Flipping through the channels late the other night I came across a somewhat sad spectacle. There was Sir Ian McKellen on “Politically Incorrect,” a late-night gabfest in which pretty anchors and West Coast political consultants try and make part-funny and part-serious comments about current events. God, it’s awful. I should know. I’ve been on it a couple of times. But Ian McKellen? The greatest actor of his generation? And then it dawned on me. He’s on a campaign swing. This is primary season… [Continued in my latest piece opposite.]
THE COMING CATASTROPHE: “But we must now contemplate the possibility of a surprise attack taking out all of Washington, leaving nobody in line for the presidency and a situation of chaos, with dozens perhaps jumping up to say “I’m in charge here.” The best option is to include governors in the line. The Constitution requires those in line of succession to the presidency to be officers of the United States. Attorney Miller Baker has suggested allowing the president to deputize several governors as heads of their state militias, making them officers, and allowing him some say in the succession to his own office.” – Norm Orenstein in a Wall Street Journal piece today that is necessary but still horrifying to contemplate.
GAYS ARE A ‘PLAGUE’: That’s the view of Joe Fitzgerald, the Boston Herald columnist now claiming heroism for blaming sex with minors on homosexuals, rather than pedophiles. For people like Fitzgerald, of course, there is no real distinction between celibate and non-celibate gays or between gays and child-molesters, either in principle or in reality. But that is not the authentic view of the Church. Doesn’t Fitzgerald see that his Church teaches that the issue here is not orientation? It’s firstly breaking a vow of celibacy and secondly doing so with a minor. It is completely possible to abhor both things, whether done by straights or gays, and yet support the presence of celibate gays in the priesthood. That’s my view, at least. And it has far more backing from the Church’s authoritative teachings than Fitzgerald’s un-Catholic rant.
The Dish 