Category: Punditry

Vatican crackdown on U.S. nuns?

The Vatican is investigating U.S. nuns. Apparently, there's a suspicion that the nuns are too independent of the Roman Catholic Church. And there's a kickback, with some U.S. nuns urging no cooperation with the Vatican.

It's an old story, Rome taking stock of the extended flock. The church changed a lot after the Second Vatican Council, and then Pope John Paul II reined things in. For openers, he told liberation theologians that they didn't need Karl Marx or any other earthly guru to put the church's message into play. He busted philosopher Hans Kung, lifting the latter's teaching credentials for heresy. Kung had questioned infallibity of the Pope as claimed by the Vatican.

In effect, John Paul said Catholicism is not a society of free thinkers.

And that may be what U.S. nuns are about to hear again.

Here for story.

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Category: Sign of the Times

College tuition: Sky high and rising

Another round of tuition hikes at Wayne State University -- an increase higher than the rate of inflation.

There's little incentive for any college in the country to cut costs. They have a open-ended license to squeeze students for every nickel possible.

Wayne State -- and every other college in the country -- says it needs more money to maintain quality. There's not a shred of credible evidence (or logic) that money buys quality. Even lousy schools increase their budgets and tuition annually. And they remain lousy.

Over the years, Michigan's university presidents have trooped to Detroit News editorial board meetings to dub faculty and would-be faculty as money grubbers. They don't use the phrase "money grubber," of course. But they say faculty won't stay or sign on without lotsa loot. Apparently, public service has had its day.

Tuition hikes that consistently run ahead of inflation are signs of bad management.

Here for story.

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Category: Dumbing down America

OK, enough Michael Jackson...

Re the over-the-top Michael Jackson coverage on broadcast and cable TV news. A little balance would help, as in more coverage of more important stories, e.g., the tanked economy, Iraq, Iran...

As Jon Stewart pinpointed last night: TV has run out of things to say. One cable commentator, to fill time, reported that this week is a once in a lifetime event because Michael Jackson will only die once.

Who knew?

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Category: Sign of the Times

Hello Al Franken, goodbye Stuart Smalley

Looks as if Al Franken is headed for the Senate. He'll fit right in since Congress is often good for laughs, as in how it distributed billions to banks with no strings attached.

Presumably, the SNL character of Stuart Smalley is forever retired and that's too bad because it was a funny bit, except perhaps for the line "Denial ain't just a river in Egypt!"

A Minnesota court today declared Franken the winner.

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Category: Punditry

High Court: White is a protected race

In case you missed it, the Supreme Court ruling in the New Haven firefighter case gives white firefighters right to promotion, denied to them because no black firefighters had qualified high enough on a test to move up.

Lost in the race relations debate, often, is that white is a protected race, too. Or at least as defined by government rules and regulations. If the law says you cannot discriminate on the basis of race, that would include whites, blacks, and any other color.

It was a 5-4 ruling. One underlying question in the case: Should white New Haven firefighters take it on the chin for all the discrimination in the country, going back centuries? In dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the ruling won't have staying power. She may be right since Souter is retiring and will be replaced. The decisions toy with which counts more: the rights of a protected group (this race or that, this gender or that) or the rights of an individual (this fireman or that, this skilled tradesman or that). In a concurring opinion, Justice bAntonin Scalia notes that citizens must be treated as individuals, not simply a component of a racial, or other, group.

In his majority opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy described the ideal:

"No individual should face workplace discrimination based on race."

Here for story.

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Category: Punditry

Sanford does right thing, stays in office

Kudos to South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford. He won't resign.

There's no connection between surplus grabby-grabby and ability to govern. Among others, Bill Clinton said as much.

As for Sanford's new love, Maria Belen Chapur: Not bad, though I have yet to see her tan lines. Perhaps worth the hassle for Sanford.. King Edward never regretted giving up the British throne for the cheeky Wallis Simpson.

Here and here for story.

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Category: Whither Michigan?

Michigan highlighted as wasting stimulus money

"The governor announced that the Solon Township (in Michigan's Leelanau County) would receive $1.3 million in grants and loans to help pay for construction of a wastewater treatment plant. Unfortunately, the locals do not want it and have declared the project 'dead on arrival.' According to one local newspaper, the stimulus money will now be used 'to build a wastewater treatment plant for which there is no plan, and for which local support is questionable at best.'"

-- From a report on stimulus boondoggles from U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn.

Your tax dollars at work. Or rather, your grandchildren's tax dollars at work. Stimulus money is being wasted all over the country. The above example is not a "stimulus." It's using "free" federal money for a minor local project, which isn't a good use of federal money even if the project were worthwhile.

Here for Coburn's full report (.pdf).

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Category: Sign of the Times

Farrah Fawcett bows out like Mother Teresa

In the death stakes, Farrah Fawcett is in pretty much the same boat as Mother Teresa. Fawcett, an American icon in her prime, died today. But her career is not as soaring as Michael Jackson's, who also died today.

So Fawcett will get relatively less news coverage.

It's like when Mother Teresa died a few days after Princess Di in 1997. The saintly nun didn't have a chance for much coverage, given the circus around the royal death. The woman who spent her long life helping the poor played second fiddle to a royal of no known skill who died while partying in Paris.

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Category: Quote Watch

Don't cry for Sanford, Argentina

"Great, now we're outsourcing mistresses."

-- Comic Craig Ferguson, talking about the Argentine flame of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford.

David Letterman wondered why Sanford couldn't just be like former Gov. Eliot Spitzer and use a local escort service.

The steppes of Patagonia can be alluring, as are Latin women.

Sanford will be a late-night staple for a while.

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Category: Sign of the Times

Red hot romance v Walden Pond

Well, now. Missing South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford was in Argentina chasing a skirt, not contemplating life in the Appalachians. So much for the joys of Walden Pond.

I suppose you can contemplate life in Argentina.

Whatever the details of Sanford's ride, I'm sticking with the advice in previous blog. Less government can work just as well as more government, a proposal proven by comparing Nebraska and Michigan.

Here for Sanford.