Tuesday, November 10, 2009
The traditional marriage debate is not rational
Society and Marriage: Quid pro Quo : Dr Jeff Mirus, Catholic Culture
...it makes no sense to provide the benefits of marriage to same-sex couples, a very simple and pragmatic reason: Society will gain no benefit from doing so. Heterosexual marriage generates families which constitute the fundamental unit of the social order. This is a great benefit to society as a whole. Indeed, it is the sine qua non of society, and it is a benefit provided at considerable sacrifice on the part of the married couple. In return for this benefit, all societies foster, encourage and protect marriage in various ways, including laws which make it financially easier for married couples to maintain their families. This arrangement is based on a quid pro quo which cannot be duplicated by same-sex couples.
By de-criminalizing contraception, society proceeded down a slippery slope which leads to the call for "marriage equality." Heterosexual marriages can remain as sterile as homosexual marriages. If you think children are "a great benefit to society as a whole", look at their treatment in the tax code which is how "society" can put its money where its mouth is. No, I don't think we can turn back the clock to pre-Griswald, but we can't pretend this is a rational debate either. Labels: marriage, politics
posted by
Patrick Sweeney at 11:44 PM
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The Bishops support HR 3962 with Stupak-Pitts
US bishops laud Stupak amendment’s passage; no comment on Pelosi plan
Divide and conquer. The bill lacks:
effective conscience clauses
protection against rationing
provisions for immigrants
It included:
death panels
in-vitro fertilization
human cloning
embryonic stem cell research
While the bishops are not libertarians but statists, but this bill has no recognition of subsidiarity. The pro-abortion people are not sweating, they are certain Stupak will be killed in "reconciliation" process.
Labels: abortion, catholic, usccb
posted by
Patrick Sweeney at 11:03 PM
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The Coming victory of the socialists
Barack Obama's America: High Unemployment to Last for "Years"
: Rush Limbaugh November 10, 2009
Rush writes "It is to create so much transference of wealth. It is to create so much dependence on the middle class on government that Democrats will never lose power. That's the objective here, to make so many of you dependent on your very existence for government subsidies, handouts, and checks that you think only the Democrat Party will provide those for you; that everybody knows, "The Republicans, if they ever get in power, are going to cut that back." So this is the long-term goal."
What I can add here is that this an entanglement, a confusion, an economic fog around checks I'm writing (or not, thanks to the withholding), and the checks I'm getting in transfer payments or services.
What I fear is that there will never be credible political movement to take an axe and strike at the root. The last chance for that vanished with the failure of will on the part of Hastert, Frist, and Bush to provide an "exit strategy" for those under 40 from Social Security and Medicare. No, we're stuck with that.
We will wake up in a world, where not only the employees of the federal government will look to Washington with anxious anticipation of what impact nameless faceless bureaucrats will have, but every citizen on the grid as well. Over time, we'll feel like we're federal government employees. Labels: rush limbaugh, socialism
posted by
Patrick Sweeney at 10:29 PM
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Sunday, November 08, 2009
Odd Things about the Fort Hood Shooting (2)
This is just a personal observation as I've not been methodical about writing down the sources, but it seems to me that the response to demonstrate this was a not a terrorist act, and indeed not even a criminal act, comes a little too fast and too well-packaged to be completely a spontaneous reaction to the events of Thursday.
There's a therapeutic interpretation (stress drove Major Hasan to insanity). This one is popular with the liberals and undoubtedly with the lawyers who will be handling the still-living Major Hasan. Members of Hasan's family rushed to any reporters to paint the suspect as a model officer and model citizen, incapable of anger or rage, and moderate in all his views.
There's the jihadi interpretation -- this was a ''shahid'' or martyrdom attack. This brings a sort of fame and glory, which I presume is automatic if one shouts Allahu Akbar ("God is Great") as one kills others in the name of Islam. This would be popular with radical Islamists and those in sympathy with them.
Labels: islam, terrorism
posted by
Patrick Sweeney at 7:11 PM
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Odd things about the Fort Hood shooting (1)
President's Obama's shout out before his comments on the Fort Hood shootings: YouTube
I was waiting for, and millions of people were waiting for something that would be consoling and reassuring to the American people on Thursday afternoon from the President. It was bizarre. He seems to make some effort in his remarks to dwell on the mundane bureaucratic meeting which has just concluded and I'm wondering, doesn't he realize the gravity of what has just happened? When he remarks come he focuses on what we don't know and then cautions us not to jump to conclusions with little resolve to determine its cause and punish those responsible.
This reporter expresses what I felt:
Obama's Frightening Insensitivity Following Shooting.
A bad week for Democrats compounded by an awful moment for Barack Obama. : Robert A. George Labels: obama, terrorism
posted by
Patrick Sweeney at 6:53 PM
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Did the FBI immediately deny the Fort Hood Shooting was terrorist?
These blogs seem to have thought so.
North Star National. Mark Wilson
North Start National, Andy Hefty
Examiner, Larry Amon
The only official comment I was able to find was that the question of it being a terrorist attack or motivated by terrorism is not yet known. Mark Steyn remarked that if one applies the FBI's narrow definition of terrorism, it only applies to those carrying a Al Queda membership card. Labels: crime, islam, terrorism
posted by
Patrick Sweeney at 3:07 PM
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