Whither the Public Library?

library April 1, 2013

Despite constant speculation about public libraries’ “relevan[ce] in the digital age,” and serious budget cuts caused by the recent recession, the American public library is not in crisis. Local governments have made no effort to drop libraries as a basic…

Read the full article →

Piers Sits Ryan in the Corner

March 28, 2013

Ryan Anderson may be the most courageous person in America. Who would willingly place himself in the company of Piers Morgan and Suze Orman for the sole purpose of being their punching bag – something he had to know was…

Read the full article →

March Madness and the Chief of Hypocrites

magicjohnson_display_image March 26, 2013

Never was a truer word spoken–not since “hell is other people.”

Read the full article →

The Case for Getting Married Young

rings March 25, 2013

Hidden Springs Lane…. A couple months before my wife and I were married, a friend ask me “why do you want to get married so young?” My fiance and I were recent college graduates, holding less that lucrative jobs

Read the full article →

Democracy Is A Racket

71fmyledCZL._SL1360_ March 22, 2013

War and Democracy…
by Paul Gottfried
Arktos Media Ltd
170 pp., $21.00
 
In this slender volume Paul Gottfried addresses everything from the influence of ancient Greek thought on Oswald Spengler, to the influence of Zionism on US foreign policy,

Read the full article →

In Defense of President Obama’s Syria Policy

U.S. President Obama speaks at the White House in Washington March 21, 2013

Myriad calls have been made for intervention in Syria. President Obama has been blamed with everything from “feeble paralysis most foul” to subcontracting “foreign policy to the likes of Qatar” and lacking principle in his national security calculus. Supposedly, Syria…

Read the full article →

History is Bunk

Fur_traders_in_canada_1777 March 19, 2013

Serious bunkitude, dude.

Read the full article →

Deleting the Individual: Big Data and Presidential Campaigns

digit city March 19, 2013

The following is an excerpt from David Masciotra’s new book, Against Traffic: Essays on Politics and Identity. For sale exclusively at Amazon.
Looking back over the 2012 Presidential Election, it is easy to see how team membership, echo chamber media,…

Read the full article →

Going Home Again? Not Likely.

Aeneas' Flight from Troy by Federico Barocci March 18, 2013

If I am correct, it seems there is a certain kind of arch-typical narrative that has become quite popular here at FPR, and in some sense, emblematic of its defense of place and home.  It is the “Going Home” story,…

Read the full article →

The Mouse with Tusks: Speech, Power, Perversity

Lab Mouse March 15, 2013

Earlier this week, Terry Gross interviewed Emily Anthes, author of Frankenstein’s Cat: Cuddling up to Biotech’s Brave New Beasts, on recent development in bioengineering, including radio controlled insects, pigs which grow human organs, goats with medicated milk, and mice doing…

Read the full article →

On the Localism of the Spheres

angel March 13, 2013

I have a friend who is a cloistered Trappist monk and his current obsession is the ‘outer’ and decidedly non-sedentary goal of running a marathon (on the back forty of the monastic enclosure).   The sense of accomplishment inspires him.   In…

Read the full article →

Well, it’s not like after the Risotto

Seinfeld-Risotto March 12, 2013

First rule: triple the garlic. It’s like irony. There’s no such thing as too much.

Read the full article →

Life Under Compulsion: Music and the Itch

bagpiper March 11, 2013

Like dew on the gowan lying
Is the fa’ o’ her fairy feet;
Like winds in summer sighing,
Her voice is low and sweet.
Her voice is low and sweet,
And she’s a’ the world to me,
And for bonnie …

Read the full article →

Filibustering the Filibuster

Senate-chamber March 9, 2013

Washington, Connecticut. As I watched Senator Rand Paul slurp his dripping candy bar, a sinking feeling set in. This does not diminish his determined stance but one should rightly be filled with despair at the idea that a Senator must…

Read the full article →

Catholic Education Today: Scientiam Viarum Tuarum Nolumus

Hell & Its Torments March 8, 2013

About a month ago I happened upon a copy of The Concord…, student newspaper of Bellarmine University. In particular my eye was caught by a letter to the editor whereby undergraduate Wesley Scott addressed a contraversial 4.9% tuition raise.

Read the full article →

Something About Which Leftists, Localists, and Libertarians (But Probably Not Philosophical Liberals) Ought to Agree

March 7, 2013

[Cross-posted to In Medias Res]
Senator Rand Paul’s filibuster of the nomination of John Brennan to be head of the CIA–something that he did in order to “draw attention to deep concern on both sides of the political aisle about…

Read the full article →