Paul Krugman on GOP Investment in Ignorance: Whys and Wherefores

Paul Krugman explains (very well) why one major American political party, the Republicans, have "made a hard right turn against education," and are seeking to undermine a longstanding American ideal of seeing education provided for all citizens: it's, quite simply, in the best interests of the GOP to keep people under-educated.  And ignorant.  

On International Women's Day, I Hear a Family Story

That this happened on International Women's Day was a matter of pure coincidence.  If, that is, there are coincidences.

I had promised myself to make contact with my elderly cousin more months ago than I care to admit.  I learned of her existence (as more than a name in my genealogical charts) some time in the past from a marvelous lady one of whose vocations is walking through old cemeteries and recording information she finds on tombstones, then researching those whose tombstone information she has retrieved.

Droppings from the Catholic Birdcage: Whole Lot of Pretending (Still) Going On

Once again, as with my last scoop of droppings from the Catholic birdcage, so many droppings and so little time.  And once again, one dropping that goes into the pure-ordure-to-be-flushed-quickly category, and another in the dropping-as-valuable-fertilizer category:

Boston U. Religion Scholar Stephen Prothero on America's 12 Most Influential Catholics

As soon as I saw that Stephen Prothero's list of America's 12 most influential Catholics included only one woman's name, I stopped reading.  Especially when I happened to be reading the list at the Commonweal blog site (where David Gibson posted it) on International Women's Day.

Catholicism, the Healthcare Debate, and the Common Good: Recent Resources for Discussion

In the past day or so, I've spotted a number of pieces online which point out clearly the extent to which right-wing Catholics have bought into an ideology that is fundamentally at odds with Catholic social teaching in their attempt to deconstruct the healthcare plan offered by the Obama administration.  This is really the key underlying issue in the U.S. bishops' "religious freedom" attack on the HHS guidelines: to their discredit as Catholic teachers and moral leaders, the bishops are attacking the healthcare plan in toto, in an attempt to unseat the current administration.

A Poem, Friday in Lent (2)

Is it just me?

Or can legs

Be one day lead,

And the next

Fly with talaria feet?

Day moving after day,

Night following on night . . . .

The graphic is from Eric Chan's (maveric2003) photo stream at Flickr. 

Catholic Diocese of Sacramento Defunds Homeless Ministry: Director Supports Marriage Equality and Is Pro-Choice

And finally this morning, in the religious-freedom-not-so-much category, yet another piece of evidence that, for the current leaders of the Catholic church, religious freedom means freedom and conscience for me and not for thee: as Cynthia Hubert reports in the Kansas City Star yesterday, the Catholic diocese of Sacramento has shut down its funding for a homeless agency, Francis House, because the agency's new director supports marriage equality and is pro-choice.