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14104. The Summer Woman - 3/12/2005 12:35:41 AM Thanks, Ms. No.
Boy, did I take a wrong turn. I thought I clicked on the Religion thread, but the first thing I saw was "Vibrator FAQS". 14105. Magoseph - 3/12/2005 12:35:44 AM Thanks, Summer--I thought that I spent all my life online lately, but I'll be there to see you. 14106. Magoseph - 3/12/2005 12:40:09 AM ... "Vibrator FAQS"? That's rather amazing. 14107. Ms. No - 3/12/2005 12:59:50 AM Ah, must've been in the Sex and Gender thread. We aims to please! 14108. Magoseph - 3/12/2005 1:02:19 AM I must have missed it--how could I, for heaven's sakes? 14109. Magoseph - 3/12/2005 1:12:59 AM I had a wonderful day watching my birthday's greetings pile up, eating white grapes, and reading my new book "Atonement" by Ian McEwan. I never made it to my son’s place this afternoon—it was too snowy and I certainly did not want him to take me out to dinner on a workday--we will celebrate Saturday instead. His birthday was yesterday, so we will exchange gifts then. 14110. Ms. No - 3/12/2005 1:24:41 AM Sounds like an excellent day.
I'm thrilled to find that a book I've been waiting months for has finally been released and is in stock at the local B&N and also that my local library branch has two of this same author's out of print titles that I've been hoping to find.
It's a gorgeous warm, sunny day here and likely to be repeated all weekend.
Now I'm just anxiously awaiting news of a first date that a friend is on right this minute. We'll be getting together tomorrow for lunch and a movie.
All very low-key stuff but I'm quite pleased with it all the same. Tomorrow night will be singing and hanging out and Sunday a trip north to see my brother and his family. I'm more in love with my newphews every time I see them. 14111. arkymalarky - 3/12/2005 2:52:46 AM Happy Birthday Mags! Hope you had a great day! 14112. Snowowl - 3/12/2005 8:17:25 AM and reading my new book "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
Let me know what you think of it. It came with excellent reviews but I was very disppointed in it. 14113. Magoseph - 3/12/2005 4:59:25 PM Thank you, Arky--I had a great day.
Snow, in the last issue of Vanity Fair, there’s a laudatory review of McEwan’s last book—it is rather long but here is a small excerpt of it: “His new book, Saturday, unfolds on the day of an anti-war protest in London. In an exclusive interview, the eminent novelist (Amsterdam, Atonement) reveals that he has been re-assessing the relationship of fiction to reality—and the weight of recent history."
The book depicts the time after 9/11. I really wanted to read “Amsterdam” which I understand is a better book, but my local library didn’t have it. I just wanted to have an idea about his writing, before I read “Saturday”. I’ll let you know, though, what I think of it. 14114. judithathome - 3/12/2005 8:35:36 PM Arky, are you going to be off on Friday? We are leaving rather early and will probably get there mid afternoon...is that okay? 14115. judithathome - 3/12/2005 8:36:17 PM If you're not there, we can always drop in on Jim. ;-) 14116. PelleNilsson - 3/12/2005 8:41:11 PM thoughtful
My health is fine. My problem is that for the last few months I have bitten off more that I can chew work- and studywise.
I have considered my postings of late and you are right. Improvement is needed.
Thank you for your thoughtful candour. I owe you. 14117. judithathome - 3/12/2005 8:47:13 PM Pelle, I am proud of you. Lately a lot of people on-line have become slightly "testy"...unlike you, they don't recognize that fact and blame the messenger.
I look on you as a distant uncle who knows me but isn't impressed when I act out and doesn't hesitate to let me know. Also, it's good when this uncle can see that his attitude might be influenced by the fact I once stole his favorite pipe and smoked pot in it. 14118. arkymalarky - 3/12/2005 9:50:56 PM If you're not there, we can always drop in on Jim. ;-)
Then it'd best be early in the day. Heh.
I may be at work, but I'll email you about getting in. If we're not home, it's no problem. I get home before four, especially on Fridays.
Pelle, you're too stoic. I whined about it all the time the whole time I was busy trying to keep our schools from closing. Hope things lighten up for you soon. 14119. PelleNilsson - 3/12/2005 10:16:03 PM So that's what you did with it, Judith? No wonder I felt so dizzy afterwards. You naughty, naugthy girl! 14120. judithathome - 3/13/2005 12:54:18 AM ;-) 14121. judithathome - 3/13/2005 5:14:29 PM Arky, Arky!!! I know you don't like Paul Greenberg but he has the most hysterical editorial in our paper today about the display of the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the Texas Capitol.
And not to brag, but my letter is one of three printed in the paper today on that very subject!
I would link to it by I'm blocked from the on-line edition this week. Maybe Mags or Robert can link to it later.... 14122. judithathome - 3/13/2005 5:19:30 PM Oh wow...I guess I CAN get in there!
Greenberg editorial
And here are the three letters:
Letters page 14123. Magoseph - 3/13/2005 6:33:36 PM The holy, the profane and the Texas Capitol
By Paul Greenberg
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Holy -- Hó ly --, a. 1. Set apart to the service or worship of God; hallowed; sacred; reserved from profane or common use; holy vessels; a holy priesthood. "Holy rites and solemn feasts." -- Milton.-- Webster's, 1913
Is that monument to the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the Texas Capitol unconstitutional? That is, does it represent an establishment of religion or interfere with the free exercise thereof in violation of the First Amendment?
The weaving course of church-state law being what it is, I wouldn't hazard a guess. But confused as they are, cases like this one before the U.S. Supreme Court can be a rich source of amusement for those who can keep their wits, and a sense of humor, about them -- even while discussing religion.
Today's highlight from the debate over the Big Ten comes from Greg Abbott, the Texas attorney general, who wrote a piece in defense of the monument explaining that it was just one of 17 different graven images on the Capitol grounds and therefore perfectly legal.
How's that again? Well, think of those Christmas displays with the manger scene squeezed in between Santa, his elves, Rudolph the Red-Nosed and a bunch of candy canes. All the trimmings are supposed to take the religion out of the religious centerpiece and make it constitutionally acceptable.
The theory is that if you just add enough doodads, the créche becomes part of an historical or cultural display rather than an endorsement of religion. In short, commit a profanation -- literally -- and the holy can be safely desanctified.
This monument in Austin -- a tribute to the Ten Commandments -- is supposed to be rendered acceptable by scattering 16 different others around it. Or at least that's what the state of Texas contends. The Ten Commandments then become just a kind of cultural, even archaeological, display to illustrate the origins of law.
Unlike the real statutes and ordinances of the state of Texas, explains its attorney general, the words of the Ten Commandments are not to be taken as actual law. As in I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing …
As Texas' attorney general assured all and sundry, "The reasonable observer is not likely to mistake these commands for official statements of Texas policy."
Who can argue with that?
To put the attorney general's position plain, just 'cause we put up the Ten Commandments doesn't mean we believe in 'em enough to endorse 'em. That is, the display on the Capitol grounds, to quote General Abbott, "does not constitute an endorsement of religion."
Some of us outside Texas always suspected as much about heathen Texas, but we wouldn't have dared say so before now. But now that we've got an attorney general's opinion on our side …
Whatever the Supreme Court rules in this case, the arguments being made before it demonstrate the most predictable result of mixing church and state:
Once the state lays its hands on a religious symbol, and chooses to use it for its own purposes, surrounding the holy with generous heapings of the profane, the Ten Commandments with other icons, the religious symbol is … well, no longer religious.
In this instance, the state of Texas has taken what is holy -- set apart for the worship of God -- and used it for a secular purpose. This display in Austin may or may not be constitutional, but it's certainly not reverent, even if it's meant to be. It's only tacky.
Strange, isn't it? When the state chooses to imitate, even replace, the church, nothing can seem so false. Or give rise to such empty contentiousness.
Yet when this nation respects the wall between church and state, between the holy and the profane, and limits government to its proper sphere, honoring the greatness to be found there, there is something sacred about the product of such restraint.
Consider:
ust a few blocks from the Supreme Court of the United States, where the demonstrators gathered outside the courtroom with their separate but equal signs and chants about the Ten Commandments, pro and con, there is a monument to perhaps the greatest of American presidents and spirits.
Is there anything holier in these still united States than the Lincoln Memorial at midnight, with the moonlight illuminating those familiar features?
"In this temple," the inscription above the seated Lincoln reads, "as in the hearts of the people for whom he saved the Union, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever." The immortal words of his Second Inaugural are carved into the granite there, as they are into American history, and American hearts.
Daniel Chester French's massive yet utterly human, fatherly Lincoln looks down with sorrow at the suffering he's seen, yet with malice toward none, with charity for all. And the visitor is overwhelmed with gratitude, even awe, at what God wrought and a nation endured.
Surely such a nation, a nation that could produce such a man, and such words, shall endure, even after it has entered history, or even archaeology. And perspective is restored in that temple of the spirit.
When we refuse to make a cheap show of faith, but together honor what is properly ours to honor, our faith shines, even and especially in the darkest night.
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