The Living and the Dead

Dr David Holford has linked to an article from Hot Air about Christianity rebounding in Europe and in his adopted country of Sweden in particular. Most of it is not happening in the Church of Sweden. Why?

Hedvig Eleonara [parish church] has three full-time salaried priests and gets over $2 million each year though a state levy. Annika Sandström, head of its governing board, says she doesn’t believe in God and took the post “on the one condition that no one expects me to go each Sunday.”

The Politics of Sin

We tend to think of Republican administrations as being more beneficial for big business. This is not always the case. There is at least one industry that wants Hillary in the White House.

Making Sense of It All

I’ve been waiting to see a newspaper front pages that doesn’t have a picture of, or story about, Madeleine McCann.

In The Times, David Aaronovitch finally says the sensible things no one else will say.

What Fred Said

With regard to the Virginia Tech massacre, we have an oppotunity to find out WWFTD.

Thank to wytammic at Sunflower Desert for reproducing a National Review article by future president Fred Thompson.

I just checked CafePress and it appears that all the WWFTD merchandise is gone. Anyone know what’s happened? I so wanted to get one of those mugs.

Duke, Knoxville, and Justice

The Duke rape hoax scandal has barely been mentioned by the media here. I knew about it from the Internet before I went to the States, where it was big news. It became even bigger news when it was finally brought out in the open that District Attorney Michael B. Nifong had committed crimes worthy of disbarrment and prison to use the case for political ends.

I will add my voice to those who think he should be strung up for intentionally destroying the lives of those students. Their accuser, Crystal Gail Mangum, ought to be awfully glad that Deuteronomy 19:16-19 isn’t the law of the land, even though it would be justly applied in this case. It should equally apply to Mr Nifong. (Any anti-theonomists are invited to dispute this.) A profile of Ms Mangum is available from The American Daily.

With an audacity usually reserved to British Labour Party politicians, Nifong refuses to resign in these circumstances.

I have to give a H/T to the Grit, who made me aware of the gruesome killings of Channon Christian and Chris Newsom, which by contrast made no news outside of the Knoxville area because the story involved the wrong racial balance between perpetrator and victim. The Conservative Voice article to which he links further exposes the bias evident in the MSM, and particularly that useless pretentious rag, The New York Times.

I’d support a theonomic response in the Knoxville case as well.

End of Days

As noted by the Daily Telegraph, Tony Blair’s days as Prime Minister are at an end. As much as I’m sure he hoped to go out on top, it appears that he is rather floating away in a dinghy as the ship of state sinks.

The upcoming local elections will likely be the final nail in his polical coffin. I don’t view them with quite the dire ramification of the Brit. The Scottish Nationalist are likely to win a plurality up north. Breaking up is hard to do, but sometimes it’s for the best.

We probably won’t have Scottish prime minster of England while Scotland goes independent under the Scottish Nationalists. If the SNP gain control of Holyrood they won’t get a referendum together until 2010.  Gordon Brown has to call a General Election to be held by April 29 of that year, though it could come as early as 2009. That’s when the Tony Blair clone, David Cameron will probably get into Number 10.

I don’t think the Tories will do that much better than Labour. They have a virtually identical fiscally moderate capitalist/socialist blend with a liberal social policy accepting of anything and without moral constraint.

Royal Hatred

Fred Phelps is always there to give Christians a bad name. The latest focus of his hatred is the King of Sweden.

Fred never ceases to amaze.

Just Born That Way

The feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys is one of the most famous in American history. Many legends surround it. You can’t really call them urban legends, as they emanate from one of the most rural parts of the country.

The feud resulted in at least a dozen deaths. Most people are responsible for their actions. The McCoys, however, may be a exception. It appears now that they couldn’t help their hair-trigger rage and violent outbursts. Many McCoy descendants suffer from Von Hippel-Lindau disease.

The Associated Press has the full story.

Open Wide

When we complain about the quality of dental care in the UK, it is not without reason.

At least Alan Hutchinson has been struck off.

As was noted in the determination issued by the General Dental Council, “You urinated into a sink in your surgery following which you did not wash your hands and then proceeded to treat a patient. This behaviour was clearly inappropriate and is completely unacceptable.”

Doing the Math

Over at Mere Comments, Dr Anthony Esolen has posited a multi-level puzzle concerning the nature of infinity.

Many of the responding comments are as enlightening as the puzzle itself as they discuss the theological/philosophical nature of mathematics.

The rest of you may already be familiar with it, but I laughed out loud at one joke I found in the comments:

One day Rene Descartes entered a cafe and sat at a table. The waitress approached and said, “Would you like some coffee, Monsieur Descartes?”
“yes, I would” he replied.
“And some cream with that, Monsieur Descartes?”
“Yes, I would.”
“And some sugar, Monsieur Descartes?”
“I think not” he said, and disappeared.

Perhaps I’m just easily amused.

Dawkins Disintegrated

Richard Dawkins is a clear example of why people should stick to their areas of expertise.

He uses his credentials as a biologist to give the perception that he somehow has credibility as a philosopher. Those who don’t know better – and that sadly includes a huge segment of the British book-buying public – are suckered by his specious arguments against the existence of God.

Dr Alvin Plantinga specialises in Epistemology, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Religion at the University of Notre Dame. In other words, he’s a real philosopher. In the latest edition of Books and Culture, he takes Dawkins apart.

H/T: The Violent Munkee

Rescued

It wasn’t exactly Baby Jessica, but Henry the hamster was stuck at the bottom of pipe four feet long and four inches wide. The RSPCA couldn’t get him out. It took two council workers and a low-tech solution.

It reminded me a bit of Humphrey, the hamster we had before the children came along. I killed him by dropping a fridge on him, but he was resurrected and lived out his days in peace. Well, until the cancer got him. I had nothing to do with that.

If the state of the world has you down, it’s time for a feel-good story in the news.

The Great Hope of the GOP

If Fred Thompson runs for President, I might move back to the States just to campaign for him.

Oh, and step aside Chuck Norris. The facts are in about Fred Thompson.

H/T: Provoking the Muse

The Plot to Bring Down the Internet

It appears that al-Qaeda aren’t happy with just suicide bombing. Now they want to take away my broadband.

The full story is in The Sunday Times.

Other Voices

With the usual Sunday dip in viewer and not a lot to say, I thought thought I might pass on a few good reads.

American Thinker has a couple of good articles on offer.

Steven M. Warshawsky, a Jewish agnostic responds to the atheist libertarians in the Republican Party who are unhappy with the Christian Right. He discusses the importance of America’s Christian heritage.

Bob Weir looks at Senator John Cornyn’s response to war protesters and the place they have in a free society.

H/T to Bud Simmons

The Sacred in the Profane

Jeff Wofford has an excellent blog piece about how some of the naughty bits have been taken out of Bible translations and how they have lost the impact of the original language. He ties this to a loss of impact when we try to tidy up Christianity generally.

The £830,000 Mistake

This was a rental car. I hope he bought the Collision Damage Waiver.

Rev. Al the Eco-Messiah

Mark Steyn is always funny and always on the money. I do believe he’s outdone himself with today’s brilliant column on just how deep Al Gore’s hypocrisy runs. I almost fell out of my chair.

H/T: a commenter at The Hairy Beast

Won’t Be Told

I have the Decalogue on a poster at the front of my classroom. Occasionally kids will read it aloud just to be distracted form their work.  Sadly, even though it is in an easy English version, they often have trouble with some of the words.  Not surprisingly, the usual have no idea what they term “adultery” means, though they are familiar with the terms “steal” and “murder”. Many of them think it is quite funny that Jews and Christians think God tries to tell people what to do (or not to do, as the case may be).

Though set within an American context, with reference to the ACLU, Michael Medved has some interesting (though sometimes obvious) insights on “Why liberals are right to hate the Ten Commandments“.

H/T: Orthodoxy Today

Good Walls Make Bad Neighbours

If there’s anything more entertaining than a will dispute, it’s a disagreement over a property line.

A Snow of Devotion

Some shrines last the test of time. Others are more transient.

In the latter category is Our Lady of Lampeter. It’s no Walsingham or Lourdes, but it’s definitely worth a click.

Uncharitable Secularism

In a country with an Established Church, you would think that faith-based charities would get an easy ride. Unfortunately, anti-Christianity is much more established than the Established Church and certainly has more adherents, especially in Government, the Civil Service, and local bureaucracy.

In today’s Telegraph, Charles Moore looks at the impact this is having on Christian charities.

No Longer Going Mad

I was browsing the blog of my cousin-in-law and I came across this, relating an awareness experience of cultural change.

Way Too Seriously

Well, it’s a good thing I’m not Catholic and particularly popular in the blogosphere. Jimmy Akin and Touchstone senior editor Leon Podles have generated a lot of heat (though not much light beyond the glow of their own intellects) for their support of the execution of Saddam. I wouldn’t be able to keep up with all the comments.

I’ve tried just reading through them and I find them all blending in together. Both seem to have attracted at least one raving lunatic cyber-stalking to respond immediately to all comers. Again, my commenters, fewer though they may be, appear sane most of the time.

The Original Language of Western Orthodoxy

With the growing warmth between East and West, perhaps it is time for all Orthodox living in historically Western lands to brush up on Latin.

Though not blogged for this purpose, Jimmy Akin recently provided a helpful list of Handy Latin Phrases.

Read All About It

While reading the story in the Chicago Tribune about the plight of the Patriarchate in Constantinople (H/T to Elizabeth), I saw a link to story out of Los Angeles about a woman suing Kraft Foods for fraud because Kraft Dips Guacamole don’t contain enough avocado.

Free registration is required to read either story, but it’s worth it.

Misrepresentation

The staple sausage in our house is the Welsh Dragon. It is quite spicy and delicious. But who would have suspected? There’s not an ounce of dragon meat in it. Well, I tell you, it is good thing the bureaucrats at Trading Standards are on the job. Their investigation revealed that despite this misrepresentation, the only meat in them is pork.

You think I’m joking. Here’s the article from The Times yesterday:

A SPICY sausage known as the Welsh Dragon will have to be renamed after trading standards’ officers warned the manufacturers that they could face prosecution because it does not contain dragon.

The sausages will now have to be labelled Welsh Dragon Pork Sausages to avoid any confusion among customers.

Jon Carthew, 45, who makes the sausages, said yesterday that he had not received any complaints about the absence of real dragon meat. He said: “I don’t think any of our customers believe that we use dragon meat in our sausages. We use the word because the dragon is synonymous with Wales.”

His company, the Black Mountains Smokery at Crickhowell, in Powys, turns out 200,000 sausages a year, including the Welsh Dragon, which is made with chili, leak and pork. A Powys County Council spokesman said: “The product was not sufficiently precise to inform a purchaser of the true nature of the food.”

Round-up

Elizabeth has started posting a round-up of blog articles of noteworthy Orthodox interest. She plans to post this on a fortnightly, or possibly weekly, basis.