Author: Pete Vere

As an opponent to capital punishment, I was going to comment on Saddam Hussein and the possibility of his execution. However, Kevin Miller — whose theological opinions I hold the deepest respect for — already beat me to the punch. I agree that Saddam is the exception foreseen by the Catechism of the Catholic Church. While I do not believe that capital punishment should be used as retributive justice, no matter what atrocity is committed, there is always the danger that he could continue to inspire and lead the insurrection if kept alive. This would place other human life and the new Iraqi society at great risk. Therefore, unless Saddam openly and sincerely owns up to his past, denounces it, repents from it and agrees to spend the rest of his life doing penance for it (in which case he should be locked away in a maximum security American prison) this is one of those exceptions to the Church’s prudential stand against capital punishment.

As Advent is a season of hope, this past week has brought much hope to the beleaguered conservative cause in Canada. First off, the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance Party voted overwhelmingly to unite the right in Canada. They are now merging into the Conservative Party of Canada. Secondly, noted Jewish Canadian conservative author Ezra Levant has put together a team to resurrect the old Alberta Report. It will now be known as the Western Standard.
Finally, John Pacheco and a number of Catholic conservatives in Canada have launched The Rosarium. The purpose of this website to help organize a movement to petition the reversal of the Winnepeg statement. This was a controversial statement made by the Canadian Bishops in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council which dissented in some respect from Pope Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae.

Woohoo! Just in time for Christ-Mass, my friend Jim Erhart and I have designed a bunch of new banner ads that are just the right size for most of St. Blogosphere. To access the html code for them, please go here
And now, for the unveiling….









In lieu of sending your favorite canonist Christmas presents this year, please consider linking to this worthy Catholic apostolate on your blog or website.

The Catholic politician who was personally against abortion, but felt she could not impose her values upon everyone else, said to them, “Then what shalt I do with this blob of tissue which is called a foetus?” They all said, “Let it be aborted.” And the politician said, “Why, what evil has it done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let it be aborted!”
So then the politician saw that she was gaining nothing, but rather that a judicial riot was beginning, she took the microphone and washed her hands before the crowd…

I read a piece the other day, I think it was in the Weekly Standard but it may have been in National Review, about the United States Marine Corp collecting toys to distribute to children in Iraq. Unfortunately, I think my mom threw out the magazine before I could go back and get the address. I’m familiar with the USMC’s toys for (local) tots programme, but this is the first time I had come across their toys for Iraqi tots programme. This is something I would like to encourage all our readers to support. Could Eric or any of other Marines please post the details?