QUOTE

"The far left doesn't feel a need to celebrate the birth of Jesus since it believes that there's no problem that can't be fixed by the welfare state."

Children's author Katharine DeBrecht

RAVI ZACHARIAS ON AMERICA, IRAQ, ETC.

Ravi Zacharias speaks on a variety of topics, including the situation in Iraq.

HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE?

Well, we have had a Republican member of the House Intelligence Committee who didn't know the difference between a Shiite and Sunni muslim, but the Democrats have gone one better. Now the incoming Democrat Chair of the House Intelligence Committee doesn't know if al Qaeda is a Sunni or Shiite organization. He also showed a lack of knowledge regarding Hezbollah. (This was a result of an interview by Congressional Quarterly).

This is discouraging--more than that even--it is depressing.

PRESIDENT CARTER'S NEW BOOK

I haven't read it (and am not sure I will if other scholars have similar problems with it), but it looks like President Carter's recent book, Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid, has sparked the resignation of a respected scholar from the Carter Center. He has a number of problems with the book from plagiarism to general historical incompetence.

IMMIGRATION DEBATE

One side of the immigration debate -- America needs highly skilled workers.

As I've argued in these pages, it is a disaster for the United States that we have so few H-1B visas available for high-skill foreign workers who want to become part of the American economy. We spend years educating foreigners, especially in technical fields, and then refuse their requests to work here. Instead we say "No, go back to Bangalore or Taipei and compete against us with what you've learned here."

It is truly insane from an economic point of view. America was made great by immigrants. The current nativist trends within both political parties, but especially the GOP, represents the worst of American narrow-mindedness and a complete lack of an understanding of history.