Author: VD

Larry Kudlow writes of Pope John Paul II’s influence on his life:

It was sometime in 1993 when I first read the great papal encyclical “Splendor of Truth,” written by Pope John Paul II. The slender book was recommended by Fr. C. John McClosky while he was counseling me during the worst personal crisis of my life: Alcohol and drug abuse were dragging me down. The problem got much worse before I finally surrendered to God, literally on my knees, and began a new life of faith — and sobriety.

John Paul’s book had no direct advice on drugs or alcohol. But, then again, as I came to realize later, it had everything to do with these things. The book is about the need for spiritual and moral courage in choosing good over evil in our daily lives. It is about being personally accountable for our actions. It is about abiding by our conscience so that we may hear the voice of God and follow His direction.

As a full-fledged member of a twelve-step fellowship, I later learned that the biggest problem facing all those who suffer from chronic addiction is “sickness of the soul.” That’s exactly what John Paul II talks about in “Splendor of Truth.” He tells us to “be not afraid” in pursuit of the life of faith. Be not afraid to trust God. Be not afraid to stand for the right values. Be not afraid to be faithful to your spouse, or unselfish to friends, or diligent in work and the many duties of everyday life.

As the subset of readers who follow my economic writings know, I disagree with Mr. Kudlow on almost everything with regards to what has happened in the economy, what is happening now, what will happen and the reasons why. But despite my vehement opposition to his rosy-viewed interpretations, I have always respected the man’s forthright Christianity.

It takes some courage to insist that we are still in a bull market. It takes even more to confess how one’s past failings have led one to accept Jesus Christ. I have to respect that in the man, regardless of what I think of his cheerleading for Wall Street.

From WND:

Police in Malaysia are hunting for members of a violent gang who chopped off a car owner’s finger to get round the vehicle’s hi-tech security system. The car, a Mercedes S-class, was protected by a fingerprint recognition system…. The attackers forced Mr Kumaran to put his finger on the security panel to start the vehicle, bundled him into the back seat and drove off.

But having stripped the car, the thieves became frustrated when they wanted to restart it. They found they again could not bypass the immobiliser, which needs the owner’s fingerprint to disarm it. They stripped Mr Kumaran naked and left him by the side of the road – but not before cutting off the end of his index finger with a machete.

Like it was hard to see this coming. Chipping children to “protect” them from kidnappers and whatnot is only going to ensure a little ad hoc surgery is performed. You would think that somewhere within the giant Mercedes organizatio, there would be one person who would stop to think through the obvious implications of their new “security” system.

Mr. Kumaran is lucky that his car didn’t have a retina-scanning system. Even if it didn’t work for the thieves, that would be little consolation.

After a state employee nearly has the vapors about the possibility that the dozens of shots he is trying to force on parents might be bad for their children, St. Paul Pioneer Press columnist Craig Westover kicks him while he’s down:

So, what is Dr. Hull’s evidence that my sources are not objective and unbiased? They have looked at the facts and drawn a conclusion. Is that the new definition of biased? To make a judgment?

No, I have not looked at all the information, but I have looked at the boxes full of information that litter my office — information on both sides of the issue, for, as I wrote, I was very skeptical going into the research that there was a connection outside the mind of a few conspiracy theorists.

No, not all, but I have looked at enough to know that there is good science that has forced even the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to admit there is “biological plausibility” for a connection and there is virtually no hard scientific evidence and certainly no overwhelming body of scientific research that disproves a connection between mercury and childhood vaccines and autism. What there is are a plethora of denials and studies attempting to discredit the science of honest researchers painstakingly working along the path from hypothesis to theoretical justification to hard science plausibility to (and not there yet) definitive causal connection.

Westover is apparently on the verge of becoming an anti-vaccine convert, as I have been for years. The fact that the pro-vaccine lobby absolutely refuses to look at the facts but instead waves its hands and shouts louder makes anyone with half a brain extremely suspicious as to what they are trying to hide.

But that’s not why I am absolutely radical on this subject. To discern the truth, you need only follow the money. Have a look at how difficult it is to prove that a vaccine damaged a child, then look at how much money the organization set up by the US Congress to compensate the parents of vaccine-damaged children has paid out. Furthermore, if these little polls of scientists assuring all and sundry that vaccines are actually healthier than spinach actually meant anything, then there would be no reason at all for Congress to protect vaccine manufacturers and those administering the shots from being liable for their products and actions. The money trail never lies.

And let’s face it. Since the government insists they’re good for you, what are the odds that they’re actually right for once?

Some kudos from a fellow columnist:

Especially brilliant piece today. You are a visionary and an overarchingly original rational thinker who goes beyond labels to arrive at great truths nearly no one else has the courage to articulate. and that’s a good thing. I mean that. I hope this piece gets circulated widely.

While, unsurprisingly, a number of regular readers disagree. SM writes:

I contend the death penalty serves at least two purposes:

1. It removes a dangerous element from society (never to be paroled)

2. It brings closure to the bereaved (justice has been served). Without this closure the bereaved become lifelong living victims.

When the State or a corrupt judiciary supplants God’s higher moral authority then forced abortions, mass starvations and gas chambers occur. Our Constitution and its implementation by Government will only be just and upright when the people practice Christian morality and virtuosity.

Both purposes are irrelevant. As for the first point, there are approximately 16,000 murders per year in the United States. 70 of those murderers are executed annually. Removing less than half of one percent is neither a deterrent nor a safeguard. With regards to the second, the bereaved are ALREADY lifelong victims. Even punishing the guilty with fifty years of the most sadistic torture will not bring back their beloved nor will it prove much of an emotional palliative.

Washington has already supplanted God’s moral authority, at least in its own eyes. Therefore, every opportunity to strip it of the means of visiting the usual devastation on the populace must be pursued.

Meanwhile, WF manages to argue my own case for me in an email entitled “WRONG”:

No, death penalty proponents in the Christian camp will go to the command given to Noah in Genesis, when Noah was the only civilization there was. God felt that it was important enough to give that command before there was any government to enforce it. The defining factor (for people like me) is innocence or guilt, not legality, not statistics, not anything else. Schiavo (and the unborn) was innocent of any crime, Ted Bundy (for one example) was guilty. The innocent should be protected, the guilty slain.

Hmmmm, so the command existed prior to the government… reasonable minds should therefore logically conclude that the death penalty exists outside the apparatus of government and may very well not be a legitimate power of government at all.

In case you think I’m being overly paranoid about the Ahrimaniacs, here’s an email from one FZ, a doctor who is a director of Obstetric Anesthesiology:

I am sick and tired of all the “pro life” crowd -including you – Demanding we keep all these folks alive on feeding tubes. Are you willing to pay for them? I am not. It costs Medicare and Medicaid $50, 000 +/ year. Put your money where your mouth is.

Dr. Zerzorkian clearly didn’t read my column very carefully today, since I think a case can be made for the family deciding to remove a feeding tube, or to not put one in at the beginning. But there is no case whatsoever for using the police to forcibly deprive family members from trying to give an individual food and water.

I am not saying there is a right to feeding tubes; I am a libertarian after all. The government should not be paying for anyone’s health care in the first place. If the government was not requiring hospitals to hook all of “these folks” to feeding tubes in the first place, this debate and the demand for the government’s ability to end such feeding at will would not exist.

Il suo ultimo messaggio – All’umanita’ smarrita:

Carissimi Fratelli e Sorelle! Risuona anche oggi il gioioso Alleluja della Pasqua. L’odierna pagina del Vangelo di Giovanni sottolinea che il Risorto, la sera di quel giorno, apparve agli Apostoli e mostrò loro le mani e il costato« (Gv 20,20), cioè i segni della dolorosa passione impressi in modo indelebile sul suo corpo anche dopo la risurrezione. Quelle piaghe gloriose, che otto giorni dopo fece toccare all’incredulo Tommaso, rivelano la misericordia di Dio, che ha tanto amato il mondo da dare il suo Figlio unigenito« (Gv 3,16). Questo mistero di amore sta al centro dell’odierna liturgia della Domenica in Albis, dedicata al culto della Divina Misericordia. All’umanità, che talora sembra smarrita e dominata dal potere del male, dell’egoismo e della paura, il Signore risorto offre in dono il suo amore che perdona, riconcilia e riapre l’animo alla speranza. È amore che converte i cuori e dona la pace. Quanto bisogno ha il mondo di comprendere e di accogliere la Divina Misericordia!

My dearest Brothers and Sisters!

The joyous Hallelujahs of Easter ring out again today. This present page of John the Evangelist emphasizes the Resurrection, the evening of that day he appeared to the Apostles and showed them his hands and his side, (John 20:20), with those signs of his painful Passion indelibly marking his body even after the resurrection. Those glorious wounds that were touched eight days later by the doubting Thomas revealed the mercy of God, who had so much love for the world that He gave His only Son. (John 3:16). This mystery of love is at the center of the modern liturgy of Low Sunday, dedicated to the church of the Divine Mercy.

To the humanity that sometimes feels lost and dominated by the power of evil, by egotism and by fear, the Risen Lord offers a gift of his love that pardons, reconciles and reopens the spirit of hope. It is love that transforms the heart and gives peace. How much the world needs to understand and receive the Mercy of the Divine!

Of all the tributes to Pope John Paul II, Charles Krauthammer says it best:

It was Stalin who gave us the most famous formulation of that cynical (and today quite fashionable) philosophy known as “realism” — the idea that all that ultimately matters in the relations among nations is power: “The pope? How many divisions does he have?”

Stalin could only have said that because he never met John Paul II. We have just lost the man whose life was the ultimate refutation of “realism.” Within 10 years of his elevation to the papacy, John Paul II had given his answer to Stalin and to the ages: More than you have. More than you can imagine.

History will remember many of the achievements of John Paul II, particularly his zealous guarding of the church’s traditional belief in the sanctity of life, not permitting it to be unmoored by the fashionable currents of thought about abortion, euthanasia and “quality of life.” But above all, he will be remembered for having sparked, tended and fanned the flames of freedom in Poland and the rest of Eastern Europe, leading ultimately and astonishingly to the total collapse of the Soviet empire.

“More than you have. More than you can imagine.” Krauthammer reminds us of the truth that lies beneath John Paul II’s first papal words to the world: “Be not afraid.”

All sports events in Italy this weekend were suspended in tribute to Pope John Paul II, who died Saturday night while thousands kept vigil in St. Peter’s Square and the faithful around the world reflected on his legacy.

“It was the only decision to be taken,” said Gianni Petrucci, president of Italy’s Olympic Committee….

The coaches of soccer powers AC Milan and Juventus on Friday had urged that no games be played in view of the pope’s worsening condition. “It’s fair that the sport is stopped … there are more important things than soccer,” Cagliari captain Gianfranco Zola said.

I very much admire the willingness of European athletes, especially soccer players, to demonstrate to their fans that there are more important things than sport. Keep in mind that Milan and Juve are tied for the Serie A lead at 66 points apiece with only a few games remaining in the season, and Milan was scheduled to play Brescia, the worst team in the league, yesterday. And earlier this year, when a player’s infant daughter unexpectedly died right before a La Liga match in Spain and it was too late to cancel the game, the two teams took the field as was required but refused to play, to demonstrate their sympathy for the bereaved player.

Not only were the fans not upset by watching ninety minutes of the two teams simply passing the ball back and forth, but instead, as the players walked off the field at the end of the game, they were saluted with applause.

Sports are great. I love NFL football, Serie A calcio, the English Premiership and FIFA soccer. But it is good when we are reminded, from time to time, that in the end, they are only games and money, nothing more.

Michael Ledeen writes on NRO:

It is utterly infuriating, almost maddening, to try to watch the Rosary at St Peter’s, because the accursed tv people just will not ever let us watch an event. They must tell us what to think about it, even as it is happening. And so we lose a sense of the real drama, we just cannot experience it for ourselves, they will always be there between us and real life.

Preach teacher! TV people, when something big is happening live, for the love of all that is good and holy, SHUT UP! If we wanted a non-stop description, we’d listen to the bloody radio. The absolute nadir of the TV news is not car chases or even the Jackson trial, it is watching some idiot talking head who probably scored under 1000 on his SATs trying to pontificate about the importance of whatever it is he’s “covering”.

No wonder the Internet is killing TV viewerships.

Some of you may recall Mr. John Scalzi from the recent Electrolite dustup. While Mr. Scalzi and I happen to hold diametrically opposed positions on the situation of women and the academy, we did have a friendly exchange of emails subsequent to the public flamethrowing.

I finished John’s first novel today, (his first CONVENTIONALLY-PUBLISHED novel, anyhow), and it was very entertaining. I’ll post a review of it here soon, but in the meantime I can state with some assurance that if you enjoy Heinlein or military SF, you will very likely get a kick out of OLD MAN’S WAR. I quite liked it myself.

Interestingly enough, he even managed to come up with a reasonable means of putting women in the military. In light of the way in which I first encountered the author, I found this more than a little amusing.