[NOTE: Yesterday I wrote about literary style vs. substance. I concluded that it’s possible to have the first while lacking the second, especially in the realm of politics. Today I’m writing about a work that undoubtedly has both style and … Continue reading →
Obama won enough delegates yesterday to almost certainly become the 2008 Democratic Presidential nominee. A number of articles about that fact make use of the word “historic.” Indeed, it is. Of course, if Hillary Clinton had won the nomination instead, … Continue reading →
From last night’s Bill Moyers PBS interview with Jeremiah Wright, the quote that got the most attention was this: [Obama]’s a politician, I’m a pastor. We speak to two different audiences. And he says what he has to say as … Continue reading →
Somehow I’d missed the following extraordinary statement (HT: Obama Messiah) made by Obama in a speech he gave at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH, shortly before the primary in that state: My job this morning is to be so persuasive…that … Continue reading →
Surprisingly, the NY Times has published a lengthy and somewhat favorable review of Lee Harris’s latest book about the threat Islam presents to the West, entitled The Suicide of Reason. Hirsi Ali was the Times’s interesting choice as reviewer. Raised … Continue reading →
Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani is a Catholic, although—as this column by Richard Cohen points out—his marital history isn’t precisely what the Catholic church would consider ideal. Cohen compares Giuliani’s recent answer to a question about his Catholicism with that of … Continue reading →
Here’s a must-read (and it’s relatively short, too) by Robert Spencer on the topic of Muslim secularism. We often speak of the need for moderate Muslims. And it’s undoubtedly true that some Muslims are indeed moderate. But as Spencer points … Continue reading →
The news that a sculpture entitled “My Sweet Lord” (after the Beatles song, no doubt, crossed with Tom Waits)—due to debut at a New York Hotel and consisting of a six-foot tall anatomically correct chocolate Jesus—has been canceled, conjures up … Continue reading →
We in the modern west have grown unused to the concept of religious war. In fact, the very term seems un-PC, like the word “crusade.” Wars of religion have come to be regarded as mere screens for other motivators: socioeconomic … Continue reading →
The Pope hosted Moslem leaders in a conference today, giving a five-minute speech that sounded conciliatory, at least from the short excerpts published (I can’t find a full transcript). Although he didn’t offer an apology for his previous remarks, the … Continue reading →
Alexandra is incensed at Bill Maher for making light of forced conversion to Islam. Maher isn’t one of my favorites (surprise, surprise, you say), and I don’t really tend to follow his shows. But in a comedy routine (video here; … Continue reading →
Richard Landes of Second Draft and Augean Stables has written what just might be the definitive answer to those who–like Norwegian writer Jostein Gaarder–accuse Israel of heinous crimes and intents based (among other things) on the accusers’ complete misunderstanding of … Continue reading →