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wJeremiads |
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"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored." -Aldous Huxley
You've stumbled upon the website of Jeremy Lott. (To learn more about me, go here.) I can be reached at JEREMYAL123 -- AT -- YAHOO.COM.
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wSaturday, September 28, 2002 |
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LOTT ON GRACE ON THE WAR: Kevin Michael Grace sends a link to the transcript of this radio commentary of his on the likely war on Iraq. He makes the "conservative case" against the war and calls all supporters of the war "neocons" who are guilty of a new Wilsonian "heresy."
Well, maybe, but I'm not so sure.
As long-time readers know, I am not a warblogger or a neo anything. A recent essay was spiked from The American Prospect for being "too isolationist" (which I thought, and still think, is a crock, especially given that publication's ongoing frettings over Iraq).
Moreover, I have written weighed both sides of a pre-emptive defense policy and warned that, according to the Just War Theory, Bush had better be careful about lining his ducks up when it comes to military conflicts. I also opposed the war in Kosovo (though it is no longer online, the column was entitled "Canadian Bacon War") and have never felt the need to support one side of a fight just because that is the popular one. I am, in short, one of the last persons to be expected to support war in Iraq.
And yet... I might. That most of the arguments for war are inadequate (e.g. Rich Lowry's musings that, "Oh my gosh, Becky!" - not an actual quote - Iraq might attempt to shoot down U.S. planes that are flying over... Iraq) does not invalidate the good arguments - perhaps convincing arguments - for war. Then again, in my opinion, there are only a few reasonable arguments for war and I am too wrapped up in finishing a book this weekend to line up the ducks in my own head and lay them out. More after next Tuesday (which happens to be my birthday).
Till then,
Jeremy
posted by
Jeremy at 7:55 PM
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MY CONTRIBUTION TO THE GLOBALIZATION PROTESTS: Two old pieces. The first asks the cheeky (but not tongue-in-cheeky) question, Is globalization Christian? It formed the basis of a class presentation after which I was surprised that I wasn't stoned to death. The second is a review of a rather lame book by a couple of Marxists.
posted by
Jeremy at 7:09 PM
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COSH AIN'T GONNA LIKE THIS: Picked up the September 30 issue of National Review only to discover that Florence King has resigned. That wasn't a huge surprise to me - her column seemed of late to be puttering along rather than going somewhere - but her voice will be missed. For fans, there will be one more book for the road: a collection of NR essays .
posted by
Jeremy at 7:03 PM
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wFriday, September 27, 2002 |
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SPIKE: An impolitic thought: If they ever find the body of Osama bin Laden, it should be given a Christian burial.
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Jeremy at 12:11 AM
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wThursday, September 26, 2002 |
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ANDREW AGONISTES: My thoughts on Andrew Sullivan's... eclectic Catholicism, revised, expanded, and now with a special treat at the bottom of the box. A sample:
"We Protestants -- and that may be the one and only time I use that particular phrase -- are schismatics to our very bones. Sullivan would have no difficulty finding a niche or a cubby hole in the myriad of mutations that continue to spew forth from the revolution that Luther and Calvin started and would no doubt be aghast at. You want to handle snakes? No problem. Bark for Jesus? Hey, make a joyful noise unto the Lord. You swing both ways? Well, there is this really happening church downtown..."
posted by
Jeremy at 11:53 PM
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BLOGGER NOTES: Kvestion: What's the difference between Blog Spot Plus and Blogger Pro?
posted by
Jeremy at 8:49 PM
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GOOD GOD: Nick Gillespie has nice things to say about the Bush administration's "Axis of Evil" formula. What is the world coming to when your favorite misanthropic, anti-Republican former editor complements the Bush administration's (arguably) most vitriolic posture? At this rate, I might as well enlist, or move to Canada.
posted by
Jeremy at 7:21 PM
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wTuesday, September 24, 2002 |
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IF I WAS MICKEY KAUS: Then I'd assign this piece to Sara Rimensnyder and suggest that she give it a good thrashing. It's one of those lame open letters to Ann Coulter by the editor of something called the Centre Daily Times telling her that his paper will no longer be carrying her column because it encourages hate, and distortion, and kicking puppies. [Kicking puppies? - ed. OK I made that bit up but he does write that calling the Kennedys "a collection of 'heroin addicts, convicted killers, cheaters, bottleggers and dissolute drunks'" was the column that tore it. Fair enough - ed.]
posted by
Jeremy at 11:57 PM
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AHAHAHA!: Actually Cosh, if memory serves, you linked to me first. And what's an atheist doing contemplating angels, huh? For shame.
posted by
Jeremy at 11:45 PM
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UNSOLICITED ADVICE: When an editor of a business magazine calls you, expresses interest in your work, and invites you to fire out an idea or two, don't propose a story with "greed is bad" in the title.
posted by
Jeremy at 11:38 PM
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BLOGGER NOTES: When I'm setting up articles on the mirror site, there is often the problem of elfed up permalinks. I get around this by posting something at the top, linking to the site itself, and then changing the links a few days later when the permalink is available.
posted by
Jeremy at 11:31 PM
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wSunday, September 22, 2002 |
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AND IN THIS CORNER: He he, I'd love to be a fly on the wall at tomorrow's editorial meeting for The Report. First, Terry O'Neill wrote a piece slamming the medicinal use of marijuana, which ended by comparing pro-legalizers to Goebbels. Then Colby Cosh fired back on his website with a rebuttal that was both rigorous and quite mocking (best line: "First they legalized weed, and then they came for the Jews...we were all too stoned to do anything but giggle, man..."). I'd score the debate thus far in Cosh's favor (however, as I'm on record as saying that we have a Constitutional right to get as high as a kite, you might want to peruse it for yourownselves) but that editorial meeting ought to be hopping.
posted by
Jeremy at 11:29 PM
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wSaturday, September 21, 2002 |
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THIS WASN'T SPIKED: Just overtaken by actual events. Seattle was all set to vote on an initiative that would have added a tax on espresso beverages for the purpose of funding pre-school (don't ask) but the signature gatherers didn't do a particularly punctual job. It has been postponed until next year, thus making much of what I had to say in this article dated but not entirely irrelevant. In fact, I'm rather proud of it, even if it will never see the light of newsprint. A sample:
"But the Times' news coverage has got to take the cake for sheer orgasmic agreement (yes! yes! yes!) and lack of any opposing voices.
"A May article by staff reporter Linda Shaw rarely bothered to attribute its transcribed talking points to the members of the ELCC. 'At most,' Shaw informed readers, people with a healthy latte habit will get stuck with 'an additional $110 a year' in fees. This would be 'less than the 25-cent charge Starbucks recently introduced for those who ... order and pay for lattes by cell phone' to avoid lines. According to ELCC treasurer Michael Kasprzak, 'most people will scarcely notice [the tax]' and, in the event that they do, it'll 'give consumers one more reason to order those double talls.' The title of the piece serves as a Rosetta stone for why otherwise sensible people are falling all over themselves to support this initiative, or at least to duck the whole debate: 'Espresso as a boost for you – and kids.'" [more]
posted by
Jeremy at 2:27 PM
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MY REGULAR E-MAIL'S BACK UP
posted by
Jeremy at 10:42 AM
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STYLE NOTE: I'm going to try to switch to Canadian spelling, for reasons that should eventually be obvious, so you hoseheads can go ahead and spell check my ass and I won't take any offense.
posted by
Jeremy at 10:41 AM
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wFriday, September 20, 2002 |
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SULLY'D: I still read Andrew Sullivan and occasionally enjoy him but he has largely lost his ability to shock. The other day, however, was an exception. In response to Philip Jenkins' argument on display in the current Atlantic (my reviews of the book from which it is pulled are here and here; and here's a review of another Jenkins book) about the future of Christianity, Sullivan basically throws in the towel and admits that his brand of Catholicism does not stand a snowball's chance. I'm serious, go read it.
posted by
Jeremy at 5:56 PM
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E-PROBLEMS: If you need to e-mail me today, use my backup e-mail address: jeremyal123-at-hotmail-dot-com (dashes and spelled out dot are to frustrate would-be spammers).
posted by
Jeremy at 11:15 AM
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DA LIDDLE GUY: Shame on me for not weighing in yet on Jean Chrétien's announced departure from Canadian politics and subsequent ignorant spouting off about the U.S. and terrorism. Friend and Enter Stage Right editor Steve Martinovich ("Gord Gekko" back in the day) takes him out to the woodshed in this op ed for the Jerusalem Post.
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Jeremy at 11:07 AM
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GOT BACK LAAAATE: From last night's Great Big Sea concert in Van at the Orpheum. (My only comment on the whole affair is that Peter Bagge had a point.) Just missed the Lynden border closing and had to tack an extra 45 minutes onto my drive.
posted by
Jeremy at 11:01 AM
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wTuesday, September 17, 2002 |
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THE PITHY ONE SPEAKS: In his Hill of Beans column today, Chris Caldwell tallies the votes on the U.N. Security Council (Bush wins), takes a fun shot at peacemongering bishops ("Is that Catholic doctrine now? Or is it leftism hiding under a cassock?") and rises to the defense of Jeb's druggie daughter Noelle Bush:
"It is tempting to snicker at drug warriors hoist[ed] by their own petards. But those of us who at her age were still waist-deep in loserdom would be contemptible if we gave in to that impulse."
posted by
Jeremy at 1:56 PM
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THE THINGS I MISS...: Evan McElravy also had some nice things to say about my September 11 piece, even if he reluctantly disagrees with me. I read his blog regularly but somehow glossed over this one last Wednesday.
posted by
Jeremy at 1:50 PM
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HIGH HOLY CHURCH OF ECONOMICS: Here's my take on Robert Nelson's wicked new book Economics as Religion.
posted by
Jeremy at 11:08 AM
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I TAKE THAT BACK: Quite a few people did take note of my September 11 piece but neglected to inform me of this fact. To wit, blogger Joanne McNeil called the article "offensively jaded," which is an insult that's just dying to be stolen. (She also discloses that I'm the guy she "lost the internship" to.) And, wonder of wonders, the Washington Times appears to have picked up the whole thing. I kind of like how they turned John Ellis'"prose poem" into verse:
Hanging on the ledge.
Heat from the fire burning their backs.
The last 10 seconds before the last 10 seconds of free fall.
... (T)he sound of the dead weight of one jumper and then the next,
hitting the roof over the entrance.
A dreadful thud.
And another.
And another.
Osama did that.
posted by
Jeremy at 11:00 AM
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BLOGGER NOTES: Spent hours yesterday trying to update the site only to learn, repeatedly, that Blogger couldn't find the template. How one can lose a template is beyond me but what I finally did to solve the problem was peruse the list of available templates and - you guessed it - pick this same one again.
posted by
Jeremy at 10:49 AM
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wMonday, September 16, 2002 |
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MY MONTHLY BOOKS & CULTURE/CHRISTIANITY TODAY COLUMN: Is up. It's on the history of the VW Bug (Herbie Goes Bananas). Oh, and let me red-flag a passage for you silly literalists out there: "A generation of strife and bruised arms has resulted from that barbaric game Slug Bug."
posted by
Jeremy at 12:01 PM
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wFriday, September 13, 2002 |
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(I)RATE: Wow. Read this piece (by moi) on a stupid book on bioterrorism and then this CT editorial. They read me; they really read me! (Cue laugh track.)
posted by
Jeremy at 5:43 PM
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THE GREAT SENATE SHELL GAME: Republicans, as a rule, don't salivate. So when you read those stories which explain that Republicans are "salivating" at the prospect of getting control of the Senate back during the lame duck term... don't believe them.
The buzz was that, because of Missouri election law, if Jean Carnahan - current senator and widow of the corpse who beat Ashcroft (stop laughing!) -loses to Jim Talent, he would immediately take the seat, which would toss control of the world's most exclusive club to the Elephants. However... oh, I'll just let Rod Martin tell the whole sordid tale.
posted by
Jeremy at 5:33 PM
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MEMO TO THE STUPID PARTY: When will the GOP learn that it is impossible to outspend the Dems? Yeah, I know, rhetorical question.
The Prowler (scroll down) has this doozy of a story in which Bush & Co. were finally about to put their feet down and veto an extra $6 billion farm relief bill only to discovery that it had sailed through the Senate with a veto proof majority. This, I remind, was on top of the budget busting regular farm bill passed earlier this year.
So now the prez can either veto the bill, which will probably be overridden, and lose a few farm states or sign it and signal the death of any hope of future fiscal restraint. Oooh,oooh, what's behind door number two, Alex?
posted by
Jeremy at 5:25 PM
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wThursday, September 12, 2002 |
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CHRIS CALDWELL UPDATE: Good stuff from The Pithy One in three places. On the Weekly Standard Online, he argued that, "In a Clintonesque way, President Bush is beginning to cleave the American public into two uneasy halves--opponents fulminating at his attempts to bamboozle, and supporters chuckling at his vanity." A slightly more heavy piece for Slate, a book review of New York Times reporter Chris Hodges' War, takes a pretty fun slap at Hodges' insistence that America is descending into anti-Arabic and anti-Islamic bigotry:
"The reaction of Americans since Sept. 11 has been less to calumniate Islam than to study it. Has Hedges been in a bookstore lately, where the Islam-and-the-Middle-East section has metastasized from a 12-inch shelf into an entire wall? Meanwhile, we're being led into war by a politically correct president whose Orwellian motto is 'Islam Is Peace.'"
Finally, his Hill of Beans column this week doesn't disappoint. In fact, he even managed to make me feel sorry for Bob Beckel - almost.
posted by
Jeremy at 11:19 AM
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COLUMN DU JOURNO: Well, I got very few responses to my September 11 piece and only one telling me to get out of the country. I probably wouldn't even have received that if it wasn't for the fact that WorldNetDaily made the piece the column du jour today. Other than WND, it is a piece that literally nobody - or at least nobody that I'm aware of - chose to link to, even to argue with it.
Not that I'm complaining. I am not an idealist but once a while I feel... compelled to write something, come hell or higher rejection rates.
posted by
Jeremy at 10:46 AM
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wTuesday, September 10, 2002 |
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(NEVER) FORGET: Got the first response back to my piece on September 11. The second sentence read, "Other than Clinton, I can't think of anyone I disagree with more." Sigh.
Look, for those of you who read the piece and strongly disagree with me, feel free to write but don't expect for me to respond. And in the event that I do respond, don't expect an argument. The issue is too emotionally charged to have a reasonable conversation, and it will probably remain so for quite some time. Just understand that, in a very palpable and non-Clintonesque way, the pain you are feeling is shared by this author.
Tomorrow, I will not put extra flags out (we already have a couple) or visit any graves, and I may even skip the noon national pledge of allegiance. I will spend the day getting a few pieces done. Or at least that's the plan, but I'm not sure how effective it'll be. More likely, I recently told a Canadian friend, I'll try to stay busy and fight back tears.
What an awful year this has been...
I'd write more but, for once, words fail me.
posted by
Jeremy at 11:17 PM
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AFRICA (AND ASIA AND LATIN AMERICA) RISING: My medium length review of Philip Jenkins' The Next Christendom was just posted by the Touchstone crew.
posted by
Jeremy at 2:15 PM
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GOOD NEWS: The September 11 piece should be published either today or tomorrow. I'll link it when it is.
posted by
Jeremy at 2:12 PM
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JUST AWFUL: My what a wonderfully elfed up day this turned out to be. Had a September 11 piece spiked early on and then spent several hours trying to place it. Still nothing concrete.
posted by
Jeremy at 12:53 AM
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wSunday, September 08, 2002 |
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MYSTIQUE ET SOMETHING OR OTHER: Writing of a recent dialogue with me that will find its way into print one of these days, Mark Cameron refers to me as a "Christian libertarian." While the description is technically correct - I am a Baptist and the only political label that would fit is libertarian - it's not a label that I like to use for myself. The reason is that "Christian libertarian" indicates some kind of grand synthesis of politics, philosophy, and religion, that I have never - nor probably will ever - work out.
posted by
Jeremy at 4:30 PM
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IS THE POPE A HERETIC: Read the exchange between moi and The Report's Kevin Michael Grace to find out.
posted by
Jeremy at 2:56 PM
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wSaturday, September 07, 2002 |
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CATHOLIC REDEEMER, PROTESTANT TRINITY: The speech last night went very well and there have been a few requests to make it available to a wider audience. Hey, your wish is my command.
posted by
Jeremy at 4:08 PM
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MACBLOGGER: Shame on me for not recommending friend and former TAP columnist Wendy McElroy's blog yet. A recent representative entry explains how Canada may be giving the U.S. military the right to invade the country in the event of a terrorist attack. She also relates in an aside how Canadians were asked to come up with a Maple Leafed equivalent for "As American as mom and apple pie." The winner: "As Canadian as possible under the circumstances."
posted by
Jeremy at 1:47 AM
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SPEECH: If anybody's interested, I'll be giving a speech this Friday evening at six o' clock at Redeemer Pacific College. The working title is "Me, God, Postmodernism, the Catholic Church, and the Bible."
posted by
Jeremy at 1:44 AM
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INSTA TRAFFIC: Just glanced at the site statistics of the last few weeks. While I plan to never divulge traffic stats on this site - because, among other reasons, I just don't care - there was one rather large spike last Thursday when Instapundit cast his glance this way. Thanks, Glenn.
posted by
Jeremy at 1:42 AM
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GREAT PIECE: By USA Today technology columnist Kevin Maney on starlett Hedy Lamarr's invention of spread spectrum technology. My favorite line:
"Lamarr became romantically involved with composer George Antheil. As the story goes, Lamarr was listening to Antheil play piano and was thinking about how to make an anti-jamming radio control for torpedoes.
"A little bizarre, don't you think? It's [a] wonder Antheil didn't back away slowly, then move to an undisclosed address in Greenland." [more]
posted by
Jeremy at 1:37 AM
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BRAZENLY SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION: I haven't seen the print version yet but apparently this profile of yours truly in the B.C. Catholic is a two page spread. The piece ("Baptist student puts college in the limelight") includes excerpts of an e-mail exchange that might make for interesting reading.
posted by
Jeremy at 12:12 AM
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ON APPLES FALLING FROM TREES: Well, my brother abruptly decided not to hassle with the education bureaucracy and to switch majors to human kinetics with a concentration in math. It’s the education department’s loss and their fault for treating him so shoddily. Well, two Lott boys in a row have switched their majors at TWU. I wonder if my kid brother, if he ever goes to Trinity, will do the same.
posted by
Jeremy at 12:05 AM
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wWednesday, September 04, 2002 |
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I ALMOST STARTED TO MISS SCHOOL: Then I had a run-in with one of Trinity's evil librarians last week - I was visiting campus - over the fact that I used the one of the library's computers to ... check my e-mail! I understand and even kind of agree with the rationing rationale behind not allowing the library computers to be used for that purpose but a) there was nobody else in the library and b) the computer lab was closed. The asshole gave me all kinds of hell but then backed off when I told him that I was a journalist, and was using the e-mail program to contact an editor.
Now my younger brother is having all kinds of fun bumping up against evil administrators who won't let him take three education classes his first semester, even though he's transferring in as a third year student; against the Pharisaic parking cops; and against a cafeteria whose food is one step removed from inedible. Ah, the memories...
posted by
Jeremy at 1:11 AM
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NEW CATHEDRAL: George Neumayr has nothing but bad things to say about the new Los Angeles cathedral and its patron, Cardinal Roger Mahony. Calling it a "superdome for syncretism," Neumayr opines that "were Mahony's predecessors alive to see the grand opening of the cathedral, they would have wondered what new Protestant sect had arrived in La-La land."
That's all well and bad, though I don't think I'd hire Neumayr for his expertise in critiquing architecture, but then he slips this little barb in on the side: "San Francisco has an equally confusing cathedral. It looks like a modern appliance."
The thing is, I've been to the cathedral in San Fran. It's far from the best looking cathedral in the world but it's not an eyesore either, and, contrary to his the comparative inference, it looks decidedly Catholic. Roger Mahony may deserve all the criticism that Neumayr wants to heap on him but the San Francisco cathedral does not.
posted by
Jeremy at 12:53 AM
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CHRIS CALDWELL ALERT: His new Hill of Beans column is a fun commentary on Hollywood's new Bright Idea, a real life Beverly Hillbillies:
"It takes a certain level of prior debasement by television to even want to be on a reality show. If you’ve ever seen fans jiggling their asses to "YMCA" between innings at a ballgame, in hopes of attracting the attention of the stadium cam, you’ll realize that Americans live to be on television, and the more bereft of inner resources they are, the more they live for it."
However, "reality television" is quite a bit different than "reality" proper:
"Is there any chance that we’ll follow one of the characters as he begins dealing drugs? Is there any chance we’ll get to see one of the characters harass his Jewish neighbors at their front door every night, telling them that until they take Jesus into their hearts they will be damned? Is there any chance of one of the characters expressing his attitudes about gays in an "authentically Appalachian" way? Say, with a baseball bat? No–there is not a smidgen of a shadow of a possibility that the slightest "reality" will creep into this reality tv. To the extent that there is, it will be purged from the show by its executives. We’ll have the NPR Hillbillies." [more]
posted by
Jeremy at 12:29 PM
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TOM WHITE'S BACK: Note to Reason, grab this guy for Friday Funnies.
posted by
Jeremy at 12:00 PM
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CORRECTION: A parenthetical quote in a post below on the new American Spectator was incorrect. It should have read "The new Spectator - under old management."
posted by
Jeremy at 11:40 AM
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MARVEL ZOMBIE ALERT: Here's a book review for The Report on the decline of Marvel Comics under Ron Perelman and its resuscitation under the current ownership. The book is anything but unslanted - the Marvel website is selling it - but a) it's a decent read and b) I think Raviv's conclusions are broadly correct.
posted by
Jeremy at 11:36 AM
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TODAY'S SIGN THAT THE END IS NEAR: McDonald's has decided to cut the fat in its french fries by half!
posted by
Jeremy at 11:31 AM
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wMonday, September 02, 2002 |
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GOOD LORD, IT'S ONLINE: Scroll down to page six, if you dare.
posted by
Jeremy at 5:01 PM
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BLOOMIN SMACKDOWN: In the Hudson Review, culture critic Joseph Epstein takes a few well-placed swings at uber lit crit Harold Bloom. He finds Bloom to be nigh unreadable and more full of himself than insightful. It’s a wonderfully vicious skewering (“Bloom’s great culture heroes are Emerson and Freud, who, in combination, yield a gasbag with a dirty mind”) which should prove, authoritatively, that Bloom is a) arrogant, b) difficult to read, and c) just plain wrong about a whole lot of stuff.
Having said that, Bloom’s not wrong as wrong about everything as Epstein implies. It’s a shame, for instance, the Epstein ignored Bloom’s The American Religion, which I reviewed for the November/December issue of Books & Culture
posted by
Jeremy at 4:54 PM
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ROPE A POPE: The Report's Kevin Michael Grace sure is down on JPII. He all but blames the pope for the current crisis in the American church and concludes that while many conservative Catholics think the pontiff will go down as "John Paul the Great," Grace proposes a different epitaph: "He travelled while Rome burned."
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Jeremy at 12:08 PM
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wSunday, September 01, 2002 |
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MY FAMOUS COLUMN: Promising to bolt the country if Al Gore won - I think I was about the only right-of-center pundit to do so - has now been posted on the mirror site.
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Jeremy at 1:12 AM
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SURPRISINGLY BALANCED LABOR EDITORIAL: In, of all places, The Seattle P.I. While the editors explain that "one of the most fundamental human rights is to withhold one's labor as a last resort in the demand for better compensation and working conditions" they question the wisdom of the planned Boeing, Longshoremen, and Washington State teachers' strikes. My job didn't exactly hit the floor, but, as these things go, it's a pretty good editorial.
posted by
Jeremy at 12:47 AM
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COSHED OFF: Turns out Colby Cosh didn't like my suggestion that The Report should give him his own regular column. Specifically, he tells me to "SHUT YOUR PIE HOLE THE HELL UP." Duly noted.
On the brighter side, it looks like I might have lunch this week with Kathy Shaidle!
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Jeremy at 12:42 AM
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BIGGER BROTHER: Good God, the headlines on Drudge tonight are depressing: "Bush Urges 'September of Service'"; "Bill Requires Skateboarders To Wear Helmets"; "Virginia Gov. Bans Lawn Watering"; "Domestic Concerns Take Center Stage in Congress Races."
"Grandperson," says M, "tell me again about the time when the era of big government ended."
posted by
Jeremy at 12:39 AM
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