The conflicting images I spoke about last week, the obesity of poor children in America, are the subject of a weekend piece in the NYT, “India Prosperity Creates Paradox; Many Children Are Fat, Even More Are Famished.” Of course, in India these aren’t the same kids: by and large the poor ones aren’t the fat ones. Someni Sengupta writes, “In short, while new money and new foods transform the eating habits of some of India’s youngest citizens, gnawing destitution continues...

James Dyson, inventor of the world’s most exciting bagless vacuum cleaner, will receive a knighthood. Speaking of pany, the BBC reports: Today, pany has about 1,400 staff in the UK, with about 4,000 others working in production plants in Malaysia and China. Despite his successes, Mr Dyson has been criticised for his decision to ship so many production jobs abroad. Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB said: “Do people now get a knighthood for services to exporting jobs?” By...

To all of our faithful Powerblog readers, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you a happy, prosperous, and blessed new year! (And while I’m at it, I claim for myself the mantle of “First Poster of 2007,” which I believe should entitle me to some sort of cash prize…) ...

As many of our regular readers know, the Acton Institute is headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a city that just happens to be at the center of national attention this week with the passing of former President Gerald R. Ford, our city’s most famous son. I’ve spent some time walking the streets of our town this week, soaking in the sights and taking some photos of the memorials that have sprouted up around the Ford Museum. I’ve been struggling to...

‘Tis the season for making resolutions. Today’s Zondervan>To The Point newsletter focuses on a variety of Christian resolutions, and includes a link to a piece from Leadership Journal on Jonathan Edwards’ resolutions (related blog piece here). One of my favorites: “Resolved, To be endeavoring to find out fit objects of charity and liberality.” Here’s a good place to start doing that. ...

I’ve had this link sitting in my inbox for quite awhile and have finally gotten to it. It’s well worth the read. Brian J. Lee, writing in Modern Reformation, takes a look at the foundational passage in Romans where Paul discusses subjection to civil authorities. Lee argues that Paul’s sole concern is with Christian submission: Properly understood, mand to submit should constrain our optimism about the civil government’s capacity to transform, save, or redeem. Civil government is not an aid...

“The environment is begging for the Wal-Mart business model,” says H. Lee Scott Jr., CEO of Wal-Mart Stores in a NYT article, “Power-Sipping Bulbs Get Backing From Wal-Mart.” The piece discusses Wal-Mart’s campaign to increase the sales pact fluorescent bulbs, pared to traditional incandescent bulbs. As Michael Barbaro writes, pact fluorescent has clear advantages over the widely used incandescent light — it uses 75 percent less electricity, lasts 10 times longer, produces 450 pounds fewer greenhouse gases from power plants...

Just in case you forgot, President Gerald R. Ford got perhaps the most positive and friendly portrayal of any American president on The Simpsons, as the one former president you’d like to have as a neighbor: ...

President Ford’s Casket just passed Acton’s offices here in Grand Rapids, on the way to Grace Episcopal Church for a final private service for Ford’s family before his interment on the grounds of the Ford Museum. ...

A professor at MIT has been denied tenure and he claims that the reason is his opposition to embyonic stem cell research (his specialty is adult stem cell research). It is always impossible to know exactly what the motives are in these tenure battles unless one is personally involved, but it would not be surprising if his claim were accurate, given the high stakes (e.g., funding) inherent in this field. In any case, for many professors, “ideology” and “scholarship” are...