Reason & Revelation

WaPo on Obama

2008-07-25T19:55:00.002-04:00

Peter Lawler took some heat earlier in the week at NLT for saying the WaPo was fair and balanced (unlike the WT) and this op-ed seems to prove him right. The WaPo is not necessarily in the tank for the Dems as the WT is for the Rs.

h/t Powerline.

TDF Stage 18--Team Columbia Dominates

2008-07-24T16:59:00.002-04:00

Of all the American teams (there are two) in this year's Tour, Columbia has been dominate. Today, they win another stage.

Tomorrow should be another day at the office. Saturday is the last day for GC shakeup.

TDF Stage 16--Sastre!!!

2008-07-23T17:41:00.004-04:00

A decent day in the mountains on Alpe d'Huez, where legends are born and gods are made. It was not memorable like the days of Lance, or Lemond, or even of Indurain, but it was a great day for Le Tour.

Sastre put time into all as he left the bunch, and Cadel Evans in particular in the dust. Nobody seemed to turn the pedals in anger--and anger is a gift.

Vandevele lost the tour today as did Menchov. Can Evans bring back Sastre? He rode a marvelous race today. Doubtful he can be pulled back, but the time trial on saturday will be tense and it is possible. It is the last chance for any GCer to make a name. Vandevelde could get top 3 if he has the ride of his life.

Young fans hold a banner reading "My dream, a clean Tour" as they wait for the riders, on July 23, 2008

Really, not all that high......

Update: The day in all its glory:

AALE & Accreditation

2008-07-23T15:23:00.002-04:00

As noted by the Knip here, the AALE has been granted 3 years of accrediting status. Congrats to this valuable accrediting agency.

Google Making us Stupid?

2008-07-23T07:32:00.000-04:00

it is possible so says The Atlantic. I am not sure about stupid, but does it contribute to student laziness? That is a better question. Key snip (not necessarily endorsed):

Sometime in 1882, Friedrich Nietzsche bought a typewriter—a Malling-Hansen Writing Ball, to be precise. His vision was failing, and keeping his eyes focused on a page had become exhausting and painful, often bringing on crushing headaches. He had been forced to curtail his writing, and he feared that he would soon have to give it up. The typewriter rescued him, at least for a time. Once he had mastered touch-typing, he was able to write with his eyes closed, using only the tips of his fingers. Words could once again flow from his mind to the page.

But the machine had a subtler effect on his work. One of Nietzsche’s friends, a composer, noticed a change in the style of his writing. His already terse prose had become even tighter, more telegraphic. “Perhaps you will through this instrument even take to a new idiom,” the friend wrote in a letter, noting that, in his own work, his “‘thoughts’ in music and language often depend on the quality of pen and paper.”

“You are right,” Nietzsche replied, “our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts.” Under the sway of the machine, writes the German media scholar Friedrich A. Kittler, Nietzsche’s prose “changed from arguments to aphorisms, from thoughts to puns, from rhetoric to telegram style.”

The human brain is almost infinitely malleable. People used to think that our mental meshwork, the dense connections formed among the 100 billion or so neurons inside our skulls, was largely fixed by the time we reached adulthood. But brain researchers have discovered that that’s not the case. James Olds, a professor of neuroscience who directs the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study at George Mason University, says that even the adult mind “is very plastic.” Nerve cells routinely break old connections and form new ones. “The brain,” according to Olds, “has the ability to reprogram itself on the fly, altering the way it functions.”

Welcome to Alp d'Huez

2008-07-22T17:47:00.002-04:00

Great Le Tour Moment

2008-07-22T17:47:00.001-04:00

TDF Stage 16--A Frenchman Wins it

2008-07-22T17:26:00.003-04:00

Today's tour landed in no man's land as it traveled above the tree AND vegetation line crossing the highest point in the race. This is not for the faint of heart. Tomorrow will be Carnage as Alp d'Huez will be crossed.

There was also a scary crash today (no photos yet) that saw the then leader of the stage go off the mountain--his bike never recovered far as I know.

There was news today that Ricco tried to escape the dope controls. If true, that about seals his guilt.

Photo array follows:

A fan on the Route

High enough for you?

Update:

East/West Sacramental Differences

2008-07-20T19:35:00.000-04:00

Mystery and Sacramentality: East and West

Posted Friday, July 11, 2008

In this encore presentation, Kevin talks with Fuller Theological Seminary professor Dr. Paraskeve (Eve) Tibbs about the essential differences between the ways the Christian East and West understand the fundamentals of the faith, worship, and sacraments. A great introduction to East-West Christian distinctives!

TDF Stage 15-Schleck

2008-07-20T19:09:00.003-04:00

The pics above explain the day. Evans lost yellow to Frank Schleck, but Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d'Epargne/Spa) crashed over a guard rail and dropped over 12 feet to the road below. He's out but OK.

Dobson May Endorse McCain

2008-07-20T18:39:00.004-04:00

Read it here. Given what I have heard about his opinion of Obama (see below) and his seeming fear of a religious move to the left via Obama, this is no surprise.

Update: If this is correct, then I am incorrect about the gains that could be made among Evans via Obama.

Update 2: He may be gaining.

The Dobson/Obama Flap

2008-07-20T12:11:00.000-04:00

We are late to comment: James Dobson made news in typical embarrassing fashion calling out Obama's faith and linking it to his political views by calling them "fruitcake." You may hear the show here.

We have long thought that the likes of Dobson and the political evangelical right an embarrassment to people of Faith who happen to also hold conservative political views. They seem full of self-importance that their political views are the only right views and hence also tie biblical faith into those views. It is an embarrassment because Dobson places politics on the level of theology and then derides all who might disagree with his political position. Dobson seems to raise politics to the level of Biblical belief, and hence salvation. If Dobson and other fundamentalists are concerned for salvation, they should know that politics is not the way to conduct it--evangelizing is the way in the true meaning of the word.

Obama's view of religion and government may be problematic, even wrong, but Dobson is not therefore correct. In fact, his analysis of Obama's speech is sloppy and disingenuous--i.e. Obama is not equating Dobson and Sharpton in any way but juxtaposing them as opposites; Obama is grasping for the middle theological way. And herein is the problem--Dobson and others fear Obama because he speaks like the theological left in a similar manner that Huckabee (their favored) spoke like a theological rightist. Perhaps they fear a political religious shift that Obama may represent?

And, contra Dobson's pious outrage, Obama does have a point when he asks: whose Christianity are we to install in this country if it is a Christian nation--Dobson should know that there are Christians who want to resurrect the OT laws; he should know that the Founders supported Christianity, but they did not limit their support to a given sect, or even a given religion.

Measuring Education

2008-07-19T06:01:00.002-04:00

I like my Pope Center friends, but this article represents a part of the problem in the demise of liberal education. People may indeed want evidence of educational progress (what is learned), but not everything in college is measurable--how does one measure the growth of the soul for example, or the love of the Good? Competition may be a beneficial thing, but competition itself without concern for ends is fruitless.

h/t The Corner

TDF Stage 13--Cavendish!

2008-07-18T20:18:00.003-04:00

Speechless. He's just so fast--the fastest man in the world right now. Others are probably thanking he'll be gone in the next stage or two for the Olympics (training).

In other news, Saunier Duval sacked Piepoli.

Today saw one of the most amazing crashes ever: a rider hit some road furniture and the bike was cut in half. Wow. The rider escaped pretty much unscathed. (see the embed video below).

Picture shows handwritings on the ground reading " Go, Drug Addicts", on July 18, 2008, during the 182 km thirteenth stage of the 2008 Tour de France cycling race run between Narbonne and Nimes.

Is the ECUSA at an End?

2008-07-18T05:54:00.000-04:00

Probably.

Evangelical Pro-Choice

2008-07-17T17:47:00.001-04:00

Read it here.

With trepidation I ask if this is not the result of the Reformation--if people are their own popes...:

Fox describes himself as an evangelical. He says that for him, keeping abortion legal is a moral issue.

"It's not the liberty of doing whatever you want, it's the liberty of coming to the decision of your own sacred conscience," said Fox. "A very big important part of that is distinguishing what religious people might think is right or wrong, and what the law is going to decide is legal or illegal."

TDF Stage 12--Another Day, Another Scandal

2008-07-17T17:24:00.002-04:00

A great day for Columbia as Cavendish takes his 3rd stage win--the only Brit ever to do this at the TDF.

Well, so it seems Ricardo Ricco is a cheat, and he and the entire team are gone--he kicked out, the team leaving on their own accord. When Ricco was being led away by the French authorities, there was audible booing and hissing.

Today's awful news was quickly forgotten with the amazing scenery and the 3rd stage win by Cavendish. I expect neither Columbia or Slipstream to be tagged as dopers because both teams have independent doping controls, and in the case of Slipstream-Chipolte, Vaughters is very against it and makes sure his riders are clean.

Today, the Little Prince--Damiano Cunego--was sporting a tattoo proclaiming he rides clean. Let us hope.

King of the mountains leader Riccardo Ricco (R) of Italy and team Saunier Duval is taken away by two French policemen (L) after testing postive for EPO at the start of stage twelve of the 2008 Tour de France from Lavelanet to Narbonne on July 17, 2008 in Lavelanet.

Today we were in wine (and olive) country!

TDF Stage 11--Norwegian Wood

2008-07-16T20:29:00.003-04:00

Yet another doper caught and this time with the banned substance in his room, did not thwart, and I would say, has not diminished the Tour this year. Everybody says the controls are working, but what is amazing is that yet another has been caught and so handily.

Today's stage was a ho-hum, but nevertheless beautiful for the scenery. The Alps loom and it will be destruction day when the riders arrive on the slopes.

More road art

Kurt-Asle Arvesen won the 11th stage of the Tour de France, which was hit by another doping bust after Moises Duenas Nevado tested positive for EPO

Tour Teams Go their Own way

2008-07-15T17:29:00.003-04:00

Read about it here. I am no fan of the UCI and McQuaid's heavy hand, and in a market that is free, why not have the players do what they want (especially as they assert responsibility for their actions. Baseball and Football wake up.

TDF--Rest Day

2008-07-15T12:08:00.003-04:00

Back from some time off finds Le Tour on a rest day. While I was away a doper was caught and the GC shook in the Pyrenees. I woke up yesterday thinking Kirchen would lose the GC, and he did.

Dopers: Jonathan Vaughters says the science is sound and that Triki was suspended correctly by Liquigas. I am still unsure about the later since he was Suspended BEFORE his "B" sample was tested--and we still do not know. IF he did dope, he has to be one of the dumbest cyclists in the sport.

More later and perhaps some discussion of the future of this blog as per a discussion with Gustav and Abigail Adams over the weekend. Ciao.

It was Bastille day yesterday and no Frenchman won the stage. Kirchen got rocked on the Hautacam.

The Beast of a Climb--the Tourmalet.

Arnhardt on Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation

2008-07-11T12:59:00.000-04:00

Makes for a great read. But Peter Lawler has some moderate effective criticisms of it.

TDF Stage 6--Italian Invasion

2008-07-10T18:12:00.002-04:00

Ricardo Ricco lays it down and has done nothing but improve in his cycling career. Future TDF GC winner?

A testing day before we hit the big mountains later. Valverde stayed with Evans. Evans has certainly come to play. A stupid move by Schumacher lost him the Yellow today--he crashed and it could have been avoided.

We are out of pocket for the next three days. I will try to have something over the weekend, but no promises.

Is Cavendish the sprinter of the future? Many think so. Move over Thor, Ale Jet, McEwen, and the rest. It's Generation Cavendish.

Intelligent Design

2008-07-10T12:29:00.004-04:00

John West has an article up at NRO on the Jindal decision and intelligent design, and LGF is none too happy about it.

I am not so sure West has written a persuasive essay. There is an argument that ID is NOT religious, but a scientific study, but West speaks a LOT about religion in the country and how they should support the ID cause. It is understandable why "atheists" despise ID, but West and the ID supporters lose the battle when they fight on the ground of "science." They ought to admit up front the ID has many similarities to Faith based understandings of God and then contend theirs is a faith compatible science. Don't hide from it, embrace it. West specifically links ID to the religious ("their ideas"). While LGF may over-react, IDers should simply say this country was founded on reason and revelation broadly speaking. Revelation deserves a place in education that does not supersede reason (and visa-versa). Now that's a battle worth having and it would be far more edifying.

TDF Stage 5--British Invasion

2008-07-09T13:07:00.006-04:00

Mark Cavendish (Columbia) scored a sprint win for the American team today. A good showing all around as the peloton caught the break about 100 yards from the finish.

Tomorrow will be a somewhat mountainous day, and the Devil is making sure they know what's to come--The Pyrenees loom.