Go Down, Mooses

by Joseph Bottum

A Moose Menorah:20 percent off today, because Jews need tacky stuff, too.[Rating: 9 out of . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Aug 2009 0

When He Had Opened The Book, He Found the Place Where It Was Written

by Joseph Bottum

Now this looks nice, a bookmark from the Met in New York:[Rating: 89 out of . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Aug 2009 0

Let Their Table Be Made a Snare, and a Trap, and a Stumblingblock

by Joseph Bottum

Because Christians need coffee tables, too.[Rating: 37 out of . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Aug 2009 0

Can the Rhine pour into the Tiber ’neath the sweep of the Wittenburg door?

by Francis Beckwith

The Rev. Russell E. Saltzman has authored a remarkable essay published on First Things’ On the Square (31 July 2009), “An Ecumenical Moment for One.” A Lutheran pastor in Kansas City , the Rev. Saltzman laments his denomination’s (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Aug 2009 0

Mandatory Abortion Coverage

by Joseph Bottum

The Weekly Standard reports that the Stupak-Pitts amendment has been defeated: Last night, the House Energy and Commerce Committee narrowly passed the Stupak-Pitts amendment to prevent the bill from mandating that private insurance plans cover abortions, but when Chairman Henry Waxman brought the . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Aug 2009 0

Defending the Bohemian

by Peter Lawler

Ted McAllister has posted my favorite porcher comment so far. The true conservative, in our day and age, defends the bohemian against bourgeois careerism and slouching toward a meritocracy based on the productivity that comes from being smart, pretty, pleasing, and industrious—as opposed to . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Aug 2009 0

Obamacare: Perpetrators of Bad Bill Blame the Media

by Wesley J. Smith

The rush to pass health care reform has been slowed by mostly just criticisms of an overly ambitious, almost incomprehensible bill, that could well lead to health care rationing as it also breaks the bank.  When they thought they could shove this boondoggle down out throats with little . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Aug 2009 0

Secondhand Smoke Now On Kindle

by Wesley J. Smith

I have no idea how this works, but Secondhand Smoke (and the other First Things blogs) are now available on Amazon’s Kindle.  I guess for the very modest price Amazon charges, it is downloaded to the device so you can read it when you are at the beach.  In any event, here is the . . . . Continue Reading »

31 Jul 2009 0

Furnishing Rivendell

by Sally Thomas

A reader commenting on Jody’s bed post — so to speak — remarked that those tree-bed hybrids he was writing about looked like furniture for Rivendell. Rivendell, of course, is the holy valley of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. That is, Tolkien never uses the word holy: . . . . Continue Reading »

31 Jul 2009 0

Back To Zero Cheers For Jim Wallis

by Keith Pavlischek

In “Wrong Big Picture, Dangerous Fine Print: But Otherwise Obama Care is Swell ,” James Capretta reports: Funding abortion and abortion providers . Both the Senate HELP and House Democratic bills fail to exclude abortion from the services that constitute “qualified” . . . . Continue Reading »

31 Jul 2009 0