Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 371

Our deal with Iran

The Obama administration has engineered, with other nations, an agreement with Iran that would ease economic sanctions against that country in return for certain restrictions on its nuclear weapons program–for six months.  Israel and Sunni Muslim nations disapprove.  So does Charles Krauthammer, whose critique can be found after the jump.  From Charles Krauthammer: The only [Read More...]

Bringing God into the living room

Here is a great video about my daughter Mary Moerbe’s book on vocation for kids! (A link for ordering it after the jump.)

Court throws out pastors’ housing allowance tax break

Pastors and other church workers have long been able to take part of their compensation as an untaxed housing allowance, resulting in substantial tax savings.  But a federal court has ruled in a suit brought by the Freedom from Religion Foundation that the tax break for clergy is unconstitutional. The ruling has been stayed, pending [Read More...]

Nuking the Senate

Senate Democrats employed the so-called “nuclear option,” changing Senate rules so as to eliminate the possibility of a filibuster for presidential appointments (not including Supreme Court justices–nor does it apply to regular legislation, which may still be filibustered).  The threat of a filibuster–that is, unlimited debate, unless a supermajority shuts it down–has meant that Senators [Read More...]

50 years of Doctor Who

The 50th anniversary of the first episode of Doctor Who, BBC’s quirky Science Fiction series whose main character can regenerate with new actors, was celebrated with a special episode simulcast around the world, which came on here in the colonies at 2:50 ET.  The episode was quite ingenious.  See outtakes from reviews after the jump. [Read More...]

Happy Lewis/Huxley/Kennedy day!

Today is the 50th anniversary of the death of C. S. Lewis, John F. Kennedy, and Aldous Huxley.  The curious conjunction of the death of these three individuals (a Christian apologist, an American president, and a speculative novelist), with their different cultural contributions and different worldviews, on November 22, 1963 is worth contemplating, especially at [Read More...]

C. S. Lewis on the salvation of Susan

One of the unsettling details in the Chronicles of Narnia is that Susan, one of the original four children who stumble into the wardrobe, does not go into Aslan’s country at the conclusion of the series.  She is apparently an apostate, who came to prefer worldly shallow concerns like “nylons and lipstick and invitations” to [Read More...]

A society controlled by inflicting pleasure

Aldous Huxley, who died on this date 50 years ago along with C. S. Lewis and John F. Kennedy, was the author of Brave New World.  The other great dystopian novel 1984 by George Orwell offers many lessons about totalitarianism and state tyranny.  But the year 1984 came and went, and though we worry about [Read More...]

JFK on the Hand of God

The Chaplain of the U. S. House of Representatives, Father Daniel Coughlin, says that President John F. Kennedy taught him how to pray and speak of faith in the public arena.  See President Kennedy’s Gift of Language and the Art of Prayer.  The man, for all his faults, certainly was eloquent, making today’s politicians sound [Read More...]

Which friend informed on you?

Another in our series of posts about what it’s like to live without the freedoms that we Americans often take for granted (see also this and this.): A story on why Germans are so upset about NSA eavesdropping gives some chilling details about what life was like under East German communism, with the secret police [Read More...]