January 31, 2016

CathCon Weekend Edition - 1/31/2016

Political Action and the Primacy of the Good - Pierre Manent, City Journal

Science Fiction: Foothold to the Imagination - Bradley Birzer, Imaginative Conservative

What's Next for the Left - James W. Ceaser, Weekly Standard

Tenured Thugs and Thieves - Kevin D. Williamson, NRO

Secular Modernists and the Church - Dwight Longenecker, Imaginative Conservative

Cool Evil - Bruce Frohnen, Imaginative Conservative

January 29, 2016

CathCon Weekly - 1/29/2015

Scary Pension Math - Stephen Malanga, City Journal

New Left Ideas and Their Consequences - Sean Haylock, Crisis

P.J. O’Rourke Gets Old - Bruce Frohnen, Imaginative Conservative

An Incarnate Economy - Matthew Tan, Distributist Review

The Confusing New Sexual World Order - George Fields, The Federalist

Income Inequality, Liberty & the Founders - Allen Brownfield, Imaginative Conservative

Pre-Socratics or First Philosophers? - Eva Brann, Imaginative Conservative

Trump, Sanders, and the Middle Class - R.R. Reno, First Things

"Conservative Crackup" Has Finally Arrived - Jonah Goldberg, NRO

Gay Man’s Court Victory Over a Catholic Girls School - Diana Stancy, Daily Signal

Shut Up About Class and Argue the Point - Charles C.W. Cooke, NRO

Beyond Trump - Stephen Malanga, City Journal

The Church Has Been Right on Divorce All Along - Jennifer Roback Morse, Crisis

Why Are Many Christians Supporting Trump? - Stephen Turley, Imaginative Conservative

Birth of Liberal Judicial Activism - Paul Moreno, Public Discourse

You Don't Have to Like a Pope - Randall Smith, The Catholic Thing

Coarsener-in-Chief - Heather Mac Donald, City Journal

Mystery of Progressive Democracy - Ralph Hancock, Liberty Law Blog

Science, Philosophy, and God - William Carroll, Public Discourse

A New Supreme Being - David Carlin, The Catholic Thing

January 24, 2016

CathCon Weekend Edition - 1/24/2016

When Abortion Suddenly Stopped Making Sense - Frederica Mathewes-Green, NRO

Conservatives Against Trump - NRO Symposium

Hitchcock's Vertigo - Bradley Birzer, Imaginative Conservative

The Living Constitution Revisited - Carson Holloway, Public Discourse

Nikabrik's Candidate - Gina Dalfonzo, First Things

The Establishment’s Irrational Fear of Ted Cruz - David Limbaugh, Human Events

Trump and Cruz (Evil vs. Crazy or What?) - Peter Augustine Lawler, NRO

Extremism as a Product of Apathy - Gary Girod, New Geography

Suicide: New Curse for Boomers? - Tyler Hishmeh, New Geography

St. Raymond of Pennafort - Brevarium S.O.P.

The House Divided - Fred Siegel, City Journal

The Singular Catholic Vision of Gerard Manley Hopkins - Regis Martin, Crisis

Avoiding Idolatrous Friendships - R.J. Stove, Crisis

Should Yale Erase the Name of John C. Calhoun? - Lee Cheek, Imaginative Conservative

Myth and the Universal Longing - Dwight Longenecker, Imaginative Conservative

January 21, 2016

CathCon Weekly - 1/21/2015

This is a day early because I am going out of town for a few days, and won't be updating. I'll be back next Friday!

Why Musicians Need Philosophy - Roger Scruton, Future Symphony

The Tide is Turning Against Megacities - Joel Kotkin, New Geography

Melancholy Liberalism - Adam Kirsch, City Journal

Why Obama’s Rhetoric Fails - Berny Belvedere, The Federalist


State of the (Angry) Union - Peter Augustine Lawler, Liberty Law Blog

Donald Trump: Superman or Salesman? - Sean Fitzpatrick, Imaginative Conservative

The Holy Fool on Screen - K.V. Turley, Crisis

The GOP Establishment Prefers Trump To Cruz? - Pete Spiliakos, NRO

American by Nature - Richard Samuelson, Liberty Law Blog

The Left Hates Walmart For Existing And For Not Existing - Mitchell Blatt, The Federalist

Further Thoughts on Free Tuition at Harvard - Vic Brown, NRO

5 Reasons Why America Is Headed to a Budget Crisis - Justin Bogie, Daily Signal

Interest and the National Debt - Devin Foley, Imaginative Conservative

The Family and the Force - Jordan J. Ballor, Public Discourse

Homeschoolers, Be Ready for That Knock on the Door - Matthew Hennessey, NRO

Blacks and the Confederacy - Walter Williams, Human Events

The Majestic Inequality of the Law - Robert Reich, American Interest

The UN’s Push for "Same-Sex Marriage" - Paul Coleman, Public Discourse

Shun False Paths to Power - Francis J. Beckwith, Catholic Thing

CBO Budget Report: Debt Disaster - Chris Edwards, Cato

Preparing for the Apocalypse - Fr. Jerry Pokorsky, Crisis

January 17, 2016

CathCon Weekend Edition - 1/17/2016

Is “Salem’s Lot” a Great Work of Horror? - Bradley Birzer, Imaginative Conservative

Rahm and His Party - Ross Douthat, NYT

Carson the Butler on True Marriage - Robert P. George, First Things

How Science Gives Tradition ‘The Finger’ - Rachel Lu, The Federalist

Making Poetry Matter - Micah Mattix, City Journal

They Have Not Yet Begun to Fight - Ross Douthat, NYT

The Fertility God of Conservatism - Mark Pulliam, Liberty Law Blog

Rickman's Worth - Mark Steyn

Cardinal Sarah and Our Silent Apostasy - Fr. Gerald Murray, The Catholic Thing

The Mother of All Revolutions? - Dwight Longenecker, Imaginative Conservative

Is Pulp Good Fiction? - Bradley Birzer, Imaginative Conservative

January 15, 2016

CathCon Weekly - 1/15/2016

An Impossible and Unsustainable "Compromise" - Anderson & George, Public Discourse

After Consensus Ends - Russello & Piereson,University Bookman

Eric Voegelin’s Redemption of Modernity - David Walsh, Imaginative Conservative

Catholic Theology, Political Doctrine - Jennifer Kabbany, NRO

The Specter Of Islam - Robert Tracinski, The Federalist

‘Supergirl’ Should Make Chlorine The Hero, Not The Villain - Tren & Urbach, The Federalist

Was America Built by Slaves? - Paul Derosa, American Interest

What Explains the Vicious Left? - David Gelernter, Weekly Standard

The Laws: Introduction - Coyle Neal, Nomocracy in Politics

The Zeitgeist Hits a Bump - Hadley Arkes, The Catholic Thing

Conscience...and Sex-Reassignment Therapies - Severino & Anderson, Public Discourse

The Bob Spitzer I Knew - Linda Ames Nicolosi, Crisis

Psychiatric Mob Rule - J. Douglas Johnson, Touchstone

Transgenderism Has No Basis in Science or Law - Margaret A. Hagen, Public Discourse

Pius XII’s Secret War Against Hitler - George R. Marlin, The Catholic Thing

Fact-Checking Obama’s Final State of the Union - Various, Daily Signal

Conservative Law Professors More Productive? - Jonathan Adler, Volokh

The Burkean Tradition of Strauss and Voegelin - Robert Kraynak, Imaginative Conservative

The Flowering of Legal Cynicism - Bruce Frohnen, Crisis

Academics v. Populism - Thomas A. Firey, Cato

Hours Later, Delp Had Not Implicated the Pope - Fr. Z's Blog

Ten Theses on Immigration - Ross Douthat, NYT

Another Perspective on a Tragic Case - Cooper & Nuckols, Public Discourse

One Day in the Life of an Urban Teacher - Dana Casey, The Federalist

Takeaways From The First GOP Debate Of 2016 - Mollie Hemingway, The Federalist

They are Not Everywhere. They are Not Like Us - Austin Ruse, Crisis

January 8, 2016

"Texas Woman Acts as Surrogate..."

"...and gives birth to granddaughter."

The immediate reaction of most of the secular world: "Oh how beautiful...a mother acting as a surrogate for her daughter, so that her daughter could have a baby of her own."

My reaction: "This is one of the steps along the path to the final separation of sexual activity from reproduction, and Brave New World becomes more evidently prophetic daily..."

Neil Postman: "In 1984, Orwell added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we desire will ruin us. This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right.”


CathCon Weekly - 1/8/2015

Never Enough Abortions in California - Wesley J. Smith, NRO

The Competent and Diverse New Democratic Party - Peter Lawler, NRO

The Theological Theory of Indiana Jones - Dwight Longenecker, Imaginative Conservative

A Classical Education: Back to the Future - Stanley Fish, NYT

The Difference Between Artistic & Musical Education - Andrew Balio, Imaginative Conservative

Two Homes and Two Statesmen - Bruce Frohnen, Imaginative Conservative

Cities and Memory - Theodore Dalrymple, City Journal

50 Shades of Gay - Jennifer Roback Morse, City Journal

Beat the Devil, Part I - Jay Nordlinger, NRO

Freedom of Association and Antidiscrimination Law - Richard Epstein, Liberty Law Blog

The Case for Civil Disobedience in Oregon - David French, NRO

Two Military Strategists Face Off Over The Bundy Occupation In Oregon - Federalist Staff

No Good Guys in the West - Randal O'Toole, Cato

The Danish Girl: People Aren't Born Transgender... - Walt Heyer, Public Discourse

How the Clintons Changed America - Harry Stein, City Journal

Eliot and Liberalism - R.R. Reno, First Things

Catholicism at Year Zero - Ross Douthat, NYT

Immigration, Citizenship, and Cosmopolitanism - Arthur Milikh, Public Discourse

Facebook’s Going Out Of Style Because It’s A Garbage Dump - Georgi Boorman, The Federalist

Politicians’ Response To Transgenders Is Likely To Increase Suicides - Walt Heyer, The Federalist

How the Contemporary University is Destroying America - Bruce Frohnen, Nomocracy in Politics

The Christian Humanism of Marshall McLuhan - Christopher Morrissey, Imaginative Conservative

Can the First Amendment Survive the Sexual Revolution? - David French, NRO

Should Law Schools Pursue “Social Justice”? - John McGinnis, Liberty Law Blog

Denying...Treatment to a Patient Who Wanted to Live - Phillip Hawley, Public Discourse

An Open Mind? - William E. Carroll, First Things

What Euthanasia Enthusiasts Really Want - Wesley Smith, First Things

The Politics of Moral Denunciation - R.R. Reno, First Things

First Steps Toward Protecting Parental Authority - Michael Quinlan, Crisis

What a Pastoral Church Looks Like - James Kalb, Crisis

Pregnant Women Should Treat Craft Beer Like Wine - Vanessa Rasanen, The Federalist

January 1, 2016

CathCon Weekly - 01/01/2016

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

With this edition, I have decided to stop excerpting small bits of the pieces below the links. It still takes me a bit too much time (I don't really have) to do so. In addition, I suspect the authors and sources are well known enough that it's not really necessary to show the excellence of the writings in order for my readers to know immediately whether they wish to read the entire piece.

Cracks in the Liberal Order - Ross Douthat, NYT

The Riot Ideology, Reborn - Fred Siegel, City Journal

Our Presidents Are Beginning to Act Like Kings - Charles C.W. Cooke, NRO

Seeing the West as Worse - Joel Kotkin, New Geography

An American Original - Jay Nordlinger, NRO

Relativists Get Their Favorite Movie Wrong - Molly Flynn, Liberty Law Blog

What the Constitution Really Says About Race and Slavery - David Azerrad, Daily Signal

Stifling Democratic Debate over Same-Sex “Marriage” - Anthony Esolen, Crisis

Sixteen Years in Academia Made me an A-Hole - Rani Neutill, Salon

Faculty Salaries Reflect Reality, Not Politics - Stephanie Keaveney, Pope Center

Diversity Bureaucracies are a Cancer on the Modern University - John McGinnis, Liberty Law Blog

In Denial About Crime - Heather Mac Donald, City Journal

Is the West Disintegrating? - Patrick Buchanan, Human Events

Questions That Lie Ahead - John M. Breen, Mirror of Justice

The Real Role of Diversity - R.R. Reno, First Things

Why Would Anyone Want a Firearm? - Charles C.W. Cooke, NRO

California, Leading from Behind - V.D. Hanson, NRO

Worst Attacks on Social Science Have Come From Liberals - Jesse Singal, NY Mag

Majority Of Scientists Skeptical Of Global Warming Crisis - James Taylor, Forbes

Must Evangelicals Oppose Self-Defense? - David Kopel, Volokh

‘The Science Is Settled’ and Other Self-Serving Falsehoods - Bruce Frohnen, Nomocracy

Fundamentally Transformed - Ron Capshaw, Liberty Law Blog