Mar 22 2010

Questions large and small

Category: societyharmonicminer @ 8:53 am

Some of these come from reading the news, some from watching commercials, some from attending faculty meetings, some from going to church.

How can a handbag be “flirty”?

What, exactly, is a “pro-life Democrat”?  Is that like a vegetarian omnivore, who only eats meat when he thinks you aren’t looking, or puts lettuce on meat and calls it a serving of vegetables?

Why don’t Trinitarian pacifists seem to think about Jesus being part of the Godhead, giving instructions to Israel to burn cities to the ground and kill all the inhabitants?  Maybe that’s why pacifists seem far less likely to be Biblical inerrantists…  or even to believe in Biblical infallibility.  Cramps their style.

For that matter, just how far is “dispensationalism” from “process theology”?  I’m sure there are distinctions…  but if the result is that you think God is different than He used to be, I’m not sure they matter.

Why does the academic world make up so many words for things that don’t exist, and so many new words for things that had perfectly good old words?

When people try to hide things from people who need and deserve to know, are they ALWAYS doing evil?  Or just mostly?

If the healthcare bill before the congress does not use the word “abortion” and so cannot be construed to allow federally funded abortion (which Democrats claim), how was the U.S.Constitution, which does not use the word “abortion,” construed to make abortion-on-demand a civil right, at any time in the pregnancy, for any reason whatsoever (the reality… forget the lies you hear about the legality of abortion changing in various trimesters)?

Related to that, if abortion is only legal in the third trimester if there is some medical necessity, as liars in the service of abortion-on-demand are wont to claim is the ruling in Roe v. Wade, can anyone name ANY abortion provider who has every been federally prosecuted for DOING a 3rd trimester abortion?

Does ANYONE (Besides the “formerly pro-life” Representative Stupak, apparently) trust the future of federally funded abortion to the tender mercies of presidential executive orders?  No future Democrat president will be bound by the deal… and it will be the first thing to go in a tightly fought election, in order to bring a few more rabid pro-aborts to the polls. That’s assuming Obama even sticks to the deal in a second administration, if we are so cursed as to have to endure one. Consider how many campaign promises he’s already broken….

To quote Rep. Stupak, on the promises made by Obama to ban federal funding of abortion “by executive order”: “We have assurance from the President that he will not rip this up tomorrow.”  I wonder if the president promised not to rip it up in his second term?

When did the word “methodology” (which, theoretically, means “the study of methods”) completely replace the word “method” in all academic discussion, especially in faculty meetings discussing curriculum?  I lived through the transition…  and it still seems silly to me.  What “methodology” was used in making THAT decision?

On the heels of that, why do so few people in academia seem to grasp the distinction between “paradigm” and “metaphor”?  Hint: anytime you COULD correctly use the word “metaphor”, the word “paradigm” will probably be incorrect.  Actually, the word “paradigm” will be incorrect most of the rest of the time, too.  This problem seems especially prevalent among graduate faculty, who should know better, but just love the word, for some reason.  I think it makes them feel hip.

What part of the U.S.Constitution gives the government the absolute right to force me to buy medical insurance, or fine me if I don’t?  Which clause was that, exactly?

The next thing, the feds will be making me buy and use Rogaine, because the glare off my head is disturbing the night-time mating habits of an endangered species of gnat near my home.  I wish I was exaggerating…  but exactly that reason has been given to farmers to force them NOT to plant crops.

Is liberty a bygone concept?