Aquinas - Smart guy :)

"After grace had been revealed, both learned and simple folk are bound to explicit faith in the mysteries of Christ, chiefly as regards those which are observed throughout the Church, and publicly proclaimed, such as the articles which refer to the Incarnation"
- St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church, 1225-1274

"Therefore, as regards the primary points or articles of faith, man is bound to believe them, just as he is bound to have faith; but as to other points of faith, man is not bound to believe them explicitly, but only implicitly, or to be ready to believe them, in so far as he is prepared to believe whatever is contained in the Divine Scriptures. Then alone is he bound to believe such things explicitly, when it is clear to him that they are contained in the doctrine of faith."
- St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church, 1225-1274

"News and Public Opinion"

"If the Times didn’t provide a daily crib sheet, American television news wouldn’t know how to fill its airtime, and politicians wouldn’t know what authority to cite or, on the right, to tar and feather."


http://nymag.com/news/frank-rich/news-media-2013-4/

Emotional Newtown dad - why we don't need new gun laws, related Media Bias

http://hotair.com/archives/2013/04/08/emotional-newtown-dad-we-dont-need-new-gun-laws/

A perfect bookend to the Matt Salmon post. Here again you have someone who’s intimately involved with a raging national debate, whose personal story guarantees riveting television (watch to the end here, if you can stand it), yet who seemingly can’t get booked by news outfits apart from Fox because he’s unwilling to say what the host wants to hear. Tommy Christopher, Mediaite’s resident lefty columnist, wondered last week why Mattioli is nowhere to be found on television considering cable news’s otherwise relentless interest in gun control and Newtown. Clearly Mattioli has no objection in principle to appearing on TV; unless he has an “only Fox” rule that no one knows about then there’s only one explanation. Case in point: Where was he during the big “60 Minutes” feature last night on Newtown families’ feelings about gun control? I can understand why he’s not getting a ride on Air Force One today — Obama needs Newtown parents who are anti-gun for his moral-authority posturing — but “60 Minutes” is supposed to be journalism, sort of. Mattioli’s presence would have made for a compelling counterpoint last night. Where was he? Did he refuse to appear or was that segment transparently just propaganda for Obama’s gun-control push in Congress?

Speaking of which, big news this afternoon from Ben Howe:

Senator Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has confirmed he will filibuster new gun control legislation, spokesman Brian McGuire confirmed for me today.

“While nobody knows yet what Senator Reid’s plan is for the gun bill, if he chooses to file cloture on the motion to proceed to the Reid Bill (S. 649), Senator McConnell will oppose cloture on proceeding to that bill.”

That’s Schumer’s background-checks bill, which gun-rights supporters oppose on grounds that it’s a step towards a national gun registry. Time magazine reported days ago that it was likely to be filibustered; the fact that McConnell is now involved means it’s a cinch. Can’t wait to see how many red-state Democrats end up joining the party. Meanwhile, Joe Manchin is drafting a weaker bill with Pat Toomey that would require checks for all sales except those between family members and some hunters. There aren’t many details yet — presumably the record-keeping requirements are lighter — but it’ll be interesting to see if that bill gets filibustered too, especially since McConnell’s eager to show Kentucky primary voters how pro-gun-rights he is.

Short of seeing a Democratic bill pass, Obama probably prefers that Republicans filibuster everything that hits the floor. If they pass something weak, that complicates his 2014 message that the GOP refused to lift a finger to make gun regulations tighter after Newtown. Manchin and Toomey are supposed to announce something in the next 48 hours. Stay tuned. Exit quotation from O, who’s already seeing his reelection political capital melt away: “Some back in Washington are already floating the idea that they might use political stunts to prevent votes on any of these reforms. They’re not just saying they’ll vote ‘no’ on ideas that almost all Americans support. They’re saying they won’t allow any votes on them at all. They’re saying your opinion doesn’t matter. And that’s not right.”

Update: I knew he was desperate, but I didn’t really know.

Update: There’s no shortage of examples of the Salmon/Mattioli phenomenon, but here’s another in case you’re still looking.

Great Line from Margaret Thatcher :)

“Do you think you would ever have heard of Christianity if the Apostles had gone out and said, ‘I believe in consensus?’” ~Margaret Thatcher

http://hotair.com/archives/2013/04/08/gop-reps-son-cnn-and-msnbc-canceled-my-interviews-when-i-refused-to-bash-my-dad/

The Anima Christi

“If [God] can give us his Son with so total a giving, what can he refuse us? There is no refusal in God. The refusals are ours. In this truth the contradiction vanishes between infinite mercy and infinite justice. Repentance is acceptance of God and changes the man, so that mercy can have its way with him, justice content. There is no ultimate loss for any man save in his ultimate refusal of God.”

—Frank Sheed

From his book “Knowing God: God and the Human Condition”