God Weighs In On The Republican Party?

When an earthquake struck the Nixon library in June as he and other panelists discussed DOMA and Prop. 8, conservative former law school dean John Eastman got a round of applause when he said, "See what happens when you mess with traditional marriage?" The moderator, my Nixon brother Hugh Hewitt, headlined a blog post as follows: "God Weighs In On The Same Sex Marriage Debate?"

With a hurricane named for the great patriarch himself bearing down on Florida, the GOP has just canceled the first day of its convention. Was it the Ryan pick? The pre-1920 platform on women and abortion? No way. I trust with all my heart that God doesn't punish people with weather and falling buildings, including especially the three reported killed already by the hurricane. In June I praised Br. Hugh for the wisdom of his question mark; I only jokingly borrowed it for this post (before getting back to praying for all in Isaac's path).
Photo: USA Today

Flash: U.S. Muslims To Become Almost Noticeable

Writing about a Pew study predicting modest growth in the number of Muslims worldwide, USA Today runs this eye-catching headline --

Number Of U.S. Muslims To Double

-- and then explains exactly what that means:

[Y]ou are as likely to know a Muslim here in 20 years as you are to know someone Jewish or Episcopalian today.

All that many, you say.

Department Of The Bleeding Obvious

The American people continue their discernment a year after Barack Obama's election. USA Today's summary of new poll results:

He's seen more as a down-the-line liberal, less as someone who can bridge partisan divides.

Hat tip to Mike Cheever

Throwing Cold Water On Red-Hot Kindle

The stock market watchers at the Motley Fool say Christmas was a setback for Kris Kindle:

The leading online retailer fumbled its handling of its e-book reader over the holidays. A month after Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos pitched the Kindle on Oprah Winfrey's show, the company ran out of the $359 devices by late November, just days before the start of the critical holiday shopping season.

Amazon may have profited from third-party resellers moving marked-up Kindles through its site, but asking potential buyers to wait "11 to 13 weeks" for deliveries cuts against the grain of digital delivery's speed and convenience. Even if Amazon is simply holding back until Kindle 2.0 is launched, it either underestimated the power of Oprah, or underestimated its ability to sell the gizmo.

A Dallas journalist is nonetheless experiencing Kindle love. She likes it for the books, but it could save the news business as well. Speaking of which, USA Today is now Kindled.