From the (Ballad of the) Buzz Cafe, March 14:

 “The experience on the board today, a lot of it is really theoretical, and almost like an academic experiment at times.  . . .

Buzz Cafe owner and forum host Laura Maychruck, holding up seven cards on which audience members had written questions: “There’s a lot of outrage on these cards” — about lack of economic development effort by the village and the problems business owners have in dealing with the village. . . .

Collette Lueck, running unopposed for reelection as a trustee: “I don’t know what the outrage is about. . . .

From the Chamber of Commerce forum March 19:

John Hedges to Anan about his lack of civic involvement:

“You’ve lived here 22 years,” he said, raising his voice. “Where have you been? The rest of us have been working hard. . . .

“I live these…

Father socked it to us dryly this a.m., 8 of the clock, inspiring/shaming us into being better Catholics with a citation from, God save the mark, Nietzsche! How many other RC pulpits rang this morning with that name? Not many.

Nietzsche said he couldn’t be a Christian because Christians weren’t. Ah. They fell off the mark. Therefore, decided the eminent philosopher, he would not be one.

Lesson: Be a Christian, fellow! Or get out of this church!

On the other hand, from Catholic Answers via Big Pulpit, we have this from The Imperfections of the Saints:

If I was to compile a list to be titled Common Catholic Misconceptions of the Catholic Faith, near the top of the list would have to be this Catholic misconception about the nature of sanctity:

The saints are to be considered perfect in their earthly lives, to such an extent that all that…

. . . in English to die for:

Though Ronald Knox (1888-1957) won renown as a Catholic priest, university chaplain, retreat master, and author of spiritual books, it is at least arguable that he made his living from his bestselling detective stories. In fact, it was Msgr. Knox who wrote the widely accepted rules the Ten Commandments that guided the so-called Golden Age of Detective Fiction. He was a keen reader of Arthur Conan Doyle, and he even established a satirical genre of mock-scholarship of the Sherlock Holmes stories.

He made a respectable living that way, but he knew that Man cannot live by bread only; there is life for him in all the words which proceed from the mouth of God (Mt 4:4). And so Msgr. Knox gave his life to deeper mysteries than any earthly detective could solve.

Thing is, the English is not mysterious in this translation…

By Tom Quiner

Is human life good or bad?

This questions divides political camps in America. Liberals apparently view human life as a disease. They agitate for abortion expansion. They impose contraception, abortifacients, and sterilization in our insurance plans whether we want them or not.

People cause pollution. That’s bad, so people are bad.

People cost the government a lot of money in welfare and our extravagant safety net. So fewer people are better than more people in terms of sustaining these programs, and increasing their benefits.

Conservatives view people as innovators, creators, and problem solvers. More people are good, not bad, in their eyes.

One of liberals’ most consistent and loyal supporters are the teachers’ union. They fall right in line with Democrat’s insistence on abortion rights, and the widespread availability of abortion services.

They may want to rethink this position. There is a practical reason why: their jobs…