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A phrase in an interview with artist Karen Parker Lears jumped off the page at me the other day (The Hedgehog Review, Summer, 2010). Ms. Lears is an abstract artist whose latest work features a series of meditations designed to encourage reflection on suffering. Her work is rather too difficult…
It now seems certain that Solicitor General Elena Kagan will be confirmed as the newest member of the United States Supreme Court. In voting with the majority to pass her nomination out of committee, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham deferred to what he regarded as President Obama's ability to choose…
Suppose there existed in your family an inheritance of treasured possessions which defined who you were, celebrated what you stood for, featured the many and varied gifts and talents of your forebears, and was the envy of every other family. How would you try to protect that? Would you, for…
Susie and I watched the Paul Giamatti film, Cold Souls, last night. This is a powerful meditation on a subject not friendly to our materialistic age: What is the soul? In the film Giamatti plays himself, but he is struggling, because of personal angst, to master a part in a…
This was a weekend of endings, or near endings. It appears that BP will just about end the gusher in the Gulf by placing a new, 75-ton cap on the persistent well. Spain won the World Cup, 1-0, over The Netherlands. The barefoot burglar came to his end in the…
LeBron James, who for seven years has dazzled the NBA with his skills, yet without leading his Cleveland Cavaliers to an NBA title, will sign with the Miami Heat for probably a bazillion dollars.His motivation, as he put it, is to win multiple titles with his pals in Miami. One…
OK, now suppose you're the President of the United States. And suppose you're trying to make nice with the Muslim world so that maybe they would, you know, help turn off the spicket of new blood into the ranks of terrorism, or whatever. So suppose further that your tack includes,…
Yesterday for our home worship service, I preached a sermon by John Witherspoon, Presbyterian minister, President of Princeton, and the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence. He preached it May 17, 1776, and I thought his remarks - at a time of national division, economic downturn, and war…
It's ten years since the announcement of the mapping of the human genome, and, as humans are wont to do, many are taking the occasion to celebrate and reflect. At The Economist, their response is guarded, but giddy, and in the larger scheme of things, goofy (June 19th 2010).At last,…
The Biblical view of work teaches that all work has dignity when it is conducted as unto the Lord, with a view to pleasing and honoring Him and serving the needs of our neighbors. As Luther so eloquently put it, even the humblest milkmaid can work with dignity and joy,…
Governor Mike Huckabee is reported to have offered The New Yorker a comment about same-sex marriage that seems guaranteed to offend many readers. As Chris Wallace reported on Fox News last night, the Governor, given a hypothetical choice between having "a torrid affair" with either Nancy Pelosi or Helen Thomas…
Scientists are hot in pursuit of the secrets of life and how to create it. In the July 3, 2010 issue of Science News, Charles Petit reports on one such effort being conducted at the Harvard Medical School, where a team of scientists and graduate students are determined to create…
As I write, South Carolina Democratic Party leaders have gathered in a transparency-proof room in Columbia to decide what to do about the ignoramuses, as they see it, who are registered as voters in their party.South Carolina Democrats, apparently without threats, bribes, or subterfuge of any kind, nominated one Mr.…
There's that terrific line in a song of Professor Higgins, when he is describing the expert linguist who thinks he can expose the fraud of Liza Doolittle at her coming-out ball - only to fall flat on his face: "Oozing charm from every pore, he oiled his way around the…
As President Obama's approval ratings continue to decline, Democratic lawmakers continue to turn a deaf ear to the concerns of the nation, and Republicans enjoy the favor of the Tea Party movement, many are hoping that the mid-term elections this fall will mark a watershed and turning-point for the country.They…