Insatiable

A major story of the last few years: China's economic conquest of Africa.

Tom Cruise Wants Your Child to Find his Inner Thetan

This rather chilling article from the St. Petersburg Times gives an idea of the dangerous state of flux that characterizes public education. In devastated areas of Louisiana Scientology advocates like Tom Cruise and John Travolta have introduced their methods into public schools. The moral of the story: when education is divorced from tradition and simply becomes a matter of "skills" and "techniques" students are vulnerable to manipulation by the rich and powerful.
In case you were wondering, Scientology's "study technology" program is headquartered in the former retirement home of a Catholic religious order near St. Luis. Read more...

Funny guy

If you can wade through all the weirdness, you have to recognize this fellow has a more realistic outlook on life than most of his peers.

So many good things have happened to me because of how unhealthy I’ve been mentally

Familar thinking

Just as yet another example of a familiar phenomenon, a story from the Maldives.

Tumultuous change

An interesting discussion of world-wide trends in (mostly non-Catholic) Christianity.

A matter of education

The Economist shows an unusual interest in the state of marriage in America.

"Who do you say that I am?"

Thanks to the Pope's new book, Time Magazine makes a startling discovery: Christians and Jews may disagree about who Jesus is, but they can agree on who he claimed to be.

Nihilism

Ideological follies in Western Europe. Here is another article by the same author.

Unexpected

A new minority in North Africa.

Decay

Universities in Africa are not doing well. The whole country of Zimbabwe is collapsing.

Irrelevant

A contrarian view of foreign policy by Edward Luttwack.

Nice crowd

Family Day in Italy was a big success.

Idiots

It is always entertaining when somebody like Vargas Lllosa says what he honestly thinks about recent political trends in Latin America.

Demons

Dalrymple on Qutb.

Fragile

One could argue that the obsession to protect children from any kind of discomfort is inversely proportional to our ability to offer them any meaningful reason to live.

"Life is planned out for us, but we don't know what to want"