Rick Perry may have been counting on the fact that most Americans would not be able to distinguish the apostles from any other conservative evangelicals.… Read the rest
Meet The New Apostolic Reformation
Aug 25th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThis stuff is even crazier than the other crazy stuff – and these are the people who organized Rick Perry’s prayer rally.… Read the rest
Why wives are to submit to their husbands
Aug 24th, 2011 5:41 pm | By Ophelia BensonHere’s another one, this time by a man, the pastor of a Reformed Baptist church in Aberystwyth, laying down the law for women.
So the sentiment of our text, that a wife is to submit to her husband, is found
throughout the Spirit-breathed New Testament. It is not a curious message found in just one place – like the phrase in the letter to the Corinthians of being baptized for the dead, whatever the correct meaning of that may be. So rejection of this word by those who claim to reverence the Lord Christ, is plain disobedience.
Except that it wasn’t the Lord Christ who is supposed to have said any of it, it was Paul; why does reverence … Read the rest
The cold war under the bed
Aug 24th, 2011 5:12 pm | By Ophelia BensonOh, Guardian, honestly. Really?
Conservative thinktanks are in a bit of a bind when it comes to responding to the rise of Islamophobia. On the one hand they want to condemn the BNP and the English Defence League for their racism and violence, but on the other they want to downplay the extent and existence of anti-Muslim racism because it might deflect attention from “Islamism” – the catch-all term for politically active Muslims, which they see as the main problem facing the UK.
“Islamism” is not the (or a) catch-all term for politically active Muslims; that is completely ridiculous. It’s a term for political Islam, which is a different thing.
… Read the restThe difficulty with their position is that they end
Fake rave reviews for sale
Aug 24th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAs online retailers increasingly depend on reviews as a sales tool, an industry of fibbers and promoters has sprung up to buy and sell raves for a pittance.… Read the rest
Icebergs
Aug 24th, 2011 3:39 pm | By Ophelia BensonI’ve been thinking about the Robber’s Cave experiment often lately. I hadn’t heard of the illusion of asymmetric insight though. It’s pretty dang interesting. We think other people are mostly on the surface and easy to understand, while we think we ourselves are mostly hidden and difficult to understand. Really – well that’s conceited. I’ll have to learn to stop thinking that right away.
… Read the restThe same researchers asked people to describe a time when they feel most like themselves. Most subjects, 78 percent, described something internal and unobservable like the feeling of seeing their child excel or the rush of applause after playing for an audience. When asked to describe when they believed friends or relatives were most illustrative of
Education is the key to Afghanistan’s future
Aug 24th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonInvesting in Afghanistan’s teachers could have been one of the cheapest, quickest ways to reinvigorate the country’s human capital.… Read the rest
Can he trust that you will take care of your duties?
Aug 24th, 2011 1:10 pm | By Ophelia BensonI’m reading Kathryn Joyce’s book Quiverfull, and finding interesting things in the process. Like A Virtuous Woman (for her price, as you no doubt recall, is far above rubies – no not Ruby’s, stop that at once, 40 lashes).
A Virtuous Woman tells women how to be virtuous.
… Read the restCan your husband know that if he needs to bring a co-worker home that the house will be reasonably neat? We will be looking at this in depth in a few days, but for now simply think about it. If your husband goes to work each day, can he trust that you will take care of your duties to the best of your ability?
If your husband asks you to
Jeffrey Toobin on the Thomases v Obama
Aug 24th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAs the Justice has assumed an influential role on the Roberts Court, his wife has helped lead the public war against the Administration.… Read the rest
The illusion of asymmetric insight
Aug 24th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonYou believe you see more of other people’s icebergs than they see of yours; meanwhile, they think the same thing about you.… Read the rest
Paying attention to what isn’t there
Aug 24th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIf it should be there and isn’t, that could be significant.… Read the rest
Push-back from people who disagree
Aug 23rd, 2011 5:02 pm | By Ophelia BensonThis is a bad thing that happened, a very bad thing – an employee of a state department of public health was forced to close down his very useful, admired, educational blog because a guy who disagreed with him complained to his employers, and they said close it down or be fired.
… Read the restSocial media in health care are here to stay, and as Mr. Najera’s work has shown, can advance the lay person’s understanding of public health and epidemiology. But being a strong public advocate can invite push-back from people who disagree — say, over the value, safety, and efficacy of vaccines. Not all of those who disagree are civil or even rational. Some of those who disagree elect to
The Vatican’s banking arm
Aug 23rd, 2011 1:20 pm | By Ophelia BensonAn Irish bank loaned huge sums to Catholic dioceses in the US with the result that the dioceses in question were able to stay out of court.
Of the deals, by far the largest line of credit was for Los Angeles, for $256m. The diocese avoided going into court with abuse victims by reaching a settlement in advance.
It emerged afterwards that AIB loans and guarantees accounted for almost half of total settlement.
The deal included $175m in cash and another $25m to pay the interest, and helped Los Angeles avoid selling the bulk of its properties or reveal the true value of its total assets.
Which was very kind of the bank…which is odd, given that banks aren’t usually … Read the rest
Dawkins to Perry: evolution is a fact
Aug 23rd, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonEvolution is not some recondite backwater of science, ignorance of which would be pardonable.… Read the rest
UK: company threatens critics with libel action
Aug 23rd, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBecause Atos Healthcare are out-sourced work by the public sector they are allowed to sue for defamation.… Read the rest
Vatican used Irish bank loans to pay US victims
Aug 23rd, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAllied Irish Bank guaranteed hundreds of millions, which allowed the Archdiocese of LA to avoid court and opening documents to scrutiny.… Read the rest
Al Jazeera: fighting rages at Gaddafi compound
Aug 23rd, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonRebels have entered the fortified compound in Bab al-Azizya in Tripoli, amid intensified fighting with forces loyal to Gaddafi.… Read the rest
Guardian liveblogging on Libya
Aug 23rd, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonRebels have taken Gaddafi’s compound.… Read the rest
The Christian Alamo
Aug 22nd, 2011 11:39 am | By Ophelia BensonMissouri is recapitulating recent history in Ireland. It has these “faith-based” institutions – or prisons, to be blunt – for teenage girls, which go in for ferocious discipline coupled with secrecy, and Missouri…looks intently in the other direction.
… Read the restAuthorities in the state are barred from inspecting the homes or even keeping track of them. (New Beginnings has operated under multiple names in Florida, Mississippi, and Texas.) “It’s hard to understand it, but faith-based is just taboo for regulation,” says Matthew Franck, an editor at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, who authored an investigative series on the state’s homes in the mid-2000s. “It took decades of work to get just the most minimal standards of regulation at faith-based child-care centers,”
Who’s “we,” bub?
Aug 22nd, 2011 10:50 am | By Ophelia BensonSmall bizarre item. I was innocently half-watching a dopy tv show about lawyers last night and was suddenly jolted to notice that on the wall behind the judge hearing that episode’s case there were large metal letters prominently spelling out “In God We Trust.” What?! In a courtroom? In Chicago? Is this supposed to reflect reality? Do courts actually do this?
So I Googled and found out about In God We Trust America, whose mission (you won’t be surprised to learn) is to force that ridiculous, childish, like hell I do motto on everyone everywhere by nagging public officials into sticking it in prominent places, like on walls behind judges.
85 “yes vote” cities in California. 75 in Arkansas. … Read the rest