This year marks the one-hundredth anniversary of the first performance of English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams’ masterpiece, Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. I fell in love with this magnificent work nearly 30 years ago while studying for my written comprehensive exams at Notre Dame. . . . . Continue Reading »
Our friend, Ralph McInerny, has slipped away, dying at 7:45 this morning. I have no voice or words to speak our loss. Not yet. Not today. An autobiographical essay of Ralph’s appeared here , and several fine poems, including : Effable Where are words when not yet spoken: on the tongue, in the . . . . Continue Reading »
That, of course, is a variant of a Polish joke that decency prevents me from citing here. Considerable ink has spilled over the proposition that Poland’s Bishop Tadeusz Pieronek is an anti-Semite, following remarks about Jewish exploitation about the Holocaust, already posted in this . . . . Continue Reading »
What a shame. When Senator Elect Scott Brown won the Massachusetts special election, I saw it is a real political and policy opportunity for President Obama. He could jettison the current disastrous bills and retool—focusing on what is actually broken rather than trying to remake our entire . . . . Continue Reading »
Joke of the day: What do Al Gore and Bin Laden have in common? Both want to bring “the wheels of the American economy” to a halt. From the story:Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden has called for the world to boycott American goods and the U.S. dollar, blaming the United States and . . . . Continue Reading »
An American judge makes a laudable decision that should embarrass the Germans, and force them to reconsider their systemic persecution of homeschooling families: A Christian family from Germany have been granted political asylum in the US after facing the threat of prison for home schooling their . . . . Continue Reading »
The Freedom from Religion Foundation is blasting the U.S. Postal Service for its plan to honor Mother Teresa with a commemorative stamp , saying it violates postal regulations against honoring “individuals whose principal achievements are associated with religious undertakings.” The . . . . Continue Reading »
Well, suffice it to say, it’s been an exciting week or so for law nerds. Here is the latest round up of the best o’ the blawgosphere: The Citizens United case generated a slew of interesting, must-read commentary. Here’s a taste of it: Jan Crawford’s ” Supreme Court . . . . Continue Reading »
The discovery of fragments of the lost Codex Gregorianus, one of the oldest known law books, was announced this week : Part of an ancient Roman law code previously thought to have been lost forever has been discovered by researchers at UCL’s Department of History. Simon Corcoran and Benet . . . . Continue Reading »
Archbishop Raymond Burke, in a homily given in Phoenix, Arizona:In our culture, “the law more and more dares to force those with the sacred trust of caring for the health of their brothers and sisters to violate the most sacred tenets of their consciences, and to force individuals and . . . . Continue Reading »
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