Monthly Archives: February 2011

Familiarity in Europe

Posted on February 27, 2011 by David Hume

Swedes Begin to Question Liberal Migration Tenets: But increasingly, Swedes are questioning these policies. Last fall, the far-right party — campaigning largely on an anti-immigration theme — won 6 percent of the vote and, for the first time, enough support … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 3 Comments

Not A Good Sign

Posted on February 21, 2011 by Andrew Stuttaford

Cross-posted over at the Corner. Via AFP: Google executive Wael Ghonim, who emerged as a leading voice in Egypt’s uprising, was barred from the stage in Tahrir Square on Friday by security guards, an AFP photographer said. Ghonim tried to … Continue reading →

Posted in politics | Tagged | Comments Off on Not A Good Sign

Prince & bishop

Posted on February 20, 2011 by David Hume

One of the major back stories about Bahrain is the disjunction between the religious confession of the ruling family, and the populace. The elite and the monarchy are Sunni, while the masses are Shia. This is of a piece with … Continue reading →

Posted in culture | Tagged | 5 Comments

A Reasonable Compromise

Posted on February 20, 2011 by Andrew Stuttaford

Via the Washington Post: After two years of struggling to balance the rights of patients against the beliefs of health-care workers, the Obama administration on Friday finally rescinded most of a federal regulation designed to protect those who refuse to … Continue reading →

Posted in politics | Tagged | 6 Comments

An Exorcist in Trouble

Posted on February 20, 2011 by Andrew Stuttaford

Via Politics Daily: A Catholic priest who traveled the country performing exorcisms and launching fierce attacks against anyone he viewed as insufficiently tough on abortion — he once suggested Fox News host Sean Hannity was a “heretic” for saying birth … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Tunisia: Some Portents

Posted on February 19, 2011 by Andrew Stuttaford

Cross-posted over at the Corner: This demonstration in Tunis (report from AFP; extract follows) obviously reflects growing unease: TUNIS — Hundreds of Tunisians demonstrated Saturday for a secular state following the murder of a Polish priest, verbal attacks on Jews … Continue reading →

Posted in politics | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Tunisia: Some Portents

Social conservatism & religious conservatism

Posted on February 19, 2011 by David Hume

The New York Times profiled this website today. Dan Riehl responds: This article is a lot of hogwash and it causes me to wonder if these specific views of Heather Mac Donald and Razib Khan aren’t driven more by a … Continue reading →

Posted in politics | 23 Comments

Way To Go

Posted on February 16, 2011 by Bradlaugh

[Cross-posted to The Corner] Taoism (which we are nowadays supposed to write as “Daoism,” though neither spelling is more correct than the other) is the country cousin of major world religions: generally thought to be long on gaudy superstition and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Secular and Islamist can mean very different things

Posted on February 15, 2011 by David Hume

A long post at Discover Blogs where I outline what I perceive to be the fallacies and misrepresentations in the media today about the Egyptian democratic revolution. In particular, I think terms like “secular” and “Islamist” are being used in … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion | Tagged | 2 Comments

The 2012 budget: A BS-detector

Posted on February 15, 2011 by Heather Mac Donald

Why doesn’t President Obama call the Republicans’ bluff?  His 2012 budget ducks any significant entitlement cuts, and ignores the recommendations of his bipartisan deficit commission.  Obama’s budget director explains that the administration is not willing to make the first move … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | 18 Comments