The Absurdity of Nominalism

In the Bible, Jepthah was a warrior who sacrificed his daughter a la Iphiginia for military victory. Since that was the name of my great-grandmother's father, maybe she was kept up nights worrying about her impending doom. What's the unsexiest name on earth? My answer will be Druscilla. Druscilla Strain did not live up (or down) to her name. In the Ray Bradbury novel Fahrenheit 451, a politician lost an election simply because his name was Hubert Hoag.

Things aren't great because they sound good, nor bad because they sound bad. Politics is becoming a really good example of this. People keep embracing sound bite politics, politics based on slick promotion, and politics based on nice-sounding catch phrases like "hope and change." The result is that our country is up to its eyeballs in debt and ruled by con artists who promise things they cannot possibly deliver upon.

Father Nieli and Saul Alinsky

Social justice! Doesn't that sound nice! A Paulist priest was praising Saul Alinsky, Obama's idol, because he was an acquaintance of Jacques Maritain. Yet another example of how the Catholic Church still has not learned the lesson Father Charles Coughlin should have taught it seventy years ago. Social justice is a code word for socialism. Unless the Catholic Church wishes to endorse socialism, it cannot endorse the Marxism of Saul Alinsky. How long will it take the bishops to learn this?

American Power: Elena Kagan and Natural Rights

American Power: Elena Kagan and Natural Rights
Can Congress make you eat your vegetables? Does the commerce clause have infinite elasticity? Yes, says National Lawyers Guild-linked Elena Kagan.

Ordered Liberty: A call for a return to classical education

Ordered Liberty: A call for a return to classical education
If you have a kid, and you want him to have a really valuable tool for the liberal arts, do them a favor and make sure they learn Greek and/or Latin. So much of what the public schools do with our elementary students is an utter waste of time that prepares them for nothing but trade school.

Adrienne's Corner: I Hold Little Hope The Republicans Will Block Elena Kagan...

Adrienne's Corner: I Hold Little Hope The Republicans Will Block Elena Kagan...
For the Republican Senators to vote for Kagan makes as much sense as bringing a Flaubert novel to a Gwar concert. This woman is so obviously like Ginsburg that she squeaks.

Zachary

"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; because he hath visited and wrought the redemption of his people: And hath raised up an horn of salvation to us, in the house of David his servant: As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets, who are from the beginning: Salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us: To perform mercy to our fathers, and to remember his holy testament, the oath which he sore to Abraham our father, that he would grant to us, that being delivered from the hand of our enemies, we may serve him without fear, in holiness and justice before him all our days. And thou, child shalt be calledc the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways: to give knowledge of salvation to his people, unto the remission of their sins."
Luke 1:68-77
Douay-Rhiems Version

Apologies to Digital Underground

Stop what you're doing cause I'm about to ruin
The democratic style that you're used to
My name is Hamid, rhymes with Mohammed
To prop me up, lots of GIs will be dead
I look funny, but yo, I got drug money
All you gotta do is give Hamid a chance, and now I'm gonna do my dance
The Karzai dance, here's your chance
To lose a war

Film Noir Photos: Happy Birthday Peter Lorre (1904-1964)

Film Noir Photos: Happy Birthday Peter Lorre (1904-1964)
"You stupid fathead! You bloated idiot!" One of the best quotes from one of the best actors in classic film.

The Fifth Column: McChrystal Clear

The Fifth Column: McChrystal Clear
Steve is right on the money. McChrystal is an odd subject of pity for conservatives, just as Petraeus was an odd subject of contempt for liberals.

St. Blogustine: VP Joe Biden Relishes Role As Disobedient Catholic On Abortion

St. Blogustine: VP Joe Biden Relishes Role As Disobedient Catholic On Abortion
Just as holy as he is intelligent, Joe Biden. Dick Durbin goes high on that list, too.

Elena Kagan: Bork Hearings Were ‘Best Thing That Ever Happened’

Elena Kagan: Bork Hearings Were<br /> &#8216;Best Thing That Ever Happened&#8217;
What an atrocious thing to say! The only thing they didn't do to Judge Bork was physically murder him! The Bork debacle was the worst thing Ted Kennedy ever did, and that includes Chappaquidick. They distorted Judge Bork's record, accused him of racism, and treated him as though he were some neo-nazi thug. This outrageous statement alone should keep Elena Kagan off the U.S. Supreme Court. Unbelieveable!

Avery Sewell and Coercion

The Other McCain is suggesting a new hero-- the unlikely one of Montgomery Ward's CEO who was forcibly taken out of his officers by men with rifles for the unforgivable sin of defying the all mighty and all knowing FDR. In ordinary times, this would seem absurd. But when "sharpening your elbows" is a key Obama strategy, resistance to coercion does take on a heroism it would ordinarily lack. Incidentally Barry, the Tea Party movement shows that when pushed, Americans will push back.

The Road To Nowhere?

The Barack Obama Parkway in Orlando Florida! Paid for with stimulus dollars. From Riehl World View. As Ozzy said "The road to nowhere leads to me." Or, in this case, the road to nowhere leads to Mickey.

Jodie Evans: What if the Army Did Abortions?

I've just read about a pacifist named Jodie Evans who also was an official with NARAL. Does Jodie have a problem with killing terrorists before they are born?

Steven Givler Online: Why the 17th Amendment was a bad idea

Steven Givler Online: Why the 17th Amendment was a bad idea
See also the election of Al Franken as Senator from Loonasota. Is there really much difference between Alvin Greene and Al Franken? Other than the fact that Greene at least served his country in our military.

John Locke and "Deserving" Human Rights

John Locke thought that not everything born of woman was truly human--that those with sub-normal intelligence were unworthy of life. It should come as no surprise that "Lockean America" is comfortable with abortion.

I just read a ridiculous quote where someone said the "problem" with Benedict XVI is that he is a faithful Christian first and an intellectual second. Well, you know what? Most religious leaders aren't even an intellectual second. Nor would you describe most "journalists" (and I use that term advisedly, given what Time and Newsweek have degraded into)as intellectuals. No one has a problem with the fact that our president, who we are all told is an intellectual, has botched the response to the Gulf oil disaster. And Oh Blah Blah isn't a Catholic priest, so what is his excuse for incompetance, oh liberal media pundits?

Connected Beneath the Surface

Why is it that when one leftist cause is threatened, all rush out to act? Why is it that the gay rights people come out to defend abortion? Why does ACLU care about immigration. I've never heard the NRA say anything about tax policy. I've never heard the Chamber of Commerce discuss religion in public life. Conservative groups do not seem to be connected the way liberal groups are.

I came upon a preposterous blog by people seeking amnesty for illegals from Ireland. It was called "The Thirty-Third County." Well, I have news for Paddy. America is NOT an extension of Ireland, any more than it is an extension of any other country. If you do not respect America's immigration laws, stay in Ireland. Or go live in France, which is the kind of quasi-socialist paradise most Irish seek. If you do not believe me on that, listen to RTE radio, the Irish version of BBC. I've never heard so much leftist nonsense as I heard on Irish radio. It makes NPR sound pretty moderate, actually.

Citizen Pamphleteer: It Looks Like The Ass Has Been Kicking You

Citizen Pamphleteer: It Looks Like The Ass Has Been Kicking You
Getting ridiculed by Jon Stewart is the first time that Obama has had anything in common with George W. Bush. This reminds me of Citizen Kane by Orson Welles, where influencing politics isn't enough for the newspaper titan. So what's next? Jon Stewart running for president?

Why Playboy Shouldn't Give You An Erection

Everybody always knew Playboy was left-wing. From pot legalization to homosexuality to abortion, everyone has always known to expect idiocy from Hugh Hefner. Recent attempts to mainstream the Playboy image, including cable TV, fail to conceal the countercultural atmosphere of this porno magazine. Well now Playboy has sunk to a new low, as one of their scumball writers has written a piece entitled (and I wish I was making this up) "Ten Republican Women I'd Like to Rape." Besides sounding kind of like a Nine Inch Nails song, this is based on perhaps the sickest thing I've ever heard any man admit to--the idea that he would like to rape any woman. This is not funny, not even in a porno magazine is it acceptable to joke about rape. What I want to know is when the radical left will condemn Playboy for this outrage.

The Good Side of 1908

"Dr. Henry Wade Rogers, dean of the Yale Law School, delivered an address in Lexington Kentucky Tuesday evening before the Kentucky University on "The Constitution and the New Federalism." Many of the members of the bar and judges of the Kentucky court of appeals listened to the address. He said in part:
'A tendency has developed within a few years to increase the power of the federal government at the expense of the state government, and in the federal government to enhance the power of the executive department at the expense of both the judicial and legislative departments. A disposition has also manifested itself to ignore the canons of constitutional construction which heretofore have guided the courts of the country and to establish a new theory which shall give to the constitution that quality of elasticity which is the characteristic of the common law. There also appears an increasing antagonism to the courts and an attempt to create a feeling that they are anti-democratic and should be shorn of the power to nullify unconstitutional legislation. An antipathy is expressed to the limitations of power which the constitution has imposed and which the fathers reverenced and deemed necessary. These tendencies are found to some extent in both the great parties and in all sections of the country. We are threatened with a revival of federalism and with a federalism that is more extreme and radical that the leaders of the old federal party ever sanctioned. The argument proceeds on the assumption that the states have failed to perform their duty properly so that great evils have grown up which the states cannot or will not properly remedy and from which we should have been free if only the federal government had exercised the authority and not the states. That the states have not done their full duty is conceded. But that the federal government would have done better is a mere assumption and one I am not willing to accept."

Uncle Joe in Virginia

A town in Virginia actually has a bust of Stalin as part of a WW II memorial. The greatest generation is being put in the same category as one of history's most evil tyrants, a man who killed forty million people. What do you expect when a Christmas ornament on last year's White House tree had Mao Zedong on it? Note to Oh Blah Blah: Maybe the head of an athiest state is not appropriate for celebrating a religious holiday?

In Case You Missed It

To see American Life League's video about CHD, go to
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTaW60MNb_g . It is an eye-opener.

Gaza Free Ireland

Apparently, my cousins over on the ould sod are all worked up about how oppressed the people of Gaza are. Some of them have even gone to fight jihad against Israel. Well, my Irish friends, you have nothing in common with Islamic weirdos who would have your colleens wearing burkas, and would force you to pay dhimmitude because you are not of the right faith. Incidentally, isn't religious freedom one thing the Irish always wanted from England? Hmmm....

American Power: NBC12 in Phoenix Broadcasts Anti-SB 1070 Attacks on Republicans as Nazis

American Power: NBC12 in Phoenix Broadcasts Anti-SB 1070 Attacks on Republicans as Nazis
Now this is just as hypocritical as it gets. The same people who say that Tea Party people are insane because they compare Obama to Mussolini are now describing Republicans to Nazis, and what is more, NBC is tacitly endorsing this point of view. See also Chris Matthew's new attempt to conflate right wing militias with Tea Parties.

just a conservative girl: Are You Late? British Abortion Clinic Ad

just a conservative girl: Are You Late? British Abortion Clinic Ad
Have an abortion! Bob really is your uncle, if you know what I mean.

Anti-Popery, Past and Present

A ninth grader was sent home from school for wearing his rosary. Wow, that's horrible isn't it?

I learned today about the link between Robert Harley and A.A. Cooper. Britain in the Eighteenth century is so much cooler than twenty-first century America. No one had yet imbibed the heady wine of 1848 style collectivism yet. The political debates were between the Tories and the Whigs. If you ask me, the Tories are the ancestors of today's liberals. They mistrusted the military (no standing army) and they believed in collective rights instead of individual rights. They also mistrusted businessmen, and saw great danger in "Popery" (see also today's reflexively anti-Catholic school system where rosary beads are contraband.

The only question is why so often the Catholic Church puts itself on the side of the Tories, those who hate Catholicism and all it stands for.

American Power: Rand Paul Sets the Record Straight

American Power: Rand Paul Sets the Record Straight
The obvious answer to the equation of libertarianism with Jim Crow is that Jim Crow coexisted with statist, redistributionist politics from Woodrow Wilson (who threw blacks out of the White House). to Huey Long, to FDR, whose statism was obvious and whose commitment to civil rights feeble. Libertarianism didn't rule America from 1908 to 1952, LIBERALISM did. Why does no one admit this?

There Can Be No Love WIthout Justice

Guess who was a big fan of Cardinal O'Connor? SEIU, the socialist public employee's union!

FALN, WTF

Guess who was one of the people looking to pardon the FALN terrorists from Puerto Rico? John Cardinal O'Connor! Yet another example of the good judgment of Catholic officials.

The Fifth Column: To Bomb or Not To Bomb

The Fifth Column: To Bomb or Not To Bomb
It is typical of the American Left to show deference to those who would make a lampshade out of them.

American Power: Elvis Costello Stabs Israeli Fans in the Back

American Power: Elvis Costello Stabs Israeli Fans in the Back
Elvis Costello is a left-wing freak who has been singing derisively about men in green shirts (read Non-pacifists) his entire career. Typical proli-rock.

just a conservative girl: The Gospel According to Nancy

just a conservative girl: The Gospel According to Nancy
The sad part is that many Catholics agree with Nancy Pelosi, and the tragic part is that many of them are bishops in the Catholic Church.

Ignorance Follies

Ever hear someone talking about something totally unimportant, and just decide you did not care? Republican Mike Bennett of Florida decided to zone out during a debate on something totally unimportant to most country club Republicans, abortion, and decided to look at porn instead. Abortion? Naah, naked women are much more important.

And facts, I mean, who needs them? Bill Maher, repository of wisdom that he is, declared that Brazil doesn't use oil. No, they're only the eighth biggest user of oil on Earth! But what's the facts when you are as hilarious as Bill Maher. The same guy who accused Christians of masturbating with the Bible.

Being ignorant is not just fun, it is the American way! Anytime you want to ignore reality and just be a dumb ass, think about Mike Bennett and Bill Maher!

St. Blogustine: May Day Rallies Give Away True Nature Of Amnesty Movement

St. Blogustine: May Day Rallies Give Away True Nature Of Amnesty Movement
I'm glad I'm not the only Catholic blogger fed up with bishops and cardinals insulting those of us who oppose amnesty and the open borders policy. Archbishop Gomez and Cardinal Mahony, you do not speak for me, and you never will.

Blame it on Benedict

I just found out that Electric Light Orchestra bassist Kelly Groucutt died last fall, which is a bummer. But you know whose fault it is? Pope Benedict XVI! It's true, he was alive at the time. He might have had Groucutt eat healthier food! And what about the earthquake in Haiti? After all, if the Pope only encouraged the use of condoms, there would have been fewer people in Port Au Prince, right? As we know, human beings are responsible for everything that people in their organization do. Unless it involves giving out advice on how to run a brothel with underage girls. Or it involves bribing Senators to vote for a wildly unpopular piece of legislation. Then you get a free pass.

Hyphenated American: Obama keeps crapping on Israel. Does he even realize how small this country is?

Hyphenated American: Obama keeps crapping on Israel. Does he even realize how small this country is?
Really, what else would we expect from someone who has Samantha Power as an advisor? And who spent much of his childhood in an Islamic country?

American Power: Barack Obama's Humiliation of Israel

American Power: Barack Obama's Humiliation of Israel
Would we really expect anything different from someone who has Samantha Power as a top advisor and whose memoir was ghost-written by the fanatically anti-Israel Bill Ayres? No.

BEAR TO THE RIGHT

BEAR TO THE RIGHT
Socialism always results not in shared prosperity, but in universal poverty and failure.

Neugebaur Is Right

Republican congressman Randy Neugebaur was absolutely correct when he called Bart Stupak, the pretended pro-life Democrat a baby-killer. Ever since the buyout of Ben Nelson, it has been impossible for Estase to take seriously any claim that any Democrat is pro-life. A worthless promise from a President who has proven his mendacity is all it has taken to get Stupak to change his mind. The Susan B. Anthony Fund has already announced its plans not to give him their Defender of Life award that he had been scheduled to be awarded this week. Neugebaur is to Stupak what Joe Wilson was to Oh Blah Blah.

Terri Schiavo Retrospective

"We do not ordinarily think that people lose their standing as human beings, and as bearers of rights, when they suddenly become weak and vulnerable and dependent on the care of others." -Hadley Arkes

Five years after the legal murder of Terri Schiavo, there exists no legal right preventing a person from being starved by an uncaring spouse.

There are only four legitimate reasons, according to Catholic ethics, to withdraw care from a patient. The first is that care is an excessive burden to the patient or family. Terri's family would have gladly borne this burden. The second is that feeding and hydration is actually causing suffering. This was not the case with Terri. Third, if the feeding will not be effective, or cannot be assimilated, feeding need not continue. Again, this was not the case. And death was not imminent, the last possibility.

Of course, five years ago people claimed that Terri, unable to speak, was essentially unconscious. This was before Belgian Rom Houben found a way to communicate by computer after twenty-three years suffering from "locked-in syndrome", which made it similarly impossible to speak.

One can only wonder if Terri Schiavo was conscious as her life was being taken away from her for her husband's convenience.

American Power: Planned Parenthood Pamphlet, 1952 - Abortion 'Kills the Life of a Baby'

American Power: Planned Parenthood Pamphlet, 1952 - Abortion 'Kills the Life of a Baby'
I guess Planned Parenthood hadn't figured out how much money they could make selling abortions yet in 1952.

Lesbian Crack-addict Women Religious

Now Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good has a group of nuns on their side as they push for socialized medicine, open borders, and carbon dioxide emission taxes! Enter the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), who are not bothered in the least by the abortion funding in Obamacare.

Christians and the F-Word, Part Two

As I wrote in June 2009, many proponents of Catholic Social Teaching would like to forget about Father Charles Coughlin, whose anti-Semitism went along with a statist mentality of income redistribution. Recently I linked to a Catholic Key Blog story about Campaign for Human Development's connections with SEIU, which brought a comment about a video from American Life League which demonstrates CHD's links to pro-abortion forces.

Another facet of Catholic Social Teaching is the "living wage" doctrine, which would pay people with kids more than people doing the same job with no kids. Most Americans have no interest in such feudalism.

Many Americans are calling the Obama administration socialist, but millions of Catholics could make the same complaint about "consistent life ethic" and other schemes their prelates devise.

Pessimistic Leftism

Traditionally, leftism has been based on a rosy picture of human nature. Rousseau believed that man in the state of nature is moral. Paine believed human nature was basically good. This stands in contradistinction to conservatives from Augustine on, who saw men as fundamentally tending towards sin and evil. Now the left has reverted to the position that man is corrupt. People cannot be left to make even dietary decisions because of inborn stupidity. Just as with the original statist, Thomas Hobbes, the newer leftists believe that political society makes life tolerable. Indeed, there is no new thing under the sun

Rahm Emanuel

Refrain: Hey, I know where you're from
It makes it that much nicer to meet you
Hey, I know what you've done
It makes it that much nicer to defeat you
It's what we are, it's what we are

Borg is a human with a kung fu spine equipped with a detector of what's on your mind
You give, you shuck, you bob, you weave, and when you're down you've got something up
your sleeve
And you've got it good as bad as it gets
You make your own incisions that come with regrets
You're in it to win and make every minute count
You put it all together and dish it out
(Refrain)
All that knowledge, all that skill
All the gas it takes to get to the top of the hill
And while the others try to take your spot, but you gotta make them stop
Would you do anything, whatever it takes?
Jacks in the road, yeah fix the brakes
It's the instinct that's got us locked up tight
And it's the madness that's keeping us up all night
(Refrain)
Borg is a human with mechanics to win
Borg is a machine with a human tucked in
You jive, you shuck, you bob, you stick,
You're callin' out for help when it gets too thick
Your honor, your honor, it's not me
It's the invisible, visible, evil powers that be
Untraceable insatiable having to feed
Yeah you cry when you're wounded and you laugh when they bleed
(Refrain)
"Defeat You" by Greg Camp of Smashmouth

Two Revolutions

"In the former [the English Revolution]the chalice overflowed from excess of principle, in the latter[the French Revolution] from the fermentation of the dregs!"
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People

When not plotting at how to socialize American health care, Congress has been busy losing the war in Afghanistan through an example of shockingly bad foreign policy judgment. Traditionally, Afghanistan has been between two spheres of influence, Russia and Turkey. (Read about the Crimean war if you do not believe me.) It is a cinch that Russia does not want us in Afghanistan. Now, the Congress is making our name mud with the Turks, too! By condemning as genocide the killing of Armenians in 1915, the Congress has stated the obvious. They have also burned a very crucial bridge, pissing off the one Islamic country that does not totally hate us. Or did not totally hate us until now. Good job, guys.

Remove the Cause

"I think they begin at the wrong end. They should have commenced the measure of redress to Ireland at the cottage instead of the park and the mansion. To have gone first to the higher orders of Catholics, to have sought to make them judges, peers, and commoners, I do not know that such a proceeding, had it taken place, would not rather have served to aggrevate discontent, as it might have been construed into a design to divide the interests of the Catholics. Sure I am that without a view to serve or to conciliate the Catholic population, I mean the poor, the peasantry, its effect would be nothing. It would be like dressing or decorating the topmasts of a ship when there were ten feet of water in the hold, or putting a laced hat on a man who had not a shoe to his foot. The place to set out to in Ireland for the relief of the people is the cottage. . . .If you want the attachment of the Irish, begin by giving them some reason to love you. You ask Ireland for bravery and take away the motives for it; for loyalty, and deprive them of the benefits of the Constitution. By the hapless Bill proposed but defeated, at least a Catholic officer might have been enabled to make a career, and need no longer rise to his own degradation. Charles the First asked Selden what was the best way to put down rebellion; to which Selden answered, "Remove the cause." Remove the cause of disaffection in Ireland, and disaffection will end."
Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Woman Draws Pro-Life Shock by Live Blogging Abortion on Twitter, YouTube

Woman Draws Pro-Life Shock by Live Blogging Abortion on Twitter, YouTube
Wow, this woman has all the warmth and intelligence I would expect from someone who has an abortion. If she hates breeding so much, she might avoid sex for a starter.

Psalm 42

Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from the nation that is not holy; deliver me from the unjust and decietful man. For thou art God my strength: why hast thou cast me off? and why do I go sorrowful while the enemy afflicteth me? Send forth thy light and thy truth: they have conducted me, and brought me unto thy holy hill, and into thy tabernacles. And I will go in to the altar of God: to God who giveth joy to my youth. To thee, O God my God, I will give praise upon the harp: why art thou sad, O my soul? and why dost thou disquiet me? Hope in God, for I will still give praise to him: the salvation of my countenance, and my God.

The Catholic Key Blog: Main Problem for CCHD - Community Organizing Involves Lying

The Catholic Key Blog: Main Problem for CCHD - Community Organizing Involves Lying
What is wrong here is what is wrong with Catholic Social Teaching and the so-called Consistent Life Ethic in general, namely, the fact that this stuff is just socialism by another name.

What Is It About Palin?

Read about the kind of crap that the entertainment types are saying about Palin at www.newsrealblog.com/2009/11/21/sarah-palin-is-a-stupid-hispanic-liar/. Anyone Joy Behar hates so much cannot be all bad.

A New Hobbs Act

The labor practice of using force to compel the use of union labor was outlawed by the Hobbs Act in 1951. The Hobbs Act was vitiated by 1973's Emmonsdecision, where unions were authorized to use violence to achieve "legitimate" objectives.

Estase thought the reason we had laws was to prevent people from using coercion to take from others. Instead, what Justice Marshall did was institutionalize violence. Congress needs to make it clear that murder is not a bargaining tool.

A Weird Thought

Doesn't Theresa Russell look kind of like Ray Liotta through the eyes? Or am I nuts?

Does Obama Hate Israel?

Obama memoir Dreams of my Father ghost writer Bill Ayers has just signed a petition against the state of Israel, comparing the Jewish state to South Africa. The details can be found at www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=120486. Maybe this attitude from a top Obama confidant explains why Iran is allowed to do whatever it wants to dissidents, while U.S. pressure keeps Israel from construction on the West Bank.

Justice Heidi Fleiss

After hearing Heidi Fleiss say "Thank God for abortion! No one should have a baby.," Oh Blah Blah put her on his short list for Supreme Court nominees.

Soros and the Paternity Ringleader

Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good has joined forces with the paternity test maven! Yes, they have co-sponsored an event on teen pregnancy where Maury Povich is the featured speaker. Anyone who has ever watched Mr. Povich's show would wonder what makes him an expert on sexual morality, and it is anyone's guess what Povich has to do with a "Consistent Life Ethic." By the way, does this mean I have an "Inconsistent Life Ethic?" CACG is a front organization funded by socialist billionaire George Soros.

Allah By the Bay

If liberals stomped on a flag that said "God," would it surprise anyone? Would any sane person call such an act racist? Would any college, particularly any public university, have an objection? If College Democrats did this, would they be forced to disband?

San Francisco State University denounced its College Republicans for religious intolerance because of a rally where Hamas and Hezbollah flags were stomped on in 2007. (Stupid fascists: of course they should have known the Arabic script on the flags read "Allah!")

Congressional Reform

"In effect, to follow, not to force the public inclination; to give a direction, a form, a technical dress, and a specific sanction, to the general sense of the community, is the true end of legislature."


Edmund Burke

The Myth of Pro-Life Democrats

If you are pro-life and run for office, do yourself and the voters a favor. Run as a Republican. I don't care if economically/fiscally you are a socialist. Run as a Republican. Ben Nelson demonstrated that there is no such thing as a pro-life Democrat, because when the chips are down, they care more about their party affiliation than they do about being pro-life. I will never again trust any Democrat to be anything but a meretritious pig. I have not been crazy about Democrats since they started referring to people alarmed by out-of-control spending by a term denoting oral sex practitioners. So all you Democrats are now, in my mind, identified as an obscene term much like the one you apply to me.

Franken and Jesse Ventura

Our constitution calls for a Senate where lawyers debate laws, not where a third rate comedian shouts down Joe Lieberman. I love the fact that Salon's Joan Walsh thinks this is a proud moment for Franken. The only reason Franken is in the Senate is because Minnesota is stupid. If you do not believe me, check out an episode of former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura's new show "Conspiracy Theory" on TruTV. What a moment of glory for the Left!

It Is What You Make It!

"The glorious uncertainty of the law was a thing well known and complained of, by all ignorant people, but all learned gentlemen considered it as its greatest excellency."

Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Deer and Democrats

Obama is threatening to close Offutt Air Force Base if Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson doesn't sign on to abortion in the Health Care Reform Bill. New low for Oh Blah Blah.

Illinois Democrats want you to hit a deer! They increased the cost of a hunting license, just as deer overpopulation already means too few hunters are in the field. This, incidentally, will do nothing to compensate for the state's rampant overspending which began under Rod Blagojevich, the Obama of Illinois politics.

Freebird Logic

I chose to logically analyze the classic rock anthem "Freebird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Reason one-I'm as free as a bird now.
Reason one is a precondition for the next reason.
Reason two- If I stayed here with you girl, things just wouldn't be the same.
Reason three- There's too many places I've gotta see.

Conclusion- I must be travelin' on now.


This makes more logical sense than the average newspaper opinion piece anymore

Senator Landrieu

"When the leaders choose to make themselves bidders at an auction of popularity, their talents, in the construction of the state, will be of no service. They will become flatterers instead of legislators; the instruments, not the guides, of the people."

Edmund Burke

On and On They Go

I've been thinking it over
So many times they say you've got it made
They never understand the answer lies within your soul
'Cause nobody knows which way the coin will fall, or not at all
Big wheels turnin'

Save it for a rainy day
For when the cold wind blows to see how they run
I thought they'd know
I tried my best, all I could do
But somehow it was not enough for you
Big wheels turnin'

Refrain
I remember the days and nights
A lonely light that shines upon the window
I see it all so clear, the tenderness, the silent tears
Out there in the pourin' rain
Through cold dark winter's days I see you standing there
I see the big wheels turning
Never ending
On and on they go

I think I'm going home
Think I'm gonna have to start again
It's rather sad
I looked around
Can't seem to find
Whatever's always rolling through my mind

Refrain repeated

"Big Wheels" by Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra

Pro Abort Catholic Nun says the Blessed Virgin was 'Pro choice'

Pro Abort Catholic Nun says the Blessed Virgin was 'Pro choice'

Posted using ShareThis

Can We Admit a Mistake?

Hey, the first stimulus worked so well, why not do another?

The Fairness Doctrine

"Whensoever a government thinks fit to concern itself with men's opinions, and by its absolute authority impose any particular belief, there is none perhaps so ridiculous or monstrous in which it needs doubt of having good success(p220)."
A.A. Cooper (Lord Shaftesbury)
Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times

The Catholic Key Blog: Rep. George Miller Says Stupak Will Die in Final Bill - He'll Help

The Catholic Key Blog: Rep. George Miller Says Stupak Will Die in Final Bill - He'll Help
Is this the same George Miller who calls Republicans "fascists?" I think it is! Who was under the delusion that abortion wouldn't be covered in Obamacare? Other than Cardinal Martino.

That Crowd

A blog on Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good's website questioned Archbishop Dolan's support for the pro-life Manhattan Declaration, asking what a church that believed in "social justice" is doing with "that crowd." "That crowd," apparently being those who do not see Catholicism as a pretext for socialism and abortion.

Why Systematizers Are Wrong, Part Four

"I do not villify theory and speculation--no, because that would be to villify reason itself. Neque decipitur ratio, neque decipit unquam.[Reason is not decieved, nor does it ever decieve.] No; whenever I speak against theory, I mean always a weak, erroneous, fallacious, unfounded or imperfect theory; and one of the ways of discovering, that it is a false theory, is by comparing it with practice. This is the true touchstone of all theories, which regard man and the affairs of men--does it suit his nature in general;--does it suit his nature as modified by his habits?"
Edmund Burke, Reform of Representation, 1782

The Catholic Key Blog: US Bishops, Planned Parenthood Agree on Healthcare Bills - Updated

The Catholic Key Blog: US Bishops, Planned Parenthood Agree on Healthcare Bills - Updated
This shows the mixed bag of Catholic opinion--they are attacking Catholics United for the Common Good even as they press for socialized medicine.

1938

To live between a rock and a hard place
In between time-cruising in prime time
Soaking up the cathode rays
To live between the wars in our time
Living in real time- holding on to yesterdays
You know how that rabbit feels going under your spinning wheels
Bright images passing by like windshields towards a fly
Frozen in the fatal climb, but the wheels of time just pass you by
Wheels can take you around, wheels can cut you down
We can go from boom to bust
From dreams to a bowl of dust
We can fall from rocket's red glare down to "Brother can you spare" another war another waste land and another
Lost generation
It slips between your hands like water
This living in real time, a dizzying lifetime
Reeling by on celluloid
Struck between the eyes by the big time world
Walking on easy streets, hiding between the sheets, got to try to fill the void
"Between the Wheels" by Neil Peart of Rush

No Second Troy

Silenced by death in the grave
W.B. Yeats couldn't save
Why did you stand there? Were you sickened by time?
But I know by now
Why did you sit here?
In the grave
"Why should I blame her when she filled my days with misery so she would of late have taught to ignorant men violent ways by hurling the little streets upon the great. Had they but courage equal to desire."
Sad that Maud Gonne couldn't stay
But she had MacBride anyway
And you sit here with me on the isle Inishfree
And you're writing down everything
But I know by now
Why do you sit here in the grave
"Why should I blame her? Had they but courage equal to desire."

"Yeats's Grave" by Delores O'Riordan of the Cranberries

Catholicism Durbin-Style

"Is that all the church is about, is one issue? For bishops to announce that they are going to penalize Catholics on certain votes I think is. . .reaching too far." Senator Dick Durbin on his opinion of denying communion to lawmakers supporting abortion.

No, it is not one issue. Any time a Catholic feels they cannot follow the Church's teachings on any subject, whether it is abortion or their own personal sin life, that Catholic has NO RIGHT to recieve the Eucharist. This is not a new teaching, and it is not just abortion. Committing a mortal sin (and voting for abortion is a mortal sin) makes you unqualified to recieve communion. Look at a catechism sometime, Senator.

It is disturbing that anyone calling themselves Catholic would think that they are above this basic teaching of the Church. Until the Soros cult takes over the Church entirely, Senator Durbin should not mistake his soft-core socialism for Catholic teaching.

Freedom Trumps Democracy, Part Three

The overriding problem with the attitude of the Obama administration towards democracy seems to be a superstitious belief that democratic governments are good governments. This is based on the fallacy of assuming that foreign policy should be based on a priori rules that apply to all situations. This, as Jeane Kirkpatrick demonstrated, is madness, because a despotism that hates America and represses personal freedom is not any better just because it is popularly elected. Iran and Nicaragua are two examples of how democratically elected governments can be just as tyrannical as any military dictatorship, and, in fact, can be even worse when hostile to our own country. Turkey is the next example of this. If Obama succeeds in getting elections in Turkey, all it will do is create a new mullahcracy, one certain to be hostile to Israel and the United States. If this is what Obama wants, he should admit it. If it is not what he wants, he needs to get over this obsession with democratic despotisms.

More Trouble-Free Internationalism

"I had always thought it unwise and improper for American statesmen to plead domestic political pressures, or the pressures of public opinion, as an argument to support their positions vis-a-vis other governments." George Kennan

"This [9/11] has been such a horrible event that it has mobilized people in a way that two embassies and the Cole didn't." Madeleine Albright (quoted by Gabriel Schoenfeld)

It is happening again. Our foreign policy in Afghanistan is being run by popular opinion.

The Catholic Church v. Pro-Lifers

My church has whored itself out to George Soros. Ugh, there, I said it. George Soros is funding a Catholic group called Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, a group that has now declared war on the pro-life movement. Their latest communique states, " Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good today called on the American Life League--a group that bills itself as a "Catholic pro-life education organization"--to immediately suspend a campaign aimed at derailing health-care reform and dishonoring the legacy of the late Senator Edward Kennedy. The American Life League continues to spread misleading information about so-called "death panels" and "taxpayer-funded abortion," even as Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Vatican's Ponifical Council for Justice and Peace, is praising health reform efforts in the U.S."


This ridiculous Soros front group described the notoriously immoral Teddy Kennedy as " a man of deep faith, [who]spent an entire career in public service committed to common ground and civility about the most pressing moral issues of our time, tolerance for immigrants, dignity for workers, and health care to the sick and vulnerable." Any group that would describe Kennedy in such a way has clearly ignored the traditional teachings of the Church on sex and alcohol, and is only interested in Mexicans, socialism, and other Soros concerns. Cardinal Martino is wrong.

What AJ Baker Shouldn't Read

"On the contrary, it is incumbent on every man to instruct himself, as well as the means and opportunities he has permit, concerning the nature and interests of the government, and those rights and duties that belong to him, or to his superiors, or to his inferiors (p195)."
Henry St. John (Viscount Bolingbroke)
Study and Use of History

How Abortionists Think

"The Democratic Party by voting against choice has turned its back on the women of America. Obama will be a one term president because he is in the process of destroying the advantage the Democrats have held among women. As a life long Democrat, Obama is the first Democratic Presidential nominee I have voted against. I voted for McCain although I know McCain is anti-choice, in part because I believed that Obama would cave on choice and that having him in office would derail the pro-choice forces." AJ Baker posted on NY Times.com

Miserable Donuts: Am I sleeping??

Miserable Donuts: Am I sleeping??

Freedom Trumps Democracy, Part Two

"The U.S. has never tried so hard and failed so utterly to make and keep friends in the Third World. As if this were not bad enough,in the current year [1979] the United States has suffered two other major blows--in Iran and Nicaragua--of large and strategic significance. In each country, the Carter administration not only failed to prevent the undesired outcome, it actively collaborated in the replacement of moderate autocrats friendly to American interests with less friendly autocrats of extremist persuasion. Both these small nations were led by men who had not been selected by free elections, who recognized no duty to submit themselves to searching tests of popular acceptablity. The Shah and Somoza were not only anti-Communist, they were positively friendly to the U.S., sending their sons and others to be educated in our universities, voting with us in the United Nations, and regularly supporting American interests and positions, even when these entailed personal and political cost. . . . In each of these countries [China, Cuba, Vietnam, Angola], the American effort to impose liberalization and democritization on a government confronted with violent internal opposition not only failed, but actually assisted the coming to power of new regimes in which ordinary people enjoy fewer freedoms and less personal security than under the previous autocracy--regimes, moreover, hostile to American interests and policies. . . .As the situation worsens, the President assures the world that the U.S. desires only that the "people choose their own form of government;" he blocks delivery of all arms to the government and undertakes negotiations to establish a "broadly based" coalition headed by a "moderate" critic of the regime who, once elevated, will move quickly to seek a "political" settlement to the conflict. . . .For these reasons and more, a posture of continuous self abasement and apology vis-a-vis the Third World is neither morally necessary nor politically appropriate."
Jeane Kirkpatrick
"Dictatorships and Double Standards"

March of the Envirohippies

Saw a t-shirt today saying "I Support Wind Power," which gave Estase an idea. Set up a turbine in front of Oh Blah Blah's podium, right next to the teleprompter that feeds him everything focus groups tell him they want to hear.

The Coup de Grace

Fully expect one consequence of the Obama health care plan to be this: The day after the public option becomes the only insurance plan available, a Federal court will rule that Catholic hospitals are unconstitutional. Sorry guys, separation of church and state, cannot do anything about it!

John Yoo and Consequentialism

The debate over whether or not Berkeley law professor John Yoo should be punished for helping shape Bush interrogation policy brings up what I call the "Failsafe Dillemma." In the book/movie "Failsafe," an accidental attack by an American bomber crew brings up a striking philosophical question: Is the deliberate destruction of a city to prevent nuclear war permissible?

A non-consequentialist will say no, even preventing a nuclear war does not justify murdering the people of one city. Doing wrong to prevent something bad from happening is still doing wrong.

A consequentialist will say that destroying one city to save tens of millions from death is moral. Choosing to save that one city means causing additional people to die. John Yoo, by supporting enhanced interrogation, demonstrates himself to be a consequentialist. Estase is not sure that consequentialism is rejected by most people, though he it strikes him as repulsive.

That's Much Better

Thanks to Bela Pelosi, who vowed to "drain the swamp" Republicans created, replacing it with a sustainable Democratic wetland.

Mount Pleasant In Touch With Reality

Since Frank Schaeffer says conservatives are in "la-la-land," the fine folks at Central Michigan University showed their good sense and open-mindedness by revoking the Registered Student Organization for conservatives.

This sanity also existed at Estase's college, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where professors regularly endorsed leftist positions. Conservatives were hunted with dogs. The local avatar of Planned Parenthood was given RSO status, while the pro-life group was divested of its cubicle in the RSO complex.

The prevalent wisdom on college campuses is self-perpetuating. How hostile to religion will the American public university be in thirty years, when today's undergraduates (coerced into athiestic liberalism) are the professors?

I Heart Huckabee, Part Two

Mitt Romney has solidified his position with me by his rude disrespectful action towards Mike Huckabee at the CPAC conference. Romney had already displeased me by his disrespectful and sexist treatment of Sarah Palin, part of his ongoing campaign to be the next unprincipled Republican former governor to become an unprincipled liberal president. Estase will vote for this piece of excrement when hell freezes over.

Christians and the F-Word

One of the most resilient condemnations of Hilaire Belloc and G.K. Chesterton is the accusation of the F-Word. FASCISM! In 1937, Chesterton opined that Britain's financial and social problems were so profound that he couldn't exclude fascism as a possible remedy. What exactly does fascism mean? Fascism means a government that gets involved in every aspect of society. Many associate it with the Nazis, although this isn't really honest because the Holocaust, Nazism's worst crime, was not even undertaken until 1940, after Chesterton's death and three years after his comment on fascism.

Fascism is in the eye of the beholder. The NRA Franklin Roosevelt created was fascist in all but its name. Roosevelt was supported by radio priest Father Charles Coughlin. Coughlin was used to promote the leftist melange known as Catholic Social Teaching, and was condemned after he drifted into the anti-Semitism that one would expect from a fascist. Coughlin was used by Roosevelt to promote his New Deal. Most historians would shrink from calling FDR a fascist, but who would expect otherwise from Roosevelt's biggest fans.

In much the same way, few would describe Barack Obama as a fascist. Estase sees signs of fascism in Obama's message. Example One: Obama has nationalized Chrysler and General Motors. Obama has taken over the biggest banks in America. He is using these now-public assets to promote his obsessions- - environmentalism and the redistribution of wealth. Example Two: Obama wants to create even more government control over our health care. Obama intends to punish those of us who don't live on granola and mineral water. If you don't believe me, see the Politico online newsmagazine of Tuesday, June 10. Santa will pay for your health care, but only if you're a good little boy or girl. Example Three: Obama will send you to college, whether you have any brains or not. See also Argentina in the 1950's, where the universities functioned mainly to promote the ideals of fascist dictator Juan Peron. Example Four: Obama is trying to kill private charity. In the coming years, Obama will force Catholic hospitals out of business. He will do this in two ways. He already intends to remove the tax deduction for charitable contributions. In addition, his rewriting of the conscience clause will no doubt force even Catholic hospitals to perform abortions. These two actions will make it impossible for Catholic hospitals to continue as such. Thus, America's poor will depend even more on the beneficience of government for survival.

The time for action is now. The people who have convinced themselves that Obama is merely liberal need to realize that Obama is more than a Carter, more than a Clinton, perhaps even more than an FDR.

St. Patrick's Day 2009

As an Irishman, Estase feels it appropriate to share his lessons from the potato famine of 1844-47. No, it isn't that England is inherently evil. Most countries have done things that were shameful. It would be wrong to treat Germans as pariahs for all time because of the Holocaust. People shouldn't hate America because of what happened to American Indians.

The first lesson of the famine is that even something good can be an excuse for a crime. Capitalism and free trade are generally good things, but Britain used them as excuses for a crime.

The second lesson of the famine is that only a fool gives unconditional trust to their government. As with other examples of genocide, the famine shows that, all too often, politicians just don't care when other people die because of their policies.

Anti-Choice?

"Do you then, you excellent and most admirable parents, read this law and hide your faces, you who are continually plotting the deaths of your children, you who entertain cruel designs against your offspring, so as to expose them the moment that they are born, you unreconcilable enemies of the whole race of mankind; for who is there to whom you ever entertain good will, when you are the murderers of your own children? You who as far as it lies in your power, make cities desolate, beginning with the destruction of your nearest relations; you who overturn all the laws of nature, and pull down all that she builds up; you who are savage and untamable in the barbarity of your souls, raising up destruction against birth, and death against life."

Philo of Alexandria
C.D. Yonge translation
On the Virtues, Chapter Twenty-Five
131-132

Illumination, Not Illuminati

"But the wise and virtuous man is not only a blessing to himself, but he is also a common good to all men, diffusing advantages over all from his own ready store. For as the sun is the light of all those beings who have eyes, so also is the wise man light to all those who partake of a rational nature."
Philo of Alexandria
On Dreams, Book I, Chapter 28

I Heart Huckabee

Rush Limbaugh, whose program ceased to be funny around 2000, has apparently decided to attack Mike Huckabee for the sin of having a campaign worker who called El Rushbo an "entertainer." Heaven forbid someone inject reality into the Republican party! If Rush isn't an entertainer, what is he? Is he a journalist? No. Is he a deep thinker? No. Rush Limbaugh is someone who thinks he can define "conservative" positions, much like Ann Coulter. We're supposed to forget that Limbaugh supported the attempt by the United Arab Emirates to take over port operations. We're supposed to forget that he compares hanging up on callers to the very real evil of abortion. We're supposed to forgive Rush for regularly invoking God as the source of his "talent". Just like Madame Disraeli, Limbaugh seems to think he can tell Republicans what they can and can't support.

Will and Power

"The highest good is proposed equally to good and bad men. Good men seek it by the natural means of the virtues; evil men, however, try to achieve the same goal by a variety of con-cupiscences, and that is surely an unnatural way of seeking the good."
Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy,
Book IV, Richard Green trans.

Open Letter to Bob Norman

Dear Mr. Norman,
I read your blog that talked about Dr. D. James Kennedy in Hell. I didn't think it was funny, although you probably bragged to your friend (I presume there is no more than one in your life) about how you stuck it to a right winger. Do you liberals hate Christians because of your own perverted "lifestyle," or is it just that you think the world revolves around you and your precious secular outlook? I didn't watch Kennedy much, but I know that your vitriol would be directed against anyone who believes in what you call my "mythology," as you so kindly term it. You liberals talk about tolerence, but I have yet to see where you are tolerant.
Estase

Equality?

"I would only wish that equality in politics consisted of everyone being equally free, and not, as one hears so often in our days, of everyone being subjugated to the same master."
Alexis deTocqueville
to Sophie Swetchine September 10, 1856

Not a Hog Roast

One of my favorite bloggers, ELAshley (Serial Extremist) wrote something that I thought I would answer. Ashley said that Mary was a pagan goddess who was equal to Jesus himself. He also said that Catholic Masses are like "a giant pigroast." He may have said more than this, but these were the parts I found most insulting about Ashley's tirade. I am not writing this as a formal representative of the Catholic Church, but as a conservative who usually agrees with Ashley.

Mary is no more a pagan goddess than she is the Queen of England. This old chesnut comes from Chick Publications. Chick prints the most satanic lies about the Catholic faith, but many well-meaning Protestants take these accusations seriously. Ashley said that since Mary was free from sin, that means she could have redeemed mankind. Sorry, that's not true either. Mary is not God. Mary is free from sin because the Redeemer, if born of a woman with original sin, would be in the odd position of being guilty of Adam and Eve's sins. Ashley also thinks Mary was not a virgin. So Joseph really did have reason to think Mary was cheating on him? If you were God the Father, would you choose an ordinary, sexually active woman to carry your divine son? I think not.

Also, Ashley is one of the many Protestants who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, with the exception of the Last Supper part. When I go to the Father at the end of time, I would certainly hate to explain that not only did I not believe in the Eucharist, but chose to call it a hog roast. Jesus is not a hog roast.

I hope that Ashley will avoid offending conservatives like me by half baked religious commentary. I wonder if this is really the best way to discuss serious issues.

The Peacemaker

Upon his will he binds a radiant chain,
For Freedom's sake he is no longer free,
It is his task, the slave of Liberty,
WIth his own blood to wipe away a stain.
THat pain may cease, he yields his flesh to pain.
To banish war, he must a warrior be,
He dwells in Night, eternal Dawn to see,
And gladly dies, abundant life to gain.

What matters Death, if Freedom be not dead?
No flags are furled, if Freedom's flag be furled.
Who fights for freedom, goes with joyful tread
To meet the fires of Hell against him hurled,
And has for captain Him whose thorn-wreathed head
Smiles from the Cross upon a conquered world.

Joyce Kilmer

The Croppy Boy

It was very early in the spring, the birds did whistle and sweetly sing/ Changing their notes from tree to tree, and the song thay sang was old Ireland free.

It was early in the night, the yeoman cavalry gave me a fright; the yeoman cavalry was my downfall, and taken was I by Lord Cornwall.

"Twas in the guard house where I was laid, and in a parlour where I was tried; My sentence passed and my courage low/ When to Dungannon I was forced to go.

As I was passing by my father's door, My brother William stood at the door; My aged father stood at the door / And my tender mother her hair she tore.

As I was walking up Wexford Street, My own first cousin I chanced to meet; My own first cousin did me betray, and for one bare guinea swore my life away.

My sister Mary heard the express, She ran upstairs in her mourning dress- - Five hundred guineas I will lay down, To see my brother through Wexford Town.

As I was walking up Wexford Hill, Who could blame me to cry my fill? I looked behind and I looked before, But my tender mother I shall ne'er see more.

As I was mounted on the platform high, My aged father was standing by; My aged father did me deny, And the name he gave me was the Croppy Boy.

It was in Dungannon this young man died, And in Dungannon his body lies; All you good Christians that do pass by/ Just drop a tear for the Croppy Boy.

This song refers to the Irish Rebellion of 1798, in which Irish rebels wore their hair short, or cropped, in the imitation of the French revolutionaries. A story of betrayal, The Croppy Boy has new relevance.