"At a time when ... the President of the United States can be an actor who once sold shirt collars, all the cultural signs are pointing to more illusions in our lives rather than fewer." (419 ( Read more... )

FEATURES OF OUR STUDY ABROAD PROGRAM IN ENGLAND

* English-style tutorial instruction focused on essays instead of objective tests
* Instruction by highly qualified Ph.D.'s
* Broaden your horizon with English traditions like high tea and pederasty

Mike Huckabee: the Constitution Party-lite candidate ( Read more... )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_negro

Imagine a world where they didn't. Good behavior would always be requited with rewards, instantaneously, and bad behavior, conversely, would receive instant punishment. The universe would be like a giant Skinner box, with results constantly conditioning behavior towards the ideal and normative ( Read more... )

CHRSTVS EST NATVS!

Edgar Poe, "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt."
Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels (pay especial attention to Laputa and the Academy).
José Ortega y Gasset, The Revolt of the Masses.
Edmund Burke, "Reflections on The Revolution in France."
C. S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength.
Jacques Barzun, From Dawn to Decadence.

This book started out fairly promisingly, with some nods to ideological flexibility and even some illuminating facts about how the government sets up media monopolies ( Read more... )

Calvinism claims that election is unconditional and irresistable. No choice, and no merits of the one elected enter into the consideration. Ruling out merit or personal choice as an element of consideration, election must be either by arbitrary factors or by pure chance. The notion that God chooses the elect by arbitrary factors-red hair but not ( Read more... )

The God of dice is rolling
above the cross,
even as the soldiers roll below;
and which soldier shall join Christ
in paradise
is a matter of probability;
one in three, perhaps,
or one in four.