Droppings from the catholic Birdcage: "Never Thought of It That Way"

This is not really a Catholic dropping.  And so I've lowercased the "catholic" in the title of this posting, to indicate it's a comment by someone in the wide-open catholic spaces of the internets, about whose religious leanings (or non-religious leanings) I have no clue at all.

Advent Hope, Dystopian Futures, Michigan Attack on Labor and the Supremes' Choice to Hear Prop 8 Case

Part of the message of Advent--a large part--is that the future is never a foregone conclusion.  It depends on divine initiative and invitation.

Desmond Tutu Appeals to Ugandans' Conscience, and Another Gay Teen Commits Suicide

Josh Pacheco (1995-2012)

And (piggybacking on what I just posted about Justice Scalia and his recent response to a gay Princeton student re: homosexuality and murder) in contrast to Scalia the defender of Catholic orthodoxy, there's Desmond Tutu, the defender of humane values and human rights: at Box Turtle Bulletin, Jim Burroway publishes an editorial by Tutu in today's Daily Monitor.  The editorial appeals to the conscience of the Ugandan people as their parliament is poised to pass draconian anti-gay legislation as a "Christmas gift" to the people of this nation.

Mary Elizabeth Williams on Scalia's Response to Gay Princeton Student: "Behaving Like an Arrogant, Dismissive Tool"

Justice Scalia at Red Mass, D.C., 2008

Mary Elizabeth Williams assesses Antonin Scalia's recent supercilious response to a question from a gay student at Princeton about his equation of laws banning sodomy with laws banning murder:

Politics of Revenge in Michigan (with Catholic Parallel in Wisconsin)

Lisa Graves reads ALEC's broadside assault on Michigan workers through "right to work" legislation as revenge politics.  It's punishment of the voters of a state that went for Obama over Romney by almost 10%.  She writes,

In Catholic News: A Whole Lot of Stuff for Your Stockings

Also in Catholic news during this week of preparation for Christmas joy:

Tom Tomorrow on the Bipartisan Adventures of Simpson and Bowles

"That's why we now spend our time giving speeches--for which we are paid $40,000 apiece--on the need to cut Social Security and Medicare". . . 

Brilliant political commentary from Tom Tomorrow of "This Modern World," via The Nation.  (Clicking will enlarge the cartoon.)