Hither and thither 12/17/10

Last H&T before Christmas week. Have fun, kiddies, and remember the H&T constants.

• Okay, okay... got it! Wait! Waaaaaaaait.....

• Thank God — at the moment — for Republicans and public pressure: the $1.1 trillion pork-laden spending bill was defeated. It is a 1,924-page bill which no one read, which the lame-duck Dems led by Sen. Harry Reid were trying to ram through, including (I've read) something like $500 million in spending per page. But apparently some people took at least some dim notice of the election just over a month ago.

• But Reid is angry about it. He thinks it is his job to confiscate and spend other peoples' money as he sees fit, beyond Constitutionally-warranted bounds. (Shame on the Nevadans who left him in office.) So now he will turn his efforts to ramming through rewarding illegal immigrants by conferring citizenship on their children ahead of those waiting in line legally to become citizens, and forcing the military to embrace a particular sexual perversion. This could happen Sunday; ironic, eh? And here I must modify my earlier praise of the GOP: a disheartening number of GOP congressmen and Senators are working to betray our military and move us towards compulsory draft.
• Is this the most dangerous lame-duck Congress, ever?
• Wow... so snowflakes actually do look like that. (Thanks to reader Kristine Nunez for the link.)
• FRiend Elliot shares what lawyers spend their spare time on.
• Irritating story, happy(ish) ending: a man in Arizona was disqualified from redrawing electoral districts because he was a Christian. The happy ending is that the gent who blackballed him has resigned. The "ish" is because none of the other 12 objected to the blackballing.
• Here are some awfully cool gingerbread houses.
• So. See that chubby little kid over there? Looks innocent, doesn't he. Look again. He's not just a little butterball — he's a "national security threat"! Or so says Recognized Expert (?) Michelle Obama.
• Which isn't exactly true, to say the least.
• And besides, does anyone really believe that a fatter government will make for thinner kids?
• So you won't ever have to watch a zombie movie:

• Further on movies: Sonja found a person who edited (parts of) 270 movies from 2010 into one short video.
• Breaking news! Joe Carter is completely out of touch with what Christians actually read! (Adapted from a Frank Turk tweet.)
• A number of readers (of whom Michael Rosenbaum was first) noticed this Lego version of an ancient Greek machine.
• Reader Matt Klienhans found a WWII tale of a very different sort of aristocrats during a very different time.
• To make that special evening even more special:

• ...though not, necessarily, in a good way.
• Gil Sebenste found us a pretty amazing iPhone app called Word Lens, that apparently translates a foreign language in realtime using the camera, as you view it. The app is free, but adding the dictionaries is not — so I haven't tested it.
• So, the Red Cross in Britain instructed their 430 fund-raising shops that they could not have any displays or other indications that they are celebrating Christmas, for fear of offending Moslems. They can have a bit of tinsel, some snow, that's it. Interestingly, Moslems are quoted as thinking this is pretty ridiculous.
• Relatedly, nothing says "Christmas" like an eel-powered tree.
• More seriously, reader Keith Lamborn found a touching tale of one man's anonymous generosity during similarly hard times.
• Our worst ex-president, ever, felt it was time to tell the world that America is ready for a president who openly yields himself to the pursuit of a vile sexual perversion. (Does it still matter which one?)

• I've learned a thing about Sarah Palin. When she says something that drives liberals into a foaming rage and gives elitist twinkies the vapors, just wait. Eventually, she's usually proven right.
• Reader Laura Kelleher found a site with some valuable information as you prepare to ship your Christmas goodies.
• These are pretty great, in a secular way: 34 Christmas cards from George Lucas.

 

• Maybe for Kay's next birthday cake?

• Truly shocking news: Gallup finds that there are still 13% of Americans who approve of Congress. Who are these people? If we count up all of those who work in or for Congress, would that be 13%?
• It's embarrassing to admit to living in the same city as a state-employed woman who is suing McDonald's for their Happy Meals marketing. I can't see it as other than pathetic.
• Stark Contrast Alert. I in no way follow football, but I learned about Hunter Smith, a punter who was just let go from the Washington Redskins, because he failed to catch a poorly snapped ball, costing his team a tying point. His statement is worth quoting at length: "I don't want to make this too serious -- we are talking about football here -- but it is a moral duty on some level to tell the truth and to take responsibility. And I won't go off too much on my values and things like that, but I believe that I'm a part of a generation, really, the Lawsuit Generation. Everything is somebody else's fault. People that are my age -- and a little younger, and a little older -- want to blame somebody else, and they tend to want to self-protect. And I really reject that as a pattern of behavior, and as a pattern of morality. It's not how I'm going to live my life. When I make a mistake, I'm going to own up to it. And really, that's kind of what all this comes down to."
• Unsurprisingly, Smith is a professed Christian.
• BTW, and at no extra charge: do you know what would cut down drastically on frivolous lawsuits? The implementation of something like Deuteronomy 19:16-21. I'm for it. Seriously.
• Reader Robert Sakovich found an interesting story about a woman who jumped in to help a police officer who was in a scuffle. Her immediate reward was to be handcuffed when backup arrived; she was released. Obviously, I don't know all the details, but it's an interesting story, isn't it? This officer is rescued (A) from a 64-year-old man (B) by a woman. What is he going to be hearing in the locker room? Suggestions to spend more time in the gym, the dojo, and the shooting range, perhaps? Regardless, Kudos to the woman, who has some sort of faith in God.
• Blastr put up How to insult LOTR, Star Wars & Harry Potter fanboys with a single image:

• "Yogandledore"?
• Think that was weird? Pah. Look at this:

• All righty, then.
• We've lost Brad Williams for the rest of the post, so we might as well cut to the closing images.