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You can watch EVERY Olympics event

July 27, 2012 By Gene Veith

Are you psyched up about the Olympics, which starts this weekend, with the opening ceremonies getting underway tonight? They sort of snuck up on me. I get more and more interested as the games go on. This year the television and online coverage will be unprecedented. In fact, it will be total. Oklahoma sports columnist Mel Bracht reports that NBC and its affiliates will broadcast 5,535 hours of coverage. Compare that to 161 hours in the 1992 Barcelona games. The… Read more

Individuals and the Obamacare mandate

July 27, 2012 By Gene Veith

42 Comments

Discussion about the Obamacare contraception/abortifacient insurance mandate has centered on the religious liberty of church-related institutions. But what about the religious liberty of pro-life individuals who own businesses? That, in fact, is the case before the courts that might have a ruling today. (I’m on the road so I might have trouble monitoring it. If anyone hears about a ruling, mention it in a comment.) Here are details about that case, with a rather chilling statement about how the Obama… Read more

Government persecution of Chick-fil-A

July 27, 2012 By Gene Veith

32 Comments

Michael Barone summarizes a number of pundits criticizing the mayors of Boston and now Chicago for seeking to deny business licenses to Chick-fil-A because its owners don’t believe in gay marriage. Their point is simple, and based on Supreme Court rulings: it’s wrong and unconstitutional under the First Amendment for government to deny business licenses because of an applicant’s speech and beliefs. As the Globe rightly notes, “If the mayor of a conservative town tried to keep out gay-friendly Starbucks… Read more

Damnatio memoriae

July 26, 2012 By Gene Veith

60 Comments

I salute Steven L. Jones, a student at Houston Baptist University, for recalling another of those useful Latin phrases. This one has application from George Orwell’s “memory hole” in 1984 to the NCAA sanctions against Penn State: Question: What do Joe Paterno and the Roman Emperor Nero have in common? Answer: damnatio memoriae Damnatio Memoriae (Latin for “the condemnation of memory”) is the act of trying to erase a person from history. In the Roman world, this meant erasing the… Read more

The insurance mandate goes into effect August 1

July 26, 2012 By Gene Veith

16 Comments

The Obamacare mandate that requires pro-life institutions and business owners to provide insurance for their employees that gives free contraceptives and abortion drugs goes into effect this Wednesday, August 1. Perhaps you didn’t realize this was so imminent. On Friday, a court is scheduled to issue a ruling on the case, which might overturn the mandate or might affirm it. August 1: The Day the U.S. Definition of Religious Freedom Changes – By Kathryn Jean Lopez – The Corner… Read more

Parents and children are not natural enemies

July 26, 2012 By Gene Veith

94 Comments

An interesting observation from Miss Manners (a.k.a. Judith Martin) in response to a question from a young adult who is living with her parents and wanting to know how best to respond to rude questions (“You’re how old and still living with your parents?”): The people who say this are HOW old? Miss Manners asks because the generation that considers relatives to be natural enemies is aging. They grew up denouncing their parents’ values, styles of living and psyches; they… Read more

The Chick-fil-A firestorm

July 25, 2012 By Gene Veith

88 Comments

Opponents of gay marriage are being demonized. Not just disagreed with but condemned, attacked, and boycotted. That’s what Chick-fil-A is learning after the president of the chicken sandwich chain told an interview that he supports traditional families. Not just gays but liberals and right-thinking forces of tolerance everywhere are seeking to punish the company. The whole city of Boston is trying to keep it out of town. But the interview and the controversial pro-family comments were not even about gay… Read more

Violence according to pop culture

July 25, 2012 By Gene Veith

10 Comments

Part of Victor Davis Hanson’s thoughts about the Batman killings: When Alien, Predator, or Terminator slice up or rip apart dozens, life just goes on. Bodies fly all over the screen and we are onto the next scene. Wondering about who actually was the 11th poor soul who had his heart ripped out by the Terminator is far less interesting than watching the latter utter some banality. The same is true of everything from Die Hard to 300—lots of real-life,… Read more

Elton John credits Bush and conservatives for battling AIDS

July 25, 2012 By Gene Veith

20 Comments

Elton John gives credit to George W. Bush and to conservatives for their efforts in slowing the AIDS epidemic in Africa: “We’ve seen George W. Bush and conservative American politicians pledge tens of billions to save the lives of Africans with HIV. Think of all the love. Think of where we’d be without it, nowhere, that’s where. We’d be nowhere at all,” John said at the International AIDS conference in Washington on Monday. “Thanks to all this compassion, thanks to… Read more

Egopapism

July 24, 2012 By Gene Veith

26 Comments

Francis Beckwith discusses the indignation in some circles about catechists in the Roman Catholic Church being required to, you know, agree with the doctrines that they are supposed to be teaching. In doing so, he employs a useful new word: egopapism. I define this as the belief that you yourself are your own infallible religious authority. Read more