At the glorious close of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the war-weathered hobbits come back to the Shire, and find that it needed a scouring. “All right, all right!” said Sam. “That’s quite enough. I don’t want to hear no more. No welcome, no beer, no smoke, and a lot of rules and orc-talk …
Let’s Not and Say We Did
The rule of law is not to be confused with the bending of rules. Neither is the rule of law to be confounded with “making whatever you want to do legal.” The rule of law means that everyone within a political system must be submissive to that which is lawful, and they must be submissive …
And Serve Them Right, Too
Although I read that similar legislation is pending in 37 other states, I am happy to announce that the governor of Idaho, Butch Otter, has signed a measure requiring Idaho’s attorney-general to sue the Feds if the health care atrocity passes. I do like living here. If enough states do this, we could leave Connecticut …
Funny Business In Excelsis
The president dreams,The Senate schemes,The House then deemsAnd we are sunk,Or so it seems. Jubal Tarbox So we are on the threshold of a momentous . . . I was about to say vote, but no, it isn’t that exactly. In economic terms, the House is poised to spread disaster and desolation. Speaking in constitutional …
Heh . . .
With apologies to Lord Byron . . .
THE DESTRUCTION OF OMAMACARE The nannies came down like the wolf on the fold,Their promises gleaming in purple and gold;And the sheen of their foreheads was like grease on the road,Where a blue Hummer hit a nocturnal toad. Like the leaves of the forest when the Fed is in bloom,That host and their trillions came …
Micaiah Isn’t Here Yet
I think that it is fair to say that since the heyday of Francis Schaeffer, most committed evangelical believers have known that our theology must be engaged with the culture around us, and that we are supposed to be salt and light. We are supposed to make a difference. Before that, the question didn’t really …
The Moral Necessity of Some Form of Conservatism
Now in working through this issue it is crucial that we not affirm the consequent. All cows have four legs, but having four legs doesn’t make it a cow. I would also want to insist that all lawful sexual behavior must be heterosexual, but that doesn’t make all heterosexual behavior lawful. There is a moral …
Mortifying Pride of Place
In a previous post, I chided James K.A Smith for not including the cineplex as the religious mall’s Sunday School class. I am almost done with the book now, and wanted to make a point of noting that he does in fact tackle that problem. “Over time, the theater is a kind of classroom; it …
Tag Along Charlie
An ancient error, that of pendulum swinging, finds that when the cognitive functions of man have been emphasized too much, the time has come to careen toward the passions. And when life under the tyranny of the passions becomes unbearable, which it always does, the error is to swing back to the life of pure …