I posted this at No Left Turns.

We wait with bated breath for something more than these airy generalities from Keith Ellison, who, as you surely know, is our first Muslim Congressman.

Surely if hard questions can be posed to Mitt Romney and if deep suspicions about theocracy can be raised every time a conservative Christian speaks, we’re entitled to know exactly how Ellison’s faith informs his politics.

Should Ford Have Pardoned Nixon? - Captain Ed says no and I agree with him.

"Ford had good and understandable reasons for his decision, but it did short-circuit the one quality about America that had always made us different from other nations: our leaders were not above the law. In an era where we started to discover the worst about leaders such as Nixon, LBJ, and even JFK, we lost that sense of ourselves as a nation bound by its dedication to the Constitution and the rule of law. At that time, we needed a way to bind ourselves back to that to restore a national identity in which all could share.

I posted this, replete with links, over at No Left Turns.

"Chris Suellentrop has a very nice piece on the politics of crime and punishment in last Sunday’s NYT Magazine. Ranging from a discussion of largely secular scholarship on what works in preventing or deterring crime (unsurprisingly, swift and certain seems more important than harsh when it comes to punishment) to a consideration of moves on the religious right, largely prompted by Chuck Colson, to reconsider prison reform, Suellentrop paints an interesting picture in which faith-based efforts at rehbilitation play a large part. This has been one of the President’s signature issues, and also marks the career of Sam Brownback (unfortunately for him, the most Bush-like of the current crop of Republican con[or is it pre?]tenders).

This link is on Christmas on Flower Street in Kabul. The shopkeepers are happy because Christmas trees are bringing them business and helping them prosper. Christmas is nothing to them, but there are foreigners there now who need these trees.

"'I was amused when I saw trees with lights,' said 29-year-old Abdul Qader. He thought the lit-up trees were a new fad in Afghan home deco, but he later found out they were for Christmas.

Battle of the Bulge

I’ve never really been interested in military history. I’ve never even seen Saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers. When reading history, I’ve always focused on the political struggle and not the military. So while I have fairly good working knowledge of the political events of WWII, I have to confess a certain amount of ignorance as to the military details. Troop movements, battle plans, casualty figures, they all blur together. The benefit of this is that when I do learn something about past military battles, it is something “new” to me.

The Belmont Club had an interesting post about the use of propaganda by those we are fighting in Iraq.

No words

One security analyst I heard speak claimed that practically every insurgent operation in Iraq had a video camera unit attached, but until recently practically all Jihadi video was in Arabic. "Arabic is the language of the [Sunni Salafist] Jihad, and Jihadi videos were not even widely distributed in places like Indonesia or even Pakistan because they were in Arabic."

One of my pet peeves in politics is when elected officials use their position to grind an ideological ax, to demogogue, or to do anything that isn't remotely related to their constituents. I may have found an example of someone doing all three. And it isn't Cynthia McKinney.

As has been well documented, I am no fan of Cynthia McKinney and am thrilled that the voters of the 4th District in Georgia have decided that she must go. But Georgia State Rep. Len Walker has decided to follow her in footsteps by embarrassing his constituents.

Newsweek has a good article about the Iraqi economy and just how well it is doing, nothwithstanding all the violence.

Blood and Money

It may sound unreal, given the daily images of carnage and chaos. But for a certain plucky breed of businessmen, there's good money to be made in Iraq.

A recent study shows that the states with the highest tax rates are failing in the fight against poverty. The states with the lowest tax rates are reducing poverty. Take Colorado. It reduced its childhood poverty rate by almost 27 percent. Meanwhile, Rhode Island's childhood poverty rate increased by almost the same amount.

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During a Christmas reading, it occurred to me that someone taught Mary sex ed. Assuming Mary was a normal Jewish girl, should would have been 15 or 16 when Jesus was born.

Therefore, when the Angel appears to her in the first chapter of Luke, her response is surprising.

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"

(emphasis mine)

So this 14 or 15 year old girl knows sex makes babies and that she hasn't had sex. Pretty knowledgeable in the ways of the world, don't you think?

In the 21st century, people are agitated that about sexual education for kids that age, but Jesus' mother was hip to where babies come from.

Just something to think about...

UPDATED- Over at our blog, Page 132, my co-blogger MoLak-Jedi obviously pointed out that I've transposed my 21st century, middle-class American sensibilities to the rural 1st century community in Palestine - "Any kid growing up on a farm knows how babies are made. This is a far cry from the valid concerns over sex ed."
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