Well, not exactly. Althought Archbishop John Foley, President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications—and a “self-proclaimed ‘chocoholic'”—did address a gathering of Nestle executives on the subject of the morality of advertising. Given that a conscientious parent can hardly watch even a daytime sporting event on TV with his children in light of the low moral quality of advertising, I’d say it’s a subject worthy of attention. A couple of Foley’s statements: It frankly surprises me that as women rightly...

In yesterday’s WaPo, George F. Will assesses FDR’s domestic legacy, “Declaration of Dependence.” It’s not a pretty tale: “The war, not the New Deal, defeated the Depression. Franklin Roosevelt’s success was in altering the practice of American politics. This transformation was actually assisted by the misguided policies — including government-created uncertainties that paralyzed investors — that prolonged the Depression. This seemed to validate the notion that the crisis was permanent, so government must be forever hyperactive.” In a previous issue...

It happened last week. In response to Rep. John Dingell’s decision to hold of off consideration of an energy bill that would include new corporate average fuel economy, or CAFE, standards, instead favoring directly targeting greenhouse gas emissions: “That brought a warm response from MoveOn.org, the liberal group that picketed Dingell’s office Wednesday over his stance on global warming and fuel economy standards. At Dingell’s Ypsilanti office, about half a dozen MoveOn supporters received an unexpected e from roughly 60...

Well, I just got back from the Transformers movie (mini-review: pletely ridiculous, but it has Peter Cullen as the voice of Optimus Prime and lots of stuff blowing up, so it’s worth at least the matinee price, if you’re into that kind of thing), mowed the lawn (sorry – not carbon-neutral), and now I’ve stumbled upon the broadcast of Live Earth on Bravo. According to Al Gore, the concerts are not about fundraising, but are occurring simply to “raise awareness”...

The National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) has published a paper titled, “Taxing the Poor: A Report on Tobacco, Alcohol, Gambling, and Other Taxes and Fees That Disproportionately Burden e Families” (PDF). The paper highlights state lotteries as particularly regressive taxes: “The dollar amount spent on the lottery by the e individuals (earning less than $10,000 annually) is twice as much as the highest earners (earning more than $100,000 annually).” I wrote a piece reacting to a poll with a...

Henry I. Miller, a doctor and fellow at the Hoover Institution, author of The Frankenfood Myth, weighs in on the milks wars over the artificial hormone rBST. In “Don’t Cry Over rBST Milk,” Miller writes, “Bad-faith efforts by biotechnology opponents to portray rBST as untested or harmful, and to discourage its use, keep society from taking full advantage of a safe and useful product.” Whether or not scientific studies show that the use of rBST is as safe as not...

From Luther’s exposition of the mandment in his Treatise on Good Works (1520), alluding to King Manasseh’s actions in II Kings 21: What else is it but to sacrifice one’s own child to an idol and burn it when parents train their children more in the love of the world than in the love of God, and let their children go their own way and get burned up in worldly pleasure, love, enjoyment, lust, goods, and honor, but let God’s...

Readings in Social Ethics: Cyprian of Carthage, On Works and Alms. Perseverance a work of divine providence: “But, moreover, what is that providence, and how great the clemency, that by a plan of salvation it is provided for us, that more abundant care should be taken for preserving man after he is already redeemed! (1).”The order or law of life for the believer: “For when the Lord at His advent had cured those wounds which Adam had borne, and had...

“You are obliged to love your neighbor as yourself, and loving him, you ought to help him spiritually, with prayer, counseling him with words, and assisting him both spiritually and temporally, according to the need in which he may be, at least with your goodwill if you have nothing else.” —Catharine of Siena (1347–1380), from The Dialogue HT: Christian History & Biography ...

e to the pilation of Live Earth links mentary on the Web!* Click on the "read more" and scroll on down for dozens of links on individual venues, news, great quotes, reports, religiously-related stuff, and Goregasms. Check here for updates over the next couple of days. Well, they may have gotten numbers on the web (good for the planet, no?), but the concert venues were a disaster except for London and Jersey and Rio. Can they blame it on the...