Archive for the ‘Culture Wars’ Category
Best Links of the Week
Ireland is raiding private pension funds to help get out of their debt mess… scary stuff and should serve as a caution to those in the U.S. And in somewhat related news…
PIMCO ups their ante against government debt
Fannie Mae asks for 8.5 billion from taxpayers
The AP makes an interesting case for releasing the Bin Laden photo(s)
Cell phones are potentially at the center of the mysterious decline in U.S. bee population
28% of U.S. homes are underwater
WSJ Article, “The Coming Postal Bailout“
Treasury auctions will break U.S. debt ceiling
NASA Gravity probe confirms Einstein’s theories
Al Jazeera article on Pakistan PM’s addressing of the Bin Laden mess
40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes (HT: Lisi):
Pretty incredible frisbee trick shots:
Best Links of the Week
Love, Forgiveness and Basketball – some backstory on Chris Paul and his relationship with his grandfather
How Taxpayers Subsidize March Madness – pretty fascinating article
Dissension growing between Putin and Medvedev as Medvedev wants to stay on as President in Russia. This is a more important story than meets the eye. Most Americans think Russia is irrelevant but they really ought to pay attention to what is going on there. In my estimation, Russia is making a major comeback and is completely flying underneath the radar in the shadow of India, China, and the usual Mid East drama.
Kevin DeYoung has a nice piece on, Money and Possessions in Proverbs
21 Disturbing Statistics Regarding Student Loans
Seth Godin on the difference between hard work and long work – definitely a helpful distinction
WSJ Article, 1 in 7 americans on food stamps
Feds suing more anti-abortion activists
Osama Bin Laden articles:
Gave rabbits to 12 year old neighbor (kinda creepy and reminds me a bit of Benjamin Linus)
Some breakdown of the compound and some more here
Probably the best write-up of the raid I’ve seen yet is from NPR
Bin Laden compound gets bad reviews on Google Places
Part Two of the Keynes vs. Hayek Rap Videos:
Purdue’s record setting Rude Goldberg machine:
Best Links of the Week
Religion May Become Extinct in Nine Countries (Australia, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Switzerland)
In March, U.S. Government spent 8x more than it had coming in
Some interesting rhetoric between Dmitry Medvedez and Vladimir Putin.
Two sets of excellent photographs from the Japanese devastation: BBC and Boston Globe
Libyans using Western journalists as human shields
Paul Allen takes some shots at Bill Gates and gives some revisionist accounts of the history of Microsoft
Massive publisher Conde Nast got scammed for $8 million by one email
Interesting article in WSJ about feminism and provocative clothing among teenage girls (HT: Lisi)
The 10 Most Profitable Movies of All-Time
Worthwhile video (HT: Jutty):
Best Links of the Week
Salon.com founder Laura Miller has a scathing, yet sadly true, piece on the status of the Bible amongst evangelicals: “The Rise and Fall of the Bible“
American Christians buy millions of Bibles they seldom read and don’t understand.
Mubarak evidently fell into a coma after leaving Cairo. Does this mark anyone else as strange?
2010 Income Statement for the U.S. Government (58% of budget for entitlement programs [SS, Medicare/Medicaid/Unemployoment; 20% defense spending]).
Radio program claims they have revealed Coco-Cola’s secret formula. Apparently, the secret ingredient “Merchandise 7x” consists of alcohol, orange oil, lemon oil, nutmeg oil, coriander, neroli and cinnamon.
Doug Wilson has a nice piece on collective bargaining.
“So You are Thinking of Going to Seminary?“ A brief and well-written piece by Kevin DeYoung weighing in on those considering seminary. Certainly some golden advice here that could help you from wasting a lot of time, money, and energy OR help you maximize the most of your opportunity.
Interesting piece on Sarah Palin and feminism.
Bernie Madoff accuses federal government of being a Ponzi Scheme (and I can’t say I really disagree with him).
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are going away and the PIMCO CEO wants to raise rates on 30 year mortgages by 3% across the board.
How you can be praying for Christians in Egypt.
“How Much Information Did God Put in Your DNA?“ (HT: Justin Taylor and Joe Carter)
U.S. debt is now equal to value of the U.S. economy.
Excellent brief biography by Tim Challies on Eric Liddell – part one and part two.
The fallacy of green job creation.
Denny Burk points out some interesting inconsistencies between fetal abortion and fetal surgery. It does become a bit absurd that doctors will both fight to save and fight to end babies in the same stage of pregnancy.
Paradigm shift coming in domain name suffixes.
Every now and then I read a really interesting Wikipedia article, this is one such article: “Voynich Manuscript“
Some really fascinating art: The Book Surgeon
Anyone who surfs knows this is unbelievable – Surfing Kickflip:
Like this:
Best Links of the Week
Kermit Gosnell, the infanticide-abortion doctor, made over $1.8 million dollars a year, 17 properties, a boat, and a 41 year old mistress on payroll. This story keeps getting worse and worse.
Flu vaccine touts that it kills all strains of the flu virus.
A few articles on multi-culturalism – “Ending the Multicultural Experiment” “Nickolas Sarkozy, “Multiculturalism Has Failed“”
Some analysis of what the Egypt situation means for Christians in Egypt.
Saudi Arabia can’t refine enough oil to keep up with demand.
Crazy good goal from Wayne Rooney:
Best Links of the Week
George W. Bush has a few refreshingly rare words for a former president in a recent interview:
I don’t want to go out and campaign for candidates. I don’t want to be viewed as a perpetual money-raiser. I don’t want to be on these talk shows giving my opinion, second-guessing the current president. I think it’s bad for the country, frankly, to have a former president criticize his successor. It’s tough enough to be president as it is without a former president undermining the current president. Plus, I don’t want to do that.
Huge insult during Chinese delegation visit and huge blunder by Obama administration – “A State Insult with Chinese Charateristics.” This further highlights
Indian government has a $35 tablet computer.
“Why You Should Always Run Up the Score” – First Things
GOP entertaining privatizing Medicare.
The most sued companies in America. Surprise, all the usual subprime suspects lead the list…
China keeps ramping up the dollar rhetoric.
FCIC Report – Financial Crisis was Avoidable – I am not sure whether this is the case or not. It is a rather complex question of whether it was avoidable or not. It leaves me with the question, does human irrationality not necessitate the existence of irrational bubbles?
Over 99% vote for secession in Southern Sudan
Drug smugglers attempt to catapult drugs over U.S./Mexico border. Nothing like profit driving innovation… I wonder if they came up with their pot trebuchet idea while smoking pot.
Tons of British Anglicans fleeing the Anglican church in favor of Roman Catholicism
Baseball player walks away from $12 million salary because he says he ‘doesn’t deserve it.’
Rafi Eitan recounts the story of their capture of Nazi Holocaust chief architect Adolf Eichmann.
Truly excellent interview with Francis Ford Coppola:
There is something we know that’s connected with beauty and truth. There is something ancient. We know that art is about beauty, and therefore it has to be about truth.
UN spends $288,700 per “green job”
Consumer confidence crashing in the UK
11% of all homes are vacant in U.S. – this amounts to 18 million homes
Florida Judge rules that Obamacare is unconstitutional. In the same vein, “Tawdry Details of Obamacare“
“Greatest Putt-Putt Shot Ever”
Smooth Criminal on Cello
Best Links of the Week
“The Supreme Courts Back Alley Runs Through Philadelphia.” A story on how Roe v. Wade makes regulating abortion clinics exceedingly difficult and opens the doors for the horrific squalor and infanticide of the clinic in Philadelphia.
Summary of a really interesting survey of evangelicals in the UK.
Billy Graham regrets not steering clear of politics and regrets not spending more time with family.
Mark Sanchez picks his nose and wipes it on his backup QB, video here. (HT: Aaron)
Consumer Watchdog and privacy group is raising concerns over close ties between Google, the NSA, and the present federal government.
Christian Astronomy Professor successfully sues the University of Kentucky for religious discrimination against him.
Iran has cleared a major hurdle in the uranium enrichment process.
Solid WSJ report on their murdered reporter Daniel Pearl.
U.S. Taxpayers have footed the $160 million legal bill for the executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Unbelievable and unconscionable.
Government Unions are trying to court the TSA to join their ranks.
Chuck DeGroat continues his series on dealing with difficult people with an excellent piece on dealing with the borderline (passive-aggressive).
“Bernanke’s Rally Runs into Headwinds“
A fairly thorough dossier on the American mafia.
Check your Munis as a bunch of states are quietly looking at bankruptcy.
Donald Trump has some harsh words on the pomp and show put on for the Chinese president.
Two Italian scientists (with suspect pasts) claim they have successfully found cold fusion. No offense to my Italian friends, but this is very doubtful.
Double dip in the housing market.
UPDATE: The appalling story of the Philadelphia abortion doctor who was charged with eight counts of murder, who had squalid conditions and random baby parts in jars… women are coming forward saying that he left them sterile. Also in this vein, Al Mohler had a good piece on the President’s comments on the Roe v. Wade anniversary speech.
“People are Awesome”:
Best Links of the Week
The Economist has an excellent article entitled “The Disposable Academic: Why Doing a PhD is a Waste of Time”
Delightfully lengthy article in GQ about Mossad’s somewhat botched assassination of a Hamas leader in the city of Dubai. (HT: Phill)
Fascinating article that makes a compelling case that the Stuxnet worm that has disrupted Iran’s nuclear program originated ironically from China (and not the U.S., Britain, or Israel).
50 cent makes $8,700,000.00 off one tweet. As a corollary to this article, there is way more money in self-branding in the entertainment industry than there is in the entertainment industry. I also think it is ridiculous where people will take investment advice from.
I watched Ted Haggard’s little special on TLC last weekend. I won’t delve into analyzing the state of his soul but Carl Trueman does a pretty decent job.
When you hang your head in shame, the last thing you should be thinking about is whether the camera has caught your good side.
“The Lazy Slander of the Pro-Life Cause“
BBC article on the impact of the King James Bible on the English language.
No other book, or indeed any piece of culture, seems to have influenced the English language as much as the King James Bible. Its turns of phrase have permeated the everyday language of English speakers, whether or not they’ve ever opened a copy.
2010 Los Angeles County bill tab for illegal immigrants in public schools was $600,000,000.00.
Utterly appalling story of abortion doctor in Philadelphia. There had been no inspection of the clinic since 1993.
Gosnell “induced labor, forced the live birth of viable babies in the sixth, seventh, eighth month of pregnancy and then killed those babies by cutting into the back of the neck with scissors and severing their spinal cord,” Williams said.
Patients were subjected to squalid and barbaric conditions at Gosnell’s Women’s Medical Society, where Gosnell performed dozens of abortions a day, prosecutors said. He mostly worked overnight hours after his untrained staff administered drugs to induce labor during the day, they said.
39% of All NYC Pregnancies End in Abortion
The 2009 NYC health study shows that 39% + of all New York City pregnancies end in abortion. 46% of all pregnancies in the Bronx. 65% of all pregnancies of those age 19 and younger. Amongst those age 20-24 there were 49,964 live births and 50,730 abortions (50.4%). Among non-residents under age 24 there were 1,022 total live births and 2,994 abortions (74.6%)
The full report can be found here. Pages 84-88 at the bottom of the document (pages 75-79 of 106 in your internet browser) outline the “induced” and “spontaneous” terminations.
Appalling.
Also, I should also note that a friend of mine who used to work in labor and delivery mentioned that only 1 in 20 babies she delivered fit the following three criterion:
1. Married to the father
2. Did not have an STD
3. Had not had a previous abortion
Pat Robertson Wants to Legalize Marijuana
In what has to be one of the strangest stories of 2010, Pat Robertson goes on the record in favor of legalization of marijuana. NY Times story here.
Your thoughts?
