A few weeks ago I posted about a surprising Pew Poll that reported a dramatic shift toward the pro life position on abortion in the last year. Now the respected Gallup Poll has reported similar findings and discovered that for the first time, a majority of people identify themselves as “pro . . . . Continue Reading »
Another reason to love babies. Another reason Peter Singer’s wrong: What is it like to be a baby? For centuries, this question would have seemed absurd: Behind that adorable facade was a mostly empty head. A baby, after all, is missing most of the capabilities that define the human mind, such . . . . Continue Reading »
From Prospect in the UK, a story claiming that “more than one in ten Caucasians may have a ‘Churchill gene’ which helps them turn booze into great works”: Most people use alcohol as a social rather than creative stimulant, banishing cares with a potation or two after work; . . . . Continue Reading »
A friend studying Old English, having read my brief disquisition on prayer and the word bead, elaborates on my amateur’s etymology lesson: Gebed is still in use in modern Dutch as “prayer,” though they hack it out a lot more than the OE, which sounds like yebed. Those Dutch . . . . Continue Reading »
Okay, Anthony, I give up. What is Kris Kristofferson doing in his pajamas on a church wall in — there’s a place in England called “Uckfield?” Barking I’ve heard of. Dorking I’ve heard of. Duck End I’ve been to. Ditto Wenhaxon and Onehouse. But never . . . . Continue Reading »
There’s something sublimely deranged about paying for otherwise unaffordable government outlays with the losses incurred at government-sponsored gambling tables , isn’t there? Long-term planning: now made possible by exacerbating the worst follies of short-term thinking! . . . . Continue Reading »
As the Right broadly defined argues about its direction, let’s hope for an increasingly large place in that public sphere for Postmodern Conservatism. But what is it? My attempts to define can be found here in various parts. To continue, the embrace of uncertainty is an intersection of two . . . . Continue Reading »
The scent of health care rationing is in the air. But I have noticed lately that many who support the concept push the agenda by not actually discussing health care rationing. Case in point: Ellen Goodmans fuzzy recent column, “A Rational Talk About Rationing Care.” Goodman starts . . . . Continue Reading »
It’s always nice to see smart young academics move up in the world, and one of them, my friend John Schwenkler, has had his fine blog Upturned Earth taken aboard at AmCon . A win/win, I’d say. . . . . Continue Reading »
“There is a complexity to human affairs,” David Brooks has announced, “before which science and analysis simply stands mute.” This is correct, but in comes in the context of a column that seems to cut in a strange way against it. It is as if we all contain a multitude of . . . . Continue Reading »