LN: My Story.

It was October 1978 -- I was devouring the Bible and meeting with a diverse group of young believers. My girlfriend was away at James Madison University and I was going to school at George Mason.

I was really into music -- Neil Young, Bob Dylan, the Who, Springsteen, the Rolling Stones. Dylan was just about to break into his "Gospel Phase" and I had never heard of "Christian Music."

I mean, I really dug the Bible and Jesus and even Moses and all the books of the Old Testament. But Christian Music. Forget it. It was musty sounding hymns.

(Yeah, when I was younger we had folk mass -- the songs of Ray Repp -- but I hadn't connected that with "Christian Music.")

My girlfriend's brother, Ken (a fellow believer) and I drove down to JMU to visit her and some friends. While there, she brought me to see this gnarlly old 5th or 6th year student, Robbie Pitts. (at that time he seemed old -- I was 19.) Anyway, we were all hanging around and my girlfriend begged him to play "that guy." He asked me if I'd ever heard of Larry Norman. Larry Norman, I thought -- it sounds like an accountant. That's not the name of a rocker...

And then he put on a record - "So Long Ago...the Garden" and b.l.e.w..m.e..a.w.a.y....

I remember it was "Garden" because of the painting on the back of the snake skin boots and the apple. (to this day I've wanted snake skin boots) I asked Robbie where he found this album -- it was great. Then he put on "In another Land." Awesome...

It was Neil Young, the Rolling Stones and Leon Russell all rolled into one. And singing a true song about God and life and Christ. I had to get me a copy.

The next week, I looked up "Bible bookstore" in the yellow pages and found "Words of Wisdom" in Annandale. They had about 100 to 150 albums and none of them looked promising. But there in the bin was one album with that guy with the blond hair on the cover (the picture on the left) wearing something that looked like Capt. America, so I snatched it up.

This one was much rougher -- it was Street Level -- intentionally produced to sound like a demo or bootleg album. And that gave it even more cache. But LN albums were hard to find and so we swapped cassettes until we could find one here or there. And in time, from reading the liner notes of the albums, I learned about G.K. Chesterton, Dorothy Sayers, C.S. Lewis, Flannery O'Connor, Malcolm Muggeridge, Francis Schaeffer and others.

In short, Larry Norman helped keep me sane in a world of tvpreachers and intellectual-hating pentecostals and Bible-hating mainliners and the Religious Right and the Religious Left.

* * *

He had a great background in roots music. There was a great used record store in Georgetown a long time ago and the owner said Larry would come in and clean out all kinds of great blues records that no one was listening to anymore.

He was incredibly paranoid and delusional -- even a devoted fan such as I could recognize that. I later heard that he was bi-polar, that he had suffered a brain injury. Even so, there was something about this that gave me the courage to stand up in church and say, the bishop has no clothes.

He was a goofball -- funny and witty. Very self-deprecating. But on the other hand, he was an incredible self-promoter. You always knew he was "the Father of Jesus Rock."

He was creative and inspired and had a great knack for finding and promoting talent. Look at the "stable" of Solid Rock musicians: Randy Stonehill, Mark Heard, Steve Camp, the group Daniel Amos. Then Malcolm and Allwyn, Sheila Walsh, the Barrett Band. There were others I'm sure I'm leaving out (Lyrix?)

And the few times I saw him in concert, he was incredible. Not necessarily the performances, although these were good. What really set him apart is that he would spend hours after a show meeting with people and talking to them about Christ and their problems and praying for them. Hours -- until the early hours of the morning. If you could wait to see him, he would stop and take time with you.

* * *

In time, Larry Norman even led me back to the Hymns.

But knowing Robbie, I'm sure these were the first lines of Larry Norman I heard:

last night i had that same old dream
it rocked me in my sleep
and left me the impression
that the sandman plays for keeps...

Be Careful What You Sign by Larry Norman.

Here's a video I put together tonight to one of my favorite LN songs, "Be Careful What You Sign" from the "So Long Ago the Garden" album; 1973.

Note - video had a mistake and was slightly revised.

Why Don't You Look Into Jesus by Larry Norman.

First, this is probably all I'll be writing about for awhile -- Larry Norman had a profound impact on my life. This song sort of epitomizes what he was about. He wrote this back in the 60's when you couldn't say some of this stuff on the radio. Much less in a song about Jesus.

Sipping whiskey from a paper cup,
You drown your sorrows till you can't get up,
Take a look at what you've done to yourself,
Why don't you put the bottle back on she shelf,

Yellow fingers from your cigarettes,
Your hands are shaking while your body sweats,
Why don't you look into Jesus, He's got the answer.

Gonorrhea on Valentines Day,
And you're still looking for the perfect lay,
You think rock and roll will set you free,
You'll be deaf before your thirty three,

Shooting junk till your half insane,
Broken needle in your purple vein,
Why don't you look into Jesus, he's got the answer.

You work all night, sleep all day,
You take your money, throw it all away,
You say you're going to be a superstar,
But you've never hung around enough to find out who you really are.

Think back to when you were a child,
Your soul was free, your heart ran wild,
Each day was different, and life was a thrill,
You knew tomorrow would be better still,

Things have changed you're much older now,
If you're unhappy and you don't know how,
Why don't you look into Jesus, He's got the answer

The Outlaw by Larry Norman.

Probably the best song he ever did.

More - I modified this -- the oringinal video I posted was a little hard to hear, but may be found here.

The Tune by Larry Norman.

Larry Norman, Home at Last.


I just received an email from an old friend, my college roommate - Larry Norman has passed away.

I will have more to say - for now, a song from Larry:

When you first begin your journey, you're not sure just who you are
And the lessons that you're learning, they don't take you very far.
And you just can't keep from stumbling, though you try so hard to stand,
And the truth can be so humbling when it's just beyond your hand.

As though youth were my invention, as though love lay undefined,
To stay free was my intention, to stay young and unconfined.
And so I held my pride above you, oh, yes, what a fool was I,
Holding back those words "I love you," and letting out that word goodbye.

I was wrong to let you go
I was a child and I did not know
About the love that we both could have given
And now you've gone so far away,
I hope I'll see you again someday
But if I don't, I hope I'll see you in heaven.

I was foolish in my younger days to think they'd never end
Life confused me with its changing ways, and I could not comprehend
All the meaning in those moments now lost like footprints in the sand
And I'm standing here remembering, but it's so hard to understand.

I was wrong to let you go
I was a child and I did not know
About the love that we both could have given
And now you've gone so far away,
I hope I'll see you again someday
But if I don't, I hope I'll see you in heaven.

Now I'm sitting in this garden in the middle of my days
And my memories drift and harden as the years they slip away,
And I've been looking in this mirror at the age around my eyes
Time is such an earnest laborer, precision is his neighbor.
Lay my body in the ground, but let my spirit touch the sky.

I was wrong to let you go
I was a child and I did not know
About the love that we both could have given
And now you've gone so far away,
I hope I'll see you again someday
But if I don't, I hope I'll see you in heaven.

Great Race.

Back in the Summer of 2006, my sister and I had a little race -- she's a former Gold Medal State Champion in Butterfly (Hawai'i). I'm just a pretender. Anyway, we had a short race and she whipped me. Unfortunately, the battery ran out, so the clip is very short.

Build it and they will come.

The Obama campaign has come up with a great idea - throwback baseball shirts bearing the candidate's name. Naturally, here's my favorite:

I like the looks of the Dodgers version:



And they've even got the old Padres style:

Field of Dreams?

History of The Marines' Hymn: (exerpt from Warrior Culture of the U.S. Marines, Copyright 2001 Marion F. Sturkey) The U.S. Army, the U.S. Navy, and the U.S. Air Force all have their own songs.

For the U.S. Navy, Anchors Aweigh was written in 1906 by Lt. Charles Zimmerman and midshipman Alfred Miles. Initially the song was a tribute to the Naval Academy Class of 1907. Various people revised it later, trying to weed out the nonsense. Another midshipman, Royal Lovell, penned the final stanza in 1926. Anchors Aweigh has a snappy little tune, but no one knows what the words imply. The original first stanza in 1906 had dealt solely with the game of football. Even today, the song offers a bittersweet "farewell to college joys." The lyrics end by "wishing you a happy voyage home." Many musical experts think that Anchors Aweigh is a ballad for football players who like sailboats. But, no one really knows for sure.

The U.S. Army adopted a snazzy tune for The Caisson Song. Unlike the words in the Navy's song, the words of the Army's song make sense. According to the words of each stanza, The Caisson Song clearly is a melody for rural motorists. Edmund Gruber wrote the original lyrics in the Philippines during World War I. Naturally, since most of the fighting was 8000 miles away in Europe, Gruber made only a passing reference to warfare. Yet, he was careful to be "politically correct." He apparently sought the help of first grade students in composing the lyrics. The banal "Hi, hi, hee" is a dead giveaway. No one has a clue as to what it might mean. Still, at least it rhymes.

The U.S. Air Force did not exist in 1938. But, that year Liberty Magazine sponsored a contest for an official song for the Army Air Corps. The magazine received 757 entries. A group of Army Air Corps wives (yes, believe it or not, wives) selected the entry from Robert Crawford, Off We Go into the Wild Blue Yonder.

After World War II the Army Air Corps evolved into the U.S. Air Force. This fledgling flying club adopted Off We Go' as their official song. It suited the illusionary nature of the new Wild-Blue-Yonder-Wonders with references to "those who love the vastness of the sky" and the fictitious "rainbow's pot of gold." The final stanza speaks of the "gray haired wonder," an admirable gesture of non-discrimination for the new civilianized Air Force.

These three songs, Anchors Aweigh, The Caisson Song, and Off We Go into the Wild Blue Yonder, are often played at public events. They obviously delight the members and advocates of the affected service: Navy, Army, or Air Force. When their song is played, sailors, soldiers, and zoomies leap to their feet and shout, cheer, clap their hands, and jive with the music. They have a jolly time, almost like a high school pep rally.

The U.S. Marine Corps is the United States' military band of brothers dedicated to warfighting. The proud Brotherhood of Marines is guided by principles, values, virtues, love of country, and its Warrior Culture. This brotherhood of American Patriots has no song. Instead, Marine Warriors have a hymn. When The Marines' Hymn is played, United States Marines stand at attention. They silently show their pride in their fellow Marines, their Corps, their Country, their heritage, and their hymn.

The Marines' Hymn is a tribute to Warriors. Marine Warriors stormed fortress Derna, raised the American flag, and gave us "the shores of Tripoli." Marines fought their way into the castle at Chapultepec and gave us the "halls of Montezuma." Marines exist for the purpose of warfighting. Fighting is their role in life. They "fight for right and freedom" and "to keep our honor clean." They fight "in the air, on land, and sea." The Marine Corps is Valhalla for Warriors. U.S. Marines need no song. They have a hymn.

Ironically, no one knows who wrote the hymn, which was in widespread use by the mid-1800s. Col. A.S. McLemore, USMC, spent several years trying to identify the origin of the tune. In 1878 he told the leader of the Marine Band that the tune had been adopted from the comic opera Genevieve de Barbant, by Jaques Offenback. Yet, others believe the tune originated from a Spanish folk song. Whatever! Regardless of its origin, The Marines' Hymn has remained a revered icon of the United States Marine Corps for almost 200 years.

In 1929 The Marines' Hymn became the official hymn of the Corps. Thirteen years later in November 1942 the Commandant approved a change in the words of the first verse, fourth line. Because of the increasing use of aircraft in the Corps, the words were changed to "In the air, on land, and sea." No other changes have been made since that time. When you have attained absolute perfection, there is no need for further modification:

From the Halls of Montezuma,
To the Shores of Tripoli;
We fight our country's battles
In the air, on land, and sea;
First to fight for right and freedom
And to keep our honor clean;
We are proud to claim the title
Of UNITED STATES MARINES.

Our flag's unfurled to every breeze,
From dawn to setting sun;
We have fought in every clime and place
Where we could take a gun;
In the snow of far off northern lands
And in sunny tropic scenes;
You will find us always on the job --
The UNITED STATES MARINES.

Here's health to you and to our Corps
Which we are proud to serve;
In many a strife we've fought for life
And never lost our nerve;
If the Army and the Navy
Ever look on Heaven's scenes;
They will find the streets are guarded
By UNITED STATES MARINES.

Sir Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister, became an ardent admirer of the U.S. Marine Corps. In the company of guests of state, he often demonstrated his respect for U.S. Marines by reciting, from memory, all three verses of The Marines' Hymn.

(hat tip to my sister, the daughter of a Marine.)

Finally! Art Monk makes it to the Hall of Fame. The other inductees: Darrell Green, Gary Zimmerman, Emmitt Thomas, Fred Dean, and Andre Tippett.

More.

Into the Hall. NFL Hall of Fame voter Len Pasquarelli has a column up which gives a little background on today's voting for the Hall of Fame.

Here, in order, is who I'd be voting for if I had a vote:

1. Art Monk
2. Darrell Green
   
3. Cris Carter
   
4. Randall McDaniel
   
5. Derrick Thomas
   
6. Richard Dent
   
7. Ray Guy
   
8. Emmitt Thomas
   
9. Russ Grimm

In my opinion, every one of these belongs, it's just a question of when.

The Debate Continues. Here is a great website to view the latest on the global warming debates: Climate Debate Daily. It's done by the same folks who put on Arts and Letters Daily.

Proud to be the Son of a Marine.

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The Muhammad Code. This is probably the most intriguing story I've seen in awhile. Excerpt:

What if scholars can prove beyond reasonable doubt that the Koran was not dictated by the Archangel Gabriel to the Prophet Mohammad during the 7th century, but rather was redacted by later writers drawing on a variety of extant Christian and Jewish sources? That would be the precise equivalent of proving that the Jesus Christ of the Gospels really was a composite of several individuals, some of whom lived a century or two apart.

It has long been known that variant copies of the Koran exist, including some found in 1972 in a paper grave at Sa'na in Yemen, the subject of a cover story in the January 1999 Atlantic Monthly. Before the Yemeni authorities shut the door to Western scholars, two German academics, Gerhard R Puin and H C Graf von Bothmer, made 35,000 microfilm copies, which remain at the University of the Saarland. Many scholars believe that the German archive, which includes photocopies of manuscripts as old as 700 AD, will provide more evidence of variation in the Koran.

The history of the archive reads like an Islamic version of the Da Vinci Code. It is not clear why its existence was occulted for sixty years, or why it has come to light now, or when scholars will have free access to it. Higgins' account begins...

I recommend following the Atlantic link if you are interested.

More Bad News for the Episcopal Church.

People are breeding. It's the Presiding Bishop's nightmare -- more tacky Mormons, Roman Catholics and especially idiots.

(apologies in advance -- the only place I could find the full interview was Virtueonline.)

I apologize for not writing more lately -- and when I have, it's been kind of sparse. I'm not sure even how to write this. The past two months my mind (when not on work, which has been pretty tough) has been on some teen age girls.

No, that doesn't sound right...

I've been thinking about my oldest daughter and our difficulties adequately communicating. But also on two of my nieces and their families who are going through some tough times. Because these are all private family issues, I can't write about them in this public forum.

So maybe I'll just take a break and be back in a few days or weeks.

Thanks for your patience and understanding.

The First Jewish Broadcast on Nazi Soil - 1944

This is very moving. Give it a listen.

The "Battle of Music," Dec. 6, 1941.

Here's a web page devoted to Navy Bands in the Pacific and the "Battle of Music" which would lead to one band being declared the winner on Dec. 13, 1941. That night, three bands competed to see who would take on the Band from the USS Arizona the following week...

Never forget.

John Lennon's Born-Again Phase

In light of the upcomming anniversary of his murder, here's this article on Lennon and Jesus:

"Can He love me?" the former Beatle asked Oral Roberts. "I want out of hell."

An excerpt from The Gospel According to the Beatles by Steve Turner

From Christianity Today

In March 1977 Yoko traveled with John Green to Catagena in Colombia to meet a witch who had been recommended to her as someone "who could do anything." Green had to accompany her to check out the witch's validity. Yoko paid the witch sixty thousand dollars to perform a series of rituals culminating in the sacrifice of a dove. When they returned to New York; Yoko insisted that they had to fly via Los Angeles and Alaska to avoid having to fly in a northeasterly direction because she believed this would bring her bad fortune.

Next came one of the most extraordinary turnabouts in John's life. A television addict for many years (it was his way of looking at the world since he could no longer walk around anonymously), he enjoyed watching some of America's best-known evangelists—Pat Robertson, Billy Graham, Jim Bakker, and Oral Roberts. In 1972 he had written a desperate letter to Roberts confessing his dependence on drugs and his fear of facing up to "the problems of life." He expressed regret that he had said that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus and enclosed a gift for the Oral Roberts University. After quoting the line "money can't buy me love" from "Can't Buy Me Love" he said, "It's true. The point is this, I want happiness. I don't want to keep on with drugs. Paul told me once, 'You made fun of me for taking drugs, but you will regret it in the end.' Explain to me what Christianity can do for me. Is it phoney? Can He love me? I want out of hell."

Roberts sent him a copy of his book Miracle of Seed Faith and several letters explaining basic Christian beliefs. In the second of his letters Roberts said:

John, we saw you and the Beatles on television when you first came to America. Your talent with music was almost awesome and your popularity touched millions. Your influence became so widespread and powerful that your statement-the Beatles are more popular than Jesus- might have had some truth in it at that moment. But you know, our Lord said, I am alive for ever more. People, the Bible says, are like sheep and are often fickle, following this one day and something else the next. However, there are millions who have received Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and have been filled with the Holy Spirit. They love him. To them He is the most wonderful and popular man who ever lived because he is the Son of God and His name endures.

I thank God that you see this, John, and finally regret thinking any man or group could be more popular than Jesus. Jesus is the only reality. It is Jesus who said "I am the way, the truth, and the life." So, you see, your statement that because of your hard background you've never wanted to face reality is actually really saying you've never wanted to face our loving Lord. What I want to say, as I tried to say in my other letter, is that Jesus, the true reality, is not hard to face. He said, "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. … For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." You said, John, that you take drugs because reality frightens you. Remember as you open your life to Jesus, He will take all the fear away and give you peace. Peace that passes all understanding.

This correspondence and his exposure to TV evangelism didn't appear to have any effect until he suddenly announced to close friends in the spring of 1977 that he'd become a born-again Christian. He had been particularly moved by the U.S. television premiere of Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth, starring Robert Powell as Jesus, which NBC showed in two three-hour segments on Palm Sunday, April 3, 1977. A week later, on Easter day, he took Yoko and Sean to a local church service.

Over the following months he baffled those close to him by constantly praising "the Lord," writing Christian songs with titles like "Talking with Jesus" and "Amen" (the Lord's Prayer set to music), and trying to convert nonbelievers. He also called the prayer line of The 700 Club, Pat Robertson's program. The change in his life perturbed Yoko, who tried to talk him out of it. She reminded him of what he'd said about his vulnerability to strong religious leaders because of his emotionally deprived background. She knew that if the press found out about it they would have a field day with another John and Jesus story. John became antagonistic toward her, blaming her for practicing the dark arts and telling her that she couldn't see the truth because her eyes had been blinded by Satan.

Those close to the couple sensed that the real reason she was concerned was that it threatened her control over John's life. If he became a follower of Jesus he would no longer depend on her and the occultists. During long, passionate arguments she attacked the key points of his fledgling faith. They met with a couple of Norwegian missionaries whom Yoko questioned fiercely about the divinity of Christ, knowing that this was the teaching that John had always found the most difficult to accept. Their answers didn't satisfy her, and John began to waver in his commitment.

In an unpublished song, "You Saved My Soul," he spoke about "nearly falling" for a TV preacher while feeling "lonely and scared" in a Tokyo hotel. This must have referred to a trip to Japan at the end of May when he stayed at the Okura Hotel for over two months while Yoko visited relatives. Feeling isolated because of the language barrier, he locked himself away in his room for long stretches of time. At night he suffered terrifying nightmares. According to John Green, who makes no mention of the born-again period in his book, John told him, "I'd lie in bed all day [in Tokyo], not talk, not eat, and just withdraw. And a funny thing happened. I began to see all these different parts of me. I felt like a hollow temple filled with many spirits, each one passing through me, each inhabiting me for a little time and then leaving to be replaced by another."

The image was remarkably like one suggested by Jesus and recorded in Luke 11. It's hard to imagine that John was unfamiliar with the passage. Jesus was warning of the danger of merely ridding oneself of evil spirits without taking in the good. He says that an unclean or evil spirit, finding nowhere to rest, will return. "And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first."

Whatever happened in Tokyo, it marked the end of his personal interest in Jesus. "You Saved My Soul" said that he "nearly" fell for the TV preacher, but that Yoko "saved me from that suicide." So the salvation of the title refers to being saved from God, not by God. Yoko had again become the captain of his soul, the mistress of his destiny. Yet his life didn't improve. He sank into a depression, concerned that his creativity had deserted him and that he had no real purpose in life. The only real joy he experienced came from spending time with his son, Sean.

His life was out of his control. He worried about his health and his eyesight, about making the right investments with his money, about his personal safety. The only way out, as far as he could see, was to pay for the services of people who claimed to see into the future. But then, which ones could he trust? If the advice of the tarot card reader contradicted that of the astrologer, which should he follow? Instead of the freedom he wanted when he broke away from the Beatles, he was now completely enslaved. He couldn't travel anywhere without advice from a directionalist, do deals with anyone without knowing their star sign, or make plans for the future without consulting the I Ching.

In January 1979 he and Yoko traveled to Cairo, having heard that there was a major illicit archeological dig taking place. Both of them believed that ancient Egyptian artifacts contained magical powers, and Yoko had dedicated one of the rooms in their apartment to Egyptian artifacts. "I love Egyptian art," she said. "I make sure I get all the Egyptian things, not for their value but for their magic power. Each piece has a certain magic power." They stayed at the Nile Hilton and toured the pyramids, but when word got out about their intentions they were prevented from visiting the dig.

By the time Frederic Seaman became John's personal assistant in February 1979, John's main interest was reading books on religion, psychic phenomena, the occult, death, history, archeology, and anthropology. Specific books Seaman can remember him asking for included Rebel in the Soul: An Ancient Egyptian Dialogue Between a Man and His Destiny, by Bika Reed; Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today, by Margot Adler; and Practical Occultism, by (Madame) H. P Blavatsky. He also listened to a thousand dollars' worth of taped lectures by Alan Watts.

Vacationing in Florida in the spring, he again watched Jesus of Nazareth on its by now regular Easter showing, but his reaction was completely different from the one he had had two years before. He kept joking that they should just get on with it and fast-forward to the crucifixion. Seaman, who was present with John's sons, Sean and Julian, recalled, "John began working himself up into a tirade against Christianity, saying that it had virtually destroyed what was left of pagan culture and spirituality in Europe-a great loss to civilization." He then announced that he was now a "born again pagan."

Later in the year Bob Dylan recorded Slow Train Coming, a gospel album born out of personal experience. Dylan told Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times that he'd recently accepted that "Jesus was real … I had this feeling, this vision and feeling. I truly had a born-again experience, if you want to call it that. It's an over-used term. But it's something that people can relate to." Hilburn asked him what "born again" meant. "Born once," he answered, "is born from the spirit below, which is when you're born. It's the spirit you're born with. Born again is born with the Spirit from above, which is a little bit different."

Slow Train Coming was a direct and challenging album. Unlike most gospel recordings, it didn't simply praise Jesus but attacked opposition to him, whether that was religious syncretism, false saviors, or lack of commitment. It was addressed to people like John. In "Precious Angel," the first single, Dylan sang, "Ya either got faith or ya got unbelief and there ain't no neutral ground.' In the title track he sang of "Fools glorifying themselves, trying to manipulate Satan."

Dylan's transformation took John completely by surprise. After all, Dylan had been the Beatles' only peer and remained someone whom he deeply respected. What made it particularly galling was that everything Dylan sang about on the album was delivered with a confidence that had always seemed to elude John. Dylan seemed certain that his sins were forgiven, his eternal security was assured, and that God was actively involved in his life.

When asked in 1980 about his response to Dylan's conversion, John was less than honest. He said he was surprised that "old Bobby boy did go that way," but "if he needs it, let him do it." His only objection, he said, was that Dylan was presenting Christ as the only way. He disliked this because "There isn't one answer to anything." This is why he favored Buddhism. It didn't proselytize. In what can now be seen as an allusion to his own born-again period, which hadn't yet been made public, he said, "But I understand it. I understand him completely, how he got in there, because I've been frightened enough myself to want to latch onto something."

His private feelings about the conversion were expressed in his songwriting. He was particularly incensed by the track "Gotta Serve Somebody" because it opposed his view that there was no single truth. The song said, as bluntly as possible, that whatever your station in life, you were either serving God or the devil. This wasn't an avoidable choice. John wrote a riposte titled "Serve Yourself," arguing that no one can save you. The only person you have to serve is yourself. "He was kind of upset [about Dylan's song] and it was a dialogue," said Yoko in 1998. "He showed his anger but also … his sense of humour."

Excerpted from The Gospel According to the Beatles by Steve Turner, published by Westminster John Knox Press, 2006.

Sinister Organization.

More on that sinister organization, The Federalist Society, here.

As I noted before, I joined up quite a few years ago, but maybe because of my liberal taint, I never got the secret handshake nor have I received a judicial appointment.

Of course, I'm still waiting on the IRD checks that have been promised to every orthodox Anglican.

Firefox 3. (beta)

I usually have 15 to 18 separate windows open when I browse using Firefox, each having anywhere from 1 to 10 separate tabs open. It can be a huge resource hog; so I'm intensely concerned that a new version of Firefox might be worse.

According to this, while the initial loading may consume more memory, leaving all the window and tabs open like I do will actually result in less memory being consumed than with Firefox 2.0.

Thumbs up.

Reading Level Requirements.

I actually strive to write at 5th grade reading level. So either reading levels have changed or I'm getting sloppy:

(this is the same rating as Prof. Volokh -- but I can only dream to write like he does.)

Harold Berman, Rest in Christ

I just read on the Volokh Conspiracy blog that law professor Harold Berman passed away. Here is the link to Todd Zywicki's thoughts ("Berman's magnum opus Law and Revolution was one of a handful of books that truly transformed my thinking about law. It is one of those books that once you read it, it is almost impossible to ever again think about law and especially legal history the same.") See also, the wonderful obit in the NYTimes and read it to the end.

I was fortunate to take a one week summer course from him a few years back -- it must have been August 2004, because I remember he was supporting John Kerry. The course was offered at Regent University Law School in Virginia Beach, about an hour from my parent's house. It was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. (In fact, now that I think about it, the last day of class was on August 6, my son's birthday -- I asked him to sing my personal copy of Law and Revolution for Joseph and I will give it to him one day.) Aside from the professor and the course, which was magnificent, the class was very diverse -- ranging from Herb Titus, who at that time was counsel for Roy Moore to the very liberal gay chancellor of a West Coast Episcopal Diocese.

Prof. Berman began the class by actually giving his background and included his testimony, which was fascinating. He was raised in a non-practicing Jewish family and went to the London School of Economics. On a train ride to or from school, he told us he had an encounter with the risen Christ. He said that Jesus appeared to him, physically, as He had to Saint Paul (although Prof. Berman wryly indicated he was allowed to keep his sight) and it changes his life, setting him on the path he would follow. He further indicated this was not a story he ever told but felt comfortable telling it to our seminar.

He was truly a great man and I am thankful I was able to meet him.

More.

Here are some of his writings available on-line:

• The Historical Foundation of Law
  
• The Holy Spirit: The God of History
• An Ecumenical Christian Jurisprudence
• Law and Logos
• The Triune God of History
  
• World Law: An Ecumenical Jurisprudence of the Holy Spirit

Here is a review of the second volume of Law and Revolution from The Claremont Institute.

And an old note by former student, Randy Barnett.

Killing Opportunity: Hugo Chavez

ESPN has an article on-line which you might normally find in The New Republic or The National Review. Here's an excerpt:

With that kind of talent emerging from Venezuela in recent seasons, one would assume that big league clubs would be flocking to the South American nation in search of the next superstar. However, the cultural and political scene in Venezuela is undergoing rapid and radical transformation, and instead of flocking to the country, teams are fleeing over concerns about safety and political uncertainty. They aren't leaving in droves just yet, but the stream has been steady enough to raise a red flag about the future. And that's what has [Angels pitcher Kelvim] Escobar and others worried.

The number of clubs pulling their player development operations out of Venezuela has been a concern for Major League Baseball. Nineteen teams have participated in the Venezuelan Summer League in the past, but only 11 did so this year.

The Padres, for example, had planned on leaving Venezuela following this season after they built a multimillion-dollar facility in the Dominican, but the current situation accelerated the move. The team moved all its player development operations out of Venezuela following the 2005 campaign, two years earlier than originally anticipated.

"We just figured we might as well do it [then] to avoid some of the hassle of having to deal with some of the legislation that [President Hugo] Chávez passes down there in hiring coaches, worrying about severance pay and just getting in and out of the country," says Juan Lara, San Diego's Latin American operations coordinator.

San Diego is not alone. Baltimore ceased operating its academy following the 2006 season. The Red Sox -- one of the teams the Padres shared an academy with -- left when San Diego did in 2005. Cleveland pulled out in 2004.

There has been speculation, more internal than public so far, that Chávez, a socialist and self-proclaimed revolutionary who took office in 1999, will turn Venezuela into the next Cuba. In other words, some worry that baseball in Venezuela will serve to illustrate (once again) how politics spills over into sport. Cuba is an international power in baseball and, as in Venezuela, the game has long been a part of the nation's cultural landscape. But since Fidel Castro took power, the Cuban government hasn't allowed its players to sign professional contracts.

Read it all.

Day One of the Trial.

Here is a report from The Living Church and here is a sketch from BabyBlue.

My thoughts? This is what is going through my mind:

Neither party expected for . . . the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." . . . He gives to both . . . this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge . . . may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue . . . as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."

Retro-Halloween. We had an old-fashioned Halloween last night -- dating back to even before my time in the '60's with the plastic costumes. Almost all the kids I saw last night were dressed in home-made costumes. And, by-and-large, having talked to the parents as we waited at the foot of the driveway, the kids came up with the ideas and made the costumes themselves.
It was so cool.

I couldn't help but wonder if this is a rebellion to the slutty costume stories we see lately (h/t Kendall). Or maybe I live in a throw-back neighborhood. I mean there was even one house that gave out fresh apples! Of course, we all know these neighbors and there's no worries about poison or razorblades.

But then, maybe not. I mean quite a few of our neighbors are immigrants from India, Pakistan, Latin American and Africa.

It's the New Retroism!

More

James Lileks has a glimpse of the real 1950's Halloween and also riffs on the slutty costumes.

Hall of Fame, Cut 1

The Pro Football Hall of Fame released the first cut of nominees for the Class of 2008. As in the past, I've indicated an obvious oversight, I'm going to dwell on that. Below are the nominees at Wide Receiver -- I have grouped them into three classes - Must Go In This Year; Should Go In Sometime; and Others. As you can imagine, it starts off small and broadens:

Must Go In This Year
Art Monk (number 6 on all time receptions list [held record when retired]; number 11 on all time yardage list

Should Go In Sometime
Cliff Branch
Harold Carmichael
Both Branch and Carmichael changed the game and are responsible, in part for the other guys having such awesome numbers
Cris Carter (number 2 on receptions list; number 5 on yardage list; no. 2 on receiving TDs)
Andre Reed (number 5 on receptions list; number 8 on yardage list; no. 10 on receiving TDs)
Henry Ellard (probably)

Others
Dwight Clark
Gary Clark (my own sentimental favorite)
Isaac Curtis
Roy Green
Herman Moore
Drew Pearson

Once again, this is a year where no QBs should be chosen. If one is, it should come from one of these three: Ken Anderson, Ken Stabler, Doug Williams. Here are the others: Randall Cunningham, Boomer Esiason, Jim Plunkett (being a Raider fan, I love the guy, but he never had a HOF career), Phil Simms, Joe Theismann, and Danny White (another fine QB who should never make the Hall).

First time nominee Darrell Green, CB, should make it on this go around, but there may reluctance to include two Redskins (i.e. Monk, who deserved admission years ago) -- not to mention all the Hogs who are rightfully being considered.

More to come, I'm sure...

Does Same-Sex "Marriage" Threatens Religious Liberty?

Here is an interesting Law Review article which argues that it does. (In .pdf format)

Among the potential liabilities noted for Religious Institutions:

• Risk of Suits Under Employment Anti-Discrimination Laws;
• Risk of Suits Under Fair Housing Laws;
• Risk of Suits under Public Accommodation Laws;
• Potential Hate Crimes or Hate Speech Liability;
• Lost of Tax-Exempt Status;
• Exclusion from Social Service Contracts;
• Exclusion from Government Facilities and Fora;
• Exclusion from Licensing Marriage.

Worth reading.

Re4mation TheoLOLgians



...as presented by the world’s greatest systematic theologian cartoonist, Fred Sanders.


The whole series may be found here.





(Dr. Sanders was the author of the wildly successful Dr. Doctrine's Christian Comix, which, alas, are out of print.)

Why L'Affaire Beauchamp Matters.

1. Integrity.

Doesn't this matter to anyone any more? Or are we just the Nixon-Clinton generation and we think that "integrity" is just a nice catch phrase, devoid of meaning and reality?

2. Trust.

Obviously, with out integrity, there is no reason for a reader to trust a magazine, such as the New Republic. When the Stephen Glass scandal broke, then TNR editor Charles Lane realized how important trust and integrity were and ordered an intensive review of the stories and beefed up the magazine. He publicly admitted they were wrong and sloppy and exposed the lies publicly. With L'Affaire Beauchamp, Editor Franklin Foer and Peter Scoblic, Executive Editor, have stonewalled and actively sought to keep Beauchamp from talking with the Washington Post and other media outlets.

3. Patriotism.

This is actually the most subtle of all and probably should be a larger stand alone post, but L'Affaire Beauchamp points out the problem both the media and the modern left have with Patriotism.

It used to be that standing up for America, for serving in the military, was not a red-blue divide issue. Look back to WWII, where JFK served on PT-109 and his older brother, Joe, Jr., who although eligible to return to the states, volunteered for an Operation Aphrodite mission in which he perished on August 12, 1944. Look at William Manchester who describes himself in his survey of the Marines in the Pacific Theater as "a knee jerk FDR liberal." Goodbye Darkness at 379. Look at Judge Harry Pregerson of California's 9th Circuit, described by Hugh Hewitt as "a model of judicial activism for nearly a quarter-century;" he served with the Marine Corps and fought and was wounded in the Battle for Okinawa, in which over 200,000 perished. I could go on -- this was not unusual.

Then came Vietnam and the left saw itself as morally superior and that anyone who served in the military was a war criminal. The only way to exculpate oneself was to denounce the military in a sweeping fashion. ROTC was expelled from campuses and even family members seem to be personae non gratae. In his new book, Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts, Robert Kaplan writes: “At the 2006 Stanford commencement ceremony, a Marine general whose son was the lone graduating student from a military family said he was struck by how many of the other parents had never even met a member of the military before he introduced himself.”

Similarly, many in the media seem to exhibit a willingness to believe all things bad about the military, to the point where they let normal caution and fact checking slip. Contrast the recent whining by Bobby Caina Calvan ("With nothing to lose I decided to get pushy. ... I made it known that I was jotting down his name. . . I was going to bully my way back into the Green Zone. The man with the gun glowered as I continued my barrage of protests.") with Ernie Pyle ("I was away from the front lines for a while this spring, living with other troops, and considerable fighting took place while I was gone. When I got ready to return to my old friends at the front I wondered if I would sense any change in them.")

Now patriotism does not mean unquestioning acceptance. G. K. Chesterton (naturally) disposed of that myth:

"My country, right or wrong," is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying 'My mother, drunk or sober.' No doubt if a decent man's mother took to drink he would share her troubles to the last; but to talk as if he would be in a state of gay indifference as to whether his mother took to drink or not is certainly not the language of men who know the great mystery.

G.K. Chesterton, The Defendant (1902).

Both the left and the media need to remember that it's okay to like and appreciate the military and it's okay to love your country.

The ownership of The New Republic needs to find editors who are committed to integrity, trust, and their country.

And we must all pursue the same.

Who to root for?

My son is a Sox fan, but I like the Black and Silver (and purple) motif of the Rox...

American Hero.

A couple of months ago, I read the book Sole Survivor by Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Marcus Luttrell about the battle he and fellow Navy SEALS Gunner's Mate 2nd Class Danny Dietz, Sonar Technician 2nd Class, Matthew Axelson and Lt. Michael Murphy
fought in Afghanistan. WaPo Article Glenn Beck Interview pt. 2.

It's an amazing story of a very valiant fight. I have to pause here -- in school they tell you not to overuse adjective and adverbs -- this is one of those rare instances where there aren't enough. You simply need to read the book to find out what these heroes did in the face of incredible odds.

However, the book concluded noting that Luttrell, Dietz, and Axe were all awarded the Navy Cross. But there was no mention of "Murph.' Curious, I googled and came up with silence. It was then I realized he was up for the Medal of Honor.

Yesterday, President Bush recognized that Lt. Murphy (picture at right) paid the ultimate sacrifice for his men and his country, presenting the Medal of Honor to his parents, Dan and Maureen Murphy.

Here are the President's formal remarks.


Washington Times News Story

Please see also, the AP news story here.


"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

more

Stars and Stripes has several audio clips.

Newsday has some video reports.

CBS has several reports, including the comments from his fiancee, Heather Duggan.

Notes: Retitled from "Sole Survivor" which references Marcus Lutrell's book of the same name.

J. K. Rowling and the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Here is a fascinating list which compares the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature with who should have won in an alternate universe.

Some I strongly disagree with. For example, I think Sigrid Undset deserved the prize in 1928 and that she is too overlooked. Still some of the other alternatives are proper - in hindsight. (No prizes for Leo Tolstoy, Mark Twain, and Henry James?)

Still others, if not proper for that year are clearly contenders (W. H. Auden, George Orwell).

Some are wacky (1974 - John Lennon, Paul McCartney).

Others are a fun matchup - who won in 1930? F. Scott Fitzgerald or Sinclair Lewis?

My own favorite suggestions: Chesterton, Bob Dylan, Dr. Seuss, Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, Phillip K. Dick, J.R.R. Tolkein, Arthur Conan Doyle and Raymond Chandler (but no room for Edgar Rice Burroughs).

Read and enjoy.

Rest in Peace.

One of the best cartoonists to come along, Chris Muir, last week ran a notice that work was suspended due to a family emergency. Sadly, if you opened his website today, there was this panel:


Back in 2005, Chris alerted us to his sister Cathy's cancer and asked for assistance with a "Clicks for Cathy" campaign.

I do not know Chris, but having read his cartoon, I can see that he is a man of integrity and honor and was deeply impressed with his love for his sister. He uses his humor to gently poke fun and make a point -- I have a feeling that even if you disagree with Chris, even if you are his target, you will never come away bitter.

I believe that we can see a reflection of a family in the character of one -- therefore, I feel Chris' grief and, at the same time, know that Cathy was a remarkable woman. I have no doubt that this is a special family. Which, of course makes the grief even deeper.

Accordingly, if you hit your knees tonight, please offer up a prayer of thanks for the life of Catherine Forsythe and prayers of comfort and care for the entire family.

Paul Westhead Bowl.

The Warriors of the University of Hawai'i defeated San Jose in OT last night 42-35. Colt Brennan attempted 75 passes, completing 44 for 545 yards. He's out of Heisman competition I fear, because of his 4 interceptions.

Sadly, I don't think the Warriors are going to make the BCS. But I'd love to see them in a bowl against Texas Tech.

The Kingdom. Thumbs up. I'd rate it an A-.

The only problem I had...

SPOILER ALERT

...was the last minute of the movie.

It's not that it tries to be politically correct, it's that this attempt fails.

Miserably.

Okay, I really mean it -- spoiler alert -- I'm going to tell you the end of the movie.

At the end, the four FBI guys are in their cubes and one of the members asks the team leader (Jamie Foxx) what he said (at the beginning of the movie) to get Jennifer Garner to stop crying:

Adam Leavitt: What did you say to Mayes to get her to stop crying?
Ronald Fleury: I said we were going to kill them all.

And then Director Peter Berg does his pious ham-handed cut to Riyadh where a woman asks a child what his grandfather (the movie's Osama bin Laden figure) whispered to him before he died: "He said we would kill them all."

Yeah, it's set up to allow Berg to show his face at the soirées, but the real problem is that the statement is so inconsistent with the Fleury (Jamie Foxx) character it stands out like Jennifer Garner in a town full of burqas. It's a stretch and it doesn't work.


At worst he would've said "We're going to go there and get some justice."

* * *

Also, the character playing Gideon Young, the Attorney General, is set up to be a religious fanatic like Orin Hatch, but he swears in private, well,

...like Orin Hatch.


But Jeremy Piven, the State Department weenie, and Richard Jenkins as the head of the FBI both work well.

* * *

Actually, it's my understanding that the original ending was nixed as too depressing:

The first Saudi on the scene in the movie, Sgt. Haytham (pictured on the left) was beaten by the Saudi National Guard general in charge. In the movie, Al-Ghazi (very well played by Ashraf Barhom), the Saudi policeman comes to the aid of Sgt. Haytham, however, you can see that Sgt. Haytham is troubled after being tortured by his own government for his suspected involvement in the bombing. The nixed ending has Sgt. Haytham saying goodbye to the FBI team at the air base with a hidden bomb strapped to his chest. Chris Cooper (Sykes) wrestles Haytham away from the group, but Haytham detonates it before Sykes can get clear.

Add Ons. In installing a home network, I've had to reconfigure all the different PCs I use which has caused me to figure out what add-ons I like and what I don't.

First, I use the Mozilla Firefox web browser. IE7 isn't bad, I just prefer Firefox and the add-ons for it. Next, I add the Google toolbar and the following buttons: Bible Gateway; Download; Webster's Dictionary (what I would love would be a button for the Catholic encyclopedia).

Then come these add-ons:

• Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer. Using browsers on at least 4 different machines, I can log in and get my bookmarks wherever I am. Plus, when I update one, they are all updated.
• IE Tab ever get those webpages that will only work with IE? Trick 'em. This embeds Internet Explorer in tabs of Mozilla/Firefox.
• TinyUrl Creator - allows you to right click and make a tiny url. Simple.
• Do you want to print a page, but it's got this color intense graphic smack in the middle which is going to gobble up ink? Use Nuke Anything Enhanced to eliminate it.
• Cooliris Previews gives you a preview of a page before you surf to it.
• Finally, PDF Download lets you choose how you want to view a .pdf document you are going to download - in the browser, in Adobe, as HTML, or save as a file.
  

I've heard good things about Greasemonkey, but it's over my head.
There is one I have been avoiding - StumbleUpon - because I love to go on tangents and can really waste time. You have to figure it out yourself, if I've tempted you.

More

I forgot a few more -- I told you I'm getting several machines networked.

• Forecastfox - I forgot about this, because it's just there. It places the Accuweather forcast for your zipcode on the bottom of the browser. If you use Yahoo widgets, you might have something similar on your desktop, but I like this on my browser. It's out of the way, but handy when I need it. Also, I switch the "Alert Slider" to be inactive (except for severe weather) -- if not, it does take up some resources (when the slider pops up) and slows things down. Also, it doesn't have the spyware that other similar widgets and programs (Weatherbug) have.
• Alternatives to IE Tab, mentioned above, include IEView and IE View Lite. I haven't tried either of these.
• DownloadHelper is one I'm still playing with - it lets you download web content like videos and images - and yes, it works with flash video like YouTube. However, this past week, I tried using it to download the Dahlia Lithwick & Jan Crawford Greenburg exchange on bloggingheads.tv and it didn't work.
• Similarly, I'm still trying to decide whether I like Clipmarks or not. It allows you to clip and save portions of webpages. Where it's been nice is I've saved whole articles (although there is a size limit) in a private space, which I don't feel like I can legally post (in their entirety) here. That way, it's archived, accessible and available when the original online article disappears.
• Oh, and what the heck, here is the link for StumbleUpon.

Also, the good thing about being networked is that I should be able to get back to doing some of this blogging stuff on a more regular basis.

Maybe I should've copyrighted the idea?

Or the acronym? From a long post I wrote back on January 11, 2004:

Next was Martyn Minns, rector of Truro Church, speaking on "The Network" Since his talk is on-line, here, [link no longer works] I'd direct you to read it in it's entirety. It is important. My only comment would be on the name: Network of Confessing Dioceses and Parishes. I prefer the Confessing Anglican Network of America ("CANA") -- as in the place where our Lord took stagnant water and turned it into wine.

Divisions

We are all rightly distressed, and ashamed also, at the divisions of Christendom. But those who have always lived within the Christian fold may be too easily dispirited by them. They are bad, but such people do not know what it looks like from without. Seen from there, what is left intact despite all the divisions, still appears (as it truly is) an immensely formidable unity. I know, for I saw it; and well our enemies know it. That unity any of us can find by going out of his own age. It is not enough, but it is more than you had thought till then. Once you are well soaked in it, if you then venture to speak, you will have an amusing experience. You will be thought a Papist when you are actually reproducing Bunyan, a Pantheist when you are quoting Aquinas, and so forth. For you have now got on to the great level viaduct which crosses the ages and which looks so high from the valleys, so low from the mountains, so narrow compared with the swamps, and so broad compared with the sheep-tracks.

- C. S. Lewis
Introduction to De Incarnatione Verbi Dei (On the Incarnation) by St. Athanasius

Sign o' the times

I clipped the following from my local grocery store sales circular:



I wonder whose idea it was to put the Happy Ramadan under the Bud ad? [ed: maybe because it's a light beer, it works during a period of fasting? uhh, No.]

Father Damien. From a thank you note dictated to my wife from daughter Emilie, age 6:

Thank you for letting us watch “Father Damien.” The first time you ever saw the first bit of the movie, they were taking people to this island to see if they were sick and if they were sick they wouldn’t be released, but if they weren’t sick they would be released. So, Father Damien went to this island where there were lots of lepers and some people told him not to touch them, but he did. People asked him to put his hands on their children and pray for them and he did. And there was a wedding in the movie. And the queen came and she asked what the people wanted and they said they needed medicine. Father Damien got so sick and he died. He prayed with them and there were so many lepers he couldn’t even heal them in one whole day–he was there for trillions of days. He also taught them to sing like a choir because they rebuilt this church and this guy climbed up on something to see what was happening in the church (it was a long movie). When he first went in the church, the things where they sat were knocked over and some windows were broken–even stained glass windows!....................

(Background- while we were at my parents last week, we all watched the movie "Molokai: The Story of Father Damien.")

Some Articles. Since I'm not much good at blogging...

Judge Mukasey on Padilla and terrorists in court. (WSJ - Free).

The new Mall towering over Mecca (FT-blog).

Frida Kahlo's last secret. (the Guardian)

Anyone remember Fr. Richard P. McBrien, a theologian at the University of Notre Dame? Prior to Ratzinger's elevation to Pope McBrien argued it would never happen: “He’s too much of a polarizing figure,” McBrien told The Washington Post. “If he were elected, thousands upon thousands of Catholics in Europe and the United States would roll their eyes and retreat to the margins of the church.” And he's right! That is, if the margins of the church means "More money, More pilgrims and lot's more Latin." (Times Online)

Hitch and the ABC (scroll down to June 10) (Vanity Fair)

Finally, Ingmar Bergman could've defeated Death at chess, if only he'd sent Death for a pizza.

Back with Harry. Yes, it has been awhile. I'm back with a post about Harry. Not my own thoughts, but those of Gregg Easterbrook writing at ESPN. [SPOILER ALERT] Hence, I post his note in full (links added):

God and Man at Hogwarts: The postwar United Kingdom has produced three blockbuster young people's fantasy series, the Narnia books by C.S. Lewis, the "Golden Compass" series by Philip Pullman and now the Potter volumes. All feature astonishingly capable English schoolchildren with magic powers. The Narnia books are explicitly Christian; the Golden Compass books are explicitly anti-Christian; what about Potter? Though J.K. Rowling's 4,000 pages concern supernatural forces, the soul and communication with the dead who exist in an afterlife, religious issues are missing from the series. The wizards and witches of the Potter world celebrate Christmas, but otherwise seem to have no religious views and never pause to reflect on where their power comes from or what the spirit world might be. Perhaps Rowling concluded that in the contemporary milieu, it's totally fine to market a children's story containing numerous scenes in which children are tortured or murdered, but mentioning God would be too controversial.

The final book was the first to contain religious references, and they've been missed by commentators. Harry travels to the enchanted village where the good wizards and witches of England live and observes there is a church at the center of the town square -- the evil sorcerers have nothing like this. On his parents' tombstone in the church graveyard, Harry sees the inscription, The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. This is the essence of resurrection theology, and though readers aren't told, is a quotation from Paul's first epistle to the church at Corinth. In the older Bible books, there is no talk of heaven or paradise; even the righteous dead go to a place of oblivion. When Christ declared, "I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever," he was announcing the defeat of death and offering a fundamentally new compact between Maker and made. Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, "If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain ... But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead ... The last enemy to be destroyed is death." The declaration comes in the same letter where Paul set down some of the greatest words in all literature: the magnificent passage that begins, at First Corinthians 13, "If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal."

When Harry finds the Dumbledore family grave, he reads this inscription: Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Though readers aren't told this either, the phrase is a quotation from Jesus. The teaching, at Matthew 6:19, is worth contemplating in its fullness, as it is difficult to imagine 40 words that exceed these in wisdom:

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Regarding the "Golden Compass" volumes, in them God is a central character -- but is actively evil, obsessed with causing people to suffer. The plotline of the books is that Christianity is a complete fraud and the source of all that is wrong with society; the final "Golden Compass" volume concerns a desperate attempt by the heroic children to kill God and obliterate every trace of Christianity from several universes. I found Pullman's arguments against Christianity puerile -- like recent anti-Christian books by Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, the "Golden Compass" volumes resort to the cheap subterfuge of cataloging everything bad about religion while pretending belief has no positive qualities. Pullman, Dawkins and Harris are anti-faith jihadis: they don't just want to argue against the many faults of Christianity, they want faith forbidden. But however flawed the "Golden Compass" books might be, to advance anti-Christian views is Pullman's prerogative, and his art should be transferred authentically to the screen. Now that the Golden Compass volumes are becoming big-budget flicks, will Hollywood accurately depict their loathing of Christianity or turn the books into a mere adventure story?

Jerry Falwell. They laid the body of Jerry Falwell to rest yesterday. Here's where I give the obligatory "I was never a fan" disclaimer -- and I wasn't. He was a Southern Baptist televangelist and I was raised in the Roman Catholic Church. Nevertheless, I could never understand why he was so frequently labeled a "hater" nor why those who despised him so greatly actually turned into such rabid haters themselves.

He had a son, also named Jerry Falwell, who was in law school during the mid-80s at UVa -- I had friend who had several classes with this young man who was, like me, a left leaning moderate. He told me that it was obscene how much abuse this guy got. Classmates who were also committed leftists were appalled by the treatment of the guy.

"Sins of the father..."

I was in San Francisco last week when the news came out about Rev. Falwell's passing. Again, the abuse was apalling -- a mock gravesite was erected complete with astroturf for dancing on and a sign reading "Rest In Torment."

This is bigotry, pure and simple.

And, yes, people were coming by to dance on the "grave."

It's not just the Fred Phelps gang that does these things. Or the Moral Majority. Or the Islamists.

Sadly enough, it's also the people of San Francisco...

Progression.

1964: Justice Potter Stewart, in his concurring opinion in Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184 (1964), writes that he knows hard core pornography when he sees it.*

1978: Justice John Paul Stevens, in an appendix to FCC v. Pacifica Foundation, 438 U.S. 726, 751 (1978), sets forth the twelve-minute comedy routine by George Carlin, "the Seven Words You Can't Say on Television."

2007: The Supreme Court attaches a link to a video of a car chase to its opinion in Scott v. Harris at footnote 1. (Video here).

My question: How long before the Court starts posting porn on its website?


------------------
* This is what he actually wrote, in relevant part: "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that." (at 476).

.

Great Series. This past weekend series between the A's and the Yankees was a great series from beginning to end.

Friday night before a rare sell-out crowd, the A's tie up the game 4-4 on Nick Swisher's HR in the 7th. Then ROTY candidate Travis Buck takes a triple from the weak arm of Johnny Damon and score's on Bobby Kielty's grounder. A's 5-4.

Yesterday, the A's jump out to a quick 3-0 lead, before the Yankees tie it up in the 7th and former Athletic Jason Giambi, at that point in the game 0-5, hits a homer to win it in the 13th for the Yanks. Yankees 4-3.

On to today's game -- the A's take an early 2-0 lead off of Andy Pettitte in the first. Yet both Pettitte and the A's Rich Harden pitch well for the rest of the game. Harden pitched into the 7th before leaving with tightness in his pitching shoulder (and after giving up a leadoff double to ARod). Joe Kennedy came in in relief and promptly gave up a single to Giambi and a double to Posada. Then, back-to-back SF's by Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera put the Yank's up by one. They got another run in the 8th and were ahead going into the bottom of the 9th 4-2. So, naturally, NY brings in Mariano Rivera for the last three -- and get the first two outs easily. Then, Todd Walker singled for Oakland's first hit since the third inning; Jason Kendall then walked, putting runners on first and second. Next up was Marco Scutaro, who was 1-20 at this point in the season. Frankly, I was stunned that manager Bob Geren didn't go to a pinch-hitter. But Scutaro came through, hitting a walk-off homer just inside the left foul poll to take the series for the A's 5-4.

I'm back from Pago Pago -- but today is "tax day" -- so it will be a few more days before I get my notes up about the trip.

Samoa. Greetings from Pago Pago. More later.

One, Two.

One

From the Episcopal News Service
Jefferts Schori's opening remarks follow:

Good morning to all of you. And it is a good morning. As the psalmist says, "this is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it." Let us rejoice and be glad in the good and creative ministry going on in so many parts of this church and around the world. That is indeed an enormous blessing in a broken and hurting world.

I am grateful for this opportunity to speak to and with you, and grateful to Trinity Church for making this format possible. . . .

-Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori

Two

New Year's Address to the Nation
Prague, January 1, 1990

My dear fellow citizens,

For forty years you heard from my predecessors on this day different variations on the same theme: how our country was flourishing, how many million tons of steel we produced, how happy we all were, how we trusted our government, and what bright perspectives were unfolding in front of us.

I assume you did not propose me for this office so that I, too, would lie to you.

Our country is not flourishing. . . .

- Václav Havel