Three numbers: 2.3% 2.2% 1.8% That point to a major change in employer-sponsored health insurance in the United States. 2.3% is the percent increase, annualized, in the average employer contribution for employee health insurance, according to a study by the Center for American Progress, from the years 2007 to 2013. 2.2% is the CPI annualized index over that period, January – January. 1.8% is the the average wage increase for those years, based on the Social Security Administration data. In... Read more

A couple days ago I registered my disapproval of the National Review’s attempt to gain eyeballs by ginning up outrage over a Boy Scout prohibition of water gun games.  (Talked to my Scout-leader husband earlier about it; he’s A-OK with this policy, given that it’s in the context of 11 year olds being entrusted with rifles.)  They’re continuing to promote this story on Facebook and Twitter, which seems exceptionally short-sighted. In the meantime, Ann Althouse wrote today about the gypped... Read more

Yes, there are lots of articles out there on spiritual themes in the movie, including “Age of Ultron May Be the Most Spiritual Superhero Movie Yet.”  Themes of Tony Stark playing God and creating a monster, plus the bit that each of the Avengers sees their fears, courtesy the Scarlet Witch.  But I’ll tell you my reaction: It was draining.  And it was tiring.  And, for all that the commentary I’d read told me there was lots of witty dialog, it... Read more

Here’s an article (from a Patheos blog which appears to get way, way more traffic than me) which lays out the facts, as best as its author can compile them, and attempts to be factual and non-gossipy. So, yeah, it’s bad.  It’s again another occasion for non-Christians to say that we need to get our own house in order before we start talking to anyone about sexual morality.  (See Ann Althouse, and the video she links to.) No, I’ve never been... Read more

It’s Eurovision Song Contest time, and the media is revisiting last year’s winner, Conchita Wurst, the stage name for Tom Neuwirth, who cross-dresses when performing, but while still keeping his beard. Wikipedia reports, “Neuwirth uses masculine pronouns when referring to himself but feminine pronouns to describe Wurst.” But the media?  Apparently it’s convention to use the “stage” pronoun, according to this Daily Mail article. What do you think? Read more

So says Robert Gates, or, rather, that’s a very loose paraphrase of his words at the annual meeting, as reported in the New York Times. Speaking at the Boy Scouts’ annual national meeting in Atlanta, Mr. Gates said cascading events — including potential employment discrimination lawsuits and the impending Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage, as well as mounting internal dissent over the exclusionary policy — had led him to conclude that the current rules “cannot be sustained.” If the... Read more

Hey, readers! Look, I know that many of you aren’t Catholic.  But I also know that most of you are pretty thoughtful and like to think about things rather than just pounding out knee-jerk bashing-type responses. So I’m going to wade into the issue of contraception, and ask my readers to put on their thinking caps here.  I am not going to get onto a soapbox, much less talk about my own family life. Here are two paragraphs of context:... Read more

It strikes me that moving to Patheos has had one surprising consequence:  my commenter base has broadened considerably.  I’ve lost a few commenters (whether they’re still readers who just don’t like to use disqus comments, or whether I’ve lost them entirely, I don’t know), and gained some, and my new commenters seem to be much more politically diverse than in the past. So, if you don’t mind my asking:  who are you?  And how did you land here? I know... Read more

Not long ago, I wrote about a plan afoot in my local school district/community college district to expand dual-enrollment classes from a few specialized vocational-type classes (CNA, computer networking) to a set of classes intended to meet general education requirements, the rigor of which I found questionable:  Speech Communication, Introduction to Visual Art, Physical Science (for non-majors), and two math courses for non-STEM majors, each of which appeared to be no more rigorous than any standard 12th grade math course.... Read more