SFC Alwyn Cashe

Along with the more familiar definition of the word "amazing"  as 'very surprising, wonderful, astonishing,  astounding,' my dictionary gives several archaic senses for the word amazement.  They are 'overwhelming fear, bewilderment, stupefaction.'  Put these all together and such is the feeling when reading the account of  SFC Cashe's courage and determination back in 2005 in Iraq.   SFC Cashe died of his burn wounds about a month after being injured.   R.I.P.  What a legacy of bravery to leave behind. 

Archbishop Dolan to Barack Obama

Our archbishop is defending the faith as he again speaks up, this time to Barack Obama regarding his position on DOMA.  Dolan made this defense in his capacity as president of the USCCB.  Some are calling it a "remarkable" letter with a "stepped up" tone of urgency.   Dolan's letter can be read here.   Dolan takes the president to task for his attempt to characterize those who support traditional marriage as bigots.  

That is why it is particularly upsetting, Mr. President, when your Administration, through the various court documents, pronouncements and policies identified in the attached analysis, attributes to those who support DOMA a motivation rooted in prejudice and bias. It is especially wrong and unfair to equate opposition to redefining marriage with either intentional or willfully ignorant racial discrimination, as your Administration insists on doing. 

Our federal government should not be presuming ill intent or moral blindness on the part of the overwhelming majority of its citizens, millions of whom have gone to the polls to directly support DOMAs in their states and have thereby endorsed marriage as the union of man and woman. Nor should a policy disagreement over the meaning of marriage be treated by federal officials as a federal offense—but this will happen if the Justice Department‟s latest constitutional theory prevails in court. The Administration‟s failure to change course on this matter will, as the attached analysis indicates, precipitate a national conflict between Church and State of enormous proportions and to the detriment of both institutions.

Thanks, Mrs. Scaraffia

In the wake of Mayor Bloomberg's misguided push for mandatory sex education in the public schools, an Italian journalist summarizes  the problem nicely.

"It is not clear why public institutions in the West continue to have such magical trust in the effectiveness of sex education, especially when young people in those countries continue to have precocious, unprotected sex, leading to an increase of disease, pregnancy and abortion." 

She points out the importance of family and Catholic teaching in the matter of educating about sex.

"For the Catholic Church, she said, sexual activity is an important part of human and spiritual maturity and properly belongs only to marriage and the formation of a family.  The church teaches respect for one's own body, which means giving importance and weight to the acts that are done with it, not just taking into consideration the possibility of enjoyment or narcissistic gratification."

Tenth Anniversary of 9/11

Watch This Short Video on America's Form of Government