Editorial: Knights' monetary influence skews our church: We say: The degree of wealth the Knights of Columbus has amassed and the influence it exerts within the church, and in shaping the Catholic narrative raise serious questions for 21st-century Catholicism.
MGB: The Church is fine. It mostly skews the Knights to their own detriment. Like FoxNews viewers (and I suspect there is plenty of overlap), they are older white men who will not live forever. Whether the Knights adapt or die is probably something that most Catholics don't even care about anymore, which is sad.
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Cardinal Cupich points to a new consistent ethic of solidarity
Cardinal Cupich points to a new consistent ethic of solidarity: Distinctly Catholic: Cupich
MGB: That he did not cite his other predecessor, Cardinal George, speaks volumes. Cardinal Bernadine actively resisted the Republican Party's goal of co-opting the pro-life movement without quite saying that this had already occurred. Today, it should be family wages, not the death penalty or nuclear war, which defines a consistent ethic of life. This hits the libertarians where it hurts, even though most of us prefer some type of tax credited income (like a negative income tax) to categorical programs.
Making sure all families are financially well is simply more solidarity than some pro-lifers can take, since they are more into forcing conservative sexuality onto women than protecting life. Theirs is a consistent ethic of moralism, in solidarity with all the moralists before them, rather than with the poor or with sinners.
MGB: That he did not cite his other predecessor, Cardinal George, speaks volumes. Cardinal Bernadine actively resisted the Republican Party's goal of co-opting the pro-life movement without quite saying that this had already occurred. Today, it should be family wages, not the death penalty or nuclear war, which defines a consistent ethic of life. This hits the libertarians where it hurts, even though most of us prefer some type of tax credited income (like a negative income tax) to categorical programs.
Making sure all families are financially well is simply more solidarity than some pro-lifers can take, since they are more into forcing conservative sexuality onto women than protecting life. Theirs is a consistent ethic of moralism, in solidarity with all the moralists before them, rather than with the poor or with sinners.
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Links for 05/30/17
Links for 05/30/17: At Our Sunday Visitor, Don Clemmer on the Church's response to the immigration crisis brought on by the Trump administration.
Meghan Clark, at America, argues that there is no moral or poli...
MGB: The interesting thing is that many of the new undocumented would have been spared deportation had their relatives been transferred in jail. Because that is not done anymore, when they are arrested at home, the family goes too. Sadly, the Democrats treat this as a wedge issue rather than an issue to solve, so don't expect much from them.
The only moral case for cutting food stamps is a better alternative - a larger child tax credit and a $15 minimum wage for work or literacy/job training programs. The abuses in SNAP come because people don't have any liquidity, so cash assistance must increase.
Congratulations St. Augustine's.
If Trump were smart he would hire Boehner as his chief of staff and let him purge the White House of the unqualified (except Trump) and let Trump take away his phone. Trump is not smart.
Meghan Clark, at America, argues that there is no moral or poli...
MGB: The interesting thing is that many of the new undocumented would have been spared deportation had their relatives been transferred in jail. Because that is not done anymore, when they are arrested at home, the family goes too. Sadly, the Democrats treat this as a wedge issue rather than an issue to solve, so don't expect much from them.
The only moral case for cutting food stamps is a better alternative - a larger child tax credit and a $15 minimum wage for work or literacy/job training programs. The abuses in SNAP come because people don't have any liquidity, so cash assistance must increase.
Congratulations St. Augustine's.
If Trump were smart he would hire Boehner as his chief of staff and let him purge the White House of the unqualified (except Trump) and let Trump take away his phone. Trump is not smart.
Pope Francis and workers in Genoa
Pope Francis and workers in Genoa: Distinctly Catholic: Today
MGB: Speculators are not job creators, they are job destroyers. Romney is a speculator. They never deserve tax cuts, because every cut you give them is an incentive to turn the screws on workers. Trump is actually an entrepreneur, but a crooked one who does not pay his vendors. He is not really a capitalist, because he owns his capital, he does not seek investors, although sometimes he does behave like one.
Francis sends his priests out into the world, while St. John Paul pulled them back from politics. I wonder if he will reverse the ban on office holding?
Francis just destroyed the Cato Institute in one paragraph (as well as the Prosperity Gospel and Trump). Workers should be co-owners, not competitors. It is management that should compete for their jobs. Workers should consume cooperatively, not in the market, and if possible make what they consume (look for a socialist economist, not a theologian). Catholicism can be a nice overlay, but the doctrine is cooperative socialism.
MGB: Speculators are not job creators, they are job destroyers. Romney is a speculator. They never deserve tax cuts, because every cut you give them is an incentive to turn the screws on workers. Trump is actually an entrepreneur, but a crooked one who does not pay his vendors. He is not really a capitalist, because he owns his capital, he does not seek investors, although sometimes he does behave like one.
Francis sends his priests out into the world, while St. John Paul pulled them back from politics. I wonder if he will reverse the ban on office holding?
Francis just destroyed the Cato Institute in one paragraph (as well as the Prosperity Gospel and Trump). Workers should be co-owners, not competitors. It is management that should compete for their jobs. Workers should consume cooperatively, not in the market, and if possible make what they consume (look for a socialist economist, not a theologian). Catholicism can be a nice overlay, but the doctrine is cooperative socialism.
Friday, May 26, 2017
Links for 05/26/17
Links for 05/26/17: In the Washington Post, Michael Gerson on the moral derangement of the conservative movement.
MGB: The conservative Republican movement has always been deranged. The Pro-life movement has always been a wedge issue for political gain, not for the salvation of the unborn. They have always nodded to the racist leanings of cultural conservatives. This is the first time it has been so blatant, but it has always been a feature, not a flaw.
I want to see how many are Francis priests v. John Paul priests (who would bring back the Index and the Tridentine Mass if allowed). It would be interesting to find a group of women who felt called to the priesthood and give them the same survey and see how much commonality there is.
A Montana result says little about national prospects, but it says everything about the GOP core. What more centrist Republicans do (and I suspect many voted Democratic in Montana) in closer states is TBD. If the GOP is hitching their wagons to Trump, anything could happen. Trump could be run out of town or have a Nixonian landslide and fall. We'll see.
MGB: The conservative Republican movement has always been deranged. The Pro-life movement has always been a wedge issue for political gain, not for the salvation of the unborn. They have always nodded to the racist leanings of cultural conservatives. This is the first time it has been so blatant, but it has always been a feature, not a flaw.
I want to see how many are Francis priests v. John Paul priests (who would bring back the Index and the Tridentine Mass if allowed). It would be interesting to find a group of women who felt called to the priesthood and give them the same survey and see how much commonality there is.
A Montana result says little about national prospects, but it says everything about the GOP core. What more centrist Republicans do (and I suspect many voted Democratic in Montana) in closer states is TBD. If the GOP is hitching their wagons to Trump, anything could happen. Trump could be run out of town or have a Nixonian landslide and fall. We'll see.
Montana delivers a wake-up call for the Democratic Party
Montana delivers a wake-up call for the Democratic Party: Distinctly Catholic: Republican Greg Gianforte allegedly body-slammed a reporter the day before he won the race in Montana. Democrats must stop winning "moral victories" and starting winning real ones.
MGB:_The term for what happened in Montana is white tribalism rather than white nationalism. Will identificaiton help people see what is going on? Probably not. Will appeals to economic justice for workers and the poor help? Hard to say. We on the left need to make it work on a smaller scale to really be convincing. The tribe has been programmed to resist talk of socialism. Only results will deprogram them.
MGB:_The term for what happened in Montana is white tribalism rather than white nationalism. Will identificaiton help people see what is going on? Probably not. Will appeals to economic justice for workers and the poor help? Hard to say. We on the left need to make it work on a smaller scale to really be convincing. The tribe has been programmed to resist talk of socialism. Only results will deprogram them.
Thursday, May 25, 2017
Links for 05/25/17
Links for 05/25/17: I like to check out Father Z's blog. Sometimes he has something nutty about vestments, sometimes a link to beautiful music, often a funny rant about something he does not like in the Church. But, ...
MGB:_Michael, why you read Z and not more Catholic lefties like me is also disturbing. I never seek this particular blogger out. Priests should have better things to do than be Catholic Trolls.
Trump seems to have no inner life, which explains remarks such as these.
I never read Erick any more than I read Z, but he may have ulterior motives in predicting a GOP blood bath. Expect this to be a call to arms to right wing and pro-life fundraisers.
Liberals live in several bubbles. There is the Sanders/DSA/Green bubble, the neo-liberal bubble, a very small Christian left bubble and separate Catholic left bubble (which may interact with the socialists),the femiist bubble, the union bubble, the African America church bubble and the Latino bubble. None of us look at Fr. Z.
MGB:_Michael, why you read Z and not more Catholic lefties like me is also disturbing. I never seek this particular blogger out. Priests should have better things to do than be Catholic Trolls.
Trump seems to have no inner life, which explains remarks such as these.
I never read Erick any more than I read Z, but he may have ulterior motives in predicting a GOP blood bath. Expect this to be a call to arms to right wing and pro-life fundraisers.
Liberals live in several bubbles. There is the Sanders/DSA/Green bubble, the neo-liberal bubble, a very small Christian left bubble and separate Catholic left bubble (which may interact with the socialists),the femiist bubble, the union bubble, the African America church bubble and the Latino bubble. None of us look at Fr. Z.
Can NATO survive Trump?
Can NATO survive Trump?: Distinctly Catholic: The NATO meetings are underway, and the Trump administration paved the way for less contentious time by releasing its budget blueprint ahead.
MGB:_The madnes of King Donald continues. Trump is a bafoon unqualified to be the ulitmate decisionmaker in NATO, which is the role of the POTUS by treaty. Perhaps a NATO renegotiation is necessary, one which has a single political supreme commander elected by all the members on a regional population based basis, with a legislaive council from each region and a unified income tax, debt and currency to fund the alliance. It can also have civil rights and environmental responsibilities. This would take funding away from the US and ultimately leadership responsibilities as well.
For now, we are stuck with Trump and a US military and tax cut regime that may not pass. If the drama around Trump’s sanity lasts too long, NATO members may urge Pence to declare him disabled or find a way to stop our hegemony over the alliance.
MGB:_The madnes of King Donald continues. Trump is a bafoon unqualified to be the ulitmate decisionmaker in NATO, which is the role of the POTUS by treaty. Perhaps a NATO renegotiation is necessary, one which has a single political supreme commander elected by all the members on a regional population based basis, with a legislaive council from each region and a unified income tax, debt and currency to fund the alliance. It can also have civil rights and environmental responsibilities. This would take funding away from the US and ultimately leadership responsibilities as well.
For now, we are stuck with Trump and a US military and tax cut regime that may not pass. If the drama around Trump’s sanity lasts too long, NATO members may urge Pence to declare him disabled or find a way to stop our hegemony over the alliance.
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Trump meets Pope Francis
Trump meets Pope Francis: The Vatican had been nervous about today’s meeting with President Donald Trump. A source close to the Holy Father told me he had been practicing his Russian all week! (That’s a joke.) Seri...
MGB: My guess is that this statement was negotiated with the USCCB long before the meeting occurred, hence the reference to freedom of conscience. The budget likely did not make the time deadline, has not been read by the Vatican or has been and is considered DOA anyway. That migrants are mentioned is telling and means that there might have been some gentle scolding going on. Bravo to the Vatican for not mentioning much on abortion. It shows an understanding that this is mostly not an issue where anything is actually happening (except that the budget will cause an uptick in the abortion rate).
MGB: My guess is that this statement was negotiated with the USCCB long before the meeting occurred, hence the reference to freedom of conscience. The budget likely did not make the time deadline, has not been read by the Vatican or has been and is considered DOA anyway. That migrants are mentioned is telling and means that there might have been some gentle scolding going on. Bravo to the Vatican for not mentioning much on abortion. It shows an understanding that this is mostly not an issue where anything is actually happening (except that the budget will cause an uptick in the abortion rate).
Tuesday, May 23, 2017
Links for 05/23/17
Links for 05/23/17: That didn't take long: At Catholic News Agency, Supreme Knight Carl Anderson takes issue with Tom Roberts' reporting on the K of C finances, charging him with "reckless disregard for the ...
MGB: The Roberts report quoted the Knights' own figures and the interpretations were not unreasonable. Trolls can't handle the truth, however,
Cardinal Cupich is deliberately nice and deserves having nice open letters addressed to him.
The difference between Francis and Benedict is mainly style, however I doubt that Francis frets about the tyranny of relativism, but neither has he echoed my comment that papal infallibility and the Magisterium are relativism for Catholics.
MGB: The Roberts report quoted the Knights' own figures and the interpretations were not unreasonable. Trolls can't handle the truth, however,
Cardinal Cupich is deliberately nice and deserves having nice open letters addressed to him.
The difference between Francis and Benedict is mainly style, however I doubt that Francis frets about the tyranny of relativism, but neither has he echoed my comment that papal infallibility and the Magisterium are relativism for Catholics.
President Trump in Israel: A bromance with no consequence
President Trump in Israel: A bromance with no consequence: President Trump continued his first trip abroad with a second hero’s welcome, this time in Israel. It is hard to imagine two countries less alike than Saudi Arabia and Israel, but both rolled ou...
MGB:_The Saudis and the Israelis knew Obama could not be bought. They both knew that they could get Trump cheap. They will soon figure out that he is an empty shirt and a crook. Of course, if he does come to a possible peace accord with an open mind, Bibi will start missing Obama. Still, unless Israel follows Torah about treating the alien with respect, until the West Bank and the North become an Arab state incorporated into a Pan-Arab Hashemite Kingdom, Israel has a bit of a demographic or an apartheid problem.
MGB:_The Saudis and the Israelis knew Obama could not be bought. They both knew that they could get Trump cheap. They will soon figure out that he is an empty shirt and a crook. Of course, if he does come to a possible peace accord with an open mind, Bibi will start missing Obama. Still, unless Israel follows Torah about treating the alien with respect, until the West Bank and the North become an Arab state incorporated into a Pan-Arab Hashemite Kingdom, Israel has a bit of a demographic or an apartheid problem.
Monday, May 22, 2017
Links for 05/22/17
Links for 05/22/17: In the Wall Street Journal, Peter Berkowitz looks at the circumstances that led to the resignation of Paul Griffiths from the Duke Divinity faculty. There are such things as liberal fascists who pract...
MGB:_I am not subscribing to a Murdoch rag to read Burkowitz. What little is presented gives-no indication of the issue and Professor Giffiths letter in Commonweal offers nothing as to the content of the agrument. I have no idea whether it was theology or Palestine at issue, nor the involvement of any local Ordinary. For those who won’t read WSJ, give us details. Dr. Flores view on teaching Catholic in the ultimate public university is interesting. I wonder which is harder, respecting the wall or dealing with a conservative bishop?
Gehring effectively shows why the Pope and President won’t get along, however I suspect this will be a grip and grin. Hopefully Francis won’t acknowledge him for his faux pro-life stance and will instead give him a copy of Laudato Si’ to read.
MGB:_I am not subscribing to a Murdoch rag to read Burkowitz. What little is presented gives-no indication of the issue and Professor Giffiths letter in Commonweal offers nothing as to the content of the agrument. I have no idea whether it was theology or Palestine at issue, nor the involvement of any local Ordinary. For those who won’t read WSJ, give us details. Dr. Flores view on teaching Catholic in the ultimate public university is interesting. I wonder which is harder, respecting the wall or dealing with a conservative bishop?
Gehring effectively shows why the Pope and President won’t get along, however I suspect this will be a grip and grin. Hopefully Francis won’t acknowledge him for his faux pro-life stance and will instead give him a copy of Laudato Si’ to read.
Trumps dials back the rhetoric in Saudi Arabia
Trumps dials back the rhetoric in Saudi Arabia: Distinctly Catholic: The verdict on Trump's first visit to a foreign country is mixed, but the bar is pretty low here, of course. Still, I am glad he cleared it.
MGB:_Trump dialed the rhetoric down enough to allow the Saudis to save face. Of course, if we had an honest foreign policy rather than a corporatist one, we would have bombed any country where a majority of the attackers were its citizens bombed us with funding by one of their royals and whose women and dissidents are treated with violence. This trip is no less than an Apology Tour by Trump, except that Trump brought shiny toys with him too, weapons to be used in Yemen and possibly against Iran. Who says he and McCain aren’t friends? Bad timing, however, considering Iran re-elected its moderate President.
MGB:_Trump dialed the rhetoric down enough to allow the Saudis to save face. Of course, if we had an honest foreign policy rather than a corporatist one, we would have bombed any country where a majority of the attackers were its citizens bombed us with funding by one of their royals and whose women and dissidents are treated with violence. This trip is no less than an Apology Tour by Trump, except that Trump brought shiny toys with him too, weapons to be used in Yemen and possibly against Iran. Who says he and McCain aren’t friends? Bad timing, however, considering Iran re-elected its moderate President.
Saturday, May 20, 2017
After furor over remarks, DNC chair to meet with pro-life Dems' head
After furor over remarks, DNC chair to meet with pro-life Dems' head: After receiving backlash over saying that the Democratic Party should support only those candidates who support legal abortion, Democratic National Committee chairman Thomas Perez will meet with the head of Democrats for Life of America.
MGB:_Democrats for Life should be embraced for what they don't say, which is what they would do about abortion. It shows how much they have in common with the rest of the anti-abortion movement. They are at least useful fifth columnists in the movement. At best, they will embrace measures to reduce abortion, like a much more generous refundable child tax credit. Their main purpose, of course, is cannon fodder for the GOP. The Republicans identify their districts as electable and then tell some lie about them, like the Susan B. Anthony Fund did in 2010 to gain Congress. Any organization that causes the pro-life movement to demonstrate its cravenness is good for the Democratic Party and the nation.
MGB:_Democrats for Life should be embraced for what they don't say, which is what they would do about abortion. It shows how much they have in common with the rest of the anti-abortion movement. They are at least useful fifth columnists in the movement. At best, they will embrace measures to reduce abortion, like a much more generous refundable child tax credit. Their main purpose, of course, is cannon fodder for the GOP. The Republicans identify their districts as electable and then tell some lie about them, like the Susan B. Anthony Fund did in 2010 to gain Congress. Any organization that causes the pro-life movement to demonstrate its cravenness is good for the Democratic Party and the nation.
Friday, May 19, 2017
Links for 05/19/17
Links for 05/19/17: In the Hartford Courant, an article about parish closings and what is in reality a dying local church.
At RNS, Mark Silk comments on Tom Roberts' reporting on the finances at the Knights of...
MGB:_Hartford’s experience reflects what is happening elsewhere as Catholics who were baptized in these parishes not only avoid the priesthood, they leave the Church altogether, with the possible exception of Christmas, Easter, Weddings and Funerals. It is tempting to say this is because of magisterial authoritarism on birth control and women priests (a better guess than those who claim that the Mass was so watered down by Vatican II that they rejected the New order), but it is most likely that they simply don’t feel forced to go and if they had gone, they may not have really believed anyway. The social pressure to go to Church is gone, along with most family pressure. People feel that all they need is to be a good person, and they may be right.
In the last Administration, Catholic Charities and Catholic Health had more influence than the Knights, who funded the pro-life movement to give us a billionaire who will likley do little to decrease abortion or make it less available, since there is not much he can do, Recall that pro-life true believer George W. Bush gave us two justices that refused Scalia’s request to defend the Partial Birth Abortion Act by repealing Roe (which was the reason for passing it in the first place), with Roberts saving Obamacare.
The Francis-Trump meeting will either be a grip and grin or a scolding. Either way, it will lead to Trump making Tweets that prove he is a national embarrassment.
At RNS, Mark Silk comments on Tom Roberts' reporting on the finances at the Knights of...
MGB:_Hartford’s experience reflects what is happening elsewhere as Catholics who were baptized in these parishes not only avoid the priesthood, they leave the Church altogether, with the possible exception of Christmas, Easter, Weddings and Funerals. It is tempting to say this is because of magisterial authoritarism on birth control and women priests (a better guess than those who claim that the Mass was so watered down by Vatican II that they rejected the New order), but it is most likely that they simply don’t feel forced to go and if they had gone, they may not have really believed anyway. The social pressure to go to Church is gone, along with most family pressure. People feel that all they need is to be a good person, and they may be right.
In the last Administration, Catholic Charities and Catholic Health had more influence than the Knights, who funded the pro-life movement to give us a billionaire who will likley do little to decrease abortion or make it less available, since there is not much he can do, Recall that pro-life true believer George W. Bush gave us two justices that refused Scalia’s request to defend the Partial Birth Abortion Act by repealing Roe (which was the reason for passing it in the first place), with Roberts saving Obamacare.
The Francis-Trump meeting will either be a grip and grin or a scolding. Either way, it will lead to Trump making Tweets that prove he is a national embarrassment.
Don't expect a meeting with Francis to change Trump
Don't expect a meeting with Francis to change Trump: Distinctly Catholic: I suspect Pope Francis will behave as a pastor as much as a diplomat, when he meets with President Trump next Wednesday.
MGB:_Neoliberalism hopes that a thriving capitalist sector will benefit everyone. It is not that differrent from trickle-down, except that taxes on the rich are a bit higher under neo-liberalism.
Francis and King Donald are very different. King Donald is a proto-fascist who believes he is the nation while Francis is simply trying to channel Christ and in so doing is shedding authority for collegiality. His economics is the same Democratic Socialism found in Benedict’s Caritas in Veritate, although it is a bit too sub rosa for my tastes.
Will Francis be a gracious host? Probably. Will that keep him from throwing a few barbs Trump’s way? No. Will Trump be too dense to take the hint? Almost certainly. Will Trump try to spin the meeting as a huge endorsement of himself? That goes without saying. Sadly, some of our bishops will spin it that way as a victory for their pro-life political machine, even though it was instrumental in giving us this disaster.
MGB:_Neoliberalism hopes that a thriving capitalist sector will benefit everyone. It is not that differrent from trickle-down, except that taxes on the rich are a bit higher under neo-liberalism.
Francis and King Donald are very different. King Donald is a proto-fascist who believes he is the nation while Francis is simply trying to channel Christ and in so doing is shedding authority for collegiality. His economics is the same Democratic Socialism found in Benedict’s Caritas in Veritate, although it is a bit too sub rosa for my tastes.
Will Francis be a gracious host? Probably. Will that keep him from throwing a few barbs Trump’s way? No. Will Trump be too dense to take the hint? Almost certainly. Will Trump try to spin the meeting as a huge endorsement of himself? That goes without saying. Sadly, some of our bishops will spin it that way as a victory for their pro-life political machine, even though it was instrumental in giving us this disaster.
Thursday, May 18, 2017
Amid Trump's first trip abroad, leaders must consider the stakes
Amid Trump's first trip abroad, leaders must consider the stakes: Distinctly Catholic: Let the West's leaders look across the table during Trump's visit and see one possible future, and let them then chart a different future.
MGB:_The madness of King Donald continues. Hopefully his gaffes will be below the threshold where foreign heads of state can pretend not to notice. Sadly, our government is hollowed out with few appointments at the subcabinet level and no linkage between the permanent government and the cabinet. As for the fall of neo-liberalism, the answer cannot be nationalism. Only Democratic Socialism. The madness of King Donald may well yet be the catalyst for this to occur.
MGB:_The madness of King Donald continues. Hopefully his gaffes will be below the threshold where foreign heads of state can pretend not to notice. Sadly, our government is hollowed out with few appointments at the subcabinet level and no linkage between the permanent government and the cabinet. As for the fall of neo-liberalism, the answer cannot be nationalism. Only Democratic Socialism. The madness of King Donald may well yet be the catalyst for this to occur.
Editorial: The enemy is not the secular world, it is fear
Editorial: The enemy is not the secular world, it is fear: We say: The message seems to be exceptionally simple: Secular — bad; sacred — good. What are we afraid of here?
MGB:_Naumann, Aquila and Chaput are not new. Their kind crazy goes back to Pius IX and St. Pius X who thought they could outlaw modernity, not even in fashion but in scripture and theology. Spending any time in most theology class rooms or reading text shows that the ship of authoritarian scholarship has sailed. While St. John Paul and Pope Emeritus Benedict tried to go back to that era, it was a losing battle. Being looney like Burke or protecting pedophiles like Law no longer results in a Vatican appointment (and safety from prosecution). Francis has again opened the widows originally opened by St. John XXIII and they will not close any time soon.
MGB:_Naumann, Aquila and Chaput are not new. Their kind crazy goes back to Pius IX and St. Pius X who thought they could outlaw modernity, not even in fashion but in scripture and theology. Spending any time in most theology class rooms or reading text shows that the ship of authoritarian scholarship has sailed. While St. John Paul and Pope Emeritus Benedict tried to go back to that era, it was a losing battle. Being looney like Burke or protecting pedophiles like Law no longer results in a Vatican appointment (and safety from prosecution). Francis has again opened the widows originally opened by St. John XXIII and they will not close any time soon.
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
How much of Trump's chaos can Republicans – and the nation – take?
How much of Trump's chaos can Republicans – and the nation – take?: Distinctly Catholic: Simply disrupting with no thought of what must be built subsequently leads to chaos. That is where we find ourselves as a nation under President Trump.
MGB: The sad thing is that his staff knows he is a mad man and is treating things accordingly, but they are not in enough control of him to get rid of his Twitter account. Sadder still is that they are not particularly competent in policy matters. The fringe are trying to control the crazy. This would be fine if he were a figure-head, but he has the launch codes. Unless this is all a rather elaborate ruse to cover up the fact that Pence is really in charge, this theater of the absurd is unsustainable. The question is when, not if, congressional leaders demand the replacement of his staff with some of their own and when Pence and the cabinet have enough fortitude to invoke the 25th Amendment disability clause. Bishop McElroy is right about the need to resist, but some of his brothers need to own up to using the abortion non-issue to give us this insanity. To deliberately seek this is truly crazy.
MGB: The sad thing is that his staff knows he is a mad man and is treating things accordingly, but they are not in enough control of him to get rid of his Twitter account. Sadder still is that they are not particularly competent in policy matters. The fringe are trying to control the crazy. This would be fine if he were a figure-head, but he has the launch codes. Unless this is all a rather elaborate ruse to cover up the fact that Pence is really in charge, this theater of the absurd is unsustainable. The question is when, not if, congressional leaders demand the replacement of his staff with some of their own and when Pence and the cabinet have enough fortitude to invoke the 25th Amendment disability clause. Bishop McElroy is right about the need to resist, but some of his brothers need to own up to using the abortion non-issue to give us this insanity. To deliberately seek this is truly crazy.
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
Knights of Columbus needs to show restraint in the political sphere
Knights of Columbus needs to show restraint in the political sphere: Distinctly Catholic: NCR's recent reporting raises the question: Is it time for new leadership at the Knights of Columbus?
MGB:_Catholic Charities and Catholic health have political clout too, but both stick to the policy side rather than electoral politics, unlike the Knights. Also unlike the Knights, these organizations have staying power (although CHA leadership is not young either). The Greatest Generation and Korea generation are dying off and it will decimate the Knights. What rises out of the ashes is yet to be seen, but a more liberal remainder may just be more welcoming to a larger swath of Catholic men and maybe even Catholic men AND women.
As for the salaries, they reflect the capitalism their generation defends. They are consistent. My hope is that will also die out with time and effort. You can’t simply kill capitalism with generational die off. Indeed, it may be defending capitalism which is the core of the Knights social agenda, which is only window dressing to keep the masses voting Republican.
MGB:_Catholic Charities and Catholic health have political clout too, but both stick to the policy side rather than electoral politics, unlike the Knights. Also unlike the Knights, these organizations have staying power (although CHA leadership is not young either). The Greatest Generation and Korea generation are dying off and it will decimate the Knights. What rises out of the ashes is yet to be seen, but a more liberal remainder may just be more welcoming to a larger swath of Catholic men and maybe even Catholic men AND women.
As for the salaries, they reflect the capitalism their generation defends. They are consistent. My hope is that will also die out with time and effort. You can’t simply kill capitalism with generational die off. Indeed, it may be defending capitalism which is the core of the Knights social agenda, which is only window dressing to keep the masses voting Republican.
Links for 05/15/17
Links for 05/15/17: At the Tablet, a fun little piece I did on the weirdness of Trump's foreign policy at the 100 day mark.
At Politico, a look at how the abortion issue is affecting two senators who try to av...
MGB:_Presidents and their cabinet secretaries usually learn to listen to the civil service, especially in Defense, State and Intelligence rather quickly as lower level appointees interface with the permanent government, which can keep the political class out of trouble. Trump has not appointed those people, thus cutting a vital link to sanity, and it shows. Sadly, I think this was intentional as a way to not be hamstrung by the bureaucracy. Dumb idea.
Dumping on Planned Parenthood is the Pro-Life’s way of looking busy. Heaven help them if they actually got the funding canceled, since they have few ideas left. The whole issue is based on the notion that PPUSA ignore OMB directives on their accounting system, as if that were possible given their profile. Like most pro-life efforts, this is based on false information. TRAP laws and personhood went down in constitutional flames and there are, at best, two Justices on the Court willing to overturn Roe, with Gorsuch being a question mark and Thomas believes that Section X of Roe can be altered from the bench rather than having Congress do it. Of course, congressional action would likely ratify the status quo while ending the ability of both NRLC and NARAL to fundraise and turn out volunteers in elections.
The Knights are regrettable part of the pro-life fundraising scam (especially the inaptly named Susan B. Anthony Fund, which gave us the House Freedom Caucus and all the damage it has done) and the movement to keep gays on the margins in the Church, a battle that they will lose. Their compensation package is quite capitalist. I suspect their leader takes home more than the Holy Father. They are quite clear about anyone who is pro-choice not being welcome in their ranks. I won’t be following my late father into the Knights and because of the paranoia of Pope Pius IX and others about secret societies, I won’t be following my maternal grandfather into the Masons. No rituals and funny hats for me. From what I see, most knights are older than I am, and I am not young, so they may soon be the stuff of history. I am sure they were overjoyed at the election of Trump, but they have to be having buyer’s remorse if they are at all sane.
At Politico, a look at how the abortion issue is affecting two senators who try to av...
MGB:_Presidents and their cabinet secretaries usually learn to listen to the civil service, especially in Defense, State and Intelligence rather quickly as lower level appointees interface with the permanent government, which can keep the political class out of trouble. Trump has not appointed those people, thus cutting a vital link to sanity, and it shows. Sadly, I think this was intentional as a way to not be hamstrung by the bureaucracy. Dumb idea.
Dumping on Planned Parenthood is the Pro-Life’s way of looking busy. Heaven help them if they actually got the funding canceled, since they have few ideas left. The whole issue is based on the notion that PPUSA ignore OMB directives on their accounting system, as if that were possible given their profile. Like most pro-life efforts, this is based on false information. TRAP laws and personhood went down in constitutional flames and there are, at best, two Justices on the Court willing to overturn Roe, with Gorsuch being a question mark and Thomas believes that Section X of Roe can be altered from the bench rather than having Congress do it. Of course, congressional action would likely ratify the status quo while ending the ability of both NRLC and NARAL to fundraise and turn out volunteers in elections.
The Knights are regrettable part of the pro-life fundraising scam (especially the inaptly named Susan B. Anthony Fund, which gave us the House Freedom Caucus and all the damage it has done) and the movement to keep gays on the margins in the Church, a battle that they will lose. Their compensation package is quite capitalist. I suspect their leader takes home more than the Holy Father. They are quite clear about anyone who is pro-choice not being welcome in their ranks. I won’t be following my late father into the Knights and because of the paranoia of Pope Pius IX and others about secret societies, I won’t be following my maternal grandfather into the Masons. No rituals and funny hats for me. From what I see, most knights are older than I am, and I am not young, so they may soon be the stuff of history. I am sure they were overjoyed at the election of Trump, but they have to be having buyer’s remorse if they are at all sane.
Monday, May 15, 2017
Callista Gingrich to the Vatican?
Callista Gingrich to the Vatican?: Distinctly Catholic: The third wife of Newt Gingrich may become the U.S.'s next Vatican ambassador, but the Vatican cares less about the moral history of a nominee than it does about access.
MGB: I recall going to an event in Ward 3 when I was working for the Mayor which Ambassador Boggs and her daughter officiated. She was one of the Grand Dames of old DC. That posting invites socialites and minor celebrities , although the real work is done by the career diplomats. That is usually the case in our diplomatic corps. Ambassadors are mostly show horses, so this appointment matters little. Her personal morality matters even less.
MGB: I recall going to an event in Ward 3 when I was working for the Mayor which Ambassador Boggs and her daughter officiated. She was one of the Grand Dames of old DC. That posting invites socialites and minor celebrities , although the real work is done by the career diplomats. That is usually the case in our diplomatic corps. Ambassadors are mostly show horses, so this appointment matters little. Her personal morality matters even less.
Friday, May 12, 2017
Links for 05/12/17
Links for 05/12/17: A rabbi, an imam and a Catholic layman walk into an NPR studio.....A discussion of how diverse faith communities are coping with the Trump era.
From the USCCB's "Notes for Neighbors" em...
MGB:_The takeaway from the conversation is that Trump and the pro-life movement have given license to bigotry in all its forms, causing unity between people of good will in the Abrahamic religions to come together. License revoked.
The bishops have always been for foreign assistance (as long as the usual abortion language is attached on the Mexico City policy is included). Catholic Relief Services and Catholic Mid-East cannot do everything.
I don’t read CNA, including the link. Yogaphobes don’t understand the pagan allusions in yoga, which are all naturalistic, like paganism itself. Both yoga and Hinduism are about human self knowledge. This is no danger to Catholics (nor is Buddhism). If the CDF were to quit riding Catholic meditators so hard, perhaps they would not turn to other disciplines.
From the USCCB's "Notes for Neighbors" em...
MGB:_The takeaway from the conversation is that Trump and the pro-life movement have given license to bigotry in all its forms, causing unity between people of good will in the Abrahamic religions to come together. License revoked.
The bishops have always been for foreign assistance (as long as the usual abortion language is attached on the Mexico City policy is included). Catholic Relief Services and Catholic Mid-East cannot do everything.
I don’t read CNA, including the link. Yogaphobes don’t understand the pagan allusions in yoga, which are all naturalistic, like paganism itself. Both yoga and Hinduism are about human self knowledge. This is no danger to Catholics (nor is Buddhism). If the CDF were to quit riding Catholic meditators so hard, perhaps they would not turn to other disciplines.
Populism is not a real recipe for governance
Populism is not a real recipe for governance: Distinctly Catholic: In America and throughout the West, the important distinction in politics is not so much Democrat or Republican, it is populist or establishment. But populism is more of a mood than a method.
MGB:_Being ”pro-life” is like being a populist. It is a vague thing. Even saying you are for the unlikely event of the Supreme Court overturning Roe essentially dodges the question of how you want abortion and women to be penalized and controlled. The pro-choice idea of what a pro-lifer is about is not vague at all, of course. It means someone who would ultimately force women into back alley abortions, and if you really understand law, jail. It is a naive vision which does not understand that repealing Roe means that the Court decisions on birth control, sodomy, gay marriage, Latino rights, and Catholic rights also become controlled by states, which cannot really be trusted with such matters to go beyond religiously led mob rule.
Political correctness really means the responsibility not to be rude to others based on their identity. It is polite to refer to people as they refer to themselves publicly. It has nothing to do with the unprofessionalism of Donald Trump and his inexperienced and moronic staff. Still, as long as Trump mouths the pro-life con that something has to be done about abortion, he can fail on results and still get the GOP and USCCB backing him and probably win renomination (even if he is not really pro-life).
Economic populism is about regulating the excesses of the rich and powerful. It is only a nice sentiment if you don’t take the dive into socialism. Perillo is a nice enough guy, but my money is on Dr. Nothem.
MGB:_Being ”pro-life” is like being a populist. It is a vague thing. Even saying you are for the unlikely event of the Supreme Court overturning Roe essentially dodges the question of how you want abortion and women to be penalized and controlled. The pro-choice idea of what a pro-lifer is about is not vague at all, of course. It means someone who would ultimately force women into back alley abortions, and if you really understand law, jail. It is a naive vision which does not understand that repealing Roe means that the Court decisions on birth control, sodomy, gay marriage, Latino rights, and Catholic rights also become controlled by states, which cannot really be trusted with such matters to go beyond religiously led mob rule.
Political correctness really means the responsibility not to be rude to others based on their identity. It is polite to refer to people as they refer to themselves publicly. It has nothing to do with the unprofessionalism of Donald Trump and his inexperienced and moronic staff. Still, as long as Trump mouths the pro-life con that something has to be done about abortion, he can fail on results and still get the GOP and USCCB backing him and probably win renomination (even if he is not really pro-life).
Economic populism is about regulating the excesses of the rich and powerful. It is only a nice sentiment if you don’t take the dive into socialism. Perillo is a nice enough guy, but my money is on Dr. Nothem.
Thursday, May 11, 2017
Church Militant's nonsense not authentically Catholic
Church Militant's nonsense not authentically Catholic: The Atlantic video on Church Militant and its founder was fascinating and frustrating — in part because it provides no context to what Church Militant does.
MSW:_Voris is one of those misguided Catholics who believes all other Christian sects are in error and pine for a Pope like Pius IX who maintains that ”Error has no rights.” Triumphalism, pure, simple and wrong. He will line up with any authoritarian who projects such certainly, even if that person is an idiot like Pius or Trump. It is no wonder they attack reasonable voices. They don’t want debate, they want certainty. Sadly, they get noticed for their shock value while reasonable voices from the left, say The Christian Left show on Blog Talk Radio, get no shout out from fellow lefties like MSW or media like The Atlantic.
MSW:_Voris is one of those misguided Catholics who believes all other Christian sects are in error and pine for a Pope like Pius IX who maintains that ”Error has no rights.” Triumphalism, pure, simple and wrong. He will line up with any authoritarian who projects such certainly, even if that person is an idiot like Pius or Trump. It is no wonder they attack reasonable voices. They don’t want debate, they want certainty. Sadly, they get noticed for their shock value while reasonable voices from the left, say The Christian Left show on Blog Talk Radio, get no shout out from fellow lefties like MSW or media like The Atlantic.
Wednesday, May 10, 2017
Links for 05/10/17
Links for 05/10/17: One of the best articles on the firing of James Comey: Politico illustrates just how much Trump's emotional state drove this decision.
At La Stampa, a profile of a priest who helps migrants avoid...
MGB:_The fact is that the DAG wanted Comey fired for cause and it played into Trump’s existing anger. If there were a time to Remove Trump under the 25th Amedmet, this would be it, but Pence does not have the guts. This White House leaks like a sieve. No one who comments on the insanity of King Donald to the media should stay employed for long.
It is so easy to get caught in the trafficker web of slavery. Helping people escape that is the act of a saint. It is also dangerous, so his sainthood may not be far off.
Reform is a potent issue. The corruption of the Republicans and their incompetence in Iraq gave the Democrats the Congess in 2006. While this is not the only issue, it is the one that makes progress on tax reform and health care tilt to the right, where we want it to tilt left.
At La Stampa, a profile of a priest who helps migrants avoid...
MGB:_The fact is that the DAG wanted Comey fired for cause and it played into Trump’s existing anger. If there were a time to Remove Trump under the 25th Amedmet, this would be it, but Pence does not have the guts. This White House leaks like a sieve. No one who comments on the insanity of King Donald to the media should stay employed for long.
It is so easy to get caught in the trafficker web of slavery. Helping people escape that is the act of a saint. It is also dangerous, so his sainthood may not be far off.
Reform is a potent issue. The corruption of the Republicans and their incompetence in Iraq gave the Democrats the Congess in 2006. While this is not the only issue, it is the one that makes progress on tax reform and health care tilt to the right, where we want it to tilt left.
Bishops among first signatories to pledge to end death penalty
Bishops among first signatories to pledge to end death penalty: Bishops attending a meeting were among the first to sign the National Catholic Pledge to End the Death Penalty at the U.S. bishops
MGB: In the days of monarchy, the king was trusted to execute people who violated the life and property rights of himself and others. We have since converted property crimes to jail and the role of the king (and his property) has been taken up by all of us. Therefore, we are responsible when someone is executed and when someone who should have been executed kills again. Note that putting someone in a cage for the rest of their life is seen as just another form of capital punishment by both the system and those in it. Given the choice, most chose death to that terrible alternative. Whether someone should die is not a matter of justice or the offensiveness of the crime, but of danger. Non-dangerous people should be rehabilitated and released. Truly dangerous people who cannot be helped must be kept from harming others, which means euthanasia - not as an execution event, but as a simple medical necessity.
MGB: In the days of monarchy, the king was trusted to execute people who violated the life and property rights of himself and others. We have since converted property crimes to jail and the role of the king (and his property) has been taken up by all of us. Therefore, we are responsible when someone is executed and when someone who should have been executed kills again. Note that putting someone in a cage for the rest of their life is seen as just another form of capital punishment by both the system and those in it. Given the choice, most chose death to that terrible alternative. Whether someone should die is not a matter of justice or the offensiveness of the crime, but of danger. Non-dangerous people should be rehabilitated and released. Truly dangerous people who cannot be helped must be kept from harming others, which means euthanasia - not as an execution event, but as a simple medical necessity.
On break, Congress goes face-to-face with constituents on healthcare reform
On break, Congress goes face-to-face with constituents on healthcare reform: Distinctly Catholic: The Catholic Church not only teaches that health care is a basic human right but that it is essential to human dignity. Republicans seem content to hide behind the fiction of formal "access."
MGB: The GOP did not empower any consumers. Instead, it empowered states. ALEC states will be empowered to cut benefits to the sick and the poor, including seniors, because Medicaid covers every poor senior in and out of nursing homes. Blue states will increase taxes and retain current coverage levels. Sadly, even these changes will likely no turn red states blue, because there is always someone ready to demagogue undocumented immigrants, abortion, Planned Parenthood and gays to shift attention away from economic issues, They think that littering the AHCA with Stupak amendments will get the Church and faithful to ignore the tax cuts benefiting the wealthy which are the real reason to make all of the cuts in the bill, including giving the states more leeway. If they don't admit these are spending cuts they are lying, because they need them to be cuts to balance out the tax changes. As for single-payer, it will happen when insurance companies fail, not because people suffer.
MGB: The GOP did not empower any consumers. Instead, it empowered states. ALEC states will be empowered to cut benefits to the sick and the poor, including seniors, because Medicaid covers every poor senior in and out of nursing homes. Blue states will increase taxes and retain current coverage levels. Sadly, even these changes will likely no turn red states blue, because there is always someone ready to demagogue undocumented immigrants, abortion, Planned Parenthood and gays to shift attention away from economic issues, They think that littering the AHCA with Stupak amendments will get the Church and faithful to ignore the tax cuts benefiting the wealthy which are the real reason to make all of the cuts in the bill, including giving the states more leeway. If they don't admit these are spending cuts they are lying, because they need them to be cuts to balance out the tax changes. As for single-payer, it will happen when insurance companies fail, not because people suffer.
Tuesday, May 9, 2017
Links for 05/09/17
Links for 05/09/17: At RNS, Mark Silk on why Donald Trump might want to rethink his support for overturning the Johnson Amendment. And, a nice fantasy about what the USCCB might do!
At the Atlantic, a look at Michael Vo...
MGB:_Too many Catholics are in the thrall of the GOP to ever let the USCCB take out ads against one of their presidents. Still, I would like clergy to have to show their own political hands before making pronoucements on abortion voting. Of course, some priests may be going the other way and would resist. Surely voting is outside the promise of obedience in a free society, even if some bishops don’t see it that way. Now THAT would be an intersting religious freedom debate.
If you are going to cover fringe groups like Church Militant, you must cover the other side as well. I have been at it longer and speak sanely on the same issues.
The issue of cutting taxes is monolithic in the GOP. The question is whether to pay for them and how. While there are those who favor some kind of consumption tax, like the FairTax, they will never agree to an added surtax on the rich to make the system as progressive as it is now. They also want to cut taxes on international busiess so the contributions keep rolling in.
At the Atlantic, a look at Michael Vo...
MGB:_Too many Catholics are in the thrall of the GOP to ever let the USCCB take out ads against one of their presidents. Still, I would like clergy to have to show their own political hands before making pronoucements on abortion voting. Of course, some priests may be going the other way and would resist. Surely voting is outside the promise of obedience in a free society, even if some bishops don’t see it that way. Now THAT would be an intersting religious freedom debate.
If you are going to cover fringe groups like Church Militant, you must cover the other side as well. I have been at it longer and speak sanely on the same issues.
The issue of cutting taxes is monolithic in the GOP. The question is whether to pay for them and how. While there are those who favor some kind of consumption tax, like the FairTax, they will never agree to an added surtax on the rich to make the system as progressive as it is now. They also want to cut taxes on international busiess so the contributions keep rolling in.
Three things bishops should think about before they ban the Girl Scouts
Three things bishops should think about before they ban the Girl Scouts: Recently, Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, announced that the parishes of his archdiocese will no longer host Girl Scout troops, but instead will host American Heritage Girl troops. T...
MGB:_This kind of idiocy shows why the title of Bishop carries with it no infallibility. This particular Ordinary is the most ordinary of them all. He is a right wing idiot who is pandering to himself because I doubt anyone else cares. Being an adult GS leader is hard enough without inane comments from the cheap seats. I feel sorry for the girls, although most troops will likely just move to another sympathetic venue. Catholic separatism is no longer so important that Catholic girls need to to troops in the parish. I really feel for the adult leaders who feel morally conflicted about this. They should not. Their bishop is a horse’s behind.
As for LGBT rights, recent court decisions are treating gays as a protected class and applying employment law on that base. If the bishops want to manage this, they need to get ENDA passed with some kind of exemption for ministry or the courts will enact a larger policy that will allow less elbow room. As for contraception, they are simply wrong. In the face of natural law evidence going the other way, they pulled the authority card. Their arguments have zero merit. It is no shock they are oppositional. That is what you do when you are wrong.
MSW is correct in quoting Francis that God does not need us to protect Him. Hopefully God will protect us from His bishops. Francis has his hands full with Kansas City.
MGB:_This kind of idiocy shows why the title of Bishop carries with it no infallibility. This particular Ordinary is the most ordinary of them all. He is a right wing idiot who is pandering to himself because I doubt anyone else cares. Being an adult GS leader is hard enough without inane comments from the cheap seats. I feel sorry for the girls, although most troops will likely just move to another sympathetic venue. Catholic separatism is no longer so important that Catholic girls need to to troops in the parish. I really feel for the adult leaders who feel morally conflicted about this. They should not. Their bishop is a horse’s behind.
As for LGBT rights, recent court decisions are treating gays as a protected class and applying employment law on that base. If the bishops want to manage this, they need to get ENDA passed with some kind of exemption for ministry or the courts will enact a larger policy that will allow less elbow room. As for contraception, they are simply wrong. In the face of natural law evidence going the other way, they pulled the authority card. Their arguments have zero merit. It is no shock they are oppositional. That is what you do when you are wrong.
MSW is correct in quoting Francis that God does not need us to protect Him. Hopefully God will protect us from His bishops. Francis has his hands full with Kansas City.
Monday, May 8, 2017
US bishops' committee chairman: Fix flaws in American Health Care Act
US bishops' committee chairman: Fix flaws in American Health Care Act: WASHINGTON -- Catholic leaders say the American Health Care Act passed by the House May 4 has
MGB: Congratulations to Bishop DeWane and Chairman Smith for getting that protecting life means protecting the poor. Shame on the usual pro-life suspects who are using the Planned Parenthood and Stupak Amendment provisions to justify funding a tax cut for the rich by robbing the poor and elderly of much needed care. Sadly, Pavone et al will probably have more influence in keeping Faithful Citizenship a Republican Apologia than DeWane and Tobin will in reforming it and given the likely GOP nominee for re-election, that is a shame. Until the movement activists come out for turning the $1000 child tax credit from an annual event with a tax return to a monthly $1000 payment per child with wages, they are simply a Republican front group.
MGB: Congratulations to Bishop DeWane and Chairman Smith for getting that protecting life means protecting the poor. Shame on the usual pro-life suspects who are using the Planned Parenthood and Stupak Amendment provisions to justify funding a tax cut for the rich by robbing the poor and elderly of much needed care. Sadly, Pavone et al will probably have more influence in keeping Faithful Citizenship a Republican Apologia than DeWane and Tobin will in reforming it and given the likely GOP nominee for re-election, that is a shame. Until the movement activists come out for turning the $1000 child tax credit from an annual event with a tax return to a monthly $1000 payment per child with wages, they are simply a Republican front group.
Links for 05/08/17
Links for 05/08/17: At ProPublica, a report on what a downturn in immigration would mean for low-wage industries. I confess these kinds of articles make me feel dreadful. Do we really only want to let in immigrants becau...
MGB:_Presumably wages would go up to attract domestic workers. Of cousre, if you simply raised wages, increased unions then immigration would go down. This is why immigration is the GOP having a battle with itself.
Working class voters have working class ethnic and moral values, at least immigration. Focus your election here and you can abuse them to your heart’s content.
The opposition leader’s interview was missing from the sight. Is this a sign?
Peter is a zionist apologist. He would never criticize an American president friendly to Israel. As usual, he is ill-advised, especially about what is good for Israel
MGB:_Presumably wages would go up to attract domestic workers. Of cousre, if you simply raised wages, increased unions then immigration would go down. This is why immigration is the GOP having a battle with itself.
Working class voters have working class ethnic and moral values, at least immigration. Focus your election here and you can abuse them to your heart’s content.
The opposition leader’s interview was missing from the sight. Is this a sign?
Peter is a zionist apologist. He would never criticize an American president friendly to Israel. As usual, he is ill-advised, especially about what is good for Israel
A Response to Fr. Sirico
A Response to Fr. Sirico: Distinctly Catholic: Fr. Robert Sirico, president of the Acton Institute, responded to Pope Francis' message to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, showing again that libertarians can't be wrapped in Catholic social doctrine.
MGB: What is it with reactionaries who create institutes in the name of those who oppose them? Susan B. Anthony must be rolling in her grave at the use of her name by the anti-feminist Susan B. Anthony Fund. Lord Acton, who publicly condemned Pius IX and his notions of papal infallibility would likewise cringe at the use of his name by Sirico. Francis is simply not a pope he would criticize. No futher comment seems necessary. As a libertarian, if he stuck to his old social libertarianism and ministered to gays in the Church, he might have a worthwhile witness. That he has taken the Prosperity Gospel of the Pentacostals into the Roman Church serves no one. While he is right to educate the Church on liberty, most don’t care about the factions, just the distinction between social and economic liberty. Francis may be more of a social libertarian than we have seen since St. John XXIII. He is not at all an economic libertarian.
The Pope is right to condemn Novick. whose notions of liberty are outdated in the era of CEO capitalism, where the one and his cronies make tools of the many. Hayek was right about freedom. It is not granted, it is innate. This could comport with Aquinas and the sovereignty of the will chosing between competing goods as presented by the intellect. It can be seen as the foundation of modern freedom for the individual. If Francis is responding to Hayek he misses Hayek’s meaning.
Free economic markets are not the problem. It is when CEOs have too much freedom, aka power, and employees and consumers have not enough liberty breaks down. Libertarians seem to ignore that because of their implicit belief that the gains of such actors are always well deserved, which is more like the Prosperity Gospel than Bastiat or Hayek, and certainly not like Christ. Libertarianism that serves the interest of our corporate masters is simply a justification of slavery, not freedom for all. Child labor indeed. You can guess the color of laborers and that brigs us to the nasty streak of racism that many of them hold. You can also guess where their financial support comes from, who pays the piper.
Liberty is most legitiate when mixed with community (I have written for a publication that does this, The Free Liberal. Libertarian socialism, democratic socialism and cooperative socialism are close cousins, which is why the Establishment tries to keep them apart. They are hardly separated from Catholic Doctrie, which scares Acton’s funders. Of couse, the also value social liberty, which many of the authoritarians in the Church cannot quite cope with either.
MGB: What is it with reactionaries who create institutes in the name of those who oppose them? Susan B. Anthony must be rolling in her grave at the use of her name by the anti-feminist Susan B. Anthony Fund. Lord Acton, who publicly condemned Pius IX and his notions of papal infallibility would likewise cringe at the use of his name by Sirico. Francis is simply not a pope he would criticize. No futher comment seems necessary. As a libertarian, if he stuck to his old social libertarianism and ministered to gays in the Church, he might have a worthwhile witness. That he has taken the Prosperity Gospel of the Pentacostals into the Roman Church serves no one. While he is right to educate the Church on liberty, most don’t care about the factions, just the distinction between social and economic liberty. Francis may be more of a social libertarian than we have seen since St. John XXIII. He is not at all an economic libertarian.
The Pope is right to condemn Novick. whose notions of liberty are outdated in the era of CEO capitalism, where the one and his cronies make tools of the many. Hayek was right about freedom. It is not granted, it is innate. This could comport with Aquinas and the sovereignty of the will chosing between competing goods as presented by the intellect. It can be seen as the foundation of modern freedom for the individual. If Francis is responding to Hayek he misses Hayek’s meaning.
Free economic markets are not the problem. It is when CEOs have too much freedom, aka power, and employees and consumers have not enough liberty breaks down. Libertarians seem to ignore that because of their implicit belief that the gains of such actors are always well deserved, which is more like the Prosperity Gospel than Bastiat or Hayek, and certainly not like Christ. Libertarianism that serves the interest of our corporate masters is simply a justification of slavery, not freedom for all. Child labor indeed. You can guess the color of laborers and that brigs us to the nasty streak of racism that many of them hold. You can also guess where their financial support comes from, who pays the piper.
Liberty is most legitiate when mixed with community (I have written for a publication that does this, The Free Liberal. Libertarian socialism, democratic socialism and cooperative socialism are close cousins, which is why the Establishment tries to keep them apart. They are hardly separated from Catholic Doctrie, which scares Acton’s funders. Of couse, the also value social liberty, which many of the authoritarians in the Church cannot quite cope with either.
Friday, May 5, 2017
Links for 05/05/17
Links for 05/05/17: At Commonweal, video of an event this week on Catholicism in the Age of Trump. I was glad to see Leslie Tentler spank Andrew Sullivan, whose sweeping generalizations about US culture are usually based...
MGB:_Andrew likes to point out embarrassing truths, which he does very well. For Catholicism, we are in the age of Francis. Sadly, far too many prelates spread the lie that abortion is the most important issue, when sadly there really are no viable proposals to change the status quo beyond harrassment. That these bishops buy into this nonsense in support of the Republican coalition generally and Donald Trump in particular is shameful.
The Governor and Control Board saved the bondholders from themselves. They only think short term. If they actually learned from history they would not keep making the same shameful mistakes and would quit resisting Dodd-Frank.
Trump is a creature of right-wing fake news, both as its subject and because he consumes it as his source of truth. This is beyond insane.
MGB:_Andrew likes to point out embarrassing truths, which he does very well. For Catholicism, we are in the age of Francis. Sadly, far too many prelates spread the lie that abortion is the most important issue, when sadly there really are no viable proposals to change the status quo beyond harrassment. That these bishops buy into this nonsense in support of the Republican coalition generally and Donald Trump in particular is shameful.
The Governor and Control Board saved the bondholders from themselves. They only think short term. If they actually learned from history they would not keep making the same shameful mistakes and would quit resisting Dodd-Frank.
Trump is a creature of right-wing fake news, both as its subject and because he consumes it as his source of truth. This is beyond insane.
Thursday, May 4, 2017
Revisions make GOP's health care bill worse
Revisions make GOP's health care bill worse: Distinctly Catholic: The political cause for the changes is that Paul Ryan needs to appease the Freedom Caucus and its fetish about anything that smacks of a mandate.
MGB:_The Freedom Caucus seems to think that if a health insurance market collapses in their state that this is a win. That depends on who the President is when it happens. Part of the bailiout in such a failure is more likely to be a single paer system with either the states or the federal government charging a payroll or value added tax to fund it.
Simply passing the House is not a worthy goal. The Freedom Caucus should have been thrown under the bus and negotiations should have occurrred with Leader Pelosi (except that Ryan is closet member). That would put replealing the surtaxes on non-wage income off the table and that repeal is the real goal of the bill. Unless you replace these taxes with a broader consumption tax and add a public opton (as part of tax reform), then reform should die, if not in the House than in the Senate.
MGB:_The Freedom Caucus seems to think that if a health insurance market collapses in their state that this is a win. That depends on who the President is when it happens. Part of the bailiout in such a failure is more likely to be a single paer system with either the states or the federal government charging a payroll or value added tax to fund it.
Simply passing the House is not a worthy goal. The Freedom Caucus should have been thrown under the bus and negotiations should have occurrred with Leader Pelosi (except that Ryan is closet member). That would put replealing the surtaxes on non-wage income off the table and that repeal is the real goal of the bill. Unless you replace these taxes with a broader consumption tax and add a public opton (as part of tax reform), then reform should die, if not in the House than in the Senate.
Wednesday, May 3, 2017
Links for 05/03/17
Links for 05/03/17: At USNews, the Governor of Puerto Rico today asked the federal control board to invoke Title 3, allowing the Commonwealth to enter bankruptcy proceedings. No idea why the governor did not do this...
MGB:_Whether a staff member forgot the date, the drafting and review took to long or someone finally got the Goveror to act, it is good that the request was made in time for the creditors to get the haircut they so richly deserve. Hopefully this will set an example that will make the vulture fund business not worth doing.
The right wing will be knocked over with a feather at news that Pelosi is opposed to abortion litumus tests. This shows that their hate of her is not justified and comes from a darker place.
John Oliver shows that facts are pesky things.
MGB:_Whether a staff member forgot the date, the drafting and review took to long or someone finally got the Goveror to act, it is good that the request was made in time for the creditors to get the haircut they so richly deserve. Hopefully this will set an example that will make the vulture fund business not worth doing.
The right wing will be knocked over with a feather at news that Pelosi is opposed to abortion litumus tests. This shows that their hate of her is not justified and comes from a darker place.
John Oliver shows that facts are pesky things.
Francis' critique of libertarianism echoes the Gospels
Francis' critique of libertarianism echoes the Gospels: Distinctly Catholic: No Christian theology can start with the premise that self-interest, enlightened or otherwise, is an appropriate starting point for ethics, Christian or otherwise.
MGB: Slade is a libertarian economist, which means she herself is woefully ignorant of the mainstream of the discipline, which is not libertarian. She is a contributor to America because she has written for them before, just as I am a contributor to the libertarian magazine The Free Liberal. It is an acknowledgement, not an endorsement. Of course, the fact that Slade uses Breitbart as her source totally blasts any credibility she may think she has. Using Breitbart consigns her analysis to the realm of tribalism.
There is nothing wrong with a free economy. It just works. What is horrid is using that economic freedom to justify economic power over others, whether they be employees or consumers. By the same vane, it is horrid to seek religious power over others when talking religious liberty. That is why some of us are Social Libertarians. We believe that morality is a humanistic enterprise, not a theistic one, especially in the area of sin. Of course, that morality should include finding systems so that individuals have no economic power over others. Likewise, the Church should not encourage the government to take police state actions, like banning abortion.
MGB: Slade is a libertarian economist, which means she herself is woefully ignorant of the mainstream of the discipline, which is not libertarian. She is a contributor to America because she has written for them before, just as I am a contributor to the libertarian magazine The Free Liberal. It is an acknowledgement, not an endorsement. Of course, the fact that Slade uses Breitbart as her source totally blasts any credibility she may think she has. Using Breitbart consigns her analysis to the realm of tribalism.
There is nothing wrong with a free economy. It just works. What is horrid is using that economic freedom to justify economic power over others, whether they be employees or consumers. By the same vane, it is horrid to seek religious power over others when talking religious liberty. That is why some of us are Social Libertarians. We believe that morality is a humanistic enterprise, not a theistic one, especially in the area of sin. Of course, that morality should include finding systems so that individuals have no economic power over others. Likewise, the Church should not encourage the government to take police state actions, like banning abortion.
Tuesday, May 2, 2017
Links for 05/02/17
Links for 05/02/17: At CNS a story and video with Professor Stephen Schneck as he steps down as director of the Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies at Catholic University. Schneck is truly one of the for...
MGB: Congratulations to Stephen Schneck on his retirement. I can't wait to hear what he has to say while untethered from university obligations.
It was a pleasure to march with the Catholic Climate Covenant last Saturday. Hopefully they can hold a few of the reluctant bishops' feet to the fire or simply organize around them.
Non-partisan drawing is very much needed. although Trump is so bad that in two years he may lose the House and Senate anyway. We will see what happens in Georgia tonight.
MGB: Congratulations to Stephen Schneck on his retirement. I can't wait to hear what he has to say while untethered from university obligations.
It was a pleasure to march with the Catholic Climate Covenant last Saturday. Hopefully they can hold a few of the reluctant bishops' feet to the fire or simply organize around them.
Non-partisan drawing is very much needed. although Trump is so bad that in two years he may lose the House and Senate anyway. We will see what happens in Georgia tonight.
Development aid in danger of losing to bombast and bombs
Development aid in danger of losing to bombast and bombs: Distinctly Catholic: A leaked document suggests that the Trump administration is planning stunning cuts to foreign aid. Such cuts are both unjust and strategically stupid.
MGB:_Foreign food assistance is fine if it does not arrive at harvest (as it often does) and financial assistance is essential as long as it does not come with conditions of austerity or is not properly channeled away from strongmen and sent to offshore bank accounts. Interestingly, after recoery from genocide, Rwanda got a leader who would not take foreign aid and they are thriving.
The ultimate foreign aid is a western plant owned by a larger employee-owned country or cooperative that pays the same standard of living as found in America. The exploiters would hate that because it would make them keep up and kill their percentage and cut off their ability to help prop up pliant dictators. A strong middle class is harder to enlave and builds its own charitable infrastructure. It may even be able to provide us aid as Trump helps destroy our middle class.
MGB:_Foreign food assistance is fine if it does not arrive at harvest (as it often does) and financial assistance is essential as long as it does not come with conditions of austerity or is not properly channeled away from strongmen and sent to offshore bank accounts. Interestingly, after recoery from genocide, Rwanda got a leader who would not take foreign aid and they are thriving.
The ultimate foreign aid is a western plant owned by a larger employee-owned country or cooperative that pays the same standard of living as found in America. The exploiters would hate that because it would make them keep up and kill their percentage and cut off their ability to help prop up pliant dictators. A strong middle class is harder to enlave and builds its own charitable infrastructure. It may even be able to provide us aid as Trump helps destroy our middle class.
Monday, May 1, 2017
Links for 05/01/17
Links for 05/01/17: President Trump did not get any funding for his border wall out of Congress, and his Muslim ban is tied up in the courts. But, as the Washington Post reports this morning, one of his strategies is wor..
MGB:_.Fear still stokes Trump’s base. The rest of us are simply shocked at the incompetence of Trump and his staff.
The crackdown on immigrants started with Bush. It went full force under Obama. All that is new with Trump is a signal to Homeland Security to abandon decency to get it done.
Amazing how MSW, WaPo and Rachel Maddow are on the same page. I agree that these races are already nationalized, though the party needs a better line on abortion. They need to quit defending on choice and instead attack the pro-life movement for its political opportunism. That message plays into the movement’s biggest fears.
Amazing that the DC Democratic Socialists and NCR have the same clip for the Internationale. Happy May Day!
MGB:_.Fear still stokes Trump’s base. The rest of us are simply shocked at the incompetence of Trump and his staff.
The crackdown on immigrants started with Bush. It went full force under Obama. All that is new with Trump is a signal to Homeland Security to abandon decency to get it done.
Amazing how MSW, WaPo and Rachel Maddow are on the same page. I agree that these races are already nationalized, though the party needs a better line on abortion. They need to quit defending on choice and instead attack the pro-life movement for its political opportunism. That message plays into the movement’s biggest fears.
Amazing that the DC Democratic Socialists and NCR have the same clip for the Internationale. Happy May Day!
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