Morality

Besides the arts, however, many theoretical studies also play their part in making morality possible, in saving it from the blindness and narrowness which have so often limited its use. They make the facts intelligible to us; they help us to interpret the world in which we must move. This is plainly true of history, of anthropology and the other social sciences. But most of all it is true of psychology, which can have a central. function.
- Mary Midgley. Wickedness. (200)

Weaver on Education

History has always been a sobering discipline because it presents the story not only of man's achievements but also of his failures.
-Richard M. Weaver. "Education and the Individual"

Evil

As long as one believes that the evil man wears horns, one will not discover an evil man.
-Erich Fromm. The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness

The Prince of Motown

Prince Fielder signed a $214 million, nine year deal with the Detroit Tigers. Good luck keeping that pitching staff together! This is good for the Rangers, although not as good as if Washington signed him. It means, in all probability, that the Rangers can go ahead and resign Josh Hamilton. Fielder has more long term upside, he's younger and more durable. But Hamilton is box office, a fan fave, like Michael Young. He symbolizes an attitude that plays well. And, if he is re-signed, it means he will not go to the Angels which was a possibility.

Education

Nothing can be plainer, when we consider it, than this fact that education is discriminative. It takes what is less good physically, mentally, and morally and transforms that by various methods and techniques into something that more nearly approaches our ideal of the good.
-Richard Weaver. "Education and the Individual."

Yu-Phoria

Last month the Rangers made news when they posted $51 million to the Nippon Ham Fighters for the rights to negotiate with pitching phenom Yu Darvish. Wednesday was the deadline and they announced the signing of a six year $60 million deal. This was so important that they broke in to all the local news programming.
Who is Yu Darvish? He's 25 years old, about 6 feet 4, weighs about 240. Over the last five years pitching in Japan his ERA has been under 2, his strikeouts over 200. His throwing style is the conventional American 3/4 style, with comparisons to Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan. And now he gets to work with Ryan and the Maddox brothers (Mike and Greg)( yes Cy Young, Atlanta Braves Greg Maddox).
What does he mean to the Rangers? First and foremost, box office: this kid is a draw. He means that the Rangers will do what it takes to stay at the top. It more than compensates for the loss of C. J. Wilson. It means for another exciting season in Arlington.

The Modern Schism

Martin E. Marty.The Modern Schism: Three Paths to the Secular. 1969 181 pp.
The reality of the secular has come to obsess modern religious thinkers. This volume analyzes the complex story of The Modern Schism, an episode in the cultural and spiritual history of the West which has had fateful consequences for contemporary society.
Marty argues that during the nineteenth century, there occurred a cluster of events more devastating to- and potentially more hopeful for- Christianity than anything that happened during such similar periods as the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. He traces three different types of secularization which together make up the "modern schism," shows how they have developed in the West, and where they are leading man today.
By contrasting the ways in which the old Christian order was attacked in Europe, ignored in England, and transformed in America, the author points to present alternatives to that order and what they mean for society.