First Word

A Marmoulian film, with magnificent visuals and effects.

In this movie Jekyll is pronounced with long e: Jeek’l. Supposedly this is the authentic way.

Differences from the Stevenson story may (more…)

This is the American Iliad: fascinating story, timeless characters, myth. Again and again, we find it applies to daily life.

It is a fictional story about Sicilian immigrants that form a “family.” A family in this sense begins with the literal nuclear family, moves out to the extended family, then reaches out to incorporate (more…)

For a long while, the Pledge of Allegiance has struck me as being wrong on several (more…)

In an interesting article about three 20th century Montgomery, Alabama women (Sara Mencken, Zelda Fitzgerald, and Tallulah Bankhead), Gail Jarvis explains one attribute of the Southern Belle: (more…)

The basic thesis will be that neither the definition of the basic unit, nor division by ten, is particularly scientific. Once stated, the truth of the thesis (more…)

Buster Keaton is a Confederate who tries to take back a train that has been stolen by the Yankees. This leads to all (more…)

Early silent. Typical of the “German Expressionism” and you soon see why: almost every set looks like (more…)

This was written by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1886 at age 35. It is a little book that can be read in an hour or two, and should be by everyone. It left such a powerful (more…)

Most of us know our own national anthem and possibly even Canada’s (“O Canada”). Like most familiar things, though, we often fail to reflect on the meaning of the words. But it is worth doing. For national anthems provide a picture into the heart (more…)

Annoying at first because of Rex Harrison’s continual irritability, this movie becomes (more…)

If y’all are gonna be bipartisan, then what was the argument for voting for you again?

A mysterious gunman (Clint Eastwood) arrives in the desert village of Lago. Truculent and peevish, the townsfolk nonetheless gravitate toward him, thinking a guy like him can rescue them from a trio of violent men that are going to be released that very day (more…)

A mob of horsemen destroys a mining camp, but doesn’t kill anyone. Turns out to be the LaHood gang, trying to make the miners “leave voluntarily.” In addition to the raids, when miners come into town, they get beaten up. But the LaHoods refrain from (more…)

The following article was part of the Minority Report of the Committee to Study the Framework Hypothesis for the Presbytery of Southern California of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, October 15-16, 1999. It is also found in Kenneth L. Gentry and Michael R. Butler, Yea Hath God Said: The Framework Hypothesis/Six-Day Creation Debate (Eugene Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2002). (more…)

Today is election day, the day all of us can take part in the great sacrament (more…)

Two aging brother-tycoons have opposite views on the nature/nurture debate. Randolph (Ralph Bellamy), the advocate of nurture, challenges Mortimer (Don Ameche) to a bet to prove his view. They will bring it about that their protégé Louis Winthorpe III (Dan Aykroyd) will be falsely accused of crimes and lose everything, to see if he doesn’t become a criminal; conversely, they will take jive-ass (more…)

We started by pointing out that the choice of D and R as such is a choice between shame and horror. We qualified that by admitting that there may be reasons in certain isolated cases to vote D or R; such as for a principled RINO like Ron Paul.

We pointed out that, both Parties being evil, the American genius for the last half-century has been to seek to bring about political stalemate in Washington. Today, that implies the need to vote against (more…)

Although Christian theologians have debated whether it is ever permissible to lie, there has always been universal assent to the proposition that God himself does not lie – at least until (more…)