I take (borrow) the following from this interesting web site that I only today encountered: “Spiritual Insights Quotations and the Faith vs Reason Debate”. The Evidence as to Man’s Place in Nature by Thomas Henry Huxley, published in 1863, was the first book explicitly devoted to the topic of human evolution, and discussed much of [...]
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ category
The Evidence as to Man’s Place in Nature by Thomas Henry Huxley
February 17, 2010The Minaret Ban, “disgraceful” or highly appropriate?
December 1, 2009“Uninformed,” that’s the only way to describe the NYTimes editorial opinion regarding the successful Swiss initiative to ban the construction of minarets. The Times editorial writer condemns the Swiss vote, calling it “bigoted and meanspirited.” In order to hold his opinion the Times writer has to be totally ignorant of the thinking of the Swiss [...]
The sort of thing that George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld didn’t comprehend
August 7, 2009(For if they did they would never have sent our young men to war with these people.) “Hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims left Karbala on Friday after celebrating the birth of Imam Mahdi, the Shiite saint who is believed to have gone into a state of hiding in the year 873 at the age [...]
Kids are human capital
May 23, 2009The problem is usually not a lack of knowledge. There is enough knowledge out there to solve most of our problems. The problem is getting the people in power to drink of the knowledge that is available. A case in point is our system of public school education. Claudia Goldin, in a June 2001 article. [...]
Victor Hugo, le 21 août 1849
May 21, 2009Le 21 août 1849, un congrès de la paix se réunit a Paris. Vicor Hugo en était le président et il y fit un discours où le grand poète se montre aussi un grand prophète. En voici la partie la plus célèbre: Un jour viendra où les armes vous tomberont des mains, à vous aussi [...]
The United States and Russia, is it over between them?
May 21, 2009[from everything2.com] Alexis de Tocqueville only spent one year in the United States before he wrote “Democracy in America” (1835), which is still one of the best books about that country. The last page of the first volume describes the future evolution of the Russians and the Americans. The English translation is mine, so don’t [...]
Freedom and Equality
December 24, 2008In a column, from May of 2007, George Will makes the not unreasonable observation that conservatives and liberals are on opposite sides of the tension that exists between freedom and equality, in particular equality of opportunity. The implication being that by promoting freedom, and freedoms, equalities of opportunities will inevitably be diminished. For when people [...]
Jason Riley’s Let them In: The Case for Open Borders
September 5, 2008This book expounds on two general themes. The first is that, contrary to received wisdom, today's Latino immigrants aren't "different," just newer. the second is that an open immigration policy is compatible with free-market conservatism and homeland security. I explain, from a conservative perspective, why the pessimists who say otherwise are mistaken. I argue that [...]
Intellect vs. Intelligence
September 4, 2008Intellect vs. Intelligence
September 4, 2008Although the difference between the qualities of intelligence and intellect is more often assumed than defined, the context of popular usage makes it possible to exact the nub of the distinction, which seems to be almost universally understood: Intelligence is an excellence of mind that is employed within a fairly narrow, immediate, and predictable range; [...]
