Here Comes The Sun by RICHIE HAVENS

RIP Richie Havens.

Surprise, surprise...Google's doodle for April 22nd is Earth Day

Guess they decided to go with the obvious choice this time, as opposed to featuring Cesar Chavez on Easter. If they had the civilizational awareness to think of it, I'm sure they could have done a very clever and respectful doodle of the early Catholic church father Origen, whose memory is traditionally celebrated on this day.

During his early years at Alexandria, Origen wrote On First Principles, the first systematic theology ever produced. For 28 years he worked on another book, the Hexapla, a massive work of Old Testament textual analysis. He was one of the few churchmen before the Reformation who learned Hebrew to assist his study of the Old Testament. Origen's method of interpreting Scripture tremendously influenced the Middle Ages. He found three levels of meaning in it: the literal, the moral and the allegorical. He used allegory to reveal Christ in the Old Testament.
Paradoxically, Origen can be called both a father of orthodoxy and a heretic. He wrote at a time when the church was defining its basic doctrines. His contributions have helped theologians for centuries. But his active mind also led him into speculations that the Church rejected. In fact, church councils held in 231 and 232 enacted motions against Origen, and excommunicated him.
Origen found refuge in Palestine and Arabia. The faith was still dear to him. During a third century persecution, pagans threw him into prison. Tortured and condemned to die, only the death of Emperor Decian saved him from execution. But Origen's health was broken. He was close to 70 when he died in 253 or 254.
Though he made serious mistakes, Origen's contribution was inestimatable. One of his students, the church father Gregory of Nazianzus, aptly summed him up as "the stone that sharpens us all." Because no definite dates are associated with Origen's life, we have chosen this day, April 22, to recognize his contribution to the church.

Boston Marathon Bomber Suspect #2 captured alive

He didn't blow himself up, somewhat atypically for a jihadist. Hope he spills his guts figuratively, then.

Who are the Boston Marathon bombers?

So it's shaping up, if current suppositions survive scrutiny, that the bombers were Chechens who moved to the U.S. at a young age and then gave themselves over to the call of The Jihad. So, they were homegrown AND foreign AND jihadists AND white (literally Caucasians). That ought to punch every commentator's ticket. Hope the police bag this guy w/o any more trouble.

The Inconvenient Truth

Loonwatch, the anti-anti-jihadist site, posted news updates of the Boston Marathon bombing for a few days, but abruptly stopped. Guess when?

...for those un-inclined to click and scroll, they stopped when it became apparent that the bombers were Muslims.

Friday ADHD Linklets

Still got nothing interesting to say this week, so have some of these instead...

Somebody at Google dislikes Michelle Malkin.

Transgender Bat-Roomie

I still miss gatefold album cover art. And if desktop PCs go away, I supposed I'll miss desktop wallpaper.

Eerie abandoned islands.

Same sex marriage is succeeding in changing the culture:

Gay marriage is advancing on the basis of something other than the expected rational arguments. [...] When elites rally unanimously to a cause, it can become a kind of common sense. The upwardly mobile parts of democratic publics emulate their “betters.” They quell their natural misgivings. Those who do not quell their misgivings, therefore, look like losers. There is a first-they-came-for-the-Communists element to this shift—a lot of people worried about saying something un-chic assume that there will always be someone more conservative, more heedless of his social position, ready to come out of the “woodwork” to take the heat in front of public opinion. But Rush Limbaugh now supports civil unions and Glenn Beck opines that gay marriage “isn’t hurting anybody.”

North Korea is China's tool for making trouble for the West on the cheap, with a degree of deniability. So we have to stand with South Korea all the more steadfastly.

If you're using Disqus comments, you can comment on Michelle Malkin's blog now. Still can't figure out how to resume commenting on NPR.org though, now that they've taken away Google login, and the Disqus button there doesn't recognize me.

Friday morning ADHD linklets

Long lost videotage footage is rediscovered of MLK assassin James Earl Ray being booked into prison.

Roger Ebert, defender of evolution.

Happy Poetry Month! Odgen Nash is about my speed, unfortunately. As for people bemoaning the decline of poetry, I'll just say what I say to the people on YouTube complaining about how music sucks nowadays: There was plenty of crap in the old days too--we just don't pay attention to it anymore.

Bizarre sea creatures

Most classless paleontology analogy ever.

Christians Injured, Church Damaged in Pakistan After Mosque Incites Attacks From Loudspeakers It just never stops...