Interview with the President: Jail Time for Those Without Health Insurance?

During an exclusive interview with ABC News’ Jake Tapper today, President Obama said that penalties are appropriate for people who try to “free ride” the health care system but stopped short of endorsing the threat of jail time for those who refuse to pay a fine for not having insurance.

“What I think is appropriate is that in the same way that everybody has to get auto insurance and if you don't, you're subject to some penalty, that in this situation, if you have the ability to buy insurance, it's affordable and you choose not to do so, forcing you and me and everybody else to subsidize you, you know, there's a thousand dollar hidden tax that families all across America are -- are burdened by because of the fact that people don't have health insurance, you know, there's nothing wrong with a penalty.”

Under the House bill those who can afford to buy insurance and don’t’ pay a fine. If the refuse to pay that fine there’s a threat – as with a lot of tax fines – of jail time. The Senate removed that provision in the Senate Finance Committee.

Mr. Obama said penalties have to be high enough for people to not game the system, but it’s also important to not be “so punitive” that people who are having a hard time find themselves suddenly worse off, thus why hardship exemptions have been built in the legislation. . . . (source)

Robert Spencer Debunks Mainstream Media Spin on the Fort Hood Terrorist

Catholic author Robert Spencer, proprietor of Jihad Watch, offers a sobering corrective to the media's strenuous efforts to downplay and ignore the religious nature of the mass murderer who killed 13 and wounded over 30 others at Fort Hood the other day. Well worth listening to his analysis.

Some Actions Have Unintended Consequences

Here's a Great Way to Prepare Your Kids for Advent

All Catholic parents who are serious about wanting to raise their children strong in the Faith understand how important it is to ensure that they enter as deeply as possible into the spirit and meaning of the Church's liturgical seasons.

Lent and Advent are the two most dramatic times of preparation in the Church calendar, and so Catholic children should be taught how to experience at least as much (actually, far more) excitement and anticipation for the Nativity of the Lord during the Advent season as they do for receiving presents on Christmas. The former (the gift of the Incarnation and birth of Christ) is the foundation on which the entire gospel of Christ rests, and the latter (getting stuff for Christmas) is irrelevant and often the primary, if note sole, focus of most children between now and Christmas.

There's an excellent new set of tools for Catholic parents who are really serious about helping their kids prepare well for this blessed event: The Holy Heroes Advent Adventure. I personally know and admire the people behind this apostolate and, while I am in no way involved or associated with the organization and derive no benefit of any kind from them, I can vouch for their orthodoxy, quality, and the effectiveness of their materials for the kiddos.

So please watch the video (preferably with your children), check out their website and, if you are so inclined, tell them Patrick Madrid sent you.

England, Anglicans, and the Prophecy of St. Edward the Confessor

I just finished reading the text of Pope Benedict's newly promulgated apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus ("Groups of Anglicans"), in which he opened wide the door for Anglicans to convert to the Catholic Church en masse and retain their identity as Anglo-Catholics. As many have commented before me, this is a bold and hugely significant step in the direction of finally bringing England herself back into the Catholic fold. May God hasten that day!

As I reflect on Anglicanorum Coetibus, I recall having read a few prophecies from long ago regarding the eventual reconversion of England to the ancient Catholic Faith it had professed for many centuries prior to the Protestant rebellion. This one, which can be found in the Catholic Encyclopedia, is particularly interesting, and I am inclined to think that Pope Benedict's historic overture to Anglicans fits nicely into what St. Edward described in his prophecy:

Ambrose Lisle Philipps in a letter to the Earl of Shrewsbury dated 28 October, 1850, in giving a sketch of English Catholic history, relates the following vision or prophecy made by St. Edward:

"During the month of January, 1066, the holy King of England St. Edward the Confessor was confined to his bed by his last illness in his royal Westminster Palace. St. Ælred, Abbott of Rievaulx, in Yorkshire, relates that a short time before his happy death, this holy king was wrapt in ecstasy, when two pious Benedictine monks of Normandy, whom he had known in his youth, during his exile in that country, appeared to him, and revealed to him what was to happen to England in future centuries, and the cause of the terrible punishment.

They said: 'The extreme corruption and wickedness of the English nation has provoked the just anger of God. When malice shall have reached the fullness of its measure, God will, in His wrath, send to the English people wicked spirits, who will punish and afflict them with great severity, by separating the green tree from its parent stem the length of three furlongs. But at last this same tree, through the compassionate mercy of God, and without any national (governmental) assistance, shall return to its original root, reflourish and bear abundant fruit.'

After having heard these prophetic words, the saintlyKing Edward opened his eyes, returned to his senses, and the vision vanished. He immediately related all he had seen and heard to hisvirgin spouse, Edgitha, to Stigand, Archbishop of Canterbury, and to Harold, his successor to the throne, who were in his chamber praying around his bed." (See "Vita beati Edwardi regis et confessoris", from manuscript Selden 55 in Bodleian Library, Oxford.)

The interpretation given to this prophecy is remarkable when applied to the events which have happened. The spirits mentioned in it were the Protestant innovators who pretended, in the sixteenth century, to reform the Catholic Church in England. The severance of the green tree from its trunk signifies the separation of the English Church from the root of the Catholic Church, from the Roman See.

This tree, however, was to be separated from its life-giving root the distance of "three furlongs". These three furlongs are understood tosignify three centuries, at the end of which England would again be reunited to the Catholic Church, and bring forth flowers of virtue and fruits of sanctity. The prophecy was quoted by Ambrose Lisle Philipps on the occasion of the reestablishment of the Catholic hierarchy in England by Pope Pius IX in 1850.

My grandson, Killian Patrick, is a 2 lbs. 10 oz. fighter

Click either picture for some recent updates on young Mr. Kilpatrick's progress . . .

Let the Girly Men Eat Cakes

Having traveled to Japan many times, I can say that I have not seen many ojo-man milling around over there, but I have seen them. I see some of them here in the U.S., too. Read on, and you'll see what the title of this post refers to. Strange. Sad.

At the age of 18, Mitsuhiro Matsushita already has a good idea of his ideal future. After he graduates from university a few years of work will be followed by marriage to an industrious wage earner. When children arrive it will be Mitsuhiro who stays at home looking after them, baking cakes and biscuits and living the traditional life of the Japanese housewife.

None of this would be noteworthy but for one thing. Mitsuhiro is not a conventionally minded Japanese woman, but a thoughtful, articulate and fashionably dressed young man. And far from being a marginal eccentric he is a member of a large and growing tribe of Japanese manhood that is attracting the fascinated and anxious attention of companies, academics and the mass media.

Two phrases have been coined to describe them: soshokukei danshi or “herbivorous males”, and Ojo-man— or “girly men.”

Definitions vary, but the new herbivores could be described as metrosexuals without the testosterone. Although most of them are not homosexual they have in common a disdain for the traditional accoutrements of Japanese manhood, and a taste for things formerly regarded as exclusively female. Girly men have no interest in fast cars, career success, designer labels and trophy women. Instead, they hold down humble jobs, cultivate women as friends rather than conquests and spend their free time shopping at small boutiques and pursuing in Japan what is regarded as a profoundly feminine pastime: eating cakes . . .

Halloween at the White House

No wonder the Vatican paper L'Osservatore Romano warned against this holiday.

(Courtesy of Elizabeth Scalia)

Do You Ever Have Days Like This? I Do.

And Don't Let the Door Hit You In the Apse on the Way Out

The Episcopal Bishop of Maryland, Eugene Taylor Sutton, has announced that "the door swings both ways." He's rolling out the welcome mat for Catholics who, dissenting from Catholic teaching and yearning for a church home that will accept each of them "just as I am," may want to go out through the in door that Pope Benedict XVI is holding open for Anglicans who want to become Catholic.

Predictably, the pope's startling ecumenical gesture does not sit well with some folks. There is, in fact, a great deal of inflamed emotion among some Catholics and Anglicans over Benedict's recent masterstroke of ecumenical diplomacy by allowing a special new door for Anglicans to formally enter the Catholic Church.

The biblical phrase "wailing and gnashing of teeth" comes to mind. Naysayers perched on the banks of both the Tiber and the Thames have been fuming and frothing and fulminating in their periodicals and on their blogs, inveighing against Pope Benedict for acting like a "pirate" and a "poacher" and a . . . a . . . a papist!

And yet, this chapter in Catholic/Anglican relations appears to be the wave of the near future.

My personal reaction to Benedict's bold strategery toward the Church of England is simply to say, "Glory to God! Bravo, Pope Benedict! and, welcome home!" to our brethren who who are coming in out of the Anglican storm.

I know that some who read this will strongly disagree with me. To them I simply say, as the late Jim Croce once trenchantly observed, "You don't tug on Superman's cape, and you don't spit into the wind." Lately, the wind sure has been blowing where it will.

"Every Little Thing He Does Is Magic"

The hugely talented singer-songwriter Sting recently extolled the new American President in messianically reverential tones, declaring that, "In many ways, he's sent from God."

Perhaps so, but let's not forget that God has also been known to send swarms of locusts, frogs, hail, pestilence and other plagues (c.f., Exodus chapters 5-11). I'm just saying.

Sting affirms that Dear Leader is "very genuine, very present, clearly super-smart, and exactly what we need in the world. . . . I can't think of any be better qualified because of his background, his education, particularly in regard to Islam."

Huh?

Anyway, I'm not much persuaded by Sting's views on this subject. I LOVE his music, but I just don't think he's seeing things clearly here. Even so, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for at least being sincere, if naive. After all, he's the one who also also said, "When the world is running down, you make the best of what's still around."

Walk Like a Man (Robot Style)

I'll tell you what. I don't ever want to see one of these things walking (or running) in my direction. [Strains of David Bowie: "Put on your red shoes and dance the blues . . ."

Switzerland Trying to Squelch "Suicide Tourism"

The Times Online reports:

Switzerland announced plans yesterday to crack down on “suicide tourism”, signalling that it might close the Dignitas clinic that has helped hundreds of terminally ill people to take their lives.

The plans — in the form of two draft Bills that will be offered for public debate — are likely to set off a rush of patients from Britain and elsewhere in Europe since Switzerland has become the main destination for those seeking assisted suicide.

Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, the Justice Minister, said that two options would be presented to parliament. Either clinics such as Dignitas and Exit, which deals chiefly with Swiss patients, will have to accept much stricter regulation or they will be closed down.

The tightening of the rules would require patients to present two medical opinions declaring their disease incurable, that death is expected within months and that they have made their decision of sound mind and fully aware of their options.

These guidelines, said the minister, appeal to common sense. And even in the most controversial clinic, Dignitas, these rules are already broadly adhered to. But critics have accused Dignitas of widening its criteria. Some patients are not terminally ill and at least a few would-be suicides are suffering from clinical depression.

The plan is thus to slow down the process and make it a more considered, and carefully policed, decision. . . . (continue reading)

I Just Saw This Crazy Thing. How'd They Do That?

Cardinal Avery Dulles on the Morality of the Death Penalty

Catholicism & Capital Punishment

Among the major nations of the Western world, the United States is singular in still having the death penalty. After a five-year moratorium, from 1972 to 1977, capital punishment was reinstated in the United States courts. Objections to the practice have come from many quarters, including the American Catholic bishops, who have rather consistently opposed the death penalty. The National Conference of Catholic Bishops in 1980 published a predominantly negative statement on capital punishment, approved by a majority vote of those present though not by the required two-thirds majority of the entire conference.1 Pope John Paul II has at various times expressed his opposition to the practice, as have other Catholic leaders in Europe.

— By Avery Cardinal Dulles, First Things —

Some Catholics, going beyond the bishops and the Pope, maintain that the death penalty, like abortion and euthanasia, is a violation of the right to life and an unauthorized usurpation by human beings of God's sole lordship over life and death. Did not the Declaration of Independence, they ask, describe the right to life as “unalienable”?

While sociological and legal questions inevitably impinge upon any such reflection, I am here addressing the subject as a theologian. At this level the question has to be answered primarily in terms of revelation, as it comes to us through Scripture and tradition, interpreted with the guidance of the ecclesiastical magisterium.

In the Old Testament the Mosaic Law specifies no less than thirty-six capital offenses calling for execution by stoning, burning, decapitation, or strangulation. Included in the list are idolatry, magic, blasphemy, violation of the sabbath, murder, adultery, bestiality, pederasty, and incest. The death penalty was considered especially fitting as a punishment for murder since in his covenant with Noah God had laid down the principle, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in His own image” (Genesis 9:6). In many cases God is portrayed as deservedly punishing culprits with death, as happened to Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (Numbers 16). In other cases individuals such as Daniel and Mordecai are God's agents in bringing a just death upon guilty persons.

In the New Testament the right of the State to put criminals to death seems to be taken for granted. Jesus himself refrains from using violence. He rebukes his disciples for wishing to call down fire from heaven to punish the Samaritans for their lack of hospitality (Luke 9:55). Later he admonishes Peter to put his sword in the scabbard rather than resist arrest (Matthew 26:52). At no point, however, does Jesus deny that the State has authority to exact capital punishment. In his debates with the Pharisees, Jesus cites with approval the apparently harsh commandment, “He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die” (Matthew 15:4; Mark 7:10, referring to Exodus 2l:17; cf. Leviticus 20:9). When Pilate calls attention to his authority to crucify him, Jesus points out that Pilate's power comes to him from above-that is to say, from God (John 19:11). Jesus commends the good thief on the cross next to him, who has admitted that he and his fellow thief are receiving the due reward of their deeds (Luke 23:41).

The early Christians evidently had nothing against the death penalty. They approve of the divine punishment meted out to Ananias and Sapphira when they are rebuked by Peter for their fraudulent action (Acts 5:1-11). The Letter to the Hebrews makes an argument from the fact that “a man who has violated the law of Moses dies without mercy at the testimony of two or three witnesses” (10:28). Paul repeatedly refers to the connection between sin and death. He writes to the Romans, with an apparent reference to the death penalty, that the magistrate who holds authority “does not bear the sword in vain; for he is the servant of God to execute His wrath on the wrongdoer” (Romans 13:4). No passage in the New Testament disapproves of the death penalty.

Turning to Christian tradition, we may note that the Fathers and Doctors of the Church are virtually unanimous in their support for capital punishment, even though some of them such as St. Ambrose exhort members of the clergy not to . . . (continue reading)