Friday miscellaneous (8/16)

In global news: Sweden is running out of garbage, a Russian man used a bank's tactics against it to obtain an interest free credit card, and a Chinese zoo disguised a dog as a lion (apparently it was the bark that gave it away).

Not that important global stories make it to the domestic cover of Time.

On the domestic front, Steven Hayward at PowerLine explains why this was a bad week for liberalism.

And in the bad housing market, foreclosures are increasing. However, it appears that some banks, rather than keeping a paper trail of ownership, simply make it up.

Last week we linked to the five rules of politics. Here are five more. (That's ten, for those who are counting, but I suspect rules in politics are like budgets--as long as we don't add them all up we can keep it to five.)

Here is a global map of political anomalies such as: Non-Sovereign Sovereign States, Imaginary State, Proclaimed but Non-Existent State, and Barely Recognized Puppet State. And speaking of maps, here's the entire history of the world mapped out.

We've written quite a bit on immigration policy, including a critique of Evangelicals for Biblical Immigration. Here's another critique of their theology:

And this is the biggest problem with the EBI letter. While it gives lip service to the idea that the Bible requires God’s people to act with justice, compassion, and kindness toward the aliens and strangers among us, the authors tie themselves in exegetical knots to avoid having to extend that kindness to illegal immigrants.

And speaking of immigration, were you aware that veterans are being deported?

Here's a paradox: the US, where violent child play is more and more restricted, has much more adult violence than Japan, where violent play is encouraged. And speaking of violent play, here's an article digging into the background of G.I. Joe.

Another paradox: Charles Spurgeon, deemed a strong theological conservative, was a political liberal. While Charles Wesley, whose style was more liberal, was a political conservative.

And John Medaille over at Front Porch Republic adds his very insightful contribution to the future of the Republican Party:

The advantage of being out of power is that it gives a political party time to think and reflect. Better yet, it gives a party the opportunity to fight, and to fight with its most serious enemy, that is, itself. And that is what is happening in the Republican Party right now, as they collectively reflect upon their plight.

Dr. Who fans can now explore the TARDIS in Google maps.

And finally, why don't we have more sports like this?