In the wake of Senator Obama’s acceptance speech last night, readers of First Things will enjoy David Brooks’ delightful satire . A sample: My fellow Americans, it is an honor to address the Democratic National Convention at this defining moment in history. We stand at a crossroads at a . . . . Continue Reading »
This is not a political endorsement: But it is a celebration of the culmination and success of an earlier fight on behalf of human exceptionalism—Abolitionism and racial equality.Abraham Lincoln who grew into abolitionism during his presidency, is smiling tonight as the first African-American . . . . Continue Reading »
Yesterday was the Feast of St. Monica, the mother of St. Augustine. This feast was the occasion on which the the Venerable (soon to be Blessed) John Henry Cardinal Newman preached a characteristically brilliant sermon called “Intellect, the Instrument of Religious Training.” The whole thing is . . . . Continue Reading »
The animal rights movement’s strongest claim promoting vegetarianism is ethical, as in “If it has a face, don’t eat it.” But that isn’t good enough. Too often they go into odious comparisons between the worst human evils and barbecuing a steak (PETA’s infamous . . . . Continue Reading »
When not editing an illustrious magazine, defining agenbites , or unraveling true-crime plots (cf. forthcoming FT), Joseph Bottum has been taking me through the history of the English novel. Pilgrim’s Progress (1676), Robinson Crusoe (1719), Moll Flanders (1722), Gulliver’s Travels . . . . Continue Reading »
The Oregonian is trying to defend the Oregon Medicaid rationing scheme and its offer to pay for the assisted suicides of patients for whom it denied life-extending chemotherapy. The idea behind the Oregon scheme was to expand coverage to people who were not the poorest of the poor, but at the cost . . . . Continue Reading »
The Democrats didn’t invite Archbishop Charles Chaput to their convention in Denver this year, for understandable reasons . Instead, they invited Sr. Helen Prejean C.S.J. to speak at their interfaith gathering. If they were trying to avoid controversy and shore up support from religious party . . . . Continue Reading »
Finally. It was several years in the making, but I have just electronically turned in my manuscript of the animal rights book to the publisher. It came in at between 90,000 and 100,000 words, not surprising given that “short-winded” is not exactly my strong suit.I can’t tell you . . . . Continue Reading »
The other day while reading Orwell’s essay “Politics and the English Language,” I came across the following passage: As I have tried to show, modern writing at its worst does not consist in picking out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images in order to make the . . . . Continue Reading »
When the MSM declares an adult stem cell success “stunning,” as the Washington Post headline does, you know it is a new day. In mice, scientists were able to transform adult cells into stem cells—from within the body! From the story: Scientists have transformed one type of fully . . . . Continue Reading »
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