Archives
Toon respect, maar alleen voor wie geweld afwijt
Drie suggesties om rellen te voorkomen, van een socioloog die veertig jaar de ontwikkelingen in de Amerikaanse steden heeft gevolgd.
No State Intrusions
When my mother-in-law could not take it any more (her cancer had turned her leg into one huge sore, and her pain was unbearable), my wife reluctantly called in a physician who was also a family friend. Dr. L. explained that it was against the law for him to help my mother-in-law, who had battled melanoma for 13 months with a quiet dignity, to end her life.
Hand over settlements to Palestinians
The question as to what is to become of the residences, clinics, schools and greenhouses of the Israeli settlers once they leave Gaza this summer may seem like a minor subplot in the epic struggle
KELO V. NEW LONDON’ States to the Rescue
States are moving to limit the damage done to justice by Kelo v. New London. In this case, the U.S. Supreme Court, by a 5-4 majority, vastly expanded the concept of eminent domain. It ruled in favor of what correctly has been called a "Reverse Robin Hood." The court ruling has benefited a group of businesses and local government interests in the New London, Conn., area including the New London Development Corp., drug giant Pfizer Inc. and private real estate developers.
Bookmarks for Public Sociologists
“Bookmarks for Public Sociologists,” The British Journal of Sociology, Volume 56, Issue 3 (Sept. 2005) pp. 373-378
Response: American Behavioral Scientist
“Response.” American Behavioral Scientist, ed. Emily Pryor. Vol. 48, No. 12. (Sage Publications, August, 2005) pp. 1657-1665.
A Communitarian Perspective on Sex and Sexuality
Both religious and liberal secular thinking offer comprehensive approaches to considering the place of the sexual drive in our personal lives and communities. What has communitarian thinking to offer? How does it compare to these other bodies of thought, especially to religious ones?
Oversight is Crucial
Here we go again, jerking the steering wheel to the left after we oversteered to the right (in an effort to correct a left bias), vainly seeking a reasonable, middle road between the pull of public safety and that of individual rights. The events of 9/11 led Congress to enact the USA Patriot Act, granting enormous new powers to law enforcement agencies. Now, we are once more trying to correct the overcorrection with little hope of striking the right balance. (Just wait for the next terrorist attack to witness additional overreactions.)
The Fair Society
We must work together for a fair society: a society in which everyone is treated with full respect, recognizing that we are all God's children. A society in which no one--adult or child--is left behind. A place in which such moral commitments are truly honored rather than served up as hallow promises.
Beyond a Civil Society: a Good Society
“Beyond a Civil Society: a Good Society.” (Published in German as “Mehr als eine Zivilgesellschaft: eine gute Gesellschaft”) Zerreißt das soziale Band: Beiträge zu einer aktuellen geseschaftspoliti
Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty is obsolete
If you are a hard-working and busy attorney, as most are, you may have little interest in reading about international treaties-especially as you correctly sense that they often are breached rather than observed. However, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) does deserve your attention. The reason? The most significant threat to all you care about comes from terrorists who may well lay their hands on nuclear arms or materials from which they can be readily made.
End Game: What the elderly have earned.
In the mid-1980s, a senator invited me to join the board of a new lobby he was forming that would be called Americans for Generational Equity, or AGE.
Communal Considerations
The ownership society sufferers from an intolerance for complexities.
Beware the Public Diplomacy Disaster
The headlines from the Middle East these days are full of optimism.
Außenansicht: Gedenken als gemeinsame Aufgabe
In dieser Woche gedenken die Menschen weltweit der Befreiung der nationalsozialistischen Konzentrationslager vor 60 Jahren. Als einer, der selbst aus Nazi-Deutschland fliehen musste und während des Holocausts einen Großteil seiner Familie verloren hat, meine ich, dass die Zeit gekommen ist, sowohl zu gedenken, als auch nach vorne zu schauen.
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