Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
Well, it's not quite down to my pastor's favourite mantra, but it's close: We are number 1 right? USA! USA! No one can beat our wealth creation machine, our economic dynamism, our level playing field and our bastions of higher education. We have a middle class that is the envy of the world, right? Well, …
Continue reading "The American Middle Class: Broke, Busted and Disgusted"
Forty years ago this past summer, this country was riveted by the hearings of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, better known as the Watergate Hearings. Although they did not directly lead to Richard Nixon's exit from office, they were an important step in that process. I've discussed Watergate many times on …
Continue reading "Forty Years Out, Watergate Still Matters–and Gets Repeated"
Yes, he's coming to the epicentre of the bitter people with their Bibles and guns after all: President Obama plans a visit to Chattanooga next week. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said he will visit the Amazon fulfilment centre at the Enterprise South Industrial Park on Tuesday. He said President Obama will give the …
Continue reading "Barack Obama's Strange Visit to Chattanooga"
It is to pitch officiating civil marriages altogether, as the Sikhs in the UK are being advised: Sikh temples have been advised to halt all civil marriage ceremonies on their premises to protect them from possible legal challenges for refusing to conduct same-sex weddings. It is the first example of a religious group altering its …
Continue reading "The Most Sensible Response of the Churches to Same-Sex Civil Marriage"
It would make sense that a Reformed person such as Steven Wedgeworth would pan an article on the revival of "high church". After all, who else to trash "high church" but the people who pitched the liturgy to start with? It would move the debate forward if a definition of "high church" would be agreed …
Continue reading "High Church is One Thing, but Trashing the Nautilus is a Mistake"
Mark Five SJ-4272 Although I am not positive, I think this is their first album as Southern Joy, having been known before as the Cavaliers Quartet. From Greenville, SC, this album (probably from the early 1970's) is a solid Southern Gospel album, probably no worse (and in some cases better) than more widely known groups …
About time: Former president Jimmy Carter condemned the effect U.S. intelligence programs had on U.S. moral authority in the wake of NSA revelations brought to light by leaker Edward Snowden, Der Spiegel reports. “America has no functioning democracy,” Carter said at a meeting of The Atlantic Bridge in Atlanta, Georgia on Tuesday. I've never been …
Mark Five SJ-4809 A very traditional Southern Gospel album. Although undated, I think it's from the early 1970's. One thing you immediately pick up on is the change in content of the songs; it's hard to imagine even a classic like the title track making much of a dent these days with our obsessive ego-pumping. …
Continue reading "Southern Joy Quartet with the Joyful Three: In the Valley"
There's a lot going on these days; the problem for me is that most of it either doesn't deserve comment or I've already done it before. The topic at hand falls into the latter category, but it probably deserves a little recap. Liberals like Mark Harris like to remind us from time to time that …
Continue reading "The Chickens Come Home to Roost for the Church of England"
The death of audio pioneer Amar Bose brings back the memory of something that was a passion of mine during the 1970's--audio equipment. (The legacy of that passion may be seen in my digitisation technique for some of the albums on my music pages). It may seem strange now but the quest for analogue perfection …
Positive Infinity 