There is never a bad time to hear the song What A Friend We Have In Jesus, is there? Alright; I’m speaking as a Christian (although I wonder if at least some who confess no formal creed might admit to feeling similarly). But whenever I hear this song, no matter how corny or how thrilling the particular version might be, it lifts me up on some indefinable level and genuinely comforts something deep inside, whether you want to characterize that something as a Jungian inner child or a deep and dark weeping soul. It’s a song that gets to the heart of the matter.
The clip below features the magical and moving music of Washington Phillips, accompanying himself on his celestophone (or whatever it may be). What are they doing in heaven today? Mr. Phillips, I would guess, now knows the answer as well as anyone. Continue reading “What Are They Doing In Heaven Today?”
The MySpace networking/media sharing/something-or-other web-based outfit is reported to have lost 10 million users between January and February of this year. I sympathize; I’d hate that to happen to THE CINCH REVIEW. (Fortunately our numbers are continuing to trend strong here.) A story in the U.K. Telegraph includes this factoid:
News Corporation bought MySpace for $580m (£373m) in 2008. The asset was briefly valued at $12bn when News Corp attempted to merge it with Yahoo in 2007.
This is a little bit of a tired old hobby-horse for me — although not necessarily in print before now — but: When the hell are people going to learn not to place such absurd value on these ephemeral internet entities? Continue reading “MySpace getting roomier; soon to be renamed OpenSpace”
Robert Gates, who just visited Egypt and from there stopped in Israel, has made a number of pointed but quite well thought-out statements regarding the current unprecedented upheavals in the Middle East. With regard to Syria, where dozens of demonstrators have been killed by Bashar Assad’s security forces, Gates said: Continue reading “President Robert Gates speaks on Middle East”
Currently a raging bestseller in France, and spreading around the world, is a short book by Stéphane Hessel called Indignez-Vous, or A Time for Outrage. As taken apart by Ron Radosh, the screed begins by trying to make the case for reinvigorating the selfish old socialism which has brought Europe to the point of insolvency, and moves logically onward to identify the greatest danger in the world: Israel, of-course.
The fact that something like this has caught on in such a big way (and now has been published in the U.S. by The Nation) is as disturbing as it is nauseatingly unsurprising. The vapors from Fukushima are not the only source of an expanding and lethal stink in the world today.
Joseph Maraachli, the baby who was on the verge of being disconnected from his life support in Canada (previous post) is now in Cardinal Glennon Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. The transfer was enabled through the involvement of the New York based organization “Priests for Life.”
Blogger Patterico has a “read-it-to-believe-it” exchange, via Twitter and email, with the NPR ombudsman — that’s right — where she (Alicia Shepard) initially makes a false assertion for which she had no evidence (i.e. that Ron Schiller had said on the infamous tape that he was currently a Republican), then neglects to bother to listen to the recording when the relevant part is handed to her, and then … well, read it all.
(Definition of ombudsman: one that investigates, reports on, and helps settle complaints. Failing in spectacular fashion on every score here.)
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Addendum: A number of NPR journalists have issued a letter saying that they were “appalled by the offensive comments made recently by NPR’s now former Senior Vice President for Development. His words violated the basic principles by which we live and work: accuracy and open-mindedness, fairness and respect.” OK. But in light of Patterico’s post, how about the accuracy, open-mindedness and fairness of NPR’s ombudsman? She had every chance to correct herself in some kind of timely manner, but just could not bring herself to do it.
Slow and steady wins the race, and I never had any doubt that this day would come. In the ol’ e-mail inbox this evening, a message from the Ford Foundation: Continue reading “When your ship comes in”
And, in an important sense, Bush was wrong (as is Obama today), in not insisting on this as a premise in both Afghanistan and Iraq. At Georgetown University today the Archbishop of Denver, Charles J. Chaput, gave a speech which included the following:
The global situation is made worse by the inaction of our own national leadership in promoting to the world one of America’s greatest qualities: religious freedom.
This is regrettable because we urgently need an honest discussion on the relationship between Islam and the assumptions of the modern democratic state. In diplomacy and in interreligious dialogue we need to encourage an Islamic public theology that is both faithful to Muslim traditions and also open to liberal norms. Shari’a law is not a solution. Christians living under shari’a uniformly experience it as offensive, discriminatory and a grave violation of their human dignity. Continue reading “Chaput is right”
The state of Utah actually kicked things off a month ago, with a bill to designate the Browning M1911 semiautomatic pistol as that state’s official state gun. Utah would be the first state to have an official firearm. Now, there’s a proposal in neighboring Arizona to name the classic Colt single-action army revolver as the official gun of the Grand Canyon State (thanks to Mike for the tip). I must say that I do like the idea of going for an iconic firearm of the American West like that one.
The kill-joys are naturally complaining about the legislature spending time on such an issue, but State Senator Ron Gould, who sponsored the bill in Arizona, has responded: “We spent about 120 seconds of committee time on that bill. So it’s not like it takes an overwhelming amount of time. Generally, everybody asking why we are doing this takes longer than actually doing it.”
My own beloved New York City is sadly without an official firearm, although I have no doubt that — once he hears this exciting news from Arizona and Utah — Mayor Bloomberg will put the naming of one on his shortlist of priorities.
I would suggest considering either the sawed-off shotgun or the classic water-pistol painted black. Both are frequently utilized by Big Apple entrepreneurs, and I think that each in their own way would constitute a fitting symbol of the indomitable spirit of the true New Yorker.
Assayas: That’s a great idea, no denying it. Such great hope is wonderful, even though it’s close to lunacy, in my view. Christ has his rank among the world’s great thinkers. But Son of God, isn’t that farfetched?
Bono: No, it’s not farfetched to me. Look, the secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: he was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot to say along the lines of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammad, Buddha, or Confucius. But actually Christ doesn’t allow you that. He doesn’t let you off that hook. Christ says: No. I’m not saying I’m a teacher, don’t call me teacher. I’m not saying I’m a prophet. I’m saying: “I’m the Messiah.” I’m saying: “I am God incarnate.” And people say: No, no, please, just be a prophet. A prophet, we can take. You’re a bit eccentric. We’ve had John the Baptist eating locusts and wild honey, we can handle that. But don’t mention the “M” word! Because, you know, we’re gonna have to crucify you. And he goes: No, no. I know you’re expecting me to come back with an army, and set you free from these creeps, but actually I am the Messiah. At this point, everyone starts staring at their shoes, and says: Oh, my God, he’s gonna keep saying this. So what you’re left with is: either Christ was who He said He was the Messiah or a complete nutcase. I mean, we’re talking nutcase on the level of Charles Manson. This man was like some of the people we’ve been talking about earlier. This man was strapping himself to a bomb, and had “King of the Jews” on his head, and, as they were putting him up on the Cross, was going: OK, martyrdom, here we go. Bring on the pain! I can take it. I’m not joking here. The idea that the entire course of civilization for over half of the globe could have its fate changed and turned upside-down by a nutcase, for me, that’s farfetched.
The same has been said in countless different ways (often times highfalutin) before, and but Bono’s blunt and pithy way of handling the question cuts right to the heart in admirable and refreshing fashion. Good on ya, Mister Vox.
Take the ingredients in the title above, mix them up, and you have a tantalizing recipe. From Iowahawk: Biden Vows to Jump Canyon by Amtrak. (Given the proclivity of Iowahawk‘s satire to become reality, it seems that the future will be fun, if, perhaps, short-lived.)
Standing on the rim of the gaping two-mile wide chasm of the Grand Canyon in a star-spangled jumpsuit, Joe Biden today announced a new $53 billion federal high speed rail program that will include funding for “SkyTrain X-2,” a new experimental locomotive that, if successful, will make him the first known U.S. Vice President to jump the Grand Canyon by rail.
“This is a big fucking deal – a big fucking deal,” explained Biden. “And I wouldn’t have volunteered for this mission if I didn’t have complete confidence in Amtrak, my good buddy [US Transportation Secretary] Ray LaHood, and Four Loko – the official energy drink of SkyTrain X-2.”
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The $53 billion program announced today would begin with the building of a complex criss-crossing national rail network, the crown jewel of which will be the ‘Sustainability Express’ subterranean solar train, providing non-stop service between Wilmington, DE and Scranton, PA.
“When it is finished in 2046, it will shave nearly 15 minutes off the comparable driving time between Wilmington and Scranton,” boasted the Vice President.
A new drilling method is opening up enormous new fields of recoverable oil in the United States, within underground shale, according to the AP. The method is less expensive than deep-water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, and is predicted to boost domestic U.S. production by 20 – 40% within five years, producing 1 – 2 millon barrels of oil a day. This method of oil drilling is already producing oil in North Dakota and Texas, and other fields showing promise include some stretching beneath Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico and California.
It’s really amazing what private industry and entrepreneurship can achieve. Some predict that this new method of recovering domestic oil, combined with some other factors, could reduce the U.S. need for foreign oil by 60%, by the year 2020. That’s good news for the country’s economy and for the country’s security.
And now the countdown begins to when the Obama administration’s EPA begins to throw obstacles in the way of this innovation …
I was watching this talk with the always-interesting writer Mark Steyn, which took place at UC Berkeley in 2007, and I was struck by one particular thing Steyn said and thought I would note it down here. Steyn started out as an arts critic and journalist, but he’s far better known now as a commentator on world events and politics. His book America Alone: The End of the World As We Know Itwas a bestseller (and that, indeed, provides a large part of the grist for the 55-minute conversation you can watch via the YouTube clip below). The quote that I thought worth capturing conveys some of the motivation behind his transition from arts criticism to what you might call pan-global-societal criticism.
I love writing about music, I love writing about film and theater, and I would do that if this was an ideal world. But I think at some point, if there are great things going on in the world, and you want to say something about them, and you don’t — it’s not going to be any consolation to me to have a great CD collection as Western civilization falls apart. In a sense you’ve got to — if you value the freedom to stroll into some piano bar in a hotel somewhere on the planet and hear a great singer singing “The Way You Look Tonight” or whatever — you’ve got to understand that even that little miniature experience is at the apex of a whole cultural foundation, and that you can’t just sort of sheer off the small pleasures of a 32-bar song from all the big geo-political issues. They are explicitly connected in that sense.
Do yourself a favor during the current orgy of debate and discussion regarding Ronald Reagan, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth, and read Mark Steyn’s appreciation of Reagan the movie actor. Any article that has the following as the opening paragraph qualifies as absolutely golden almost regardless of what follows (if you ask me):
If I understand correctly the Left’s dismissal of Ronald Reagan back in the Eighties, it’s that he was a third-rate B-movie ham of no consequence and simultaneously such an accomplished actor he was able to fool the American people into believing he was a real president rather than a mere cue-card reader for the military-industrial complex. These would appear at first glance to be somewhat inconsistent characterisations, but they can be reconciled if you have as exquisitely condescending a view of the American people as, say, Gore Vidal.
It’s a case where the original document should be read by as many people as possible – the story of how Dr. Kermit Gosnell was enabled to operate an abattoir for human beings, for decades, in the city of Philadelphia, in the state of Pennsylvania, in the United States of America.
You can download the report in PDF via the arrow in the right-hand corner, or expand the window via the box immediately to the left of that and read it via your browser.
A compilation of tweets wishing for Sarah Palin to be shot and/or killed in various ways, posted to YouTube:
Notice that many were sent on Saturday, January 8th, in the immediate aftermath of the shooting in Tucson.
This was before Sarah Palin had been so uncouth as to inject herself into the debate over the shooting, by daring to defend herself and other conservatives from the charge that they inspired Jared Loughner to commit murder.
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And how ’bout those Sarah Palin-hating posters being put up in San Francisco and no doubt spreading fast?
I know that the same kinds of people people hated Reagan like this, and they hated George W. Bush like this, but for there to be this kind of focus of vile toxic hatred on someone who is not even officially a candidate for president yet … it’s unbelievable.
Ireland, which has recently been bailed out by the EU and the IMF to the tune of about 85 billion Euros, and is raising taxes and imposing the proverbial draconian cuts on everything, has decided to scrape up 23 million Euros of “additional” funds to “help poor countries deal with climate change.”
Ireland, as it happens, is also in the grip of an unusually cold pre-winter season at the moment, with bitter sub-zero temperatures and snow, for which public authorities, as ever in that usually temperate isle, are woefully unprepared.
in which Bono of U2 is responding to questions about his faith:
was a bestseller (and that, indeed, provides a large part of the grist for the 55-minute conversation you can watch via the YouTube clip below). The quote that I thought worth capturing conveys some of the motivation behind his transition from arts criticism to what you might call pan-global-societal criticism. 