John Stewart’s commencement address at William and Mary. Pay particular attention to the section the “greatest generation,” and where he talks about Bethseda. We do need a new greatest generation, but not necessarily a military one. This country needs to be rebuilt, and we need to find the passion that makes us Americans; we just can’t be “no them.” We are better than that.
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The Mahdi
Father Jake had a question regarding the Mahdi and the use of the name “Mahdi Army” by Muqtada as-Sadr. He’s gone out and done a fair amount of research, and I wanted to add my two cents. From a theological perspective, the idea of the Mahdi is incredibly ill-defined, because the idea of the end days are ill-defined in the Qur’an. While we have a sense that the mountains will crumble, stars will fall from the sky and the sky itself will tear, there is no equivalent to the Book of Revelations in the Qur’an. (For a wonderful discussion of…
Blaq Irack
Ran across this article in the Washington Post. It deals with the Black African communities in Iraq. Reminded me of a similar article from the BBC on the Sidi community, Black Africans in Gujarat, India. It amazes me how far the contacts amongst civilizations extends, both geographically and temporally.
Isaac Osei, Taxi Driver in New York and Chief in Ghana – NYTimes.com
Just a great NYC story. Isaac Osei, Taxi Driver in New York and Chief in Ghana – NYTimes.com. By 7:30, Ms. Osei had taken her place in her thronelike office chair — she is the president of Napasei Taxi Management Corporation, after all — while Mr. Osei, who is vice president, took a more modest seat nearby. Then they prepared for the next 12 hours of fighting parking tickets, getting taxis inspected and helping drivers who came in to pick up their cash. But the Oseis call this grueling schedule a vacation compared with the real holiday they have ahead.…