Vox Nova

I know many of our readers have an interest in Distributism, a philosophy explicated by both G.K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc.  Presently an effort is being put forth to create a formal organization.  The organization will be clearinghouse for educational materials, semi-annual lecture series, and conferences.  Additionally they are looking to create a journal to discuss contemporary issues using distributism, engage the thoughts of socialists and capitalists, and create the beginnings of a distributist world at home.  To see how you can help in their efforts, please visit here for more information.

Often the secular press is criticized for its reporting on religion issues.  Compliments to the Chicago Tribune for an excellent article on Pope Benedict.  Included are many quotations from Cardinal George.  Papalophiles should enjoy.

Also appearing on the front page of the Chicago Tribune was an article discussing the closing of a Catholic Chicago hospital.  It also discusses the contentious issue of non-profit status and what that entails.  While not answering the question, it also contemplates whether the charitable model can be sustainable.

Possibly my lack of shock was from growing up in a University town.  In ad lib remarks, Barack Obama made the statement that he wouldn’t want his daughters punished with a child or an STD if they were to have teenage sex.  For me, I took it to mean analogously that if one of his daughters was drunk driving he didn’t want them punished by wrapping their car around a tree and dying.  I think it is perfectly natural to not desire the worst case scenario from a poor choice.  Most would agree that premarital sex and drunk driving are poor choices.  Most would agree these activities can have natural consequences that are undesirable.  To say that being pregnant at 15 is undesirable or the rightful consequence (punishment) of a poor choice doesn’t seem to me to be all that remarkable.  And while many of us today are sensitive to the term ‘bastard’ and other descriptors of out of wedlock birth, many of us do not think “Congratulations!” upon hearing of the birth of a child out of wedlock, particularly to a young teenager.

My memory isn’t always the best on these sort of things, so I’m curious if others remember similar things.  I could have sworn we were told not to have sex so we wouldn’t end up with a baby.  I could have sworn we were told that if we engaged in irresponsible behavior, we would wind up pregnant, infected with AIDS, getting another STD, and, oh yeah, possibly infected with AIDS.  I realize there are many trying to place a greater emphasis on babies being a good thing, but we need to make sure to have a home ready for them.  Question for the floor:  how was the issue addressed growing up?

Wisconsin just finished a particularly nasty Supreme Court election.  Now begins the retrospectives on how special interests soured the campaign and made it nasty.  In the case of this election, private interests spent $5 for ever $1 the candidates spent.  While I’m not particularly opposed to regulation addressing some of this, I want to go in a slightly different direction.  This could end tomorrow if people really wanted it ended.  The problem is people don’t want it ended.

No, I’m not speaking of people boycotting stations or any other such nonsense.  The stations themselves are well within their rights to refuse 3rd party interest ads, or even ads from candidates themselves.  The only way stations could get in trouble is if they acted inconsistently.  Considering that many stations offer local news 4 or 5 times daily, I think they could easily make the argument they are fulfilling their obligations to the public interest, which is part of their licensing.  There is one reason and one reason only for the filth put out there and that is the greed of the station owners.

The natural counter argument is that people shouldn’t be denied the airwaves as a forum to air their grievances.  Good gracious, why shouldn’t they?  Most sane people don’t have an issue denying the airwaves to Holocaust deniers.  And the public interest groups whose opinions people may care about don’t even use the airwaves to distribute their views.  The NRA predominantly uses direct mail.  AARP does some TV, but it also has its own network for reaching its members.  In politics, TV and radio air time are predominantly for fly-by-night organizations to offer their messages under the impression that they represent someone other than a few cranks with money.  Part of having a public trust is denying the use of public resources to those who seek to destroy it.

For the record, my ox wasn’t gored because I don’t vote for judges.  I think the practice is repugnant and against the interests of law and justice.

I apologize that I haven’t offered the most exhaustive research on this topic.  In the wake of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer resigning from office, there have been side debates started that ponder whether the State should legally prohibit prostitution.  Naturally, Saint Thomas Aquinas’s controversial opinion that prostitution should be legal has been argued as a Catholic position.  From my own reading, this opinion, like his opinion on ensoulment, does not appear to enjoy support from the Church today.  Lest anyone be scandalized, the issue of prostitution was widely debated in Aquinas’s time.  One side viewed it as a form of human exploitation.  Another side, joined by Aquinas, viewed it as a form of fornication.  The former view has held up over time. Read the rest of this entry »

Should a truce be declared between paleo-libertarians and neo-distributists?  Some would claim we might as well attempt to have a dozen or so people make peace.  While the groups are larger than that, we aren’t exactly speaking on the scale of fusionism.  John Zmirak in an interesting piece at Taki’s Mag answers in the affirmative.  He rightly sees the presently constituted State as the enemy of both paleo-libertarians and distributists.  By extension, the logic flows that the enemy of my enemy is my friend.  The problem is that libertarians scare me half to death. Read the rest of this entry »

This is not news.  While I may take some joy in someone’s public humiliation, this is not news.  While parts of me what to calculate how many meetings would be required before my mortgage was paid off, this is not news.  Ranking right up there with misery lit, crime news is merely circuses for the people.  Rather than raising the public awareness and public discourse, this is meant to appeal to the base emotions.  In particular, this appeals to pride and envy.

For the record, I think prostitution is evil.  I also didn’t celebrate Larry Craig’s incident, so save the hypocrisy charge, despite the fact that I’m more like the embittered former smoker than a Democrat.  I have no issue with Spitzer’s arrest or resignation if they occur, just spare me the details.  Those are just pornography for the righteous.  This is not to claim that only righteous enjoy it, just that many amongst the righteous are fooling themselves into thinking they are doing something worthwhile by indulging in this.

Wolff stresses that it’s difficult to determine how increased daylight saving time affected energy use across the U.S. last year. But he’s inclined to reject the government’s pre-change projections of modest energy savings.-National Geographic

Since I don’t golf, I don’t see any real benefit to DST.  I want my hour of sleep back.

Proposition 1: One should not vote for those who support grave evils.

Proposition 2: One should not vote for those who support intrinsic evils.

Proposition 3: Via prudential judgement, there may be divergent views on whether a given act is a grave evil.

Proposition 4: Two Popes and all the U.S. bishops to varying degrees in their prudential judgement have concluded the Iraq war is unjust.

Therefore, the only people in good conscience who may vote for either of the two candidates with a chance of winning the presidency - discounting embryonic stem cell research - are those whose conscience hasn’t conformed to the beliefs held by the ordinary magisterium.  Discuss.

“Misery literature is huge, especially in Ireland,” agrees Kelly. “The public loves this description of a cold, miserable Ireland, where it always rains and priests are always around, abusing someone.”

But what makes the O’Beirne saga [the story of her abuse in the notorious Magdalene Laundries] so troubling, Kelly believes, is that it fuels Ireland’s obsession with clerical sex abuse, and the abuse-claim industry. O’Beirne herself accused Fr Fergal O’Connor, founder of the homeless hostel Sherrard House, of raping her in the 1970s. The investigation took a year, during which the 77-year-old University College Dublin professor was prevented from visiting his own workplace. Yet Fr O’Connor was virtually crippled by arthritis when the alleged crimes took place, unable even to shake hands because of the pain, according to a friend. The priest was exonerated two days before his death.

Mainstream Publishing, which published Don’t Ever Tell, is steadfast in its support of O’Beirne’s book. “We have made our own investigations, and are convinced this is a legitimate account of the harrowing experiences endured by a young girl whose life has been embittered by the abuse she suffered at the institution in which she was incarcerated. We have no doubt about Kathy O’Beirne’s account of these events. Mr Kelly’s version is his own and, in our opinion, does not relate to any sort of reality.”

O’Beirne’s own feelings about Kelly’s investigation became clear on Irish TV last November, when he pulled out her birth certificate and school records, showing she had lied about her age, education and alleged adoption. O’Beirne, furious, hit him. As he commented at the time: “She can beat my back, but she can’t beat my book.”

- Telegraph (U.K.)
HT: Per Christum

In the Democratic Primary, it is truly a tale of two parties.  Our first stop in Ohio shows Obama losing the 65+ vote 72-26%.  This demo makes up 14% of Ohio’s democratic primary voters.  When we break up the vote tally by race and age, only whites under 30 broke for Obama, and that was just a 1% break in an exit poll; they make up 10% of Democratic primary voters.  Among the 3 older white demographic, Clinton won them by between 20 and 48 percentile points.  At this point, the religious breakdowns are pretty meangingless, because they are most likely describing the larger pheonomena.  For example, Catholics broke strongly for Clinton, but 90% of the Catholics were white.  One would also assume they were older.  So I don’t think the 31 point break for Clinton among Catholics is describing a unique voter breakout.

 Moving over to Texas, we see Clinton winning whites over 60 by 40 points.  Here they made up only 12% of votes.  More impressively for Clinton was Latino voters over age 60 (6% of voters) breaking by 62 points to Clinton.  If it wasn’t for the 2:1 advantage Clinton had among Latino voters, Obama would have won Texas.  Among all races, Obama won voters under 40 and Clinton won voters 50 and above.  Voters in their 40s split evenly.  Going forward and if Obama is the nominee, it will be interesting to see if Obama continues to have issues attracting older voters in a general election.

On the Republican side, McCain won all the contests last night by margins that would make Medvedev proud.

Gunmen have kidnapped the archbishop of the Chaldean Catholic Church in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and killed three of his aides, his church says.

Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho was seized as he left a church in the eastern al-Nour district, it added. (More from the BBC….)

(HT: Mark Shea.)

 Much debate has ensued in the blogosphere over Free Trade, particularly both Obama and Clinton obstensively campaigning against it.  Unfortunately it is a matter that isn’t debated much in economic’s circles.  Below is a excerpt from a review on this book.  Clicking the book picture takes you to Amazon.

Chang offers some fascinating vignettes of men and books that were infinitely more important in the economic development of the rich countries than Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations. These include a precis of a virtually unknown book by Daniel Defoe, A Plan of the English Commerce (1728), on Tudor industrial policy in developing England’s woolen manufacturing industry. As a result of many of Defoe’s ideas, manufactured woolen products became Britain’s most important export industry. Chang continues with a short life of Robert Walpole, the chief architect of the mercantilist system. By 1820, thanks to Walpole’s protectionist policies, Britain’s average tariff on manufactured imports was between 45 and 55 percent, whereas such tariffs were 6-8 percent in the Low Countries, 8-12 percent in Germany and Switzerland, and around 20 percent in France. Read the rest of this entry »

I have updated the post bellow, adding my own views. 

The encylical for which William F. Buckley’s commentary is most remembered.  If National Review makes available their issue addressing Mater et Magistra or any of WFB’s subsequent writings, I would be more than happy to link to them.  The Jesuit periodical America recounts the controversy here, and they reprint his article offered on what he would discuss with the Pope if given several minutes.  Here with is a brief excerpt from that encyclical.

When Differences Arise. . .

238. Differences of opinion in the application of principles can sometimes arise even among sincere Catholics. When this happens, they should be careful not to lose their respect and esteem for each other. Instead, they should strive to find points of agreement for effective and suitable action, and not wear themselves out in interminable arguments, and, under pretext of the better or the best, omit to do the good that is possible and therefore obligatory. Read the rest of this entry »

The conventional wisdom seems to be that if you pump Obama’s negatives, you’ll have a path to the election.  Mark Halperin basically suggests this in his bullet points.  Stuart Rothenberg is less explicit on this point.  This was also the conventional wisdom with Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.  George H.W. Bush did successfully do it.  Al Gore was as close as you come to successfully doing it without actually doing it.  Bush was going into the weekend before the election with a 2-3% lead.  Gore successfully leaked the drunk driving arrest on that weekend, and came within a tenth of a percentage point of winning the presidency.

It is easiest to pump the negatives on candidates without platforms.  The breadth is more important than the depth on this point.  The whole point of pumping the negatives is to get the voter disillusioned into believing that the candidate won’t be able to deliver on what they promised.  The original attempt to pump the negatives on Obama was the War in Iraq.  This didn’t work so well for H. Clinton because even if Obama’s position on Iraq is considered impractical, it happens to be the position Democratic activists share.  McCain may be able to do this in the general election.  There have been signs over the past week that McCain is moving to a disengagement position.  I believe he would have to move a little further to disillusion Obama supporters who want the troops brought home.  The key to pumping negatives is convincing people that your guy would do no worse than the other guy in reality.  Attempting to pump negatives when your guy truly would do worse just reminds people of your guy’s bad position.  For H. Clinton, trying to hurt Obama on Iraq just reminds people that her policy is whatever is politically expedient; it is malleable and likely to change.

Going into the general election, I think it helps to remember the other side is paid as well.  McCain is susceptible to having his negatives pumped.  Pro-life supporters are still weary of supporting him in the primaries.  Every week sees another commentary published in a newspaper by a Catholic claiming that the abortion issue is not important in the coming election.  If such efforts were actually organized come this fall, this could have a very negative impact on McCain.  The other negative for McCain is that he is tone deaf on economic matters.  There are a lot of poor people in the GOP, many of them also happen to be the disillusioned pro-lifers mentioned above.  Presently McCain doesn’t have an economic message.  He needs to get one or he needs to find an enthusiasm for social conservatism.  I can very much see Obama’s campaign pumping those negatives.

A distinct view held in voting is that if there are no acceptable candidates, one should abstain from voting.  The argument is that one shouldn’t participate in a system that promotes evil.  That is stacking the argument a little bit.  To put it better, the argument is that one shouldn’t encourage grievous evil, and, by proxy, one does so when one votes for a man who supports an evil program.  Of course moral theology has contemplated similar things. Read the rest of this entry »

First, I’m not a vegetarian.  Vegetables have found me later in life.  Potatoes, typically mashed, and corn were the predominant veggies for me growing up.  The former is primarily simply starches.  The latter is closer to a grain and is seriously deficient unless paired with beans.  There’s a reason the two are often paired in Native American and Mexican cuisine.  This is not a post about nutrition though.  This is just to give you the reader an idea of how limited my herbivore habits were. Read the rest of this entry »

Obama is projected to win in a blowout.  McCain appears like he will clear the 50% hurdle in the Republican primary.  Overall it appears that the closeness in Wisconsin perceived in early polling under represented Independent voters.  They solidly broke for Obama breaking most of the demographic groups with them.  McCain continues to disappoint with pro-life voters.  In Wisconsin this may have to do with Pro-Life Wisconsin being the party to the lawsuit challenging McCain/Feingold.  While there are legitimate complaints that McCain is getting unsubstanciated grief for not being pro-life enough, I think this is more of a case that the usual suspects are largely keeping silent.  CNN exit polling is available here.  While I can’t drill down the data to figure this out officially, it appears older Catholic feminists have been breaking heavily for Clinton and skewing the Catholic vote overall.  I won’t ever be able to prove it, but I have my suspicions.

I would like to set the record straight on something that has been repeated often in the blogosphere.  Some are going to be offended by this, but I’m sorry, people aren’t entitled to their own facts.  Mothers have been punished for aborting their children.  Though invalidated by the Supreme Court, Wisconsin Statute 940.04 covers this: Read the rest of this entry »

Having seen a steady diet of Obama on the TV, Wisconsin votes today.  Obama even called my wife yesterday, or at least she got to hear his recorded voice.  I’m in the Green Bay television market, and I would guess Obama has had 60% of the ads.  Cinton has had 20% of the ads, almost all of them whining about Obama.   The over 20% of political ads have been divided between Huckabee and McCain, both messages generally positive.  I haven’t finalized my choice.  I will be voting this evening.

I’m debating a vote for Huckabee based on principle.  As a social conservative, any delegates he would bring to the national convention would be of benefit to the overall platform.  Despite some differences with him, I would only violate my core belief that the War in Iraq needs to end and our troops need to come home.  I don’t believe a vote for him on that basis will encourage that cause.  My hope is that it would provide a witness to other Republicans that the concerns of social conservatives are real.

The other candidate I’m considering is Obama.  My wife and I are deeply scandalized by his pro-abortion position.  At this point I have no intention of supporting McCain in a general election.  I do consider him to be a worse alternative to both Obama and Clinton.  Since I believe a Democrat will be elected President, I’m thinking prudence would suggest eliminating the worst candidate.  I think Mrs. Clinton is the worst candidate among the Democrats.  Her agenda is a more liberal version of “business Republican”, at least this is how she has positioned herself over the prior couple years.  This shouldn’t be shocking given that President Clinton chose his path to office via the DLC, a moderate group with the Democratic Party that is pro-corporate interest and relatively disinterested in unions.  Obama has shown instincts of being populist, particularly with his opposition to CAFTA before seeking the presidency.  I think he would also move us out of Iraq quicker than Clinton would.

I have 9 hours to decide.

Article:  May a borrower return the title of a property to the lender and end his obligations?

On the contrary, it would seem that the borrower would be obligated to return the amount owed.  The borrower was not lent the property.  He was was lent the money.  To refuse to return the money would violate a trust between borrower and lender.  By violating this trust, one sins against his neighbor.  In as much as the borrower is able, he is obligated to repay.

I answer that the lender has been paid in full.  The lending of money is an act of charity, and the refusal to repay is indeed contrary to the charity shown.  The pledge of money for fecund goods however is an investment.  For an investment to be licit, each party must accept risk.  This risk needn’t be equal, and in fact can be disproportionate.  In the case of a mortgage, the lender-investor accepts rents as interest payments.  Through the mutual investment, the lender has a first right to rents and the borrower has the right to any additional rents.  As such the borrower accepts the risk that the land will not yield additional rents, and the lender accepts the lesser risk that the borrower will surrender his right to further rents.  Since that which is lent is the right to rents, once the right has been returned, the lender has been restored.

By the response, it seems the old suspicion and prejudice of Mormonism that drove a pack of Illinoisans to butcher U.S. presidential candidate Joseph Smith remains alive and well. Many Americans consider Mormonism a cult, and in no way a Christian denomination. Privately they will say that Mormons have some very strange practices. Maybe even horns.
…
Bill Keller, host of the Florida-based Live Prayer TV warned his reported 2.4 million e-mail subscribers that a vote for Romney would mean a vote for — you guess it — Beelzebub. “The presidency is the most powerful position in the world,” Keller told American Spectator contributor Carrie Sheffield. “If Romney was elected president, it would give mainstream credibility and acceptance to the Mormon cult and lead millions of people into that cult.”
- Christopher Orlet, The American Spectator

To this, I and others reply, “So what?”  Much of the negative reaction over people not caring for Mormonism is from folks who have a general antipathy toward religion.  “Sure it is nice on Sundays, and it may be useful for teaching your kids right from wrong, but you don’t actually believe that it should influence choices you make in life, do you?” they condescendingly sneer.  I’m sorry to say that indeed Mormonism is an American invention, and those who find this inconvenient or retort that Christianity is a Roman invention are part of the problem.  Many of us would have loved to write positive things about Romney, but everywhere we turned there were people who made affirming Romney’s Mormonism some sort of loyalty oath.  I’m sorry, but I’m not going to affirm Mormonism.  Once the field had been winnowed to McCain versus Romney, I was however prepared to vote for Romney despite his Mormonism.

This post is pretty far afield from the usual stuff on Vox Nova.  Like many of our readers, I have a company 401(k).  While not thrilled with my investment choices, I do at least have some choices.  Ideally I would like to be in commodities and Euro bonds at this point.  I don’t have either of those options.  Presently I’m allocated 10% Cash equivalent, 50% U.S. bonds, and 40% international equites.  The latter is divided between one fund focused more on Europe and the other more focused on Asia.  Since I’m foreseeing weak equity markets internationally, I’m not sure I’m comfortable with the risk there.  Our bond market is looking increasinly unattractive with inflation continuing to spiral higher.  My options are cash-equivalent, U.S. Bond, Domestic Stock, Aggressive Domestic Stock, European Equity, and Asian Equity.  How would you advise?

After an impressive 24 quarters of economic growth, it only took newly anointed Speaker Pelosi and her liberal colleagues less than one year to hobble a previously growing economy.

- Rep. Tom Feeney (U.S. Congressman, 24th District of Florida)

Rather than offering my opinion, I’ll seek input from everyone.  Fill in the blank.

This statement is an example of ____________.

Time flies as they say.  For example, Chelsea Clinton will be turning 28 within the month.  It seemed just like yesterday, the charges of hypocrisy were flying over which grammar school she would attend.  Then we see stories of how today she is supposedly being used to woo a junior at Marquette University who just happens to be a super-delegate to the Democratic Convention.  Maybe this is just the way really old folks talk.  Personally, when I was back in college, a women around 7 years my senior would be old.  (I did exchange notes when I was 17 or so with a 23-year-old woman, so maybe I’m not so innocent.)  Looking at 21-year-olds today, I see kids.  When you consider that Hillary has begun her twilight years, you realize she didn’t have Chelsea until near her mid-30s, having married near age 28.

Going across the aisle we find Laura Bush marrying near 31.  Four years later, she gave birth to her daughters.  Prehaps this is a generational issue.  Going back a long time ago, we have Eleanor Roosevelt.  She was wed near 21 after having met her husband FDR at 17.  Moving forward, Jackie Kennedy and Camelot did not begin until she was roughly 24.  Going back again, Mary Todd Lincoln was wed at near 24 and had her first child almost exactly 9 months later.  Going back to the beginning, Martha (Curtis) Washington started her married life at age 18 with a husband 2 decades her senior.  After she became a widow, she eventually married George Washinton, and they raised the children from her first marriage without having any children of their own.

As for present candidates, Cindy McCain was near 26 at the time.  She is John McCain’s second wife.  Michelle Obama wed near 28 and had her first child 7 years later.  To varying degrees each party doesn’t really care about family life.  When you get up to the media elites in both parties, you find many who actually disdain family life.  I wonder if this is because for so many of our country’s putative leaders, marriage and family life have truly been an afterthought.  Although Obama is very much my senior, an odd coincidence is that we both had daughters named Natasha born in 2001. Read the rest of this entry »

With McCain becoming the nominee of the Republican Party, the election will be really close or a blow out.  In many respects this reminds me of the governor races in Michigan and Wisconsin.  Granholm/DeVos was fairly widely played in the media at the time.  Doyle/Green didn’t get much regional or national attention.  In both cases, independents and moderates wildly swung the election.  As would be expected with losing candidates, DeVos and Green also had more base erosion than the winners.  Those two elections also challenged the prevailing view that moderates are basically a wash and turnout of the base is the key factor.  In the case of the Green campaign, they were counting on a massive base turnout in Waukesha county.  They got more votes there than they had modeled, but they still lost the general vote badly.  In fact Green ended up losing the vote for governor in his own congressional district meaning he didn’t offer a coattail for the Republican candidate drafted to replace him. Read the rest of this entry »

I suppose we ought to make note of it here on Vox Nova. Here is what I’m looking at today:

• What is the difference between Democratic and Republican Party votes in Tennessee? This state could very easily move into the Democratic column in 2008. Add Missouri into this mix as well. Missouri may actually prove useful in discerning a Catholic vote. McCain took 44% of the Catholic Republican vote in Missouri. Catholics made up 20% of the Republican electorate. Catholics made up 23% of the Democratic electorate with Obama edging Clinton. The Democratic exit poll had 40% more respondents. I don’t know if this is representative or not though. I will update with official turnout numbers in the morning. Tennessee saw 10% higher exit poll participants for the Democrats. Again, I’ll have official numbers in the morning on that. Clinton beat Obama among Catholics in Tennessee, but Catholics were less than the 10% of the vote overall and she didn’t need any help there.  In Missouri, the Democrats out polled the Republics 1.4:1.  Translating this to the Catholic vote in the fall, the Democrat would likely win it 1.61 to 1.  For those who prefer friendly numbers, Democrats enjoy a little more than 60% of the Catholic electorate.
• What states does McCain lose? Presently, it is his nomination to lose. With California appearing to go to Romney, McCain might not have this finished.
• Assume any state Huckabee wins would have gone to McCain.
• One would be surprised if Clinton wins the nomination today. Obama could use a surprise or two. It appears Clinton’s Southern strategy will prevail. One should also note that on the Democratic side, being the candidate of the intellectuals is usually the kiss of death.
• The Hispanic vote out of California will be interesting. Four numbers: overall, Democratic, Republican, McCain. The Democrats will easily out poll the Republicans. Anything over 70/30, 80/20 gets into scary territory. Typically Hispanics have low turnout. It will be interesting to see if the immigration debate influences that turnout. It will also be interesting to see to what degree McCain benefits for his immigration stance.  Well, Hispanics made up 30% of the California Democratic Electorate.  They made up 14% of the Republican electorate.  McCain actually polled weakly among Hispanics.  Romney polled just plain awful.  Huckabee polled surprisingly strongly, getting 20% of the Hispanic vote versus 12% of the overall vote.  Giuliani pulled a surprising 15% among Hispanics.  As expected Democrats 78% more voters than Republicans.  This would put the Hispanic break to Democrats at 3.8.  This means nearly 80% of Hispanics favor Democrats.  It will be interesting to see how this plays in other heavily Hispanic states.

Since I’m not a lawyer, my understanding could be and probably is fallacious. My understanding was that the State in which a marriage occurred was the one that had standing to adjudicate disputes regarding marital rights. Pursuant to that, a court could accept jurisdiction on a case if a) both parties consented, b) both parties agreed to be governed by the laws of that court and c) the relationship would have or could have otherwise been created in like manner in the jurisdiction. Hence, I’m confused on how an appellate court in New York could rule that a private company needs to recognize a same-sex marriage performed in Canada and therefore provide benefits to the spouse.

Even though gay couples may not legally marry in New York, the appellate court in Rochester held that a gay couple’s 2004 marriage in Canada must be respected under the state’s longstanding “marriage recognition rule,” and that an employer’s denial of health benefits had discriminated against the couple on the basis of their sexual orientation.

“The Legislature may decide to prohibit the recognition of same-sex marriages solemnized abroad,” a five-judge panel of the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court ruled unanimously in rejecting a 2006 lower court decision. “Until it does so, however, such marriages are entitled to recognition in New York.”

(New York Times)
HT: Outside the Beltway

Update: Read the rest of this entry »

Before turning the page, decide whether the grinding axe is coming from the left or right:

Reform cannot begin until the corruption is acknowledged. And since the American hierarchy apparently cannot or will not recognize the corruption with itself, other Catholics must call the bishops to account and demand the sort of responsible pastoral leadership that the American Church has not seen for years. Under these circumstances lay Catholics who criticize their bishops are not showing their disrespect for the bishop’s office. Quite the contrary. Those who revere the authority of a Catholic bishops should protect that authority — if necessary, even from the man who occupies the office. Read the rest of this entry »

Since I have the power, let me write briefly on the abortion issue.  The debate over what constitutes doing a lot on abortion doesn’t really interest me.  Symbolic victories have benefits.  However having babes salt poisoned rather than dismembered or having them dismembered in the womb rather than the birth canal doesn’t generate back slapping for me.  Similarly, whether General Electric funds abortion for poor women through their charitable contributions or the government funds it through Medicaid doesn’t interest me a whole lot.  My preference is that the government would not fund it, but at the same time I don’t find it offensive to the senses that the government funds health care for the poor.  I just happen to think abortion is not properly understood to be health care or at least medically necessary; Medicaid doesn’t cover laser eye surgery.  As I’ve written previously, I think the judicial strategy is a poor one and open to honest prudential disagreements.  Having said that, Roberts and Alito I believe are better equiped to address the issue properly than say Miers or a Democratic nominee.  Read the rest of this entry »

There is some chatter this morning about exit poll data in Florida.  The significance is being misinterpreted.  The final results were McCain 36% and Romeny 31%.  CNN didn’t release the margin of error in the polling.  If it is like most exit polling, you can assume a 5% margin of error.  (There is the other issue that these are non random polls.  The pick polling stations based on past predictive ability for regions.)  Having prefaced this, here is what we can generally say:

• McCain polls weakly among those aged 18-39.  He polls strongly with those over 65.
• McCain polls strongly among those who mostly favor abortion and poorly among those mostly against abortion.  Romeny polled poorly among those who support abortion.
• McCain polls very weakly among more than weekly Church goers.  Romeny polled relatively weakly among these voters.  These voters went overwhelmingly for Huckabee.  McCain polled very strongly with C&Es and those who never goto Church. 
• Romney did well among Protestants.  Despite commentary otherwise, Catholics were not statistically significant in breaking for McCain.  This is particularly evident among White Catholics.  McCain polled strongly only among Catholics who rarely go to Church.  Even with his dominance of the Cuban vote, McCain did not poll statistically significantly better.
• The White Catholic Vote was 21% of the GOP electorate.  White Catholics made up 15% of Democratic Electorate.  They went overwhelmingly for Clinton.  Unfortunately the Democratic data is worthless for comparisons with GOP data, because the Democratic primary had no delegates at stake.
• According to the exit polling, Governor Crist’s endorsement was the most significant factor in choosing McCain over Romney.  Among the 42% of the electorate that found it important, McCain enjoyed 54% of the vote.  This seems very unusual.
• Romney polled evenly among Born Again Christians.  McCain polled poorly.
• McCain polled very strongly among those not happy with the Bush administration.  Romney polled better among those who had a positive view of the administration.
• McCain and Giuliani dominated the Cuban vote.
• Romeny polled very strongly among the 40% of the electorate that supports addressing immigration via deportation.  He lost among the 29% that favored citizenship.  Oddly enough, McCain still somehow maintained 26% of the deport them vote.  This confirms 2006 polling data that suggested anti-immigration  could help a candidate but was not sufficient as the only issue.
• McCain did best among those under $30,000 and those over $200,000 in income.  Romney did better among those between $100,000 and $200,000.
• Romney did best among those who thought the economy was good.  McCain did best among those who felt the economy was Not So Good or worse, 63% of the electorate.
• McCain as expected did excellent among Independents.  He also did well among liberals and self-described moderates.  He did poorly among conservatives.
• McCain polled well among veterans.

CNN’s exit poll data.

As a man in tough with his inner feminine side, I looked forward to 28 Dresses with great anticipation.  The Mrs. nevertheless insisted upon joining me.  I would typically not burden her with such a film.  She suspected this movie might be a “chick flick”.  Needless to say, I was shocked when I found only 4 other guys in the theater.  Oddly enough these men were escorted by other women.  The poor gentlemen in front of me was escorted by a spouse and two daughters.  I offered prayer to St. Jude for this poor soul.  He probably insisted on coming to the movie when he learned it starred a gal from Grey’s Anatomy. Read the rest of this entry »

We need to trust the American people with their money, and trust they will innovate.  Ironically, we discuss the subprime mortgage crisis not too long after this.  This was an example of American innovation (the financial instruments created to facilitate these transactions and place the risks in the hands of ill-equipped investors), and it was an example of Americans using their money, in particular many Americans accepting money to purchase homes that they had no capacity to repay. Read the rest of this entry »

A blow from a whip raises a welt, but a blow from the tongue smashes bones; Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not as many as by the tongue.  - Sirach 28:17-18

Indeed the question we often face is whether to support those who bring death by the sword or those who merely call the evil wrought by others just and good.  Having said this, there should be some great forthcoming wisdom.  It won’t.  All that will happen is the grand experiment of democracy will continue.  The great relativizing force will continue to push people into the moderate choice of hell.  By forcing a decision, democracy ensures that we don’t get everything that we desire, but democracy most certainly ensures we get what we don’t desire.

Those who would have us choose Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton would have us choose candidates that even just recently spat over who was the greater protector of the right to kill life in the womb.  One camp had authorized phone calls to homes claiming that a candidate was ’soft’ on choice.  Facing such an outrageous action, the candidate outrageously rebuts that he indeed harbors no sympathy for those who would deny the joy and beauty of abortion.  With Republicans we have candidates sparring over who would justify the most human rights abuses Israel could conduct in order to protect and preserve the Jewish race they have priveleged over the Palestinian Christian and Muslim natives.  One candidate even gleefully proposed expelling the Palestinians to Egypt.  We have another candidate making foreign policy based on how well the policy would fit into an alternative version of a Beach Boys’s song, i.e. “Bomb Bomb Bomb/Bomb Bomb Iran.”  How many platitudes to gross injustice must one tolerate from a candidate before one says a candidate is beyond the pale?  Can one at least temper their enthusiasm in the presence of such grossly offensive platitudes?

There has been some coverage of a group of Catholics replying to a document promulgated by Catholics in Alliance For the Common Good.  The principles they outline are as follows with my commentary bracketed: Read the rest of this entry »

1.       The agreement reached today would allow Americans to keep more of their money to stimulate consumer spending.  The growth plan provides approximately $100 billion in temporary relief that will allow Americans to keep or spend more of their incomes.  Under the agreement:

• In 2008, taxes would be cut from 10 percent to zero percent on the first $6,000 dollars of taxable income for individual taxpayers and the first $12,000 of taxable income for couples.  Taxpayers could receive rebates of up to $600 for individuals and $1,200 for couples.  A minimum of $300 per person and $600 per couple would be available to those with at least $3,000 of earned income.  This relief would be available to everyone with taxable income less than $75,000 for singles and $150,000 for married couples filing jointly.  It will be phased out for taxpayers above those income thresholds.

• Everyone eligible for this relief would also receive an additional $300 per child.  For example, this would mean up to $1,800 of tax relief for an eligible couple with two children.

2.       The agreement would also offer incentives to spur business investment.  The agreement would save businesses approximately $50 billion in near-term taxes through a temporary change to the tax code that will allow American businesses that buy new equipment this year to deduct an additional 50 percent of the cost of their investment in 2008.  This will encourage businesses to expand and create new jobs now because buying equipment, software, and tangible property this year will dramatically lower their taxes.  The agreement also increases expensing for small businesses. 

Source:  Whitehouse  (All emphasis in original)

From Starbucks, we now go to China to see how the government is incapable of making moral judgements in the public interest and how private business really cares about us.

Chinese police have shut down a Web site selling real-time porn and arrested 33 people, state media said on Wednesday, part of a campaign which led to the shut-down of 44,000 Web sites and arrest of 868 people last year.

China launched a crackdown on online pornography and “unhealthy” Web content after Chinese President Hu Jintao said the country’s sprawling Internet posed a threat to social stability.

Confirming that we only have to fear government attempting to control our lives, Starbucks is being investigated for illegal union busting activities.  After having several stores unionized in the New York area, the company’s thought police dutifully went to work.  They figured out that two of the organizers had been graduates from Cornell University’s labor program.  Having discovered this, they did a company wide search for Cornell graduates of the program and found ones located in Michigan, California, and Illinois.  Emails were promptly sent to managers notifying them of the potential of having employees exercise their rights to organize a union.  Starbucks assures that no adverse actions against union organizers and activists had anything to actually do with union activities.  (Source:  Wall Street Journal )

I wrote the following several years ago.  I was a cabbie in Milwaukee for a little under a year as I worked my way back into the IT industry. During that time I had many interesting experiences. Some were great, awful, scary, and fascinating. Here is one such experience.

It was a typical spring day. About 11, a fare pops up on my monotone 5-line receiver. I’m logged into zone 10, which includes everything to the north and east of the Milwaukee River to just north of Brady Street. Here you will find the US Bank Tower, the revitalized 3rd Ward, an assortment of Elderly facilities, the Italian Community Center, the Summerfest Grounds, and the abortion clinic. This was my one and only trip to the abortion clinic. Read the rest of this entry »

Apparently, Erick of RedState thinks not subscribing to the Laffer School of Economics makes one an “economic retard.”

Stick to the social issues, Mike, and hire a supply-sider to explain your economic policies.

BTW:  [Upon further review and upon seeing that this has been addressed, I'm removing it.]