A few weeks ago, I began blogging over at Threedonia, a site that seems like a good fit for me. We cover all the things that I’ve touched upon at Falling Awake, plus a healthy dose of pop culture.
I hope you’ll join me there.
Dennis Prager is the man. No. Dennis Prager is The Man. I watched every episode of his short-lived television show fifteen years ago. If you weren’t up at two in the morning, here’s how it worked:
Mr. Prager threw out a question. Something simple, like “should charity begin at home?” And then for an hour he’d talk and debate with a small (about twenty member) studio audience.
That’s it. That was the show. It was the most brilliant hour of television it’s ever been my honor to witness—and I watch Lost every week.
Dennis Prager is one of my idols. If I were to count only living people, it’d be Dennis Prager, Thomas Sowell, and… I can’t think of a third. Three is the traditional number, but I can’t dilute the Prager-Sowell dyad with a made-up third.
Okay? You with me?
Yesterday, Dennis Prager wrote this essay:
(Link: When a Priest Denies the Holocaust)
It deals with the issue of one of the four bishops ordained by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who have recently had their excommunications lifted by Pope Benedict. As you’ve probably heard, one of these bishops, Bishop Richard Williamson, has been exposed as a Holocaust denier.
Dennis Prager is Jewish. He is a religious Jew who has been tireless in his efforts to forge alliances between Catholics and Jews. He—understandably—feels betrayed.
He wrote:
Williamson is a truly bad man who disgraces the church. When one watches him spew his venom in the Swedish television interview while wearing a large cross, the cross is rendered ugly…
On the assumption that there [are] not only theological but also moral criteria to being reinstated in the Catholic Church, an excommunicated priest who denies the Holocaust should automatically remain excommunicated.
I urge you to click on the above link to read the entire article. Not only will you read the full text of Mr. Prager’s essay (which is not as harsh as the quotes I’ve posted make it seem), but you’ll also be able to read the first comment on the essay by “Vasya,” who got all the facts right, but missed the point of Mr. Prager’s article.
Assuming you’ve read both the article and Vasya’s response, here’s the comment I posted:
This is the first time I’ve been moved to comment on one of Mr. Prager’s pieces—mainly because “I agree with Dennis” would not make an interesting addition to the conversation.Vasya is correct about the particulars of the case, but I take issue with his characterization of Mr. Prager as irrational, or his essay as “poorly crafted, illogical drivel.” Mr. Prager is a religious Jew who seeks out every opportunity to strengthen the bonds between his people and the Catholic Church. That this scandal has outraged him doesn’t surprise me at all—I am Catholic, and I am outraged as well.
Mr. Prager, please believe that Pope Benedict is heartbroken over this turn of affairs, not least because there seems to be no way out of it. The bishops are no longer excommunicated. It is not possible to “take it back.” There is no basis for excommunicating this particular bishop on the basis of being a Holocaust denier. If excommunication were to be pronounced on everyone who was a sinner—no matter how vile—who would be left in the church?
Yesterday, it was announced that Bishop Williamson has been removed from his position as rector of the Argentinian seminary for the Society of St. Pius X. The Vatican has stated, “the four bishops, though liberated from the excommunication, have [no] canonical function in the Church and they do not licitly exercise a ministry in it.” In the case of Bishop Williamson, it should stay that way.
Why on earth did Dan Rooney thank President Obama upon being presented with the Vince Lombardi trophy?
Here’s a screen capture of my Newsgator feed aggregator from this morning. Check out the big headline and compare it to the small subhead.
In your dreams, AP!
[I posted this comment over at Threedonia and liked the last paragraph so much I'm using it here.
The AP story it references, entitled "Obama breaks from Bush, avoids divisive stands," is here.]
Remember when the AP reported facts?
[Obama] even halted a few times to ask for clarification from his White House counsel. That sort of deferral to someone else in a public setting and admission of a less-than-perfect command of the facts was never Bush’s style.
This could also be written this way:
President Obama halted a few times to ask for clarification from his White House counsel, demonstrating his unfamiliarity with his own executive orders.
Which wouldn’t be fair, either. Neither version is what we should expect from the AP.
And, of course, principled opposition from Republicans amounts to “griping,” while Obama remains “a picture of poise.”
The article’s main theme is how bipartisan Obama’s actions have been so far, while the only issues discussed are the closing of Guantanamo and the use of taxpayer funds to abort Mexicans. According to the AP, these actions are not divisive because they are unsuprising.
Even with the weight of the country’s troubles now on his shoulders, he was relaxed as he twirled his wife, Michelle, at celebratory balls.
The AP doesn’t divulge whose balls these were. (I’m guessing Ted Kennedy’s.) But that’s beside the point. Whoever the balls belonged to, the President should not have been twirling his wife at them.
Take a look at the comments on this piece at The New York Times’ blog, and try to deduce the type of reader the newspaper appeals to. Are they mainstream enough to support the massive newsgathering infrastructure of the Times?
The blog post was written about Reverend Rick Warren’s invocation at President Obama’s inauguration, and the reaction it drew around the blogosphere. The comments quickly turn to critiques of Warren’s invocation versus Reverend Benjamin Lowery’s benediction.
For the record, here’s what Lowery said:
Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around… when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen. Say Amen…
Forget the implication that white people, strictly because of their skin color, currently embrace evil. I can’t get past the line: ”When the red man can get ahead, man.” Red man / ahead, man? Is this a put-on? And no, despite what you might assume, this prayer was not written by Nipsy Russell.
Warren, on the other hand, said the Lord’s Prayer. (That’s the “Our Father” one.) It was written by Jesus Christ.
Now, try to guess which comments refer to which prayer:
Yeah, you guessed it. Those comments were all made about Reverend Warren.
Oh, and what did they think of Reverend Lowery’s divisive bit of venom?
Then, of course, there were those who were upset—no, appalled—that there was any prayer at the ceremony at all. After all, ubelievers are Americans, too.
Bear in mind that all these comments appeared on the first page—they’re all among the first 25 comments on the article. I didn’t have to cherry-pick from among the hundreds more that follow. Thank goodness; I didn’t have the stomach for it.
The question is, can a major newspaper depend so heavily upon a lunatic base—and survive?
[UPDATE 1/22/09: It has come to my attention that the text of Reverend Lowery's prayer I quoted above is incomplete. The ellipsis in the quote elides the phrase "when yellow can be mellow." I regret the error. I strive to be inclusive here, and of course believe that we should pray for all races, including the yellow ones.]
Of all the reports I get from WordPress, my favorite is the one that tells me what brought people here. What search terms did they enter that led them to this place?
A few weeks ago I saw that I had been visited by someone who searched the term “neuterfest.” That was a head-scratcher. So I googled the term myself and lo and behold, Falling Awake was on the first page of Google results. I clicked on my site and the mystery was solved.
And then it struck me. There are topics–and even people–who are searched for almost every day, and what I have to say about them is among the first voices heard on the internet. Of course, since this is the internet, there’s also a lot of nonsense about which I have the first say. Witness “neuterfest.”
Anyway, more for my amusement than yours, I’ve assembled this list of search terms (all of which have actually been used by people to find this place) that bring up Falling Awake on the first page of Google results, together with links to the original posts.
1. neuterfest – “Neuterfest Cancelled.” (I really didn’t know this was a word. I thought it was coined by “Arrested Development.”)
2. paul zachary myers blog – “Professor Paul Zachary Myers, Bigot.” (This is satisfying.)
3. professor paul zachary myers – ditto (ditto.)
4. hero timothy gittins – “The People Who Shape Our World – Heroes and Pioneers.” (Proud of this one.)
5. charles pinning - “A Veteran Replies to Charles Pinning“ & “Revisiting Charles Pinning.” A two-fer! (Not as proud of this one, as “Revisiting” explains.)
6. help the drunk get home – “Help the Drunk Get Home.” (Duh.)
7. command economy idiocy – “The idiocy of a command economy.” (Think I was preaching to the choir, here?)
8. brutally honest personality test – “Brutally Honest Personality Test.” (Duh.)
9. steve martin saddam hussein – “Steve Martin on Saddam Hussein.” (I still find it hard to see those two names juxtaposed.)
10. “often does hatred hurt itself” – “The Voice of Saruman.” (I’m now associated with Tolkien. Far out!)
11. analysis of sicko – “Good Analysis of ‘Sicko’ from an Unlikely Source.” (This one’s got legs. Almost every day someone searches for this.)
12. how should christians treat homeless – “How Should Christians Treat Beggars?” (This keeps me humble. God knows how many people have read this not-so-proud moment.)
13. my buddy died today – “My buddy died today.” (About my cat.)
And finally, the monster. The one search term that brings many times more visitors than all the others combined. The post to end all posts.
14. swimsuit issue – “Swimsuit Issue Is Out!”
Can you believe that? Google “swimsuit issue” and my site is on page one! Although no one ever, ever visits the actual post. Follow along with me! They google “swimsuit issue.” Go ahead, click that highlighted “google.” See the second picture? Click on it and you end up here. Right there is the secret of my success. Thousands of hits because of that one picture.
And they never read a single word I wrote. But can you blame them?
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Update: I’m now also among the first results when you google “Connecticut homosexual.” (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)
If you click on the “Dart League” button above you can keep current with the Social Lepers as we take the Stamford Dart League (Division B-2) by storm!
You can ooh and aah over my Excel-generated stats graphs if you like. I think they’re nifty!
It was inevitable, really.
That’s it. Game over. Obama is President.
I’d like you all to meditate on this:
“All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.” – Julian of Norwich.
That’s it. That’s it exactly. That’s why conservatives never threaten to move to another country if their guy loses. That’s why we stand up to the biggest bullies on the planet: faith.
“All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”
We’ll get through this.
Yes, President Obama will appoint Supreme Court justices who will happily preside over millions more abortions. He should be ashamed.
Yes, President Obama would sit idly by while Israel was wiped off the face of the Earth by Iran. He should be ashamed.
Yes, President Obama will deepen this recession into a depression by punitive taxation upon the engine of the economy. He should be ashamed.
All I can say to my Christian friends–and I’m sorry I can’t say this to my Jewish friends, too–is this: the battle’s won already. We won 2,000 years ago. We do the best we can here and now to carry out God’s will, but He knows it’s not always possible. If you did everything you could to prevent this catastrophe, God bless you.
All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.
Let them do their worst. The battle’s already won.
You’ve heard of the Zogby poll, right?
I’ll be at an event on December 3rd with the founder of the Zogby poll, John Zogby, where he’ll be signing his new book The Way We’ll Be
I’m hoping to be able to ask him one good question. What should it be?
I’ll be there in a professional capacity, so any question you submit needs to be respectful.
Any ideas?
