The Catholic Monitor

From Nicholas Carr's book, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains: "There’s nothing wrong with absorbing information quickly and in bits and pieces. We’ve always skimmed newspapers more than we’ve read them, and we routinely run our eyes over books and magazines to get the gist of a piece of writing and decide whether it warrants more thorough reading. The ability to scan and browse is as important as the ability to read deeply and think attentively. The problem is that skimming is becoming our dominant mode of thought. Once a means to an end, a way to identify information for further study, it’s becoming an end in itself—our preferred method of both learning and analysis. Dazzled by the Net’s treasures, we are blind to the damage we may be doing to our intellectual lives and even our culture. "What we’re experiencing is, in a metaphorical sense, a reversal of the early trajectory of civilization: We are evolving from cultivators of personal knowledge into...

The 2004 Democratic National Convention was most remembered for a young, energetic senator the likes of the American people had not seen since Bobby Kennedy. With his DNC presentation, Barack Obama was launched into the national spotlight, lauded for his populist-themed speech that became universally described as “articulate”. More importantly, Obama was bringing a new style of rhetoric to the political table that ultimately set the stage for the 2006 elections and his current presidential campaign. Anyone unsure of his political record was still aware of his staunch criticism of the Iraq War. From this national appearance he filled a political void by connecting with the growing anti-Iraq-war movement. But in more recent speeches, Obama has clarified his pro-interventionist intentions. Although Barack Obama is described as a liberal Democrat, his message on foreign policy has been subject to question. Obama criticizes the handling of the Iraq war, but continues to promote an inter...

LaBarbera to Ann Coulter: Reconsider Appearance at Event for GOProud — Phony ‘Gay Conservatives’ READ IT ONLINE: http://americansfortruth.com/news/labarbera-to-ann-coulter-reconsider-goproud-appearance.html Would Ann Coulter speak at an event for “Republicans For Responsible Porn Use,” or “Republicans for Higher Taxes,” or Republicans for Choice (Abortion) -- if such groups took legitimately conservative positions on other issues like gun rights? Contact: Peter LaBarbera: 630-717-7631; e-mail: AmericansForTruth@gmail.com ; August 10, 2010 CHICAGO — Americans For Truth About Homosexuality President Peter LaBarbera today urged conservative pundit Ann Coulter to reconsider her appearance at “Homocon,” a September event for the homosexual Republican group GOProud. LaBarbera said: As a fan of Ann Coulter, it pains me to see her cave in to political correctness and lend credibility to the phony homosexual “conservatives” over at GOProud. Worse, Coulter is sending a dangerous message to youn...

An Interview with Fr. John Hardon by Anita C. Crane My confessor there was an Oblate priest named John Mole. I was with him there in 1972on the happy anniversary of his ordination. On that day, he had received a letter from Marshall McLuhan, whom Father Mole had received into the Church. Does that name ring a bell? Absolutely. He wrote the famous phrase, "The medium is the message. " Well, on that day when my confessor and I were in conversation, Father Mole showed me the letter which he had just received from McLuhan, and in the postscript of that letter McLuhan wrote this statement, "The modern media are engaged in a Luciferian conspiracy against the truth." Certain statements you never forget. And that was prophetic. Since I've been with the Holy See, from Pope Paul VI to the present pope, John Paul II, the popes have wanted Catholics to change that. Imagine the alternative: "The modern media are engaged in a Christlike, shall I use the word, conspiracy,...

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Perspectives/Default.aspx?id=1122842 Frank Turek - Guest Columnist 8/13/2010 When one judge overturned the will of more than seven million Californians last week in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, he listed 80 supposed "findings of fact" (FF) as evidence that Proposition 8 violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Many of those 80 findings are not facts at all. They're lies or distortions. Before we address the top ten false "facts" asserted by Judge Vaughn Walker, there is one real fact in his opinion that defeats the entire case for his opinion. Here it is: "The evidence at trial shows that marriage in the United States traditionally has not been open to same-sex couples." Since that fact is unquestionably true, how can Judge Walker honestly declare that Proposition 8 violates the Fourteenth Amendment? Certainly no one in 1868 intended the Fourteenth Amendment to redefine marriage. Only the most tyrannic...

I’d like to extend a special welcome to the three hundred new subscribers who recently signed up for this newsletter after seeing the re-broadcasts of my EWTN series The Carpenter’s Shop. The re-broadcast of this series brought to mind my interview with Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, author of A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Homosexuality. Dr. Nicolosi, an orthodox Catholic psychologist, is the world’s leading expert in treating youth experiencing gender identity confusion, or struggling with homosexuality. This interview also sparked my desire to reprint one of my favorite articles that I’ve written over the years: Lessons for Dads from Secondhand Lions. Lots of Christian parents who had assumed homosexuality could never strike a loved one in their family now realize how wrong they were to be complacent about this terrible threat. If you think homosexuality can’t possibly strike any of your children, take note of a survey of 34,706 12-year-olds from Minnesota. The survey found that 25.9 perce...

I don't know. Maybe other news groups besides the Globe can check into this. Fred Sher Zieve -News and Commentary- In all things, trust God "Thou Shalt have no other gods before me" ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: Doug Walk Sent: Fri, July 30, 2010 11:50:07 AM Subject: Mom of Murdered Obama Gay Lover Speaks Up Mom of Murdered Obama Gay Lover Speaks Up July 25, 2010 · Donald Young In late May, investigative journalist Wayne Madsen had a bombshell revelation about Obama’s membership in a Chicago gay man’s club. Madsen also reported on the Sociopath’s sexual relationships with other men, including politicians and Donald Young, the openly gay choir director of the church in Chicago of which Obama was a member for some 20 years — Jeremy Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ black liberation theology. Obama’s relationship with Young was confirmed by Larry Sinclair, who claims to have had two sex-cocaine trysts with Obama. Larry Bland There were two other openly gay men ...

MEDIA RELEASE http://www.all.org/article.php?id=12894 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 09 July 2010 CONTACT: Katie Walker 540.659.4942| kwalker@all.org CONTRARY TO PLANNED PARENTHOOD MANTRA, CDC REPORTS MOST TEENS ARE VIRGINS Washington, DC (09 July 2010) – The Center for Disease Control and Prevention released a new study last month showing that most teens are virgins - contrary to propaganda disseminated by sex-education giant Planned Parenthood. "This study has huge significance for our nation's public and even private schools - many of whom have been regurgitating Planned Parenthood's dangerously inaccurate sex-education curriculum," said Judie Brown, president of American Life League. In the 2006-2008 period, 58 percent of never-married teen girls and 57 percent of never-married teen boys between the ages of 15 and 19 reported that they had never had sexual intercourse. The numbers did not substantially change since a similar report was released in 2002. The reason most oft...

Responds to Criticisms of President Chávez ROME, JULY 9, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The archbishop of Caracas, Venezuela, is denouncing the government's attempts to install a Marxist Socialist regime through "unconstitutional" and "illegal" methods violating the rights and will of the people. Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino underlined the need to speak publicly, to voice "my conscience as a Venezuelan and as archbishop of Caracas, given the reality that we are experiencing." He wrote a statement, issued Wednesday, denouncing "the danger that is threatening our beloved homeland." "Going beyond the national constitution," the cardinal wrote, President Hugo Chávez "and his government want to lead the country on the path of Marxist Socialism, which monopolizes all spaces, is totalitarian, and leads to a dictatorship, not even of the proletariat, but of the leadership that governs." "Going against the popular will, which on Dec. 2, 20...

Benedict XVI Calls for Silence to Hear God Affirms the Lord Is Always Close, Always Good to Us SULMONA, Italy, JULY 4, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Silence might be a fearful thing to modern man, but Benedict XVI is encouraging an acceptance of interior and exterior silence, so as to be able to hear God's voice, and the voices of our neighbors. The Pope said this today during his one-day trip to Italy's Abruzzi region, devastated in 2009 by an earthquake. His trip marked the 800th anniversary of the birth of Celestine V, the only Pope in history to abdicate Peter's Throne. During a very warm open-air Mass with some 25,000 faithful, the Holy Father reflected on the life of his 13th-century predecessor, not focusing on his five months of papacy, but rather on his holiness of life. It is his holiness that keeps Celestine V in history some 800 years after his birth, Benedict XVI said. "Holiness, in fact, never loses its own power of attraction, it is not forgotten, it never goes out...

This month I would like to consider the issue of the electronic media that saturates and dominates our lives more and more. In many ways it has marginalized traditional culture, and sometimes displaces it altogether. Yet the Church calls us to use the new media to evangelize, by bringing the presence of truth and beauty into the mainstream of contemporary society. As Anton Casta of St. Max Media once wrote, the Roman empire was often brutal and had many victims, yet the Apostles walked far along the roads built by the Romans in order to bring the Gospel to the known world. Where are our new Roman roads? Are they not the vehicle of internet and film and the spreading of traditional culture such as music and the visual arts through new e-media? While there remain unresolved questions regarding the sheer volume of material being poured into our lives, and its power to reshape consciousness in unhealthy ways, there is a clear call to regain this territory for Christ. I would like to draw y...

Katie and her big media colleagues made sexual refenece to human feces, masturbation, Ann Coulter having male sexual parts, etc.... As David Kupelian said they are "so far away from modesty and common decency that they revel in the kind of depraved behavior I'm describing." This is why they hate common people of virtue like Sarah Palin who won't have an abortion or support their beloved depraved behavior. We no longer have a free press, but a perverse press. Fred "This bizarre mindset infects more than just a few cable news personalities. A rare look at a normally hidden face of the “mainstream press” was afforded by the 2008 celebrity roast of NBC’s “Today” co-anchor Matt Lauer in New York City. With cameras and recording devices banned from the proceedings, news icons ranging from Lauer and “Today” colleagues Al Roker and Meredith Vieira to CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric to NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams to NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker competed w...