By Rich Lowry

The president’s announcement won’t decide a still-raging battle.

Books that have caught my eye.

Marriage and the Family: Biblical Essentials

By Andreas J. Köstenberger with David W. Jones

The recent rulings on gay marriage and debates on family-related issues have placed marriage and family at the forefront of the public eye. More so than at any point in history, we are now confronted with the need to carefully define the meaning of marriage and family.

Professor Andreas Köstenberger and ethics expert David W. Jones speak to the issues at hand and guide us through the fray.

National Review Online

The only good reason to have marriage laws in the first place — to have the state recognize a class of relationships called “marriage” out of all the possible strong bonds that adults can form — is to link erotic desire to the upbringing of the children it can produce.

Here’s my interview with John Blok of Moody Radio Florida about my BreakPoint.org column, “Lesbian Studies Fail the Test.”

By ELLIOTT ABRAMS
The Weekly Standard

In fact, Obama has not “evolved”—he has changed his position whenever his political fortunes required him to do so. Running for the Illinois state senate from a trendy area of Chicago in 1996, he was for gay marriage. “I favor legalizing same-sex marriages,” he wrote in answer to a questionnaire back then. In 2004, he was running for the U.S. Senate and needed to appeal to voters statewide. So he evolved, and favored civil unions but opposed homosexual “marriage.” In 2008, running for president, he said, “I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I am not in favor of gay marriage.” Now in 2012, facing a tough reelection campaign where he needs energized supporters of gay “marriage” and has disappointed them with his refusal to give them his support, he is for it. To paraphrase John Kerry, he was for it before he was against it before he was for it again.

And then he has the nerve to drag the Golden Rule into this?

By James Taranto

Until, oh, a few hours ago, the Chronicle employed Naomi Schaefer Riley, author of two books on higher education, as a contributor to Brainstorm, its blog about “ideas, culture, and the arts.” (We should note that Riley is a former editor at The Wall Street Journal and that her husband, Jason, is a member of the Journal’s editorial board, as is this columnist.) Riley became an ex-contributor to the Chronicle because some ideas turned out to be too weak to withstand a brainstorm.

By Patricia Reaney
Reuters

American writer and illustrator Maurice Sendak, whose children’s book “Where the Wild Things Are” has been a standard bedtime story for at least three generations, has died at the age of 83.

By Diana Prange

When I was given a copy of this book, I had some preconceived notions of what it would be about. I thought it would talk about what Jesus asks of us. What does he ask us to do? You know, deny yourself, take up your cross and all that. However, this book is not a to-do list from Jesus. It is more akin to the game “Loaded Questions.” Stan shows us that when Jesus asks a question, he is challenging us to reflect on what we believe about Him, His mission, and how we fit into God’s plan.

By Michael Barone

Elizabeth Warren is one-eighth as Indian as George Zimmerman is black.

Liberals like Warren back the dubious system of affirmative action to help minority groups overcome lingering barriers to their advancement–at least that’s the official line. For Warren to exploit a supposed link to Native Americans in her family tree to advance her career in academia shows her utter hypocrisy. These policies were not meant for privileged whites. If there was ever a time for affirmative action, it is long past.

John Wilson and I take a look at It’s Milking Time, a great new book for kids–and the adults who love them.