Give Me Liberty

Check out the Freedom Map for 2003:

Hat tip to Get Religion.

Popcorn Society

Ten books are being published to debunk The Da Vinci Code.

Personally, I think the fact that anyone would give serious critical thought to a work that is so clearly fictional is true evidence of the flash-in-the-pan, pseudo-academic nature of our emotionally-charged society . . . but I suppose these counter-works are necessary.

I love Amy Wellborn‘s take:

. . . there might be a case for characterizing The Da Vinci Code as anti-Catholic. It’s not just that Brown makes assertions about Catholicism that are not true, but that he also chooses to make the Roman Catholic Church guilty of crimes–misrepresenting Jesus, repressing the “sacred feminine,” and rejecting the true leadership role of Mary Magdalene – that, if you’re going to follow his logic, for which all Christianity should be judged guilty.

Why did he do this? I suppose because it’s simpler, that’s why. That’s the most charitable guess. It makes for easier writing and easier reading. Not more truthful writing, mind you, or writing that’s more faithful to the complexities of real life and real history. For that would be a bit more difficult to do than pulling out stock villains in flowing robes, funny hats toting suitcases full of money.

So according to The Da Vinci Code, Catholics are the only Christians?

For more of the same, visit her weblog or read her book.

For all Dan Brown hates the Roman Catholic Church, I am happy to note that Catholics aren’t the only ones trying to counter Brown’s attacks. This has become a truly ecunmenical effort. Solidarity and contra mundum!

And a Lymon Chronicles Quiz

My cousin Eleanor Donlon found a slew of literature quizzes at TRIV.NET.

Freedom of Speech is Beautiful

Rene Gonzalez, University of Massachusetts graduate student:

. . . in my neighborhood in Puerto Rico, [Pat] Tillman would have been called a “pendejo,” an idiot. Tillman, in the absurd belief that he was defending or serving his all-powerful country from a seventh-rate, Third World nation devastated by the previous conflicts it had endured, decided to give up a comfortable life to place himself in a combat situation that cost him his life. This was not “Ramon or Tyrone,” who joined the military out of financial necessity, or to have a chance at education. This was a “G.I. Joe” guy who got what was coming to him.

Jack Wilson University of Massachusetts president:

[Gonzalez’s comments are] a disgusting, arrogant and intellectually immature attack on a human being who died in the serviced to his country.

Sen. Brian Lees, Senate Minority Leader:

It’s a sad day when a student is calling a hero an idiot . . . It’s because of people like Pat Tillman that he can write things like this.

Sen. Robert Hedlund, University of Massachusetts alum:

I am just embarrassed and offended by this article. I think the author was a nitwit.

Jeff Krohn, University of Massachusetts student:

I want everyone on this board to write to the college paper at Umass, this article was in our school paper, and it is the most disrespectful article ive ever seen.

Rene Gonzalez, University of Massachusetts graduate student:

I cannot support troops that have dishonored themselves by serving in a dishonorable war, and much less consider them heroes.

Anonymous Student, Arizona State University Message Board:

. . . you singled out and denigrated the name and memory of an individual who never did harm to you simply to further your cause. A morally cheap and desultory journalistic technique, I might add. It would seem that the real “pendejo” is showing her true colors.

Editorial Board, Massachusetts Daily Collegian:

[H]is views in no way reflect the opinion of our editorial board or staff.

Anonymous Student, Arizona State University Message Board:

. . . we need to contact the advertisers and tell them we are going to boycott their products, unless we get a written & formal apology from Rene Gonzales and the UMASS paper to Pat Tillman & his family.

Richard Bevin, Ad Sponsor:

My ad on that paper is being pulled . . .

Rene Gonzalez, University of Massachusetts graduate student:

I offer my apologies to the Tillman family . . . Despite my disagreements with them over the meaning of their son’s death and the wars that we are fighting, I shouldn’t have been so insensitive.

Free speech kudos all around.

Bob Kerrey, Class Clown

Bob Kerrey has a severe lack of manners and a dearth of class:

Kerrey took advantage of his terrorist-induced celebrity to appear on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Now, it would be one thing if Kerrey used his privileged position to inform Stewart’s younger audience of the gravity of the 9/11 panel’s task. But instead, Kerrey yukked it up. First, he dished with Stewart about President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney’s upcoming private meeting with the commission. When Stewart mocked the president’s “buddy system,” Kerrey guffawed: “He is bringing his buddy, that’s exactly right, for safety.” Emboldened by audience applause, Kerrey riffed that it was more like “Screw you, buddy.” Asked by Stewart whether people were really blaming each other over the terrorist attacks during closed hearings, Kerrey snorted: “Oh, Jee-zus, yeah.” More audience approval. (Taking the Lord’s name in vain is always good for a few cheap laughs.)

Next, echoing a profanity uttered earlier in the show, Kerrey blurted out with a clownish grin: “Life is [expletive bleeped].” When Stewart proposed that Kerrey ask the vice president, “What the [expletive bleeped] is wrong with you people?” Kerrey cracked up and promised to use the question. And when Stewart called Attorney General John Ashcroft a “big [expletive bleeped],” Kerrey chortled some more.

What a buffoon.

National Pride

Oklahoma has explicitly permitted the posting of the phrases “E Pluribus Unum” and “In God We Trust” in their classrooms.

So has Alabama.

Shall We Sing?

Happy Birthday to you!!
Happy Birthday to you!!
Happy Birthday, dear Steven!!
Happy Birthday to you!!

You’re old enough to vooooooooooooooooooote . . .

I Couldn’t Make This Stuff Up

Hillary Clinton is complaining about Bush to the Arab newspapers.

Was that the wisest political move to make? Nah.

Will she be called on it? Nope.

Literary I Am Not

I could not make it beyond the intermediate level of The Shakespeare Quiz and the game is merely afoot in the Sherlock Holmes Quiz.

I hang my head in shame, oh cousin, my cousin (i.e. Eleanor Donlon.)

UPDATE: I earned an “Excellent, Watson!” in the Sherlock Holmes quiz. Apparently, I needed a warm-up.

No Child Need Be Aborted

The Missionaries of Charity will accept any child for adoption. They have a home in Washington, DC and many other places for babies in need of adoption.

I didn’t realize this, so it’s a good thing the Granola Conservative did.