Culture & Religion
Jan 30, 2012
The wreck of the Costa Concordia hit a collective nerve as the giant cruise liner capsized off the Tuscan coast on Jan. 13.
Minnesotans may have responded with a special shudder. The disaster called to mind another horrific incident involving the demise of an engineering marvel—the collapse of our own Interstate 35W bridge in August 2007.
Jan 6, 2012
In her watershed 1993 article in the Atlantic, “Dan Quayle Was Right,” Barbara Dafoe Whitehead wrote of how “every time the issue of family structure has been raised, the response has been first controversy, then retreat, and finally silence.” That decisively had been the case 28 years earlier in the aftermath of the 1965 release of what quickly became known as the “Moynihan Report” on family breakdown in the African American community. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, then an assistant secretary of labor in the Johnson administration, never once attributed blame to African Americans themselves, but rather, indicted the nation’s history of slavery and racism. His analysis, in fact, was exquisitely progressive, laying the conceptual foundation, for example, for affirmative action.
Jan 1, 2012
As we turn the calendar's last page, tradition dictates that we look back at the year's major themes and events and preview "emerging trends" in the year ahead.
But what if we were to focus instead on polishing the lens through which we view the events slipping by us, and the unknown challenges that await? In 2012, our project could be to renew the centrality in our lives of the virtue of hope.
Dec 27, 2011
So now it’s Theodore Roosevelt’s turn. One wonders how many other presidents our current president will channel before he’s through. Let’s see, we’ve already had Barack Obama as Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, and John Kennedy. He’s either presented himself or been presented as our redeemer president (Lincoln), our Ivy League scholar president (Wilson), our he-saved-us-from-economic collapse president (FDR), and our youthful celebrity president (JFK). Why, President Obama has even tried to draw parallels to a not-so-youthful celebrity president by the name of Reagan.
Dec 24, 2011
The Golden Strings—a group Variety once called the “longest running violin show in the world”—first appeared at the old Radisson Hotel in downtown Minneapolis on Valentine’s Day 1963. To be more exact, they performed in its famous Flame Room. They continued playing there until the hotel closed in 1981, consistently before big and appreciative audiences, as more than two million people heard the legendary group at the landmark hotel over nearly two decades.
Nov 22, 2011
About 30 years ago I wrote a two-part package about Thanksgiving for the old Minneapolis Star, the first piece running right before the holiday and the second shortly afterwards. As many recall, and as many others who weren’t around at the time don’t, the Star was the Cowles family’s afternoon paper in town and the Tribune was the morning paper. The two combined into a single morning paper soon afterwards.
After a brief introduction, the first article was actually a questionnaire, with open-ended questions about television viewing on Thanksgiving. More specifically, it asked a series of questions about watching football games on that day. As with now, the Detroit Lions had long hosted an early game on Thanksgiving (routinely against the Green Bay Packers), and the Dallas Cowboys hosted another game later in the afternoon.
Oct 23, 2011
A block thrown through a home window. Cars vandalized. Hate-filled anonymous phone calls at home and work. Swastikas scrawled on houses of worship. Physical assaults. Dismissal from employment because of political views.
Are these examples of retaliation against civil-rights activists in the South in 1954? Attempts by an authoritarian government to quash dissent?
No, this is the sort of intimidation that Americans who support marriage as the union of a man and woman can face today. Persecution of opponents is becoming a tool of the trade for some gay-marriage activists, who -- ironically -- seem to view themselves as beacons of tolerance.
Now, the groundwork for such intimidation is being laid in Minnesota.
Due to Left’s intolerance, the Right leads litigation against burdensome campaign finance disclosure
Oct 12, 2011
Yesterday (Oct. 11), the Star Tribune published my column explaining how disclosure of contributions made to support or oppose ballot questions can infringe upon First Amendment rights of speech, association and privacy of belief.
Oct 9, 2011
In America today, we rush to fumigate our public schools at the slightest hint of religion. Yet until recently, a Minnesota public charter school—Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TiZA)—operated in our midst as an Islamic school at taxpayer expense.
Sep 12, 2011
As dawn broke on Sept. 11, 2001, America was asleep—believing itself to be prosperous, safe and secure. Hours later, we gazed in horror and disbelief as the Twin Towers collapsed in a maelstrom of flame, smoke and debris.
What did we learn? First and foremost, that there is evil—real evil—in the world.
