....But maybe Obama in his second term? Is it something a president can do? Or does he have to get it passed by Congress? ...

Isn't going to happen. A Republican Congress would have to draft that bill. It's not in their DNA to raise any tax for any purpose. And they feel as Americans, it's our god given right to consume and pollute as much as we damn-well please.

Alas, my representative is a Republican, but I submitted my letter anyway.

Student on a limited budget, you'll find most of Ehrman's books in your public library. All of them were written for the lay person and all of them very enjoyable. I would recommend starting with 'Misquoting Jesus' and then 'Jesus, Interrupted'. One of the other posters suggested the lectures he gave titled 'Lost Christianities' which is also very good and probably available on DVD at your local library as well.

My condolences Richard. You most certainly have inherited some great genes.

I've had the same observations about Ecclesiates. About a month back, Richard was soliciting questions to use for his Los Angelos acceptance speech and I submitted the following question (which to my knowledge wasn't used).

Comment 42 by MauiHorse

In Chapter 8 “You did it yourself in nine months” of TGSOE, page 247 towards the bottom of the page, you quote Ecclesiastes 12:13; “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter…”

My question is with the first twelve chapters of the beautifully written Ecclesiastes (that can even speak to us non-believers), why would you choose to quote a verse from the last 6 verses that were most certainly added by a pious redactor and does not comport with the “vanity of vanities” message that clearly concludes with Ecclesiastes 12:8.

Permalink Saturday, 02 October 2010 at 8:38 AM | #527994

I practically have the book of Ecclesiates memorized and was a bit surprised when I noticed that Richard quoted verbatim from the ending that was most certainly added by a later redactor rather than quoting from one of the verses of the original author.