Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

INSIDE THE WORLD OF GOOGLE CENSORS

Michelle Malkin relates her experiences, and links to a major article by James Rosen in the New York Times titled "Google's Gatekeepers."   Remember, it is Google who owns YouTube.

A WOUNDED NAVY SEAL POSTS A MESSAGE ON HIS HOSPITAL DOOR

A heroic Navy SEAL, Lieutenant Jason Redman, penned the following note (below) on his hospital door to warn visitors, doctors, and anyone else who might have a sorrowful or negative attitude, that they should go elsewhere.  Secretary of Defense Robert Gates testified to being "lifted up" by the wounded he visited, including Lt. Redman.

WHAT'S IT LIKE LIVING IN A SMALL TOWN?

I haven't had any first-hand experience living in a small town, but Paul Gregory Alms does a terrific job describing what it's like.  He pastors a Lutheran Church in Catawba, North Carolina, population about 700.  A key word he uses to describe living in a small town is "connection."  I think a lot of us would be very different people if we lived in a small town, just as I think we'd be different people if we had grown up in a very large family.  I enjoyed reading Alms' essay.

THANKSGIVING DAY

Update:  Victor Davis Hanson tells us "This is a wonderful country and we are so lucky to be alive in the here and now in the United States.  So Lighten up this Thanksgiving–Carpe diem!"   His article is titled "Some Random Politically-Incorrect Reasons to Be Optimistic on Thanksgiving Day."

I consider myself fortunate to have come across this article. VDH writes of the United States in the context of the nations of the world and gives us reasons to be optimistic and joyful.  A mind-changing article.

--- The following is from Dr. Mercola's website:

The Power of Giving Thanks

• Change the World, One Thank-You Note at a Time
• Power of Gratitude
• Universal Values to Be Grateful For
• How to Be Happier with What You Have
• The Importance of Thank You

A Powerful Thanksgiving

• Reap Joy from this Thanksgiving Holiday
• Thanksgiving and the Stories We Tell Ourselves
• Thanksgiving How-To Guides
• TIme Management on the Turkey Day
• Top 10 Things to Do for Mom’s PC Over Thanksgiving

Me: I haven't had a chance to look at all of the above yet, but I did look at the last item and found it very helpful -- to me!  (My mother doesn't have a PC). 

WHO ARE SMARTER -- MEN OR WOMEN? (Humor)

Click here for a five minute entertaining (with some genuine insights!) video.

DISTORTING AMERICAN HISTORY TO PRODUCE SELF-HATERS

Mona Charen's article, "Giving Thanks for Genocide," laments "the current pedagogical fashion is to distort American history into something like a war crime."  She draws on Michael Medved's new book, The 10 Big Lies About America, in setting the record straight.

Me:  This anti-American phenomenon promotes national suicide, and it has been doing so for years.  It now takes determination (and often extra-curricular specialized reading) for a young person to retain -- or attain -- a positive opinion of the United States.

Update - Mark Steyn offers a few choice comments on a related subject,  "warts-only education."  Excerpt:

ADULT STEM CELL ADVANCES

The Family Research Council suggests more causes for Thanksgiving:

 As we count our blessings this week, consider what one field - adult stem cell research and therapy - is accomplishing for human healing:

Liver Repair. Doctors at Imperial College, London, have shown treatment benefits from using adult stem cells collected from the patients' own blood to treat cirrhosis of the liver. Three of the nine patients treated showed almost complete repair after 12 weeks.

Cerebral Palsy. Duke University scientists have treated a young girl for cerebral palsy using her umbilical cord blood, which the parents had saved. Two months after receiving her own stem cells, the girl is reported to have made a 50 percent recovery.

Windpipe Reconstruction. A Colombian woman whose windpipe was destroyed by tuberculosis received a transplant using donated tissue and her own adult stem cells to form the replacement organ. The international team that conducted the work included scientists in Italy and the United Kingdom and surgeons in Spain. The surgery occurred in June, there is still no rejection of the new tissue, and she can now walk flights of stairs and go dancing.

A MED STUDENT LEARNS HOW TO PERFORM AN ABORTION

Kathryn Jean Lopez over at The Corner links to an article in Sunday's Washington Post where a pro-choice medical student confronts her abortion "choice."  At the top of Lopez's post is a quote from the article which reads, "Vacuuming out a uterus and counting the parts of the fetus did not seem like a desirable way to spend her work days."  Me: I found the article excerpt (below) gruesome enough to make me wonder how anyone could ever perform an abortion.

On the day of the workshop, Christina wiped out the stock of papayas at a Whole Foods store. The man behind her at the checkout wanted to know what she was using them for.

A medical procedure, she told him.

Come on, tell me, he pushed. A suture?

Something like that, she said she responded. She was not about to get into an abortion discussion in the supermarket.

Bizarre as it might seem to perform an operation on a papaya, in medical school it isn't unusual. Fruit or other food is regularly used to describe things in obstetrics. A uterus holding an 8-week-old fetus is the size of a naval orange. After 12 weeks, it is more like a grapefruit. The uterus itself is shaped like, well, a papaya.

ALL MONOTHEISMS ARE NOT ALIKE

Stan Guthrie does an excellent job showing "how the apostle's creed can sharpen our dialog with Muslims." He demonstrates how the Apostle's Creed offers a shorthand synopsis of how the two faith's differ, and how serious and fundamental the differences are. 

"DID JESUS CHRIST REALLY RISE FROM THE DEAD?" - LEE STROBEL AT THE CRYSTAL CATHEDRAL

I happened to watch the Hour of Power on 11/16/08 and heard Lee Strobel preach a fine sermon on "A Skeptic's Surprise," which turned out to be a brilliant brief four-point argument for the historical factuality of Christ's resurrection from the dead.  The text of his sermon can be found here, and the video here.  Information on Strobel can be found here, and his own website is at www.leestrobel.com.

NOV 22, 2008 - THE 45th ANNIVERSARY (1963) OF THE DEATHS OF JFK, C.S. LEWIS & ALDOUS HUXLEY

John F. Kennedy, C.S. Lewis and Aldous Huxley each represented a distinctive worldview (secular humanism, Christianity and Eastern pantheism, respectively).  It's remarkable that they all died on the very same day, Nov. 22, 1963.

Dr. Peter Kreeft, Professor of Philosophy at Boston College, understands well the respective worldviews  each man held.  Kreeft wrote a fascinating and highly entertaining imaginative book about the three meeting and conversing after death.  It is titled Between Heaven and Hell: A Dialog Somewhere Beyond Death with John F. Kennedy, C.S. Lewis & Aldous Huxley.  I read the book years ago and it has recently been re-issued. 

Now Peter  Kreeft talks about the book in a National Review Online podcast.

Michelle Malkin - "The Insane Rage of the Same-Sex Marriage Mob"

SUMMER 2008 PUBLIC LECTURES FROM "CALVIN SEMINARS IN CHRISTIAN SCHOLARSHIP"

When I get a chance, I look forward to listening to the following lectures from Calvin College's 2008 Summer Public Lecture series.  Each lecturer is an outstanding scholar in his respective field.

Sir John Polkinghorne
“Can a Scientist Believe in a Destiny Beyond Death?”

Dr. Alvin Plantinga
“Science and Religion: Why Does the Debate Continue?”

Owen Gingerich
“The Divine Handiwork: Evolution and the Wonder of Life”

Richard Swinburne
“God and Morality”

MICHAEL LEDEEN ON IRAN: LEARN FROM HISTORY AND TREAT IRAN AS THE IMPLACABLE FOE THAT IT IS

Hillsdale College mails its Imprimis publication free of charge to anyone who wants it.  It's also available on the internet.

The October 2008 Imprimis carries a speech Michael Ledeen delivered on August 4, 2008 titled "Understanding Iran."  Ledeen sees Iran as an implacable foe intent on evil.  He advocates recognizing an evil regime for what it is and treating it accordingly, rather than putting hopes in talk and negotiation.  President-elect Obama, from all indications, will adopt the talk and negotiation approach to Iran. 

Ledeen:

They [Iran's regime] want us dead or dominated, just as our enemies did in the 1930s and '40s.  You can't make deals with a regime like that.

  Ledeen's article is wide-ranging and valuable.  Following are a few excerpts:

There is a striking tendency among people in modern Western governments not to recognize the existence of evil in the world.  My professional career has largely been spent studying evil . . . 

Ledeen has studied National Socialism and writes,

People from my generation studied these things because we were trying desperately to understand how men like Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin came to power, and why nobody saw it

DENNIS PRAGER - "GAY MARRIAGE IS THE NEW BLACK?"

Once again Prager clears the air with a superb article dissecting the argument the gay-rights movement makes seeking to equate the struggle for same-sex marriage with the Black civil rights struggle.  If people would read Prager's article, Proposition-8 activists would lose credibility and their movement would fizzle in short order.  It should be noted that Prager is a generous man, not in the least hateful or mean spirited.  Read the article.

CONTINUING VIOLENCE AGAINST CHRISTIANS IN INDIA

(1)  Expressing deep concerned about anti-Christian violence in India, U.S. Christian leaders penned an Open Letter to U.S. President George W. Bush 

(2) India's biggest radical Hindu group aims to wipe out Christianity through reconversions and violence.  Vijay Simha writes about the Hindu re-conversion effort. He describes the Hindu strategies, and the Hindu reconversion ceremonies as well.  Final paragraph:

The campaign to reconvert Christians to Hinduism is part of the overall RSS strategy to convert India, a secular nation, into a Hindu nation. The events in Orissa are only the beginning.

HOW OBAMA GOT ELECTED

Media malpractice.  Michelle Malkin provides a link to a fascinating (albeit disheartening) website - www.howobamagotelected.com - which features a video of interviews with Obama supporters.  If you wondered about the effect of the media on the general populace, your fears will be confirmed.

Note these statistics: 

512 Obama Voters 11/13/08-11/15/08 MOE +/- 4.4 points

97.1% High School Graduate or higher, 55% College Graduates

Results to 12 simple Multiple Choice Questions

57.4% could NOT correctly say which party controls congress (50/50 shot just by guessing)

81.8% could NOT correctly say Joe Biden quit a previous campaign because of plagiarism (25% chance by guessing)   (Go to page two)

RUSSIA ECONOMY IN CRISIS -- AND THE RUSSIANS ARE THE LAST TO KNOW?

The power of propaganda continues.  (HT: The Corner)

Subjected to more than a century of propaganda masquerading as news, Russians often seem to live in a different reality from the rest of us.

"100 YEARS OF WIT AND WISDOM" - G. K. Chesterton's Book "Orthodoxy"

The year 2008 marks 100 years since Chesterton (1874-1936) published his masterful little book, Orthodoxy.  GKC was a major influence on C.S. Lewis, and it was because of Lewis that I personally began reading GKC.  A couple months ago I posted Chesterton's perspective on the need for reason  to be balanced by poetry and imagination.

Today I noticed that Christianity Today has interviewed Lyle Dorsett (a C.S. Lewis scholar) on Chesterton.  The magazine introduces the interview with these words:

Since he published Orthodoxy in 1908, G. K. Chesterton has inspired Christians and challenged skeptics with his unique wit and wisdom. He delivered biting analysis still relevant today: "A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed." And he composed poignant prose that still touches the heart: "Love is not blind; that is the last thing that it is. Love is bound; and the more it is bound the less it is blind.

A few days ago I began a re-reading of Orthodoxy.  For any who may be interested, I have jotted down a few quotes:

MICHELLE MALKIN - "ROAD TO GOP REDEMPTION: ROLL BACK THE BAILOUTS, DRAW A LINE IN THE SAND"

This is a terrific, terrific article.  Malkin draws on an array of commentary, all of which makes important reading and makes enormous sense.  One commentary she draws upon is that of the Acton Institute and Rev.  Robert A. Sirico.  I am grateful for the clarity these sources provide. 

On page two I reproduce the Sirico excerpt Malkin included in her post (but she has many other important excepts from others as well)!

THE MEDIA GLORIFICATION OF OBAMA

Stanley Kurtz surveys the extraordinary media adulation in an article titled A Giddy Sense of Boosterism.   It's an interesting read.  (HT: Drudge)

SPAM - A HOT SELLER IN TOUGH ECONOMIC TIMES (AMONG OTHER CHEAP BELLY FILLERS)

The Hormel Plant in Austin, Minnesota is working double shifts trying to supply the heavy demand.  The New York Times reports (HT: Drudge):

. . . Even as consumers are cutting back on all sorts of goods, Spam is among a select group of thrifty grocery items that are selling steadily.

Pancake mixes and instant potatoes are booming. So are vitamins, fruit and vegetable preservatives and beer, according to data from October compiled by Information Resources, a market research firm.

“We’ve seen a double-digit increase in the sale of rice and beans,” said Teena Massingill, spokeswoman for the Safeway grocery chain, in an e-mail message. “They’re real belly fillers.”

Kraft Foods said recently that some of its value-oriented products like macaroni and cheese, Jell-O and Kool-Aid were experiencing robust growth. And sales are still growing, if not booming, for Velveeta, a Kraft product that bears the same passing resemblance to cheese as Spam bears to ham.

Spam holds a special place in America’s culinary history, both as a source of humor and of cheap protein during hard times.  (Read on . . .)

THE LEFT'S IDEA OF "TOLERANCE" - "I WILL TOLERATE YOU IF YOU AGREE WITH ME, NOT OTHERWISE"

The Chicago Tribune printed a fascinating story of a girl in a Chicago suburb (Oak Park) who decided to test the reality of "tolerance" among those who preach its virtue most vociferously.  (HT: Michelle Malkin)

Catherine Vogt, 14, is an Illinois 8th grader, the daughter of a liberal mom and a conservative dad. She wanted to conduct an experiment in political tolerance and diversity of opinion at her  school in the liberal suburb of Oak Park.

She noticed that fellow students at Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School overwhelmingly supported Barack Obama for president. His campaign kept preaching "inclusion," and she decided to see how included she could be.

So just before the election, Catherine consulted with her history teacher, then bravely wore a unique T-shirt to school and recorded the comments of teachers and students in her journal. The T-shirt bore the simple yet quite subversive words drawn with a red marker:

                              McCain Girl."

"I was just really curious how they'd react to something that different, because a lot of people at my school wore Obama shirts and they are big Obama supporters," Catherine told us. "I just really wanted to see what their reaction would be."    Read on for the result . . .  

MICHELLE MALKIN HAMMERS SEN. McCAIN FOR NOT CONDEMNING THE PALIN SMEARS

Great video of Michelle Malkin talking to Neal Cavuto.   I've got to hand it to Michelle Malkin.  She thinks clearly and speaks with the eloquence born of a mature, well-developed moral compass.  She has a lot to teach us all. 

OBAMA ELECTION TRIGGERS NATIONAL GUN RUSH

According to WorldNetDaily,

Gun sales have skyrocketed since Barack Obama was elected, and many gun owners say they are concerned the nation's next president and a Democratic-controlled Congress will impose a ban on assault rifles and firearm ownership.

From Nov. 3 to Nov. 9, the FBI reported 374,000 background checks on people purchasing guns – a 49 percent jump from last year. Dealers are reporting larger-than-usual sales since Election Day, according to the Chicago Tribune. The rush to buy weapons is more intense than in the days following Y2K and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.  [more . . .]

CAMILE PAGLIA CONTINUES TO BUCK THE "DEMOCRAT TALKING POINTS" ON SARAH PALIN

I posted on Paglia's positive, disarmingly readable views on Palin last month.  Paglia continues to see Palin positively.  In her latest post, Paglia says that Palin

. . .  has been subjected to an atrocious and at times delusional level of defamtion merely because she has the temerity to hold pro-life views.

How dare Palin not embrace abortion as the ultimate civilized ideal of modern culture? How tacky that she speaks in a vivacious regional accent indistinguishable from that of Western Canada! How risible that she graduated from the University of Idaho and not one of those plush, pampered commodes of received opinion whose graduates, in their rush to believe the worst about her, have demonstrated that, when it comes to sifting evidence, they don't know their asses from their elbows. . . 

I like Sarah Palin, and I've heartily enjoyed her arrival on the national stage. As a career classroom teacher, I can see how smart she is -- and quite frankly, I think the people who don't see it are the stupid ones, wrapped in the fuzzy mummy-gauze of their own worn-out partisan dogma. So she doesn't speak the King's English -- big whoop! There is a powerful clarity of consciousness in her eyes. She uses language with the jumps, breaks and rippling momentum of a be-bop saxophonist. I stand on what I said (as a staunch pro-choice advocate) in my last two columns -- that Palin as a pro-life wife, mother and ambitious professional represents the next big shift in feminism. Pro-life women will save feminism by expanding it, particularly into the more traditional Third World.

DENNIS PRAGER LOOKS ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF BARACK OBAMA'S PRESIDENTIAL VICTORY

Prager has wise words to offer.  (HT: HotAir)

DAVID BROOKS - GOP BATTLE LOOMS BETWEEN TRADITIONALISTS AND REFORMERS

Brooks thinks the Traditionalists (represented by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Sarah Palin, etc.) will win out in the short term because they have the money, current Congressional Republicans, and the  infrastructure.  He's not particularly happy about that since hs considers himself one of the Reformers (along with Ross Douthat, Ramesh Ponnuru, Yuval Levin, Jim Manzi, Rod Dreher, and Peggy Noonan).  Brooks' prediction:

In short, the Republican Party will probably veer right in the years ahead, and suffer more defeats. Then, finally, some new Reformist donors and organizers will emerge. They will build new institutions, new structures and new ideas, and the cycle of conservative ascendance will begin again.

Me: Is he right?  Maybe.  But I don't think so.  Furthermore, I doubt whether Ponnuru and Levin would be entirely comfortable with his label.  -- Aha, I was right.  Here is Yuval Levin responding:

".. The David Brooks column gets the basic picture wrong. I don’t think the notion of reform conservatism should be contrasted with or opposed to the views of the people Brooks calls the “traditionalists.” As I see it, the basic idea is to apply conservative principles and ingenuity to a

A MARINE QUIETS DOWN AN UNRULY LITTLE BOY - (Humor)

From www.mikeysFunnies.com and passed on to me by a friend:

As the crowded airliner is about to take off, the peace is shattered by a five-year-old boy who picks that moment to throw a wild temper tantrum.  No matter what his frustrated, embarrassed mother does to try to calm him down, the boy continues to scream furiously and kick the seats around him.

Suddenly, from the rear of the of the plane, an elderly man in a Marine uniform is seen slowly walking forward up the aisle.  Stopping the flustered mother with an upraised hand, the white-haired, courtly, soft-spoken Marine leans down and, motioning toward his chest, whispers

SUPREME COURT WILL DECIDE ON MONUMENTS ALLOWED ON PUBLIC PROPERTY

A major Supreme Court case will be heard tomorrow.  The New York Times carries the story, and the Family Research Council summarizes:

In the small Utah town of Pleasant Grove, a local battle over free speech has erupted into a  nationwide controversy over which monuments are welcome on government property. In Pleasant Grove, a large piece of red granite inscribed with the Ten Commandments has stood in a public park for more than three decades. The Summum religious cult believes it should be equally free to erect a monument to its faith and tried to donate a monument of comparable size to the city. When Pleasant Grove refused, a lawsuit followed.

Tomorrow, the U.S. Supreme Court will weigh whether the First Amendment entitles every group to erect a monument on government property. The Liberty Counsel, which is defending the town, argues that a ruling in the Summums' favor would result in something like a Fairness

SUSAN WOOD, PRO-ABORTION ZEALOT, A MAJOR OBAMA ADVISOR; MAYBE NEXT HEAD OF THE FDA?

The Family Research Council reports:

This week, as reports circulate about who the President-elect's appointments will be, the spotlight has briefly rested on Susan Wood, co-chair of Obama's "advisory committee for women's health."  Wood, who is vehemently pro-abortion, is rumored to be the next commissioner of the FDA. Three years ago, Wood was at that very agency, heading the Office of Women's Health. When her boss postponed a plan to make "emergency contraception" available to teen girls over the counter, Wood resigned in protest. She was outraged that the FDA wanted to delay sales until they could ensure that children under 16 could not access the drug without medical supervision. Under Wood's authority, the FDA would err as she does-on the side of abortion advocacy, not American safety.

Her influence in the Obama administration could also mean the end of pro-life measures in our global AIDS policy. In a speech, Wood claims the U.S. has been "going in the wrong direction" on PEPFAR. While leaders in Africa have universally praised Bush's emphasis on abstinence and monogamy, Wood hints that the new president will implement a condom-based approach "not just this narrow, political ideology." That would be bad news for Africans.

See also LifeNews: Obama Health Advisor, Possible FDA Nominee Susan Wood an Abortion Activist

COULD OBAMA'S DESIRE FOR A "NATIONAL SECURITY FORCE" LEAD TO A POSSIBLE OBAMA DICTATORSHIP?

--  Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga) expresses concern and is worried.  (HT: Drudge)

--  Update 11/11/08 - The PC Free Zone of July 16, 2008 reproduces Barack Obama's words calling for a civilian national security force.  That blog has also posted an enlarged picture of the "Obama Youth" poster (at right) which contains a Michelle Obama quote.  "Hot Air" has reproduced her entire quote:

Barack Obama will require you to work. He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism. That you put down your divisions. That you come out of your isolation, that you move out of your comfort zones. That you push yourselves to be better. And that you engage. Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed.

-- Update 11/12/08 - Ed Morissey warns against conservatives losing their credibility by jumping on fears like this which, he says, have little substance.

Nothing in that speech hints at a Gestapo-like organization at all. I’d agree that we have to remain vigilant at all times to ensure that the government doesn’t try to impose such a regime upon us, but this is an extremely thin reed to grasp for such a conclusion.

 
Saint Barack

L'Express is the French equivalent of Newsweek or Time. 

Translation:  "Barack Obama: The Man who can change the world"

The Brussels Journal cites a column by Jean-Michel Demetz published in the same issue that is, however, already expressing doubts:

We almost hate ourselves for spoiling such a planetary festivity. Everywhere one goes, there is amazement and sheer delight. The election of a young, black president, sexy, moderate, intelligent, is dazzling the world.

Not since John Fitzgerald Kennedy has a democratic leader aroused so much hope. Everybody is identifying with Saint Barack just as, yesterday, everybody mourned Saint Diana.

"OBAMA AND THE POLITICS OF CROWDS" - FOUAD AJAMI (With a personal comment on "original sin" by me)

What is one to make of the huge crowds that have turned out to hear Barack Obama, not only in the United States, but also in Europe?  Such adulation, and the hope vested in him by so many, I have never seen before in the U.S., and to be frank, I find the phenomenon ominous and chilling.  You can imagine how interested I was, therefore, to read an article by Fouad Ajami in the Wall Street Journal (Oct. 30, 2008) titled "Obama and the Politics of Crowds."  Ajami, a professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University,  grew up in Egypt and consequently brings an international perspective to the Obama phenomenon.  He begins his article this way (my emphases):

There is something odd -- and dare I say novel -- in American politics about the crowds that have been greeting Barack Obama on his campaign trail. Hitherto, crowds have not been a  prominent feature of American politics. We associate them with the temper of Third World societies. We think of places like Argentina and Egypt and Iran, of multitudes brought together by their zeal for a Peron or a Nasser or a Khomeini. In these kinds of societies, the crowd comes forth to affirm its faith in a redeemer: a man who would set the world right.

The whole article is well worth reading, but here are his concluding paragraphs (again, my emphases):

"American sobriety and skepticism about politics--and leaders--set this republic apart from political cultures that saw redemption lurking around every corner."

My boyhood, and the Arab political culture I have been chronicling for well over three decades, are anchored in the Arab world. And the tragedy of Arab political culture has been the

SOUTH KOREAN COURT UPHOLDS BAN ON ADULTERY

Asia shows the way.  It's sad the U.S. no longer provides worldwide leadership in supporting marriage.  Alas.  Click here. 

Gene Edward Veith knows Todd Peperkorn, the pastor of a Lutheran Church in Wisconsin that is used as a polling place. On election day, he put up this message on the church sign:

Rev. Peperkorn was forced by election officials to take it down.  Question:  Should churches be used as polling places if they are forced to modify their messages?  Original discussion of the question at Veith's website can be found here.  Rev. Peperkorn's website can be found here.  Both sites post a number of comments from readers.  One person suggested, "Just edit the sign. Simply replace the words 'Want Change?' to 'Sermon.'”   Another says "Keep the sign up.  They can find another polling place."  What are your thoughts?

HINDU MILITANTS MASSACRING CHRISTIANS IN INDIA

From WorldNetDaily (my emphases):

Christians who have been persecuted by Hindu militants in 12 Indian states could face more bloodshed after another Hindu activist, Rashtriya Swayamsevak, was reportedly shot dead by Maoists this week.

India's Communist Party estimates that more than 500 Christians have been killed by Hindu mobs in Orissa, 12 times more than official government claims of only 40 homicides. One official said he personally authorized "cremation of more than 200 bodies" found in jungles after Christians were blamed for the death of Hindu leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati on Aug. 24. They continue to be persecuted even though Maoists openly admitted to murdering Saraswati.

According to the Communist Party report, Hindu extremists may have used government machinery to "minimize the evidence and possibly destroy dead bodies."

Thousands of homes and churches have been destroyed, and tens of thousands of Christians have been forced to flee the violence. Mission Network News estimates 5,000 Christian homes have been burned, 200 churches ruined, 10,000 people remain in government-operated refugee camps, and tens of thousands are living in forests – many seriously wounded.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON - PREDICTIONS RELATED TO "THE AGE OF POST-JOURNALISM"

Here is VDH's perspective:

We have seen it all the last two years: Weeping journalists on election night; a journalist openly promising to help make Obama successful  ("Yeah, it is my job."); film takes of journalists cheering an Obama speech; the savaging of Sarah Palin and the hands-off treatment of Biden; soft-ball interviews and long puff-pieces on Obama as the young cool crusader;comparisons to JFK's Camelot, and on and on.

In the 3rd book of his history, Thucydides has some insightful thoughts about destroying institutions in times of zealotry—and then regretting their absence when there is a need for refuge for them. The mainstream press should have learned that lesson, once they blew up their credibility in the past election by morphing into the Team Obama  press agency.

    There will come a time in the year ahead when either Obama's unexamined past will come back to haunt him, or his inexperience and tentativeness in foreign affairs will be embarrassingly apparent, or his European-socialist agenda for domestic programs simply won't work. And as

VIDEO: PALIN ON THE LEAKERS - "THOSE GUYS ARE JERKS"

Gov. Sarah Palin:  “I never asked for anything more than maybe a Diet Dr. Pepper once in awhile.”   On the media:  "There have been some stinkers..."  Click here to see her 10 minute informal news interview with reporters in Alaska.

Note:  Matt Drudge reports that Greta Van Susteren will air a major interview with Gov. Sarah Palin on Monday night, Nov. 10th, on Fox News Channel at 10:00 PM.

Updates 11/8/08 - The Associated Press covers the story.   Also, Politico reports: "Palin Allies: She's No Diva"  (Me:  Good article!)

EPIC HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL CATCH

Have you seen the video of this fantastic football catch in the end zone?  Amazing.  I've never seen anything like it before.    (HT: HotAir)

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE "PROPOSITION 8" (PRO-MARRIAGE) WIN IN CALIFORNIA

Update #2  11/8/08  - Same-sex marriage rowdies single out Mormons

Jennifer Roback Morse explains what it means and what it doesn't mean.  Worth reading.

Update - The Family Research Council reports:

Not everyone was as jubilant about the gains for marriage as FRC and our supporters. This morning, FOX News posted photo after photo of the anti-family rioting in Los Angeles (where a majority of voters actually voted "yes" on Proposition 8), Hollywood, Santa Monica, and San

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH - A GRACIOUS MAN

-- Update 11/8/08 - In addition, see Jim Towey, "Why I'll Miss President Bush" - "The president's true character rendered his media image pure caricature."

-- Hugh Hewitt praises Neil Cavuto, a Fox anchor man.  Cavuto, in turn, praises Bush as follows:

CAVUTO: Well, he was classy, magnanimous, a gentlemen. . .  The president made a very classy gesture, offering only good words for the man who repudiated his run at the white house, but going one better, inviting Barack and Michelle Obama to the white house to see the place, talk about the place, and the pressures of the place, in private. These were not empty words. The president put a transition team in place months ago so that a smooth transfer of power could take place. President bush didn't have the same offer when he

TONY BLANKLEY OFFERS THOUGHTS ON "CONSERVATIVSM" IN AMERICA TODAY

Tucked into a larger, more wide-ranging article is this gem:

Conservatism always has been and always will be a force to reckon with because it most closely approximates the reality of the human condition, based, as it is, on the cumulative judgment and experience of a people. It is the heir, not the apostate, to the accumulated wisdom, morality and faith of the people.

Of course such a proposition needs to be defended and advanced, and that is the challenge facing conservatives in America today.

MASSIVE WAVES A MYSTERY IN MAINE

I found this article in the Boston Globe a reminder that the unexpected, the unexplained, the weird and the uncanny, can arrive "out of nowhere."  We don't know everything.  What seems consistent and "uniform" may not be so.   We cannot foresee all that can happen.  We live in a mysterious world and an even more mysterious universe.  It should make us humble.  (HT: Drudge)

Youth Sing the Battle Hymn of the Republic

 
Children and high school students do a magnificent job singing this great hymn.  The background graphics are outstanding as well.  (Note: The music is preceded by a written introduction  and a period of silence.)  Click here.

What happened yesterday?

Update:  National Review Online offers a symposium of views reflecting on the election and the state of the Republican party today.

Update:  Byron York offers a more lengthy and comprehensive explanation here.

--  Byron York offers one explanation - the Republican base wasn't that excited about McCain.

Election Notes

Update: - Senator John McCain offered an elegant, genuinely heartfelt, concession speech. 

-- Gov. Sarah Palin voting:

Mark Steyn comments:

I like this picture of Sarah Palin voting. Heavy on the Caribou, light on the Barbie. She didn't need to be dunked in RNC bling. And the more the campaign went on and the more she wiggled free of her minders, the better she sounded. If you've got organic style, you shouldn't be shoehorned into generic campaign issue. If the night goes the way it seems to be heading, the differences between the Governor and the campaign will be one of the most interesting parts of the GOP post-mortem.

-- Kay Hagin beat Elizabeth Dole in the North Carolina race for U.S. Senator.  Number of pro-life women in the next Senate?  Zero.  (Fact noted by Ramesh Ponnuru)

  -- California Gay Marriage advocates (re: Proposition 8) employ religious hatred in video of Mormons ransacking the home of a same-sex California couple.  In so doing, they achieve a new low-- vile in the extreme.  Anyone half awake should realize that homosexual activists are not noted for tolerance.

-- Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) loves the "Fairness Doctrine" that would choke conservative talk radio.  Here's the video.  Jonah Goldberg thinks Schumer's comments (that equate regulating pronography with regulating conservative radio) utterly moronic.

Gov. Palin Exonerated by Personnel Board

 Story here.   Update 11/4/08 - A thorough analysis of the various investigations, including the political motivations and injustices involved, are provided by Bill Dyer. I have reproduced his analysis on the second page.

OBAMA AS MESSIAH REVISITED

Has it come to this?

And in addition we have AME Bishop Cornal Garnett Henning comparing Barack Obama to Moses and Martin Luther King, Jr.   (HT: Drudge)  

PALIN DRAWS 18,000 IN JEFFERSON CITY, MO.

(AP)

"Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin walks down the front steps of the Missouri State Capitol building Monday in Jefferson City before speaking to supporters." (Columbia Tribune)

Gateway Pundit reported on the Sarah Palin crowd.  Noting that Sen. Joe Biden drew 400 elsewhere in Missouri, Gateway Pundit observed wryly:

And, once again the mainstream news comes out today with its latest report on how Sarah Palin is costing McCain the election.
Sadly, this has become the norm from the mainstream media.