PSA 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.
The Problem of the Welfare State > The real problems are cultural, social, and moral. The welfare state has not only encouraged perverse and destructive behavior, but it has also led to an idolatrous devotion to the central state, with its implied promise of a single and costless political solution to every social ill. Hilaire Belloc
How to Meet Girls 101 > A man is facing charges after police said they pulled him from a tank under a women's toilet that was filled with human waste. > Police said that Gary Moody, 45, was under a log cabin outhouse off the Kancamagas Highway in Albany. > "You can
The Impartial Judge "No man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause, because his interest would certainly bias his judgment, and, not improbably, corrupt his integrity." James Madison, Federalist No. 10 A truism, no doubt, but not recognized by those who, wrapped up in the self-interest of
Rootless in House and Mind Fascinating piece at WaPo about studies of schizophrenia in third world countries. According to the study, people with strong family ties are more likely to overcome mental illness. Link [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/26/AR2005062601091.html] . Excerpts: > [A remarkable three-decade-long study
Obscene Language > For using the "G" word 41 times in a term paper, Bethany Hauf was given an "F" by her Victor Valley Community College instructor. > Hauf's teacher approved her term paper topic – Religion and its Place within the Government – on one condition: Don&
Stupid Christians Some apologetics for this week of off-beat fare: One of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's more clever and sinister characters (Peter Verkhovensky in The Demons) says of religion: The worse off a man is, the more downtrodden, the poorer–the more stubbornly he clings to the idea that it will
Flannery O'Connor on Her Writing Habits I'm a full-time believer in writing habits, pedestrian as it all may sound. You may be able to do without them if you have genius but most of us only have talent and this is simply something that has to be assisted all the time by physical
Encyclopedia Miscellany Isaac Asimov wrote about five hundred books. When he was 81, P.T. Barnum fell gravely ill. At his request, a New York newspaper printed his obituary in advance so he could enjoy it. Watch for this to become a source of revenue for newspapers seeking to shore up their
Flannery is Rolling Over in Her Grave > In the event that GC&SU 'makes the cut' and is asked to participate in the next stage, we would appreciate having anecdotal evidence of religious faith making civil, balanced, classroom discussions virtually impossible. Are there faculty who experience this? Would you agree that such attitudes