Tension between China and Taiwan is one of the more troubling matters in geopolitical affairs. Now AsiaNews reports that trade between China and Taiwas increased by 15 percent in the first half of 2006. It’s been said that “where goods cross borders, armies don’t,” a reference to the fact that historically nations mercial ties rarely go to war against each other. Without reading too much into one trade report, it may be a hopeful sign for the prospects of peace...

I got a copy of Marvin Olasky’s The Politics of Disaster: Katrina, Big Government, and a New Strategy for Future Crisis in the mail today, fittingly enough on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s devastating storm surge. Olasky, among many other roles, is a senior fellow at the Acton Institute. You can expect a review of the book to appear here in the near future. Olasky blogs over at the World Magazine Blog. Update: Related interview with Olasky at NRO here....

As I’ve written before, you don’t need to be a climate change convert to believe that nuclear power represents a very attractive alternative to nonrenewable fossil fuels. In this lengthy piece in Cosmos magazine, Tim Dean examines the possibility of nuclear reactors based on thorium rather than uranium. Regardless of your position on climate change, and Dean certainly makes it a key point in his article, the essential reality is that “fossil fuels won’t last forever. Current predictions are that...

Rev. Robert A. Sirico, president of the Acton Institute, will address “Capitalism and the Common Good: The Ten Pillars of the Moral Economy” on September 14, 2006, at The University Club of Chicago. Join Rev. Sirico as he examines ten features of market economy that often are viewed as disruptive, but in actuality are positive forces in forming the cultural, moral and behavior traits most often associated with virtue, responsibility, and good society. Reserve your spot here today. ...

Here’s a supply-side economics lesson that’s going to be learned the hard way by some folks up in Alaska. Away the "Ocean Rangers!” Alaska voters Aug. 22 were poised to approve an initiative that imposes a series of new taxes and environmental regulations on the cruise ships that bring about 1 million passengers a year to the state. With 87 percent of Alaska precincts reporting, the initiative was passing by a margin of 52.4 percent to 47.6 percent, according to...

The Indiana Youth Institute will present the workshop “Raising Resources for Faith-Based Youth-Serving Organizations” from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 6 at the League for the Blind and Disabled, 5821 S. Anthony Blvd., Fort Wayne, IN 46816. The workshop will feature Karen Woods, director of the Center for Effective Compassion, which is a part of the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty. Cost of the program is $20; to apply for the session, call 1-800-343-7060 or...

The fable “The Blind Men and the Elephant” offers great insight about how Americans seem to perceive how charity and public welfare is done. Remember that depending on his placement around the elephant, each blind man had a different perspective, i.e., the guy on the tail had a much different perspective than the one grabbing the elephant’s trunk. We get a lot of contradictory messages in the media. People are giving more to charity than ever before or charities can’t...

In 1936 Congress passed the Aid to Dependent Children Act to help widows stay home and raise their children. From 147,000 families on welfare in 1936 the number rose to five million by the 1994, the peak year. Ten years ago today, August 26, President Clinton signed into law the Welfare Reform Act. Last year the number of families receiving welfare had declined to 1.9 million. Contrary to the cries against the bill in 1996, which were numerous, the reform...

This is a blog, so I can say “goofy.” There are some other erudite and plex terms, but “goofy” pretty much sums up political norms at the moment. What are we thinking. Or, rather, are we thinking? The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life just released a report titled, “Many Americans Uneasy with Mix of Religion and Politics.” Not to slight Pew’s substantive work and fully defensible conclusions,...

The secularized West is experiencing a growing disaffection with both militant atheism and traditional Christian faith. The Vatican recently addressed this issue in a study published by the Pontifical Council for Culture. It is more than interesting to me to see how this document begins to address this problem. It suggests that any effective pastoral strategy must begin with seeing “the importance of witnessing the beauty of being a person loved by God.” This document, titled “The Christian Faith at...