Interesting analysis from Michael Lind: Can the Democratic Party regain the kind of majority enjoyed by the New Deal Democrats between the 1930s and the 1960s? Not an occasional bare majority, but the kind of solid, enduring majority that permits the passage of major legislation? The answer is yes–but only if the Democratic Party ceases…

Interesting piece from the Miami Herald (via Hit & Run): Today marks the 60th anniversary of the atomic destruction of the Japanese city of Hiroshima during World War II. Americans reflect on this event in sharply differing ways. Some Americans recall the event with shame and express their hope that nuclear weapons never be used…

Doug Bandow writes: I don’t think it is Clinton bashing to point out that President Clinton side-stepped the UN because he knew he could not win Security Council approval. I opposed both the Kosovo and Iraq wars, but in my view at least the latter arguably involved fundamental U.S. security interests, and could be solved…

Uh oh, if this gets out it could really wreak havoc with political fundraising: According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the rate of family violence in this country has dropped by more than half since 1993. I’ve been trying to figure out why.A lot of the credit has to go to the people who…

I freely admit to not knowing that much about the whole “emergent” church phenomenon, but if this article is at all accurate, it really is starting to sound like a re-hash of liberal Protestantism. Or liberal Protestantism with jangly rock guitars, a more casual dress code, and some faux-medieval trappings. The two elements that stand…

Today’s Inquirer ran an interview with an Iraqi Catholic priest who is working to secure a constitution for Iraq that separates religion and state. As part of a religious minority (Christians constitute about 3 percent of Iraqis), editor of a theology journal, member of Baghdad’s literati, social activist, and dogged bridge-builder across faiths, [The Rev.…

The Inquirer ran a story this morning touting signs of John Roberts’ possible “liberalism.” According to the story, one of the pieces of evidence for his alleged liberalism was his advising President Reagan to strongly and unequivocally denounce abortion clinic bombers when working as White House legal counsel. As a legal adviser to President Ronald…

(See here for previous post.) Suppose we grant that Allen’s description of the “experience of perfect love” – a loving apprehension of the givenness of beings which don’t exist for our sake or to be of use to us, but which have their own integrity and goodness – correspondes to a real, if fleeting, part…

Nice article on Flannery O’Connor in the Washington Post. I’ve had an affection for O’Connor since I took a class on her in college. I had never read her before then and was just trying to fill up my course schedule. The Library of America edition of her works contains everything she wrote, I think.…

This article from the Christian Century gives the lay of the land on the homosexuality issue in the ELCA as we go into the churchwide assembly this month. Despite what the article says, I wouldn’t be surprised if we ended up with essentially the status quo. A “local option” has been vigorously opposed by some…