Joe the Embryo: Considering what hangs in the balance today
By Rev. Thomas V. Berg, L.C.

Samuel J. Wurzelbacher -- alias Joe the Plumber -- has put up with a lot since he was thrust into the limelight in mid October. Ultimately, he was submitted to cyberspace death by a thousand MSM incisions into his private life. Consequently, the entire universe has gotten to know Mr. Wurzelbacher rather well. I can only sympathize with him and wish him all the best.

But here is another fact -- a scientific fact to be sure -- about Joe the Plumber: he was once Joe the embryo.

...more >

Americans Still Love Their Country: But social radicalism is on the horizon
By Dennis Teti

First, the results across the board, for Pres. and Congress, can be explained simply and easily. The financial markets' collapse since the end of Sept. are sufficient, on top of the housing market's severe downturn beginning at the end of 2006. Americans are extremely unhappy with the current economic condition and they have been hurt big time in the falling values of their largest assets, their homes and investment portfolios. They blame the White House party, the GOP, for this, and accordingly have punished them by throwing them out of office and giving the govt. to the other guys.

...more >

Human Embryos and the Election
By E. Christian Brugger

Obama’s win is a devastating loss for human embryos. True, no matter who won, embryos would have lost. Both candidates said repeatedly they supported federal funding for embryonic stem (ES) cell research. But McCain supported using only so-called ‘spare’ embryos earmarked for research purposes frozen at IVF clinics and otherwise opposed the intentional creation of human embryos for research purposes. And his repeated recent qualifications on his position (… “I believe clear lines should be drawn that reflect a refusal to sacrifice moral values and ethical principles for the sake of scientific progress.”

...more >

Is There a Future for the Conservative Movement?
By Fr. Richard Gill, LC

Can the conservative movement regroup and find its identity once again? It’s been 20 years since a conservative ran. No Republican candidate or president since Reagan has been a “Reaganite” in any meaningful way. Bush I raised taxes, Dole was the consummate Washington insider (remember, “the chief tax collector for the welfare state”), Bush II presided over the biggest expansion of government, perhaps ever, and certainly since LBJ.

...more >

The Danger from Mt. Olympus
By Joseph A. Stibora

There was a surprising twist in Lincoln ’s criticism of mob justice. His complaint was not that an appropriate outcome cannot be rendered in a particular case. Sometimes, he recognized, the guilty actually receive their due punishment at the hands of the angry crowd. No, his concern was elsewhere. He was worried that justice and the political order upon which it is based are jeopardized when people act outside the law. Lawlessness, by definition, is unjust.

...more >

The Political Viability of “Traditional Values”
By James F. Sweeney

The 2008 election is being heralded by the mainstream media as an “historic” event comparable to the watershed elections of 1824, 1860, 1932, 1964, and 1980. To be sure, the election of the nation’s first African-American president is politically momentous and culturally significant. The last badges of slavery and Jim Crow appear, thankfully, to have been cast asunder.

...more >

A Choice of Blessings Before Us
By Rebecca Ryskind Teti

Surveying Tuesday night’s electoral devastation for the culture of life (although the triumph of traditional marriage in Florida, Arizona & California is a counter-indicator even now), it’s tempting to think dark thoughts not only about the next few years, but about the future of the republic itself.

...more >