UGH

That's all to be said about this.

So, we're all Keynesians now?

Not quite.

Christopher Hitchens takes on Bill Maher and the "stupid people" in his audience

Flicking off the audience and saying "F--- you" was a tad unnecessary, but I'd still say that Hitchens got the better of this little exchange.

The Year in Review

Dave Barry's take.

Read your Chesterton

Allen Barra has a nice little piece in today's Wall Street Journal about a man who has become one of my favorite authors - G.K. Chesterton. I read The Man Who Was Thursday and a good part of the Father Brown mysteries earlier this year, and really enjoyed them. I've also delved a little into Chesterton's Christian apologetics - Orthodoxy and The Everlasting Man, for example - as well as his biographies of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Francis of Assisi. All of them are very good and very entertaining. If you're looking for something to read this Christmas season, you might want to check out Chesterton.

How to know when it's time to leave the bar

Flowchart here.

Teddy Roosevelt

He may have been a good President and an admirable man, but he was not a conservative.

A feast of light

Here is Pope Benedict's Christmas message.

When you're a poet and no one knows it

Barack Obama tries to one-up Bill Clinton in choosing the worst-ever inaugural poet.

(Here's Maya Angelou delivering the poem she wrote for Bill Clinton's 1993 inaugural, in case you're lucky enough to have forgotten how hideous that was.)

Afghanistan: sometimes it's a hard-fought battle

Creative tactics have had some rather arousing successes, as the Washington Post reported yesterday:

The Afghan chieftain looked older than his 60-odd years, and his bearded face bore the creases of a man burdened with duties as tribal patriarch and husband to four younger women. His visitor, a CIA officer, saw an opportunity, and reached into his bag for a small gift.

Four blue pills. Viagra.

"Take one of these. You'll love it," the officer said. Compliments of Uncle Sam.

The enticement worked. The officer, who described the encounter, returned four days later to an enthusiastic reception. The grinning chief offered up a bonanza of information about Taliban movements and supply routes -- followed by a request for more pills.

Austin Powers on shoe-throwing

Obama and Rick Warren

In case he didn't already know it, the President-elect is quickly learning that many of his most fervent supporters have it as their life's purpose to be offended and outraged at the slightest slight. That Sen. Obama has pretty much told them to get over it is a hopeful sign that he will bring a much-needed dose of tolerance into his party.

Is it illegal to "sell" a Senate seat?

Eugene Volokh and Rick Hills ask some good questions.

Bush on science and religion

Some words of wisdom from the President:

Asked about creation and evolution, Bush said: "I think you can have both. I think evolution can — you're getting me way out of my lane here. I'm just a simple president. But it's, I think that God created the earth, created the world; I think the creation of the world is so mysterious it requires something as large as an almighty and I don't think it's incompatible with the scientific proof that there is evolution."

He added, "I happen to believe that evolution doesn't fully explain the mystery of life."

Interviewer Cynthia McFadden asked Bush if the Bible was literally true.

"You know. Probably not. ... No, I'm not a literalist, but I think you can learn a lot from it, but I do think that the New Testament for example is ... has got ... You know, the important lesson is 'God sent a son,'" Bush said.

Vox Day on multiculturalism

Who are the real "haters?"

Whenever anyone points out the undeniable fact that multiculturalism is a cancer slowly killing Western culture, it is customary for left liberals to angrily demand to know why that individual hates people from other cultures. But one need not hate anyone to prefer the continued existence of one's culture and society. A much more relevant question should be directed at the proponents of multiculturalism and immigration: Why do you hate Western society so much that you wish to see it destroyed?

Alabama Mosaic

I haven't checked this out yet, but it looks pretty interesting:

AlabamaMosaic is a repository of digital materials on Alabama's history, culture, places, and people. Its purpose is to make unique historical treasures from Alabama's archives, libraries, museums, and other repositories electronically accessible to Alabama residents and to students, researchers, and the general public in other states and countries.

The Birmingham News had a story about the site today.

The Brits have indeed gone mad

The Daily Mail reports that:

Muslim prayer rooms should be opened in every Roman Catholic school, church leaders have said.

The Catholic bishops of England and Wales also want facilities in schools for Islamic pre-prayer washing rituals.

John Derbyshire has some very flatulent remarks here.

Georgia, Sweet Georgia

Republican Saxby Chambliss has beaten Democrat Jim Martin by a landslide in the race for U.S. Senate. The first sign of a conservative backlash? We'll see.

How's this for big government

Across the pond, comfortable shoes are in such high demand among drunken women in high heels that the British government has now seen fit to provide them at taxpayer expense.

B'ham News: There must be a good reason why a state as poor as Alabama can afford to pay some of its university presidents so much

Oh really? Is it so they can sell the trustees on back-to-back-to-back double-digit tuition increases?

The future of DADT

Barack Obama's election has cast doubts on the future of the military's Don't Ask Don't Tell policy. As this debate heats up, it will be important for the new administration not to disregard the views of its military commanders. Like this one, for instance.