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Weekly Meanderings

Weekly Meanderings

Last updated on: December 4, 2010 at 11:17 am by Scot McKnight

Weekly Meanderings 2010-12-04T11:17:09-06:00 Scot McKnight

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Here come the winter snows!

Gerald Hiestand compares Tom Wright and John Calvin, and finds more in common than some think.

Dave Dunbar looks at Democrats and Republicans and … suggests we call a political fast on war talk.

I’m not only a clueless rookie with Jim, I’m not even a rookie. I’m a minor leaguer. And thanks to Jim Martin’s FB update: A student article from Lipscomb University that deals with the Christian-Muslim issue on campus.

A wise post by pastor Allan with experience behind him. Another wise post by pastor Rob with experience behind him.

Justin Topp, science and the gender gap.
Derek on the Joseph narrative as indicative of the need for Israel to bless the nations.

Veritas Riff, a promising new venture in interviews with young public intellectuals.

Google Books marches on: “Google is ready to crack the cover of its electronic bookstore. As the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, it plans to open its Google Editions site by the end of this month. This will be an outgrowth of its Google Books project, which allows visitors to browse and preview titles. But where the Mountain View, Calif., firm’s existing service points would-be buyers to such stores as Amazon, Google Editions will allow them to buy and read an e-book without leaving that site. They’ll also be able to download copies to computers and unspecified e-reader devices for offline reading.”

A great post (and reminder) from Ireland — Patrick.

And another one by Mark Roberts, on advent and the meaning of Waiting.

Church people don’t tell the truth: ANN ARBOR, Mich.—A new University of Michigan study finds that Americans are much more likely to exaggerate their attendance at religious services than are people in many other countries. Americans have long been viewed as exceptionally religious compared to other nations in the developed world,” said Philip Brenner, a research fellow at the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR) and the author of the study. “But this study suggests that American religiosity may be exceptional not in terms of actual behavior, but rather in terms of identity. In the U.S., and to a lesser extent in Canada, the gap between what we say and what we do is substantial, and has been so for the last several decades.

If you like sports writers, here’s Joe Posnanski’s blog. If you like tweeting, or don’t like tweeting, read what Skye Jethani’s posting about tweeting. Part 2.

Good news about Africa rising.

Aksel and his trains:

Meanderings in the News

1. The silly socialist sideswipe by Colbert King: “True, Obama followed Bush with a larger and more job-sustaining stimulus and spending packages of his own. And Obama signed into law a health-reform bill that will dramatically alter health-care financing and extend health insurance to 30 million uninsured Americans. It’s amazing, however, how the right-wing collectives fail to apply the socialist label to conservatives Bush and Cheney, the two Republican leaders most responsible for leading the country in the direction of socialism, where Palin said “we are headed.” Of course, Palin et al are wrong on history and substance. Averting the collapse of the financial and auto industries – and the U.S. economy – served the country’s best interests. The federal presence in both industries is now being ratcheted down. Bush and Obama were right to act as they did. It’s the singling out and demagoguing of Obama that’s wrong and disgusting.”

2. Julie Gunlock is after the CSPI again: “Increasingly, government is trying to find ways to control the eating habits of Americans, using tactics that range from restrictions on the use of particular ingredients — such as salt, sugar, and certain types of oil — to dictates on how food manufacturers and retailers can market their products to consumers. These efforts are unlikely to succeed, but if they do, they will represent a disturbing increase in government’s interference in our lives. It’s a fine thing for the CSPI to try to inform the public of the health consequences of a consistently unhealthy diet. But its efforts should stop there: It’s none of the CSPI’s — or the government’s — business if someone wants 2,000 calories’ worth of cake for his birthday.”

3. A dying banker’s wisdom on investments.

4. Hess and Petrilli, back-handed compliments for Arne Duncan: “To be sure, Duncan has control over almost none of this. Still, this is classic bully-pulpit stuff, and we expect it will resonate in state capitols all over the country. When the unions start busing in kids, parents, and teachers to rally against increases in class size or pay freezes, expect a lot of Republican governors to start quoting their good friend Arne Duncan.”

5. If you are looking for political books, check out Weigel’s list.

6. Jonah Goldberg volleys back on the triangulation spat he’s having with Frank Rich: “Forget whether Obama is too ideologically rigid to move to the center. I think he’s too arrogant to admit he was wrong about anything significant. That constrains his options for how to triangulate. He’ll point fingers at Pelosi and the congressional Dems (and since he outsourced his domestic policy to them, he’s got ample ammo), but he won’t admit blame save for weaselly stuff like “I underestimated how evil the Republicans are.” That’s a big liability when you’re trying to convince voters you’ve learned the right lessons from the midterms. The one area where I think Obama has an advantage over Clinton is that he’s less vulnerable to a primary challenge. The white left will not take responsibility for destroying the reelection chances of the first black president. That’s gives Obama some wiggle room if he knows how to use it. So yeah, Obama will “triangulate” in some way, but I still don’t think it will do the trick.”

7. DSM says “No More” to Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

8. Peter Grier at CSM on the intent of Julian Assange: “But WikiLeaks itself may be turning into just the sort of opaque entity it criticizes. Its hierarchy is unknown, its funders are unclear, and its plans are unverifiable. It reserves the right to decide whether it is in the public interest to disclose the information it obtains (as do many mainstream media outlets). Those who feel victimized by its actions – such as, say, Afghans who work with the US and didn’t want their names known to the Taliban – don’t get to argue the case for continued secrecy before damage is done. For these and other reasons, Steven Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists, argues that WikiLeaks is more than anything an assault on the concept of secrecy itself. All secrecy, in any form.”

9. Here comes the Borg.

10. The value of WikiLeaks by Jack Shafer: “International scandals—such as the one precipitated by this week’s WikiLeaks cable dump—serve us by illustrating how our governments work. Better than any civics textbook, revisionist history, political speech, bumper sticker, or five-part investigative series, an international scandal unmasks presidents and kings, military commanders and buck privates, cabinet secretaries and diplomats, corporate leaders and bankers, and arms-makers and arms-merchants as the bunglers, liars, and double-dealers they are.”

And: “Information conduits like Julian Assange shock us out of that complacency. Oh, sure, he’s a pompous egomaniac sporting a series of bad haircuts and grandiose tendencies. And he often acts without completely thinking through every repercussion of his actions. But if you want to dismiss him just because he’s a seething jerk, there are about 2,000 journalists I’d like you to meet.”

Meanderings in Sports

University mascots and logos may be off limits for high schools.

The end of the coin toss?

Good-bye Ron Santo!

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