This is pretty funny.
Happy Friday!
Friday night funny: the woman language translator
This is pretty funny.
Happy Friday!
All posts by Wintery Knight
How the federal government and stimulus spending discourage work
A post by Hans Bader at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
Excerpt:
Thanks to food stamps, Medicaid, and housing subsidies, and other welfare benefits, many “poor” people have far more disposable income than self-supporting households earning $40,000 to $60,000 a year. Veronique de Rugy points to a finding that “a one-parent family of three making $14,500 a year (minimum wage) has more disposable income than a family making $60,000 a year” — even excluding benefits from Supplemental Security Income. “America is now a country which punishes those middle-class people who not only try to work hard, but avoid scamming the system.”
[…]The analysis de Rugy cites actually understates the disincentives to work, because it ignored the fact that many households that are “poor” in terms of taxable income are not poor at all once you factor in tax-free income from non-governmental sources. For example, child support is tax-free to the recipient family, no matter how huge the payments they receive (for example, a billionaire may pay several million dollars a year in child support to each of his ex-girlfriends with kids, leaving them in tax-free luxury, and under New York’s child support guidelines, everyone is supposed to pay at least 17 percent of their gross income in child support for just one child, regardless of how high that income is. In Massachusetts, middle-income households pay 25 percent of gross income for just one kid — which is around a third of their after-tax income — under that state’s child support guidelines).
He also talks about how the federal government encourages child support agencies to yank more children away from their parents – they get more funding that way!
Brian Auten’s top 5 books for Christmas giving
Who Made God?
Completely readable – completely excellent. Actually, one of my favorite reads this year. I thought, I could give this to anyone and they would understand it, enjoy it, and be challenged by it. Full of wit, humor, and sharp thinking. This definitely makes it to the top of my list. (review here)
Is God Just a Human Invention?
Another book with a question for a title – but
questions are good, and this book tackles about 18 of them that are being asked the most these days. Written by Sean McDowell and Jonathan Morrow, with contributions from a ton of excellent specialists, this book is a phenomenal resource and doesn’t have to be read in any particular order. (an interview with the authors here)
is another book loaded with great content – 50 essays! – with contributions from a ton of top-notch apologists. A close competitor with the previously mentioned book that happens to be a great resource.
On Guard: Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision
by William Lane Craig
is excellent for personal study or group studies. Weighty material that is clear, precise, and put together really well. I’d give this to Christian young people in high school and college who want to strengthen their apologetics foundations. (review here)
And finally, here’s the stocking stuffer of the bunch: Kreeft and Tacelli’s Pocket Handbook of Christian Apologetics
. The reason? Again, lots of material packed into a small book, organized and presented well.
My first choice is “Is God Just a Human Invention”, but I have not read “Who Made God?”, although I have it.
I’m not a big fan of Peter Kreeft’s book. I have never read anything by Kreeft that has the same evidential tone like the stuff that William Lane Craig writes. I am not a big fan of these G. K. Chesterton / C.S. Lewis / Phillip Yancey type people for apologetics. It’s just paper shields and foam swords – totally useless in battle. If you want real apologetics, you want experimental scientists, analytical philosophers and multi-lingual historians. You want guys like Mike Licona and William Lane Craig who have a lot of debating experience.
NOTE: Brian is giving away books to anyone who adds him on Facebook or Twitter, or subscribes to his newsletter.
