I can’t tell if this website is for Obama or against him. I suspect the latter. But it does chronicle all of the fascinating ways that Barack Obama is being thought of in religious terms, as, literally, a Messiah. Read, for an example of the apotheosis [use that word in conversation too!] of Obama, the piece in the California newspaper that presents him as one in a long series of “LightWorkers.”

Michael Gerson points out that John McCain’s nomination is also something of a miracle. The column, while interesting in itself, is notable in that it uses the word syzygy. That’s the first time I have ever come across that word apart from a game of Scrabble. Coming from the Greek word for “yoke,” it refers to three different planets lining up in a straight line. (Yes, I had to look it up.)

Your assignment for today, class, is to find a way to use that word in the course of your normal conversation.

In Islam, a country that once was Muslim must always be Muslim. Spain used to be part of the Muslim empire, back in the dark ages. Not until 1492, that significant date, were the Moors finally expelled, as Christians took the province of Andalusia (what Muslims call Al-Andalus). According to this article, this still sticks in the craw of Muslims and getting Al-Andalus back features prominently in jihadist rhetoric. A former German foreign minister commented that if the jihadists fulfill their dream of eliminating Israel and taking over its once-Muslim territory, the next target would be Spain.