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National crime and prison policies are failures, part 03

Well, as you can imagine, the last couple of days have been all too busy. Nor did I think that it would take a couple of days to come back to this subject. However, I am finally back to it. USA attitudes towards incarceration were not always as they are nowadays. Several events began to drive incarceration policies towards what we find today. One was a rising crime rate following the events of the... [Read more]

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Choosing a political candidate

A relative of mine sent me a question asking how I could support a particular candidate that shall remain unnamed in this blog. I sent my relative the following answer: Let me give you a really short answer. I will send a longer one later. But, today my day is full full full. Martin Luther, the German Reformer, commented that we do not follow a “theology of glory” but a “theology... [Read more]

What is a monk?

Abbot Pantalemon at Wadi Kadesha, Lebanon “Fr. Ernesto suggested above that we should look to the monastics of the early church. But is that Biblical? Where in the Bible does it say we should withdraw from society and exclude the rest of the world, and live lives of poverty?” The first example of monasticism (Eastern style, not Western) is John the Baptist, who lived a life of poverty,... [Read more]

National crime and prison policies are failures, part 02

So, how did we get into the prison mess in which we find ourselves? To recap part 01, we have the highest prison population in the world, both in numbers, and in the percentage of our residents who are in jail. But, the situation that the Pew report lays out is even sadder than what has been reported so far. The Pew report goes on to say: “For some groups, the incarceration numbers are especially... [Read more]

National crime and prison policies are failures, part 01

California State Prison, Los Angeles In a report on the failure of California’s prison policies, the New York Times reports that California now spends 10% of its budget on prison costs, and that this cost is expected to go higher. What are the causes? A study done by the Federal government shows that it is a mixture of policies that are close to creating the perfect wave of monetary meltdown... [Read more]

conditions

Neither Obama nor McCain may be eligible to run for President!

Yes, folks, the disgusting season is still with us. You may remember that a lawsuit was actually filed against Sen. McCain early in the campaign, on the grounds that he was not a true natural born citizen of the United States of America. The reasoning was that the Canal Zone was not legally a part of the United States, and thus Sen. McCain was not natural born. There was never any argument about his... [Read more]

Russian Patriarch feeling good about Roman Pope

Patriarch Alexy Below is a very promising quote from an article. To see the rest of the article, please go to: Permalink: http://zenit.org/article-24026?l=english MOSCOW, OCT. 22, 2008.- Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II responded to a letter from Benedict XVI, expressing satisfaction with growing collaboration between the two Churches. Alexy II’s note responded to the Pope’s message... [Read more]

Greek linguistic geekery

Erasmus by Holbien the Younger This is a bit of linguistic geekery. When I first went to seminary, I was taught to read and pronounce the Greek of the first century, called koine Greek. However, I later found out that the pronunciation I was taught is called Erasmian. That pronunciation does not actually come from Greece, but from Europe. Erasmus could read Greek, but did not actually know how it was... [Read more]

Greeks punished by USA

The Hellenic voice reports that Greece has been denied membership in the Visa Waiver Program. Greece is now the only Western European country whose citizens must request a visa in order to visit the United States of America. The purpose of the Visa Waiver Program is to certify which citizens can visit the USA without the need of a visa. In other words, it is considered that these are countries whose... [Read more]

Family Guy show calls McCain / Palin ticket Nazis

In another example of how low the election has sunk, last Sunday night’s episode of the Fox animated program, “Family Guy,” showed a character wearing a full Nazi uniform and wearing a McCain / Palin ticket on his uniform coat. Brooks Barnes reports, “Fox (the broadcast network) aired the episode in which Stewie, the obnoxious baby character at the center of the series, and... [Read more]