Free Republic

In both of my careers as a Catholic thinker—my former one as a professor, and my current one as a blogger—I have found it a real challenge to get across to people what is meant by saying that some acts are "intrinsically evil." The phrase from traditional moral theology so translated is intrinsece malum, which is often used in magisterial documents. As we contemplate the Holy Family this Christmas season, it occurs to me that misunderstanding about the concept of the intrinsically evil (IE) is especially rampant in the area of sexual morality. Today I want to contribute to a...

Federal agents, tipped off by Canadian border agents, have arrested a teacher at the Long Island School for the Gifted in Huntington Station on child pornography charges, officials said today.  Michael Kelly Reiner, 46, of East Meadow, was charged with possession of child pornography, but federal officials said they were investigating whether he had sexually molested boys or acted out on sadistic fantasies.  Federal prosecutors said their investigation into Reiner began in August when he was stopped by Canadian officials crossing from the United States into Canada in Ontario. "Reiner stated, in sum and substance, that he had a...

Oregon City - Killer's re-sentencing: $450,257.78 The bills are in: The defense of serial killer Dayton Leroy Rogers in his third sentencing trial cost Oregon taxpayers $450,257.78. Rogers' attorneys submitted their bills to the Office of Public Defense Services, which this month tallied them at the request of The Oregonian. During a seven-week trial that ended in March, Rogers' defense team argued for life in prison, but a 12-person jury sentenced him to death. Rogers had twice been sentenced to death for the 1987 murders of six women, whose bodies he dumped in the Molalla area woods, but the Oregon...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- The mother of a boy abducted 24 years ago said she's bewildered by two photographs left at her front door, apparently showing her son and two other children bound and gagged.