Noted Here and There ...
Steve Turner's article, "The American Anthem" in the current issue of Christianity Today, is a good precis of his book, Amazing Grace: The Story of America's Most Beloved Song. Penned by John Newton, a slavetrader turned evangelical preacher,"Amazing Grace" is hardly representative of his best work and was not particularly popular in Newton's England. Turner explains why it has been so amazingly popular in the United States.
You may have seen this comparison of the gay, feminist, and fundamentalist agendas at Long Story/short pier . It's worth a look for a laugh. Thanks to Henry Farrell at Crooked Timber. As John Holbro at Examined Life says, Long Story/short pier is an interesting blog. Have a look around. While I'm citing other blogs, The Panda's Thumb is a new group blog, aiming to combat pseudo-science. It hopes to do for biology what Cliopatria has done for history. Well..., they didn't say that. I did. One more:
Noam Chomsky has a blogSorry, but that's been running through my head all day. Now, it's yours to worry about.
Ee-i-ee-i-o
And on his blog he had some posts
Ee-i-ee-i-o
With a post-post here And a post-post there
Here a post, there a post
Everywhere a post- post
Noam Chomsky has a blog
Ee-i-ee-i-o
Robert Campbell at Liberty & Power has the latest update on developments at the University of Southern Mississippi. Don't miss his update on the update.
The University of Virginia's Gerard Alexander has an interesting review essay in The Claremont Review, "The Myth of the Racist Republicans", which challenges the argument of Dan Carter and Merle and Earl Black that the Republican Party built its recent successes by appealing to Southern white racism. Thanks to John Moser and Richard Jensen's Conservativenet for the tip.
On Jack Rice's Sunday evening talk radio program on WCCO in Minneapolis at 8:10 p.m., CDT, I'll be talking about the Supreme Court's hearing on the constitutionality of the"under God" clause in the Pledge of Allegiance. I wrote about the issue here. In the meantime, journalists have pointed out that the United States is one of the few countries in the world which has a pledge of allegiance. What others can you name? Why would the United States be among the few countries with a pledge? It was first adopted in 1892 when immigration was reaching an all time high and, concurrently shifting from north/western Europe in origin to south/eastern Europe in origin. If that helps explain the United States' adoption of a Pledge of Allegiance, why have other countries of immigrants not followed its example?