Katyn

The latest movie by Andrzej Wajda.

In praise of the Cardenas

This story on California is interesting because it argues that the best hope for the future resides in the recent immigrants who still work out of desire, not in the well-established groups who are only interested in defending their privileges and their self-image.

Abstractions destroy

Nouriel Roubini on how the current crisis is the crisis of certain ideas (more precisely, ideologies: like the belief that market dynamics will always compensate automatically the effects of human folly).

Contrarian

An argument against government-mediated aid to Africa.

Lots of rights

New Latin American constitutions.

What's wrong with this?

Rushing towards a new era of eugenics.

Let's not discriminate

It is always beautiful how logical consequences unfold in spite of people's muddled thinking. The next step would be to recognize that there is no real reason to give people benefits just because they live together and eliminate civil marriage altogether. Of course, there will remain that little problem: that children need families and society has an interest in supporting stable child-bearing arrangements. Oh, but wait: that would be discriminatory!

All art is religious

Jed Perl on Rouault and Chagall. Perl is a good critic, but the way in which he thinks he needs to convince his readers that modern art and religion are compatible is just funny. It shows that our intellectual elites really have no clue on the nature of religiosity,i.e. on the nature of reason. The results, of course, is that everything becomes a fragment separated from the whole, left in the care of some "experts." Like art, which is what artists do and what art critics discuss. Why should it be related to religion?

A deep lust for power

Dalrymple on ideology, the great scourge of the modern world...

Lack of perspective

A sensible reaction to the Williamson scandal. Read also Spengler.

Empiricism is overrated

Ross Douthat is right:"ideological preconceptions always matter." So much so that intellectually honesty requires first of all that we acknowledge our prejudices, not that we pretend to be "empiricists." For instance, it is always interesting to see a Nobel prize from Princeton, and a distinguished scholar from Harvard reach exactly opposite conclusions from the same empirical data.

Everybody loves?

Pres.Obama outlines his thinking about "faith-based" initiatives.

Better be a plumber

Higher education as a form of consumer fraud.

Real presence

A nice essay on Anne Rice and her books about Jesus.

Citizenship is not enough

Roger Scruton makes an interesting connection between democracy and forgiveness.