Submitted by: Mike Spindell, Guest Blogger

Last night Ann Coulter, a person I loathe, appeared on the Bill Maher Show. She was pushing her new book “Demonic: How the Liberal Mob is Endangering America.” Cringing as I watched her the thought nevertheless occurred to me that “She really believes this crap she sells.” This minor epiphany led me on to other thoughts. The battle in American politics has essentially devolved into a two sided affair between opponents convinced of the “demonic,” to use Ann’s term, nature of their ideological opposites. In this ongoing struggle one can’t merely disagree with us on a given political/societal issue, without our believing them to be hateful and worthy of being despised. Their motivation must undoubtedly be sociopathy and/or undemocratic. I must admit that I myself often feel that way about those who disagree with me and I say this with the rueful knowledge that when I do I am allowing myself to engage in stereotypical behavior.
Continue reading “America’s Eternal Internal Battle” →

Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

In Israel, archeologists began a dig this week at the remains of the Philistine city of Gath. Long regarded in the Hebrew Bible as the “bad guys” of the ancient world, the Philistines are emerging as a complex civilization with Hellenistic roots.  In fact, the Philistines arrived from ancient Greece about 1200 BCE, and gained control of the major seaports of Ashkelon and Ashdod, as well as the Gaza strip. The ancient city of Gath stood on the far frontier of the coastal-bound Philistine empire and adjacent to the Israelites, who occupied the inland hills. Gath had been inhabited since prehistoric times and the conquering Philistines were all too happy to take up residence in a ready-made encampment.

Continue reading “The Search For Goliath and Samson” →