Thinking ‘Bout the Reality-Based Community

I was always struck a little weird by the leftist claim to inhabit “the reality-based community.” Yesterday, I realized why. This is the same group of people who accept a basically Marxist methodology of economics and think that the solution to a recessed economy is to raise taxes. Reality-based community?

Listen, if you can’t figure out why the Soviets failed and the socialism-lite nations of Western Europe have big problems with unemployment, reality is not the bottom line of your thought-life. Better to go back to the stoner thing.

My Other Favorite Blog . . .

Is The American Scene, written primarily by Ross Douthat of The Atlantic Monthly. Ross just has an endlessly interesting grab bag of topics that typically hit my sweet spot of Christianity, politics, law, etc.

His latest entry is a very good discussion of whether the Narnia stories are actually allegory, which they are typically assumed to be. If you like Narnia or discussions of literary genre, you should check it out.

Promoting a Comment on Science: Evolution and I.D.

I’m going to do something I think will make our blog even more interesting. We had a commenter on the thread about evolution and intelligent design that Jay started who put in some serious effort to moving the conversation forward. So, I’m moving the comment up to the main page for the edification of any who would like to read it.

The identity of the commenter is a secret. We know him only as . . . Bubba.

Here it is:

Ok, since I WAS a Science major, not a Literature or a PolySci major as it appears most of those who post are, please let me ramble on for a minute.

The “Scientific Method” starts with a hypothesis, and tries to systematically go about to prove or disprove the hypothesis. “Science” is publishing your conclusions, along with your methods and materials, so that other “scientists” may review and prove or disprove your work with their own work, thus creating an open debate.

“Science” relies upon “laws” (e.g., Gravity, Thermodynamics, Motion) which have come to be relied upon as fact after multitudes of experiments and an innumerable number of blackboards of mathematical equations seem to be able to describe and predict the outcome of experiments relative to these “laws”.

OK, where am I headed? The statement was made “Scientifically there is no debate about evolution”. Balderdash. Go read some scientific journals. Open up a “Chemistry (or Physics) For Dummies” book. Use some intellectual integrity to subject your beliefs and theories to serious scrutiny.

Evolution is a theory that has been propounded, promulgated, and legislated without the accompaniment of hard scientific experimentation and data. In fact, the theory of Evolution is believable only after one has blinded one’s self to laws of Science which have been overwhelmingly proven and been accepted as fact for hundreds of years, such as Newton’s laws of thermodynamics, and the definitions of Entropy and Enthalpy.

Alternatively, there is no debate about the veracity of Evolution only if debate has been outlawed in the public forum, or the debaters are shouted down or called “religious extremists” by those who are afraid that open, honest SCIENTIFIC debate would not substantiate their pet theory.

Q: Where did the large molecules come from?

A: They were put together from small molecules after having been zapped with solar radiation.

Q: Where did the small molecules come from?

A: Energy fused micro-molecules together.

Q: Where did the micro-molecules come from?

A: Nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms.

Q: Where did the Nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms come from (since “Matter is neither created nor destroyed”)?

A: (no answer)

Q: Where did the solar radiation or the energy required to overcome the laws of Entropy come from?

A: (no answer)

The statement was made: “…I have no problem debating it and even reconciling it, but as tbm says, ID is not science, it’s religion…”

It is clear that to believe in the theory of Evolution as though it had been proven factually has become such a matter of complete ‘faith’, and is no less ‘a religion’ for its believers than the Evolutionists accuse those who believe in Intelligent Design, or “Heaven” forbid, those who believe in the Bibical account of Creation of having.

Goodbye, Genius: Peter Drucker Dies

I’m a history/law/religion type guy, but I didn’t know myself as a younger person and studied social sciences like economics/political science/public administration. One author who stands out to me from that period and whom I still enjoy reading is Peter Drucker. Here was an individual who wrote penetratingly about management and organizations and who launched no fads. There was no “Theory X” or “Re-engineering” with Drucker. He simply had an awesome sense of effectiveness and strategy. Accordingly, he was paid astronomical sums for his advice. Tom Peters, for instance, is fun, but he’s just a cheerleader compared with Drucker.

Fortune magazine has a good obit/homage to Drucker available:

He had a brilliant line that skewered both groups: “The reason reporters call these people gurus is that they’re not sure how to spell ‘charlatan.’”

and

Drucker simply didn’t care about the conventional view on any management topic, since he had thought them all through and knew where he stood. Yet I was still surprised by the vehemence with which he disdained the modern vogue for exalting leadership, as distinct from paltry old management. It infuriated him, though he was too polite to say so unless you asked him about it, which I did. His reasoning was extremely simple: “The three greatest leaders of the 20th century were Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. If that’s leadership, I want no part of it.”

and

There were many things Drucker wanted no part of. Big universities, for instance. He scorned them all to remain at tiny Claremont College—payback, perhaps, for the scorn they’d heaped on him early in his career. Economists dismissed his work as cheap sociology. Sociologists had no use for business. And Drucker was dismissive of them all. “No economists were interested in organizations,” he explained in a 2001 interview with my colleague, Jerry Useem. The field “was based on the asinine assumption that organizations act like individuals. They don’t.” Here, Drucker had sensed a huge opportunity. Like any great entrepreneur—“somebody who creates something new,” as he once defined the term—he was raiding these older disciplines to create one that didn’t yet exist. Physics sprang from Newton, economics from Adam Smith. And Peter Drucker became the undisputed father of management—the discipline devoted to the study of organizations.

Last time I went on a really good vacation, I took two books with me. One was David Brooks’ Bobos in Paradise. The other was Drucker’s The Effective Executive. He’ll be missed, but some of his predictions are still probably good for twenty more years or so. Start reading.

More Lyrics from Bob Roberts

Tom brought up Tim Robbins and I commented on the film Bob Roberts that Robbins made as a parody/paranoid comedy about right-wingers. I decided to look for the lyrics and found that Robbins refused to make a soundtrack because he didn’t want to hear the songs outside the context of the film. I suspect that’s the case because the songs are great conservative humor and would be heard for years to come.

Here are the lyrics of the song I mentioned in the comments to Tom’s post:

COMPLAIN

Some people will work
Some simply will not
But they’ll complain and complain and complain and complain and complain

Some people must have
Some never will
But they’ll complain and complain and complain and complain and complain

Like this:
It’s society’s fault I don’t have a job
It’s society’s fault I am a slob
I got potential no one can see
Give me welfare
Let me be me

Hey bud, you’re living in the land of the free
No one’s going to hand you opportunity

I spend all my time drunk in a bar
I want to be rich
I don’t have a brain
So give me a handout while I complain

Some people must have
Some never will
But they’ll complain and complain and complain and complain and complain

If anybody knows where I can get the lyrics to the rest of the songs short of getting a copy of the film and transcribing them, let me know.

GOP Woes and What the Dems Will Do about Samuel Alito

S.T. does a nice job of giving us the “what it all means” review of Tuesday’s events and I’d like to build on it. The Republican Party has fully lost its fashionable insurgency quality and is stuck with the unatractive prospect of just plain governing. Since Newt left, the GOP has not seemed much like the party of big ideas and the war has, in fact, gone on a lot longer than most expected (certainly at the popular level). Fact is, the GOP is on its heels. There is one saving grace. Unlike the GOP of the 80′s and early 90′s, the Democratic Party is not flush with exciting policy prescriptions. Nevertheless, the GOP doesn’t have much positive force right now. They haven’t proven the ability to deliver any of the basic agenda beyond some modest tax cuts. No cut in the size of government, no revolution in social security, no market-driven healthcare reforms, no school choice to speak of . . . just a lot of military action with a steady drip-drip of casualties blown into a flood by an unsympathetic press.

Here’s where Alito comes in. The only thing that saved Bill Clinton and the Dems, perhaps, was that they gained sympathy when conservatives appeared overzealous to crush him. A filibuster against Alito would constitute similar overreach and would give people a reason to rally around Bush and the GOP again. The Dems want to keep W. in the uncomfortable place he’s been stuck in for a while. They won’t offer him the easy way out of emerging as the gallant knight riding to the rescue of the well-qualified and dignified Samuel Alito. He’ll be confirmed with just a little more sturm and drang than John Roberts got.

Happy Belated Blogiversary to Us

On Oct. 18, 2004, The Reform Club launched into the roiling blogwaters of the Bush-Kerry 2004 conflict. S.T. Karnick (founding editor of American Outlook, contributor to everything) conceived it. Hunter Baker (Religion/Politics Ph.D. seeker, former public policy professional, contributor to lots of online mags, — mainly TAS) filled out the blogwork and made the first post. And, oh yeah, this guy named Alan Reynolds (minor deity of supply-side economics, Cato Institute) was on board POSTING (kidding, Alan, I kid because I love).

I kept thinking that I would remember to commemorate the occasion, but I didn’t and neither did anybody else. We’re sentimental fools here, aren’t we?

If memory serves, Alan told us we should invite Ben Zycher, which we did. With a stroke, we became multi-faith and added our second well-known economist. Next, we invited this fellow Jay Homnick (Jewish World Review, TAS, ghostwriter), whose articles I used to link because I was in wonderment at his facility with wordplay. Then came Kathy Hutchins, who knew S.T. from the Hudson Institute days and whose comments were begging for a more prominent placement. Ditto Tom Van Dyke, whose achievements I mentioned recently (hint, he wrote the quote that got us in Newsweek and everywhere else). And finally, Herb London (NYU Prof. and Hudson Institute president) joined up and brought us full circle because he co-founded American Outlook with S.T. Karnick.

I suppose you could say American Outlook folded its tent and experienced reincarnation as The Reform Club.

Enter Bonhoeffer: The Letters and Papers from Prison

Many TRC readers know that I’m powering my way through a massive pile of books in preparation for my doctoral prelims. The next book on the list is Bonhoeffer’s Letters and Papers from Prison. My only previous encounter with this book had to do with my sister’s wedding. She asked that I do a reading, so I consulted the very knowledgeable Ralph Wood (religion and literature) scholar at Baylor. He recommended the wedding sermon from a prison cell, which was perfect:

As high as God is above man, so high are the sanctity, the rights, and the promise of marriage above the sanctity, the rights, and the promise of love. It is not your love that sustains the marriage, but from now on, the marriage that sustains your love.

Not a popular sentiment today, but a true one, I think.

In any case, I am going to find out just what the soon-to-be hanged 39 year old Lutheran thought he was doing when he resisted Hitler in Germany’s churches and then joined a plot to assassinate him. I do know that he met his finish believing it was just the beginning.

I’d love to see comments or insights from anyone who has read the Rev. Bonhoeffer.

The New Baylor Pres. Speaks

In an interview with the Waco Tribune-Herald, new Baylor president John Lilley gave the answer that shows he’s on board with the university’s vision. Here’s the relevant exchange:

Q: Here at Baylor, there have been a couple of issues that have been controversial for faculty and others. One is the integration of faith and learning. What do you see as the proper roles for those?

A: Well, the whole issue of Baylor’s intention of holding a Christian university in a Baptist tradition, that’s at the heart of what Baylor is. In the history of this country, almost all the private schools of any age were founded by churches, and very few of them remain. Most have simply become really outstanding private universities or colleges. And so that was a decision that someone along the way made. And our regents have made the decision, as confirmed by the faculty senate, that Baylor will be intentional about being a Christian university. And Baylor will work at it, as it were. As far as how to do that, where there are disagreements – well, let’s rejoice over the agreements, then focus on the disagreements and see how we can work through those. And so it’s just kind of a common-sense approach for recognizing, as I said earlier, that the faculty are the heart of this operation. And we have to be unified. Now that’s not some false unity, that’s genuine unity. I’m confident we can work though theses issues. My impression is that interim president Underwood has been working steadily on them. And I know no one would be happier about a common understanding than Chancellor Robert Sloan.

Looks like Baylor is in good hands. It’s also a very good sign that Lilley doesn’t run away from association with Robert Sloan.

Christianity Today on Baylor’s New President

Because Christianity Today’s weblog doesn’t isolate individual blog topics, I’ll reproduce their post in full for your convenience:

Baylor’s new president

Those of you who have watched the Battle for Baylor will be interested to learn that the university has a new president. It’s John Lilley, who previously led the University of Nevada at Reno and Pennsylvania State University-Erie. He’s a Baylor grad, but perhaps not a Baptist. In Erie, he was a ruling elder of the First Presbyterian Church of the Covenant, a PCUSA church. But the Baylor press release says “While a student at Baylor and USC, Dr. Lilley, a licensed Baptist minister, served as minister of music at two Baptist churches.” He told today’s press conference that he’ll be attending First Baptist.

Weblog doesn’t know much about him, but it’s worth noting that Hunter Baker, who has written on Baylor fights for Christianity Today, says, “He will be in favor of the faith-learning integration project already underway and will continue on the path to making Baylor a true research university.”

Also, it’s worth noting that the BaylorFans message board, largely populated by the kinds of people who thought that former Baylor president Robert Sloan was a “fundamentalist” bent on destroying the university, is generally upset with the appointment.

So it sounds like good news. But we’ll withhold judgment until we can actually do some reporting on this.

Just to be clear, CT misquoted me slightly. I prefaced the remark above by saying it was based on what I’ve heard so far from scattered sources. Nevertheless, I’ve seen the new president’s first press conference and thought it was great stuff. The board seems to have unearthed a gem. I liked what John Lilley had to say very much.

Now, let’s see what he does about picking a Provost.

Baylor Resolution: New President

I made no secret that I would have liked to have seen Robert Sloan return to the Baylor presidency to finish what he started, but it looks like the board has replaced the interim with a completely new candidate or is just about to do so.

The new president will be John Lilley, who is currently president of the University of Nevada-Reno. Based on what I’ve heard in scattered information, he will be in favor of the faith-learning integration project already underway and will continue on the path to making Baylor a true research university.

He is an older man, in his mid to late 60′s, I think, and may well be a transitional figure. Some wonder whether Union University’s David Dockery will eventually become president of Baylor.

A Skoche More on Newsweek and Reform Club

I mentioned the other day that Reform Club made the Newsweek Blogwatch, but I didn’t give specifics for those interested.

It’s the Nov. 7, 2005 issue and appears on page 18.

A Light Fades, Darkness Falls

When Black GOP congressman J.C. Watts was considering retirement, he received the following note:

“Dear Congressman Watts, thank you for your years of service to the United States House of Representatives. Many people are proud you have been dedicated to an opportunity few people of African-American descent have in this land. If you can, please remain as a pioneer on the Republican side until others come to assist you. I am glad I stayed in my seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus December 1, 1955. I did not know at that time people would rally as they did. I was pleased about their support, but it has sometimes been lonely.

“Through the years my life has had peaks and valleys, but I have never been sorry about my decision. The Lord has always provided.

“I would also like you to keep your seat and not think of your mantle as heavy, but think that you are chosen to prepare the way.

“Peace and prosperity, Rosa Parks.”

She obviously reasoned that it would be good for Black folks to have friends and influence on both sides of the aisle, instead of just one.

DRUDGE links to a story about the attacks Black gubernatorial candidate Michael Steele can expect from Black Democrats.

Black Democratic leaders in Maryland say that racially tinged attacks against Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele in his bid for the U.S. Senate are fair because he is a conservative Republican.

Such attacks against the first black man to win a statewide election in Maryland include pelting him with Oreo cookies during a campaign appearance, calling him an “Uncle Tom” and depicting him as a black-faced minstrel on a liberal Web log.

Operatives for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) also obtained a copy of his credit report — the only Republican candidate so targeted.

But black Democrats say there is nothing wrong with “pointing out the obvious.”

“There is a difference between pointing out the obvious and calling someone names,” said a campaign spokesman for Kweisi Mfume, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate and former president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

R.I.P., Rosa Parks. You were not only brave but wise. Your successors are craven and foolish. But that is pointing out the obvious.

Not So Fast

No doubt about it: I am a cynic among cynics, even amidst the rarified cynicism of the Reform Club atmosphere. Nonetheless, the argument that the Dem memo on Alito and the Mob implies only ineffectiveness on the part of Alito the prosecutor, and not friendliness toward those Italians whose professional pursuits are encased in euphemism is—how can I say this gently?—a lot of blarney. Why even discuss such an issue if “competence” is the focus; except for the Chief Justice (and even for him a minor matter), administrative skills are far below sea level on the importance priority list for Court Justices. No, it is obvious that the central purpose of this memo was to imply a certain degree of corruption on the part of Alito, a corruption perhaps tribal rather than financial in its orientation. That this could not be said directly also is obvious, but what is equally true is that the intellectual corruption of the Democratic Left is so consuming that the adverse political effects of such amateurish “arguments” remain obscured by the Pavlovian impulse to sling mud. And so please forgive me, but I stand by my earlier argument to the effect that this memo was a (draft) attempt to shower wet manure on Alito; that it was dumb and certain to backfire implies stupidity rather than an absence of malice.

That Big Spicy Italian Meatball

For whatever it’s worth, I am amazed—truly—at the political stupidity of the Dems, the latest manifestation of which is this (draft?) memo arguing or suggesting that Alito as prosecutor went easy on the gangsters because they’re all part of that big happy Italian spicy meatball family. Or something. I just cannot believe that anyone with more IQ points than teeth thought that this would be a winning argument. Am I missing something? Or was politics more fun when the disingenuousness was subtle? And all those Democratic Senators from the Northeast who have lots of Italian constituents? How fast will they be able to backpedal away from this?

Oh, Please Let It Stop: Sekulow and Apparent Financial Stewardship Issues

Nothing burns me like hearing that leaders of various Christian ministries are living the big life in big houses with fast cars and swimming pools all paid for by the donations of regular folks.

These men and women get a television or radio show and start taking large salaries or get houses and cars subsidized. The justification is that they’d be making much more in the secular world.

My response: Guess what, good Christian? You are supposedly engaging in a ministry and that entails certain sacrifices. More is expected of you and you are supposed to expect less for yourself.

The latest article in the series of disappointments focuses on Jay Sekulow:

But there is another side to Jay Sekulow, one that, until now, has been obscured from the public. It is the Jay Sekulow who, through the ACLJ and a string of interconnected nonprofit and for-profit entities, has built a financial empire that generates millions of dollars a year and supports a lavish lifestyle — complete with multiple homes, chauffeur-driven cars, and a private jet that he once used to ferry Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

That less-known side of Sekulow was revealed in several interviews with former associates of his and in hundreds of pages of court and tax documents reviewed by Legal Times. Critics say Sekulow’s lifestyle is at odds with his role as the head of a charitable organization that solicits small donations for legal work in God’s name.

For example, in 2001 one of Sekulow’s nonprofit organizations paid a total of $2,374,833 to purchase two homes used primarily by Sekulow and his wife. The same nonprofit also subsidized a third home he uses in North Carolina.

At various times in recent years, Sekulow’s wife, brother, sister-in-law, and two sons have been on the boards or payrolls of organizations under his control or have received generous payments as contractors. Sekulow’s brother Gary is the chief financial officer of both nonprofit organizations that fund his activities, a fact that detractors say diminishes accountability for his spending.

In his defense, he points out that he could be billing $750 an hour at a private firm. If the money is what you value, then go get it in the private sector. Stop the direct mailings and the big appeals to people struggling the pay the mortgage. They don’t know too little goes to cover the cases, while too much goes into your residence.

But You Already Had Your Fifteen Minutes . . . TRC and Newsweek

When The Reform Club was a bit younger, I noticed the excellent comments to our posts by a fellow calling himself “TVD” and urged him to reveal himself. He did and I asked Tom Van Dyke, legal headhunter, game show champion, and musician to join our act.

Tom came on board and is the original source for our now stupendously well-circulated line claiming that to be “miered” is to be “unscrupulously torpedoed by an ally.” He hasn’t gotten the credit because the media powers that be refuse to give him any additional time after his stints as champion of Joker’s Wild and Win Ben Stein’s Money (a show that will be remembered for unleashing the amazing half talent Jimmy Kimmel upon the world).

Gwinnett County budget-meister Jay Vinicki (a very longtime personal friend of an entire lifespan) called me to say that The Reform Club is once again in the mass media as part of Newsweek’s Blog Watch. Color me impressed.

Thanks, Mr. Van Dyke. Great things may lie ahead. I can remember when we were thrilled to be mentioned at NRO’s The Corner. (Actually, we’d be thrilled to see that again. Do it, Goldberg. Do it, Ramesh.)

I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that I dispute (and disputed) the definition of being “miered.” In my book, Ms. Harriet was not torpedoed and it was not unscrupulous. The cannon were all fired from above the surface of the water and war was fairly declared. The result was a good one.

Still, the turn of phrase was brilliant and there is NO argument about that.

Proud to be a Baylor Bear

The Intercollegiate Studies Institute has released its most recent guide to choosing colleges and Baylor made their top ten list of colleges that emphasize American values:

6. Baylor University, Waco, Texas – This Baptist school, with a solid teaching tradition and a newly beefed-up faculty, is a place where conservative students can get a solid liberal arts education. It has one of the best core curricula of any school. Students are required to follow a structured curriculum and to demonstrate a proficiency in a foreign language. General education requirements make up more than half of a student’s course load.

College Democrats and Republicans coexist on the Baylor campus, along with a flourishing chapter of the Young Conservatives of Texas, a popular political group that has chapters on campuses throughout the state.

Baylor’s enrollment has been booming lately. This year’s record is likely to be eclipsed significantly by next year’s group. Interested parties should remember to thank one Robert Sloan.

Christian Socialist, Meet Christian Libertarian

Jim Wallis gets a lot of mileage out of being the evangelical with a social conscience. In other words, he votes Democrat most of the time. Certain other top-drawer evangelicals swing that way, too, reflecting what I think is usually fear of being labeled a member of the “ignorant” and “non-compassionate” right. The question is, how correct is Wallis in his inclination to lean left? Is he more biblically-correct in his pro-life, but economically statist positions?

Doug Bandow of the Cato Institute does a nice job of addressing the question in his latest for American Spectator. Here’s a representative clip from the review of one of Wallis’ books:

WALLIS PRESENTS HIS VISION as a fourth option to conservatives, liberals, and libertarians. In his view it “follows from the prophetic religious tradition.” In sum, “it is traditional or conservative on issues of family values, sexual integrity, and personal responsibility, while being very progressive, populist, or even radical on issues like poverty and racial justice. It affirms good stewardship of the earth and its resources, supports gender equality, and is more internationally minded than nationalist.”

One can make good prudential policy arguments on behalf of all of these positions. But while God says much about people’s relationship to him and each other, he says very little about when people should coerce each other — that is, what government should do. And this failure to distinguish personal moral imperatives from prudential political concerns places him squarely where he does not want to be: standing between Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell.

Perhaps no where is this more evident than Wallis’s reflexive rejection of “tax cuts for the rich.” However, the money is not a “public good” to be spent either on government projects or gifts for the wealthy. Rather, the money has been collected from the very people to whom it is being returned. In fact, the rich pay the vast majority of income taxes: for instance, the top one percent pay more than a third of revenues. So any fair tax cut means that the rich will receive more than will the poor. One can justify progressive taxation and social spending, but one must make the argument, rather than simply denounce “tax cuts for the rich.”

Similarly flawed is Wallis’s discussion of poverty, both domestic and international. No faithful Christian can ignore the enormity of the problem of poverty. But a requirement that one help the poor does not authorize one to force others to help the poor. You will search Scripture long and hard to find such an authorization.

I think Bandow has hit the nail on the head. It’s refreshing to read such a well-informed bit of reasoning on church and state. I’ve often hoped someone would address these issues raised by the Wallis position and am glad to see Doug Bandow gets the job done so in such measured fashion. The entire review is worth reading.