why dave bergman is neat

if for nothing other than interest's sake, you should all check out the philosopher david stove. there is a link to an essay about him in the 'comments' section of the bertrand russell quote below. i'll try to get a hyperlink up to it soon. mostly because hyperlinks are SO COOL.

but right now i want to go to bed. you'll all be happy to know that i've recently replaced my flannel sheets with normal sheets.

it's much less sweaty.

hmmm...

no WAY!

slaves? for a minute i wasn't sure if the denver post was a real paper or something like the onion when i saw this headline. the 'critical thinking skills' this author speaks of could, ahem, be exercised somewhat more generously by the author himself.

a word from the pope.

'I am looking forward very much to getting back to Cambridge and being able to say what I think and not to mean what I say: two things which at home are impossible. Cambridge is one of the few places where one can talk unlimited nonsense and generalities without anyone pulling one up or confronting one with them when one says just the opposite the next day.'

(Bertrand Russell in 1893, as quoted in R. Kimball, 'Lives of the Mind')

'For at this time I had but one thought in my mind, and that was to tell one human soul of the misery of my life, that I was tempted by what I hated, to seize something that could bring no joy. I would have humbled myself before him, as I made the boy Dick humble himself. I would have told him every thought of my mind, I would have prayed to the Lord to give him some deep knowledge, so that he could find me a salvation, and make me clean and sweet and at peace, like my own brother Frans, like my friends, like young Vorster, like the young dominee himself.

And yet, though my need was so great, I never spoke. Was it pride that prevented me? Ah, that I do not know.

The Lion of the North! How little do men see, that a man so fresh and clean as he, should call me the Lion of the North!

Ah, was it pride that prevented me? Then to be proud, I destroyed them all!'

(Alan Paton, from 'Too Late the Phalarope')

george on jerry, in response to george's date's claim that jerry was 'dark and disturbed': 'dark and disturbed? his whole life revolves around superman and cereal.'

and see drudge right now for a hilarious picture of mr. dean-gore.

so i throw in john ford's 'fort apache' last night before going to sleep (on VHS), and before they actually started the movie, i had to listen to some suit tell me that, by today's standards, the movie's not 'politically correct' (his words). thanks, dude. it's nice that they (whoever 'they' are--probably turner home entertainment in this case, since they put out the video) tell you that BEFORE the movie starts. turner home entertainment wouldn't want your average ignorant viewer doing his own analysis and actually coming to his own conclusions without their unsolicited and undesired assistance. they've also obviously never consulted matthew, since they used the phrase 'native americans'.

barbara comstock, as quoted on NRO (presumably referring to his foaming at the mouth earlier today): "Al Gore is proving to be the most irrelevant, comically absurd former Vice President since Spiro Agnew. He is no longer a serious political figure."

agreed. though i'm not sure i ever would have called him 'a serious political figure'. but thank goodness he invented the internet, or else i probably never would have seen this quote.

this is probably the first time in like a decade that the tigers have had the same record as the braves. only 2 games below .500!

ok, i seriously wasn't kidding about the favorite bob dylan albums thing a couple weeks ago (or whenever it was)--any thoughts? i've been spinning 'the freewheelin' bob dylan' lately. it's still good, in case you were wondering. and after seeing the tom cruise/penelope cruz version of the album cover in 'vanilla sky', who could not want to listen to it?

i got john ford's 'fort apache' (with john wayne!) from the library today and am thinking of popping it in in a few minutes. why do i like john ford so much? i know matthew has a few answers for me.

also got to see two episodes of seinfeld tonight. there needs to be a network that plays only seinfeld, since there's really nothing else on tv that i want to watch, besides the PISTONS BEATING THE PACERS. looking forward to the seinfeld DVDs.

i've made the mistake of watching the national evening news several times in the past few weeks. sometimes i can't tell if they're any more for serious than seinfeld.

but i'll tell you one thing: i've been running and biking lately in a SLEEVELESS T-SHIRT and it is HOT.

and i'm not talking about temperature.

'Then I thought of Nella and the children, with sudden realisation as though I had just seen myself, in a blinding light that exposed me. If it shocked me to see myself, it shocked me no less to see my danger. It was like a kind of shadow of myself, that moved with me constantly, but always apart from me; I knew it was there, but I had known it so long that it did not trouble me, so long as it stayed apart. But when the mad sickness came on me, it would suddenly move nearer to me, and I knew it would strike me down if it could, and I did not care. It was only when the sickness had passed that I saw how terrible was by danger, and how terrible too my sickness, that when it was on me my wife and children could be struck down, and I would not care.

I was suddenly filled with love for them, and longed to see them again and to touch them, as soon as I could. I put on my cap and went hurrying down the kloof after the others.'

(Alan Paton, from 'Too Late the Phalarope')

tell me again why i should ascribe any moral authority at all to the UN? and why isn't this on the front page? do i hear any calls for kofi annan's resignation?

oh. i didn't think so.

update on broadcasting prayers in hamtramck.

interesting.

from jonathan h. adler on NRO: 'Not all Frenchmen like Michael Moore's latest. Legendary French filmaker [sic] Jean-Luc Goddard [sic] called Moore "halfway intelligent" and said Moore "doesn't know what he's doing" in his "documentary" film.'

here is a link to the article. (odd that godard hasn't actually seen the film.)

for some reason, the web address isn't working properly. if you managed to make it here, try (at least for the time being) typing the address as davebergman.blogspot.com (no 'www').

'For he spoke hard and bitter words to me, and shut the door of his soul on me, and I withdrew. But I should have hammered on it, I should have broken it down with my naked hands, I should have cried out there not ceasing, for behind it was a man in danger, the bravest and gentlest of them all. So I who came to save was made a supplicant; and because of the power he had over me, "I held", in the strange words of the English, "I held my peace".

Yet I should have cried out my knowledge at him, it might have saved him, it might have saved us all. Then may the Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon me, that I held the peace that was no peace at all.'

(Alan Paton, from 'Too Late the Phalarope')

i almost broke a toenail today.

thanks, matthew: i suppose a specific area of interest would be 'cowboys and (american) indians'.

by the way, i watched 'my darling clementine' and it was SWEET. the best doc holliday i've seen so far. i can't WAIT till they make a book out of it.

here is a link to an article brother deangelo linked to in the 'comments' section. the points from the emory professor seem especially apt. i've not read the new pagels book, but i've read other stuff of hers while i was working on a project a couple of years ago on the thomas tradition. anyway, well-worth a read.

on the topic of apologies, see here.

interesting

stupid.

notice the disproportion in that SOME of the students and MOST of the faculty gave a standing ovation. but at least the article includes a disgusting bit of preaching on 'role models' from a sociology 'professor'.

i saw the jealous sound and piebald last night. let me tell you--there was some MAJOR face-rocking going on. this band called the factor (from phoenix) also played (as did a local outfit called high and driving and a boston powerpoppunk trio called avoid one thing). highlights from their set include the fact that the lead singer was wearing an ac/dc t-shirt from 1988 and that they played a billy joel cover.

matthew: speaking of movies, can you recommend to me a good introductory book to the american west?

and by 'good', i don't mean 'revisionist'.

but i suppose that's a distinction without a difference, since all writing of history is really a process of revision, right?

aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i think i will now start watching john ford's 'my darling clementine'. i also got the henry fonda 'grapes of wrath', which is sort of like peter fonda, right matthew? pretty sweet that you chatted with him.

has anyone seen 'grapes of wrath'? if so, thoughts? i hear they made a book out of it.

but i'm sure the movie's better.

in other news, since dave has informed me about how to post links with the little underlined words that you can just click on, you shouldn't have to copy and paste links anymore.

lucky you!

i saw 'troy' tonight. in spite of the fact that brad pitt CAN'T ACT, it was still...

who am i kidding? it was still really bad, even if one makes some allowances. bad as in corny.

but: when hector tripped and fell during his duel with achilles, the woman next to me whispered, 'damn.' when achilles killed him, she said it louder.

the sweetest thing about the movie was the fact that they got axl rose's sister to do most of the soundtrack.

also from drudge: http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040520-115221-2362r.htm

see also this (also from drudge): http://www.suntimes.com/output/elect/cst-nws-vote21.html

by the way, if GWB is as 'ultra-conservative', as someone quoted in this article states, it would make no sense to accuse him of ordering the sexual humiliation of iraqi prisoners (i don't know if anyone HAS claimed that, but i wouldn't be surprised, despite how illogical it is).

i'm not attributing any sort of causal relationship here, but should we really be surprised that people commit weird and twisted atrocities abroad when this is the sort of thing we watch at home?

http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/21278.htm

of course, i think we should be shocked. but perhaps the shock that causes distress about events abroad should also cause distress about events at home, and it seems like it ought to be distressing to some of the same people.

i must make one more remark about john shelby spong's largely impenetrable remarks. the 'd.phil' he was so confused about means 'doctor of philosophy' (kind of like ph.d!). it is actually the highest research degree offered by oxford. not exactly the 'equivalent of a masters degree in the united states', even from one of his really really ridiculously good-looking academic institutions.

http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/gsp/courses/

http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/gsp/courses/dphil.shtml

mandatory reading:

http://nationalreview.com/rubin/rubin200405190844.asp

why is it not surprising that, at the festival de cannes, 4 of the 5 same-day screeings for michael moore's new 'film' were for the press, according to the l.a. times? i can't BELIEVE the press would be over-eager to see such a thing. well, i suppose they need to get their 'facts' somewhere.

shortly after reading the spong song, i was forced to think of him somewhat analogically with the young manichaean augustine (except that spong's case is one of a 'bishop' holding in contempt everyone who is not an academic and 'educated' according to his standards). not surprisingly, augustine, upon deeper reflection, despaired of the pseudo-smarts of the manichees. i quote, again, from chadwick's 'augustine' (p.14):

'During a full ten years, in teaching posts first at Carthage and then at Rome, Augustine remained associated with the Manichees. A combative critic of Catholic orthodoxy and conscious of his own intellectual superiority to memebers of the Church, whose bishops he held in contempt for their lack of education and critical inquiry, he converted many friends to share his Manichee beliefs....Mounting doubts came to beset him. Was Mani right when he asserted that the supremely good Light-power was weak and impotent in conflict with the Dark? How could one properly worship a deity so powerless and humiliated?...Growing disillusion with the sect reached a climax when he put his doubts before a teacher held in high regard by the Manichees, Faustus. He found the man's eloquence greater than his capacity for thought.'

this is from john shelby spong's Q&A. i'll leave it to dave to deconstruct most of this arrogant nonsense. i will, however, say that, as far as i am aware, the churches that are 'adapting to new knowledge' are precisely those that are 'dying', if the death of a church is measured by sharp decreases in attendance, etc.

Jim from Sacramento, USA asks:
"How can we keep the Church without having to keep all the doctrines, dogmas and creeds of the religious past? How can we encourage that minority of people who remain inside the Church's fundamentalist majority to stay there? How can we encourage the "Church Alumni Association" members to return, if what they have to come back to is the very thing that made them want to leave?"

Dear Jim,

You sound discouraged so let me try to give you hope. In the great centers of Christian scholarship, the things that I am talking about are commonplace. This does not mean that all academically qualified people will spend their careers challenging fundamentalist thinking; many of them will simply ignore it. It does mean, however, that some of them will and ultimately this will trickle down and will begin to show up in the training of local clergy. Please remember that for many people religion is not a search for truth but a search for security.
I am always amazed at how fundamentalists and evangelicals try to put an academic face on their rather poor evangelical education. They trot out their teachers and show off their Ph.D.s, even their Ph.D. from places like Oxford or Cambridge. What the gullible public does not know is that Oxford and Cambridge have evangelical theological colleges as part of the university complex and an Oxford or Cambridge Ph.D. from one of these theological colleges is not a sign that the holder has a Cambridge or Oxford Ph.D. so much as a degree from an evangelical college at Cambridge or Oxford. England also gives a lesser degree called a D.Phil that Americans do not quite know how to evaluate. It may be the equivalent of a Masters degree in the United States.

Beyond these suspect practices, there are degrees from evangelical schools like Bob Jones, Oral Roberts and Liberty Baptist that are worth something only to those who value the kind of education one receives in such a place. I remember seeing a teacher's contract at Liberty Baptist College that told the teacher what he or she could not teach, like evolution, for example. Denominational theological colleges or seminaries are also frequently under the purging control of headquarters so that scholarship is seriously diminished. Roman Catholic theologians are removed if they do not affirm the church's teaching. I remind you of what happened to Hans Kung or Charles Curran, These schools and the Church leaders who put pressure on them are infected with the idea that they both know the truth and possess it. This means you do not admit into your world anything that challenges your version of truth, which is the process through which a teacher becomes a propagandist rather than an educator.

But behind this facade of education, there is still a great deal of competent academic training that is available. Evangelicals and conservative Roman Catholics attack this as "liberal" scholarship and, by implication, suggest that they possess "conservative" scholarship. Once again that is self-serving propaganda. There is no such thing as conservative or liberal scholarship. There is only competent and incompetent scholarship. Competent scholarship may be interpreted in a liberal or conservative direction but the scholarship itself must be competent.

Once you recognize that you are not alone and that you are not crazy, you have other options. You can make noise in the local congregation. Ask for more than you are getting. Seek to start a study group that will look at books that are outside the box. There are many popular authors from whom to choose. When you speak up in your church you accomplish two things: you give your minister courage and you raise a flag that other people will salute. The crucial role in a congregation comes when a new minister is chosen. That is a vital assignment that you should seek, since that decision will shape your church for the next five to ten years. Look at where and under whom your prospective minister studied above all else.

If you cannot change your whole congregation, then work to change one part of it to make it more appealing to those who ask questions and seek new understanding. Start a Sunday class, a weekday study group, a Wednesday evening class, something that will announce to the alumni that this church is able to listen to new possibilities. People who have left the Church will hardly be attracted to come back to the same old thing that repelled them in the first place. They will come, however, if they hear new sounds coming out of that congregation.

The Church will either adapt to new knowledge or it will die. So don't be discouraged, be proactive. Lots of people hope you will.

-- John Shelby Spong

worth reading:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/19/opinion/19SAFI.html

on manichaeism; the last sentence, i think, is the most important:

'[Mani] explained evil as resulting from a primeval and still continuing cosmic conflict between Light and Dark, these terms being both symbol and physical reality. The forces of good and evil in the world have strengths and weaknesses such that neither side can vanquish the other. In consequence of the damage inflicted by the powers of Dark on the realm of Light, little fragments of God, or Soul, have become scattered throughout the world in all living things, including animals and plants. Melons and cucumbers were deemed to contain a particularly large ingredient of divinity, and were therefore prominent in the diet of Manichee Elect.'

(henry chadwick, 'augustine')

http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/24315.htm

some poor music critic had his feathers ruffled:

http://www.dmregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artikkel?SearchID=73171865709053&Avis=D2&Dato=20040517&Kategori=ENT04&Lopenr=405170310&Ref=AR

i didn't realize 'independent thinker' was a title one could affix to one's by-line. i wonder if that's what his degree is in. i think i would like to major in it. you have no idea how constraining it is to be a dependent thinker.

had the graduation action this weekend.

also, someone thought i looked like a woman.

sweet.

and speaking of meatloaf, does anyone else agree that he still ROCKS?

speaking of bob dylan, i think i just found the source for the tag-line of 'shelter from the storm' ('come in, she said, i'll give you shelter from the storm'). it is in pindar, isthmian 7, lines 37-39: 'but now poseidon has bestowed on me tranquillity from the storm'. who knew dylan read pindar?

http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson200405140838.asp

'imagine' just came on my classic rock radio.

man, i hate that song.

i heard that yesterday the boston globe printed fake photos of american soldiers raping someone. way to go, guys. keep up the good work as investigatory journalists.

so i came home tonight to have a classic rock/cleaning fest, and you know who the first artist i heard was (and i use the term 'artist' as a term loaded with literal meaning, with full authorial intent)? that's right. bob seger.

speaking of cleaning, a word to the wise. i would advise all those in the viewing audience NOT to leave the remains of something called 'mexican meatloaf' in a sealed tupperware container in your 90 degree and humid kitchen for a week. not a good idea.

now: go do the right thing.

did you know jay-z has a song called 'justify my thug'?

well, he does.

i think that i will retire to bed shortly. it was almost 90 degrees here today (that's on the farenheit scale for all of our european readers) and i still have flannel sheets on my bed. does that make any sense?

i didn't think so.

i saw something else that didn't really make any sense tonight. it was called the national evening news.

have i told you that my biceps have gotten HUGE since the last time most of you saw me?

well, they haven't.

two tough 1-run losses for the tigers the last couple days. boo. but the comeback happens tomorrow.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/12/opinion/12SAFI.html

'For tomorrow may rain
so I’ll follow the sun.'
--the beatles--

the tigers have won two out of their last three (with a 16-15 loss sandwiched in the middle--?!?), but are still a game below .500. but i see them putting together a little run here soon to get back on top.

is this really the best way to solve this problem?

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1212734,00.html

i've been obsessively listening to 'blood on the tracks' again, and it has thus rocketed back to the top of my list of dylan albums.

this is not meant to be a challenge to beauchamp and the ascendancy of 'nashville skyline'.

it would, however, make me overjoyed to the point of giggling if people would please post here their favorite dylan album(s), with at least one super cool reason why (see post below for one of mine).

sen. carl levin, along with mickey moore, is an embarrassment to the state of michigan. see here, for example: http://www.hughhewitt.com

it would be nice if some of the fine people from that state would get some more press. instead, we have these predictably asinine characters monopolizing michigan's media time, irrevocably causing me to recall that great dylan tune, 'idiot wind'. we can only hope that soon they'll drop into their respective puddles of irrelevance, in which they should have more than enough water to flounder for ages to come, if only they can close their mouths for long enough to keep them from filling with thunderstorm run-off and insects.

and the pistons lost, to boot.

i've heard that city speakers are being used to broadcast muslim prayers somewhere in the detroit area, possibly hamtramck, and one justification i heard was the analogy of church bells. deangelo, you got anything on this?

wow. surprise, surprise. michael moore's been making things up again: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=518901

i can't believe it! i totally missed matthew's post yesterday about bob's birthday. my sincere apologies. but i DID hear 'night moves' on my way home tonight, named rolling stones best single of the year for 1977. happy birthday, bob! and for an AWESOME sight about bob seger, check out www.segerfile.com.

'i awoke last night to the sound of thunder
how far off I sat and wondered
started humming a song from 1962
ain't it funny how the night moves
when you just don't seem to have as much to lose
strange how the night moves
with autumn closing in'

huh? thomas l. friedman in the NY times:

Mr. Bush needs to invite to Camp David the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, the heads of both NATO and the U.N., and the leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria. There, he needs to eat crow, apologize for his mistakes and make clear that he is turning a new page. Second, he needs to explain that we are losing in Iraq, and if we continue to lose the U.S. public will eventually demand that we quit Iraq, and it will then become Afghanistan-on-steroids, which will threaten everyone. Third, he needs to say he will be guided by the U.N. in forming the new caretaker government in Baghdad. And fourth, he needs to explain that he is ready to listen to everyone's ideas about how to expand our force in Iraq, and have it work under a new U.N. mandate, so it will have the legitimacy it needs to crush any uprisings against the interim Iraqi government and oversee elections — and then leave when appropriate. And he needs to urge them all to join in.

alright. hands down, the black album is one of the most solid rap albums i've ever heard. in my experience, there are usually a few really good tracks and several mediocre ones, along with a couple that are WAY to sexually explicit for my tastes (sorry, hipponax). but this one is pretty consistent the whole way through with some really good beats, and he sticks most of the time to fairly serious subject matter.

i mean, hey, he's no bob seger, but a poetic talent like that only comes along once every hundred years or so, and it would be unfair to fault s. carter for not coming of age in 1960s southeast michigan.

according to peter brown ('augustine of hippo', 108-9), the neoplatonist philosopher plotinus 'had once planned a "City of Philosophers" called Platonopolis'. yeah, that would have been great--a plato theme park. i picture it to be the ancient world's answer to dollyland. i realize that it is anachronistic and illogical to imagine the ancient world answering to anything from the modern world.

but i think dollyland's just that impressive.

and in the words of jay-z: if you say an eye for an eye, then we both lose our sight.

disney refuses to distribute michael moore's new 'film' in north america. read his response here: http://www.michaelmoore.com/

i don't know whether it's more laughable that he calls his work 'art' or that he calls it 'awesome'.

has anybody heard jay-z's black album? thoughts? i find it his most interesting work (that i've heard) to date.

walker percy, discussing the possibility of being able really to 'see' the grand canyon (from his essay 'the loss of the creature'):

How can the sightseer recover the Grand Canyon? He can recover it in any number of ways, all sharing in common the stratagem of avoiding the approved confrontation of the tour and the Park Service.

It may be recovered by leaving the beaten track. The tourist leaves the tour, camps in the back country. He arises before dawn and approaches the South Rim through a wild terrain where there are no trails and no railed-in lookout points. In other words, he sees the canyon by avoiding all the facilities for seeing the canyon. If the benevolent Park Service hears about this fellow and thinks he has a good idea and places the following notice in the Bright Angel Lodge: Consult ranger for information on getting off the beaten track--the end result will only be the closing of another access to the canyon.

i would like to move that the word ‘anthem’ be disallowed from the lyrics of any song even vaguely resembling punk rock. if you have to tell me in the text of your song that what you are singing is, in fact, an ‘anthem’, chances are good that your music and lyrics are not doing their job. i realize that if you’ve got three chords and a penchant for ‘counterculture’ you may feel like we need you to tell us explicitly what you’re up to. we don’t. we need to ROCK. so, by all means—have anthemic shout courses and i will scream along with you in my car. please just don’t give me cliffs notes in the middle of your song.

to call this 'deeply disturbing' would be in the running for the 'understatement of the year' award:

http://www.ds-osac.org/view.cfm?KEY=7E4251454656&type=2B170C1E0A3A0F162820

i was in west philly today and saw another sweet barbershop. it was called 'the just squad barber salon: a full service barber salon'. now, i don't know what services a 'full service barber salon' offers, but it sure sounds interesting. any speculations are welcome.