What Makes For An "Emergency" « Expat Yank

re: "...Now was mid-August 1941, and that above is a statement from Senator Burton Wheeler reacting to the U.S. House having just renewed — by one vote — Selective Service...[snip]...That attitude was particularly perplexing to many abroad, especially given another American attitude that was common then just as it is now. Upon hearing of the single vote passage, an American radio commentator recalled a statement he heard from a British “man on the street”: “The Americans are curious people. I can’t make them out. One day, they’re announcing they’ll guarantee freedom and fair play for everybody everywhere in the world. The next day, they’re deciding by only one vote that they’ll go on having an Army.”..."...

One Very Difficult Question That Needs Answering « Expat Yank

re: "...In fact, it might even be said that Mr Myrie and many others have matters exactly backwards. Firstly, there was not a pre-industrial age that was non-slavery, but which became slave afterwards and then “funded” the rise of industrialism. Secondly, enforced labor, pre-1700, had always been part and parcel of settled human existence everywhere..."...

The Empire of Lies by Guy Sorman, City Journal Spring 2007

re: "...China’s economic “miracle” is rotting from within..."...

Skilled Immigrants at Last? by Steven Malanga

re: "The compromise immigration legislation that the Bush administration and Senate have hammered out represents an historic shift in emphasis that could transform immigration in the U.S. by moving us to a skills-based entry system. Such a change could make immigration a bigger benefit for our economy while also ameliorating some problems with the rest of the legislation, specifically its plan to grant amnesty to many of those already here illegally. But the devil will be in the details that not only the Senate, but also the House of Representatives, still have to work out and agree to. /America’s legal immigration system is largely based on family relations, which means that you can get into this country based on whom you know, rather than what you know...[snip]...Other countries that are also immigrant magnets, like Australia, have moved to systems based on economic merit, with startlingly different results..."...

FIRST THINGS: On the Square » Blog Archive » The Friday Potpourri

re: why the legislative and executive branches shouldn't be allowed to excuse themselves from abortion, myths of the Inquisition that persist despite persistant debunking, and author Arthur Koestler, presented as a brutal man but brilliant writer, whose works should not be forgotten or dismissed...

Semicolon: Hershey by Michael D’Antonio

re: a book on the "history of the Hershey company and of Milton Hershey’s company town, Hershey, Pennsylvania"...

Life on the Line

re: Rev. Frank Pavone/ pro-life radio broadcasts, podcasts, resources...

Baptist Press - ENDA ends employers' freedoms

re: from Penna Dexter, "...ENDA is not a means to foster equality, but a tool that would be used to bludgeon businesses into maintaining a work environment that affirms open homosexuality. The proponents of ENDA claim the bill's provisions are similar to practices already seen in 87 percent of Fortune 500 companies. Fine. In America, individual corporations are free to frame their policies in whatever ways they see fit. Enacting ENDA would steal that freedom from non-compliant companies. It's a bad idea..."...

WorldNetDaily: 2nd plan to make churches 'lobbyists' defeated

re: "A Christian organization is announcing the success – for now – of its urgent petition drive to convince Congress to drop plans to re-classify ministers and ministries as "lobbyists," which would create reams of red tape and subject leaders to fines of up to $50,000 if they didn't follow the fine print..."...

hat tip: The Alliance Alert for May 18, 2007

Sliding Fast Down the Slippery Slope

re: Albert Mohler writes, "Just days after reporting that 90 percent of all babies diagnosed with Down syndrome are now aborted, Amy Harmon reports in The New York Times that the real reach of the question goes far beyond Down syndrome. Now, some babies are aborted for virtually any trait considered undesirable by the mother or parents -- and ethicists seem unwilling to draw any clear lines. /As Harmon reports:..."...

Home school kids learn socialization - Roanoke.com

re: "...Home schooling has many benefits, including the flexible scheduling that allows me to enjoy weekly lunches with my grandchildren, so it's no wonder more and more parents are opting to make the sacrifices necessary to home school their children. But one significant benefit to home schooling, and one of the reasons many parents make the choice, may surprise you. It's the socialization..."...

hat tip: Considerettes

Victor Davis Hanson on Climate Penance on National Review Online

re: "...Maybe it was inevitable that the old practice of paid absolution would appeal to elite baby boomers — a class and generation that always seems to want it both ways by compartmentalizing their lives. The only difference is that the new sinners are not so worried about God’s wrath as they are about their reputation among their judgmental liberal gods...[snip]...In other words, “offsets” is merely a euphemism for words like cynicism and hypocrisy. So by all means help save the planet, worry about the poor, establish charities. Just spare us the medieval idea that such penance ever excuses your own excess."

The Corner : Re: Amnesty for Terrorists

re: Andy McCarthy writes, "Has there ever been such a disconnect between ordinary Americans and political elites? Human Events has run a poll asking its conservative readership, what is the most important issue to you? Number 1: 86 percent say illegal immigration. /I sort of doubt those people thought the solution was to make the illegality no longer illegal."...

The Corner: Good News from Paris

re: Michael Ledeen writes, "Sarkozy has named Bernard Kouchner as his foreign minister. Wow! Kouchner is a Socialist who is the French equivalent of Natan Sharansky, a tireless campaigner for human rights, a man who has advocated the right of democratic countries to intervene against tyrannical regimes in the name of freedom. /A Socialist mugged by reality, we might say."...

Michael Gerson - Missionaries in Northern Virginia - washingtonpost.com

re: "...Some American religious conservatives have embraced ties with this emerging Christianity, including the church I attend. But there are adjustments in becoming a junior partner. The ideological package of the global south includes not only moral conservatism but also an emphasis on social justice, an openness to state intervention in markets, and a suspicion of American economic and military power. The emerging Christian majority is not the Moral Majority. /But the largest adjustments are coming on the religious left. For decades it has preached multiculturalism, but now, on further acquaintance, it doesn't seem to like other cultures very much. Episcopal leaders complain of the threat of "foreign prelates," echoing anti-Catholic rhetoric of the 19th century. An activist at one Episcopal meeting urged the African bishops to "go back to the jungle where you came from." Not since Victorians hunted tigers on elephants has the condescension been this raw. /History is filled with uncomfortable turnabouts, and we are witnessing one of them. Serious missionary work began in Nigeria in 1842, conducted by a Church Mission Society dedicated to promoting "the knowledge of the Gospel among the heathen." In 2007, the Nigerian outreach to America officially began, on the fertile mission fields of Northern Virginia. And the natives here are restless."...

hat tip: NRO Web Briefing 5/16/07

Townhall.com::Blog: The Press Catches Up with the Truth About Divorce

re: Michael Medved writes, "...For more than fifteen years, I’ve been writing and speaking about the myth of America’s "soaring divorce rate", and the pernicious lie that “50% of all marriages end in divorce.” / My bestselling book HOLLYWOOD VS. AMERICA (1992) includes a whole subchapter entitled, “The Myth of the 50% Divorce Rate.”...[snip]...The only way to measure the over-all divorce rate – the percentage of all first marriages that end in divorce --is to consider the readily available numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau. According to the most recent figures (from 2001, after the last completed national census), some 166,932,000 Americans have ever been married – or 76% of all those 15 and older. / Meanwhile, 48,412,000 have ever been divorced. / This means that of all those who have ever been married, a startling 71% are either still married to the person they originally wed, or else they remained married until the spouse died. / This figure applies only to first marriages, of course: the number for those who have “ever been divorced” (22.2% of all American adults) includes many people who have been divorced more than once..."...

Chicago Tribune | Julie's Health Club: The cardio-free diet

re: "...Cardiovascular or aerobic exercise is, in fact, so hazardous, Karas says, that you should skip it altogether if you’re trying to lose weight. /Instead, Karas advocates a combination of interval strength training three to four days a week to maintain and increase lean muscle mass, and a diet plan that involves counting calories. /That means no more “mindless exercising” and no need to run, spin, cross-country ski, take aerobics classes or swim. /It’s the latest twist in the long-running cardio-versus-strength-training debate - and a message treadmill haters are embracing. Though aerobic exercise is widely recognized for its health benefits, Karas’ book, “The Cardio-Free Diet” (Simon Spotlight Entertainment, 272 pages, $23), has been as high as No. 2 on the New York Times best-seller list..."...

Chicago Tribune | Julie's Health Club: Treadmill desks cut obesity

re: "Sitting is an occupational hazard for office workers, but there’s a new way to avoid it: a vertical work station that incorporates a treadmill at a desk./These “walk-and-work” office desks could help obese employees lose weight, according to a small study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. / The participants were able to use the computer while walking without falling or injuring themselves. In fact, they enjoyed it so much, they wanted to keep the walking desks even after the study ended. /The idea builds on the notion that we all need high levels of spontaneous activity throughout the day, also called non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT). / Obese people generally have low levels of NEAT. Lean people have high levels..."...

India Refuses Diplomatic Status for Homosexual Partners of Canadian Gay Diplomats

re: "NEW DELHI, May 11, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Calcutta Telegraph reports that the Indian government has refused diplomatic status to the same-sex “spouses” of two members of the Canadian diplomatic corps. / Indian culture is very traditional and Indian law retains a strict understanding of marriage being possible only between a man and a woman...[snip]...The Telegraph quoted unnamed sources in the Indian Ministry of External Affairs who said that the Canadian government had requested an exemption from the law for the man and woman in question. But the Ministry sources said the government has told Canada its diplomats are not exempt from the law of the land in which the diplomat is based..."...

Pro-Life Doctors Call for Canadian Medical Association Lobbying to Ensure Conscience Protection

re: "OTTAWA, Ontario, May 15, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Canadian pro-life doctors are asking for support in defending their right to refuse to perform or refer for abortions, after an attack last week by US-based abortion activists seeking to force all Canadian doctors to participate in abortion..."...

1.5 Million Italians Turn Out in Massive Rome Protest Against Homosexual Civil Unions

re: "ROME, Italy, May 14, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Italians from across the country poured into Rome May 12 to join in a demonstration against a law that would give legal recognition to homosexual couples--reports showed up to 1.7 million people overflowed the St. John Lateran piazza. Organizers initially expected to draw about 100,000..."...

Planned Parenthood Threatens to Sue Undercover Activist -- 05/15/2007

re: "(CNSNews.com) - Planned Parenthood of Los Angeles is threatening to sue a student pro-life activist who recorded an abortion clinic employee encouraging her to lie about her age to avoid being reported as a victim of statutory rape. / Lila Rose, an 18-year-old sophomore at the University of California Los Angeles, is the founder of a pro-life magazine on campus. In March, she entered a Planned Parenthood of Los Angeles (PPLA) clinic, posing as a pregnant 15-year-old and said her boyfriend was 23 years old. / A girl in that position would be considered a victim of statutory rape because she was under 16, and California law requires clinics such as Planned Parenthood to report cases of statutory rape. In hidden camera video of the encounter, a PPLA employee tells Rose that she could "figure out a birth date that works" to avoid having PPLA notify police..."...

Townhall.com::First Principles First::By Fred Thompson

re: from a speech delivered to the meeting of the Council for National Policy on Saturday, May 12, 2007: "One thing about folks knowing you are going to speak at the Council for National Policy, you get lots of advice as to what to say. A lot of good advice. Good talking points. In fact enough for several speeches. Also, some of your friends, knowing that you are thinking about running for President, urge you to give a rousing campaign speech. / Hopefully there will be an opportunity to do all of those things but tonight instead of all of that, I want to talk a little about what should be the origin of all those talking points. This would be the principles on which they are based — first principles. The principles you have been defending since 1981..."...

Townhall.com::The Anger Of The Left::By Thomas Sowell

re: "...If it is hard to find a principle behind what angers the left, it is not equally hard to find an attitude.
Their greatest anger seems to be directed at people and things that thwart or undermine the social vision of the left, the political melodrama starring the left as saviors of the poor, the environment, and other busybody tasks that they have taken on. /It seems to be the threat to their egos that they hate. And nothing is more of a threat to their desire to run other people's lives than the free market and its defenders..."...

Busch Series team signs U.S. Border Patrol as sponsor

re: "Jay Robinson Racing officials announced today that the Busch Series team has finalized a 25-race sponsorship agreement with the U.S. Border Patrol. /The sponsor will be involved with the team's No. 28 Chevrolet for the remainder of this season. The 25-race package will be equally split between primary and associate exposure..."...

hat tip: Rush Limbaugh

Susan's Blog: A Time to Grieve

re: from April 22, 2007 / commentary on the Virginia Tech murders, including on the irresponsible news coverage of same...

Inspiring Words: An Interview with Trish Perry - Part I

re: Oct. 2006 interview with the author of The Guy I'm Not Dating, published by Harvest House: "...Trish: In 1987 my sister took a bad fall down the stairs at my parents’ home. She was in a coma for ten days, during which time the doctors kept changing her prognosis. She couldn’t possibly survive her injuries; she might survive in a vegetative state; she might survive with most of her faculties; she would probably not survive. I sought guidance from a secular counselor. “They keep changing their minds,” I said. “I don’t know what to pray.” I did believe in God and His power; I simply hadn’t accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior yet. But I didn’t know that. My counselor said, “Why don’t you just pray that He’ll help you accept whatever His will is for your sister?” That sounded right to me. When I prayed that prayer, I had Jesus in mind. The peace He gave me was tangible, and I accepted His will. I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to hold onto that peace, so I started reading the Bible and turning every concern over to Him. When my sister died, the peace remained, within the grief, because I had accepted that He was in control, whether or not I understood why. Then, one evening as I read my Bible, I was overwhelmed with the feeling of what it would feel like to allow my daughter, my only child, to die for the sake of total strangers. For the sake of evil people who didn’t even notice. For my sake. I felt what God and Jesus had sacrificed for me, and the gratefulness was deeper than any emotion I’d felt before. Regardless of what’s happened since that evening, I’ve never lost that initial peace, because He’s in control and I know how much He loves me..."...

Francophiles & Francophobes - Books & Culture

re: Otto Selles writes, "...To explore this Francophile-Francophobe dichotomy, I followed the fancy of Amazon.com recommendations and made my way through some thirty books, of which I feature a representative selection.2 I deliberately chose trade books, those published for a general audience, over specialized academic studies and textbooks on French history and culture. I am interested in what writers and publishers think the general public would like to read about France, especially when it involves an expatriate's opinion of its culture. My interest in such books comes out of the years I spent in France as an expatriate—first as an English teacher and doctoral student in Paris, and most recently as a director of a study-abroad program in Grenoble..."...

Our Daily Bread - Books & Culture

re: Bill McKibben review of the book Good Bread is Back: A Contemporary History of French Bread, the Way It is Made, and the People Who Make It, by Steven Laurence Kaplan, Duke University Press, 2007: "...Alas, it is either badly written or badly translated (or both). The writing is often a parody of academic cluelessness ("Encoded both as a material object and a symbolic object, bread constituted a complex multiple register on which social, biological, and spiritual destinies operated simultaneously"). More fundamentally, the book never manages to provide a straightforward chronology of the story Kaplan is trying to tell, and hence manages to provide both endless repetition and frustrating gaps. But since, as I say, the material is potentially of great interest, I will try to reassemble the tale as best I can..."...

Rumors of Glory: Jane Kramer and the Feast of St. Martin Elginbrod - Books & Culture Magazine

re: Alan Jacobs writes, "Jane Kramer is a highly distinguished journalist, whose writings about Europe have enlivened the pages of America's most distinguished periodicals for many years now. But her recent essay on Pope Benedict in The New Yorker is not a highlight of her career. Few Christians who pay attention to the coverage of religion in the media will find this surprising: the essay is in several ways, most of them discouraging, representative of much current writing about religion in general and Christianity in particular. But it might be worthwhile to explore just why Kramer's essay is so typical..."

Holy to the Core | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

re: Joel Scandrett, "...Before we are ever called to be good, we are called to be holy. Unless we rightly understand and affirm the primacy of this relationship, we fall into the inevitable trap of reducing holiness to mere morality..."...

The Scotsman - Business - Chrysler and Daimler part in £3.7bn deal

re: Nick Bevens reports, "DAIMLERCHRYSLER has announced the knock-down 5.5 billion (£3.7bn) sale of its loss-making Chrysler operation to a US private equity group. /The deal with Cerberus Capital Management reverses the merger of ten years ago that saw the US and German car giants join forces. Daimler originally paid £18bn for Chrysler. / Daimler is now set to drop the Chrysler name. However, Daimler will retain a 19.9 per cent stake in Chrysler under the deal, which is due to be completed by the third quarter. Cerberus, meanwhile..."...

The Scotsman - Business - Fishermen hit out at 'suicidal' protests by Greenpeace

re: Frank Urquhart reports, "GREENPEACE activists were yesterday accused of endangering the lives of Scottish trawlermen after launching the second wave of "suicidal" direct action against cod trawlers operating in the northern North Sea. /The group deliberately disrupted fishermen operating 40 miles from Shetland. Dressed in a survival suit and clinging to a buoy with a placard proclaiming "Stop battering cod", a Greenpeace protester jumped into the sea in the path of two vessels which were pair trawling off Unst by dragging a huge net between them..."...

Ethics and Public Policy Center: A Lifetime of Learning

re: George Weigel writes, "...In that elegiac passage, written almost forty years ago, Potok defined precisely the problem that Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI, addresses in his new book, Jesus of Nazareth. "Everything" in Christianity, the Pope writes, depends on building an "intimate friendship with Jesus." That was true in first-century Galilee; it is just as true in the twenty-first century. But twenty-first century believers have a problem that their forebears didn't face: the many issues posed by modern methods of reading ancient texts. Now, after two centuries of reading the Bible according to the historical-critical method-"dissecting" the biblical text, as the fictional Abraham Gordon might put it-many Christians are "in danger of clutching at thin air" in seeking this friendship with their Lord. Or so the Pope worries. /And not without good reason..."...

hat tip: NRO Web Briefing

BBC NEWS | Americas | Rancher denies US nun's killing

re: "...Sister Dorothy campaigned for poor farmers' rights and to preserve the rainforest from loggers and developers. /Her murder followed a dispute with ranchers over land they wanted to clear for pasture and she wanted to protect...[snip]...In the last 30 years, more than 1,000 people have been killed in land disputes in Brazil, the BBC's Brazil correspondent Gary Duffy says - more than 770 of those in the state of Para."

Betsy's Page: Federal hate crimes law

re: "...Why the federal government should be involved in crimes that don't touch on any federal activity is unclear unless we're back to the idea that the Commerce Clause covers all, a concept that the Rehnquist Court had tried to put the brakes on. But when has Congress ever worried about the limits of congressional power? / George Will writes on this subject and is scathing in his criticism of such feel-good votes as this one..."...

Betsy's Page: Reinstating the Fairness Doctrine

re: "The American Spectator reports that the Democratic House leaders are going to begin a new push to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine...[snip]...In other words, if they can't win an audience on their own, they'll just have to limit conservatives through government regulation. Despite its name, there is no fairness in the Fairness Doctrine..."...

Prescribed Reading - New York Times

re: by Jerome Groopman, "Medicine engages life’s existential mysteries: the miraculous moment of birth, the jarring exit at death, the struggle to find meaning in suffering. But medicine is practiced in the mundane world and involves concrete issues like the imbalance of power between physician and patient; the role of quackery, avarice and ego in molding a doctor’s behavior; and the demand for perfection in the face of human fallibility. No insight into its more existential aspects is found in clinical textbooks, properly devoted to physiology, pharmacology and pathology. Rather, it is literature that most vividly grapples with such mysteries, and with the character of physician and patient. / Each spring, I address these nonscientific dimensions of medicine with 12 freshmen at Harvard College in a seminar called “Insights From Narratives of Illness.” We read about a dozen works, from short stories by Turgenev to Samuel Shem’s Rabelaisian hospital novel “The House of God.” The students are generally surprised to learn how the experience of illness touches every corner of human emotion and behavior. But they are even more surprised to discover that even as they read the assigned books, they are often reading, in the background, one of the world’s oldest books. That book is the Bible. Whether read as revealed truth or as a literary work, the Bible is a sourcebook of human psychology and an enduring inspiration for authors trying to capture the drama and dilemmas of medicine. /The seminar begins with the Tolstoy novella “The Death of Ivan Ilyich.”..."...

hat tip: Frank Wilson

Fernnook Farmgirl: Parenting advice

re: "...A huge part of parenting is to slowly train that little one to consider others. Step by step they must be taught to give up their own felt needs and rights...[snip]...4. Avoid saying, "We can't afford that." That lets the child think that they do deserve whatever it is they want, but that poor Mom and Dad just can't do what is necessary to get it for them. Instead use phrases such as this, "We do not think is is wise to get that," or, "We feel such and such is more important and so we are not going to try and get this for you."...[snip]...7. Remember to model a life of contentment..."...

Liberty Counsel: ACLU Cannot Force School District to Censor Seniors at Louisiana Graduation

re: "Ouachita, LA - The graduating seniors at the six high schools in the Ouachita Parish School District voted to have a fellow student give a message during this week's graduation ceremonies. Up in arms over the possibility the students will include religious themes or prayer at graduation, the ACLU issued a letter accusing the district of "trying to do an end-run around the Constitution with the so-called student-led prayers."...[snip]...Liberty Counsel's "Friend or Foe" Graduation Prayer Campaign seeks to educate and, if necessary, litigate to ensure that prayer and religious views are not suppressed during graduation. /Commenting on the matter, Staver remarked: "As long as there are graduations, there will be times when prayer and religious messages are part of the ceremonies. Religious viewpoints cannot be excluded from graduation ceremonies. When the message is the choice of the student or the speaker, religious viewpoints, including prayer, are permissible. The ACLU is wrong – schools must not censor private religious speech from graduation."

Townhall.com::“The Senator party" vs. "The Governor party" ::By Michael Medved

re: "...These contrasting choices for ticket toppers reflect important contrasts in governing philosophy for the two big parties. Republicans prefer governors and cabinet members because they see the job of the President as primarily administrative: to respond to crisis, to tame (and, ideally, to cut back) the federal bureaucracy and, generally, to run the government efficiently enough that it doesn’t interfere unduly with the important business of family and commercial life...[snip]...Democrats, by contrast, view government as a powerful change agent, not a threat to privacy or prosperity. They prefer current and former legislators as their nominees because Congress remains branch of government that changes laws and thereby alters reality. The Democrats rally to Presidents and candidates who promise ambitious programs (“New Deal,” “New Frontier,” “Bridge to the 21st Century”) that use governmental initiatives to address problems, while GOP’ers long for a deft administrator who keeps the nation safe and secure while preventing the government from intruding too much in our lives..."...

The Corner: There is No God But Politics

re: Jonah Goldberg: "Theodore Dalrymple makes a similar argument to my own but with great philosophical depth. An excerpt from a really worthwhile essay:..."...

OpinionJournal - Security Deposit

re: Naomi Schaeffer Riley: "WEST POINT, N.Y.--On a stormy night here a couple of weeks ago, a group of men and women gathered at the U.S. Military Academy to discuss the future of national security. Nothing unusual about that. The group included military brass, naturally, and a few scholars. But it also included--how to put this?--some rich people...[snip]... It was a conference called "National Security Studies and Military History: How Philanthropists Can Make a Difference."...[snip]...Stephen Rosen, a professor at Harvard and a conference participant, believes that people in the national-security areas of government are focused too much on day-to-day "crisis management." They don't stop to think about the next decade or two. That is where philanthropists can step in, by sponsoring researchers who might think about--and write about and talk about--the long-term challenges we face: our relationship with, say the Islamic world, the use of nuclear weapons and the behavior of China. It is true that any number of scholars spend time thinking about the larger geopolitical dimensions of these questions and the diplomatic options for resolving them. But few devote themselves to the actual military issues involved. / It is futile to expect universities to produce such people, at least so the conference participants believed. "A number of subjects subsumed under the subject of national security are looked down on or ignored by academia," said Josiah Bunting, a retired officer and the president of the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation. In his keynote address, he contrasted the meager study of military history on university campuses with the shelves of Barnes & Noble, which are "groaning" under the weight of books on military subjects..."...

OpinionJournal - Christianity Without Salvation

re: Joseph Loconte: "Within a few years of its publication in 1907, "Christianity and the Social Crisis" swept through America's Protestant churches like a nor'easter, selling more than 50,000 copies to ministers and laypeople alike. In an age of social upheaval, Walter Rauschenbusch's jeremiad was meant to rouse the church from its pietistic slumber. "If society continues to disintegrate and decay, the Church will be carried down with it," he warned. "If the Church can rally such moral forces that injustice will be overcome . . . it will itself rise to higher liberty and life."...[snip]...Rauschenbusch's clever narrative of a faith held hostage was itself a captive of its cultural setting. It's no accident that phrases such as the "laws of social development," "scientific comprehension of society" and the "evolution of social institutions" litter his text. He presents not so much the teachings of Jesus, Paul and the Apostles as the dogmas of Darwin, Marx and Herbert Spencer. Richard Niebuhr called this "cultural Christianity," i.e., re-imagining the gospel according to secular nostrums about the march of human progress. /As such, Rauschenbusch's gospel had little need of a Savior. It merely displaced the problem of evil--the supreme tragedy of the human soul in rebellion against God--with the challenge of social iniquities..."...

HomesteadBlogger.com - Come Blog With Us

re: "Welcome to HomesteadBlogger, an informative and friendly online community for homesteaders, homesteaders at heart, and people interested in homesteading..."...

Townhall.com::Resisting the Raunch Culture that Objectifies Girls::By Colleen Carroll Campbell

re: "...Many parents feel powerless to resist the objectification of their daughters. But others are fighting back. A new modesty movement is sprouting in cities from Denver to Atlanta, with Pure Fashion shows drawing crowds of modesty-conscious mothers and daughters, new retailers like Shade Clothing reporting multi-million dollar sales figures for clothes that keep private parts private, and feisty online communities like ModestyZone.net encouraging rebels against raunchy culture. /The girls and women behind this movement say they are not looking to revive gunny-sack dresses or relive the 1950s. They simply want to be seen as more than the sum of their body parts..."...

AMERICAN FUTURE » The Islamist Mousekeeters (UPDATED)

re: the television program with a Mickey Mouse lookalike that Hamas was using to indoctrinate children has been pulled for review, the Palestinian information minister said Wednesday...

Cheers to Debbe, Founder of Project Cuddle

re: "When Oprah walks out onto the stage at Harpo Studios every day, hundreds of people cheer and applaud. Now she wants to pass that amazing feeling on to people who deserve to be recognized for all they do to help others. "I'm doing something I've always wanted to do," Oprah says. "I say this all the time: 'I want to one day show up where people live and work to give them the same standing ovation that [the audience] just gave me.'"/ The first cheer goes to Debbe Magnusen, a suburban mother who found her calling when she read an article about an abandoned baby found dead in her community. To help save other babies, Debbe founded Project Cuddle, a hotline for pregnant women in trouble who need help raising their babies or finding adoptive families. / In the 10 years since she started Project Cuddle at her kitchen table, Debbe has helped save more than 570 lives! "I don't think she has any idea how many lives she has changed permanently for the better," says Elizabeth, an adoptive mother that Debbe has helped. "She is here for a reason. She is an absolute gift."..."...

Cafe Hayek: Still Living at 108

re: "Were he still alive, Hayek would today celebrate his 108th birthday. To mark this occasion, I offer this quotation from the book that I believe to be Hayek's most profound: Law, Legislation, and Liberty: Rules and Order (Vol. 1, 1973), p. 72: Legislation, the deliberate making of law, has justly been described as among all inventions of man the one fraught with the gravest consequences, more far-reaching in its effects even than fire and gun-powder. Unlike law itself, which has never been 'invented' in the same sense, the invention of legislation came relatively late in the history of mankind. It gave into the hands of men an instrument of great power which they needed to achieve some good, but which they have not yet learned so to control that it may not produce great evil."

No Left Turns: It's more insidious than that

re: "...That’s bad enough, but, as Gregory Baylor points out, the newest version of the proposed Employment Non-Discrimination Act is even worse, permitting mission-sensitive hiring (when it comes to the moral disapproval of homosexuality) only for "employers that ’ha[ve] as [their] primary purpose religious ritual or worship or the teaching or spreading of religious doctrine or belief.’" Let me translate: only churches and church-like organizations can act on their religious and moral principles in hiring. It’s plausible that religiously-affiliated colleges and universities won’t be able to, nor will faith-based social service organizations. Let me be clear: this has nothing to do with strings attached to government funding and everything to do with government coercion. If something like it passes (and survives a free exercise challenge, which unfortunately isn’t out of the question), morally and theologically conservative denominations will be able to care for the proverbial widows and orphans only at the price of acquiescing in the gay rights agenda."...

AMERICAN FUTURE » Reversing France’s Middle East Tilt

re: "Next month marks the fortieth anniversary of the Six Day War, which changed the face of the Middle East. France, not the United States, was Israel’s primary arms supplier during the years preceding that conflict. In “The EU and the Arabs” I documented the sharp reversal in France’s Middle East policy than took place soon after the war ended. /Just three days after the shooting stopped, President de Gaulle instructed his foreign minister to denounce Israel before the French National Assembly and the UN General Assembly. A month later, he said that “[w]e told the Israelis not to start a conflict. Now, France does not recognize her conquests.” /By late 1967, de Gaulle’s attitude toward Israel had hardened to the point that anti-Semitic sentiments had found their way into his public pronouncements...[snip]...Sarkozy is likely to be more sympathetic to the Israelis than have been his predecessors. And with good reason:..."...

Hamas 'Mickey Mouse' preaches resistance

re: from Diaa Hadid, Associated Press writer, "GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Hamas militants have enlisted a figure bearing a strong resemblance to Mickey Mouse to broadcast their message of Islamic domination and armed resistance to their most impressionable audience - children. /A giant black-and-white rodent - named "Farfour," or "butterfly," but unmistakably a rip-off of the Disney character - does his high-pitched preaching against the U.S. and Israel on a children's show each Friday on Al-Aqsa TV, a station run by Hamas. The militant group, sworn to Israel's destruction, shares power in the Palestinian government..."...

What's the latest haute spot for Seattle chefs? Walla Walla

re: from Leslie Kelly, P-I restaurant critic: "WALLA WALLA -- This corner of the state is not the new Napa Valley, though it's easy to make the comparison. / Thanks to a growing number of Seattle transplants -- chefs, budding winemakers, innkeepers with gourmet aspirations -- the booming wine country here has become a delicious destination. /The town so nice they named it twice has long been famous for onions, asparagus and its penitentiary, but over the past decade the community has grown into a red-hot wine region, blossoming from seven producers in the late 1990s to more than 100. /With such explosive growth come tourists, and those hungry for upscale dining will find a town transformed..."...

Patrick pushes $1B biotech investment

re: from Ken Maguire, Associated Press: "BOSTON -- Gov. Deval Patrick proposed Tuesday that Massachusetts invest $1 billion in the biotechnology industry and challenge California as a hub for stem-cell research. /Patrick's 10-year plan was revealed in a speech at a biotechnology convention in Boston. Money would be spent on research grants to scientists and improving public college facilities, Patrick said...[snip]...The initiative calls for the creation of a stem-cell bank, a centralized repository of stem-cell lines for public and private research, overseen by the University of Massachusetts. /Patrick said the bank would be the world's largest catalog of stem-cell lines, with UMass, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and hospitals including Massachusetts General Hospital contributing their lines. /The research aims to use stem cells, which are created in the first days after conception and can give rise to all the organs and tissues in the body, to replace diseased tissue in hopes of treating a variety of diseases. /Many social conservatives, including President Bush, oppose the work because embryos are destroyed in the process. /Patrick said his timeline would have the bulk of the investment begin in July 2008..."...

OpinionJournal: The Realignment of America

re: Michael Barone takes a look at America's changing demographics, and finds some surprises...

Campaign under way to derail Senate 'hate crimes' bill (OneNewsNow.com)

re: "Pro-family groups are urging the U.S. Senate not to endorse a hate crimes bill as the House of Representatives did last week. One pro-family leader has referred to the legislation sponsored by Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) as the "most dangerous bill in the country" because many feel it "criminalizes Christianity."..."...

The Hindu: Former Hindu nation Nepal has its first Bishop

re: "Kathmandu, May. 6 (PTI): The first Catholic Bishop of Nepal was officially appointed at a special function near here today, nearly a year after the former Hindu nation declared itself a secular state. /Addressing the ceremony at the Catholic Church at Dhobighat in the outskirts of Kathmandu, Bishop Anthony Francis Sharma pledged greater participation of the Christian community for the development of the country. /There are some 3,000 Catholics in Nepal, though the Protestants are claimed to have reached one million in number. /The 69-year-old Bishop was born as Amulya Nath Sharma, a Hindu Brahmin, but later switched to Christianity..."...

hat tip: New Oxford Review

European Parliament Accuses Croatia of Homophobia in Schools

re: "Croatia, May 8, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Croatia has been targeted by the European Parliament over a sex education curriculum that opposes homosexuality and teaches abstinence before marriage, Eubusiness reported April 24...[snip]...The EP officials warned the curriculum could encourage “stigma and discrimination” and suggested it may violate Croatia’s laws against discrimination based on sexual orientation. / They condemned the curriculum as “gender-biased” and said it features “negative attitudes towards homosexuality, thus contradicting Croatian laws.” / The sex education program has received the approval of Croatia’s education ministry but still needs to be approved by the ministry of health before being introduced into the schools. / The EP’s move against Croatia follows a resolution passed two weeks ago by the EP to take “homophobic” countries to court. First on their target list was Poland, which members of the EP vilified as “hateful” and “repulsive” for refusing to promote homosexuality in schools, in a debate in Brussels April 25. At issue was proposed Polish legislation that would make it illegal to teach pro-homosexual material in schools. / Leaders of the European Union governing body made it clear there was no room for opposition to homosexual activity in the EU..."...

WORLD Magazine : French choose a man on the right to lead

re: "...Normally the French are reluctant to speak about politics and won't say how they voted, but the buzz over this election had many eager to state their opinions: "In a lot of people's minds, the government has got to go back to firmer hands," said Slezak. /"He's been screaming into the microphone for 20 years. And only now he is able to be elected. What has changed?" said Slezak. "Not him; France. People want traditional values, like in the family and work."..."...

Anglican "Missionary" Bishop Named for America -- The Schism Arrives

re: "William Bennett once observed that America was fast becoming "the kind of nation civilized nations sent missionaries to." In truth, that is what America has now become, with the installation of Martyn Minns as "missionary bishop" for the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA)..."...

Why I changed my mind seconds before I had an abortion | the Daily Mail

re: "...Minutes away from having the abortion she thought she wanted, each second felt like a second closer to murder rather than the blessed relief she had imagined. /Overwhelmed with guilt and fighting back tears, she was led by two nurses into the operating theatre. The doctor, a fatherly-looking man in his 50s, was sitting waiting for her. /He was kind, reassuring. "Anna," he said. "Are you ready? If so, we will give you a little injection in the back of your hand and transfer you to the table. Is there anything you would like to say?" /"Yes," replied Anna. "I'm really sorry, but I've changed my mind." But instead of being annoyed with her for wasting their time, the medical team seemed to be overcome with a sudden, unexpected euphoria. /The doctor broke out into a huge smile, grabbed her shoulder and laughed "Congratulations! Well done, you won't regret it."..."...

hat tip: ADF Alliance Alert

John Day Fossil Beds NM: Historic Resources Study (Chapter 6)

re: background on mining in the upper John Day basin...

Confessions of PR Flacks

re: "...And as a public relations professional who has been doing this for 17 years, the general public needs to know that I'd say two-thirds of what shows up in the newspaper, on television, in a radio news report is generated by people just like me..."...

Book Review [Michigan Education Report]

re: "John Dewey & the Decline of American Education: How the Patron Saint of Schools Has Corrupted Teaching and Learning, by Henry T. Edmondson III, ISI Books, 2006. /If the title of Henry T. Edmondson’s book leaves any room for doubt as to his views on John Dewey and Dewey’s educational theories, the book’s subtitle should make clear Edmondson’s belief: Dewey’s lasting influence on the U.S. education system has wrought nothing but diminishing returns, if not all-out catastrophic results. Edmondson makes a compelling case that Dewey was far more interested in using public education for social reform rather than academic learning, and in placing students’ vocational concerns above encouraging a traditional liberal arts education..."...

9NEWS - Article - Town 95 percent destroyed by tornado; search called off for survivors

re: "GREENSBURG, Kan. (AP) - Emergency crews called off the search for more victims of a tornado that devastated this southwest Kansas town Friday as fresh rounds of severe weather threatened the area Saturday evening...[snip]...City Administrator Steve Hewitt estimated 95 percent of the town of 1,500 was destroyed and predicted rescue efforts could take days as survivors could be trapped in basements and under rubble. / Among the only structures that survived was the Bar H Tavern, the town's lone bar. It was briefly converted into a morgue...[snip].../ "We want everybody to know, and I plead to the American people as well as the people here in Kansas, this is a huge catastrophe that has happened to our small town," Hewitt said. "All my downtown is gone. My home is gone. My staff's homes are gone. And we've got to find a way to get this to work and come to work every day and get this thing back on its feet. It's going to be tough."..."...

Touchstone Magazine - Mere Comments: Sign the Petition for Poland

re: "David Mills and I will be attending the World Congress of Families next week (May 11-13), along with representatives of many other American and international organizations, including the Catholic Family and Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute, which has sent out this request for us to sign a petition in support of traditional morals..."...

Christian Teen Takes Purity Ring Case to High Court | Christianpost.com

re: "LONDON – A 16-year-old Christian student in the United Kingdom is taking her school to the High Court over her right to wear a Christian “purity ring.” /Lydia Playfoot hit the headlines last year when governors at Millais School in Horsham, West Sussex, banned her from wearing a small silver ring symbolizing her Christian commitment to sexual abstinence until marriage. /The Silver Ring Thing is a Christian education project aimed at helping teenage girls value themselves, make the right choices about their future, and reduce Britain's ever-increasing number of reported cases of sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancies among teenagers..."...

hat tip: The Alliance Alert

Kentucky.com | 05/04/2007 | Patrons at Churchill Downs hope for glimpse of Queen at Derby

re: "...The track, accustomed to treating athletes, actors and other celebrities like royalty, prepared to play host to the 81-year-old British monarch, an avid horse racing fan who will attend her first Kentucky Derby. Her sister, Princess Margaret, attended the race in 1974..."...

OpinionJournal - Fun Only for the Kids

re: Brian M. Carney writes, "...Childhood ought to be fun--but chiefly, we should note, for the children. The parent of today who remembers fondly carefree days playing stickball in the street does so in ignorance of the long afternoons his mother spent with one eye out the window, making sure the kids outside were safe. This sort of quiet care-taking assumes many forms, from cleaning up after our kids even when we shouldn't to the financial sacrifices parents make to allow their children to do the things they want to do--such as play baseball. /As children, we probably did not appreciate the little things most of our parents did to keep our childhoods childlike. That leaves us, then, ill-prepared to anticipate all the little things we will have to do on behalf of our own children..."...

The Book Den: The Secret War Against Hitler

re: recommended nonfiction books about espionage, particularly William Casey’s The Secret War Against Hitler...

OpinionJournal - Federation: The Case for the Strong Executive

re: Harvey C. Mansfield, a professor of Government at Harvard, writes about the problems of republics, the history of the American form of government, the debates on strong executive versus rule of law, civil rights versus natural rights, isolationism versus imperialism, more.

Ed. note: I'm not sure if he's serious or facetious when he writes, "...As to the contention that a strong executive prompts a policy of imperialism, I would admit the possibility, and I promise to think carefully and prayerfully about returning Texas to Mexico..."...

JOLLYBLOGGER: The Internet Monk on Giving Money to Panhandlers

re: "Michael Spencer, the iMonk, has a great post on giving to panhandlers. I don't know about you but when I am approached for money either at a stop light or on the street I almost never give, although sometimes I feel guilty enough to do so, but when I don't give, I do feel guilty. /But Michael's thoughts are some of the most helpful I have seen in giving guidance about where and when and how to give. All of his points are great but here are a couple of teasers to encourage you to read the whole thing..."...

Gardeners of evil

re: from an Alan Keyes article, "...As my good friend Judie Brown put it recently (at a Colorado Right To Life dinner in Denver), Kennedy played the part of a skillful gardener, cutting back the evil planted by Roe/Casey in order to strengthen and extend its roots, hoping no doubt to make it harder to overturn in any subsequent ruling. While allowing for a state interest in restricting one brutal way of murdering the nascent child, he makes it clear that this restriction is tolerable under Roe/Casey only because abortionists still have access to other equally brutal modes of killing...[snip].../ This reminds me of the careful logic that I'm told is often characteristic of serial killers, psychopaths who follow arcane rituals in order to distinguish their killings from anything so profane as ordinary murder. In like fashion, Kennedy makes clear that the abortionists who rip the child limb from limb while it is still within the womb are doctors helping a woman exercising her "right to choose" — while those who mangle the child when it has emerged past a certain point are violators, subject to the restrictive force of law. Though the child is in principle the same person in both situations, the Court's glassy-eyed observance of its own fanatically arcane and ritualistic logic is supposed to establish some invisible line of demarcation separating one act of murder from the next. / This decision is not a harbinger of hope for an end to the Court-imposed reign of terror in the womb. It is evidence of a legal elite gone mad, hopelessly lost in the maze of its own psychopathic logic. We might think them pathetic if we did not have to live in a nation whose conscience is compromised and confused by the holocaust their insanity has unleashed..."...

hat tip: The Alliance Alert

ADF attorney expresses deep concerns over House passage of federal “hate crimes” law

re: "SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — An Alliance Defense Fund attorney who submitted a white paper to members of Congress regarding free speech concerns with H.R. 1592, the federal “hate crimes” legislation, again expressed serious concerns about the bill after its passage by the House of Representatives Thursday by a margin of 237–180. / “All violent crimes are ‘hate’ crimes,” said ADF Senior Counsel Glen Lavy. “All crime victims deserve equal justice and basic constitutional rights, but this bill creates a special class protection for certain individuals and a two-tiered justice system with second-class victims.” / In his white paper to Congress, Lavy pointed out that H.R. 1592 would criminalize thoughts, feelings, and beliefs (www.telladf.org/news/story.aspx?cid=4078). He asserted that the bill, as passed, has the potential of interfering with religious liberty and freedom of speech and creates additional risks for curtailing these constitutional rights in the future. / The Executive Office of the President issued a statement Thursday recommending that President Bush veto this legislation (www.telladf.org/news/story.aspx?cid=4109)..."...

Pajamas Media: Debating in French

re: "PJM Paris editor Nidra Poller - who has been following the French presidential election closely for Pajamas Media - reports on Wednesday’s debate between finalists Ségolène Royal and Nicolas Sarkozy. The “hot-headed” Sarko was supposed to lose his cool, but it may have been his opponent who did..."...

Blogging economists draw cyber-crowds - Yahoo! News

re: "CHICAGO (Reuters) - To debate leading economists on hot topics like globalization and free trade, you can hang out at Harvard -- or log on to a growing group of brainy blogs..."...

hat tip: PJM Sydney/ PajamasMedia

Ron Rosenbaum .com: The Damage Done (2): Postmodern Ignorance Afflicts Physics as Well as Literature

re: "...In any case Professor Tipler was moved by my post on the pathetic postmodern English professor I dubbed “The Relic”, a sad cult worshipper of Nazi-friendly postmodern theorist Paul de Man whom I encountered at a lecture I gave at the University of Chicago. In the post I lamented the disappearance of the study of Shakespeare from the teaching of literature in American universities (due largely, I believe, to the repellant force of the addled, jargon-ridden rhetoric of antiquated postmodernists of The Relic’s ilk). /Professor Tipler responded with an impassioned lament about a parallel depressing development in the teaching of physics. I reprint his comment in full..."...

Phi Beta Cons: Is government meddling harmful to colleges?

re: George Leef posts, "Hillsdale College president Larry Arnn argues strongly that it is here. /The basic problem with governmental regulation of higher education is the same as it is everywhere else. When officials who are neither close to problems nor will suffer any loss if their decisions turn out to be wrong make decisions to compel people to do certain things and forbid them from doing other things, the results are usually bad."

Wesley J. Smith on Futile Care Theory on National Review Online

re: "...Near the end of his testimony, Bishop Aymond quoted the 1995 encyclical The Gospel of Life, in which John Paul II stated that in situations “when death is clearly imminent and inevitable, one can certainly in conscience refuse forms of treatment that would only secure precarious prolongation of life, so long as the normal care due to the sick person in similar cases is not interrupted.” But surely, John Paul II was referring to the right under Catholic moral teaching of patients and families to choose to forgo treatment — not the right of hospital ethics committee to impose such decisions upon the unwilling. / If patient autonomy is to retain any real meaning; if we are to prevent subjective and invidious quality-of-life value judgments from being imposed upon the sickest and most vulnerable among us — it is crucial that the Texas legislature kill the futile-care law’s 10-day rule once and for all. Unfortunately, the Texas bishops and Catholic Conference are impeding the success of this important work. In so doing, they are opening the door to the imposition of medical discrimination against those judged by strangers on ethics committees to have lives not worth living. Somehow, I don’t think this is what John Paul II had in mind."...

Dobbs: A peculiar day for immigration rallies - CNN.com

re: "...Tuesday was given over to illegal aliens and their supporters to demand forgiveness for using fraudulent documents and assisting others in entering this country illegally. What a day for illegal aliens and their supporters to demand not only amnesty but also the end to immigration raids and an end to deportations. /May Day was a peculiar choice for those demonstrations, a day in many countries in which international socialism is celebrated and a reminder of those old Soviet Union military parades. /It was also an unfortunate and ironic choice on the part of the organizers of the demonstrations. May 1 in the United States is actually Law Day, a day first established by President Eisenhower in 1958 and ultimately codified into law in 1961 at the beginning of John F. Kennedy's administration. The purpose of Law Day is to give all Americans an opportunity to reflect on our legal heritage, and by statute, encourages "the cultivation of the respect for law that is so vital to the democratic way of life."..."...

hat tip: Rush Limbaugh

VT-area churches have 'a lot to pray about' - USATODAY.com

re: from nine days ago, an account of how some of the murdered were mourned, how some churches and communities turned out and pulled together...

Students considering Va. Tech are impressed - USATODAY.com

re: "High school senior Olivia Marshall already had been leaning toward accepting an admission offer from Virginia Tech. After the deadly shootings last month, her resolve was even stronger. /"It's a little bit hard to explain. I didn't want to bail out on Tech," says Marshall, 17..."...

On Deadline / USA Today: Democrat: Only question about Bush's Iraq policy is will it yield 'disaster' or 'catastrophe' - On Deadline - USATODAY.com

re: "During a debate today over the Iraq war funding bill, Rep. David Obey, D-Wisc., said: “The only question about the president’s policy is whether it will yield a disaster or whether it will yield a catastrophe.” /Our friends at On Politics suggested that we give you the definitions of these two words. Here they are, as published in Webster's New World College Dictionary, the bible of American journalism: /• dis'as'ter: any happening that causes great harm or damage; serious or sudden misfortune; calamity. /• ca'tas'tro'phe: 1. the culminating event of a drama, esp. of a tragedy, by which the plot is resolved.; denouement 2. a disastrous end, bringing overthrow or ruin 3. any great and sudden calamity, disaster, or misfortune 4. a total or ignominious failure. /Does either word describe the outcome you expect in Iraq?"...

Betsy's Page: Mulitculturalism vs. women's rights

re: Johann Hari describes how European courts, specifically German ones, are denying women equal rights because, well, they're Muslims and so they should just expect to be treated as second class citizens. So, when women come into courts bruised from the terrible beatings their husbands or fathers have given them, the judges send them back home. They're not given the same rights that German women would have simply because they're Muslim...[snip]... / I prefer the response of General Sir Charles Napier who had this response to complaints in India that he wasn't respecting local culture when the British outlawed the practice of suttee in which widows were forced to cast themselves on the funeral pyres of their husbands. /"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."..."...

Elephants in Academia: An interview with Colonel Michael Everett

re: "In our second interview, Jeff and I sat down with Colonel Michael Everett, who works on strategic effects for MNF-I. What this means is that he advises General Bill Caldwell and General David Petraeus on the development of the Iraqi parliament. So while Colonel Everett may not be a household name, he is deeply involved in encouraging the Iraqis to develop legislative tools to resolve their differences and advance their new nation. Colonel Everett has served 23 years in the army as an Infantry officer, as secretary to the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe and with the NATO training mission in Iraq. He then taught at the Army War College and returned to Iraq in May, 2006. / Given the nature of his appointment, Colonel Everett is in a position to focus on the thorny issue of developing a national Iraqi institutions from the perspective of someone who deals with the Iraqis every day, and as such it was an unusually informative and detailed interview--and not the sort of thing we could get in the US..."...

Elephants in Academia: "The Iraqis have a lot of skin in this game."

re: "One of the great opportunities for me in this venture is the chance to meet some of the major players who are implementing policy in Baghdad. It's very different to be in the same room talking face-to-face than on the phone in a group, so I was fortunate to sit down with Rear Admiral Mark Fox..."...

Friendly Fire — AMERICAN.COM: A Magazine of Ideas, Online

re: books and more books critical of 'big-government conservatism,' particularly Leviathan on the Right: How Big-Government Conservatism Brought Down the Republican Revolution, by Michael D. Tanner, director of health and welfare studies at Cato...

News Media Flux Hinges on Advertisers — AMERICAN.COM: A Magazine of Ideas, Online

re: "If you want to understand the wrenching dislocations in today's newsrooms, look to the advertisers whose purchasing decisions drive the business..."...

The Man Who Made Our World — AMERICAN.COM: A Magazine of Ideas, Online

re: "A new biography of Albert Einstein illuminates the human side of the scientist who taught us how to imagine our universe/ Einstein: His Life and Universe, by Walter Isaacson..."...

CitizenLink: Bill to Require Gay Hiring Headed to Colorado Governor

re: "A bill that would require some religious organizations in Colorado to hire homosexuals received preliminary House approval Monday and appeared headed to Gov. Bill Ritter’s desk. He has said he will sign it. /S.B. 25 prevents sexual orientation or religion from being considered in hiring, firing, demotions or promotions. Only religious organizations that receive no tax money are exempt. /Requiring religious organizations to hire with a blind eye to gays and lesbians is an “egregious violation of the religious liberties of the people of Colorado,” Rep. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, told The Gazette of Colorado Springs. /Mona Passignano, state issues analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said: "It's not clear right now exactly what this bill will do or how it will affect organizations such as ours until the courts get involved. But this bill makes it clear that gay activists are intent on changing the definition of family in our society and are even willing to force people to disavow their religious convictions."..."...

Concerned Women for America - CWA Asks President for Veto Pledge on “Hate Crimes” Legislation

re: "Washington, D.C. – In a recent letter to President Bush, Concerned Women for America (CWA) asked the President to veto H.R. 1592, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, should it gain congressional approval. /Congress appears poised to pass H.R. 1592 as early as Thursday. This bill would grant individuals who engage in homosexual behavior (“sexual orientation”) or those who cross-dress (“gender identity”) preferential treatment over other citizens by elevating them to a specially protected class of victim...[snip].../“Perhaps most frightening is the fact that liberal legislators have refused any amendment which would substantively protect religious expression in association with this legislation..."...

I think, therefore... - PalmTree Pundit

re: Anne lists five bloggers who make her think...

Touchstone Archives: Benediction Fiction

re: "...In four sentences, the Medical University of South Carolina, in its effort to “set a tone of reverence at our public assemblies” and “bear testimony to [our] richly diverse religious and cultural heritage” and somehow to make generic and inoffensive any public benediction or invocation, sanctioned officially one religion over all others: American pop-religion—a tray full of cafeteria-style faith, which takes nice-sounding “religious” words from this group and that, pleasing to the ear but without real content. /I sent my prepared benediction to the Office of the President, wanting to embarrass neither myself nor the staff of the Medical University at graduation. I soon received a polite call from the same office, during which I was un-invited to bless the graduates..."...

Cafe Hayek: Black Swans

re: "The latest EconTalk is a conversation with Nassim Nicholas Taleb about the ideas in his two books, Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan. He is a very interesting guy. Much of what he said is well known—we have trouble absorbing and thinking about low probability events. But he says it in a way that makes me think about it in a way I hadn't before."...