“No matter your thoughts about the Occupy Wall Street movement, the protesters were right in at least one respect: The rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer.” Variations on this statement were repeated in dozens of blogs, commentaries, and even news reports in the past months. The claim comes via a Congressional […]
In a recent piece for the Wall Street Journal, Andy Stern, an Obama insider and one of organized labor’s more aggressive personalities, praised what he called “China’s superior economic model.” Does China have a superior economic model? That depends: Superior to what? Mr. Stern, who headed the Service Employees International Union, cited Andy Grove, founder […]
Cable’s Home and Garden Television (HGTV) appears to have a new reality show about what happens when the government buys itself the right to tell you what to do. In theory, anyway. According to HGTV.com, the new show “My House, Your Money” […] reveals what really goes on behind closed doors as prospective homebuyers turn […]
Economics” is the name which people have come to give to the study of wealth. It is the study by which we learn how wealth is produced, how it is consumed, how it is distributed among people, and so on. It is a very important kind of study, because it often depends upon our being […]
“We must re-establish the primacy of politics over the market.” That sentence, spoken a little while ago by Germany’s Angela Merkel, sums up the startlingly unoriginal character of the approach adopted by most EU politicians as they seek to save the common currency from what even Paul Krugman seems to concede is its current trajectory […]
The Obama administration’s censoring of photographs of the late Osama bin Laden, lest they offend Muslims, is one thing; but what about censoring words, especially those pivotal to U.S. security? The Daily Caller reveals that “the Obama administration has been pulling back all training materials used for the law enforcement and national security communities, in […]
The Egyptian elections have resulted in a rout for the throngs whose springtime hopes for freedom are now facing the prospect of a nuclear winter at the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood and its fellow Salafists. These Islamists appear to have garnered 60% of the seats in the next parliament and the opportunity to shape […]
Many, many books, articles, and experiences have inspired and influenced this Urban Homesteading idea (see Part 1). I cannot possibly include them all here – but I have tried to include a few items that capture the major themes that have inspired me. This first article deals with urban agriculture and its economic impact. It […]
In one of the more intriguing cases to emerge recently, male nurse John Benitez Jr. filed suit against the city of Dearborn, Michigan, for sex discrimination last [month], charging that he had been terminated for tending to Muslim women at a government-run medical facility after receiving contradictory instructions about the need to adhere to gender […]
There was a piece on National Public Radio (NPR) a week or so ago charting the influence of novelist/philosopher Ayn Rand in today’s politics, specifically in economic policy touted by certain Republicans in Congress. Ayn Rand was a proponent of “objectivism,” that is quoting from the NPR piece: It is, she says, a system of […]
I was born in Norwich, CT at William Backus Hospital; and lived in Norwich until I was three years old. My family then moved to Hartford, my father worked downtown as a State employee and I was raised in Hartford until reputable families fled the city for the suburbs. East Windsor was home until college, […]
As active U.S. military involvement in Iraq draws to a close, what does the moral scorecard on this adventure look like from an American point of view? Granted that a comprehensive weighing of results will only be possible some years from now, at the moment the picture is something like this. In a perverse way, […]
The inevitable has happened. After weeks of steadily plummeting polls numbers and increasing political pressure, Herman Cain’s campaign has finally collapsed under the weight of multiple allegations of sexual infidelity. The general assumption is that Newt Gingrich will be the primary benefactor of Cain’s demise. Unlike the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO, Gingrich’s political star has […]
Countless times I have been warned about how miserable I will be when I discover that civilization has passed me by, while I sit, frothing from the mouth, beating my cane against my rocker, clinging to archaic notions about sexuality and marriage. So, for those inclined to issue the same warning again, or for those […]
Our decadent society is, alas, now forcing us to look full in the face of yet another moral abomination, namely pedophilia. Child abuse, says Pope Benedict, “affects every level of society.” In a speech to a delegation of American Bishops on November 26th, the Pope addressed the issue of pedophilia, expressing his hope that the […]
While necessity is the mother of invention, sloth and envy beget mediocrity and upheaval – the twin siblings of secular-socialism. It is in this vein that a rebellious and increasingly violent spirit of incoherent anarchy continues to fester in urban centers across the nation. This is most evident in the form of the envy-driven “Occupy […]
One fact that has become increasingly evident in the Great Recession’s wake is the disproportionate influence exerted upon economic policy by those aged 65 years or older. This group is far more economically secure than most other Americans — according to a recent Pew Research Center study, the gap between the average net worth of those […]
The only Native American writer I know gave permission for a literary journal to republish thoughts about Thanksgiving that she had first corralled a few years ago, and reading them was an illuminating experience. Terra Trevor reminded me why American Indians are not necessarily as sanguine about Thanksgiving celebrations as I am. She also got […]
Over the next several months, you will likely be asked how same-sex “marriage” will affect you. This question is asked because those trying to redefine marriage would like you to believe that it will have no impact on anyone whose names do not appear on the same-sex “marriage” license. They argue that this is a […]
Ancient Wisdom for Modern Nations The horses’ feet clop upon the stone road as the carriage rocks along, the sound of conversation echoing from its confines out into the quiet countryside. It is 140 BC. The Roman nation is nearing the apex of its affluence and power. Death, discouragement and defeat during a brutal series […]
Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi blasted Catholics for fighting for the right not to perform or fund abortions, describing their abhorrence for supporting abortions as “this conscience thing,” in remarks to the Washington Post. Last month, during a debate in the House over a bill to stop abortion funding in the health care […]
Lies, falsehoods, untruths are the foundation of the secular humanist doctrines which are foisted upon America. Two of the most harmful — and widely accepted — concern abortion, and separation of church and state. This article focuses upon one typical instance of the lie about Christianity and the United States. It reveals a typical operation of the humanist […]
Step into a kosher restaurant and skim the menu looking for pork chops: you won’t find any. Practicing Jews don’t eat pork, they don’t sell pork, and no one expects them to pay for pork. Pork goes against their faith, and they don’t do pork. In much the same way, faithful Catholics don’t do contraception, […]
A faith removed from lived experience is no faith at all (James 2:14ff). Our faith concerns the totality of the human person, the shape of culture, with a commitment to building a “civilization of love.” The political arena is a very specific place we are called to “go into the world” (Matt. 28:19). So it was […]
