As Yogi Berra once purportedly said, “You can observe a lot by just watching.” I have been most interested in watching how the Russian-election-hacking story played out, linked, as it has now been, to the president’s spectacular accusation against the former president this last weekend. The president said that Obama had ordered Trump Tower be …
Virgins and Volcanoes
Introduction: There are only two “ways,” two fundamental religions in the world. One of them feeds people, and the other one eats people. We see this contrast in vivid relief in the juxtaposition that Mark gives to the death of John the Baptist. That sad but typical episode is followed immediately by the feeding of …
The Shack
Because The Shack has now been made into a movie, I thought I should bump this old review of the book to the top of the pile. This was first published on 8/21/08. I had been asked by several different people what I thought of The Shack, a hot selling book by William Young. It …
Yet Another Difficulty
We’re Number One
“Did you know that we are just 5 percent of the world’s population, and yet we still consume 62 percent of the world’s priggishness?” (Food Catholic, p. 49).
The Wrong Kind
“There is a kind of religious duty that is of the flesh, for the flesh, and by the flesh” (Food Catholic, p. 48).
The Darwinian Crack Up Will Be Televised
Thomas Kuhn gave us a good description of how scientific paradigms collapse. He wasn’t really talking about the theory of evolution, but what he said applies to that theory, and applies by the shovelful. When a new paradigm is adopted, there are a few anomalies that remain unexplained. Think of the new paradigm as a …
Which Throws Everything Off
“Yeast in the loaf doesn’t obey the established election cycle” (Empires of Dirt, p. 43).
Put Him On Rushmore Anyway
“John Knox was one of the great fathers of the American political arrangement, a fact that would have astonished him if you had attempted to explain it to him” (Empires of Dirt, p. 42).
No Goddess Can Ever Save Us
Introduction: Last week I posted something called Potiphar’s Wife, Survivor, which elicited something of an enthusiastic reaction. That reaction was registered in different places, like Facebook, Twitter, and in the comments section here, and a noticeable bit of it ran down the lines of the eff-you-Doug school of thought. Not only was it registered in …