Shaun Kenney | Politics and Religion in Virginia's Public Square

Friday, September 30, 2005

Christians Overlooked in the Holy Land

An appropriate article from ZENIT on the plight of Palestinian Christians in Israel:

"We are rejected by the Israeli Jewish people and government because we are Arabs, and we are rejected by the Palestinian Muslim people because we are Christians," said the Palestinian priest, who lived and worked in Bethlehem for years.

"The West is always talking about human rights toward people from the Middle East," he said. "It is always giving minority groups rights in the West without asking the same from the countries where they have come from."

The priest said that European countries do help Muslims in Palestine, but "they have little consideration for the Christians."

"This is unjust," he said, "because the Muslims receive a great deal of help from the Arab countries in the Middle East."

Remember our fellow Christians in the Holy Land.

The $100 laptop.

Ideal for school systems and their students I would say.

Thursday, September 29, 2005

Roberts Confirmed

Thus begins the Roberts era by a 78-22 vote. I think we're all anxious to see precisely what it will bring.

Cross-National Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies

...or more appropriately titled, the journal article that suggests religous societies are worse off, in full.

A deconstruction shall come forth shortly. However, you know you're off to a bad start when the author opens with this:

Two centuries ago there was relatively little dispute over the existence of God, or the societally beneficial effect of popular belief in a creator. In the twentieth century extensive secularization occurred in western nations, the United States being the only significant exception.

Ugh, this already sounds like something you'd read in Le Monde.

Religion is bad for society (so say the experts)

Making the rounds this evening, a study published in the Journal of Religion and Society claiming that religious beliefs within a society encourage - and do not discourage - violent behavior such as STD infections, rapes, murders, and so forth.

Let's take a quick look at the abbreviated version:

The paper, published in the Journal of Religion and Society, a US academic journal, reports: "Many Americans agree that their churchgoing nation is an exceptional, God-blessed, shining city on the hill that stands as an impressive example for an increasingly sceptical world."

"In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy and abortion in the prosperous democracies."

"The United States is almost always the most dysfunctional of the developing democracies, sometimes spectacularly so."

Gregory Paul, the author of the study and a social scientist, used data from the International Social Survey Programme, Gallup and other research bodies to reach his conclusions.

He compared social indicators such as murder rates, abortion, suicide and teenage pregnancy.

Time out. Abortion rates? You mean to explain to me that a religous society that preaches against abortion has higher rates of abortion? Teenage pregnancy?

Is something not passing the common sense test here?

Let's look a bit deeper. First off, we can detect a few themes: (1) a focus on the United States, (2) a focus on its society, (3) an absence of discussion concerning contraception when talking about abortion and teenage pregnancy rates, and (4) the inclusion of murder/suicide rates while neglecting other social indicators as contributions to charities.

I'll withhold further judgement until I have the time to read the paper, but there's all sorts of potholes at first glance.

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Allen on Hannity, Hardball Today

Senator George Allen will be on the Sean Hannity Show this afternoon to talk about Hurricane Katrina relief efforts and a proposed Constitutional Amendment that gives the president the power of line-item veto.

Allen will also be on MSNBC's Hardball today live at 5:00pm, and it will re-air at 7:00pm today.

The Social Agenda of the Catholic Church

Red meat for Catholics!

Leave Mrs. Buffett's poor roof alone

Or better titled, when Architectural Review Boards go wild.

I really don't understand why the ARB would (and has) gone after Mrs. Buffett. It's adding to the community, it's not out of place, and for crying out loud no one has found a good use for that building until now.

How many Maury Schools does the ARB intend to create?!?!

Saturday, September 24, 2005

Politics Test

Socially liberal, yet economically conservative? Considering I answered as a pro-lifer would, this is a fairly interesting result.

Of course, this test could very well be a spin-off of the World's Smallest Political Quiz, where most everyone scores as a libertarian (and is frequently used by the Libertarian Party as a recruiting mechanism).

You are a
Social Liberal
(73% permissive)

and an...
Economic Conservative
(81% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Libertarian

Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating

Friday, September 23, 2005

Blog Regulation Sputters on Capitol Hill

Post-Virginia Blog Summit, bloggers on Capitol Hill are making the argument against regulation; an argument that seems to be winning the debate:

Bloggers at the hearing continued to air their reservations about any regulations, saying they would be difficult to implement and even trickier to enforce.

'There isn't a real connection between the effectiveness of a site and how much money is spent on it,' said Duncan Black, who runs a current events blog called 'Eschaton.'

How true, and especially the case amongst Virginia blogs. However, I was encouraged (amused slightly) that the best defense the blogosphere has isn't so much the idea of free speech or a "marketplace of ideas," but rather the incredible effort any regulation would require:

The politicians indicated sympathy for the bloggers' arguments, adding that the need to police the ballooning blogosphere would be a mammoth task. Part of their reluctance to regulate seemed to stem from a lack of tech expertise. Rep. Bob Ney, the Ohio Republican who chairs the committee, called the issue "confusing" and "baffling."

"I think it's a blessing that we've managed to keep the heavy hand of regulation off the Internet," Lofgren said. "When the government moves in to regulate the Internet, we'll almost always get it wrong."

Thus the libertarian argument for self-regulation is the only qualified solution.

criesinthenight: 5 (tough) Questions...

I don't think I could ask 'em any tougher than this.

While the questions are largely rhetorical (don't expect a response from the Kilgore campaign), it's a good summary of what the conservative base is concerned about right now.

NYT: Louisiana Lawmakers Demand $250 Billion

"We recognize that it's a very high number," said Senator Mary L. Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana. "But I guess part of introducing this package and doing it unified in our delegation is to say this is an unprecedented natural disaster, a national tragedy. And it's going to take an unprecedented response.

Now I'm not precisely sure if there is a precedent for such a spending schematic, but I'd certainly be interested to see whether or not the federal response to Hurricane Andrew was similar in size and scope.

$250 billion. If the argument could be made that this money was being spend (a) entirely on infrastructure, (b) stayed out of the hands of corrupt Louisiana officials, and (c) was more cost effective than a private market-oriented response, then I might be persuaded. But something in the back of my mind tells me the price tag for Katrina relief efforts is somehow being very closely correlated to efforts in Iraq by shrewd politicians.

According to the latest CIA Fact Book, the population of the United States is 295,734,134 people. Every American - man, woman, and child - will be expected to cough up $845.35. For a household of five, that's $4,226.75.

$4,226.75 per family. Is it worth it?

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Google Earth Helps Find Roman Remains

And just as I was discussing the practical value of Google Earth.

Of course, the quote at the very end of the article is simply priceless.

Israel: Iran six months away from nuke

This could get ugly quick:

Israel is seeking to rally international support for a tough United Nations stand against Iran's nuclear ambitions with a warning that it could have the knowledge to produce a nuclear bomb "within six months".

As Israel tried to stiffen resolve among the members of the International Atomic Energy Agency who are meeting in Vienna, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon urged the US to take the lead in ensuring Iran was brought before the UN Security Council "as soon as possible".

Of course, this could be empty sabre-rattling. If Iran were six months away, I'm not certain that Israel or India would allow a nuclear-armed Islamic Republic of Iran to exist. Still, the fact Israel is pushing rather than sitting back and letting the EU or the US do the heavy lifting is notable.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Waldo Jaquith: Jerry Bo Peep

Wow. Things are getting rough when this sort of stuff is going on.

boortz.com: Republican Women vs Democrat Women

Heh.

Mr. Noakes Passes Away

Mr. Noakes was my principal at Courtland High School here in Spotsylvania. He was omnipresent, always walking around, checking in on things, making sure people knew he was there and was available. That and his one-of-a-kind "howevah" over the intercom.

Sadly, Mr. Noakes passed away this weekend at the age of 62:

Mr. Noakes received his associate's degree from Ferrum College, his bachelor's degree from Emory & Henry College and his master's degree from the University of Virginia. Mr. Noakes worked in the Caroline County school system for 25 years as a teacher and an assistant principal. He also was employed in the Spotsylvania County school system as principal at Courtland High School, and he had retired from the School Board office.

...

Services for Mr. Noakes will be conducted at 11 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 22, at Mullins & Thompson Funeral Service, Fredericksburg Chapel. The family will receive friends Wednesday, Sept. 21, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the funeral home. Interment will be in White Family Cemetery, Charlotte County, Friday, Sept. 23, at 11 a.m.

Mr. Noakes was a good man and a credit to his community. The prayers and thoughts of many former students, faculty, and friends are with him and his family.

Washington 14 Dallas 13

One of the best 4th quarter comebacks I have seen in a long, long time. Now only if we could play like that the other 55 minutes of the ballgame!

Nice to see the Skins blow up Dallas like that on Monday Night Football. To come back from a 13-0 4th quarter deficit with five minutes left at 4 and 15...

One heck of a game.

Sunday, September 18, 2005

UPDATE Mason Dixon Poll: KILGORE by 1

UPDATE: How long were you guys going to let me get away with this? Kudos to VA Sportsman for smacking me around on what is an egregious error on my part. The latest Mason Dixon poll showed Kilgore up by 1, not Kaine. Still, the main thrust of the argument remains, and I'll leave my ignorance here for posterity to witness. Moving on...

Mason Dixon's latest poll shows Democrat Tim Kaine up by one.

For a better survey of the land, I've turned to the same resource I used last year: RealClearPolitics.com, which shows a series of polls done over the course of time.

Mason Dixon says Kaine by one. Rasmussen says Kilgore by four, the Post says Kilgore by seven, SurveyUSA says Kilgore by six.

Taken as an average, one can reasonably conclude that for Democrats starving for good news recently can take the Mason Dixon poll as either (a) a ray of hope, or (b) an oncoming train.

Could the argument be made that this week's debate stripped Kilgore of five-six points and handed them to... Potts? I seriously doubt it. Something doesn't pass the common sense test here, and if poll watchers can add anything it's that of essence, it's that this poll - like any that would show Kilgore up by 10 - should be treated as nothing extraordinary.

Kilgore spokesman Tim Murtagh sums everything up nicely:

"This poll flies in the face of everything we have seen eight other public polls and our own internal polling -- that shows Jerry Kilgore with a clear lead in this race. . . . There is no evidence to support what this poll says. We will continue to run as if we are 10 points behind."

Well see if the next polls show Kilgore up by the predictable five points, and whether there will be chest-thumping from self-styled "Kainiacs" then.

Saturday, September 17, 2005

Virginia Wins; ND Falls

The folks at Sic Semper Tyrannis say all that needs to be said about the Virginia - Syracuse game. Alternatively, being a Fighting Irish fan, I have nothing but disrespect for the way the Michigan State players acted after their OT win in South Bend.

Planted their flag at the 50 yard line. Pathetic. What ever happened to walking off the field with your head held high?

Caroline Justice

Fresh from the comments section, an interesting perspective on my native Caroline County that is destined to make the links section.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Roberts wins the battle...

There's some speculation now that Roberts will not be vigorously opposed by Democrats in the Senate. Why? Because Roberts' nomination to SCOTUS isn't a swing vote, and therefore nowhere near as critical as replacing Justice O'Connor:

In 1986, Democrats and liberal activists launched an intensive campaign to block the nomination of Rehnquist, then an associate justice, to become chief justice. The attempt failed 65-to-33 in the GOP-controlled Senate, and Rehnquist moved to the center seat on the high court. But the anti-Rehnquist drive left critics inside and outside the Senate too spent to mount a vigorous campaign against the next nominee, Antonin Scalia, who is even more conservative than Rehnquist. The vote for Justice Scalia was unanimous.

'After the vote [on Rehnquist], the Senate didn't have the appetite for another big fight,' says activist Nan Aron, president of Alliance for Justice. 'There's a huge temptation to be on to the next nomination, but a vote for Roberts is voting your fears that the next one is going to be worse.'

By the end of the second day of questioning, with no smoking guns or 'gotcha' moments in sight, the swarm of activists on both sides of these hearings began quietly talking about the next nomination.

'Many of the questions Democrats asked by the second day [of the hearings] were signals for the next candidate,' says Julian Zelizer, a congressional historian at Boston University. 'By Wednesday afternoon, the Democrats and [interest] groups were beginning to refocus, to save energy. You can't always appear in the public eye as just an aggressor.'

And so there's political calculus in the mix after all. If President Bush announces a new nominee for the Supreme Court, that is when the Democrats will strike and strike hard.

Call me crazy, but this might be just the thing the Democrats need to pull their party together. It's a moment where liberals and self-styled "progressives" (regressives is a better term) get to sit around the campfire and ask the tough question "Just what do we really believe?"

With Leahy, Biden, Feinstein, Schumer, Kennedy (the bad one) and Feingold directing this discussion, I think we all know where they'll let their ideological litmus test go -- to the left and in a big, big way.

Perhaps my prediction of a rejuvenated Democratic Party centered around the Dean fringe might be off? It would certainly spell doom for centrist Democrats like Clinton and Warner (much like moderates within the GOP), but if this we get a good fight for the next Supreme Court nominee, be forewarned. Finding another John Roberts is a tall order, and the liberals will not be kind this time around.

Catholic-Orthodox Talks to Resume

Now this is good news, and a stated focus of Pope Benedict XVI's pontificate. Beyond the five points needed to overcome prejudices and divisions held by both the Catholic and Orthodox faiths, I really enjoyed the overall challenge posited by Cardinal O'Connor:

Cardinal Kasper laid down five challenges for both Churches: purification of historical memory -- admitting sins and seeking forgiveness; overcoming mutual ignorance, prejudices and lack of understanding; the mutual exchange of gifts (such as synodality); strengthening cooperation in order to speak with a single voice to secularised Europe; recognising that the path to full community is a spiritual process.

On Monday, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster, urged faith communities to forge a "spiritual humanism of peace". Speaking on the anniversary of the 11 September terrorist attacks on the United States, the cardinal addressed the fears caused by recent terrorist atrocities in London, saying: "Our task is to challenge the ideology of the crucifier with the faith in the Crucified."

Wow. Powerful stuff, and just the kind of thing Christians need to hear in the face of both Western secularism and Islamic fundamentalism.

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

PONTIFICAL INSTITUTE NOTRE DAME OF JERUSALEM CENTER

I saw this at the top of the ZENIT newsletter this evening and it brought back pleasant memories of my previous trips to the Holy Land. Notre Dame de Jerusalem is where I stayed in Jerusalem just outside the New Gate.

If you ever get a chance, go on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Palestinian Christians are hurting for the tourism, and Notre Dame makes it pretty easy to arrange a week's worth of pilgrimage.

Ah... I'd go back tomorrow...

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What happened to Virginia Centrist? He was one of the few lefty-bloggers I enjoyed reading.

Bacon's Rebellion: What Separates Kilgore From Kaine?

In the aftermath of yesterday's debate:

Question for Kilgore: If the tax increase was so unnecessary that you flog Tim Kaine with it every chance you get, and if Virginia is enjoying a budget surplus that far surpasses the size of the tax increase, then why the heck won't you try to to roll back the increase? If you're not willing to return some or all of the tax increase to taxpayers, then your attacks on Kaine amounts to nothing more than ritualistic campaign rhetoric. If you're not willing to roll back the tax increases, nothing significant sets you apart from Kaine.

Bingo.

This is problem #1. If we don't get back on track on this issue - set aside all else - then what separates us indeed?

The Philosopher-Justice

Now this looks interesting:

At last there has appeared a direct and substantial challenge, within the Court, to the constitutional thought of Justice Antonin Scalia, who has long offered an ambitious and forceful account about how to approach the Constitution and laws of the United States. For the next decade, I think, much of the intellectual battle, within the Court and within the nation, will have to be conducted with close reference to the conflict between the starkly different constitutional theories of Scalia and Breyer.

Breyer and Scalia have been at odds for some time now, specifically over the introduction of European jurisprudence in determining American court decisions (Lawrence v. Texas).

Might have to pick this book up. Cass Sunstein is also the author of Republic.com, which was a great read.

The Debate

Norm has his thoughts, and I haven't had time to watch the tape. First reports say it's not good for the home team, and even worse was that the topic, via Waldo Jaquith:

Under relentless questioning about what he would do if a new Supreme Court overturned its 1973 abortion decision, Kilgore answered only that he supported a “a culture of life.”

“But, Mr. Kilgore, it’s a simple question,” debate moderator Tim Russert said, demanding a yes or no answer to whether he would outlaw abortion except for cases of rape, incest or the mother’s life.

Kilgore replied that the question was “a hypothetical. You don’t know what any Supreme Court in the future is going to do.”

“If the Virginia legislature passed a tax increase, would you veto it or sign it?” Russert persisted.

“I would veto it,” Kilgore answered.

“That’s a hypothetical question,” the NBC “Meet The Press” host interjected, cutting Kilgore off as a crowd of about 500 business leaders and politicians - most of them sympathetic to Kaine - broke into laughter at Kilgore’s expense.

This is bad in two ways. One, its waffling on the abortion issue. Two, it shows a lack of leadership.

Jerry, you know better. Stick to your principles, otherwise this is going to be the credible mantra of Tim Kaine from now until November (via OMT):

When he (Kaine) was done with Potts, he looked into the cameras and told the world that Russ Potts was emblematic of what's wrong with Virginia's GOP and how if you don't want people who will fight like Russ and Jerry, vote for Kaine. It was a master stroke of planning. Russ got played like a $2 fiddle and didn't even see it until the end.

Thank you Senator Chichester and the moderate Republicans. This is what breaking ranks accomplishes.

The sooner Kilgore quits trying to be all things to all people to a fractured GOP, the better. The simple solution? Sluff off the moderates, put the collective sins of the party on Russ Potts and start tossin' rocks. I guarentee you no one will walk with him.

We gotta shift gears here. We can't keep pandering to the middle. Russ Potts is the middle. Running to Russ Potts is not a credible campaign strategy. Running on principle and showing Virginians why smaller government works is a credible campaign strategy. Use it!

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

What I've been up to? Reading books of course!

Yes, its true. In this age of technorati, blogs, and cable news, I do indeed have a bit of that nostalgia for ideas some can only get by sitting down with a coke, cup of coffee, or beer and sift through leafy pages of pre-Internet information.

Call me old school, but I read books and I read 'em fanatically, and frankly prefer them to this whole Internet business. You know it's bad when the folks at Borders know you by name (and I'd like to think that's somewhat because my brothers worked there over the past few years, but deep down I know better), and I'm sure my wife thinks I own stock there. I should, but buying stock would only prevent me from buying more books, etc.

You get the picture.

So what has this book junkie been up to? I just finished 1453 and should have a few thoughts on some interesting parallels to current events I considered while reading it. Great, great work. If you like history, or are inclined to read historical fiction, pick it up. It's an historical account, an easy read, and it's presented remarkably well.

I'm also reading a great book entitled The Fall of Rome which askes the question as to whether Rome, and with it civilization, really fall? The author argues convincingly enough that the collapse of the Western Roman Empire did indeed bring about a Dark Age.

Yet another good book that I am reading is Reclaiming the American Revolution, which recently received good reviews. This centers around the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions nullifying the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1800, and where Jefferson and Madision played lead roles, ultimately asking the question when does a state have the right to trump or resist the federal government when it oversteps perceived boundaries. The book is entirely historical (thus far) and is a great exposition on how fragile and fiercely independent our Founding Fathers were in the early years of our country.

One more: an Introduction to Phenomenology. I've read Derrida (deconstructionism), and I've read Heidegger, but I've never really been a fan of phenomenology, if for no other reason than (a) it wasn't a part of the Thomistic or neo-Thomistic circles I've learned in thus far, and (b) I had always viewed it as a sort of heretical neo-Kantianism. But as I've been reading more and more of Wittgenstein, I've grown an appreciation for linguistics as a field in philosophy, so off I've gone to learn more.

Add to this the stack of journals I haven't read yet, and you see what I've been doing with my free time recently.

Thus the advantage of being away from university; you get to read whatever you want, not what other people think you should be reading!

Monday, September 12, 2005

Brunell Will Start for Redskins Against Cowboys

Disappointing to say the least, but let's be very honest about this - both Brunell and Ramsay have their strengths, and both seem to be interchangeable in the offense.

Is it so bad to have two quarterbacks?

Spotsy residents will need to duck if police firing range reopens

Today's op-ed in the Free Lance-Star, this little tidbit concerning the potential reopening of the firing range at Spotsylvania Courthouse.

A good read. Frankly, I wasn't even aware of this, and certainly her concerns about the safety of this range should be properly addressed.

Sunday, September 11, 2005

Kayne West

If you haven't seen the video, or don't know what all the fuss is about, here is the clip where Kayne West issues the comment "George Bush doesn't care about black people" during the NBC telethon.

The look on Mike Myers face is priceless. The capitalization by political factions to take advantage of the catastrophe in New Orleans - an disaster which many publically speculated in the event of a major hurricane - is disgusting at best.

Return of the gun and the bomb

Violence in Northern Ireland, this time from and between rival Protestant paramilitary organizations:

Tensions were already high in the area following police raids aimed at curbing the bloody feud raging between the rival loyalist paramilitary groups, the UVF and LVF, that has claimed four lives this summer. That turf war escalated further on Friday when two men were shot in separate gun attacks in Portadown.

Then tension hit a higher notch when Ian Paisley, the now undisputed leader of unionism, warned that the Whiterock parade could prove 'the spark which kindles a fire there could be no putting out'.

The first hint of the havoc ahead came when a 29-year-old Catholic man was savagely beaten by 10 men early on Saturday morning on the Albert Bridge Road near the Short Strand.

After snipers fired at least 50 shots at his officers following the parade, the chief constable, Sir Hugh Orde, accused the Orange Order of stoking the violence. He said: 'I have seen members of the Orange Order in their sashes attacking my officers. I have seen them standing next to masked men. That is simply not good enough ... The Orange Order must bear substantial responsibility for this."

And after so much progress. . . the goal here of course is to antagonize the Catholic paramilitaries to respond. Let's hope cooler heads (not to mention law and order) prevail.

Friday, September 09, 2005

Cowsert: PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!

For one reason or another, it has been both a busy day and a slow news day, so nothing outstanding on the radar at the moment. However, far be it from me to not take the opportunity to lay low faulty argumentation, courtesy of Spotsy School Board member Charles Cowsert:

I'm writing in response to Mary Jane King's letter, in which she opined that the "the case has not been made that $150 million in bonds" will improve education in Spotsyl- vania ["The Spotsy School Board can't just demand all our money," Aug. 21].

That question is not likely to get to the voters this fall, thanks to the action of the Board of Supervisors in whittling down the School Board's conclusion of what capital improvements expenditures are needed to less than one-fourth of that amount--with the claim that the School Board can't be trusted.

...

Here is a good taxpayer question to put to your Spotsylvania County supervisor this fall. Why, if the School Board is so easy with money, does it want to be excluded from your referendum?

Answer: Because Jerry Hill and his School Board have the audacity to demand even more money than this referendum offers, even in the face of millions of dollars in detailed waste found by the Gibson report!!! "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" is not the way to solve the spending problems Jerry Hill and his School Board have accumulated.

If this bloated and overweight public school bureaucracy has to be asked why it must be put on a diet - in the face of millions of dollars in waste - then not only do we have a serious problem in Spotsylvania County, we have the additional problem of elected officials on the School Board who refuse to work with either their supervisors or their constituency (which is the people at-large, not the VEA).

What makes it worse for the Spotsy School Board is that BOS leaders in both parties are raising eyebrows - from Hap Connors all the way to Gary Jackson. That should send tremors of concern throughout this School Board, not the rapracious condemnation of anyone who dare question their (over)spending habits.

I'm sure Cowsert is a fine man, but he must understand that Spotsylvania taxpayers are furious with the way Hill has mismanaged our public school system. To defend this mismanagement is untenable.

Where, oh where is the voice of reason on the Spotsylvania School Board?!

Thursday, September 08, 2005

OMT: The Anti-Reagan

Norman Leahy hits the nail on the head:

It's an interesting divergence and one I believe we are seeing, at least to some degree, within Virginia's conservative ranks. And wouldn't you know it? The roots of these differences were nurtured right here in Virginia (George Washington, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson make cameo appearances in Rauch's piece).

A good friend of mine explained to me during my candidacy for House of Delegates earlier this year why he believed taxes were just as important an issue as abortion. The reasoning was this: the more power government has, the more power it has over the lives of the governed.

Santorum's discourse on freedom (and no, I have not read his book; only excerpts, though I plan on reading it now) is a classic discussion on what precisely freedom is. Santorum is describing in a very poor fashion a view held by the late Bishop Fulton Sheen. Rather than freedom being the right to do what one pleases (which Santorum correctly rejects), freedom is the right to do as one ought (which Santorum correctly accepts).

Santorum's problem thus far seems to be that he places the government as the arbeiter of right and wrong, whereas Sheen and the vast majority of the Catholic heritage Santorum is trying to pull upon would argue that it is the natural law that dictates what one ought to do -- not government.

How does the government play a role? Certainly we don't have the freedom to murder or rape, and the government rightly orders society by taking the natural law and forming human laws that conform to it.

Where Santorum goes disasterously wrong is when he extrapolates "ought" into "attend to one's duties -- duties to God, to family, and to neighbors." Do we have these duties? Certainly. Should we fulfill these duties? Certainly. Whom should force us to do so against our free will? No one.

Herein lies the difference between liberty and license. Liberty preserves freedom, license destroys it. But just as license on the part of individuals is a perversion of freedom, so too is license on the part of goverment.

Government by its nature cannot create freedom. Government constrains by design, and in a free society it constrains those elements that seek to destroy society. Too much government constrains a free society, and when a threshhold is crossed, that society ceases to be free.

Santorum's error is that he obligates virtue on behalf of the state. Santorum confuses freedom with action. Freedom is a state, acts occur within that state of being, and a government which demands of its citizenry virtuous acts is no longer free.

Here is where Santorum neglects to look back upon his Catholic heritage. St. Thomas Aquinas eloquently deals with the topic of a virtuous society and the source of laws. Concerning whether government has an obligation to create a virtuous society through lawmaking, Aquinas has this to say:

Human government is derived from the Divine government, and should imitate it. Now although God is all-powerful and supremely good, nevertheless He allows certain evils to take place in the universe, which He might prevent, lest, without them, greater goods might be forfeited, or greater evils ensue.

Accordingly in human government also, those who are in authority, rightly tolerate certain evils, lest certain goods be lost, or certain greater evils be incurred: thus Augustine says: "If you do away with harlots, the world will be convulsed with lust."

Lest greater evils be incurred. That is precisely the problem with Santorum's understanding of freedom. It is an understanding that comes not from a Catholic or Scholastic understanding of freedom as an obligation, but rather spins the order on it's head by arguing the state has an obligation to impose freedom -- a non sequitur argued not by Aquinas and other liberty-minded philosophers, but by Russell Kirk.

Norm Leahy is right. There are two understandings of conservativism in America today, and the fissures are already beginning to show.

Modernist defenders such as Santorum believe the state has an obligation to impose upon people the obligation to perform free and virtuous acts. But there is an older, much more sophisticated and eloquent defense of freedom rooted in Aquinas, Jefferson, and the Scholastic and classical liberal tradition upheld by Goldwater and Reagan; that individuals are to be trusted before society, that freedom to choose the right is as important as the obligation to do what is right, and that individualism is the best resource and defender of freedom against the social imposition of the state.

Powerful solar flare erupts

One of the coolest pictures you will see all day, not to mention that it's really going to affect your cell phone coverage.

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Deep Impact exposes a fragile, empty comet

More cool stuff on Tempel 1.

Calculate your life expectancy

Good news! I am going to live to be 85.7 years old! And of course, the method used to calculate this life expectancy is entirely sound.

Fifty-eight more years of tormenting socialists and self-styled progressives? I like that idea.

Back to the Future

Anyone remember (or currently own) those MS Tablet laptops? You know the ones where you could take a pen and draw on the screen as you would a simple pen and paper, but costs $2,000 more?

Well, it seems as if the typewriter is making a comeback of sorts, and not just for pure nostalgia:

'It just seems like the computer and printer are too much of an intermediary between me and my writings,' said Pospisil, of Los Altos, Calif.

How true.

I'm back

Sorry for the delay in the blogging. Back to the regularly scheduled ramblings.

Friday, September 02, 2005

Buses. Lots of buses.

Whenever you hear the mayor of New Orleans or any commentator complain about the lack of federal response, click here and be angry.

JEFFERSONIAD POLL: Whom do you support for Virginia Attorney General?

1) John Brownlee
2) Ken Cuccinelli

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ShaunKenney.com is one of Virginia's oldest political blogs, focusing on the role of religion and politics in public life. Shaun Kenney, 30, lives in Fluvanna County, Virginia.

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