Verum Serum, which has been driving some of the conversation on health care reform with its videos, has some interesting information on who is funding and organizing support for health care reform. To summarize (see more here), a variety of liberal interest groups are cooperating to pay people $4000-$6000 to canvass and agitate in favor of health care reform. We also know that unions with thorny legal histories, like the SEIU, are showing up and doing violence to the opposition. ... Read more
I was away over the weekend. The Morning Reports resume today, and again I’ll try to keep them briefer. 1. A story in England’s Daily Mail gives the fullest picture yet of the capture and eventual release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee–and the picture is not flattering to the two novice reporters, least of all to Ling. While Euna Lee is portrayed as Ling’s “lackey,” someone who follows Ling around and holds the camera, Laura Ling, the little sister... Read more
1. Health care reform town halls turn ugly. I find myself conflicted. I am very much in support of the beautiful chaos of democracy, whether or not the protesters are voicing my own views–and it certainly is true that politicians seems increasingly distanced from the constituencies they represent, increasingly unaware that they are the ones who are supposed to listen. Yet I don’t like it when the other side is shouted down and intimidated so that they cannot present their... Read more
I will have more to say on abortion in the coming days, but for now I wish to note that Patheos has turned its Public Square to a conversation on abortion. It includes a piece that is fiercely critical of “antiabortion” activists, from an anti-life (if she gets to label the opposition, do I get to do the same?) writer named Kathryn Joyce, and an interview of Wendy Wright, a prominent pro-life activist. The Evangelical perspective pieces are from professor... Read more
I cannot keep the Harry Potter article up on the Evangelical Portal forever — and yet I want to make sure that all are properly forewarned of the dangers Harry Potter poses to their spiritual welfare. So here it is: the final plug for my Harry Potter article. Go read it. Your eternal destiny may depend on it. Read more
Thinking about “what Jesus would do” is a way for Christians to examine what it means to imitate Christ in our own lives. It’s sometimes a silly question, or at least anachronous, but it’s part of a serious spiritual discipline of striving to follow the principles and character that are shown in Christ’s life and person. Jesus often told parables involving a landowner or a wealth person and his employees. He was offering a spiritual and not a managerial lesson,... Read more
1. A task force of the American Psychological Association spent a substantial amount of money and effort in order to conclude–are you ready for it?–that “psychological barriers” such as uncertainty, mistrust and denial prevent Americans from taking action to combat climate change. Did they ask whether some (note that I say “some”) of that uncertainty and mistrust might be justified? Apparently not. This is another example of what happens when one becomes so immersed in one’s own point of view... Read more
1. More Evidence of the Fall, Item #11: a man walks into a fitness center, turns off the lights and sets his gun to blazing. The cowardly shooter (since shooters like this often seek fame in death, I will not mention his name) went straight to an aerobics class and opened fire with multiple handguns. He may have been seeking out his girlfriend; most of the injured were women; four died. We should pray for the victims and their families.... Read more
1. What does it say about American society that nearly 1 in 10 of us are on anti-depressants? Reuters reports: “Significant increases in antidepressant use were evident across all sociodemographic groups examined, except African Americans,” Dr. Mark Olfson of Columbia University in New York and Steven Marcus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia wrote in the Archives of General Psychiatry. “Not only are more U.S. residents being treated with antidepressants, but also those who are being treated are receiving... Read more
Since I don’t have much time to write today, I thought I’d compensate by offering my favorite Flight of the Conchords video. Good clean humor, and it addresses some serious issues worth considering. (I just began the Sunday Funnies series, but one can’t be entirely serious 6 days a week!) Read more
Philosophical Fragments
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In