Wednesday, November 30, 2011
IN A piece at The Brussels Journal, Richard Cocks, a professor at an unnamed university, describes teaching the Platonic dialogue, the Meno, to his ethics class. His course becomes an extended exploration of the central question in the Meno: How do we arrive at moral knowledge? Cocks’ students are disappointed at Socrates’ conclusion, which is that morality [...]
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
JEANETTE V. writes: I made a remark in an online discussion of this article about transgendered lesbians that got several people in an uproar. I said: “These freak shows are covered to desensitize the public into accepting the bizarre as normal.” This an example of the responses I got:
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
NEWT GINGRICH is repulsive. In his performance at last week’s Republican debate, his voice dripped with contempt when he spoke of enforcing the law on immigrants who have lived here illegally for decades. It was not his words alone. The look on his face was one of sneering condescension as he explained that some of these illegal [...]
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
TODAY’S working mother model is deeply embedded in human nature. Our hunter-gatherer maternal ancestors may not have had briefcases or paychecks, but they also left their infants and young children in the care of others. Human child-rearing has always been cooperative. The woman who remains home with her children is doing something unnatural. These are the key ideas in [...]
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
[NOTE: The below report has been updated to fully include all the new information available in the 2010 Preliminary Birth Data report.] JESSE POWELL writes: The National Center for Health Statistics has released the Final Birth Data for 2009 and the Preliminary Birth Data for 2010. The pattern of “risk aversion” presumably in response [...]
Friday, November 25, 2011
ALAN writes: Your recent remark about vile crimes perpetrated by blacks and the absence of outrage against them prompted these thoughts. I write from the city of St. Louis, which is notorious for being infested with crime, most of it perpetrated by young black males. The mayor and all public officials know this to be [...]
Thursday, November 24, 2011
CARAVAGGIO’S The Supper at Emmaus, completed in 1601, is a painting of astonishing drama. Resurrected to life, a youthful, serene-looking Christ, in the act of blessing a meal, reveals himself to two of his disciples who recognize his characteristic gestures. Notice the autumnal basket of fruit, which reminds me of a Thanksgiving feast, teetering on the edge of the table, [...]
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
THOSE readers still undecided as to how to stuff their Thanksgiving bird may wish to consider this recipe. I have not tried it, but it looks sensational. You might consider adding a pound of cubed mozzarella.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
JOHN E. writes: Dr. Rummler’s theory of why people used not to smile for photographs doesn’t explain all of the drawings and paintings from the past, also typically void of the pearly whites. If teeth were considered so essential to a person’s representation in a visual, they could have been sketched in, even if [...]
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
J.N., who is a man, writes in response to this entry: I’d really appreciate it if women would start raising fashion standards among other women, especially in church. Many women dress modestly, but there are some who come to worship God in very short skirts and tight, thin, low-cut blouses. And it’s not just the [...]
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
THE reasons why women cannot be – and should not be - priests are rooted in biology, psychology, ethics and metaphysical reality. In this entry, Kristor expands on the subject. The position of priest is not simply one of privilege, it is a form of sacrifice. He writes:
Monday, November 21, 2011
FROM SHEWIRED.COM’S most recent list of the 100 most “courageous” homosexuals: An Episcopalian priest, Rev. Dr. Katherine Ragsdale (right) served for 17 years on the national board for the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. She drew fire in 2009 from religious conservatives when she called abortion a “blessing” and the doctors who perform them “heroes.” [...]
Monday, November 21, 2011
IN OUR perverse world, evil often wears the face of a good-hearted man. At VFR, Lawrence Auster writes about the French official who defended the decision to allow a 17-year-old boy who had raped a girl free without warning others of his record. The rapist was accepted to a private school, where he raped and murdered a 13-year-old girl: Remember [...]
