Joe Carter

Way to go, college kids! Whatever your doing seems to be working since your grades get better every year . At the current rate of grade inflation, we can expect that the entire class of 2070 will graduate summa cum laude : Most recently, about 43 percent of all letter grades given were A’s, an . . . . Continue Reading »

Judge: Catholic Charities can keep serving foster kids, for now , Chicago Tribune (Ray Long & Manya A. Brachear) Atheists: Texas prayer day harmful , Associated Press Final gasp of the ‘Harry Potter’ wars? , The Republi c (Terry Mattingly) TOMS Shoes and Focus on the Family: A . . . . Continue Reading »

Susan Gregory Thomas has a fact-filled and forlorn article on Generation X parents : Every generation has its life-defining moments. If you want to find out what it was for a member of the Greatest Generation, you ask: “Where were you on D-Day?” For baby boomers, the questions are: . . . . Continue Reading »

Since no one I know has ever actually seen North Dakota, I always wondered if it wasn’t mythical, the geographical equivalent of snipe or jackalopes.  It turns out that while North Dakota exists (maybe) it may not actually be a state : An 82-year old Grand Forks man has pointed out a . . . . Continue Reading »

A pair of Harvard scholars writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association have a peculiar recommendation for dealing with childhood obesity: strip away custody rights from parents of extremely obese kids. I’m certainly sympathetic to the need to protect children whose parents are . . . . Continue Reading »

Polygamist, Under Scrutiny in Utah, Plans Suit to Challenge Law , New York Times (John Schwartz) Closing the book on open marriage , Washington Post (W. Brad Wilcox) TNR vs. SBA , National Review Online (Ramesh Ponnuru) Israel: Jesus baptism site along Jordan River now open daily , Associated Press . . . . Continue Reading »

Paul Ryan, chairman of the U.S. House Budget Committee, is one of the most intriguing representatives in Congress. The more I hear from him, the more I respect his carefully considered viewpoint. Someday I hope to hear him explain how he squares his love of Ayn Rand with his Catholic faith. Until . . . . Continue Reading »

If you haven’t already done so, add this regulation to your rules for living: Never take sex advice from a man who licks doorknobs. The reasoning”as if a reason needed to be given”is that a man who doesn’t understand the telos of a doorknob isn’t likely to understand the telos of sex. Unfortunately, many people seem to disagree with me, which is why Dan Savage has become one of the most influential sex-advice columnists in America… . Continue Reading »

Almost every week there is a fresh lament about the rising cost of college tuition or how liberal arts graduates can’t find adequate employment. Rather than add my own addition to the genre I thought I’d try a different approach and solve both problems (at least partially). But first, my . . . . Continue Reading »

In America you can have religious liberty or you can have homosexuality be a protected class of “minority”—but you can’t have both. And when they conflict, guess which one will lose out ? The state has declined to renew its foster care and adoption contracts with Catholic . . . . Continue Reading »