Monthly Archives: September 2017

The Gospel vs. George Will, and other stories

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In “recycling” these old posts, my practice has normally been to reproduce the whole post.  In this instance, I’ll merely link to it:

The Gospel vs. George Will, and other stories

What got me at this writing was this passage, which strikes me as awfully current:

“Josh Barro is one of those who just didn’t get it. To me, the whole row has been about free speech. It is unacceptable in this country that mere shifts of the zeitgeist should force an individual’s conscience; that we should become a thought-police state.”

That was dated 01/11/14.  I’m struck that we may now be at greater risk than ever, of becoming a thought-police state.

“Scandal:” The meaning of the word

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(Originally posted 2012-07-28 at Trojan Horse Productions. Note that this was after Aurora and prior to Sandy Hook.  Reposted 2014-01-11.)

I don’t have the wherewithal to actually buy and read newspapers; at the convenience store, I merely read the headlines. I found this article by doing a news Google on “Crofton massacre” — which fact illustrates the point I’ll make below.

Police: Md. man made threat, ‘joker’ reference

The English word “scandal” comes from the Greek skandalon, which literally means “stumbling block;” as in Matthew 18:6, where in the King James Version it is translated as “offense,” and Matthew 13:57, which would be translated literally, “They stumbled at him.”

We find that scandals make two different kinds of people “stumble” in two different ways.
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Giving it all away

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At work on Tuesday 05/08/12, the radio station they had on the PA played Genesis’ “Giving it all away.”

People see things different ways given their personal circumstances.

I know nothing about Phil Collins personally. But in all likelihood, were he to “give it all away” as he understands it, he would probably have a lot left.

Not I.

All I own is the contents of two heavy bags. Giving it all away would be a simple gesture. And afterwards, I would have nothing.

———— ♦ ————

That afternoon, as usual, as soon as I got to my bunk I sat down and got out my medications for the evening. The guy assigned to the bunk above me was a newcomer, real clean-cut, a Jake Pavelka lookalike.

“Got any goodies in those pill bottles?” he asked.

“No,” I answered.

“It’d been cooler if you’d said yes,” he said.

As usual, I put my meds back in my zipper bag when I finished, and, as usual, I locked it.

Because of guys like him.

(Originally published 05/09/12 at Trojan Horse Productions.  Reposted 10/30/13, 12/29/16.)
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Yes, I do have a hidden agenda …

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… as to my choices of music for the show.

(Visit the Playlist!)

First, I want to establish an atmosphere conducive to folks’ listening to and learning from each other. As I remark at the conclusion of Free Speech Handbook, “Awe in the face of the unknown may be the healthiest of all human postures.”

Second, I want to make available to my listeners music and concepts that are under-represented in the market-driven playlists of commercial music stations.

I can’t apologize too much for leaving out music that I just don’t like. In many styles of blues, for example, performers impersonate someone who is drunk or high. I don’t want to be around such people, see or hear them. So much for those styles of blues. Now, on the other hand, I like practically everything the Rolling Stones have done, and most of that is, in fact, blues.

But just because I like a song won’t get it on the show.
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