Torture and the New York Times

Last updated on: September 22, 2010 at 1:53 pm By Morning's Minion

A must-read from Andrew Sullivan. the New York Times pointedly refuses to call the Bush-Cheney interrogation techniques torture, largely because some people don’t think they are torture. But when it comes to other people doing the exact same thing, the Times has no such scruples. In an obituary of a British spy who was caught by the nazis comes the following: “As she related in postwar debriefings, documented in Britain’s National Archives, the Gestapo tortured her — beating her, stripping her naked, then... Read more

Blame the Investment Banks

Last updated on: September 21, 2010 at 2:30 pm By Morning's Minion

I recently read Michael Lewis’s The Big Short, which offers a compelling peek into Wall Street during the subprime boom and collapse. Lewis is famous for a prior book, Liar’s Poker, which drew attention to the mendacity and immorality of the Wall Street 1980s culture (remember Michael Milken and his fictional counterpart, Gordon Gecko?). Lewis makes the point that the errors of the 1980s were the same errors of the 2000s, only greatly magnified and infinitely more complex. There was never... Read more

Quote of the Week: Vladimir Solovyov on Human Rights

Last updated on: September 21, 2010 at 2:51 am By Henry Karlson

Long before the French Revolution, ancient states knew well the meaning of citizenship and the rights of citizens, but that did not provide the fundamental class of their population either civil or any other rights. Any definite or positive human right can be, in and of itself, taken away. To be a citizen is, in and of itself, only a positive right, and as such can be taken away without internal contradiction. But to be a human being is not... Read more

The Coherence of Liturgical Traditionalism and Political Progressivism

Last updated on: September 20, 2010 at 2:29 pm By Morning's Minion

When it comes to liturgical matters, I lean pretty traditionalist. I attend a weekly Novus Ordo Latin Mass, and remain fond of the extraordinary form. I have a preference for formal, solemn, liturgies. When speaking to others who share my liturgical tastes, most – but by no means all – diverge sharply when it comes to politics. In the United States context, they identify with the movement associated with the Republican party, misnamed conservatism. I believe that this sits oddly... Read more

Big Government For Thee, Not For Me

Last updated on: September 18, 2010 at 10:13 am By Henry Karlson

Abortion certainly is an evil, and it is one which should be stopped. There are many different ways one can go about this. Some believe it must be top-down, with strong laws against abortion established by a strong federal government being the only acceptable goal. Anything else, any other strategy, is seen as being a trojan horse for abortion, because abortion is not being condemned. There are people who would even prefer a system where there are strong laws against... Read more

The Cross

Last updated on: April 26, 2017 at 4:00 pm By Radical Catholic Mom

A couple of weeks ago this Scripture was one of the readings at Mass. Heb 12:5-7;11-13 Brothers and sisters, You have forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as children: “My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord or lose heart when reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges every son he acknowledges.” Endure your trials as “discipline”; God treats you as sons. For what “son” is there whom his father does not discipline?... Read more

Pulling the pants over our eyes (or wool)

Last updated on: April 26, 2017 at 4:25 pm By M.Z.

I have been amused at the attention a post on pants wearing has garnered. The underlying assumption is of course that we make a real choice in what we wear. Some of you looked in your dresser this morning and swore you made a choice in what to wear. This is why for most of you, what you wore is virtually indistinguishable from what everyone else wore. Even you goth eccentrics – ones I’m sure who frequent this site –... Read more

Catholic and Creationist?

Last updated on: April 26, 2017 at 11:23 am By Morning's Minion

Apparently, Christine O’Donnell – the tea party candidate who won in the Delaware primary – is Catholic. Apparently, she also believes in creationism and is on record saying: “creationism, in essence, is believing that the world began as the Bible in Genesis says, that God created the Earth in six days, six 24-hour periods. And there is just as much, if not more, evidence supporting that”. Today, this fringe position is almost exclusively associated with American evangelicals. This is yet another small... Read more

The Tale of Siddhi and Buddhi: A Short Rendition

Last updated on: April 26, 2017 at 4:01 pm By Henry Karlson

The Jains, like the Buddhists, have many popular morality tales. While entertaining, they also relate some aspect of Jain doctrine. Some are adaptations of traditional Hindu and Buddhist tales, giving them a Jain slant, some are stories of their own. One which I find interesting and well thought out is the story of Siddhi and Buddhi. (more…) Read more