Brutally Honest

"Who really was John Galt, anyway?"

By Leslie

This is the question asked by Rev Robert Sirico of the Acton Institute, a faith-based economic think-tank. When he first read Atlas Shrugged in 1970, he found in it something that resonated.  And now,

I disagree profoundly with Rand; her attenuated definition of faith as unreason and her notion of sacrifice as wholly lacking dignity are unrecognizable to a Christian. Even her economics are better spelled out in Mises or Hayek. Her esthetic philosophy is paper thin and idiosyncratic; her malevolence toward children and the vulnerable is exceedingly distasteful.

For these and many more reasons, people who reverence Western Civilization must reject Rand. And yet, there is something in Rand that remains intriguing, and following years of pondering the question and speaking with others, I think I detect what people might see in her. (Patheos)

The human tendency is to swing from each end of the pendulum.  In reading Atlas Shrugged I was struck by its precise relation to the circumstances of today.  Some of the meeting scenes are stunning replicas of today's bureaucratic processes and it is not difficult to see the resulting apathy lived out on our streets day by day. Ayn Rand, or Alissa Zinovievna Rosenbaum as she was first known, painted a bleak picture of a society that chooses to operate without...what?

Not what - who.  Who really was John Galt, anyway?

Same-sex parenting rights vs. child rights

By Leslie

Does a child have a right to one mother and one father?  The redefinition of marriage debate is making its way through Australia and Prime Minister Julie Gillard has taken steps to block the movement.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has defended her Government’s policy of refusing gay and lesbian Australians the Certificates of No Impediment (CNIs) to wed, which they need to marry overseas.

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie complained in Parliament this afternoon that “the Government refuses to issue CNIs to same-sex couples seeking to marry in countries allowing same-sex marriage despite the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee recommending in 2009 that the Government should do so — in the understanding that Australians overseas should comply with the laws of the country they are visiting.”

“Prime Minister, the ban on issuing CNIs to same-sex couples looks petty and mean-spirited. Will you lift it?”  (AU Star Online)

A National Times article here scathingly examines Gillard's motivations for blocking the CNIs.  Funnily enough, the Times lists her as a childless atheist in a de facto relationship so she doesn't fit the mold of a dreaded evangelical.

Regardless of her motivations, MercatorNet raises an interesting issue:

A key argument for keeping marriage that way is that it protects children, since social science shows that children do best when raised by a married mother and father. However, the campaign for same-sex marriage has always displayed scant regard for children’s rights. (MN)

What is the state's obligation to its children?  If it knows of a law that will prevent a child from having the experience of one mother and one father, should it shift gears?  The same question could be asked of the rulings which allowed for no-fault divorces in various countries around the world.

Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, with one mother and one father.

Is it a right? 

LA Times releases pictures of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords

By Leslie

Immediately after the shooting, the fate of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords seemed impossibly bleak.

And now,

(LA Times (AP) June 12, 2011)

What a miracle.  A long road ahead for Ms. Giffords, I'm sure. May God continue to fill her and her family with the energy and perseverance to meet the challenges set before her as she continues her recovery.

When the cat's away...

By Leslie

Rick gave me my start in blogging years ago, way back when in my country, Canada, was a teeming progressive wonderland. I was envious of the American right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Still am. And yet now, six years later, Canadians have elected a conservative majority government, and times, they are a changing, eh?

Dramatically...

This very same year Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been elected to a Conservative majority, the Vancouver Canucks are poised to take the Stanley Cup from the Boston Bruins. Coincidence?  You be the judge.

So as a kick-off to the new tougher face of Canada, and my small portion of this guest blogging stint, I offer you this tribute, "The Last Pirate of Saskatchewan", with real video footage of real pirates from Canada's once most socialist provinces, Saskatchewan.  Which now happens to be drilling oil like there's no tomorrow! Drill baby, drill! Nobody embodies hope for change like a Canadian pirate in a land-locked province. And with that you never know, Lord Stanley's Cup just may be ours on Monday.

 

 

Cheers, Rick!

We'll look forward to hearing from you when you get back to the blog.

Let's talk about sex baby

Or more specifically, let's talk to our babies about sex:

The height of irony can be found in a Montana Health Curriculum draft (pdf).  Gay love and intercourse and not in the barnyard either!

A proposed sex education program that teaches fifth-graders the different ways people have intercourse and first-graders about gay love has infuriated parents and forced the school board to take a closer look at the issue.

[...]

Supporters say the proposed health education curriculum contains honest, science-based information on wellness and allows students to make better decisions. At Tuesday's meeting they urged the board to accept the policy. (FOX)

Please bear with me as I try to get to the irony of it all.

Grade 5; Human Sexuality; pg 45: Understand that sexual intercourse includes but is not limited to vaginal, oral, or anal penetration

In grade 6 and following, fingers, tongue and "objects" are introduced. Nice.

That's Leslie at her new place, a blog devoted to "unleashing the mysteries of public education".

Hit the link and finish with her as she gets to "the irony of it all" and consider adding her to your list of places to regularly visit for pertinent and relevant info.

Crossposted at Wizbang.

Peer review: Nothing new under the hot and hotter sun.

Posted by guest blogger, Leslie.

Post-modernity has long since been in a hurry to smite religion as an antiquated obstacle to the enlightenment the current efforts Science has to offer.  Let us ne'er forget Galileo and the ordeal he went through when he rattled the foundations of the old boy's holy club by trying to reveal his unsettling findings on the revolutions of Mother Earth and Sun. 

Frank Furedi, a self-proclaimed humanist, examines the scientific peer-review process in light of the recent IPCC climate gate scandals:

The usual problems associated with peer review, as outlined above, have been exacerbated through the transformation of peer review into a form of authorisation. Increasingly, peer review is cited as kind of unquestioned and unquestionable authority for settling what are in fact political disputes. Consequently, the findings of peer review are looked upon, not simply as statements about the quality of research or of a scientific finding, but as the foundation for far-reaching policies that affect everything from the global economy to our individual lifestyles.

Increasingly, peer review has been turned into a quasi-holy institution, which apparently signifies that a certain claim is legitimate or sacred. And from this perspective, voices which lack the authority of peer review are, by definition, illegitimate. Peer review provides a warrant to be heard – those who speak without this warrant deserve only our scorn.

You can almost visualise peer-review dogmatists waving their warrant and demanding that their opponents be silenced. For someone like George Monbiot, the British climate-change alarmist, peer review is the equivalent of a holy scripture. Boasting of his encounter with an opponent, who challenged him to a debate on speed cameras, Monbiot wrote: ‘I accepted and floored him with a simple question.’ Predictably, the question was: ‘Has he published his analysis in a peer-reviewed journal?’

In a world where opponents can be ‘floored’ simply because they lack the authority provided by the ritual of peer review, it is not surprising that there is considerable incentive to manipulate the system of peer review, to bend it to one’s own will and needs. Andrew Dessler, a climate-change researcher, also sought to floor an opponent, who apparently wrote a ‘denier op-ed’ in the Wall Street Journal, by dismissing its value on the grounds that that newspaper is not peer reviewed. Dessler argued that, since ‘the only place’ where this ‘denier’ can present his views is in ‘non-peer-reviewed venues like conferences and press releases’, he is worthy only of censorious contempt. (spiked online)

A group of peers reviewed Galileo and branded him heretic.

If Stephen Hawking stands by this quote then he is righter than he knew, "Galileo, perhaps more than any other single person, was responsible for the birth of modern science."

Bush did 2012!

Posted by guest blogger, Leslie.

Does the O in Obama stands for one-term president?

"If that happens, Obama will have only himself to blame."

I don't know, he'll probably find a way to point a finger somewhere else.  Mayan calendar maybe.

HT:  Instapundit

Really?

A brief thought: The People of God are called to be an alternative community for the world. You can't be an alternative to something unless you are very clear abut what you are not, or what you resist. This makes a theology of resistance important (and protest OK).

Posted by guest blogger, Leslie.

Besting your medal...

Posted by guest blogger, Leslie, a Canadian of Norwegian descent.

Being a fair-minded, liberty-loving individual, I believe it is important when one finds a scrap of good in the New York Times, to glom onto it, as one gloms onto blue moons and other rarities.

So pleased was I to find a delightful op-ed by David Brooks, comparing the USA with its Olympic gold medal match nation, Norway.  Both Norway and USA won 9 gold medals in the recent 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  He begins:

The United States, a nation of 300 million, won nine gold medals this year in the Winter Olympics. Norway, a nation of 4.7 million, also won nine. This was no anomaly. Over the years, Norwegians have won more gold medals in Winter Games, and more Winter Olympics medals over all, than people from any other nation.

So what is so delightful about this?  It is not in so much as what Brooks says, as what he doesn't say.  Please, do me a favour and click that last link.  I digress.

Brooks continues by outlining a story from Norway's past.  The kind of story you hear the history books tell of Norway every now and then.  WWII occupation.  Small independant group tries inflitrating the Nazis to liberate the country. Horrific winter conditions.  Skiis. Avalanches. Raging gangrene. Persistence. Friendly neighbours with a hot cup of coffee just in time to prevent frostbite from taking mittened fingers.  I mean, it got pretty bad for the story's hero, Jan Baalsrud, while he was evading the Nazis:

He wandered aimlessly for four days, plagued by hallucinations. At one point he thought he had found a trail, but he was only following his own footsteps in a small circle.

Finally, he stumbled upon a cottage. A man named Marius Gronvold took him in. He treated Baalsrud’s frostbite and hid him in a remote shed across a lake to recover.

He was alone for a week (a storm made it impossible for anyone to reach him). Gangrene invaded his legs. He stabbed them to drain the pus and blood. His eyesight recovered, but the pain was excruciating and he was starving.

Those Norwegian stories are always so hard and so good at the same time.  The Viking gene lives on in these quiet people, only the lingering menace drives them to the medal podium rather than stealing the gold they find on the high seas.

And so Brooks ends on this note:

This astonishing story could only take place in a country where people are skilled on skis and in winter conditions. But there also is an interesting form of social capital on display. It’s a mixture of softness and hardness. Baalsrud was kept alive thanks to a serial outpouring of love and nurturing. At the same time, he and his rescuers displayed an unbelievable level of hardheaded toughness and resilience. That’s a cultural cocktail bound to produce achievement in many spheres.

Hardheaded toughness and resilience as a means of liberation.  Ironic attributes to be admired in the NYT, perhaps. Although I suppose it depends on how you define liberation.  I may live in Canada, but we get Glenn Beck up here and politically, it appears America has a few ferocious winter snow storms to ski through in order to liberate herself from an ideological occupation that seems to have crept up on it over the years.  

But it's do-able.  Just have to be willing to accept the gangrene for what it is and have the mettle to drain it without anesthetic.

A peek inside Planned Parenthood

Posted by guest blogger, Leslie.

If you haven't been following Live Action's undercover work in Planned Parenthood clinics across the United States, you have been missing out on some thought provoking sights.

Compare this latest clip comes from Wisconsin:

Related: Live-tweeting abortion.