There’s a Socrates in the City book??!

Before you buy it, read this interview! To get a copy click here!! It contains eleven fab talks by Os Guinness, Sir John Polkinghorne, Peter Kreeft, Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, Chuck Colson, Dr. Paul Vitz, Jean Bethke Elshtain, Francis Collins, N.T. Wright, and Yours Truly.  It also has all of my wacky introductions.   I am really VERY excited about this book! By the way, here’s a terrific review that just came out!  Click here.

Cross Promotion Jumps the Shark!

The morning after the Superbowl, I had the honor of spending an hour talking with former President George W. Bush.  He and the First Lady have read Bonhoeffer and now I’m reading his book.

F-Bomb Bestseller is a Parody of My Book!

The unfortunately titled Go the **** To Sleep bestseller is a direct parody of my children’s picturebook, It’s Time to Sleep, My Love. You can’t make this stuff up.  The author refuses to admit it, but for my commentary, click here. For the Christianity Today article, click here… For the WORLD article, click here… And have you heard the gorgeous lullabye SONG written and performed by Sally Taylor — daughter of James Taylor and Carly Simon??  Click here! Then click the arrow beneath Carly Simon!

Dick Cavett is coming to Socrates in the City!

Legendary talk-show host Dick Cavett will be our special guest at Socrates in the City on June 23rd!  Eric will interview him on “Celebrity, Fame, and other small topics,” followed by our traditional Q&A with the SITC audience.  By Groucho’s mustache — that could be you!!! For more info, click here!

Please Allow Me to Introduce Myself…

If you missed the April 9th event commemorating the 65th anniversary of Bonhoeffer’s death at the hands of the Nazis, click here to watch the video.  The first twelve minutes are me introducing myself.  The next part is the talk, followed by the lively Q&A.  We’re thrilled to finally have captured an SITC event on video for all to see!  Enjoy it and please share it with your friends!  To buy this book at B&N, click here!  To buy it at Amazon.com, click here!  To buy it at CBD, click here!

Jimmy Carter to Eat Live Frog on “60 Mins.”

In what critics are describing as a “shameless effort” to remain relevant, former President Jimmy Carter has agreed to eat a live bullfrog next Sunday night on the CBS program “Sixty Minutes”.

CBS execs are clearly thrilled, predicting a ratings bonanza beyond anyone’s wildest dreams.  “The broadcast will be live,” said CBS President Les Moonves, quipping “as will the frog.”  But friends close to the Carters are not amused, fearing the stunt will tarnish the former President’s legacy.   But Carter remains defiant, describing the act as a “vindication” and as a “valentine” to his rural childhood in Plains, Georgia.

Veteran media watchers are puzzled, calling the whole thing “bizarre”.  Some have suggested Carter was stung by the controversy over his remark that cast SC Congressman Joe Wilson’s outburst as “racially motivated.”  Eating a small amphibian on a nationally-televised program would serve to “turn the page”, with the added boon of possibly revitalizing the former President as a player on the international stage.

Carter was also thought to be upset that “Dancing With the Stars” had recently rejected him as a contestant.  Learning they had welcomed the participation of former House Whip Tom Delay was “the last straw”, according to his wife, former First Lady Rosalyn Carter, who told one friend that while casting about for a way to “leap-frog” ahead of his detractors, her husband’s thoughts had drifted to an incident from 1934, when he was eleven.  That memory seems to have sparked the idea for the “Sixty Minutes” appearance.  But details of this incident remain unclear, although Carter’s late brother Billy spoke of it in a 1978 interview:

“There was an old redneck feller who lived in a shack by the river.  Everybody called him ole Frawg, but I never knew why.  My brother Jimmy and I would go down there to taunt him and chunk rocks at him.  But one time that man taught us a lesson.  One rock hit ole Frawg in the small of the back and he went down.  Jimmy run over to see if he was still breathing, but as soon as he got close, ole Frawg grabbed him by the ankle!  The old feller was just playing possum!  He drug Jimmy to his shack and I ran home.  Later on, when Jimmy came home he told me that ole Frawg had said, “You boys think you kin get the better of ole Frawg.  But ole Frawg gonna teach you a lesson.”  Then he reached down into a cedar bucket and pulled out a bullfrog as big as his fist and he talked to it real tender, callin’ it his brother.  And then he chawed the critter’s head off.  Jimmy started crying, but ole Frawg said it didn’t taste half-bad.  He said his tastebuds wasn’t worth a damn on accounta he smoked so much ter-backy.  And he allowed as that old frog was in a better place than that stinky bucket.  Years later, when he had become a midshipman at Anapolis, Jimmy told me how the story had affected him, and how some day he’d tell the world about ole Frawg.”

Cartoon of the Week

For more, go to www.theargylesweater.com. …and of course my “Don’t You Believe It!” cartoons can be seen here each day by clicking on the blue “Don’t You Believe It!” bar.  No, I didn’t illustrate them, but I did write them.  Collect ‘em and trade ‘em!

Angels & Demons (and Bears! Oh, my!)

Tom Hanks, Ron Howard, and Dan Brown are at it again, with a new movie destined to confuse, mislead, and vex millions. If you saw their previous collaboration, The Davinci Code, or read the record-breakingly awful book — or better yet, just heard about it — you may be interested in my take on it. It came in the form of a parody, titled “Screwtape on the Davinci Code. When I posted it on my website a few years ago it was linked to everywhere, and became a small internet sensation. In case you missed it then, here it is again. Enjoy!

Biden’s Last Gaffe: Declares Self “First ‘Negro’ V.P.”

Biden: “We have overcome! Glory, Hallelujah!”

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BIDEN’S LAST GAFFE: DECLARES SELF “FIRST ‘NEGRO’ VP”

In the latest in a series of verbal gaffes, flub-ups, and super-bloopers, U.S. Vice President Joseph P. Biden yesterday proclaimed himself “America’s first ‘negro’ Vice President”. The staggering statement immediately sparked confusion and rancor in his audience, and led to widespread calls for his resignation.

The comment came late in the day, when the increasingly unpredictable 66-year-old Biden is known to go off-script, and capped off a series of bizarre statements that put him at odds with the President’s official policy.

But Beltway insiders saw the breach coming: Biden was known to be unhappy about recently being excluded from important Presidential meetings because of what some were calling “inappropriate behavior.” At a meeting of Senate leaders a week earlier, Biden kept grabbing at Nancy Pelosi’s neck skin, insisting she should have cosmetic surgery. “Don’t let the turkey-neck get you down!” he said, grinning.

Later, in a Cabinet meeting, he had playfully gotten the President in a prolonged bear-hug from behind, refusing to let go until the President said “Joe Biden’s the best-looking Vice President ever.” Aides said that the President was “obviously uncomfortable”.

The “bear-hug incident” had been a last-straw for the President, who was privately “seething” and decided to exclude Biden from future top-level meetings. But Biden wouldn’t take the snub lying down and on Monday had vowed “to be my own man, come what may.”

Speaking to a pro-Israel group that morning he shocked reporters by declaring that a missile strike on Tehran was probably “imminent” — or “certainly would be if I had a damn thing to say about it. They don’t listen to me.”

An hour later, Biden was at it again, telling a small group of gay activists touring the Capitol that he was ready to put same-sex marriage into the Constitution “if that would help heal our nation.” He also said: “But you gays have to tell your buddy Barak to give me the access I was promised in the campaign!”

White House insiders were irate and immediately contacted the Vice President’s staff, demanding he issue clear retractions before the day’s news cycle came to a close. Biden’s advisers begged him to reverse course firmly and swiftly, with a press conference. Ironically, it was in an effort to do just that that Biden made what critics are calling the “worst gaffe of his gaffe-filled career.”

Biden understood that he needed to apologize and make it “crystal clear” that he was on the same page as the President. But in the process, he seemed to get carried away.

“Make no mistake, my friends,” he said, squinting thoughtfully and grasping the podium with both hands, “the Vice President is appointed by the President and serves at the President’s pleasure. And whatever I might have said to indicate that there was the slightest bit of daylight between my views and the President’s is sheer hogwash and tomfoolery! I am part of the Barack Obama administration — period — so by definition, whatever he stands for and whoever he is, I am a part of that, legally and politically and every other way you want to imagine. And that’s not my opinion; it’s how our government works! Read the Constitution!”

Then he seemed to be lost in thought for a moment. “Holy Cow!” he suddenly said, apparently thinking out loud, “I’m the first negro Vice-president!”

“I’d never thought of that before,” he muttered to himself, evidently as shocked as his audience by what he had just said. His statement was greeted with baffled silence and then scattered boos. Biden quickly sensed he’d said something amiss. “I probably shouldn’t say ‘negro.’” he said, “But back when I was a boy in Scranton, Pennsylvania, we used to say ‘colored.’ Negro was a step-up! So you’ll have to forgive me.”

“I know I’ll catch heck for it tomorrow, so let me set the record straight: I’m the first black — correction, I’m the first Afro-American Vice-President! I stand behind the policies and racial make-up of my President on every level! If he’s black, I’m black. And I’m damned proud of it! I stand shoulder to shoulder with Barack and Michelle and all of the blacks in this administration! And thank God there are so many of us! It’s about time!”

He then lifted his arms triumphantly, saying: “We have overcome! Glory, hallelujah!”, finally adding: “The President and I are soul brothers! Heavens to Betsy! Wait till my mother finds out!”

Reaction was swift, with condemnations coming from all quarters. Former President George H.W. Bush said he found Biden’s comments “appalling”, adding: “The fella’s gone plum loco”. Hollywood comedian Wanda Sykes was less measured: “That fool’s about as black as Rush Limbaugh’s double-wide ass! Dag! I must be going blind, cause if Biden’s black, Wesley Snipes is a damn albino!”

The Obama administration immediately distanced itself from the remark, with a White House official telling reporters: “President Obama has great affection for Joe, but we can make no more sense of the statement than any of you can. Joe Biden speaks for Joe Biden.” END

Enjoying a laugh before the recent difficulties.

Biden Washes Trans-Am in White House Driveway

Click here for the story.