The Harry Potter fan in your life probably will love Who Killed Albus Dumbledore?: What Really Happened in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?, written by hard-core Harry Potter fans.
John Granger, author of Looking for God in Harry Potter, is a contributor. I mentioned him in a two-part Christian perspective review of the books.
You also may want to buy Christian writer and blogger Janet Batchler’s cool new book, What Will Harry Do? The Unofficial Guide to Payoffs and Possibilities in Book 7. I followed the series on her blog and look forward to reading the expanded version. Janet blogs at Quoth the Maven.
SPOILER ALERT! To discuss Harry Potter and/or the books, surf over to the Fantasy Fiction for Christians blog post (from which this one was adapted).
If you’d like to buy this blogger a Christmas gift, cool. With absolutely no shame whatsoever, I’ll point you to my Amazon wish list.
It’s Open Thread Thursday!
Want to promote your blog or a post? Drop a link. Want to talk about the weather or a hobby? Knock yourselves out. Whatever you want to discuss, discuss.
Suggested topics:
- WorldNetDaily shouts “Illegal aliens murder 12 Americans daily.” (Also see “Nearly One Million Sex Crimes…”) Conservative blogger Ed Morrissey cries fudged-numbers foul. Some disagree; others take a…different view. What say you?
- On Monday, December 4, a bunch of black folks will rally in Washington, D.C., to “argue the essential weakness” of their own people, to quote Shelby Steele. They will protest the notion of equal treatment and promote government-sanctioned lowered standards, demonstrating a complete lack of understanding of Brown v. Board of Education, prominently displayed in the event’s title. I may show up and play “reporter.”
- “I swear on a stack of Korans.”
- Five New York City cops were involved in a fatal shootout. Sean Bell, a groom-to-be, was killed in a hail of 50+ bullets. Effete NY mayor Mike Bloomberg called in clownish Al Sharpton for photo-ops and community “outreach,” defining the tragedy in racial terms. Two of the cops were white, two were black, and one was hispanic, but some say the shooting was motivated by race. Question: If it turns out that one or both black cops also did the shooting, is the killing still considered “racist”? (Also see “A Reasonable Fear” and ““Bloomberg’s Blunder.”)
- Victor Davis Hanson’s “Losing the Enlightenment,” which I quoted yesterday, is a must-read for Americans who love liberty and the free exchange of ideas.
I’m scheduled to be interviewed at 5:05 p.m. EST today on Word FM.
Today’s Christian Woman posted my 2003 testimony article on the home page, and a show host read it. I’ll talk about that and, most likely, some hot news item.
Update: Unrelated to this post is a must-read article by Victor Davis Hanson, “Losing the Enlightenment.” (via Memeorandum) It begins:
Our current crisis is not yet a catastrophe, but a real loss of confidence of the spirit. The hard-won effort of the Western Enlightenment of some 2,500 years that, along with Judeo-Christian benevolence, is the foundation of our material progress, common decency, and scientific excellence, is at risk in this new millennium.
But our newest foes of Reason are not the enraged Athenian democrats who tried and executed Socrates. And they are not the Christian zealots of the medieval church who persecuted philosophers of heliocentricity. Nor are they Nazis who burned books and turned Western science against its own to murder millions en masse.
No, the culprits are now more often us. In the most affluent, and leisured age in the history of Western civilization–never more powerful in its military reach, never more prosperous in our material bounty–we have become complacent, and then scared of the most recent face of barbarism from the primordial extremists of the Middle East.
Take the time to read the entire article. I feel an essay-post of my own coming on. 
Also see “Sharia law is spreading as authority wanes.”
Think it can’t happen here? I hope most Americans are willing to defend against this with force, if necessary. I know I am…
Update II (11/29): Hard truth #101 (free reg. req.): “To ensure diversity among new associates, the study found, elite law firms hire minority lawyers with, on average, much lower grades than white ones. That may, the study says, set them up to fail.”
Regardless of what anyone reading this blog thinks about me or why I write about preferences, “diversity” is code for “lowering the bar to admit and hire black people.”
There just aren’t enough blacks competitive with whites to go around, so in order to meet some elusive skin color goal, businesses and government must lower hiring and admissions standards for blacks. (Lowering standards for all would be impractical, not to mention detrimental.) This is fact, not opinion. Black affirmative action proponents know this, and they also know that race-neutral policies will not work to their benefit, at least not in the short run. It has nothing to do with white people “oppressing” or “discriminating” against them.
What’s the solution? It may sound simplistic, but I believe reversing the trend of fatherlessness in the black community, focusing on education (and enduring the attendant sacrifices to make it a top priority in practice, not just in theory), and quashing all tendencies to blame white people for anything would be ideal places to begin.
Later…Commenter and blogger Thomas Nguyen writes in the comment section:
It’s clear just from the tenor of this debate that multiculturalism is as divisive as ever. The assimilation model that America had before all these “isms” worked wonderfully for all Americans.
America is an idea sown together by a common language and a common reverence for two revolutionary documents - The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. All who immigrate and live in America are free to have these ideas imbued in their hearts and minds.
Multiculturalism and their concomitant ideologies say that differences are more important than what we all hold in common. It is the poison of this age that insists on being different, when to be fully human is to acknowledge and take delight in finding commonality, that is, having affinity and empathy for you fellow man.
Filed under: Education, Race Preferences
Not that I really care what former football player Michael Irvin said, but apparently he’s going to get away with what would get a white man fired and/or ostracized.
Last week Irvin said that Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, who is white, must have some “black” in him because he’s a good athlete. I won’t quote the rest. Suffice it to say, Irvin could use a few lessons in diction.
Normally, this would be a compliment (for blacks), would it not? I mean, how many among us don’t believe blacks are genetically superior athletes? I believe they are, and I also believe that physical abilities aren’t the only abilities heavily influenced by genetics. Mental abilities…well, I won’t go there today.
That’s not to say that Romo has some “black” in him or that whites aren’t good athletes. But generally speaking, blacks just do certain things better, like sprinting, for instance.
In his own ineloquent way, Irvin expressed what most people know but don’t talk about in public. I don’t think he should be fired or made to apologize, but I’d be remiss on this Monday morning if I didn’t point out the dirty double standards.
(Writing about double standards is a specialty of mine.)
You may recall that Rush Limbaugh was fired from his sportscasting gig for implying that Donovan McNabb, black quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles, was hyped up as a great quarterback because he was black.
I agreed with Limbaugh and wrote a post last year making fun of the NAACP for chastising one of its members for agreeing with Limbaugh. If I could care any less than I do about this whole mess, it would be criminal.
Race, race, race, race, race, race! There’s no escape!!!
A few days ago, someone sent me a tip about a scholarship contest at the University of Rhode Island (URI) for “White, Heterosexual, American Males,” held last Friday on campus.
Ryan Bilodeau, Chairman of the URI College Republicans told me he wanted to raise awareness of the “racist policy” of awarding scholarships based on race. He said he was approached by white people interested in applying for the scholarship and black people who wanted to know the point of the contest.
Wasn’t it obvious? To some, apparently not.
Continue reading Do ‘Whites Only’ Scholarships Prove the Point?
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4: 4-7)
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I am thankful that God quickened my heart to believe that his Son Jesus Christ died so that I could live. I’m sure of my salvation and hopeful that one day I will understand all things. I wait for his return, a joyous day for believers and a joyless one, to say the least, for unbelievers.
No one knows the day or hour of his return. The first time, he came to save. The second time, he’ll come to judge. Contrary to popular opinion, Christ’s judgment is righteous. Perfect justice requires that he punish sinners. I’m thankful every day that God is not fair. In all “fairness,” I should be condemned. But he is merciful. In his mercy, he sent Christ to die for the sins of those who would believe. For more information, see Answers for Seekers.
Are you ready?
Rest easy this Thanksgiving holiday, readers. 
We Gather Together
We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
He chastens and hastens his will to make known;
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing,
Sing praises to his name: He forgets not his own.Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining his kingdom divine;
So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, wast at our side, All glory be thine!We all do extol thee, thou leader triumphant,
And pray that thou still our defender wilt be.
Let thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!
Amen-Traditional Thanksgiving Hymn
(A translation by Theodore Baker: 1851-1934)
*** Updates already! Keep scrolling, scrolling, scrolling… ***
Perhaps next week I’ll write a long and in-depth post about my opinion of the latest news in the Duke case. But the other “Duke bloggers” have done such an outstanding job blogging about the case, my commentary seems superfluous.
But I’ll say this. I do have something to offer as a “Duke blogger.” Though I would prefer not to refer to my race and sex, they are important factors. The current list of Duke bloggers are all white males, I presume. Although this fact doesn’t preclude or disqualify them, it does influence readers’ perceptions.
For instance, as a black conservative woman privy to “insider” conversations of both white conservatives and black liberals, I know that white conservative men are presumed to be prejudiced against blacks unless the presumption is rebutted. This typically requires the white male to express some politically correct opinion and/or denial of his own racial consciousness. It’s what I call a racialist double standard. Black people and other so-called minorities are free to celebrate and talk incessantly about their “culture,” while whites are perceived as supremacists if they do the same. How this double standard came about is a long story…
Like it or not, race is a factor in the case. I believe it influenced Durham County district attorney Mike Nifong to pursue it in the first place (black vote, and all that), and now that he’s come this far, race and a hefty dose of class envy continues to motivate a man strangely indifferent to actual justice.
Filed under: Bloggers, Duke Rape Case
Although I’m not the kind of blogger who’d apologize for light posting, I feel I ought to warn people who come here every day and expect lots of fresh content.
My blog has grown so much in the past three years because of the time and energy I’ve put into it. That hasn’t left me with much of a social life. My blog has been my baby, my business, and — I hate to say it this way — my life. Although I will continue blogging, I’m at the point where I need to release this blog’s hold on my time. I wish I could be a blogging and writing Wonder Woman like Michelle Malkin (I have yet to figure out how she does it!), but I just don’t seem to have the knack.
I noticed that she and other bloggers tend to mix in short posts with longer ones, but if I can’t write a decent longish essay-type post, I figure, why bother? I blog long, and I’ve never wanted to post five or ten short posts a day like others do. I don’t know. I’m weird that way.
I want to get to a point where this blog supplements my writing rather than my writing supplementing the blog. I tend to write off-blog articles to bring people to my blog, and at this point in my life/career, that’s the wrong focus. I want to be known primarily as a writer with a blog and not a blogger who writes the occasional article.
I’ve slowly let go of my “concern†with rankings. Like many bloggers, I do watch my Site Meter and TTLB position, but much less so than I used to. I owe that to a change of direction. I suppose I’m going through a pre-midlife crisis crisis; I’ll be 40 real soon, and just as I began writing for publication when I turned 35, I need to refocus and get back on track to do what I started out to do: consistent publication.
This blog has been a pleasant and profitable side-track, but it’s time to take risks the way I used to and channel some of this blog-energy into other pursuits. In the pipeline: a book review for Christianity Today, an article for the Christian Research Journal, and a book proposal for a Christian book publisher. Book editors have pursued me, and I foolishly dragged my feet. Why? Fear of success, fear of failure, laziness…There are no guarantees the proposal will sell, but my feet-dragging days are over. God has guided another editor into my path. I think he’s trying to tell me something…
As I take the time to pursue writing assignments and engage more in life off-line, blogging will be somewhat lighter than it already is. In fact, blogging this week will be light. I’m presently in my native South Carolina and will travel to California for Thanksgiving. I have family and friends to see, clients to serve, a column to crank out, and a new diversion to enjoy. 
Once again, thank you for reading LBC.
