Minus habens

Leon Wieseltier skewers scientism, "one of the dominant superstitions of our day." As a symbol, he chooses our friend, Daniel Dennett.

Not so simple

Famous economist Amartya Sen defends secular universalism against the encroaching waves of religious/ethnic tribalism. It may worth remembering, however, that historically the ideal of a universal human community goes back to the religious experience of one particular middle eastern tribe. And when that universal ideal became detached from that religious experience, it also degenerated in violence.

The final days

The NYTimes reviews the new movie on Sophie Scholl

The worst of the worst

Another great scourge of our time are the fanatic 1968-produced ideologues that run the bureaucracy of the European Union.

The islanders' revolt

The Aland archipelago is an autonomous region of Finland.
Aland's 26,000 people are essentially sovereign co-rulers of their home nation of Finland. As such, they can veto any international treaty that Finland wants to enter, including EU treaties. Now the Alanders could stop attempts to revive the moribund EU constitution. The reason? They want to chew their Swedish tobacco...
Don't miss this intrigue on the Baltic Sea

The unknown, healthy U.S. economy

You think the U.S. economy is in trouble, right? Well, think again. Businesses are investing about $1 trillion a year more than the official numbers show. Savings rate is actually positive. The deficit with the rest of the world is much smaller than advertised, and GDP is probably growing faster than what they are telling you.

Pampered to death

Fareed Zakaria explains that the economic decline of Europe is due primarily to a culture that entrusts everything to the state and does not prize personal initiative.

Subsidiarity

This column makes the case that the most important resource in Africa's development are its people.

A real dialogue

Fr. Cervellera's editorial on the murder in Trebizon. What prevents dialogue is nihilism, because when we dot care about our happiness, all we care for is power.

Rent-a-mob

A convincing analysis of the Danish cartoons story.On the situation in the middle east you can also read the latest column by Fouad Ajami.

The idealist

It is easy to underestimate the power of being a speech writer.

The only one

Nat Hentoff is an interesting character.

What am I doing here?

This testimony about the priest killed in Turkey is quite moving.

Semen Christianorum

Asia News is covering the murder of an Italian priest in Turkey.

PhD's in Jacobinism

As usual, Departments of Education is where you find the most intolerant ideologues in contemporary culture.