Bush & the Redcoats

President Bush’s speech today in London was incredible. The President’s fearlessness amazes me. Such conviction is rare in the world today. Something I found particularly interesting were Bush’s opening remarks: Americans traveling to England always observe more similarities to our country than differences. I’ve been here only a short time, but I’ve noticed that the … Read more

Why Evangelicals Will Never Embrace Gay Marriage

Virginia Postrel is wrong. In response to today’s Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling that anti-homosexual marriage laws are unconstitutional, Postrel writes about the evangelical Protestant view on homosexual marriage: As I’ve said before, saying that homosexuality is wrong has increasingly become the defining public characteristic of evangelical Protestants. Publicly disapproving of gays separates them from popular … Read more

Culture Shock

Culture shock is an interesting phenomenon to me. I’ve dealt with it on a number of occasions in varying degrees. Jon & Shawna Cronan are dealing with it right now. They’re a couple of missionaries I’ve met who have just moved their family from Tennessee to Nepal (last week) and are now blogging about their … Read more

Breathing Room

Vols 59, Bulldogs 21 Tennessee finally earned a little breathing room today against Mississippi State with their first blowout of the season. It was a fun game to watch, and Tennessee’s offense was unstoppable, not that Mississippi State had anything to stop them. The funniest part about watching this game was when one of the … Read more

In Praise of McJobs

Merriam-Webster has the term “McJob” in the newest edition of their collegiate dictionary, which has caused McDonald’s, from whence the term is derived, to be slightly upset. The new dictionary defines a McJob as, “a low paying job that requires little skill and provides little opportunity for advancement.” McDonald’s is upset because they say that … Read more

Revolving Headline

World’s Oldest Person, 114, Dies in Japan A headline exactly like this shows up every couple of months. The oldest person in the world is naturally close to death, so I suppose that it’s excusable—it makes for a steady flow of news. Might I suggest the following headline, which would give the news agencies an … Read more

The Changing of the Wed

I’ve attended several weddings this year, and for the most part the ceremonies were well-done and thoughtful of the marriage which was about to take place. I have noticed though, both in weddings I’ve been to and in ones I’ve heard or read about, that a change seems to be taking place. Many weddings today … Read more

The Inventor of the Internet

Speaking to Middle Tennessee State students yesterday, Al Gore commented on the role of television in our democracy: “Our democracy is suffering in an age when the dominant medium is not accessible to the average person and does not lend itself most readily to the conveyance of complex ideas about self-governance,” Gore said. “Instead it … Read more

No Saruman in ROTK

Christopher Lee’s character Saruman won’t appear in the Return of The King when it comes out next month. Lee says that 7 minutes of his character’s role has been cut from the final film. This is quite strange, because it will leave few loose ends remaining for moviegoers. If you read the book, you know … Read more

Man vs. Machine

Garry Kasparov, the top-ranked chess player in the world, is playing a computer again. He tied the first game of the match—let’s hope for the sake of all humanity that he wins, else the machines overtake us. I have a hard enough time keeping up with those computer chess programs, much less an entire computer … Read more