The Useless Tree

Current Affairs

  • Peter Singer on Ashley’s Treatment

        Peter Singer, prominent Princeton ethicist, weighs in today on the case of the parents who allowed medical interventions to limit the physical growth of their disabled daughter.  Her name is Ashley and I blogged about the case earlier,… Continue reading

  • Should A Child Who Commits A Terrible Crime Be Tried As An Adult?

       This question arises both from my own recent research (for the book I am trying to write!) and from an op-ed in today’s Boston Globe.  There was a terrible murder in an affluent suburban school.  A 16-year old, with… Continue reading

  • Hong Kong Can Be A Tough Place For A Kid

          That is, at least, what editors at People’s Daily seem to want us to believe.  This is from a story, "Don’t Be Obsessive, Parents Told," they picked up from China Daily (I couldn’t get the CD link): …the… Continue reading

  • China: No Longer a Legalist Society

        A recent news story reminds us of the essential Legalism – of the Han Fei Tzu lineage – that lies at the heart of the PRC government.  But it also shows us how China is no longer a… Continue reading

  • Sun Tzu on Counterinsurgency

         As I mentioned last week, I am teaching a Winter Study course on Sun Tzu.  One of today’s readings, suggested by one of my students, is a great example of how ancient thought can still have something to… Continue reading

  • Confucius as Prison Warden

         The Venerable Sage keeps popping up in the strangest places: Prisoners in central China’s Hubei province have built a sculpture of Confucius, the famous ancient Chinese philosopher, and prison authorities say it can inspire and educate inmates….. ……… Continue reading

  • What Would Confucius Say?

        Another milestone in the continuing redefinition of the American family: For what experts say is probably the first time, more American women are living without a husband than with one, according to a New York Times analysis of… Continue reading

  • How Many More Times Will The Same Mistake Be Made?

        I know I keep saying the same thing: The Executioner’s [i.e. Way’s] killing is perennial, it’s true.But to undertake the killing yourself – that’s like trying to carve lumber for a master carpenter.Try to carve lumber for a… Continue reading

  • Selling Embryos

           Over at Slate, William Saletan has a good, link rich, post about a woman who has created a business out of matching sperm and egg donors to manufacture embryos for sale.   I haven’t absorbed all of the… Continue reading

  • What Chinese Want To Know

        Virtual China translates Baidu’s (a Chinese search engine) most popular questions for 2006 (hat tip, Roland).  Here is the original Chinese page.  What a great service!  It gives us a sense of the kinds of questions people in… Continue reading