AMERICAN FUTURE » Blog Archive » It Is Possible

re: "Jews and Muslims can get along—at least in Panama:..."...

No Left Turns Archive: Essay contest for those interested

re: link to near-deadline essay contest based on "The Closing of The American Mind"...

Two-for-One Deal, Take Two - WSJ.com

re: Jackie Calmes, "DES MOINES, Iowa -- Hillary and Bill Clinton kicked off her fall campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, a rare joint effort calling to mind the uncharted waters of a White House with an ex-president in residence. Many voters in their audiences, even some nonsupporters, saw the potential precedent as a plus. /The Clintons' Labor Day weekend of stumping in New Hampshire and Iowa, the states with the first nominating contests in four months, was the third time they have publicly campaigned together this year. The campaign has focused on letting the New York senator make her case independently of her husband...[snip]...Yesterday, before hundreds of union members and their families at a Labor Day picnic in Sioux City, Iowa, Mrs. Clinton suggested one role for her husband should she be elected: repairing the country's reputation in the world after what the Clintons and other critics charge is the damage done during the Bush years. /"The day I'm elected," she said, "I'm going to be asking distinguished Americans -- including my husband -- of both parties, to start traveling around the world, and not just talking to governments and leaders, but talking directly to people and telling them that America is back."...[snip]...Mr. Clinton has said he would continue as head of his Clinton Foundation, although that could raise a variety of foreign-policy issues or conflicts, given its global work on AIDS, poverty and global warming. /When Mr. Clinton first ran for president, in 1992, his suggestion that his wife would be a sort of co-president sparked controversy. So far, the idea of them returning as president and ex-president seems to have caused relatively little..."...

The Outsider's Insider - washingtonpost.com

re: By Perry Bacon Jr., Washington Post Staff Writer: "Sen. Barack Obama had hired Pete Rouse for just such a moment. /It was the fall of 2005, and the celebrated young senator -- still new to Capitol Hill but aware of his prospects for higher office -- was thinking about voting to confirm John G. Roberts Jr. as chief justice. Talking with his aides, the Illinois Democrat expressed admiration for Roberts's intellect. Besides, Obama said, if he were president he wouldn't want his judicial nominees opposed simply on ideological grounds. /And then Rouse, his chief of staff, spoke up. This was no Harvard moot-court exercise, he said. If Obama voted for Roberts, Rouse told him, people would remind him of that every time the Supreme Court issued another conservative ruling, something that could cripple a future presidential run. Obama took it in. And when the roll was called, he voted no..."...

hat tip: Betsy's Page

FIRST THINGS: On the Square » Blog Archive » The Last Stand of Rowan Williams

re: Jordan Hylden: "...But if you’re one of the many who wishes that the daily grind could be postponed for just a bit longer, it may at least be some small consolation to know that Rowan Williams feels your pain. Although, in his case, it is probably increased by several orders of magnitude—for when he gets back to his drafty old medieval office on the banks of the Thames, he has waiting for him an Anglican Communion that may soon explode into a million tiny pieces. And, what’s worse, it nearly all depends upon him..."...

Captain's Quarters: See Your Doctor Or Go To Jail?

re: "John Edwards has a strange way of distilling foolishness to its essence, and he showed that talent yesterday when talking about his vision of health care. In remarks curiously ignored by newspapers today, Edwards insisted that his plan would force people to seek health evaluations, whether they desire one or not..."...

Cardinal Francis Joseph Spellman

re: info on Francis Cardinal Spellman at the Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site website, noting the public feud between Spellman and Roosevelt, and also their later efforts to diffuse the tension...

Nazarene Communications Network - New church on Central Nicaragua District made up of one-time enemies

re: "...Recently, the Central District of Nicaragua formed its 45th church. Led by Agustin Martinez, this new Nazarene church of 35 members is located in the community of Timal, Tipitapa within the city of Managua. The church is a product of the Tipitapa Church of the Nazarene, which is pastored by Bayardo Gordon and "has a purpose of starting new mission churches." /Interestingly, this new congregation is made up of opposite combatants of the civil war from the 1980’s..."...

Miss O'Hara: Friday Photo & Mental Meanderings

re: links, commentary on wide range of topics, from Labor Day to beauty and dressing like a lady, Bush, Iran, World War II, Sarkozy, more...

The Weekly Standard blog: Outrage in Berlin Over Chinese Cyber Attacks

re: "The current cover story of Germany’s weekly magazine Der Spiegel, titled "The Yellow Spies: How China Spies Out German Technology," has triggered a big political debate in Berlin about how to manage the country’s political and economic relations with Beijing..."...

If You Build It, They Will Take It

re: Jonathan V. Last, "Eminent domain appeared in the presidential campaign recently when Sen. John McCain addressed the Supreme Court's 2005 Kelo decision. In a speech in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, McCain called Kelo "one of the most alarming reductions of freedom in our lifetimes." In the course of defending property rights, McCain promised to appoint Supreme Court justices who would take the Constitution seriously and said he might "seek to amend the Constitution to protect private property rights in America." /To those who follow the issue, it was bracing stuff. The questions of how and when property may be taken for public use--and what constitutes just compensation when property is taken--are vital but technical. It's a rare day when they make their way into a politician's stump speech. The only hiccup came afterwards. In an interview with Power Line's Paul Mirengoff, McCain pointed to Iowa as a good example of how states can and should respond to the Kelo decision. In reality, Iowa is a good example of how slippery eminent domain reform can be..."...

A Novel Interpretation

re: Philip Terzian: "Bush understands Graham Greene better than his critics"...

Power Line: LOST

re: "In three books over the past ten years, George Mason University Law School Professor Jeremy Rabkin has argued the case for the importance of national sovereignty. With Why Sovereignty Matters in 1998, The Case for Sovereignty in 2004 (NRO interviewed here), and Law Without Nations? in 2005, Professor Rabkin's argument has only become more compelling over time. /The new issue of the Weekly Standard features Professor Rabkin's article on the Law of the Sea Treaty that the Bush administration is unaccountably urging the Senate to ratify. Professor Rabkin's article is "How many lawyers does it take to sink the U.S. Navy?" ..."...

FIRST THINGS: The Politics of Global Warming

re: Thomas Sieger Derr, "With the virtual apotheosis of Al Gore, talk of global warming has become pervasive—and pervasively one-sided... Through it all, one would never know there are dissenters of distinguished credentials in the scientific community. Even where their existence is admitted, they are thoroughly marginalized, accused of being in the pay of the oil companies... or dismissed as over-the-hill retirees out of touch and perhaps a bit senile. Their articles are denied publication in Science and Nature, those two so-called flagship science journals of high reputation despite some embarrassing lapses. /When dissenters do speak and publish, the majority who embrace the prevailing theory that humans are causing global warming try to silence them... The result is that anyone who finds the dissenters persuasive—including me—is suspected of being a right-wing extremist, making politics determine science... This dismal state of affairs is made possible by an astonishing historical amnesia..."...

FIRST THINGS: On the Square » Blog Archive » Deciding When You Don’t Know for Sure

re: Richard John Neuhaus, "...we act in the courage of our uncertainties. I am fond of pointing out that the word decide comes from the Latin decidere, to cut off. You face choices—whether to be a priest, whether to go to this school or that, whether to marry a certain person, whether to pursue this line of work or another—and then you decide. And, in deciding, you have cut off the alternatives and pray you have decided rightly. But you do not know for sure. Alternatively, you are trapped in the tangled web of indecision. /In this connection, I have had frequent recourse, both homiletically and personally, to one of the most liberating passages from Saint Paul, 1 Corinthians 4... [snip]... I was thinking about the above while reading a recent and splendid book by John Peter Kenney on Augustine’s Confessions. The book is The Mysticism of Saint Augustine and, in Kenney’s “rereading” of Augustine’s classic text, the emphasis is on the inescapably Christocentric character of Augustine’s experience. /This is against the frequent reading of the Confessions as a psychological thriller, which downplays the specifically Christian and theological in Augustine’s story..."...

FIRST THINGS: What Is Anglicanism?

re: Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi writes, "...I have the privilege of serving as archbishop of the Church of Uganda, providing spiritual leadership and oversight to more than nine million Anglicans. Uganda is second only to Nigeria as the largest Anglican province in the world, and most of our members are fiercely loyal to their global communion. But however we come to understand the current crisis in Anglicanism, this much is apparent: The younger churches of Anglican Christianity will shape what it means to be Anglican. The long season of British hegemony is over. /The preface to the Book of Common Prayer states, “It is a most invaluable part of that blessed ‘liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free,’ that in his worship different forms and usages may without offense be allowed, provided the substance of the Faith be kept entire; and that, in every Church, what cannot be clearly determined to belong to Doctrine must be referred to Discipline.” /And yet, despite this clear distinction, contemporary Anglicans are in danger of confusing doctrine and discipline..."...

FIRST THINGS: Grooving on Jesus

re: Sally Thomas reviews the book Hippies of the Religious Right by Preston Shires, and finds herself in some disagreement with the author along the way...

Head to Head: Abortion Counseling . NOW | PBS

re: "We asked Linda Cochrane and Faye Wattleton the same nine questions to bring greater insight into both sides of the post-abortion counseling debate. Cochrane is the author of "Forgiven and Set Free" and a consultant on post-abortion recovery for Care Net, an organization of over 1,000 Christian pregnancy centers. Wattleton is president of the Center for the Advancement of Women, a women's advocacy group, and a former president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America..."...

Paraplegic woman welcomes baby early as support pours in :: Redding Record Searchlight

re: "When word got out that mother-to-be Gypsie Jones needed her crib adapted to allow access from her wheelchair, the response was a welcome surprise -- about a dozen strangers stepped up to offer help..."...

hat tip: Care Net

touchdowncities

re: "One of Care Net's key commitments is to bring needed pregnancy center services to women and men in underserved urban areas. As many of you know, the National Football League supports teams in 32 of the largest cities across the United States. What you may not know is that in most of these "Touchdown Cities" pregnancy center services are scarce. Abortion providers greatly outnumber pregnancy centers in these cities, leaving women without the care or support they often need to carry their pregnancies to term... Over the next three months, Care Net is seeking to raise $75,000 to open a new urban pregnancy center in downtown Philadelphia, Care Net's first "Touchdown" City... Many of you may remember Herbert Lusk, the former Philadelphia Eagle who became known as the "Praying Tailback" for his public acknowledgment of God after each touchdown. Now Senior Pastor of Greater Exodus Baptist Church, Herbert Lusk is leading a ministry called People For People, which meets the needs of thousands of young women in Philadelphia through job training, mentoring, childcare services, and financial assistance. /Now, People For People and Pastor Lusk desire to add pregnancy center services to their ministry..."...