CNN's piece that Some Christian Pastors Embrace Scientology is one of the sorriest developments I've witnessed in a long time. Scientology and Christianity are diametrically opposed in their entire approach to life and eternity. The fact that Christian pastors are seeking help from Scientology is a sign of the desperation that too many Evangelicals (?) …
The God-Hating Liberals and The Golden Compass
It looks like we're "off to the races" again with the impending release of the anti-religious children's film The Golden Compass. Based on the open atheist Philip Pullman's books, the release is beginning to generate the predictable firestorm. Unfortunately, as is the case with much anti-religious (usually anti-Christian, most of these people don't have the …
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The End of Dollar Hegemony
The announcement that the Fed Cuts Interest Rate by Quarter Point is another nail in the coffin of dollar hegemony. Dollar hegemony, for those of you who aren't familiar with the term, is the phenomenon whereby the status of the dollar as the world's premier reserve currency affords the greenback "privileges" that other currencies lack. …
When Vision Fails
From Black Swan Trading: Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, subprime rears its vicious jaws again; this time in Europe. As reported in Bloomberg this morning, “UBS AG, Europe's largest bank by assets, reported its first quarterly loss in almost five years after declines in the U.S. subprime …
Glad We Didn’t Have to Put Our Siamese Cat Through This
One of the newer blessings (other than same-sex blessings for people) that Episcopalians can avail themselves of is the "blessing of the animals." Needless to say dear old Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach not only did this, but got a video of this in the online Shiny Sheet. (Who needs YouTube when you have the Palm …
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St. Jerome’s Idea of Bishops and Presbyters
One of the reasons why people join churches like Anglican, Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches (especially the last one) is to have a church which can have continuity with the "Fathers of the Church." For Roman Catholics, one of the four "Doctors of the Church" (the most important of the Fathers) is St. Jerome, the …
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The Mother of All Tax Reforms and Battles, Spiritual and Otherwise
Charles Rangel is proposing the "Mother of All Tax Reforms." But he may not know the origin of the phrase he's using to describe it. It's obviously a takeoff of Saddam Hussein's "Mother of All Battles" description of what turned out to be (for him) the rout of the first Gulf War. In a place …
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The Class Dilemma of the Edwards Campaign
The news report put out by the Carolina Week staff (video below) and the attempt by John Edwards' campaign to get it pulled shows the dilemma that every candidate that runs on the left has in dealing with the "contradictions" (as Mao Dun would put it) in advancing their cause. Conventional wisdom would have us …
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He Won’t Need a Translator. But a Few Subtitles Might Help.
There's no doubt that Miami Dolphins' player Channing Crowder is relieved that he won't need a translator when he's in London. But he may not be out of the woods with the language barrier just yet. On some American news channels, when a British speaker of English is being interviewed, we'll sometimes see subtitles just …
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Terror watch list swells to more than 755,000
The terror watch list has expanded to include more than 755,000 names. Almost six years ago I wrote Levelling the Playing Field, and proposed the following hypothetical government action in the wake of 9/11: Enacted restrictions on who could fly, empowering the government to "prequalify" travellers on the commercial air system. In a country as …
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Positive Infinity 