Links!

My folder of things I might post about is getting full. So I'm going to just share some of them. The Maverick Philosopher has a fascinating post up containing quotes from well known scientist Richard Lewontin and philosopher Thomas Nagel (Lewontin is a well known name in evolutionary debates) in which they recognize that science does not pre-suppose naturalism, but that they personally embrace it and use their scientific background to argue for it because they judge that to be the right thing to do. Wow. Thinking about Islam is very depressing. See here, here, and here. David Frum makes a great point here:

The more children a woman has, the more dependent she is on the man in her life -- and the more vulnerable she is. Marriage laws that make marriage insecure together make child-bearing an increasingly dangerous choice for women. Many women respond by postponing child-bearing until they feel economically secure, until their middle or late 30s. But women who wait so long to have their first child are less likely to have a second -- and much more likely to find themselves having none at all.

The great American sociologist James Q. Wilson has argued that a woman who devotes her twenties and thirties to the raising of children should be seen as something like a soldier who devotes his young years to the protection of society -- and should be regarded as eligible for something similar to veteran's benefits.

There's more on J.R.R. Tolkien here. When 90% just isn't good enough. See here. Tipperography has a very interesting post on political outlooks and how they might be graphed. (the bulk of the post is a .pdf file). There is a very interesting post at The Western Standard about gays and abortion. If anyone has wondered about how I relate to gays given my opposition to SSM on this blog, worry no more: I would fight tooth and nail to prevent gays from being aborted if a prenatal test for a genetic link to homosexuality were ever discovered. Pro choice gays need to think about their postion very carefully.