In viewing the reporting of the response to and recovery from the devastation wreaked by the tornadoes in Oklahoma, I have been struck by the contrast in the local response to this disaster with that of the 2005 Katrina hurricane and flood in New Orleans. Where is the massive evacuation of refugees, the housing […]
Archives for 2013
A Failure to Lead
In her 2002 book, Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World, Lady Margaret Thatcher reflects on what the American Revolution means to the world and what America meant to her, and she writes, “These reflections lead me to certain conclusions about the conduct of international politics: * America alone has the moral as well as the […]
The Gosnell Case
Anyone who has stopped to listen to the description of the criminal charges against abortion practitioner Dr. Kermit Gosnell and is not totally repulsed is either amoral or completely numb. Of course, one could be excused, because until recently, no media outlet other than Fox News was giving any air time to the case, a […]
An Instructive Convergence
I was struck during the past several weeks by an interesting and instructive convergence of events–the tenth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq by U. S. forces, the terrorist bombing at the Boston Marathon, and the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Library. Remembrances of the Iraq invasion returned us to the commentary and […]
The MSNBC Worldview
The only segment of the MSNBC network I can stomach is the half hour or so of Morning Joe I watch on the treadmill every morning, during which we are treated to periodic commercials for the network featuring its various personalities touting the institutional motto “Lean Forward”, which I assume is a proxy for progressivism. […]
“The Lady’s Not for Turning”
Lady Margaret Thatcher is my favorite public figure of all time, ahead of Winston Churchill and Ronald Reagan. Her motto was that “I am not a politician of consensus, I am one of conviction”, and it is this moral clarity which most appealed to me and that distinguished her from the garden variety politician of […]
It’s Crunch Time for School Accountability in Texas
The firestorm over standardized testing in the K-12 accountability system that has been building in Texas for over two years is coming to a major showdown, and the primary context of the debate is now House Bill 5, which passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 145-2 and, after several amendments, was […]
Speaking of Federalism…………
what an obviously preferential process within which to resolve the same sex marriage question. Hopefully, this Court will not make the same mistake here as with Roe v. Wade by completely cutting off the very productive national debate now underway on this issue, which would inflame the losers and further poison the body politic which […]
Federalism Seems to be Alive and Well
I have always believed that, like slavery, for reasons grounded firmly in science as well as the natural law tradition, the abortion issue rises above resolution through the concept of “popular sovereignty” so famously debated by Lincoln and Douglas. But since the Supreme Court completely removed the issue from the democratic process with the deeply […]
Pope Francis
From what I have seen and read, I like the new Pope. I am not a Catholic, but I recognize the significant leadership potential that resides in the papacy, and I have been a huge fan of the last two incumbents, who have each in their own way had enormous influence on world events. Obviously, […]