Theodicy

Eastern Orthodox theologian David B. Hart writes on “What kind of God would allow a deadly tsunami?” in today’s OpinionJournal. The subject of theodicy is often brought up when there is a major disaster, natural or manmade. I agree with Hart that no answer is likely to satisfy an unbeliever. Evil and suffering are questions that have trouble mankind since the Fall, I daresay, and even the Holy Scriptures do not provide a rational (that is, one that is satisfying to the unbelieving mind) answer. Scripture tells us what to do in the face of evil and suffering: perseverence, which leads to character, and hope (Romans 5:1–5).

One thing that Hart wrote struck me a little bit:

When confronted by the sheer savage immensity of worldly suffering--when we see the entire littoral rim of the Indian Ocean strewn with tens of thousands of corpses, a third of them children's--no Christian is licensed to utter odious banalities about God's inscrutable counsels or blasphemous suggestions that all this mysteriously serves God's good ends.

As a Calvinist, I find the charge of odious banalities and blasphemous suggestions somewhat unsatisfactory in light of Romans 11. It seems to indicate doubt of God’s sovereignty, which ironically is the only basis of our hope for the glory that is to come. On the other hand, lest I be thought of as a heartless person, I do think that Hart has a point in that people throw around the phrase “God’s will” etc. without giving proper thought to them. The Reformed understands “God’s will” in two perspectives: decretive and preceptive, and God upholds the creation by his sovereign providence. This means that indeed natural disasters are subject to God’s providence, even if we are unable to comprehend why they strike us. But there is unity in God’s will, and it would not be right to say that there is not a higher purpose behind these things.

Social Security reform

We all know that Social Security is a mess, though different people have different takes on how messy it is (and isn’t the lack of agreement a sign of its messiness?). President Bush’s proposal to reform Social Security has caused many critics to issue warnings about cost, risk, etc. But as Donald Luskin, Paul Krugman’s nemesis, shows by way of the example of the government’s own Thrift Savings Plan, investing a portion in a well-diversified equity (and/or bond) portfolio proves to be superior. Of course, as they say, past performance is no guarantee of future results; but I think it is reasonable to say that if a well-diversified portfolio should turn out to be not-so-good, it probably means that the economy would be a disaster anyway, so that one would have been no safer had one invested in “safe” investments such as money markets.

Speculative execution

In modern computer architecture, a technique known as speculative execution is rather commonly employed to increase the performance of processors. Apparently the publishing industry is using this technique as well: There exists a book on John Kerry as the 44th POTUS, but its publication has now apparently been canceled. (Thanks to Michelle Malkin.)

(UPDATE 2004-12-31 10:37): Amazon still has the book listed.

VDH comes to Rummy’s defense

Victor Davis Hanson has written a good piece defending Rumsfeld. Prof. Hanson, being a military historian, brings valuable historical perspectives to the current kerfuffle, and thereby shows how clueless Rumsfeld’s critics are.

The moral authority of the UN

Those who take the UN seriously or those self-professed pacificists who are opposed to armed conflicts of any kind should read this article in today’s OpinionJournal. It is written by a “liberal multilateralist on the left” (in the author’s own words).

I should point out that the traditional Christian theory of just war falls under the category of love, i.e., just wars are waged because of the love for one’s neighbors. When the UN failed to see even such obvious cases of impending genocide and to take actions accordingly (with the excuse of “impartiality”), it has lost all claims to moral authority. The failure to prevent evildoers from committing atrocities is itself a violation of the positive requirement of the sixth commandment. Conversely,

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends (John 15:13, ESV).

That is why being a soldier is a noble calling, and I pay my tributes to the heroes in our military who serve honorably in self-sacrifice.

Applicable federal rates for January 2005

Applicable federal rates rose somewhat in January 2005.

Short-Term Rates for 2005

Month	Annual	Semiann.	Quarterly	Monthly
Jan-2005	2.78%	2.76%	2.75%	2.74%

Mid-Term Rates for 2005

Month	Annual	Semiann.	Quarterly	Monthly
Jan-2005	3.76%	3.73%	3.71%	3.70%

Long-Term Rates for 2005

Month	Annual	Semiann.	Quarterly	Monthly
Jan-2005	4.76%	4.70%	4.67%	4.65%

The perverse AMT

Buried in the AMT is the perverse way of computing the exemption, in addition to the disallowing of the deduction of state and local taxes (including real-estate property taxes). One starts with an exemption of $40,250 but subtracts from this value 0.25 of the difference between the AMT income and $112,500 (single). That is, any income one makes above $112,500 is effectively taxed not at the advertised rate of 28%, but marginally 35%. Only when one’s AMT income exceeds $273,500 does one exhaust his exemption, and then the marginal rate drops to 28%.

I don’t understand why there are so many discontinuities in the first derivative. All these phase-out schemes (prevalent in the regular income computation) are just tricky ways to hide the fact that the marginal rates are higher than advertised. Why can’t lawmakers be honest and just change the marginal rates rather than adding these stupid phase-outs? Complication is costly, and the hidden cost of people’s productivity is not free. Are there not any economists out there who can convince Congress that they are wasting the time of a lot of people?

In addition, these discontinuities and concavities caused by the phase-outs make optimization (i.e., tax-planning) much harder. Without a comprehensive understanding of the tax code (who has?), one can never be certain of the tax consequences of any economic decision one chooses at any point.

Spendthrifts in government

What else does one expect from those in charge of money that is not theirs (OPM: other people’s money)? In today’s Tony & Tacky column of the Wall Street Journal, we find this bit:

STUNG ANYWAY: Think the Pentagon pays too much for toilet seats? How about the bureaucrats in Maryland who paid $28.50 for a can of wasp spray; $26.99 for a can of windshield de-icer worth 99 cents at a store; and $3.89 each for 100-watt light bulbs? What amazes investigating state lawmakers even more, the Baltimore Sun reported Wednesday, is the current status of the employees who blew $1.4 million this way. Most are still at their jobs, credit cards and all.

A left-leaning (“leaning” may even be too weak to describe him) acquaintance of mine once complained of how government employees are unfairly “cr*pped on”. I cannot help but wonder, how come, with his super intellect (a Ph.D. from a well-known univeristy), he can’t see why this is so.

On religious expressions

It’s that time of the year again, when greetings of “Merry Christmas” cause hysteria for the radical ungodly. As for me and my family, we have never been big on celebrating Christmas in a special way—not that we do not give thanks to God for giving us his only Son, but insofar as external display is concerned, we don’t decorate our houses, put up Christmas trees, or give gifts to each other. We might write cards and present gifts to special friends and relatives.

In addition, I have taken into consideration the arguments of some in the Reformed circle, that since Christmas is a Romish thing having pagan origins, it may be a violation of the second commandment. Even though I have taken a more moderate view and would allow some room for individual conscience and tradition, that consideration only adds to my not observing Christmas in a special way other than participating in my church’s programs.

Back to the hysteria of the ungodly. In some ways, there is the rich irony, almost of a Kierkegaardian sort, that in fact these people do understand something about God and consciously rebel against him. The offense of the Christmas message is clear to them, unlike the average nominal Christian or the average non-offended unbeliever who says and receives the greetings with nonchalance.

Also, isn’t it instructive that the Christian’s religious expression (in speech) can cause so much anger in these radical ungodly ones, while the Muslim’s religious expression (not only in speech, but in destructive acts) is not only tolerated by apologized for? What an odd world!

VDH nails it again

this time with Ents (the Tolkienian creatures) as an analogy for Europe. One can only hope that Europe will begin to realize their weakness and the threat posed by the Islamofascists, before it is too late.

I was surprised to find, from the reader’s question column, that VDH is registered as a Democrat. He explains it thus. This is the kind of “Democratness” that I can sympathize with. I suspect it is similar to Zell Miller, Michael Novak, and other old-school Democrats. Present-day Democrats are just quasi Commies who have all but destroyed the once venerable party. I suppose that if I were living in a previous generation, I might be a Democrat, too.

Latest acquisitions

Here are my latest book acquisitions.

• M. Dahood, Ugaritic-Hebrew Philology
• R. B. Scheit, Kierkegaard the Christian: An Anthology of Quotations
• Augustine, On Free Choice of Will
• J. Pelikan, Melody of Theology: A Philosophical Dictionary
• J. Pelikan, Jesus Through the Centuries

Norm Coleman investigating Oil-for-Food

Norm Coleman is the Senator from Minnesota who defeated Walter Mondale in 2002. In that race, Mondale replaced Paul Wellstone who died in a plane crash. Coleman leads an investigation into the corrupt UN Oil-for-Food program, in which Saddam Hussein is alleged to have stolen $21 billion. He writes of this investigation here.