Putin: U.S. has triggered new arms race

Disparaging international law and norms and opinion leaves the door wide open for folks like Putin to claim justification for their actions. Not too surprising that ignoring international norms will tend to erode them. (The Bush doctrine of preventive war also gives other nations well-founded reason to fear being attacked, which is an actual justification for their actions.)

We must demand that the next president clearly reverse the policy of unilateralism and preventative war. We need international norms and law to help keep folks like Putin (and our own government) in check.

Wow, it's overwhelming to try to include all the Catholic websites related to understanding political and social issues in light of our faith. Beautiful and inspiring, yes. But it also provokes questions such as "Why are there 6 Catholic news agencies?" as well as "Do all these Catholic advocacy organizations and publications know each other exists?" Incidentally, I suspect the answer to the latter could shed some light on the former..

Another thought that comes to mind is--maybe we Catholics should be spending as much time doing as we are writing! I know, I know, I know... but I still think there's some truth to that. And that thought afflicts my own conscience as well, as I write this entry for so few readers.

I also began to wonder what possible justification there could be for limiting the listings in the sidebars of this site to (1) Catholic sites which are (2) related to political issues. Aren't secular organizations and publications worth our attention too? Shouldn't politically active Catholics be rooted in faith, prayer, and culture? (..so that those sorts of sites should be listed too, perhaps more prominently than the explicitly political ones..)

The best rationale I could come up with has to do with the likely audience of this site (if any). On the one hand, there could be Catholics who are politically active but wouldn't describe themselves as, say, devout. The links gathered here cater to their curiosity about political affairs, and most of them have the potential to draw a casual Catholic into a deeper understanding and engagement with our faith, with the Word. On the other hand, there could be devout Catholics who are disengaged from "the social question", unfamiliar with Catholic Social Teaching, who stumble upon this site and are drawn into faithful citizenship through one of these Catholic sites.

These words have stuck with me since a retreat on forgiveness almost a year ago. They really challenged the attitudes and ways of political debate I was used to seeing in blogs and imitating myself. (The implications of some of them for blogging are obvious, some not so much--so I'll explain my thoughts more later.)

• "If your brother sins [against you], go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that 'every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses.' If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector." Matthew 18:15-17
• "Whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, ['imbecile,'] will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says 'You fool,' will be liable to fiery Gehenna. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift." Matthew 5:21-4
• "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father..." Matthew 5: 43-45
• "Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove that splinter from your eye,' while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother's eye." Matthew 7:3-5

From the viewpoint of U.S. political culture, the political stances of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops look like this (roughly):

How about from the bishop's perspective?

Speaking of truth, because the media in general is doing such a wretched job of fact-checking the statements of candidates, focusing instead on the horse-race/beauty pageant aspects of the election season, FactCheck.org is really a must-read after every debate.

Seek truth, not truthiness!

I should so have gone to bed hours ago, but I have to share this:
The Womb of Peace

By the way, I was also really impressed the online Catholic journal GodSpy that I just came across in a google search. Check it out!