Welcome To My Blogs: There Are Five

This one has my Radio Show Topics.
Check out my Articles, DVD Reviews, Ethics Class, or Thoughts of the Day.
I recommend you get my daily email, which covers everything.
Hear my show live or read my story.
Anyone can post comments on any of these blogs, just not anonymously. I hope you'll do so. Enjoy.
Call the show at (602) 274-1360 or (866) 896-1360.
E-mail me at atallman (at) salemphx.com.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Theological Tuesday

~Michael Guillen “Can a Smart Person Believe in God?”
~Spencer has a question.
~Was Paul serious about not knowing anything but Christ and Him crucified?
~Did Job really exist?
~What percentage of your decisions should God get?
~Do you believe places have spiritual mojo?
~Does God know your sins?

Monday, February 8, 2010

Ethics: Loving Your Neighbor As Yourself

I suppose most all of us know the two great Commandments: Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and to Love your neighbor as yourself. In fact, I suppose we’ve heard these so often that, in some sense, we’ve almost become numb to them. So, tonight I thought it would be interesting to take some time and ask the question: What would it really look like to love your neighbor as much as you love yourself?

Ads You Actually Remember

It’s customary in the wake of the Super Bowl to talk about which ads were the best and the worst. But the real test of memorability is not whether you can recall an ad within 24 hours of seeing it in a venue where you are predisposed to purposely pay extra attention to the advertising. The real test of memorability is whether you recall an ad at a much later time, perhaps more than one year (or five years) later. Moreover, it’s not enough to merely remember the ad, but for an ad to succeed, you must be able to remember enough connected information to take action on the product or service if you wanted to at that later date. So, trying to put aside the very influential power of ads you’ve seen recently and/or frequently, which ads are memorable enough to you that you know them even years later?

Links:
Super Bowl 2010 Ads (Video)

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Various Current Events

A crime theory demolished (Heather MacDonald) (WSJ)
Haiti arrests 10 Baptists over child rescue (Christian Post)
Case stokes Haiti’s fear for children (NYT)
Strong on zeal, thin on knowledge (Christianity Today)
LaHood scares Toyota owners (CBS)
LaHood backtracks on statement (CBS)
WH: No conflict in LaHood’s gaffe (CBS)
Study says abstinence programs may work (Wash Post)
Case for abstinence education (Heritage Fdn)
IPCC embarrassed again (Telegraph)
AZ may ease gun laws (AZ Republic)
Phoenix to tax food 2% (AZ Republic)
New DPS director critical on speed cameras (AZ Republic)
CA bill would protect clergy who won’t marry gays (SF Chronicle)
MA adds brushing to preschool regimen (NYT)
Scott Brown sworn into Senate (CBS)
Lancet retracts paper linking vaccine to autism (Wash Post)
An online reality show about abortion (Wash Post)
How accurate is Punxsutawney Phil? (CS Monitor)
Gallup poll, America is conservative (Gallup)
Warner: Jesus brought me here (Christian Post)
Atheists upset about Mother Theresa stamp (Christian Post)
TN school board OKs Bible standards (Christian Post)
PETA wants robot instead of Groundhog (CS Monitor)
Deficits are serious (NYT)
Verdict against vigilantism (NYT)
Playing to learn (NYT)

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Wacky Wednesday--Certainty is bad

Note: Before reading the following arguments, please understand that they are not what I believe. On Wednesdays, I deliberately argue for wrong ideas, challenging my listeners to call and defend the obvious right answer, which is usually far harder than one would expect. This is a summary of what Wacky Andrew will be arguing, not a representation of what real Andrew believes.

~Certain is the opposite of being open-minded, and we all know it’s good to keep an open mind.
~Uncertainty is the precondition of faith. So if you have certainty, you can’t have faith.
~Certainty alienates skeptics because it inclines you to not take their doubts or questions seriously.
~Certainty means being committed to something, and when you’re committed to it, you are psychologically motivated to not delve into things that may undermine your commitment.
~Certainty overstates things you can’t prove.
~It’s unscientific to be certain because it’s not open to revision.
~Fanaticism is just a less generous way to describe certainty.
~How can you reconcile humility with the arrogance of certainty? Shouldn’t a humble person, aware of his own failings and limitations, be more prone to admitting that he might be wrong about some things, even big things?
~If everyone adopts a position of certainty about things they disagree over, how can you ever reconcile?
~If different people are certain of incompatible things, well, at least some (if not all) of them have to be wrong, right?

Wacky Wednesday: Football Should Be Banned

Note: Before reading the following arguments, please understand that they are not what I believe. On Wednesdays, I deliberately argue for wrong ideas, challenging my listeners to call and defend the obvious right answer, which is usually far harder than one would expect. This is a summary of what Wacky Andrew will be arguing, not a representation of what real Andrew believes.

~We say we hate the injuries, but that’s like saying that NASCAR fans hate crashes. We love the hits, even if we hate the hurts.
~Increased padding leads people to play and hit even harder because they think it’s safer to do so. ~This is a classic case of moral hazard.
~The sort of damage you find in players’ brains is very similar to the sort of damage you see in the brains of boxers.
~It's violent, just like the Coliseum.
~Look at how the money corrupts the sport. It cultivates misguided hope for millions of minority teens who see the big bucks instead of the academic slow way to success.
~Bad people get a huge stage to influence children.
~Association with alcohol.
~It causes marital dischord because so many women don’t and won’t like it.
~It’s racist. How many blacks play and how many blacks coach or own teams?
~Football is not a properly conceived game. You can dominate the clock and even the yards but still not win.
~Any game with such a wide array of fouls isn’t well-crafted.
~It’s so much wasted time. 14.5 minutes of actual plays in the course of 3-4 hours.
~It distorts your view of reality by having distinct time frames.
~They play on Sundays, which is the Sabbath.
~One final thought: Go Daddy.

Links:

Football too dangerous? (Time)

A lifetime penalty (Time)

Football’s pious pioneer (Christianity Today)

Football head injuries (article index) (NYT)

Rugby versus football (USA Rugby)

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Theological Tuesday

~Ron Moore, host of “The Journey”

~Should we use “He” or “They” when talking about God?

~Was Paul serious about not knowing anything but Christ and Him crucified?

~Did Job really exist?

~Do you believe places have spiritual mojo?

~What does the second great Commandment mean?

Links - God: “He” or “They”

Elohim (Catholic Encyclopedia)
Jehovah (Yahweh) (Catholic Encyclopedia)
Adonai (Catholic Encyclopedia)
Hebrew names for God (Hebrew 4 Christians)
Is Elohim singular or plural (Unveiling-Christianity)

Monday, February 1, 2010

Ethics: Comparing People to Hitler

Every once in a while, someone decides that the best way to make a point is to compare someone to Hitler (or to Nazis). This happens with disturbing regularity in politics, but I happened to read an article the other day which did it with Jay Leno and the NBC late-night jockeying drama. This raises the ethical question for me of whether it’s ever a good idea to compare people to Hitler (or Nazis).

Links:
NBC will regret appeasing Leno (WSJ)
This is everybody’s fault but mine (Mises Institute)
Godwin’s law (Wikipedia)
Reductio ad Hitlerum (Wikipedia)

Most Memorable ATS Topic

We’ve been on the air for five years (plus three weeks), and we thought it would be interesting to hear from those of you who have been listening regularly (or even you newbies) about what moments or topics have stood out the most to you in listening to the show. One thing that I find fascinating in talking with people is to hear what sticks in people’s minds, and it is almost never the things I would predict. So, I fully expect to be shocked by what I hear today. And if you just want to email me, please do so.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Various Current Events

CFR--USSC voids campaign finance law (Findlaw)
CFR--Stampede toward democracy (NYT)
CFR--Campaign finance ruling’s impact overblown (LA Times)
CFR--“Reform” wisely struck down (George Will)
CFR--Will corporations fight for freedom? (Hugh Hewitt)
Avatar--where there’s smoking, there’s ire (CBS News)
Avatar--The right has Avatar wrong (David Boaz)
Avatar--This article is not yet rated (NYT)
SOU--State of the Union text (White House)

SOU--Republican response (CBS News)
SOU—Fact-checking (AP)
SOU--State of Union speeches elsewhere (NYT)
SOU--Obama most polarizing first-year President (Gallup)
SOU--The spending freeze that isn’t (WSJ)
SOU—Lobbyist lies (Human Events)
SOU—Obama hammers USSC in speech (CBS News)
SOU—Alito disparages Obama’s Court criticism (Findlaw)
Tebow--CBS urged to dump ad (AP)
Tebow--Women ask CBS to scrap Super Bowl ad (AZ Republic)
Tebow--Pro-life ad set for Superbowl (Wash Times)
Tebow--CBS clarifies ad policy (Christian Post)
AZS--Shadegg exit shuffles Statehouse (AZ Republic)
AZS--Hayworty v McCain (AZ Republic)
AZS--Legal questions linger after Hayworth’s exit (AZ Republic)
Mesa okay’s Cubs deal (AZ Republic)
Mesa’s stadium secures Cubs (AZ Republic)
Too big to reform (NYT)
Tiller trial opens without “abortion” mention (Christian Post)
Hawaii Senate okays civil unions (Christian Post)
Phoenix diocese tries to strengthen marriage (AZ Republic)
Homeowner charged, shot at fleeing robbers (Buffalo News)
¼ of all US grain crops fed to cars, not people (Guardian)
AZ tries again to bar polygamy (AZ Republic)
Changes to immigrant detention announced (AZ Republic)
Bishop of Jos speaks out (Christianity Today)
300 arrested in Nigeria (Christian Post)
Chinese virus attack on US energy worrisome (CS Monitor)
US oil attacks, was China involved? (CS Monitor)
Venezuelans protest Chavez’s censorship (CS Monitor)
After long decline, teen pregnancies jump (NYT)
Church/state issues surround new bill (AZ Republic)
A glacier meltdown (WSJ)
What could you live without? (NYT)
Underwater, but not leaving the pool (NYT)
NBC will regret appeasing Leno (WSJ)
Kids in crisis behind bars (NYT)
CA bill requires witnesses to report violent crimes (Fresno Bee)
Prop 8 updates Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11 (ADF)
Toyota recall and reputation (CS Monitor)
Measuring deficits accurately (Findlaw)