Sojka's Call

In the recent NY Times Op-Ed by Maureen Dowd, Is Pleasure a Sin? which highlights the current discussion of "Just Love: a Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics,” a book by Sister Margaret Farley — a 77-year-old professor emeritus at Yale’s Divinity School, past president of the Catholic Theological Society of America and an award-winning scholar, we once again are confronted with organized religions attempt to control human activity that many argue is personal and not subject to religious laws. I would go further and say that this applies not only to sexual activity but the use of recreational drugs like marijuana, psilocybin mushrooms, peyote, etc that all at least mimic spiritual experience and many would argue, actually induce real spiritual experience. Why does the United States have laws against sexual acts still on the books of several states? It is still unlawful in many states for heterosexual couples to engage in certain sexual acts even if married and in their own h...

An old New England saying is that a farting horse never tires . Could it be true for the economy as well? I was reminded of this saying when reading the article below by First Trust Advisors. Maybe the fits and starts and hiccups the economy is seeing should be seen as good news and we should change our focus. What do you think? The Plow Horse Rolls On Turn on the television, pick up the newspaper, search the Internet and you will find story after story about Greece, JP Morgan, austerity, the labor force, student loans, California, the G-8, or the Facebook IPO.  Just about every bit of the coverage is negative. 

This link to an video interview with Dan Milllman has some very insightful words by Mr. Millman. In the past, certain friends have accused me of being a pacifist because of my opposition to various United States military operations in other countries. Try as I might to convince them that is not true, they continue to hold that mistaken belief. Mr. Millman summed up my basic philosophy at 6:40 into the interview. He stated the following. Let me define the term Peaceful Warrior. All of us are seeking to live with a peaceful heart but there are times when we need a warrior spirit. If we have to fight, let’s fight for something and not against something.  There is a much different spirit in fighting for something than fighting against something, rebelling, angry – fighting against something. I am not an idealist/pacifist.  In other words I would not let someone beat me to death, my family to death, because of my philosophy of non-violence. I believe in kindness whenever po...

It’s Real Growth, Not Just Sugar  Check out the link above, the data Wesbury presents and his argument about the role of new technology. My intuition says he is right but I have been fooled before.

Politics in the US have gotten mean. It seems that more of the meanness is coming from the Republican side, but, then I see this study by Jesse Graham, Brian A. Nosek, and Jonathan Haidt at the University of Virginia that says most likely my liberal bias is blinding me to the caring nature of my conservative friends. They investigated the moral stereotypes liberals and conservatives have of themselves and each other and made an interesting discovery. In reality, liberals endorse the individual-focused moral concerns of compassion and fairness more than conservatives do, and conservatives endorse the group-focused moral concerns of ingroup loyalty, respect for authorities and traditions, and physical/spiritual purity more than liberals do.  They found out that both liberals and conservatives correctly identified the other groups values but exaggerated them. What a surprise?! The surprise was that conservatives and moderates were more accurate than the liberals. Liberals exagge...

In When did our Politicians Stop Representing The Voters? Part 1 we discussed the Republican side and now in this Part 2 we look at how well the liberal side of the electorate is represented. To say that most liberals feel underwhelmed by President Obama is an understatement. Many feel downright betrayed.  The Johnathan Chait article   in the New Yorker traces liberal disappointment with any Democrat residing in the Whitehouse all the way back to FDR! And, now it is not surprising to see the same disillusionment by the left with President Obama. There never really was a honeymoon for the President - the howling started before he was inaugurated.

My email friends and I have some very spirited exchanges about politics bordering on acrimonious and sometimes going over the line. About half of them will vote for whomever the Pubs put up, 40% want the best candidate and 10% will vote for Obama. Those in the Pub camp keep pointing to government regulations as their deciding factor. The rest want someone who will be good for the economy primarily. They asked me for my opinion.