Morticia considers if teenage women are stupid precisely so they will procreate. And has some linkage: go there, I’ll wait.

Free Northerner’s latest lightning round is up.

Proph has some suggestions on church discipline that involve bishops having something called a notochord. My only comment to that is it might be unfair on those who choose to be Trappists.

If the intention was to avoid scandal (which is good), rather than turning the priests over to the police after pulling their faculties, they could’ve just as easily been sent to a monastery to do penance for the rest of their life. Preferably a Trappist monastery, where their rigorous prayer of the Benedictine LotH (in Latin, with like 12 psalms an office) would be supplemented by backbreaking monotonous labor. Or they could’ve handed the perverts over to the police anyway, since nothing anywhere forbids them from doing that, nor did Rome ever do so at any point.

I’m amused by the idea that the bishops, many of whom have never had any problem disobeying the Vatican on very serious stuff in the past, suddenly degenerate into helpless ragdolls when it comes to one thing they could easily handle themselves. Why? Perhaps they’re passing the buck so they can pin the blame on Rome when the scandal blows up, so they don’t have to answer hard questions about why they admitted these perverts to seminary in the first place.

The same bunch of commentators suggested we check out this nice bit of Satire, courtesy of the Lutherans…. for the hamster is strong in this one

Meanwhile, Zippy has a thread that will not die about chivalry. We are dealing with the subversion of our language as Vanessa points out.

That’s more apt, although her analogy was interesting for finding the feminine counterpart to chivalry.

Oh, now it makes more sense.

Calls for more chivalry = Feminism
Calls for more charity = Marxism

There’s an element of lethal force presumed in both cases, even if the speaker doesn’t intend it. The progressives have really made a mess of the virtues

Her comment about the element of lethal force has to be considered along with the idea of entitlement. People demand that others act decently to them regardless of their behaviour. Where we all agree is that there is an obligation for the strong to protect and help the weak. This is not new, and the suggestions of the Larger Catechism are helpful here.

Q. 129. What is required of superiors towards their inferiors?

A. It is required of superiors, according to that power they receive from God, and that relation wherein they stand, to love, pray for, and bless their inferiors; to instruct, counsel, and admonish them; countenancing, commending, and rewarding such as do well; and discountenancing, reproving, and chastising such as do ill; protecting, and providing for them all things necessary for soul and body: and by grave, wise, holy, and exemplary carriage, to procure glory to God, honor to themselves, and so to preserve that authority which God has put upon them.

Q. 130. What are the sins of superiors?

A. The sins of superiors are, besides the neglect of the duties required of them, an inordinate seeking of themselves, their own glory, ease, profit, or pleasure; commanding things unlawful, or not in the power of inferiors to perform; counseling, encouraging, or favoring them in that which is evil; dissuading, discouraging, or discountenancing them in that which is good; correcting them unduly; careless exposing, or leaving them to wrong, temptation, and danger; provoking them to wrath; or any way dishonoring themselves, or lessening their authority, by an unjust, indiscreet, rigorous, or remiss behavior.

By that standard, our leaders fall short. As Remus notes at this weeks woodpile report.

DC has separated itself from the people, and it shows. Public funds equal to that which built the interstate simply disappear with nothing in return. Literally nothing. While the populace is being relieved of firearms it “doesn’t need” even the Department of Education has its own SWAT-style police units. Surveillance once used against gangsters and foreign agents is now used against shoe salesmen and librarians. The unalienable rights DC is charged with defending have become grounds for prosecution art-link-symbol-tiny-grey-arrow-only-rev01.gif. DC has grown fond of writing laws in secret and enacting them in the middle of the night. They get away with this because they’ve created a favored client-electorate using corrupt dispensations, and they aren’t the voters who work hard, live responsibly and stay right with the law. When Americans speak of “the government”—what used to be our government—they mean our would-be masters in DC and their captive electorate, the activist misfits who run their agencies and schools, and their fawning news media.

Well, poor leaders lack vision, and without vision the people flouder. Including economically — the US is technically bankrupt. Blame it on imperial over reach, blame it on blind stupidity, blame it on incompetence… that is of no matter. What matters is the road ahead.