Michigan and Grand Rapids are in bad shape. With thousands of jobs leaving the state, and decreasing tax revenues, every level of government has been hit in the state–and often the worst effects seem to trickle down to municipalities (though the trickle is more like a downpour, gaining steam from Washington on down!). The City…
A recent article by Nir Rosen in Harper’s points out the flawed, populist notion of democracy embraced by the Bush administration. In “After the Election: Iraq’s democratic preamble to civil war” (April 2005, pp. 71-74), Rosen shows that the White House’s fetishization of elections is incredibly naive. The administration pressed for “free” elections in Afghanistan…
It was only a matter of time: with the election of Cardinal Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI, news outlets from NPR to the New York Times were quick to divine the response of so-called “American Catholics.” The trickle of laments so far (Jack Miles, Charles Curran, and Jesuits everywhere) is sure to be followed by…
The passing of Pope John Paul II into eternal life is not only a loss for the Catholic church; it is a loss for Christians of all traditions and confessions. Indeed, though I trace my confessional identity to the Reformation protest against “Rome,” it was John Paul II who reminded me that to be Christian…
The NYT has reported that Bush will propose Wolfowitz as the New World Bank President. What was the number of the beast, again?
Today NYT editorial, “Counterfeit News,” points back to a disturbing article from a few days ago: “Under Bush, a New Age of Pre-packaged News.” The article documents the extent to which the White House and over 20 federal agencies spent millions of dollars to produced “video news releases” which are clearly intended to appear as…