Someone asked me what I thought of Pat Robertson’s very quick assertion that Haiti has been “cursed by God.” Pat Robertson on Haiti DisasterUploaded by burghnews. – News videos hot off the press. Oh, for crying out loud! What sensitivity and timing! Sort of like going up to a mother whose just lost her children in a house fire and saying, “well, you’ve sinned, so you had this coming, but now you’ll turn to God, and I’m gonna help you.”... Read more
Yesterday was such a sobering day, focused on Haiti, and I suspect today will be equally as grim. For a palate cleanser: hated most of the shows, loved most of the theme songs. Check back through the day for my own little theme: GREAT SITCOM SONGS OF THE ’70’s. I’ll be peppering in the blog, throughout the day. Loved Donny Hathaway! Read more
“On the Square” is, of course, the featured daily article of First Things Online, and I am remiss in that I had intended to link to the Ronald E. Osborn two-parter posted on Monday and Tuesday. Entitled Obama’s Niebuhrian Moment, it is a long and rather magnificent exposition of the influence of Reinhold Niebuhr on President Obama, as exposed in his Nobel-Prize acceptance speech. In his December 10, 2009, Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, President Barack Obama offered a vigorous... Read more
Faith in God is not a form of knowledge that can be learned like chemistry or mathematics, but remains a belief . . . Since faith demands our whole existence, our will, our love, since it requires letting go of ourselves, it necessarily always goes beyond a mere knowledge, beyond what is demonstrable. And because that is so, then I can always turn my life away from faith and find arguments that seem to refute it . . . we... Read more
Photo by Eduardo Munoz, REUTERS The pictures at the Boston Globe are bone-chilling (Picture #37 gives you a really good grasp of the scope of this disaster) The people of Haiti are perhaps the poorest in the Western Hemisphere. An Earthquake registering 7.0 on the Richter Scale. You’ll recall, the San Francisco earthquake of 1989 was also 7.0, and it pancaked portions of a bridge. Haiti has not got California’s stringent building codes, and they certainly do not build to... Read more
Because I have work to do. I. Have. Work. To. Do. And I just spent an hour watching men dance. I could watch Baryshnikov all day. I’d forgotten how good the dancing was in White Nights. Here he is with the late, great, Gregory Hines. Watch his landings, so soft!: And the air he gets beneath him: I must put in a word for my Irish boys, too: See? Now you’ve just wasted precious time watching men dancing, too. Like... Read more
The formerly very liberal and very pro-choice Bookworm is thinking long and hard about abortion arguments in the 21st Century: I dreamed last night about the first ultrasound I had when I was pregnant with my daughter. I was sixteen weeks pregnant, and had been throwing up non-stop for 15 1/2 of those sixteen weeks. I was not happy. I resented the parasite within me. And then I saw the sonogram image and discovered that the parasite had a little... Read more
Oh, come on! You don’t have to go through all this for a great cup of coffee. All you have to do is visit the Mystic Monks. I think I’ll grab a bag of the great-tasting ’09 Christmas Blend while it’s still available. And, you know, a bag of Jingle Bell Java, which won’t be available again until Easter, when it turns up as “Pasha Java.” Hey, self-sacrifice is a good and noble thing. But it’s cold out there, and... Read more
Via Deacon Greg, who says: This may be the world’s most eloquent homily on life and death, and it doesn’t contain a single word. One year in 120 seconds from Eirik Solheim on Vimeo. It kind of reminded me of a scene from the movie “Michael,” where John Travolta, playing the soon-to-exit-earth Archangel looks around at the world and everything in it, and says with a tone full of fullness, longing and wonder, “it’s all so beautiful.” I’d love to... Read more
I note that the Summit Dominicans are retiring several soap selections and offering them at reduced prices. The Eucalyptus is great when you are stuffed up. Get a good lather going in a hot shower, and you can breathe again! And of course, when you buy from the nuns, they breathe a little easier at bill-paying time. I think I’ll stock up on some of the best lipbalm evah and handcreme inna jar while this brutal, dry, miserably cold weather... Read more
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