One of My Next Reads

I heard a fascinating piece on NPR's "Here and Now" earlier today*, which was this:

And here's the entire piece, as found at the link:



I'm an amateur language geek, especially when it comes to English, which is arguably the richest language in the modern world.   And why am I on about this here at EIP?  I think this book would be of interest to anyone who keeps a blog and is interested in perfecting... or perhaps improving... their writing.  I'm definitely in the "improving" camp.

The "Here and Now" conversation piqued my interest enough for me to chase that link to Amazon and download the book to my Kindle.  Here are some reviews of the book from Amazon:

Praise for The Sense of Style

“Forget Strunk and White’s rules—cognitive science is a surer basis for clear and cogent writing, according to this iconoclastic guide from bestselling Harvard psycholinguist Pinker... Every writer can profit from—and every writer can enjoy—Pinker’s analysis of the ways in which skillfully chosen words engage the mind.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred)

“Yet another how-to book on writing? Indeed, but this is one of the best to come along in many years, a model of intelligent signposting and syntactical comportment…Pinker's vade mecum is a worthy addition to any writer’s library.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“In this witty and practical book on the art of writing, Pinker applies insights from the sciences of language and mind to the crafting of clear, elegant prose: #requiredreading.”
—Publishers Weekly, PW pick Fall 2014 Announcements

“Who better than a best-selling linguist and cognitive scientist to craft a style guide showing us how to use language more effectively?”
—Library Journal

“[A] dense, fascinating analysis of the many ways communication can be stymied by word choice, placement, stress, and the like. [Pinker’s] explanations run rich and deep, complemented by lists, cartoons, charts on diagramming sentences, and more.”
—Booklist

“This book is a graceful and clear smackdown to the notion that English is going to the proverbial dogs. Pinker has written the Strunk & White for a new century while continuing to discourage baseless notions such as that the old slogan should have been ‘Winston tastes good AS a cigarette should.’”
—John McWhorter, author of Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue and The Power of Babel

“Great stuff! Only Steven Pinker could have written this marvelous book, and thank heaven he has. ‘Good writing can flip the way the world is perceived,’ he writes, and The Sense of Style will flip the way you think about good writing. Pinker’s curiosity and delight illuminate every page, and when he says style can make the world a better place, we believe him.”
 —Patricia T. O’Conner, author of Woe Is I and, with Stewart Kellerman, Origins of the Specious

I'll let you know what I think of the book after I'm done.  If I remember...

* I would have posted this around 1330 hrs today if my inter-tubes hadn't crashed and burned due to a cable cut.  We're back up as of 1745 hrs.

Bits and Bytes

Some linkage and a video...

There's this, to begin with.

I'm actually rather embarrassed about my results, what with only getting 11 out of 15 correct.  This, after living in Ol' Blighty for three years and making at least four trips back since I left in 1983.  (H/t: Skip, who's an Honorary Brit, too.)

And then there's this, from Anne Bonney:

There are cheaper alternatives at the link and thank The Deity At Hand for that.  Forty-seven Yankee Dollars for a single candle is about three ticks to the right of "outrageous."  That said, I've heard lotsa people will never move to an e-reader because of the lack of that "book smell."  Well, problem solved!

And finally, here's the video I mentioned up top... but first a screen-cap from the source... Hemmings Daily (the comments at the link are interesting, most notably this vid was shot mere days before the big earthquake of 1906):

It makes perfect sense... to me, at least... that Americans' bad driving habits originated in California, and San Francisco, specifically.  That said, the video above ain't got a THING on driving in the Third World, which might could be best described as "you hadda be there."  Go ahead, ask me how I know.

Keepin' It Clean...

First, there's this from the Usual USAF Source:

Air Frame: A KC-135 Stratotanker taxis through the wash rack, also known as a bird bath, after a mission Aug. 18, 2014. The KC-135 is assigned to the Tennessee Air National Guard's 134th Air Refueling Wing. (Air National Guard photo by TSgt. Jonathan Young)

I learn sumthin' every single day; today I learned there actually IS a way to wash airplanes that doesn't involve two or three one-stripers, brushes, buckets, and hoses.

And there's this, in the not-so-clean category: "The complete guide to swearing at work," from Quartz.  An excerpt:

Modern media tell us that workplace swearing is cool. Take Martin Scorsese’s latest movie, The Wolf of Wall Street, whose brash yet professionally successful characters dropped 506 f-bombs, a record for a feature film. In a 2006 survey by Associated Press/Ipsos (pdf), 74% of Americans said they encountered profanity in public frequently or occasionally and 66% said that as a rule, people curse more today than 20 years ago.

There are some prominent examples. After the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, US president Barack Obama famously commented on the Today show that he’d been talking to experts about the spill to figure out “whose ass to kick.” T-Mobile CEO John Legere, a renegade executive known for his potty mouth, badmouthed competitors AT&T and Verizon at a recent press event by saying that “the fuckers hate you.” Former Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz once told her staff at an all-hands meeting that she’d “dropkick to fucking Mars” anyone whose company gossip ended up on a blog (which her comments promptly did).

The article is fairly interesting, what with its links, statistics, studies, and recommendations.   I agree that a well-placed f-bomb can do wonders in getting your message across and I used that tactic more than a few times in my civilian career.  We won't talk about my Air Force career, where it seemed like every other word outta my mouth could be described as "purple prose."  I'm tryin' to clean my act up now that I'm fucking retired. 

Some Interesting Stuff In the Overnight Mail

Some rather unique plane pr0n from the Usual USAF Source...

Caged Bird

​	Air Frame: Lt. Col. David Elliot, 27th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron commander, climbs into an F-22A Raptor on June 17, 2014, at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia. (Air Force photo by TSgt. Russ Scalf)

One wonders what the Good Colonel is gonna do when he gets to the top of the ladder and finds someone sitting in HIS seat.

And then there's this from the NYT...

I had NO ideer! (Map with no obstructions and supporting narrative here, subscription may be required)

And then there's this in the "Get It Right, America!" file...

I don't care WHAT the AP sez, it's both easier and expedient to write "BBQ."

Just in case I'm not back before tomorrow...

Have a safe 'n' sane Fourth!

Grammar Pedants DO Have a Point

From Digg, about which they say...

BBC Anchor Omits A Somewhat Crucial Pause In His Opener

Punctuation isn't given it's due very often. Every once in a while, though, it serves a pretty useful purpose.

And the point is...



Heh.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

2Cellos...



I really like these guys and kudos to Pandora for including them in the mix on several of the classical music stations I listen to*.  We heard this particular composition a couple o' few minutes ago while listening to Pandora's Mozart station but I've heard other tunes by 2Cellos at various times on other classical stations.  And who knew Coldplay would ever make it anywhere near the classical world?  Not me.

*Yeah, I know:  that's grammatically incorrect.  I should have said "... classical music stations to which I listen."  But there's this: which of the two constructions rolls off the tongue easier?  Got it?  So, sit down and STFU.

Grammar and Spelling In the News, Plane Pr0n Edition

O, my aching ass...

A Romanian air force MiG-21 Lancer deploys a parachute to slow its speed upon landing at Campia Turzii, Romania, April 17, 2014. The parachute acts as an additional breaking (sic) system for the aircraft. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. R.J. Biermann)

I imagine those old MiGs break often enough without the need to deploy an additional "breaking system."  That photo accompanies a USAF press release from Campia Turzii, Romania, following the conclusion of joint exercises between the Romanian air force and elements of a USAF F-16 unit from Aviano AB, Italy.

The Sunday Re-Run: Ever the Pedant, Part II

The title is in reference to the post immediately below, where I take issue with Verizon taking liberties with the language.  Which, of course, brought to mind this old chestnut from my blogging way-back.  This is the third time I've put this post up, the second being back in 2009.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Lessons in Writing Humility

(OK… I was saving this post for tomorrow. But My Bud Dan’s comment to the post immediately below cut me to the quick. He’s right. I’ve been phoning it in of late. So here’s something that contains a lil bit more “substance.” Not a lot, mind you…just some.)

Apropos of not much…but, by way of introduction, this: I’m often struck by the quality of writing I encounter in my wanderings around these here inter-tubes. Or, more better, the absolute dismal state of most of the writing I encounter. Present company excepted, of course. All y’all write well, for the most part. There are exceptions…and all I can offer is: “if the shoe fits…” But in most cases it won’t fit. Mainly coz I have little or no tolerance for poor writing, there being some exceptions. I’ll leave it at that… criticizing others is not what we’re on about in this post.

The Second Mrs. Pennington and I, the both of us being professional writers (of a sort) and more to the point… she being an English teacher (of a sort)… used to have this on-going argument discussion as to whether good writing can be taught, or not. My position has changed back and forth over the years and still isn’t firmed up to this very day. On the one hand, the mechanics of writing most certainly can be taught… which is to say grammar, punctuation, subject-verb agreement, and the like. Anyone with half a brain can go out and buy a copy of Strunk and White’s “The Elements of Style,” study it intently, absorb all the lessons therein, and call himself a writer. And a lot of people do just that. On the Other Hand… good grammar and punctuation doesn’t begin to make what we know as “good” writing. It’s a start, but only a start.

Once upon a time I considered myself a “good” writer. I’d taken several undergrad courses in English and composition, I had a fairly extensive writing background acquired as an additional-duty Public Affairs Officer (NCO, actually, but the title was “PAO”), and was recognized by various and sundry Air Force supervisors and such as a “go-to” guy when it came to putting words on paper. So, it came to pass (in my post-USAF career) I was assigned to a proposal writing team sometime in 1986 or thereabouts. And here for your illumination, Gentle Reader, is my very first effort in this space, as returned “for corrections” by my proposal editor:

(click for larger, if you have the inclination)

Bloody. Literally dripping with blood, in the form of the dread red editor’s pen, and this is but four of 14 pages, all similarly deeply scarred and dripping red. Including all 14 pages in this post would be overkill, not to mention boring beyond belief. My draft was returned with a post-it attached that said “Good Work!” (the post-it has gone missing after all these years). I scanned my draft, bloody as it was, and immediately went to my proposal manager/editor and said words to the effect of “You think this is Good?”… to which she replied “Yeah. I didn’t tell you to re-write it, did I?” Well, OK, then.

So... I returned to my desk, made the corrections and re-submitted my draft, which was accepted without further edits. Things got progressively better for me (and my editor) as time went on. At the end of the six-month pursuit cycle I came out a much better writer than when I went in. My first proposal was a learning experience of the first order.

I became very, very close to my editor… a woman by the name of Mary who later went on to become an EDS corporate VP, and I had the delightful opportunity to work with her on a couple of other proposals while she was still doing that particular gig. I learned nearly everything I know about writing today from that woman… lessons that are much too detailed to repeat here but had a lot… nay, everything… to do with word-choice, economy of language, what to leave in your writing, and… much more importantly… what to take out. Another thing Mary emphasized is one needs to recognize good writing before one can even begin to emulate it. In other words: good writers are voracious readers. Mary was also of the opinion that the best writers read a wide variety of “stuff…” fiction, non-fiction, op-eds, soup cans, cereal boxes, and (she emphasized) poetry. Mary maintained poets are all about economy of language, which, to her way of thinking, is the very essence of communication.

Mary was a wise woman indeed. My only regret is I failed to keep in touch with her. So... take what you will from this, and leave the rest. Such as it is.

Committed to The Inter-tubes by Buck on 4/25/2008 07:19:00 PM 17 Astute Observations

So... one point I didn't make in the post above is any tendency towards flowery, "poetic" language I may have had in the past was bred out of me during my brief career as a technical writer.  We're mostly about "short and to the point" these days, and that serves me well.  And you, Gentle Reader?  Mebbe not so much.

So there's that.  And then there's this:

"The term, then, is obviously a relative one: my pedantry is your scholarship, his reasonable accuracy, her irreducible minimum of education and someone else’s ignorance."—H. W. Fowler, Modern English Usage

Heh.

Jacque?

You fergot the "s," Shoebox, it's JacqueS.  I guess I should just have a big ol' cup of STFU and accept the fact America is full of illiterates.

That and I have to go to the store today and buy a few Kit Kat bars.  Or not.

It Be a Tad Warmish Outdoors

Summer's well and truly here...

This coming week offers little to no relief...

Ah, well... at least it's a DRY heat.  We're taking Happy Hour out on the verandah and we've just poured our second beer, as we speak.  And we're waiting with bated breath* for those t-storms, which will reduce the temperature by as much as 20 degrees... all in one fell swoop.  IF they arrive.

*Note to language purists: discussion here.  Go.  You'll be glad ya did, if only to provide a reference when correcting language idjits.

Dang. It Feels Like Mrs. Hippy Outside.

Note the "feels like" bit -- this is coz our humidity is around 50%... highly unusual for us.  We're supposed to go into the high 90s today and I'm guessin' our heat index might crack 100+.

Note the title of this post.  There's a difference between "hippy" and "hippie."

Mrs. Hippy (1)

Mrs. Hippy (2)

Mrs. Hippie

Just tryin' to be clear.

Saturday

Awwww...



We're all about Happy Endings here at EIP, and that one was pretty happy.  It sure didn't start out that way, though.  Poor kid.  Apropos o' nuthin', here's what our Brit friends at the Usual Source o' these things have to say:

Isn't it amazing that you can try to indoctrinate kids into appreciating a favourite sport - but sometimes they just don't get it! Take this little lad, given a prime seat for a top baseball game. He manages to get the match ball after a foul shot – and then throws it back again. Just look at the reaction from the rest of the family …

Two peoples, separated by a common language.

OTOH, there's this:



Pretty clever, albeit with too much emphasis on very recent times (YMMV, of course).  I think that chick is prolly a great swimmer, too.

Happy Independence Day!

John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence is a 12-by-18-foot oil-on-canvas painting in the United States Capitol Rotunda that depicts the presentation of the draft of the Declaration of Independence to Congress.  (From The Wiki)

It's been my habit in recent years to publish the Declaration of Independence every Fourth of July, but I'm gonna do sumthin' different this year.  I found this old post from 2007 and it's on topic and on-point for today...

We’re not all of us language-people. But…for those who just might be such a person, I offer “The Stylistic Artistry of the Declaration of Independence.”

The Declaration of Independence is perhaps the most masterfully written state paper of Western civilization. As Moses Coit Tyler noted almost a century ago, no assessment of it can be complete without taking into account its extraordinary merits as a work of political prose style. Although many scholars have recognized those merits, there are surprisingly few sustained studies of the stylistic artistry of the Declaration.(1) This essay seeks to illuminate that artistry by probing the discourse microscopically--at the level of the sentence, phrase, word, and syllable. By approaching the Declaration in this way, we can shed light both on its literary qualities and on its rhetorical power as a work designed to convince a "candid world" that the American colonies were justified in seeking to establish themselves as an independent nation.(2)

[…]

Like the introduction, the next section of the Declaration--usually referred to as the preamble--is universal in tone and scope. It contains no explicit reference to the British- American conflict, but outlines a general philosophy of government that makes revolution justifiable, even meritorious:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Like the rest of the Declaration, the preamble is "brief, free of verbiage, a model of clear, concise, simple statement."(11) It capsulizes in five sentences--202--words what it took John Locke thousands of words to explain in his Second Treatise of Government. Each word is chosen and placed to achieve maximum impact. Each clause is indispensable to the progression of thought. Each sentence is carefully constructed internally and in relation to what precedes and follows. In its ability to compress complex ideas into a brief, clear statement, the preamble is a paradigm of eighteenth-century Enlightenment prose style, in which purity, simplicity, directness, precision, and, above all, perspicuity were the highest rhetorical and literary virtues. One word follows another with complete inevitability of sound and meaning. Not one word can be moved or replaced without disrupting the balance and harmony of the entire preamble.

I don’t know just how many times I’ve read the Declaration of Independence, but it’s been more than a few. One cannot read the document without a sense of wonder at the magnificence of the words and the way they’re put together. That said, I’ve never read an analysis of the style, thought, and historical/political precedents that went into the composition of the document. This “Stylistic Artistry” essay is one of those rare things one finds on the ‘net: A Keeper. Duly saved in my “Important Stuff” directory.

What I said back then: the essay is a keeper.  Much more at the link.

Have a safe and happy Fourth!

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

Keef... with an homage to Al Green and/or the "Memphis Sound:"

I love the horn charts in this tune... they're subtle, yet so necessary to the success of the song.  Brilliant.

―:☺:―

We took our first beer on the verandah (see below) but called it quits shortly thereafter.  I'm not quite acclimated to the heat yet and find it takes a lot out of us, making paying attention to our reading difficult.  

About which, this: reading Hitchens is hard.  I find I can only take his essays in small doses, usually only three or four at a time, mainly because I'm off to the dictionary at least once per page (about which, again: I'm glad I'm reading on my Kindle, it makes those side trips easy) and off to The Wiki at least once per essay.  The man's encyclopedic knowledge and command of the language is frequently above my pay grade but he IS most interesting, and entertaining, so we'll continue to persevere.  Reading Hitchens is guaranteed to make the ol' "I learn sumthin' every day" cliché come true.

The Best Sentence I've Heard or Read Lately

With apologies to blog-bud Morgan, because the title of this post was blatantly ripped off from a regularly recurring feature on his blog.  Morgan's BSIHoRL is almost always political, my one-time effort has to do with hockey (of course!).  I'm lifting it from an article in the Montreal Gazette, which was all about which team you might want to support after your team is eliminated in the playoffs (or fail to MAKE the playoffs in the Habs' case and at least one other case I can think of.  Andy.).  About which, this:

If your appreciation of hockey transcends loyalty to the hometown team, however, this is – hit it, Andy Williams – the most wonderful time of the year. The best players on the best teams are playing their best hockey, and appreciation of excellence can help salve the wounds inflicted by too many disappointing nights at the Bell Centre.

That ain't the BSIHoRL but it DOES describe why I continue to watch hockey long after the Beloved Wings have cleaned out their lockers.  The linked article goes on to describe the teams remaining in the playoffs and why Habs fans might consider rooting for 'em.  Which brings us to the subject at hand... a pithy description of New Joisey Debbils hockey:

Cautionary note: Devils still play Jacques Lemaire hockey, which is to the world’s fastest sport what necrophilia is to the world’s most pleasurable activity.

Which is why I haven't been bothered to watch one single game of the Panthers-Debbils series.  I hate, HATE, HATE the trap.  I've hated it since 1995 and I ain't about to stop now.  Necrophilia, indeed. 

So... best sentence aside, who AM I supporting now that the Wings are on the golf course?  It's still too early to tell but the safest answer would be "ANYONE but Nashville."  Or the Debbils.

If This Is Saturday...

... then it's Viral Vid Day.  Style guide tips from The Economist...

Sigh.  Nothing about my favorite: loose vs. lose.  Loosers, all of 'em.

―:☺:―

In other news... the sun came up this morning, surprisingly.  And the playoffs go on, albeit without the Beloved Wings.  I've been reading post-mortems most of the morning and they're mostly predictable... the Wings need to re-tool and/or re-build; they're finally getting old; there was a lack of depth; injuries took their toll; the Preds were younger, faster, and all that.  Yadda, yadda, yadda.  And we are now officially on Lidstrom Watch.  Will he come back?  Will he retire?  Who knows?  All will be revealed in due time.

And now it's time to watch the Bruins and the Caps.  Life goes on...

Heh - Pedantic Grammarian Edition

Stolen from the Shoebox blog:

Don't laugh.  You have NO ideer how many times I've seen this since I started reading blogs.  And don't get me started on apostrophes.  Just don't.

Clarkson On Open-Air Motoring

That's the title of Jalopnik's Number Three choice of Jeremy Clarkson's Ten Best Lines, ever... and here's the quote, quoted:

3.) Clarkson on the joys of open-air motoring

Suggested By: AJ Supera

Why it's brilliant: "My epiglottis is full of bees!" Clarkson may have really gotten Top Gear going with his early review of the Ariel Atom, and it was lines like this, and, well, whatever flapping noise his face was making in the wind that got the world hooked.

And the video from whence it came:

I can relate to the above... speaking as a guy who rode sportbikes for over 40 years.  While we're on the subject I think I'd like to have an Atom; but with that said I'll stick with The Green Hornet.  TGH doesn't have NEAR the power of an Atom but it provides all the sensations of open-air motoring along with a kick-ass stereo AND air conditioning.  OK, so I am compensating.  What of it?

If you love cars and bon mots you can waste well over an hour at the Jalopnik link above; there's some seriously GOOD stuff there.  Mr. Clarkson can certainly turn a phrase.

The Brain Works In Strange Ways

Well, mine does.  Blog-Bud Lou happened to mention today that she really liked the word "onomatopoeia" but there are precious few occasions when one can use it.  So the very FIRST thang that came to my mind?  This:

I swear to The Deity At Hand I hadn't heard that song in at LEAST 11 years (I have the album it's on, but said album is vacationing in Pennsylvania).  But Hey!  How many other songs are there where the chorus is a repeated "Onna, Onna, Onomatopoeia?"  None that I know of...

―:☺:―

In other BIG news... I'd mentioned in passing that I was gonna get a new teevee as my old one, while entirely adequate for the small space that was El Casa Móvil de Pennington,  was underwhelming in my new and larger digs. Like this:

Watching hockey on that tube was OK... but.  Underwhelming.  So it came to pass last evening that SN1 rang me up to tell me granddaughter Monique was downsizing and looking to get rid of her one-year old big-ass teevee at a VERY good price and would I be interested?  "Well, yes," sez I... "lemmee go look at it."  Cutting right to the chase, a little over an hour later Diego and I were drinking beer and watching the Red Wings dominate Vancouver on this monster:

It was Diego's very first hockey game and I may have made a convert.  As for me... watching hockey on a 53-inch 1080p HD teevee is almost as good as bein' there.  Really. 

Linkage

From Saturday's WSJ, "How We Got the Best-Selling Book of All Time," by Leland Ryken.  A couple o' excerpts:

Modern readers are too quick to conclude that with its now-archaic language and grammar, the Bible's style is embellished and formal. But thee and thou pronouns and verb endings like walkest and sayeth were a feature of everyday speech in the early 17th century.

However imitated or parodied, the language is dignified, beautiful, sonorous and elegant. "Godliness with contentment is great gain"—six words and unforgettable. "Give us this day our daily bread." "The Lord is my light and my salvation." The King James style is a paradox: It is usually simple in vocabulary while majestic and elevating in effect.

Many of the formulations are impossible to forget, having passed into everyday English usage: "the land of the living," "at their wit's end," "the salt of the earth," "the root of the matter," "labor of love," "fell flat on his face." When the famous sayings from the King James Version were extracted from Bartlett's Familiar Quotations into a freestanding book in 2005, the book ran to more than 200 pages!

For more than three centuries, the King James Bible provided the central frame of reference for the English-speaking world. Former Yale University Prof. George Lindbeck well claims that until recently "Christendom dwelt imaginatively in the biblical world." During the years of its dominance, the King James Bible was the omnipresent force in any cultural sphere that we can name—education (especially childhood education), religion, family and home, the courtroom, political discourse, language and literacy, choral music and hymns, art and literature. For more than two centuries children in England and America learned to read by way of the Bible. 

Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address contains so many biblical references that someone has written a whole book on the subject. When President Truman lit the White House Christmas tree on Dec. 24, 1945, his address to the war-weary nation included an exhortation "to make real the prophecy of Isaiah: 'They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more'" (Isaiah 2:4).

The influence of the King James Bible is perhaps most profound in the realm of literature. From Milton's "Paradise Lost" to Toni Morrison's "Paradise," it is a presence quite apart from the author's religious stance. In his book "The Bible as Literature," British literary scholar T. R. Henn said it best: "The Authorized Version of 1611 . . . achieves as we read a strange authority and power as a work of literature. It becomes one with the Western tradition, because it is its single greatest source."

I'll confess that I'm VERY light when it comes to reading the Bible and long-time Gentle Readers know that I am not of the Christian persuasion.  But, that said, I am a tremendous admirer of the Bible's language and the sheer beauty o' same.  I'm also a child o' 20th century America and the grateful beneficiary of the virtues and morals conferred upon me by our Judeo-Christian culture.  I hope strident liberals of the atheist/agnostic persuasion read the linked piece; perhaps they'd come to understand why we conservatives... even those of us who do not embrace Christianity... recognize the basic truths and moral guidance contained in the Bible.  There's no better foundation for a nation and you can take that to the bank.

Thus endeth today's sermon.