More musings

The Illusions of Egalitarian, by John Kekes (Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 2003), was recently reviewed by Jude P. Dougherty in the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars Quarterly Vol. 27, No. 2 (Summer 2004), pp. 44-46. Looks to be an excellent and timely read.

"Meterosexual" is the term now used for the androgynous male who embraces feminism, the ideal straight dandy who is easygoing, caring, open-minded, sensitive, in touch with his feminine side, and the target of those marketing $40 face creams, Bruno Magli shoes, and custome tailored shirts for men. See Michael Rose's guest column article, "Effeminacy in the Service of Capitalism" in the July-August New Oxford Review.

In the same issue is a fascinating article reviewing a video entitled Herb Meyer's The Siege of Western Civilization. Meyer, who was Special Assistant to the Director of Central Intelligence and Vice Chairman of the CIA's National Intelligence Council during the Reagan Administration, attempts to cover four major points in 42 minutes, according to the article's author, Charles A. Coulombe.

He first identifies Western Civilization, for better or worse, as the merging of Greek philosophy, Judaisim, Christianity, and post-Renaissance secularism; then he ticks off three threats to that civilization:

(a) Radical Islam: those who wish to convert the world are a real danger, he suggests.

(b) A "Second Civil War" in the U.S. and elsewhere, waged between those who support and those who oppose the traditions of the West as regards marriage, family, culture, etc.

(c) The demographic problem: North America and Europe are aborting and contracepting themselves out of existence.

Interesting.

The National Right to Life News Vol. 31, No. 7 (July 2004), p. 4, has an article (not available online, unfortunately, but only in the print issue), stating that fetal stem cells may bring healing to mothers long after pregnancy:

Cells from unborn babies survive for years in mothers' blood, which may allow doctors to retrieve the cells without killing a child, according to a study in the July 7 Journal of the American Medical Association.

All the potential benefits of stem cell research for preventing Alzheimers and other diseases may be available without the 'need' to 'manufacture' (and destroy) fertilized human embryos, which involves the unjustifiable taking of human life.