Subscribe to Ailbe Newsletters
Sign up to receive our email newsletters and read columns about revival, renewal, and awakening built upon prayer, sharing, and mutual edification.
President Obama gave Wall Stree a little what-for yesterday, warning business leaders that he's not going to put up with any of their shennanigans if they test him on questionable business practices. Mr. Obama considers himself the Ethicist-in-Chief of American business, and I suppose he just wanted everyone to remember…
President Obama has rejuvenated conversation about health care reform by his speech to Congress on Wednesday night. On its own merits, the speech, and the program the President set forth, offer plenty to critique. It seems fairly clear that some kind of bill is going to pass, sooner or later.…
Serious Christians are wincing this week at the reports of stupid acts by fellow believers. First, the Bolivian pastor who hijacked an airplane to Mexico because it was September 9, 2009 (9/9/09), which he interpreted as an inversion of "666" and, therefore, a good reason to jeopardize the lives of…
We now know what the President wants in the way of health care reform. He has said plainly, firmly, and, apparently, finally what he will and will not accept in a bill from Congress. At the moment there is only one option on the table for health care reform, that…
I have been a reader of The New Republic for years now, which fact has on occasion raised the eyebrows of friends. Once, at a Christian conference, I had a copy of TNR in my backpack, sticking out in a back pocket. During a break one of the conferees walked…
Google is presently in court, seeking a favorable decision on what could be one of the most important cases in history. The world's largest Internet company wants to create an online library of multiplied millions of volumes, featuring excerpts from or whole volumes of the greatest books ever written. This…
The Economist opines that the"current debate about health-care reform is in part a debate about death, which is why it evokes such fear" (September 5th, 2009). Americans, like everybody else, are afraid of dying. Dying is, well, messy business, and, even though you can't really do it "right," Americans don't…
The case of Mr. Van Jones, President Obama's Green Czar, is troubling. Mr. Jones is not a gentleman. He may be well versed in green technologies and whatnot, but he is an ideologue first and foremost whose comments regarding the Republicans in Congress, President Bush, and who knows how many…
On Tuesday next, America's public school children will be treated to a special assembly at which the Principal-in-Chief will speak to them about the importance of education. And he means it. By itself, President Obama's speech to the children doesn't trouble me - much (however, I try to imagine the…
I'm having a cup of coffee on the front porch yesterday mid-morning, when the mail lady turned on to our street. She didn't see me when she entered; nor did she when she made the rounds of the twin cul-de-sacs and headed back out of the neighborhood. But the neighbor's…
In our little town of Hamilton a flock of turkey vultures roosts on the old water tower behind the Baptist Church. These late summer days, when the air is a little cool, they will often mount up together and soar, in fairly tight circles, kettling over the town as they…
I have, I'm sure, now heard the phrase, "social networking", about as much as is needed for one lifetime. I am frequently asked why I'm not on Facebook, why I don't Tweet, will I become a friend of someone on this or that or some other "social network." Not that…
Sherman had it right: war is hell. And sometimes there's hell to pay as the business of war unfolds. It's one thing to go to war as a combatant when you know that both you and your adversary are agreed on submitting to international conventions regarding the treatment of prisoners.…
"Quality of life" is on the table again. Or, rather, under the table, it seems. Fox News Sunday reported on a Veterans' Administration workbook intended to help veterans think through their "options" when they find themselves questioning their "quality of life." The booklet includes what might be described as "the…