I started not to write about this. It’s one of those stories that I don’t like one bit. Evidently a very young Jacqueline Bouvier met Father Joseph Leonard when she was in Dublin in 1950. This was three years before she married Senator and future President John F Kennedy. She and the priest became friends and she corresponded with him at key points in her life — when she suffered a miscarriage in 1956 and later after the assassination of... Read more
I am leaving the Oklahoma legislature. Last week was a week of formal goodbyes. I gave a farewell speech to the House, which you can watch, if you’d like. Go here to see the video. The House Democrats held their annual Sine Die Party, and roasted me and other departing legislators. The Democratic Legislative Assistants prepared a delicious luncheon (Covered dish. All their best cooking. It was to die for.) with a cake with all our names and said... Read more
Note: I first published this post almost two years ago. We’re coming to the end of the legislative session here in Oklahoma, plus I have quite a few personal and family issues to deal with. I’m going to re-blog a few posts from the past this week, along with a few others that will be short, but more timely. I hope you enjoy them. Let’s talk for a moment about people who feel “entitled” to government hand-outs. I don’t mean... Read more
Representative Paul Ray of Utah has announced that he will introduce a measure to bring back execution by firing squad in the state. Oklahoma’s botched execution of a few weeks ago has led to a rather ugly debate about the death penally in several quarters. This debate has ranged from calls for an end to the death penalty on one side of the argument to discussion of alternate means execution other than lethal injection on the other side. Evidently,... Read more
Pope Francis does it his way. In a complete departure from previous papal trips abroad, he is bringing two friends of other faiths along with him on his upcoming trip to the Holy Land. Pope Francis’ longtime friends, Rabbi Abraham Skorka and Omar Abboud, a leader in Argentina’s Islamic community, will accompany him on his journey to the Holy Land later this week. The Vatican spokesman called this a “novelty.” I think of it as a symbol of what this... Read more
It appears that the ordinary people of Nigeria are getting enough of Boko Haram. Villagers in Northern Nigeria have evidently lost faith in the government and begun taking things in their own hands. According to reports in Al Jezeera, local people in Northern Nigeria have killed and detained scores of Boko Haram “fighters” suspected of planning another attack. After locals from the village of Kalbalge learned of an impending Boko Haram attack, they ambushed two trucks loaded with gunmen.... Read more
The Vatican has acknowledged that complaints listed in a canonical petition it received from alumni of Georgetown University are “well founded.” What this means in real life, I’m not sure. Hopefully, it signals the beginning of a return to Catholic education at Catholic universities. William Peter Blatty, author of The Exorcist and Georgetown alum, submitted the petition, which contained 2,000 signatures, to the Vatican last September. Here is the text of the petition: I, the undersigned, a Catholic in... Read more
May 15 is the United Nation’s International Day of the Family. Monsignor Vicenzo Paglia, the president of the Pontifical Council on the Family, will go to New York to address the United Nations for this event. He also had a few words to say in advance. He commented that people will say “forever” to a soccer team (or here in Oklahoma, to the Sooners) but to their own husband or wife, not so much. The family has been sliced... Read more
The Benham brothers have issued a statement concerning the cancellation of their show by HGTV. HGTV has joined the line of corporations and other enterprises which is limiting employment according to the dictates of the politically correct police. There is a tendency to label the people on the two sides of this debate as either “liberal” or “conservative” or, sometimes, as “right-wing” or “left-wing.” But in truth, these liberals are no more liberals than today’s neo-cons are conservatives. It... Read more
Saint John Paul II’s effect on the Church in Korea. There are now 5,000,000 Catholics in Korea. Read more
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