Archive for December, 2010
Monday, December 20th, 2010
Last night, our nation took another step in the wrong direction by changing the military’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy (which was, all will admit, a very flawed policy—which I think more than almost anything points to the pragmatism of President Clinton).
Because I am a believer I know from many biblical passages (Romans 1 being perhaps the most pointed) that homosexuality is wrong. Our country and almost of all of the Christian West has affirmed this truth for thousands of years under the tutelage of the Scriptures. Today, we are going back on this long held cultural belief. As we do this, we are justifying our changes on the grounds of “justice” and “fairness” and “equality” implying, of course, that what we did in the past was unjust, unfair, and prejudiced.
Before beginning this discussion let me make a few things clear. First . . . .
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Posted in Culture, Faith, Family, Military, Politics | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 7th, 2010
Book Review: The Omnivore’s Dilemma
I just finished Michael Pollan’s fine book on what he calls “the natural history of four meals.” It is immensely interesting reading. It traces four meals from field (or cafo) to plate. The meals are radically different: one industrial meal (McDonald’s fast food eaten in a car), one “organic” meal from Whole Foods, one meal from a brilliant local farmer in Virginia, and one meal consisting of what the author hunted or foraged for himself. The book is a mix of Upton Sinclair and Wendell Berry. If you have not read it, you should.
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Tags: farming, hunting
Posted in Food | 2 Comments »
Friday, December 3rd, 2010
Right at the moment my reading is taking a hard turn into the work of Wendell Berry—this time inadvertently. I am reading the Omnivores Dilemma. A popular book tracing the history of four meals and arguing for a more local (and human) food economy. It is an interesting book. More on this next week when I finish. (more…)
Tags: Wendell Berry
Posted in Nature, Stewardship | No Comments »
Friday, December 3rd, 2010
Here is a interesting video from the recent EAG Conference on education. It is a video of Governor Christie from New Jersey. I think that a sea change is occurring in the public view of the public schools or at least of the teacher’s union. Here is the video:
The State of Education by Gov. Chris Christie
Listening to this, however, he is not against public education or against teachers—he is against bad teachers and against structures (like the teachers’ unions) that protect bad teachers. I think all of us—even good teachers in the public schools—should be against bad teachers who are coasting.
We, as a nation, really need to push more and more education into a market (rather than a tax) context. Let’s hope that American (private, Christian, and public school folks) get behind ideas like this.
Posted in Economy, Education, Politics | No Comments »
Thursday, December 2nd, 2010
I was reading the paper this morning, waiting for others to wake up so that we can head out to the mountains for break. I never read the small local editorials in the paper—expect today. The line “Male player spoils rise of Donegal’s girls team” caught my eye. It seems that the Donegal girls field hockey team was beaten by Wyoming Seminary in a tight game. Wyoming Seminary was led by (actually most of the heavy lifting was done by one player)—a male, exchange student from Germany who is part of Germany’s national male field hockey team. (more…)
Tags: sports
Posted in Culture, Local News | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 1st, 2010
I am so thankful for Gordon Denlinger, State Representative from the 99th district and Veritas Academy Board Advisor. He is returning his automatic cost of living increase in pay this year. I am in favor of a state legislature that meets about 60 days a year and has very part time pay (and cannot do as much pernicious stuff). I know that we have a full time legislature and it can work, but it takes men of a high level of integrity like Gordon to make things work. Here is a link to his official message:
Representative Denlinger’s message
Please pray for Representative Denlinger and our new governor as they seek to stem the tide of government spending.
Tags: Local News
Posted in Democracy, Local News, Politics | No Comments »
