Fascist Statues, Calvados and Vicodin

I just flew in from Rome, and boy is my liver tired. Given the turbulence you get in trans-Atlantic flights"€”this was only my third flight from Europe"€”a high-strung sanguine choleric like me needs some kind of chemical cocktail to keep him from panicking every time the Airbus goes ...

Benedict on the Border”€”A Showdown over Church and Nation-State

With the visit of Pope Benedict to the U.S., American Catholics are faced with a grave confrontation between Church and State, a conflict between their supernatural faith and their patriotic duty, unparalleled in the English-speaking world since Pope Pius V deposed Queen Elizabeth I"€”and ...

Bitch-Slapping Barack

As a son of a letter carrier, as someone who only got interested in politics because of the social issues—I was inspired by the heroic housewife Ellen McCormack, who ran for the Democratic nomination on the right of unborn children to escape the abortionists’ knife—I have a ...

Nothing But the War

Sunday’s NY Times story talks about the divergences between one-time running mates (and popular vote winners) Al Gore and Joseph Lieberman. Noting that Lieberman has moved to the “right” by becoming hawkish on Iraq, while Gore has moved to the “left” by staying true ...

Love Among the Bones

Some months ago I blogged lightheartedly about the "€œbone church"€ in Rome, whose crypt is entirely decorated with the disassembled skeletons of friars. But today I actually went there"€”a starkly different experience, and one that provoked a few sharp thoughts about the task which faces us ...

The Politics of Vodka

It has happened at last. The oh-so-clever marketers of Absolut have managed to create a political incident with one of their ads for their undistinguished liquor, giving me a pretext to blog about the history of vodka. Many of you might already have heard about the ad, which ran in Mexican media, ...

From the Rubble

When you’re rebuilding something from the rubble, it pays to listen to men who have experience doing just that. Men like Wilhelm Röpke,whose books helped construct a viable centrist Right for post-war Germany, and whose economic advice helped launch its "€œeconomic miracle."€ The ...

Imagining a Future for Conservatism

As the writers on this site manfully struggle to imagine a future for genuine conservatism in the wake of the intellectual decay that has crippled the movement, and the electoral rout which faces us no matter whoever wins, I think it’s worthwhile to point readers’ attention to a figure ...

Those Dangerous Racists at Vogue

The latest media chatter concerns whether a certain cover of Vogue is “racist” because it portrays model Giselle Bundchen alongside basketball player LeBron James in a pose that reminds some people of Fay Wray and King Kong. Or Jessica Lange and King Kong. Or Naomi Watts and King Kong. ...

Vatican Intensfies Response to Security Threats

In response to security concerns arising from recent Al-Qaeda threats to the person of the Holy Father, and equally to the alarming news that the number of Moslems worldwide has just exceeded (for the first time) the number of Catholics, researchers at the Vatican’s high-tech Apostolic ...