EVERY day of the week in America, people are sadly killed in violent crimes. These ordinary deaths usually receive no intense media coverage lasting for days on end. The public is not pummeled with the details, almost as if they were being systematically traumatized themselves. There are no instantaneous public expressions of grief by politicians or community-wide, televised candlelit vigils. There are no immediate calls on national television for legislative action and new security measures. These crimes often involve reckless or inexpert use of guns. There are no socially awkward and clumsy teenagers displaying the sort of Rambo-style marksmanship even highly-trained and fit members of the military would find difficult to replicate. As I learned in the years when I was a newspaper reporter covering violent crime, family members and witnesses are devastated. They sometimes cry uncontrollably. They can barely speak or talk coherently. They experience intense shock, particularly if they have witnessed violence and bloodshed. They cannot put into words their trauma or fear in the very first moments after a violent crime, let alone smile repeatedly, as the famous Robbie Parker did at a nationally publicized press conference after his daughter was allegedly gunned down in a quiet, suburban school, just before the president interrupted his schedule and flew in for photo ops. Always ask yourself when a big story emerges with lots of accompanying political hoopla, "Does anyone benefit?" and "Is my instinctive compassion being manipulated?" Guns…

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"A SOUL TO whom God makes known its defects is much more burdensome to itself than its neighbor ever could be to it, because the latter, however near to us, is not always with us; at any rate is not within us, whereas we carry ourselves about with us, and cannot leave ourselves for a single moment, nor completely cease to behold ourselves, to feel ourselves, and to carry about with us everywhere our imperfections, and our faults. But see wherein the infinite goodness of our God shines forth; for the sorrow and shame that our faults cause us are their own remedy, provided that this shame never turns into defiance, and that the sorrow is inspired by the love of God, and not by self−love. Sorrow born of self−love is full of vexation and bitterness; far from healing the wounds of our soul, it only serves to poison them. On the other hand, sorrow produced by the love of God is calm and full of resignation; while detecting the fault it delights in the humiliation which follows, and from this it results that much merit is gained, and thus even from losses we make, profit. Cease then from tormenting yourself on account of your defects and of the imperfection of your works. Offer to God the sorrow they occasion you, and allow His divine Providence to make good these slight infidelities by many little crosses and sufferings of all…

  "IF THE UNEASY American Woman were really fulfilling her economic functions today, she would never allow a short pound of butter, a yard of adulterated woolen goods, to come into her home. She would never buy a ready-made garment which did not bear the label of the Consumer's League. She would recognize that she is a guardian of quality, honesty, and humanity in industry. "A persistent misconception of the nature and the possibilities of this practical side of the Business of Being a Woman runs through all present-day discussions of the changes in household economy. The woman no longer has a chance to pay her way, we are told, because it is really cheaper to buy bread than to bake it, to buy jam than to put it up. Of course, this is a part of the vicious notion that a woman only makes an economic return by the manual labor she does. The Uneasy Woman takes up the point and complains that she has nothing to do. But this release from certain kinds of labor once necessary, merely puts upon her the obligation to apply the ingenuity and imagination necessary to make her business meet the changes of an ever changing world. Because the conditions under which a household must be run now are not what they were fifty years ago is no proof that the woman no longer has here an important field of labor. There is…

"CATHOLIC doctrine tells us that the primary duty of charity does not lie in the toleration of false ideas, however sincere they may be, nor in the theoretical or practical indifference towards the errors and vices in which we see our brethren plunged." -- Pope St. Pius X  

FROM Racism, Guilt, Self Hatred, And Self Deceit by Gedaliah Braun, PhD (2007):

I am an American who from 1976 to 1988 taught philosophy at universities in Nigeria, Kenya and Papua New Guinea, since which time I have lived in South Africa … With very few exceptions, blacks in Africa regard it as an obvious, commonplace fact, needing no argument, and provoking no ‘offense’ whatsoever, that the white man is superior to the black man. ‘Blaming’ this inferiority on whites or colonialism (‘externalism’), therefore, is obviously a nonstarter.

This claim about black attitudes is based on conversations with hundreds of blacks in Africa and Papua New Guinea. That indigenous blacks so matter-of-factly believe this does not make it true; but it does establish that for them, the question of racial differences is not a ‘sensitive’ issue. Where does this idea come from – that racial difference is a despicable idea, so disgraceful that the mere suggestion of it can end careers? I believe it comes from whites rather than blacks, which is why, in black Africa, where there are few whites and remarkably little Western ideological influence, the idea that all races are the same and that it is morally bad to say otherwise is almost unknown. (more…)

“THERE is nothing so absurd,’ quipped the ancient Roman philosopher-statesman Cicero, ‘that it can’t be said by a philosopher.’ Unfortunately, philosophers’ absurdities aren’t limited to classroom sophistry and eccentric speculations. They make their way into print and are thereby released upon the public. They can be, and have been, as dangerous and harmful as deadly diseases. And as with deadly diseases, people can pick up deadly ideas without even noticing. These ideas float, largely undetected, in the intellectual air we breathe.

“If we take a good, hard, sober look at the awful effects of such deadly ideas we can come to only one conclusion: there are books that really have screwed up the world, books that we would have been better off without.

“This should not come as a shock, except to those who don’t believe that ideas have consequences. Thomas Carlyle, the eminent Scottish essayist and sometime philosopher, was once scolded at a dinner party for endlessly chattering about books: ‘Ideas, Mr. Carlyle, ideas, nothing but ideas!’ To which he replied, ‘There once was a man called Rousseau who wrote a book containing nothing but ideas. The second edition was bound in the skins of those who laughed at the first.’ Carlyle was right. Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote a book that inspired the ruthlessness of the French Revolution (and even more destructive things after that).

‘Common sense and a little logic tell us that if ideas have consequences, then it follows that bad ideas have bad consequences. And even more obvious, if bad ideas are written down in books, they are far more durable, infecting generation after generation and increasing the world’s wretchedness.’

— Benjamin Wiker, Ten Books that Screwed Up the World, and Five Others that Didn’t Help

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"GOD seems to have set women apart to pay the debt of sin. Men saints have a wider sphere of action and one that attracts attention. They travel all over the world, found or reform Religious Orders, convert the heathen, exercise their ministry in the pulpit by their eloquence. Woman has a more passive role to fulfill: she has not the sacerdotal character and may pass her life in silent suffering on a bed of sickness. The temperament of a woman is more affectionate and devoted, as well as less selfish than a man's. She is likewise more impressionable and susceptible of emotion. Our Lord Himself met with a readier welcome from women; they excel in little and refined attentions, little acts of thoughtful charity such indeed as a man, unless he is a St. Francis of Assisi, overlooks." --- Joris-Karl Huysmans (1848-1907)  

"EVERYTHING reminds us of the cross. We ourselves are made in the form of a cross. Balm and sweetness exhale from the cross. The unction, which overflows from the cross, inundates our souls, in proportion as we unite ourselves with it, holding it tightly against our hearts. The cross contains more wisdom than any book; all who do not know this book are ignorant, however many other books they may have studied. Those only are truly wise who love and consult this book, who study it deeply. Bitter as this book is, they are never happier than when they can immerse themselves in its bitterness. The more they frequent this school, the more they desire to remain there, never do their studies weary them." --- St. John Vianney  

"Without the burden of afflictions it is impossible to reach the height of grace. The gift of grace increases as the struggle increases." ---- St. Rose of Lima  

"WHAT if a man is poor? Even so he is rich. Look at His riches with eyes of faith only. For you look only at an empty purse; not at a conscience filled with God. Outwardly he has nothing, but within he has charity. How much can one give from charity and not exhaust it!" -- St. Augustine  

STAGE a fake war in Gaza. Garner billions in U.S. aid. Cause protests and political division in the West. Send millions of Muslim refugees from "war-torn" Palestine to Europe. Conquer your greatest enemy. Redevelop Gaza into a resort area. Checkmate! According to Fakenukes Phil, that's the current agenda in the Middle East and it's succeeding. I can't endorse all Phil's theories, but this one sounds right.  

"DIFFERENCE of race or condition or sex is indeed taken away by the unity of faith, but it remains embedded in our mortal interactions, and in the journey of this life the apostles teach that it is to be respected, and they even proposed living in accord with the racial differences between Jews and Greeks as a wholesome rule." [bold added] --- St. Augustine, Epistle to the Galatians (3:28-29)  

"MANY examples can be cited which show that absolutely nothing would remain intact in human society if we should determine to believe only what we can grasp by perception." --- St. Augustine, The Advantage of Believing  

IN 1967, Carleton Putnam, businessman, Princeton graduate and author, wrote:

Let a man be told incessantly that everything he and his forefathers had achieved was largely a matter of chance; that the poverty and backward condition of other individuals and races was also largely a question of luck — in fact perhaps even the fault of himself and his forefathers; that his standards of morals, fiscal responsibility and personal integrity were no better than anyone else’s; that his civilization was mostly happenstance and really nothing much to be proud of; that since all humanity were innately equal, all actual differences must be due to the other man’s misfortune and his own four-leaf clovers — let a man hear these things often enough and his values were bound to change. (more…)

 O all ye things that spring up in the earth, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.   O ye fountains, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.   O ye seas and rivers, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.  O ye whales, and all that move in the waters, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.  O all ye fowls of the air, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. O all ye beasts and cattle, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.  O ye sons of men, bless the Lord, praise and exalt him above all for ever.  O let Israel bless the Lord: let them praise and exalt him above all for ever.   O ye priests of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.  O ye servants of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. [Daniel 3:76-85]  

BLOOD is thicker than water. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. A leopard cannot change its spots. Birds of a feather flock together. Bloom where you are planted. You aren't required to set yourself on fire to keep others warm. The greatest kindness will not bind the ungrateful. The same law for both the lion and ox is oppression. Good fences make good neighbors. Like Father, like son. An ounce of blood is worth more than a pound of friendship. [With thanks to Who Is My Neighbor?: An Anthology of Natural Relations, by Thomas Achord and Darrel Dow]  

"PEOPLE tend to be quite fickle. They love us and leave us. They shift from one position to another like a kite in the wind. Let them do as they will. Just be sure that you see only God in them. It is He that tests and blesses us, using them as we have need." --- François Fénelon, P.S.S.