Snakes: My first post on this topic explained the rationale for the title. Maybe I should think of the category as “variations on the trope, ‘Let’s talk about snakes.'”

Obama in Berlin: My guy has now spoken at the Victory Column in Berlin, in spite of my reservations and those of some other observers. Deutsche Welle quotes statements from various German pols who seem to have thought as I did a couple of days ago. But today I’m thinking of the size of the crowd Obama drew in Berlin, close to 200k, and also of the column’s association with contemporary political and popular culture. As Puja Deverakonda points out, “[T]he Column’s symbolism and importance to German history culture has already evolved.” Deverakonda also suggests that “Obama’s Siegesäule visit is supposed to allude to another victory: his own.” That suits me fine, even though it has already given McCain opportunity to aim a shot at Obama’s internationalist rhetoric.

Anheuser-Busch InBev: Back before the sale, Obama also lamented the loss of Anheuser Busch to InBev, striking a note that resonates with a good many here in St. Louis and prompting predictable criticism from pols and pundits that he is “anti-trade.” In order to consummate its forced marriage with A–B, InBev will sell off some assets, borrow $45 billion, cut the St. Louis workforce, and, non-profits fear, scale back philanthropy. There may be some long term good in this for the city of St. Louis, but most people here don’t see it now. With everybody from Claire McCaskill to Lewis Black after him Carlos Brito has got to feel like one ugly Brazilian.

Lambeth Conference: I haven’t paid overmuch attention to the news from Lambeth Palace, but it appears that the bishops, as usual, are up to no good. The latest flap appears to concern a Buddhist chant that Bishop Duleep de Chickera, of Colombo, Sri Lanka, used to conclude a sermon. The sage and serious Robert Duncan is quoted at Stand Firm to the effect that “the inclusion of the chant was ‘very, very troubling’ since it was an ‘invocation of something other than the God we know.'” One of his colleagues has posted a trenchant disagreement at the Lambeth bishops’ blog. Apparently Bishop Duncan shot from the hip, as he often does.

But Duncan’s remarks are among the mildest at the Stand Firm post. I’m sure that many will share the Bishop’s thought that Buddhist=unChristian, no thought required, and pile on. Indeed I’m beginning to expect that the entire conference will be a series of flaps like this one. We’ve already been treated to stentorian condemnations of gays and lesbians and demands for Gene Robinson’s resignation. It’s too bad. My bishop, George Wayne Smith, has expressed the hope that the Anglican Communion will survive this meeting in spite of boycotts and the walkouts that are likely.

I’m having trouble caring very much about the communion any more. Bishop Smith confesses to some emotional exhaustion. Perhaps I’m feeling some of the same. But I’m getting really tired of the pretensions of the so-called orthodox.