It seems that the Obamas, having brought the horde of Clintonistas on board their administration, are following the Clintons in another way: they're enrolling their daughters Malia and Sasha at the Sidwell Friends School in Washington. The Clintons were criticised for their decision to send Chelsea there, as people felt it was a vote of …
The Nature of the Change We’re About to Get
Reminds me of the change that took place towards the end of second century Rome: We are apt to wonder to-day at the great political and national developments that have altered the whole aspect of Europe since the French Revolution, and to reflect rather idly on their rapidity. Yet the past has its own stories …
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Blast from the Past: Hanukkah: Opening Shot in the Culture Wars
This piece originally dates from 2005. Christmas is over. The cat (and probably the children too) has found that the boxes and the wrapping paper are more fun than the presents were. Now we turn to the celebration of Hanukkah, late this year but better late than never. Hanukkah is not the greatest Jewish feast—that …
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St. Augustine: When Government and Brigands are Hard to Tell Apart
In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organised brigandage? For, what are bands of brigands but petty kingdoms? They also are groups of men, under the rule of a leader, bound together by a common agreement, dividing their booty according to settled principle. If this band of criminals, by recruiting more criminals, acquires …
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The Sophisticated Just Don’t Get It on Tibet
Ever since growing up in Palm Beach, I've always heard that Americans are hopeless, naïve "babes in the woods" on foreign policy because they're always pursuing some moral cause without reference to the realities of the situation. I was also told that we should emulate the Europeans in their more "realistic" and "sophisticated" approach to …
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The Tricky Part of Obama’s Infrastructure Plans
Barack Obama has some ambitious plans for upgrading the U.S.'s infrastructure: President-elect Barack Obama said he’ll make the “single largest new investment” in roads, bridges and public buildings since the Eisenhower Administration to lift the sagging economy and create jobs. Obama, in his weekly radio speech today, said his plan to create or preserve 2.5 …
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Why Are Christmas Trees Specifically Christian?
The rather silly decision by the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill to leave the Christmas trees out of the library brings me to a rather strange question: why are Christmas trees specifically Christian? One of the problems of living long in a fast changing world is that one remembers things that everyone else forgets. …
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George Barna: Change They Really Didn’t Believe In
George Barna's latest poll on how the economic crash is affecting churches is spot on, as anyone involved in church finance will attest: During the past three months, one of the ways that adults have adjusted to their financial hardships has been by reducing their charitable giving. In total, one out of every five households …
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Capitalism and Homicide: Some Thoughts on Anonaccio and Tittle’s “A Cross-National Test of Bonger’s Theory of Criminality and Economic Conditions”
A friend in Indonesia recently sent me a paper by Olena Antonaccio and Charles Tittle from North Carolina State University entitled "A Cross-National Test of Bonger's Theory of Criminality and Economic Conditions." In 1905 the Dutch Marxist Willam Adrian Bonger had hypothesised that capitalism, by its de-moralisation (i.e., reduce the moral feelings that people had …
Applying the Ivy League Test to the Republican Stars (Such as They Are)
The Fix's Chris Cillizza evidently doesn't have a lot to do with his time, since he is trying to figure out who are the "stars" is what's left of the Republican Party. So let's look at his list from the criterion that has worked since 1988: who are the Ivy Leaguers in the group? I …
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Positive Infinity 