth (emails to his criminally negligent Secretary of State aside).

bgates said...

We should *mock* him?
-------------------------------------

He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Breh, do you even science? Recovery of sight? Lulz!”


-Gospel according to Cox

Robert Cook said...

"On the idea that believing in God's intervention in the affairs of men is somehow outside the mainstream, may I just mention God's intervention in Washington crossing the Delaware, the saving of the Constitutional Convention, and Lincoln's pleas for wisdom from God during the Civil War. He does intervene."

Your saying so, and your belief that it is so, does not make it so.

narciso said...

Only Candida moss, also at the basilisk, who believes there were few Christian martyrs could be this clueless.

narciso said...

The reality Cox doesn't want to accept, is we are all sinners and only by the grace of god are we saved.

Robert Cook said...

bgates:

What is most meaningful is Obama's behavior post-betrayal of Rev. Wright, i.e., during his presidency. As he has followed right in line behind his predecessors in office as a loyal vassal to the military/intelligence/corporate/war complex, we can see he never did believe in anything he heard in Wright's church. He was just appearing there for the same reasons many strivers make it a point to belong to the "right" clubs and the "right" churches, etc., that is: to be seen, to make an impression, to establish one's bona fides, and to make connections. It's all about the career advancement!

UNTRIBALIST said...

"Who says unicorns have disappeared?

narciso said...

He has slashed the defense department to levels before ww 2, enabled Iran to have the bomb, has handcuffed law enforcement, has make electricity prices 'inevitably rise' through epa rules.

J. Farmer said...

My rejection of Christianity is fairly straightforward, and it comes really from a rejection of Judaism. I simply cannot believe that human beings meandered around for tens of thousands of years, and then god decided to intervene by forming a special covenant with the Hebrew people.

Michael K said...

"Sorry, Michael K., I don't see your point."

I know and it is kind of sad.

narciso said...

And they failed to live up to that responsibility so he sent son in his place, this was The consensus for thousands of years.

J. Farmer said...

@Narciso:

"And they failed to live up to that responsibility so he sent son in his place, this was The consensus for thousands of years."

I am aware of the story; I just find it unconvincing that is all.

Cog said...

Cox essay is pseudo-religious gibberish. Such as when she writes that Carson’s thug tale is a kind of basphemy. Pure nonsense about this man who actually takes his religion seriously.

And what possibly could Cox mean when she writes that God instilled everyone with capacity for genius? Don’t we use “genius” only when we find that special God-given quality in rare individuals, such as Dr. Carson, who accomplish truly great things?

narciso said...

And this is different from the rest of her work now. Carson knows very well ' but for the grace oof god to I."

jr565 said...

"Ana Marie Cox is religious. Here's her piece from last February: "Why I’m Coming Out as a Christian/I’m not scared that non-believers will make me feel like an outcast. I’m scared that Christians will."

And they might because her view of Christianity might be pretty liberal and not in fact based on Christianity. Some churches are so open minded they don't even believe in God, yet still call themselves Christians.

J. Farmer said...

@jr565:

"And they might because her view of Christianity might be pretty liberal and not in fact based on Christianity."

I think one of the reasons that Christianity has been successful is its elasticity. Even people who believe that the Bible is the inspired word of god cannot agree on the messages it is attempting to communicate. When Jehovah's Witnesses read the Bible, they apparently find prohibitions on blood transfusions that others do not. Who am I to tell them they are wrong?

Nichevo said...

Anal Marie! Hey baby we missed you...

Laslo, batter up!

...


J. Farmer said...
My rejection of Christianity is fairly straightforward, and it comes really from a rejection of Judaism

This explains so much. Thank you.

Nichevo said...

Trad, you again?
11/9/15, 12:21 PM
What does that shit even mean?

Mark said...

Hey Bay Area Guy,

Facts apparently aren't your strong suit. Check her age before ridiculing someone as a thirty something.

Typical commentator here, unaware of simple facts one can google in seconds.

J. Farmer said...

@Nichevo:

"This explains so much. Thank you."

You are welcome.

Nichevo said...

One thing that doctors can do (when they wish) that lawyers can't, is to make themselves clear. I assume that lawyers are jealous but then they may like it better that way.

J. Farmer said...

p.s. I'm just going to go out on a limb here and claim that it explains much less than you think

Nichevo said...

Well it explains more than you do. For a seemingly intelligent fellow you have a lot of shit in your head. Have been wondering how it got there. Maybe it doesn't completely explain your affirmative appetite for slaughter, but certainly your indifference to it.

J. Farmer said...

@Nichevo:

"Well it explains more than you do."

Now that is certainly not true. I have never had a problem explaining why I support or reject the things I support and reject. The problem is the armchair psychoanalyzing that people like you seem to enjoy. It's sort of like when I explain why I oppose affirmative action and someone tells me it's really because I'm racist. For whatever reason you can't seem to accept that I have the opinions I have for the exact reason I say I have them; instead you have to invent fanciful nonsense like having an "affirmative appetite for slaughter" or an "indifference to it."

HoodlumDoodlum said...

traditionalguy said...The trouble with Ben Carson is that he uses a cult Christianity ploy which insists that men believe what are obvious half truths.

An alert logician reacts to that technique because it is used solely for deception.


Sure, that's fair, and in a vacuum (w/Carson as the only candidate or politician out there) it might be meaningfully influential. The fact is, though, that "believing in obvious half truths" (or even, uncharitably, "things that are clearly not true") is pretty much universal across the various candidates. For the Right it's something like "we can make the tax plan fit on a postcard but keep your rates substantially the same, w/no loopholes!" and "all my tax cuts will pay for themselves, we can lower the tax rate and not go into a larger deficit just by cutting out waste, fraud, and abuse!" The list is much longer for the Left (at least according to me, someone not on the Left), but certainly includes "we have to tax the hell out of the rich, who aren't paying their fair share/are cheating us, and doing so will have no incentive effects," plus "4 out of 5 women in X cohort will be sexually assaulted (using "sexual assault" as it is commonly understood)" and "women make only 72 cents for every $1 men make," "unfavorable group outcomes in X can only be exlplained by systematic racism or sexism," and on and on.

The question, then, is not does this particular candidate traffic in half-truths of the type you mention at a greater rate than other candidates. It would be nice to exclude puffery and salesmanship from politics, but it's naive to expect that o be the case.

Robert Cook said...

"He has slashed the defense department to levels before ww 2, enabled Iran to have the bomb, has handcuffed law enforcement, has make electricity prices 'inevitably rise' through epa rules."

Our military budget is higher than all the countries in the rest of the world combined. If Obama has slashed our military budget, he hasn't come near what needs to be cut.

He has not "enabled" Iraq to "have the bomb," and if they develop it...so what? It won't make the world any more close to self-destruction than it already is...which is pretty damned close. (I'm not happy about anybody having the bomb...but plenty of nations do, so there it is.)

"Handcuffed law enforcement?" They're out of control!

I don't know what you're on about with the electricity thang.

rcocean said...

So she's come out as a Christian. When does she come out as intelligent, or knowledgeable?

Another reformed slut. Funny how they only get religion AFTER 40.

I Callahan said...

Our military budget is higher than all the countries in the rest of the world combined. If Obama has slashed our military budget, he hasn't come near what needs to be cut.

Geez, Bob, can you at least attempt to compare apples and apples? I'd guess that back then, the U.S. still had the highest military budget.

He has not "enabled" Iraq to "have the bomb," and if they develop it...so what? It won't make the world any more close to self-destruction than it already is...which is pretty damned close. (I'm not happy about anybody having the bomb...but plenty of nations do, so there it is.)

Here's the thing: If the wrong people get control of one, we WILL be closer to self-destruction. Now before you use the U.S. as an example - the U.S. hasn't used one since 1945, so I'd say that in today's world, the chance of the our country using one is about 1 in a trillion.

"Handcuffed law enforcement?" They're out of control!

In some ways yes. In others, handcuffed. For a lefty who seems to pride himself on nuance, your statement sure was a broad brush.

Michael K said...

"I don't know what you're on about with the electricity thang."

Cookie, I know you live in a cave but some of us depend quite a bit on electricity. And somebody is damaging fiberoptic cables .

Similar things happened a few years ago and some of us think it is by a group that is working on ways to take the country down.

Investigators are working to determine who is responsible for cutting the cables and shooting at the substation, which is located near both a public gun range and the sheriff’s shooting range.

All of the incidents occurred within a half-mile radius of each other, Smith said.

She said that although the timing and geography suggest the attacks are related, it is still possible that they were perpetrated by different people.


I know you will dismiss this but there are people who don't like us.

Hiding under the covers doesn't work so well, even for lefties.

paminwi said...

God damn Ben Carson probably telling the truth again according to former colleague from Johns Hopkins.

And this is first time I believe I gave ever linked Buzzfeed.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/old-colleague-defends-ben-carson-he-told-me-stabb?utm_term=4ldqpia&bftw=pol

Drago said...

Cookie: "When any account is in question, one has to refer to the available and discoverable facts, not on how convincingly sincere someone can be."

LOL

Says the October Surprise Truther!!

Hilarious.

effinayright said...

So I guess George Washington would have been regarded as lacking "presidential" character when he confessed as a child to having chopped down that cherry tree with his "little hatchet"?

John Henry said...

Remember the story about how Obama tried to get a job in poltics in Chicago and was asked who sent him? He replied that nobody had to which the alderman(?) replied "I don't want anybody that wasn't sent."

Might that be the problem that so many have with Carson? He was not sent. He has not been anointed by any Demmie politician/crony. He just is

He is an undependendent black man, not beholden to any of the usual suspects. He has managed to escape from the inner/Democrat city shitholes and will not let himself be held back.

The progressives can't allow this escape from the plantation. They have sicced the bloodhounds on him and when they catch him, if they catch him, they will have a nice 21st century lynching. If he manages to escape, he will set an example for other blacks. They will start thinking "If Ben Carson can escape the plantation and the masters, maybe I can too." The Demmies just cannot permit that and any means necessary will be employed to bring Carson down.

That's what all this is about. Racism, pure and simple. Democrat Party racism.

And all the while they will wail loudly about how anti-racist they are. How it is the Republicans who are the racists. Not them. Oh No! Especially not in Madison, perhaps the most racist city in the US by the numbers.

John Henry

"Undependent" above is not a typo. I think it is a better word for Carson, and others like him, than independent.

John Henry said...

I wonder if this attempted lynching of Dr Carson will backfire? Blacks tend to be pretty religious as a group and tend to take their religion pretty seriously. As some people would call them, they are fundamentalists.

How many of them will see this 21st century lynching of a good and decent black man as an attack on all of them? And on their religion?

Do you suppose it will endear the Democrat Party to them?

There seems to be some attempt to make SDA (Seventh Day Adventist) church look like some sort of cult. My wife of 41 years and children have always been SDA. I was baptized in 1996. As far as I can tell, the SDA beliefs are not very different from most other Protestant denominations. They only big difference I see is that we celebrate the last, 7th day of the week as the Sabbath. Most Protestant denominations celebrate the first day, Sunday. A/K/A The Lord's Day.

Lots of other minor differences in how we baptize (we dip rather than sprinkle) and when (10-12 years old and up, not babies) how we handle communion and perhaps some other things. We also take the Bible, especially the OT, more seriously than some other denominations do.

But in general we are pretty similar.

We also put a strong emphasis on health with a number of hospitals, elder care facilities, schools and universities, missionary outreach. So do other denominations. Some more, some less than SDA.

The main point: SDA is a pretty normal Protestant denomination. Nothing to be fearful of. I expect that we will see a lot of othering and fear mongering of SDA in coming days as attacks on Dr Carson ramp up.



John Henry

John Henry said...

Blogger rcocean said...


Another reformed slut. Funny how they only get religion AFTER 40.

Hard to pick up men in bars after that age. Maybe she thinks she can find them in church.

There is only one man in the church that matters. Hopefully Ana can find him. He doesn't care about her past, only her future.

John Henry

Unknown said...

"Carson has imposed a radical conversion story onto his trajectory, complete with miracles, because—I can only guess—the more mundane explanation (he was a smart kid who became a brilliant brain surgeon) is not satisfying to him."

Or maybe, just maybe, the smart kid was an angry smart kid who really underwent a conversion. Why is that so implausible?

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Sorry, Michael K., I don't see your point.

Take a much closer look at the top of his head.

Paul said...

Man can stack rocks on top of rocks and call it a miracle.

But can they rub clay in the eyes of a blind man and give him his sight back?

We are so far back in the stone age we have no idea how to create a thing. We only think our puny accomplishments are 'miracles'.

Mid-Life Lawyer said...

Pathetic hit piece. She says she is a Christian so she's an expert and Christianity and on Ben Carson's past. Just pathetic. She gained him votes and so are many other hacks but that is no miracle.

Michael K said...

"Take a much closer look at the top of his head."

Whoops, MacDonalds shift ended while I was picking up the dog.

Michael K said...

"I wonder if this attempted lynching of Dr Carson will backfire? Blacks tend to be pretty religious as a group and tend to take their religion pretty seriously. As some people would call them, they are fundamentalists."

I think so and it is a sign of how panicked the Democrats are of conservative blacks. They have demonized them and excluded them but Carson is so cool and focused that he has scared the shit out of them.

He's not my candidate. I don't yet know who is but he is doing great.

mikee said...

Carson is a good man. But he also has the discipline to perform brain surgery.

That is a combination unseen in anyone since Eisenhower in presidential politics.

Good luck, Doctor Carson, and don't let the mongrels nipping at your heels slow you on your path.

narciso said...

like they said, in the python election sketch, perhaps the last time I refer to buzzfeed,


http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/ben-carsons-yale-classmate-we-did-the-prank-test-that-carson#.dpzwZlDXr

Gabriel said...

One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do riot mean the Church as we see her spread but through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes I our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately it is quite invisible to these humans. All that Ana Marie Cox sees is the half-finished, sham Gothic erection on the new building estate. When she goes inside, she sees the local grocer with rather an oily expression on her face bustling up to offer her one shiny little book containing a liturgy which neither of them understands, and one shabby little book containing corrupt texts of a number of religious lyrics, mostly bad, and in very small print. When she gets to her pew and looks round her she sees just that selection of her neighbours whom she has hitherto avoided.

You want to lean pretty heavily on those neighbours. Make her mind flit to and fro between an expression like "the body of Christ" and the actual faces in the next pew. It matters very little, of course, what kind of people that next pew really contains. You may know one of them to be a great warrior on the Enemy's side. No matter. Ana Marie, thanks to Our Father below, is a fool. Provided that any of those neighbours sing out of tune, or have boots that squeak, or double chins, or odd clothes, she will quite easily believe that their religion must therefore be somehow ridiculous. At her present stage, you see, she has an idea of "Christians" in her mind which she supposes to be spiritual but which, in fact, is largely pictorial. Her mind is full of togas and sandals and armour and bare legs and the mere fact that the other people in church wear modern clothes is a real—though of course an unconscious—difficulty to her. Never let it come to the surface; never let her ask what she expected them to look like. Keep everything hazy in her mind now, and you will have all eternity wherein to amuse yourself by producing in her the peculiar kind of clarity which Hell affords.

Gabriel said...

I have been writing hitherto on the assumption that the people in the next pew afford no rational ground for disappointment. Of course if they do—if Ana Marie knows that the woman with the absurd hat is a fanatical bridge-player or the man with squeaky boots a miser and an extortioner—then your task is so much the easier. All you then have to do is to keep out of her mind the question "If I, being what I am, can consider that I am in some sense a Christian, why should the different vices of those people in the next pew prove that their religion is mere hypocrisy and convention?" You may ask whether it is possible to keep such an obvious thought from occurring even to a human mind. It is, Wormwood, it is! Handle her properly and it simply won't come into her head. She has not been anything like long enough with the Enemy to have any real humility yet. What she says, even on her knees, about her own sinfulness is all parrot talk. At bottom, she still believes she has run up a very favourable credit-balance in the Enemy's ledger by allowing herself to be converted, and thinks that she is showing great humility and condescension in going to church with these "smug", commonplace neighbours at all. Keep her in that state of mind as long as you can. Your affectionate uncle SCREWTAPE

Paddy O said...

Lots of difficult passages in the Gospels too. Four versions, not all the same in every respect. Some, shall we say, disagreements as to particulars.

That's just how stories of lives are told. Recollections, remembrances, shaping stories for particular goals.

Doesn't mean the story as a whole is false. Though, some claim it's all bunk because of discrepancies. Thank goodness we're not all held to that standard.

Paddy O said...

"I simply cannot believe that human beings meandered around for tens of thousands of years, and then god decided to intervene by forming a special covenant with the Hebrew people."

I don't think you'd necessarily have to believe that. You'd just have to believe that people tend to tell a story from when they join in on it. There's a fair amount of suggestions even in the Bible that God isn't just concerned about Israel, it's just that the Bible is particularly about their story (and the fact they do get a central role at a point in history)

m stone said...

I actually side with Cox on this one. She declares her Christianity as a "personal relationship" with the God of the Bible which really precludes what anyone else is doing--or commenting on. The most common and weakest argument against Christianity is "look what he is doing!" followed by the Crusades, of course.

She also wisely distinguishes between "religion" and Christianity which is accurate. Religion is whatever anyone does to make himself acceptable to his "God." That is not Christianity and she explains it quite well along with Carson's mangled understanding of how God operates (no pun intended).

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

"Take a much closer look at the top of his head."

Whoops, MacDonalds shift ended while I was picking up the dog.


It's spelled McDONALDS, you dumb-ass pointy-headed demented dildo douchebag.

tom faranda said...

Read it. Ann why did you refer us to this crappy article. i can't believe I wasted five minutes of my life reading it.

firstHat said...

Ann seems afraid of something these days. Not sure where I get that sense from, but she just seems desperate to prove something, mostly to herself. One of those things that makes me say hmmmm.

MayBee said...

Althouse does not like, and never has liked, Carson.

Lewis Wetzel said...

"It's spelled McDONALDS, you dumb-ass pointy-headed demented dildo douchebag."
The better sorts should not be expected to know such things, R&B. One hardly expects the Queen of England to know the name of every chippy in London.

Lewis Wetzel said...

"Althouse does not like, and never has liked, Carson."
Clearly she is a racist then. Althouse only voted for Obama because he is half jayhawker.

eddie willers said...

It's spelled McDONALDS

You should know. Its written on your shirt.

Lewis Wetzel said...

"You should know. Its written on your shirt."
Nothing wrong with working for a living.

Guildofcannonballs said...

"The real reason we should mock Ben Carson's pyramid theory? Because it reveals a very dim view of humankind."

Does killing the Earth willfully because of "white man's greed" and plotted apathy reveal a dim view of humankind, or just the white man?

Is the view after certain acts--that sure do feel good--colored dim by the perspective of one whose eyes naturally shut as quickly as the brain comprehends, hence dimming the light entering the eye's views of points, or by the actual, physical substance?

Does Hillary Clinton reveal a very, very dim view of humankind by her being celebrated for running for office instead of paying back society for her crimes?

Guildofcannonballs said...

1.
gentleness and kindness.
"he picked her up in his arms with great tenderness"
synonyms: kindness, kindliness, kindheartedness, tenderheartedness, compassion, care, concern, sympathy, humanity, warmth, fatherliness, motherliness, gentleness, benevolence, generosity
"with unexpected tenderness, he told her what had happened"
2.
sensitivity to pain.
"abdominal tenderness"
synonyms: soreness, pain, inflammation, irritation, bruising;

If any of the above lead to the gas chamber, and I don't mean metaphorically or sexually or nuttin' like that, then how can the conclusion humanity is viewed dimly, or else it is viewed falsely, be refuted without viewing God's grace in humanity's salvation, which isn't humanity or humankind but instead divine?

I wonder what folks meant by Original Sin?

sinz52 said...

Michael K sez: "Some of us are more tolerant than others."

I'm very intolerant of people who deliberately choose to ignore facts in order to support their preconceived notions, religious or otherwise.

The late senator, Daniel Moynihan, had it 100% right when he said: "You have a right to your own opinions. You don't have a right to your own facts."

Since the Middle Ages when some Christians did believe that the pyramids were grain silos from the time of Joseph, we have deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphics, and we know what the pyramids were for.

BTW: Another fact is that the much-hyped "pause" in global temperature rises has ended, and global temperatures are now rising again, reaching record levels for modern times.

That's a fact too.

Robert Cook said...

@ I Callahan:

"'Our military budget is higher than all the countries in the rest of the world combined. If Obama has slashed our military budget, he hasn't come near what needs to be cut.'

"Geez, Bob, can you at least attempt to compare apples and apples? I'd guess that back then, the U.S. still had the highest military budget."


A) What?
B) "Back then?" When?
C) The U.S. still has the highest military budget.

John Henry said...

sinz52 said...


BTW: Another fact is that the much-hyped "pause" in global temperature rises has ended, and global temperatures are now rising again, reaching record levels for modern times.

Annd here's another fact for you:

The pause only disappeared because NOAA recalculated the "adjusted" temperatures. No new data, no new facts, just buggered numbers.

Why was the old calculation wrong? Why is the new one right? What are the revised adjustments that were applied and why?

NOAA won't tell us. We are just supposed to take it on faith.

How are your religious beliefs (on warming) any different in kind from Carson's religious beliefs? Both depend on faith. Those of us who believe in the Bible admit it. Those of you who believe in warming don't.

John Henry

pdn said...

Dr. Carson strikes me as an introvert, and introverts don’t always show the nonverbal cues most people demand to prove their deep, internal feelings. Some people demand to “see” that you have a headache through your distorted facial expression; an introvert might have no expression, or politely smile while explaining they need to go, even while enduring a migraine. Because Dr. Carson doesn’t “show” the proper nonverbal cues that would help us believe he once felt violent anger, some people don’t believe he ever did. Just because he is mild mannered doesn’t mean he isn’t experiencing tremendous internal emotions inside. He isn’t lying, he is telling you about his trans-formative experience truthfully --- just as you would tell, through your interpretation, what you experienced if you were able to overcome some negative trait.

Anna Marie Cox is trivializing Dr. Carson because he is not putting on the nonverbal “show” she is expecting from someone with his verbalized life experience. I find this blindingly ethnocentric. She is basically saying “because I would react differently, given the same experiences, Dr. Carson should also react similarly --- therefore he is not authentic but is self-aggrandizing”. Dr. Carson must “prove” his internal conflict and subsequent redemption the way she wants him to prove it or it is inauthentic and just a myth he has created because “--- I can only guess – the more mundane explanation(he was a smart kid who became a brilliant brain surgeon) is not satisfying to him."

Or perhaps it is the more mundane explanation that the idea that someone can experience something differently than she does is not satisfying to her.

Jim S. said...

This is just the old argument for deism over theism. To suggest that God performs miracles is to suggest that there is a flaw in his initial design and that he has to step in to shore up his missteps. The claim that God is actively involved in his creation is therefore to impugn God as a bad Designer/Creator who either failed to, or was not able to, create an efficient, self-sufficient machine -- so the deist argues. The problem with this is that it fails to consider the possibility that God designed the universe so that he would be actively involved in it. The miracles would be part of the design. If he didn't want to create a self-sufficient machine, then it doesn't impugn him to suggest that the machine he created is not self-sufficient.

Rusty said...

C) The U.S. still has the highest military budget.

And the lowest its been in 20 years.
It is likely that we don't have enough ships and troops to meet our defense needs let alone our commitments.
This from several independent pentagon annalists.

Robert Cook said...

"And the lowest its been in 20 years."

It needs to be lower, still...far, far lower.

What "defense" needs? We haven't fought a war of self-defense since before I was born...which is not to say we haven't been engaged in wars almost nonstop for years. They should rename the Department of Defense the more truthful name it had in WWII: The Department of War, or War Department.