Words and Aprons
"It depends on what the meaning of the words 'is' is." That's Bill Clinton's grand jury testimony during Monicagate. He has now come a long way, though: "What we learned from Oklahoma City is not that we should gag each other or that we should reduce our passion for the positions we hold - but that the words we use really do matter." That's quite a philological conversion for the old guy. Maybe in the future, he won't twist and butcher the language. * * * * * Thank you, Spike. In light of atheist's unhinged fantasies about arresting Benedict XVI, the editor of Spike sees neurosis and asks some good questions: "Why do otherwise fairly intelligent thinkers get so dementedly exercised over the pope and the Catholic Church? What exactly is their beef?" His conclusion: "[I]t springs from an increasingly desperate and discombobulated secularism, one which, unable to assert itself positively through Enlightening society and celebrating the achievements of mankind, asserts itself negatively, even repressively, through ridiculing the religious." The editorial is excellent and definitely worth reading if you're even remotely interested in the child-abuse scandal. * * * * * I like Peggy Noonan, but she has puzzled me for the second time. She first puzzled me in a frustrating way back in November 2008, when she swooned over Barack Obama. This time, she has puzzled me in a curious way. Over the weekend, she wrote that, in light of the child-abuse scandal, "the Catholic Church needs to to elevate women." She's too good of a Catholic to be referring to the impossibility of female ordination, but she's not just talking about sublime adoration of Mary, either. Maybe she means it in a Catherine of Siena way? But if I understand Catherine's history correctly, she held no formal administrative position. She was an informal advisor to the Avignon papacy. I'm honestly not sure what Noonan is suggesting, but I'd love to hear more. The idea (oddly) resonates with me. * * * * * Far out! Aprons are making a comeback. And they're spicing them up to look sexy and sassy, sometimes bearing catch phrases like, "Whisk Me." I'll buy my wife one for our anniversary, along with a new vacuum (pink, with "Sexy Mama" stenciled on it) and an ironing board (cherry red, with "Too Hot To Handle" on it). I guess that, if you make it edgy, you can buy anything. Maybe a wad of toilet paper with "Do Me!" printed on it? * * * * * The apron, though, makes sense. I relegated an old, tattered pair of casual trousers exclusively to gardening work. It made gardening much more enjoyable because I don't care how much I trash the pants. I suspect it's much the same with an apron. * * * * * A new TDE style rule: I'm not going to worry about getting quotes exactly right. I don't like to use brackets and ellipses when indicating that I have deviated from a quote slightly. This is a blog, it's informal, and I think [ ] and . . . are distracting. I would never alter a quote to change its substance, but I will alter it (without disclosure) to make it fit here. I hope that's alright.
