The Power of Prayer

 Posted by Mike  Issues, Religion, The Media  1 Response »
Mar 312006
 

Here are a smattering of headlines about a study which purports to measure the effect of intercessory prayer by strangers on the recovery of patients from heart surgery:

Long-Awaited Medical Study Questions the Power of Prayer, New York Times

Prayer Doesn’t Aid Recovery, Study Finds, Washington Post

Study shrugs off prayer’s power to heal, USA Today

Study: Prayer Has No Effect on Heart Surgery Recovery, FOX News

And my favorite:
Secret to a speedy recovery: no prayers, please, Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald
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Politics, Steroids, and Major League Baseball

 Posted by Mike  Baseball, Sports, U.S. Politics  No Responses »
Mar 302006
 

Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig today announced that he will open an investigation on the alleged steroid use by several prominent major leaguers, most notably Barry Bonds. In case you don’t follow baseball, Bonds is on the cusp of passing Babe Ruth on the list of most all-time Home Runs, and has a good shot at passing Hank Aaron if he can remain healthy. Unfortunately for Bonds (but in a move of spectacular timing by the authors and publishers) a couple reporters just published a new book that details Bonds’ alleged steroid usage. That has created yet another uproar about steroids and baseball, which has once again prompted Congress to threaten penalties. After all, it isn’t like Congress has anything else to deal with at the moment. So in order to calm the public furor (aren’t you in a furor?), and to appease the Congressional watchdogs (I sure wish they would keep as close an eye on the Bush Administration as they do on baseball), Bud Selig has formed a committee to investigate the matter, and announced that it will be chaired by former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell.
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The Democrats Take on National Security

 Posted by Mike  Foreign Policy, Middle East, Terrorism, U.S. Politics, War in Iraq  No Responses »
Mar 302006
 

I would encourage all of you to check out the Democratic Party’s new National Security Agenda, which they announced yesterday. I have very mixed feelings about the contents of the plan. It seems like a smart tactical move, to take some of the teeth out of critiques that the Democrats don’t provide enough of an actual alternative to Republicans. And I like a couple of the proposals, especially the bits about providing better port security (by actually inspecting containers), improving first-responder training, and working for better health care for veterans. However, I was disappointed at the lack of detail for many of the proposals, and by the failure to take a stronger stand on working with our allies, and especially within international organizations, to achieve our foreign policy goals. Furthermore, I fear that a couple of the points, notably the vague statement that they will “eliminate Osama Bin Laden, destroy terrorist networks like al Qaeda, finish the job in Afghanistan, and end the threat posed by the Taliban”, were so laughably trite that they open the entire proposal up to mockery.

In any case, whether you are a Republican, a Democrat, or an independent, it is worth checking out.

Laptops

 Posted by Doc Opp  Education, Judicial System  2 Responses »
Mar 292006
 

A professor at University of Memphis has recently banned laptops from her classroom. This action provoked outrage from the students, who are, among other things, planning on sending a petition the American Bar Association and threatening to transfer schools if this policy is not changed. This brings several points to mind.

1) How quickly the world has changed. When I was an undergrad, less than 10 years ago, nobody had laptops in the class for taking notes. As a grad student less than 5 years ago, only 5-10% used laptops. Now it’s so standard that preventing it leads to outrage. I wonder what 5 years down the line holds for higher ed…

2) What a sense of entitlement these students have. What next, the students writing to the Bar Association because they don’t like the topic of a paper they have to write? Or they think they have too much reading? The professor has set a policy with sound pedigogical underpinnings, but rather than try and learn from the experience, they take it as an attack. And these are the next generation of lawyers — no wonder we have such a litigious society.
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On Immigration Reform

 Posted by Mike  Foreign Policy, Latin America, Racism, U.S. Politics  7 Responses »
Mar 282006
 

Five years ago, as President Bush was just getting comfortable in the White House, he made two proposals which I actually applauded. One was streamlining the military, to take into account new communication technologies, new weapon systems, and the changing nature of American conflicts and peacekeeping obligations. While I still think that such changes are useful and necessary, they actually seemed to have backfired a little bit when the President decided that it was a good idea to militarily occupy a nation of 26 million people. Furthermore, the President’s military reorganization has gotten lost in his rush to war, and it will likely be left up to future presidents to decide how to finish the job.

The other was immigration reform. The president promised to look hard into immigration reform, and to make a proposal that would both acknowledge our reliance on cheap immigrant labor and give those immigrants a path to legitimacy. In the past, I have criticized the president for backing off of that campaign promise in the face of opposition from “America First” xenophobes. To his credit, however, the President found his political backbone and has really brought this issue to the forefront. Way to go, Mr. President.
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