The philosopher Thomas Nagel’s famous article, “The Absurd,” concludes, “If sub specie aeternitatis there is no reason to believe that anything matters, then that doesn’t matter either, and we can approach our absurd lives with irony instead of heroism or despair.”

Satire is a wonderful tool, but what do you do with something like gender studies?  Its craziness accelerates so rapidly that by the time the satire is published, reality has outpaced it.

These folks have figured it out:  Get it to satirize itself.

Last week on the Opinion page of the Wall Street Journal – a newspaper I began reading during my socialist days to keep track of what the capitalists were thinking – I ran across an article by one of my favorite essayists, Joseph Epstein.

God created human reason; one should reject Christian faith if it makes reason less reasonable.  But what if it makes reason more reasonable?  Could that be so?  It is the claim of Christian faith that it is so – that faith does not contract reason, but expands it.  It leads reason to probe more deeply and ask more penetrating questions, and it provides reason with additional data.

“Love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss,” says the psalmist.  But mercy might involve remission of punishment.  Doesn’t that violate justice, which means giving each person what is due to him, honor for good, penalty for evil?

I wasn’t planning to post today, but my eye was caught by the news headline, “There’s a New No. 1 In Presidential Rankings.”  Based on a new Pew Research Center study, the article breathlessly reports that Mr. Obama is now more popular than any other recent president.

Yes, yes, I know I posted a lot of talk and audio links yesterday, but I’ve got a new one. 

This is just to let all you video and podcast lovers out there that several new items have been added to my Listen to Talks page.

Am I responsible for the historical sins of white folk against black?

Certainly not because I shared in them; I didn't.

Certainly not because my ancestors did; they hadn't arrived in the country yet.

Nor because my skin is the same color; if you insist on talking about ethnicity, I am of Polish and Ukrainian extraction, not English.