Mark Shea on Ron Paul (and his critics)

So when I express some pleasure over, say, the way Ron Paul keeps humiliating the thugs, empty suits, and poseurs of the GOP, that's not to say that I "believe" in Ron Paul (who, as I've repeatedly said, strikes me as a bit kooky). It's that I think him a valuable counterweight to the far more pernicious and dangerous kookiness that has infected the GOP with Grand End to Evil Delusions, with huge and cynical schemes for Salvation Through Leviathan by Any Means Necessary arrogance, with a contempt for fiscal responsibility that would do LBJ proud, and with a repellent knack for wrapping all this in fur Kirche und Vaterland rhetoric that constantly makes the suggestion that critics of Bush not only hate America but are enemies of Christ *and* kumbaya idiots who need to read more Machiavelli. I think the stench from that insanity is what makes people appreciate Paul's basically modest approach to what governemnt is capable of. . . .

SOURCE: Catholic and Enjoying It December 22, 2007.

Mark Shea on Little Green Footballs

. . . Slowly, through a process of attrition, those guys have found their natural habitat at Little Green Footballs and other places that have nothing but contempt for any Catholic teaching that stand in the way of such secular messianic projects as Grand End to Evil Schemes for Changing the World and Salvation Through Leviathan by Any Means Necessary Projects. So the open contempt for Catholic moral teaching has faded in the comboxes somewhat. . . .

Source: Catholic and Enjoying It December 17, 2007.

Mark Shea on Torture Apologists for the Bush Administration

. . . people have been *taught* over the past few years to be "sincerely conflicted" by apologists for Strength Through War Crimes and shills for the Administration. I recognize that the vast majority of people are thinking about torture (when they happen to do so, which is seldom) in light of "24" and crap fed them by professional crapmeisters who scare people with endless (and completely unreal) ticking time bomb scenarios. My ire is not with the plumber or the soccer mom who has never given the matter much thought beyond, "Yikes! I'd do anything to save my family from the Bad Guys." My ire is with those in the media who have, with calculated malice aforethought (not to mention self-serving abuse of power), worked with might and main to excuse, abet, and aid the Bush Administration with a policy of war crimes that they *know* is torture, that they *know* is shady, and that they strive to cover up with redacted court opinions, lies, and euphemisms. And they have taught us to parrot them. . . .

Source: Catholic and Enjoying It December 12, 2007.