If you aren’t up to speed on the Alvin Greene storythe craziest tale in political news in a long, long timethen you need to see this clip from the Daily Show: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c Alvin Greene Wins South Carolina Primary www.thedailyshow.com Daily . . . . Continue Reading »
So I’m writing an article about liberal eugenics and all that, and I’m actually using Rawls. Here’s (a very rough draft) snippet: American sophisticates usually speak of the significance of persons in terms of the theory of John Rawls. Rawls has become, many think, the political . . . . Continue Reading »
In the English Catholic weekly The Tablet , a useful review of the collected texts and documents of the International Theological Commission from 1969 to 2007, which the magazine titles Must for a Modern Theologian . The reviewer describes the Commission’s work this way: In his introduction . . . . Continue Reading »
“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 »