Thursday morning links

trying to figure out which story the photograph is meant to illustrate. It's a funny picture, with the little kid refreshingly amused by the nude statue

#1 peter on 2014-01-30 07:44 (Reply)

Glad the trees figured out how to make the necessary changes. Thanks, Nature, since God was obviously too dumb to figure all this out in the first place.

And thanks, Science, for being so much smarter than God and explaining all this.

#2 steve boggs on 2014-01-30 07:49 (Reply)

I subscribe to the libertarian God theory. God is omniscient, but he didn't want to live in a boring world where he controlled everything. So he created, well, everything. But he threw in adaptability and freewill. God, knows that top down, centralized, socialist planning is a recipe for disaster. Plus, he'd get bored after a while if everything solely his decision. So all things adapt, well, those that survived. Sometimes against their will. God, watches and will offer a bit of quite advice in hopes we'll heed it. Even though he may know better, God doesn't make us act as he desires, he just makes sure we know the choices he recommends, if we will listen.

#2.1 JKB on 2014-01-30 08:39 (Reply)

Just out of curiosity, what are the grounds, source, authority for your theory? As one who finds the Bible to be reliable in all its teaching, and easy to accept as God's self-revelation, I'm always surprised by those who begin, "My theory about God is..." Seems like a subject a bit beyond our ability to draw conclusions upon which to base (gamble) our lives.

#2.1.1 steve boggs on 2014-01-30 09:11 (Reply)

I see the humor in the post, but otherwise it is orthodox christian to me. God creates the world but lets His creatures have free will to conform to His will or not. He lets us decide, but shows us the consequences of deciding wrongly and rewards of doing the right thing.

#2.1.1.1 wirraway on 2014-01-30 14:16 (Reply)

Really, not trying to beat a dead horse here, and quite sure I'd enjoy a conversation about this over, for my part, Jamison's on-the-rocks, but pray tell, good JKB and wirraway, what divinely endowed human free will has to do with the capillaries of trees?!?

My amusement is centered on the lengths Darwinists (and by that I mean humorless anti-mysterians) go to, to avoid the very thought that the Creator might have, not only had the intellect to create ex nihilo, but to create such that some trees had the infrastructure to thrive in inhospitable climes.

Can we not agree that Darwinism is a religious faith, above all else?

#2.1.1.1.1 steve boggs on 2014-01-30 20:20 (Reply)

Jeff Kemp- blaming boys and men, even as they do what they're told.

Of course Dennis Rainey has made a career out of stirring up discontent among women, so they nag their husbands to be "more". More honorable. More committed. More attentive.

Never mind the empirical evidence that indicates this is largely false. Never mind the logical gymnastics and utter contradictions that Rainey (and others) perform to keep peddling their snake oil. Just be weak and you're strong. Just acquiesce and you're leading.

Then when it all goes wrong, it's your fault because you weren't doing enough.

#3 DrTorch on 2014-01-30 08:30 (Reply)

I am no lover of unions, however, I do think that college football players get used up by college football programs who make a LOT of money off of them and don't have to pay them more than a 'scholarship,' which sometimes ends up being nothing more than a holding pen for below-average guys who would never be able to make it in the classroom on their own.

So, I have no problems with these people unionizing to make a change.

1) I agree with them that once a school makes a commitment to a football player to provide him with a scholarship, that scholarship should not be pulled just because he got an injury playing his sport for the school (I think this should be true for all athletes...the college should take on some of the risk when handing out athletic scholarships)

2) I think that a college should establish a 'fund' of sorts for each player. A certain percentage of the money made off of the sport should be put in an account that sits there until the kid graduates. If he doesn't graduate, he doesn't get the $$. There are plenty of college football stars who ruin their bodies for 4 years hoping for an NFL deal...then an injury occurs or they just don't have what it takes to go to the NFL for whatever reason. I think it only fair that they are given some compensation for the time they played and made money for the school.

I know that many consider the scholarship a form of payment...but, come on, we all know many of these football athletes scrape by through college and don't come out with an engineering degree. Plus, I would bet that the football program at some of these top tier football colleges cover those scholarships quite easily with the amount of money the sport brings to the school. I think the players deserve to be compensated at the end of their 4 years with a certain percentage of the money made.

#4 MissT on 2014-01-30 10:53 (Reply)

I don't claim to know all the particulars but it seems to me that students who get an athletic scholarship aren't getting ripped off by the university because they don't get a good deal, they get ripped off because they don't get an education (see previous thread about UNC student athletes who can't read). I doubt any union would complain about the lack of scholarship (in their scholarship). They would more likely try to get them in on commercial contracts and maybe a cut of the coach's outrageous salary, but education? I doubt it!

#4.1 mudbug on 2014-01-30 22:04 (Reply)

I'm guessing it's "Obama Has No Clothes".

#5 Sam L. on 2014-01-30 11:33 (Reply)

Sorry; that was my reply to peter (#1).

#5.1 Sam L. on 2014-01-30 11:35 (Reply)

Well, he does have no legs to stand on, just like most of his arguments in support of his policies... so you could be right!

#5.2 peter on 2014-01-30 18:35 (Reply)

And here I thought sugaring your way through college meant hiring yourself out as labor to one of the local maple sugar makers....guess they don't need fire stokers like they used to.

#6 Kellym on 2014-01-30 11:47 (Reply)

re: California prof's required reading paints Usama bin Laden as a freedom fighter

good story. the kid was challenged in a poli sci class, got up on his hind legs, complained to the prof and Fox News, the prof responded to Fox, the kid was graded fairly.

if your values aren't challenged in a poli sci class, the kollege isn't doing its job. we conservatives don't want programmed drones coming out of school.

#7 wirraway on 2014-01-30 13:21 (Reply)

And here I thought college was about learning. There is a difference between "challenging values", which in many cases is just an excuse for indoctrination by insular academics, and critical thinking which examines premises, analyses possible outcomes, and is informed by history and experience.

#7.1 chuck on 2014-01-31 15:26 (Reply)

Well then wasn't Hitler, Stalin and hirohito "freedom fighters"?
How about the Boston bombers? The 9/11 hijackers? Maybe even Ted Bundy?

#8 GoneWithTheWind on 2014-01-30 16:28 (Reply)

Add Comment

Name
Email	(Your e-mail will not show in your comment)
Homepage
In reply to
Comment	By commenting on this site you agree to the site rules listed here. Email addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for email notifications. Quick reference guide: [i] italics [/i], [b] bold [/b], [u] underline [/u], [url] (web address) [/url]. More tips here. Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (word), underscore are made via _word_. E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications. To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly. Enter the string from the spam-prevention image above: BBCode format allowed
	Remember Information? Subscribe to this entry

Maggie's Farm

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Categories

Quicksearch

Links

Blog Administration

RSS Readers

Thursday, January 30. 2014

Thursday morning links