Latest Posts
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Irony Alert!
This from today’s China Daily: While Spring Festival firecrackers have been popping and the Lantern Festival is coming up, traditionalists lament what they call the lack of spiritual content and the rising superficial observation of foreign holidays. "Globalization,… Continue reading
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The Ethics of Lying in Confucianism and Taoism
Today’s NYT magazine has an article by Robin Marantz Henig on lying. It gets caught up in the current technology for detecting lies, but comes around to some of the interesting ethical issues about lying. In referring to… Continue reading
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Teach Your Children: Rights Consciousness in the PRC
An interesting piece in China Daily on migrant labor, education and crime: Criminal activities by migrant teenagers have been increasing in South China’s Guangdong Province due to a lack of proper education within families and schools, according to… Continue reading
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Friday I Ching Blogging: Republicans in the 2006 Congressional Elections
Republicans in the US House of Representatives have chosen a new leader (the number 2 man, after the Speaker). They are straining under the burden of scandal, with the ever-growing Abramoff affair threatening to dominate political news for… Continue reading
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Should a Failed Parent get a Second Chance?
It turns out that Haleigh Poutre‘s birth mother is trying to get back into her life. As this Boston Globe story reports: The birth mother of Haleigh Poutre, the brain-damaged girl at the center of an end-of-life debate,… Continue reading
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Thinking About Revolution
Tomorrow at 8:30 AM, I will walk into a classroom and begin a course on contemporary Chinese politics. The starting point, of course, is The Revolution. This may be the most daunting aspect of the class: how can I… Continue reading
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Bush’s State of the Union: A Taoist Non-Response
I just can’t bring myself to watch the State of the Union speech tonight. I’m supposed to, I guess: I study politics and, if it is about anything, the speech is about politics. But I really can’t stand… Continue reading
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Curing His “Addiction to Life”
A beautiful and touching piece by Jerry Fensterman in today’s Boston Globe (you may need a free registration to read the whole thing), exudes a Taoist sensibility toward life and death. Here is his story: I am approaching 50,… Continue reading
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Sunday “Modern Love:” Suicide and Life
I haven’t blogged an NYT "Modern Love" column in a few weeks: a combination of topics that have just not sparked a post and the rigors of weekend blogging. But this week’s piece by Anne Marie Feld is quite… Continue reading
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Happy New Year!
It’s the Year of the Dog. I’ve heard that it is a lucky year for marriages. So, I have high hopes for the new marriage of the New York Yankees and outfielder Johnny Damon! It is time to… Continue reading
The Useless Tree 