Baby Baby

Last updated on: November 21, 2008 at 6:44 am By Fred Clark

Call me a square, friend, I don't care … "Baby Baby," The Swirling Eddies"Baby Game," Daniel Amos"Baby I'm a Star," Prince"Baby It's Cold Outside," Ray Charles and Betty Carter"Baby, Just Be Yourself," The Pipettes"Baby on Board," The Be Sharps"Baby Plays Around," Elvis Costello"Baby Watch Your Back," Nellie McKay"Baby, What's Wrong With You," Crooked Still"Baby Why?" Green Bonus: "B-A-B-Y," Carla Thomas I appreciate Prince's touchiness on the subject of copyright — once you lose your own name in a legal battle,... Read more

Questioning questions

Last updated on: November 20, 2008 at 7:21 am By Fred Clark

Over on Christianity Today’s Politics Blog, Sarah Pulliam asks “Can Obama Call Himself a Christian?” The asking, and particularly the answering, of that question is — to borrow a phrase — way above Pulliam’s pay grade. Here, I think, is the relevant passage from Matthew’s Gospel: The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the... Read more

Mass layoffs are a sin

Last updated on: November 19, 2008 at 6:13 pm By Fred Clark

Thanks for the feedback on the previous post. My guess is that once the situation gets to the point that Citigroup is at, planning to lay off 53,000 workers, then it's too late for any kind of union — labor, shareholder or otherwise — to make much difference. The larger difficulty is probably that I'm looking for a shortcut to the kind of democratic management one might get from employee-ownership and that shortcut may not actually exist. Still, building alliances... Read more

A union of shareholders

Last updated on: November 18, 2008 at 4:45 pm By Fred Clark

I'm asking for the assistance and indulgence of the hive-mind of the blogosphere here. I'm trying to figure out whether this is a new idea with potential or an old, flawed one with obvious difficulties that I probably should have recognized before wasting our time with this post. So anyway, I'm posting this story last night for the paper, and idly wondering how the 53,000 layoffs announced by Citigroup — 15 percent of its workforce — compares in size to... Read more

How I beat the market

Last updated on: November 16, 2008 at 7:25 pm By Fred Clark

For my first job out of college, I was hired as a fund manager. Sort of. I landed an internship with a Protestant denomination as an assistant in their Social and Ethical Responsibility in Investments program. My official title was SER Associate, though around the office I was usually just called "the intern." Part of the intern's duties was overseeing the denomination's portfolio of what they called alternative investments. This was money invested not just to maximize financial return, but... Read more

LBTM: That’s our Buck!

Last updated on: April 11, 2018 at 6:34 pm By Fred Clark

Left Behind: The Movie has conveniently been divided into 11 parts for posting on YouTube. This neatly provides us with stopping points as well as the ability to watch together as we work our way through the movie. We have some cause for optimism as we begin. Yes, there’s the Kirk Cameron factor, but that might not be insurmountable. Lost Boys featured both Coreys, and who doesn’t like Lost Boys? And as bad as the source material for this movie... Read more

Autographs from Atlantic City

Last updated on: November 14, 2008 at 6:30 am By Fred Clark

Well now everything dies, baby, that's a fact, but maybe … "Atlantic City," The Band"Atlantic City," Bruce Springsteen"Atomic Dog," George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic"Attagirl," Bettie Serveert"Attractions," Charlie Sexton"Auctioneer (Another Engine)," R.E.M."Audrey," Mike Roe"Australia," The Shins"Autograph," Green"Autographs for the Sick," Daniel Amos That Mike Roe track is from Demonstrations of Love, the benefit album Dwight Ozard put together for Prism magazine. Three years ago today, Dwight lost his battle with multiple myeloma and died at the too-young age of 43. "Don't... Read more

Sauce for the goose

Last updated on: November 12, 2008 at 5:07 pm By Fred Clark

I don't want to rehash the whole normative vs. descriptive debate we had over the term "un-American," but voters in California disappointed me last week by behaving in a very un-Californian manner and voting for Proposition 8. This was a ballot measure attempting to clarify the meaning of the state's constitution, restricting the application of certain "rights" to only certain Californians and not to others. The word rights is in scare quotes there necessarily because that word cannot be made... Read more

L.B.: Rapture Ready

Last updated on: November 7, 2008 at 2:38 pm By Fred Clark

Daniel Radosh stumbled into what he calls “the parallel universe of Christian pop culture,” and I for one am glad he did. Radosh’s wonderful book Rapture Ready chronicles his travels through this strange land with a generous spirit and a perceptive eye. He sees things as they are and understands what they mean. Much of what he sees is awful, misguided or unintentionally hilarious, but Rapture Ready is marked less with scorn and ridicule than it is with a sincere... Read more

You really will go free

Last updated on: November 7, 2008 at 9:49 am By Fred Clark

When we get sprung from out these cages, baby / God knows what we might do … "You Really Got a Hold on Me," The Beatles"You Really Got Me," The Kinks"You Said," The Primitives"You Shall See," G. Love & Special Sauce"You Still Touch Me," Sting"You Told Them Exactly What I Didn't Say," Terry Taylor"You Tripped at Every Step," Elvis Costello"You Were Meant for Me," Jewel"You Were There," The Call"You Will Go Free," Tonio K. Read more