Month: June 2005

The Prince William County woman accused of putting her 5-year-old children in a car trunk finally turned herself in last night. . .

According to city police, an off-duty New Hampshire police officer stopped Parker on Saturday as she was backing out of a parking space at Wal-Mart with her twin boy and girl in the car’s trunk.

A bystander had alerted the officer to the fact that the children had been placed in the trunk.

Police say Parker later told them she put the children in the trunk as punishment for their misbehavior inside the store, but wasn’t going to leave the parking lot before getting them out.

Link. … Read the rest

In 372, Valens’ zealous Arian servant, Modestus (the “Count of the East”), came to Caesarea and summoned Basil. Basil—emaciated from his asceticism but mentally rigorous—came. Modestus shouted at him: “Basil, how dare you defy our great power? How dare you stand alone? Everyone else has yielded, and you alone refuse to accept the religion commanded by the Emperor.” After Basil showed no recalcitrance, an exchange took place that is recounted in every biography of Basil:

Modestus: What, do you not fear my power?

Basil: What could happen to me? What might I suffer?

Modestus: Any one of the numerous torments which are in my power.

Basil: What are these? Tell me about them.

Modestus: Confiscation, exile, torture, death.

Basil: If you have any other, you can threaten me with it, for there is nothing so far which affects me.

Modestus: Why, what do you mean?

Basil: Well, in truth confiscation means nothing to a man who has nothing, unless you covet these wretched rags, and a few books: that is all I possess. As to exile, that means nothing to me, for I am attached to no particular place. That wherein I live is not mine, and I shall feel at home in any place to which I am sent. Or rather, I regard the whole earth as belonging to God, and I consider myself as a stranger or sojourner wherever I may be. As for torture, how will you apply this? I have not a body capable of bearing it, unless you are thinking of the first blow that you give me, for that will be the only one in your power. As for

Excellent piece at Lew Rockwell this morning about the ACLU and the Scopes trial. Packed with facts and solid analysis. Link. A few excerpts:

We must remember that at this early stage the Russian experiment with Communism seemed to be working – this was years before Stalin’s brutal purges. So groups such as the Communist Party of the USA, the Socialist Party, the Industrial Workers of the World and the Friends of the Soviet Union were actively involved in implementing Socialism in the United States. It was in this environment that the American Civil Liberties Union was conceived. When it was formed in 1920, its board of directors contained many of the prominent members of these organizations and the ACLU shared an office with the Communist Party’s newspaper, New Masses.

The ACLU went out of its way to avoid being perceived as a political organization; even its name was carefully chosen to sound innocuous – after all, who could object to an organization that protected civil liberties? But its founder, Roger Baldwin, let the cat out of the bag with his statement: “Civil liberties, like democracy, are useful only as tools for social change.” The newly formed ACLU needed a high profile case as a vehicle to establish its significance and it thought it had found one when Tennessee passed a law prohibiting the teaching of evolution. So it placed ads in major Tennessee newspapers seeking a volunteer to teach evolution with the promise of free legal protection. . .

Contrary to the “standard version,” Bryan was not a rigid religious fundamentalist who took every word in the Bible literally. In fact, he showed

We reported yesterday that studies in third world countries indicate that family ties help cure mental illness. In a culture with increasingly-severed family ties, products like this aren’t surprising:

Needies are interactive plush dolls inspired by codependent, high-maintenance relationships.

Totally attention-starved, they compete with each other for human affection — or, getting touch, as they like to say.

When you give Needies touch (by hugging and squeezing them), they will return your kindness with songs and shameless flattery.

Link.

… Read the rest

Not coincidentally (as we sweat away in 100-degree temperatures), summer brings renewed interest in global warming and the sun’s effects. Now this:

A confusing array of new and recent studies reveals that scientists know very little about how much sunlight is absorbed by Earth versus how much the planet reflects, how all this alters temperatures, and why any of it changes from one decade to the next. . .

The bottom line, according to a group of experts not involved in any of these studies: Scientists don’t know much about how sunlight interacts with our planet, and until they understand it, they can’t accurately predict any possible effects of human activity on climate change.

Link. … Read the rest

Another reminder: Eric doesn’t have regular access to his computer this week, so the fare is different and lighter than usual. Regular blog programming will resume in a few days. … Read the rest