Today is the Feast of Pope St. Clement I. Today we also honor Blessed Miguel Agustin Pro who ministered to the faithful of Mexico during the shameful anti-Catholic persecutions there in the early part of the last century and was murdered by the state for the greater glory of God. Pray for us, all you angels and saints.
Today's reading for the Feast of Pope St. Clement I is 1 Peter 5:1-4.
Today's Gospel reading is Matthew 16:13-19.
[Links to the readings will be from the NAB until I can find another chapter and verse searchable Douay-Rheims Bible on-line.]
Everyday links:
The Blessed Virgin Mary
The Rosary
Our Mother of Perpetual Help
Prayers from EWTN
National Coalition of Clergy and Laity (dedicated to action for a genuine Catholic Restoration)
The Catholic Calendar Page for Today
Just in case you are wondering what exactly Catholics believe, here is
The Apostles Creed
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son Our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen.
Memorare
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that any one who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession,was left unaided.Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins my Mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful; O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy clemency hear and answer me. Amen.
St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse, pray for us.
Prayer to Saint Anthony, Martyr of Desire
Dear St. Anthony, you became a Franciscan with the hope of shedding your blood for Christ. In God's plan for you, your thirst for martyrdom was never to be satisfied. St. Anthony, Martyr of Desire, pray that I may become less afraid to stand up and be counted as a follower of the Lord Jesus. Intercede also for my other intentions. (Name them.)
PRAYER TO SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL
St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the divine power, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Saint of the Day and daily Mass readings.
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Don't be an elitist. Mr. Daly would be a low grade moron even if he taught at Harvard.
Professor (heehee) John Daly of Warren County Community College in New Jersey (LEFT) revels in his fifteen minutes of fame. His other job is working security at Devils games. (Thanks to WND for the heads up.)
A New Jersey college's board of trustees has called for an emergency meeting tonight to discuss how to handle the controversy surrounding an e-mail by a professor suggesting soldiers in Iraq should kill their superior officers.
Dumbass.
As WorldNetDaily reported, the e-mail by adjunct English instructor John Daly of Warren County Community College was a reply to freshman Rebecca Beach for her announcement of a campus program last Thursday featuring decorated Iraq war hero Lt. Col. Scott Rutter.
Daly wrote: "Real freedom will come when soldiers in Iraq turn their guns on their superiors."
Retard.
Daly said Sunday he was worried he would be fired tonight and already had been told not to show up for the three classes he was scheduled to teach today, according to Inside Higher Ed, an online news source.
Awwwwww, poor baby.
The instructor said he stood by the e-mail message, but it was being taken out of context. His comment about soldiers turning their guns on superiors was meant "in the most metaphoric sense," he explained.
How about we metaphorically blow your head off, moron?
Daly also said that because Beach was never one of his students, he thought she was a "Young America's Foundation organizer and sent the message with that in mind.
Ohhhhhhhhhhh. She belongs to an organization you hate. That makes it all better, Comrade Stalin.
He would have used a different tone if he had known she was a freshman, he said, although the content wouldn't have changed.
Huh?
In his e-mail, Daly said he would ask his students to boycott the event and also vowed "to expose [her] right-wing, anti-people politics until groups like [Rebecca's] won't dare show their face on a college campus."
Heehee.
Young America's Foundation, which came to Beach's aid, said that besides organizing the event, Beach's offense was hanging up fliers contrasting the number of people killed under communism to those liberated under President Reagan.
Beach responded to Daly's written tirade with a demand that Warren President William Austin institute seminars on free speech and sensitivity to teach intolerant faculty members to be respectful of differing opinion.
The college has issued three statements since the controversy began, with support for Daley apparently declining with each one, Inside Higher Ed said.
On Thursday, the college posted a statement on its website saying:
The viewpoints of this professor in no way depict the views of Warren County Community College, its administration, or the Board of Trustees. The College does however support the constitution, the first amendment, and the right to free speech.
Additionally, Mr. Daly's message was sent as a one-to-one message, via e-mail, to one person, and not to the college community. Finally, the College is viewing this message as a personnel issue and will be addressing it according to the policies and procedures of the College.
Austin attended the lecture Thursday night, and the next day, the college's statement, noting the speech went well, added criticism of Daley, quoting Austin as saying the e-mail was "disgraceful and offensive."
Saturday, the college announced the board had scheduled the emergency meeting, noting Tuesday was the first day such a meeting could be held legally.
"The Board of Trustees intends to consider the welfare and rights of its students, the college community, and the public in lieu [sic] of recent events. The board will also consider personnel issues," the statement said.
Wow. Little John is being hung out to dry. And by a board of trustees that seems to know as much about English as the bad professor (heehee) does.
In the interview last night, according to Inside Higher Ed, Daly said it was entirely appropriate for him to criticize "a pro-war rally."
Hey, I'll bet he watches CNN.
People should be outraged that military recruiters are able to attract the college's students to enlist because they can't afford tuition and find good jobs when they graduate.
Maybe if they had real teachers teaching them...
"The YAF is trying to turn back affirmative action and to promote the war, and I have a right to speak out," said Daly, who noted he's been teaching at Warren for about a year.
Nobody has the right to be that big a dumbass, son.
He also teaches at another school but declined to give the name because of the current controversy.
Referring to the threat of being fired, Daly said his situation reflects a trend for non-tenured instructors.
"As more and more professors are teaching part time, this is a direct attack on our academic freedom," he said.
No, the direct attack comes when you are sent to the GULAG or a re-education camp. Or when those who regard themselves as the true defenders of socialism put a bullet behind your ear.
Daly's e-mail also claimed that "capitalism has killed many more" people than communism and that "poor and working class people" are recruited to "fight and die for EXXON and other corporations."
Zowee, kiddies! That may be the most imbecilic thing I have ever read. I'll bet his mom is changing her name right now.
Anyone who hires this soon to be unemployed weasel for anything other than cleaning out septic tanks is a fool. (And is overpaying.)
Animal Flesh Recipe of the Day.
Do you hate those pesky slugs that eat your tender garden plants? Don't get mad, get even! Eat their cousins!
Emeril Lagasse and Food Network bring you
Garlic Escargot with Goat Cheese, Fennel and Bacon-Stuffed Mushrooms
18 large button or crimini mushroom caps, about 2-inches in diameter, wiped clean
3 (7-ounce) cans snails, well rinsed under cold running water and drained
Garlic Compound Butter:
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 (teaspoon? - F.G.) cayenne
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
Goat Cheese, Fennel and Bacon Stuffing:
4 slices smoked bacon, chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped fennel
1/4 cup finely chopped yellow onions
4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
1 tablespoon bread crumbs
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh thyme Pinch salt
Hot French Bread, for dipping
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Spread the mushrooms, stem side up, on a baking sheet and roast for 5 minutes. Turn and continue roasting until tender, about another 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on the pan.
In the bowl of a food processor, combine the butter, garlic, lemon, salt, pepper and cayenne on high speed for 30 seconds. Transfer to a bowl and fold in the parsley. Transfer to a sheet of plastic wrap and roll into a tight log, about 1-inch in diameter. Refrigerate until hard, about 1 hour.
In a skillet, cook the bacon over medium-high heat until beginning to brown and the fat is rendered, about 6 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Discard all but 1 tablespoon of fat from the pan. Cook the fennel and onions in the fat until soft, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and spread on a plate to cool.
In a bowl combine the goat cheese with the bread crumbs, pepper, garlic, thyme and salt. Add the cooled fennel-onion mixture and bacon, and mix well. Re-season as needed with salt and pepper.
Place 6 small, round baking dishes on a baking sheet. Place 3 mushroom caps, stem sides up, flat in the bottom of each baking dish. Place 1 snail inside each mushroom, and 3 snails in the dish between the mushrooms.
Top each mushroom cap with about 2 teaspoons of the goat cheese mixture. Cut the compound butter log into thin slices and lay the slices across the baking dish, covering the snails and mushrooms. Bake until bubbly, about 10 minutes. Increase the heat to broil and cook until the cheese begins to turn golden brown around the edges, 1 to 2 minutes.
Carefully remove from the oven and serve immediately with hot French bread for dipping into the butter.
George Will and that pesky blind squirrel.
Bad manners catch Mr. Wills' eye. See if you can find the spot beyond which this arch-"conservative" fears to tread.
Let's be good cosmopolitans and offer sociological explanations rather than moral judgments about students having sex during the day in high schools, as The Post reported. Sociology discerns connections, and there may be one between the fact that teenagers are relaxing from academic rigors by enjoying sex in the school auditorium and the fact that Americans soon will be able to watch pornography and prime-time television programs such as "Desperate Housewives" — and, for the high-minded, C-SPAN — on their cell phones and video iPods in public.
The connection is this: Many people have no notion of propriety when in the presence of other people, because they are not actually in the presence of other people, even when they are in public.
With everyone chatting on cell phones when not floating in iPod-land, "this is an age of social autism, in which people just can't see the value of imagining their impact on others." We are entertaining ourselves into inanition. (There are Web sites for people with Internet addiction. Think about that.) And multiplying technologies of portable entertainments will enable "limitless self-absorption," which will make people solipsistic, inconsiderate and antisocial. Hence manners are becoming unmannerly in this "age of lazy moral relativism combined with aggressive social insolence."
So says Lynne Truss in her latest trumpet-blast of a book, "Talk to the Hand: The Utter Bloody Rudeness of the World Today, or Six Good Reasons to Stay Home and Bolt the Door." Her previous wail of despair was "Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation," which established her as — depending on your sensibility — a comma and apostrophe fascist (the liberal sensibility) or a plucky constable combating anarchy (the conservative sensibility).
Good punctuation, she says, is analogous to good manners because it treats readers with respect. "All the important rules," she writes, "surely boil down to one: remember you are with other people; show some consideration ." Manners, which have been called "quotidian ethics," arise from real or — this, too, is important in lubricating social frictions — feigned empathy.
"People," says Truss, "are happier when they have some idea of where they stand and what the rules are." But today's entitlement mentality, which is both a cause and a consequence of the welfare state, manifests itself in the attitude that it is all right to do whatever one has a right to do. (Ah, but there's the rub, Georgie Boy. What rules? Or, rather, Who's rules? Don't you have a suggestion for us? Why not? Don't worry, George. I know why. That was for the benefit of the kiddies in the audience. - F.G.) Which is why acrimony has enveloped a coffee shop on Chicago's affluent North Side, where the proprietor posted a notice that children must "behave and use their indoor voices." The proprietor, battling what he calls an "epidemic" of antisocial behavior, told the New York Times that parents protesting his notice "have a very strong sense of entitlement."
A thoroughly modern parent, believing that children must be protected from feelings injurious to self-esteem, says: "Johnny, the fact that you did something bad does not mean you are bad for doing it." We have, Truss thinks, "created people who will not stand to be corrected in any way."
Furthermore, it is a brave, or foolhardy, man who shows traditional manners toward women. In today's world of "hair-trigger sensitivity," to open a door for a woman is to play what Truss calls Gallantry Russian Roulette: You risk a high-decibel lecture on gender politics.
One writer on manners has argued that a nation's greatness is measured not only by obedience of laws but also by "obedience to the unenforceable." But enforcement of manners can be necessary. The well-named David Stern, commissioner of the NBA, recently decreed a dress code for players. It is politeness to the league's customers who, weary of seeing players dressed in "edgy" hip-hop "street" or "gangsta" styles, want to be able to distinguish the Bucks and Knicks from the Bloods and Crips. Stern also understands that players who wear "in your face" clothes of a kind, and in a manner, that evokes Sing Sing more than Brooks Brothers might be more inclined to fight on the floor and to allow fights to migrate to the stands, as happened last year.
Because manners are means of extending respect, especially to strangers, this question arises: Do manners and virtue go together? Truss thinks so, in spite of the possibility of "blood-stained dictators who had exquisite table manners and never used their mobile phones in a crowded train compartment to order mass executions."
Actually, manners are the practice of a virtue. The virtue is called civility, a word related — as a foundation is related to a house — to the word civilization.
Fyodor challenges Charles Krauthammer to put up or shut up.
Here's the beginning of Mr. K's latest pile of piffle in defense of the stale orthodoxy of neo-darwinism:
Because every few years this country, in its infinite tolerance, insists on hearing yet another appeal of the Scopes monkey trial, I feel obliged to point out what would otherwise be superfluous -- that the two greatest scientists in the history of our species were Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, and they were both religious. (BTW, exactly how many other animals do you know that currently use the scientific method? Or are you going O.M. Hubbard on us?)
Here's the deal, Mr. Krauthammer: Prove it to me and I'll buy you the best dinner D.C. has to offer.
I'm a reasonably intelligent layman, so it should not be too hard for you to convince me. (Of course, I'm not NeoCon smart, so you will have to work at it.)
What do you need to show me? Empirical evidence of evolution. Things, facts, tangible items that demonstrate the step by step progression of living organisms down through the ages, culminating in life as we know it today. If evolution is fact, and not merely theory (as you seem to shout a little too often and a bit too shrilly) you should be eating for free in no time.
Walter E. Williams on Inflation.
Dr. Williams knows what causes inflation, and it's not Haliburton.
Last month, President Bush nominated Dr. Ben S. Bernanke, currently chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisors, as chairman of Federal Reserve Board to replace the retiring Alan Greenspan. Alan Greenspan's replacement comes at a time of heightened fears of inflation resulting from the recent spike in oil prices.
First, let's decide what is and what is not inflation. One price or several prices rising is not inflation. When there's a general increase in prices, or alternatively, a reduction in the purchasing power of money, there's inflation. But just as in the case of diseases, describing a symptom doesn't necessarily give us a clue to a cause. Nobel Laureate and professor Milton Friedman says, "[I]nflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon, in the sense that it cannot occur without a more rapid increase in the quantity of money than in output." Increases in money supply are what constitute inflation, and a general rise in prices is the symptom.
Let's look at that with a simple example. Pretend several of us gather to play a standard Monopoly game that contains $15,140 worth of money. The player who owns Boardwalk or any other property is free to sell it for any price he wishes. Given the money supply in the game, a general price level will emerge for all trades. If some property prices rise, others will fall, thereby maintaining that level.
Suppose unbeknownst to other players, I counterfeit $5,000 and introduce it into the game. Initially, that gives me tremendous purchasing power, whereby I can bid up property prices. After my $5,000 has circulated through the game, there will be a general rise in the prices -- something that would have been impossible before I slipped money into the game. My example is a highly simplistic example of a real economy, but it permits us to make some basic assessments of inflation.
First, let's not let politicians deceive us, and escape culpability, by defining inflation as rising prices, which would allow them to make the pretense that inflation is caused by greedy businessmen, rapacious unions or Arab sheiks. Increases in money supply are what constitute inflation, and the general rise in the price level is the result. Who's in charge of the money supply? It's the government operating through the Federal Reserve.
There's another inflation result that bears acknowledgment. Printing new money to introduce into the game makes me a thief. I've obtained objects of value for nothing in return. My actions also lower the purchasing power of every dollar in the game. I've often suggested that if a person is ever charged with counterfeiting, he should tell the judge he was engaging in monetary policy.
When inflation is unanticipated, as it so often is, there's a redistribution of wealth from creditors to debtors. If you lend me $100, and over the term of the loan the Federal Reserve increases the money supply in a way that causes inflation, I pay you back with dollars with reduced purchasing power. Since inflation redistributes (steals) wealth from creditors to debtors, it helps us identify inflation's primary beneficiary. That identification is easy if you ask: Who is the nation's largest debtor? If you said, "It's the U.S. government," go to the head of the class.
So what about the president's nomination of Ben S. Bernanke as Alan Greenspan's replacement? I know little or nothing about the man. What I do know is that it's not wise for one person, or group of persons, to have so much power over our economy. Here's my recommendation for reducing that power: Repeal legal tender laws and eliminate all taxes on gold, silver and platinum transactions. That way, Americans could write contracts in precious metals and thereby reduce the ability of government to steal from us.
Sobran: The Constitution is simple.
(Note: The link above will take you to Joe's current on-line column. The archive is here. Not all of his past columns are available in the archive.)
Joe Sobran is a real conservative, but that and two bucks will get you a cup of coffee at a casual dining restaurant.
Anyway, Joe knows what's wrong with the Supreme Court.
We are being assured that Judge Samuel Alito, like John Roberts, and in contrast to poor Harriet Miers, is superbly qualified for the U.S. Supreme Court. He sounds good to me, but I wonder. Specifically, I wonder what qualified means.
The people who insisted that Miers didn’t measure up almost made me wonder what up means. Interpreting the U.S. Constitution shouldn’t be all that difficult. It’s written in plain English for ordinarily intelligent people. The only hard part is ridding your mind of all the false interpretations that have confused people about it.
If you search it for something about “the separation of church and state,” “freedom of expression,” “the right to privacy,” or even “democracy,” you may be surprised to find it isn’t there. We’ve been told so often that all these things are there somewhere that it’s hard to shake the idea they are what it actually says and means. The real trick is to stop reading things into it.
Being a Supreme Court justice shouldn’t require much intelligence. And it obviously doesn’t, or how could undistinguished people like Sandra Day O’Connor, Anthony Kennedy, and David Souter hold their own on the Court? They are praised because liberals like the way they vote, not for any special legal insight they possess.
If anything, the Court is notable for the number of its members who have been short on common sense. Kennedy is best known for his silly opinion that defining the universe is a constitutional right, and that somehow this right is umbilically related to the right to kill unborn children.
What we really need are justices who can refrain from reading their pet notions into the Constitution. It may seem that this isn’t asking much, but the Court has a considerable legacy of nonsense uttered by men who have supposed that judicial robes confer philosophical profundity. The late William Brennan, for example, called the Constitution “a sublime oration on the dignity of man.” Oration? Sublime? Dignity? Where on earth did this embarrassingly orotund rhetoric come from?
Justice Stephen Breyer, one of the Court’s leading liberals today, avoids the absurdities of Kennedy and Brennan. Nor does he repeat the cliché that the Constitution is a “living document,” which always turns out to mean that it can be virtually amended by the judiciary, without the forms of amendment prescribed in the text itself.
Breyer is the subject of a flattering profile by Jeffrey Toobin of The New Yorker. Breyer sounds like a pleasant, reasonable man, and Toobin stresses that he believes the Court should respect the will of the legislative branch, overturning acts of Congress as seldom as possible. In contrast to Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, Toobin observes, he doesn’t seek the “original intent” of the Framers of the Constitution.
“The message I’m trying to provide,” Breyer says, “is that there is more to the Constitution than a Fourth of July speech. It was a serious objective of the framers that people participate in the political process. If people don’t participate, the country can’t work.”
But the Constitution says nothing about “participating in the political process.” These are buzzwords of our own time, never used by the Framers. If popular participation is the whole idea, where does that leave the elitist practice of judicial review?
And by the way, in ascribing this “objective” to the Framers, isn’t Breyer just giving his own version of their original intent? How does he know what their intent was, apart from the words they used?
Agreed, the Constitution isn’t a Fourth of July speech. Let’s just stick to what it actually says. That won’t answer every question, but it will take us pretty far, and it may save us from the temptation to answer questions that haven’t been asked.
Unfortunately, common sense isn’t a subject taught in the law schools, not even our most prestigious law schools. On the contrary, the more clever the lawyer, the more he may delight in reaching excessively clever — or “counterintuitive” — conclusions, such as that the Constitution protects abortionists.
Let’s not pretend that reading the Constitution is harder than it really is. The Framers’ original intent is clear enough, because it’s expressed in the words they agreed on, not in musty archives or arcane theories. Most of the problems arise only when lawyers try to substitute modern words for those of the text. The chief “qualification” for a justice should be good sense.
Coulter: Joe McCarthy was more than right, he was good.
Ann Coulter continues to demolish what you think you know about the American commies' war against you and me.
As noted here previously, George Clooney's movie, Good Night, and Good Luck, about pious parson Edward R. Murrow and Sen. Joseph McCarthy, failed to produce one person unjustly accused by McCarthy. Since I described McCarthy as a great American patriot defamed by liberals in my 2003 book, Treason, liberals have had two more years to produce a person—just one person—falsely accused by McCarthy. They still can't do it.
Meanwhile, I can prove that Murrow's good friend Laurence Duggan was a Soviet spy responsible for having innocent people murdered. The brilliant and perceptive journalist Murrow was not only unaware of the hundreds of Soviet spies running loose in the U.S. government, he was also unaware that his own dear friend Duggan was a Soviet spy—his friend on whose behalf corpses littered the Swiss landscape.
Contrary to the image of the Black Night of Fascism (BNOF) under McCarthy leading to mass suicide with bodies constantly falling on the heads of pedestrians in Manhattan, Duggan was the only suicide. After being questioned by the FBI, Duggan leapt from a window. Of course, given the people he was doing business with, he may have been pushed.
After Duggan's death, Murrow, along with the rest of the howling establishment, angrily denounced the idea that Duggan could possibly have been disloyal to America.
Well, now we know the truth. Decrypted Soviet cables and mountains of documents from Soviet archives prove beyond doubt that Lawrence Duggan was one of Stalin's most important spies. "McCarthyism" didn't kill him; his guilt did.
During the height of the Soviet purges in the mid-'30s, as millions of innocents were being tortured, exiled and killed on Stalin's orders, Murrow's good pal Duggan was using his position at the State Department to pass important documents to the Soviets. The documents were so sensitive, Duggan had to return the originals to the State Department before the end of the day. Some were so important, they were sent directly to Stalin and Molotov.
On at least one occasion, Murrow's dear friend Duggan sat with his Soviet handler for an hour as the handler photographed 60 documents for the motherland. In other words, Duggan was the kind of disloyal, two-faced, back-stabbing weasel you rarely see outside of the entertainment industry. (He certainly was perceptive, that Murrow.)
All this time, people Duggan knew personally were being falsely accused and executed back in the Soviet Union. Duggan expressed concern about Stalin's purges with his Soviet handler, but he didn't stop spying. As Allen Weinstein describes it in The Haunted Wood, Duggan was mostly concerned about being falsely accused by Stalin himself someday.
Because of Murrow's good buddy Duggan, innocent people were killed. Not just the millions murdered during the purges while Duggan was earning "employee of the month" awards from Stalin. At least one man was murdered solely to protect Duggan's identity as a Soviet spy.
Ignatz Reiss had been the head of Soviet secret police in Europe. As such, he was aware of Soviet agents in the U.S., including Duggan. But unlike Duggan, Reiss was stunned by Stalin's bloody purges. In 1937, Reiss defected from the Soviet Union, threatening to expose Duggan if they came after him. It was his death warrant.
Two months later, Soviet secret police tracked Reiss to a restaurant in Switzerland. According to the official memo describing Reiss' murder, Soviet agents dragged Reiss out of the restaurant, shoved him in a car, shot him and dumped his body by the side of the road. (Or, in Soviet parlance, he was "debriefed.")
Soviet officials later happily informed Duggan's handler in America: "(Reiss) is liquidated, (but) not yet his wife. ... Now the danger that (Duggan) will be exposed because of (Reiss) is considerably decreased." Despite all Clooney's double-sourced fact-checking, he missed the part about Murrow's good friend Duggan being an accomplice to murder.
To hear these liberals carry on, "McCarthyism" was the worst thing that ever happened in the history of the universe. No one has ever been so persecuted or so heroic as Hollywood actors in the '50s.
At the exact same time as these crybabies were wailing about McCarthyism, there was much worse going on in the parts of the world so admired by the Hollywood left. It's not as if we have to go back to the Peloponnesian War to find greater suffering than that of Hollywood drama queens during the BNOF under McCarthyism.
I believe anyone would find it preferable to have been a "target" of McCarthy in the '50s than to have been an ordinary citizen living in the Soviet Union, Hungary, Poland, the Ukraine or any nation infected by the Red Plague.
Thanks to McCarthy, and no thanks to Murrow, the worst horror to befall an American citizen in the '50s was the dire prospect of losing a movie credit—although, since then, I suppose having to watch a George Clooney movie would run a close second.
Amen to all that, Sister.
Buchanan: Vietnam, again.
Pat Buchanan gets to gloat while typing "I told you so."
I think he's wrong in this: Our pending loss in the War Against Moslem Terrorists is a result of our emasculation and subsequent failure of will. When (not if) a war to protect the American interests Pat recognizes as valid becomes necessary, our country will refuse to even start to fight it. (See France.)
Symptoms of the Vietnam Syndrome, clearly visible now, include a deepening divide in the country, a new savagery in politics, a reluctance to spend more blood in a cause in which one no longer believes, wounded protests that one was deceived and the portrayal of one's loss of nerve as a principled advance toward a higher moral plane.
With 57 percent of the nation no longer believing Bush an honest and truthful man, and 60 percent believing Iraq was a mistake and we should start bringing the troops home, it is impossible to see how the president can sustain the war effort. The Senate Democrats have gone over the hill, and the Republicans only await the bugle call to retreat.
And the enemy is not stupid. They can see the American home front crumbling and know that if they can hold on, they will not much longer be facing 150,000 U.S. troops.
America's problem is that, while we are not losing this war, we have not crushed the insurgency. And if a guerrilla army does not lose, it wins. The only way America can win this war is with a massive infusion of U.S. troops. Yet, even John McCain is not advocating that.
America appears unwilling to pay the price in blood, money and years to achieve what Bush calls victory. Whether that represents a failure of will on the part of the American people or a failure of leadership on the part of President Bush, the result is the same.
What caused the nation to turn against the war and our war president needs to be studied for what it tells us about ourselves as a people.
We Americans are lousy imperialists. We lack the patience and perseverance. We will not support the daily loss of American lives, with pictures of the fallen on television every night and in the paper every day, unless we are persuaded something vital is at risk. And who rules Iraq is not something Americans are willing to bleed or die for indefinitely.
But as the air is full of allegations of lying, we at least need to tell ourselves the truth about what we are inviting, what we are risking, if, as seems possible now, America should lose this war.
One certainty is that many Iraqis who cast their lot with us will pay the price Algerians loyal to France paid when the French departed in 1962. And if the U.S. Army and Marine Corps could not crush an insurgency in three years, it is difficult to see how an Iraqi army, trained by the U.S. Army and Marines, can do the job.
Like I said.
Thus, the United States must accept the possibility, if not probability, that our enemies will control the Sunni Triangle and contest Baghdad, thus leading to breakup of the nation and civil war. For the Kurds and Shia are not going to accept Sunni rule again.
America would aid the Kurds and Iran the Shia in any such war. The Sunni would look to fellow Arabs for help, the price of which might be the head of Zarqawi. As for the impact of any such war on oil prices, the only question is how devastating it would be.
Here at home, there would be years of bitter recrimination, as there were after Korea and Vietnam. The Democrats might do well to recall the fate of their fathers who voted to take us into Vietnam, then to cut off funding for the war. Between 1968 and 1988, Democrats lost the presidency in five of six elections, ruined their reputation as reliable custodians of the national security and lost the nation to Reaganism.
Golly. Maybe this time we can defeat Senator Murder.
As for Bush, a retreat from Iraq and defeat there would mean a failed presidency. The Bush Doctrine of employing U.S. power to unhorse dictators and impose democracy will be dead.
America will adopt a new non-interventionist foreign policy, except where vital U.S. interests are imperiled. The tragedy is that we did not do, voluntarily, 15 years ago, what a foolish, failing neoconservative foreign policy may now force us to do in the not-too-distant future.
At least Dan Rather never used a can of spray paint...
From Drudge:
CNN FLASHES 'X' OVER VP'S FACE DURING LIVE SPEECH... SENIOR MANAGEMENT LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION...
CNN: 'IT IS NOT SOMETHING WE CAN RE-CREATE TO SHOW YOU HOW IT HAPPENED'... 'IT WAS A COMPUTER BUG'
Is this the best these clowns can do? Why didn't they make it look like he was wearing "blackface"?
From The More Money Than Brains Department:
Thanks to MSNBC for the heads up. To hear a sample follow the MSNBC link below. It's worth the trip for all you aging A-Team fans.
Is driving easier when Mr. T’s riding shotgun?
To cash in on in-car GPS market, media firm to offer celebrity directions
Centuries ago, navigators looked to the stars to work out their location on Earth and plot their courses. Today, stars are again set to guide lost travelers to their destinations, but they won’t be the celestial bodies seen in the heavens each night.
Instead, think Mr. T, Burt Reynolds and Dennis Hopper — they’ve all signed up to deliver celebrity voice content for turn-by-turn driving directions in the Navtones car navigation system produced by Los Angeles-based Wanderlust Media and digital map and location content provider Tele Atlas.
If you already have an expensive navigation system in your car, you’re already familiar with the generic woman’s voice telling you to turn left at the next light. The idea behind Wanderlust’s new offering is to give drivers something a little different, explains CEO Will Andre. Mr. T not only guides, he also threatens: “Pay attention to what I’m saying,” he bawls. “Mr. T gonna get you there in one piece … you gonna be there safely, or else!”
But if they somehow can manage to offer Homer Simpson's voice to guide me...
From The Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy Department:
GARY GLITTER MAY FACE FIRING SOUAD
SHAMED pop star Gary Glitter could face death by firing squad in Vietnam for having sex with a girl of 12. Police who stopped the 1970s glam rocker trying to flee the country claimed yesterday that the girl had confessed to having sex with him three times at his beachfront villa.
Wow. Talk about SEX IS DEATH.
From The Yeah, Rap Really Is Art (Yes, I'm serious.) Department:
Today Bianca Jagger, Council of Europe Goodwill Ambassador Visits Bay Area to Meet Stanley Tookie Williams
In the interests of fairness, here's the other side:
Victim's Family: Let 'Tookie' Die
And then, from somewhere in the middle (I think) comes this:
Pair of brothers shot returning home from "Tookie" rally
Now, if the right-wing nazis who rule KKKalifornica were going to execute this dude for the crummy children's books he has written, that would look bad. Luckily for the forces of reaction, Tookie is also a mass murderer.
May God have mercy on his soul.
This just in...
...from the side of my Pringles can:
"Flavored Potato Crisps" in Spanish is "Papitas Crujientes".
SEX IS DEATH. (Distaff death)
The latest in an occasional series. Unsurprisingly, St. Augustine sums it up nicely.
I came to Carthage, where I found myself in the midst of a hissing cauldron of lusts. I had not yet fallen in love, but I was in love with the idea of it, and this feeling that something was missing made me despise myself for not being more anxious to satisfy the need. I began to look around for some object for my love, since I badly wanted to love something.
—St. Augustine, Confessions
The saga of Kara Beth "Books Are Gay" Borden's hissing cauldron now begins. It is only a matter of time before she appears on Oprah and breathlessly offers up details of her forbidden love for the housewives of America.
Girl Went Willingly With Boyfriend After Parents Slain
David Ludwig told detectives that after he fatally shot his 14-year-old girlfriend's parents and started to drive away, he noticed the girl running down the road toward him, prosecutors said in court documents.
Kara Borden then got into his car and said she wanted to "get as far away as possible, get married, and start a new life," Ludwig, 18, told investigators, according to the documents filed Monday.
Ludwig's statement - bolstered by Borden's own story, that she left with him of her own free will - means prosecutors will drop abduction charges against him. He still faces murder charges in the Nov. 13 killings.
Ludwig said he shot the parents after the father told him to stop seeing his daughter, according to the filing. He said he shot Michael Borden in the back as he was going down the hallway to the front door and then headed toward Cathryn Borden.
"I shot mom as she was sitting in the chair," Ludwig was quoted as saying.
He called her "mom". How cute. (Or sick, depending on how you look at it.) I just hope that's not a typo.
"It was an intentional murder, I intended to shoot them, and I did."
He must watch a lot of tv. L&O SVU and CI.
Ludwig told detectives that after the killings, he couldn't find Kara Borden. He said he was driving away when he saw her running toward him.
District Attorney Donald Totaro said the kidnapping charge against Ludwig, of Lititz, will be dropped at his preliminary hearing next month.
Excerpts from court filing in murder case against David Ludwig
Yes, this is supposed to be about the boys, but often the stories become entangled and you can't tell whose cauldron is hissing the loudest.
After ol' Mom & Dad got gunned by little Kara Beth's sex partner, she ran off with him to get married and start a new life. How quaint. Those home schooled girls sure are the salt of the earth, eh, kiddies?
Don't get me wrong. Nobody screams "Get Your Kids Out of the Government Schools" more than Your Humble Servant. But here's a news flash for the politically friendly forces who like to call themselves conservative evangelical Christians: Home schooling does not make your kids immune from the zeitgeist.
The people on the other side know what they're doing. And make no mistake, they are marketing to kids. TV, movies, video games, magazines, the internet, school, civic organizations, foundations, charities, government, and yes, even some "churches" are indoctrinating your children with the Orgasm Uber Alles message.
Combine the sex is just fun & games gospel with the discovery of just how good orgasms feel, (Thanks in part to James "Dr. Masturbation" Dobson and other similarly clueless moral relativists of the so-called religious right.) add a heaping stable full of "I get to define what religion means to me" and it's no surprise you get fornicating children who want it bad enough to kill for it.
The Catholic Church is much too cool to taunt you with an I-told-you-so, but I'm not. You should not be surprised your teenager has a warped view of sexual relations if your view of the relationship between God and man is similarly warped.
There, I said it. You are wrong and we are right.
Obviously, this does not make Catholics immune either. But you are guilty of underestimating the effect the Sacraments, two thousand years of tradition, and two thousand years of philosophy, theology, and Saints' lives can have on saving your free, unique, immortal, and vulnerable soul. (See Malcolm Muggeridge or any story of coming home to Rome.)
Personally, I do not see anything wrong with two teenagers falling in love and getting married. That is the way it has often worked throughout history (And still does in much of the world today. BTW, one of these days, I'm going to try and find out who invented adolescence.). If Kara Beth and David had merely eloped, struggled for years to make ends meet, reared a fine group of children, and lived reasonably happily-ever-after without the approval of their parents or society, you would never have heard of them. It would have been a great story, but nobody would ever have told it.
Sadly, the story is one of death, not of love.
And death sells, kiddies. Big time.
The bottom line, kiddies? Sex matters. It is infinitely more than fun & games. Deep down, everyone knows this. When it is misused (Mortal sin. Hello? I said mortal sin.), your conscience knows.
And if you refuse to believe your conscience exists and therefore spend every waking moment trying to stifle it, what then? It doesn't just go away, kiddies. Your conscience strikes back with depression, anger, rage, and sometimes, even gunfire.
Golly, I guess this was about the boy after all.
*************************************************************************
Part 1: SEX IS DEATH. (Stories for Boys) is here.
Saint of the Day and daily Mass readings.
Today is the Feast of St. Cecilia, virgin, martyr, and patroness of music. Pray for us, all you angels and saints.
Today's reading for the Feast of St. Cecilia is Hosea 2:16-17, 21-22.
Today's Gospel reading is Matthew 25:1-13.
[Links to the readings will be from the NAB until I can find another chapter and verse searchable Douay-Rheims Bible on-line.]
Everyday links:
The Blessed Virgin Mary
The Rosary
Our Mother of Perpetual Help
Prayers from EWTNNational Coalition of Clergy and Laity (dedicated to action for a genuine Catholic Restoration)
The Catholic Calendar Page for Today
Just in case you are wondering what exactly Catholics believe, here is
The Apostles Creed
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son Our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen.
Memorare
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that any one who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession,was left unaided.Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins my Mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful; O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy clemency hear and answer me. Amen.
St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse, pray for us.
Prayer to Saint Anthony, Martyr of Desire
Dear St. Anthony, you became a Franciscan with the hope of shedding your blood for Christ. In God's plan for you, your thirst for martyrdom was never to be satisfied. St. Anthony, Martyr of Desire, pray that I may become less afraid to stand up and be counted as a follower of the Lord Jesus. Intercede also for my other intentions. (Name them.)
PRAYER TO SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL
St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the divine power, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
Monday, November 21, 2005
Russian warhead alters course midflight in test
Here's a big uh-oh from The Washington Times:
Russia recently conducted a flight test of a new warhead that can change course in midflight, which U.S. and Russian officials are calling part of Moscow's efforts to defeat U.S. missile defenses.
The warhead was tested Nov. 1 and tracked by U.S. intelligence technical monitors, including satellites, the officials said.
An analysis of the flight test by U.S. intelligence agencies revealed that it was a further test of a maneuverable warhead that Moscow has been developing for several years in response to U.S. missile defenses.
The warhead was flight tested on a Russian Topol-M missile, designated by the Pentagon the SS-27, that flew from the Kapustin Yar launch complex in southern Russia near Volgograd.
The missile booster fired for a shorter-than-usual duration in placing the dummy warhead and re-entry vehicle into space. The warhead then dropped down to a lower trajectory and was able to maneuver.
Kremlin officials were quoted in Russian press reports as saying the new warhead was designed to thwart the new U.S. missile-defense system of interceptors deployed in Alaska and California.
The Israeli crackup continues apace.
Sharon leaves Likud to form new political party, goes for early election
PM Ariel Sharon has decided to leave his Likud Party and form a new political movement, a top adviser said Monday, hours before the Israeli leader was to ask the president to dissolve parliament. Further withdrawals would be almost impossible within the framework of the hard-line Likud. Party rebels spent months bickering with Sharon over his Gaza pullout, and even came close at times to bringing down the government. [more] (Thanks to Israelinsider for the heads up.)
Too bad the genius didn't think of this a couple of years ago. Here's more:
Complete Betrayal
By Yehuda Poch
Sharon again betrays the nation by calling for elections before the 2006 state budget is approved, likely forcing a needless additional Knesset election.
God Bless Georgie Best...
...And please, Lord, don't let them murder him in the name of mercy.
LONDON (AP) -- Soccer great George Best is desperately ill and must improve quickly to have a chance to live.
"He can't survive day after day after day without some improvement occurring," Dr. Roger Williams said Monday. "He's keeping himself alive."
Best, who needed a liver transplant three years ago after years of alcohol abuse, was on life support in stable but critical condition at Cromwell Hospital.
"His brain is active, his pupils are reactive," Williams said. "We are not keeping people alive that aren't alive and we certainly wouldn't do that."
Best's family has been at his bedside for several days.
"He is doing a bit better," said son Calum. "He is comfortable."
The 59-year-old former Manchester United star has been hospitalized with various infections since Oct. 1. His condition deteriorated Thursday when he was diagnosed with a lung infection and was put on dialysis and a ventilator.
Williams, who performed the liver transplant three years ago and now is in charge of the medical team treating Best, said the next step was to bring the former soccer star out of sedation and see how he responds.
Regarded as one of the most talented players of all-time until his retirement, Best was renowned for his standout dribbling skills and memorable goals. He helped Manchester United win the European Cup in 1968.
SEX IS DEATH. (Stories for Boys)
I thought that might get your attention. This is the first in an occasional series.
We begin with the latest (more or less) on David Ludwig, the lovestruck lothario who specialized in underage girls and who soon may be worth as much as two cartons of Camels.
Lancaster Online.com: News : 54 guns, ammo seized from Ludwig home
Lancaster Online.com: News : Ludwig sent to prison without bail
Lancaster Online.com: News : Film reveals Ludwig 'night patrols'
Baltimore Sun:
Teens' relationship was secret
Lancaster Online:
Murder weapon in Ludwig car
Don't feel like wading through the cesspool that is Lancaster's brush with fame? Here's the skinny:
1) The suspect is alleged to have taken another underage girl to a family vacation cabin for a weekend earlier this year.
2) The suspect and a buddy videotaped themselves cruising around town looking for a home to attack and a family to kill. They end up talking about killing the Bordens and having sex with Kara Beth and her thirteen year old sister.
3) The suspect's attorney is trying to make the girl an accomplice. The girl's attorney is trying to make her look like a victim.
Now, back to the title: SEX IS DEATH. Of course, properly understood, sex is a glorious gift of God, just like everything else. There's the rub, kiddies, that nasty little phrase "properly understood". If there is one thing that is definitely not properly understood these days it is sex.
All things come from God and are, therefore, good. It is the defective wills of individual men misusing the good gifts of God that cause evil to happen. The only proper place for sexual intercourse is in a lifelong marriage between a man and a woman (Oh, for the good old days when that sentence would have ended at "marriage".)
What does that mean, practically speaking? No premarital or extramarital sex is allowed. Those are both mortal sins and will send you to hell. Divorce and "remarriage" are forbidden since marriage lasts as long as the two spouses live. More mortal sin, kiddies.
Oh, and don't forget sodomy, a word that encompasses a veritable truckload of mortal sins.
Those are the rules, kiddies, like 'em or not. It would be bad enough if a man's sins just cost him his immortal soul, but it never stops there. Mr. and Mrs. Borden had their heads blown off because Mr. Ludwig liked copulating with Kara Beth and the Bordens said no.
That is the one "sin" the world cannot tolerate: No-saying. (See Nietzsche, the Champion of Yes-Saying.) How dare they deny David the pleasure he had (apparently) found in their 14 year old daughter's body? David and Kara Beth are both Americans, after all. I guess those evil Sex Nazis, the Bordens, had never heard of the pursuit of happiness. If only they had agreed with the zeitgeist that Kara Beth could be David's sexual device if she wanted to be*, they would be alive today.
* Obviously, kiddies, it takes two to tango. But then again, somebody has to lead. The law says Kara Beth is too young to consent to sex. Period. Personally, I don't want to live in a world where Hitlery Clinton abolishes the age of consent laws. (BTW, she's a moderate now. That means she is busy burning all her previous references to the age of consent laws.)
But most importantly, these SEX IS DEATH posts are about boys and boys struggling to become men. In case you had not noticed, one of the most effective tactics in the war against the family is the emasculation of boys, which, in practice, simply means preventing them from learning how to become gentlemen. Man's fallen nature does the rest. The Foolish One has had a lot of practice in this area, kiddies.
Memo To The Iraqis:
When the Repansycans capitulate to the poll numbers (they have and will), head for the roof of the US Embassy and look for the choppers with the white stars or run for Kuwait.
Ask the children of Vietnamese refugees who survived their alliance with us how great a place this is. Let's see...There's that linebacker for the Cowboys...
Oh, yeah. If your daughters are hot, they can always try the "actress/model" route to the American dream.
And speaking of the forces of the antichrist...
...I found a flyer stuck in my door the other day. It was produced by the Seventh Day Adventists (who?) and claimed the Pope (Well, all Popes, I guess. It was copyrighted last century.) was the antichrist.
I know the proper thing to do is to pray for these poor benighted souls, but if I ever catch one of these moral cretins leaving their filth on my property, I'm gonna lay my hands upon them.
On a lighter note, I sometimes receive invitations to a local Baptist church addressed to "Resident". May I suggest you folks get some marketing help?
I think Carville's available.
The Pope Wants Drivers To Be Prudent.
I believe "elitist", "nazi", and "woman-hater" were the words of choice used by the forces of antichrist.
Pope Benedict XVI has decried highway deaths and urged motorists to be more "prudent and responsible" to reduce the number of victims.
Benedict spoke out on the issue Sunday of the European Day for Road Victims. He made his first appeal in June, urging motorists to take care as they embarked on their summer holidays.
Speaking in French during his traditional blessing, Benedict said he was praying for all those killed or injured in traffic accidents and their families.
He said, "I invite all motorists to undertake prudent and responsible conduct ... to reduce the number of victims."
If you don't think Benedict XVI was elevated to the Throne of Peter by the Hand of God, you haven't been paying attention.
Pope cites Universe's "Intelligent Project"
Pope Benedict XVI has waded into the evolution debate in the United States, (Read that again, kiddies. See the creeping editorial? - F.G.) saying the universe was made by an "intelligent project" and criticizing those who in the name of science say its creation was without direction or order.
Obviously.
He quoted St. Basil the Great, a fourth century saint, as saying some people, "fooled by the atheism that they carry inside of them, imagine a universe free of direction and order, as if at the mercy of chance."
"How many of these people are there today? These people, fooled by atheism, believe and try to demonstrate that it's scientific to think that everything is free of direction and order," he said.
"With the sacred Scripture, the Lord awakens the reason that sleeps and tells us: In the beginning, there was the creative word. In the beginning, the creative word this word that created everything and created this intelligent project that is the cosmos is also love."
And that is, as they say, that.
A Very Small God, or, How the Death-dealing Ignorance of Creeping protestanism Infects The Church.
To be honest, kiddies, the Catholic Church has plenty of ignorant people with creeping (and creepy) ideas of their own.
A Very Small God by Brian Saint-Paul
It began in 1994 with The Openness of God: A Biblical Challenge to the Traditional Understanding of God—a collection of essays by five Evangelical theologians. Now, eleven years later, Open Theism is a full-blown and highly controversial movement in Protestantism. Churches have split over the issue and professors of theology condemned for promoting it.
Why the uproar? Because Open Theism redefines the traditional conception of God, making Him something much less than Christians have historically understood Him to be.
The motivations of the movement—if not its conclusions—are noble. Most believers are at some point faced with apparent contradictions in traditional Christian theology. How, for example, are we to accept the notion that God is both all-good and all-knowing and yet allows horrific evil to enter His creation? Or another: If God is truly sovereign and omniscient, what’s the point of petitionary prayer? Assuming that God has full and perfect knowledge, He already knows what will come to be before we pray.
While theologians throughout the ages have developed their own solutions to these problems, Open Theism’s contribution is unique. Why does an all-knowing, all-powerful, and wholly good Deity allow evil? Perhaps it’s because He isn’t all-knowing after all. Or, to be more fair to their position, it may be that in His loving desire to give us complete freedom, He has intentionally created a future that is yet undecided and unknown even to Him. Certainly, God knows all that already is. The future, on the other hand, is left open—a mass of clay to be eventually molded by the decisions and actions of free creatures. If those beings use their free will for evil, it’s hardly God’s fault.
Similarly, Open Theists argue, prayer is efficacious precisely because God is not so immutable as we thought. Plead hard enough and He just might change His mind.
Proponents of this view are not without their scriptural proof texts. Throughout the biblical narrative, God appears surprised by earthly events, grieved by unforeseen actions, and influenced by the supplications of men. How to understand this except that God actually is surprised and grieved and influenced?
The fatal flaw of Open Theism, of course, is the interpretive literalism that its arguments require. Gone is any concept of reading Scripture through the eyes of the ancients who produced it—writers who typically used anthropomorphic language to describe the transcendent. After all, God reveals Himself to us in categories that we understand. Why does the Deity of Exodus seem more like a tribal warlord than the Triune God of John’s Gospel? Because the people of that era were tribal and warlike and would have understood nothing else.
Early peoples spoke of the Divine in anthropomorphic terms, for that was what their language allowed them. If we fail to understand this fundamental rule of scriptural interpretation, well, we’ll end up with the small God of Open Theism.
One useful function of Protestantism for Catholics is that it often provides a preview of the theological fads and movements that will eventually work their way into the Church. I’ll make a prediction: In the next five to ten years, Catholics will see Open Theism emerge within our own ranks. Theological liberals—happy to leap onto anything that helps undercut the inviolable nature of dogma—will embrace it wholeheartedly. Some charismatics may also move in that direction, attracted by the notion of a pliable God, tilted here and there through the sheer power of prayer.
And so, our theological battles may well move from the nature of the priesthood or moral law to the very nature of God Himself. The stakes could not be higher.
Homosexuality, Evolution, and Maureen Dowd
Here's the latest update on the things that matter from Brian Saint-Paul and the good folks at CRISIS Magazine.
Homosexuality, Evolution, and Maureen Dowd
Crisis Magazine e-Letter
November 18, 2005
Dear Friend,
I've got a bunch of items I need to bring to your attention, so this letter is going to be a bit of a potpourri. As a masculine man of the manly persuasion, I don't really like using terms like "potpourri"... that's only a little bit better than describing this email as a lively bouquet of brightly colored stories.
Which I'm not going to do.
So potpourri it is.
First up, it looks like the Vatican's statement on homosexuals and seminary admission will be released on November 29. According to those who have seen it -- including Italian newspaper, Il Giornale -- the document will prohibit those who are actively homosexual, participate in the homosexual culture, or demonstrate strong homosexual tendencies from admission. It will, it is reported, leave open the possibility of ordination for those who have same-sex tendencies, but have overcome them for three years.
Predictably, dissenting Catholics and gay rights advocates have gone nuts over this. And some in the media have jumped on board. Take Rachel Zoll of Associated Press, for example. In her story, "On eve of new Vatican rules, gay priests struggle with serving a church that considers them 'disordered,'" she manages to get through an entire article without ever quoting an orthodox Catholic. Indeed, it doesn't look like she even spoke with anyone who supports the Church's position.
But she does take the opportunity to get in a few editorial shots of her own:
"Researchers have estimated that thousands of homosexual clergy across the United States have dedicated their lives to a church that considers them 'intrinsically disordered' and prone to 'evil tendencies.'"
I'm sorry, but is that reporting?
Happily, other journalists have taken the time to get both sides of the story, and I've seen some balanced coverage of the issue in other outlets. A faithful Catholic, after all, doesn't demand media favoritism... just media fairness.
As for the policy itself, it would actually represent a liberalization of the official stance. In 1961, John XXIII clearly barred men with same-sex tendencies from the seminary. This new policy, on the other hand, would open the door for those who support the Church's teachings and have succeeded in living chastely. The key difference, of course, is that Benedict XVI will expect his guidelines to be followed.
Exactly!
* * *The next time you hear people say that the government of China is softening its stance on Catholicism, feel free to roll your eyes.
According to the Vatican, Chinese authorities arrested the Rev. Yang Jianwei and 10 seminarians last Saturday. The priest and four of the young men remain in custody.
This follows the arrest of 70-year old Bishop Jia Zhigou (his eighth arrest in the last year and a half) and Fathers Li Suchuan and Yang Ermeng.
The Chinese government, like so many others throughout history, has failed to learn that when you persecute the Catholic Church, it grows. In the second century, Tertullian noted that, "The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church.
"Let us pray for our brothers and sisters in China. They are bearing a terrible burden.
And be on the lookout for the December issue of Crisis. We have an inside look at the persecution of the Chinese Church through the eyes of one priest who experienced it.
* * *George Coyne, S.J., the director of the Vatican Observatory, has lobbed another cannonball in the direction of the Intelligent Design movement. For my part, I've stayed out of this debate, since I don't frankly know enough about the specific issues to comment comfortably. However, it appears that Rev. Coyne has veered away from the historic Catholic understanding of God.
Take a look at this, from his June article in The Tablet, entitled, "God's Chance Creation":
"The universe is not God and it cannot exist independently of God. Neither pantheism nor naturalism is true. But, if we confront what we know of our origins scientifically with religious faith in God the Creator - if, that is, we take the results of modern science seriously - it is difficult to believe that God is omnipotent and omniscient in the sense of many of the scholastic philosophers." (Emphasis mine. - F.G.)
See how the neo-darwinist theology has infiltrated The Church. This pathetic pinhead of a priest dares to insult the Scholastics? Shame on you, Father.
You can find the entire piece here:
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/register.cgi/tablet-01063
After reading through it, I can't help but be reminded of Open Theism. I wrote about that (and predicted its eventual entry into the Church) in my July Crisis column:
http://www.crisismagazine.com/julaug2005/editorsview.htm
It looks like this devastating error has come even sooner than I expected.
* * *Maureen Dowd, the New York Times columnist, has released another book, "Are Men Necessary? When Sexes Collide." In it, she covers several vital issues, like the fact that she can't find a man willing to date her. (Seriously.)
Heehee. See my take here.
Chances are, you've been successfully ignoring Miss Dowd for some years now.
Carry on.
* * *A final note...
The Apostolic Visitation of the Seminaries is continuing, and I've had the opportunity to speak to a few people involved. Their impression is that this is the real thing. No song and dance this time around.
Amen to that, Brother.
Consider last Friday's sudden resignation of Monsignor Francis Schneider, the rector of the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington, New York. Interestingly enough, the Apostolic Visitation conducted their inspection just a few weeks before his unexpected departure. A spokesman for the bishop told Newsday that, "The inspection did occur a few weeks ago. But Msgr. Schneider's resignation has nothing to do with that."
Right.
From what I've been told, the inspectors seem to have a pretty good idea of which seminaries are in need of closer scrutiny. One seminary with a strong reputation was visited recently, and things went quite smoothly. But another less impressive institution was subjected to a much more rigorous examination.
Very good news, if you ask me.
Amen to all that, Brother.
On that note, have a great weekend,
Brian
**** WHY WON'T THE SELF-HELP GURUS TELL YOU THE TRUTH? ****
What if everything you've been told about happiness is wrong? The self-help movement has turned the subject into a billion-dollar industry.
And yet, those who follow the advice of the feel-good gurus will actually be farther from real happiness than they were before.
Get the facts here:http://www.crisismagazine.com/truth.htm
Remember the Christmas Truce of World War I...
...when the West still lived (barely).
Last allied witness of WWI Christmas truce dies
The last known surviving allied veteran of the Christmas Truce that saw German and British soldiers shake hands between the trenches in World War One died Monday at 109, his parish priest said.
Alfred Anderson was the oldest man in Scotland and the last known surviving Scottish veteran of the war.
"I remember the silence, the eerie sound of silence," he was quoted as saying in the Observer newspaper last year, describing the day-long Christmas Truce of 1914, which began spontaneously when German soldiers sang carols in the trenches, and British soldiers responded in English.
"All I'd heard for two months in the trenches was the hissing, cracking and whining of bullets in flight, machinegun fire and distant German voices. But there was a dead silence that morning across the land as far as you could see.
"We shouted 'Merry Christmas' even though nobody felt merry. The silence ended early in the afternoon and the killing started again."
Troops in the trenches swapped cigarettes, uniform buttons and addresses and even played football in one of the most extraordinary episodes of the war.
Parish priest Neil Gardner of Anderson's Alyth Parish Church in Scotland said he had died in his sleep and was survived by a large family, including 18 great grandchildren and two great great grandchildren.
"He was a wonderful old man: he was gracious, gentle, he had a great sense of humor and a fine sense of wisdom from his experience spanning three centuries," said Gardner, who also served as chaplain to Anderson's regiment, the Black Watch.
Anderson also served briefly as a member of the household staff of Queen Elizabeth's uncle, Fergus Bowes-Lyon.
With Anderson's death, fewer than 10 British veterans of the war remain alive, of whom only three or four were veterans of trench warfare on the Western Front.
Attention has turned to the last survivors in recent weeks, with filmmakers bringing out documentaries in time for this month's Armistice Day holiday, marking the day the guns fell silent on November 11, 1918.
Another reason why we should stick to the Douay-Rheims Bible...
...or, Please bring ScripTours back!
Since today's first reading is Zechariah 2:14-17, and the Douay-Rheims version has the verses in Zacharias Chapter 2 only numbered to 13, and I am heavily medicated, this whole thing is driving me nuts!
I suppose I should be thankful not to be a member of a "church" suffering under a "gender" neutral translation. (Yet.) "Our Parent, who is upstairs", indeed.
Here is the Second Book of Zacharias from the Douay-Rheims Bible, each verse in English first, then Latin.
2:1. And I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold a man, with a measuring line in his hand. Et levavi oculos meos et vidi et ecce vir et in manu eius funiculus mensorum
2:2. And I said: Whither goest thou? and he said to me: To measure Jerusalem, and to see how great is the breadth thereof, and how great the length thereof. Et dixi quo tu vadis et dixit ad me ut metiar Hierusalem et videam quanta sit latitudo eius et quanta longitudo eius
2:3. And behold the angel that spoke in me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him. Et ecce angelus qui loquebatur in me egrediebatur et angelus alius egrediebatur in occursum eius
2:4. And he said to him: Run, speak to this young man, saying: Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls, by reason of the multitude of men, and of the beasts in the midst thereof.* Et dixit ad eum curre loquere ad puerum istum dicens absque muro habitabitur Hierusalem prae multitudine hominum et iumentorum in medio eius
2:5. And I will be to it, saith the Lord, a wall of fire round about: and I will be in glory in the midst thereof. Et ego ero ei ait Dominus murus ignis in circuitu et in gloria ero in medio eius
2:6. O, O flee ye out of the land of the north, saith the Lord, for I have scattered you into the four winds of heaven, saith the Lord. O o fugite de terra aquilonis dicit Dominus quoniam in quattuor ventos caeli dispersi vos dicit Dominus
2:7. O Sion, flee, thou that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon: O Sion fuge quae habitas apud filiam Babylonis
2:8. For thus saith the Lord of hosts: After the glory he hath sent me to the nations that have robbed you: for he that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of my eye: Quia haec dicit Dominus exercituum post gloriam misit me ad gentes quae spoliaverunt vos qui enim tetigerit vos tangit pupillam oculi eius
2:9. For behold, I lift up my hand upon them, and they shall be a prey to those that served them: and you shall know that the Lord of hosts sent me. Quia ecce ego levo manum meam super eos et erunt praedae his qui serviebant sibi et cognoscetis quia Dominus exercituum misit me
2:10. Sing praise, and rejoice, O daughter of Sion: for behold I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee: saith the Lord. Lauda et laetare filia Sion quia ecce ego venio et habitabo in medio tui ait Dominus
2:11. And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and they shall be my people, and I will dwell in the midst of thee: and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me to thee. Et adplicabuntur gentes multae ad Dominum in die illa et erunt mihi in populum et habitabo in medio tui et scies quia Dominus exercituum misit me ad te
2:12. And the Lord shall possess Juda his portion in the sanctified land: and he shall yet choose Jerusalem. Et possidebit Dominus Iudam partem suam in terra sanctificata et eliget adhuc Hierusalem
2:13. Let all flesh be silent at the presence of the Lord: for he is risen up out of his holy habitation. Sileat omnis caro a facie Domini quia consurrexit de habitaculo sancto suo
Here is the Second Book of Zecariah from the New American Bible:
1
1 I raised my eyes and looked; there were four horns.
2
Then I asked the angel who spoke with me what these were. He answered me, "These are the horns that scattered Judah and Israel and Jerusalem."
3
Then the LORD showed me four blacksmiths. And I asked, "What are these coming to do?"
4
And he said, "Here are the horns that scattered Judah, so that no man raised his head any more; but these have come to terrify them: to cast down the horns of the nations that raised their horns to scatter the land of Judah."
5
Again I raised my eyes and looked: there was a man with a measuring line in his hand.
6
"Where are you going?" I asked. "To measure Jerusalem," he answered; "to see how great is its width and how great its length."
7
Then the angel who spoke with me advanced, and another angel came out to meet him,
8
2 and said to him, "Run, tell this to that young man: People will live in Jerusalem as though in open country, because of the multitude of men and beasts in her midst.
9
But I will be for her an encircling wall of fire, says the LORD, and I will be the glory in her midst."
10
3 Up, up! Flee from the land of the north, says the LORD; for I scatter you to the four winds of heaven, says the LORD.
11
Up, escape to Zion! you who dwell in daughter Babylon.
12
For thus said the LORD of hosts (after he had already sent me) concerning the nations that have plundered you: Whoever touches you touches the apple of my eye.
13
See, I wave my hand over them; they become plunder for their slaves. Thus you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me.
14
Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! See, I am coming to dwell among you, says the LORD.
15
Many nations shall join themselves to the LORD on that day, and they shall be his people, and he will dwell among you, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.
16
The LORD will possess Judah as his portion of the holy land, and he will again choose Jerusalem.
17
Silence, all mankind, in the presence of the LORD! for he stirs forth from his holy dwelling.
So, congressthing, exactly how much meth do you suppose I could make with 24 Sudafed pills?
Yes, kiddies, Your Humble Servant was knocked out by a killer cold from Thursday until now. (I'm still at only 75% of my usual idiocy, though.) No football picks, no insightful comments on current events, no nothin'.
It seems as I age, these things hit me harder. This does not bode well for the future.
As for the Sudafed reference above, just you wait. Some day you'll see what I mean.
Saint of the Day and daily Mass readings.
Today is the Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Pray for us, all you angels and saints.
Today's reading is Zechariah 2:14-17.
Today's Gospel reading is Matthew 12:46-50.
Ack! ScripTours is gone!
Everyday links:
The Blessed Virgin Mary
The Rosary
Our Mother of Perpetual Help
Prayers from EWTN
National Coalition of Clergy and Laity (dedicated to action for a genuine Catholic Restoration)
The Catholic Calendar Page for Today
Just in case you are wondering what exactly Catholics believe, here is
The Apostles Creed
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son Our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen.
Memorare
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that any one who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession,was left unaided.Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins my Mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful; O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy clemency hear and answer me. Amen.
St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse, pray for us.
Prayer to Saint Anthony, Martyr of Desire
Dear St. Anthony, you became a Franciscan with the hope of shedding your blood for Christ. In God's plan for you, your thirst for martyrdom was never to be satisfied. St. Anthony, Martyr of Desire, pray that I may become less afraid to stand up and be counted as a follower of the Lord Jesus. Intercede also for my other intentions. (Name them.)
PRAYER TO SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL
St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the divine power, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
About Me
- TheChurchMilitant
- First of all, the word is SEX, not GENDER. If you are ever tempted to use the word GENDER, don't. The word is SEX! SEX! SEX! SEX! For example: "My sex is male." is correct. "My gender is male." means nothing. Look it up. What kind of sick neo-Puritan nonsense is this? Idiot left-fascists, get your blood-soaked paws off the English language. Hence I am choosing "male" under protest.