Left Behind, pp. 292-298 (round 1) "You are in deep trouble, my friend," Nicolae Carpathia says to Buck Williams. "And I want to help you if I can." So it seems we have come to the Big Temptation Scene. I'm a bit disappointed, then, that Rosenzweig's suite at the Plaza Hotel was not established as a "penthouse." It ought to be. The touchstone here is the temptation of Jesus, which we read about in Matthew's Gospel (Matt. 4:1-11). Jesus is... Read more
You can't stop the open thread, you can only hope to contain it. It's customary to toss out a subject for these, if only for the delight provided by seeing how quickly that subject is abandoned and in how many different directions. So, OK, here's a topic: If, as President Bush said Monday, "There's no wrongdoing" behind the Justice Department's firing of at least eight U.S. Attorneys for insufficient voter intimidation, then why did Monica Goodling take the fifth? Was... Read more
How is it possible that Judge Robert Bork's $1 million pratfall at the Yale Club was not captured on video and immediately posted to YouTube? To paraphrase Groucho Marx: An audience will laugh when an actor pretending to be a fatuous, hypocritical judge pretends to fall off of a stage, but to a pro it's only funny if it's really a fatuous hypocrite and he really falls off the stage. To be clear, Bork is not just suing the Yale... Read more
Reviewers have opened several lanes of traffic through the holes in Michael Behe's argument in his latest book advocating Intelligent Design, The Edge of Evolution. Nick Matzke tackles one such hole at The Panda's Thumb, with Ed Brayton offering a helpful summary for laypeople and nonmajors at Talk to Action. Follow either of those links for the science, what I'm interested in here is the theology. Both Matzke and Brayton call attention to this comment from Behe: Here’s something to... Read more
Left Behind, pp. 288-292 Rayford Steele is regretting his bizarre behavior on the phone with Hattie Durham. If only he'd been more suave or more subtle in his seduction proselytizing, "She'd have been none the wiser and he could have eased into his real reason for inviting her to dinner." And then two sentences later: "His real motive, even for talking with Hattie, was to communicate to Chloe." There's something odd, and maybe a little creepy, about Rayford's notion of... Read more
Just for one day … "Dear Prudence," Siouxsie and the Banshees "If I Were You," Kasey Chambers "I Want to Be a Clone," Steve Taylor "Just Like Heaven," The Cure "In a Little While," U2 "Raining in Baltimore," Counting Crows "$29.00," Tom Waits "Little Palaces," Elvis Costello "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)," They Might Be Giants "Heroes," David Bowie Read more
Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council takes a break from denying what scientists say about climate change in order to deny what scientists say about human sexuality. And what humans say about human sexuality: Homosexual behavior is a choice. A person can choose to either participate in homosexual behavior or not to participate. The widespread, vocal insistence of this "Just say no" theory of sexual orientation is part of why I find this chemistry.com ad so delightful: The ad... Read more
(Play nice in comments, this is an abortion thread.) Christianity Today has a roundup of various religious right figures arguing that the initial enthusiasm for Rudy Giuliani among evangelical voters is going to fade once they learn more about him. Southern Baptist spokesman Richard Land is typical of this view: "As they get to know him — not as the hero of 9/11* but as a supporter of tax-funded abortions — his support will decline precipitously." Columnist George Will doesn't... Read more
Our style at the paper — following the AP — assumes that readers can recognize a telephone number. We'll write, "Contact Trooper Jones at 555-1234," or even just, "Trooper Jones, 555-1234." We don't write: "Call Trooper Jones on the telephone by dialing his telephone number, 555-1234." That would be considered redundant. It would also make us sound like time travelers from the past, people still somewhat bewildered and awestruck by the newfangled telephone. Readers know that three digits, a hyphen,... Read more
OK, so, two columns are better than three. Thanks, everyone, for your feedback on and patience with the three-column experiment. Re: the "4 trillion links" in the blogrolls — My theory here is that it's easier to keep track of a blogroll than it is to keep track of a bookmarks/favorites file of all the blogs I read, or try to read, or feel like I ought to be reading. So the blogrolls here are mainly for my own use... Read more
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