“The Time Travel Society will hold its annual meeting three years ago.” This chronological bit of humor may be viewed as a tribute to H. G. Wells’ fabled time machine. Nevertheless, we do possess a technology that has much in common with time travel. It is the modern television set, partnered, as it is, with the handheld remote that can carry us, at [...]
The May issue could have been 32 pages or more. It was a big month for news since our last issue came out. Our beloved former columnist Fr. Ted Colleton passed away April 26. On May 2, there was transformational federal election. On May 13, Ottawa witnessed the largest-ever National March for Life, and successful regional marches were held coast-to-coast. How to [...]
What will it take for Canadians finally to rebel against the abuse of power by Canada’s immensely wealthy and politically intimidating teachers’ unions. On May 4, about 12,000 unionized Saskatchewan teachers walked off the job in one-day protest strike against lagging contract negotiations. Students lost a day of schooling and parents were given little notice of the impending strike, yet picketing [...]
The recent federal election result was predictable -- Harper got his long sought majority -- but how it came about was totally unpredictable and astonishing. There’s an interesting side-story that isn’t getting much coverage. The left-leaning media did their level best to piggyback Ignatieff and his Liberal crew to victory but failed. When it became obvious that Plan A had failed, they [...]
C.S. Lewis, Thomas Aquinas, Socrates, Kierkegaard, Bieber. Or something like that. Up until quite recently I haven’t regarded 16-year-old pop sensation, and little girl heartthrob, Justin Bieber as a particularly great moral philosopher and academic ethicist, but I have to admit that I think I got it terribly wrong. Jest aside, the Canadian kid who makes pre-teens weep and scream at [...]
“I go to jazz festivals every chance I get,” Bimson said. “They’re really inclusive. At the last one I attended the organizers included rock, hip hop, rhythm and blues, country, folk, Latin, reggae and klesmer.” “That’s inclusive, all right,” Molder said. “You bet it is,” said Bimson, “why, they even included jazz.” “Isn’t that carrying inclusiveness too far?” “Only if you [...]
Before I say anything else about Game Of Thrones, this Spring’s big-budget HBO epic miniseries, it has to be understood that there’s nothing family friendly about the show. Full of blood and sex, full-frontal nudity, incest, animal cruelty and some wildly explicit language, it almost seems like the producers, having seen quality cable push the boundaries with each new series, are attempting [...]
I have, on a few occasions, during my career as a pro-life advocate, been mistaken for one who promotes the other side. A TV talk show host invited me to come on her show to neutralize a previous guest of hers who was, to her chagrin, pro-life. A group of pro-abortionists asked me to host a pro-choice taping for them. I have [...]
Let’s look at all these political parties craving for our votes in the forthcoming federal election. Are any of them worth voting for? The pro-abortion Bloc Québécois— the separatist party that wants Quebec to leave the country? I don’t think they are sincere. They know it would be like shooting the family cow which is the federal government’s $8.5 billion in equalization [...]
It’s no use. I can’t keep up with postmodern thought. Try as I may, I’m not able to get my mind around the idea that we make our own truth. The lyrics of too many popular love songs won’t let me. No matter when they’re written, they reveal unchanging truths, the kind we discover, not the kind we make up. [...]
My new book, Why Catholics Are Right (McClelland & Stewart) has just been published. For those readers who are not Catholic, please know that this is in no way an attack on you. Some of the finest defenders of life I know are, for example, evangelical Protestants, who could also teach me a great deal about being a Christian. What [...]
While heroes pay the bills in Hollywood, the creative class labouring in movies and TV are in thrall to anti-heroes, a mad love reinforced in the hymns sung by critics hardwired to prefer a menacing, flawed protagonist to a clear-browed, virtuous one. Batman versus Superman, if you will, and a loaded choice ultimately corrosive to the audience’s moral clarity, especially [...]
Every year since 1976, the United States Congress has adopted the “Hyde Amendment,” a legislative enactment banning the use of federal funds to pay for abortions except in the case of rape, incest or danger to the life of the mother. In addition, most of the states likewise ban public funding for abortions. Within the United States, these measures have [...]
While campaigning for president in 2008, Barack Obama repeatedly stated his opposition to same-sex marriage. That, to say the least, was a deception. While purporting to uphold traditional marriage as the union of a man and a woman, Obama said he would vote to repeal the Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA), a statute signed into law by former President Bill [...]
I heard from Premier McGuinty’s office that they were looking for help in the forthcoming provincial election and I was in a “must go to” folder. I was more shocked than surprised to hear from them because my Interim column back last November. “The Real McGuinty,” in which I said: “go, Mr. McGuinty! Take your pagan agenda with you.” This was certainly [...]