Tuesday, August 7. 2007
We should be grateful for the free heat, since we pay plenty for heat from October through May. Thought this photo from last winter might help us cool off. 
Monday, August 6. 2007
Definitely Fred country, says Beth at My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, who posted the above relevant Lynyrd. Much as we are open to Fred, we don't really know where he is coming from yet, or what sort of candidate he can really be.
We have avoided saying much about this pathetic story, and TNR's pathetic way of handling the con job they wanted so much to believe. Yes indeed, more "fake but accurate" from the Left. Today, however, Democracy Project has posted a piece on the subject by the Rev. Paul W. McNellis, S.J. which is the essay I wished I could have written and which I think is the final word on the subject. It is here. It concludes: Pvt. Beauchamp has two choices. He can await his discharge and then return to testify before Congress as the victim veteran in the “proud of being ashamed” mode. He might even run for Congress himself. He wouldn’t be the first. Or, he can use his remaining time in the military to earn an honorable discharge. He could try to leave the military as a better man than when he entered. There are hints from his blog that he was already moving in that direction. I would urge Pvt. Beauchamp to look at those in his unit, some of whom he surely respects and admires. Imitate them, and in the process you will become a better soldier, a better friend, a better husband, one day a better father, and...in the end, a better writer. That will also leave you with something far better than the anemic sense of shame you describe; it will leave you with a sense of honor. And though TNR may no longer be interested in what you write, you will surely have become a better man.
 It is my honor today to announce the MFBA winners for the blogs with the most interesting images and photography. Our editor and staff have voted unanimously this year.
Best Totty on a Non-Porn Blog: Theo Spark Best Historic Photographs of Real Life: Sippican Cottage Best Old Photos, General Category: Dr. X Best Images of British Military History: Free Market Fair Tales Congratulations to our winners, who we expect will wear their readily-recognizable MFBA medal proudly if and when they ever leave the house.
 For the fine arts to revive, they must recover their spiritual center. Profaning the iconography of other people's faiths is boring and adolescent.
Thus comments atheist Camille Paglia in her excellent essay. She makes the case, with which I agree, that art without a spiritual center quickly degenerates into narcissism, commercialism, propagandizing, or adolescent shock-art. Another quote: A primary arena for the conservative-liberal wars has been the arts. While leading conservative voices defend the traditional Anglo-American literary canon, which has been under challenge and in flux for forty years, American conservatives on the whole, outside of the New Criterion magazine, have shown little interest in the arts, except to promulgate a didactic theory of art as moral improvement that was discarded with the Victorian era at the birth of modernism. Liberals, on the other hand, have been too content with the high visibility of the arts in metropolitan centers, which comprise only a fraction of America. Furthermore, liberals have been complacent about the viability of secular humanism as a sustaining creed for the young. And liberals have done little to reverse the scandalous decline in urban public education or to protest the crazed system of our grotesquely overpriced, cafeteria-style higher education, which for thirty years was infested by sterile and now fading poststructuralism and postmodernism. The state of the humanities in the US can be measured by present achievement: would anyone seriously argue that the fine arts or even popular culture is enjoying a period of high originality and creativity? American genius currently resides in technology and design. The younger generation, with its mastery of video games and its facility for ever-evolving gadgetry like video cell phones and iPods, has massively shifted to the Web for information and entertainment. I would argue that the route to a renaissance of the American fine arts lies through religion.
Read the whole thing in Arion. h/t, reader. Image: One of Andy Warhol's Tomato Soup images, to my mind just one example of "art" lacking in a center - unless his idea was to mock the very idea of artistry. He made himself fabulously wealthy with this sort of stuff, but his Hollywood-style celebrity was at the core of it all.
 How was my three-day AT hiking and camping trip? Wonderful. Gets cold up there at night. Only problems are that, between foot blisters and aching legs, I can hardly walk to the fridge. I think my life is too sedentary except during partridge season. Oh - I almost forgot the nice combination of sunburn and bug bites.
I missed this post by Taranto on Friday. It's almost like the Carnival of Insanities. No Looking Backwards' quote of the year: “CAIR can go to Hell and they can take their 72 virgins with them.” Read the lawyer's letter at Michelle. Silicon Valley update, from Never Yet Melted: “You’re nobody here at $10 million,” Mr. Kremen said earnestly over a glass of pinot noir at an upscale wine bar here. …
Money never protected anyone from being a total a-hole. I do, however, like Buddy's comment on this post: "You're nobody around here with $10, Mr. Kremen said earnestly over a grape soda at an upscale bait shop here..."
Sunday, August 5. 2007
Read the Amazon reviews of Piper's Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist. I ordered it yesterday. I am grateful to a Brit friend for letting me know about Piper, whose church in Minnesota he attended last week while on a cross-country road trip. The high points of his trip? Meeting Piper, and camping in Glacier National Park.
Two excellent links from readers: US Forest fires, mapped and updated. You can click on each fire and learn the details. I wonder how that map compares with past summers. Montana and Idaho look rough. Mark Steyn implies that the media covers up for Saudi jihad-supporters.
I won’t meddle any more than Arthur Sulzberger does. Rupert Murdoch, on his purchase of Dow Jones and the WSJ
Postcards of the hanging. Iran increasing numbers of public hangings. Jim Cramer is emotional about the need for a Fed rate cut. Core inflation is not a problem at present, home prices are falling fast in many regions - so why not? A good question about the autonomy of localities in dealing with illegals, from Wizbang. Lack of sunshine gives you breast cancer. Look how the AP characterizes Sarkozy. Did you read about Rep. Nancy Boyda? Reminds me of a kid plugging his ears and yelling "lalalalala" so as not to hear something he doesn't want to hear. Maybe doctors will begin growing some real ones. The Lucidicus Project. Militant Presbyterians charged with murder of Oakland reporter. The new Tacoma Narrows Bridge photo update. The 2007 Chap Olympics. Free Market Fairy Tales Department of Useful Idiots. Chavez and Sean Penn. Mutual exploitation. The Cap and Trade allowances market, at The Economist. Not exactly a thriving market yet, but the whole thing is pointless anyway, I believe. When visiting Dubai, make sure you don't have even a microscopic amount of pot with you...or even in your bloodstream. Should one bring one's faith to work? If so, how?
It was misty this morning down here on the coast. 
 A summer message to the congregation from The Rev. Charles Hoffman, rector of Grace Episcopal Church, Old Saybrook, CT:
Fundamentalism is not a four letter word. Dear Friends in Christ: The present controversy in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Community is primarily over the issue of the authority of scripture and our interpretation of it. Those who hold to a devotion to the Bible as the Word of God are called many names from “conservatives” to “fundamentalists,” as if these are derogatory terms. I have come to believe that being faithful to the fundamentals of the Christian faith contained in the Apostles and Nicean Creeds and in the 39 Articles of the Church is essential to the preservation of the core doctrines of the Christian Church. Much of orthodox Christianity depends on the way we understand God’s written word to us. When I was ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church in 1969, the Bishop of Chicago asked me the following questions from the Book of Common Prayer (1928): “Are you persuaded that the Holy Scriptures contain all doctrine required as necessary for eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ?” “And are you determined out of said Scriptures to instruct the people committed to your charge; and to teach nothing, as necessary to eternal salvation but that which you shall be persuaded may be concluded and proved by the Scripture?” To which I replied: “I am so persuaded and have so determined, by God’s Grace.” (1928 BCP p. 542) By this oath I promised to uphold the authority of Scripture in my life, my ministry, and in the church I was called to serve. When I came into the fullness of faith through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and was born again and baptized in the Holy Spirit, I personally accepted the Bible as the Word of God to be the rule of my life. As I began to preach more faithfully from the Bible and to call people to new life in Jesus Christ, I was accused of sounding like Billy Graham, as if that would not be a great honor, and I was often called a fundamentalist. When asked the question of whether I took the Bible literally, I often responded by saying, “I take the Bible literally where it is meant to be taken literally. I take the Bible figuratively where it is meant to be taken figuratively. But I always try to take the Bible seriously.” So what does it mean to be called a fundamentalist? Fundamentalist Christianity or Christian Fundamentalism is a movement that arose mainly within British and American Protestantism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by evangelical Christians, who in a reaction to modernism actively affirmed a fundamental set of Christian beliefs: the inerrancy of the Bible (Sola Scriptura), the virgin birth of Christ, the doctrine of substitutionary atonement, the bodily resurrection of Jesus, and the imminent return of Jesus Christ. While there was no single founder of of fundamentalism, many ideas and themes had been suggested by American evangelist Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899) and British preacher John Nelson Darby (1800-1882). The original formulation of American fundamentalist beliefs can be traced to the Niagara Bible Conference (1878-1897) and in 1910 to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, which distilled these into what became known as the “five fundamentals:” 1. The inerrancy of Scripture
2. The virgin birth and deity of Jesus
3. The doctrine of substitutionary atonement through God’s grace and human faith
4. The bodily resurrection of Jesus
5. The authenticity of Christ’s miracles (or alternatively, his pre-millenial second coming)
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) But consider these questions: Are these five fundamentals not the core of the Christian faith and life as contained in the Creed and traditions of the church? Are they not held as the teaching of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion as reflected in the teaching and praying of the Book of Common Prayer? Are they not what the church has believed throughout its history? So why should we be ashamed of being called a fundamentalist? Perhaps if the Episcopal Church returned to these fundamentals of doctrine, we would find our way back into the fullness of the Christian faith and heal the many divisions in the church. So the next time someone calls you a fundamentalist, respond by saying: “Yes, and which of these fundamentals do you reject?” In Christ,The Rev. Charles L. Hoffman, D. Min.
Rector
Saturday, August 4. 2007
Postcard quote from daughter in Barcelona: "You will be pleased to know (I hope) that I have taken up Catalan." I had to get clear on exactly what Catalan is.
From Le nozze di Figaro (h/t, Reader). When Figaro was first produced in Vienna in 1786, the mockery of the aristocracy was shocking. Shortly thereafter, however, Emperor Joseph ll had to set a limit of 9 encores, because the 4-hour opera was running too late at night.
I cannot embed the YouTube of Tennessee Ernie Ford, so you have to click the link. It's worth the extra step.
One of the most beautiful sights in the world: A reserved clay court at 8 AM on an August Saturday morning. 
A beautiful Tommy Makem solo. RIP to a fellow who brought so much Irish delight to the earth. Watch somebody try to say that this Army report on the TNR story is a "coverup." Love potion #9. Is love a mental illness? Is there a double standard for anger in the workplace? The women of the X Games. Kos says he will purge the Dem Party. Who is this guy, and why does anyone listen to him? Dems are anti-Semitic, says Kesler. Quoted by Tony Blankley in a piece at Never Yet Melted: On June 25, the following resolution was tabled in the House: “That this House, while paying tribute to the heroism and endurance of the Armed Forces, in circumstances of exceptional difficulty, has no confidence in the central direction of the war.” That would be June 25, 1942. The House would be the House of Commons in London, England. And the government in which no confidence was expressed was that of Winston Churchill.
Maisons au bord d'une route (1881) 
I am told (cannot prove it) that this is the house Sarkozy will be renting in Wolfeboro on Lake Winnepesaukee this summer. I like the 3-bay boathouse. How does a politician afford a 30,000/week rental?
I've seen lots of bonnie lassies travellin' far and wide,
But my heart is centred noo on bonnie Kate McBride;
And altho' I'm no a chap that throws a word away,
I'm surprised mysel' at times at a' I've got to say Chorus:
Roamin' in the gloamin' on the bonnie banks o' Clyde,
Roamin' in the gloamin' wi' ma lassie by ma side,
When the sun has gone to rest, that's the time that I like best,
O, it's lovely roamin' in the gloamin'! One nicht in the gloamin' we were trippin' side by side.
I kissed her twice, and asked her once if she would be my bride;
She was shy, and so was I, we were baith the same,
But I got brave and braver on the journey comin' hame.
Chorus: Last nicht efter strollin' we got hame at half-past nine.
Sittin' at the kitchen fire I asked her to be mine.
When she promised I got up and danced the Hielan' Fling;
I've just been to the jewellers and I've picked a nice wee ring.
Chorus: This "traditional" Scottish song was written and performed by the entertainer Sir Harry Lauder. "Gloamin'" is twilight. Here's the music in midi.
Friday, August 3. 2007
The Clancy Brothers with Tommy Makem, Brennan on the Moor. Only Liam remains of the original group. A piece by Rick Moran here.
The big sale is on until the end of August. Long-time readers know how much we all love the Teaching Company. It's one of the ways we all try to continue to learn. But it's much more fun than school, because no single school could contain so many suberb and enthusiastic communicators - plus no tests or term papers. We use the CDs in the car and while working out. I cannot praise these people enough. Look through their catalog to find the gaping holes in your education. In my family, we trade them around, but we only buy them during the sales.
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