I had a C.S. Lewis moment earlier this evening when I came across this story on Yahoo.com.  “Sex Robot Focuses on Appealing to the Mind” runs the headline. This is what they used to say about Playboy magazine; men used to pretend they read it “for the interviews.” Certainly the thought of discussing trade policy […]

The name games continue in Malaysia; following the Malaysian Supreme Court ruling that a Catholic newspaper had the right to use the word “Allah” in reference to the Christian God, demonstrations have flared, mobs are on the march, and churches have been firebombed.This does not, I am happy to note, represent the reaction of many […]

It’s literary Saturday here at the stately Mead manor in gracious Queens; as one of my new year’s resolutions I’m going to try to blog less about politics and events on the weekends and more about literature and life.  Sundays I’ll try to continue that pattern, blogging more on matters of values and faith.  Politics […]

Today marks one of the most important dates in American history: the defeat of a British amphibious task force attempting to conquer New Orleans.  It’s one of a handful of battles that entered American folklore; the anniversary of the battle was celebrated for many years and as late as 1959 Johnny Horton’s version of “The […]

Time Magazine‘s Joe Klein has joined Matthew Yglesias and Rush Limbaugh in raising questions about my recent Foreign Policy article on Obama’s foreign policy roots.  That gives me the punditry equivalent of a perfect storm: the piece is being criticized by left, right and center.Klein, however, raises much more sophisticated and thoughtful questions than the […]

I see Matthew Yglesias isn’t the only person who doesn’t like my Foreign Policy magazine take on the relationship between Carter and Obama.Rush Limbaugh rolled the tape of my appearance on the PBS Newshour (below, or here) last night and accused me, as far as I can make out, of covering up for Obama and […]

Led by the President the White House is doing its best to get control of the Christmas bombing situation, but the fact that the twelve days of Christmas are over and the story is still big news is not good.There are four reasons this story got so out of control.First, it really is a big […]

Over at Think Progress, Matthew Yglesias attacks my article in the current issue of Foreign Policy magazine.Actually I think he’s more upset by the idea that Obama might end up remembered like Carter than he is about what I actually wrote.  In the article I spent a lot of time comparing Obama’s foreign policy to […]

As a kid I always had some trouble understanding the business about the three wise men.  I can see why you would bring gold to a baby — but what on earth were frankincense and myrrh and why would anybody give them to a child?  I figured myrrh might have something to do with myrtle, […]

Connections between the adult Jesus and the baby in the manger aren’t easy to make.  At first glance, the gospels don’t help much; whatever the gospel writers had in mind, producing complete biographies of Jesus wasn’t it.  Mark omits Christmas altogether, and starts with Jesus getting baptized and launching his career.  John has a short […]