President Barack Obama gave his first State of the Union address last night. With his popularity in a steady decline over the past six months, Obama needed his speech to rekindle the enthusiasm for his leadership that elected him in the first place. Thus far, there is no evidence to suggest he was successful. If … Read more
“Tell me,” the wife of one of my husband’s friends began a recent phone conversation, “that you do not start your husband’s car for him every morning.” “Oh, of course not,” I told her. “Only on cold mornings I do.” Astonished silence met my ears. The discussion that followed reminded me of one that took … Read more
The Senate’s health care reform bill is dead. So it goes. What next? Will Democrats attempt to pick off Olympia Snowe to restore their Senate supermajority? Unlikely, with moderate Dems uneasy and both liberals and moderates in the House spoiling for a fight. Will they go the “reconciliation route” and push through a scaled-down version … Read more
A Canadian farmer has been found not guilty of 19 charges related to selling unpasteurized milk, according to the Canadian Press. (I wrote about this case back in May 2008.) Michael Schmidt’s farm was raided by two-dozen armed officers and government officials back in 2006: The Durham, Ont., farmer argued the charges laid against him … Read more
Though it was easy to miss in the media non-coverage, last week the U.S. Department of Health & Human released its congressionally-mandated impact study on the Head Start program for the years 2002 – 2003. The results were devastating for supporters of the 45-year old, $100 billion dollar program. In the fall of 2002, researchers … Read more
Zoe can stop buying those lottery tickets — turns out that (surprise!) money can’t buy you happiness. In fact, many of the things society associates with happiness — health, good looks, career success — are not as important as our relationships with one another, says Nicholas Kristoff in the New York Times: Men are no … Read more
With 75% of the Massachusetts returns in, Martha Coakley conceded her defeat to Republican Scott Brown. Coakley was 7 points behind. The last time a Republican held the Senate seat, recently vacated by Ted Kennedy, was 1953! This election is for the Democratic Party what the 1755 Lisbon earthquake was to Enlightenment philosophers like Voltaire … Read more
Writing for Catholic Advocate, Matt Smith deconstructs Sen. Barbara Boxer’s admission the Senate health care bill fully funds abortion, in spite of the accounting procedures that purportedly keep separate money for health insurance from money for abortion. Boxer Confirms Senate Bill Does Not Restrict Abortion January 20, 2010 By Matt Smith A buyer’s … Read more
Here’s a fascinating article by Ethan Watters in the New York Times about how mental illness is being exported from the West to other parts of the world: For more than a generation now, we in the West have aggressively spread our modern knowledge of mental illness around the world… There is now good evidence … Read more
Three Virginia Catholics are leading the resistance against the encroaching power of the Obama White House. As reported in the Washington Post, legislation has been introduced to curb federal power over health insurance, interstate commerce, and gun regulation. Three of the leaders behind this effort are pro-life Catholics: Robert G. Marshall, a delegate to the … Read more
So much for genetically modified (GM) foods being ‘absolutely safe.’ The Huffington Post reports that a study released by the International Journal of Biological Sciences shows that GM corn is linked to organ damage in rats. The study looked at three varieties of big agribusiness Monsanto’s GM corn — all three were approved for human … Read more
Among political consultants in Washington, DC, there are a few who are principled, most are pragmatic, and a few crawl out from under a rock to go to work. Bob Shrum, consultant to the losing presidential campaigns of Gore and Kerry, emerged from beneath his rock recently to post a tirade against Bart Stupak and … Read more
The Catholic Health Association, readers will recall, recently insisted there was no “disagreement” between its position on abortion funding and the bishops’ conference. CHA had appeared to endorse the Senate version of the health care bill containing unprecedented federal funding for abortion but was forced to backtrack in response to criticism. Now an article … Read more
Bishop Robert Vasa’s latest column, which deals with the proper understanding of excommunication and the role it should play in political matters, was published in yesterday’s Catholic Sentinel (the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Portland and the Diocese of Baker). Many gallons of ink (both actual and digital) have been spilt on this matter, and I don’t think the … Read more
[This article was posted today at Catholic Advocate.] Four Things the President and Congress Can Do Right Away On Health Care Reform By Matt Smith Congress returns to work today to begin the second session of the 111th Congress. Here are four things the president and Congress need to do this week on health care reform. President … Read more
[This article was posted today at Catholic Advocate.] Four Things the President and Congress Can Do Right Away On Health Care Reform By Matt Smith Congress returns to work today to begin the second session of the 111th Congress. Here are four things the president and Congress need to do this week on health care reform. President … Read more
The present standoff over abortion funding in health-care reform pits two sets of Catholics against each other: The bishops, supported by pro-life leaders, zealously oppose abortion funding, while prominent Catholic members of Congress just as zealously promote it. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi leads the pro-abortion Catholic pack pushing hard for abortion funding … Read more
Over at The Boston Globe’s Boston.com website, the paper’s photography blog (The Big Picture) has a three-part Year In Review, featuring over 120 visually arresting photographs: The year 2009 is now coming to a close, and it’s time to take a look back over the past 12 months through photographs. Historic elections were held in Iran, India … Read more
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
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