What Would President Obama’s Second Term Look Like?

July 29, 2012 By 7 Comments

Dinesh D’Souza has an idea. And he has a film coming out soon wherein he hopes to explain the current Presidents’ vision for the future of America.

I’ve always admired D’Souza since bumping into his work while I was trying to get into UCLA.  I had heard of him, and his book Illiberal Education, while I was channel surfing and landed on his appearance on C-SPAN’s book review program way back in 1991.  I lost track of him after I graduated, as I had more important things to attend to (like start a new career and a family, etc.). [Read more...]

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Mark Shea on Why We May Fight the HHS Mandate…

July 28, 2012 By 2 Comments

A reader asked Mark how the HHS Mandate is any different than paying our taxes and watching the government waste them on all kinds of things Catholics may find unjust and wasteful. They wondered how the HHS Mandate is any different from this. Mark’s reply clears things up for those who are still sitting on the sidelines. [Read more...]

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“First Past the Post” Voting: How the Math Works UPDATED

July 26, 2012 By 16 Comments

About a week ago, I shared a post where I came out in support of Mitt Romney as the person I will be voting for come November (barring any unforeseen events). Note that I don’t think he’s the perfect candidate, but seeing’s how St. Michael the Archangel isn’t on the ballot, Romney will get my vote, as the incumbent, who I believe is bent on destroying true religious liberty (and for other troublesome quirks), will never, ever, receive my vote.

I know that many want to cast their votes morally, don’t trust Mitt Romney, think he’s not Pro-Life enough, untrustworthy, etc., etc. And I know that this horse has been beaten to death on Catholic blogs and in other venues but voting third party is a waste of your vote, contrary to your attempts to reason your way out of this fact. You want to see proof, so here goes. [Read more...]

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Mitt Romney says, “We Are All Catholics Now” UPDATED

July 20, 2012 By 7 Comments

Why am I choosing the “lesser of two evils” come this Fall? Let me show you Exhibit A.

The folks over at The Weekly Standard have the rest of the story from a town hall style campaign stop in Ohio a few days ago. They’ve just never heard of TubeChop over at TWS.

Maybe Mitt Romney isn’t an “evil” to choose, but just a weevil. Still, I’ll be choosing him. It’s like this, see?

YouTube Preview Image

I’m not going to “overthink” the vote. There are just too many other more important things to do.

Updates:

Exhibits B,C,D, and E

Crisis Magazine: Post-Comfortable Christianity and the Election of 2012.
Simca Fisher and I are on the same page.
Pat Archbold’s “Just Voter Theory.”
Francis Beckwith on Mormonism, Catholicism, and the Romney Candidacy.

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A Business Contract With America? It’s Not Enough UPDATED

July 6, 2012 By 9 Comments

Timothy Dalyrymple is a published author, and a Ph.D. While I was learning to field strip an M-16, he was learning about Kierkegaard. He’s also got more degrees than you can shake a stick at. He’s generally a good guy, means well, wants the best for our country, and on top of it all, he lets a lightweight like me stand up on my wee little soapbox and hold forth on why I am Catholic.

Timothy, managing editor of the Patheos Evangelical portal, has been hanging around lately with the likes of Hugh Hewitt, “a nationally syndicated radio host with Salem; he’s also a brilliant law professor and practicing attorney, an accomplished author, and a true leader in the conservative movement.” When I lived in Southern California, I used to watch Hewitt  on KPBS from time to time.

Anyhoo, Tim and Hugh are very concerned about the Romney campaign having being caught flat-footed by the Supreme Court Decision on healthcare reform. And they sure were, weren’t they? Blindsided is more like it. Over on his blog, Hewitt writes that, [Read more...]

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The Bishops Remind Us, the ACA Needs Repairs, Not Repeal UPDATED

June 28, 2012 By 19 Comments

The Catholic Church is not against the Affordable Care Act, which the Supreme Court just upheld today in a landmark decision that found it constitutional. The Bishops, via the USCCB,  seek for the ACA to be “repaired,” not “scrapped.”

Following enactment of ACA, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has not joined in efforts to repeal the law in its entirety, and we do not do so today.The decision of the Supreme Court neither diminishes the moral imperative to ensure decent health care for all, nor eliminates the need to correct the fundamental flaws described above. We therefore continue to urge Congress to pass, and the Administration to sign, legislation to fix those flaws. [Read more...]

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On Day Six of the Fortnight For Freedom, the Acton Institute Reminds Us…

June 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

that the HHS Mandate is an assault on religious liberty. Which means it’s an assault on liberty. Period. What’s that got to do with Dietrich Bonhoeffer? [Read more...]

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Archbishop Chaput’s Five Points on Religious Freedom UPDATED

June 21, 2012 By 7 Comments

Several of the Patheos Catholic Portal bloggers (Elizabeth Scalia, and Deacon Greg Kandra) are in Indianapolis for the Catholic Media Conference. Last night, Archbishop Charles Chaput, my favorite Franciscan, gave an important speech at the conference to set the stage for the kickoff of today’s Fortnight for Freedom call to prayer.

I’ll share a bit of the speech with you below. For the sake of brevity, and for the ease of memorization, I’ve summarized his five main points here. [Read more...]

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The Catholic Health Association Tacks to Windward UPDATED

June 15, 2012 By 4 Comments

And just in the nick of time. They were headed for a lee shore, or so it seemed back in February. That is when Sister Carol Keehan had backed the Administrations “Accommodation,” standing side by side with Vice-President Joe Biden making her announcement to that effect. But it appears that she, and the group of hospitals she leads, has had a change of heart. Prayers are being answered! [Read more...]

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Religious Liberty: It’s Not Just a Christian Thing

June 15, 2012 By 7 Comments

Pretty soon, the Supreme Court will hand down their verdict on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. This decision, and how it affects the HHS Mandate, has been discussed early, and often, in this space. Something that hasn’t been discussed here much is that other religions have lined up against the mandate as well. Not that you would have seen this reported in the mainstream media outlets. [Read more...]

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