thoughts in and out of season
James Kalb John Leo discusses Vanderbilt’s decision to boost their academic standing by recruiting Jews: A big mess on campus.
The mess he’s talking about is worse than he is aware. He starts off complaining how offensive it is to say Jews are “lively, interesting, and hardworking,” because it’s “close to conventional stereotypes”—not to mention “the … More ...
Quandaries of multiethnicity in a post-9/11 world: in Texas they’re worried about maintaining privileges for illegal aliens at state universities when the feds are after them to crack down on foreign students here legally with visas.
And in France there was rioting in a camp for illegal immigrants near the channel tunnel after authorities tightened security. The French say they’ll close the place—eventually.
For more examples of bias and irrationality of among scientific experts and the like, see healthfactsandfears.com, a project of the American Council on Science and Health. A bigger problem, of course, is the treatment of things like sex as questions for scientific experts which fundamentally are nothing of the kind.
And in Canada, another traditionally Anglican country, the other side of the process becomes clear. The church may want to disentangle itself from the state, but the state won’t leave the church alone: Canada becoming anti-religious. Forcing a Catholic school to let a homosexual couple attend the prom was only the beginning. How … More ...
The strength and weakness of the Anglican Church has always been its connection to English society and government. It’s hard to know how it can be maintained at present though: here’s a bishop asking that civil marriage be separated from the religious ceremony because the two just don’t mean the same.
Oddly, he he refers … More ...
September 11 does seem to have put immigration reform somewhat back in play—a report by the Center for Immigration Studies on weaknesses in the system and their effect on terrorist activities has been covered straight by wire services. The Center is even described as a “think-tank that favors reducing immigration” rather than an “anti-immigrant group.” … More ...
A summary from US News and World Report about debates over abstinence-only curricula. It’s slanted against them, of course, but does include a fair amount of material from more than one side. A basic problem is the scientific-social-policy approach that makes it possible for the Pennsylvania congressman to call the abstinence approach “a case … More ...
Another possible dialogue:
… More ...Alter: You’re invited to my daughter’s wedding—she’s marrying her partner Louise!
Ego: Don’t think I can make it.
Alter [suspicious]: Why not?
Ego: It’s not something I can celebrate.
Alter: Why not?
Ego: I don’t think the sexual union of two women is a good thing.
From the New York Times: take the politics out of universal human rights by letting the legal experts look after it! So the solution to the Israel obsession and the administrative mess the piece describes is to apply treaties based on uniform legal norms and procedures. Sounds great! For example: in spite of … More ...