Pope Benedict XVI takes on the modernists yet again

Dallas Blog | Tom Pauken:

“While very few pastors and priests preach about 'hell and damnation' these days, that doesn't seem to stop Pope Benedict XVI from continuing to speak out on 'unfashionable' subjects. Last Sunday, the Pope celebrated Mass at a parish in the northern suburbs of Rome. In his sermon to the parishioners, Benedict reminded his audience that hell is a place which really exists. As reported by the London Times, "the Pope said that in the modern world many people, including some believers, had forgotten that if they failed to 'admit blame and promise to sin no more', they risked 'eternal damnation--the inferno'". ”

Ed Cognoski responds:

The reason the Church becomes more and more irrelevant and anachronistic over time is because it keeps installing leaders who say things like "hell is a place which really exists."

P.S. This comment was submitted first to Dallas Blog. There, it was censored. Another nasty little habit in the Church catechism, which Tom Pauken recites comfortably.

It all starts with a smoking ban

Dallas Blog | Caroline Walker:

“The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that local restaurateur Doug Sohn has been fined $250 for selling foie-gras-laced hot dogs at his gourmet hot dog emporium. It is the first time a violation has been ticketed since the dangerous substance -- foie gras-- was banned from Chicago menus seven months ago.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

Caroline Walker misses the point. Foie gras is not dangerous. It's banned to stop cruelty to animals. Texans should think of horse slaughter in Grand Prairie for an example closer to home. The French can't understand the outrage by Texans over that.

A costly education

Dallas Blog | Caroline Walker:

“After posting the bit yesterday about the debate in the legislature over vouchers for autistic students, I ran across an article in the new issue of Forbes chronicling the spike in autism diagnoses nation-wide and how special-ed lawyers are cashing in on a new bonanza of special-ed disputes with school districts.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

Let me see if I have this right.
Feds pass a law saying every child is entitled to an education.
Feds don't fund the program.
Local school districts can't afford to meet the federal mandates.
Parents of autistic children sue.
Health professionals broaden the definition of autism.
Parents of children with Ausperger's syndrome, now classed with autism, sue.

Caroline Walker blames the lawyers: "Special-ed lawyers are cashing in on a new bonanza of special-ed disputes with school districts."

The thorny adventures of a suburban pedestrian

Dallas Morning News | Rodger Jones:

“Try getting from here to there by walking. Behold the obstacle courses. Civil engineers have been busy building bridges without sidewalks, because they're cheaper. Same goes for miles of major thoroughfares, many of them state-controlled. ... The DART rail stations near me are mostly hidden away and sealed off from the foot-bound. You need a car — or nible feet — to get there.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

Rodger Jones has been complaining about the Galatyn Park DART station forever. Each time, he leaves readers with a completely wrong impression about pedestrian accessibility. Instead of obstacle courses, the city of Richardson has created one of the most enjoyable strolls any pedestrian in any modern urban setting could ask for. There is a walking trail through the Spring Creek Nature Area that leads from the corner of US 75 and Renner Road right to the Galatyn Park DART station. It's shaded. It's quiet. It's buffered from the sights and sounds and smells of traffic.

Why does Mr Jones dismiss it out of hand? He says he walks only to avoid using cars, not for enjoyment or exercise. He does not want a single extra step in his pedestrian commute. He wants a straight line down the highway. Mr Jones wants to walk on the shoulder of the Central Expressway access road. That nature trail winds through the woods, so it is not an acceptable alternative. Rather than take the winding, paved trail through the woods to Galatyn Park, he bushwhacks a straight line in the other direction through mud and weeds and "ankle-biting critters" to the Bush Turnpike DART station to save a few steps.

Mr Jones could gain my sympathy in his quest for better sidewalks if he gave even a nod to the city of Richardson for creating a real gem of a walking trail that goes to where Mr Jones is going, Galatyn Park. Mr Jones may not want to stroll in the woods, but many others do. Mr Jones shouldn't count on my support for his sidewalk alongside Central Expressway until he shows at least a little appreciation for the trails that deliberately avoid that route that's so unappealing to so many of the rest of us.

Nurses may perform abortions under British proposal

Dallasblog.com | Tom Pauken:

“Both the UK Guardian and the Daily Telegraph have major stories today on a push in Great Britain to allow nurses to perform abortions in that country.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

Beware of the law of unintended consequences. If doctors are pressured not to perform abortions, then access to safe, legal abortion is denied, which leads to movements like this to increase the number of medical professionals who can perform the procedure. And if doctors and nurses are both pressured not to perform abortions, the number of illegal abortions will increase. The goal should be to make abortion safe, legal, and rare, not to drive it into the back alley.

Patrick bill would pay $500 for abandoning abortions

Dallasblog.com | Scott Bennett:

“Sen. Dan Patrick (R-Houston) the Houston and Dallas radio talk show personality has filed a bill that would pay any woman who abandons plans to have an abortion and opts for adoption instead $500 in hard cash. ... Patrick's bill exempts the state from the felony of 'baby selling'. ... Sen. Patrick says he has "no idea" what the total cost of the program might be.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

Senator Patrick wouldn't have exempted the state from the felony of "baby selling" unless he knew that's what he was facilitating.

Senator Patrick says he has "no idea" what the total cost of the program might be. Maybe Senator Patrick has "no idea" period.

Disruptive behavior linked to time spent in day care

Dallas Blog | Caroline Walker:

“Results are in from the largest and longest-running study of American child care: keeping a preschooler in a day care center for a year or more increased the likelihood that the child would become disruptive in class &emdash; and that the effect persisted through at least the sixth grade, The New York Times reports Monday morning.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

There are many possible factors at work here that need to be considered before drawing conclusions from this study about the value (or lack of value) in day care.

Isn't the conventional wisdom that one-on-one attention from a mother or father in a home setting should lead to superior outcomes on all sorts of measures? Don't most people who rely on day care do so out of necessity, not out of a belief that day care is a superior setting for preschool children? Aren't the results of this study surprising only in that the benefits of home care are not more pronounced?

Whether even those minor benefits of home care are real or not is not decided by this study. There was no control group in the study. Whether the children in the study were in day care or not was a decision made by the parents. Could it be that parents of disruptive preschoolers are more apt to enroll their already disruptive children in day care? We don't know. Cause and effect is impossible to determine from this study.

And what is meant by "disruptive?" Is it always a bad thing? Are inquisitive, innovative, energetic children sometimes labeled "disruptive"? Sure. Could it be that day care instills more self-confidence in children and that what's later interpreted as being "disruptive" is nothing more than that? We don't know.

I have no objection to people believing that home care is superior to day care. It seems a reasonable belief to hold, even without scientific studies to back it up. And I don't think this study does much to back it up. It certainly doesn't prove that day care is injurious to children's upbringing. Parents should continue to do what is best for their own situation, whether that's home care or day care for their preschoolers.

Rhode Island school district bans Easter Bunny

Dallas Blog | Tom Pauken:

“The Superintendent of the Tiverton Public Schools in Rhode Island banned the Easter Bunny from appearing at a fundraising event held at the Tiverton Middle School. ... Isn't this carrying political correctness and separation of Church and State a bit too far?”

Ed Cognoski responds:

LOL. You'd think this could be a wedge issue that the far left and far right could actually agree on. The left, because they want separation of church and state to keep public schools from endorsing Christianity. The right, because they don't want Easter to be polluted with pagan symbols like the Easter Bunny.

But it's not to be. Sigh. Let's see if Tom Pauken's conservative cause du jour stirs the partisans on Dallas Blog this morning.

Pope warns of Europe's "demographic profile"

Dallas Blog | Tom Pauken:

“ "Europe appears to be losing faith in its own future, Pope Benedict XVI said Saturday, warning against 'dangerous individualism' on a continent where many people are having fewer children." In an AP story, the pontiff is quoted as telling a gathering of bishops in Rome marking the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome that "one must unfortunately note that Europe seems to be going down a road which could lead it to take its leave from history." ”

Ed Cognoski responds:

Not to worry. Muslim immigration can both replenish the population and take care of the Western European liberal democratic "dangerous individualism" that the pope and Tom Pauken decry. ;-)

Democrats resort to trying death by a thousand cuts

Dallas Morning News | Mark Davis:

“Mr. Gonzales has plenty to answer for, but the elevation of these attorney dismissals to a Watergate-caliber controversy is wholly without basis. Add the irony that the voices stoking the scandal imagery are from the same congressional and journalistic outposts that have sugar-coated the Clinton years for more than a decade, and the spectacle borders on the obscene.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

LOL. Like Mark Davis' columns are an irony-free zone.

To paraphrase Mr Davis himself, measured discourse is rare when there is a castle to defend. In fact, the Democrats aren't storming the castle. They are sweeping it out. The garbage and dung that's collected there during six years of Republican Congressional and White House rule is knee-deep. Mark Davis has flung enough of it over the years that he doesn't even smell the stench. Or at least claims not to. He's still flinging. Irony, indeed.

Tolerance or tyranny

Dallas Blog | Caroline Walker:

“A federal judge in Massachussetts dismissed a lawsuit brought by two Massachussetts couples who claimed their constitutional rights were violated because they couldn't remove their sons -- one a kindergartner, the other a second grader -- from classroom discussions aimed at normalizing same-sex relationships.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

Some people think four and five year olds are old enough to understand stories featuring heterosexual couples falling in love, but they are not old enough to understand gay people loving each other, too.

If this is a case of indoctrinating kids that being gay is "acceptable", so be it. Being gay IS acceptable. Schools have been indoctrinating kids for generations that being straight is acceptable. And it is, too.

Running from the bench

Dallas Blog | John Browning:

“In the last six years, 38 federal judges stepped down, and nearly half of those resignations (17) came in the last two years. What is behind this exodus? Money, pure and simple. According to U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, Congress’ failure to raise federal judges’ pay has 'become a constitutional crisis.' ”

Ed Cognoski responds:

You're spitting into the wind. The public at large is not going to have any sympathy raising the salaries of people making $165,200.00 a year. Democrats are not going to be interested in raising the salaries of the knee-jerk conservatives President Bush is appointing. Republicans hate government as a general principle, so don't expect them to shovel more money at government employees for life. You're spitting into the wind.

The Democratic Implosion

Dallas Blog | William Murchison:

“What I mean, is, can't the Democrats see? Don't they have eyes? A single set would help, under the circumstances. What others are watching with mounting anxiety is the moral and intellectual implosion of a political party. Nor do I mean the Republican Party, for all its undoubted problems and shortcomings. I mean, rather, the party of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and Pat Leahy and John Murtha and so on and so forth, who for two months -- and we're only getting started, folks -- have kept their country in carefully engineered turmoil.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

For the first time in six years, Congress is throwing open the shutters of government, letting in the fresh air and sunshine, revealing for all to see the dirt, garbage and vermin left behind by the unchecked partying of the former Republican Congress and current Republican administration.

And who does William Murchison criticize? Why, of course, the Democratic garbage collectors for bringing the Republican abuses and corruption to light.

Perjury, obstruction of justice, neglect of wounded soldiers and veterans, abuse of the Patriot Act to conduct wiretapping unrelated to the war on terror, turning US Attorneys into party tools to prosecute Democrats and protect Republicans, and on and on. Abuses dismissed by William Murchison as mere "foofaraw". Perhaps, Mr Murchison has been wallowing in the stink himself for so long he no longer can smell it. Thankfully, the Democrats can and are finally airing out the place.

P.S. Do Dallas Blog contributors write their own headlines? If so, do you think Mr Murchison is just too punctilious to bring himself to write the grammatically incorrect, but popular, Republican locution "Democrat Implosion". He seems to be the only Republican who can resist the temptation. Even President Bush in his State of the Union address used the gratuitous insult while supposedly congratulating his political opponents. ;-)

DMN claims Darrell Jordan is a plagiarist

Dallas Blog | Sam Merten:

“Hidden in yesterday's [The Dallas Morning News] metro blog, there is an explosive story dissecting mayoral candidate Darrell Jordan's Accountability Pledge & Plan of Action to Reduce Crime. ... Jordan's pledge bears a striking resemblance to a pledge presented last year by former U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez during his unsuccessful bid for Colorado’s governorship. His crime plan is almost the same one written by Kansas City's Commission on Violent Crime presented in June 2006 by chairperson Dr. Stacey Daniels-Young to the Kansas City City Council.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

Explosive story? I doubt it. OK, he lifted ideas and even the wording from other entities without crediting the sources. That's bad. The failure to credit the source, that is, not the lifting of ideas and words. All politicians today do that.

I'm reminded of a speech given by President George H.W. Bush, which struck me as sounding very much like Ronald Reagan. Not just in the policies and plans proposed, but in the language and imagery and tone. Only later did I learn that Bush's speechwriter was Peggy Noonan, who was also a major speechwriter for Ronald Reagan. It turns out that much of what we think of as quintessential Ronald Reagan was actually quintessential Peggy Noonan. Her role was never a secret, but I'd guess only one American in a thousand knew, when listening to Ronald Reagan, that they were actually hearing the words scripted for him by Peggy Noonan.

Very few politicians today have an original thought. Some are better at crediting their sources. Some are lazy or careless or vain or calculating. Some get caught. Others are Teflon. It's hard to say which is the case with Mr Jordan.

May I have a word? Blind faith

In a recent Dallas Blog post, Wes Riddle made a pitch to teach creationism in our schools. In response, I called creationism a "crackpot idea." Tom Pauken said, "E.C. simply dismisses him out of hand as a 'crackpot' because Wes Riddle doesn't share E.C.'s blind faith in Darwinism."

What does Mr Pauken mean by "blind faith"? Is there a difference between "blind faith" and just plain "faith"? One definition of faith is a belief, trust, or confidence, not based on proof or material evidence, but based fundamentally on volition often associated with a transpersonal relationship with a deity or a higher power. Note the requirement that belief not be based on proof or material evidence. In other words, faith is by definition blind. If there is material evidence to support a belief, faith is no longer needed for belief.

Another Dallas Blog reader, RelicMM, seems to have this definition in mind when he adds, "Darwinists ... have only a one-track mind and are destined to believe only what they can see and touch. It is the things they can't see and touch that will ultimately prevail."

"Blind faith" is exactly what Jesus praised when he said to his disciple Thomas, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

Yet Mr Pauken uses "blind faith" in a negative context, as if it's a bad thing if applied to a belief in Darwin's theory of natural selection. Does Mr Pauken consider "blind faith" to be something good when applied to belief in supernatural beings walking among us, yet something bad when applied to modern scientific theories? He doesn't say.

Personally, I reject "blind faith" in all matters. I rely on the scientific method, involving the gathering of observable, empirical, and measurable evidence, and applying specific principles of reasoning to draw conclusions, make and test predictions, and integrate with previous knowledge developed in the same way.

I reject creationism, not out of "blind faith" in so-called Darwinism, but because creationism is an unsatisfactory scientific explanation for the diversity of life on earth. Mr Pauken and RelicMM reject the scientific method itself in favor of "blind faith" in a supernatural being and the creation myths surrounding Him. They are welcome to their faith. I just wish they wouldn't keep trying to teach it in science class.

Darwinian Dogma

Dallas Blog | Wes Riddle:

“Over 700 scientists from around the world have signed a statement expressing skepticism about the contemporary theory of Darwinian evolution.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

A commentor named "Dave" neatly deals with Mr Riddle's list of 700 "scientists" by referencing the Steve Project, in which a greater number of scientists, all named Steve, assert their support for evolution. Mr Riddle's post is full of other logical flaws, straw men, and confused understanding of science.

I don't have a "blind faith" in the theory of natural selection to explain evolution. It simply is the theory that best explains the observed facts. My point that inferior theories don't deserve equal treatment is not intellectual arrogance. It is simply how science works. Would you have it any other way? Do you want science to adopt some kind of political correctness, whereby every theory, no matter how unsatisfactory, gets respect and equal treatment in the textbooks?

Mr Riddle's post is full of misconceptions about how science works. He presents a strawman, starting with his title "Darwinian Dogma" that is simply not factual.

That a theory is rejected is not proof that scientists are not open to inquiry. Mr Riddle's implication otherwise is flawed logic. Scientists don't claim evolution (or anything in science) as Truth with a capital T. Scientific theories are always put to the test. Freud's theories, once well established, are now largely dismissed because of that. Science advances. There was probably no theory more established and more trusted than Newton's theory of universal gravitation... until Einstein came along. And today theoretical physicists are busy trying to supplant Einstein.

Scientists know that Darwin's theory of natural selection is not writ in stone. It's been tested and refined for over a century. There are still many challenges needing answers. Perhaps the biggest is how life began. Darwin's theory explains how life evolves, but it doesn't explain how it began. Mr Riddle is welcome to join the exciting effort to answer that question. But just because scientists reject his preferred answer, creationism, does not mean science is closed to inquiry. It just means that creationism falls short as a scientific explanation. Sorry.

The 'vast right wing conspiracy' is back, says Hillary

Dallas Blog | Tom Pauken:

“'The vast, right-wing conspiracy is back, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is warning, using a phrase she once coined.' The Associated Press reports that the Democratic presidential [candidate] used that term to attack Republicans in a speech to Democratic municipal officials on Tuesday.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

Tom Pauken omits any mention of what prompted Hillary Clinton's remarks, as if maybe she is imagining things. She was in New Hampshire and referred to a criminal case there in which three Republicans were convicted of interfering with Democratic get-out-the-vote efforts in the 2002 election, including Republican National Committee operative James Tobin.

In another case recently brought to justice, high White House officials lied in making a case for war, smeared political opponents who threatened to reveal the lies, covered up the smear, then lied to a grand jury about the coverup. The chief of staff to the Vice President of the United States was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice.

In other news, United States Attorneys have alleged Republican politicians exerted undue political influence on pending legal cases, after which the White House exerted influence on the Justice Department to fire attorneys who weren't sufficiently zealous in pursuing the President's political agenda. The chief of staff of the Attorney General has resigned in the scandal and there are calls for the Attorney General himself to resign.

Exactly what part of "vast, right wing conspiracy" does the vast right wing conspiracy think is an inaccurate description? Senator Clinton didn't claim this conspiracy is "back". It's been operating unimpeded for a decade. In 2003, Senator Clinton said, "My only regret was using the word conspiracy, because there's absolutely nothing secret about it."

Me and my planet

Dallas Blog | Caroline Walker:

“It isn’'t that I disbelieve in global warming. It’s just that the list of approved remedies that’s supposed to save us from The Deep Fryer remind me of the 'Duck and Cover' public service announcements from the fifties, when we thought that diving under our desks at school would shield us from Commie nuke fallout.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

Ms Walker goes on like this, dismissing issues facing us in the past, everything from nuclear fallout to overpopulation to AIDS to global warming.

Do worst-case scenarios always come true? No. But cemeteries are full of people who dismissed even the possibility.

Contrary to Ms Walker's memory, ducking under desks was not supposed to protect you from fallout. That's what fallout shelters were for. Ducking under desks was just to keep you alive until you could reach the shelter.

Overpopulation was indeed a threat fifty years ago. It was addressed wisely by means of the birth control pill and not so wisely by draconian measures like the one-child laws in China.

AIDS does infect tens of millions of people, many in poor, over-populated sub-Saharan Africa.

Ms Walker says she was taught to value economy and simplicity in all things. Good. Teaching our children to value economy and simplicity in all things is how the next generation will be prepared to combat global warming. They won't have the luxury of denying it.

Ann Coulter's remarks at CPAC inappropriate

Dallas Blog | Dr Al Mohler:

“Ann Coulter is a woman of many gifts and many right ideas. She can be an eloquent spokeswoman for conservative convictions and a prophetic critic of secular liberalism. Unfortunately, she can also be her own worst enemy. ... Referring to John Edwards by using a word meant to demean homosexuals? What was she thinking?”

Ed Cognoski responds:

I think everyone knows what Ann Coulter was thinking, but do readers know what Dr Mohler is thinking? What are those "conservative convictions" that are at risk because of Ann Coulter's "tawdry record of cheap shots, crude slurs, and indefensible personal attacks?"

Dr Mohler carefully doesn't say. Thanks to commenter Paul Barnes, we now know. He cites a beliefnet article that points out that Dr Mohler, President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky, "says he would support medical treatment, if it were available, to change the sexual orientation of a fetus inside its mother's womb from homosexual to heterosexual." The article quotes from Dr Mohler's blog:

"If a biological basis is found, and if a prenatal test is then developed, and if a successful treatment to reverse the sexual orientation to heterosexual is ever developed, we would support its use as we should unapologetically support the use of any appropriate means to avoid sexual temptation and the inevitable effects of sin."

Ann Coulter's remarks may have been crude and deplorable, but they were only insults. Dr Mohler's thinking is right out of "Brave New World". Dallas Blog did its readers a disservice by not reporting this aspect of the story.

News poll blaming Laura Miller for the loss of the Cotton Bowl has it wrong

Dallas Blog | Tom Pauken:

“The Dallas Morning News has a front page feature story on a poll it took which supposedly blames Jerry Jones and Mayor Laura Miller for Dallas' failure to woo the Dallas Cowboys to Fair Park. According to the News, when asked who lost the Cowboys for Dallas, 30% blame Jerry Jones and 20% blame Mayor Laura Miller. Only 2% put the responsibility on former Dallas County Judge Margaret Keliher.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

The Dallas Blog headline says the poll is about the "loss of the Cotton Bowl". Yet the first sentence reports that the poll blames Jerry Jones and Laura Miller for "the failure to woo the Dallas Cowboys to Fair Park." Which is the subject of the poll? The Cowboys or the Cotton Bowl New Year's Day game?

The Dallas Blog headline singles out Laura Miller, even though the second sentence says the poll blames, primarily, Jerry Jones, who is named by 30% of those polled. Laura Miller, only 20%.

The Dallas Blog headline is wrong in still another way. It claims the News' poll itself "gets it wrong". It explains, "a poll question like the one asked by the News is really useless if one wants to determine the truth of the matter." Well, d'oh. A poll is a gauge of public sentiment, nothing more, nothing less. It's not intended to be a fact-finding investigation.

Unless Dallas Blog can point out technical flaws in the polling technique used, I'll trust that the News' gets the pulse of the public right. I believe the public does, indeed blame Jerry Jones. And I believe the public blames Laura Miller above Margaret Keliher, who all but 2% of the public probably can't even name.

Tom Pauken can. He says Keliher "has landed on her feet, making hundreds of thousands of dollars as a lobbyist representing a number of governmental entities and private companies down in Austin." Is that bad? Tom Pauken presents it that way. It turns out this poll just served as a trigger for Tom Pauken to unload on The Dallas Morning News and Margaret Keliher. Too bad Dallas Blog doesn't have an editor to send pieces like this back to rewrite.

You Tube booted out of Turkey

Dallas Blog | Tom Pauken:

“ 'A Turkish court today ordered access to YouTube to be blocked because of videos allegedly insulting the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk,' according to the Associated Press. AP reports that the video prompting the ban 'allegedly said Ataturk and the Turkish people were homosexuals, according to news reports.' ”

Ed Cognoski responds:

I can't tell if Mr Pauken approves or disapproves. Turkey is suppressing this wild new medium with its rotten pop culture of materialism, consumerism and hyper-sexualization. You'd think this news would be music to his retro-tuned ears. But it's Muslims (read Islamo-fascists) doing it. That can't be good, can it? What to think. What to think.

I'll tell you what I think. Censorship is bad, whether it's done by the government of Turkey, the government of China, the government of the US, or even by private businesses like Dallas Blog. That private parties have a right to do something doesn't mean they should.

Libby found guilty in CIA leak trial

Dallas Blog's report on the Scooter Libby conviction for obstruction of justice and perjury generated only a single comment on the day of conviction. That was from "Blue Pages" who pointed out the fact that not a single Texas Republican had any comment.

Good observation, Blue Pages. Also, more Dallas Blog commentors thought Hillary Clinton's accent was deserving of note than the fact that the chief of staff of the Vice President of the United States was found guilty of obstruction of justice and perjury. Tom Pauken, publisher of Dallas Blog and former chairman of the Republican Party of Texas, thought Hillary's accent was the only thing about her appearance in Selma last weekend worthy of note. He even spent time in a followup post defending his journalistic judgment (he found at least two mainstream media reports of it). But Mr Pauken is silent so far about Libby's conviction, the biggest news story of the day and likely to be a prominent part of any history of the Bush administration.

Draw your own conclusions about where to turn for thoughtful analysis of the important issues of the day. Hint: it's not Tom Pauken and his Dallas Blog.

P.S. Have fun with anagrams of Tom Pauken's name:
What he is: A MOTE PUNK
What he does: MAKE TON UP
What he drives his readers to do: MAN, TOKE UP

Gandalf moment

Dallas Blog | William Murchison:

“You'’re comfortably orthodox in the main matters of daily life: marriage, family, church; and yet no plausible candidate for president speaks for you so eloquently as the late Ronald Reagan. ... Frodo the Hobbit remarks, as darkness descends on Middle Earth, 'I wish it need not have happened in my time.' ”

Ed Cognoski responds:

What's with the malaise and all the talk of darkness descending on Middle Earth? King Ronald's reign is fading into history. Bush the Younger's days are numbered. Cheer up! It's Morning in America again!

"A previous supposition had been that politicians and judges generally left moral matters to the regulation of the community at large, meaning pastors, parents, and the like. It was only with the school prayer decisions of the 1960s that government added moral and philosophical questions to its agenda. ... States generally prohibited abortion and prescribed marriage as a rite for heterosexuals alone."

Mr Murchison contradicts himself. Prohibiting abortion and gay marriage was not a case of politicians and judges leaving moral matters to pastors, parents and the like. It was a case of the state edicting morals. That the edicts were aligned with Mr Murchison's own religious beliefs doesn't change that. Now, the state is slowly doing just what Mr Murchison claims to want — leaving morals to pastors, parents and the like. Still more reason to cheer. It sure does feel like Morning in America.

Obama v Clinton: showdown in the pulpits

Dallas Blog | Tom Pauken:

“The Daily Telegraph has an excellent analysis of the first Barack Obama/Hillary Clinton showdown Sunday in Selma, Alabama. ... As the Telegraph noted, 'Mrs. Clinton spoke at First Baptist Church, less than a block from Brown Chapel.' According to the Telegraph, Mrs. Clinton spoke 'with a Southern twang not normally detectable in her speeches.' ”

Ed Cognoski responds:

The Telegraph story is not bad. Yet, the only thing about Hillary Clinton that Tom Pauken thought significant enough to include in his summary is some British reporter's description of her accent? So much for thoughtful analysis from Dallas Blog.

By the way, this event was covered in hundreds of newspapers and Web sites. Why did Dallas Blog feel a conservative-leaning European newspaper's coverage of it was the only one to cite for its readers? I suggest readers do a Google news search on "Obama Clinton Selma" and read dozens of better stories on the event.

No sexually-oriented businesses in Richardson

Unfair Park | Andrea Grimes:

“The strippers are coming! The strippers are coming! Quiet, wholesome city of Richardson, prepare yourself for a full-on thong invasion! EVERYBODY PANIC. If you saw a WFAA-Channel 8 story last Saturday, you might think an army of busty, silicone-stuffed women were already on their way to corrupt your children and steal your husbands away into Bud Light-filled nights of lap dances and poker games. And if you thought that, you'’d be pretty much wrong. State law says cities have to designate areas where sexually oriented business (hereafter, SOBs) can operate without having to seek approval from a city council zoning committee. Them’s the rules. But Richardson didn’t have one.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

The press sure did a hatchet job on this story, didn't they? They make Richardson sound like it's out trying to drum up SOBs, instead of it being one of the last cities to capitulate to state law requiring such zoning.

None of the news stories I've read has yet commented on this statement by Richardson's mayor: "The cities of Addison, Carrollton, Garland, Irving, McKinney and Plano have adopted similar regulations." Maybe WFAA can research where the red-light districts are in these other cities and take the attention away from Richardson. Please.