Look again at that list of entities above -- families, friendships, etc. Any one of those might, at some point, come to function as a "bully" in the life of an individual. In doing so, it would be betraying its intended purpose and function, but any single one of those entities so corrupted could turn a person's life into a hell. Read more

John Hagee: bad on love and hate; not bad on saxophone. Right to bear arms replaced by the right to sell guns. The news from Texas. Some background on Art Pope's attempt to buy North Carolina and sell it for parts. Joseph Carens on immigration. Sarah Moon on what is, and isn't, a sin. Read more

Holiday business and holiday busy-ness have interrupted our weekly sojourn through the World's Worst Books. Read more

"Waterboarding was used by the Nazi Gestapo and the feared Japanese Kempeitai. In World War II, our grandfathers had the wisdom to convict Japanese Officer Yukio Asano of waterboarding and other torture practices in 1947 giving him 15 years hard labor. Waterboarding was practiced by the Khmer Rouge at the infamous Tuol Sleng prison. Most recently, the United States Army court martialed a soldier for the practice in 1968 during the Vietnam conflict." Read more

New lectionary: We preach from nothing but 1 John until this poll on race produces better results. Which will happen first: U.S. gets offshore wind? Or Miami sinks beneath the waves? Ari Kohen on rich and famous con artists. Bishop Paprocki exorcising Catholics out of the Diocese of Springfield. Doug's Wager. Read more

So here we have a situation in which the contrast between possible outcomes is vast. The actions needed to produce the more favorable outcome are straightforward, noncontroversial, non-ideological, nonpartisan and not just inexpensive, but profitable. Yet in most cases like this we end up with the less desirable result -- families are displaced and financially ruined and a stable community is replaced with a new development that likely won't live up to its investors' inflated expectations. Read more

Here's a Christmas tradition at this blog, Anne Lamott's "Advent Adventure," which I link to every year as a reminder that there's no difference between any of us and those shepherds, drunks and unclean scum. This is what Christmas means: Emmanuel, God become one of us, a stranger on a bus, a shepherd, a whiskey priest ... Read more

It seems unfair that some people are still stuck at work today, so here's a song from Dolly Parton and a painting from Henry Ossawa Tanner and a bunch of links to fun stuff to read between now and 5 o'clock. Read more