1. Here is C.S. Lewis’ recipe for cinnamon bourbon rice pudding. The recipe doesn’t include a suggested substitute to the bourbon for teetotaling American Christians because Lewis thought teetotaling American Christians were an annoying bunch of Telmarines. “One of the marks of a certain type of bad man,” Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity, “is that he cannot give up a thing himself without wanting everyone else to give it up.”
2. Right Wing Watch reports: “The totally-not-delusional Larry Klayman has finally set a date for his proposed uprising to remove President Obama from office: November 19.” You should read the whole post for a sense of just how full-gonzo bonkers Klayman is. Suggested soundtrack as you read: “Klayman’s Theme.” (Terry Taylor’s “Neverhood” music vastly improves reading any right-wing screeds. “Dum Da Dum Doi Doi” works well with Glenn Beck, while “Homina Homina” is a fine accompaniment for Sen. Ted Cruz.)
3. Corey Robin on going down the rabbit hole of a WAS, or a Wrongly Attributed Statement (or a Who Actually Said). This is a lot easier in the age of Google, but it still lures me into the occasional fruitless hour or two every little bit.
4. Bono’s Bill Clinton impression ain’t bad. He’s got the sound of it down, but he needs to add the knuckle-point, the lip-bite and the sly, semi-guilty smile-while-looking-off-to-the-side.
5. New to me: Phantom’s List. “Links to writing by women around the Web,” is the tagline. “Because you don’t have to read The Man … if you don’t wanna.” The list is posted weekly by the Phantom Scribbler, who has eclectic sensibilities and a wide-ranging curiosity and generosity — just the sort of person you want curating such a list. Update your Google Reader RSS feed.
6. Proof that marriage equality really is a threat to religious freedom — it just got this pastor fired!
To a rational person, “religious liberty” would mean that a pastor was free to marry or not to marry any given couple based on that pastor’s religious convictions. This is also what “religious liberty” would mean to someone who speaks standard English. But according to our new redefinition of “religious liberty” it means, instead, the freedom to ban others from religious beliefs that the privileged disagree with.
That reminds me of something C.S. Lewis said in Mere Christianity, “One of the marks of a certain type of bad man …”
7. Carol Howard Merritt doesn’t like the term “mainline” Protestant: “I, for one, am tired of pretending that we want to hang out at the Country Club and eat cucumber sandwiches in fancy hats. We are not some sort of upper-crust elite society.” Good point, but I’ll reserve the term “mainline” for this song:
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