Stones Cry Out

Memory fails. Regarding Mr Geithner … what is the argument, not based on “red/blue” my-tearm only partisan teamsmanship, why Bush had two appointees shot down by the left, one for tax irregularities and another (Kerik?) for hiring a maid with improper papers. Was there one with tax issues too?

I spent three months as a private contractor. I paid my employer half of FICA … and did my taxes myself without a program (it was 1990).

What do you expect Mr Geithner’s apology will be base on. That he is stupid or evil (construing in this case, evil as criminal)?

Update: Zoe Baird, Clinton had the tax problems.

With all the promises of change that Barack Obama got his supporters to believe, we’re now finding out that "promises" are more like "goals".  Or perhaps "hopes".

Close Gitmo on the first day in office?  First week?  First 100 days?  Well, technically, he may only issue an order to do it soon, but it’s "a challenge" to even close it within the first 100 days.  The ACLU wants a timetable.  Good luck with that.

"That’s a challenge," Obama said on ABC’s "This Week." "I think it’s going to take some time and our legal teams are working in consultation with our national security apparatus as we speak to help design exactly what we need to do."

It’s not as easy as some on the Left expected it would be.  The "Reality-based community" finds that facing reality isn’t what they thought it would be.

Iraq withdrawal within 16 months?  Well, Biden has said that they’re going to follow the Bush plan instead.  Additional take on this and all the Iraq issues at RedState.

Universal Health Care is being back-burnered.  Indeed, the economic crisis should be one of the top priorities, but I thought this whole scheme was supposed to save us all money.  If it’s such a win-win for the economy and health care, why delay?  Hmmm.  (Perhaps it has something to do with how poorly UHC is working in places like Massachusetts?)

No lobbyists serving in policy areas they have worked to influence in the past year.  So then, September 2008 is technically last year.

Interrogation techniques that Obama campaigned against may actually get a new lease on life.  Newsweek tells us:

Dick Cheney, who will step down as vice president on Jan. 20, has been widely portrayed as a creature of the dark side, a monstrous figure who trampled on the Constitution to wage war against all foes, real and imagined. Barack Obama was elected partly to cleanse the temple of the Bush-Cheney stain, and in his campaign speeches he promised to reverse Cheney’s efforts to seize power for the White House in the war on terror.

It may not be so simple

This could be another entry in my "New They Tell Us" category.  This was so simple during the campaign, but now they tell us it’s complex.  Nuance, anyone?

All this added to Obama’s waffling on tax cuts, windfall profits taxes on Big Oil, and FISA.  Now, I have no illusion that Obama has become some sort of bedrock conservative (though he’s been seen in the company of some), and we’re still likely to see many a liberal policy enacted.  However, underneath all this complaining by the Left that the new boss seems the same as the old boss is one thought; maybe the old boss got some things right.

1. Wow, for the stupid insult of the day, check out “Soviet/Maoist” red, would the balanced alternative be Luftwaffe blue?
2. And more on that leftwing icon/hero Che.
3. Another lefty doh moment, dude … this is America we’re talking about.
4. Carp(al) keyboard.
5. What’s that mean, “unwinnable?” (and does that mean like Iraq?)
6. Clearly overstated threat.
7. That cross thing.
8. Some interesting tidbits from a Andre Weil biography. I heard Mr Weil lecture while I was at school and I’ve got a few of his books. Spare and elegant.
9. Speaking of maths, fractal cabbages.
10. Shapeshifter battles, and the Pope’s last encyclical?
11. “the Lull”, I’m thinking for some people, that word doesn’t mean what they think it means.
12. Bush and Obama … perhaps not so changey.
13. Heh. Are they all hard of hearing in Texas?
14. Plugging Taiwanese carbon.
15. Words and sex. I recall a few days x-country skiing with my Dad years ago, for various reasons my brother and mom didn’t join us right away. I think we exchanged 20 words a day for about three days. It was wonderful.
16. I need to read this essay more carefully … but it looks interesting.
17. Dreams.
18. Ok, gotcha. Henceforth, it’s small “b” and small “w”. ’cause that “heritage, experience, …” and so forth are nothing but a non-singular multiplicity. The notion that they are singular is a pernicious fiction.
19. This reminds me of that story from British occupied India, in which some Indians were objecting that wife burning was an ancient and revered custom. The British officer reminded them that they too had a ancient and revered custom … that was to hang people who burn their wives.

I had an interesting notion today regarding the world economic crises. Right now, the government is thinking, that for stimulus large amounts of credit should be injected into the economy.

I once read that years ago, an economic study showed large companies would make more money if they increased wages. Those companies for which that would work were large enough that by them increasing their wages, then to compete for workers other similar companies and even those in other industries would be forced to follow suit. As a consequence enough people would have spending money to buy more of their product, which ultimately would result in large profits than they would arrive at if they cut wages as aggressively as they could.

It is also true that national fuel economies are affected most by raising the economies of those (alas large) number of cars with poor gas efficiency first.

Putting those two notions together, perhaps the best thing to do would be to encourage those corporations hiring overseas labor to raise the wages they pay them. Chinese and Indian workers can get as little as $2 per diem in wages. Raise that to $2 per hour and … you’ll soon have a large number of people with disposable income … needing goods … needing automation … fueling a global economy.

1. Obsession with sex … and the seminary.
2. Remembering Aleksandr.
3. Christians in need of forgiveness.
4. California.
5. Next generation intelligence gathering.
6. Patristics carnival.
7. The killing hasn’t stopped.
8. Hmmm.
9. Jews and Turkey.
10. A book, on theology and ontology, noted.
11. Of the wider community and salvation.
12. Start with humility.
13. So, is Mr Obama serious about economic recovery … or “shrinking the economy.”
14. A question.
15. Dreaming and dreamer, close to the worst case scenario.
16. For Christian charity … don’t look here.

Many bloggers have noted the “failure” of abstinence programs and chastity pledges to “work.” It seems to me that a lot of bad conclusions are drawn from this data. In fact the oddest thing about the studies into these programs is that people find the results worth noting. That is to say, the notion that superficial statements about changing one’s life or setting its course do not actually often change or set the course of that life unless one really changes the course of your life in non-superficial ways.

Consider the alcoholic or habitual drug user who (time after time) states, they are “quitting”, only to fall again and again “off the wagon.” You cannot stop drug use without changing all or at least most/many of the habits which accompany one’s life. Consider the convert to Christianity, who professes his or her faith yet changes other outward (or inward) modes and manner of thought. Failure to regularly attend liturgy, engage in daily prayer, and perhaps repentance and fasting … that conversion will likely be temporary and superficial.
Read the rest of this entry

FuturePundit reports on two more papers that show we can take adult stem cells and turn them in pluripotent stem cells; those just as useful and flexible as embryonic stem cells.  Since there are absolutely no ethical issues with the use of adult stem cells, the question then has to be; why don’t we funnel the research dollars going into embryonic stem cells into this instead?  You would think there’s some ulterior motive or something.

1. Flee (E)Utopia.
2. Man and identity.
3. Meta-linking, that is to say, Brandon offers links.
4. Considering pagans down under.
5. Pascal and poison.
6. An interesting conundrum for the left, Obama (apparently) wants to spend many billions on infra-structure, i.e., building things. But the left has put up lots of regulation making construction difficult. Hmm, how will that be resolved?
7. Offensive?
8. Quashing epiphany?
9. Upcoming march.
10. Did you know that?
11. Reckless language and the “slurs of Andrew Sullivan.”
12. Theology and Mr Eastwood.
13. Clauswitz.
14. Two names not normally linked.
15. Whence hope?
16. Answers for the Afro-phile.

In part my statement, “I don’t believe in the germ theory of disease” is meant to be provocative for my position is somewhat, err, nuanced. Consider the following to points:

• 100 people are all exposed to a serious pathogen. Five get sick.
• A number of you at work have a stressful situation at work, requiring serious overtime. For a week or so, along with the stress, you all work long hours and average four or less hours sleep at night. Many get come down with illnesses toward the end and after this time. This is unsurprising.

The problem with the germ theory of disease is the notion that germs cause disease. Germs do not cause disease. Germs are virtually omnipresent. Clean rooms however show that germs, when not present cannot cause disease. That is germs are a necessary condition for disease … and because of their omnipresence, when the real cause of disease occurs … people ordinarily get sick.

The real cause of disease is the failure of your immune system to prevent illness. There are a lot of reasons for that. Mental state, mental and physical stress levels, nutrition all enter in to keeping or failing to keep your immune system working as it should. Recently, I’ve been involved in a discussion in which notions of witchcraft were discounted as relevant in combating disease. However, if we put together realization that there exist communities in which witchcraft is given credence and that mental stress and state contribute to the effectiveness of the immune system one must conclude that witchcraft as a cause of disease, makes perfect sense.

Oddly enough we tend to ignore our immune system. Regarding physical and mental fitness, we have regimens and advice on how to increase, measure, and keep our mental and physical faculties at tip top condition. An athlete can measure his performance metrics precisely. Cyclists for example, can measure and track VO₂MAX, watts/kg, and peak wattage to track and estimate his progress and current fitness. In a few months in the NFL, as another example, will migrate to Indianapolis to put draft prospects through a battery of tests to test fitness to succeed in the football arena. However doctors have no such metrics to measure the fitness of someone’s immune system. There are no “training regimens” to exercise and get your immune system working at optimal levels. In part that is because of the popularity of the “germ theory” of disease. If that catchphrase were replaced by the “immune system breakdown” theory of disease (that is the one to which I subscribe) then one would expect research priorities to be realigned.

Well, I can’t leave comments at Positive Liberty for some reason or other, however a brief response to Mr Kuznicki seems in order.

Mr Kuznicki is up in arms about conservatives daring to “defend” a Rick Warren/Martin Ssempa connection. He finds a movement toward abstinence inappropriate as well as Mr Ssempa’s anti-gay rhetoric. Now, I’m not going to defend the latter. However, a little googling shows that the Saddleback church (Rick Warren’s “purpose driven” mega-church) has embraced an AIDS ministry. The concentration of this ministry accoriding to their web site concentrates confronting AIDS in particular because of the stigma associated with the disease. And additionally, they’ve chosen to focus their aid on orphans and children with AIDS. In spreading their assistance from the States to Africa apparently Mr Ssempa has aided their particular mission.

Mr Kuznicki asks how those particular things which bother him about Mr Ssempa:

–Agitated successfully to remove all mention of condoms from Uganda’s anti-HIV campaign.
–Burned condoms in public and otherwise condemned them. For Jesus.
–Recommended that gays be imprisoned.
–Expressed a belief that witches were making people sick.

He wonders how this could be worse?

Well, obviously it could. African AIDS is not a homosexual phenomena, unlike in the States. That epidemic is apparently driven by rampant widespread adultery. One might Imagine burning condoms were part of a movement to stem this tide and promote the notion of fidelity to one’s spouse. Imagine that, the horror! Why might a conservative support such a clearly silly notion.

It was Mr Kuznicki’s last bullet point that inspired my initial remarks regarding intentions and deeds. If one takes the two notions that Mr Ssempa has been allowing and facilitatting the Saddleback church in getting aid medical, food, and support to orphans and children with HIV/AIDS and at the same time Dr Ssempa thinks that witchcraft and the supernatural impacts the spread of disease. Well, we have an effect, i.e., aid to orphans. We have a belief, witchcraft. The question I posed, and Mr Kuznicki has failed to address, is to ask is why he discounts aid to HIV infected orphans because Mr Ssempa has a belief in witchcraft, i.e., if one’s beliefs (intentions) aren’t pure … does that discount one’s deeds, i.e., facilitating aid to orphans?

Apparently, in Mr Kuznicki’s world … it does.

One final remarks, I don’t know the extent or basis of Mr Ssempa’s political influence in Uganda. However, it is my impression that in sub-Saharan Africa in general there are generically very strong anti-gay biases in the populus. That a politician personally on occaision panders to this to garner support is no indication of their personal feeling and may in fact just be a requirement to get support to garner the political capital to do other things, such as for example try to turn the culture toward monagamy and to aid orphans.

From Gordon Campbell:

As low as the IDF can make them, civilian casualties are guaranteed when you store and launch your missiles from civilian area.  Hamas gets a win-win situation for terrorism when it gets world sympathy for casualties as a result of this stationing, and it gets Palestinian sympathy when it kills Jews.  You cannot negotiate with terrorists; you can only defeat them.

In its continuing slide into irrelevancy, the United Nations Security Council called for a ceasefire in Gaza and never once used the H-word.  Now that could mean that they don’t thing Hamas has anything to do with what’s going on in Gaza, or they realize that asking Hamas to honor a ceasefire is pretty much pointless given their history.

Then again, there’s always the third option; they’re just blaming Israel, like they always do.  That would be the safe bet.

• A prayer for the children … of Gaza.
• Commuter bike design contest finalists.
• A clean joke.
• A clean country mile viewed from the Yukon.
• The “evils” of the Pope, refuted.\
• Apparently law school doesn’t teach logic. Ms Fey -> accountability … alas no connection.
• Permitted rape?
• The Christian reconciliation carnival returns.
• Ms Goldberg feeds thousands with 3 fish and 6 loaves? or not.
• Beauty, romance, and the christian life.
• Making the abstractions concrete.
• Two observations made by the late Fr Neuhaus.
• Don’t forget the package.
• Kill them, in a Christ-like fashion?
• Persecution on the quiet.
• And to think, there are real babies needing love and comfort.
• If the intentions aren’t pure, the deeds make no difference I guess.
• Watching the globe cool.
• More on the Mumbai murders.
• Might one of the Presidents defenders ‘splain (or defend) the notion of intelligent spending of $1.5 billion (500 times)?

Fr Richard John Neuhaus died today, which is something you already know if you read more than half a dozen blogs in the Christian blogosphere. I think 30 or 40 blogs in my RSS feed mentioned his passing today. What I found odd, was that nobody seemed especially joyous over the occasion. After all he succumbed to a second bout with cancer, which typically involves a lot of pain and discomfort. While we are enjoined to celebrate our suffering, that is specifically not to be our attitude toward the suffering of others.

So many of the posts are talk about what his writing meant to various people, how he touched their life, what he did for me. This seems to me getting the hindpart foremost. Read the rest of this entry

In a case where social science once again affirms common sense, a new study shows that kids who grow up in two parent homes and also go to church have the fewest behavioral problems (Hat tip: Gene Veith):

Children living with both biological parents or adoptive parents who attend religious services regularly are less likely to exhibit problems at school or at home, a new analysis of national data shows.

The study by psychologist Nicholas Zill, the founder of Child Trends, and statistician Philip Fletcher found that children in such a situation — when compared to children not living with both parents and not attending religious services regularly — are 5.5 times less likely to have repeated a grade and 2.5 less likely to have had their parents contacted by the school because of a conduct or achievement problem.

Additionally, intact families who have regular religious participation (defined as at least weekly or monthly) are less likely to report parental stress and more likely to report a “better parent-child relationship,” the analysis, which focused on families with children ages 6-17, says.

The study, co-released by the Family Research Council and more than 30 state family councils as part of FRC’s Mapping America project, was based on interviews in 2003 with parents of more than 100,000 children and teens by the National Center for Health Statistics for the National Survey of Children’s Health.

The data “hold[s] up after controlling for family income and poverty, low parent education levels, and race and ethnicity.”

“An intact two-parent family and regular church attendance are each associated with fewer problem behaviors, more positive social development, and fewer parental concerns about the child’s learning and achievement,” Zill and Fletcher wrote. “Taken together, the two home-environment factors have an additive relationship with child well-being. That is, children who live in an intact family and attend religious services regularly generally come out best on child development measures, while children who do neither come out worst. Children with one factor in their favor, but not the other, fall in between ….”

The authors said that children in an intact religious family “are more likely to exhibit positive social behavior, including showing respect for teachers and neighbors, getting along with other children, understanding other people’s feelings, and trying to resolve conflicts with classmates, family, or friends.”

Pat Fagan, the director of FRC’s Center for Family and Religion, said the study should impact social policy.

“Social science data continue to demonstrate overwhelmingly that the intact married family that worships weekly is the greatest generator of human goods and social benefits and is the core strength of the United States,” he said in a statement. “Policy makers should strongly consider whether their policy proposals give support to such a family structure. Children are not the only beneficiaries but also their parents, families, communities, and all of society.”