I have always enjoyed writing. In school and then at work as an accountant, I was the person who ended up with the writing jobs. If you leave me with no computer for more than about a day, I will somehow get hold of pen and paper and start writing stuff. But I didn’t necessarily think of myself as a writer. I didn’t know how to make the transition from “person who likes to write” to “writer.” Obviously I’ve made... Read more
Just weeks after launching its Great Tastes of America burger series in the United Kingdom, McDonald’s Corporation reports it is shutting down amid accusations that they ripped off their recipes. The accusations arose after advertisements touted a “sweet and tangy South Carolina sauce” that some viewers believed may bear a vague resemblance to mustard-based barbecue sauces used in some regions of the state. Fox News reports: Though the eatery had been open for several months decades, the owners of Kooks McDonald’s were... Read more
Jesus isn’t just a warm feeling before we slip into eternal nothing. Heaven is no abstraction. Read more
Two interesting things happened this week: (1) I finally met the physician I’d been referred to last October, and now I know why there was a seven-month wait on appointments. The guy is both competent and humane (like Tod Worner, but a different guy). I like that in a doctor. (2) I’d been planning to tell him everything’s fine now, but actually it’s not fine. I’ve had a wind-up of fatigue and the same kind of pain I was having last... Read more
The excellent guest post at Simcha Fisher’s blog about the experience of being a Catholic woman in an abusive marriage provoked a heated discussion among several of my online friends. What is the good solution to this problem? Sometimes there is not a good solution. I’m as prone to, “If we just did ___” thinking as anyone else. Because I’m from Gunlandia, when I read about a domestic abuse victim shot at a school, my instant reaction is: What an injustice... Read more
Here is what I find most amusing about the reactions to the Pence Anti-Adultery plan: It turns out the people who ordinarily believe that it is both impossible and undesirable to refrain from intercourse out of wedlock are, in the case of the sitting Vice President, certain he must be an exception to that rule. Ordinary mortals have no such capacity for self control! They’d be harmed by trying, and anyway it wouldn’t work! But either they know Mr. Pence... Read more
In reaction to the proposed Republican repeal of the Affordable Care Act, some have asserted that the only way to provide health care coverage to the poor is via an insurance mandate and a single-payer system. I don’t believe that’s true. There are no doubt other good solutions, but I’ll toss out an idea for a system that conservatives could love. #1 Cut the cord between employment and insurance. Employer-provided health insurance stifles the labor market. It leads to underemployment... Read more
In discussion online recently, the topic of child welfare came up. Question of the day was, “How do we provide adequate state supervision in order to ensure parents aren’t using homeschooling to cover up abuse or neglect?” My answer: State supervision doesn’t work. It does not work in foster care. Here we are speaking of the most extensively state-supervised family population in the nation: Sally Schofield, the foster mother of Logan Marr, was found guilty June 25 of wrapping the... Read more
This article from The State newspaper came to my attention this morning. It concerns a proposed law that would, its opponents say, make it easier for developers to build on wetlands and other protected areas. I haven’t researched the law, so I’m not writing on the particulars of it. Like many conservatives, I’m generally in favor of less bureaucracy rather than more. Like many conservative conservationists, I don’t automatically fall in with every single “green” idea heaped on the environmentalist... Read more
If you want to understand where America stands, pay attention to the Super Bowl half-time show. I mean this from a purely sociological standpoint. My reasoning: The Super Bowl is the single event that unites the entire country. It transcends race, gender, social class, politics, religion and every other divide. The Super Bowl is considered family viewing. The people who put on the Super Bowl have a vested interest in maintaining this peak spot on the cultural mountain as the one... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In