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June 04, 2009

The Mr. Potato Head Constitution

My essay on the Constitution, judicial activism and the “living document” trope is here at The American Spectator. Here’s one passage: This brings us to the central irony. The very people most inclined to gush about our “living Constitution” treat it like a Mr. Continue Reading...
June 03, 2009

Habermas on Christianity, Europe, and Human Rights

From Philip Jenkins at Foreign Policy: Ironically, after centuries of rebelling against religious authority, the coming of Islam is also reviving political issues most thought extinct in Europe, including debates about the limits of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the right to proselytize. Continue Reading...
June 02, 2009

GM Bankruptcy A ‘Hammer Blow’ To Michigan

The Detroit News says the General Motors bankruptcy filing “is a hammer blow for a state that was already on its knees.” In an editorial, the paper calls for an “emergency response” from government and an entirely new orientation to attracting businesses and jobs to the state: Longer term, Michigan’s entire focus must be on creating a business climate that makes the state attractive for job creators in a wide range of industries. Continue Reading...
May 29, 2009

Neuhaus and Rockford Institute: One More Round

A few weeks back, I posted a version of the famed Richard John Neuhaus/Rockford Institute break-up incident. The story there was that the break-up happened because Neuhaus overspent the Institute’s budget on conferences after having been ordered to cancel them. Continue Reading...
May 29, 2009

Catholic Bishops and the Economy

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) web site has a new page devoted to Catholic teaching on the economy. It is essentially a reorganization of existing resources, and it does helpfully provide access to the various bishops’ statements over the course of the last couple decades, as well as Vatican sources such as the Catechism and encyclicals. Continue Reading...
May 27, 2009

Acton Commentary: The Tyranny of the Obvious

Those who promoted the War on Poverty and other grand plans to end poverty, writes Hunter Baker, “had no inkling that these good-hearted strategies would lead to enduring cycles of poverty and family disintegration that threatened to consume entire generations. Continue Reading...
May 22, 2009

Superman and Christ, Redux

Would the fact that Superman is the “longest running fictional character ever” support or undermine my claim that he typically functions as an anti-Christ figure? I should observe that God himself was considered and rejected for the appellation: “It should be noted, however, that those who would proffer the cheeky suggestion that Our Father Who Art in Heaven is a fictional character are godless heathens and/or Theology majors. Continue Reading...