Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
A couple of interesting tidbits from this election cycle: first, concerning Allen West's victory over Ron Klein (congratulations are in order) in Florida's 22nd Congressional District, the Palm Beach Daily News noted the following: The West-Klein race was one of the nastiest campaigns of the season. Only the Shiny Sheet would put it this way. …
Continue reading "The Nastiest Election of the Season, and Yes, They're Smoking Something"
The late 1970's and early 1980's were an exciting time for me for this reason, but they were also a stressful time. Between the challenge of dealing with a Scots-Irish workforce (organised and otherwise) and a "culture of envy" which hadn't experienced the Reagan Era, things could get frustrating. It got to the point where …
Continue reading "The Closet Socialists are Still in the Closet"
This fascinating video from the Washington Post by Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts-Schori opens with this comment: ...and at some point it became necessary to shift approach and to say: "If you're going to stay as a leader in this organization, you have to be engaged, even if you don't like this decision over here. …
And well they should, too: “Part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now, and facts and science and argument does not seem to be winning the day all the time, is because we’re hard-wired not to always think clearly when we’re scared,” he told a roomful of doctors who chipped in …
Continue reading "They're Still Talking About Obama as an Elitist Snob"
This is the eleventh in a sporadic series on the Catechetical Lectures of St. Cyril of Jerusalem. The previous post was The End Times Without Revelation. The last five of Cyril's lectures are referred to as the “mystagogic” lectures. They were given after the catechumens were baptised and received their First Communion. They have given …
Continue reading "Mystagogy, Sacramental Theology and the Poker Playing Dog"
That's exactly what it is, the revenged being in this case Iraqi Premier Nuri al-Maliki: On April 24 of the same year (2003), however, he willingly surrendered to occupying US forces, four days before his 67th birthday. On Tuesday, after seven years in solitary confinement, the 74-year-old former diplomat was sentenced to death by the …
Continue reading "The Execution of Tariq Aziz: A Revenge Killing"
The last two years haven't been kind to Jim Wallis. First his man in the White House, Barack Obama, has spectacularly stumbled in his bid to reunify the country and get the economy going again (I don't think he was sincere about either, but that's another post). To use Sarah Palin's delightful phrase, that "hopey-changey …
This is the tenth in a sporadic series on the Catechetical Lectures of St. Cyril of Jerusalem. The previous post was The Holy Spirit and Miracles, Then and Now. One part of Patristic theology that gets very little play these days from anyone is their eschatology, i.e., their idea of the sequence of the events …
I've mentioned it from time to time, but in the summer of 2007 I had a long email debate with a Salafi Muslim civil engineer in South-east Asia about Islam and Christianity. Needless to say, it was an education. We correspond from time to time, and he's on my list when I announce new technical …
Continue reading "If Allah Wills It, I Will Be Back in the Office"
Another "I told you so" moment. First the after-the-fact admission: Ezra Klein: The president has now told at least two journalists that "there’s no such thing as shovel-ready projects.” He obviously believes it. But what, exactly, does he mean? Jared Bernstein: The president definitely had some initial frustration that projects were taking longer to get …
Continue reading ""Shovel Ready" Was a Non-Starter From the Get-Go"
