This Was Not Smart

People who commit crimes are often very dumb about it. The late columnist Mike Royko once observed that many successful men always want the best of everything. They will be sure to get the best mechanic, doctor, lawyer, and financial advisors that they can afford. But if they have a marital [...]

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From Prostitute to Princess

Here are some notes from my Sunday School class on Joshua Chapter 2, which I taught today.
Rahab is described in the Bible as a harlot, which is to say, she violated the 7th commandment for a living. A lot of people, even in the church, have tried to tone this down, but the text is [...]

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Barack Obama’s Pastor Problem

If you were one of the 3 people reading my blog 7 months ago, you would have read about the problems that Barack Obama would have when his membership in an arguably racist church got more attention.  In my post, “Is This Candidate Racist?”  I linked to the website of his church, Trinity United Church of [...]

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Indiana Manipulates Drop-out Statistics, Smears Homeschoolers

Some school districts in Indiana have come up with a clever scheme.  Apparently, their high school dropout rates are measured by the No Child Left Behind Act.  This gives them an interest in reducing their high school dropout rate, because if the high school dropout rate is too high they get penalized.
[Personally, I don't mind if [...]

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The Importance of Saint Patrick

These days Saint Patrick’s Day is treated as a drinking holiday.  I would like to take a few minutes to remind my readers of who Saint Patrick is, and what he did.
 Saint Patrick was the son of a deacon, and the grandson of a priest, (yes, priests could marry back then), but he was not a particularly faithful Christian.  [...]

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Overheard at The Pearly Gates

A man appears before St. Peter at the pearly gates and was being fitted for his crown.
“Have you ever done anything of particular merit?” St. Peter asks.
“Well, I can think of one thing,” the man offers.
“Once, on a trip to the Black Hills, out in South Dakota, I came upon a gang of Hell’s Angels [...]

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Books We are Reading – March 2008

Josh and I have just finished the St. Petersburg 1914 International Chess Tournament, by Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch.  This book proves that there is no neutrality, even in chess analysis.  While his analysis of the games is quite good, you can detect a trace of jealousy when it comes to Emanuel Lasker’s games, a distrust of the youthful [...]

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Free Advice for Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Any Other Politicians

I have felt like writing something about the Eliot Spitzer situation, but without being too tasteless.  It is really easy to write something tasteless about the whole affair; in fact, tasteless remarks almost write themselves, and must be fiercely resisted.  I certainly don’t want to use it for Republican gloating.
So I’ll just keep it simple.  [...]

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Blizzard in Erie

Today we are having the worst snowstorm of the whole year this weekend.  We had about 8 inches last night, and we might get another 6-10 inches today.
Here is Maria in a snowdrift:

It is so bad, that the Department of Motor Vehicles canceled Anna’s driving test today,  due to the bad weather.
It is so bad, that [...]

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Rotten Kids, Episode #100

I am feeling old today, because I just got my first pair of glasses with “progressive” lenses (that is, bifocals for people who like to hide the fact that they are wearing bifocals), so pardon me if I am cranky.  If you are a kid, I warn you:  Do not play on my lawn today, or I [...]

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