Hard libertarianism and/or anarchy is a function of what might be called civic fatherlessness. Just as the antitheist regards the eternality of the Father as tyrannical on the face of it, so also the hard libertarian regards any civic authority whatever as something to chafe the soul. Within this paradigm, all political authority is based …
The Baseball Cap of Punditry
Let us talk about the problem of Marcus Todd, and by this I am not referring to what ought to be the name of an upscale men’s clothier, but rather to the problem of Marcus Bachmann and Todd Palin. Anyone with an Internet connection and an interest in politics should know that in the last …
When the Veneer Peels
A staple argument of homosex apologetics is that when the Bible condemns the vile behavior of the residents of Sodom, it was addressing the violent side of it — the attempted rape of Lot’s visitors. It does not address at all, so the argument goes, the kind of loving, caring, mutually affirming same sex relationships …
Slopehead Country
This morning I went to check out the Huffington Post, and saw a dire warning there about Michele Bachmann’s “Jeremiah Wright,” a preacher named Bradlee Dean. The HPost had put together a little montage of Dean’s homophobic rants n’ stuff, and when I put Dean and rant together in the same sentence I need to …
Like What Regular People Does
Yesterday I was asked about the “It Gets Better Project,” where LGBT teens are being encouraged to hang in there with their lifestyle sandwich choices. LGBT stands for Lettuce, Guacamole, Bacon, and Tomato, in stark contrast to the more normative BLT, like what regular people does. Of course, the Ls and Bs and Gs (and …
The Sound of My Lonely Kazoo
If it is possible for a man to put a fruit plate on his head, and it is, and also possible for him to deck his tan little body out in leather and oil, and it is, and possible for him to gyrate that little body on a float cruising down Main Street, USA, and …
Some Jesus Victim With His Flame On
Sins are like grapes. They come in bunches. Take, fer instance, the Wild Goose Festival, at which a bunch of left-of-center evangelicals have congregated in order to harangue the faithful. Actually, when I use the term “faithful” here, what I actually mean is that they gathered to harangue the faithless. Jim Wallis, Frank Schaeffer, et …
Say Somebody Is a Skuzzbucket
Over at The Daily Beast, Lee Siegel writes this: “Creepy as Anthony Wiener’s photos are, the level of outrage aimed at him is wildly unfair. We’d have no heroes left if we held everyone to this ridiculous standard.” Just when you think that discourse in our nation has gotten to the bottom of the barrel, …
Rutting or Revolution
Just last night we were having some family discussion about the tribulations of Rep. Weiner. We were talking mostly about God’s sense of humor. Here was a man who wanted the smart set to run the whole stinking economy, and he can’t even run his own Twitter account. Not only was he not able to …
You Play the Hand You Hold
If you have any opinion at all about the Israeli/Palestinian situation in the Middle East, then your opinion, if implemented, could result in three possible outcomes. It could make things better, it could make things worse, or it could keep things pretty much as they are currently. Given the knife edge that everybody in that …