It was a beautiful day. Nearly 70°. This is the end of that sort of thing, of course. It’s like when your girlfriend dresses up real pretty and wears her most expensive perfume so she can tell you it’s over; she’s met a Belgian graduate student who truly understands her needs. Not that that’s ever happened to me. I never did that well with a girl.

It occurs to me that I haven’t mentioned the New York C. S. Lewis Society here yet. No, that’s not true. I’ve mentioned it, but I don’t think I’ve linked to its site. So here’s the link. You don’t have to reside in Manhattan or its environs to be a member—me, I’ve been on the rolls since the early ’70s, and I’ve never been to a meeting. But they publish a monthly newsletter that’s very professionally done and well worth reading, if you’re the kind of person who wants to know just everything about Lewis. Which I am.

Our frequent commenter Dale Nelson is a regular writer for the journal, specializing in pieces about the books Lewis read and their possible influences on his work.

Consider this my unsolicited endorsement.

If there’s anyone out there who doesn’t believe there’s a God—consider this.

There’s only one big network not broadcasting Barack Obama’s infomercial tonight.

That network is ABC. They’re airing their usual program—“Pushing Daisies.”

That means that when I avoid Obama’s state of the art ego trip (paid for as it was by thousands of teeny little individual contributions from ordinary Americans named Mickey Mouse and Ben Dover) I get to watch the most entertaining show on TV. And millions of Americans who haven’t yet been absorbed by the Hive will get to discover it.

Surely this will lead to national renewal.



Here’s a poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. that I memorized years ago. I consider it a perfect thing of its kind. (The version printed on Henry Ward Beecher’s Wikipedia page is less perfect, in my opinion, so I’ll transcribe it here as I remember it):

Said a great Congregational preacher

To a hen, “You’re a beautiful creature!”

And the hen—just for that—

Laid an egg in his hat.

And thus did the hen reward Beecher.

It seems to me that anyone who had the talent and cleverness to write that single verse would have no alternative to being blissfully happy forever.

Right: That which is just, morally good, legal, proper, or fitting. “The personal right to acquire property, which is a natural right, gives to property, when acquired, a right to protection, as a social right.” – James Madison

“The right of the police of Boston to affiliate has always been questioned, never granted, is now prohibited…. There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any time.” – Calvin Coolidge

Opportunity: A favorable or advantageous circumstance or combination of circumstances or a chance for progress or advancement.

‘O opportunity! thy guilt is great,

‘Tis thou that execut’st the traitor’s treason;

Thou set’st the wolf where he the lamb may get;

Whoever plots the sin, thou point’st the season;

‘Tis thou that spurn’st at right, at law, at reason;

And in thy shady cell, where none may spy him,

Sits Sin to seize the souls that wander by him. – William Shakespeare

Need: A condition or situation in which something is required or wanted.

“We need not only a purpose in life to give meaning to our existence but also something to give meaning to our suffering. We need as much something to suffer for as something to live for.” – Eric Hoffer

Freedom: The condition of being free of restraints

“Freedom to learn is the first necessity of guaranteeing that man himself shall be self-reliant enough to be free.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

Liberty: The right and power to act, believe, or express oneself in a manner of one’s own choosing. Also, the condition of being physically and legally free from confinement, servitude, or forced labor.

“Freedom of enterprise was from the beginning not altogether a blessing. As the liberty to work or to starve, it spelled toil, insecurity, and fear for the vast majority of the population. If the individual were no longer compelled to prove himself on the market, as a free economic subject, the disappearance of this freedom would be one of the greatest achievements of civilization.” – Herbert Marcuse

Do Americans still believe that if a man does not work he shouldn’t eat, generally speaking? Do Americans believe that our current political rights are “inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness,” to quote FDR again?

“A wise and frugal government … shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.” – Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801

More like this at Sweetness & Light. (via Rush Limbaugh)