Wall Streeter Joshua Brown (a “Reformed Broker“) offers one answer in a post candidly titled “This Is Why They Hate You and Want You to Die“: You want to know why everyone in this country hates you and wants you dead, you big stupid [frakking] bank? Here’s why, pay attention: Bank of America Corp will pay $11 million to ousted executives Joe Price and Sallie Krawcheck … Let me clarify that “Hates You and Wants You to Die” refers to... Read more
Taegan Goddard points us to this Bloomberg story, noting that no less than four of the contenders for the Republican nomination are on record as saying they were called by God to run for president. The Almighty has reportedly called Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and businessman Herman Cain to run for the same office at the same time. (Bloomberg’s Francis Wilkinson drily notes that “Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul and... Read more
A while back, a discussion/flamewar of theism/atheism in comments here led me to re-read Glenn Tinder’s famous/infamous essay “Can We Be Good Without God,” which was published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1989. Tinder’s was an odd, almost Burkean, argument in which he warned, among other things, against “the universal disaster of revolution.” In 1989 — 1989! — Tinder wrote that “There is perhaps not a single example in our time of a determined effort to produce swift and sweeping... Read more
Henry Blodget says “Here’s What The Wall Street Protesters Are So Angry About …” The problem in a nutshell is this: Inequality in this country has hit a level that has been seen only once in the nation’s history, and unemployment has reached a level that has been seen only once since the Great Depression. And, at the same time, corporate profits are at a record high. And he has charts. Lots of charts (courtesy of FRED — Federal Reserve... Read more
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James K.A. Smith casts a skeptical eye toward the latest figures allegedly showing the economic value of a college education. Smith, we should note, teaches philosophy at Calvin College, and this he has a personal stake in countering this idea of college as an “investment” in higher future income. It that’s what higher education is for, after all, then there’s no point in anyone studying philosophy. (I forget the name of the stand-up comic who joked about majoring in philosophy,... Read more
Last night, Republicans used a procedural maneuver to block a vote in the United States Senate on that American Jobs Act. That bill would, among other things, provide $85 billion in aid to cash-strapped state and local governments. It’s not entirely coincidental, then, that it was also last night that the City of Harrisburg, Pa., filed for bankruptcy. This budget crunch isn’t unique to Pennsylvania’s state capital. In Highland Park, Mich., the majority of street lights have been removed as... Read more
Aristotle was not Belgian. The central message of Buddhism is not “Every man for himself.” And the London Underground is not a political movement. Those are all mistakes, Otto. I looked them up. I’m not a fan of designated “fact-checking” reports following speeches and political debates. Either every report from that paper, station or site checks the facts or else none of their reports can be trusted to do so. This was a widely shared complaint when I worked in... Read more
“You just call out my name,” James Taylor sings, “and you know where ever I am / I’ll come running …” You’ve likely said something similar to someone at some point. “If you ever need me, I’ll be there for you.” That, as Taylor says, is the mark of a friend. But is it really? Because if that’s what it means to tell someone “You’ve got a friend,” then this is something that none of us can ever say to... Read more
Tribulation Force, pp. 423-425 A key thing to remember about the post-Rapture world of this book is that all the good people are gone. Apart from a handful of characters we know by name, everyone else on Earth is a sinful fool who obstinately rejects God in the face of overwhelming evidence. This is important to keep in mind as we read the final chapter of Tribulation Force, because unless we accept and embrace that premise, the events about to... Read more
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