That, unfortunately, is where our government is at: In his State of the Union address to the American people earlier this year, Barack Obama declared that he was "confident" of achieving "our objective of defeating the core of al-Qaeda". Although he acknowledged the need to pursue the "remnants" of the terrorist group and its affiliates, …
When the Government Has To Approve Repairs to Your Church
In Palm Beach, where else? In its unanimous approval of the repair project, the board also gave Smith permission to replace wood transom windows above the front doors with bronze windows in a style that would closely match the door pattern. Smith plans to replace the church’s announcement sign with a slightly smaller bronze-framed case …
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Americans Aren't Capable of the Debate on Same-Sex Civil Marriage the French Are Having
The Witherspoon Institute is hopeful: The international press was shocked on November 17, 2012, when hundreds of thousands of French citizens took to the streets to fight against a parliamentary bill redefining marriage to include same-sex relationships and legalizing same-sex adoption. Less than a decade ago, France symbolized all that American conservatives despised and all …
Some More Thoughts, and a Response, on STEM Education
My last post on STEM education in Florida has gotten an extensive response from Charles Richardson. This is a topic very much in vogue and deserves further treatment, although some of what I have to say in response to him--and others who don't find my strong position on the subject to their taste--I've covered in …
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Do We Really Need GenEd to Make Thinking People?
That's part of the underlying assumption behind the pushback against Florida Gov. Rick Scott's latest STEM initiative: A crusade by humanities professors against Florida governor Rick Scott may be, contrary to their intentions, another sign of the suicide of American education. Scott has proposed lowering tuition rates for students majoring in STEM (science, technology, engineering, …
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When a Little Darwinian Knowledge is a Dangerous Thing
Every now and then an article on a supposedly "obscure" subject leaps at you. One of those was "Children Who Disappeared in Britain" by Deborah Cohen of Northwestern University. It chronicles the history of the Normansfield Training Institution near London, from its opening to its ignominious end in 1997. It's significant because it follows the …
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The Core Issue Isn't Gun Control, But Government Distrust
That's Scott Rasmussen's idea, and he asks a lot of nosey questions: If people trusted the government, there would be no reason to be concerned about background checks, but only one-in-five voters believe the government currently has the consent of the governed. Half the nation views the federal government as a threat to individual liberties …
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Clement of Alexandria on Knowlege and Reason
From the Stromata (Miscellanies) II, 4: Should one say that Knowledge is founded on demonstration by a process of reasoning, let him hear that first principles are incapable of demonstration; for they are known neither by art nor sagacity. For the latter is conversant about objects that are susceptible of change, while the former is …
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The Bad Taste of Princeton Alumna Susan Patton
Was to state the obvious: Her betrayal consists of being gauche enough to acknowledge publicly a truth that everyone who’s come up through Ivy League culture knows intuitively — that elite universities are about connecting more than learning, that the social world matters far more than the classroom to undergraduates, and that rather than an …
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They Used to Know Christians By Their Love. But Now…
...even the Federal government boots the likes of Michael Pfleger off the program: Michael Pfleger, the controversial Catholic priest who made racial remarks about Hillary Clinton and defended Louis Farrakhan, has been removed as a keynote speaker at a diversity day event sponsored by a federal government agency. A spokesperson for the Broadcasting Board of …
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Positive Infinity 