Monday, March 7, 2016
The Democrats' Trump Problem | National Catholic Reporter
The Democrats' Trump Problem | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: The Democrats have a candidate to address these issues. His name is Bernie Sanders. Of course, if the Republican establishment is so alarmed by Trump, they may vote for Clinton or Sanders anyway - or they may succeed in focusing anti-Trump support to Cruz - at which point I expect the Catholic Church to keep up its long con on abortion and gay marriage - two issues with no possiblility of actually being issues but with the right dog whistles to keep the bishops in line.
Thursday, March 3, 2016
Links for 03/03/16 | National Catholic Reporter
Links for 03/03/16 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: I disagree with Silk (it's rare, I know) on the death of the religious right. Trump is attracting the authoritarians - which have always been the core of the relgious fright, from the pews to the pulpit to the ambo (Chaput has not quit talking on issues, although he seems smart enough not to mention Trump). It is the death of Scalia which ends the abortion issue as we now know it - and Kennedy ended the anti-marriage movement in law - and will lead to its demise in churches, but authoritarianism itself will live on.
I would call Rubio the anti-Quayle. He was attempting to paint Trump as a bad speller and it blew up in his face.
The Kochs are following a family tradition of funding and egging on authoritarians, but those of that ilk have been around even without funding. Of course, nowadays their support of these types gives authoritarians a louder microphone and makes it more likely that their idiocy is obvious to everyone but them. This will especially be the case if Sanders wins the nomination and they start funding the red-baiters.
I would call Rubio the anti-Quayle. He was attempting to paint Trump as a bad speller and it blew up in his face.
The Kochs are following a family tradition of funding and egging on authoritarians, but those of that ilk have been around even without funding. Of course, nowadays their support of these types gives authoritarians a louder microphone and makes it more likely that their idiocy is obvious to everyone but them. This will especially be the case if Sanders wins the nomination and they start funding the red-baiters.
Review: An Unfinished Council | National Catholic Reporter
Review: An Unfinished Council | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: This looks to be an interesting book, where Francis is taking up what was lost when certain conservative bishops and popes pushed back against the spirit of Vatican II. The CDF under Ratzinger could hardly be called humble, nor the attitude of the pope it served. With Francis, this resistence to Vatican II, the humility it calls for in the Church and in doctrine (deemphasizing in the end even the obsession with doctrinal error and probably the term Magisterium). If works for the poor are more important than debates on gay marriage, or even about God, is a huge hermaneutic of discontinuity. All theologians should read this, especially the ones who think they are liberal.(call it deprogramming) Let ideas on theology and morals rise and fall on their strength, not on how the Church talks about them. Of course, humility is a nice excuse for bowing to the inability to monitor all media, both Catholic and likewise. There are just too many titles out there in this age of self-publication to review them all.
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Links for 03/02/16 | National Catholic Reporter
Links for 03/02/16 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Bravo to the Pope for telling capitalists where to put their blood money. I think he is feeling the Bern,which should make Catholics in both the Trump and Clinton camps squirm. Viva Liberation Theology!
The former President of Mt. St. Mary's does not understand the Catholic brand. While public universities also cull their freshman who can't succeed, the Catholic model is for smaller classes and more assistance to students who may yet hit their stride. If he were offering full refunds to students who can't cut it, that would be different. This is why the University of Pheonix requires students to take one class that shows that they can handle that format. Perhaps schools could have a one course mini-term before the start of the first semester to test basic ability before the real bills come in. Of course, if the first two years of college were an extension of the last two years of high school, as some states are now doing, this would not be an issue, as juniors can obviously handle the workload if they start university life at that point.
Of the universe of capitalists, probably Warren Buffett is the least onerous - but that is not saying much. If he really wants to cement his place in business history, he would sell all of the Berkshire Hathaway companies to their employees, with structures to make sure the employees are actually in charge, rather than retaining capitalist CEOs.
The former President of Mt. St. Mary's does not understand the Catholic brand. While public universities also cull their freshman who can't succeed, the Catholic model is for smaller classes and more assistance to students who may yet hit their stride. If he were offering full refunds to students who can't cut it, that would be different. This is why the University of Pheonix requires students to take one class that shows that they can handle that format. Perhaps schools could have a one course mini-term before the start of the first semester to test basic ability before the real bills come in. Of course, if the first two years of college were an extension of the last two years of high school, as some states are now doing, this would not be an issue, as juniors can obviously handle the workload if they start university life at that point.
Of the universe of capitalists, probably Warren Buffett is the least onerous - but that is not saying much. If he really wants to cement his place in business history, he would sell all of the Berkshire Hathaway companies to their employees, with structures to make sure the employees are actually in charge, rather than retaining capitalist CEOs.
Super Tuesday Analysis | National Catholic Reporter
Super Tuesday Analysis | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Cruz won his home state,which gives him a go-ahead to stay in the race. Things are dicier for Rubio and Kasich, so Cruz may be the anti-Trump, especially if he gets more Cubano votes in Florida than Marco. What a horrible choice! It looks like Trump is getting help from Democrats who want to pick their running mate, although I can't imagine either Hillary or Bernie voters taking their feet off the gas in their won race.
From what I understand from one of my cousins, where Hillary is winning, in at least some states Bernie is staying within spitting distance. I suspect that even if he were out of it, he would stay in to attract crowds and demonstrate how much the future leaders of the party disdain the neo-liberal triangulation the Clintons and their followers are known for. Indeed, if Trump really does break the GOP permanently, I could see the business conservatives and neo-liberals in one party and the libertarians and democratic socialists in the other (as long as they can keep rejecting corporate money).
What will a Trump candidacy, or God forbid, presidency due to the pro-life movement? Will he tape a speech for the March for Life or even take their phone calls? I suspect not. Once he gets the nomination, he will be a pro-choice candidate for November, which actually is good for the movement, since if he mouthed abortion as an issue, the Democrats may well just continue to drive home the point that the right-to-life movement is a Republican front group with no plans and no agenda, now that their Federalist Society hero, Justice Scalia, is out of the picture (and not even Thomas shares the view that this matter should be returned to the states). With Roberts and Alito sitting with Kennedy in the old O'Connor spot on this issue, there will likely be only one Justice in favor of not considering Roe as settled law - and movement that justifies its existence in adding four more justices who would consider changing that (if not five, as Thomas is old) can only be considered Quixotic. Just because the Catholic bishops are helping the GOP sell snake oil does not mean we are under any obligation to buy it.
From what I understand from one of my cousins, where Hillary is winning, in at least some states Bernie is staying within spitting distance. I suspect that even if he were out of it, he would stay in to attract crowds and demonstrate how much the future leaders of the party disdain the neo-liberal triangulation the Clintons and their followers are known for. Indeed, if Trump really does break the GOP permanently, I could see the business conservatives and neo-liberals in one party and the libertarians and democratic socialists in the other (as long as they can keep rejecting corporate money).
What will a Trump candidacy, or God forbid, presidency due to the pro-life movement? Will he tape a speech for the March for Life or even take their phone calls? I suspect not. Once he gets the nomination, he will be a pro-choice candidate for November, which actually is good for the movement, since if he mouthed abortion as an issue, the Democrats may well just continue to drive home the point that the right-to-life movement is a Republican front group with no plans and no agenda, now that their Federalist Society hero, Justice Scalia, is out of the picture (and not even Thomas shares the view that this matter should be returned to the states). With Roberts and Alito sitting with Kennedy in the old O'Connor spot on this issue, there will likely be only one Justice in favor of not considering Roe as settled law - and movement that justifies its existence in adding four more justices who would consider changing that (if not five, as Thomas is old) can only be considered Quixotic. Just because the Catholic bishops are helping the GOP sell snake oil does not mean we are under any obligation to buy it.
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Trump's wall and the challenge of vulnerability | National Catholic Reporter
Trump's wall and the challenge of vulnerability | National Catholic Reporter by Patrick Manning. MGB: When I first saw the headline, I thought it meant the wall of electoral votes Trump was building up. I don't take his comments on building a wall on the southern border seriously, although an impenetrable wall would save a lot of lives, as people die in the American desert after making the crossing. The wall that is Trump's undoing is his wall of money, which was encouraged by his boyhood pastor in what was the precursor to the prosperity gospel. I am wont to condemn either Protestantism or atheism on general principle - since both hold up a mirror to the Church that she does not often want to see - but in this case I have nothing but scorn for the idea that the rich are divinely favored due to their strategic contributions to the collection plate. That is not giving, its investing. There is no part of that in the real Gospel.
As for immigration, I am not unsympathetic to the problem of migration - but I would revoke all restrictions on it and right to work laws as well. I doubt that many foreign workers would be hired for union labor, especially if you could not call immigration to remove the ones that make trouble. Still, any that are needed should be welcomed and immediately placed on a path to citizenship. And the path should be short - the traditional five years. Of course, if we make coming here less exclusive, it will probably be less popular. A wall would just make coming to America more attractive.
On the biblical allusions, the original humans were hunter-gatherers - long before Adam of Kurdistan was born and was faced with the necessity of farming to deal with climate change. As for Babel, we now routinely use rockets to touch the Heavens, only to find that Heaven is not a place in this universe. As for Jesus, he was a day laborer - at the mercy of those who would hire him to be able to eat - he is the one that migrant workers identify with, for his life was the same. He was no Trump (who is a builder).
As for immigration, I am not unsympathetic to the problem of migration - but I would revoke all restrictions on it and right to work laws as well. I doubt that many foreign workers would be hired for union labor, especially if you could not call immigration to remove the ones that make trouble. Still, any that are needed should be welcomed and immediately placed on a path to citizenship. And the path should be short - the traditional five years. Of course, if we make coming here less exclusive, it will probably be less popular. A wall would just make coming to America more attractive.
On the biblical allusions, the original humans were hunter-gatherers - long before Adam of Kurdistan was born and was faced with the necessity of farming to deal with climate change. As for Babel, we now routinely use rockets to touch the Heavens, only to find that Heaven is not a place in this universe. As for Jesus, he was a day laborer - at the mercy of those who would hire him to be able to eat - he is the one that migrant workers identify with, for his life was the same. He was no Trump (who is a builder).
The Problem of Indifference | National Catholic Reporter
The Problem of Indifference | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: All too many Catholics, especially of the conservative variety, see care for the poor as enabling their poverty. In reality, allowing some of the poor to stay out of the workforce is a good thing, because it forces those who would employ the rest to pay higher wages - which is why the GOP is so fond of promoting the idea that people in need of relief are lazy.
In truth, it is the rest of us who are lazy. If all meat packing plants were unionized, the price may or may not go up, but the profits would go down. If immigration reform happened, it would be harder to bring in workers that would work in the shadows of such factories, who are deported if they complain about the working conditions, wages or the lack of a union. The same is true of peonage in the orange fields. Indeed, most of what we eat is picked or packaged by people with few options - including the option to leave without the sheriff returning the worker to his owner. To all of that, we are indifferent - profoundly so. Enjoy your breakfast.
In truth, it is the rest of us who are lazy. If all meat packing plants were unionized, the price may or may not go up, but the profits would go down. If immigration reform happened, it would be harder to bring in workers that would work in the shadows of such factories, who are deported if they complain about the working conditions, wages or the lack of a union. The same is true of peonage in the orange fields. Indeed, most of what we eat is picked or packaged by people with few options - including the option to leave without the sheriff returning the worker to his owner. To all of that, we are indifferent - profoundly so. Enjoy your breakfast.
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