Heh.
Belling is fond of ranting that the MSM often "controls" the news by NOT reporting some things.
So today, he begins his show with 'the three biggest stories' in the news, telling us that they are both "business news" stories.
First he yaps about Midwest Air going bye-bye. (Scroll)
Then he yaps about Aurora purchasing a physicians' group. (Scroll)
Then he mentions that Murdoch will buy the Wall Street Journal.
What's missing?
How about a local firm writing off up to ONE BILLION DOLLARS on the subprime mortgage market?
Well, it can't be a big story if one still peddles the "everything's rosy" line...
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Definition: Liberal
Tom Roeser's work:
[W]hat liberalism really is: a love of means without appreciation of ends.
Found in his essay defining Fitzgerald as a Liberal (and writing off Fred!!!)
[W]hat liberalism really is: a love of means without appreciation of ends.
Found in his essay defining Fitzgerald as a Liberal (and writing off Fred!!!)
A Curious Historical Fact
Man With a Black Hat has an interesting and curious fact about the old "People's Mass Book."
Read it here.
What bothers me is that I did not recall this...
Read it here.
What bothers me is that I did not recall this...
The Motu Proprio "Won't Make a Difference Here"--Really?
A number of US Bishops have commented that the Motu Proprio allowing the 1962 Missal (the Old Rite, or Joannine Rite) will 'not make a difference' in the way things are, because 'nobody has brought it up.'
Well, "nobody" except young priests.
Two traditional priestly societies dedicated to the rite report that priests from all over the country are signing up in droves for weeklong classes to learn the rituals and language of the Mass, named after the 16th-century Council of Trent.
Monsignor Michael Schmitz, vicar-general of the Florence, Italy-based Institute of Christ the King, said he has received hundreds of calls from interested clergy.
"This is a nationwide phenomenon," he said. "Many more parish priests and younger priests are interested in learning to celebrate the Latin Mass.
"Whenever the Latin rite is celebrated, you get many young people," he added. "They are looking for something that speaks to the soul, and the beauty of the liturgy is awe-inspiring. The heartfelt presence of God really affects them."
The Elmhurst, Pa.-based Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter trained 50 priests on performing the rite this summer at its Our Lady of Guadalupe seminary in Denton, Neb.
Its September session is already full and its Elmhurst bookstore got a "big upsurge" in demand for priestly training materials within two days of the announcement, said the Rev. Carl Gismondi, a Fraternity priest studying theology at the Dominican House in the District.
Yah, hey. Try to order a Vademecum from the FSSP and you discover that it is out-of-stock. (The Vademecum contains the calendar and order-of-celebration (ordo) for every day of the Church year.)
While I agree with the Bishops that the MP will not cause some massive flight to the Joannine Rite, it ought to be clear from the above that it is certainly not another "dead letter from Rome" in the minds of young priests.
Straws In The Wind!!
HT: LACatholic
Well, "nobody" except young priests.
Two traditional priestly societies dedicated to the rite report that priests from all over the country are signing up in droves for weeklong classes to learn the rituals and language of the Mass, named after the 16th-century Council of Trent.
Monsignor Michael Schmitz, vicar-general of the Florence, Italy-based Institute of Christ the King, said he has received hundreds of calls from interested clergy.
"This is a nationwide phenomenon," he said. "Many more parish priests and younger priests are interested in learning to celebrate the Latin Mass.
"Whenever the Latin rite is celebrated, you get many young people," he added. "They are looking for something that speaks to the soul, and the beauty of the liturgy is awe-inspiring. The heartfelt presence of God really affects them."
The Elmhurst, Pa.-based Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter trained 50 priests on performing the rite this summer at its Our Lady of Guadalupe seminary in Denton, Neb.
Its September session is already full and its Elmhurst bookstore got a "big upsurge" in demand for priestly training materials within two days of the announcement, said the Rev. Carl Gismondi, a Fraternity priest studying theology at the Dominican House in the District.
Yah, hey. Try to order a Vademecum from the FSSP and you discover that it is out-of-stock. (The Vademecum contains the calendar and order-of-celebration (ordo) for every day of the Church year.)
While I agree with the Bishops that the MP will not cause some massive flight to the Joannine Rite, it ought to be clear from the above that it is certainly not another "dead letter from Rome" in the minds of young priests.
Straws In The Wind!!
HT: LACatholic
Canon 767 and Bp. Sklba
In a column which intends to make a spoonful of "lay administrators" go down one way or the other, Bp. Sklba writes the following:
The importance of preaching in the pastoral shaping of a parish community is a given for anyone who has ever filled that role. This poses challenges, given our present liturgical laws.
The "liturgical law" happens to be Canon 767. Diogenes mentions that little 'challenge':
Notice the little zinger in the last line? The "present liturgical laws" the bishop refers to is, in reality, Canon 767, by which the homily is reserved to a priest or a deacon, which in turn reflects an unbroken Catholic practice with theological roots in Romans 10 ("How shall men believe him, of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear, without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they be sent?" vv 14f). Clearly Sklba feels the "challenges" posed by the doctrine of Holy Orders can be overcome with a little pastoral creativity.
The Bishop gets to the edge and looks over...
We do not see that "creative" implementations of C.767 are easily found.
The importance of preaching in the pastoral shaping of a parish community is a given for anyone who has ever filled that role. This poses challenges, given our present liturgical laws.
The "liturgical law" happens to be Canon 767. Diogenes mentions that little 'challenge':
Notice the little zinger in the last line? The "present liturgical laws" the bishop refers to is, in reality, Canon 767, by which the homily is reserved to a priest or a deacon, which in turn reflects an unbroken Catholic practice with theological roots in Romans 10 ("How shall men believe him, of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear, without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they be sent?" vv 14f). Clearly Sklba feels the "challenges" posed by the doctrine of Holy Orders can be overcome with a little pastoral creativity.
The Bishop gets to the edge and looks over...
We do not see that "creative" implementations of C.767 are easily found.
Good Questions on Police Procedures
Balko has a few interesting observations on a Florida case.
Singletary, you'll remember, is the elderly man in Florida who, upon seeing drug dealers on his lawn, came out with a gun to scare them off.
Unfortunately, they weren't drug dealers, but undercover cops posing as drug dealers. They shot Singletary dead. Even the police and town officials concede that Singletary was involved in no criminal activity, and was merely attempting to protect his property from what he thought were criminals.
It now looks like the cops who killed Singletary won't face criminal charges. I'm a bit conflicted on this one. But if there are no criminal charges, there should at least be some disciplinary action, at least if that "new professionalism" Justice Scalia was telling us about means anything at all.
The disturbing parts of this case:
The undercover narcotics officers were trespassing on Singletary's private property. And they were doing so to engage in drug activity. I doubt this is legal. And if it is, it shouldn't be. Unless they have a warrant, and are investigating Singletary himself (they weren't).
The state's attorney investigation found the police actions justified because Singletary "was an armed civilian who refused orders to drop his gun." But the same report criticized the police for not announcing themselves as police before they fired on Singletary. If both of these things are true, then the state's attorney is saying Singletary should have obeyed orders to drop his gun from armed men he understandably believed were dangerous, and trespassing on his property. If Florida's new home defense law means anything at all, one would think it would mean the right to hold your ground when armed men are on your property.
Singletary was shot four times. Once in the back.
The state's attorney chose to believe police accounts of who fired first (they say Singletary) over the account of a witness who says the police fired first, because the witness is a convicted drug dealer. Seems reasonable. Except when you consider that (a) one of the police investigators changed his story about who fired first, (b) attorneys for Singletary's family have found four other witnesses who contradict the police account (why didn't the investigator talk to these people?), and (c) police take the word of convicted drug dealers as gold all the time when it comes to securing warrants for drug raids, or to prosecute other drug dealers.
Just as an aside, why isn't the National Rifle Association all over this case? I've been told they won't get involved in the Cory Maye case because of the minuscule amount of marijuana (a burnt roach) found in Maye's apartment. But Singletary was an innocent man gunned down for defending his home from what he thought were criminal trespassers. Isn't what he did what the NRA is all about?
Balko holds the Libertarian position that the "War on Drugs" is inane and silly. I don't share that view.
But they're interesting questions, anyway.
Singletary, you'll remember, is the elderly man in Florida who, upon seeing drug dealers on his lawn, came out with a gun to scare them off.
Unfortunately, they weren't drug dealers, but undercover cops posing as drug dealers. They shot Singletary dead. Even the police and town officials concede that Singletary was involved in no criminal activity, and was merely attempting to protect his property from what he thought were criminals.
It now looks like the cops who killed Singletary won't face criminal charges. I'm a bit conflicted on this one. But if there are no criminal charges, there should at least be some disciplinary action, at least if that "new professionalism" Justice Scalia was telling us about means anything at all.
The disturbing parts of this case:
The undercover narcotics officers were trespassing on Singletary's private property. And they were doing so to engage in drug activity. I doubt this is legal. And if it is, it shouldn't be. Unless they have a warrant, and are investigating Singletary himself (they weren't).
The state's attorney investigation found the police actions justified because Singletary "was an armed civilian who refused orders to drop his gun." But the same report criticized the police for not announcing themselves as police before they fired on Singletary. If both of these things are true, then the state's attorney is saying Singletary should have obeyed orders to drop his gun from armed men he understandably believed were dangerous, and trespassing on his property. If Florida's new home defense law means anything at all, one would think it would mean the right to hold your ground when armed men are on your property.
Singletary was shot four times. Once in the back.
The state's attorney chose to believe police accounts of who fired first (they say Singletary) over the account of a witness who says the police fired first, because the witness is a convicted drug dealer. Seems reasonable. Except when you consider that (a) one of the police investigators changed his story about who fired first, (b) attorneys for Singletary's family have found four other witnesses who contradict the police account (why didn't the investigator talk to these people?), and (c) police take the word of convicted drug dealers as gold all the time when it comes to securing warrants for drug raids, or to prosecute other drug dealers.
Just as an aside, why isn't the National Rifle Association all over this case? I've been told they won't get involved in the Cory Maye case because of the minuscule amount of marijuana (a burnt roach) found in Maye's apartment. But Singletary was an innocent man gunned down for defending his home from what he thought were criminal trespassers. Isn't what he did what the NRA is all about?
Balko holds the Libertarian position that the "War on Drugs" is inane and silly. I don't share that view.
But they're interesting questions, anyway.
The Shark Favors Impeachment of GWB!!
Heh.
The Shark puts the spotlight on Feingold's hypocrisy:
...actually, if the President and Vice President lied their way into a war, an impeachment trial is precisely what is required. Heck, I'd support it. Feingold wants to accuse Bush and Cheney of treason without having to do anything about it. He wants to brand the President of the United States a criminal without being bothered to prove it. By divorcing accusations from consequence, his call for censure is nothing but a political trick.
Shocked!!! Shocked, I say, Rick!
The Shark puts the spotlight on Feingold's hypocrisy:
...actually, if the President and Vice President lied their way into a war, an impeachment trial is precisely what is required. Heck, I'd support it. Feingold wants to accuse Bush and Cheney of treason without having to do anything about it. He wants to brand the President of the United States a criminal without being bothered to prove it. By divorcing accusations from consequence, his call for censure is nothing but a political trick.
Shocked!!! Shocked, I say, Rick!
Charlie Likes Lubar's Idea; Right Start, Wrong End
Charlie likes Shel Lubar's thoughts on 'the problem with Milwaukee.' (Note the endorsement of a sister-concept discussed here on Jay's blog, which should be a warning...)
After Lubar makes the obvious point--that education is important and that it ain't happening here--he goes on to ask for another layer of bureaucracy:
"...Something that I do believe is a solution, and I'm bringing this out for the first time . . . a Milwaukee metropolitan fiscal control board. A board that would have as its purpose the final approval of annual budgets of these entities: No. 1, the Milwaukee Public Schools. No. 2, MATC, or if this board didn't govern it, you could at least delegate it to the board of regents. They already make 30% or 35% more than the people at the University of Wisconsin who do have higher degrees.
The Milwaukee sewerage commission. The Wisconsin Center. The Miller Park stadium authority. . . . We've got to revise this whole governance system, and I don't think you'll find an elected person that will disagree."
Shel Lubar's been around for a long time, and is a Democrat Party regular, having been part of the Kennedy/Johnson Administration at FHA. He's a very smart guy (I met him once in the late 1960's/early 1970's and he's smart enough to have stayed away from me ever since...)
But that doesn't make him right on this suggestion.
Lubar begins with the premise that there's a lot of fiscal stupidity being practiced out there by various Gummints in the metro area. Who could disagree?
However, what Lubar SEEMS to be proposing is an un-elected Board which will (effectively) have the power to tax, or at least to control spending. The Board, as he described it, will have authority over multi-municipality and multi-county fiscal issues.
While I am certain that the idea is well-intentioned, it is, nonetheless, a shocking rejection of the principle of subsidiarity which was enshrined in the 9th/10th Amendments to the Constitution.
In brief, the principle states that 'problems should be resolved at the lowest possible level of governance.' In theory and application, 'governance' is not even required--neighbors should resolve barking-dog and lot-line disputes between themselves, if at all possible, and only after that has failed should the dispute be escalated--but then only to the next-highest level, which might be either the local cops or alderman.
You get the idea.
Lubar's 'corporate' background and methods shows here. In many (not all) successful corporate enterprises, there are lots of subsidiary businesses, but all of them get their major spending requests approved by the Big Guy CFO over at HQ. It's a model which works because the Corporate biggies are then all on the same page regarding revenue/spending/ROI, etc.
The problem is that Gummints are not 'corporate entities.' Gummints should be efficient at what they do, similar to corporations--but that's a matter of the honor and integrity of elected officials. Many Gummint operations are simply not "ROI"-measured in the strict sense.
(There's plenty of room for argument and for more precise definitions of the terms but this is a blog, not a dissertation...........)
Lubar proposes to place a group of un-elected people as more-or-less 'watchdogs' over elected people, which is precisely the BEST way to encourage more irresponsibility from the elected officials. ("It's not our call/fault/problem: it's the Board's!!") The State of Wisconsin's Legislature has a penchant for mucking around in local issues (see, e.g., the whole labrynth of "aid to schools" for an example) and has thus fostered the growth and sophistication of the "pass-the-buck" memo to unimagined heights.
Shel and Charlie want MORE of this?
Sorry, Charlie--I can't buy it, despite the goodwill and the temptation to choke the living s&^% out of those elected bozos.....
Eggster agrees, so it's unanimous.
After Lubar makes the obvious point--that education is important and that it ain't happening here--he goes on to ask for another layer of bureaucracy:
"...Something that I do believe is a solution, and I'm bringing this out for the first time . . . a Milwaukee metropolitan fiscal control board. A board that would have as its purpose the final approval of annual budgets of these entities: No. 1, the Milwaukee Public Schools. No. 2, MATC, or if this board didn't govern it, you could at least delegate it to the board of regents. They already make 30% or 35% more than the people at the University of Wisconsin who do have higher degrees.
The Milwaukee sewerage commission. The Wisconsin Center. The Miller Park stadium authority. . . . We've got to revise this whole governance system, and I don't think you'll find an elected person that will disagree."
Shel Lubar's been around for a long time, and is a Democrat Party regular, having been part of the Kennedy/Johnson Administration at FHA. He's a very smart guy (I met him once in the late 1960's/early 1970's and he's smart enough to have stayed away from me ever since...)
But that doesn't make him right on this suggestion.
Lubar begins with the premise that there's a lot of fiscal stupidity being practiced out there by various Gummints in the metro area. Who could disagree?
However, what Lubar SEEMS to be proposing is an un-elected Board which will (effectively) have the power to tax, or at least to control spending. The Board, as he described it, will have authority over multi-municipality and multi-county fiscal issues.
While I am certain that the idea is well-intentioned, it is, nonetheless, a shocking rejection of the principle of subsidiarity which was enshrined in the 9th/10th Amendments to the Constitution.
In brief, the principle states that 'problems should be resolved at the lowest possible level of governance.' In theory and application, 'governance' is not even required--neighbors should resolve barking-dog and lot-line disputes between themselves, if at all possible, and only after that has failed should the dispute be escalated--but then only to the next-highest level, which might be either the local cops or alderman.
You get the idea.
Lubar's 'corporate' background and methods shows here. In many (not all) successful corporate enterprises, there are lots of subsidiary businesses, but all of them get their major spending requests approved by the Big Guy CFO over at HQ. It's a model which works because the Corporate biggies are then all on the same page regarding revenue/spending/ROI, etc.
The problem is that Gummints are not 'corporate entities.' Gummints should be efficient at what they do, similar to corporations--but that's a matter of the honor and integrity of elected officials. Many Gummint operations are simply not "ROI"-measured in the strict sense.
(There's plenty of room for argument and for more precise definitions of the terms but this is a blog, not a dissertation...........)
Lubar proposes to place a group of un-elected people as more-or-less 'watchdogs' over elected people, which is precisely the BEST way to encourage more irresponsibility from the elected officials. ("It's not our call/fault/problem: it's the Board's!!") The State of Wisconsin's Legislature has a penchant for mucking around in local issues (see, e.g., the whole labrynth of "aid to schools" for an example) and has thus fostered the growth and sophistication of the "pass-the-buck" memo to unimagined heights.
Shel and Charlie want MORE of this?
Sorry, Charlie--I can't buy it, despite the goodwill and the temptation to choke the living s&^% out of those elected bozos.....
Eggster agrees, so it's unanimous.
Mind-Numbed-Robot Partisans
Uh, guys, we checked, and it ain't the Pubbies (with one exception...)
In fact, the Democrats take nine of the top ten partisan spots, as well as scoring 8 points higher in partisanship as a party. The lone Republican ties for first, though:
100% - Charlie Norwood (R-GA)100%
- Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) 99.7%
- Nita Lowey (D-NY)99.4%
- Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-CA)99.1%
- Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)98.9%
- Xavier Bacerra (D-CA)98.7%
- Diana DeGetter (D-CO)98.6%
- Gary Ackerman (D-NY)98.6%
- Hilda Solis (D-CA)98.6%
- Ellen Tauscher (D-CA)98.6%
- Al Wynn (D-MD)
And it gets even worse:
After Norwood, the next Republican comes in at 94.8%. JoAnn Davis (R-VA) ...comes in at #174 on the list of partisans -- which means that Democrats occupy all of the previous 173 slots, of those among the living, anyway.
Similarly, the Senate:
the Democrats sweep the Top Ten Partisans again:
97.8% - Dick Durbin (D-IL)
97.1% - Ben Cardin (D-MD)
97.1% - Daniel Inouye (D-HI)
97.1% - Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)
97.0% - Joe Biden (D-DE)
97.0% - Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
96.7% - Jack Reed (D-RI)
96.7% - Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
96.6% - Hillary Clinton (D-NY)
96.6% - Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
When all you can read without adult assistance is the talking points, whaddya expect?
HT: The Captain
In fact, the Democrats take nine of the top ten partisan spots, as well as scoring 8 points higher in partisanship as a party. The lone Republican ties for first, though:
100% - Charlie Norwood (R-GA)100%
- Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) 99.7%
- Nita Lowey (D-NY)99.4%
- Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-CA)99.1%
- Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)98.9%
- Xavier Bacerra (D-CA)98.7%
- Diana DeGetter (D-CO)98.6%
- Gary Ackerman (D-NY)98.6%
- Hilda Solis (D-CA)98.6%
- Ellen Tauscher (D-CA)98.6%
- Al Wynn (D-MD)
And it gets even worse:
After Norwood, the next Republican comes in at 94.8%. JoAnn Davis (R-VA) ...comes in at #174 on the list of partisans -- which means that Democrats occupy all of the previous 173 slots, of those among the living, anyway.
Similarly, the Senate:
the Democrats sweep the Top Ten Partisans again:
97.8% - Dick Durbin (D-IL)
97.1% - Ben Cardin (D-MD)
97.1% - Daniel Inouye (D-HI)
97.1% - Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)
97.0% - Joe Biden (D-DE)
97.0% - Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
96.7% - Jack Reed (D-RI)
96.7% - Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
96.6% - Hillary Clinton (D-NY)
96.6% - Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
When all you can read without adult assistance is the talking points, whaddya expect?
HT: The Captain
The Reality of Che Guevara
Reality and myth are very different.
He was the chief executioner. He performed for the Cuban revolution what Heinrich Himmler performed for the Nazis. Everything Che Guevara did was directed by Fidel Castro. Early on, when they were in the mountains, Castro realized that Che seemed to relish executing little farm boys. There were executions carried out, carried out in the mountains, of so-called informers. I interviewed many people who witnessed those executions. There was no due process.
Che Guevara wrote a letter to his father in 1957 and to his abandoned wife. In the letter to her, he wrote, "I'm here in Cuba's hills, alive and thirsting for blood." Then, to his father, "I really like killing." The man was a clinical sadist, whereas Fidel Castro you could describe as a psychopath in that the murders did not affect him one way or the other. It was a means to an end - the consolidation of his one-man rule. Che has a famous quote, where he wrote, a revolutionary has to become "a cold killing machine." The thing was, Che Guevara was anything but cold. He was a warm killing machine. He relished the slaughter.
So much for the T-shirt idol...
HT: Betsy
He was the chief executioner. He performed for the Cuban revolution what Heinrich Himmler performed for the Nazis. Everything Che Guevara did was directed by Fidel Castro. Early on, when they were in the mountains, Castro realized that Che seemed to relish executing little farm boys. There were executions carried out, carried out in the mountains, of so-called informers. I interviewed many people who witnessed those executions. There was no due process.
Che Guevara wrote a letter to his father in 1957 and to his abandoned wife. In the letter to her, he wrote, "I'm here in Cuba's hills, alive and thirsting for blood." Then, to his father, "I really like killing." The man was a clinical sadist, whereas Fidel Castro you could describe as a psychopath in that the murders did not affect him one way or the other. It was a means to an end - the consolidation of his one-man rule. Che has a famous quote, where he wrote, a revolutionary has to become "a cold killing machine." The thing was, Che Guevara was anything but cold. He was a warm killing machine. He relished the slaughter.
So much for the T-shirt idol...
HT: Betsy
Now, Children!! Into the Corner! Behave!!!
A newbie Milwaukee School Board member puts it in writing:
"Go to hell. . . . Don't fax me (expletive). Bruce, grow up, you stupid idiot. You are truly an arrogant (expletive). You didn't elect me and you are not my slave master."
Maybe a 'time-out' is required?
"Go to hell. . . . Don't fax me (expletive). Bruce, grow up, you stupid idiot. You are truly an arrogant (expletive). You didn't elect me and you are not my slave master."
Maybe a 'time-out' is required?
Massive Force Works
We'll give Nan and Tom some credit:
An anti-crime initiative that put Milwaukee police on patrol in some of the city's most dangerous neighborhoods this summer received credit on Monday for a nearly 22% drop in non-fatal shootings as well as a decrease in overall homicides during 2007.
Police noted that between Jan. 6 and July 29 this year, there have been 275 non-fatal shootings, down from 351 during the same period in 2006.
That is key.
Other figures included 110 firearms recovered, 50 of those involving felons possessing firearms.
"Felon-in-possession" can also be prosecuted at the Federal level, due to the hard work of the NRA. It's a Federal crime for a felon to have as little as one bullet in his possession, not to mention the weapon which fires it.
The neighborhood folks understand reality 101:
Residents in the latest targeted area said that although more patrols have put troublemakers on notice, consistency is needed in the program to keep the community safe.
That 'consistency' is also (generally) known as the Broken Windows Method. Now the question: can the MPD execute 'Broken Windows' for less than $2 million in extra spending?
An anti-crime initiative that put Milwaukee police on patrol in some of the city's most dangerous neighborhoods this summer received credit on Monday for a nearly 22% drop in non-fatal shootings as well as a decrease in overall homicides during 2007.
Police noted that between Jan. 6 and July 29 this year, there have been 275 non-fatal shootings, down from 351 during the same period in 2006.
That is key.
Other figures included 110 firearms recovered, 50 of those involving felons possessing firearms.
"Felon-in-possession" can also be prosecuted at the Federal level, due to the hard work of the NRA. It's a Federal crime for a felon to have as little as one bullet in his possession, not to mention the weapon which fires it.
The neighborhood folks understand reality 101:
Residents in the latest targeted area said that although more patrols have put troublemakers on notice, consistency is needed in the program to keep the community safe.
That 'consistency' is also (generally) known as the Broken Windows Method. Now the question: can the MPD execute 'Broken Windows' for less than $2 million in extra spending?
Nuclear Waste Hits Milwaukee
The term "nuclear waste" is used to describe mortgages gone bad. It's now spread to the corner of Kilbourn and Water in Milwaukee.
The nation's subprime mortgage problems slammed into Milwaukee-based mortgage insurance giant MGIC Investment Corp. and its partner, which announced Monday they might have to write off their entire $1.03 billion investment in a company that backs such loans.
"MGIC has not determined the range of an impairment charge, although the upper boundary of the range could be MGIC's entire investment," the company said.
"I am not surprised that companies with subprime exposure, whether it be through an entity like this or a direct investment, are having trouble," said Terence Pavlic, president of Pavlic Investment Advisors Inc., Delafield. "When somebody is writing off up to $500 million, that is usually bad. It means something went wrong and value is being destroyed."
It doesn't take an investment advisor to point out that $500 million is a lotta bucks.
The nation's subprime mortgage problems slammed into Milwaukee-based mortgage insurance giant MGIC Investment Corp. and its partner, which announced Monday they might have to write off their entire $1.03 billion investment in a company that backs such loans.
"MGIC has not determined the range of an impairment charge, although the upper boundary of the range could be MGIC's entire investment," the company said.
"I am not surprised that companies with subprime exposure, whether it be through an entity like this or a direct investment, are having trouble," said Terence Pavlic, president of Pavlic Investment Advisors Inc., Delafield. "When somebody is writing off up to $500 million, that is usually bad. It means something went wrong and value is being destroyed."
It doesn't take an investment advisor to point out that $500 million is a lotta bucks.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Rita Ferrone Rants on The Motu Proprio
Rita Ferrone is a resident of Mt. Vernon, N.Y., where she lives with her husband, Philip Swoboda, a professor of Russian history at Sarah Lawrence College. She is author of "Sourcebook for Sundays and Seasons, 2006," and the monograph "On the Rite of Election," and co-author of the "Foundations in Faith" series for RCIA teams. She is currently working on two new books, "Rediscovering Vatican II: The Liturgy" and a pastoral commentary on the Easter Vigil, and is a member of the faculty of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians. She is also a professor at Yale Divinity School.
With that out of the way, let's see what Ms. Ferrone has to say.
It was not the intention of Vatican II, or of the popes who implemented it, to create a situation in which two forms of the Roman rite would exist side by side.
Nor was their intention the 100% vernacular Mass, nor the dumping of all sacred music written before 1969, nor the bizarre 'on-the-fly' stuff we see far too often...
The liturgical reform of the council was intended as a true reform, addressing genuine problems of the old liturgy for the good of the church as a whole. Now, with the stroke of a pen, Pope Benedict has made that reform optional.
"Optional?" What's "ordinary" is "optional"? Right on, sistuh!
Individual priests may use the preconciliar rites at will, and groups of the faithful who ask for celebrations according to the preconciliar norms may not be refused them.
Accurate.
...A small but vocal group of Catholics began to call for a “reform of the reform” of the liturgy for the church across the board. They are not schismatics, like the Lefebvrites, but they are interested in the restoration of Tridentine liturgical forms and the marginalization of the reformed liturgy. They found a champion and supporter in the future Benedict XVI.
In fairness, only a "small but vocal" group was calling for vernacular, folk-music, and several hundred options/mutations/permutations of the Rite AFTER the Council. That "small but vocal" group was the Bugnini Consilium. Surprised Ms. Ferrone didn't mention that...
The most visible proponent of this agenda was Msgr. Klaus Gamber of the liturgical institute in Regensburg, Germany. He became known outside scholarly circles when he published a popular book in 1984, which appeared in English in 1993 under the title The Reform of the Roman Liturgy. Gamber did not reject the council. He regarded the liturgical movement leading up to the council as a generally positive phenomenon
Of course, there IS a "rest of the story" here, too. Regensburg just happens to be the location of the Liturgical Reform's home--the Reform movement which began in the late 1800's. So it's not as though Mgr Gamber was dropped into the controversy from Mars or someplace...
Gamber also expressed a definite view about the current Mass. He wanted it not to be considered the Roman rite, but merely retained as a rite ad experimentum until it dies out. Ratzinger found these extreme views congenial, and oddly enough, deemed them moderate
Really? I have read all of Cdl. R's writings on the topic of liturgy, and never have come across a statement that 'Mgr Gamber's motion to let the New Rite die out is moderate.' Never.
Another partisan of the “reform of the reform,” Alcuin Reid, OSB, of Farnborough, England, published The Organic Development of the Liturgy in 2004. In giving a positive review to Reid’s book, Ratzinger voiced some of his own views on liturgical reform. He opined that scholars and experts were heeded too much after the council,...
Look at the Consilium's roster of members. The Cardinal was correct.
Indeed, the traditionalists Benedict wants to conciliate do not simply reject the Mass of Paul VI-they reject the conciliar theology it embodies. The Society of St. Pius X published a defense of their position in 2001, ...
The invocation of SSPX is a red herring and a red-flag-before-the-bull device. Beyond that, Ms. Ferrone implies that there is some sort of "new" theology proposed by the Council's document. Of course, if one READS the Document on the Liturgy (SC), this "new" theo is not evident. Hmmmmmm.
All the rest of her flapjaw outlining the position of SSPX is irrelevant to the real discussion. She may as well be quoting the Dalai Lama.
...other core values of the council are called into question by the pope’s move to reestablish the Tridentine rites. The council emphasized the role of Scripture in the life of the church, and this value was richly reflected in the liturgical reform.
This is a valid point, to some extent. Ms Ferrone does not mention that the "translation" provided by ICEL is alternatively inaccurate, banal, childish, or exculpatory of non-PC thoughts. And that's just the easy part. She also fails to mention that the OT/NT/NT 3-year cycle used in the New Rite was not reconciled with the Propers of the Mass, nor is it necessarily "internally consistent"--that is, that the NT readings do not, consistently, reflect the OT readings. It would be very encouraging if Ms. Ferrone had endorsed a better translation, or a much-better-studied implementation of the new readings cycle.
Benedict XVI’s motu proprio implies that none of this, [expanded cycle of readings] in the end, is essential or even very important.
A ludicrous assertion, unless she actually knows the entire plan of the Pope. Which I doubt.
Before the council, women were forbidden to serve in liturgical ministries. They were kept outside the sanctuary-a very old taboo perceived by many today as sexist and out of keeping with our sense of the dignity of the baptized. This prohibition was ended after Vatican II. The third directive on the right implementation of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Liturgicae instaurationes, 1970), admitted women to various liturgical ministries which are exercised in the sanctuary-such as that of reader or musician
Not precisely true. Pius XII's legislation on the composition of church choirs (1955) paved the way for "ministries" which were not "ordained"--occupied by lay men OR women. But more to the point, Ms Ferrone attempts to conjure up the Spirits of Feminist Equality here. Like some other conjured spirits, they are out of place in a serious discussion of ecclesiology...
There was no catechumenate in the Tridentine church, despite a crying need around the world for this liturgical structure of evangelization and formation. How can we deprive adult converts of the catechumenate-which canon law now requires them to have?
So the book "Father Brown Instructs Jackson" was, what? Wallpaper? The Catechumenate was also called "adult instruction," Ms. Ferrone. Buy a clue.
The reformed liturgy embodies the values of the council in innumerable ways.
Actually, it embodies the values of a bunch of pointy-headed "experts," as the Pope remarked. And there's no need to enshrine such "values" should they differ markedly from SC (e.g., paras. 36 and 54, for openers...)
...it is difficult to believe that with Summorum pontificum a definitive compromise has been reached and the matter will end there. A more plausible understanding of the present moment is that it marks another step toward a goal that the vast majority of Catholics would not countenance if it were openly acknowledged-namely, the gradual dismantling of the liturgical reform in its entirety.
She's right--until the italicized portion begins. Ms. Ferrone thinks (with absolutely zero proof) that "the vast majority" of Catholics will agree with her. I doubt it, although it's possible that the "vast majority" of NAPM Directors, Catechetical Establishment rent-seekers/hangers-on, and members of the Yale Divinity School faculty do agree with her. So what?
I believe that the Second Vatican Council and its reforms were the work of the Spirit. Yet these reforms were also the work of human hands, and in this respect they are vulnerable. We do ourselves no favors by pretending otherwise.
Right on all counts, Ms. Ferrone. And the "work of human hands" occasionally needs correctives. CF: Summorum Pontificum.
(More, (and better-informed) commentary here from Fr. Z.)
With that out of the way, let's see what Ms. Ferrone has to say.
It was not the intention of Vatican II, or of the popes who implemented it, to create a situation in which two forms of the Roman rite would exist side by side.
Nor was their intention the 100% vernacular Mass, nor the dumping of all sacred music written before 1969, nor the bizarre 'on-the-fly' stuff we see far too often...
The liturgical reform of the council was intended as a true reform, addressing genuine problems of the old liturgy for the good of the church as a whole. Now, with the stroke of a pen, Pope Benedict has made that reform optional.
"Optional?" What's "ordinary" is "optional"? Right on, sistuh!
Individual priests may use the preconciliar rites at will, and groups of the faithful who ask for celebrations according to the preconciliar norms may not be refused them.
Accurate.
...A small but vocal group of Catholics began to call for a “reform of the reform” of the liturgy for the church across the board. They are not schismatics, like the Lefebvrites, but they are interested in the restoration of Tridentine liturgical forms and the marginalization of the reformed liturgy. They found a champion and supporter in the future Benedict XVI.
In fairness, only a "small but vocal" group was calling for vernacular, folk-music, and several hundred options/mutations/permutations of the Rite AFTER the Council. That "small but vocal" group was the Bugnini Consilium. Surprised Ms. Ferrone didn't mention that...
The most visible proponent of this agenda was Msgr. Klaus Gamber of the liturgical institute in Regensburg, Germany. He became known outside scholarly circles when he published a popular book in 1984, which appeared in English in 1993 under the title The Reform of the Roman Liturgy. Gamber did not reject the council. He regarded the liturgical movement leading up to the council as a generally positive phenomenon
Of course, there IS a "rest of the story" here, too. Regensburg just happens to be the location of the Liturgical Reform's home--the Reform movement which began in the late 1800's. So it's not as though Mgr Gamber was dropped into the controversy from Mars or someplace...
Gamber also expressed a definite view about the current Mass. He wanted it not to be considered the Roman rite, but merely retained as a rite ad experimentum until it dies out. Ratzinger found these extreme views congenial, and oddly enough, deemed them moderate
Really? I have read all of Cdl. R's writings on the topic of liturgy, and never have come across a statement that 'Mgr Gamber's motion to let the New Rite die out is moderate.' Never.
Another partisan of the “reform of the reform,” Alcuin Reid, OSB, of Farnborough, England, published The Organic Development of the Liturgy in 2004. In giving a positive review to Reid’s book, Ratzinger voiced some of his own views on liturgical reform. He opined that scholars and experts were heeded too much after the council,...
Look at the Consilium's roster of members. The Cardinal was correct.
Indeed, the traditionalists Benedict wants to conciliate do not simply reject the Mass of Paul VI-they reject the conciliar theology it embodies. The Society of St. Pius X published a defense of their position in 2001, ...
The invocation of SSPX is a red herring and a red-flag-before-the-bull device. Beyond that, Ms. Ferrone implies that there is some sort of "new" theology proposed by the Council's document. Of course, if one READS the Document on the Liturgy (SC), this "new" theo is not evident. Hmmmmmm.
All the rest of her flapjaw outlining the position of SSPX is irrelevant to the real discussion. She may as well be quoting the Dalai Lama.
...other core values of the council are called into question by the pope’s move to reestablish the Tridentine rites. The council emphasized the role of Scripture in the life of the church, and this value was richly reflected in the liturgical reform.
This is a valid point, to some extent. Ms Ferrone does not mention that the "translation" provided by ICEL is alternatively inaccurate, banal, childish, or exculpatory of non-PC thoughts. And that's just the easy part. She also fails to mention that the OT/NT/NT 3-year cycle used in the New Rite was not reconciled with the Propers of the Mass, nor is it necessarily "internally consistent"--that is, that the NT readings do not, consistently, reflect the OT readings. It would be very encouraging if Ms. Ferrone had endorsed a better translation, or a much-better-studied implementation of the new readings cycle.
Benedict XVI’s motu proprio implies that none of this, [expanded cycle of readings] in the end, is essential or even very important.
A ludicrous assertion, unless she actually knows the entire plan of the Pope. Which I doubt.
Before the council, women were forbidden to serve in liturgical ministries. They were kept outside the sanctuary-a very old taboo perceived by many today as sexist and out of keeping with our sense of the dignity of the baptized. This prohibition was ended after Vatican II. The third directive on the right implementation of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Liturgicae instaurationes, 1970), admitted women to various liturgical ministries which are exercised in the sanctuary-such as that of reader or musician
Not precisely true. Pius XII's legislation on the composition of church choirs (1955) paved the way for "ministries" which were not "ordained"--occupied by lay men OR women. But more to the point, Ms Ferrone attempts to conjure up the Spirits of Feminist Equality here. Like some other conjured spirits, they are out of place in a serious discussion of ecclesiology...
There was no catechumenate in the Tridentine church, despite a crying need around the world for this liturgical structure of evangelization and formation. How can we deprive adult converts of the catechumenate-which canon law now requires them to have?
So the book "Father Brown Instructs Jackson" was, what? Wallpaper? The Catechumenate was also called "adult instruction," Ms. Ferrone. Buy a clue.
The reformed liturgy embodies the values of the council in innumerable ways.
Actually, it embodies the values of a bunch of pointy-headed "experts," as the Pope remarked. And there's no need to enshrine such "values" should they differ markedly from SC (e.g., paras. 36 and 54, for openers...)
...it is difficult to believe that with Summorum pontificum a definitive compromise has been reached and the matter will end there. A more plausible understanding of the present moment is that it marks another step toward a goal that the vast majority of Catholics would not countenance if it were openly acknowledged-namely, the gradual dismantling of the liturgical reform in its entirety.
She's right--until the italicized portion begins. Ms. Ferrone thinks (with absolutely zero proof) that "the vast majority" of Catholics will agree with her. I doubt it, although it's possible that the "vast majority" of NAPM Directors, Catechetical Establishment rent-seekers/hangers-on, and members of the Yale Divinity School faculty do agree with her. So what?
I believe that the Second Vatican Council and its reforms were the work of the Spirit. Yet these reforms were also the work of human hands, and in this respect they are vulnerable. We do ourselves no favors by pretending otherwise.
Right on all counts, Ms. Ferrone. And the "work of human hands" occasionally needs correctives. CF: Summorum Pontificum.
(More, (and better-informed) commentary here from Fr. Z.)
A Look at the Inner City Forum on Crime (Etc.)
Not only a good look at the speakers, but an imaginative one--
James T.'s New Digs and Restaurant Reviews.
I hope he keeps this up because he is informed and informative.
James T.'s New Digs and Restaurant Reviews.
I hope he keeps this up because he is informed and informative.
Kevin Takes on the Priest
The Franklin Guy, aka Kevin Fisher, doesn't always like what he hears from the pulpit.
...the visiting priest during his homily suddenly launched into a loud dissertation about child abusers and the general attitude most people have towards them. He gestured with his hands and asked everyone in the pews if they wouldn’t like to warp their hands around the throat of a child abuser. The priest used similar rhetoric about identity thieves and illegal immigrants.
The rhetoric is inflammatory. This priest is either ignorant or deliberately provocative. I'd prefer that the former be the case; but then, we have to ask "who let him out without a complete education?" If it is the latter, he needs remedial work with someone who actually knows something about the world.
Because of this deliberately provocative and ignorant beginning, he manages to achieve exactly the wrong result:
I was not impressed or convinced.
[I find] it extremely difficult, if not damn near impossible to forgive vicious criminals or illegal immigrants, many of whom are vicious criminals, am I rejecting my faith, neglecting to follow its teachings?
Umnhnhhh... all that stuff about 'seventy times seven', Kevin...
Were the priest to have begun with that particular verse (70x7) and worked his way through, sympathetically speaking to those of us who 'find it extremely difficult' to forgive, one suspects that the result may have been different. It is our obligation to forgive, difficult as it may be.
But "forgiving" the trespass does not mean "forgetting" the punishment due the trespasser; nor does it imply that "forgivers" are idiots who will leave their children unattended around a convicted molester.
And just to show you how that works, I forgive the priest who made those asinine remarks.
...the visiting priest during his homily suddenly launched into a loud dissertation about child abusers and the general attitude most people have towards them. He gestured with his hands and asked everyone in the pews if they wouldn’t like to warp their hands around the throat of a child abuser. The priest used similar rhetoric about identity thieves and illegal immigrants.
The rhetoric is inflammatory. This priest is either ignorant or deliberately provocative. I'd prefer that the former be the case; but then, we have to ask "who let him out without a complete education?" If it is the latter, he needs remedial work with someone who actually knows something about the world.
Because of this deliberately provocative and ignorant beginning, he manages to achieve exactly the wrong result:
I was not impressed or convinced.
[I find] it extremely difficult, if not damn near impossible to forgive vicious criminals or illegal immigrants, many of whom are vicious criminals, am I rejecting my faith, neglecting to follow its teachings?
Umnhnhhh... all that stuff about 'seventy times seven', Kevin...
Were the priest to have begun with that particular verse (70x7) and worked his way through, sympathetically speaking to those of us who 'find it extremely difficult' to forgive, one suspects that the result may have been different. It is our obligation to forgive, difficult as it may be.
But "forgiving" the trespass does not mean "forgetting" the punishment due the trespasser; nor does it imply that "forgivers" are idiots who will leave their children unattended around a convicted molester.
And just to show you how that works, I forgive the priest who made those asinine remarks.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
"Glory and Praise" In Perspective
Anthony Esolen, with bit HT to The Jester.
I've recently been strapping on the swamp boots to wade through something called Glory and Praise, perhaps the most commonly used Roman Catholic hymnal in the United States and Canada. Oh, it is sloppy and noisome work, logging the bathos, stupidity, banality, heresy, and textual vandalism. I've concluded, though, that there is one factor that touches every problem, something that helps explain these apparently disparate acts of mischief:
-- the neutering of old masculine language about mankind and even God
-- the heedless fouling up of the old poetry, to update a "thou" and a "thee"
-- the seizing of every chance to talk about dancing (not to be found in the New Testament, I suspect, unless it's Salome) and about the motherhood of God"
-- in general, the louche emphasis upon feelings, not repentance, but soft and syrupy feelings
-- the blithe arrogation of God's words to ourselves, speaking in the first person
-- the arrogation of God's grace and majesty to ourselves: "We are the Bread, we are the Body"-- the celebration of our own wonderfulness, and the decrying of sin-- that is, other people's sins
-- the abandonment of traditional liturgical forms, traditional poetry and song -- all relegated to the status of the "old fashioned," for trotting out, like Grandmama's silver, at certain feasts, and that's it
-- the passing along of counterfeit "folk" music, actually performance music, like "Do You Remember the Kind of September," only not nearly as good
-- the mincing baby-talk in the verses, along with a bogus primitivism, a la the Indians in Hollywood: "You are child of the universe."
It's narcissism, all of it. It's the pretty boy at the side of the pool, gazing upon his image in the water, ignoring his parents, the woman in love with him, the reality of the world around him. He wants to remain a pretty boy forever -- he wants a disembodied "union" with no ties to the past, no duties to his fellows, and no law to obey. It's music that encourages a choir full of American Idols, shimmying and shaking and calling attention to themselves, while envying one another (I'll bet some of our bloggers have stories about infighting among the twenty self-appointed soloists of a "Christian" choir).
What's missing from the hymnal? Oh, music, poetry -- and one thing above all: the Cross. The Cross sure does seem a fine cure for narcissism. In all our arguments about ordination and (in the Catholic church) lay "ministry," nobody ever says, "I want the right to be ordained a priest because I demand to be crucified!" Or, "I want to serve as a lector because I want to be crucified!" Hardly -- these things and many more are considered clerical plums that everybody ought to be able to pop in the mouth, if they choose. We are Church, don't you know, not to mention Bread and Body and God Almighty. If there is a single new "hymn" that is written in the shadow of the Cross, encouraging the taking up of what will leave your back stooped and your shoulders cut with splinters, I haven't seen it. Meanwhile, a part of my own crucifixion seems to be the necessity of listening to it all, and watching the performers. Silence would be infinitely better.
That sums it up well.
I've recently been strapping on the swamp boots to wade through something called Glory and Praise, perhaps the most commonly used Roman Catholic hymnal in the United States and Canada. Oh, it is sloppy and noisome work, logging the bathos, stupidity, banality, heresy, and textual vandalism. I've concluded, though, that there is one factor that touches every problem, something that helps explain these apparently disparate acts of mischief:
-- the neutering of old masculine language about mankind and even God
-- the heedless fouling up of the old poetry, to update a "thou" and a "thee"
-- the seizing of every chance to talk about dancing (not to be found in the New Testament, I suspect, unless it's Salome) and about the motherhood of God"
-- in general, the louche emphasis upon feelings, not repentance, but soft and syrupy feelings
-- the blithe arrogation of God's words to ourselves, speaking in the first person
-- the arrogation of God's grace and majesty to ourselves: "We are the Bread, we are the Body"-- the celebration of our own wonderfulness, and the decrying of sin-- that is, other people's sins
-- the abandonment of traditional liturgical forms, traditional poetry and song -- all relegated to the status of the "old fashioned," for trotting out, like Grandmama's silver, at certain feasts, and that's it
-- the passing along of counterfeit "folk" music, actually performance music, like "Do You Remember the Kind of September," only not nearly as good
-- the mincing baby-talk in the verses, along with a bogus primitivism, a la the Indians in Hollywood: "You are child of the universe."
It's narcissism, all of it. It's the pretty boy at the side of the pool, gazing upon his image in the water, ignoring his parents, the woman in love with him, the reality of the world around him. He wants to remain a pretty boy forever -- he wants a disembodied "union" with no ties to the past, no duties to his fellows, and no law to obey. It's music that encourages a choir full of American Idols, shimmying and shaking and calling attention to themselves, while envying one another (I'll bet some of our bloggers have stories about infighting among the twenty self-appointed soloists of a "Christian" choir).
What's missing from the hymnal? Oh, music, poetry -- and one thing above all: the Cross. The Cross sure does seem a fine cure for narcissism. In all our arguments about ordination and (in the Catholic church) lay "ministry," nobody ever says, "I want the right to be ordained a priest because I demand to be crucified!" Or, "I want to serve as a lector because I want to be crucified!" Hardly -- these things and many more are considered clerical plums that everybody ought to be able to pop in the mouth, if they choose. We are Church, don't you know, not to mention Bread and Body and God Almighty. If there is a single new "hymn" that is written in the shadow of the Cross, encouraging the taking up of what will leave your back stooped and your shoulders cut with splinters, I haven't seen it. Meanwhile, a part of my own crucifixion seems to be the necessity of listening to it all, and watching the performers. Silence would be infinitely better.
That sums it up well.
More of Marty Haugen's Legacy
We're told that these are the lyrics to 'Gather Us In'--audible only when the MP3 is played backwards:
On planet Venus, new hope is waiting
We'll go to space whose cadets we areS
ee here our spaceship, oh how elating!
Brought here to take us, we say au revoir.
Gather us in we are a bit cuckoo
Gather us in 'ere retirement's here
Call to us loud for we might not hear you
We shall take off let's kick it in gear.
We are the left our views are a mystery
We are the ones who are so out of place
We have been pests throughout all of history
Called to be plight to the whole human race
Gather us in we're rich lib'ral loonies
Gather us in the loud and the wrong
Give us some merlot we're not in the boonies
Give us the courage to wear just a thong
Gerald has the complete version here.
On planet Venus, new hope is waiting
We'll go to space whose cadets we areS
ee here our spaceship, oh how elating!
Brought here to take us, we say au revoir.
Gather us in we are a bit cuckoo
Gather us in 'ere retirement's here
Call to us loud for we might not hear you
We shall take off let's kick it in gear.
We are the left our views are a mystery
We are the ones who are so out of place
We have been pests throughout all of history
Called to be plight to the whole human race
Gather us in we're rich lib'ral loonies
Gather us in the loud and the wrong
Give us some merlot we're not in the boonies
Give us the courage to wear just a thong
Gerald has the complete version here.
Something to Chew On
A "thought for the day" from a West Coast priest:
Many folks want to serve God, but only as advisors.
It's discomfiting to read something like that.
Thanks, Dave Umhoefer
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Dave Umhoefer has written a story.
It's Real Newspaper stuff: complicated, full of research into archives, interviews with people who are hard to find, and it's a Really Big Story about high-profile public figures who were "nice guys" to their friends and co-workers.
Actual newspaper reporting. Good stuff, Dave!
It's Real Newspaper stuff: complicated, full of research into archives, interviews with people who are hard to find, and it's a Really Big Story about high-profile public figures who were "nice guys" to their friends and co-workers.
Actual newspaper reporting. Good stuff, Dave!
"It Was In the Best Interests of the People"
That's how Supervisor Michael Mayo justified his vote prolonging a pension-buyback scheme at Milwaukee County. He wasn't alone--attorney Bob Ott was right in there with him, along with other members of the Pension Board.
Regardless, "the people" in this case included Michael Mayo. For a $6800. purchase he gains $9200./year, for life, in his pension from the County.
SOME "people" are more equal than OTHER "people."
And some animal farms prove the acronym P.I.G.:
Regardless, "the people" in this case included Michael Mayo. For a $6800. purchase he gains $9200./year, for life, in his pension from the County.
SOME "people" are more equal than OTHER "people."
And some animal farms prove the acronym P.I.G.:
PARTY IN GOVERNMENT
Saturday, July 28, 2007
A Story to Read to Your Children, in 3 Parts: Groundbreaking Blog Literature
This is worth the 15 minutes it will take to read it, and it is most certainly worth the time if you have children approaching their mid- to late-teens and who drive.
But it ain't pretty; or better-put, it is the reality, not the Hollywood.
Here's Part Two--from the Ambo driver.
And Part Three--from a lady who could get along just fine with Phel, the Birthday Gal... but whose narrative is necessarily dispassionate, for the worst reason.
(By the way, there's plenty of info about the Cost of Health Care in these three posts...)
Finally, this collection of stories is groundbreaking, to my knowledge. Here we have three separate bloggers relating a single event, but contributing only a narration of their own "part" in the event.
HT: LawDog
But it ain't pretty; or better-put, it is the reality, not the Hollywood.
Here's Part Two--from the Ambo driver.
And Part Three--from a lady who could get along just fine with Phel, the Birthday Gal... but whose narrative is necessarily dispassionate, for the worst reason.
(By the way, there's plenty of info about the Cost of Health Care in these three posts...)
Finally, this collection of stories is groundbreaking, to my knowledge. Here we have three separate bloggers relating a single event, but contributing only a narration of their own "part" in the event.
HT: LawDog
When "Amnesty" Is Bad Public Policy
The Department of Justice's anti-trust bunch has interesting rules.
The setup to the below graf is this: the DOJ anti-trust folks lost a case against Stora Enso. Stora Enso was prosecuted due to an admission of price-fixing by a competitor, who received a "corporate leniency policy" amnesty.
But the problem in other criminal antitrust prosecutions is that there is never a light of day. The Corporate Leniency Policy serves one overriding purpose: To keep Antitrust Division investigations secret and avoid any meaningful judicial or public scrutiny. Amnesty agreements are state secrets. The DOJ won’t officially identify any firm that receives amnesty, even in cases dating back more than 15 years. Since the DOJ classifies amnesties as exercises of “prosecutorial discretion,” they are not submitted to any court or disclosed to the public. The courts accept this lack of transparency. Just this past March, a district judge in Washington upheld the DOJ’s refusal to disclose its amnesty agreements under the Freedom of Information Act.
THIS is the kind of stuff that civil-libertarians folks would go crazy over, were it not concerning EEEEEEEEEVVVVIL corporations and (largely) hidden behind curtains inside vaults.
Thank God that Overlawyered pays attention.
The setup to the below graf is this: the DOJ anti-trust folks lost a case against Stora Enso. Stora Enso was prosecuted due to an admission of price-fixing by a competitor, who received a "corporate leniency policy" amnesty.
But the problem in other criminal antitrust prosecutions is that there is never a light of day. The Corporate Leniency Policy serves one overriding purpose: To keep Antitrust Division investigations secret and avoid any meaningful judicial or public scrutiny. Amnesty agreements are state secrets. The DOJ won’t officially identify any firm that receives amnesty, even in cases dating back more than 15 years. Since the DOJ classifies amnesties as exercises of “prosecutorial discretion,” they are not submitted to any court or disclosed to the public. The courts accept this lack of transparency. Just this past March, a district judge in Washington upheld the DOJ’s refusal to disclose its amnesty agreements under the Freedom of Information Act.
THIS is the kind of stuff that civil-libertarians folks would go crazy over, were it not concerning EEEEEEEEEVVVVIL corporations and (largely) hidden behind curtains inside vaults.
Thank God that Overlawyered pays attention.
Obama Buys the Guns Mythology
One expects this sort of silliness from a speech delivered in Chicago (a no-concealed-carry zone, if you bother with laws...) and from a Dimowit.
"We need to express our collective anger through collective action," Obama said.
He said the government needs to permanently reinstate an assault weapons ban and close regulatory loopholes that protect unscrupulous gun dealers.
But the folly of "assault weapons" nomenclature is mindbendingly absurd.
Frankly, I know of NO weapon which is not an "assault" weapon, and that includes kitchen knives, pepperspray, and table-forks--like the ones banned from airlines by the TSA.
HT: JunkYard
"We need to express our collective anger through collective action," Obama said.
He said the government needs to permanently reinstate an assault weapons ban and close regulatory loopholes that protect unscrupulous gun dealers.
But the folly of "assault weapons" nomenclature is mindbendingly absurd.
Frankly, I know of NO weapon which is not an "assault" weapon, and that includes kitchen knives, pepperspray, and table-forks--like the ones banned from airlines by the TSA.
HT: JunkYard
They Have Time and Money for This
It was really a meeting of friends, for the most part.
A group of 29 organizations came together today to call for a state budget they said would represent Wisconsin's values, in particular those regarding health care, education and human services.
The group packed the Senate parlor to call for a "state budget that is firmly rooted in the values that have made Wisconsin great" Among those values, the group pointed to good schools, services for vulnerable populations, quality health care and child care, and affordable higher education.
So Wisconsin must be Nirvana, already, eh?
Some groups that are part of the coalition include the Wisconsin Council on Children & Families, AARP Wisconsin, [CubaCare proponents] Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, [Merchants of Death to the Unborn] the American Federation of Teachers, [Rent-Seekers] the Wisconsin Coalition against Domestic Violence, Wisconsin Education Association Council [Even MORE Rent-Seekers] and the Wisconsin Counties Association, [proudly using your tax dollars to suck even MORE of your tax dollars away from you and your children.]
The 'coalition' forgot to mention a DarthDoyle value which is far more significant:
A group of 29 organizations came together today to call for a state budget they said would represent Wisconsin's values, in particular those regarding health care, education and human services.
The group packed the Senate parlor to call for a "state budget that is firmly rooted in the values that have made Wisconsin great" Among those values, the group pointed to good schools, services for vulnerable populations, quality health care and child care, and affordable higher education.
So Wisconsin must be Nirvana, already, eh?
Some groups that are part of the coalition include the Wisconsin Council on Children & Families, AARP Wisconsin, [CubaCare proponents] Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, [Merchants of Death to the Unborn] the American Federation of Teachers, [Rent-Seekers] the Wisconsin Coalition against Domestic Violence, Wisconsin Education Association Council [Even MORE Rent-Seekers] and the Wisconsin Counties Association, [proudly using your tax dollars to suck even MORE of your tax dollars away from you and your children.]
The 'coalition' forgot to mention a DarthDoyle value which is far more significant:
Taking the State into Bankruptcy By Bonding, Borrowing, and Bunko-Budgeting.
The Prince of Darkness on Presidents, and Other Things
Bob Novak's book looks more and more like it's a necessity rather than a luxury.
While these thoughts are abbreviations, delivered at a 'newsmaker breakfast,' they are also covered in his book--in much greater detail.
On presidents he has covered, he was mostly scathing, except for Reagan. Nixon "was a bad man and a poor president." Carter "was a liar." Ford "never understood the Cold War." Clinton "posed as a centrist...but he was a reflexibe liberal. A big-government liberal." Ike was "stodgy and fuddy-duddy." Three recessions in his eight years occurred largely because Ike refused to cut taxes.
Pithy. All true.
Another couple of neat lines:
"The founding fathers tried to devise a government that didn't work very well, and they damn well succeeded. [Which is a good thing because] governmental power is still the thing I worry about most."
"I think the American people are better than their leaders."
HT: AmSpecBlog
While these thoughts are abbreviations, delivered at a 'newsmaker breakfast,' they are also covered in his book--in much greater detail.
On presidents he has covered, he was mostly scathing, except for Reagan. Nixon "was a bad man and a poor president." Carter "was a liar." Ford "never understood the Cold War." Clinton "posed as a centrist...but he was a reflexibe liberal. A big-government liberal." Ike was "stodgy and fuddy-duddy." Three recessions in his eight years occurred largely because Ike refused to cut taxes.
Pithy. All true.
Another couple of neat lines:
"The founding fathers tried to devise a government that didn't work very well, and they damn well succeeded. [Which is a good thing because] governmental power is still the thing I worry about most."
"I think the American people are better than their leaders."
HT: AmSpecBlog
Pedro Colon: Is He Deaf, or Are Taxpayers Dumb?
Seems like Pedro (D-Milwaukee) is a bit condescending--AND he still doesn't get it.
Confronted with one suburb's talk of leaving the Milwaukee Area Technical College district, the school's board on Friday seemed of two minds. One said reach out to and demonstrate MATC's value to the region. The other characterized the renegade moves as mere politics.
...MATC board member Pedro Colón chafed a little at the idea of justifying or defending the school. He said that while it's important to have those discussions, the Germantown move is less about education than it is about politics.
"This is really a political debate about people that don't want to pay taxes," Colón said. "We provide a value. I don't want to justify a bunch of political whims."
Germantown's proposal runs contrary to efforts throughout the area to encourage regional economic development, like the Milwaukee 7, Colón said.
"Don't want to pay taxes," Pedro?
Kettle Moraine Tech (the one Germantown wants to join with) collects taxes. And the Germantown residents WILL PAY those taxes.
But they will not pay the PedroTax--the bloated payroll-and-bennies scheme you approved for the MATC faculty and staff.
In other action, the college board unanimously approved a contract with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 587 unit representing 425 support staff at the college.
The agreement gives pay raises across the board and adds sick leave for part-time workers.
(The faculty agreement is still in negotiation.)
See, Pedro, the taxpayers are not dumb. You, Pedro, are deaf.
Confronted with one suburb's talk of leaving the Milwaukee Area Technical College district, the school's board on Friday seemed of two minds. One said reach out to and demonstrate MATC's value to the region. The other characterized the renegade moves as mere politics.
...MATC board member Pedro Colón chafed a little at the idea of justifying or defending the school. He said that while it's important to have those discussions, the Germantown move is less about education than it is about politics.
"This is really a political debate about people that don't want to pay taxes," Colón said. "We provide a value. I don't want to justify a bunch of political whims."
Germantown's proposal runs contrary to efforts throughout the area to encourage regional economic development, like the Milwaukee 7, Colón said.
"Don't want to pay taxes," Pedro?
Kettle Moraine Tech (the one Germantown wants to join with) collects taxes. And the Germantown residents WILL PAY those taxes.
But they will not pay the PedroTax--the bloated payroll-and-bennies scheme you approved for the MATC faculty and staff.
In other action, the college board unanimously approved a contract with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 587 unit representing 425 support staff at the college.
The agreement gives pay raises across the board and adds sick leave for part-time workers.
(The faculty agreement is still in negotiation.)
See, Pedro, the taxpayers are not dumb. You, Pedro, are deaf.
Dems Dump Kind/Ryan Farm Amendment
The Kind (D)/Ryan (R) Farm Bill Amendment was dumped by the Dimmies in the House before passage of the new Farm Bill.
...It came after Democrats quashed a rebellion from one of their own, Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis., who teamed with conservative GOP budget hawks and urban and suburban Democrats on an amendment to wean farmers from government payments. It would have imposed stricter income limits on farmers, barring subsidies to those making an average of $250,000 or more annually, and would have steered more money to conservation, nutrition, specialty crop and rural development programs. The amendment lost on a lopsided vote...
Sad.
...It came after Democrats quashed a rebellion from one of their own, Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis., who teamed with conservative GOP budget hawks and urban and suburban Democrats on an amendment to wean farmers from government payments. It would have imposed stricter income limits on farmers, barring subsidies to those making an average of $250,000 or more annually, and would have steered more money to conservation, nutrition, specialty crop and rural development programs. The amendment lost on a lopsided vote...
Sad.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Interview With Mgr. G. Gaenswein
Wayyyy too long to re-post in its entirety, but fascinating from beginning to end.
One tidbit:
I'd always studied gladly and easily, but studying Canon Law I felt to be as dry as work in a quarry where there's no beer - you die of dryness. I was saved by my professor, Winfried Ayman who later made me his assistant.
HT: Gerald Augustus.
One tidbit:
I'd always studied gladly and easily, but studying Canon Law I felt to be as dry as work in a quarry where there's no beer - you die of dryness. I was saved by my professor, Winfried Ayman who later made me his assistant.
HT: Gerald Augustus.
ACORN, King of Vote Fraud
Yah, they visited Milwaukee, too. And in another case where an extremely close election may have been decided through....fraud...the indictments are rolling in.
Guess which left-wing group is at the center of the worst case of voter-registration fraud in Washington state history? Yep, you guessed it: ACORN.
The same ACORN tied to massive voter fraud in Missouri. And Ohio. And 12 other states.
Here’s the Washington state scoop via Seattle’s KOMO TV:
“King County prosecutors filed felony charges Thursday against seven people in what a top official described as the worst case of voter-registration fraud in state history, while the organization they worked for agreed to keep a better eye on its employees and pay $25,000 to defray costs of the investigation. The seven submitted about 1,800 registration cards last fall on behalf of the liberal Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, which had hired them at $8 an hour to sign people up to vote, according to charging documents filed in Superior Court.”
The usual stuff. Read it all at the link.
HT: Malkin
Guess which left-wing group is at the center of the worst case of voter-registration fraud in Washington state history? Yep, you guessed it: ACORN.
The same ACORN tied to massive voter fraud in Missouri. And Ohio. And 12 other states.
Here’s the Washington state scoop via Seattle’s KOMO TV:
“King County prosecutors filed felony charges Thursday against seven people in what a top official described as the worst case of voter-registration fraud in state history, while the organization they worked for agreed to keep a better eye on its employees and pay $25,000 to defray costs of the investigation. The seven submitted about 1,800 registration cards last fall on behalf of the liberal Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, which had hired them at $8 an hour to sign people up to vote, according to charging documents filed in Superior Court.”
The usual stuff. Read it all at the link.
HT: Malkin
WSJ Opinion on Immigration Is Not Helpful
HT to the Junkyard, who subscribes to the WSJ and excerpts a few choice grafs from an essay by George Melloan.
Hotels and restaurants in places like Chicago, Miami and just about every other city would have to shut down without waiters, maids and others with dubious credentials. The well-manicured lawns in my home town would soon become weed gardens in the absence of the Mexicans who man landscape services. Americans genuinely worry about maintaining the rule of law, but the biggest threat to that is the disrespect for law created when legislative grandstanders pass draconian measures that the authorities are incapable of enforcing.
Then he goes on to say what he really thinks:
Washington efforts to reform Simpson-Mazzoli are plagued by the death struggle the two parties are conducting over control of the government. Republicans, who perhaps have noticed that they are losing that struggle, are frozen in the headlights of the anti-immigrant campaigns being conducted by nativists and vigilantes in their home states. Hate and emotion do not produce good laws.
Once again, the WSJ's condescension gags maggots. Simply not helpful, George. Sorry.
In other venues, I have made it clear that the current legal immigration number (12K/month) from Mexico is simply ridiculous. The number must be increased, for a lot of good reasons.
And I agree with Junkyard that there are additional options--temporary workers who are NOT 'immigrants-with-intent-to-be-citizens' is one.
I agree with the WSJ people that we're going to need to increase our legal immigration to meet our labor demands. And I know that much of that labor is going to come up from Mexico. I think that's just peachy keen. I also realize that some of these temporary workers and manual laborers are going to want to become American citizens. Great. Can't say I blame them. As many as we have room for, and can accommodate without breaking our social systems, welcome aboard.
It's my suspicion that even the Vast Liberal Conspiracy would agree with Junkyard's next graf:
But you'll excuse me if I want to take a look at their resume and make sure they're not a terrorist, child molester, gang enforcer, or drug runner. And you'll excuse me if I want to build a wall to make sure the only people coming in are people whose names and fingerprints we have on file. Can't be too careful these days; I hear there's a war on.
What's so hard to understand?
Or is someone's "well-manicured lawn" more important than the safety and security of our children, Mr. Melloan?
Hotels and restaurants in places like Chicago, Miami and just about every other city would have to shut down without waiters, maids and others with dubious credentials. The well-manicured lawns in my home town would soon become weed gardens in the absence of the Mexicans who man landscape services. Americans genuinely worry about maintaining the rule of law, but the biggest threat to that is the disrespect for law created when legislative grandstanders pass draconian measures that the authorities are incapable of enforcing.
Then he goes on to say what he really thinks:
Washington efforts to reform Simpson-Mazzoli are plagued by the death struggle the two parties are conducting over control of the government. Republicans, who perhaps have noticed that they are losing that struggle, are frozen in the headlights of the anti-immigrant campaigns being conducted by nativists and vigilantes in their home states. Hate and emotion do not produce good laws.
Once again, the WSJ's condescension gags maggots. Simply not helpful, George. Sorry.
In other venues, I have made it clear that the current legal immigration number (12K/month) from Mexico is simply ridiculous. The number must be increased, for a lot of good reasons.
And I agree with Junkyard that there are additional options--temporary workers who are NOT 'immigrants-with-intent-to-be-citizens' is one.
I agree with the WSJ people that we're going to need to increase our legal immigration to meet our labor demands. And I know that much of that labor is going to come up from Mexico. I think that's just peachy keen. I also realize that some of these temporary workers and manual laborers are going to want to become American citizens. Great. Can't say I blame them. As many as we have room for, and can accommodate without breaking our social systems, welcome aboard.
It's my suspicion that even the Vast Liberal Conspiracy would agree with Junkyard's next graf:
But you'll excuse me if I want to take a look at their resume and make sure they're not a terrorist, child molester, gang enforcer, or drug runner. And you'll excuse me if I want to build a wall to make sure the only people coming in are people whose names and fingerprints we have on file. Can't be too careful these days; I hear there's a war on.
What's so hard to understand?
Or is someone's "well-manicured lawn" more important than the safety and security of our children, Mr. Melloan?
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Abp. Weakland Quotes Cdl. Ratzinger on the Liturgy
With gratitude to Abp. Weakland for providing this quote from (at-that-time Cdl. Ratzinger) we copy/paste it:
"...if by 'restoration' we understand the search for a new balance after the exaggerations of an indiscriminate opening to the world, after the overly positive interpretations of an agnostic and atheistic world, well, then a restoration understood in this sense (a newly found balance of orientations and values within the Catholic totality) is altogether desirable and, for that matter, is already in operation in the Church. In this sense it can be said that the first phase after Vatican II has come to a close."
Our former Archbishop found that in an interview of the Cardinal by Messori and used it in an essay published in 2001.
Later in the same essay, Abp Weakland states:
Among the restorationists there is an attempt to downplay the priesthood of the faithful and to emphasize the role of the priest as acting in the person of Christ the head.
We alluded to Haugen's demi-Catholic ecclesiology and non-Catholic sacramental understanding (indirectly and not-too-clearly, I fear) yesterday. Shouldn't be a surprise that Abp Weakland indirectly defends Haugen's position.
Further:
Other concerns raised by restorationists include the observation that the eschatological dimension of the liturgy is not given its proper place in contemporary liturgical catechesis. This cultural phenomenon is indeed evident in contemporary liturgy where the emphasis is often placed only on the worshiping community in the here and now and not its connection to the heavenly liturgy that it mirrors. Here it is not so much a question of reform as it is of catechesis.
No--actually, it is praxis which counts, not catechesis. As the good Archbishop knows, 'catechesis' is rare in comparison to participation at Mass. (This notion is also present in the Haugen interview.)
It is a credit to Abp. Weakland, no stranger to 'making things happen,' that he prognosticates well:
They may not want to create a visible and abrupt rupture from the changes put into motion by the council and Pope Paul VI. My guess would be that they would foster an enlargement of the Tridentine usage...
He missed by a bit--it was not Divini Cultus who pulled the trigger on 'the enlargement of the Tridentine usage.' It was The Decider.
HT: The Cafeteria is Closed.
"...if by 'restoration' we understand the search for a new balance after the exaggerations of an indiscriminate opening to the world, after the overly positive interpretations of an agnostic and atheistic world, well, then a restoration understood in this sense (a newly found balance of orientations and values within the Catholic totality) is altogether desirable and, for that matter, is already in operation in the Church. In this sense it can be said that the first phase after Vatican II has come to a close."
Our former Archbishop found that in an interview of the Cardinal by Messori and used it in an essay published in 2001.
Later in the same essay, Abp Weakland states:
Among the restorationists there is an attempt to downplay the priesthood of the faithful and to emphasize the role of the priest as acting in the person of Christ the head.
We alluded to Haugen's demi-Catholic ecclesiology and non-Catholic sacramental understanding (indirectly and not-too-clearly, I fear) yesterday. Shouldn't be a surprise that Abp Weakland indirectly defends Haugen's position.
Further:
Other concerns raised by restorationists include the observation that the eschatological dimension of the liturgy is not given its proper place in contemporary liturgical catechesis. This cultural phenomenon is indeed evident in contemporary liturgy where the emphasis is often placed only on the worshiping community in the here and now and not its connection to the heavenly liturgy that it mirrors. Here it is not so much a question of reform as it is of catechesis.
No--actually, it is praxis which counts, not catechesis. As the good Archbishop knows, 'catechesis' is rare in comparison to participation at Mass. (This notion is also present in the Haugen interview.)
It is a credit to Abp. Weakland, no stranger to 'making things happen,' that he prognosticates well:
They may not want to create a visible and abrupt rupture from the changes put into motion by the council and Pope Paul VI. My guess would be that they would foster an enlargement of the Tridentine usage...
He missed by a bit--it was not Divini Cultus who pulled the trigger on 'the enlargement of the Tridentine usage.' It was The Decider.
HT: The Cafeteria is Closed.
On Fads v. Catholicism
GKC, of course:
CHRISTIANITY is always out of fashion because it is always sane; and all fashions are mild insanities.
When Italy is mad on art the Church seems too Puritanical. When England is mad on Puritanism the Church seems too artistic.
When you quarrel with us now you class us with kingship and despotism; but when you quarrelled with us first it was because we would not accept the divine despotism of Henry VIII.
The Church always seems to be behind the times, when it is really beyond the times; it is waiting till the last fad shall have seen its last summer. It keeps the key of a permanent virtue.
Of course, GKC had never met a Liturgeist (nor Marty Haugen...)
CHRISTIANITY is always out of fashion because it is always sane; and all fashions are mild insanities.
When Italy is mad on art the Church seems too Puritanical. When England is mad on Puritanism the Church seems too artistic.
When you quarrel with us now you class us with kingship and despotism; but when you quarrelled with us first it was because we would not accept the divine despotism of Henry VIII.
The Church always seems to be behind the times, when it is really beyond the times; it is waiting till the last fad shall have seen its last summer. It keeps the key of a permanent virtue.
Of course, GKC had never met a Liturgeist (nor Marty Haugen...)
Red's Trading Post: Chapter 54 of the Saga
In brutally brief: Red's Trading post is a licensed gun dealer. In the last couple of years sometime, a BATFE audit found a few highly technical problems in their gun-sales paperwork--stuff that both you and I and any other normal person would simply ignore.
Not BATFE. They decided to try to pull Red's firearms license.
The saga with Red's began when the ATF inspection in 2000 discovered various paperwork violations, Horsley said, just shortly after he arrived to take over the store, mistakes such as a customer failing to write down the county in which he lived.
In 2001, "they couldn't find any violations," he told WND. A few other minor problems were found later, including a failure to put up a poster.
"I wasn't alarmed because this agent … had told us we were one of the best small gun shops he'd ever seen," Horsley told WND.
Then early in 2006, "We get a letter that 'We're [ATF] revoking your license,'" Horsley said. "I just came unglued. I couldn't believe it."
Within the last month, BATFE returned to inspect MORE records, and an old guy started taking pictures of the inspection process, and of the (taxpayer-funded) rental cars they used. In addition, the proprietor of Red's blogged about their presence and their inspection.
And the poooooooor widdle BATFE supervisor went off crying to Mom about it.
The inspectors, however, suddenly left, and within days, the federal agency's version arrived in the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho.
"[The federal agency] notifies the court than an inspection of Red's Trading Post … was initiated on July 17, 2007. The inspection was suspended due to the threat to the inspectors' safety created by Ryan Horsley, the Manager of Red's," the court filing said.
The filing documented how some unidentified person had taken pictures of the inspectors at work.
"At about this time, Supervisor Young's assistant from the Spokane office contacted her and advised that Mr. Horsley had updated his internet blog (http://redstradingpost.blogspot.com/) to include the information that ATF, and Supervisor Young personally, was at the store conducting an inspection," the filing said. So Young contacted others.
"The Director of Industry Operations, Richard Van Loan, agreed with Supervisor Young's assessment that the photographing of the rental car used by ATF personnel, coupled with the instantaneous posting on the internet of ATF's presence … posed a credible threat to their safety and was designed to harass and intimidate," the court filing said.
The court filing noted two other times when the inspectors had been photographed, including once by a news team.
It appears as though BATFE Supervisor Linda Young has a problem dealing with Horsley. Too bad that she is also acting like a typical 5-year-old child.
HT: Of Arms and the Law
Not BATFE. They decided to try to pull Red's firearms license.
The saga with Red's began when the ATF inspection in 2000 discovered various paperwork violations, Horsley said, just shortly after he arrived to take over the store, mistakes such as a customer failing to write down the county in which he lived.
In 2001, "they couldn't find any violations," he told WND. A few other minor problems were found later, including a failure to put up a poster.
"I wasn't alarmed because this agent … had told us we were one of the best small gun shops he'd ever seen," Horsley told WND.
Then early in 2006, "We get a letter that 'We're [ATF] revoking your license,'" Horsley said. "I just came unglued. I couldn't believe it."
Within the last month, BATFE returned to inspect MORE records, and an old guy started taking pictures of the inspection process, and of the (taxpayer-funded) rental cars they used. In addition, the proprietor of Red's blogged about their presence and their inspection.
And the poooooooor widdle BATFE supervisor went off crying to Mom about it.
The inspectors, however, suddenly left, and within days, the federal agency's version arrived in the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho.
"[The federal agency] notifies the court than an inspection of Red's Trading Post … was initiated on July 17, 2007. The inspection was suspended due to the threat to the inspectors' safety created by Ryan Horsley, the Manager of Red's," the court filing said.
The filing documented how some unidentified person had taken pictures of the inspectors at work.
"At about this time, Supervisor Young's assistant from the Spokane office contacted her and advised that Mr. Horsley had updated his internet blog (http://redstradingpost.blogspot.com/) to include the information that ATF, and Supervisor Young personally, was at the store conducting an inspection," the filing said. So Young contacted others.
"The Director of Industry Operations, Richard Van Loan, agreed with Supervisor Young's assessment that the photographing of the rental car used by ATF personnel, coupled with the instantaneous posting on the internet of ATF's presence … posed a credible threat to their safety and was designed to harass and intimidate," the court filing said.
The court filing noted two other times when the inspectors had been photographed, including once by a news team.
It appears as though BATFE Supervisor Linda Young has a problem dealing with Horsley. Too bad that she is also acting like a typical 5-year-old child.
HT: Of Arms and the Law
LBO's Becoming An Endangered Species
In business news...
Citigroup is one of the banks that will ... be left holding the bag after investors took a pass on the sale of $10 billion of loans at Chrysler’s auto unit for the company’s leveraged buyout. ... It isn’t good news for either the banks or the buyout firms. There will come a point, if we aren’t there already, when banks refuse to make new loan commitments....
Chatter among investment bankers lately has focused on Citigroup, which is said to be clamping down especially hard on making new loans. ... Citi has the misfortune of having been involved in a lot of the buyout loans that have soured lately, including Allison Transmission, U.S. Foodservice, Dollar General and ServiceMaster. It also has a role in three of the coming megadeals that still need to be financed: First Data, TXU and Clear Channel Communications.
This has serious implications for LBOs and for the KKR's of the world who gin up these deals, and may end in some serious re-pricing of buyouts.
Which is to say that 'asset-deflation' may be underway in this marketplace, just like in housing.
Citigroup is one of the banks that will ... be left holding the bag after investors took a pass on the sale of $10 billion of loans at Chrysler’s auto unit for the company’s leveraged buyout. ... It isn’t good news for either the banks or the buyout firms. There will come a point, if we aren’t there already, when banks refuse to make new loan commitments....
Chatter among investment bankers lately has focused on Citigroup, which is said to be clamping down especially hard on making new loans. ... Citi has the misfortune of having been involved in a lot of the buyout loans that have soured lately, including Allison Transmission, U.S. Foodservice, Dollar General and ServiceMaster. It also has a role in three of the coming megadeals that still need to be financed: First Data, TXU and Clear Channel Communications.
This has serious implications for LBOs and for the KKR's of the world who gin up these deals, and may end in some serious re-pricing of buyouts.
Which is to say that 'asset-deflation' may be underway in this marketplace, just like in housing.
Ruuuudeee!! Makes a Point
Via the AmSpec blog, from The Corner, dissing Tricky Dick and his moronic minions:
As I was about to leave his office, Mayor Giuliani said there was something he wanted me to see. He stood, walked to his desk, riffled among some papers for a moment, then found what he wanted and picked it up. He showed me a bound report. “This is hilarious,” Giuliani said. “You’ll love it.”
The federal government, he explained, had just conducted a study of Yankee Stadium, checking it for accessibility to the disabled. The inspectors had found some three thousand instances in which Yankee Stadium failed to meet federal standards.
The path of travel out of the Yankee dugout was accessible only by steps, not a ramp, making it impossible to get a wheelchair onto the field. The dressing bench in the Yankee locker room was forty-five inches long by sixteen inches deep instead of the required forty-eight inches long by twenty-four inches deep. The toilets in the locker room had a seat height of sixteen inches, one inch below the required seventeen inches. The spout of the drinking fountain in the weight room was forty-two inches off the floor instead of the required thirty-six inches.
"The urinals are too high,” Giuliani continued, laughing. “The toilet paper dispenser is incorrectly mounted on the back wall of the toilet. Do you believe anybody does this? I mean, people get paid to do this.”
After I ran a "cost of regulations" post, a commenter stated that he did not believe the 'cost of regulation' was as high as the post stated.
Hope he reads this post, too. He'll have a chance to apologize.
As I was about to leave his office, Mayor Giuliani said there was something he wanted me to see. He stood, walked to his desk, riffled among some papers for a moment, then found what he wanted and picked it up. He showed me a bound report. “This is hilarious,” Giuliani said. “You’ll love it.”
The federal government, he explained, had just conducted a study of Yankee Stadium, checking it for accessibility to the disabled. The inspectors had found some three thousand instances in which Yankee Stadium failed to meet federal standards.
The path of travel out of the Yankee dugout was accessible only by steps, not a ramp, making it impossible to get a wheelchair onto the field. The dressing bench in the Yankee locker room was forty-five inches long by sixteen inches deep instead of the required forty-eight inches long by twenty-four inches deep. The toilets in the locker room had a seat height of sixteen inches, one inch below the required seventeen inches. The spout of the drinking fountain in the weight room was forty-two inches off the floor instead of the required thirty-six inches.
"The urinals are too high,” Giuliani continued, laughing. “The toilet paper dispenser is incorrectly mounted on the back wall of the toilet. Do you believe anybody does this? I mean, people get paid to do this.”
After I ran a "cost of regulations" post, a commenter stated that he did not believe the 'cost of regulation' was as high as the post stated.
Hope he reads this post, too. He'll have a chance to apologize.
Games Prosecutors Play
The Ramos/Compean case gets even more strange.
Now, according to an amicus filing, the US Attorney may have used a "sentencing guideline" to manufacture a criminal offense.
[According to] a copy of an amicus curiae ("friend of the court") legal brief filed by Reps. Walter Jones (R-N.C.), Virgil Goode (R-Va.), and Ted Poe (R-Texas) in the former agents' appeal before the Fifth Circuit Court in New Orleans. They accuse the prosecution of "creating a purported criminal offense never enacted into law by Congress," and of charging Ramos and Compean with a "non-existent crime."
Simply discharging a firearm near a violent crime is not illegal, the brief argued, saying the law they were convicted under is not a law at all, but a sentencing factor used to help a jury determine jail time after a conviction.
As you might expect, the relevant statute's wording is sloppy (Congress wrote it...that's a hint.)
The brief argued that, for a 10-year sentence, a defendant must be convicted under the specific terms laid out in section 924(c)(1)(a) (see section).
This provision is applicable, the section says, to "any person who, during and in relation to any crime of violence or drug trafficking crime ... uses or carries a firearm, or who, in furtherance of any such crime, possesses a firearm ..."
If, and only if, these conditions apply can a defendant be sentenced to ten years in prison for the "discharge" of a firearm.The brief argued that the shooting of drug smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila was not "in relation to" the drug crime because Ramos and Compean were themselves not participants in the drug crime.
Now you and I might think that the 'use/carry of a firearm during/in re a crime of violence or drug trafficking' applies ONLY to the perpetrators of the crime.
Not according to the Prosecutor, if this amicus is credible. The way this deal came down, anybody using a weapon in those circumstances is "a criminal" and subject to a 10-year sentence.
There's a screw loose here, someplace.
Now, according to an amicus filing, the US Attorney may have used a "sentencing guideline" to manufacture a criminal offense.
[According to] a copy of an amicus curiae ("friend of the court") legal brief filed by Reps. Walter Jones (R-N.C.), Virgil Goode (R-Va.), and Ted Poe (R-Texas) in the former agents' appeal before the Fifth Circuit Court in New Orleans. They accuse the prosecution of "creating a purported criminal offense never enacted into law by Congress," and of charging Ramos and Compean with a "non-existent crime."
Simply discharging a firearm near a violent crime is not illegal, the brief argued, saying the law they were convicted under is not a law at all, but a sentencing factor used to help a jury determine jail time after a conviction.
As you might expect, the relevant statute's wording is sloppy (Congress wrote it...that's a hint.)
The brief argued that, for a 10-year sentence, a defendant must be convicted under the specific terms laid out in section 924(c)(1)(a) (see section).
This provision is applicable, the section says, to "any person who, during and in relation to any crime of violence or drug trafficking crime ... uses or carries a firearm, or who, in furtherance of any such crime, possesses a firearm ..."
If, and only if, these conditions apply can a defendant be sentenced to ten years in prison for the "discharge" of a firearm.The brief argued that the shooting of drug smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila was not "in relation to" the drug crime because Ramos and Compean were themselves not participants in the drug crime.
Now you and I might think that the 'use/carry of a firearm during/in re a crime of violence or drug trafficking' applies ONLY to the perpetrators of the crime.
Not according to the Prosecutor, if this amicus is credible. The way this deal came down, anybody using a weapon in those circumstances is "a criminal" and subject to a 10-year sentence.
There's a screw loose here, someplace.
THE Leak in the Faucet: Water & Sewer Utilities
Ahhhh...the Gummints.
Americans lose 30% of their tap water to leaky and inefficient municipal systems before it even gets piped into homes, said Meeusen, citing federal government statistics. Another 30% is lost after waste water is piped out of the home and back to the treatment plants.
That statement was made by the CEO of Badger Meter.
Americans lose 30% of their tap water to leaky and inefficient municipal systems before it even gets piped into homes, said Meeusen, citing federal government statistics. Another 30% is lost after waste water is piped out of the home and back to the treatment plants.
That statement was made by the CEO of Badger Meter.
IRS Loses Before Jury; Levy Lacks Foundation
Apparently this fellow has a compelling case, at least for a Louisiana Federal jury.
The Internal Revenue Service has lost a lawyer's challenge in front of a jury to prove a constitutional foundation for the nation's income tax, and the victorious attorney now is setting his sights higher.
Although the legal citations in the case tend to run the length of paragraphs, Newsbusters explained the substance of his arguments against the federal income tax this way:
Quite simply, he proved that the definition of Income as defined by the Supreme Court is NOT income from our labor, but rather things like interest and profit. You CANNOT tax a person's labor because it is a God-given right that we may work to support ourselves.
If I charge you $500 to fix your toilet, what part of that is profit or capital gain? The answer: You cannot decipher. Therefore, you cannot tax something that is considered an equal exchange on labor. You fix my toilet, I give you $500. It is quite simple.
"There are three points that are important," he told WND. "There's no law making the average working man liable [for income taxes], there's no law or regulation that allows the IRS to contend that earnings are 100 percent profit received in exchange for nothing, and the right to earn a living through any lawful occupation is a constitutionally protected fundamental right, and it is exempt from taxation."
I'd bet that IRS appeals, but I suspect there will be no takers.
The Internal Revenue Service has lost a lawyer's challenge in front of a jury to prove a constitutional foundation for the nation's income tax, and the victorious attorney now is setting his sights higher.
Although the legal citations in the case tend to run the length of paragraphs, Newsbusters explained the substance of his arguments against the federal income tax this way:
Quite simply, he proved that the definition of Income as defined by the Supreme Court is NOT income from our labor, but rather things like interest and profit. You CANNOT tax a person's labor because it is a God-given right that we may work to support ourselves.
If I charge you $500 to fix your toilet, what part of that is profit or capital gain? The answer: You cannot decipher. Therefore, you cannot tax something that is considered an equal exchange on labor. You fix my toilet, I give you $500. It is quite simple.
"There are three points that are important," he told WND. "There's no law making the average working man liable [for income taxes], there's no law or regulation that allows the IRS to contend that earnings are 100 percent profit received in exchange for nothing, and the right to earn a living through any lawful occupation is a constitutionally protected fundamental right, and it is exempt from taxation."
I'd bet that IRS appeals, but I suspect there will be no takers.
Clarification on Kennedy Annulment
Ed Peters is a Canon lawyer now teaching at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit; before this, he was a canonist for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
He also has a blog, and has clarified the information regarding the Rauch/Kennedy annulment. In fact, Rome did not "reverse" the annulment as we originally posted.
Sheila Rauch Kennedy, in her oddly organized book, Shattered Faith, at p. 215, quotes her letter to the Tribunal of Boston: ". . . in accordance with canon law, I am appealing your affirmative decision to the [Roman] Rota as the Court of Second Instance . . ." My emphasis.
Thus we must conclude that, because he had only one of the two necessary affirmative decisions (as explained below), Joseph Kennedy never received an annulment from the Catholic Church; the Roman Rota did not overturn an American annulment in this case for the simple reason that there was no annulment to overturn.
While the effect was the same (neither Kennedy nor Rauch can marry again in the Church), the predicate for that statement is different.
He also has a blog, and has clarified the information regarding the Rauch/Kennedy annulment. In fact, Rome did not "reverse" the annulment as we originally posted.
Sheila Rauch Kennedy, in her oddly organized book, Shattered Faith, at p. 215, quotes her letter to the Tribunal of Boston: ". . . in accordance with canon law, I am appealing your affirmative decision to the [Roman] Rota as the Court of Second Instance . . ." My emphasis.
Thus we must conclude that, because he had only one of the two necessary affirmative decisions (as explained below), Joseph Kennedy never received an annulment from the Catholic Church; the Roman Rota did not overturn an American annulment in this case for the simple reason that there was no annulment to overturn.
While the effect was the same (neither Kennedy nor Rauch can marry again in the Church), the predicate for that statement is different.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Pharmaceuticals for Liturgeists
As you've noticed, we've mentioned that "the '60's are over."
Tiresome to keep repeating it.
Fortunately, there IS a pharmacological solution, which Jeff Miller offers!
Get an extra bottle for that Certain Special Someone who's still housed in Milwaukee, but could return to a Benedictine Monastery offshore someplace...
Tiresome to keep repeating it.
Fortunately, there IS a pharmacological solution, which Jeff Miller offers!
Get an extra bottle for that Certain Special Someone who's still housed in Milwaukee, but could return to a Benedictine Monastery offshore someplace...
Marty Haugen's Legacy
From an interview of Marty Haugen in the (appropriately-titled) Worship magazine...
[A] chaplain suggested that I apply for a Catholic church job. I said I didn’t know anything about the Catholic liturgy, and he said, well, these days, nobody does—you’ll feel right at home. And he was right.
Pithy. And it gets better.
There is an energy that rises when the presiding minister calls for a response in the sermon and then a musician calls forth a response in the song. The congregation responds, and the choir has a voice, and there are all these voices.
Yah--but that "sermon-response" thing is decidedly a part of the Fundamentalist/Southern Baptist tradition, not to be confused with the Roman Catholic tradition. The difference? Priests are pastors, not "preachers." More important, priests act "in persona Christi," which does not make them "equals" with the Faithful. There's a lacuna in the understanding of the priesthood here, thus, while the 'music' part of the above is more-or-less appropriate, it's misleading to identify one with the other.
I was in my early twenties, like many musicians and also priests who had been ordained right after the Second Vatican Council. We were young and enthusiastic and not that far from the sixties.
Well, Marty, we're now forty YEARS from the '60's.
We still had this vision that the world could be changed and that institutions could be radically changed. If the cardinals and bishops had understood the implications of what they were unleashing, they might not have made all the changes.
Actually, the "Cardinals and Bishops" did NOT make 'all those changes.' They were made largely by LitWonk BureauWeenies--the Liturgeists--although some Bishops must take the blame for allowing this crap.
A lot of Catholic music from that period has now moved into Protestant churches.
As Gomer often said to the Sarge: "Surprise, surprise!!"
I approached composition from the standpoint of music, and I tried to make the text work with the music. But I realized very quickly that that was a distortion of the role of music in worship. What the Lutheran church taught me was how critically important it is that music support the Word. Learning to compose for the text—to make the music support the text—was a long process for me....
(...which may or may not be complete. He doesn't mention Gregorian Chant, by the way...)
Interactive singing, back and forth, creates a dialogue. When we all stand and face the wall and sing in the same direction, there is no give and take between us. When Jesus encountered someone, he looked at the person and invited a response
That little passage demonstrates Haugen's utterly Lutheran understanding of the liturgy and Ordination (again.). I don't question his bona fides--but the statement is simply wrong, from a Catholic point of view. The appropriate 'response' is gratitude and praise for the Sacrifice Christ made for us, and for the Body of Christ given in communion, which is not a 'dialog' in the strict sense. And of course, that "face the wall" thing--it's a mis-statement of 'facing East', towards God, Who will return 'from the East.' The priest leads his flock. He does not ignore them.
On "Praise Teams":
...they may be responding to a perception that the current state of much church music-making isn’t carrying everything that it should carry, that there’s something lacking. There is a sense in many parishes that the way we’ve sung music in the past, although it’s been strong, is not enough now.
As we've mentioned before, the "praise music" phenom is an extension and deepening of the "entertainment" attribute. Haugen's lack of enthusiasm is probably correctly placed.
Unless we face that tension, we run the risk of abandoning tradition and running off who knows where, or abandoning the culture and becoming a museum piece.
That's a false dichotomy, precisely as Benedict XVI foresaw it in the Motu Proprio. The tradition informs the culture, not vice-versa.
The psalms came from all kinds of situations. Some psalms are topdown; they were obviously written and performed by the Levites at the temple in Jerusalem. Other psalms, like the pilgrimage psalms, may have been sort of composed on the way, like songs you sing in the car. A psalm like “I lift up my eyes to the hills” (Ps. 121), for example, sounds like people were walking up to Jerusalem, singing back and forth to each other
.
The psalms were finally put together by something like a hymnal committee. They said, OK, these are the official songs. Some are the formal high church stuff. Some are the ones that people love. I’m simplifying it, but I think that the process was very much a sifting through, top-down and bottom-up. There are psalms of lament, psalms of praise, psalms of anger, psalms of ecstatic rejoicing, psalms of loneliness and isolation. There are individual psalms and very communal psalms
I'll leave that to better-informed Bibliophiles--but I don't think that Marty has his 'sources' theory correct.
(In concluding, "How to Go About Being a Music Minister":)
Well, what helped me was going back to the Scriptures and then taking courses in theology and seeing myself not primarily as a minister of music but as a minister of the Word and a minister of the peoples’ prayer. And then I asked, how can I use music to do that? I found tht the more I knew about traditions of the past, the more I felt confident that I was on the right track.
Yup. STILL no mention of Gregorian Chant.
[A] chaplain suggested that I apply for a Catholic church job. I said I didn’t know anything about the Catholic liturgy, and he said, well, these days, nobody does—you’ll feel right at home. And he was right.
Pithy. And it gets better.
There is an energy that rises when the presiding minister calls for a response in the sermon and then a musician calls forth a response in the song. The congregation responds, and the choir has a voice, and there are all these voices.
Yah--but that "sermon-response" thing is decidedly a part of the Fundamentalist/Southern Baptist tradition, not to be confused with the Roman Catholic tradition. The difference? Priests are pastors, not "preachers." More important, priests act "in persona Christi," which does not make them "equals" with the Faithful. There's a lacuna in the understanding of the priesthood here, thus, while the 'music' part of the above is more-or-less appropriate, it's misleading to identify one with the other.
I was in my early twenties, like many musicians and also priests who had been ordained right after the Second Vatican Council. We were young and enthusiastic and not that far from the sixties.
Well, Marty, we're now forty YEARS from the '60's.
We still had this vision that the world could be changed and that institutions could be radically changed. If the cardinals and bishops had understood the implications of what they were unleashing, they might not have made all the changes.
Actually, the "Cardinals and Bishops" did NOT make 'all those changes.' They were made largely by LitWonk BureauWeenies--the Liturgeists--although some Bishops must take the blame for allowing this crap.
A lot of Catholic music from that period has now moved into Protestant churches.
As Gomer often said to the Sarge: "Surprise, surprise!!"
I approached composition from the standpoint of music, and I tried to make the text work with the music. But I realized very quickly that that was a distortion of the role of music in worship. What the Lutheran church taught me was how critically important it is that music support the Word. Learning to compose for the text—to make the music support the text—was a long process for me....
(...which may or may not be complete. He doesn't mention Gregorian Chant, by the way...)
Interactive singing, back and forth, creates a dialogue. When we all stand and face the wall and sing in the same direction, there is no give and take between us. When Jesus encountered someone, he looked at the person and invited a response
That little passage demonstrates Haugen's utterly Lutheran understanding of the liturgy and Ordination (again.). I don't question his bona fides--but the statement is simply wrong, from a Catholic point of view. The appropriate 'response' is gratitude and praise for the Sacrifice Christ made for us, and for the Body of Christ given in communion, which is not a 'dialog' in the strict sense. And of course, that "face the wall" thing--it's a mis-statement of 'facing East', towards God, Who will return 'from the East.' The priest leads his flock. He does not ignore them.
On "Praise Teams":
...they may be responding to a perception that the current state of much church music-making isn’t carrying everything that it should carry, that there’s something lacking. There is a sense in many parishes that the way we’ve sung music in the past, although it’s been strong, is not enough now.
As we've mentioned before, the "praise music" phenom is an extension and deepening of the "entertainment" attribute. Haugen's lack of enthusiasm is probably correctly placed.
Unless we face that tension, we run the risk of abandoning tradition and running off who knows where, or abandoning the culture and becoming a museum piece.
That's a false dichotomy, precisely as Benedict XVI foresaw it in the Motu Proprio. The tradition informs the culture, not vice-versa.
The psalms came from all kinds of situations. Some psalms are topdown; they were obviously written and performed by the Levites at the temple in Jerusalem. Other psalms, like the pilgrimage psalms, may have been sort of composed on the way, like songs you sing in the car. A psalm like “I lift up my eyes to the hills” (Ps. 121), for example, sounds like people were walking up to Jerusalem, singing back and forth to each other
.
The psalms were finally put together by something like a hymnal committee. They said, OK, these are the official songs. Some are the formal high church stuff. Some are the ones that people love. I’m simplifying it, but I think that the process was very much a sifting through, top-down and bottom-up. There are psalms of lament, psalms of praise, psalms of anger, psalms of ecstatic rejoicing, psalms of loneliness and isolation. There are individual psalms and very communal psalms
I'll leave that to better-informed Bibliophiles--but I don't think that Marty has his 'sources' theory correct.
(In concluding, "How to Go About Being a Music Minister":)
Well, what helped me was going back to the Scriptures and then taking courses in theology and seeing myself not primarily as a minister of music but as a minister of the Word and a minister of the peoples’ prayer. And then I asked, how can I use music to do that? I found tht the more I knew about traditions of the past, the more I felt confident that I was on the right track.
Yup. STILL no mention of Gregorian Chant.
Cheese, Then Phones, Then a Lawsuit
It's becoming obvious. First, they buy the cheese. Then they buy the phones. Then they will sue the locals for "invidious race-based oppression and arrest."
Police questioned two men from Michigan who were buying a large quantity of Tracfones from Dollar General and Pamida Wednesday, July 11.
According to the police report, the men said a friend was giving them away as a promotion in selling garage doors.
The report said the men had a clipboard with a print-out of every Dollar General, Family Dollar, and Shopko that sells Tracfones in Wisconsin.
"Without question, the two individuals were using the Tracfones for something other than a garage door promotion," said the report.
The report said both men appeared to be extremely nervous and several times brought up the fact that they were pulled over only because they are of Middle Eastern descent.
Police found a pillow case on the passenger side front seat containing 74 Tracfones that were removed from their original packaging.
"This is why we don't think the phones were for a garage door promotion," said Police Chief Dale Heeringa.
Heeringa's racist minions should have waited for them to hit the local cheese store. THEN we'd know for sure and he could drop-ship these bozos to Gitmo.
HT: Jessica, again!
Police questioned two men from Michigan who were buying a large quantity of Tracfones from Dollar General and Pamida Wednesday, July 11.
According to the police report, the men said a friend was giving them away as a promotion in selling garage doors.
The report said the men had a clipboard with a print-out of every Dollar General, Family Dollar, and Shopko that sells Tracfones in Wisconsin.
"Without question, the two individuals were using the Tracfones for something other than a garage door promotion," said the report.
The report said both men appeared to be extremely nervous and several times brought up the fact that they were pulled over only because they are of Middle Eastern descent.
Police found a pillow case on the passenger side front seat containing 74 Tracfones that were removed from their original packaging.
"This is why we don't think the phones were for a garage door promotion," said Police Chief Dale Heeringa.
Heeringa's racist minions should have waited for them to hit the local cheese store. THEN we'd know for sure and he could drop-ship these bozos to Gitmo.
HT: Jessica, again!
Good Catch, Jess: The Governor Lies Again!!
Jessica noticed this whopper which (yawn) the MSM printed:
...the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article today puts the blame for cutting prosecutors' positions completely at the feet of "lawmakers", and leaves the Doyle administration (Read: Department of Administration) completely out of it.
The audit notes that the State Prosecutors Office in DOA calculates the funding formulas. DOA wrote the response letter to the audit. The biggest hit, notes the audit, came in 2003, when 15 prosecutors statewide lost their jobs. Let's look back at how the Journal Sentinel reported those cuts at the time:
District attorneys from Waukesha, Racine and four other counties plan to ask the state Supreme Court today to halt the Doyle administration's plans to fire 15 prosecutors from 12 counties effective Sunday.
In fact, at the time, in 2003, Doyle's spokesman defended the prosecutors' cuts after DAs (including my husband) said they would sue to block them:
"The district attorneys have the same obligation to the taxpayers that the governor does," Leistikow said. "The taxpayers expect the district attorneys to be more fiscally responsible than this."
Obviously, someone at the JS doesn't "check the clips."
...the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article today puts the blame for cutting prosecutors' positions completely at the feet of "lawmakers", and leaves the Doyle administration (Read: Department of Administration) completely out of it.
The audit notes that the State Prosecutors Office in DOA calculates the funding formulas. DOA wrote the response letter to the audit. The biggest hit, notes the audit, came in 2003, when 15 prosecutors statewide lost their jobs. Let's look back at how the Journal Sentinel reported those cuts at the time:
District attorneys from Waukesha, Racine and four other counties plan to ask the state Supreme Court today to halt the Doyle administration's plans to fire 15 prosecutors from 12 counties effective Sunday.
In fact, at the time, in 2003, Doyle's spokesman defended the prosecutors' cuts after DAs (including my husband) said they would sue to block them:
"The district attorneys have the same obligation to the taxpayers that the governor does," Leistikow said. "The taxpayers expect the district attorneys to be more fiscally responsible than this."
Obviously, someone at the JS doesn't "check the clips."
ISP's Ranked; AT&T Mediocre
Computerworld ran a survey of its readers to determine "who's the best" ISP provider. Strictly broadband, inclusive of cable offerings. They got 1200 or so responses.
Here's the breakdown:
There's little doubt as to the best U.S. broadband ISP, according to our readers -- Verizon FiOS wins by a wide margin. Overall, its users rated it at 4.4 out of 5, far better than the five other ISPs, which are bunched together in their ratings, with Cox Communications at a 3.9 rating, Time Warner at 3.8, AT&T and Verizon DSL tied at 3.7, and Comcast, the worst-rated ISP of all, at a lowly 3.5.
I know some folks stuck with Comcast, and they would wholeheartedly agree. As an SBC/ATT user, the mid-range rank for that provider doesn't surprise me at all.
Here's the breakdown:
There's little doubt as to the best U.S. broadband ISP, according to our readers -- Verizon FiOS wins by a wide margin. Overall, its users rated it at 4.4 out of 5, far better than the five other ISPs, which are bunched together in their ratings, with Cox Communications at a 3.9 rating, Time Warner at 3.8, AT&T and Verizon DSL tied at 3.7, and Comcast, the worst-rated ISP of all, at a lowly 3.5.
I know some folks stuck with Comcast, and they would wholeheartedly agree. As an SBC/ATT user, the mid-range rank for that provider doesn't surprise me at all.
City of Milwaukee Cuts Social Service Dollars: Children to be Affected
What can you say?
The Milwaukee Common Council committee believes that it's more important to redevelop old factory sites than to Save the Children.
Ald. Joe Davis asked that the funds be moved to make them available for the possible purchase and development of the 82-acre former Tower Automotive site on W. Capitol Drive.
...The committee heard pleas from Barbara Notestein, director of the Safe & Sound crime-fighting initiative, and others not to reduce funds for youth-serving agencies next year, but the $200,000 cut remained, leaving a $1.2 million allotment.
Guess it's not GWBush, after all.
The Milwaukee Common Council committee believes that it's more important to redevelop old factory sites than to Save the Children.
Ald. Joe Davis asked that the funds be moved to make them available for the possible purchase and development of the 82-acre former Tower Automotive site on W. Capitol Drive.
...The committee heard pleas from Barbara Notestein, director of the Safe & Sound crime-fighting initiative, and others not to reduce funds for youth-serving agencies next year, but the $200,000 cut remained, leaving a $1.2 million allotment.
Guess it's not GWBush, after all.
Security? Nope. Just Those Wacky Cheeseheads
....or at least, we hope so.
Airport security officers around the nation have been alerted by federal officials to look out for terrorists practicing to carry explosive components onto aircraft, based on four curious seizures at airports since last September.
The seizures at airports in San Diego, Milwaukee, Houston and Baltimore included "wires, switches, pipes or tubes, cell phone components and dense clay-like substances," including block cheese, the bulletin said.
So, Achmed, the question is: "Which is best for IED's--Mozarella, Cheddar, or Bleu"?
For general terrorism purposes, I think an exploded block of Stinky would be very effective. With that stuff all over the walls of the airport, you'd reduce economic activity substantially.
Airport security officers around the nation have been alerted by federal officials to look out for terrorists practicing to carry explosive components onto aircraft, based on four curious seizures at airports since last September.
The seizures at airports in San Diego, Milwaukee, Houston and Baltimore included "wires, switches, pipes or tubes, cell phone components and dense clay-like substances," including block cheese, the bulletin said.
So, Achmed, the question is: "Which is best for IED's--Mozarella, Cheddar, or Bleu"?
For general terrorism purposes, I think an exploded block of Stinky would be very effective. With that stuff all over the walls of the airport, you'd reduce economic activity substantially.
"Hate Crimes" and Blogging
Maybe it's a straw in the wind blowing from Canada.
A website featuring comments by, for and about "principled conservatism" is being investigated by the Canadian government, and could be fined or ordered shut down for some postings about Islam and homosexuality.
Connie Wilkins, who with Mark Fournier runs Canada's Free Dominion site and posts articles, comments and blogs on a wide range of issues, said she just was notified by the nation's Human Rights Commission about the investigation.
The scenario bears a close resemblance to the situation feared by opponents in the United States should a pending "hate crimes" legislation be approved by Congress and signed into law by the president. It would essentially provide an enhanced penalty for a range of crimes if someone perceives they are being targeted for being part of a recognized population segment, such as the homosexual community.
While the concept of "hate crimes" is asinine, and while there must be a predicate-crime to which one attaches the "hate" enhancement, (and expressing opinion is not yet a "crime,") it doesn't take much imagination to envision a mission-creep-infected "agency" of the Gummint which views free expression as a punishable offense.
A website featuring comments by, for and about "principled conservatism" is being investigated by the Canadian government, and could be fined or ordered shut down for some postings about Islam and homosexuality.
Connie Wilkins, who with Mark Fournier runs Canada's Free Dominion site and posts articles, comments and blogs on a wide range of issues, said she just was notified by the nation's Human Rights Commission about the investigation.
The scenario bears a close resemblance to the situation feared by opponents in the United States should a pending "hate crimes" legislation be approved by Congress and signed into law by the president. It would essentially provide an enhanced penalty for a range of crimes if someone perceives they are being targeted for being part of a recognized population segment, such as the homosexual community.
While the concept of "hate crimes" is asinine, and while there must be a predicate-crime to which one attaches the "hate" enhancement, (and expressing opinion is not yet a "crime,") it doesn't take much imagination to envision a mission-creep-infected "agency" of the Gummint which views free expression as a punishable offense.
Economists
Stolen from a newsletter:
A party of economists is climbing the Alps. After several hours they became hopelessly lost.
One of them studies the map, turning it up and down, sighting distant landmarks, consulting his compass, and finally the sun.
Then he turns to the others and says, “See that big mountain over there?”
“Yes,” say the others.
“Well, according to my calculations, we’re standing on top of it.”
A party of economists is climbing the Alps. After several hours they became hopelessly lost.
One of them studies the map, turning it up and down, sighting distant landmarks, consulting his compass, and finally the sun.
Then he turns to the others and says, “See that big mountain over there?”
“Yes,” say the others.
“Well, according to my calculations, we’re standing on top of it.”
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
MySpace and Sex Predators
Whoa, Nellie:
MySpace has identified more than 29,000 registered sex offenders among those registered to use its site -- more than four times what the company said in May it had found from an investigation, according to North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper.
Cooper released the number Sunday in a statement (download PDF) supporting proposed legislation in North Carolina that would require a parent's permission before a person under 18 could join a social networking site.
"[The 29,000] includes just the predators who signed up using their real names and not the ones who failed to register or used fake names," Cooper said in the statement. Cooper is one of eight state attorneys general who asked MySpace in May to turn over the names of users who are registered sex offenders.
That means that there are 29000 extraordinarily stupid sex offenders. I'd like to bet that ALL sex offenders are extraordinarily stupid, but I don't think I'd win a new home in Door County...
MySpace has identified more than 29,000 registered sex offenders among those registered to use its site -- more than four times what the company said in May it had found from an investigation, according to North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper.
Cooper released the number Sunday in a statement (download PDF) supporting proposed legislation in North Carolina that would require a parent's permission before a person under 18 could join a social networking site.
"[The 29,000] includes just the predators who signed up using their real names and not the ones who failed to register or used fake names," Cooper said in the statement. Cooper is one of eight state attorneys general who asked MySpace in May to turn over the names of users who are registered sex offenders.
That means that there are 29000 extraordinarily stupid sex offenders. I'd like to bet that ALL sex offenders are extraordinarily stupid, but I don't think I'd win a new home in Door County...
Monday, July 23, 2007
Mediocrity--the Church's Music
Of COURSE I agree with this guy Michael Lawrence.
Here are only a few excerpts from what is a very good essay--but it's worth reading in its entirety.
Art indeed had its beginnings as an expression of religion--the expression of religion, probably in the days before languages were spoken. It is the way in which religion has become manifest in this world from time immemorial. And yet the idea that one should "sing artistically unto God" [the better translation of the verse in Ps. 47] is a stumbling block to many and a folly to others.
...This ecclesiastical suspicion of the arts [likely begun around the time of the 'Enlightenment'] is evidenced by the scourge of mediocrity that has descended upon sacred art in general--and perhaps upon sacred music in a most particular way. Contrary to the perceptions of some, this problem of musical mediocrity is not an issue stemming from the Second Vatican Council, for the examples of mediocre music go back at least to the 19th century.
...a rather lengthy directory of lukewarm Catholic music can be produced without even mentioning "On Eagles' Wings" or "Be Not Afraid," let alone "Mother at Your Feet is Kneeling" or "Bring Flowers of the Fairest." [Or as I have said: "From Tin Pan Alley to Broadway in only 100 years of evolution"]
...One of the excuses put forth by many of the apologists of mediocrity is that singing high falutin' art music is not as important as ministering to the pastoral-liturgical needs of the faithful. Generally this problem is falsely set up as an "either or." For one thing, how pastoral is it to feed the people with musical stones (whether they come from the 1860's, the 1940's or the 1970's) instead of bread? For another, what's wrong with bringing the people up to the level of the music, rather than bringing the music down to the level of the people? (This presumes a rather poor level of taste amongst the people which I'm not certain is always accurate. [Exactly the same "problem" as Latin. The presumption of stupidity is false; but the inclination to laziness or shirking one's duty as a teacher is profound.]
It seems to me, however, that it is our duty to be prophetic witnesses in our lay apostolate to the power that beauty has in bringing people to Christ and His Church. In order to do this, we must think always as musicians--as artists. The going will be tough, and resistance will be found in some very surprising (i.e. "conservative") places, but we must stay true to our vocation, to our duty.
...we musicians must cultivate a love of truly artistic music amongst the people. Most are quite receptive to this if they are approached as the intelligent people that they are. Your enthusiasm will rub off on them, and great fruit will come from this. The best way to put a stop to the culture of mediocrity is to make people aware of those things which are better than that to which they've been exposed heretofore.
What better thing have you to do as a musician and artist?
Here are only a few excerpts from what is a very good essay--but it's worth reading in its entirety.
Art indeed had its beginnings as an expression of religion--the expression of religion, probably in the days before languages were spoken. It is the way in which religion has become manifest in this world from time immemorial. And yet the idea that one should "sing artistically unto God" [the better translation of the verse in Ps. 47] is a stumbling block to many and a folly to others.
...This ecclesiastical suspicion of the arts [likely begun around the time of the 'Enlightenment'] is evidenced by the scourge of mediocrity that has descended upon sacred art in general--and perhaps upon sacred music in a most particular way. Contrary to the perceptions of some, this problem of musical mediocrity is not an issue stemming from the Second Vatican Council, for the examples of mediocre music go back at least to the 19th century.
...a rather lengthy directory of lukewarm Catholic music can be produced without even mentioning "On Eagles' Wings" or "Be Not Afraid," let alone "Mother at Your Feet is Kneeling" or "Bring Flowers of the Fairest." [Or as I have said: "From Tin Pan Alley to Broadway in only 100 years of evolution"]
...One of the excuses put forth by many of the apologists of mediocrity is that singing high falutin' art music is not as important as ministering to the pastoral-liturgical needs of the faithful. Generally this problem is falsely set up as an "either or." For one thing, how pastoral is it to feed the people with musical stones (whether they come from the 1860's, the 1940's or the 1970's) instead of bread? For another, what's wrong with bringing the people up to the level of the music, rather than bringing the music down to the level of the people? (This presumes a rather poor level of taste amongst the people which I'm not certain is always accurate. [Exactly the same "problem" as Latin. The presumption of stupidity is false; but the inclination to laziness or shirking one's duty as a teacher is profound.]
It seems to me, however, that it is our duty to be prophetic witnesses in our lay apostolate to the power that beauty has in bringing people to Christ and His Church. In order to do this, we must think always as musicians--as artists. The going will be tough, and resistance will be found in some very surprising (i.e. "conservative") places, but we must stay true to our vocation, to our duty.
...we musicians must cultivate a love of truly artistic music amongst the people. Most are quite receptive to this if they are approached as the intelligent people that they are. Your enthusiasm will rub off on them, and great fruit will come from this. The best way to put a stop to the culture of mediocrity is to make people aware of those things which are better than that to which they've been exposed heretofore.
What better thing have you to do as a musician and artist?
The Christian/Buddhist Divide
Thoughts from GKChesterton on the difference:
NO two ideals could be more opposite than a Christian saint in a Gothic cathedral and a Buddhist saint in a Chinese temple. The opposition exists at every point; but perhaps the shortest statement of it is that the Buddhist saint always has his eyes shut, while the Christian saint always has them very wide open.
The Buddhist saint always has a very sleek and harmonious body, but his eyes are heavy and sealed with sleep. The medieval saint's body is wasted to its crazy bones, but his eyes are frightfully alive.
There cannot be any real community of spirit between forces that produced symbols so different as that.
Granted that both images are extravagances, are perversions of the pure creed, it must be a real divergence which could produce such opposite extravagances. The Buddhist is looking with peculiar intentness inwards. The Christian is staring with a frantic intentness outwards.
That particular passage also speaks to the "turned-around altars" brouhaha, doesn't it?
HT: VeniSancteSpiritus
NO two ideals could be more opposite than a Christian saint in a Gothic cathedral and a Buddhist saint in a Chinese temple. The opposition exists at every point; but perhaps the shortest statement of it is that the Buddhist saint always has his eyes shut, while the Christian saint always has them very wide open.
The Buddhist saint always has a very sleek and harmonious body, but his eyes are heavy and sealed with sleep. The medieval saint's body is wasted to its crazy bones, but his eyes are frightfully alive.
There cannot be any real community of spirit between forces that produced symbols so different as that.
Granted that both images are extravagances, are perversions of the pure creed, it must be a real divergence which could produce such opposite extravagances. The Buddhist is looking with peculiar intentness inwards. The Christian is staring with a frantic intentness outwards.
That particular passage also speaks to the "turned-around altars" brouhaha, doesn't it?
HT: VeniSancteSpiritus
First Things First--and Voting Is NOT First
The goo-goos (and the academics) who read this will have Hair On Fire syndrome for at least a month. (You've been warned, boys and girls.)
Americans are great at talking about how wonderful democracy is. The right to vote is taught as a sacrament from grade school up. Politicians can talk a mile a minute about how wonderful elections are for much the same reason salesmen at a Ford dealership can talk a blue streak about how great Fords are: It’s their livelihood. Spend your career trolling for votes and you’re apt to be able to explain why votes are the most important thing in the world.
But Americans don’t believe, not really, that voting is the most important thing in the world. For starters, if they believed such nonsense, they’d vote more.
No, Americans like exercising plenty of other rights more than their right to vote. The right to speak your mind, own property, associate with whomever you like, be compensated for the fruits of your labor: these and other rights are plainly more dear to Americans than the right to pull a lever every two or four years. Obviously, Americans would care if anyone proposed taking away their right to vote. But as a matter of common sense, voting is less important to us than those rights and liberties that make our God-given right to pursue happiness possible.
Altogether reasonable. What's "first" is generally contained in the Bill of Rights, the Declaration, and the Constitution. NOT voting is actually voting approval for the system in general; it is fallacious to state (as to the WimminVoters) that non-participation is either evil or a symptom of some 'alienation.'
HT: Random 10
Americans are great at talking about how wonderful democracy is. The right to vote is taught as a sacrament from grade school up. Politicians can talk a mile a minute about how wonderful elections are for much the same reason salesmen at a Ford dealership can talk a blue streak about how great Fords are: It’s their livelihood. Spend your career trolling for votes and you’re apt to be able to explain why votes are the most important thing in the world.
But Americans don’t believe, not really, that voting is the most important thing in the world. For starters, if they believed such nonsense, they’d vote more.
No, Americans like exercising plenty of other rights more than their right to vote. The right to speak your mind, own property, associate with whomever you like, be compensated for the fruits of your labor: these and other rights are plainly more dear to Americans than the right to pull a lever every two or four years. Obviously, Americans would care if anyone proposed taking away their right to vote. But as a matter of common sense, voting is less important to us than those rights and liberties that make our God-given right to pursue happiness possible.
Altogether reasonable. What's "first" is generally contained in the Bill of Rights, the Declaration, and the Constitution. NOT voting is actually voting approval for the system in general; it is fallacious to state (as to the WimminVoters) that non-participation is either evil or a symptom of some 'alienation.'
HT: Random 10
"Stunt" Feingold (D-alQuaeda) Lies, Flagrantly
Charlie's running Sen StuntFeingold's comments on the "John Doe" amendment.
Frankly, Feingold is lying like the proverbial rug.
The amendment does NOT allow 'anyone...who doesn't like someone....to [toss allegations around]'
Stunt Feingold should do the honorable thing and retract his lies.
Frankly, Feingold is lying like the proverbial rug.
The amendment does NOT allow 'anyone...who doesn't like someone....to [toss allegations around]'
Stunt Feingold should do the honorable thing and retract his lies.
Feingold: "It Was NOT A Stunt!!"
All I heard was that quick take from a WTMJ-radio interview.
Stunt-Man Feingold, (D-al-Quaeda) was defensive and more than a little testy with the newsman interviewing him on the radio about the US Senate's stunt-overnight "debate" on withdrawal from Iraq.
Maybe Feinie's a little concerned that the public sees him and his wacko allies for what they are: political clowns.
StuntMan Feingold.
It has a cadence to it. And more than just sarcasm.
StuntMan also voted against the "John Doe" amendment. Well, here's something to think about, Rusty:
The nation's top intelligence official yesterday went further than ever before in outlining what he described as a heightened threat of an al Qaeda attack on American soil.
"Their attempt is to cause mass casualties," said Adm. Michael McConnell, director of national intelligence, on NBC's "Meet the Press" program. "Second [priority] is political and possibly economic disruption."
..."What we see currently is primarily a focus on explosives -- explosives that can generate a large explosion, but they're put together with commercially available material," he said.
McConnell says small numbers of al Qaeda operatives are in this country raising funds. But he said he knows of no al Qaeda cells in the country that are capable of launching a strike at this time.
"I worry that there are sleeper cells in the U.S.," McConnell said. "I do not know."
In other words, StuntMan, your unhinged vote against "John Doe" elevates the risk. Even the CIA and FBI do not know whether there is a clear and present danger--although they certainly think that it exists, they cannot prove it.
UNTIL some "John Doe" steps forward, it will be a matter of some luck (or not.)
Stunt-Man Feingold, (D-al-Quaeda) was defensive and more than a little testy with the newsman interviewing him on the radio about the US Senate's stunt-overnight "debate" on withdrawal from Iraq.
Maybe Feinie's a little concerned that the public sees him and his wacko allies for what they are: political clowns.
StuntMan Feingold.
It has a cadence to it. And more than just sarcasm.
StuntMan also voted against the "John Doe" amendment. Well, here's something to think about, Rusty:
The nation's top intelligence official yesterday went further than ever before in outlining what he described as a heightened threat of an al Qaeda attack on American soil.
"Their attempt is to cause mass casualties," said Adm. Michael McConnell, director of national intelligence, on NBC's "Meet the Press" program. "Second [priority] is political and possibly economic disruption."
..."What we see currently is primarily a focus on explosives -- explosives that can generate a large explosion, but they're put together with commercially available material," he said.
McConnell says small numbers of al Qaeda operatives are in this country raising funds. But he said he knows of no al Qaeda cells in the country that are capable of launching a strike at this time.
"I worry that there are sleeper cells in the U.S.," McConnell said. "I do not know."
In other words, StuntMan, your unhinged vote against "John Doe" elevates the risk. Even the CIA and FBI do not know whether there is a clear and present danger--although they certainly think that it exists, they cannot prove it.
UNTIL some "John Doe" steps forward, it will be a matter of some luck (or not.)
The Crazies Have Taken Over in Milwaukee
In Mayor Tommy's city, where Lionel trains are objects of lust, what we really need is:
Bicycle Rentals??
Yup.
The city has applied to receive $752,000 in federal transportation funds to launch its own bicycle rental program, on a smaller scale, in 2009. The city's share of the $940,000 total price tag would be $188,000.
So people who pay the Federal tax on gasoline will be supporting Milwaukee. That's nice.
For that outlay, planners figure they could put 300 bikes at stations in the more-populated areas of Beer Town.
"More populated"?
The goal is to give people an alternative mode of transportation for short trips, and to reduce auto congestion and emissions.
"For some people, five or six blocks is too far to walk, and we do have pretty good parking availability in Milwaukee, so people drive," said Dave Schlabowske, the city's pedestrian and bicycle coordinator.
"If we have these bikes available, and these are very easy bikes to use, then the person who needs to go six blocks on their lunch hour, maybe down to the lakefront, has an alternative."
Ahhhhhhh.
Six blocks of bicycling through downtown, with your picnic-basket attached to the bike. Visions of Chagall's reveries-captured-on-canvas--
flowering trees,
birdsongs....
Lovers in the park, a jug of wine, a loaf of bread....
Really captures the imagination, until one recalls that from (roughly) October 1st through April 30th the City is subject to visits by:
Nor'easters
Blizzards
Panhandle Hooks
Canadian Clippers
and other violently unpleasant weather.
NOT TO MENTION that there's nothing so...attractive....as a good coating of salt on your suit, placed there by the spinning wheels of the bicycle as it bumps its way over the snow-and-ice formations on the City's streets.
This guy Schlablowske--has he been tested for all the usual stuff?
Bicycle Rentals??
Yup.
The city has applied to receive $752,000 in federal transportation funds to launch its own bicycle rental program, on a smaller scale, in 2009. The city's share of the $940,000 total price tag would be $188,000.
So people who pay the Federal tax on gasoline will be supporting Milwaukee. That's nice.
For that outlay, planners figure they could put 300 bikes at stations in the more-populated areas of Beer Town.
"More populated"?
The goal is to give people an alternative mode of transportation for short trips, and to reduce auto congestion and emissions.
"For some people, five or six blocks is too far to walk, and we do have pretty good parking availability in Milwaukee, so people drive," said Dave Schlabowske, the city's pedestrian and bicycle coordinator.
"If we have these bikes available, and these are very easy bikes to use, then the person who needs to go six blocks on their lunch hour, maybe down to the lakefront, has an alternative."
Ahhhhhhh.
Six blocks of bicycling through downtown, with your picnic-basket attached to the bike. Visions of Chagall's reveries-captured-on-canvas--
flowering trees,
birdsongs....
Lovers in the park, a jug of wine, a loaf of bread....
Really captures the imagination, until one recalls that from (roughly) October 1st through April 30th the City is subject to visits by:
Nor'easters
Blizzards
Panhandle Hooks
Canadian Clippers
and other violently unpleasant weather.
NOT TO MENTION that there's nothing so...attractive....as a good coating of salt on your suit, placed there by the spinning wheels of the bicycle as it bumps its way over the snow-and-ice formations on the City's streets.
This guy Schlablowske--has he been tested for all the usual stuff?
Ramos & Compean--Now Worth Watching
The Ramos/Compean case has become a cause celebre with a number of people, including both a very conservative Repulican congressman and a very liberal Democratic Senator.
In brief, Ramos and Compean were US Border Patrol agents who encountered a drug dealer. They pursued him. The drug dealer was shot by one of the agents, but escaped into Mexico.
The agents were later prosecuted by the US Attorney because they had wounded the drug dealer; and the agents were found guilty. They are now in prison.
So what's the big deal?
At least part of "the big deal" is this: while typical accounts of the incident state that Aldrete-Davila (the drug dealer) was "hit in the back" (actually, left butt-cheek) while fleeing, that's not an accurate statement.
He was hit on the left SIDE of the left butt-cheek.
Big difference. Firing into someone's back is morally unacceptable. On the other hand, firing into one's side? The morality (and the legality) now depends on the rest of the 'facts and circumstances'.
The now-imprisoned Border Patrol agents state that the drug-dealer would occasionally turn towards them, firing a weapon. The drug dealer is left-handed.
There is lots more to the story, and there are Congressional hearings going on. Now it's worth watching the events.
In brief, Ramos and Compean were US Border Patrol agents who encountered a drug dealer. They pursued him. The drug dealer was shot by one of the agents, but escaped into Mexico.
The agents were later prosecuted by the US Attorney because they had wounded the drug dealer; and the agents were found guilty. They are now in prison.
So what's the big deal?
At least part of "the big deal" is this: while typical accounts of the incident state that Aldrete-Davila (the drug dealer) was "hit in the back" (actually, left butt-cheek) while fleeing, that's not an accurate statement.
He was hit on the left SIDE of the left butt-cheek.
Big difference. Firing into someone's back is morally unacceptable. On the other hand, firing into one's side? The morality (and the legality) now depends on the rest of the 'facts and circumstances'.
The now-imprisoned Border Patrol agents state that the drug-dealer would occasionally turn towards them, firing a weapon. The drug dealer is left-handed.
There is lots more to the story, and there are Congressional hearings going on. Now it's worth watching the events.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Phone Company Rent-Seeking--on Your Dime, of Course
Would it surprise you that during the Clinton Administration a law mandating riches for "rural phone providers" was passed---AND that the single biggest beneficiary of that law is based in Little Rock, AR.?
I didn't think so.
Would it surprise you that Ted Stevens (Major PIG-Alaska) is one of the major supporters of the law, despite serious reservations from the FCC (the law's administrator) and many other members of Congress?
I didn't think so.
Read it and weep some more.
I didn't think so.
Would it surprise you that Ted Stevens (Major PIG-Alaska) is one of the major supporters of the law, despite serious reservations from the FCC (the law's administrator) and many other members of Congress?
I didn't think so.
Read it and weep some more.
Kohl & Feingold's Answer to John Doe
Herb Kohl, who now reveals that he is CAIR's Senator, (not yours,) joined the Wisconsin contribution to Moonbattery (that's Russ "No Free Speech" Feingold) and inspired the photoshoppers.
HT: Malkin
HT: Malkin
Careful, Mr. Torinus
John Torinus is on a crusade to prevent Nurse
He points out that there are other, better ways to deliver the goods while not root-and-branch tearing out the existing system. Like, for example, HSA/HRA options, combined with forcing hospitals and other providers to publish prices.
His enthusiasm, however, should not lead to blanket endorsements of such follies as 'the Massachusetts plan' which was signed into law by Mitt Romney. RomneyCare was, in the famous phrase, "a good idea at the time."
Since "the time," however, it's been nothing but trouble, and already the "cost reduction" alarm is being sounded. No surprise: the Massachusetts plan, like the Wisconsin proposal, started from a ridiculously lowball cost estimate.
Maybe the Mass. Plan is a good idea. Maybe not. But a lot more thinking should go into it.
He points out that there are other, better ways to deliver the goods while not root-and-branch tearing out the existing system. Like, for example, HSA/HRA options, combined with forcing hospitals and other providers to publish prices.
His enthusiasm, however, should not lead to blanket endorsements of such follies as 'the Massachusetts plan' which was signed into law by Mitt Romney. RomneyCare was, in the famous phrase, "a good idea at the time."
Since "the time," however, it's been nothing but trouble, and already the "cost reduction" alarm is being sounded. No surprise: the Massachusetts plan, like the Wisconsin proposal, started from a ridiculously lowball cost estimate.
Maybe the Mass. Plan is a good idea. Maybe not. But a lot more thinking should go into it.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Great New Blog
Here's a JS blogsite which is very informative and will be a regular stop.
The author of Proof and Hearsay is also an amateur programmer--good enough that he can evade some silly State of Wisconsin CCAP rigamarole.
Hmmm!
The author of Proof and Hearsay is also an amateur programmer--good enough that he can evade some silly State of Wisconsin CCAP rigamarole.
Hmmm!
How Goes Iraq?
Not likely to be printed by AP (the Allah-Press):
---As Operation Phantom Thunder and the Baghdad Security Plan are underway, al Qaeda in Iraq has failed to launch a major attack inside Baghdad over the past week. Operation Phantom Thunder, the overarching security operation in Baghdad's Belts of eastern Anbar, northern Babil, and Diyala, continues to pressure al Qaeda's support and leadership network, and Coalition forces are maintain the pressure on the Iranian-backed Special Groups.
---Iraqi and Coalition special operations forces conducted several intelligence-driven raids inside Baghdad, and netted dozens of al Qaeda and insurgent suspects inside Baghdad over the past several days
---In northern Babil, U.S. forces captured an insurgent on its most wanted list in Jisr Diyala, along with four suspected insurgents. While not mentioned, he appears to be linked to the Iranian-backed Special Groups, "The detained 'high-value individual' is believed to be responsible for the recent increase in explosively formed projectile improvised explosive devices and indirect fire attacks against Coalition Forces east of Baghdad," Multinational Forces Iraq stated. He also was involved in an organized crime network in the region.
---Mosul and the northern areas remain contested areas as al Qaeda is attempting to reestablish its base in the region while Coalition forces pressure the organization in Baghdad and the Belts. Iraqi and Coalition forces have been pressing al Qaeda's network in Mosul.
Plenty more at the link.
Fairness Doctrine Practiced Here, When We Want To.
---As Operation Phantom Thunder and the Baghdad Security Plan are underway, al Qaeda in Iraq has failed to launch a major attack inside Baghdad over the past week. Operation Phantom Thunder, the overarching security operation in Baghdad's Belts of eastern Anbar, northern Babil, and Diyala, continues to pressure al Qaeda's support and leadership network, and Coalition forces are maintain the pressure on the Iranian-backed Special Groups.
---Iraqi and Coalition special operations forces conducted several intelligence-driven raids inside Baghdad, and netted dozens of al Qaeda and insurgent suspects inside Baghdad over the past several days
---In northern Babil, U.S. forces captured an insurgent on its most wanted list in Jisr Diyala, along with four suspected insurgents. While not mentioned, he appears to be linked to the Iranian-backed Special Groups, "The detained 'high-value individual' is believed to be responsible for the recent increase in explosively formed projectile improvised explosive devices and indirect fire attacks against Coalition Forces east of Baghdad," Multinational Forces Iraq stated. He also was involved in an organized crime network in the region.
---Mosul and the northern areas remain contested areas as al Qaeda is attempting to reestablish its base in the region while Coalition forces pressure the organization in Baghdad and the Belts. Iraqi and Coalition forces have been pressing al Qaeda's network in Mosul.
Plenty more at the link.
Fairness Doctrine Practiced Here, When We Want To.
Washington, DC, vs. "Freedom"
In what can only be an ironic note, gleaned from a column found in Taki's Top Drawer:
It is interesting to note, however, that, in my lifetime, the attempts at secession I have seen—the unsuccessful ventures of Biafra , Rhodesia , and Katanga , and the rather more victorious efforts of Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia, Macedonia, and Slovakia—were all opposed to varying degrees by Washington—a town that can’t seem to stand seeing small regions escape the grip of a central government.
It does make GWB seem a bit counter-cultural.
Whig-power, anyone?
It is interesting to note, however, that, in my lifetime, the attempts at secession I have seen—the unsuccessful ventures of Biafra , Rhodesia , and Katanga , and the rather more victorious efforts of Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia, Macedonia, and Slovakia—were all opposed to varying degrees by Washington—a town that can’t seem to stand seeing small regions escape the grip of a central government.
It does make GWB seem a bit counter-cultural.
Whig-power, anyone?
The "Fairness Doctrine" in Print Media
Thank goodness the "fairness doctrine" won't apply to print media.
Otherwise, the AP'seditorialists news reporters would have to provide PowerLine's rebuttals right in their own releases.
From the AP:
Last week, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Peter Pace, said the number of combat-ready Iraqi battalions able to fight independently has dropped from 10 to six in recent months despite an increase in U.S. training efforts.
Those grim assessments follow years of optimistic public statements from the Pentagon about the progress in Iraqi security forces and have fueled calls in the Democratic-controlled Congress to begin withdrawing from Iraq.
From the actual record:
GEN. PACE: Yeah, I can tell you the numbers that are in my head. Last March, I think I said there were -- I did say and there were 10 battalions that were operating independently, and I think at the time I said there were another 88 operating in the lead. Today, the numbers I saw were six battalions operating independently and another almost 100 that are operating in the lead.
And so the question becomes, okay, how do you go from 10 to six, and why those changes? And the answer is, quite simply, that as units operate in the field, they have casualties. They consume vehicles and equipment, and need to come out of the line and be resupplied, just like our own units. So the fact that a number may be changing within a very narrow band shouldn't be of over -- overly of concern.
On the other hand, we do want to see the number go into double figures and start moving more toward more Iraqi units being able to operate on their own and more units that work operating side by side with us, moving into the lead. It is a valid thing to chase, but we shouldn't put too much weight on minor variations in those numbers.
So as PowerLine says:
So the "grim assessment" did not come from General Pace. It came solely from the Associated Press, and the AP made the assessment grim by simply ignoring the explanation and the other numbers that were given by General Pace.
Fairness? We don't NEED your stinkin' Fairness!!
Otherwise, the AP's
From the AP:
Last week, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Peter Pace, said the number of combat-ready Iraqi battalions able to fight independently has dropped from 10 to six in recent months despite an increase in U.S. training efforts.
Those grim assessments follow years of optimistic public statements from the Pentagon about the progress in Iraqi security forces and have fueled calls in the Democratic-controlled Congress to begin withdrawing from Iraq.
From the actual record:
GEN. PACE: Yeah, I can tell you the numbers that are in my head. Last March, I think I said there were -- I did say and there were 10 battalions that were operating independently, and I think at the time I said there were another 88 operating in the lead. Today, the numbers I saw were six battalions operating independently and another almost 100 that are operating in the lead.
And so the question becomes, okay, how do you go from 10 to six, and why those changes? And the answer is, quite simply, that as units operate in the field, they have casualties. They consume vehicles and equipment, and need to come out of the line and be resupplied, just like our own units. So the fact that a number may be changing within a very narrow band shouldn't be of over -- overly of concern.
On the other hand, we do want to see the number go into double figures and start moving more toward more Iraqi units being able to operate on their own and more units that work operating side by side with us, moving into the lead. It is a valid thing to chase, but we shouldn't put too much weight on minor variations in those numbers.
So as PowerLine says:
So the "grim assessment" did not come from General Pace. It came solely from the Associated Press, and the AP made the assessment grim by simply ignoring the explanation and the other numbers that were given by General Pace.
Fairness? We don't NEED your stinkin' Fairness!!
No Runny Heavy-Lifts Nurse Robson/Rached's Plan
The way that Seth at InEffect 'splains it, you'd think that Nurse Rached Robson's plan is merely a matter of flipping a switch or two, changing the tax flow, and setting a course for Nirvana.
"'T ain't so!!" says the Eggster. Not only is the Lewin Group study horrifically flawed in its cost estimates--the Nurse Robson/Rached plan also provides that public employees STILL don't contribute an extra dime towards their insurance costs.
No wonder "lobotomy" is the common denominator in the headline here.
Introducing "CubaCareWisconsin"--with Eggster's analysis.
--The state currently spends somewhere north of $7,000 per participant; yet CubaCare Wisconsin assumes that it would pay just over $4,000 per participant.
"CubaCare" proponents maintain that a chunk of this $3,000./person difference is in the 'cost of administration' --that is, that eliminating several insurance providers (reducing admin costs to only ONE entity) will make up a lot of the difference. Then they argue that the rest will be handled by "volume discounts."
--...they [WEAC] and other public employees, and only that group can have their employer (specifically government) pay the 4% that is supposed to be the employees’ contribution without either a decrease in take-home pay or an increase in gross pay (and thus an increase in income taxes).
This accounts for the silence of WEAC on the viability of the plan. Were your average teacher to be forced to give up after-tax dollars--say 8% of their salaries--this plot would never have seen the light of day.
A double-trick-with-numbers:
--The AARP-funded study by the Lewin Group, which assumed that $15.2 billion initial cost would hold, estimated that health-care costs would go up by 6.5% annually, which is actually less than the 8% annual increase of the cost of the state employee plan. [That's Part One of the monte-game.] Meanwhile, according to the Department of Revenue, wages, and thus the increase in revenues from the taxes intended to pay for this monster, are expected to go up only by 4.6% annually. [Part Two]
So the "structural deficit" bloats even further than currently estimated (around $600-900 million, depending...)
A whole new way of 'visioning Nirvana', hey.
HT: P-Mac
"'T ain't so!!" says the Eggster. Not only is the Lewin Group study horrifically flawed in its cost estimates--the Nurse Robson/Rached plan also provides that public employees STILL don't contribute an extra dime towards their insurance costs.
No wonder "lobotomy" is the common denominator in the headline here.
Introducing "CubaCareWisconsin"--with Eggster's analysis.
--The state currently spends somewhere north of $7,000 per participant; yet CubaCare Wisconsin assumes that it would pay just over $4,000 per participant.
"CubaCare" proponents maintain that a chunk of this $3,000./person difference is in the 'cost of administration' --that is, that eliminating several insurance providers (reducing admin costs to only ONE entity) will make up a lot of the difference. Then they argue that the rest will be handled by "volume discounts."
--...they [WEAC] and other public employees, and only that group can have their employer (specifically government) pay the 4% that is supposed to be the employees’ contribution without either a decrease in take-home pay or an increase in gross pay (and thus an increase in income taxes).
This accounts for the silence of WEAC on the viability of the plan. Were your average teacher to be forced to give up after-tax dollars--say 8% of their salaries--this plot would never have seen the light of day.
A double-trick-with-numbers:
--The AARP-funded study by the Lewin Group, which assumed that $15.2 billion initial cost would hold, estimated that health-care costs would go up by 6.5% annually, which is actually less than the 8% annual increase of the cost of the state employee plan. [That's Part One of the monte-game.] Meanwhile, according to the Department of Revenue, wages, and thus the increase in revenues from the taxes intended to pay for this monster, are expected to go up only by 4.6% annually. [Part Two]
So the "structural deficit" bloats even further than currently estimated (around $600-900 million, depending...)
A whole new way of 'visioning Nirvana', hey.
HT: P-Mac
Milwaukee Voting Problems are NOT "Minor"
Mayor Tommy! Forget your Lionel set.
Fix your Election Commission--or perhaps the State will do it for you.
No, not Doyle.
Van Hollen.
Fix your Election Commission--or perhaps the State will do it for you.
No, not Doyle.
Van Hollen.
Sykes Guest to Deny Holocaust!!
As Tucker Carlson demonstrates, the "Fairness Doctrine" may cause Charlie Sykes to have some ...ah....interesting guests on his show.
They could deny the Holocaust. Or assert that 'Bushitler' masterminded the 9/11 event.
Or that Clinton actually triggered OKC.
That's fair. Yup.
They could deny the Holocaust. Or assert that 'Bushitler' masterminded the 9/11 event.
Or that Clinton actually triggered OKC.
That's fair. Yup.
Jack Murtha: Milorganite Material
Yah.
Jack Murtha's well on his way to becoming the slimiest Congressman since Adam Clayton Powell.
We all know about the "Center for Instrumented Critical Infrastructure," which does not exist, getting $1MM just because Murtha Says. When Jack "Marines Are Wanton Killers" Murtha attempts to slime his way around that minor problem, he identifies the "Center" as part of another outfit, Concurrent Technology Corporation -- a non-profit "technology innovation center" that has received millions of taxpayer dollars in recent years.
OK. So it was a 'paperwork error.' No big.
Wrong again, sucker!
Murtha, meanwhile, defended the earmark by arguing that it provides funding for a project that the Department of Energy considers high-priority. This assertion, according to DoE, is false.
Jack Murtha is a large dose of the primary ingredient of Milorganite.
He should be flushed.
Jack Murtha's well on his way to becoming the slimiest Congressman since Adam Clayton Powell.
We all know about the "Center for Instrumented Critical Infrastructure," which does not exist, getting $1MM just because Murtha Says. When Jack "Marines Are Wanton Killers" Murtha attempts to slime his way around that minor problem, he identifies the "Center" as part of another outfit, Concurrent Technology Corporation -- a non-profit "technology innovation center" that has received millions of taxpayer dollars in recent years.
OK. So it was a 'paperwork error.' No big.
Wrong again, sucker!
Murtha, meanwhile, defended the earmark by arguing that it provides funding for a project that the Department of Energy considers high-priority. This assertion, according to DoE, is false.
Jack Murtha is a large dose of the primary ingredient of Milorganite.
He should be flushed.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Some Things Never Change
A very short excerpt from a letter written by a nun to an acquaintance in Europe, about one part of her journey in America:
"Yesterday I gave a pastor a little course in philosophy and catechetics. He needed it badly. He's an Irishman who trusts more to feelings than to reason."
Hmmmmmn.
HT: Amy
"Yesterday I gave a pastor a little course in philosophy and catechetics. He needed it badly. He's an Irishman who trusts more to feelings than to reason."
Hmmmmmn.
HT: Amy
The CDF's Pronouncement About the Catholic Church
Here's a statement which is unexceptionable.
...The document declares that the Roman Catholic Church is the only true church -- or, in words the Vatican would prefer to use, the only institutional form in which the Church of Christ subsists.
...No one familiar with the statements of the Roman Catholic Magisterium should be surprised by this development. This is not news in any genuine sense....
...Benedict is truly a doctrinal theologian, whereas his popular predecessor, Pope John Paul II, was more a philosopher by academic training. Those familiar with the current pope know of his frustration with the tendency of liberal Catholic theologians and laypersons to insist that the Second Vatican Council (known popularly as "Vatican II") represented a massive shift (to the left) in Catholic doctrine. Not so, insisted Cardinal Ratzinger as head of the Congregation for the Defense of the Faith. Now, as Pope, Benedict is in a position to shape his argument into a universal policy for his church. Vatican II, he insists, represented only a deepening and reapplication of unchanging Catholic doctrine.
...Evangelicals should appreciate the candor reflected in this document. There is no effort here to confuse the issues. To the contrary, the document is an obvious attempt to set the record straight. The Roman Catholic Church does not deny that Christ is working redemptively through Protestant and evangelical churches, but it does deny that these churches which deny the authority of the papacy are true churches in the most important sense. The true church, in other words, is that church identified through the recognition of the papacy. Those churches that deny or fail to recognize the papacy are "ecclesial Communities," not churches "in the proper sense."
Up to this point, I have deliberately excised some portions of the statement to mask the identity of the author. While the above could have been written by almost any Roman Catholic Bishop, it was not.
It was written by Dr. Albert Mohler—"the ninth president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary-the flagship school of the Southern Baptist Convention
Dr. Mohler has more to say:
The artificial and deadly dangerous game of ecumenical confusion has obscured issues of grave concern for our souls. I truly believe that Pope Benedict and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith are concerned for our evangelical souls and our evangelical congregations. Pope Benedict is not playing a game. He is not asserting a claim to primacy on the playground. He, along with the Magisterium of his church, believes that Protestant churches are gravely defective and that our souls are in danger. His sacramental theology plays a large role in this concern, for he believes and teaches that a church without submission to the papacy has no guaranteed efficacy for its sacraments.
Now for what you might expect from the good Dr.:
I actually appreciate the Pope's concern. If he is right, we are endangering our souls and the souls of our church members. Of course, I am convinced that he is not right -- not right on the papacy, not right on the sacraments, not right on the priesthood, not right on the Gospel, not right on the church
You can bet that Benedict XVI is not "offended" by Dr. Mohler's last sentence above.
Contrast Dr. Mohler to the pathetic mewling from this Milwaukee "Catholic."
The real men in this three-cornered dialogue are B-16 and Dr. Mohler. The "Catholic"? Fortunately, not a player.
...The document declares that the Roman Catholic Church is the only true church -- or, in words the Vatican would prefer to use, the only institutional form in which the Church of Christ subsists.
...No one familiar with the statements of the Roman Catholic Magisterium should be surprised by this development. This is not news in any genuine sense....
...Benedict is truly a doctrinal theologian, whereas his popular predecessor, Pope John Paul II, was more a philosopher by academic training. Those familiar with the current pope know of his frustration with the tendency of liberal Catholic theologians and laypersons to insist that the Second Vatican Council (known popularly as "Vatican II") represented a massive shift (to the left) in Catholic doctrine. Not so, insisted Cardinal Ratzinger as head of the Congregation for the Defense of the Faith. Now, as Pope, Benedict is in a position to shape his argument into a universal policy for his church. Vatican II, he insists, represented only a deepening and reapplication of unchanging Catholic doctrine.
...Evangelicals should appreciate the candor reflected in this document. There is no effort here to confuse the issues. To the contrary, the document is an obvious attempt to set the record straight. The Roman Catholic Church does not deny that Christ is working redemptively through Protestant and evangelical churches, but it does deny that these churches which deny the authority of the papacy are true churches in the most important sense. The true church, in other words, is that church identified through the recognition of the papacy. Those churches that deny or fail to recognize the papacy are "ecclesial Communities," not churches "in the proper sense."
Up to this point, I have deliberately excised some portions of the statement to mask the identity of the author. While the above could have been written by almost any Roman Catholic Bishop, it was not.
It was written by Dr. Albert Mohler—"the ninth president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary-the flagship school of the Southern Baptist Convention
Dr. Mohler has more to say:
The artificial and deadly dangerous game of ecumenical confusion has obscured issues of grave concern for our souls. I truly believe that Pope Benedict and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith are concerned for our evangelical souls and our evangelical congregations. Pope Benedict is not playing a game. He is not asserting a claim to primacy on the playground. He, along with the Magisterium of his church, believes that Protestant churches are gravely defective and that our souls are in danger. His sacramental theology plays a large role in this concern, for he believes and teaches that a church without submission to the papacy has no guaranteed efficacy for its sacraments.
Now for what you might expect from the good Dr.:
I actually appreciate the Pope's concern. If he is right, we are endangering our souls and the souls of our church members. Of course, I am convinced that he is not right -- not right on the papacy, not right on the sacraments, not right on the priesthood, not right on the Gospel, not right on the church
You can bet that Benedict XVI is not "offended" by Dr. Mohler's last sentence above.
Contrast Dr. Mohler to the pathetic mewling from this Milwaukee "Catholic."
The real men in this three-cornered dialogue are B-16 and Dr. Mohler. The "Catholic"? Fortunately, not a player.
GKChesterton on Everyman and Democracy
Here we find why certain exotic things will not survive referenda.
DEMOCRACY in its human sense is not arbitrament by the majority; it is not even arbitrament by everybody. It can be more nearly defined as abitrament by anybody: I mean that it rests on that club-habit of taking a total stranger for granted, of assuming certain things to be inevitably common to yourself and him.
Only the things that anybody may be presumed to hold have the full authority of democracy. Look out of the window and notice the first man who walks by. The Liberals may have swept England with an overwhelming majority; but you would not stake a button that the man is a Liberal. The Bible may be read in all schools and respected in all law courts; but you would not bet a straw that he believes in the Bible. But you would bet your week's wages, let us say, that he believes in wearing clothes. You would bet that he believes that physical courage is a fine thing, or that parents have authority over children.
Of course, he might be the millioneth man who dees not believe these things; if it comes to that, he might be the Bearded Lady dressed up as a man. But these prodigies are quite a different thing from any mere calculation of numbers. People who hold these views are not a minority, but a monstrosity.
But of these universal dogmas that have full democratic authority the only test is this test of anybody: what you would observe before any new-coiner in a tavern -- that is the real English law. The first man you see from the window, he is the King of England.
GKChesterton, What's Wrong With the World
By my count, there is only one actual "statistic" in that passage--but his point is conclusively demonstrated, statistically.
HT: Chesterton Day by Day.
DEMOCRACY in its human sense is not arbitrament by the majority; it is not even arbitrament by everybody. It can be more nearly defined as abitrament by anybody: I mean that it rests on that club-habit of taking a total stranger for granted, of assuming certain things to be inevitably common to yourself and him.
Only the things that anybody may be presumed to hold have the full authority of democracy. Look out of the window and notice the first man who walks by. The Liberals may have swept England with an overwhelming majority; but you would not stake a button that the man is a Liberal. The Bible may be read in all schools and respected in all law courts; but you would not bet a straw that he believes in the Bible. But you would bet your week's wages, let us say, that he believes in wearing clothes. You would bet that he believes that physical courage is a fine thing, or that parents have authority over children.
Of course, he might be the millioneth man who dees not believe these things; if it comes to that, he might be the Bearded Lady dressed up as a man. But these prodigies are quite a different thing from any mere calculation of numbers. People who hold these views are not a minority, but a monstrosity.
But of these universal dogmas that have full democratic authority the only test is this test of anybody: what you would observe before any new-coiner in a tavern -- that is the real English law. The first man you see from the window, he is the King of England.
GKChesterton, What's Wrong With the World
By my count, there is only one actual "statistic" in that passage--but his point is conclusively demonstrated, statistically.
HT: Chesterton Day by Day.
Honeybee Kill: It's a Parasite from Asia
From Spain comes the news that the cause is identified:
A parasite common in Asian bees has spread to Europe and the Americas and is behind the mass disappearance of honeybees in many countries, says a Spanish scientist who has been studying the phenomenon for years.
The culprit is a microscopic parasite called nosema ceranae said Mariano Higes, who leads a team of researchers at a government-funded apiculture centre in Guadalajara, the province east of Madrid that is the heartland of Spain's honey industry
Global mercury (see below), global parasites. China's exports continue to rise.
HT: Of Arms and the Law
A parasite common in Asian bees has spread to Europe and the Americas and is behind the mass disappearance of honeybees in many countries, says a Spanish scientist who has been studying the phenomenon for years.
The culprit is a microscopic parasite called nosema ceranae said Mariano Higes, who leads a team of researchers at a government-funded apiculture centre in Guadalajara, the province east of Madrid that is the heartland of Spain's honey industry
Global mercury (see below), global parasites. China's exports continue to rise.
HT: Of Arms and the Law
$95K for a Nurse?
No wonder health-care is expensive.
In the middle of a story blaming Scott Walker forGlobal Warming The War in Iraq The End of the World the County Budget--you know, the Budget the County Board passes--well, anyway, we find that the Behavioral Health Division should hire five nurses:
The finance panel Thursday recommended hiring of five additional nurses for the division, at a yearly cost of $479,000.
That's quite a paycheck-per-nurse.
In the middle of a story blaming Scott Walker for
The finance panel Thursday recommended hiring of five additional nurses for the division, at a yearly cost of $479,000.
That's quite a paycheck-per-nurse.
Made in China, Paid for by Wisconsinites
Ahhh--the GreenFreaks rising.
That means your wallet's getting thinner, again.
Wisconsin is poised to clamp down on mercury emissions at power plants, and in doing so, regulators will be weighing issues that range from global pollution to the safety of eating Wisconsin walleye.
"Think globally, raise the costs locally."
If approved when they come before the Natural Resources Board in the fall, the regulations would restrict mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants 90% by 2020.
The measure would have big repercussions in a state where 70% of the electricity is generated from coal.
Really? (/sarcasm)
The costs for consumers could amount to a few dollars a month, but possibly more.
Don't you love that "possibly more"? How much is "more"? (How high is "up"?)
• Even with new controls in the United States, mercury from sources as far away as China float into the atmosphere and fall over places including Wisconsin.
Therefore,
• Much of Wisconsin would experience little or no reduction in airborne mercury by 2020, a computer model by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed.
Because
"On a statewide level, I would say Wisconsin is a state where global factors are more important," Bullock said.
The thought is that Wisconsin utilities contribute about 10-20% of the mercury deposited here. We've done a pretty good job. But that's not enough.
Many northern Wisconsin lakes are naturally high in acidity. These lakes, popular for fishing and residential development, "are better at making methylmercury - we don't know why," said David Krabbenhoft, a research scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Middleton
(Old folks recall the "acid rain" BS from a few years ago. Turns out that the lakes were acidic because pine-needles washed into them during rainstorms. Now, suddenly, the GreenFreaks are using "memory hole" language...)
Only a few years ago, there was something called 'common sense.'
In 2004, the DNR advanced mercury legislation that is viewed as weaker - in part because of an agreement with the Legislature, then controlled by Republicans, that Wisconsin law should mirror federal regulations that eventually followed.
But "leadership"--damn the cost--is what the GreenFreaks want!
...last summer, Gov. Jim Doyle said he favored a higher 90% cut in mercury emission because sporting groups said the state wasn't going far enough with a 75% cut by 2015 and a goal of an 80% cut by 2018.
Just who are the "sporting groups" who eat all those fish? And why do they eat them?
Never mind.
The state's top utility regulator, Dan Ebert, agreed that Wisconsin should require utilities to reduce mercury emissions by 90%.
But he counseled the seven-member board not to ignore economics.
In the past four years, the Public Service Commission has approved $6 billion in infrastructure improvements for Wisconsin utilities.
Another $3.2 billion will be spent to comply with the new federal Clean Air Interstate Rule to clean up other air pollutants.
In five years, increased spending has pushed up electricity rates 40%, Ebert said. Wisconsin now ranks among the highest in the Midwest in electricity prices.
This is what we call "Taxation by Regulation." It works great, because utilities collect the money for the GreenFreaks and their willing pimps. Can't blame Doyle. Can't blame Nurse Judy. Can't blame Risser. It's the mean old utilities!
And then we have the good old "vaporware" promises:
ADA-ES, the pollution control company, is telling customers that its equipment in some cases can reduce mercury emissions by 90% today.
"Some"? What the......what does THAT mean?
Milwaukee-based We Energies is worried about how new technologies will work.
You should, too.
That means your wallet's getting thinner, again.
Wisconsin is poised to clamp down on mercury emissions at power plants, and in doing so, regulators will be weighing issues that range from global pollution to the safety of eating Wisconsin walleye.
"Think globally, raise the costs locally."
If approved when they come before the Natural Resources Board in the fall, the regulations would restrict mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants 90% by 2020.
The measure would have big repercussions in a state where 70% of the electricity is generated from coal.
Really? (/sarcasm)
The costs for consumers could amount to a few dollars a month, but possibly more.
Don't you love that "possibly more"? How much is "more"? (How high is "up"?)
• Even with new controls in the United States, mercury from sources as far away as China float into the atmosphere and fall over places including Wisconsin.
Therefore,
• Much of Wisconsin would experience little or no reduction in airborne mercury by 2020, a computer model by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed.
Because
"On a statewide level, I would say Wisconsin is a state where global factors are more important," Bullock said.
The thought is that Wisconsin utilities contribute about 10-20% of the mercury deposited here. We've done a pretty good job. But that's not enough.
Many northern Wisconsin lakes are naturally high in acidity. These lakes, popular for fishing and residential development, "are better at making methylmercury - we don't know why," said David Krabbenhoft, a research scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Middleton
(Old folks recall the "acid rain" BS from a few years ago. Turns out that the lakes were acidic because pine-needles washed into them during rainstorms. Now, suddenly, the GreenFreaks are using "memory hole" language...)
Only a few years ago, there was something called 'common sense.'
In 2004, the DNR advanced mercury legislation that is viewed as weaker - in part because of an agreement with the Legislature, then controlled by Republicans, that Wisconsin law should mirror federal regulations that eventually followed.
But "leadership"--damn the cost--is what the GreenFreaks want!
...last summer, Gov. Jim Doyle said he favored a higher 90% cut in mercury emission because sporting groups said the state wasn't going far enough with a 75% cut by 2015 and a goal of an 80% cut by 2018.
Just who are the "sporting groups" who eat all those fish? And why do they eat them?
Never mind.
The state's top utility regulator, Dan Ebert, agreed that Wisconsin should require utilities to reduce mercury emissions by 90%.
But he counseled the seven-member board not to ignore economics.
In the past four years, the Public Service Commission has approved $6 billion in infrastructure improvements for Wisconsin utilities.
Another $3.2 billion will be spent to comply with the new federal Clean Air Interstate Rule to clean up other air pollutants.
In five years, increased spending has pushed up electricity rates 40%, Ebert said. Wisconsin now ranks among the highest in the Midwest in electricity prices.
This is what we call "Taxation by Regulation." It works great, because utilities collect the money for the GreenFreaks and their willing pimps. Can't blame Doyle. Can't blame Nurse Judy. Can't blame Risser. It's the mean old utilities!
And then we have the good old "vaporware" promises:
ADA-ES, the pollution control company, is telling customers that its equipment in some cases can reduce mercury emissions by 90% today.
"Some"? What the......what does THAT mean?
Milwaukee-based We Energies is worried about how new technologies will work.
You should, too.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Vinehout & Hubby: Nuked by Owen
The story is not likely to run in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel--because it makes the FIB's look just like.........FIB's.
From Boots, about Vinehout's un-health-insured hubby:
The economist and consultant, turned farmer, had really never become a farmer. He was not hard at work milking cows on the dairy farm in Alma; instead he was busily working to milk the taxpayers of Illinois.
And hubby FIB was only half the story.
Wait until you read about the running-dog wife FIB.
From Boots, about Vinehout's un-health-insured hubby:
The economist and consultant, turned farmer, had really never become a farmer. He was not hard at work milking cows on the dairy farm in Alma; instead he was busily working to milk the taxpayers of Illinois.
And hubby FIB was only half the story.
Wait until you read about the running-dog wife FIB.
Bp. Morlino (Madison) on the Motu Proprio
The Bishop of Madison wrote on the recent Motu Proprio allowing the laity to request the celebration of the Joannine Use (Missal of 1962) Mass.
I do wish to make three very important points...
In the first place, the more widespread use of the Missal of Blessed Pope John XXIII should in no way cause further disunity within our diocesan Church or the Church in the United States. As I have said repeatedly, everything that we do at the liturgy and everything that we don't do at the liturgy teaches something. The liturgy is meant to embody and teach the authentic faith of the Catholic Church.
...Because these various usages of the Roman Rite embody the same faith, there should be no disunity caused by this particular diversity. The only way in which division or disunity might be deepened through the more widespread use of the Missal of Blessed Pope John XXIII would be if the faith of the Church, embodied by more recent usages, was somehow misunderstood, and in certain cases this has been the reality and I have spoken to this situation before, which brings me to the second point.
...It is a complete misunderstanding of the liturgical renewal according to the Second Vatican Council and the Missal of Pope Paul VI to see this post-Vatican II usage as, in any way, shape, or form, a rejection of the pre-Vatican II usage.
What was sacred and brought many people to holiness for so many years cannot all of a sudden be justifiably forbidden or even seen as harmful.
...We still need to be healed in our Church of the unfortunate effects of the discontinuity hermeneutic which sees the life of the Church prior to Vatican II as somehow mistaken and regrettable, and the post-Vatican II approaches, whatever they may have been, as the reliable corrective. Pope Benedict makes very clear that the liturgical rites after the council were sometimes mistakenly construed as inviting or even requiring creativity, and he indicates that this has caused certain "deformations" in the way liturgy is actually celebrated in certain venues.
Thirdly, you are probably aware that the Diocese of Madison is the only diocese in the State of Wisconsin where I, as bishop, still have never permitted the celebration of Mass according to the Missal of Blessed Pope John XXIII.
I have done so not because of any distaste whatsoever for that particular usage.
My reason for not permitting the celebration of Mass according to this Missal of Blessed Pope John XXIII in the Diocese of Madison has simply been that a certain catechetical support is necessary because those who are attached to this form of celebration for many years have often forgotten or gotten "rusty" with regard to what a full and active and fruitful participation would involve...
As a sign of my obedience to the Holy Father I do intend to celebrate Mass according to the Missal of Blessed John XXIII on occasion as soon as this is feasible. I say "as soon as this is feasible" because I do not have certain of the vestments that are necessary for the bishop to celebrate according to this particular usage, nor have I ever done so as a bishop.
Thus, it will be necessary for me to educate myself in these matters and obtain the proper vestments. It will also be necessary to see which of our priests might be in a position to celebrate Mass according to this usage. The document of Pope Benedict makes clear that if the priest is not trained to do so, that he should not attempt to do so without such training.
And then there will be the matter of training a limited number of servers who are alert liturgically and who know some Latin.
...I do urge those who are attracted to worship according to the Missal of Blessed Pope John XXIII to express yourselves to me and to your pastors in the days ahead so that we can do our very best to serve you in a reasonable amount of time as we make the necessary preparations.
An altogether reasonable reaction and a VERY compliant response.
I do wish to make three very important points...
In the first place, the more widespread use of the Missal of Blessed Pope John XXIII should in no way cause further disunity within our diocesan Church or the Church in the United States. As I have said repeatedly, everything that we do at the liturgy and everything that we don't do at the liturgy teaches something. The liturgy is meant to embody and teach the authentic faith of the Catholic Church.
...Because these various usages of the Roman Rite embody the same faith, there should be no disunity caused by this particular diversity. The only way in which division or disunity might be deepened through the more widespread use of the Missal of Blessed Pope John XXIII would be if the faith of the Church, embodied by more recent usages, was somehow misunderstood, and in certain cases this has been the reality and I have spoken to this situation before, which brings me to the second point.
...It is a complete misunderstanding of the liturgical renewal according to the Second Vatican Council and the Missal of Pope Paul VI to see this post-Vatican II usage as, in any way, shape, or form, a rejection of the pre-Vatican II usage.
What was sacred and brought many people to holiness for so many years cannot all of a sudden be justifiably forbidden or even seen as harmful.
...We still need to be healed in our Church of the unfortunate effects of the discontinuity hermeneutic which sees the life of the Church prior to Vatican II as somehow mistaken and regrettable, and the post-Vatican II approaches, whatever they may have been, as the reliable corrective. Pope Benedict makes very clear that the liturgical rites after the council were sometimes mistakenly construed as inviting or even requiring creativity, and he indicates that this has caused certain "deformations" in the way liturgy is actually celebrated in certain venues.
Thirdly, you are probably aware that the Diocese of Madison is the only diocese in the State of Wisconsin where I, as bishop, still have never permitted the celebration of Mass according to the Missal of Blessed Pope John XXIII.
I have done so not because of any distaste whatsoever for that particular usage.
My reason for not permitting the celebration of Mass according to this Missal of Blessed Pope John XXIII in the Diocese of Madison has simply been that a certain catechetical support is necessary because those who are attached to this form of celebration for many years have often forgotten or gotten "rusty" with regard to what a full and active and fruitful participation would involve...
As a sign of my obedience to the Holy Father I do intend to celebrate Mass according to the Missal of Blessed John XXIII on occasion as soon as this is feasible. I say "as soon as this is feasible" because I do not have certain of the vestments that are necessary for the bishop to celebrate according to this particular usage, nor have I ever done so as a bishop.
Thus, it will be necessary for me to educate myself in these matters and obtain the proper vestments. It will also be necessary to see which of our priests might be in a position to celebrate Mass according to this usage. The document of Pope Benedict makes clear that if the priest is not trained to do so, that he should not attempt to do so without such training.
And then there will be the matter of training a limited number of servers who are alert liturgically and who know some Latin.
...I do urge those who are attracted to worship according to the Missal of Blessed Pope John XXIII to express yourselves to me and to your pastors in the days ahead so that we can do our very best to serve you in a reasonable amount of time as we make the necessary preparations.
An altogether reasonable reaction and a VERY compliant response.
Ut Unam Sint
Yah, it's Latin.
(That they may be one..)
The KC Catholic has a lot of fun with those church-sign-lettering thingies you get on the 'net.
This is an example.
(That they may be one..)
The KC Catholic has a lot of fun with those church-sign-lettering thingies you get on the 'net.
This is an example.
People who Sexually Molest Children
Want to know who they are?
Easy.
A forthcoming study by the Federal Bureau of Prisons will point toward a "startlingly high" correlation between child pornography and the sexual abuse of children, the New York Times reports. In other words, the people who enjoy looking at sexual images involving children are likely to be the same people who molest children.
Once that study is released, you can expect all the usual "well, but...." crap from 1) porn-makers and their allies (see ACLU in the dictionary); 2) "First-Amendment" defenders who confuse 'free speech' with porn; and 3) porn-consumers who are offended by the study's results, or the pshrinks who are concerned that we don't mis-understand these poor folks.
For example:
"The results could have tremendous implications for community safety and for individual liberties," said Dr. Fred Berlin, founder of the Johns Hopkins Sexual Disorders Clinic. "If people we thought were not dangerous are more so, then we need to know that and we should treat them that way. But if we’re wrong, then their liberties aren’t going to be fairly addressed."
Right-o!! Nothing like the "liberty" to fuel up before assaulting a 6-year-old.
HT: CWN
Easy.
A forthcoming study by the Federal Bureau of Prisons will point toward a "startlingly high" correlation between child pornography and the sexual abuse of children, the New York Times reports. In other words, the people who enjoy looking at sexual images involving children are likely to be the same people who molest children.
Once that study is released, you can expect all the usual "well, but...." crap from 1) porn-makers and their allies (see ACLU in the dictionary); 2) "First-Amendment" defenders who confuse 'free speech' with porn; and 3) porn-consumers who are offended by the study's results, or the pshrinks who are concerned that we don't mis-understand these poor folks.
For example:
"The results could have tremendous implications for community safety and for individual liberties," said Dr. Fred Berlin, founder of the Johns Hopkins Sexual Disorders Clinic. "If people we thought were not dangerous are more so, then we need to know that and we should treat them that way. But if we’re wrong, then their liberties aren’t going to be fairly addressed."
Right-o!! Nothing like the "liberty" to fuel up before assaulting a 6-year-old.
HT: CWN
On Building Inspectors
The Mattress Police encounters a Building Inspector.
If you think I.R.S. agents are mean, you should try getting a building inspection some time.
You know what happens to someone who is too much of a jerkwad to work for the I.R.S.? He gets fired and fed to a rabid crocodile, which is then mated with that bitch from The Weakest Link, and then their unholy offspring is raised by hyenas until it's old enough to become a building inspector. That's what happens.
Hmmmnnnn....
And in regards the required "Continuity Test,"
No longer was he the construction expert barking to the naive amateur about Special Equipment. Suddenly I was the Jedi Master of the Magical Tampon Flashlight and he was the guy who was desperate to conceal the fact that he had no f---ing clue what a continuity test was. I could have clipped the alligator clip to his nose and shoved the prong up his ass and called it continuity. And I'm willing to bet good money the light would have gone on, because that guy had excellent continuity between his head and his ass.
We've encountered Pompous Ass inspectors, too. But never quite as bad as the MP's pal.
If you think I.R.S. agents are mean, you should try getting a building inspection some time.
You know what happens to someone who is too much of a jerkwad to work for the I.R.S.? He gets fired and fed to a rabid crocodile, which is then mated with that bitch from The Weakest Link, and then their unholy offspring is raised by hyenas until it's old enough to become a building inspector. That's what happens.
Hmmmnnnn....
And in regards the required "Continuity Test,"
No longer was he the construction expert barking to the naive amateur about Special Equipment. Suddenly I was the Jedi Master of the Magical Tampon Flashlight and he was the guy who was desperate to conceal the fact that he had no f---ing clue what a continuity test was. I could have clipped the alligator clip to his nose and shoved the prong up his ass and called it continuity. And I'm willing to bet good money the light would have gone on, because that guy had excellent continuity between his head and his ass.
We've encountered Pompous Ass inspectors, too. But never quite as bad as the MP's pal.
Myths and Realities on Taxes and Population
The Folkbum folk(s) have apparently decided that P-Mac will be a perma-target. Fred Thompson gets the same treatment from both Dems and Pubbies; the consensus is that the "target" designation is awarded to folks who are feared.
While P-Mac never struck me as "fearsome," I've also never engaged him in combat.
But when a poster is irrational, it can be fun to joust a bit.
Here, Folkie attempts to demonstrate that Scott Walker's tax freeze is somehow connected to a reduction in Milwaukee County's population, using P-Mac as a foil:
Then McIlheran goes on to show that the bustling metropolis of Mequon is looking at another tax freeze and links to the U.S. Census Bureau's website regarding that fine city to show that people want to move there. That made me wonder, how did Milwaukee County size up while under Scott "I should have been governor" Walker. The results weren't as pretty, with a loss of 25,000 people.
In the real world, tax "freezes" have little or nothing to do with the desirability of a home's location, nor with population gains and losses. Tax freezes have to do with the perception (and often, the reality) that there's too much spendin' goin' on out there--and too much taxing to support the sailor's habit.
REAL people often purchase a "first house" in the City of Milwaukee and have a family. As that family grows, the 'city house' becomes less accomodating to the family; or the investment required to install 21st century amenities (air, cable, dishwashers, etc.) becomes problematic; or the yard or garage is too small, or the school system is not what they'd like it to be.
Sometimes, REAL people get a job in a distant suburb (like Germantown, Sussex, or Pewaukee) and decide that reducing commute-time/expense (in combination to the other items above) is worth a move out of the County.
Conversely, REAL people are moving into the City of Milwaukee's river-front apartment/condo complexes at a rapid rate. These are (likely) people who do not have a need for yard-space, or who find that the amenities provided at the price represent a value which cannot be matched in a detached suburban home. (These people pay large tax dollars relative to the value of the property, by the way.)
Summarily, it ain't the taxes which drive these decisions, if all other things are equal. Anyone who thinks so is not living in the real world.
Why did Milwaukee County lose population? Who knows?
But it is not simply "taxes."
While P-Mac never struck me as "fearsome," I've also never engaged him in combat.
But when a poster is irrational, it can be fun to joust a bit.
Here, Folkie attempts to demonstrate that Scott Walker's tax freeze is somehow connected to a reduction in Milwaukee County's population, using P-Mac as a foil:
Then McIlheran goes on to show that the bustling metropolis of Mequon is looking at another tax freeze and links to the U.S. Census Bureau's website regarding that fine city to show that people want to move there. That made me wonder, how did Milwaukee County size up while under Scott "I should have been governor" Walker. The results weren't as pretty, with a loss of 25,000 people.
In the real world, tax "freezes" have little or nothing to do with the desirability of a home's location, nor with population gains and losses. Tax freezes have to do with the perception (and often, the reality) that there's too much spendin' goin' on out there--and too much taxing to support the sailor's habit.
REAL people often purchase a "first house" in the City of Milwaukee and have a family. As that family grows, the 'city house' becomes less accomodating to the family; or the investment required to install 21st century amenities (air, cable, dishwashers, etc.) becomes problematic; or the yard or garage is too small, or the school system is not what they'd like it to be.
Sometimes, REAL people get a job in a distant suburb (like Germantown, Sussex, or Pewaukee) and decide that reducing commute-time/expense (in combination to the other items above) is worth a move out of the County.
Conversely, REAL people are moving into the City of Milwaukee's river-front apartment/condo complexes at a rapid rate. These are (likely) people who do not have a need for yard-space, or who find that the amenities provided at the price represent a value which cannot be matched in a detached suburban home. (These people pay large tax dollars relative to the value of the property, by the way.)
Summarily, it ain't the taxes which drive these decisions, if all other things are equal. Anyone who thinks so is not living in the real world.
Why did Milwaukee County lose population? Who knows?
But it is not simply "taxes."
Wolf-Shooting Restrictions
Didn't know this:
Currently Federal Rule 10-J allows commercially licensed OUTFITTERS only to shoot wolves that attacking their horses, we non-outfitter licensed horsemen must simply sit and watch the wolves eat our horses.
The excerpted email concerns a USFish and Wildlife Service meeting to be held in Idaho discussing changing the cited rule to allow NON-'outfitter' folks to shoot predators.
And those non-outfitters include more than horse-owners. Your friendly neighborhood wolf is ALSO more valuable to USFWS than your pooch.
HT: Clay Cramer
Currently Federal Rule 10-J allows commercially licensed OUTFITTERS only to shoot wolves that attacking their horses, we non-outfitter licensed horsemen must simply sit and watch the wolves eat our horses.
The excerpted email concerns a USFish and Wildlife Service meeting to be held in Idaho discussing changing the cited rule to allow NON-'outfitter' folks to shoot predators.
And those non-outfitters include more than horse-owners. Your friendly neighborhood wolf is ALSO more valuable to USFWS than your pooch.
HT: Clay Cramer
The UAW Faces Health-Care Cost, Maybe
Apparently, the current GM/UAW negotiations are hung up over retiree-health-care cost questions.
Unfortunately for many retired auto workers, the golden goose has been strangled to death and auto companies can no longer afford the gold-plated “free” lifetime health care benefits they were promised.
And now the day of reckoning that everyone knew was coming - except maybe the car companies and the unions who negotiated this and other unsustainable benefits - is at hand. And it’s not going to be pretty, as current workers are likely going to be forced to accept an agreement to cut the benefits of those who came before them.
The reason? Simple math. There are not more retirees than there are workers, and neither the car companies nor the workers can fit the bill any longer, especially with legacy costs adding anywhere between $1,000 to $1,500 for each vehicle.
The union says it won’t cave on the issue of health care any more than it already has, but in reality if nothing is done then the car manufacturers will eventually go the route of many air carriers and parts suppliers and simply declare bankruptcy, allowing them to shed the crippling costs of their pensions, and more worrisome for former workers, drastically scale back, or totally abandon, their retiree health care payments. Of course, the US taxpayer, through programs like the PBGC and Medicaid would left holding the bag for the costs.
Hmmmmmmmm.
HT: Ankle-Biting Pundits
Unfortunately for many retired auto workers, the golden goose has been strangled to death and auto companies can no longer afford the gold-plated “free” lifetime health care benefits they were promised.
And now the day of reckoning that everyone knew was coming - except maybe the car companies and the unions who negotiated this and other unsustainable benefits - is at hand. And it’s not going to be pretty, as current workers are likely going to be forced to accept an agreement to cut the benefits of those who came before them.
The reason? Simple math. There are not more retirees than there are workers, and neither the car companies nor the workers can fit the bill any longer, especially with legacy costs adding anywhere between $1,000 to $1,500 for each vehicle.
The union says it won’t cave on the issue of health care any more than it already has, but in reality if nothing is done then the car manufacturers will eventually go the route of many air carriers and parts suppliers and simply declare bankruptcy, allowing them to shed the crippling costs of their pensions, and more worrisome for former workers, drastically scale back, or totally abandon, their retiree health care payments. Of course, the US taxpayer, through programs like the PBGC and Medicaid would left holding the bag for the costs.
Hmmmmmmmm.
HT: Ankle-Biting Pundits
Use Yahoo/SBC Email? What a Load of...
Over the last few weeks, Yahoo!! server-side email has been more and more glitchy.
Recently, that "glitchiness" has included simply freezing IE.
It's apparently Yahoo's Need for Revenues; their recently-introduced partial-screen advertisements are causing the problems.
Don't call customer service. It's night-time over there.
Recently, that "glitchiness" has included simply freezing IE.
It's apparently Yahoo's Need for Revenues; their recently-introduced partial-screen advertisements are causing the problems.
Don't call customer service. It's night-time over there.
Another $32MM Down the State IT Hole
Here we go again.
A $32.3 million overhaul of the state's computer system that handles Medicaid health claims for the poor will be delayed by at least 10 months, a state health department official said.
The lagging project means taxpayers could be missing out on administrative cost savings from the new system, which is supposed to replace the 30-year-old current model. It also opens the possibility that Wisconsin might run afoul of a federal deadline to change the way some Medicaid data is reported.
Different contractor, same ....ah....results.
The state's contractor, EDS Corp., of Plano, Texas, missed its May deadline and is now aiming for a March 2008 target date, said health department spokeswoman Stephanie Marquis.
Oh, yeah, there's a running total of State of Wisconsin IT down-the-dumper-dollars:
The Wisconsin State Journal reported in March that the state has spent more than $170 million in state and federal money on other troubled computer projects designed to register voters, process unemployment benefits and handle payroll and benefits for university employees. A blistering state audit released the following month also documented widespread mismanagement on information technology.
As we've said before, the State's IT systems are "fiefdoms." DOT has one, DOA has another, the UW has its own--and God help the legislator, Governor, or taxpayer who gets in there and asks common-sense questions.
A $32.3 million overhaul of the state's computer system that handles Medicaid health claims for the poor will be delayed by at least 10 months, a state health department official said.
The lagging project means taxpayers could be missing out on administrative cost savings from the new system, which is supposed to replace the 30-year-old current model. It also opens the possibility that Wisconsin might run afoul of a federal deadline to change the way some Medicaid data is reported.
Different contractor, same ....ah....results.
The state's contractor, EDS Corp., of Plano, Texas, missed its May deadline and is now aiming for a March 2008 target date, said health department spokeswoman Stephanie Marquis.
Oh, yeah, there's a running total of State of Wisconsin IT down-the-dumper-dollars:
The Wisconsin State Journal reported in March that the state has spent more than $170 million in state and federal money on other troubled computer projects designed to register voters, process unemployment benefits and handle payroll and benefits for university employees. A blistering state audit released the following month also documented widespread mismanagement on information technology.
As we've said before, the State's IT systems are "fiefdoms." DOT has one, DOA has another, the UW has its own--and God help the legislator, Governor, or taxpayer who gets in there and asks common-sense questions.
So You Want Government Health Coverage?
Sure.
Besides the blatant lying about the "number of un-insured" (the number is actually about 10 million nationally who 1) are US citizens and are 2) actually unable to afford health insurance)...
And the utterly irrational "plan" of the Wisconsin Democratic proposal...
There's this "database" problem.
Ives is one of about 138,000 seniors nationwide who are stuck in bureaucratic gridlock as Medicare Part D premiums are erroneously deducted from their Social Security checks. An additional 141,000 owe money, and can't get the money to be deducted from their checks.
The problem stems from a longstanding computer glitch between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Social Security Administration
No--this specific "glitch" is not the one which will occur when the State of Wisconsin (or the Feds) implement a Hillarycare System.
But I'll be willing to take large-denomination wagers that there will be at least ONE "database glitch" which will be excruciating for lots of people.
Takers?
Besides the blatant lying about the "number of un-insured" (the number is actually about 10 million nationally who 1) are US citizens and are 2) actually unable to afford health insurance)...
And the utterly irrational "plan" of the Wisconsin Democratic proposal...
There's this "database" problem.
Ives is one of about 138,000 seniors nationwide who are stuck in bureaucratic gridlock as Medicare Part D premiums are erroneously deducted from their Social Security checks. An additional 141,000 owe money, and can't get the money to be deducted from their checks.
The problem stems from a longstanding computer glitch between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Social Security Administration
No--this specific "glitch" is not the one which will occur when the State of Wisconsin (or the Feds) implement a Hillarycare System.
But I'll be willing to take large-denomination wagers that there will be at least ONE "database glitch" which will be excruciating for lots of people.
Takers?
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
National "Catholic" Reporter Demographic
This is far, far worse than the demographics of the Milwaukee JS:
...Let me share with you a little more about NCR readers, which I suspect will surprise many of you. The average age of an NCR reader is about 68. This average has been on a continual rise since the late '60s, when the average age was about 36.
(Quoted from "The Editor's Desk" by Gerald Augustus/Cafeteria Is Closed)
The NCR is the flagship of the Lefties of the American Catholic Church--it's the 'Catholic' version of the NYTimes, mutatis mutandis.
And the revelation above is not really a surprise. Some will argue that this is related to the recent survey demonstrating that 'the yout' do not read newspapers. I doubt it. Even the Milwaukee JS has better demographics than the above.
What is REALLY the case here is the even more remarkable renaissance of Tradition and its values, which are eschewed regularly and vigorously by the NCR. Even its own writer, John Allen, sees this.
So one wonders why any Catholic parish would waste its money advertising in the NCR's "Help Wanted" section--I mean, what are you going to do when the youngest applicant for your Church Musician position is 76?
...Let me share with you a little more about NCR readers, which I suspect will surprise many of you. The average age of an NCR reader is about 68. This average has been on a continual rise since the late '60s, when the average age was about 36.
(Quoted from "The Editor's Desk" by Gerald Augustus/Cafeteria Is Closed)
The NCR is the flagship of the Lefties of the American Catholic Church--it's the 'Catholic' version of the NYTimes, mutatis mutandis.
And the revelation above is not really a surprise. Some will argue that this is related to the recent survey demonstrating that 'the yout' do not read newspapers. I doubt it. Even the Milwaukee JS has better demographics than the above.
What is REALLY the case here is the even more remarkable renaissance of Tradition and its values, which are eschewed regularly and vigorously by the NCR. Even its own writer, John Allen, sees this.
So one wonders why any Catholic parish would waste its money advertising in the NCR's "Help Wanted" section--I mean, what are you going to do when the youngest applicant for your Church Musician position is 76?
The Lawyer on Lawyers
St. Thomas More, in his work Utopia:
They have very few laws because very few are needed for persons so educated. The chief fault they find with other peoples is that almost innumerable books of laws and commentaries are not sufficient. They themselves think it most unfair that any group of men should be bound by laws which are either too numerous to be read through or too obscure to be understood by anyone.
Moreover, they absolutely banish from their country all lawyers, who cleverly manipulate cases and cunningly argue legal points. They consider it a good thing that every man should plead his own cause and say the same to the judge as he would tell his counsel. Thus there is less ambiguity and the truth is more easily elicited when a man, uncoached in deception by a lawyer, conducts his own case and the judge skillfully weighs each statement and helps untutored minds to defeat the false accusations of the crafty. To secure these advantages in other countries is difficult, owing to the immense mass of extremely complicated laws.
...for all three of you barristers who read this--it's entirely possible that the foregoing was penned tongue-in-cheek.
HT: Laudator Temporis Actae
They have very few laws because very few are needed for persons so educated. The chief fault they find with other peoples is that almost innumerable books of laws and commentaries are not sufficient. They themselves think it most unfair that any group of men should be bound by laws which are either too numerous to be read through or too obscure to be understood by anyone.
Moreover, they absolutely banish from their country all lawyers, who cleverly manipulate cases and cunningly argue legal points. They consider it a good thing that every man should plead his own cause and say the same to the judge as he would tell his counsel. Thus there is less ambiguity and the truth is more easily elicited when a man, uncoached in deception by a lawyer, conducts his own case and the judge skillfully weighs each statement and helps untutored minds to defeat the false accusations of the crafty. To secure these advantages in other countries is difficult, owing to the immense mass of extremely complicated laws.
...for all three of you barristers who read this--it's entirely possible that the foregoing was penned tongue-in-cheek.
HT: Laudator Temporis Actae
Tyranny from the Greenies
Not here...yet.
But in England, they're rather blatant about it.
...the British group The Optimum Population Trust....is demanding that parents in the United Kingdom limit family size. If they won’t do so voluntarily, the organization says coercive measures will be necessary
The Optimum Population Trust’s hysteria is occasioned by a recent blip in British child-bearing, which rose from 1.8 children per woman in 2005 to 1.87 in 2006. Demographers attribute the increase to more career women having children later in life.
This is still far below the post-World War II high for Britain, 2.93 in 1964. More significantly, it’s well below replacement level of 2.11. Even if the current rate is maintained, the United Kingdom will still see its population decline in every generation, absent massive immigration.
“The Optimum Population Trust is composed of radical environmentalists,” [Allen] Carlson charges. “They want the British to commit demographic suicide to reduce the global consumption of resources and set an example to the Third World. The group has actually calculated that the average British child born today will have the ‘environmental impact’ of 620 round-trip trans-Atlantic flights in the course of his or her lifetime.”
Yah...and the "third world" is really likely to follow the example of the Brits. (/sarcasm)
Source: World Congress of Families
But in England, they're rather blatant about it.
...the British group The Optimum Population Trust....is demanding that parents in the United Kingdom limit family size. If they won’t do so voluntarily, the organization says coercive measures will be necessary
The Optimum Population Trust’s hysteria is occasioned by a recent blip in British child-bearing, which rose from 1.8 children per woman in 2005 to 1.87 in 2006. Demographers attribute the increase to more career women having children later in life.
This is still far below the post-World War II high for Britain, 2.93 in 1964. More significantly, it’s well below replacement level of 2.11. Even if the current rate is maintained, the United Kingdom will still see its population decline in every generation, absent massive immigration.
“The Optimum Population Trust is composed of radical environmentalists,” [Allen] Carlson charges. “They want the British to commit demographic suicide to reduce the global consumption of resources and set an example to the Third World. The group has actually calculated that the average British child born today will have the ‘environmental impact’ of 620 round-trip trans-Atlantic flights in the course of his or her lifetime.”
Yah...and the "third world" is really likely to follow the example of the Brits. (/sarcasm)
Source: World Congress of Families
Cdl. Mahony Points the Finger
Now that the spectre of testifying at a trial is removed from Cdl. Mahony's horizon, he's free to cast blame and point fingers.
Weinkopf: What about the charge that the problem is a lack of discipline and orthodoxy in the seminaries?
Mahony: Well, first of all that's one of the things that we still are studying. As you know, the bishops are conducting a study of causes.... In our case, many of the priests came out of the "good old days" -- Latin-only, cassocks-only.... Most of our cases did not come out of post-Vatican II, they came out of pre-Vatican II.
(Weinkopf is the editorial-page editor of the Los Angeles Daily News.)
The word "homosexual" does NOT appear in the linked interview.
The Cardinal's timeline is likely correct. However, he's careful not to deal with the real problem.
That's his history, and he's sticking to it.
But it's not just Cdl. Mahony's story. Here we find a similar "thought:"
We learn from The Reverend Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite (I'm not making it up, that's her name) of the United Church of Christ (one of the one zillion, one hundred and thirty million, four hundred and twenty five and one half point two six Protestant denominations...give or take):
To me, the symbol of the Latin Mass being reintroduced in this time when the struggle to stop child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church is still going on is very instructive. The Latin Mass was a product of a reactionary time in the Catholic Church where it rejected many very necessary reforms and consolidated its power in the hierarchy. Today the re-introduction of the Latin Mass signals to me that far from becoming open to the kinds of changes needed to protect children from abuse, the Catholic Church is once again circling the wagons, rejecting necessary reforms and consolidating its power in the hierarchy.
HT: CWN, and the Lady in the Pew
Weinkopf: What about the charge that the problem is a lack of discipline and orthodoxy in the seminaries?
Mahony: Well, first of all that's one of the things that we still are studying. As you know, the bishops are conducting a study of causes.... In our case, many of the priests came out of the "good old days" -- Latin-only, cassocks-only.... Most of our cases did not come out of post-Vatican II, they came out of pre-Vatican II.
(Weinkopf is the editorial-page editor of the Los Angeles Daily News.)
The word "homosexual" does NOT appear in the linked interview.
The Cardinal's timeline is likely correct. However, he's careful not to deal with the real problem.
That's his history, and he's sticking to it.
But it's not just Cdl. Mahony's story. Here we find a similar "thought:"
We learn from The Reverend Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite (I'm not making it up, that's her name) of the United Church of Christ (one of the one zillion, one hundred and thirty million, four hundred and twenty five and one half point two six Protestant denominations...give or take):
To me, the symbol of the Latin Mass being reintroduced in this time when the struggle to stop child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church is still going on is very instructive. The Latin Mass was a product of a reactionary time in the Catholic Church where it rejected many very necessary reforms and consolidated its power in the hierarchy. Today the re-introduction of the Latin Mass signals to me that far from becoming open to the kinds of changes needed to protect children from abuse, the Catholic Church is once again circling the wagons, rejecting necessary reforms and consolidating its power in the hierarchy.
HT: CWN, and the Lady in the Pew
Prevent Gun Violence
Coming Soon: Offshore Tobacco Retailers
For the adventurous entrepreneur, the Democrat Congress opens a new door.
The Democrat controlled Congress has sought an extra $35-billion to $50-billion for the state children's health insurance program. The program distributes payments to the states to help buy coverage for kids not poor enough for Medicaid.
Cigarettes, which accounted for more than 95 percent of tobacco tax collections last year, are the main focus of the bill. Federal taxes on a pack would jump from 39 cents to $1.
But the legislation has dragged cigars along for the ride. The industry operates under a 4.8 cents-per-cigar tax cap.
Under the proposed bill, taxes on "large cigars," a category that includes all but the tiny cigars sold in 20 packs like cigarettes, would rise to 53 percent.
A U.S. Senate version of the bill under consideration today in the Finance Committee sets the maximum tax per cigar at $10.
So the Feds will add 61 cents/pack in costs, and the Wisconsin Wizards (Senate) would add another $1.00 or so.
All of a sudden, there's a marketplace for another Kennedy family-type business! A couple of boats, a few trucks, and voila! Profit potential in excess of $5 million/year in Wisconsin alone!
HT: Captain's Quarters
The Democrat controlled Congress has sought an extra $35-billion to $50-billion for the state children's health insurance program. The program distributes payments to the states to help buy coverage for kids not poor enough for Medicaid.
Cigarettes, which accounted for more than 95 percent of tobacco tax collections last year, are the main focus of the bill. Federal taxes on a pack would jump from 39 cents to $1.
But the legislation has dragged cigars along for the ride. The industry operates under a 4.8 cents-per-cigar tax cap.
Under the proposed bill, taxes on "large cigars," a category that includes all but the tiny cigars sold in 20 packs like cigarettes, would rise to 53 percent.
A U.S. Senate version of the bill under consideration today in the Finance Committee sets the maximum tax per cigar at $10.
So the Feds will add 61 cents/pack in costs, and the Wisconsin Wizards (Senate) would add another $1.00 or so.
All of a sudden, there's a marketplace for another Kennedy family-type business! A couple of boats, a few trucks, and voila! Profit potential in excess of $5 million/year in Wisconsin alone!
HT: Captain's Quarters
What's Wrong with Fred? His Wife!
Susan Estrich complains that Fred Thompson married a younger woman.
What does it say that he'd rather be with someone who wasn't even alive when JFK was shot, or at least was too young to remember where she was? What does it say that he doesn't care that she doesn't remember the songs and the history and the fears we grew up with?
Estrich is a "go-to" feminist for the MSM, and her concerns are that a candidate's wife didn't faint at a Beatles concert? Or was not alive when Kennedy was shot?
THIS is important? Germane?
HT: Betsy
What does it say that he'd rather be with someone who wasn't even alive when JFK was shot, or at least was too young to remember where she was? What does it say that he doesn't care that she doesn't remember the songs and the history and the fears we grew up with?
Estrich is a "go-to" feminist for the MSM, and her concerns are that a candidate's wife didn't faint at a Beatles concert? Or was not alive when Kennedy was shot?
THIS is important? Germane?
HT: Betsy
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Education: How Bad IS It?
T Berres delivers news which is not really news for most of us.
The record of public education in Wisconsin is impressive relative to the national average.
...The problem, however, is that the current national average grossly underestimates the potential performance of American students. The difference between the relative and absolute performance of a school system is illustrated by the new Cato Index of Education Market Performance; Wisconsin has the highest score of any state on this index but with an absolute score of 26 on a 100 point scale. Professor Caroline Hoxby of Harvard has estimated that the average productivity of American schools declined by around 55% (based on math tests for nine-year-olds) or 73% (based on reading tests for seventeen-year-olds) between the 1970–1971 and 1998–1999 school years. The average seventeen-year-old in the 1970–1971 school year had a score that fewer than 5% of American seventeen-year-olds now attain.
Someplace around here there's an article from a Wall Street Journal of about 20 years ago. That article reprinted a graduation-test for grade-schoolers in the early 1800's--which test would force most of today's HS juniors to start HS all over again.
The record of public education in Wisconsin is impressive relative to the national average.
...The problem, however, is that the current national average grossly underestimates the potential performance of American students. The difference between the relative and absolute performance of a school system is illustrated by the new Cato Index of Education Market Performance; Wisconsin has the highest score of any state on this index but with an absolute score of 26 on a 100 point scale. Professor Caroline Hoxby of Harvard has estimated that the average productivity of American schools declined by around 55% (based on math tests for nine-year-olds) or 73% (based on reading tests for seventeen-year-olds) between the 1970–1971 and 1998–1999 school years. The average seventeen-year-old in the 1970–1971 school year had a score that fewer than 5% of American seventeen-year-olds now attain.
Someplace around here there's an article from a Wall Street Journal of about 20 years ago. That article reprinted a graduation-test for grade-schoolers in the early 1800's--which test would force most of today's HS juniors to start HS all over again.
The Traddies and the Motu Proprio
David Alexander mentions the 'professional ululator-class': the "traddies" who now insist that there should be dozens of Old Rite Masses offered every Sunday in every Diocese in the land.
...These malcontents can be found in blogs and their comments boxes throughout the Catholic blogosphere. To read some of the whining going on, they genuinely expect every diocese in the known world to completely arrange their schedules and priestly resources, in the space of two months, on the possibility that enough of them will grace with their presence, a location other than their home parish. Oh, and that they'll stop complaining.
Actually, David, they won't stop complaining.
They'll talk about the "requirement" for three steps leading to the altar, the requirement for a Communion rail, the requirement that there be a suitable (read: loft) position for the choir...
It goes on and on....
...These malcontents can be found in blogs and their comments boxes throughout the Catholic blogosphere. To read some of the whining going on, they genuinely expect every diocese in the known world to completely arrange their schedules and priestly resources, in the space of two months, on the possibility that enough of them will grace with their presence, a location other than their home parish. Oh, and that they'll stop complaining.
Actually, David, they won't stop complaining.
They'll talk about the "requirement" for three steps leading to the altar, the requirement for a Communion rail, the requirement that there be a suitable (read: loft) position for the choir...
It goes on and on....
The "Jewish Question" in the Tridentine Rite
Arguably the best essay on the faux-problem raised by Boston College.
...If Catholicism were Judaism, official Catholicism would be neither Orthodox nor Reform. It would be Conservative. (Like all analogies, this one will eventually break down, but I trust it’s sturdy enough to take me from here to where I’m going.)
I mean that the Roman curia and most bishops since Vatican II are committed to the preservation of tradition but also to the delicate business of adapting that tradition to contemporary contexts.
...In my experience, Catholics who have an affinity for the particularly Judaic character of their Christian faith are more likely to be drawn to the Tridentine Mass than are Catholics for whom Judaism is a category on the other side of a boundary they would consider it bad manners to try to cross.
(Which explains the horror expressed at praying 'for the conversion of the Jews.')
...Protestants were correct that the Mass, in its aspect as a sacrifice, could not be fully understood outside the framework of pre-rabbinic Judaism.
The author gets to this line of thought via a short meditation on the affirmation of 'the old things.'
An understanding of history is critical to understanding the present.
...If Catholicism were Judaism, official Catholicism would be neither Orthodox nor Reform. It would be Conservative. (Like all analogies, this one will eventually break down, but I trust it’s sturdy enough to take me from here to where I’m going.)
I mean that the Roman curia and most bishops since Vatican II are committed to the preservation of tradition but also to the delicate business of adapting that tradition to contemporary contexts.
...In my experience, Catholics who have an affinity for the particularly Judaic character of their Christian faith are more likely to be drawn to the Tridentine Mass than are Catholics for whom Judaism is a category on the other side of a boundary they would consider it bad manners to try to cross.
(Which explains the horror expressed at praying 'for the conversion of the Jews.')
...Protestants were correct that the Mass, in its aspect as a sacrifice, could not be fully understood outside the framework of pre-rabbinic Judaism.
The author gets to this line of thought via a short meditation on the affirmation of 'the old things.'
An understanding of history is critical to understanding the present.
GWB's Iraq Policy
Dreher highlights a quote from GWB taken from an interview by David Brooks in the NYTimes:
"It's more of a theological perspective. I do believe there is an Almighty, and I believe a gift of that Almighty to all is freedom. And I will tell you that is a principle that no one can convince me that doesn’t exist."
Bush said this to explain why he has not lost his optimism about the (political) situation in Iraq.
While Dreher's column then wanders off-topic a bit, this quote from Andrew Sullivan in the essay is pertinent:
There is a dstinction between theology and politics, a distinction between theory and practice: a distinction at the core of the very meaning of conservatism.
Sullivan also promptly meanders away from the core of the thought above.
The gift of the Almighty was, accurately, free will, not "freedom." Free Will does not presuppose a political environment of any sort, nor is its exercise dependent on ANY political system. While one can strenuously and correctly argue that a democracy of some sort is a Good Government for exercising Free Will, it is also arguably true that an enlightened monarchy is sufficient for that purpose (not that there are many of them around these days.)
The difference between "freedom" and Free Will is substantial. One can only hope that GWB was misquoted.
"It's more of a theological perspective. I do believe there is an Almighty, and I believe a gift of that Almighty to all is freedom. And I will tell you that is a principle that no one can convince me that doesn’t exist."
Bush said this to explain why he has not lost his optimism about the (political) situation in Iraq.
While Dreher's column then wanders off-topic a bit, this quote from Andrew Sullivan in the essay is pertinent:
There is a dstinction between theology and politics, a distinction between theory and practice: a distinction at the core of the very meaning of conservatism.
Sullivan also promptly meanders away from the core of the thought above.
The gift of the Almighty was, accurately, free will, not "freedom." Free Will does not presuppose a political environment of any sort, nor is its exercise dependent on ANY political system. While one can strenuously and correctly argue that a democracy of some sort is a Good Government for exercising Free Will, it is also arguably true that an enlightened monarchy is sufficient for that purpose (not that there are many of them around these days.)
The difference between "freedom" and Free Will is substantial. One can only hope that GWB was misquoted.
P-Mac's New Clothes
McIlheran's now posting on a spiffy new site which includes a comments section.
He told No Runny Eggs about it.
No, you can't get there from the old site. No, there's no notification on the old site.
Still worth the read, though.
He told No Runny Eggs about it.
No, you can't get there from the old site. No, there's no notification on the old site.
Still worth the read, though.
Monday, July 16, 2007
DC to Appeal Parker, File w/SCOTUS by 9/7
Here we go, folks!
Local government officials in Washington, D.C., announced Monday they will appeal to the Supreme Court in a major test case on the meaning of the Second Amendment. The key issue in the coming petition will be whether the Amendment protects an individual right to have guns in one's home -- an issue on which there is now a clear conflict among federal Circuit Courts. The city will be defending the constitutionality of a local handgun control law that is regarded as the strictest in the nation.
The petition would have been due Aug. 7, but city officials said Monday that they would ask Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., for a 30-day extension of time to file the case. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and city Attorney General Linda Singer disclosed the appeal plan at a press conference, along with local Police Chief Cathy Lanier. (A news release announcing the action can be found here ) The Mayor said: "We have made the determination that this law can and should be defended and we are willing to take our case to the highest court in the land to protect the city's residents. Our handgun law has saved countless lives -- keeping guns out of the hands of those who would hurt others or themselves.
"The D.C. Circuit Court ruled on March 9 that the Second Amendment does guarantee an individual right to possess a gun -- at least within one's own home. The ruling was the first by a federal appeals court to strike down a gun control law based on that view of the Amendment's reach. The case is Parker, et al., v. District of Columbia (Circuit docket 04-7041). On May 8, the Circuit Court refused by a 6-4 vote to rehear the case en banc. The mandate is scheduled to be issued Aug. 7, but will be withheld after the city files its Supreme Court petition. Thus, the existing gun law would remain in effect temporarily.
In an earlier filling in the D.C. Circuit, city officials said their appeal to the Supreme Court would present some variation of these questions: "(1) whether the panel majority's decision conflicts with the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Miller, 307 U.S. 174 (1939), as Judge [Karen LeCraft] Henderson concluded in dissenting from the panel majority's decision; (2) whether the Second Amendment protects firearms possession or use that is not associated with service in a State militia; (3) whether the Amendment applies differently to the District because of its constitutional status, as Judge Henderson also concluded; and (4) whether the challenged laws represent reasonable regulation of whatever rights the Amendment protects." The city noted that the panel had acknowledged that its ruling conflicts with decisions "of most other federal courts of appeals, many State courts, and the highest local court in this jurisdiction, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals."
The Circuit Court majority found that one of the six Washington residents who filed the challenge to the local gun control law had a right to bring the lawsuit. That individual is Dick Anthony Heller, a special police officer who works at the Federal Judicial Center (home of the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts) near Capitol Hill in Washington. He is licensed to carry a handgun on his job, but he applied for permission to have a pistol in his home; he was denied a license under the local law. Heller has said in court papers that he lives in a high-crime neighborhood in the city.
Heller, according to the Circuit Court, had standing to sue to challenge the gun registration provisions of the local law, as well as the clause that bars anyone from carrying a pistol without a license and a provision requiring all owners of licensed guns to keep them disassembled or with a trigger lock engaged when not in use.
The D.C. law has been in effect for nearly 31 years -- since September 1976. The lawsuit to strike it down was filed in February 2003.
Appealing Parker is very dicey for DC; many commentators suggest that the case could be a genuine landmark if SCOTUS affirms the 2nd Circuit's decision in whole. While it would not technically "overturn" Miller, it would lay out clear definitions of the 2nd's language. Although the precis given in the first paragraph states that Parker is about "keeping guns in one's home," the enumerated questions in the 4th graf of the article suggest that the case is far more important than "house-kept weapons."
It would also have an effect in Wisconsin, but for Screechin'Shirley's dogged insistence on her personal 'federalism.'
Local government officials in Washington, D.C., announced Monday they will appeal to the Supreme Court in a major test case on the meaning of the Second Amendment. The key issue in the coming petition will be whether the Amendment protects an individual right to have guns in one's home -- an issue on which there is now a clear conflict among federal Circuit Courts. The city will be defending the constitutionality of a local handgun control law that is regarded as the strictest in the nation.
The petition would have been due Aug. 7, but city officials said Monday that they would ask Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., for a 30-day extension of time to file the case. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and city Attorney General Linda Singer disclosed the appeal plan at a press conference, along with local Police Chief Cathy Lanier. (A news release announcing the action can be found here ) The Mayor said: "We have made the determination that this law can and should be defended and we are willing to take our case to the highest court in the land to protect the city's residents. Our handgun law has saved countless lives -- keeping guns out of the hands of those who would hurt others or themselves.
"The D.C. Circuit Court ruled on March 9 that the Second Amendment does guarantee an individual right to possess a gun -- at least within one's own home. The ruling was the first by a federal appeals court to strike down a gun control law based on that view of the Amendment's reach. The case is Parker, et al., v. District of Columbia (Circuit docket 04-7041). On May 8, the Circuit Court refused by a 6-4 vote to rehear the case en banc. The mandate is scheduled to be issued Aug. 7, but will be withheld after the city files its Supreme Court petition. Thus, the existing gun law would remain in effect temporarily.
In an earlier filling in the D.C. Circuit, city officials said their appeal to the Supreme Court would present some variation of these questions: "(1) whether the panel majority's decision conflicts with the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Miller, 307 U.S. 174 (1939), as Judge [Karen LeCraft] Henderson concluded in dissenting from the panel majority's decision; (2) whether the Second Amendment protects firearms possession or use that is not associated with service in a State militia; (3) whether the Amendment applies differently to the District because of its constitutional status, as Judge Henderson also concluded; and (4) whether the challenged laws represent reasonable regulation of whatever rights the Amendment protects." The city noted that the panel had acknowledged that its ruling conflicts with decisions "of most other federal courts of appeals, many State courts, and the highest local court in this jurisdiction, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals."
The Circuit Court majority found that one of the six Washington residents who filed the challenge to the local gun control law had a right to bring the lawsuit. That individual is Dick Anthony Heller, a special police officer who works at the Federal Judicial Center (home of the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts) near Capitol Hill in Washington. He is licensed to carry a handgun on his job, but he applied for permission to have a pistol in his home; he was denied a license under the local law. Heller has said in court papers that he lives in a high-crime neighborhood in the city.
Heller, according to the Circuit Court, had standing to sue to challenge the gun registration provisions of the local law, as well as the clause that bars anyone from carrying a pistol without a license and a provision requiring all owners of licensed guns to keep them disassembled or with a trigger lock engaged when not in use.
The D.C. law has been in effect for nearly 31 years -- since September 1976. The lawsuit to strike it down was filed in February 2003.
Appealing Parker is very dicey for DC; many commentators suggest that the case could be a genuine landmark if SCOTUS affirms the 2nd Circuit's decision in whole. While it would not technically "overturn" Miller, it would lay out clear definitions of the 2nd's language. Although the precis given in the first paragraph states that Parker is about "keeping guns in one's home," the enumerated questions in the 4th graf of the article suggest that the case is far more important than "house-kept weapons."
It would also have an effect in Wisconsin, but for Screechin'Shirley's dogged insistence on her personal 'federalism.'
The Anti-Catholics--and Those Who Regret It
As Kevin points out obliquely, there's more than a little anti-Catholicism goin' around. The last installment was delivered when Pope Benedict XVI had the temerity to declare that Catholicism is the true religion, and that other religions, while having some very positive elements, were not precisely "churches" by definition.
But B-16's declaration did not (yet) draw the "highbrow" nastiness which the partial-birth abortion decision of the Supreme Court did.
The neo-Blanshardite reaction to the Supreme Court’s partial-birth abortion ruling was led by former University of Chicago Provost Geoff Stone, who in condemning the decision as upholding what he ludicrously regarded as a an imposition of the Catholic religion pointedly called attention to the fact that the five justices forming the majority are members of the Catholic Church, and the Philadelphia Inquirer, which published a despicable cartoon depicting the five wearing the mitres of Catholic bishops.
(The essay reminds us that Blanshard founded the organization now known as "Americans United for Separation of Church & State, headed by Barry Lynn.)
Those who don't have a problem with anti-Catholicism are mentioned.
No condemnations of the rank anti-Catholicism on display were forthcoming from the American Civil Liberties Union, People for the American Way, or Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Nor was anything heard from the mainline Protestant denominations that are regarded by many Catholic liberals as Catholicism’s true friends and ecumenical conversation partners. Leaders of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., the Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Church, the United Church of Christ, etc. were silent.
Then there are those who are NOT "mainstream" and who DID object:
...the leaders of the Evangelical movement. And they came with a powerful and, indeed, remarkable statement. Led by Chuck Colson, many of the most influential leaders of contemporary Evangelicalism joined together to condemn anti-Catholicism. And they did not stop there. They went on to acknowledge and express remorse for the involvement of American Evangelicals in anti-Catholic prejudice in the past.
More at the link. And, by the way, Thanks!! Chuck!
But B-16's declaration did not (yet) draw the "highbrow" nastiness which the partial-birth abortion decision of the Supreme Court did.
The neo-Blanshardite reaction to the Supreme Court’s partial-birth abortion ruling was led by former University of Chicago Provost Geoff Stone, who in condemning the decision as upholding what he ludicrously regarded as a an imposition of the Catholic religion pointedly called attention to the fact that the five justices forming the majority are members of the Catholic Church, and the Philadelphia Inquirer, which published a despicable cartoon depicting the five wearing the mitres of Catholic bishops.
(The essay reminds us that Blanshard founded the organization now known as "Americans United for Separation of Church & State, headed by Barry Lynn.)
Those who don't have a problem with anti-Catholicism are mentioned.
No condemnations of the rank anti-Catholicism on display were forthcoming from the American Civil Liberties Union, People for the American Way, or Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Nor was anything heard from the mainline Protestant denominations that are regarded by many Catholic liberals as Catholicism’s true friends and ecumenical conversation partners. Leaders of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., the Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Church, the United Church of Christ, etc. were silent.
Then there are those who are NOT "mainstream" and who DID object:
...the leaders of the Evangelical movement. And they came with a powerful and, indeed, remarkable statement. Led by Chuck Colson, many of the most influential leaders of contemporary Evangelicalism joined together to condemn anti-Catholicism. And they did not stop there. They went on to acknowledge and express remorse for the involvement of American Evangelicals in anti-Catholic prejudice in the past.
More at the link. And, by the way, Thanks!! Chuck!
The Cynic's "Con Law in One Easy Lesson"
Via Arms and the Law, a credible (?) humorous (?) (pick one) take on Constitutional Lawyering:
"First, draw the desired curve. Then, plot the data. If time permits, do the experiment."
The author of the piece (found here) is a Con Law prof. He continues:
I used it as a parable about how not to do constitutional interpretation -- and as a description of how some interpreters (courts, law professors, certainly many first year law students) seem actually to do Constitutional Law, at least from time to time: Pick the desired result, choose an interpretive methodology to match, and then, time permitting, do some research to find supporting evidence.
Hell, if that's all it takes, why spend 3 years paying folks like Esenberg?
"First, draw the desired curve. Then, plot the data. If time permits, do the experiment."
The author of the piece (found here) is a Con Law prof. He continues:
I used it as a parable about how not to do constitutional interpretation -- and as a description of how some interpreters (courts, law professors, certainly many first year law students) seem actually to do Constitutional Law, at least from time to time: Pick the desired result, choose an interpretive methodology to match, and then, time permitting, do some research to find supporting evidence.
Hell, if that's all it takes, why spend 3 years paying folks like Esenberg?
Thinking His Way to Jail
This one raises a lot of questions. Looks like the prosecutors disagree with the shrink, but in order to "fix" the shrink's action, the prosecutors are pushing an envelope.
When Michael Monyelle stands trial next month, prosecutors aim to show that he is among the state's most dangerous sexual predators and should be committed - perhaps for the rest of his life - for treatment as a "sexually violent person."
But what landed Monyelle in hot water wasn't anything he did.
It was what he thought.
He told his parole agent that he was having deviant thoughts about children, and his disclosures are being used against him by prosecutors who contend he is apt to act on his thoughts.
The guy has a past:
...consensual sexual contact with two underage girls when he was 19 and 20, and [sexual contact] with a 9-year-old boy when he was 16
...for which he spent time in prison. He was released, with supervision.
Linda Morrison, executive director of the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault, termed the decision to seek a commitment under such circumstances "a judgment call."
"These cases are very complicated," Morrison said. "You've got to start somewhere to look for markers that are indicators of possible future violence.
"The judgment here is that the thoughts he is expressing are indicating what is in his head and what could lead to violence."
OK.
At the same time, Monyelle did not 'do the crime:'
"I see kids on the street and I look and I have (deviant) thoughts. But I keep on going to where I was going."
The first question, of course, is 'if this guy is a danger, why was he released?'
...court records indicate that a psychologist retained by the defense, Luis Rosell, has concluded that Monyelle "does not pose a serious risk for sexual violence" and can be safely returned to Waukesha on parole...
The second question is 'whether incarceration for thoughts?'
Monyelle also skipped a number of scheduled meetings with his parole officer, which presumably contributed to the case for prosecuting.
Hmmmm.
When Michael Monyelle stands trial next month, prosecutors aim to show that he is among the state's most dangerous sexual predators and should be committed - perhaps for the rest of his life - for treatment as a "sexually violent person."
But what landed Monyelle in hot water wasn't anything he did.
It was what he thought.
He told his parole agent that he was having deviant thoughts about children, and his disclosures are being used against him by prosecutors who contend he is apt to act on his thoughts.
The guy has a past:
...consensual sexual contact with two underage girls when he was 19 and 20, and [sexual contact] with a 9-year-old boy when he was 16
...for which he spent time in prison. He was released, with supervision.
Linda Morrison, executive director of the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault, termed the decision to seek a commitment under such circumstances "a judgment call."
"These cases are very complicated," Morrison said. "You've got to start somewhere to look for markers that are indicators of possible future violence.
"The judgment here is that the thoughts he is expressing are indicating what is in his head and what could lead to violence."
OK.
At the same time, Monyelle did not 'do the crime:'
"I see kids on the street and I look and I have (deviant) thoughts. But I keep on going to where I was going."
The first question, of course, is 'if this guy is a danger, why was he released?'
...court records indicate that a psychologist retained by the defense, Luis Rosell, has concluded that Monyelle "does not pose a serious risk for sexual violence" and can be safely returned to Waukesha on parole...
The second question is 'whether incarceration for thoughts?'
Monyelle also skipped a number of scheduled meetings with his parole officer, which presumably contributed to the case for prosecuting.
Hmmmm.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
The Illegals--A View from Tennessee
Here's an article with a perspective which is rare--and non-polemic.
Fortunately, no "crimes" except those of the owner(s) of "Big Billy's" in Nashville.
Fortunately, no "crimes" except those of the owner(s) of "Big Billy's" in Nashville.
Hildebeeste's "Fairness Doctrine"
There's some confusion over the "fairness doctrine" yammering going on.
In general terms, bringing back the "fairness doctrine" is a differently-angled "campaign finance reform" tactic; it's meant, at root, to ensure the continuation of the Party In Government.
Some characterize the "fairness doctrine" as a Liberal vs. Conservative thing. That's not accurate. It has to do with jamming "mainstream" into the eardrums of whomever listens.
The Hildebeeste's conversation with Silky Pony should make that clear. Scroll down on this site and read the transcript/watch the video.
More on The Hildebeeste's campaign to squash Free Speech can be found here.
In general terms, bringing back the "fairness doctrine" is a differently-angled "campaign finance reform" tactic; it's meant, at root, to ensure the continuation of the Party In Government.
Some characterize the "fairness doctrine" as a Liberal vs. Conservative thing. That's not accurate. It has to do with jamming "mainstream" into the eardrums of whomever listens.
The Hildebeeste's conversation with Silky Pony should make that clear. Scroll down on this site and read the transcript/watch the video.
More on The Hildebeeste's campaign to squash Free Speech can be found here.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
GKChesterton on the Fall of the Bastille
As usual, the incisive thought:
THE destruction of the Bastille was not a reform it was something more important than a reform. It was an iconoclasm; it was the breaking of a stone image. The people saw the building like a giant looking at them with a score of eyes, and they struck at it as at a carved face. For of all the shapes in which that immense illusion called Materialism can terrify the soul, perhaps the most oppressive is that of the big building. Man feels like a fly, an accident in the thing he has himself made. It requires a violent effort of the spirit to remember that man made this confounding thing and man could unmake it. Therefore the mere act of the ragged people in the street taking and destroying a huge public building has a spiritual, and a ritual, meaning far beyond its immediate political results. It is a religious service. If, for instance, the Socialists were numerous or courageous enough to capture and smash up the Bank of England you might argue for ever about the inutility of the act, and how it really did not touch the root of the economic problem in the correct manner. But mankind would never forget it. It would change the world.
Now and then it crosses one's mind....
Never mind.
THE destruction of the Bastille was not a reform it was something more important than a reform. It was an iconoclasm; it was the breaking of a stone image. The people saw the building like a giant looking at them with a score of eyes, and they struck at it as at a carved face. For of all the shapes in which that immense illusion called Materialism can terrify the soul, perhaps the most oppressive is that of the big building. Man feels like a fly, an accident in the thing he has himself made. It requires a violent effort of the spirit to remember that man made this confounding thing and man could unmake it. Therefore the mere act of the ragged people in the street taking and destroying a huge public building has a spiritual, and a ritual, meaning far beyond its immediate political results. It is a religious service. If, for instance, the Socialists were numerous or courageous enough to capture and smash up the Bank of England you might argue for ever about the inutility of the act, and how it really did not touch the root of the economic problem in the correct manner. But mankind would never forget it. It would change the world.
Now and then it crosses one's mind....
Never mind.
"Learn to Live With Them"--PishPosh, Lady!
Don't like coyotes eating your cats and smaller dogs?
Jeannie Lords, who runs the Pine View Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, says humans will have to learn to live with the pests. "We have to find means of peaceful co-existence," she told a crowd gathered at [Franklin] City Hall to discuss the topic.
None of that "trapping and euthanizing" stuff, either:
So far four coyotes have been trapped and euthanized. That plan is being called into question by wildlife experts and residents who say it's ineffective and inhumane
In the alternative, the coyotes could "learn to live with" .270Win rounds approaching at 2800 feet per second. Humane, and very effective.
Cheaper than trapping/euthanizing, too, assuming a halfway decent shot placement.
HT: Kevin Fischer
Jeannie Lords, who runs the Pine View Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, says humans will have to learn to live with the pests. "We have to find means of peaceful co-existence," she told a crowd gathered at [Franklin] City Hall to discuss the topic.
None of that "trapping and euthanizing" stuff, either:
So far four coyotes have been trapped and euthanized. That plan is being called into question by wildlife experts and residents who say it's ineffective and inhumane
In the alternative, the coyotes could "learn to live with" .270Win rounds approaching at 2800 feet per second. Humane, and very effective.
Cheaper than trapping/euthanizing, too, assuming a halfway decent shot placement.
HT: Kevin Fischer
The Portland Model: It Failed, Mayor Tom
Earlier this week, Mayor Tom and County Exec Walker were guests of Mike Cudahy, visiting Denver and Portland to eyeball the choo-choos.
Mike likes choo-choos. So does Mayor Tom. Walker is less enthused.
And for good reason, as Random 10 points out:
Problems with Portland’s Plans: The previous discussion has already hinted at some of the major drawbacks of Portland’s integrated land-use and transportation planning. These include the following: 1. increasingly unaffordable housing prices. 2. Increased traffic congestion. 3. Higher taxes or reduced urban services as tax revenues are diverted to rail transit and transit-oriented development. 4. A reputation for having an unfriendly business environment, leading to higher unemployment.
Noteworthy, by the way, that Random did the homework because two OTHER notorious State Lefties (Cieslewicz and Falk) want choo-choos for Madistan.
Buy Mike and the Mayor a Lionel set for their homes.
Leave the driving to Scott.
Mike likes choo-choos. So does Mayor Tom. Walker is less enthused.
And for good reason, as Random 10 points out:
Problems with Portland’s Plans: The previous discussion has already hinted at some of the major drawbacks of Portland’s integrated land-use and transportation planning. These include the following: 1. increasingly unaffordable housing prices. 2. Increased traffic congestion. 3. Higher taxes or reduced urban services as tax revenues are diverted to rail transit and transit-oriented development. 4. A reputation for having an unfriendly business environment, leading to higher unemployment.
Noteworthy, by the way, that Random did the homework because two OTHER notorious State Lefties (Cieslewicz and Falk) want choo-choos for Madistan.
Buy Mike and the Mayor a Lionel set for their homes.
Leave the driving to Scott.
Fear THIS, Sen. Vitter
Mrs. Vitter:
"I'm a lot more like Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary," Wendy Vitter told Newhouse News. "If he does something like that, I'm walking away with one thing, and it's not alimony, trust me."
HT: Of Arms and the Law
"I'm a lot more like Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary," Wendy Vitter told Newhouse News. "If he does something like that, I'm walking away with one thing, and it's not alimony, trust me."
HT: Of Arms and the Law
Does Bush Understand "Commander-in-Chief"?
Serious concerns and criticism of the President from serious conservatives:
...I was struck by his reluctance, as America's leader, to accept full responsibility for Iraq policy. Instead, he seems to hide behind his commanders, as in these remarks:
"I have an obligation, a sincere and serious obligation, to hear out my commander on the ground. And I will take his recommendation."
"I'm going to wait for David to come back -- David Petraeus to come back and give us the report on what he sees."
When later asked about if more troops should have been used from the outset, he commented:
"I mean, one of the questions is, should we have sent more in the beginning? Well, I asked that question, do you need more, to General Tommy Franks....My primary question to General Franks was, do you have what it takes to succeed? And do you have what it takes to succeed after you succeed in removing Saddam Hussein? And his answer was, yes."
In the case of Petraeus, he gives the impression that he's expecting the general to be his miracle worker or at least someone who'll buy him some time. In the case of Franks, the president clearly implied that if anyone should be blamed it's Franks and not he. Bush himself is now said to welcome being compared to Harry Truman, whom history has treated much better than his contemporaries did. If so, when do we see the Bush version of the buck stops here?
--"Wlady", the publisher of the American Spectator.
A later entry in the same blog amplifies:
....I would have criticized most strongly is the one you highlighted, namely the answer about Tommy Franks. When the question was asked, I started talking out loud to my TV set, saying, "PLEASE answer this right, please do it right, please..."-- and then found myself getting angry when he again refused to acknowledge that no matter where the advice came from about troop levels, the advice was wrong, wrong, wrong, dead freaking WRONG. He would gain so much politically if he would ever, directly and unambiguously, admit that he personally has made an error in decisionmaking, and that he has LEARNED from it. The extreme lack of confidence so many people have (concerning Bush and his judgment and competence) stems in large part from the sense that he never learns, never adjusts (or unless not until WAY too late), never even admits to himself that he can possibly be or have been wrong, and therefore doesn't ever IMPROVE on bad performance. It drives me nuts. One letter writer today said Bush's mind seems "hermetically sealed," and her impression is definitely understandable.
That from Quin Hillyer.
...I was struck by his reluctance, as America's leader, to accept full responsibility for Iraq policy. Instead, he seems to hide behind his commanders, as in these remarks:
"I have an obligation, a sincere and serious obligation, to hear out my commander on the ground. And I will take his recommendation."
"I'm going to wait for David to come back -- David Petraeus to come back and give us the report on what he sees."
When later asked about if more troops should have been used from the outset, he commented:
"I mean, one of the questions is, should we have sent more in the beginning? Well, I asked that question, do you need more, to General Tommy Franks....My primary question to General Franks was, do you have what it takes to succeed? And do you have what it takes to succeed after you succeed in removing Saddam Hussein? And his answer was, yes."
In the case of Petraeus, he gives the impression that he's expecting the general to be his miracle worker or at least someone who'll buy him some time. In the case of Franks, the president clearly implied that if anyone should be blamed it's Franks and not he. Bush himself is now said to welcome being compared to Harry Truman, whom history has treated much better than his contemporaries did. If so, when do we see the Bush version of the buck stops here?
--"Wlady", the publisher of the American Spectator.
A later entry in the same blog amplifies:
....I would have criticized most strongly is the one you highlighted, namely the answer about Tommy Franks. When the question was asked, I started talking out loud to my TV set, saying, "PLEASE answer this right, please do it right, please..."-- and then found myself getting angry when he again refused to acknowledge that no matter where the advice came from about troop levels, the advice was wrong, wrong, wrong, dead freaking WRONG. He would gain so much politically if he would ever, directly and unambiguously, admit that he personally has made an error in decisionmaking, and that he has LEARNED from it. The extreme lack of confidence so many people have (concerning Bush and his judgment and competence) stems in large part from the sense that he never learns, never adjusts (or unless not until WAY too late), never even admits to himself that he can possibly be or have been wrong, and therefore doesn't ever IMPROVE on bad performance. It drives me nuts. One letter writer today said Bush's mind seems "hermetically sealed," and her impression is definitely understandable.
That from Quin Hillyer.
Tavern League Loses, Legislator Makes No Sense
The Republican version of the State budget contains a provision which indicates that the Tavern League's death-grip on Wisconsin may be broken.
The wording, inserted into the budget bill at the urging of Rep. Mark Gottlieb (R-Port Washington), would provide an exemption from every community's liquor license quota for new full-service restaurants.
..."Communities around the state are finding that this anachronistic quota system that goes back to the 1930s is really cutting into economic development opportunities."
Got that? The current system is 'anachronistic' and cuts into 'economic development.'
The following which explains the law:
State law regulates the number of Class B combination liquor licenses a community can issue. With some exceptions, the liquor license quota law restricts the number of such licenses to one per every 500 residents. Class B combination licenses allow establishments to serve liquor, beer and wine and commonly are granted to full-service restaurants.
Of course, we can't have TOO much of that 'economic development' because we really DO like 'anachronistic' laws--or more important, State control of everything:
In addition, holders of existing Class B licenses would be prohibited from giving up those licenses and applying for new licenses under the full-service restaurant exemption. This is designed to prevent an existing license from being converted to a new full-service restaurant license, thus freeing up the former license to be granted to a business that is not a full-service restaurant, such as a tavern.
Seems to me that a municipality, village, or township is perfectly capable of determining how many restaurants and/or taverns they want.
What's the matter with THAT concept?
Hint: use the word 'power' in any sentence you like.
The wording, inserted into the budget bill at the urging of Rep. Mark Gottlieb (R-Port Washington), would provide an exemption from every community's liquor license quota for new full-service restaurants.
..."Communities around the state are finding that this anachronistic quota system that goes back to the 1930s is really cutting into economic development opportunities."
Got that? The current system is 'anachronistic' and cuts into 'economic development.'
The following which explains the law:
State law regulates the number of Class B combination liquor licenses a community can issue. With some exceptions, the liquor license quota law restricts the number of such licenses to one per every 500 residents. Class B combination licenses allow establishments to serve liquor, beer and wine and commonly are granted to full-service restaurants.
Of course, we can't have TOO much of that 'economic development' because we really DO like 'anachronistic' laws--or more important, State control of everything:
In addition, holders of existing Class B licenses would be prohibited from giving up those licenses and applying for new licenses under the full-service restaurant exemption. This is designed to prevent an existing license from being converted to a new full-service restaurant license, thus freeing up the former license to be granted to a business that is not a full-service restaurant, such as a tavern.
Seems to me that a municipality, village, or township is perfectly capable of determining how many restaurants and/or taverns they want.
What's the matter with THAT concept?
Hint: use the word 'power' in any sentence you like.
The 'Company Line' on the Motu Proprio--And Signs of the Times
Some themes emerge from this well-constructed but brief article in the Milwaukee JS regarding the Motu Proprio.
1) The "Middle Ages" canard. (Codification date is not the same as origination date.)
The Tridentine Mass, which reaches back to the Middle Ages and was last modified in 1962, is not easy to master.
2) The "hard to learn" thing--always accompanied by the "nobody knows Latin" thing.
Its rubrics, or instructions, are complex. [Frs.] Cunningham and Sherman [celebrants of the Old Rite Indult Mass] estimate that it can take six months for a priest to learn to do it properly, which is a requirement of the pope.
Once the high school seminaries had closed and a majority of men coming to the seminary had already completed college, it became difficult to squeeze Latin into the curriculum, said Father Michael Witczak, who is leaving as rector of St. Francis Seminary here to teach at Catholic University of America. Younger men study some Latin, but it's optional for post-college seminarians.
(Fr. Witczak evidently ignored Papal guidelines on teaching Latin in the seminary--but never mind.)
3) The "back-to-the-past" bodyslam.
...the pope's letter made some Catholics concerned that it might signal a broader reversal of the Second Vatican Council's reforms of the 1960s.
4) The "nobody wants it" pre-emptive spike:
...the Director of the archdiocese's office for prayer and worship, said late this week, "I haven't received a single inquiry from a priest yet" about the pope's letter.
5) The "Jewish Question" silliness:
Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan stated in an e-mail message to priests that the pope's letter "should not affect us too much here." His message also says that there should be no concern about Jewish-Catholic relations because the pope states that priests should not celebrate the Tridentine Mass during the Easter Triduum - the three-day period that includes Good Friday.
(Here, the reporter deserves a good deal of credit for reading the MP more carefully than the Archbishop or his 'advisers'--the reporter gets the facts straight):
However, that requirement comes in a paragraph that deals with priests saying the Mass alone, without other people. It is not repeated in a paragraph that says pastors should willingly accept requests to say the Mass if it comes from "a stable group of faithful who adhere to the earlier liturgical traditions."
(Which means that some Catholics will continue to pray for the conversion of the Jews.)
Perhaps the most interesting portion of the article, however, was this sign of the times:
Witczak noted that many of the young seminarians tend to be more attracted than the older priests to traditional devotional practices.
"There's actually been an increase in the number of college-age young men who are starting to pursue an interest in seminary, and all of those guys are taking Latin in college," he added.
The reporter did not interview the Holy Spirit for his article. Based on the remarks above, that might have been interesting copy.
(To keep track of the Company Line, go to "The Top 10 Things They'll Say" at this site.)
1) The "Middle Ages" canard. (Codification date is not the same as origination date.)
The Tridentine Mass, which reaches back to the Middle Ages and was last modified in 1962, is not easy to master.
2) The "hard to learn" thing--always accompanied by the "nobody knows Latin" thing.
Its rubrics, or instructions, are complex. [Frs.] Cunningham and Sherman [celebrants of the Old Rite Indult Mass] estimate that it can take six months for a priest to learn to do it properly, which is a requirement of the pope.
Once the high school seminaries had closed and a majority of men coming to the seminary had already completed college, it became difficult to squeeze Latin into the curriculum, said Father Michael Witczak, who is leaving as rector of St. Francis Seminary here to teach at Catholic University of America. Younger men study some Latin, but it's optional for post-college seminarians.
(Fr. Witczak evidently ignored Papal guidelines on teaching Latin in the seminary--but never mind.)
3) The "back-to-the-past" bodyslam.
...the pope's letter made some Catholics concerned that it might signal a broader reversal of the Second Vatican Council's reforms of the 1960s.
4) The "nobody wants it" pre-emptive spike:
...the Director of the archdiocese's office for prayer and worship, said late this week, "I haven't received a single inquiry from a priest yet" about the pope's letter.
5) The "Jewish Question" silliness:
Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan stated in an e-mail message to priests that the pope's letter "should not affect us too much here." His message also says that there should be no concern about Jewish-Catholic relations because the pope states that priests should not celebrate the Tridentine Mass during the Easter Triduum - the three-day period that includes Good Friday.
(Here, the reporter deserves a good deal of credit for reading the MP more carefully than the Archbishop or his 'advisers'--the reporter gets the facts straight):
However, that requirement comes in a paragraph that deals with priests saying the Mass alone, without other people. It is not repeated in a paragraph that says pastors should willingly accept requests to say the Mass if it comes from "a stable group of faithful who adhere to the earlier liturgical traditions."
(Which means that some Catholics will continue to pray for the conversion of the Jews.)
Perhaps the most interesting portion of the article, however, was this sign of the times:
Witczak noted that many of the young seminarians tend to be more attracted than the older priests to traditional devotional practices.
"There's actually been an increase in the number of college-age young men who are starting to pursue an interest in seminary, and all of those guys are taking Latin in college," he added.
The reporter did not interview the Holy Spirit for his article. Based on the remarks above, that might have been interesting copy.
(To keep track of the Company Line, go to "The Top 10 Things They'll Say" at this site.)
Friday, July 13, 2007
Stupid Questions and a Gunshot
Many people understand that "calling 9-1-1" is not real useful during a crisis.
This lady found out the hard way.
Too bad for the home invader, who found out that the homeowner does NOT rely on 9-1-1.
The best stupidity from 9-1-1 happens AFTER the perp assumes room temperature...
HT: Of Arms and the Law
This lady found out the hard way.
Too bad for the home invader, who found out that the homeowner does NOT rely on 9-1-1.
The best stupidity from 9-1-1 happens AFTER the perp assumes room temperature...
HT: Of Arms and the Law
John Allen on B-16's Pronouncements; The '60's Are Over
John Allen is the "Roman" reporter for the National Catholic Reporter, which is one of the more anti-Roman "Catholic" newspapers in the USA.
While one may argue that Allen's affiliation taints his reporting, others argue that as a reporter, Allen is outstanding. Either way, one pays attention to his writings.
This week he excerpts a bit from his forthcoming book on the Church; the excerpt is pertinent to the Pope's recent actions.
In 21st century Europe, Catholicism perceives itself as an embattled minority. The same sensation obtains to varying degrees in other parts of the developed world, such as Australia and New Zealand, Canada, and the United States. In response, Catholicism in these zones is doing what embattled minorities always do, practicing what sociologists call the "politics of identity" -- aggressively reinforcing traditional markers of thought, language, dress, and behavior, in order to resist assimilation to what Benedict XVI calls this "dictatorship of relativism."
New translations of the rites and rituals of the Catholic church which are closer to Roman patterns, and dusting off the pre-Vatican II Mass, illustrate the trend, along with a growing emphasis on individual confession and Eucharistic adoration. Marian devotion is also staging a strong comeback, measured in part by the success of pilgrimage sites such as Lourdes, Fatima and Medjugorje. In the priesthood and religious life, one finds a return to habits and Roman collars, especially among younger priests, deacons, brothers, and sisters. Debates in Catholic universities and hospitals about what makes them "Catholic," as well as efforts to tighten up on admissions and curricula in Catholic seminaries, are also part of this picture. Bishops insisting that Catholic politicians cannot defy church teaching and still wear the label "Catholic" likewise expresses the identity impulse
This should come as no surprise to anyone who has kept their eyes and ears open in the last 5-10 years; I would add that the appearances of JPII and Benedict XVI at "Youth Days", with milllions of under-25's cheering in mud-flat fields around the world adds wieght to Allen's thesis.
In other words, the 1960's Revolution, personified by such as Bp. Rembert Weakland, John Cdl. Dearden (RIP), Roger Cdl. Mahoney, Sr. Joan Chittister, and Jos. Cdl. Bernardin (RIP) in the US, not to mention dozens of others worldwide, is OVER, albeit that there are some old, tired, (and tiresome) relics and practitioners who are still trying to peddle their beads, tie-dyed Levi's, rock'n'roll, secular/non-denominational "theology-of-Mazes", architecture-of-circuses and Pete Seeger/Broadway "music-for-worship".
They are the ones who don't get it. They are, truly, the Past.
Someone should send them the memo.
While one may argue that Allen's affiliation taints his reporting, others argue that as a reporter, Allen is outstanding. Either way, one pays attention to his writings.
This week he excerpts a bit from his forthcoming book on the Church; the excerpt is pertinent to the Pope's recent actions.
In 21st century Europe, Catholicism perceives itself as an embattled minority. The same sensation obtains to varying degrees in other parts of the developed world, such as Australia and New Zealand, Canada, and the United States. In response, Catholicism in these zones is doing what embattled minorities always do, practicing what sociologists call the "politics of identity" -- aggressively reinforcing traditional markers of thought, language, dress, and behavior, in order to resist assimilation to what Benedict XVI calls this "dictatorship of relativism."
New translations of the rites and rituals of the Catholic church which are closer to Roman patterns, and dusting off the pre-Vatican II Mass, illustrate the trend, along with a growing emphasis on individual confession and Eucharistic adoration. Marian devotion is also staging a strong comeback, measured in part by the success of pilgrimage sites such as Lourdes, Fatima and Medjugorje. In the priesthood and religious life, one finds a return to habits and Roman collars, especially among younger priests, deacons, brothers, and sisters. Debates in Catholic universities and hospitals about what makes them "Catholic," as well as efforts to tighten up on admissions and curricula in Catholic seminaries, are also part of this picture. Bishops insisting that Catholic politicians cannot defy church teaching and still wear the label "Catholic" likewise expresses the identity impulse
This should come as no surprise to anyone who has kept their eyes and ears open in the last 5-10 years; I would add that the appearances of JPII and Benedict XVI at "Youth Days", with milllions of under-25's cheering in mud-flat fields around the world adds wieght to Allen's thesis.
In other words, the 1960's Revolution, personified by such as Bp. Rembert Weakland, John Cdl. Dearden (RIP), Roger Cdl. Mahoney, Sr. Joan Chittister, and Jos. Cdl. Bernardin (RIP) in the US, not to mention dozens of others worldwide, is OVER, albeit that there are some old, tired, (and tiresome) relics and practitioners who are still trying to peddle their beads, tie-dyed Levi's, rock'n'roll, secular/non-denominational "theology-of-Mazes", architecture-of-circuses and Pete Seeger/Broadway "music-for-worship".
They are the ones who don't get it. They are, truly, the Past.
Someone should send them the memo.
Archdiocese Liable for Fraud? And More News, Maybe
The story, of course, is that while the Archdiocese of Milwaukee is not liable for the execrable "supervision" it performed on its homosexual-pervert-child-rapist priests, it may well be liable for fraud--because the Archdiocese (really, a few higher-ups) mis-represented the priests' backgrounds to parishes here and elsewhere.
Naturally, if (a VERY big if) the plaintiffs are able to demonstrate fraud and pursue damages, no insurance company will ante up Big Bucks. Only the Archdiocese will be liable.
The "will-not-BE-a-story" is whether the 'higher-ups' involved in this deception can be prosecuted individually for criminal fraud.
They can't. The Statute of Limitations prohibits it.
By the way--look for ANOTHER decision from the Supremes today which may set the Archdiocese back about $20 million. The case results from an auto accident in which an Archdiocesan volunteer was at fault and the victim sued the Archdiocese under its auto policy
Naturally, if (a VERY big if) the plaintiffs are able to demonstrate fraud and pursue damages, no insurance company will ante up Big Bucks. Only the Archdiocese will be liable.
The "will-not-BE-a-story" is whether the 'higher-ups' involved in this deception can be prosecuted individually for criminal fraud.
They can't. The Statute of Limitations prohibits it.
By the way--look for ANOTHER decision from the Supremes today which may set the Archdiocese back about $20 million. The case results from an auto accident in which an Archdiocesan volunteer was at fault and the victim sued the Archdiocese under its auto policy
$239 MILLION Last Year Alone: The State's Gift to Milwaukee
Were it not for the indefatigable Eggster, who would have guessed that the State of Wisconsin shipped $239 MILLION to the City of Milwaukee in 2006?
Geez. Now the City's being asked to live with only $211 million in State taxpayer transfers.
Truly, it's the End of the World.
Geez. Now the City's being asked to live with only $211 million in State taxpayer transfers.
Truly, it's the End of the World.
Immigrants Sue; The Rest of the Story
Recently, the Feds decided to cut off 'green card' applications, announcing that all available quotas were filled for this year. It was a surprise action, reversing an announcement earlier this year.
This created a few problems for H1B workers who were 'on track' to become citizens.
One of them, who works for Compuware Corp, a 'body shop' IT consulting firm headquartered in Detroit, is profiled in today's Milwaukee JS.
You can also learn a bit from this source which details his employer's H1B requests.
The key information is found when you scroll to the right--look for the columns which are headed "wage rate" and "prevailing wage."
You'll find that the immigrant in question is being paid somewhere between $46K-$50K as a programmer-analyst, and that the "prevailing wage" is somewhere between $45.8K-$49.2K.
On the other hand, the BLS' tables for Milwaukee tell us that in September, 2005, private industry-employed Computer Systems Analysts and Scientists earned an AVERAGE wage of $57,387./year.
That was two years ago.
On this page, BLS gives a more extensive breakdown of job categories, but it's for the entire Eastern North Central region of the USA, and dated July 2006.
There we find that full-time computer programmers earn an average of $69,209/year (hourly wage times 2,080 hours/year)
Immigrant's salary: $50K, at most, according to his employer's filing.
BLS 2005 average, Milwaukee/Racine: $57, 387.
BLS 2006 average, E. NorthCentral US: $69,209.
"Prevailing Wage" ~$47K.
How does THAT work, Feds?
This created a few problems for H1B workers who were 'on track' to become citizens.
One of them, who works for Compuware Corp, a 'body shop' IT consulting firm headquartered in Detroit, is profiled in today's Milwaukee JS.
You can also learn a bit from this source which details his employer's H1B requests.
The key information is found when you scroll to the right--look for the columns which are headed "wage rate" and "prevailing wage."
You'll find that the immigrant in question is being paid somewhere between $46K-$50K as a programmer-analyst, and that the "prevailing wage" is somewhere between $45.8K-$49.2K.
On the other hand, the BLS' tables for Milwaukee tell us that in September, 2005, private industry-employed Computer Systems Analysts and Scientists earned an AVERAGE wage of $57,387./year.
That was two years ago.
On this page, BLS gives a more extensive breakdown of job categories, but it's for the entire Eastern North Central region of the USA, and dated July 2006.
There we find that full-time computer programmers earn an average of $69,209/year (hourly wage times 2,080 hours/year)
Immigrant's salary: $50K, at most, according to his employer's filing.
BLS 2005 average, Milwaukee/Racine: $57, 387.
BLS 2006 average, E. NorthCentral US: $69,209.
"Prevailing Wage" ~$47K.
How does THAT work, Feds?
Oh, PuhLEEEEZZZZE!!
Talk about throwing it against the wall and hoping some of it....
Just before The End of the World As We Know It (HT: Charlie) we will have The End of The Amber Alert.
Thus sayeth the Sybillitic headline in the Milwaukee JS:
GOP budget said to weaken Amber Alert
Fortunately, the reporters provide what the Headline Editor taketh away (reality...)
The Republican version of the budget would end virtually all tax support for public broadcasting by mid-2008, a move that would erase more than a third of its budget,
The clear reading here is that the PBS Peabrains cannot re-allocate dollars for what's important.
Somehow, that is not a surprise.
Just before The End of the World As We Know It (HT: Charlie) we will have The End of The Amber Alert.
Thus sayeth the Sybillitic headline in the Milwaukee JS:
GOP budget said to weaken Amber Alert
Fortunately, the reporters provide what the Headline Editor taketh away (reality...)
The Republican version of the budget would end virtually all tax support for public broadcasting by mid-2008, a move that would erase more than a third of its budget,
The clear reading here is that the PBS Peabrains cannot re-allocate dollars for what's important.
Somehow, that is not a surprise.
Earth to Barrett: It's Not YOUR Entitlement
Mayor Tom and DarthDoyle have a 'vision' for the City of Milwaukee.
The most important part of that 'vision' is that the rest of the State pays for it.
How much?
The facts from Republican Mike Huebsch:
Huebsch noted that the city includes about one-tenth of the state's population, yet receives about one-third of all shared revenue
Then Huebsch phrased it another way:
"This is not the Milwaukee and Madison budget. This is the state budget."
The only question that one should ask is how Henry Maier's scheming has lasted THIS long.
The most important part of that 'vision' is that the rest of the State pays for it.
How much?
The facts from Republican Mike Huebsch:
Huebsch noted that the city includes about one-tenth of the state's population, yet receives about one-third of all shared revenue
Then Huebsch phrased it another way:
"This is not the Milwaukee and Madison budget. This is the state budget."
The only question that one should ask is how Henry Maier's scheming has lasted THIS long.
"Prince of Darkness"--the Must-Read
PJB advises that the political junkies absolutely must read Bob Novak's new book, "Prince of Darkness."
Along the way, he has some fun with Novak.
At the party in his Pennsylvania Avenue apartment to celebrate [Novak's] baptism as a Catholic, Pat Moynihan said to me, among others, "Pat, now that we have made Novak a Catholic, do you think we can make him a Christian?"
Should give you the flavor of the book's contents, eh?
Along the way, he has some fun with Novak.
At the party in his Pennsylvania Avenue apartment to celebrate [Novak's] baptism as a Catholic, Pat Moynihan said to me, among others, "Pat, now that we have made Novak a Catholic, do you think we can make him a Christian?"
Should give you the flavor of the book's contents, eh?
No Babies and Androgenous Fish: The Success of The Pill
Been fishing lately? Pulled up some really wierd-looking specimens?
You're lucky you got any at all--boy fishies are becoming rare, but sorta-kinda-girly-boy fishies are beginning to....ah....surface:
EPA-funded scientists at the University of Colorado studied fish in a mountain stream near Boulder, Colo., two years ago.
When they netted 123 trout and other fish downstream from the city's sewer plant, they found 101 were female, 12 were male, and 10 were strange "intersex" fish with male and female features.
This is not exactly "news;" we've mentioned it before. But somehow, it's escaped the attention of the MSM, whose worship of stunted families is even more serious than their worship of the environment. In other words, given the choice between free sex and a healthy fish population....
Just sayin'.
For you trial attorneys out there, here's a hint: it's J&J's fault.
The main culprits were found to be estrogens and other steroid hormones from birth-control pills and patches that ultimately ended up in the creek after being excreted in urine into the city's sewers.
The reaction from one natural sciences researcher is telling:
It's "the first thing that I've seen as a scientist that really scared me," university biologist John Woodling told the Denver Post.
Proving he doesn't watch too much 'Hollywood Insider' TV.
You're lucky you got any at all--boy fishies are becoming rare, but sorta-kinda-girly-boy fishies are beginning to....ah....surface:
EPA-funded scientists at the University of Colorado studied fish in a mountain stream near Boulder, Colo., two years ago.
When they netted 123 trout and other fish downstream from the city's sewer plant, they found 101 were female, 12 were male, and 10 were strange "intersex" fish with male and female features.
This is not exactly "news;" we've mentioned it before. But somehow, it's escaped the attention of the MSM, whose worship of stunted families is even more serious than their worship of the environment. In other words, given the choice between free sex and a healthy fish population....
Just sayin'.
For you trial attorneys out there, here's a hint: it's J&J's fault.
The main culprits were found to be estrogens and other steroid hormones from birth-control pills and patches that ultimately ended up in the creek after being excreted in urine into the city's sewers.
The reaction from one natural sciences researcher is telling:
It's "the first thing that I've seen as a scientist that really scared me," university biologist John Woodling told the Denver Post.
Proving he doesn't watch too much 'Hollywood Insider' TV.
Motu Proprio Gets Reaction in Milwaukee 'burbs
Sometimes, even though it's not a surprise, it IS a disappointment.
For at least one suburban parish in Milwaukee, the reaction of the clergy to the Motu Proprio is telling. A correspondent writes as follows:
Fr. XX had a string of thoughts. He seemed very conflicted. He questioned if this document would hold much weight. Then he wondered how and when priests would learn to say this [Joannine Use] mass.
Then he again [questioned] the "weight" and seriousness of the document. 'Is this being said infallibly'.....or is it worth as much as if it were written on toilet paper?
Then he [wondered] how is he supposed to reconcile what the Holy Father is saying and what people might want, the holiness, the history, the tradition, [vs.] what [some activist parish] folks are saying and asking for [which is] the "vibrant and caring community" [and] the participation and inclusion of the members in the liturgy.
First of all, the Motu Proprio is not "infallible." The document does not deal with doctrine, nor dogma--so it's astounding that any priest would use that term to describe it. However, there IS such a thing as "obedience," (believe it or not) and there can be no doubt that "obedience" is what the Pope expects.
Secondly, (and more important), this priest doesn't yet seem to have the understanding that the "activists" mentioned are going in the wrong direction. (They seek 'greeters,' and 'praise band' music, inter alia, mimicking a large non-denominational community down the street from the parish.) While he seems to understand that the Joannine Use delivers "holiness, history, [and] tradition," he does not understand that the Joannine Use Mass also provides for "participation and inclusion" in the Mass. He should read the 1958 Instruction on liturgy from the Congregation for Divine Worship to get up to speed. (Neither form of celebration will make the "community" more or less "caring and vibrant.")
In other words, he has an opportunity here. Let's hope that he takes it.
Finally, Father's concern about "how to learn" is understandable. However, that's the responsibility of the Archbishop of Milwaukee, who will (no doubt) provide whatever is necessary for his priests to serve all the members of their flocks.
For at least one suburban parish in Milwaukee, the reaction of the clergy to the Motu Proprio is telling. A correspondent writes as follows:
Fr. XX had a string of thoughts. He seemed very conflicted. He questioned if this document would hold much weight. Then he wondered how and when priests would learn to say this [Joannine Use] mass.
Then he again [questioned] the "weight" and seriousness of the document. 'Is this being said infallibly'.....or is it worth as much as if it were written on toilet paper?
Then he [wondered] how is he supposed to reconcile what the Holy Father is saying and what people might want, the holiness, the history, the tradition, [vs.] what [some activist parish] folks are saying and asking for [which is] the "vibrant and caring community" [and] the participation and inclusion of the members in the liturgy.
First of all, the Motu Proprio is not "infallible." The document does not deal with doctrine, nor dogma--so it's astounding that any priest would use that term to describe it. However, there IS such a thing as "obedience," (believe it or not) and there can be no doubt that "obedience" is what the Pope expects.
Secondly, (and more important), this priest doesn't yet seem to have the understanding that the "activists" mentioned are going in the wrong direction. (They seek 'greeters,' and 'praise band' music, inter alia, mimicking a large non-denominational community down the street from the parish.) While he seems to understand that the Joannine Use delivers "holiness, history, [and] tradition," he does not understand that the Joannine Use Mass also provides for "participation and inclusion" in the Mass. He should read the 1958 Instruction on liturgy from the Congregation for Divine Worship to get up to speed. (Neither form of celebration will make the "community" more or less "caring and vibrant.")
In other words, he has an opportunity here. Let's hope that he takes it.
Finally, Father's concern about "how to learn" is understandable. However, that's the responsibility of the Archbishop of Milwaukee, who will (no doubt) provide whatever is necessary for his priests to serve all the members of their flocks.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
The Motu Proprio's Indult Ancestor in Milwaukee
The Catholic Herald has a story about the existing Joannine Use Mass (Old Rite) in Milwaukee.
Nearly three months before Pope Benedict XVI issued his “motu proprio” on the use of the Roman liturgy prior to the reform of 1970, Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan touched upon the importance of unity when he welcomed the Tridentine community to its new home — St. Stanislaus Parish on Milwaukee’s south side.
“We’re all one — one in our faith in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ; one holy, catholic, apostolic, Catholic faith, and one in unity with our Holy Father,” he said April 15.
Mass in the Tridentine Rite had been said in Mater Christi Chapel at the Cousins Center from 1985-1995. For the last 12 years, the community worshipped at St. Mary Help of Christians, but the move to St. Stanislaus, with a capacity of 800, was necessitated by the closing of the West Allis parish in February of this year.
In an interview with your Catholic Herald in April, Fr. Robert Skeris, who serves as chaplain to the Tridentine community and says the Latin Mass at St. Stanislaus, noted that the historic church is a fitting location for the Mass.
“It was left as (Msgr. Raymond) Punda had it in 1968,” Fr. Skeris said. “What’s there is what it was.”
The church building has not gone through many of the extensive "renovations" which have afllicted a number of other churches in the Milwaukee area. The choir loft is extremely large and the church has a serviceable, if slightly old, pipe organ; a good deal of parking is available both on the street and in a lot behind the building.
Nearly three months before Pope Benedict XVI issued his “motu proprio” on the use of the Roman liturgy prior to the reform of 1970, Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan touched upon the importance of unity when he welcomed the Tridentine community to its new home — St. Stanislaus Parish on Milwaukee’s south side.
“We’re all one — one in our faith in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ; one holy, catholic, apostolic, Catholic faith, and one in unity with our Holy Father,” he said April 15.
Mass in the Tridentine Rite had been said in Mater Christi Chapel at the Cousins Center from 1985-1995. For the last 12 years, the community worshipped at St. Mary Help of Christians, but the move to St. Stanislaus, with a capacity of 800, was necessitated by the closing of the West Allis parish in February of this year.
In an interview with your Catholic Herald in April, Fr. Robert Skeris, who serves as chaplain to the Tridentine community and says the Latin Mass at St. Stanislaus, noted that the historic church is a fitting location for the Mass.
“It was left as (Msgr. Raymond) Punda had it in 1968,” Fr. Skeris said. “What’s there is what it was.”
The church building has not gone through many of the extensive "renovations" which have afllicted a number of other churches in the Milwaukee area. The choir loft is extremely large and the church has a serviceable, if slightly old, pipe organ; a good deal of parking is available both on the street and in a lot behind the building.
Regulatory Costs: You Pay in Many Ways
Yesterday the US 'cost of regulation' index became available. It's high and getting higher.
But besides forcing us to pay more for almost anything we buy, there are other more serious implications--far more serious.
Need copper?
Although we are blessed with abundant mineral deposits and have developed many of the world’s innovative mining technologies, we have become dangerously dependent on foreign sources. The U.S. Geological Survey reported in 2005 that “U.S. manufacturers and consumers of mineral products that are critical to the U.S. economy depended on other countries for 100 percent of 17 mineral commodities (an increase of 6 percent over 2003) and for more than 50 percent of 42 mineral commodities (an increase of 8 percent over 2003).” Between 1997 and 2002, there was a 66-percent decline in U.S. mining exploration spending. One reason for this is the lengthy permit process. Obtaining a permit for copper mining in the United States, for instance, can take from 4-8 years compared with 18 months for Chile.
Need energy?
“If we look back to the mid-1990s,” the NAM points out, “the United States enjoyed a 30 percent cost advantage with regard to natural gas on a trade-weighted basis.” However, says the NAM 2006 report, The Escalating Cost Crisis, “the steady increase in U.S. prices since then is purely the result of policy decisions that have limited development of domestic reserves and Clean Air Act mandates that have increased demand” for natural gas.
According to the U.S. Minerals Management Service, areas of America’s outer continental shelf (OCS) currently banned from development likely contain a mean estimate of 18.92 billion barrels of oil and 85.79 trillion cubic feet of natural gas recoverable by current technical means. However, federal environmental policies are preventing us from accessing that treasure trove of desperately needed energy
Need food? Well, the corn's being fed to your CAR--increasing the prices of beef, milk, breakfast cereals, Coca-Cola, and beer.
Yes, it's a regulatory cost--driven by the GreenWeenies (and their willing running-dogs in Congress.) The ADM/Farm lobby inserted Corn-A-Hole as "the solution" to a largely vestigial and diminishing "air pollution problem."
Regulatory restrictions and harassing litigation by environmental radicals have prevented construction of a single nuclear power plant or oil refinery in the United States for the past three decades.
Need a job?
...as Paul Craig Roberts noted earlier this year, “The problem America faces is not a lack of educated people, but a lack of jobs for educated people. In the 21st century, the US economy has been able to create net new jobs only in domestic services, such as waitresses, bartenders and health and social services. The vast majority of these jobs do not require a college education, and they do not produce tradable goods and services that could be exported or substituted for imports.”
At least part of the reason for that little problem has to do with the cost of manufacturing 'stuff' in the USA--and regulatory cost plays a BIG part in that.
There's plenty for a new Congress and President to do.
God willing, there will be LESS for regulators to do. But that's OK. They can always get jobs in restaurants and hotels.
But besides forcing us to pay more for almost anything we buy, there are other more serious implications--far more serious.
Need copper?
Although we are blessed with abundant mineral deposits and have developed many of the world’s innovative mining technologies, we have become dangerously dependent on foreign sources. The U.S. Geological Survey reported in 2005 that “U.S. manufacturers and consumers of mineral products that are critical to the U.S. economy depended on other countries for 100 percent of 17 mineral commodities (an increase of 6 percent over 2003) and for more than 50 percent of 42 mineral commodities (an increase of 8 percent over 2003).” Between 1997 and 2002, there was a 66-percent decline in U.S. mining exploration spending. One reason for this is the lengthy permit process. Obtaining a permit for copper mining in the United States, for instance, can take from 4-8 years compared with 18 months for Chile.
Need energy?
“If we look back to the mid-1990s,” the NAM points out, “the United States enjoyed a 30 percent cost advantage with regard to natural gas on a trade-weighted basis.” However, says the NAM 2006 report, The Escalating Cost Crisis, “the steady increase in U.S. prices since then is purely the result of policy decisions that have limited development of domestic reserves and Clean Air Act mandates that have increased demand” for natural gas.
According to the U.S. Minerals Management Service, areas of America’s outer continental shelf (OCS) currently banned from development likely contain a mean estimate of 18.92 billion barrels of oil and 85.79 trillion cubic feet of natural gas recoverable by current technical means. However, federal environmental policies are preventing us from accessing that treasure trove of desperately needed energy
Need food? Well, the corn's being fed to your CAR--increasing the prices of beef, milk, breakfast cereals, Coca-Cola, and beer.
Yes, it's a regulatory cost--driven by the GreenWeenies (and their willing running-dogs in Congress.) The ADM/Farm lobby inserted Corn-A-Hole as "the solution" to a largely vestigial and diminishing "air pollution problem."
Regulatory restrictions and harassing litigation by environmental radicals have prevented construction of a single nuclear power plant or oil refinery in the United States for the past three decades.
Need a job?
...as Paul Craig Roberts noted earlier this year, “The problem America faces is not a lack of educated people, but a lack of jobs for educated people. In the 21st century, the US economy has been able to create net new jobs only in domestic services, such as waitresses, bartenders and health and social services. The vast majority of these jobs do not require a college education, and they do not produce tradable goods and services that could be exported or substituted for imports.”
At least part of the reason for that little problem has to do with the cost of manufacturing 'stuff' in the USA--and regulatory cost plays a BIG part in that.
There's plenty for a new Congress and President to do.
God willing, there will be LESS for regulators to do. But that's OK. They can always get jobs in restaurants and hotels.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
A Reflection on CDF's "Church" Document
From Cosmos-Liturgy, a very nice reflection on the statement from Cong. for Doctrine of the Faith regarding the Church and the 'other guys.'
...Theologians such as Francis J. Sullivan, (c.f e.g. “Quaestio Disputata: A Response to Karl Becker, S.J., On the Meaning of Subsistit In,” Theological Studies 67 (2006): 395-409) have spent a lot of time and effort trying to develop vast theories with detailed analyses of language, evolution of documents, etc. all with the aim of trying to show that the documents don’t really say what they say.
Setting motivation aside, it seems to me that these theologians possess a faulty philosophical foundation (apparently Ockhamist Nominalism) which allows them to conceive of a Church that can both have the fullness of Christ’s Church but not be equated with Christ’s Church at the same time. Christ has but one Mystical Body, one Church. It is the Catholic Church. This Mystical Body is hierarchically constituted with the Successor to St. Peter as its head. To rip the Catholic Church and place it on its own, in autonomy from the Church of Christ, renders the Church of Christ as an unrealized ideal that has no real ontology. This is an emaciated ecclesiology that also deprives humanity of it access to grace–understood as partaking in the divine nature (2 Pt 1:4). Thus we are left with a Reformed theology of grace as extrinsic favor rather than intrinsic, deifying communion. It is no coincidence that the Bologna school adopts a Protestant ecclesiology and is then driven also to a Protestant Sacramentology.
Adopting "the razor" of Ockham can, ah....cut the wrong way.
...Contra Cardinal Kasper, the particular Church cannot preexist the Universal Church. Thus, to the degree the Christian body is united with the fullness of the Church, these Churches and ecclesial communities share in Christ’s mediation of the Father’s grace to humanity…i.e. are united to the Catholic Church. But regardless of whether they are in visible communion or not, any and all grace they receive is mediated through Christ’s single Mystical Body, and so it is mediated by the Catholic Church.
(Cdl. Kasper was the "external relations" guy--the ecumenical point-man--of the Church for a few years. You can understand why he didn't like dogmatic stuff--although it's not so easy to excuse him.)
And, for my Protestant friend(s), a distinction which is worth recalling:
A major complaint is that this ecclesiology sounds so triumphalistic; thus it is arrogant. Proper distinctions need to be made to see the error in this. Any truth claim is what it is–it is either true or false. Arrogance/truimphalism is a subjective attitude and has nothing to do with truth claims. Truth can be presented in humility and falsehoods can be proclaimed with arrogance (the latter of which is more often the case I would argue). One cannot preemptively dismiss a truth claim as false simply because of fears about how it might be received. To do so is at root, succumbs to an emotivist relativism.
Cosmos-Liturgy also has some remarks for the Feeneyites who also remain standing...
Separately, Dreher observes:
I'm sure there'll be lots of howls over [the document from Rome], but you won't get them from me. Of course Benedict believes the fullness of the faith is denied to my church, the Orthodox Church, and to a greater degree the Protestant churches. He's the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church! If he believed anything else, he would be unfaithful to Church teaching and tradition. You can't believe what the Catholic Church teaches, and also affirm all of what Orthodoxy and/or Protestantism teach. I would expect a good Baptist to agree.
Yup.
...Theologians such as Francis J. Sullivan, (c.f e.g. “Quaestio Disputata: A Response to Karl Becker, S.J., On the Meaning of Subsistit In,” Theological Studies 67 (2006): 395-409) have spent a lot of time and effort trying to develop vast theories with detailed analyses of language, evolution of documents, etc. all with the aim of trying to show that the documents don’t really say what they say.
Setting motivation aside, it seems to me that these theologians possess a faulty philosophical foundation (apparently Ockhamist Nominalism) which allows them to conceive of a Church that can both have the fullness of Christ’s Church but not be equated with Christ’s Church at the same time. Christ has but one Mystical Body, one Church. It is the Catholic Church. This Mystical Body is hierarchically constituted with the Successor to St. Peter as its head. To rip the Catholic Church and place it on its own, in autonomy from the Church of Christ, renders the Church of Christ as an unrealized ideal that has no real ontology. This is an emaciated ecclesiology that also deprives humanity of it access to grace–understood as partaking in the divine nature (2 Pt 1:4). Thus we are left with a Reformed theology of grace as extrinsic favor rather than intrinsic, deifying communion. It is no coincidence that the Bologna school adopts a Protestant ecclesiology and is then driven also to a Protestant Sacramentology.
Adopting "the razor" of Ockham can, ah....cut the wrong way.
...Contra Cardinal Kasper, the particular Church cannot preexist the Universal Church. Thus, to the degree the Christian body is united with the fullness of the Church, these Churches and ecclesial communities share in Christ’s mediation of the Father’s grace to humanity…i.e. are united to the Catholic Church. But regardless of whether they are in visible communion or not, any and all grace they receive is mediated through Christ’s single Mystical Body, and so it is mediated by the Catholic Church.
(Cdl. Kasper was the "external relations" guy--the ecumenical point-man--of the Church for a few years. You can understand why he didn't like dogmatic stuff--although it's not so easy to excuse him.)
And, for my Protestant friend(s), a distinction which is worth recalling:
A major complaint is that this ecclesiology sounds so triumphalistic; thus it is arrogant. Proper distinctions need to be made to see the error in this. Any truth claim is what it is–it is either true or false. Arrogance/truimphalism is a subjective attitude and has nothing to do with truth claims. Truth can be presented in humility and falsehoods can be proclaimed with arrogance (the latter of which is more often the case I would argue). One cannot preemptively dismiss a truth claim as false simply because of fears about how it might be received. To do so is at root, succumbs to an emotivist relativism.
Cosmos-Liturgy also has some remarks for the Feeneyites who also remain standing...
Separately, Dreher observes:
I'm sure there'll be lots of howls over [the document from Rome], but you won't get them from me. Of course Benedict believes the fullness of the faith is denied to my church, the Orthodox Church, and to a greater degree the Protestant churches. He's the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church! If he believed anything else, he would be unfaithful to Church teaching and tradition. You can't believe what the Catholic Church teaches, and also affirm all of what Orthodoxy and/or Protestantism teach. I would expect a good Baptist to agree.
Yup.
"Guaranteed Student"?
P-Mac finds an interesting nugget.
Moss, a professor at Harvard's business school, tosses out a better idea: "Insuring students against losses on their educational investments, rather than guaranteeing lenders against bad loans.
"Specifically," he writes, "we should ensure that every American can finance college or graduate-school tuition (or the cost of job training) with a special income-contingent loan (ICL) from the federal government. The loan would have an extended term (up to 30 years, like a mortgage) and would defer or potentially forgive interest payments for any year in which the recipient's household income fell below a prespecified trigger.
"A federal ICL program would make certain that every American equipped to earn a college degree could get it, irrespective of need. Although participating students would still assume substantial levels of debt, they would have much less cause for worry, and thus much more reason to invest in higher education, since they would not have to pay when their income faltered."
A cynic might observe that a college prof makes the proposal, which is designed to continue the professional viability of college profs.
Another cynic might argue that this is a VERY thinly-veneered proposal for "free" college, financed by the taxpayers. After all, the 'income assumption' portion of the concept is malleable, allowing a vote-hungry Congress to hammer the trigger into whatever shape they like.
A third cynic might note that this does not particularly address 'needs;' it just addresses 'wants'--specifically, the 'want' of a college degree, which these days means almost as little as it buys.
Moss, a professor at Harvard's business school, tosses out a better idea: "Insuring students against losses on their educational investments, rather than guaranteeing lenders against bad loans.
"Specifically," he writes, "we should ensure that every American can finance college or graduate-school tuition (or the cost of job training) with a special income-contingent loan (ICL) from the federal government. The loan would have an extended term (up to 30 years, like a mortgage) and would defer or potentially forgive interest payments for any year in which the recipient's household income fell below a prespecified trigger.
"A federal ICL program would make certain that every American equipped to earn a college degree could get it, irrespective of need. Although participating students would still assume substantial levels of debt, they would have much less cause for worry, and thus much more reason to invest in higher education, since they would not have to pay when their income faltered."
A cynic might observe that a college prof makes the proposal, which is designed to continue the professional viability of college profs.
Another cynic might argue that this is a VERY thinly-veneered proposal for "free" college, financed by the taxpayers. After all, the 'income assumption' portion of the concept is malleable, allowing a vote-hungry Congress to hammer the trigger into whatever shape they like.
A third cynic might note that this does not particularly address 'needs;' it just addresses 'wants'--specifically, the 'want' of a college degree, which these days means almost as little as it buys.
Mayor Tom, You Should Quit, Too
NY Mayor Bloomberg formed a coalition of Mayors to "fight gun crime." Actually, their purpose is to disarm a lot of law-abiding Americans. Milk Carton Tommy joined up. He understands the agenda very well.
SOME Mayors have had second thoughts, based on Bloomberg's asinine antics.
According to ATF and the Department of Justice, your actions in having civilian private investigators conduct clandestine sting operations against federally licensed firearms dealers, without the knowledge of ATF or your own police department, actually interfered with ongoing criminal investigations, putting the lives of law enforcement officers and others at risk. The Department of Justice warned you to refrain from these actions because such efforts could "interrupt or jeopardize ongoing investigations." In response, your Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler stated that the operations would not necessarily stop. I do not want the blood of a police officer on my hands so that you can advance your anti-gun litigation campaign. I prefer instead to support the Fraternal Order of Police, a group that opposes your coalition's efforts to gain access to gun trace data for use in civil lawsuits."
--Mayor Harry Moore, of Oldmans Twnsp, NJ
It is possible that Milwaukee County DA Chisholm actually knows the law regarding "gun trace data." It's also possible that he knows Bloomberg's real agenda. Since that agenda is not good for living people--like the cops, for example--responsible Mayors have quit in disgust.
We know where Milk Carton Tommy stands.
SOME Mayors have had second thoughts, based on Bloomberg's asinine antics.
According to ATF and the Department of Justice, your actions in having civilian private investigators conduct clandestine sting operations against federally licensed firearms dealers, without the knowledge of ATF or your own police department, actually interfered with ongoing criminal investigations, putting the lives of law enforcement officers and others at risk. The Department of Justice warned you to refrain from these actions because such efforts could "interrupt or jeopardize ongoing investigations." In response, your Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler stated that the operations would not necessarily stop. I do not want the blood of a police officer on my hands so that you can advance your anti-gun litigation campaign. I prefer instead to support the Fraternal Order of Police, a group that opposes your coalition's efforts to gain access to gun trace data for use in civil lawsuits."
--Mayor Harry Moore, of Oldmans Twnsp, NJ
It is possible that Milwaukee County DA Chisholm actually knows the law regarding "gun trace data." It's also possible that he knows Bloomberg's real agenda. Since that agenda is not good for living people--like the cops, for example--responsible Mayors have quit in disgust.
We know where Milk Carton Tommy stands.
Risser Hospital
Freddy Risser (D-Madistan) has a vision for Wisconsin hospitals. Fidel, Fred's mentor (and by the way, age-cohort mate) has pictures:
Nurse Judy (those are her tracks) is at her station in the next hospital--about 5 miles up the road. She's the Regional Nurse...
"Gnome" Cherthoff's New 'Do
At least it's not a $400.00 trim.
What'd you expect, after his cabbage-headed comments about those who opposed the "Amnesty Bill"? Love and kisses?
HT Malkin.
Free At Last!! Today You Paid Off the Government--for This Year
Today's "Cost of Government Day"-- as reported by the American Spectator.
According to a new report from Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), government effectively consumes 52.6 percent of national income.
Unfortunately, the Bush years have not been good ones for Americans tired of turning so much of their incomes over to government. Despite the Bush tax cuts, people are working several days longer for federal, state, and local governments now than in 2000, when George W. Bush was elected president. Cost of Government Day (COGD) rose two days from 2006 alone.
GWB is and always was a Big Spending, Big Gummint sorta guy.
Here's a familiar-sounding analysis:
The problem is largely one of spending. Writes Karasmeighan: "The average American worker will have to work an additional 6 days out of the year over 2000 to pay for government spending on all levels.
Our beloved State Piss-It-Away Party (led by the Governor and supported by the Legislature since ---oh----about the year 1968) ought to know about spelling "spending."
Outlandish outlays, not tax cuts, are responsible for today's deficits. Karasmeighan points out that 70 percent of the cumulative deficit since 2002 resulted because spending rose more quickly than national income. A simple "spend only what you can afford to pay policy" would have largely eliminated the deficit.
Oh, yeah--it ain't just the Feds:
State and local spending accounts for another 1.6 days of the COGD increase from 2000 to 2007. This year the average American will work nearly 46 days to fund state and local governments. Moreover, the future likely will be worse. Reports ATR: "Even with looming unfunded pension and health care liabilities, states are failing to reform their entitlement programs. On the contrary, many states used their 2007 sessions to discuss expanding health care programs and imposing health insurance mandates."
Uh-huh.
Don't you wish it were just taxes? HAH! SUCKER!!
The cost of regulation as a percent of national income remains at 16.9 percent for the fourth year. It is important to note, however, that revised data on regulatory costs reveal that COGD reports prior to 2006 were underestimating the cost of regulations. New regulations imposed following the War on Terrorism and corporate scandals significantly increased the regulatory burden in 2001 and 2002 in particular. Concurrently, the cost of tax compliance continues to grow. In 2007, the average American will work 61.8 days to pay for the regulatory costs, nearly 1 full day more than was required in 2006.
That's not all bad. In PRChina, there are NO regulatory costs, except for the occasional bullet necessary to execute regulators.
Compare one AK-47 slug (about $0.50) with THIS, suckah:
According to economist Mark Crain, regulatory compliance costs ran $1.142 trillion last year. By way of comparison, Crews points out that this number exceeds total income tax collections and accounts for about nine percent of GDP. But that's not the end: "The Weidenbaum Center and the Mercatus Center jointly estimate that agencies spent $41 billion to administer and police the regulatory state in 2006," writes Crews.
The problem is not that all regulations are unnecessary or badly designed or unduly costly. The problem is that we have trouble assessing the relative merits of various regulations, and, more important, policymakers usually have no interest in such assessments even if they exist.
How about closing WallyWorld every time there's a nearby thunderstorm? (See OSHA proposal.)
Mercifully, the article does not denote Wisconsin's ranking in Cost of Government.
HT: AnkleBiters
According to a new report from Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), government effectively consumes 52.6 percent of national income.
Unfortunately, the Bush years have not been good ones for Americans tired of turning so much of their incomes over to government. Despite the Bush tax cuts, people are working several days longer for federal, state, and local governments now than in 2000, when George W. Bush was elected president. Cost of Government Day (COGD) rose two days from 2006 alone.
GWB is and always was a Big Spending, Big Gummint sorta guy.
Here's a familiar-sounding analysis:
The problem is largely one of spending. Writes Karasmeighan: "The average American worker will have to work an additional 6 days out of the year over 2000 to pay for government spending on all levels.
Our beloved State Piss-It-Away Party (led by the Governor and supported by the Legislature since ---oh----about the year 1968) ought to know about spelling "spending."
Outlandish outlays, not tax cuts, are responsible for today's deficits. Karasmeighan points out that 70 percent of the cumulative deficit since 2002 resulted because spending rose more quickly than national income. A simple "spend only what you can afford to pay policy" would have largely eliminated the deficit.
Oh, yeah--it ain't just the Feds:
State and local spending accounts for another 1.6 days of the COGD increase from 2000 to 2007. This year the average American will work nearly 46 days to fund state and local governments. Moreover, the future likely will be worse. Reports ATR: "Even with looming unfunded pension and health care liabilities, states are failing to reform their entitlement programs. On the contrary, many states used their 2007 sessions to discuss expanding health care programs and imposing health insurance mandates."
Uh-huh.
Don't you wish it were just taxes? HAH! SUCKER!!
The cost of regulation as a percent of national income remains at 16.9 percent for the fourth year. It is important to note, however, that revised data on regulatory costs reveal that COGD reports prior to 2006 were underestimating the cost of regulations. New regulations imposed following the War on Terrorism and corporate scandals significantly increased the regulatory burden in 2001 and 2002 in particular. Concurrently, the cost of tax compliance continues to grow. In 2007, the average American will work 61.8 days to pay for the regulatory costs, nearly 1 full day more than was required in 2006.
That's not all bad. In PRChina, there are NO regulatory costs, except for the occasional bullet necessary to execute regulators.
Compare one AK-47 slug (about $0.50) with THIS, suckah:
According to economist Mark Crain, regulatory compliance costs ran $1.142 trillion last year. By way of comparison, Crews points out that this number exceeds total income tax collections and accounts for about nine percent of GDP. But that's not the end: "The Weidenbaum Center and the Mercatus Center jointly estimate that agencies spent $41 billion to administer and police the regulatory state in 2006," writes Crews.
The problem is not that all regulations are unnecessary or badly designed or unduly costly. The problem is that we have trouble assessing the relative merits of various regulations, and, more important, policymakers usually have no interest in such assessments even if they exist.
How about closing WallyWorld every time there's a nearby thunderstorm? (See OSHA proposal.)
Mercifully, the article does not denote Wisconsin's ranking in Cost of Government.
HT: AnkleBiters
Bob Kasten Surfaces With Rudy
Noted by the American Spectator blogsite.
The Giuliani campaign announced today that Charles Hill, former aide to George P. Shultz when he was Reagan's secretary of state, and a lecturer in the International Security Studies program at Yale University, will serve as chairman of the campaign's foreign policy advisory board and chief foreign policy advisor.
Also: Senior foreign policy team members include Norman Podhoretz and Senator Bob Kasten.
Proves he's still alive and kicking, right? But "foreign policy?"
The Giuliani campaign announced today that Charles Hill, former aide to George P. Shultz when he was Reagan's secretary of state, and a lecturer in the International Security Studies program at Yale University, will serve as chairman of the campaign's foreign policy advisory board and chief foreign policy advisor.
Also: Senior foreign policy team members include Norman Podhoretz and Senator Bob Kasten.
Proves he's still alive and kicking, right? But "foreign policy?"