My husband once had a business trip to a notoriously crime-ridden city. The client he was visiting advised him, “Keep $20 in your pocket when you’re on the train. If someone holds you up, you give them the $20 and they won’t shoot you, they’ll move on.” There was a price on your life in that town, and that price was $20. Apparently in the Netherlands these days, the going rate is 5,000 Euros. That’s what normal people “cost” society, according... Read more
If you are feeling penitential, you can read the transcript of the Supreme Court oral arguments in the Masterpiece Cakeshop trial. It opens with an exercise in muddled thinking, but there are moments of clarity. Particularly relevant is the question of how Colorado has treated the question of religious discrimination. From pp. 98-99 of the transcript: MS. WAGGONER: . . . I have three brief points in rebuttal: First of all, the bias of the Commission is also evidenced in... Read more
The GOP’s Senate version of this year’s tax bill apparently repeals the mandate to purchase health insurance. The Chicago Tribune reports on it here. Business Insider reports on it here. This is good news. All fall I have been seeing reports from friends around the country who are being sunk by the purchase-or-perish provision of the “Affordable” Care Act. Neither the fine for not-purchasing, nor the mandatory purchase itself, are affordable for many middle-income families. If you don’t have traditional employer-sponsored... Read more
More and more of my Catholic friends are struggling to stay Catholic. They are demoralized and discouraged. They see many people who claim to be faithful Catholics, but who: Show blatant indifference to the suffering of others. Defend behavior that is utterly contrary to the faith. Carve out reasons why the Church doesn’t really teach what she plainly teaches. Take advantage of the goodwill of fellow Catholics. Consider anyone who isn’t of “their tribe” to be worthy of spite and... Read more
A friend pointed out that a common theme in date rape, molestation, and sexual assault cases is the role of alcohol. Abuse of alcohol is a problem in itself. Because it compounds a wide variety of sexual sins, it is easy to fall into the mire of muddy thinking. This is where we get arguments like “If only college girls wouldn’t drink so much, there wouldn’t be a campus rape problem,” and the counter-argument, “A girl should be able to... Read more
Up that Register: 11 Ways to Prepare Your Boy to be a Great Priest.* I’ve never had a son of mine be ordained (the kid’s only 17, it’s a little early for that), so it’s not an article about Things I Did That Caused My Little Angel To Show Everyone What A Wonderful Mother I Am. My kids are normal kids with the regular amount of free will; their parents are worse than that still. We don’t do the Catholic Family... Read more
Go visit the Darwins for an excellent discussion of what is, and is not, the role of NFP in marital chastity. A few excerpts, beginning with a recap of what NFP is: By now the term “NFP” is almost too fraught, carrying connotations of some big oppressive system. Say it with me, though: all it is is 1) observing the signs of female fertility — a morally neutral act — and 2) using those observations as part of a prudential... Read more
During the time I’ve been offline attending to other obligations the #MeToo campaign hit full force. Of course I have a story to share. Nearly everyone I know, male or female, has gotten their turn on the receiving end of some level of vulgarity or criminality. My #MeToo credentials came up in conversation during the recent presidential campaign: I don’t tell a lot of personal stories, but here’s one: I was staying with another family as a teenager, and the teenage... Read more
Shortly after a I posted yesterday, a friend shared this article from The New Yorker about the abuse of the elderly via guardianship rights. It’s long, so let me give you a snippet of the story: Out in Las Vegas, full-time professional “guardians” prey on the wealthy elderly. The article profiles the case of a self-supporting married couple, living independently with a limited amount of home health assistance, and checked on daily by their adult daughter. A “guardian” got hold of... Read more
My parents live in Las Vegas, I have good friends from Las Vegas, and it is a city that I love. I watched the news of the massacre with dread, and as the names of the deceased are released, several friends of friends are among the bereaved. I was irritated to see the political vultures start swooping before the guns had even cooled, and I’m sorry to say I’m as weak as the next person — having been spared the... Read more
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