Moshing Finnish Lutherans.

Growing numbers of people converting to Christianity has sparked a wave of persecution in parts of India, with mobs destroying homes and churches and in some cases murdering Christians. From Christians Face Hindus’ Wrath:

Babita Nayak was cooking lunch for her pregnant sister when a mob of Hindu extremists wielding swords, hammers and long sticks rampaged through their village, chanting “India is for Hindus! Convert or leave!”

The men, wearing saffron headbands, ransacked dozens of huts, searching for cash and looting bicycles and livestock. They torched the village church, leaving behind burned Bibles in the local Kui language and torn-down posters of Jesus. “Christianity is a foreign religion,” they shouted over bullhorns, according to eyewitness and police reports. . . .

A six-hour drive from Bhubaneswar, the capital of Orissa, into the isolated and winding jungle-lined roads showed remnants of fatal attacks and arson directed at Indian Christians in recent weeks: razed churches, scorched orphanages and homes, and roads blocked by downed trees, boulders and stick-waving mobs. Saffron flags (saffron is the color several Hindu right-wing organizations use for self-representation) flew over Hindu-owned tea shops and homes to protect them from attack.

All told, as many as 4,000 Christian homes and 115 churches were destroyed in the region. Amid the lush corn and rice farms of Kandhamal district, more than 35 people were killed for their faith, the All India Christian Council reported; government officials estimate 18 deaths.

There are increasing reports that women were sexually abused, but victims are slow to come forward because of the stigma attached to rape.

About 20,000 people have been displaced, most of them huddled into 14 squalid government-run camps across Kandhamal. About 5,000 have left their homes in Ganjam district, media reports say.

So the U.S. government bailed out the insurance giant AIG. But we did not just bail it out by giving it a loan or guaranteeing its solvency. We bought 80% of its equity. So the U.S. government now essentially owns it. The government also “seized” ownership of Fannie Mae, which I admit was a strange sort of public/private hybrid. But when the state owns companies, isn’t that socialism? (Someone please correct me if I’m interpreting all of this incorrectly.)

That is a great phrase from a demolition of the “Jesus was a community organizer; Pilate was a governor” line.

This article from USA TODAY, Palin ‘governed from the center,’ went after big oil, describes Sarah Palin’s biggest accomplishment as governor, dismantling the oil industry’s control of Alaskan politics, forcing the oil companies to pay the state and its citizens a bigger royalty, and taking away a pipeline deal from Exxon to give it to a Canadian company at better terms for Alaska.

Will the Democrats who keep maintaining that the Republicans are in the control of the big oil companies at least give her credit for this?