Monthly Archives: January 2013

Ah, the Civility….

Gleanings (“important developments in the church and the world”!) reports: President Barack Obama is not the only one preparing for a heavy push on comprehensive immigration reform in the coming months. Today evangelical leaders launched fresh efforts to raise support … Continue reading

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Gene Genie

Should people be allowed to see details of their own genetic information? Of course. Yet, as Reason’s Ron Bailey points out in a post linking to this article by Slate’s Virginia Hughes, “timorous and condescending bioethicists and physicians” insist on … Continue reading

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If it can’t continue, it won’t continue

One of the seminal clarion calls of modern American conservatism is that it exists to “It stands athwart history, yelling Stop, at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who … Continue reading

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Watching the Bishops

Joe Biden: “Yesterday we finished up in this room with … 17 members of the faith community … [I]n all the years I have been doing this, the first time there has been an overwhelming consensus, from the evangelical groups … Continue reading

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A Good Question

This article by the British cook, writer and entrepreneur, Prue Leith, on the death of her brother is a harrowing read, but it is a reminder of the suffering that those such as Boston’s Cardinal O’Malley (a key opponent of … Continue reading

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A World Without Guns? No Thanks.

Cross-posted on the Corner: Sam Harris is a “New Atheist” and a Second Amendment skeptic too — wait, wait – and there’s a lot to disagree with in this new piece of his (“collective psychosis”, good lord). Nevertheless, agree or … Continue reading

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A Skeptic

From a Guardian interview with Nigel Farage, the leader of Britain’s neo-Thatcherite, euroskeptic UKIP: He won a lot of Tory support by opposing gay marriage, chiefly because it was an affront to religious values. “Tolerance is a two-way street, and … Continue reading

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Same Old, Same Old

It’s no great secret that the Vatican has never been particularly fond of the idea of free markets, but here is yet more nonsense from Benedict XVI to remind us of just that. The BBC reports on the Pope’s New … Continue reading

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Happy New Year (Or Not)

Via AFP: AFP – A preacher from the hardline Salafist movement that has achieved growing prominence in Tunisia since the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings told Tunisians on Monday that the exchange of New Year’s greetings was un-Islamic. “Sharing the feast … Continue reading

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Delirium

As much as I may grumble about the Economist’s snooty and irritating Davos/Brussels liberalism, it still remains an invaluable resource, not least its Christmas issue. This year’s included a haunting, terrifically written piece on the 19th Century war that nearly … Continue reading

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