Beowulf
Monday, July 12th, 2010I read the first few pages of Beowulf (translated by Seamus Heaney), and found this quote: Behaviour that’s admired is the path to power among people everywhere. I want that to be true, but it’s not. Admirable behavior is a thing given up on right now, but maybe I am assuming that behavior I admire [...]
Why No Protection of the Right of Conscience?
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009This morning, the Senate Finance Committee voted down an amendment, proposed by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), that aims to protect the right of conscience of health care workers when it comes to abortion. It was defeated, almost along party lines (Dems voting No, Reps voting Yes). This is something I don’t understand at all. President [...]
[review] Scarborough’s Last Best Hope
Monday, July 27th, 2009The Last Best Hope: Restoring Conservatism and America’s Promise By Joe Scarborough; Read by Joe Scarborough Unabridged, Random House Audio The presidential campaign last year caught my interest in a big way. I know it had that effect on a lot of people, but I had stopped watching news a long time before, frustrated with [...]
Don’t Know Anything About Economics
Saturday, December 6th, 2008Not that any of us need more angst, but check out this quote from George Will’s latest column: “Whatever else historians will say about Washington’s response to today’s crisis, they are not apt to say the government did too little. It certainly has not suffered the fate of Buridan’s ass, the animal in a philosophic [...]
Watching it Work
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008No matter who you supported yesterday, there ought to be a certain measure of pride as we watched this country work. You’d think (from all the demonization of President Bush you’d think he was straight from hell) that the Republicans would resist a transfer of power, yet Bush called our next president immediately, pledging that [...]
24hr Coverage
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008I voted first thing this morning, hope you all are doing the same… I’ve got today off of work, so I’ve been doing laundry while watching election coverage. It’s been a long time since I’ve watched news coverage like this for more than fifteen minutes at a time, and I’m reminded why I don’t like [...]
Great Leaders
Monday, October 13th, 2008One of the things that fascinates me about world history from 1930-1950 is that the period seems to have had more than its share of great leaders. I suppose we used them all up then (in the United States at least) because we don’t have anyone in place now that I would call a great [...]
Sunday Afternoon: Catholics and Politics
Sunday, October 5th, 2008A whole lot has been said in this never-ending election cycle about religion and politics. Especially in the last few weeks, when it comes to Catholics. Yesterday’s New York Times went so far as to publish a story with this headline: A Fight Among Catholics Over Which Party Best Reflects Church Teachings. I admit that, [...]
Match-o-Matic
Wednesday, October 1st, 2008Over at ABC, check out this Match-o-Matic, which you can use to help you decide who to vote for for president. It’s a quiz with a series of quotes from McCain and Obama – you pick the quotes that you agree most with, and at the end it tells you which candidate you agreed most [...]