Steve Smith and I were thinking along the same lines about the conundrum of whether to wish folks a Merry Christmas. My dilemma was in sorting my holiday/Christmas cards into the right piles, since some new folks have come onto the list, by marriage or otherwise. The debate over whether Christans have an obligation always to tell [...]
Read the full postMonthly Archive for December, 2010
I have to admit I just don’t “get” the argument that the mandatory insurance provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are unconstitutional because the Commerce Clauses only empowers Congress to regulate “activity,” not “inactivity.” (For yesterday’s federal district opinion endorsing that argument, see here. For more detailed critiques, see, for example, the [...]
Read the full postAt this time of year we hear arguments about how to greet people, in person or on cards and such. Some people find the traditional greeting “Merry Christmas” to be offensive and uncivil– a few years ago, Step Feldman wrote an interesting book with the title Please Don’t Wish Me a Merry Christmas– but others [...]
Read the full postIn this essay, which appears in the Dec. 19 issue of Our Sunday Visitor, I argue in favor of the Dream Act.
Read the full postThe box office success of the education documentary Waiting for Superman, and the much-publicized resignations of the top education administrators in Washington, D.C. and New York City (Michelle Rhee and Joel Klein) have focused new attention on charter schools. Meanwhile, charter schools have become a new battleground in church/state fights, as dioceses convert inner city [...]
Read the full postThe annual battle over Christmas and the separation of Church and State is on. In Philadelphia, the city’s Managing Director ordered the word “Christmas” removed from sign at the entrance to the “German Christmas Village” at City Hall. The Mayor then countermanded him, and directed that “Christmas” be put back. See here. (For one response, [...]
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