Editor’s note: This article is Part II in a series. Click here to read Part I. The U.S. Department of Defense must restructure to accommodate deep budget cuts and, more importantly, be ready for the challenges of 21st-century warfare. Those challenges will include unconventional operations and wars fought in vastly expanded battle spaces. Reforms are […]
In 1914, on the eve of the Great War, the Duke of Cambridge wrote, “There is a time for all things. There is even a time for change; and that is when it can no longer be avoided.” Speaking of change, the current debt crisis could force drastic cuts in the Department of Defense budget, […]
The enthusiastic voices of pro-life youth from around the world dominated the events of [last] week’s High Level Meeting on Youth at the United Nations, drawing the attention of UN bureaucrats and delegates alike. “I keep running into all these pro-lifers, they’re everywhere…in fact most of the people I’ve interviewed are pro-life,” a young woman working […]
Presidential scholars write on all sorts of aspects of the American presidency. Among the most interesting have been several important works on so-called presidential character and temperament. And when it comes to the temperament of our current president, we’ve learned quite a bit during the recent debate over the debt ceiling. The most illuminating report […]
Amidst the rhetorical pyrotechnics surrounding July’s debt-ceiling debates, another controversy streaked across the sky like a comet, flared for an instant, then receded into the maelstrom of ongoing partisan attacks. The shooting star in question involved an exchange between two of Congress’ most controversial members, Allen West (R-Fla.) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), whose regard […]
Ours is not a God of desperation. The Almighty has no need to bless the terrorism perpetrated by Anders Breivik of Norway for the purpose of provoking a restoration of piety and Judeo-Christian civilization in Europe. However idealistic Mr. Breivik’s motives may have been, he adopted methods more akin to King Herod’s than to the […]
Move over, Sarah Palin. Michele Bachmann is the new bogeyman — er, woman — of the left. She opposes pornography and abortion. She’s stingy with the taxpayer money entrusted to her. There are even rumors that she gets headaches — really, really bad headaches. As for her family values, well, yes, Bachmann and her husband […]
The casualty list from Europe’s apparently-endless financial crisis continues to grow. If you’re young, a taxpayer, or a German in today’s EU, you have good reason to believe you’ve been dealt a very bad hand. There is, however, one impending casualty whose demise is fully merited. And that’s the credibility of Europe’s political class. […]
Cardinal Justin Rigali announced at a news conference this morning [July 19, 2011,] that Pope Benedict XVI has named Archbishop Charles J. Chaput O.F.M. Cap. as the 13th Bishop and 9th Archbishop of Philadelphia. Archbishop Chaput [currently of the Archdiocese of Denver] will be Installed on Thursday, September 8, 2011, the feast of the birth […]
During the dark days of Republican profligacy, when earmarks were the rule and GOP House and Senate members routinely voted for massive discretionary spending bills (many loaded with pork and earmarks) there was one man who bucked the tide of red ink: Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Arizona). “I believed the earmarks game was robbing us as […]
The troubled academic study of the Middle East and Islam by Americans is changing in fundamental ways. I offer some thoughts based on 42 years of personal observation: From Western offence to Islamic offence: Muslim relations with Christians divide into four long periods: from Muhammad’s hijra to the First Crusade, 622-1099, during which time Muslims […]
For some time, the outlines of an Obama Doctrine have been apparent. It can be summarized in nine damning words: Embolden our enemies. Undermine our friends. Diminish our country. These days, it is hard to avoid proof that these outcomes are not inadvertent, or attributable to sheer and sustained incompetence. Rather, they are a product […]
Summer is a time when many things slow down, including politics and governmental activities. Yet, at the same time, it is also a patriotic season when we remember with gratitude the great legacy of a democratic republic given to us by our Founding Fathers. In this time of relative calm, I would like to address […]
The news has an element of sadness, but also of hope. The element of sadness is that Otto von Hapsburg, a good and courageous man whom I had the privilege to meet more than once, died Monday at the age of 98. Otto’s father, the Blessed Karl (also sometimes called Charles), the last emperor of Austro-Hungary (he died 1922, […]
Each time President Obama addresses America’s inalienable rights, I get emails. “Did you see Obama left out ‘Creator’ again?” began the latest. The most recent occasion was a June 17 presidential statement responding to a U.N. resolution on sexual orientation. Obama stated that “LGBT persons are endowed with the same inalienable rights—and entitled to the […]
A recent article on Catholic Lane took up the question of whether widespread misuse of insurance was contributing to rising healthcare costs and in turn making healthcare less affordable. The point was made that when people are self-employed and purchase their own coverage, they usually opt to have only catastrophic coverage, reasoning that the cost […]
I encourage you to set aside the burgers and dogs and soda and beer for a moment this Fourth of July and contemplate something decidedly different, maybe even as you gaze upward at the flash of fireworks. Here it is: Confirm thy soul in self-control. What do I mean by that? Let me explain. The […]
In modern politics, the “single issue voter” gets a pretty bad rap. He is seen as unrealistic and intellectually myopic, a disservice to his party and, ultimately, his cause. Politics, after all, is about pragmatism; it is the art of the possible, and no thinking person allows themselves to be guided by their feelings on […]
Being a congressman can be a great job. It can be attractive for someone who relishes the ersatz virtue of playing Santa Claus with other people’s money, who finds a year-round routine of fund-raising social events enjoyable, and who covets receiving one of the most generous pensions on the planet. It can also be a […]
With another presidential election looming, it won’t be long before many self-described progressive Catholics start issuing countless statements about numerous policy issues. Though many such Catholics sit rather loosely with Catholic teaching on questions like life and marriage, their “relaxed” position on such issues is belied by their stridency on, for instance, economic matters. Woe betide […]
In December, 2007, the Boston Globe published a Q&A with then-candidate Barack Obama in which the subject of Executive War Powers was addressed. “In what circumstances, if any,” Charlie Savage asked, “would the president have constitutional authority to bomb Iran without seeking a use-of-force authorization from Congress?” Mr. Obama’s answer was unequivocal in its condemnation […]
Sobhi Saleh, a top Muslim Brotherhood leader who was elected by Egypt’s Supreme Council to be on the constitution amendment committee, recently gave a speech wherein he insisted that Brotherhood men should only marry Brotherhood women, since they are “superior” to other Muslim women in Egypt—and so they can “produce little Brotherhood kids.” He also […]
Deep dish or thin crust? Leno or Conan? And people say American civic discourse is no longer serious. What could be more serious than the choice presented to former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty at Monday night’s Republican presidential debate, between Coke and Pepsi? (For the record, Pawlenty prefers Coke.) The debate, hosted by CNN and […]
The Republican presidential primary is only getting more interesting every day. That is, it is even more kaleidoscopic than I have previously noted. Mitt Romney, who has been kicked around pretty hard for Romneycare, flip-flopping on abortion, and, now, his views on global climate change or warming, won a head-to-head poll against President Obama among […]
