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What I Saw at the Revolution is Peggy Noonan's memoir of her years as Ronald Reagan's speech writer. I have enjoyed reading how a working-class Irish Catholic girl from a staunchly Democratic family - and who campaigned vigorously for JFK when she was a child - became a conservative Republican.

One of my favorite passages so far has to do with media bias. Before she joined the Reagan White House, Peggy Noonan worked for CBS as a producer. Here is her recollection of the mood of journalists the night of the 1980 presidential election results.

I remember the night of the 1980 elections. All of CBS was gathered in a huge studio up above the newsroom. Big, crisply cut graphics saying CBS NEWS dominated one wall, the set for television another. Tucked away in a corner was radio, where I produced the coverage of a regional desk. For the first time the network would be fully computerized. Everybody int he room had a screen on which he could punch up information on races throughout the country.

There was a sense of expectation and excitement. America would soon know who its next president was, and there was only one way the people would find out: through us. We had a mission,and we wanted to do our best, to be great. It was Cronkite's last election night. I watched him across the room calmly patting his tie and laughing with Bob Schiffer and Roger Mudd.

late int he afternoon, a few hours before we were to go on the air, the first exit-poll information was to be available on the computers. Everyone started to punch it in. The room was bustling with laughter and oaths, but little by little it quieted. It was as if an invisible cloud of gas had descended. Soon there was only the dry tap-tap of computer keys as people punched up and repunched a nightmare. Something extraordinary is happening, Reagan is winning, he's not only winning, it's going to be a landslide. It's not just Reagan, it's McGovern out, Frank Church out - it's carnage! Those my age (I had just turned thirty) sat staring, slack-jawed, at little green words on little green screens. They commiserate. "Can you believe it?": "God, I can't believe it."

I say nothing until I see a fellow Reagan supporter across the room. I lift my fist. "Yo!"

"Yo," he answers. Ashamed of my joy, I go back to work.

Later, at 2:00 A.M., we went to a local bar. A young producer named Al, a smart and civilized fellow, said with slump-shouldered sadness, "What is happening to us? What is happening to this country?"

"I think we awoke from our slumber, " I said.

"You're not upset?"

"No. I think the country probably had enough of everything that wasn't working, and now they want a change."

"Well, they're going to get it!"

Now, I know that elitist liberal supporters of Barack Snob-ama will see the word "change" here and draw intellectually dishonest parallels between the 1980 and the 2008 presidential elections. But they should consider who their nobody candidate is and who Ronald Reagan was. To them, I leave another quote from Noonan's book:

"No great men are good men," said Lord Acton, who was right, until Reagan.

The Shameless Carnivore is a hilarious book, which means self-righteous liberal vegetarians should steer clear of it. I used to think I was a meat lover until I started reading Shameless. Author Scott Gold is the ultimate carnivore.

As a response to the woefully ignorant "meat is murder" slogan, Gold wrote a letter to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Here's an excerpt.

I'm sure most folks aren't aware that PETA kills animals. Lots of animals. Tons of animals, in fact. Not that it's a secret; I imagine you're aware of the 2005 article in the San Francisco Chronicle that said this:

Don't be fooled by the slick propaganda of PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The organization may claim to champion the welfare of animals, as the many photos of cute puppies and kittens on its Web site suggest. But last week , two PETA employees were charge with 31 felony counts of animal cruelty each, after authorities found them dumping the dead bodies of 18 animals they had just picked up from a North Carolina animal shelter into a Dumpster.

According to the Associated Press, 13 more dead animals were found in a van registered to PETA ... This is not the first report that PETA killed animals it claimed to protect. In 1991, PETA killed 18 rabbits and 14 roosters it had previously "rescued" from a research facility. "We just don't have the money" to care for them, then-PETA Chairman Alex Pacheco told the Washington Times. The PETA animal shelter had run out of room.

The Center for consumer Freedom, which represents the food industry, a frequent target of PETA campaigns, released data filed by PETA with the state of Virginia that shows PETA has killed more than 10,000 animals from 1998 to 2003. "In 2003, PETA euthanized over 85 percent of the animals it took in," said a press release from the lobby, "finding adoptive homes for just 14 percent. By comparison, the Norfolk (Va.) SPCA found adoptive homes for 73 percent of its animals and Virginia Beach SPCA adopted out 66 percent.

Such hypocrites.

Meat is yummy. Eat lots of it.