There’s a long-running debate among public mentators concerning the prudence of pursuing an all-or-nothing agenda or moving incrementally toward a particular goal. How much modation is wise if that modation does make movement, however small, towards an ideal state of affairs, and yet also reinforces a system that is structurally opposed to the ultimate realization of that same ideal? When is it politically prudent to let the perfect potentially be the enemy of the good? These questions in the context...

Dana Joel Gattuso of the National Center for Public Policy Research warns that a provision in the pending farm bill will encourage increasing federal control of private lands (de facto federal ownership) via the mechanism of conservation easements. That got me wondering just how much of the United States is owned by the federal government. Surprisingly, the information seems hard e by. A study (pdf) conducted by congressional Republicans in 2005 and based on 2004 data found that the federal...

On Wednesday the European Commission again delayed a decision on whether European farmers may grow more genetically modified (GM) crops. mission claimed that more scientific analysis is needed before three new crops can be approved. But curiously, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has already twice analyzed the crops and found that they pose no danger to public health. Divisions seem to have broken out within mission on how to proceed with GM food. es at a time when biotech...

“I want to show that the smartest and the bravest rely on their faith in God and our way of life,” was Robinson Risner’s answer to why he wrote The Passing of the Night: My Seven Years as a Prisoner of the North Vietnamese. 2008 marks the 35th anniversary of the release of American prisoners of war from North Vietnam and the publication of Risner’s often horrific but ultimately triumphant account. Many books written by and about American military prisoners...

Congress is debating a number of measures designed to “rescue” homeowners facing foreclosure as the housing and credit crisis grinds more and more financial and real estate assets to dust. Much of the reporting on the credit crisis, in the tradition of objective journalism, strains to explain the problem objectively, as if what was happening in the markets was somehow an act of nature, something unguided by human action. Thus, people “fell” into the problem as if pulled by a...

Why should your high school apply for the Catholic High School Honor Roll? One reason is ecclesial recognition. The video below highlights the experience of St. Theodore Guerin High School in Noblesville, IN. Bishop William L. Higi of the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana attended the school’s press conference to honor the school’s plishments. The video shows the press conference, and does a fantastic job of describing the Honor Roll. Other schools also saw this type of recognition, including Salesianum School in...

My blog post titled “Toward a Theological Ethic for Internet Discourse” has been recognized in the 2008 EO/Wheatstone Academy Symposium. Here is a full list of the top five posts (along wtih an honorable mention): First Place: Mark Fedeli at A Deo Lumen Second Place: Jordan J. Ballor at The Acton Institute Power Blog Third Place: Mark Stanley at Digital Reason Fourth Place: Jeff Nuding at Dadmanly Fifth Place: Letitia Wong at Talitha Koum Honorable Mention: Donnell Duncan at The...

Michael Franc has an interesting piece on NRO about the demographics of campaign contributions. The gravamen is that Democratic presidential candidates in the current election have exhibited a whopping advantage among all kinds of elite groups, identified by professional, financial, or educational status. Meanwhile, Republicans garnered more support from plumbers, truckers, and janitors. Franc doesn’t make much of an effort to explain the phenomenon, other than to note that Democrats have enjoyed a $200 million advantage in general, which may...

From the UK: I never for a moment thought that a life could be decided by something as arbitrary as one’s address. The often-maligned US health care system is by no means a free market for health care services; rather, it is more of a hybrid public/private system. It’s imperfect and in need of reform, to be sure. But heaven help us if that reform takes the form of a governmental takeover of the entire system. How such a “reform”...

The new Italian government was sworn in on May 9, headed for the third time by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The center-right coalition has a vast majority both in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, giving it a good chance of serving its full five-year term. For the first time since 1948, there will be munists represented in either chamber. For forty years following World War II, the Italian Communist Party was the second largest party in the country...