“Of all the fathers, as many as you can name, not one has ever spoken about the sacrament as these fanatics do. None of them uses such an expression as, ‘It is simply bread and wine,’ or ‘Christ’s body and blood are not present.’ Yet this subject is so frequently discussed by them, it is impossible that they should not at some time have let slip such an expression as, ‘It is simply bread,’ or ‘Not that the body of Christ is physically present,’ or the like, since they are greatly concerned not to mislead the people; actually, they simply proceed to speak as if no one doubted that Christ’s body and blood are present. Certainly among so many fathers and so many writings a negative argument should have turned up at least once, as happens in other articles; but actually they all stand uniformly and consistently on the affirmative side.â€
-Martin Luther
How Not to Answer a Question
Go look at PZ Myers’ post on Pharyngula with video of a conversation between Congressman John Conyers of Michigan and law professor John Yoo, who had a hand in the infamous torture memos. I have nothing further to add.
Blame Schieffer, Not Clark
Have you heard the thing about General Wesley Clark allegedly denigrating the value of John McCain’s military service? You might want to look into it further.
The Emperor Has No Clothes
Now that the alleged grounds for locking people up in Guantanamo are finally seeing, if not the light of day, at least the light of federal judges’ chambers, it looks as though the government has been bluffing all along:
With some derision for the Bush administration’s arguments, a three-judge panel said the government contended that its accusations against the detainee should be accepted as true because they had been repeated in at least three secret documents.
The court compared that to the absurd declaration of a character in the Lewis Carroll poem “The Hunting of the Snarkâ€: “I have said it thrice: What I tell you three times is true.â€
“This comes perilously close to suggesting that whatever the government says must be treated as true,†said the panel of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Okay, who is surprised? Show of hands?
“Personal Faith and Moral Clarityâ€
It’s worrisome that conservative presidential candidates still think they need a seal of approval from Billy Graham—and now his son Franklin:
Franklin Graham issued a statement after the meeting praising the Arizona senator’s “personal faith and his moral clarity.”