Tuesday, September 26, 2006


Torture Is Bad --
In Christianity Today Magazine, David Gushee gives 5 Reasons Torture is always Wrong
(11:38 PM) 0 comments

Is Religious Outrage Trivial? --
The Religious Left Online makes the following observation about recent conservative outrage over the censoring of VeggieTales

The good news is that social conservatives are always getting upset over triivial stuff like this. No one takes them seriously about it and they end up looking a little goofy (have they proposed a boycott against Goofy?), but as long as it occupies their time and efforts, our culture is probably safe.


I think it is a mistake to relegate religious opinions to the "trivial" sphere. A lot of trivial things build up over time and create a negative impression. A failure to take American religious opinions seriously seems to me to be quite similar to the Bush administration's failure to grasp the reality of Arab public opinion in the Middle East. Outraged conservative Christian leaders do not necessarily speak for all Christians, but they do need to be confronted, rather than ceding the debate as concerning a merely "trivial" matter beneath serious public discourse.
(11:26 PM) 0 comments

Jew!= Israeli --
Matthew Yglesias has a personal take on why many American Jews don't have that much in common with modern Israeli society.
(9:17 PM) 0 comments

Thursday, September 21, 2006


Voter ID Cards --
Kevin Drum prposes


[I]mplement a national ID and give one to everybody, free of charge. You get it when you turn 18 (or whatever), and you get a free update every five years (or whatever). Roving mobile vans would trek through rural areas periodically to make sure everyone has easy access to whichever federal agency is tasked with providing the cards. Instead of simply requiring people to have picture IDs, the federal government would do everything it could to make sure everyone actually has a picture ID, with as little hassle as possible.

Now, this would cost money. And it would create a (smallish) bureaucracy. And Michigan Militia types wouldn't like the idea. But if Republicans are serious about this whole thing, it's the fair and decent way to go about it. Any takers?


I'd go one further and automatically register everyone qualified to vote upon receipt of their national ID.
(7:31 PM) 0 comments

Voter ID Cards --
Kevin Drum prposes

Blockquote>
[I]mplement a national ID and give one to everybody, free of charge. You get it when you turn 18 (or whatever), and you get a free update every five years (or whatever). Roving mobile vans would trek through rural areas periodically to make sure everyone has easy access to whichever federal agency is tasked with providing the cards. Instead of simply requiring people to have picture IDs, the federal government would do everything it could to make sure everyone actually has a picture ID, with as little hassle as possible.

Now, this would cost money. And it would create a (smallish) bureaucracy. And Michigan Militia types wouldn't like the idea. But if Republicans are serious about this whole thing, it's the fair and decent way to go about it. Any takers?


I'd go one further and automatically register everyone qualified to vote upon receipt of their national ID.
(7:31 PM) 0 comments

Tuesday, September 19, 2006


Papers on Persecution of Jews Are Unsealed - Los Angeles Times --
Via the LA Times:


The Vatican opened part of its secret archives to let historians review millions of diplomatic letters, private correspondence and other church documents to gain insight into how the Holy See dealt with the persecution of Jews before World War II.

Researchers said it could take months or years to study about 30,000 bundles of documents from the 1922-39 papacy of Pius XI, a span when the rise of Nazism, fascism and Soviet-bloc communism gripped Europe.

The opening is part of the Vatican's efforts to defend Pius' successor, the wartime Pope Pius XII, against claims that he did not do enough to save Jews during the war.


In analyzing the papacy of Pius XII, I think it is important to say that the Pope doing enough to save Jews and the Pope doing the maximum possible to save Jews are two different thresholds. I sincerely believe that there is a difference between the two.
(10:35 PM) 0 comments

Tuesday, September 12, 2006


Christian Development --
Via linkfilter.net:

Joe Swanson's office looks like a minister's office -- dark wood furniture on red carpet -- and in a gentle voice he talks about God and Christianity, usually smiling as he does so.

But he isn't a minister. He's a developer.

Swanson grew up in a Christian home, raised his children the same way, and when he talks about how blessed he is, there's something so genuine in his tone that you'll probably nod in agreement, whether you agree or not.

So he's decided to spread his faith, but instead of standing at a pulpit preaching to a congregation, he's found a more subtle way to introduce Christianity into society — by building mixed-use developments. Swanson is not the only one who's found that, when it comes to real estate, faith can be an amenity.
(11:07 AM) 1 comments

Deconstructing Bush’s 9/11 Speech --
Bob at I am a Christian Too practices some self-therapy by going over some of the more ridiculous parts. I didn't bother to watch the speech. Good idea, it seems.
(11:00 AM) 0 comments

Has 9/11 Affected the Fiction Market? --
Via Bookninja:


Rosenbloom says September 11 intensified public interest in nonfiction, and hastened the decline of literary and escapist fiction: "I think literary fiction is struggling because of the new reality that September 11 ushered in. The public realises that we are engaged in a protracted struggle with fanatics who will probably cause massive damage at home. I think the reading public has lost patience with, and is irritated by, old-fashioned escapist fiction. It has lost patience with literary fiction. It has lost patience with fiction that doesn't engage with the world."
(10:19 AM) 0 comments

Monday, September 11, 2006


Is There a Muslim in the House? --
Via MSNBC.com:
Keith Ellison of Minnesota is poised to possibly become the first Muslim elected to the House of Representatives.
(9:05 PM) 0 comments

Why People Want to Keep Fighting --
Arms and influence explains why enlistment rates are low, yet re-enlistment rates are quite high.
(8:59 PM) 0 comments

Why People Want to Keep Fighting --
Arms and influence/a> explains why enlistment rates are low, yet re-enlistment rates are quite high.
(
8:58 PM) 0 comments

Sunday, September 10, 2006


Roll Out the Barrel --
Via MSNBC.com, Bavaria is ready to greet its native son:
'Pope Benedict pastries' — sweet cakes with a cross in the middle — fill bakery windows in the small town of Marktl, the birthplace of Pope Benedict XVI, in anticipation of his arrival in the Catholic-dominated Bavarian heartland on Saturday.

Across town, crates of 'Benedict Beer' are being brought in for the expected influx of tourists. And souvenir stores have been stocking up on pope memorabilia."
(1:47 PM) 0 comments

Roll Out the Barrel --
Via MSNBC.com, Bavaria is ready to greet its native son:
'Pope Benedict pastries' — sweet cakes with a cross in the middle — fill bakery windows in the small town of Marktl, the birthplace of Pope Benedict XVI, in anticipation of his arrival in the Catholic-dominated Bavarian heartland on Saturday.

Across town, crates of 'Benedict Beer' are being brought in for the expected influx of tourists. And souvenir stores have been stocking up on pope memorabilia."
(1:47 PM) 0 comments

Friday, September 08, 2006


Cindy Sheehan Is Loony --
From Radar Online Via Wonkette:

In the book, which hits bookstores September 19, the antiwar icon admits she has fantasized about going back in time and killing the infant George W. Bush, thereby preventing the Iraq War.


I've never been happy with Cindy Sheehan as a standard bearer of the anti-war left. From her television appearances, I have reason to doubt her intelligence and rationality. She's a useful symbol, but I wish she wouldn't talk as much.
(12:43 PM) 0 comments

09-01-06 --
Via Built on a Rock Archbishop Jose Gomez of San Antonio speaks on Catholic voters and the common good:

For us Catholics, the “Catholic vote” holds no mystery: it consists of the fact that Catholics participate fully in democratic life, without leaving their Catholic identity outside the voting booth.
Participation in democratic life, especially through the vote, but also through various channels of expression that our system allows, is the responsibility of every Catholic.

Why? Because, as people of faith, we believe both in the need to build a just society and in the supernatural destiny of the human person. This conviction naturally impels us to the building of the common good.

The Compendium of the Catechism explains that “the common good” is understood as “the sum total of those conditions of social life which allow people as groups and as individuals to reach their proper fulfillment.” (Compendium 407)

According to the Social Doctrine of the Church, the common good is more than the wellbeing of isolated individuals: it involves respecting and promoting the fundamental rights of the person, developing the spiritual and temporal goods of the person and society, and the peace and security of everyone.

As The Compendium of the Catechism explains, “all men and women according to the place and role that they occupy participate in promoting the common good by respecting just laws and taking charge of the areas for which they have personal responsibility such as the care of their own family and the commitment to their own work. Citizens also should take an active part in public life as far as possible.” (Compendium 410)
(12:12 PM) 0 comments

09-01-06 --
Via Built on a Rock 09-01-06Archbishop Jose Gomez speaks on Catholic voters and the common good:

For us Catholics, the “Catholic vote” holds no mystery: it consists of the fact that Catholics participate fully in democratic life, without leaving their Catholic identity outside the voting booth.
Participation in democratic life, especially through the vote, but also through various channels of expression that our system allows, is the responsibility of every Catholic.

Why? Because, as people of faith, we believe both in the need to build a just society and in the supernatural destiny of the human person. This conviction naturally impels us to the building of the common good.

The Compendium of the Catechism explains that “the common good” is understood as “the sum total of those conditions of social life which allow people as groups and as individuals to reach their proper fulfillment.” (Compendium 407)

According to the Social Doctrine of the Church, the common good is more than the wellbeing of isolated individuals: it involves respecting and promoting the fundamental rights of the person, developing the spiritual and temporal goods of the person and society, and the peace and security of everyone.

As The Compendium of the Catechism explains, “all men and women according to the place and role that they occupy participate in promoting the common good by respecting just laws and taking charge of the areas for which they have personal responsibility such as the care of their own family and the commitment to their own work. Citizens also should take an active part in public life as far as possible.” (Compendium 410)
(12:11 PM) 0 comments

09-01-06 --
09-01-06Archbishop Jose Gomez speaks on Catholic voters and the common good:

For us Catholics, the “Catholic vote” holds no mystery: it consists of the fact that Catholics participate fully in democratic life, without leaving their Catholic identity outside the voting booth.
Participation in democratic life, especially through the vote, but also through various channels of expression that our system allows, is the responsibility of every Catholic.

Why? Because, as people of faith, we believe both in the need to build a just society and in the supernatural destiny of the human person. This conviction naturally impels us to the building of the common good.

The Compendium of the Catechism explains that “the common good” is understood as “the sum total of those conditions of social life which allow people as groups and as individuals to reach their proper fulfillment.” (Compendium 407)

According to the Social Doctrine of the Church, the common good is more than the wellbeing of isolated individuals: it involves respecting and promoting the fundamental rights of the person, developing the spiritual and temporal goods of the person and society, and the peace and security of everyone.

As The Compendium of the Catechism explains, “all men and women according to the place and role that they occupy participate in promoting the common good by respecting just laws and taking charge of the areas for which they have personal responsibility such as the care of their own family and the commitment to their own work. Citizens also should take an active part in public life as far as possible.” (Compendium 410)
(12:11 PM) 0 comments

Friday, September 01, 2006


Islamofascism? --
The Christian Science Monitor rounds up differing opinions on the use of the term "Islamic fascism".
(12:03 AM) 0 comments