It’s kind of a Christmas tradition here to post an excerpt from Anne Lamott’s “Advent Adventure.” This is the key part, but follow that link to see how Lamott sees this story of incarnation and grace as a Christmas story. “The only things getting me up the stairs are Terry, behind me, pushing me forward every so often, and this conviction I have that this is as bad as it’s ever going to be — that if I can get... Read more
Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, presents himself as a libertarian who believes in smaller, limited government and a strict adherence to the Constitution. Hogwash. For decades, Ron Paul churned out vile newsletters peddling unfiltered racism, anti-gay hysteria, and anti-Semitic, John Birch Society “trilateral” insanity. If you’ve got the stomach for it, you can peruse dozens of these at Mr. Destructo. It’s the kind of old-school, flagrant racism you only see inside a closed circle of angry white people certain that only... Read more
Defining dominionism down: Good’s Kristin Rawls reports on a nice, attractive young couple who are helping to give dominionism a nicer, more attractive face. They’d prefer we don’t say “dominionism,” though, because in their ideal of a Christian America governed by biblical laws privileging Christianity, no one would be forced to convert: The Mitchells practice a form of politicized conservative Christianity that most observers would call dominionism. Libertarian-leaning supporters of state’s rights, they would like to see government reconstructed from... Read more
The headline of this post is true for all of us, actually, even when it doesn’t seem like it. Someone wants to hear your story. But the point of this post is a bit more specific with regard to the someone and the you here. The someone in this case is Margot Starbuck, who’s an insightful writer (author of, among other things: Unsqueezed and The Girl in the Orange Dress). And the you may or may not be you, in... Read more
Ian Ayres and Aaron S. Edlin are pushing for a Brandeis tax based on maintaining a Brandeis ratio of 36-to-1. I hope they keeping pushing for this, even though I doubt their proposal will go anywhere. I’m just happy they’re calling it a “Brandeis tax” and a “Brandeis ratio,” because every time anyone asks why they’re calling them that, they can quote this, from Supreme Court Justice Louis D Brandeis: We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated... Read more
Scot Paltrow: “The watchdogs that didn’t bark“ Four years after the banking system nearly collapsed from reckless mortgage lending, federal prosecutors have stayed on the sidelines, even as judges around the country are pointing fingers at possible wrongdoing. … Foreclosure-related case files in just one New York federal bankruptcy court, for example, hold at least a dozen mortgage documents known as promissory notes bearing evidence of recently forged signatures and illegal alterations, according to a judge’s rulings and records reviewed... Read more
The Consumerist brings us the latest in a wave of recent stories about a mystery benefactor bringing holiday cheer to strangers in need. Call it holiday cheer or call it the best bandwagon we’ve ever seen, but yet another kind-hearted consumer has plunked down cash to make the season a bit brighter for his fellow humans. A man in Laguna Beach, Calif., shelled out almost $16,000 of his own money to pay for layaway items of 1,000 Kmart shoppers. [The... Read more
Blessed Solstice, everyone. Read more
“MLK parade bomber sentenced to 32 years in prison” reports Nikolas K. Geranios of the Associated Press: SPOKANE, Wash. — A federal judge was not swayed by the last-ditch attempt from an Army veteran with extensive ties to white supremacists to change his guilty plea in a plot to bomb a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade. … “I am distressed that you appear not the least bit apologetic,” said [U.S. District Court Judge Justin] Quackenbush, as he sentenced Kevin... Read more
J.R. Daniel Kirk reminds me of a story. It’s a story I’ve told here before, years ago, but let me tell it again, briefly. It’s about my first marriage, which ended unhappily but began happily enough. This is a story from that happy beginning. It was 1991 and my then-fiancée did not have a birth certificate. She’d never had one. The small Tennessee hospital in which she’d been born had had a fire and its records had been destroyed. And... Read more
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