Now that Cong. Sensenbrenner did the right thing, we expect Senator Feingold to sign on. He was opposed to the silly thing in the first place, after all.
He hasn't yet--so cards and letters are appropriate.
But Nobody's Senator, Herbie Kohl, voted FOR the bill (as did Sensenbrenner) and Herbie, busy with the Milwaukee Bucks' upper-management problems, has not been paying attention. Maybe Herbie eats no corn or soy products.
Call Herbie. Tell him you will NOT be crucified on a Cross of Corn. He'll get the analogy--he's old enough to remember the politician who gave that speech.
Hello!! Herbie!!!
Time to sign on!!!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Sensenbrenner Gets the Hint!! Congratulations!
We're happy to announce that Jim Sensenbrenner got the hint.
Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-Menomonee Falls) is a cosponsor of HR 5911, the Remove Incentives to Produce Ethanol Act of 2008 (RIPE Act), introduced this week by Representative Jeff Flake of Arizona.
This bill will repeal the legislative provisions responsible for the artificial demand for ethanol by:
Repealing the renewable fuel standard;
Repealing tax credits for ethanol producers;
Repealing tariffs on importing ethanol.
The bill rescinds the asinine, greed-driven "Corn-A-Hole" requirement, AND puts ethanol producers (who remain in business) on an even playing field with OTHER energy producers.
Luther Olsen's brother should call his bank.
I'd like to give Owen credit for this, but I'm sure he'll modestly defer to me. Only 8 hours after that post, the announcement was made.
Damn!! Blogging is GOOD!!
Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-Menomonee Falls) is a cosponsor of HR 5911, the Remove Incentives to Produce Ethanol Act of 2008 (RIPE Act), introduced this week by Representative Jeff Flake of Arizona.
This bill will repeal the legislative provisions responsible for the artificial demand for ethanol by:
Repealing the renewable fuel standard;
Repealing tax credits for ethanol producers;
Repealing tariffs on importing ethanol.
The bill rescinds the asinine, greed-driven "Corn-A-Hole" requirement, AND puts ethanol producers (who remain in business) on an even playing field with OTHER energy producers.
Luther Olsen's brother should call his bank.
I'd like to give Owen credit for this, but I'm sure he'll modestly defer to me. Only 8 hours after that post, the announcement was made.
Damn!! Blogging is GOOD!!
How Come The Religion of Global Warming?
An interesting perspective.
...Nietzsche reluctantly admits that there is an inherent human impulse to asceticism in the human soul. There is an innate desire in man to master his inclinations in order to subordinate them to the greater good. Reno indicates that Nietzsche has discovered man’s inclination toward the transcendent; toward the infinite. Man is naturally religious because, as St. Augustine pointed out, he has an inbuilt restlessness until he rests in God.
So far, all's well.
Neo-modern culture has bought into the European model of secularism in which God is excluded from public life and reasoned discussion. ...this presents secularists with a problem. They are trying to have culture without cult and they cannot have it. This type of secularism represses the human person and so it is rebuffed by the masses. I suspect that even the rabid secularists sense an interior dissatisfaction with their “faith.” This leaves them in desperate need of a religion, but it needs to be a godless one. Thus, we are presented with the global warming faith. I suspect that the fideistic reaction that we are seeing from this mass of secularists reveals that Al Gore has handed them the religion that they were seeking.
It is not coincidental that this “religion” is one that requires self-sacrifice for a purpose which transcends themselves. Sacrifice is at the root of religion... Thus, we see this unreasoned, “religious” rush to a self-transcending faith and an attendant “fundamentalist” reaction to those who would deny the truth of this new found faith.
Bet you never thought of AlGore as a High Priest, eh?
HT: Cosmos Liturgy Sex
...Nietzsche reluctantly admits that there is an inherent human impulse to asceticism in the human soul. There is an innate desire in man to master his inclinations in order to subordinate them to the greater good. Reno indicates that Nietzsche has discovered man’s inclination toward the transcendent; toward the infinite. Man is naturally religious because, as St. Augustine pointed out, he has an inbuilt restlessness until he rests in God.
So far, all's well.
Neo-modern culture has bought into the European model of secularism in which God is excluded from public life and reasoned discussion. ...this presents secularists with a problem. They are trying to have culture without cult and they cannot have it. This type of secularism represses the human person and so it is rebuffed by the masses. I suspect that even the rabid secularists sense an interior dissatisfaction with their “faith.” This leaves them in desperate need of a religion, but it needs to be a godless one. Thus, we are presented with the global warming faith. I suspect that the fideistic reaction that we are seeing from this mass of secularists reveals that Al Gore has handed them the religion that they were seeking.
It is not coincidental that this “religion” is one that requires self-sacrifice for a purpose which transcends themselves. Sacrifice is at the root of religion... Thus, we see this unreasoned, “religious” rush to a self-transcending faith and an attendant “fundamentalist” reaction to those who would deny the truth of this new found faith.
Bet you never thought of AlGore as a High Priest, eh?
HT: Cosmos Liturgy Sex
Another Doyle Failure-To-Deliver
Ol' Jimbo opened his mouth and lied--again.
The headline-grabbing claim from Gov. Jim Doyle in March 2005 couldn't have been clearer.
At a news conference, Doyle said his administration would save taxpayers up to $200 million over four years through better management of the state bureaucracy under the so-called ACE Initiative.
The state would negotiate new contracts to buy goods and services for less money. It would sell off surplus property. And it would consolidate a number of other functions across state government to find savings.
No problem, right? $50 million/year! Almost as easy as ...ah....stealing from the Transportation fund to pay off WEAC.
Turns out that stealing is a LOT easier.
...three years later, a review shows the goals outlined by the governor have not been met. His administration quietly killed the initiative last year after faulty projections, unexpected problems and bureaucratic resistance hampered the effort.
Oh, well. Time to raise the taxes, I guess.
HT: FoxPolitics
The headline-grabbing claim from Gov. Jim Doyle in March 2005 couldn't have been clearer.
At a news conference, Doyle said his administration would save taxpayers up to $200 million over four years through better management of the state bureaucracy under the so-called ACE Initiative.
The state would negotiate new contracts to buy goods and services for less money. It would sell off surplus property. And it would consolidate a number of other functions across state government to find savings.
No problem, right? $50 million/year! Almost as easy as ...ah....stealing from the Transportation fund to pay off WEAC.
Turns out that stealing is a LOT easier.
...three years later, a review shows the goals outlined by the governor have not been met. His administration quietly killed the initiative last year after faulty projections, unexpected problems and bureaucratic resistance hampered the effort.
Oh, well. Time to raise the taxes, I guess.
HT: FoxPolitics
Sensenbrenner Still Waffling on Ethanol
Owen posts a letter from Jim Sensenbrenner regarding the ethanol problem.
Here's the key sentence:
As the 110th Congress addresses energy policy and alternative fuels, be assured, I will oppose ethanol mandates and continue to oppose wasteful government spending and subsidization of private industries.
In the case at hand, the mandates are law. Jim Sensenbrenner should know--as he voted FOR the legislation in the first damn place.
So what does "oppose ethanol mandates" actually mean?
Not much.
It means that he'll talk about wasting money (see his letter on Owen's site) and....who knows.
But that's meaningless, folks. Jim Sensenbrenner should put his b%##s on the table and introduce legislation repealing the ethanol mandate.
Or he could introduce legislation forbidding the use of FOOD CROPS as ethanol. Or, as suggested in the combox, he could introduce legislation forbidding the use of food-growing land for growing ethanol-crops.
See, Congressmen are in a position to do something more than "oppose" bad laws. Unlike us, Congressmen can actually introduce laws!! There are millions of people who "oppose" this stupid legislation, Jim--in case you haven't heard--but only 535 who can DO something about it.
Talk is cheap, Jim.
A helluvalot cheaper than food is these days.
Here's the key sentence:
As the 110th Congress addresses energy policy and alternative fuels, be assured, I will oppose ethanol mandates and continue to oppose wasteful government spending and subsidization of private industries.
In the case at hand, the mandates are law. Jim Sensenbrenner should know--as he voted FOR the legislation in the first damn place.
So what does "oppose ethanol mandates" actually mean?
Not much.
It means that he'll talk about wasting money (see his letter on Owen's site) and....who knows.
But that's meaningless, folks. Jim Sensenbrenner should put his b%##s on the table and introduce legislation repealing the ethanol mandate.
Or he could introduce legislation forbidding the use of FOOD CROPS as ethanol. Or, as suggested in the combox, he could introduce legislation forbidding the use of food-growing land for growing ethanol-crops.
See, Congressmen are in a position to do something more than "oppose" bad laws. Unlike us, Congressmen can actually introduce laws!! There are millions of people who "oppose" this stupid legislation, Jim--in case you haven't heard--but only 535 who can DO something about it.
Talk is cheap, Jim.
A helluvalot cheaper than food is these days.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Shel Lubar's Partial Plan
Nothing in Shel Lubar's proposal is new--but there are some big holes here.
Milwaukee County government should be junked in favor of a consolidated city-county hybrid system that has worked well in other parts of the U.S., business leader and philanthropist Sheldon Lubar said today.
County government has become archaic and inefficient, and it duplicates duties carried out by the state and municipalities, Lubar said in a speech at the Rotary Club of Milwaukee.
Here's the part which is.....interesting.
Parks could revert to municipalities or a regional parks district, if voters want that, he said. Transit, airports and cultural institutions could be turned over to regional authorities.
"Authorities" and "districts" are generally tax-takers and most often are not accountable to tax-payers. See e.g., MMSD, MATC, and SEWRPC for examples.
All would be overseen by a fiscal accountability board. He said he would leave details of how that would work and whether board members would be elected or appointed to future study of the idea
I'm not opposed to this; there certainly are more efficient ways to spend money than on County-level overlays. At the same time, the vague "district/authority" language is something that Lubar shoulda known would create trouble--no matter if Jesus or Moses proposed it.
Milwaukee County government should be junked in favor of a consolidated city-county hybrid system that has worked well in other parts of the U.S., business leader and philanthropist Sheldon Lubar said today.
County government has become archaic and inefficient, and it duplicates duties carried out by the state and municipalities, Lubar said in a speech at the Rotary Club of Milwaukee.
Here's the part which is.....interesting.
Parks could revert to municipalities or a regional parks district, if voters want that, he said. Transit, airports and cultural institutions could be turned over to regional authorities.
"Authorities" and "districts" are generally tax-takers and most often are not accountable to tax-payers. See e.g., MMSD, MATC, and SEWRPC for examples.
All would be overseen by a fiscal accountability board. He said he would leave details of how that would work and whether board members would be elected or appointed to future study of the idea
I'm not opposed to this; there certainly are more efficient ways to spend money than on County-level overlays. At the same time, the vague "district/authority" language is something that Lubar shoulda known would create trouble--no matter if Jesus or Moses proposed it.
B-16 on the US' Concept of Religious Freedom
Amplifying a comment I made to the effect that Benedict XVI's admiration for the US' 'religious freedom' practices, we find First Things essaying on the Pope's speech to the UN.
...the entire address should be considered a profound and extended type of Regensburg moment. On reflection, what Benedict called for, even if the awed diplomats in attendance may have missed it, was no less than the international application of the American concept of the separation of church and state, a concept that Benedict considers essential if the international community is to be predicated upon the inherent dignity of the human person. At the very deepest level, his apparently pro-U.N. speech turned out to be a stunning endorsement of the United States’ understanding of religion in the public sphere, and the need to apply that understanding to international dialogue. This is the case even though no news reports noticed; it is the case even though “America” or the “United States” does not appear once in the address.
In the past, Rome has looked askance at the American formulation, and had never come close to endorsing it. But B-16 noticed something: it works, and works very well. The formulation has served to keep 'religion' in the square, not to suppress it (albeit that there are challenges.)
...the entire address should be considered a profound and extended type of Regensburg moment. On reflection, what Benedict called for, even if the awed diplomats in attendance may have missed it, was no less than the international application of the American concept of the separation of church and state, a concept that Benedict considers essential if the international community is to be predicated upon the inherent dignity of the human person. At the very deepest level, his apparently pro-U.N. speech turned out to be a stunning endorsement of the United States’ understanding of religion in the public sphere, and the need to apply that understanding to international dialogue. This is the case even though no news reports noticed; it is the case even though “America” or the “United States” does not appear once in the address.
In the past, Rome has looked askance at the American formulation, and had never come close to endorsing it. But B-16 noticed something: it works, and works very well. The formulation has served to keep 'religion' in the square, not to suppress it (albeit that there are challenges.)
Dr. Benson: Re-Election Poster Child
This is just a scream.
The former physician accused of causing the crash that killed a pregnant school administrator, her unborn child and her 10-year-old daughter was charged with three homicide counts today and ordered held on $1 million bail
..."This court will not, it cannot, allow him to play Russian roulette with the lives of the citizens of Waukesha County when he gets behind the wheel of a motor vehicle when he thinks it appropriate," Binn said.
There's no question that Dr. Benson has serious problems which (allegedly) resulted in three deaths.
But Binn is playing P. T. Barnum for the cameras and the HS kids assembled in the courtroom--for how many OTHER times has Magistrate Binn set $1 million bail for a serial DUI-loser? Certainly not the LAST time Benson was convicted of DUI--and earned 75 days (Huber) in slam.
Fact is, that EVERY serial DUI-loser is "playing Russian Roulette" with the lives of others.
Maybe Binn has decided to run for office and thinks that he can "fool all of the people all of the time."
But I doubt that he's that smart.
The former physician accused of causing the crash that killed a pregnant school administrator, her unborn child and her 10-year-old daughter was charged with three homicide counts today and ordered held on $1 million bail
..."This court will not, it cannot, allow him to play Russian roulette with the lives of the citizens of Waukesha County when he gets behind the wheel of a motor vehicle when he thinks it appropriate," Binn said.
There's no question that Dr. Benson has serious problems which (allegedly) resulted in three deaths.
But Binn is playing P. T. Barnum for the cameras and the HS kids assembled in the courtroom--for how many OTHER times has Magistrate Binn set $1 million bail for a serial DUI-loser? Certainly not the LAST time Benson was convicted of DUI--and earned 75 days (Huber) in slam.
Fact is, that EVERY serial DUI-loser is "playing Russian Roulette" with the lives of others.
Maybe Binn has decided to run for office and thinks that he can "fool all of the people all of the time."
But I doubt that he's that smart.
Texas v. FLDS: Now We're Getting Someplace
Via Owen:
More than half the teenage girls taken from a polygamist compound in west Texas have children or are pregnant, state officials said Monday. A total of 53 girls between the ages of 14 and 17 are in state custody after a raid 3 1/2 weeks ago at the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado.
Of those girls, 31 either have children or are pregnant, said Child Protective Services spokesman Darrell Azar. He didn’t specify how many are pregnant.
These are the 'serious' situations which Texas authorities have been talking about for a few weeks--and there may be more.
At the same time, over 400 children are still separated from their mothers.
More than half the teenage girls taken from a polygamist compound in west Texas have children or are pregnant, state officials said Monday. A total of 53 girls between the ages of 14 and 17 are in state custody after a raid 3 1/2 weeks ago at the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado.
Of those girls, 31 either have children or are pregnant, said Child Protective Services spokesman Darrell Azar. He didn’t specify how many are pregnant.
These are the 'serious' situations which Texas authorities have been talking about for a few weeks--and there may be more.
At the same time, over 400 children are still separated from their mothers.
The Billy Ray Cyrus Silence That Speaks Volumes
With all the hoo-haa about Hanna Montana pictures ....
And the "apology" issued by the skank-wannabee...
What's the silence which speaks volumes?
Miley's parents and/or minders were on the set all day," she said in a statement. "Since the photo was taken digitally, they saw it on the shoot and everyone thought it was a beautiful and natural portrait of Miley."
Somehow, I thought that her old man was actually a MAN.
Guess I was wrong.
He's actually a pimp.
And the "apology" issued by the skank-wannabee...
What's the silence which speaks volumes?
Miley's parents and/or minders were on the set all day," she said in a statement. "Since the photo was taken digitally, they saw it on the shoot and everyone thought it was a beautiful and natural portrait of Miley."
Somehow, I thought that her old man was actually a MAN.
Guess I was wrong.
He's actually a pimp.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Sensenbrenner Will Not Rescind Ethanol Mandate
A friend tells me that he called Jim Sensenbrenner's office and requested that the Congressman introduce legislation to rescind the Corn-A-Hole mandate.
The Congressman responded quickly with a letter.
The letter is carefully worded, to say the least. The Congressman spent a lot of time and ink decrying "ethanol subsidies."
But not ONE WORD from him about rescinding the mandate. No surprise--he voted for the mandate in the first place.
It was a waste of stationery, Congressman.
Apparently Jim needs more encouragement.
The Congressman responded quickly with a letter.
The letter is carefully worded, to say the least. The Congressman spent a lot of time and ink decrying "ethanol subsidies."
But not ONE WORD from him about rescinding the mandate. No surprise--he voted for the mandate in the first place.
It was a waste of stationery, Congressman.
Apparently Jim needs more encouragement.
Cardinal of NYC to Rudeee!!!: "You're A Jerk!"
Cardinal Egan, not burdened with another several years' work in his job as Cardinal of NYC, lets Rudeee!!!! have it:
New York Cardinal Edward Egan is lashing out at Rudy Giuliani for taking Holy Communion during Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the city because the former mayor supports abortion rights.
In a statement released to the media, Egan said:
"The Catholic Church clearly teaches that abortion is a grave offense against the will of God. Throughout my years as Archbishop of New York, I have repeated this teaching in sermons, articles, addresses, and interviews without hesitation or compromise of any kind. Thus it was that I had an understanding with Mr. Rudolph Giuliani, when I became Archbishop of New York and he was serving as Mayor of New York, that he was not to receive the Eucharist because of his well-known support of abortion. I deeply regret that Mr. Giuliani received the Eucharist during the Papal visit here in New York, and I will be seeking a meeting with him to insist that he abide by our understanding."
It's not yet known when Egan plans to meet with Giuliani to discuss his apparent misunderstanding.
CBS 2 has attempted to contact Giuliani's office for a response, but calls were not immediately returned.
HooYah!
No word yet from Abp. Wuerl (of Washington DC) regarding Pelosi, Kennedy, and Kerry (et al.)
HT: ProEcclesia
New York Cardinal Edward Egan is lashing out at Rudy Giuliani for taking Holy Communion during Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the city because the former mayor supports abortion rights.
In a statement released to the media, Egan said:
"The Catholic Church clearly teaches that abortion is a grave offense against the will of God. Throughout my years as Archbishop of New York, I have repeated this teaching in sermons, articles, addresses, and interviews without hesitation or compromise of any kind. Thus it was that I had an understanding with Mr. Rudolph Giuliani, when I became Archbishop of New York and he was serving as Mayor of New York, that he was not to receive the Eucharist because of his well-known support of abortion. I deeply regret that Mr. Giuliani received the Eucharist during the Papal visit here in New York, and I will be seeking a meeting with him to insist that he abide by our understanding."
It's not yet known when Egan plans to meet with Giuliani to discuss his apparent misunderstanding.
CBS 2 has attempted to contact Giuliani's office for a response, but calls were not immediately returned.
HooYah!
No word yet from Abp. Wuerl (of Washington DC) regarding Pelosi, Kennedy, and Kerry (et al.)
HT: ProEcclesia
Here's My Picture
Minor adjustments: in 1965, gasoline was usually $0.29.9, and only TWO attendants came out to do all that work.
When some guy came in with a Pontiac Bonneville to fill his 30-gallon tank, we'd hit the Mother Lode with a $10.00 total sale!
HT: Christus Vincit
Gas To Be $3.60/gal, Except in Wisconsin
From AP:
Gas prices hit $3.60 a gallon and oil futures rose to their own new record near $120 a barrel on Monday as labor actions overseas threatened crude supplies
Of course, in Wisconsin, retailers are guaranteed 6% markup (now about 20 cents/gal) and the Wisconsin fuel tax is still among the highest in the USA.
Not to mention that Our Congressional Delegation is perfectly happy to stuff ADM and its Corn-A-Holing friends with money--from your pockets--which has the effect of removing food from the tables of people in the Third World.
Happy days!
Gas prices hit $3.60 a gallon and oil futures rose to their own new record near $120 a barrel on Monday as labor actions overseas threatened crude supplies
Of course, in Wisconsin, retailers are guaranteed 6% markup (now about 20 cents/gal) and the Wisconsin fuel tax is still among the highest in the USA.
Not to mention that Our Congressional Delegation is perfectly happy to stuff ADM and its Corn-A-Holing friends with money--from your pockets--which has the effect of removing food from the tables of people in the Third World.
Happy days!
Wis DOT: Testing Useless, Spend Money Anyway
When the State of Wisconsin, in its Imperial Majesty, announces that:
[s]tarting on July 1, cars and trucks built before 1996 will be exempt from having to undergo vehicle emissions inspections in southeastern Wisconsin. The latest figures in 2007 show that the change would have affected 28% of vehicles in the region - or about 175,000 cars.
What they are ACTUALLY announcing is that the entire program is useless.
Not just for 175,000 cars--but for ALL cars. It's useless.
We all know that older cars spit more stuff. So if ANY cars should be tested, they are the older ones.
But our State's Imperial Majesties have determined that they must spend money pretending to halt pollution--so only newer, less-stuff-spewing-cars, will be tested.
I did not perform any "scientific" tests to arrive at the following conclusion:
The Legislature should simply delete all testing-funds from DOT's budget in the upcoming "budget repair" session.
[s]tarting on July 1, cars and trucks built before 1996 will be exempt from having to undergo vehicle emissions inspections in southeastern Wisconsin. The latest figures in 2007 show that the change would have affected 28% of vehicles in the region - or about 175,000 cars.
What they are ACTUALLY announcing is that the entire program is useless.
Not just for 175,000 cars--but for ALL cars. It's useless.
We all know that older cars spit more stuff. So if ANY cars should be tested, they are the older ones.
But our State's Imperial Majesties have determined that they must spend money pretending to halt pollution--so only newer, less-stuff-spewing-cars, will be tested.
I did not perform any "scientific" tests to arrive at the following conclusion:
The Legislature should simply delete all testing-funds from DOT's budget in the upcoming "budget repair" session.
Non-Point: Easier to Shoot Seagulls
The proposal to reduce "non-point" pollution doesn't mention a major source: seagulls.
...Nonpoint pollution includes soil, road salt, pet and livestock waste, oil and grease from vehicles, garbage, fertilizers and pesticides, and other substances washed off the landscape by rain and melting snow. Much of this pollutant load flows unrestrained across fields or through storm sewers to streams, rivers and Lake Michigan, according to a recently completed water quality management plan for the Milwaukee watersheds.
Fecal coliform is one of the indicators of 'non-point' pollution in the Milwaukee harbor. With several thousand seagulls doing what comes naturally on the beaches, streets, and breakwaters, you'd think somebody would mention the damn pests.
Nope.
Fully 90% of the fecal coliform bacteria in the waterways run off the land, and the bulk of it comes from urban and suburban communities, the planning commission's study found.
It's Rover and KittyFritz who are doing the deed.
The commission estimates it will cost $243.3 million to address the largest sources of rural nonpoint pollution. Adequate manure storage for livestock: $47 million. Converting marginal cropland acres that now easily erode or flood to wetland or grassland: $72 million. Expanding county oversight and regulation of failed septic systems: $113.6 million.
Urban nonpoint controls will be equally expensive; the commission estimates the cost at $239.3 million.
So about $550 million or so. Not to mention cost to individual homeowners...
Among possible "green infrastructure" projects for cities are: rooftop gardens to soak up rain; disconnecting downspouts from sewers and allowing the water to flow onto rain gardens or collect in barrels for later use; grass-lined swales between buildings and roads and porous pavement on parking lots to enable more rain to soak into soil rather than flowing to the nearest stream.
One wonders how long a "porous pavement parking-lot" will last in a typical freeze/thaw cycle.
...Nonpoint pollution includes soil, road salt, pet and livestock waste, oil and grease from vehicles, garbage, fertilizers and pesticides, and other substances washed off the landscape by rain and melting snow. Much of this pollutant load flows unrestrained across fields or through storm sewers to streams, rivers and Lake Michigan, according to a recently completed water quality management plan for the Milwaukee watersheds.
Fecal coliform is one of the indicators of 'non-point' pollution in the Milwaukee harbor. With several thousand seagulls doing what comes naturally on the beaches, streets, and breakwaters, you'd think somebody would mention the damn pests.
Nope.
Fully 90% of the fecal coliform bacteria in the waterways run off the land, and the bulk of it comes from urban and suburban communities, the planning commission's study found.
It's Rover and KittyFritz who are doing the deed.
The commission estimates it will cost $243.3 million to address the largest sources of rural nonpoint pollution. Adequate manure storage for livestock: $47 million. Converting marginal cropland acres that now easily erode or flood to wetland or grassland: $72 million. Expanding county oversight and regulation of failed septic systems: $113.6 million.
Urban nonpoint controls will be equally expensive; the commission estimates the cost at $239.3 million.
So about $550 million or so. Not to mention cost to individual homeowners...
Among possible "green infrastructure" projects for cities are: rooftop gardens to soak up rain; disconnecting downspouts from sewers and allowing the water to flow onto rain gardens or collect in barrels for later use; grass-lined swales between buildings and roads and porous pavement on parking lots to enable more rain to soak into soil rather than flowing to the nearest stream.
One wonders how long a "porous pavement parking-lot" will last in a typical freeze/thaw cycle.
College Men "Drunk and Drowned?" Maybe Not
A story which has a few Wisconsin connections.
University of Minnesota college student Chris Jenkins was found in the Mississippi River in February of 2003. Minneapolis Police began investigating the case, which also caught the attention of two retired NYPD detectives.
Turns out, Jenkins' death was the missing part of the puzzle for Kevin Gannon and Anthony Duarte. They think Jenkins connects dozens of other deaths around the country over the last decade.
The stories are the same all over the country--an athletic, intelligent, well-liked college student goes missing. Family and friends launch a massive search. Weeks or months later, the young man is discovered drowned.
Gannon and Duarte are a retired NYPD detectives.
The investigation started 11 years ago in New York when then-Sgt. Gannon made a promise to the parents of Patrick McNeill.
Patrick McNeill was last seen at a New York City bar in 1997. His body was found 50 days later, 11 miles downriver.
"I think it is a serial killer, but not one individual. I would just say, a group of individuals, probably located in more than one state," Duarte said, adding that he thinks they may kill again.
While most local investigations focused on where a body was recovered, Gannon and Duarte tried to figure out where the body went into the river.
City after city, when they'd find the spot where the body went into the water, they would find something else: The symbol of a smiley faceCity after city, when they'd find the spot where the body went in, they would find something else: The symbol of a smiley face
In Michigan, they found something strange among the group's graffiti: the word 'Sinsiniwa.' They couldn't figure out what it meant until a few months later when they arrived in Dubuque, Iowa to investigate the death of Matt Kruziki.
This could be interesting. The detectives think that there could be as many as 40 (!!!) related deaths nationally, most of which are near the Canadian border and extending south as far as NYC and Chicago.
One of the potential related victims is Luke Homan of Brookfield.
University of Minnesota college student Chris Jenkins was found in the Mississippi River in February of 2003. Minneapolis Police began investigating the case, which also caught the attention of two retired NYPD detectives.
Turns out, Jenkins' death was the missing part of the puzzle for Kevin Gannon and Anthony Duarte. They think Jenkins connects dozens of other deaths around the country over the last decade.
The stories are the same all over the country--an athletic, intelligent, well-liked college student goes missing. Family and friends launch a massive search. Weeks or months later, the young man is discovered drowned.
Gannon and Duarte are a retired NYPD detectives.
The investigation started 11 years ago in New York when then-Sgt. Gannon made a promise to the parents of Patrick McNeill.
Patrick McNeill was last seen at a New York City bar in 1997. His body was found 50 days later, 11 miles downriver.
"I think it is a serial killer, but not one individual. I would just say, a group of individuals, probably located in more than one state," Duarte said, adding that he thinks they may kill again.
While most local investigations focused on where a body was recovered, Gannon and Duarte tried to figure out where the body went into the river.
City after city, when they'd find the spot where the body went into the water, they would find something else: The symbol of a smiley faceCity after city, when they'd find the spot where the body went in, they would find something else: The symbol of a smiley face
In Michigan, they found something strange among the group's graffiti: the word 'Sinsiniwa.' They couldn't figure out what it meant until a few months later when they arrived in Dubuque, Iowa to investigate the death of Matt Kruziki.
This could be interesting. The detectives think that there could be as many as 40 (!!!) related deaths nationally, most of which are near the Canadian border and extending south as far as NYC and Chicago.
One of the potential related victims is Luke Homan of Brookfield.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Pastor Wright v. President Bush
Commenting on the difference between the two, the Black Biretta has a very good point, taking off from a K-Lo column.
The irony is that the clergyman (Reverend Wright) espouses the Dictatorship of Relativism whereas the politician (President Bush) embraces the concept of a Natural Moral Law. The former sees two worlds and two realities; political and religious, secular and spiritual (he says what policitians have to say; I say what pastors have to say. He does what he has to do; I do what I have to do). The latter recognizes that there is only ONE world and ONE reality. There is not a separate political existence from our religious existence. There is not one set of ethics and morality for those in government and another for citizens. There is one Natural Law and one Ten Commandments that bind on every human being regardless of race, gender, economic class, education level, etc. Politicians AND Pastors must speak the same language, that of TRUTH and JUSTICE. Faith and reason are not diametrically opposed. There is no intrinsic dichotomy either. Whether one explains the evil in religious or political terms is one thing but the substance, the essence of the act is either good or evil.
IIRC, Wright's heresy is not new--it is a variant of Manicheanism, and it is found in a number of other variations. It's also referred to as "dualism" and led to Gnosticism...
The irony is that the clergyman (Reverend Wright) espouses the Dictatorship of Relativism whereas the politician (President Bush) embraces the concept of a Natural Moral Law. The former sees two worlds and two realities; political and religious, secular and spiritual (he says what policitians have to say; I say what pastors have to say. He does what he has to do; I do what I have to do). The latter recognizes that there is only ONE world and ONE reality. There is not a separate political existence from our religious existence. There is not one set of ethics and morality for those in government and another for citizens. There is one Natural Law and one Ten Commandments that bind on every human being regardless of race, gender, economic class, education level, etc. Politicians AND Pastors must speak the same language, that of TRUTH and JUSTICE. Faith and reason are not diametrically opposed. There is no intrinsic dichotomy either. Whether one explains the evil in religious or political terms is one thing but the substance, the essence of the act is either good or evil.
IIRC, Wright's heresy is not new--it is a variant of Manicheanism, and it is found in a number of other variations. It's also referred to as "dualism" and led to Gnosticism...
The Battle Against Banality--Jos. Ratzinger
Robert Reilly, actual scholar, writes in Inside Catholic about what Benedict XVI/Jos. Ratzinger has been preaching and teaching for well over 20 years.
Reilly cites an article in The Australian, written by Christopher Pearson, here quoting Tracy Rowland:
Ratzinger has focused on practices (that) diminish the possibilities of the soul or the self, for its own transcendence. The marketing of vulgar art, music and literature and the generation of a very low, even barbaric, mass culture is seen by Ratzinger to be one of the serious pathologies of contemporary Western culture. By this reading, clerics who think that they will win young people to the church by adopting the marketing strategies of public relations firms and attempting a transposition of the church's cultural patrimony into the idioms of contemporary mass culture are only further diminishing the opportunities of youth for genuine self-transcendence.
Surprise! Dump "art," get omphaloskepsis (the practice of examining one's own navel...)
One immediate consequence of this position has been Benedict's insistence on music worthy of the liturgy, rather than "utility music" derived from 1960s youth culture. He says: "A church which only makes use of utility music has fallen for what is, in fact, useless. She too becomes ineffectual. For her mission is a far higher one. The church must not settle down with what is merely comfortable and serviceable at the parish level; she must arouse the voice of the cosmos and, by glorifying the creator, elicit the glory of the cosmos itself, making it also glorious, beautiful, habitable and beloved. Next to the saints, the art which the church has produced is the only real apologia for her history. The church is to transform, improve, humanise the world, but how can she do that if at the same time she turns her back on beauty, which is so closely allied to love? For together beauty and love form the true consolation in this world, bringing it as near as possible to the world of the resurrection."
So--what's the Pope actually proposing?
Surely, no one has spoken of music in a more exalted way than has this pope, who restores to art its hieratic purpose. Is this inclusive? Is the cosmos inclusive? Is Christ inclusive? As St. Clement of Alexandria taught, Christ is the "New Song" of the universe. "[It] is this [New Song] that composed the entire creation into melodious order, and tuned into concert the discord of the elements, that the whole universe may be in harmony with it." How is that for inclusive? That New Song is not played on bongo drums, as that would be exclusive -- in the sense that it would exclude the transcendent, which cannot be reached by any bongo drums I have ever heard.
What about the reality of "the Spirit of Vatican II" music?
My acid test for any part of the liturgy, including the music, is this: Would a complete stranger observing it believe that what is taking place is the most important thing in these people's lives? I cannot express how I have missed that sense of sanctity in the Mass with which I grew up. I am also a man of the theatre. I was an actor in my early professional life, so I understand the stage. That is what infuriated me about the "new" liturgy of the 1970s. Any competent stage director could have told the liturgical innovators that it did not convey the presence of the sacred. It was so obvious that the conclusion occurred that they must not think the sacred was present. Many parishioners got the message, as they stopped believing in the Real Presence.
When you wander into the Catholic parish which has a "contemporary" choir or ensemble, notice that this group is typically 'on stage.' So--what compels your attention? The "other Christ," who is the priest?---or the band?
If you actually believe that Christ is The Actor in the liturgy, what are all those other people DOING up there?
And do you really believe that 'the music of the cosmos' is what they are presenting?
Really?
Reilly cites an article in The Australian, written by Christopher Pearson, here quoting Tracy Rowland:
Ratzinger has focused on practices (that) diminish the possibilities of the soul or the self, for its own transcendence. The marketing of vulgar art, music and literature and the generation of a very low, even barbaric, mass culture is seen by Ratzinger to be one of the serious pathologies of contemporary Western culture. By this reading, clerics who think that they will win young people to the church by adopting the marketing strategies of public relations firms and attempting a transposition of the church's cultural patrimony into the idioms of contemporary mass culture are only further diminishing the opportunities of youth for genuine self-transcendence.
Surprise! Dump "art," get omphaloskepsis (the practice of examining one's own navel...)
One immediate consequence of this position has been Benedict's insistence on music worthy of the liturgy, rather than "utility music" derived from 1960s youth culture. He says: "A church which only makes use of utility music has fallen for what is, in fact, useless. She too becomes ineffectual. For her mission is a far higher one. The church must not settle down with what is merely comfortable and serviceable at the parish level; she must arouse the voice of the cosmos and, by glorifying the creator, elicit the glory of the cosmos itself, making it also glorious, beautiful, habitable and beloved. Next to the saints, the art which the church has produced is the only real apologia for her history. The church is to transform, improve, humanise the world, but how can she do that if at the same time she turns her back on beauty, which is so closely allied to love? For together beauty and love form the true consolation in this world, bringing it as near as possible to the world of the resurrection."
So--what's the Pope actually proposing?
Surely, no one has spoken of music in a more exalted way than has this pope, who restores to art its hieratic purpose. Is this inclusive? Is the cosmos inclusive? Is Christ inclusive? As St. Clement of Alexandria taught, Christ is the "New Song" of the universe. "[It] is this [New Song] that composed the entire creation into melodious order, and tuned into concert the discord of the elements, that the whole universe may be in harmony with it." How is that for inclusive? That New Song is not played on bongo drums, as that would be exclusive -- in the sense that it would exclude the transcendent, which cannot be reached by any bongo drums I have ever heard.
What about the reality of "the Spirit of Vatican II" music?
My acid test for any part of the liturgy, including the music, is this: Would a complete stranger observing it believe that what is taking place is the most important thing in these people's lives? I cannot express how I have missed that sense of sanctity in the Mass with which I grew up. I am also a man of the theatre. I was an actor in my early professional life, so I understand the stage. That is what infuriated me about the "new" liturgy of the 1970s. Any competent stage director could have told the liturgical innovators that it did not convey the presence of the sacred. It was so obvious that the conclusion occurred that they must not think the sacred was present. Many parishioners got the message, as they stopped believing in the Real Presence.
When you wander into the Catholic parish which has a "contemporary" choir or ensemble, notice that this group is typically 'on stage.' So--what compels your attention? The "other Christ," who is the priest?---or the band?
If you actually believe that Christ is The Actor in the liturgy, what are all those other people DOING up there?
And do you really believe that 'the music of the cosmos' is what they are presenting?
Really?
The Rare and Dangerous Pedal Stop
Most of us have never heard a 128' pipe-organ pedal stop--for a reason.
You can see the reason here, on the intertubes.
HT: Christus Vincit
You can see the reason here, on the intertubes.
HT: Christus Vincit
Saturday, April 26, 2008
"Mother of TWO"?
This is a very sad story. A woman is stopped at a light; it turns green, and her car is run over by a larger car approaching from behind.
She is killed, as is her unborn child. Her other two children are in the back seat along with another child. Two of them are critically injured.
The newspaper refers to the woman as "a mother of two."
Seems to me that she was the mother of three.
And if and when charges are issued, I suspect that they will demonstrate that there was a third child--and second dead victim.
She is killed, as is her unborn child. Her other two children are in the back seat along with another child. Two of them are critically injured.
The newspaper refers to the woman as "a mother of two."
Seems to me that she was the mother of three.
And if and when charges are issued, I suspect that they will demonstrate that there was a third child--and second dead victim.
The Fork for the Left
Cognitive dissonance only happens to those who have cognitive abilities.
Our Left is not so endowed.
Here you have the Left's take on the Iranian-made-arms discovery:
There is absolutely no reason to assume that the Bush administration is telling the truth and every reason to believe they're lying. Let Bush produce convincing evidence. So far, he's got bupkis and the media really shouldn't print any Bush nonsense of the Powell-at-the-UN kind without strong disclaimers. Digby, quoted by Pundit Nation.
It's a "Bush Lied" thing, inextricably tied to the "Bush is Stupid" thing.
On the other hand:
Markings, of course, are easy to fake, and the truther fringe of the "Bush lied, people died!" sect are sure to accuse the Administration and/or elements of the military with doing just that. Much harder to fake, however, are the materials used, certain tool marks, and other mechanical and electrical components. Taken together, the component pieces form a unique signature that EOD experts can read like a fingerprint. As far as our military is concerned, the markings only serve to confirm what explosive experts could already tell from even unmarked weapons.
So: either Bush (& Co.) are stupid liars, or they are extremely sophisticated forgers--not only of markings, but of material-compositions, tool-markings, and circuitry-design/origin.
Take your choice.
Our Left is not so endowed.
Here you have the Left's take on the Iranian-made-arms discovery:
There is absolutely no reason to assume that the Bush administration is telling the truth and every reason to believe they're lying. Let Bush produce convincing evidence. So far, he's got bupkis and the media really shouldn't print any Bush nonsense of the Powell-at-the-UN kind without strong disclaimers. Digby, quoted by Pundit Nation.
It's a "Bush Lied" thing, inextricably tied to the "Bush is Stupid" thing.
On the other hand:
Markings, of course, are easy to fake, and the truther fringe of the "Bush lied, people died!" sect are sure to accuse the Administration and/or elements of the military with doing just that. Much harder to fake, however, are the materials used, certain tool marks, and other mechanical and electrical components. Taken together, the component pieces form a unique signature that EOD experts can read like a fingerprint. As far as our military is concerned, the markings only serve to confirm what explosive experts could already tell from even unmarked weapons.
So: either Bush (& Co.) are stupid liars, or they are extremely sophisticated forgers--not only of markings, but of material-compositions, tool-markings, and circuitry-design/origin.
Take your choice.
How To Tell the Job Pays Well
The next time Your Board of Regents at UW-Madistan tells you that the Chancellor's job is "underpaid," remind them of this:
And 55 people -- most of whose names remain secret -- are vying for the top job at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Unless all 55 are clerical-level twits from the University of Lower Slobbovia's Department of Education, it would seem that the compensation is adequate.
And 55 people -- most of whose names remain secret -- are vying for the top job at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Unless all 55 are clerical-level twits from the University of Lower Slobbovia's Department of Education, it would seem that the compensation is adequate.
UBS 'Splains It All For You
While I haven't read the UBS document, Big Pic did.
Seems that United Bank of Switzerland (UBS) took a $37Billion writedown. That caused a fuss (!!) among the shareholders.
BigPic:
For what you would expect to be a dry report, it is absolutely compelling reading. It explains much more than the subprime fiasco. The report implies that management didn't really understand what the hell they were getting into with their purchases of Warburg/Dillon Read Capital Management. This unit eventually became UBS' internal hedge fund (it has since been shot [sic] down).
I wonder if management ever truly understands the nuts and bolts of these large acquisitions. We will find out if JPM knew what they were getting into getting the Fed into [sic] with the Bear Stearns (BSC) acquisition.
Hmmmmmm. Aside from the syntax, you get the idea, right?
BigPic detects the odor of McKinsey & Co. here. Recall that McKinsey was a "consultant" to Enron...which in and of itself should have put McKinsey where Arthur Anderson is.
Seems that United Bank of Switzerland (UBS) took a $37Billion writedown. That caused a fuss (!!) among the shareholders.
BigPic:
For what you would expect to be a dry report, it is absolutely compelling reading. It explains much more than the subprime fiasco. The report implies that management didn't really understand what the hell they were getting into with their purchases of Warburg/Dillon Read Capital Management. This unit eventually became UBS' internal hedge fund (it has since been shot [sic] down).
I wonder if management ever truly understands the nuts and bolts of these large acquisitions. We will find out if JPM knew what they were getting into getting the Fed into [sic] with the Bear Stearns (BSC) acquisition.
Hmmmmmm. Aside from the syntax, you get the idea, right?
BigPic detects the odor of McKinsey & Co. here. Recall that McKinsey was a "consultant" to Enron...which in and of itself should have put McKinsey where Arthur Anderson is.
Cheap Fornication Part of Obama Plan for America
Hey. The guy showed up in DC to actually sponsor a bill!
The legislation, introduced by Rep. Joseph Crowley D-N.Y. along with Sen. Claire McCaskill D-Mo., and presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., is called the Prevention Through Affordable Access Act. It has been introduced in both the Senate and House, but has yet to be passed.
The effect of the bill?
...would lower the price of birth control on campus.
That way there will be less 'burdensome' children, I guess.
HT: Moonbattery.
The legislation, introduced by Rep. Joseph Crowley D-N.Y. along with Sen. Claire McCaskill D-Mo., and presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., is called the Prevention Through Affordable Access Act. It has been introduced in both the Senate and House, but has yet to be passed.
The effect of the bill?
...would lower the price of birth control on campus.
That way there will be less 'burdensome' children, I guess.
HT: Moonbattery.
Cut Highway Spending: The End of Civilization?
The Roadbuilders predict cataclysm, with 2,000 jobs lost, if the State does not let roadbuilding contracts in May and June, which would save $250++million.
Remember that the State's deficit is over $600 million.
Here's a list of the Endangered Road Projects.
Yah--it would be a real disaster, if:
Drummond Road (Bayfield County) reconditioning were to be postponed? Or if the Hys. 16/33 intersection resurfacing were put off? Or if Bennett Road/Hy 18 did NOT get a roundabout? Or if the Peshtigo Bypass of US41 were delayed? Or if landscaping 76th St. was done next year? Or if "special pavement markings" were not put on "various highways" in SE Wisconsin?
Could Winnebago County make it if there were no "Park-and-Ride" lot on Hy. 41? Will the State survive another year without acquiring more land at the 41/Breezewood intersection? I know that failing to "resurface Summit Road" at I-94 will not stop Oconomowoc from growing, and I suspect that Wisconsin Rapids will persevere despite NOT reconstructing 32nd St. (north.)
So what if the entire Beltline (south) is not re-surfaced? And will safety REALLY be affected if "safety rest area improvements" are not completed in Dunn County? The State has survived for 50 years without "modernizing" Hy. 41 near Fond du Lac--perhaps another biennium won't make a difference, either.
Will "reconstructing/preserving" the 51/29 corridor near Wausau "reconstruct and preserve" Wausau--or just some contractor's wallet?
Oh, I know that "maintenance" of Hy. 45 near Three Lakes is critical--to FIB's who own second homes up there. Can't drive 30-over the speed limit on a crappy road, after all....and Howards Grove will probably dry up and fall off the map if that Hy 42 "reconditioning" doesn't occur.
Yah.
It's the end of civilization.
Remember that the State's deficit is over $600 million.
Here's a list of the Endangered Road Projects.
Yah--it would be a real disaster, if:
Drummond Road (Bayfield County) reconditioning were to be postponed? Or if the Hys. 16/33 intersection resurfacing were put off? Or if Bennett Road/Hy 18 did NOT get a roundabout? Or if the Peshtigo Bypass of US41 were delayed? Or if landscaping 76th St. was done next year? Or if "special pavement markings" were not put on "various highways" in SE Wisconsin?
Could Winnebago County make it if there were no "Park-and-Ride" lot on Hy. 41? Will the State survive another year without acquiring more land at the 41/Breezewood intersection? I know that failing to "resurface Summit Road" at I-94 will not stop Oconomowoc from growing, and I suspect that Wisconsin Rapids will persevere despite NOT reconstructing 32nd St. (north.)
So what if the entire Beltline (south) is not re-surfaced? And will safety REALLY be affected if "safety rest area improvements" are not completed in Dunn County? The State has survived for 50 years without "modernizing" Hy. 41 near Fond du Lac--perhaps another biennium won't make a difference, either.
Will "reconstructing/preserving" the 51/29 corridor near Wausau "reconstruct and preserve" Wausau--or just some contractor's wallet?
Oh, I know that "maintenance" of Hy. 45 near Three Lakes is critical--to FIB's who own second homes up there. Can't drive 30-over the speed limit on a crappy road, after all....and Howards Grove will probably dry up and fall off the map if that Hy 42 "reconditioning" doesn't occur.
Yah.
It's the end of civilization.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Noonan Nails It
Peggy Noonan on Being Herded--suitable for reading by us, the cattle.
America is in line at the airport. America has its shoes off, is carrying a rubberized bin, is going through a magnetometer. America is worried there is fungus on the floor after a million stockinged feet have walked on it. But America knows not to ask. America is guilty until proved innocent, and no one wants to draw undue attention. America left its ticket and passport in the jacket in the bin in the X-ray machine, and is admonished. America is embarrassed to have put one one-ounce moisturizer too many in the see-through bag. America is irritated that the TSA agent removed its mascara, opened it, put it to her nose, and smelled it. Why don't you put it up your nose and see if it explodes? America thinks.
And, as always: Why do we do this when you know I am not a terrorist, and you know I know you know I am not a terrorist? Why this costly and harassing kabuki when we both know the facts, and would agree that all this harassment is the government's way of showing "fairness," of showing that it will equally humiliate anyone in order to show its high-mindedness and sense of justice? Our politicians congratulate themselves on this as we stand in line.
(No different, might we add, than Our Politicians' Smug Satisfaction at making us stuff food into orifices actually meant for fuel. But what's the difference?)
All the frisking, beeping and patting down is demoralizing to our society. It breeds resentment, encourages a sense that the normal are not in control, that common sense is yesterday.
That happens to be more than a passing complaint. The mood is darkening toward surly, justifiably so. With food (fuel? food? fuel?) now inflating at about 13%/annum, some politicians will be very unpleasantly surprised at the reception they get while Parading Around on the Fourth of July.
In fact, the Fourth of July might be the very WORST date for politicians to be parading..
Mnemonics, and all that.
America is in line at the airport. America has its shoes off, is carrying a rubberized bin, is going through a magnetometer. America is worried there is fungus on the floor after a million stockinged feet have walked on it. But America knows not to ask. America is guilty until proved innocent, and no one wants to draw undue attention. America left its ticket and passport in the jacket in the bin in the X-ray machine, and is admonished. America is embarrassed to have put one one-ounce moisturizer too many in the see-through bag. America is irritated that the TSA agent removed its mascara, opened it, put it to her nose, and smelled it. Why don't you put it up your nose and see if it explodes? America thinks.
And, as always: Why do we do this when you know I am not a terrorist, and you know I know you know I am not a terrorist? Why this costly and harassing kabuki when we both know the facts, and would agree that all this harassment is the government's way of showing "fairness," of showing that it will equally humiliate anyone in order to show its high-mindedness and sense of justice? Our politicians congratulate themselves on this as we stand in line.
(No different, might we add, than Our Politicians' Smug Satisfaction at making us stuff food into orifices actually meant for fuel. But what's the difference?)
All the frisking, beeping and patting down is demoralizing to our society. It breeds resentment, encourages a sense that the normal are not in control, that common sense is yesterday.
That happens to be more than a passing complaint. The mood is darkening toward surly, justifiably so. With food (fuel? food? fuel?) now inflating at about 13%/annum, some politicians will be very unpleasantly surprised at the reception they get while Parading Around on the Fourth of July.
In fact, the Fourth of July might be the very WORST date for politicians to be parading..
Mnemonics, and all that.
Pelosi's "Biblical" Quotation
It was tracked down by the editor of Insight Scoop:
Hey, I think it's actually from 2 Hallucinations 6:66
Personally, I think her re-invention of Scripture is fully consistent with her pro-abortion activism. It's said that one's mind is darkened by sin...
Hey, I think it's actually from 2 Hallucinations 6:66
Personally, I think her re-invention of Scripture is fully consistent with her pro-abortion activism. It's said that one's mind is darkened by sin...
What Did Benedict XVI DO??
On the sexual abuse question?
We all know he spoke about it, forcefully, both on the trip over here and during his appearances. Obviously, we do not know all of what he said--some was private. And you can bet that what was said publicly was vetted by attorneys.
Could more actions follow? Maybe. Read this firsthand account of his meeting in Washington D.C. with victims.
Bernie McDaid, 52, another Boston survivor who is a painting contractor in Boston, tried to tell his story to Pope John Paul II in 2003. He traveled to Rome but saw only Vatican officials, he told the Beacon from a Boston construction site. This time was different.
About two weeks before the papal visit, Horne and McDaid were invited to meet the pope privately with other survivors in Washington, D.C., at the residence of Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the Vatican's diplomat to the U.S.
The six survivors of childhood sex abuse who accepted the invitation also were invited to the papal Mass at the new Nationals stadium before the gathering. Afterward they were whisked in a van under police escort to the meeting. Those who didn't know the other victims were introduced only by first name.
The pope entered the residence's small 25-by-15 foot chapel and immediately knelt in silent prayer. Then he spoke to the survivors for what Horne recalled was about 20 minutes. Then, each of the six had a private face-to-face visit with the pope.
A woman on the Boston archdiocesan victims' assistance staff handed the pope a book with 1,600 first names written on its pages. Cardinal Sean O'Malley explained to the pope that the list was of all victims of clerical sexual abuse in the Boston archdiocese who had asked its bishops for pastoral care. Pages were left blank to symbolize those victims who had never voiced their tragic complaints, O'Malley explained.
"The pope was shocked at the number," Horne said. "You could see the sincerity of the shock on his face. Benedict had never known that there was that many in Boston. He was stunned. So was the Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Pietro Sambi. That was a moment. They do have a tough role."
O'Malley asked the pope to pray for the victims listed in the book, and the pope promised to do so.
The pope may know more about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church than most American bishops. In his previous post leading the Congregation for the Faith, he reviewed all the cases of bishops' removing abusive priests. After late 2002, American cases fell into his in-basket like a torrent.
The pope spoke for about 20 minutes, asking forgiveness and speaking of his personal shame over the depraved priests who crushed the innocence of children, Horne and McDaid said.
The most dramatic moment of the gathering came when the only woman victim's turn came for her private time with Benedict, Horne said. With all the others' heads turned to give her privacy, she stood facing the standing pope. She wept as words escaped her.
"Her sounds were filled with sorrow, like an aria," said Horne. "So sorrowful, yet the sweetest sound, as if it were being exhaled. There was complete reverence around the room. No one interrupted. No one said anything like 'it's going to be all right.' Her sobs floated around the room, settled around all of us in the room. Then it was expelled. You saw the pain in Benedict's face."
Dreher looks for the Pope to (in effect) fire all the Bishops who covered up, obfuscated, lied, and otherwise interfered with the process of justice.
(Were it only Bishops! There are plenty of local officials (cops and prosecutors) who share in the blame.)
The question: which is more painful for the genuinely-guilty Bishops: to remain in office (or in retirement) as quasi-pariahs? As Bishops and priests who obtain only the formalities of respect from their flocks, but who will no longer be really genuinely welcomed in 'respectable' company?
Or to exit public view entirely, banished to some distant encampment, never to return to their Dioceses?
Good question.
We all know he spoke about it, forcefully, both on the trip over here and during his appearances. Obviously, we do not know all of what he said--some was private. And you can bet that what was said publicly was vetted by attorneys.
Could more actions follow? Maybe. Read this firsthand account of his meeting in Washington D.C. with victims.
Bernie McDaid, 52, another Boston survivor who is a painting contractor in Boston, tried to tell his story to Pope John Paul II in 2003. He traveled to Rome but saw only Vatican officials, he told the Beacon from a Boston construction site. This time was different.
About two weeks before the papal visit, Horne and McDaid were invited to meet the pope privately with other survivors in Washington, D.C., at the residence of Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the Vatican's diplomat to the U.S.
The six survivors of childhood sex abuse who accepted the invitation also were invited to the papal Mass at the new Nationals stadium before the gathering. Afterward they were whisked in a van under police escort to the meeting. Those who didn't know the other victims were introduced only by first name.
The pope entered the residence's small 25-by-15 foot chapel and immediately knelt in silent prayer. Then he spoke to the survivors for what Horne recalled was about 20 minutes. Then, each of the six had a private face-to-face visit with the pope.
A woman on the Boston archdiocesan victims' assistance staff handed the pope a book with 1,600 first names written on its pages. Cardinal Sean O'Malley explained to the pope that the list was of all victims of clerical sexual abuse in the Boston archdiocese who had asked its bishops for pastoral care. Pages were left blank to symbolize those victims who had never voiced their tragic complaints, O'Malley explained.
"The pope was shocked at the number," Horne said. "You could see the sincerity of the shock on his face. Benedict had never known that there was that many in Boston. He was stunned. So was the Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Pietro Sambi. That was a moment. They do have a tough role."
O'Malley asked the pope to pray for the victims listed in the book, and the pope promised to do so.
The pope may know more about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church than most American bishops. In his previous post leading the Congregation for the Faith, he reviewed all the cases of bishops' removing abusive priests. After late 2002, American cases fell into his in-basket like a torrent.
The pope spoke for about 20 minutes, asking forgiveness and speaking of his personal shame over the depraved priests who crushed the innocence of children, Horne and McDaid said.
The most dramatic moment of the gathering came when the only woman victim's turn came for her private time with Benedict, Horne said. With all the others' heads turned to give her privacy, she stood facing the standing pope. She wept as words escaped her.
"Her sounds were filled with sorrow, like an aria," said Horne. "So sorrowful, yet the sweetest sound, as if it were being exhaled. There was complete reverence around the room. No one interrupted. No one said anything like 'it's going to be all right.' Her sobs floated around the room, settled around all of us in the room. Then it was expelled. You saw the pain in Benedict's face."
Dreher looks for the Pope to (in effect) fire all the Bishops who covered up, obfuscated, lied, and otherwise interfered with the process of justice.
(Were it only Bishops! There are plenty of local officials (cops and prosecutors) who share in the blame.)
The question: which is more painful for the genuinely-guilty Bishops: to remain in office (or in retirement) as quasi-pariahs? As Bishops and priests who obtain only the formalities of respect from their flocks, but who will no longer be really genuinely welcomed in 'respectable' company?
Or to exit public view entirely, banished to some distant encampment, never to return to their Dioceses?
Good question.
Gardening with Chesterton
Stolen from Chesterton and Friends--on the topic of daisies, which spread all by themselves.
"It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike: it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we."
Now you know about how daisies spread.
"It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike: it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we."
Now you know about how daisies spread.
Inflation: Take-Your-Pick Measures
We've mentioned this a few times. Both Reagan and Clinton "adjusted" inflation measures. I don't recall the motivation for Reagan's tweak, but I DO know why Clinton did it: to reduce the Gummint's Social Security payouts.
How'dya like that Corn-A-Hole now, sucka?
HT: BigPicture
H1-Bs: The Myth Exploded
Norm Matloff is a professor of Computer Science at UC-Davis and has been interested in the H1-B/Green Card phenomenon for quite some time.
He's published a new paper which takes on the "Best and Brightest" mythologies of H1-B.
In pressuring Congress to expand the H-1B work visa and employment-based green card programs, industry lobbyists have recently adopted a new tack. Seeing that their past cries of a tech labor shortage are contradicted by stagnant or declining wages, their new buzzword is innovation. Building on their perennial assertion that the foreign workers are “the best and the brightest,” they now say that continued U.S. leadership in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) hinges on our ability to import the world’s best engineers and scientists. Yet, this Backgrounder will present new data analysis showing that the vast majority of the foreign workers — including those at most major tech firms — are people of just ordinary talent, doing ordinary work. They are not the innovators the industry lobbyists portray them to be.
And that's not very difficult to demonstrate.
If the foreign workers are indeed outstanding talents, they would be paid accordingly. We can thus easily determine whether a foreign worker is among “the best and the brightest” by computing the ratio of his salary to the prevailing wage figure stated by the employer. Let’s call this the Talent Measure (TM). Keep in mind that a TM value of 1.0 means that the worker is merely average, not of outstanding talent.
I computed median TM values for various subgroups of interest. A summary of the results is:
--The median TM value over all foreign workers studied was just a hair over 1.0.
--The median TM value was also essentially 1.0 in each of the tech professions studied.
--Median TM was near 1.0 for almost all prominent tech firms that were analyzed.
Contrary to the constant hyperbole in the press that “Johnnie can’t do math” in comparison with kids in Asia, TM values for workers from Western European countries tend to be much higher than those of their Asian counterparts.
Again noting that a TM value of 1.0 means just average, the data show dramatically that most foreign workers, the vast majority of whom are from Asia, are in fact not “the best and the brightest.”
"If you're so damn smart, how come you're not RICH?" is an old taunt, but not useless.
In general terms, Matloff wants you to understand that H1-B programs are a method of increasing supply to diminish the price-point.
And they succeed in that quest.
He's published a new paper which takes on the "Best and Brightest" mythologies of H1-B.
In pressuring Congress to expand the H-1B work visa and employment-based green card programs, industry lobbyists have recently adopted a new tack. Seeing that their past cries of a tech labor shortage are contradicted by stagnant or declining wages, their new buzzword is innovation. Building on their perennial assertion that the foreign workers are “the best and the brightest,” they now say that continued U.S. leadership in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) hinges on our ability to import the world’s best engineers and scientists. Yet, this Backgrounder will present new data analysis showing that the vast majority of the foreign workers — including those at most major tech firms — are people of just ordinary talent, doing ordinary work. They are not the innovators the industry lobbyists portray them to be.
And that's not very difficult to demonstrate.
If the foreign workers are indeed outstanding talents, they would be paid accordingly. We can thus easily determine whether a foreign worker is among “the best and the brightest” by computing the ratio of his salary to the prevailing wage figure stated by the employer. Let’s call this the Talent Measure (TM). Keep in mind that a TM value of 1.0 means that the worker is merely average, not of outstanding talent.
I computed median TM values for various subgroups of interest. A summary of the results is:
--The median TM value over all foreign workers studied was just a hair over 1.0.
--The median TM value was also essentially 1.0 in each of the tech professions studied.
--Median TM was near 1.0 for almost all prominent tech firms that were analyzed.
Contrary to the constant hyperbole in the press that “Johnnie can’t do math” in comparison with kids in Asia, TM values for workers from Western European countries tend to be much higher than those of their Asian counterparts.
Again noting that a TM value of 1.0 means just average, the data show dramatically that most foreign workers, the vast majority of whom are from Asia, are in fact not “the best and the brightest.”
"If you're so damn smart, how come you're not RICH?" is an old taunt, but not useless.
In general terms, Matloff wants you to understand that H1-B programs are a method of increasing supply to diminish the price-point.
And they succeed in that quest.
No Guns for Mugabe
Here's some good news.
A Chinese ship laden with weapons destined for Zimbabwe is returning to China. A spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the decision was made by the company delivering the arms. A number of countries in southern Africa had refused to unload the arms amid fears that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe would use the weapons against opposition supporters
Of course, the jackass hasn't stepped down yet...
A Chinese ship laden with weapons destined for Zimbabwe is returning to China. A spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the decision was made by the company delivering the arms. A number of countries in southern Africa had refused to unload the arms amid fears that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe would use the weapons against opposition supporters
Of course, the jackass hasn't stepped down yet...
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Think Sensenbrenner Will Reverse on Ethanol?
Jim Sensenbrenner (and every OTHER State Republican Congresscritter) voted to Corn-a-Hole the citizens of the country.
I know why--the Act also eliminated the "boutique" fuel requirements which cost SE Wisconsin a ton of gasoline-money.
But do you think he has the nerve to reverse?
BTW, Herbie, Nobody's Senator, also voted for it--Feingold voted against, as did Baldwin.
I know why--the Act also eliminated the "boutique" fuel requirements which cost SE Wisconsin a ton of gasoline-money.
But do you think he has the nerve to reverse?
BTW, Herbie, Nobody's Senator, also voted for it--Feingold voted against, as did Baldwin.
Texas v. FLDS: Even MORE Interesting
The Dallas Morning News doesn't mince words.
Judge Barbara Walther, who is overseeing the YFZ Ranch case, yesterday declared: "The court has ruled the conditions those children were in were not safe for the children. I did not make the facts that got this case into the courts."
Excuse me, Judge? You issued a sweeping, house-to-house search warrant based on a highly questionable anonymous call that turned out to be phony. You refused to allow individual hearings for children, grouping them together like cattle. You accepted the testimony of an expert on "cults" who only learned about FLDS from media accounts, rather than an academic who'd studied them professionally for 18 years.
You've ruled the existence of five girls between 16 and 19 who were pregnant or had children was evidence of systematic abuse, even though in Texas 16-year-olds can marry with parental consent. You've ruled young toddlers are in "immediate" danger because of their parents' beliefs or what might happen 15 years from now, not because anyone abuses them.
Volokh is less polemic, but equally concerned:
It's time for a nationally prominent civil liberties attorney to get involved
Yes. This is, without a doubt, the most egregious example of Statism since Waco, and although less deadly (so far), it's just as portentous.
Judge Barbara Walther, who is overseeing the YFZ Ranch case, yesterday declared: "The court has ruled the conditions those children were in were not safe for the children. I did not make the facts that got this case into the courts."
Excuse me, Judge? You issued a sweeping, house-to-house search warrant based on a highly questionable anonymous call that turned out to be phony. You refused to allow individual hearings for children, grouping them together like cattle. You accepted the testimony of an expert on "cults" who only learned about FLDS from media accounts, rather than an academic who'd studied them professionally for 18 years.
You've ruled the existence of five girls between 16 and 19 who were pregnant or had children was evidence of systematic abuse, even though in Texas 16-year-olds can marry with parental consent. You've ruled young toddlers are in "immediate" danger because of their parents' beliefs or what might happen 15 years from now, not because anyone abuses them.
Volokh is less polemic, but equally concerned:
It's time for a nationally prominent civil liberties attorney to get involved
Yes. This is, without a doubt, the most egregious example of Statism since Waco, and although less deadly (so far), it's just as portentous.
Ambulance-Chasers' Best Friend
The trial lawyers have a pal--named Nancy Pelosi.
So powerful is the plaintiffs lawyers lobby in Congress that Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is forsaking a bill passed unanimously in the House for a more lawsuit-friendly version of the proposal that was approved with anything but unanimity by the Senate.
In the name of reforming the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the Senate version would create bureaucratic red tape galore, while enabling the sort of class-action jackpot justice that enriches plaintiffs lawyers at the expense of consumers and shareholders
...Usually, each chamber of Congress fights hard for its own version of a bill, especially when a bill passes one chamber unanimously, as did the House version. Instead, Pelosi has delayed appointing members of the “conference committee” that will work out differences between the two chambers’ versions of the bill, while battling (against House Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell) to stack the committee in the Senate’s favor.
This is the same Pelosi, the recipient of many tens of thousands of dollars in trial lawyer political donations, who earlier this year put an essential foreign intelligence surveillance bill on hold at the behest of the plaintiffs bar
Just co-incidence that the latest "scare story" is out?
What's surprising about the Bisphenal-A story is that it's the same old s&^% with a new name. First, stuff some rats to the gills with a substance---ANY substance. Then watch them develop tumors. Then announce that 'The Children Are At RISK!!!'
Well, sure. But they're also at equal risk from over-stuffing with H20, folks...
So powerful is the plaintiffs lawyers lobby in Congress that Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is forsaking a bill passed unanimously in the House for a more lawsuit-friendly version of the proposal that was approved with anything but unanimity by the Senate.
In the name of reforming the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the Senate version would create bureaucratic red tape galore, while enabling the sort of class-action jackpot justice that enriches plaintiffs lawyers at the expense of consumers and shareholders
...Usually, each chamber of Congress fights hard for its own version of a bill, especially when a bill passes one chamber unanimously, as did the House version. Instead, Pelosi has delayed appointing members of the “conference committee” that will work out differences between the two chambers’ versions of the bill, while battling (against House Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell) to stack the committee in the Senate’s favor.
This is the same Pelosi, the recipient of many tens of thousands of dollars in trial lawyer political donations, who earlier this year put an essential foreign intelligence surveillance bill on hold at the behest of the plaintiffs bar
Just co-incidence that the latest "scare story" is out?
What's surprising about the Bisphenal-A story is that it's the same old s&^% with a new name. First, stuff some rats to the gills with a substance---ANY substance. Then watch them develop tumors. Then announce that 'The Children Are At RISK!!!'
Well, sure. But they're also at equal risk from over-stuffing with H20, folks...
Just "Supply and Demand" for Oil? Maybe.
From Counterterrorism Blog:
The factors involved in the pricing of oil are both extremely obscure and enormously complex, and few people can truly claim to understand them. I certainly am not one of them. But, broken down into its most basic components it apparently involves a mixture of the following factors: OPEC Oligarchy practices, intensified international competition for secure access to essential commodities, increased reliance on middlemen for oil lifting, profit-motive purchasing policies and upstream practices of major oil companies, the falling dollar, and intense speculative upward bidding of oil futures on the world’s merchantile exchanges. Taken together these factors have driven up the spot price of oil and pumped tens (dare I say hundreds) of billions of dollars into the coffers of countries known to either encourage or tolerate state and/or private funding for terrorism. One may well conclude, as I am beginning to believe, that mercantile speculation, greed, and corporate profit taking are as responsible as OPEC, if not more so, for the windfall profits that help fund terrorism.
It is a simplistic mindset which yammers "supply and demand" as the only answer to oil pricing, and "peak oil" theorists (or scare-mongers) are happy to take advantage of the continuing propaganda of "supply and demand."
Other (highlighted) items all have the faint outline of the signature of George Soros or like-minded people--and no one ever accused oligopolists of being kind-hearted.
Worth mulling over.
The factors involved in the pricing of oil are both extremely obscure and enormously complex, and few people can truly claim to understand them. I certainly am not one of them. But, broken down into its most basic components it apparently involves a mixture of the following factors: OPEC Oligarchy practices, intensified international competition for secure access to essential commodities, increased reliance on middlemen for oil lifting, profit-motive purchasing policies and upstream practices of major oil companies, the falling dollar, and intense speculative upward bidding of oil futures on the world’s merchantile exchanges. Taken together these factors have driven up the spot price of oil and pumped tens (dare I say hundreds) of billions of dollars into the coffers of countries known to either encourage or tolerate state and/or private funding for terrorism. One may well conclude, as I am beginning to believe, that mercantile speculation, greed, and corporate profit taking are as responsible as OPEC, if not more so, for the windfall profits that help fund terrorism.
It is a simplistic mindset which yammers "supply and demand" as the only answer to oil pricing, and "peak oil" theorists (or scare-mongers) are happy to take advantage of the continuing propaganda of "supply and demand."
Other (highlighted) items all have the faint outline of the signature of George Soros or like-minded people--and no one ever accused oligopolists of being kind-hearted.
Worth mulling over.
Bear, Stearns, First Franklin: Lawsuits?
Oh, yah, it can get worse.
...David Wallis, Ambac's chief risk officer noted that their 'losses are heavily concentrated in a small number of deals which they characterized as “striking” and essentially suspicious' (reader Brian's description). The also made some comments on their Alt-A deals - AMBAC has half a dozen deals now projecting cumulative losses of 20-25% vs initial expectations of approximately 6%.
According to Brian, AMBAC hinted that they might pursue legal action against Bear Stearns and First Franklin.
Actually, that's the good news. From reports at Calculated Risk over the last several weeks, it is becoming apparent that the "mortgage crisis" may be much smaller than first indicated--that is, it may be restricted to certain small geographic areas, and (within those areas) concentrated on only the deals which are fraudulent.
Much as Congress won't like this, it may be better to wait for the smoke to clear than to pass unhelpful "rescue" bills.
...David Wallis, Ambac's chief risk officer noted that their 'losses are heavily concentrated in a small number of deals which they characterized as “striking” and essentially suspicious' (reader Brian's description). The also made some comments on their Alt-A deals - AMBAC has half a dozen deals now projecting cumulative losses of 20-25% vs initial expectations of approximately 6%.
According to Brian, AMBAC hinted that they might pursue legal action against Bear Stearns and First Franklin.
Actually, that's the good news. From reports at Calculated Risk over the last several weeks, it is becoming apparent that the "mortgage crisis" may be much smaller than first indicated--that is, it may be restricted to certain small geographic areas, and (within those areas) concentrated on only the deals which are fraudulent.
Much as Congress won't like this, it may be better to wait for the smoke to clear than to pass unhelpful "rescue" bills.
Abstinence Programs Work
No real surprise here, but you can expect that the Pills and Rubbers people will be launching propaganda soon.
Abstinence education is "crucial to the physical and psycho-emotional well-being of the nation's youth," concludes a detailed report released by the Heritage Foundation.
The report, "Abstinence Education: Assessing the Evidence", released yesterday, examines 21 studies of abstinence education programs, and concludes that statistics show that abstinence programs are effective in deterring teens from becoming sexually active, thereby reducing the risk of STDs, teen prengnacy, etc.
...The Heritage Foundation report ... demonstrates that a majority of abstinence programs have reported a statistically significant decrease in levels of sexual activity for students who participate in them.
Of 15 sex-ed programs that primarily taught abstinence, 11 reported positive findings, while of 6 "virginity pledge" programs, 5 reported positive findings.
More important:
Abstinence programs, observes the report, are admirable in that they are not only about sexual behavior, but "also provide youths with valuable life and decision-making skills that lay the foundation for personal responsibility and developing healthy relationships and marriages later in life."
...in other words, the virtues of integrity, responsibility, treating others as people, not objects....
No wonder the Democrat Party objects!
Abstinence education is "crucial to the physical and psycho-emotional well-being of the nation's youth," concludes a detailed report released by the Heritage Foundation.
The report, "Abstinence Education: Assessing the Evidence", released yesterday, examines 21 studies of abstinence education programs, and concludes that statistics show that abstinence programs are effective in deterring teens from becoming sexually active, thereby reducing the risk of STDs, teen prengnacy, etc.
...The Heritage Foundation report ... demonstrates that a majority of abstinence programs have reported a statistically significant decrease in levels of sexual activity for students who participate in them.
Of 15 sex-ed programs that primarily taught abstinence, 11 reported positive findings, while of 6 "virginity pledge" programs, 5 reported positive findings.
More important:
Abstinence programs, observes the report, are admirable in that they are not only about sexual behavior, but "also provide youths with valuable life and decision-making skills that lay the foundation for personal responsibility and developing healthy relationships and marriages later in life."
...in other words, the virtues of integrity, responsibility, treating others as people, not objects....
No wonder the Democrat Party objects!
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
"Warming"?? Wait A Bit
No, not for the upcoming snow-event due in Milwaukee late this weekend.
Wait for REAL cooling. Global cooling.
It is generally not possible to draw conclusions about climatic trends from events in a single year, so I would normally dismiss this cold snap as transient, pending what happens in the next few years.
This is where SOHO comes in. The sunspot number follows a cycle of somewhat variable length, averaging 11 years. The most recent minimum was in March last year. The new cycle, No.24, was supposed to start soon after that, with a gradual build-up in sunspot numbers.
It didn't happen. The first sunspot appeared in January this year and lasted only two days. A tiny spot appeared last Monday but vanished within 24 hours. Another little spot appeared this Monday. Pray that there will be many more, and soon.
The reason this matters is that there is a close correlation between variations in the sunspot cycle and Earth's climate. The previous time a cycle was delayed like this was in the Dalton Minimum, an especially cold period that lasted several decades from 1790.
Northern winters became ferocious: in particular, the rout of Napoleon's Grand Army during the retreat from Moscow in 1812 was at least partly due to the lack of sunspots.
These days, French invasions of ....anybody.... are not a concern. Scratch that off the list of things to worry about.
That the rapid temperature decline in 2007 coincided with the failure of cycle No.24 to begin on schedule is not proof of a causal connection but it is cause for concern.
(That's how a responsible scientist phrases things...)
It is time to put aside the global warming dogma, at least to begin contingency planning about what to do if we are moving into another little ice age, similar to the one that lasted from 1100 to 1850.
There is no doubt that the next little ice age would be much worse than the previous one and much more harmful than anything warming may do. There are many more people now and we have become dependent on a few temperate agricultural areas, especially in the US and Canada. Global warming would increase agricultural output, but global cooling will decrease it.
Millions will starve if we do nothing to prepare for it (such as planning changes in agriculture to compensate), and millions more will die from cold-related diseases.
There is also another possibility, remote but much more serious. The Greenland and Antarctic ice cores and other evidence show that for the past several million years, severe glaciation has almost always afflicted our planet.
The bleak truth is that, under normal conditions, most of North America and Europe are buried under about 1.5km of ice. [That will make weather forecasting a helluva lot easier.] This bitterly frigid climate is interrupted occasionally by brief warm interglacials, typically lasting less than 10,000 years.
Well, that's an interesting read, no?
HT: Clay Cramer
Wait for REAL cooling. Global cooling.
It is generally not possible to draw conclusions about climatic trends from events in a single year, so I would normally dismiss this cold snap as transient, pending what happens in the next few years.
This is where SOHO comes in. The sunspot number follows a cycle of somewhat variable length, averaging 11 years. The most recent minimum was in March last year. The new cycle, No.24, was supposed to start soon after that, with a gradual build-up in sunspot numbers.
It didn't happen. The first sunspot appeared in January this year and lasted only two days. A tiny spot appeared last Monday but vanished within 24 hours. Another little spot appeared this Monday. Pray that there will be many more, and soon.
The reason this matters is that there is a close correlation between variations in the sunspot cycle and Earth's climate. The previous time a cycle was delayed like this was in the Dalton Minimum, an especially cold period that lasted several decades from 1790.
Northern winters became ferocious: in particular, the rout of Napoleon's Grand Army during the retreat from Moscow in 1812 was at least partly due to the lack of sunspots.
These days, French invasions of ....anybody.... are not a concern. Scratch that off the list of things to worry about.
That the rapid temperature decline in 2007 coincided with the failure of cycle No.24 to begin on schedule is not proof of a causal connection but it is cause for concern.
(That's how a responsible scientist phrases things...)
It is time to put aside the global warming dogma, at least to begin contingency planning about what to do if we are moving into another little ice age, similar to the one that lasted from 1100 to 1850.
There is no doubt that the next little ice age would be much worse than the previous one and much more harmful than anything warming may do. There are many more people now and we have become dependent on a few temperate agricultural areas, especially in the US and Canada. Global warming would increase agricultural output, but global cooling will decrease it.
Millions will starve if we do nothing to prepare for it (such as planning changes in agriculture to compensate), and millions more will die from cold-related diseases.
There is also another possibility, remote but much more serious. The Greenland and Antarctic ice cores and other evidence show that for the past several million years, severe glaciation has almost always afflicted our planet.
The bleak truth is that, under normal conditions, most of North America and Europe are buried under about 1.5km of ice. [That will make weather forecasting a helluva lot easier.] This bitterly frigid climate is interrupted occasionally by brief warm interglacials, typically lasting less than 10,000 years.
Well, that's an interesting read, no?
HT: Clay Cramer
Are You: 1) Sick or 2) Stupid?
Those are your alternatives, if you are a Conservative.
...That raised a question: How could we account for the fact that some people were not liberal, that some were conservative? Sheer stupidity, of course, was part of the answer. Some people are just so dumb they wouldn't recognize the truth if it came up and shouted at them. But not all conservatives were that dumb. Most knew how to read; many had high school educations; some had even been to college. So how can we account for their conservatism?
The answer was soon found: Conservatives were suffering from a psychopathology...
To help your local fuzzyLiberal, simply purchase a greeting-tag and insert either "sick" or "stupid" in the space.
Place it on your lapel before engaging with a LeftyWonk. It will be most helpful.
HT: ProEcclesia
...That raised a question: How could we account for the fact that some people were not liberal, that some were conservative? Sheer stupidity, of course, was part of the answer. Some people are just so dumb they wouldn't recognize the truth if it came up and shouted at them. But not all conservatives were that dumb. Most knew how to read; many had high school educations; some had even been to college. So how can we account for their conservatism?
The answer was soon found: Conservatives were suffering from a psychopathology...
To help your local fuzzyLiberal, simply purchase a greeting-tag and insert either "sick" or "stupid" in the space.
Place it on your lapel before engaging with a LeftyWonk. It will be most helpful.
HT: ProEcclesia
ABC: It May Not Be Real--But We'll Put It Out There
The Yankee fisks another ABC fabrication. ABC is attempting to blame US citizens (and George Bush, of course) for the guns used by drug-gangs in Mexico (and Central America, and South America.)
The focus of the story, according to ABC News, is that U.S. dealers of civilian firearms are to blame for Mexico's drug cartels and their violence problems... so why do they highlight an M60 general purpose machine gun, a weapons still in use in Mexico's military, but impossible to find in the open U.S. civilian market?
Here's another ABC lie, direct from the story:
Assault weapons made in China and Eastern Europe, resembling the AK-47, have become widely and cheaply available in the U.S. since Congress and the Bush administration refused to extend a ban on such weapons in 2004.
The reality?
AK-pattern rifles were legal to own or import during the entire life of the 1994-2004 "Crime Bill," something that Ross knows for a fact... or should. This claim is a blatant falsehood.
The only effect of the law was to outlaw the importation or manufacture of certain specific firearms by name, and cosmetic features found on other firearms, without banning their manufacture, important, or purchase once these features were removed or replaced. The result was that the same functioning firearms were imported the day after the "ban" went into effect without a bayonet lug or flashhider, and with a thumbhole stock instead of a pistol grip. Functionally, the weapons were identical, with no reduction in firepower, magazine capacity, controllability, or or lethality. The "Crime Bill" outlawed virtually nothing, and was merely a fig-leaf for anti-gun politicians.
Fiction, from ABC:
The drug cartels' weapons of choice include variants of the AK-47, .50-caliber sniper rifles and a Belgian-made pistol called the 'cop killer' or 'mata policia' because of its ability to pierce a bulletproof vest.
"It's in high demand by your violent drug cartels, their assassins in Mexico," said Newell of the ATF. The gun can fire a high-powered round used in a rifle.
Fact:
The FN Five-seveN (their punctuation, not mine) does not fire rifle bullets as the article claims. It fires a tiny 5.7mm personal defense round designed for light carbines, submachine guns and pistols.
It is not any more armor-piercing than many other pistol cartridges, and less powerful than all centerfire rifle cartridges. Furthermore for the 5.7 cartridge to be truly armor-piercing, it must fire special ammunition that is only available to military and law enforcement sources.
A 5.7mm round is approximately a .25 or .257 cal--there's no 'there' there, folks.
Generally speaking, full-auto rifles are VERY difficult to obtain in the USA--you need a very pricey permit, for openers, and to my knowledge there's only 1 dealer in Wisconsin who actually sells them.
ABC is swallowing whole (and then regurgitating) the BS peddled by the Mexican Attorney-General and BATFE--and lying, to boot.
Reminder: it's budget-season and BATFE wants more money.
Reminder 2: Mexico's government(s) are as corrupt as any in the Western Hemisphere.
Reminder 3: Drug cartels have a lot of wherewithal. They can buy weapons anywhere on the planet--including direct from the ChiComs.
The focus of the story, according to ABC News, is that U.S. dealers of civilian firearms are to blame for Mexico's drug cartels and their violence problems... so why do they highlight an M60 general purpose machine gun, a weapons still in use in Mexico's military, but impossible to find in the open U.S. civilian market?
Here's another ABC lie, direct from the story:
Assault weapons made in China and Eastern Europe, resembling the AK-47, have become widely and cheaply available in the U.S. since Congress and the Bush administration refused to extend a ban on such weapons in 2004.
The reality?
AK-pattern rifles were legal to own or import during the entire life of the 1994-2004 "Crime Bill," something that Ross knows for a fact... or should. This claim is a blatant falsehood.
The only effect of the law was to outlaw the importation or manufacture of certain specific firearms by name, and cosmetic features found on other firearms, without banning their manufacture, important, or purchase once these features were removed or replaced. The result was that the same functioning firearms were imported the day after the "ban" went into effect without a bayonet lug or flashhider, and with a thumbhole stock instead of a pistol grip. Functionally, the weapons were identical, with no reduction in firepower, magazine capacity, controllability, or or lethality. The "Crime Bill" outlawed virtually nothing, and was merely a fig-leaf for anti-gun politicians.
Fiction, from ABC:
The drug cartels' weapons of choice include variants of the AK-47, .50-caliber sniper rifles and a Belgian-made pistol called the 'cop killer' or 'mata policia' because of its ability to pierce a bulletproof vest.
"It's in high demand by your violent drug cartels, their assassins in Mexico," said Newell of the ATF. The gun can fire a high-powered round used in a rifle.
Fact:
The FN Five-seveN (their punctuation, not mine) does not fire rifle bullets as the article claims. It fires a tiny 5.7mm personal defense round designed for light carbines, submachine guns and pistols.
It is not any more armor-piercing than many other pistol cartridges, and less powerful than all centerfire rifle cartridges. Furthermore for the 5.7 cartridge to be truly armor-piercing, it must fire special ammunition that is only available to military and law enforcement sources.
A 5.7mm round is approximately a .25 or .257 cal--there's no 'there' there, folks.
Generally speaking, full-auto rifles are VERY difficult to obtain in the USA--you need a very pricey permit, for openers, and to my knowledge there's only 1 dealer in Wisconsin who actually sells them.
ABC is swallowing whole (and then regurgitating) the BS peddled by the Mexican Attorney-General and BATFE--and lying, to boot.
Reminder: it's budget-season and BATFE wants more money.
Reminder 2: Mexico's government(s) are as corrupt as any in the Western Hemisphere.
Reminder 3: Drug cartels have a lot of wherewithal. They can buy weapons anywhere on the planet--including direct from the ChiComs.
Democracy of the Dead
Heh.
Despite Powerline's egregious error in attribution of the quote (it was G K Chesterton, not Burke) regarding 'the democracy of the dead,' this item is worth posting in full.
Edmund Burke venerated tradition as the democracy of the dead.
The late Chicago Mayor Richard Daley famously practiced a literal version of the democracy of the dead, extending the dead the right to vote for favored Democratic candidates.
Andrew Malcolm notes that Barack Obama comes from the Chicago school of politics and is reviving the Daley tradition. Malcolm reports:
The Los Angeles Times' campaign finance expert Dan Morain has found Obama campaign records reporting a $50 donation by Roy Scheider, who lists his occupation as actor and his home as Sag Harbor, N.Y. Remember him from many great movies including "The French Connection" and "Jaws" and the immortal line: "You're gonna need a bigger boat"?
According to the campaign records, Scheider made the donation on March 10 last month.
Trouble is, Scheider died exactly one month before that, on Feb. 10 at the age of 75.
Malcolm adds: "Scheider was unavailable for comment. "
To put the best face on it, Obama could call for "change" in the USPostal Service' delivery routines...
Despite Powerline's egregious error in attribution of the quote (it was G K Chesterton, not Burke) regarding 'the democracy of the dead,' this item is worth posting in full.
Edmund Burke venerated tradition as the democracy of the dead.
The late Chicago Mayor Richard Daley famously practiced a literal version of the democracy of the dead, extending the dead the right to vote for favored Democratic candidates.
Andrew Malcolm notes that Barack Obama comes from the Chicago school of politics and is reviving the Daley tradition. Malcolm reports:
The Los Angeles Times' campaign finance expert Dan Morain has found Obama campaign records reporting a $50 donation by Roy Scheider, who lists his occupation as actor and his home as Sag Harbor, N.Y. Remember him from many great movies including "The French Connection" and "Jaws" and the immortal line: "You're gonna need a bigger boat"?
According to the campaign records, Scheider made the donation on March 10 last month.
Trouble is, Scheider died exactly one month before that, on Feb. 10 at the age of 75.
Malcolm adds: "Scheider was unavailable for comment. "
To put the best face on it, Obama could call for "change" in the USPostal Service' delivery routines...
Why the "Gun" Issue is a Loser
Scarfed up from Arms and the Law, who found it on a DU (!!!) combox:
"THIS IS WHAT IS COSTING US ELECTIONS! Saying that "well, most pro-gun people are Rethug anyway" is EXACTLY why we lose elections! Giving the issue to them means that the Thug leadership has a stick to beat their base with. And as HALF of the DU membership owns guns and as 39% of the gun owners in this country are Dems (source: Gallup), we CANNOT afford to give in to the toxic thinking that "well, guns are a Thug issue." Anyone who promotes this view is at best incompetent and at worst a deliberate plant."
Don't you love internecine warfare?
Applying that statistic to Milwaukee would tell us that about 100K+ residents of the City own guns.
The only question: how many of those voting-Democrat-gun-owners in Milwaukee own them legally?
"THIS IS WHAT IS COSTING US ELECTIONS! Saying that "well, most pro-gun people are Rethug anyway" is EXACTLY why we lose elections! Giving the issue to them means that the Thug leadership has a stick to beat their base with. And as HALF of the DU membership owns guns and as 39% of the gun owners in this country are Dems (source: Gallup), we CANNOT afford to give in to the toxic thinking that "well, guns are a Thug issue." Anyone who promotes this view is at best incompetent and at worst a deliberate plant."
Don't you love internecine warfare?
Applying that statistic to Milwaukee would tell us that about 100K+ residents of the City own guns.
The only question: how many of those voting-Democrat-gun-owners in Milwaukee own them legally?
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Where GWB Is Wrong on "Freedom"
We've touched on this a couple of times, but Reilly says it better.
...President Bush is a man of deep faith, and that his understanding of freedom is not morally empty. And there seems little question that it is his faith that leads him to believe that freedom is a universal charter for mankind. However, this is where he goes awry again. He told Arroyo, "You know, I don't think you can disassociate your faith with how you live your life. I mean, I think it's all engrained. And I am optimistic because I happen to believe in certain universal principles, and I do believe that freedom is universal, and if just given a chance, people will live in a -- will self-govern and live in a peaceful, free society."
Here, the president seems to be paraphrasing the Declaration of Independence, and what he says seems as American as apple pie. However, there are some crucial steps missing in this statement that can lead to huge misunderstandings about what is possible in this world and America's place in it. The assumption contained in President Bush's remark is that, were it not for certain constraints upon them, all people would choose democracy. Therefore, it would appear that our job is to remove those constraints. Then the blessings of liberty will naturally appear, along with peace. This is not true.
In the end, this is a religiously-inculcated 'thing,' this 'freedom.' We are in a RELIGIOUS war--yes, a jihad, so to speak--not a political war.
All people are indeed endowed by their Creator with "certain unalienable rights." However, those rights can only be exercised where they are recognized. The roots of that recognition came principally from the Christian religion.
...the reason the democratization of the Middle East has not happened is that its culture is missing either ingredient necessary for it to succeed [the "equals before God" part]
United States anti-colonial policy in the Middle East after World War II did not seem cognizant of the significance of these things. We thought the problems in the Middle East were the result of British and French occupation. Remove the colonizers, and the Arab peoples would naturally assume the blessings of self-government and liberty. With this in mind, we pressured the British and French to withdraw from their mandates. They did. However, the United States soon learned that the problems of the Middle East were not all of colonial origin; they were indigenous.
Winning "the War for Democracy" requires evangelization.
And that ain't part of the State Department's mission.
...President Bush is a man of deep faith, and that his understanding of freedom is not morally empty. And there seems little question that it is his faith that leads him to believe that freedom is a universal charter for mankind. However, this is where he goes awry again. He told Arroyo, "You know, I don't think you can disassociate your faith with how you live your life. I mean, I think it's all engrained. And I am optimistic because I happen to believe in certain universal principles, and I do believe that freedom is universal, and if just given a chance, people will live in a -- will self-govern and live in a peaceful, free society."
Here, the president seems to be paraphrasing the Declaration of Independence, and what he says seems as American as apple pie. However, there are some crucial steps missing in this statement that can lead to huge misunderstandings about what is possible in this world and America's place in it. The assumption contained in President Bush's remark is that, were it not for certain constraints upon them, all people would choose democracy. Therefore, it would appear that our job is to remove those constraints. Then the blessings of liberty will naturally appear, along with peace. This is not true.
In the end, this is a religiously-inculcated 'thing,' this 'freedom.' We are in a RELIGIOUS war--yes, a jihad, so to speak--not a political war.
All people are indeed endowed by their Creator with "certain unalienable rights." However, those rights can only be exercised where they are recognized. The roots of that recognition came principally from the Christian religion.
...the reason the democratization of the Middle East has not happened is that its culture is missing either ingredient necessary for it to succeed [the "equals before God" part]
United States anti-colonial policy in the Middle East after World War II did not seem cognizant of the significance of these things. We thought the problems in the Middle East were the result of British and French occupation. Remove the colonizers, and the Arab peoples would naturally assume the blessings of self-government and liberty. With this in mind, we pressured the British and French to withdraw from their mandates. They did. However, the United States soon learned that the problems of the Middle East were not all of colonial origin; they were indigenous.
Winning "the War for Democracy" requires evangelization.
And that ain't part of the State Department's mission.
What to Say to War Protesters
From the Hat:
"There were protesters on the train platform handing out pamphlets on the evils of America . I politely declined to take one.
"An elderly woman was behind me getting off the escalator and a young (20ish) female protester offered her a pamphlet, which she politely declined.
"The young protester put her hand on the old woman's shoulder as a gesture of friendship and in a very soft voice said, 'Lady, don't you care about the children of Iraq ?'
"The old woman looked up at her and said, 'Honey, my father died in France during World War II, I lost my husband in Korea , and a son in Vietnam. All three died so you could have the right to stand here and badmouth our country. If you touch me again. I'll stick this umbrella up your @ss and open it. ' "
"There were protesters on the train platform handing out pamphlets on the evils of America . I politely declined to take one.
"An elderly woman was behind me getting off the escalator and a young (20ish) female protester offered her a pamphlet, which she politely declined.
"The young protester put her hand on the old woman's shoulder as a gesture of friendship and in a very soft voice said, 'Lady, don't you care about the children of Iraq ?'
"The old woman looked up at her and said, 'Honey, my father died in France during World War II, I lost my husband in Korea , and a son in Vietnam. All three died so you could have the right to stand here and badmouth our country. If you touch me again. I'll stick this umbrella up your @ss and open it. ' "
Wisconsin's Supreme Election: a Prophesy?
Bob Novak comments on November.
Bob Novak, the highly distinguished veteran columnist and author, told the American Spectator New York dinner group last night that John McCain will defeat Barack Obama in November’s election, although the Democrats will enhance their majorities in both the Senate and the House.
...Novak also believes Obama’s gaffes about bitter small-town people who cling to guns and religion will be an absolute killer in the general election. So will the Jeremiah Wright business, and more generally Obama’s extreme, across-the-board, liberal-left positions...
Wisconsin is one of a very few "purple States," and even then hasn't gone Republican in a Presidential election since Reagan II.
But in the last 2 years, Wisconsin voters have selected 'conservative' SCOWI candidates as opposed to the doctrinaire 'liberals.'
I'm willing to go with Novak on this one, and call Wisconsin an (R) victory at the top of the ticket--despite the likely Milwaukee/Madistan/Racine/Kenosha/FoxValley vote fraud of around 25,000.
HT: ProEcclesia
Bob Novak, the highly distinguished veteran columnist and author, told the American Spectator New York dinner group last night that John McCain will defeat Barack Obama in November’s election, although the Democrats will enhance their majorities in both the Senate and the House.
...Novak also believes Obama’s gaffes about bitter small-town people who cling to guns and religion will be an absolute killer in the general election. So will the Jeremiah Wright business, and more generally Obama’s extreme, across-the-board, liberal-left positions...
Wisconsin is one of a very few "purple States," and even then hasn't gone Republican in a Presidential election since Reagan II.
But in the last 2 years, Wisconsin voters have selected 'conservative' SCOWI candidates as opposed to the doctrinaire 'liberals.'
I'm willing to go with Novak on this one, and call Wisconsin an (R) victory at the top of the ticket--despite the likely Milwaukee/Madistan/Racine/Kenosha/FoxValley vote fraud of around 25,000.
HT: ProEcclesia
The WSJ Takes on Tancredo (and Malkin)
The WSJ has long held an "open borders" stance, which means that their slap of Tancredo for his vile and ignorant comments about the Pope's thoughts on immigration are a bit self-serving. (Michelle Malkin also ran an equally shameful blogpost on the topic, ).
But the WSJ's comments are not necessarily wrong.
Pope Benedict XVI called on U.S. bishops last week to "continue to welcome the immigrants who join your ranks today, to share their joys and hopes, to support them in their sorrows and trials and to help them flourish in their new home." Mr. Tancredo's response was to accuse the pontiff of "faith-based marketing" and claim that "the pope's immigration comments may have less to do with spreading the gospel than they do about recruiting new members of the church."
Please note that the Pope did NOT say "....welcome ILLEGAL immigrants..." nor does the Church's teaching endorse ILLEGAL immigration (despite the silly rhetoric from such as Cdl. Mahony of Los Angeles.)
But 'welcoming immigrants' is kinda sorta the right thing to do, no? Particularly if they are LEGAL.
The pope welcomes immigrants because he's Catholic, not because they are. He isn't "marketing" his faith. He's practicing it.
More to the point, here's a quote from John XXIII on the topic which puts the Church's position clearly:
Now, among the rights of a human person there must be included that by which a man may enter a political community where he hopes he can more fittingly provide a future for himself and his dependents. Wherefore, as far as the common good rightly understood permits, it is the duty of that State to accept such immigrants and to help to integrate them into itself as new members. (The red underlines the destination-State's rights vis-a-vis immigrants.)
Wherefore, on this occasion, We publicly approve and commend every undertaking, founded on the principles of human solidarity and Christian charity, which aims at making migration of persons from one country to another less painful...
I don't expect Tancredo to apologize; he's clearly in the "fixation" mode. Malkin hasn't, either--despite an intervention from a Milwaukee-area blogger/fan of hers.
Too bad.
But the WSJ's comments are not necessarily wrong.
Pope Benedict XVI called on U.S. bishops last week to "continue to welcome the immigrants who join your ranks today, to share their joys and hopes, to support them in their sorrows and trials and to help them flourish in their new home." Mr. Tancredo's response was to accuse the pontiff of "faith-based marketing" and claim that "the pope's immigration comments may have less to do with spreading the gospel than they do about recruiting new members of the church."
Please note that the Pope did NOT say "....welcome ILLEGAL immigrants..." nor does the Church's teaching endorse ILLEGAL immigration (despite the silly rhetoric from such as Cdl. Mahony of Los Angeles.)
But 'welcoming immigrants' is kinda sorta the right thing to do, no? Particularly if they are LEGAL.
The pope welcomes immigrants because he's Catholic, not because they are. He isn't "marketing" his faith. He's practicing it.
More to the point, here's a quote from John XXIII on the topic which puts the Church's position clearly:
Now, among the rights of a human person there must be included that by which a man may enter a political community where he hopes he can more fittingly provide a future for himself and his dependents. Wherefore, as far as the common good rightly understood permits, it is the duty of that State to accept such immigrants and to help to integrate them into itself as new members. (The red underlines the destination-State's rights vis-a-vis immigrants.)
Wherefore, on this occasion, We publicly approve and commend every undertaking, founded on the principles of human solidarity and Christian charity, which aims at making migration of persons from one country to another less painful...
I don't expect Tancredo to apologize; he's clearly in the "fixation" mode. Malkin hasn't, either--despite an intervention from a Milwaukee-area blogger/fan of hers.
Too bad.
Limits: Why the Darwinians Are Wrong
Dreher, as some know, is a guy who writes--but since he's a newspaperman at heart, he's also a questioning sorta guy.
He's enamored of Wendell Berry who is a "life small, back-to-the-farm" guy. In the last 90 days or so, that particular mindset has seeped into all the Very Correct Places--the NYTimes, Time Magazine, Harper's (etc.)--because it has a good deal to do with The Agenda (climate-change/warming/save the Earth).
Berry may be right or wrong, but as the MSM adopts his outlook, they will eventually run into a cognitive dissonance problem.
Here's Berry (quoted by Dreher):
The problem with us is not only prodigal extravagance but also an assumed limitlessness. We have obscured the issue by refusing to see that limitlessness is a godly trait. ...Any definition is a limit, which is why the God of Exodus refuses to define Himself: "I am that I am."
Berry reminds us that resources may have limits (e.g., petroleum, minerals, etc.)
But if that is true, it is also true that Science has limits. So the March of Progress, idolized by the Times/Time editors and scriveners--a natural outgrowth of the Darwinian philosophy--will eventually have to collide with the reality. Conveniently, Benedict XVI has mentioned the limits of Science a number of times. Not so conveniently for the Times (etc.,) they have ignored him, or have subtly reminded us that he is just an old European guy in a big hat without particular competence in such things.
Well, folks, either there is, or there is NOT, "unlimited progress" (and its Republican companion, unlimited wealth.)
Common-sense folks live as though there are limits, because there are--to resources as well as to Progress.
He's enamored of Wendell Berry who is a "life small, back-to-the-farm" guy. In the last 90 days or so, that particular mindset has seeped into all the Very Correct Places--the NYTimes, Time Magazine, Harper's (etc.)--because it has a good deal to do with The Agenda (climate-change/warming/save the Earth).
Berry may be right or wrong, but as the MSM adopts his outlook, they will eventually run into a cognitive dissonance problem.
Here's Berry (quoted by Dreher):
The problem with us is not only prodigal extravagance but also an assumed limitlessness. We have obscured the issue by refusing to see that limitlessness is a godly trait. ...Any definition is a limit, which is why the God of Exodus refuses to define Himself: "I am that I am."
Berry reminds us that resources may have limits (e.g., petroleum, minerals, etc.)
But if that is true, it is also true that Science has limits. So the March of Progress, idolized by the Times/Time editors and scriveners--a natural outgrowth of the Darwinian philosophy--will eventually have to collide with the reality. Conveniently, Benedict XVI has mentioned the limits of Science a number of times. Not so conveniently for the Times (etc.,) they have ignored him, or have subtly reminded us that he is just an old European guy in a big hat without particular competence in such things.
Well, folks, either there is, or there is NOT, "unlimited progress" (and its Republican companion, unlimited wealth.)
Common-sense folks live as though there are limits, because there are--to resources as well as to Progress.
What's YOUR Cost-of-Fuel?
Think $100/week for gasoline is a problem?
"American Airlines' annual expenses are increasing at a rate of about $1 million per hour because of out-of-control fuel costs", estimates analyst Kevin Crissey of UBS.
Whooohah, Batman.
HT: Deneen
"American Airlines' annual expenses are increasing at a rate of about $1 million per hour because of out-of-control fuel costs", estimates analyst Kevin Crissey of UBS.
Whooohah, Batman.
HT: Deneen
The Park Police Are Looking Stupider...
Some of you recall that the Park Police were the ones who created a SNAFU on discovering the body of Vince.......ah, well. That's ancient history, right?
So to make up for it, they're making idiots of themselves again!! (Original story here.)
...a uniformed Park Police officer recently paid a visit to the home of Brooke Oberwetter, the Jefferson Memorial dancer arrested last weekend (there were several other people there at the time).
They’re apparently now adding a second charge of “demonstrating without a permit,” and they’re bumping her case from D.C. court to federal court. They’re also expunging the arrest from her record.
The combox sheds a bit of light on the matter:
...no permit can be issued for a demonstration at the Memorial, and it sounds like the Park Police are interpreting this as prohibiting demonstrations under 25 people as well. The “interfering with agency function” charge is basically failure to obey a lawful order. Oberwetter needs to take this to trial and argue that this was either not a demonstration, or that 36 CFR 7.96 doesn’t apply because the gathering was under 25 people.
This is a case of the Park Police jumping the shark, plain and simple.
So to make up for it, they're making idiots of themselves again!! (Original story here.)
...a uniformed Park Police officer recently paid a visit to the home of Brooke Oberwetter, the Jefferson Memorial dancer arrested last weekend (there were several other people there at the time).
They’re apparently now adding a second charge of “demonstrating without a permit,” and they’re bumping her case from D.C. court to federal court. They’re also expunging the arrest from her record.
The combox sheds a bit of light on the matter:
...no permit can be issued for a demonstration at the Memorial, and it sounds like the Park Police are interpreting this as prohibiting demonstrations under 25 people as well. The “interfering with agency function” charge is basically failure to obey a lawful order. Oberwetter needs to take this to trial and argue that this was either not a demonstration, or that 36 CFR 7.96 doesn’t apply because the gathering was under 25 people.
This is a case of the Park Police jumping the shark, plain and simple.
"Global Warming"--Another Lie
So what about that UN 'declaration' on Global Warming?
It really, really, really smells bad.
Lopez: What Denier fact could be characterized as most inconvenient for Al Gore?
Solomon: The claim that there is a consensus on climate change. This claim is based on the media’s often repeated claim that the 2000 to 2500 scientists associated with the UN’s panel endorsed the U.N.’s report.
In fact, as the Secretariat of the UN panel told me, those 2500 scientists are merely reviewers of some of the hundreds of input studies that went into the mix. They endorsed nothing. There is no consensus and there never has been.
Lopez: But still, the U.N.’s work was peer reviewed, even if some of the peer reviewers disagreed.
Solomon: No, the science in the U.N. reports was not peer reviewed, as it is usually understood. As some of my deniers point out in proper scientific peer reviews the identities of the peer reviewers are kept secret, so that they can be free to make critical comments about the science without fear of recrimination. In the U.N.’s peer review, the reviewers must identify themselves to the scientists they are critiquing, discouraging many from expressing themselves frankly. It gets worse than that, though.
In a normal peer-review process, the critiques from the reviewers are public. If a scientist decides to reject a critique, he must justify his refusal. In the U.N. peer-review process, the system is turned on its head. The scientists don’t need to explain themselves. They can ignore the criticisms and no one will be able to assess if the criticism was rejected for a valid reason. The U.N.’s version of peer review does not meet the standard of professional science.
Oh, well. Maybe the faux-Republican candidate will read this and reverse.
Then again, maybe not.
HT: VoxDay
It really, really, really smells bad.
Lopez: What Denier fact could be characterized as most inconvenient for Al Gore?
Solomon: The claim that there is a consensus on climate change. This claim is based on the media’s often repeated claim that the 2000 to 2500 scientists associated with the UN’s panel endorsed the U.N.’s report.
In fact, as the Secretariat of the UN panel told me, those 2500 scientists are merely reviewers of some of the hundreds of input studies that went into the mix. They endorsed nothing. There is no consensus and there never has been.
Lopez: But still, the U.N.’s work was peer reviewed, even if some of the peer reviewers disagreed.
Solomon: No, the science in the U.N. reports was not peer reviewed, as it is usually understood. As some of my deniers point out in proper scientific peer reviews the identities of the peer reviewers are kept secret, so that they can be free to make critical comments about the science without fear of recrimination. In the U.N.’s peer review, the reviewers must identify themselves to the scientists they are critiquing, discouraging many from expressing themselves frankly. It gets worse than that, though.
In a normal peer-review process, the critiques from the reviewers are public. If a scientist decides to reject a critique, he must justify his refusal. In the U.N. peer-review process, the system is turned on its head. The scientists don’t need to explain themselves. They can ignore the criticisms and no one will be able to assess if the criticism was rejected for a valid reason. The U.N.’s version of peer review does not meet the standard of professional science.
Oh, well. Maybe the faux-Republican candidate will read this and reverse.
Then again, maybe not.
HT: VoxDay
EBITDA: A Fraud
Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization: EBITDA.
The hot ticket promoted by the now-dead-and-disgraced Arthur Anderson accounting firm.
After Enron, the acronym became a parody: Earnings Before Indictment, Trial, Disposition and Ass-in-jail...
It was also a great way to earn a bonus--if your bonus was based on EBITDA (which, of course, Arthur recommended.)
Here's how that went down at Enron (but they are merely an icon...)
Conspiracy of Fools chronicles one of the discussions about EBITDA among Enron senior managers. One guy pointed out to Rebecca Mark, a Harvard Business School graduate star of the company, that EBITDA was meaningless because one could improve EBITDA simply by borrowing money at 10 percent and investing it in T-Bills at 5 percent and that was essentially what Mark was doing. She was borrowing money at X% to purchase businesses that would return no more than (X-4)% in a best-case scenario.
IOW, what counted was "earnings," regardless of interest expense to achieve those "earnings." You could literally take the Company into BK while showing an outstanding EBITDA.
Wonder why Arthur Anderson is dead?
Wonder no more.
HT: Tom McMahon
The hot ticket promoted by the now-dead-and-disgraced Arthur Anderson accounting firm.
After Enron, the acronym became a parody: Earnings Before Indictment, Trial, Disposition and Ass-in-jail...
It was also a great way to earn a bonus--if your bonus was based on EBITDA (which, of course, Arthur recommended.)
Here's how that went down at Enron (but they are merely an icon...)
Conspiracy of Fools chronicles one of the discussions about EBITDA among Enron senior managers. One guy pointed out to Rebecca Mark, a Harvard Business School graduate star of the company, that EBITDA was meaningless because one could improve EBITDA simply by borrowing money at 10 percent and investing it in T-Bills at 5 percent and that was essentially what Mark was doing. She was borrowing money at X% to purchase businesses that would return no more than (X-4)% in a best-case scenario.
IOW, what counted was "earnings," regardless of interest expense to achieve those "earnings." You could literally take the Company into BK while showing an outstanding EBITDA.
Wonder why Arthur Anderson is dead?
Wonder no more.
HT: Tom McMahon
Monday, April 21, 2008
B-16's "Church Windows"--the Source
The valuable Fr. Z. knows the work and quotes for us the passages (set in context also worth reading.) This is the reference Benedict XVI made in his sermon at St Patrick's.
These were the painted windows; and as often as he gazed at them the sculptor blessed the medieval time, and its gorgeous contrivances of splendor; for surely the skill of man has never accomplished, nor his mind imagined, any other beauty or glory worthy to be compared with these.
It is the special excellence of pictured glass, that the light, which falls merely on the outside of other pictures, is here interfused throughout the work; it illuminates the design, and invests it with a living radiance; and in requital the unfading colors transmute the common daylight into a miracle of richness and glory in its passage through the heavenly substance of the blessed and angelic shapes which throng the high-arched window.
And, as the Pope mentioned, it's very different when looking from the outside.
The friends left the church, and looking up, from the exterior, at the window which they had just been contemplating within, nothing was visible but the merest outline of dusky shapes. Neither the individual likeness of saint, angel, nor Saviour and far less the combined scheme and purport of the picture, could anywise be made out. That miracle of radiant art, thus viewed, was nothing better than an incomprehensible obscurity, without a gleam of beauty to induce the beholder to attempt unravelling it.
"All this," thought the sculptor, "is a most forcible emblem of the different aspect of religious truth and sacred story, as viewed from the warm interior of belief, or from its cold and dreary outside. Christian faith is a grand cathedral, with divinely pictured windows. Standing without, you see no glory, nor can possibly imagine any; standing within, every ray of light reveals a harmony of unspeakable splendors."
Those passages from Nathaniel Hawthorne's book The Marble Faun, which describes the American author's trip through Italy.
There's a lot more of the pertinent passage at the link, and worth reading--particularly the brief passage on 'darkness.'
These were the painted windows; and as often as he gazed at them the sculptor blessed the medieval time, and its gorgeous contrivances of splendor; for surely the skill of man has never accomplished, nor his mind imagined, any other beauty or glory worthy to be compared with these.
It is the special excellence of pictured glass, that the light, which falls merely on the outside of other pictures, is here interfused throughout the work; it illuminates the design, and invests it with a living radiance; and in requital the unfading colors transmute the common daylight into a miracle of richness and glory in its passage through the heavenly substance of the blessed and angelic shapes which throng the high-arched window.
And, as the Pope mentioned, it's very different when looking from the outside.
The friends left the church, and looking up, from the exterior, at the window which they had just been contemplating within, nothing was visible but the merest outline of dusky shapes. Neither the individual likeness of saint, angel, nor Saviour and far less the combined scheme and purport of the picture, could anywise be made out. That miracle of radiant art, thus viewed, was nothing better than an incomprehensible obscurity, without a gleam of beauty to induce the beholder to attempt unravelling it.
"All this," thought the sculptor, "is a most forcible emblem of the different aspect of religious truth and sacred story, as viewed from the warm interior of belief, or from its cold and dreary outside. Christian faith is a grand cathedral, with divinely pictured windows. Standing without, you see no glory, nor can possibly imagine any; standing within, every ray of light reveals a harmony of unspeakable splendors."
Those passages from Nathaniel Hawthorne's book The Marble Faun, which describes the American author's trip through Italy.
There's a lot more of the pertinent passage at the link, and worth reading--particularly the brief passage on 'darkness.'
The Pope's Ecumenical Address
One of Milwaukee's Bishops was present for this address, but curiously failed to mention exactly what the Pope said.
Well, fortunately, we have a report from Chiesa on the visit.
During this meeting, at the end of the Liturgy of the Word, Benedict XVI addressed to those present a discourse that was absolutely out of the ordinary for such a gathering. Even more, it was highly original with respect to the previous statements by pope Joseph Ratzinger on the topic of the ecumenism.
The thesis of Benedict XVI is that Christianity is so divided both because of a mutual rivalry expressed in "prophetic actions" that tend to distinguish and divide the communities from "communion with the Church in every age," and because of "a relativistic approach to Christian doctrine similar to that found in secular ideologies."
So instead of preaching Jesus Christ "and him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2) – meaning the "objective truth" of the apostolic faith – many Christians of the various denominations prefer to urge each one to follow his own conscience and choose the community that best meets his personal tastes.
Hmmmm.
In the judgment of Benedict XVI, this reluctance to assert the centrality of doctrine "for fear that it would only exacerbate rather than heal the wounds of division" is also present within the ecumenical movement.
(That may be the reason for ....reluctance...in relaying the Pope's message....)
On the contrary, this is the appeal of the pope: "Only by 'holding fast' to sound teaching (2 Thess 2:15; cf. Rev 2:12-29) will we be able to respond to the challenges that confront us in an evolving world. Only in this way will we give unambiguous testimony to the truth of the Gospel and its moral teaching. This is the message which the world is waiting to hear from us."
A direct quote from his address:
My dear friends, the power of the kerygma has lost none of its internal dynamism. Yet we must ask ourselves whether its full force has not been attenuated by a relativistic approach to Christian doctrine similar to that found in secular ideologies, which, in alleging that science alone is "objective", relegate religion entirely to the subjective sphere of individual feeling. Scientific discoveries, and their application through human ingenuity, undoubtedly offer new possibilities for the betterment of humankind. This does not mean, however, that the "knowable" is limited to the empirically verifiable, nor religion restricted to the shifting realm of "personal experience". For Christians to accept this faulty line of reasoning would lead to the notion that there is little need to emphasize objective truth in the presentation of the Christian faith, for one need but follow his or her own conscience and choose a community that best suits his or her individual tastes. The result is seen in the continual proliferation of communities which often eschew institutional structures and minimize the importance of doctrinal content for Christian living
Translation: don't pussyfoot around. Either what was revealed IS or is NOT true. There will be no "unity" by departing from the Word...
Well, fortunately, we have a report from Chiesa on the visit.
During this meeting, at the end of the Liturgy of the Word, Benedict XVI addressed to those present a discourse that was absolutely out of the ordinary for such a gathering. Even more, it was highly original with respect to the previous statements by pope Joseph Ratzinger on the topic of the ecumenism.
The thesis of Benedict XVI is that Christianity is so divided both because of a mutual rivalry expressed in "prophetic actions" that tend to distinguish and divide the communities from "communion with the Church in every age," and because of "a relativistic approach to Christian doctrine similar to that found in secular ideologies."
So instead of preaching Jesus Christ "and him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2) – meaning the "objective truth" of the apostolic faith – many Christians of the various denominations prefer to urge each one to follow his own conscience and choose the community that best meets his personal tastes.
Hmmmm.
In the judgment of Benedict XVI, this reluctance to assert the centrality of doctrine "for fear that it would only exacerbate rather than heal the wounds of division" is also present within the ecumenical movement.
(That may be the reason for ....reluctance...in relaying the Pope's message....)
On the contrary, this is the appeal of the pope: "Only by 'holding fast' to sound teaching (2 Thess 2:15; cf. Rev 2:12-29) will we be able to respond to the challenges that confront us in an evolving world. Only in this way will we give unambiguous testimony to the truth of the Gospel and its moral teaching. This is the message which the world is waiting to hear from us."
A direct quote from his address:
My dear friends, the power of the kerygma has lost none of its internal dynamism. Yet we must ask ourselves whether its full force has not been attenuated by a relativistic approach to Christian doctrine similar to that found in secular ideologies, which, in alleging that science alone is "objective", relegate religion entirely to the subjective sphere of individual feeling. Scientific discoveries, and their application through human ingenuity, undoubtedly offer new possibilities for the betterment of humankind. This does not mean, however, that the "knowable" is limited to the empirically verifiable, nor religion restricted to the shifting realm of "personal experience". For Christians to accept this faulty line of reasoning would lead to the notion that there is little need to emphasize objective truth in the presentation of the Christian faith, for one need but follow his or her own conscience and choose a community that best suits his or her individual tastes. The result is seen in the continual proliferation of communities which often eschew institutional structures and minimize the importance of doctrinal content for Christian living
Translation: don't pussyfoot around. Either what was revealed IS or is NOT true. There will be no "unity" by departing from the Word...
Monday Guffaw
Stolen from Grim.
The teacher gave her fifth grade class an assignment: Get their parents to tell them a story with a moral at the end of it.
The next day the kids came back and one by one began to tell their stories.
"Tony, do you have a story to share?"
"Yes ma'am. My daddy told a story about my Aunt Karen. She was a pilot in Desert Storm and her plane got hit. She had to bail out over enemy territory and all she had was a flask of whiskey, a pistol, and a survival knife.
"She quickly drank the whiskey on the way down, knowing the bottle would shatter and go to waste otherwise and just then her parachute opened and she landed right in the middle of twenty enemy troops.
"She shot fifteen of them with the gun until she ran out of bullets, killed four more with the knife, till the blade broke, and then she killed the last enemy with her bare hands."
''Good Heavens!" said the horrified teacher. "What kind of moral did your daddy tell you from this horrible story?''
"Stay far away from Aunt Karen when she's drinking."
Heh.
The teacher gave her fifth grade class an assignment: Get their parents to tell them a story with a moral at the end of it.
The next day the kids came back and one by one began to tell their stories.
"Tony, do you have a story to share?"
"Yes ma'am. My daddy told a story about my Aunt Karen. She was a pilot in Desert Storm and her plane got hit. She had to bail out over enemy territory and all she had was a flask of whiskey, a pistol, and a survival knife.
"She quickly drank the whiskey on the way down, knowing the bottle would shatter and go to waste otherwise and just then her parachute opened and she landed right in the middle of twenty enemy troops.
"She shot fifteen of them with the gun until she ran out of bullets, killed four more with the knife, till the blade broke, and then she killed the last enemy with her bare hands."
''Good Heavens!" said the horrified teacher. "What kind of moral did your daddy tell you from this horrible story?''
"Stay far away from Aunt Karen when she's drinking."
Heh.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Spewing Contempt; the "Intellectualoid" Lawyer
The long version of 'comedian' Bill Maher.
Maher, mercifully, simply referred to the Pope as a Nazi.
This jackass spews on for several paragraphs.
P-Mac discovers the likely reason: this fellow is just plain sad.
"Do you think that a woman should be able to have an abortion for any reason? You are 9 percentage points less likely to be very happy than those who do not believe in abortion on demand, and this difference persists even after correcting for your age, income, education, race, and marital status. If you think extramarital sex is 'always wrong,' you are 10 points more likely to say that you are very happy than if you think it isn’t always wrong. Premarital sex, drug legalization, the social consequences of religion, you name it—on all these issues, the moral traditionalists who abridge their own freedom are happier than the moral modernists who bar themselves from little or nothing."
HT: Rick Esenberg
Maher, mercifully, simply referred to the Pope as a Nazi.
This jackass spews on for several paragraphs.
P-Mac discovers the likely reason: this fellow is just plain sad.
"Do you think that a woman should be able to have an abortion for any reason? You are 9 percentage points less likely to be very happy than those who do not believe in abortion on demand, and this difference persists even after correcting for your age, income, education, race, and marital status. If you think extramarital sex is 'always wrong,' you are 10 points more likely to say that you are very happy than if you think it isn’t always wrong. Premarital sex, drug legalization, the social consequences of religion, you name it—on all these issues, the moral traditionalists who abridge their own freedom are happier than the moral modernists who bar themselves from little or nothing."
HT: Rick Esenberg
Paid Big Bucks for HDTV and See Junk?
It's the cheapo cable companies.
In Brent Swanson's basement home theater, there should be nothing drab about "Battlestar Galactica." He's got a high-end projector that beams the picture onto a wall painted like a silver screen, and speakers loom in the corners, flanking two big subwoofers.
Yet when he tuned in Sci Fi HD for a recent episode filmed in high definition, the image was soft and the darkest parts broke up into large blocks with no definition. Explosions, he said, were just dull.
As cable TV companies pack ever more HD channels into limited bandwidth, some owners of pricey plasma, projector and LCD TVs are complaining that they're not getting the high-def quality they paid for. They blame the increased signal compression being used to squeeze three digital HD signals into the bandwidth of one analog station
In a posting on the AV Science Forum, Ken Fowler of Arlington, Va., compared Comcast signals with those on Verizon Communications Inc.'s all-fiber-optic network, which doesn't have the same capacity limitations. Fowler found the higher-compressed HD stations, including Sci Fi, Animal Planet, the Discovery Channel, the Food Network and A&E, fared particularly poorly.
He analyzed the signals by recording them on a digital recorder, then transferring them to a personal computer for analysis. He found there was much less data, measured in bit rates, flowing to some channels than others.
For example, Discovery's bit rate was 14.16 megabits per second on Verizon's FiOS system but only 10.43 Mbps on Comcast; A&E HD was 18.66 Mbps on FiOS compared with 14.48 Mbps on Comcast. The FiOS system didn't offer Sci Fi HD, which Fowler's testing showed at 12.59 Mbps on Comcast
Well. Maybe you should belay the multi-$thousand expenditure for a while...
In Brent Swanson's basement home theater, there should be nothing drab about "Battlestar Galactica." He's got a high-end projector that beams the picture onto a wall painted like a silver screen, and speakers loom in the corners, flanking two big subwoofers.
Yet when he tuned in Sci Fi HD for a recent episode filmed in high definition, the image was soft and the darkest parts broke up into large blocks with no definition. Explosions, he said, were just dull.
As cable TV companies pack ever more HD channels into limited bandwidth, some owners of pricey plasma, projector and LCD TVs are complaining that they're not getting the high-def quality they paid for. They blame the increased signal compression being used to squeeze three digital HD signals into the bandwidth of one analog station
In a posting on the AV Science Forum, Ken Fowler of Arlington, Va., compared Comcast signals with those on Verizon Communications Inc.'s all-fiber-optic network, which doesn't have the same capacity limitations. Fowler found the higher-compressed HD stations, including Sci Fi, Animal Planet, the Discovery Channel, the Food Network and A&E, fared particularly poorly.
He analyzed the signals by recording them on a digital recorder, then transferring them to a personal computer for analysis. He found there was much less data, measured in bit rates, flowing to some channels than others.
For example, Discovery's bit rate was 14.16 megabits per second on Verizon's FiOS system but only 10.43 Mbps on Comcast; A&E HD was 18.66 Mbps on FiOS compared with 14.48 Mbps on Comcast. The FiOS system didn't offer Sci Fi HD, which Fowler's testing showed at 12.59 Mbps on Comcast
Well. Maybe you should belay the multi-$thousand expenditure for a while...
See!! Gun Control Works!!
One cannot purchase a handgun in Chicago without going through extremely complex hoops.
One cannot carry a concealed weapon in the State of Illinois--they're as Neanderthal as is Wisconsin under DarthDoyle.
So today's brief:
CHICAGO (CBS) ― A violent and deadly weekend continues in Chicago. At least 12 people have been shot, two of them killed, since Saturday morning. This comes after at least 20 people were shot, four of them killed, from Friday night through early Saturday.
Obviously, gun control works well.
HT: WardWide
One cannot carry a concealed weapon in the State of Illinois--they're as Neanderthal as is Wisconsin under DarthDoyle.
So today's brief:
CHICAGO (CBS) ― A violent and deadly weekend continues in Chicago. At least 12 people have been shot, two of them killed, since Saturday morning. This comes after at least 20 people were shot, four of them killed, from Friday night through early Saturday.
Obviously, gun control works well.
HT: WardWide
B-16 to Youth
A very, very long speech--about 40 minutes. Some of the chilluns will not get the drift, some will. But even if they 'get' only parts, it's worth it.
God is our origin and our destination, and Jesus the way. The path of that journey twists and turns ─ just as it did for our saints ─ through the joys and the trials of ordinary, everyday life: within your families, at school or college, during your recreation activities, and in your parish communities. All these places are marked by the culture in which you are growing up.
...What happens when people, especially the most vulnerable, encounter a clenched fist of repression or manipulation rather than a hand of hope? A first group of examples pertains to the heart. Here, the dreams and longings that young people pursue can so easily be shattered or destroyed. I am thinking of those affected by drug and substance abuse, homelessness and poverty, racism, violence, and degradation – especially of girls and women. While the causes of these problems are complex, all have in common a poisoned attitude of mind which results in people being treated as mere objects ─ a callousness of heart takes hold which first ignores, then ridicules, the God-given dignity of every human being
...It is no surprise then that numerous individuals and groups vociferously claim their freedom in the public forum. Yet freedom is a delicate value. It can be misunderstood or misused so as to lead not to the happiness which we all expect it to yield, but to a dark arena of manipulation in which our understanding of self and the world becomes confused, or even distorted by those who have an ulterior agenda.
Have you noticed how often the call for freedom is made without ever referring to the truth of the human person?
...And in truth’s place – or better said its absence – an idea has spread which, in giving value to everything indiscriminately, claims to assure freedom and to liberate conscience. This we call relativism. But what purpose has a “freedom” which, in disregarding truth, pursues what is false or wrong? How many young people have been offered a hand which in the name of freedom or experience has led them to addiction, to moral or intellectual confusion, to hurt, to a loss of self-respect, even to despair and so tragically and sadly to the taking of their own life? Dear friends, truth is not an imposition. Nor is it simply a set of rules. It is a discovery of the One who never fails us; the One whom we can always trust. In seeking truth we come to live by belief because ultimately truth is a person: Jesus Christ. That is why authentic freedom is not an opting out. It is an opting in; nothing less than letting go of self and allowing oneself to be drawn into Christ’s very being for others
How then can we as believers help others to walk the path of freedom which brings fulfillment and lasting happiness? Let us again turn to the saints. ...And so, in solemn procession with our lighted candles we pass the light of Christ among us. It is “the light which dispels all evil, washes guilt away, restores lost innocence, brings mourners joy, casts out hatred, brings us peace, and humbles earthly pride” (Exsultet). This is Christ’s light at work. This is the way of the saints. It is a magnificent vision of hope – Christ’s light beckons you to be guiding stars for others, walking Christ’s way of forgiveness, reconciliation, humility, joy and peace
...Take courage! Fix your gaze on our saints. The diversity of their experience of God’s presence prompts us to discover anew the breadth and depth of Christianity. Let your imaginations soar freely along the limitless expanse of the horizons of Christian discipleship. Sometimes we are looked upon as people who speak only of prohibitions. Nothing could be further from the truth! Authentic Christian discipleship is marked by a sense of wonder. We stand before the God we know and love as a friend, the vastness of his creation, and the beauty of our Christian faith.
Dear friends, the example of the saints invites us, then, to consider four essential aspects of the treasure of our faith: personal prayer and silence, liturgical prayer, charity in action, and vocations.
What matters most is that you develop your personal relationship with God. That relationship is expressed in prayer. God by his very nature speaks, hears, and replies. Indeed, Saint Paul reminds us: we can and should “pray constantly”
...There is another aspect of prayer which we need to remember: silent contemplation. Saint John, for example, tells us that to embrace God’s revelation we must first listen, then respond by proclaiming what we have heard and seen (cf. 1 Jn 1:2-3; Dei Verbum, 1). Have we perhaps lost something of the art of listening? Do you leave space to hear God’s whisper, calling you forth into goodness? Friends, do not be afraid of silence or stillness, listen to God, adore him in the Eucharist. Let his word shape your journey as an unfolding of holiness.
In the liturgy we find the whole Church at prayer. The word liturgy means the participation of God’s people in “the work of Christ the Priest and of His Body which is the Church” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 7). What is that work? First of all it refers to Christ’s Passion, his Death and Resurrection, and his Ascension – what we call the Paschal Mystery. It also refers to the celebration of the liturgy itself. The two meanings are in fact inseparably linked because this “work of Jesus” is the real content of the liturgy.
...Let us pray for mothers and fathers throughout the world, particularly those who may be struggling in any way – socially, materially, spiritually. Let us honor the vocation of matrimony and the dignity of family life. Let us always appreciate that it is in families that vocations are given life.
Friends, again I ask you, what about today? What are you seeking? What is God whispering to you? The hope which never disappoints is Jesus Christ. The saints show us the selfless love of his way. As disciples of Christ, their extraordinary journeys unfolded within the community of hope, which is the Church. It is from within the Church that you too will find the courage and support to walk the way of the Lord. Nourished by personal prayer, prompted in silence, shaped by the Church’s liturgy you will discover the particular vocation God has for you. Embrace it with joy. You are Christ’s disciples today. Shine his light upon this great city and beyond. Show the world the reason for the hope that resonates within you. Tell others about the truth that sets you free. With these sentiments of great hope in you I bid you farewell, until we meet again in Sydney this July for World Youth Day! And as a pledge of my love for you and your families, I gladly impart my Apostolic Blessing
HT: Gerald
God is our origin and our destination, and Jesus the way. The path of that journey twists and turns ─ just as it did for our saints ─ through the joys and the trials of ordinary, everyday life: within your families, at school or college, during your recreation activities, and in your parish communities. All these places are marked by the culture in which you are growing up.
...What happens when people, especially the most vulnerable, encounter a clenched fist of repression or manipulation rather than a hand of hope? A first group of examples pertains to the heart. Here, the dreams and longings that young people pursue can so easily be shattered or destroyed. I am thinking of those affected by drug and substance abuse, homelessness and poverty, racism, violence, and degradation – especially of girls and women. While the causes of these problems are complex, all have in common a poisoned attitude of mind which results in people being treated as mere objects ─ a callousness of heart takes hold which first ignores, then ridicules, the God-given dignity of every human being
...It is no surprise then that numerous individuals and groups vociferously claim their freedom in the public forum. Yet freedom is a delicate value. It can be misunderstood or misused so as to lead not to the happiness which we all expect it to yield, but to a dark arena of manipulation in which our understanding of self and the world becomes confused, or even distorted by those who have an ulterior agenda.
Have you noticed how often the call for freedom is made without ever referring to the truth of the human person?
...And in truth’s place – or better said its absence – an idea has spread which, in giving value to everything indiscriminately, claims to assure freedom and to liberate conscience. This we call relativism. But what purpose has a “freedom” which, in disregarding truth, pursues what is false or wrong? How many young people have been offered a hand which in the name of freedom or experience has led them to addiction, to moral or intellectual confusion, to hurt, to a loss of self-respect, even to despair and so tragically and sadly to the taking of their own life? Dear friends, truth is not an imposition. Nor is it simply a set of rules. It is a discovery of the One who never fails us; the One whom we can always trust. In seeking truth we come to live by belief because ultimately truth is a person: Jesus Christ. That is why authentic freedom is not an opting out. It is an opting in; nothing less than letting go of self and allowing oneself to be drawn into Christ’s very being for others
How then can we as believers help others to walk the path of freedom which brings fulfillment and lasting happiness? Let us again turn to the saints. ...And so, in solemn procession with our lighted candles we pass the light of Christ among us. It is “the light which dispels all evil, washes guilt away, restores lost innocence, brings mourners joy, casts out hatred, brings us peace, and humbles earthly pride” (Exsultet). This is Christ’s light at work. This is the way of the saints. It is a magnificent vision of hope – Christ’s light beckons you to be guiding stars for others, walking Christ’s way of forgiveness, reconciliation, humility, joy and peace
...Take courage! Fix your gaze on our saints. The diversity of their experience of God’s presence prompts us to discover anew the breadth and depth of Christianity. Let your imaginations soar freely along the limitless expanse of the horizons of Christian discipleship. Sometimes we are looked upon as people who speak only of prohibitions. Nothing could be further from the truth! Authentic Christian discipleship is marked by a sense of wonder. We stand before the God we know and love as a friend, the vastness of his creation, and the beauty of our Christian faith.
Dear friends, the example of the saints invites us, then, to consider four essential aspects of the treasure of our faith: personal prayer and silence, liturgical prayer, charity in action, and vocations.
What matters most is that you develop your personal relationship with God. That relationship is expressed in prayer. God by his very nature speaks, hears, and replies. Indeed, Saint Paul reminds us: we can and should “pray constantly”
...There is another aspect of prayer which we need to remember: silent contemplation. Saint John, for example, tells us that to embrace God’s revelation we must first listen, then respond by proclaiming what we have heard and seen (cf. 1 Jn 1:2-3; Dei Verbum, 1). Have we perhaps lost something of the art of listening? Do you leave space to hear God’s whisper, calling you forth into goodness? Friends, do not be afraid of silence or stillness, listen to God, adore him in the Eucharist. Let his word shape your journey as an unfolding of holiness.
In the liturgy we find the whole Church at prayer. The word liturgy means the participation of God’s people in “the work of Christ the Priest and of His Body which is the Church” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 7). What is that work? First of all it refers to Christ’s Passion, his Death and Resurrection, and his Ascension – what we call the Paschal Mystery. It also refers to the celebration of the liturgy itself. The two meanings are in fact inseparably linked because this “work of Jesus” is the real content of the liturgy.
...Let us pray for mothers and fathers throughout the world, particularly those who may be struggling in any way – socially, materially, spiritually. Let us honor the vocation of matrimony and the dignity of family life. Let us always appreciate that it is in families that vocations are given life.
Friends, again I ask you, what about today? What are you seeking? What is God whispering to you? The hope which never disappoints is Jesus Christ. The saints show us the selfless love of his way. As disciples of Christ, their extraordinary journeys unfolded within the community of hope, which is the Church. It is from within the Church that you too will find the courage and support to walk the way of the Lord. Nourished by personal prayer, prompted in silence, shaped by the Church’s liturgy you will discover the particular vocation God has for you. Embrace it with joy. You are Christ’s disciples today. Shine his light upon this great city and beyond. Show the world the reason for the hope that resonates within you. Tell others about the truth that sets you free. With these sentiments of great hope in you I bid you farewell, until we meet again in Sydney this July for World Youth Day! And as a pledge of my love for you and your families, I gladly impart my Apostolic Blessing
HT: Gerald
Benedict XVI and Ghandi
Never thought you'd see those two names linked, eh?
There is a connection, drawn by a Catholic "non-violence" advocate, who was struck by the Pope's words:
“Freedom is not only a gift, but also a summons to personal responsibility. Americans know this from experience — almost every town in this country has its monuments honoring those who sacrificed their lives in defense of freedom, both at home and abroad.”
Hmmmm. "Personal responsibility." What a concept!!, abjured by certain "rightists" on this thread....
But that's another matter and a somewhat different plane.
Going back to our anti-war friend....he thought about this statement of the Pope, and then dug around in Ghandi's writings. Lo and behold! Ghandi addressed violence, too:
I have been repeating over and over again that he who cannot protect himself or his nearest and dearest or their honour by nonviolently facing death may and ought to do so by violently dealing with the oppressor. He who can do neither of the two is a burden. He has no business to be the head of a family. He must either hide himself, or must rest content to live for ever in helplessness and be prepared to crawl like a worm at the bidding of a bully.
Great minds...
HT: Grim
There is a connection, drawn by a Catholic "non-violence" advocate, who was struck by the Pope's words:
“Freedom is not only a gift, but also a summons to personal responsibility. Americans know this from experience — almost every town in this country has its monuments honoring those who sacrificed their lives in defense of freedom, both at home and abroad.”
Hmmmm. "Personal responsibility." What a concept!!, abjured by certain "rightists" on this thread....
But that's another matter and a somewhat different plane.
Going back to our anti-war friend....he thought about this statement of the Pope, and then dug around in Ghandi's writings. Lo and behold! Ghandi addressed violence, too:
I have been repeating over and over again that he who cannot protect himself or his nearest and dearest or their honour by nonviolently facing death may and ought to do so by violently dealing with the oppressor. He who can do neither of the two is a burden. He has no business to be the head of a family. He must either hide himself, or must rest content to live for ever in helplessness and be prepared to crawl like a worm at the bidding of a bully.
Great minds...
HT: Grim
All Your 9-1-1 Are OURS!!
The Milk-Carton Mayor joins with D.A. Chisholm and Chief Flynn.
To take your money. But the plan they have is elegant, because it doesn't point the finger at them for taking and spending the money. It makes the phone providers the bad guys.
Ain't that sweet?
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and two local law enforcement officials want telephone users to help pay for police, firefighters and paramedics through their phone bills.
Barrett, Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm and Police Chief Edward Flynn are asking Gov. Jim Doyle and the Legislature to give municipalities control over the 911 telephone surcharge that is supposed to expire Nov. 30. They're hoping to add that provision to the budget-repair bill now under consideration.
Although you may not have noticed, that fee is on its way down to zero--and hard-wire (land lines) are not paying as much, either.
The surcharge on cellular telephone users was created in 2005 to cover the costs of technology to pinpoint the locations of cell phones during calls to the 911 emergency number. Montgomery said that technology has saved at least 15 lives statewide.
The fee started at 83 cents a month, rose to 92 cents in 2006 and then dropped this year to 43 cents.
But before the fee expires, Barrett wants lawmakers to authorize municipal governments to retain the surcharge and expand it to cover all telephones, including land lines provided by both telephone and cable companies. Milwaukee would be able to boost its charge to a maximum of $1 a month in 2009 and $1.50 a month in future years.
It's Tommy's version of the Spanish-American War telephone tax. Forever and ever...
And of course, there's only ONE kind of crime that's at fault:
"Gun crime is expensive, and fighting crime is expensive," Barrett said
This is a nice technique. It's not an income tax, nor a property tax. It's a tax collected by a third party which is not a Government.
To take your money. But the plan they have is elegant, because it doesn't point the finger at them for taking and spending the money. It makes the phone providers the bad guys.
Ain't that sweet?
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and two local law enforcement officials want telephone users to help pay for police, firefighters and paramedics through their phone bills.
Barrett, Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm and Police Chief Edward Flynn are asking Gov. Jim Doyle and the Legislature to give municipalities control over the 911 telephone surcharge that is supposed to expire Nov. 30. They're hoping to add that provision to the budget-repair bill now under consideration.
Although you may not have noticed, that fee is on its way down to zero--and hard-wire (land lines) are not paying as much, either.
The surcharge on cellular telephone users was created in 2005 to cover the costs of technology to pinpoint the locations of cell phones during calls to the 911 emergency number. Montgomery said that technology has saved at least 15 lives statewide.
The fee started at 83 cents a month, rose to 92 cents in 2006 and then dropped this year to 43 cents.
But before the fee expires, Barrett wants lawmakers to authorize municipal governments to retain the surcharge and expand it to cover all telephones, including land lines provided by both telephone and cable companies. Milwaukee would be able to boost its charge to a maximum of $1 a month in 2009 and $1.50 a month in future years.
It's Tommy's version of the Spanish-American War telephone tax. Forever and ever...
And of course, there's only ONE kind of crime that's at fault:
"Gun crime is expensive, and fighting crime is expensive," Barrett said
This is a nice technique. It's not an income tax, nor a property tax. It's a tax collected by a third party which is not a Government.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Preaching to the Priests: B-16 in NYC
First off, B-16's utterly wonderful response to the "Thank You" from Cdl. Bertone (recall that English is not his first language...) (transcript is unofficial)
In this moment I can only thank … grace (?) ... for your love of the Church, for Our Lord and that you give also your love to the poor Successor of St. Peter. I will do all the possible to be a real successor of the great St. Peter who also was a man with his faults and sins, but he remains finally the rock for the Church … and so also I, with all my poorness … spiritual … can be, with the grace of the Lord, in this time the Successor of Peter … and your prayers and love will give me the certainty that the Lord will help me in this, my ministry. So I am so deeply thankful for your love, for your prayer, and my answer in this moment to all what you have given to me in this moment and this visit is my blessing at the end of the Holy Mass.
Having seen him deliver these words, I can assure you that there was no 'false humility' present when he spoke them. This guy is the real thing.
On to excerpts from the sermon.
...In this morning’s second reading, Saint Paul reminds us that spiritual unity – the unity which reconciles and enriches diversity – has its origin and supreme model in the life of the triune God. (!!) ...As a communion of pure love and infinite freedom, the Blessed Trinity constantly brings forth new life in the work of creation and redemption. The Church, as "a people made one by the unity of the Father, the Son and the Spirit" (cf. Lumen Gentium, 4), is called to proclaim the gift of life, to serve life, and to promote a culture of life.
This next section is very interesting. B-16 shows an understanding of architecture and art for worship corresponding to his understanding of music for worship.
I would like to draw your attention to a few aspects of this beautiful structure which I think can serve as a starting point for a reflection on our particular vocations within the unity of the Mystical Body. ...The first has to do with the stained glass windows, which flood the interior with mystic light. From the outside, those windows are dark, heavy, even dreary. But once one enters the church, they suddenly come alive; reflecting the light passing through them, they reveal all their splendor. Many writers – here in America we can think of Nathaniel Hawthorne – have used the image of stained glass to illustrate the mystery of the Church herself. It is only from the inside, from the experience of faith and ecclesial life, that we see the Church as she truly is: flooded with grace, resplendent in beauty, adorned by the manifold gifts of the Spirit. It follows that we, who live the life of grace within the Church’s communion, are called to draw all people into this mystery of light.
(Musically, we recall Respighi's "Church Windows"--which includes a section built on the Gloria of Gregorian Chant Mass VIII)
...Even for those of us within, the light of faith can be dimmed by routine, and the splendor of the Church obscured by the sins and weaknesses of her members. It can be dimmed too, by the obstacles encountered in a society which sometimes seems to have forgotten God and to resent even the most elementary demands of Christian morality.
...Like all Gothic cathedrals, it is a highly complex structure, whose exact and harmonious proportions symbolize the unity of God’s creation. ...Medieval artists often portrayed Christ, the creative Word of God, as a heavenly "geometer", compass in hand, who orders the cosmos with infinite wisdom and purpose. Does this not bring to mind our need to see all things with the eyes of faith, and thus to grasp them in their truest perspective, in the unity of God’s eternal plan?
(If I were Ben Stein, I'd use that 'graf a lot while promoting my movie...)
So the Pope ties together the mind and heart, Faith and Reason, windows and geometry...from the building's design...wow.
...Dear friends, these considerations lead me to a final observation about this great cathedral in which we find ourselves. The unity of a Gothic cathedral, we know, is not the static unity of a classical temple, but a unity born of the dynamic tension of diverse forces which impel the architecture upward, pointing it to heaven.
(Thus the disappointment of Milwaukee Catholics when Rembert Weakland turned this "upward" on its ear by wreck-orienting his Cathedral sideways...a very telling legacy, Rembert.)
So let us lift our gaze upward! And with great humility and confidence, let us ask the Spirit to enable us each day to grow in the holiness that will make us living stones in the temple
Indeed...
HT: Fr. Z.
In this moment I can only thank … grace (?) ... for your love of the Church, for Our Lord and that you give also your love to the poor Successor of St. Peter. I will do all the possible to be a real successor of the great St. Peter who also was a man with his faults and sins, but he remains finally the rock for the Church … and so also I, with all my poorness … spiritual … can be, with the grace of the Lord, in this time the Successor of Peter … and your prayers and love will give me the certainty that the Lord will help me in this, my ministry. So I am so deeply thankful for your love, for your prayer, and my answer in this moment to all what you have given to me in this moment and this visit is my blessing at the end of the Holy Mass.
Having seen him deliver these words, I can assure you that there was no 'false humility' present when he spoke them. This guy is the real thing.
On to excerpts from the sermon.
...In this morning’s second reading, Saint Paul reminds us that spiritual unity – the unity which reconciles and enriches diversity – has its origin and supreme model in the life of the triune God. (!!) ...As a communion of pure love and infinite freedom, the Blessed Trinity constantly brings forth new life in the work of creation and redemption. The Church, as "a people made one by the unity of the Father, the Son and the Spirit" (cf. Lumen Gentium, 4), is called to proclaim the gift of life, to serve life, and to promote a culture of life.
This next section is very interesting. B-16 shows an understanding of architecture and art for worship corresponding to his understanding of music for worship.
I would like to draw your attention to a few aspects of this beautiful structure which I think can serve as a starting point for a reflection on our particular vocations within the unity of the Mystical Body. ...The first has to do with the stained glass windows, which flood the interior with mystic light. From the outside, those windows are dark, heavy, even dreary. But once one enters the church, they suddenly come alive; reflecting the light passing through them, they reveal all their splendor. Many writers – here in America we can think of Nathaniel Hawthorne – have used the image of stained glass to illustrate the mystery of the Church herself. It is only from the inside, from the experience of faith and ecclesial life, that we see the Church as she truly is: flooded with grace, resplendent in beauty, adorned by the manifold gifts of the Spirit. It follows that we, who live the life of grace within the Church’s communion, are called to draw all people into this mystery of light.
(Musically, we recall Respighi's "Church Windows"--which includes a section built on the Gloria of Gregorian Chant Mass VIII)
...Even for those of us within, the light of faith can be dimmed by routine, and the splendor of the Church obscured by the sins and weaknesses of her members. It can be dimmed too, by the obstacles encountered in a society which sometimes seems to have forgotten God and to resent even the most elementary demands of Christian morality.
...Like all Gothic cathedrals, it is a highly complex structure, whose exact and harmonious proportions symbolize the unity of God’s creation. ...Medieval artists often portrayed Christ, the creative Word of God, as a heavenly "geometer", compass in hand, who orders the cosmos with infinite wisdom and purpose. Does this not bring to mind our need to see all things with the eyes of faith, and thus to grasp them in their truest perspective, in the unity of God’s eternal plan?
(If I were Ben Stein, I'd use that 'graf a lot while promoting my movie...)
So the Pope ties together the mind and heart, Faith and Reason, windows and geometry...from the building's design...wow.
...Dear friends, these considerations lead me to a final observation about this great cathedral in which we find ourselves. The unity of a Gothic cathedral, we know, is not the static unity of a classical temple, but a unity born of the dynamic tension of diverse forces which impel the architecture upward, pointing it to heaven.
(Thus the disappointment of Milwaukee Catholics when Rembert Weakland turned this "upward" on its ear by wreck-orienting his Cathedral sideways...a very telling legacy, Rembert.)
So let us lift our gaze upward! And with great humility and confidence, let us ask the Spirit to enable us each day to grow in the holiness that will make us living stones in the temple
Indeed...
HT: Fr. Z.
Something To Do While Waiting to Vote Obama...
That Texas FLDS-cult thing just gets better...
Texas Rangers participated in the arrest of a Colorado woman who allegedly pretended to be a girl locked in a basement. The Rangers were in the state as part of their investigation into the Texas polygamy custody battle, local police told ABC News.
It was unclear if the arrest was related to the phone call from a woman who claimed to be a 16-year-old girl, a phone call that sparked what has become one of the largest child custody cases in U.S. history. (AP story)
...Rozita Swinton, the woman arrested today for falsely tipping off the police that she was an abused child bride at the FLDS polygamy cult in Texas is a PLEDGED BARACK OBAMA STATE DELEGATE!! (Blogger-source.)
One is reminded of the phone call which engendered the Lawrence case.
There's plenty more at the link, including False Flag racism.....wow.
Texas Rangers participated in the arrest of a Colorado woman who allegedly pretended to be a girl locked in a basement. The Rangers were in the state as part of their investigation into the Texas polygamy custody battle, local police told ABC News.
It was unclear if the arrest was related to the phone call from a woman who claimed to be a 16-year-old girl, a phone call that sparked what has become one of the largest child custody cases in U.S. history. (AP story)
...Rozita Swinton, the woman arrested today for falsely tipping off the police that she was an abused child bride at the FLDS polygamy cult in Texas is a PLEDGED BARACK OBAMA STATE DELEGATE!! (Blogger-source.)
One is reminded of the phone call which engendered the Lawrence case.
There's plenty more at the link, including False Flag racism.....wow.
Today's Holiday
Some recall this.
Patriots Day may be the least known American holiday, and the day most deserving of our recognition. Observed in Massachusetts and Maine only. Don’t know it? It marks the day, April 19, 1775, on which Americans took up arms against their king, and bled, at the crack of terrible dawn.
Yup. "The shot heard 'round the world" was fired on this day, 1775...
HT: Confederate Yankee
Patriots Day may be the least known American holiday, and the day most deserving of our recognition. Observed in Massachusetts and Maine only. Don’t know it? It marks the day, April 19, 1775, on which Americans took up arms against their king, and bled, at the crack of terrible dawn.
Yup. "The shot heard 'round the world" was fired on this day, 1775...
HT: Confederate Yankee
Bang/Buck: College Tuition is a Loser
At least for B.A. kiddies, getting the degree is a questionable investment.
Surging prices, collapsing returns, ending in a crash -- housing? Yes, but the pattern may equally apply to another area of middle-class aspiration -- college education. And as high school seniors receive their fat or thin acceptance or rejection letters this month, maybe we should all take a closer look at what their money buys.
Over the past decade the cost of college tuition has approximately doubled, faster at private colleges. This rapidly inflating investment is yielding a declining return. The earnings of bachelor-degree holders have been dropping this decade. After inflation, B.A. holders earned more than $54,000 in 2000. That dropped 5 percent over the next four years.
The cost of college is directly related to the amount of Fed/State aid (and loans) available. More aid=more cost, as administrators spend (basically) all they can.
In addition:
[T]he proportion of Americans with a college degree continues to rise. As more and more job applicants hold degrees, have employers become more discerning about what exactly those degrees represent? Do employers look past the degree itself, to the subject matter studied, the grades earned, the quality of the institution issuing the degree? If so, students, parents and universities alike will have to ask some hard questions about value for money
When it became de rigeur to require a college degree to perform essentially clerical entry-level functions (or just to get an entry-level job only to be "trained" AGAIN), the inanity of the game was clear.
The college-degree requirement was the PC of the mid-1960's and its legacy-effects?
Not all that inspiring, folks.
HT: Vox
Surging prices, collapsing returns, ending in a crash -- housing? Yes, but the pattern may equally apply to another area of middle-class aspiration -- college education. And as high school seniors receive their fat or thin acceptance or rejection letters this month, maybe we should all take a closer look at what their money buys.
Over the past decade the cost of college tuition has approximately doubled, faster at private colleges. This rapidly inflating investment is yielding a declining return. The earnings of bachelor-degree holders have been dropping this decade. After inflation, B.A. holders earned more than $54,000 in 2000. That dropped 5 percent over the next four years.
The cost of college is directly related to the amount of Fed/State aid (and loans) available. More aid=more cost, as administrators spend (basically) all they can.
In addition:
[T]he proportion of Americans with a college degree continues to rise. As more and more job applicants hold degrees, have employers become more discerning about what exactly those degrees represent? Do employers look past the degree itself, to the subject matter studied, the grades earned, the quality of the institution issuing the degree? If so, students, parents and universities alike will have to ask some hard questions about value for money
When it became de rigeur to require a college degree to perform essentially clerical entry-level functions (or just to get an entry-level job only to be "trained" AGAIN), the inanity of the game was clear.
The college-degree requirement was the PC of the mid-1960's and its legacy-effects?
Not all that inspiring, folks.
HT: Vox
Another Stupid and Costly Law
Asian Badger reports that the Democrats in Congress would mandate "audits" of HSA expenditures.
“Democrats have made affordable health care a mainstay of their election agenda, but apparently only if you’re willing to get insurance through the government. Witness their stealthy assault on Americans who prefer the private-sector option of Health Savings Accounts.
This week, the House passed legislation that included a provision to require every HSA transaction be reviewed and verified as a legitimate medical expense. Democrats say this is to ensure that consumers are using their tax-free withdrawals for a knee replacement, rather than a new iPod. In reality it adds a layer of bureaucracy that could sharply reduce the appeal and cost savings of HSAs.
A key player here is Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairman Pete Stark, whose main purpose in politics is to give the U.S. a government-run health-care system.
THAT should "reduce the cost of administration....", right?
Fortney Stark is genetically a candy-ass, being from the Stark Candies family of Wisconsin. He is most certainly an ass of one sort or the other.
“Democrats have made affordable health care a mainstay of their election agenda, but apparently only if you’re willing to get insurance through the government. Witness their stealthy assault on Americans who prefer the private-sector option of Health Savings Accounts.
This week, the House passed legislation that included a provision to require every HSA transaction be reviewed and verified as a legitimate medical expense. Democrats say this is to ensure that consumers are using their tax-free withdrawals for a knee replacement, rather than a new iPod. In reality it adds a layer of bureaucracy that could sharply reduce the appeal and cost savings of HSAs.
A key player here is Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairman Pete Stark, whose main purpose in politics is to give the U.S. a government-run health-care system.
THAT should "reduce the cost of administration....", right?
Fortney Stark is genetically a candy-ass, being from the Stark Candies family of Wisconsin. He is most certainly an ass of one sort or the other.
Stop Mugabe? Easy. Stop the Arms Shipment
I think I like the South African Dockworkers' Union.
South African dockers are refusing to unload a Chinese cargo ship carrying 77 tonnes of small arms destined for Zimbabwe.
The arms, including three million rounds of ammunition suitable for AK47s and 1,500 rocket-propelled grenades, were ordered by the Zimbabwean military at the time of the March 29 election – which Britain and other Western powers have accused Robert Mugabe of trying to rig.
...We do not believe it will be in the interest of the Zimbabwean people in general if South Africa is seen to be a conduit of arms and ammunition into Zimbabwe at a time when the situation could be described as quite volatile,” said Randall Howard, a spokesman for the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU).
“As far as we are concerned the containers will not be offloaded."
Mugabe is a POS and the country of Zimbabwe will have a long recovery period--after Mugabe is gone.
The sooner the better.
South African dockers are refusing to unload a Chinese cargo ship carrying 77 tonnes of small arms destined for Zimbabwe.
The arms, including three million rounds of ammunition suitable for AK47s and 1,500 rocket-propelled grenades, were ordered by the Zimbabwean military at the time of the March 29 election – which Britain and other Western powers have accused Robert Mugabe of trying to rig.
...We do not believe it will be in the interest of the Zimbabwean people in general if South Africa is seen to be a conduit of arms and ammunition into Zimbabwe at a time when the situation could be described as quite volatile,” said Randall Howard, a spokesman for the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU).
“As far as we are concerned the containers will not be offloaded."
Mugabe is a POS and the country of Zimbabwe will have a long recovery period--after Mugabe is gone.
The sooner the better.
Friday, April 18, 2008
B-16 to the UN
A telling excerpt:
...The merit of the Universal Declaration is that it has enabled different cultures, juridical expressions and institutional models to converge around a fundamental nucleus of values, and hence of rights. Today, though, efforts need to be redoubled in the face of pressure to reinterpret the foundations of the Declaration and to compromise its inner unity so as to facilitate a move away from the protection of human dignity towards the satisfaction of simple interests, often particular interests. The Declaration was adopted as a "common standard of achievement" (Preamble) and cannot be applied piecemeal, according to trends or selective choices that merely run the risk of contradicting the unity of the human person and thus the indivisibility of human rights.
Experience shows that legality often prevails over justice when the insistence upon rights makes them appear as the exclusive result of legislative enactments or normative decisions taken by the various agencies of those in power. When presented purely in terms of legality, rights risk becoming weak propositions divorced from the ethical and rational dimension which is their foundation and their goal. The Universal Declaration, rather, has reinforced the conviction that respect for human rights is principally rooted in unchanging justice, on which the binding force of international proclamations is also based. This aspect is often overlooked when the attempt is made to deprive rights of their true function in the name of a narrowly utilitarian perspective. Since rights and the resulting duties follow naturally from human interaction, it is easy to forget that they are the fruit of a commonly held sense of justice built primarily upon solidarity among the members of society, and hence valid at all times and for all peoples. This intuition was expressed as early as the fifth century by Augustine of Hippo, one of the masters of our intellectual heritage. He taught that the saying: Do not do to others what you would not want done to you "cannot in any way vary according to the different understandings that have arisen in the world" (De Doctrina Christiana, III, 14). Human rights, then, must be respected as an expression of justice, and not merely because they are enforceable through the will of the legislators.
It ain't the Gummint which bestows rights, nor the UN, nor the various States...
...The merit of the Universal Declaration is that it has enabled different cultures, juridical expressions and institutional models to converge around a fundamental nucleus of values, and hence of rights. Today, though, efforts need to be redoubled in the face of pressure to reinterpret the foundations of the Declaration and to compromise its inner unity so as to facilitate a move away from the protection of human dignity towards the satisfaction of simple interests, often particular interests. The Declaration was adopted as a "common standard of achievement" (Preamble) and cannot be applied piecemeal, according to trends or selective choices that merely run the risk of contradicting the unity of the human person and thus the indivisibility of human rights.
Experience shows that legality often prevails over justice when the insistence upon rights makes them appear as the exclusive result of legislative enactments or normative decisions taken by the various agencies of those in power. When presented purely in terms of legality, rights risk becoming weak propositions divorced from the ethical and rational dimension which is their foundation and their goal. The Universal Declaration, rather, has reinforced the conviction that respect for human rights is principally rooted in unchanging justice, on which the binding force of international proclamations is also based. This aspect is often overlooked when the attempt is made to deprive rights of their true function in the name of a narrowly utilitarian perspective. Since rights and the resulting duties follow naturally from human interaction, it is easy to forget that they are the fruit of a commonly held sense of justice built primarily upon solidarity among the members of society, and hence valid at all times and for all peoples. This intuition was expressed as early as the fifth century by Augustine of Hippo, one of the masters of our intellectual heritage. He taught that the saying: Do not do to others what you would not want done to you "cannot in any way vary according to the different understandings that have arisen in the world" (De Doctrina Christiana, III, 14). Human rights, then, must be respected as an expression of justice, and not merely because they are enforceable through the will of the legislators.
It ain't the Gummint which bestows rights, nor the UN, nor the various States...
Pridemore, WRTL, and Bucher (!!)
Man, this stuff is confusing.
Rep. Pridemore says he will NOT propose a "disclosure" bill for 3rd-party entities. Sorta, kinda, maybe not.
Further, he says that Wisconsin Right-to-Life (WRTL) falsely made that claim as part of a smear campaign against him--in order to further the candidacy of Paul Bucher--
--who denies that he's running for Pridemore's seat.
“Wisconsin Right to Life should be ashamed of themselves,” Pridemore said. “I have promised them that I would work hand-in-hand with them on this and other issues. I have stated repeatedly that I will not do anything which would infringe upon any group’s constitutional right to free speech. Instead of treating me with respect and engaging in public discourse on this issue, they have engaged in an untruthful dissemination of misleading and distorted information. For example, I have told Wisconsin Right to Life that I have no intention of going forward with a bill that would require third party advocacy groups to list their donors, yet in today’s press release they insinuate exact that. Furthermore, I have asked them to reserve judgment until there is a first draft of a bill so we can sit down and talk at that point. It should make one very suspicious when a group has chosen to criticize ideas which they have not actually read. I have lost respect for the leadership of Wisconsin Right to Life.”
Well, yah....but...
Look at the sentence following the one highlighted in red. Now we're looking at a "the meaning of is" question, no?
So what's the deal with Bucher?
Wisconsin Right to Life has launched a ridiculous attack against Representative Pridemore. The timing of this attack coincides with increased speculation that Paul Bucher may run for the 99th District Assembly seat this fall. Is this really a coincidence, though? We must remember that this is the same Paul Bucher who was visibly upset when Representative Pridemore chose not to endorse Bill Gleisner’s candidacy for the Court of Appeals
What do I hear from friends?
WRTL threatened Pridemore with a Bucher candidacy if he didn't cave on the "3rd-Party" bill.
IMHO, there are two major errors that WRTL made with this.
1) WRTL crossed a genuine 'friendly' in the Legislature...over a bill which does not yet exist. Not very smart.
2) Bucher is NOT a threat to Pridemore. Not very smart.
What's the matter with WRTL?
HT: FoxPolitics
Rep. Pridemore says he will NOT propose a "disclosure" bill for 3rd-party entities. Sorta, kinda, maybe not.
Further, he says that Wisconsin Right-to-Life (WRTL) falsely made that claim as part of a smear campaign against him--in order to further the candidacy of Paul Bucher--
--who denies that he's running for Pridemore's seat.
“Wisconsin Right to Life should be ashamed of themselves,” Pridemore said. “I have promised them that I would work hand-in-hand with them on this and other issues. I have stated repeatedly that I will not do anything which would infringe upon any group’s constitutional right to free speech. Instead of treating me with respect and engaging in public discourse on this issue, they have engaged in an untruthful dissemination of misleading and distorted information. For example, I have told Wisconsin Right to Life that I have no intention of going forward with a bill that would require third party advocacy groups to list their donors, yet in today’s press release they insinuate exact that. Furthermore, I have asked them to reserve judgment until there is a first draft of a bill so we can sit down and talk at that point. It should make one very suspicious when a group has chosen to criticize ideas which they have not actually read. I have lost respect for the leadership of Wisconsin Right to Life.”
Well, yah....but...
Look at the sentence following the one highlighted in red. Now we're looking at a "the meaning of is" question, no?
So what's the deal with Bucher?
Wisconsin Right to Life has launched a ridiculous attack against Representative Pridemore. The timing of this attack coincides with increased speculation that Paul Bucher may run for the 99th District Assembly seat this fall. Is this really a coincidence, though? We must remember that this is the same Paul Bucher who was visibly upset when Representative Pridemore chose not to endorse Bill Gleisner’s candidacy for the Court of Appeals
What do I hear from friends?
WRTL threatened Pridemore with a Bucher candidacy if he didn't cave on the "3rd-Party" bill.
IMHO, there are two major errors that WRTL made with this.
1) WRTL crossed a genuine 'friendly' in the Legislature...over a bill which does not yet exist. Not very smart.
2) Bucher is NOT a threat to Pridemore. Not very smart.
What's the matter with WRTL?
HT: FoxPolitics
"Hearing" the Pope v. What Was Said: Fr. Wild, SJ
We offer what I think is an interesting juxtaposition of Fr. Wild's "hearing" of B-16's address with the actual content of that address.
"It encouraged us. It was not finger-waving," said Father Robert A. Wild, president of Marquette University in Milwaukee. "It was praising the work we're doing, thanking us, but encouraging us to do it yet better and to be faithful to our mission as Catholic institutions and yet mindful that, especially in the case of the universities, academic freedom is part of it as well."
Yah, OK. Here's the actual text surrounding "academic freedom."
“I wish to reaffirm the great value of academic freedom. In virtue of this freedom you are called to search for the truth wherever careful analysis of evidence leads you. Yet it is also the case that any appeal to the principle of academic freedom in order to justify positions that contradict the faith and teaching of the Church would obstruct or even betray the university’s identity and mission.”
I also find Wild's 'finger-waving' phrase to be silly, at best. Was Fr. Wild presuming to defend the Pope? Was he descending to the level of the journalist who interviewed him? Or was he displaying his prejudices?
More reaction here, from Reilly. Some excerpts:
B-16: "Each and every aspect of college life must reverberate within the ecclesial life of faith."
Translation: So, once and for all, a play like The Vagina Monologues serves no academic purpose and is inappropriate for a serious Catholic institution.
B-16: "We observe today an aimless pursuit of novelty parading as the realization of freedom. We witness an assumption that every experience is of equal worth. . . . And particularly disturbing is the reduction of the precious and delicate area of education in sexuality to management of 'risk', bereft of any reference to the beauty of conjugal love."
Translation: Catholic colleges must take seriously their responsibility to affirmatively foster and promote a campus environment that cherishes chastity.
And for the best:
B-16: Colleges have the duty to "ensure that students receive instruction in Catholic doctrine and practice. This requires that public witness to the way of Christ, as found in the Gospel and upheld by the Church's Magisterium, shapes all aspects of an institution's life, both inside and outside the classroom. Divergence from this vision weakens Catholic identity . . . ."
Translation: Three credits in Wiccan Studies is not a substitute for a required Catholic Theology course. Oh, and that Catholic Theology course must teach authentic Catholicism (for reference, please see the Catechism).
Fr. Wild, call your office. Then just fire Dan Maguire.
Please.
"It encouraged us. It was not finger-waving," said Father Robert A. Wild, president of Marquette University in Milwaukee. "It was praising the work we're doing, thanking us, but encouraging us to do it yet better and to be faithful to our mission as Catholic institutions and yet mindful that, especially in the case of the universities, academic freedom is part of it as well."
Yah, OK. Here's the actual text surrounding "academic freedom."
“I wish to reaffirm the great value of academic freedom. In virtue of this freedom you are called to search for the truth wherever careful analysis of evidence leads you. Yet it is also the case that any appeal to the principle of academic freedom in order to justify positions that contradict the faith and teaching of the Church would obstruct or even betray the university’s identity and mission.”
I also find Wild's 'finger-waving' phrase to be silly, at best. Was Fr. Wild presuming to defend the Pope? Was he descending to the level of the journalist who interviewed him? Or was he displaying his prejudices?
More reaction here, from Reilly. Some excerpts:
B-16: "Each and every aspect of college life must reverberate within the ecclesial life of faith."
Translation: So, once and for all, a play like The Vagina Monologues serves no academic purpose and is inappropriate for a serious Catholic institution.
B-16: "We observe today an aimless pursuit of novelty parading as the realization of freedom. We witness an assumption that every experience is of equal worth. . . . And particularly disturbing is the reduction of the precious and delicate area of education in sexuality to management of 'risk', bereft of any reference to the beauty of conjugal love."
Translation: Catholic colleges must take seriously their responsibility to affirmatively foster and promote a campus environment that cherishes chastity.
And for the best:
B-16: Colleges have the duty to "ensure that students receive instruction in Catholic doctrine and practice. This requires that public witness to the way of Christ, as found in the Gospel and upheld by the Church's Magisterium, shapes all aspects of an institution's life, both inside and outside the classroom. Divergence from this vision weakens Catholic identity . . . ."
Translation: Three credits in Wiccan Studies is not a substitute for a required Catholic Theology course. Oh, and that Catholic Theology course must teach authentic Catholicism (for reference, please see the Catechism).
Fr. Wild, call your office. Then just fire Dan Maguire.
Please.
Texas v. FLDS: It Gets Interesting
Now it appears that a known wacko may have made the phone call which triggered the Texas authorities' military-style raid on the FLDS compound.
A 33-year-old Colorado Springs woman has been questioned about a telephone call that sparked a raid at the polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints compound in western Texas two weeks ago. Rozita Swinton was arrested at her home Wednesday night by Colorado Springs police for an incident that occurred in February. Members of the Texas Rangers were also in Colorado Springs as part of their investigation....
Texas authorities launched their raid on the compound after receiving a warrant based on a phone call from a girl named "Sarah" who called for help, claiming she was pregnant and living inside the compound with her 49-year-old abusive husband. Flora Jessop, an outspoken ex-member of the FLDS group, told KUSA-TV she believes Swinton may have been the person she spoke with by phone, who claimed to be Sarah's twin sister. She said the woman she believes is Rozita Swinton called again Thursday morning after Swinton bailed out of the El Paso County Jail.
OK. But that's not all, according to Vox:
It will be interesting to watch the gyrations of government agents attempting to retroactively justify their outrageous actions once the details of the fraud becomes apparent to all and sundry. I don't know if it's actually Swinton who is responsible, but since the accused man is known to have been living in a different state than the caller reported, it's already fairly clear that the justification for the arrests and kidnappings is based on a false foundation.
Yes, it should be VERY interesting to hear the 'splanation.
MORE:
The media has tried to portray this as a "children endangered" case, repeating Texas officials' claims that girls were "spiritually married" as soon as they reached puberty. But if there is any actual evidence of that, it didn't come out in the first day of court hearings
So--to be repetitive---where's the beef? As McC remarks:
If the state can produce actual evidence of pregnant 13- and 14-year-olds -- and obstetric examinations could determine that very easily --then they've got a serious case. So far, though, there has been no report of any such evidence. So far as can be determined from this CNN/AP story, they've found one 16-year-old with a baby, but if every pregnant 16-year-old in Texas is cause for a paramilitary raid, they're going to need more SWAT teams.
Polygamy is illegal in Texas, and officials can prosecute those cases if they wish. Likewise, they can prosecute every case of statutory rape involved in these "spiritual marriages." But to take 130 children under the age of 4 away from their parents? That's extreme
Hmmmmmm.
A 33-year-old Colorado Springs woman has been questioned about a telephone call that sparked a raid at the polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints compound in western Texas two weeks ago. Rozita Swinton was arrested at her home Wednesday night by Colorado Springs police for an incident that occurred in February. Members of the Texas Rangers were also in Colorado Springs as part of their investigation....
Texas authorities launched their raid on the compound after receiving a warrant based on a phone call from a girl named "Sarah" who called for help, claiming she was pregnant and living inside the compound with her 49-year-old abusive husband. Flora Jessop, an outspoken ex-member of the FLDS group, told KUSA-TV she believes Swinton may have been the person she spoke with by phone, who claimed to be Sarah's twin sister. She said the woman she believes is Rozita Swinton called again Thursday morning after Swinton bailed out of the El Paso County Jail.
OK. But that's not all, according to Vox:
It will be interesting to watch the gyrations of government agents attempting to retroactively justify their outrageous actions once the details of the fraud becomes apparent to all and sundry. I don't know if it's actually Swinton who is responsible, but since the accused man is known to have been living in a different state than the caller reported, it's already fairly clear that the justification for the arrests and kidnappings is based on a false foundation.
Yes, it should be VERY interesting to hear the 'splanation.
MORE:
The media has tried to portray this as a "children endangered" case, repeating Texas officials' claims that girls were "spiritually married" as soon as they reached puberty. But if there is any actual evidence of that, it didn't come out in the first day of court hearings
So--to be repetitive---where's the beef? As McC remarks:
If the state can produce actual evidence of pregnant 13- and 14-year-olds -- and obstetric examinations could determine that very easily --then they've got a serious case. So far, though, there has been no report of any such evidence. So far as can be determined from this CNN/AP story, they've found one 16-year-old with a baby, but if every pregnant 16-year-old in Texas is cause for a paramilitary raid, they're going to need more SWAT teams.
Polygamy is illegal in Texas, and officials can prosecute those cases if they wish. Likewise, they can prosecute every case of statutory rape involved in these "spiritual marriages." But to take 130 children under the age of 4 away from their parents? That's extreme
Hmmmmmm.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Benedict to the Educators
The Pope spoke to an assembly of Catholic college/university muckety-mucks this afternoon. These excerpts are from the prepared text.
...First and foremost every Catholic educational institution is a place to encounter the living God who in Jesus Christ reveals his transforming love and truth (cf. Spe Salvi, 4). This relationship elicits a desire to grow in the knowledge and understanding of Christ and his teaching. In this way those who meet him are drawn by the very power of the Gospel to lead a new life characterized by all that is beautiful, good, and true; a life of Christian witness nurtured and strengthened within the community of our Lord’s disciples, the Church.
...and motivates each generation of Christian educators to ensure that the power of God’s truth permeates every dimension of the institutions they serve. In this way, Christ’s Good News is set to work, guiding both teacher and student towards the objective truth which, in transcending the particular and the subjective, points to the universal and absolute that enables us to proclaim with confidence the hope which does not disappoint (cf. Rom 5:5).
Indirectly phrased, but very pointed remarks, folks. And sure enough, he'll make the point:
It is timely, then, to reflect on what is particular to our Catholic institutions. How do they contribute to the good of society through the Church’s primary mission of evangelization?
...with both barrels:
God’s desire to make himself known, and the innate desire of all human beings to know the truth, provide the context for human inquiry into the meaning of life. This unique encounter is sustained within our Christian community: the one who seeks the truth becomes the one who lives by faith (cf. Fides et Ratio, 31). It can be described as a move from “I” to “we”, leading the individual to be numbered among God’s people.
This same dynamic of communal identity - to whom do I belong? - vivifies the ethos of our Catholic institutions. A university or school’s Catholic identity is not simply a question of the number of Catholic students. It is a question of conviction - do we really believe that only in the mystery of the Word made flesh does the mystery of man truly become clear (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 22)? Are we ready to commit our entire self - intellect and will, mind and heart - to God? Do we accept the truth Christ reveals? Is the faith tangible in our universities and schools? Is it given fervent expression liturgically, sacramentally, through prayer, acts of charity, a concern for justice, and respect for God’s creation? Only in this way do we really bear witness to the meaning of who we are and what we uphold.
Note well that B-16 did not say "...this is one of the ways in which..." but rather "ONLY in this way..." That's not pussyfooting, people.
And furthermore:
It comes as no surprise, then, that not just our own ecclesial communities but society in general has high expectations of Catholic educators. This places upon you a responsibility and offers an opportunity. More and more people - parents in particular - recognize the need for excellence in the human formation of their children. As Mater et Magistra, the Church shares their concern. When nothing beyond the individual is recognized as definitive, the ultimate criterion of judgment becomes the self and the satisfaction of the individual’s immediate wishes. The objectivity and perspective, which can only come through a recognition of the essential transcendent dimension of the human person, can be lost. Within such a relativistic horizon the goals of education are inevitably curtailed. Slowly, a lowering of standards occurs. We observe today a timidity in the face of the category of the good and an aimless pursuit of novelty parading as the realization of freedom. We witness an assumption that every experience is of equal worth and a reluctance to admit imperfection and mistakes. And particularly disturbing, is the reduction of the precious and delicate area of education in sexuality to management of ‘risk’, bereft of any reference to the beauty of conjugal love.
The Pope speaks of the synthesis of knowledge, which is virtually forgotten in most Catholic higher-education today:
Indeed, the dignity of education lies in fostering the true perfection and happiness of those to be educated. In practice “intellectual charity” upholds the essential unity of knowledge against the fragmentation which ensues when reason is detached from the pursuit of truth. It guides the young towards the deep satisfaction of exercising freedom in relation to truth, and it strives to articulate the relationship between faith and all aspects of family and civic life. Once their passion for the fullness and unity of truth has been awakened, young people will surely relish the discovery that the question of what they can know opens up the vast adventure of what they ought to do
And then he blows up the "academic freedom" mantra:
...In virtue of this freedom you are called to search for the truth wherever careful analysis of evidence leads you. Yet it is also the case that any appeal to the principle of academic freedom in order to justify positions that contradict the faith and the teaching of the Church would obstruct or even betray the university’s identity and mission; a mission at the heart of the Church’s munus docendi and not somehow autonomous or independent of it.
Teachers and administrators, whether in universities or schools, have the duty and privilege to ensure that students receive instruction in Catholic doctrine and practice. This requires that public witness to the way of Christ, as found in the Gospel and upheld by the Church’s Magisterium, shapes all aspects of an institution’s life, both inside and outside the classroom. Divergence from this vision weakens Catholic identity and, far from advancing freedom, inevitably leads to confusion, whether moral, intellectual or spiritual
You don't have to be real smart to understand what he just said.
But you have to be a real Modern Project educator to MIS-understand.
He also addresses high-school religious ed:
Religious education is a challenging apostolate, yet there are many signs of a desire among young people to learn about the faith and practice it with vigor. If this awakening is to grow, teachers require a clear and precise understanding of the specific nature and role of Catholic education.
The gantlet has been thrown down.
...First and foremost every Catholic educational institution is a place to encounter the living God who in Jesus Christ reveals his transforming love and truth (cf. Spe Salvi, 4). This relationship elicits a desire to grow in the knowledge and understanding of Christ and his teaching. In this way those who meet him are drawn by the very power of the Gospel to lead a new life characterized by all that is beautiful, good, and true; a life of Christian witness nurtured and strengthened within the community of our Lord’s disciples, the Church.
...and motivates each generation of Christian educators to ensure that the power of God’s truth permeates every dimension of the institutions they serve. In this way, Christ’s Good News is set to work, guiding both teacher and student towards the objective truth which, in transcending the particular and the subjective, points to the universal and absolute that enables us to proclaim with confidence the hope which does not disappoint (cf. Rom 5:5).
Indirectly phrased, but very pointed remarks, folks. And sure enough, he'll make the point:
It is timely, then, to reflect on what is particular to our Catholic institutions. How do they contribute to the good of society through the Church’s primary mission of evangelization?
...with both barrels:
God’s desire to make himself known, and the innate desire of all human beings to know the truth, provide the context for human inquiry into the meaning of life. This unique encounter is sustained within our Christian community: the one who seeks the truth becomes the one who lives by faith (cf. Fides et Ratio, 31). It can be described as a move from “I” to “we”, leading the individual to be numbered among God’s people.
This same dynamic of communal identity - to whom do I belong? - vivifies the ethos of our Catholic institutions. A university or school’s Catholic identity is not simply a question of the number of Catholic students. It is a question of conviction - do we really believe that only in the mystery of the Word made flesh does the mystery of man truly become clear (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 22)? Are we ready to commit our entire self - intellect and will, mind and heart - to God? Do we accept the truth Christ reveals? Is the faith tangible in our universities and schools? Is it given fervent expression liturgically, sacramentally, through prayer, acts of charity, a concern for justice, and respect for God’s creation? Only in this way do we really bear witness to the meaning of who we are and what we uphold.
Note well that B-16 did not say "...this is one of the ways in which..." but rather "ONLY in this way..." That's not pussyfooting, people.
And furthermore:
It comes as no surprise, then, that not just our own ecclesial communities but society in general has high expectations of Catholic educators. This places upon you a responsibility and offers an opportunity. More and more people - parents in particular - recognize the need for excellence in the human formation of their children. As Mater et Magistra, the Church shares their concern. When nothing beyond the individual is recognized as definitive, the ultimate criterion of judgment becomes the self and the satisfaction of the individual’s immediate wishes. The objectivity and perspective, which can only come through a recognition of the essential transcendent dimension of the human person, can be lost. Within such a relativistic horizon the goals of education are inevitably curtailed. Slowly, a lowering of standards occurs. We observe today a timidity in the face of the category of the good and an aimless pursuit of novelty parading as the realization of freedom. We witness an assumption that every experience is of equal worth and a reluctance to admit imperfection and mistakes. And particularly disturbing, is the reduction of the precious and delicate area of education in sexuality to management of ‘risk’, bereft of any reference to the beauty of conjugal love.
The Pope speaks of the synthesis of knowledge, which is virtually forgotten in most Catholic higher-education today:
Indeed, the dignity of education lies in fostering the true perfection and happiness of those to be educated. In practice “intellectual charity” upholds the essential unity of knowledge against the fragmentation which ensues when reason is detached from the pursuit of truth. It guides the young towards the deep satisfaction of exercising freedom in relation to truth, and it strives to articulate the relationship between faith and all aspects of family and civic life. Once their passion for the fullness and unity of truth has been awakened, young people will surely relish the discovery that the question of what they can know opens up the vast adventure of what they ought to do
And then he blows up the "academic freedom" mantra:
...In virtue of this freedom you are called to search for the truth wherever careful analysis of evidence leads you. Yet it is also the case that any appeal to the principle of academic freedom in order to justify positions that contradict the faith and the teaching of the Church would obstruct or even betray the university’s identity and mission; a mission at the heart of the Church’s munus docendi and not somehow autonomous or independent of it.
Teachers and administrators, whether in universities or schools, have the duty and privilege to ensure that students receive instruction in Catholic doctrine and practice. This requires that public witness to the way of Christ, as found in the Gospel and upheld by the Church’s Magisterium, shapes all aspects of an institution’s life, both inside and outside the classroom. Divergence from this vision weakens Catholic identity and, far from advancing freedom, inevitably leads to confusion, whether moral, intellectual or spiritual
You don't have to be real smart to understand what he just said.
But you have to be a real Modern Project educator to MIS-understand.
He also addresses high-school religious ed:
Religious education is a challenging apostolate, yet there are many signs of a desire among young people to learn about the faith and practice it with vigor. If this awakening is to grow, teachers require a clear and precise understanding of the specific nature and role of Catholic education.
The gantlet has been thrown down.
The Short Take on the DC "Music" for Mass
TNLM's take on that stuff in DC:
And it was to the grave embarrassment of all American Catholics that the music employed at the papal Mass at the Nationals stadium in Washington, D.C., not only represented a repudiation of everything that this pope has written on music appropriate to Mass. We can go further to say that there is no robust tradition of liturgical scholarship that is capable of defending what happened, and that is because it is indefensible.
But there's more, and it's appropriate.
In the name of "multiculturalism," the Pope was subjected to music more suitable to dingy dance halls than Churches. The Psalms of David were distorted to the point of ear-splitting dissonance. The congos, pan flutes, meringue rhythms, the jazz and blues and rock, the swaggering vocals, the puffed-up soloing, went beyond even the most pessimistic predictions.
Can you say "It's all about US!!"?
But it was really worse than that (I know..hard to believe that it could be worse...)
There is grave insult at the heart of all these attempts to construct styles that appeal to all people, pigeonholing their tastes the same way a racialist writing in the 1930s might do. This is not unity but dangerous division.
(No different than dividing children from parents and calling it "Yout' Mass" or "Chillun Mass," might I add.)
And the people get it. This is informative (see below under "Clericalism"):
There is no question that anger, even fury, is palpable. The USCCB has been deleting comments from its own website. Fr. Richard J. Neuhaus, in his running commentary on EWTN, expressed astonishment. The blogs are overflowing with bitter comments...
So USCCB, in the spirit of "openness" which they trumpet regarding the sex-scandals, is not so "open" about its malpractice of Liturgy...
Surprise, surprise.
I wasn't able to hear the entire thing--and what I did hear (the entrance hymn) was not bad. Others have commented that the Pope was visibly happy with Domingo's Panis.
Those, evidently, were the two 'high spots' in music.
A LOT more is available here.
And it was to the grave embarrassment of all American Catholics that the music employed at the papal Mass at the Nationals stadium in Washington, D.C., not only represented a repudiation of everything that this pope has written on music appropriate to Mass. We can go further to say that there is no robust tradition of liturgical scholarship that is capable of defending what happened, and that is because it is indefensible.
But there's more, and it's appropriate.
In the name of "multiculturalism," the Pope was subjected to music more suitable to dingy dance halls than Churches. The Psalms of David were distorted to the point of ear-splitting dissonance. The congos, pan flutes, meringue rhythms, the jazz and blues and rock, the swaggering vocals, the puffed-up soloing, went beyond even the most pessimistic predictions.
Can you say "It's all about US!!"?
But it was really worse than that (I know..hard to believe that it could be worse...)
There is grave insult at the heart of all these attempts to construct styles that appeal to all people, pigeonholing their tastes the same way a racialist writing in the 1930s might do. This is not unity but dangerous division.
(No different than dividing children from parents and calling it "Yout' Mass" or "Chillun Mass," might I add.)
And the people get it. This is informative (see below under "Clericalism"):
There is no question that anger, even fury, is palpable. The USCCB has been deleting comments from its own website. Fr. Richard J. Neuhaus, in his running commentary on EWTN, expressed astonishment. The blogs are overflowing with bitter comments...
So USCCB, in the spirit of "openness" which they trumpet regarding the sex-scandals, is not so "open" about its malpractice of Liturgy...
Surprise, surprise.
I wasn't able to hear the entire thing--and what I did hear (the entrance hymn) was not bad. Others have commented that the Pope was visibly happy with Domingo's Panis.
Those, evidently, were the two 'high spots' in music.
A LOT more is available here.
Bits of Benedict XVI
From his sermon at today's Mass.
...The challenges confronting us require a comprehensive and sound instruction in the truths of the faith. But they also call for cultivating a mindset, an intellectual "culture", which is genuinely Catholic, confident in the profound harmony of faith and reason, and prepared to bring the richness of faith's vision to bear on the urgent issues which affect the future of American society...
(A prelude to what will be said to the Catholic college gaggle later.)
Let us trust in the Spirit's power to inspire conversion, to heal every wound, to overcome every division, and to inspire new life and freedom. How much we need these gifts! And how close at hand they are, particularly in the sacrament of Penance! The liberating power of this sacrament, in which our honest confession of sin is met by God's merciful word of pardon and peace, needs to be rediscovered and reappropriated by every Catholic. To a great extent, the renewal of the Church in America depends on the renewal of the practice of Penance and the growth in holiness which that sacrament both inspires and accomplishes
(So maybe, Father, offering 45 minutes once/week is not enough...)
And from his speech to the US Bishops last night:
...In the United States, as elsewhere, there is much current and proposed legislation that gives cause for concern from the point of view of morality, and the Catholic community, under your guidance, needs to offer a clear and united witness on such matters. Even more important, though, is the gradual opening of the minds and hearts of the wider community to moral truth. Here much remains to be done. Crucial in this regard is the role of the lay faithful to act as a "leaven" in society. Yet it cannot be assumed that all Catholic citizens think in harmony with the Church's teaching on today's key ethical questions. Once again, it falls to you to ensure that the moral formation provided at every level of ecclesial life reflects the authentic teaching of the Gospel of life.
...It is your task to proclaim boldly the arguments from faith and reason in favor of the institution of marriage, understood as a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman, open to the transmission of life. This message should resonate with people today, because it is essentially an unconditional and unreserved "yes" to life, a "yes" to love, and a "yes" to the aspirations at the heart of our common humanity, as we strive to fulfill our deep yearning for intimacy with others and with the Lord.
Regarding that address to the Bishops, another blogger:
I had been hoping it would have been a lot more succinct . . . like His Holiness simply walking through their midst, pointing to some and saying, "You're fired."
HT: Rorate, Leonardi, CNA
...The challenges confronting us require a comprehensive and sound instruction in the truths of the faith. But they also call for cultivating a mindset, an intellectual "culture", which is genuinely Catholic, confident in the profound harmony of faith and reason, and prepared to bring the richness of faith's vision to bear on the urgent issues which affect the future of American society...
(A prelude to what will be said to the Catholic college gaggle later.)
Let us trust in the Spirit's power to inspire conversion, to heal every wound, to overcome every division, and to inspire new life and freedom. How much we need these gifts! And how close at hand they are, particularly in the sacrament of Penance! The liberating power of this sacrament, in which our honest confession of sin is met by God's merciful word of pardon and peace, needs to be rediscovered and reappropriated by every Catholic. To a great extent, the renewal of the Church in America depends on the renewal of the practice of Penance and the growth in holiness which that sacrament both inspires and accomplishes
(So maybe, Father, offering 45 minutes once/week is not enough...)
And from his speech to the US Bishops last night:
...In the United States, as elsewhere, there is much current and proposed legislation that gives cause for concern from the point of view of morality, and the Catholic community, under your guidance, needs to offer a clear and united witness on such matters. Even more important, though, is the gradual opening of the minds and hearts of the wider community to moral truth. Here much remains to be done. Crucial in this regard is the role of the lay faithful to act as a "leaven" in society. Yet it cannot be assumed that all Catholic citizens think in harmony with the Church's teaching on today's key ethical questions. Once again, it falls to you to ensure that the moral formation provided at every level of ecclesial life reflects the authentic teaching of the Gospel of life.
...It is your task to proclaim boldly the arguments from faith and reason in favor of the institution of marriage, understood as a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman, open to the transmission of life. This message should resonate with people today, because it is essentially an unconditional and unreserved "yes" to life, a "yes" to love, and a "yes" to the aspirations at the heart of our common humanity, as we strive to fulfill our deep yearning for intimacy with others and with the Lord.
Regarding that address to the Bishops, another blogger:
I had been hoping it would have been a lot more succinct . . . like His Holiness simply walking through their midst, pointing to some and saying, "You're fired."
Were it so simple, DigiHair.
HT: Rorate, Leonardi, CNA
On Clericalism---and Consequences
Russell Shaw defines it neatly.
“By clericalism I mean an elitist mindset, together with structures and patterns of behavior corresponding to it, which takes it for granted that clerics – in the Catholic context, mainly bishops and priests – are intrinsically superior to the other members of the Church and deserve automatic deference. Passivity and dependence are the laity’s lot.”
It is a perversion, or maybe a denial, of the "Servant-Priest" model given by Christ and exemplified by Benedict XVI.
Apply that where necessary.
(Taken from a FT article written by Fr. Neuhaus, quoted in ChristusVincit.)
By coincidence, Dreher posts loosely-relevant stuff today.
...This is why so many orthodox Catholics are so angry over the sort of things that strike many liberal and moderate Catholics as petty matters. They see their traditions being pissed on and pissed away, often by the very clerics and bishops who are given the sacred responsibility of defending them, preserving them and passing them on. The orthodox know that theirs is not simply a matter of taste, of aesthetic preference. They understand intuitively that there are some things you can't muck around with without altering the belief -- and if you alter belief, you risk altering the community's identity, and, far worse, eternal destiny.
When there's liturgical abuse, when there's heresy taught from pulpits, when the truth does not get taught for whatever reason or the other, you inculcate within your people an indifference, or hostility, to tradition and its demands. You inculcate a hostility to legitimate authority. When people lose their sense of authority, they come to see claims to authority being only a pretense for power. They don't understand why they should obey authority in the first place. They become their own authority. And Catholicism atrophies, and maybe even dies, even though it still calls itself Catholic
Which taken together means that clericalism, in addition to being cancerous, is most aggressive when applied to the destruction of Tradition--as is often the case--especially when the Tradition being destroyed is that of the Servant-model.
And don't for one second think that Clericalism died at the close of the Second Vatican Council.
“By clericalism I mean an elitist mindset, together with structures and patterns of behavior corresponding to it, which takes it for granted that clerics – in the Catholic context, mainly bishops and priests – are intrinsically superior to the other members of the Church and deserve automatic deference. Passivity and dependence are the laity’s lot.”
It is a perversion, or maybe a denial, of the "Servant-Priest" model given by Christ and exemplified by Benedict XVI.
Apply that where necessary.
(Taken from a FT article written by Fr. Neuhaus, quoted in ChristusVincit.)
By coincidence, Dreher posts loosely-relevant stuff today.
...This is why so many orthodox Catholics are so angry over the sort of things that strike many liberal and moderate Catholics as petty matters. They see their traditions being pissed on and pissed away, often by the very clerics and bishops who are given the sacred responsibility of defending them, preserving them and passing them on. The orthodox know that theirs is not simply a matter of taste, of aesthetic preference. They understand intuitively that there are some things you can't muck around with without altering the belief -- and if you alter belief, you risk altering the community's identity, and, far worse, eternal destiny.
When there's liturgical abuse, when there's heresy taught from pulpits, when the truth does not get taught for whatever reason or the other, you inculcate within your people an indifference, or hostility, to tradition and its demands. You inculcate a hostility to legitimate authority. When people lose their sense of authority, they come to see claims to authority being only a pretense for power. They don't understand why they should obey authority in the first place. They become their own authority. And Catholicism atrophies, and maybe even dies, even though it still calls itself Catholic
Which taken together means that clericalism, in addition to being cancerous, is most aggressive when applied to the destruction of Tradition--as is often the case--especially when the Tradition being destroyed is that of the Servant-model.
And don't for one second think that Clericalism died at the close of the Second Vatican Council.
The Slow, Tiny Steps Toward Disappearing Civil Liberty
Not covered much locally (for obvious reasons) but a storm in the blogosphere.
Organized by Bureaucrash, the youth-oriented libertarian affiliate of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Thomas Jefferson Dance Party looked to revive the dancing-as-freedom meme with a dedication to many free marketeers' favorite founding father on the occasion of his 265th birthday.
The plan was simple enough: Freedom-loving individuals . . . would gather in the Jefferson Memorial just before midnight, April 13, and spend ten minutes bopping, swaying and moonwalking to honor the author of the Declaration of Independence.
So as not to disturb any fellow memorial visitors, the group . . . opted to wear headphones and listen to their own iPods. As it turned out, the half-dozen or so unrelated onlookers who happened to be on-hand (the park is open 24 hours) appeared mostly amused by the spectacle.
Security personnel assuredly were not amused. Within two minutes of the event's start, they began moving to disperse the crowd, ordering the dancers to leave immediately, forcibly laying their hands on some and hurling profanities at others.
A few party-goers attempted to explain the nature of the event, but memorial staff were in no mood to discuss political theory. At 11:59, just four minutes after the event's start, U.S. Park Police had detained and were handcuffing the aforementioned "Jefferson 1" -- 28-year-old occasional Spectator contributor Brooke Oberwetter -- ostensibly for unauthorized dancing.
The much-less-friendly take by that bastion of Civil Rights editorializing:
Talley said the group gathered at the memorial just before midnight. His video shows the inner chamber of the memorial with about 20 people dancing and talking with each other.
A security guard soon appears, insisting that the group leave.
Oberwetter was among those ushered out and was arrested after she kept returning to the chamber. Talley, meanwhile, can be heard arguing with another officer:
"So you're saying the state is going to reject us?" Talley says. "It's Thomas Jefferson's birthday. We're here to celebrate that. And the state is throwing us out. There is something wrong with America when we get thrown out of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial when we're silent and peaceful and celebratory!"
"Thomas Jefferson's looking down, and he'd be very dissatisfied," Talley says.
Quite the contrary, says Peter Onuf, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation professor of history at U-Va.
"What they're referring to here is Jefferson's endorsement of popular resistance to tyrannical authority," he said yesterday. "What these folks were involved in was provoking authorities into having to enforce the law. Jefferson was very anal about obedience to the law.
"It trivializes Jefferson to suggest that in his name or spirit someone would ignore the will of the people as expressed in law," Onuf said. "I don't think he'd bother to turn over in his grave in this case."
Think that the difference in coverage has to do with the CEI connections of the dancers?
Nah. Couldn't be.
Aaaaaannyway...what's the big deal about a bunch of kids dancing around at midnight?
Organized by Bureaucrash, the youth-oriented libertarian affiliate of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Thomas Jefferson Dance Party looked to revive the dancing-as-freedom meme with a dedication to many free marketeers' favorite founding father on the occasion of his 265th birthday.
The plan was simple enough: Freedom-loving individuals . . . would gather in the Jefferson Memorial just before midnight, April 13, and spend ten minutes bopping, swaying and moonwalking to honor the author of the Declaration of Independence.
So as not to disturb any fellow memorial visitors, the group . . . opted to wear headphones and listen to their own iPods. As it turned out, the half-dozen or so unrelated onlookers who happened to be on-hand (the park is open 24 hours) appeared mostly amused by the spectacle.
Security personnel assuredly were not amused. Within two minutes of the event's start, they began moving to disperse the crowd, ordering the dancers to leave immediately, forcibly laying their hands on some and hurling profanities at others.
A few party-goers attempted to explain the nature of the event, but memorial staff were in no mood to discuss political theory. At 11:59, just four minutes after the event's start, U.S. Park Police had detained and were handcuffing the aforementioned "Jefferson 1" -- 28-year-old occasional Spectator contributor Brooke Oberwetter -- ostensibly for unauthorized dancing.
The much-less-friendly take by that bastion of Civil Rights editorializing:
Talley said the group gathered at the memorial just before midnight. His video shows the inner chamber of the memorial with about 20 people dancing and talking with each other.
A security guard soon appears, insisting that the group leave.
Oberwetter was among those ushered out and was arrested after she kept returning to the chamber. Talley, meanwhile, can be heard arguing with another officer:
"So you're saying the state is going to reject us?" Talley says. "It's Thomas Jefferson's birthday. We're here to celebrate that. And the state is throwing us out. There is something wrong with America when we get thrown out of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial when we're silent and peaceful and celebratory!"
"Thomas Jefferson's looking down, and he'd be very dissatisfied," Talley says.
Quite the contrary, says Peter Onuf, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation professor of history at U-Va.
"What they're referring to here is Jefferson's endorsement of popular resistance to tyrannical authority," he said yesterday. "What these folks were involved in was provoking authorities into having to enforce the law. Jefferson was very anal about obedience to the law.
"It trivializes Jefferson to suggest that in his name or spirit someone would ignore the will of the people as expressed in law," Onuf said. "I don't think he'd bother to turn over in his grave in this case."
Think that the difference in coverage has to do with the CEI connections of the dancers?
Nah. Couldn't be.
Aaaaaannyway...what's the big deal about a bunch of kids dancing around at midnight?
The New Out-Sourcing: News Writers
Think that that "creative" job you have is a safe harbor?
Think again.
The Voice of America, working with ever-tightening budgets, is planning a little outsourcing itself — to Communist China — to save some taxpayer dollars.
Ted Iliff, central news division chief, said the plan, announced at a recent staff meeting, is to take about eight news writer jobs — the slots of people who work the graveyard shift from around midnight to the morning — and move those tasks to Hong Kong. (The people will move to other shifts.) These folks handle the late news writing, then send their stories to be translated by VOA language services into Swahili, Spanish and so on.
VOA says the move could save at least $300,000 in salaries and benefits each year, and would relieve people burdened by working those hours — though we hear most of those affected like their hours and enhanced night pay.
The idea is to use contract employees — expatriate English-speakers in Hong Kong, who would be supervised by a senior editor in Washington.
That's alright. Those displaced scribes can always go to Med School and become surgeons.
Think again.
The Voice of America, working with ever-tightening budgets, is planning a little outsourcing itself — to Communist China — to save some taxpayer dollars.
Ted Iliff, central news division chief, said the plan, announced at a recent staff meeting, is to take about eight news writer jobs — the slots of people who work the graveyard shift from around midnight to the morning — and move those tasks to Hong Kong. (The people will move to other shifts.) These folks handle the late news writing, then send their stories to be translated by VOA language services into Swahili, Spanish and so on.
VOA says the move could save at least $300,000 in salaries and benefits each year, and would relieve people burdened by working those hours — though we hear most of those affected like their hours and enhanced night pay.
The idea is to use contract employees — expatriate English-speakers in Hong Kong, who would be supervised by a senior editor in Washington.
That's alright. Those displaced scribes can always go to Med School and become surgeons.
Snippets from Cdl. Arinze
The Cardinal appeared at the U. of Dallas and a busy student took notes.
A couple pertinent to liturgy, an area within the Cardinal's competence:
“The liturgy is a gift we receive, not a product we produce.”
“We cannot reduce the liturgical celebration to a recreational social gathering.”
“The music in Mass should elevate the mind to God. That’s not to say guitars don’t elevate the mind, but if they draw people away from the Holy, then they must be examined and studied more closely.”
That last one will draw fire from the fire-breathing Rightists--but the context is clear, no?
He also had a great deal to say about evangelization--all of which is worthwhile, of course.
A couple pertinent to liturgy, an area within the Cardinal's competence:
“The liturgy is a gift we receive, not a product we produce.”
“We cannot reduce the liturgical celebration to a recreational social gathering.”
“The music in Mass should elevate the mind to God. That’s not to say guitars don’t elevate the mind, but if they draw people away from the Holy, then they must be examined and studied more closely.”
That last one will draw fire from the fire-breathing Rightists--but the context is clear, no?
He also had a great deal to say about evangelization--all of which is worthwhile, of course.
What's Going On in Texas?
It's been a week or so, and the Texas authorities have yet to find the "young girl who phoned in a complaint of abuse" from the FLDS compound.
And now the MSM is paying attention--last night a few minutes were spent by one news program interviewing some of the women and the FDLS' attorney.
Curious.
Before the NannyGrannyLefties manage to mis-interpretate this, I am no fan of either polygamy (it's unnatural) nor of forcing 12, 14, or 16-year old girls (or boys) to engage in sexual relations.
But in Texas, of all places, nobody seems able to find The Beef.
And now the MSM is paying attention--last night a few minutes were spent by one news program interviewing some of the women and the FDLS' attorney.
Curious.
Before the NannyGrannyLefties manage to mis-interpretate this, I am no fan of either polygamy (it's unnatural) nor of forcing 12, 14, or 16-year old girls (or boys) to engage in sexual relations.
But in Texas, of all places, nobody seems able to find The Beef.
Thought Question
Random10, a bloglodyte-scientific, has a question:
Why would anyone believing humans are capable of creating unnatural shifts in the ambient near surface diurnal temperature range, advocate replacing emissions of the rare atmospheric molecule carbon dioxide and it’s limited radiative absorptive range, with emissions of the single most potent green house gas of all --- water vapor?
Media people, we have a great big University in the middle of our town and I’m sure your offices all have phone books and email. Because water vapor is responsible for 60-70% of the greenhouse gas effect on surface temperature moderation, and if it is bad for human activity to alter in any way the natural temperature moderation of our embedded in freezing cold space planet, then why would any caring person want to move society towards increasing water vapor emissions? The truth is out there media people ---
That's rhetorical, of course. But then, there's money in fuel cells...just like Corn-a-Hole.
And "water" sounds kinda.....innocuous, right?
Why would anyone believing humans are capable of creating unnatural shifts in the ambient near surface diurnal temperature range, advocate replacing emissions of the rare atmospheric molecule carbon dioxide and it’s limited radiative absorptive range, with emissions of the single most potent green house gas of all --- water vapor?
Media people, we have a great big University in the middle of our town and I’m sure your offices all have phone books and email. Because water vapor is responsible for 60-70% of the greenhouse gas effect on surface temperature moderation, and if it is bad for human activity to alter in any way the natural temperature moderation of our embedded in freezing cold space planet, then why would any caring person want to move society towards increasing water vapor emissions? The truth is out there media people ---
That's rhetorical, of course. But then, there's money in fuel cells...just like Corn-a-Hole.
And "water" sounds kinda.....innocuous, right?
Grim's Suggestion
Here, Grim (a Southern Democrat) speaks to John Kerry in 2004. It's just as applicable today.
Return to the fold? Sir, Southern Democrats still stand right where the fold used to be. It is the fold that has moved away from us. You have, to extend the metaphor, sought other grazing in pastures you thought from afar would prove greener: socialism, identity politics, abortion politics, judicial activism and its illiberal accomplice, the litigation of every aspect of American life. You have turned free and equal citizens into a hierarchy: lawyers, and subjects of the law. That would bad enough, but you have also encouraged the lawyers who become judges to be legislators, rewriting the law at pleasure. Return to you? You tred ground that shows no sign of any previous human foot: nor will it show yours for long, for it is a morass.
...we have never asked anyone to talk about God who didn't want to do so. In fact, speaking for myself, I'd rather you didn't. There is little mroe irritating than listening to an irreligious Yankee suddenly start prattling on about Jesus when he starts campaigning in the South (Howard Dean, call your office). Southerners do like religious men--Jews or otherwise--but they like forthright men more.
After noting that Kerry had essentially written off the South, Grim makes a sagacious observation which just happens to fit the Midwest, too:
What does this spell for the future of the Democratic party? Illegitimacy, for one thing. A party that tries to govern America, having little support except on the coasts, will find that even if it wins the occasional election its policies are very hard to enact or to execute.
It is likely to find, over time, that trying to compete with a party that has a national strategy when it has only a regional strategy will cause it to be increasingly marginalized.
Let us hope that the Republicans are jotting notes furiously...
Return to the fold? Sir, Southern Democrats still stand right where the fold used to be. It is the fold that has moved away from us. You have, to extend the metaphor, sought other grazing in pastures you thought from afar would prove greener: socialism, identity politics, abortion politics, judicial activism and its illiberal accomplice, the litigation of every aspect of American life. You have turned free and equal citizens into a hierarchy: lawyers, and subjects of the law. That would bad enough, but you have also encouraged the lawyers who become judges to be legislators, rewriting the law at pleasure. Return to you? You tred ground that shows no sign of any previous human foot: nor will it show yours for long, for it is a morass.
...we have never asked anyone to talk about God who didn't want to do so. In fact, speaking for myself, I'd rather you didn't. There is little mroe irritating than listening to an irreligious Yankee suddenly start prattling on about Jesus when he starts campaigning in the South (Howard Dean, call your office). Southerners do like religious men--Jews or otherwise--but they like forthright men more.
After noting that Kerry had essentially written off the South, Grim makes a sagacious observation which just happens to fit the Midwest, too:
What does this spell for the future of the Democratic party? Illegitimacy, for one thing. A party that tries to govern America, having little support except on the coasts, will find that even if it wins the occasional election its policies are very hard to enact or to execute.
It is likely to find, over time, that trying to compete with a party that has a national strategy when it has only a regional strategy will cause it to be increasingly marginalized.
Let us hope that the Republicans are jotting notes furiously...
Pridemore's Courageous Move
Owen reports that Don Pridemore is introducing a bill that would force third-party groups to disclose their financial backers. I haven't read the proposal and let's assume ad arguendam that the bill is straightforward--that is, that if NRA, OWN, CRG (etc.) run ads or contribute sums (let's say worth more than $10K/cycle in a Statewide election, smaller numbers for a County, Muni, etc.) for or against a politician, party, or referendum, that those groups must disclose the names of their contributors.
Good. (I have also advocated that the names of the Officers and Directors of such organizations be made public, by the way.)
Owen argues that this is a restraint of the First Amendment:
I am also a firm believer that free speech also means the right to anonymous speech
Maybe. But anonymous speech also allows sewage to seep into the discourse.
There's a consideration which Owen did not mention. That is, that disclosure will eventually force organizations to act responsibly in their advertising and campaigning. I think that it will happen sooner rather than later, too.
Here's why:
When one knows that their John Hancock will appear on a publicly-disclosed database, one thinks very carefully about the leadership, methods, and characteristics of the donee.
"Will they represent my cause well?" "Will the leadership and their methods dishonor me or the cause?" "Can I defend the position(s) they espouse?"
If one cannot answer those questions positively, one may choose not to donate, OR one can start up another advocacy group which DOES provide a satisfactory set of answers.
People such as Chuck Chvala, Jim Doyle, and Tommy Thompson, (and their henchmen) who strong-armed or log-rolled, (of course "legally") or ran ads which were deceptive or outright false, will eventually be pariahs, or at least not "admired or respected" for their actions. They will fade away, leaving only their odor. What remains, by and large, will be advocacy-leaders and politicians who are responsible and ethical.
No, I am not Pollyanna. This is not going to occur overnight, nor will Original Sin be erased.
I concede that there will always be problems--and I make a critical assumption.
That assumption is that most people are working towards the common good. While I may disagree with Capper, Jay, (and others) about the ways and means of attaining that good, or even whether it is a "good" or not, it is wrong to assume that they are simply blackguards from the git-go.
On the other hand, if they support a truly rotten organization or candidate, then it's licit to question their motives.
And when their name (or my name) is potentially on the dotted line, I suspect that the rotten organizations will wither and fade.
Good. (I have also advocated that the names of the Officers and Directors of such organizations be made public, by the way.)
Owen argues that this is a restraint of the First Amendment:
I am also a firm believer that free speech also means the right to anonymous speech
Maybe. But anonymous speech also allows sewage to seep into the discourse.
There's a consideration which Owen did not mention. That is, that disclosure will eventually force organizations to act responsibly in their advertising and campaigning. I think that it will happen sooner rather than later, too.
Here's why:
When one knows that their John Hancock will appear on a publicly-disclosed database, one thinks very carefully about the leadership, methods, and characteristics of the donee.
"Will they represent my cause well?" "Will the leadership and their methods dishonor me or the cause?" "Can I defend the position(s) they espouse?"
If one cannot answer those questions positively, one may choose not to donate, OR one can start up another advocacy group which DOES provide a satisfactory set of answers.
People such as Chuck Chvala, Jim Doyle, and Tommy Thompson, (and their henchmen) who strong-armed or log-rolled, (of course "legally") or ran ads which were deceptive or outright false, will eventually be pariahs, or at least not "admired or respected" for their actions. They will fade away, leaving only their odor. What remains, by and large, will be advocacy-leaders and politicians who are responsible and ethical.
No, I am not Pollyanna. This is not going to occur overnight, nor will Original Sin be erased.
I concede that there will always be problems--and I make a critical assumption.
That assumption is that most people are working towards the common good. While I may disagree with Capper, Jay, (and others) about the ways and means of attaining that good, or even whether it is a "good" or not, it is wrong to assume that they are simply blackguards from the git-go.
On the other hand, if they support a truly rotten organization or candidate, then it's licit to question their motives.
And when their name (or my name) is potentially on the dotted line, I suspect that the rotten organizations will wither and fade.
State Tax Collection: Good News, Bad News
Not that we consider ANY State tax collections to be 'good news' per se....
"Adjusting for the late posting, individual income taxes increased 8.0 percent in March, and the year-to-date increase is 3.0 percent. Total GPR collections, after the adjustment, are 1.3 percent for March and 2.3 percent YTD," the memo explains.
So tax revenues are not (yet) smacked down.
Overall, tax collections rose 18.2 percent over last year despite a 21 percent decrease in corporation franchise and income tax collections.
...but when Corporate income taxes decrease, there's a big cloud on the horizon. Corporate profitability, the predecessor to corporate tax payments, is apparently down--and (see Midwest Airlines) that can have consequences in employment.
"Adjusting for the late posting, individual income taxes increased 8.0 percent in March, and the year-to-date increase is 3.0 percent. Total GPR collections, after the adjustment, are 1.3 percent for March and 2.3 percent YTD," the memo explains.
So tax revenues are not (yet) smacked down.
Overall, tax collections rose 18.2 percent over last year despite a 21 percent decrease in corporation franchise and income tax collections.
...but when Corporate income taxes decrease, there's a big cloud on the horizon. Corporate profitability, the predecessor to corporate tax payments, is apparently down--and (see Midwest Airlines) that can have consequences in employment.
U of St. Thomas: "Never Mind!"
They flipped.
Just before Pope Benedict XVI arrived in the United States Tuesday, a Catholic university in Minnesota that had previously blocked a pro-life speaker from appearing on campus reversed its position
...Star Parker, a Christian activist and writer, is now scheduled to speak at the University of St. Thomas on Monday, April 21. She is expected to discuss the impact of abortion on minority communities. Parker, who is African-American, specializes on the topic of race and poverty in America
This is not likely due to the Pope's visit, nor some actual thought.
This is a matter of money--some significant donor spoke up.
Just before Pope Benedict XVI arrived in the United States Tuesday, a Catholic university in Minnesota that had previously blocked a pro-life speaker from appearing on campus reversed its position
...Star Parker, a Christian activist and writer, is now scheduled to speak at the University of St. Thomas on Monday, April 21. She is expected to discuss the impact of abortion on minority communities. Parker, who is African-American, specializes on the topic of race and poverty in America
This is not likely due to the Pope's visit, nor some actual thought.
This is a matter of money--some significant donor spoke up.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
One Bite From Benedict's Address
...the one at the White House.
...The preservation of freedom calls for the cultivation of virtue, self-discipline, sacrifice for the common good and a sense of responsibility towards the less fortunate. It also demands the courage to engage in civic life and to bring one’s deepest beliefs and values to reasoned public debate. In a word, freedom is ever new. It is a challenge held out to each generation, and it must constantly be won over for the cause of good (cf. Spe Salvi, 24). Few have understood this as clearly as the late Pope John Paul II. In reflecting on the spiritual victory of freedom over totalitarianism in his native Poland and in eastern Europe, he reminded us that history shows, time and again, that “in a world without truth, freedom loses its foundation”, and a democracy without values can lose its very soul (cf. Centesimus Annus, 46). Those prophetic words in some sense echo the conviction of President Washington, expressed in his Farewell Address, that religion and morality represent “indispensable supports” of political prosperity.
Only the truth can make you free.
And on the political science behind the Founding:
...What I find fascinating in the USA is that it began with a positive concept of secularism. Because this new people was made up of communities and persons who had escaped the State religions and wished to have a lay, secular State, which opens the doors to all confessions, to all forms of religious exercise. It was thus a willingly secular State, it was really contrary to a State Church, but secular truly for love of religion, of its authenticity, which can be lived only freely. And thus we find this fusion of a willingly and honestly secular State, but really for a religious will, to grant authenticity to religion. And we know that A.[lexis] de Tocqueville, studying America, saw that the secular institutions depend on a de facto moral consensus which exists among the citizens. This seems to me a fundamental and positive model to be considered also in Europe;...
That's likely the most positive Papal review of the Founding that's ever been issued.
...The preservation of freedom calls for the cultivation of virtue, self-discipline, sacrifice for the common good and a sense of responsibility towards the less fortunate. It also demands the courage to engage in civic life and to bring one’s deepest beliefs and values to reasoned public debate. In a word, freedom is ever new. It is a challenge held out to each generation, and it must constantly be won over for the cause of good (cf. Spe Salvi, 24). Few have understood this as clearly as the late Pope John Paul II. In reflecting on the spiritual victory of freedom over totalitarianism in his native Poland and in eastern Europe, he reminded us that history shows, time and again, that “in a world without truth, freedom loses its foundation”, and a democracy without values can lose its very soul (cf. Centesimus Annus, 46). Those prophetic words in some sense echo the conviction of President Washington, expressed in his Farewell Address, that religion and morality represent “indispensable supports” of political prosperity.
Only the truth can make you free.
And on the political science behind the Founding:
...What I find fascinating in the USA is that it began with a positive concept of secularism. Because this new people was made up of communities and persons who had escaped the State religions and wished to have a lay, secular State, which opens the doors to all confessions, to all forms of religious exercise. It was thus a willingly secular State, it was really contrary to a State Church, but secular truly for love of religion, of its authenticity, which can be lived only freely. And thus we find this fusion of a willingly and honestly secular State, but really for a religious will, to grant authenticity to religion. And we know that A.[lexis] de Tocqueville, studying America, saw that the secular institutions depend on a de facto moral consensus which exists among the citizens. This seems to me a fundamental and positive model to be considered also in Europe;...
That's likely the most positive Papal review of the Founding that's ever been issued.
Favre: Not Just a Jock
A very interesting quote from Brett, relayed by Wiggy.
When Sports Illustrated asked Brett to recount his favorite football memory, he seemed to channel Walker Percy, or Job: "If I were to make a list, I would include the interceptions, the sacks, the really painful losses. Those times when I've been down, when I've been kicked around, I hold on to those. In a way those are the best times I've ever had, because that's when I've found out who I am. And what I want to be."
Walker Percy? Yah, and Flannery O'Connor.
When Sports Illustrated asked Brett to recount his favorite football memory, he seemed to channel Walker Percy, or Job: "If I were to make a list, I would include the interceptions, the sacks, the really painful losses. Those times when I've been down, when I've been kicked around, I hold on to those. In a way those are the best times I've ever had, because that's when I've found out who I am. And what I want to be."
Walker Percy? Yah, and Flannery O'Connor.
The PPI: Not Good News
The Producer Price Index came out yesterday.
It showed a 1.1% gain (that's north of 13% annualized, folks.)
Prices paid to U.S. producers rose almost twice as much as forecast in March, reflecting higher fuel and food costs that threaten a pickup in inflation. The 1.1 percent gain followed a 0.3 percent increase in the prior month, the Labor Department said today in Washington. So- called core producer prices that exclude fuel and food increased 0.2 percent, as forecast.
Note the obligatory Labor Department spin (the last sentence.)
HT: BigPic
It showed a 1.1% gain (that's north of 13% annualized, folks.)
Prices paid to U.S. producers rose almost twice as much as forecast in March, reflecting higher fuel and food costs that threaten a pickup in inflation. The 1.1 percent gain followed a 0.3 percent increase in the prior month, the Labor Department said today in Washington. So- called core producer prices that exclude fuel and food increased 0.2 percent, as forecast.
Note the obligatory Labor Department spin (the last sentence.)
HT: BigPic
"YOU Pay, Sucka! Not Me!!"--Ted Kennedy
As soon as you understand that the Tax Code was largely written by special interests, you'll understand why "Taxes for Dummies" is 30% longer than "Einstein for Dummies."
Here's some help with the special interests chapter. (VERY short video where text matters)
And here's the source of the "...for Dummies" quote.
HTs: Moonbattery
Here's some help with the special interests chapter. (VERY short video where text matters)
And here's the source of the "...for Dummies" quote.
HTs: Moonbattery
Jay Weber: Here Are the Facts
Jay Weber, a local radioguy, wants to keep some uncomfortable facts out of the light.
So here they are:
• Unlike in the general population, more males than females were allegedly [abused]. In fact, there was a significant difference between genders, with four out of five alleged victims being male.
• The majority of alleged victims were post-pubescent, with only a small percentage of priests receiving allegations of abusing young children.
Translation: this is NOT "pedophilia," it is EPHEBOPHILA--and 80% of the attacks were homosexual.
Thought we'd be helpful, Jay.
Source: John Jay Report
So here they are:
• Unlike in the general population, more males than females were allegedly [abused]. In fact, there was a significant difference between genders, with four out of five alleged victims being male.
• The majority of alleged victims were post-pubescent, with only a small percentage of priests receiving allegations of abusing young children.
Translation: this is NOT "pedophilia," it is EPHEBOPHILA--and 80% of the attacks were homosexual.
Thought we'd be helpful, Jay.
Source: John Jay Report
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
NAP(L)M: Misses the Mark, Again
The Nat'l Ass'n of Pastoral Musicians (aka "NAPALM" here) manages to mis-quote the US Bishops' document which is written in plain English.
Here's the Bishops' document on Gregorian Chant:
"'The Church recognizes Gregorian chant as being specially suited to the Roman Liturgy. Therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services.' Gregorian chant is uniquely the Church’s own music. Chant is a living connection with our forebears in the faith, the traditional music of the Roman rite, a sign of communion with the universal Church, a bond of unity across cultures, a means for diverse communities to participate together in song, and a summons to contemplative participation in the Liturgy."
Here's NAPALM's reduction:
"[W]e need to find ways both to preserve the heritage of liturgical musical [sic. - and the typo appears in both the printed and online text] created in Western Europe--especially Gregorian chant using Latin texts--and at the same time recognize, foster, and celebrate 'the rich culture and ethnic heritage of the many peoples in our country'."
Well, it's close. Still and all--no cigar.
HT: TNLM
Here's the Bishops' document on Gregorian Chant:
"'The Church recognizes Gregorian chant as being specially suited to the Roman Liturgy. Therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services.' Gregorian chant is uniquely the Church’s own music. Chant is a living connection with our forebears in the faith, the traditional music of the Roman rite, a sign of communion with the universal Church, a bond of unity across cultures, a means for diverse communities to participate together in song, and a summons to contemplative participation in the Liturgy."
Here's NAPALM's reduction:
"[W]e need to find ways both to preserve the heritage of liturgical musical [sic. - and the typo appears in both the printed and online text] created in Western Europe--especially Gregorian chant using Latin texts--and at the same time recognize, foster, and celebrate 'the rich culture and ethnic heritage of the many peoples in our country'."
Well, it's close. Still and all--no cigar.
HT: TNLM
The 20-Year-Old's Thought
For the sake of this child, let's hope that his interview disappears into a memory-hole before HE has children.
At Georgetown (no less):
Dumay sees faith as personal worship, not a set of rules. And he's not thrilled with Benedict's battle against secular culture. "Ending secularism to him means actually going to church, going through formal motions, and if you don't do that you're not a good Catholic," Dumay says
Uh-huh.
So when he shows up at a church to be married--or have his progeny baptized....
Never mind.
HT: Ignatius Insight
At Georgetown (no less):
Dumay sees faith as personal worship, not a set of rules. And he's not thrilled with Benedict's battle against secular culture. "Ending secularism to him means actually going to church, going through formal motions, and if you don't do that you're not a good Catholic," Dumay says
Uh-huh.
So when he shows up at a church to be married--or have his progeny baptized....
Never mind.
HT: Ignatius Insight
Don't Like "Planning"? You're Fired!
Going forward, the Archdiocese means it. "Planning" now means:
Mission, ministry and evangelization so as to grow the faith, a complex and arduous challenge
Preserving and sustaining our Catholic presence throughout the archdiocese by keeping parish communities intact
Active participation of many Catholics in the pastoral life of the Church at archdiocesan, district, cluster and parish levels
Hmmmmm......
Resistance is Futile, or maybe fatal.
Accountability with consequences. The dynamics of planning acknowledge that people can strongly, respectfully disagree with and challenge one another, and this is good. If disagreement and challenge become disruptive, personal or interfere with positive forward movement, it is harmful to those involved and the common good. Although it is hoped that disciplinary action would never be required thanks to the power of persuasion, if anyone persistently disrupts or interferes with the ongoing planning process or related pastoral work, that person will be prohibited from further participation in these efforts.
If the person is a lay church employee, such persistent disruption or interference could be considered grounds for the termination of employment.
If the person is a deacon or a priest, such persistent disruption or interference could result in his removal from his ecclesial office and the loss of faculties.
So....let's take that third injunction which requires "active participation.....parish activities."
Does that mean that if you don't go to the Parish picnic, your ass is FIRED?
Mission, ministry and evangelization so as to grow the faith, a complex and arduous challenge
Preserving and sustaining our Catholic presence throughout the archdiocese by keeping parish communities intact
Active participation of many Catholics in the pastoral life of the Church at archdiocesan, district, cluster and parish levels
Hmmmmm......
Resistance is Futile, or maybe fatal.
Accountability with consequences. The dynamics of planning acknowledge that people can strongly, respectfully disagree with and challenge one another, and this is good. If disagreement and challenge become disruptive, personal or interfere with positive forward movement, it is harmful to those involved and the common good. Although it is hoped that disciplinary action would never be required thanks to the power of persuasion, if anyone persistently disrupts or interferes with the ongoing planning process or related pastoral work, that person will be prohibited from further participation in these efforts.
If the person is a lay church employee, such persistent disruption or interference could be considered grounds for the termination of employment.
If the person is a deacon or a priest, such persistent disruption or interference could result in his removal from his ecclesial office and the loss of faculties.
So....let's take that third injunction which requires "active participation.....parish activities."
Does that mean that if you don't go to the Parish picnic, your ass is FIRED?
More Debt Is The Solution to WI Budget?
Sure. That way, anyone who can will relo outta here in the next 2 years.
Budget watchers and lobbyists speculate budget negotiators have set aside big revenue uppers like combined reporting and a new hospital tax to focus more on bonding moves and pushing a school payment forward as a short-term, election-year fix to the state's projected $525 million budget hole. Also likely out, observers speculated, would be Gov. Jim Doyle's plan to borrow $243 million from the transportation fund and backfill it with bonding.
...If the transpo diversion and controversial revenue uppers are off the table, some believe budget negotiators could agree to get the necessary dollars from refinancing tobacco securitization bonds and a combination of other bonding schemes. A plan to refinance the state's tobacco bonds, for example, could net the state as much as $68 million a year through 2017, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. LFB says the budget passed last year accounted for some $50 million a year from a refinancing plan; Doyle's repair bill would add another $15 million annually to that.
Not only is it irresponsible, it has a time-bomb attached:
Doyle's refinancing plan would extend the payoff date to 2027, giving the state cash immediately, instead of starting in 2019. LFB says the net effect of the refinancing would be $94 million less in revenue between now and 2028.
Other than cosmetics (pushing pay-dates into forward FYs for schools and municipals) there's not much left to squeeze.
Except SPENDING on those schools and munis, of course.
Budget watchers and lobbyists speculate budget negotiators have set aside big revenue uppers like combined reporting and a new hospital tax to focus more on bonding moves and pushing a school payment forward as a short-term, election-year fix to the state's projected $525 million budget hole. Also likely out, observers speculated, would be Gov. Jim Doyle's plan to borrow $243 million from the transportation fund and backfill it with bonding.
...If the transpo diversion and controversial revenue uppers are off the table, some believe budget negotiators could agree to get the necessary dollars from refinancing tobacco securitization bonds and a combination of other bonding schemes. A plan to refinance the state's tobacco bonds, for example, could net the state as much as $68 million a year through 2017, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. LFB says the budget passed last year accounted for some $50 million a year from a refinancing plan; Doyle's repair bill would add another $15 million annually to that.
Not only is it irresponsible, it has a time-bomb attached:
Doyle's refinancing plan would extend the payoff date to 2027, giving the state cash immediately, instead of starting in 2019. LFB says the net effect of the refinancing would be $94 million less in revenue between now and 2028.
Other than cosmetics (pushing pay-dates into forward FYs for schools and municipals) there's not much left to squeeze.
Except SPENDING on those schools and munis, of course.
Another Appointed "Justice"
A few days ago, we highlighted remarks from a Justice of the 9th Circus.
Then there's SCOTUS Justice Goldberg.
Working for him was an eye-opening experience. His first question in approaching a case always was, “What is the just result?” Then he would work backward from the answer to that question to see how it would comport with relevant theory or precedent. It took me a while to get used to that approach. The way I had learned the law at Harvard was that you looked up the answer in a book. The law was composed of “neutral principles” that you could apply to get the proper result, and you never really asked whether it was just or not. Justice Goldberg opened my consciousness to the fact that the overarching purpose is about justice.
This "thinking" led to Griswold, which led to Roe v Wade, which led to Lawrence, in Clay Cramer's opinion.
Remember: Loophole Louie was appointed, not elected.
Then there's SCOTUS Justice Goldberg.
Working for him was an eye-opening experience. His first question in approaching a case always was, “What is the just result?” Then he would work backward from the answer to that question to see how it would comport with relevant theory or precedent. It took me a while to get used to that approach. The way I had learned the law at Harvard was that you looked up the answer in a book. The law was composed of “neutral principles” that you could apply to get the proper result, and you never really asked whether it was just or not. Justice Goldberg opened my consciousness to the fact that the overarching purpose is about justice.
This "thinking" led to Griswold, which led to Roe v Wade, which led to Lawrence, in Clay Cramer's opinion.
Remember: Loophole Louie was appointed, not elected.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Stop the Ethanol Insanity
Having a close connection to a grocery store only makes the point more emphatic. "Tape totals" have gone up for every shopper, no matter what they buy.
One cause: the now-clearly-irrational "Corn-a-Hole" mandate of the U S Congress.
Yes, the President likes 'alternative' fuels. Perhaps his MBA was granted in some discipline other than Common Sense Budgeting. Or maybe 'switchgrass' actually will become useful in the next.....oh....10 days.
Barring that, it's time to rescind the mandate.
NOW.
One cause: the now-clearly-irrational "Corn-a-Hole" mandate of the U S Congress.
Yes, the President likes 'alternative' fuels. Perhaps his MBA was granted in some discipline other than Common Sense Budgeting. Or maybe 'switchgrass' actually will become useful in the next.....oh....10 days.
Barring that, it's time to rescind the mandate.
NOW.
Milwaukee Boy Flies Presidential Airlines
From CNS news:
Joe Hagin, White House deputy chief of staff, described Msgr. Malloy’s unconventional shuttle trip at an April 9 background briefing on the papal visit for members of religious media.
Hagin said he and Msgr. Malloy were in one of a series of meetings about Pope Benedict XVI’s April 15-20 U.S. visit when they concluded neither one of them was clear on some details about the JFK airport departure. The only solution, he said, was for them to make a trip to New York to see the site for themselves.
“I usually travel with the president,” Hagin explained, and he realized that the very next day he was scheduled to accompany President George W. Bush on a trip to New York, using JFK airport. He suggested Msgr. Malloy tag along for the ride.
So March 14, Msgr. Malloy made a same-day round trip to New York aboard the president’s Boeing 747.
Before the president arrived for departure from Andrews Air Force Base, Msgr. Malloy got to tour the plane, then he went to sit in the back where staff members and the press pool are usually seated.
Msgr. Malloy told CNS in an e-mail that the White House staff was “most gracious.”
Hagin said that on the flight back to Washington, the president asked him who was in the back of the plane. When he mentioned Msgr. Malloy and explained their mission related to the pope’s visit, the president told Hagin, “Get him up here.”
Msgr. Malloy said he and Bush chatted for about five minutes, during which the president “expressed his esteem for Pope Benedict. He said that he had given the instruction to the White House staff that he wanted every effort made to make the Holy Father feel most welcome.”
Mgr. Malloy is a Milwaukee-area native. Someday he'll be back here running a parish or such-like. This is posted so that you believe him when he says "...as I said to George...."
Joe Hagin, White House deputy chief of staff, described Msgr. Malloy’s unconventional shuttle trip at an April 9 background briefing on the papal visit for members of religious media.
Hagin said he and Msgr. Malloy were in one of a series of meetings about Pope Benedict XVI’s April 15-20 U.S. visit when they concluded neither one of them was clear on some details about the JFK airport departure. The only solution, he said, was for them to make a trip to New York to see the site for themselves.
“I usually travel with the president,” Hagin explained, and he realized that the very next day he was scheduled to accompany President George W. Bush on a trip to New York, using JFK airport. He suggested Msgr. Malloy tag along for the ride.
So March 14, Msgr. Malloy made a same-day round trip to New York aboard the president’s Boeing 747.
Before the president arrived for departure from Andrews Air Force Base, Msgr. Malloy got to tour the plane, then he went to sit in the back where staff members and the press pool are usually seated.
Msgr. Malloy told CNS in an e-mail that the White House staff was “most gracious.”
Hagin said that on the flight back to Washington, the president asked him who was in the back of the plane. When he mentioned Msgr. Malloy and explained their mission related to the pope’s visit, the president told Hagin, “Get him up here.”
Msgr. Malloy said he and Bush chatted for about five minutes, during which the president “expressed his esteem for Pope Benedict. He said that he had given the instruction to the White House staff that he wanted every effort made to make the Holy Father feel most welcome.”
Mgr. Malloy is a Milwaukee-area native. Someday he'll be back here running a parish or such-like. This is posted so that you believe him when he says "...as I said to George...."
Hildebeeste's Counter-Obama Move
As reported by Scrappleface:
Sensing an opportunity to portray Sen. Barack Obama as elitist and out of touch after his remarks about “bitter” rural Americans who cling to guns, God and xenophobia, Sen. Hillary Clinton stopped after church today at an indoor gun range, where she fired roughly 300 rounds through a handgun she said she carries concealed everywhere she goes.
Her lower lip bulging from a dip of Skoal, Sen. Clinton put her Bible in her handbag, and drew out her own Para Ordnance Warthog .45 caliber pistol.
As reporters looked on, the Democrat presidential candidate emptied one 10-round magazine after another, with fair accuracy, at a human silhouette target.
“Small town folk like us,” said Sen. Clinton, “don’t cling to God or guns because we’re bitter about the economy, as my opponent suggests. We believe in God because he’s real, and we keep and bear arms as the best insurance against tyrants who would strip our freedoms if they didn’t fear our collective power.”
As for the economy, the candidate said, small-town people haven’t been sitting on their hands since the steel and textile mills closed 25 years ago.
“We’re Americans,” she said, “We’re not a bunch of cry babies. Things change. We deal with it. We suck it up, learn a new skill, and do something else to earn the money we need to buy stuff, you know, like Bibles and bullets.”
Probably practicing for her grudge-match w/Dick Cheney (see below).
Sensing an opportunity to portray Sen. Barack Obama as elitist and out of touch after his remarks about “bitter” rural Americans who cling to guns, God and xenophobia, Sen. Hillary Clinton stopped after church today at an indoor gun range, where she fired roughly 300 rounds through a handgun she said she carries concealed everywhere she goes.
Her lower lip bulging from a dip of Skoal, Sen. Clinton put her Bible in her handbag, and drew out her own Para Ordnance Warthog .45 caliber pistol.
As reporters looked on, the Democrat presidential candidate emptied one 10-round magazine after another, with fair accuracy, at a human silhouette target.
“Small town folk like us,” said Sen. Clinton, “don’t cling to God or guns because we’re bitter about the economy, as my opponent suggests. We believe in God because he’s real, and we keep and bear arms as the best insurance against tyrants who would strip our freedoms if they didn’t fear our collective power.”
As for the economy, the candidate said, small-town people haven’t been sitting on their hands since the steel and textile mills closed 25 years ago.
“We’re Americans,” she said, “We’re not a bunch of cry babies. Things change. We deal with it. We suck it up, learn a new skill, and do something else to earn the money we need to buy stuff, you know, like Bibles and bullets.”
Probably practicing for her grudge-match w/Dick Cheney (see below).
Inside Politics: Abp. Ranjith Out?
Reported by Rorate Coeli:
The probable, if by now not yet certain, nomination of Archbishop Angelo Amato, number two of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (that which was once headed by Cardinal Ratzinger, and today by Cardinal William Levada), as new Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments at the position of Cardinal Francis Arinze, has considerably angered the one who is today the number two of this same congregation guided by Arinze: Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith. The latter, called a couple of years ago to Divine Worship with the promise to afterwards replace Arinze at the helm of the dicastery, having been almost certainly bypassed by Amato in the prestigious position of Prefect of one of the nine Vatican Congregations (the position also foresees the Cardinalatial birretta), seems to have asked Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone to leave the Roman Curia and return to his homeland (Sri Lanka), to become Archbishop of an important diocese and thus, afterwards, a Cardinal. All [of these events], if predictions are confirmed, should take place when the Pope returns from the United States ... .
Whatever. Apparently the final vote, that of B-16, is not yet in.
More from TNLM:
The NLM noted it would be watching this story, and while we have been silent since the original report, we have been watching quite keenly and there is a now an important development which we wish to bring to you; a development which challenges the rumour that Amato is imminently to be named Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and, by consequence, which also challenges all that it has implied with regard to Ranjith.
The original story was broken to the Catholic world by Italian journalist, Andrea Tornielli, a man well connected within Vatican circles. The NLM's Gregor Kollmorgen has been watching Tornielli's blog on this matter and picked up on the fact that Mr. Tornielli today updated and revised his original March 28th piece and has noted that Archbishop Angelo Amato is, in fact, not so likely to be made prefect of the CDW, but more likely Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, or the Congregation for Catholic Education.
Where does this leave Ranjith? That cannot yet be known, but it is certainly premature to suggest it will find him in Sri Lanka and not Prefect of Divine Worship. The conclusion to this story seems far from written.
Oft-used: Those who know, don't talk.
The probable, if by now not yet certain, nomination of Archbishop Angelo Amato, number two of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (that which was once headed by Cardinal Ratzinger, and today by Cardinal William Levada), as new Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments at the position of Cardinal Francis Arinze, has considerably angered the one who is today the number two of this same congregation guided by Arinze: Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith. The latter, called a couple of years ago to Divine Worship with the promise to afterwards replace Arinze at the helm of the dicastery, having been almost certainly bypassed by Amato in the prestigious position of Prefect of one of the nine Vatican Congregations (the position also foresees the Cardinalatial birretta), seems to have asked Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone to leave the Roman Curia and return to his homeland (Sri Lanka), to become Archbishop of an important diocese and thus, afterwards, a Cardinal. All [of these events], if predictions are confirmed, should take place when the Pope returns from the United States ... .
Whatever. Apparently the final vote, that of B-16, is not yet in.
More from TNLM:
The NLM noted it would be watching this story, and while we have been silent since the original report, we have been watching quite keenly and there is a now an important development which we wish to bring to you; a development which challenges the rumour that Amato is imminently to be named Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and, by consequence, which also challenges all that it has implied with regard to Ranjith.
The original story was broken to the Catholic world by Italian journalist, Andrea Tornielli, a man well connected within Vatican circles. The NLM's Gregor Kollmorgen has been watching Tornielli's blog on this matter and picked up on the fact that Mr. Tornielli today updated and revised his original March 28th piece and has noted that Archbishop Angelo Amato is, in fact, not so likely to be made prefect of the CDW, but more likely Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, or the Congregation for Catholic Education.
Where does this leave Ranjith? That cannot yet be known, but it is certainly premature to suggest it will find him in Sri Lanka and not Prefect of Divine Worship. The conclusion to this story seems far from written.
Oft-used: Those who know, don't talk.
BOHICA, Christians!
Another Dan-Brown-esque film about to hit the screens...with the usual Intellectualoid kudos.
The British movie-maker and conspiracy theorist [Bruce Burgess] has directed and co-produced a "documentary" called Bloodline that purports to finally (yes, finally, at last, at last!) set the record straight about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, their alleged marriage, their alleged children, and the three-armed aliens who commute by telepathy and the internet between Area 51 and the Secret Vatican Archives (or something like that. Hey, don't laugh. It's possible.) From a notice of a special screening:
“A discovery that can prove to be one of the most explosive and controversial of the century.” – Elizabeth Snead, Los Angeles Times
BLOODLINE investigates the popular belief that Jesus married Mary Magdalene, who fled to southern France with their child.
Filmmaker Bruce Burgess and team make connections between the Knights Templar, the legend of Mary Magdalene, hidden clues found at the famed church at Rennes-le-Chateau and make some stunning discoveries: a buried chest with artifacts that date to first century Jerusalem and a tomb with a mummified corpse draped in a shroud bearing a distinctive red cross.
Have they been the first to find the evidence?
Next: How the Knights Templar's bloodlines fill Dick Cheney's veins and why he engineered 9/11.
The British movie-maker and conspiracy theorist [Bruce Burgess] has directed and co-produced a "documentary" called Bloodline that purports to finally (yes, finally, at last, at last!) set the record straight about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, their alleged marriage, their alleged children, and the three-armed aliens who commute by telepathy and the internet between Area 51 and the Secret Vatican Archives (or something like that. Hey, don't laugh. It's possible.) From a notice of a special screening:
“A discovery that can prove to be one of the most explosive and controversial of the century.” – Elizabeth Snead, Los Angeles Times
BLOODLINE investigates the popular belief that Jesus married Mary Magdalene, who fled to southern France with their child.
Filmmaker Bruce Burgess and team make connections between the Knights Templar, the legend of Mary Magdalene, hidden clues found at the famed church at Rennes-le-Chateau and make some stunning discoveries: a buried chest with artifacts that date to first century Jerusalem and a tomb with a mummified corpse draped in a shroud bearing a distinctive red cross.
Have they been the first to find the evidence?
Next: How the Knights Templar's bloodlines fill Dick Cheney's veins and why he engineered 9/11.
Bastiat on Taxes (and Other Thefts-by-Government)
It's not taxes per se that Bastiat criticizes. Think, for example of the "Lightbulb Law" mandating Phillips' and GE's flouro-wonks, or the Fed/State Corn-a-Hole mandate.
“The war against illegal plunder has been fought since the beginning of the world. But how is... legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime. Then abolish this law without delay... If such a law is not abolished immediately it will spread, multiply and develop into a system.” —Frederic Bastiat
Someone could write a VERY long paper about those laws...
“The war against illegal plunder has been fought since the beginning of the world. But how is... legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime. Then abolish this law without delay... If such a law is not abolished immediately it will spread, multiply and develop into a system.” —Frederic Bastiat
Someone could write a VERY long paper about those laws...
Buy A Ticket for THIS!
Tickets for this event could raise millions for charity.
Vice president Dick Cheney has challenged Hillary Clinton to a shooting match to test whether her professed love of guns is real or not.
A day after the Democratic presidential candidate discussed her fond memories of shooting with her father, Cheney threw down the gauntlet.
“To be frank, Hillary Clinton’s stories about her adventures with guns don’t exactly pass the smell test,” Cheney told Tim Russert on ABC’s ‘Meet the Press’ yesterday.
“If she really wants to show that she knows how to handle a rifle, there’s an easy way to do that: meet me in the woods.”
The 3-gun match, and we'll go easy on her: .22LR rifle at 50 yards, 9mm pistol at 25 yards, and 12-ga. at 40 yards.
It is rumored that the Asian Badger volunteered to take on HRC in a shot-and-beer contest, too...
HT: Lott
Vice president Dick Cheney has challenged Hillary Clinton to a shooting match to test whether her professed love of guns is real or not.
A day after the Democratic presidential candidate discussed her fond memories of shooting with her father, Cheney threw down the gauntlet.
“To be frank, Hillary Clinton’s stories about her adventures with guns don’t exactly pass the smell test,” Cheney told Tim Russert on ABC’s ‘Meet the Press’ yesterday.
“If she really wants to show that she knows how to handle a rifle, there’s an easy way to do that: meet me in the woods.”
The 3-gun match, and we'll go easy on her: .22LR rifle at 50 yards, 9mm pistol at 25 yards, and 12-ga. at 40 yards.
It is rumored that the Asian Badger volunteered to take on HRC in a shot-and-beer contest, too...
HT: Lott
WaPo Does Iowa, OR: Obama Foreshadowed
IowaHawk was cookin' on this post--and it was almost 3 years before Obama regurgitated the sentiments.
He relates the narrative of a WaPo reporter who blazes a trail...
...At 1:15 PM the fuel gauge was hovering ominously on 1/4. We were 25 miles from Nebraska and there would soon be no turning back. We pulled off into a Casey's convenience store along the interstate. Although it was 3 below zero, Fleming nervously volunteered to man the gas pump while Epstein and I ventured inside the spartan trading post. It would be our first face-to-face encounter with the red people.
I scanned the racks of the store's cooler for a bottle of Keringet mineral water, but they were out. Four elderly tribesmen sat in a simple formica booth in the rear of the store, sipping coffee. They eyed us suspiciously, but I thought they might hold clues to Von Drehle, as well as the missing Keringet.
"Approach them slowly," warned Epstein.
I furtively edged toward them, sidling between the Doritos rack and the two-stroke oil. Using Epstein to translate, I asked the elders if they had seen a man in Donna Karan casuals pass through the area.
"The elders say they have seen no such man at Casey's," said Epstein. Sensing menace, we bought a Twin Bing and quickly left the store. Suddenly we realized were were not the only ones to feel impending danger.
"Fleming? Fleming?"
Our screams echoed off the store's aluminum siding.
After pumping $21.78 of Ethanol Plus, Fleming had deserted.
DAY TWO: BEATRICE, NEBRASKA
After crossing the muddy mud-colored mud of the Missouri river we had finally arrived in Omaha, the last stop before our maps became strictly conjectural. From here on out, until we reached Austin, we would have to rely on our wits and our training in journalism to navigate through hostile red enclaves.
Luckily we stumbled upon a primitive university in Lincoln. We were surprised to encounter a native maiden, Heather, who had taken graduate studies in Lacan and Franz Fanon. She directed us to the cinderblock hut of a kindly Semiotics missionary, Professor Mintz.
"We may be doing the Lord's work here, gentlemen, but the local tribes do not always look kindly on it," he warned. "Last month one of our tenured friars merely told his students that Bush was the anti-Christ, and he was viciously attacked by counterarguments. He was so traumatized he had to report the student to the disciplinary committee."
Mintz wished us well and gave us directions, along with a copy of Howard Zinn's People's History. As night fell we drove through Beatrice, near the Kansas border....
HT: Grim
He relates the narrative of a WaPo reporter who blazes a trail...
...At 1:15 PM the fuel gauge was hovering ominously on 1/4. We were 25 miles from Nebraska and there would soon be no turning back. We pulled off into a Casey's convenience store along the interstate. Although it was 3 below zero, Fleming nervously volunteered to man the gas pump while Epstein and I ventured inside the spartan trading post. It would be our first face-to-face encounter with the red people.
I scanned the racks of the store's cooler for a bottle of Keringet mineral water, but they were out. Four elderly tribesmen sat in a simple formica booth in the rear of the store, sipping coffee. They eyed us suspiciously, but I thought they might hold clues to Von Drehle, as well as the missing Keringet.
"Approach them slowly," warned Epstein.
I furtively edged toward them, sidling between the Doritos rack and the two-stroke oil. Using Epstein to translate, I asked the elders if they had seen a man in Donna Karan casuals pass through the area.
"The elders say they have seen no such man at Casey's," said Epstein. Sensing menace, we bought a Twin Bing and quickly left the store. Suddenly we realized were were not the only ones to feel impending danger.
"Fleming? Fleming?"
Our screams echoed off the store's aluminum siding.
After pumping $21.78 of Ethanol Plus, Fleming had deserted.
DAY TWO: BEATRICE, NEBRASKA
After crossing the muddy mud-colored mud of the Missouri river we had finally arrived in Omaha, the last stop before our maps became strictly conjectural. From here on out, until we reached Austin, we would have to rely on our wits and our training in journalism to navigate through hostile red enclaves.
Luckily we stumbled upon a primitive university in Lincoln. We were surprised to encounter a native maiden, Heather, who had taken graduate studies in Lacan and Franz Fanon. She directed us to the cinderblock hut of a kindly Semiotics missionary, Professor Mintz.
"We may be doing the Lord's work here, gentlemen, but the local tribes do not always look kindly on it," he warned. "Last month one of our tenured friars merely told his students that Bush was the anti-Christ, and he was viciously attacked by counterarguments. He was so traumatized he had to report the student to the disciplinary committee."
Mintz wished us well and gave us directions, along with a copy of Howard Zinn's People's History. As night fell we drove through Beatrice, near the Kansas border....
HT: Grim
Sunday, April 13, 2008
P J O'Rourke on the Seven Deadlies
While commenting on the "new" sins (relax, folks--they aren't "new") O'Rourke comments on the old ones.
Life has changed since Pope Gregory the Great scribbled his initial list in the sixth century. For one thing modern society has turned Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Anger, Sloth, and Greed into virtues: building self-esteem, dreaming your dream, exercising gourmet tastes, having satisfying sex for life, speaking truth to power, being relaxed and centered. And Gordon Gekko said 'it['s] all about greed'
...The beauty of Pope Gregory's lineup was that he nailed our most devilish villainies with one word each.
O'Rourke is really, really good...
HT: Provincial Emails
Life has changed since Pope Gregory the Great scribbled his initial list in the sixth century. For one thing modern society has turned Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Anger, Sloth, and Greed into virtues: building self-esteem, dreaming your dream, exercising gourmet tastes, having satisfying sex for life, speaking truth to power, being relaxed and centered. And Gordon Gekko said 'it['s] all about greed'
...The beauty of Pope Gregory's lineup was that he nailed our most devilish villainies with one word each.
O'Rourke is really, really good...
HT: Provincial Emails
DarthDoyle: Catholic Pro-Abort for Obama WHERE ARE THE BISHOPS?
Yup. Ol' Darth, (so called here because he never met an abortion he didn't support) is now on the Obamamamama "Catholic" National Advisory Committee.
There are a lot of the usual suspects on the list--and they are not suspect because their "Catholicism" is like unto Mother Teresa's, folks.
National Leadership Committee
Governor Jim Doyle of Wisconsin
Former Senator Majority Leader Tom Daschle
Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois
Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts
Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts
Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont
Look, folks: Obama is even more pro-death than the Hildebeeste, although it's a close call. Obama was 'sorry' that he couldn't hasten the State's execution of Terri Schiavo. Obama voted AGAINST legislation to make partial-birth abortion a crime in Illinois. In addition, Sen. Barack Obama, it has just been discovered, has stated publicly that his first act as president would be to sign the Freedom of Choice Act.
There is NO reconciliation between supporting Obama and the Catholic faith. None. As Rich Leonardi put it:
As far as the Catholic Church is concerned, the principal focus of her interventions in the public arena is the protection and promotion of the dignity of the person, and she is thereby consciously drawing particular attention to principles which are NOT NEGOTIABLE [my emphasis]. Among these the following emerge clearly today:- protection of life in all its stages, from the first moment of conception until natural death;
Other self-alleged "Catholics" on Obama's bloody band-wagon:
Sr. Jamie Phelps, O.P., Director and Professor of Theology, Institute for Black Catholic Studies, Xavier University
Sr. Catherine Pinkerton, Congregation of St. Joseph
Lisa Cahill, Professor of Theology, Boston College
Margaret Gannon, IHM, A Sister of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Scranton, PA
Mary Jo Bane, Professor, Harvard Kennedy School
Grant Gallicho, Associate Editor, Commonweal Magazine
Peter Quaranto, Senior Researcher and Conflict Analyst, Resolve Uganda (Notre Dame Class of 2006)
Dave Robinson, International Peace Advocate, Erie, Pennsylvania
Vincent Rougeau, Associate Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame
The Kingdom wants for Bishops like Burke, Bruskiewitz, and Sherman.
HT: ProEcclesia
Lots more, including Stupid Positions and Quotes from some of these turkeys here.
Like for example:
Mary Jo Bane, Professor, Harvard Kennedy School; (""In order to raise children with equality, we must take them away from families and communally raise them" )
Senator Bob Casey; (On "Plan B" morning-after pill: "I think we've got to make it widely available, and I think that's one of the ways we reach common ground on the very tough issue of abortion: emergency contraception can reduce the number of abortions and unwanted pregnancies. That's what we should emphasize.")
There are a lot of the usual suspects on the list--and they are not suspect because their "Catholicism" is like unto Mother Teresa's, folks.
National Leadership Committee
Governor Jim Doyle of Wisconsin
Former Senator Majority Leader Tom Daschle
Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois
Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts
Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts
Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont
Look, folks: Obama is even more pro-death than the Hildebeeste, although it's a close call. Obama was 'sorry' that he couldn't hasten the State's execution of Terri Schiavo. Obama voted AGAINST legislation to make partial-birth abortion a crime in Illinois. In addition, Sen. Barack Obama, it has just been discovered, has stated publicly that his first act as president would be to sign the Freedom of Choice Act.
There is NO reconciliation between supporting Obama and the Catholic faith. None. As Rich Leonardi put it:
As far as the Catholic Church is concerned, the principal focus of her interventions in the public arena is the protection and promotion of the dignity of the person, and she is thereby consciously drawing particular attention to principles which are NOT NEGOTIABLE [my emphasis]. Among these the following emerge clearly today:- protection of life in all its stages, from the first moment of conception until natural death;
Other self-alleged "Catholics" on Obama's bloody band-wagon:
Sr. Jamie Phelps, O.P., Director and Professor of Theology, Institute for Black Catholic Studies, Xavier University
Sr. Catherine Pinkerton, Congregation of St. Joseph
Lisa Cahill, Professor of Theology, Boston College
Margaret Gannon, IHM, A Sister of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Scranton, PA
Mary Jo Bane, Professor, Harvard Kennedy School
Grant Gallicho, Associate Editor, Commonweal Magazine
Peter Quaranto, Senior Researcher and Conflict Analyst, Resolve Uganda (Notre Dame Class of 2006)
Dave Robinson, International Peace Advocate, Erie, Pennsylvania
Vincent Rougeau, Associate Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame
The Kingdom wants for Bishops like Burke, Bruskiewitz, and Sherman.
HT: ProEcclesia
Lots more, including Stupid Positions and Quotes from some of these turkeys here.
Like for example:
Mary Jo Bane, Professor, Harvard Kennedy School; (""In order to raise children with equality, we must take them away from families and communally raise them" )
Senator Bob Casey; (On "Plan B" morning-after pill: "I think we've got to make it widely available, and I think that's one of the ways we reach common ground on the very tough issue of abortion: emergency contraception can reduce the number of abortions and unwanted pregnancies. That's what we should emphasize.")
What's the moral question here?
A Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil, and so unworthy to present himself for Holy Communion, if he were to deliberately vote for a candidate precisely because of the candidate’s permissive stand on abortion and/or euthanasia. When a Catholic does not share a candidate’s stand in favour of abortion and/or euthanasia, but votes for that candidate for other reasons, it is considered remote material cooperation, which can be permitted in the presence of proportionate reasons --Benedict XVI
"Formal cooperation" is the case for some, but not all. "Remote" cooperation IS the case, at least. USCCB says the same thing in their Voting Guide, but note the red-highlighted section:
34. Catholics often face difficult choices about how to vote. This is why it is so important to vote according to a well-formed conscience that perceives the proper relationship among moral goods. A Catholic cannot vote for a candidate who takes a position in favor of an intrinsic evil, such as abortion or racism, if the voter’s intent is to support that position. In such cases a Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in grave evil. At the same time, a voter should not use a candidate’s opposition to an intrinsic evil to justify indifference or inattentiveness to other important moral issues involving human life and dignity.
35. There may be times when a Catholic who rejects a candidate’s unacceptable position may decide to vote for that candidate for other morally grave reasons. Voting in this way would be permissible only for truly grave moral reasons, not to advance narrow interests or partisan preferences or to ignore a fundamental moral evil.
In other words, 'advancing the Party's interests' is NOT sufficient reason to support Obamamamamama.
Finally, since an admirer has mentioned Tomas de Torquemada, and I am the Secretary of his Club on FreeRepublic, I'll post here the Tomas de Torquemada Gentleman's Club's fight song:
O, me name is Torquemada.
I'm the leader of the band.
Although, we're few in numbers,
We're feared throughout the land.
We tortures Moors and Atheists
And kicks them when they fall,
But when we works on heretics,
We works the best of all.
O, the rack goes "creak",
And the thumbscrews squeak,
And the Whips all flail away.
The Jesuit slams the iron maiden shut,
While I kneels in the corner to pray.
The auto-da-fe is God's chosen way
To purge sin from the land!
Another soul to heaven from Torquemada's and!
Refrain:
Yadadada, dadadadada
Yadadada, dadadada
Yadadada, dadadadada!
Another soul to heaven from Torquemada's Band!
O, me name is Torquemada.
I'm the leader of the band.
Although, we're few in numbers,
We're feared throughout the land.
We tortures Moors and Atheists
And kicks them when they fall,
But when we works on heretics,
We works the best of all.
O, the rack goes "creak",
And the thumbscrews squeak,
And the Whips all flail away.
The Jesuit slams the iron maiden shut,
While I kneels in the corner to pray.
The auto-da-fe is God's chosen way
To purge sin from the land!
Another soul to heaven from Torquemada's and!
Refrain:
Yadadada, dadadadada
Yadadada, dadadada
Yadadada, dadadadada!
Another soul to heaven from Torquemada's Band!
Prosectors or Roads?
There's a fair amount of griping about "the DA's office," "the judges," and so forth--having to do with sentencing, jail-terms, yadayadayada.
The Rag has some useful input but it's not a good sign.
...there's been hardly a peep from the newspaper folks about a far more sensational crisis at the Kenosha County District Attorney's office: the revolving door where up and coming young talent is forced to leave public service in order to make ends meet
...The pay crisis was so bad in the 1980's that the legislature in 1989 made all Assistant District Attorneys state employees, a move designed to encourage competence and professionalism and provide a career path for those lawyers interested in public service. State prosecutors were then ranked in a "step system" grid according to their experience and much needed substantial pay raises.
But the "step system" was abandoned a couple of years later creating a disparity between us "old geezers" and new prosecutors who receive no longevity pay. As it stands today, they start at $46,000 and go nowhere in terms of pay progression.
So what? So THIS:
Every district attorney's office in the state is understaffed, overworked and this comes at the expense of serving victims and protecting our citizens. In the past six years, we have lost 180 experienced prosecutors from service statewide due to the absence of pay progression ("step system"). That's a 50% turnover in just the last six years
(Usually turnover is figured on an annual basis--meaning that it's closer to 8%/year. But that's not all that much better. Figure about 2 years for a "newbie" to get into the rhythm--meaning that 'training costs' alone are high.)
It wasn't supposed to be this way. The very reason the state took over the prosecution system was to foster professionalism, competence and longevity and end the revolving door. The governor and legislators have turned their backs on this promise
In the meantime, the State is building highways in North Nowhere, and every village with a population above 10,000 has a UW-system college--for which the General Contractors are forever grateful.
The Rag has some useful input but it's not a good sign.
...there's been hardly a peep from the newspaper folks about a far more sensational crisis at the Kenosha County District Attorney's office: the revolving door where up and coming young talent is forced to leave public service in order to make ends meet
...The pay crisis was so bad in the 1980's that the legislature in 1989 made all Assistant District Attorneys state employees, a move designed to encourage competence and professionalism and provide a career path for those lawyers interested in public service. State prosecutors were then ranked in a "step system" grid according to their experience and much needed substantial pay raises.
But the "step system" was abandoned a couple of years later creating a disparity between us "old geezers" and new prosecutors who receive no longevity pay. As it stands today, they start at $46,000 and go nowhere in terms of pay progression.
So what? So THIS:
Every district attorney's office in the state is understaffed, overworked and this comes at the expense of serving victims and protecting our citizens. In the past six years, we have lost 180 experienced prosecutors from service statewide due to the absence of pay progression ("step system"). That's a 50% turnover in just the last six years
(Usually turnover is figured on an annual basis--meaning that it's closer to 8%/year. But that's not all that much better. Figure about 2 years for a "newbie" to get into the rhythm--meaning that 'training costs' alone are high.)
It wasn't supposed to be this way. The very reason the state took over the prosecution system was to foster professionalism, competence and longevity and end the revolving door. The governor and legislators have turned their backs on this promise
In the meantime, the State is building highways in North Nowhere, and every village with a population above 10,000 has a UW-system college--for which the General Contractors are forever grateful.
State HealthCare: Costs Rising...
In Massachusetts, things are going as predicted.
In 2006, a legislative committee estimated the law would cost about $725 million in the fiscal year starting in July. In his budget, Patrick set aside $869 million, but those overseeing the law have already acknowledged costs will rise even higher.
Of course, the predictions of cost-overruns were not from the Taxachusetts pols.
In 2006, a legislative committee estimated the law would cost about $725 million in the fiscal year starting in July. In his budget, Patrick set aside $869 million, but those overseeing the law have already acknowledged costs will rise even higher.
Of course, the predictions of cost-overruns were not from the Taxachusetts pols.
If You Do "It"--Consequences
The "consequence-free" mentality is a myth.
Girls who become sexually active before age 17 are almost 70 percent more likely to experience a crisis pregnancy in later life and three times more likely to procure abortion in their lifetime than those who wait until they are older, according to a study released by the Irish Crisis Pregnancy Agency.
The Irish Study of Sexual Health and Relationships, the largest nationally representative study on sexual knowledge, attitudes and behaviour ever undertaken in Ireland, was published by the Department of Health and the Crisis Pregnancy Agency (CPA) today
The 'pill/condom' solution? Not likely, given this:
The study also found that, for people under 30, 38 percent of men and around 20 percent of women said they were under the influence of alcohol or drugs when they lost their virginity
Nancy Reagan was right. The word is "NO."
Girls who become sexually active before age 17 are almost 70 percent more likely to experience a crisis pregnancy in later life and three times more likely to procure abortion in their lifetime than those who wait until they are older, according to a study released by the Irish Crisis Pregnancy Agency.
The Irish Study of Sexual Health and Relationships, the largest nationally representative study on sexual knowledge, attitudes and behaviour ever undertaken in Ireland, was published by the Department of Health and the Crisis Pregnancy Agency (CPA) today
The 'pill/condom' solution? Not likely, given this:
The study also found that, for people under 30, 38 percent of men and around 20 percent of women said they were under the influence of alcohol or drugs when they lost their virginity
Nancy Reagan was right. The word is "NO."
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Gott im Himmel! TEOTWAWKI
Converse Obama
What Obama COULD have said (if he were in Latrobe, PA., or--I dunno, Grand Rapids, MI., Mayville, WI., or Amana, IA.)
"You go to these big liberal cities in California, and like a lot of cosmopolitan centers of libertarian lifestyle individualism, they have benefited from the wrenching displacements you've experienced. They benefited immensely from free-trade and globalizing policies of previous Administrations - Democratic and Republican alike - and they've been told that they have earned their status and they owe nothing to anyone.
"And it's not surprising that they get optimistic, they believe that they can dispense with religion or borders or community as a way to remake the world in exactly their image."
Heh.
HT: Patrick Deneen
"You go to these big liberal cities in California, and like a lot of cosmopolitan centers of libertarian lifestyle individualism, they have benefited from the wrenching displacements you've experienced. They benefited immensely from free-trade and globalizing policies of previous Administrations - Democratic and Republican alike - and they've been told that they have earned their status and they owe nothing to anyone.
"And it's not surprising that they get optimistic, they believe that they can dispense with religion or borders or community as a way to remake the world in exactly their image."
Heh.
HT: Patrick Deneen
Seat Belts: Over-Hyped
Not that anyone is surprised that the Gummint over-hypes things...
Our estimates of the potential savings in lives from increased seat belt usage are less than half of the estimate used by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The significant difference between these estimates results from the fact that the NHTSA uses 45% as the estimated elasticity of seat belt usage. This value is based on the actual usage as estimated from that of drivers involved in traffic fatalities. This estimate differs from the one calculated
in observational studies and used for the calculation of the national usage rate. Thus, our estimates provide a better guide for policymaking in this area than the estimates
currently used by policymakers.
At the same time, the study proves beyond a doubt that "seat belts save lives."
HT: Schneier
Our estimates of the potential savings in lives from increased seat belt usage are less than half of the estimate used by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The significant difference between these estimates results from the fact that the NHTSA uses 45% as the estimated elasticity of seat belt usage. This value is based on the actual usage as estimated from that of drivers involved in traffic fatalities. This estimate differs from the one calculated
in observational studies and used for the calculation of the national usage rate. Thus, our estimates provide a better guide for policymaking in this area than the estimates
currently used by policymakers.
At the same time, the study proves beyond a doubt that "seat belts save lives."
HT: Schneier
The Counter-Revolution: NO Bussing
What would John Reynolds think of this?
Milwaukee Public Schools’ longtime busing program could be drastically reduced if MPS Director Michael Bonds has his way. Bonds, who has sponsored a resolution to phase out most busing services within four years, says the $58 million spent on transportation each year could be better utilized by reopening closed schools and restoring cut programs.
Bonds' calculus is simple: 88% of MPS students are minority, so "integration" is simply not a factor. Moreover, the yellow-bus "solution" is harmful to kids:
Bonds said that the extensive busing program adversely affects students and their parents. The long bus ride extends a student’s day, hinders parents from becoming involved in their child’s school and leads to a lack of unity in the student’s neighborhood, since kids who grow up together can be scattered to schools throughout the city, he said.
“It’s disrupting neighborhoods,” Bonds said. “In Bay View, parents don’t want their kids to go to the school because of the demographics. It’s crazy— because parents on the North Side are complaining that they’ve got to send their kids to schools [across town] and they don’t want to go there, either.”
Every single item on that list is unassailable.
Here's hoping Bonds' resolution becomes a policy item.
Milwaukee Public Schools’ longtime busing program could be drastically reduced if MPS Director Michael Bonds has his way. Bonds, who has sponsored a resolution to phase out most busing services within four years, says the $58 million spent on transportation each year could be better utilized by reopening closed schools and restoring cut programs.
Bonds' calculus is simple: 88% of MPS students are minority, so "integration" is simply not a factor. Moreover, the yellow-bus "solution" is harmful to kids:
Bonds said that the extensive busing program adversely affects students and their parents. The long bus ride extends a student’s day, hinders parents from becoming involved in their child’s school and leads to a lack of unity in the student’s neighborhood, since kids who grow up together can be scattered to schools throughout the city, he said.
“It’s disrupting neighborhoods,” Bonds said. “In Bay View, parents don’t want their kids to go to the school because of the demographics. It’s crazy— because parents on the North Side are complaining that they’ve got to send their kids to schools [across town] and they don’t want to go there, either.”
Every single item on that list is unassailable.
Here's hoping Bonds' resolution becomes a policy item.
Michael Yon on "The Surge"--It's Good News
Michael Yon is not bragging, nor exaggerating, when he says that he has spent more time as an embedded reporter than any other American. That's true.
So his WSJ op-ed piece is worth the read. And it's not a love-fest for Bush or Rummy, folks.
...As the outrages of Abu Ghraib faded in memory – and paled in comparison to al Qaeda's brutalities – and our soldiers under the Petraeus strategy got off their big bases and out of their tanks and deeper into the neighborhoods, American values began to win the war.
Iraqis came to respect American soldiers as warriors who would protect them from terror gangs. But Iraqis also discovered that these great warriors are even happier helping rebuild a clinic, school or a neighborhood. They learned that the American soldier is not only the most dangerous enemy in the world, but one of the best friends a neighborhood can have.
Some people charge that we have merely "rented" the Sunni tribesmen, the former insurgents who now fight by our side. This implies that because we pay these people, their loyalty must be for sale to the highest bidder. But as Gen. Petraeus demonstrated in Nineveh province in 2003 to 2004, many of the Iraqis who filled the ranks of the Sunni insurgency from 2003 into 2007 could have been working with us all along, had we treated them intelligently and respectfully. In Nineveh in 2003, under then Maj. Gen. Petraeus's leadership, these men – many of them veterans of the Iraqi army – played a crucial role in restoring civil order. Yet due to excessive de-Baathification and the administration's attempt to marginalize powerful tribal sheiks in Anbar and other provinces – including men even Saddam dared not ignore – we transformed potential partners into dreaded enemies in less than a year.
"Dumb" is not reserved for US decisions:
Then al Qaeda in Iraq, which helped fund and tried to control the Sunni insurgency for its own ends, raped too many women and boys, cut off too many heads, and brought drugs into too many neighborhoods. By outraging the tribes, it gave birth to the Sunni "awakening." We – and Iraq – got a second chance. Powerful tribes in Anbar province cooperate with us now because they came to see al Qaeda for what it is – and to see Americans for what we truly are.
...In a successful counterinsurgency it is impossible to separate military and political success. The Sunni "awakening" was not primarily a military event any more than it was "bribery." It was a political event with enormous military benefits.
IOW, the Petraeus strategy (combined with pure stupidity on the part of AlQuaeda) is reminiscent of the success we had in South Vietnam. (Scroll in the link to entry of 4/9 "The Tet Offensive") There, the pacification of the countryside was successfully managed by the South Vietnamese army, after US training. Although US forces were no longer necessary for that 'pacification' effort, the US managed to lose Vietnam by precipitously and totally yanking its military support.
Summarily, the US' Democratic Congress managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in Vietnam, and may well attempt the same thing in Iraq.
We know now that we can pull off a successful counterinsurgency in Iraq. We know that we are working with an increasingly willing citizenry. But counterinsurgency, like community policing, requires lots of boots on the ground. You can't do it from inside a jet or a tank.
Over the past 15 months, we have proved that we can win this war. We stand now at the moment of truth. Victory – and a democracy in the Arab world – is within our grasp. But it could yet slip away if our leaders remain transfixed by the war we almost lost, rather than focusing on the war we are winning today.
HT: Confederate Yankee
So his WSJ op-ed piece is worth the read. And it's not a love-fest for Bush or Rummy, folks.
...As the outrages of Abu Ghraib faded in memory – and paled in comparison to al Qaeda's brutalities – and our soldiers under the Petraeus strategy got off their big bases and out of their tanks and deeper into the neighborhoods, American values began to win the war.
Iraqis came to respect American soldiers as warriors who would protect them from terror gangs. But Iraqis also discovered that these great warriors are even happier helping rebuild a clinic, school or a neighborhood. They learned that the American soldier is not only the most dangerous enemy in the world, but one of the best friends a neighborhood can have.
Some people charge that we have merely "rented" the Sunni tribesmen, the former insurgents who now fight by our side. This implies that because we pay these people, their loyalty must be for sale to the highest bidder. But as Gen. Petraeus demonstrated in Nineveh province in 2003 to 2004, many of the Iraqis who filled the ranks of the Sunni insurgency from 2003 into 2007 could have been working with us all along, had we treated them intelligently and respectfully. In Nineveh in 2003, under then Maj. Gen. Petraeus's leadership, these men – many of them veterans of the Iraqi army – played a crucial role in restoring civil order. Yet due to excessive de-Baathification and the administration's attempt to marginalize powerful tribal sheiks in Anbar and other provinces – including men even Saddam dared not ignore – we transformed potential partners into dreaded enemies in less than a year.
"Dumb" is not reserved for US decisions:
Then al Qaeda in Iraq, which helped fund and tried to control the Sunni insurgency for its own ends, raped too many women and boys, cut off too many heads, and brought drugs into too many neighborhoods. By outraging the tribes, it gave birth to the Sunni "awakening." We – and Iraq – got a second chance. Powerful tribes in Anbar province cooperate with us now because they came to see al Qaeda for what it is – and to see Americans for what we truly are.
...In a successful counterinsurgency it is impossible to separate military and political success. The Sunni "awakening" was not primarily a military event any more than it was "bribery." It was a political event with enormous military benefits.
IOW, the Petraeus strategy (combined with pure stupidity on the part of AlQuaeda) is reminiscent of the success we had in South Vietnam. (Scroll in the link to entry of 4/9 "The Tet Offensive") There, the pacification of the countryside was successfully managed by the South Vietnamese army, after US training. Although US forces were no longer necessary for that 'pacification' effort, the US managed to lose Vietnam by precipitously and totally yanking its military support.
Summarily, the US' Democratic Congress managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in Vietnam, and may well attempt the same thing in Iraq.
We know now that we can pull off a successful counterinsurgency in Iraq. We know that we are working with an increasingly willing citizenry. But counterinsurgency, like community policing, requires lots of boots on the ground. You can't do it from inside a jet or a tank.
Over the past 15 months, we have proved that we can win this war. We stand now at the moment of truth. Victory – and a democracy in the Arab world – is within our grasp. But it could yet slip away if our leaders remain transfixed by the war we almost lost, rather than focusing on the war we are winning today.
HT: Confederate Yankee
What the Dems Are Playing On: Jobs
BigPic points out a little-known difference between two measures of "employment."
"The unemployment rate paints a less gloomy picture. Among men ages 25 to 54 — a range that starts after most people finish their education and ends well before most people retire — the unemployment rate is 4.1 percent. That is not especially low, but it is well below the peak rate in all but one post-World War II recession. Only people without jobs who are actively looking for work qualify as unemployed in the computation of that rate. It does not count people who are not looking for work, whether or not they would like to have a job.
But there is another rate — called the jobless rate in this article — that counts the proportion of people without jobs. To be sure, some of them do not want to work. Some are raising families on a spouse’s income, or are disabled, retired or independently wealthy. But others may be discouraged workers, who would take jobs if they thought any desirable positions were available.
Both measures are flawed insofar as neither precisely measures 'those willing/able/interested in work but not having it,' which, arguably, would be the best measure and description.
The "jobless" rate is nasty:
In the latest report, for March, the Labor Department reported the jobless rate — also called the “not employed rate” by some — at 13.1 percent for men in the prime age group. Only once during a post-World War II recession did the rate ever get that high. It hit 13.3 percent in June 1982, the 12th month of the brutal 1981-82 recession, and continued to rise from there
One suspects that the Jobless Rate is the lever used by the Democrats. Obviously, the Republicans like the Unemployment Rate.
The chart used by BigPic indicates that the (very rough) average between the Unemployment and Jobless rates post-1983 is 8%.
"The unemployment rate paints a less gloomy picture. Among men ages 25 to 54 — a range that starts after most people finish their education and ends well before most people retire — the unemployment rate is 4.1 percent. That is not especially low, but it is well below the peak rate in all but one post-World War II recession. Only people without jobs who are actively looking for work qualify as unemployed in the computation of that rate. It does not count people who are not looking for work, whether or not they would like to have a job.
But there is another rate — called the jobless rate in this article — that counts the proportion of people without jobs. To be sure, some of them do not want to work. Some are raising families on a spouse’s income, or are disabled, retired or independently wealthy. But others may be discouraged workers, who would take jobs if they thought any desirable positions were available.
Both measures are flawed insofar as neither precisely measures 'those willing/able/interested in work but not having it,' which, arguably, would be the best measure and description.
The "jobless" rate is nasty:
In the latest report, for March, the Labor Department reported the jobless rate — also called the “not employed rate” by some — at 13.1 percent for men in the prime age group. Only once during a post-World War II recession did the rate ever get that high. It hit 13.3 percent in June 1982, the 12th month of the brutal 1981-82 recession, and continued to rise from there
One suspects that the Jobless Rate is the lever used by the Democrats. Obviously, the Republicans like the Unemployment Rate.
The chart used by BigPic indicates that the (very rough) average between the Unemployment and Jobless rates post-1983 is 8%.
Reeking of Elitism--The Cure
Obamamamama's utterly elitist comments give new meaning to the term "Intellectualoid", but Scrappleface discovered that the candidate also proposes a cure.
The presumptive Democrat presidential front runner, said his plan would employ “these Archie Bunker-type people” [aka 'typical white people'] in government programs “to register and/or confiscate inappropriate personal firearms, to monitor churches for hate-speech about homosexuality or abortion, and to build tax-funded housing for low income illegal aliens.”
“Twenty-five years is a long time to wallow in bitterness like our friends in Pennsylvania, the Midwest and elsewhere have been doing,” said Sen. Obama, “So, until the steel mills can all be converted to casinos and re-opened, we’ll provide good government jobs at high wages that will soothe the rage, and help to re-educate these small-town folk.”
That should fix it.
The presumptive Democrat presidential front runner, said his plan would employ “these Archie Bunker-type people” [aka 'typical white people'] in government programs “to register and/or confiscate inappropriate personal firearms, to monitor churches for hate-speech about homosexuality or abortion, and to build tax-funded housing for low income illegal aliens.”
“Twenty-five years is a long time to wallow in bitterness like our friends in Pennsylvania, the Midwest and elsewhere have been doing,” said Sen. Obama, “So, until the steel mills can all be converted to casinos and re-opened, we’ll provide good government jobs at high wages that will soothe the rage, and help to re-educate these small-town folk.”
That should fix it.
"Rules Are Rules": Sorry, You Can't Compete
Another school principal, another confounding of common sense.
For Robert Lumley, the decision to bar his East Wake High School club marksmanship team from a statewide shooting tournament was as arresting as a shotgun blast.
Less than a day before the March 15 district round of the decades-old N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission competition, one of East Wake's principals, with the support of the area superintendent who oversees that school, stopped the team from participating.
The reason: Ammo and students don't mix, the school officials said.
Like districts across the nation, Wake County bans deadly weapons from campuses and prohibits students from carrying them on school trips. But the decision to bar the East Wake team from the tournament extends that prohibition to students participating in an off-campus event sponsored by a state agency and supervised by adults certified in firearms safety.
That call pits school policy against state law that allows firearms education at schools. The decision also runs counter to the efforts of wildlife agencies, hunting organizations and gun groups to recruit youths to replenish the dwindling number of hunters. It also underscores the tension between the fear of school massacres and the traditions of rural Wake, where hunting is still common.
We don't think that the timing was co-incidental, either:
The East Wake decision nullified months of practice by Lumley, a 17-year-old senior, and the rest of the 16-member marksmanship and orienteering team -- an offshoot of the school-approved FFA club, formerly known as the Future Farmers of America.
Lumley was riding with a team member the day before the tournament when he got the call that the principal "had put the red light on it," he said.
"If we had more time, we could have done something about it," Lumley said.
Nothing like waking to the smell of PC in the morning.
HT: Of Arms and the Law
For Robert Lumley, the decision to bar his East Wake High School club marksmanship team from a statewide shooting tournament was as arresting as a shotgun blast.
Less than a day before the March 15 district round of the decades-old N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission competition, one of East Wake's principals, with the support of the area superintendent who oversees that school, stopped the team from participating.
The reason: Ammo and students don't mix, the school officials said.
Like districts across the nation, Wake County bans deadly weapons from campuses and prohibits students from carrying them on school trips. But the decision to bar the East Wake team from the tournament extends that prohibition to students participating in an off-campus event sponsored by a state agency and supervised by adults certified in firearms safety.
That call pits school policy against state law that allows firearms education at schools. The decision also runs counter to the efforts of wildlife agencies, hunting organizations and gun groups to recruit youths to replenish the dwindling number of hunters. It also underscores the tension between the fear of school massacres and the traditions of rural Wake, where hunting is still common.
We don't think that the timing was co-incidental, either:
The East Wake decision nullified months of practice by Lumley, a 17-year-old senior, and the rest of the 16-member marksmanship and orienteering team -- an offshoot of the school-approved FFA club, formerly known as the Future Farmers of America.
Lumley was riding with a team member the day before the tournament when he got the call that the principal "had put the red light on it," he said.
"If we had more time, we could have done something about it," Lumley said.
Nothing like waking to the smell of PC in the morning.
HT: Of Arms and the Law
Appointed Judges? Really!
Since the question has arisen, let's look at some obiter dicta from an appointed Justice--in this case, Reinhardt, Chief Justice of the 9th Circus.
The quotation is from a book review Reinhardt wrote (which is full of errors, by the way).
I feel more confident in judges than in elected officials safeguarding our constitutional liberties. But I would feel even better were there some Warrens, Brennans, Marshalls, Douglases, Blackmuns, or even more Stevenses currently making the decisions that will determine the nature of our rights and freedoms—and indeed the nature of our society—for years to come.
It was very nice of Reinhardt to list the Pantheon of Blackguards. Even nicer that he points to their views as the ones which should 'determine the nature of our society.'
HT: Clay Cramer
The quotation is from a book review Reinhardt wrote (which is full of errors, by the way).
I feel more confident in judges than in elected officials safeguarding our constitutional liberties. But I would feel even better were there some Warrens, Brennans, Marshalls, Douglases, Blackmuns, or even more Stevenses currently making the decisions that will determine the nature of our rights and freedoms—and indeed the nature of our society—for years to come.
It was very nice of Reinhardt to list the Pantheon of Blackguards. Even nicer that he points to their views as the ones which should 'determine the nature of our society.'
HT: Clay Cramer
Friday, April 11, 2008
Volcker Nails "Easy Al" Greenspan
"Easy Al" Greenspan, who erased M3 from the official memory-banks, (hiding his Fed's enormous increases in the money supply) was the target of a speech by Paul Volcker in 2005.
Excerpts:
"Altogether, the circumstances seem as dangerous and intractable as I can remember."
"I come now to the heart of the problem, as a Nation we are consuming and investing, that is spending, about 6% more than we are producing. What holds it all together? - High consumption - high leverage - government deficits - What holds it all together is a really massive and growing flow of capital from abroad. A flow of capital that today runs to more than $2 Billion per day."
And zeroing in on the target:
"What I'm really talking about boils down to the oldest lesson of financial policy in Central Banking: A strong sense of monetary and fiscal discipline."
Greenspan liked his chairmanship a lot. So much so that he was willing to purchase Happiness for two+ Administrations.
Perhaps the public got screwed. Oh, well.
HT: Calculated Risk
Excerpts:
"Altogether, the circumstances seem as dangerous and intractable as I can remember."
"I come now to the heart of the problem, as a Nation we are consuming and investing, that is spending, about 6% more than we are producing. What holds it all together? - High consumption - high leverage - government deficits - What holds it all together is a really massive and growing flow of capital from abroad. A flow of capital that today runs to more than $2 Billion per day."
And zeroing in on the target:
"What I'm really talking about boils down to the oldest lesson of financial policy in Central Banking: A strong sense of monetary and fiscal discipline."
Greenspan liked his chairmanship a lot. So much so that he was willing to purchase Happiness for two+ Administrations.
Perhaps the public got screwed. Oh, well.
HT: Calculated Risk
On Back-Beat in Church
It's a no-no.
"Music has become today the decisive vehicle of a counter-religion and thus the scene of the discernment of spirits in a form that we could not have suspected a generation ago. Because rock music seeks redemption by way of liberation from the personality and its responsibility, it takes, in one respect, a very precise position in the anarchical ideas of freedom which predominate today in a more unconcealed way in the West than in the East. But precisely for that reason, it is thoroughly opposed to the Christian notion of redemption and of freedom as its exact contradiction. Not for aesthetic reasons, not from reactionary obstinacy, not from historical immobility, but because of its very nature music of this type must be excluded from the Church."
One suspects that rock isn't good stuff no matter the venue...
Put another way, if you think that the moral compass of Bill Clinton & Co. is bad for the USA, then recognize that said 'compass' was formed in the age of sex/drugs/rock'n'roll...
"Music has become today the decisive vehicle of a counter-religion and thus the scene of the discernment of spirits in a form that we could not have suspected a generation ago. Because rock music seeks redemption by way of liberation from the personality and its responsibility, it takes, in one respect, a very precise position in the anarchical ideas of freedom which predominate today in a more unconcealed way in the West than in the East. But precisely for that reason, it is thoroughly opposed to the Christian notion of redemption and of freedom as its exact contradiction. Not for aesthetic reasons, not from reactionary obstinacy, not from historical immobility, but because of its very nature music of this type must be excluded from the Church."
One suspects that rock isn't good stuff no matter the venue...
Put another way, if you think that the moral compass of Bill Clinton & Co. is bad for the USA, then recognize that said 'compass' was formed in the age of sex/drugs/rock'n'roll...
Un Declaration of Human Rights: So What?
Well, it's likely to become a topic with the visit of Benedict XVI to the UN, that's what.
...Nearing its 60th anniversary, the human rights declaration is Benedict's Exhibit A in making his case for universal moral standards as the necessary basis of world peace and justice. When circumstances permit, he links that idea to his project for the revival of natural law.
The pope seems likely again to make his argument for what he calls "common moral law" in the major address he will deliver April 18 to the UN General Assembly in New York. But it will also come as no surprise if he brings up the subject at other stops during his April 15-20 visit to Washington and New York.
...There was a tipoff to Benedict's thinking about these matters and their likely relationship to his trip to the United States in remarks he delivered at the Vatican on February 29 to Mary Ann Glendon, who was presenting her credentials as the new U.S. ambassador to the Holy See.
"The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, whose 60th anniversary we celebrate this year, was the product of a worldwide recognition that a just global order can only be based on the acknowledgment and defense of the inviolable dignity and rights of every man and woman," the pope told Glendon, a Harvard Law professor who is author of a history of the writing of the human rights declaration.
Benedict made it a point to link the idea of common moral law to the United States, declaring it to be "enshrined in its founding documents." He urged that it remain a central principle guiding U.S. policy in today's world.
By the way, the vote to adopt the document in the UN was 48-0-8, with the 8 abstainers including the Soviet bloc, South Africa, and Saudi Arabia--which STILL does not allow non-Muslim worship.
...Nearing its 60th anniversary, the human rights declaration is Benedict's Exhibit A in making his case for universal moral standards as the necessary basis of world peace and justice. When circumstances permit, he links that idea to his project for the revival of natural law.
The pope seems likely again to make his argument for what he calls "common moral law" in the major address he will deliver April 18 to the UN General Assembly in New York. But it will also come as no surprise if he brings up the subject at other stops during his April 15-20 visit to Washington and New York.
...There was a tipoff to Benedict's thinking about these matters and their likely relationship to his trip to the United States in remarks he delivered at the Vatican on February 29 to Mary Ann Glendon, who was presenting her credentials as the new U.S. ambassador to the Holy See.
"The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, whose 60th anniversary we celebrate this year, was the product of a worldwide recognition that a just global order can only be based on the acknowledgment and defense of the inviolable dignity and rights of every man and woman," the pope told Glendon, a Harvard Law professor who is author of a history of the writing of the human rights declaration.
Benedict made it a point to link the idea of common moral law to the United States, declaring it to be "enshrined in its founding documents." He urged that it remain a central principle guiding U.S. policy in today's world.
By the way, the vote to adopt the document in the UN was 48-0-8, with the 8 abstainers including the Soviet bloc, South Africa, and Saudi Arabia--which STILL does not allow non-Muslim worship.
"Oh, Really, Jim?": Republicans
This might be interesting.
A legislative committee today ordered auditors to review claims by top state officials that their consolidation of procurement and human resources functions saved money, and to also review why a target of selling $36 million worth of state buildings was missed.
On a 9-1 vote, the Joint Legislative Audito Commitee ordered the review by the Legislative Audit Bureau. The audit will be done of parts of the money-saving program nicknamed "ACE" -- for Accountability, Consolidation and Efficiency -- that Gov. Jim Doyle announced early in 2005.
...Schooff told the committee that combining the purchasing functions of state agencies -- which he said reduced the number of procurement officers from 94 to 70 -- and merging human relations functions of smaller agencies saved a total of $8 million in the 2005-'07 budget.
Separate from that $8-million savings, state agencies also returned $35.5 million in unspent tax funds to the treasury on June 30, 2007, Schooff added.
I wouldn't be surprised if the audit essentially declares that Doyle's claims are correct (with the obvious exception of the DOA HQ-building sale.)
On the other hand, there's a LONG way to go. We're short $600++ million, remember?
A legislative committee today ordered auditors to review claims by top state officials that their consolidation of procurement and human resources functions saved money, and to also review why a target of selling $36 million worth of state buildings was missed.
On a 9-1 vote, the Joint Legislative Audito Commitee ordered the review by the Legislative Audit Bureau. The audit will be done of parts of the money-saving program nicknamed "ACE" -- for Accountability, Consolidation and Efficiency -- that Gov. Jim Doyle announced early in 2005.
...Schooff told the committee that combining the purchasing functions of state agencies -- which he said reduced the number of procurement officers from 94 to 70 -- and merging human relations functions of smaller agencies saved a total of $8 million in the 2005-'07 budget.
Separate from that $8-million savings, state agencies also returned $35.5 million in unspent tax funds to the treasury on June 30, 2007, Schooff added.
I wouldn't be surprised if the audit essentially declares that Doyle's claims are correct (with the obvious exception of the DOA HQ-building sale.)
On the other hand, there's a LONG way to go. We're short $600++ million, remember?
"Stiffer Penalties" for Gun Crimes?
The Mayor of Milwaukee has a new battle cry.
Barrett said the upcoming special legislative session on the Great Lakes compact, which Gov. Jim Doyle announced Wednesday, should be broadened so lawmakers can consider stiffer penalties on gun sales and possession.
The Feds have a hat-load of "stiffer penalties" for gun-related offenses--especially for felons-in-possession. One of those laws mandates jail-time (Club Fed) for felons who are in possession of a SINGLE BULLET--even without the gun.
Perhaps State laws should be "stiffened." OK.
But what's the hangup with using the Federal prosecutors?
Well, as it turns out, maybe "penalties" aren't the only agenda item.
...more funds for the district attorney's community prosectors would be important steps, the mayor said. He also urged criminal background checks for private sales of handguns.
Pump more money into Milwaukee.
As to background checks on private sales: this is another case of punishing the innocent many for the activity of the guilty few. No different from requiring a Wisconsin drivers' license to purchase cold tablets.
Maybe the State Legislature should require a Wisconsin ID for voting as part of the package.
Barrett said the upcoming special legislative session on the Great Lakes compact, which Gov. Jim Doyle announced Wednesday, should be broadened so lawmakers can consider stiffer penalties on gun sales and possession.
The Feds have a hat-load of "stiffer penalties" for gun-related offenses--especially for felons-in-possession. One of those laws mandates jail-time (Club Fed) for felons who are in possession of a SINGLE BULLET--even without the gun.
Perhaps State laws should be "stiffened." OK.
But what's the hangup with using the Federal prosecutors?
Well, as it turns out, maybe "penalties" aren't the only agenda item.
...more funds for the district attorney's community prosectors would be important steps, the mayor said. He also urged criminal background checks for private sales of handguns.
Pump more money into Milwaukee.
As to background checks on private sales: this is another case of punishing the innocent many for the activity of the guilty few. No different from requiring a Wisconsin drivers' license to purchase cold tablets.
Maybe the State Legislature should require a Wisconsin ID for voting as part of the package.
CDO Investing: The Real Question
The Waukesha School District, burdened by massive future-pension obligations for its retiring teachers (and other employees) decided to make an investment and use the proceeds to fund the obligation.
The investment utilizes the District's ability to borrow money cheap; they turned the borrowed funds around and bought CDOs (Collateralized Debt Obligations) at a higher interest rate.
This is called "arbitrage," and it's a common device with municipal entities. Their borrowings are tax-advantaged and CDOs are not.
Well, bye-and-bye, the CDOs were 'marked to market,' and with the deteriorating state of the mortgages (in part) backing those CDOs, the School District was given a margin-call; they may have to borrow another buncha money to shore up their position.
This caused a stir. And an excellent question was raised by a Waukesha taxpayer, Steve Edlund.
"It is unethical for my school district to create and operate a margin account with my house (property tax obligation) as collateral for a borrow[ing], without my permission (referendum) to invest in uninsured securities in hopes of supplementing payment obligations created by the district of their own mismanagement and demands of the public employee unions," he wrote.
Hmmmm. Did the District put Edlund's house up as collateral? Interesting (cough, cough) question, no?
The investment utilizes the District's ability to borrow money cheap; they turned the borrowed funds around and bought CDOs (Collateralized Debt Obligations) at a higher interest rate.
This is called "arbitrage," and it's a common device with municipal entities. Their borrowings are tax-advantaged and CDOs are not.
Well, bye-and-bye, the CDOs were 'marked to market,' and with the deteriorating state of the mortgages (in part) backing those CDOs, the School District was given a margin-call; they may have to borrow another buncha money to shore up their position.
This caused a stir. And an excellent question was raised by a Waukesha taxpayer, Steve Edlund.
"It is unethical for my school district to create and operate a margin account with my house (property tax obligation) as collateral for a borrow[ing], without my permission (referendum) to invest in uninsured securities in hopes of supplementing payment obligations created by the district of their own mismanagement and demands of the public employee unions," he wrote.
Hmmmm. Did the District put Edlund's house up as collateral? Interesting (cough, cough) question, no?
Iraq Now, Iran Next?
PJB draws the inference and asks the question, based on Lieberman's leading query.
Are Iranians then murdering Americans, asked Joe Lieberman:
"Is it fair to say that the Iranian-backed special groups in Iraq are responsible for the murder of hundreds of American soldiers and thousands of Iraqi soldiers and civilians?"
"It certainly is. ... That is correct," said Petraeus.
The following day, Petraeus told the House Armed Services Committee, "Unchecked, the 'special groups' pose the greatest long-term threat to the viability of a democratic Iraq."
Translation: The United States is now fighting the proxies of Iran for the future of Iraq.
The general's testimony is forcing Bush's hand, for consider the question it logically raises: If the Quds Force and Hezbollah, both designated as terrorist organizations, are arming, training and directing "special groups" to "murder" Americans, and rocket and mortar the Green Zone to kill our diplomats, and they now represent the No. 1 threat to a free Iraq, why has Bush failed to neutralize these base camps of terror and aggression?
Indeed.
Another possibility, of course, is that Lieberman and Petraeus were playing "bad cop" to a diplomatic "good cop" solution.
PJB makes another point--IF the US starts bombing selected Iranian targets, it will separate HRC and Obamamama even more, as HRC signed on to a declaration that the Quds are "terrorists."
Are Iranians then murdering Americans, asked Joe Lieberman:
"Is it fair to say that the Iranian-backed special groups in Iraq are responsible for the murder of hundreds of American soldiers and thousands of Iraqi soldiers and civilians?"
"It certainly is. ... That is correct," said Petraeus.
The following day, Petraeus told the House Armed Services Committee, "Unchecked, the 'special groups' pose the greatest long-term threat to the viability of a democratic Iraq."
Translation: The United States is now fighting the proxies of Iran for the future of Iraq.
The general's testimony is forcing Bush's hand, for consider the question it logically raises: If the Quds Force and Hezbollah, both designated as terrorist organizations, are arming, training and directing "special groups" to "murder" Americans, and rocket and mortar the Green Zone to kill our diplomats, and they now represent the No. 1 threat to a free Iraq, why has Bush failed to neutralize these base camps of terror and aggression?
Indeed.
Another possibility, of course, is that Lieberman and Petraeus were playing "bad cop" to a diplomatic "good cop" solution.
PJB makes another point--IF the US starts bombing selected Iranian targets, it will separate HRC and Obamamama even more, as HRC signed on to a declaration that the Quds are "terrorists."