No. 335: "Wall Nuts"
In Germany
yesterday for the 10 th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall,
former President Bush reminisced about some bad advice he received a decade
ago: "In my view, that would have been an open provocation, tantamount to
sticking our fingers in the eyes of the Soviet military." Who advised him to do
what?
Send
your answer by noon ET Thursday to [email protected] .
Tuesday's Question (No.
334)--"Paige Proofs":
Fill in the blank as Rev. Paige Patterson, president of the Southern
Baptist Convention, responds to critics: "Show me a single case where a
Southern Baptist has ____________, and I will do my best to see it never
happens again."
"Fun."-- Colleen Werthmann and Carol Rodriguez ( Jim
Asplund , Francis Heaney , and Colin Murphy had similar
answers.)
"Gotten 800s on the SATs."-- Katha Pollitt
"Evolved from some other form of life."-- LeRoy Tabb and Wellesley
Wild
"Named
his son Paige."-- Jay Welch and Greg Diamond (similarly, Steven
Davis and Arthur Stock )
"Professed belief in some ridiculous half-man half-god who performs miracles
and can be three and one at the same time and lives forever."-- Dale
Shuger
Click
for more answers.
Randy's Wrap-Up
Many responses were
built on the assumption that Southern Baptists are bad in bed. Certainly, some
religious groups associate sex with sin, which can either be inhibiting or
inspiring, depending on your point of view (and whether or not you own your own
vestments). Still other faiths forbid specific erotic acts, such as getting
undressed or smiling. Of course, sexual pleasure is not experienced in groups
(unless you are very lucky), but between two individuals (at least one of whom
should be awake at the time, praying for forgiveness). And so there is no proof
that any particular religion is sexier than any other. There is, however, some
evidence that sexual satisfaction correlates with educational attainment; for
instance, those who completed graduate school express greater sexual happiness
than those who dropped out of high school. You'd think this sort of thing would
show up in more educational reform plans. But not Trent Lott's. (Praise the
Lord.)
Entirely Aboveboard
Answer
"Show me a single case where a Southern Baptist has
acted deceptively ."
Rev. Patterson was commenting on a letter from the
Jewish Community Relations Council, an umbrella group of more than 60
organizations, protesting his denomination's use of "deceptive" tactics to
convert Jews. Members of the council, including--in a rare show of unity--the
leaders of all four Jewish seminaries, are particularly vexed by the Baptists'
use of tallis and yarmulke in a Christian service.
"Our quarrel with the Southern Baptist Convention
is not over its right to proselytize," said the letter. "Rather, the Jewish
community is deeply offended that the S.B.C. has formally embraced a strategy
that attempts to deceive Jews into believing that one can be both a Jew and a
Christian."
That S.B.C. employs a
very different conversion tactic than the straightforward hot lead enema used
by the Inquisition to convert Jews, sometimes turning them into "Maranos," or
secret Jews, other times into "pre-Christians," or dead Jews.
Medical Leftovers
Extra
Mental Health: "I am personally shocked--shocked!--when something like this
happens."--New York's Gov. George Pataki discovers that the deinstitutionalized
mentally ill do things that harm others; he proposes to change the state's
policy on forced deinstitutionalization. Sincerity check: In his first four
years in office, Pataki financed 200 new housing units; there are about 10,000
homeless mentally ill people in New York City alone. Honesty check: I added the
second "shocked."
Mental Health 2: "This is serious wacko stuff."--Pat Buchanan comments on a
Donald Trump's tax plan. This is what psychiatrists refer to as "the pot
calling the kettle, like, some kind of pot" or what Wildman Fisher calls
"monkey vs. donkey."
Theological Health: "A legislator has introduced a bill to prevent
circumcision after death."--Deborah Sontag writes in the New York Times.
Or after heavy drinking, she does not add.
Yuck "ha-ha"? Or yuck "blecchhh"? Health: "There's a big yuck factor to
reusing devices."--Dr. Larry Kessler of the FDA comments on "single use"
medical devices being cleaned and reused. He does not refer to foreskins.
Common
Denominator
Shocking (and delightfully so) religious
intolerance.
