Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 353
February 17, 2014
Our Orwellian government
Victor Davis Hanson writes about the “Orwellian” language and attempts to rewrite the past that characterize the current administration. From Victor Davis Hanson, Obama’s Newspeak | National Review Online. The nightmare societies portrayed in the George Orwell novels 1984 and Animal Farm gave us the word “Orwellian.” That adjective reflects a vast government’s efforts not [Read More...]
February 14, 2014
The abyss of love
Ethan Richardson at Mockingbird quotes French philosopher Simone Weil on the Cross of Jesus Christ: “Christ healing the sick, raising the dead, etc–that is the humble, human, almost low part of his mission. The supernatural part is the sweat of blood, the unsatisfied longing for human consolation, the supplication that he might be spared, the [Read More...]
Love songs
Roger Catlin interviews jazz singer Ann Hampton Callaway and country artist Rosanne Cash about love songs. After the jump, I’ll give you what Ms. Callaway, a master of the form, says, including some real insights about the nature of love and her complaint that most of today’s pop songs, though about love, “don’t sound like [Read More...]
St. Valentine’s Day
Here is a good account of the history of St. Valentine’s Day, how it’s NOT related to the pagan festival of Lupercalia and how the death day of an early Christian martyr got connected with love and romance. (Short answer: Chaucer.) So what can be said about the true meaning of St. Valentine’s Day in [Read More...]
February 13, 2014
What’s whiter than snow?
Here in Northern Virginia we woke up to about 12 inches of it, and it looks like there is that much still in the air coming down. And we’re supposed to get another wave tonight. It’s a snow day–one of those gifts of free time that are unplanned for so are not already booked with [Read More...]
A conservative alternative to Obamacare?
A conservative alternative to Obamacare has been unveiled. Read about it after the jump. Then consider these questions: (1) Does it sound better than Obamacare? (2) What is particularly conservative about it? (3) Is it qualitatively different from other efforts to have the government presiding over the health care of its citizens? From William Kristol [Read More...]
Textbook’s version of the Second Amendment
How American history and the Constitution are taught in high schools: The authors of United States History: Preparing for the Advanced Placement Examination have taken it upon themselves to change the Constitution of the United States. The high school textbook contains a summary of each Amendment that alters the initial intent in which they were [Read More...]
Why Rand Paul is suing the President
The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution reads as follows: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, [Read More...]
February 12, 2014
Thrivent HAS funded Planned Parenthood
We’ve blogged about the controversy surrounding Thrivent, the Lutheran financial company, which offered matching funds for contributions to charities, including Planned Parenthood. At response to the uproar from pro-life Lutherans, company officials said that they would no longer match contributions to the abortion provider OR to pro-life ministries. The spokesman also said that no money [Read More...]
Conservative liberalism vs. progressive liberalism
Edmund Burke is considered the father of modern conservatism, while his contemporary Thomas Paine is a forerunner of modern liberalism. Yuval Levin has written a new book, The Great Debate: Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, and the Birth of Right and Left. A review by Michael Gerson discusses his thesis that both theorists, for all of [Read More...]
