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Entry from May 6, 2008

Welcome to EPPC Online

The Ethics and Public Policy Center was established in 1976 to clarify and reinforce the bond between the Judeo-Christian moral tradition and the public debate over domestic and foreign policy issues. [Read More]

Latest News & Publications

Schlafly Controversy Proves Her Continuing Relevance
By Colleen Carroll Campbell
Friday, May 16, 2008
After more than four decades in the national spotlight, Phyllis Schlafly still has what it takes to generate controversy. The best-selling author and St. Louis native reprised a familiar role as the target of protests this month when officials at her alma mater, Washington University, announced their intention to award her an honorary degree at Friday's commencement ceremony.

Indignity and Bioethics
Steven Pinker discovers the human-dignity cabal.
By Yuval Levin
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Human dignity has long been a contentious subject in American bioethics. A frequently employed if ill-defined concept in European political life, in international law, and in the ethical tradition of the West, dignity has had a particularly hard time finding its precise meaning and place in the Anglo-American sphere.

Jeremiah Wright's 'Trumpet'
The content of the magazine produced by Barack Obama's pastor reveals the content of his character.
By Stanley Kurtz
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Newly discovered essays by Jeremiah Wright and his church colleagues show conclusively that Wright's infamous YouTube sermon-segments are fully representative of his thoughts. In twenty years as a parishioner, Barack Obama could not have escaped this knowledge.

Causes and Cures of "Demographic Winter"
By John D. Mueller
Thursday, May 15, 2008
The new film Demographic Winter presents the social, economic and strategic challenge that the United States will face in coming decades. Unfortunately it also makes the problem overly complex, overlooks problems with the theories of marriage and fertility advocated by authorities in the film, and ends on a very pessimistic note. I’d like to share with you the much simpler and somewhat more hopeful analysis.

Newsweek Gushes
By Peter Wehner
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Few people are fortunate enough to receive the kind of love and tenderness we find in the Newsweek story. It is especially notable for two things. The first is that Obama is portrayed as a near-mythic figure. The second thing we learn is that St. Barack must prepare himself for "the coming mud war" led by those oh-so-mean Republicans.

'Context,' You Say?
A guide to the radical theology of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright
By Stanley Kurtz
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
What we've got here is failure to contextualize. If nothing else, Jeremiah Wright's defenders and enablers are right about that. To fully understand those "sound bites" and "snippets" calling on God to damn America, accusing the U.S. government of intentionally spreading HIV among blacks, and blaming 9/11 on America's allegedly terrorist history and foreign policy, we do need more context.

The Realist and the Utopian
By Ernest W. Lefever
Monday, May 12, 2008
During World War II, the India question was on hold and British-trained Indian troops rallied to the call of arms. Gandhi seemed to realize that Britain's survival was at stake and muted his demands for an India free of the British raj. Despite his brief imprisonment by the British he launched several hunger strikes. After the war, his full-fledged campaign against Britain resumed.

Let's Call This 'Terrorism' By Its Real Name
By Rick Santorum
Thursday, May 8, 2008
It's official: We're fighting . . . terrorists. You can also call them violent extremists if you like, but never use jihadist or mujahedeen or Islamo-fascist to describe our enemy. These words are deemed pejorative and offensive, according to a recent Bush administration memorandum to federal employees whose jobs involve explaining our ongoing war to the public...

America's Unhappiest Millionaire
Michelle Obama's gospel of misery.
By Yuval Levin
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Barack Obama's wife Michelle has been traveling the country delivering a stump speech that lays out a deeply and relentlessly negative vision of American life, in which everyone is treated unfairly, and especially her husband. The Senator himself, of course, manages a peppier and more upbeat message, but in fact, especially when seen in light of her speeches, the same dismal view seems to underlie his rhetoric too. Both Obamas think America is bitter and deeply depressed.

The View from the Continent
By Peter Wehner
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
The widespread view in Europe, as well as among some Americans, is that the U.S. has suffered a huge, almost incalculable, loss of "moral authority." The evidence cited is always the same: Guantanamo Bay, rendition and secret prisons, and waterboarding. They are invoked like an incantation. The effect of this is that you would think that the United States is among the leading violators of human rights in the world.

Light From the East
By George Weigel
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
The Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) in L'viv is led by a Ukrainian-American, Father Borys Gudziak, who brings to his work a Harvard doctorate in church history, indefatigable energy, organizational skill and spiritual vision. If I had to name the 50 Catholics whose present work is most important for the future of the world Church, Father Gudziak's name would easily make the cut. What he has built in a decade in L'viv, starting from scratch, is breathtaking.

Cliffhanger
Wright and political wrongs.
By Peter Wehner
Thursday, May 1, 2008
The extraordinary public feud between Senator Barack Obama and the Reverend Jeremiah Wright Jr. would be an enormous threat to any candidate running for president, but it is particularly dangerous to Obama. Because Sen. Obama is such a new figure on the American political scene, people's judgment about him can be easily molded and reshaped.

Weigel on The Papal Trip

EPPC Distinguished Senior Fellow George Weigel provided commentary and interviews for several media outlets during Benedict XVI's visit to America.

Charlie Rose: Video discussion about Pope Benedict's visit to the United States with Jon Meaham Editor-In-Chief of Newsweek, George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Scott Appleby and Monsignor Lorenzo Albacete.

European Press: Several interviews focused on the impact of Benedict XVI's trip on the Catholic Church in the United States. His interview with the Italian paper Il Foglio is available here, the interview with the Polish daily Dziennik is available here and an interview with the Cracow newspaper Tygodnik Powszechny is available here.

Quotable EPPC
Recent Clippings from our Scholars

EPPC President Ed Whelan's comments on John McCain's recent speech on judges were widely quoted in the national press:

Whelan "called the speech 'very encouraging' and added: 'McCain has drawn a clear line between his support for judicial restraint and Obama's promise to appoint liberal judicial activists.'" -- Washington Post

"McCain clearly recognizes that liberal judicial activism deprives Americans of their basic powers as citizens to establish policies through their legislators." -- Ed Whelan, quoted in US News & World Report

"Edward Whelan, a former law clerk for Justice Antonin Scalia and president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, said he was encouraged by McCain's assertion that the role of judges was 'one of the defining issues of this presidential election.' Whelan noted that McCain's promise to nominate judges with a 'proven record' would be an important point with conservative Republicans." -- Los Angeles Times

Faith & Culture

Separating Fact from Fiction on the Life Issues

EPPC Fellow Colleen Carroll Campbell interviews Ramesh Ponnuru, author of The Party of Death, about popular fallacies that fuel disrespect for human life. The show airs on EWTN television Sunday, May 18, at 10:30am and Wednesday, May 21, at 11pm. It airs on EWTN radio and Sirius Satellite Radio Saturdays at 6pm E.T., Sundays at 7am E.T., and Tuesdays at 1am E.T.

Click here for more details.

The Ultimate Conversation Stopper

Why do some people feel threatened by the idea that life may have meaning? Australian sociologist and former EPPC Visiting Fellow Michael Casey was interviewed recently about the historic and cultural reasons behind our difficulty with the "meaning of life."

Click here to read, "The Ultimate Conversation Stopper: Does Life Have Meaning?"