Wednesday, April 23, 2003Go Ahead and Bark! It's Free SpeechOhio resident Jeremy Gilchrist has been cleared of accusations that he was taunting a police dog by barking back at it. His attorney (Patrick McGee) wrote, "The mere fact that the police dog had commenced the barking did not entitle it to a solo performance." According to one police officer, the... Sign in to see full entry."Who Decides What Is Sin?"The law of what is right and what is wrong is written on the hearts of all people and are illustrated in all nature. I believe in a Creator, so I believe that He wrote that law there when He created us. Those who believe differently may postulate their own theories about who put the law there, but... Sign in to see full entry.Tuesday, April 22, 2003When Is a Spade a Spade, and When Is It a Digging Implement?I have been following the great homosexual debate sparked by Uncle Tom, and one of the recent comments got me thinking. Someone said that calling something a sin involved making a judgement. I think we need a distinction between two concepts which may, at first, seem the same, but which are, in... Sign in to see full entry.Monday, April 21, 2003Where Should Tolerance End? First, Let's Accurately Define Tolerance.Tolerance is a much-used, much-abused word these days. Tolerance does not mean letting other people mistreat you. Tolerance does not mean condoning or accepting antisocial or abusive behaviour. Tolerance does not mean allowing wrong behaviour to go unpunished. Tolerance, true tolerance, is... Sign in to see full entry.Sunday, April 20, 2003Sesame Street Causes Brain DamageSesame Street has ruined my life. It's wrecked my brain. People who know me think I'm insane. Strangers run screaming in the opposite direction. And it's all Sesame Street 's fault. You see, like so many children's television shows, Sesame Street has these catchy little songs, some nonsensical, some... Sign in to see full entry.Self-Esteem: Helpful or Hooey?I find myself highly conflicted on the self-esteem issue. On the one hand, we have educators (including the one who made me wet myself in seventh grade) telling us that kids will do better in life if they have better self-esteem, and on the other, we have multiple recent studies showing that kids... Sign in to see full entry.Saturday, April 19, 2003A Few More Thoughts About SuicideI wrote a week or so ago about my friend who killed herself. Having just read " Suicide Isn't Painless " I feel compelled to tell the details of my friend's suicide. Warning: This is not a pretty story. To protect the privacy of all involved, I will call my friend Kay. Kay planned it out carefully... Sign in to see full entry.Motivation Lacking? Try This...Having found myself the past few days in a doldrums-type existence (See my Great Books blog for info on the doldrums.), I decided that I had to try something to get myself moving. So I appropriated a technique that I often use with my kids, adapted it for self-use, and found myself still up and... Sign in to see full entry.Friday, April 18, 2003Note to the Church: Easter Calendar Missing a DayI've wondered since I was a child about a certain aspect of the Christian Easter celebration. It seems to me that we've got the time schedule completely off. This year is a good year to address the problem, as the lunar calendar appears to be just about where it was in the fateful year of Christ's... Sign in to see full entry.What a Week!Man, am I glad this week is over! I thought it was going to be a spiffy week, what with me getting Thursday and Friday off. Little did I know! Monday night, after a week of severe allergic reactions, my youngest got sick. Mind-bogglingly sick. The child puked from his ever-loving toenails. For two... Sign in to see full entry. |