A few questions regarding Pope Benedict’s recent statement that only the Roman catholic brand of Christianity is the correct brand:

The document said that Orthodox churches were indeed “churches” because they have apostolic succession and enjoyed “many elements of sanctification and of truth.” But it said they do not recognize the primacy of the pope — a defect, or a “wound” that harmed them, it said.

Where in the Bible does Jesus say that Christians need a Pope?

How does this sort of document affect, in any way whatsoever, those Christian sects which by their very definition do not “recognize the primacy of the pope”?

Why does he live in a golden palace protected by private mercenaries while he asks others to be charitable?

Isn’t this yet another case of some guy with a lot of power trying to control or limit who else has access to that power?

I received my copy of Wilhelm Roepke’s Economics of the Free Society late last week. I’ve read chapters one and two so far, and despite being fundamentally simple (it was not intended to be doctoral reading material) it’s a nice read. Say what you will about the verbose German writers, they have a way with language that isn’t seen anymore.

I’ll also be checking out Anthony de Jasay’s The State. I’m a fan of his works – which I know only from Econlib.org

On the back-burner is Tolstoy’s “A Confession,” about which I have my own confession to make: I started reading it online some months ago, and whether it was a vacation, an exam to study for, or something else – it slipped my mind, and I haven’t looked at it, since. Then again, such is the price I pay for having a list of bookmarks so long that I can’t remember what I marked as a “must read” just a week ago – not enough time in the day, I suppose.

A few weeks ago, I inquired about what in my opinion, has been a period of anannounced but perpetual mourning. Flags everywhere appear to be constantly at half-staff.

Well, that’s not going to change anytime soon, because of a new law “requiring federal agencies to lower their flags to half-staff if the governor of the state where they are located orders it to honor the deaths of military service members.”

C’mon. Is Jenny “From-the-block” Granholm going to bring charges against the Treasury office in Detroit? Who’s going to enforce this? And don’t they – like always – have anything better to do?