It would be interesting if someone practices waterboarding on the President for “training purposes” and see if he remains so enthusiastic about it afterwards. Oh wait a minute. Nevermind. Waterboarding is “NOT” torture. Read more
It would be interesting if someone practices waterboarding on the President for “training purposes” and see if he remains so enthusiastic about it afterwards. Oh wait a minute. Nevermind. Waterboarding is “NOT” torture. Read more
By the response, it seems the old suspicion and prejudice of Mormonism that drove a pack of Illinoisans to butcher U.S. presidential candidate Joseph Smith remains alive and well. Many Americans consider Mormonism a cult, and in no way a Christian denomination. Privately they will say that Mormons have some very strange practices. Maybe even horns. … Bill Keller, host of the Florida-based Live Prayer TV warned his reported 2.4 million e-mail subscribers that a vote for Romney would mean... Read more
In honor of St. Valentine’s day, a bouquet of links: What do we know about St. Valentine? Answer: Not much. If it feels good, stop it! A St. Valentine’s Day Catechism. The Great Vallentine’s Day Greeting Card Conspiracy: Revealed! Frederica Matthews-Green offers some Flowers for the Fellas. Arthur Brooks looks at Love on the Left and on the Right. Saudi Arabia bans Valentine’s Day. As, apparently, do some Catholic schools. Loreena McKinnett performs The Dark Night of the Soul by... Read more
This post is pretty far afield from the usual stuff on Vox Nova. Like many of our readers, I have a company 401(k). While not thrilled with my investment choices, I do at least have some choices. Ideally I would like to be in commodities and Euro bonds at this point. I don’t have either of those options. Presently I’m allocated 10% Cash equivalent, 50% U.S. bonds, and 40% international equites. The latter is divided between one fund focused more... Read more
(In honor of St. Valentine’s day and the season of Lent, I thought I would share a quote that my professor of Systematic theology gave us last year at the end of the semester. ) Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in Love in a quite absolute way. What you are in love with, What seizes your imagination, Will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, What... Read more
My friend and fellow law professor, Doug Kmiec, has a breezy essay over at Slate in which he contends that “Barack Obama is a natural for the Catholic vote.” Among other things, Prof. Kmiec says, “Reagan liked to tell us he was proudest of his ability to make America feel good about itself. He did. Catholic sensibility tells me Obama wants it to deserve that feeling.” I’m not sure what he’s getting at here. That is, while I’m sure Sen. Obama... Read more
Recently, I have been posting quite a bit of criticism on McCain. He is most likely going to be the Republican candidate for the president of the United States, and I think because of it, people should know full well who he is and who it is they are supporting if they vote for him. Many people think that my criticism suggests I am Democrat and that I support a Democratic candidate. Let me make this clear. I do not support... Read more
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s foes will be those of his own household.” (Matthew 10:34 – 36) Golden Chain (Catena aurea) (more…) Read more
Today at Inside Catholic, blogger extraodinaire Eve Tushnet has an interesting review of Elaine Scarry’s The Body in Pain, which deals with in part with the use and effects of torture. Some excerpts: In torture, every action is used against you: standing, sitting, even swallowing. (Scarry notes that forced, repeated swallowing was used as torture in Greece, where it was called “making knots”: “Only when a person throws his head back and swallows three times does he begin to apprehend... Read more
This is covered terrain for Vox Nova. Blackadder and I have very different political outlooks, yet we both see eye-to-eye on the big problem with McCain: He IS NOT pro-life. Over at InsideCatholic, Mark Stricherz asks the pressing question: How can we call John McCain “pro-life” when he has consistently supported federal funding for embryonic stem cell research? This is an important question, which both Blackadder and I have raised many times. Stricherz’s fellow contributor at InsideCatholic, Deal Hudson, contrived... Read more
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