State of the Culture
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Who or what, you ask, is Varg? Varg Vikernes, the most notorious of the Scandinavian black metal musicians who took the ordinary heavy metal fascination with darkness and violence far more seriously than other bands. In an awful lot of metal, there's an element of schtick in the whole thing; sometimes there's a bit of…
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The racial problems in this country have worried me a great deal for some time, and I’ve grown pretty pessimistic about them. The possibility that Obama’s presidency might help African-Americans to believe that this is their country, too, gives me hope. —me, November 2008 Oh well. I mean, not so much about that specific notion–that it's their country,…
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Hypocrisy is a bad thing, of course. But there’s a tendency these days, a very widespread tendency, to make it the absolute worst crime of all, as if it were worse to do wrong and be ashamed than to do wrong and not be ashamed. —me, September 2008
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TV Chef Marries Pro Wrestler: Honeymoon Pics! But feel free to look if you want to.
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Found this in an old SNJ (I will be sorting through them for a while) and rather liked it (Dennett, if you don't recognize the name, is one of the aggressive atheists, author of Darwin's Dangerous Idea). I had just read a piece in which he predicted that religion would soon wither away, now that…
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People whose houses are built on solid rock don’t have to go around foaming at the mouth, arguing, shouting, ridiculing their adversaries. –Heather King
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Item on their web site today: American Flag Bikinis for the 4th! No, I'm not linking to it. Go find it yourself if you must. In a way, though, I have to admit it's the absolutely perfect symbol for one aspect of what's happened to this country. And, to answer the obvious question: yes, I…
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I've never bothered to argue against the charge that opposition to same-sex marriage, or disapproval of homosexual activity in general, constitutes "hate," "bigotry," and so on. One reason is that it's so ridiculous. I tend to think that most of those making the charge recognize, somewhere deep in their hearts, that it's irrational. I even…
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And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. And they did not receive him, because his…
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JEFFREY BROWN: I want to pick up first on what the president was just saying about this issue of couples married in one state moving to a state where perhaps that's not recognized. How big a deal, first, is this patchwork system that we have? WINNIE STACHELBERG: Well, the patchwork system is a very big…
Light On Dark Water 