2006-01-27T15:54:02-05:00

I had a dream I wanted to sleep next to plastic lions at the door … Crowded House, "Mean to Me" Camper Van Beethoven, "Take the Skinheads Bowling" Sting, "Fragile" Jimmy Cliff, "Many Rivers To Cross" Everything but the Girl, "Tougher than the Rest" Santo & Johnny, "Sleepwalk" Bruce Cockburn, "Wondering Where the Lions Are" Hoodoo Gurus, "What's My Scene?" Johnny Cash, "Hurt" Cheap Trick, "I Want You To Want Me" Read more

2006-01-27T15:14:52-05:00

Left Behind, pg. 198 Before making his full sales pitch for salvation to Rayford and Chloe, Bruce Barnes first has to explain the authors' contention that such salvation is still possible for those left behind in the post-rapture world. This is, of course, central to the premise of the whole series, the protagonists of which are the "Tribulation Force," a kind of guerrilla army consisting entirely of post-rapture Christians: Bruce looked Chloe in the eyes. "There is no doubt in... Read more

2006-01-25T13:38:34-05:00

Some Other Place I'm not going to make it to NYC for tonight's Whisperado CD-release party, but if you're within reach of the West Village, you may want to check this out. Whisperado is Patrick Nielsen Hayden's band. I got to see them play a few months back and let me say — since modesty prevents Patrick from saying this himself — that they rock. Good, thoughtful, playful American music. But don't take my word for it — you can... Read more

2006-01-25T13:25:21-05:00

"This isn't your father's Moral Majority" Bob Kemper writes in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: All across the country, conservative evangelicals are re-evaluating what it means to be a Christian and their soul searching, evangelical leaders and scholars say, has the potential to fundamentally reorder the federal government's priorities and trigger seismic shifts in the Republican and Democratic parties. … The newly recognized wave of evangelical social activism remains committed to the sanctity of life, the preservation of marriage and protection of... Read more

2006-01-25T12:05:12-05:00

"I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets." — 1 Kings 22:22 In a NYTimes op-ed titled "Wayward Christian Soldiers," Charles Marsh looks at the arguments many prominent evangelical spokesmen gave in support of the invasion of Iraq: [Their] war sermons rallied the evangelical congregations behind the invasion of Iraq. An astonishing 87 percent of all white evangelical Christians in the United States supported the president's decision in April 2003. Recent polls... Read more

2006-01-24T19:05:41-05:00

Weighing in on some old news here — Eamon Javers of BusinessWeek reports that columnist and former senior fellow at the Cato Institute Doug Bandow: … accepted payments from indicted Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff for writing op-ed articles favorable to the positions of some of Abramoff's clients. Doug Bandow, who writes a syndicated column for Copley News Service, told BusinessWeek Online that he had accepted money from Abramoff for writing between 12 and 24 articles over a period of years,... Read more

2006-01-24T15:28:59-05:00

"Marriage Is Money in the Bank" writes Kim Trobee of Focus on the Family, pouncing on the study mentioned below. You there, the single mom struggling to make rent, you want to know why you're poor? It's your fault. You rejected traditional profamily values and got divorced. You brought this on yourself. Let me be clear: I've got no problem with social scientists measuring the apparent. We assume we know a lot of things that may not actually be true,... Read more

2006-01-23T14:18:01-05:00

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." — Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice All else being equal, a household with two earners bringing in two incomes will obtain twice as much money as a household with a single earner bringing in a single income. Conversely, all else being equal, a household with a single earning bringing in a single income will obtain only about... Read more

2006-01-20T12:44:42-05:00

Left Behind, pp. 189-190 The Rev. Bruce Barnes is an odd man. He's twitchy and God-haunted like Hazel Motes in Wise Blood. He says he believes in the "rapture," but we don't see him rejoicing over the salvation of his wife and children. Instead he acts more like God took them and left a ransom note. Now God wants him to proselytize, and he'd better do it if he knows what's good for him. Barnes has a similar terrified reverence... Read more

2006-01-20T12:12:49-05:00

put a damp cloth on my forehead … Green Day, "American Idiot" Radiohead, "Creep" (live) Squeeze, "Pulling Mussels from a Shell" The Von Bondies, "The Fever" Sting, "All This Time" Paul Simon, "American Tune" Cracker, "Take Me Down to the Infirmary" Pete Yorn, "Just Another" The Replacements, "I'll Be You" Beck, "Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime" "American Tune" is a gorgeous thing. It's not really an American tune, though, more of a German one. I first heard that tune via, of... Read more

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