October 12, 2009

Today is Columbus Day. Not only that, this year Columbus Day falls on the actual day that Columbus discovered America, October 12, rather than just a three-day-weekend Monday in October. The Europeans have now know about what they called the New World for 517 years.

October 12, 2009

Our pastor tossed off a comment in yesterday’s Bible class that still resonates with me and that has profound implications. In the context of our study of Genesis, via Luther’s commentary (which consists of his lecture notes, so that, as our pastor said, it’s as

October 12, 2009

Edgar Allan Poe died 160 years ago. On the anniversary of his death, yesterday, he was given the funeral he never had. As part of the festivities marking the 200th anniversary of his birth, the Presbyterian church in Baltimore in whose churchyard he is buried

October 12, 2009

Yes, President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. But why didn’t he win the Nobel Prize for Medicine, seeing as how he is trying to reform American health care? And the Nobel Prize for Economics, since he is trying to fix the collapse of

October 9, 2009

President Barack Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize. I’m stunned. I’m flummoxed. I’m gobsmacked. What did he win it FOR? What has he done for world peace? Maybe later, by the end of his presidency, he will have done something at least remotely significant

October 9, 2009

It’s the season for baseball playoffs. Make your predictions now, and we’ll see later who was right. Who do you think will play in the World Series? And who do you think will win? I’ll go first: Twins (they have that baseball anointing) vs. Cardinals

October 9, 2009

Twenty years ago today in Leipzig, where Bach used to live, a prayer meeting at a Lutheran church became the catalyst for the anti-communist demonstrations that a month later would bring down the Berlin Wall. Here is the story: A prayer service for peace in

October 9, 2009

Michael Anton makes a good case for The Twilight Zone: “Fantasy is the impossible made probable. Science fiction is the improbable made possible” — that’s how Serling initially described the concept. Every week, the show would have a new setting, a new cast, and a

October 9, 2009

Harvard economist Martin Feldstein proposes a different approach to health care reform. Under his plan, the government would just ensure that everyone has catastrophic health care insurance that would kick in when you spend 15% of your income on medical expenses. Below that, you would

October 8, 2009

Italian scientists have claimed to have reproduced the apparent image of Jesus on the Shroud of Turin by wrapping a person in linen, rubbing him with ochre, and putting blood on the result. But now a group of pro-shroud experts is casting doubt on that


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