22 September 2010

Tea Mug Browsing

Handy site for tracking all of B.O.'s many "czars."  Though most Dems think the czar idea is a good one now, will they think so when the White House changes hands in 2013?  And even though the GOP is belly-aching now about the czars, will they continue to do once their guy/gal is in office?  

Sore losers:  Tea Party candidates aren't the ones undermining GOP unity. . .it's the RINO's who are playing the role of spoilers.

On rats, possums, and gov't intervention. . .we are in the very best of hands, people!  Why aren't you plebs more grateful?

Can consciousness be measured by bits?  Possibly.  To measure something is not the same as explaining it. . .conflating Measurement and Explanation is a common fallacy among materialist scientists.  Even if we were able to measure consciousness accurately, these measurements will not lead us to an exhaustive explanation of what it is to be conscious.

Stoicism = Happiness?  St Paul is thought to have been influenced by the ancient Greek philosophy of Stoicism.  His litany of hell-bound sinners in 1 Cor is cited as evidence of Stoicism's influence on our convert apostle.  Stoicism has much to recommend it to Christians, especially Catholics.  I dropped Irvine's book onto the WISH LIST. . .I might get the chance to review it for HancAquam.

Is the Catholic Church in the US on its final approach to extinction?  Um, no, it isn't.  Not even close.  Let's see:  Roman imperial persecution; centuries of "enlightenment" opposition and persecution; Commie persecution in China, Russia, most of Eastern Europe; current efforts by western worshipers of science to exclude the Church from the public square, ad. nau.  Naw, we're here to stay.  Get used to it.

The perverse logic of pro-aborts. . .apparently, the staff of an abortion clinic here in the U.K. was worried that patients would be traumatized by a sign that graphically depicts an aborted fetus.  They didn't seem to be at all worried that an actual abortion would be traumatic.  So, in their minds, it is more traumatic to see a picture of a dead baby than to kill the baby.

J.C. Penney's circa 1973. . .is that Fr. "Call Me Bob" on the left in his Easter vestments?

Preventing florist friars

A blessing upon you and your cubs

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5 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:07 PM

    Stoicism has much to recommend it to Christians, especially Catholics.

    Emphatic disagreement here. Remember that the stoics eschewed joy also. Stoicism's cultivated determination to maintain serene indifference to all vicissitudes of life, whether good or evil, is rooted in the conviction that life is purposeless. Stoicism is a philosophical approach to managing one's despair -- existential nausea, in 20th c. terms.

    Romulus

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  2. To say that Stoicism has much to recommend it to Catholics is not to say that everything about Stoicism is good or even compatible with Catholicism. St Paul seem to think enough of some of Stoicism ethical positions to include them in his letters.

    Remember: truth is truth regardless of the truth-bearer.

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  3. Anonymous2:17 PM

    What I see St. Paul recommending is not stoicism but Christian ascesis: "not to impose a restraint upon you, but for the sake of propriety and adherence to the Lord without distraction."

    Stoics practiced self-restraint as a means to dignified self-ownership in a meaningless existence. St. Paul recommends Christian self-restraint as a means to liberation from a world passing away, the better to approach God who endows life with eternal meaning. I agree that externally the virtues cultivated are similar, but IMO the similarity is entirely superficial.

    Romulus

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  4. Stoics did not believe that existence was meaningless...they had a metaphysics with included a telos.

    Again, I am not saying that Stoicism is 100% compatible with Catholicism...only that some aspects of Stoicism may be useful.

    Aristotelianism is not 100% compatible with Catholicism either, but Thomas made ample use of that philosophy.

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  5. On a more mundane topic I was surprised that opossums had to be introduced into Brooklyn. I grew up in the 60's and 70's about 15 miles west of Manhattan in northern NJ and we had plenty of possums around town. Perhaps they had died out in the city at one point, but they are a native species in the NYC area.

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