First of all, to any Democrats who happen by, congratulations on a successful campaign. May your candidate be as wonderful as you think he is.



You’ve probably heard about the near-tie between my senator, Norm Coleman, and an Anime character named Al Franken. Coleman ended up with just a few hundred more votes. A recount is mandated by law.

This is one of those situations where a voter can say to himself, “Good thing I got out and voted. My vote really does count.”

Except it really doesn’t follow. If somehow my vote gets disqualified, it won’t lose the election for Coleman by itself.

I guess it’s one of those “universalization” exercises you do in Ethics class. “If I break the rule, nothing will probably happen. But if everybody breaks the rule, bad consequences will follow. So I’d better follow the rule, even when I recognize that my own influence is negligible.”

But that doesn’t really satisfy me. Probably because I have low self-esteem, and should just avoid that kind of thought entirely.



I’m a little bothered by all the talk that says, “It’s a great day because America has elected its first African-American president.”

I can understand that black people in this country probably feel pretty good today, and I respect that. They’ve got it coming. It’s been a long time.

But it seems to me that framing it in those “significant because he’s black” terms is kind of… creepy. Like saying the man’s a credit to his race.

It seems to me, race is either something or nothing.

If it’s nothing, then it’s as meaningless when it’s seen positively as when it’s seen negatively.

If it’s something, then it matters as much when it’s seen negatively as when it’s seen positively.

And I don’t think we really want to have this discussion as a nation.

As you can tell, I didn’t get much sleep last night.

Marvin Olasky writes: “Abundance and ease dull our senses. Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance was common in the 1950s and early 1960s, when the United States faced great danger of nuclear annihilation from an evil empire that had hundreds of missiles aimed at us.

Some now say that the Cold War had the silver lining of pushing Americans to rally ’round the flag. But even if that were the case, let’s remember one thing: It wasn’t worth it. Depending on a balance of nuclear terror is no way to live. Only God’s grace prevented disaster, and we should never assume that God will protect us from all our folly.”

Still, we can pray “America, God mend thine every flaw. Confirm thy good in brotherhood, Thy liberty in law.”

I hate presidential election days.

I don’t want to follow the results on Fox News’ interactive map, but I can’t seem to keep away from it. And since we’re informed every year that it’s a shoo-in for the party I don’t subscribe to, I watch the map changes with a sense of dread. That dread hasn’t been justified for the last few cycles, but this year… I think it’s gonna be a squeaker. I wouldn’t at all be surprised if it ended up in the courts again. Obama may win, but I’m convinced it won’t be any blow-out. Call on me to eat crow tomorrow, if I’m wrong.

I voted bright and early this morning, in a crowded church vestibule with about a hundred other people, all winding around each other in six distinct but sinuous lines. The people in charge did a remarkable job, I think, in keeping some kind of order. We vote on paper ballots with those little Iowa Basic Skills ovals in this state. When it got to my turn in line, the volunteer told me the electronic ballot marker machine was available, “But it takes a little longer.” I figured that way I’d free up a booth for somebody else, and I planned to skip most of the judge races anyway (it only encourages them), so I used it. I think I figured it out.

I preferred that to standing and marking my ballot on a clip board, or sitting on a folding chair at a folding table, which a lot of people were doing rather than wait for a booth. I have this quaint idea that voting ought to be private.

If my guy doesn’t win, I promise to pray for wisdom for the other guy. I trust you will too.

But if you live in the west and haven’t voted, get out there and make that unnecessary!

Unless you’re voting for somebody I don’t like, of course.

Update: You know, with the proper blend of herbs and spices, crow might taste OK.



Update to Update: No. No, it doesn’t.

Have you ever been called by a pollster, human or (cue eerie music) inhuman? I have many times, lately it’s been robocalls. I can understand people saying they don’t believe the polls, but I don’t understand why they would lie to the polls, or worse, try to tell a pollster what they think he wants to hear.

If you were asked questions by a pollster, would you tell the truth?

In Georgia and Tennessee, we’ve had early voting for several weeks. My sweet wife and I votes last Friday, the practical option for her and a fear-based option for me. I had planned to get up early this morning and get to the court house where we vote by 7:00, but fearing a possible line or my inability to get out that early I voted midday Friday. The thing I hate most about voting is learning about a race for the first time when you’re in the voting booth (or at the stall as it is with us). I didn’t vote for one of the judicial candidates in my area because I’d never heard about the race, didn’t know any of the six names on the list, and didn’t feel good about sending up Hail Mary vote.

Anyway, tell us about your voting experience and whether you’re truthful with pollsters.

A man in Chapel Hill, N.C., had a bit of trouble keeping his McCain-Palin signs in his highly visible yard, so he electrified them and put a camera up to watch them. He set the shock low so no one would get hurt and posted little warning signs. A bit later: “A neighbor trotting up with an Obama-Biden sign, grabbing a handful of volts as he touched a McCain-Palin sign, then fleeing at top 9-year-old boy speed.” The boy’s father was upset, saying the boy just wanted to see how the signs were put together. Perhaps the kid carried an Obama sign sleeve with him all the time as a safety blanket.

Here’s a podcast with interesting research into the popular claim that half of all marriage end in divorce. Where did that figure come from and is it accurate? As you will hear, the research isn’t quite there.

It was a beautiful day. Nearly 70°. This is the end of that sort of thing, of course. It’s like when your girlfriend dresses up real pretty and wears her most expensive perfume so she can tell you it’s over; she’s met a Belgian graduate student who truly understands her needs. Not that that’s ever happened to me. I never did that well with a girl.

It occurs to me that I haven’t mentioned the New York C. S. Lewis Society here yet. No, that’s not true. I’ve mentioned it, but I don’t think I’ve linked to its site. So here’s the link. You don’t have to reside in Manhattan or its environs to be a member—me, I’ve been on the rolls since the early ’70s, and I’ve never been to a meeting. But they publish a monthly newsletter that’s very professionally done and well worth reading, if you’re the kind of person who wants to know just everything about Lewis. Which I am.

Our frequent commenter Dale Nelson is a regular writer for the journal, specializing in pieces about the books Lewis read and their possible influences on his work.

Consider this my unsolicited endorsement.

If there’s anyone out there who doesn’t believe there’s a God—consider this.

There’s only one big network not broadcasting Barack Obama’s infomercial tonight.

That network is ABC. They’re airing their usual program—“Pushing Daisies.”

That means that when I avoid Obama’s state of the art ego trip (paid for as it was by thousands of teeny little individual contributions from ordinary Americans named Mickey Mouse and Ben Dover) I get to watch the most entertaining show on TV. And millions of Americans who haven’t yet been absorbed by the Hive will get to discover it.

Surely this will lead to national renewal.



Here’s a poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. that I memorized years ago. I consider it a perfect thing of its kind. (The version printed on Henry Ward Beecher’s Wikipedia page is less perfect, in my opinion, so I’ll transcribe it here as I remember it):

Said a great Congregational preacher

To a hen, “You’re a beautiful creature!”

And the hen—just for that—

Laid an egg in his hat.

And thus did the hen reward Beecher.

It seems to me that anyone who had the talent and cleverness to write that single verse would have no alternative to being blissfully happy forever.

Right: That which is just, morally good, legal, proper, or fitting. “The personal right to acquire property, which is a natural right, gives to property, when acquired, a right to protection, as a social right.” – James Madison

“The right of the police of Boston to affiliate has always been questioned, never granted, is now prohibited…. There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any time.” – Calvin Coolidge

Opportunity: A favorable or advantageous circumstance or combination of circumstances or a chance for progress or advancement.

‘O opportunity! thy guilt is great,

‘Tis thou that execut’st the traitor’s treason;

Thou set’st the wolf where he the lamb may get;

Whoever plots the sin, thou point’st the season;

‘Tis thou that spurn’st at right, at law, at reason;

And in thy shady cell, where none may spy him,

Sits Sin to seize the souls that wander by him. – William Shakespeare

Need: A condition or situation in which something is required or wanted.

“We need not only a purpose in life to give meaning to our existence but also something to give meaning to our suffering. We need as much something to suffer for as something to live for.” – Eric Hoffer

Freedom: The condition of being free of restraints

“Freedom to learn is the first necessity of guaranteeing that man himself shall be self-reliant enough to be free.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

Liberty: The right and power to act, believe, or express oneself in a manner of one’s own choosing. Also, the condition of being physically and legally free from confinement, servitude, or forced labor.

“Freedom of enterprise was from the beginning not altogether a blessing. As the liberty to work or to starve, it spelled toil, insecurity, and fear for the vast majority of the population. If the individual were no longer compelled to prove himself on the market, as a free economic subject, the disappearance of this freedom would be one of the greatest achievements of civilization.” – Herbert Marcuse

Do Americans still believe that if a man does not work he shouldn’t eat, generally speaking? Do Americans believe that our current political rights are “inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness,” to quote FDR again?

“A wise and frugal government … shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.” – Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801

More like this at Sweetness & Light. (via Rush Limbaugh)