Some people think music a primitive art because it has only a few notes and rhythms. But it is only simple on the surface; its substance on the other hand, which makes it possible to interpret this manifest content, has all the infinite complexity that’s suggested in the external forms of other arts and that music conceals. (more…)
The book “Reformed” is Not Enough created quite a stir a few years back, inspiring (more…)
Ronald Reagan proposed the so-called zero-option for Europe. Roughly speaking (more…)
One of the embarrassments for the pro-Soviet leftists in America, including the bulk (more…)
Let us suppose that the following identity statement is true (more…)
Our announcer, Harry Kalas, keeled over dead at age 73 in the announcers’ (more…)
It stands to reason that the most vulgar new Christmas song to be heard (more…)
The American custom of tipping is like a dance that neither party really wishes (more…)
There is a lot of discussion in conservative circles of (more…)
After writing a response to a question under another post, (more…)
While only a few people will be interested in our philosophical podcasts, I hope many will give the operatic ones a try. Here, we discuss (more…)
In the documentary called Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, the droll Ben (more…)
At its national convention Saturday April 26 in Kansas City, the (more…)
There are basically two different models of conservatism (more…)
Today, April 5 at 1:30 on your affiliated NPR station; or (more…)
The plot and message of this movie can be summarized (more…)
Start boning up for next Saturday’s Met broadcast of Tristan (more…)
The Unanswered Question – Six Talks at Harvard by Leonard Bernstein (1976) is a series on music appreciation that Leonard Bernstein delivered (more…)
William F. Buckley has a place in the intellectual history of right- (more…)
This video documents some of the lies of Bush and his cronies.
If you don’t need convincing that Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld are all liars, send the link to the many Christians you know who think that they are all men of integrity.
Watch up to 4 minutes 15 seconds. The last part is not very good. Also a few Bush/Cheney-type vulgarities can be heard.
Guess which of the following are honored at Westminster Theological Seminary with a day off. You may select more than one of course. (Note: you may regard one of the selections as a joke.) (more…)
And now comes Rev Michael Eric Dyson to defend Martin Luther King’s plagiarism.
The facts can be summarized rather succinctly. (more…)
The greatest opera ever! (more…)
In a discussion with a co-worker last week, I discovered with shock that some people are still not aware of M. L. King’s chronic cheating: plagiarism in his literary production, and serial adultery and worse in his personal life. The burden of this post will be to examine the discussion of this facet of King’s life given by Rev. Michael Eric Dyson in a book summarized elsewhere. Page numbers in parentheses refer to that work. (more…)
Tune in to your NPR station at 1:30 today (Saturday 1/19/08).
Earlier, when discussing the (lack of) inherent advantage of the metric system, I promised a discussion of the alleged advantage of using a system built around multiples-of-10. (more…)
George Mitchell has finally issued his report on the use of “performance enhancing drugs†or PEDs in Major League Baseball (MLB). Predictably, this has set the nattering talking heads into a new buzz, some defending this or that of the accused, but most just tutt-tutting. It is hard to find anyone actually discussing the question, “what’s wrong with using PEDs?†So, like the Little Red Hen, but more importantly: in keeping with First Word’s mission, I will set out to do so. (more…)
There are a variety of topics in our current discourse, such as racial linguistic reference, and the question of the desirability of integration in church or state, to which our disputants often have a ready argument: “there will be no race in heaven; therefore we should operate as if that were the case now.” As will prove to be the case again and again, both the major and minor premises of modern truisms are generally dubious. Here I wish to analyze a premise that functions as the “minor” in that argument, and is taken as “obvious” even by intelligent people today. Namely, the idea that “there will be no race in heaven.” (more…)
Eliza asked for a practical discussion of agrarianism in connection with modern times and I would like to respond in a series of short very focussed posts rather than trying to cover everything at once. For starters, then, the question is: does Agrarianism mean we should cease and desist from shopping for the best buy? Should we necessarily pay more for hand-made items made locally? (more…)