America and Afghanistan have reached a “bilateral security agreement” to keep troops in Afghanistan until 2024. Discussions leading up to the agreement were marked by what at least one article terms “brinksmanship” over whether or not the United States would apologize for actions in the recent Afghan war. We stood tough on that. No apology. However, our government has committed us — meaning you and me — to continue spending billions of dollars in Afghanistan for at least the next... Read more
The Cuban Missile Crisis was as close as the Cold War came to a nuclear exchange. Here is the speech in which President Kennedy explained the situation to the American people. Read more
I wasn’t there. What that means is that I don’t know exactly what arguments, claims and counter-claims led up to this vote. What I do know is that Albuquerque voters turned back an attempt to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. We are talking about babies that a mere week or so later in the pregnancy might very well be able to survive if they were born normally and not murdered. I would guess that there were some... Read more
The United States Supreme Court has decided not to intervene in the Texas pro life law that requires abortion clinic doctors to have hospital privileges. That doesn’t mean that the Court has upheld the law. It also doesn’t mean that it has struck it down. It simply means that the Supreme Court has decided to let lower courts work. I think it’s interesting that a third of Texas abortion clinics have been forced to close because of this law... Read more
“One generation away from extinction in Britain” is the phrase. Lord George Carey, former Archbishop of Canterbury, used it in a speech at the Shropshire Churches Conference. The news stories I’ve read conflict as to whether he said that “Christianity is one generation away from extinction” or “The Church of England is one generation away from extinction.” There are news stories with quotes around the phrases saying it both ways. The point is still the same. Decades of blundering around,... Read more
Patheos’ Beer Guy, Frank Weathers My husband and I took a rambling drive through the Oklahoma hills yesterday. We wound around the Talihina Drive and ended up at Pete’s Place in Krebs, Oklahoma. For those of you who don’t know, that means we were well and royally fed. I admired the beer menu, and the good folks at Pete’s gave it to me. Here it is, for the perusal of all you poor folks out there who aren’t Okies. (And,... Read more
Pope Francis offered medicine boxes that contained “59 little pills,” in St Peter’s Square this weekend. This medicine is “good for your health, your heart and your whole life,” the Pope told his audience. “Don’t forget to take it.” What is the ‘medicine’ the Pope is prescribing? Watch the video below and see. Read more
To join the conversation about The Thorny Grace of It or to order a copy, go here. “You’ve gotta have a horse to ride.” That’s a saying from politics, meaning you have to have a candidate who can run the race and win. It comes from horse racing, where the meaning is obvious: Horse races are won astride strong, fast horses. You’ve gotta have a horse to ride. That is equally true with books, blogs, essays, poetry and such. In this case,... Read more
Apple’s board fired Steve Jobs in the 1970s. He went on to a company that ultimately gave us Toy Story and many other computer animated blockbuster films and another company that created what became Mac OSX. In the meantime, Apple made a lot of money selling the Macintosh, which Steve Jobs had master-minded. When other companies, particularly Microsoft, caught up with Apple’s early competitive advantage and passed it by, Apple began to founder. I was forced to use an... Read more
The Vatican needs to do more to support the true Church in China. That is the message from Cardinal Zen. His comments are worth considering, not only because of the religious persecution in China, but because of the growing tendency for government to try to control the Church and the faithful in the Western world. Read more
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