In a thought-provoking New York Times op-ed today, Melinda Henneberger has some harsh words for the Democrats on the abortion issue. Henneberger has taken it upon herself to visit 20 states, talking to women on all ages, races, and income levels on this issue. She is now convinced that the female vote ebbed away from Kerry in 2004, not because Bush scared the hell out of them with images of phantom ghoulish terrorists, but because of his stance on abortion.... Read more
Two leading Christian outlets have declared their opposition to, and have marked their distance from Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani. And with Catholics Against Rudy about to launch in July, there seems to be little indication that Giuliani’s task of garnering the Christian vote will get much easier. A while back, Richard Land, the head of the Southern Baptist Convention, made a statement indicating that Giuliani will be a hard sell to conservative Christians due to his two previous divorces:... Read more
The notion that large, general, quite hard to define terms such as “history” or “ideology” matter more than personality, proximity, and access in the development and shape of individual lives in liberal, democratic Western countries is something I find dubious. But Continental philosophers of recent centuries past, led by Hegel, have quite a lot of insight into why history will never quite be killed off, clearing the way for no legitimate alternatives except capitalist democracy or a collectivistic utopia. Interestingly,... Read more
There is no doubt that Catholics will have an important role in the 2008 election. AP reports, such as thing one, are already looking towards Catholic Bishops and trying to ascertain what they will say in 2008. Things will be quite different in 2008 than in 2004. While G.W. Bush gave a nod to some pro-life policies, in 2008, it is becoming difficult to believe that either party will provide someone with even a nominal stand against abortion. Too many... Read more
I’ve already written on how the Roberts court is extremely supportive of the death penalty. Now, David Savage in the LA Times notes that the court is also uniquely friendly toward business and corporations. The Court has already issued a dozen rulings this term that limit damages and make it harder for people to sue corporations. The court is seen as tilting more toward business than even the Rehnquist court. As for all those good pro-life people who cheered when... Read more
“Embryonic stem-cell research requires the destruction of life to create a stem cell. I’m the first president ever to allow funding — federal funding — for embryonic stem-cell research. I did to because I too hope that we’ll discover cures from the stem cells and from the research derived. ” — G.W. Bush. October 8. 2004. Presidential Debate. While some people might praise President Bush for not increasing federal funds or the limits by which embryonic stem-cell research will be... Read more
After it was reported that Amnesty International would support so-called “abortion-rights” throughout the world, I knew things were messed up. Will they support prison terms for those who are opposed to so-called “abortion rights”? Are they moving beyond the original vision of AI? Would they create a new set of political prisoners based upon their own new-founded ideology? Thankfully, others are asking this very question. In Ireland, AI officials do not want to support a pro-abortion stand. They do not... Read more
Over at the First Things blog, Michael Novak has written a detailed post against what he sees as persistent criticism of the “American economic system” (is there any real doubt where his allegiances truly lie?). He wants to hone in on such criticisms using “the fires of critical thought”. Except than when he gets down to his actually arguments, he shies away from critical thought and instead relies on ideologically-tinged obfuscation. I wish to deal only with one point he... Read more
Left: Nicolas Sarkozy President of France and former leader of the Union pour un Mouvement Populaire Right: Maurice Merleau-Ponty philosopher of France and former Marxist humanist So did France really end up electing a socialist after all? Is France masterfully playing both sides? (H/T: Anxietas) Read more
Continuing the theme I began in an earlier post regarding leisure, a question arose with respect to what kind of activity constitutes leisure. The claim was made that leisure is that time when one is free from the burdens of toiling and laboring for the necessities of life and free to become fully human through self-perfecting actions. With the focus being on the ‘self’ there was some concern that one’s pursuit of self-actualization actually becomes self-ish. As I suggested and... Read more
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