"Just Give Me My Freedom"
I have started to post a few of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's "prose poems" over on The Book Den and I invite you to visit there once in awhile and read through some. They are very moving, very well-crafted. Solzhenitsyn, of course, has been a master in many genres, especially the history and novel, but the short stories and "prose poems" published in a 1971 Farrar, Strauss and Giroux collection (Bantam's paperback version came in 1972) are special, but too little-known, gems.
John R. Erickson, the creator of the beloved Hank, the Cow Dog stories has describes his run-in with the intrusively feminist and anti-family attitudes of CBS.
Henry Williams reports for spiked about the "dignified" debate about euthanasia occurring at British Academy of Film and Television Arts in central London. The debate convened a 4-member panel to debate "The Rights and Wrongs of the 'Right to Die'"-- Mick Hume, Times columnist and spiked’s editor-at-large, (arguing against legalized euthanasia from a ‘humanist, left-wing’ standpoint); Clifford Longley, a writer for the Catholic weekly The Tablet and a panelist on BBC Radio 4’s The Moral Maze; Daniel Sokol, a medical ethicist at St. George’s Medical School at the University of London (a proponent of physician-assisted suicide); and Ashley Riley, director of campaigns and communication at Dignity in Dying.
* For instance, here's a reminder of how the tedious details of life can bug even the great ones. It's a New York Post story of how the Rev. Al Sharpton emerged from a momentous meeting in Queens yesterday with Rep. John Conyers (Democrat from Michigan) only to discover that his 2007 Jaguar had been hauled away by a city tow truck. It seems that Sharpton (whose meeting with Conyers had been about punishing New York City cops over a recent court decision he didn't like) owed $900 in tickets.
* Caroline Stacey, writing for the Times (U.K.), wonders about how things might change for school kids at lunch time after, that is, Britain's "packed lunch police" get on the job.
* And finally, here's a brief report of the unfunny, viciously arrogant, and ultra-liberal Al Franken who is a Democrat candidate for a Minnesota seat in the U.S. Senate. But little things like this story in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune could prove problematic for Franken. It tells how the comedian finally got round (but only after the press discovered the problem) to paying $70,000 in back taxes and penalties going back to 2003 -- taxes and penalties owed to 17 different states!
Claire and I are often described as "nostalgic" because our entertainment choices are heavy on old music, old movies, old radio programs, and old books. We're certainly not hiding from the world -- our 26 years of service with Vital Signs Ministries, my travels around the world, even the daily engagement with the edgy issues I have to deal with on this blog -- prove that.
..We cannot inject talent into young composers. We cannot wave a wand and have them write the beautiful melodies we used to enjoy. We cannot, by law, require film studios to respect America and celebrate its values. What we can do is keep the tradition of greatness alive by preserving and showing our best movies, and playing our greatest songs for young people – in schools, broadcasts and recordings. Maybe, just maybe, some kids in a new generation will realize that memorable movies start with great stories and great characters, not special effects or gimmicks, and that great songs last because they touch us, not because they match a demographic.
I recently finished Bob Novak's remarkable memoir, The Prince of Darkness: 50 Years of Reporting in Washington, a riveting autobiography of the famed (and immensely successful) journalist which provides a fascinating behind-the-scenes view of America's political happenings of the last half century. It is a great read, giving one plenty to ponder about political philosophy and methodology, culture, ambition, the workings of the media, and even religion (Novak converted to Roman Catholicism late in his life).
Gribbin told me that O'Connor's sponsor was Dave Gergen, who wanted a woman justice to give Reagan a foothold in the movement and distance him from the social conservatives. The formal recommendation, echoing the White House staff, came from Attorney General William French Smith, Reagan's personal attorney and the weakest of the cabinet.
As I mentioned in a post yesterday about Ben Stein's excellent film, "Expelled," the most important fights of our era, at their foundation, are about intellectual freedom. For on issue after issue, the establishment has not only chosen to deny plain facts (scientific, historical, cultural, economic) but then to use intimidation, manipulation, obfuscation, and even coercion to keep honest inquiry in the closet.
More babies survive, more parents escape severe moral and physical dangers, and society is more ennobled when...there are fewer abortionists plying their grisly trade.
Explains the Times, "While some doctors reacted with sadness to the figures, family planning experts said society needed to “stop being shocked” that children were having sex and becoming pregnant.
One of the strangest things about the NAACP Wright pseudo-scientific speech on learning, and its enthusiastic CNN coverage and analysis, was the abject racialism of Wright. It was sort of an inverse Bell-Curve presentation, based on assumed DNA differences.
Ben Stein's "Expelled" is a "Tremendous, Compelling Film"
We had an "Expelled" party last Saturday night, a lively conversation shouted over the noise of an equally lively Old Chicago restaurant. And the talk was of Ben Stein's riveting new movie which we had just attended. John and Barb, Matt, Claire and I, Jake, Daniel, Glory and Abraham all believed the film to be an important salvo in not merely the Intelligent Design controversy but in the larger culture war of which it is a part.
A human being, created in the image and likeness of God, is brutally murdered. Indeed, the victim of this indefensible act is killed in the most heinous and barbaric of ways: her body ripped apart or, perhaps, burned to death by chemicals or her skull crushed.
From Jonathan Martin at Politico:
But even while raising the Wright comments unprompted, McCain continued to say that he didn't think Obama held similar views. When it was noted that he had previously said Wright was not fair game, McCain again alluded to Obama's statement this morning. "But Senator Obama himself says it's a legitimate political issue, so I would imagine that many other people will share that view, and it will be in the arena," McCain said...
One wonders why we yet talk about the "threats" to free speech or even the "assaults" on free speech when the self-evident facts show that free speech is already being abridged, altered and even arrested altogether.
Last Friday, I cited the Family Research Council's commentary on the abstinence/government funds hearings being held on Capitol Hill. It included a paragraph describing a panel of "experts" answers to a simple "yes or no" question from Congresswoman Virgina Foxx.
A newborn baby can save another child's life -- if its mother is willing to donate the blood from its umbilical cord to a new umbilical-cord blood bank.
Here's a report out of Melbourne, Australia describing the dramatic prospects for adult stem cell treatments for athletic knee injuries and other joint issues stemming from such maladies as osteoarthritis.
Beware the Difference Between Self-Confidence and Stupidity
Despite the overwhelmingly sweet coverage the Western press has so far given Barack Obama, his extremely liberal policies, relative inexperience, and recently revealed testiness are finally beginning to get the attention of American voters.
The newest version of the Nebraska Voter Information Packet (the most complete survey on state candidates that you're going to find) is now up and online -- in plenty of time for you to do your homework prior to the May 13th Primary Election.
The Family Research Council reports on how the politics of promiscuity worked in this week's Congressional hearings on abstinence education:
Among the most irrational features of the Nanny State is the extremity of its "zero tolerance" policies involving school kids and weapons. Sure, the system has to be tuned in to students carrying guns, switchblades, and explosives. But administrators have gone bonkers in recent years in stretching "zero tolerance" far beyond what is fair, manageable and even legal.
Ben Domenech over at Red State has an intriguing article about the course for a Republican victory needing to be "responsibly anti-Bush" and how uniquely fitted for that course is Senator John McCain.
From the "It's So Hard to Get Along with Dictators" Department comes a couple of Radio Free Europe reports about the ever worsening relationship between Belarus and the United States.
Of Ideology, Science and Moral Ethics: The Nebraska Coalition for Ethical Research Embraces Them All
Which Eggheads Won the Campus Outrage Awards?
Certainly, the challenges facing the Nebraska Coalition for Ethical Research are many and daunting. After all, they are a small, severely underfunded group. And their efforts both to defend the sanctity of human life and to promote humane standards of scientific research and medical care are stridently opposed at every turn.
In the cold Iowa darkness after Barack Obama won the first of his primary victories, Gabor Steingart, (photo left) the award-winning Der Speigel journalist, wrote, "(Obama) has scant hope of reaching the White House. He's too young, too inexperienced, too vague, and for many Americans, too black. His magic words about the era of change, of hope, of an America he will unite -- all that will evaporate like morning mist."
It is but one of many such examples of how governments are "cashing in" on the mania for going green -- even when the actual results in bettering the environment are negligible. Or worse.
After taking much too long a hiatus from The Book Den (my other blog, one specifically devoted to literary pursuits), I’ve decided to jump back in with a renewed resolve to keep it at least as current as the old days. We'll see. With the increased attention I’ve given to Vital Signs Blog, my other duties for Vital Signs Ministries, and now an ongoing commitment to prepare a sermon each week for an inner city church, that’s going to be a rather tough assignment. But hey – who needs six hours of sleep a night anyway, right?
