Hither and thither 12/24/09

It's Christmas Eve... and still, HT time. Don't feel bad for me, though; I get overtime for this.

• We might as well get this out of the way. As you slept, the ironically-named Democrats defied the will of the people and approved a bill few or none of them had read, a massive and arrogant power-grab further moving America from liberty to totalitarian state control. They've put two massive lumps of coal in our grandchildren's stockings. It leaves me wondering at what point one should pronounce America dead. My mind cast back immediately to the lament that pricked the consciences of many who still had not owned up to the horrid mistake they'd made in giving such power to such people.
• What to do? Where to go from here? That will be the subject of future posts, no doubt. For now, I find the statement of physician and senator Tom Coburn to hit pretty close to the mark. When you read the giddy celebrations of the "historic" nature of this vote, think of Coburn's words: "This vote is indeed historic. This Congress will be remembered for its arrogance, corruption and stupidity." Hear, hear.
• Enough of that, for now, except to say: nice Christmas-present, Dems. Nice.
  
• We have a Title of the Week, and it is: Man jailed for eating rare tiger. I understand people have individual preferences as to how meat should be prepared — my wife prefers medium-well, I like it on the rare side of medium — but jailing a man over it? Yikes!
• Probably true:

• What kind of an obsessive, anti-American, anti-Christian nutcase would put pictures of a mass murdering tyrant and sexual perverts on their Christmas tree? That would be whatever obsessive, anti-American, anti-Christian basket case decorated the Obama White House Christmas tree, as you can see shown and/or discussed here, here, and here.
• This should be interesting. The Coen Brothers — who brought such odd movies as Fargo, and O Brother, WhereArt Thu?, are remaking True Grit.
• It will surprise few of you to learn that one lone enviro-Druid "created or rewrote 5,428 unique Wikipedia articles" to make sure that the global-warming dogma prevailed.
• I don't know anything about this toy robot, but (A) the video cracked me up, and (B) you do not want your boys watching it anytime near Christmas!
  
• What you get when you hire a Zen sign-maker:

• [Written, obviously, before the vote.] One does tire of endlessly correcting hackneyed clichés, yet sometimes it is necessary. One is that, because (say) I see the Democratic party as a morally and ideologically bankrupt part, rotten to the core and not a good option for any Biblically-faith Christian citizen, and because I say that the GOP is the only viable party in which the Christian's distinctive values are sometimes welcome, then that necessarily means that I think the GOP is cool and pure. Oh boy, no. Regular readers already know better. But let me just say again, if this take on the GOP's plans to cave in the face of the abominable health care disaster Obama and the Dems are forcing on America is accurate, then the Senate leadership is spineless, clueless, gutless, and also other-essential-things-less, and history will view them with contempt. 
• As another Biblical Christianity Blog Public Service, I direct you to the candy-choosing flow-chart.
  
• In the Christmas links post, I referred in passing to the old fraud as "Santa Pelagius." Evidently it caught at least one reader's imagination. VcdeChagn emailed me to say, "I had my kids and their friends (ages 9-3) singing Santa Pelagius is coming to town today...my wife says thanks. Also, we have a board that we write on at night that glows in the dark. I always write a message to them after I put them to bed...I have attached tonight's ...It's been slightly photoshopped for clarity as the iPhone is not the best low light camera."

• This one's for my DAOD. But you can look, too. 
• Hey — it made me laugh:
  

• This surprises me. Mexico City has decided to redefine the word "marriage" to accommodate one particular ruinous sexual perversion. Weird, eh?
• Okay, now, this little linkie-winkie is not for your kiddies... unless you say it is. Half of you will think it's absolutely hysterical. The other half will want to check my baptism. I'll never say which half I am.
• (Oh wait...it's on my blog. Giveaway? Rats.)
• Who says there has to be only one kind of chandelier?

• Ever wonder how to clean your LCD or plasma TV screen? Wonder no more.
   (Hey — you could get one for Christmas!)
• It's not too late!!! Okay, it pretty much is. But regardless, here's a list of gifts for an iPhone lover.
  
• "Play-house"? Pah! Try "Play-mansion."  Do not let your spoiled kids look at these pictures. I warned you.c
• Some folks just have to show you how afraid of the roller-coaster they aren't.

• I'm in my fifties, and I still sometimes get a moment's faint fear when I'm about to commit my weight to an escalator. Do you? Then boy oh boy, this story won't help.

• Staying with kids, here's a depressing story: this girl can type 119 words per minute. And she's in fifth grade. That isn't the depressing part, not in itself. The depressing part is the link in the article, which takes us to a page where we can test our own typing speed. I took a test. Ouch. Took another test. Ouch! Then I stopped.
• Oh my. Question-title fail.
  

• Few things are more stomach-churning than to see some of the outworkings of "abortion logic." I warn you that there is nothing happy nor uplifting about this story, in which a mother cannot be charged for murdering her newborn child — because it wasn't a child. How could a full-term newborn not be a child? Because the umbilical cord hadn't been cut. (h-t Tim Bayly)
  
• Just hunh.

• Important Safety Tip:

• When Nuns Find Snow — Tonight on Fox!

• That's what I've got. Merry Christmas, dear readers. Now I have to run out for a last minute grocery-run.