Category Archives: Social Commentary

Ingrates

Commenter Josh Reiter has some second-hand reporting from the Houston evacuee site:

Many of the people while screaming in anger, spitting, and fist pounding while demanding that they receive better food. Note above that my girlfriend has eaten the food there at the convention center and describes it as the same quality that you’d get at a Chili’s, Fridays, or at worst a Boston Market. They were angrily demanding McDonalds’ value meals to satiate their palates.

One young girl who was pregnant was asked where she was from. She very quietly mumbled something while several people were talking loudly and the buzz of lighting ballasts blared overhead. When asked to repeat herself the girl grabbed the clipboard and pen out of her hand and scribbled a series of indecipherable letters on the form. Then, threw them back down in disgust…

…I understand that anger is one of the natural reponses to a tragic situation. But there is a difference between venting types of anger and those in which someone really shows their true colors. They did nothing but display direct anger at those things and people around them that they truly despise. I think we see here the reason these people are in the situation that they are in for a reason. These people have been giving shelter, comfortable beds, good food, free medical care, free medicine, and money. For which they have little or no consideration for those who are trying to help them or appreciation for what they are being given.

Mark Twain once wrote “…a dog will not bite the hand that feeds him. This is the principal difference between a man and a dog.”

They Say That Like It’s A Bad Thing

The number of PhDs being granted to Americans is apparently declining. I found this interesting, though unsurprising:

…many doctoral programs have low completion rates. Only about 40 percent of Ph.D. candidates in the humanities finish, compared with a 75 percent completion rate for doctoral candidates in the biological sciences.

Now, I am concerned about the lack of native borns (and hence people more likely to stay here after graduation) getting graduate science and technical degrees. But who thinks that fewer English, Women’s or Ethnic or Gay Studies, Communication, Journalism, Education, Psychology, or Anthropology doctorates will bring down the curtain on American civilization?

Along that note, I found this last part depressing:

The U.S. Department of Education reported that there were 6,967 degrees awarded for education in 2002, the most for any academic field…

An academic field that, in my opinion, shouldn’t even exist.

They Say That Like It’s A Bad Thing

The number of PhDs being granted to Americans is apparently declining. I found this interesting, though unsurprising:

…many doctoral programs have low completion rates. Only about 40 percent of Ph.D. candidates in the humanities finish, compared with a 75 percent completion rate for doctoral candidates in the biological sciences.

Now, I am concerned about the lack of native borns (and hence people more likely to stay here after graduation) getting graduate science and technical degrees. But who thinks that fewer English, Women’s or Ethnic or Gay Studies, Communication, Journalism, Education, Psychology, or Anthropology doctorates will bring down the curtain on American civilization?

Along that note, I found this last part depressing:

The U.S. Department of Education reported that there were 6,967 degrees awarded for education in 2002, the most for any academic field…

An academic field that, in my opinion, shouldn’t even exist.

They Say That Like It’s A Bad Thing

The number of PhDs being granted to Americans is apparently declining. I found this interesting, though unsurprising:

…many doctoral programs have low completion rates. Only about 40 percent of Ph.D. candidates in the humanities finish, compared with a 75 percent completion rate for doctoral candidates in the biological sciences.

Now, I am concerned about the lack of native borns (and hence people more likely to stay here after graduation) getting graduate science and technical degrees. But who thinks that fewer English, Women’s or Ethnic or Gay Studies, Communication, Journalism, Education, Psychology, or Anthropology doctorates will bring down the curtain on American civilization?

Along that note, I found this last part depressing:

The U.S. Department of Education reported that there were 6,967 degrees awarded for education in 2002, the most for any academic field…

An academic field that, in my opinion, shouldn’t even exist.

Weird Bleg

For any Catholics out there (and I don’t mean cafeteria Catholics), is gambling a sin? If you went to the Vatican, and asked the Pope if it’s OK to lay some money down on the horses, would he say, “go for it”?