On August 26 Raimon Panikkar died at age 91, in a village near Barcelona, the city in which he was raised. There have been obituaries in both the religious and the secular press. I read a fairly extensive one in The National Catholic Reporter of October 1.Panikkar was a key figure in the development of­­ […]

When the idiotic Kyoto Protocol was put before the US Senate, 95 senators voted against this confused and destructive initiative on the grounds that, as designed, the measure would simply ship American jobs to China and other countries without reducing greenhouse gasses.For years, green activists have mourned and bemoaned the shortsightedness of the US.  How […]

The Supreme Court this week heard a case which raises the issue of possible limits to the freedom of speech in the sharpest possible way. I had not been aware of this case until I first read about it last week in the October 1 issue of The Washington Post (a newspaper I don’t normally […]

When the Supreme Court decided Citizens United v. FEC last fall, holding that corporations have a First Amendment right to spend money in candidate elections, analysts were divided over how much the case was going to affect U.S. elections. Writing in the July/August issue of The American Interest (as part of its extensive coverage of […]

The world is full of boycotts.  Animal rights activists are boycotting everything from mink coats to veal and foie gras.  The Palestinians and their allies are boycotting goods made in Israeli settlements on the West Bank and in the Golan Heights.  Workers’ rights activists are boycotting clothes made in sweatshops.  Human rights activists are boycotting […]

Lost in the chatter about the potential GOP tsunami in the midterm elections is one simple fact:  if American politics still operated on the rules of the twentieth century, the Democrats would own this political cycle.The issues that concern voters most in this cycle (unemployment, insider power, Wall Street greed) are, or used to be, […]

Wellesley is one of the wealthiest suburbs in the Greater Boston area, exhibiting a mixture of upper-class lifestyles and progressive politics typical of such communities. It is best known as the location of Wellesley College, which for years has been a beacon of radical feminism and other ideological orthodoxies. On September 22 The Boston Globe […]

As an old Cuba hand, I have no desire to defend the island’s communist government or make excuses for its dismal failures in the area of human rights and economic development, but with the news that Cuba is considering the release of yet another tranche of political prisoners, it’s increasingly clear something important is happening down […]

On September 22 The New York Times reported in some detail on the visit to Britain by Pope Benedict XVI.  The high point of the visit was Benedict praying side by side at Westminster Abbey with Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury. This was indeed an expression of ecumenical amity. Less amicable was Benedict’s proclamation, […]