Wise man

An "important" speech by Sen. Barak Obama. While he is probably trying to position himself for a coming presidential election, he certainly knows how to do it.

But what I am suggesting is this - secularists are wrong when they ask believers to leave their religion at the door before entering into the public square. Frederick Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, Williams Jennings Bryant, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King -indeed, the majority of great reformers in American history - were not only motivated by faith, but repeatedly used religious language to argue for their cause. So to say that men and women should not inject their "personal morality" into public policy debates is a practical absurdity. Our law is by definition a codification of morality, much of it grounded in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

It's the Vatican's fault

Coming from the Boston Globe, this is an example of almost unsurpassed hypocrisy.

Madness

Some insigths from Peggy Noonan.

Alone

People are getting more lonely. It is interesting that things started changing in the fateful mid-sixties.

Be a diva

An example for "Why the Church" Chapter 3.3c:

the tasks of housekeeping and child rearing are not worthy of the full time and talents of intelligent and educated human beings. They do not require a great intellect, they are not honored and they do not involve risks and the rewards that risk brings.

Crisis of faith

David Warren is often quite perceptive.

Upset

Melanie Phillips is another example of a member of the elites who is getting worried about the health of our society, yet is unable to put her finger on the real issue, i.e. nihilism.

Real fun

A lady who got herself in trouble.

Buried

In case you want to know nore about the life of Zarqawi, this piece in The Atlantic is excellent. What is striking is that it is possible for a human life to take place in a context where the "I" never emerges.

Running for the cliff

A collision? This has civil war potential. Barring a rebirth of collective common sense, the only other possible outcome is the de facto abolition of marriage as a civil institution, which of course makes no sense but at least would not tear our society apart as deeply as state enforced acceptance/endorsement of homosexuality.

Slave religion

The encounter between slaves and Christianity in the old South is very interesting.

A penthouse and a tutor.

Reality always takes revenge on ideology. The end-result of "democratizing" education by massively lowering its standards is that now education is becoming a luxury.

All or nothing

A new book on Islam and imperialism.

The specific (and baleful) contribution of Islam is that, by attributing sovereignty solely to God, and by pretending in a philosophically primitive way that God’s will is knowable independently of human interpretation, and therefore of human interest and desire—in short by allowing nothing to human as against divine nature—it tries to abolish politics.