Category Archives: Commentary

Commentary

Brian Auten of Apologetics 315 provides an excellent review of Darwin’s Dilemma

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Illustra Media is the Creator of the three of the best DVDs available on intelligent design.

Their DVDs are professional documentaries with lots of great music, stunning animations and interviews with people on both sides of the question. The first DVD (watch the whole thing on youtube) is about biological information and the origin of life. The second DVD (watch the whole thing on youtube) is about fine-tuning at the galactic, stellar and planetary levels. And now there is a new DVD, that has just come out!

Here’s the trailer:

I haven’t been able to watch it yet, but Brian Auten has, and he’s written a masterful review of the DVD on his blog Apologetics 315. His review is a play-by-play account of the DVD’s content.

Excerpt:

The first quarter of the 72-minute DVD provides the historical background of the Burgess shale and describes the Cambrian Explosion as a mystery Darwin could not resolve… This introduction provides an appropriate historical explanation of how this fossil layer was discovered and explored. Computer animations bring the fossilized animals to life, showing the full body plans and complexity of the most notable animals found in the Cambrian.

[…]In the next fifteen minutes the documentary explores the development of Darwin’s theory. This describes what Darwin expected to find in the fossil record, including step-by-step transitional forms.

[…]Half way through the documentary, further Cambrian fossils are discussed: the Chinese Chengjiang fossils, which were remarkably well preserved and many of them soft-bodied.

[…]Three quarters through the documentary, young Darwin takes his voyage on the H.M.S. Beagle and the documentary describes Darwin’s evolutionary model.

[…]At the fifty-minute mark, the documentary begins to explore the structure of DNA. Just how much change in complexity is needed to create the diversity of body plans? Impressive computer animations show DNA while describing the mechanisms of mutation and natural selection.

Go here and check it the review. By the way, I have been trying to encourage Brian to listen Ron Nash’s lectures on economics and Christianity and Jennifer Roback Morse’s lectures on marriage, economics and same-sex marriage. I think he needs to broaden out his horizons a little, and apply his Christian worldview to other topics, like fiscal and social policy, etc. He likes it when people pester him about that, so feel free to leave him an encouraging comment. Or two.

By the way, I also recommend ColdWater Media‘s Icons of Evolution DVD, as well. If you’re a beginner to ID theory, and want the best book, I recommend Jonathan Wells’ “The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design“. His PhD in Biology is from Berkeley, and his PhD in Religious Studies is from Yale. And yes, he debates against evolutionists, and he is very very good at it!

Wells’ debates:

  1. Michael Shermer debates Jonathan Wells at the pro-Darwinism Cato Institute (in 7 parts), MP3 audio is here.
  2. Massimo Pigliucci debates Jonathan Wells for the pro-Darwinism PBS, downloadable video and audio.

Wells even explains the Cambrian explosion here, if you’ve never heard of it before.

One last thing. I e-mailed Illustra to ask them when the professionally-produced Craig-Hitchens debate DVD would go on sale, and they replied and told me that it would be ready by January 2010.

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Commentary

MUST-READ: The privatized health care system of Switzerland

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Story from the New York Times. (H/T Walker Morrow)

Excerpt:

Like every other country in Europe, Switzerland guarantees health care for all its citizens. But the system here does not remotely resemble the model of bureaucratic, socialized medicine often cited by opponents of universal coverage in the United States.

Swiss private insurers are required to offer coverage to all citizens, regardless of age or medical history. And those people, in turn, are obligated to buy health insurance.

[…]By many measures, the Swiss are healthier than Americans, and surveys indicate that Swiss people are generally happy with their system. Switzerland, moreover, provides high-quality care at costs well below what the United States spends per person. Swiss insurance companies offer the mandatory basic plan on a not-for-profit basis, although they are permitted to earn a profit on supplemental plans.

[…]The Swiss government does not “ration care” — that populist bogeyman in the American debate — but it does keep down overall spending by regulating drug prices and fees for lab tests and medical devices. It also requires patients to share some costs — at a higher level than in the United States — so they have an incentive to avoid unnecessary treatments. And some doctors grumble that cost controls are making it harder these days for a physician to make a franc.

[…]The Swiss government also provides direct cash subsidies to people if health insurance equals more than 8 percent of personal income, and about 35 to 40 percent of households get some form of subsidy. In some cases, employers contribute part of the insurance premium, but, unlike in the United States, they do not receive a tax break for it. (All the health care proposals in Congress would provide a subsidy to moderate-income Americans.)

Unlike the United States, where the Medicare program for the elderly costs taxpayers about $500 billion a year, Switzerland has no special break for older Swiss people beyond the general subsidy.

Read the whole thing.

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Commentary

An evaluation of public-option health care plans in five US states

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Amazing article from IBD. (H/T ECM)

Excerpt:

But perhaps the worst — and closest — example of why a federal takeover of health care won’t work comes from Maine.

[…]Maine’s universal coverage plan is most similar to the plans circulating on Capitol Hill. It was proposed in May 2003 by Democrat Gov. John Baldacci and passed a scant four weeks later. Much like the $787 billion federal “stimulus” plan that passed Congress in February of this year, nobody read the Dirigo plan either.

While greasing the pipeline for quick passage of Dirigo Health, the governor assured that all of Maine’s 128,000 uninsured would be covered by 2009, the bureaucracy would be streamlined and health costs lowered, and the plan would fund itself based on system savings with no tax increases — a similar claim to what President Obama has said about a new federal plan.

Six years after it was passed, it has insured only 3% — roughly 3,400 — of the 128,000 promised.

By 2007, the system was so broke that it closed to new enrollees. It still has not reopened and has also cut and capped benefits. The “streamlined” bureaucracy has cost the state’s taxpayers $17 million in administrative costs to cover 9,600 people, leading one to wonder if there are more bureaucrats in the system than enrollees.

Systemwide insurance costs have increased 74% since Dirigo was passed, and the governor and legislature have tried — unsuccessfully — to raise taxes to fund the system.

The short article analyzes the numbers FIVE current public-option health care plans in Hawaii, Oregon, Massachusetts, Tennessee and Maine.

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