I’m still working my way through David* MacCullough’s quasi-magisterial Christianity, the First Three Thousand Years, and I’ve gotten to the Black Death, not a good time to be alive in Europe. Christians responded to the horrors of the bubonic plague first by beating themselves (which McCullough calls the “flagellant movement,” generally more appropriate for paramecia…
The passion, and the stupidity, of Ryan Avent
Are you ready for some bullshit? Over at the Economist, Ryan Avent feels that the Apocalypse is well upon us: The coastal, urban corridor along which I live now is horribly changed from its condition a century ago. Those of us who live along it spend the vast majority of our time indoors and only…
Fred Kaplan, getting scared again
Unlike the rest of us, Fred Kaplan—Cap’n Fred, as we like to call him—is always on the alert for new dangers. Fred’s latest worry? North Korea! As Fred accurately (for once) notes, we know practically nothing about the new leader, Kim Jong-un, although “meet the new boss, just like the old boss,” wouldn’t be a…
The Obama Murders—Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
Thanks be to God that we have a liberal Democrat in the White House! Now gays are allowed to serve freely in the military without shame! Without shame, that is, if they don’t mind being complicit in the Obama Administration’s “Mystery Murder” campaign in Pakistan, which has resulted in the deaths of, well, Janbaz Zadran,…
Saxygurl—“In Walked Bud”
Continuously not the New Yorker
“I don’t think I hurt his feelings. I think you hurt his feelings.” “I know, but when he looks at me with those big brown eyes, I just melt.” “Well, she may be a whelping bitch, but she sure doesn’t look like a whelping bitch.” “The whole rolled-up newspaper thing made a lot of sense…
God the Father, endowed with infinite wisdom and compassion, and who might be trying just a little bit harder
If you read Andrew Sullivan’s blog, as I often do, you may find yourself reading more about gay marriage and whether old guys should be allowed to wander around the locker room in the nude more than you care to, but you will also find yourself reading a lot about “God.” Well, I’m not much…
For the children, goddamnit, for the children
In a recent posting in the NYT, bible thumpin’ Ross Douthat warns the Christian right to stay the fuck away from Newt Gingrich: “It isn’t just that he’s a master of selective moral outrage whose newfound piety has been turned to consistently partisan ends. It’s that his personal history — not only the two divorces,…
Fulmine! The Italian for “Bang” is “Bang”!
A visit to that seriously weakened institution known as the magazine stand taught me several new words: fumetto, which is Italian for “little puff of smoke,” and, by extension, “dialogue balloon,” that is to say, “comic book.” The fumetto I picked up was “Tex,” which it turns out is rather a legendary publication. If you…
The Republican Party, getting awfully tired of black poor people
Let them clean toilets? Hey, it’s catchy. And if Diamond Newt Gingrich has anything to do with it, that’s what “really poor children” will be doing. You see, those kids, they simply have no work ethic, no respect for the value of the dollar. Now, rich kids, they know the value of the dollar. And…