Character

“ There is in every man a determination of character to a peculiar end, counteracted often by unfavorable fortune, but more apparent the more he is left at liberty. This is called his genius, or nature, or his turn of mind. The object of Education should be to remove all obstructions & let this natural force have free play & exhibit its peculiar product. It seems to be true that no man in this is

64 Words for Aung San Suu Kyi

Today marks a very sad anniversary for Burma’s pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi: 19 years since the vote in which she led her party to a victory the military refused to recognize. Since then this woman, who has been detained for over 13 years by the Burmese regime for campaigning for human rights and democracy, symbolizes the struggle of Burma’s people to be free.As

Robert Imbelli : Conflict and Hope at the University of Notre Dame

As everybody knows the degree “honoris causa” given on May 17 to President Barack Obama by the Catholic university of Notre Dame, in South Bend, Indiana, has produced many protests. In particular, the most drastic have been Michael Novak (see here) and George Weigel (see here), namely the standard-bearers of neoconservative Catholic thought.Yet, amid the storm of controversy, Obama’s speech has

Whom Obama should apologize to

Clive Crook in the Financial Times:Critics in his own party and Republican opponents are attacking Barack Obama’s emerging stance on national security with equal ferocity. Many Democrats are furious that the president has broken his promise to abandon the Bush administration’s war-powers approach to fighting terrorism. Dick Cheney, the former vice-president, and other conservatives attack him

The Hyphen

There is a quote by Margaret Thatcher that I have always treasured: “Europe was created by history. America was created by philosophy.” In fact, as a European by birth and an “American by philosophy,” what I really think, along with Theodore Roosevelt, is that “Americanism is a matter of the spirit, and of the soul.” Another great quote to ponder, which is about—however strange it may seem—the

Memorial Day

“Honor them by ensuring that our future was worth the sacrifice of their tomorrows.”—Matt Burden (thanks:  Michelle Malkin)Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May. It commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military service. I want to join all my American friends in celebrating this day. Because this isn’t just an American thing : All free

Rotterdam, Eurabia

The Essalaam Mosque in Rotterdam, the largest  of Western Europe“Listen up, crazy freaks, we're here to stay. You’re the foreigners here, with Allah on my side I'm not afraid of anything. Take my advice: convert to Islam, and you will find peace.”One year ago, when the newspapers published the letter containing such a friendly message, sent to his non-Muslim fellow-citizens by Bouchra Ismaili, a

Frattini cancels Iran visit

Italy’s foreign minister Franco Frattini canceled a trip to Iran for talks on regional security issues. Though the Foreign Ministry statement made no mention of Iran’s test Wednesday of a missile capable of reaching Israel and U.S. Mideast bases, it is practically certain that Frattini’s decision was provoked by the missile test itself. Officially the Foreign Ministry said the decision—which

Why do you suppose someone would like to be a liberal?

Did you ever wish you were a liberal? Well, not only are you probably in good company, but you might also find out a lot of reasons why you should. What about me? Nah, I used to be that way myself : you have to have been one of them to know how good it is to not be a so-called liberal anymore. (Thanks: Steven)

GM : approaching the moment of truth

“There’s no rose without a thorn,” as the proverb goes. About three weeks after Chrysler filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York, it looked as if the Obama administration would pull off its goal of completing the carmaker’s restructuring by June, allowing it to emerge as a smaller, more viable contender in the global auto market. Yet, unfortunately, as the New York Times puts it,

More Americans pro-life than pro-choice

There is a good news for pro-life people: according to the new Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs survey, conducted May 7-10, 51% of Americans declare themselves “pro-life” on the issue of abortion and 42% “pro-choice.” This is the first time a majority of U.S. adults have identified themselves as pro-life since Gallup began asking this question in 1995. The new results represent a significant

The normblog Posterity Collection poll

Imagine that civilization is approaching its possible doom—it’s just a joke, of course, though…—and that someone has been assigned the task of assembling for posterity “a representative collection of the Arts of Humankind, to be preserved in a sealed container so that some future beings of intelligence, discernment and taste can discover it and be impressed.” Well, Norm devised a super-duper, 12

What a good man should be

“ Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one. ”—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, X, 16, AD 167 All politicians of all parties should take note, says Robert at Expat Yank. Correct. But what about every man of good will?

So please don’t call me a Berlusconist...

Okay, Silvio Berlusconi’s statement that he is against “the Left’s idea” of a “multi-ethnic Italy,” besides being erroneous (actually, like it or not, Italy is already a multi-ethnic country), is a bit harsh, and yet it is apparently coherent, since his center-right coalition, which includes the anti-immigrants Northern League, made immigration and security its main platform in last year’s

I thought that thou wast silent ...

“ Then whose words were they but thine which by my mother, thy faithful handmaid, thou didst pour into my ears? […] These appeared to me but womanish counsels, which I would have blushed to obey. Yet they were from thee, and I knew it not. I thought that thou wast silent and that it was only she who spoke. Yet it was through her that thou didst not keep silence toward me; and in rejecting her

Hand of Hope: ten years later

Samuel Armas is a child who had the singular privilege of gaining worldwide notoriety before being born, on December 2, 1999. In fact he was shown in a famous photo taken on August 19 of the same year by Michael Clancy during a very delicate surgical procedure aimed to fix Samuel’s spina bifida lesion. In that picture he seemed to grasp his surgeon’s hand from a hole in his mother’s uterus. As a

What the Fiat-Chrysler alliance teach us

So, like it or not, American car makers will change their basic philosophy of car building as much as Americans will change their lifestyles—way of thinking about cars included, of course. And the change, though inevitable and necessary, won’t likely be painless. That’s just common sense, or, if you prefer, what the Fiat-Chrysler alliance teaches us. But that’s also one of the paradoxes of our