Snow Jobs

• I'm at home, not snowed in exactly, but there's already about six inches of snow out there and my car is under it, so I'm getting a leisurely start to the day.

• Did you see the Preznit's Q&A session in Cleveland, specifically the question about the Apocalypse? First, he looked like a man who's just farted, and, milliseconds after had an inkling that all was not right in his underwear. The audience started giggling, and then he started laughing, at what I'm not sure. This seemed to go on for several minutes.

I know it's hardly an original insight, but this man is so blatantly, so primally false that you wouldn't believe it if he sneezed. What is obvious is that his laughter was a stall for time, as he has no idea how to answer the question. He finally comes up with, "I never thought about it that way, har har hardy har har."

Which, I suppose, could be his answer for everything. But...George W. Bush, born-again evangelical, has never thought about the Middle East in Apocalyptic terms? George W. Bush, Commander-in-Chief, has never thought about whether some of his advisors think that way?

The other thing is, odds are most of the audience are self-professed Christians. And odds are their laughter was as nervous as his.

• From Zev Chafets' piece on the Liberty Baptist debate team in The New York Times magazine:

"If I had the money and the staff, we could enroll 200,000," [Falwell] said with a beatific smile.

There are building sites all over campus, including the recently dedicated LaHaye Ice Center, a hockey arena donated by Beverly and Tim LaHaye...

No, that wasn't edited for clarity. Those are actual consecutive sentences.