Monthly Archives: November 2010

Wikileaks

This latest Wikileaks document dump reveals a simplistic, even childish, understanding of democracy on the part of Assange and his enablers.   Popular control of government does not mean that there can be no delegation of power.  The public can delegate … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 18 Comments

Cranks Without Power

Mr. Hume:  I saw your post about John West’s ISI article “Darwin, Scientism, and the Misguided Quest for Darwinian conservatism” just as I finished reading the two new biographies of Galileo. (For review in the New Criterion. The biographies are here and … Continue reading

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Darwin and intellectual conservatism

The Intercollegiate Studies Institute has a webjournal called First Principles. Here’s a bit about ISI: In 1953, Frank Chodorov founded ISI as the Intercollegiate Society of Individualists, with a young Yale University graduate William F. Buckley, Jr. as president. E. … Continue reading

Posted in culture | Tagged | 36 Comments

Bringing Back the Blasphemy Laws (ctd)

Cross-posted over at the Corner: Via the Daily Mail: A teenage girl has been arrested on suspicion of inciting religious hatred after allegedly burning an English language version of the Koran – and then posting it on Facebook. The 15-year-old, … Continue reading

Posted in law | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width

In a recent book, libertarian Joel Kotkin exulted over the prospect of us adding 100 million to our population by 2050. In contrast to those East Asian and European nations with declining demographics, he argues, by taking in masses of … Continue reading

Posted in politics | 14 Comments

Divine ADD

Haitian-Americans in a Catholic parish in Queens, NY, have been ecstatically praying since an earthquake wiped out an estimated quarter-million of their island countrymen 10 months ago, following which Hurricane Tomas unleashed cholera in the survivors’ tent camps: Certain women … Continue reading

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Body scan contortions

It is amusing to hear right-wing media hosts rail about TSA’s body scans as an extension of the Obama socialist agenda and as an environmental health hazard.  It was of course the Bush Administration and its supporters in neo-con think … Continue reading

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The case for an established church

Matt Yglesias makes it implicitly, Royal Wedding and the Case for Monarchy: The point here is that it seems inevitable in any country for some individual to end up serving the functional role of the king. Humans are hierarchical primates … Continue reading

Posted in politics | Tagged | 33 Comments

True Burkeans! Or not?

Continental Divide: Throw your Euro stereotypes out the window: Last weekend, a Greek government that has cut public-sector pay and lowered pensions won a clear victory in local elections. Despite strikes and violence, despite the fact that Greece’s debt is … Continue reading

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What every schools chief should know

New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg is under attack for nominating the chairwoman of Hearst Magazines to be the next New York City Schools Chancellor.  The New York education establishment and its political patrons are outraged that someone with no … Continue reading

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