No real news today, which is good, because I’ve spent the past 24 hours working very hard, which is what I came here to do.  Boss.  We will be defining "Islamic party" according to what the parties consider their basis, and according to what Indonesians think Islamic parties are.

US politics is interesting right now, so interesting that all the major news channels here are reporting on it.  I watched a good deal of BBC World this morning, and they had some great analyses.  I also watched a lot of the French channel.  There is nothing better than hearing a French news anchor pronounced the name Huckabee.  uhewck-uh-BEE.

I was speaking with some Indonesian social scientists yesterday and we discussed the similarities between Mormons in the US and Ahmadiyah (Ahmadiyya) in Indonesia (and the Muslim world).  The parallels are interesting.  Mormons/Ahmadiyah claim to be Christian/Muslim, but many Christians/Muslims consider them heretics.  They both envision a peculiar place for the second coming of the savior (Missouri/Pakistan).  They both are attempting to expand their geographic focus with missions to different countries.  They both also tend to be rather peaceful, and often suffer accordingly.