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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.]

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DANIEL S. writes:

The announced resignation of Pope Benedict by the end of the month has once again brought out all the frothing, dim- witted, liberal journalists who are wallowing in this opportunity to issue judgments on Benedict’s reign. Supposedly he was “dogged by scandal” and hurt dialogue with Jews, Protestants, and Muslims (if only!). His alleged petty, mean spirited actions? He quoted a 14th-century Byzantine emperor describing the founder of Islam in a negative (but accurate) manner; he affirmed that the Catholic Church possesses the fullness of Truth, and he sought to reconcile the traditionalist Society of Saint Pius X with Rome (which made leftist Jews, who already hated the Church, mad). He is being accused by the liberal media of “turning back the clock” for refusing to compromise on the Church’s eternal moral teachings. (more…)

DON VINCENZO writes:

OVERWHELMING numbers of blacks, Latinos, Jews and Asians voted for President Obama in November. That is well-known. Less well-known is the fact that a majority of self-described Catholics, especially of Latin American ancestry, voted for him as well. While exit polls are notoriously inaccurate, more serious polling data from the election indicates that 51 percent, a small majority to be sure, of “Catholics” voted for a man who is, without question, the most principled enemy of the Church in my lifetime.

In order to eliminate the tag of being “anti-Catholic,” and potentially alienating some of this slender Catholic majority, the administration has surrounded itself with “Catholic” cabinet secretaries and legislative leaders, and in so doing can point to their presence as prima facie evidence that no such animus exists. If “liberal” Republicans can be referred to as Republicans in Name Only (RINOs), then the Sebelius, Panetta, Kerry, and Biden group should then be called CINOs — Catholics in Name Only. (more…)

DANIEL S. writes:

With Lent at hand I think it fitting to reflect again upon the glory of our Savior’s Resurrection. I was today reading a collection of sermons by the late Serbian Archimandrite Justin Popovich and came across the following passage: (more…)

HANNON writes:

An older post of yours came to mind recently on a tour of the campus of University of California at Santa Barbara. I have long thought of this installation of buildings as particularly hideous, especially when contrasted against its lovely setting on an isolated ocean bluff. The land is flat and the rather austere landscaping provides little visual relief. During this walk I happened to meet with one of the campus architects and shared with him my biased opinion of the products of his antecedents. He explained that the campus architecture of that time (1950s to 1960s) owes its style to the fashion of the day and nothing more. (more…)