Political Cartoons by Gary Varvel

Townhall

Criminalizing Christmas Cookies, Candy Canes, and Crèches

Jeannie DeAngelis in AT "Eliminating depictions of biblical stories and characters does not go far enough for iconoclasts wishing to totally exterminate Christianity from American culture. Childhood memories embracing flavors, smells, and songs must be stamped out to fully purge even the most remote allusion to Christ. Every good heathen knows that peppermint candy canes and spray snow possess the power to jar Christmas memories and summon dangerous, offensive hymns like "Silent Night." " "Pagan Propaganda: The Other Attack on Christmas" "When addressing the notion that Christmas is a pagan event, we should first start with a very simple pronouncement. It is not. "

We're Staying, We're Praying; Get Used to It

Deborah C. Tyler in AT "There are three kinds of faith: faith in God, faith in oneself, and faith in life. Think of these as building blocks. When the United States was founded, the big block on the bottom of the pile was faith in God. However, something happened through the course of American history: The blocks got restacked, and faith in self, or egocentrism, settled into the first position."

Shameless Islamist Doublespeak Rages On

Pajamas Media "To English audiences, jihadists talk of ending oppression; to Arabic ones, they talk of oppressing the infidel." And the pacifists of the left are their useful idiots.

The War Over California

Ross Douthat , NY Times "The argument about what went wrong with California is really an argument about the future of America. To the right, the Golden State’s ongoing crisis is a case study in liberal failure: A big-spending state that lived far beyond its means, and let its public-policy priorities be dictated by the appetites of liberal interest groups instead of the common good. To the left, it’s a case study in how a malign nexus of conservative intransigence and institutional sclerosis can thwart good governance. The problem in California isn’t the spending, liberals argue: It’s the supermajority requirements that prevent a liberal majority from raising the taxes necessary to pay for it."

Arrogance, corruption, stupidity

Powerline Blog "Republicans didn't have the votes to stop the Senate's Obamacare bill this morning. But they had the better argument. Oklahoma's magnificent Senator (and Dr.) Tom Coburn spoke for a lot of us in explaining his vote against the Democrats' bill: '....This process was not compromise. This process was corruption. This bill passed because votes were bought and sold using the issue of abortion as a bargaining chip. The abortion provision alone makes this bill the most arrogant piece of legislation I have seen in Congress. Only the most condescending politician can believe it is appropriate to force Americans to pay for other people's abortions and to coerce medical professional[s] to take the lives of unborn children.' " Also here: The Culture of Corruption .

Imam Linked to Ft. Hood Rampage Believed to Be Among 30 Al Qaeda Killed in Airstrike

FoxNews In case you were wondering why all the flags around town were at half-mast. "A Yemeni official, also speaking on condition of anonymity to AFP, said those attending the meeting "planned to launch terrorist attacks against economic installations in Yemen, in retaliation for Yemeni strikes launched last week.""

The Prosecution of Rifqa Bary

Pamela Geller in AT (Blogger at Atlas Shrugs) "There is a war of attrition going on in the Rifqa Bary case. Rifqa is the girl who converted from Islam to Christianity and fled from her family in fear for her life -- and the Islamic machine is attempting to wear her down, grind her down by constant mental abuse. The persecution is so obvious, and yet so mundane that no one seems to take notice. The banality of evil."

Obama, Wow!

By DANIEL HENNINGER , WSJ "From the Wizard of Oz to Tiger Woods, the greatest danger to grand men is feet of clay. There are varieties of clay. For the politician known as Obama it is that if he is shown to be a cynic, he is finished. "Monopoly money" was an everyone-agrees-with-me remark. But to everyone, it was simply fantastic. The American people took a flyer on Barack Obama. If they conclude Obama is just the name of another lesser god, his fall could come as fast as his rise. "

Political Cartoons by Michael Ramirez

Townhall

In Other Words...

Ann Coulter "[Dana] Milbank was employing the MSNBC motto, "In Other Words," which provides the formula for 90 percent of the political commentary on that network. The MSNBC host quotes a Republican, then says "in other words," translates the statement into something that would be stupid to say, and spends the next 10 minutes ridiculing the translated version. Which no one said. Except the host."

Why Are We Tiring of Obama?

Victor Davis Hanson "...Bottom line: an academic sermon on peace/war with the now accustomed Obama characteristics:1) long again (4,000 words); 2) “I” or “me” 34 times: same old self referencing; 3) the inadvertent cosmic arrogance [“I do not bring with me today a definitive solution to the problems of war.” = you think?]; 4) straw men trope: some say this; others say that; but I uniquely say…; 5) reference to my own personal inspirational story; 6) trash my predecessor or his policies; 7) end with hopey/changey cadences.That was pretty much it — a pulpit exegesis that could have been cut to 500 words." And check out the list of gaffes Hanson adds.