He Leadeth Me, by Fr. Walter Ciszek, S.J.
Reckless Homicide, by Ira Genberg
Reluctant Saint: The Life of Francis of Assisi, by Donald Spoto
Sword Song, by Bernard Cornwell
So far this year: 15 books
Previously in this series:
January, February, March
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
A libertarian appraisal
Matt Welch and Nick Gillespie:
"So here we are, 100 days into the great eight-year triumph of Hope over Change, a new Era of Really Good Feelings in which only one thing has become increasingly, even irrefutably, clear: President Barack Obama is about as visionary as the guy who invented Dippin' Dots, Ice Cream of the Future. Far from sketching out a truly forward-looking set of policies for the 21st century, as his supporters had hoped, Obama is instead serving up cryogenically tasteless and headache-inducing morsels from years gone by."
Fausta has a shorter critique that is also worth reading, as does Kate.
"So here we are, 100 days into the great eight-year triumph of Hope over Change, a new Era of Really Good Feelings in which only one thing has become increasingly, even irrefutably, clear: President Barack Obama is about as visionary as the guy who invented Dippin' Dots, Ice Cream of the Future. Far from sketching out a truly forward-looking set of policies for the 21st century, as his supporters had hoped, Obama is instead serving up cryogenically tasteless and headache-inducing morsels from years gone by."
Fausta has a shorter critique that is also worth reading, as does Kate.
On to something important (in timely fashion, too)
Spengler, from his new perch at First Things:
"If any of you are depressed, morose, despondent, pessimistic, and glum, I have a cost-effective solution. For the price of a dozen sessions with a medicore therapist, you can get on a plane and go to Israel. That will cheer you up. Trust me. Insecurity doesn’t make you unhappy. This life isn’t secure. Shut yourself up in a cave ten miles under the earth with all the distilled water and freeze-dried food you can hoard, equip it with an intensive care unit and a dozen physicians… you still are going to die. Being alive is a very insecure condition as the probability of becoming dead at some future point is — let me check the chart — 100%. Care will slip in through the keyhole, no matter how secure you try to be. But the Israelis have something better than security. They have faith. That’s true even of secular Israelis, for to be an Israeli is a statement of faith.
And that is why Israel is the happiest country in the world."
"If any of you are depressed, morose, despondent, pessimistic, and glum, I have a cost-effective solution. For the price of a dozen sessions with a medicore therapist, you can get on a plane and go to Israel. That will cheer you up. Trust me. Insecurity doesn’t make you unhappy. This life isn’t secure. Shut yourself up in a cave ten miles under the earth with all the distilled water and freeze-dried food you can hoard, equip it with an intensive care unit and a dozen physicians… you still are going to die. Being alive is a very insecure condition as the probability of becoming dead at some future point is — let me check the chart — 100%. Care will slip in through the keyhole, no matter how secure you try to be. But the Israelis have something better than security. They have faith. That’s true even of secular Israelis, for to be an Israeli is a statement of faith.
And that is why Israel is the happiest country in the world."
Monday, April 27, 2009
No way to spin this one
Harvard Law Professor Mary Ann Glendon, a great lady and formidable scholar, releases an open letter to the president of the University of Notre Dame (also available here).
She has declined the Laetare Medal she was to receive at the school's graduation ceremony next month because she wants no part of the school's clumsy attempt to use her own speech to "balance" the commencement address from, and awarding of an honorary degree to, President Obama.
More proof -- as if any were needed -- that Fr. John Jenkins is in over his head (Nice Deb catalogs the ways).
Glendon did right. In Fr. Ray de Souza's words, "It is a rare personage who could ennoble an award by refusing to receive it, but Professor Glendon has done just that."
Postscript: This is not the first time that the current president of the University of Notre Dame has been spanked in an open letter.
Robert Royal has a thoughtful essay on these developments, and John Zmirak is (of course) cuttingly funny.
Here's a bit of Zmirak:
Notre Dame's craven hunger for secular esteem is hardly unique in American Catholic history. Think how giddy with joy we were when the skirt-chasing son of a bootlegging Nazi appeaser won the election in 1960 on the votes of dead Chicagoans. From the grubby, roughnecked immigrant families of eight or nine Vinnies and Patricks who'd filled the ethnic parishes and pickle factories, we'd finally made our way into the "mainstream," to join the lapsing members of the old American elite -- whose Protestant faith and natural virtues were even then dribbling down their pants leg like John Cheever's spilled seventh martini. We've arrived. There goes the neighborhood.
She has declined the Laetare Medal she was to receive at the school's graduation ceremony next month because she wants no part of the school's clumsy attempt to use her own speech to "balance" the commencement address from, and awarding of an honorary degree to, President Obama.
More proof -- as if any were needed -- that Fr. John Jenkins is in over his head (Nice Deb catalogs the ways).
Glendon did right. In Fr. Ray de Souza's words, "It is a rare personage who could ennoble an award by refusing to receive it, but Professor Glendon has done just that."
Postscript: This is not the first time that the current president of the University of Notre Dame has been spanked in an open letter.
Robert Royal has a thoughtful essay on these developments, and John Zmirak is (of course) cuttingly funny.
Here's a bit of Zmirak:
Notre Dame's craven hunger for secular esteem is hardly unique in American Catholic history. Think how giddy with joy we were when the skirt-chasing son of a bootlegging Nazi appeaser won the election in 1960 on the votes of dead Chicagoans. From the grubby, roughnecked immigrant families of eight or nine Vinnies and Patricks who'd filled the ethnic parishes and pickle factories, we'd finally made our way into the "mainstream," to join the lapsing members of the old American elite -- whose Protestant faith and natural virtues were even then dribbling down their pants leg like John Cheever's spilled seventh martini. We've arrived. There goes the neighborhood.
At least as good as anything Jabez said
So Thomas, Jane, and I had said the Lord's Prayer in the car while I was driving them to school, and I asked if the kids wanted "to throw any other prayers into the pot."
Jane's reply was immediate: "No, Dad. I don't boil my prayers."
"What I meant was, do you want to add a prayer of your own?"
And so she did:
"Dear God: Please help this sick, sick world. Amen."
Jane's reply was immediate: "No, Dad. I don't boil my prayers."
"What I meant was, do you want to add a prayer of your own?"
And so she did:
"Dear God: Please help this sick, sick world. Amen."
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Orchestration
Orchestration is what makes the Rolling Stones' Ruby Tuesday and the Who's Baba O'Riley great songs.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Nugent at a Tea Party
The rocker and sometime pundit is predictable, but still entertaining, and even -- would you believe it? -- thoughtful.
Something to ponder
Sad-sack parish. Conflicted priest. A grifter who might become an unexpected instrument of grace--
The new movie, "Sinner," won't get the publicity lavished on its inferiors (here's looking at your recent work, Ron Howard), but it sounds like it might be good, and might have something interesting to say about the gift of time.
As for anything else in the news, well (with a hat tip to Foxfier), "Kyrie eleison."
The new movie, "Sinner," won't get the publicity lavished on its inferiors (here's looking at your recent work, Ron Howard), but it sounds like it might be good, and might have something interesting to say about the gift of time.
As for anything else in the news, well (with a hat tip to Foxfier), "Kyrie eleison."
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
A little song dedication
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers singing "I Won't Back Down," posted in honor of Miss California, because her stand in defense of marriage is more principled than Dick Cheney's "release ALL the memos" snark to the president.
Carrie Prejean sticks to her guns, and good for her. Even Matt Lauer seems impressed in spite of himself, as well he should be, because "Sister Prejean" has beauty and courage. Contrary to the slanders she's now enduring from some quarters, she's no bigot; she's just a lovely young woman trying to give Christian witness to a world still surprised and discomfited by that.
There are those who will say that Prejean has not shown courage. They'd substitute the tamer "gumption" or "spunk" or perhaps even the critical "foolishness." I'd argue otherwise (even on San Jacinto Day), because in baseball terms, she's following through. She could have checked her swing. The followup interview embedded below is evidence that chose not to, and while grievance-mongers now point to her "runner up" status to suggest that she struck out, the rest of us think she hit a line drive in the culture wars. I'm chalking that up as a run batted in.
Prejean, it's safe to say, is not among those people who prefer to think of Jesus as what Christopher Johnson at MCJ calls -- with firmly tongue in cheek and wit honed to a keen edge -- "some first-century Jewish performance artist."
I won't even name the "celebrity blogger" whose infantile reaction to opposition cost Prejean a pageant crown, because he's an emotive little twit who seems manifestly unfamiliar with hypocrisy and logic. He doesn't even rise to the none-too-impressive level of political correctness.
Best thing to do is pray for all concerned (Prejean in another interview said she was doing just that-- now there's a role model).
And you know what? Sarah Palin was a beauty pageant runner-up, too.
Carrie Prejean sticks to her guns, and good for her. Even Matt Lauer seems impressed in spite of himself, as well he should be, because "Sister Prejean" has beauty and courage. Contrary to the slanders she's now enduring from some quarters, she's no bigot; she's just a lovely young woman trying to give Christian witness to a world still surprised and discomfited by that.
There are those who will say that Prejean has not shown courage. They'd substitute the tamer "gumption" or "spunk" or perhaps even the critical "foolishness." I'd argue otherwise (even on San Jacinto Day), because in baseball terms, she's following through. She could have checked her swing. The followup interview embedded below is evidence that chose not to, and while grievance-mongers now point to her "runner up" status to suggest that she struck out, the rest of us think she hit a line drive in the culture wars. I'm chalking that up as a run batted in.
Prejean, it's safe to say, is not among those people who prefer to think of Jesus as what Christopher Johnson at MCJ calls -- with firmly tongue in cheek and wit honed to a keen edge -- "some first-century Jewish performance artist."
I won't even name the "celebrity blogger" whose infantile reaction to opposition cost Prejean a pageant crown, because he's an emotive little twit who seems manifestly unfamiliar with hypocrisy and logic. He doesn't even rise to the none-too-impressive level of political correctness.
Best thing to do is pray for all concerned (Prejean in another interview said she was doing just that-- now there's a role model).
And you know what? Sarah Palin was a beauty pageant runner-up, too.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
First Things reenlists in the zombie wars
The post title is, if you'll pardon the expression, dead serious.
To understand why, you'll have to read Joseph Bottom's essay explaining the task of First Things magazine as it looks to a future without Fr. Richard John Neuhaus at the helm.
Bottom suggests that American culture has grown increasingly unserious, and not in a good way. The evidence for that assertion is pockmarked with zombie tracks not quite identified as such, but only because First Things has a literary reputation to uphold.
Bottom does say that "it's not just an obviously unconstitutional proposal in Connecticut that gives one the uncanny sense of dealing with the undead," before going on to tag the "triumphalistic rhetoric with which President Obama recently announced his administration's commitment to embryonic stem-cell research-- and the hosannas with which it was greeted by the likes of the New York Times" as further marks of encroaching zombiedom (my phrase, not his).
Bottom then asserts that the task of First Things is to call our culture back to moral seriousness.
It is, I think, a worthwhile mission, well-suited to an editorial staff that appears to have a good mix of Franciscan bonhomie and willingness to mix it up with opponents when necessary. As a mission, it is also noteworthy for being related to the encouragement of healthy skepticism with regard to self-help nostrums and to fortitude in the continuing battle that Mark Shea dubbed "Christ vs. (Eckhardt Tolle's) Power of Now."
Here's Shea, describing the field of battle:
Tolle's simplistic counsel [to abandon the past and ignore the future] overlooks the fact that Christ bids us only to abandon our sins, not the past. It ignores the fact that the command is to not worry about the future, not to utterly ignore it.
That's because Christ knows that the thing that makes us uniquely human is our ability to remember the past and hand it to our children. Not simply our own personal past (a dog can do that with its puppies), but the pasts of millions of others. That is what a culture and a civilization is, and that is why Israel's entire history is one long and careful act of remembering, studded with feasts, rites, rituals, and monuments designed to make sure that their past is not abandoned. Indeed, all civilizations are marked by this commitment to memory. That's why, in contrast to Tolle's nonsensical feel-good counsel, the central command of the entire Christian tradition is, "Do this in memory of me."
Shea's argument goes hand-in-glove with this thought from Fr. Neuhaus:
At the deepest level the two cities [what Saint Augustine famously called the "City of God" and the "City of Man"] are in conflict but, along the way toward history’s end, they can be mutually helpful. The polis constituted by faith delineates the horizon, the possibilities and the limits, of the temporal polis. The first city keeps the second in its place, warning it against reaching for the possibilities that do not belong to it. At the same time, it elevates the second city, calling it to the virtue and justice that it is prone to neglect. Thus awareness of the ultimate sustains the modest dignity of the penultimate.
To understand why, you'll have to read Joseph Bottom's essay explaining the task of First Things magazine as it looks to a future without Fr. Richard John Neuhaus at the helm.
Bottom suggests that American culture has grown increasingly unserious, and not in a good way. The evidence for that assertion is pockmarked with zombie tracks not quite identified as such, but only because First Things has a literary reputation to uphold.
Bottom does say that "it's not just an obviously unconstitutional proposal in Connecticut that gives one the uncanny sense of dealing with the undead," before going on to tag the "triumphalistic rhetoric with which President Obama recently announced his administration's commitment to embryonic stem-cell research-- and the hosannas with which it was greeted by the likes of the New York Times" as further marks of encroaching zombiedom (my phrase, not his).
Bottom then asserts that the task of First Things is to call our culture back to moral seriousness.
It is, I think, a worthwhile mission, well-suited to an editorial staff that appears to have a good mix of Franciscan bonhomie and willingness to mix it up with opponents when necessary. As a mission, it is also noteworthy for being related to the encouragement of healthy skepticism with regard to self-help nostrums and to fortitude in the continuing battle that Mark Shea dubbed "Christ vs. (Eckhardt Tolle's) Power of Now."
Here's Shea, describing the field of battle:
Tolle's simplistic counsel [to abandon the past and ignore the future] overlooks the fact that Christ bids us only to abandon our sins, not the past. It ignores the fact that the command is to not worry about the future, not to utterly ignore it.
That's because Christ knows that the thing that makes us uniquely human is our ability to remember the past and hand it to our children. Not simply our own personal past (a dog can do that with its puppies), but the pasts of millions of others. That is what a culture and a civilization is, and that is why Israel's entire history is one long and careful act of remembering, studded with feasts, rites, rituals, and monuments designed to make sure that their past is not abandoned. Indeed, all civilizations are marked by this commitment to memory. That's why, in contrast to Tolle's nonsensical feel-good counsel, the central command of the entire Christian tradition is, "Do this in memory of me."
Shea's argument goes hand-in-glove with this thought from Fr. Neuhaus:
At the deepest level the two cities [what Saint Augustine famously called the "City of God" and the "City of Man"] are in conflict but, along the way toward history’s end, they can be mutually helpful. The polis constituted by faith delineates the horizon, the possibilities and the limits, of the temporal polis. The first city keeps the second in its place, warning it against reaching for the possibilities that do not belong to it. At the same time, it elevates the second city, calling it to the virtue and justice that it is prone to neglect. Thus awareness of the ultimate sustains the modest dignity of the penultimate.
And it's no, nay, never
Quin Hilyer on how the Obama administration treats even innovative problem-solving ideas from Republicans like the man swearing off his "wild rover" days in the drinking song.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Numbers game
"A hundred million here, a hundred million there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money, even in Washington."
That's what the president said today. But Rick Moran is not impressed. Not when statements like that come from the guy who decided (or let Nancy Pelosi decide) that trillion was the new billion.
UPDATE: Ace quotes the AP: "The thrifty measures Obama ordered for federal agencies are the equivalent of asking a family that spends $60,000 in a year to save $6."
That's what the president said today. But Rick Moran is not impressed. Not when statements like that come from the guy who decided (or let Nancy Pelosi decide) that trillion was the new billion.
UPDATE: Ace quotes the AP: "The thrifty measures Obama ordered for federal agencies are the equivalent of asking a family that spends $60,000 in a year to save $6."
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Like a ghost in a post at Get Religion
Gary Sheffield of the New York Mets hit his 500th major league home run, and congratulations to him for that-- he seems a class act.
The story about that feat is also notable for another class act: one Chris Matcovitch, a 22-year-old who caught the home run ball from his seat in the stands, and willingly returned it to Sheffield:
Though he doesn't have a job and says he's broke -- he'll graduate from St. Thomas Aquinas College in three weeks -- Matcovich said he never seriously considered selling the ball.
"I respect the game too much to sell it or keep it," Matcovich said. "That's [Sheffield's]. He worked so hard for it. If I hit a 500th home run, I'd wish somebody would do that for me."
Sheffield clearly appreciated Matcovich's gesture.
The story about that feat is also notable for another class act: one Chris Matcovitch, a 22-year-old who caught the home run ball from his seat in the stands, and willingly returned it to Sheffield:
Though he doesn't have a job and says he's broke -- he'll graduate from St. Thomas Aquinas College in three weeks -- Matcovich said he never seriously considered selling the ball.
"I respect the game too much to sell it or keep it," Matcovich said. "That's [Sheffield's]. He worked so hard for it. If I hit a 500th home run, I'd wish somebody would do that for me."
Sheffield clearly appreciated Matcovich's gesture.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Martha Bassett in concert
Martha performed with bassist Patrick Lawrence at the General Store Cafe in Pittsboro, NC, earlier tonight. They were great. Martha can sing gospel, bluegrass, folk, country, and jazz with the best of them, and Pat has fun on his upright bass even while harmonizing impeccably.
I hadn't seen them in concert since a music festival last October, and Martha cut another record ("Sinner's Prayer") meanwhile.
Big themes and little ones
Art compared speeches. The result is interesting, and should not be pigeonholed as visual evidence of the difference between idealism and pragmatism (not least because pragmatism has lately taken some lumps from its alleged allies).
It's no wonder some people feel cheated (link is to Instapundit, who typically avoids cussing, but if you go from there to the source he recommends, namely Nick Gillepsie of Reason magazine's "Hit & Run" column, Nick's entertaining rant minces no words).
It's no wonder some people feel cheated (link is to Instapundit, who typically avoids cussing, but if you go from there to the source he recommends, namely Nick Gillepsie of Reason magazine's "Hit & Run" column, Nick's entertaining rant minces no words).
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Finding that Road to Emmaus
Archbishop Dolan says it could be the road you're already on, even if you're not anywhere near the Five Boroughs. CWN has more.
Lotta great people on that road. Here's another one (another two, if you count both the editor and the subject of the post).
Lotta great people on that road. Here's another one (another two, if you count both the editor and the subject of the post).
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Did Fr. Jenkins cost himself a mitre?
In Catholic-speak, what Damian Thompson of the United Kingdom is suggesting is that the president of the University of Notre Dame blew any chance he had of eventual promotion to bishop. But if Lisa Fabrizio is right, this might be a blessing in disguise.
Queen Esther and religious freedom
This essay was actually published last week, but Ashley Samelson's thoughts have no expiration date.
Sweet 16 questions for a bookie?
Not that kind of bookie.
The literary kind, like Julie (at the link) or The (very happy) Anchoress.
I hope Bookworm and Palmtree Pundit play with this meme, too.
I noticed that the questions vary a bit from blogger to blogger (one list does not ask what book other people would be surprised to hear that you've read, while another list makes a point of asking that. For anyone who wants to know my answer to that question, the obvious pick would probably be prima ballerina Suzanne Farrell's autobiography, Holding On to the Air).
1. Most treasured childhood book(s)?
The Mad Scientists’ Club, by Bertrand R. Brinley
Starship Troopers, by Robert A. Heinlein
2. Classic(s) you are embarrassed to admit you’ve never read?
Anything by Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, or Anton Chekhov
3. Classics you read, but hated?
Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens
The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
Hotel New Hampshire, by John Irving
4. Favorite genre(s)?
Historical fiction, Alternate history
5. Favorite light reading?
Chandler-esque detective fiction
6. Favorite heavy reading?
Christian apologetics and theology (esp. by Ratzinger, Kreeft, and Thomas Howard)
7. Last book(s) you finished?
Reckless Homicide, by Ira Genberg
8. Last book(s) you bailed on?
Running Scared, by Edward T. Welch
(which is actually not a bad book, although I thought at the time it belabored the obvious)
9. Three (only three!) books on your nightstand?
Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes, by Belsky and Gilovich
Reluctant Saint: The Life of Francis of Assisi, by Donald Spoto
(I can't remember the name of the third or fourth book, and one of them will probably have to make way for The King of California anyway.)
10. Book(s) you’ve read more than once?
Red Sky at Morning, by Richard Bradford
A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole
Grizzly Years, by Doug Peacock
11. Book(s) that meant the most to you when you were younger (i.e., college/young adult)?
A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert M. Pirsig
Karen, by Marie Killilea
Red Storm Rising, by Tom Clancy
12. Book(s) that changed the way you looked at life?
Introduction to Christianity by (then) Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
Three Philosophies of Life, by Peter Kreeft
A Guide for the Perplexed, by E.F. Schumacher
Give Us This Day, by Sidney Stewart
13. Favorite books
Red Sky at Morning, by Richard Bradford
Seabiscuit, by Laura Hillenbrand
Night Watch, by Terry Pratchett
Thud! by Terry Pratchett
The Right Stuff, by Tom Wolfe
The Wild Shore, by Kim Stanley Robinson
The Court-Martial of George Armstrong Custer, by Douglas C. Jones
The Miracle Detective, by Randall Sullvan
14. Favorite author(s)
Tom Wolfe, Terry Pratchett, Ellis Peters, Tony Hillerman, Dean Koontz, Loren D. Estleman, Jeff Schaara, John Steinbeck
15. Desert Island Book (apart from the Bible and a wilderness survival text)
(tie) He Leadeth Me, by Fr. Walter Ciszek, S.J.
(tie) Jesus of Nazareth, by Pope Benedict XVI
(tie) Guess How Much I Love You? by Sam McBratney
BONUS! Desert Island Book for Your Worst Enemy
The collected works of Dan Brown and W.E.B. Griffin
(hey, they might make good tinder)
The literary kind, like Julie (at the link) or The (very happy) Anchoress.
I hope Bookworm and Palmtree Pundit play with this meme, too.
I noticed that the questions vary a bit from blogger to blogger (one list does not ask what book other people would be surprised to hear that you've read, while another list makes a point of asking that. For anyone who wants to know my answer to that question, the obvious pick would probably be prima ballerina Suzanne Farrell's autobiography, Holding On to the Air).
1. Most treasured childhood book(s)?
The Mad Scientists’ Club, by Bertrand R. Brinley
Starship Troopers, by Robert A. Heinlein
2. Classic(s) you are embarrassed to admit you’ve never read?
Anything by Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, or Anton Chekhov
3. Classics you read, but hated?
Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens
The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
Hotel New Hampshire, by John Irving
4. Favorite genre(s)?
Historical fiction, Alternate history
5. Favorite light reading?
Chandler-esque detective fiction
6. Favorite heavy reading?
Christian apologetics and theology (esp. by Ratzinger, Kreeft, and Thomas Howard)
7. Last book(s) you finished?
Reckless Homicide, by Ira Genberg
8. Last book(s) you bailed on?
Running Scared, by Edward T. Welch
(which is actually not a bad book, although I thought at the time it belabored the obvious)
9. Three (only three!) books on your nightstand?
Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes, by Belsky and Gilovich
Reluctant Saint: The Life of Francis of Assisi, by Donald Spoto
(I can't remember the name of the third or fourth book, and one of them will probably have to make way for The King of California anyway.)
10. Book(s) you’ve read more than once?
Red Sky at Morning, by Richard Bradford
A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole
Grizzly Years, by Doug Peacock
11. Book(s) that meant the most to you when you were younger (i.e., college/young adult)?
A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert M. Pirsig
Karen, by Marie Killilea
Red Storm Rising, by Tom Clancy
12. Book(s) that changed the way you looked at life?
Introduction to Christianity by (then) Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
Three Philosophies of Life, by Peter Kreeft
A Guide for the Perplexed, by E.F. Schumacher
Give Us This Day, by Sidney Stewart
13. Favorite books
Red Sky at Morning, by Richard Bradford
Seabiscuit, by Laura Hillenbrand
Night Watch, by Terry Pratchett
Thud! by Terry Pratchett
The Right Stuff, by Tom Wolfe
The Wild Shore, by Kim Stanley Robinson
The Court-Martial of George Armstrong Custer, by Douglas C. Jones
The Miracle Detective, by Randall Sullvan
14. Favorite author(s)
Tom Wolfe, Terry Pratchett, Ellis Peters, Tony Hillerman, Dean Koontz, Loren D. Estleman, Jeff Schaara, John Steinbeck
15. Desert Island Book (apart from the Bible and a wilderness survival text)
(tie) He Leadeth Me, by Fr. Walter Ciszek, S.J.
(tie) Jesus of Nazareth, by Pope Benedict XVI
(tie) Guess How Much I Love You? by Sam McBratney
BONUS! Desert Island Book for Your Worst Enemy
The collected works of Dan Brown and W.E.B. Griffin
(hey, they might make good tinder)
Why John Zmirak is worth reading
The man appears to have spent the better part of his career cultivating a sense of fun in writing:
The flippant amoralism that made Oscar Wilde's plays so piquantly outrageous was once the province of isolated individuals -- flamboyant aesthetes wearing green carnations, crypto-cynical statesmen who wrapped Realpolitik in velvet platitudes, and sociopaths hammering rocks on chain gangs. The history of the 20th century amounted, in one sense, to the mass-marketing of such morals. This happened most obviously in sexual ethics. As Maggie Gallagher observed in her neglected classic of social criticism Enemies of Eros, attitudes once reserved to corrupt elites and the underclass became common property in the 1960s, when bohemianism and egalitarianism met and had an affair. Their love-child, the Sexual Revolution, was popularized in magazines like Playboy that encouraged Everyman to adopt the mating behavior of decadent aristocrats seducing flower girls. Both sexes of every age were taught to emulate the randomized randiness of the stereotypical 16-year-old boy.
The flower girls found their revenge, of course, in the form of modern Feminism -- a medley of toxic ideological elements patched together in service of righteous anger at the beastliness of men. Men like Hugh Hefner really did deserve to have to listen to women like Betty Friedan, who famously compared her comfy suburban home to a concentration camp. But did the rest of us?
The flippant amoralism that made Oscar Wilde's plays so piquantly outrageous was once the province of isolated individuals -- flamboyant aesthetes wearing green carnations, crypto-cynical statesmen who wrapped Realpolitik in velvet platitudes, and sociopaths hammering rocks on chain gangs. The history of the 20th century amounted, in one sense, to the mass-marketing of such morals. This happened most obviously in sexual ethics. As Maggie Gallagher observed in her neglected classic of social criticism Enemies of Eros, attitudes once reserved to corrupt elites and the underclass became common property in the 1960s, when bohemianism and egalitarianism met and had an affair. Their love-child, the Sexual Revolution, was popularized in magazines like Playboy that encouraged Everyman to adopt the mating behavior of decadent aristocrats seducing flower girls. Both sexes of every age were taught to emulate the randomized randiness of the stereotypical 16-year-old boy.
The flower girls found their revenge, of course, in the form of modern Feminism -- a medley of toxic ideological elements patched together in service of righteous anger at the beastliness of men. Men like Hugh Hefner really did deserve to have to listen to women like Betty Friedan, who famously compared her comfy suburban home to a concentration camp. But did the rest of us?
Best of the TEA Party invitations
TEA, of course, means "taxed enough already."
Bill Whittle looks back at the Founding Fathers for inspiration.
Although local morning radio hosts Brad and Britt were careful to say that's there's an important difference between "taxation without representation" and today's "taxation with lousy representation," they neglected to mention mitigating factors that make today's "tea parties" legitimate heirs of the tax protest tradition. Princeton Univsersity Press author Alvin Rabushka, for example, notes that by today's standards, "the overall level of taxation in the colonies was extremely light." Moreover, "The burden of a tax must take into account the losses of economic activity associated with the tax, whether it is imposed on property, labor, trading, or consumption."
Neo-Neocon has more.
Bill Whittle looks back at the Founding Fathers for inspiration.
Although local morning radio hosts Brad and Britt were careful to say that's there's an important difference between "taxation without representation" and today's "taxation with lousy representation," they neglected to mention mitigating factors that make today's "tea parties" legitimate heirs of the tax protest tradition. Princeton Univsersity Press author Alvin Rabushka, for example, notes that by today's standards, "the overall level of taxation in the colonies was extremely light." Moreover, "The burden of a tax must take into account the losses of economic activity associated with the tax, whether it is imposed on property, labor, trading, or consumption."
Neo-Neocon has more.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
A lesson in charity
Julie has more patience for this question about prayer than I would have had.
I am the furthest thing from an expert in prayer, I hasten to add, but it seems to me that when you believe something is dreadfully wrong, you pray for its end, not its diminishment.
After being admonished to make her prayers to end abortion more realistic, Julie says: "I must say that this concept [of self-defeating "realism" in prayer-- ed.] never occurred to me. The God who resurrected His Son from the dead, who has legions of angels all around us, who created the universe ... surely to make sure our prayers are "realistic" is to attempt to leash that God to our limited imagination?
I am the furthest thing from an expert in prayer, I hasten to add, but it seems to me that when you believe something is dreadfully wrong, you pray for its end, not its diminishment.
After being admonished to make her prayers to end abortion more realistic, Julie says: "I must say that this concept [of self-defeating "realism" in prayer-- ed.] never occurred to me. The God who resurrected His Son from the dead, who has legions of angels all around us, who created the universe ... surely to make sure our prayers are "realistic" is to attempt to leash that God to our limited imagination?
Remembering The Bird
Kevin Hench posts a nice appreciation of the late, great Mark Fidrych.
How could you not like a major league pitcher who talked to the ball, or who sent unused balls back to the umpire if he thought they had hits in them?
Joe Posnanski of Sports Illustrated has a few thoughts to share about the man, also. I particularly like this vignette:
He sprinted out to congratulate fielders who made nice plays. He never took any of it for granted. "It's either this," he often said, "or working at the gas station back home."
How could you not like a major league pitcher who talked to the ball, or who sent unused balls back to the umpire if he thought they had hits in them?
Joe Posnanski of Sports Illustrated has a few thoughts to share about the man, also. I particularly like this vignette:
He sprinted out to congratulate fielders who made nice plays. He never took any of it for granted. "It's either this," he often said, "or working at the gas station back home."
Have you ever seen the San Joaquin?
The elusive but vastly influential J.G. Boswell died recently, as Laer reminds us, and I hear that the story of how he built an agricultural empire in the San Joaquin Valley is a good one.
May Boswell rest in peace. I have that biography -- The King of California -- and hope to read it soon.
The post title alludes to Boswell's sphere of influence, but it's also a tip of the hat to folk singer Joyce Woodson.
May Boswell rest in peace. I have that biography -- The King of California -- and hope to read it soon.
The post title alludes to Boswell's sphere of influence, but it's also a tip of the hat to folk singer Joyce Woodson.
Riled up
Editors at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette have had it with politically-correct language, and write entertainingly about the "foofaraw" over a literary allusion from a North Carolina congresscritter who failed to choose her words as carefully as some might wish. "The PC Police have flash-banged through another door, " the editors write, and then it's off to the races, where the shades of Mark Twain and Joel Chandler Harris are invoked as talismans.
In a related vein, I have often wondered why the Walt Disney company now considers Song of the South an embarrassment, while continuing to treat Pocahontas as though she were what Owen Gleiberman memorably described as "an aerobicized Native American superbabe."
The wholly-imaginary Princess Jasmine from the Disney movie Aladdin has a lot to answer for, too. (Entertainment Weekly didn't let Mr. Gleiberman review that film, but probably should have, because his review might have had more teeth than the one they ended up with from second-stringer Ty Burr.)
When you get right down to it, the bowdlerization of discourse is close cousin to the dilution of dogma for which the religious left is known.
I think Stephen Colbert (for example) understands that, in ways that his overmatched guest Bart Ehrman cannot.
In a related vein, I have often wondered why the Walt Disney company now considers Song of the South an embarrassment, while continuing to treat Pocahontas as though she were what Owen Gleiberman memorably described as "an aerobicized Native American superbabe."
The wholly-imaginary Princess Jasmine from the Disney movie Aladdin has a lot to answer for, too. (Entertainment Weekly didn't let Mr. Gleiberman review that film, but probably should have, because his review might have had more teeth than the one they ended up with from second-stringer Ty Burr.)
When you get right down to it, the bowdlerization of discourse is close cousin to the dilution of dogma for which the religious left is known.
I think Stephen Colbert (for example) understands that, in ways that his overmatched guest Bart Ehrman cannot.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Summarizing evidence for the Resurrection
Mark Shea does a good job of packing a lot into one article.
See also N.T. Wright, Anglican bishop of Durham (England):
Easter was the pilot project. What God did for Jesus that explosive morning is what he’s intending to do for the whole of creation. We who live in the interval between Easter and that eventual hope are called to be new-creation people, here and now. That is the hidden meaning of the greatest festival Christians have.
[snip]
First century Jews who followed would-be prophets and Messiahs knew perfectly well that if your leader got killed by the authorities it meant you’d backed the wrong man. You then had a choice: either give up the revolution, or get yourself a new leader. Going around saying he’d been raised from the dead wasn’t an option.
Unless he really had been. Jesus of Nazareth was certainly dead by the Friday evening; Roman soldiers were professional killers, and wouldn’t have allowed a not-quite-dead rebel leader, as they imagined him to be, to stay that way for long. When the first Christians told the story of what happened next, they were precisely not saying "I think he’s still with us in a spiritual sense" or "I think he’s gone to heaven" or "let’s continue his work anyway". All these have been suggested by people who have lost their historical, and well as their theological, nerve.
See also N.T. Wright, Anglican bishop of Durham (England):
Easter was the pilot project. What God did for Jesus that explosive morning is what he’s intending to do for the whole of creation. We who live in the interval between Easter and that eventual hope are called to be new-creation people, here and now. That is the hidden meaning of the greatest festival Christians have.
[snip]
First century Jews who followed would-be prophets and Messiahs knew perfectly well that if your leader got killed by the authorities it meant you’d backed the wrong man. You then had a choice: either give up the revolution, or get yourself a new leader. Going around saying he’d been raised from the dead wasn’t an option.
Unless he really had been. Jesus of Nazareth was certainly dead by the Friday evening; Roman soldiers were professional killers, and wouldn’t have allowed a not-quite-dead rebel leader, as they imagined him to be, to stay that way for long. When the first Christians told the story of what happened next, they were precisely not saying "I think he’s still with us in a spiritual sense" or "I think he’s gone to heaven" or "let’s continue his work anyway". All these have been suggested by people who have lost their historical, and well as their theological, nerve.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Blessed Easter!
Thomas and Jane had not been on the altar server schedule for Easter Sunday Masses at our parish, but both got an unexpected chance to serve at the "overflow" Mass where Cathleen and I were lectors. It was a good reminder that even a gym can be consecrated space.
Fr. Mike preached from an angle I had not heard before, namely, that Jesus turns everything upside down. We don't typically welcome emptiness, he said. An empty wallet is a worrisome thing. An empty water class on the nightstand can be frustrating. An empty promise cannot be trusted.
But an empty tomb is an entirely different story. That's an emptiness that we glory in, an emptiness that can fill us if we let it, just as it filled Peter and Paul and John and Mary Magdalen and (soon enough) disciples walking the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus.
Fr. Mike preached from an angle I had not heard before, namely, that Jesus turns everything upside down. We don't typically welcome emptiness, he said. An empty wallet is a worrisome thing. An empty water class on the nightstand can be frustrating. An empty promise cannot be trusted.
But an empty tomb is an entirely different story. That's an emptiness that we glory in, an emptiness that can fill us if we let it, just as it filled Peter and Paul and John and Mary Magdalen and (soon enough) disciples walking the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Legacies and evils and pirates
Oh, my!
(Some things that the captain and crew of the Maersk Alabama already know, beautifully articulated by Andrew C. McCarthy)
The New York Times also has a profile of the captain.
UPDATE, Easter Sunday: Good news as reported in the NYT and in the WaPo.
UPDATE, April 14: Here's an informative look at the costs of modern piracy. And I do like the way that Neo-Neocon tracks this story.
(Some things that the captain and crew of the Maersk Alabama already know, beautifully articulated by Andrew C. McCarthy)
The New York Times also has a profile of the captain.
UPDATE, Easter Sunday: Good news as reported in the NYT and in the WaPo.
UPDATE, April 14: Here's an informative look at the costs of modern piracy. And I do like the way that Neo-Neocon tracks this story.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Some Good Friday thoughts for 2009
Judge Vito M. DeStefano takes a legal view of the proceedings recorded in the gospel:
For a judge to commit any of the wrongs committed by Pilate on the bench—abrogating his duty to render a just decision on the merits, pandering to public opinion, repeatedly vacillating and temporizing, and imposing an undeserved sentence—would constitute gross weakness and incompetence. But to commit all of these acts in a single case is an abomination. That the people who handed Christ over to him may have been guilty of the greater sin (John 19:11) and that Pilate unwittingly cooperated in God’s salvific plan, does not absolve him of his guilt in failing to treat an innocent man with justice.
Elizabeth "The Anchoress" Scalia is characteristically thoughtful:
To enter [Jerusalem] with [Jesus] means to suffer with him, to die with him, and finally at the end also to rule with him…This is our comfort; we shall see him again. First Judea and Jerusalem, judgment, death, the tomb. Then Galilee, life and sight: “When I shall have risen you will see me.”
Life hangs on to the issue of death; whoever goes with the Lord to die, goes with him to live and rule; whoever dares to go the way to Jerusalem will not miss the way to Galilee. The law that we must die in obedience to God means that death opens up to life…
Of course she has other thoughts also worth reading. See also Tom K's reflections on the last words of Christ -- Wow. Nearly Neuhaus-level.
UPDATE: Jennifer focuses more on the upcoming Easter Vigil, but she's always a pleasure to read, and Nice Deb has a fascinating Shroud of Turin post up, although YouTube says that one of the videos to which she linked is no longer available. Let's not forget that Amanda Witt is back in fine inspirational form, either.
Because the shroud is an ancient linen cloth, it reminded me of this passage in Donald Spoto's book, Reluctant Saint: The life of Francis of Assisi:
"Francis was no theoretician of the spiritual life. He never spoke of God in any but experiential terms, because he was a witness to a living and acting God. He could speak only of what he saw, heard, and felt. In this regard, he remains before us, across the centuries, as an example of what God can do-- which is primarily to astonish, to alter radically the way we live and move. In the dramatic passages of his own life, and the remarkable ways in which a genial but rather shallow young playboy became a model of service to the world, he revealed that God is present in time and history. In other words, he has such credibility because he demonstrated that we are at our best when we dare to allow God into our lives."
Thanks to Bill K. for the embedded video. And FWIW, I agree with Phil Lawler about annual failure.
Thursday, April 09, 2009
Peggo my heart
"Obama, Noonan, and O'Hannigan" has all the makings of comically dysfunctional law firm, but in fact it's a list of the personalities involved in a new essay for American Spectator Online.
This essay is a little longer than my usual riff, but I worked hard to ensure that it would be posted before the next Peggy Noonan column, which her employers at the Wall Street Journal will probably publish tomorrow.
What the piece is about is that I like Peggy Noonan a lot, but think Barack Obama has her flummoxed.
I packed the essay with enough metaphors and analogies to fill an Easter basket, none of them gratuitous.
This essay is a little longer than my usual riff, but I worked hard to ensure that it would be posted before the next Peggy Noonan column, which her employers at the Wall Street Journal will probably publish tomorrow.
What the piece is about is that I like Peggy Noonan a lot, but think Barack Obama has her flummoxed.
I packed the essay with enough metaphors and analogies to fill an Easter basket, none of them gratuitous.
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Better than a seminar in rhetoric
Fellow bloggers have their thinking caps on, and these are just a few of the nuggets to be had out there in the 'sphere.
Ace writes about point of view and the subtle way that mainstream journalists treat Democrats like verbs and Republicans like the direct objects of those verbs.
Ann Althouse features a great First Amendment quote from Justice Scalia.
Kate joins Dan Collins in rolling her eyes at the administration.
Dawn Eden follows a wonderful quote of the day with the recommendation to send "knee-mail."
Last but not least, Anthony Esolen writes about songs in the movies of John Ford. It's not a fluffy piece, as you can tell from this snippet:
For an atheist, even those functional atheists who make a hobby out of churchgoing but who do not actually believe that any of the Creed is true, cannot sing, not in Ford's sense. People may sing for diversion, or may listen to singing for entertainment, and there's nothing wrong with that. But if you have no sense for the mysterious and transcendent -- if you do not bow in humility before the mysteries of Man and Woman and Child, let alone God -- then you have nothing that will unite you and your fellows in gratitude to sing about, and certainly no one beyond yourselves to sing to. The clodhopping farmers of Drums Along the Mohawk are happy to be together at the barn dance to celebrate a wedding, not just because a wedding is an excuse for drinking, but because any wedding is to them like a moment's reentry into Eden, or a moment's foreshadowing of heaven.
Ace writes about point of view and the subtle way that mainstream journalists treat Democrats like verbs and Republicans like the direct objects of those verbs.
Ann Althouse features a great First Amendment quote from Justice Scalia.
Kate joins Dan Collins in rolling her eyes at the administration.
Dawn Eden follows a wonderful quote of the day with the recommendation to send "knee-mail."
Last but not least, Anthony Esolen writes about songs in the movies of John Ford. It's not a fluffy piece, as you can tell from this snippet:
For an atheist, even those functional atheists who make a hobby out of churchgoing but who do not actually believe that any of the Creed is true, cannot sing, not in Ford's sense. People may sing for diversion, or may listen to singing for entertainment, and there's nothing wrong with that. But if you have no sense for the mysterious and transcendent -- if you do not bow in humility before the mysteries of Man and Woman and Child, let alone God -- then you have nothing that will unite you and your fellows in gratitude to sing about, and certainly no one beyond yourselves to sing to. The clodhopping farmers of Drums Along the Mohawk are happy to be together at the barn dance to celebrate a wedding, not just because a wedding is an excuse for drinking, but because any wedding is to them like a moment's reentry into Eden, or a moment's foreshadowing of heaven.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Super Troupers
Freeze warnings are posted for central North Carolina tonight, so daughter Jane's softball team practiced under the lights wearing every hooded sweatshirt they could find.
Monday, April 06, 2009
Weigel whaps the Chicago Tribune
Several editors in the Windy City evidently flunked Journalism 101, so George Weigel gives them a remedial lesson on how (and whether) to argue with a Catholic bishop (boldface below is mine):
Jimmy Carter’s Mariology is quite probably as dubious as the rest of his opinions; and it would take a true “I Like Ike” fanatic to suggest that the Liberator of Europe could tell Cyril of Alexandria from Nestorius. Yet both were welcomed at Notre Dame, and rightly so (even if Carter took the occasion to bemoan America’s “inordinate fear of communism”). The Obama difference is not that the 44th president has his doubts about certain recondite doctrines buried in the fine print of the Catechism of the Catholic Church; the difference is that Obama is wrong, dead wrong, on the first principle of justice, according to which innocent human life deserves the protection of the laws in any just society. Indeed, the administration’s aggressive expansion of the abortion liberty and its parody of moral reasoning in its stem-cell research decision suggest not merely a disagreement with that first principle of justice, but a determination to eradicate it from the American public square.
Jimmy Carter’s Mariology is quite probably as dubious as the rest of his opinions; and it would take a true “I Like Ike” fanatic to suggest that the Liberator of Europe could tell Cyril of Alexandria from Nestorius. Yet both were welcomed at Notre Dame, and rightly so (even if Carter took the occasion to bemoan America’s “inordinate fear of communism”). The Obama difference is not that the 44th president has his doubts about certain recondite doctrines buried in the fine print of the Catechism of the Catholic Church; the difference is that Obama is wrong, dead wrong, on the first principle of justice, according to which innocent human life deserves the protection of the laws in any just society. Indeed, the administration’s aggressive expansion of the abortion liberty and its parody of moral reasoning in its stem-cell research decision suggest not merely a disagreement with that first principle of justice, but a determination to eradicate it from the American public square.
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Strange vocabulary and wondrous singing
"We've just entered a week filled with political corruption, moral cowardice, religious hyprocrisy, and physical violence. And yet we call this 'Holy Week.'
It seems we have a strange vocabulary."
-- Monsignor Tim, in his Palm Sunday homily after the reading of Mark 14:1 to 15:47.
Those of us at that particular Mass this morning were also blessed to hear soloist Jung Hye (Teresa of Jesus) Kim sing "The Holy City." She sings like an angel.
It seems we have a strange vocabulary."
-- Monsignor Tim, in his Palm Sunday homily after the reading of Mark 14:1 to 15:47.
Those of us at that particular Mass this morning were also blessed to hear soloist Jung Hye (Teresa of Jesus) Kim sing "The Holy City." She sings like an angel.
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Freedom from multiple perspectives
I just finished reading Father Walter Ciszek's He Leadeth Me. I got the book through an interlibrary loan from the Belmont Abbey College Library, and at the recommendation of Jennifer, whose judgment in books is apparently as sound as her judgment in guest bloggers.
Fr. Ciszek's book is a seamless mix of autobiography, theology, and inspiration, written by an American priest who survived 23 years in Soviet prisons and gulags between 1941 and 1963.
Ciszek is now with the Lord. The insights that he shares about accepting and then embracing the will of God in all things are wonderful. I'd warmly recommend He Leadeth Me to any thoughtful Christian.
After having read his story, I was naturally moved by the eerily similar story of Ignatius Cardinal Kung Pin Mei as told by the Anchoress in the context of some thoughts on the nature of freedom. Anchoress also quotes G.K. Chesterton and C.S. Lewis.
The men who warned against a "tyranny of good intentions" from the comfort of their armchairs seem to be in surprising accord with the men whose freedom was curtailed in communist prisons.
Fr. Ciszek's book is a seamless mix of autobiography, theology, and inspiration, written by an American priest who survived 23 years in Soviet prisons and gulags between 1941 and 1963.
Ciszek is now with the Lord. The insights that he shares about accepting and then embracing the will of God in all things are wonderful. I'd warmly recommend He Leadeth Me to any thoughtful Christian.
After having read his story, I was naturally moved by the eerily similar story of Ignatius Cardinal Kung Pin Mei as told by the Anchoress in the context of some thoughts on the nature of freedom. Anchoress also quotes G.K. Chesterton and C.S. Lewis.
The men who warned against a "tyranny of good intentions" from the comfort of their armchairs seem to be in surprising accord with the men whose freedom was curtailed in communist prisons.
Friday, April 03, 2009
Wherever two or three are gathered in my name
Lisa Miller, who writes a religion column for Newsweek, doesn't know why Sarah Palin wanted a prayer partner, and thinks her frustration at not finding one among McCain staffers before a debate might have been alleviated if she thought someone else was "worthy enough" to pray with her.
The mind boggles.
Hat tip to James Taranto.
Second hat tip to Charlie at Another Think, for pointing me to Mollie's comments on this at [The Press Doesn't] Get Religion.
The mind boggles.
Hat tip to James Taranto.
Second hat tip to Charlie at Another Think, for pointing me to Mollie's comments on this at [The Press Doesn't] Get Religion.
A Mexican interlude
Fred Reed (who lives there) says that Mexico doesn't have a drug problem; "it has a United States problem."
Glenn Reynolds says "Whoa, Nelly, let's not pile onto Uncle Sam," at least not with bogus statistics about how guns get south of the Rio Grande.
UPDATE: Scattered Mexican devotion to "Saint Death" can't be blamed on the United States, although some people work overtime to make sure we have no reason to turn our collective noses up at this superstition born of ignorance. We in the "first world" have idols enough of our own.
And a sidebar: what Hillary Clinton does not know is that in Catholic circles, Our Lady of Guadalupe is known as the "Patroness of the Americas." That means, of course, that it's not only Mexicans who have what she rather comically called "a marvelous virgin" -- everybody in North, Central, and South America has special claim to "Notre Dame" when that is loosely translated as "our spiritual mother." Catholic thought ties together in many different ways.
It's too bad Humberto Fontova concentrates on Cuban issues and pummeling the ghost of Che Guevara; I'd love to sit in on a roundtable conversation between Mr. Fontova, Mr. Reed, Ms. Tish Hinojosa, one or two of my Mexican-American uncles, and perhaps also the very opinionated "Mark in Mexico."
If Glenn Reynolds were at the same table, he could blog the conversation, although tending to the blender and the margarita mix would seem a more useful activity (not just for him).
Glenn Reynolds says "Whoa, Nelly, let's not pile onto Uncle Sam," at least not with bogus statistics about how guns get south of the Rio Grande.
UPDATE: Scattered Mexican devotion to "Saint Death" can't be blamed on the United States, although some people work overtime to make sure we have no reason to turn our collective noses up at this superstition born of ignorance. We in the "first world" have idols enough of our own.
And a sidebar: what Hillary Clinton does not know is that in Catholic circles, Our Lady of Guadalupe is known as the "Patroness of the Americas." That means, of course, that it's not only Mexicans who have what she rather comically called "a marvelous virgin" -- everybody in North, Central, and South America has special claim to "Notre Dame" when that is loosely translated as "our spiritual mother." Catholic thought ties together in many different ways.
It's too bad Humberto Fontova concentrates on Cuban issues and pummeling the ghost of Che Guevara; I'd love to sit in on a roundtable conversation between Mr. Fontova, Mr. Reed, Ms. Tish Hinojosa, one or two of my Mexican-American uncles, and perhaps also the very opinionated "Mark in Mexico."
If Glenn Reynolds were at the same table, he could blog the conversation, although tending to the blender and the margarita mix would seem a more useful activity (not just for him).
Remembering Wallace Hartley and his bandmates
Bill Whittle pays tribute to the eight heroic young musicians on the Titanic who decided to keep playing as the ship sank, even though their employer treated them as second-class citizens.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Compare and contrast (Dionne and Jillette)
Patterico's blog has an interesting squib up. It explains why Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne could learn a lot from magician Penn Jillette. Both men wrote recently about President Obama (I linked to Jillette's op-ed earlier today), but only the ex-carny knows the score.
As opposed to "flexibly" pro-life?
Yes, that is an odd phrase in the post heading, as the editors of Get Religion are at pains to explain to Los Angeles Times columnist Tim Rutten, who is unclear about quite a lot.
Rutten apparently considers people like Cardinal Francis George of Chicago on the "fringe" of the church.
From the Sun-Times story at the link:
Cardinal Francis George called the University of Notre Dame’s decision to invite President Obama to speak at its commencement an “extreme embarrassment” to Catholics.
“It is clear that Notre Dame didn’t understand what it means to be Catholic when they issued this invitation,” George said Sunday while speaking at a conference hosted by the archdiocese’s Respect Life office in Rosemont.
Michael New sees a silver lining in the May 17 commencement speech controversy, thanks to Professor Mary Ann Glendon.
Rutten apparently considers people like Cardinal Francis George of Chicago on the "fringe" of the church.
From the Sun-Times story at the link:
Cardinal Francis George called the University of Notre Dame’s decision to invite President Obama to speak at its commencement an “extreme embarrassment” to Catholics.
“It is clear that Notre Dame didn’t understand what it means to be Catholic when they issued this invitation,” George said Sunday while speaking at a conference hosted by the archdiocese’s Respect Life office in Rosemont.
Michael New sees a silver lining in the May 17 commencement speech controversy, thanks to Professor Mary Ann Glendon.
No more waiting to exhale
Now we know -- or have been glaringly reminded -- about those upside-down priorities, that vindictiveness, and what Jay Homnick calls the "Three (ways of making us) Stooges." Tea leaves are there for the reading, as it were (Charles Krauthammer is especially adept at doing that). Dishonesty runs rampant.
That said, Quin Hillyer's look back at Mussolini seems overwrought to me, but only in the sense of having used too much oregano in the pasta sauce; it's still recognizable as pasta sauce-- which is to say that Hillyer's argument can't be dismissed, because it's the voice of sweet reason compared to some of what's out there. Frankly, even "fringe" positions are fast accumulating passport stamps enough to go mainstream, thanks to federal over-reach and trashing of the Constitution.
Like Cassandra says, with tongue firmly in cheek, "when the going gets tough, the tough go opinion-shopping."
That said, Quin Hillyer's look back at Mussolini seems overwrought to me, but only in the sense of having used too much oregano in the pasta sauce; it's still recognizable as pasta sauce-- which is to say that Hillyer's argument can't be dismissed, because it's the voice of sweet reason compared to some of what's out there. Frankly, even "fringe" positions are fast accumulating passport stamps enough to go mainstream, thanks to federal over-reach and trashing of the Constitution.
Like Cassandra says, with tongue firmly in cheek, "when the going gets tough, the tough go opinion-shopping."
When priests indulge in April Foolery
On any other day, a memo like this one about liturgical music for the upcoming Easter Vigil would scare me.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
The $64.00 question
Or one of them, anyway, as posed with a mixture of mirth and righteous indignation, by Gary Graham:
Does this ‘crisis’ justify transforming the most successful nation in the history of mankind into some socialist Euro-trash model of twisted central-authority collectivist oligarchy?
Does this ‘crisis’ justify transforming the most successful nation in the history of mankind into some socialist Euro-trash model of twisted central-authority collectivist oligarchy?
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