Not long after the shooting in Newtown, I happened to be reading a biography of Neal Cassady, who was muse to both Jack Kerouac in On the Road and Visions of Cody and several poems by Allen Ginsberg. The book tells one story of Cassady and Ginsberg visiting writer William Burroughs at his . . . . Continue Reading »
George Weigel on Christmas as a cure for cynicism and irony : There is neither cynicism nor irony in Mary’s reception of the angel Gabriel and her acceptance of the divine invitation to become the Theotokos , the “God-bearer” or “Mother of God.” There was a . . . . Continue Reading »
Some years ago I published a piece at Catholic Thing about the conversion of Robert Bork to the Catholic Church. I recall on that day, which I was honored to attend, Father C. J. McCloskey said Bork had run almost the entire gamut of sacraments; baptism, first confession, first communion, . . . . Continue Reading »
Reuters photographer Sheng Li reports on “death experience therapy” at Ruoshui Mental Health Clinic in Shenyang, China: Then I met 42-year-old Mr. Yang, who had booked his therapy appointment for that day. During the psychological preparation talk, I learned that Yang had lost his . . . . Continue Reading »
I’m inhabiting a particularly unpleasant circle of grading hell at the moment, but a series of student papers has given me the opportunity to escape for a moment of throughtful reflection. The assignment—given to sophomores in a core course—required students to connect the . . . . Continue Reading »
The word is commonly but inaccurately spelled “forego,” but those are really two separate and unrelated verbs. The “fore” in “forego” means “first” or “before,” so that a “foregone conclusion” is a conclusion that comes before any . . . . Continue Reading »
Robert H. Bork, lion of a legal minority that thought the judiciary should show due deference to the will of the popular majority, is dead at eighty-five years of age. Bork was a frequent contributor to these pages, never more famously than in ” The End of Democracy: Our Judicial Oligarchy . . . . Continue Reading »
More on Woodrow Wilson and Calvinism Matthew J. Tuininga, Patheos Newtown: A Very American Tragedy Alex Massie, Prospect Thomas Cromwell: Brewer’s Boy Made Good Derek Wilson, History Today Christians and Radicals in China Jillian Kay Melchior, The Corner Another HHS Loss in Court The Becket . . . . Continue Reading »
Matthew , the greatest part about that Rand quote is how it shows how Randians and Keynsians basically agree in endorsing the central fallacy of twentieth-century economics: that the core drive of economic activity is the desire to consume, to gratify desires. She even praises Christmas because . . . . Continue Reading »
Every person working for the Republican National Committee should be required to watch this ten minute clip of Henry Olsen every month. Maybe every week. If you have too much free time, watch the whole event. . . . . Continue Reading »
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