PJ O’Rourke is dealing with cancer, right now, so if he wanted to, he could defend the president’s recent executive order promoting (with his typical strawmen and ungenerously snide references to his predecessor) the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. He could wail and weep “poor me, I might need this research. I might get healed with it, and since the world is all about me, me, me, we should take this big moral jump and try! For me!”... Read more
From inside I heard [his wife] calling, “Fwed, Fwed, come quickly!…There’s aperfectly dwedful man at the door without a shirt…he says he knows your sister and has a letter from a bookie called Gwaves.” From these unpromising beginnings, a friendship grew which perhaps meant more to me than any other in Hollywood. … Fred was such an honest person that he could not believe it was fair that he should be getting such real pleasure out of working. More than... Read more
Don’t take it the wrong way – she was a literary genius, and I am only a grubber – but there are times when I read or re-read Flannery O’ Connor and just think, “honey, I so identify…” Re-reading an old Paul Greenberg column wondering when a Symbol becomes a Presence (and the column is wholly worth your read), this of course stands out: When does a symbol become a Symbol, a Presence? Flannery O’Connor came closest to answering that... Read more
Courtesy of my Li’l Bro Thom: Read more
Sorry so quiet – had a very strange day over here, which included a minor but important “emergency” issue for a family member. Please allow me to say Thank You – a huge, Thank you with a grateful heart. The tons of incredibly lovely responses and emails I have been reading have been a very instructive and extremely humbling event. And when I say humbling, I really mean it. I can’t tell you how many times I blushed from your... Read more
The podcast for Morning Prayer is here. I apologize that I’m still a bit wheezy from the cold. I have a special request of anyone praying the Hour with me – if you could remember my son Buster in your prayers; he has a big test coming up in school today and though he has studied for it, he’s asked me to pray for him, because it’s the one class he struggles with, and he can’t afford to fail it.... Read more
Right after Obama got told to get his act together in a crisis: Did I say “catastrophe”? No, man, it’s not so bad. It’s all good, really! People just overreact all the time! The economic crisis is downgraded. No longer a catastrophe. Let’s dance! Drudge says: “Dire Emergency Canceled.” You betcha! Insty calls it The Emily Letilla Presidency Just the other day: Don’t go stuffing money in your mattresses. Ummm…well, I wasn’t going to, but since you’re mentioning it… Just... Read more
Still have a cold, the mic is still problematic (I think it’s time to bite the bullet and pick up a new one) but here is the podcast of Vespers for March 12. I’m sorry that it sounds a bit tiny. I had to speak up over the cold and the bad mic, so it’s a little less “restful” sounding than usual. I apologize. Sort of a goofy turn…I had some difficulty with one of the psalms, where it says... Read more
The Recent Mrs. Chins Two of my brothers are gay, and both of them found that coming out afforded them great peace and freedom. No longer needing to hide a portion of themselves, unconstricted by fear and having escaped the deceptive “safety” of their hiding place, they became more at ease in themselves – easier to be around in general – and more fully the men whom God had created them to be. They also discovered that their coming out... Read more
In yesterday’s link-filled post, I added this astounding technological demonstration. And because my kids do not read my blog – who is more boring than mother? – I sent the link to each of them. I got into a conversation with someone, later, about how the technology shows us that nothing is static, that soon watches and cameras may be little more than charming relics, like horse buggies. It’s a good reminder, I think, not to get attached to “things.”... Read more
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