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…

The Discovery Channel is doing a new series to determine who the “greatest” American is. The list of 100 nominees will be whittled down by voting over the course of the series. The list of nominees is pretty presposterous. Apart from the obvious inclusions, there are a lot of people that seem to be on…

There is nothing conservative about war. For at least the last century war has been the herald and handmaid of socialism and state control. It is the excuse for censorship, organised lying, regulation and taxation. It is paradise for the busybody and the nark. It damages family life and wounds the Church. It is, in…

Reason‘s Jesse Walker surveys some of the recent nonviolent protests in Latin America and elsewhere, pointing out that those which are seen as not aligned with U.S. interests tend to receive much less favorable coverage in the mainstream press. He also discusses some of the more interesting and creative ways that people have been taking…