Summer music with the Blue Eyed Bettys

Nobody in the trio is actually named Betty, but the Blue Eyed Bettys are worth traveling to see and hear. Ben, Sarah, and Daniel are fun people and talented musicians who harmonize wonderfully with each other. I'm glad I discovered them earlier this month.

Another fine show for Gravy Nation

The Gravy Boys in Durham last night -- they rocked; they jammed; they harmonized. Total pros. And a good time was had by all!

Opposing view from the same camp

Maureen Mullarkey wonders whether Fr. Jacques Hamel was a martyr, but unlike the hapless journalist who thought that calling him one might "rile the opposition" unnecessarily, Mullarkey turns her gimlet eye on criteria we both accept, to suggest that Fr. Hamel's death might have had as much to do with failure to recognize the danger of "politically correct" approaches to jihadism as with anything else.

Mullarkey doesn't blame the victim, but she does write a searing indictment of the culture of which he was part -- and of which we are part.

No cause for reticence

I argued with the misguided essayist who said in the New York Times that he wants the rest of us to avoid using words like "saint" and "martyr" with reference to the priest who was murdered in France last week.

Tough love

Found this pithy poster over at Gerard Van der Leun's American Digest:

The illustration fits well with this post from Donald Sensing, who happens to be a Methodist minister.

Fond memories

Because life is too short to watch the DNC convention...It's Little Jerry and the Monotones instead, singing "Telephone Rock" (from Sesame Street in 1974)

David Warren musing thoughtfully again

From an essay with the cheery title, "Why Our Problems Are Insoluble" --

Saint Thomas More is to my mind among the greatest statesmen because he could, with sublime courage, articulate the limits of political power. He was martyred because he delineated them in the presence of a great tyrant. He was not executed because the monster, Henry Tudor, was stupid or a hothead. He was executed because Henry was intelligent enough to see that More had got to the crux of the matter. He knew, in effect, that More was a saint, and that other people could see that he was.

quote context: http://pllqt.it/R590Ge