The Pope needs a spanking?

I was not impressed with the Holy Father's PERMISSION to spank your naughty child. Just don't let it show on his cute little face. What will your nosy -politically correct -neighbors think? Perhaps a little TOUCHY-FEEL-LY is also good for the child's character. But protect his dignity. Don't let it show on his behind!

To get sociological: The Holy Father wants to prop up parental authority. But I think this rotten bourgeois family should be replaced by a more COMMUNAL social unit-patterned after the Israeli kibbutz. You don't spank a child you don't OWN!                                                                                                             

Submitted to: letters@usatoday.com

A truly Orwellian paradox

I am presently staring at today's Providence Journal front page -pondering a truly Orwellian paradox: "After attacks, crackdown on hate speech" (Jan.15)

And it seems that pure HATE can be combated by the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, on its way to terrorize not the fanatical few but the religious many in an Islamic country. But just days ago there was a multitude of people in Paris crying out that free speech is ABSOLUTE.

 

But the good Pope Francis disagrees. Don't insult MY mother! Well I am certainly not holier than the Pope. But I would dismiss any insult to my dear departed mother as being simply uninformed. At least I thought she was a peach.

Does he also mean: "Don't insult Holy Mother Church"? In the good old days there was the not so Holy Inquisition. But the Church has finally repented  of this extravagant solicitude for the Faith. As the late radical professor Howard Zinn said, this FREE SPEECH is very enigmatic in the most democratic countries on earth.

To: letters@providencejournal.com