So any postmodern conservative who would want to give the strongest possible case for Walt Whitman would begin, as I have, with a long footnote to the 1876 preface to his LEAVES OF GRASS: Given the necessarily inegalitarian manifestations of human greatness of war and politics that Whitman . . . . Continue Reading »
Matt Archibiold discusses Sam Mendes’ latest anti-suburbia flick : Essentially, Mendes seems to adopt the view of literary urbanista types that the suburbs are a death filled wasteland. I find this attitude weird firstly as a business decision because it seems to me that mocking where most . . . . Continue Reading »
Now that it is obvious that engaging Iran was a delusional misstep, President Obama should denounce the Iranian regime as a rogue state that employs terrorism against its own people as well as overseas. It is time for a Reaganesque statement. The administration should say, in so many . . . . Continue Reading »
On matters of policy, the election of President Obama has been a decisive setback for the pro-life cause. On the rhetorical front, however, he may provide some indirect benefit. Because he promises to hold the line on the legal front, Obama provides a cover for pro-choice advocates to express their . . . . Continue Reading »
Many thanks to David Gibson at Pontifications for linking here, and also for mistaking me for The Anchoress, whom I am not (who I am not? who is not I? Ack, ack, call the grammar medics . . . ), but the compliment is all mine. That anyone would link to that schizophrenic Father’s Day post I . . . . Continue Reading »
Not that all of this is either explicitly religious or — any of it — kitschy; it’s just what there is to write about today, while I wait for the next person to send in some oddity or other. The Five- and Six-Year-Olds (who get read aloud to together): Secret Water by Arthur . . . . Continue Reading »
(Updated June 22) Last week’s demonstrations do not appear to have shaken the resolve of Ayatollah Khameini and the Iranian establishment, much less overthrown the Islamic Republic. Those who hoped for a Persian Spring probably will go home disappointed. In the excitement of the mass . . . . Continue Reading »
Freddie responds to my tweet on Iran, solidarity, and fashion: I could imagine that James’s refusal to show solidarity with the protesters (or at least his discomfort in the same) is the product of apathy or fear of the other. I think, applied generally and not specifically, that’s a . . . . Continue Reading »
Love, I think, is a primary component in the metaleptic phenomenon of being and Eternal Being within the tension of existence. It is the experiential insight that gives succor to man’s deformed yearning (sehnsucht) for perfection in life, and it reveals to us that “God can not be . . . . Continue Reading »
Astute observations and important reflections by James, Will, and Ivan just below nourish my ongoing reflections on the meaning of reason’s responsibility today. The left’s appeals to “scientific” or otherwise purely “rationalist” reason appear more and more febrile . . . . Continue Reading »
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