And The Losers Are . . .

By DEACON MIKE MANNO, JD Well, maybe by the time this is printed we’ll know who has been elected president. But don’t hold your breath; there’s more than counting going on and litigation is sure to follow. But since the presidential winner may not be known by publication, I think it is fair to acknowledge the losers for their contribution to this election mess.My first pick: The Mainstream Media. As a former journalist, beat reporter, and newspaper editor, I am completely embarrassed by the conduct of most of the media during the last few years. They have berated the president, his family, religious conservatives, and much — if not all — of the GOP with the savageness of the Roman…Continue Reading

Corruption And Its Consequences

By CHRISTOPHER MANION Some 20 years ago, I was seated on a transatlantic flight next to a woman who was heading for Berlin. She was a researcher for Transparency International, a nonprofit devoted to examining the causes of corruption (and the means of ending it) in countries and cultures all over the world.At the time, I was gathering supporters in the international community for an effort to expand and update the century-old international treaties prohibiting the international trafficking of obscene materials, known in today’s vernacular as “hard-core” pornography.It was a long flight, and after trading war stories and vignettes, my seatmate and I made a humorous bet: Whose cause would win? Would pornography or corruption be eradicated first?Since then, thanks…Continue Reading

The Bountiful Benefits Of Bonding

By DONALD DeMARCO Bonding between human beings, despite its great value, has been under attack in recent years. Bruce Feinstein’s book, Real Men Don’t Bond, may be dismissed as an expression of male bravado. We know that Agent 007, whose cinematic exploits have been viewed by more than a billion viewers worldwide, could do virtually everything except what his name signifies, namely, bond. On a more scientific level, one specialist in child development has argued that “mother-infant-bonding” may actually be a form of opiate addiction. Diane Eyer’s book, Mother-Infant Bonding: A Scientific Fiction, may go even further in denying the reality of bonding.A reviewer for The New York Times praised the book for puncturing the hyper-inflated mystique of mother-infant bonding…Continue Reading

Can We Talk Now?

By JOE SIXPACK One of my favorite books of the Bible is found in the Old Testament. Most versions call it Tobit, while others call it Tobias. I keep waiting for someone like Mel Gibson to come along and make a movie out of it, because this book has everything that makes a great movie — angels, demons, miracles, murder, betrayal, deception, and on and on. This book is where we learn about guardian angels. It’s a short book that takes most people about 45 minutes to read. Here’s the gist of the story. . . .Tobit, with his son Tobias, was a man of great charity among the people of Israel, but he had become blind and couldn’t earn…Continue Reading

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