Academic

Bankruptcy vs. Bailouts--Skeel

Posted on March 24, 2009
Readers of this blog are no doubt tired of hearing me argue that bankruptcy would often be a better solution to the financial distress of large financial firms like AIG or Bear Stearns than the bailouts the government has used...

Depopulation--Stuntz

Posted on March 24, 2009
This article made me sad. The subject is the coming depopulation of much of the world. Here's the key graph:For the majority of the world's inhabitants who no longer live on farms or rely on home production, children are no longer an...

Christianity and Secular Values--Skeel

Posted on March 23, 2009
Rome is full of reminders both of the layers of history and of the temptation to marry Christianity with pagan religions. Sitting by the fountain with Bernini's Four River Gods fountain in Piazza Navona—a revelation both because of the light gleaming...

Reforming the Health Care System--Stuntz

Posted on March 23, 2009
It's often claimed that other Western nations achieve as good or better outcomes from their nationalized health care systems as Americans achieve with our strange mix of private and government-funded health insurance—and at far less cost. Assuming that claim is true,...

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American Politics Through Italian Eyes--Skeel

Posted on March 16, 2009
I've been in Rome for a week, with ten days to go, and have asked people what they think of the Obama administration and of the Berlusconi government in Italy. I should note that I've been talking to Italian academics, so...

Rome Baptist Church--Skeel

Posted on March 09, 2009
Few experiences remind me of the common bond that unites all Christians as vividly as attending a worship service in a different city or country when I'm traveling. When I'm in Rome—as I am for the next two and a half...

More Good Cancer News--Stuntz

Posted on March 09, 2009
I got the results of my latest set of films a few days ago—no visible cancer in my lungs or abdomen: the places where it is likeliest to show up. Happy news indeed. As my oncologist puts it, each clean set of...

Stanley Fish on Christianity and Bankruptcy--Skeel

Posted on March 08, 2009
A student emailed me this marvelous commentary by Stanley Fish, which I hadn't seen. I'll only add two brief thoughts, since Fish speaks for himself as always: 1) the two Christian discourses Fish discusses don't strike me as necessarily at odds...

Bankruptcy Phobia--Skeel

Posted on March 05, 2009

Anniversary--Skeel

Posted on March 02, 2009

More Films--Stuntz

Posted on February 25, 2009
 Every few months, the docs check my lungs and liver and assorted other places to see whether the cancer has returned. Today was my day to be filmed. Film days are usually easy, though sometimes unpleasant: I spent the minutes before heading to...

Brooks on Burke and Obama--Stuntz

Posted on February 25, 2009
 This column perfectly captures my own sentiments—both the hope that the new Administration would succeed, and the growing concern that its confidence is misplaced. One unpleasant surprise in the Administration’s economic plans, at least to me, has been Obama’s lack of...

Penn Forum on the Financial Crisis--Skeel

Posted on February 22, 2009
Like just about every university, we recently had a forum to talk about the financial crisis-- its apparent causes and possible implications.  The panel was moderated by the university president, Amy Gutmann, and I was one of five panelists.  For...

Stimulus Spending--Stuntz

Posted on February 15, 2009
There is a lot of talk these days about America’s, and the world’s, lurch to the political left.  Seems to me, that talk gets things backward. Given the massive public debt that Congress is creating, in the near future—that is, before...

Weekly Standard Article--Stuntz

Posted on February 15, 2009
I have an article in this week’s TWS. The link is here. The subject is the need for a policing “surge.”...

Testimony--Stuntz

Posted on February 09, 2009
 My spouse and I are in the process of joining a Boston church; the church requires that would-be members give their testimony. Because my memory is lousy these days, I wrote mine out; it’s pasted below with a few minor edits. Some...

Atheist Bus Ads--Skeel

Posted on February 08, 2009
My first impulse when I saw a picture of Richard Dawkins standing in front of a London bus emblazoned with an atheist ad--“ There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life”—was to chuckle. My second was to skim...

John Updike's Passing--Skeel

Posted on January 28, 2009
John Updike was for me a little like an old friend you keep meaning to visit but never quite get around to visiting. Years ago, I read several of his Rabbit novels, and I occasionally read his short stories later...

Obama and Roosevelt--Skeel

Posted on January 27, 2009
            The most frequent worry I’ve heard about the new administration is that President Obama will get swept up in the messianism surrounding his historic presidency, and he will take advantage of it to pass a vast legislative agenda that...

Obama's Abortion Order--Skeel

Posted on January 24, 2009
Ever since Ronald Reagan first banned funding to international organizations that promote or provide abortions in developing countries and elsewhere in 1984, this executive order has been the most visible culture wars prize of our presidential elections...

The Inauguration--Skeel

Posted on January 20, 2009
A few immedate thoughts on the inauguration:President Obama's speech: I didn't think this was his most memorable, but no one delivers a speech like Obama.  The highlight for me came when he explicitly referred to scripture, and said "The time has come...

God Bless America--Stuntz

Posted on January 20, 2009
I never much liked the Ronald Reagan rhetoric treating the United States as the new Jerusalem, the “shining city on a hill.”  It struck me then and, most days, strikes me now as idolatrous.  But I can’t help feeling that...

What Will Bush Do Next?--Skeel

Posted on January 16, 2009
Listening to President Bush’s short, somber farewell speech last night, I found myself wondering what he will do next. (It has been striking how much less speculation about Bush’s future there has been than with Bill Clinton, due to the failures of...

Neuhaus' Passing--Stuntz

Posted on January 09, 2009
David is right:  Father Neuhaus was indeed one of a kind, and also a deeply admirable man.  He was the happy warrior of the culture wars:  eager to mix it up with those with whom he disagreed, but always with...

Father Richard John Neuhaus--Skeel

Posted on January 08, 2009
It is hard to imagine a world without Father Richard John Neuhaus– his dazzling intellect; the wide-ranging "The Public Square" columns he wrote each month in First Things; his love of ideas and of his Creator. But with his passing away this...

Policing and Stimulus Packages--Stuntz

Posted on January 03, 2009
Obama and his underlings have emphasized, rightly, that federal spending designed to pump up the economy should do more than that: spending should rebuild needed infrastructure, invest in cleaner energy, and the like, so that money spent now would yield...

Chemo Aftermath--Stuntz

Posted on January 03, 2009
Apologies for the long silence:  my chemo ended just before Thanksgiving, but the six weeks since them has been rougher than I'd expected:  I'm still pretty tired and a little queasy all the time, and have been struggling to fight...

Inaugural Poets--Skeel

Posted on December 30, 2008
            After poet and Yale professor Elizabeth Alexander was announced as the inaugural poet, fellow poet Paul Muldoon was quoted as saying he was confident the choice was due to literary merit...

Rick Warren at the Obama Inauguration--Skeel

Posted on December 18, 2008
The New York Times noted in a small article this morning that President-elect Obama has invited Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration, and called this an olive branch to evangelicals. Two thoughts on the choice. First, as...

Poetry in Motion--Skeel

Posted on December 14, 2008
One of the most exciting contemporary poets is the Polish poet Adam Zagajewski. I review "Eternal Enemies," his new book of poems, here. But don't take my word for it. Next time you're in a bookstore, skim through a few...

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