Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 381
October 10, 2013
Clergy Appreciation Month
October is “Clergy Appreciation Month.” After the jump, some thoughts on the matter from Ray Hartwig. Let’s use the comments to honor the occasion. What do you appreciate about your pastor? What has he done for you? Why are you grateful for him? From Ray Hartwig, Clergy Appreciation Month: October is “Clergy Appreciation Month.” This [Read More...]
The beards of the Red Sox
I now like the Red Sox. How can you not pull for a team whose players have grown such serious beards? These aren’t soul patches or little goatees. These are long, bushy, Duck Dynasty kinds of beards. This is no “chicks dig ‘em” kind of fashion–I suspect women aren’t wild about them (correct me if [Read More...]
Remodeling the Navy Yard building
We blogged about the phenomenon of tearing down or otherwise effacing buildings where terrible crimes were committed. It was announced that the Navy Yard office building in Washington, D.C., the site of the recent mass shooting in which 12 people were killed, is going to be extensively remodeled at a cost of $6.4 million so [Read More...]
October 9, 2013
‘”We have only done what was our duty”
The Gospel reading for last Sunday was the parable that makes perfectly clear why we are not saved by our works and why we cannot merit salvation: 7 “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and [Read More...]
Electronic cigarettes
We Americans tend to get suspicious of people enjoying themselves too much, especially if it involves some kind of physical crutch. Smoking was condemned as a vice even before the incontrovertible evidence of how bad it is for you. But now electronic cigarettes have been invented, little battery-operated devices that look like a cigarette but [Read More...]
Chinese pro-life dissident update
The blind Chinese dissident, Chen Guangcheng, who battled China’s forced abortion policy, was imprisoned for four years, and made a daring escape to the United States had been dumped from his post at New York University on suspicion of fraternizing with Christians and pro-lifers; also because the university is trying to open a branch campus [Read More...]
October 8, 2013
Self-interest vs. ideology
Is it better in the realm of politics to stand on principle or to pursue self-interest? Most of us would probably say the former. But Robert J. Samuelson argues that self-interest is superior, even morally, to following an ideology, which breeds conflict, governmental paralysis, and the demonization of opponents. Mr. Samuelson shows that the left [Read More...]
From shutdown to default
I remember the government shutdown of 1995 and the huge uproar it caused among the general public. I don’t notice much of that happening today. The shutdown is not much of a shutdown, with over 80% of the government continuing as usual and the non-esssential offices, while closed, are, well, not essential. The much bigger [Read More...]
Making the military cool again
Literature, including and perhaps especially the more popular varieties, does more than provide escapist entertainment. It can also shape people’s imaginations so as to influence the actual world. Case in point: the recently departed author Tom Clancy, who, according to veterans Erin Simpson and Phillip Carter, was largely responsible for making the military cool again, [Read More...]
October 7, 2013
Introverts strike back
The ideal in the business world, especially for corporate leaders, has been the glad-handing extrovert. Consequently, private offices have given way to open cubicles so that everyone can mix and collaborate, even though that seldom happens. Also, everyone has to go to brainstorming meetings, even though research has shown that the best ideas come not [Read More...]
