reform

Actually, We Have Too Much Health Insurance

  One of the arguments for healthcare reform is that millions of Americans with employer-provided healthcare are underinsured. Proponents of this view are saying that people are underinsured if they are paying too many of their healthcare costs out-of-pocket. Quite the contrary, a little reflection on what insurance is and is supposed to do suggests … Read more

The ‘Parents Union’ vs The Teachers’ Union

In a comment to my Tuesday morning post about Michelle Rhee and school reform, Deacon Ed made the point: [T]he only real solution to D.C.’s education woes (the same as it is everywhere else) is a voucher system where parents — who have the best interest of their children at heart — get to choose … Read more

Too Big a Job?

Daniel Stone’s weekend article from Newsweek on the sheer scope and impossibility of the modern-day presidency is fascinating reading: Obama has looked to many models of leadership, including FDR and Abraham Lincoln, two transformative presidents who governed during times of upheaval. But what’s lost in those historical comparisons is that both men ran slim bureaucracies … Read more

After big wins, a warning to the GOP moving forward

As expected, Republicans fared well in last night’s elections — regaining control of the House, picking up at least six Senate seats, and adding several more governors to their ranks. I’m sure there will be plenty of feedback and analysis throughout the day, as well as much rejoicing from the GOP, but Ross Douthat cautions … Read more

Waiting for Superman

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKTfaro96dg 635×355] The film Waiting for Superman by Davis Guggenheim has received many accolades, and they are well-deserved — I saw the film last night. Guggenheim follows the stories of five children at different grade levels in both parochial and public schools. One lives in Redwood City, CA, and the rest are inner city kids … Read more

Omaha archbishop suppresses ‘Catholic’ group

Archbishop George Lucas of Omaha has been forced to suppress the Intercessors of the Lamb, a formerly-Catholic association of the faithful in his archdiocese. After the group requested recognition as an official Catholic organization, the archbishop undertook a canonical visitation: “It was my hope from the beginning that the Intercessors and the archdiocese would move … Read more

The Real Seamless Garment

Last week, an earnest Catholic commentator over at the Catholic Key Blog mourned the fact that House Democrats had spoiled the chances for “immigration reform” by linking the issue to unrelated matters that scared off supporters, tainting the sacred cause of extending amnesty to illegal immigrants by wrapping it up in a rainbow flag, then … Read more

White House Still Claiming No Abortion Funding in Health Care Bill

A new Obama administration web site was launched late last night called “Health Reform in Action.”  In the section “Myths & Facts,” the first so-called myth is, “Health insurance reform will use my tax dollars to fund abortions.” How does the Obama administration refute this assertion, supported by the Catholic bishops, National Right to Life, … Read more

The future of fish

Friday is a good day for a fish report. GOOD ran a short but interesting interview with author Paul Greenberg of the new book, Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food. Greenberg believes wild-caught fish should be treated like game, with specific places of origin. Here’s a short excerpt from the interview: GOOD: When it comes … Read more

David Weigel has apologized for the nasty anti-conservative comments he made to members of the liberal listserv Journolist, and is frank about his own motivations. I was cocky, and I got worse. I treated the list like a dive bar, swaggering in and popping off about what was “really” happening out there, and snarking at … Read more

David Weigel has apologized for the nasty anti-conservative comments he made to members of the liberal listserv Journolist, and is frank about his own motivations. I was cocky, and I got worse. I treated the list like a dive bar, swaggering in and popping off about what was “really” happening out there, and snarking at … Read more

She Is Black, but She Is Beautiful

When Dante rises with his guide Beatrice to the circle of the lovers, symbolized in Paradise by the planet Venus, he is told that the most brilliant and most deeply blessed of all the souls in that realm is Rahab, the harlot of Jerusalem who housed Joshua’s spies and assisted the children of Israel in … Read more

The Common Good Running Amok In God’s Politics

Have any of you noticed that the concept of “the common good” is being used to justify every expansion of government power in our lives? Take a look at Anne Hendershott’s treatment of “God’s Politics” at Catholic Advocate.  “God’s Politics,” as you may know, is the title of a book written by Jim Wallis, president … Read more

Looks like the folks at NCR’s “Washington Briefing” had their collective Kum-Ba-Ya moment when Sr. Carol Keehan rose to speak at the podium. Michael Sean Winters describes the moment: Then there are those moments when a group of people want to express their profound admiration and love for someone and, given the context, the only … Read more

Looks like the folks at NCR’s “Washington Briefing” had their collective Kum-Ba-Ya moment when Sr. Carol Keehan rose to speak at the podium. Michael Sean Winters describes the moment: Then there are those moments when a group of people want to express their profound admiration and love for someone and, given the context, the only … Read more

Lonely Lipinski explains his “NO” vote.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard “Stupak” in the past couple of weeks, but I can’t say the same about the name “Lipinski.” Yet, Rep. Dan Lipinski of Illinois seems like exactly the kind of pro-life Democrat so many were hoping Rep. Bart Stupak would be. Lipinski voted against the health care … Read more

Liturgy and Charity

  Some years ago, when speaking at a Catholic meeting, I said that the older rite of the Mass — what we then called the Tridentine rite — should be allowed more widely. I received a massive round of applause. At the time, I attended the Mass in that form fairly rarely; I just thought … Read more

You Can’t Hate Bart Stupak

The first story I wrote for Crisis opened with a scene, not a very good one, in Rep. Bart Stupak’s congressional office. So Stupak has always been in the back of my mind. But others must wonder how it could be that this backbencher could bring down the Democrats’ latest health-care reform effort. Some of … Read more

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