Round-Up

Items of interest from around the web:

George Will asks: Why all the acrimony between the parties? Blame the intellectuals!

From the London Spectator: Dealing With Animal Rights Extremism

Alexander Cockburn on “Candidate Kerry”: “Kerry offers himself up mainly as a more competent manager of the Bush agenda, a steadier hand on the helm of the Empire.”

Jamie Fly on the death of religion in Europe:

As Christianity declines, the only religion flourishing in Europe is Islam. Roughly fifteen million Muslims (three times the number of Muslims in the United States), many radicalized by their experiences with secular European culture, now call Europe home. Combined with a secular elite which international legal scholar Joseph Weiler has described as “Christophobic,” this is a recipe for disaster. The real problem is not nascent anti-Semitism, but Europe’s attitude toward religion in general.

Andy Crouch says “Live More Musically”:

For a musician, to live more musically means to embrace practices—disciplines, rewarding only in the long run, that no one would pay for in the short run. But the core doctrine of consumer culture, reinforced a thousand times a day, is the belief that we can satisfy our deepest longings with purchases instead. Want to live more musically? Buy a CD. Want to “live strong”? Nike has a pair of sneakers for you. Purchases are not only instantly satisfying, they also wear out quickly. So they generate an ongoing stream of revenue, supporting the advertising that draws us toward them in the first place.