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May 26, 2006

Mr. Kim, tear down this wall

Among the oppressed peoples of the world, none has suffered more than the North Koreans. The utter lack of freedom—religious, political, economic—in the dictatorship has long been known. Erasing any doubt, unprecedented information concerning the nation’s prison system was revealed a couple years ago by the U.S. Continue Reading...
May 26, 2006

Danger + opportunity = crisis?

In a recent interview with Giant magazine (June/July 2006, “Citizen Gore,” p. 56-57, text available here) about his new movie “An Inconvenient Truth,” former Vice President Al Gore answered a few questions. Continue Reading...
May 25, 2006

Taking stock of the Bush presidency

Rev. Robert A. Sirico joined host Sean Herriott for an interview on Relevant Radio’s Morning Air this morning. They discussed the current state of the Bush Presidency, the President’s view of moral absolutes, and the relationship between religion and politics in America. Continue Reading...
May 25, 2006

What makes a good priest?

Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Warsaw this morning, the start of his four-day pilgrimage in intensely Catholic Poland and the home of his predecessor, John Paul II. After his welcoming remarks at the airport, the pope traveled to the Cathedral of St. Continue Reading...
May 24, 2006

Acton Lecture Series: economic lessons from the parables

Earlier today, Rev. Robert A. Sirico delivered an address as a part of the 2006 Lord Acton Lecture Series entitled “The Eye of the Needle: Economic Lessons from the Parables.” For those who were unable to attend the lecture personally, we are pleased to be able to provide the audio of today’s event in downloadable form – just click here (10 mb mp3 file). Continue Reading...
May 24, 2006

Who will protect Kosovo’s Christians?

Seven years after the United Nations assumed control of the Serb province of Kosovo, talks are underway about its future. Orthodox Church leaders for the minority Serb population, which has been subject to attacks for years by Muslim extremists, are hoping to forestall mounting pressure to establish an independent state. Continue Reading...
May 24, 2006

Playing the Kyoto card

The researchers report that “latent heat loss from the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean was less in late spring and early summer 2005 than preceding years due to anomalously weak trade winds associated with weaker sea level pressure,” which “resulted in anomalously high sea surface temperatures” that “contributed to earlier and more intense hurricanes in 2005.” Continue Reading...
May 23, 2006

‘The school’ – attack on Beslan

New York Times reporter C.J. Chivers has a lengthy — and chilling — narrative on the terrorist attack on Beslan, Russia, that began on September 1, 2004. Chechen separatists took over School Number One, filled with children and parents on the first day of the academic year, and wired the place with bombs. Continue Reading...
May 23, 2006

Outsourcing education

A couple years ago I wrote a commentary that didn’t exactly defend outsourcing, but did recognize its benefits and argued that it could be done morally if done correctly. I won’t pretend that my writing is read widely enough to generate voluminous responses of any sort, but that piece did elicit a significant number of responses, many of them negative. Continue Reading...