You have heard of Sargent York and Audie Murphy, but how many have heard of Sargent David Rubitsky? Probably very few. But you should have. His feats would make York or Murphy blush in comparison. (more…)
In the little bet we have going, my colleague perhaps shows his youth by pitting Hillary against (any x such that x is not Hillary). Considering the scope that x can range over, this seems like a pretty good bet for me to have taken, even if Hillary were the lead horse. I don’t know whom our rulers have chosen to be the next President, but just the raw odds made it too hard to turn down. And yes, I’ll take mine medium, at the Main Street Cafe please. (more…)
Beautifully filmed statement of the key events in the life of Martin Luther. It seems to include the same main facts as Roland Bainton’s great biography, with the exception of ignoring the role of the knights; but liberties are taken with the details, and an episode with a suicide is, so far as I can ascertain, completely made up (though for an acceptable thematic purpose). (more…)
Hitchcock remade this play a couple decades later in the better-know version starring Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day. (more…)
Utilitarianism is famous for its many flaws (e.g. committing the naturalistic fallacy, positing a simplistic psychological theory, failing to come to terms with ethical distinctions). All these, and more, have been dealt with extensively elsewhere. Here I merely wish to show that if one of J. S. Mill’s arguments succeeds, then Utilitarianism fails. (more…)
Kane, a powerful newspaper magnate, dies. The news team fans out to get a story on his last word, “Rosebud.” This leads to a series of interviews with various associates, through which the entire story of his life is told from several perspectives. The upshot is that he was a man that came into great wealth, and tried to buy the love of the proletariat and women by starting progressive newspapers and opera houses; but he died (more…)
Two statements are often heard, to justify ongoing massive immigration. One hears them spoken by everyone from talking heads to politicians to folks chatting at backyard barbecues. They are meant to “end the argument.” But I submit, they are not valid. (more…)
To set the stage for a fuller discussion of immigration, I want to start by asking, what is an illegal immigrant?
Ponder for a moment: at what point does immigration become illegal? Say a man is standing just south of the border, and someone tells him, “we have a law that says, only American citizens are permitted on this land.” (more…)
This is a one-hour version of Ian Fleming’s first Bond novel, done in 1954. The characters actually make sense; Bond’s sarcasm is haughty yet brave, and nested in a context that makes it enjoyable. Peter Lorre is right in his element as the bad guy. (more…)
Another holocaust film, this one a heavily fictionalized story of SS officer Kurt Gerstein. Gerstein is portrayed as an officer in charge of pesticides and hygiene, who in 1942 gets pressed into service supporting human extermination facilities in Poland. He is horrified, and tries to slow down the system by various artifices, even while remaining at his post for the entire three years of the war that remained. He tries to notify the world via a discussion with a Swedish bureaucrat that he bumps into on a train ride, and also by visiting Roman Catholic and Protestant officials. (more…)
In reply to somebody who posed a reasonable question about 9-11 “conspiracy theories,” a blogger made the following comments.
“Not to mince words, I deem the 9-11 conspiracy theorists — both Far Left and Right — uninformed, ridiculous, dangerous, and sinful. . . But they have overstepped the bounds of reason and Scripture when they publicly declare that the Bush Administration had previous knowledge of or, worse yet, was in collusion with the 9-11 terrorists.” (more…)
This article by Gresham Machen is must-read; as timely today as it was in 1936. I have seen almost all these same tricks used at every level, including congregational meetings.
There is nothing more wicked than cloaking power-religion with the form of godliness.
The return from Lutheran bare orthodoxy to inward change, known as Pietism, was begun by Jakob Spener, though anticipated in the earlier writings of Johann Arndt. It grew wings, however, as a result of the life of August Hermann Francke (1663-1727), and transformed the city of Halle in remarkable ways. This is a brief rehearsal of this amazing story. (more…)
This is not an “important” film, but it is very funny, and funny movies are so rare that I will try to mention them whenever I find one. Also, it is less than an hour and a half, which is also desirable. (more…)
German Der Blaue Engel; directed by Josef von Sternberg, it was the first major German sound movie.
Emil Jannings is a professor at the Gymnasium (advanced high school) whose pupils are becoming more and more unruly; he catches them with some girly pictures from the local cabaret, the Blue Angel. Something tweaks his interest, (more…)
Ben Kingsley plays a former Colonel in the Iranian Army who with wife, son, and daughter flees to America when the Shah is deposed. A “great man, who interacted with kings and queens” is reduced to laboring on road crews and selling candy to teenagers. But he sees a great opportunity to buy a house for a song when it goes on the block at a Sheriff’s auction.
Jennifer Connelly is a recovering alcoholic who owned the house before falling delinquent on taxes. It turns out, the taxes were almost certainly assessed in error, but by the time she seeks legal relief, the house is already sold.
Willy-nilly, these two parties become antagonists, and we can understand the point of view of each perfectly. (more…)