Monthly Archives: November 2010

Omar Bakri Mohammed

Posted on November 13, 2010 by Andrew Stuttaford

Cross-posted over at the Corner: The Lebanon has taken action against Omar Bakri Mohammed, a formerly UK-resident Islamic extremist who famously managed to extract some $500,000 in British welfare benefits while busily railing against the wickedness of, well, Britain. The … Continue reading →

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“Ultra-Orthodox Welfare Kings”

Posted on November 13, 2010 by Andrew Stuttaford

The problem that the Ultra-Orthodox pose for Israel is not a new topic, either here or elsewhere, but this WSJ piece by Evan Goldstein is worth reading, not least for the insight into the way that welfare handouts have (for … Continue reading →

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Neither Hobgoblin nor Foul Fiend (2)

Posted on November 13, 2010 by Andrew Stuttaford

It’s not just the Poles who are holding a conference on exorcism. The New York Times reports that American bishops are doing the same in Baltimore. The report is pretty fair-minded and two snippets in particular caught my attention: [T]o … Continue reading →

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Neither Hobgoblin nor Foul Fiend

Posted on November 13, 2010 by Andrew Stuttaford

Here via the Daily Telegraph, a little reminder of what lies beneath: Polish exorcists are gathering in Warsaw for their national congress confident in the knowledge that their numbers are increasing as more and more Poles struggle with Satanic possession. … Continue reading →

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The Tea Party’s first test

Posted on November 12, 2010 by Heather Mac Donald

I’ve been skeptical of the Tea Partyers’ commitment to entitlement reform and meaningful debt reduction.  Sarah Palin, after all, pioneered death panel demagoguery in response to the mere possibility of rationalized Medicare spending.  The notion that eliminating earmarks—a Tea Party … Continue reading →

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The cultural problem

Posted on November 12, 2010 by David Hume

At FrumForum, I’m a Reformist Conservative – and I Doubt Darwin. Arguments about evolution don’t have immediate proximate policy applications, so why is this even being mooted? Mike Huckabee was pointing to a real issue in 2007 when asked about … Continue reading →

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It’s hard out there being a secular conservative

Posted on November 11, 2010 by David Hume

A personal note. People often ask me if I’m really a conservative. Old friends, some of them not particularly liberal themselves. The reason is in large part my sociodemographic profile. I’m an atheist. I’m scientifically educated and inclined. I don’t … Continue reading →

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Polling now

Posted on November 10, 2010 by David Hume

David Frum is taking 2012 Republican primary polling seriously. Remember this?

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Marching Through The Institutions

Posted on November 7, 2010 by Andrew Stuttaford

Cross-posted over at the Corner: The Sunday Telegraph reports: An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has established that the education watchdog [Ofsted] has published positive reports praising Muslim schools for their contribution to community cohesion — even in the case … Continue reading →

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Godwin’s Pope (5)

Posted on November 6, 2010 by Andrew Stuttaford

Fresh from his remarkably disingenuous claims about atheism and the Nazis, that “subtle historian” Benedict XVI is (it appears from this report on his current visit to Spain) once again offering his own, distinctly unorthodox, take on the past: On … Continue reading →

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