North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has died at age 69. This is big news, I think, but I don’t really know what it means for the future. My thoughts are similar to those of Dr. Thompson: The strange leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Il, has died. Everyone is worried about what’s going to happen. Hell, we couldn’t figure out North Korea before. North Korea has never been predictable. … I suspect that they will continue to be a... Read more
First let me tell you a story from almost 20 years ago. My buddy Dwight and I were arguing over what I was going to wear to a meeting. “I’m not a catcher,” I told him. Catchers have to wear their baseball caps backwards because of the mask. But if you’re not a catcher and you’re not, say, riding a bike into a headwind, then it seemed to me that wearing a baseball cap backwards was unnecessary. “Just turn it... Read more
Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out. Playwright, dissident, Velvet Underground fan and the first president of the Czech Republic after the Velvet Revolution, Vaclav Havel has died at age 75. “There’s always something suspect about an intellectual on the winning side,” Havel once said, even though he himself was an intellectual who wound... Read more
Exodus 16:14-18 When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, ‘What is it?’ For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, ‘It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded: “Gather as much of it as each of you... Read more
Susie Madrak notes that the shutdown deal in Congress cuts winter heating aid for low-income families. I used to be confused as to why LIHEAP was always among the first programs on the chopping block when states or the federal government wanted to cut the budget. LIHEAP, the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, helps low-income families pay the heating bill. Congress just cut the program by 25 percent — or $3.5 billion. Every one of those dollars would have gone... Read more
Herman Melville: “Poor Man’s Pudding and Rich Man’s Crumbs” (1854) Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed. “Blandmour,” said I that evening, as after tea I sat on his comfortable sofa, before a blazing fire, with one of his two ruddy little children on my knee, “you are not what may rightly be called a rich man; you have... Read more
Here is some helpful news for those who: 1) care about justice for workers, and 2) tend to procrastinate when it comes to Christmas shopping. Labor organization American Rights at Work released its holiday gift buying guide this week, spotlighting gifts and holiday supplies from union companies who manufacture products made in America. … I’m glad to see this, but here’s hoping that the 2012 guide comes out before Black Friday, not two weeks before Christmas. * * * *... Read more
Religion News Service reports that: The Southern Baptist Convention is again considering changing its name, after a national survey found 40 percent of Americans hold an unfavorable view of the denomination. Somewhat surprisingly, the SBC’s negatives were highest in the South. It’s not surprising. To paraphrase Ed Koch, in the South, people know the SBC. Those negatives probably aren’t helped by Southern Baptist bookstores taking a firm stance in favor of breast cancer. Lifeway Christian Bookstores, which is owned by... Read more
I want to give some credit to the National Association of Free Will Baptists for responding quickly to an eruption of ugly racism in one of its congregations. You may recall that last month the Gulnare Free Will Baptist Church of Pike County, Ky., voted to ban interracial couples from joining the church or participating in worship services. Peter Smith of the (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal reports on the response from the association: The publishing arm of the Free Will Baptist... Read more
My own opinion is enough for me, and I claim the right to have it defended against any consensus, any majority, anywhere, any place, any time. And anyone who disagrees with this can pick a number, get in line and kiss my ass. — Christopher Hitchens Critic, essayist and compulsive contrarian Christopher Hitchens has died. I didn’t agree with Hitchens often before 9/11, and agreed with him even less after that, but the man was very rarely dull. He made... Read more
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