Transparency and accountability
European democracy: EU bigwigs are debating a proposed new Constitution that would definitively turn the EU into a superstate, and most Europeans have never heard of the thing.
James Kalb
Men, women, shopping and family law
Some recent items on the sexes:
- Psychology Today continues the trend toward allowing the results of research into differences between men’s and women’s brains into public discussion. The writer doesn’t even bother with the usual convention that only things that make women look good get mentioned.
- Some recent research is actually quite amusing, for example
Does Christianity abolish the many in favor of the one?
What is the Christian attitude toward race, ethnicity and peoplehood?
Such things do not determine human worth any more than other aspects of social position do. Nonetheless, it seems important to me to recover a Christian conception of legitimate particularism. Such a conception would necessarily include some degree of ethnic identity and loyalty and therefore … More ...
No transcendence through politics
Rock ‘n roll overthrew communism, says Hungary’s ambassador to the United States. According to Andras Simonyi, it was the Beatles, Cream, Traffic and Jimi Hendrix—not the Bible, Bach, or S�ndor Pet�fi—that gave Hungarian baby boomers the resolve to bring down the communist state.
The fall of communism, like the defeat of Nazi Germany, was … More ...
It’s good we have police protection!
Do small boys still play cops and robbers? If they do, here are a couple of variations they might try: nail a small businessman for having an ashtray in his shop and fine him $6,000. After that they can take a bishop down to headquarters and grill him over allegations that he said that some … More ...
Arguing social conservatism in a technocracy
The socially traditionalist Right hasn’t been making its case in a way that makes sense to people who don’t already accept socially traditionalist views. The result is that social conservatives are made to look like crazies and people have no idea what their answers are. When the Supreme Court sees people who don’t want to … More ...
Exterminate the Hun, I suppose
There is something that can rightly be called neoconservatism that’s overbearing and abusive by nature. It tries to establish its principles by acting as if everything’s already been settled and yelling at people who seem to have doubts. An excess of bile spills over into all one’s views, it seems. Veteran neocon-basher Paul Gottfried … More ...
Gleichschaltung as constitutional law
Some good citations regarding a bad trend that will be difficult to reverse without very basic changes in the understandings that govern our governors: Courting International Law.
More and more, Supreme Court justices are treating “human rights” instruments to which the United States is not a party—even instruments the United States has … More ...
The Kingdom cometh not by observation
So how can Christendom be restored? Liberals view the question as one of force—will people be forced to accept some particular religious dogma, or will they be free to follow their own consciences? In fact, of course, it’s not fundamentally a question of force, but of how the world is understood. Is equal satisfaction of … More ...
What can’t keep on won’t keep on
I wouldn’t much like to live in like Dar-ul-Islam, but Dar-ul-Liberalism simply doesn’t work in the most basic ways:
- Record Number of Women Childless. We aren’t reproducing.
- Trouble ahead for babies of divorce. When we do, things don’t necessarily go well.
- Unmarried America. And big business is OK with it.
Our rulers … More ...