From not so far from where I live: A reader passed along an obituary this week for a man who died last month in Rome, Ga. Donald Unsworth was 78 — husband, father, grandfather, veteran, former police officer, safety director of the Floyd County Police Department and owner of both Rome Driver’s Training School and …
Sarah Palin Visits Palm Beach
It's about time: Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin - mother to Dancing with the Stars contestant Bristol “the Pistol” Palin - is scheduled to appear at a dinner gathering Wednesday at The Breakers. Several sources have confirmed that Palin will be there, but it’s all very hush, hush as to what group is bringing her …
Democrats Idea of Hope: Downgrading the Storm From Category 5 to 4
This is really "hope and change": Once-despondent Democrats now believe that they may be able to avert a total midterm wipeout, as several important states now appear to be trending in their direction or growing more competitive. The bad news: In a sign of how hostile the election environment remains for the party, the cautious …
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Book Review: Finding God’s Frequency
When I came back to the Chattanooga area from Dallas in the late 1970's, it was something of a culture shock, even though I had lived here before. (I recently met a young lady who was raised in the Dominican Republic and on Manhattan and came here, I can't imagine the culture shock for her!) …
Of Course They're Elitists! A Reply to Slate's Jacob Weisberg
I must weigh in on Jacob Weisberg's rather strange piece on Republicans using elitist as a pejorative term: Palin's definition says elitists are those who think they're better than other people—a category in which by Election Day, on the evidence of her autobiography, included many of the people working for her own campaign. Palin is …
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It Took a War to Free the Slaves
How soon we forget: "People are frustrated, their anxious, they're scared about the future. And they have a right to be impatient about the pace of change. I'm impatient," President Obama said at an event for Gen44. "It took time to free the slaves," he added. Barack Obama has forgotten a simple fact: in this …
Abu Daoud Writes the Pope
And let's hope His Holiness gets around to reading it: The first reform I suggest is regarding Holy Scripture. One of the most recurrent themes in conversion narratives of Muslims is the reading of the Bible. Yet how many hundreds of thousands of emigrants live throughout the West without access to the bible in their …
We Are Our Own Worst Enemy
From this fascinating analysis by Walter Russell Mead on China and the U.S.: Over the long term, what American policy makers need to remember (and what I fear too many have forgotten in both parties over the last couple of decades) is that America’s international standing and security ultimately depend on health of our domestic …
The Prosperity of the 1990's May Well Have Been Borrowed
Let's start with this statement about the "lost decade" of the 2000's: From 2000 through 2009, the Census Bureau found, the median income (measured in inflation-adjusted dollars) declined by 5 percent for white families, 8 percent for Hispanic families, and more than 11 percent for African-American families. That's almost unimaginable over an entire decade. From …
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Blessing the Animals, and Must the Rector Search Committee Have Its Own Chaplain?
I still don't get this: Two congregations will celebrate the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi with a blessing of the animals. The Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea invites pets and their owners to the celebration Oct. 3. The procession into the church will begin at 8:45 a.m., with the service starting at 9 a.m. Coffee …
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Positive Infinity 