Mark Horne

This conversation reminded me of an episode of Buffy.  To be clear, the portrayal of magic on the show is problematic (along with many other things), but I find it interesting that the writers dabbled in similar principles about good and evil in magic.
In this scenario Willow is a powerful magic user who has become [...]

But Twilight is causing all sorts of weird alignment. Here’s Angel and here’s Doug Wilson, and both seem spot on.
And the strange blond girl is not Stephanie Meyer.
PS: I shouldn’t have to say this but I didn’t have in mind any comparison in the “confrontational style” that get Willow and Xander upset with Angel.  [...]

Cut to Buffy and Willow walking through the campus late at night.
Buffy : So what I’m wondering is, does this always happen? Sleep with a guy and he goes all evil. God, I’m such a fool.
Willow : Well maybe you made a mistake. But that’s okay. Next time – what?
Buffy : Parker said it’s okay [...]

Students were evacuated from Millennial Tech Magnet Middle School in the Chollas View neighborhood Friday afternoon after an 11-year-old student brought a personal science project that he had been making at home to school, authorities said.
Maurice Luque, spokesman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department, said the student had been making the device in his home [...]

I hate admitting it when David Brooks is right, but he is right about Haiti and the impossibility of institutional solutions.
Haiti needs the Great Commission.  Somehow they have been allowed to have a voodoo dystopia.  It needs to end.  And it is going to take the real Great Commission.
And Jesus came and said to them, [...]

My political opinions lean more and more to Anarchy (philosophically understood, meaning abolition of control not whiskered men with bombs)—or to ‘unconstitutional Monarchy.’ I would arrest anybody who uses the word State (in any sense other than the inanimate realm of England and its inhabitants, a thing that has neither power, rights not mind); and [...]

We Reformed all know the anabaptists were wrong, but maybe it is time to consider the ways they were right. All Europe was in the grip of a social order that for 90 percent of the people, if we saw them through a time-portal window, we would identify them as slaves. The issues [...]

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944).
I highly recommend you see this WWII movie about striking back at Japan after Pearl Harbor.  What was amazing to me watching this movie, made and released during the war, was how concerned everyone was about civilian deaths.  Officers firmly instructed the pilots and crews that, if they missed their assigned [...]

In her study of Roman gladiatorial combat and arenas (Blood in the Arena: The Spectacle of Roman Power) Alison Futrell describes the Phoenician practice of human sacrifice transplanted to Carthage: “The young victim was placed in the arms of the bronze image of Ba’al Hammon, arms that sloped downward toward a pit or large brazier [...]

One of my major premises in the writing I’m doing these days is that evangelicals have become a movement actually destroying itself.
At no point does that seem more obvious than in the recent evolution of worship within evangelicalism.
Does anyone- I mean, really, seriously- have any idea what is actually happening within the worship culture of [...]

In public, when it comes to the Iranian question, President Obama is all sweet reason and kissy-face. His recent video message to the Iranian people was just what the doctor ordered. However, this public performance is severely undercut by an ongoing covert program aimed at regime-change in Tehran – or, at least, at undermining the [...]

I have two “deep” criticisms of fireproof that I want to make on this blog at some point.  So first I thought I would say how much I liked it.  Before anything else, if you haven’t read Doug’s post, you should.
My own thoughts:
First off, I thought the tie between boats and pornography was amazingly insightful [...]

I’m in the middle of writing this response when I remember there is a character-count restriction… So I’ll just do it here:
A few observations:

A random murder of someone who makes a living killing children is not defense or protection unless that stops or at least has a chance of stopping the killing (leaving aside whether [...]

I just listened to an interview with Roderick Long (haven’t read the article yet), but I wasn’t super impressed.  He argues that if the state does not produce law and order that this provides an incentive for entrepreneurs in the private sector to find ways to produce these things.  Well, duh, they do.  They invent [...]

This past weekend, my husband and I treated ourselves (actually, admission was free) to SLU’s Museum of Contemporary Religious Art’s (MOCRA) “Good Friday” exhibit. The exhibit closed Sunday, May 17.
I am a great art admirer. I say “admirer,” not “lover,” because the latter implies knowledge, and I cannot lay claim to much [...]

YouTube – I Heart You Online.

Share and Enjoy:

Notice I’m trying to avoid questions about how much is overreaching, whether one is in favor of minarchism or not, etc.
What I am noticing is a tendency of people opposed to some level of state intrusiveness (some level of action that they count as intrusive) and present the antidote with the claim that individual human [...]

I don’t have time to analyse the problem, but look at the quotes and see if you recognize how they are opposed to one another:
First, Lewis:
I believe in political equality. But there are two opposite reasons for being a democrat. You may think all men so good that they deserve a share in the government [...]

YouTube – The Tragic Case of Rachel Hoffman.

hat tip
Wikipedia entry (I’m assuming this will get updated)
Rant deleted.  This is a bigger problem than the war on drugs or many other things.  But I’m not going to discuss the cultural rot Rachel’s abduction and enslavement represent.

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YouTube – Muslim Demographics.

Obviously, statistics can be misused and “facts” can be alleged that are exaggerated.  The video inserted above is hardly “sober.”
But then, academic pretensions can be no less manipulative and are no less likely to promote deception.  I think the demographic story here is more true than not, at the very least.
Which leads [...]