NYT Sheds Light on "The Unborn Paradox"

The New York Times' opinion page is not a place you expect to find an article on abortion rights. Certainly abortion-talk is terribly passe-- only lamented in the middle of the country and only from the pulpit. I can assure you we had this troublesome topic evaluated and settled by 1973 in Roe v. Wade. And although they were beating a dead horse, the Supreme Court re-visited the issue in 1992's Casey v. Planned Parenthood. No, we all agree that abortion is to be "safe, legal and rare"- end of discussion. At least, the Democrat's had felt it should be "safe, legal and rare" until 2008, and now... well, let's be honest- it is not terribly rare when the NYT's Ross Douthat (right) explained this week that 1 in 5 pregnancies end in abortion.

Congress to Deficit Panel- "What, Me Worry?"

Freeman, here.

Way back in April-- prior to this blog being hijacked by jocks and World Cuppers-- I talked about the President's bi-partisan Deficit Panel in conjunction with the Greek Tragedy. In light of the recent Irish Tragedy and the mid-term elections here on the Continent, it seems austerity is once again fashionable (if it ever was). To think that my concept of inputs (tax dollars coming in) and outputs (government spending) was not lost on the Deficit Panel's collective brains. I want to give thanks today on the eve of our great national holiday- I feel like a trailblazer.

Stephen Colbert, Silly Congressional Tool

Stephen Colbert testified before the House on Friday on migrant farmworkers (the video of his testimony is below). Really this was a testimony to California Democrat Zoe Lofgren's (pictured left) feelings on her work in Congress- Lofgren invited Colbert to speak after he spent one day as a migrant worker. That is just great.

Ayn Rand and Christianity: Glazing Chicken, Not Sausage-Making

Clearly not all Christian thought is in line with Randian thought- however its possible there are ideas that A.) Rand would sympathize with and B.) that Christians can sympathize without being heretics. In fact, its perfectly reasonable for Christians to appreciate free markets, dislike government intervention, and find value in individual decision making while simultaneously loving God and loving thy neighbor.

There is obvious tension between Randian and Christian thought, but there also seems to be a fair amount of overlap to this Venn diagram. Sure, Freeman can cherry pick Rand quotes and they sound bad, but agreeing with the whole body of Rand's work is unnecessary to find sympathy for Rand's ideas on markets and individual choice.

Ayn Rand and Christianity- Creating Loving and Selfish Sausage

Freeman here.


I am feeling a bit sheepish. A friend gave me a copy of Christianity Today this week and the front cover said Ayn Rand's Alternative Religion- the article was titled "Ayn Rand: Goddess of the Great Recession" written by Gary Moore, founder of The Financial Seminary. Generally, I have always liked Rand, her literature and her relatively ridiculous philosophy "objectivism" because it prized the individual and placed a high value on hard work and self-determination. I was a typical, perhaps naive, Christian that thought I could easily mix her economic opinions with my faith, and separate out ideas that were anti-thetical (or anti-Christian) to my beliefs. Undoubtedly the article points to Randian ideas that are much closer to Nietzsche, Marx or Hegel than Jesus Christ or St. Paul.

A Conversation Hardly Worth Having: On Ron Paul, Mosque Locations and Soccer Fields

A couple weeks ago, some friends and I had a collective discussion about Ron Paul's comments on the location of a Ground Zero mosque. It was interesting to me because we are normally in agreement on many political issues. I have published the email conversation below with the permission of the participants.

Short on Debate, Long on Conclusions: A Commentary on the American Bar Association

I am a new attorney and member of The Federalist Society. I like the group not necessarily because of it's politics, but because they believe in open, multi-sided and lively debate on particular issues, sometimes political but sometimes not. This allows the audience to hear more than a single opinion on an issue so that a listener is able to make an informed decision, and not just a decision. As my favorite college professor, the late Glenn Martin used to say...