Paul Theroux: Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown
William Rosen: Justinian's Flea: The First Great Plague and the End of the Roman Empire
Scott W. Gustafson: Biblical Amnesia: A Forgotten Story of Redemption...
David L. Lewis: God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215
James Baldwin: The Best Short Stories by Black Writers, 1899-1967: The Classic Anthology
Stephen M. Wylen: The Jews in the Time of Jesus: An Introduction
In 1767, Thomas Jefferson counseled a fellow lawyer to do ongoing study. He recommended reading science and theology before breakfast, the law in the morning, politics at lunch, history in the afternoon, and literature, criticism, and rhetoric in the evening.
Pope Benedict clearly wants good relations with President Obama, and vice versa. In several instances, stretching back to Benedict's hand-written note congratulating Obama on his election, the Vatican has "accentuated the positive" concerning the administration. In some cases, especially regarding the dust-up over Obama speaking at Notre Dame, the Vatican has undercut the ideologically conservative wing in the American church to do so.
Today, the Vatican altered its typical protocol and went out of its way to accomodate President Obama's schedule. Following the meeting, a Vatican spokesperson, Fr. Federico Lombardi, described the meeting as "truly cordial," and said the Pope was "very satisfied and content," which, in "diplomatic-speak," is high praise.
Yes, Benedict did use the occasion to speak on the subject of abortion, which he always does, and as did John Paul II before him. Note, however, that he made his point by calling for a reduction in the incidence of abortion, language which Pres. Obama has also used. Even on the point of greatest contention, an effort has obviously been made to find common ground.
Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) is going to run against Sen. Arlen Specter in the Democratic Senate primary in Pennsylvania. Specter, as everyone knows, was a Republican all his life, but just recently switched parties because he knew he could no longer win re-election as a Republican.
Sestak has been hitting Specter on not being a good enough Democrat, which would seem a logical line of attack against someone who, until just the other day, was a Republican. Specter, says Sestak, constitutes a "flight risk" for Democrats.
All this must be getting to Specter, who, on Thursday, called Sestak a "flagrant hypocrite" because Sestak himself was not a registered Democrat until 2006, and did not vote in primary elections from 1971 to 2005.
Sestak calmly replied that the reason he did not vote in primaries in the stated period is because he was an officer in the United States Navy and he felt that naval officers should be non-partisan. After he retired from active service, he registered as a Democrat.
Per capita health care costs, 2003:
United States: $5711
Denmark: $2743
France: $3048
Germany: $2983
Italy: $2314
Japan: $2249
United Kingdom: $2317
They are both 19th century inventions. Forget Braveheart. The plaid kilt was basically a kind of "chamber-of-commerce project" developed in the 1900's to encourage Scottish nationalism. As for the white wedding dress, that was Queen Victoria's idea. Up until then, most weddings were held in peoples' homes with no clergy officiating.
Jessica Lange is exhibiting her photos at the Rose Gallery in Santa Monica, CA. The exhibit of 50 photographs is not quite open, but over half of her exhibit photos may be viewed here.
HuffPost: CIA Director Leon Panetta told lawmakers in a recent briefing that the intelligence agency he heads misled Congress on "significant actions" for a "number of years," a group of Democrats revealed on Wednesday.
Julianna Moore was slated to play Hillary Clinton in the HBO film "The Special Relationship." It's about the Clintons and Tony Blair, the British prime minister, in the late 1990's. (Dennis Quaid will play Bill. Michael Sheen will play Tony Blair.)
Unfortunately, Moore had a scheduling conflict and is unable to do the film. Hope Davis will replace her. I'm a big fan of Julianna Moore, but she doesn't particularly look like Hillary. Davis, however, does.
The "prosperity gospel" is the narcissistic idea that God is a cosmic consierge who rearranges the whole universe just so you can have that little red sports car. Name it and claim it! Clint Rainey at slate.com wonders if the recession will deal its practitioners a blow. One can only hope so.
Joel Osteen, pastor of America's largest church, and perhaps America's most famous "prosperity preacher," claims that his message is even more relevant in a time of recession. He says attendance at his church is up. But does Joel Osteen have a credible answer to the question, "Why, if God wants to reward the faithful with material possessions, are so many believers in foreclosure?"
Rainey notes that the housing crisis seems to have disproportionately hit the demographic which is most enamored with the "prosperity gospel," middle and lower-middle class surburbanites, minorities, and what he calls "modest exurban." Asks University of California-Riverside religion professor Jonathan Walton: "Where are these preachers as parishioners' mortgages continue to default?"
The practitioners of the "prosperity gospel" claim to be Christian, but, as St. Paul would put it, it sounds like "another gospel"--"not that there is another gospel." If the promoters of a thing claim to be Christian, yet promote an ideology which is completely contrary to the ministry of Jesus, in what sense is it Christian?
It is said that the "prosperity gospel" has attracted millions of people in Africa. If that is really so--if the vaunted increase in the number of Christians in Africa is based significantly upon those who joined up to get a Mercedes--then in what sense has the cause of Jesus been advanced?
Michael Jackson has been sited in a tree stump in Stockton, California:
On Monday, Department of Defense General Counsel, Jeh Johnson, was asked by Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL) whether terrorism detainees acquitted in courts could be released in the United States. Note the word "acquitted," as in "not guilty." Washington Independent:
Johnson said that “as a matter of legal authority,” the administration’s powers to detain someone under the law of war don’t expire for a detainee after he’s acquitted in court. “If you have authority under the law of war to detain someone” under the Supreme Court’s Hamdi ruling, “that is true irrespective of what happens on the prosecution side.”
In other words, the President has the power to detain someone--throw them in jail--whether or not they've committed a crime, and whether or not they've been declared "not guilty" in a trial by law.
Martinez asked the next logical question: "So the prosecution is moot?" In other words, it doesn't matter what the court held? Johnson replied that under “law of war authority,” according to the September 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force, the person may continue to be detained. If that doesn't work, “we have the authority in the first place.” That "authority," then, is really "just because we say so."
As Glenn Greenwald put it when the Obama administration first proposed its system of preventive detentions three months ago:
If you really think about the argument Obama made yesterday...it becomes manifest just how profound a violation of Western conceptions of justice this is. What Obama is saying is this: we'll give real trials only to those detainees we know in advance we will convict. For those we don't think we can convict in a real court, we'll get convictions in the military commissions I'm creating. For those we can't convict even in my military commissions, we'll just imprison them anyway with no charges ("preventively detain" them).
Gallup has a new poll up on Gov. Palin, noting that GOP support for her has inched up slightly since she announced she was resigning her office. Those still aren't great numbers though. Up to 70% of Republicans could vote for her, but her showing among Democrats and Independents is poor. 54% say they almost surely wouldn't vote for her, while only 43% say that almost surely would.
She can do what she wants, of course, but the poll would not be particularly encouraging if she were really thinking about running for president. My guess is that that's not the deal. If I were Sarah Palin looking at that poll, I wouldn't think, "Gee, I could be president." I'd be thinking, "Hey, looks like there might be a market there."
Pope Benedict has released his third encyclical--"Caritas in Veritate," or "Charity in truth." Typically, Benedict has sided with traditionalist, even revanchist, elements in the church. On the issue of economics and labor, he sounds more like a socialist.
He deplores “unregulated exploitation” of the environment, "speculative financial dealing," profit produced by "improper means" without the "common good" at its heart, financiers without "ethical foundation," and the "scandal of glaring inequalities."
Lowering the level of protection accorded to the rights of workers, or abandoning mechanisms of wealth redistribution in order to increase the country's international competitiveness, hinder the achievement of lasting development.
The heart of "Caritas in Veritate" is putting people above profit. This is expressed, one way or another, in many parts of the document. He blasts "the right to excess," for example, which exists alongside lack of food, water, and health care. Waxing poetic on the "rights of workers," Benedict calls for:
...work that expresses the essential dignity of every man and woman in the context of their particular society: work that is freely chosen, effectively associating workers, both men and women, with the development of their community; work that enables the worker to be respected and free from any form of discrimination; work that makes it possible for families to meet their needs and provide schooling for their children, without the children themselves being forced into labor; work that permits the workers to organize themselves freely, and to make their voices heard; work that leaves enough room for rediscovering one's roots at a personal, familial and spiritual level; work that guarantees those who have retired a decent standard of living.
Fr. Thomas Reese, S.J. (Jesuit) writing in the Washington Post, noted this:
...he (Benedict) is to the left of almost every politician in America. What politician would casually refer to "redistribution of wealth" or talk of international governing bodies to regulate the economy? Who would call for increasing the percentage of GDP devoted to foreign aid? Who would call for the adoption of "new life-styles 'in which the quest for truth, beauty, goodness and communion with others for the sake of common growth are the factors which determine consumer choices, savings and investments'"?
Benedict also proposed several specific recommendations. See them on the flip.
King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known. Some were saying, ‘John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him.’ 15But others said, ‘It is Elijah.’ And others said, ‘It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.’ 16But when Herod heard of it, he said, ‘John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.’
"All options are on the table," she said to CNN. She quits the one political office she's held, half-way through her first term, because she can't take the media heat, and she thinks she can run for a much more important office with much greater media scrutiny? On top of which, she quits to show she's not a quitter?
I'm sympathetic to Marie Cocco's position here that media coverage of Sarah Palin has been sexist and misogynistic. I've said so myself, back when John McCain first tapped her to be vice presidential nominee, and again, when David Letterman made his stupid joke.
Now, if Palin could only stir herself to learn something about government and stop embarrassing herself by saying that something called the "department of law" keeps people from making baseless accusations against the president--therefore, she could be president since the sniping is not so bad in that position--some of us, those not opposed to her on gender grounds, might be able to take her seriously.
The Codex Sinaiticus is the world's oldest existing complete Bible. It dates from about AD 400 and is written in Greek. You can now view the document on the web at this impressive website: www.codexsinaiticus.org. A friend of mine sent me the link yesterday, and then this morning, the Washington Post had an article on the subject.
Codex Sinaiticus was discovered at the Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai by German Bible scholar Constantine Tischendorf in the mid-19th century. (The word "sinaiticus" means something like "the book from Sinai.") The Codex is split up, unfortunately, and is preserved in four different locations.
"It's such an important book - that's why it should be accessible," (Project Manager Juan) Garces said. "If you would have liked to see it before you would have had to travel to four countries in two continents. If you want to see the manuscript right now all you have to do is go online and experience it for
Read this blog. Get smarter.
From her autobiography:
[Metro] put me right to work in Manhattan Melodrama, which precipated the demise of John Dillinger, Public Enemy No. 1. FBI agents shot him down outside the Biograph Theatre, in Chicago, after he'd seen the film. Supposedly a Myrna Loy fan, he broke cover to see me. Personally, I suspect the theme of the picture rather than my fatal charms attracted him, but I've always felt a little guilty about it, anyway. They filled him full of holes, poor soul.
They're using that largesse to spend $126 million in the first quarter--that's $1.4 million per day--on 350 lobbyists, some of whom, like Dick Armey and Dick Gephardt, are exceptionally well-connected.
