Progressing away from God

"Progressive believers" encourage "New Atheists" that they are really on the same side against Christians, and should join forces:

Progressive believers, on the other hand, demonstrate that faith and reason can coexist peacefully in modern societies; that is something the New Atheists do not want to admit, as it denies them the moral high ground and turns their case against God into an intellectual argument with little social or political significance.

Instead of attacking religious progressives, the New Atheists should seek ways to cooperate with them in order to advance science, reason, and progressive values.

via Religion Dispatches

What do unions do?

This article about the research that has been done to examine whether unions really protect jobs, increase wages, etc is a long one, but well worth reading. Talking points from the article:

• Unions function as labor cartels, restricting
the number of workers in a company or
industry to drive up the remaining workers’
wages just as OPEC attempts to cut the supply
of oil to raise its price.
• Unions benefit their members but hurt consumers
generally, and especially workers
who are denied job opportunities.
• Unions decrease the number of jobs available
in the economy. The vast majority of manufacturing
jobs lost over the past three decades
have been among union members; nonunion
manufacturing employment has risen.
• On balance, unionizing raises wages between
0 percent and 10 percent, but at a steep economic
cost. Unions have the same effect on
business investment as does a 33 percentage
point corporate income tax increase.
• Congress should remember that union cartels
retard economic growth and delay recovery
when considering legislation, such as EFCA,
that would force workers to join unions.

via Heritage.org

Up, up, and away

NINA SHEN RASTOGI of SLATE.COM asks "How many balloons would lift a house?"

Answer: a lot more than Carl used.

These figures all assume that Carl's house is simply being lifted off the ground. In the movie, however, Carl's house rips free from its foundation, which would likely require a dramatic increase in the number of balloons needed. (Consider that in a storm situation, shifting a house clean off its foundation requires wind speeds of around 190 km/h, which is what you'd find in a Category 3 hurricane.)

Plus, if the cluster were big enough to have that much lifting force, the house wouldn't leisurely float away after being unmoored, as it does in the film – it would shoot off like a rocket.

via TheStar.com

Hyper-inflation like Zimbabwe's

This is scary:

"Investor Marc Faber said on May 27 he was “100 percent sure” that U.S. prices may increase at rates “close to” Zimbabwe’s gains, and the U.S. economy will enter “hyperinflation” because the Federal Reserve will be reluctant to raise interest rates. Zimbabwe’s inflation rate reached 231 million percent in July, the last annual rate published by the statistics office."

You should read the article in Bloomberg. NOW is the time to buy stocks, bonds, and currencies, while they're still cheap.

Another proof of God

I like this proof of God. It uses logic and science.

If God had texted the 10 Commandments

Jamie Quatro on McSweeney's writes the ten commandments in a text-messaging style:

1. no1 b4 me. srsly
2. dnt wrshp pix/idols
3. no omg's

etc.