The classes I’ve taken in cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience led me to believe that the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis had been discredited. It seems, however, that research of a similar vein has been published. Maybe there’s something to the idea after all.
A week ago, I posted about some electoral
vote projection sites. Here are a few more (plus the old ones). Some are biased
to Kerry. Others are biased to Bush. All say that Kerry would win handily if the
election were held today.
Election
Projection
Daly
Thoughts
Federal
Review
Coldheart’s
Projections
Race 2004
Professor Pollkatz Pool
of Polls
Electoral
Vote Predictor 2004
I’ve seen a lot of headlines about Deal Hudson of late. I had no desire to add another.
However, I found this bit from the Catholic World News Weekly News Summary worth
noting. (I don’t have a link for it because it seems the summaries are sent via email only without web publication. If someone has a link, let me know.)
“By now you may be wondering why I haven’t listed another news story that burst upon us this week: the resignation of Deal Hudson, editor of Crisis magazine, from his role as adviser to the Bush presidential campaign. Frankly, I wish I could avoid the topic altogether, because I have nothing good to say about it. The expose published by the National Catholic Reporter was obviously malicious; that very liberal paper was determined to damage a prominent Catholic conservative.
On the other hand, in the past few years we’ve learned, the hard way, to distinguish between the messenger and the message. Time after time, secular publications have carried shocking stories about Catholic priests and prelates, and although those publications may have been guided by anti-Catholic prejudice, the shocking stories proved to be true. Facts are facts, no matter who reports them.
At CWN we have made an editorial commitment to pursue the truth without blinking, to publish the facts as we know them, and to let the chips fall where they may. There have been many times when I’ve wished that we could ignore the facts, many times when I’ve wished we could avoid mentioning another aspect of the scandal that has troubled our Church. But if we did that, we would betray our own principles, and I firmly believe that in doing so we would damage the cause of Catholicism. How often have Catholic leaders ignored or even actively concealed wrongdoing, explaining that this was “for the good of the Church?” And how often has their silence created a far greater scandal?
So we’re not going to cover up the facts in this case. The charges against Deal Hudson are, unfortunately, very grave. If the story in the National Catholic Reporter is accurate– or even close to accurate– then his conduct was neatly parallel to that of the clerics who shamefully exploited young people and then demanded (or bought) their silence. I can’t condemn one and condone the other.
While I’d prefer to think that the charges are false, I cannot in good conscience dismiss them. Nor do I think that other readers should dismiss them– even if you support the Bush administration, even if you admire Crisis magazine, even if you disdain the National Catholic Reporter. The great crisis of our time, the great scandal in Catholicism, is caused not sexual immorality, but by a favor to tell the truth– in season and out of season, when it’s convenient and when it hurts. ” [my emphasis]
Frequent readers are familiar with Jerry Nora. Well, he and his new bride need some
prayers. Before I tell you why, here’s some background information to this story.
A little over a year ago, Jerry bought a house in a decent neighborhood surrounded
by not-so-decent neighborhoods. He put a lot of blood sweat and tears into that
house. He, with the help of slave labor his friends, he replaced the shingles
on his very steep roof. He brought plumbers in to fix two very nasty sewage problems.
As one of the people who cleaned up the back-flow, I can assure it was not a fun
experience. To fix the problem, much of the basement floor had to be ripped up and
dig into. It was not cheap and not fun for those who dwelt in the house (trust me).
The second repair job required turning the front yard into the Grand Canyon. That,
too, was expensive and stressful. Later, he and Krystia washed over a decade of
tobacco tar from, added coats of primer to, and painted the walls of several rooms
in the house. When I visited about a month after I moved out, I hardly recognized
the place. They had a nice house, lived in what they thought to be a safe neighborhood,
and were newlyweds. Life was good.
Earlier this month, I
posted about the indie rock band Brother’s upcoming “Stem
Cell Awareness” tour. The news has gone beyond a mailing to fans and is now available on their website for all to see. Once again, I urge those who oppose embryonic stem
cell research to ask the band to specify which forms of research they support and
politely ask them to not support embryonic research.
I never thought I’d be fisking one of my favorite bands, but…