Josh Mandel Could Win Ohio

State Treasurer Josh Mandel is the Republican nominee for Senate from Ohio.  He is running against incumbent Senator Sherrod Brown.

Politifact Not Credible

National Review’s editors on that self-appointed arbiter of truth:

Maybe it’s liberal bias that explains PolitiFact’s blown calls. Whatever the reason, it is no good at distinguishing between truth and falsehood, which is to say at its professed mission. It should therefore give itself a “pants on fire” rating and shut itself down.

Read the whole thing.

Attempted Mass Murder at Family Research Council HQ

Last week, a man who volunteered at a “community center for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people” or “support center for the gay community” and “strongly supported gay rights” entered the headquarters of the pro-marriage Family Research Council in Washington, D. C., and shot a security guard in the arm.

The shooter, Floyd Lee Corkins II, upon entering, “told the guard ‘words to the effect of “I don’t like your politics.”’”  Glenn Beck interviewed a first-hand witness to what happened next:

GLENN: . . . you were actually there when the shooter came?

Did Obama Administration Really ‘Repeal’ or ‘Gut’ Welfare Reform?

Did the Obama administration really “repeal” or “gut” welfare reform?  A lot of people are arguing about it lately.

The short answer appears to be Yes, with qualifications.

Even at Slate, no right-wing rag, David Weigel writes,

Has the HHS “gutted” welfare reform?

It’s at least cracked open the door for the people who might gut it. . . .

. . . The only non-“gutting” theory I can come up gives HHS rather a lot of credit.

He links to Mickey Kaus (who he says “owns this beat”; whom Newsbusters describes as a “[p]ro-welfare reform Democratic journalist”), who writes,

Ryan’s Widowed Mother Started Small Business UPDATE BELOW

Bonus Paul Ryan fact:  Did you know that Paul Ryan’s mother, after the death of her husband, went back to school and started a small business, all while caring for Ryan’s aging grandmother?

Click for video.  Transcript:

When my dad died, my mom went back to school.  She went back to college, got a new skill or new trade, and then she started a small business.  My mom had three or four employees at that small business that she started.  We were taking care of my grandma at the time, she was going to school, and then she started this small business.

A Few of My Favorite Bible Passages

A friend recently asked about my favorite Bible passage.

Of course the whole book is non-optional!  I recommend reading all of it, and reading any part of it in the context of the rest of it (and in the context of Christianity as practiced by the church across times and places).  So without meaning to disparage any parts not mentioned, here are a few of my favorite passages:

“And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.”
Ecclesiastes 12:12

Romney Donated Inheritance

Did you know that Mitt Romney gave away his inheritance?

Even the New York Times, trying to give him no quarter, admits it.  The Times and Politifact try to say that if Romney’s parents helped him pay for college or his first house (more than twenty years before his father died), that somehow makes his statement only partially true, but it clearly doesn’t.  Politifact admits that Romney made his fortune himself, by doing an excellent job at Bain Capital.

‘FAQ on Christianity’

Frank Fleming at PJ Media offers a satirical FAQ about Christianity.  Sample:

How long have Christians been around?

While many people see Christians as a brand new and quite scary thing, records show Christians have been around since at least the 1950s, and maybe even much earlier.

. . .

So they’re like hipsters?

Yes, except everything they do is unironic.

Fleming reminds me a little bit of Dave Barry.

Mitt Romney Has Wife, Children

Did you know that Mitt Romney has a wife and children?  He and Mrs. Romney have been married for more than forty years.

Mitt married his wife, Ann, in 1969. They first met in elementary school when he was a Cub Scout; he remembers tossing pebbles at her when she rode by on a horse. When they met again years later at a friend’s house, he was smitten. Between them, they have five sons and eighteen grandchildren, who are the center of their lives.

Mitt Romney, the Person

It has come to my attention that some well-meaning voters are being influenced by certain narratives about Mitt Romney, put out especially by the Obama campaign, Obama supporters, and the liberal news media—e.g., that Romney is somehow inappropriately rich.  (News flash: President Obama is a millionaire, too.)

I would prefer that elections be decided more on the basis of candidates’ policy positions and job-related qualifications, but if personal narratives are what the voters want, who am I to say they’re wrong?  (I actually do think it makes sense for voters to take indicators of a candidate’s character into account, within reason, though I’d prefer that voters not take them from vague impressions created by the liberal news media.)

If You Think about It

“Well, I think inconsistency is a symptom of incorrectness.”

Mitt Romney Picks Paul Ryan for Vice President

Romney announced his running mate this morning: Congressman Paul Ryan.

A few days ago, when everyone was speculating about who it would be, I read National Review editor Rich Lowry in Politico arguing that, contrary to what some critics were saying, Paul Ryan could be a great choice, not least because he is the face of the desperate effort to save America from “the most predictable crisis in history”:

Ryan tops the Democratic target list for the offense of proposing serious reform of Medicare, as part of a budget that puts federal obligations on a sustainable path. It’s been a cardinal rule of Republican politics that it’s OK to talk about balancing the budget, so long as no one talks about touching the entitlements that drive the long-term debt. Ryan broke the rule.

Obama-administration Repeal of Welfare Work Requirement Unconstitutional?

Andrew M. Grossman and Robert Rector at National Review Online say that the Obama administration’s recent decision to repeal, by executive fiat, the core of the welfare reform of 1996 (the work requirement) is illegal:

Section 407 establishes stand-alone work requirements for state welfare plans that brook no exceptions. And Section 407 is absent from the list of sections that the HHS secretary does have the authority to waive. That alone proves that Sebelius lacks any authority to waive the work requirements.

Departmentalism and Obamacare

Law professor Eric R. Claeys makes an interesting argument in National Review Online about how to repeal Obamacare, and how the government should operate more generally:

The U.S. Constitution creates, and American politics operate under, a regime of constitutional interpretive equality — or, for short, “departmentalism.” Each department of the U.S. government has the authority to interpret the Constitution as reasonably necessary in order to exercise the powers the Constitution assigns to it.

Chick-fil-A Employee an Example of Love in the Face of Hostility from Weird Liberal

Still Didn’t Build That; Chick-fil-A

I know I already mentioned the Tumblr blog Didn’t build that .com, but this one made me laugh out loud:

Chinese Woman Example of Love, Protector of Life

She is pictured here with two of the children she helped rescue

Via Wintery Knight, the UK Daily Mail has a good-news story: