Saturday, June 28, 2008

Needed: Full Teaching Of "Faithful Citizenship"

My parish bulletin recently contained a copy of the June, 2008 "Catholic Update" focused on "Faithful Citizenship" and as to those key themes regarding Catholic social teaching in the public square.

I was disappointed to note that the editors of that publication failed to address the Natural Law right of all to self-defense against criminal attacks (By individuals, gangs, Jihadi, et.al.) and the probable duty to protect the innocent against such attacks---Along with the right to ready access to the means (Modern weapons) when the appointed law enforcers are unable or unwilling to provide such protection.

Even our nation's very secular Supreme Court has recently recognized that right, noting (I believe) a Pre-Constitution right, perhaps natural in nature, to self-defense and the weapons to enforce that right.

If I remember correctly, the 1913 edition of the "Encyclopedia Of The Catholic Church" (The precursor of the present "Catechism Of The Catholic Church") contained sections noting and approving of the use of force, even deadly force, in both resisting criminal attacks and even recovering property taken by criminals.

You should also note that the great "Doctor Of The Church", St. Bernard of Clairvaux, approved (In his "De Laude Militae Novae") of striking deadly blows "for Christ", by Crusaders (ie The "Good Guys").

I look forward to a future edition of Catholic Update as will address the right of self-defense, the duty to protect the innocent against criminal attacks and to the ready means to do both.

Friday, June 27, 2008

A Journalistic Lie About Gun Rights

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's June 27th editorial ("A right, but limited"; Please see below) as to the Supreme Court's confirming the rights of individual citizens to keep and bear arms continues that paper's campaign to unreasonably limit (If not destroy) that right.

Although editors have the right to hold that position, I do wonder if they have a like right to publish outright lies in such editorials, TO WIT: The Wisconsin Legislature did NOT have objections to lifting our State Supreme Court's ban on carrying concealed weapons, having twice sent enabling legislation to the Governor who, by his singular vetoes, overturned the will of the People in enacting Article-I, Section-25 of Wisconsin's Constitution and the Legislative Acts which would have enforced-and-enabled that Section by a rational system of licensing adult, sane and law-abiding citizens to carry concealed weapons.




Editorial: A right, but limited
The Supreme Court’s landmark Second Amendment ruling Thursday doesn’t mean that everyone should own a gun.
From the Journal Sentinel
Posted: June 26, 2008

If Milwaukee’s gun violence demonstrates anything, it is that an individual right to bear arms does not mean that everyone can be trusted with a gun.

Fortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court's gun ruling Thursday - in the case of an overly broad ban on handguns in Washington, D.C. - agrees. While spelling out that the Second Amendment provides for an individual right to own a gun for self-defense, the court, in a 5-4 ruling, also acknowledges leeway to enact reasonable restrictions.

Congress and the Wisconsin Legislature must continue crafting legislation that balances gun rights with the public's right to be safe from guns. For instance, by our reading, this ruling does not prevent legislatures from requiring all sales to go through licensed dealers, who are, in turn, required to do background checks to stop felons and others from owning guns. And law enforcement continues to need access to data that will allow it to trace gun ownership.

Moreover, there appears to be nothing in the ruling that would force the state Legislature to reverse its objections to lifting the ban on concealed weapons.

A majority of gun owners - Wisconsin's many hunters, for instance - use their weapons responsibly. Sadly, far too many people use guns in violent crimes. Last year, Milwaukee reported 84 firearm-related homicides, not to mention the hundreds of people who were shot but survived.

This ruling could well prompt challenges to existing gun laws, but we are confident that most reasonable laws will pass constitutional muster. And any future law requiring sales go through licensed dealers will as well.

Yes, the court also held unconstitutional any requirement that shotguns and rifles be kept disassembled, unloaded or fitted with a trigger lock. OK, it follows that if firearms can be kept for self-defense, making them inoperable for that purpose makes no sense. Still, gun owners must be held liable if they negligently allow their guns to be used carelessly.

In the context of safe guns, more efforts should be placed in "smart gun" technology. Such guns, which will not fire unless used by an authorized individual, can reduce the number of accidental shootings.
This ruling makes efforts to curtail gun violence with reasonable restrictions even more important

Liberal Fascism---A Book To Read

I bring to your special attention and consideration the following book:.
Goldberg, Jonah;
Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the AMERICAN LEFT from Mussolini to the POLITICS OF MEANING;
Doubleday, New York, Toronto, Auckland, Sydney; 2007;
ISNB 978-0-385-51184-1.

You will, no doubt, form your own opinions and judgments as to the author's positions. However, he (On the basis of a considered overview of Mussolini and Hitler) does make a good case for the fascist approval or orientation of such persons as: US Presidents W. Wilson, T. Roosevelt, FD Roosevelt, JF Kennedy; AND, such other individuals and collectives as Sen. Hillary Clinton, the ACLU, the "Black Power Movement" and many others. (Persons outside of the USA may select their own fellow-citizens for probable inclusion!)

I found the liberals' and fascists' tendency (If not outright commitment) to the position of "Everything with the State and nothing outside of it!" as a very strong "hint" of the anti-religious position of so many on the left and their willingness (As in Canada) to suppress civil liberties to the intentions of the Left.

Respectfully submitted,
James Pawlak

Annotation
Liberal Fascism : The Totalitarian Temptation from Mussolini to Hillary Clinton
by Goldberg, Jonah


Produced by Blackwell's Book Services


"Liberal fascism offers a new perspective on the theories and practices that define fascist politics. Replacing conveniently manufactured myths with surprising and enlightening research, Jonah Goldberg reminds us that the original fascists were really on the left, and that liberals from Woodrow Wilson to FDR to Hillary Clinton have advocated policies and principles remarkably similar to those of Hitler's National Socialism and Mussolini's Fascism." "These assertions may sound strange to modern ears, but that is simply because we have forgotten what fascism is. In this angry, funny, smart, contentious book, Jonah Goldberg turns our preconceptions inside out and shows us the true meaning of liberal fascism."--BOOK JACKET.


Publishers Weekly
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In this provocative and well-researched book, Goldberg probes modern liberalism's spooky origins in early 20th-century fascist politics. With chapter titles such as Adolf Hitler: Man of the Left and Brave New Village: Hillary Clinton and the Meaning of Liberal Fascism—Goldberg argues that fascism has always been a phenomenon of the left. This is Goldberg's first book, and he wisely curbs his wry National Review style. Goldberg's study of the conceptual overlap between fascism and ideas emanating from the environmental movement, Hollywood, the Democratic Party and what he calls other left-wing organs is shocking and hilarious. He lays low such lights of liberal history as Margaret Sanger, apparently a radical eugenicist, and JFK, whose cult of personality, according to Goldberg, reeks of fascist political theater. Much of this will be music to conservatives' ears, but other readers may be stopped cold by the parallels Goldberg draws between Nazi Germany and the New Deal. The book's tone suffers as it oscillates between revisionist historical analyses and the application of fascist themes to American popular culture; nonetheless, the controversial arc Goldberg draws from Mussolini to The Matrix is well-researched, seriously argued—and funny. (Jan. 8)

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