Van Taylor, Chavez and Democrats, Israel News, more

As the November congressional elections near, TheSolidSurfer.com would like, once again, to express our support for Republican candidate Van Taylor, who is challenging Democratic incumbent Chet Edwards for the Texas District 17 seat. Earlier this year, we posted an exclusive interview with Mr. Taylor, and now I'd like to call everyone's attention to a series of his campaign ads posted on the You Tube video site. There are ten videos in all, some of which promote Mr. Taylor and others (the more recent ones) that attack Mr. Edwards's record. I have not watched them all, but the ones about Van himself well describe his background, platform, and vision. For more information as well, visit http://www.vantaylor.com/.

And a note on the political race overall: Anyone pay close attention to the specifics of Hugo Chavez's Bush-bashing UN speech? Seems like he ripped his insults straight from the pages of the Democratic party playbook. The politicans who inspired Chavez should be ashamed of themselves.

In other news:

Israel has long been noted as the only key Middle East state without oil, but finally this may be about to change. Yes, many are skeptical, but oil extraction technology has improved so greatly that the prospectors' claims must be taken seriously. Of course, alternative energy remains directly in the mix; both China and India are exploring it and perhaps Israeli technology can help them.

Energy, however, is not the only prominent science emerging from the Jewish state; Israeli scientists recently developed a mosquito-control system to help fight malaria in the developing world. This innovation, if applied worldwide, could save many millions of lives.

Both of these examples, meanwhile, are prominent ammunition against doomsday environmentalist predictions. Just as with the advances in oil drilling technology, human ingenuity has plenty of power to change the status quo.

One part of the world, however, sadly continues to produce little change; rather than reflecting inward, many Muslims violently keep demanding that the Pope apologize for his inflammatory comments about Islam. In reality, though, the Islamic world itself must change, and it is indeed they who owe everyone else an apology.

And lest anyone think that only Israelis would argue this (as per the above quoted article), more and more Americans are noticing it too. Just for starters, Victor Davis Hanson explains why President Bush's definition of our enemies as "Islamic fascists" is highly justified. Furthermore, another American named Gamaliel Isaac (whom I happen to personally know) completely shatters the assumption that the surrounding Arabs wish to live in peace with Israel. For true peace to emerge both in the Middle East and around the world, Muslim jihadists clearly must change their ways.

At least, though, it's great to see Israelis standing together. As the day of Yom Kippur approaches, both religious and secular groups are joining together in prayer. Let's hope such unity can be further projected onto the entire nation.