Believe it or not, I'm okay with Jared Curtis changing his mind at the last minute and signing to play for Vanderbilt instead of my favorite team, the University of Georgia Bulldogs. Have I changed my mind in regard to his football skills? Not really. I still think he'll probably be a decent to good college quarterback. He might even turn out to have NFL-caliber talent. Only time will tell. If he turns out to be the next Matthew Stafford, that might affect my future thinking. However, I don't think he will. Why? With Curtis's commitment, Vanderbilt only rose in the recruiting rankings from the mid 40s to 29th, while UGA dropped from 2nd to 6th. The Bulldogs will be just fine. The Dawgs are a very young team that is absolutely loaded, literally oozing with talent. If we don't win a national championship this year, we will be one of the favorites next year. Gunner Stockton has one more year of eligibility, and once he moves on, it will be the fourth year in the program for Ryan Puglisi and the third year for Ryan Montgomery. Every practice has those two quarterbacks of the future taking snaps against one of the best defenses in the SEC. Also, Coach Smart has shown he's not afraid to bring in an experienced transfer player to compete for the job. Should Georgia play Vanderbilt while Curtis is there, I shall not worry too much about losing that game unless the Commodores do some Herculean work to narrow the talent gap between the two programs between now and whoever that future kickoff might take place. Georgia is too talented and too disciplined to lose a … [Read more...]
Why do people think Christopher Hitchens was brilliant?
The late Christopher Hitchens, may he rest in peace, was a popular journalist and outspoken atheist probably most famous for writing the 2007 book titled "God is not Great." Much like Richard Dawkins, his fellow member of the atheistic quartet known as the Four Horsemen, Hitchens made sure the word "God" was the smallest text on his book cover, wanting to make sure his contempt for God was known to everyone willing to listen to him. Not only did Hitchens achieve fame as a writer, he was also considered by many to be a formidable debate opponent, possibly because he was very eloquent, had strong command of the English language, and spoke really fast. Words just effortlessly flowed from his mouth. True, Hitchens was clever, eloquent, and he spoke very fast. But brilliant? That is debatable. For example, during a debate Hitchens once asked, "Why do we have religion in the first place? Why are we having this discussion? Because we are pattern-seeking mammals. It's part of our evolution. We look for patterns. We're designed to look for them and if we can't find a good explanation, we'll come up with a bad one rather than none at all. Most people would rather have a conspiracy theory than no theory. It's very observable that there's a lot of junk science around before good science arrives. Before we have astronomy we have astrology. Before we have chemistry we have alchemy. All these things are derivatives of religion because in a very sinister verse in the Bible that used to upset me when I was forced to listen to it as a little boy. It says, "Seek and ye shall … [Read more...]
A Free Tank of Gas
Today I could have had a free tank of gas. I was in a bad mood because my daughter had an object d'art that she made and wanted it delivered over forty miles from home. She asked me to drive it there because she knows I'm a writer and keep my own schedule, which means I have no schedule. It is now 9:30 p.m. and I just now decided to write this piece. It's kind of nice to be my own boss and work when I please. But this morning the Ryder Cup had started and I wanted to watch the golf matches. I didn't want to drive 45 miles to drop off a fancy painted ginger jar my daughter made, but there I was, and saw that I needed gas before hitting the road. I pulled up to the pump and swiped my card, but for some reason, the pump already said, "Lift nozzle and select grade." Someone else had pulled up to the pump, tried to pay, and then pulled away for whatever reason in spite of the pump being activated and ready to fill my car with gas. I tried hanging up the pump to cancel the sale, but the pump remained active, as if Satan himself was tempting me to help myself to free gas. The pump was primed and ready to give me a free tank of gas. All I had to do was remove the nozzle, stick it into the gas tank, and pull the lever. It wouldn't be like I was actually stealing from someone, would it? Yeah, it was exactly like I would be stealing because I would have been stealing. Someone else had tried to pay for gas and then went to another pump without realizing they had left the previous pump active. The gas I would have pumped would have been charged to someone else's … [Read more...]
Celebrating Evil
Yesterday, Charlie Kirk was assassinated in cold blood. He was murdered in front of television cameras on a college campus for daring to publicly articulate his conservative Christian worldview. The people in this world who oppose the views and opinions of Charlie Kirk have no idea what they have just done. As Chuck Schumer famously warned Supreme Court justices for overturning Roe v. Wade, I'm afraid radical liberals have released the whirlwind and are about to pay the price. What these liberals don't understand is that Charlie represented the very best of conservatism and Christianity. Charlie would enter the arena of ideas to mud wrestle with his critics. He demanded his followers show respect to the alternative point of view and listened carefully to what his critics had to say. Charlie was the classically trained boxer who strictly followed the Marquis de Queensbury rules of the sport who always gave his opponents a fair fight. Many of his followers are more like bare-knuckle brawlers and I predict millions of them are now suddenly spoiling for a beatdown. The temptation to respond to violence with more violence from the right may grow, and that would sadly be detrimental to Charlie's memory and legacy. The only legitimate response to callous murder is justice, not vigilantism. If a Christian or conservative mob were to form to seek vengeance for this murder, all of Charlie's heroic efforts will have been in vain. I have zero doubts that Charlie Kirk is in heaven even as I type these words. Recently I commented on my Facebook page for The God Conclusion … [Read more...]
