“Contentions cause much perverseness in men’s tongues, and this causes a breach in their spirits. Your contending costs you dearly. Though it were in nothing else, yet the loss of this sweetness of spirit makes it very costly to you. All the wrong that you would have endured if you had not contended would not …
Potoked Again
Reactions to the NYT article were not long in coming. This one comes from the Southern Poverty Law Center, the world’s richest civil rights organization. Mark Potok, author of this article, was upset that Molly Worthen, author of the NYT piece, wrote a balanced, critical piece when the SPLC clearly sees the crying obligation for …
A New Perspective on Ron Paul
From my comments on this blog thus far, it should have been gathered that I have more than a little sympathy for Ron Paul. I far prefer him to the standard-issue Republican candidate, who would not recognize the Constitution if a copy were to be set on fire on his front lawn. And so I …
By Killing or By Dying
“So now we have both Jesus and Muhammad at the end of their lives returning to the cities that housed the center of spiritual life for their peoples. Muhammad returned as a conqueror. As we shall see, Jesus returned as a sacrifice” (Mark Gabriel, Jesus and Muhammad, p. 62).
Can’t Have It Both Ways
“A crude culture makes a coarse people, and private refinement cannot long survive public excess. There is a Gresham’s law of culture as well as of money: the bad drives out the good, unless the good is defended.” (Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture, What’s Left of It, p. 52).
Men and Bees
“When the bee stings, she leaves her sting behind her and never gathers honey more. Men, but by stinging one another, do not lose their stings, but they lose their honey” (Burroughs, Irenicum, p. 274).
Scraping Paint Off a Gun Turret
Well, I now have the deep privilege of being a scarecrow in local politics. There are many individuals that I would like to thank for this peculiar honor . . . But first, for those who are from out of town, here is the sitch. The Greater Moscow Alliance, a group that had gotten themselves …
I Dare Say
“While in Mecca, he had remained married to only one wife, Khadija, who died after twenty-five years of marriage. During his first year in Medina, Muhammad signed a marriage contract with the daughter of one of his most loyal followers, Abu Bakr. This would not seem unusual except that the girl was only six years …
Sign of Spiritual Election
“Until then I had assumed, along with most of my generation unacquainted with real hardship, that a scruffy appearance was a sign of spiritual election, representing a rejection of the superficiality and materialism of bourgeois life. Ever since then, however, I have not been able to witness the voluntary adoption of torn, worn-out, and tattered …
Another Surprise From Ron Paul
Ron Paul certainly has some Internet buzz going, but whenever he does surprisingly well in some straw poll or other, the talking heads of received political wisdom attribute it to dedicated spammers in the Paul campaign. But whatever you say about the capacity of spam, it does not raise money. In politics, you have to …