Uncategorized 898
The Government Can (Corrected)
It just makes me laugh: Government Can NOTE: MY APOLOGIES. Somehow or other the wrong link showed up on that. Thank you anymouse for correcting me. I deeply apologize to…
In the National Cathedral
On Sunday I was the invited speaker at the magnificent National Cathedral in a series devoted to the exploration of political themes. The subject was "The State of Political Language."…
Rob Koons: Attacking Iran Would Be Unjust
Since the first Gulf War, it has been popular among many Christian (especially but not exclusively Catholic) conservatives to justify American military interventions via just-war theory -- which conveniently always…
“Get” Out of Here
Rabbi Herzfeld of the National Synagogue has petitioned the House Ethics Committee to discipline a House staffer who appears to be recalcitrant as to one of the finer points of…
A Scar on the Soul
This is a powerful piece describing the consequences of some fertility techniques that involve selective reduction of embryos. I will never fully recover from what I've seen, and done. For…
Marriage…Whatever?
David Brooks weighs in on the latest data regarding marriage. The poor man. I know of no one who is more tied in knots over contemporary notions of autonomy than…
“‘Marriage has become a luxury good.'”
Along with the recent debate over contraceptive coverage, it is clear that not only has sex permeated our politics and cultural life (Kristof couldn't be more disingenuous), but it has…
Our Libertarian Future
I was invited by the good people at "Minding the Campus" to write a response to the recently released 2011 American Freshman Survey. My brief essay is now available on…
Mallon Time
I was delighted to see that Thomas Mallon, a superb novelist whose subject is often American politics (my favorites are Henry and Clara and Two Moons), has just published Watergate:…
“Slaying the Dragon”
The indispensable Tony Esolen, invoking the themes of place, limits, and liberty with great eloquence.
A Day Late, and a Mint Julep Short
I had previously thought that Ground Hog Day was strictly a holiday for the residents of the virtuous commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Turns out that the day is celebrated far and…
What is a Conservative?
The Atlantic offers characteristics of conservatives. How does the Porch fit in?
Monsanto vs. Family Farmers
Today in New York City the oral arguments will be heard. You can read more here and here. On January 31, family farmers will take part in the first phase…
On Wisconsin
My friend Paul Buhle, the great historian of the American left, has edited, with his wife Mari Jo Buhle, It Started in Wisconsin: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the…
Ciceronian Society Meeting at UVA: Call for Papers
CALL FOR PAPERS: CICERONIAN SOCIETY 2012 ANNUAL MEETING AT UVA The Ciceronian Society will be holding its annual meeting at the University of Virginia, March 29-31, 2012. This will be…
Saul Alinsky, Localist
Well no, not exactly. But as anyone who has ACTUALLY READ ALINSKY KNOWS--in contrast to those who simply parrot his name as part of rather stretched smear of anyone they…
Seen Your Video
This is the last audience to which I should announce such a thing but after fumbling an editing gig or two because I lacked a one-stop site containing my bio,…
Super Cuts
Brian (no relation to Lefty) Frizzell, Brooklyn's archivist of Americana, sends a link to Matt Morris's Pickin' & Trimmin' http://vimeo.com/31066145, a lovely documentary short film about a barbershop in Drexel, North…
Hope for Peace and Quiet
This piece from the Sunday Times serves as a reminder that the claims made for technology, progress, and modern conveniences are too overblown, and that human beings have fundamental longings…
Huzzah for the Montana Supreme Court!
This is the kind of states' rights I like: Montana’s Supreme Court has issued a stunning rebuke to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in 2010 that infamously decreed…
A Jeffersonian Kansas
Here is an article describing how Kansas is leading the way toward a less centralized future. The “revolution in a cornfield” that is happening today in Gov. Sam Brownback's Kansas…
New Symposium on Distributism
Porch readers will be interested in the new online symposium on distributism that is now on ANAMNESIS, A Journal for the Study of Tradition, Place, and 'Things Divine.' This includes…
The Big Lie (From an Insider)
In this essay, former Wall Street Investment Banker, Michael Thomas, expresses his frustration and disillusion with our current economic system. His credibility comes from three decades on Wall Street. In…