Hmm, well, here’s a few links.

1. AFA/Obamacare … and standards of regulations not up to snuff, surprised?
2. A good answer to “Is God answering the prayers of Mr Tebow?”
3. A Roman Catholic physics joke.
4. Corruption and the White House, dear me, hmmm, is that change we can believe in?
5. A name change and subsequent legal difficulties seem related.
6. Blood libel and academia.
7. Theophany/Epiphany in ice and water.
8. Private schools for the poor.
9. Very cute.
10. Sudoku and some maths results.

Planned Parenthood is a "women’s health" organization only in the most technical of senses. Their 2010 annual report shows 329,445 abortions in all of the US vs. 841 adoption referrals and 31,098 other prenatal services. 91% of its services are abortions.

So never mind what euphemism they come up with, call it what it is; an abortion mill.

Good morning.

1. Stand your ground?
2. Bones bones bones. (HT)
3. Which is then followed by an extended late childhood.
4. Case in point.
5. Feel good vid for the day.
6. A peace a price too high?
7. Uhm, maybe, but COIN included a whole list of things which the armed forces were not the best provider but currently the only available resource.
8. Entrepreneurship.
9. Obama rolls out strategy for the future military. Some reactions from the Shadow folk, here, here and here.
10. Fast and Furiously covered up.
11. Social (?) mobility. How/why is earning in a dollar value equated with social status?
12. Killing fields.

Good morning.

1. Knee jerk misquote noted.
2. 1 Liter SUV?
3. Riffing on Talking Heads lyrics.
4. Fresh off of various blatherations about Iowa demographics, now we have New Hampshire demographics.
5. Not firing the little grey cells overmuch.
6. Back when newspapers didn’t assume people were morons they could have fun with infinity.
7. Considering the recess appointment. Although perhaps the lesson here is that the only people in the room being honest are those who don’t flip their point of view depending on who’s in power, which might explain the lack of defense for those move observed on the left, those who wish to criticize this sort of thing in the future remain silent?
8. What would Edison say? Uhm, how about AC power is dangerous! Everyone should use DC only.
9. So is IPAB Constitutional overreach?
10. Some unfortunate facts about patents and patent law.
11. What to do? Hmm, probably the same thing you’ll do going to your “Feminist Physics” or “Feminist Inorganic Chemistry” or “Feminist Number Theory” classes.
12. For your wall.

[Wow, long time, no blogging. But I’m back into a routine again, so here goes.]

If Bill Maher has lost atheist sports writers, he’s lost America. Sally Jenkins, writing in the Washington Post explains her puzzlement at him.

If God is liable to smite anybody around here, it’s me. When it’s smiting time, I duck, because I don’t believe in any religion that requires a building and loan payments. Nevertheless, I’m having a hard time seeing anything wrong with Tim Tebow taking a prayer knee in public. The knee seems a pretty plain and graceful statement, and it’s tiresome to see it so willfully misinterpreted. It’s the preachers from the top of Mount Idiot like Bill Maher who are hard to understand.

If you want to know Maher’s overriding philosophy on anything, you have to go back to high school and the stoner in the last row, surrounded by sycophants as he makes ugly cracks about his betters. That was the vein of the tweet that Maher chucked at Tebow on Christmas Eve, after the Broncos quarterback was intercepted three times in a loss to the Buffalo Bills. Maher wrote, “Wow, Jesus just [expletive] Tim Tebow bad! And on Xmas Eve! Somewhere in hell Satan is Tebowing, saying to Hitler, ‘Hey, Buffalo’s killing them.’ ”

Set aside the intriguing question of whether Maher would have the nerve if Tebow were Muslim. Or whether he’s funny. (He’s not, really. Monty Python is.) What’s more interesting is why Maher, and other political commentators from Bill Press to David Shuster, feel compelled to rip on Tebow simply for kneeling.

Based on the first 2 sentences, I’m assuming atheism on the part of Jenkins. If I’m wrong, I apologize. However, whether or not she is doesn’t really take away from the point that the press and others seem to really have a huge problem with one guy taking his religion seriously, rather than shutting it in the closet while he’s at work.

Ironically, these would be the same people who would (rightly) castigate Tebow for having an affair, or pilfering from teammates, or swearing up a storm; anything that would tend to be at odds with his testimony. And yet when he does things that line up with his religion, they still crack on him. You just can’t win with some atheists, eh?

Now understandably, Tebow is a public figure and some of this comes with the territory. I’m not saying that Tebow is beyond criticism. But you can go over the line, and I think Maher and many others have done that. Criticism is one thing. But just like there is a right way and a wrong way to tackle an opponent, a cheap shot is quite another thing altogether.

But why all this vitriol? Jenkins asks and answers.

What is so threatening about Tebow? It can’t be his views. Tebow has never once suggested God cares about football. Quite the opposite. It’s Maher and company who stupidly suggest a Tebow touchdown scores one for Evangelicals whereas an interception somehow chalks one up for atheism. Anyone who listens to Tebow knows he doesn’t do Jesus talk, he’s mostly show and no tell. His idea of proselytizing is to tweet an abbreviated Bible citation. Mark 8:36. He leaves it up to you whether to look it up. When he takes a knee, it’s perfectly obvious that it’s an expression of humility. He’s crediting his perceived source, telling himself, don’t forget where you came from. On the whole, it’s more restrained than most end-zone shimmies.

So why does Tebow’s expression of faith make people so silly-crazy? Why do they care what he does?

Because he emphasizes the aspect of his talent that is given, not earned.

And that makes people nervous. The reactions to Tebow seem to fall under the category of what theologian Michael J. Murray calls “Theo-phobia.” In his essay “Who’s Afraid of Religion?” Murray argues we’re ill at ease with intrusions of personal faith. We fear they could lead to oppression, or mania, or even prove us wrong.

Basically, when you shine a light, it points out how dark it really has been. Here’s a guy who’s thankful for the talent he’s been given, rather than thinking he’s earned or deserved it (and we have seen countless times how that attitude has become self-destructive). If you tsk-tsk when a player is found with a gun at a bar, how can you possibly belittle a guy staying away from that because of his religion, who’s publicly showing it and is thus asking to be held accountable?

You can belittle him, if you feel you have to, if doing so allows you to keep your feeling of superiority. If you’ve ever seen Maher in action, you know he’s got that. Which explains his animosity. If he doesn’t want to continue to look childish, he should just stay away from religious topics completely.

Good morning.

1. Well, church and state, or “how then shall I vote?”
2. New England greenery and the West coast transplant.
3. Skinny skinny gymnast.
4. Dicy ditching despicable over-regulation.
5. For that bullet proof party dress.
6. That thing called science.
7. So Obamacare expanded coverage and will also cut costs, and things like this will never ever happen. Riiight.
8. A book noted. Another one noted here.
9. Captioned for your edification.
10. Weight loss.
11. Iran and the gulf.
12. Freedom of press and speech, why the distinction?
13. Why vote for Mr Santorum, or at least one reason.

Well, holiday hiatus is over. Links?

1. Modern edukashun.
2. Economics and a clash of narratives.
3. Considering boots on ground.
4. Seeking to emulate the Norks.
5. Two sides of a question here and here.
6. Democrats moving to tea party sympathies?
7. The problem with the disillusionment is that it is accompanied by some notion that this outcome isn’t a design flaw.
8. No. Russia using drones isn’t the problem with “drones aren’t an act of war?” It’s Iran, or other non-state actors following that lead.
9. Damned lies.
10. OWS and a social psychology view. (tip of the hat).
11. Retail litmus test.
12. The meaning of a word: political.
13. “Selling like hotcakes” … have you seen any evidence of booming growth of, say, IHOP? Me neither. Perhaps he really meant what he said.
14. It means “return of Zune.”
15. A poster. Ride that bike dude!