“This execution was so unnecessary , and because it was unnecessary, it was simply and completely wrong,” writes Joseph Bottum in today’s “On the Square” essay, They Did It . He is writing of the execution in the middle of the night of Ronnie Lee Gardner. Calling . . . . Continue Reading »
[Note: Every Friday on First Thoughts we host a discussion about some aspect of pop culture. Todays theme is opening credits to TV shows. Have a suggestion for a topic? Send them to me at jcarter@firstthings.com.] One of the most undervalued formats in television is the opening credit . . . . Continue Reading »
Following First Things in exposing the dangers of pornography , the lefty magazine Mother Jones has just published a story by one of their staff reporters (implying that they think it an important topic) Have the Feds Gone Soft on Porn? “The days of women wearing a coy smile and not . . . . Continue Reading »
Damian Thompson writes in todays Telegraph that Cardinal George Pells loss of his anticipated appointment as Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops owes to black propaganda and a smear campaign stemming from long-discredited misconduct allegations and dubious . . . . Continue Reading »
Our eldest works for a group that encourages schools, hospitals, and businesses to buy from local farmers and also volunteers for African aid groups (one, similar to a micro-loan program, gives goats to villagers). The first, she says, is easier to sell people because it promises to help them . . . . Continue Reading »
President Obama’s fiscal stimulus gave the U.S. economy a temporary adrenalin jolt that began to wear off in April, the most recent data suggest. Today’s news that weekly employment claims bounced up to 472,000bringing the four-week average up to 463,500confirms that the . . . . Continue Reading »
President Obamas oil spill speech Tuesday night was a disappointment to most and was positively trashed by the Olbermann-Matthews cheerleading section at MSNBC. Ostensibly in crisis mode after the speechs poor reception, CNN sought an alternative narrative from Paul J.J. Payack , . . . . Continue Reading »
At Slate , Rosecrans Baldwin notices that novelists are quite attuned to the sound of a dog barking in the distance: Novelists can’t resist including a dog barking in the distance. I’ve seen it happen across the spectrumJackie Collins, William Faulkner, and Chuck Palahniuk: . . . . Continue Reading »
“The scientists” used to say that embryonic stem cell research provided the primary, perhaps “only” hope for treatments of degenerative conditions like Parkinson’s and spinal cord injury. This hype, willfully shoveled by Big Biotech and spread by its willing . . . . Continue Reading »
Animal research is crucial to the quest to find treatments for the worst human illnesses. Toward this end, UK scientists are genetically altering pigs so that they will be born with currently incurable human diseases so that they can be used in drug research looking for effective . . . . Continue Reading »