That’s my walkaway in this scene-setter for Benedict’s trip to Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian territories, which is being recognized as the most difficult and risky of his pontificate–not least because of some of the baggage he himself will bring. I break my analysis at PoliticsDaily.com into three degrees of difficulty: The religious, the political,…

Cardinal Keith O’Brien has always had a knack for making headlines, and he recently explained why he likes to use “colourful imagery” in pronouncements on issues such as abortion and stem-cell research, as he has done lately: “Churchmen have been speaking out against things which they feel are immoral for years but nobody pays a blind bit of…

According to a new genetic survey, DNA tracing indicates Eden–and the first humans–emerged somewhere along the border between what is today Namibia and Angola in southwestern Africa (pictured above). Maybe it didn’t look like that eons–or 6,000 years–ago. The New York Times has the story: The origin of a species is generally taken to be…

The relevant text of Obama’s 100-day newser (excerpt below, from HuffPo) indicates that the dreaded FOCA (Freedom of Choice Act) is not in the offing, at all. When many of of suggested that was the case (as I did here) we were cast into outer darkness. FOCA was too good a wedge for the anti-abortion,…

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