At an MRI recently, the receptionist told me that it would last two hours. It seemed a bit long. Two young African-American technicians ran the eerie instrument, chatting while settling me in. They put a set of headphones on me and kindly tuned to a rap radio station. After about two minutes, I asked them … Read more
In a column on Lew Rockwell’s site last week, Jeff Tucker argued for the repeal of federal drinking laws. Such things, he says, are better handled by the individual states (as they were until 1984). [I]t is only because we are somehow used to it that we accept the complete absurdity of a national law … Read more
On June 9th, the Catholic News Agency (CNA) reported that Dr. Kenneth Howell, an adjunct professor at the the University of Illinois, was fired for teaching that homosexual acts violate the natural moral law during his class on Catholicism. A student (not in the class) wrote to the head of the religion department on behalf … Read more
The new governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, is distinguishing himself in two ways as a Catholic politician. Not only he is pro-life, but he is also aggressively pursuing a set of policies grounded in the principle of subsidiarity. At a time when most prominent Catholic politicians — Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, and John Kerry … Read more
The comic I’m posting today is actually my first published work in any form, first appearing in 1992’s Thumbscrew #3, published by Caliber Press. At that time, I was still a pro-choice non-Christian, but I was increasingly aware of how horrific the issue of abortion was. This story came out of my thinking about the … Read more
The latest revelations that yet another Connecticut Catholic priest has stolen yet another million dollars from his own parishioners to support a flamboyant gay lifestyle in New York City are especially disappointing to those of us who thought Connecticut’s religious leaders had learned a lesson the first time this happened in 2009. Many of us … Read more
Economist Mark Perry points out one of the unintended consequences brought about by the president’s new healthcare program: White Castle has been offering health insurance to its workers [since] 1924, but Obamacare “will make it hard for the company to maintain its 421 restaurants, let alone create new jobs,” says company spokesman Jamie Richardson in … Read more
The other morning, when I attempted to start the family van, it hesitated and then stalled. I did not panic. It does this sometimes. One thing you learn quickly as a mother of a large family with a not-so-large income is that it is necessary to be patient with your vehicles. And your appliances. These … Read more
Despite the concerted efforts of both Laurance and Deal, I have remained iPad-less. It’s not that their praise was insufficiently encouraging; far from it. Laurance called it “the best invention since the printing press,” after all. But my innate cheapskatery (strengthened by the truly shocking amount of food my boys have been putting away of late) prevented me from … Read more
Imagine Jeffery Immelt, Steve Jobs, or Richard Branson issuing an edict that asks their legion of employees to submit ideas for cost cutting. Let’s say they receive thousands of suggestions and then open the suggestions to their peers for voting. Then the creator of the winning idea gets a photo-op with the CEO. And yet, … Read more
The Associated Press reported today that Pope Benedict has appointed a senior Vatican official, Archbishop Velasio De Paolis, to serve as papal delegate of the Legionaries of Christ. De Paolis, an Italian, currently heads the Holy See’s financial office. The news report says it is not known what this means for Father Alvaro Corcuera Martinez … Read more
Here’s an interesting story from LifeSiteNews.com, quoting British performer Jackie Clune on her twelve-year stint as a lesbian. Her frank memories of those relationships ring true: Despite the closeness of her relationships, Clune admitted that the hyper-emotional world of a female-to-female sexual bond was “exhausting.” “The women I went out with were by and large more … Read more
Time for some Friday morning links: 2010 has been a rough year so far for the Holy Father, but Sandro Magister says that, “for Pope Benedict, the Horrible Year 2010 is a year of grace.” Sad follow-up to Brian’s post yesterday about the murdered Chinese priest and nun: A fellow monk in the underground Church … Read more
Time for some Friday morning links: 2010 has been a rough year so far for the Holy Father, but Sandro Magister says that, “for Pope Benedict, the Horrible Year 2010 is a year of grace.” Sad follow-up to Brian’s post yesterday about the murdered Chinese priest and nun: A fellow monk in the underground Church … Read more
Writing at Catholic Advocate, Matt Smith comments on the decision by Federal District Judge Joseph L. Tauro that the Defense of Marriage Act violates the Constitutional Right of married, same-sex couples to equal protection before the law. The decision was a classic case of a judge legislating from the bench: This court has determined that … Read more
This year marks the centenary of G. K. Chesterton’s What’s Wrong with the World. The book continues to inspire and surprise with its prophetic insights on issues from economics and property, to its bracing defense of the “wildness of domesticity.” And what is wrong with the world for Chesterton? “What is wrong with the … Read more
Every year, as the country works its way through the Dog Days of Summer, I find my attention drawn more and more inextricably to baseball. Perhaps it’s because early July is about the time the races really become interesting, or perhaps it’s connected to the weather. Maybe it’s just a fortuitous combination of an increased level of daylight in the summer evenings … Read more
Sixty years ago, Catholicism — for the first time — stood at the center of American literature. Katherine Anne Porter, Flannery O’Connor, J. F. Powers, Pietro di Donato, and Mary McCarthy represented the front rank of contemporary fiction. Meanwhile poets like John Berryman, Allen Tate, Robert Lowell, John Frederick Nims, and Robert Fitzgerald became the … Read more
IC’s own Bob Reilly doesn’t just know music; he also has a keen understanding of the history of Islam and insight into its radicalization and current struggle with the West. All of this is laid out in his latest book The Closing of the Muslim Mind: How Intellectual Suicide Created the Modern Islamist, which he … Read more
According to The Guardian, archeologists working in Norfolk, England, have discovered “78 pieces of razor-sharp flint shaped into primitive cutting and piercing tools” in an area of sediment previously believed to have been formed 840,000 or 950,000 years ago. This means the earliest humans were living in modern-day Britain at least 80,000 years earlier than … Read more