I compiled a short list of quotations taken from the remarks made by Rev. Robert Sirico and former president of El Salvador, Francisco Flores. Both speeches are available online (Francisco Flores 
, Robert Sirico ) and have a filesize of about 4 Mb. Rev. Sirico’s speech provides a great history of the Acton Institute and what events led to its foundation.
Interesting news from across the pond today. Our British friends seem to be making education a bit more ‘user friendly’. Education Secretary Ruth Kelly is proposing a system where “parents dissatisfied with local schools will be encouraged to set up their own…’The underlying principle is simple – freedom for schools and power for parents,’ said the education secretary.”
An illuminating passage from an interview with Peter Schweizer on National Review Online. Schweizer is the author of Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy:
…the consequences of liberal hypocrisy are different than for the conservative variety. When conservatives abandon their principles and become hypocrites, they end up hurting themselves and their families. Conservative principles are like guard rails on a winding road. They are irritating but fundamentally good for you. Liberal hypocrisy is the opposite. When the liberal-left abandon their principles and become hypocrites, they actually improve their lives. Their kids end up in better schools, they have more money, and their families are more content. [Their] ideas are truly that bad.
Apparently, the religion of iPod is the fastest growing religion in the world. And now, you can even buy the “divine iBelieve” cap for your iPod shuffle, to let others know of your commitments to your religion and music.
Last night, at Acton’s 15 Year Dinner in Grand Rapids, former president of El Salvador Francisco Flores gave a reason for his county’s great economic success: it stopped blaming others. Compare this with another statement yesterday by another politician, Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm. In a bid to the federal government to help the ailing Michigan manufacturing industry, she said (among other things) that “a crisis is upon us and the Federal Government needs to step up and do its share” presumably because “NAFTA and CAFTA have given Michigan the shafta.”
The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.
—James 1:9–11 (NIV)
Read more on The Priority of the Eternal over the Temporal…
In case you missed it, the Washington Post did a fun review of the new three-volume art book on the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip. For a parent who raised two daughters during the strip’s 10-year run from 1985 to 1995, it’s refreshing to learn that creator Bill Watterson rejected all attempts at further commercializing the adventures and musings of the young boy and his stuffed tiger.
Jose Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission, is calling on all “civilized and rational” people to combat anti-trade populism of the sort that is designed to whip up fear and protectionism. In an interview with The Times (London), Barroso issued what he called a wake-up call: “If the signal we give to our children is ‘Protect yourself — hide under the table because there is globalisation, resist it’ — then we are nothing.”
The 2005 Samaritan Award Grand Prize winner was announced today! If you are unfamiliar with the Samaritan Award, or the Samaritan Guide, information can be found here, here, here or here. The winner of the $10,000 award was the Lives Under Construction Boy’s Ranch Residential Treatment Program. This program, based in Lampe, Missouri, takes in boys with serious behavioural problems and turns their lives around. The program teaches the value of making right choices, emphasizing the importance of good work and instilling a sense of self-worth in those who feel that the whole world is against them.
“I don’t think many of the conflicts I’ve covered were really about religion. It’s about territory. It’s about power. It’s about other things. It’s just broken down along religious lines.”
James Nachtwey, war photographer, 56, New York City
(Interviewed by Cal Fussman, Esquire, Oct 01 ’05)
