Culture
One of the more amorphous aspects of the Catholic Church that persuades me of the wisdom of its approach to conceptualizing life is that it eschews easy answers to thorny problems. (That doesn’t mean, of course, that individual Catholics or even broad movements of them don’t from time to time slip into human habits.) Bishop…
President Obama’s remarks at the memorial service in Tucson were exactly what was called for. His tone was spot-on and he displayed leadership by reminding us all that there isn’t always a simple explanation for tragedy. For the truth is that none of us can know exactly what triggered this vicious attack. None of us…
Matt and I reminisced about the good old days when we were proud to be tougher than the snow on the Matt Allen Show last night. Stream by clicking here, or download it. Once again, I didn’t go into the sales pitch, but please email or call (401-835-7156) me to pledge financial support — as…
During my time as a college English student, with professors being predictably as you can imagine they were, I was struck by how powerful a set of letters “nigger” could be — first, as a dehumanizing attack and, later, as a literary marker of the speaker’s ignorance. Particularly in postbellum literature, and especially in certain…
I’m always happy to see commentators bring first principles to the table, because that’s where deep discussion must begin, but I’m not sure the principle of “putting the kids first” (in paraphrase), as Julia Steiny advised in her Sunday column, is helpful in reformulating our approach to civic institutions. In our current fiscal crisis, we’ve…
Jonah Goldberg makes an interesting point about the particular victories of America’s homosexual movement: … Watch ABC’s Modern Family. The sitcom is supposed to be “subversive” in part because it features a gay couple with an adopted daughter from Asia. And you can see why both liberal proponents and conservative opponents of gay marriage see…
It feels uncharitable, somehow, to respond seriously to this column by Bob Kerr, but then it would have to be uncharitable to read him seriously in the first place. Neil Diamond has just been named to the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. What’s next — Sarah Palin on the short list for the National…
… when she said this? And I was at — forgive the expression — a Christmas party at the Department of Justice and … Interestingly, her comment did not make the final version of the weekend’s Inside Washington broadcasted by NPR. It’s not clear, though, whether this edit was made simply for the sake of…
It’s very interesting to see some of the self-deception of Western society’s last half-century begin to unravel: Yes — feminists look away now — most of the girls I talked to are intent on marrying a rich man. This idea is buoyed by a culture of celebrity that sees attractive women marrying well and then…
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