Sitting in a black Yukon with a machine gun in his lap, Condoleezza Rice’s bodyguard was not the most striking figure outside of St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Neither was the thin, black-clad Secretary of State as she departed … Continue reading
American History & Presidents
So Crazy I Tried to Bury a Cat with My Daughter
On July 6, 1992, Tory, my fourteen-year old daughter died after a ten year battle with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. The grief one feels at the loss of a child is indescribable. The natural order is for children to bury their … Continue reading
The Evolving Lesson of the Scopes Trial
This month marks the 80th anniversary of the Scopes Trial, the original trial of the century. Civility, not a survival-of-the-fittest demeanor, marked the proceedings. It’s not a bad precedent for our U.S. Senators to follow in their deliberations over U.S. … Continue reading
Celebrating the 4th
How will you celebrate the 4th of July? Will you have/Are you having a picnic? Going to one? Picnics are fine, but all of us should also truly celebrate the essence of the Fourth – the propositions about rights and … Continue reading
Don’t “Bench” the Veterans
Professors Calabresi and Lindgren in a recent Wall Street Journal article entitled “Supreme Gerontocracy” (April 8) complain that U.S. Supreme Court justices are retiring 10 years later on average than were the earlier justices. Therefore, they support the adoption of … Continue reading
Generalissimo Bush
Effective wartime presidents are generalissimos, commanders-in-chiefs wielding military power to achieve historically monumental strategic ends; visionaries who shape and mold events through bold political and military action. Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt, America’s two greatest wartime Presidents, served the … Continue reading
Home by Christmas…the Short War Delusion
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s response to a question concerning the lack of proper equipment, “You go to war with the Army you have,” rightly prompted some pointed critiques. While the US Army is the world’s finest ground force, it … Continue reading
VISION & VALUES CONCISE: Thankful for a Fourth Grade Play
Did you ever learn anything profound from a fourth grade play? I did yesterday. I took an hour off of work to go to the humble theatre of Grove City Christian Academy — the little gymnasium of First Baptist Church … Continue reading
Hunting For The Guy Vote
The headline in the Akron Beacon Journal made the accompanying article a must-read: “Kerry Plans a Hunting Trip as Part of His Push for Votes of Social Conservatives.” At first, I thought perhaps Dave Barry had written a column on … Continue reading
VISION & VALUES CONCISE: What Bush Believes
The influence of President Bush’s faith on his foreign policy has been greatly exaggerated by both friends and foes. Enthusiasts proudly call the president’s foreign policy “faith based.” Detractors angrily assert that the president invaded Iraq and removed Saddam Hussein … Continue reading
Another Close Election? Maybe Not
Consider the following scenario. Articles of impeachment are voted on in the House of Representatives against the President, who is acquitted in the Senate. This comes after a divisive war, which pitted political elites and their followers throughout the country … Continue reading
VISION & VALUES CONCISE: Do You Miss the Smell of Tear Gas in the Morning?
Aging boomers nostalgic for those long ago days of anti-war demonstrations and that whiff of tear gas floating across the quad, take heart. On October 14, four Princeton Theological Seminary professors and Assyrian Catholic Church of Iraq peace activist, Sister … Continue reading
A Parody: Euro-Kerry
Here’s a pesky thought for Kerryites. The chances of the French warming up to their guy if he becomes President are about as great as Jacques Chirac smothering his escargot with Heinz Ketchup. Consider the following scenario. John Kerry’s just … Continue reading
What? Me Trust You?
The last time Americans got involved in a major culture war, citizens across the land dusted off their Springfield muskets and joined the nearest regiment. This time every attorney worth his or her shingle is going down a checklist that … Continue reading
John Kerry, Liberal Christians, and Preemption
“I cannot profess Christ as my Savior and simultaneously support pre-emptive war.”—Jim Winkler, United MethodistChurch, February 26, 2003 I’m still searching for the political fallout—for the outrage. It has been a week since Senator John F. Kerry, before a huge … Continue reading
VISION & VALUES: Evil and George W. Bush
Introduction Of all the things that rankle the critics of George W. Bush, few anger them more than his willingness to apply the word evil. Like President Ronald Reagan two decades before him, Bush operates from a Christian worldview that … Continue reading
VISION & VALUES CONCISE: Whose Country Is It, Dude?
In the early 1960s, impressionist Vaughn Meader developed a great routine about President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert, who served as Attorney General of the United States. It seems the two got involved in a family spat about … Continue reading
Nuking The Blues
This week marks the fifth anniversary of one of the worst weeks in the history of Fort Worth, Texas. What happened that week was a demonstration of evil and good, of a mad killer at work and a kind community … Continue reading
VISION & VALUES CONCISE: A Governor and a Shooting in Fort Worth
This week marks the fifth anniversary of one of the worst weeks in the history of Fort Worth, Texas. What happened that week was a demonstration of evil and good, of a mad killer at work and a kind community … Continue reading
Retribution, Hatred and the Role of the Media in World War IV
Fighting itself will stir up hostile feelings: violence committed on superior orders will stir up the desire for revenge and retaliation against the perpetrator rather than against the powers that ordered the action. – Carl von Clausewitz (On War, Book … Continue reading
