Today is tax day. As millions of Americans finish filing their 2010 federal income taxes, 47 percent of their fellow citizens will pay no federal income tax. Thats right. Nearly half the country pays nothing* towards a government that in theory represents everyone. A family of four earning . . . . Continue Reading »
Reading “A Night To Remember” during Middle School made April 14 memorable all my life. Slowly the last survivors died and this year none are left who were on the great liner when it went down in the Atlantic.I used to dream of it.The sinking of the ship was mythic for me, like Narnia or . . . . Continue Reading »
As if the suicide clinics weren’t bad enough, now nursing homes in one area of Switzerland will soon be allowed to facilitate suicides by residents. From the story:A Swiss region is poised to give old people in state-subsidised care homes the right to die via assisted suicide if that is . . . . Continue Reading »
I warned in the Weekly Standard that the new Medicare Independent Payment Advisory Board is the cornerstone for a new bureaucratic state. From my piece “Our New Obamacare Masters:”At present, Congress is responsible for setting the policies that govern all aspects of Medicare, . . . . Continue Reading »
Youth suicide problem, Wesley? What youth suicide problem?In Tennessee, the suicide promoting and assisting organization, Final Exit Network, is holding a suicide promoting event at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. (These kind of compasssssssionaatttte events are . . . . Continue Reading »
In today’s Journal , Donald Luskin defends Atlas Shrugged as “a plea for the most fundamental American idealthe inalienable rights of the individual.” Where does one start? What are “rights” in a universe where there is no morality other than what can be derived . . . . Continue Reading »
A new study indicates that suicide rates ebb and flow with the economy. From the story:“Knowing suicides increased during economic recessions and fell during expansions underscores the need for additional suicide prevention measures when the economy weakens,” James Mercy, acting . . . . Continue Reading »
In our second On the Square piece today, Alma Acevedo asks: To whom is Richard Dawkins grateful when he expresses “an abstract gratitude that I am alive to appreciate these wonders, when I look down a microscope its the same feeling, I am grateful to be alive to appreciate these . . . . Continue Reading »
This morning On The Square Russ Saltzman plans ahead for the sermon he will have to give on January 29, 2012. The text will be Mark 1:2128, the story of the unclean spirit whom Jesus commands to leave the man it has possessed: With umpteen years of ordination behind me I should have said . . . . Continue Reading »
Instead of engaging with the text of Archbishop Charles J. Chaput’s recent remarks at Notre Dame, Michael Sean Winters of the National Catholic Reporter has attacked Chaput for saying that it might sometimes be necessary to deny communion to abortion-supporting politicians. Winters claims . . . . Continue Reading »