Scandinavia House, home of the The American-Scandinavian Foundation, has an author panel tonight in New York on the topic “Where Fiction and Reality Collide: Norwegian Crime Fiction Panel”. Norway is apparently one of the most peaceful countries in the world. Read any Scandinavian crime novels lately?

In completely unrelated news from Norway, the amount of heroin seized this year is already almost twice that of last year. “In 2008, 738 kilograms of drugs were seized at Norwegian borders, while the customs this year have already discovered 1500 kilograms of narcotics,” reports The Norway Post.

The American Chesterton Society is an organization devoted (obviously) to promoting the writings and ideas of G. K. Chesterton, one of the most brilliant, entertaining, and provocative writers of the 20th Century. Their web site is here.

My first speaking engagement as a published writer came on the invitation of the Chesterton Society of Fargo, North Dakota, several years back. This was before I discovered PowerPoint, so they had to look at me for the entire length of the presentation, a considerable trial. But I thought it went well, and it’s a good memory.

I’m scheduled to speak to them again on Saturday, October 24. The meeting will be in the Willows Room of the Passages Cafe in the Radisson Hotel in Fargo (2nd floor) at 201 5th St. N. The public is welcome to attend at no charge, unless you want some breakfast. I’ll have books for sale.

I realize that few of our readers live in the Fargo area, but few of you live in any one place. You’re pretty spread out, according to our blog stats.

I’ve been meaning to talk to you about your organizational skills.

(Photo credit: Getty Images)

This is where Uther Pendragon, King Arthur’s father, is said to have died. It stands outside the town of Kirkby Stephen.

Photo by Nick Webley

We live in frightening times.

That’s not a new thought for me, but it struck me with fresh force today, while listening to Michael Medved’s radio program.

He was discussing the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which would, according to many conservatives, place anyone who publicly expressed opposition to the homosexual agenda in jeopardy of prosecution, in the case that some unbalanced listener should commit an act of violence against a homosexual (or transgender, to keep up with changes in the law) afterwards.

Anyone who says that’s alarmist talk wasn’t listening to Medved’s callers today. Most of them believed that it was right to punish people for their thoughts, if those thoughts incited them to crimes.

But one caller in particular, a young lesbian who said she’d been raised by a lesbian couple, went farther. She stated matter-of-factly that, of course, people who disapproved of homosexuality should be prosecuted just for their opinion. “Because that’s bad.”

Doubtless she’s the product of a public school, as she knows no history. She doesn’t realize that her view is identical—not in detail but in principle—to that of medieval popes and 17th Century Puritans. She’s missed entirely the great compromise that was reached by people who were (then) known as “liberals” in the 18th Century—that people should not be punished for their opinions. If you hold or express an opinion the government doesn’t like, it cannot touch you. If, however, that opinion drives you to commit a crime, you are punished, but not for the thought. For the action alone. The government has an interest in what you do. Your soul is a matter between you and God.

It was a compromise Christians came to love, because it rendered unto Caesar what was Caesar’s, and to God what was God’s.

That compromise may be broken soon.

There was snow on the ground when I got up on Sunday, and more snow this morning. It hasn’t completely disappeared as of posting time, and will probably last the night. Is this the beginning of a long, long winter? Probably not, but it could happen. This is Minnesota.

My cold is much better, thanks for asking, though not entirely gone. The swelling has receded on my hand and the bruising has lightened, but I still have a substantial goose-egg on the back, and only about 70% use of it. That will take a while to come back, I expect.

I would have liked to have spent the weekend recuperating, but I was pretty booked. Friday night was a Sons of Norway meeting, which I’d promised to attend (can’t remember why).

Saturday morning my dance card was clear, so I was able to buy a few shirts I’d been meaning to buy. I also called in to two local radio talk shows, both times in connection with the general hilarity surrounding Nobel Peace Prize award. I told the David Strom Show my theory about the reason for the award—that Oslo is a B List city socially, and they just wanted the world’s greatest celebrity to visit so they could get his autograph. I called the First Team of the Northern Alliance Radio Network to explain how to pronounce “ø.” (Answer: Say “er,” but quit before you get to the hard “r” on the end.)

At noon, I had the annual meeting of the Georg Sverdrup Society, at which I was scheduled to read my new translation of one of Sverdrup’s articles. It went pretty well, as far as I could tell. Then there was the business meeting, and then the board meeting, and eventually I got home to wash my clothes.

Sunday I treated like a sick day, even though I wasn’t all that sick anymore. I figured I had a rest day coming. You know, the Bible never actually says you have to go to church on the sabbath. What it does say is you have to rest. It’s one of those points where I enjoy being legalistic.

It’s Friday (in case you haven’t been paying attention), and I made it through the week. My cold is getting better, as is my hand (but more slowly).

I have a meeting tonight, and a meeting tomorrow. All in all, I’d far rather lie on the couch.

From an anonymous source: The Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form. I don’t see how that can possibly be improved on.

Made contact today (through Facebook), for the first time in about forty years, with a former college roommate, now a retired military chaplain. He says he still tells the story of how I helped him find assurance of salvation (he’d been one of those who kept going back to the altar to be converted, again and again) by taking him through 1 Peter 1:3-12.

I’d forgotten about the incident entirely. As with most of my relationships, I’d remembered mainly the mistakes I’d made and dumb things I’d said.

If I weren’t me, I’d probably feel some satisfaction in that. I’m grateful to him for telling me about it, in any case.

Novelist D.J. Taylor complains that the men of letters seen in several literary works over the years can’t make a living today. There are several reasons, of course. I think lack of imagination on the part of media owners is a good reason, but you can’t blame folks for lacking imagination. (via The Literary Saloon)

Jeffrey Herf writes about the new totalitarian movement in the world:

In the last decades of the Cold War, no one was surprised that many American liberals frowned on sharp and vocal criticism of communist regimes and communist ideology. But there is a surprising irony in contemporary Western political and intellectual life. Many liberals, including the Democratic Party leadership, have been reluctant to acknowledge that radical Islam has more in common with fascism than it does with the attack on liberal democracy from the radical Left. Like the fascists from earlier times, radical Islamists attack every component of the liberal tradition: the Enlightenment, the great democratic revolutions, the principle of the separation of religion and state, full equality for women and, in recent decades, for homosexuals, and yes, of course, opposition to anti-Semitism. How strange that Franklin Roosevelt’s armed anti-fascism should live on so strongly in mainstream American conservatism but find few advocates among his American liberal successors.

I’ve been spending the evening doing computer upgrading. I’ll be back with you tomorrow.