In his column on attempts to the reform the filibuster, Ezra Klein points out that the Founders built into the Constitution a balance of competing arms of the government that would check and balance each other. What we have now, however, is a system of
You want some good economic news? Technology to extract natural gas from shale formations has created an abundance of cheap energy that is bringing back manufacturing, attracting overseas investment, and solving our energy problems. From Washington Post journalist Steven Mufson The shale gas revolution is
The soundtrack for the upcoming Hobbit movie has been posted online, for free. Listen to it here: Hobbit. Bilbo Baggins is being played by Martin Freeman, who plays Dr. Watson in BBC’s excellent modern-day update of the Sherlock Holmes saga, Sherlock. And the actor who
Pastor Douthwaite’s sermon last Sunday was based on the assigned text for that day, about the widow’s mite (Mark 12: 38-44). He began with a useful survey of what the Church Year means and shows what it means to live in light of the End
General David Petraeus’s affair with Paul Broadwell, which led to his resignation as head of the CIA, became known when Ms. Broadwell sent threatening jealous e-mails to another woman, Jill Kelley, whereupon the FBI began its investigation. Now it turns out that Ms. Kelley was
Ezra Klein reports on efforts in the Senate to reform the filibuster rule in the Senate: The problem with a president promising to “change Washington” is that the presidency isn’t the part of Washington that’s broken. The systemic gridlock, dysfunction and polarization that so frustrate
One of my former students married another former student who has become an officer in the U.S. Army. She reports that the military has cut out the customary mid-deployment leave in which servicemen and women could spend some time with their families. Here is a
The Republicans did not make a big deal of moral or “cultural” issues during the last election. Little was said about abortion. Conservatives were well-behaved when it came to gay marriage. Unlike previous elections, Republicans–including social conservatives who care a great deal about these issues–pretty
Yesterday we discussed a post from my colleague Mark Mitchell: The Culture of Hospitality | Front Porch Republic. I’d like to focus on one line that he cites from the Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus written in the 2nd century A.D. (or maybe even earlier).
A reminder that people can be kept in line (and tyranny enforced) not only by fear but also by niceness. China’s authoritarianism has many faces, but rarely does it appear in the friendly, grandmotherly guise it has taken over the past week, as thousands of
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