December 2006
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In a few hours I will be going to the cathedral for midnight Mass, very happy that the local television station that ordinarily televises it is not doing so this year. I suppose there’s a good argument for doing it—people who can’t get out and that sort of thing. And a far greater number can…
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My Favorite Christmas Music Music of the Week resumes because I can't let Christmas go by without recommending these albums. Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band: A Tapestry of Carols For reasons that completely escape me, not everybody loves this album as much as I do. How to describe it? A sort of high-spirited band…
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Yes, I said "holiday" on purpose, because there's nothing particularly related to Christmas here, except the vaguely seasonal. I suppose most people have seen this now, as it was circulated last year, but in case you haven't–remember I was saying a few weeks ago that engineers are not dull people? Here's a bit of evidence.…
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The Liberal Conservative (2) Last week I closed by quoting Mark Henrie: “…traditional conservatives endeavor to correct liberalism, not to save it.” Having thought about that a little more, I’d like to elaborate on it. I don’t want to save liberalism as a philosophy, but I do want to save liberal institutions. Back in May,…
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I've been hit by a bad case of One Thing After Another for several weeks now, including a major year-end crunch at work complicated by an unanticipated and, if I may say so, not altogether reasonable deadline for one task. Those who read my Sunday journal before I started this blog will have seen the…
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The Liberal Conservative (1a) Being both occupied and preoccupied with the death of my brother-in-law, I’ve only just now been able to read some of the lengthier items that have been mentioned in comments or emailed to me in response to last week’s column. So instead of continuing with my own train of thought, I…
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My brother-in-law passed away Wednesday night. It was not unexpected, as he had been in a slow decline for several years and a faster one for the past few months, so it hasn't come as a major blow to the family. I mention it here because events surrounding it have prevented me from reading the…
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The Liberal Conservative (1) This is part one not because I have a grand plan but because I know I will have more to say about this topic than I can say tonight. A single more lengthy and more organized essay is probably called for, but that isn’t likely to get done anytime soon, and…
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Notwithstanding my experience with Siegfried, I've continued to get further acquainted with Wagner. I've decided that, in general, opera on video is a bad idea (more about that in another post). I still plan to see the video project through but Gotterdamerung is on hold until the Christmas break, when my youngest daughter will be…
Light On Dark Water 