Who is to say?

From every page of A Great Idea at the Time: The Rise, Fall, and Curious Afterlife of the Great Books, author Alex Beam whispers: put down the Aristotle and pick up the remote. Stop reading that Dostoevsky text and start responding 2 a txt. There is a Dog the Bounty Hunter to watch, internet porn to surf, Grand Theft Auto IV to play. Conform... Beam's snobbishness toward a movement spreading great books to mediocre minds strangely morphs into egalitarianism when he attacks the project's contention that some books truly are great. Who's to say Jane Austin over Danielle Steele, Aristotle over Deepak Chopra, Thomas Aquinas over Richard Dawkins?

by Daniel J. Flynn, more @ http://tinyurl.com/mxmfup (ISI)

What Is a Book Review?

"For what is a book review if not—at least in part—a narcissistic self-display?" - Jonathan Gottschall in his review of Geoffrey Miller's Spent

needed to cure AIDS: 1. a humanization of sexuality; 2. a true friendship

During his flight to Cameroon, March 17, 2009, the pope had said within the context of the interview that "I can say that this problem of AIDS can't be overcome only with publicity slogans. If there is not the soul, if the Africans are not helped, the scourge can't be resolved with the distribution of condoms; on the contrary, there is the risk of increasing the problem. The solution can only be found in a double commitment; first, a humanization of sexuality, that is, a spiritual and human renewal that brings with it a new way of behaving with one another; and second, a true friendship, also and above all for those who suffer, the willingness -- even with sacrifice and self denial -- to be with the suffering. And these are the factors that help and that lead to visible progress".

 

from http://www.zenit.org/article-25895?l=english
 

music inspired by Tristan & Iseult

http://twitter.com/lobstermayo/statuses/1784279894

The medieval tale of Tristan and Iseult came to Patrick Ball when he found a tiny book tucked between some large folios in a library.... "The version I found and adapted was from the 20th century translation from the French by Hilaire Belloc," Ball said. "I love the characteristics of the prose and the beauty of the writing. There's something enchanting about the phrasing. It takes you back to the way they expressed things in the Middle Ages.

"In these times of hair-shirt capitalism..."

http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2009/05/11/oprah-its-great-to-have-a-private-jet/

Jack Kemp, St Thomas More, and G.K. Chesterton

http://twitter.com/lobstermayo/statuses/1763034884

"Many people ask, 'How can you be a Christian and still be involved in politics?'" Kemp asked rhetorically. "How can you be a Christian today and not be involved in politics?" ... He went on to cite the Broadway play "A Man For All Seasons" where St. Thomas More and politician Richard Rich discuss how important it is to do the right thing in society to nurture the soul even when the public does not know ... In Kemp's address at Liberty University, he quoted British Catholic G.K. Chesterton, who said that Christian heroes are "a paradox of great humility in the matter of their sins combined with great ferocity in the matter of their ideas."

I doubt Winston Churchill ever said, "Whatever."

- Christopher Buckley, Mum and Pup and Me