pynchon-l-digest V2 #4623

[Michael Bailey]

> From: Dave Monroe
> Subject: The War on Christians ...
>
> Fundamentalist religions are, by definition, by
> choice, the single most undemocratic insititutions on
> this planet, if not the single most undemocratic
> institutions possible, authorizing themselves by the
> unassailable word of perhaps-to-likely nonexistent,
> and certainly, at any rate, unelected beings.
>

doesn't hearing "fundamentalism" make one want to think of the djinn
in the Arabian Nights who was ofttimes said to be "in such glee that
he thrust his thumb up his fundament"?

> Similarly, perhaps, with science, except science
> ostensibly does without that ultimate being, if not
> perhaps the unassailable (?) statements of
> mathematics.
>

has there ever been a booboo as egregious in mainstream math as the
medical one about that guy that wanted doctors to wash their hands?
(Edelweiss or something?) seems like they proceed a lot more
cautiously

> However, every time I read something about
> Creationism, Creation Science, Intelligent Design,
> whatever, nigh unto inevitably cite polls claiming
> that fortysomething to fiftysomething percent of the
> population of These Here You Knighted States actually
> believe in this crap, not to mention angels, UFOs,
> whatever, making what I take to be the implicit claim
> that, hey, maybe science, or, at very least, the
> teaching thereof, should be democratized. So maybe you
> can see the contradiction(s) here ...
>

i'm still busy evolving an eye (-;

for me, Social Darwinism is so odious that ID doesn't look like a
terribly bad overcorrection in comparison...Ayn Rand style Social
Darwinism, that is...I sort of like Misesian SD - much more convincing
sales job at mises.org (though I have significant differences with
them too of course)

> At any rate, Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Kickin'
> Kwanzaa, Rockin' Ramadan, whatever ...
>

 Swingin' Solstice!

>
> From: "Ya Sam"
> Subject: Abridged guide to 'Tristram Shandy'
>
> http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Books/documents/2005/12/23/page10.pdf
>

they made a movie of it?  woo hoo
and an out-of-print comic book too

> From: Paul Mackin
> Subject: Re: The War on Christians ...
>
> They may SAY they believe it, or HOPE in it, but a majority don''t
> seem to believe in it in the same way they believe in the pursuit of
> material success and well-being for them and their children. The here-
> and-now takes  precedence over the promised future for most of the
> Evangelicals including George W. Bush.

isn't he actually an Episcopal?

41, I read, once greeted a room of evangelicals by saying he was the
only one in the room who'd only been born once.  I don't think any of
the Bushes does most of his own thinking, and I suspect that a deep
highly selective nearsighted camaraderie of the Skull and Bones ilk
substitutes in their spiritual life for religion, the denial of
humanity to outsiders being as important to them as the affection they
demonstrate to each other (but i'm merely speculating, knowing them
only by their fruits as i do)

>
> In some ways it's the same as for European workers who used to
> believe in Marxism and the promise of a future worker's paradise.
> Most weren't holding their breaths. Weren't dividing up their stuff
> with the neighbors.
>

both Christian and Marxist ideologues regrettably overlook violence on
the way to their goals...Christians' source text though gives a lot
more contraindications
...even that sword JC said he was bringin' by the light of Isaiah
would be destined to be beaten into plowshares

> Different historical development in the two regions account for one
> turning to  religion and  other to Marx or other earthly ideologies.
>

it's all marketing, rilly...

> As far as the contradiction of democracy is concerned, democracy can
> be a can of worms as seems likely to be the case in Iraq.
>

which is more hypocritical, big wmd merchant pouncing on Iraq for
mythical might, or fraud-ridden electoral system cloning itself in the
name of liberty?
 (rhetorical question)

> Also, majority rule certainly isn't guaranteed to benefit capitalism.
> See Bolivia, Venezuela.
>

as the Mises guys (love those Mises to pieces) and Greg Palast point
out, our multinationals aren't examples of capitalism, but
mercantilism
(or fascism - where the state enforces the will of the big corps)

>
> From: Paul Mackin
> Subject: Indecision
>
> Has anyone read _Indecision_  by Benjamin Kunkel.

not yet, sounds good tho

>
> Kunkel is quoted somewhere as saying something to the  effect that
> it's impossible nowadays for literary successes like himself to do a
> Pynchon or a DeLillo. Now they get immediately sucked into the
> literary limelight and having to express opinions on everything. I
> doubt if this is  really  true.  What does Kunkel expect when he has
> his  own online literary magazine?

DeLillo is notoriously private?  I didn't know

Marlon Brando co-wrote a novel called Fan Tan with a screenwriter
friend, which appeared on the shelf of our local library and I picked
up.  Lost it in the house for a few days, found it under a pile of
(clean) clothes.  It appears to be a straightforward adventure story,
but could easily be some kind of roman for which I lack the clef

Really enjoying the Crook in Middlebrook story.  It reminds me of
something, but I'm not sure of what.  Also has a jillion references in
it that I'd like to read, and the lavalamp collection reminds me that
the bulb to mine burned out and needs replacing sometime, if, that is,
I can find the rest of it.
A laid back project or two for this intercalary week

may the glow, such as it was, of this Christmas continue
and warm the cockles of the heart within you
('cause ev'ry night is Christmas eve, on old East Main)

mike