I have heard a few commentators say that at least the Terri Schaivo debacle has taught many Americans the importance of having a living will. It ought to have taught no such thing. This is not to say that having a living will is useless or ought to be rejected out of hand. It is …
Terri Schaivo and Postmodern Law
As Andrew Lytle noted, we like to think of ourselves as modern men, but actually we have the affliction of being momentary men. Because we are momentary men, sound-byte men, the problem with political and civic conflicts is that everything reduces to pushing and shoving in the present, and no one really cares about consistency …
The Death Lobby Overeaches
As I write this, it looks as though all legal options are exhausted in the fight for Terri Schiavo’s life. It also looks like the option of intervention by Gov. Bush is extremely unlikely. If Gov. Bush had decided to send in the National Guard, it would have been a constitutional exercise of a governor’s …
The National Guard Option
In the grimy world of politics a million consciences have been bought and sold without anyone noticing. But in the providence of God, there are occasional moments when a crisis of conscience comes for someone, and it all happens under the spotlight. At that moment the entire nation goes silent to watch what the decision …
Murder and Folly in Atlanta
The courtroom shooting in Atlanta has served to illustrate, as though we needed another illustration of it, the mind-numbing stubbornness of the current PC codes. The murders of the judge and two others occurred, along with an apparent fourth victim later, because a large, muscular defendant was escorted to court, guarded by a female sherriff’s …
The Tashlan Temptation
The election yesterday provided me a real sense of relief, and in several ways it was a very good night. On the positive side of the register, eleven ballot initiatives that defined marriage as consisting of one man and one woman passed, many of them by whopping margins. The Republicans gained in the House, and …
87 Billion
Part of the slipperyness of this presidential campaign can be seen in the taunts registered against John Kerry by the Republicans — “he voted for the 87 billion before he voted against it!” And I agree that Kerry’s explanations are lame, and that he is a flip-flopper, and so on. But none of this erases …
The Mantle of Momentum
I have said in this space before that I do not have a great deal of faith in polls. I don’t think we have the ability to interview 250 Americans, render general by induction, and determine what candidate 250 million Americans actually favor. But another observation needs to be linked to this. It doesn’t matter …
Dogpile Dan
Despite the fact that I remain above the fray, and the fact that I don’t know who I am going to vote for, the current set-up has its inspiring moments. The current inspiration is the nation-wide journalistic dogpile with Dan Rather on the bottom of it.
Wishing I Could Vote for Bush
There are quite a few reasons, actually. But none of them push me over the line. After eight years of Clinton, it has been comparatively pleasant to have a government staffed with grown-ups. Add to that the fact that Jean-Francois Kerry is, in countless ways, insufferable. N’est pas? Couple this with the fact that Bush …