AT Crisis Magazine, Dale Ahlquist writes:
In Heretics, Chesterton almost makes a prophecy of the misuse of the word “gay.” He writes of “the very powerful and very desolate philosophy of Oscar Wilde. It is the carpe diem religion.” (more…)
At her interesting new blog Reclaiming Beauty, Kidist Paulos Asrat writes, here and here, about The Cloisters in New York City and its inspiring collection of medieval art.
LEAH writes:
My husband and I have just found out that I am pregnant again. It’s my third pregnancy; the other two ended in miscarriage. My husband has just taken a job with a 50 percent pay cut and no benefits because it allows him time to build his own business. I’m 24 years old, we’re newlyweds in a new city, and I’m very scared, albeit happy. I am worried about how we’ll manage. Please pray for me, the baby, the understanding of our family and friends, that I will be able to quit work and stay home, and the success of my husband’s business venture. Thank you.
I AM sorry I have not been able to post recent comments and respond to e-mails. Due to the dire illness of a friend, I have been caught up in the medical matrix. I am catching up on my mail now.
WHEELER MACPERSON writes:
The women with whom I work are all a-buzz over the recent suicide of country singer Mindy McReady. Aside from their predictable and tasteless jokes at the dead woman’s expense (“I guess ten thousand angels really weren’t watching over her after all!”), the most notable thing these television addicts have been discussing is the fact that Miss McReady apparently shot her dog before taking her own life. “OMG! Can you imagine? Why would she hurt that poor dog?”
AT The Orthosphere, Kristor writes:
The basic problem of putting women into combat is that, because they are far weaker than men along every dimension of athletic performance, it will result in mortality disproportionate to their numbers. The ratio of rates of casualty to rates of combat participation will be much worse for women than for men. Women in combat units will likewise suffer disproportionate rates of all the other hazards of military life: wounds, disease, injuries, and so forth.
It is for this same reason that we don’t allow athletic competition between men and women: the women would lose badly, every single time, and so would suffer grievously (not to mention wasting everyone’s time) in a quest for success over male competitors that the brute facts of biology render hopeless in principle, and ab initio. (more…)
WRITING at The Remnant, Chris Ferrara theorizes that Pope Benedict XVI resigned his throne because he no longer had the strength to fight the Church's enemies from within. Ferrara writes: [T]he Pope has abdicated because he perceives that he is simply unable to mitigate any further the ecclesial chaos John Paul “the Great” left behind after the vast crowds had dispersed and their rowdy cheers of “Santo Subito” had faded away. I believe—or at least I want to believe—that Benedict sees as the only hope for an ecclesial restoration the elevation of a younger, fitter conservative to the Throne of Peter. I also believe that Benedict has concluded that if he were to remain in office for several years to come, something disastrous would happen that a more vigorous successor, if elected now, might be able to avert—about which more in a moment.
UNFORTUNATELY, due to unusual circumstances, I have not had the time to follow developments in France regarding “Taubira’s Law,” which would legalize homosexual “marriage” and adoption. Tiberge at Galliawatch has been providing regular updates following the passage of the law in the National Assembly. She wrote on Saturday:
Taubira’s Law, having passed in the National Assembly, is now being debated in the Senate. It is easy to forget that the law is still not entirely a fait accompli. More steps are needed, and there is the Ethics Council that will examine the issue as a result of a massive response to a petition that is still being signed by opponents of the law. And another Manif pour Tous demonstration is set for March 24.
I said before that the recent Manif Pour Tous demonstration in Paris doomed homosexual “marriage” and adoption in France. I still believe that this prediction will prove true even if the law passes. There is no turning back, in my opinion, from the mass resistance that has emerged in France. Opponents of homosexual marriage, including Frigide Barjot, have succeeded in broadcasting the message that homosexual unions will detrimentally affect the lives of children. There is a competing script to the claims of radical equality. The resistance is likely to grow and to become highly offended if marriage laws are changed despite it.
Why have the French shown superior understanding of this issue? I believe the answer lies in their vestigial consciousness of everyday civility, an awareness that has survived the onslaughts of modernity. Think of a traditional French meal. It is not just delicious; it is civilized. Now think of a French table with two women, playing the role of husband and wife, and their faux family seated around it. Such a thing seems much more possible in America.
REVISITING a subject discussed here in 2010, an anonymous reader from San Francisco writes:
I live in a city that has many persons who beg money from passersby. Here are some of my thoughts on Christ’s words, often used to justify street charity, “Give to them that ask of you.”
When Jesus walked the earth, those in beggary were farmers who had lost their lands, orphans, widows and the disabled. And there was no system of public assistance. Most of the persons in beggary shared the cultural and religious values of those more fortunate. They did not yet have envy-based ideologies or the notion that prosperity is tantamount to thievery. (more…)
IF the actress Helen Mirren’s mother had possessed the same revulsion toward motherhood that Mirren herself possesses, the actress would not have existed — or she would have had a hellish childhood. In a recent interview with Vogue, in which she comments on her childlessness, Mirren displays the standard infantile stupidity of actresses today, judging from the above account of the interview in The Telegraph. Notice the photographs that accompany the Vogue piece. They are chilling. It’s not her childlessness itself that explains the iciness we see here. A childless woman can still be warm and feminine. It’s her hatred.
SAVE, an organization campaigning for serious reform of the Violence Against Women Act and its feminist domestic violence industry, provides examples of the threats, lies and smears VAWA advocates have used.
A GRATEFUL READER writes:
A classical education is of enduring value. Here is an advertisement that I just received from Memoria Press:
How knowing Latin helped one reporter get the scoop of the century
You never know when a classical education will come in handy. Giovanna Chirri, the Vatican reporter for ANSA, the leading news wire service in Italy, was covering a regularly scheduled speech by Pope Benedict on Monday, when he suddenly began speaking in Latin. She immediately realized what he was saying. (more…)
PAULA BLANCHARD writes:
I was raised on a family farm and have a childhood of experience raising chickens, geese and ducks (among other animals). At our last home in the country I had a flock of 20 chickens, which provided eggs and garden fertilizer, reduced the bug and worm population, provided dinner to a couple of passing coyote’s and amused our family with their antics.
Since moving to our current home four years ago, we have learned that we cannot raise backyard chickens in residential zoning. There have been two attempts since 2011 to change the ordinance to no effect. See articles about zoning restrictions here, here and here. (more…)
THE student health plans at 36 American colleges, including Brown University, now cover sex change operations for students, The New York Times reports. A number of other colleges offer hormone therapy. In other words, America’s elite institutions cover the costs of self-mutilation for the confused and desperate. According to The Times:
Princeton says on its Web site that it has been named a “top 10 trans friendly university” and that “recently, we launched an online guide” for transgender students. The university’s student policy covers hormone therapy but not surgery, but it is, along with Yale, one of several in that category that say they are considering adding surgical coverage.
“The university is actively exploring the possibility of offering benefits for gender reassignment surgery,” for both students and employees, said Martin A. Mbugua, a Princeton spokesman.
AT Tradition in Action, Atila Sinke Guimarães writes:
[I] think that there is no one in the College of Cardinals who is not committed to Progressivism. And if by some odd chance one would pop up, he would not have any possibility to be elected Pope.
Therefore, to know what agenda the next Pontiff will have for the Church, it is my opinion that one should ask: What are the main interests of Progressivism today? Answering this question, he has a good chance of realizing what will happen.
[NOTE: This article at TIA was written upon the death of John Paul II. It was posted again this week with the comment that its main arguments are relevant now. My apologies for failing to note this when I initially posted it.]