Category Archives: Uncategorized

Rowan Williams, Again

Via Andrew Sullivan, I see England’s Archbishop of Canterbury is at it again: If religion is pushed into private spaces, as increasingly it tends to be by our public discourse, we lose one of the most emotionally and imaginatively resourceful … Continue reading

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When Imperatives Collide

From the intriguing new website Big Questions Online here is a thought-provoking piece by Susan Jacoby. In this extract she sets the stage: My mother, at 89, lives with a sound mind in a failing and frail body. She has … Continue reading

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The Shaman of Sullivan Street

Via the New York Times: Sometime around 9:30 a.m. on weekdays, Itzhak Beery enters a second-floor office in Greenwich Village to preside over his piece of the material world. It is an advertising agency, the latest he has owned in … Continue reading

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When liberals pray

Opponents of Arizona’s new immigration law have been praying for its reversal in court.  The Wall Street Journal today has a photo of parishioners sitting outdoors on folding chairs at a prayer session for the demise of the law, which … Continue reading

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G.O.D. Is Great

I am reading Andy Ross’s new book with pleasure & instruction.  It’s better put together than Mindworlds & has less the feel of a core dump.  (That expression dates me as an old mainframe-head … but then, so’s Andy.)  The … Continue reading

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Glenn Beck’s faith

I thought I had mistakenly tuned in to one of Southern California’s Christian radio stations last week when I heard a talk show host first issue the usual right-wing boilerplate about Obama allying with the U.S.’s enemies, and then follow-up … Continue reading

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Riot power, contd.

As word spread throughout Oakland around 2:30 p.m. that a verdict had been reached in the Johannes Mehserle murder trial, the downtown streets suddenly flooded with workers rushing out of their workplaces to go home. The normally placid lanes were … Continue reading

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Riot power

I was in San Francisco last week researching an article; the most striking feature of my trip was the extent to which the San Francisco Police Department is consumed, to the point of an almost paralyzing obsession, with the possible … Continue reading

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Horoscopes. Why?

Via Andrew Sullivan, here’s an interesting piece on why people fall for horoscopes. The need to find patterns (and thus ‘meaning’) is nothing new, but I was intrigued by this: The tendency to believe vague statements designed to appeal to … Continue reading

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Happy Independence Day!

Somewhat on the subject, my thoughts (from 2000) on that most questionable film, The Patriot, can be found here. In the meantime, enjoy this great day.

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