Author: Jim Bowman

Jim Bowman covered religion 1968-78 for the Chicago Daily News, since then has written books, articles, etc., mostly on corporate history but also on religion (Company Man: My Jesuit Life, 1950-1968), and more recently on politics (Illinois Blues: How the Ruling Party Talks to Voters -- Lulu.com, Kindle). Longtime Oak Park, Illinois, resident, he lives now on Chicago's North Side, where four of his and Winnie's six children live close by.

Trump executive order explicitly protects gay people — did we know that?

I have been wondering why the signs about gay people at the resistance parades — so-called women’s march etc. — when it’s been a non-issue for the Trump campaign. Their cause has been lumped together with the others, unreasonably, as if in knee-jerk reaction.

Source: President Trump signed an executive order explicitly protecting gay people. The lying left can admit they were wrong now

C.S. Lewis on hymns

From Weekly Column by Fr.George Rutler for January 29, 2017

C.S. Lewis did not care much for hymns, which he said were usually fifth-rate poetry set to fourth-rate music.

Sad but true.

He added:

Exceptions include the great works of Charles Wesley, John Mason Neale, John Henry Newman, and the like. Those were sturdy adaptations of classical theology set to splendid tunes. As such, they stand out from the bad verse and banal tunes that have descended on congregations from the culturally bleak 1970’s onwards

Father Rutler’s book, The Stories of Hymns – The History Behind 100 of Christianity’s Greatest Hymns, is available through Sophia Institute Press (Paperback or eBook) and Amazon (Kindle only).

A piece-by-piece strategy of international cooperation

The expected US-UK agreement:

The bilateral trade agreement that he is now set up to reach as rapidly as possible should pay dividends not only for Mrs. May but for Mr. Trump, as well.

It could yet serve as the premier template for bilateral trade agreements of those who would have been bound with us in the Trans Pacific Partnership. And for, say, Mexico, if things get to the point where a bilateral arrangement looks better than the North American Free Trade Agreement, with its supranational structure.

And it could be the embryo for a values-based expansion of the special relationship, to include not only America and Britain but others who cherish liberal democracy.

A developing gathering of eagles.

Big business, Hillary, and the daughter of Hugo Chavez

“As the federal government has progressively become larger over the decades, every significant introduction of government regulation, taxation and spending has been to the benefit of some big business.”
“The [‘Hillary Care’] plan prescribed some eye popping maximum fines:$5,000 for refusing to join the government mandated health plan; $5,000 for failing to pay premiums on time; 15 years in prison for doctors who received ‘anything of value’ in exchange for helping patients short circuit bureaucracy; $10,000 a day for faulty physician paperwork; and $50,000 for unauthorized patient treatment. When told the plan could bankrupt small businesses, Mrs. Clinton said, ‘I can’t be responsible for every under-capitalized small business in America.'”
“Socialism, failing to work as it always does. This time in Venezuela. You talk about giving everybody something free and all of a sudden, there’s no food to eat. And who do you think is the richest person in Venezuela? The daughter of Hugo Chavez. Hello!”