I've been enjoying watching Brad DeLong pull his hair out in frustration with those who are willing to make peace with madness if that is where their arguments lead. (DeLong is entertaining when he's exasperated.) Some of the relevant posts are here and here. The immediate provocation for all of this was the internally consistent, but barking mad, insistence by Sasha Volokh that "taxing people to protect the Earth from an asteroid … is an illegitimate function of government from... Read more
Revelation 13 In amazement the whole earth followed the beast. They worshipped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshipped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?’ The beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who... Read more
Revelation 13 In amazement the whole earth followed the beast. They worshipped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshipped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?’ The beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who... Read more
Tribulation Force, pp. 336-346 Buck and Tsion Ben-Judah are headed back to the Western Wall to talk to the Two Witnesses whom the authors identify, following one tradition, as Moses and Elijah. Yes, that Moses and Elijah. Most authors would balk at the difficulty of enlisting two such figures as characters in a novel. It’s one thing to write a screenplay for The Ten Commandments, supplying dialogue for Moses in a retelling of the biblical story, but it takes a... Read more
Tribulation Force, pp. 336-346 Buck and Tsion Ben-Judah are headed back to the Western Wall to talk to the Two Witnesses whom the authors identify, following one tradition, as Moses and Elijah. Yes, that Moses and Elijah. Most authors would balk at the difficulty of enlisting two such figures as characters in a novel. It's one thing to write a screenplay for The Ten Commandments, supplying dialogue for Moses in a retelling of the biblical story, but it takes a... Read more
The headline is depressingly unsurprising: “Polling Evangelicals: Cut Aid to World’s Poor, Unemployed.” The combination of stupidity, selfishness and resentment for resentment’s sake here is an unholy abomination that makes me want to scream and throw things. And I would, if I thought screaming and throwing things would help get through to these folks, but at this point I have no idea what would get through to them. Neither facts nor faith seem to matter to them at all. Lest... Read more
The headline is depressingly unsurprising: "Polling Evangelicals: Cut Aid to World's Poor, Unemployed." The combination of stupidity, selfishness and resentment for resentment's sake here is an unholy abomination that makes me want to scream and throw things. And I would, if I thought screaming and throwing things would help get through to these folks, but at this point I have no idea what would get through to them. Neither facts nor faith seem to matter to them at all. Lest... Read more
I've finally finished reading "The Apostate: Paul Haggis vs. the Church of Scientology," Lawrence Wright's extensive, exhaustive profile in The New Yorker. It's a fascinating, provocative and revealing look at both the Academy Award-winning screenwriter and the religious empire created by the late L. Ron Hubbard. One comes away with a less-than-flattering sense of Haggis, but the portrait of Scientology is devastating. Wright's searching, even-handed approach provides ample evidence for the conclusion that this relatively new religious movement is secretive,... Read more
I'm a big fan of Sarah Silverman. Her jokes are mostly funny on their own, but her meta-joke — the shallow, self-centered, cruelly oblivious idiocy of her comic persona — is pure genius. That persona allows her comedy to address forbidden topics with forbidden candor, to be both dry and enthusiastic at the same time, both sardonic and perky — two things that one wouldn't expect could go together. She is able to say the most odious and appalling things... Read more
So the older daughter is eligible for honors English next year. Bravo! I respond with enthusiasm and what I hope comes across as encouragement without too much pressure. "I'd have to do the summer reading." "You like summer reading." "Yeah, but there's like this 900-page book that she makes every class read." "War and Peace?" "No." "The Brothers Karamazov?" (I suppose these guesses don't really count as "English" literature, but I'm thinking 900 pages has to be Russian.) "No, it's... Read more
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