Perspectives of a Wanderer

Consider these two headlines:

Bill Maher Slanders Pope Benedict XVI
Oprah Winfrey Backing Lesbian Who Boasts of Quizzing 6-Year-Old Girl About her Private Parts

These are just two of the headlines involving the Hollywood elite in the past couple of days.

Just the perverse nature of what is coming out of Hollywood these days must give us pause and wonder if we should be supporting Hollywood, and the entire entertainment industry as a whole. They are making money by their perverse offerings and we are supporting it by going to the movies, paying for cable (especially the premium channels), and supporting the sponsors of the products.

It makes you wonder where out priorities are these days.

I am saying this in the sense that they are miserable and they have to make everyone else miserable.  They do this by harassing as many people as they can in as many ways as possible.  For some reason, they do not see what they are doing as wrong, but are the first to cry victim if you try to stop what they are doing.  It is the same old “do not impose you morality” type reflex from them.

This is especially true on the internet.  Many blog and forum sites that I visit has this invasion of relativists that make the difficult  for those who use these sites for useful purposes.  This includes my blog.

For the past number of weeks, my blog has been inundated with spam including many pornographic comments.  Fortunately, the filters here have caught most of this before it could get to the blog.

It has gotten so bad that I have now restricted who can comment to those who are registered it. I did not want to do this, but it had to be done.

In the past week or so, I have read rumblings (one of a couple links) about Pope Benedict naming a new Arch-Bishop for Detroit while he is in the US. No names have been given as of yet (I would love to see Arch-Bishop Burke get it), but when it happens, you know there will be some unhappy people.

It it were someone like Arch-Bishop Burke, you know the “progressives” will be complaining for sure. However, I have a feeling, whoever is picked, both extremes, “progressives” and “traditionalists” will not be happy. One group will say he is too “liberal” and is corrupted by the “spirit of Vatican II” while the other will say he not “liberal” enough.

For people like me who are in the middle, it is a “no-win” situation when discussing things like this with people of both extremes.

There has been a lot of press lately about how using corn for ethanol has been driving up crop prices. However, I see a few benefits that come from this (and one is already starting):

1. Farmers are starting to pull land that the government has been paying them to not plant back into production. This has been reported, surprisingly, by the NY Times: As Prices Rise, Farmers Spurn Conservation Program. It is only a small drop. Even if they keep it as “grassland”, it can become a material source for biofuels by planting grasses like switchgrass which takes little tending to.
2. The possibility of replacing undesirable crops with ones that can be used for food or biofuels. One that comes immediately to mind is tobacco. Many crops (including corn) can be planted in the same area as tobacco. Some of these even have more potential (i.e. higher yield and lower cost) than corn for use in biofuels.
3. A third, and least likely is the rethinking of the ban on hemp (the “industrial” kind not the “other” type which I do not, in any way, advocate the use of). Hemp can be used for many purposes including food, clothing, and biofuels.

What is happening is capitalism correcting the inefficient programs of government management of sectors of the economy. Hopefully more of this will happen.

One thing that I have found out is there is no real good source of companies that have policies that are not in opposition to Catholic teachings. Yes there are Mutual Fund (2 family of funds that I can think of), but even there, no individual companies are listed.

We are suppose to be responsible stewards, but how can you was resources are limited.

This is a follow-up to my post What Makes the Extraordinary Form Mass Unpalatable to Me.After the incident last Sunday, I decided to take some action. Looks like I may of hit a nerve or two. I got a look at this coming week’s bulletin (on the web). There are some interesting comments from the pastor. Lets see where it leads.

I use to be a believer in a “Global Economy”, but I have rethought it after reading Small is Still Beautiful: Economics as if Families Mattered by Joseph Pearce about a year ago. Being global does not always mean better both for business and for people.

The recent issue with fuel prices driving up costs of everything has made me wonder if “globalism” is being exposed even further. With goods being produced at the four corners of the world, it is taking more and more money to get the finished goods to their final destination due to rising fuel costs.

Maybe it is time we look at moving production to a more local level. When I am talking local, I do not mean produce everything withing the local community (i.e. Town, County, or State). I mean within the country instead of on the other side of the world for some goods and within the State/County/Town for thing that could easily be produced at that level.

Yes, the “economies of scale” would be reduced and some goods would only be available at certain times of the year, but would be be worse off for it? And with fuel prices the way they are, would they even cost more?

Listening to the news today on the hit job Congress is doing on the Oil Industry, I found myself wondering if government should get involved in the Alternative Energy Debate.

The answer is yes and no. The way the Democrats in Washington is doing it is not the way to go. Yes they should encourage the research and development of alternative energy, but trying punish the oil industry is not the way to do it. The Oil companies do not control the prices, the markets do and it is over-speculation and media scare mongering that is driving the prices. The oil companies have to honor the contract prices which is driving markets.

Michigan, on the other hand, is doing a much better job in promoting the development of alternative energy. They are not over-regulating and over-taxing one industry to help another. Yes, they are giving tax breaks and setting goals, but they way they are doing encourages development and goals are reasonable on the percentage of energy to come from that development. Is it perfect? No, but it is more of a help than a hindrance.