Responding to the Election

Mark Roberts has posted a wonderful short series entitled "Presidential Election Results: A Christian Response."

W Stands for "Win"

I thought John Kerry gave a noble concession address.



President Bush:

• Became the first President to be re-elected while gaining seats in the House and Senate since 1936 and the first Republican President since 1924 to be re-elected while re-electing Republican House and Senate majorities.
• Became the first President to win a majority of the popular vote since 1988.
• Received 57.4 million votes - more than any other candidate in history. He broke President Reagan's 1984 mark of 54.5 million. (96% reporting)
• Increased the popular vote by seven million votes since 2000 - more than twice Clinton's increase from 1992 to 1996.
• Improved his percentage in every state except four (MD, OR, VT and WY). This includes a four percent increase in John Kerry's home state, Massachusetts.

An amazing victory. Congratulations, Mr. President.

Psalm 146

On the occasion of today's Presidential election:

¹ Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, O my soul!

² I will praise the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long.

³ Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help.

⁴ When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish.

⁵ Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD their God,

⁶ who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever;

⁷ who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free;

⁸ the LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous.

⁹ The LORD watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

¹⁰ The LORD will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD!

(New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.)

I've done my part at the polls, and so I'm off to study. There will be neither TV nor web surfing until the morning, when I will join you in digesting the results. This news will come as a huge surprise to those of you who know me fairly well, but I've learned my lesson after the 2000 election, when I stayed up all night for no reason as the election took weeks to decide.



For those of you cannot sleep, I recommend the following blogs:

• Instapundit
• Power Line
• The Corner
• Kerry Spot

Goodnight!

Final Pre-Election Thoughts...

...From Mark Steyn.



UPDATE: Mark's election day thoughts:

For John Kerry to become President, he has to win 270 of the 538 electoral-college votes.



For George W Bush, it's not quite that simple: he's got to win big enough to be outside the margin of lawyer. For example, if he gets 270 and wins New Hampshire's four electoral-college votes very narrowly, the Democrats will sue to flip the state into their column and hand the election to Kerry. If Bush gets 288 or under, the Dems will sue to flip Ohio into the Kerry column. If Bush gets 295 or under, they'll sue to flip Florida.

Here's my favorite quote from the piece:

America cannot be a Greater Belgium or a Greater Canada or a Greater Spain. The only thing that enables Belgium to be Belgium and Canada to be Canada and Spain to be Spain is that America is America. If everyone in the civilised world's torpid and ineffectual and semi-non-aligned, it's not gonna work. Americans will not choose transnational complacency over national resolve.

Read the whole thing.

Happiness, All Snug, Lies Fast Asleep

Jack O Lantern 5

Originally uploaded by Drpoulette.

Happiness, all snug, lies fast asleep

As spirits roam the neighborhoods at night,

Let loose upon the Earth till it be light,

Laughing revelers, whom death doth keep.

O spirits lost, who wail but cannot weep,

Wanton worshippers of rage and spite,

Each the unknown author of its plight,

Equal in the pain you sow and reap,

Now come to us from out your vasty deep!



[Copyright by Nicholas Gordon]

Snow in Salt Lake

Some of you know that I grew up in Salt Lake City. The first big snowfall has arrived there, and my buddy Don thankfully posted a couple of pics. I miss the snow. As I write this, it's 73 degrees in Austin, TX, with a projected high of 83. On October 31. Geez.

First *real* snowfall! Originally uploaded by Don Nunn.

Happy Halloween

I love this photo. Someone is an expert with a carving knife.

Halloween Originally uploaded by jasepielli.