Weekend update

- Seems a new conservative voice has emerged in France. I think it's a good thing that there will be an option between tired 1970s statism and the hatred preached by Le Pen. See here.

- Another look at jihad, here, and how the odds are stacked against Israel here when it comes to media coverage of the Middle Eastern situation. On that subject, just look at what we're dealing with in Gaza and the West Bank following the election of Hamas:

A Palestinian who sent her son on a suicide mission against Israel has been taking civics lessons to prep for her new assignment - becoming a legislator.

Signaling the start of the Hamas era, Mariam Farhat will be among 74 members of the Islamic militant group to take the oath of office and assume control of the Palestinian parliament Saturday.

Farhat and others in Hamas are confident they'll be able to govern, even alleviate poverty in the West Bank and Gaza, with help from God and cash from the Muslim world.

Farhat, the incoming Hamas lawmaker, also brushed aside money woes, saying Muslim countries would come to the rescue.

In recent days, she and others in the Hamas faction were taught by the group's leaders about parliamentary procedures and assigned responsibilities. Women will preside over welfare, health and education, and Farhat said she's eager to improve Gaza's hospitals and increase stipends for the poor.

Demure in a gray robe, the mother of 10 got into parliament as the unlikely symbol of holy war, or jihad, against Israel. Three of her six sons died violent deaths, and one of Hamas' top bomb makers, Emad Akel, was killed in a hail of Israeli fire in her front yard after hiding in her basement for a year.

In 2002, Farhat sent her 18-year-old son Mohammed on a suicide mission, a shooting rampage in the Jewish settlement of Atzmona that killed five Israeli teenagers. After Israel withdrew from Gaza last summer, the Farhat family returned to the settlement, took what they said was the piece of wire fence Mohammed had cut to get in, and mounted it on an outer wall of their home.

Farhat is unapologetic. She said she cries for her boys, but that "jihad comes ahead of everything, including my feelings as a mother."

- Andrew Sullivan sees a Rudy candidacy on the horizon. If so, this race is going to be a watershed moment for the Republican Party because it will demonstrate if the heart and soul of the party - church-going Protestants - will be able to stomach a candidate who is more libertarian than socially conservative. That's not to say I think Rudy winning is a litmus test, but he will need to finish absolutely no lower than a strong third.