"Better to be cast out of the Church than to deny Christ."
Books
‘Hunter’ Is an Intriguing Thriller, Weakened By Its Own Concept
“… They even make virtues out of ‘humility’ and ‘turning the other cheek’ and ‘loving everybody.’ Because it alleviates their guilt. It’s much nicer to pretend to yourself that your passivity makes you a saint, rather than just another gutless puke who won’t take a stand for what’s right.”
The passage above kind of encapsulates my ambivalence about the novel HUNTER: A Thriller, by Robert Bidinotto. There’s much to enjoy and appreciate in the book, and it promotes some ideas with which I strongly agree. But in my view it’s taken a little farther than I, as a Christian, can endorse. It’s not merely that I disagree with the Randian point of view on display here; I think the treatment weakens the argument (and the story) in some ways. . . .
Shelby’s ‘Killer Swell’ Is . . . Pretty Swell
Lars Walker has often written about the archetype of the American private eye. Particularly the fact that he’s often a figure of male fantasy. What guy, in his heart, doesn’t sometimes dream of living unfettered, setting his own hours, having uncommitted sex with a series of dangerous dames, and being the Spillaneian Jury?. . . .
Disappointing Look at an American Poet
If you’re a culture vulture as I am, you don’t often associate Michigan with poetry, and when you do it’s either fairly dreadful stuff like Edgar Guest or far removed from personal experience such as Thomas Lynch or Philip Levine. It is true several transplants have wound up in Michigan by happenstance, including academic hires such as John Ciardi and Richard Tillinghast. Homegrown Jim Harrison is a poet, but is better known for his fiction and essays.
That leaves Saginaw’s own Theodore Roethke, a groundbreaking “deep image” poet who died in 1963, leaving a body of work that impressed W.H. Auden, Louise Bogan, and many other heavy-hitting versifiers and poetry critics. Suffice to say, Roethke had a tremendous impact on poetry in the second-half of the 20th century.
So it’s unfortunate that Michigan author Jeff Vande Zande doesn’t make more of Roethke in his latest novel, “American Poet.” . . .
Newswalk: The Downtrodden 99 Percent, The Legendary Prophet, and The Religion That Justifies Anything
"As often as not, the constructs that emerge in the theoretical sim world do not qualify as proof of what happens in the real world."
Bad Ideas Are Still Having Bad Consequences — Some Background to the Norway Massacre
"This event illustrates the fact that eugenic ideas are still flourishing and influential in some areas of society and are, likewise, still very destructive."
Newswalk: Canada Goes Cashless; Pay Up or the IRS Will Confiscate Your Passport; Administration Czar Approves of Government “Nudging”
"What matters far more is that Sunstein and Co. believe the thoroughly anti-libertarian and indeed anti-American notion that government is the source of law and rights, not their administrator and protector, respectively." — Tibor Machan
‘Thread of Hope’ Introduces an Intriguing New Hero
"But I was angry. For seven years, I had been angry. Ever since my daughter disappeared, anger was the only real emotion I carried with me and the only way that I got rid of it was through violence. I would hold it in for as long as possible, but when I found an outlet, I let it go. I'd been in more types of fights than I could count and I couldn't recall losing one. I had yet to meet anyone who carried the kind of anger I did."
What a pleasure it is to discover a new writer who truly delivers the goods! It doesn't happen very often. Barring unpleasant surprises when I check out his other work, I am for the moment an enthusiastic fan of Jeff Shelby, author of Thread of Hope. . . .
Tocqueville Admires Americans’ Self-interest and Civic Awareness
"The nature of despotic power in democratic ages is not to be fierce or cruel, but minute and meddling." — Alexis de Tocqueville
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