Custom-Made History.

Edward Rothstein observes how the curators of "identity museums", by pandering to resentments and grievances, are corrupting the telling of history.

The Digital, Social Networked Nativity.

A brilliant little video forwarded by a friend from Inside Catholic. Avoid Romans.

China Hijacks the Wind Energy Market.

There are consequences when the United States gives China a trillion or so dollars in net trade: the Chinese use that money to capture new world markets and push others out. One example is the wind energy industry. Just a few years ago the United States and some European firms were poised to explosively grow their wind energy markets in the U.S. and China (one remembers Tom Friedman's column on alternative energy being the growth industry for America). Cheap loans and land leases to domestic startup companies, provided by the Chinese government, along with onerous local content requirements on foreign firms have allowed the Chinese to build a world-competitive wind industry on the backs of GE and others. Now the Chinese are moving to capture the U.S. and European wind markets. Our government and our normally rabid anti-free trade unions have hemmed and hawed in creating an effective response to ersatz free trade as practiced by the Chinese.

On Being Irresponsible.

There are too many things we are told to do because they are important to other people and we have been gulled into thinking they must be important to us as well. Richard Feynman reminds us otherwise.

Green Shoots in Winter.

Isaiah 11:1-10

11:1 A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

11:2 The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.

(The picture is of a Bavarian ivory panel, circa 1200, depicting the Tree of Jesse. Image courtesy of the Divinity Library at Vanderbilt University.)

'Tis the Season.

For decades Christians have been hectored regarding tolerance for other religious beliefs or atheism. We wonder whether the self-proclaimed foes of Christianity and its traditional Catholic or Protestant expressions even understand its essence: the reconciliation of Man with God, Man's salvation through Him, and the spiritual transformation of Man by God. This Christian claims no more than epsilon of such understanding, but enough he believes to assert that no human power can bring people to God, but God himself provides this force (through the Holy Spirit). Christians can only bear witness to others of God's grace. Christians can best provide this witness through humble, pious and compassionate living. Tolerance for the religious beliefs of others is axiomatic to Christian life. (Perhaps some would accuse this Christian of advocating a "post-evangelical" life in the world; we think of it more as a "neo-evangelical" life.)

So it is too, during Advent that Christians rejoice at the coming of our Savior, and wish to express our joy of His coming to the world. What others make of this remembrance is for them to decide - Christians should, we believe, understand and accept this for the aforementioned reasons. All that this Christian would humbly ask is that the world not persecute us nor try to humiliate and shame us for our enthusiasm for Advent. In return we present Christmas to the world as a recess from the jungle of everyday living, a respite to provide a time for kindness and civility and love between people.

The poster shown above is a billboard now displayed near a busy thoroughfare an approach to New York City. It ridicules Christians for their beliefs. The spokesman for American Atheists recently stated, “this year, we decided to give the religious right a taste of what war on Christmas looks like.”

We do not understand how this billboard is an attack that is particular to "the religious right" - it appears to be a snide attack on Christians that is completely indiscriminate toward either the Christian "left" or "right". The American Atheists appear to claim that whatever a Christian's political stripes, they are unreasoning boobs for their allegiance to a myth.

So who is the party that really needs to demonstrate tolerance in religious beliefs?

Such a Feast!

This correspondent derives great joy in making the Thanksgiving Feast for loved ones. In particular we like to find recipes that pay tribute to the traditional board, but with a twist:

• Beer-Brined Apple-Smoked Turkey
• Wild Rice with Turkey Stock and Raisins
• Braised Spinach with Bacon and Onion
• Cranberry-Orange Relish
• Blackberry Pie

And a nap (completely traditional).

Thanksgiving 2010.

From Nathaniel Morton's journal of the Plymouth Colony:

...Being now passed the vast ocean, and a sea of troubles before them in expectations, they had now no friends to welcome them, no inns to entertain or refresh them, no houses, or much less towns, to repair unto to seek for succour; and for the season it was winter, and they that know the winters of the country know them to be sharp and violent, subject to cruel and fierce storms, dangerous to travel to known places, much more to search unknown coasts. Besides, what could they see but a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wilde beasts and wilde men? and what multitudes of them there were, they then knew not: for which way soever they turned their eye (save upward to Heaven) they could have but little solace or content in respect of any outward object; for summer being ended, all things stand in appearance with a weatherbeaten face, and the whole country, full of woods and thickets, represented a wild and savage hew.

If they looked behind them, there was a mighty ocean which they had passed, and was now as a main bar or gulph to separate them from all the civil parts of the world.

Lisa Heart Pork!

Presumptive Senator-reelect Lisa Morekowbell Merkofski Mooorrrkkouzky M%$#@*..ththt Myxlplyx Murkowski (R), citing Alaska's recent entry into the Union(!), has vowed to fight for her right to earmark taxpayer money from the Lower 48 for Noble Projects for the Last Frontier.

A list of these projects, all $80M of them for 2010, are listed here. Note that many of these are defense projects. The DoD normally specifies (earmark) all of the spending in their budget, so these projects presumably are those that Senator M. added as being, in her judgement, critical to the mission of our armed forces.

Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe (R), and Mississippi's Thad Cochran (R, and Earmark Champion) have also vowed to nip the ears of Porky, too.

(Visual: John Q. Public, wearing a five-dollar suit and straw boater, holding a deed to the Brooklyn Bridge. Caption: "You mean they lied to me?")

The Christian Student.

Stanley Hauerwas pens a superb letter of advice to Christian college students, and for the rest us, too.

Yeah, Cut'em Loose.

With the brouhaha over NPR's sacking of Juan Williams, we thought it might be worth calling the question: Is National Public Radio really public radio? Our thoughts on this consideration, from an earlier post, can be found here.

The Big Rolls in the Game.

The Center for Responsive Politics has tabulated the spending by independent organizations (i.e., not the political parties). Here are the totals:

Pro-GOP: $140.0M

• US Chamber of Commerce - $75.0M
• "American Crossroads" (Rovian Cabal) - $65.0M

Pro-Dem: $171.5M

• AFSCME - $87.5M
• SEIU - $44.0M
• NEA - $40.0M

In our local Congressional race, Democrat Mark Schauer has received about $1M from PACs, while Republican Tim Walberg has received about $270K, as reported by the CRP.

The Dry Rot at NPR Breaks Through.

Willie Geist and Mike Barnacle speak out about NPR's firing of Juan Williams.

For the record, here is the Google search tagline for Juan's NPR page, now removed:

Juan Williams, one of America's leading journalists, is a news analyst with NPR News. He also works on documentaries and participates in NPR's efforts to ...

Well, at least they used to think he was a leading journalist.

Heads They Win, Tails We Lose.

For the second consecutive year, Social Security payments will not increase. Federal rules require that COLA increases occur when the Consumer Price Index is higher than the previous year. However, when the CPI is constant or falls, SSI payments are fixed at the previous year's level' and increases do not resume until the CPI exceeds that level.

Until 2009 this prudent rule for Social Security had resulted a string of unbroken payment increases: the average SSI COLA from 2000 through 2009 has been 2.8%, while the CPI has increased on average by 2.6% over the same period. And everyone, particularly the AARP, was quite happy.

Then in the first full year of the Great Comeuppance the CPI fell, and SSI payments were frozen. Uncle Sugar Daddy has broken the bad news that 2010's CPI also fell 0.6% below the 2008 level, so that next year's SSI payments will remain unchanged. Now all Hell has broken loose in The Dismal Swamp.

The White House and Democrats want to ignore the COLA rule, and toss an extra $250 toward each senior, if not to buy their love, then at least to secure their vote. That's an additional $14B on the fiscal bonfire. But that's our kids' problem, right?

A Tax Gedanken Experiment.

N. Gregory Mankiw, Harvard professor of economics and confessed fat-cat, runs through the math of the proposed tax hikes, and finds that, combined with current tax rates, it will effectively zero out all growth in his next dollar.

Dust to Dust.

This scene from "F for Fake" tries to answer the question "and who stood here?"

Not Business as Usual?

Two nuggets in the news that add to the increasing pile of evidence that we are doomed:

1. A UAW chapter has nixed a deal to sell an Indianapolis parts plant that would have kept its doors open, albeit with lower wages and benefits. The opponents' rationale was that when the plant closes, many of the union workers will be able to transfer to other plants, keeping their current higher rates of pay. The unlucky workers at the plant who cannot transfer, all of the support workers at the Indy plant, and local merchants are, of course, left holding the bag.
2. It seems that majority taxpayer-owned General Motors has made over $90K in contributions to congressional campaigns, including those of Democrats John Dingell, Debbie Stabenow, and Republican Eric Cantor. To say that this reeks of "moral hazard" is to be polite.
   

Scooting to Insolvency.

An often-encountered TV commercial: offers for senior mobility scooters with where Medicare picks up the cost...

Scooters for seniors are a good thing, as is any medical technology or treatment that helps people lead more comfortable and productive lives. As health care becomes more entwined with politics, one can forsee the pressure for Medicare and Medicaid to pick up the tab for many, many good things like scooters. Ultimately someone must pay for all of these good things.

Taking the High Road.

Democrats will stick to the issues for the rest of the campaign, the NYT reports. Critical issues like their opponents' divorces, drinking, bankruptcies, philandery, lawsuits, kids' bad grades, and fashion sense.

So Much for Free Trade.

China is trying to bully Japan to give up control of some of her fishing waters by halting exports to Japan of technologically critical rare-earth elements.