May 13, 2005

Friday in the wild - May 13, 2005

It's Friday the 13th! If you are triskaidekaphobic, it's not going to get any better, so go back to bed until tomorrow. Otherwise, smash a mirror and step on the cracks in the sidewalk while walking under a ladder in front of a black cat, and join me in enjoying some of the cool stuff I've encountered in the blogosphere in the last (lucky) 7 days.

La Shawn has announced that she has purchased the domain name FakeHate.com to start up a group blog to document a pernicious form of the "noble lie": people who manufacture crises by fabricating hate crimes against themselves for attention. Her goal is quite a bit more ambitious:

I’ve decided to start a group blog that will not only expose idiots who do this, but one that will mock the very laws and lawmakers themselves. If I may be so ambitious, I’d like to start a grassroots campaign to dismantle these laws, or at the very least, raise awareness of how unnecessary they are, how open they are to abuse, unintended consequences, etc.

[Read FakeHate.com]

Francis J. Beckwith, the philosophy professor who wrote the best book refuting the rhetoric of abortion-rights activists, has started the Atheocracy Blog:

a site dedicated to supporting the political liberty of religious citizens to participate in America's liberal democracy. The purpose of this blog is to advance this cause by pointing readers in the direction of important resources and commentaries.

Not much there to look at yet, but I'm looking forward to it.

Aaron Shafovaloff wants to know whether non-denominationalism can be cultish, and concludes it can, because of non-denominational churches' reluctance to express theological truth in concise statements. I am reminded of a remark Charles Spurgeon made in one of his most famous sermons, in 1862:

I glory in that which at the present day is so much spoken against—sectarianism, for "sectarianism" is the cant phrase which our enemies use for all firm religious belief. I find it applied to all sorts of Christians; no matter what views he may hold, if a man be but earnest, he is a sectarian at once. Success to sectarianism, let it live and flourish. When that is done with, farewell to the power of godliness.

[Read God's Will and Man's Will]

The PolSpy makes an art suggestion that might get me going downtown a little more often:

It would be fitting to remove all of the remaining Sea King helicopters from service, have the lot of them welded into a giant sculpture and have it placed opposite Parliament Hill. I'd name the slag-heap the Chrétien Statue of Regret and dedicate it to serving future generations with a stark reminder of what happens when ego and partisan politics are allowed to run unfettered. I'd suggest that each crew member who lost their lives during the operation of these relics have a cenotaph constructed in their honour at the site. An obelisk made from a bronzed engine from a Sea King would be a nice touch.

[Read Another Dud Sub? They’re All Duds]

No interesting search queries pointed to the CC this week. However, I have been inundated with queries about Dennis "Cat" Avner - in fact as of now I'm Google's #3 hit on the subject. This is divine retribution; it's what I get for editorializing on weird news. (If you're reading this because you found me on Google, let me make this easy: He's a freak, and he and Jocelyn Wildenstein ought never to get together and reproduce.

Anyway . . . Until next week, don't open any umbrellas in the house, and enjoy.

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