Editorials
533 results
Page 46
George Steinbrenner in peace and war
The armchair warrior
George Steinbrenner, the imperious and fiercely competitive boss of the New York Yankees who died on July 13, made a fetish of modeling himself after military figures. Unlike his heroes, he seems not to have understood the critical differences between sport and warfare.
Editorials
4 minute read
On not pitying Palestinians: A reply
The real Palestinian problem
For the sake of argument, let's suppose that all Palestinians are violent and self-destructive. Do they therefore forfeit any claim to our sympathy? For the answer, turn to Victor Hugo.
Editorials
4 minute read
Philadelphia writers, seen from the future
‘The Age of Scottoline,' or: The Athens of America, 2010
It was the dawn of a Golden Age: the Age of Fried and Bissinger, of Platt and Scottoline— yes, of Yoo and Santorum and countless other literary luminaries whose destinies converged on the bustling sidewalks of Nutter's Philadelphia.
Editorials
7 minute read
My neighbor, Lena Horne
Lena Horne, between black and white
Lena Horne was a beautiful and talented woman, justly embittered by the labels American society pasted on her. As her neighbor in New York in the ‘50s and ‘60s, I witnessed some of that bitterness firsthand.
Editorials
5 minute read
Free speech for corporations? Yes
Let the corporations speak!
Is free speech for corporations a threat to democracy? Most leading liberal voices presume that it is. As an editor who has spent much of his career fighting for free speech for everyone, I would argue the contrary: Free speech for corporations actually benefits democracy.
Editorials
6 minute read
A Supreme Court without Protestants
America's Protestant crisis
When Justice John Paul Stevens retires this summer, he will leave the Supreme Court without any Protestant justice at all for the first time in history. Protestants are being dislodged from other sectors of society as well. Is God trying to tell us something?
Editorials
5 minute read
The perils of free association
When Palestinians convert (and other perils of free association)
The Christian Legal Society, an evangelical student group, appears to have run into a problem that neither law nor religion can solve: Non-Christians keep joining it and passing non-Christian resolutions. If faith can't solve this conundrum, surely human ingenuity can.
Editorials
4 minute read
Collectors, artists and Albert Barnes
The test that Albert Barnes failed
Set aside the legal issues surrounding the Barnes Foundation's coming move. The more fascinating question isn't legal but philosophical: Ultimately, whose vision should take precedence— the artist's, or the collector's?
Editorials
6 minute read
The pointless search for Barnes villains
Who appointed Richard Glanton? (and other questions for Barnes conspiracy buffs)
The Barnes Foundation's move from Merion to the Parkway may be an artistic tragedy, but the relentless search for villains is a misguided distraction. If there's any villain in this saga, it's Albert Barnes himself, who imposed so many restrictions on his Barnes Foundation that no sane philanthropist would help rescue the place until his trust was broken.
Editorials
6 minute read
Priestly sex abuse: Why Catholicism?
The Catholic elephant in the room
Given the onerous requirements of the priestly vocation, the remarkable thing about Roman Catholic priests is not that so many of them are sexual abusers, but that so many of them aren't.
Editorials
4 minute read