“If I knew I should die tomorrow, I would plant a tree today.”— Martin Luther As we near completion of Volume 1 of the World’s Worst Books, some gesture seems in order. Ideally, we would have a party. I’m imagining some kind of Come as Your Favorite Character costume affair (I call dibs on The Drunk Executive) and maybe a Rocky Horror-style audience participation viewing of Left Behind: The Movie (with optional LB drinking game). Good times. Sadly, though, the... Read more
“Attempts to confront or wake up patients during the events frequently lengthens the parasomnia episode and may induce resistance or violence from the patient.”— WebMD’s emedicine entry on Somnambulism In comments for the previous entry, Doctor Science points us to an insightful post from Kit Whitfield (aka Praline) that suggests a possible third explanation for the insane popularity of the Munich Analogy — an explanation other than the obvious ones of unbelievable stupidity or willful dishonesty. To review, briefly, this... Read more
Matthew Yglesias recommends Jeffrey Record’s monograph, “Appeasement Reconsidered: Investigating the Mythology of the 1930s.” I realize no one is going to read that and think, “Ooooh, a monograph! How exciting!” But if you’ve got a crazy uncle/co-worker/president who makes a habit of invoking Neville Chamberlain to dismiss any hesitation to invade Iraq/bomb Iran/annihilate Fredonia, then Record’s thoughtful separation of reality and myth may come in handy. Record can’t be dismissed as a dirty hippy, and his paper was published by... Read more
Here’s an elegantly simple idea from the National Religious Campaign Against Torture: Banners Across America. We are asking congregations of all sizes, from every state, and all faiths, to join in a public witness against torture by displaying a banner outside their place of worship during Torture Awareness Month (June 2008). Our goal is to have banners displayed by NRCAT member congregations in all 50 states, DC and Puerto Rico. Each banner will have the NRCAT logo and you may... Read more
I haven’t seen Prince Caspian yet, but since it was the “No. 1 Movie” this weekend, let’s revisit what that wonderful little book was about: Prince Caspian is about beer. Here is C.S. Lewis elsewhere (in Mere Christianity) in defense of one of his favorite things: It is a mistake to think that Christians ought all to be teetotalers; [Islam], not Christianity, is the teetotal religion. Of course it may be the duty of a particular Christian, or of any... Read more
Left Behind, pp. 436-438 I can somewhat relate to the situation Buck Williams faces here. You’ve probably faced a similar dilemma yourself. Your friend finally seems happy. She’s Met Someone and she’s caught up in the excitement. All she needs from you just now is for you to share that enthusiasm and unqualified happiness, but you can’t do that because you know the guy, or you know something about him — you heard some stories from his third ex-wife, or... Read more
There’s a flaming red horizon that screams our names … “Es Tut Mir Leid,” Mark Heard “Escher’s World,” Chagall Guevara “Etcetera Whatever,” Over the Rhine “Eternal Life,” Jeff Buckley “Euphoria,” Skatman Meredith “Eurotrash Girl,” Cracker “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye,” Ella Fitzgerald “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye,” Annie Lennox “Evangeline,” Matthew Sweet “Eve of Destruction,” The Dickies “Eve of Destruction/Machines,” Charlie McGloughlin “Evelyn Is Not Real,” My Morning Jacket Charlie’s little medley there is from one of my very Favorite... Read more
“California Court Affirms Right to Gay Marriage“ and also — “Gay Couples Celebrate California Court Ruling“ Game on. From that first article: “In view of the substance and significance of the fundamental constitutional right to form a family relationship,” Chief Justice Ronald M. George wrote of marriage for the majority, “the California Constitution properly must be interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex couples as well as to opposite-sex couples.”... Read more
I’ve now had a chance to read the “Evangelical Manifesto” that we discussed earlier. It’s rather well done and there’s much to commend here. The concluding “Invitation to All” is particularly welcome. So too is what is probably the document’s strongest contribution and best hope for achieving what it seeks to accomplish, namely its tone, which is reasonable and almost aggressively civil. I’m also quite pleased to find that this document, endorsed by some notable and influential leaders in American... Read more
Left Behind, pp. 435-437 In this little section Bruce Barnes and Rayford are playing the Antichrist Game, trying to reconcile what they know about their prime suspect with the many arcane details they’ve compiled in their check list. Let me briefly try to explain where such details and such check lists come from. The Bible is full of warnings not to be deceived by false prophets, false teachers or false leaders of any kind, religious or political. Read through the... Read more
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