"No we can't!"

As luck would have it, on the same day I posted about Archbishop Chaput's new book he was posting some great thoughts about religion and politics on the First Things "On the Square" blog. Here's my favorite snippet:

Our leaders should inspire us; they should stir our hearts and call us to live the ideals that make America great. But sometimes the answer to the realities we face is not “yes, we can,” but “no, we can’t.” No, we can’t spend money like hedonists and outrun our debts forever. No, we can’t ignore the poor of the Third World and expect to be loved abroad. No, we can’t allow the killing of roughly one million unborn children a year and then posture ourselves as a moral society. No, we can’t make wicked things right by spinning them in a clever way.

So, in that spirit, I'm really going to try to say "No, I can't blog for a couple of days." MM and the girls are out of town on a suicide canning mission, so I (not to mention MM) feel it's important for me to get some home-improvement-type work done while they're gone. The only exception I foresee is a quick comment on the Democratic VP nominee if he or she really is announced before the convention starts. After all, four of the names floating around--Sen. Biden of DE, Sen. Reed of RI, Gov. Kaine of VA, and Gov. Sebelius of KS--are all pro-choice Catholics...and I may not be able to resist!