DaveTown

The believers in miracles accept them (rightly or wrongly) because they have evidence for them. The disbelievers in miracles deny them (rightly or wrongly) because they have a doctrine against them.

– G.K. Chesterton

“When push comes to shove and the stakes are perceived threats to national survival vs. freedom, history points to the truth that human beings will nearly always sell their liberty to the first tyrant who offers them bread at the cost of chains.

And there are always philosophers around to explain why it’s the right thing to do.”

– Mark P. Shea

“To get to the truth of the matter, we should first set down wherein we agree and wherein we disagree with our opponents.”

– Thomas Aquinas

My 14 year old daughter’s review of the new Star Trek:

“So, so, completely beast. Oh my gosh. So completely better than any of the Star Wars movies, 10 times over. . . now I have to go watch the original TV show.”

(note: “beast” = “good”)

“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”

–Pericles

I’m not a conservative, as the phrase is currently understood, as not even conservatives agree on what it means. If it means, as it certainly seems to me, giving lip service to Christians and small-government advocates while simultaneously treading upon the constitution with muddy golf shoes, then count me out. I’m certainly dead set against aligning myself with the Republican Party, which is a joke - almost a parody of itself.

I’m not a liberal, as the phrase is currently understood, because it seems to me that modern American liberalism stands for nothing beyond a philosophy of postmodern materialism and a policy of accumulation of power. The Democratic Party? Please. The Democratic Party died with President Kennedy in Dallas and Dr. King in Memphis.

What is the label for someone who believes in the following things:

• The federal government should be limited to doing those things specifically authorized to it in the Constitution.
• Sanctity of Life applies to people in prison as well as babies in utero.
• The War on Drugs is as big a scourge on society as drug abuse and addiction.
• Free markets are a prerequisite to a free society (you know, the real kind, the kind that doesn’t have any room for corporate welfare, federal micromanagement, protectionism, turning a blind eye to fraud, making it nearly impossible for small businesses to survive, and tax-driven social engineering).
• All Ten Amendments should be taken seriously by all three branches of government (including the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 9th, and 10th, all of which seem to be in trouble, if not functionally dead).
• Traditional notions of sexual morality make the most sense, and the sexual revolution has not made society better. But, really, we should all get back to the days of minding our own business on these things.
• Assuming evil motives and making ad hominem arguments is not the same thing as intelligent public discourse on serious issues affecting society. In fact what passes for public discourse these days does far more harm than good. It generates hatred and contempt; it is incapable of leading to thoughtful consideration.
• Some things are way too important to be run by politicians. Health Care and Education spring immediately to mind.

I reject the label libertarian, though I once embraced it. Lots of good libertarians out there, but too many kooks as well. Classical Liberal is probably the most accurate, but hardly anyone knows what the phrase refers to.

I suppose I could just accept that I don’t have a label for what I believe, and align myself with all the other people who don’t have a label, and then when there are enough of us, we can label ourselves Nolabeltariancratapublicans.

Yeah, I’m going with that.

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Good Friday goodness from the late Fr. Neuhaus:

In the cross we see that of which humanity is capable: self-transcendence in surrender to the Other. All the evidence to the contrary, we are capable of love. The sign of shame and death becomes the sign of cosmic possibility. Here is the axis mundi, the moment upon which all reality turns.

Look no farther (further?) for a succinct statement of the Catholic side of the whole “Obama at Notre Dame” controversy. This comes to us courtesy of my good friend, the brilliant Fr. Tharp.

“The worst power of an evil mood is this - it makes the bastard self seem in the right”

– George MacDonald

Remember the good old days when you could count on the Democrats to propose more government intervention, and the Republicans to insist on limited government?

Well, me neither, but that’s what the stereotypes and rhetoric have always insisted was the reality. No more.

When I read the headline “Senate Reviewing How College Football Picks No. 1″, I assumed, in a knee-jerk (but not unfair) reaction, that it must be Democrats leading the charge. Au contraire.

The two leaders mentioned in the article were Senator Orrin Hatch and Representative Joe Barton, both Republicans.

Two points need to be made here: first, any politician who assumes that the federal government has or should have the authority to regulate how the NCAA picks their football champion needs to resign or be impeached. It is ludicrous and despicable that the idea even comes up in serious conversation. Such arrogance demonstrates complete and utter disrespect for the principles of limited, constitutional government.

And, before you ask, yes, I have basic understanding of both antitrust law and the commerce clause.

Putting that aside for the moment, it’s not even as if either house of congress has any business telling any organization how to govern themselves. Is it going too far to assert that not many people associate the United States Congress with concepts of good sense and fairness?

The second point: Republicans, if you’re going to insist on the nationalization of NCAA Division 1 football, do us the courtesy of changing your name to something other than Republican. “Republic” is an honorable word as well as a worthy goal; you really shouldn’t be so shameless as to drag it through the mud. The football thing is just the straw that broke the  camel’s back - your party hasn’t been true to it’s principles in a generation. Quit pretending.

1. You have to like kids. This is the sine qua non of teaching. If you don’t genuinely like kids, go be a Mall Cop, where this would be an advantage.
2. You really have to have a keen sense of humor that can transcend barriers of age, gender, and ethnicity. Mostly, you have to be able to laugh at yourself.
3. Don’t “mind” very much stuff. The more you don’t mind, the more you can put up with. Save “minding” for the important issues, like knife fights and fire drills.
4. Pick your battles. This applies to your bosses as well as your charges.
5. Do not succumb to the “quantity over quality” hysteria that has overtaken public education (in other words, don’t sweat the standardized tests).
6. Remember it is impossible to impose intrinsic motivation upon another human being, and that extrinsic motivation isn’t really the friend of quality education.

Dave hits the nail on the head with this post about power vs. ideology as the engine that drives politics.

On the long list of things I would have in my very own school, let’s start with self-defense training.

My students would learn how to physically protect themselves against aggressors. Martial arts, hand weapons, and basic familiarity with firearms would constitute the curriculum.

More importantly, my students would learn intellectual self-defense. We’d start with understanding Arisotle and Aquinas, as sort of an innoculation against modern stupidity, then we would look in depth at the great errors of postmodern Western Civilization. Ideas like relativisim, materialism, socialism, and consumerism would get the beatdown they deserve. We’d have a blast studying the basic logical fallacies and then watching television news and advertising to spot as many as we could.

Stuff like that.

First: Goodbye and good riddance 2008, you can’t end soon enough.

Second: I want to say something about the debate over gay marriage:

Shut up. Everyone SHUT UP.

If you believe in gay marriage, yet think that people who believe homosexuality is morally wrong are therefore hate-mongers and bigots - SHUT UP. You have nothing helpful to say.

If you don’t believe in gay marriage because you hate homosexuals - SHUT UP. You have nothing helpful to say.

Finally, the following ideas are ridiculous:

• The present condition of the world economy is a repudiation of free markets - notice I didn’t say Capitalism, I said free markets.

• America is either doomed or redeemed because Barack Obama was elected president - it doesn’t work that way.

Okay, that’s about it. Happy New Year.

Finally, another member of the 1% Club. In case you don’t recall (and why would you, frankly?), membership in the 1% Club is awarded to that very small minority of people in this world who, unlike the rest of us, aren’t full of bovine excrement when they speak and/or write.

Our newest member is CLS, of the blog Classically Liberal, who has brought some sense to the mass confusion regarding the latest government created crisis (which of course, can only be solved by, you guessed it, the government).

Here’s a snippet, but please, do go read the whole thing:

Good God, didn’t this man [Henry Paulson] take a basic Econ 101 course sometime in his life or is he intentionally ignoring market fundamentals for other reasons? First, lets get rid of the absurd idea that this crisis is one of “market failure”. Markets are doing precisely what they are supposed to do — when a good is overpriced markets correct that price and bring it down.

Wouldn’t it be ironic if George Bush ends up being a hero because the government is bailing out all these failing companies to avert a financial meltdown, and John McCain, who was implicated in the last big financial meltdown (for you young folks, it was a little thing called the Savings and Loan Crisis), winds up winning the White House as a result?

So apparently, the only person who has both sense and money in this country is Warren Buffet, because while everyone else is selling, he’s snapping up stocks and companies at a huge discount. He will then wait for the market to move back up again, and sell at a huge profit.

Sure the government is doing essentially the same thing in bailing out the AIG’s of the world, but since the government has no money (it’s OUR money), and isn’t acting out of sense but rather out of election year desparation, I don’t include them in the same category.

Thank you Don Pardo.

The category is “Current Events” . . .

And the answer is: WATERBOARDING

What is “Stuff that couldn’t persuade me to watch one second of either the Democratic or Republican National Conventions”?

A doubleheader today, both from the always excellent Positivity Blog

“The resistance to the unpleasant situation is the root of suffering.”

– Ram Dass.

Pain is unavoidable in life. Suffering is however optional.

– Henrik Edberg