Every so often I write an article that I look back on and see was a dog and that I didn't put the proper thought into it. Yesterday's post, Life Is Not Fair was a great example.

I mentioned in the first paragraph that I didn't want to come across as callous yet Dustin Kidd remarked that it did indeed come across as callous. And after reading it a few times more, I agree with Dustin. read more »

Yuval Levin's "Putting Parents First" currently available on THE WEEKLY STANDARD's website, is required reading for those who care about domestic policy. I posted a substantial extract over at No Left Turns and will offer up a different tidbit here: read more »

"What It Takes to Make a Student" is an outstanding piece of work by Paul Tough in last Sunday's NY Times. It is worth the read. Fascinating from top to bottom.

Tough starts with a look at audacious goal of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) to remove the achievement gap between minority/poor students and middle-class, white students. He lays the groundwork with an overview of the research about children's upbringing and how it relates to their educational achievement. No big surprise, children of poorer parents start school behind their richer peers because the richer parents treat their kids fundamentally different than poorer parents. read more »

Naomi Wolf in an effort to document the world around us, has an excellent article about the harmful effects of pornography on America's sexual health. The headline is "The Porn Myth - In the end, porn doesn’t whet men’s appetites—it turns them off the real thing."

It is worth your time to read it fully. The highlights include:

"But does all this sexual imagery in the air mean that sex has been liberated—or is it the case that the relationship between the multi-billion-dollar porn industry, compulsiveness, and sexual appetite has become like the relationship between agribusiness, processed foods, supersize portions, and obesity? If your appetite is stimulated and fed by poor-quality material, it takes more junk to fill you up. People are not closer because of porn but further apart; people are not more turned on in their daily lives but less so."

"So Dworkin was right that pornography is compulsive, but she was wrong in thinking it would make men more rapacious. A whole generation of men are less able to connect erotically to women—and ultimately less libidinous.

The reason to turn off the porn might become, to thoughtful people, not a moral one but, in a way, a physical- and emotional-health one; you might want to rethink your constant access to porn in the same way that, if you want to be an athlete, you rethink your smoking. The evidence is in: Greater supply of the stimulant equals diminished capacity.

After all, pornography works in the most basic of ways on the brain: It is Pavlovian. An orgasm is one of the biggest reinforcers imaginable. If you associate orgasm with your wife, a kiss, a scent, a body, that is what, over time, will turn you on; if you open your focus to an endless stream of ever-more-transgressive images of cybersex slaves, that is what it will take to turn you on. The ubiquity of sexual images does not free eros but dilutes it."

Christians have been making the moral argument against porn for the last 50 years or more. The argument hasn't been very successful because Christians haven't been able to make the case that the delayed gratification will eventually pay off. The fear of an eternal reckoning rarely motivates people to avoid sin.

However, Wolf has made the discussion much clearer. Avoid porn, not because it is morally bad, but because in the long run it hurts. The same very effective reasoning for avoiding binge drinking, smoking, drugs, etc.

I'd like to see Christians acknowledge the ubiquitous of porn and the real pull of that temptation, while offering a positive alternative. Sex with a little mystery and discovery is a lot more fun and interesting than a clinical rut in the hay.

Technorati Tags: Christianity, Current Events read more »

In Mark 14:7, Jesus said, "The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me."

From a common sense point of view, it seems that a minimum wage is an excellent way to "help them any time you want." Yet the debate at GoodWillHinton has been about whether raising the minimum wage really does help the poor.

And IN THEORY it doesn't. It drives up the cost of labor and makes businesses lay people off. read more »

President Bush has squandered any good will and moral high road America had after 9/11/01. That can't be debated. Instead, America has paid a heavy price in treasure and blood for his mistakes. It will take a generation to right the wrongs from the last 5 years. As Bush slides into lame duck status and becomes more ineffectual because the Democratic Party has finally found a backbone, one wonders what might have been...

We saw a little of it yesterday in Latvia. President Bush went to a meeting of NATO leaders to demand more flexibility and engagement in Afghanistan. While many NATO troops have been deployed in Afghanistan, several countries have strict restrictions on their use. France, Germany and Italy all must keep out of the war zone leaving American, British, Canadian and Dutch soldiers to fight and die against the Taliban.

President Bush flew to Latvia with the moral high ground. He knew that the mission in Afghanistan was just and it is morally imperative to complete. He knew that the other NATO allies had promised to be there for the Afghans, but were shirking their duty. He spoke forcefully and was able to get some concessions from his fellow NATO partners.

And what did it achieve? While NATO failed to lift complete restrictions on troop use in Afghanistan. The Alliance's Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, said that some 20,000 of Nato's 32,000 troops deployed in the country would now be able to be used with greater flexibility. "Instead of lifting the restrictions entirely, France, Germany and Italy agreed to allow their troops to be sent in emergencies to bolster the NATO forces in the south, where Taliban forces have fought with renewed vigor."

Is it a complete victory? No. But America was able to use the moral high ground to convince others to live up to their commitments and do the right thing.

Most importantly, it doesn't cost a thing in human life or treasure.

Oh! What could have been!

Technorati Tags: Current Events, News, Politics, Terrorism read more »

I don't know about you, but I didn't get a choice in my name. It was just given to me. Well, don't let that get in the way of attacking the most popular Democratic politician in the country.

Last night on Hardball, GOP strategist Ed Rogers ridiculed a potential Obama candidacy by using Obama's little-known and politically unfortunate middle name, Hussein. You can actually here the host giggle when he does it.

While ridiculous, it is a peril of running a candidate that is virtually untested. A "Hussein-moment" could be a "Swift-Boat moment" and destroy a candidacy before it even gets going.

Also, this shows that partisanship is alive and kicking in the body politic today. That is rather unfortunate. I guess we'll have to keep working here at GoodWillHinton. ;-)

Technorati Tags: Democratic Party, Politics read more »

In today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution, columnist Jim Wooten makes the claim that redistricting will never be politics-free and should never be. Fortunately, Wooten shows his hand as the ultimate partisan himself:

"Had they been a bit less clever, Democrats might still rule Georgia. But cleverness and greed caused them to overreach in drawing legislative districts, provoking a fair-minded electorate and an equal-protection court to collapse the empire.

Prior to 2002, Democrats had it all. Within two years, they'd lost it all. The system works."

Memo to Jim: there are plenty of reasons why Democrats lost the legislature in Georgia. One of those reasons was NOT gerrymandering. read more »

I am reluctant to write this post as I am afraid that I will come across as callous. Please know that in no way do I want to diminish the real suffering and inconvenience of people with various conditions such as blindness or deafness.

But I am struck by this judicial decision today in which U.S. District Judge James Robertson said that the government discriminates against blind people by printing money that all looks and feels the same. read more »

Not that we needed a poll to tell us, but Democratic Senator John Kerry finished last in a poll on the likability of 20 American politicians. Peter Brown of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute said ""Americans know who he is, and have pretty much decided they don't like him."

Somewhat surprisingly to me, President Bush was only 15th. I would have guessed that he would be last or second to last. I also think that Newt Gingrich's question has been asked. He is done before it even began. And that is before his pronouncement that we need to consider limiting free speech even more.

Rudy appears to have jumped out to the lead. How quick before the vicious attacks begin on him?

Complete Poll Results
1) Rudolph Giuliani 64.2
2) Sen. Barack Obama 58.8
3) Sen. John McCain 57.7
4) Condoleezza Rice 56.1
5) Bill Clinton 55.8
6) Sen. Joseph Lieberman 52.7
7) Mayor Michael Bloomberg 51.1
8) John Edwards 49.9
9) Sen. Hillary Clinton 49
10) Gov. Bill Richardson 47.7
11) Sen. Joseph Biden 47
12) Rep. Nancy Pelosi 46.9
13) Gov. Mitt Romney 45.9
14) Al Gore 44.9
15) President George Bush 43.8
16) Sen. Evan Bayh 43.3
17) Newt Gingrich 42
18) Sen. Bill Frist 41.5
19) Sen. Harry Reid 41.2
20) Sen. John Kerry 39.6

The actual writing on the wall was "Mene, mene, tekel, Parsin". The first parts mean "God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting." This passage from Daniel in the Hebrew Bible has been a longstanding idiom in the English language, but our idiomatic use does not capture the occasion of the original utterance. Darius the Mede had arrayed his armies against Belshazzar, the king of Babylon. Belshazzar hardly needed a prophet to know that his end was at hand. His response to his immanent doom was to throw a wild orgy: we refer to it tamely as "Belshazzar's Feast". The king of Babylon was determined to go out with a bang.

The New Atheists are in a parallel situation. Their arguments are threadbare and their history is tainted. They are a sound and fury signifying failure. You don't need to seek out a Christian apologist for rebuttals: not even mainstream secularity is impressed. In his review of Dawkins' The God Delusion, John Holt says

"Dawkins's avowed hostility can make for scattershot reasoning as well as for rhetorical excess"

and

"Despite the many flashes of brilliance in this book, Dawkins's failure to appreciate just how hard philosophical questions about religion can be makes reading it an intellectually frustrating experience."

Even the mockers of South Park recognized the absurd hypocrisy of Dawkins' hostility in an episode where—in a future devoid of religion—rival sects of scientists engage in Holy War, crying out things like "in the name of Science".

This crusading, dogmatic expression of atheism is an old throwback to Enlightenment Rationalism and that ship has sailed. As Richard Shweder observes in his article yesterday, Enlightenment predictions have failed to find fulfillment. Religion did not fade under the might of Reason. The 20th century body count proves that secularity is not a cure for the so-called "wars of religion". Our reasoning has not exhausted the big questions of meaning, purpose, or even existence. The gap between what we know and what can be known—not to mention how we know—should lead us to expect many reversals of intellectual fortunes.

I'm all for sustaining a debate and dialogue between belief and unbelief, but the New Atheists are hardly worthy of rebuttal.

After a long holiday weekend, let me direct you to a few good articles I have found this morning...

Ankle Biting Pundits: On Pork: Meet The New Bosses, Same As The Old Bosses - "Why is it that about the only thing Republicans and Democrats can agree on is stealing our tax dollars to use for their own pet pork projects? Think the change in leadership is going to mean any real changes on these monumental wastes of our money? Then I’ve got a bridge to sell you - a bridge that goes to nowhere and the price is only about $250 million."

Professor Bainbridge's Journal: Unions, Executive Pay, and Management Entrenchment - Check out Stephen Bainbridge's re-launched blog with this excellent post today. "Unions have been among the most prominent critics of high executive compensation. The AFL-CIO, for example, has devoted an entire website - Executive PayWatch - to the issue. A casual observer might assume that union campaigning against executive pay is simply class warfare. In fact, however, I think something much more subtle is going on here."

The American Scene: Doubt and Andrew Sullivan - Ross Douthat is one of my favorite writers and one of these days I am going to get him writing here. He is spot on regarding Andrew Sullivan: "I read Andrew's blog every day, and it makes me wonder about many things, but most of all about the notion of doubt. Over the past year or two, he's migrated toward a take on Christianity and "Jesus' authentic teachings" in which the only-remaining custodians of an authentic Christianity are taken to be figures like Bart Ehrman, Thomas Jefferson, Karen Armstrong, Damon Linker and Madonna. He's made this intellectual move in the name of "doubt," and taken on those terms it has a certain consistency, since his gallery of heroes suggests an ideal Christianity composed entirely of skeptics and blasphemers."

Crunchy Con: 10 is the new 15 - As the father of two girls, I couldn't agree more with Rod Dreher in his observations of how culture is killing the innocence of our children. "The center is not holding, and I detect no general will to resist the decline. For some of us parents, that means we must seek out alternatives, no matter what anybody else says. As I've said before, there comes a time when it's foolish to stand in the yard and tell people it's going to rain for 40 days and 40 nights, so they'd better make ready for it. At some point, you've got to get onto the ark ... or drown."

Mark Steyn has a provocative article in the Chicago Sun-Times on demographics. He raises the facinating question of what happens when a certain group decides it doesn't need to have children, and how does such a group square its decision not to have kids with their belief in proper "stewardship" of the earth.

Quartet of ladies shows where we're headed read more »

Jimmy Carter has a new book out on the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Alan Dershowitz has a good "review" of Carter's book at the Huffington Post.

The World According to Jimmy Carter

I like Jimmy Carter. I have known him since he began his run for president in early 1976. I worked hard for his election, and I have admired the work of the Carter Center throughout the world. That's why it troubles me so much that this decent man has written such an indecent book about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. read more »

There has been much discussion about economics over the past week in the wake of the passing of famed economist Milton Friedman. I did read one article that I found exasperating from an unlikely source.

David Brooks is one my favorite columnists and writers. I have always found him exceptionally reasonable and insightful. So I was quite disappointed when I read his column this week about Friedman: read more »

I can't tell you how glad I am to see a stiff punishment handed down in this case.

GOP Fundraiser Gets 18 Years in Prison

A GOP fundraiser who embezzled from a state investment in rare coins was sentenced Monday to 18 years in prison in a scandal that helped bring down Ohio's ruling Republican Party on Election Day. read more »

I for one, am glad to see that there were not many of these types of cases in the most recent election (at least not that we heard about).

Jennings challenges 369-vote loss in congressional race

State officials have certified the winner in the 13th Congressional District, but the loser is suing for a new election. read more »

President Bush’s 2006 Thanksgiving Proclamation contains two explicit references to God and one mention of "our Lord." There are four variations on the words blessed and blessing and two references to prayer.

If you don’t feel like calling the ACLU, you might read two essays, which I wrote last year, having read all the Presidential Thanksgiving proclamations I could find.

GWB’s, by the way, are far from the most explicitly religious--that honor might actually go to FDR’s, though they’d have a few competitors. On the other hand, nothing surpasses the sheer banality of Richard Nixon’s 1971 proclamation:

One of the splendid events which shape man’s destiny occurred when a small band of people, believing in the essential sanctity of their own being, went in search of a land in which their individuality might be the highest national value, before any arbitrary limitation or duty placed upon some men by the whim or design of others. read more »

Today in my class on the "new American city" (of which Atlanta happens the be the local example) we were discussing one aspect of the contemporary argument for "metropolitics," by which advocates mean some sort of governance structure for a metropolitan area that takes seriously the claim that "metrowide problems" should have "metrowide solutions." One often-mentioned aspect of this line of argument is that the potential workers who could fill the jobs in the burgeoning suburbs can't afford to live there, which leaves them either without readily available employment opportunities or compelled to undertake extraordinarily time-consuming commutes. read more »

Although on some level I suppose I understand Rangel's point, I'm going to go on record as being opposed to bringing back the draft:

Rangel says he's serious about reinstating the draft

Rep. Charles Rangel plans to resurrect a bill to reinstate the draft when Democrats take power in January, but the idea got a chilly reception Sunday in the heart of his Harlem district. read more »