GSTAAD—There’s fear and loathing around here, and it has nothing to do with lousy snow conditions. Fear that UBS, the biggest Swiss bank, is in trouble, loathing of those whose greed brought this about. Reckless and banker are now synonyms as the financial system is on the brink. UBS has denied it is in trouble, but then so did Bear Stearns … [Read More]

I see Andrew Sullivan is taking—yet another—vacation. I, for one, am all for it—anything to give us a break from crap like this. I mean, who cares if the latest casualty in Iraq was gay, or not? I sure the hell don’t. Sully does, of course: “It was Len Downie who kept the sexual orientation of a fallen American military hero … [Read More]

After the 1964 election, a book appeared damning Conservatism’s debut as a “brute assault on the entire intellectual world” and charging, “Republicans as a party have been alienating intellectuals deliberately, as a matter of taste and strategy.” This withering critique of the politics of Senator Goldwater and his spokesman Ronald Reagan came not from Bill Moyers but a recently graduated … [Read More]

Over at The Atlantic, Ross Douthat objects to Andrew Bacevich’s conservative case for Obama. Douthat believes Bacevich has not given enough consideration to the possibility that McCain will appoint judges who will overturn Roe v. Wade. Douthat is here trotting out the familiar line of argument that kept many dissident conservatives on Bush’s side in 2004. In fact, it’s the line … [Read More]

I’ve looked on with curiosity at the so-called “Gravelanche,” the reaction among libertarians to Mike Gravel’s quest for the Libertarian Party’s nomination. That old Mike would attempt such a thing is not particularly surprising—the man who depicted his delinquent credit-card bills as a social protest probably has visions of LP largesse and federal matching funds dancing in his head. What is … [Read More]

Many others commit the offense, but Ryan Sager, the industrious libertarian pundit, commits it more often than most. That is, he assumes without warrant that freedom and equality are not only consistent with but in fact demand government recognition of same-sex marriage.  Sager writes, in his recent review of Grover Norquist’s book Leave Me Alone: [T]oday’s Religious Right is hell-bent, above … [Read More]

The Lenten lunch at Lviv’s Holy Spirit Seminary was sacrificially bland—and Ukrainian cuisine ain’t exactly Cajun to begin with—but I wouldn’t have traded it for a feast. For it served up a unique and surprising encounter with the living past. “Do you see the priest at the end of the table?” asked the rector, Fr. Sviotoslav Shevchuk. Clearly the priest … [Read More]

Okay, so it isn’t morning—however, if you’re a Taki-con, like me—defined as someone who parties ‘til dawn, and then goes to morning confession—there is no morning. In any case, there’s plenty of news and views flying about like detritus in a strong wind: By Their Enemies Shall Ye Know Them—that probably isn’t a Biblical injunction, but it ought to be—and speaking … [Read More]

The humidity was in the nineties, and I was sweating profusely. Let’s face it, I always got a bit nervous before the start, but this time I was scared. After all, this was the big one. We were approaching our destination now, and I knew the deadly traps that lay below. Hil looked calm, as did the two pilots flying the … [Read More]

So now it seems that the critical Pennsylvania Democratic primary hinges on, of all things, the Catholic vote. As the AP reports: Understanding Pennsylvania’s rich Catholic tradition and responding to it is an article of faith for Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama as the April 22 primary looms in the still unsettled and intense Democratic presidential race…. Pennsylvania has … [Read More]