Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
This is really "hope and change": Once-despondent Democrats now believe that they may be able to avert a total midterm wipeout, as several important states now appear to be trending in their direction or growing more competitive. The bad news: In a sign of how hostile the election environment remains for the party, the cautious …
Continue reading "Democrats Idea of Hope: Downgrading the Storm From Category 5 to 4"
When I came back to the Chattanooga area from Dallas in the late 1970's, it was something of a culture shock, even though I had lived here before. (I recently met a young lady who was raised in the Dominican Republic and on Manhattan and came here, I can't imagine the culture shock for her!)  …
I must weigh in on Jacob Weisberg's rather strange piece on Republicans using elitist as a pejorative term: Palin's definition says elitists are those who think they're better than other people—a category in which by Election Day, on the evidence of her autobiography, included many of the people working for her own campaign. Palin is …
Continue reading "Of Course They're Elitists! A Reply to Slate's Jacob Weisberg"
How soon we forget: "People are frustrated, their anxious, they're scared about the future. And they have a right to be impatient about the pace of change. I'm impatient," President Obama said at an event for Gen44. "It took time to free the slaves," he added. Barack Obama has forgotten a simple fact: in this …
And let's hope His Holiness gets around to reading it: The first reform I suggest is regarding Holy Scripture. One of the most recurrent themes in conversion narratives of Muslims is the reading of the Bible. Yet how many hundreds of thousands of emigrants live throughout the West without access to the bible in their …
From this fascinating analysis by Walter Russell Mead on China and the U.S.: Over the long term, what American policy makers need to remember (and what I fear too many have forgotten in both parties over the last couple of decades) is that America’s international standing and security ultimately depend on health of our domestic …
Let's start with this statement about the "lost decade" of the 2000's: From 2000 through 2009, the Census Bureau found, the median income (measured in inflation-adjusted dollars) declined by 5 percent for white families, 8 percent for Hispanic families, and more than 11 percent for African-American families. That's almost unimaginable over an entire decade. From …
Continue reading "The Prosperity of the 1990's May Well Have Been Borrowed"
I still don't get this: Two congregations will celebrate the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi with a blessing of the animals. The Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea invites pets and their owners to the celebration Oct. 3. The procession into the church will begin at 8:45 a.m., with the service starting at 9 a.m. Coffee …
Continue reading "Blessing the Animals, and Must the Rector Search Committee Have Its Own Chaplain?"
The Lead, quoting William Sloane Coffin, puts the question clearly: Had I but one wish for the churches of America I think it would be that they come to see the difference between charity and justice. Charity is a matter of personal attributes; justice, a matter of public policy. Charity seeks to eliminate the effects …
Continue reading "Charity vs. Justice Work: The Difference Is Important"
This is amazing, in many ways: In a very unusual move, University of Illinois trustees Thursday denied giving emeritus status to controversial retired professor William Ayers. The vote, at a U. of I. board meeting in Urbana, was unanimous and came after a passionate speech by board chair Christopher Kennedy, who invoked the 1968 assassination …
Continue reading "Bill Ayers is Denied Emeritus Status: There Are a Few Who Do Remember"
Positive Infinity 