Pontifications

“The responsible white separatist community condemns this. It makes us look bad.” –John de Nugent, an acquaintance of James W. von Brunn, who opened fire at the Holocaust Museum. Via Steve Waldman via The WaPo. PS: De Nugent also called von Brunn a genius but described the shooting as the act of “a loner and…

Donald Trump has fired her for not fulfilling her duties. How tough is a beauty queen’s job? “This was a decision based solely on contract violations,” Keith Lewis, the executive director of Miss California USA said in a statement, citing Ms. Prejean’s truancy at required public appearances. “It has become abundantly clear that Carrie is…

Rush and Dick and Newt are in a dead heat. No Dubya, no Sarah. Is that good or bad news? Read the USA Today/Gallup survey for more details: Gingrich as the standard-bearer of the Republican religious bloc? He just became Catholic, but he can still rouse ’em like the Baptist he was raised, as Dan…

The write-up is from CWNews, via the San Francisco Chronicle: A week after the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the constitutionality of a 2006 San Francisco Board of Supervisors resolution “urging Cardinal William Levada, in his capacity as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican, to withdraw…

From the NYT: Troy Newman, the president of Operation Rescue, said on Wednesday that his group, which had long fought to close the clinic, was considering trying to buy the squat, beige building to perhaps turn it into a memorial museum, “a tribute to the babies,” that might be open to visitors… …”That is hallowed…

An 88-year-old man, James W. von Brunn, who is apparently known as a white supremacist, shot a security guard at the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington this afternoon–near the Smithsonian and across the Mall from the White House. The Washington Post has complete coverage (and graphic at right), and CNN too. A gunman armed with a shotgun walked…

That is the judgment of Frances Kissling, she of Catholics for a Free Choice, now rebaptized Catholics for Choice, on the appointment of Alexia Kelley as Director of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships at the Department of Health and Human Services. Kelley has been Executive Director of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, a lay-led social justice…

Re the post below on the “problem” with Catholic justices on the Supreme Court…Cathleen Kaveny at dotCommonweal points to a response that Judge John T. Noonan (who gave the Laetare “address” at Notre Dame) provided when he was petitioned to recuse himself from a 1995 case on abortion because of his Catholic faith. As Professor Kaveny…

That headline is perhaps too blunt a summation of an argument by the UCLA professor emerita of history, Joyce Appleby–but not by much. In a column in the Tallahassee Democrat, Appleby argues that Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination raises concerns because six of nine Supreme Court justices would be Catholic–and that has a big downside, because, well, you know Catholics: This…

That’s the story from Tiller’s family, via the laywers. So can the argument be made that suspected killer Scott Roeder’s act was effective and perhaps justifiable? The pro-life movement is worried: Even some abortion opponents, who had long devoted their efforts to closing down Dr. Tiller’s clinic, said they did not wish to see it happen under…

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