n Associated Press article brings us the glad tidings of a Franciscan friar who has been handing out coupons giving Roman Catholics who confess their sin 50% off their penance. He says he is fighting a "spiritual recession."
But what can be done for spiritual bankruptcy?
Some bad news for the tree-huggers. According to a study conducted out of the University of California-Riverside, trees and shrubs in the Los Angeles area emit 150 to 200 tons of hydrocarbons emissions. That accounts for 14% of all hydrocarbon emissions in that region. The emissions from two carrotwoods over a twelve hour period are equivalent to the emissions of a 1991 car driving thirty miles.
We think the federal government should require the installation of pollution-control devices on all shrubs and trees in the LA area.
U.S. News and World Report has informed us that the debacle surrounding the government school system is even worse that everyone has thought. Not only are the scores on standardized tests going down, but cheating on these tests by administrators and teachers is going up. One survey indicated that 35% of teachers were aware of or involved in test tampering. Another survey showed that 1 in 11 teachers reported pressure from administrators to cheat on the tests.
Which is worse -- incompetence or dishonesty? Fortunately, in this situation, we do not have to choose.
A pesky letter writer to National Review posed a question that we think deserves wider circulation. Michael Antonucci wondered aloud, "If Clarence Thomas had described the Mapplethorpe exhibit to Anita Hill, would he be fit to serve on the United States Supreme Court?"
Some people just don't seem to understand the rules of this game. In a relativistic world, all ethical measurements are made with a rubber yardstick. Therefore, what is artistic expression for one is sexual harassment for another -- except on the second weekend of the third October following.
Stephen Jay Gould, professor of geology and zoology at Harvard University, has been quoted in response to the idea that the theory of evolution is just that, a theory. He says, "Nonsense. Evolution is as real as gravity. Whether you believe in Newton's, Einstein's or somone else's explanation of it, the fact is that the apple still falls."
We prefer Malcom Muggeridge's categorization of evolution as a non-theory. He said that in retrospect, evolution will be seen as one of the great jokes of history. Some of us are already laughing, but the folks at Harvard don't have a sense of humor.
World magazine contained an interview with Hugh Ross on NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE for short). Hugh Ross is with the California-based Reasons to Believe ministry. Mr. Ross said, "For a long time now we have known that the big bang was a correct description of the universe . . . And that by itself is enough to establish that we are dealing with the God of the Bible . . ."
We are glad that Christians can have this confidence that the big bang really happened. And we encourage all Christians to retain that confidence (are we not saved by faith?) until the secular scientists abandon the big-bang theory. And then we should too, of course. Gotta keep up, gotta keep up. The demands of scholarship are really something! Fifty yards behind, huffing and puffing, we gotta keep up.
A recent article in The Toronto Star shows that the educationoids up North are afflicted with the same problem confronting our education experts. Seems that a willingness to go for "whole language" instruction in reading is just as crazy up there, and is getting the very same results!
It is just a matter of time before the thought-control crowd in the "politically-correct" movement remembers to add the Phoenicians to their hit list -- after all, they invented the phonetic alphabet.
And some of our readers may have seen the bumper sticker that reads, "Question authority."
Yeah? Says who?
