Weekly Meanderings

From our trip to Northern Ireland, a castle that was part of CS Lewis’ inspiration of Cair Paravel.

One of the sadder stories of the year — bullying through cybernet exposure.

Rachel Held Evans: “That’s because when it comes to science, atheists and Baptists have remarkably similar worldviews: both have arrived at the conclusion that accepting the science behind evolutionary theory will inevitably render Christianity extinct. As a result, one group has essentially made a religion out of naturalism, while the other has avoided serious consideration of the scientific data.”

She continues: “What leaders like Mohler fail to realize is that they are setting young Christians up for failure. They are inadvertently orchestrating the very exodus that they fear. In presenting faith and science as a choice, the Baptists have essentially conceded that the atheists are right after all, and as a result they are losing some of the brightest young minds in Christendom to a false dichotomy.”

Irony alert: “I believe in a better way. I believe in a rabbi who was called the Son of God and the Son of Man. A rabbi who had disciples that were anarchists, and disciples who were government workers, and (I think) disciples who were women.”

Allan looking at both sides. Christine looking at two sides.

I like this by :mic: “When I was in college I remember a theology professor ask the question, When was the last time you chose which church you were going to attend based upon what you could offer the community? Since most people don’t see their Christianity in such terms, I immediately thought of this as a question rooted in self-arrogance rather than humble servanthood. But that is because I had a false understanding of servanthood – and gospel.”

Chaplain Mike asks a good question.

Karen was on to Eddie Long before this all broke out.

Meanderings in the News

1. Forbes, on the Dinesh D’Souza flap: “The essay in Forbes was adapted from Mr. D’Souza’s book “The Roots of Obama’s Rage,” which is being published by Regnery Publishing and will be released on Oct. 4. Kathleen Sweetapple, a publicist for Regnery, e-mailed a statement on behalf of Mr. D’Souza, who wrote, “there are a couple of minor errors that are completely inconsequential; what the critics are fuming about are not factual errors but disagreements of interpretation.”

2. Paul Krugman on the Pledge: “So what’s left? Howard Gleckman of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has done the math. As he points out, the only way to balance the budget by 2020, while simultaneously (a) making the Bush tax cuts permanent and (b) protecting all the programs Republicans say they won’t cut, is to completely abolish the rest of the federal government: “No more national parks, no more Small Business Administration loans, no more export subsidies, no more N.I.H. No more Medicaid (one-third of its budget pays for long-term care for our parents and others with disabilities). No more child health or child nutrition programs. No more highway construction. No more homeland security. Oh, and no more Congress.”

3. US “going dark”. And burning books: “The Department of Defense paid $5 per book to burn the 9,500 copies of “Operation Dark Heart,” Army Reserve Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer’s memoir about going undercover in Afghanistanthat the Pentagon claims revealed too many national security secrets.”

4. Do you know about the Ice Dot technology?

5. Ross Douthat: “Their eccentric elements notwithstanding, the Tea Parties have something vital to offer the country: a vocal, activist constituency for spending cuts at a time when politicians desperately need to have their spines stiffened on the issue. But it’s all too easy to imagine the movement (which, after all, includes a lot of Social Security and Medicare recipients!) being seduced with rhetorical nods to the Constitution, and general promises of spending discipline that never get specific.It wouldn’t be the first time a mass protest movement won a rhetorical victory without achieving a lasting policy shift. The antiwar movement, for instance, seemed to effectively take over the Democratic Party in the middle years of the Bush administration. But here we are, two years into a Democratic presidency, and Gitmo is still open, the U.S. is still in Iraq, and Barack Obama has escalated the war in Afghanistan.”

6. I’ve not heard of this trend — professors and families living in college dorms.

7. Juliet Lapidos on cross-gender friendships: “There’s evidence that cross-sex friendships, once extremely rare, are increasing along with structural opportunities. In 1981, sociologist Rebecca G. Adams surveyed 70 female senior citizens and found that all but three defined cross-sex friendships as courting relationships. (They were confused by the very concept of a platonic relationship between a man and a woman.) Just over two decades later, in 2002, the magazine American Demographicscommissioned a far more sweeping, national survey on friendship and got dramatically different results. It found that more than 1 in 10 adults aged 25 to 34 have a best friend—not just a pal or an acquaintance—of the opposite sex.”

8. Howard LaFranchi’s sketch of Hillary Clinton: “Seventeen months into a job she resisted accepting, Hillary Rodham Clinton is seen by many longtime analysts as making a quiet mark on US statecraft through hard work and by reaching down into the well of personal experience. They see her patiently rebuilding America’s image in the world and expanding US diplomatic reach by securing more resources for the State Department from former colleagues in the US Congress. While some still question her creative vision and negotiating skills – a hallmark of successful secretaries of State – others laud her for embarking on a redefinition of American foreign policy that gives new weight to diplomacy and development alongside defense.”

If I had to wager right now, I’d say Hillary Clinton has a better chance of gaining the Dems nomination in 2014 than Obama.

9. James C. Bennett, in a long but useful sketch: “Today, a wave of privatization and deregulation throughout the English-speaking world and beyond has narrowed the socialism gap between the U.S. and its Anglosphere cousins, with the primary exception of health care. Canada and Britain have privatized their state-owned railways and many other industries. In some areas, such as air-traffic control and airport operation, it is the U.S. that is the socialist relic. Conservative governments in Britain and Canada have announced intentions to reduce the size of the state. Meanwhile, the Obama administration is seeking to close the socialism gap by expanding the American state, having already made a start in health care and, supposedly temporarily, auto manufacturing.

Yet no sooner had Obama and his supporters started down this road than the decentralized nature of post-U-turn America threw roadblocks in their path. Diverse “new media” prevented the administration from flooding the discussion zone with a uniform message and provided a channel for organizing protests, leading to the tea-party movement. Resurgent state governments have filed suit to overturn Obamacare, and perhaps shrink the scope of the Commerce Clause in the process. If successful, these suits could be as momentous a development as the Taft-Hartley Act.

The American U-turn, despite Obama, seems well established, in contrast to the tentative movement to shrink the British state and revisit the increasingly problematic decision to join the European Union. Obama came to office hoping to found the New New Deal, but America is no longer the America of FDR. A combination of the Founders’ gift of a fundamentally decentralist Constitution and the sheer elbow room of the American continent appears to be pointing us to a third era in American history, taking the technological and civil-rights gains of the second, centralized, industrial era, but returning to the decentralized and diverse community vision of the Founding.”

10. MacDonald’s insurance benefits: “McDonald’s Corp. has warned federal regulators that it could drop its health insurance plan for nearly 30,000 hourly restaurant workers unless regulators waive a new requirement of the U.S. health overhaul.” But there’s a retraction, too. Where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire.

Meanderings in Sports

Don Banks: “Relax, Bears fans. I applaud Chicago’s resiliency and its opportunistic style of play against the more talented Packers. The Bears made the most of what they had to work with Monday night. But I still can’t see Chicago keeping this kind of mojo going throughout the season, looking downright outmatched in some parts of every game, but still finding a way to win. It happened against Detroit, in Chicago’s shaky second half. It happened at Dallas, where the Bears started the game looking overmatched on the offensive line. And it happened against Green Bay, a team that dominated Chicago statistically for most of the night.

But at 3-0, the Bears look to be in pretty good shape for turning this streak into an even longer run. In the next six weeks, Chicago plays at the Giants, at Carolina, Seattle, Washington and at Buffalo, with a bye thrown in, as well. That’s the makings of a 7-1 first half, maybe 6-2 in a worst-case scenario. The Bears don’t face another NFC North foe until Week 10, when Minnesota visits. Lucky may be prevailing over good right now in Chicago, but I have a feeling the Bears will take it and offer no apologies.”

My voice, from Chicago: No one thinks the Bears are this good. But it’s fun.