Iraq: Silver lining? Rose-colored glasses?

My new Boston Globe column, “A silver lining in Iraq,” is now up. Some of you may think that it should have been titled, “Iraq through rose-colored glasses.” Time will tell, to use a time-worn cliché. It seems to me that since we cannot undo the invasion, the most humane alternative is [...]

Joan Kennedy Taylor, R.I.P.

Joan Kennedy Taylor, author and libertarian feminist, died on October 29 at the age of 78.
Joan was one of the few people to be a part of both Ayn Rand’s Objectivist movement in the 1960s and the women’s liberation movement in the 1970s. Her Objectivism was never dogmatic, and neither was her feminism. Unlike many [...]

It’s not racist (or sexist) if they’re Republicans

I’m coming a bit late to the blogspat between Robert George and Steve Gilliard over a racially offensive item Gilliard put on his blog. Gilliard went after Maryland Lt. Gov Michael Steele, a black Republican who is now running for the U.S. Senate, because Steele wouldn’t condemn Gov. Robert Ehrlich for holding an event at [...]

Rosa Parks, American hero

This past week has been a busy one, with magazine-length blogging on same-sex marriage and two deadlines for the work that I actually get paid for. So I’m a little behind on current events.
As I’m sure you know, Rosa Parks died at the age of 92 — just a couple of months short of the [...]

Some closing thoughts on the same-sex marriage debate

I wasn’t planning to devote quite so much space to commentary on the same-sex marriage debate, but Maggie Gallagher’s guest-blogging at The Volokh Conspiracy piqued my interest. (My earlier blogposts on the subject can be found here and here.)
First, my basic position. I think that ending the social and legal persecution of homosexual men and [...]

Same-sex marriage and polygamy

A commenter on the thread about the same-sex marriage debate raises the issue of SSM and polygamy. My Reason column on the subject from March 2004 can be found here.

Marriage, sexual complementarity and difference

Some more thoughts generated by Maggie Gallagher’s guest-blogging at The Volokh Conspiracy.
In one of her posts, Gallagher writes:
SS couples are being added to the mix precisely in order to assure that society views them as “no different” than other couples.
To this, one of the commenters responds:
This seems as close as we’ll get to a candid [...]

The same-sex marriage discussion at the Volokh Conspiracy

For several days last week, Maggie Gallagher guest-blogged at The Volokh Conspiracy, laying out — or trying to lay out — her case against the legalization of same-sex marriage. Her posts can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. (Some commentary can be found at [...]

Witch-hunts: hysteria then and now

The New York Times has a Halloween-related story by Peter Steinfels debunking many of the popular modern myths about witches:
In a search for historical roots and moral legitimacy, some feminists and many adherents of neopagan or goddess-centered religious movements like Wicca have elaborated a founding mythology in which witches and witch hunts have a central [...]

The last word on Katrina media coverage

I’ve never watched South Park, but now I wish I had. Featured on the Newsbusters.org site, a clip and partial transcript from a hilarious episode aired the other day lampooning the hysterical response to Hurricane Katrina. (Hat tip: Protein Wisdom.) Two of the boys, Stan and Cartman, accidentally crash a motor boat into [...]