Robert Spencer asks the question "Have You Been Ahmadinejadized?" in reference to Iran's President. (Try saying that quickly three times!)

A recent e-mail I received had the following "cow-based" definitions. I do not know the source. I got a smile. Hope you enjoy!

DEMOCRATIC
You have two cows.
Your neighbor has none.
You feel guilty for being successful.
Barbara Streisand sings for you.

REPUBLICAN
You have two cows.
Your neighbor has none.
So?

SOCIALIST
You have two cows.
The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.
You form a cooperative to tell him how to manage his cow.

COMMUNIST
You have two cows.
The government seizes both and provides you with milk.
You wait in line for hours to get it.
It is expensive and sour.

CAPITALISM, AMERICAN STYLE
You have two cows.
You sell one, buy a bull, and build a herd of cows.

BUREAUCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE
You have two cows.
Under the new farm program the government pays you
to shoot one, milk the other, and then pours the milk
down the drain.

Tis the season for the ACLU to attack Christmas. Will they fight to remove praying imams from the public airport, too? Muslim clerics, who disrupted a US Airways flight recently, want the airport to provide a prayer room. This raises some interesting questions:

• Where's the ACLU?
• Wouldn't devoting a portion of a government facility to prayer be just as problematic as a Nativity display?
• How can the ACLU oppose the display of a cross on public property in San Diego and not oppose dedicating a portion of public property in Minneapolis to prayer?
• If schools can't have a few moments for silent prayer by students, how can an airport dedicate a room to prayer?

Does anyone else notice the glaring inconsistency in the ACLU? (Or, the glaring consistency of opposing the accommodation of Christianity in the public square?)

Go ahead, say it -- "Merry Christmas." Janet M. LaRue gives the lyrics to "I'm Dreaming of a White Whatever" in a great article about the Christmas project. The project works to keep Christ in Christmas. Join the fight. Load up on ammo such as:

• U.S. law
• Opinion polls
• Clarifications of misconceptions

Then go out and celebrate!  And remember, the Alliance Defense Fund also has over 950 attorneys ready to defend Christmas!

The winter storm that hit the Midwest this past week led to reflections about electricity.

We were without power for nearly 48 hours. Ice snapped limbs from our trees and littered the yard. Thankfully, no damage was done to the house other than mangling the TV antennae.

Thank God for electricity! When the sun sets and the cold darkness presses in, discouragement weighs on you. There is nothing to do, unless you try reading to candle light or playing cards.

On the second day, I was blessed to be at Lowes (buying a chain saw) when a truckload of generators arrived. We bought one. That night, running just one lamp made such a positive difference -- the generator was also powering a space heater and some fans circulating heat from the fireplace.

The harnessing of electricity has saved countless hours of labor and allowed the human mind to pursue more creative activities.

Now that we have power and have restored the order of our lives, I will be blogging again -- oh, I may need to catch up on the email first!

Julia Gorin has some zingers for supporters of embryonic stem cell research. Her The American Spectator article "When Parkinson's Just Isn't Enough" makes some good points. Some spicier quotes:

• One would think that having Parkinson's Disease would be enough for a person. But apparently [Michael J.] Fox also wants a brain tumor.
• Remember: Guns don't kill people. Using dead babies for cures does.
• Although [Slate writer Michael] Kinsley and Fox can get their tumors through privately funded embryonic stem cell research (which has investors running for the hills), apparently it's that magic touch of government money that will make it all come together.
• How'd that be? A stem cell cure for homosexuality! If anyone is still gay after that, it's obviously a choice (tsk tsk!).
• Then again, perhaps the Democrats indeed might be our best hope for cures to debilitating diseases and paraplegia. After all, if they're able to raise the dead to vote again, they can certainly heal the paralyzed to walk again.

Be sure to read the entire article to get the reasoning behind the zingers.

Hat tip to Madelines Dad.

Would you care if a Congressman took the oath of office by placing his hand on toilet paper rather than the Bible? Certainly! You understand that the object used has meaning.

The first Muslim elected to the U.S. Congress, Keith Ellison, wants to take the oath of office by placing his hand on the Quran -- even though Jewish, secular, Mormon and other faiths have always used the Bible.

Does it matter? Dennis Prager argues persuasively that it does. Excerpt:

Devotees of multiculturalism and political correctness who do not see how damaging to the fabric of American civilization it is to allow Ellison to choose his own book need only imagine a racist elected to Congress. Would they allow him to choose Hitler's "Mein Kampf," the Nazis' bible, for his oath? And if not, why not? On what grounds will those defending Ellison's right to choose his favorite book deny that same right to a racist who is elected to public office?

Newt Gingrich, in a recent newsletter, gives eleven tests to evaluate the upcoming Baker-Hamilton report on Iraq. Here's a condensed paraphrase:

1. Does it see Iraq as part of the larger war against dictators (Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea) and fanatics (al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, etc)?
2. Does it recognize the occupation of Iraq has failed?
3. Does it recommend deep and significant changes to our institutions (military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic) to fight this war?
4. Does it describe the consequences of defeat?
5. Is winning the key?
6. Does it truly define victory rather than mask defeat?
7. Does it see the regional and global nature of the war -- reaching beyond the borders of Iraq and Afghanistan?
8. Does it see Syria and Iran as rogues rather than asking them for help?
9. Does it believe Iran is devious and that a deal with it is impossible?
10. Does it recognize that diplomacy has failed (for decades) and can't change the enemy?
11. Does it suggest a bipartisan (Democrats & Republicans) approach to victory?

According to this paraphrase of Newt's tests, the more "yes" answers the better. Any "no" answer points to serious flaws in the assumptions and recommendations of the report.

Newt also wonders what advice George Washington would have received from a similar commission prior to crossing the Delaware.

A Jewish man became a Muslim in college. Prayed for victory of mujahedeen. Then became Christian. Now helps the FBI. Read more.

Why was he drawn to Islam?

"We all grew up in homes where answers were not given to us, and we were looking for a sense of direction that we initially found within Islam," said Gartenstein-Ross.

Later he was recruited into radical Wahhabism. What led him to Christianity? A moved seperated him from the peer pressure of the radical Muslim friends and re-established a friendship with a Christian.

This fascinating video reminds us of what the telescope and the microscope reveal: a vast universe of incredible complexity declaring the existence of God.

Imagine the reaction if a man faced trial for converting to Islam and insulting "American-ness."

I know, only in the wildest imagination could conceive it.

Yet two men are facing trial for converting to Christianity and insulting "Turkishness."

Why do Islamic countries forbid conversion to another religion? Why do countries that developed from the Judeo-Christian tradition allow freedom of thought and religion? Food for thought...

Here's a short list of Town Hall blog posts for your holiday reading leisure. Most would fit the Faith & Family category.
 
Shack-Ups Hurt Kids

Be There

The Double Standard for Islam and Christianity

Whatmas?

Christmas isn't that far off...

The Left's fear of Christian influence in government and the culture betrays rank ignorance (or a boat load of guilt). Greg Koukl, in an excellent article discusses the real record of Christianity. He corrects misconceptions and points to the following accomplishments of Christians:

• Modern education grew from Christian efforts, both in America and where missionaries have trod.
• Christians fight social ills such as slavery, child marriage, and immolation of widows.
• Orphanages, hospitals, clinics and leprosaria are spread through Christian effort.

Kathleen Parker also has an article about a film project telling the story of William Wilberforce, the Christian member of Parliment who led the effort to abolish slavery in Britain

The frightening picture these facts must raise in the liberal mind!

The experience of most this Thanksgiving highlights a fundamental truth -- the traditional family must be protected from those warring against it.

Our Thanksgiving carried us deep into the rural heartland of the Midwest. So deep we were cut off from the internet, cable, even cell phone coverage – well almost. You could stand between the house and barn and get a signal.

The family gathered from five states -- babies, school children, college students, newly weds, young parents and middle-aged parents. All gathered to the home of the nearly ninety-year-old couple whose love and hard work had resulted in and blessed these people. That same love and dedication had been absorbed by each generation, who shared it with the next.

The day after, I read the following from page 55 of The War Against the Family, by William D. Gairdner.

The primal and inescapable natural family triangle – mother, father, children – is the most basic universal fact of our existence. Everything else is a familial or social complexity arising from this singular reality. …Each of us is born of a mother and begotten by a father, and is therefore bound within the natural family like a pea in a pod, each stamped for life with the imprint of this reality, which is the same for all, yet different for each. The natural family is thus universal – a fact too seldom emphasized – and it never changes, for the good reason that this primal life reality doesn’t change. In turn, the essential fact of and fundamental reason for the existence of the natural family in the first place is that it is the only entity in human history that has ever been dedicated, with utter partiality, to the nurturing and protection of children.

That nurture and protection was evident at our Thanksgiving -- people cherishing the babies, playing with the children.

Today, the family remains under attack. Some seek to redefine marriage. Others favor gay adoption. Many agitate for governmental policies that weaken the role and rights of parents, as well as increase the tax burden on young families.

These attacks, and others, must be thwarted. So thank God for your family -- and pass the political ammunition!

Mitt Romney declared that 109 Massechusetts legislators rejected the law and violated their oath of office.

Kathryn Jean Lopez has the details in a good article titled Who Will Protect Marriage in 2008?

Money quote from Romney: "Last week, 109 legislators decided to reject the law, abandon the Constitution, and violate their oath of office. For the Constitution plainly states that when a qualified petition is placed before them, the legislature 'shall' vote. It does not say may vote, or vote if its procedures permit a vote, or vote if there are enough of the members in attendance. It says 'shall' vote."