400-408 – • News Journal Online (12/4/2011) World War II veterans living links to history. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that 740 World War II veterans die each day, and that the 16.1 million Americans who once served during those years has dwindled to 1.7 million. The VA predicts the last World War II veteran will die in 2036. About how many Americans are 100 years old or older? As of 11/1/2008, about 96,548.
World War II (1941 –1945):
Total Americans who served: 16.1 million
Battle deaths: 291,557
Wounded: 670,846
Living veterans: 1.7 million
(:13) FDR- Infamy Pearl Harbor comment.
• Lee Dye (ABC News, 12/7/2011) Atheists Who Go to Church: Doing It for the Children. The December issue of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion reports that of the 61% of scientists who are atheist or agnostic, 17% of them actually attend church – "for the sake of the kids" – exposing their children to religion and encouraging them to "make up their own minds about religion." The research was based on in-depth interviews with 275 scientists at 21 "elite" research universities in the United States.
413-423 – Calls – For those of you, like me, who were raised in a non-religious home, how did you "get religion"? How did you become a Christian? What persuaded you to change your mind and your life? How many of you started going to church "for the sake of the kids"? But, aren't we responsible to teach our children what is right and wrong, true and false, good and bad? Including religion? Please don't tell your children, "You're a Christian because you grew up in a Christian family. The issue is whether it is true or not, regardless of how you grow up." Or, as Dallas Willard would ask, "Is there such a thing as moral knowledge?"
428-438 – Calls –
443-452 – Calls –
458-508 – Dr. Christine Whelan (christinewhelan.com) is a sociologist at the University of Pittsburgh, with a new eBook coming out in January entitled 7 Steps for Self Control. Her earlier books were Generation WTF: From What the #$%&! to a Wise, Tenacious, and Fearless You: Advice on How to Get There from Experts and WTFers Just Like You (generationwtf.com), and Marry Smart: The Intelligent Woman's Guide to True Love, and Why Smart Men Marry Smart Women. Christine is Catholic, and she writes a relationship & dating column at bustedhalo.com. She and her husband, Peter, live and work in Pittsburgh with their dictator cats, Chairman Meow and Evita Purrron, and their 5-month old twins Daniel and Eleanor. Today we talk about her new book, and rebranding WTF to stand for "Wise, Tenacious, and Fearless," and teaching the classic virtues of perseverance, honesty, self-control, and thrift without using the names Aquinas or Aristotle, but by using names like Dale Carnegie and Steven Covey. Christine did her dissertation on self-help literature.
512-523 – Dr. Christine Whelan
528-539 – Dr. Christine Whelan
544-554 – Dr. Christine Whelan
558-608 – Calls – Your advice to someone going for an interview?
612-623 – • Kim Geiger (LAT, 12/6/2011) Hillary Clinton calls on world not to discriminate against gays. In a speech for Human Rights Day, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton calls protecting rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people 'one of the remaining human rights challenges.'
• Fox News (12/7/2011) Lawmakers Blast Administration For Calling Fort Hood Massacre 'Workplace Violence'.
Calls – Not all religions are equal, some are better than others, and to even say "better" assumes there is a transcendent, objective moral order external to the specific religion. As Dennis Prager would ask, "Is your religion making you a better person?" Among the world's religions, isn't the point, which one is true? Which one makes the best people? And to find the best practitioner of a religion, don't you go to the Founder? Would you prefer your kids grow up to be more like Mohammed or Jesus?
628-639 – • Fox News (12/7/2011) HHS Secretary Sebelius Halts Over-the-Counter Morning-After Pill. As a secularist, on what possible grounds can you argue against allowing Plan B to be available to anyone of any age without a prescription, if we're already throwing condoms at sixth graders believing "there's nothing we can do about it, they're going to do it anyway"? Safety?
In a surprise move, the nation's health secretary stopped the Plan B morning-after pill from moving onto drugstore shelves next to the condoms, deciding Wednesday that young girls shouldn't be able to buy it on their own.
The Food and Drug Administration was preparing to lift a controversial age limit and make Plan B One-Step the nation's first over-the-counter emergency contraceptive, available for purchase by people of any age without a prescription.
But Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius intervened at the eleventh hour and overruled her own experts.
Plan B instead will remain behind the pharmacy counter, as it is sold today -- available without a prescription only for those 17 and older who show an ID proving their age.
Sebelius' reason: Some girls as young as 11 are physically capable of bearing children, and Plan B's maker didn't prove that younger girls could properly understand how to use this product without guidance from an adult.
"It is common knowledge that there are significant cognitive and behavioral differences between older adolescent girls and the youngest girls of reproductive age," Sebelius said in a statement. "I do not believe enough data were presented to support the application to make Plan B One-Step available over-the-counter for all girls of reproductive age." //
644-654 – • News Journal Online (12/4/2011) World War II veterans living links to history. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that 740 World War II veterans die each day, and that the 16.1 million Americans who once served during those years has dwindled to 1.7 million. The VA predicts the last World War II veteran will die in 2036. About how many Americans are 100 years old or older? As of 11/1/2008, about 96,548.
World War II (1941 –1945):
Total Americans who served: 16.1 million
Battle deaths: 291,557
Wounded: 670,846
Living veterans: 1.7 million
(:13) FDR- Infamy Pearl Harbor comment.
• Lee Dye (ABC News, 12/7/2011) Atheists Who Go to Church: Doing It for the Children. The December issue of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion reports that of the 61% of scientists who are atheist or agnostic, 17% of them actually attend church – "for the sake of the kids" – exposing their children to religion and encouraging them to "make up their own minds about religion." The research was based on in-depth interviews with 275 scientists at 21 "elite" research universities in the United States.
