… I was reminded of a conversation I had with an American military intelligence officer who was having a supper of Jack Daniel’s and Coca Cola at a Kigali bar. “I heard you’re interested in genocide,” the American said. “Do you know what genocide is?” I asked him to tell me. “A cheese sandwich,” he said. “Write it down. Genocide is a cheese sandwich.” I asked him how he figured that. “What does anyone care about a cheese sandwich?” he... Read more

I want to link to a couple of items from today’s paper, so let me first reassure you that I’m not trying to turn into Will Bunch and don’t intend to make a daily dose of local news a regular feature. Neither of these stories, mind you, is anywhere near as important as this or this or this, but I haven’t yet gotten to the point where I can discuss those without sliding into a profanity-filled tirade. I can’t yet... Read more

From today’s paper: “Bill would restrict voting to property owners.” Last week, [Republican State Rep. Deborah] Hudson introduced House Bill 358, a one-line bill that would restrict voting in school-tax referendums to those who actually pay the tax. Only citizens who live in the district and own property there would be allowed to vote in referendums, though renters and other nonproperty owners living in the district still could vote in school board elections. But by Thursday, Hudson learned that there... Read more

I remember back, waaay back — had to have been, maybe, January of aught-eight, so we’re talking 80, maybe even 90 days ago — participating in online discussions about the Democratic primaries. This will just sound crazy to you young ‘uns, but way back then, you could actually do that online without fisticuffs or weird, out-of-nowhere accusations. I see some of you looking skeptical, but you kids’ll just have to take my word for it. It was another time —... Read more

Check, check … is this thing on? OK, then. Comcast seems to have me all set up here in my new digs. They’re quite accommodating if you ask politely and say the magic word (not “please” — “Verizon”). So we now resume our irregularly scheduled blogging. – – – Thank you Trevor et. al. for sticking up for Rich Mullins in comments. Mullins did write the unfortunate worship anthem “Awesome God,” but he also wrote quite a bit of music... Read more

I’m at the awkward stage of moving where nearly everything is sealed in boxes. The first dozen or so boxes were neatly sorted and labeled. The last dozen are unlabelable, although I suppose I could write “Stuff that didn’t fit in the other boxes.” I’ve got to make one more run to Goodwill and probably one more run to the liquor store (for more boxes — the place looks like I’m running some kind of black market bootleg and office-supply... Read more

Thank you, hapax, for the link to St. John Chrysostom’s Easter sermon. I had been thinking of posting John Donne’s “Holy Sonnet X” or perhaps Wendell Berry’s “The Mad Farmer Liberation Front” (which is where the title for this post comes from), but let’s just leave it to the golden-tongued Archbishop of Constantinople: First and last alike, receive your reward.Rich and poor, rejoice together! Conscientious and lazy, celebrate the day!You who have kept the fast, and you who have not,rejoice,... Read more