1. Paul
2. Kucinich
3. Gravel
4. Biden
5. Edwards
6. Clinton
7. Dodd
8. Cox
9. McCain
10. Tancredo
11. Hunter
12. Romney
13. Richardson
14. Thompson
15. Obama
16. Brownback
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
my favorite colleges (for my kids) and seminaries (for me)
College & Universities
1. Columbia University
2. Hobart and William Smith Colleges
3. Bard College
4. Kenyon College
Seminaries
1. Nashotah House
2. General Theological Seminary
3. Seabury-Western Theological Seminary
4. Bexley Hall
NB: I don't have kids.
1. Columbia University
2. Hobart and William Smith Colleges
3. Bard College
4. Kenyon College
Seminaries
1. Nashotah House
2. General Theological Seminary
3. Seabury-Western Theological Seminary
4. Bexley Hall
NB: I don't have kids.
Monday, September 10, 2007
maybe i am a hipster
i was reading this article by Robert Lanham, author of The Hipster Handbook, on hipster parents,
and let's see ... i like wes anderson, i like k records (fact: i stalked their building when i lived in oly, hoping to catch a glimpse of calvin johnson; it was an old wooden jewish temple and occasionally let transients live on their lawn), i agree with this statement: "Shrek is an apt metaphor for the ugly, bloated, corporate troll that America has become," and i like to read New York magazine...i do.
so what if i'm profoundly conservative? our generation doesn't care about a person's politics; that's personal, not political. obsessive leftiness and or neoconniness is a distinctive (ugh) Gen-X trait (check out today's Taki's Top Drawer for an article on the "9/11 generation").
right now i'm watching Midnight Express and reflecting on my love for the Muslim world. i miss (from India) the constant smoking of cigarettes and the overall feel of antiquity.
more to come on my experiences in India, hopefully, someday. it wasn't too big of a deal, but it was pretty different and weird.
OK, so i think probably hipsters can accomodate paleoconservatism. it's still covert at this point, but the two groups certainly share an appreciation of good taste above all else.
we just need to purge those disgustingly tired Gen-X tropes like post-feminism and its accompanying alternaporn like Suicide Girls. and some other gay stuff, like post-hardcore. stuff that belongs in the '90s. raves, ecstasy, Burning Man, San Francisco, internet 1.0, neoliberalism, PC, neo-metal, Silver Lake (heh), 1950s aesthetics, "grrl" anything...but most of this stuff is out anyway
and let's see ... i like wes anderson, i like k records (fact: i stalked their building when i lived in oly, hoping to catch a glimpse of calvin johnson; it was an old wooden jewish temple and occasionally let transients live on their lawn), i agree with this statement: "Shrek is an apt metaphor for the ugly, bloated, corporate troll that America has become," and i like to read New York magazine...i do.
so what if i'm profoundly conservative? our generation doesn't care about a person's politics; that's personal, not political. obsessive leftiness and or neoconniness is a distinctive (ugh) Gen-X trait (check out today's Taki's Top Drawer for an article on the "9/11 generation").
right now i'm watching Midnight Express and reflecting on my love for the Muslim world. i miss (from India) the constant smoking of cigarettes and the overall feel of antiquity.
more to come on my experiences in India, hopefully, someday. it wasn't too big of a deal, but it was pretty different and weird.
OK, so i think probably hipsters can accomodate paleoconservatism. it's still covert at this point, but the two groups certainly share an appreciation of good taste above all else.
we just need to purge those disgustingly tired Gen-X tropes like post-feminism and its accompanying alternaporn like Suicide Girls. and some other gay stuff, like post-hardcore. stuff that belongs in the '90s. raves, ecstasy, Burning Man, San Francisco, internet 1.0, neoliberalism, PC, neo-metal, Silver Lake (heh), 1950s aesthetics, "grrl" anything...but most of this stuff is out anyway
Sunday, September 9, 2007
new thoughts..
none of which are necessary to put down here, as this is not a thesis statement but a
work in progress. the interesting thing about reading a blog is not the end intellectual
product but the making of it, the glints and glimmers of a mind at work and the poetry
it may occasionally throw out.
i think i may as well be episcopalian...there is a church quite close to my house, about 4 min away.
umm...i think tobacco may be a good alternative to exercise. that goes for coffee and stimulants in
general.
it makes the heart beat faster, and in general gives you the experience of hard exercise.
i am not a doctor, but i think the attraction to stimulants like coffee in office environments
makes sense.
so, if you're not walking anywhere or riding your bike today (which you should do if you live in
Blue America), chew some tobacco! it's 90% healthier than smoking, and has not been
conclusively shown to cause cancer. Copenhagen is trad; Skoal Bandits are for those who
can't stomach the straight stuff, and it's a little healthier too.
oh, and my bike is down so i've been walking the 4 miles every day. good stuff.
Clipse is a good rap group, and Vampire Weekend is a good rock band.
Lyrics:
Who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma?
I climbed to Dharamsala too
I did
I met the highest lama
His accent sounded fine
to me, to me
and:
As a young girl
Louis Vuitton
With your mother
On a sandy lawn
As a sophomore
With reggaeton
And the linens
You're sitting on
Is your bed made?
Is your sweater on?
Do you want to
Like you know I do
But this feels so unnatural
Peter Gabriel too
Can you stay up
To see the dawn
In the colors
Of Bennetton?
Is your bed made
Is your sweater on
Do you want to
Like you know I do
But this feels so unnatural
Peter Gabriel too
Is your bed made
Is your sweater on
Do you want to (i think he says "fuck" here)
Like you know I do
work in progress. the interesting thing about reading a blog is not the end intellectual
product but the making of it, the glints and glimmers of a mind at work and the poetry
it may occasionally throw out.
i think i may as well be episcopalian...there is a church quite close to my house, about 4 min away.
umm...i think tobacco may be a good alternative to exercise. that goes for coffee and stimulants in
general.
it makes the heart beat faster, and in general gives you the experience of hard exercise.
i am not a doctor, but i think the attraction to stimulants like coffee in office environments
makes sense.
so, if you're not walking anywhere or riding your bike today (which you should do if you live in
Blue America), chew some tobacco! it's 90% healthier than smoking, and has not been
conclusively shown to cause cancer. Copenhagen is trad; Skoal Bandits are for those who
can't stomach the straight stuff, and it's a little healthier too.
oh, and my bike is down so i've been walking the 4 miles every day. good stuff.
Clipse is a good rap group, and Vampire Weekend is a good rock band.
Lyrics:
Who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma?
I climbed to Dharamsala too
I did
I met the highest lama
His accent sounded fine
to me, to me
and:
As a young girl
Louis Vuitton
With your mother
On a sandy lawn
As a sophomore
With reggaeton
And the linens
You're sitting on
Is your bed made?
Is your sweater on?
Do you want to
Like you know I do
But this feels so unnatural
Peter Gabriel too
Can you stay up
To see the dawn
In the colors
Of Bennetton?
Is your bed made
Is your sweater on
Do you want to
Like you know I do
But this feels so unnatural
Peter Gabriel too
Is your bed made
Is your sweater on
Do you want to (i think he says "fuck" here)
Like you know I do
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Well...for the third time I took Quizfarm.com's theological quiz, and for the third time I scored as a Roman Catholic above all else. Not surprising.
I was more Calvinist and less Wesleyan this time, though, I wonder why.
Well. I've been thinking, and I have a theory. Short of Catholicism, the closest you can get to traditional teachings is Calvinism, despite Calvinism's tendency to be associated with a lack of traditional liturgy. But then, this isn't surprising, either. Think of the Irish church, and think of the Celtic church. The Celts were converted before the Germans (and Anglo-Saxons), and Christianity is more deeply rooted in their culture. Rome purposefully and for political reasons (it was a growing power) converted the Anglo-Saxons later on. This is the basis for the linkage of Anglicanism and the Church, and also why Anglicanism departed from the Church's teachings wherever and whenever it was expedient to do so. Germans have never cared too much for traditional teachings. They are barbarians, after all.
Following the disestablishment of the Roman church, it perhaps seems natural that the more Celtic elements of the population would turn to Calvinism, and, less so, Arminanism, in a hope of preserving their culture. Unitarianism in this scenario is the most Germanic, or liberal, of all teachings.
In the United States, many early Irishmen gave up their Catholic church because it simply wasn't established here; they fell rather naturally into the Baptist groups, for the most part.
Now, it isn't surprising that Baptists would tend to forget the more technical aspects of church ceremony, they are after all from the Celtic areas of the church. Isolated. But they do retain the solemnity and dignity of the true church, and also a love of richness that doesn't extend to the more liberal denominations.
My culture, Southern California, is a hybrid of Spanish-Roman Catholic, Celtic Baptist, and English Methodist. The latter in particular is my little world. I vow to stay in the United Methodist Church, but I also have an inherited fraternity with the other two churches. I also have an individual inclination towards Anglo-Catholicism within the Methodist church. I defend this theologically by saying that Catholicism is in fact more conservative than even the conservative Protestants, and I make a case for Arminianism < Calvinism < Catholicism accordingly. Make any sense?
Read the wikipedia article on Anglo-Catholicism. An excerpt: "Thus today there are two strands of Anglo-Catholicism. The classical type seeks to maintain tradition and to keep doctrine in line with that of the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, and often allies with low-church evangelicals to defend traditional teachings on sexual morality."
I second that...And say that I find these people and institutions to be worth looking up to: Maryland/Mid-Atlantic Catholicism including New York's Anglo-Catholic Resurrection Church (well, excepting the liberal bent of a lot of East Coast Catholics, I should say most?); Anglo-Catholics on the Gulf Coast; and the traditional Anglo-Catholic parishes in England, such as in York or Shoreditch in London.
I was more Calvinist and less Wesleyan this time, though, I wonder why.
Well. I've been thinking, and I have a theory. Short of Catholicism, the closest you can get to traditional teachings is Calvinism, despite Calvinism's tendency to be associated with a lack of traditional liturgy. But then, this isn't surprising, either. Think of the Irish church, and think of the Celtic church. The Celts were converted before the Germans (and Anglo-Saxons), and Christianity is more deeply rooted in their culture. Rome purposefully and for political reasons (it was a growing power) converted the Anglo-Saxons later on. This is the basis for the linkage of Anglicanism and the Church, and also why Anglicanism departed from the Church's teachings wherever and whenever it was expedient to do so. Germans have never cared too much for traditional teachings. They are barbarians, after all.
Following the disestablishment of the Roman church, it perhaps seems natural that the more Celtic elements of the population would turn to Calvinism, and, less so, Arminanism, in a hope of preserving their culture. Unitarianism in this scenario is the most Germanic, or liberal, of all teachings.
In the United States, many early Irishmen gave up their Catholic church because it simply wasn't established here; they fell rather naturally into the Baptist groups, for the most part.
Now, it isn't surprising that Baptists would tend to forget the more technical aspects of church ceremony, they are after all from the Celtic areas of the church. Isolated. But they do retain the solemnity and dignity of the true church, and also a love of richness that doesn't extend to the more liberal denominations.
My culture, Southern California, is a hybrid of Spanish-Roman Catholic, Celtic Baptist, and English Methodist. The latter in particular is my little world. I vow to stay in the United Methodist Church, but I also have an inherited fraternity with the other two churches. I also have an individual inclination towards Anglo-Catholicism within the Methodist church. I defend this theologically by saying that Catholicism is in fact more conservative than even the conservative Protestants, and I make a case for Arminianism < Calvinism < Catholicism accordingly. Make any sense?
Read the wikipedia article on Anglo-Catholicism. An excerpt: "Thus today there are two strands of Anglo-Catholicism. The classical type seeks to maintain tradition and to keep doctrine in line with that of the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, and often allies with low-church evangelicals to defend traditional teachings on sexual morality."
I second that...And say that I find these people and institutions to be worth looking up to: Maryland/Mid-Atlantic Catholicism including New York's Anglo-Catholic Resurrection Church (well, excepting the liberal bent of a lot of East Coast Catholics, I should say most?); Anglo-Catholics on the Gulf Coast; and the traditional Anglo-Catholic parishes in England, such as in York or Shoreditch in London.
Friday, September 7, 2007
bear with me...
ok. so i've been thinking, whether i want to be:
- an anarchist / theological liberal or unitarian-leaning, or someone motivated by their lifestyle to turn it into a religion (in other words, the traditional Germanic pagan viewpoint) or
- a paleoconservative / theological paleo or catholic/calvinist-leaning, or someone motivated by their religion to turn it into a lifestyle...
well. hmm...i want to stay a Methodist, that's all i'm sure of. aside from that, even my political leanings are in doubt, in fact that's what i feel so open-ended about (should i be an Anarchist or a Paleo?). tough question, but since i'm sure about my religion, i think i'll stick with it. anarchists aren't particularly religious, even though some may belong to some of the more outre groups. but a true anarchist wouldn't be caught dead at church on Sunday, now would he? (or perhaps i should say she.)
so, if the one thing in my life that i'm sure about is my religion, where do i go from there? do i lean conservative, or liberal?
it might help to see how this whole mess started:
1. raised atheist
2. converted early on to libertarianism (politically) and philosophical taoism
3. wanted to become episcopalian for the social status (politically neoliberal, i.e. The New Republic)
4. drawn to a more traditional expression of philosophical taoism, i.e., Zen Buddhism
5. followed Buddhism to Hinduism and eventually Islam
6. came back around to Christianity, and (paleo)libertarianism. moved swiftly from Catholic, to Baptist, to Methodist.
well, yes, it's clear to me intuitively, though it may not be to you. in order to come full circle i need to be uncompromisingly conservative theologically and of course politically. i am in search of my roots, i am conservative therefore. politics is, what, epistemologically different from religion?
well, it seems good for now. let's leave it at that.
- an anarchist / theological liberal or unitarian-leaning, or someone motivated by their lifestyle to turn it into a religion (in other words, the traditional Germanic pagan viewpoint) or
- a paleoconservative / theological paleo or catholic/calvinist-leaning, or someone motivated by their religion to turn it into a lifestyle...
well. hmm...i want to stay a Methodist, that's all i'm sure of. aside from that, even my political leanings are in doubt, in fact that's what i feel so open-ended about (should i be an Anarchist or a Paleo?). tough question, but since i'm sure about my religion, i think i'll stick with it. anarchists aren't particularly religious, even though some may belong to some of the more outre groups. but a true anarchist wouldn't be caught dead at church on Sunday, now would he? (or perhaps i should say she.)
so, if the one thing in my life that i'm sure about is my religion, where do i go from there? do i lean conservative, or liberal?
it might help to see how this whole mess started:
1. raised atheist
2. converted early on to libertarianism (politically) and philosophical taoism
3. wanted to become episcopalian for the social status (politically neoliberal, i.e. The New Republic)
4. drawn to a more traditional expression of philosophical taoism, i.e., Zen Buddhism
5. followed Buddhism to Hinduism and eventually Islam
6. came back around to Christianity, and (paleo)libertarianism. moved swiftly from Catholic, to Baptist, to Methodist.
well, yes, it's clear to me intuitively, though it may not be to you. in order to come full circle i need to be uncompromisingly conservative theologically and of course politically. i am in search of my roots, i am conservative therefore. politics is, what, epistemologically different from religion?
well, it seems good for now. let's leave it at that.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
Well, I've been reading some books about my heritage -- David Hackett Fischer's Albion's Seed and the fascinating Kevin Philips book The Cousins Wars.
I've come to the conclusion that my heritage is, well, mostly Quaker/Midland North/Methodist. (Not surprising, given that both my dad's father and my mother's parents are Methodists.)
But I am a Southern Methodist, mind you. Still a member of the United Methodist Church, in the future, but one from Southern California.
On this subject, a passage from The Cousins Wars on California's North/South division. Where it's at:
Also, I should say that the final clincher is that the local Methodist church is much closer than the local Baptist church. Can't argue with that!
My grandfather on my dad's side is a preacher at his tiny and ancient white wooden steeplehouse Methodist Episcopal church in the old mining camp town of the Sierra Nevada that he lives in (in a giant wooden cabin, filled with roaring flames in the winter and hot coffee and freshly baked pies all the time -- we used to go there nearly every Thanksgiving; hopefully this year we'll go for Christmas). Once I asked him why he wasn't, say, a Unitarian -- he laughed, and said "Well, we have to believe in something!" (Methodists are Arminian, both liturgically and theologically moderate. They, surprisingly and commendably, do not recognize same-sex unions. They are ambivalent towards alcohol, which I like. I'm not sure how they feel about abortion; I wouldn't be surprised, however, if they were also ambivalent about that.)
I've come to the conclusion that my heritage is, well, mostly Quaker/Midland North/Methodist. (Not surprising, given that both my dad's father and my mother's parents are Methodists.)
But I am a Southern Methodist, mind you. Still a member of the United Methodist Church, in the future, but one from Southern California.
On this subject, a passage from The Cousins Wars on California's North/South division. Where it's at:
A brief digression is in order to note that the last two "border" states of 1860 were western: California and Oregon, both of which Lincoln carried by only hairbreadth pluralities, with a sizeable minority of voters opting for the southern Democratic nominee, John Breckinridge (28 percent in California, 34 percent in Oregon). On the eve of war, the western states and territories, like those in the Ohio Valley, were places where large southern and northern populations mingled.
In California, San Francisco and the north coast were Union-dominated, and along with other local units even forming a "California battalion" to serve in the 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry. In late 1860 and early 1861, however, some neutral observers had expected California to support the Confederacy or opt for the independent Pacific Confederacy so many local Democratic office-holders were talking about. Of the state's 380,000 people, almost 40 percent were from slave states, and only seven of fifty-three newspapers had supported Lincoln. Confederate flags were flown in San Jose, Visalia, Stockton, and a number of mining towns, and pro-southern sentiment was so strong in Los Angeles and San Bernardino that northern California infantry and cavalry units had to be moved into the area to guard against any Confederate force coming from Texas and New Mexico (Tucson, for example, sent a delegate to the Confederate Congress). Tennessee-born U.S. Senator William Gwin left California for the Confederacy in early 1861. Unionist sentiment grew after South Carolina fired on Fort Sumter, and Copperhead activity slackened after the Confederate invasion of New Mexico was turned back at Glorieta Pass in March 1862.
In California, San Francisco and the north coast were Union-dominated, and along with other local units even forming a "California battalion" to serve in the 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry. In late 1860 and early 1861, however, some neutral observers had expected California to support the Confederacy or opt for the independent Pacific Confederacy so many local Democratic office-holders were talking about. Of the state's 380,000 people, almost 40 percent were from slave states, and only seven of fifty-three newspapers had supported Lincoln. Confederate flags were flown in San Jose, Visalia, Stockton, and a number of mining towns, and pro-southern sentiment was so strong in Los Angeles and San Bernardino that northern California infantry and cavalry units had to be moved into the area to guard against any Confederate force coming from Texas and New Mexico (Tucson, for example, sent a delegate to the Confederate Congress). Tennessee-born U.S. Senator William Gwin left California for the Confederacy in early 1861. Unionist sentiment grew after South Carolina fired on Fort Sumter, and Copperhead activity slackened after the Confederate invasion of New Mexico was turned back at Glorieta Pass in March 1862.
Also, I should say that the final clincher is that the local Methodist church is much closer than the local Baptist church. Can't argue with that!
My grandfather on my dad's side is a preacher at his tiny and ancient white wooden steeplehouse Methodist Episcopal church in the old mining camp town of the Sierra Nevada that he lives in (in a giant wooden cabin, filled with roaring flames in the winter and hot coffee and freshly baked pies all the time -- we used to go there nearly every Thanksgiving; hopefully this year we'll go for Christmas). Once I asked him why he wasn't, say, a Unitarian -- he laughed, and said "Well, we have to believe in something!" (Methodists are Arminian, both liturgically and theologically moderate. They, surprisingly and commendably, do not recognize same-sex unions. They are ambivalent towards alcohol, which I like. I'm not sure how they feel about abortion; I wouldn't be surprised, however, if they were also ambivalent about that.)
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