Malaysian "Idol"

Well, not "idol," that would be blasphemous. But an "Idol" style contest to find the next young imam. Fascinating.

"Glorify God By Your Life"

Chaput the Great gave the Hillenbrand lecture at St. Mary of the Lake in Chicago last week. He spoke on evangelization and  renewal of liturgy.

He begins with the end --the end of an open letter Romano Guardini sent to a group gathering in Meinz for the 3rd German Liturgical Conference in the heady atmosphere post publication of the Vatican II document on the liturgy. Guardini praised the work of Vatican II and had many positive things to say, but closed with a reflection on the nature of worship.

Is not the liturgical act, and with it all that goes under the name ‘liturgy,’ so bound up with the historical background—antique or medieval or baroque—that it would be more honest to give it up altogether? Would it not be better to admit that man in this industrial and scientific age, with its new sociological structure, is no longer capable of the liturgical act?

That was radical, Chaput observes: 

Guardini’s remark caused quite a stir. But there’s no evidence that theologians or liturgists ever took his concerns seriously. Let me say that I do. I think he put his finger on one of the key questions of mission in his time, and also in ours.

The problem?

What Guardini meant by the liturgical act was the transformation of personal prayer and piety into genuine corporate worship, the leitourgia, the public service that the Church offers to God. He recognized that the Church’s corporate prayer was very different from the private prayer of individual believers.
The liturgical act requires a new kind of consciousness, a “readiness toward God,” an inward awareness of the unity of the whole person, body and soul, with the spiritual body of the Church, present in heaven and on earth. It also requires an appreciation that the sacred signs and actions of the Mass -- standing, kneeling, singing and so forth -- are themselves “prayer.”
Guardini believed that the spirit of the modern world was undermining the beliefs that made this liturgical consciousness possible.

Chaput goes on to address that problem in a contemporary American context. RTWT.

My New BFF

I've been enjoying Simcha Fisher's columns and blogging at Inside Catholic. Like this follow-up to a testy commenter. (Which was prompted by this). Hee.

Turns out she has her own blog again after a hiatus, where even the FAQs tell you she's funny.

McChrystal Flap

Shamelessly pinched from NLT.

Gone Prayin'

I'm off on my annual retreat. Pray for me, please, (and for Mr. W., who has to deal with the Weedlets alone) and I'll mumble a few beads for y'all too.

Pre-posted a few items next week so you won't forget me utterly. In the meanwhile, I'm sure the Queen of Links will keep on top of things.

Generation Gap

Pardon the language but....

 Click to enlarge.

Who Could Be Against Arts Education?

Um, me, if it's like this.

a growing movement of art education professors and others who think that the primary aim of art education should be to achieve what they view as "social justice." Their influence is evident in the NAEA, which adopted "Art Education and Social Justice" as this year's convention theme. To drive the message home, the logo employed for the meeting was the raised-fist symbol commonly associated with radical political activism—in this instance, clenching a pair of paint brushes.

No thanks. How about teach the kids to draw and read music instead?

The Big Heart Of Manute Bol

I knew Manute Bol only as the gangly 7 foot 7 shot blocker for the Washington Bullets.

I was saddened to learn of his recent death at the age of 47, but fascinated to learn of his life outside of basketball.

The LA Times obituary notes he had a cv unlike anyone else in the NBA:

A member of the Dinka tribe and the descendant of chiefs, Bol once killed a lion with a spear while herding cows.

Bol was also a committed Christian who spent down his $6 million in NBA earnings helping his people in Sudan. As he once told Sports Illustrated,

God guided me to America and gave me a good job. But he also gave me a heart so I would look back.

and:

"There’s no way I can put the money in my pocket while my people are getting beat up,” Bol once said. “Whatever I can do to help my people I will do. I feel whatever I make here I make for my people.

His own family was killed by Darfurians during the Sudanese civil war, yet his was one the first and most vocal voices on behalf of Darfur when Arab Muslims began their ethnic cleansing in the region. He always said extremists were the enemy, not Muslims. In an effort to get NATO to help, he met with 40 Congressman and people at the Pentagon to get help against the slaughter, arguing that UN efforts were failing and the African Union was too weak to do anything. Then he did everything he could in Sudan itself.

During his playing career, Bol went into war zones to help the Lost Boys and other refugees. Sometimes, those visits were interrupted by bombings from warlords who viewed Bol as a threat.
He was once promised a Sudanese cabinet post but refused once he found out he would be required to convert to Islam. He then couldn’t leave the country for nearly five years. 

While in Sudan he contracted Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, a painful disease that causes among other things the loss of patches of skin. That contributed to his death.

Bol was hospitalized in mid-May during a stopover in Washington after returning to the United States from Sudan, where Bol was helping build a school in conjunction with Sudan Sunrise. Bol had stayed in Sudan a week longer than anticipated after the president of southern Sudan asked Bol to make election appearances to help counter corruption.
Prichard said that Bol knew he needed medical care but put it off because the president asked him to stay.
“There’s no question Manute gave his life for his country,” Prichard said, adding that Bol said in the hospital “I did it” in having the election turn out the right way. 

Jon Shields has a nice piece in this morning's WSJ about Manute Bol, and here's more from Pamela Geller, who knew him.

Duck, Duck, Jooos

Dutch police use decoy Jews to catch anti-Semites.

Update: I've been trying to imagine what it would entail, this being a decoy Jew. How would you fake being Jewish in a way that would draw public attention? Demand horseradish from the sidewalk hotdog vendor? Ask penetrating questions at public lectures?

Now She's Just Showing Off

"Hope you don't mind," my mother says to me offhandedly (dinner w/ the folks tonight). "We're just having steak, corn and tomatoes."

Just everything that's good in summer. 

Electoral College May Lose Tenure

Enslavement to Los Angeles & New York National Popular Vote is getting traction: three important votes coming up in the next few weeks.

NPV has come startlingly close to success even as most Americans remain completely unaware that the presidential-election process is so close to being turned on its head.

Badger Breakfast

Found this in a friend's google reader: They turn up their snouts at any cereal but corn flakes.

Oz Left Rudderless

Rudd resigns, ninme/wheatandweeds blog corridor breathlessly awaits explanation/assessment from on the scene correspondent Brett McS.

Freakishly Long Tennis Match

Game suspended at the end of its second day.

Out-Europing Europe

Congressman Ryan comments on how we're adopting the very policies the rest of the world is now abandoning as failed. Tell me again why this is called "progressive?"

Meanwhile...

• Russia repeals capital gains tax. 
• North Korea turns to free market.
• "Decisive" German budget cuts.
• France's "austerity plan."
• Spanish austerity plan.
• Greek austerity plan.
• UK deficit cuts.
• Soaring costs cause Canada to rethink health care.

Afghanistan Blowing Up

I don't understand what's going on between Gen. McChrystal and the administration. He certainly knows better than to mouth off --and to Rolling Stone of all things? Which suggests desperation or rank stupidity. I have heard from folks who've traveled to Afghanistan recently that the arbitrary deadline is "not helping," to use the strongest criticism any official will utter publicly. Our boys are trying to effect another "Anbar Awakening," but no one's going to turn on the Taliban knowing that a year from now the allies will be gone and the Taliban will come for revenge.

At any rate: this ain't good, in fact it's double plus ungood, whatever it is.

Norko Perestroika

I know I missed the news for a week, but I haven't seen any commentary on this.

Bowing to reality, the North Korean government has lifted all restrictions on private markets -- a last-resort option for a leadership desperate to prevent its people from starving. 

Continuing:

In recent weeks, according to North Korea observers and defector groups with sources in the country, Kim Jong Il's government admitted its inability to solve the current food shortage and encouraged its people to rely on private markets for the purchase of goods. Though the policy reversal will not alter daily patterns -- North Koreans have depended on such markets for more than 15 years -- the latest order from Pyongyang abandons a key pillar of a central, planned economy.
With November's currency revaluation, Kim wiped out his citizens' personal savings and struck a blow against the private food distribution system sustaining his country. The latest policy switch, though, stands as an acknowledgment that the currency move was a failure and that only capitalist-style trading can prevent widespread famine.

Isn't that, um, kind of a big deal? Because after Perestroika comes Glasnost, and then....

You're Absolutely Necessary...Whatever You Are

Refrained from posting the President's Father's Day proclamation on Father's Day, so as not to spoil the mood, but...yeesh. It starts out nicely, if a bit treacly:

From the first moments of life, the bond forged between a father and a child is sacred.  Whether patching scraped knees or helping with homework, dads bring joy, instill values, and introduce wonders into the lives of their children.  Father's Day is a special time to honor the men who raised us, and to thank them for their selfless dedication and love.

And moves on to the essential role and duty of a father:

Fatherhood also carries enormous responsibilities.  An active, committed father makes a lasting difference in the life of a child.  When fathers are not present, their children and families cope with an absence government cannot fill.  Across America, foster and adoptive fathers respond to this need, providing safe and loving homes for children facing hardships.

But then he goes and spoils it all by saying:

Nurturing families come in many forms, and children may be raised by a father and mother, a single father, two fathers, a step father, a grandfather, or caring guardian.

So now it's mothers who aren't necessary --and indeed are absent from 4 of the 6 scenarios he lists. Back in May it was fathers who superfluous, two or one mom being perfectly sufficient, according to the official proclamation.

I understand he's trying to recognize all the permutations that actually exist, but in so doing he ceases to speak of fatherhood or motherhood in any meaningful way, and only to rather neutered "role-modeling."

Now instead of Mother's Day and Father's Day, we have two "Whatevs. It's all good" days. 

They Really Were On A Mission From God?

Blues Brothers recommended by Vatican? Well...by an editor at L'osservatore Romano, anyway.

Secular Mecca

 

Well, we did it: we paid homage to The Mouse. It wasn't so bad, either, though it is now safe to admit I was not looking forward to the trip (and am not sorry I lobbied heavily for the shorter of the two packages Mr. W. was considering. No one needs that many consecutive days at an amusement park, no matter how good).

There remain aspects of "the Disney experience" I don't understand. Like why any adult who wasn't entertaining kids would go there. Or how people manage to live in Florida in summer (it was hot. And humid. Not DC on the 4th of July hot and humid. Worse. And the pool water feels like you've jumped into a bucket of someone's perspiration).

Or Epcot. Epcot has always sounded like a giant trade show to me, and behold, I was right.

Or souvenir shops connected with every major attraction. I guess some people buy t-shirts for every ride. Why, I can't imagine.

But coming off my snooty suspicious-of-Disney-because-of-stuff-it-did-in-the-Eisner-years high horse, I have to admit the Magic Kingdom was fun to re-visit (we went as little kids to DisneyLand) with my own kids, and the Haunted Mansion absolutely holds as much wonder, humor and charm as ever. And apart from Epcot, which didn't really enchant any of us, the other companion parks on the "four parks,one world" tour were also pleasing.
 
There's a wonderful featurette on Walt Disney's career at one of the parks in which, during an interview, Disney describes how he hit on the idea for the original "Magic Kingdom." He'd take his two daughters out for some fun --but for him their outings consisted mostly of him watching them on the jungle gym, him watching them at the carousel. He thought there should be some place where parents and kids could have fun together. And the place really is that.

There's none of the seediness of so many amusement parks, they work to keep the places meticulously clean, the staff is unflaggingly courteous and not only courteous, but helpful -- they notice if you're bewildered and actively help you out. Magic Kingdom (the original park) is proudly and un-ironically patriotic --it really is an homage of sorts to America. This was surprising to me --and refreshing. "Wholesome" isn't a word I've associated with Disney since I was a kid, but it came back last week.

Additionally, there's real craftsmanship in creating the atmosphere and scenery of the rides, and not only the rides, but the entire waiting area leading up to them. On "Expedition Everest," for example, as you progress through the line you go through painstakingly re-created Himalayan passport checkpoints, then a little museum with artifacts from peoples in the Himalayas, and finally a museum dedicated (w/ delightful wit) to artifacts of the Yeti (who is going to attack you on the ride). Nothing feels like it was just plopped out to make a few bucks; you can imagine people having fun coming up with all the little details and taking pride in what they were creating.

They're just amusement parks, but they are very nice ones, and I relent my disdain.

We chose now to go because....well, partly because we expect to be in economic ruin for the rest of our lives. (Even if the economy doesn't further collapse, we still have high school and college tuitions upon us.) But also because we figure we have a unique window where Eldest Weed isn't too jaded to hate it and Youngest Weed isn't too small to be able to ride anything.

All the Weedlets had a ball. Rides are fun, and the kids' unique personalities come through in their reactions. 

• Eldest Weed enjoyed critiquing (not criticizing, mind you, but exercising his faculties) the technical aspects of everything and trying to figure out how certain effects were achieved. 
• Girl Weed turns out to be the household dare-devil. She has an insatiable appetite for only the fastest and most intense coasters. No one else in the family does, so I rode with her in spite of a tendency to motion sickness. If riding Expedition Everest doesn't prove my love, nothing will.
• Littlest Weed is plucky. Two rides brought him to tears because they were too scary: Space Mountain & Expedition Everest. By the end of those two he was just about crying and shouting that he'd "never do this again." Never did a frightening ride prevent him from riding coasters, however. And after each of these, as soon as they stopped he'd announce, "I guess I just have to get used to it. Now I love it!" You cannot now persuade him that Space Mountain was not his favorite ride, though he spent the entire three minutes screaming for it to stop.
• I think ten is the ideal age for Disney, however. Middle Weed was an absolute delight to observe because he is at the precise right age to be taken in by the "magic." Youngest Weed doesn't really notice all the details of scenery and such, I don't think. The older kids understand that everything is pretend. But Middle Weed enters the fantasy, at least partly. For example, during the safari ride at Animal Kingdom, part of the adventure is saving a baby elephant from poachers. He leaned over to me and said, "Mom, do you think we caught poachers for real?"  I could have hugged him. (Actually, I did). 

As a bonus, I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that my two littlest boys usually wanted to ride with me and came up and held my hands voluntarily as we strolled around. I know those days are almost gone, so I am thankful to Disney for several full days of family togetherness and maternal popularity.

A Prayer For Venezuela

Shamelessly pinched from a friend's fb page.

Even Stewart Doesn't Like Obama

The usual warnings about this Jon Stewart clip: language, crude humor, socio-political imbecility.

What is interesting to me is not his opposition to our conduct in the war on terror but the beginning section of the clip, in which he really goes after Obama personally, with something like distaste and disdain. That's new. All other Obama jokes and criticism have been bizarrely respectful and almost apologetic while mocking this or that policy.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Respect My Authoritah
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Merciless Mediocrity

Quote for the day, from Cardinal Henri de Lubac, quoted by Greg Wolfe

There is nothing more demanding than the taste for mediocrity. Beneath its ever moderate appearance there is nothing more intemperate; nothing surer in its instinct; nothing more pitiless in its refusals. It suffers no greatness, shows beauty no mercy.

Coulda Been A Contender

Joe Carter comes up with the most damning indictment yet of the "Painter of Light": namely that he is capable of so much better (both paintings above are his and there are further examples of his wholesome work at the link). If the guy simply had no taste or soul to begin with, it would be one thing, so now the whole oeuvre is just that much more sad.

Carter's conclusion:

Sentimentality, as literary critic Alan Jacobs says in a recent interview with Mars Hill Journal, encourages us to “suspend judgment and reflection in order to indulge deliberately in emotion for its own sake.” Reflection reinforces and strengthens true emotions while exposing those feelings that are shallow and disingenuous. Sentimentalists, however, try to avoid this experience of reality and try to keep people from asking questions by giving them pleasing emotions they have not earned. The shameless manipulation of our emotions, says Jacobs, is the ultimate act of cynicism.

Kinkade’s cottage fantasies offer this sort of emotional manipulation. The cottages are self-contained emotional safehouses in which the viewer can shut himself off from true emotions earned through a real encounter with reality, from the rough and sometimes harsh realities of creation, and—most importantly—from other people. The Cottage by the Sea offers a place where the viewer can enter the perfect world of Kinkade’s creation—and escape the messy world of Kinkade’s Creator.

See also: The Painter of Lite

it would be a mistake to reduce the discussion of sentimentality to a conflict between earnest populists and alienated elites. There have been popular artists, like Shakespeare and Michelangelo, who never seemed to indulge in sentimentality, while some sophisticated artists, such as Raphael and Tennyson, can’t be thought of apart from it. 

a little more:

Kinkade’s patriotism and his attacks on the horrors of artistic modernism are standard-issue conservative notions. When it comes to theology, however, he is a little more original. The majority of his expressions of faith are fairly conventional, solidly within the evangelical mold, but his theological defense of the world depicted in his paintings is that “I like to portray a world without the Fall.” I have yet to encounter any evidence that Kinkade cites scriptural or other warrant for this modus operandi. The Bible, as a narrative, seems fairly explicit about there being a Before and an After. Moreover, Christ’s message was not to pretend the world isn’t fallen but to take up our crosses and follow him through suffering and sacrifice. To create a body of work illustrating a world without the Fall is, for a Christian, to render Christ superfluous.

The more I’ve thought about it, the more it seems to me that Jesus took every opportunity he could to counter sentimentality. At just about every juncture when those around him are tempted to rely upon sentiment, he brings them up short. To the announcement that his mother and brothers have arrived at the edge of the crowd—a Hallmark moment if there ever was one—he replies that only his disciples are his mother and brothers. And the one recorded instance when Jesus weeps takes place after he has deliberately delayed coming to see the dying Lazarus. In John’s recounting of the story, Jesus is clearly moved by the suffering of the man’s family, and perhaps his awareness of this death and resurrection as proleptic of his own passion. But whatever emotions he was feeling—grief, pity, regret—they were inexorably shaped by the reality of the Fall.

"Reckoning"

More Fat Man, courtesy of Brett McS.



Love his point at the end about not wanting to watch his grandkids' little league games via the internet....and look at all the different kinds of people who stood for him at the end.

Lament For The Sense Of Humor

Guy writes a funny piece about how soccer is ruining America. Clearly he doesn't really think so, since he's mostly kvetching about how much time he spends watching his kids' games; if he really thought liberty turned on crushing the game, he wouldn't be raising a new generation of players.

Does that stop loads of people writing earnest rebuttals, and even casting aspersions upon the man's parenting skills?

No, it does not.

If You Like Your Plan, You Can't Keep It

Obamacare regulation: Everyone has to change health care plans within 3 years.

One would like to be shocked, but, duh. The story gives me a chance to plug ObamaCare Watch, though.

Maryland Court Rules Fortune-Telling Is True

...at least potentially. In deciding that a ban on it violates the First Amendment, the court rejected the idea that fortune telling is inherently fraudulent.
Shades of Miracle on 34th Street, but less wholesome. Seems like a good decision though, since the ban read as follows:

Every person who shall demand or accept any remuneration or gratuity for forecasting or foretelling or for pretending to forecast or foretell the future by cards, palm reading or any other scheme, practice or device shall be subject to punishment ....

"any other scheme?" I had no idea it was illegal to forecast the weather or the stock market here.
Curtsy: Hanc Aquam

Gladiator Cemetery Found

Cool.

One of the most significant items of evidence is a large carnivore bite mark -- probably inflicted by a lion, tiger or bear -- an injury which must have been sustained in an arena context," Hunter-Mann said.
The fact that most of the remains were from well-built young males with evidence of much stronger right-arm muscular development also supported the arena link.

This seems like a doubtful supposition, however.

Wysocki said nothing like the deep bite marks had ever been identified before on a Roman skeleton.
"It would seem highly unlikely that this individual was attacked by a tiger as he was walking home from the pub in York 2000 years ago," he said.

Really? Has he been to a pub in York?

Bush Inaugural 2010

His facebook inaugural, that is. I'm impressed with the work of the Bush Institute.

Two Kicks In The Presidential Derriere

Let the record show that Reason tv & Jon Stewart agree that the Prez should kick his own ass, as he colorfully put it. They even share one ground of complaint. In the end, though, Stewart's complaint is ridiculous; I thought liberals were supposed to like nuance and reflection?

Nick Gillespie:


Stewart (w/ the usual language warning AND the last seconds are NSFW or decent people, generally):

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Ass Quest 2010
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Her Name In Lights

So the Empire State building's refusing to honor Mother Teresa. Boo, hiss, to it --it lit up for Mao Tse Tung once-- but I don't get Bill Donahue's bullying a private enterprise to do his bidding. Who is he, Jesse Jackson? She's beatified, which means we're pretty sure she's dwelling in that eternal Light which utterly eclipses both the light from skyscrapers and the petty squabbles we men can dream up.
Donahue says of a planned protest:

I hope it's going to be nonviolent, I wouldn't encourage violence but I know there's a lot of anger.

Agree completely with Christopher Blosser who doubts Mother Teresa would appreciate the "tribute" of a protest over such a thing.

Undisclosed Location

I have departed on a pilgrimage of sorts, about which more later. Have pre-posted a few items for while I'm away, so you'll never miss me.

You Can Tell Your Real Home Town Again

Twitter: Still Useless

Simply put: There was no Twitter Revolution inside Iran.

Dang. I felt such solidarity.

You'll Never Be Lost Until You're Hungry

Shamelessly pinched from here.

DC subway map on a cupcake. Other entries at the link.

Now What Are We Supposed To Call Them?

"Journalist" and "reporter" don't work, since those words imply digging for facts and having some elementary understanding of the subjects you report.
The British alternative "newsreader" doesn't work, either, since clearly these people haven't read anything that's been reported since January.
Creative Minority Report explains what I'm talking about.
The first instance is bad enough, but when the guy weighs in to give a knowing "theological" explanation of the thing they think has never happened that's only happened a kajillion times, I just give up. Can they not use google these people?

Seriously, Where IS Aquaman?

Shamelessly pinched from Secondhand Smoke. Click to enlarge.

Font Of Wisdom

One of the Vatican webmasters apparently wasn't paying much attention during his spell-check, as the encyclicals of Pius XII at the Vatican website read "Times New Roman" every time the pontiff actually wrote "times." Heh.

Could've been worse. Could have been "Mary conceived comic sans sin" or "save us from the fires of helvetica." 

Judicious Fat Man

It's all Fat Man all the time around here, I know. But the guy's just so good.

Word Cup Trash Talk

Most excellent! Barack Obama notwithstanding, the special relationship continues.

Not By Bread Alone, But By Bread As Well

Shamelessly pinched from American Digest, who got it from wsj.

Impossible to overstate how much I love this photo. There are three comforts pictured: low, higher and highest: the cig, the hand of a friend, and the presence of God.

Staff Sgt. Edward Rosa reads the Bible and extends a cigarette to Pfc. Jorge Rostra Obando, who was stunned by an explosion in Afghanistan’s Arghanab Valley. One comrade was killed and two injured in the blast. Pfc. Rostran asked the sergeant to read Psalm 91, a favorite from his childhood.

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High 
shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

 I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: 
my God; in him will I trust.

 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler,
and from the noisome pestilence.

 He shall cover thee with his feathers, 
and under his wings shalt thou trust: 

his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; 
nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; 
nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

 A thousand shall fall at thy side, 
and ten thousand at thy right hand; 
but it shall not come nigh thee.

 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold 
and see the reward of the wicked.

 Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, 
even the most High, thy habitation;

 There shall no evil befall thee, 
neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, 
to keep thee in all thy ways.

 They shall bear thee up in their hands, 
lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: 

the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: 

I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: 

I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.

 With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

That's the one the hug lady gives to every soldier departing for harm's way.

The Boids Are Back In Town

Normally they are compact and silent, but I interrupted feeding time. Momma Robin flew off (but stayed close enough to keep an eye on me) and I caught the three babies yelping for more worm. You can't really tell here, but had I shot the photo from the other side, you could see the robins built an entirely new nest on top of last year's -- now it's a duplex.

Angles On The Oil Spill

Two Louisiana natives covering turf reporters ain't. First up, what people aren't getting about the oil spill crisis. This guy is ticked on two accounts. Lousiana doesn't reap the proceeds of its own oil drilling.

a “compromise” bill was offered by Sen. Landrieu, whereby Gulf States would receive 37.5% of the royalties from federal waters off their coasts, but not effective until 2016.
Port Fourchon alone furnishes between 16-18% of the oil supply for the entire country.  Roughly one-third of U.S. oil production is from offshore production, and 80% of that production is from off our state’s coast.  More than one-fourth of the nation’s oil production comes from off the Louisiana coastline.  Our reserves account for almost 20% of all the U.S. oil reserves, and we also hold 10% of the nation’s natural gas reserves.
We assume risk that other NIMBY states choose not to take in order to help with domestic production of oil and natural gas, yet until 2016, we will get nothing from production more than 3 miles off our coast, and after that, will only receive 37.5%.  Meanwhile, those same states get to enjoy the fruits of offshore royalties pouring into the federal treasury.

 Plus, he's tired of hearing talking heads say Louisiana is reaping the fruits of its "corrupt" oil harvest.

Here is a clue for those people.  We have a 6,000-7,000 square mile Dead Zone in the Gulf right off our coast, where no marine life can survive.  The cause of this huge dead area is NOT oil & gas exploration.  Rather, it is due to farm “run-off”, chemicals pouring into the Mississippi River, then being dumped into the Gulf.  Your farm chemicals have done more damage to our marine resources than all the exploration in the Gulf would ever accomplish.

His solution:

Your state doesn’t want to help produce domestic petroleum.  Fine.  But neither should you reap the benefits of offshore royalties from Gulf of Mexico production.... This is not a Republican/Democrat issue.  Louisiana deserves a greater share of royalties for our risk, and we deserve them now.

Curtsy to Opinionated Catholic's twitter.
Next up, Justin Torres on the spill's effect on New Orleans' recovery.

in New Orleans, downtown lunch patrons formed a long line outside Commerce, a counter lunch joint where ladies who call you “baby” serve the best shrimp and oyster po-boys in the central business district. Better get some shrimp now, they told each other. Who knows when we’ll get it again?
For many Louisianans, the moment the spill went from a personal tragedy and public nuisance to an outright disaster, it had to do, as so much does down here, with food.

Hmm. This throw-away is left unexplained. How can the sea is rising this quickly?

Even before Deepwater Horizon exploded, this area was under stress. The state loses the equivalent of a football field of wetlands every day to rising seas, and Katrina wiped out 217 square miles of coastal wetlands in one day, destroying valuable shrimping and fish-spawning areas.

But the big point is the loss of momentum for a recovering city. RTWT.

Back Seat History Lesson

Seriously, what is this child reading? Conversation with my 6-yr-old on the way to the grocery store yesterday:

Youngest Weed: Mom, do you know who tried to defeat us in World War II?
Me: Who?
YW: Hitler, Benito Mussolini and the Empire of Japan
Me:  (!) /stifled laughter because he's so dang serious and also ever-so-slightly aspirates the "s" of Mussolini

Fearfully ignorant of Stalin, though. 

In Which We Rediscover Duties

It's always, rights, rights, rights these days with nary a thought of concomitant duties. No more. Under the national purification that is Obamacare, there's a duty to die cheaply.

Flotilla Fauxtography

LGF may have gone off the deep end, but it still knows a doctored photo when it sees one. In this case, Reuters cropped the knives and the bleeding wounds of IDF soldiers out of pictures of the Rachel Corrie mission of peace. I'll spare you the pix if you don't want to see them, but if you do, follow the link: yeah, SO peaceful.

The photos are from a Turkish source and CAMERA opines:

Someone at Reuters apparently realizes the bloody version of these pictures, which may boost support for the militant Islamist group among fellow Islamists, might have an entirely different impact on Western audiences. The photographs support Israel's version of events that emphasizes soldiers shot in self-defense to protect themselves from a violent mob.

Net Intelligence: More or Less?

The Wall Street Journal ran competing pieces on whether the internet makes you smarter or dumber. Thanks to the net, I can link them for you here. But I also don't have the depth or attention span to read them.

Keeping Pressure Up Against Helen Thomas

These ugly remarks from Helen Thomas have gotten loads of play, but little official reaction that I could see. There has, however, been at least some fallout for her. Her booking agent dropped her, and she's been uninvited to a local high school commencement as well. (Given the Jewish neighborhood it's in, can't imagine why she was invited in the first place...this is hardly the first time Helen Thomas has said hateful things in public.)


And Lanny Davis has repudiated her, with a clear explanation of what precisely is anti-semitic about her remarks.

Helen Thomas, who I used to consider a close friend and who I used to respect, has showed herself to be an anti-Semitic bigot.  This is not about her criticisms of Israel. She has a right to criticize Israel and that is not the same as being an anti-Semite. 

However, her statement that  Jews in Israel should leave Israel and go back to Poland or Germany is an ancient and well-known anti-Semitic  stereotype of the Alien Jew not belonging in the "land of Israel"  — one that began  2,600 years with the first tragic and violent diaspora of the Jews at the hands of the Romans.  

If she had asked all blacks to go back to Africa, what would the White House Correspondents Association position be as to whether she deserved White House press room credentials — much less a privileged honorary seat?

 So perhaps she will wind up losing her WH seat after all in the end.

Update: Her co-author quits.

Upper-date: related: ninme found a tv anchor upset with CBS' coverage of the flotilla incident.

With all due respect XXXX, I find our coverage of this an abomination. I feel like I want to wash the slime off me when I get off work. I’m embarrassed by our coverage. I take this job and my reputation seriously. But that’s nearly impossible with coverage like this. I hope you’ll respond.

Upperer-date: Helen Thomas retires. She turns 90 in August.

Potpourri of Popery, Corpus Christi in Cyprus Edition

Happy feast of Corpus Christi, when Catholics everywhere adore Christ present in the Eucharist, especially through public processions.
In places where Christians aren't weenies, the feast falls on Thursday. The Pope's Corpus Christi homily from then was lovely ("In what sense is Jesus a priest?"), and accompanied by the usual Eucharistic procession through the streets of Rome.
Today the pope celebrated the feast again in Cyprus, where he spent the weekend, and the local Sufi mystic was among the large crowds happy to see him.

Popery
The official reason for the visit was the consigning of the Instrumentum Laboris (Fr. Samir comments on it here) for the upcoming synod on the Middle East, but one of the major contributors to the document, a Turkish Catholic bishop, was murdered (though apparently not for political reasons) on the way to meet the Pope in Cyprus, so the visit became in a heightened way an "encouragement of the brethren."

He describes his mission in the airplane interview, in which he declined in response to questioning to say anything political about Cyprus or to denounce Israel.

I do not go with a political message, but with a religious message, that must prepare souls more to find openness for peace. These are not things that go from today to tomorrow, but it is very important not only to take the necessary political steps, but above to prepare souls to be capable of taking the necessary political steps, to create that interior openness for peace, that, in the end, comes from faith in God and from the conviction that we are all sons of God and brothers and sisters to each other.

 We'll see him take that up in remarks both to civil authorities and the local Catholic community: build genuine personal friendships with all kinds of people, and those friendships will be the seeds of peace.

First stop: an ecumenical prayer service. The Orthodox welcomed him  (see the cool pix).

At Nicosia he met with politicians and diplomats: the usual message, but in a different form.

When carried out faithfully, public service enables us to grow in wisdom, integrity and personal fulfilment. Plato, Aristotle and the Stoics gave great importance to such fulfilment – eudemonia - as a goal for every human being, and saw in moral character the way to reach that goal. For them, and for the great Islamic and Christian philosophers who followed in their footsteps, the practice of virtue consisted in acting in accordance with right reason, in the pursuit of all that is true, good and beautiful. 

I'm impressed that you can invoke Plato and Aristotle to any effect in any political body in the world!

Is it my imagination or is he much more practical with the Cypriots than with Europeans? Knowing nothing about Cyprus, I'm not sure what that indicates --that is, I can't tell whether in a passage like the following he spells it out for them because he needs to (thanks to Muslim misbehavior and the usual Orthodox-Catholic tensions) or because there's a certain intellectual health in Cyprus that means he can (whereas in Europe everyone's habit of mind is already so corrupt he can only give indications and hope for them to take root). I suspect the latter, but see what I mean. He asks:

what does it mean in practical terms to respect and promote moral truth in the world of politics and diplomacy on the national and international levels? How can the pursuit of truth bring greater harmony to the troubled regions of the earth?

And answers:

promoting moral truth means acting responsibly on the basis of factual knowledge. As diplomats, you know from experience that such knowledge helps you identify injustices and grievances, so as to consider dispassionately the concerns of all involved in a given dispute. When parties rise above their own particular view of events, they acquire an objective and comprehensive vision. Those who are called to resolve such disputes are able to make just decisions and promote genuine reconciliation when they grasp and acknowledge the full truth of a specific question.

next:

A second way of promoting moral truth consists in deconstructing political ideologies which would supplant the truth. The tragic experiences of the twentieth century have laid bare the inhumanity which follows from the suppression of truth and human dignity. In our own day, we are witnessing attempts to promote supposed values under the guise of peace, development and human rights.

finally:

promoting moral truth in public life calls for a constant effort to base positive law upon the ethical principles of natural law. An appeal to the latter was once considered self-evident, but the tide of positivism in contemporary legal theory requires the restatement of this important axiom. Individuals, communities and states, without guidance from objectively moral truths, would become selfish and unscrupulous and the world a more dangerous place to live. On the other hand, by being respectful of the rights of persons and peoples we protect and promote human dignity. When the policies we support are enacted in harmony with the natural law proper to our common humanity, then our actions become more sound and conducive to an environment of understanding, justice and peace.

The pope is amazingly bold in issuing challenges to audiences, but I don't think he's ever just flat spelled it out for people (positivism: bad; ideologies must be deconstructed) --not even his own bishops in Fatima a few weeks ago like that.

Of the Christian community he asked two things: witness, for the good of society at large; and also genuine friendship with other Christians and non-Christians (something he discussed with the politicians and diplomats, too).

 given your unique circumstances, I would also like to draw your attention to an essential part of our Church’s life and mission, namely the search for greater unity in charity with other Christians and dialogue with those who are not Christians....Given your circumstances, you are able to make your personal contribution to the goal of greater Christian unity in your daily lives. Let me encourage you to do so, confident that the Spirit of the Lord, who prayed that his followers might be one (cf. Jn 17:21), will accompany you in this important task.... Only by patient work can mutual trust be built, the burden of history overcome, and the political and cultural differences between peoples become a motive to work for deeper understanding.  

In the Latin parish Church he celebrated Mass, and offered a beautiful homily about the cross and its relationship to hope. This is the central text of his visit, and it culminates in the challenge to priests to accept martyrdom if they can and if it comes to that:

In my thoughts and prayers I am especially mindful of the many priests and religious in the Middle East who are currently experiencing a particular call to conform their lives to the mystery of the Lord’s Cross. Through the difficulties facing their communities as a result of the conflicts and tensions of the region, many families are taking the decision to move away, and it can be tempting for their pastors to do likewise. In situations of this kind, though, a priest, a religious community, a parish that remains steadfast and continues to bear witness to Christ is an extraordinary sign of hope, not only for the Christians but for all who live in the region. Their presence alone is an eloquent expression of the Gospel of peace, the determination of the Good Shepherd to care for all the sheep, the Church’s unyielding commitment to dialogue, reconciliation and loving acceptance of the other. By embracing the Cross that is held out to them, the priests and religious of the Middle East can truly radiate the hope that lies at the heart of the mystery we are celebrating in our liturgy today.

For today's feast of Corpus Christi, the Pope explained the Western Church's devotion, and again urged Christians in Cyprus to be witnesses of hope in the Middle East. The "English" text includes three paragraphs of French, which ain't my language, but this seems to be the gist, following on St. Teresa's remark that with our eyes Christ looks upon the world, with our lips He proclaims his gospel to the world, etc:

However, it is important to understand that when we participate in the Church's work, we are not honoring the memory of a dead hero, extending what he did. Instead, Christ is alive in his body, the Church, his priestly people. By feeding on Him in the Eucharist and receiving the Holy Spirit in our hearts we truly become the Body of Christ that we receive, we are truly in communion with him and with each other, and we become truly instruments, in witness to him before the world.

A few other addresses worthy of note, each from prior to the Cyprus trip:
Remarks for the traditional vigil closing the month of May.

Mary's charity does not stop with concrete aid, but reaches its culmination in giving Jesus himself.... [This]is a communication and a donation that -- as Elizabeth attests -- fills the heart with joy: "For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy." Jesus is the true and only treasure that we have to give to humanity. It is of him that the men and women of our time have profound nostalgia, even when they seem to ignore or reject him. It is of him that the society in which we live, Europe, the whole world, is in great need.

• An audience on St. Thomas Aquinas.
•  Address to the Centesimus Annus foundation.
• Address to Belgian bishops (I think we can conclude the Holy Father does not agree with Joe Biden's assessment of Brussels as capital of the free world.)
• Remarks at the concert in his honor given by the Patriarch of Moscow. (Lovely.)

Next week, to close the Year of the Priest, Benedict is hosting an Encounter With Priests in Rome.

Potpourri

• China:Catholic youth groups in the Tianamen Square remembrance in Hong Kong.
• Great Britain: some kind of hoo-ha over plans for the Pope's trip there in September (this one not caused by Hitchkins).
• Iraq: 5 Christian seats in Parliament
• Italy: 10 European states join its protest over the crucifix ban. The CDF's "promoter of justice" (chief investigator) gave this meditation at a prayer service of reparation for sins of priests; plot to kill the pope? John Paul II, the musical.
• Plus, the Holy See's intervention at the ICC's review of the Rome Statute of the International Court...uggh! Have to study that more but skims to look awful.
• Poland: beatified martyred Solidarity priest Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko today. His mother brought his relics forward to be blessed.
• U.S.: MSM's favorite nun loses her hospital board position; retiring head of CUA made coadjutor of Trenton; controversy over KoC communion policy (I think they're right, but it's complicated);Bishop Zavala on what it means to be "faithful" Catholic media; NYC begins "partnership" ceremonies; Pelosi thinks Jesus wants abortion...or something; Fr. Fessio launches on-line liberal studies program.

And finally, good sign for Catholic/Orthodox relations: nose-y, nose-y, nose-y;  and: Legalism. 

Photo credit: AP Photo/Osservatorio Romano, HO

Agony of Agora

I've now seen a couple of reviews of Alejandro Amenábar's new film Agora,

which purports to be a historical account of the murder of the female philosopher Hypatia by a Christian mob in the early fifth century, of the destruction of the Great Library of Alexandria, and (more generally) of an alleged conflict that raged in the ancient world between Greek science and Christian faith.

Probably none as apt as the 1st reader review currently up at imdb: 

Atheists of the world, unite!

Won't be seeing this one, as it's a prolonged attack on Christianity and I make it a rule never to pay to have a mob incited against me. Especially over events that never occurred, as David Hart explains:

The tale of a Christian destruction of the Great Library—so often told, so perniciously persistent—is a tale about something that never happened. By this, I do not mean that there is some divergence of learned opinion on the issue, or that the original sources leave us in some doubt as to the nature of the event. I mean that nothing of the sort ever occurred.

According to Roman Chronicles, it was actually destroyed by Julius Caesar, in 48 BC, which effectively rules out any Christian collaboration, wouldn't you say?

The event in 391 AD this film allegedly depicts is not ancient book-burning, but the dismantling of the building (NOT the scrolls, which were already elsewhere) where a bunch of Christians had been martyred. Emperor Theodosius ordered the complex dismantled, but notably spared the actual murderers. So it was not one of the great inhumane acts of history. Yes, the building at one time had been the daughter library of the Great Library of Alexandria, but no, it wasn't housing any scrolls at the time of the dismantling.

we have fairly good accounts of that day, Christian and pagan, and absolutely none of them so much as hints at the destruction of any large collection of books. Not even Eunapius of Sardis—a pagan scholar who despised Christians and who would have wept over the loss of precious texts—suggests such a thing. This is not surprising, since there were probably no books there to be destroyed.

The pagan historian Ammianus Marcellinus, describing the Serapeum not long before its demolition, had clearly spoken of its libraries as something no longer in existence. The truth of the matter is that the entire legend was the product of the imagination of Edward Gibbon, who bizarrely misread a single sentence from the Christian historian Orosius, and from it spun out a story that appears nowhere in the entire corpus of ancient historical sources.

Thank you very much, Mr. Gibbon, you old Christian-hating fox.

The movie's also about the murder of Hypatia, a female philosopher, allegedly because she was an educated girl and Christians couldn't have that. You can follow the link to read what a load of old tosh that is at every level, but the nub of it is:

In the royal quarter [of Alexandria], pagans, Christians, and Jews generally studied together, shared a common intellectual culture, collaborated in scientific endeavor, and attended one another’s lectures. In the lower city, however, religious allegiance was often no more than a matter of tribal identity, and the various tribes often slaughtered one another with gay abandon.

Sheesh. Is there not enough actual Christian malfeasance today and in history that we have to make stuff up in order to stir the warming pot of hate and dehumanization of me and my peeps? Or worse, force us to endure reviews like this:

"Agora" has drawn criticism from Catholic organizations for perceived slights against Christians, but its lack of condemnation of specific dogma makes the film's target seem to be fundamentalism in general. "Agora" is about many things, including Hypatia's pursuit of the secrets of heavenly orbits and the frequent fate of intellectual women in rigidly paternalistic societies. But the primary tragedy conveyed is that one of the casualties in a war of ideologies is knowledge.

Ah, those touchy Catholics and their perceived slights.

Here's what I want to know, though. Look at what the film denounces and ask yourself where we have seen these things --and from whom-- in our own time.

a brutish horde of superstitious louts, who despised science and philosophy, and frequently acted to suppress both, and who also had a particularly low opinion of women.

The superstitious destruction of a treasure of antiquity:

supposedly, one tragic day in a.d. 391, the Christians of Alexandria destroyed the city’s Great Library, burning its scrolls, annihilating the accumulated learning of centuries, and effectively inaugurating the “Dark Ages.”

The refusal to educate women:

Thus also, in a.d. 415, a group of Christians murdered Hypatia (young and beautiful, of course, as well as brilliant), not only because of her wicked dedication to profane intellectual culture, but also because of the frowardness with which she had forgotten her proper place as a woman.

The veil:

Apparently, there is a scene in the film in which Hypatia is forced to wear a veil, of a sort vaguely reminiscent of a burqa, which makes about as much sense in a film about late antique Alexandria as a scene set in a singles bar specializing in Hawaiian drinks.

C'mon. Christians don't veil, except in Church. Is it possible Christians in the flick are merely a metaphor and Amenabar is trying to say something about Islam without ending up with a knife in his throat? Because the worst thing Christians are going to do to him is publicize his movie by boycotting it.

Unce Sam Wants YOU To Celebrate Gay Pride Month

Jimmy Akin has the scoop. Here is the presidential proclamation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month, which he "calls upon all Americans to observe."

Strikes me as a smack in the face to observant members of almost every faith. It's not "homosexual equality" month, but LGBT Pride.....Really? We're supposed to be proud of the transgender phenomenon?

Meanwhile.....  40 retired military chaplains (and 140,000+ supporters) have written to the President asking him not to support the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, as it will unleash a witch hunt against Christians and other believers in the military. Actually, "repeal" will simply mean the transfer of the policy from sexuality to religious belief.

"By raising homosexual behavior to the same protected status as innate, innocuous characteristics like race and gender, the armed forces will cast the sincerely held religious beliefs of many chaplains and Service members as rank bigotry comparable to racism," the letter said.

"Put most simply, if the government normalizes homosexual behavior in the armed forces, many (if not most) chaplains will confront a profoundly difficult moral choice: whether they are to obey God or to obey men," the letter said. "This forced choice must be faced, since orthodox Christianity -- which represents a significant percentage of religious belief in the armed forces -- does not affirm homosexual behavior.

Chuck Colson of Prison Fellowship quoted the chaplains letter saying "the former chaplains wrote, 'chaplains might have their ability to freely share their religious beliefs challenged and torn away' in everyday situations. For example, chaplains administer a marriage support program called Strong Bonds, helping couples endure the stresses of military life. Should homosexual conduct be normalized, same-sex couples may sign up for Strong Bonds. But, as the letter states clearly, the beliefs of many chaplains 'would not allow them to support relationships that are both harmful and sinful,'" which would prompt charges of discrimination.

The Flotilla Incident In Satire

Shamelessly pinched from Powerline

It was Israel's fault, however --though not for the reason the useful idiots think.

Shamelessly pinched from ninme.

And every terrible incident needs a pop anthem.

Shamelessly pinched from Brutally Honest

Let the record show, however, that Vice President Biden got it right. And that there's precedent for the blockade of Gaza.

Drink Responsibly

ninme connects the dots in Oz. First she noted the cultural crisis Down Under. (Aussies abandoning beer? The horror!) Then she noted the sad toll on the innocents. (Parakeets obviously taking up the slack.)

Philosophy & Wisdom

Overheard this evening.

1. Surest way to get a rise out of our 6-yr-old is to say he has a girlfriend. So of course the siblings claim it constantly. His frustrated effort to refute the charge this evening was (bellowed at the top of his lungs), "If I was a little girl, my true love would be ME!" Not sure it works as a retort, but he's more right than he knows. 
2. Somehow we got on the topic of the ratings system, the limits of its effectiveness and how we'd alter it. 9-yr-old Weed chimed in. "I'd rate An Inconvenient Truth "R" for Gore." Heh.

"Costs Exhorbitant, Results Insulting"

My love for the fat man grows.
Update: here's a link to the video I first had here; but I'm subbing in an even better one. Same topic, different audience (citizens, not activists), and that's why I prefer it --it shows how a politician can educate an audience about what he's doing and why.


Curtsy: American Digest

France Has A Closet?

What is in it for McDonald's in this ad, do you suppose? I don't see how it would sell a single burger, and is the message necessary (accepting the premise)? In France?

"McDonald's: the place to have excruciating lunches with your fusty ol' man when you'd rather be anywhere else" doesn't seem like a winning message to me.

Neither does "Where the French go to come out."

Sympathy For The Sympathetic

From Sympathy Deformed, by Theodore Dalrymple:

...every virtue can become deformed by excess, insincerity, or loose thinking into an opposing vice. Sympathy, when excessive, moves toward sentimental condescension and eventually disdain; when insincere, it becomes unctuously hypocritical; and when associated with loose thinking, it is a bad guide to policy and frequently has disastrous results. It is possible, of course, to combine all three errors.

What follows is keenly and mordantly observed, as in his take on the logical consequences of the philosophy of one of Britain's charities dedicated to eradicating child poverty through redistribution. The organization defines poverty as having an income less than 60% of the median national income.

This definition, of course, has odd logical consequences: for example, that in a society of billionaires, multimillionaires would be poor. A society in which every single person grew richer could also be one in which poverty became more widespread than before; and one in which everybody grew poorer might be one in which there was less poverty than before. More important, however, is that the redistributionist way of thinking denies agency to the poor. By destroying people’s self-reliance, it encourages dependency and corruption—not only in Britain, but everywhere in the world where it is held.

Dogs Is Good People