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.