Monthly Archives: September 2012

Turkey & the EU

Cross-posted on the Corner Andrew McCarthy has a piece on possible Turkish membership of the EU up on the home page, very well worth reading in many respects, but not least for this observation: In Turkey, the administrators of the … Continue reading

Posted in politics | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

New York’s MTA, the First Amendment & the Heckler’s Veto

Cross-posted on the Corner The New York Times reports: [New York’s] Metropolitan Transportation Authority approved new guidelines for advertisements on Thursday, prohibiting those that it “reasonably foresees would imminently incite or provoke violence or other immediate breach of the peace. … Continue reading

Posted in law | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

For Misery in Massachusetts

Cardinal O’Malley (The National Catholic Register reports): Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston is leading a statewide fight to defeat the Death With Dignity Act, a November 2012 ballot measure that would legalize assisted suicide in Massachusetts. He has outlined the … Continue reading

Posted in debate, law, politics, Religion | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

God and Mammon

How the Roman Catholic Church chooses to decide who is—and who is not a Roman Catholic—is up to that church. Even so, this is quite a story (from Reuters): Liberal and conservative Roman Catholic activists in Germany criticised a decree … Continue reading

Posted in Religion | Tagged , | 2 Comments

So Unsophisticated, That First Amendment

Cross-posted on the Corner: Eric Posner, a professor at the University of Chicago law school frets in Slate: The universal response in the United States to the uproar over the anti-Muslim video is that the Muslim world will just have … Continue reading

Posted in law, Religion | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Erdogan, Again

Cross-posted on the Corner: Turkey’s thuggish (“mildly Islamist”, if you are The Economist) prime minister Erdogan is doing his bit to restrict free speech. The Seattle Times reports: Prompted by the anti-Muslim video produced in California that has stirred deadly … Continue reading

Posted in law, politics, Religion | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Glimpses of Barbarism

From the Economist: In July a mentally disturbed Muslim man, arrested for blasphemy in the Punjab city of Bahawalpur, was dragged out of the police station by a crowd of 2,000 and set on fire. In 2009 accusations of blasphemy … Continue reading

Posted in culture | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Rebuke of the robotic candidate

I’ve been heard to say that perhaps we need a robot president, and Mitt Romney might be just the right robot. But I have to admit that robots just don’t make good candidates. The robot could still win because of … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

What Is It Like To Be A Theist?

For those who like this kind of thing ─ I confess to a mild and occasional weakness for it myself ─ here is atheist philosopher Thomas Nagel (What Is It Like To Be A Bat, The View From Nowhere) reviewing a … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

First Amendment Watch

Cross-posted in the Corner: Writing in USA Today, Anthea Butler, an associate professor of religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania, reveals that she hasn’t quite got to grips with this whole First Amendment thing: [W] hy did I tweet … Continue reading

Posted in Religion | Tagged , | 6 Comments