Seize the Day with Gus Lloyd on SiriusXM’s the Catholic Channel interviewed Kishore Jayabalan, director of the Acton Institute in Rome, regarding Pope Benedict XVI’s unexpected resignation.
Jayabalan discussed the mood in the Rome, the shock of the timing, and Pope Benedict XVI’s legacy.
Read more on Audio: Kishore Jayabalan discusses Pope Benedict XVI’s Resignation…
The Center for Faith and Work at LeTourneau University recently profiled Camcraft, a Christian-run manufacturing business whose owners, the Bertsche family, seek to steward their business according to God’s purposes. “By using Biblical principles to run a company,” says Bern Bertsche, “not only is that God’s way, but it’s a very effective way to run a business.”
Watch the video below:
Camcraft orients itself around a broader mission to (1) to glorify God, (2) be a great place to work, (3) be a trusted and valued partner for customers, and (4) grow profitability. In addition to manufacturing high-precision metal components, Camcraft conducts after-work Bible studies for employees. “We know a lot of people never see the inside of a church,” says Bertsche, “but they see this business five days a week.” Read more on Glorifying God and Changing Lives Through Metal Manufacturing…
It was William F. Buckley who said “conservatism takes into account reality.” Reality has become the giant political obstacle for conservatives when it comes to governing, campaigning, and political messaging. It seems too many Americans still love their freedoms but eschew many of the responsibilities that come with it. That’s the crisis we face, the lack of responsibility and our collective grasp on reality.
If you missed President Obama’s State of the Union address last night, here is the transcript in the form of a word cloud.
Here is the Republican response given by Sen. Marco Rubio.
Near the beginning of his State of the Union address last night, President Obama said, “. . . and we can say with renewed confidence that the State of our Union is stronger.”
If you were surprised to hear that the union is “strong” then this was probably the first time you’ve heard a State of the Union address. Over the last hundred years presidents have described the State of the Union (SOTU) in various ways—Good (Truman), Sound (Carter), Not Good (Ford). But it was Ronald Reagan who started the “strong” trend in 1983 by referring to the SOTU as “Strong, but the economy is troubled.” Since 1983, “strong” has been used to refer to the SOTU in 25 addresses.
Here is how the state of the Union has been described over the past hundred years:
Read more on Why is the State of the Union Always ‘Strong’?…
Pope Benedict (Cardinal Ratzinger) on the Gospel’s call to justice
Michael Scaperlanda, Mirror of Justice
My only personal encounter with Joseph Ratzinger was a few weeks before his election as Pope, when he celebrated Mass at St. Peter’s for those attending a conference on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Gaudium et Spes
On National Review Online, Acton Research Director Samuel Gregg reflects on President Obama’s State of the Union address last night, and flags the “reality-denial” that is expressed by “a few token references to free enterprise and rewarding individual initiative (to reassure us we’re still living in America instead of just another declining European social democracy).” More:
Read more on Samuel Gregg: An Alternate Reality State of the Union Address…
During the State of the Union address President Obama suggested that having a minium wage was a moral issue. In the speech he said:
Even with the tax relief we’ve put in place, a family with two kids that earns the minimum wage still lives below the poverty line. That’s wrong. That’s why, since the last time this Congress raised the minimum wage, nineteen states have chosen to bump theirs even higher.
The President believes that it is a moral wrong for any full-time worker, regardless of what the job is, how much the job is worth, etc., should be able establish a home for a family of four. To solve this problem the President announced:
Tonight, let’s declare that in the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty, and raise the federal minimum wage to $9.00 an hour. This single step would raise the incomes of millions of working families. . . . For businesses across the country, it would mean customers with more money in their pockets. In fact, working folks shouldn’t have to wait year after year for the minimum wage to go up while CEO pay has never been higher. So here’s an idea that Governor Romney and I actually agreed on last year: let’s tie the minimum wage to the cost of living, so that it finally becomes a wage you can live on.
I probably sound like a broken record, beating the same drum, but if you were a minority or teenager raising the minimum wage to $9 per hour is not what you wanted to hear. Here’s why as I stated back in 2006:
Read more on The President’s $9 Path to Increasing Minority and Teen Unemployment…
Georgene Rice recently interviewed Samuel Gregg about his latest book, Becoming Europe: Economic Decline, Culture, and How America can Avoid a European Future. Her show airs on KDPQ FM in Portland, Oregon.
Read more on Audio: Samuel Gregg Discusses ‘Becoming Europe’ on the Georgene Rice Show…
Earlier this week at the Heritage Foundation, Acton Research Director Samuel Gregg argued that if our elected leaders don’t find the courage to reform the economy and government spending soon, the U.S. could find itself in the same terrible economic situation as many European countries do today.
