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We live in a culture where, increasingly, any sense of the sacred is being lost. The thought that something could be sacred, special, holy, or somehow “off-limits” is bewildering to many. Indeed many secularists consider those who do see some things as sacred, to be stuffy and somehow arrogant. There are many in our culture who defend the rights of others to burn the flag, ridicule religious symbols (e.g. the cross submerged in urine some years back in a noted “art” museum), and even applaud when, a couple years back, homosexual activists desecrated the Body of Christ by stomping on...

Mayor Bloomberg's attempt to prohibit certain large sugary drinks from being sold by certain city purveyors was dealt a blow this morning when an appellate court upheld a previous decision — by a judge named Milton Tingling, you may recall — striking down the ban. Both Bloomberg and Health Commissioner Thomas Farley had said in May they were "confident" that Tingling's ruling would be overturned. The case can still be appealed to the Court of Appeals, the state's highest court. DaIn a unanimous decision, the court declared today that the ban "violated the state principle of separation of powers," Reuters...

Outraged parents say a New York middle school instructed young female students to ask one another for a lesbian kiss – and boys learned how to spot young sluts – in an anti-bullying presentation on gender identity and sexual orientation, according to Fox News’ Todd Starnes. According to Starnes’ Report, the children attended a special April 11 health class taught by college students at Linden Avenue Middle School in Red Hook, N.Y. Parents say they were not notified of the presentation. The students were introduced to terms such as “pansexual” and “genderqueer.” Some of the young female students said they...

Dignity and Propriety In order never to be guilty of any disedifying act, the priest must regulate his actions, his movements and his habits in harmony with the sublimity of his vocation. He who on the altar almost ceases to be mortal and takes on a Divine form, remains always the same even when he comes down from the holy hill and leaves the temple of the Lord. Wherever he is, wherever he goes, he never ceases to be a priest and the serious reasons which compel him always to be grave and becoming accompany him with his dignity everywhere....

Nancy Pelosi Against Congressional Pay Cuts: We Need ‘Dignity Of The Job That We Have Rewarded’ by Josh Feldman | 4:42 pm, February 16th, 2013 » 154 comments ..... House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi came out firmly opposed to cutting lawmakers’ pay, saying it would be beneath the dignity of members of Congress. Pelosi told reporters on Thursday that allowing the automatic cuts should be “out of the question,” and responded to a question about whether members of Congress would be willing to accept a pay cut. “I don’t think we should do it; I think we should respect the...

The first of this year’s Freedom Flotilla 2 ships set sail for confrontation with Israel's navy Wednesday, the Associated Press reports. A French ship called 'Dignity' decided to skip the rendezvous with the other vessels participating in the Gazaflotilla on Saturday and opted to sail directly for Gazainstead. Flotilla organizers, maintaining 'operational security,' refused to officially confirm the ship is approaching the region. Jordanian activists earlier this week said they purchased an additional ship for $805,000 to represent the Arab world after the infamous IHH sponsored Mavi Marmara was refused sailing permits by Turkey's government. During the 2010 flotilla self-described...

America lost a hero this past week, did you notice? His name was Richard “Dick” Winters, the Easy Company commander whose World War II exploits were made famous by the book and television miniseries “Band of Brothers”. Winters became the leader of Company E, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division on D-Day, after the death of the company commander during the invasion of Normandy. When people asked him if he was a hero, he liked to answer the way his World War II buddy, Mike Ranney, did. “No,” Ranney said. “But I served in a company of heroes.”

George W. Bush has come out of his self-imposed media blackout to promote his new book, Decision Points, which goes into full release on November 9th. Oprah Winfrey will air a pretaped interview with the former President on that day, but has a preview of the appearance out already, via The Right Scoop. In this clip, Bush tells Winfrey that he refrains from opining on Barack Obama’s performance because he wants to treat the current President the way he wished other former Presidents had treated him. Also, he elects to stay out of the “swamp” of punditry when Winfrey asks...

Friedman at his best. Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJWZ27OT16M Milton Friedman explains the dynamics of welfare.

In Charlie Rangel's eyes, every minute of his time on earth has been a blessing for the people of New York. "My dignity is 80 years old," he said, taking a slap at fellow Democrats Monday during a debate with the five challengers seeking his seat in Congress. Rangel even responded to a particularly high-ranking critic, refusing President Obama's month-old request that he "end his career with dignity" at the end of his current term. "Frankly, he has not been around long enough to determine what my dignity is," Rangel said of the baby-boomer Obama. Now, it's entirely possible that...

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) – Rep. Charles Rangel has shot back at President Obama’s recent comment that he “end his career with dignity.” Speaking at a candidate’s forum in Harlem Monday night, Rangel said the president hasn’t “been around long enough to determine what my dignity is.” The embattled 80-year-old congressman said it was more likely that he would protect Obama’s dignity over the next two years. Obama’s remark was made three weeks ago. The former House Ways and Means Committee chairman was accused of using official stationary to raise money for a college center bearing his name; delaying tax payments...

WASHINGTON, March 15, 2010 – I stepped out from the van and onto the rain-drenched flightline, shivering from the cold that seemed to whip straight through my wool coat. I had traveled to Dover Air Force Base, Del., in late February to write stories about the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations Center. I wasn’t supposed to start working until morning, but I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to witness an event known as a dignified transfer, which marks the return of a servicemember who has died while supporting a combat operation overseas to U.S. soil. I looked up...

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del., March 8, 2010 – Under a deluge of rain, the 757 touched down here late at night, returning Army Staff Sgt. Michael David P. Cardenaz home. He had been killed just a few days before in an enemy attack in Afghanistan. With family and friends near, an Army carry team marched in slow, measured steps to the aircraft, undeterred by the whipping wind. Their hands clad in stark, white gloves, the soldiers slowly moved the transfer case from aircraft to waiting vehicle. Only the sound of distant aircraft and the anguished cry of a loved...

Note: The following text is a quote: WASHINGTON, Jan. 27, 2010 – A joint task force in Afghanistan is working hard to make sure detention operations are in order, the officer in charge of that effort said today. “We maintain the legitimacy of detention as a warfighting tool, and this requires that we demonstrate our commitment to transparency, the rule of law, and to individual human dignity,” Navy Vice Adm. Robert S. Harward, commander of Joint Task Force 435, said during a “"DoDLive" bloggers roundtable. Defense Secretary Robert Gates established the task force in September to oversee detainee review processes,...

If the government prohibits airline passengers from getting out of their seats during the last hour of a flight, I hereby announce that I will get out of my seat either to escort someone who needs to use the lavatory or because I do. I understand that I may be arrested, but I am willing to make this a cause celebre. Aside from a genetic incapacity to be directed by irrationality, I will make this protest on behalf of fellow passengers who are in pain because of this idiotic rule. What are diabetics, for example, supposed to do? And considering...

After World War II, the U.S. government invested an enormous amount of money in medicine; medical research, medical procedures and medical technologies. This investment made contemporary scientific medicine into American medicine, characterized by a continuing flow of new treatment possibilities. These advances raised all kinds of ethical questions. Some were personal and individual, others were social and political. Both type questions are addressed by a new academic discipline called bioethics. The first attempt to develop a scientific medicine took place in Greece in the 5th century B.C. It was called Hippocratic medicine. Closely linked with this first scientific medicine was...

CAMP BUCCA, Iraq, May 28, 2009 – Air Force Airman 1st Class Alberto Lopez knew the guy was hiding something. An airman with 887th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron searches a detainee before a visit with his family at the theater internment facility’s visitation center at Camp Bucca, Iraq, May 12, 2009. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Thomas J. Doscher   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. He could feel it. The detainee was giving off "the vibe" that three months of working the visitation center at the theater internment facility here had taught the airman to detect....

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del., April 6, 2009 – For some, it means red, white and blue. It means 13 stripes for the original colonies and 50 stars for the states. For the families of the fallen, the American flag means so much more. Air Force Staff Sgt. Star Samuels hangs up a freshly pressed U.S. flag March 31, 2009, at the Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs, Dover Air Force Base, Del. The flags will be placed over caskets during the dignified transfer of remains. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III  (Click photo...

...In the nearly 30 years since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against gender discrimination in alimony, few male beneficiaries have stepped forward to talk about it. Those who did typically went by pseudonyms or the golden rule of 12-step recovery: first names only. Little wonder, considering the attention that has come to some former husbands of alimony-paying celebrities. "Why the courts don't tell a husband, who has been living off his wife, to go out and get a job is beyond my comprehension," Joan Lunden, the television personality, said in 1992 when a court ordered her to pay her ex-husband...

FREEDOM IS NOT FREE "Freedom comes to us as the fruit of our responsibility. Only after we have done all we can to create, nurture, protect and utilize our duty to care for Life may we possibly discover a moment of true freedom," to taste the rewards of our labours. ...