In his Brother Glum, Mother Earth in City Journal of June 19, Steven Malanga makes note of Pope Francis’s background:

Early on, Francis said that his papacy would be shaped by his experiences serving the poor of Argentina—a place where, as economic historian Pierpaolo Barbieri wrote in the Wall Street Journal, “Government takeovers [of private businesses] and crony capitalism are the enemy of genuine development.”

More than any recent pope, his vision has been shaped by this distorted view of how modern trade and commerce work. One result is that Laudato Si devolves into a long rant against consumerism that ignores the many benefits produced by human innovation through free markets.

Something to keep in mind whenever he addresses the ills of the world.

via Pope Francis is from Argentina, something to keep in mind.

Mid-July at the Library, continued:

Rep. Lilly had said she was confident in passage of same-sex-marriage legislation, which she said was “in [her] heart.”

A man identifying himself as a Certified Public Accountant followed the softball question about same-sex marriage with a hard ball question, addressing the senator: “If you do anything in Springfield in our very corrupt state, do something about corruption.” He specified “gerrymandering,” complained, “The way it’s set up, candidates know they will win,” continuing at length in this vein.

“Each of us is vulnerable in a primary,” replied the senator. If an opponent surfaced, he might have said. Lilly, appointed in 2010, had run unopposed in primary and general in 2012 and would do so again in 2014. The senator had run unopposed in the general election every year but one — he said nothing about this — since he was elected in 2002. He was…

Pope’s eco-manifesto looks like a game-changer in the US | Crux.

Today’s sermon, Friday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time, day after promulgation of eco-manifesto by the reigning supreme pontiff:

You have heard it said (just heard it, in fact,  Matt 6.19-23),

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal.
But store up treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.

But I say unto you (now that Francis has spoken), the earth itself is a treasure . . .

(Transmission garbled for rest of message . . . )

Get ready, all ye churchgoers, there’s more to come . . .

Also this scenario, sure to eventuate:

Penitent: Forgive me, Father, I have sinned. It’s…

Picking up on the town hall gathering at the Oak Park Library in mid-July: Having earnestly alleged that the state budget process was “really, really, really critical” and urged her listeners to have a look at the budget itself via “the new technology of today” on the state’s web site, State Rep. Lilly continued in an earnest, enthusiastic vein.

 

An audience member asked if a rise in property tax rates was to be expected. A “really, really good” question, she offered, adding that she herself had asked it in a legislative committee meeting in Springfield.

 

But really good question or not, she instead addressed the related but separate issue of allocating state funds for public schooling. “No way is education to be funded equitably across the state,” she said, meaning shouldn’t or won’t? The “equitably” called up the haves-vs.-have-not state funding of public schools? So “it won’t happen…