Month: June 2008

Can dirt be holy? Is there such a thing as “sacred soil”? If you’re religious about physical things, I guess dirt as well as locations can be considered sacred. Certainly, a good argument can be made that important graveyards, or places where large numbers of people died — such as Auschwitz or Gettysburg — are…

My favorite writer on everything has some words on “how you can do your bit to build democracy”: In the northern Iraqi city of Sulaymaniya, the American University of Iraq has just opened its doors. And it is appealing for people to donate books. … As anyone who has read the Arab Human Development Reports…

A simple cup of joe not always so simple The days of women fetching coffee for the boss still linger in some workplaces That was the headline on a story on the front page of the Business section of today’s Inquirer. A perfectly good headline — if disapproving in a feminist sort of way. But…

I keep hearing and reading that the average world temperatures reached their peak in 1998, and leveled off since. This article — titled “There IS a problem with global warming… it stopped in 1998” is typical: For many years now, human-caused climate change has been viewed as a large and urgent problem. In truth, however,…

This is just to say that despite calls by others in years and decades past, now really is the time to privatize the postal service. My girlfriend and I returned home tonight after a lovely evening with friends to find everything as we had left it. We’d already received our daily ration of junk mail…

Like many people, I have paper problems. Paper that I do not want but cannot throw away for security reasons accumulates to the point where there’s too much to easily shred, and on top of that Coco hates my shredder. I kid you not: So, my default pattern has been to simply fill boxes and…

Will the decadent West be conquered by decadent Islamic sexual tolerance? If that sounds like too much of a mouthful, read “Converting the West to Islam Through … Sex?” by Timothy R. Furnish, whose Ph.D. is in Islamic History, and who is a former U.S. Army Arabic interrogator and college professor. Furnish recently learned of…

I was very sorry to read that the lead singer of the Dixie Hummingbirds, Ira B. Tucker Sr. has died — right here in Philadelphia: Ira B. Tucker Sr., 83, of North Philadelphia, one of gospel’s most celebrated voices and lead singer of the venerable Dixie Hummingbirds, died of heart failure Tuesday at Kindred Hospital…

Yes it is true. America’s need for more oil refining capacity is bringing a new refinery on line. In India. Shouting Into The Void tells the tale. Here’s some news that should make all the energy independence buffs throw their hats to the floor and shout “Tarnashion!” India’s Reliance Industries is building the world’s largest…

Yesterday M. Simon opined that because the Heller decision was only 5-4, the gun issue might very well become important in the fall election. While I can’t predict that far in the future, what prompted this post is that I’m still not certain which candidate will benefit more in the long run from the Heller…

I very much enjoyed “Guns Are a Feminist Issue” (which Glenn Reynolds linked earlier). Megan McArdle observes that guns level the playing field between men and women, and wonders why more feminists don’t push for gun ownership: …guns are the only weapon that equalizes strength between attacker and attacked. It’s the only time when men’s…

Well, they are. Because, they warn, the poles are melting! Only this time, they’re serious. Even if it seems “unthinkable“: It seems unthinkable, but for the first time in human history, ice is on course to disappear entirely from the North Pole this year. The disappearance of the Arctic sea ice, making it possible to…

By the time he’s finished, Obama will have made the Clintons look scrupulous. So says Charles Krauthammer in a scathing takedown of Barack Obama’s amazing ability to flip-flop with impunity. Obama needs to move to the center, and there is absolutely no downside: Obama’s long march to the center has begun. And why not? What’s…

Some commenters out there, among them Instapundit, say that the decision in Heller today takes gun rights off the table as an election issue. I beg to differ. The decision was 5-4. That means that everything could change if a Justice is confirmed whose views are more in line with Obama’s views (which appear to…

What a relief! The Supreme Court has ruled that the Second Amendment says what it says: WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court says Americans have a right to own guns for self-defense and hunting, the justices’ first major pronouncement on gun rights in U.S. history. The court’s 5-4 ruling strikes down the District of Columbia’s 32-year-old…

I’m really concerned about the half time at a Globe Trotter game. Is it safe for children with Chinese acrobats checking for cellulite? Besides his potential to make a really bad President, I think Obama’s constant return to the theme of racial intolerance in America puts him outside the mainstream. Which will make it hard…

With a decision on the Heller case imminent, the Barack Obama campaign is flip-flopping backtracking away from an earlier statement that the DC statute in question is constitutional: ABC News’ Teddy Davis and Alexa Ainsworth Report: With the Supreme Court poised to rule on Washington, D.C.’s, gun ban, the Obama campaign is disavowing what it…

God bless Queen Elizabeth for being one of the few people on the planet actually capable of doing something about Robert Mugabe: she stripped the bloodthirsty tyrant of his knighthood: A Foreign Office spokesman said: “This action has been taken as a mark of revulsion at the abuse of human rights and abject disregard for…

William Saletan discusses a theory of homosexuality that I have seen before. That homosexuality in some men is compensated for by the increased fertility of their female relatives. Gay couples can’t have biological kids together. So if homosexuality is genetic, why hasn’t it died out? A study published last week in PLoS One tackles the…

They’re not making currency like they used to! Earlier I was at a store, and the guy gave me this worn out bill along with the rest of my change: I hope it’s not where we’re headed. The great seal on the right looks pretty flimsy — even flimsier than the Obama redesign. Back in…