We should consider what is said—not with what eloquence it is said. Nor should we look at how it tickles the ears. Instead, we should look at the benefits that it confers on its hearers.
Arnobius (ca.305), 6:340. Cited in A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs, edited by David W. Bercot, Pg 550
A son … who deserts his father in order not to pay him obedience is considered deserving of being disinherited and of having his name removed forever from his family.
Lactantius (ca.304-313), 7:155. Cited in A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs, edited by David W. Bercot, Pg 499
If you had been brought up in a well-built and nicely furnished house, but had never seen a workshop, would you have supposed that your house was not built by some man, just because you did not know how it was built?
Lactantius (ca.304-313), 7:55. Cited in A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs, edited by David W. Bercot, Pg 266
The world, being made spherical, is confined within the circles of heaven…. Without a doubt, the world is beautiful. It excels as well in its magnitude as in the oblique circle and those about the north, and also in its spherical form. Yet we must not worship the world, but other its Artificer.
Athenagoras (ca.175), 2.132,136. Cited in A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs, edited by David W. Bercot, Pg.222
Note that in ca.175 they knew the earth was round, contrary to the historical revisionists who say people back then thought the earth was flat.
She is not a modest woman who strives to stir up the fancy of another—even though her physical chastity is preserved. Away with those who do not really adorn their beauty, but prostitute it instead. For anxiety about beauty is to only the wisdom of an evil mind, but belongs to deformity…. Why is the color of hair changed? Why are the edges of the eyes darkened? Why is the face moulded by art into a different form?
Novatian (ca. 235), 5:591. Cited in A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs, edited by David W. Bercot, Pg. 177
We don’t have movies, songs or novels anymore. We have propaganda, scolding, preaching, sneering, hectoring, and smirking by the elites who control the cultural machine. Politics is their life and they want it to be ours. They can’t conceive of anything important that’s apolitical. ...
Culture hasn’t consolidated politics, instead politics has consolidated culture. Entertainment is just another adjunct of the Democratic Party. The producers, directors and actors don’t just finance the party, they make party-approved entertainment for party members. Our culture has become an echo of that of any Communist country’s agitprop entertainment. But there are no official censors or production boards, the industry took a knee and did it to itself with shareholders, advertisers and investors being taken for a ride or joining the party.
Daniel Greenfield, Politics Killed the Culture
Socialism turned good citizens into bad ones; it turned strong nations into weak ones; it promoted vice and discouraged virtue ... transformed formerly hardworking and self-reliant men and women into whining, weak and flabby loafers.
Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
Perhaps more importantly, RFS has not reduced carbon emissions—one of the primary objectives of the policy.
The “corn boom” RFS [Renewable Fuel Standard law] created has impacted over 5 million acres of land once set aside for conservation. Landowners have filled in wetlands and have sprayed billions of pounds of fertilizer to facilitate the demand for corn to fulfill gas ethanol requirements. As a result, rivers have been contaminated and the habitat of waterfowl and other wildlife has been damaged.
Perhaps more importantly, RFS has not reduced carbon emissions—one of the primary objectives of the policy. Scientists at the University of Wisconsin found that the corn boom has released as much carbon dioxide as 34 coal power plants in one year. It turns out ethanol is not carbon-neutral, as promised, and it actually worsens gas mileage, making cars less fuel-efficient and worse for the environment.
Aside from the environmental impact, less fuel-efficient vehicles means spending more on gasoline. Ethanol delivers 25 percent fewer miles per gallon than gasoline, and ethanol-induced higher gas prices increase the impact of the RFS. Last year, the Congressional Budget Office reported that if the RFS is not repealed, gas prices could increase 13 to 26 cents per gallon by 2017. While a small group of corn farmers may benefit from the RFS, everyone is impacted by higher gas prices and less fuel-efficient gasoline.
Erik Telford, “How Pandering To Iowa’s Ethanol Lobby Hurts America”
Ethanol increases the demand for corn, which means corn prices go up. This causes prices for farmland to rise. It also raises the prices for animal feed, which makes food prices go up. Not just on meat -- prices have gone up on poultry and dairy products, as well as foodstuffs containing cornstarch, cornmeal, corn syrup and other corn products. Meanwhile, the U.S., which as recently as 2007 supplied two-thirds of the world's corn with its exports, now supplies only a little over one-third. And the amount of corn used to produce the ethanol to fill one SUV's gas tank could feed one person for one year.
Larry Elder, Ethanol: The GOP-Supported Rip-Off
