OK, maybe we're not such a divided country...

When you take a look at that map of how counties voted in the election...well, there's an awful lot of red.


Peggy Noonan

Peggy Noonan has this to say in here editorial today: "George W. Bush is the first president to win more than 50% of the popular vote since 1988. (Bill Clinton failed to twice; Mr. Bush failed to last time and fell short of a plurality by half a million.) The president received more than 59 million votes, breaking Ronald Reagan's old record of 54.5 million. Mr. Bush increased his personal percentages in almost every state in the union. He carried the Catholic vote and won 42% of the Hispanic vote and 24% of the Jewish vote (up from 19% in 2000.)

"It will be hard for the mainstream media to continue, in the face of these facts, the mantra that we are a deeply and completely divided country. But they'll try!"

Noonan's article has good things to say about bloggers as well: "God bless the pajama-clad yeomen of America."

By the way, I love Peggy Noonan's style of writing and speaking. Both have a lyrical and melodious quality, very appealing. I keep saying I'm going to read her book about Ronald Reagan and I haven't gotten around to it yet.
Anyway, I'm "savoring" along with Peggy today.

OK, what is up with England anyway???

I've always been something of an Anglophile, at least ever since I attended a British school in Beirut, Lebanon when I was a little girl (Manor House School.) I read a lot of British books when my parents were missionaries. In fact, one of my favorite books as a child was a British book (click here to read about how I re-discovered it recently), and my favorite book of all time besides the Bible is Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre.

I love British dry wit, their way with words, the cadence of their speech--and I've always longed to visit their country.

But I'm horked off about their attitude towards President Bush right now! Give me a break.

Brian Reade of the Daily Mirror calls President Bush "a lawless cowboy" that will lead us "further into carnage and isolation and the unreserved contempt of most of the rest of the world." (Article here) Aarrghhh!!!


Cross-Dressing Grade Schoolers???

From the Illinois Family Institute Director's Report: "SOUTHERN ILLINOIS GRADE SCHOOL HOLDS CROSS-DRESSING DAY: BOYS ARRIVE IN MINI-SKIRTS!"

Not only that, but boys stuffing their shirts to create fake breasts.

After getting a complaint from a Laura Stanley, whose kids go to Carrier Mills-Stonefort Elementary School near Carbondale, IFI director Peter LaBarbera did some digging. Apparently, school officials are brushing it off as just a goofy fun day that was part of Spirit Week...but Laura Stanley isn't amused: "This is not what I want my son taught at school. Kids are already getting so many confused messages from the culture. Do they need to be further confused about sexuality?"

Says IFI director Peter LaBarbera: "Even if the school’s administrators did not set out to advance a gender-confusion agenda, we agree with Mrs. Stanley that telling youngsters to cross-dress--in school of all places--is just plain dumb. Kids are already steeped in false and unnatural sex/gender messages--with female pop stars kissing each other for kicks and 'transgender' activists suing schools for the 'right' of boys to come to class in a dress. In such an environment, the last thing we need is for schools to promote more confusion about the sexes and gender roles."

I agree, Peter.

Read the entire story here.

A Walk Down Memory Lane

Last night was a bit emotional for me.

Our church kicked off its annual Missions Conference last night, and the keynote speaker is Edgar Feghaly of World Wide New Testament Baptist Missions.

Edgar--or Eddie, as he will always be to me--was a teenager when my parents were missionaries to Beirut, Lebanon, in the late 60's. The Feghaly family, and Eddie in particular, became dear friends of our family during a time that is no less poignant in my memory for being so brief (March 1966-June 1967.)

Eddie had wonderful things to say about my dad from the pulpit last night, that brought tears to my eyes. (As I've blogged here, my father passed away this past July 28th.)

During his years pastoring churches in Beirut, Eddie and his family have had several close brushes with car bombers, snipers and the like, but God has preserved them and blessed their ministry.

Now Edgar and Rosann Feghaly have started a church in Baghdad, Iraq. I can't wait to hear more about it, and in fact I'll be interviewing Eddie for my radio interview program tomorrow.

A neat and very sentimental moment took place after church, when I called my older sister Beverly on my cell phone. She and Eddie had been good friends in Lebanon, but haven't seen each other since then. I told her someone wanted to say hi to her, and Eddie took the phone.

They had a great conversation, and afterwards Bev and I both got emotional. Talking with Eddie brought back so many great memories in which my dad figured prominently.

My dad truly loved the Arab people, and his missionary's heart never stopped beating until the day he died.