Spoiler alert: Please do not read this article if you have not read the books and plan to see the last movie. I came to the Harry Potter books late. I didn’t read them until my children wanted to read them. As a result, unlike those who had to wait patiently or not so patiently […]
I just read two very interesting articles on the U.S. economy, written from historical perspectives. They compelled me to share my own historical perspective. And what I want to say is more about our changing culture than our economy. One of the articles, by Julie Crawshaw of MoneyNews.com, notes that the “Misery Index”—the combined unemployment […]
Messaging tied to a major new UN campaign reveals that the catastrophic fears common among population experts in the past 40 years regarding overpopulation and global population growth never came to pass and are now obsolete given new global population realities. The pro-abortion UN Population Fund launched the 7 Billion Actions campaign this week on […]
The casualty list from Europe’s apparently-endless financial crisis continues to grow. If you’re young, a taxpayer, or a German in today’s EU, you have good reason to believe you’ve been dealt a very bad hand. There is, however, one impending casualty whose demise is fully merited. And that’s the credibility of Europe’s political class. […]
Rome has just accepted the resignation of the embattled cardinal archbishop of Philadelphia, Justin Rigali, 76, and has announced his replacement: Archbishop Charles Chaput, 66, currently the archbishop of Denver, Colorado. Chaput is a Capuchin Franciscan whose ethnic origin is American Indian. (Here is a link to his official biography.) The Capuchins are a strictly […]
When I decided my daughter’s first birthday cake would be a carrot cake made with whole wheat flour, I should have known God’s humor would one day smack me. Though I have relaxed, when my children were babies, I was a nutrition Nazi. Processed foods didn’t touch our table. When my daughter was three and ate […]
Just when you thought it was not possible for the Holder Justice Department to become any more hostile to the national and homeland security interests of the American people, along comes yet another travesty. This one threatens both, as it apparently would involve turning loose in America a convicted terrorist known to be a top […]
In Poland, a nation-wide grassroots effort has lead to the proposal of bold, new legislation aimed at removing all exceptions to the country’s abortion laws thus protecting children from the moment of conception. The proposed bill is the product of an effort led by Warsaw’s PRO Foundation. Under Poland’s political system, organizers needed to collect […]
[Part 1, Part 2] Political subsidiarity would mean little if the industrial system remained concentrated; it does no good to collect taxes locally if the production of goods, and therefore the production of taxable values, is not also widespread. We’ve noted the problems and inefficiencies of the current system, a system that is highly dependent […]
Heavy Laden They’ve ruined me! Their weighty words assign work, work, work to my joy. How can I let go this lack of blessing? I stick out my neck, O Lord, for your yoke. Mary Harwell Sayler
Cardinal Justin Rigali announced at a news conference this morning [July 19, 2011,] that Pope Benedict XVI has named Archbishop Charles J. Chaput O.F.M. Cap. as the 13th Bishop and 9th Archbishop of Philadelphia. Archbishop Chaput [currently of the Archdiocese of Denver] will be Installed on Thursday, September 8, 2011, the feast of the birth […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (1 Kings 3:5,7-12; Psalm 119:57,72,76-77,127-130; Romans 8:28-30; Matthew 13:44-52) Experiencing the Healing Touch and Healing Love of God “All things work for good for those who love God” (Romans 8:28). Sheila approached Anne somewhat timidly after Mass one day. “Would you pray for me?” she asked. “My […]
There are many programs currently on cable dedicated to the issue of hoarding. For those of you who are unaware of what hoarding is, let me try and explain. Hoarding is the collecting and or keeping of possessions. The common word would be “stuff”. The “stuff” that hoarders keep is piled up so high that, […]
What if you had access to powerful marketing research about your company, it cost you absolutely nothing, and you didn’t take advantage of it? If you think that’s not you … then think again. If you are like many, many website owners you are not taking advantage of the free Google Analytics tool available to […]
No One Knows How Far What is the future like? You have not been there yet, A time you have not visited You need not now forget Someone saw me walking Down a foreign street Long beyond the telling Where past and future meet There within a city A square within a square, Infamous to […]
In 2010, there was a “tax gap”—i.e., the difference between federal taxes owed and those actually paid—of $410–$500 billion. Some of the gap stems from the complexity of the tax code. Much of it, though, is deliberate: self-employed individuals working for cash, table-servers under-reporting tips, taxpayers claiming unauthorized credits and deductions. And don’t forget the […]
Even those to whom the truth of the Resurrection has been revealed and claim to believe in that truth still struggle in a world broken and corrupted, where might makes right, and where sometimes the immensity of evil tempts us to doubt the divine presence. We live in a world where we see through the […]
In Muslim countries like Pakistan, many of the young men begin studying the Koran as soon as they can read. In fact, many of them learn to read using the Koran. They read and discuss the Koran every day, for hours each day, every day of the week until they know it by heart. Many of them […]
In a world paralyzed by political correctness and warped philosophies, attention is proving to be one of the greatest enemies of Islamist encroachment. Consider the difference between pre- and post-September 11: A decade after the 9/11 jihad got the West’s attention, many people — perhaps not unlike yourself — have become aware of Islam and […]
Supporting advocates of legal abortions and lesbian rights is among the priorities of the newest UN super-agency, UN Women, evidenced in their first major publication released last week. “In Pursuit of Justice” details the progress made in advancing women’s rights worldwide through changing legal norms and ending discriminatory provisions of national laws. In particular, the […]
Benjamin Franklin said, “Sin is not hurtful because it is forbidden, it is forbidden because it is hurtful.” Someone ought to hang that quote in every doorway of every school and office of the Atlanta Public Schools system. Last week’s release by GeorgiaGov. Nathan Deal of an investigative report on widespread cheating within APS on […]
Those Who Have No God I saw a buzzard floating with its black wings outspread To see along the alleys the living and the dead Above the pale white city on a motionless March day – What can the wind be thinking of, to blow and die away? These are the prophet scavengers which gather […]
Dr. Lawrence Egbert, the medical director for the Final Exit Network (FEN) euthanasia advocacy organization, has been dubbed the new “Dr. Death,” after he admitted to the media that he and his organization have helped direct the deaths of nearly 300 people across the U.S. Euthanasia activist Jack Kevorkian, who died in June of natural […]
Our family likes to celebrate life’s events with poetry, so when we came home from our newborn daughter’s baptism, our older children each recited a poem on either baptism or new babies. I was pleased to learn that my 8-year-old chose to memorize “Tied Down” by Edgar A. Guest, a favorite poem of mine, and one […]
