Hans Bader points out that diversity training, adopted by many employers for ideological reasons or for protection against lawsuits, actually encourages legal action and creates serious vulnerability for employers. A further point: Anyone can call him- or herself a diversity trainer. There appear to be no standards; employers don’t even require that such [...]
Archive for December, 2007
The Downside of Diversity Training
Posted in Equality, tagged diversity training, Equality, law on December 26, 2007 | No Comments »
Maimonides and “Tolerance” in Medieval Spain
Posted in History, Religion, liberty, tagged History, Islam, Spain, tolerance on December 26, 2007 | No Comments »
Andrew Bostom gives a detailed account of why Maimonides fled Spain, to settle ultimately in Cairo, despite the supposed harmony of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity in medieval Spain. It’s a helpful correction to the impression left by Maria Rosa Menocal’s book, The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture [...]
Roger Kimball on Will Smith and Utopianism
Posted in ethics, philosophy, tagged Aristotle, Augustine, ethics, human nature, philosophy, Rousseau on December 26, 2007 | 2 Comments »
Roger Kimball has intriguing reflections on the utopian impulse and the underlying thought, stemming from Rousseau, that one can reshape human nature—all from thinking about Will Smith’s remark,
“Even Hitler didn’t wake up going, ‘let me do the most evil thing I can do today’,” said Will. “I think he woke up in the morning and [...]
Housing Prices…
Posted in economics, tagged economics, housing on December 26, 2007 | No Comments »
…are down, The Wall Street Journal reports, with potential troubles for the economy lurking:
Rising home prices plus refinancing options and home equity loans previously allowed homeowners to squeeze money out of their homes to finance their spending – an important trend because consumer spending fuels about 70% of economic growth. Economists now worry that falling [...]
Merry Christmas!
Posted in Religion, tagged Religion on December 25, 2007 | No Comments »
The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. (Isaiah 11:6)
Malkin’s Top Ten
Posted in Politics, foreign policy, terrorism, war, tagged foreign policy, Politics, terrorism, war on December 24, 2007 | No Comments »
Michelle Malkin insightfully reviews the top ten stories of 2007.
Jesus Action Figures
Posted in Religion, tagged Religion on December 24, 2007 | No Comments »
I couldn’t help but think of the Jacques Barzun quote that heads this blog when I read of this line of toys.
O Little Town of Bethlehem
Posted in foreign policy, terrorism, tagged foreign policy, Israel, Middle East, terrorism on December 24, 2007 | 2 Comments »
I was stunned to read a biased, anti-Israel article on the decline of Bethlehem’s Christian population on the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal today. PowerLine does an excellent job of pointing out how misleading it is.
Does anyone else miss Robert L. Bartley’s leadership of that page?
Fat Finger
Posted in Uncategorized on December 24, 2007 | No Comments »
Blogging lately has been light, not only because of the holiday season—I will be singing, playing bells, and playing bass at four church services today!—but because of an infection in the middle finger of my right hand, which has caused my finger to swell impressively and has made typing difficult. My brother and I [...]
Prisoners’ Dilemmas
Posted in Politics, Rationality, ethics, philosophy, tagged ethics, philosophy, Politics, prisoners' dilemmas, Rationality on December 21, 2007 | No Comments »
A few days ago I talked about flaccid strategies for iterated prisoners’ dilemmas, noting that strategies without retaliation cannot win. I remarked:
Many Western leaders seem committed not only to avoiding retaliation but to responding to defection on an opponent’s part with forgiveness and even more extensive cooperation. [Emphasis added.]
That inspires a further thought. [...]
