Between making fun of Chuck Norris on C-Span (a task worth attempting!) and doing comedy, Ed Brayton writes. He is a fun writer and his blog is generally worth reading if only for the responses to his blog. Here he complains about my post taking on “the inevitable triumph” of gay marriage. For some in America the rise of gay marriage in parts the West is equivalent to the triumph of gay marriage, because the populations of India and China, far less... Read more
There is a simple error: you cannot be part of a community, if you don’t agree with all the ideas in it. I am Republican, the son of Republican, the grandson of a Republican, and the great-grandson of a Republican. I could continue all the way back to Mr. Lincoln and the Reynolds who left his plow in the field and went to fight for Lincoln and liberty. And yet I am also the son of a Christian couple, the... Read more
If I had the power to make every man obey the moral law and to know they obeyed it, I trust I would not use it, God helping me. Why? The power to change a person’s behavior externally, without a change of heart, or a recognition of hypocrisy is dangerous. Power is as dangerous as love and just as no person should follow the demands of love lightly, so no person should come near power without a recognition of its Satanic dimensions.... Read more
Recently, Reed Galen, deputy campaign manager for the McCain camp gave some political advice. While this might be compared to asking coaches of the Minnesota Vikings how to win a Super Bowl, this particular advice has become conventional wisdom amongst most people with graduate education in the Republican Party. He opines: Regardless of party affiliation, young voters view gay marriage as utterly uncontroversial. With all of the other problems the country has to solve, the freedom of individuals to live... Read more
For most of the worlds Christians this is Holy Week, but not for the ancient Orthodox Church. We recollect the suffering of Jesus and his conquest of death in the week leading up to May 5. Christendom is divided as much as she ever is. And so I see my good friends reflecting, as they should, on the events leading up to Good Friday, I even have Western Good Friday as a day off, and my Lenten disciplines are just... Read more
Bob Woodward was told he “would regret” disagreeing with the President. In context, it appears regretfulness would wash over Woodward, because the Presidential flack thought Mr. Woodward was wrong and once exposed, the error would lead to sorrow in the sensitive soul of Woodward. Readers know Woodward has survived many such episodes and appears flourishing. The President never won an election with my vote, but I do not see any reason for the Woodward family to live in terror as... Read more
The Oscars substituted vulgarity for wit and disappointed expectant vulgarians with cut-rate vulgarisms. Oscar assaulted morality, perfectly acceptable, but it also attacked liberal pieties proving once again that establishment Hollywood is not liberal, but libertine. Sites that would never point out the host was no gentleman are happy to point out he was misogynistic. The difference sometimes escapes me. If the left attacks restrain, then Hollywood is leftist, but if the left urges restrain then Hollywood attacks the left. How... Read more
Perhaps Disney does not fear my wrath. My kids do not fear my wrath and actually I do not have much wrath, but the notion of a Star Wars reboot fills me with hope and dread. Hope because I love the myth and am going to get more of it. Dread because J.J. Abrams is a lens flare away from blinding us to his merits and Disney made Cinderella II. Cinderella II is my nominee for the largest gap between the quality and importance... Read more
Last night marked yet another episode centered around some aspect of the adults-with-juvenile-taste industry. This episode included a bow to the fact that the industry is ugly, exploitative, and evil. Of course, people in it were (generally) more sympathetic than “moral crusaders” . . . redeemed only by the love of daughters that evidently all people share, including people who exploit other people’s daughters when they are drunk. Castle is always worth watching if only for Nathan Fillion, almost Jimmy Stewart... Read more
Modernity came and many of us said: “Good. We like some of that, but don’t like other bits.” We rejected the idea that natural science (“Science!”) was the only means to know, though we appreciated the help it gave us in forming questions. We thought the idea that man was fundamentally economic was wrongheaded. We were unpersuaded that the new morality wasn’t just the old decadence. And we refused to get along with the Soviet Union . . . insisting it... Read more
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