Oh, Canada, Philosophy, Law and Global Warming
Well, another ‘Canada Day’ has come and gone, celebrating the founding of this Dominion in 1867, which achieved further ‘liberation’, if one wants to use that term, from Britain in 1982 with our ‘Charter’ under Pierre Elliot Trudeau, whose election as Prime Minister, it seems, was helped along by legions of screaming female fans, which makes me wonder about universal suffrage. There must be more to voting than just ‘being 18’, and, with Chesterton, I think families should vote, or at least have more of the vote, than single, wandering unattached individuals. But that is a topic for another day.
Like father, like son, as the current Prime Minister, the erstwhile offspring of Pierre’s ill-fated marriage to Margaret Sinclair (30 or so years is junior), our own selfie-loving Justin, is now accused of some vague, inchoate, non-sexual ‘groping’ incident, reported second-hand, way back at the beginning of the millennium, which does seem like a long time ago, when Mr. Trudeau was a 28-year old teacher of, ahem, ‘drama’.
Sad. The ‘Me-Too’ movement ironically comes full circle to bite even some of its most vocal and gung-ho proponents in the butt, which may be classed also a vague, inchoate, non-sexual groping, of sorts. Trudeau claims no memory of the incident, which seems to have been dredged up somehow from a local newspaper, and the aggrieved ‘victims’ wants nothing more to do with it, wishing to remain anonymous. I hope the Prime Minister learns from this that these decades-old, hidden allegations are themselves a crime against justice. For how does one possibly defend oneself, when the victim does not come forward, the evidence is all hearsay, yet the very taint is the punishment. Once accused, one is a ‘groper’, even if the ‘touch’, whatever that might have meant, is inadvertent.
For a further analysis of Justice Anthony Kennedy’s tenure on the Supreme Court of America, and his own ‘philosophical’ basis for the tragic, destructive majority opinions he wrote, peruse this article in Crisis. This evinces my deeply-held belief that everyone should have a solid grounding in the ‘liberal arts’, the best that has been thought and written, especially as consolidated under the guidance of the Church’s revelation and Magisterium, which would save us from such vaporous, lazy moralizing from the brain of soon-to-be plain-old Mr. Kennedy, which I wish he had remained, perhaps selling cars or insurance somewhere and taking his grandchildren fishing. He could have bloviate all he wanted at barbeques and family reunions, about the right to define the concept of the universe and one’s existence, blah, blah, and ‘Uncle Tony’ could have been innocuously ignored. As it is, ‘Justice Anthony’ cannot…
Our halls of legislation, jurisprudence and even academia are filled with ill-educated minds who shine not with the ‘splendour of truth’, as Pope John Paul might put it, whose disciplined, sanctified intellect should be the measure and mode, the light and lodestar, of us all (along with his collaborator Josef Ratzinger, of course).
The words of another Pope, not a Pontiff, but rather by name, wrote in 1709, apply universally to the Kennedy’s of the world, and all of us, who may be tempted by ambition to seek high offices beyond our capacity, and for which we are unsuited:
A little learning is a dangerous thing,
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.
Retire well, Mr. Kennedy, and please stay out of the limelight.
Global cooling, global warming, climate changing, so here’s a warning, to complete the rhyme. Confirmation bias is a constant threat in any scientific endeavour, even those simple, impromptu ones we perform in our everyday lives, from lake water (always cold!), to sea water (filled with flesh-eating sharks!), to restaurants, books, films and products galore. A few warm days like the ones we’re having, and we assume the entire Earth is frying like a southern green tomato on a cast iron grill; a few weeks ago, we were having one of our coldest springs (here where I live) and the lake down the road was a frozen sheet until the first week of May, a mini ice age, if you will.
I would paraphrase the Gospel: Let the temperature of the day be sufficient thereof, and fret not about the heat or cold of the morrow. Deus providebit, and we cannot do all that much about the temperature of a planet, unless we find a way to start modifying the Sun energetic output.
So stay cool, for now and, soon enough, stay warm, and rejoice in what weather the good God sends.
Carney’s Amoral Majority
After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→
Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress
This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→
A Closed, Unsustainable, Descending Loop
As a follow-up to my thoughts on Payette’s payout, here be a stark image of where are here in Canada. As the graph shows in, well, graphic terms, since 2025, the public sector has contributed to 95.5% of economic growth. The private sector – which funds the public sector, or is supposed to – has[…]Continue reading→
Remembering Father Alphonse de Valk
(Today marks the sixth anniversary of the death of Father Alphonse de Valk, C.S.B., a faithful, courageous and indefatigable Basilian priest, pro-life-and-family apostle, and the founder of Catholic Insight magazine. Here is what we wrote those on his entering into eternity five years ago, as we continue to remember him in our prayers and thoughts)[…]Continue reading→
A Tale of Two Benedicts
A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→
My Name is Bernadette
April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→
Presidential Pardon of Weronika Krawczyk
As a good news, follow-up to our story from Poland, of the persecution of Weronika Krawczyk for her pro-life views, we heard that she has been granted a presidential pardon. One might still wonder why one needs a presidential pardon for simply holding the long-held belief that the child within the womb is a child,[…]Continue reading→
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam (1380 – 1433) was one of the countless and glorious ‘victim souls’ in the history of the Church, those whose lives are filled with suffering, often of an unimaginable intensity, but who suffer joyfully. She was a fifteen-year old Dutch girl, out skating one day, when she fell and broke one[…]Continue reading→
The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus
As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→
Divine Mercy Sunday – An Echo of Every Mass
Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe’… ‘My Lord and my God!’ (Jn. 20:18)). Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, and as we celebrate the end of the Easter Octave, we contemplate the wounded side of our Saviour, the Church’s source of life. On Good Friday in the[…]Continue reading→