Uncle M.Z., will GE go to heaven?No my dear, GE will never die – even if she someday goes bankrupt – but we need to treat her as a person just the same. Communism is richly mocked for its centralized companies. Yet when we look at the American corporation we see the epitome of freedom. Communism is condemned for making people dependent upon the State by expecting the State to provide employment and ensure shelter and food. We look to... Read more
Congratulations to President Bush for vetoing the human embryonic stem cell bill! Way to go President. Read more
Renato Cardinal Martino’s 50th Anniversary of Ordination is today! He’s been called “an idiot” by one Catholic blogger. He was told by another blogger to “hush up!” Still another has described some of his actions as “act[s] of stupity.” A Catholic apologist has unabashedly characterized his work as “unworthy of responsible churchmen” and “the kind of sloppy language on social topics that regularly comes from some European churchmen.” A law professor submits that some of his vocalized ideas have “has... Read more
Remember Scalia’s attack on Evangelium Vitae, when he mocked John Paul’s teaching on the death penalty by calling for “new staffers at the Congregation for Prudence in the Vatican.”? And now Scalia’s keen sense of dissenting irony strikes again. This time, the topic is torture. And, no, Scalia is not writing a treatise on the topic in First Things. Rather, he is ad-libbing about a television show. Scalia is a huge fan of 24, the show where the main protagonist... Read more
Part 1: Nonviolence vs. The Just-WarPart 2: Justice vs. MercyPart 3: The War of Mercy(Disclaimer: I hope that this discussion can lead all of us to a closer look at Church teachings, and so I have tried to keep my thoughts focused upon the Magisterium’s teachings. It’s my hope that any discussion provoked by this post will maintain the same mindset. Though we can find truth in many places, why not go to its source – Christ and his Church?... Read more
“My hope is to introduce as many who will listen, regardless of where they stand, to Libertarians for Life. For their arguments are persuasive, reasoning from science and philosophy. Anyone with an objective mind will find them hard to ignore.” -Gary Cherone (pictured left)For some time now, Eddie Vedder, lead singer of Pearl Jam has spoken out in favor of abortion choice. In June of 1999, the rock world heard a different take on the issue when Gary Cherone (at... Read more
Early news reports from AsiaNews, CNN and Reuters describe a new document issued by the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People which outlines “10 Commandments for Drivers.” CWNews also has a write-up. The document is entitled, “Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road.” It appears to address a growing need to remind us that reckless or careless driving is a threat to life and well-being, and therefore can qualify as a sin due to... Read more
It is a well-observed fact that the US eschews the kind of welfare states popular in Europe. Favoring low taxes, and hence a smaller government, the US offers fewer benefits (unemployment insurance, pensions, disability payments, childcare subsidies etc.) and less income security. The ratio of social spending to GDP remains low. What accounts for the differences in preferences? According to a triumvirate of top economists (Alberto Alesina, Edward Glaeser, and Bruce Sacerdote), the reasons are largely cultural. For a start,... Read more
The Church’s social doctrine is not a “third way” between liberal capitalism and Marxist collectivism, nor even a possible alternative to other solutions less radically opposed to one another: rather, it constitutes a category of its own. Nor is it an ideology, but rather the accurate formulation of the results of a careful reflection on the complex realities of human existence, in society and in the international order, in the light of faith and of the Church’s tradition. Its main... Read more
Man strives to achieve economic freedom, power over a nature that is alienated from him, economic power, or ‘wealth.’ Sometimes he seeks to cast a spell on this nature through magic, to subjugate it to sorcery; sometimes he strives to conquer it through science. However different ancient magic and the science that has replaced it may seem in their methods and general premises, they are identical in this task. In both cases man strives to achieve power over nature, and... Read more
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