Andrew Greeley thinks so (via Conservative Green): The United States is not much good as an imperial power because it lacks two of the qualities essential for effective imperialism: a population that is ready to absorb serious casualties in the cause of the empire and leadership that is sufficiently cynical to abandon moralism when there…

There have been some great comments on the Eucharistic adoration post, much better informed and more insightful than the original post, in fact! On a related note, here’s the text of the sermon that was preached at The Church of the Advent on Corpus Christi. Yesterday we worshipped at Trinity Church (Episcopal) in Copley Square.…

Rod Dreher and others have been discussing David Brooks’ (he of the pithy generalizations) new political typology of “populist nationalists” vs. “progressive globalists” (The original Brooks column is available to NY Times subscribers only). Populist nationalists, in Brooks’ account, see themselves as “the ordinary, burden-bearing people of this country. … the ones who work hard…

On a lark I recently picked up the latest CD by Tool called 10,000 Days. Amusingly, I heard a DJ say that the title referred to the length of time George Bush has been in office. Now, I realize to some it may seem like Bush has been in office for nearly three decades, but…

Many critics of Christianity, and not a few Christians themselves, have seen belief in eternal life as competing with a commitment to making life better here and now. C.S. Lewis didn’t think so; in fact, he thought a vivid belief in our eternal destiny provided us with a strong impetus for being concerned with the…

Today is the feast of Corpus Christi, when Roman Catholics and many Anglicans celebrate and give thanks for Christ’s presence with us in the Sacrament of the Altar. The Church of the Advent, the Anglo-Catholic parish in Boston that we attended this past Sunday, is having the full-on Solemn Mass with Procession and Benediction tonight…

Last night at a party I was introduced to local brewer Harpoon‘s India Pale Ale. Yummy! Hoppy without being overwhelming. A robust but clean taste. Good stuff.

That’s what the U.S. should do to the Israelis and Palestinians, says Michael Young in a sensible article at Reason. I’ve long wondered why, of all the many territorial conflicts in the world, it makes sense that the U.S. should expend so many resources trying to resolve this one, much less actively take sides. It…

I’ve justified my persisting “semi”-vegetarianism on the grounds that fish suffer less than birds and mammals and are spared the intense suffering of the factory farm. However, this site argues that fish do indeed suffer in ways comparable to birds and mammals and that commercial fishing and “aquaculture” inflict a great deal of it on…

Pope Makes First Papal Visit to Six Flags and Why Doesn’t My Code Get Its Own Movie? by Samuel F.B. Morse