Well, better check the script used by your baptizer. Seriously.
Made public today were the responses of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to two questions concerning the validity of Baptism conferred with certain non-standard formulae.
The first question is: "Is a Baptism valid if conferred with the words 'I baptise you in the name of the Creator, and of the Redeemer, and of the Sanctifier', or 'I baptise you in the name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Sustainer'"?
The second question is: "Must people baptised with those formulae be baptised 'in forma absoluta'?"
The responses are: "To the first question, negative; to the second question, affirmative"
In other words, (regarding the second question) the baptism was NOT valid and must be done again.
With the proper formula.
Period.
Roma locuta est, causa finita est.
HT: In the Light
Friday, February 29, 2008
Assembly Pubbies on the Right Path
Here's a bit of good news:
Wisconsin lawmakers are debating whether to lift the state's 25-year moratorium on new nuclear power plants, with backers arguing it will shore up the energy supply and combat global warming.
Backed by business groups, the Republican-controlled Assembly is advancing a bill that would allow the Public Service Commission to again consider plans to build nuclear power plants. The chamber gave preliminary approval to the plan early Thursday after no debate but Democratic critics delayed a final vote.
The plan would repeal a 1983 law that outlaws the construction of such plants unless they are shown to save ratepayers money and a federal repository for nuclear waste is operating. The law, enacted after the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear plant accident, has essentially acted as a ban.
The plan will not become law this session given opposition by Democrats who control the Senate and Gov. Jim Doyle. But approval in the Assembly would be significant and escalate a debate over the safety of nuclear power and the best ways to provide energy for Wisconsin residents.
The flappayappa over "saving ratepayer money" will be moot in about 3 years or so as the price of natural gas and coal continues to rise. In fact, the irresponsible and unwarranted use of natural gas to create electricity will be a VERY ....ah....hot.....issue in that timeframe, as the demand bids up the price of a resource which is no longer easy to find in the USA--thus increasing heating bills for many Wisconsin residents.
As to a suitable dumping spot for used nuke fuel: how about Jim Doyle's office? He nukes all kinds of good ideas and can always use more ammo.
Wisconsin lawmakers are debating whether to lift the state's 25-year moratorium on new nuclear power plants, with backers arguing it will shore up the energy supply and combat global warming.
Backed by business groups, the Republican-controlled Assembly is advancing a bill that would allow the Public Service Commission to again consider plans to build nuclear power plants. The chamber gave preliminary approval to the plan early Thursday after no debate but Democratic critics delayed a final vote.
The plan would repeal a 1983 law that outlaws the construction of such plants unless they are shown to save ratepayers money and a federal repository for nuclear waste is operating. The law, enacted after the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear plant accident, has essentially acted as a ban.
The plan will not become law this session given opposition by Democrats who control the Senate and Gov. Jim Doyle. But approval in the Assembly would be significant and escalate a debate over the safety of nuclear power and the best ways to provide energy for Wisconsin residents.
The flappayappa over "saving ratepayer money" will be moot in about 3 years or so as the price of natural gas and coal continues to rise. In fact, the irresponsible and unwarranted use of natural gas to create electricity will be a VERY ....ah....hot.....issue in that timeframe, as the demand bids up the price of a resource which is no longer easy to find in the USA--thus increasing heating bills for many Wisconsin residents.
As to a suitable dumping spot for used nuke fuel: how about Jim Doyle's office? He nukes all kinds of good ideas and can always use more ammo.
The Coming Iraqi Disaster
Despite this from the Chair, Joint Chiefs:
The Joint Chiefs chairman has a word of warning to Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton: A rapid of withdrawal from Iraq would lead to a "chaotic situation" and would "turnaround the gains we have achieved, and struggled to achieve, and turn them around overnight.
...the Iraqis will have a "chaotic situation" and [a reversal of] "the gains we have achieved" no matter WHEN the US forces depart.
The reason?
In a move that could be the most enduring imprint of U.S. influence in the Arab world, American military officials in Baghdad have begun a crash program to outfit the entire Iraqi army with M-16 rifles.
The Colt M-16 and its baby brother, the M-4, are some of the least reliable battle weapons on the face of the Earth. While the AK is not exactly a target rifle (to be kind), it DOES fire every time one pulls the trigger, no matter when it was last cleaned and oiled.
The M-16 gets pneumonia when the enemy sneezes, unless you clean and lube the damnfool thing every 30 minutes or so.
Too bad for the Iraqis. We will have earned their dislike when this deal is complete.
By the way, the Confederate Yankee discovered something else in his perambulations 'cross the 'net in pursuit of the question "Why"?
Colt had relied on a series of lobbyists in Washington, but now Keys, a decorated veteran who played an important role in the 1991 Gulf War, has taken on more of those responsibilities himself.
"I knew a lot of guys up on the Hill," he said, referring to Congress. Among those is Rep. John Murtha, the powerful Pennsylvanian who is the highest-ranking Democrat on the House defense appropriations subcommittee.
Keys is the CEO of Colt Arms, which just happens to have a Pentagon M-16 contract.
The Joint Chiefs chairman has a word of warning to Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton: A rapid of withdrawal from Iraq would lead to a "chaotic situation" and would "turnaround the gains we have achieved, and struggled to achieve, and turn them around overnight.
...the Iraqis will have a "chaotic situation" and [a reversal of] "the gains we have achieved" no matter WHEN the US forces depart.
The reason?
In a move that could be the most enduring imprint of U.S. influence in the Arab world, American military officials in Baghdad have begun a crash program to outfit the entire Iraqi army with M-16 rifles.
The Colt M-16 and its baby brother, the M-4, are some of the least reliable battle weapons on the face of the Earth. While the AK is not exactly a target rifle (to be kind), it DOES fire every time one pulls the trigger, no matter when it was last cleaned and oiled.
The M-16 gets pneumonia when the enemy sneezes, unless you clean and lube the damnfool thing every 30 minutes or so.
Too bad for the Iraqis. We will have earned their dislike when this deal is complete.
By the way, the Confederate Yankee discovered something else in his perambulations 'cross the 'net in pursuit of the question "Why"?
Colt had relied on a series of lobbyists in Washington, but now Keys, a decorated veteran who played an important role in the 1991 Gulf War, has taken on more of those responsibilities himself.
"I knew a lot of guys up on the Hill," he said, referring to Congress. Among those is Rep. John Murtha, the powerful Pennsylvanian who is the highest-ranking Democrat on the House defense appropriations subcommittee.
Keys is the CEO of Colt Arms, which just happens to have a Pentagon M-16 contract.
Bloodlust in the Assembly
There are, perhaps, only 50 people in the State of Wisconsin who are so barbaric, bloodthirsty, and uncivilized that they endorse partial-birth abortion--which is, esssentially, dismembering a baby as it is born, piece by piece, to prevent "live" birth.
Here are 38 of those 50:
Wisconsin Representatives Berceau, Benedict, Black, Boyle, Colon, Fields, Garthwaite, Grigsby, Gronemus, Hegl, Hintz, Hilgenberg, Hraychuck, Kessler, Kreuser, Mason, Molepske, Parisi, Nelson, Pocan, Pope-Roberts, Richards, Schneider, Seidel, Sheridan, Sherman, Shilling, Sinicki,
Smith, Soletski, Steinbrink, Toles, Travis, Turner, Vruwink, Wasserman, Young, Zepnick.
The list is blood-red for a reason. One hopes that NONE of these vampires is EVER invited to ANY Catholic church, school, or college to speak, except if wearing sackcloth and ashes, and they are loudly repenting.
By the way, isn't "Doctor" Wasserman running for a Senate seat whose population is (generally) civilized?
Here are 38 of those 50:
Wisconsin Representatives Berceau, Benedict, Black, Boyle, Colon, Fields, Garthwaite, Grigsby, Gronemus, Hegl, Hintz, Hilgenberg, Hraychuck, Kessler, Kreuser, Mason, Molepske, Parisi, Nelson, Pocan, Pope-Roberts, Richards, Schneider, Seidel, Sheridan, Sherman, Shilling, Sinicki,
Smith, Soletski, Steinbrink, Toles, Travis, Turner, Vruwink, Wasserman, Young, Zepnick.
The list is blood-red for a reason. One hopes that NONE of these vampires is EVER invited to ANY Catholic church, school, or college to speak, except if wearing sackcloth and ashes, and they are loudly repenting.
By the way, isn't "Doctor" Wasserman running for a Senate seat whose population is (generally) civilized?
Will Slams McPain
You think the Conservatives are restless? Here's a blast from George Will:
Although his campaign is run by lobbyists; and although his dealings with lobbyists have generated what he, when judging the behavior of others, calls corrupt appearances; and although he has profited from his manipulation of the taxpayer-funding system that is celebrated by reformers -- still, he probably is innocent of insincerity. Such is his towering moral vanity, he seems sincerely to consider it theoretically impossible for him to commit the offenses of appearances that he incessantly ascribes to others.
Not exactly love and kisses, eh?
Although his campaign is run by lobbyists; and although his dealings with lobbyists have generated what he, when judging the behavior of others, calls corrupt appearances; and although he has profited from his manipulation of the taxpayer-funding system that is celebrated by reformers -- still, he probably is innocent of insincerity. Such is his towering moral vanity, he seems sincerely to consider it theoretically impossible for him to commit the offenses of appearances that he incessantly ascribes to others.
Not exactly love and kisses, eh?
Little Freddie Pounds His Gavel
At some point in time, Little Freddie Risser will be overcome.
Thursday, Senator Joe Leibham (R-Sheboygan) attempted to force a vote on the bill on the Senate floor. Within six seconds of Senator Leibham's request the Democrats who control the Senate motioned to adjourn the meeting and gaveled it to a close.
Leibham accuses the Democrats of running from a vote. "Right now the Senate Democrats are standing in the way of allowing the citizens of Wisconsin to vote on the issue," Leibham said.
Senate President Fred Risser (D-Madison), who gaveled the meeting to a close tells Newsradio 620 WTMJ that procedurally, the motion to adjourn the meeting took precedence over Senator Leibham's motion for a vote on the bill.
That would be the "Voter ID" amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution--favored by roughly 75% of Wisconsin residents.
Thursday, Senator Joe Leibham (R-Sheboygan) attempted to force a vote on the bill on the Senate floor. Within six seconds of Senator Leibham's request the Democrats who control the Senate motioned to adjourn the meeting and gaveled it to a close.
Leibham accuses the Democrats of running from a vote. "Right now the Senate Democrats are standing in the way of allowing the citizens of Wisconsin to vote on the issue," Leibham said.
Senate President Fred Risser (D-Madison), who gaveled the meeting to a close tells Newsradio 620 WTMJ that procedurally, the motion to adjourn the meeting took precedence over Senator Leibham's motion for a vote on the bill.
That would be the "Voter ID" amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution--favored by roughly 75% of Wisconsin residents.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
New Header Quote
I don't really like large headers. On the other hand, there are some quotes which simply must be quoted, often, and publicly.
So I added one from WFB today, stolen from The Caveman.
So I added one from WFB today, stolen from The Caveman.
Serious Discussion of "Sing to the Lord"
When the Bishops released their newest proclamation about music in worship, it was evident that "two hands" wrote the thing--with one being that of 'Americus', the other of 'Universalis.'
William Mahrt, President of the Church Music Ass'n of America, essays upon this half-way document in the current issue of Sacred Music. Some excerpts:
[Sing to the Lord] ...was approved by the bishops’ conference at their meeting last November. It had been the subject of consultation in October 2006,[2] and had been redrafted extensively. At the actual meeting, according to a report of Helen Hitchcock in Adoremus Bulletin,[3] the bishops reviewed over four hundred amendments, but they voted on the document without seeing the amended text. Originally it was proposed as binding liturgical law for the United States, which would have required Vatican confirmation, but it was decided not to present it as binding law but only as recommendation, thus avoiding the necessity of submitting it to the Vatican.
As you will see below, there's good reason for 'not submitting it to the Vatican.' By the way, keep "not submitting" in mind...
There are distinct improvements over the previous document, most notably, that it takes seriously the existing liturgical legislation. There are copious citations from major sources of liturgical law.[4] Yet these citations often seem to be imposed upon a document already written without them, and some authoritative statements, after being cited, are ignored in subsequent discussion...
Therein is Mahrt's genteel reference to the "alia.....alia" nature of the document.
One of the most positive and fundamental statements in the document is that the priest celebrant[5] should sing the most important parts that pertain to him. “The importance of the priest’s participation in the liturgy, especially by singing, cannot be overemphasized” In my opinion, this is the lynchpin of a successful sung liturgy. When the priest sings his parts, the parts of congregation and choir fall naturally into place as integral parts of an organic whole. When the priest speaks these parts, the parts the congregation and choir sing seem to be less integral to the liturgy. That the parts are all sung gives them a continuity that binds them together into a coherent liturgy
Following this is a discussion of 'three degrees' of congregational singing at Mass and its successor (licit or not) the concept of "progressive solemnity." What makes this interesting is Mahrt's insistence that a strictly-spoken Mass is totally undesirable--an echo of the norms for the Extraordinary Rite, which was honored mostly in the breach in the US and Western Europe.
As a practical matter, progressive solemnity may be useful; the gradual introduction of sung parts is a much more realistic strategy than the sudden imposition of a completely sung service upon an unsuspecting congregation. Yet, there is good reason to be consistent about which pieces are sung from day to day, and the differentiation of the solemnity of days should be achieved principally through the kind of music employed, rather than how much. As a matter of principle, I would suggest that “progressive solemnity” does not properly serve the sung liturgy, since it omits the singing of certain parts of the Mass which should and could be sung and thus gives up on the achievement of a completely sung service. The result is what I have called the “middle Mass,” neither high nor low, in which the beautiful and purposeful differences between the musical parts of the Mass are overshadowed by the more obvious differences between the spoken and sung parts
Another positive statement and a distinct improvement in the present document is the acknowledgement of the role of Gregorian chant, quoting the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, which gives chant “pride of place in liturgical services,” (SttL ¶72)[7] and citing the council’s mandate that the faithful be able to sing the Ordinary of the Mass together in Latin
Here's the "on the other hand" offset:
The normative status of chant is, however, qualified by citing the council’s “other things being equal.”
...This is, of course, a problem that is wider than the present document. Ever since Musicam Sacram (1967), the admission of alius cantus aptus, “the anthrax in the envelope” according to Lazlo Dobszay, any other suitable song in place of the proper chants, has meant in practice the virtual abandonment of the Gregorian propers
I posted the above for the outstanding simile therein.
On the other hand, the following shows one of the faults of ICEL: its incredible hubris.
A particular case in point has to do with the texts of introits and communions. The texts in the Graduale Romanum are not the same as those of the Missale Romanum, and it is those of the missal which are printed in the disposable missals used in the parishes. I have often been asked, “Where can I find the Gregorian chants for the introits and communions in the missal?” The answer is, you cannot find them, because they were provided for use in spoken Masses only.
What that means in practice is that if your choir director wants to sing the Gregorian Chant texts for a given Sunday Mass, those texts will NOT match the texts found in your basic missalette. ICEL simply decided that they didn't like those texts, I guess...
The bishops were to have voted upon a proposal to amend the American text of the GIRM to prescribe the texts of the Graduale Romanum for all sung settings, but for some reason, this proposal was withdrawn.
Regarding the above, the injunction to "follow the money" applies in spades. ICEL holds copyrights to the Missale text translations, not to Graduale translations. Publishers have a large investment in Missale text, not Graduale text. Duhhh.
One is grateful that the place of the organ is asserted: among instruments, it is accorded “pride of place” (¶87). It is praised for its role in accompanying congregational singing, improvisation to accompany the completion of a liturgical action, and playing the great repertory of organ literature, whether for the liturgy or for sacred concerts. The recommendation of other instruments, however, raises a few questions....
...The wider issue that this raises is the suitability of other instruments. The document does not state the principle reason for the priority of the organ: it is primarily a sacred instrument. Other instruments do not share that distinction. A citation of Old Testament usage of “cymbals, harps, lyres, and trumpets” (¶89) begs the question of their associations in the present culture. The document proceeds to allow “wind, stringed, or percussion instruments . . . according to longstanding local usage, provided they are truly apt for sacred use or can be rendered apt” (¶90).[12] This avoids the vexed issue of whether instruments with strong associations with popular music, such as those of a rock band, but even the piano, are really apt for sacred use.
The Bishops simply will not specifically exclude banjos, tambourines, and guitars. This is a failure of nerve, if not of intellectual analysis.
There are, alas, some more negative aspects to the document, most of which are survivals from Music in Catholic Worship. Perhaps the most pervasive of these is the anthropocentric focus upon the action of the congregation and its external participation, rather than being in balance with a theocentric focus upon giving glory to God.
Not too surprising. The LiturgyWonkEstablishment is highly invested in 'horizontalism'--man as the measure--and many of our Bishops, frankly, don't know any better.
I would have said that music has three functions in the liturgy, to give glory to God, to enhance the beauty and sacredness of the liturgy, and to assist in the aedifcation of the faithful. But a quotation of the purpose of music from the council is even more succinct: “the glory of God and the sanctification of the faithful.”[15] Both of these things are theocentric, the first focusing upon the object of what we do, the second focusing upon what God does for us. Neither focuses only upon what we do.
Did I say 'man as the measure'?
And for egregious errors, nothing beats what Mahrt finds here:
The discussion of the musical judgment is concluded by a serious misquotation of the Second Vatican Council. “The church has not adopted any particular style of art as her own” (SC ¶123), concluding that the church freely welcomes various styles of music to the liturgy. There are two things wrong with this statement: it comes from the chapter on sacred art and was said about art and architecture. The church has not adopted Romanesque or Gothic or any other style as canonical, but when it comes to music, the church has acknowledged the priority of Gregorian chant and to a lesser degree polyphony. These are styles and they do have priority.
Well, perhaps in another 20 years, we'll have a statement which Rome actually will approve. You should live that long--it will be worth the wait.
William Mahrt, President of the Church Music Ass'n of America, essays upon this half-way document in the current issue of Sacred Music. Some excerpts:
[Sing to the Lord] ...was approved by the bishops’ conference at their meeting last November. It had been the subject of consultation in October 2006,[2] and had been redrafted extensively. At the actual meeting, according to a report of Helen Hitchcock in Adoremus Bulletin,[3] the bishops reviewed over four hundred amendments, but they voted on the document without seeing the amended text. Originally it was proposed as binding liturgical law for the United States, which would have required Vatican confirmation, but it was decided not to present it as binding law but only as recommendation, thus avoiding the necessity of submitting it to the Vatican.
As you will see below, there's good reason for 'not submitting it to the Vatican.' By the way, keep "not submitting" in mind...
There are distinct improvements over the previous document, most notably, that it takes seriously the existing liturgical legislation. There are copious citations from major sources of liturgical law.[4] Yet these citations often seem to be imposed upon a document already written without them, and some authoritative statements, after being cited, are ignored in subsequent discussion...
Therein is Mahrt's genteel reference to the "alia.....alia" nature of the document.
One of the most positive and fundamental statements in the document is that the priest celebrant[5] should sing the most important parts that pertain to him. “The importance of the priest’s participation in the liturgy, especially by singing, cannot be overemphasized” In my opinion, this is the lynchpin of a successful sung liturgy. When the priest sings his parts, the parts of congregation and choir fall naturally into place as integral parts of an organic whole. When the priest speaks these parts, the parts the congregation and choir sing seem to be less integral to the liturgy. That the parts are all sung gives them a continuity that binds them together into a coherent liturgy
Following this is a discussion of 'three degrees' of congregational singing at Mass and its successor (licit or not) the concept of "progressive solemnity." What makes this interesting is Mahrt's insistence that a strictly-spoken Mass is totally undesirable--an echo of the norms for the Extraordinary Rite, which was honored mostly in the breach in the US and Western Europe.
As a practical matter, progressive solemnity may be useful; the gradual introduction of sung parts is a much more realistic strategy than the sudden imposition of a completely sung service upon an unsuspecting congregation. Yet, there is good reason to be consistent about which pieces are sung from day to day, and the differentiation of the solemnity of days should be achieved principally through the kind of music employed, rather than how much. As a matter of principle, I would suggest that “progressive solemnity” does not properly serve the sung liturgy, since it omits the singing of certain parts of the Mass which should and could be sung and thus gives up on the achievement of a completely sung service. The result is what I have called the “middle Mass,” neither high nor low, in which the beautiful and purposeful differences between the musical parts of the Mass are overshadowed by the more obvious differences between the spoken and sung parts
Another positive statement and a distinct improvement in the present document is the acknowledgement of the role of Gregorian chant, quoting the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, which gives chant “pride of place in liturgical services,” (SttL ¶72)[7] and citing the council’s mandate that the faithful be able to sing the Ordinary of the Mass together in Latin
Here's the "on the other hand" offset:
The normative status of chant is, however, qualified by citing the council’s “other things being equal.”
...This is, of course, a problem that is wider than the present document. Ever since Musicam Sacram (1967), the admission of alius cantus aptus, “the anthrax in the envelope” according to Lazlo Dobszay, any other suitable song in place of the proper chants, has meant in practice the virtual abandonment of the Gregorian propers
I posted the above for the outstanding simile therein.
On the other hand, the following shows one of the faults of ICEL: its incredible hubris.
A particular case in point has to do with the texts of introits and communions. The texts in the Graduale Romanum are not the same as those of the Missale Romanum, and it is those of the missal which are printed in the disposable missals used in the parishes. I have often been asked, “Where can I find the Gregorian chants for the introits and communions in the missal?” The answer is, you cannot find them, because they were provided for use in spoken Masses only.
What that means in practice is that if your choir director wants to sing the Gregorian Chant texts for a given Sunday Mass, those texts will NOT match the texts found in your basic missalette. ICEL simply decided that they didn't like those texts, I guess...
The bishops were to have voted upon a proposal to amend the American text of the GIRM to prescribe the texts of the Graduale Romanum for all sung settings, but for some reason, this proposal was withdrawn.
Regarding the above, the injunction to "follow the money" applies in spades. ICEL holds copyrights to the Missale text translations, not to Graduale translations. Publishers have a large investment in Missale text, not Graduale text. Duhhh.
One is grateful that the place of the organ is asserted: among instruments, it is accorded “pride of place” (¶87). It is praised for its role in accompanying congregational singing, improvisation to accompany the completion of a liturgical action, and playing the great repertory of organ literature, whether for the liturgy or for sacred concerts. The recommendation of other instruments, however, raises a few questions....
...The wider issue that this raises is the suitability of other instruments. The document does not state the principle reason for the priority of the organ: it is primarily a sacred instrument. Other instruments do not share that distinction. A citation of Old Testament usage of “cymbals, harps, lyres, and trumpets” (¶89) begs the question of their associations in the present culture. The document proceeds to allow “wind, stringed, or percussion instruments . . . according to longstanding local usage, provided they are truly apt for sacred use or can be rendered apt” (¶90).[12] This avoids the vexed issue of whether instruments with strong associations with popular music, such as those of a rock band, but even the piano, are really apt for sacred use.
The Bishops simply will not specifically exclude banjos, tambourines, and guitars. This is a failure of nerve, if not of intellectual analysis.
There are, alas, some more negative aspects to the document, most of which are survivals from Music in Catholic Worship. Perhaps the most pervasive of these is the anthropocentric focus upon the action of the congregation and its external participation, rather than being in balance with a theocentric focus upon giving glory to God.
Not too surprising. The LiturgyWonkEstablishment is highly invested in 'horizontalism'--man as the measure--and many of our Bishops, frankly, don't know any better.
I would have said that music has three functions in the liturgy, to give glory to God, to enhance the beauty and sacredness of the liturgy, and to assist in the aedifcation of the faithful. But a quotation of the purpose of music from the council is even more succinct: “the glory of God and the sanctification of the faithful.”[15] Both of these things are theocentric, the first focusing upon the object of what we do, the second focusing upon what God does for us. Neither focuses only upon what we do.
Did I say 'man as the measure'?
And for egregious errors, nothing beats what Mahrt finds here:
The discussion of the musical judgment is concluded by a serious misquotation of the Second Vatican Council. “The church has not adopted any particular style of art as her own” (SC ¶123), concluding that the church freely welcomes various styles of music to the liturgy. There are two things wrong with this statement: it comes from the chapter on sacred art and was said about art and architecture. The church has not adopted Romanesque or Gothic or any other style as canonical, but when it comes to music, the church has acknowledged the priority of Gregorian chant and to a lesser degree polyphony. These are styles and they do have priority.
Well, perhaps in another 20 years, we'll have a statement which Rome actually will approve. You should live that long--it will be worth the wait.
WFB: More Than "A Conservative"
From a memoir by Patrick Deneen.
I have a fond personal memory of Buckley - a time he was among a group of five representatives of various religious traditions were gathered by Princeton University's "Center for Human Values" to discuss the amorphous topic of "Mind, Faith, Spirit". Guided by Bill Moyers, the assemblage was clearly intended to reach a consensus that religion was wholly a personal and individual matter, and that one's belief should have no bearing on the public life of a nation. Buckley, as one would expect, refused to play nice. He began by announcing that "I may be a little bit of an imposter in this distinguished panel, because I'm sort of ridden with belief." In response to views that it was possible to believe in God but understand and sympathize with those who believe otherwise, he said, "The Ten Commandments say, 'Thou shalt not place other gods in my house,' and the Lord's prayer has in it the phrase, 'lead us not into temptation.' Could you understand by asking that you not be led into temptation that you be spared the seductiveness of other gods?" And, lastly (not in the transcript, but firmly burned in my memory), to the question whether religious belief necessitated rejection of belief other than one's own (which, of course, every other member of the panel dismissed out of hand as an unthinkable suggestion), Buckley replied: "As a member of the Roman Catholic Church, I hold the Creed of my Church to be true, which means by definition that the belief of any other religion in contradiction to that Creed must be categorically false." I believe it was the first time, and possibly the last, that the word "true" was used in an event sponsored by the "University Center for Human Values" without implied or gesticulated scare quotes. I became instantly aware on that day the ramrod backbone it took to write a book like "God and Man at Yale" in 1951 and to found "The National Review" in 1955. He was a man of courage and independence, and we could use more of his kind. RIP
That word, "true", describes Buckley's project, even though it was characterized as "fusionism." Buckley focused on what is true, and let the chips fall where they may.
Amen. Requiescat in pace.
I have a fond personal memory of Buckley - a time he was among a group of five representatives of various religious traditions were gathered by Princeton University's "Center for Human Values" to discuss the amorphous topic of "Mind, Faith, Spirit". Guided by Bill Moyers, the assemblage was clearly intended to reach a consensus that religion was wholly a personal and individual matter, and that one's belief should have no bearing on the public life of a nation. Buckley, as one would expect, refused to play nice. He began by announcing that "I may be a little bit of an imposter in this distinguished panel, because I'm sort of ridden with belief." In response to views that it was possible to believe in God but understand and sympathize with those who believe otherwise, he said, "The Ten Commandments say, 'Thou shalt not place other gods in my house,' and the Lord's prayer has in it the phrase, 'lead us not into temptation.' Could you understand by asking that you not be led into temptation that you be spared the seductiveness of other gods?" And, lastly (not in the transcript, but firmly burned in my memory), to the question whether religious belief necessitated rejection of belief other than one's own (which, of course, every other member of the panel dismissed out of hand as an unthinkable suggestion), Buckley replied: "As a member of the Roman Catholic Church, I hold the Creed of my Church to be true, which means by definition that the belief of any other religion in contradiction to that Creed must be categorically false." I believe it was the first time, and possibly the last, that the word "true" was used in an event sponsored by the "University Center for Human Values" without implied or gesticulated scare quotes. I became instantly aware on that day the ramrod backbone it took to write a book like "God and Man at Yale" in 1951 and to found "The National Review" in 1955. He was a man of courage and independence, and we could use more of his kind. RIP
That word, "true", describes Buckley's project, even though it was characterized as "fusionism." Buckley focused on what is true, and let the chips fall where they may.
Amen. Requiescat in pace.
The Donkey: Greenspan
Just in case you still don't understand, this from Ritholtz, as he writes a reality-based speech for Ben Bernanke, which will NEVER be delivered:
Following the dot com implosion, my predecessor at the Fed slashed rates to a generational low of 1%; the FOMC then kept rates at 1% for over a year.
While that re-inflated the economy, it also set off a shock wave of inflation unseen since the 1970s. Houses doubled in price, Oil is up 5 fold, food stuffs have tripled, and the dollar has collapsed. Gold is at multi-decade highs.
...The weakening dollar -- now at levels last seen in the 1960s -- is forcing all dollar denominated commodities higher.
Greenspan's answer to everything was "mo' money, man." Greenspan's penchant for printing USD's will be legendary, although it will more than likely earn him a place in the Hall of Shame from our children and grandchildren.
Not even the politicians, now trying to buy re-election with their bogus "rebate" can out-whore Greenspan's opus. But rest assured, that "rebate" will only further devalue the USD and increase inflation--not to mention the tax-bill downstream.
Following the dot com implosion, my predecessor at the Fed slashed rates to a generational low of 1%; the FOMC then kept rates at 1% for over a year.
While that re-inflated the economy, it also set off a shock wave of inflation unseen since the 1970s. Houses doubled in price, Oil is up 5 fold, food stuffs have tripled, and the dollar has collapsed. Gold is at multi-decade highs.
...The weakening dollar -- now at levels last seen in the 1960s -- is forcing all dollar denominated commodities higher.
Greenspan's answer to everything was "mo' money, man." Greenspan's penchant for printing USD's will be legendary, although it will more than likely earn him a place in the Hall of Shame from our children and grandchildren.
Not even the politicians, now trying to buy re-election with their bogus "rebate" can out-whore Greenspan's opus. But rest assured, that "rebate" will only further devalue the USD and increase inflation--not to mention the tax-bill downstream.
Twenty Percent Learning Disabilities?
Back.....WAY back.....in time, when we attended a grade school (heated by burning wooly-mammoth chips), the incidence of "learning disabilities" was about zero.
There were kids who did not WANT to learn, and those who learned slowly. They fit into the typical bell-curve. Some did well, some did not, most did OK.
Now we read this:
The researchers surveyed samples of parents from both groups and reported that 18.2% of the MPS parents said their children had learning disabilities, while 8.7% of voucher parents said so.
(This was the research used to establish "baselines" in comparing MPCP with the MPS.)
Near TWENTY PERCENT of MPS kiddies are "learning disabled"?
We all know that "LD" means "extra revenue" for school districts, so there's an interest in establishing kids as "LD".
One wonders what, exactly, constitutes "LD"?
There were kids who did not WANT to learn, and those who learned slowly. They fit into the typical bell-curve. Some did well, some did not, most did OK.
Now we read this:
The researchers surveyed samples of parents from both groups and reported that 18.2% of the MPS parents said their children had learning disabilities, while 8.7% of voucher parents said so.
(This was the research used to establish "baselines" in comparing MPCP with the MPS.)
Near TWENTY PERCENT of MPS kiddies are "learning disabled"?
We all know that "LD" means "extra revenue" for school districts, so there's an interest in establishing kids as "LD".
One wonders what, exactly, constitutes "LD"?
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
B-16 on "Kingdom" Talk
Rich Leonardi did the work--I'm just re-posting this passage from B-16's book Jesus of Nazareth. It's a wonderful and concise reprimand of the "kingdom"-talk found in various spots in Latin America and the USA.
Since that time, a secularist reinterpretation of the idea of the Kingdom has gained considerable ground, particularly, though not exclusively, in Catholic theology. This reinterpretation propounds a new view of Christianity, religions, and history in general, and it claims that such a radical refashioning will enable people to reappropriate Jesus' supposed message. It is claimed that in the pre-Vatican II period, "ecclesiocentrism" was the dominant position: The Church was represented as the center of Christianity. Then there was a shift to Christocentrism, to the doctrine that Christ is the center of everything. But it is not only the Church that is divisive -- so the argument continues -- since Christ belongs exclusively to Christians. Hence the further step from Christocentrism to theocentrism. This has allegedly brought us closer to the community of religions, but our final goal continues to elude us, since even God can be a cause of division between religions and between people.
Therefore, it is claimed, we must now move toward "regnocentrism," that is, toward the centrality of the Kingdom. This at last, we are told, is the heart of Jesus' message, and it is also the right formula for finally harnessing mankind's positive energies and directing them toward the world's future. "Kingdom," on this interpretation, is simply the name for a world governed by peace, justice, and the conservation of creation. It also means no more than this. This "Kingdom" is said to be the goal of history that has to be attained. [See, for example, the "Omega" stuff of DeChardin as a launch-pad for this.] This is supposedly the real task of religions: to work together for the coming of the "Kingdom." They are of course perfectly free to preserve their traditions and live according to their respective identities as well, but they must bring their different identities to bear on the common task of building the "Kingdom," a world, in other words, where peace, justice, and respect for creation are the dominant values.
This sounds good; it seems like a way of finally enabling the whole world to appropriate Jesus' message, but without requiring missionary evangelization of other religions. It looks as if now, at long last, Jesus' words have gained some practical content, because the establishment of the "Kingdom" has become a common task and is drawing nigh. On closer examination, though, it seems suspicious. Who is to say what justice is? What serves justice in particular situations? How do we create peace? On closer inspection, this whole project proves to be utopian dreaming without any real content, except insofar as its exponents tacitly presuppose some partisan doctrine as the content that all are required to accept.
But the main thing that leaps out is that God has disappeared; man is the only actor left on the stage. The respect for religious "traditions" claimed by this way of thinking is only apparent. The truth is that they are regarded as so many sets of customs, which people should be allowed to keep, even though they ultimately count for nothing. Faith and religions are now directed toward political goals. Only the organization of the world counts. Religion matters insofar as it can serve that objective. This post-Christian vision of faith and religion is disturbingly close to Jesus' third temptation.
Now "man is the measure," in this neat sketch of paradise-on-earth. It's not new, and it never worked before; it's the genesis of that 'relativism' about which B-16 continually warns.
You know, this guy is REALLY good at surveying history and making it simple and accessible...
Since that time, a secularist reinterpretation of the idea of the Kingdom has gained considerable ground, particularly, though not exclusively, in Catholic theology. This reinterpretation propounds a new view of Christianity, religions, and history in general, and it claims that such a radical refashioning will enable people to reappropriate Jesus' supposed message. It is claimed that in the pre-Vatican II period, "ecclesiocentrism" was the dominant position: The Church was represented as the center of Christianity. Then there was a shift to Christocentrism, to the doctrine that Christ is the center of everything. But it is not only the Church that is divisive -- so the argument continues -- since Christ belongs exclusively to Christians. Hence the further step from Christocentrism to theocentrism. This has allegedly brought us closer to the community of religions, but our final goal continues to elude us, since even God can be a cause of division between religions and between people.
Therefore, it is claimed, we must now move toward "regnocentrism," that is, toward the centrality of the Kingdom. This at last, we are told, is the heart of Jesus' message, and it is also the right formula for finally harnessing mankind's positive energies and directing them toward the world's future. "Kingdom," on this interpretation, is simply the name for a world governed by peace, justice, and the conservation of creation. It also means no more than this. This "Kingdom" is said to be the goal of history that has to be attained. [See, for example, the "Omega" stuff of DeChardin as a launch-pad for this.] This is supposedly the real task of religions: to work together for the coming of the "Kingdom." They are of course perfectly free to preserve their traditions and live according to their respective identities as well, but they must bring their different identities to bear on the common task of building the "Kingdom," a world, in other words, where peace, justice, and respect for creation are the dominant values.
This sounds good; it seems like a way of finally enabling the whole world to appropriate Jesus' message, but without requiring missionary evangelization of other religions. It looks as if now, at long last, Jesus' words have gained some practical content, because the establishment of the "Kingdom" has become a common task and is drawing nigh. On closer examination, though, it seems suspicious. Who is to say what justice is? What serves justice in particular situations? How do we create peace? On closer inspection, this whole project proves to be utopian dreaming without any real content, except insofar as its exponents tacitly presuppose some partisan doctrine as the content that all are required to accept.
But the main thing that leaps out is that God has disappeared; man is the only actor left on the stage. The respect for religious "traditions" claimed by this way of thinking is only apparent. The truth is that they are regarded as so many sets of customs, which people should be allowed to keep, even though they ultimately count for nothing. Faith and religions are now directed toward political goals. Only the organization of the world counts. Religion matters insofar as it can serve that objective. This post-Christian vision of faith and religion is disturbingly close to Jesus' third temptation.
Now "man is the measure," in this neat sketch of paradise-on-earth. It's not new, and it never worked before; it's the genesis of that 'relativism' about which B-16 continually warns.
You know, this guy is REALLY good at surveying history and making it simple and accessible...
The Summary: "Hell, We Don't Know, and Can't Find Out"
If you read the Police Department report on voting irregularities in the City of Milwaukee, it won't take long for you to assess it just like my headline does.
The City's Election Commission workforce was populated by dolts, rummies, idiots, clucks, wonzos, schlemiels, schlamazzels, bedwetters, nincompoops, and convicted felons (!)--and it's entirely possible that a number of them wilfully and knowingly violated various Wisconsin laws regarding eligibility for voting.
But recordkeeping and Downtown errors are so numerous and egregious that there's no way to determine what actually happened, with a few exceptions.
We are not surprised. A friend who is a lifelong Democrat and resident of the City (and a good guy, overall) was as non-chalant as could be when we discussed the problem a couple of years ago--his entire take on the matter was "A few votes here and there, what's the difference"?
That's the Democrat Party mindset--"who cares?"
The City's Election Commission workforce was populated by dolts, rummies, idiots, clucks, wonzos, schlemiels, schlamazzels, bedwetters, nincompoops, and convicted felons (!)--and it's entirely possible that a number of them wilfully and knowingly violated various Wisconsin laws regarding eligibility for voting.
But recordkeeping and Downtown errors are so numerous and egregious that there's no way to determine what actually happened, with a few exceptions.
We are not surprised. A friend who is a lifelong Democrat and resident of the City (and a good guy, overall) was as non-chalant as could be when we discussed the problem a couple of years ago--his entire take on the matter was "A few votes here and there, what's the difference"?
That's the Democrat Party mindset--"who cares?"
Stadium Sales Tax: Your Grandchildren Will Pay
This goes on forever, just like many predicted.
A Miller Park stadium district financial consultant said Tuesday that because of recent and significant declines in sales-tax revenue, the stadium sales tax may have to be extended beyond 2014.
The 0.1% stadium sales tax was first enacted in 1996 and is paid by residents living in Racine, Ozaukee, Washington, Waukesha and Milwaukee counties.
The high-handed enactment, featuring Tommy Thompson's "Stick It To 'Em" screech, cost one Legislator his job, too...a well-deserved recall.
Next "projection": 2017. Twenty-one years.
A Miller Park stadium district financial consultant said Tuesday that because of recent and significant declines in sales-tax revenue, the stadium sales tax may have to be extended beyond 2014.
The 0.1% stadium sales tax was first enacted in 1996 and is paid by residents living in Racine, Ozaukee, Washington, Waukesha and Milwaukee counties.
The high-handed enactment, featuring Tommy Thompson's "Stick It To 'Em" screech, cost one Legislator his job, too...a well-deserved recall.
Next "projection": 2017. Twenty-one years.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Not in MY County, Lena!
Ms Taylor may well be the next Milwaukee County Executive. (Vote fraud, folks...)
At any rate, she likes the 'take your money' approach:
Taylor also said "yes," when asked whether she'd support extending the stadium sales tax to help pay for local transportation and housing needs when Miller Park borrowing is paid off. The 0.10% stadium tax has been projected to expire in 2014.
Not in Waukesha County, honey.
Maybe in Racine, Washington, Ozaukee, and Milwaukee Counties.
But don't even THINK about "extending" the play-game tax here.
At any rate, she likes the 'take your money' approach:
Taylor also said "yes," when asked whether she'd support extending the stadium sales tax to help pay for local transportation and housing needs when Miller Park borrowing is paid off. The 0.10% stadium tax has been projected to expire in 2014.
Not in Waukesha County, honey.
Maybe in Racine, Washington, Ozaukee, and Milwaukee Counties.
But don't even THINK about "extending" the play-game tax here.
Did "Yoo Hoo, Abp. Dolan" Work?
You be the judge. (Search "Yoo Hoo" on this blog for 4 titles on the topic.)
Here's a 2/25/08 letter from the Wisconsin Catholic Conference regarding AB377 (the "rape/emergency contraception" bill).
"...Since we initially took our position of neutrality, we have never wanted to yield on any of three commitments: 1) compassionate care for women who suffer the tragedy of rape, 2) compassion toward a child, a unique human being with unique DNA, who might have been conceived as a result of that rape and, 3) compassionate concern for all who might be involved in making decisions about emergency contraception, especially our physicians and healthcare workers – their consciences in this matter must be protected. ... Emergency contraception can, at times, amount to abortion, and both reason and our faith tell us that this is never acceptable. About this we must be very clear."
...Construing our initial position of neutrality to be virtually one of support for the passage of this bill could not be farther from the truth ...
...At this important moment we also want to pledge our prayerful support to physicians and health care workers, with the promise that we will stand strongly beside them in the future should the effects of emergency contraception legislation ever threaten the freedom of conscience which belongs to every human person as foundational to his or her religious liberty.
One could construe this as a monitum to the Legislature that the Bishops do NOT support the Bill as currently written (with the elimination of the 'conscience clause' that the Democrats forced through.)
AND that the Bishops will support any legal actions which may arise, on the side of those whose conscience is violated.
Good.
HT: The Provincial Emails
Here's a 2/25/08 letter from the Wisconsin Catholic Conference regarding AB377 (the "rape/emergency contraception" bill).
"...Since we initially took our position of neutrality, we have never wanted to yield on any of three commitments: 1) compassionate care for women who suffer the tragedy of rape, 2) compassion toward a child, a unique human being with unique DNA, who might have been conceived as a result of that rape and, 3) compassionate concern for all who might be involved in making decisions about emergency contraception, especially our physicians and healthcare workers – their consciences in this matter must be protected. ... Emergency contraception can, at times, amount to abortion, and both reason and our faith tell us that this is never acceptable. About this we must be very clear."
...Construing our initial position of neutrality to be virtually one of support for the passage of this bill could not be farther from the truth ...
...At this important moment we also want to pledge our prayerful support to physicians and health care workers, with the promise that we will stand strongly beside them in the future should the effects of emergency contraception legislation ever threaten the freedom of conscience which belongs to every human person as foundational to his or her religious liberty.
One could construe this as a monitum to the Legislature that the Bishops do NOT support the Bill as currently written (with the elimination of the 'conscience clause' that the Democrats forced through.)
AND that the Bishops will support any legal actions which may arise, on the side of those whose conscience is violated.
Good.
HT: The Provincial Emails
How 'Bout Those Nice Muslims?
From the Hats blog:
A good friend of mine was on a committee, made up of Catholics and Muslims, whose purpose was to come up with and propose non-inflammatory language for the Church when discussing Catholic/Muslim relations. (Note to good friend: I know I did a bad job of describing that. Feel free to correct me in the combox.) In the process, she befriended one of the young Muslim men on the committee. He was well educated (in America) and had been very instrumental in keeping the tone of the committee meetings kind and empathetic. He gave her hope for the future.
At the celebratory dinner after there work was done, my friend said to the man, "See? Look what we did. Christians and Muslims can work together and compromise and [I paraphrase badly] live together in peace, harmony and good will."
The man agreed. And then he reached over and grabbed the crucifix that she always wears around her neck, and he held it and looked her in the eyes and said, "But if you came to my country, I would kill you for wearing this."
Fair warning. And with Germany and England rapidly becoming 'Muslim' countries, you might want to re-examine your travel plans for the future.
A good friend of mine was on a committee, made up of Catholics and Muslims, whose purpose was to come up with and propose non-inflammatory language for the Church when discussing Catholic/Muslim relations. (Note to good friend: I know I did a bad job of describing that. Feel free to correct me in the combox.) In the process, she befriended one of the young Muslim men on the committee. He was well educated (in America) and had been very instrumental in keeping the tone of the committee meetings kind and empathetic. He gave her hope for the future.
At the celebratory dinner after there work was done, my friend said to the man, "See? Look what we did. Christians and Muslims can work together and compromise and [I paraphrase badly] live together in peace, harmony and good will."
The man agreed. And then he reached over and grabbed the crucifix that she always wears around her neck, and he held it and looked her in the eyes and said, "But if you came to my country, I would kill you for wearing this."
Fair warning. And with Germany and England rapidly becoming 'Muslim' countries, you might want to re-examine your travel plans for the future.
Hillary in Ohio
From a G K Chesterton blogger. This ain't good for HRC:
As a reminder my primary source of income is as a third shift factory worker in Ohio.
The gender mix on my shift is 75% female of which 80% is over 35. They are fork lift driving, power tool using, tough, independent working woman. This is Hillary country or should be.
March 4th is our primary so election talk is now running through the lunch room along with domestic issues. The guy I was sitting with said he was going to vote for Hillary and before I could talk about the expensive and dangerous socialist policies Hillary is purposing, the woman next to him said, “What are you nuts! You don’t really want a menopausal woman as president. Do you?”
Another woman chimed in, “Yea, she’s all dried up.”Another, “Even if she is not in menopause you can’t have someone PMSing with access to nuclear weapons.”Another, “She can’t even keep her own house in line.”
This went on for little while till a 20 something female said, “Hillary, she’s a democrat right?”
Some interesting points, eh?
As a reminder my primary source of income is as a third shift factory worker in Ohio.
The gender mix on my shift is 75% female of which 80% is over 35. They are fork lift driving, power tool using, tough, independent working woman. This is Hillary country or should be.
March 4th is our primary so election talk is now running through the lunch room along with domestic issues. The guy I was sitting with said he was going to vote for Hillary and before I could talk about the expensive and dangerous socialist policies Hillary is purposing, the woman next to him said, “What are you nuts! You don’t really want a menopausal woman as president. Do you?”
Another woman chimed in, “Yea, she’s all dried up.”Another, “Even if she is not in menopause you can’t have someone PMSing with access to nuclear weapons.”Another, “She can’t even keep her own house in line.”
This went on for little while till a 20 something female said, “Hillary, she’s a democrat right?”
Some interesting points, eh?
Typo?
Sure, it's a typo.
Unless style rules have changed.
Here's the WSJ's "Washington Wire" commenting on the romances being conducted to gain endorsements (excerpted):
...The New York Times also offered a funny account over the weekend of the courting efforts being used with Richardson, which includes regular phone calls from Obama as well as a recent visit from former Bill Clinton to watch the Super Bowl.
Obviously, "former" should be preceded by the article "the."
All that education.....tsk, tsk.
Unless style rules have changed.
Here's the WSJ's "Washington Wire" commenting on the romances being conducted to gain endorsements (excerpted):
...The New York Times also offered a funny account over the weekend of the courting efforts being used with Richardson, which includes regular phone calls from Obama as well as a recent visit from former Bill Clinton to watch the Super Bowl.
Obviously, "former" should be preceded by the article "the."
All that education.....tsk, tsk.
Bad Guys Around? Here's a Solution
Chambered for the .600 Nitro Express (H&H), available for around $16,750 or so plus shipping. As a matter of interest, the .600 NE round will penetrate 1/2" plate steel at 100 yards.
HT: Clay Cramer
Monday, February 25, 2008
"The Feds Made Us Do It"--Part Two
The Feds made us.....yah, hey. See previous entry for a lot more detail on the whine and mewl from the American Bankers' Association, often broadcast by the Radio Boyzzz.
So in Chicago:
"The new buyers of a rundown graystone on the South Side showed up Jan. 9 to look at the house they won at a foreclosure auction. They took the plywood off the front door and went inside to make sure the utilities had been shut off. Then they called the police.
Sitting upright in the corner of a bedroom off the kitchen was a human skeleton in a red tracksuit. Next to him lay a dead dog. Neighbors told police the corpse was almost certainly Randy Johnson, a middle-age man who lived alone in the North Kenwood house.
The cause of Johnson's death has not yet been determined, but it is just one of the mysteries about 4578 S. Oakenwald Ave. Somehow, Johnson's house was transferred three times to new owners without anyone noticing he was inside. It's a story involving forged deeds, a corrupt title company and a South Side family that has been under investigation for mortgage fraud."
Umnnnh....anybody ever hear of "compliance" departments in Banks???
So in Chicago:
"The new buyers of a rundown graystone on the South Side showed up Jan. 9 to look at the house they won at a foreclosure auction. They took the plywood off the front door and went inside to make sure the utilities had been shut off. Then they called the police.
Sitting upright in the corner of a bedroom off the kitchen was a human skeleton in a red tracksuit. Next to him lay a dead dog. Neighbors told police the corpse was almost certainly Randy Johnson, a middle-age man who lived alone in the North Kenwood house.
The cause of Johnson's death has not yet been determined, but it is just one of the mysteries about 4578 S. Oakenwald Ave. Somehow, Johnson's house was transferred three times to new owners without anyone noticing he was inside. It's a story involving forged deeds, a corrupt title company and a South Side family that has been under investigation for mortgage fraud."
Umnnnh....anybody ever hear of "compliance" departments in Banks???
Banks: "The Feds Made Us Do It"-- Oh, Really?
One of the memes about the mortgage situation (a meme straight from the Banks' hymnbooks) is "the Feds MADE us do it..." That is, that the Federal bank regulators forced the Banks to make lousy loans.
Not really, folks. Quoting an essay on the implosion problem, Calculated Risk sheds light:
At the loan origination stage of the securitization process, there was a continuous lowering of credit standards, misrepresentations, and outright fraud. Too many mortgage loans, which only benefited the loan brokers, were securitized. This flawed origination process was ignored by the security underwriters, regulators, and ultimate investors. . . .
Note "lowering of credit standards", "misrepresentations," and "outright fraud."
But the key words are in red.
Here's how it plays out.
Notice how, in the first paragraph, we slip in the first two sentences from "the quality of the origination process" (something quite obviously under the control of the originator) to "underwriting guidelines," which in any securitization practice I know of are either outright stipulated by the issuer in all respects (Ginnie Maes, standard-contract Fannies and Freddies, a lot of private pools) or are at best negotiated between lender and issuer (most private pools, some GSE business). Once the guidelines are either published by the issuer or agreed to in negotiation between issuer and originator, then it is indeed the originator's job to meet them.
But a whole lot of these loans that are failing right now were originated as 100% CLTV stated-income loans, because the guidelines agreed to by the issuer allowed that.
In fact, the packagers/re-sellers, not the "Feds" were allowing crap to be called Ivory Soap:
I spent most of the early years of this decade, just as a for instance, blowing my blood pressure to danger levels every time I looked at the underwriting guidelines published by ALS, the correspondent lending division of Lehman. ALS was a leader in the 100% stated income Alt-A junk. And I kept having to look at them because my own Account Executives keep shoving them under my nose and demanding to know how come we can't do that if ALS does it. I'd try something like "because we're not that stupid," and what I'd get is this: "But if ALS can sell those loans, so can we. All we gotta do is rep and warrant that they meet guidelines that Wall Street is dumb enough to publish." Every lender in the boom who sold to the street wrote loans it knew were absurd, but in fact they had been given absurd guidelines to write to. What on earth good did it do to have those originators represent and warrant that they followed underwriting guidelines to the letter, when those guidelines allowed stated income 100% financing on a toxic ARM with a prepayment penalty?
Net/net:
The essential confusion here is between failure to follow responsible guidelines and faithful following of irresponsible guidelines. My sad news for the investment community: a whole lot of what you are suffering from is the latter, not the former.
The "Feds" (do-gooder mortgage regulators) did NOT create, nor enforce "irresponsible guidelines." The slop was written based on guidelines provided by Lehmann, (among others).
But that's not what you'll hear from the Banks as they work over Congress to bail them out of $700++ BILLION in bad loans--at the expense of the taxpayer.
Not really, folks. Quoting an essay on the implosion problem, Calculated Risk sheds light:
At the loan origination stage of the securitization process, there was a continuous lowering of credit standards, misrepresentations, and outright fraud. Too many mortgage loans, which only benefited the loan brokers, were securitized. This flawed origination process was ignored by the security underwriters, regulators, and ultimate investors. . . .
Note "lowering of credit standards", "misrepresentations," and "outright fraud."
But the key words are in red.
Here's how it plays out.
Notice how, in the first paragraph, we slip in the first two sentences from "the quality of the origination process" (something quite obviously under the control of the originator) to "underwriting guidelines," which in any securitization practice I know of are either outright stipulated by the issuer in all respects (Ginnie Maes, standard-contract Fannies and Freddies, a lot of private pools) or are at best negotiated between lender and issuer (most private pools, some GSE business). Once the guidelines are either published by the issuer or agreed to in negotiation between issuer and originator, then it is indeed the originator's job to meet them.
But a whole lot of these loans that are failing right now were originated as 100% CLTV stated-income loans, because the guidelines agreed to by the issuer allowed that.
In fact, the packagers/re-sellers, not the "Feds" were allowing crap to be called Ivory Soap:
I spent most of the early years of this decade, just as a for instance, blowing my blood pressure to danger levels every time I looked at the underwriting guidelines published by ALS, the correspondent lending division of Lehman. ALS was a leader in the 100% stated income Alt-A junk. And I kept having to look at them because my own Account Executives keep shoving them under my nose and demanding to know how come we can't do that if ALS does it. I'd try something like "because we're not that stupid," and what I'd get is this: "But if ALS can sell those loans, so can we. All we gotta do is rep and warrant that they meet guidelines that Wall Street is dumb enough to publish." Every lender in the boom who sold to the street wrote loans it knew were absurd, but in fact they had been given absurd guidelines to write to. What on earth good did it do to have those originators represent and warrant that they followed underwriting guidelines to the letter, when those guidelines allowed stated income 100% financing on a toxic ARM with a prepayment penalty?
Net/net:
The essential confusion here is between failure to follow responsible guidelines and faithful following of irresponsible guidelines. My sad news for the investment community: a whole lot of what you are suffering from is the latter, not the former.
The "Feds" (do-gooder mortgage regulators) did NOT create, nor enforce "irresponsible guidelines." The slop was written based on guidelines provided by Lehmann, (among others).
But that's not what you'll hear from the Banks as they work over Congress to bail them out of $700++ BILLION in bad loans--at the expense of the taxpayer.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
MD Malpractice Rates: Not Bad, Here
Hmmmmm...
Lowest rates for internists ($3,375), general surgeons ($11,306), and Ob-Gyns ($20.626), are all in Minnesota.
...Besides Minnesota, states ranking in low tier are South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Iowa.
Interesting--on the other hand, that means that an OB/GYN in Wisconsin pays >$56.00/day to open the doors on his practice, seven days a week.
HT: Overlawyered
Lowest rates for internists ($3,375), general surgeons ($11,306), and Ob-Gyns ($20.626), are all in Minnesota.
...Besides Minnesota, states ranking in low tier are South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Iowa.
Interesting--on the other hand, that means that an OB/GYN in Wisconsin pays >$56.00/day to open the doors on his practice, seven days a week.
HT: Overlawyered
Obamamamama: The Next C-in-C??
The Yankee demonstrates just how ...uninformed....the Messiah of Hope really is.
Here's the guy who wants to be the Commander in Chief:
"You know, I've heard from an Army captain who was the head of a rifle platoon -- supposed to have 39 men in a rifle platoon," he said. "Ended up being sent to Afghanistan with 24 because 15 of those soldiers had been sent to Iraq. And as a consequence, they didn't have enough ammunition, they didn't have enough humvees. They were actually capturing Taliban weapons, because it was easier to get Taliban weapons than it was for them to get properly equipped by our current commander in chief."
Afterwards, the Yankee posted a rejoinder including the following:
--Lieutenants command platoons. Captains command companies
--There has never been a shortage of weapons or ammunition for U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. On occasion, American forces (especially Special Forces) have used Soviet weapon designs, but they have done so by choice, not necessity
Now ABC News says they actually spoke with the Captain--and have verified the story told by Obama.
Not quite, according to the Yankee.
The captain confirmed that he was then a lieutenant when he took command of a rifle platoon of 39 men, and that 15 men that platoon were assigned to other units. While many of them ended up being deployed to Iraq as part of other units, that does not equate Obama's assertion that the unit was divided.
We then find out that when this officer "didn't have enough ammunition, they didn't have enough humvees," he was referring to practice ammunition for two kinds of heavy weapons while in Fort Drum, New York.
As for having to capture Taliban weapons he stated, "The purpose of going after the Taliban was not to get their weapons," he said, but on occasion they used Taliban weapons. Sometimes AK-47s, and they also mounted a Soviet-model DShK (or "Dishka") on one of their humvees instead of their 50 cal."
Obama's most crucial, explosive claim, that ": They were actually capturing Taliban weapons, because it was easier to get Taliban weapons than it was for them to get properly equipped by our current commander in chief" remains utterly and completely false.
And that part, it seems, he made up by himself.
Well, "hope" doesn't require a military, right?
Here's the guy who wants to be the Commander in Chief:
"You know, I've heard from an Army captain who was the head of a rifle platoon -- supposed to have 39 men in a rifle platoon," he said. "Ended up being sent to Afghanistan with 24 because 15 of those soldiers had been sent to Iraq. And as a consequence, they didn't have enough ammunition, they didn't have enough humvees. They were actually capturing Taliban weapons, because it was easier to get Taliban weapons than it was for them to get properly equipped by our current commander in chief."
Afterwards, the Yankee posted a rejoinder including the following:
--Lieutenants command platoons. Captains command companies
--There has never been a shortage of weapons or ammunition for U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. On occasion, American forces (especially Special Forces) have used Soviet weapon designs, but they have done so by choice, not necessity
Now ABC News says they actually spoke with the Captain--and have verified the story told by Obama.
Not quite, according to the Yankee.
The captain confirmed that he was then a lieutenant when he took command of a rifle platoon of 39 men, and that 15 men that platoon were assigned to other units. While many of them ended up being deployed to Iraq as part of other units, that does not equate Obama's assertion that the unit was divided.
We then find out that when this officer "didn't have enough ammunition, they didn't have enough humvees," he was referring to practice ammunition for two kinds of heavy weapons while in Fort Drum, New York.
As for having to capture Taliban weapons he stated, "The purpose of going after the Taliban was not to get their weapons," he said, but on occasion they used Taliban weapons. Sometimes AK-47s, and they also mounted a Soviet-model DShK (or "Dishka") on one of their humvees instead of their 50 cal."
Obama's most crucial, explosive claim, that ": They were actually capturing Taliban weapons, because it was easier to get Taliban weapons than it was for them to get properly equipped by our current commander in chief" remains utterly and completely false.
And that part, it seems, he made up by himself.
Well, "hope" doesn't require a military, right?
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Obamamamama, Part Three
What "separation of powers"?
Q: Over 400,000 Americans have premature death due to smoking or secondhand smoke. Would you be in favor of a national law to ban smoking in all public places?
A: ....If it turns out that we're not seeing enough progress at the local level, then I would favor a national law...
Except, of course, for the Casinos...
By the way, Cramer analyzes this as a Nixon/McCarthy redux. Interesting theory--echoed by a Brit and picked up by P-Mac.
Q: Over 400,000 Americans have premature death due to smoking or secondhand smoke. Would you be in favor of a national law to ban smoking in all public places?
A: ....If it turns out that we're not seeing enough progress at the local level, then I would favor a national law...
Except, of course, for the Casinos...
By the way, Cramer analyzes this as a Nixon/McCarthy redux. Interesting theory--echoed by a Brit and picked up by P-Mac.
The Coming Big Bank Bailout (Taxpayer-Financed, of Course)
We TOLD you this was coming, early last August.
A confidential proposal that Bank of America circulated to members of Congress this month provides a stunning glimpse of how quickly the industry has reversed its laissez-faire disdain for second-guessing by the government — now that it is in trouble.
The proposal warns that up to $739 billion in mortgages are at “moderate to high risk” of defaulting over the next five years and that millions of families could lose their homes.
To prevent that, Bank of America suggested creating a Federal Homeowner Preservation Corporation that would buy up billions of dollars in troubled mortgages at a deep discount, forgive debt above the current market value of the homes and use federal loan guarantees to refinance the borrowers at lower rates.
“We believe that any intervention by the federal government will be acceptable only if it is not perceived as a bailout of the bond market,” the financial institution noted.
Yah. So in order to prevent the 'wrong impression,' you can damn well count on seeing a few well-placed stories of evictions, homelessness, yada yada yada, in the next few months. (See below for the first of many upcoming examples.)
BofA, who owns Countryside, just figured out that they could lose their proverbial butt unless the Federal taxpayer bails them out.
If lawmakers and the Bush administration agreed to this step, it could be on a scale similar to the government’s $200 billion bailout of the savings and loan industry in the 1990s. The arguments against a bailout are powerful. It would mostly benefit banks and Wall Street firms that earned huge fees by packaging trillions of dollars in risky mortgages, often without documenting the incomes of borrowers and often turning a blind eye to clear fraud by borrowers or mortgage brokers
No kidding. Really??
Right or wrong, the arguments for rescuing homeowners are likely to be blurred with arguments for rescuing home prices. At that point, industry executives are likely to argue that what is good for Bank of America is good for the rest of America.
Much, much more at the link above.
Now for the "sad ending" stories which will become a drumbeat.
Countrywide Financial, the nation's largest mortgage lender, suspended the home equity lines of 122,000 customers last month after reviewing their property values and outstanding loan balances. The company, like others, has an internal automated appraisal system that tracks values.
If you think it's just a co-incidence that Countrywide Financial (owned by Bank of America) is named in this article, you're not old enough to read the blogs.
USAA Federal Savings Bank froze or reduced credit lines for 15,000 of its customers, including Corazzi, and will not reconsider its decisions until "real estate values improve substantially," the company said in a statement.Bank of America is starting to do the same and is contacting some borrowers, said Terry Francisco, a bank spokesman
Get out your hanky, folks:
Maggie DelGallo did not realize that when she took out a home equity line a few years ago on her home in Loudoun County. Her lender recently froze the line.
DelGallo said she does not think she is in dire straits. "It's more like a huge disappointment," she said. "I have this line of credit attached to my home that's useless."
But Ms. Corazzi is the "clincher"
Corazzi initially used her line to consolidate debt. She and her husband took out the credit line in October because they thought her job was in jeopardy. It was. In December, her salaried position as a loan-processing manager at a local mortgage bank changed to a commission-only job. Given the slowdown in the industry, Corazzi has collected only one paycheck since then.
Her husband, Ron, sells large-format copiers and printers to builders, and his salary alone cannot support them and their four children, ages 4 to 8. By the time their lender called, the couple had $45,000 remaining unused on the credit line.
Ron Corazzi is now looking for a second job, and his wife is hoping to pick up work as a substitute teacher. Meanwhile, they are trying to open a new home equity line elsewhere, but chances are slim given the change in Nancy Corazzi's job status and the drop in their home's value. Five months ago, the Ellicott City house was appraised at $560,000; the lender says it is now worth $469,100.
Hard cases, bad laws, and more taxpayer money. Just like New Orleans, but MUCH bigger.
And when those US bonds are floated to pay for all this--do you REALLY think the price of oil and steel will go down as measured in USD?
More pointed: do you REALLY think that bank Presidents' salaries, options, and bonuses will drop by (say) 50%? 75%? Think that the Chairman of Bank of America will sell his house, cars, and Guccis to repent?
HT: Calculated Risk (Both stories)
A confidential proposal that Bank of America circulated to members of Congress this month provides a stunning glimpse of how quickly the industry has reversed its laissez-faire disdain for second-guessing by the government — now that it is in trouble.
The proposal warns that up to $739 billion in mortgages are at “moderate to high risk” of defaulting over the next five years and that millions of families could lose their homes.
To prevent that, Bank of America suggested creating a Federal Homeowner Preservation Corporation that would buy up billions of dollars in troubled mortgages at a deep discount, forgive debt above the current market value of the homes and use federal loan guarantees to refinance the borrowers at lower rates.
“We believe that any intervention by the federal government will be acceptable only if it is not perceived as a bailout of the bond market,” the financial institution noted.
Yah. So in order to prevent the 'wrong impression,' you can damn well count on seeing a few well-placed stories of evictions, homelessness, yada yada yada, in the next few months. (See below for the first of many upcoming examples.)
BofA, who owns Countryside, just figured out that they could lose their proverbial butt unless the Federal taxpayer bails them out.
If lawmakers and the Bush administration agreed to this step, it could be on a scale similar to the government’s $200 billion bailout of the savings and loan industry in the 1990s. The arguments against a bailout are powerful. It would mostly benefit banks and Wall Street firms that earned huge fees by packaging trillions of dollars in risky mortgages, often without documenting the incomes of borrowers and often turning a blind eye to clear fraud by borrowers or mortgage brokers
No kidding. Really??
Right or wrong, the arguments for rescuing homeowners are likely to be blurred with arguments for rescuing home prices. At that point, industry executives are likely to argue that what is good for Bank of America is good for the rest of America.
Much, much more at the link above.
Now for the "sad ending" stories which will become a drumbeat.
Countrywide Financial, the nation's largest mortgage lender, suspended the home equity lines of 122,000 customers last month after reviewing their property values and outstanding loan balances. The company, like others, has an internal automated appraisal system that tracks values.
If you think it's just a co-incidence that Countrywide Financial (owned by Bank of America) is named in this article, you're not old enough to read the blogs.
USAA Federal Savings Bank froze or reduced credit lines for 15,000 of its customers, including Corazzi, and will not reconsider its decisions until "real estate values improve substantially," the company said in a statement.Bank of America is starting to do the same and is contacting some borrowers, said Terry Francisco, a bank spokesman
Get out your hanky, folks:
Maggie DelGallo did not realize that when she took out a home equity line a few years ago on her home in Loudoun County. Her lender recently froze the line.
DelGallo said she does not think she is in dire straits. "It's more like a huge disappointment," she said. "I have this line of credit attached to my home that's useless."
But Ms. Corazzi is the "clincher"
Corazzi initially used her line to consolidate debt. She and her husband took out the credit line in October because they thought her job was in jeopardy. It was. In December, her salaried position as a loan-processing manager at a local mortgage bank changed to a commission-only job. Given the slowdown in the industry, Corazzi has collected only one paycheck since then.
Her husband, Ron, sells large-format copiers and printers to builders, and his salary alone cannot support them and their four children, ages 4 to 8. By the time their lender called, the couple had $45,000 remaining unused on the credit line.
Ron Corazzi is now looking for a second job, and his wife is hoping to pick up work as a substitute teacher. Meanwhile, they are trying to open a new home equity line elsewhere, but chances are slim given the change in Nancy Corazzi's job status and the drop in their home's value. Five months ago, the Ellicott City house was appraised at $560,000; the lender says it is now worth $469,100.
Hard cases, bad laws, and more taxpayer money. Just like New Orleans, but MUCH bigger.
And when those US bonds are floated to pay for all this--do you REALLY think the price of oil and steel will go down as measured in USD?
More pointed: do you REALLY think that bank Presidents' salaries, options, and bonuses will drop by (say) 50%? 75%? Think that the Chairman of Bank of America will sell his house, cars, and Guccis to repent?
HT: Calculated Risk (Both stories)
Another "60 Minutes" Hit-Job Coming
The experience of Dan Rather doesn't penetrate the skulls of the "60 Minutes" 'journalists.' Hillyer, a REAL journalist with actual Alabama ties, warns:
...It purports to describe how Karl Rove supposedly asked an Alabama woman to take photos of former Gov. Don Sieglman (D-AL) in an extramarital affair. As if.
In light of this week's huge focus on media bias and just slipshod, poorly sourced or validated stories, I warn everybody in advance against this sleazy piece of tabloid journalism as promised by the masters of the genre, 60 Minutes.
As an Alabama journalist for eight years, I have been following from afar (her stories started breaking after I moved back to DC) this lady's utterly baseless, frankly nutty, string of allegations involving supposed skullduggery related to the conviction of former Gov. Don Siegelman. I do not know of a single legitimate journalist in Alabama who takes seriously a single thing she says. And we're not talking mere local yokel journalists; we're talking recent Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalists -- who do NOT lean right, but who, to my personal knowledge, are either center or left of center in their personal views.
This lady making the allegations actually testified before a congressional committee last year, and the buzz about all her allegations suddenly died. Why? Because not even the lefty Dems found her credible. Question: Why, after all the stories she has told, including having a chance to testify before the committee, does she just now suddenly start telling this story about Rove when it never was part of her narrative before? Repeat: NEVER part of her story before. (See paragraph three of this story today.)
And why would any self-respecting journalist (which, I guess, by definition excludes 60 Minutes) believe that Rove, with all the other, more sophisticated campaign tools at his disposal, would do such a thing? And why would Rove ever have reason to believe that this woman would even be in a position to photograph Seigelman in flagrante? I mean, this is so ludicrous as to belong in black helicopter, tinfoil hat territory. PLEASE continue to watch this space, because I am putting together a major report here refuting the 60 Minutes slime job, with lots of excellent sourcing.
You'll not see any Microsoft-format letters in this piece. Just a loose nut given a national platform.
Upcoming: "60 Minutes" proves that Karl Rove and GWB directed the 9/11 events, including changing the heat-resistance specifications of architectural steel while still in high school, and surreptitiously financing flying-school tuitions for Muslim extremists while occupying office in Texas.
...It purports to describe how Karl Rove supposedly asked an Alabama woman to take photos of former Gov. Don Sieglman (D-AL) in an extramarital affair. As if.
In light of this week's huge focus on media bias and just slipshod, poorly sourced or validated stories, I warn everybody in advance against this sleazy piece of tabloid journalism as promised by the masters of the genre, 60 Minutes.
As an Alabama journalist for eight years, I have been following from afar (her stories started breaking after I moved back to DC) this lady's utterly baseless, frankly nutty, string of allegations involving supposed skullduggery related to the conviction of former Gov. Don Siegelman. I do not know of a single legitimate journalist in Alabama who takes seriously a single thing she says. And we're not talking mere local yokel journalists; we're talking recent Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalists -- who do NOT lean right, but who, to my personal knowledge, are either center or left of center in their personal views.
This lady making the allegations actually testified before a congressional committee last year, and the buzz about all her allegations suddenly died. Why? Because not even the lefty Dems found her credible. Question: Why, after all the stories she has told, including having a chance to testify before the committee, does she just now suddenly start telling this story about Rove when it never was part of her narrative before? Repeat: NEVER part of her story before. (See paragraph three of this story today.)
And why would any self-respecting journalist (which, I guess, by definition excludes 60 Minutes) believe that Rove, with all the other, more sophisticated campaign tools at his disposal, would do such a thing? And why would Rove ever have reason to believe that this woman would even be in a position to photograph Seigelman in flagrante? I mean, this is so ludicrous as to belong in black helicopter, tinfoil hat territory. PLEASE continue to watch this space, because I am putting together a major report here refuting the 60 Minutes slime job, with lots of excellent sourcing.
You'll not see any Microsoft-format letters in this piece. Just a loose nut given a national platform.
Upcoming: "60 Minutes" proves that Karl Rove and GWB directed the 9/11 events, including changing the heat-resistance specifications of architectural steel while still in high school, and surreptitiously financing flying-school tuitions for Muslim extremists while occupying office in Texas.
NFL Backs Down on Churches
Not exactly a "road to Damascus" conversion, but close enough.
An advocacy law firm has announced the National Football League has changed its rules to allow churches to stage Super Bowl events and parties without fear of violating copyright laws.
...the Rutherford Institute today confirmed that the NFL "has finally acceded to demands that it change its policies in order to accommodate churches who wish to show the Super Bowl on big-screen televisions."
The organization said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote in a letter to Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the league will not "object to live showings of the Super Bowl by religious organizations, regardless of the screen size, as long as the viewings are free and are on premises that the church uses on a routine and customary basis."
The original ban was simply wrong-headed in toto.
An advocacy law firm has announced the National Football League has changed its rules to allow churches to stage Super Bowl events and parties without fear of violating copyright laws.
...the Rutherford Institute today confirmed that the NFL "has finally acceded to demands that it change its policies in order to accommodate churches who wish to show the Super Bowl on big-screen televisions."
The organization said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote in a letter to Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the league will not "object to live showings of the Super Bowl by religious organizations, regardless of the screen size, as long as the viewings are free and are on premises that the church uses on a routine and customary basis."
The original ban was simply wrong-headed in toto.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Drew Carey: FAR More Than Just a Comic
I've seen the guy a few times on TV--he's witty and quick.
Since he's in Hollywood, though, it never occurred to me that he'd be in the Selleck/Stein group.
Well, folks, he is!
Here he cuts a video on behalf of Charter Schools in LA. And if you think that Milwaukee has problems, wait until you see this.
HT: The Agitator
Since he's in Hollywood, though, it never occurred to me that he'd be in the Selleck/Stein group.
Well, folks, he is!
Here he cuts a video on behalf of Charter Schools in LA. And if you think that Milwaukee has problems, wait until you see this.
HT: The Agitator
Obamamama on Guns, Part 2
A couple of days ago, we mentioned that Obamamama has a lot of silly (and unworkable) ideas about guns.
Believe it or not, it gets worse.
In his answers to the 1998 Illinois State Legislative National Political Awareness Test, Obama said he favored a ban on “the sale or transfer of all forms of semi-automatic weapons.”
By definition, this would include all pistols ever made, from .22 target pistols used in the Olympics to rarely-fired pistols kept in nightstands and sock drawers for the defense of families, and every pistol in between. Obama’s strident stand would also ban all semi-automatic rifles and shotguns, whatever their previously legal purpose.
Banning .22LR semiauto rifles? What...to give the critters an "even chance"?
This guy either: 1) didn't know what he was saying, or 2) is an admirer of Police States.
In his website's "position papers" section, you can find a document which is not very reassuring.
At no point does Obama recognize an individual right to own handguns, or explicitly recognize a right for Americans to use a firearm to defend themselves or others. The site explicitly states that Barack Obama recognizes civilian gun ownership for two just purposes, “hunting and target shooting.”
Right-o.
The 2A, while protecting the right of citizens to "keep and bear arms," was written with a larger purpose in mind--that of enabling the citizens to overthrow an oppressive Gummint.
One suspects that Obamamamama knows that.
HT: Confederate Yankee
Believe it or not, it gets worse.
In his answers to the 1998 Illinois State Legislative National Political Awareness Test, Obama said he favored a ban on “the sale or transfer of all forms of semi-automatic weapons.”
By definition, this would include all pistols ever made, from .22 target pistols used in the Olympics to rarely-fired pistols kept in nightstands and sock drawers for the defense of families, and every pistol in between. Obama’s strident stand would also ban all semi-automatic rifles and shotguns, whatever their previously legal purpose.
Banning .22LR semiauto rifles? What...to give the critters an "even chance"?
This guy either: 1) didn't know what he was saying, or 2) is an admirer of Police States.
In his website's "position papers" section, you can find a document which is not very reassuring.
At no point does Obama recognize an individual right to own handguns, or explicitly recognize a right for Americans to use a firearm to defend themselves or others. The site explicitly states that Barack Obama recognizes civilian gun ownership for two just purposes, “hunting and target shooting.”
Right-o.
The 2A, while protecting the right of citizens to "keep and bear arms," was written with a larger purpose in mind--that of enabling the citizens to overthrow an oppressive Gummint.
One suspects that Obamamamama knows that.
HT: Confederate Yankee
Says It All
As usual, McMahon has precisely the right take on Tom Basting.
We might add that Tommy-boy has done more damage to the State Bar's reputation than any other single practitioner in my memory. Not because he's a bad attorney, or because he's stolen from his clients.
Rather, it's because he's managed to drag the Bar's name into a stink-pit of partisanship.
Really smart, Tommy boy!
We might add that Tommy-boy has done more damage to the State Bar's reputation than any other single practitioner in my memory. Not because he's a bad attorney, or because he's stolen from his clients.
Rather, it's because he's managed to drag the Bar's name into a stink-pit of partisanship.
Really smart, Tommy boy!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
What Mrs. Obama Forgets
The Caveman's synopsis is outstanding.
But how about some of the intangibles that come from her living in these here good ol' United States of America? Here's a rather short list that this (quite honestly) stupid woman should consider before she opens her yap --
1. That she lives in a country where she hasn't been dragged off in the dead of night and been shot through her head for implying that she "isn't proud of her nation". Good thing for MO that she doesn't live in North Korea or some such similar 3d World dung-heap of a nation.
2. That she lives in a country where her husband, daughters, mother, father, siblings, grandparents, and cousins, close friends, Third Grade teacher, dog, goldfish, haven't been dragged off in the dead of night and been shot through their heads because Michelle Obama implied that she "isn't proud of her nation". Ref #1 concerning MO residing in the PRK or similar nation.
3. Allow me to add that her daughters, sisters, female cousins, mother and grandmother weren't gang raped first.
4. That her daughters will reach adulthood, and not die of dysentery, bubonic plague, dyptheria, plain old starvation or hundreds of other maladies that plague most children on earth today. I guess MO hasn't really looked beyond the United States during her adulthood. She really should visit your average Latin American, African or Asian nation and see how most of the children of the world live.
5. In accordance with sharia law, her husband hasn't had his head crushed in via public stoning (or hung, or have his head carved off... whatever) for supposedly abandoning islam and embracing Christianity. I would imagine that MO is unfamiliar with how things are ran in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Yemen, Afghanistan when the Taliban ran things, and a host of other islamic vacation spots.
6. That she and her daughters haven't been tortured due to the head-of-the-household apostatizing from islam. See #5 concerning visiting islamic vacation spots.
7. That she has the unalienable right to publicly state really, really, really stupid things.
Other commentators have mentioned scientific, medical, and social achievements in this country over the last 40 years or so. But life/death issues are so much more....critical....no?
But how about some of the intangibles that come from her living in these here good ol' United States of America? Here's a rather short list that this (quite honestly) stupid woman should consider before she opens her yap --
1. That she lives in a country where she hasn't been dragged off in the dead of night and been shot through her head for implying that she "isn't proud of her nation". Good thing for MO that she doesn't live in North Korea or some such similar 3d World dung-heap of a nation.
2. That she lives in a country where her husband, daughters, mother, father, siblings, grandparents, and cousins, close friends, Third Grade teacher, dog, goldfish, haven't been dragged off in the dead of night and been shot through their heads because Michelle Obama implied that she "isn't proud of her nation". Ref #1 concerning MO residing in the PRK or similar nation.
3. Allow me to add that her daughters, sisters, female cousins, mother and grandmother weren't gang raped first.
4. That her daughters will reach adulthood, and not die of dysentery, bubonic plague, dyptheria, plain old starvation or hundreds of other maladies that plague most children on earth today. I guess MO hasn't really looked beyond the United States during her adulthood. She really should visit your average Latin American, African or Asian nation and see how most of the children of the world live.
5. In accordance with sharia law, her husband hasn't had his head crushed in via public stoning (or hung, or have his head carved off... whatever) for supposedly abandoning islam and embracing Christianity. I would imagine that MO is unfamiliar with how things are ran in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Yemen, Afghanistan when the Taliban ran things, and a host of other islamic vacation spots.
6. That she and her daughters haven't been tortured due to the head-of-the-household apostatizing from islam. See #5 concerning visiting islamic vacation spots.
7. That she has the unalienable right to publicly state really, really, really stupid things.
Other commentators have mentioned scientific, medical, and social achievements in this country over the last 40 years or so. But life/death issues are so much more....critical....no?
Homiletics II
Here's a bit of welcome news.
Cardinal William J. Levada noted that the trend to eliminate catechetical homilies after Vatican II was not really in the spirit of "Dei Verbum," the council document on divine revelation.He said the Scripture commentary aspect of the homily was emphasized because it had been so lacking prior to the council.The cardinal, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said the church should now seek to integrate these two aspects.
(From a keynote address at a meeting of 40 US Bishops....)
Ten Reasons goes on to mention the Pope's thoughts on the matter:
In Sacramentum Caritatis, Pope Benedict urges priests to deliver "'thematic' homilies treating the great themes of the Christian faith, on the basis of what has been authoritatively proposed by the Magisterium in the four 'pillars' of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the recent Compendium, namely: the profession of faith, the celebration of the Christian mystery, life in Christ and Christian prayer."
Now and then a little dogma is a good thing.
Cardinal William J. Levada noted that the trend to eliminate catechetical homilies after Vatican II was not really in the spirit of "Dei Verbum," the council document on divine revelation.He said the Scripture commentary aspect of the homily was emphasized because it had been so lacking prior to the council.The cardinal, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said the church should now seek to integrate these two aspects.
(From a keynote address at a meeting of 40 US Bishops....)
Ten Reasons goes on to mention the Pope's thoughts on the matter:
In Sacramentum Caritatis, Pope Benedict urges priests to deliver "'thematic' homilies treating the great themes of the Christian faith, on the basis of what has been authoritatively proposed by the Magisterium in the four 'pillars' of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the recent Compendium, namely: the profession of faith, the celebration of the Christian mystery, life in Christ and Christian prayer."
Now and then a little dogma is a good thing.
Bubba Franks, It Was Good to Know You
The Packers let Bubba go today.
He was a good player--a blocking tight end who could catch and run, reasonably well. And he provided a number of bright spots in some otherwise very dark seasons.
Always did his job to the best of his ability.
Vaya con Dios, Bubba!!
He was a good player--a blocking tight end who could catch and run, reasonably well. And he provided a number of bright spots in some otherwise very dark seasons.
Always did his job to the best of his ability.
Vaya con Dios, Bubba!!
G K Chesterton on Political Parties and the Press
I've seen this before, and am happy that another blogger posted the quote.
“The real evil of our Party System is commonly stated wrong. … The real danger of the two parties with their two policies is that they unduly limit the outlook of the ordinary citizen. They make him barren instead of creative, because he is never allowed to do anything except prefer one existing policy to another. We have not got real Democracy when the decision depends upon the people. We shall have real Democracy when the problem depends upon the people. The ordinary man will decide not only how he will vote, but what he is going to vote about.”
GKC explains further:
“A certain alternative is put before them by the powerful houses and the highest political class.Two roads are opened to them; but they must go down one or the other. They cannot have what they choose, but only which they choose.”
And, of course, there's the MSM and the Radio Boyzzz:
“Nearly all the great newspapers, [and radio] both pompous and frivolous, will declare dogmatically day after day, until every one half believes it, that red and green are the only two colours in the paint-box.
How did we get here?
“The democracy has a right to answer questions, but it has no right to ask them. It is still the political aristocracy that asks the questions. And we shall not be unreasonably cynical if we suppose that the political aristocracy will always be rather careful what questions it asks."
So here we sit. Shall we raise taxes? Shall we keep them low?
Notice that nobody--NOBODY--brings up Spending??
“The real evil of our Party System is commonly stated wrong. … The real danger of the two parties with their two policies is that they unduly limit the outlook of the ordinary citizen. They make him barren instead of creative, because he is never allowed to do anything except prefer one existing policy to another. We have not got real Democracy when the decision depends upon the people. We shall have real Democracy when the problem depends upon the people. The ordinary man will decide not only how he will vote, but what he is going to vote about.”
GKC explains further:
“A certain alternative is put before them by the powerful houses and the highest political class.Two roads are opened to them; but they must go down one or the other. They cannot have what they choose, but only which they choose.”
And, of course, there's the MSM and the Radio Boyzzz:
“Nearly all the great newspapers, [and radio] both pompous and frivolous, will declare dogmatically day after day, until every one half believes it, that red and green are the only two colours in the paint-box.
How did we get here?
“The democracy has a right to answer questions, but it has no right to ask them. It is still the political aristocracy that asks the questions. And we shall not be unreasonably cynical if we suppose that the political aristocracy will always be rather careful what questions it asks."
So here we sit. Shall we raise taxes? Shall we keep them low?
Notice that nobody--NOBODY--brings up Spending??
Are the Cops THIS Stupid?
CNN runs a typical MSM fairytale about 'chilluns with guns,' and an Arizona Fraternal Order of Police mucketymuck basically tells us that "cops are stupid". You gotta wonder...
The CNN.com video story from affiliate KPNX reporter Brahim Resnik in Phoenix warns about the evils of painted guns, specifically firearms they state are painted like children's toys. The reporter gets support from Bryan Soller of the Arizona Fraternal Order of Police.
"Somebody points it at an officer, and he hesitates, at which point he could get shot, or worse, the officer could react and take the life of a child..."
Of course, it hasn't happened yet.
There's more speculation about the Airsoft replica guns:
We do know, though, that parents buy their children hundreds of thousands of airsoft guns every year, firearms that often are to the naked eye nearly exact copies of real firearms.
A couple of years ago, a few of Brookfield's Little Darlings were wandering about near Elmbrook Hospital with their Airsofts. Somebody called the cop-shop, and NOBODY was killed, or shot!!
How did that happen?
Despite the hysteria assisted by Bryan Soller of the Arizona Fraternal Order of Police (who apparently doesn't trust Arizona police officers not to shoot citizens with concealed carry permits, either), it comes down to the elements of proper training, situational awareness, and common sense.
Now let's find out how Bryan Soller got his position with the AZ F.O.P. Apparently, he didn't get a lot of proper training, doesn't have much common sense, and (obviously) doesn't have a good dose of situational awareness, either.
HT: Confederate Yankee
The CNN.com video story from affiliate KPNX reporter Brahim Resnik in Phoenix warns about the evils of painted guns, specifically firearms they state are painted like children's toys. The reporter gets support from Bryan Soller of the Arizona Fraternal Order of Police.
"Somebody points it at an officer, and he hesitates, at which point he could get shot, or worse, the officer could react and take the life of a child..."
Of course, it hasn't happened yet.
There's more speculation about the Airsoft replica guns:
We do know, though, that parents buy their children hundreds of thousands of airsoft guns every year, firearms that often are to the naked eye nearly exact copies of real firearms.
A couple of years ago, a few of Brookfield's Little Darlings were wandering about near Elmbrook Hospital with their Airsofts. Somebody called the cop-shop, and NOBODY was killed, or shot!!
How did that happen?
Despite the hysteria assisted by Bryan Soller of the Arizona Fraternal Order of Police (who apparently doesn't trust Arizona police officers not to shoot citizens with concealed carry permits, either), it comes down to the elements of proper training, situational awareness, and common sense.
Now let's find out how Bryan Soller got his position with the AZ F.O.P. Apparently, he didn't get a lot of proper training, doesn't have much common sense, and (obviously) doesn't have a good dose of situational awareness, either.
HT: Confederate Yankee
Demographic Winter: It's Real
It's real, that is, in Italy (and other spots in Europe)--but Italy is the center of the vortex.
Vox Day paints the picture.
You can't completely grasp the extent of Europe's post-Christian decline until you walk through the ghost towns of Italy, populated by no more a dozen elderly women and one old man sleeping in the sun. It's not something that any tourist is going to see in Florence, Venice or Rome, much less Milano, but go outside the tourist tombs and the desolation of demographic winter is impossible to miss. And the imported African hookers scattered along the truck routes in the countryside are hardly adequate compensation for what were once famously vibrant family units.
There's a large and spectacular church on the outskirts of a town near which we like to wander. Its doors are only unlocked for an hour or so every month, because despite its gorgeous interior architecture and painted ceilings, there's not only no one around to attend it, there's not even anyone left to visit it.
The USA is temporarily immune due, largely, to immigration, legal and otherwise.
Vox Day paints the picture.
You can't completely grasp the extent of Europe's post-Christian decline until you walk through the ghost towns of Italy, populated by no more a dozen elderly women and one old man sleeping in the sun. It's not something that any tourist is going to see in Florence, Venice or Rome, much less Milano, but go outside the tourist tombs and the desolation of demographic winter is impossible to miss. And the imported African hookers scattered along the truck routes in the countryside are hardly adequate compensation for what were once famously vibrant family units.
There's a large and spectacular church on the outskirts of a town near which we like to wander. Its doors are only unlocked for an hour or so every month, because despite its gorgeous interior architecture and painted ceilings, there's not only no one around to attend it, there's not even anyone left to visit it.
The USA is temporarily immune due, largely, to immigration, legal and otherwise.
Song of Obamamamama
Apparently, Obama was averse to casting the "hard votes" while in the Illinois legislature.
Harold Arlen foresaw this, and Rosemary Clooney delivers.
Harold Arlen foresaw this, and Rosemary Clooney delivers.
McCain's Bad Company
By the way, John McCain has made more than one error in judgment.
Scruggs and McCain had become close the previous year when Scruggs and Mississippi Atty. Gen. Mike Moore spent weeks on Capitol Hill trying to persuade Congress to approve a national settlement with tobacco companies over health care damages. McCain, then chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee considering the bill, turned over his office facilities to the two Mississippians to wage their campaign. (In the end, the bill failed under the 60-vote cloture rule.)
"Dickie" Scruggs is the poster-boy for 'What's Wrong with PI Lawyers,' is currently under indictment for bribing a judge, and is soon likely to be making the national news as that case progresses. (The case will do a lot of damage to the State of Mississippi, too...)
Speaking of PI lawyers, how's things at the Wisconsin Judicial "Integrity" Campaign Committee?
HT: Overlawyered
Scruggs and McCain had become close the previous year when Scruggs and Mississippi Atty. Gen. Mike Moore spent weeks on Capitol Hill trying to persuade Congress to approve a national settlement with tobacco companies over health care damages. McCain, then chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee considering the bill, turned over his office facilities to the two Mississippians to wage their campaign. (In the end, the bill failed under the 60-vote cloture rule.)
"Dickie" Scruggs is the poster-boy for 'What's Wrong with PI Lawyers,' is currently under indictment for bribing a judge, and is soon likely to be making the national news as that case progresses. (The case will do a lot of damage to the State of Mississippi, too...)
Speaking of PI lawyers, how's things at the Wisconsin Judicial "Integrity" Campaign Committee?
HT: Overlawyered
Ronald Reagan's $60 Million Message
Actually, it's not a lot, compared to the value.
A Navy missile soaring 130 miles above the Pacific smashed a dying and potentially deadly U.S. spy satellite Wednesday and probably destroyed a tank carrying 1,000 pounds of toxic fuel, officials said.
And "Star Wars" is in play. Closing speed of 22,000 MPH, 130 mile range, target the size of a bus.
Pretty much ruins the day of that little bastard in North Korea.
A Navy missile soaring 130 miles above the Pacific smashed a dying and potentially deadly U.S. spy satellite Wednesday and probably destroyed a tank carrying 1,000 pounds of toxic fuel, officials said.
And "Star Wars" is in play. Closing speed of 22,000 MPH, 130 mile range, target the size of a bus.
Pretty much ruins the day of that little bastard in North Korea.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Eagleburger
John Eagleburger, a State Department type, shows his diplomatic skills.
Former Secretary of State, Lawrence Eagleburger ripped into Rush, asking when the "poobahs" of talk radio were elected the leaders of the conservative movement.
A while back, I flew from DC to Milwaukee in a YX flight w/Eagleburger, Herb Kohl, and Sen. Paul Simon. (At Mitchell, I deplaned to see Bill Bennett sucking up booze at an airport bar--around noon...)
Eagleburger was SecState only because he was a last-minute appointee of a Pubbie Pres--not because he was a brilliant statesman (obviously) but because he was a Party guy for his entire life.
Winning friends and influencing people.
Former Secretary of State, Lawrence Eagleburger ripped into Rush, asking when the "poobahs" of talk radio were elected the leaders of the conservative movement.
A while back, I flew from DC to Milwaukee in a YX flight w/Eagleburger, Herb Kohl, and Sen. Paul Simon. (At Mitchell, I deplaned to see Bill Bennett sucking up booze at an airport bar--around noon...)
Eagleburger was SecState only because he was a last-minute appointee of a Pubbie Pres--not because he was a brilliant statesman (obviously) but because he was a Party guy for his entire life.
Winning friends and influencing people.
McPain and the Supremes
Well-reasoned mild dissent on the Imperative To Vote McCain, from Andy McCarthy at NRO. Since the Shark raised this question earlier, we can infer that Great Minds run in the same orbits.
...it’s McCain’s supporters who are deluding themselves. I take them at their word, for example, that a hallmark of the senator’s politics is his tenacity on matters of principle. Consequently, I am skeptical of his assurances that he would appoint conservative judges who will apply rather than create law. Why? Because he has a recent, determined history of beseeching federal courts to disregard the First Amendment in furtherance of a dubious campaign-finance scheme in which he believes passionately. Conservative judges would (and have) rejected this scheme, just as they would (and have) rejected another signature McCain position: the extension of Geneva Convention protections for jihadists
Frankly, I did not realize that McPain thinks jihadists should be protected by the Conventions. That makes his 'promise' of 'constructionist' Justice nominations even less, ah......promissory....than before, when only his anti-First Amendment blather was at stake.
HT: Bonfire
...it’s McCain’s supporters who are deluding themselves. I take them at their word, for example, that a hallmark of the senator’s politics is his tenacity on matters of principle. Consequently, I am skeptical of his assurances that he would appoint conservative judges who will apply rather than create law. Why? Because he has a recent, determined history of beseeching federal courts to disregard the First Amendment in furtherance of a dubious campaign-finance scheme in which he believes passionately. Conservative judges would (and have) rejected this scheme, just as they would (and have) rejected another signature McCain position: the extension of Geneva Convention protections for jihadists
Frankly, I did not realize that McPain thinks jihadists should be protected by the Conventions. That makes his 'promise' of 'constructionist' Justice nominations even less, ah......promissory....than before, when only his anti-First Amendment blather was at stake.
HT: Bonfire
Wisconsin Bar: A Pit of Self-Interest
Appearing on every email from the "non-partisan" Wisconsin Bar member of the "Judicial Integrity" (hahahah) group mentioned by Charlie this morning:
WISCONSIN LAWYERS
Expert Advisers. Serving You.
Yah....jiggering elections in the ambulance-chasing Bar's favor since 1873, or whatever.
Croc vs. Dad: Will Old Age and Treachery Overcome?
Croc gets exercised over my "principles count" objection to his "roll over and vote McPain" command.
What conservative principle is served by actions or inaction that help liberals? What conservative principle is betrayed by recognizing that there are three possible choices - we can vote for an imperfect conservative, we can vote for a liberal or we can not vote - and then making the choice that provides the best protection against liberal gains?
(There's a lot more passion at the link.)
Geez, Croc, chill out (whatever that means--I borrowed the phrase from my chilluns....)
I voted in the "R" column. I voted principles. I voted FRED.
What friggin' Liberal Lefty/Commie draws comfort from THAT?
This primary was a "free kick." And I did what was right: I 'kicked' McPain--hopefully, towards the Conservative side of the world. Over 2,700 OTHER Wisconsinites did exactly the same thing--and another batch voted for Duncan Hunter.
November will be a different story, I'm afraid....
What conservative principle is served by actions or inaction that help liberals? What conservative principle is betrayed by recognizing that there are three possible choices - we can vote for an imperfect conservative, we can vote for a liberal or we can not vote - and then making the choice that provides the best protection against liberal gains?
(There's a lot more passion at the link.)
Geez, Croc, chill out (whatever that means--I borrowed the phrase from my chilluns....)
I voted in the "R" column. I voted principles. I voted FRED.
What friggin' Liberal Lefty/Commie draws comfort from THAT?
This primary was a "free kick." And I did what was right: I 'kicked' McPain--hopefully, towards the Conservative side of the world. Over 2,700 OTHER Wisconsinites did exactly the same thing--and another batch voted for Duncan Hunter.
November will be a different story, I'm afraid....
McCain's Numbers
From the WSJ's "Washington Wire":
“McCain is going to be the Republican nominee but conservatives remain skeptical. Self-identified conservatives made up six-in-ten voters tonight in Wisconsin, but McCain carried the group only narrowly — 48% to 42%” over former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee
There were also a few thousand votes for Fred!! and Duncan Hunter.
“McCain is going to be the Republican nominee but conservatives remain skeptical. Self-identified conservatives made up six-in-ten voters tonight in Wisconsin, but McCain carried the group only narrowly — 48% to 42%” over former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee
There were also a few thousand votes for Fred!! and Duncan Hunter.
Inflation Gets Hot
As we've occasionally mentioned, the Fed's totally irresponsible program to throw USDs at anything, anyone, anytime, will have consequences.
And they are not pretty, folks.
From the iron and steel front:
The iron mining industry, dominated by three big players (and perhaps soon to be two) has the less concentrated steel industry by the short hairs. The tope three iron companies (BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, and CVRD) produce over 70% of all the iron ore in the world. And with demand higher than ever in China and India, steel companies are scrambling to assure a steady supply.
Three steelmakers (Japan's Nippon steel, South Korea's Posco, and Germany's ThyssenKrupp) signed a deal with CVRD to buy steel at prices 65% higher than last year.
SIXTY-FIVE PERCENT MORE for iron ore?
And they are not pretty, folks.
From the iron and steel front:
The iron mining industry, dominated by three big players (and perhaps soon to be two) has the less concentrated steel industry by the short hairs. The tope three iron companies (BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, and CVRD) produce over 70% of all the iron ore in the world. And with demand higher than ever in China and India, steel companies are scrambling to assure a steady supply.
Three steelmakers (Japan's Nippon steel, South Korea's Posco, and Germany's ThyssenKrupp) signed a deal with CVRD to buy steel at prices 65% higher than last year.
SIXTY-FIVE PERCENT MORE for iron ore?
James Harris Does Jesse Jackson
Harris is unhappy with ThugGee's vote-total:
Congratulations Mike! This is a Genuine Milwaukee story. As Wisconsin votes for hope, Milwaukee votes to re-elect a dope.
For James, it's rhythm and blues...
Congratulations Mike! This is a Genuine Milwaukee story. As Wisconsin votes for hope, Milwaukee votes to re-elect a dope.
For James, it's rhythm and blues...
McPain or Obamamamama? Part One
Earlier, I had ripped off another blogger's opinion on McPain to the effect that we're screwed even worse with Obamamamamamama (or the Hildebeeste--who cares either way?)
Obama's "gun control" plan, revealed in 1999 or so:
Obama outlined his anti-gun plan that includes increased penalties for the interstate transportation of firearms. The maximum penalty now for bringing a gun across the border is 10 years in prison. Obama is proposing to make it a felony for a gun owner whose firearm was stolen from his residence which causes harm to another person if that weapon was not securely stored in that home. [Yah. That's a good idea, hey. /sarcasm]
He's proposing restricting gun purchases to one weapon a month and banning the sale of firearms at gun shows except for "antique" weapons. Obama is also proposing increasing the licensing fee to obtain a federal firearms license.
...He's also asking that gun manufacturers be required to develop safety measures that permit only the original owner of the firearm to operate the weapon purchased.
That "original owner only" is not do-able from a technical standpoint, and of course, it absolutely prevents trade-ins. By the way, it also makes your handgun absolutely useless for other members of your family in case of a home invasion...
HT: RedState (more Obamamaniacal proposals at the link)
Obama's "gun control" plan, revealed in 1999 or so:
Obama outlined his anti-gun plan that includes increased penalties for the interstate transportation of firearms. The maximum penalty now for bringing a gun across the border is 10 years in prison. Obama is proposing to make it a felony for a gun owner whose firearm was stolen from his residence which causes harm to another person if that weapon was not securely stored in that home. [Yah. That's a good idea, hey. /sarcasm]
He's proposing restricting gun purchases to one weapon a month and banning the sale of firearms at gun shows except for "antique" weapons. Obama is also proposing increasing the licensing fee to obtain a federal firearms license.
...He's also asking that gun manufacturers be required to develop safety measures that permit only the original owner of the firearm to operate the weapon purchased.
That "original owner only" is not do-able from a technical standpoint, and of course, it absolutely prevents trade-ins. By the way, it also makes your handgun absolutely useless for other members of your family in case of a home invasion...
HT: RedState (more Obamamaniacal proposals at the link)
MSM: Wrong Again, Part 35,468
So when you think "terrorist," you think "Abu Some Camel Rider or Other", right?
WRONG, according to the Associated Press.
When it comes to fears about a terrorist attack, people in the U.S. usually focus on Osama bin Laden and foreign-based radical groups. Yet researchers say domestic extremists who commit violence in the name of their cause — abortion or the environment, for example — account for most of the damage from such incidents in this country
Yup. Of course, that doesn't take the actual....BODYCOUNT....as a serious indicator of 'who's a terrorist.'
HT: Moonbattery quoting Newsbusters.
WRONG, according to the Associated Press.
When it comes to fears about a terrorist attack, people in the U.S. usually focus on Osama bin Laden and foreign-based radical groups. Yet researchers say domestic extremists who commit violence in the name of their cause — abortion or the environment, for example — account for most of the damage from such incidents in this country
Yup. Of course, that doesn't take the actual....BODYCOUNT....as a serious indicator of 'who's a terrorist.'
HT: Moonbattery quoting Newsbusters.
Code Words from McCain's Advisor
What's another word for "tax increases"?
Pete Peterson, McCain economic advisor, makes it clear.
"He understands that the solution to our long-term problems will involve some shared sacrifice," Pete Peterson says. "And I think his leadership skills will be very effective in putting this idea of shared sacrifice across."
Can't wait to find out just who's going to "sacrifice," can you?
Pete Peterson, McCain economic advisor, makes it clear.
"He understands that the solution to our long-term problems will involve some shared sacrifice," Pete Peterson says. "And I think his leadership skills will be very effective in putting this idea of shared sacrifice across."
Can't wait to find out just who's going to "sacrifice," can you?
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
The Cost of Healthcare
Drivers:
The House approved legislation that would extend until December 31 the requirement that group health plans treat mental health benefits on par with other benefits. The bill (H.R. 4848) would extend a 1996 act that requires group health insurance plans to provide the same degree of benefits for mental health services as for medical and surgical services. Under the act, insurers and employers with more than 50 employees that offer mental health benefits are prohibited from establishing annual and lifetime limits on those benefits unless they establish similar limits for medical and surgical coverage.
Expensive.
The House approved legislation that would extend until December 31 the requirement that group health plans treat mental health benefits on par with other benefits. The bill (H.R. 4848) would extend a 1996 act that requires group health insurance plans to provide the same degree of benefits for mental health services as for medical and surgical services. Under the act, insurers and employers with more than 50 employees that offer mental health benefits are prohibited from establishing annual and lifetime limits on those benefits unless they establish similar limits for medical and surgical coverage.
Expensive.
The US Congress (and the Banks) vs. Inventors and Taxpayers
Think that the Party In Government deserves re-election? The Banks certainly do.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) has sponsored an unusual provision at the urging of the nation's banks granting them immunity against an active patent lawsuit, potentially saving them billions of dollars.
Adopted with little fanfare, the amendment would prevent a small Texas company called DataTreasury from collecting damages from banks for infringing on its patented method for digitally scanning, sending and archiving checks. The patents were upheld last summer by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office after they were challenged.
The provision, passed without dissent by the Senate Judiciary Committee in July and inserted into legislation scheduled for a vote by the full Senate this month, is a rare attempt by Congress to intervene in ongoing litigation, congressional experts say.
Note that it was bi-partisan in Committee...
Although the amendment would not invalidate DataTreasury's patents, it would spare the banks from paying for infringing them should courts decide that's warranted.
So. Who pays for this little theft?
Thefederal government TAXPAYER would have to pay $1 billion to DataTreasury over 10 years as compensation for taking its property under the amendment, according to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office.
Don't expect your banker to say "thank you," either, folks.
HT: Vox
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) has sponsored an unusual provision at the urging of the nation's banks granting them immunity against an active patent lawsuit, potentially saving them billions of dollars.
Adopted with little fanfare, the amendment would prevent a small Texas company called DataTreasury from collecting damages from banks for infringing on its patented method for digitally scanning, sending and archiving checks. The patents were upheld last summer by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office after they were challenged.
The provision, passed without dissent by the Senate Judiciary Committee in July and inserted into legislation scheduled for a vote by the full Senate this month, is a rare attempt by Congress to intervene in ongoing litigation, congressional experts say.
Note that it was bi-partisan in Committee...
Although the amendment would not invalidate DataTreasury's patents, it would spare the banks from paying for infringing them should courts decide that's warranted.
So. Who pays for this little theft?
The
Don't expect your banker to say "thank you," either, folks.
HT: Vox
Taser for You?
The LawDog is not enthused.
I'm trying to like the citizen-version of the Taser. I really am. 30 seconds of The Dying Cockroach is the sort of thing that just warms my little Neandertal heart -- but I have some concerns about the whole set-up.
Once the 30-seconds of ride is over, the critter is perfectly able to get to his feet and gambol off none the worse for wear.
...The Taser C2 is okay if you're philosophically opposed to the whole "Blood Out, Air In" method of critter control; or if you're stuck in some Third World hell-hole that won't let you carry a firearm (like New York or California) [or Wisconsin]; or maybe if gun-shots, blood and screaming upsets your stomach -- but other than that I think I'll just stay with my bang-sticks.
About $350.00 retail, plus $25.00 each for re-loads.
I'm trying to like the citizen-version of the Taser. I really am. 30 seconds of The Dying Cockroach is the sort of thing that just warms my little Neandertal heart -- but I have some concerns about the whole set-up.
Once the 30-seconds of ride is over, the critter is perfectly able to get to his feet and gambol off none the worse for wear.
...The Taser C2 is okay if you're philosophically opposed to the whole "Blood Out, Air In" method of critter control; or if you're stuck in some Third World hell-hole that won't let you carry a firearm (like New York or California) [or Wisconsin]; or maybe if gun-shots, blood and screaming upsets your stomach -- but other than that I think I'll just stay with my bang-sticks.
About $350.00 retail, plus $25.00 each for re-loads.
Define "Recession"
Just as a reminder.
A recession is where economic growth stops, and you are left with flat to contracting sales.
Note that economic activity does not grind to a halt -- the year-over-year growth rate merely slips into the negative. This is often misstated, in some variation of "Gee, how it can it be a recession -- I was out shopping and the stores were pretty crowded." Whenever you see that, the speaker is either technically misunderstanding what a recession is -- or alternatively, is painfully long and hoping for the best.
One of the Radio Boyzzz uses restaurant parking-lots as his economic gauge, and mentioned it often yesterday. He represents a lot of folks.
Oddly, he specifically mentioned "auto sales" as an indicator. Had he checked around on that score, he would have found that all those cars in restaurant and WallyWorld parking lots were there because they were NOT in auto-dealer parking lots, where their owners were purchasing new cars.
Or he could have read the newspaper last week--wherein it was announced that the State of Wisconsin's income- and sales-tax revenues were falling off the shelf--usually a fairly good indicator of reduced economic activity.
Oh, well....
A recession is where economic growth stops, and you are left with flat to contracting sales.
Note that economic activity does not grind to a halt -- the year-over-year growth rate merely slips into the negative. This is often misstated, in some variation of "Gee, how it can it be a recession -- I was out shopping and the stores were pretty crowded." Whenever you see that, the speaker is either technically misunderstanding what a recession is -- or alternatively, is painfully long and hoping for the best.
One of the Radio Boyzzz uses restaurant parking-lots as his economic gauge, and mentioned it often yesterday. He represents a lot of folks.
Oddly, he specifically mentioned "auto sales" as an indicator. Had he checked around on that score, he would have found that all those cars in restaurant and WallyWorld parking lots were there because they were NOT in auto-dealer parking lots, where their owners were purchasing new cars.
Or he could have read the newspaper last week--wherein it was announced that the State of Wisconsin's income- and sales-tax revenues were falling off the shelf--usually a fairly good indicator of reduced economic activity.
Oh, well....
Spouse-of-Candidate Disease
What is it about some people's spouses?
First, Bubba goes ballistic and manages to lose a couple of primaries for the Hildebeeste. He hasn't stopped, either--although now he's limiting his targets to the enemies of the MSM (pro-lifers.)
Then Obama's wife pops off, implying that she has been ashamed of America until just last week.
Maybe the syndrome should be listed in the DSM...
First, Bubba goes ballistic and manages to lose a couple of primaries for the Hildebeeste. He hasn't stopped, either--although now he's limiting his targets to the enemies of the MSM (pro-lifers.)
Then Obama's wife pops off, implying that she has been ashamed of America until just last week.
Maybe the syndrome should be listed in the DSM...
Bush One Likes McCain. So What?
We were there when GHWBush's lips moved--and he lied--about taxes; and when he simply gave up in the last 10 days of his last campaign. We also remember him as "rubbers" Bush, the Congressman from Planned Parenthood.
Now he tells Conservatives to make nice with Amnesty McCain?
Hillyer has thoughts, too.
So the elder Bush says he "gets a little annoyed" about conservative criticisms of McCain. Some of us still get annoyed about how the elder Bush betrayed all those who got over their doubts about him and supported him as Reagan's natural heir, only to find that he was anything but.
He's STILL "anything but." But he won't shut up.
Now he tells Conservatives to make nice with Amnesty McCain?
Hillyer has thoughts, too.
So the elder Bush says he "gets a little annoyed" about conservative criticisms of McCain. Some of us still get annoyed about how the elder Bush betrayed all those who got over their doubts about him and supported him as Reagan's natural heir, only to find that he was anything but.
He's STILL "anything but." But he won't shut up.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Recession?
Well, there's still some question about whether the US economy is taking a breather or slipping into recession.
But here's an interesting factoid:
"Never in history has economic prosperity followed a trend of a declining birthrate."
HT: WardWide
But here's an interesting factoid:
"Never in history has economic prosperity followed a trend of a declining birthrate."
HT: WardWide
Homiletics vs. the Gospel
CWN points us to this drooling babble from Greeley:
The story of the Transfiguration of Jesus in today's gospel in one of the stranger stories in any of the Gospels. Evidently Jesus had a powerful "religious experience" at some point in his public life, an experience which had a profound effect on him and on the apostles who were with him. As the story of this experience was related among the early Christians it took on a heavy overlay of theological symbolism. In the context of St. Matthew's Gospel it becomes a turning point in Jesus' life, an experience in which he saw that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer and die while he was there. Since Jesus was human he was fated to die just as all of us are fated to die. In his death, however, there would be something more. Since God was present in Jesus in a special way, God would also go down into the valley of death to show us how great was his love for us, to assure us that He would be with us at the time of our own deaths, and how all of us should face death. The manner of Jesus' death was not fated. He could have declined to go to Jerusalem without sin. Yet he came to see that he had to go there and so he did.
And goes on to make a point that (sadly) I've had to make to my children:
There was a time when Catholics could come to the Eucharist with the understanding that what took place was intended to deepen their Christian faith. Of course, fewer than a third of Catholics regularly attend Sunday Mass these days, yet those that do show up have to coach themselves and their loved ones not to pay attention to the twink in the pulpit, precisely because he's out to take something important away from them.
It's interesting to speculate that one reason only 1/3rd of Catholics bother to show up for Mass may be precisely because of Greeley-isms, no?
Why bother if what you get is this crap? What's the point of dropping dollars into THAT pot?
Only yesterday, I listened as a local priest 'ran off the tracks' in his homily, making comparisons which were egregiously inane while covering his silliness by quoting a prominent theologian who was quite orthodox.
The story of the Transfiguration of Jesus in today's gospel in one of the stranger stories in any of the Gospels. Evidently Jesus had a powerful "religious experience" at some point in his public life, an experience which had a profound effect on him and on the apostles who were with him. As the story of this experience was related among the early Christians it took on a heavy overlay of theological symbolism. In the context of St. Matthew's Gospel it becomes a turning point in Jesus' life, an experience in which he saw that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer and die while he was there. Since Jesus was human he was fated to die just as all of us are fated to die. In his death, however, there would be something more. Since God was present in Jesus in a special way, God would also go down into the valley of death to show us how great was his love for us, to assure us that He would be with us at the time of our own deaths, and how all of us should face death. The manner of Jesus' death was not fated. He could have declined to go to Jerusalem without sin. Yet he came to see that he had to go there and so he did.
And goes on to make a point that (sadly) I've had to make to my children:
There was a time when Catholics could come to the Eucharist with the understanding that what took place was intended to deepen their Christian faith. Of course, fewer than a third of Catholics regularly attend Sunday Mass these days, yet those that do show up have to coach themselves and their loved ones not to pay attention to the twink in the pulpit, precisely because he's out to take something important away from them.
It's interesting to speculate that one reason only 1/3rd of Catholics bother to show up for Mass may be precisely because of Greeley-isms, no?
Why bother if what you get is this crap? What's the point of dropping dollars into THAT pot?
Only yesterday, I listened as a local priest 'ran off the tracks' in his homily, making comparisons which were egregiously inane while covering his silliness by quoting a prominent theologian who was quite orthodox.
The Real Problem With Obamamania
Forget for a moment that Obama may (really!) have policy proposals; think, rather, about his speechification. A Georgetown prof takes it down for you.
For a campaign that so freely and frequently resorts to the language of "hope," Obama in fact evokes its exact opposite. His salvific and heretical language - reminiscent of the 19th-century rhetoric of Social Gospel such as that enunciated by Walter Rauschenbusch (whose grandson was Richard Rorty) or progressives like Herbert Croly and John Dewey, could in fact use a good dose of theological hope and its accompanying call to humility and realism. Indeed, what marks above all the fundamental similarity of all the candidates in the current election season is the absence of any such theologically-informed realism based on belief in the two cities of Augustine, such as that once articulated by Reinhold Niebuhr or later by Christopher Lasch in his "New Oxford Review" essays attacking gnosticism. But it is perhaps our own obsession with the race for the Presidency - burdened with attendant belief that its outcome might represent a fundamental and permanent improvement in our condition - that contributes to the overestimation of what is possible in politics, and now manifests itself in our longings for someone who will heal the world.
Gee, thanks!! With little modesty, I remind you, dear readers, that I was the one who brought up the error of seeking a "messiah-President"--then specifying Rudy Giuliani as the (R) version. That was before Obama was anything more than a Chicago ward-heeler looking for attention by running against America's Most Hated Woman. (Don't bother; I can't find the link. But try searching on Shark & Shepherd)
Anyway...
Bush was not immune to this "Messiah" complex:
In this sense, amid our readiness for "change, we should recognize a deeper consistency between the appeal of one who would "heal the world" and the messianism that has so often colored the language of our current President. Particularly pronounced in his Second Inaugural, President Bush declared that it was now the permanent intention of the United States to support freedom everywhere, with the "ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world."
This is one great peril of the overestimation of the human capacity to "heal the world": the willingness to allow optimism to overcome good sense, and at its worse to permit ideology to trump our flawed human reality. But it is, I suspect, the other peril that we will face with an Obama presidency, namely the disappointment that will set in when, inevitably, such healing of the world proves elusive. ...The prospects for disillusionment become ever more certain, the more we are tempted to convince ourselves, and are drawn to promises, that we await a future of "healing," "redemption," and paradisic contentment.
I should add that this monitum has a direct analogy in the "gun control" silliness. Those who propose that disarming Americans will result in zero-violent-deaths forever and evermore thereafter are just mini-Obamas.
Finally, let us not forget that disillusionment produces anger. See GWB for a case study.
For a campaign that so freely and frequently resorts to the language of "hope," Obama in fact evokes its exact opposite. His salvific and heretical language - reminiscent of the 19th-century rhetoric of Social Gospel such as that enunciated by Walter Rauschenbusch (whose grandson was Richard Rorty) or progressives like Herbert Croly and John Dewey, could in fact use a good dose of theological hope and its accompanying call to humility and realism. Indeed, what marks above all the fundamental similarity of all the candidates in the current election season is the absence of any such theologically-informed realism based on belief in the two cities of Augustine, such as that once articulated by Reinhold Niebuhr or later by Christopher Lasch in his "New Oxford Review" essays attacking gnosticism. But it is perhaps our own obsession with the race for the Presidency - burdened with attendant belief that its outcome might represent a fundamental and permanent improvement in our condition - that contributes to the overestimation of what is possible in politics, and now manifests itself in our longings for someone who will heal the world.
Gee, thanks!! With little modesty, I remind you, dear readers, that I was the one who brought up the error of seeking a "messiah-President"--then specifying Rudy Giuliani as the (R) version. That was before Obama was anything more than a Chicago ward-heeler looking for attention by running against America's Most Hated Woman. (Don't bother; I can't find the link. But try searching on Shark & Shepherd)
Anyway...
Bush was not immune to this "Messiah" complex:
In this sense, amid our readiness for "change, we should recognize a deeper consistency between the appeal of one who would "heal the world" and the messianism that has so often colored the language of our current President. Particularly pronounced in his Second Inaugural, President Bush declared that it was now the permanent intention of the United States to support freedom everywhere, with the "ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world."
This is one great peril of the overestimation of the human capacity to "heal the world": the willingness to allow optimism to overcome good sense, and at its worse to permit ideology to trump our flawed human reality. But it is, I suspect, the other peril that we will face with an Obama presidency, namely the disappointment that will set in when, inevitably, such healing of the world proves elusive. ...The prospects for disillusionment become ever more certain, the more we are tempted to convince ourselves, and are drawn to promises, that we await a future of "healing," "redemption," and paradisic contentment.
I should add that this monitum has a direct analogy in the "gun control" silliness. Those who propose that disarming Americans will result in zero-violent-deaths forever and evermore thereafter are just mini-Obamas.
Finally, let us not forget that disillusionment produces anger. See GWB for a case study.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
A Little History of the Milwaukee Seminary
Wonder why the Milwaukee Seminary, (St Francis) closed? A few hints are right here in a National Catholic Reporter article dated 1997. The article compared/contrasted St Francis with Mundelein (St Mary of the Lake) seminary in Chicago.
The similarities began to dissolve in 1969. That was the year that Msgr. William Schuit became rector at St. Francis and quickly instituted a shakeup in curriculum and every other aspect of seminary life; it came to be known as the "Schuit shift."
(As you will see, the word "shift" actually has an extra letter.)
He and his associated took seriously and literally the Vatican II decrees that called for the church to immerse itself in the language, culture and concerns of the modern age.
Seminarians were no longer to be isolated from society; rather, they were to become general practitioners, well equipped to apply Christian values to modern society.
In 1970 the curriculum reflected the new emphasis. Among the new courses were: Introduction to Theology and the Personal Sciences, and Pastoral Analysis of Contemporary Social Problems.
Field education programs put students to work outside the seminary and traditional discipline was relaxed.
The most important change was the dramatic, full-scale opening of the school to lay students. "Our offerings are such that a good share of them can be of significant value to anyone interested in following the directives of the council, not just those seeking a full share of the priesthood," the rector said.
...As interest and numbers of lay students grew, the curriculum was revised to maintain at least some distinction between seminarians (working for a master of divinity degree) and the laity (earning a master's in theological studies). But lay students attended the same classes as the seminarians, mixed freely and were virtually indistinguishable (except for the women) from those destined for the priesthood
...In 1976 the Schuit shift ran into unexpected complications. By then laity accounted for 20 percent of the enrollment, and the number of seminary students had dropped from 144 to 94 in just three years
...St. Francis continued its commitment even as the enrollment shift continued. In 1985 laypersons constituted 50 percent of the student body; 28 of these were women and seven men
Oh, yah. Just like "altar girls:" the effect is to eliminate men, slowly but surely.
...St. Francis grew more troubled. In early 1985 a five-member, Vatican-appointed visitation team studied the seminary and issued a highly critical report. The still growing proportion of laity, it said, indicates "a shift in the primary purpose of the institution. ... Mixing of all students for classes or formation events may present a problem." The school respond, "We consider this to be a very favorable situation, given the kind of theological and pastoral situations encountered in the church today. It has provided us with a fine opportunity to clarify the identity and responsibilities of both the priesthood and all the baptized."
Typical Rembertian crap. Vatican says the sky is blue; Rembert says the sky is red. How'd that work out in real life?
In 1987 the school still had representatives from six dioceses; in 1997 it has none except for the five students studying for Milwaukee.
...Fr. Andrew Nelson, the present rector, acknowledged that some of the administrative decisions over the past 25 years were ill-conceived but insisted that the visitation team report "terribly misrepresented what we had done and were trying to do. ... The criticisms were deadly and gave us a negative image among bishops."
Perhaps in time seminarians will return in substantial numbers, but Nelson makes no apologies for St. Francis' present condition. "There is absolutely no future for this church without incorporating men and women together," he said. "That's how it is. I can see no other way!"
Well, Andy, you were wrong, just like you were in Green Bay.
There WAS "another way."
Close the joint.
The similarities began to dissolve in 1969. That was the year that Msgr. William Schuit became rector at St. Francis and quickly instituted a shakeup in curriculum and every other aspect of seminary life; it came to be known as the "Schuit shift."
(As you will see, the word "shift" actually has an extra letter.)
He and his associated took seriously and literally the Vatican II decrees that called for the church to immerse itself in the language, culture and concerns of the modern age.
Seminarians were no longer to be isolated from society; rather, they were to become general practitioners, well equipped to apply Christian values to modern society.
In 1970 the curriculum reflected the new emphasis. Among the new courses were: Introduction to Theology and the Personal Sciences, and Pastoral Analysis of Contemporary Social Problems.
Field education programs put students to work outside the seminary and traditional discipline was relaxed.
The most important change was the dramatic, full-scale opening of the school to lay students. "Our offerings are such that a good share of them can be of significant value to anyone interested in following the directives of the council, not just those seeking a full share of the priesthood," the rector said.
...As interest and numbers of lay students grew, the curriculum was revised to maintain at least some distinction between seminarians (working for a master of divinity degree) and the laity (earning a master's in theological studies). But lay students attended the same classes as the seminarians, mixed freely and were virtually indistinguishable (except for the women) from those destined for the priesthood
...In 1976 the Schuit shift ran into unexpected complications. By then laity accounted for 20 percent of the enrollment, and the number of seminary students had dropped from 144 to 94 in just three years
...St. Francis continued its commitment even as the enrollment shift continued. In 1985 laypersons constituted 50 percent of the student body; 28 of these were women and seven men
Oh, yah. Just like "altar girls:" the effect is to eliminate men, slowly but surely.
...St. Francis grew more troubled. In early 1985 a five-member, Vatican-appointed visitation team studied the seminary and issued a highly critical report. The still growing proportion of laity, it said, indicates "a shift in the primary purpose of the institution. ... Mixing of all students for classes or formation events may present a problem." The school respond, "We consider this to be a very favorable situation, given the kind of theological and pastoral situations encountered in the church today. It has provided us with a fine opportunity to clarify the identity and responsibilities of both the priesthood and all the baptized."
Typical Rembertian crap. Vatican says the sky is blue; Rembert says the sky is red. How'd that work out in real life?
In 1987 the school still had representatives from six dioceses; in 1997 it has none except for the five students studying for Milwaukee.
...Fr. Andrew Nelson, the present rector, acknowledged that some of the administrative decisions over the past 25 years were ill-conceived but insisted that the visitation team report "terribly misrepresented what we had done and were trying to do. ... The criticisms were deadly and gave us a negative image among bishops."
Perhaps in time seminarians will return in substantial numbers, but Nelson makes no apologies for St. Francis' present condition. "There is absolutely no future for this church without incorporating men and women together," he said. "That's how it is. I can see no other way!"
Well, Andy, you were wrong, just like you were in Green Bay.
There WAS "another way."
Close the joint.
St Norbert's College to Host Hildebeeste
One could ask a thousand questions, but one will suffice:
What is ANY "Catholic" college doing allowing a leading abortion backer into their building?
Name: Hillary Clinton
Party: Democratic
Date - Time: 2/17/2008 - 11 a.m.
Location: Schuldes Sports Center, St. Norbert College, 601 3rd St. 44.44239 -88.0689
Type: Debate/Forum
There are plenty of facilities in Green Bay/DePere--the KI Center among them.
How in Hell did ....never mind. I answered my own question.
What is ANY "Catholic" college doing allowing a leading abortion backer into their building?
Name: Hillary Clinton
Party: Democratic
Date - Time: 2/17/2008 - 11 a.m.
Location: Schuldes Sports Center, St. Norbert College, 601 3rd St. 44.44239 -88.0689
Type: Debate/Forum
There are plenty of facilities in Green Bay/DePere--the KI Center among them.
How in Hell did ....never mind. I answered my own question.
Use Photo Frames?
If you use photo frames on your PC, pay attention.
An insidious computer virus recently discovered on digital photo frames has been identified as a powerful new Trojan Horse from China that collects passwords for online games - and its designers might have larger targets in mind.
"It is a nasty worm that has a great deal of intelligence," said Brian Grayek, who heads product development at Computer Associates, a security vendor that analyzed the Trojan Horse.
The virus, which Computer Associates calls Mocmex, recognizes and blocks antivirus protection from more than 100 security vendors, as well as the security and firewall built into Microsoft Windows. It downloads files from remote locations and hides files, which it names randomly, on any PC it infects, making itself very difficult to remove. It spreads by hiding itself on photo frames and any other portable storage device that happens to be plugged into an infected PC.
I'd seen a story about this stuff 10 days ago. Nasty.
The initial reports of infected frames came from people who had bought them over the holidays from Sam's Club and Best Buy. New reports involve frames sold at Target and Costco, according to SANS, a group of security researchers in Bethesda, Md., who began asking for accounts of infected devices on Christmas Day. So far the group has collected more than a dozen complaints from people across the country.
Few security vendors have developed preventives for this, so far.
An insidious computer virus recently discovered on digital photo frames has been identified as a powerful new Trojan Horse from China that collects passwords for online games - and its designers might have larger targets in mind.
"It is a nasty worm that has a great deal of intelligence," said Brian Grayek, who heads product development at Computer Associates, a security vendor that analyzed the Trojan Horse.
The virus, which Computer Associates calls Mocmex, recognizes and blocks antivirus protection from more than 100 security vendors, as well as the security and firewall built into Microsoft Windows. It downloads files from remote locations and hides files, which it names randomly, on any PC it infects, making itself very difficult to remove. It spreads by hiding itself on photo frames and any other portable storage device that happens to be plugged into an infected PC.
I'd seen a story about this stuff 10 days ago. Nasty.
The initial reports of infected frames came from people who had bought them over the holidays from Sam's Club and Best Buy. New reports involve frames sold at Target and Costco, according to SANS, a group of security researchers in Bethesda, Md., who began asking for accounts of infected devices on Christmas Day. So far the group has collected more than a dozen complaints from people across the country.
Few security vendors have developed preventives for this, so far.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
MSM: Wrong Again
This post will require nuanced reading. So if you're incapable of that (you Lefty wonzos), just move along.
Here's the AP report:
Kansas activities officials are investigating a religious school's refusal to let a female referee call a boys' high school basketball game.
The Kansas State High School Activities Association said referees reported that Michelle Campbell was preparing to officiate at St. Mary's Academy near Topeka on Feb. 2 when a school official insisted that Campbell could not call the game.
The reason given, according to the referees: Campbell, as a woman, could not be put in a position of authority over boys because of the academy's beliefs.
The actualities:
...it was reported that she couldn't ref the game because she would have authority over them. THAT IS NOT WHY. It is because the school has a policy of not playing sports with women (a ref on the basketball court is almost as involved as the players) They believe that because women are naturally weaker than men, they should be protected and treated better than men.
Here's the REAL kicker:
Just to clarify, the [female] ref was completely cool with it. When the AD explained quite simply that they prefer males to ref/coach the boys and females to ref/coach the girls she understood the situation completely. It was her fellow ref that made the big stink and misquoted or misrepresented the whole situation
The school issued a statement, too.
ST. MARY'S ACADEMY (in St. Mary’s, KS) policy is to have only men in their sports program for boys.
Sports for boys are seen as training for the battlefield of life where the boys will need to fight at times through great difficulties. As such, it is more appropriate that it be men who train and direct the boys in these sports programs for only men can teach the boys to be men, just as only women can truly teach girls to be women.
It is not a question of women having no authority over boys as the quote in the paper (if it was accurate) seem to indicate. It is a question in athletics of men training boys to be men.
I'm sympathetic to the "men officials for boys/women officials for girls" philosophy, and also sympathetic to the "women are NOT men and should be treated differently" philosophy. By and large those sentiments are wholly acceptable--and in the case that 'only men can teach boys to be men,' (and women/girls), there's no question that that is true.
Given that, I wouldn't necessarily impose that; often there are practical situations which make those ideals impossible to achieve.
So: my preference is one thing; my praxis is another.
As to the story reported by the MSM: too bad that the MSM can't find its ass with both hands, eh?
HT: American Papist
Here's the AP report:
Kansas activities officials are investigating a religious school's refusal to let a female referee call a boys' high school basketball game.
The Kansas State High School Activities Association said referees reported that Michelle Campbell was preparing to officiate at St. Mary's Academy near Topeka on Feb. 2 when a school official insisted that Campbell could not call the game.
The reason given, according to the referees: Campbell, as a woman, could not be put in a position of authority over boys because of the academy's beliefs.
The actualities:
...it was reported that she couldn't ref the game because she would have authority over them. THAT IS NOT WHY. It is because the school has a policy of not playing sports with women (a ref on the basketball court is almost as involved as the players) They believe that because women are naturally weaker than men, they should be protected and treated better than men.
Here's the REAL kicker:
Just to clarify, the [female] ref was completely cool with it. When the AD explained quite simply that they prefer males to ref/coach the boys and females to ref/coach the girls she understood the situation completely. It was her fellow ref that made the big stink and misquoted or misrepresented the whole situation
The school issued a statement, too.
ST. MARY'S ACADEMY (in St. Mary’s, KS) policy is to have only men in their sports program for boys.
Sports for boys are seen as training for the battlefield of life where the boys will need to fight at times through great difficulties. As such, it is more appropriate that it be men who train and direct the boys in these sports programs for only men can teach the boys to be men, just as only women can truly teach girls to be women.
It is not a question of women having no authority over boys as the quote in the paper (if it was accurate) seem to indicate. It is a question in athletics of men training boys to be men.
I'm sympathetic to the "men officials for boys/women officials for girls" philosophy, and also sympathetic to the "women are NOT men and should be treated differently" philosophy. By and large those sentiments are wholly acceptable--and in the case that 'only men can teach boys to be men,' (and women/girls), there's no question that that is true.
Given that, I wouldn't necessarily impose that; often there are practical situations which make those ideals impossible to achieve.
So: my preference is one thing; my praxis is another.
As to the story reported by the MSM: too bad that the MSM can't find its ass with both hands, eh?
HT: American Papist
McCain for President? HooooBoy...
Tom Roeser knows this guy who knows McCain (really well, by the way.)
Tell me again how this kinda guy.....oh, well.
Pal of McCain: "He is irascible, short-tempered, has a temper like a blowtorch."...
Roeser: " What you’re describing is a man who is a whirlwind of emotion and temper who in a very important time used pique to jab his president."....
Roeser: Are you saying he’s paranoid?
Pal of McCain: "Well, frankly, yeah"
Pal of McCain: "...Do you know who I think he would most resemble as president?...Andrew Jackson. Combative, mercurial and thin-skinned, with Scotch Irish blood like McCain. He could hate with a biblical fury and change overnight"
It would be a lot of fun to watch McCain in conversation with, say, Hugo Chavez.
There are some redeeming values, of course.
Pal of McCain: He’s a genuine American hero, Tom. Much more so than Rudy. John is not a guy you’d have for any task-but for this one, facing terrorism, he’s unparalleled. Even here Jackson is important. The changing nature of the country requires more than white-shoe conservatism. Huckabee whom I think is a charlatan has proven that. The people like a maverick, a guy who even though he’s a Republican isn’t in awe of big business. Jackson railed against the Bank of the United States. He warred with Nicholas Biddle who represented the powerful eastern business interests who were unsympathetic to the south and the Midwest...
(Roeser's entry of 2/15/08)
Tell me again how this kinda guy.....oh, well.
Pal of McCain: "He is irascible, short-tempered, has a temper like a blowtorch."...
Roeser: " What you’re describing is a man who is a whirlwind of emotion and temper who in a very important time used pique to jab his president."....
Roeser: Are you saying he’s paranoid?
Pal of McCain: "Well, frankly, yeah"
Pal of McCain: "...Do you know who I think he would most resemble as president?...Andrew Jackson. Combative, mercurial and thin-skinned, with Scotch Irish blood like McCain. He could hate with a biblical fury and change overnight"
It would be a lot of fun to watch McCain in conversation with, say, Hugo Chavez.
There are some redeeming values, of course.
Pal of McCain: He’s a genuine American hero, Tom. Much more so than Rudy. John is not a guy you’d have for any task-but for this one, facing terrorism, he’s unparalleled. Even here Jackson is important. The changing nature of the country requires more than white-shoe conservatism. Huckabee whom I think is a charlatan has proven that. The people like a maverick, a guy who even though he’s a Republican isn’t in awe of big business. Jackson railed against the Bank of the United States. He warred with Nicholas Biddle who represented the powerful eastern business interests who were unsympathetic to the south and the Midwest...
(Roeser's entry of 2/15/08)
Seminary Training MUST Include Old Rite Instruction
This should make a few heads explode (at no loss to Western Civilization, I might add...)
The Papal Commission Ecclesia Dei answered an inquiry from a young seminarian.
First, the Commission says that seminarians "have the right" to be instructed also in the older form of Mass.
Second, those responsible for formation of semiarians "should provide for the instruction in both forms of the Roman Rite.
"These items will be in the forthcoming instruction about Summorum Pontificum the Holy Father will issue in forma specifica
Let's see what actually happens in the USA.
HT: Fr. Z
The Papal Commission Ecclesia Dei answered an inquiry from a young seminarian.
First, the Commission says that seminarians "have the right" to be instructed also in the older form of Mass.
Second, those responsible for formation of semiarians "should provide for the instruction in both forms of the Roman Rite.
"These items will be in the forthcoming instruction about Summorum Pontificum the Holy Father will issue in forma specifica
Let's see what actually happens in the USA.
HT: Fr. Z
Prosecutors: A Political Football in Wisconsin
Part of DarthDoyle's "budget-cutting" scheme is ....
Ta-Da!!!
Firing prosecutors.
...Unfortunately, though, it will include cuts to the Department of District Attorneys (WI State Prosecutor's Office) and Department of Justice. The Dept. of District Attorneys, which is part of the Department of Administration, is only authorized to fund Assistant DA positions.
That means that there are no paper supplies, pens, or any other ways to cut the DDA budget without cutting personnel. At a time when the Legislative Audit Bureau found that Wisconsin is short staffed by 132 prosecutors statewide, more cuts WILL result in an inability to prosecute cases. That means that hard choices will be made, with counties deciding between priorities -- maybe no marijuana prosecutions, or misdemeanor prosecutions except for weapons offenses.
This is the DarthDoyle equivalent of the school-superintendent trick: "OK, we no longer have the money for (insert one) football/basketball/soccer/Academic Decathalon...."
It's simply a vengeful spite played out and puts Wisconsin families at risk.
Still waiting for DarthDoyle to take a 30% pay cut, sell the Executive Mansion, and reduce his staff to one or two phone-answerers...
HT: Prosqtor
Ta-Da!!!
Firing prosecutors.
...Unfortunately, though, it will include cuts to the Department of District Attorneys (WI State Prosecutor's Office) and Department of Justice. The Dept. of District Attorneys, which is part of the Department of Administration, is only authorized to fund Assistant DA positions.
That means that there are no paper supplies, pens, or any other ways to cut the DDA budget without cutting personnel. At a time when the Legislative Audit Bureau found that Wisconsin is short staffed by 132 prosecutors statewide, more cuts WILL result in an inability to prosecute cases. That means that hard choices will be made, with counties deciding between priorities -- maybe no marijuana prosecutions, or misdemeanor prosecutions except for weapons offenses.
This is the DarthDoyle equivalent of the school-superintendent trick: "OK, we no longer have the money for (insert one) football/basketball/soccer/Academic Decathalon...."
It's simply a vengeful spite played out and puts Wisconsin families at risk.
Still waiting for DarthDoyle to take a 30% pay cut, sell the Executive Mansion, and reduce his staff to one or two phone-answerers...
HT: Prosqtor
"....They Came for Me..."
Tom McMahon puts another Waukesha blogger in his place.
THEY CAME FIRST for the Quarter Pounders with Cheese, and I didn't speak up because I didn't eat red meat.
THEN THEY CAME for the fish fries, and I didn't speak up because it wasn't Lent and I wasn't a Catholic.
THEN THEY CAME for the sugar, and I didn't speak up because I was a diabetic.
THEN THEY CAME for the Cheese, and I didn't speak up because I was a lactose intolerant.
THEN THEY CAME for me, and by that time everyone was too hungry and weak to speak up.
-- Tom McMahon
Sanctimony is nice, Wiggy. However, reality bites.
Automatic tagline for such posts: Buy More Ammo!!
THEY CAME FIRST for the Quarter Pounders with Cheese, and I didn't speak up because I didn't eat red meat.
THEN THEY CAME for the fish fries, and I didn't speak up because it wasn't Lent and I wasn't a Catholic.
THEN THEY CAME for the sugar, and I didn't speak up because I was a diabetic.
THEN THEY CAME for the Cheese, and I didn't speak up because I was a lactose intolerant.
THEN THEY CAME for me, and by that time everyone was too hungry and weak to speak up.
-- Tom McMahon
Sanctimony is nice, Wiggy. However, reality bites.
Automatic tagline for such posts: Buy More Ammo!!
On Shooters
Since there's no link, I suspect that John Lott heard this on a radio broadcast, so I'll simply copy/paste the relevant graf from Lott's entire post.
Dennis Prager notes that these multiple victim public shooters are irreligious
His check of multiple victim shooters indicates that these murderers are not religious individuals. I have never really compiled this information myself, though I seem to recall at least one case in Seattle where I thought that the killer was Islamic, but in any case, I accept his statement that it is quite rare that these killers are religious. Dennis' point was that if all these people were religious, the media would have made an issue of it. The fact that they are not religious makes it not interesting to the media. I think that he is correct on this.
Assuming for the sake of argument that Prager is right, I am not surprised; most religious people have an inculcated sensibility that accepting 'slings and arrows' without taking revenge is 'the right thing.'
Turn the other cheek, and all that.
To sharpen the point, I suspect that the practice of religion buttresses man's natural tendency act charitably, or at least, dispassionately, in the face of adversity. I also suspect that (in general) religious practice and beliefs are good for one's "mental health." In other words, "grace builds on nature."
Obviously, there are lots of ir-religious people who are not mass murderers, just as there are some 'religious' people who ARE.
But it's an interesting observation that Prager made.
Dennis Prager notes that these multiple victim public shooters are irreligious
His check of multiple victim shooters indicates that these murderers are not religious individuals. I have never really compiled this information myself, though I seem to recall at least one case in Seattle where I thought that the killer was Islamic, but in any case, I accept his statement that it is quite rare that these killers are religious. Dennis' point was that if all these people were religious, the media would have made an issue of it. The fact that they are not religious makes it not interesting to the media. I think that he is correct on this.
Assuming for the sake of argument that Prager is right, I am not surprised; most religious people have an inculcated sensibility that accepting 'slings and arrows' without taking revenge is 'the right thing.'
Turn the other cheek, and all that.
To sharpen the point, I suspect that the practice of religion buttresses man's natural tendency act charitably, or at least, dispassionately, in the face of adversity. I also suspect that (in general) religious practice and beliefs are good for one's "mental health." In other words, "grace builds on nature."
Obviously, there are lots of ir-religious people who are not mass murderers, just as there are some 'religious' people who ARE.
But it's an interesting observation that Prager made.
Mental Health, Guns, Costs, Lives
For a lengthy series of posts on the problems created by "de-institutionalization" see the link here.
Clay Cramer is a scholarly sorta guy, albeit not with a "scholar's" background; his interests are in the Second Amendment and mental health. As you will see by scrolling through the posts, these two areas have a lot of crossover.
It was interesting to learn that "de-institutionalization" began in the Progressive State of Wisconsin....
....and would account for some of the denizens of our Legislative Chambers..../snark
Clay Cramer is a scholarly sorta guy, albeit not with a "scholar's" background; his interests are in the Second Amendment and mental health. As you will see by scrolling through the posts, these two areas have a lot of crossover.
It was interesting to learn that "de-institutionalization" began in the Progressive State of Wisconsin....
Friday, February 15, 2008
New Line in Masthead
You'll notice above a new masthead line--from the immortal Vince Lombardi.
I like it, too!
Stolen, without shame, from BerryLaker
Thanks!!
I like it, too!
Stolen, without shame, from BerryLaker
Thanks!!
The Origins of Summorum Pontificum
When Benedict XVI issued Summorum, the document which allows any priest to say the Extraordinary Form (Old Rite) Mass, some Bishops and other activists tried to perpetrate the myth that the initiative was sorta ex nihilo--an unfounded, even if predictable, pronouncement by an ante-deluvian conservative who just happens to be the Pope.
Wrong.
As the Pertinacious Papist reports:
In 1986, Cardinal[s] Stickler, Ratzinger, Oddi, Casaroli, Palazzini, Tomko, Gantin, Innocenti and Mayer were formed into a Commission tasked by John Paul II to examine the following questions:
1) Did Pope Paul VI authorize the bishops to forbid the celebration of the traditional [1962 Rite]Mass?
2) Does the priest have the right to celebrate the traditional Mass in public and in private without restriction, even against the will of his bishop?
The Commission voted eight to one to declare that Pope Paul VI had not forbidden the Traditional Mass. The Commission voted unanimously to declare that every priest has the right to celebrate [the 1962 Rite] in public and private without restriction, and that even the bishop cannot forbid him from celebrating the [1962 Rite].
Although most of us have very hazy memories of the late 1960's, it certainly SEEMS that 'common knowledge' was that the Old Rite was forbidden--perhaps not by legislation, but certainly in practice.
At that time, the official organs of propaganda were owned and operated by the "Bugsy" Bugnini crowd (which included inter alia, Rembert Weakland, OSB, later the Archbishop of Milwaukee.) Other LiturgyWonks in the USA included virtually every member of every liturgical-oriented Association (e.g., the Nat'l Ass'n of Pastoral Musicians, NAPA(L)M for short), and the USCCB's liturgy section.
Another proof of the saying that "A lie can be halfway around the world before the Truth puts its boots on."
Need another proof? How about this:
The Commission issued a series of Norms ("The Vatican Norms of 1986") which included:
1) Bishops should ensure that on Sundays and ferial days at least one Latin Mass should be celebrated in each important locality of their diocese.
2) For every Mass celebrated in the Latin language - with or without the faithful present - the celebrant has the right freely to choose between the missal of Paul VI (1970) and that of John XXIII (1962).
Somehow, those Vatican-issued norms never made the front page of the local "Catholic" Herald. And I suspect that they never will be reprinted in that paper, nor in any Archdiocesan-sponsored liturgical publication.
Sad, eh?
Wrong.
As the Pertinacious Papist reports:
In 1986, Cardinal[s] Stickler, Ratzinger, Oddi, Casaroli, Palazzini, Tomko, Gantin, Innocenti and Mayer were formed into a Commission tasked by John Paul II to examine the following questions:
1) Did Pope Paul VI authorize the bishops to forbid the celebration of the traditional [1962 Rite]Mass?
2) Does the priest have the right to celebrate the traditional Mass in public and in private without restriction, even against the will of his bishop?
The Commission voted eight to one to declare that Pope Paul VI had not forbidden the Traditional Mass. The Commission voted unanimously to declare that every priest has the right to celebrate [the 1962 Rite] in public and private without restriction, and that even the bishop cannot forbid him from celebrating the [1962 Rite].
Although most of us have very hazy memories of the late 1960's, it certainly SEEMS that 'common knowledge' was that the Old Rite was forbidden--perhaps not by legislation, but certainly in practice.
At that time, the official organs of propaganda were owned and operated by the "Bugsy" Bugnini crowd (which included inter alia, Rembert Weakland, OSB, later the Archbishop of Milwaukee.) Other LiturgyWonks in the USA included virtually every member of every liturgical-oriented Association (e.g., the Nat'l Ass'n of Pastoral Musicians, NAPA(L)M for short), and the USCCB's liturgy section.
Another proof of the saying that "A lie can be halfway around the world before the Truth puts its boots on."
Need another proof? How about this:
The Commission issued a series of Norms ("The Vatican Norms of 1986") which included:
1) Bishops should ensure that on Sundays and ferial days at least one Latin Mass should be celebrated in each important locality of their diocese.
2) For every Mass celebrated in the Latin language - with or without the faithful present - the celebrant has the right freely to choose between the missal of Paul VI (1970) and that of John XXIII (1962).
Somehow, those Vatican-issued norms never made the front page of the local "Catholic" Herald. And I suspect that they never will be reprinted in that paper, nor in any Archdiocesan-sponsored liturgical publication.
Sad, eh?
Feds to Shut Down Economic Indicators Site
If you think the information contained on this webpage is useful, take a good look now--because it will disappear as of 3/1/08.
Comments The Big Picture: "First, we heard the bullshit about the costs of reporting M3 -- just before that aspect of money supply went sky high.
"This new development implies (by parallel comparison to M3) that the economy is actually far, far worse than previously believed."
....which demonstrates that paranoia is not confined to ultra-conservative Black Helicopter wack-jobs; BigPic is a Lefty kinda guy.
On the other hand, what if he's right?
Comments The Big Picture: "First, we heard the bullshit about the costs of reporting M3 -- just before that aspect of money supply went sky high.
"This new development implies (by parallel comparison to M3) that the economy is actually far, far worse than previously believed."
....which demonstrates that paranoia is not confined to ultra-conservative Black Helicopter wack-jobs; BigPic is a Lefty kinda guy.
On the other hand, what if he's right?
GWB: The Gift That Keeps On Giving
Ol' GWB and his boyzzz are a real piece of work. Here are a few excerpts from an article which lays out the consequences of the DOJ's amicus on Heller, written by Robert Levy, a senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute and co-counsel to the respondent in D.C. v. Heller.
If you think the District of Columbia's ban on all functional firearms in all homes is a reasonable regulation under the Second Amendment, you'll love the friend-of-the-court brief filed by the Bush administration in D.C. v. Heller, now before the Supreme Court.
...The Justice Department says the Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the D.C. ban might cast doubt on the constitutionality of existing federal legislation, including machine-gun regulations. So the administration urged that Heller be returned to the lower courts for appropriate fact-finding to determine whether rifles and shotguns in the home, as permitted by the D.C. Code, are an adequate substitute for handguns
Yup. Keeping a shotgun in your night-stand is "adequate"--if your nightstand happens to be a full-size Buick.
...The proper standard of review under the Second Amendment is what the courts have termed strict scrutiny. Government must justify its restrictions by showing that they are narrowly tailored to satisfy a compelling governmental interest. That's a tough test, but not fatal. Traditionally, the court has strictly scrutinized all regulations that infringe on fundamental rights deeply rooted in the nation's history and traditions. Virtually all of the Bill of Rights qualifies, and the right to keep and bear arms is no exception.
In fact, the Court of Appeals did not suggest that any federal gun regulations (including those on machine guns) are unconstitutional. Moreover, under the Supreme Court's 1939 precedent, U.S. v. Miller, machine guns are not protected by the Second Amendment without showing that they are in common use by civilians.
I don't know about you, but I haven't heard any machine-gun fire in my neighborhood lately. And although Frankovis may know of a few full-auto uses by perps in the City of Milwaukee, I can't recall any during my lifetime (e.g., since dinosaurs.)
Tell me again that a Lefty Pubbie (like, for example, McCain) is REALLY good for the country.
If you think the District of Columbia's ban on all functional firearms in all homes is a reasonable regulation under the Second Amendment, you'll love the friend-of-the-court brief filed by the Bush administration in D.C. v. Heller, now before the Supreme Court.
...The Justice Department says the Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the D.C. ban might cast doubt on the constitutionality of existing federal legislation, including machine-gun regulations. So the administration urged that Heller be returned to the lower courts for appropriate fact-finding to determine whether rifles and shotguns in the home, as permitted by the D.C. Code, are an adequate substitute for handguns
Yup. Keeping a shotgun in your night-stand is "adequate"--if your nightstand happens to be a full-size Buick.
...The proper standard of review under the Second Amendment is what the courts have termed strict scrutiny. Government must justify its restrictions by showing that they are narrowly tailored to satisfy a compelling governmental interest. That's a tough test, but not fatal. Traditionally, the court has strictly scrutinized all regulations that infringe on fundamental rights deeply rooted in the nation's history and traditions. Virtually all of the Bill of Rights qualifies, and the right to keep and bear arms is no exception.
In fact, the Court of Appeals did not suggest that any federal gun regulations (including those on machine guns) are unconstitutional. Moreover, under the Supreme Court's 1939 precedent, U.S. v. Miller, machine guns are not protected by the Second Amendment without showing that they are in common use by civilians.
I don't know about you, but I haven't heard any machine-gun fire in my neighborhood lately. And although Frankovis may know of a few full-auto uses by perps in the City of Milwaukee, I can't recall any during my lifetime (e.g., since dinosaurs.)
Tell me again that a Lefty Pubbie (like, for example, McCain) is REALLY good for the country.
The NIU Shooter: A Sociologist "Off His Meds"
Here's some info:
The gunman has been named unofficially as Steve Kazmierczak, 27. The shooting may have been related to a failed relationship-- with the rampage planned for Valentine's Day.
(Quoting The Telegraph):
Reports said police were investigating the possibility that he was seeking revenge over a failed love affair.
"We are looking at his past relationships to see if there is any connection," one officer is quoted as saying.
"One obvious line of enquiry is to determine whether the choice of Valentine's Day was coincidence or not."
He was an Sociology student:
VICE-PRESIDENT: Steve Mazmierczak. [sic] Steve served as an undergrad teachingaid for Sociology 388 (corrections) and 488 (juvenile delinquency) inspring, 2004. He has strong interests in justice reform and, as an older sociology/criminal justice major, he brings experience and ideas to the group.
My name is Steve Kazmierczak, and I'm a 3rd year student here at NIU. During my sophomore year I served as an aid for the SOCI170 web-board and last semester, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to be a team leader for SOCI488-Juvenile Delinquency. Since attending NIU, I've worked very hard as a student, and I know that I would be able to forth the same effort as an officer of the ACA. I feel that I'm committed to social justice, and if elected as treasurer I promise to serve the NIU chapter of the ACA to the best of my ability.
Honors Sociology, too:
Alpha Kappa Delta Sociology Honor Society 2006 Spring Initiations
...Steven Kazmierczak...
And we learn that he had some other problems:
Kazmierczak had recently stopped taking his medication and "had become somewhat erratic," Grady told reporters.
Banning lovelorn Sociology Honors students would be easier than banning guns.
The discussion SHOULD include diagnosed mental problems being an impediment to (legal) gun purchases; however, the benefit of the doubt should be given to the Second Amendment's clear mandate.
HT: GatewayPundit via Malkin, Texas Hold'em
The gunman has been named unofficially as Steve Kazmierczak, 27. The shooting may have been related to a failed relationship-- with the rampage planned for Valentine's Day.
(Quoting The Telegraph):
Reports said police were investigating the possibility that he was seeking revenge over a failed love affair.
"We are looking at his past relationships to see if there is any connection," one officer is quoted as saying.
"One obvious line of enquiry is to determine whether the choice of Valentine's Day was coincidence or not."
He was an Sociology student:
VICE-PRESIDENT: Steve Mazmierczak. [sic] Steve served as an undergrad teachingaid for Sociology 388 (corrections) and 488 (juvenile delinquency) inspring, 2004. He has strong interests in justice reform and, as an older sociology/criminal justice major, he brings experience and ideas to the group.
My name is Steve Kazmierczak, and I'm a 3rd year student here at NIU. During my sophomore year I served as an aid for the SOCI170 web-board and last semester, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to be a team leader for SOCI488-Juvenile Delinquency. Since attending NIU, I've worked very hard as a student, and I know that I would be able to forth the same effort as an officer of the ACA. I feel that I'm committed to social justice, and if elected as treasurer I promise to serve the NIU chapter of the ACA to the best of my ability.
Honors Sociology, too:
Alpha Kappa Delta Sociology Honor Society 2006 Spring Initiations
...Steven Kazmierczak...
And we learn that he had some other problems:
Kazmierczak had recently stopped taking his medication and "had become somewhat erratic," Grady told reporters.
Banning lovelorn Sociology Honors students would be easier than banning guns.
The discussion SHOULD include diagnosed mental problems being an impediment to (legal) gun purchases; however, the benefit of the doubt should be given to the Second Amendment's clear mandate.
HT: GatewayPundit via Malkin, Texas Hold'em
Can the Hildebeeste Win?
You bet she can win.
Remember the "superdelegates," who are (largely) elected Democrat officials at all levels.
Focus your attention on elected Congressional Democrats who have been in office since, say, 1986.
Now remember that the Hildebeeste has the FBI files on all of them.
"Will of the people" or no, those delegates may, mysteriously, turn to Hildebeeste....
Remember the "superdelegates," who are (largely) elected Democrat officials at all levels.
Focus your attention on elected Congressional Democrats who have been in office since, say, 1986.
Now remember that the Hildebeeste has the FBI files on all of them.
"Will of the people" or no, those delegates may, mysteriously, turn to Hildebeeste....
Cerberus Warns
It ain't just Doyle and the Leggies.
After sketching the grim state of affairs with references to the “liquidity crisis,” a “market panic” and a “widespread decline across all sectors,” Cerberus boss Steve Feinberg... and his co-founder William Richter addressed its highest-profile deals. The bigger concern of the two: GMAC, the former lending arm of General Motors that finances billions of dollars worth of homes and cars.
“We have significant concerns,” they write in this nine-page letter to their investors, which was first reported on by Bloomberg. “If the credit markets continue to decline and we find ourselves in a prolonged environment of capital market shutdown, GMAC could run into substantial difficulty.”
Cerberus also holds a few companies in Wisconsin, and Chrysler.
HT: Calculated Risk
After sketching the grim state of affairs with references to the “liquidity crisis,” a “market panic” and a “widespread decline across all sectors,” Cerberus boss Steve Feinberg... and his co-founder William Richter addressed its highest-profile deals. The bigger concern of the two: GMAC, the former lending arm of General Motors that finances billions of dollars worth of homes and cars.
“We have significant concerns,” they write in this nine-page letter to their investors, which was first reported on by Bloomberg. “If the credit markets continue to decline and we find ourselves in a prolonged environment of capital market shutdown, GMAC could run into substantial difficulty.”
Cerberus also holds a few companies in Wisconsin, and Chrysler.
HT: Calculated Risk
Only $300 Million in Cuts Left to Go...
Lemmeesee, heah, Gomer.
The Governor and his henchmen want to tax the sick and the dead to make up for their, ah, ...irresponsible....budget.
But with only a $300 million gap, let's start with a few other possibilities.
Sell the Governor's Mansion, say, for $1 million.
Stop paying all elected Legislators and reduce their staff(s) to 1 phone-answerer in each office. No more legislative sessions except to enact this provision. Same-o for the Governor. You can call it a "layoff" if you like.
Sell off UW-Parkside to Abbott Labs. THAT should net $250 million or so.
There. That will do it.
The Governor and his henchmen want to tax the sick and the dead to make up for their, ah, ...irresponsible....budget.
But with only a $300 million gap, let's start with a few other possibilities.
Sell the Governor's Mansion, say, for $1 million.
Stop paying all elected Legislators and reduce their staff(s) to 1 phone-answerer in each office. No more legislative sessions except to enact this provision. Same-o for the Governor. You can call it a "layoff" if you like.
Sell off UW-Parkside to Abbott Labs. THAT should net $250 million or so.
There. That will do it.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Technical Stuff: "Old Rite Varia Permissions" Part Two
There's been more than a little discussion of "varia" permissions for the Extraordinary Form (Old Rite) Mass on one blogsite. Seems that some Orders of priests are using the 'confession before communion,' which was removed from the Rite in 1961.
Here's the language from the Pope's Motu Proprio on the topic. See if you find any "wiggle room."
1. We command that, beginning on the first day of January of next year, 1961, all those who follow the Roman rite shall observe the new code of rubrics of the Roman breviary and missal arranged under three headings – “General Rubrics,” “General Rubrics of the Roman Breviary,” and “General Rubrics of the Roman Missal” – to be published shortly by our Sacred Congregation of Rites. As for those who observe some other Latin rite, they are bound to conform as soon as possible both to the new code of rubrics and to the calendar, in all those things which are not strictly proper to their own rite.
2. On the same day, January 1, 1961, the “General Rubrics” of the Roman breviary and missal, as well as the “Additions and Variations” to the rubrics of the Roman breviary and missal according to the bull Divino afflatu of our predecessor St. Pius X, which have hitherto been prefixed to these books, shall become inoperative. As the provisions of the decree, The Reduction of the Rubrics to a Simpler Form , dated March 23, 1955, have been incorporated into this new edition of the rubrics, this general decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites shall likewise become inoperative. Finally, any decrees and replies on doubtful points issued by the same Congregation which do not agree with this new form of rubrics shall be abrograted.
3. Likewise, statues, priveleges, indults, and customs of any kind whatsoever, including those that are centenary and immemorial, even if they are worthy of special and individual mention, shall be revoked if they are opposed to these rubrics.
There are some who state that they have 'special permission' to utilize that which has (plainly) been obrogated. Documentation is lacking, however, at the Extraordinary Form's sub-congregation, the Ecclesia Dei commission--and Rome does NOTHING without documentation.
Here's the language from the Pope's Motu Proprio on the topic. See if you find any "wiggle room."
1. We command that, beginning on the first day of January of next year, 1961, all those who follow the Roman rite shall observe the new code of rubrics of the Roman breviary and missal arranged under three headings – “General Rubrics,” “General Rubrics of the Roman Breviary,” and “General Rubrics of the Roman Missal” – to be published shortly by our Sacred Congregation of Rites. As for those who observe some other Latin rite, they are bound to conform as soon as possible both to the new code of rubrics and to the calendar, in all those things which are not strictly proper to their own rite.
2. On the same day, January 1, 1961, the “General Rubrics” of the Roman breviary and missal, as well as the “Additions and Variations” to the rubrics of the Roman breviary and missal according to the bull Divino afflatu of our predecessor St. Pius X, which have hitherto been prefixed to these books, shall become inoperative. As the provisions of the decree, The Reduction of the Rubrics to a Simpler Form , dated March 23, 1955, have been incorporated into this new edition of the rubrics, this general decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites shall likewise become inoperative. Finally, any decrees and replies on doubtful points issued by the same Congregation which do not agree with this new form of rubrics shall be abrograted.
3. Likewise, statues, priveleges, indults, and customs of any kind whatsoever, including those that are centenary and immemorial, even if they are worthy of special and individual mention, shall be revoked if they are opposed to these rubrics.
There are some who state that they have 'special permission' to utilize that which has (plainly) been obrogated. Documentation is lacking, however, at the Extraordinary Form's sub-congregation, the Ecclesia Dei commission--and Rome does NOTHING without documentation.
Vote for McCain? Puhhhlllleeeeez
Coulter:
In 2006 — the most recent year for which ratings are available — McCain's ACU rating was 65. That year, the ACU rating for the other senator from Arizona, Jon Kyl, was 97. Even Chuck Hagel's ACU rating was 75, and Lindsey Graham's was 83.
Since 1998, only four Republican senators have had worse ACU scores than John McCain — and none were from Goldwater country: Lincoln Chafee, Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe and Arlen Specter. ...
My mommy always talked about "bad company." I guess the above is the frickin' DEFINITION of "bad company".
HT: Regular Guy
In 2006 — the most recent year for which ratings are available — McCain's ACU rating was 65. That year, the ACU rating for the other senator from Arizona, Jon Kyl, was 97. Even Chuck Hagel's ACU rating was 75, and Lindsey Graham's was 83.
Since 1998, only four Republican senators have had worse ACU scores than John McCain — and none were from Goldwater country: Lincoln Chafee, Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe and Arlen Specter. ...
My mommy always talked about "bad company." I guess the above is the frickin' DEFINITION of "bad company".
HT: Regular Guy
Pound Head Into Wall, Repeatedly
Here's a guy who thinks that he can change the outcome by doing the same damn thing over and over and over and over and over.....
A State Senator in Wisconsin is going to make another run at establishing a minimum renewable fuels standard in the Badger State. Pat Kreitlow says his bill differs from the 10% ethanol mandate that was defeated two years ago.
Not in effect, but in language. Does Kreitlow think we're as stupid as HE is?
It was the State Senate which defeated the ethanol mandate two years ago and Kreitlow knows he has some work to do. “The people that represent the rural parts of the state understand it,” but the tougher sell will be from the southeast and northeastern parts of the state
Kreitlow proceeds to blame "a couple of radio hosts." Wonder if he checked the emails and phone calls, or just decided it's "radio hosts."
As it turns out, he has an equally-stupid pal in the Assembly:
Kreitlow says he is going to take his time building support for the bill which means it may not be introduced until the next session, “As more lawmakers come on board who understand the value of getting our fuel from the Midwest.” Republican Scott Suder will introduce the companion bill in the Assembly
Bring it on, boys. I'll be happy to provide more bricks for the wall. Bang away!!!
HT: Sykes
A State Senator in Wisconsin is going to make another run at establishing a minimum renewable fuels standard in the Badger State. Pat Kreitlow says his bill differs from the 10% ethanol mandate that was defeated two years ago.
Not in effect, but in language. Does Kreitlow think we're as stupid as HE is?
It was the State Senate which defeated the ethanol mandate two years ago and Kreitlow knows he has some work to do. “The people that represent the rural parts of the state understand it,” but the tougher sell will be from the southeast and northeastern parts of the state
Kreitlow proceeds to blame "a couple of radio hosts." Wonder if he checked the emails and phone calls, or just decided it's "radio hosts."
As it turns out, he has an equally-stupid pal in the Assembly:
Kreitlow says he is going to take his time building support for the bill which means it may not be introduced until the next session, “As more lawmakers come on board who understand the value of getting our fuel from the Midwest.” Republican Scott Suder will introduce the companion bill in the Assembly
Bring it on, boys. I'll be happy to provide more bricks for the wall. Bang away!!!
HT: Sykes
Wisconsin Housing Sales
The State's budget problem is partially due to declining housing sales. Here's the report from Nat'l Ass'n of Realtors:
State housing sales in thousands
'05 '06 '07
122.8 117.3 104.6
State housing sales, in thousands (annual rate, adjusted quarterly)
4Q06 1Q07 2Q07 3Q07 4Q07
114.0 113.7 112.8 103.2 95.6
Total 2007 vs 2006:
-16.1%
Maybe there will be a rebound in '08.
Then again, maybe not.
HT: Calculated Risk
State housing sales in thousands
'05 '06 '07
122.8 117.3 104.6
State housing sales, in thousands (annual rate, adjusted quarterly)
4Q06 1Q07 2Q07 3Q07 4Q07
114.0 113.7 112.8 103.2 95.6
Total 2007 vs 2006:
-16.1%
Maybe there will be a rebound in '08.
Then again, maybe not.
HT: Calculated Risk
Where to Cut State & Local Budgets
We could start with State employee pay. From a USA Today synopsis of a recently-released BLS study, we learn:
State and local government workers now earn an average of $39.50 per hour in total compensation, reports the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Private workers earn an average of $26.09 an hour.
Benefits are a big reason for the gap.
Companies have trimmed pension benefits and asked employees to pay a greater share of medical costs.
Few governments have imposed similar cuts on teachers, snowplow drivers, lawyers and other civil servants.
From 2000 to 2007, public employees enjoyed a 16% increase in compensation after adjusting for inflation compared with 11% for private workers.
Umnnnhh.....scritchscratchmumble....AHA!!
That means that the State could cut its wages or salaries paid by about 33% and retain the bennies as-is (more or less) to be "competitive" with private-sector workers.
Naturally, counties and cities should follow suit--not to mention school districts.
HT: AnkleBitingPundits
State and local government workers now earn an average of $39.50 per hour in total compensation, reports the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Private workers earn an average of $26.09 an hour.
Benefits are a big reason for the gap.
Companies have trimmed pension benefits and asked employees to pay a greater share of medical costs.
Few governments have imposed similar cuts on teachers, snowplow drivers, lawyers and other civil servants.
From 2000 to 2007, public employees enjoyed a 16% increase in compensation after adjusting for inflation compared with 11% for private workers.
Umnnnhh.....scritchscratchmumble....AHA!!
That means that the State could cut its wages or salaries paid by about 33% and retain the bennies as-is (more or less) to be "competitive" with private-sector workers.
Naturally, counties and cities should follow suit--not to mention school districts.
HT: AnkleBitingPundits
Wis DPI: Good Show!!
We are not a fan of Wisconsin's Department of Public Instruction, in general terms.
But when they do a good thing, we'll give them credit.
Our children are 'open enrollment' kids due to a relocation a few years back (and due to the wacky school-district-borders in our area.) It's a minor inconvenience to transport the darlings, but, you know, we Do It For the Children.
This year, the Wis DPI put up an online system for the enrollment, and it is slick, fast, intuitive, and simple. No stupid bureaucrat-ese, trick questions (the ones where there are 3 possible answers with no "right" one), only about 30 lines to fill out, all clearly explained....
It's easier to deal with this system than ANY system from (e.g.) SBC--not to mention the Feds.
Good show!
But when they do a good thing, we'll give them credit.
Our children are 'open enrollment' kids due to a relocation a few years back (and due to the wacky school-district-borders in our area.) It's a minor inconvenience to transport the darlings, but, you know, we Do It For the Children.
This year, the Wis DPI put up an online system for the enrollment, and it is slick, fast, intuitive, and simple. No stupid bureaucrat-ese, trick questions (the ones where there are 3 possible answers with no "right" one), only about 30 lines to fill out, all clearly explained....
It's easier to deal with this system than ANY system from (e.g.) SBC--not to mention the Feds.
Good show!
All-Time Record? Why Not!!
Spent some time with an acquaintance yesterday who opined that we may as well have an all-time record-setting snowfall winter.
"Well," thought I, "why not?" Instead of grousing about some namby-pamby "tenth-worst" wimpy winter, let's man-up and go for it!
Look. We're about 30" short of Number One, and there are 60 days remaining to a typical snow season--and it's realistic to say we have 75 days left.
That means we only need about 1/2 inch/day, which is no big deal--we'll get 4 days' worth today alone!
Like Vince said: First is first, and second is nothing!
"Well," thought I, "why not?" Instead of grousing about some namby-pamby "tenth-worst" wimpy winter, let's man-up and go for it!
Look. We're about 30" short of Number One, and there are 60 days remaining to a typical snow season--and it's realistic to say we have 75 days left.
That means we only need about 1/2 inch/day, which is no big deal--we'll get 4 days' worth today alone!
Like Vince said: First is first, and second is nothing!
Clueless Doyle
Jimbo (Darth) Doyle is still trying to evade the blame for the State's growing financial problem--now estimated to be about $615 million of deficit by mid-2009.
Although unattributed and in the passive voice, you can hear the Governor's office in this line from the JS report:
It was unclear when the Legislature, which is scheduled to adjourn within a month, will fix the deficit.
The "absence of leadership" red light is on, folks.
So far, Darth found $236 million or so all by himself--and half of that was simply rolling over a loan.
On Tuesday, Doyle budget aides ordered $236.4 million in new spending cuts and other changes that will lower the deficit by mid-2009. Those changes will force state agencies to return $111 million by June 30 - $53 million more than planned - and delay paying off $125.4 million in debt
He just can't bring himself to send out the bad news to WEAC, so his surrogates are thinking about taxing the sick and dying:
Doyle could again call for a new tax on hospital revenues, which estimates last year said would have attracted $418 million more in additional cash.
What the Hell. People in hospitals don't vote, and if they're dead, they vote Democrat anyway, right?
Although unattributed and in the passive voice, you can hear the Governor's office in this line from the JS report:
It was unclear when the Legislature, which is scheduled to adjourn within a month, will fix the deficit.
The "absence of leadership" red light is on, folks.
So far, Darth found $236 million or so all by himself--and half of that was simply rolling over a loan.
On Tuesday, Doyle budget aides ordered $236.4 million in new spending cuts and other changes that will lower the deficit by mid-2009. Those changes will force state agencies to return $111 million by June 30 - $53 million more than planned - and delay paying off $125.4 million in debt
He just can't bring himself to send out the bad news to WEAC, so his surrogates are thinking about taxing the sick and dying:
Doyle could again call for a new tax on hospital revenues, which estimates last year said would have attracted $418 million more in additional cash.
What the Hell. People in hospitals don't vote, and if they're dead, they vote Democrat anyway, right?
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Washington DC's Gun Dealer
Oh, yeah--despite it all, there are licensed gun dealers in Washington, DC.
One of them is Josh Sugarman, the Chief Cheese of the Violence Policy Center--the leading anti-gun group in the USA.
One of them is Josh Sugarman, the Chief Cheese of the Violence Policy Center--the leading anti-gun group in the USA.
Do You Fight With Your Kids?
It's good for them.
Cited by Grim:
Dr. Tabitha Holmes of SUNY–New Paltz conducted extensive interviews asking mothers and adolescents, separately, to describe their arguments and how they felt about them. And there was a big difference.
Forty-six percent of the mothers rated their arguments as being destructive to their relationships with their teens. Being challenged was stressful, chaotic, and (in their perception) disrespectful. The more frequently they fought, and the more intense the fights were, the more the mother rated the fighting as harmful. But only 23 percent of the adolescents felt that their arguments were destructive. Far more believed that fighting strengthened their relationship with their mothers.
Grim reconciles the difference:
A society that desires agreement and concession is a dishonest society, a civilization of liars. More, it is a society of people who don't respect each other:
Certain types of fighting, despite the acrimony, were ultimately signs of respect—not of disrespect
One example: conservatives who refuse to compromise principles for the sake of "unity"??
Cited by Grim:
Dr. Tabitha Holmes of SUNY–New Paltz conducted extensive interviews asking mothers and adolescents, separately, to describe their arguments and how they felt about them. And there was a big difference.
Forty-six percent of the mothers rated their arguments as being destructive to their relationships with their teens. Being challenged was stressful, chaotic, and (in their perception) disrespectful. The more frequently they fought, and the more intense the fights were, the more the mother rated the fighting as harmful. But only 23 percent of the adolescents felt that their arguments were destructive. Far more believed that fighting strengthened their relationship with their mothers.
Grim reconciles the difference:
A society that desires agreement and concession is a dishonest society, a civilization of liars. More, it is a society of people who don't respect each other:
Certain types of fighting, despite the acrimony, were ultimately signs of respect—not of disrespect
One example: conservatives who refuse to compromise principles for the sake of "unity"??
An Excellent Question, Chris
Chris asks an excellent question:
My question... is "Which side, Obama or Hillary, will benefit from all the Voter Fraud the left in Wisconsin is known for?"
Depends on who rents the most busses, Chris.
My question... is "Which side, Obama or Hillary, will benefit from all the Voter Fraud the left in Wisconsin is known for?"
Depends on who rents the most busses, Chris.
Vote McCain? Puhleez!!
While the Intellectualoids, sycophants, and (self)-Anointed Ones bleat about the virtue of "unity", the steaming pile which is McCain's record continues to grow.
One thing Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain all have in common is that they voted to give retroactive Social Security benefits to illegal aliens who committed document fraud.
Indeed, McCain voted for it before he was against it.
...the immigration reform proposal advocated by McCain in 2006 would not only have added millions of illegal aliens to Social Security rolls, it would have protected these aliens from being prosecuted for fraudulently using other people's Social Security numbers
So far, McCain has convinced everyone that he's willing to take on Russia and Iran much more aggressively than GWB.
As for 'domestic enemies,' well....
One thing Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain all have in common is that they voted to give retroactive Social Security benefits to illegal aliens who committed document fraud.
Indeed, McCain voted for it before he was against it.
...the immigration reform proposal advocated by McCain in 2006 would not only have added millions of illegal aliens to Social Security rolls, it would have protected these aliens from being prosecuted for fraudulently using other people's Social Security numbers
So far, McCain has convinced everyone that he's willing to take on Russia and Iran much more aggressively than GWB.
As for 'domestic enemies,' well....
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
The USCCB--"Mentoring" Mayor Tom
The USCCB (or, perhaps, the Hive infesting the offices built at Catholic expense) has opinions on everything, including handguns.
We support the development of a coherent national handgun control policy that includes: a several day cooling-off period between the sale and possession; a ban on "Saturday Night Specials"; the registration of handguns; the licensing of handgun owners; and more effective controls regulating the manufacture, sale and importation of handguns. We recognize, however, that these individual steps will not completely eliminate the abuse of handguns. We believe that only prohibition of the importation, manufacture, sale, possession and use of handguns (with reasonable exceptions made for the police military, security guards and pistol clubs where guns would be kept on the premises under secure conditions) will provide a comprehensive response to handgun violence.
Good luck with that, fellas.
Let's have some fun with them. Instead of dropping a check into the annual USCCB appeal, drop a box of .45 ammo, instead.
HT: Gerald
We support the development of a coherent national handgun control policy that includes: a several day cooling-off period between the sale and possession; a ban on "Saturday Night Specials"; the registration of handguns; the licensing of handgun owners; and more effective controls regulating the manufacture, sale and importation of handguns. We recognize, however, that these individual steps will not completely eliminate the abuse of handguns. We believe that only prohibition of the importation, manufacture, sale, possession and use of handguns (with reasonable exceptions made for the police military, security guards and pistol clubs where guns would be kept on the premises under secure conditions) will provide a comprehensive response to handgun violence.
Good luck with that, fellas.
Let's have some fun with them. Instead of dropping a check into the annual USCCB appeal, drop a box of .45 ammo, instead.
HT: Gerald
The Short Take on Piero Marini's "Reform"
Nobody is better at erudite acerbity than Fr. George Rutler, whose review of P. Marini's new book is found in the current First Things.
A pull-quote from the FT site:
“Perhaps greater contact with pastoral reality would have anticipated the chaos that comes when ardent but misbegotten theories are imposed on the people of God who do not regularly read Notitiae. The blithe obliviousness of many experts to damage all around them is, nonetheless, breathtaking. At times in various lands it is like watching a venerable procession of Alcuin, Ivo of Chartres, Gueranger, Fortescue, and Jungmann, and finding, at the end Inspector Clouseau.”
Or, if not Clouseau, perhaps his equally clueless-twit, mirror-obsessed mentor, Bugnini.
A pull-quote from the FT site:
“Perhaps greater contact with pastoral reality would have anticipated the chaos that comes when ardent but misbegotten theories are imposed on the people of God who do not regularly read Notitiae. The blithe obliviousness of many experts to damage all around them is, nonetheless, breathtaking. At times in various lands it is like watching a venerable procession of Alcuin, Ivo of Chartres, Gueranger, Fortescue, and Jungmann, and finding, at the end Inspector Clouseau.”
Or, if not Clouseau, perhaps his equally clueless-twit, mirror-obsessed mentor, Bugnini.
The Place of Economics
An interesting (and one would hope thought-provoking) essay on the Dismal Science--not to mention education as a whole, from a Georgetown prof who disagrees with the Modern Project.
Excerpts:
...Modern economics is taught as a "science," namely the science of acquisition, growth, efficiency and money-making. It is the most mathematically-based of the modern social sciences, the one that can claim the greatest rigor (and hence is the envy of the other social sciences, who crave to base themselves on economic approaches), and seems to have the greatest relevance to the "real world." Like the natural sciences, it claims to be an amoral science, solely concerned with generating valid conclusions (the "is") without any legitimate concern for the moral consequences or implications (the "ought").
...Very little integration between and among the disciplines takes place at modern Catholic universities, which model themselves more upon the basis of Adam Smith's theory of the "invisible hand" than Newman's "Idea of the University." That is, the modern university is conceived as a discrete set of undertakings and research agendas that have no obvious connection to one another, but which together all contribute to the "creation" of new knowledge and the growing prosperity of society without any intention or effort to draw connections between the various disciplines. The faculty and administration increasingly deny that there can be any overarching end or good of education, that an integrated human being ought to be the purpose of our instruction, that requirements in philosophy, theology, and other humanities ought to inform all of the various disciplines
The prof mentions an interlocutor-student who admires Modernity and its consequences.
...The student rightly notes that I am influenced and guided by the arguments of Aristotle, who in turn guided the theology of Aquinas. With ample progressive spirit - undoubtedly informed by his economics training - this student rather glibly dismisses out of hand that an Aristotelian and Thomistic worldview has any relevance for a modern age. If it's old, it must be dated and superseded. This well-worn argument typically asserts that, since Aristotle's scientific theories have been shown to be false, then the whole of his philosophy must also fall. Putting aside for the moment the former claim - that Aristotle's natural science has tout court been proven false, which is itself a problematic claim - the attendant claim that Aristotelian teleology, along with its concomitant insistence upon the primacy of politics (that is, political philosophy) as the "architectonic" science by which all other sciences are ordered in a society, cannot be so readily dismissed. If there is a good for humans - if we flourish under certain conditions and not others - then it is the proper place of a political science to seek a political ordering that best ensures that flourishing.
Here's the payoff line:
This is, by definition, a moral undertaking: if there is a good to which human life aims, then necessarily there are non-good or even vicious forms of life. By extension, such an understanding of a good human life would implicate all the other human sciences - including, centrally so - economics. As Aristotle writes in Book I, Chapter 8 of the Politics, an economics that aims solely at acquisition without limit for the sake of acquisition alone would constitute "living, but not living well."
...and finally names the demon:
...This student advises me to stick to political theory and leave economics to the economists. But herein lies the very problem we face: economists largely are incapable of thinking in these essential terms - they are some of our prime culprits in teaching that morality ought not to be mixed with the economic. Indeed, for all the accusations against the self-certainty of religious believers, it is our economists who constitute the true "faith-based" community of our age. Economics Departments are comprised of a cadre of "true believers," an order who faithfully defend the Free Market and worship at the altar of Efficiency and Profit. There is virtually no discussion or debate about the terms upon which economics is based; indeed, in contrast to nearly every other discipline in the humanities and social sciences, our economists brook no deviation from the orthodoxy of Mainline Libertarianism
That prof took the long way around to advise why Libertarians have such a hard time gaining political traction. In essence, Libertarians who are consistent don't give a rat's ass about "living well" in the Aristotelian sense.
But they do like their Bimmers.
HT: Dreher
Excerpts:
...Modern economics is taught as a "science," namely the science of acquisition, growth, efficiency and money-making. It is the most mathematically-based of the modern social sciences, the one that can claim the greatest rigor (and hence is the envy of the other social sciences, who crave to base themselves on economic approaches), and seems to have the greatest relevance to the "real world." Like the natural sciences, it claims to be an amoral science, solely concerned with generating valid conclusions (the "is") without any legitimate concern for the moral consequences or implications (the "ought").
...Very little integration between and among the disciplines takes place at modern Catholic universities, which model themselves more upon the basis of Adam Smith's theory of the "invisible hand" than Newman's "Idea of the University." That is, the modern university is conceived as a discrete set of undertakings and research agendas that have no obvious connection to one another, but which together all contribute to the "creation" of new knowledge and the growing prosperity of society without any intention or effort to draw connections between the various disciplines. The faculty and administration increasingly deny that there can be any overarching end or good of education, that an integrated human being ought to be the purpose of our instruction, that requirements in philosophy, theology, and other humanities ought to inform all of the various disciplines
The prof mentions an interlocutor-student who admires Modernity and its consequences.
...The student rightly notes that I am influenced and guided by the arguments of Aristotle, who in turn guided the theology of Aquinas. With ample progressive spirit - undoubtedly informed by his economics training - this student rather glibly dismisses out of hand that an Aristotelian and Thomistic worldview has any relevance for a modern age. If it's old, it must be dated and superseded. This well-worn argument typically asserts that, since Aristotle's scientific theories have been shown to be false, then the whole of his philosophy must also fall. Putting aside for the moment the former claim - that Aristotle's natural science has tout court been proven false, which is itself a problematic claim - the attendant claim that Aristotelian teleology, along with its concomitant insistence upon the primacy of politics (that is, political philosophy) as the "architectonic" science by which all other sciences are ordered in a society, cannot be so readily dismissed. If there is a good for humans - if we flourish under certain conditions and not others - then it is the proper place of a political science to seek a political ordering that best ensures that flourishing.
Here's the payoff line:
This is, by definition, a moral undertaking: if there is a good to which human life aims, then necessarily there are non-good or even vicious forms of life. By extension, such an understanding of a good human life would implicate all the other human sciences - including, centrally so - economics. As Aristotle writes in Book I, Chapter 8 of the Politics, an economics that aims solely at acquisition without limit for the sake of acquisition alone would constitute "living, but not living well."
...and finally names the demon:
...This student advises me to stick to political theory and leave economics to the economists. But herein lies the very problem we face: economists largely are incapable of thinking in these essential terms - they are some of our prime culprits in teaching that morality ought not to be mixed with the economic. Indeed, for all the accusations against the self-certainty of religious believers, it is our economists who constitute the true "faith-based" community of our age. Economics Departments are comprised of a cadre of "true believers," an order who faithfully defend the Free Market and worship at the altar of Efficiency and Profit. There is virtually no discussion or debate about the terms upon which economics is based; indeed, in contrast to nearly every other discipline in the humanities and social sciences, our economists brook no deviation from the orthodoxy of Mainline Libertarianism
That prof took the long way around to advise why Libertarians have such a hard time gaining political traction. In essence, Libertarians who are consistent don't give a rat's ass about "living well" in the Aristotelian sense.
But they do like their Bimmers.
HT: Dreher
The Grace of a Happy Death
If you know the meaning of that phrase, you're Catholic--perhaps Orthodox.
I was delighted to learn today that someone close to this family had visited with a priest several times last week, and was able to make a Confession.
We had prayed for precisely that--a reconciliation with the Church--and were granted our request.
So the cancer will progress (now liver, bones, and brain) and the morphine drip will likely cause coma soon.
But a happy death was granted, gratias a Deo.
I was delighted to learn today that someone close to this family had visited with a priest several times last week, and was able to make a Confession.
We had prayed for precisely that--a reconciliation with the Church--and were granted our request.
So the cancer will progress (now liver, bones, and brain) and the morphine drip will likely cause coma soon.
But a happy death was granted, gratias a Deo.
Monday, February 11, 2008
The Publick Screwels
An interesting essay here.
Some excerpts:
The [original educationalist] theory was that “reading leads to unrest and confusion” and that low-grade students are incapable of handling complex ideas without upsetting their internal equilibrium.
Something had to be done, and it was.]
Slowly, the responsibility for education was shifted from the family and community to the state; schooling became compulsory at an earlier age, ended at a later age, and took up more of the year; the curriculum was slowly devolved to de-emphasize literacy, eliminate classics, and replace history and geography with “social science.”
Children were explicitly divided into intellectual classes — a practice which was justified by the emergence of social Darwinism and the assumption that intellectual achievement had a primarily hereditary basis.
It is a practice that continues today.
...What is problematic here is not that students are being taught a series of values, but that parents, students, teachers and often even local school boards are shut out of the process. The decisions are made by specialists: men and women who lie far out of the influence of parents’ concerns, teachers’ wisdom, students’ needs and basic common sense.
Parents send their children to school hoping that they will learn to be good citizens, complete human beings, imbued with a sense of purpose and ready to enter whatever field of human endeavor best accords with their needs and talents.
Instead, students emerge confused and uncertain, morally disoriented, unable to manage money or handle debt but perfectly formed to operate as servile corporate employees and irresponsible consumers.
It all started in Prussia, and was based on a Platonic idea.
Maybe it was a good idea at the time....
Some excerpts:
The [original educationalist] theory was that “reading leads to unrest and confusion” and that low-grade students are incapable of handling complex ideas without upsetting their internal equilibrium.
Something had to be done, and it was.]
Slowly, the responsibility for education was shifted from the family and community to the state; schooling became compulsory at an earlier age, ended at a later age, and took up more of the year; the curriculum was slowly devolved to de-emphasize literacy, eliminate classics, and replace history and geography with “social science.”
Children were explicitly divided into intellectual classes — a practice which was justified by the emergence of social Darwinism and the assumption that intellectual achievement had a primarily hereditary basis.
It is a practice that continues today.
...What is problematic here is not that students are being taught a series of values, but that parents, students, teachers and often even local school boards are shut out of the process. The decisions are made by specialists: men and women who lie far out of the influence of parents’ concerns, teachers’ wisdom, students’ needs and basic common sense.
Parents send their children to school hoping that they will learn to be good citizens, complete human beings, imbued with a sense of purpose and ready to enter whatever field of human endeavor best accords with their needs and talents.
Instead, students emerge confused and uncertain, morally disoriented, unable to manage money or handle debt but perfectly formed to operate as servile corporate employees and irresponsible consumers.
It all started in Prussia, and was based on a Platonic idea.
Maybe it was a good idea at the time....
The Archdiocesan Legal Team
How much has the Archdiocese of Milwaukee paid for this?
Whenever it has been sued by victims, the archdiocese has used every hardball legal tactic at its disposal, including blocking access to church records, conducting brutally aggressive depositions of victims, and drawing out cases for years with delaying tactics to attempt to bankrupt victims and their families.
Whenever the archdiocese succeeded in getting a case dismissed on any kind of legal technicality, it would sue the victims and their families for the costs.
Another way to ask the question: now that the Archdiocese has paid out $10 million or so in damages, (not to mention the legal fees) does ANYONE think that the strategy outlined above was worth it?
How much would YOU pay for that?
HT: RAG
Whenever it has been sued by victims, the archdiocese has used every hardball legal tactic at its disposal, including blocking access to church records, conducting brutally aggressive depositions of victims, and drawing out cases for years with delaying tactics to attempt to bankrupt victims and their families.
Whenever the archdiocese succeeded in getting a case dismissed on any kind of legal technicality, it would sue the victims and their families for the costs.
Another way to ask the question: now that the Archdiocese has paid out $10 million or so in damages, (not to mention the legal fees) does ANYONE think that the strategy outlined above was worth it?
How much would YOU pay for that?
HT: RAG
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Technical Stuff: "Old Rite Varia Permissions"
The indispensable Fr. Z nukes another 'truth' which just ain't true.
Every once in a while on this blog and elsewhere we have discussions about whether any traditionalist group out there, such as the FSSP or the ICK, have permission to use older versions of the Holy Week rites than those published in the 1962 Missale Romanum. Claims are made by some that they obtained special permission to use the pre-Pius XII reform of the Holy Week rites.
Today I went to visit my old haunts, the offices of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei. I explicitly asked whether any permission has ever been given to any group to use any version of the Holy Week rites other than what is published in the 1962 Missale Romanum (now just revised in the Good Friday Prayers).
The answer is "NO".
No permission has ever been given by the PCED to any group to use other than what is in the (now slightly revised) 1962 edition.
Any member of any group who says that they have such a permission is either misinformed or dissimulating.
Every once in a while on this blog and elsewhere we have discussions about whether any traditionalist group out there, such as the FSSP or the ICK, have permission to use older versions of the Holy Week rites than those published in the 1962 Missale Romanum. Claims are made by some that they obtained special permission to use the pre-Pius XII reform of the Holy Week rites.
Today I went to visit my old haunts, the offices of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei. I explicitly asked whether any permission has ever been given to any group to use any version of the Holy Week rites other than what is published in the 1962 Missale Romanum (now just revised in the Good Friday Prayers).
The answer is "NO".
No permission has ever been given by the PCED to any group to use other than what is in the (now slightly revised) 1962 edition.
Any member of any group who says that they have such a permission is either misinformed or dissimulating.
Frankly, there are a lot of varia which have crept into celebrations of the 1962 Rite (Extraordinary Rite). When one has access to the Instructions of Popes and authoritative Roman Curial documents, it is disappointing to note that 'liturgical disobedience' is by no means restricted to practitioners of the Novus Ordo Missa.
To wit, and specifically (updated 2/12), Fr. Z also inquired about the 'second Confiteor':
I had another visit to my old offices of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei today and asked, again, about the use of the so-called "Second Confiteor".
It is NOT to be done in the older Mass now. There is no permission (except I believe pontifical Masses, as the rubrics indicate) to do a Second Confiteor at Mass with the 1962 Missale Romanum
Lord of the Rings on Obama
The intrepid Jester found the quote.
As I am currently rereading The Lord of the Rings I came across a quote from the book that when I read it instantly reminded me of Obama. In a conversation about Frodo and his initial distrust of Strider he says "I think a servant of the Enemy would look fairer and feel fouler."
Overwrought?
Not if you use a clear head to analyze Obamamania.
Remember that Obama actually voted FOR partial-birth abortion--a position which even the Hildebeeste would not take.
As I am currently rereading The Lord of the Rings I came across a quote from the book that when I read it instantly reminded me of Obama. In a conversation about Frodo and his initial distrust of Strider he says "I think a servant of the Enemy would look fairer and feel fouler."
Overwrought?
Not if you use a clear head to analyze Obamamania.
Remember that Obama actually voted FOR partial-birth abortion--a position which even the Hildebeeste would not take.
Benedict XVI Continues Muslim Dialog
Aside from M-16A2s, there is the B-16.
The first meetings were held earlier this week at the Vatican to prepare for the visit of representatives of the 138 Muslim scholars who have offered to conduct interreligious dialogue, Italian journalist and church expert Sandro Magister reports.
In October of 2007, 138 Muslim scholars addressed a letter that titled “A Common Word Between Us and You” to Pope Benedict XVI and the heads of other Christian churches in an attempt to spark dialogue with Christians.
In response to the letter, Pope Benedict said that the discussion should focus on human dignity and religious freedom first, since the Muslims’ proposed discussion topics of love of God and neighbor require these rights be respected first.
The first meetings at the Vatican will take place next spring at the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and will be presided over by Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran. The Muslim representatives will meet with Pope Benedict and other Church officials, holding study sessions at institutes like the Pontifical Gregorian University and the Pontifical Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies.
Jordan’s Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal, the lead promoter of the scholars’ letter, coordinated the meeting with the Vatican’s Secretary of State Cardinal Tarisco Bertone.
I don't think that Rowan Williams was invited.
The first meetings were held earlier this week at the Vatican to prepare for the visit of representatives of the 138 Muslim scholars who have offered to conduct interreligious dialogue, Italian journalist and church expert Sandro Magister reports.
In October of 2007, 138 Muslim scholars addressed a letter that titled “A Common Word Between Us and You” to Pope Benedict XVI and the heads of other Christian churches in an attempt to spark dialogue with Christians.
In response to the letter, Pope Benedict said that the discussion should focus on human dignity and religious freedom first, since the Muslims’ proposed discussion topics of love of God and neighbor require these rights be respected first.
The first meetings at the Vatican will take place next spring at the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and will be presided over by Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran. The Muslim representatives will meet with Pope Benedict and other Church officials, holding study sessions at institutes like the Pontifical Gregorian University and the Pontifical Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies.
Jordan’s Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal, the lead promoter of the scholars’ letter, coordinated the meeting with the Vatican’s Secretary of State Cardinal Tarisco Bertone.
I don't think that Rowan Williams was invited.
Jack Kilby, DoD Money, Bloggers, and Milwaukee
What do Owen Robinson, UW-Milwaukee, and the old Centralab Division of Globe-Union (now Johnson Controls) have in common?
Read on.
Kilby received his bachelor of science degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he is an honorary member of the Acacia fraternity. In 1947, he received a degree in Electrical Engineering. He obtained his master of science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1950, while simultaneously working at Centralab in Milwaukee.
In the summer of 1958, Kilby was a newly employed engineer at Texas Instruments who did not yet have the right to a summer vacation. He spent the summer working on the problem in circuit design that was commonly called the "tyranny of numbers" and finally came to the conclusion that manufacturing the circuit components en masse in a single piece of semiconductor material could provide a solution. On September 12 he presented his findings to the management of Texas Instruments: he showed them a piece of germanium with an oscilloscope attached, pressed a switch, and the oscilloscope showed a continuous sine wave, proving that his integrated circuit worked and thus that he solved the problem. A patent for a "Solid Circuit made of Germanium", the first integrated circuit, was filed on February 6, 1959. In addition to the integrated circuit, Kilby also is noted for patenting the electronic portable calculator and the thermal printer used in data terminals. In total, he held about 60 patents.
From 1978 to 1985, he was Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering at Texas A&M University. In 1983, Kilby retired from Texas Instruments.
Answer: a direct or indirect brush with genius.
In breezing through articles pertinent to Kilby, one is reminded of the enormous influence of military spending on Milwaukee's economy. Centralab was utilized by the military to assist in the development of proximity fuses for the 81mm howitzer; it's reasonable to speculate that the UW-M Electrical Engineering department was influenced by the proximity of A.C. Delco's NASA/military engineers (first on Prospect Avenue, later in Oak Creek.)
And although many people don't know it, the Norden bombsights folks built a facility on Hawley Road for manufacture of their product (the building was later occupied by Allis-Chalmers' Switchgear Division and is now a WallyWorld.)
In addition, Louis Allis not only supplied electrical motors for USN submarines, but also built several manufacturing facilities in the Greendale/Greenfield area (under assumed names, no less!!) for production of other military goods and for production of coil-winding machinery during WWII.
Read on.
Kilby received his bachelor of science degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he is an honorary member of the Acacia fraternity. In 1947, he received a degree in Electrical Engineering. He obtained his master of science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1950, while simultaneously working at Centralab in Milwaukee.
In the summer of 1958, Kilby was a newly employed engineer at Texas Instruments who did not yet have the right to a summer vacation. He spent the summer working on the problem in circuit design that was commonly called the "tyranny of numbers" and finally came to the conclusion that manufacturing the circuit components en masse in a single piece of semiconductor material could provide a solution. On September 12 he presented his findings to the management of Texas Instruments: he showed them a piece of germanium with an oscilloscope attached, pressed a switch, and the oscilloscope showed a continuous sine wave, proving that his integrated circuit worked and thus that he solved the problem. A patent for a "Solid Circuit made of Germanium", the first integrated circuit, was filed on February 6, 1959. In addition to the integrated circuit, Kilby also is noted for patenting the electronic portable calculator and the thermal printer used in data terminals. In total, he held about 60 patents.
From 1978 to 1985, he was Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering at Texas A&M University. In 1983, Kilby retired from Texas Instruments.
Answer: a direct or indirect brush with genius.
In breezing through articles pertinent to Kilby, one is reminded of the enormous influence of military spending on Milwaukee's economy. Centralab was utilized by the military to assist in the development of proximity fuses for the 81mm howitzer; it's reasonable to speculate that the UW-M Electrical Engineering department was influenced by the proximity of A.C. Delco's NASA/military engineers (first on Prospect Avenue, later in Oak Creek.)
And although many people don't know it, the Norden bombsights folks built a facility on Hawley Road for manufacture of their product (the building was later occupied by Allis-Chalmers' Switchgear Division and is now a WallyWorld.)
In addition, Louis Allis not only supplied electrical motors for USN submarines, but also built several manufacturing facilities in the Greendale/Greenfield area (under assumed names, no less!!) for production of other military goods and for production of coil-winding machinery during WWII.
Curious Campaigning from "Club for Growth"
Here's the setup.
What do you call a Congressman who:
"...was a leader in opposing amnesty in Congress and has an A rating from Americans for Better Immigration. He has a 100% record from the National Right to Life and Gun Owners of America[. and holds a] 92% rating from the American Conservative Union"?
Well, he's been called "the most liberal Republican Congressman from the South" by his primary opponent.
Apparently his 95% rating from Americans for Prosperity is not good enough for "Club for Growth", which is going to spend several hundred thousand against him in the primary. (!!)
Or....is it possible....maybe...that the opposition is due to Walter Jones' stand against the Iraq War?
You decide.
What do you call a Congressman who:
"...was a leader in opposing amnesty in Congress and has an A rating from Americans for Better Immigration. He has a 100% record from the National Right to Life and Gun Owners of America[. and holds a] 92% rating from the American Conservative Union"?
Well, he's been called "the most liberal Republican Congressman from the South" by his primary opponent.
Apparently his 95% rating from Americans for Prosperity is not good enough for "Club for Growth", which is going to spend several hundred thousand against him in the primary. (!!)
Or....is it possible....maybe...that the opposition is due to Walter Jones' stand against the Iraq War?
You decide.
Friday, February 08, 2008
Music for Mass on the Pope's Visit
Well, well.
His Eminence Cardinal Egan mentioned, almost offhandedly, today, while speaking at the annual Red Mass for the Guild of Catholic Lawyers at the Church of Our Saviour, New York City, that the music chosen for the Solemn Pontifical Mass at Yankee Stadium scheduled for Sunday, April 20, would include settings of the Gloria and the Sanctus by the Renaissance master Tomás Luis de Victoria.
Probably worth tuning into EWTN for the listen.
HT: TNLM
His Eminence Cardinal Egan mentioned, almost offhandedly, today, while speaking at the annual Red Mass for the Guild of Catholic Lawyers at the Church of Our Saviour, New York City, that the music chosen for the Solemn Pontifical Mass at Yankee Stadium scheduled for Sunday, April 20, would include settings of the Gloria and the Sanctus by the Renaissance master Tomás Luis de Victoria.
Probably worth tuning into EWTN for the listen.
HT: TNLM
Some "Free Speech" Is Not Free
A blog-o-pal is currently in Iraq, with the JAG Corps. We've disagreed about this topic, so just to keep him awake nights, I'll post a bit from this erudite essay (quoted by Hat-Lady). And so you know: Grim is not a porn-pusher--but is of the opinion that porn is sorta neutral. I think that he agrees that porn most certainly should be unavailable to children.
...pornography hard-wires inflammatory images of rapes, perversions, sexual tortures and other sociopathic acts into countless minds. It has a huge influence on our sex-crime and sex-disease statistics.
More than 900,000 women were raped in the last decade (police say pornography use is all but universal among rapists, often just before the crime). Last year, some 19 million Americans got VD, including 8 to 10 million of our teenagers, who are major consumers of pornography. Twenty-five percent of our teens contract VD before they get their high school diplomas. (Less than one percent did so in 1950, when the authorities enforced our obscenity laws.) One of every five children over 12 now tests positive for genital herpes.
--Dr. Dennis Jarrard, former head of the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles
Free Speech, eh? Keep that in mind if/when one of your daughters is raped--or picks up VD.
...pornography hard-wires inflammatory images of rapes, perversions, sexual tortures and other sociopathic acts into countless minds. It has a huge influence on our sex-crime and sex-disease statistics.
More than 900,000 women were raped in the last decade (police say pornography use is all but universal among rapists, often just before the crime). Last year, some 19 million Americans got VD, including 8 to 10 million of our teenagers, who are major consumers of pornography. Twenty-five percent of our teens contract VD before they get their high school diplomas. (Less than one percent did so in 1950, when the authorities enforced our obscenity laws.) One of every five children over 12 now tests positive for genital herpes.
--Dr. Dennis Jarrard, former head of the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles
Free Speech, eh? Keep that in mind if/when one of your daughters is raped--or picks up VD.
No "Smiley Face" Catholic Report Here
Russell Shaw, a pre-eminent lay Catholic and high-level observer, suggests that the Pope could be told the truth about the Church in the USA during his upcoming visit to NYC.
...Since American Catholics are supposedly not only the most highly educated ever [a contention of James Davidson of Purdue U.] but are also loyal to the essentials of the faith, let's look at what these exemplary Catholics believe. American Catholics Today (Rowman & Littlefield, 2007), a book by Professor Davidson and three other sociologists, sheds light on that.
A survey in 2005 found that 76 percent of the Catholics of the United States thought someone could be a good Catholic without going to church every Sunday. Other elements of Catholic belief and practice also fared poorly. Three out of four said good Catholics needn't observe the teaching on contraception; two-thirds said the same of having their marriages blessed by the Church and accepting the teaching on divorce and remarriage; 58 percent took the same view of giving time or money to the parish and also of following Church teaching on abortion. These numbers have gone up dramatically since Davidson and his colleagues began collecting them in 1987. And, by 2005, nearly one in four held that a good Catholic needn't believe that Jesus rose bodily from the dead.
In 2003, the researchers tested American Catholics' views on the Catholic Church and other religions. Some results: 86 percent agreed with the statement "If you believe in God, it doesn't really matter which religion you belong to"; 74 percent said yes to "The major world religions are equally good ways of finding ultimate truth"; and 52 percent accepted the proposition, "The Catholic religion has no more spiritual truth than other major religions."
Apparently not all of those highly educated and loyal Catholic Americans measure up too well by the standards of Catholic orthodoxy....
Knowing that Davidson published that information AND that he thinks US Catholics are "A body of adherents who are not only 'the most highly educated laypeople in the history of the Church" but who "affirm [its] core beliefs and practices."' makes one wonder about what planet Davidson actually occupies when not on duty at Purdue.
But the above is hardly comprehensive. Consider:
--the decline in Sunday Mass attendance (from 75 percent of American Catholics to about 30 percent)
and the precipitous decline in other sacramental participation:
--In 1970 there were 426,000 Catholic marriages in the US in a Catholic population of 48 million, compared with 200,000 last year, when American Catholics officially numbered 67.5 million.
--Every year in the United States, several hundred thousand—perhaps as many as half a million—Catholic young people whose ages make them eligible to receive this sacrament skip being confirmed
Now you understand why the red-highlighted text above?
Shaw cites Orestes Brownson, who admonished Fr. Hecker (the Paulists) for his optimism about the Church's future in America in 1870:
Instead of regarding the Church as having advantages here [in America] which she has nowhere else, I think she has here a more subtle and powerful enemy to combat than in any of the old monarchical nations of the world….Catholics as well as others imbibe the spirit of the country, imbibe from infancy the spirit of independence, freedom from all restraint, unbounded license….I think the Church has never encountered a social & political order so hostile to her, & that the conversion of our republic will be a far greater victory than the conversion of the Roman Empire.
...somehow, John Paul II's definition of "freedom" as "the liberty to do what is RIGHT" has been perverted into "the liberty do do whatever I damn well please."
Not exactly Catholic--but then, given 'what Catholics think is right' is so filled with wrongs...
Oh, well.
Look no further than Marquette University, Notre Dame, and St Louis U. (inter alia) for the proof of Brownson's pudding.
...in the 1960s something else began that worked hand-in-glove with the absorption of Catholics into secular America and was not inevitable at all. I mean the institutionalization of theoretical and practical dissent, a process memorably signaled by the 1967 Land O' Lakes declaration by the presidents of major Catholic universities proclaiming their schools' independence from the magisterium. The effects of the powerful one-two punch of assimilation and dissent are reflected in the figures above.
Our friend Mr. Shaw cites, approvingly, Carlin's frightful conclusion (Carlin, by the way, echoes Cdl. George of Chicago):
Reviewing the evidence of decline in his book The Decline and Fall of the Catholic Church in America (Sophia Institute Press, 2003), David Carlin concludes that the outcome of the crisis will probably be the de facto collapse of the Church in America and the retreat of Catholics into the status of a "minor and relatively insignificant sect." Traditionalists will have won the internal Catholic power struggle, mainly because the progressives will have drifted away. But in the end, the small band of traditionalists will find themselves isolated in "a new Catholic quasi-ghetto," with about as much influence on the culture as the Amish and Hasidic Jews have now.
...Chicago's Cardinal Francis George, president of the US bishops' conference and probably the brightest member of the American hierarchy, unburdened himself (in an interview with reporter John Allen) on the disappearance of an American Catholic subculture and what that means for "those third, fourth, fifth, sixth generation Irish, Germans, Italians, some Poles, whose only culture is that of this country….We're in some trouble in terms of Catholic identity."
To his everlasting credit, it is obvious that Abp. Dolan got Cdl. George's message--Dolan has been virtually peripatetic in media appearances, and the Archdiocese is running ads on TV which highlight Mass attendance. Dolan is no "fire and brimstone" kinda guy, but there's little mistaking his message. Terry quoted an Archdiocesan planning document which sheds some light on the thinking of Abp. Dolan:
Archbishop Dolan "has stressed that we need to distinguish between the location of the places where worship takes place separate from how we organize ourselves to live the mission of the church."
Of course, Dolan's message is being squashed (or at least deflected) by the aftermath of the mal-administration of this Archdiocese by his two immediate predecessors, who blithely (or malignantly) ignored Rome's counsel about ordaining homosexuals.
Can Abp. Dolan and Cdl. George pull the chestnuts out of the fire?
Stay tuned.
HT: Dreher.
...Since American Catholics are supposedly not only the most highly educated ever [a contention of James Davidson of Purdue U.] but are also loyal to the essentials of the faith, let's look at what these exemplary Catholics believe. American Catholics Today (Rowman & Littlefield, 2007), a book by Professor Davidson and three other sociologists, sheds light on that.
A survey in 2005 found that 76 percent of the Catholics of the United States thought someone could be a good Catholic without going to church every Sunday. Other elements of Catholic belief and practice also fared poorly. Three out of four said good Catholics needn't observe the teaching on contraception; two-thirds said the same of having their marriages blessed by the Church and accepting the teaching on divorce and remarriage; 58 percent took the same view of giving time or money to the parish and also of following Church teaching on abortion. These numbers have gone up dramatically since Davidson and his colleagues began collecting them in 1987. And, by 2005, nearly one in four held that a good Catholic needn't believe that Jesus rose bodily from the dead.
In 2003, the researchers tested American Catholics' views on the Catholic Church and other religions. Some results: 86 percent agreed with the statement "If you believe in God, it doesn't really matter which religion you belong to"; 74 percent said yes to "The major world religions are equally good ways of finding ultimate truth"; and 52 percent accepted the proposition, "The Catholic religion has no more spiritual truth than other major religions."
Apparently not all of those highly educated and loyal Catholic Americans measure up too well by the standards of Catholic orthodoxy....
Knowing that Davidson published that information AND that he thinks US Catholics are "A body of adherents who are not only 'the most highly educated laypeople in the history of the Church" but who "affirm [its] core beliefs and practices."' makes one wonder about what planet Davidson actually occupies when not on duty at Purdue.
But the above is hardly comprehensive. Consider:
--the decline in Sunday Mass attendance (from 75 percent of American Catholics to about 30 percent)
and the precipitous decline in other sacramental participation:
--In 1970 there were 426,000 Catholic marriages in the US in a Catholic population of 48 million, compared with 200,000 last year, when American Catholics officially numbered 67.5 million.
--Every year in the United States, several hundred thousand—perhaps as many as half a million—Catholic young people whose ages make them eligible to receive this sacrament skip being confirmed
Now you understand why the red-highlighted text above?
Shaw cites Orestes Brownson, who admonished Fr. Hecker (the Paulists) for his optimism about the Church's future in America in 1870:
Instead of regarding the Church as having advantages here [in America] which she has nowhere else, I think she has here a more subtle and powerful enemy to combat than in any of the old monarchical nations of the world….Catholics as well as others imbibe the spirit of the country, imbibe from infancy the spirit of independence, freedom from all restraint, unbounded license….I think the Church has never encountered a social & political order so hostile to her, & that the conversion of our republic will be a far greater victory than the conversion of the Roman Empire.
...somehow, John Paul II's definition of "freedom" as "the liberty to do what is RIGHT" has been perverted into "the liberty do do whatever I damn well please."
Not exactly Catholic--but then, given 'what Catholics think is right' is so filled with wrongs...
Oh, well.
Look no further than Marquette University, Notre Dame, and St Louis U. (inter alia) for the proof of Brownson's pudding.
...in the 1960s something else began that worked hand-in-glove with the absorption of Catholics into secular America and was not inevitable at all. I mean the institutionalization of theoretical and practical dissent, a process memorably signaled by the 1967 Land O' Lakes declaration by the presidents of major Catholic universities proclaiming their schools' independence from the magisterium. The effects of the powerful one-two punch of assimilation and dissent are reflected in the figures above.
Our friend Mr. Shaw cites, approvingly, Carlin's frightful conclusion (Carlin, by the way, echoes Cdl. George of Chicago):
Reviewing the evidence of decline in his book The Decline and Fall of the Catholic Church in America (Sophia Institute Press, 2003), David Carlin concludes that the outcome of the crisis will probably be the de facto collapse of the Church in America and the retreat of Catholics into the status of a "minor and relatively insignificant sect." Traditionalists will have won the internal Catholic power struggle, mainly because the progressives will have drifted away. But in the end, the small band of traditionalists will find themselves isolated in "a new Catholic quasi-ghetto," with about as much influence on the culture as the Amish and Hasidic Jews have now.
...Chicago's Cardinal Francis George, president of the US bishops' conference and probably the brightest member of the American hierarchy, unburdened himself (in an interview with reporter John Allen) on the disappearance of an American Catholic subculture and what that means for "those third, fourth, fifth, sixth generation Irish, Germans, Italians, some Poles, whose only culture is that of this country….We're in some trouble in terms of Catholic identity."
To his everlasting credit, it is obvious that Abp. Dolan got Cdl. George's message--Dolan has been virtually peripatetic in media appearances, and the Archdiocese is running ads on TV which highlight Mass attendance. Dolan is no "fire and brimstone" kinda guy, but there's little mistaking his message. Terry quoted an Archdiocesan planning document which sheds some light on the thinking of Abp. Dolan:
Archbishop Dolan "has stressed that we need to distinguish between the location of the places where worship takes place separate from how we organize ourselves to live the mission of the church."
Of course, Dolan's message is being squashed (or at least deflected) by the aftermath of the mal-administration of this Archdiocese by his two immediate predecessors, who blithely (or malignantly) ignored Rome's counsel about ordaining homosexuals.
Can Abp. Dolan and Cdl. George pull the chestnuts out of the fire?
Stay tuned.
HT: Dreher.
UN-Believable Fact
This is the cover of a CD full of Gregorian Chant. I happen to know of the choir which sings it--Applegate is a good musician.
So what? Well, here's so what, according to Christus Vincit:
OCP's [Oregon Catholic Press] best selling album is O Lux Beatissima: A Treasury of Gregorian Chant. You wouldn't think so when you look at the catalogs and see the crap that takes up the bulk of the pages (read: the stuff that gets pushed - Schutte, Haugen* Haas* Joncas, Manalo, Lung, Agrisano, etc.) and that the chant section barely gets one page. You wouldn't think so when you look through a music issue and see that same "pushed" stuff taking up about 70% of the hymnal's pages and that you hear a lot of it in most of the English-speaking parishes of the world.
Who woulda thunk?
Psychology vs. Man
G K Chesterton, of course:
Christianity said that any man could be a saint if he chose; democracy, that every man could be a citizen if he chose. The note of the last few decades in art and ethics has been that a man is stamped with an irrevocable psychology and is cramped for perpetuity in the prison of his skull.
....which, ipso facto, is perfectly anti-Christian.
Christianity said that any man could be a saint if he chose; democracy, that every man could be a citizen if he chose. The note of the last few decades in art and ethics has been that a man is stamped with an irrevocable psychology and is cramped for perpetuity in the prison of his skull.
....which, ipso facto, is perfectly anti-Christian.
Summing It Up
Couldn't say it better.
McCain for President. Or we're really screwed.
I have the same lack of enthusiasm as does the Yankee, too.
McCain for President. Or we're really screwed.
I have the same lack of enthusiasm as does the Yankee, too.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
John McCain: the Natural Choice
Neumayr nails it.
Having accepted the concept of the "Big Tent" a long time ago, the GOP can't excommunicate anyone from the party. It was a dumb idea and the GOP has paid the price for it in endless philosophical drift and inept presidential nominees.
John McCain differs in degree, not kind, from the last three GOP presidential candidates.Bush Sr., Dole, Bush Jr., McCain: Where's the substantive difference? They are all intellectually lame Republicans, with little to no interest in conservative political and moral philosophy.
....It should be noted that Neumayr is a Huckabee/ster enthusiast and what I eliminated has to do with that candidate's treatment by the East Coast 'establishment' Pubbies.
But Huckabee/ster or no, Neumayr's underlying point is germane and applicable.
McCain is exactly what a GOP that treats the natural moral law as negotiable deserves. The natural law is the philosophical core of conservatism. Any party that abandons or downplays it becomes just another species of liberalism. Most "conservative" positions today are little more than the liberal positions of yesteryear, from Bill Clinton's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy to No Child Left Behind -- a PC conservatism that Mitt Romney and McCain perfectly embody.
...A conservatism without the natural law is simply willful liberalism in a more respectable guise, moving more glacially than the left's transparent one, but essentially agreeing that man is the measure of all things and political disputes, no matter how obviously they bear upon the God-given nature of man, are to be resolved by power and man's desires.
I recently engaged in a lengthy and civil (!!) email exchange with a Lefty blogger from Milwaukee. In essence, he was a portrait of the above paragraph, arguing that "homosexual marriage" is a right, and that it should be legal. My argument from "nature" was politely but firmly dismissed as irrelevant.
Both reason and bitter history should tell conservatives that sawing off the natural law leg of its stool makes the whole thing collapse. Without principles rooted in reality upon which to deliberate about the size of government proper to human beings, economic conservatism evaporates and foreign-policy conservatism turns hubristic. If McCain isn't sitting on a three-legged stool, that's because GOP activists threw it away a long time ago. They set up in its place a Big Tent and McCain crawled into it. Their whining is a generation too late.
More Neumayr would be a good thing--but it will take another 4, 8, or 12 years to find that Conservatism in another (R) candidate.
Having accepted the concept of the "Big Tent" a long time ago, the GOP can't excommunicate anyone from the party. It was a dumb idea and the GOP has paid the price for it in endless philosophical drift and inept presidential nominees.
John McCain differs in degree, not kind, from the last three GOP presidential candidates.Bush Sr., Dole, Bush Jr., McCain: Where's the substantive difference? They are all intellectually lame Republicans, with little to no interest in conservative political and moral philosophy.
....It should be noted that Neumayr is a Huckabee/ster enthusiast and what I eliminated has to do with that candidate's treatment by the East Coast 'establishment' Pubbies.
But Huckabee/ster or no, Neumayr's underlying point is germane and applicable.
McCain is exactly what a GOP that treats the natural moral law as negotiable deserves. The natural law is the philosophical core of conservatism. Any party that abandons or downplays it becomes just another species of liberalism. Most "conservative" positions today are little more than the liberal positions of yesteryear, from Bill Clinton's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy to No Child Left Behind -- a PC conservatism that Mitt Romney and McCain perfectly embody.
...A conservatism without the natural law is simply willful liberalism in a more respectable guise, moving more glacially than the left's transparent one, but essentially agreeing that man is the measure of all things and political disputes, no matter how obviously they bear upon the God-given nature of man, are to be resolved by power and man's desires.
I recently engaged in a lengthy and civil (!!) email exchange with a Lefty blogger from Milwaukee. In essence, he was a portrait of the above paragraph, arguing that "homosexual marriage" is a right, and that it should be legal. My argument from "nature" was politely but firmly dismissed as irrelevant.
Both reason and bitter history should tell conservatives that sawing off the natural law leg of its stool makes the whole thing collapse. Without principles rooted in reality upon which to deliberate about the size of government proper to human beings, economic conservatism evaporates and foreign-policy conservatism turns hubristic. If McCain isn't sitting on a three-legged stool, that's because GOP activists threw it away a long time ago. They set up in its place a Big Tent and McCain crawled into it. Their whining is a generation too late.
More Neumayr would be a good thing--but it will take another 4, 8, or 12 years to find that Conservatism in another (R) candidate.
1962 Rite New Prayer for the Jews
There was a good deal of controversy over the old "Prayer for the Jews" in the 1962 Rite's Good Friday service. The prayer referred to the "blindness" of the Jews while praying for their conversion.
So Pope Benedict re-wrote the prayer.
Here's the new text:
Oremus et pro Iudaeis. Ut Deus et Dominus noster illuminet corda eorum, ut agnoscant Iesum Christum salvatorem omnium hominum
"....illuminate their hearts that they may recognize Jesus Christ as the Savior of all mankind."
Didn't exactly draw bouquets from some Jewish folks, either.
"We're disappointed. We were expecting language that would make room for the integrity of Jewish faith in its own right. Obviously, Benedict is not able to do this in terms of his theological outlook — unlike his predecessors," said Rabbi David Rosen, director of interreligious affairs for the American Jewish Committee and head of the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations, engaged in ongoing dialogue with the Vatican.
Abraham Foxman, national director of the New York-based Anti-Defamation League, said that he was "deeply troubled" that the intention to petition God for Jews to accept Jesus as Lord was kept intact.
But the Rev. James Massa, executive director for interreligious affairs for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Wednesday that the prayer should be understood in the essential Catholic view that "all people come to salvation through Jesus Christ. This is not going to go away."
Unmentioned, but a VERY big part of the discussion, is the term "supercessionism," which (roughly) postulates that the Catholic Church is the fulfillment of the Old Law/Old Testament; that is, that Salvation has, indeed, come from the Jews and they should recognize Him.
So Pope Benedict re-wrote the prayer.
Here's the new text:
Oremus et pro Iudaeis. Ut Deus et Dominus noster illuminet corda eorum, ut agnoscant Iesum Christum salvatorem omnium hominum
"....illuminate their hearts that they may recognize Jesus Christ as the Savior of all mankind."
Didn't exactly draw bouquets from some Jewish folks, either.
"We're disappointed. We were expecting language that would make room for the integrity of Jewish faith in its own right. Obviously, Benedict is not able to do this in terms of his theological outlook — unlike his predecessors," said Rabbi David Rosen, director of interreligious affairs for the American Jewish Committee and head of the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations, engaged in ongoing dialogue with the Vatican.
Abraham Foxman, national director of the New York-based Anti-Defamation League, said that he was "deeply troubled" that the intention to petition God for Jews to accept Jesus as Lord was kept intact.
But the Rev. James Massa, executive director for interreligious affairs for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Wednesday that the prayer should be understood in the essential Catholic view that "all people come to salvation through Jesus Christ. This is not going to go away."
Unmentioned, but a VERY big part of the discussion, is the term "supercessionism," which (roughly) postulates that the Catholic Church is the fulfillment of the Old Law/Old Testament; that is, that Salvation has, indeed, come from the Jews and they should recognize Him.
History As Told to Your Children
News item:
USA Today reports on a poll taken of American high school students, asking them to name the "most famous Americans in history," starting with Columbus to the present day.
Asked to name the most famous Americans in history, high school students put 20th-century black Americans in the top three slots. Here are the top 10, with the percentage who chose each:
1. Martin Luther King Jr.: 67%
2. Rosa Parks: 60%
3. Harriet Tubman: 44%
4. Susan B. Anthony: 34%
5.Benjamin Franklin: 29%
6. Amelia Earhart: 25%
7. Oprah Winfrey: 22%
8. Marilyn Monroe: 19%
9. Thomas Edison: 18%
10. Albert Einstein: 16%
Furthermore:
For what it's worth, when the researchers polled 2,000 adults in a different survey, their lists were nearly identical. To Wineburg, that shows that what's studied in school affects not just children but the adults who help them with their schoolwork.
Of course, "famous" is not the same as "significant."
Right?
HT: Dreher
USA Today reports on a poll taken of American high school students, asking them to name the "most famous Americans in history," starting with Columbus to the present day.
Asked to name the most famous Americans in history, high school students put 20th-century black Americans in the top three slots. Here are the top 10, with the percentage who chose each:
1. Martin Luther King Jr.: 67%
2. Rosa Parks: 60%
3. Harriet Tubman: 44%
4. Susan B. Anthony: 34%
5.Benjamin Franklin: 29%
6. Amelia Earhart: 25%
7. Oprah Winfrey: 22%
8. Marilyn Monroe: 19%
9. Thomas Edison: 18%
10. Albert Einstein: 16%
Furthermore:
For what it's worth, when the researchers polled 2,000 adults in a different survey, their lists were nearly identical. To Wineburg, that shows that what's studied in school affects not just children but the adults who help them with their schoolwork.
Of course, "famous" is not the same as "significant."
Right?
HT: Dreher
Clinton Campaign Finance: Same Old, Same Old?
HRC had to pop $5 million of her own money into the campaign.
The Captain raises a question about that.
Where did Hillary get $5 million to loan a presidential campaign? Bill and Hillary have done well on the speaking circuit, and Bill recently got $20 million or so for backing out of his partnership from Ron Burkle. At the time, speculation had Bill wanting to eliminate any potential conflicts between Burkle's business and Hillary's election.
Now, however, one has to wonder whether Burkle may have attempted to float money into Hillary's campaign while bypassing campaign-finance regulations. Did the $20 million, which came just two weeks ago, actually represent a fair-market settlement for Clinton's services and ownership stake in Yucaipa? Or did Burkle inflate it in order to allow Hillary to "loan" herself $5 million to keep pace with a surging Obama campaign?
Next we'll learn that Burkle got the money from Red China in exchange for a coal mine, or something.
The Captain raises a question about that.
Where did Hillary get $5 million to loan a presidential campaign? Bill and Hillary have done well on the speaking circuit, and Bill recently got $20 million or so for backing out of his partnership from Ron Burkle. At the time, speculation had Bill wanting to eliminate any potential conflicts between Burkle's business and Hillary's election.
Now, however, one has to wonder whether Burkle may have attempted to float money into Hillary's campaign while bypassing campaign-finance regulations. Did the $20 million, which came just two weeks ago, actually represent a fair-market settlement for Clinton's services and ownership stake in Yucaipa? Or did Burkle inflate it in order to allow Hillary to "loan" herself $5 million to keep pace with a surging Obama campaign?
Next we'll learn that Burkle got the money from Red China in exchange for a coal mine, or something.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
More Pilot/Mechanic Repartee
Humor in brevity, folks.
Pilots complain about various problems with the plane; mechanics respond. All on a log-sheet.
P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.
P: Dead bugs on windshield. S: Live bugs on back-order.
P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.
P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That’s what they’re for.
P: IFF inoperative.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode
P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.
P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.
P: Noise coming from under instrument panel . Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget
Stolen from Fr. Z.
Pilots complain about various problems with the plane; mechanics respond. All on a log-sheet.
P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.
P: Dead bugs on windshield. S: Live bugs on back-order.
P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.
P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That’s what they’re for.
P: IFF inoperative.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode
P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.
P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.
P: Noise coming from under instrument panel . Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget
Stolen from Fr. Z.
Birthday Coincidences and Area 51
Blosser reminds us.
Many of you will recall that on July 8, 1947, almost exactly 60 years ago, witnesses claim that an unidentified flying object (UFO) with five aliens aboard crashed onto a sheep and cattle ranch just outside Roswell, NM...
However, what you man not know is that in the month of March 1948, nine months after that historic day, the following people were born:
Albert A. Gore, Jr., Hillary Rodham, John F. Kerry, William J. Clinton, Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Dianne Feinstein, Charles E. Schumer, Barbara Boxer
Draw your OWN conclusions.
Many of you will recall that on July 8, 1947, almost exactly 60 years ago, witnesses claim that an unidentified flying object (UFO) with five aliens aboard crashed onto a sheep and cattle ranch just outside Roswell, NM...
However, what you man not know is that in the month of March 1948, nine months after that historic day, the following people were born:
Albert A. Gore, Jr., Hillary Rodham, John F. Kerry, William J. Clinton, Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Dianne Feinstein, Charles E. Schumer, Barbara Boxer
Draw your OWN conclusions.
The Chickens Are Home: The Homosexual Priest Problem
From Dreher. He starts with the First Things review of Lawler's book, and adds a few thoughts.
Richard Sipe and Fr. Tom Doyle are very far from being conservative Catholics -- in fact, Fr. Doyle has been involved with Call to Action -- but they also happen to be among the most knowledgeable experts on the sex abuse crisis. Sipe, who is probably the expert on the sexual lives of Catholic clerics, told me that the seminary system is the problem. Many seminaries are run by corrupt gay clerics, he said (Fr. Doyle agreed). If a seminarian struggling with homosexuality and chastity is admitted, the attempt will quickly be made to corrupt him by getting him involved in sexual activity. If he falls, he's done for. Even if he repents and lives a blameless celibate life thenceforth, the network has something on him, and is willing to use it. He's been neutralized.
This blog mentioned that the Milwaukee Seminary's Rectors (going back to the late 1950's) should share the blame for the problem. We must credit Abp. Dolan for recognizing the problem and (effectively) closing St Francis Major Sem. (It wasn't just a "money problem.")
...Unless you've spent a lot of time talking to people who have dealt with this stuff personally, it's hard to believe this situation really exists. I interviewed a seminarian who had been studying in a religious order's seminary, but who left for a diocesan seminary because, he said, gay sex was open and rampant in the particular order seminary in which he was studying. He told his own parents about what he was dealing with, and they didn't believe him. They couldn't believe him: priests didn't do these sorts of things, as they saw it. I firmly believe that John Paul II was so dreadful on the scandal because he couldn't face the extent and degree of the corruption.
JPII was hardly the ONLY one who could not fact the problem. Paul VI was there, too. B-16 has explicitly said that there were horrible crimes--civil and ecclesial--committed.
...It hardly needs saying that the media, which have done a good job of exploring all angles of the scandal's root cause, have studiously ignored the complex story of gays in the priesthood and their role. It's true that many conservatives would love to blame the entire mess on gays and be done with it. I can't say strongly enough: that is way too simplistic, and therefore unjust. But the media, it seems to me, have gone out of their way to avoid looking at the homosexualization of the priesthood.
Of course it's unjust. Corruption is certainly not confined to homosexuals. And it is the effects of corruption (not just sexual orientation) that we deal with today--in the civil-damages courts.
Richard Sipe and Fr. Tom Doyle are very far from being conservative Catholics -- in fact, Fr. Doyle has been involved with Call to Action -- but they also happen to be among the most knowledgeable experts on the sex abuse crisis. Sipe, who is probably the expert on the sexual lives of Catholic clerics, told me that the seminary system is the problem. Many seminaries are run by corrupt gay clerics, he said (Fr. Doyle agreed). If a seminarian struggling with homosexuality and chastity is admitted, the attempt will quickly be made to corrupt him by getting him involved in sexual activity. If he falls, he's done for. Even if he repents and lives a blameless celibate life thenceforth, the network has something on him, and is willing to use it. He's been neutralized.
This blog mentioned that the Milwaukee Seminary's Rectors (going back to the late 1950's) should share the blame for the problem. We must credit Abp. Dolan for recognizing the problem and (effectively) closing St Francis Major Sem. (It wasn't just a "money problem.")
...Unless you've spent a lot of time talking to people who have dealt with this stuff personally, it's hard to believe this situation really exists. I interviewed a seminarian who had been studying in a religious order's seminary, but who left for a diocesan seminary because, he said, gay sex was open and rampant in the particular order seminary in which he was studying. He told his own parents about what he was dealing with, and they didn't believe him. They couldn't believe him: priests didn't do these sorts of things, as they saw it. I firmly believe that John Paul II was so dreadful on the scandal because he couldn't face the extent and degree of the corruption.
JPII was hardly the ONLY one who could not fact the problem. Paul VI was there, too. B-16 has explicitly said that there were horrible crimes--civil and ecclesial--committed.
...It hardly needs saying that the media, which have done a good job of exploring all angles of the scandal's root cause, have studiously ignored the complex story of gays in the priesthood and their role. It's true that many conservatives would love to blame the entire mess on gays and be done with it. I can't say strongly enough: that is way too simplistic, and therefore unjust. But the media, it seems to me, have gone out of their way to avoid looking at the homosexualization of the priesthood.
Of course it's unjust. Corruption is certainly not confined to homosexuals. And it is the effects of corruption (not just sexual orientation) that we deal with today--in the civil-damages courts.
When McPain Chooses His VP...
It won't be the Huckabee/ster, folks.
The Huck hasn't done well outside the South, except in Iowa, and absolutely, positively, turns OFF the moderate Pubbies (not to mention the moderate Dems) with his "God-talk" stuff.
For that matter, the Huckabee/ster hasn't done all that well IN the South, either.
Who needs that?
Heh.
The Huck hasn't done well outside the South, except in Iowa, and absolutely, positively, turns OFF the moderate Pubbies (not to mention the moderate Dems) with his "God-talk" stuff.
For that matter, the Huckabee/ster hasn't done all that well IN the South, either.
Who needs that?
Heh.
Lawyers Get Green With Green; Industry to Vanish
To demonstrate that there's always a silver lining for someone, Moonbattery lets us know:
Twenty of the top 100 highest-grossing U.S. law firms are billing as much as $700 dollars per hour for climate change work that ranges from lobbying Congress to helping clients finance clean-energy projects, according to Bloomberg. And the move into climate-change law is gaining traction as Congress considers mandatory GHG caps. Baker & McKenzie, a Chicago-based firm with over 3,300 lawyers, pioneered a climate-change group ten years ago. The team of 60 lawyers brought in an estimated revenue of $15 to $20 million in 2007, said Richard Saines, who heads the US part of the practice.
The red highlight tells you what's going to happen in the next 10 years or so. The action will be in corporate-governance lawsuits filed by shareholders after some corporations get hit with GHG violations (however that is determined...)
We've maintained that the exodus of manufacturing to offshore plants (and the just-as-significant practice of "outsourcing") has much more to do with taxes and regulations than the simple-minded "cost of labor" mantra voiced by some.
Proof abounds...
Twenty of the top 100 highest-grossing U.S. law firms are billing as much as $700 dollars per hour for climate change work that ranges from lobbying Congress to helping clients finance clean-energy projects, according to Bloomberg. And the move into climate-change law is gaining traction as Congress considers mandatory GHG caps. Baker & McKenzie, a Chicago-based firm with over 3,300 lawyers, pioneered a climate-change group ten years ago. The team of 60 lawyers brought in an estimated revenue of $15 to $20 million in 2007, said Richard Saines, who heads the US part of the practice.
The red highlight tells you what's going to happen in the next 10 years or so. The action will be in corporate-governance lawsuits filed by shareholders after some corporations get hit with GHG violations (however that is determined...)
We've maintained that the exodus of manufacturing to offshore plants (and the just-as-significant practice of "outsourcing") has much more to do with taxes and regulations than the simple-minded "cost of labor" mantra voiced by some.
Proof abounds...
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Last Loser Lips Off to Limbaugh
It's reported that Bob Dole (erectile dysfunction) sent a letter to Limbaugh telling him to make nice to John McPain.
Northern Border Problems
Oh, yah, there's a good reason for instituting that passport/ID regulation at the border with Canada.
As of January 31, U.S. and Canadian citizens age 20 and up must present proof of citizenship and identity to enter the country. The simple oral declaration that one is an American or Canadian citizen will no longer suffice.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a service of the Department of Homeland Security, has its work cut out for it. In just three months last year, from October to December, CBP officers reported 1,517 instances of individuals stopped at the border falsely claiming to be U.S. citizens.
Huh.
As of January 31, U.S. and Canadian citizens age 20 and up must present proof of citizenship and identity to enter the country. The simple oral declaration that one is an American or Canadian citizen will no longer suffice.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a service of the Department of Homeland Security, has its work cut out for it. In just three months last year, from October to December, CBP officers reported 1,517 instances of individuals stopped at the border falsely claiming to be U.S. citizens.
Huh.
Monday, February 04, 2008
The "Hail Mary" Pass--Origin of the Phrase
Heh. It's a Catholic thing, folks.
Staubach’s Catholic faith was evident in one of the best highlight-reel plays in NFL history. In a 1975 playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings, he threw a 50-yard bomb to receiver Drew Pearson in the final seconds to win the game, 17-14. Interviewed after the game, Staubach joked that he had said a Hail Mary just before he threw the ball.
From that point onward, any long desperation pass in an attempt to score in a game’s final seconds would commonly be referred to as a “Hail Mary pass.”
Lots more intereseting info about RC pro footballers (Ditka, Shula, Griese, Favre, and others) here.
And who could forget Vince Lombardi? Or that the NYGiants' owner-family is RC?
HT: MWBH
Staubach’s Catholic faith was evident in one of the best highlight-reel plays in NFL history. In a 1975 playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings, he threw a 50-yard bomb to receiver Drew Pearson in the final seconds to win the game, 17-14. Interviewed after the game, Staubach joked that he had said a Hail Mary just before he threw the ball.
From that point onward, any long desperation pass in an attempt to score in a game’s final seconds would commonly be referred to as a “Hail Mary pass.”
Lots more intereseting info about RC pro footballers (Ditka, Shula, Griese, Favre, and others) here.
And who could forget Vince Lombardi? Or that the NYGiants' owner-family is RC?
HT: MWBH
For the Record
The Pope identified three principles in Catholic political action.
...a present-day Catholic citizen should never place issues of lesser importance at the same level of "the three non-negotiables":
- protection of life in all its stages, from the first moment of conception until natural death;
- recognition and promotion of the natural structure of the family - as a union between a man and a woman based on marriage - and its defense from attempts to make it juridically equivalent to radically different forms of union which in reality harm it and contribute to its destabilization, obscuring its particular character and its irreplaceable social role;
- the protection of the right of parents to educate their children.
Debate about "capital punishment" and "hunger relief" is nice, and perhaps necessary. But they do not over-ride the three above. No way. No how.
...a present-day Catholic citizen should never place issues of lesser importance at the same level of "the three non-negotiables":
- protection of life in all its stages, from the first moment of conception until natural death;
- recognition and promotion of the natural structure of the family - as a union between a man and a woman based on marriage - and its defense from attempts to make it juridically equivalent to radically different forms of union which in reality harm it and contribute to its destabilization, obscuring its particular character and its irreplaceable social role;
- the protection of the right of parents to educate their children.
Debate about "capital punishment" and "hunger relief" is nice, and perhaps necessary. But they do not over-ride the three above. No way. No how.
Brotherly Love
From a fellow who has more than a few bucks tied up in ethanol, written to his brother the Legislator who saw the light:
From: Paul Olsen Sent: Friday, February 01, 2008 7:43 AM
Subject: State Sen. Olsen drops role in pushing alternative fuel mandate
Renewable fuels...creates jobs $$$$ [especially MY job!!]
clean environment $$$$$ [so long as you ignore CO2 increases]
supports local economy $$$$$$$ [local to MY plants, of course]
keeps our dollars home $$$$$$$$$$$ [MY home!!!]
its the future $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ [well, it better be, at least until my term-loan is paid]
a flip flop senator who doesn't defend reality WORTHLESS !!! [that would be YOU, dear brother-and-fellow-investor]
Another nominee for the Billy Carter Annual Look-and-Smell-Alike Award.
HT: Sykes
From: Paul Olsen Sent: Friday, February 01, 2008 7:43 AM
Subject: State Sen. Olsen drops role in pushing alternative fuel mandate
Renewable fuels...creates jobs $$$$ [especially MY job!!]
clean environment $$$$$ [so long as you ignore CO2 increases]
supports local economy $$$$$$$ [local to MY plants, of course]
keeps our dollars home $$$$$$$$$$$ [MY home!!!]
its the future $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ [well, it better be, at least until my term-loan is paid]
a flip flop senator who doesn't defend reality WORTHLESS !!! [that would be YOU, dear brother-and-fellow-investor]
Another nominee for the Billy Carter Annual Look-and-Smell-Alike Award.
HT: Sykes
It's Just Racism, That's All...
The Warrior points to an essay which epitomizes the Moonbattery School, by somebody named Bill Washabaugh who teaches at UW-Milwaukee.
I want you to note carefully the substance of the following, and if you find it, please let me know:
....There are few preferences that deserve to be called simple and natural. Most human choices are driven by unseen forces. Scholars in a number of relevant fields (neuroscience, psychology, aesthetics) concur. Barbara Stafford, for example, has offered a powerful argument about visual preferences -- why one likes one painting more than another. She contends that the conscious activity of determining likes and dislikes really amounts to little more 10% of brain’s functioning. She further argues that, when it comes to understanding such preferences, it would be naive to ignore the larger 90% of the brain’s silent operations.
"Unseen"......"silent operations".....
Sounds like "emanations and penumbras" to me. But "voodoo" is another adequate descriptor.
Well, what do these 'unseen' and 'silent' brain-thingamajiggies lead to?
Studies of such submerged forces are numerous and helpful (see works by Pierre Bourdieu). They provide the ground for supposing that much suburban “dissatisfaction” has been shaped by longstanding social practices and institutional constraints, and especially by racism (see Paul Gilroy) and classism (see Walter Benn Michaels).
Uh huh.
It's no small irony that such babble was immortalized in somewhat more concise language:
Oh, we've got trouble,
Right here in River City,
It begins with "T" and that rhymes with "P"
And that stands for pool!!
....sung by another Professor-Huckster, in The Music Man.
I want you to note carefully the substance of the following, and if you find it, please let me know:
....There are few preferences that deserve to be called simple and natural. Most human choices are driven by unseen forces. Scholars in a number of relevant fields (neuroscience, psychology, aesthetics) concur. Barbara Stafford, for example, has offered a powerful argument about visual preferences -- why one likes one painting more than another. She contends that the conscious activity of determining likes and dislikes really amounts to little more 10% of brain’s functioning. She further argues that, when it comes to understanding such preferences, it would be naive to ignore the larger 90% of the brain’s silent operations.
"Unseen"......"silent operations".....
Sounds like "emanations and penumbras" to me. But "voodoo" is another adequate descriptor.
Well, what do these 'unseen' and 'silent' brain-thingamajiggies lead to?
Studies of such submerged forces are numerous and helpful (see works by Pierre Bourdieu). They provide the ground for supposing that much suburban “dissatisfaction” has been shaped by longstanding social practices and institutional constraints, and especially by racism (see Paul Gilroy) and classism (see Walter Benn Michaels).
Uh huh.
It's no small irony that such babble was immortalized in somewhat more concise language:
Oh, we've got trouble,
Right here in River City,
It begins with "T" and that rhymes with "P"
And that stands for pool!!
....sung by another Professor-Huckster, in The Music Man.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Corn-A-Holer: Jon Richards
If you live on Milwaukee's Lower East Side, or Bay View, you'll be very happy to learn that Rep. Richards (YOUR representative in the Legislature) will vote to enrich the corn-farmers and ethanol-manufacturers in Wisconsin.
And it's possible that Rep. Richards will cause the death of any small engines you may possess, not to mention the possibility that you'll have to purchase a flex-fuel automobile in the next 5 years or so.
Jon likes to spend YOUR money.
What a guy!!
And it's possible that Rep. Richards will cause the death of any small engines you may possess, not to mention the possibility that you'll have to purchase a flex-fuel automobile in the next 5 years or so.
Jon likes to spend YOUR money.
What a guy!!
For Ladies About-to-be-Married
Don't know the original author (allegedly a parish priest), but (believe me) this has the ring of authenticity.
Weddings:
1. When you call up to schedule your wedding, don't act all indignant when I ask who the hell you are, since you haven't been to church since your first communion.
2. And don't get in a little nuptial huff when I tell you can't throw rice, birdseed, confetti or any of that crap. Would you want to have to clean up a big mess of that junk from your house every Saturday afternoon? I didn't think so.
3. And do that damn paperwork, get all your certificates in. You'll be really glad you did should the day come when you have to get un-married.
4. Please get some control over your mothers. Your own outrageous demands are bad enough.
5. Have some pity on your poor priest, who has to put up with your ruse that you don't live together, your rude tardiness to your rehearsal, your showing up half-drunk, and the tasteless fashion decisions you make for your wedding party. ["Tasteless" is hardly the right word. Demi-pornographic is often the style.]
6. Oh, and if your forget to get a marriage license, it's not my problem. It's your marriage. Thank you for your attention, and God bless.
One could add another group of items regarding the "music" selections....
Weddings:
1. When you call up to schedule your wedding, don't act all indignant when I ask who the hell you are, since you haven't been to church since your first communion.
2. And don't get in a little nuptial huff when I tell you can't throw rice, birdseed, confetti or any of that crap. Would you want to have to clean up a big mess of that junk from your house every Saturday afternoon? I didn't think so.
3. And do that damn paperwork, get all your certificates in. You'll be really glad you did should the day come when you have to get un-married.
4. Please get some control over your mothers. Your own outrageous demands are bad enough.
5. Have some pity on your poor priest, who has to put up with your ruse that you don't live together, your rude tardiness to your rehearsal, your showing up half-drunk, and the tasteless fashion decisions you make for your wedding party. ["Tasteless" is hardly the right word. Demi-pornographic is often the style.]
6. Oh, and if your forget to get a marriage license, it's not my problem. It's your marriage. Thank you for your attention, and God bless.
One could add another group of items regarding the "music" selections....
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Think Milwaukee Has Priest-Predator Problems? Look at This!
Just because you don't read it in the local paper doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Iowa Dioceses in BK, Ireland in an uproar, with the (retired) Cardinal trying to hide documents and the new one offering to open the files....Phoenix covering its assets,
Looks like the Franciscan ideal will be forced upon a lot of chanceries.
Go to Bishop Accountability Abuse Tracker.
Then pray a bit.
Looks like the Franciscan ideal will be forced upon a lot of chanceries.
Go to Bishop Accountability Abuse Tracker.
Then pray a bit.
Thinking About the Church in Milwaukee
It's been a bad week for Abp. Dolan & Co. down at the Puzzle Palace (chancery...)
Documents were released, detailing the Archdiocese's financial problems. Other documents were released which proved conclusively that the Archbishop's two immediate predecessors were horrifically derelict in their duties.
Worse, buried inside the financial reports are notes which are elegantly-worded shrugs ('we don't know and can't guess') about potential future liabilities based on assertions of fraud in assigning ephebophile priests to parishes. It's a novel approach, but it may work.
THEN other documents were released which show that Archdiocesan personnel were aware of a nun's confession of sex abuse in 1996--but that those personnel did not report the abuse.
But that's not all, folks.
Now a thinker, Pat McIlheran, begins to question assertions that 'future funds raised will not be paid out to attorneys and aggrieved plaintiffs' in the fraud-suit.
The archdiocese is trying to raise about $105 million to fund education; it maintains that the money can be protected from lawyers who continue to predate on the church over old abuse. I'd like to believe that. I'm not quite certain,...
Although P-Mac refers to "Federal judges" in his essay (I think the case is in State courts), he does have a point: the State Supremes have not shown a history of reticence in legal interpretations, which tendency might become a vehicle to override legal constructs which 'shelter' the money. In other words, it doesn't really make a difference whether it's in Federal or State court; the effect may well be the same: "BK."
Then McIlheran quotes (Fr.) Richard Neuhaus' review of Phil Lawler's book:
He [Lawler] very gingerly addresses a theory proposed by a number of commentators on the crisis, namely, that bishops engaged in cover-ups and other deceptions because they were threatened with homosexual blackmail. He cites a number of instances in which this appears to be the case and bishops were permitted to resign when their misdeeds could no longer be denied. 'The blackmail hypothesis,” he writes, “provides a logical explanation for behavior that is otherwise inexplicable: the bishops’ willingness to risk the welfare of the faithful and their own reputations in order to protect abusive priests.'"
Fortunately, McIlheran assigned himself the ugly task of reading Lawler's book. Frankly, I don't want to know what P-Mac learns, really...
Documents were released, detailing the Archdiocese's financial problems. Other documents were released which proved conclusively that the Archbishop's two immediate predecessors were horrifically derelict in their duties.
Worse, buried inside the financial reports are notes which are elegantly-worded shrugs ('we don't know and can't guess') about potential future liabilities based on assertions of fraud in assigning ephebophile priests to parishes. It's a novel approach, but it may work.
THEN other documents were released which show that Archdiocesan personnel were aware of a nun's confession of sex abuse in 1996--but that those personnel did not report the abuse.
But that's not all, folks.
Now a thinker, Pat McIlheran, begins to question assertions that 'future funds raised will not be paid out to attorneys and aggrieved plaintiffs' in the fraud-suit.
The archdiocese is trying to raise about $105 million to fund education; it maintains that the money can be protected from lawyers who continue to predate on the church over old abuse. I'd like to believe that. I'm not quite certain,...
Although P-Mac refers to "Federal judges" in his essay (I think the case is in State courts), he does have a point: the State Supremes have not shown a history of reticence in legal interpretations, which tendency might become a vehicle to override legal constructs which 'shelter' the money. In other words, it doesn't really make a difference whether it's in Federal or State court; the effect may well be the same: "BK."
Then McIlheran quotes (Fr.) Richard Neuhaus' review of Phil Lawler's book:
He [Lawler] very gingerly addresses a theory proposed by a number of commentators on the crisis, namely, that bishops engaged in cover-ups and other deceptions because they were threatened with homosexual blackmail. He cites a number of instances in which this appears to be the case and bishops were permitted to resign when their misdeeds could no longer be denied. 'The blackmail hypothesis,” he writes, “provides a logical explanation for behavior that is otherwise inexplicable: the bishops’ willingness to risk the welfare of the faithful and their own reputations in order to protect abusive priests.'"
Fortunately, McIlheran assigned himself the ugly task of reading Lawler's book. Frankly, I don't want to know what P-Mac learns, really...
NFL Marketing Committee Meeting Minutes
As hypothesized by Jeremy Lott:
You can almost imagine the NFL board meeting on this.
Suit: “Should we enforce the rebroadcast rule on those bars with the jumbo screens?”
Second Suit: “No, no, no. Trying to do THAT would create a serious backlash.”
First Suit: “How about bullying a few congregations that want to host a party for their members?”
Second Suit: “Now, that we can do.”
Lott's summary of the situation is identical to mine:
The suits who run the National Football League have found a new, innovative way to look like a bunch of greedy bastards.
Don't think for one second that an "NFL Channel" will be a freebie addition to your cable network.
HT: AmSpecBlog
You can almost imagine the NFL board meeting on this.
Suit: “Should we enforce the rebroadcast rule on those bars with the jumbo screens?”
Second Suit: “No, no, no. Trying to do THAT would create a serious backlash.”
First Suit: “How about bullying a few congregations that want to host a party for their members?”
Second Suit: “Now, that we can do.”
Lott's summary of the situation is identical to mine:
The suits who run the National Football League have found a new, innovative way to look like a bunch of greedy bastards.
Don't think for one second that an "NFL Channel" will be a freebie addition to your cable network.
HT: AmSpecBlog
Friday, February 01, 2008
Wheels of Justice--Slow, But Sure (Sometimes)
That lying sack of crap who currently serves as a Member of Congress is tapping his retirement fund.
Democratic Rep. Jim McDermott has paid more than $64,000 in damages to House Republican leader John Boehner -- the first payment in a decadelong dispute over an illegally taped telephone call involving Boehner and other GOP leaders.
The payment, which includes $50,000 in court-ordered punitive damages, $10,000 in statutory damages and $4,169 in interest, is the first of what could be more than $850,000 in fines and fees owed by McDermott, D-Wash.
That's how much Boehner, R-Ohio, says he has paid in legal fees over the course of the 10- year-old case, which stems from a December 1996 telephone call in which Republican leaders discussed an ethics case against then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.
Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
Democratic Rep. Jim McDermott has paid more than $64,000 in damages to House Republican leader John Boehner -- the first payment in a decadelong dispute over an illegally taped telephone call involving Boehner and other GOP leaders.
The payment, which includes $50,000 in court-ordered punitive damages, $10,000 in statutory damages and $4,169 in interest, is the first of what could be more than $850,000 in fines and fees owed by McDermott, D-Wash.
That's how much Boehner, R-Ohio, says he has paid in legal fees over the course of the 10- year-old case, which stems from a December 1996 telephone call in which Republican leaders discussed an ethics case against then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.
Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
The Archdiocese of Milwaukee's Sex Scandal--from Afar
By coincidence, Phil Lawler has written a book entitled The Faithful Departed: The Collapse of Boston’s Catholic Culture (Encounter) which was recently released. Although the book is partially about Boston (Lawler's home), the review in First Things tells us that it also covers national territory--specifically, the sex-abuse scandals.
“The thesis of this book,” writes Lawler, “is that the sex abuse scandal in American Catholicism was not only aggravated but actually caused by the willingness of church leaders to sacrifice the essential for the inessential; to build up the human institution even to the detriment of the divine mandate.” Bishops again and again responded to the crisis as institutional managers, employing public relations stratagems to evade, deceive, and distract attention from their own responsibility. Lawler several times invokes the terse observation of St. Augustine, “God does not need my lie.” The bishops lied, says Lawler, and many of them are still lying. This is offered not as an accusation but as a conclusion that he believes is compelled by the evidence.
...“The first aspect of the scandal, the sexual abuse of children, has been acknowledged and addressed,” Lawler writes. “The second aspect, the rampant homosexuality among Catholic priests, has been acknowledged but not addressed, and later even denied. . . . The third aspect of the scandal has never even been acknowledged by American church leaders.” The third aspect, the malfeasance of bishops, “is today the most serious of all.”
You got THAT right, Phil.
Oh, yeah--the title of the review is "Paved With the Skulls of Bishops"--from a phrase used by a very orthodox and competent Bishop in his endorsement of the book. Here's an excerpt:
“Lawler’s masterful analysis is sobering and provides an urgent incentive for authentic renewal. If St. John Chrysostom is correct when he says that the road to hell is paved with the skulls of bishops, it would be a mistake for any bishop or priest to miss this book."
The name of that Bishop-endorser? Fabian Bruskewitz--who writes with authority--and ironically, could be writing about a certain couple of Milwaukee Archbishops.
“The thesis of this book,” writes Lawler, “is that the sex abuse scandal in American Catholicism was not only aggravated but actually caused by the willingness of church leaders to sacrifice the essential for the inessential; to build up the human institution even to the detriment of the divine mandate.” Bishops again and again responded to the crisis as institutional managers, employing public relations stratagems to evade, deceive, and distract attention from their own responsibility. Lawler several times invokes the terse observation of St. Augustine, “God does not need my lie.” The bishops lied, says Lawler, and many of them are still lying. This is offered not as an accusation but as a conclusion that he believes is compelled by the evidence.
...“The first aspect of the scandal, the sexual abuse of children, has been acknowledged and addressed,” Lawler writes. “The second aspect, the rampant homosexuality among Catholic priests, has been acknowledged but not addressed, and later even denied. . . . The third aspect of the scandal has never even been acknowledged by American church leaders.” The third aspect, the malfeasance of bishops, “is today the most serious of all.”
You got THAT right, Phil.
Oh, yeah--the title of the review is "Paved With the Skulls of Bishops"--from a phrase used by a very orthodox and competent Bishop in his endorsement of the book. Here's an excerpt:
“Lawler’s masterful analysis is sobering and provides an urgent incentive for authentic renewal. If St. John Chrysostom is correct when he says that the road to hell is paved with the skulls of bishops, it would be a mistake for any bishop or priest to miss this book."
The name of that Bishop-endorser? Fabian Bruskewitz--who writes with authority--and ironically, could be writing about a certain couple of Milwaukee Archbishops.
The Kiddies Who Run Things
Some of us superannuated types occasionally complain (or giggle) about the 'knowledge gap' often displayed by those "bright" young chipmunks who are in various Corporate slots these days. They jockey desks, have titles, have MBAs, and have zero knowledge about the culture (and sometimes the business they are in.)
Our amusement/irritation is not entirely without foundation.
Woolworth's/UK had a brand-new line of children's bedroom furniture, but they had to re-name it.
"What seems to have happened is the staff who run the Web site had never heard of Lolita, and to be honest no one else here had either," a spokesman told newspapers.
"We had to look it up on (online encyclopaedia) Wikipedia. But we certainly know who she is now."
"Lolita" brand childrens' bedroom furniture.
Smart. Really smart.
HT: Dreher
Our amusement/irritation is not entirely without foundation.
Woolworth's/UK had a brand-new line of children's bedroom furniture, but they had to re-name it.
"What seems to have happened is the staff who run the Web site had never heard of Lolita, and to be honest no one else here had either," a spokesman told newspapers.
"We had to look it up on (online encyclopaedia) Wikipedia. But we certainly know who she is now."
"Lolita" brand childrens' bedroom furniture.
Smart. Really smart.
HT: Dreher
RU-486: Know Who Manufactures It?
Since the FDA (and Planned Barrenhood) doesn't want you to know, we figured you should.
It ain't real encouraging.
A huge state-owned Chinese pharmaceutical company that exports to dozens of countries, including the United States, is at the center of a nationwide drug scandal after nearly 200 Chinese cancer patients were paralyzed or otherwise harmed last summer by contaminated leukemia drugs.
The drug maker, Shanghai Hualian, is the sole supplier to the United States of the abortion pill, mifepristone, known as RU-486. It is made at a factory different from the one that produced the tainted cancer drugs, about an hour’s drive away.
The United States Food and Drug Administration declined to answer questions about Shanghai Hualian, because of security concerns stemming from the sometimes violent opposition to abortion. But in a statement, the agency said the RU-486 plant had passed an F.D.A. inspection in May. “F.D.A. is not aware of any evidence to suggest the issue that occurred at the leukemia drug facility is linked in any way with the facility that manufactures the mifepristone,” the statement said.
....yet.....
HT: CWN
It ain't real encouraging.
A huge state-owned Chinese pharmaceutical company that exports to dozens of countries, including the United States, is at the center of a nationwide drug scandal after nearly 200 Chinese cancer patients were paralyzed or otherwise harmed last summer by contaminated leukemia drugs.
The drug maker, Shanghai Hualian, is the sole supplier to the United States of the abortion pill, mifepristone, known as RU-486. It is made at a factory different from the one that produced the tainted cancer drugs, about an hour’s drive away.
The United States Food and Drug Administration declined to answer questions about Shanghai Hualian, because of security concerns stemming from the sometimes violent opposition to abortion. But in a statement, the agency said the RU-486 plant had passed an F.D.A. inspection in May. “F.D.A. is not aware of any evidence to suggest the issue that occurred at the leukemia drug facility is linked in any way with the facility that manufactures the mifepristone,” the statement said.
....yet.....
HT: CWN
A Very Un-PC Suggestion for Victims of Ephebophiles
Note the 'correct' terminology for those who abuse early-teen-aged boys. They are ephebophiles, not pedophiles--the difference being that, strictly speaking, pedophiles pick on very young children.
To the headline.
It's very clear why ephebophiles pick the boys that they pick: they think they can get away with it without fear of retribution.
Now, while the Church's Canon Law makes it a very bad thing to slug a priest, it is NOT a 'very bad thing' to loudly and publicly accuse the priest of doing what he did, given the usual conditions.
So why didn't the various parents simply stand up during the sermon at a Mass said by one of these perps and scream "You filthy bastard, you were *&^%#* my little boy!!"
That might have been effective, no? Especially with 1,000 or so people to hear it.
Of course, slugging the bastard(s) would also serve as a warning. I'm sure that even if Rembert Weakland would not have removed the Canonical penalties for doing so, some Bishop, somewhere, would have. (Hint: try Lincoln Diocese....)
To the headline.
It's very clear why ephebophiles pick the boys that they pick: they think they can get away with it without fear of retribution.
Now, while the Church's Canon Law makes it a very bad thing to slug a priest, it is NOT a 'very bad thing' to loudly and publicly accuse the priest of doing what he did, given the usual conditions.
So why didn't the various parents simply stand up during the sermon at a Mass said by one of these perps and scream "You filthy bastard, you were *&^%#* my little boy!!"
That might have been effective, no? Especially with 1,000 or so people to hear it.
Of course, slugging the bastard(s) would also serve as a warning. I'm sure that even if Rembert Weakland would not have removed the Canonical penalties for doing so, some Bishop, somewhere, would have. (Hint: try Lincoln Diocese....)
MORE "Coverup" in Milwaukee's Archdiocese
An unusual case of child abuse has led to MORE allegations of "coverup" in the Milwaukee Archdiocese.
In this case a nun who was the principal of a Milwaukee grade school admitted to Archdiocesan authorities (in 1996) that she had been abusing some of the m
In this case a nun who was the principal of a Milwaukee grade school admitted to Archdiocesan authorities (in 1996) that she had been abusing some of the m