“If Congress can employ money indefinitely to the general welfare, and are the sole and supreme judges of the general welfare, they may take the care of religion into their own hands; they may appoint teachers in every State, county and parish and pay them out of their public treasury; they may take into their own hands the education of children, establishing in like manner schools throughout the Union; they may assume the provision of the poor; they may undertake the regulation of all roads other than post-roads; in short, every thing, from the highest object of state legislation down to the most minute object of police, would be thrown under the power of Congress. … Were the power of Congress to be established in the latitude contended for, it would subvert the very foundations, and transmute the very nature of the limited Government established by the people of America.” – James Madison¹

My Political Views I am a right social moderate. Right: 4.07, Libertarian: 0.03 <br/> Political Spectrum Quiz

“Twenty percent of the Netherlands annual deaths are due to doctor intervention.”¹

“Catholic teaching on subsidiarity and the American tradition of federalism – to say nothing of simple realism about what happens when large state bureaucracies get extensive power – should here join hands in proper wariness about the unintended consequences of efforts to do good.” – Robert Royal¹

The most recent movie, #6, was mostly decent I think, though I would have included the battle at the end rather than the triumphant march out of the castle, and burning the Burrow was rather unnecessary.

I read yesterday that Microsoft is planning (releasing?) a web based version of MicroSoft Office. While I neglected to save the link, it really is not important, since this is clearly the latest both in MicroSoft’s ongoing feud with Google, and in their end-goal of subscription based software.

“Given his selfish nature, man must internalize some reason to behave in pro-social ways. That fact that he falls short of these values does not mean he is a hypocrite. The one who does not even believe what he says is the hypocrite. The one who believes what he says and falls short is merely human.” – Dr. Mike Adams¹

The Church teaches that life begins at conception. Why then does it surprise good, orthodox priests that a miscarried baby should get a funeral? It bothers me greatly.

The National Catholic Register provides the scientific facts behind the Pope’s recent statement that there is a risk of increasing the problem of AIDS in Africa by distributing condoms.¹ This article provides documentation to some of the things I had considered myself when I have found myself defending the Church’s position, as well as bringing up a few things I had not thought of. The long and short of it is, unsurprisingly, that the available empirical research demonstrates that, for one reason or another, you simply cannot remove the risk from “casual sex.” Only “partner reduction” or better yet “abstinence or being mutually faithful with an uninfected partner are the most effective ways of avoiding infection.”²