Sex and the County
A liberal judge quashes a liberal curriculum.
Posted: Tuesday, May 17, 2005
If education is to be supported through federal aid, then the terms should be stringently set forth and instruction provided in an exacting, even-handed way. Faced with these requirements, the board in Montgomery County, Mayland that recently promulgated an extremely unbalanced sex education curriculum might prefer to revert to the curriculum as it used to be, and preserve a decorous silence: No endorsement of homosexual life, and, of course, no wounding words about gays and lesbians.  [Full Story]

Bush's Second Chance

Posted: Monday, April 4, 2005
On the matter of abortion, President Bush did not seem to be seized with any sense of moment, or any heightened awareness of possibilities now come into sight. And yet, in the case of abortion, the new possibilities had already been visible for more than two years. The President showed no keen awareness of these possibilities now, just as he had shown no  awareness earlier. It was not that the facts were not there to be seen, or that the President had no means of knowing. For at least two years the White House staff, and the President it advises, had ample reason to conclude that America had reached a turning point, and that, with the slightest moves on the part of the administration—moves so slight that they did not require the exertion of an executive order—they could have produced some striking gains for the pro-life cause while fostering a deep crisis in the ranks of their adversaries. With moves modest by any measure, Mr. Bush could have advanced the pro-life cause and propelled the Democrats in Congress into an internecine war that would surely have torn them apart, and left them morally exhausted during the season of the campaign. That the President should have had no interest in inducing such strain among his adversaries, at virtually no cost to himself, must be ranked among the great political mysteries of our time.  [Full Story]

Talking Partial-Birth Abortion
Putting the heat on Kerry
Posted: Wednesday, October 13, 2004
In the second debate, the president was actually fairly good on substance during the first debate, but his main problem, which persists, is in marshalling reasons and explaining his case. This was especially clear in the case of the partial-birth abortion question, where the president could have put Kerry in the most difficult position if he had only come back at him in a relevant way.  [Full Story]

Senseless on Stem Cells
Why advocate research that destroys nascent human beings?
Posted: Monday, August 23, 2004
Given the complexities of the stem cell research debate, and the compression and simplification of television, what may be needed is a kind of five-minute account that even the likes of Larry King and Ron Reagan can understand. And so let's try it.  [Full Story]

Kerry’s Contradictions
The senator’s position on gay marriage is untenable
Posted: Tuesday, July 13, 2004
Whether he likes it or not, John Kerry owns this issue. He will soon be the head of the Democratic party, and it is entirely apt that he be pressed to explain the position he has embroidered in his typical style — with nuances, inventive and implausible, covering brute facts.  [Full Story]