One of the possible motives for why Bruce Ivins sent out anthrax, it has been said, is that he was “pro-life” and he sent the anthrax to people he felt were helping the pro-choice cause. This is why the term “pro-life” must never be seen as the same as merely being against abortion. While one who is pro-life must be opposed to abortion, one who is opposed to abortion does not have to be pro-life. One who is truly pro-life would understand life does... Read more
UPDATE: Some Republicans actually like the “Paris Hilton Plan” Not sure just what to make of this. I suppose the McCain campaign opened the door for this stuff. Read more
Quick research trip to the mall Policraticus and I went yesterday to a new outlet mall that recently opened outside of Houston just to check it out and to walk a little bit. We usually don’t go to malls, period, but sometimes you just happen to need clothes or something else, so we decided to go. We stopped by the Ann Taylor outlet store, because that used to be my favorite brand, but recently I have been reading that the... Read more
A little over a year ago, Shawn of the blog Rerum Novarum issued a challenge to Catholics to debate him on the morality of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the close of WWII (he was pro). I accepted the challenge, and we emailed back and forth about logistics, and I prepared an initial post setting out the against side of the question. Unfortunately the proposed debate never ended up happening, for reasons that I won’t go into... Read more
On August 6, the world remembers the bombing of Hiroshima. A great amount of unstable energy, without mercy, without pity, was let loose upon the city, destroying it and its population in one quick surge of power. The first of two cities, sacrificed to save the world – so we were told. In contrast to this, August 6 is also the day on which Christians remember the Transfiguration. On that day, all so long ago, Jesus revealed his inner glory,... Read more
I made some predictions for 2008. Having passed mid year, it seems like a good point to see where I’m at. The dominant issue for 2008 will be the economy. Parts of the country are presently in recession. Whether the country as a whole joins in a recession is another question. The other question appears to have been answered in the affirmative. Some have already called a national recession using U-6. Decoupling theory proves false as Europe and Asia follow the... Read more
(This is a response to Blackadder’s recent post: Is Public Transit the Answer? Don’t bet on it) The wrong basis The graph that Blackadder had on his post suggested that light rail consumes more BTUs per passenger per mile: that is, more than a car. Such numbers would suggest that in terms of energy consumption, the light rail does not stand as a better option to an individual car. As I said in my comment on his post, the graph... Read more
There were many movies which I went to see over the summer that I did not do any specific review for. The one I most wanted to talk about is Hellboy II; it’s an odd film, and I don’t know exactly how one is meant to take it as a whole. It’s post-modern that way. There are many ways one can interpret it. But what else do you expect from a movie about a demon, the son of Satan, who... Read more
Almost every weekday, 14-year-old Tiffany Adams rises before 6 a.m. in the Newark, New Jersey, home she shares with her grandmother and sisters. She dons her school uniform and catches two New Jersey Transit buses across the city, arriving at Christ the King Preparatory School, a Catholic high school that opened in September 2007, at 8. Most days she goes to the standard ninth-grade classes: algebra, Spanish, Western Civ. By all accounts, she excels at them. She is ranked first... Read more
In discussions about about high gas prices, global warming, etc., it is not uncommon to hear someone say that what we really need to put more money into public transit, as this will help energy conservation. But as the above chart shows, more public transit may not actually save us all that much energy. If, that is, it saves us any at all. (more…) Read more
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