Opinion 215

Yesterday was a good day.

Opinion 215: Sexy

Good2Go - the new app for obtaining consent.  You can't make this up.

Opinion 214: Abortion Doula

My Year As an Abortion Doula.  Both fascinating and terrifying.  Gets you in the gut somewhere.

Opinion 213: Futile Question

Anyone else reading N.T. Wright's big book on Paul?

(futile in the sense that this blog has no readers)

Opinion 212

If only I had a free drink for every time the Ochlophobist has deleted all his blog posts!
Okay, really, it wouldn't be enough.  But it would be a start.

Opinion 211

Two whiskeys in this Bright Monday!  My daughter sleeps and my son runs around naked, skin dyed in Easter egg red.  Therefore there is now no condemnation.

Opinion 210

A happy and blessed and indulgent Pascha to each and every one!  Lord, I had to wipe the dust off the blog just to write that sentence!  Ah well, Christ is Risen, and not one blogger is left dormant.

Opinion 209: Habits

Whiskeys I've had this week:
-Templeton Rye (my God, so good!)
-Michter's Rye (hot, spicy, good lord - what is that? Try it with maple syrup, a splash of orange bitters and a dash of lemon juice)
-Jameson (well, you've gotta shoot something)
-Jim Beam (I call him James)
-Cabin Still (I am embarrassed...but not that embarrassed)

And how young this week is!

Opinion 208: that interview

One thing that bothered me, and one thing that encouraged me, while reading Pope Francis' now infamous interview:
-A bother: he had nothing to say about the rising strength of the PAC-12 Conference this year, which is now clearly only second to the SEC, and perhaps even almost an equal.  I mean, this is as clear as day, and I was disturbed that he just passed over it in silence.  We need to learn to read the signs of our times, your holiness!
-A blessing: he didn't condemn heavy drinking, as far as I could tell.

Opinion 207: An Ode to Futility

 
 I have now spent just over two years reading Heidegger's Being and Time.  Along the way I have read two guides and commentaries on the text and have managed to listen to two lecture series on the book, one from Berkley and the other from Harvard.  Two years in, I have just made it to Part Two.

In the meantime I've stopped going to church, began to tolerate seven drinks a day, taken to the cigarette, stopped praying, and developed a coarse mouth. Generally speaking, I have descended into disarray; my moral compass has gone limp and I am plagued with routine bouts of sickness both of the body and mind.

Godammit, Heidegger!  How I love your incomprehensible and clearly destructive ideas!

Opinion 206

The lead-in to a new AFR podcast::
This past September 9, on an extremely sultry evening in Franklin, Tennessee, an ecumenical group of Christians met at the home of a local Orthodox parishioner for Scotch and cigars and to listen to Dr. Clark Carlton speak about the essence and energies of God. 

oh, it is so funny and yet it hurts my heart so.

Opinion 205

Perhaps the most surprising thing about adulthood is the fact that I simply do not behave as well as I thought I would.

Percy

Love in the Ruins:

"All man needs is time and desire and the sense of his own sovereignty."

Percy

Love in the Ruins:

"I believe in God and the whole business but I love women best, music and science next, whiskey next, God fourth, and my fellowman hardly at all."

Percy

Reading Love in the Ruins again:

"I do not recall the number of occasions, Father, but I accuse myself of drunkenness, lusts, envies, fornication, delight in the misfortunes of others, and loving myself better than God and other men."

Opinion 202

Whoa, shit!  I've fallen behind!

Opinion 201

Did anyone else happen to stumble across this sad story?  It's a bit old, yes, but pathetic enough to endure.

Opinion 200: Fundraising

I love this, from President Obama's reelection site:

When Michael Jordan wrote a check to my campaign for U.S. Senate in 2004, I wasn't sure whether I should cash it or frame it.
Now Michael Jordan is taking his support to the next level. If you chip in whatever you can today, you’ll be automatically entered for a chance to meet both of us at an event later this month in New York City.
You're invited to bring a guest—so if basketball isn't your game, I encourage you to bring someone in your life who might enjoy meeting Michael and me over dinner, and maybe even shooting some hoops with some of the other basketball stars, past and present.
Now, I don't know if I'll want to sprint up and down the court that night, but I'm always up to launch a few jump shots. If you join me, don't be surprised if I challenge you or your guest to play.
Tonight is the deadline to throw your name in—and, today only, every entry counts for two. Make a donation, and you'll be automatically entered.
Thanks,
Barack

What children we've all become!

Opinion 199

I really love this picture.

Opinion 198: Words from the sage Randy Travis

"Since my phone still ain't ringing, I assume it still ain't you."

It's hard to turn down a simple, self-deprecatory country music lyric.