Apple Bans Manhattan Declaration App

I was too preoccupied to notice this over the weekend. But Apple has removed the Manhattan Declaration app from its online store. They did so quietly, with little to no explanation. And Apple has been asked to reconsider.

I am a long time and usually happy Apple customer. In fact, I had a very pleasant experience returning a keyboard obsessed with the number 2 at an Apple Store on Black Friday of all days. It was very easy and hassle-free. And the store had almost as many assistants as customers. I was impressed. And, like it or not, Apple has the right to determine what will be in their stores.

But this decision reveals Apple management to be too much a part of that Left Coast bubble that considers orthodox Christians of traditional morality to be racistbigotnazihomophobes and just cannot understand why any reasonable enlightened person would think otherwise. I’ve followed the Manhattan Declaration and have signed it. There is nothing hateful about it.

I’ll go further. Ban the Manhattan Declaration, and you are banning me.

Apple may be hearing from me shortly.

An Advent Sunday both Glorious and Hellish

Yesterday morning I had the long awaited joy of celebrating Advent Sunday at Smoky Matt’s. The worship there was glorious as always. The sunny morning added to the atmosphere, sending sunbeams through the incense into the sanctuary. The music was excellent. I especially appreciated the very Adventy selection of hymns, including Lo! He comes with clouds descending - the Helmsley version, of course – as the recessional. Yes, I could only sing part of the last verse. Allergies made me teary-eyed, you know.

As for the sermon, I can get a good rant on about how the world has it all wrong this time of year. You observe Advent, then celebrate Christmas. But I have nothing on The Rev’d Fr. Dwight Douglass Duncan. His sermon contrasting how the world and how the church does the weeks before Christmas was a joy to hear.

So what was hellish? Driving on I-35 afterward to get home. Yes, I am a fool for driving I-35 south of Dallas on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. It took me 2 hours longer than usual to get home (and was fortunate it wasn’t worse), whereupon I crawled into bed and am still recovering this morning.

GAFCON Oxford Statement

The GAFCON Primates Council has issued a statement from their recent meeting in Oxford.

The most newsworthy section:

5. For the sake of Christ and of His Gospel we can no longer maintain the illusion of normalcy and so we join with other Primates from the Global South in declaring that we will not be present at the next Primates’ meeting to be held in Ireland. And while we acknowledge that the efforts to heal our brokenness through the introduction of an Anglican Covenant were well intentioned we have come to the conclusion the current text is fatally flawed and so support for this initiative is no longer appropriate.

So the GAFCON Primates make clear they will not abide --Schori’s presence at the Primates Meeting nor ++Rowan’s attempts to indaba that meeting. And we see the split in the Anglican Communion widen before our eyes.

---

I may take a brief break from blogging over Thanksgiving. I wish all my readers a pleasant and safe Thanksgiving and a blessed start to Advent.

+Peter Broadbent Suspended

Back in May, I mentioned that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Bishop Peter Broadbent and that he is “pleasantly straight-spoken.” Well, as many of you are aware, he has been a bit too straight-spoken concurring the upcoming Royal Wedding, creating not a little uproar. He has since made a clear and complete apology as is meet.

But that is not enough for the Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, who happens to be a friend of Prince William. +Chartres has suspended Bishop Pete from episcopal duties for an indefinite time.

How many Church of England bishops have spoken and committed outrages against the faith with hardly a slap on the risk? But Bishop Pete, a godly and orthodox man, sounds off about The ROYAL Family and gets suspended.

This suspension is not appropriate and is downright silly.

The Pope and Condoms – Fr. Hunwicke Explains All

Sometimes I come across a blog post that is so good, I must simply defer and exhort my readers to get thee hence. Fr. John Hunwicke’s explanation of the current controversy over Pope Benedict’s comments on condoms is one of those posts.

He explains well with an economy of words what the Pope said:

Having contemplated the BBC translation of the German texts, I see what the Holy Father's words mean. He is saying that if a rent-boy has unprotected sex, he is committing two sins: the mortal sin of homosexual genital intercourse; and the mortal sin of risking communicating a lethal infection. If, however, he uses a condom, while he is still committing the first of those mortal sins, he has to a degree excluded the second. By so doing he has, as we might say, taken a step in the right direction.

Then he critiques the Pope’s Secularist critics on this and other matters deliciously well:

Secularists are, even when they hold Oxford professorships, a generally dim lot ... dim because of a bigoted determination not to understand. They just want to ask blunt and unnuanced questions about "Is it All Right to use condoms?". Within this toddler-level mode of moral discourse, our Holy Father's simple statement of the moderately obvious is bound to seem to them like a "change in his implacable opposition to the use of condoms".

And he says more – and how! Like I said, get thee hence!

Christ the King Sunday – An Innovation I Actually Like

I am looking forward to the Feast of Christ the King this Sunday. And that is something coming from someone who has a tick that precedes “innovation” with “ungodly.”

And this feast is an innovation, instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925. Ending the church year with this feast on the Sunday Next Before Advent is an even more recent innovation.

So why do I relent in my cranky traditionalism and like it so?

I find it an appropriate end to the church year. For at the end of time as we know it, Christ will rule as king for all to see. He is king now, of course, but he is coming to take more full and visible possession of His kingdom – a theme which leads well into Advent.

Pius instituted the feast in part to counter the rising secularism of the 20th Century. And God knows secularism goes about like a roaring lion today. It is good to be reminded who really rules, to rejoice, and to stand firm.

I have fond memories of Christ the King in Oxford. The solemn Te Deum at Pusey House that morning particularly comes to mind. With the choir heartily singing Britten’s Te Deum, it was a rousing and appropriate end to the church year indeed. For those in or near Oxford, I recommend Pusey House this Sunday.

Abomination of the Week

Suggested Caption:
For the “Come as you are!” Eucharist, Mother Agatha vested in one of Grandma’s quilts.

In Praise of Not Getting Baptized

No, I have not suddenly joined the Salvation Army. But I did indeed do something unusual yesterday. I praised a 15-year-old friend for not getting baptized.

It had come to my attention that a number of youth at his large church are getting baptized, but he decided not to because, although he very much likes his church, he is unsure of the exclusive truth claims of Christianity. (Those aren’t his words, of course, but a summary of where he is at the moment.)

So I took the opportunity over lunch to praise him for his decision. That did surprise him a bit and got his attention. I pointed out that baptism is a sign of faith in Christ and in his death and resurrection and that if he does not have that faith yet, he should not get baptized. I said I very much hoped he would come to that faith someday. But that if he wasn’t there yet, then he wasn’t there yet, and should not get baptized. And I commended the honesty and wisdom of his decision to wait.

And I think that is a good approach to doubting youth. Too often, churches, whether they intend to or not, pressure youth to make “decisions for Christ” they really are not yet prepared by the Holy Spirit to make.

And such “decisions” can lead to deadly self-deception. We all know people who show no fruit of Christ in their lives, yet have “assurance” because they “came forward” or the like at a high pressure meeting. Or, among us Anglicans, those who disbelieve the basics of the faith yet, if confronted on that, assert with indignation, “I’ve been baptized.”

Better that we help youth to be sure about their faith (and have some degree of confidence in their faith ourselves) before encouraging them to receive baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The sacraments should be occasions of faith, not of self-deception. Obviously, priests and other church workers cannot read minds. There will always be those who receive sacraments in a faithless and unworthy manner no matter how careful ministers are in that regard. But we can certainly seek to avoid pushing people to do so.

So with youth and other seekers who are not yet sure about their faith, we should be there to love them with Christ’s love, ready to use every good opportunity to teach and to witness (as I cleverly did with the young friend’s decision not to get baptized) and to answer questions. But we should not pressure any to make “decisions” or to receive sacraments when the accompanying faith is not yet there.

And, yes, this issue is an issue when it comes to infant baptism. Unlike my pre-Anglican days, I am all for infant baptism when the parents are committed to raising their child in the faith. But a possible side effect, if you will, of infant baptism is the self-deception of “I’ve been baptized.”

And that is a side effect for which I have no antidote. With God all things are possible. But the witness of scripture and of experience is that those who have received the sacraments without faith are in a bad way indeed. Let us do our best not to push any into that way – even to the point of encouraging some not to get baptized.

Novel and Blog Update

Yesterday morning was a special one for me. I completed yet another a rewrite of my novel, Pilot Point. In addition to the excitement that brings, I hope to be able to spend more of my writing time and energy on this blog. Perhaps more thoughtful and creative posts are on the way?

As for today, I am quite busy. And the holidays are upon us. And I will pushing to get my novel actually published in the weeks and months ahead. (Please pray!) But for those patient readers who desire more reflection and less ranting from this blog, there is hope.

Well, I would not hope too much for less ranting.

Oh, but I just might post an excerpt or two from Pilot Point.

Taxpayers Get Shafted in GM IPO.

As if the Obama Administration has not ripped off the taxpayers enough already with the GM bail-out, the regime is doing it again. The feds are selling off their shares of GM in an IPO this week. And it is expected to go well.

But if you are thinking that you, the U. S. taxpayers can make back some money by participating in the IPO, you probably have to think again. The average guy cannot participate, and many brokers, including the one I use and Schwab among others, are cut out of the deal altogether.

So us taxpayers foot the bill for the GM bail-out, but we do not get to make some money back by participating in the IPO? That is an outrage.

And it is not only Democrats who have shafted taxpayers that way. I remember way back when the feds privatized Conrail in an IPO under Reagan. Although taxpayers subsidized Conrail for years, most, including me, could not get any shares in the IPO. I still have not forgiven Elizabeth Dole, the Secretary of Transportation at the time.

Maggie Thatcher knew how to do privatizations right. If Joe UK Taxpayer wanted shares in an IPO of, say British Telecom, he got some. And that is the way it should be. If your taxes went to bail-out or subsidize a business, you should get to participate in the privatization.

An important benefit of her policy: when Thatcher became Prime Minister, 3 million British were private shareholders; when she left, the number was over 11 million. She gave working people a real share in corporate profits far more than the Labour Party ever did.

But instead, the policy of the Obama Administration is to force taxpayers to bail out GM and its unions, then stiff-arm those same taxpayers in the privatization.

So how does it feel to get shafted twice over?


MORE:
Past GM bondholders are ticked, too. Behind one of the paywalls at thestreet.com, the normally mild-mannered Tim Melvin fumes:

The more chatter I hear about the GM IPO this week the angrier I get. As a former GM bond holder who took a haircut in favor of the government in the unions I have a question. If this deal is so successful how about you give me back some of the money you took from me and other bond holders against not just my wishes but the basic concepts of contract law? How about just a favorable allocation of stock to those of us who were dumb enough to lend the company money thinking the basics of the bond indenture and bankruptcy laws made our investment safe? Maybe I could flip my shares to all the taxpayers who are shut out of the deal in the aftermarket for enough of a gain of partially offset my losses!

And seeing how Obama favored the unions who helped bring GM down over the bondholders in blatant violation of contract law, I share his anger.

Whither the Primates Meeting? (Or Here We Go Again.)

There is not a little confusion in the Anglican blogosphere, summarized well here, about whether the Archbishop of Canterbury will convene the Primates Meeting in January and, if so, in what form.

One thing is somewhat clear. Rowan Williams is thinking (or has thought) about pulling another indaba on the Primates by having small group meetings instead of one big Primates Meeting. If he does so proceed, the GAFCON Primates must not allow him to pull that off with any success. For to do so would allow Dr. Williams continued success in two aims:

1. Dr. Williams has bent over backwards over the years to avoid disciplining The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada. This is a big reason he turned Lambeth into a big indaba. It is a big reason for his current deliberations about the January Primates Meeting.

2. Since the Primates Meeting has been the Instrument of Communion most desirous of actual church discipline (in part because it is not stacked toward the West like the other instruments), he has worked to undermine it in his typical passive-aggressive manner. Indabaing the Primates Meeting would further serve that end.

I therefore hope the GAFCON Primates require either that --Schori not be invited to the Primates Meeting or that there be a vote of the Primates on expelling her. And, yes, “require” means walking out or not coming if that condition is not met.

They should also insist that ++Canterbury’s continual undermining of the Primates Meeting end forthwith. Though there may be nothing wrong with small group meetings beforehand, disintegrating the Primates Meeting itself into small groups should be a non-starter.

Abomination of the Week

The Celebrant did his best to follow the godly example of the Presiding Bishop and ignore the vomit on the frontal.


Thanks to Bad Vestments for bringing this to our attention . . . I think.

A Pastoral Letter from the Bishop of Ebbsfleet

In the wake of his decision to resign his CofE bishopric and join the coming Ordinariate, the Bishop of Ebbsfleet, Andrew Burnham, has written a pastoral letter. +Andrew usually writes and speaks with a cheerful tone, and there are hints of that here. But this letter is a sad one, as is appropriate.

I am sad that I will no longer be able to have communion with Bishop Andrew. And that is one thing I abhor about the Roman Catholic Church. Yes, I know “abhor” is a strong word, and am hesitant to use it. I respect the RCC, have worshipped with it, wish it God’s best, and pray for it everyday. But if I were to fly to England right now, I could have communion with Andrew Burnham as I did with joy back in 2007. But after December 31st, even though neither his orthodoxy nor mine will have changed, we will not be able to have communion due to RCC strictures. And that is very sad . . . and very wrong.

OUTRAGE: Illinois Demorats Delay Seating Sen. Kirk

When Senator Mark Kirk (And I will say Senator and not Senator-elect because he is the legitimate Senator now.) was elected to Obama’s old seat on November 2nd, it was a special election to finish an incomplete term. Therefore he is to represent Illinois immediately in the pending lame duck session of Congress.

But Illinois Democrats are hamstringing that process. The state says they cannot seat him until after Thanksgiving due to paperwork. Yeah, riiiiight. And that even though Kirk won by more the 70,000 votes and his opponent has graciously conceded.

Since in the current lame duck Senate, Kirk could be a possible 41st vote to prevent cloture and stop Democrat legislation, this delay is neither trivial nor symbolic. It echoes Massachusetts Demorats’ delaying the seating of Scott Brown in order to assist the passage of Obamacare.

Mayrant takes the words out of my mouth. This is a great example of what I hate about Democrats.

Senate Republicans should not let Democrats get away with this. They should shut down the Senate for all but uncontroversial matters until Kirk is seated.

Five Anglican Bishops Resign to Cross the Tiber UPDATED

Five bishops in the Church of England have announced they are resigning in order to join the upcoming Roman Catholic Ordinariate. Their statement may be found here.

That CofE bishops were going to resign is no surprise although the talk over the weekend was that only two were announcing resignations at this time.

Andrew Burnham resigning is particularly not a surprise. He is has been quite open about his desire to cross the Tiber. Nevertheless, his resignation is a loss to Anglicanism.

I remember sharing breakfast with him at Pusey House (toast and jam, of course). He was relaxed, affable, straight-spoken, and humble, definitely not your typical bishop. In fact, it was someone else who informed me who he was.

I am still benefiting from his clear-spoken erudition as I read Heaven and Earth in Little Space.

The Church of England and Anglicanism needs men like him even if the Church of England shows little sign of knowing it.

MORE:
The blog of Sevenoaks, St. John the Baptist is following this matter closely. Among other things, there is an abundance of links.

Here We Go Again

What do Democrats do when they narrowly lose the voting? Why, find a “missing” bag of ballots from a corrupt Democrat county so they can win the counting! They pulled this off in Washington State to steal a governor’s mansion a few years back.

Now they are at it again in Connecticut.

Gulag UK Makes Children Pay

The past Labour government rammed laws down the throats of the British requiring that adoption agencies adopt to gays and unmarried couples. Let me be clear, Labour did not merely allow agencies to adopt to gays and unmarried couples, but required them to do so. The inevitable result was that Christian adoption agencies were given the difficult choice of somehow defying the law or shutting down. Many shut down. And now children are paying for Labour’s secularist orthodoxy:

Last year, some 4,655 children were adopted in England and Wales, 15 per cent fewer than the peak of 5,477 in 2002, the Office for National Statistics said.

The reduction, to the lowest level for 11 years, follows reforms intended to give couples from a far wider range of backgrounds the legal right to adopt children.

I warned almost four years ago that Labour was putting the gay agenda above the welfare of children. I am sad to say I was right.

What is also sad, outrageous really, is that the current “Conservative” PM Cameron also backed Labour’s gay adoption laws. So he, too, can hardly be relied upon to do the right thing in this area.

Meanwhile, children wait . . .

About That Other California Prop (and George Soros)

No, this isn’t about that pot prop. This is about Proposition 20, which I’m glad to say passed. Yes, California actually did something right on Election Day, man.

Proposition 20 has a citizen’s commission do redistricting for congressional districts. (That is already the case for legislative districts.) Why is that important? California’s congressional delegation is one of the most gerrymandered in the nation. Politicians have *creatively* drawn districts to protect incumbents and elect Democrats.

Ever wonder why California sends so many Leftists and loons to Washington? Well, it is California, yes. But gerrymandering makes it worse. The districts are almost as absurd as the congressmen they elect. Taking redistricting out of the hands of politicians should make the districts slightly less silly.

An interesting cross-section of groups supported Prop 20, including some left-of-center groups such as Common Cause and the CA NAACP.

Prop 27 was also on the ballot. It would have returned redistricting to the politicians. It failed, I’m glad to report.

By the way, George Soros supported Prop 27. As if we need more proof he is evil incarnate. Yep, he is still busy trying to rig democracy.

Voter Intent for Me, Not for Thee UPDATED

There is about to be one messy count of the write-in votes in the Alaska Senate race. But certain votes will not be counted:

Alaska’s Lt. Gov. Craig Campbell, who oversees elections, told the Associated Press that write-in ballots for Miller will be tossed out.

Campbell just happens to be an ally of the Murkowski clan.

Remember this when “voter intent” is cited to count all manner of misspellings for Princess Lisa.

UPDATE:
It appears Campbell is backing down and that write-in votes for Joe Miller will count.

A hat tip to Mark Levin's twitter feed for alerting me.

Another Carnahan Election Theft?

Last night, observant readers may have noticed my disdain for the Carnahan political family in Missouri. My contempt goes back to Widow Carnahan’s stolen Senate election against John Ashcroft. Well, the Carnahans may have done it again. Some St. Louis precincts just happened to come in late to put Russ Carnahan over in the MO-3 race. That after the Voter Verification System just happened to go down. And that after the St. Louis Board of Elections just happened to use Special Services, a security firm having a long relationship with the Carnahan family. Special Services indeed.

Now could these “just happens” be only “just happens”? Could this election be legit? Maybe. I don’t know enough to know one way or the other. But it sure doesn’t pass the smell test. And Ed Martin is contesting the results as he should.

Oh. And Robin Carnahan is the Secretary of State with responsibility over elections. Thank God she will not be a U. S. Senator.

GOP More Conservative and More Diverse

After last night, Republican office holders as a whole are more conservative and more diverse than last decade’s version of the GOP.

I am particularly glad to see we now look less like a bunch of crackers. Strong Black conservatives Tim Scott and Alan West are now congressmen. Hispanic Republicans Brian Sandoval and Suzanna Martinez are now governors. And Marco Rubio is Senator-Elect from Florida and a star already.

In a country where Obama and Democrats try to inflame ethnic divisions for political gain, last night’s results are a healthy development.

But, but, I thought us Tea Party Republicans were supposed to be raaaaacist. Apparently not.

I may further address GOP gains among Hispanics in a separate post.

Rossi-Murray Update

Although Patty Murray *spit* is still ahead, by 14,000 votes at the moment, the count in the Washington U. S. Senate is far from over, largely because of its mail-in system – a method that is asking for vote fraud. But anyway, here is the best explanation I’ve seen of where things stand, even if it is a few hours old:

With 65 percent of “precincts reporting” (nearly all voting is done by mail), Sen. Patty Murray (D) and Dino Rossi (R) are neck and neck:
Murray: 721,742 (50 percent)
Rossi: 707,481 (50 percent)

The remainder of the ballots will be counted in the next several days, but there’s no telling how long it might be before we get an official result. State law mandates a recount if the margin between candidates is less than 2,000 votes.

According to the Secretary of State, there are more than 508,000 remaining ballots to be counted. Exit polling appears to favor Murray slightly; she trails Rossi among independent voters by just eight points, which is less than what a number of pre-election polls had shown. However, the Seattle-area of King County, where Murray draws most of her support, only has 27 percent of the remaining ballots to be counted, according to County Election reports, even though King County accounts for 31 percent of all registered voters in the state. This could bode well for Rossi, as he leads confortably in most other parts of the state.

Yes, I was mistaken last night in saying King County was in.

Also, Buck is narrowly behind in Colorado again with 87.7% of the precincts reporting. I got happy too soon on that one.

Live on Election Night!

Well here goes with the live blogging. I can promise it will not be orderly. I will blog what most grabs my interest on this important night. And, remember, it’s my blog, and I’ll rant if I want to.

A few polls have closed, but no results that stand out to me just yet.
5:21pm CDT

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Something encouraging and possibly very important. Most of the indications I’ve seen so far today, which are admittedly very anecdotal, indicate that Republican areas have turned out to vote today more than Democrat areas.

Now come whispers that exit polls indicate that turn out gap may be more than anecdotal. I don’t rely on exit polls at all, but still . . .

In Delaware, the Coons camps has expressed concern about their turnout, for what it’s worth.
5:34pm

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The early House results are encouraging so far. As Nate Silver notes, the Republicans are kicking some rear in Indiana. And in Virginia 11, Griffith is looking good against Boucher so far. The fivethirtyeight cheat sheet has this as one that would indicate a big red night. Virginia 5 (Perriello-D vs Hurt-R) is very close so far though. And Republicans were supposed to pick that one up.
6:49pm

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Virginia 5 isn’t so close anymore. Hurt-R is up by about 10,000.
6:53pm

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Fox has already called Marco Rubio a winner in Florida.

That brings back one of those small memories that stick in the mind for some reason. I was out slowly driving down Flour Bluff when I heard the radio talking about Crist appointing a crony to keep the Senate seat warm for him. Crist winning that Senate seat was a foregone conclusion back then. And I felt resigned to that outcome. It put a damper on an otherwise pleasant night.

Wow, how things have changed. Crist is not just losing. Crist is history, he has so alienated people with his orange chameleon act. Good riddance. And thank you, Marco Rubio!
7:06pm

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Those of you who see the early returns from Texas 25 and Texas 27 and think Lloyd Doggett and Solobama Ortiz are going down, don’t get too excited. In 25, the People’s Republic of Travis Co. (Austin) hasn’t reported any numbers yet. In 27, most of the votes are from Nueces Co. where Farenthold-R would be expected to do well. And the returns are quite early in both.

If the Demorats do lose these, believe me, I will let you know. I will be more excited than a Pentecostal.
7:40pm

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Grrr. The State of Texas election site has gone down. Heavy traffic I’m sure.

And is it me, or is the Fox coverage boring and tedious?
7:46pm

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Whoa. Fox just called the House for the Republicans with a gain of around 60 seats.

FWIW, I am not that confident just yet.
8:13pm

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Well, NBC has projected a 58 seat gain. Hmm.

North Carolina is not participating. Don’t see any red gains there yet although Price-D vs. Lawson-R is close for now. By the way, David Price was a prof of mine at Duke. No, he was not that good.
8:23pm

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Toomey-Sestak in PA is worrying me. It would be sickening to lose that one.

I also fear America is becoming even more divided. Unless I’m missing something, the Northeast is not riding the Republican wave.
8:37pm

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Looking at Texas 27, I’m thinking if Solobama Ortiz holds on to his seat, he will have Libertarian Ed Mishou to thank – the idiot.
8:42pm

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In PA 11, I’m surprised to see Kanjorski-D go down by a substantial margin. He is a long time incumbent and not that obnoxious. Even I almost like him.

I might have spoken too soon about North Carolina. In the 2nd district Elmers-R vs. Etheridge-D is very close.
9:17pm

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Folks, I think Blake Farenthold will beat Solobama Ortiz in Texas 27. The early vote totals are finally all in. And Farenthold is up by over 4000 in those. On the election day vote, Democrat Cameron Co. has not reported. But only two precincts in Republican San Patricio Co. have reported. So it is looking good. This would be quite an upset.

Ortiz was first elected in 1982.
9:29pm

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In Nueces Co., Texas (Corpus Christi), two Democrat state House incumbents may be going down. One of them is Solobama, Jr. If the Ortiz machine would come crashing down tonight, it would be a beautiful thing.

But Solobama Ortiz, Sr. is doing very well in Cameron Co. Farenthold leads Texas 27 by just over 1000 with most of Cameron Co. still out. Most of San Patricio is still out as well and will offset some of the Cameron Democrat vote.
9:43pm

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Toomey just took the lead in PA! Up by 4000 with 85% in. 11,000 now with 89% in! Rural PA may be putting him over.
9:47pm

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House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt (D-SC) goes down. You think not actually putting out a budget might have hurt?
9:53pm

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Mark Kirk taking the lead in Illinois now. Maybe the Mafia won’t get a senator after all.
9:55pm

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Toomey’s lead is over 30,000 with 91% in. Yes, I am excited about this!
9:59pm

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Ugg, Fox projects for Boxer. California should be ashamed. Disgusting.
10:00pm

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Just heard Elko, Nevada is having trouble with long lines. I think Elko is Republican. So maybe a good sign for Angle. That Nevada race has me nervous by the way. Reid is not called Dirty Harry for nothing.

As for Texas 27, the results seem stuck. I haven’t noticed new numbers in almost a half hour. The Libertarian has just under 5% of the vote. Again, if Solobama Ortiz squeaks through, you know whom to thank.

I doubt I will sleep well tonight.
10:20pm

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I haven’t said much about it, but I soooooo want Patty Murray beat. I have detested that baby-killing Leftist for decades. *calms down* Having said that, she is ahead by over 40,000, but King County (Seattle) has already reported. So there is hope.
10:37pm

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Wow. Kasich came from behind to win the Ohio Governor’s race.

In MO-3, Ed Martin has pulled narrowly ahead of Russ Carnahan. Robin Carnahan got beat in the Senate race. I would love to see the sleazy Carnahan family wiped off the political map.
10:56pm

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FINALLY, some more numbers came in on Texas 27. The good news: Farenthold has increased his lead some to over 2000 votes. The bad news: San Patricio is all in, and no new numbers have come in from Democrat Cameron Co. And this is South Texas folks. Remember Duval Co. and Landslide Lyndon? Democrat Counties which are slow to report make me nervous.
11:02pm

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Fox has joined AP in calling PA for Toomey. Yea!
11:12pm

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Democrat State Reps Abel Herrero and Solobama Ortiz, Jr. have indeed been beat in Corpus Christi, Texas.

And Fox has called Illinois for Mark Kirk (R) over Giannoulias (Mafia). That was Obama’s seat. Rove rightly points out that Illinois Democrats have only themselves to blame for not holding a special election earlier when Obama was more popular.
11:20pm

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Fox projects Nevada for Harry Reid. Disgusting.
11:30pm

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Russ Carnahan (Scumbag) has pulled 500 votes ahead of Ed Martin in MO-3 with 97.1% in.

I don’t trust myself to comment further on that at the moment.
11:34pm

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By the way, I will personally fight a bail-out of California tooth and nail. They keep electing big spending liberals and expect us to pay for their profligate ways? To hell with that.
11:41pm

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Well, I’m going to bed I think. Cameron Co. is still out in that TX-27 I’m sad to say.

But to end on a happy note, Buck has pulled ahead in Colorado as the rural AMERICAN votes are coming. For a while there, he, Kirk, and Toomey looked to be in trouble. It looks like all three are pulling through.

Hold on. . . .

BREAKING: According to the Texas State site, all precincts are now in and BLAKE FARENTHOLD HAS BEATEN SOLOBAMA ORTIZ in Texas 27! With Solobama Jr. losing earlier tonight, the Ortiz Machine has come crashing down!! I’m going to sniff around and verify. . .
11:57pm

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Yes, every precinct has indeed reported and Black Farenthold just tweeted, “Its official. I won by 799 votes. Thank you everyone!”

What a sweet upset! I will sleep well after all.
12:01am

Eugene Robinson Plays the Race Card

Wow, even now that it’s election day, Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post has not gotten the word that the race card is maxed out. Or maybe he does get it in a way. For he plays the race card while feebly trying to appear he is not:

First, I'll state the obvious: It's not racist to criticize President Obama, it's not racist to have conservative views, and it's not racist to join the tea party. But . . .

Here it comes!

. . . there's something about the nature and tone of the most vitriolic attacks on the president that I believe is distinctive -- and difficult to explain without asking whether race is playing a role.

Gosh. I wonder what he will conclude.

Obama has made mistakes that rightly cost him political support. But I can't help believing that the tea party's rise was partly due to circumstances beyond his control -- that he's different from other presidents, and that the difference is his race.

RAAAAAAACISM! Uh, huh.

The Democrats are in denial mode.


MORE:
Victor Hanson takes apart Robinson’s column quite well.

Jonah Goldberg declares it the worst column of the day.

Obama: I “probably” should not have called you “enemies.”

Obama has backed away from his “punish our enemies” comment . . . sorta, kinda: “I probably should have used the word, ‘opponents’ instead of enemies.”

Gosh, you think?

His comment shows he still does not get it how offensive, unpresidential, and inappropriate “punish our enemies” is when referring to patriotic Americans. He thinks he “probably” should not have said that?

His backtracking is weasel words. It is hardly the apology that is called for. And I, for one, will not accept it as such.

And if you think I am hard on “our divisive president,” read what two Democrats have to say.

Political Bloodbath Election Preview

Well, tomorrow is the big day. Frankly, I’ve been as anxious as a kid waiting for Christmas.

And my long-standing prediction of a political bloodbath is looking good. Further, I think matters have gone from bad to worse in the final week for the Democrats. I say that after looking at notable slippage in Obama’s numbers and in a number of individual races. And the last Gallup Poll hints at apocalypse. I think Obama running around and declaring “enemies” and various other Democrat acts of desperation (such as trying to push Meek out of the Florida Senate race) and vote fraud have deepened national revulsion as the campaign concludes.

I may live blog the results tomorrow night. Yes, you may get to watch me rant, agonize, and perhaps even gloat live as it happens. Yes, I know – exciting, tortuous, entertaining or horrifying depending on your point of view.

For those who want something more orderly, a scorecard even, for watching tomorrow night, this cheat sheet may helpful in tracking House returns.

Murkowski, Media Scum Exposed

This has been an eventful weekend in Alaska. First, reporters at a CBS affiliate have been caught plotting against Republican candidate Joe Miller in the most vile way for all the world to hear. Amidst a firestorm, the CBS affiliate’s explanation is lame.

Second, RINO write-in Senator Lisa Murkowski has revealed she might not even be a RINO anymore. She has declined to commit to caucusing with Republicans. Another reminder that the Princess has no principles.

I was very nervous about this Senate race. But I now think disgust at these developments will push Joe Miller to victory. It certainly should.