A Bush That Is Not Consumed ...

... with doubt. H-AmRel, a private listserv of scholars of religion in America, has been discussing the religion of George W. Bush, to no greatly productive end, and Bruce Lincoln, a professor at the University of Chicago's Divinity School, even offers a course in the subject. Now, along comes Rick Perlstein's"The Divine Calm of George W. Bush" to answer the scholars' questions. Whether you think religion is an important subject or not, I'd say Perlstein's article is a must read. Thanks to Ed Cohn at Gnostical Turpitude for the tip.

But, speaking of Perlstein, Kevin C. Murphy, a graduate student in American history at Columbia, has a long, thoughtful response at Ghost in the Machine to Perlstein's letter to Alan Brinkley about the strike and unionization of the University's graduate instructors. Entitled"Culture of Complaint," it outlines a train of flaws in the graduate student union's approach to the strike action. Murphy is a union member, clearly supportive of unionization, but his skepticism about the strike action seems quite reasonable.