By now, it seems that pretty much everyone has heard about Arizona’s controversial new immigration law. Protests are springing up around the country, threats of boycotts and lawsuits are coming from various groups, and politicians from across the spectrum (including notable figures like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jeb Bush ) are condemning the legislation. And as … Read more
With the upcoming retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens, the media have once again started counting the number of Catholics on the Supreme Court. A recent headline in the New York Times announced, “Stevens, the Only Protestant on the Supreme Court.” Well, so what? The Times article notes that Stevens’ retirement raises the possibility that … Read more
I came across an article this morning touting something I’ve only recently become aware of: the wonders of Vitamin D, and the dangerous deficiency in this underappreciated nutrient among a worldwide population spending less and less time out in the sun: There is an epidemic of vitamin D deficiency sweeping across our modern world, and … Read more
Much has been made of Detroit’s recent efforts to cope with its badly damaged economy and plummeting population. A number of high-profile photographers have documented the encroaching loneliness with devastating effect, a number of radical rezoning strategies have been suggested, and Michael Moore is always willing to give his opinion on the matter. Now, the city’s mayor is … Read more
A Vatican economist has a very different suggestion for stimulating the economy: have more babies. Ettore Gotti Tedeschi explains: “The true cause of the crisis is the decline in the birth rate,” Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, said in an interview on Vatican Television’s “Octava Dies.” He noted the Western world’s population growth rate is at … Read more
It is not always easy to live under Islamic rule, or even under Islamic “influence.” Yet we share a planet, and with no other habitable planets within easy journey, we must find ways to get along. Consider for a moment: There are more than a million Arab Muslims in Israel. There are zero Jews in … Read more
It was Easter in 2006 and I was attending a Maronite Catholic Mass in the Middle East. I was (somewhat cockily) celebrating the Risen Lord with my new found ability to read Arabic. The Liturgy was beautiful, the music angelic (with everyone singing), and the Mass really, really long. I guess I shouldn’t have been … Read more
Over at the Canadian financial paper, The Financial Post, Diane Francis has a piece on what she sees as “the real inconvenient truth” being ignored at the UN’s Copenhagen conference: The “inconvenient truth” overhanging the UN’s Copenhagen conference is not that the climate is warming or cooling, but that humans are overpopulating the world. A planetary … Read more
Decades ago — nearly four of them, I think: around 1971 — I was reading an account of the problem of homelessness in Boston. It was a study done by clinical psychologists, and it contained one interesting factoid that remains in memory to this day. The investigators found that 95 percent of the street people … Read more
Marking the end of the third year of war, Italy seemed fated to lose, whichever side won. Germany began to view Mussolini as, in the words of Churchill, “a lackey and a serf, the merest utensil of his master’s will.” Italian aspirations for “spazio vitale” were not mentioned when Joseph Goebbels was in Venice to … Read more
I’ve often heard people talk about their most beloved aspect of our Faith. When asked, “What’s your favorite thing about being a Catholic?” some well-instructed souls will cite the Eucharist, while others will speak of their devotion to Our Lady. The pointier heads in the room might cite the Church’s rich storehouse of worldly and … Read more
This is Dr. Joseph Wright’s response to specific criticisms of his work on the study, "Reducing Abortion in America: The Effect of Socioeconomic Factors." We received this via E-mail, and have been unable to find it posted elsewhere, so we have uploaded it here. ♦ ♦ ♦ Each year over a million unborn children … Read more
If you read reviews no further than the first paragraph, you need read only this: Buy this book, read it, keep it, set it as required reading for your children. Andrew Roberts has penned a splendid, episodic account of the triumph of the English-speaking peoples in the 20th century, charting not only their political and … Read more
For over half a century, well-intentioned, well-educated people in the West were taught to dread an inevitable “population bomb,” caused by a worldwide explosion of births and a dearth of resources. Examples abound: • In 1946 Julian Huxley, first head of UNESCO, wrote, “War is a less inevitable threat to mankind than is population increase.” … Read more