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The Kaleidoscopic GOP Primary, Part Deux

The Kaleidoscopic GOP Primary, Part Deux

The Republican presidential primary is only getting more interesting every day. That is, it is even more kaleidoscopic than I have previously noted. Mitt Romney, who has been kicked around pretty hard for Romneycare, flip-flopping on abortion, and, now, his views on global climate change or warming, won a head-to-head poll against President Obama among […]

Poem: "Bread of Ice"

Poem: “Bread of Ice”

Jun 17 11 • 0 comments

Bread of Ice Do I not bleed money? Are not my five wounds five decimal points? Is not my crown a woven star of diamond? Am I not scourged with your defaults? Do I not bear a heavy cross of gold? Does not my cup run over with petroleum? Is not the spirit I breathe […]

May the Farce Be With You:Lessons for 2012 from Lincoln and Louis

May the Farce Be With You:Lessons for 2012 from Lincoln and Louis

Karl Marx famously quipped that great historical events and personages appear twice, first as tragedy and second as farce. The tragedy he had in mind was the French Revolution and the farce was its pale successor that took place in France in 1848. To the contrary, events leading up to the revolution turn Marx’s formulation […]

A Problem Larger than Anthony Weiner

A Problem Larger than Anthony Weiner

Jun 16 11 • 8 comments

Congressman Anthony Weiner, who last week apologized for his reprehensible behavior, has now resigned from the House of Representatives. I have only a few things to say about this whole fiasco. First and foremost as a society we have lost our understanding of how wonderful shame can be. What? Shame is a good thing? Yes, […]

Justice or Comfort? Conservatives and the Rape Exception

Justice or Comfort? Conservatives and the Rape Exception

Jun 16 11 • 2 comments

American conservatives do not often argue that it is the government’s role to guarantee comfort. While each of us has a right to be unimpeded by excessive governmental interference in our own “pursuit of happiness”, it is not common to find conservatives arguing that the government guarantees us happiness, or more to the point, guarantees […]

Poem: "To the Icon of the Virgin of Vladimir"

Poem: “To the Icon of the Virgin of Vladimir”

To the Icon of the Virgin of Vladimir Your eyes bear the world’s incredible sadness, your lower lids descending into cups that cannot contain your grief. Your mouth depicts the close touch of your Son’s cheek – only a newborn now but shown as a miniature man already ready to comfort. Did you sense this? […]

Confronting the Mindset of Secular Feminism

Confronting the Mindset of Secular Feminism

Jun 16 11 • 2 comments

If you have access to the April 29 issue of The New Republic, take a look at a long review of several new books on abortion. The work of Christine Stansell, a professor of history at the University of Chicago and herself author of a history of feminism, it’s worth reading on several counts. Full […]

Research Reaffirms Traditional Understanding of Gender

Research Reaffirms Traditional Understanding of Gender

Jun 16 11 • 1 comment

New research reaffirms that gender is grounded in the biology of men and women, supporting the traditional understanding of gender agreed on by the international community.  UN delegates are receiving copies of the research at a time when debates about “gender identity” are heating up: member states are engaged in a contentious vote on the […]

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Oh, How we Love to Celebrate!

Jun 16 11 • 0 comments

Celebrations – those joyous affairs that offer a welcome distraction from the drudgery of everyday life; a time when the weight of worldly concerns takes a backseat to festivity and lightheartedness; a venue in which happiness is allowed to prevail, even if only for a moment, buoying the spirits of those who but surrender to […]

If Weiner’s Sick, so Too is Much of the Nation

If Weiner’s Sick, so Too is Much of the Nation

Jun 15 11 • 0 comments

It must be said: Rep. Anthony D. Weiner is what’s wrong with America today. Once again, when confronted with behavior that clearly speaks to the character of a man’s heart, we’re being asked to accept that he’s not entirely responsible for his actions because of some unspecified “disorder.” (Maybe narcissism, maybe obsessive-compulsive disorder, maybe chronic […]

Poem: "Those I Love"

Poem: “Those I Love”

Jun 15 11 • 0 comments

Those I Love That dark trail As thick dusk solidifies Beneath the tall trees Cathedral or tomb of memories Then to break through At the uphill end of the track To the green meadow and the open sky To see spread overhead heaven’s bright work Those strong swift clouds in the light And how they […]

Dating Rules: 10 Rules for Chaste Dating

Dating Rules: 10 Rules for Chaste Dating

Ten Ways to Chaste Dating for the over-21 Crowd and for those who live Outside the Home Please note that teenagers should never “date” without supervision.  Alas, there is little one can do for college students who live in co-ed dorms except follow the below rules to the best of their ability.  May St. Joseph […]

Capitalism as an Unnatural System

Capitalism as an Unnatural System

Jun 15 11 • 8 comments

Ever since capitalism made its appearance in the late Middle Ages and came to dominate both production and politics in the late 18th century, there has been a vigorous debate on just what the nature of capitalism is. Central to these debates has been the question of capitalism’s relationship to the state, and particularly the […]

North Dakota's Sunday, No Rest from Floodwater Threat

North Dakota’s Sunday, No Rest from Floodwater Threat

Jun 14 11 • 1 comment

Bismarck, North Dakota… It’s Pentecost Sunday, the day the Holy Spirit appeared as tongues of fire on the Apostles’ heads and everyone could understand what was being said.  We could use a little of that around here as each day more all-time record floodwaters scream down 750 miles of the Missouri river, leaving an every […]

The School of the Family

The School of the Family

It’s always painful to read a book that makes you feel like you have failed/are failing in every way that truly matters. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read it. I felt that way after reading School of the Family by Chantal R. Howard. Howard has had an eventful life. Although still only in her twenties, […]

Will the GOP Pull a 'Pelosi' on Patent Rights?

Will the GOP Pull a ‘Pelosi’ on Patent Rights?

Remember how you felt when Nancy Pelosi told us that we would know what was in the Obamacare bill after it had been passed by the House of Representatives? For a lot of Americans – in and out of the Tea Party movement – that quintessential expression of political elitist arrogance and contempt for the […]

The Killing of Unborn Children with Down syndrome – A Crime Against Humanity?

The Killing of Unborn Children with Down syndrome – A Crime Against Humanity?

The following has been released by Right to Life New Zealand Inc. The Killing of Unborn Children with Down syndrome  –  A Crime Against Humanity: Complaint to be lodged with the International Criminal Court Right to Life applauds the producer of TV3’s 60 Minutes programme for providing a service to our community by producing an […]

Poem: "Rising Wind"

Poem: “Rising Wind”

Jun 14 11 • 1 comment

Rising Wind Rising wind Falling fire Life abiding  Soul’s desire Word speaking Babel cure Earth renewing Spirit pure Claim us Cleanse us Make us Yours Stephen Pohl

Rick Santorum, the Unborn Deserve Better from You

Rick Santorum, the Unborn Deserve Better from You

Jun 14 11 • 21 comments

In case you missed Meet the Press Sunday morning: Blah, blah, blah, job growth… unemployment numbers.  Blah, blah, blah, recession… debt reduction. Blah, blah, blah recovery… tax credits.  Blah, blah, blah health care… social security. Blah, blah, blah, Democrats… Republicans. Blah. And so it went up to the interview with Rick Santorum and through the […]

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The Special Place of Fatherhood

Jun 14 11 • 0 comments

My wife and I were at the home of another married couple for dinner.  While a roast finished cooking, we sat around the table talking and eating salad.  When the oven timer rang, the wife turned to her husband and said, “That’s a corn job.” The husband got up and went to the kitchen.  He […]

Living in the Age of Martyrs and Terrorists

Living in the Age of Martyrs and Terrorists

Jun 13 11 • 1 comment

Bin Laden is dead. Terror and terrorism continues. So does martyrdom. But what a difference between the two types of deaths. A terrorist takes his life and others. The martyr gives his life for others. One is an act of violence in which evil destroys goodness and humanity. The other is an act of love […]

San Francisco Considers Circumcision—and Parental Rights

San Francisco Considers Circumcision—and Parental Rights

Jun 13 11 • 2 comments

This November the citizens of San Francisco will decide whether to ban circumcision, a practice that dates from antiquity and is embraced by at least three of the world’s major religions. Now, the fact that something stretches far back into human history is by no means a guarantee that it has social value. Slavery, human […]

Personally Experiencing Pentecost in Our Lives

Personally Experiencing Pentecost in Our Lives

Jun 13 11 • 0 comments

Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim (Acts 2:3-4). And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy […]

Syria – Catholic Bishop Defends Response to Revolt

Syria – Catholic Bishop Defends Response to Revolt

Jun 13 11 • 0 comments

The Syrian government must resist the uprising — and has the people’s backing in quelling forces seeking “destabilization and Islamization” — according to one of the country’s most respected Catholic bishops. In a strongly worded defense of President Bashar al-Assad’s response to the protests and instability, Bishop Antoine Audo accused the media, including the BBC and Al […]