It’s time once again for timid bureaucratic ninnies to change “Christmas” into “Holiday” or “Sparkle”. Read more

is a love of euphemism. When people are constantly renaming something, it generally tells me they are shady and very likely liars. So, for instance, the constant goal-post moving that lies behind global warming climate change global climate disruption tells me that a swindle is in progress. Similarly, the BS behind rebranding torture as “enhanced interrogation” tells you all you need to know about the filthy liars who authorized it. Not unlike the BS by which Soviets rebranded “murder” as... Read more

Turns out that if you believe that whole “be fruitful and multiply” thing you wind up inheriting the earth from population planners with a death wish for themselves. Read more

In which we look at the congenital habit of human beings for assuming that some system, rather than Jesus, will save us. Systems can be mastered. Jesus, not so much. That’s why we like systems. This is one of the reasons why, when I am asked if I believe in organized religion, I always reply, “No. I’m Catholic.” Read more

Unscientific people believed in astrology to predict the future. They had this silly notion that astronomical bodies somehow affected our destiny. Today, our gleaming scientific world has abandoned all that. Now we watch sunspots to predict trends in the stock market, which is nothing at all like saying that astronomical bodies somehow affect our destiny. By the way, since it’s nearly the season, here is a rather more nuanced take on the relationship of astrology to the Faith, excerpted from... Read more

This could put a real crimp in our Memorial Day Vacation Plans.  On the bright side, I won’t have to finish paying down the mortgage on the house.  And no more sunburns! Never a people to let their theology get in the way of the bottom line, some American Christians are finding ways to work in some good old-fashioned capitalism to the Consummation of All Things: Yes. That’s a real ad. When the gospel went to Greece, it became a... Read more

This guy has some sensible questions for Lone Ranger and Paladin of Information Openness Julian Assange and the people clustered around him: For WikiLeaks and Julian Assange: •When are you going to focus your relentless and often valuable energies on other governments, especially the ones that are even more noted for secrecy than the United States government, not to mention more repressive. Could you kindly find someone to liberate internal documents from, say, the Chinese government? •You’re more secretive than... Read more

writes a silly blog entry in which he holds forth on the Catholic Church and proves that, as a theologian, he’s a legal scholar. Stephen Bainbridge, who is a legal scholar and a Catholic who actually knows what he’s talking about, offers gentle counsel and correction in this hour of embarrassing spectacle. Then, after some thought, he revisits Posner’s daft kibitzing and takes it apart with rather more gusto. Posner’s dumb remarks are one more pebble thrown on the Himalayas... Read more

They are so *good*. We are not worthy to have a ration of their table scrapings. Read more

Lorna got her feeding tube and PIC line removed. Also, her back appears to be healing well and it looks like they aim to send her home by December 16. Therapy still has far to go and she’s still in great pain. But the doctor aims to have her walking, however clumsily, by Christmas. Don’t slack off on the prayers, but do thank God for this wonderful progress through his Son Jesus! Pray that they get the trach out soon... Read more