Archives for May 2014

Homicides by Weapon Type Handgun Other  gun Knife Blunt  object Other  weapon 1976 8,651 3,328 3,343 912 2,546 1977 8,563 3,391 3,648 900 2,618 1978 8,879 3,569 3,685 937 2,490 1979 9,858 3,732 4,121 1,039 2,710 1980 10,552 3,834 4,439 1,153 3,061 1981 10,324 3,740 4,364 1,166 2,927 1982 9,137 3,501 4,383 1,032 2,957 1983 […]

  The two cartoons above actually do go nicely together. In America, we are no longer required to do classical studies. After all, we are a practical people. We only need to know what is necessary to make things function. Unfortunately, there are two problems. One is that without a grounding in classical studies, we […]

Recently I finally finished reading The Last Days of Jesus: His Life and Times, by Bill O’Reilly. It was a book that I was looking forward to reading. Given Mr. O’Reilly’s spot on Fox News, and his defense of conservative causes, I fully expected a book written from a conservative Catholic perspective. Mr. O’Reilly strongly […]

This is for the Doctor Who fans among us. I find these creatures to be the most frightening of all in the Doctor Who menagerie. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will […]

Let’s see. Three months into 2014 New York City began to see an outbreak of measles. Last fall California reported the worst whooping cough season in 55 years. The herd immunity on which anti-vaccine parents have relied since the 1990’s is breaking down due to the increased numbers of anti-vaccine activists. Of course, the excuses […]

From a news story written by a professor who teaches at St. Tikhon’s in Russia. The biggest publishing news of recent years has been Everyday Saints (literally translated, Unholy Holy People), in which Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov), head of Sretensky Monastery and reputed spiritual counselor to President Putin, offers a series of vignettes about his journey […]

We have three daughters, a couple of sons-in-law and all our grandkids here for Mother’s Day. The comic above expresses how I feel. Now, if only I could convince them that Father’s Day rates the same response. Sadly, it will only be telephone calls. SIGH!

I am not a Kantian. However, a couple of the summaries above had me thinking of some of the events of the last couple of months. And, in particular, in a libertarian oriented democracy like ours, the third saying is a very powerful summary. “If you should be free to do something, then so should […]

We all have been taught geography in school and shown maps of the world. But, back in 1977, a man named Peters grabbed a map from an 1855 English clergyman, named Gall, and peddled it as his own map. Worse, he peddled it as a more “socially” and “geographically” accurate portrayal of the Earth than […]

An important decision came from the Supreme Court today. Another small reversal in the wall that was built between Church and State in the mid-1900s was announced today. The Supreme Court decided 5-4 that minister-led prayer could take place at the beginning of city council meetings, with certain specifications. One, the civic body must give […]