Don't ask Joe Biden how many letters are in the word "jobs"

"it's unclear whether she is Bushian or Reaganite. She doesn't think aloud. She just . . . says things."

Peggy Noonan on Sarah Palin:

Here is a fact of life that is also a fact of politics: You have to hold open the possibility of magic. People can come from nowhere, with modest backgrounds and short résumés, and yet be individuals of real gifts, gifts that had previously been unseen, that had been gleaming quietly under a bushel, and are suddenly revealed. Mrs. Palin came, essentially, from nowhere. But there was a man who came from nowhere, the seeming tool of a political machine, a tidy, narrow, unsophisticated senator appointed to high office and then thrust into power by a careless Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose vanity told him he would live forever. And yet that limited little man was Harry S. Truman. Of the Marshall Plan, of containment. Little Harry was big. He had magic. You have to give people time to show what they have. Because maybe they have magic too.

But we have seen Mrs. Palin on the national stage for seven weeks now, and there is little sign that she has the tools, the equipment, the knowledge or the philosophical grounding one hopes for, and expects, in a holder of high office. She is a person of great ambition, but the question remains: What is the purpose of the ambition? She wants to rise, but what for? For seven weeks I've listened to her, trying to understand if she is Bushian or Reaganite—a spender, to speak briefly, whose political decisions seem untethered to a political philosophy, and whose foreign policy is shaped by a certain emotionalism, or a conservative whose principles are rooted in philosophy, and whose foreign policy leans more toward what might be called romantic realism, and that is speak truth, know America, be America, move diplomatically, respect public opinion, and move within an awareness and appreciation of reality.

Governor Palin only has a few weeks left to show us her magic. I would suggest she use a news conference to show she can talk to reporters of different stripes, not just those who work for Fox News. What do you think, Peggy?

No news conferences? Interviews now only with friendly journalists? You can't be president or vice president and govern in that style, as a sequestered figure. This has been Mr. Bush's style the past few years, and see where it got us. You must address America in its entirety, not as a sliver or a series of slivers but as a full and whole entity, a great nation trying to hold together. When you don't, when you play only to your little piece, you contribute to its fracturing.

In the end the Palin candidacy is a symptom and expression of a new vulgarization in American politics. It's no good, not for conservatism and not for the country. And yes, it is a mark against John McCain, against his judgment and idealism.

"I went in there one day, and in the drawing room I found Emily reclining in the arms of a man."

Emily Dickinson had a secret lover!

It's now widely assumed that that man was Judge Otis Lord, a widower of her father's generation who proposed marriage to Dickinson late in his life and hers (she died in 1886 at the age of 56) only to be affectionately rebuffed. "Don't you know," she wrote coyly but decisively, "that you are happiest while I withhold and not confer?" Yet the notion of Emily Dickinson making out in her living room is so foreign to our conception of her that her autumnal tryst with Judge Lord has never become part of the popular lore about her.

Will you read her poetry in the same way again? Is it better to think of her as an old spinster longing for the beauty of romantic companionship but never finding it? Is it disappointing to think that she wasn't so different from all us romantic fools?

I bet that if Emily Dickinson had been a fan of '80's pop songs, this one would have been near the top of her favorites list:

Two sure signs that October is here

Every store and produce stand keeps lots of these in stock:

Royal Donut, where smiley-face iced cookies can usually be found, starts making these:

for those who think I wholeheartedly support Barack Obama...

... I can assure you that I don't. Mainly because of this. I just don't see how someone can claim to value a human life, and casually consent to letting people kill an unborn child.

What kind of America do we want our beloved nation to be? Barack Obama's America is one in which being human just isn't enough to warrant care and protection. It is an America where the unborn may legitimately be killed without legal restriction, even by the grisly practice of partial-birth abortion. It is an America where a baby who survives abortion is not even entitled to comfort care as she dies on a stainless steel table or in a soiled linen bin. It is a nation in which some members of the human family are regarded as inferior and others superior in fundamental dignity and rights. In Obama's America, public policy would make a mockery of the great constitutional principle of the equal protection of the law. In perhaps the most telling comment made by any candidate in either party in this election year, Senator Obama, when asked by Rick Warren when a baby gets human rights, replied: ''that question is above my pay grade.'' It was a profoundly disingenuous answer: For even at a state senator's pay grade, Obama presumed to answer that question with blind certainty. His unspoken answer then, as now, is chilling: human beings have no rights until infancy - and if they are unwanted survivors of attempted abortions, not even then.

Anybody know of a great candidate for president whose name isn't John McCain or Barack Obama? I'm open to suggestions.

MORE: JT, take it away.

I don't watch "The Office"

I know - that's practically the same thing as saying "I don't breathe oxygen" to some of you out there. It's one of those shows, like Heroes, that I'd probably enjoy if I watched it, but for some reason or 'nother, it's not on my viewing list.

Maybe I'll watch it if someone tells me that it includes lots of scenes like this:



My inner geek finds it absolutely hilarious.

the irrationality of Bill Maher

Looks like the main star of Religulous isn't all that "rational" himself.

On Oct. 3, Mr. Maher debuts "Religulous," his documentary that attacks religious belief. He talks to Hasidic scholars, Jews for Jesus, Muslims, polygamists, Satanists, creationists, and even Rael -- prophet of the Raelians -- before telling viewers: "The plain fact is religion must die for man to live."

But it turns out that the late-night comic is no icon of rationality himself. In fact, he is a fervent advocate of pseudoscience. The night before his performance on Conan O'Brien, Mr. Maher told David Letterman -- a quintuple bypass survivor -- to stop taking the pills that his doctor had prescribed for him. He proudly stated that he didn't accept Western medicine. On his HBO show in 2005, Mr. Maher said: "I don't believe in vaccination. . . . Another theory that I think is flawed, that we go by the Louis Pasteur [germ] theory." He has told CNN's Larry King that he won't take aspirin because he believes it is lethal and that he doesn't even believe the Salk vaccine eradicated polio.

Anti-religionists such as Mr. Maher bring to mind the assertion of G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown character that all atheists, secularists, humanists and rationalists are susceptible to superstition: "It's the first effect of not believing in God that you lose your common sense, and can't see things as they are."

Cedarville is growing

Despite past controversies (or perhaps because of them?), Cedarville University continues to expand. Ten new majors and five new minors will be added to the curriculum next fall.


Communication Arts

• Journalism
• Intercultural communication
• Comprehensive communication
• Media communication
• Organizational communication
• Political communication

Exercise and Sports Science

• Allied health
• Sport management (minor)

Language and Literature

• Asian studies (minor)
• French (minor)

Music, Art and Worship

• Worship

Science and Mathematics

• Chemistry Education
• Environmental science
• Actuarial science (minor)

For a history of Cedarville University, go here.

Palin abused her power

While the Alaska governor was busy questioning Senator Obama's "associations," she was being questioned about her own activities. The report is out:

Gov. Sarah Palin abused the powers of her office by pressuring subordinates to try to get her former brother-in-law, a state trooper, fired, an investigation by the Alaska Legislature has concluded. The inquiry found, however, that she was within her right to dismiss her public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, who was the trooper’s boss.

And this is someone whom the evangelical community is supposed to embrace wholeheartedly? If you're going to ask people to look closely at the actions of others, you better have your own house in order. Twigs and logs in the eye, and all that.

Yes We Carve

What will your pumpkins look like at the end of the month? Perhaps this place can give you some good ideas. Or you could check out here.

Quote for the Day

"It's the supreme art of the devil that he can make the law out of the gospel. If I can hold on to the distinction between law and gospel, I can say to him any and every time that he should kiss my backside... Once I debate about what I have done and left undone, I am finished. But if I reply on the basis of the gospel, 'The forgiveness of sins covers it all,' I have won."

Martin Luther

To: the "lurker" pastor who has known me for the past 17 years

Yeah. You know who you are. You should visit here, because it's for you and all the guys like you, including our mutual friends in Naptown. After you've been there, come back here and let your very first comment on this blog be to tell me what you think.

AND: Read this, too.

True Woman

My mother-in-law is attending the True Woman Conference in Chicago this weekend. Tim Challies will be live-blogging. With speakers such as John Piper, Janet Parshall, and Joni Eareckson Tada, the conference should be an intriguing event. You can't sign up now to attend since all tickets have been sold, but the conference will be streamed live on the web.

does height make a difference when it comes to the presidency?

This chart shows that America tends to vote for the man who is taller and/or heavier. The more there is of a man, the more America likes him for the presidency. I guess it's better for us to have a president who has enough weight to make a difference when he throws it around.

You do realize who the taller man is in this election cycle, don't you?

No, we didn't ask for your opinion about the debate, Roger...

...but I'm always glad to read it.

Film reviews for "Religulous"

Bill Maher's film Religulous is being touted as a comical-serious examination of the beliefs and practices of religion, with particular attention paid to Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. According to the film's site, Maher is "known for his astute analytical skills, irreverent wit and commitment to never pulling a punch." You can go here for the film trailer.

Baltimore Sun

Maher's subject in Religulous, and it's a useful one, is religion as it is actually practiced in the suburbs, the country and the streets. He's an agnostic, not an atheist. His goal is to proclaim doubt about the mysteries that surround our mortality (such as what happens at death), and thus promote rationalism. He leaves certainty to true believers. He doesn't ponder what faith can do except summon a vision of the afterlife or provide an alternative to nothingness for the jailed or destitute.

Beliefnet

Early on in the movie, Maher makes a trip to Raleigh, North Carolina. Good choice. It's actually one of my favorite places to visit. But the Raleigh that Maher visits in the movie looks nothing like the Raleigh I know. His entire visit seemed to consist of a trip to a tiny chapel at a truck stop where a few truckers meet for church. They obviously didn't know who Maher was, or what his shtick was, and they quickly become offended when he peppered them with questions about the credibility of the gospel they passionately believe in. Watching that scene, I had only one thought in my head: If you want to pick on someone your own elitist intellectual size, Duke University Divinity School is right down the road!

And that incident more or less sums up the problem with this movie. There is plenty to satirize about religion. There is plenty to debate about religion. But Maher spends time offending those believers of all faiths who are easily offended or fearful and never engages with believers who aren't afraid of clever banter, witty one-liners, and cheap shots. Not only is there not much sport in that, but, come to find out, there's really not much entertainment value in it, either.

Cinematical

Religulous will not inspire any person of faith to give up their beliefs, of course -- and whether you see that as a demonstration of unyielding devotion or unthinking dogma will, again, depend on your point of view -- but Maher and Charles, to their credit, seem to be focusing their film more at challenging non-believers than believers. Maher's big finish for Religulous is tonally very similar to the way he closes out his HBO show Real Time -- a stern, serious discussion that follows the jokes like serving broccoli after dessert -- where Maher's line of argument is that non-believers need to step up, speak out and be heard to try and change the course of public opinion, that religious 'moderates' need to see their behavior as dangerous, enabling complicity that helps empower radical elements which cannot go unnoticed or unchallenged in an age where, as Maher puts it, "We learned to precipitate mass death before we got over the neurological disorder of wishing for it." And Maher also -- in his own words, in his own way -- conveys the conflict felt by every non-believer who would like to believe in a just, kind and loving god but can't. Religulous is full of contradictions -- it's a funny film about some depressing things, it's a lighthearted tour through terrorism, injustice and intolerance. But those contradiction and challenges are, ultimately, what make the film linger uneasily in your mind, reaching past comedy and confrontation to challenge the audience with a fierce and forceful prayer that there might be no god.

Newsday

You don't need to believe in God to take issue with Bill Maher's Religulous, a quasi-documentary that mocks religion as ridiculous, crazy, even dangerous. It's a nasty, condescending, small-minded film, self-amused and ultimately self-defeating. Its only accomplishment is to make atheists look bad - and in this political climate they didn't need Maher's help with that.

San Francisco Chronicle

In the end, Maher reveals his serious intent, to put forth the idea that not just fundamentalism but religion in all forms is a danger to the survival of civilization. Agree or not, that's a serious idea, but the obnoxious interviews and the zany treatment undercut it. Certainly, if his intent was to persuade anyone of his view, well, fat chance of that. (If anything, Maher is obnoxious enough to make people want to get religion.) In the moment, the message of "Religulous" is that everybody who believes in God is stupid, cowardly or intellectually dishonest. That's a sentiment better expressed in a single wisecrack, not a feature-length documentary.

Biden & Palin

The Vice Presidential Debate of 2008 has come and gone, and it wasn't as painful as everyone feared it might be. Palin spoke in coherent sentences, and Biden didn't make any ridiculous statements. Okay, Karl Rove and Sean Hannity thought Biden made ridiculous statements, but that's neither here nor there and both candidates had difficulty staying completely factual.

I'd say Biden technically won the debate, but Palin gained some ground that had been lost after her interviews with Charles Gibson and Katie Couric. The polls have shown that Obama has a lead over McCain, so we will have to see if this debate made any kind of difference. Palin showed she has substance, but we have a month to go before we know how that translates into votes.

Go here for a transcript.

Don't Vote!

Seriously. You should make all your decisions based upon what Forrest Whitaker, Jennifer Aniston, and Jonah Hill tell you. I mean, you're reading about them in OK and US Weekly anyways, right?

Doh! Now I'm gonna have carbonite sickness!

I'm not a fan of The Simpsons, but I think the opening credits here is just fantastic.

From Sankara Stones to the Ark of the Covenant to the Holy Grail to the Crystal Skulls

Peter Chattaway on the spiritual (in)significance of the Indiana Jones series.