• “When did arrogance cease to be immoral?” Pretty good column from Mallory’s Dad. I would add, too, When did rabid misogyny cease to be immoral? (I’ll see your Mere Christianity quote, Pastor Ortberg, and raise you a Great Divorce reference.)
• You better let somebody love you before it’s too late.
Whatever the legal technicalities, it would have been far more graceful for the former Eagle to accept this ad as an affectionate nod rather than fighting it as a trademark infringement. Henley should’ve taken a cue from Paul Simon, who had the good sense not to sue the Carnegie Deli over its 50 Ways to Love Your Liver sandwich.
You can file lawsuits like this one, but you keep carryin’ that anger, it’ll eat you up inside.
Related: Charles Kuffner defends “Desperado” from music snobs (with the help of Johnny Cash). Yeah, the song probably romanticizes the very attitude it attempts to critique, but it’s still a nearly perfectly constructed song. Bracket your preconceptions and just hear it sung by then-9-year-old Sheila Behman for the Langley Schools Music Project.
Also too: “Everyone is married to Don Henley.” That explains so much.
• Yes, they are coming for your birth control.
• I suppose it’s possible that Republican congressional candidate Carl DeMaio’s campaign manager wasn’t really suggesting racial profiling. He just figured — probably correctly — that any young and/or black people showing up at the Republican candidate’s events must be opposition research trackers because DeMaio has nothing to offer that young and/or black voters might be interested in.
• We control the microphones. And then we tell other people it’s not polite to shout. But sometimes they shout anyway. Terribly uncivil.
• And speaking of delicious rants, perfectnumber628 has a good one about “The Line” as in, “Stop accusing us of How close can we get to The Line.”
This isn’t just a thing with white evangelical purity culture when it comes to sex. It’s a thing with white evangelical purity culture when it comes to everything. Cross The Line and you’re in sin. So, to be safe, create a buffer zone to avoid getting too close to The Line. Then, to be a bit safer, create a warning track before the buffer zone. And then a DMZ before the warning track, because you can’t be too safe. Because it’s all about not crossing The Line.
Stay as far away as you can from The Line, they warn. Just look at Jesus, he’s just as far away from The Line as they are — way, way over there on the other side of it, where he’s hugging that leper and touching that bleeding woman and … nevermind, bad example.
• Just to prove there’s not ill feelings implied with all the Don Henley business above, here’s a video of Henley performing one of my favorite songs of his:
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In