Since Pope Benedict’s departure from Cuba last week, the vigorous debate about his visit continues. Despite open appeals from human rights advocates, Benedict did not meet personally with any of the country’s dissidents, even as he met with the Castro . . . . Continue Reading »
The MSM is deeply invested in cutting medical costs by reducing the levels of expensive medical treatments provided to the elderly and very ill unlikely to improve or be cured. Persuasion is one aspect of this game. (The other is promoting coercion, as in rationing.) That is why we . . . . Continue Reading »
Over at the consistently interesting Archdiocese of Washington blog, Msgr. Charles Pope offers a reflection on yesterday’s Passion narrative. The annual reading of the passages from Mark’s Gospel, which signal the start of Holy Week, are memorable not only because they involve staging . . . . Continue Reading »
They showed up by email and are obviously some gentle criticism of ME: Re the ObamaCare case: 1. Spot on - Kennedy seems to be stringing together for himself an increasingly consistent “presumption of liberty” jurisprudence. Frankly, in a lot of ways, I would consider that a relief. . . . . Continue Reading »
On Leaving, and Not Leaving, the Church Various, New York Times A Confusion of Harmonies Eric Ormsby, New Criterion Palm Sunday’s Simple English Propers [audio] Jeffrey A. Tucker, New Liturgical Movement Jonathan Haidt, Academia, and Partisanship Timothy Dalrymple, Philosophical Fragments . . . . Continue Reading »
Well, he isn’t really that, but I have some thoughts on Anthony Kennedy and Obamacare over at NLT. . . . . Continue Reading »
There is a very sad column in today’s SF Chronicle that details the trials and travails of a terminally ill woman who became homeless because she couldn’t work and was denied SSI benefits. I have no doubt the physician who wrote the piece meant for us to conclude we need to increase . . . . Continue Reading »
Last week Ross Douthat posted a comparison of The Sopranos and The Wire . He sees the two shows in terms of psychology v. sociology, the former being the more insightful because it presents flesh and blood human beings while the latter reduces its characters to their surrounding culture in . . . . Continue Reading »
Rock and disco, the typical middle-class alternatives to Afro-American popular music, are inferior forms of music; however, as Pete Townsend helped us to see in the last Songbook post , it may usually be too difficult, and is (arguably) inauthentic anyhow, for middle class persons to play . . . . Continue Reading »
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