As a Catholic whose ongoing study and reflection on discipleship has led him to political anarchism (of a particular type, mind you, though there is no space to get into the details here), the question of voting has been one that I have wrestled with for some time now. My own personal position does not feel particularly settled, nor do I think it is bound to be, as I think context is crucial to the question of how much a... Read more
“I have fired a grenade launcher and hit the target two out of three times, so I think that’s pretty good odds for me,” – Mrs. Mike Huckabee (CNN political ticker.) I’ve declined to give an endorsement up until this point, but the case for fence sitting just became more difficult. Read more
Russell Crowe gets it. Why don’t Catholics in the U.S.? 😉 Read more
Can be found here. Read more
If you happened to notice that retailers moved Christmas decorations in right after Halloween, then you’re not alone in noticing the early trend. Usually we have time to “breathe” between Halloween and the day after Thanksgiving, but not this year. With oil at near $100, the credit crunch, and no relief in sight for the housing market, it just does not seem that this Christmas will be a “big” one for retailers, which is why they are pushing sales on... Read more
I really like U2 and Bono. But I also enjoy Bono’s duets with other musicians (it would be great if someone put them together on one CD release). Here are a few of them which can be found on youtube. Which do you think is the best? (more…) Read more
Yes, yes, yes! No, I’m not re-enacting “When Harry Met Sally”; I’m linking to Wilfred McClay’s essay, at First Things, called “Why Conservatives Should Care About Cities. And yes, I realize that I probably blog too often about urbanism, “new” and otherwise. Still, check it out: [C]onservatism cannot be merely an attachment to certain abstract principles. It is also an attachment to real and tangible things, and to the past out of which those things, not to mention we ourselves,... Read more
I don’t know how exclusive this is (it may not be at all), but a contact I have with the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston handed me the schedule for next week’s Consistory in Rome. As I mentioned before, our own archbishop, Daniel DiNardo, will be created a cardinal. Here’s the schedule for public events: Friday, November 23 5:00pm – Mass for pilgrims at St. John Lateran Saturday, November 24 8:00am – Mass for pilgrims at Sta. Maria in Tranpontina (located on... Read more
We have a couple lawyers in house here. I know we have several more lawyers as readers. This doesn’t make this blog bad. 🙂 Today, I open the floor to their expertise. Going forward we know with certainty that there will be additional children abused. While paying for past abuse has been very expensive, paying for future abuse is very likely to be expensive as well. The existing legal structures have proved impotent as well. Parish assets have been considered... Read more
In the race for mayor in Indianapolis, the Republican candidate Greg Ballard had everything against him: he had very little support from his party and he was running against two-time mayor Bart Peterson. The financing of the two campaigns shows the true David vs Goliath situation: Ballard had raised less than $300,000 while Peterson had more than $4,000,000 in his pocket. And yet Ballard won with his victory considered by many as a major upset. What happened? (more…) Read more
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