A Thinking Reed

  • Friday metal – sci-fi concept video edition

    As I Lay Dying, who I’ve been listening to a lot lately, appear to have made a sequel to this video: Here’s installment two: It’s not entirely clear what’s going on, but it’s a rather bleak, Orwellian future and there’s some bad mojo going down.

  • Doctrine and personal faith

    Fr. Chris makes an important distinction. I want the church to coporately uphold the historic Christian faith even when I personally experience doubts (not an uncommon occurrence).

  • Umbrellas and mushroom clouds

    Maybe instead of debating how far to extend our “nuclear umbrella” we should be re-thinking the morality of nuclear retaliation itself. Is it ok to threaten our enemies (real or potential) with mass, indiscriminate slaughter?

  • More papal linkage

    Wayne Pacelle of the Humane Society has an appreciatvie post on Benedict’s public statements about our treatment of animals. E.J. Dionne on the Pope’s discomforting words for the Right and the Left.

  • The pope: still Catholic

    One of the puzzling things about the Pope’s visit has been the media’s mantra-like repitition of the fact that Benedict believes that Catholicism is the “one true faith,” as though this was something odd or eccentric. The obvious and snarky response to this astonished observation is that, well, he is the Pope. But more to…

  • Shoe size

    Here’s a new version of the ecological footprint quiz. Despite the fact that I a) don’t own a car and b) walk virtually everywhere I go, I scored pretty badly in the travel category, and I think virtually all of it can be chalked up to air travel. In his book Heat, George Monbiot tried…

  • Bell’s Amber Ale

    I was in the mood to try something new the other day, and the guy at my local liquor store recommended this to me. It’s quite good. Brewed in Michigan, it’s got a nice hoppy flavor, but sweet and complex. Too many American microbrews these days seem to be trying to out-hop each other.

  • Meta-blog

    I’m still trying to figure out how to work regular blogging into my new, less flexible, schedule, as you may have noticed from the erratic posting. I’ve been shooting for posting a series of shorter posts once or twice during the week with maybe a longer essay on the weekends. I still haven’t quite figured…

  • Farm bill folly

    I caught part of this Bill Moyers interview with Bread for the World‘s president Rev. David Beckman. Rev. Beckman talked a lot about the farm bill currently wending its way through Congress and how its distorted system of subsidies rewards big landowners and hurts poor people, both here and abroad. Worth watching if you’re interested.…

  • Meat in a vat

    It’s funny, from the standpoint of animal suffering I ought to be all for this, but something about it still gives me the heebie jeebies. I’ll have to think a bit more about why that is.