MLP: FiM Fan Animations

I haven't posted on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic in some time. To make up for this lack of pony, here are two recent released fan animations:

"Snowdrop" by SillyFillyStudios 

and the highly anticipated "Double Rainboom" by FlamingoRich:

Easter Sunday

Khristós Anésti! Alithós Anésti! Christus resurrexit! Resurrexit vere! Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!

SCOTUS Starts Hearings on DOMA and Prop 8. Cases.

A transcript of yesterday's Supreme Court hearings is available here. (HT: First Thoughts)

As for the basics of the same-sex marriage debate, especially regarding the nature of marriage, and why the state takes an interest in marriage, see the following:

- Robert P. George, Ryan T. Anderson, & Sherif Girgis, "What is Marriage?" article, book

- Ryan T. Anderson, "Marriage: What It Is, Why It Matters, and the Consequences of Redefining It," The Heritage Foundation

- Steven Smith, "The Red Herring of "Marriage Equality," Public Discourse

- Brandon Vogt, "10 Best Arguments for 'Same-Sex Marriage;…and Why They’re Flawed," Our Sunday Visitor

- Francis Beckwith, "Interracial Marriage and Same-Sex Marriage," Public Discourse

- Tim Hsaio, "The Case for Conjugal Marriage" flowchart

- Marcel LeJoune, "Why Same-Sex Marriage Is A Bad Idea," Aggie Catholics




Also, here's Ryan T. Anderson debating Piers Morgan on CNN (HT: The Foundry):




I stand with Ryan!

A Link to the Past

Just a few links from around the web:

- Aristotelian and Thomist-inclined readers might be interested to hear that 3:AM Magazine recently interviewed John Haldane and E.J. Lowe.

- The Lawrence Krauss "nothingness" show continues as philosopher David Albert, writer of a critical New York Times review of the book A Universe from Nothing, lost his invitation to an upcoming debate on "The Existence of Nothing" involving Krauss and other physicists. (HT: Bill Vallicella)

Krauss's blatant equivocation in his use of the word "nothing" needs little reiteration, but for those curious, the philosophers Bill Vallicella and Ed Feser both do an excellent job. For similar bad philosophizing on "nothing" by Stephen Hawking, see the responses by philosopher William Lane Craig and physicist Stephen M. Barr.

Fan Made Silmarillion Trailer

Neat. (HT: Michael Liccione)

Habemus Papam

Pope Francis I, formerly Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio

Cardinal Bergoglio from Argentina elected as Pope Francis I. 

His blessing:

Brothers and sisters, good evening!

You know that it was the duty of the Conclave to give Rome a Bishop.  It seems that my brother Cardinals have gone to the ends of the earth to get one... but here we are... I thank you for your welcome.  The diocesan community of Rome now has its Bishop.  Thank you!      And first of all, I would like to offer a prayer for our Bishop Emeritus, Benedict XVI.  Let us pray together for him, that the Lord may bless him and that Our Lady may keep him. 

And now, we take up this journey:  Bishop and People.  This journey of the Church of Rome which presides in charity over all the Churches.  A journey of fraternity, of love, of trust among us.  Let us always pray for one another.  Let us pray for the whole world, that there may be a great spirit of fraternity.  It is my hope for you that this journey of the Church, which we start today, and in which my Cardinal Vicar, here present, will assist me, will be fruitful for the evangelization of this most beautiful city. 

And now I would like to give the blessing, but first - first I ask a favour of you: before the Bishop blesses his people, I ask you to pray to the Lord that he will bless me: the prayer of the people asking the blessing for their Bishop.  Let us make, in silence, this prayer:  your prayer over me. 

Now I will give the Blessing to you and to the whole world, to all men and women of good will.

Brothers and sisters, I leave you now.  Thank you for your welcome.  Pray for me and until we meet again.  We will see each other soon.  Tomorrow I wish to go and pray to Our Lady, that she may watch over all of Rome.  Good night and sleep well!

Handy Dandy Conclave Resources

While I continue to try to get back into the blogging mood, here's the Crescat's useful compilation of resources on the Conclave election, which begins tomorrow.

Also, Thomas McDonald of "God and the Machine" recommended the Conclave news app for Apple and Android devices, and Jeff Miller, the "Curt Jester," pointed out the PopeAlarm.com text message/email notification service for when the smoke rises.

It's only Natural...

The philosopher David Bentley Hart recently touched off a natural law debate with an article in the March issue of First Things (HT: First Thoughts). Hart basically argues that natural law arguments are unpersuasive in today's public square, in addition to being philosophically problematic (falling prey to the standard "is-ought" problem).

There have been several responses from around the conservative blogosphere. Rod Dreher and Alan Jacobs at The American Conservative are both sympathetic to Hart, while R.J Snell at Public Discourse defends the viability of "new" natural law theory, which focuses on practical reasoning.

Closer to home, our friend Brandon Watson is very critical of Hart's Kantianism, on Siris and on Edward Feser's combox. Meanwhile, Feser, fresh from another take down of Lawrence Krauss's "nothing" nonsense, just posted a response to Hart on the First Things page.

Not on the topic of natural law but still somewhat relevant is James Chastek's post on "blindness to what is self-evident to us."

UPDATE

James Chastek of Just Thomist posted his take on Hart.

Cicero on the Natural Law

True law is Reason, right and natural, commanding people to fulfill their obligations and prohibiting and deterring them from doing wrong. Its validity is universal; it is immutable and eternal. Its commands and prohibitions apply effectively to good men, and those uninfluenced by them are bad. Any attempt to suppress this law, to repeal any part of it, is sinful; to cancel it entirely is impossible. Neither the Senate nor the Assembly can exempt us from its demands; we need no interpreter or expounder of it but ourselves. There will not be one law at Rome, one at Athens, or one now and one later, but all nations will be subject all the time to this one changeless and everlasting law. -- Cicero, De Rei Publica (On the commonwealth), III, 33

HT: James V. Schall,  Sundry Reflections on "The Natural Law Bibliography"