Tag Archives: charity

Ron Paul: Compassionless Conservative?

Here’s proof that I don’t blindly agree with every word spoken or decision made by Ron Paul. Recently, the House of Representatives passed HR 1181 (“Expressing condolences and sympathy to the people of Burma for the grave loss of life and vast destruction caused by Cyclone Nargis.”) 410-1. Guess who the “1” was. That he was the lone voice of opposition in the House is not news. Why he opposed this symbolic resolution and which symbolic resolutions he hasn’t opposed may be. Andrew Malcolm of the LA Times Top of the Ticket blog explains:

“So Paul’s symbolic stand against symbolic silliness looks good.

“But then along come the sharp-eyed folks over at Radaronline.com, specifically Nick Curran, who finds out that Paul’s stand against symbolic silliness when it comes to Asians whose huts and hovels were erased by cyclone, is not quite so principled and a whole lot more enthused about dumb statements of sentiment when the silliness is closer to home.

“Come to find out Paul has voted in favor of similar empty resolutions to congratulate the University of Kansas football team for a swell season and winning the 2008 FedEx Orange Bowl, to the Louisiana State football team for, golly, winning the 2007 Bowl Championship Series and to celebrate the New York Giants for their come-from-behind victory in Super Bowl XLII. “

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A Concrete Way to Help in Iraq

Aside from prayer–which I perhaps should do more often–I have felt great sadness and helplessness when hearing of the plight of Iraqi Christians.

Fortunately, CNEWA has a way for us to help more directly: they has a list of projects to support Christians in threatened parishes and also to help relocate a Baghdad seminary to a more secure location, among others. Check it out, and please give!

Say Something Nice to Someone

How many times have you been walking around, feeling kinda crappy, and someone says something nice, and it just makes your whole day better? Friends are there for each other when you need them, but it is the unasked for gestures, the giving just to give that can make people really happy. Being there for someone means being there when they don’t need it as much as when they do. That is what I am blessed enough to have with my friends. I thank G-d everyday for them.

Be that person for someone else. Say those extra 5 words of encouragement, that extra compliment for no other reason than you care about that person. Even if you barely know them, it can mean just as much.

Ghandi said, “Be the change that you want to see”

Make the world better one gesture at a time.

Be Fruitful and Multiply

Fans of Stuff’s latest about having lots of kids might find these articles interesting.

Bucking the norm, some families think big

It’s barely a blip on the nation’s demographic radar — 11 percent of U.S. births in 2004 were to women who already had three children, up from 10 percent in 1995. But there seems to be a growing openness to having more than two children, in some case more than four.

Family size in America: Are large families back?

We decided to cut through the buzz and find out whether big families really are on the upswing, and — more important, if you’re one of the 50 percent of BabyCenter moms who want a big family — what life is like for multiple-kid moms. Here’s what the experts, both the academic and the real-mom kind, had to say:

How Full Is Your Quiver?

Quiverfull beliefs are absolutist. Purists don’t permit even natural family-planning methods, such as tracking fertility cycles (the only form of birth control condoned by the Roman Catholic Church). Also taboo: any form of artificial fertility treatment. “The point is to have a welcoming heart,” says Mary Pride, a mother of nine whose 1985 book, “The Way Home,” celebrated a return to traditional gender roles. It has sold about 80,000 copies and has inspired many quiverfull families. “You shouldn’t be unnatural in going to a fertility clinic or in trying to avoid having children by regulating when to have sex with your husband,” says Pride.

‘Arrows for the War’

Quiverfull parents try to have upwards of six children. They home-school their families, attend fundamentalist churches and follow biblical guidelines of male headship–“Father knows best”–and female submissiveness. They refuse any attempt to regulate pregnancy. Quiverfull began with the publication of Rick and Jan Hess’s 1989 book, A Full Quiver: Family Planning and the Lordship of Christ, which argues that God, as the “Great Physician” and sole “Birth Controller,” opens and closes the womb on a case-by-case basis. Women’s attempts to control their own bodies–the Lord’s temple–are a seizure of divine power.

A Joy Complete

Will I never learn? The other day, I attended a Saturday vigil Mass with five of my children and without my husband. Two of the children I brought along have a combined age under 5. I didn’t anticipate any problems. Was that a sign of cockiness or stupidity?

Vote Yes for Life

We interrupt the choir to recommend a donation in support of South Dakota’s Referred Law #6. Apparently Planned Parenthood is throwing its considerable, federally subsidized, and out-of-state blood-money resources to defeat the proposed abortion ban. Out-of-state prolifers should feel free to play at that game too. (Knit cap tip: Amy.)