The worst thing is that this, in effect, is a 60 percent tax on BOOKS, effected by means of price controls.
Mark that: BOOKS ARE BEING TAXED.
Books are the things that separate civilization from barbarism. The things that keep us from having to spear our own food and cook it over brushfires. The things that, more commonly, give us a worthwhile thing to do at the doctor's office.
And they drive up the price!
Admittedly, there's relatively few books worth buying in any case (browse any bookstore and you'll see what I mean), but those that are are being unjustly taxed.
Makes me wonder: are there laws on reselling books in Germany?
Drag out the principle of subsidarity, and we discover that whether one waters his lawn or not is a question best answered at the family level, or at most the neighborhood level. Certainly not the city level.
If I had my way, watering lawns would be discouraged in polite society. (I mean watering them with water. Don't be crude.)
Including a somewhat infamous "American Government" book from A Beka!
It favors Prohibition, something which I do not happen to favor. (I don't even favor this Prohibition.) Here's a choice quote from page 169 of this gem (American Government in Christian Perspective, 2nd edition, 1997, A Beka Books, Pensacola, FL.)
"During the Prohibition Era (1920-1933), God blessed the nation in many ways."
I shall name some things from the Prohibition era.
Sinclair Lewis Winnie the Pooh Al Capone short skirts Charles Lindbergh the Tommy Gun Jazz Margaret Sanger hip flasks Mickey Mouse cartoons
Or SUBTLY SATIRICAL COMMENT UPON AMERICAN CULINARY VALUES?
You decide.
For those interested, this was sung at the summer program I went to.
The Sucrose Inquisition is inquiring into the identity of the singer, the squash, and the cheeseburger. This video somehow awakened their latent suspicion.
''Bush is trying now to fool Pope Benedict XVI,'' Castro wrote. He predicted that during his visit to the Vatican this week Bush would tell the pontiff, ''The Iraq war doesn't exist, it hasn't cost a cent, there's not a single drop of blood. And hundreds of thousands of innocent people have not died in a shameful exchange for petroleum and gas.''
Yeah. Like Benedict would believe that. Like Bush would think it worth his while.
Seriously, the NYT mind as well hear this: in a totally unfamiliar culture half a planet away, many Muslims find the teaching that Christian society must die to be an excellent application of Islam. Perhaps they're wrong to think so, but WHO CARES? They're our enemies by choice.
And: who would say "Religion guided many Inquisitors in persecution of Spanish conversos plot?"
Demographers predict that there will be 40 million unmarried men in China by 2020 and the situation is already creating a dramatic rise in prostitution and the buying and selling of women.
I was sick on Sunday - had some kind of cold which gave me a headache. The bad side was that I felt bad and had to miss Mass. The good side is that I got some reading done - although nothing I haven't read before.
I reread Dune for the fifth or sixth time, and now have decided to inflict you with a review of it. It's going to be long in the gestation, however, as dealing with the freaky pyschology and wacky religion of Frank Herbert (let us not mention the drugs) is certain to be tough. However, the heart of the story - boy forced to save the world at the end of a complicated chain of events, planned and otherwise - is excellent. The best thing is that there is free will - although the hero sees into the future, there are multiple possibilities, and he cannot know all the paths ahead. This is important in the later part of the book.
Darn, I'm giving away much of the book already. Here's a distraction.
It's called "Kitty Looking Out Upon Landscape Illuminated By Burning Trees Causing Global Warming And Bad Grammar Now." Note the symbolism of the box (which originally stored coffee), the near-empty kitty food bowl, and the upturned wagon. It is a powerful of statement. I am selling unsigned prints at $200 each. Add $30 for signatures.
Here's another, showing that hubris is more common than I thought.
God's College is pretty darned good though.
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Sometimes I hate this generation, and tell myself it's the dregs of history, that it couldn't get worse. And then I see things like this, from the 60s.
And I feel better.
I just snagged my cargo pants on the knob of a desk, shaking it awfully and spooking my relatives.
Which raises the question: how was St. Paul a Fascist-Marxist before both Fascism and Marxism existed?
If each line of this blogpost is a century, and this is St. Paul's century.... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ...then this is the century in which Fascism and Marxism were created.
Shows that just having a professorial position at Oxford doesn't prove that you can talk sense.
Of course, any amount of bull is allowed in defense of You Know What Sort Of Deviations.
(Speaking of which: I liked that little "crosshair" dot for the i in the sign. How better to seem nice and civil than to stick crosshairs into political messages?)
Maybe our country isn't in total thrall to Satan yet.
Speaking of "thrall to Satan," in the Dallas Morning News there was an article on foreign responses to the VA Tech shootings; the London Times asked why Americans "tolerate gun laws and a culture that seems to condemn thousands of innocents to death every year..."
We don't seem to condemn "thousands of innocents" to death, London Times; we do condemn thousands of innocents to death every year. And folks make good money doing it, too. And a large lobby protects the Constitutional right to own abortifacents and abortion equipment.
And don't get all hoity-toity about it, either. We need a hand out of the Pit.
2. Why should a ‘folk’ group have a sound system roughly the size of a Rolling Stones tour ca. 1976?
3. The GIRM provides for periods of silence in Mass. Have you read this?
4. Why are folk groups nearly always ‘led’ by a woman - not very inclusive is it? (and if you are so keen on actuosa particpatio why is everything pitched for castrati?)
5. Why do folk groups dress for a midweek trip to the pub rather than an encounter with the Lord God Almighty?
6. Why does every intro start “Dum-dum-dum-dum-chinga-dum-chinga-dum-chinga….”?
7. Is there no folk setting for Faith of our Fathers or Sweet Sacrament Divine? (It’s always Eagle’s Wings and the like)
8. Given that proper folk artists like Kate Rusby produce music which is by turns melodic, plaintive or joyous, how come most folk groups sound like The Wurzels?
9. Do you really have to start loud conversations immediately after Mass in/in front of the Sanctuary as you dismantle your equipment and as other people are making their thanksgiving after Mass?
10. How do I get rid of you?
Me:
'Cause then everyone can see the musicians, who are the Star Attraction.
Well, it was either that or donate the extra money in the choir budget to the poor.
"Silence?" You mean that Simon and Garfunkl song?
Men think it's sissy to lead a choir, and we want them to keep thinking like that. Besides, who doesn't love squeaky female voices pounding out "Gather Us In?" Surely not you recusants!
What's disrespectful about ragged jeans and tube tops? Or Hawaiian shirts that expose the navel and 6 inches of hair (for the men, of course)? We wear these to job interviews, blast it!
Because we don't know the "Bum, bum badadabumbum, badadum bump badadumdum..." that Jefferson Airplane used in "White Rabbit."
Can't we talk about something else?
I luv the Wurzels! Don't insult them!
No. But it's fun, ain't it?
Six words: "Can you sing "Alma Redemptoris Mater?"
You can party if you like. I can't stop you, and since God doesn't try to, I don't want to. But turn the music down a notch, will you? It's coming out the bathroom floor.
And just remember: they're not selling the video game. They are selling "Hitman: Blood Money" at Target, if you have infernal cash to burn.
stored in antiques and miserly hoarded prudently amassed by a Baptist minister. (So he could repay the church that hired him - and lodged him in a mansion!)
