Last night I caught the last part of Bill Moyers new show Religion and Reason (think that's right). I heard him discussing this new series with someone on the radio - a very candid interview by the way. It gave me new insight into Moyers. He wasn't as hard-lined in the interview as I had previously thought of him. Or maybe he conceded to some more conservative points for the sake of civility. Anyway, I believe that the program first aired last night on PBS. Moyers was interviewing Salman Rushdie. Anyone here ever read the Satanic Verses? If so, I'd love to get your view of the book. One of the comments made by Rushdie, an atheist, that I recall, was his concession that moral relativism is indeed very dangerous for a society. He lauded religious moral codes that aren't extreme and felt that democracy is by far the best form of government for a continuing just and civil society.

Next on PBS there was a documentary about Richard Proenneke, a man who dreamed of living in the Alaskan wilderness and made it happen. This story is his account of the day-to-day activities and explorations, from supplying his own food and building his own cabin. Takes place at Twin Lakes in Lake Clark National Park. Proenneke kept a journal that was later turned into a book entitled One Man's Wilderness. I read some reviews on Amazon which were mostly positive. However, there were a few that felt that the documentary was much more interesting. I must say that I was mesmerized by this mans perfect focus and ability to create his log cabin without the use of modern tools. I watched him fashion wooden hinges, chairs, a spoon; in fact, the only modern materials that he used were tar paper and a polyurethane cover for his roof. He topped that with thick moss that he cut off rocks. That cabin became his home for the next thirty years. In 1998 he left since he was about eighty something. His cabin is now preserved by the Alaskan park service.