Michele Dillon is Professor of Sociology at New Hampshire University. Writing in The Immanent Frame, a blog of the Social Science Research Council, Dillon detects President Obama’s “Catholic sensibility” in his Notre Dame speech: Thus at Notre Dame, Obama demonstrated the . . . . Continue Reading »
I was first drawn into fighting assisted suicide when a depressed elderly friend committed suicide under the influence of Hemlock Society literature. Not only had the group’s suicide-porn given Frances moral permission to kill herself, but they had taught her precisely how to do it.These kinds . . . . Continue Reading »
At City Journal , Benjamin A. Plotinsky reviews Gertrude Himmelfarb’s latest book, The Jewish Odyssey of George Eliot : Is it wonderful or not wonderful? Thats what critics have been asking about the novel Daniel Deronda ever since its 1876 publication. Their answer has often been in . . . . Continue Reading »
President Obama has selected his nominee to replace retiring Supreme Court justice David Souter. New York judge Sonia Sotomayor would become the court’s first Hispanic. The Wall Street Journal reports : The president, in introducing Ms. Sotomayor at the White House Tuesday morning, praised . . . . Continue Reading »
Tragedy in Northern Ireland : A Catholic community worker was beaten to death by men shouting that they were members of the Ulster Defence Association, his widow said today. Evelyn McDaid, a Protestant who suffered serious head injuries when she tried to save her husband Kevin, spoke as police . . . . Continue Reading »
Or, if there’s a problem, it’s time to redefine “problem.” At least, that’s what this piece from the New York Times’ “Room for Debate” blog suggests: The recently released study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention points out that the . . . . Continue Reading »
If in the mainstream media they’re “anti-abortionists,” shouldn’t their opposite number be designated “pro-abortionists”? So asks Ryan Sayre Patrico in a recent post . But I can already hear the demurral: It would be inaccurate to call proponents of abortion . . . . Continue Reading »
Oh brother: The Guardian has really slipped its moorings with this sub headline for a rather mundane futurist’s peak into what awaits us by the year 2050: As the planet faces the most dangerous century in its 4.5bn-year history, astronomer royal Martin Rees looks into his crystal ball.Really? . . . . Continue Reading »
At that place where language dead-ends into incredulity . . . At thesignpost marking the intersection between metaphor and meta-folly . . . At the universal crossroads where icon meets curiosity . . . . . . stand these two Madonnas from the Museum of Bad Art.Be sure to visit their gift . . . . Continue Reading »
One of the enormous diggers at work on the Second Avenue Subway must have toppled over, I dreamed to myself when the blast woke me up a little after 3 a.m., and went right back to sleep. I didn’t guess that something was wrong until 7, when I arose to walk the dog. The dog had disappeared. She . . . . Continue Reading »