INSPIRATIONAL: Bishop Egan reminded me of Bishop Sheen

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Cardinal Egan, Former Catholic Archbishop of New York, Dead at 82
Edward Michael Egan, the ninth archbishop of New York, died Thursday afternoon of cardiac arrest, according to the Archdiocese of New York.

He was 82 years old. From 1985 to 1988, he served as auxiliary bishop and vicar for education of the Archdiocese of New York. He served as bishop of Bridgeport, Conn., for 12 years before becoming Archbishop of New York in May 2000.

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I’m not a big Church guy.

I literally ran into him by Saint Pat’s as we were crossing the street by Saint Pat’s.

I immediately recognized him with the simple gold chain.

I sputtered “I’m most sorry Your Eminence”.

He smiled and said: No problem, my child, I am sure we were both absorbed in our Rosaries.” 

To which, I replied: “Fraid not; although do I get partial credit for having mine.” As I whipped mine out of my suit jacket. 

His response: “Well, I think it;s like car keys, you have to use it.”

He touched my forehead with the Bishop’s cross as was on his way.

He was the second Bishop I’d ever met that did that. Do they learn that in “bishop school”?

Funny the things one remembers.

Requiescat In Pacem

With sadness.

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POLITICAL: “(pseudo) War on (some) Drugs” causes accidental poisonings or overdoses

Thursday, March 5, 2015

http://cafehayek.com/2015/02/quotation-of-the-day-1277.html

Quotation of the Day…
by DON BOUDREAUX on FEBRUARY 28, 2015
in DINNER TABLE ECONOMICS, NANNY STATE, SEEN AND UNSEEN

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… is from page 16 of Jeffrey Miron’s excellent 2004 monograph, Drug War Crimes:

Under legalization, the incidence of accidental poisonings or overdoses would not be zero, just as it is not zero for currently legal goods such as alcohol. But the rate of such incidents would decline significantly, since consumers would know the potency of the drugs they consume and have far greater confidence that the drugs contained the desired ingredients rather than unknown contaminants.

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What is imho the biggest Unintended Consequence of the “(pseudo) War on (some) Drugs” is that “children” die.

Yeah, I know they are sort of “young adults”, but in so many ways they are like “children”.

They have been denied the “experiences of life” by our over-protective infantilization of their “life’s non-experiences”. 

Think about what life was like for the American “youth” from the Dead Old White Guys to say 1980’s.

Life was tough. Hard work. Discipline — either self or externally imposed. Dirty work for any wages was valued. 

Now think about since then — undereducated in Gooferment Skrules where feelings count more than results. Virtually unlimited food for just being there. Entertainment to the exclusion of any “earnings”.

So why are we surprised when they die of overdoses and “rat poison” in “kool illegal drugs”?

Ending the war on drug, just as when (Alcohol) Prohibition ended, makes what was “illegal and kool” not so much any more.

Going to buy your “drugs” at Walmart, Walgreens, or RiteAid does quite feel the same. It’s equivalent to in the 50’s going to a strange drug store where no one knew you to buy condoms. (Not that I ever had to do that.) 

But think about “safety”. Do you think that your local Walmart pharmacy will give you “hot shots” or a drug cut with strychnine?

And imagine that it would come with a “health safety warning” that list where you can go for free help to get clean?

And, imaging that it will cost about as much as aspirin. You can have a “habit” and keep a job, just like the pre-drug war days.

Of course, it does bring about the unemployment question — drug lords, drug gangs, police, prison guards, politicians, and bureaucrats will all have to find new lines of work. 

But what’s wrong with that?

Argh!

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