RADIO TIDBITS

Prager the Pious was bemoaning the shrinkage of our allies' armed forces. As evidence, he mentioned that Canada had 1 million under arms at the end of WW II and now has just 62,000. The demand for a larger military is one of the uniting themes of the wingnuts and it seems to be linked with their own self-esteem.

Prager thinks that without the Judeo-Christian tradition, there would essentially be no Civilization. Aside from the moronic parochialism that assumes the East had no Civilizations worthy of the name, Prager also neglects the great Pagans, such as Plato, Aristotle, Cicero and Lucretius, and their enormous contributions to Western Civilization.

Prager went on to praise the Hebrews for desexualizing Religion and the Family. Again, Prager neglects to mention that the desexualization of the family is found in many different, non-Christian cultures, notably the almost universal prohibition against incest. More surprising, he seems to have missed the erotic elements of the Song of Songs. Here are some verses from the Revised Standard Version:

1:2 O that you would kiss me with the kisses of your mouth! For your love is better than wine,

4:5 Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, that feed among the lilies.

7:

1 How graceful are your feet in sandals, O queenly maiden! Your rounded thighs are like jewels, the work of a master hand. 2 Your navel is a rounded bowl that never lacks mixed wine. Your belly is a heap of wheat, encircled with lilies. 3 Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle. 4 Your neck is like an ivory tower. Your eyes are pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rab'bim. Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon, overlooking Damascus. 5 Your head crowns you like Carmel, and your flowing locks are like purple; a king is held captive in the tresses. 6 How fair and pleasant you are, O loved one, delectable maiden! 7 You are stately as a palm tree, and your breasts are like its clusters. 8 I say I will climb the palm tree and lay hold of its branches. Oh, may your breasts be like clusters of the vine, and the scent of your breath like apples, 9 and your kisses like the best wine that goes down smoothly, gliding over lips and teeth.
10 I am my beloved's, and his desire is for me. 11 Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the fields, and lodge in the villages; 12 let us go out early to the vineyards, and see whether the vines have budded, whether the grape blossoms have opened and the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love. 13 The mandrakes give forth fragrance, and over our doors are all choice fruits, new as well as old, which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.

8:

6 Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death, jealousy is cruel as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a most vehement flame. 7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly scorned.