SARAH writes: As the wife of a disabled veteran I also agree that what was once Armistice Day should be called Veterans Day. Deep in the calm of our home on that day we take the time to whisper quiet thank yous full of reverence to the man who sacrificed. Only those who know him best can ever know how much he gave. My eyes fill with tears every time I sit in stillness to contemplate the long history of stalwart service exhibited by our troops. Behind every black and white photograph of a man in uniform, there is a story. He was a soldier, but so much more than that. He was a human being. Flesh and blood, leaving behind loved ones to face an uncertain future. On Veterans Day, we do what we can to say "Thank You" to the living soldiers we know, but it is much more meaningful to us when we are able to thank the older generation of soldiers for what they did. Sometimes we pay our respects to old graves. Sometimes we bring cookies to the VA hospital. Other times we sit and listen to stories from olden days at a nursing home bedside. I get very emotional when I think of the men who served during WW II. Though all soldiers who wear the uniform are dear to my heart. It's not just about the soldier. It's about the uniform and what it represents. To me,…

IN his book The Tyranny of Liberalism, James Kalb explains with his typical lucidity why separation of church and state are so important:

[T]he authority of the church is not primarily that of a ruler, let alone a tyrant, but that of a custodian of something passed down. The church must have internal discipline to function, but its primary purpose is to present, not to enforce. Like other intellectual authorities, it should have substantial independence but no direct political power. The good, the beautiful, and true need to be institutionally separate from political power to be seen as superior to it. A believer would no more give the state authority in religious matters than a physicist, sculptor, or moral philosopher would give it authority in science, aesthetics, or morals. Conversely, rule by priests has many of the same disadvantages as rule by philosophers or law professors. Few people want it.

Government is organized force. (more…)

THE SCANDAL at Penn State University, in which a former coach repeatedly raped boys as young as ten in a university locker room and in which university officials knew about it and failed to inform authorities, is one of the most shocking and disgusting stories in this age of shocking and disgusting stories. (more…)

FRED OWENS writes:

On this day in 1918 the first World War came to an end. That’s why it’s a holiday. It is not good to make holidays generic. Holidays cannot be generic, because they are special days. This holiday, by extension, honors all veterans, but it should be focused and named after the Armistice that ended that war 93 years ago. (more…)

COLUMNIST David Brooks actually has a column in today’s New York Times in which he makes an important observation. Radical egalitarianism does not abolish inequality. It only creates new forms of it. He writes:

Foreign tourists are coming up to me on the streets and asking, “David, you have so many different kinds of inequality in your country. How can I tell which are socially acceptable and which are not?”

This is an excellent question. I will provide you with a guide to the American inequality map to help you avoid embarrassment. (more…)

JAMES H. writes:

I just bought Chesterton’s book on Dickens on your splendid recommendation. I can hardly wait! 

Every Saturday morning, since discovering CWNY, I wake up, print the latest installment, and read it over breakfast. I cannot tell you how much I enjoy his writing. Your blog also provides such tremendous food for thought and great reading. Thanks. 

I sent my wife the posts on smaller homes (here, here, and here). Man, I’d love to move out of our monstrosity (modest by local standards), but my wife loves it. Our neighbors are building a 25,000-square-foot, $35,000,000 grotesquerie. (more…)