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The collapse of the liberal regime into irrationality, contradiction and tyranny, and the inability of limited adjustments to restore it to health or even stability, suggest that a basically different direction is needed for our public life. Liberalism is an attempt to make freedom the ultimate principle of public life. The attempt makes no sense, … More ...
Scribble, scribble
I haven’t been posting much lately because I’ve been busy with some projects, a couple of review-essays (one of them is on Paul Gottfried’s last three books, the other on another book about liberalism) and a book of my own, also (alas) about liberalism but at least including some ideas what to do about it. … More ...
Can a Catholic oppose mass immigration?
Here’s an edited version of a usenet discussion I had on immigration in a Catholic newsgroup:
… More ...Ille: In the US the government is discussing new rules on how to keep THEM out of the US.
Ego: What’s with the “THEM”? Disagreement on immigration does not mean stupidity and malice.
Ille: The THEM
News flash: Roman art not crude
No big surprise: when they finally found a classical bust that still had its paint on, they noticed something:
… More ...It had … been assumed that classical statues were painted brightly. In fact, the colouring on the head is a delicate shade of orange-red, which, although faded, indicates that classical colouring was subtle and sophisticated.
Through the UN to the Omega Point
Here’s an account of the thought of the French Jesuit, paleontologist, heresiarch and general space cadet Pierre Teilhard de Chardin that makes it a bit clearer why his evolutionary theology appeals so much to so many. If you make Christ the outcome of the evolution of an endlessly-more-universal this-worldly social process what you’ve really done … More ...
Making nice is not statesmanship
I’d been out of internet contact for 10 days or so and hadn’t seen the cartoons that supposedly gave rise to all the delayed Muslim outrage. When I did I was startled by how mild they were. A few of them seemed likely to offend: one that made the Islamic crescent look like horns … More ...
What is the state?
We’ve had a little back-and-forth on the modern state and what to make of it, so I thought I’d put together some notes for whatever anybody can make of them:
- Most fundamentally, it seems the state is based on itself as a system of power. You’re recognized as the government of a region if you
Limits on free speech in England
For those who want to keep tabs on where things stand, here’s a video (22 min. and 50 MB) of the speech by BNP leader Nick Griffin that’s getting him prosecuted for “using words or behaviour likely to stir up racial hatred.” The speech is more vehement than Enoch Powell’s so-called “rivers of blood” speech … More ...
Where are we
In France, an MP is fined and denounced vehemently for criticizing homosexuality, and the Culture Minister wants him kicked out of the party. In this country we mostly don’t fine people for saying the wrong thing, we just re-educate them or put them in therapy. And then there’ll always be an England, … More ...