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REYNOLDS |
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Should I play Grand Theft
Auto?
by John Mark Reynolds [author,
academic] 5/13/08
Bottom Line: Much
as I love gaming, I personally cannot justify playing Grand Theft Auto. This
post is an attempt to get people who will thoughtlessly pick up this game
to at least consider whether it is a good idea to play. I understand the
desire to play, but cannot make it work for me. Here I rehearse my (initial)
thoughts to provoke conversation. I am of course willing to change my mind
(as I did on the value of Buffy).
The Argument:
What is the justification
for playing Grand Theft Auto?
The easy answer: “It
is fun." [more]
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PRELUTSKY |
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Observations On The Fly
by Burt
Prelutsky [scriptwriter] 5/12/08
Living in L.A., I sometimes think I spend less time sleeping than tied up in traffic. In order that the time spent idling on the freeway shouldn’t be a total loss, I occasionally jot myself a note. After a while, I gather up these random musings just for you. This is such an occasion. No thanks necessary, as I’m sure you’d do the same for me.
To begin with, while listening to somebody on my car radio mention that, thanks to people being more health and diet-conscious than they used to be, 60 is the new 50, and 50 is the new 40, I found myself wondering if these days, a college degree, particularly one in liberal arts, is the new high school diploma.
Next, although I am not as favorably disposed to President Bush as I used to be, I do not understand why so many people who write to me, attacking the man, so frequently allude to the Patriot Act. I invariably write back asking what specific freedoms they have lost over the past few years. Usually, I don’t get an answer. [more]
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REYNOLDS |
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McCain, the Republican Base...
and a Dumb Idea on the Left
by John Mark Reynolds [author,
academic] 5/9/08
Picking on the reasoning of much of what appears at the Huffington Post feels unworthy, as if one is ignoring mother’s advice to not pick on the little kids.
The Huff-Po is so predictably irrational that usually it is best just to ignore it. However, the Huff-Po does have interesting writers and some good (unpredictable) thinkers. It also attracts some younger writers . . . and there is always hope in any interaction with youth!
One of them has argued that John McCain has a “base problem” as evidenced by votes against him in the primaries. [more]
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GORIN |
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Hate-Loving Whitey
by Julia
Gorin [pundit/comedian] 5/8/08
The Washington Times recently reported that "the church where Sen. Barack Obama has worshipped for two decades publicly declares that its ministry is founded on a 1960s book that espouses ‘the destruction of the white enemy.’ Trinity United Church of Christ’s Web site says its teachings are based on the black liberation theology of James H. Cone and his 1969 book ‘Black Theology and Black Power.’ …Conrad Worrill, a leader of the Chicago-based National Black United Front, said…’I think most black people would agree that what Jeremiah Wright said is the truth.’"
It sure is ironic, then, that a parishioner of such a church, with the full backing of the church, would be seeking to inhabit the White House.
Or not.
After all, it’s part of a widely noticed but not often spoken of pattern among black Americans. Starting with soda, for example. Most white people drink Coke or Pepsi -- the dark sodas, in other words. But black people consistently prefer Sprite. That is, the clear or ‘white’ soda. ‘Sprite’ even rhymes with ‘white’. [more]
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REYNOLDS |
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Obama’s United Church of Christ: Moderate?
by John Mark Reynolds [author,
academic] 5/7/08
On the Hugh Hewitt Show on April 30, 2008, Andrew Sullivan described Senator Obama as being a voice for “moderate” Christianity.
This may, for all I know, be true of his personal piety (one hopes so), but it is not true of his choice of church groups.
Whatever the merits of Senator Obama as a candidate for President, Senator Obama is an active member of one of the most liberal church groups in the United States. From a Catholic, Orthodox, and traditional Protestant perspective (which pretty much runs the gamut!), it has a highly deficient statement of faith. One can be a member without holding anything like traditional Christian ideas.
Don’t take my word for it. Read their web site. [more]
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GIFFONE |
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Don’t Bet Too Low, Don’t Fold Too Soon
a review of Turn the River
by Susan Giffone [media reviewer/critic] 5/6/08
A nineteen-year-old Catholic seminarian falls for a twenty-five-year-old female card shark/pool hustler, impregnates her, and marries her. The seminarian’s mother digs up the pool hustler’s deep, dark past and uses it to convince her to divorce the seminarian, and give up the baby. Twelve years later, mama/shark/hustler wants her baby back, and she makes plans to do so using the only means at her disposal: playing high-stakes pool.
Compelling films have been constructed on flimsier premises.
Writer and director Chris Eigeman follows his plot outline faithfully to its logical conclusion in Turn the River (rated R for language). Hard-living Kailey (Famke Janssen) plays poker and pool, smokes drinks, sleeps on pool tables -- and never once eats anything. Her son, twelve-year-old Gulley (newcomer Jaymie Dornan), meanwhile, divides his time between a stiff and confining Catholic school and his toxic father, David (Matt Ross). Kailey begins a clandestine correspondence with Gulley with the help of her mentor Quinn (played by a gruff, but loveable, Rip Torn). Kailey meets Gulley in the park before school every few weeks, exchanges letters with him through Quinn, plays games of pool, and socks away her winnings in the back of her truck. [more]
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PRELUTSKY |
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Liberals And Their False Idols
by Burt
Prelutsky [scriptwriter] 5/5/08
There are major differences between liberals and conservatives, and that’s why I never know what people such as Barack Obama are talking about when they speak of bringing us all together. And I suspect that Jeremiah Wright’s surrogate son doesn’t know, either.
For instance, if I support the surge in Iraq and you insist on bringing the troops home by next Thursday, what’s our compromise? Bringing our troops only partway home? Say as far as the Canary Islands?
If you’re in favor of same-sex marriages and I happen to think the whole idea is a very silly joke, where’s our common ground? Doing away with opposite-sex marriages? [more]
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REYNOLDS |
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Who Should Be Veep for McCain?
by John Mark Reynolds [author,
academic] 5/5/08
Theodore Roosevelt was such a dynamic candidate that he towered over the President who chose him as running mate. Even though the popular Rough Rider may have helped William McKinley, there is little doubt that McKinley would have won with just about anybody not criminally insane (or at least known to be criminally insane) on the ticket.
I cannot think of one vice-presidential pick that has won or lost a race by him or Ferraro-self. A vice-presidential pick can do some harm even to a winner (Quayle for Bush), help a loser (Bentson for Dukakis) or he may do no harm, but not help much either (Kemp for Dole, Cheney for Bush). It is even hard to think of a recent case where a vice presidential pick “delivered” a state, unless one is ancient enough to think of 1960 as recent (Johnson helped in Texas by hook and by crook). Edwards could not do it for Kerry to cite on recent example of failure. [more]
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PETERS |
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The Rev & The Global Victim's Club
by Ralph
Peters [author,
novelist] 5/2/08
The saddest aspect of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's tirades is neither his dishonest charges, nor his egocentric claim to speak for all black churches, nor even the harm he's done to the dreams of his best-known parishioner.
The sorrow and the pity of it all is that the Chicago pastor, who's reveling in his 15 minutes of fame, is only one of many demagogues in all races and creeds who foster cults of victimization around the globe.
And nothing is more certain to keep those at the bottom down than self-appointed messiahs who assure them they'll always be victims. [more]
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