Category Archives: Uncategorized

Jesus: Invisible friend or evolutionary adaptation?

Posted on August 24, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

I had never heard of the “Third Man” phenomenon until reading this fascinating Wall Street Journal book review.  People in extreme situations, such as explorers stranded on a mountain peak or shipwreck survivors, have reported the sensation of being accompanied … Continue reading →

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Godspeak and Healthcare

Posted on August 22, 2009 by Andrew Stuttaford

Given the Godspeak into which Obama so often descends, we should not, I suppose, be surprised that he is now trying to bring the big fellow upstairs into the fight over healthcare. It’s no surprise, but it’s still annoying. Writing … Continue reading →

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Hermaphrodites: divine incompetence?

Posted on August 22, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

God laid down rules for the use of human genitals and proscribed strict penalties for their misuse, the Bible and believers tell us.  God also possesses total engineering mastery over what happens in a human uterus (see, inter alia, the … Continue reading →

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Rational rationing?

Posted on August 19, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

Much of the conservative critique of Obama’s rationing and alleged euthanasia intentions still seems to me to maintain a certain ambiguity about whether the critics think that Obama is planning to force the entire medical system—private and public—into rationing mode … Continue reading →

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Magical thinking watch: Bank discrimination

Posted on August 19, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

Twenty years ago, there were few bank branches and few residents with bank accounts on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.  Poverty advocates and government officials predictably concluded that those nasty banks were discriminating against the poor and mandated that … Continue reading →

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He said it

Posted on August 17, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

Overheard on Christian talk station KBRT 740 am today: I’ve never come across a ministry where [the leaders] don’t all fly first class.  And why are all these guys driving gold-plated Rolls Royces? Radio evangelist Bob Christopher on his fellow ministers.  … Continue reading →

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Icons

Posted on August 17, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

My post on Mary’s visit to New York has drawn rebuke (here and here), and for good reason: its tone was clearly self-indulgent and insensitive.  I apologize and thank Joe Carter and Tom Piatak for their civility  in responding.  But however … Continue reading →

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Death panels

Posted on August 15, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

On the question of whether health care is a market commodity or a human right, conservatives tend to come out on the commodity side, when they address the issue at all.  Not so in reacting to Obama’s tentative application of … Continue reading →

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Oh Dear

Posted on August 14, 2009 by Andrew Stuttaford

News From Tulsa: Republican mayoral candidate Anna Falling said Tuesday that putting a Christian creationism display in the Tulsa Zoo is No. 1 in importance among city issues that include violent crime, budget woes and bumpy streets. “It’s first,” she … Continue reading →

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Self-help in Harlem

Posted on August 14, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

I’m no fan of the death penalty, having concluded that its massive costs outweigh its obvious justice and that its deterrent effect is next to nothing, given the decades-long due process gauntlet that the courts have imposed on its exercise.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 11 Comments