A Hoax, and a Ho, Ho, Ho

The story about the Dartmouth student turns out to be a hoax. It was, in many ways, a classic "urban legend." It reflects the fears of our times, that mount with each new revelation about domestic spying. That fear, felt with a particular closeness here in the DC area, certainly made me more than willing to believe the story.
But that's a subject for another day. For now, enjoy this little silliness -- a gift from the world wide web. Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year.

Merry Christmas, Big Brother

The story from Dartmouth , of a student being questioned by government agents after he requested a copy of Mao's "Little Red Book" from the library, leaves me wondering just how little one has to do these days to get the national security state's mockers in a twist. Could one simply blog on such words as Marx, communism, terrorism, assassination, 9-11, Bush, peace, redistribution, protest, poverty, war, or Israel? Is that enough to draw down the attention of those who are apparently watching our words? I'm reasonably certain I've used every one of those words in sermons before. Perhaps I'd better stop posting sermons on the church's web site.
Heaven forbid we should organize a congregational witness for peace. We might wind up like those poor Quakers in Florida. I'll think twice this Christmas Eve before making any mention of the Prince of Peace. And that e-mail I sent to Virginia's U.S. Senators about investigating this domestic spying ... on second thought maybe I should try to call that one back.
My high school son is reading Marx's Revolution and Counter Revolution -- just for fun! OK, he's an interesting child. Thank goodness he got that book from the pastor's study and not from the public library.

All I Want for Christmas ...

All I want for Christmas is a version of Spybot that can tell me when I am under surveillance by the national security state. How about you?