ALAN writes:

I enjoyed a good laugh recently when I discovered Walter Henry Nelson’s book The Londoners: Life in a Civilized City (Random House, 1974). It is not a comical book. What provoked my amusement was not the book itself but the unexpected discovery of a book with such a title, knowing as I do the character of London when he wrote about it and the character of London today.

It is a “supremely civil city,” he wrote; “…the pace, the color and the charm of London life help one to relax. …in London, it is courtesy which moderates the harsh character of city life. …the discovery of politeness in London was a positive joy; we found it exists all around one. ….neither the temper nor the tempo of the city seems to alter much.  …the nonwhite population of Britain is very small indeed….”. (pp. 14, 17, 19, 22, 25, 27)

I visited London in 1971 but did not discover his book until this year. I found that all he wrote about London –as it was then– was true.  During my two weeks there in 1971, it was a pleasure to deal with the English people, who were invariably civil, courteous, thoughtful, and unmistakably British. (more…)

  

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"THE sun is clearly reflected in pure and clear water, but not in dirty water. So it is with men: a man of blameless life easily finds his way to the truth, but the sensual man does not perceive the things that are of the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2:14). A mirror that is dim reflects badly, or not at all. So the soul, which is a mirror on which the light falls from God, cannot receive the truths of faith if it is dimmed by vice." --- The Catechism Explained, Rev. Francis Spirago (Ed. Richard Clarke, S.J., 1890)  

"THERE is no knowledge of God in the land. Cursing and lying and killing and theft and adultery have overflowed." -- Osee 4:2-3  

ALAN writes: Aristotle's prediction of the consequences of degraded music is a point Americans reached quite some time ago. Today it is much worse.  Entire generations have now absorbed such "music" habitually and for decades.  When calculatedly-ugly and hideous noise is called "music" and is accepted as such by most of the population -- and when most "adults" do not identify that claim as a lie -- then we can be sure that we have entered a new Dark Age.  

“MUSIC directly imitates the passions or states of the soul…when one listens to music that imitates a certain passion, he becomes imbued with the same passion; and if over a long time he habitually listens to music that rouses ignoble passions, his whole character will be shaped to an ignoble form.” --– Aristotle, 344 B.C.  

THERE'S a lot of theatrics in the alleged ICE raids -- staged propaganda to inflame the gullible. Here's one example.  

YOUR every breath is taxed to pay for this. In addition to federal aid to Israel, states pay out:

“Do you know how much your State sends to Israel annually? In 2023 the US signed a MOU w/Israel to guarantee $3.8 Billion in Federal aid per year til 2028, but how much does each of the 50 States pay Israel every year??

Alabama: $54.8M, Alaska: $972 K, Arizona $355 M, Arkansas $53.7 M, California: $1.68 B, Colorado: $54.4 M, Connecticut: $232 M, Delaware: $15.2 M (more…)

WOMEN have such an extraordinary biological advantage over men in the family that it can only be balanced by social mores that protect fatherhood, marriage and the provider role of men. Without these customs, civilized life is impossible. Once again, George Gilder on this subject: "The desire of men to claim their children thus emerged as the crucial impulse of civilized life. It is chiefly in the nuclear household that the man's connection to his children becomes central. He is the key provider. His fatherhood is direct and unimpeachable, and he identifies, loves, and provides for his offspring. His role as provider then becomes almost as crucial for the maintenance of the family as the mother's role. He thus can feel equal to the mother within the family and he can join it without damage to his sense of himself as a man." (Men and Marriage, 1992)  

THE specialization required of men involves sacrifice by its very nature. George Gilder wrote in his 1992 book, Men and Marriage:

Among men the term dilettante is a pejorative. Yet, because the range of human knowledge and experience is so broad, the best that most people can ever achieve, if they respond as a whole person to their lives, is the curiosity, openness, and eclectic knowledge of the dilettante. Most men have to deny themselves this form of individual fulfillment. They have to limit themselves, at great psychological cost, in order to fit the functions of the economic division of labor. Most of them endure their submission to the marketplace chiefly in order to make enough money to suatain a home, to earn a place in the household, to be needed by women. (more…)

[Reposted]

THIS 2010 piece, “Are Fathers Necessary?,” published just around Father’s Day in The Atlantic almost 15 years ago, sadly could have been written yesterday:

The quality of parenting … is what really matters, not gender. But the real challenge to our notion of the “essential” father might well be the lesbian mom. On average, lesbian parents spend more time with their children than fathers do. They rate disputes with their children as less frequent than do hetero couples, and describe co-parenting more compatibly and with greater satisfaction. Their kids perceive their parents to be more available and dependable than do the children of heteros. They also discuss more emotional issues with their parents. They have fewer behavioral problems, and show more interest in and try harder at school. 

Got it, Dad? We don’t need you.

The most important institution — fatherhood — is the least celebrated. The deference and respect due to fathers is so often attacked most people don’t notice it. The government even conspires to keep fathers out of their homes.

Can you imagine what it’s like to know your father spent 15 minutes conceiving you in a loveless act and then handed over his contribution to a medical technician? It hurts. Losing a father through death hurts, but losing a father through cold deliberation and medical innovation must hurt even more.

In Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield, the protagonist is a young boy born without a father. The trajectory of his life is established from the beginning by his fatherlessness. It mattered that his father was gone: (more…)

"WE have 500,000 Chinese students coming in. I've always been in favor of it ... I'm also in favor of having them stay."