Articles Archive

OWEN TOWNSHIP, WINNEBAGO COUNTY, ILLINOIS: According to one legend, the word Iowa means "Place of the Drowsy Ones" in some extinct Indian tongue. This came to mind yesterday when the…

The idealism of the paleoconservative cause is simply too burdened by the idealism of its vision. Politics is not a time machine and we are not ever going to travel…

The obscuring of the faith in creation is a fundamental part of what constitutes modernity. As I survey all the perplexing shifts in the spiritual landscape of today, only these…

Wichita, Kansas. I have a blogging (and occasional real world, actual face-to-face) friend by the name of Laura McKenna. She is funny, smart, occasionally profane, often wise, and very much…

Under consideration: Michael Pollan, The Omnivor's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, Penguin (2006), 464 pages; and In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, Penguin (2008), 256 pages.* JEFFERSON…

Devon, PA.  During the last few weeks, Patrick Deneen's posts on Front Porch Republic have drawn our attention to the near identity of the deadly vices of greed and lust. …

USA Today has a piece on local currencies here. Excerpt: "A small but growing number of cash-strapped communities are printing their own money. "Borrowing from a Depression-era idea, they are…

Henry County, Kentucky. What holds a community together?  Or rather, what holds my community together, as I'll have to leave you to worry about yours?  I think about it some because…

Since Stewart posted a terrific video about the death of bee colonies from "TED," I thought I'd post my own favorite from that site - a devastating and hilarious jeremiad…

It's not only that the richest people are getting richer; it's the richest places, too. And even within regions -- southern California, say -- rich suburbs have become wealthier and…

BURNED-OVER DISTRICT, NY--Now that Russell has smuggled firearms onto the porch I suppose it's only a matter of time before the BATF calls it a "compound." Until then, herewith, via…

John Miller asked me to write on why I love the Diamondbacks. Twenty-nine others pitch in on the rest of the league, if you're interested, including my friends Darryl Hart…

RINGOES, NJ As brilliant minds, armed with apparently endless supplies of money, thrash about Washington desperately attempting to fix what they have broken, it might be useful to step back…

Many folks--including Rod and the guys at Plumb Lines, just to cite two from our own blogroll--have taken notice of Newt Gingrich's impending conversion to Catholicism. For several months, I've…

Alexandria, VA. For many years now, "environmentalists" have sought to thwart the extension of forms of commerce and economic development that prove destructive of "eco-systems" or threaten the delicate balance…

Mt. Airy, Philadelphia. Pope Benedict has recently gained a bit of credit with world media for emphasizing the urgency of addressing the environmental devastation we have wrought. This (combined with…

Via John Schwenkler, I see that Norman Borlaug has just celebrated his 95th birthday. Borlaug, a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, is one of the primary architects of modern…

  Devon, PA. Here is something for you that no one will dispute: all complaints about modernity, including those that fit under the rubric of "conservative," are arguments about stories. …

Now that I am a tiny cog in the great machinary of state, I get all kinds of insider mailings.  This in today, from the American Board for Certification in…

Russell wrote:  This is, perhaps, why Caleb Stegall and those like him are, to me anyway, the most important-if not necessarily the most persuasive-of all the localists and agrarians out…

In plant or animal life, a single virus or bacteria, a single destructive fungus or disease, a single hostile predator or pest would wipe out an entire monoculture without the…

I hurried up to Columbia University to inform my friends on the campus that I had located the Communist Party, had made contact with it, and was, in fact, a registered…

Thanks to Mr. BC, of Burke's Corner, for his recent visit to Georgetown and for the conversation we enjoyed.  He's recorded some of his impressions here.  All that was missing…