Just because I was watching Alfred Hitchcock's "Rope" starring Jimmy Stewart and as always happens when you see him and hear him you can't help but think that there goes a decent man. A good man.
I hadn't seen this clip since I was a kid but somehow I'd always remembered it. Jimmy Stewart really was a national treasure. So this is for dog lovers and Jimmy Stewart fans.
The Catholic world has heard a lot on the errors of consequentialism over the past few years. My friend and colleague Mark Shea,in his characteristically subtle way, has often and rightly highlighted the dangers and error associated with this type of thinking, notably as a justification for torture.
For the uninitiated, consequentialsm states that any act can be justified as long as the intended outcome or consequence is good. For instance, you can torture somebody as long you intend to save lives. Saving lives is the good intended consequence that justifies the torture. In short, the ends justify the means. As Catholics we completely reject this moral theory.
To do something wrong, no matter the intended or even realized consequence, is to do something wrong. Period.
I think this principle is often overlooked when it comes to the matter of public spending and public debt.
Let us start with the basics of debt. Debt, in and of itself, is not immoral. But to knowingly incur debt, to borrow from others, with no reasonable or foreseeable means of paying back a debt or with knowledge that the debt will eventually have to be paid by others is wrong. Period. It is stealing.
As a country, we are either rapidly approaching or have surpassed the point where there is no reasonable or foreseeable means by which we can pay the debt we have incurred and continue to incur at a startling rate.
I don't think many, if any, would argue that to continue to publicly borrow and spend at the current rate, we will eventually have to default on some of that debt or find ourselves in a currency devaluation spiral that in reality is just another means of default.
Even if the debt spending were to suddenly stop, a dubious proposition at best considering current political will, a great portion of the repayment of debt already incurred will fall upon future generations that will see little or none of the benefit. Presumably, that generation will have its own pressing issues for which the fruit of their labor will be required.
This is wrong.
Yet any time ...
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Dude. This really creeped me out last night.
I like this Dad's style.
A father, in China, was concerned that his 23 yr old son was spending way too much time gaming. So he did what any loving father would do. He hired a bunch of professional hitmen to kill his son, repeatedly.
A man in China hired virtual "assassins" to hunt down his son in online video games and kill off his avatar, according to local media.I don't know how effective this technique might be, but I like Dad's thought process here.
The man, named by the Kotaku East blog as Mr Feng, was concerned about the amount of time his 23-year-old unemployed son was spending online.
He hoped his actions would deter his son from playing the games, he is reported to have said.
It's often said that Catholics are anti-sex. I'm always a little amused by that as Catholics are also blamed for having too many children. We do oppose the cheapening of sex.
Actor Liam Neeson, in a story that appeared in Irish Central seems to diagnose the problem quite well:
Action star Liam Neeson has said he regrets the loss of the sanctity of sex in modern day culture and continuously struggles with the the sexualized nature of society.Now, if we could just get people to see that Catholicism is the antidote.
The 'Taken' star said he blames the cheapening of sex for ruining loving relationships.
Speaking to the Catholic Herald, Neeson, who has two teenage sons, Micheal, 17, and Daniel, 16, explained: "I'd hate to be a kid now, because we're all inundated with so much information about sexuality, coming at us from everywhere – the media, the advertising billboards, just everywhere – and it must be so confusing for them."
"There's a problem that, if you become over-familiar with something, it moves from the sacred to almost the profane," he said.
Read More: 'Taken 2' star Liam Neeson admits he knows nothing about the NFL - VIDEO
"The act is very, very special. It's full of mystery and wonder, and I'd hate us all to get to the stage where we just treat it lightly, because it deserves more than that."
Patrick will not be blogging here today, or ever again. Instead, he will be changing his name, shooting his television, moving to some place they never heard of football, grow a long beard, and become a fan of synchronized male diving.
Roll Tide!
(P.S. The only thing more embarrassing than the pummeling of Notre Dame was the geriatric Brent Mussberger drooling over AJ McCarron's girlfriend. McCarron should have beat up Mussberger instead of ND)
PPS. Anybody know where I can buy some really good fake ID, a pipe, and some mustache wax?
The world is completely insane. A bunch of Coloradoans held a candlelight vigil to protest a police officer shooting an elk. The officer, it seems, believed the elk to be injured so he put it out of its misery.
The people, however, protested that and wanted the officer arrested or fined. And those who gathered spoke of loving the elk and the elk loving them. Kinda' weird. But the one who takes the cake is the woman who says that she sees no difference between the police officer shooting the elk and Sandy Hook.
Warning: Abandon hope for the USA all who watch this video (There's a 17 second ad that precedes the video. Sorry.)
HT The Blaze
Irish pro-lifers take a swipe at how badly the Irish Times is skewing the abortion debate. Get used to it folks.
Check out the vid. It's a good one.
Want to know how to make a bomb?
Ask Matt Damon. It is such a shocker that his combination of bad science and bad moralizing results in bad box office.
His anti-frakking movie "Promised Land" bombed at the box office.
Fracking gets natural gas out of the ground, but it isn’t bringing people into movie theaters.It was also released at the same time that somebody leaked a study for NY Lawmakers that showed the practice is safe and another report that showed it has resulted in the lowest carbon emissions since 2007.
Big stars and political controversy didn’t translate into a significant box-office haul as “Promised Land,” a new movie exploring environmental concerns about the gas-production method known more formally as "hydraulic fracturing," fared poorly in its nationwide opening.
The film, which Matt Damon co-wrote and stars in, took just 10th place at the weekend box office, with $4.3 million in ticket sales, according to The Los Angeles Times.
Come on. Didn't we kinda' know this already?
A new study indicates that individuals who claim to be “spiritual,” but who lack an allegiance to a specific religion, may, in fact, be more likely to suffer from mental health problems.It seems to me that being spiritual but not religious doesn't pin people down to the rules that they likely seek to avoid but I don't see how they obtain comfort from such a faith, if that's what it can be called.
The research shows that people who embrace spiritualism without religious constructs are at a potential mental-health disadvantage compared to those who are more traditionally religious (or even when compared to those who are atheists and agnostics). In addition to having greater mental health problems, these people are also more likely to take medication to deal with associated issues, the Telegraph reports.
The research, which was conducted by Professor Michael King from the University College London, among others, was published in the British Journal of Psychiatry. The shocking study came to the following conclusion: “There is increasing evidence that people who profess spiritual beliefs in the absence of a religious framework are more vulnerable to mental disorder.”
