North Western Winds

I thought Kathleen Parker's column on The American Society of Newspaper Editors Annual Meeting was terrific: There's something kind of adorable, in an odd way, about the elite media trying to decide if they're elitist. It's sort of like inmates in an insane asylum considering their circumstances and concluding: "You don't look crazy to me." With a few exceptions, journalists tend to think mostly alike about most things, and they generally tend to be more liberal than mainstream America. This isn't a criticism necessarily -- there's no Fourth Estate conspiracy -- it's just the nature of the beast. After all, what kind of person wants to labor long hours in exchange for public contempt and low pay? Brilliant people , obviously. The problem is, when you spend most of your time with people who essentially mirror your attitudes and beliefs, you begin to get a distorted view of the world. You look around and conclude: "You don't seem eli...

How's this for commentary on the Gomery inquiry? The artwork is from Pieter Brugel, titled "There is always a way to a rich man's money..." Those guys on the ground must be medieval advertising execs. Tip to Giornale Nuovo for the scan. This blog always has interesting art to look over.

The Papal Conclave is set to begin on Monday. John Paul's ring has been smashed and the cardinals are winding down their last meetings before the real deliberations begin. For an interesting look at the history of the Conclave procedure, check out Saturday's National Post. Curious onlookers should know that Catholics do not see the politicking and horsetrading of the event to undermine its credibility. They'll concede that is has a tawdry aspect to it, but as EWTN's Raymond Arroyo points out, "the Holy Spirit will operate not in spite of, but through the egos, the press coverage, and politics of this conclave." That view is not exceptional; it is simply how Catholics reconcile the workings of providence intertwined with human foibles and human freedom. Two blogs that might be good sources for Conclave coverage are The Pope Blog , and a new entry, The New Pope Blog . Writing in Reason magazine, Patrick Basham rightly notes that the Conclave is likely to h...

In the comment thread to my post about Tory outreach to Quebec, Tom made some very good observations (he's got the advantage in that Quebec is his home province). He pointed out that the Catholic church has a bad name in that province because of it's long, cozy relationship with the government there. I'll be the first to admit that I don't know a whole lot about that, other than I know it's true and the resentment may well be justified. So... am I mad or what? Why suggest that Christianity, and Catholicism in particular, might be a useful way to reach out to that province? The reason I like my faith is not because want the Pope to rule the world like an autocrat. No, that wouldn't do at all. I like my faith because it's the most amazing philosophy I've come across. It also has an administrative side that, not surprisingly, has had problems. I say "not surprisingly" because putting ideas into action is always tough. Human frailties and difficu...

Cox and Forkum have posted a small collection of cartoons about blogging . For a larger image of this cartoon, click here .

Ales Raus , quoting a story from CNN , points out an interesting statistic, one that goes against expectations: Only 29 percent of churchgoing Catholics favor the death penalty for murder. Among less observant Catholics, nearly two-thirds support the death penalty. This is one stat where churchgoing Catholics are probably out of step with other Christian churchgoers and the non churchgoing population. It marks Catholics as unique and it is interesting precisely because in many other ways, the largest divide among Christians is not what kind of church they attend. It is how often they attend, if they attend at all. The pride that swelled Kennedy's support among Catholics in 1960 did not seem to be there for Kerry in 2004. The Catholic vote went narrowly for George W. Bush, a Protestant. What happened between 1960 and 2004 was that religion began to loom larger in U.S. politics -- not religious affiliation, whether you are a Protestant or Catholic, but religious observance, whether...

A collection of links concerning the nature of conservatism Is Catholicism better described as liberal or conservative? Edward Fesser answers that it is the later over at The Conservative Philosopher . I'm inclined to agree, with the caveat that much depends on how one defines 'conservative': At the end of the day, then, the teaching of the Catholic Church on economic matters is essentially conservative, and even when the popes in their prudential judgments about such matters have seemed to be endorsing “liberal” policies, those judgments have not rested on liberal principles, have not been presented as infallible, and have not bound Catholics to support any specific legislative measures. The bottom line is that it is simply false to suggest, as is so often done, that conservative Catholics “dissent” from the Church’s teaching as often as liberals do. A faithful Catholic can legitimately hold that capital punishment is justifiable in some circumstances ...

Sue at Turning Thirty and a Half has the latest Red Ensign Brigade , and 3,000 hits to show for it. Wow. And Jay at Living Catholicism has the latest Catholic Carnival .

More on 'The Ghost in the Machine" Chris at Mixing Memory has a new post up in his ongoing debate with Sirius' Brandon. It's been good reading and this is more of the same. Standing outside this particular debate, it seems to me that as interesting as it is, it is probably doomed to go in circles and be inconclusive, and not just because of the subject matter - although obviously that's a very large part of it. The whole issue comes down to the plausibility of the concept of "personhood" in our lives here and now. Chris writes: I don't think it's the case that we have never had a precisely delimited cut-off point for personhood. In fact, I think that traditionally, both materialist and non-materialist concepts of personhood have rested on the presence of a mind, be it in the form of a working brain or the presence of a soul. It seems as if Chris is assuming his conclusion in this passage. Maybe it is only a misunderstanding of the traditional...

If you're reading this blog, you probably have the idea that the issues in week's papal conclave are not likely to be those that are near and dear to some of the church's loudest critics: women priests, gay marriage, acceptance of birth control, yadda yadda yadda. So what issues are likely to on the minds of the Cardinals when they begin to cast their fateful ballots? When you and I go into the ballot booth we at least have the knowledge that should we get a government that is considerably worse than we'd hoped - kinda like what happened in the last Federal election, actually- we know that we can get rid of them in the not too distant future. The cardinals will have no such luxury. The only thing thing they can do if playing it safe is their goal, is to make sure they do not elect a man as young as John Paul was in 1978. While Popes do not have the freedom to rule willy nilly - they can't overturn the deepest layers of tradition, after all- they can still ostraci...

I found another interesting article from Father Neahaus, this time on C.S. Lewis. In this 1998 essay, he wonders how Lewis' methods would fare today, and how they might need to be altered: Theology, at least in the great tradition, claims to be about truth. It makes cognitive claims about the way things really are. It is one of the great secularizing achievements of modernity to have created the category we call "religion." Questions about God, judgment, purpose, sin, and redemption are all put into a sandbox labeled "Religion," leaving the rest of the public square for the deliberation of questions dealing with "the real world." This is evident in our universities, where theology has long since been replaced by—at best, or perhaps at worst—"religious studies." For two hundred years, theologians retreating from the advance of scientific and philosophical debunkings have taken refuge in the sphere that modernity graciously set aside for religi...

Here's a classic from Johnny Cash. It always makes me smile. A Boy Named Sue My daddy left home when I was three And he didn't leave much to ma and me Just this old guitar and an empty bottle of booze. Now, I don't blame him cause he run and hid But the meanest thing that he ever did Was before he left, he went and named me "Sue." Well, he must o' thought that is quite a joke And it got a lot of laughs from a' lots of folk, It seems I had to fight my whole life through. Some gal would giggle and I'd get red And some guy'd laugh and I'd bust his head, I tell ya, life ain't easy for a boy named "Sue." Well, I grew up quick and I grew up mean, My fist got hard and my wits got keen, I'd roam from town to town to hide my shame. But I made a vow to the moon and stars That I'd search the honky-tonks and bars And kill that man who gave me that awful name. Well, it was Gatlinburg in mid-July And I just hit town and my throat ...

Here is another quiz: Which Christian denomination are you? My results: 1: Roman Catholic (100%) 2: Eastern Orthodox (87%) 3: Anglican/Episcopal/Church of England (81%) 4: Presbyterian/Reformed (77%) 5: Lutheran (73%) 6: Congregational/United Church of Christ (56%) 7: Baptist (Reformed/Particular/Calvinistic) (39%) 8: Church of Christ/Campbellite (22%) 9: Seventh-Day Adventist (22%) 10: Methodist/Wesleyan/Nazarene (16%) 11: Baptist (non-Calvinistic)/Plymouth Brethren/Fundamentalist (12%) 12: Pentecostal/Charismatic/Assemblies of God (4%) 13: Anabaptist (Mennonite/Quaker etc.) (0%)

Rebecca, my wife, wants us to go and hear Father Richard Neuhaus when he comes to Vancouver for a fundraising event. I'm willing to go, even more so now, having read this old 1997 article of his about John Paul taking steps to find reconciliation between Catholicism and the American experiment with liberal capitalism. It is an interesting rejoinder to those who think the two are irreconcilable. Neuhaus writes: I am confident that we as Americans make no mistake when we think that the American experiment is a very major presence in Centesimus Annus . After all, the Western democracies, and the United States most particularly, are the historically available alternatives to the socialism that so miserably failed. I think it true to say that in this pontificate, for the first time, magisterial teaching about modernity, democracy, and human freedom has a stronger reference to the Revolution of 1776 than to the French Revolution of 1789. It is, then, neither chauvinistic nor parochia...

You scored as Justice (Fairness) . Your life is guided by the concept of Fair Justice : Everyone, yourself included, should be rewarded and punished according to the help or harm they cause. "He who does not punish evil commands it to be done." --Leonardo da Vinci “Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.” --Dwight D. Eisenhower More info at Arocoun's Wikipedia User Page... Justice (Fairness) 90% Divine Command 80% Existentialism 60% Utilitarianism 30% Kantianism 25% Strong Egoism 25% Hedonism 20% Nihilism 5% Apathy 0% What philosophy do you follow? (v1.03) created with QuizFarm.com

What philosophy do you follow ? Is Philosophy becoming more popular with the young? This essay shows why rhetoric about how expanding rights is always a virtue should be resisted. Robert Heinlein was on to something when he came up with TANSTAAFL (there ain't no such thing as a free lunch). Ann Coulter tells a surprising story that I don't think made it to Canada's MSM. Maybe I missed it. The American Spectator has a fine and provocative essay by George Neumayr on bystanders' fascination with the upcoming Papal Conclave: Why would people who hate the Church pose as reformers who know what's best for it? Why would they care so passionately about the direction of a religion to which they don't belong? For the same reason the French philosophes and revolutionaries monitored and pressured the Church: it is a force that they must either neutralize or hijack in order to achieve their designs for the world. Look at the immense, obsessional energy that the left...

From Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's beautiful homily at yesterday's funeral for John Paul II: Follow me! In July 1958 the young priest Karol Wojtila began a new stage in his journey with the Lord in the footsteps of the Lord. Karol had gone to the Masuri Lakes for his usual vacation, along with a group of young people who loved canoeing. But he brought with him a letter inviting him to call on the Primate of Poland, Cardinal Wyszynski. He could guess the purpose of the meeting: he was to be appointed as the auxiliary Bishop of Krakow. Leaving the academic world, leaving this challenging engagement with young people, leaving the great intellectual endeavor of striving to understand and to interpret the mystery of that creature which is man and of communicating to today's world the Christian interpretation of our being -- all this must have seemed to him like losing his very self, losing what had become the very human identity of this young priest. Follow me -- Karol Wojtyla ac...

In writing up this post I have to mention that I am very impressed with the quality of discussion that one finds on blogs. This truly is a remarkable medium. Thanks go to all three of the bloggers mentioned here for providing such good reading and thinking for the rest of us to try and learn from. I have not had a chance to read all of the entries linked to here, but I do intend to. ***** George Will compares two views of man in his latest column . One is novelist Ian McEwan, who places the following words into the mouth of the leading character in his latest novel, Saturday : Endless and beautiful forms of life, such as you see in a common hedgerow, including exulted beings like ourselves, arose from physical laws, from war or nature, famine and death. This is the grandeur. And a bracing kind of consolation in the brief privilege of consciousness. This character is a neurosurgeon. The quote reminds me that there may be some truth to the observation that those in the biological and...

Following up on my post last night on policy, I have been engaged in a small but fun talk with Peter at his blog, Before Dawn . We've been discussing how liberty and justice are resolved in political theory. The comment thread is here . I don't have time tonight to really get into it, but I point readers to another blogger I have a high regard for. Francis Poretto is a small 'l' libertarian and a Catholic, and I view myself in the same lens. Last night he, like David Brooks' piece that I linked to last night , wrote about the tensions between the libertarian and traditionally conservative wings of conservative thought in the U.S. He is also optimistic that through ongoing dialogue and policy tinkering, things can be worked out: We reached our current degree of consensus in part because of the failure of New Deal / Great Society social experimentation, ably chronicled and analyzed by Thomas Sowell and others, but also in part because we dislike men who speak with ...

Fascinating quote from David Brooks at the NYT. ... it's not only feuding that has been the key to conservative success - it's also what the feuding's about. When modern conservatism became aware of itself, conservatives were so far out of power it wasn't even worth thinking about policy prescriptions. They argued about the order of the universe, and how the social order should reflect the moral order. Different factions looked back to different philosophers - Burke, Aquinas, Hayek, Hamilton, Jefferson - to define what a just society should look like. Conservatives fell into the habit of being acutely conscious of their intellectual forebears and had big debates about public philosophy. That turned out to be important: nobody joins a movement because of admiration for its entitlement reform plan. People join up because they think that movement's views about human nature and society are true . Liberals have not had a comparable public philosophy debate. A year ago...