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Hello, I’ve enjoyed for several years your articles and, more recently, your blog. I’ve wanted to ask you about your Christianity. I hope you will read this email because while it may not elicit your response, it is not mere foolishness.

I’ve been intrigued that someone of your intelligence is a professed Christian. I myself am religious and intelligent. [4-5 SD range] In my life, this has made me an absolute anomaly among my very brilliant family and friends, all staunch atheists, as well as among the many wonderful, yet relatively simple, people I have known who love and live for God.

Now of course there are many very intelligent people of all religions, but I was so gratified to read you write recently of your awareness and experience of the difference between individuals with IQ’s of 130 and 100 being much the same as that between individuals with 100 and 70. And it is certainly also true that being highly intelligent is not always found along with the most well honed critical thinking skills; I have not found fruitful discussions with even those religious people I’ve known who are quite bright.

I am specifically interested in why you believe in a triune God. My religious belief is Islam (note this is not exactly the same as saying that my religion is
Islam), though I have studied the Hebrew and Christian Bibles in depth. I feel convinced of uncompromised monotheism and that Islam is what is consistent with
all God’s revelation of Himself as preserved in Biblical Judaism, yet from time to time something in my mind questions this outrageous claim of Christianity, that perhaps such a bold, absurd, insane claim could possibly be true – that Prophet Jesus is in fact God and King.

This demands a more lengthy and well-considered answer than I have time for today, (the local football derby is this afternoon), so I shall simply give the very short version: pattern recognition, and turn it over to the rest of you for initial responses. Serious responses only, please, and think your responses through before you post them as I have no doubt that this particular emailer will have no trouble shredding the usual cliches.

America is getting the government it deserves:

Maybe Democratic candidate Michael Arcuri is running strong in this Republican House district because he pledges to expand health coverage, balance the budget and raise the minimum wage. Or maybe it’s his piercing Italian eyes and runner’s physique

“He is pretty good-looking,” observed Paula Ferrin with admiration, as the 47-year-old district attorney worked the crowd at a local senior center.

“What we want is brains, honey,” scolded her friend Rose Oliver.

“True,” Ferrin answered, “but handsome doesn’t hurt.”

The research is unambiguous that Ferrin is right: Attractive politicians have an edge over not-so-attractive ones.

My mother once confessed that she worked as a volunteer on JFK’s presidential campaign primarily because she thought he was so handsome. I don’t doubt millions of individuals vote based on who they find more attractive, so I think we should just admit the ridiculousness of the charade, go all the way and swear in America’s Next Top Model winner every January.

Seriously. I mean, a coked-out runway babe or a bulked-up gay pinup would look a lot better than the Bush/Clinton du jour, would be far less likely to trample the Constitution or send the military to occupy sovereign nations and would make for much more entertaining State of the Union speeches.

They couldn’t do any worse, that’s certain. I do so enjoy the Three Monkey Republican logic. “If Bush wasn’t president, bad things would have happened!”

Right because 9/11, the failed Iraqi occupation and North Korea going nuclear all didn’t happen.

“But that’s not his fault!”

Then, what’s the big difference? Would Cuba have invaded? Would Iran have already nuked Israel?

With two exceptions,* last night’s game couldn’t have been any more different than the one seven days before. Whereas last week we played the bottom dwellers, who attempt to make up for their lack of skill with mad thuggery, last night was a clash of the league-leading titans.

I was out of action thanks to the mad thugs, but it was a pleasure to watch their skill and speed matched up against our skill and discipline. Their center midfielders were fantastic, regularly breaking ankles, making threatening passes and preventing our usually dominant center-mids from taking over, and their goalie was even better. He made two saves that I was sure were unsaveable, plus forced our best striker to miss wide on a one-on-one opportunity.

The game had everything, from a forty-yard volley headed for the upper right corner (one of the aforementioned saves) to our defender on the line keeping out a sure goal and them scoring an equalizer ten minutes from time. Last year, we would have cracked, gone into a defensive shell and risked losing while settling for a tie, but this year the team is much tougher mentally and we hit back hard with two great chances that their doggone goalie managed to keep out.

However, his fantastic reaction save on a shot from only five yards out gave us a corner about a minute before the whistle. The cross was shallow and was headed out, but not far enough and one of our substitute defenders who’d come forward headed it beautifully into the upper right corner where even superkeeper couldn’t do anything about it. It was one of the best games I’ve ever seen at any level… and it was particularly satisfying to learn after the game that this was the first time they’d lost in over a year.

So, we’re now in first place by three points and we’ve already played all the top teams with five games to go before the break. I don’t know if we’ll be able to stay in first for the entire season, but at least we now believe that we’re good enough to play at this level.

*1. We won in both cases. 2. The referees were wildly incompetent in both games, although it wasn’t dangerous this time, only irritating. I do so despise referees who seem to believe that the point of a game is to listen to them blow the whistle at every opportunity.

Air America Radio, a liberal talk and news radio network that features the comedian Al Franken, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a network official told The AP.

The network had denied rumors just a month ago that it would file for bankruptcy. On Friday, Air America spokeswoman Jaime Horn told The Associated Press that the filing became necessary only recently after negotiations with a creditor from the company’s early days broke down.

It was far too much to expect the left-wing to grasp the concept of capitalist competition. Trying to sell what is delivered for free from PBS and was already available from established newspapers and media companies was a deeply stupid idea.

Fox News, on the other hand, was designed to appeal to an underserved market, which is why it has been prison-raping CNN in the ratings for the last three years.

Ampersand was a good pro-feminist zeta male. He did his best to support the womyn in their titanic struggle against Patriarchy at Alas, A Blog: “Please note that some posts are marked as “feminist, pro-feminist and feminist-friendly only.”

Alas, the allure of turning Internet pimp proved too sweet for poor Ampersand, demonstrating yet again for those who have not yet figured it out that feminism is nothing more than a tool used by corrupt men to make use of maleducated women who are silly enough to believe in the magic fairy unicorn with the rainbow-colored horn named “Empowerment”.

Oh, I laughed, I did. I laughed indeed. The whole affair is almost as funny as Playboy’s assertion that Amynda and her two sorelle possess one “almost frightening intellect” between them.

Since I am regularly informed that my opinions and modes of thought are frightening, we can deduce that “almost frightening” must be around three standard deviations above average. 145 IQ / 3 bloggers = just over 48 IQ apiece. That sounds about right, actually.

My parents and their friends must have hated Star Wars. Big Chilly and I had four birthday parties between us at which the party consisted of going to see Star Wars. I loved it so much that when I saw it for the first time, I cried when it was over because I didn’t want it to end.

I don’t hate Star Wars now, I merely harbor mild contempt for the megafranchise and maintain a near total indifference to it. I’ve seen Episode I once (on opening night), about a third of Episode II (on TV) and haven’t bothered to watch Episode III even though it was seemingly on satellite nearly every other night for the last six weeks.

I saw Star Wars more than fifteen times. I saw The Empire Strikes Back three or four times. I have seen the Return of the Jedi twice, once the first time around and once in preparation for the prequels.* I know Episode I is called The Phantom Menace, but I don’t even know what the other two are called. This indifference isn’t spawned by a dislike for the Star Wars universe, I still love X-Wing and TIE Fighter and played all the way through Dark Forces.

But the movies, which started so brilliantly, started to go downhill with the last Rebel starship fleeing from Hoth. I never liked Yoda, was bored by the Han-Leia romance, and while the shocking revelation – I am your father – made up for the boring bits, I couldn’t believe how bad Jedi was.

Something had changed. I found myself hoping Luke would leave Leia, (who looked scary, not sexy, in that harem-girl outfit), with Jabba the Hutt, and actively rooted against the Ewoks. Unfortunately, their rocks and clubs proved too lethal for Stormtroopers whose precision had once been described as being lethal enough to serve as identification.

About the three prequels, the less said, the better. Suffice it to say that if there were any tears in my eyes at the end of The Phantom Menace, they were of repressed laughter.

All that being said, I think John Scalzi overstates his case when he argues that Star Wars is not entertainment, that it is merely the obsessive myth-making of an autistic artisan moving pieces around a universe that exists only in his own mind. After all, as one of his commenters points out, Lucas didn’t even know he was myth-making until Joseph Campbell told him he was after the first movie had been released.

And on a tangential note, I think Kristine Kathryn Rusch is generally correct but goes slightly wide of the mark in this essay, which previously appeared in a Smart Pop book. The science fiction and fantasy genre does have a serious problem derived from it being somewhat of a closed shop, but I argue that this stems primarily from the hostility towards Christianity in particular and religion in general possessed by so many genre writers, reviewers and editors.

As I wrote in another Smart Pop essay, one which appeared last year in Ben Bella’s Narnia book, this hostility not only lessens the genre’s mass appeal, but tends to significantly reduce its literary quality as well. It is hard, after all, to produce transcendent art when one is filled with relentless hate for that which transcends the material.

Interestingly enough, I once proposed this essay for publication in the SFWA’s Bulletin. The editor initially accepted the idea of an essay on the literary rejection of SF&F, but rejected it before I’d even turned anything in when he learned that I attributed this rejection to secularist hostility towards religion leading towards the genre-wide disease of poor characterization and fatuous demi-moralism.

Speaking of Ben Bella, Mr. Yeffeth will be relieved to learn that I finished my 5,000-word essay on Gesamtkunstwerk and video games today. Like my previous essay on the connection between Margaret Thatcher and Douglas Adams, it looks totally insane at first glance, but upon sufficient reflection one realizes there may be a genuine case for it. Of course, the consumption of two or three Amaretto Bitters will aid in this process of holistic grokkery.

*Watching the extended edition DVD of THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING right before going to see THE TWO TOWERS in the theatre was a great way to do it. Unfortunately, I wasn’t around or Big Chilly and I would have watched both extended DVDs prior to seeing THE RETURN OF THE KING on opening night.

As a consolation prize, however, I did see ROTK on opening night with a group of Tolkein fanatics, every single one of whom was in costume. It is the only time I have ever felt improperly attired while wearing an Armani suit.

If you’re in London and might be interested in attending a Vox-related event in the relatively near future, please shoot me an email. I don’t know if I’ll be making an announcement here or not, but I do intend to invite any regular UK readers to a small public happening at which I intend to appear.

Not being intentionally mysterious here, I’m just not permitted to talk about it.

Podhoretz the Younger sees only one hope to stop Hillary:

[S]he can’t be stopped from getting the Democratic nomination. Today’s news is that Mark Warner, the former governor of Virginia, has decided not to run for president in 2008. If there is no credible challenger to Hillary on what might be called her “right,” then there’s no scenario according to which her base vote is split. As I keep telling you, don’t imagine you will be spared a Hillary presidency by the Democratic party, which will nominate her — or by some naturally occurring phenomenon. It’s going to be the GOP, running smart, that will prevent it.

Right, all that’s needed is running smart… from the gang that thinks opposing illegal immigration is a terrible idea and banning online gaming is an imperative.

I, for one, will welcome our new reptilesbian overlordess.

The expulsion debate has already started in Europe:

In Austria this month, right-wing parties also polled well, on a campaign promise that had rarely been made openly: that Austria should start to deport its immigrants. Vlaams Belang, too, has suggested “repatriation” for immigrants who do not made greater efforts to integrate.

The idea is unthinkable to mainstream leaders, but many Muslims still fear that the day — or at least a debate on the topic — may be a terror attack away.

“I think the time will come,” said Amir Shafe, 34, a Pakistani who earns a good living selling clothes at a market in Antwerp. He deplores terrorism and said he himself did not sense hostility in Belgium. But he said, “We are now thinking of going back to our country, before that time comes.”

The idea is hardly unthinkable when left-wing British strategists are encouraging Labor to take a hard line on immigration before they lose the issue to the British National Party. The only reason Vlaams Belang isn’t the largest party in the Belgian parliament is that the Muslims allied with the Socialists in the most recent election… I rather doubt that’s going to be viewed favorably after the next Islamic terror attack.

What’s ironic is how Americans blithely predict the death of Europe and its four percent Islamic population while their own president is yammering about the need to grant citizenship to more of the third-worlders who make up 13 percent of the American population.

I mean, Mexicans are fine and all… but they’re Mexicans. They’re neither Democrats nor Republicans and they are going to transform the political scene into something that is exo-American and they certainly aren’t going to resist any sacrifice of American sovereignty to the gestating Pan-American Union.

Which raises the question of why George W. Bush believes granting these illegal aliens US citizenship rights is “a must”….