Just a curiosity: If my (non-Catholic) 100-yr-old mother lives through March, she will have lived through nine papal elections. Does she care? No, not really. :)

As someone (on Twitter) noted, in 1930's fascist Italy, the Catholic Church was encouraged to "get with the times" too. Thankfully, they didn't.

It doesn't have to be dementia. If the problem is advanced congestive heart failure, for example, it saps your energy, and even mental exertion starts to be affected. It's what took FDR down, and people noticed at the end that FDR, in some cases, lost the energy to debate.

Instead, I think you better ask, "PlayStation or Xbox?"

John Zmirak, a  funny orthodox Catholic--believe it or not...and a blogger: www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3sxzCNuv_o&t=32m10s

The Tea Party is more an idea than any specific group of people. It's a preference for public-sector thrift and smaller government. So if the Tea Party can't survive the current debt and spending crisis, it's as if fire departments are less valuable in times of drought--not more valuable. It makes no sense that THIS would be the time for the Tea Party idea to become irrelevant. If, for example, drought has turned the adjoining forest into a fiery death trap, it's not the fire department's warnings that caused the problem.

What I didn't realize when I was nineteen is, people you love sometimes say really stupid things that--deep down--they didn't mean. Sometimes it's from not knowing what to say, and so they try on other people's attitudes to see how they fit, somewhat like trying on clothes. And if you're lucky, they look in the mirror and send back all the ugly suits before you see them. You learn that when you become the villain of the story, and you will.

Can't happen. "Bush only cut taxes for the rich." I heard it said about 500 times, so it must be true.

Public-sector unions are a great way for politicians to launder taxpayer money through a government worker's wages and benefits, on through their union dues, and then over to the campaigns of friendly politicians (and to third-party ads.)  We're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars here. The public union leaders have good reason to believe that it's the best way to increase wages, benefits, and security for their members, and for them. It's a big circular trough of taxpayer money, with much of it borrowed. If it walks like a kickback, and quakes like a kickback, it's a kickback pure and simple. It's disgusting.

"Only through obedience will you come to understand the strangeness of God's providence." --Fr. Dwight Longenecker

I read somewhere before, that the improvised CIA rescue (Woods) had captured prisoners from the attack on the consulate, from that night. Maybe that's what she was talking about. I think the story also said that for some reason they had to let them go. Probably because they were too busy trying to survive themselves.

I think the social conservatives (I consider myself one) can probably appreciate now that simply being allowed to opt out of the government policies that directly violate your religious conscience is a victory. Even that can no longer be taken for granted. It almost makes one appreciate Ron Paul. I guess that's the other piece of the puzzle.

Well, maybe European socialism will completely crumble first, and then rebuild itself from scratch, using this newfangled free market capitalism that all the kids are talking about. Maybe we can run there as the same sad and painful socialist collapse is happening here. At least I can dream.

The odd thing is, people somehow expect their hook-up culture to disappear the moment they get married. Why would it? Based on what principle? They threw out their principles long ago, and it's slow difficult work to recover them. And it's not work that most people want to do.

Yup. Poverty is fun. It's like going camping all the time.

A couple that didn't get the memo: