Month: April 2005

April 19, 2005

HABEMUS PAPAM

Visit the Acton Institute’s special section on Pope Benedict XVI to keep up-to-date about the new pope and the media activities of Acton staff. Continue Reading...
April 19, 2005

A dictatorship of relativism

An excerpt from Cardinal Ratzinger’s “Homily at the Mass for the Election of the Roman Pontiff,” given yesterday: How many winds of doctrine we have known in these last decades, how many ideological currents, how many fashions of thought? Continue Reading...
April 19, 2005

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger is Pope Benedict XVI

God and the World: A Conversation with Peter Seewald Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger Ignatius Press, 2002 Comments by Dr. Samuel Gregg: As Prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger has demonstrated again and again that he is one of the world’s leading theologians. Continue Reading...
April 19, 2005

The Untouchable

Today marks the birthday of Eliot Ness, Prohibition Agent for the Department of Treasury-Chicago. Ness was made famous for bringing down Al Capone. The story was loosely portrayed in the movie The Untouchables, starring Kevin Costner as Ness. Continue Reading...
April 18, 2005

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc

If looking for an exposition of the post hoc ergo propter hoc logical fallacy when applied to wealth and the size of government in the United States, you can find it in this speech, “The State Expands, and Weakens,” given by Llewellyn H. Continue Reading...
April 18, 2005

New government to form in Italy

Following the resignation of a number of ministers, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi “plans to resign to form a new government, bowing to an ally’s demands for change after losing 11 out of 13 regional elections two weeks ago,” according to a Bloomberg report. Continue Reading...
April 18, 2005

A second renaissance?

Sunday’s Independent has three pieces on the recent application of technological advances to ancient manuscripts, which are making readable previously illegible manuscripts. According to the paper, “infra-red technology has enabled hundreds of ancient Greek comedies, tragedies and epic poems, composed by classical greats such as Sophocles, Euripides and Hesiod, to be deciphered for the first time in 2,000 years.” Continue Reading...
April 15, 2005

Wholphin watch

Hot on the trail of chimeras as a service to you, dear reader, I pass along this story about the offspring of a dolphin and a whale. Apparently these so-called “wholphins” have been found in the wild. Continue Reading...
April 15, 2005

Too much transparency

The incongruence of a culture that insists on knowledge of every detail about charity donations and yet puts no value on a disabled woman’s life is frankly mind-boggling. But let’s move beyond value of human life and focus on the importance of telling the truth and being honest. Continue Reading...
April 15, 2005

Ignoring Centesimus Annus

A defense of Pope John Paul II’s Centesimus Annus. For example, On Globalization The Claim: “John Paul II . . . thinks that capitalism goes way too far and results in oppression of people in the developing world. Continue Reading...