Accommodating Prayer at School

Author Richard Land has proposed permitting prayer in public schools. I’m interested in your reaction, but first let me describe his proposal and my own response.

What Tibet Says of Tyranny

China has started the slaughter of unarmed monks and nuns (of the Buddhist persuasion) in Tibet. Well, it hasn’t really started as much as continued. What does this say of tyranny in any form? That its inevitable result is blood. In every case.

The question of tyranny is a life-or-death question. Either we stamp it out, or we pay with our lives. Tibet is no different.

Shiny New Supreme Court

So this is what it feels like to wake up in the morning having a little more freedom than you did yesterday. Michelle Malkin comments on today’s Supreme Court ruling that the international court has no jurisdiction in US law. (link)

The Two Faces of America

Last weekend my wife and I rented and watched A Man Without a Face, a 1993 movie in which Mel Gibson plays a recluse with an unusual face.  The left side of his face is normal, but his right side is badly disfigured.  The story is told from the perspective of a troubled youth played by Nick Stahl whose perceptions of Gibson evolve as the story progresses.  In the beginning, Stahl listens to malicious rumors about Gibson and is frightened of him.  By the end, Stahl has formed a strong friendship with Gibson, even though his mother and the community still despise him.  It is an interesting story with a clear message:  people tend to look for whatever they want to find.  The story is a parable not just of superficial appearance but also of human character and American history.  It occurred to me that there are also two faces of America and that people tend to see whatever they want to find.

Why Democrats Can’t Get Elected President

Thought:

During the “low point” of the Republican Party in the last century, there was still an awfully good chance that after the November elections, a republican would be once again elected president. Just in the past 28 years alone, only 8 of those were years in which a democrat was president, a president who never earned a majority vote.

Why is this?

Obama’s “More Perfect Union”

I’m interested in reader responses to Barack Obama’s speech today. You can read or listen to it here. My thoughts are thus:

Bill Gates can’t do it

Lou Guzzo, a respected journalist, writes at WhackyNation:

Why, then, don’t Gates and Microsoft establish a school or college or their own in which high-caliber students are trained for the jobs Gates wants to fill with foreign imports?

Lou also argues that somehow importing talented individuals from India, China, and elsewhere is somehow bad for our country.

Government Cheese and Health Care

One of our faithful readers is trying to make the case for government-provided health care. In arguing, I asked if the free clinics that doctors setup on their dime are health care or just government cheese.

The point is that what is important is health care. Both he and I seem to agree to that. The issue at discussion is whether free clinics, hospitals, and other forms of charity are enough to meet the needs of the poor who can’t afford their own health care.

Politics and the Pulpit

Is it appropriate for a candidate to preach in church during a major political campaign?

I don’t think so. If the candidate’s sermon addresses campaign issues, then there is an obvious question regarding the tax-exempt status of the host church. Even if the sermon studiously avoids politics and dwells on religious topics or other matters, the pulpit time still amounts to free publicity. No matter what a candidate might say from the pulpit, Sunday sermons give the appearance of political speech.

Troublesome Young Men

I finished Lynne Olson’s Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England. I would rate it 3 out of 5 stars.