President Obama explained America’s military involvement in Libya in a speech last night: Defending the first war launched on his watch, President Barack Obama declared Monday night that the United States intervened in Libya to prevent a slaughter of civilians that would have stained the world’s conscience and “been a betrayal of who we are.” Yet he ruled out targeting Moammar Gadhafi, warning that trying to oust him militarily would be a costly mistake. Obama announced that NATO would take… Read more
PETA demands personal pronouns for animals
March 29, 2011 By Gene Veith 74 Comments
And in Bible translations, no less: PETA, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, is calling for a more animal-friendly update to the Bible. The group is asking translators of the New International Version (NIV) to remove what it calls “speciesist” language and refer to animals as “he” or “she” instead of “it.” The NIV is a popular translation of the Christian Bible. An updated translation was released this month. The translators said 95% of the 1984 translation… Read more
Undereducated and overschooled
March 29, 2011 By Gene Veith 16 Comments
Anthony Esolen names a common malady: When my daughter was young, she would often be asked, not usually by fellow homeschoolers, why she kept reading The Lord of the Rings. I told her to reply, “Because I want to know what’s going on in the world.” That came to my mind today after a discussion I had with a Catholic men’s group at our school. One of the young fellows told me that his professor in Introduction to Sociology –… Read more
Final Four?
March 29, 2011 By Gene Veith 20 Comments
Well, none of you predicted the Final Four. I suspect no one in the country predicted the Final Four! It seems like in every NCAA tournament some little college comes out of nowhere and does really well. But this year two such underdogs made the Final Four! The basketball superpowers, including my alma mater Kansas Jayhawks, were all shot down. So the national champion will be either Virginia Commonwealth, Butler, Connecticut, or Kentucky. The two big state schools will play… Read more
End of the world countdown
March 28, 2011 By Gene Veith 84 Comments
We’ve blogged about how radio preacher Harold Camping is predicting that Christ will return on May 21 of this year. Journalist Kimberly Winston interviewed Mr. Camping and asked him how he calculated the date with such precision: If preacher Harold Camping is right, that’s the exact date Jesus will return and the righteous will fly up to heaven, leaving behind only their clothes. That will be followed by five months of fire, brimstone and plagues, with millions of people dying… Read more
Air support for al-Qaeda
March 28, 2011 By Gene Veith 56 Comments
Oh, great: Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, the Libyan rebel leader, has said jihadists who fought against allied troops in Iraq are on the front lines of the battle against Muammar Gaddafi’s regime. In an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, Mr al-Hasidi admitted that he had recruited “around 25” men from the Derna area in eastern Libya to fight against coalition troops in Iraq. Some of them, he said, are “today are on the front lines in Adjabiya”. Mr… Read more
‘King’s Speech,’ the PG-13 version
March 28, 2011 By Gene Veith 28 Comments
The King’s Speech, the account of King George VI’s stuttering problem that won the Academy Award for best picture, is coming out in a PG-13 version in April. The original was rated R because of a scene in which his speech therapist was trying to get the monarch to loosen up and let the words flow by using some bad words. It isn’t clear how the new version, which will be the only one in theaters, will handle that scene. … Read more
Going kinetic
March 25, 2011 By Gene Veith 71 Comments
New word department. . . Actually two new words: “Retronym” is a word coined by Frank Mankiewicz, George McGovern’s campaign director, to delineate previously unnecessary distinctions. Examples include “acoustic guitar,” “analog watch,” “natural turf,” “two-parent family,” and “offline publication.” Bob Woodward’s new book, Bush at War, introduces a new Washington retronym: “kinetic” warfare. . . . In common usage, “kinetic” is an adjective used to describe motion, but the Washington meaning derives from its secondary definition, “active, as opposed to… Read more
The next Narnia movie: Magician’s Nephew
March 25, 2011 By Gene Veith 6 Comments
So it looks like there will be another Narnia movie. The next one in the novel sequence would be one of my favorites, The Silver Chair, but instead the next movie will be The Magician’s Nephew, Narnia’s origin story. Here is an interview with the head of Walden Media, which is producing the series: Interview: Walden Media President Michael Flaherty on Narnia 4 Film, Christian News, The Christian Post. Read more
NCAA Basketball Championship
March 25, 2011 By Gene Veith 22 Comments
We haven’t talked about basketball! My alma mater, the University of Kansas, is in it to win it. My current home state of Virginia has two teams in the Sweet Sixteen, not only in the same state but in the same city (Virginia Commonwealth and Richmond University, both in Richmond). My former home of Milwaukee is in it with Marquette. So what are your predictions for the Final Four? For the final two? For the championship? My prediction for the… Read more
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