Alex Chediak

On July 24, less than two weeks from now, the minimum wage will increase to $7.25 an hour from $6.55, an 11% jump. The WSJ explores the implications of the wage increase: The national wage floor will have increased 41% since the three-step hike was approved by the Democratic Congress in May 2007. Then the economy was humming, with an overall jobless rate of 4.5% and many entry-level jobs paying more than the minimum. That's a hard case to make now, with a 9.5% national jobless rate and thousands of employers facing razor-thin profit margins.In a nutshell: In a 2006 National Bureau of Economic … [Read more...] about Minimim Wage Hike Comes At a Bad Time

Justin D. Barnard, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Carl F.H. Henry Institute for Intellectual Discipleship at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, writes for Public Discourse (Witherspoon Institute) today on the theme: Many are pointing to Obama’s pick of an Evangelical to head the National Institutes of Health as a sign of the president's willingness to reach out to those with differing viewpoints. But his pick holds conflicted views about the human embryo and will oversee a department that, under new rules, is outsourcing the destruction of human life.Read the whole … [Read more...] about More on Francis Collins and Abortion

July 10, 2009 is the 500th birthday of John Calvin, a man whose life produced remarkable, far-reaching influence. I'll just point to a few posts that sing his praises better than I can. Marvin Olasky offers an extended look at a new biography by Dutch scholar Herman Selderhuis, John Calvin: A Pilgrim's Life. Ligonier Ministries has a series of blog posts on Calvin's legacy. Desiring God has a first installment of nine-part biographical sketch of Calvin's life and a post on celebrating Calvin for Christ's sake. Collin Hansen at Christianity Today weighs in Calvin's diverse cast of admirers. … [Read more...] about Happy Birthday, John Calvin

Marvin Olasky, writing on World Magazine's website: Collins, 59, is best known for directing the successful effort to sequence the humane genome, the DNA that makes up the human physical blueprint. But there’s more: Earlier this year, I heard him before a sophisticated New York audience speak of his personal faith in Christ, and he did so credibly and winsomely. He said it would require more faith not to believe in “a designed universe” than to see it as God-made. So, is Collins a proponent of Intelligent Design (ID)? Perish the thought! Yes, he speaks of “pointers to God from nature,” … [Read more...] about Marvin Olasky on Francis Collins

… [Read more...] about The Obama Stimulus: Predictions vs. Reality

David Klinghoffer at Beliefnet has the disappointing details on Dr. Francis Collins' position on abortion. Excerpt:In a 1998 book he co-authored, Principles of Medical Genetics, he considers a bioethical situation where a genetic counselor is discussing with a (married) mother, 8 weeks pregnant, whether to abort her child because there's a 7 to 8 percent chance the child will have a mild learning disability. Should the mother indicate an interest in aborting, Collins and his two co-authors commend to the counselor a stance of "respect for [patient] autonomy" and "nondirective counseling." In … [Read more...] about Francis Collins on Abortion