Sor Teresita a Benedicto XVI

And here's the video!

World's Oldest Nun Left Cloister to Meet Pope During World Youth Day

Article from the Daily News on NCRegister.com

This is amazing! This nun entered the convent the day Pope Benedict XVI was BORN!

Gay Marriage for Sesame Street?

Article from Anaheim Roman Catholic | Examiner.com

Province shouldn't fund in-vitro fertilization | Toronto & GTA | News | Toronto Sun

Article here

How Does Vice President Biden *Really* Feel About China s One-Child Policy?

Well this clarifies a few things.

Article by NCRegister.com

World Youth Day Numbers from Madrid 2011

Earthquake in Washington, DC and Joe Biden Said What?!

Inequality Grows As Poor, Ignorant Atheists Swamp US | Via Meadia

Article here

Christine O’Donnell says masturbation, not gay marriage led to CNN walk off

A few days ago, I posted an article about an interview featuring Christine O'Donnell, where the host was asking her about gay marriage. At the time I said her subsequent walk-off was inappropriate and that she should have stuck around to answer Piers Morgan's questions. However, I will have to slightly change my opinion on the matter after I have discovered new information.

Apparently Piers was totally fixated on asking Ms. O'Donnell every imaginable question about sexuality, and most of it involving sexual immorality. Christine was a good guest and kept answering all of his questions, even though she did not come on the show to exclusively talk about how much sexual immorality she condones. Anyway, after he relentlessly asked the same types of questions, she finally walked off the set.

Unfortunately, the media is portraying this as innocent Piers asking her one little question about gay marriage and Christine O'Donnell just getting up and walking away. However, there is a lot of back-story.

Article here from Examiner.com

New Doctor of the Church: San Juan de Ávila

This is really amazing news. It's a very rare occurrence that a new Doctor of the Church is named. "Doctor" comes from Latin and actually means "teacher". In the Catholic Church, a person is assigned the title "doctor" if their contributions in writing have been vast and influential.

The title first started to be used in 1298 when the original four doctors were named, Sts. Gregory the Great, Ambrose, Augstine, and Jerome. Their writings on doctrine and teaching were very influential and are often quoted today by churchmen.

Until 1970, the title belonged exclusively to men, but in that year two women, St. Catherine of Siena, and St. Teresa of Avila were given that title. In 1997, St. Térèse de Lisieux became the third woman so honored.

Now, fourteen years later, St. John of Avila will become the 34th such individual. Some reports have stated that the designation is not yet official but that Pope Benedict is simply intending it.

Lots Of Work To Do

Communion in the Hand

Who needs a Creator when you've got gravity? (OneNewsNow.com)

Article here

ABC's "What Would You Do?" Buy Me Condoms

This one is similar to the last I posted, but it's about condoms, and not Plan B. This time the actor is a young man. Of course most people buy the condoms for him or just say they're too busy or something. But then a Catholic emerges and defends the teaching of the Church. Happily, the program presents this as a good thing, even if with a tinge of humour. Fast forward to around 5:30 to get to the good one.

ABC's "What Would You Do?" Buy Me Plan B

What would you do is unfortunately getting worse... As you probably know it's a show to catch on camera real people's reactions to various controversial situations.

Anyway this one is about an abortifacient known as Plan B. Yet this fact about Plan B is not mentioned. Almost everyone "helps" the girl get Plan B from the pharmacist. Two people object, but it's not for moral reasons.

The whole story makes Plan B seem like a great thing and the people who get it for the girl are depicted as loving and caring individuals. That may be their motivation, but what they are objectively doing is sinful. They are providing the young girl with a way to abort the embryo in her body, if there is one, and that is murder.

Catholic News Roundup 08-18

Shut up, Socialists! 08-18

Put people ahead of profits, Pope says

Over the past several months, I have been learning more about economic theory, and have been especially influenced by Milton Friedman and Thomas Sowell. They are economists who are very concerned about helping the poor and improving the lot of ordinary people. So it may surprise you to know that they advocate free market capitalism and the end to artificial barriers in trade.

I have not heard the pope speak directly, but his words are being widely reported. The pope allegedly condemned the profit-at-all-costs mentality and in fact cited it as a cause for the economic woes experienced in Spain. However, I must disagree with this stance. No system to our knowledge has done more to help the low person on the totem pole than capitalism. All other systems have failed the poor. On the other extreme, we have communism, where millions of poor people perished, with so much waste and mismanagement.

On the other hand, we see the effects of capitalism in Hong Kong, a desperately poor rock at the tip of China, once overwhelmed by poverty. The British took over and allowed free-market capitalism to reign free. The government did not offer support of benefits, just enforced basic laws. The result: the average person gained in wealth, and some individuals became extraordinarily wealthy.

The problem in Spain is not capitalism, but the leftist policies that have been adopted. In 1996, José María Aznar became Prime Minister of Spain. He enacted many conservative economic policies. The unemployment rate plummeted to 7.6% (compared to today's 20%).

Aznar moved to privatize many previously government-owned entities to increase efficiency.

Aznar also faced the powerful civil servant unions and froze their wages. This of course sparked their ire and protests ensued. But it was a good economic policy. Less government is the key.

The prime minister also attempted to help people by ending the tax-payed subsidies on the coal industry in the country. This would allow cheaper fuel to enter into the market and thus people would need to spend less on it. This would increase the real value of their money. Unfortunately the coal mining companies dramatically protested this and blocked off all the highways. This effectively ended the debate, but the people were all worse off for it, except maybe the coal miners.

Later, the government tried to end farming subsidies, which would benefit everyone except farmers in the short term. Also, they tried to adjust the welfare system so that it would be harder for recipient to turn down jobs. These reforms were met with violent protest and thus never got off the ground.

The government also attempted to pass legislation that would allow more choice in schools and would be based on merit, etc. People again reacted against this proposal, as they believed it might lead to some arbitrary "inequality".

There are so many socialist problems happening in Spain at the moment. Unions are far too powerful and there is too much government intervention. The problem is not with free-market capitalism. A free market system would allow people to get the best prices for products and services, not pay artificially high rates. Exports would increase and unemployment would go down. People would be better educated because they would have free choice in schools, and thus increase the wage they could earn.

It seems the only reason Spain is in the economic mess that it is is because of its socialistic economic policies.