A Thinking Reed

  • First Things and climate denialism

    John Schwenkler with an excellent post taking down First Thing‘s resident climate change denialist, Thomas Sieger Derr. I’m not sure if I’ve changed or it has, but I used to really enjoy reading FT and was a faithful subscriber for about ten years. It introduced me to a lot of contemporary theology offered at a…

  • “The war over Waxman-Markey”

    Two helpful pieces from Mother Jones: Pass a flawed climate bill now, or wait for a better one? Environmentalists duke it out. The devil’s in the details of the new climate bill.

  • Public plan as second-best option

    Christian social ethicist Gary Dorrien argues that a publc health plan–at least one with teeth–could be an acceptable second-best option, in lieu of a single-payer plan, which he favors. I still don’t have firm views on specifically what kind of heath system reform is needed, but I am convinced that, as Dorrien puts it, “[h]ealth…

  • Creation’s travail

    To hear some anti-green conservatives tell it, you’d think that nature-worship and radical environmentalism were making major inroads into our society. Of course, the opposite is much closer to the truth: the general attitude toward the natural world that underlies most of our daily activities is one that regards nature as little more than a…

  • June metal releases

    Two I’m looking forward to: June 23–Darkest Hour, Eternal Return (DC-based melodic death metal) June 30–Killswitch Engage, self-titled (the kings of Boston metalcore; though there are worries that this album is their attempt to break through to mainstream success, suggesting parallels with a certain self-tilted metal/pop crossover circa 1991…)

  • We’re number 37! USA! USA!

    The World Health Organization ranks the world’s health care systems. EDIT: Note that the ranking is several years out of date. I mistakenly thought it was new data. Post in haste, repent at leisure, I guess…

  • The resurrection of Eastern Market

    My wife and I live about a block and a half from Eastern Market, but the fire that gutted the building happended just before we moved here, about two years ago. Since then, the butchers, fish-monger, etc. have been housed in a makeshift building across the street, while the weekend produce vendors set their stalls…

  • One sentence movie review: Revolutionary Road

    I can’t decide if it was a good movie that failed to acheive greatness due to a couple of glaring flaws, or just a really well-made, but fundamentally bad movie.

  • What GHG emissions?

    Congress exempts factory farms from reporting their greenhouse gas emissions. Related, here’s an analysis of Waxman-Markey from the National Wildlife Federation.

  • John Gray on Isaiah Berlin

    Berlin is remembered by philosophers for defending ethical pluralism – the claim that human values make conflicting claims that cannot always be rationally reconciled – and arguing that this pluralism is the true basis of a liberal society. The argument is hardly demonstrative – if values can conflict in ways that have no rational solution,…