Opinion

Nancy ‘Freedom!’ Pelosi, a Christmas miracle, and not quite the ‘World’s Best Job’

Eleanor Clift’s interview with Nancy Pelosi in the latest issue of Newsweek has been making the rounds, predictably, because of the Speaker’s comments on abortion. From the Boston Examiner: “I have some concerns about the church’s position respecting a woman’s right to choose. I have some concerns about the church’s position on gay rights. I … Read more

Best Books of 2009 and My Best Book

Every year at this time, I enjoy reading through the various lists of “Best Books of 2009.”  I usually end of up with a stack of books, most of which I would never have read except for these lists.   The list below contains some of the best of the best of 2009.  My personal favorites … Read more

Whom Have I in Heaven but Thee?

Whom have I in heaven but thee? So cried Asaph the psalmist. It is an astonishing moment in the history of man, for Asaph had looked upon the wicked and seen how they prospered. His feet had well nigh slipped, he says. Yet he held fast to two truths that had been revealed to him. … Read more

In Honor of Today’s Feast

The church shall be open, even to our enemies.We are not here to triumph by fighting , by stratagem, or by resistance,Not to fight with beasts as men. We have fought the beastAnd have conquered. We have only to conquerNow, by suffering. This is the easier victory.Now is the triumph of the Cross, nowOpen the … Read more

Dave Barry’s ‘Year in Review’: 2009

Thank heavens for Dave Barry: Who else could cast the lowlights of the past year in a way that makes you laugh rather than reach for the bottle? (Ok, maybe both at once.) From the intro: To be sure, it was a year that saw plenty of bad news. But in almost every instance, there … Read more

Driving libertarians out of the Tea Party movement

It appears that some state and county Tea Party groups are trying to cleanse their ranks of libertarians. That’s a shame since the movement started with Ron Paul and his libertarian followers, and was then co-opted by mainstream GOP Sean Hannity types. Lawrence Samuels, editor of Facets of Liberty: A Libertarian Primer and participant in … Read more

Right-wing hippies are not that rare.

Are people like WholeFoods founder and CEO John Mackey really that rare? Many in the media seem to think so. Ever since Mackey published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal this summer, the press have been treating him as an anomaly. Nick Paumgarten has a piece in The New Yorker about Mackey’s quirks, but … Read more

Catholic Health Association Backtracks On Senate Bill

LifeNews.com is reporting that the Catholic Health Association does not endorse the Senate health care bill and the abortion language crafted by Sen. Bob Casey, Jr. (D-PA).  In an interview with Catholic News Service, CHA president, Sr. Carol Keehan, explained, ‘The Catholic Health Association has not endorsed the health legislation that was passed by the Senate . . . … Read more

The Inescapability of the Gospel

  Here’s a piece by a Lefty named Annalee Newitz about the insufficiently Lefty liberal power fantasy that energizes stories like Avatar:   These are movies about white guilt. Our main white characters realize that they are complicit in a system which is destroying aliens, AKA people of color — their cultures, their habitats, and … Read more

The Narnia Code

Erin Manning has some interesting reflections over at Rod Dreher’s blog on Christmas and “the struggle to live as a serious Christian in modern America.” Terry Mattingly’s review of the book Tinsel reminded her that, annual stories about the “War on Christmas” aside, the real battle against Christmas is waged within each of us: What … Read more

The war on Christmas is in every human heart

Erin Manning has some interesting reflections over at Rod Dreher’s blog on Christmas and “the struggle to live as a serious Christian in modern America.” Terry Mattingly’s review of the book Tinsel reminded her that, annual stories about the “War on Christmas” aside, the real battle against Christmas is waged within each of us: What … Read more

2009: A Good Year for Music

As 2009 expires, music journalists and magazines rush to anoint their recordings of the year. I have no such list, but I did take note of the British Gramophone’s December selection of the Quatuor Ébène’s CD of the Ravel, Debussy, and Fauré String Quartets on Virgin Classics (519045-2) as the recording of the year. I … Read more

Saber rattling at Iran, the progressive heaven of Detroit, and Minas Tirith in cake.

Iran appears to be moving toward a full-scale revolution. If you want to follow the unfolding events, Andrew Sullivan remains the best media source for first-hand reports and video. And Stephen Walt makes an important point at Foreign Policy: [T]his is an especially foolish time to be rattling sabers and threatening military action. Threatening or … Read more

Benedict’s Christmas message: Wake up!

I finally got around to reading Pope Benedict’s Christmas message — it’s both concise and rich, just like everything he writes. Unfortunately, it also seems to have gotten lost in the media coverage of that mentally ill woman who attacked him. Here’s a passage I found particularly striking: The first thing we are told about … Read more

More Arrangements

http://www.rhapsody.com/bela-fleck/perpetual-motion http://blog.naxos.com/2009/11/03/podcast-don-giovanni-for-string-quartet/ Crazy Accordian Boy

The ’15×15′ Project

Wishing you and yours a very merry Christmas, and all the blessings of the day, from all of us at InsideCatholic!

Interpreting Bart Stupak

In 1917, Wallace Stevens published “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird,” a poem now firmly ensconced in every anthology of American poetry. Generations of students have read it as a lesson in perspectivism — how the imagination can see the same thing under a variety of guises. Bart Stupak (D-MI) is not the subject … Read more

Beethoven’s Sonatas

Wishing you and yours a very merry Christmas, and all the blessings of the day, from all of us at InsideCatholic!

StopMo

Wishing you and yours a very merry Christmas, and all the blessings of the day, from all of us at InsideCatholic!

Taking Chance

Wishing you and yours a very merry Christmas, and all the blessings of the day, from all of us at InsideCatholic!

Item added to cart.
0 items - $0.00