What are the odds of this? From Mia Farrow’s autobiography, What Falls Away: My mother [actress Maureen O’Sullivan], her father’s favorite, went to the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Roehampton. She hated it. They had to wear vests in … Continue reading →
Of all the things I saw at the convention, the most potentially powerful was the series of presentations about Romney’s good deeds. It was both curious and moving, and unprecedented (at least in my memory) for an introduction to a … Continue reading →
…whether this article, which I found at Drudge, is reporting the truth. If it is, however, that would be a very ominous sign in Egypt. On the other hand, ye olde blood libel is alive and well and living in … Continue reading →
I hadn’t thought of this before, but it’s an interesting point that Peter Shrag makes: For the first time in the 236-year history of the Republic, no one on either presidential ticket belongs to the once-prototypical American group, the White … Continue reading →
“Authentically nice politician”—is that a double oxymoron? Not according to Sven Wilson, whose article on the subject was brought to my attention by a reader. I’m in nearly complete agreement with what he says here: Romney has, as we all … Continue reading →
There’s been an email going around alleging that Muslims will be exempt from the Obamacare tax/mandate. It’s not true, at least at the moment, but it stands a remote possibility of becoming true. The facts are here and here, and … Continue reading →
In the ever-expanding interests of diversity in academia and elsewhere, we’ve hit a new high (that is, low): Touting a move to make its faculty more diverse, CUNY administrators have broken out Jews into a separate minority group: “White/Jewish.” CUNY … Continue reading →
When Obama was nominated and elected, one of the big deals was that he was the first African-American in that position. And that really was a big deal, given our racial history, and despite the fact that his black ancestry … Continue reading →
Here’s a study that purports to indicate that people get more religious over time: Belief in God is highest among older people and increases with age, perhaps due to the growing realization that death is coming closer, University of Chicago … Continue reading →
In yesterday’s thread about eating beef, commenter “SteveH” asks: Where does this obsession with quanity of life come from? I could understand it if we lost years on the average lifespan over the past 100 years. But we’ve gained tremendously. … Continue reading →
If the Obama administration thought they could sneak this one in (mandatory coverage of contraception) under the rubric of women’s rights, they must be surprised at the depth and breadth of protest it has aroused: Abortion rights organizations, pro-choice Democrats, … Continue reading →
The singer formerly known as Cat Stevens is nothing if not controversial. It’s hard to write about him even now without generating a firestorm of hatred. But I’m going to try. Stevens (now Yusuf Islam) is hated by a lot … Continue reading →