Sunday, January 29, 2012 at 8:53AM | by Otter These same parents pay for programs for their own autistic spectrum kids, children born with brains that are out of the normal run. I know for a fact that they tolerate girls with autistic spectrum disorders in the Girl Scouts. But only some such abnormalities merit their toleration: the compassion has a limit.
Sunday, September 11, 2011 at 7:30AM | by Otter 
September 11, 2001 raised a million issues: it shone in our face the nature of fundamentalism, unwilling to discuss, to compromise, to redeem. It also confronted us with fear of death, the refusal of martyrdom, a need for human-wrought justice, and the passion of vengeance.
It rendered unto Caesar the things that are Caesars. And it asked the question, "Are we not Caesar?" It might be so. But Christians should pause over these things. They should wonder.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011 at 7:30AM | by Otter
Updated on Tuesday, June 28, 2011 at 1:18PM by
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Updated on Tuesday, June 28, 2011 at 5:54PM by
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Updated on Tuesday, June 28, 2011 at 10:57PM by
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This is the politics of comfort for many. I get that. It's the politics that I grew up with: a defense of the City on the Hill against the forces of chaos and anarchy and self-will that would destroy it.
Thursday, March 17, 2011 at 7:10AM | by Otter A few reflections on Japan, and health care.
Saturday, December 11, 2010 at 8:22AM | by Otter One of the great strengths of Buckley's conservatism was that it did not suffer fools.
The greatest weakness of Glenn Beck's and Sarah Palin's conservatism is that it suffers nobody but Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin.
As my conservative friends continue to swell the ranks of Tea Parties and to continue to promulgate poisonous thinking, I hope they'll consider what has happened to them, and to consider too that there are some versions of America not worth living in or defending. Some of those are the monster-children of conservatism.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010 at 10:24AM | by Otter A lot of that debate generally has its root in a simple perception about what government is and can be and can do. I don't mean merely that it's a matter of how much one trusts government, but rather that how one thinks about and perceives government will tend to predetermine how he feels about its role.
