In digging through some archives, I've put together three issues of the newsletter of the National Service Committee of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal for June-August 1981. There was nothing special in the selection, just what I had available. There is one noteworthy event covered in the June issue: the meeting of Ralph Martin and other …
Book Review: Andreas Killen's 1973 Nervous Breakdown
The New York Times' Maureen Dowd's recent comments about the US having a nervous breakdown with the widespread reaction to Barack Obama, the "Ground Zero Mosque" controversy and the like makes me think of an era when the country had a real nervous breakdown: the 1970's. In the wake of the 1960's, with all of …
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Obama Becomes Nixon: Going After WikiLeaks
It's amazing what happens when the shoe is on the other foot: Pentagon lawyers believe that online whistleblower group WikiLeaks acted illegally in disclosing thousands of classified Afghanistan war reports and other material, and federal prosecutors are exploring possible criminal charges, officials familiar with the matter said. A joint investigation by the Army and the …
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Self-Financing Isn't the Whole Deal In Elections
Not in Florida, at least: Despite dumping record-breaking dollars into their maverick political campaigns, self-financed candidates Rick Scott and Jeff Greene trail their opponents heading into Tuesday's primary, according to a new Mason-Dixon poll released late Saturday. Republican Attorney General Bill McCollum now leads Scott 45-36 percent in the survey of likely Republican voters, reversing …
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Making Progress Moving Away From Civil Marriage, and a Note about the "Ground Zero Mosque" Controversy
I was encouraged to see the Anglican Curmudgeon's piece Keeping Religion out of Politics, and Vice Versa. You can see my immediate comments on that post, but it's heartening to finally see some movement on the "conservative" side of the debate over same sex civil marriage towards getting ride of civil marriage altogether. Earlier this …
There is Nothing Obvious About Barack Obama. And That Includes His Religion.
Irrespective of what Obama's porte-parole might say: White House spokesman Bill Burton said most Americans care more about the economy and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and "they are not reading a lot of news about what religion the president is." He commented on Air Force One as Obama headed for a vacation in Massachusetts …
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Catechises, the Preparation for Baptism and Discipleship
This is the third in a sporadic series on the Catechetical Lectures of St. Cyril of Jerusalem. The previous article in the series is Catechises and Baptismal Regeneration. In the last piece, I discussed the whole issue of baptismal regeneration and how belief in same was not incompatible with a true transformation of the person …
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Burqas One Day, Shirtlessness the Next: The French Practice Égalité
The Fifth Republic forces its people to stay in the middle course: Male tourists in France were being threatened with $48 fines for walking around without their shirts on, The Independent reported Monday. Locals in seaside resort towns including Cannes and St. Tropez demanded the move after they were sick of seeing Brits and other …
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New Foundations (Obama's and Otherwise) Are Expensive
"The New Foundation" business didn't work for either Barack Obama or Jimmy Carter: Obama’s contribution was to be the New Foundation. “We must lay a new foundation for growth and prosperity–a foundation that will move us from an era of borrow and spend to one where we save and invest,” he declared. Obama would repeat …
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Victory at Last: You Learn More Away from Harvard, But…
The Washington Post, an elite institution in its own right, breaks down and admits the truth: A study scheduled for release Monday about the value of a college education, at least when it comes to the basics, has found the opposite to be true in most cases. Forget Harvard and think Lamar. Indeed, the Texas …
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Positive Infinity 