Friday miscellaneous (9/7)

Russia’s Vladimir Putin has let his preference for President Obama over challenger Mitt Romney be known.

The DNC convention was closed with a prayer by Cardinal Dolan, who prayed for … “those waiting to be born, that they may be welcomed and protected” and “a profound respect for religious liberty.” That must have raised a few eyebrows.

Jennifer Granholm, the Governor who left Michigan’s economy such a wreck (and therefore must be qualified to speak about jobs), gave an impassioned...something...at the convention. It keeps being compared to Howard Dean’s scream from several years ago.

Despite the enthusiasm of the DNC, there are still some weaknesses brewing underneath. Slate, a publication of the liberal Washington Post, published an article saying the attacks on Romney’s overseas bank accounts went to far:

You can fault Romney for laying off workers. You can fault him for exploiting tax havens. You can fault him for withholding his tax returns. But when you depict overseas investment per se as evidence of a candidate’s national disloyalty—when you quote the Bible at him, deny that he’s a patriot, and accuse him of selling out his homeland—you’ve crossed the line. You might win an election that way. But it won’t be worth what you’ve done to yourself and to this country.

And the New York Times also ran an article criticizing Obama’s competitiveness:

For someone dealing with the world’s weightiest matters, Mr. Obama spends surprising energy perfecting even less consequential pursuits. He has played golf 104 times since becoming president, according to Mark Knoller of CBS News, who monitors his outings, and he asks superior players for tips that have helped lower his scores. He decompresses with card games on Air Force One, but players who do not concentrate risk a reprimand (“You’re not playing, you’re just gambling,” he once told Arun Chaudhary, his former videographer).

His idea of birthday relaxation is competing in an Olympic-style athletic tournament with friends, keeping close score. The 2009 version ended with a bowling event. Guess who won, despite his history of embarrassingly low scores? The president, it turned out, had been practicing in the White House alley.

Forbes wrote that this article “might have killed President Obama’s re-election hopes.”

With this many political speeches in the past two weeks, everyone is a “fact checker.” But even CNN couldn’t quite accept the repeated 4.5 million jobs number from the DNC.

Vice President Biden, meanwhile, had his Secret Service van stolen on a campaign stop in Detroit.

Pastor Kevin DeYoung explores the topic of abortion in the Democratic and Republican party platforms since 1976. Historian John Fea also explores the same topic, noting that the Democratic pro-choice position became entrenched in the 1970s.

But enough about politics. Instead, imagine for a minute a giant knife fight between all the Presidents. Who do you think would come out on top?

Carl Trueman recently called the lack of historic orthodoxy among Christians the real scandal of the evangelical mind.

Harvard is currently investigating over 100 students for cheating. The class? Introduction to Congress. Seems fitting.

More people and organizations are distancing themselves from David Barton. Even the reconstructionist American Vision has criticized him. And a PHC history graduate wrote an excellent piece focusing on the danger Barton poses to conservative Christians.

Unfortunately, the agenda comes at the expense of individual souls. Students—especially the scholastically adept—are hurt very badly by the misinterpretations, misportrayals, mistruths. I barely survived coming across the knowledge, and there are many who do not. David Barton isn’t helping by circulating lies. Those of Christian-cultural influence must realize that we their children are not just bullets in the culture war. I’m not really much for the metaphor in the first place, but if we’re really serious about protecting marriage, life, and the Western heritage, we ought never to stretch the truth to get our way. Proceedings have already gone underway; it’s time to court martial David Barton.

And finally, speaking of revisionist history, have you ever considered the orc’s point of view?