Supremely Interesting

I've been listening to the audio replays of the Supreme Court arguments on the health care law. We don't often get to hear our justices speak, and this is a historic case, so I find myself mesmerized by all of it.

The mainstream media seems somewhat dazed by how this is case is rolling out. Especially entertaining are reactions from liberals who thought that conservatives had no grounds to object, as this amusing piece by John Podhoretz describes.

There may be some that find it boring, but I think the legal moment of truth that is at hand for "Obamacare" is endlessly fascinating. Whatever the justices decide, it will affect every American and generations to come. I'm hanging on their every word.

To Our Health

There once was a health law quite hated

By citizens widely located

The government's mess

Went to court for redress

While the populace anxiously waited...

Hungry for Change

I’m burning through the Suzanne Collins novel The Hunger Games, trying to beat the movie’s debut on Friday. I’ve been shunning the deluge of advance publicity and movie reviews (most of them raves) to avoid plot spoilers. But I couldn’t resist reading this piece in Forbes.com, which views the book’s theme through political eyes and slams the big-government path we are on as our road to Panem.

I don’t know about you, but I can certainly imagine our current president demanding human “tributes.” To a large degree, he already has.

Mitt Romney won the Illinois primary last night. He’s up to 560 delegates, almost half of the required 1,144 needed for nomination. To quote from The Hunger Games, “may the odds be ever in his favor.”

A Quarter Century Past Dad

Today marks 25 years since my father died. Considering the fact that not only do I still miss him, but I also think of him daily, it’s safe to assume that this particular loss will be forever borne. I’ve concluded that, regardless of whether or not the parent is living, and be they good or bad, parental relationships are lifelong.

I’m amazed at how many everyday conversations we had that remain vivid in my memory. The extent to which his faith and values continue to shape my own attitudes and beliefs is also quite striking. The famous question “What Would Jesus Do?” is, in my mind, more often “What Would Dad Do?” Most likely, both men would recommend the same course of action.

Dad was a dear and devoted father, my first hero, friend, and teacher. But he wasn’t perfect. He had his faults, weaknesses, blind spots, and he certainly made his share of mistakes. Yet the positives far outweigh any negatives. As the years pass, I grow increasingly grateful for the father I had. I'm keenly aware that’s a gift not everyone gets to enjoy.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Vanishing Paper

It was bound (you should pardon the pun) to happen. The Encyclopedia Britannica has evaporated into cyberspace. There will be no printed editions to follow the 2010 publication. Only digital reference material will be available going forward.

I've never been an encyclopedia wonk. When I was growing up, my father refused to purchase encyclopedias, asserting that they were outdated the day they were printed (which is true enough). Dad said students should go to the library for encyclopedia references. When I had my own children, that approach made logical and financial sense to me. So I've never shelled out money for a set of encyclopedias.

Even so, there's a certain wistfulness that accompanies the passing of a 244-year era. Yes, there will be instant updates to the digital versions, nullifying the argument of encyclopedic obsolescence. But now the reader will be directed immediately to the search object. There will be no more leafing through seemingly endless pages, stopping to read something entirely different from what you were looking up simply because it caught your eye. Consequently, there will be no more bonus opportunities for learning something extra in the research process.

Keep an eye on e-Bay. Hard copy encyclopedias will become quite the collector's item. It makes me wish I did own a set of Britannicas, just for old times' sake.

In Good Company

It appears I'm not the only one weary with "news" coverage. Read "What We Do Not Want to Hear Anymore" by Victor Davis Hanson and see what he's tired of listening to, specifically from the President.

I'm glad to be yawning in such good company.

Ten Things I'm Tired Of

1. Gas prices rising

2. Whitney Houston media coverage

3. President Obama apologizing for the country

4. Afghans murdering American soldiers over books

5. The Rush Limbaugh vs. Bill Maher “bad word” controversy

6. Politicians campaigning

7. Rick Santorum whining about Mitt Romney

8. Newt Gingrich pontificating about Mitt Romney

9. Mitt Romney smiling about all the whining and pontificating

10. Any news pertaining to Sandra Fluke

An American Saint

Sometimes God leads us to a train in good time--then wishes us to wait

~ St. Katharine Drexel, 1858-1955

Not many young women who grew up with the luxury of great wealth and are destined to inherit millions of dollars in family fortune would consider giving it all up to help poor Native and African Americans. Katharine Drexel was one such heiress who did just that. I suppose that's why she's a saint.

When she met Pope Leo XIII in 1887 and asked him to do more for Native Americans, he challenged her to become a missionary herself. Long story short, she founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and got busy establishing schools and colleges for deprived Americans. St. Katharine Drexel died in 1955 at the age of 96, and her church feast day is today, March 3.

The saints all seem to have one thing in common. Their life stories always involve doing something a bit more worthwhile than tossing an envelope into the collection basket. Just some food for thought on this weekend in Lent.

Hating is as Hating Does

If you have the stomach for it, read the revoltingly venomous remarks from lefties in reaction to Andrew Breitbart's death, linked here. This is how the left treats those who disagree with them--namely, conservatives. If you don't think exactly the way the supposedly tolerant left-wingers do, you're a "hater," a "fascist," a "racist," or worse.

My term for these vicious personal attacks is "emotional thinking," which of course is not really thinking at all. It's reacting based on personal passion, not facts, and people being the broken beings that we are, it gets ugly very quickly if such reacting is not held in check.

For those who don't know him, Andrew Breitbart was the conservative activist who brought down the corrupt ACORN operation. Last year he published the best-selling Righteous Indignation: Excuse Me While I Save the World!, which just about launched the hysterical lefties into the stratosphere with outrage. Breitbart was a hard-hitting reporter who was fearless in exposing facts unflattering to the liberal bias in America's journalism. There is no greater affront to modern journalism that to expose mainstream media bias.

Agree with him or not, there's no denying he was a superstar in conservative journalism and is irreplaceable as a cultural warrior of the right. But the "he-belongs-in-hell-with-Hitler" chorus is blathering on long, loudly, and with obvious delight over the untimely demise of this highly influential crusader. His critics are celebrating his death, happily and completely indifferent to the somber fact that the 43-year-old Breitbart leaves behind his wife and four young children. He also leaves behind his heartbroken friends and fellow warriors. The lefties, gleefully hurling sickening epithets at Breitbart's dead body, do not have the decency or compassion even to acknowledge the depths of personal grief that will accompany his loss.

Think about that for a moment, then tell me the truth--who are the "haters" now?