Pope Francis: “A child conceived by the rape of a mentally ill or retarded woman can be condemned to death.”
So there is a death penalty.
Month: March 2013
[A] recent challenge from his opponent in the race, current Village Trustee John Hedges, about a possible conflict of interest has created some buzz.
That could be, but it is certainly true that this article created much buzz, in the shape of 39 comments, most of them dismissing the problem or offering solutions short of the candidate’s resigning if elected or divesting himself of his restaurant.
One or more comment correctly absolves the opponent, John Hedges, of raising the issue against Abu-Taleb — at the March 1 forum, the only forum so far in a campaign that is to end April 9.
Rather, the issue was raised in a question from the floor and was dealt with summarily if not satisfactorily by Anan A-T, who said (a) he had checked with lawyers who gave him an opinion he…
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What If You Get a Bad Pope?
The Holy Spirit, breathing where he wills, does not always work miracles:
. . . some particularly awful popes have given the Holy Spirit a run for his money. Popes did more than Martin Luther, John Calvin and King Henry VIII put together to spark the Reformation. Pontiffs have launched stupid wars and pointless persecutions. They have fathered households full of bastard children, disrupted the normal religious lives of Catholics in entire countries for wholly political reasons, and gorged themselves on the indulgences of the faithful. These are the men, critics of the Catholic Church are going to ask, invested with infallible authority?
It may be, this time around, after two great popes, we get a non-great one — “just a firm hand at the helm of Peter’s barque,” says Phil Lawler, quoted by Jeremy Lott at Real Clear Religion.
And the old saying, “God writes straight with crooked lines”? Maybe. Who on earth knows?
Does Oak Park have a pension problem, as candidate Anan Abu-Taleb said in the March 1 Carleton Hotel forum, saying the village should go to the police and fire fighters and negotiate more of their contract offer money to their funds?
Chicago’s mayor did that with the city’s police sergeants and got nowhere, as Fran Spielman reports in today’s Sun-Times.
By a nearly 7-1 ratio, sergeants rejected a deal that would have given them a 9 percent pay raise over four years in exchange for: raising the retirement age for sergeants to 53; increasing employee pension contributions from 9 to 12 percent by January, 2015; hiking health care contributions for new retirees to 2 percent of annuities; forfeiting cost-of-living adjustments every other year and limited COLA in intervening years to 2.5 percent with simple interest.
What candidate Anan had in mind, I presume, was increasing employee pension contributions
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Crime-N-Shame
Hey, whites do crime too. This Crime-N-Shame F-book site is misnamed, should be White Crime-N-Shame. Why not? With all the black-crime news in Sun-Times, to name one outlet, a little balance is in order.
Where Does Rand Stand? – Taki’s Magazine
For this Jim Goad fellow, who wonders about Sen. Paul’s political viability and flexibility after 13 hours on the Senate floor, Paul “remains a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma swaddled in the Constitution,” which puts him in the first rank of phrase-makers and will make this afficionado of the clever and the sententious come back for more.
It’s from the extremely readable Taki’s Magazine.
Wheeling Jesuit happy ending
Looks as if my happy-ending scenario is accurate as regards the Wheeling Jesuit U. change of presidents. This from a trusted local source gives the picture:
Hi Jim. Saw your posting – thanks for the “Happy ending” thought. That’s true. Really. Nothing in this story but what’s been said. [Richard] Beyer’s been an excellent President, has brought many things up to snuff and done a great job sharing his business sense and excellent people skills with [Fr. James] Fleming [SJ], who was brought aboard to be the Jesuit “Face” of the place.
[Fr.] Fleming’s ready and eager to do the job. Things will stay as they are until 1 July, when he will be inaugurated 10th. Pres. (at Beyer’s express wish so that this does not happen in the middle of the academic year when his contract expires Dec. 31). Beyer staying on after 1 July as Pres. Emeritus and he and his good wife plan to remain “Friends of WJU” in spirit and deed, forever. They’ve been good for the place. We’ve been fortunate.
Yes, Virginia, darkness before the dawn and all that.
Liturgical abuses targeted by international agency
Among differences expressed by village board president candidates Anan Abu-Taleb and John Hedges at the March 1 forum at the Carleton Hotel was to what extent villagers are keyed into village-government matters.
Very little, says Abu-Taleb, who speaks of “disengagement of citizens from the governing process” as a major issue and wants to “bring people to the table.” (He’s a restaurateur, is he not?) He would be “a face for Oak Park,” engaging citizens in various ways, including in a monthly “open forum.”
To this Hedges played the (strong) commission card, in fact 26 of them, consisting of volunteers in many areas of public interest including issues to be voted on by trustees. They are almost all advisory — zoning has its own authority, to name one — and turn up periodically on board agenda, where they have their say as privileged sitters at a figurative board table, whether ignored…
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Blithe Spirit 