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Learning Through Computers

February 16, 2014 Featured Today Comments Off on Learning Through Computers

By JAMES K. FITZPATRICK Late last year First Teachers focused on an article by computer guru Joshua Davis, which appeared on the web site Wired (www.wired.com/business/2013/10/free-thinkers). Davis wrote favorably of an educational innovation being carried out in India in which small groups of students were “given a computer loaded with molecular biology materials.” The students were told “there was some interesting stuff on the computer, and might they take a look.” Then the teacher left the room. According to Davis, “Over the next 75 days the children worked out how to use the computer and began to learn.” When the teacher returned, he administered a written test on molecular biology. “The kids answered about one in four questions correctly. After…Continue Reading

Medicaid Expansion… Another Aspect Of Continued Battles Over Health Coverage

February 15, 2014 Featured Today Comments Off on Medicaid Expansion… Another Aspect Of Continued Battles Over Health Coverage

By DEXTER DUGGAN PHOENIX — Although Obamacare itself continues to win headlines about how government dominates people’s lives through tightly controlled health coverage, its Medicaid component is a major issue, too. “The politics of this really are being driven by interest groups,” a national health-policy expert told The Wanderer in a telephone interview about Medicaid-expansion efforts in the states. “…The hospitals are looking for additional funding.” Nor do the results of one state legislative session mean the issue has been settled, said Ed Haislmaier, senior research fellow in health-care policy at the Heritage Foundation national conservative think tank. “The hospitals are coming back” for more battles at legislatures if they didn’t get the funding they wanted, Haislmaier said in the…Continue Reading

The Cultural Tsunami

February 14, 2014 Featured Today Comments Off on The Cultural Tsunami

By LAWRENCE P. GRAYSON (Editor’s Note: This is the second of a series of four articles concerning America’s cultural and moral decline. Lawrence P. Grayson is a visiting scholar in The School of Philosophy, The Catholic University of America.) +    +    + America entered the 1960s as a well-established Christian society. Then, early in that decade, a series of social, military, and religious events occurred that changed the culture of the nation. Any one of these occurrences would have weakened the religious foundations of the country, but their emergence in rapid succession created a confluence that overwhelmed the existing order. The nation became involved in the Vietnamese struggle for independence in the 1950s, first providing military advisers and then trainers…Continue Reading

End Of The Line For The Welfare State?

February 13, 2014 Featured Today Comments Off on End Of The Line For The Welfare State?

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN The Congressional Budget Office did not exactly say Obamacare would cost the nation 2.5 million jobs. But what it did say is vindication of what conservatives have preached since Barry Goldwater stood in the pulpit 50 years ago: The more liberal the welfare state, the greater the disincentive to work and the more ruinous the impact upon a nation’s work ethic. The CBO has just given us a statistical measure of that truth. The Obamacare subsidies, it said, will cause some to quit work, others to cut back on the hours they work, and others to hold off going to work, so as not to lose the benefits. The cumulative impact of all these decisions will…Continue Reading

UN Report On Sex Abuse In The Church . . . Demands Changes On Abortion And Homosexuality

February 12, 2014 Featured Today Comments Off on UN Report On Sex Abuse In The Church . . . Demands Changes On Abortion And Homosexuality

By PAUL LIKOUDIS The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child issued a report January 31 slamming the Holy See for not doing enough to protect children from sexually abusive priests and charging that the Holy See has still not disclosed the extent of child abuse in the Church and is not cooperating with civil authorities in turning over abusive priests and religious. But the main thrust of the document is a call for the Church to do more to advance children’s rights, and change its doctrines concerning parental rights, birth control, abortion, homosexuality, and “gender equality.” The report advises the Holy See to invite civil authorities and victims’ organizations to join the international commission investigating child abuse…Continue Reading

It’s Perfectly Normal

February 11, 2014 Featured Today Comments Off on It’s Perfectly Normal

By REY FLORES If you aren’t familiar with the title It’s Perfectly Normal, let me share a bit of background with you. It’s Perfectly Normal is a book that was written by Robie Harris and published back in 1994. According to Wikipedia, Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal both named it Best Book of the Year and the American Library Association and The New York Times both named it a Notable Book of the Year. As if enough accolades weren’t being heaped upon this book, The San Francisco Chronicle also listed it among The Century’s Best Children’s Books. It sure sounds like a book that all American homes should have in their family library, doesn’t it? After all, it’s “perfectly…Continue Reading

A Book Review . . . A Failure To Distinguish A Hierarchy Of Texts

February 10, 2014 Featured Today Comments Off on A Book Review . . . A Failure To Distinguish A Hierarchy Of Texts

By DONAL ANTHONY FOLEY The Signs of the Times, the New Ark, and the Coming Kingdom of the Divine Will, by Kelly Bowring (Two Hearts Press, 2013: print edition, $17.86, Kindle edition, $13.25). A list of the sources used is given at the beginning of the book, and while some of these are very familiar, such as St. Louis de Montfort, St. John Bosco, and the Fatima seers, others are far less well known, such as Ven. “Conchita” (Concepion Cabrera de Armida), and the Servant of God Cora Evans. Others, such as Servant of God Maria Esperanza (associated with the claimed visions at Betania, in Venezuela), could be said to be somewhat controversial, while some of the apparitions mentioned, and…Continue Reading

The U.S. Bishops And The Collegial Consecration To The IHM

February 9, 2014 Featured Today Comments Off on The U.S. Bishops And The Collegial Consecration To The IHM

By JAMES LIKOUDIS How many Catholic bishops of the United States joined Pope John Paul II in the Collegial Consecration of the World and Russia on March 25, 1984? That is a question that some have often asked, but no study of the matter has appeared. As is known, letters went out from Pope John Paul II to the bishops of the world, including the U.S. bishops, asking that they join with him in a Collegial Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, as requested by Our Lady of Fatima. Pope Pius XII, Pope Paul VI, and Pope John Paul II had consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart on various occasions, but this did not fulfill the…Continue Reading

Andrew Cuomo’s New York

February 8, 2014 Featured Today Comments Off on Andrew Cuomo’s New York

By JAMES K. FITZPATRICK It was encouraging to see the mixture of outrage and ridicule heaped upon New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for his comments during a radio interview on January 17. Commentators on Fox News and in conservative publications have not let up on Cuomo since they heard what he said. That is not surprising. What was more revealing was that few liberal spokesmen have come to his defense; their tactic seems to be to lie low and hope the brouhaha passes over. You can see why Cuomo is getting all the heat. His comments were, well, stupid. He told the radio host that “extreme conservatives who are right to life, pro-assault weapons, and anti-gay” have “no place in…Continue Reading

When America Was A Christian Society

February 7, 2014 Featured Today Comments Off on When America Was A Christian Society

By LAWRENCE P. GRAYSON (Editor’s Note: This is the first of a series of four articles concerning America’s cultural and moral decline. Lawrence P. Grayson is a visiting scholar in The School of Philosophy, The Catholic University of America.) + + + A nation is established, functions, and continues to exist based on certain foundational principles. Some of these principles are stated explicitly, as in our nation’s Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Others are tacit and are embedded in the collective conscience and inner values of the people. They guide the way people think, act, and conduct their lives, both in public and private matters. In short, they are an integral part of the culture of the country. If the…Continue Reading