Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 424

The drone filibuster

Attorney General Eric Holder said that drones could be used against American citizens on American soil.  So libertarian Republican Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) staged a 13-hour filibuster–a real one, in which the Senator actually occupies for the floor rather than just threatening to–in protest.  Eventually, Holder said that drones would not be used against unarmed [...]

North Korea says it will nuke America

North Korea said it “will exercise the right to a preemptive nuclear attack to destroy the strongholds of the aggressors and to defend the supreme interests of the country.”  Meanwhile, the UN unanimously passed new sanctions against the eccentric but nuclear-armed communist nation, with even China–which usually protects its client state by exercising vetoes–going along.  [...]

New pope must pledge to serve until death?

The cardinals don’t seem to approve of Pope Benedict’s resignation and reportedly will ask the next pope to promise not to pull that again. British journalist John Follain reports: CARDINALS plan to ask the next pope to pledge in his inaugural address that he will serve until his death, unlike Benedict XVI, whose resignation, they [...]

Historic preservation for modernism

The modernist architecture of the first half of the 20th century rejected ornamentation, tradition, and history itself.   In the age of reason, science, and progress, “form follows function.”  Buildings were bare structures of concrete, glass, and steel.  If they were beautiful–and some were–that is a byproduct of their pragmatic purpose.  Today, though, modernist architecture–like modernist [...]

Richard the Lionheart’s heart

In more medieval forensic archaeology, researchers have found the mummified heart of Richard the Lionheart (1157-1199), which had been buried separately from the rest of his body.  Nothing is left of it but a brown powder, but tests show that he was NOT poisoned, as some have thought, and that the embalming methods used spices [...]

Drugged driving

There is drunk driving and then there is drugged driving.  This brings up yet more unintended consequences of legalizing “victimless crimes.”  Colorado has legalized marijuana.  But while there are laws defining drunk driving, there are no laws clearly defining drugged driving.   While the level of alcohol in the blood that impairs performance is easy [...]

Dow makes up what it lost to reach record high

The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached 14,253.77, a record high, going past the 14,198.1 it reached back in 2007, before the financial collapse.  Does this mean the stock market, at least is fully recovered, and that the financial collapse can be declared officially over?  Well, not necessarily. From Bloomberg: America, birthplace of the credit crisis [...]

America’s enemy list update

Hugo Chavez, the Marxist anti-American president of Venezuela, has died of cancer.   Meanwhile, nuclear-armed North Korea has said it will cancel the 1953 cease-fire that ended the Korean War, due to American sanctions and joint military exercises with South Korea.  And Secretary of State John Kerry rattled his  sabre at Iran, threatening military action if [...]

A milestone in the decline of liberal Protestantism

The much-diminished National Council of Churches is closing its headquarters in New York City, a building that also housed the offices of the other major ecumenical Protestant denominations.  Leaving the building once  hailed as the “Protestant Vatican” and the “God Box,” the NCC is moving to Washington, D.C., where it will share an office with [...]

Nazi “killing centers” and “care centers”

There were far more Nazi “camps” than anyone had realized, according to recent research, some 42,500 of them, including not just “concentration camps,” but centers for euthanasia, forced abortions, forced prostitution, and other components of Hitler’s eugenics machine. From The Holocaust Just Got More Shocking – NYTimes.com: The researchers have cataloged some 42,500 Nazi ghettos [...]