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A weekly review of culture, politics, and religion.

Culture

The 10 Most Bizarre People on Earth. (HT: Kottke)

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Context-Less Quote of the Week: "They defecate on you, on purpose, hoping to make you reconsider what you're doing. It's not pleasant."

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What does it mean to live on a dollar a day?

1. "The average person living at under $1 a day does not seem to put every available penny into buying more calories...Food typically represents from 56 to 78% [of household spending]."
2. "The poor generally do not complain about their health - but then they do not complain about life in general. While the poor certainly feel poor, their levels of self-reported happiness or health are not particularly low."
3. Spending on festivals - religious ceremonies, funerals and weddings - is high. In Udaipur, median spending on these by people living on $1 a day was 10% of income.
4. In several countries, the extremely poor spend about 5% of income on alcohol and tobacco.
5. In the Ivory Coast, 14% of people on $1 a day have a TV - and 45% of those on $2 a day have one.

(HT: Marginal Revolution)

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Politics

In keeping with their national objective to surrender to every nation on earth, the French are pulling out of Afghanistan. (HT: SmartChristian)

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A weekly review of culture, politics, and religion.

Note: Although the CPR Report will remain an ongoing series, the Outtakes section has migrated to the right sidebar. Clicking on the title of each entry will take you to the Outtakes sub-blog which provides an additional comment section.

Culture

Twenty-year-old actress Lindsay Lohan is going to AA yet no one is going to court. Shouldn’t someone be receiving a fine for selling alcohol to an underage girl? The last time I checked, the legal drinking age is 21 and stiff fines are the penalty for selling alcohol to minors. So then why are actors and other young celebrities allowed to frequent bars and nightclubs?

Earlier this year TMZ.com released a video showing Lohan and other underage stars at Mood, one of the “hottest clubs in Hollywood.” Records showed that California's Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control had never cited the club despite its notoriety as an establishment that serverd minors. As one club owner told TMZ, "Authorities know that there are underage celebrities inside drinking and if they don't care, why should we?"

What is truly scandalous about this news is that we don’t consider this news to be scandalous. We have become so numb to violations of the law that I feel almost silly noting that authorities in California ignore their own statutes. Indeed, it’s like pointing out that some people are in this country illegally and that law enforcement turns a blind eye. (In fact, in our bizzaro world it’s considered newsworthy when Mass. Governor Mitt Romney announced a policy that would allow would allow state police to arrest illegal immigrants.)

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Politics

On their radio address last week the Democrats let liberal “evangelical” Jim Wallis give their weekly radio address even though he claims that he is not “speaking for the Democratic Party.” Incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said he chose Wallis to give the address, usually reserved for politicians, "in the spirit of bipartisanship." Apparently, Reid believes the two opposing partisan camps in America are Democrats and Socialists.

I have to admit, though, that letting a poseur like Wallis give the radio address has brought liberals and conservatives together in agreement on at least one issue. As liberal blogger pastordan says, “If you're going to be political, be political, for goshsake. Don't try to make out that you're somehow above the fray.” (HT: RedBlueChristian)

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My friend David Koyzis has written an intriguing article for the Canadian magazine Comment called “Living with Liberalism: six strategies for faithfulness.” David--who I consider to be one of the most astute political philosophers of our time—has a useful clarification of what defines liberalism:

“[L]iberalism as an ideology is based on the assumption that all communities are fundamentally voluntary associations whose tasks are determined, not by the nature of the communities themselves, but by the wills of the individuals making them up. This means that in theory, at least, there are no intrinsic differences between family, marriage, school, business enterprise, labour union, church and state, all of which are reducible to the whims of their members. If the local bird watchers' society is voluntary, with members coming and going at will, why shouldn't marriage or the state be the same? Liberals have undertaken to extend this voluntary principle as widely as possible throughout society.”

I also wholeheartedly endorse his suggestions for "living in exile":

A weekly review of culture, politics, and religion. Culture

Harvard University, realizing that its students were enamored by strange phenomena known as "religion", is considering introducing “faith and reason” courses as a required part of the curriculum. Rob Vischer isn't sure the school is up to the task: "If Harvard can find professors who can lead students to an understanding of the faith-reason dynamics from within a tradition, great. But as a young, believing Christian (or Muslim or Jew), I'm not sure how I'd feel about having my tradition poked and prodded like an animal in the zoo."

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This Zogby Poll should have tobacco farmers and libertarians reaching for the smelling salts: 45 percent of respondents would support federal legislation making cigarettes illegal in five to ten years.

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Students taking ECON 201 at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro are getting credit for playing a computer game about space aliens landing on earth (watch the trailer). I don't doubt the usefulness of such simulations (I've learned a great deal from playing Civilization and Sim City) but is this really the best way for college students to learn?

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Dan Morgan has a thought experiment on abortion: "Imagine it is 100 years from now. By then it will surely be possible for babies to go from conception to birth without being inside of a woman. Imagine a high-tech, well-lit tank where every day you and your spouse can go to a hospital to look at your developing baby in his or her artificial womb...."

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Politics

So after two years in the U.S. Senate, Barack Obama thinks its time to make his move on the White House. Can anyone name a single achievement (other than getting elected) that Obama is known for? Yeah, me neither.

What does it say about the Democratic Party that the two leading contenders for the presidential nomination are two first term Senators with lackluster resumes? At least Obama has a great speaking voice. What does Hillary's claim to fame other than being married to a former President?

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When approached about whether tax increases across the income spectrum would be considered, Rep. Charlie Rangel responded, "No question about it." You have to give the Dems credit for his honesty. They used to just promise to tax the rich. Now, they admit that they'll be taxing everyone.

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Religion

A weekly review of culture, politics, and religion.

Culture

In its battle to win the hearts and minds of recruiting-age Americans, the Army is replacing its "An Army of One" ad slogan. Their choice for their new slogan is a revealing example of the cultural differences between the U.S. Army and the U.S. Marine Corps. The Corps, which has a preference for tradition and dignity, retains the world's oldest and most respected advertising agency, J. Walter Thompson, who came up with the slogan, "The Few. The Proud. The Marines." The Army, which prefers things huge and green, apparently hired the Incredible Hulk, who came up with "Army Strong."

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In 1960, psychiatrist Thomas Szasz wrote "The Myth of Mental Illness" in which he claimed that calling afflictions such as schizophrenia an "illness" was just a use of "medical metaphor" and has no scientific basis. "If you talk to God, you are praying," wrote Szasz. " If God talks to you, you have schizophrenia." Many psychiatrists found this view to be, well, crazy. That view, however, appears to be changing:

Mental health experts called on Monday for the term schizophrenia to be dropped, saying it has no scientific validity, is imprecise and stigmatizing. "It is a harmful concept," said Professor Marius Romme, a visiting professor of social psychiatry at the University of Central England in Birmingham.

He added that symptoms such as delusions, hearing voices and hallucinations are not the results of the illness but may be reactions to traumatic and troubling events in life. Speaking at a news conference, Richard Bentall, a professor of clinical psychology at the University of Manchester, said the concept of schizophrenia is scientifically meaningless.

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The ladies over at my sister blog, Intellectuelle, are opening their ranks to new members. Speaking of which, one of their guest bloggers, Sarah Flashing, will be speaking this Friday at the Rochester Institute of Technology on the topic "Why Do Christians Oppose a Woman's Right to Choose?"

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Politics

Quote of the week: Hunter Baker on Christian author Donald Miller:

A weekly review of culture, politics, and religion.

Culture

Chris Spurgeon reports on an intriguing work of art on display in London:

There's an astonishing art installation right now in London, called Bridge. Michael Cross took a former church and flooded it with water. Sunk beneath the water, a series of stepping stones. Stand at the water's edge and the first stone rises up out of the depths. Step on that first stone, and the next stone slowly surfaces, one step ahead. Step forward again, and another stone rises up in front of you, while the stone behind sinks away again. It takes 30 steps to make it out to the middle of the lake within the church, another 30 steps to go back the way you came.

(HT: kottke.org)

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Economist Steven Levitt ponders a question that I've always wondered about: Why there is so much fear about medical privacy? As he points out, "no one else cares about your hemorrhoids" and "we don't need to worry about this private information being made public because nobody has any incentive to make it public":

Let me give a parallel example. I think most people would be embarrassed if the contents of their trash was printed as the headline of the local newspaper. Yet, almost everyone is content to leave their trash out in the alley for anyone who wants to pick through. It turns out that neither reporters nor neighbors are interested enough in the contents to make a habit out of going through trash.

So let me pose the question another way: why do people think that absent stringent rules there would be such demand for access to their medical records when there is no demand for looking through other people's garbage?

Any ideas?

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Politics

Steve Dilliard has a quote that sums up my feelings about the upcoming election: "It's not so much that I pull for Republicans to win, as it is that I receive intense joy whenever the dems lose."

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Any Boston area bloggers want to attend FRC's upcoming Liberty Sunday event? Drop me an email if you're interested.

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If the Mark Foley scandal had occurred in most places in America, the story would be about a perverse sexual proclivity of a would-be pedophile. In other words, it would be about sex. But the scandal occurred in D.C., the one part of the country where sex is considered less interesting than politics. The only question of importance for the Republicans leadership that covered it up, for the House Democrats who wanted to use it to their advantage , and for the 16 year-old pages who were being harassed yet kept quiet about the incidents was "How does this affect my political career?”

Andrew Sullivan, for whom all politics is sexual politics, has a slightly different take on the incident. He thinks the problem with Foley isn't that he's a creepy old dude but that he's in the closet:

A weekly review of culture, politics, and religion.

Culture

Amy Laura Hall, one of my favorite evangelical ethicists, gives a suberb answer to the question, "How can followers of Christ be a counterculture for the common good?" Her answer is a challenge to change the way we currently treat unwed mothers and their children:

"We could do so by advocating for and working within alternative high schools where pregnant girls may continue their education. We could work for maternity leave and flexible schedules at all levels of education and enterprise, especially at institutions overtly committed to Christian witness. To be a people committed to the incalculable gift of life may mean myriad commitments that interrupt our plans for our own families. It may mean that a young couple without children find themselves babysitting a child not their blood kin several evenings a week, rather than watching their favorite science fiction series on DVD. A single man may find himself fixing a young single mother's clogged sink on a lunch break or building her toddler a swing set during a holiday weekend. For many mothers and fathers, it may mean adapting their entire life and career to care daily for an unexpected grandchild. And by my own political reckoning, witnessing for the common good not only means hands-on local action, but also advocating for systematic acts of mercy through a matrix of services to offer single mothers a safety net of care."

(HT: Dawn Eden)

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First, they went after the small-town retailers. Now Wal-Mart is trying to put the Mom-and-Pop pharmaceutical companies out of business. Have they no shame?

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Edward Feser has a brilliant article explaining why conspiracy theories exist. Even if you could care less about that topic, Feser's piece is worth reading for the examination of how the "standard Enlightenment narrative" undermines authority.

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Politics

Death and Taxes is an amazing representational graph of the federal discretionary budget, the amount of money that is spent at the discretion of our elected representatives. It's stunningly complex yet makes it possible to do some quick comparisons (e.g., more money is spent on NASA than on pay for military enlisted personnel). (HT: BoingBoing)

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Princeton professor Robert George -- one of the smartest men in America -- explains he cannot support the Democratic Party:

A weekly review of culture, politics, and religion.

A recent Logitech study revealed that people, on average, have six applications open on their computer at any one time and spin their mouse�s scroll wheel approximately 26 feet in an eight-hour day.

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Tonia from Intent has taken on a "30 Day" challenge in which her �family will buy nothing except our basic necessities� with the goal to �break the grip of materialism in our hearts and minds.� My first reaction was to roll my eyes at seeing another well-intentioned navel-gazing gesture. And it appears I wasn�t alone. Several people have added criticisms (what the blogosphere does best!) to which she has graciously responded.

�I'm not trying to solve world hunger with this fast,� she notes. �I'm trying to let God change ME.� I can respect such an answer, which is more than I can say for her readers who say they would join her �but September is not a good month.� Yes, Lord, I�ll give up materialism � but it�ll have to wait until after the Back to School shopping is done!

Rather than mock another Christian�s honest efforts, I want to offer my own �30 Day� challenge. Eating rice and sitting in the dark might be good for my own soul but it doesn�t do much for my fellow man. So I�ve decided to set aside $2 a day and loan it to a struggling entrepreneur. You might think two bucks a day, sixty dollars for the month, is nothing. You�re absolutely right. It is well beneath my monetary threshold that allows me to feel that I have actually done something generous. That�s kinda the point � it�s not about me.

I�ll be providing the money to Kiva, a website that lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. Kiva allows you the ability to "sponsor a business" and help the world's working poor help themselves become economically independent. Right now my money is going to Sy Tha Prom, a Cambodian man who drives a passenger taxi cart (tuk tuk). He�s applying for a loan for $1,000 in order to purchase another tuk tuk, so that his son-in-law may join him in the business. Prom earns about $12.50 a day.

I hope you�ll join me. Prom only needs $25 more to get his loan but there are many others who can use our help. It�s a small gesture and it probably won�t help you break the grip of materialism. But it will help out a third world entrepreneur � and allow you to add �international financier� to your resume.

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Politics

Speaking of international finance, would you be willing to pay $1,075 so that 26,783,383 Iraqis would be free from tyranny and allowed to choose their own government? I would.

A weekly review of culture, politics, and religion.

Culture

What do you call a dog with no legs? Doesn't matter, it won't come anyway. What do you call a dog with only two legs...?

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According to a new study, hot dogs may cause genetic mutations. Since such mutations are what moves species up the evolutionary ladder, can we expect Takeru Kobayashi to become the world's first X-Man?

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By the numbers: 15 websites that changed the world, 25 greatest PCs of all time, and 50 coolest websites.

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Politics

White House spokesman Tony Snow said that President Bush recently read Albert Camus' The Stranger while vacationing on his ranch. I spent thirty minutes trying to imagine why someone who had the ability to influence the Leader of the Free World's reading list would suggest an outdated and boring book by a depressed Frenchman. I couldn't come up with an answer. I hope Dubya fires the pretentious poseur who made the inane recommendation and replaces them with someone who could have told him just to listen to The Cure's "Killing an Arab" instead. (HT: Southern Appeal)

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Michael Barone, a senior writer for U.S.News & World Report, is one of the most astute political observers in America. So it difficult to imagine what caused him to entertain the notion that a McCain-Lieberman ticket in 2008 would be tenable much less that they "would probably win easily." McCain is (rightly) despised by conservatives and Lieberman, an incumbent Senator, can't even win his own state primary to keep his job. McCain couldn't win the Republican nomination if his running mate were William F. Buckley, Jr.; having a running mate who is liberal on every issue except the war on terror would only seal his status as a pariah.

Barone seems to be playing a favorite parlor games among political pundits: Pretend the Religious Right Doesn't Exist (PTRRDE). If you PTRRDE then it is possible that a pro-abortion Democrat could conceivably be on the GOP ticket. If you PTRRDE then the Senator from Arizona's disdain for "theo-cons" doesn't hurt his chances of winning his party's nomination. If you PTRRDE then it's plausible that two semi-popular Senators could get elected based on nothing more than the fact that they aren't a complete morons on foreign policy. But, alas, the Religious Right Does Exist. And as long as the GOP panders to this constituency, a McCain-Liberman ticket will remain nothing more that a silly Beltway fantasy. (Remember that--and be grateful--the next time you hear about the influence of the Religious Right.)

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A weekly review of culture, politics, and religion.

Culture

When the 9/11 Commission Report was released it was hailed as a "piece of literature" and nominated for the National Book Award. Now comic book veterans Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon have collaborated to produce "The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation."

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Some people want to change the world, while others just want to change Beyonce's music videos. An online petititon--which has already garnered over 2400 signatures--is asking Columbia Records to reshoot Beyonce Knowles' video for her single "Deja Vu." Some of the reasons for the proposed change include: "The sexual themes and shots between Ms. Knowles and Mr. Sean Carter PKA Jay-Z, are alarming and show unacceptable interactions between the two" and "The fashion in this video, while haute-couture, is unbelievable and ridiculous." (HT: YPulse)

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Before there were the Backstreet Boys, before N'Sync, (but after there were the Monkees) there was Menudo. The Latin pop group is like a strange hybrid of Logan's Run and Dawn of the Dead -- when the band members advance past puberty they enter the Spanish equivalent of the Carrousel, never to be heard from again, yet the band lives on, with a new crop of zombies singers to take the place of the lost members. Auditions are underway to fill the latest incarnation of the band. But shouldn�t we ask where all the other lost boys have gone? Aside from Ricky Martin, have any of these guys ever been heard from again?

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Politics

"Their offspring flood our city's shelters and greatly contribute to overcrowding and higher euthanasia rates. Only by joining resources together can a problem of this magnitude be brought under control."

That's usually not what you expect to find on a government website. But then The New York City Feral Cat Council sounds more like a name you'd read about in the pages of McSweeney's than listed on a government directory.

That a "Feral Cat Council" is needed to control the "colonies" of feral creatures shows that NYC is a very strange place. But it also shows that as the largest cities in the world take on nation-state level economies (if NYC were a country its economy would be 17th largest in the world) the need for subsidiarity becomes even more prevalent.

Subsidiarity is the principle which states that matters ought to be handled by the smallest or the lowest competent authority. But the conservative/liberal divide is often demarcated at the federal/state level. Neither group appears to have much use for lower tier government. But this is the level of living in which we are often most affected by government services.

Granted it's at least marginally more impressive to have the title Undersecretary of the Interior than Chairman of the Feral Cat Council. But the need for creative thinking and sound leadership is as essential to city governance as it is at the federal level. Why then don't conservatives take the lead in promoting true subsidiarity? Have we become so infected with the anarcho-libertarian ideal of the night watchman state that we think the only good (local) government is a minimalist (and ineffective) government? If so, then I fear that someday we may find that since we abandoned local solutions we'll have to call in the National Guard to quell the roaming colonies of feral cats.

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A weekly review of culture, politics, and religion.

Culture

Will the rise of DVRs, like TiVo, make network programming obsolete? "Newer TiVo boxes can connect directly to the internet. Since they are internet enabled, they can download internet content. Combine that with the hard-drive and on-demand abilities, and Tivo is now a television network. Maybe even the television network."

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RightWingTrash is a new blog dedicated to "celebrating conservative thought in film, music, literature, and other lowlife pursuits." The content so far tends to be heavy on 70's pop culture, including a review of Black Sunday ("Black Sunday�both the film and the equally fine �75 novel�isn�t afraid to have a Mossad agent bending the rules and defying our government just to defend a sporting event that isn�t even soccer.") and Marvel Comics answer to blaxsploitation, Luke Cage. The site contains some mild profanity and PG-13 themes but the one thing that I found truly offensive was finding that David Hasselhoff played the starring role in "Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." (John Schroeder and Bill Wallo are probably reaching for the smelling salts right now.)* Fortunately, the "movie still remains unavailable on any video format."

*I've always liked the Nick Fury character though I've come to prefer the Samuel L. Jackson-inspired revision in Marvel's "The Ulitimates." I also liked Powerman (aka Luke Cage) and Iron Fist, the Crockett and Tubbs of superheroes.

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I have four sure-fire predictions for the upcoming television season: Lost will be confusing, Veronica Mars will be criminally underrated, Jack Bauer will be torturing suspected terrorists, and the guy who thought up this advertising campaign will be fired:

In September, CBS plans to start using a new place to advertise its fall television lineup: your breakfast. The network plans to announce today that it will place laser imprints of its trademark eye insignia, as well as logos for some of its shows, on eggs � 35 million of them in September and October. CBS�s copywriters are referring to the medium as "egg-vertising," hinting at the wordplay they have in store. Some of their planned slogans: "CSI" ("Crack the Case on CBS"); "The Amazing Race" ("Scramble to Win on CBS"); and "Shark" ("Hard-Boiled Drama."). Variations on the ad for its Monday night lineup of comedy shows include "Shelling Out Laughs," "Funny Side Up" and �Leave the Yolks to Us.�

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Speaking of dumb advertising, Wal-Mart--which manages to achieve wild success while being terribly bland brand image--has rolled out a My Space-style social networking site, The Hub. Teens register to be "hubsters" (hipsters, hubsters, get it?) and are encouraged to "SCHOOL YOUR WAY" as in, "I'll school my way by looking hot in my Wal-Mart clothes to school to catch a cute boy's eye. ..." As Dave Barry would say, "I'm not making this up..." (HT: Ypulse)

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The long-awaited adaptation of Ayn Rand�s Atlas Shrugged may finally be nearing production. The rumors are that the movie will be made into a trilogy and that Angelina Jolie will play Dagny Taggart (a brilliant casting decision, in my opinion).

I never could make it all the way through that book, though I adored The Fountainhead. Like The Catcher in the Rye, Rand�s tale of uncompromising architect Howard Roark appealed to my adolescent egotism. Now I look back and think that Roark, like Holden Caufield, comes off as an obnoxious jerk. Which, come to think of it, is how most male teens are for most of puberty. (HT: In the Agora)

Politics

Planned Parenthood has a heading on their website titled �Terrorists and Extremist Organizations.� If you�re expecting to see a list that includes the KKK, Al Qaeda, Hamas, or Black September, then you obviously don�t know PP. So who do they consider �terrorists and extremists�? Focus on the Family, Family Research Council, Americans United for Life, Feminists for Life, etc.

I�m a bit surprised they didn�t just go with the reductio ad Hitlerum, but then Adolph was only pro-choice when Aryans weren�t involved so maybe that isn't really fitting. Still, its rather ironic that a group responsible for the deaths of millions of human beings has the audacity to call groups �terrorists and extremists� simply because they oppose the destruction of members of our own species. (HT: Go Pundit Go)

Culture

  I have a single standard for judging a person's credentials as a grammarian: their view of split infinitives. If the person has the audacity to boldly proclaim split infinitives a form of standard English, they pass the test. If they turn up their nose at those who split their infinitives, then I know that the critic is an imbecile, a poseur, or, more likely, a high school English teacher. But as Eugene Volkh notes, "The origin of the anti-split sentiment seems to be that in Latin infinitives just can't be split. But English isn't Latin." No it ain't. Get thee behind me Latinates! (HT: Parableman)

  According to Netscape the ten most popular passwords are: 123, password, liverpool, letmein (i.e., let me in!), 123456, qwerty, charlie, monkey, arsenal (a popular soccer team in England), and thomas. (HT: I should give credit to Maverick Philosopher but it would be embarrassing to link to one of the best philosophy blogs on such an insubstantial post.)

  "Ask A Ninja" sounds like the title of a lame, five-minutes-to-midnight SNL skit. But it turns out to be one of the funniest podcasts on the web. With over 20 short episodes to choose from I'd recommend starting with three of my favorites: ""Ninternships", "Roger", and the animated version, "Ninja and the Matrix".

Politics

   Mary Katharine Ham writes, "When I gaze upon the stable of possible candidates for the Republican presidential nomination come 2008, I usually sigh. Not in a swooning kind of way, but in that ho-hum, blow-your-bangs-out-of-your-eyes kind of way." Even the bangless among us are heaving a deep sigh at the lackluster choices heading into 2008: McCain? A short-tempered flake. Guilliani? A liberal dictator. And Allen/Brownback/Hagel/Huckabee/Tancredo, each of whom are also known as "Whosethatguy?" Too obscure to get excited about in 2006. That leaves "the wild card�Mr. Speaker himself, the original lefty-abhorred architect" -- Newt Gingrich.

Normally I wouldn't get too excited over Gingrich as a presidential candidate. But Newt is wicked smart. After eight years of lefties whining about the alleged stupidity of George W. Bush, I'd love to see what would happen if they got a load of a real Republican intellectual.

  Political junkies will want to bookmark Congressional Quarterly's CQPolitics.com, a site for breaking election coverage, that includes insider updates, maps and a scorecard for key races.

  James Joyner on the strange judicial ruling that might put Tom DeLay back in Congress: "It strikes me as quite bizarre that a candidate who has withdrawn from a House race on grounds that he is moving out of the state, has in fact moved to another state hundreds of miles away, and declared that he has no intention of residing in the state in question by election day would nonetheless be deemed a �potential inhabitant� and thus declared�against his will, mind you�eligible." In most states such a ruling would be "quite bizarre." But this is Texas we're talking about, where two independent gubernatorial candidates lobbied to have their names listed, respectively, as "Kinky" and "Grandma." (Kinky made it but Grams is out of luck.)

Religion

  I have a serious theological question for my fellow Southern Baptists: Is it acceptable to use grape soda and Wonder bread for communion? If not, then what is the standard we use? I've taken communion hundreds of times in dozens of Baptist churches and the Lord's Supper has always consisted of Welch's grape juice and a piece of a saltine cracker. I realize that we aren't Catholics or Lutherans or any of those other groups that believes that the sacrament, er, ordinance, is something other than symbolic. But how far removed can the signifier be from the signified before it loses all meaning?

  Last Friday I asked why there were so few blogs devoted to devotional writing. In response, Doug from Light of Men decided to compile a list of devotional blogs. If you have such a blog or know of one, drop by and add the URL to his comment section.

  Come for the review, stay for the lesson in rhetoric. That would be an apt teaser for John Mark Reynolds post on Bart D. Ehrman new book "Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why." Reynolds doensn't review the book as much as he review the author, and in the process provides a useful outline on how scholars can create soundbites.

  In the "interest of full disclosure" fake-news journalist Stephen Colbert of "The Colbert Report" tells what he belives about religion by reciting the entire Nicene Creed. (Watching the clip you get the sense that the audience has no clue that he's reciting an actual orthodox statement of faith.) But he admits that "we aren't celebrating the One True Religion tonight, we are celebrating all religions" and includes a funny scene where his stagehand says he's a Unitarian. The explanation of what Unitarians believe (though you could substitute "Unitarian" for just about any mainline denomination nowadays) and Colbert's befuddled reaction is priceless . (HT: The Anchoress)