Today on Kresta - Oct. 1, 2009

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Oct. 1

4:00 – Kresta Comments

4:20 – Montesquieu and the Logic of Liberty
The western democracies’ muted response to victory in the Cold War signaled the presence of a pervasive discontent, a sense that despite this victory liberal democracy itself was deeply flawed. Paul Rahe argues that to understand this phenomenon we must re-examine—starting with Montesquieu—the nature of liberal democracy, its character, and its propensities. In a brilliant exposition of the works of Montesquieu Rahe identifies the profound sense of uneasiness fostered by the modern republic as a source of weakness and as the principal cause of the present discontents.

5:00 – Kresta Comments – Health Care Debate on Abortion

5:10 – Olivia and the Little Way
Fifth grader Olivia Thomas has moved to a new school in a new state, and is eager to make friends! Her best friend quickly becomes someone she has never seen — St. Thérèse of Lisieux. Follow Olivia's trials as she tries to fit in at St. Michael's School. With the help of her grandmother, she learns about the "Little Way" of serving God and how it can change everything! On this feast of St. Therese, we talk with Nancy Carabio Belanger, author of Olivia and the Little Way.

5:30 – A Catholic View of Literary Classics – Part 2 of 10: Hamlet
We continue our 10-week series examining Classic Literature from a Catholic perspective. Acclaimed literary biographer Joseph Pearce is the editor of the Ignatius Critical Editions and will be our guide. We will ensure that traditional moral readings of the works are given prominence, instead of the feminist or deconstructionist readings that often proliferate in other series of 'critical editions'. As such, they represent a genuine extension of consumer choice, enabling educators, students, and lovers of good literature to buy editions of classic literary works without having to 'buy into' the ideologies of secular fundamentalism. Today, we examine Shakespeare’s Hamlet.