My husband & I watched this documentary the other night. I know when it first came out people were having parties to watch it together. We are always a little behind mainly because we wait until we can rent it. Anyway, we watched it and we were not too surprised by the information in it. Government subsidies to support a multi-billion dollar company, sweatshops (how else do we buy items so cheap?), the effects on small towns (it devastates them),... Read more
I suppose the political realities make it unlikely that anything will happen, but it would be great, I think, if these proposals, from President Bush’s State of the Union address, were enacted: Tonight, President Bush will ask Congress to support a new $300 million “Pell Grants for Kids” scholarship program to help poor children reach their full potential. Like the Federal Pell Grant program, which students can use to attend the public or private college of their choice, Pell Grants... Read more
We need to trust the American people with their money, and trust they will innovate. Ironically, we discuss the subprime mortgage crisis not too long after this. This was an example of American innovation (the financial instruments created to facilitate these transactions and place the risks in the hands of ill-equipped investors), and it was an example of Americans using their money, in particular many Americans accepting money to purchase homes that they had no capacity to repay. (more…) Read more
Given the CIA’s long distinguished history of bungling and incompetence with regard to intelligence gathering generally, I suppose it should come as no surprise that the CIA doesn’t know what it’s doing with regard to interrogation either: Surprising as it may be, the CIA has never really been in the interrogation business. After 9/11, it turned its back on its own limited history of interrogations and never consulted those in the U.S. with solid experience in that difficult art. Even in the... Read more
Megan McArdle has written an interesting series of posts over the last couple of days advocating the elimination of food stamps (or at least opposing expanding food stamps as part of a stimulus package), to be replaced by an expanded EITC and/or unemployment benefits. It’s not an issue I’ve thought a lot about, but she seems to make a fairly persuasive case. Some excerpts: The poor don’t need more food. Obesity is a problem for the poor in America; except... Read more
Is Nox Nova a liberal blog? Henry asked this question a while back in a very nice video post. Of course, I am called “liberal” constantly, both by contributors to this blog, and by others, in and out of the comments box. I have to admit, this is one thing that really annoys me, mainly because it never goes away. People use that label thoughtlessly and carelessly, giving implicit endorsement to the false distinctions that underpin American politics. (more…) Read more
Is Nox Nova a liberal blog? Henry asked this question a while back in a very nice video post. Of course, I am called “liberal” constantly, both by contributors to this blog, and by others, in and out of the comments box. I have to admit, this is one thing that really annoys me, mainly because it never goes away. People use that label thoughtlessly and carelessly, giving implicit endorsement to the false distinctions that underpin American politics. (more…) Read more
My left-leaning Catholic friends apparently need to be reminded that Senator Obama, for all of his pretty words, is a radical proabort. If you honestly think that you can vote in good conscience for a man who is arguably more proabortion than NARAL, then you’re deluding yourself, and playing with fire in the process. Seriously, what is about the Church’s position on abortion that you folks fail to understand? Read more
I have an op-ed in today’s USA Today about the Pope’s visit, JFK’s speech, religion-and-politics, etc. Here’s a bit: Now, perhaps it reflects poorly on the state of political oratory that one of the most discussed, and most interesting, candidate speeches in the 2008 presidential campaign was delivered nearly 50 years ago. (At least until Mitt Romney’s speech about his Mormon faith last month in College Station, Texas.) Nonetheless, we should not be too surprised by the Speech’s staying power.... Read more
A blow from a whip raises a welt, but a blow from the tongue smashes bones; Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not as many as by the tongue. – Sirach 28:17-18 Indeed the question we often face is whether to support those who bring death by the sword or those who merely call the evil wrought by others just and good. Having said this, there should be some great forthcoming wisdom. It won’t. All that will happen... Read more
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