Mid October 2009 Links and Quotes

David Warren on China

China's mournful history is something the West should be ashamed of.

The Anchoress on Obama

This blogger at First Things writes a generous critique of Obama.  Now, I have never liked Obama and he has done nothing to change my low regard for him.  The Anchoress thinks he has a chance to redeem himself. 

Conrad Black becomes a Catholic

I have become interested in conversion stories.  Conrad Black, a Canadian I admire, writes about his experience.

Three Kinds of Fools

I am a fool but I don't know why.

True Individualists

"True individualists tend to be quite unobservant;

it is the snob, the... sophisticate, the frightened conformist,
who keeps a fascinated or worried eye on what is in the wind."
-- Louis Kronenberger
(1904-1980)

I am thinking I wish I never heard about Obama's peace prize.

No Bubbles in China, yet

According to the Economist, China is decoupling it economic and monetary policy from the USA.

G.K. Chesterton Quotes

I SOMETIMES think it is a pity that people travel in foreign countries; it narrows their minds so much.

IN these days we are accused of attacking science because we want it to be scientific. Surely there is not any undue disrespect to our doctor in saying that he is our doctor, not our priest or our wife or ourself. It is not the business of the doctor to say that we must go to a watering-place; it is his affair to say that certain results of health will follow if we do go to a watering-place. After that, obviously, it is for us to judge. Physical science is like simple addition; it is either infallible or it is false. To mix science up with philosophy is only to produce a philosophy that has lost all its ideal value and a science that has lost all its practical value. I want my private physician to tell me whether this or that food will kill me. It is for my private philosopher to tell me whether I ought to be killed.

INDIVIDUALLY, men may present a more or less rational appearance, eating, sleeping, and scheming. But humanity as a whole is changeful, mystical, fickle, delightful. Men are men, but Man is a woman.

 

Oscar Wilde Quote

 Seriousness is the only refuge of the shallow.