Memorial Day has occasioned some provocative reflections on the nature of what allegiance, if any, the Christian should give to the secular political order. Pastor John Wright (via Eric) called this the “most dangerous weekend of the year” because it tempts Christians to buy into the mythos of the nation-state, something Pr. Wright deems a…

Speaking of abortion (and I’m not usually that interested in discussing it on the ol’ blog, but we’ll make an exception today), one thing that puzzles me is these congressmen who claim to be “pro-life” but favor embryonic stem cell research: Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R., Calif.), a conservative who described himself as “100 percent…

That was the claim made by Christian ethicist Glen Stassen. Stassen and others inferred that an increase in “economic injustice” because of Bush’s policies was the culprit. But according to this (via Amy Welborn) that claim is, well, false: Politicians from Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Howard Dean have recently contended that abortions have…

In Slate William Saletan argues that President Bush is being inconsistent in opposing embryonic stem cell research (or at least federal funding thereof) and supporting the death penalty. According to Saletan, if Bush thinks it’s wrong to “take a life in order to save a life” he ought to extend that logic to the death…

Joseph “Jody” Bottum has an article in this month’s First Things on what he calls “the new fusionism” – the alliance between pro-lifers and neoconservative foreign policy hawks. The “old” fusionism, of course, was the alliance between libertarians and traditionalists that formed the core of the post-war conservative movement. National Review theoretician Frank S. Meyer…

“So what did you do on your trip to Canada?” Why, saw Revenge of the Sith of course! I admit, I liked it. It had more of that old-time Star Wars feeling than either of the other two prequels. Some reviewers have commented that Anakin’s fear that Padme was going to die in childbirth was…

I’ll be away from the ol’ computer for about the next week; off for a trip to our beloved neighbor to the north via a little New England driving tour. Adieu!

I notice sometimes the cool blog kids will post a list of the hep tracks they have in their iPod or computer or some other newfangled contraption. As a variation on this theme, I thought I would list the twelve CDs I currently have in my little portable CD case thingie just for kicks: Essential…

The New York Review of Books is going to become the first major American media outlet to (finally!) publish the “smoking gun” memo of Tony Blair’s government. The memo indicates that the decision by the Bush administration to go to war with Iraq had been made as early as July 2002, and that the justifications…

Julian Sanchez and Matthew Yglesias both ponder the oft-made argument that it’s inconsistent or hypocritical to be against legal abortion but in favor of the death penalty. Sanchez says that there’s nothing logically inconsistent about opposing abortion while favoring capital punishment while Yglesias argues that it’s fair game to ask anti-abortion death penalty proponents to…