Because they can.

Policies like Secretary Levine's led to unnecessary deaths of vulnerable elderly people and unnecessary separation of the elderly from their families.

Not that Secretary Levine's elderly mother was subjected to the same policies, because of course not.

The mindset which drives "Insider trading" applies to much more than stock portfolios. 

Thus, the "oligarchs of the people" will always have better for themselves than they will for the common herd. 

And make no mistake--they look out for each other, as this incarnate Peter Principle moment demonstrates.

"What are you reading?" you didn't ask.

So I'll tell you anyway:

Lots. 

I have taken a shine to the writings of Saint Bonaventure, the Seraphic Doctor of the Franciscans.

A contemporary of Saint Thomas Aquinas, he has dwelt in the shadow of the Angelic Doctor for centuries. 

I think this is largely for two reasons: 

(1) Saint Thomas is more accessible, especially in the Summa Theologiae. The premise-objection-reply format lends itself more rapidly to assimilation by the reader. Saint Bonaventure sometimes uses the same approach, but more frequently he does not. And while his prose is accessible (certainly compared to Bl. Duns Scotus), his writing is loaded with seemingly-simple terms which presume a grounding in scholastic language which Thomas' does not.

This is not the case with his mystical writing, which is more accessible. 

Nevertheless, Bonaventure rewards multiple readings. 

(2) The second reason he was overshadowed is that, in many ways, he is the more "conservative" of the two men, souring considerably on Aristotle near the end of his life. While Bonaventure did not entirely abandon Aristotleian reason, he was much more skeptical about it than Thomas, and saw it as largely corrosive.

For Bonaventure, revelation always came first, and revelation demonstrated the limits of human intellect. The goal of true philosophy is to find one's way back to God, and the Scriptures point the way. Reason itself points the way to theology.

 The Franciscans always kept his torch lit, and the completion of the "Quarrachi Edition" of his complete works in the late 19th Century helped re-ignite wider interest. And a certain emeritus pontiff was a huge fan of Bonaventure's works. Most of it is still not in print in English, but the Franciscan Institute has a solid list of his works available in English translation. Alas, they are not shipping at the moment, but should be up and running later.

The second item in heavy rotation is the Book of Sirach. Written during a time of turmoil for the Jewish people, the timeless wisdom is especially apt for our times. And the foreshadowing of certain of Christ's teachings is notable, which should not

surprise.

Michigan Catholics, BOLO.

Whatever else you do, do not associate yourself with the Latin Mass Society [sic], which is in a moral death spiral. It has nothing to do with the Mass and everything to do with the odd fixations of its operator--which have now branched off into porn and Nazism.

Weird, creepy, but most of all, tragic.

Pray for the young women, who are especially vulnerable in this meat-grinder of an industry, and for the badly-confused young man running this operation. 

The Adversary prowls.

The Conscience of Blase Cupich.

The Ordinary of Chicago and Pope Francis appointee Blase Cupich made some waves this week when he suggested that anyone who felt they had a good conscience could receive the Body and Blood of Christ.

That prompted many questions and discussions, and was certainly intriguing considering his track record as a spiritual guide and shepherd of souls.

To whit:

He locked 220 parishioners out of their church during Holy Week and suggested it was their fault.

He forbade priests to participate in 40 Days for Life, leaving his layfolk on the front lines bereft of clerical support.

He filed a lawsuit against the Diocese of Spokane's bankruptcy law firm "to throw mud and see if anything sticks." The lack of merit of the lawsuit can be seen in the fact it was settled with a filed stipulation from the Diocese stating that the law firm had done nothing wrong.

And he said that live organ harvesting from babies was morally equivalent to unemployment.

Well, then.

I will agree with the archbishop to this extent: he's certainly not in a position to judge anyone else's conscience.

Your Loathsome, Despicable and Utterly Unprincipled "Free" Press at Work.

What's the difference between American media coverage of abortion and David Irving's Holocaust "scholarship"?

The former have better production values and megatons more hypocrisy. 

Good on Carly Fiorina for hitting back.

[Warning: you cannot unsee the horrific parts of the video, which shows a baby boy dying on a table.]

Some people have a problem with Hell as a concept. Me? 

Not today.

The American Catholic Patriotic Association.

We need a new term for the Pelosis, Ridges and Sr. Keehans of our country, their never-failing accommodation to the State, zeitgeist and advancement of newly-discovered "American" rights.

What better designation than the above? First, it acknowledges the work and inspiration of its sister organization across the Pacific (multiculturalism!), the uniquely American nature of the enterprise, and even allows them to declare their patriotism to the world. As an added bonus, they can ditch that annoying word "church."

Win, win, win, and bonus win!

I even have a motto for them: "Render Unto Caesar. Full stop."

The Kulturkampf expands to the pulpit.

The Army did not approve of the Archbishop for the Military Services' letter, so it could not be read from the pulpit last Sunday.

Angry? Yes. But so long as Sebelius operates without ecclesiastical censure, strutting up to take the Host every Sunday, I'm going to discount the clerical outrage a bit.

It's war, and you're firing confetti. I'm going to start taking my cues accordingly.

Look at these adorable kitten pictures.

OK, am I going to do absolutely nothing? Well, no. These actions have finally pushed me to the point where I can actually see myself voting for Mitt Romney (though watch me carefully, as it is clear that prolonged exposure to Romnium causes people to change long-held positions and destroy their credibility for trivial reasons).

And when the generals get serious, I'll happily march to the sound of the guns.
But I'm not marching to the sound of silly string and mission statements.

Right in the wheelwell.

A couple of months ago, you may recall this bit of eco-proselytizing involving exploding children. Even the writer for the above environmentalist website acknowledged the obvious hateful implications.



Charming--and the scoundrel's "just a joke" defense was happily ineffective.

But some Greens seem enamored with the "whack 'em!" solution.

Chris Johnson found a new approach leading to the same result: using a Mayan goddess as a mascot for a U.N. climate change convention.

Great idea: nothing says "reason and creativity" quite like a goddess worshipped by a culture which was big on human sacrifice. Including children.

Sign me up.

Not so by the way, Hernan Cortes died 463 years ago yesterday. As Ms. Figueres' mascot diety makes clear, Cortes deserves to be regarded as a great, if largely unwitting, humanitarian.

The proper response.

Heather has a recommendation for how to respond to the assassination in Kansas: show the very best of pro-lifers this Saturday.

Economic survivalism.

From near my hometown, no less.

Meet the Wojtowicz family:

Patrick Wojtowicz's family decided to transform their lives when his paycheck began to shrink last year. A truck driver, he was spending more time on the road, paying his own expenses while waiting for loads. He disliked being away from home for weeks at a time and worried about losing his job. Melissa Wojtowicz is self-employed and works from home.

Their dual paychecks allowed them to live comfortably, but they weren't satisfied, Patrick says. "We would basically buy stuff to feel good," he says. "When that stuff stopped filling the voids we had, we started analyzing what it was that we were really missing. We were missing being around each other."

Which, of course, puts you on the DHS watch list, as Zach (thanks!) points out.

Here's their very interesting blog, True North, talking about living "off the grid."

Tolle, lege!

May God have mercy on her soul.

AIDS truther Christine Maggiore is dead at 52.

Proceeded by rivers of blood. An emblem of the decay of the Western mind.

Following the "If You Can't Say Something Nice..." adage, here are my thoughts about her:












.

And now for my one moment of savage post-election recrimination.

Way to get bamboozled and hoodwinked by the human embryo cannibalization lobby, 53% of Michigan voters. Since you are impervious to arguments based on morality ("here, U of M--have one of my leftover kids. She's not all that cute and I wasn't going to do anything with her, anyway"), hard medical evidence (zilch-o results from ESCR--unless you like tumors) or medical progress (we're pretty damn close to getting pluripotent stem cells without dismemberment), let's try your wallet: every. Single. State. which has endorsed embryonic snake-oil has ended up funding it with taxpayer dollars. U of M has already built the frigging center. Hey, remember our budget crisis? No, I guess not.


Oh, and please note that there are already murmurings that our amended Constitution doesn't go far enough and will have to be amended to allow for factory farming if we are going to "remain competitive," as the soulless libertarian editorial goons at the Detroit News admitted. [When the News goes under--as it will soon, being the weakest of the two Detroit dailies--I will not shed the slightest tear for its editorial staff. The rest of the employees, yes. But I'll giggle at the unemployment of its utilitarian editorial board. I'll even give them the Vir Wave.]





America: It's More Carthage than Rome. Only without Hannibal's squeamishness.

News of the creepy.

First, the light-hearted, and sure to be a hit in the Fellrath household: Where The Deep Ones Are, a parody of the classic children's story set in Lovecraft's Innsmouth.

Second, and just straight up eerie, an article on the Wendigo phenomenon in light of the unspeakable murder in Alberta.

On a related note, Jamie and I and a couple other certified neeerrrrrrds used to play Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu RPG, set in the world created by H.P. Acquisition of "mythos knowledge" was an integral part of the game. Essentially, what happened was if your character found some grim tome/artifact/Civil War chess set (no, really) and decided to read/examine/utilize/cast a haphazard glance at it, you would acquire knowledge of the Lovecraftian world and use it to become more powerful and to fend off the grim slavering insane extradimensional beings whom you'd be better off not knowing about. However, with each point of knowledge there was a concomitant loss of sanity, which in my opinion was the most valuable character trait you possessed. Failure to make a "sanity roll" meant your character could flat out lose it in crucial situations and could become Alpo. My character, a 20s PI armed like Mad Max in Thunderdome, steadfastly refused to read/handle/glance at any of the "weird crap."

"No, you can curl up with Abdul Alhazred's long lost Moaning and Bleeding Codex of Ghastly Ends, Professor Twitchy. I'll be over here cleaning the sawed-off. Oh, and by 'over here,' I mean Maryland."

Worked out pretty well for me, not so good for the autodidacts.

Shaidle's War.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Thank you, God, for letting me be born American.

Help Kathy Shaidle in her legal battle against Canadian litigiholic Richard Warman.

Richard Warman in repose.

Oh, and this is funny:

A good and brave deed.

Pray for Mike and Janet Inman, who are battling to remain legal guardians for a neglected seven year old girl. May God grant that you are successful in this endeavor.