Monthly Archives: March 2009

Israel, gentile & Jews

A good point in regards to attitudes toward Israel and anti-Semitism broadly understood was brought up in the post below. How about attitudes toward Israel as a function of politics?

Posted in culture | Tagged | 11 Comments

Who is for the Jews? Left or Right?

Over at Red State Erick Erickson implies that the Left is anti-Semitic by way of the JournoList story: It makes for an interesting conversation. Apparently, many of the lefties don’t much care for Olbermann either. And they hate Marty Peretz, … Continue reading

Posted in culture, politics | Tagged , , | 12 Comments

When liberals discover the utility of custom & tradition

There is a clip of a recent bloggingheads.tv between Matt Yglesias and Mark Schmitt which is rather amusing, as they express a rather conservative sensibility:

Posted in politics | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Muddle to the Right?

I’m reading Niall Ferguson’s The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World right now. I’ve not read Ferguson before, and I have to say he’s a rather good prose stylist. Though dense with data & concept The Ascent … Continue reading

Posted in economics, politics | Tagged , , , | 18 Comments

Blasphemy!

In an era when some (rightly) worry that blasphemy laws may be being reintroduced under the guise of prohibiting speech that gives ‘offense’, here via the New York Times is a reminder that the original approach lingers on in America … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 15 Comments

Environmentalism as Religion

I’ve long thought that some aspects of modern environmentalism (particularly many of the attitudes and beliefs associated with, to use the shorthand, ‘global warming’) are in a good number of respects ‘religious’. Here (via the Daily Telegraph) is a story … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 21 Comments

Miscellany, March 20

Pareidolia is “that phenomenon wherein people see things that aren’t there because human brains are wired for pattern recognition”. Children see animals in the clouds or letters in a pile of sticks; adults are likely to see images fraught with … Continue reading

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Watching the Door

My review of Kevin Myers’ book, which I mentioned in a previous post, is now online at Taki’s Magazine.

Posted in culture, history, politics | 1 Comment

Book Learnin’

By way of celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, I reviewed Kevin Myers’ memoir of the Northern Ireland troubles, Watching the Door, for Taki’s Magazine. (Review not yet posted.) I noticed the following curiosity on p.159, though I didn’t include it in my review. … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 21 Comments

The UK Today

Writing in the London Times, Dominic Lawson interviews a Muslim woman who converted to Christianity: Hannah’s description in the book of the moment when her “community” discovered the “safe” home where she had fled after becoming an apostate is terrifying. … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments