Oct
28
When It Rains It Pours
October 28, 2005 | Leave a Comment
I’m beginning to feel a little sorry for Ohio University. First came the transition to a new president who clearly has every intention of leading us to that aurea mediocritas that places athletics ahead of academics. Then there was the drop in applications due to a riot during Halloween partying in the fall of 2003. [...]
Oct
27
Crime and Punishment
October 27, 2005 | Leave a Comment
When I teach introductory level courses in philosophy, it is my habit to use complete primary texts whenever possible. For example, this term I am teaching Philosophy 101 and so far we have read Plato’s Gorgias in its entirety; Plato’s Theaetetus in its entirety; most of Aristotle’s Metaphysics, David Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, again [...]
Oct
26
Eucharistic Procession
October 26, 2005 | Leave a Comment
I neglected to report on the Eucharistic Procession that I announced last week. In the end it came off rather nicely. The weather wasn’t great, but it wasn’t miserable, either, and it was a rather moving event for some of us who participated. I was particularly proud to walk beside my son, who is eleven. [...]
Oct
19
I’m Fixin’ a Hole Where the Rain Gets In
October 19, 2005 | Leave a Comment
I hadn’t noticed the fact that just when the Miers nomination was heating up, Michael Chertoff was telling the Senate that
Our goal at DHS is to completely eliminate the ‘catch and release’ enforcement problem, and return every single illegal entrant, no exceptions. It should be possible to achieve significant and measurable progress to this end [...]
Oct
18
A Scandal to the Gentiles
October 18, 2005 | Leave a Comment
In spite of my curmudgeonly attitude I have to say that Ohio University does not really deserve the “party school” reputation it seems to have garnered for itself–forget about the rioting twice per year and on major holidays, like football Saturday, overall Athens is a very quiet town and the OU campus is a beautiful [...]
Oct
17
The Intermess
October 17, 2005 | Leave a Comment
Richard Fernandez over at The Belmont Club has some interesting thoughts about the possible disintegration of the Internet. It seems there is international pressure–notably from countries such as China, Saudi Arabia, and Iran, to “share the governance” of the Internet, which is presently administered by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) under [...]
Oct
17
Hey Wait! You Weren’t Suposed to Actually Confirm Her!
October 17, 2005 | Leave a Comment
I don’t know whether the Miers nomination is in actuality some sort of political head-fake designed to lull Democrats into a false sense of smugness while Bush softens them up in preparation for the real nomination, but no matter what happens it’s not very good news. James Taranto, referring to the facty that Republicans generally [...]
Oct
16
Who Do We Think We Are?
October 16, 2005 | Leave a Comment
Representative Roscoe G. Bartlett, Republican of Maryland, is quoted in today’s online edition of the New York Times as saying that two new techniques for utilizing human stem cells will get “around all of the ethical arguments except for that small minority of the pro-life community that doesn’t even support in vitro fertilization.”
Some politicians tend [...]
Oct
14
Euthanize By 04-58
October 14, 2005 | Leave a Comment
The Venerable Bede of Bede’s Journal has a great tag line for those “christians” who favor euthanasia: “slapping a ‘use-by’ date on human beings.” Its from a post on the Bishop of Oxford’s strange (for him) defense of the traditional teaching on euthanasia. Perhaps the good bishop has been casting an eye towards his own [...]
Oct
14
Getting What You Deserve
October 14, 2005 | Leave a Comment
A few posts back I got involved in a discussion regarding the nature of justice within the context of the New Testament. In the original post I had suggested that one reason why some folks might defend a position that is both opposed to abortion and in favor of the death penalty is because they [...]