Radical Middle

The Super Bowl

2012-01-27T14:04:00.002-06:00

The heart wants a Patriots' win. What the eyes see is that the Giants are really overpowering right now, and Eli is really in a good rhythm. This is the key: Brady must execute perfectly in order to score enough points for a victory.

Classroom talking points

2012-01-27T14:00:00.000-06:00

Faith is not blind.
God is not random.
Scripture has to be read with intelligence.
The world's religions seek truth and hold to it as they see it; Catholics understand that the heart of wisdom is within Jesus' teachings, preserved and protected by their Tradition.

The NFL Playoffs

2012-01-14T12:43:00.000-06:00

The scenarios thus far are interesting:

Texans-Ravens: This game shapes up to be living proof that the modern NFL game is often an exercise in violence and the ability to overcome the attrition of forces. You have to like the Ravens, but I think the Texans are underrated. Can they overcome, eke it out, squeak by?
Packers-Giants: On the face of it, it seems that the team that scores last will win. The Giants are on a hot streak. The Packers have somewhat the better offensive package, but a suspect defense. It's in Green Bay. Will the weather decide? No, the Packers' defense, or the lack of it, will decide the game.
Saints-49ers: The Saints are battle-tested and have Drew Brees. That's got to be enough. Although SF has won a number of critical games, you have to like Brees until the Saints offense prove they can't do it against any defense.
Broncos-Patriots: The Patriots are overwhelming favorites. Belichek and Tom Brady have had time to prepare against Denver's very tough defense. What will decide will be Tim Tebow and the Denver offense can score significant points against the Patriots' underachieving defense.

If it winds up to be Patriots-Saints in the Super Bowl, what will the over/under be?

Summer reading and more

2011-11-23T09:35:00.001-06:00

Basically, a peek at my kindle list:

--The Devil Colony: A Sigma Force Novel.
--A Game of Thrones.
--A Clash of Kings.
--A Storm of Swords.
--A Feast for Crows.
--A Dance with Dragons
--Harvard is Burning. (Lee Siegel's essay on liberal ideology.)
--On Bullshit. (Harry Frankfurt.)

Now I'm growing impatient with GRR Martin, because there appears to be no definite prospect of release on the sixth of the series, only a flippant comment or two on his website. Dude: get on with it.

Beautiful!

2011-05-26T08:51:00.000-05:00

Save Hugh's comments for the campaign. It contains a rubric for scoring the debates the right and effective way.

Well, it's not...

2011-01-28T13:47:00.000-06:00

...like we've been doing NOTHING during these times. Really, I think the revolution has been going pretty strong. However, word needs to get out that the Church IS really a vibrant intellectual community in this nation and around the world.

The ten most underreported studies from 2010 | The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment

2010-12-29T13:07:00.000-06:00

The ten most underreported studies from 2010 | The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment

What are the odds?

2010-12-20T19:51:00.000-06:00

Which is more likely?

----->We're being visited by ET's.

----->The reality of ghosts, the post-dead.

Stresses

2010-12-17T21:15:00.000-06:00

When the history of these times is written, we may become aware of how close our republic has come to tyranny--the usurpation of private rights and dignities in favor of state manipulation. The obsessive adherence of the current majority--may their hegemony be brief!--to the tools of bureaucracy, propaganda and economic disruption creates a pseudo-justification for an ultimately thuggish totalitarianism that cannot be sated. I'm sure there are some in places of influence who work as the engineers of this process in the name of progressive, scientific humanitarianism. What we see is the work of their amateurish, clumsy, uncentered, uncritical and often unwitting minions. And seeing that is a good thing, for this insidious will to power must betray itself by its own contradictions.

Now this is another piece of the puzzle

2010-12-13T12:31:00.000-06:00

Remnants of a pre-Islamic monastery have been discovered in U.A.E. It appears that for at least a time it existed contemporaneously with the nascent Islamic communities in the region. This is very valuable for those who are concerned with periods of religious co-existence, when they occur.

As a Teacher, I like this...

2010-11-30T14:33:00.001-06:00

...and as a parent, even better.
Dennis Prager on Self Esteem and Character.

Is Illegal Immigration Moral? - Victor Davis Hanson - National Review Online

2010-11-27T15:14:00.000-06:00

Is Illegal Immigration Moral? - Victor Davis Hanson - National Review Online

Dr. Hanson raises uncomfortable questions. The conventional answers fly to extreme and false caricatures of the issue, and so avoid harsh truths. We should be able to do better than the go-nowhere dichotomy of justice vs compassion.

Rubio-ism

2010-11-09T13:07:00.000-06:00

Courtesy, NR online:

His thank-you message:

OK, so, is Oddness a theme?

2010-10-20T14:55:00.000-05:00

Or is there some other name for the quality of a person, place, thing or piece of art (including literature) that has that very special stamp of the divine recognizable universally to believers. I say "person" because there are people who have this imprint--the saints, for example. Many of the saints were encountered as "different" during their earthly lives--sometimes bearing a stamp of "be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect," and at other times bearing a mark or seal of genuine strangeness or eccentricity. One would need to pursue testimonies along this line.

The Parting of the Sea

2010-09-21T13:25:00.001-05:00

I ran across a link to this story about the possible scientific plausibility of the incident of the parting of the sea in the Exodus narrative and passed it on to some colleagues. One wrote back asking how I felt about the "literal level" of the Scriptures.

Here's what I answered:

I think the wonder of these writings is that they contain lots of truth that does not depend on the literal meaning—so, “holistic truth.” That part is basically what Tradition teaches, going back to the Fathers. However, the older I get and the more I read, I am more convinced that there is in many stories that don’t pass the historical-critical standard, something like a vestigial and sometimes collective memory at work. There is a “fact-level” that may be open to us if we truly are open to the Scriptures, but it’s buried very, very deeply in the most ancient connections we have to our human past. The stories are “true” in that they are rooted in the theological truth of our nature as God’s children, but they are also likely to be true in having connections to unique experiences at some really old level.

I think, for example, not only of the Moses cycle of stories, but also of the flood narrative—some ancestral part of the faith community underwent a rescue, not just metaphorically, which is nice, but from a vast inundation, and they just knew it was Yahweh who did it. I think parts of the Abraham cycle have this character, also. I see it in the sacrifice of Isaac story. There’s an oddness here that it would be difficult to “make up.” So, while I don’t NEED to tie scriptural stories to science, I think it’s nice when these pregnant connections cause us to wonder.

Morality, Motive and Situation--from Peg and Al

2010-09-19T10:00:00.001-05:00

[Peg and Al are teachers at the same school. Al teaches Math. Peg is in the Social Studies department. It’s a fall Friday afternoon. Al’s in the work room, putting some papers in order. Peg enters.]

Peg: Gee, this building sure got quiet fast. I’m surprised you’re not gone already, too.

Al: I would be gone but I said yes once too often this week.

Peg: What do you mean? Oh, let me guess--you’re staying to sell tickets at the game. Aren’t you tired? It’s been a long week. We’ve had meetings and a late night with the parent conferences.

Al: That’s true, but I promised.

Peg: So, I’m sure someone as bright as you are could come up with SOME reason to get out of it.

Al: You sound like a college friend of mine. She used to call that a “retroactive conflict.”

Peg: So, why not?

Al: Well, I promised.

Peg: Don’t get irritable. I’m just trying to help.

Al: Hmm... I need to get clear on this. Are you trying to help me be unfaithful to my promise or to lie to someone who trusts me?

Peg: Oh, come now. It’s not that big a deal.

Al: Well, it’s enough to bother me.

Peg: But you have a good motive. Even I can see that you’re tired. Go home and rest. In fact, just leave and I’ll go to the AD and give him some sort of alibi.

Al: Don’t even think of doing that.

Peg: Aw, c’mon. I think you’re being picky about it. And, as I say, you have good reason. Go on home.

Al: You’re right. I am being picky about it. In the first place, there’s an effect. Coach has to go impose on someone else. The effect is the same whether I have a good motive or not. It’s still a deception--the nature of the deed doesn’t change one bit. Not one bit. And I know you: as a good teacher, you wouldn’t be very happy if a student misled you about an absence or an assignment, or cheated on their Friday quiz. You wouldn’t let them say they were really tired or had some sort of other urgency to take care of if you knew it wasn’t true.

Peg: I know. That isn’t what I expect from the students in my classes, and I’m pretty clear about that with them. I was just trying to get you out of here to get some rest.

Al: I appreciate the concern. I just don’t think it’s worth lying about. And my being tired is really not the point. I like to keep my word, and I don’t like to tell fibs. It just seems wrong to me, no matter what my motive is.

Peg: But look: It’s not like it’s a matter of life and death. In this situation, you’d really be excused. There‘s a pretty good chance of rain and it isn’t a district game, so the crowd will be minimal. They probably can handle the gate without you.

Al: You might be right about the situation. On the other hand, suppose the crowd is a good one. And there are always things that it just seems to take one more hand and one more pair of eyes to make life easier. I’d hate to just say that “the situation,” whatever it is, will let me off.

Peg: But it’s not a matter of life and death, Al. A lot of what we do, we do based on the situation that we’re in at the moment. I think that’s what makes most of us decide what the “right and wrong” really are.

Al: I know this particular situation is basically trivial, and not the end of the world. BUT if it were the end of the world, I’d hope I could act the same way. I think it’s wrong for a lot of reasons for us to let the situation dictate our actions or how we judge them.

Peg: Why?

Al: Well, let me think. For one thing, there’s habit. Being a good person is about habits. If I can’t figure out and do the right thing in a small, everyday matter of convenience, what’s to guarantee that I’ll have the backbone to do it when there’s a lot on the line, like a business deal or my truthfulness in court? Doing a more difficult thing takes practice. I think the inner math teacher in you would admit that much.

Peg: I think Coach would appreciate that argument, too. It’s not P.M.P, Practice Makes Perfect, but P.P.M.P., Perfect Practice Makes Perfect.

Al: I’m known by what I do, also. I think that’s what we call character. It comes from habits. If I need to hear the truth about something, I go to someone whom I can count on to tell the truth all of the time. It would be a pretty sad world--maybe it already is--if we couldn’t count on enough people to act with integrity no matter what the situation.

Peg: So you’re saying that morality isn’t like “situation ethics,” but more like the nature of each act that we choose.

Al: I wish I had thought of putting it that way!

Peg: Very funny... Now who’s that running down the hall?

[In comes Coach]

Coach: Oh, Al! Great--I knew I could count on you to be here. Listen, the forecast just took a turn for the worse. I just spoke to Coach Lamont from across town. We both have that same bye week later on, so we’re postponing tonight’s game until then. Would you call the rest of the crew and tell them to go home or stay home? Then get yourself home--you really look tired, man.

Al: Sure, Coach, I’ll handle it.

Coach: I know you can. Thanks, Al.

[Exit Coach]

Peg: Don’t say it, Al, don’t even say it. Do you want some help calling the others?

Al: I’ll take the help. Then we can both be out of here with clear consciences.

A question.

2010-09-16T20:56:00.001-05:00

I had occasion to revisit the story of Abraham's near-sacrifice of his son Isaac the other day, and I didn't mind because the story is so haunting and so provocative.

Why did Abraham agree to this act?

Why was he so uncommunicative about it to his son and servant?

Did Isaac resist the final binding on the place of sacrifice?

Did Abraham ever have a doubt?

Why does God stay his hand only at the last second?

Did God have a doubt?

What is the lesson? Does the lesson belong to the realm of faith as the absoluteness of abandonment to the will of the Other? Or does the lesson belong to the realm of morals and the awakening of conscience to the true voice of God, who ultimately forbids barbarism and demands a prudent, orderly, civil and humane faith?

END THEM, DON'T MEND THEM

2010-06-21T16:58:00.000-05:00

A short rundown of some vital public education statistics by P.J.O'Rourke:

END THEM, DON'T MEND THEM

I submit this without comment.

2010-06-21T11:32:00.001-05:00

Hat tip to National Review.

Worth saving

2010-05-09T20:46:00.000-05:00

"In wise love each divines the high secret self of the other, and, refusing to believe in the mere daily self, creates a mirror where the lover or the beloved sees an image to copy in daily life." --Yeats

A picture emerges, but...

2010-04-27T18:43:00.002-05:00

... it may not be the one the administration wants to hear.

Bernanke: "But given the significant costs and risks associated with a rapidly rising federal debt, our nation should soon put in place a credible plan for reducing deficits to sustainable levels over time," using cuts and tax simplification. The Fed chief said the economy is stronger when taxes aren't too high and are collected in an efficient, equitable and transparent way. "At present, a broad consensus exists that the U.S. tax code does not satisfy these criteria and is in need of reform."

Jeepers!

UPDATE 4/28: Another version of the story: "Bernanke said the U.S. economy could not grow its way out of the problem."

"Report says health care will cover more, cost more"

2010-04-24T10:54:00.001-05:00

From this AP summary of the actuarial report: "It's a worrisome assessment for Democrats. In particular, concerns about Medicare could become a major political liability in the midterm elections. The report projected that Medicare cuts could drive about 15 percent of hospitals and other institutional providers into the red, "possibly jeopardizing access" to care for seniors."

I'll guess that we have not heard the end of the reality checking on this plan.

And here's the video report from Fox News.

An essential document

2010-04-24T10:37:00.000-05:00

A Long Post: The Complete List of Obama Statement Expiration Dates - The Campaign Spot - National Review Online

Democracy and learning

2010-04-21T11:18:00.000-05:00

Submitted without further comment, from the Preface to "The Great Conversation"--

We believe that the reduction of the citizen to an object of
propaganda, private and public, is one of the greatest dangers
to democracy. A prevalent notion is that the great mass of
the people cannot understand and cannot form an indepen-
dent judgment upon any matter; they cannot be educated, in
the sense of developing their intellectual powers, but they
can be bamboozled. The reiteration of slogans, the distortion
of the news, the great storm of propaganda that beats upon
the citizen twenty-four hours a day all his life long mean
either that democracy must fall a prey to the loudest and
most persistent propagandists or that the people must save
themselves by strengthening their minds so that they can ap-
praise the issues for themselves.

Saving this video to show later

2010-04-21T09:52:00.002-05:00

May he have a long retirement

2010-04-09T07:54:00.000-05:00

Stupacked himself, apparently.

Krauthammer’s Take on the Mid-terms

2010-04-03T22:02:00.002-05:00

Krauthammer’s Take

More good advice for the loyal opposition. Find a program, express it clearly, don't let up.

A unifying program for Republicans, and citizens of good will.

2010-03-27T22:32:00.000-05:00

Dick Morris has proposed a pretty detailed set of priorities that if followed could provide a unifying focus for the Obamacare resistance. It's worth noting in full:

1. Restore the Medicare cuts mandated in this bill. Block the reduction of physicians' fees by 21 percent scheduled to take effect this fall. Override the cuts in Medicare that require annual approval by Congress. Challenge the Democrats over each and every cut. Try to peel away enough votes to stop the cuts from driving doctors and hospitals to adopt the course already taken by the Mayo Clinic in refusing to take Medicare patients.

2. Defeat the Democrats in the 2010 election! Start with the traitors who voted no in November and then switched to a shameful yes when it counted in March: Baird (Washington), Kosmas, and Boyd (Florida). Then go on to win the open seats in the House and Senate. And then fight to replace as many Democrats as possible. Remember: Any Democrat who voted no would have voted yes if they had needed his or her vote. The only way to repeal Obamacare is to vote Republican.

3. Defund: once we get the majority in both chambers, defund appropriations for the Obamacare program. The bill Congress passed and the president signed is simply an authorization measure. Congress must appropriate funds for it each year. Through zero funding these changes, we can cripple them before they take full effect.

4. Repeal, once we defeat Barack Obama, this disastrous plan before it can ruin our healthcare system. Then, we must replace it with a Republican alternative which relies on the marketplace, tax incentives, and individual responsibility to provide healthcare to all Americans

New vocabulary word

2010-03-23T22:29:00.000-05:00

I'd say the health care debate has given us a new word for our daily vocabulary--"stupack." It may be used in contexts such as

"I got stupacked--I was expecting scallops in white wine, but they served fish sticks."

"The crowd was angry with the show's producer who promised The Rolling Stones, but could only deliver the Herman's Hermits tribute band. Accusations of stupacking abounded."

"My bout with intestinal flu threatened to stupack our planned cruise; fortunately, I recovered in time."

A blend of dashed expectations and unanticipated venality....if that makes sense.

Whipping It: Obamacare Is No Done Deal

2010-03-14T10:10:00.001-05:00

Whipping It: Obamacare Is No Done Deal

See especially the point about Justice Ginsburg--abortion rights and eugenics. She's not the only one.

"Izquierdista estupido"

2010-03-13T21:27:00.002-06:00

What Ozzie Guillen, noted manager and no fool (apparently) as a political analyst, says about Sean Penn's support of the president of Guillen's native Venezuela. Not only that, but "payaso."

From a very clear-eyed observer...

2010-03-11T13:44:00.002-06:00

...named Jacques Maritain (d. 1973), come these two comments:

"I don't see America as a mainland, but as a sea, a big ocean. Sometimes a storm arises, a formidable current develops, and it seems it will engulf everything. Wait a moment, another current will appear and bring the first one to naught."

"The great and admirable strength of America consists in this, that America is truly the American people."

Maritain, a Frenchman, wrote a short testimonial to this country as he found it in the 1940's, called Reflections on America. To some in the current moment, these words are a warning; to others, they are strength and consolation. Be patient. "Stay thirsty, my friends."

Houston, we have a problem....

2010-03-06T10:03:00.004-06:00

Of course, the disinformation officers state solemnly that the electorate who voted in the primary could not possibly know what they were doing. Certainly this is the line of thought offered by those who favor the dictatorship over--er, of--the proletariat. Who among the enlightened would NOT see the wisdom and benevolence of Maximum Headroom--er, Leader?

But, what if they knew what they were doing???

UPDATE:

Now, here's more--good research and some comment.

Saving a video

2010-03-01T20:31:00.000-06:00

Saving this link for future comment....

2010-02-25T18:48:00.002-06:00

... assuming it's not comic enough on its own. An actual PLAN by the Democrats (!?) to flood talk radio with callers who will "refute"--translated "disinform"--on the subject of government-funded comprehensive health care.

This is very good. It will give the opponents of this silliness a wonderful forum to make the case against government health care.

A foolish consistency . . .

2010-02-18T19:15:00.003-06:00

. . . is not necessarily the only sign of insanity. What about a foolish inconsistency, such as the President's conversion to viewing nuclear power as clean energy? Is this just blatant political opportunism, given his campaign comments about the danger of nuclear waste and the uncertainty about storing such material when it expires?

Lately, he's made such flip-flops on a number of issues, with stunning disingenuousness. Does no one in his circle recognize that this isn't a good sign. A general sign of sanity is not necessarily lockstep consistency, but simply lacking recognition that a thing and its opposite cannot be casually swapped like the blue tie or the striped tie is surely not healthy, either. Swapping ties is not a statement of political and intellectual character; reversing positions on issues that matter is such a statement. Either this gentleman and his clique are significantly lacking in principles, or they are suffering from some kind of delusion that reality is simply what is subject to the convenience of their definitions.

It's a little frightening, considering the power they wield.

"Possible upward price pressures in the pipeline"

2010-02-18T09:37:00.003-06:00

Now there are hints that the (inevitable) inflation which must result from the vast increase in government spending may be in evidence. We should hope this is not the case, for two reasons: One, it's just more hardship and pressure on the economy which is struggling to breathe on its own. Two, high inflation will provide another opportunity for the statists to interfere again in the marketplace by imposing controls. Here's another version of the same facts. You'd think that someone may have planned this....

Snow discord

2010-02-14T11:02:00.003-06:00

There were news reports last week about snow in all 50 states and in 49 states. Did anyone ever clarify? I think it far more likely to have been 49, given Hawaii's location in the mid-Pacific. But, someone could look this up--just sayin'.

Ideology is all.

2010-02-03T07:43:00.002-06:00

You see, there are these very persistent leitmotifs that surface whenever the President speaks his real mind on things. "The evil bankers and business barons playing on the company dollar" is one of these, and he cannot resist it no matter how or whom it offends. Epistemologically, he appears to be prisoner of his own head.

Of course even a cursory study of the proposals in his new budget reveals the same thing. No matter how his party gets scolded by the electorate, he returns to the same priorities: spend, tax, the anti-family ideology and the unionized special interests.

Must-read: on the "catechism" of the leftist claque

2010-01-23T10:57:00.003-06:00

Mr. Lowry's current piece on the seemingly intractable ideology of the true supporters of the President is right on target. Unlike them, he has a good ear for what others are saying. The "religion" of what I called "warmed-over Marxism" during the the campaign is beginning to be seen for what it is by pickup-truck driving average American voters. The President can own up to this, or he can continue to believe and recite the mantras (to mix the religious metaphors) that he artfully wove into his very deceptive campaign for office. I'm convinced "the programme" was there to be seen, but the electorate was encouraged by his demeanor and double-meanings, and was hungry for a cool-down of the frenetic political situation (abetted by both parties) that dogged the second GWB administration.

Never overlook ideology.

On to Haiti...

2010-01-15T13:48:00.002-06:00

Amid reports today of US troops now offshore to begin a mission in Haiti--and it is right that they do so--another step in shaping the Obama legacy is taken. Together with the now-renewed commitment in Afghanistan, this president's most lasting bequests to the nation may well be these potentially long-term commitments of American soldiers. They are two long-failed states whose stability will for a generation only be guaranteed by outsiders. I hope the folks in D.C. understand that.

Really, really bad news for health care reform

2009-12-11T13:06:00.000-06:00

From Jim Geraghty:

Campaign Spot on National Review Online

And some prayer music

2009-10-23T10:34:00.001-05:00

From the Blind Boys of Alabama.

Extraordinary

2009-10-23T10:14:00.003-05:00

Apparently, Open Source Audio has recently archived and published a January 1, 1939, wire recording of Peter Maurin reading one of his Easy Essays. An amazing, thrilling and inspirational bit of Catholic history.

Huckabee in the lead

2009-10-16T14:10:00.002-05:00

A new Rasmussen poll of likely Republican candidates shows Mike in the lead among several candidates. It doesn't mean a lot at this point, but it is interesting. Actually, it bears out the truism that the likely winner in a political race will be the person with the most "likeable" bearing and personality--the "warmest". I'm certain that this has been a factor in many of the elections in the "media age"--since 1960. Still pictures and words favor the appearance of maturity and wisdom. Voice and video favor an image of sympathy, personal warmth, sincerity and a degree of charisma.

We'll see....

On the Doctrine of the Soul

2009-09-05T21:21:00.003-05:00

A friend related a story about when she and her sister were much younger. As their mother was taking a rare nap, her sister, a toddler at the time, went up to mom, carefully pulled up the lid of one of mom's eyes, and asked, "Mommy, are you in there?"

Who could explain it better?

A Fragment on Michael Jackson

2009-08-29T16:26:00.003-05:00

In spite of millions of words, one small thought I haven't seen yet: How unhappy must a person be, who spent his last hours, days, months, and perhaps even years, begging for more pain-killers.

It's obvious that it wasn't for the thrills....

Universal or Parochial? An interesting study on the roots of moral reasoning.

2009-08-29T16:09:00.003-05:00

There's a lot of talk today about how moral reasoning is a product either of genetics (sociobiology, etc.) or of cultural/social forces. The point is that we don't like the idea that people actually reason to universals or are capable of reasoning away or apart from the group's consensus. It appears from this Science News article that the debate may still remain open.

Why to read, and how to do it.

2009-08-23T12:03:00.004-05:00

Richard Weaver is one of those Dangerous Writers. It's important to be careful and discerning as we make our way through his work. Plato, Nietzsche, Walter Kaufmann, Leo Strauss are among those authors who are perceptive and profound in their observations of human thought and culture. Here is a lengthy passage from the concluding chapter of Visions of Order, where he discusses human learning. (His idiom is mid-20th century, so please overlook the non-PC terminology, like "man".)

Now while man has many times claimed goodness arising from a divine connection and while he is given to erecting codes of ethics, he has committed the most abominable crimes and has visited every kind of suffering upon his fellows for an infinite variety of alleged reasons. He is passionate and unstable, sot that very little is required to set him on the warpath, even against his kith and kin. Most fearful of all to contemplate is his great power of self-deception. He often does things for reasons that are obscure to him, and undoubtedly many a person has led an entire life in ignorance of the mainspring of his own actions.
These things being so, nothing could be more proper to man than the study of himself, and it is important that this should be the deepest, freest and most imaginative that the most gifted individuals are capable of making. It should be a continuing, earnest examination of human life, with all its moods, impulses, choices of means, failures and successes, miseries and happinesses shown in concrete representation. The indispensable requirement, both for the creation and enjoyment of literature thus conceived, is a receptivity to the real image of man. The practical problem is how to restore that receptivity in the face of a barbarism nourished by the scientistic fallacies discussed earlier.
A simple illustration may make this clearer. Every teacher of experience knows that there is a type of student who resents the very idea of studying literature. This student hangs back or is even defiant because he senses that the study of literature demands a certain kind of intellectual and emotional response. We might say that it demands a sign of consent, almost like some religious sacraments. It requires of every man that he suppress at least part of his native barbarism and enter into rapport with the realm of value. The easier and more natural thing for him to do is to regard the work of literature with mingled contempt and truculence. For literature, at the same time it pleases those who accept it, imposes obligations; one does not enter into it and leave scot-free. In that important respect literature is further comparable with religion; it is not supposed to make us merely comfortable. This the wary barbarian (even in the form of the reluctant student) senses, and he may decide to persist in an obdurate barbarism. It is part of the barbarian's self-protection to reject cultivation. He may repel all influences that would mollify the attitude that keeps him narrow and destructive. Putting this in a figurative way, one might assert that men are not ready for literature until they have been "Christianized." By this I refer to the establishment of that "prejudice" Blackmur speaks of in Language as Gesture. They must give initial assent to certain propositions about man and the world. In no age are all men equally ready to give this assent, and in our age there are new active forces to persuade them against giving it. The barbarian's picture of the world is founded upon the simple adulation of force, direct ways of satisfying appetite, and generally the absence of any idea about human destiny. (Of course not all peoples who have been called barbarians fit this description.) When the barbarian is asked to respect things which rebuke, refine, and control these ideas, he is being asked to change his way of life. Hence the problem of conversion arises, which in the modern setting will have to be away from the idealization of physical comfort, from the view of life as the mere play of physical matter, and from the shortcutting of those processes around which cultured man weaves patterns of significance. It must be to a conversion to an awareness of the ethical and religious drama of every moment.

What's really scary?

2009-08-12T07:26:00.003-05:00

The radio news said this morning that the President feels that opponents of the health plan are using scare tactics to persuade people that this is not good legislation. If the bill is scary in itself, then the opponents are merely discussing facts. If the facts are scary, then the bill should not be considered for passage by the Congress. I hear facts in the arguments of the opponents. I hear a lot of avoidance and double-talk, and more than enough scare tactic, from the President.

The '09 Astros

2009-08-08T21:34:00.003-05:00

To all outward appearances, this would seem to be a team heading nowhere, and doing that in the most discouraging possible fashion. However, if they could get healthy in the next 10 days to two weeks and not suffer too much slippage in their inept division's standings in the meanwhile, there is always the hope that a good winning stretch in their last 30 games or so will slide them very close to the division lead.

I know, it's a dream.

On the government health care debate--

2009-08-07T15:57:00.003-05:00

I have not heard good answers to two issues:

[1] No one has given a definitive answer to the question of what would happen to a patient like one of my family members. He's 85 and in otherwise very robust health, but some weeks ago was diagnosed with an early stage lymphoma in the neighborhood of his sciatic nerve. Now his physician and the cancer specialist both agree and insist that, treated assertively, this is a very remediable condition, and he should have a normal quality of life once the tumor is reduced and eliminated. They've started some chemo treatments, and he has already responded very well. The question is whether, under the government plan, elderly persons like this will receive treatment at all. I have heard this asked a couple of times in interviews of administration officials and their fellow-travelers, and the answers are either to the effect that the respondent does not know this provision of the plan or that they can't talk about specific cases. That bothers me. What if I'm in that position one day?

[2] There is also a lot of temporizing and avoidance of the pro-life question. I don't want my tax money used to extinguish the very human lives of the unborn.

Until I have satisfactory answers to the above, I'm against that legislation from beginning to end. We can't put these issues in the hands of the eugenicists.

The saddest thing ...

2009-07-04T09:56:00.005-05:00

...about the funeral service I attended yesterday was the small coffin. As a teacher, I've been to a number of funerals of teens and young adults. There is a certain logic to most of these--it's either a catastrophic illness or some risky or extreme behavior. You wouldn't call them senseless in spite of the pain.

In this case, it was the death of a four year-old, from some unexplained cause. The parents have been in the midst of a very unpleasant divorce. The parents had separated and the children were with mom. Ostensibly, the child went to bed one evening, and never awakened. I don't know the story, but there was certainly some tension at the funeral. Mom was not present, and the story was that there is a cloud of suspicion over the child's death, which authorities are pursuing. No one knows anything for sure.

The celebrant spoke in his brief homily about a phrase from the liturgy--"the sure and certain hope of the resurrection." This addresses the situation most fittingly. In the first place, our faith is that the kingdom of heaven welcomes its newest soul with open arms and in God's love and comfort. Our prayers have value in carrying the young spirit to the bosom of the Maker. Secondly, we are reminded that our world is not paradise. We, God's people, do horrible things. These things are not just the outpourings of aberrant, sick individuals but belong to us as the human family. All are called to repentance and sorrow, even though specific moral guilt may not fall on all. By the same token, all are called to hope--repentance is pointless without a hope of forgiveness and renewal of life, "a sure and certain hope of the resurrection." This is what enables us to abide the sadness.

Janus? Is that you?

2009-03-12T18:31:00.002-05:00

President Barack Obama signed a law that explicitly bans federal funding of any “research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death” only two days after he lifted President Bush’s executive order banning federal funding of stem cell research that requires the killing of new human embryos.

Goodness--words mean nothing with him. To adapt an O'Reilly-ism: is he the bloviator-in-chief?

He's got to be kidding.

2009-03-12T18:18:00.004-05:00

"Things two years ago were not as good as we thought because there were a lot of underlying weaknesses in the economy. They're not as bad as we think they are now."

After spending two months telling us how dire things are, now he wants us to believe it's just hunky-dory, just like that? This demonstrates one of two things, or both: (a) he thinks the public are fools; (b) he has no clue what he's talking about. Take your pick.

By the way, the stock market, after moving further south in response to a series of words from the President and the Treasury Dude, has moved north for three days. Why? Bernanke spoke. It's apparently no harder than that.

One more thing: Mr. Geithner DOES look like the palest guy at the dude ranch--the one who needs a seat belt for his saddle.

So, where's the money going?

2009-03-09T14:05:00.003-05:00

Two investment principles that people are following with their money right now:

Put the money where it's safe--minimize risk;
Put the money where the government has little or no access to it--taxes WILL rise.

So, it's no wonder the markets continue to slalom. Folks are stuffing their mattresses.

Of course, the nasty side of that will come when inflation hits. Then, the mattress-stuffers will be caught between the proverbial rock and the hard place unless they've stumbled into assets that appreciate pretty dynamically. But now, and as long as the current president and congress have sway, apparently no risk is a good risk.

My, what thin skins!

2009-03-06T13:44:00.003-06:00

This White House crew, including their boss, have the thinnest skins in memory, and lack the shame to hide that fact in public. Like the old coach said to his excessively-celebrating athlete following a score: "Act like you've been there before."

See here: Gibbs takes gloves off to challenge reporters, hosts who cross Obama.

And of course, the ever-even-handed Mrs. Pelosi just loves freedom of political speech, as well: Speaker Pelosi Backs Senate Amendment to Regulate Talk Radio.

Miscellaneous

2009-02-21T19:30:00.002-06:00

**The new Time Magazine (3/2/09) has "Best Actress" Kate Winslet on the cover. Shall we speculate a little? Why the putative Excellent Actress and not also the Actor? I'm sure they have their editorial preferences. Here's one theory: The reason there isn't an Actor is that they'd have to put You-Know-Who on the cover, again. Is it possible they couldn't bring themselves to do it?

**Stupid question of the week: Will the Illinois senatorial/office-peddling scandals ever end?

Most humbly, a prediction

2009-02-18T09:39:00.003-06:00

First, check out today's headlines from CNS news--

Obama’s Stimulus Will Cause 'Lower Wages' for American Workers, Says Congressional Budget Office

Only 23 Percent of Stimulus Will be Spent This Fiscal Year, Congressional Budget Office Finds

Now, to me this bailout doesn't sound like very sound policy for relief that will be noticeable any time soon. It seems that the more effective help will more likely come from (a) last year's bailout distribution for financial institutions and (b) separate bills now being targeted at financers and troubled home owners. So, what, aside from the tax cuts, is the stimulus package for?

My guess: the ambiguity and corruption in that bill signed Tuesday during Mr. Obama's junket to Denver will cause much of the funding to be tied up in litigation and subject to criminal probes for a decade. (Hopefully) some of the folks who stand to gain the most and who voted for it will lose their offices as a result.

Here's a link to the Congressional Budget Office report: CBO analysis.

See?

2009-02-16T19:37:00.003-06:00

I made a comment some time back about Marxist-style rhetoric. It is the view that words are little more than political manipulation. See Professor Bradley Schiller, writing in Opinion Journal:

"Mr. Obama's analogies to the Great Depression are not only historically inaccurate, they're also dangerous. Repeated warnings from the White House about a coming economic apocalypse aren't likely to raise consumer and investor expectations for the future. In fact, they have contributed to the continuing decline in consumer confidence that is restraining a spending pickup. Beyond that, fearmongering can trigger a political stampede to embrace a "recovery" package that delivers a lot less than it promises. A more cool-headed assessment of the economy's woes might produce better policies."

A Presidents' Day Thought

2009-02-16T19:25:00.002-06:00

Historian Richard Norton Smith: Great presidents not only speak to us--they speak for us.

Shame and more shame.

2009-02-10T10:34:00.000-06:00

Shame on these people--specifically, the president and the congress. The stimulus the country needs should address priorities, not all this senseless growth of government spending. Here are the clear priorities: provide relief in the housing mortgage sector--people genuinely need some intervention here; get the banks lending again--otherwise, what was the original TARP for?; provide people with quick cash through a fast tax rebate and/or substantial tax cuts. These actions would be LESS COSTLY and far more effective than this "generational theft," as several parties have called it. The nation will be limping from this ineffective indebtedness for many years. Actually, if all they did was to help with the problematic mortgages--which were encouraged by the government in the first place--the neediest and hardest-hit would benefit directly, and the economy would start itself in short order. I hate to call people fools, but this train is heading for the cliff.

Current Reading

2009-01-20T14:40:00.003-06:00

An amazing novel of "dystopian philosophical fiction:" Anathem, by Neal Stephenson. I'm about halfway through. If you make an effort to "translate" the other-world vocabulary, you can follow (or teach) much of the history of philosophy, especially philosophy of religion. It's about faith and reason, sacred and secular, clerical and lay, all turned inside-out, on a post-apocalyptic, suspiciously earth-like planet called "Arbre". In this journey epic, an intrepid fellowship navigates its way through a world that is not only physically hostile, but intellectually cannibalistic.

The Philosopher

2009-01-13T15:15:00.002-06:00

A competent philosopher is one who reads slowly and writes very carefully.

"When you're down. and feeling sad ..."

2009-01-07T09:57:00.003-06:00

Pope Benedict's Epiphany homily discusses the importance of pursuing the vision of the Kingdom, no matter the discouragements. A teacher takes comfort in this paragraph:

“There is no shadow, however dark, that can dim the light of Christ. For this reason believers in Christ never lose hope vis-à-vis the great social and economic crisis troubling humanity today, the destructive hatred and violence that continue to shed blood in many regions of the world and man’s selfishness and pretensions to be his own god, which leads sometimes to dangerous distortions of God’s design about life and the human dignity in matter of the family and the harmony of creation. As I wrote in the already mentioned Spe salvi Encyclical, our efforts to free human life and the world from poisons and pollution that could destroy the present and the future retains its value and meaning, ‘even if we outwardly achieve nothing or seem powerless in the face of overwhelming hostile forces,’ because ‘it is the great hope based upon God's promises that gives us courage and directs our action in good times and bad’(n. 35).”...

"The most moral army . . .

2009-01-04T22:05:00.002-06:00

. . . in the world."

See here: http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/01/022466.php

I don't doubt the basic truth of this proposition for a second. As I write this, however, I hear some Palestinian representative on the Houston news talking about "a very large scale massacre." Of course, he had to look at his shoes as he said that.

A Seasonal Pleasure

2008-12-23T20:59:00.002-06:00

I have XM-Sirius, and they create a channel just for the eight days of Hanukkah. It's a wonderful complement to the Christmas music that's everywhere else. I just can't help but enjoy its mix of religious and pop music, cultural features and bubbling-over joyousness.

Sartre: something that doesn't get much publicity

2008-12-15T10:52:00.005-06:00

From Busted Halo:

While serving in the French army in 1940, Jean-Paul Sartre, the existentialist philosopher and playwright, was captured by Germans and placed in a prisoner of war camp. Before Christmas, a fellow-prisoner named Paul Feller who was a Jesuit, persuaded Sartre to write a Christmas play for the Christians imprisoned with them. By 1940, Sartre—who had been baptized a Catholic—was a declared atheist, but he agreed to the request out of a sense of solidarity with the other prisoners. The following is a brief excerpt from the resulting play, called “Bar-Jona,” in which Sartre offers a moving reflection on the Virgin Mother and her newborn son, Jesus.

"The Virgin is pale, and she looks at the baby. What I would paint on her face is an anxious wonderment, such as has never before been seen on a human face. For Christ is her baby, flesh of her flesh, and the fruit of her womb. She has carried him for nine months, and she will give him her breast, and her milk will become the blood of God. There are moments when the temptation is so strong that she forgets that he is God. She folds him in her arms and says: My little one.

"But at other moments she feels a stranger, and she thinks: God is there — and she finds herself caught by a religious awe before this speechless God, this terrifying infant. All mothers at times are brought up sharp in this way before this fragment of themselves, their baby. They feel themselves in exile at two paces from this new life that they have created from their life, and which is now peopled by another’s thoughts. But no other baby has been so cruelly and suddenly snatched from his mother, for he is God, and he surpasses in every way anything that she can imagine. It is a hard trial for a mother to be ashamed of herself and her human condition before her son.

"But I think that there are other rapid, fleeting moments when she realizes at once that Christ is her son, her very own baby, and that he is God. She looks at him and thinks: This God is my baby. This divine flesh is my flesh. He is made from me. He has my eyes, and the curve of his mouth is the curve of mine. He is like me. He is God and he is like me.

"No other woman has been lucky enough to have a God for herself alone, a tiny little God whom she can take in her arms and cover with kisses, a warm-bodied God who smiles and breathes, a God that she can touch, who is alive. And it is in these moments that I would paint Mary, if I was a painter, and I would try to capture the air of radiant tenderness and timidity with which she lifts her finger to touch the sweet skin of her baby-God, whose warm weight she feels on her knees, and who smiles."

Worth saving.

2008-12-13T11:39:00.003-06:00

From Rodney Crowell:

The sun comes up tomorrow,
but there are no guarantees;
it can rock you like a baby,
it can bring you to your knees.

Check their shoes.

2008-12-10T14:13:00.001-06:00

That's how you know who's been too close to the manure pile. Today's NY Times suggests that Illinois representative Jesse Jackson, Jr., is the "Candidate 5" in the Blago corruption case.

Anatomy of a war

2008-12-06T13:34:00.002-06:00

Dennis Prager diagnoses the nature of the conflict now being engineered by the extremist Muslims in the light of the Mumbai events. There is every reason, historically, politically and ideologically, to take seriously what he says--that the war on the Jews is a war on the democracies of the West. What will be our response?

The only guide to a man is his conscience; the only shield to his memory is the rectitude and sincerity of his actions. It is very imprudent to walk through life without this shield, because we are so often mocked by the failure of our hopes and the upsetting of our calculations; but with this shield, however the fates may play, we march always in the ranks of honour.

Winston Churchill, 12 November 1940, House of Commons

Justice, love and forgiveness

2008-12-02T09:24:00.003-06:00

Rabbi Schmuley Boteach has a very challenging comment on the senseless violence perpetrated by terror agents in Mumbai. He suggests that "forgiveness" is not the pure-and-simple right attitude regarding such actions. I'm not sure that his call for a stern attitude is best and most purely motivated by moral revulsion--although this sense deserves to be acknowledged. Retribution always must come from the positive sense of justice and by the ever-present need of civilized, peaceful society to protect itself from the acts of the truly evil and the merely lawless among us. I always have a right to sacrifice myself. I never have the right to tolerate conditions where the violent will violate the innocent. The Rabbi is correct in saying there is a need for the expression of just anger, and for a determined response; but all such expressions must be rightly motivated.

Happy New Year! Some Advent thoughts....

2008-12-01T12:48:00.003-06:00

from Engaging Faith blog:

"Let the world indulge in its madness, for it cannot endure and passes like a shadow. It is growing old, and I think is in its last decrepit stage. But we, buried deep in the wounds of Christ, why should we be dismayed." (St. Peter Canisius)

"Hope always draws the soul from the beauty that is seen to what is beyond, always kindles the desire for the hidden through what is perceived" (St. Gregory of Nyssa)

"God is so good and merciful, that to obtain Heaven it is sufficient to ask it of him from our hearts." (St. Benedict Joesph Labre)

"The time will come when there shall be one flock and one shepherd, one faith and one clear knowledge of God." (St. Birgitta of Sweden)

"If Christ is with us, who is against us? You can fight with confidence when you are sure of victory. With Christ and for Christ victory is certain." (St. Bernard)

Yet more clarity on the life issues

2008-11-28T15:19:00.003-06:00

In the latest issue of the Texas Catholic Herald, Cardinal DiNardo summarizes the mood, both optimistic and very, very guarded, of the Catholic community, as it manifested itself in the recent (post-election) meetings of the U.S. bishops:

After much discussion, the Bishops also asked the President of the Episcopal Conference, Francis Cardinal George, to issue a statement concerning the recent national elections. I believe Cardinal George’s remarks are clear and helpful in dealing with some important matters that may come before us in the months ahead. He first recognizes the historical importance of the election of the first African-American President of the United States, and he writes that the bishops look forward to working together with President-elect Obama and the new members of Congress. The Church always looks to cooperate in bringing about the common good and the various goods that underlie it.

The Cardinal then writes:

“The fundamental good is life itself, a gift from God and our parents. A good state protects the lives of all. Legal protection for those members of the human family waiting to be born in this country was removed when the Supreme Court decided Roe vs. Wade in 1973. This was bad law. The danger the bishops see at this moment is that a bad court decision will be enshrined in bad legislation that is more radical than the 1973 Supreme Court decision itself.”

I share in Cardinal George’s recognition of a present danger. As the statement says, in the last Congress, a Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) was introduced that, if repeated in the next Congress, would outlaw any law that limited providing abortion at will. Any moderate restraints by the States would be annulled. FOCA would coerce all Americans into subsidizing and promoting abortions with their tax dollars. Parental notification and informed consent precautions would be outlawed, as would be laws banning procedures such as partial birth abortion and protecting infants born alive after a failed abortion. FOCA would be disastrous for prenatal human life. FOCA would also have a disastrous effect on the freedom of conscience of doctors and nurses and health care workers whose convictions do not permit them to cooperate in the private killing of unborn children. Further, the passage of FOCA would threaten our Catholic health care institutions and Catholic Charities.

The bishops are of a single mind on opposing evil, the evil of abortion and those laws and statutes that promote abortion. I am in complete agreement with the Bishops on this and will, no doubt, be asking the commitment and active voice of our Catholic faithful in witnessing publicly to this basic commitment of our faith in the public square. We must all
watch carefully in the next few months to see how this pro-life issue is addressed and be ready to respond clearly and instantaneously.

Cardinal Francis George spoke for all the bishops in his formal statement, delivered upon the close of the conference. His words are even more stark than Cardinal DiNardo's:

FOCA would have an equally destructive effect on the freedom of conscience of doctors, nurses and health care workers whose personal convictions do not permit them to cooperate in the private killing of unborn children. It would threaten Catholic health care institutions and Catholic Charities. It would be an evil law that would further divide our country, and the Church should be intent on opposing evil.

On this issue, the legal protection of the unborn, the bishops are of one mind with Catholics and others of good will. They are also pastors who have listened to women whose lives have been diminished because they believed they had no choice but to abort a baby. Abortion is a medical procedure that kills, and the psychological and spiritual consequences are written in the sorrow and depression of many women and men. The bishops are single-minded because they are, first of all, single-hearted.

The recent election was principally decided out of concern for the economy, for the loss of jobs and homes and financial security for families, here and around the world. If the election is misinterpreted ideologically as a referendum on abortion, the unity desired by President-elect Obama and all Americans at this moment of crisis will be impossible to achieve. Abortion kills not only unborn children; it destroys constitutional order and the common good, which is assured only when the life of every human being is legally protected. Aggressively pro-abortion policies, legislation and executive orders will permanently alienate tens of millions of Americans, and would be seen by many as an attack on the free exercise of their religion.

This statement is written at the request and direction of all the Bishops, who also want to thank all those in politics who work with good will to protect the lives of the most vulnerable among us. Those in public life do so, sometimes, at the cost of great sacrifice to themselves and their families; and we are grateful. We express again our great desire to work with all those who cherish the common good of our nation. The common good is not the sum total of individual desires and interests; it is achieved in the working out of a common life based upon good reason and good will for all.

If these words aren't a clear message to the new administration and its supporters about who-owes-what, I don't know what is. There needs now to be a national drive to educate the Catholic public and Catholic politicians about the signal role of the life issues in the Seamless Garment doctrine. Certainly there are many types of advocacy collected under this general heading. However, we are ending the era when Catholic spokespersons, politicians, clergy and educators can draw a type of "moral equivalence" that levels out the issues and allows those who would cover their abortion-favoring agendas with this blanket.

Pro-Life's Next Step is Visibility

2008-11-25T09:20:00.003-06:00

Now the secret is out: The Church teaches that both abortion AND the death penalty are immoral:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6129597.html

If the battle is to be joined on the life issues, now is the time. Newly-elected public officials ought to take notice that the Church is working to educate its own members, giving witness so that all will know, and acting in order to achieve genuine change. This is a genuine first step, especially considering the willingness of the Chronicle to play the action on page one. Good work all around.

I also note that congregations of other denominations aided in the prayer vigil. All it takes is leadership and initiative--they will come to the cause.

Pro-Life: Some self-analysis within the Church

2008-11-21T15:40:00.003-06:00

A wonderful analysis of the Church's current predicament by Fr. Schall:

http://www.thecatholicthing.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=810&Itemid=2

And, an outspoken priest who is shown some love by his parishioners:

http://catholiceducation.org/articles/catholic_stories/cs0340.htm

Sermon on the Mount video

2008-11-16T17:36:00.002-06:00

Church inaugurated in 2006:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wZzPXuNl1g

Sanity in education.

2008-11-09T10:11:00.003-06:00

The president-elect could do a lot worse than consider the advice of two columnists, Meredith Baker and Mike Feinberg, in today's editorial section.

Ms. Baker's point is that the needs of the nation are currently poorly served in several areas of government policy, one of which is education. Our secondary schools, she says, don't produce graduates ready to lead in the world community; other nations far exceed what we ask of our graduates. Only 13 percent have taken Calculus upon graduation; the ratio of students in American schools who have studied Chinese versus students in Chinese schools who study English is 1 to 10,000. Ouch. She concludes:

My generation won't be able to effectively govern and keep the economy running strong (or at least help it recover) if we don't have a well-educated workforce and technically strong citizenry.

Mr. Feinberg, one of the founders of the KIPP academies, covers the familiar basics of education policy, including a strong appeal for freedom of choice:

Pick a secretary of education committed to accountability and public school choice: When Obama picks his Cabinet, he will make a strong statement about the direction of his administration. President-elect Obama should pick a secretary of education who deeply understands the issues of funding and accountability on the federal, state and local levels, and who is passionate about student achievement and growth. Having one national test with one rigorous set of national standards will ensure our children can compete in the global marketplace as well as help parents know how well their children are progressing in school. The secretary of education must also support the growth of public charter schools, which give educators freedom in exchange for increased accountability. Families will benefit from the healthy competition resulting when multiple high-quality public schools serve the same community.

The proportionality argument

2008-11-05T20:40:00.002-06:00

In an e-mail conversation the other day, I allowed that I thought the U.S. Church was correct in its teaching that the life issues were to be taken as primary among the public considerations used by one's informed conscience as one votes. My friend and correspondent wrote something like this: "Well, you know that this terrible war in the Middle East is cutting short some lives and futures, too."

He has a certain point--a war may be a bad thing. I was tempted to buy into this informal equivalence argument. Fortunately, I gave it a moment's thought. There is a significant difference between the personal action of abortion and the decision of a government and its responsible parties to order hostile actions to be conducted in the name of their people.

Further, unless one is using nuclear weapons, the loss of life is grossly disproportionate, and that disproportion falls incriminatingly against abortion. The commonly accepted statistic for 2005 (slightly outdated, but one I recall clearly) is that 1.2 million elective abortions were performed in the U.S. By contrast, 4,191 American soldiers have lost their lives in the Iraq conflict--none last month, by the way. Using a ratio of abortions per day in 2005, that number of 4,191 abortions was performed in about 32 hours, 1 1/3 days, in that year. Granted that there would certainly be other arguments about war and about abortion, the sense that "they both take life" doesn't seem anything but a dodge to me.

Moving on...

2008-11-05T09:02:00.004-06:00

Some messages of encouragement and clarity on this day:

First, today's meditation passage on DGO is from St. Therese of Lisieux. Consider carefully what the Little Flower says about the search for the great soul, and the conditions for that search:

Dear Sister, how can you ask me if it is possible for you to love God as I love Him? ... My desires of martyrdom are nothing; they are not what give me the unlimited confidence that I feel in my heart. They are, to tell the truth, the spiritual riches that render one unjust, when one rests in them with complacence and when one believes they are something great... Ah! I really feel that... what pleases Him is that He sees me loving my littleness and my poverty, the blind hope that I have in His mercy .... That is my only treasure...

Oh, dear Sister, I beg you... understand that to love Jesus... the weaker one is, without desires or virtues, the more suited one is for the workings of this consuming and transforming Love. The desire alone to be a victim suffices, but we must consent to remain always poor and without strength, and this is the difficulty, for: "The truly poor in spirit, where do we find him? You must look for him from afar," said the psalmist. He does not say that you must look for him among great souls, but "from afar," that is to say in lowliness, in nothingness.

Ah! let us remain then very far from all that sparkles, let us love our littleness, let us love to feel nothing, then we shall be poor in spirit, and Jesus will come to look for us, and however far we may be, He will transform us in flames of love. Oh! How I would like to be able to make you understand what I feel! It is confidence, and nothing but confidence that must lead us to Love. Does not fear lead to Justice? (To the severe justice that people show to sinners but not the justice Jesus will have for those who love him.) Since we see the way, let us run together. Yes, I feel it, Jesus wills to give us the same graces; he wills to give us his Heaven gratuitously.

On a more overt political note, Plato writes in the Republic:

The city where those who are to rule are least anxious to be rulers is of necessity the best managed.

Finally, Victor Davis Hanson, in A War Like No Other, on the character of the most tragic of all conflicts, the Peloponnesian war:

Just think of it: a land versus a maritime power, the starkness of the Dorians contrasted with Ionian liberality. Oligarchy was pitted against democracy, practiced dearth set against ostentatious wealth. A rural hamlet dethroned a majestic imperial city; and a garrison state professed the cause of Greek autonomy abroad even as a humane imperialism killed the innocent.

No one foresaw such carnage in 431. Who believed that in just two years, the majestic Pericles would end up covered with pustules, grasping an amulet as he coughed out his life in the fevers of the plague? [Hanson then discusses the fates of other important figures....] Everything considered wisdom at the beginning of the war would be proven folly at its end.

Circumstances change. Leadership is the critical issue in the search for the better republic, and until great souls emerge the vision of the best polity will continue to take second place to economic revanchism and the moral cynicism that prefers selfish, short-sighted, agenda-driven convenience over the inalienable dignity of life itself.

Work to do.

2008-11-02T17:20:00.003-06:00

According to yesterday's Houston Chronicle, "Abortion [is] not main Issue for Catholics." The point of the article is that, according to a recently-commissioned poll, only 44 percent of Catholics consider abortion the main issue when they vote. The piece also notes that

The Catholic hierarchy is beginning to respond to what has been a pretty laissez-faire sense that there is fundamental moral freedom for Catholics to vote as they please, based on practical political concerns and preferences. A growing number of the bishops, including Houston's Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, have begun to use some definitive language to describe the abortion issue as a genuine and foremost concern, because human life is a foundational right. [The bishops are taking their jobs as shepherds more seriously, responding to the sense of the global Church and a growing segment of the domestic faithful. Other clergy I have seen strong statements from recently are Cardinal Egan of New York City and Archbishop Chaput of Denver.]
Church-going Catholics are expected to favor Republican candidates, while non-practitioners poll in favor of Democrats. Part of the secret to change, then, appears to be to get the faithful back into the pews on Sunday.
In the interest of the "choice" position, there are now groups who, with pretense of broad acceptance as well as "legitimacy" within the community of Catholics, promulgate the position that it's OK to place the whole panoply of election issues in an equivalence with abortion. They say that as long as the party or candidate speaks for regulation of abortion access in some fashion (while apparently maintaining a "pro-choice" credibility), it is permissible to vote for that candidate over one who is clearly pro-life. This position purports that the abortion issue is lost anyway, so we should save whatever we can. [Take your pick: is this position venal? disingenuous? manipulated?]

Whose funeral are the poll-bearers attending?

2008-11-02T17:02:00.003-06:00

Are the outliers the polls showing the 9-point gap in Obama's favor that the cheap--er, free--TV networks are touting or the polls showing the 2- to 3-point difference, with McCain closing intermittently over the last week. On the closer-race end of things, Hewitt's breakdown is here, and Geraghty's is here. If the latter scenario is the one shaping up, then Obama is right where Kerry was in 2004. "Got 'em right where we want 'em," should then be the theme from the McCain campaign.

Opportunity abounds

2008-10-22T08:45:00.002-05:00

If I were an investor (or builder) looking to the future, I'd be thinking about these possibilities:

Retro-fitting existing homes at modest cost with latest-tech energy-saving features;
Doing the same for the condo and townhouse crowds;
Building small "luxury" homes with intelligent (IT) systems and conservation technology.

The real election question . . .

2008-10-22T08:20:00.002-05:00

... is answered by Saint Fulgentius, a 5th-century bishop:

In order to clarify the role of the servants he set at the head of his people, the Lord spoke this word related by the Gospel: «Who, then is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute the food allowance at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so»... If we should be wondering in what that food allowance consists, Saint Paul gives us the answer; it is «the measure of faith that God has apportioned» (Rom 12,3). What Christ called an allowance of food, Paul termed a measure of faith to teach us that there is no other spiritual food than the mystery of Christian faith. We give you this allowance of food in the Lord's name every time we speak to you according to the rule of the true faith, illumined by the spiritual gift of grace. As for that allowance, you receive it at the hands of the Lord's stewards each time you hear the word of truth from the mouth of God's servants.

An amazing metaphor . . .

2008-10-21T16:43:00.006-05:00

. . . from a talk given last weekend by Archbishop Chaput of Denver. This is political theory at its simplest and clearest:
The ''separation of Church and state'' does not mean - and it can never mean - separating our Catholic faith from our public witness, our political choices and our political actions. That kind of separation would require Christians to deny who we are; to repudiate Jesus when he commands us to be ''leaven in the world'' and to ''make disciples of all nations.'' That kind of separation steals the moral content of a society. It's the equivalent of telling a married man that he can't act married in public. Of course, he can certainly do that, but he won't stay married for long.

A Saturday wrap-up on the economic earthquake

2008-10-11T09:42:00.003-05:00

The heads of the EU's four biggest economies - Britain, France, Germany and Italy - held a first crisis meeting last week but were split over the need for a common plan.

It doesn't appear that unified solutions are going to happen quickly, in spite of the hopes of our president and our nation. The Europeans, when it comes down to the real issues--like their money and their long-entrenched banking institutions, won't be a union. They agree on ideology, however:

In the financial district of London, the pubs of Dublin, and on the campuses of Holland, people are citing reckless lending in the US mortgage market, unbridled American consumption, and a lack of government oversight for the financial meltdown that has engulfed Europe. Many dismiss the US bailout as an unwise and hypocritical move that rewards the greedy bankers who caused the crisis and breaches the ideals of the country that pioneered market-driven capitalism.

And it isn't like the finance ministers who met today are doing nothing. Fox News reports this morning that there are some agreements in the works. The "fiddling and diddling," to quote the great Johnny Most, may not be bad thing. The US Fed's current solutions may be starting to kick into gear, as Friday's stock market performance appeared to exemplify. It threatened early in the day to blow downward through the 8000 mark, and did, but pulled up well above the 7000. It wobbled, teetered, steadied itself, and the buyers stepped in at the very end of the day. The pattern was a reverse image of the previous days of the week. One day does not a bottom make for the economy, but I think the weekend will allow a breather, allow folks to reassess, allow the credit markets to absorb the impacts of the Federal rescue plan, allow some of that money to start flowing, and allow some of the stalled businesses to resume operations.

Some problems remain:

Folks have been saying for a long time that the housing, automobile and speculative financial markets and the trading economy have been overvalued. We don't know if all of the bad trading has washed out of the system. Folks won't invest until there is some assurance about that. Buyers won't buy until there is money available and they feel some confidence about the future (see next point).
There are fears of hyperinflation. There need to be some answers about the real and hidden tax impacts of the rescue spending.
It appears there are some corrupt financial barons (I'm shocked--shocked!) Some prophylactic prosecutions are in order. (Round up the usual suspects!) This would not be an empty gesture. There needs to be a statement by the country that more is expected from those who would be allowed to manage money for all of us.
I know that many will say that this horse is long gone from the barn, but we still have to know where to stop the market involvement and regulation. There's now a real danger of "creeping socialism." The federal government should be careful. Having acted decisively, there is now a need for circumspection, restraint, and public education. (Let's be careful out there!)
Neither of the presidential candidates knows what he is talking about. They're flailing around to see what voters will respond to. Give me the person who will actually tell the truth in a reasoned way and commit to market recovery. The more of this the markets do on their own steam, the sounder any recovery will be. (I have a feeling this narrows the possibilities....)

Gloomy Gus

2008-08-31T13:54:00.002-05:00

Just for the record: It looks like Gustav's forecast track is flattening out to a more East/West plotting, with a slightly more leftward arc on the map. Maybe there was some wisdom to the golden triangle counties' evacuation order. Even here around Houston, we probably need to keep our guard up.

Eureka, I guess

2008-08-24T12:37:00.002-05:00

It appears that the New York Times, ever at the cutting edge, has discovered the existence of political blogs at the party conventions. If they had noticed this four years ago, or even some months ago when credentials were being considered by the parties, it might be worth something. However, today it's as fresh as that greenish crust of bread at the back of the bin.

Just for grins, see it now: "The Year of the Political Blogger."

Obama, Obama, Obama...

2008-08-04T16:28:00.003-05:00

I'd like to think that there might be some level of integrity to Senator Obama's big-issue positions coming out of his trip overseas. But: he's gone from a fairly clear and consistent progressivism to ... what?

On Iraq, he's developing a middle-of-the-road position not far from John McCain's. Let's start pulling out the troops, but only as "conditions on the ground" permit; a baseline force will remain; the Surge wasn't a success, but conditions are much better.
On Afghanistan, he's a hawk because that's the real war on terrorism; we need a Surge there; we have to pay attention to that war, not be distracted, and win it.
On the Middle East, who knows? An undivided Jerusalem must be Israel's capital. A partitioned Jerusalem may be the Palestinian capital. We should negotiate and use a multilateral approach on Iran (which is what is happening already) but under NO circumstances should they be allowed to have nukes.
On the domestic side, he's showing similar chameleon-like tendencies on energy, the economy, the banking/mortgage bail-outs, health care, and other matters. We're seeing this taking shape now.

I know that Senator McCain is not the paragon of ideological linearity, but there is a general consistency to his overall positions. This seems to me to be respectable. What Obama is doing is pandering, and one is certainly given to doubt the sincerity of anything he says at this point.

For the Summer I Class

2008-07-15T18:47:00.005-05:00

Mortality

2008-06-20T20:28:00.003-05:00

I've attended three funerals in the last month, all for folks who were not far from my age. The passing of the first was sudden, but not a big surprise: a retired educator who had defeated cancer, was being treated for a series of lesser illnesses, and died of complications from that treatment. He led an educator's life, was a person of service, and the gratitude and good memories were abundant at the rites and after. The second funeral was for a former teacher who had left the profession to take over a private business and do some writing, which she did very successfully. She died very suddenly of a heart attack--no warnings to friends or family. Because of the very special, charitable quality of her life, the service had a lightness and radiance that all seemed to feel. The reception following had the quality of a reunion of prodigals "coming home." Conversations left hanging twenty years ago were resumed without pause. The third demise was of an acquaintance who died under difficult and uncertain circumstances. The funeral appeared strained, almost surreal for the community that was present. I wasn't able to attend the reception, but sensed that the assembly was somewhat uneasy about the whole business. We do prepare our passing by our living.

News Flash: Radicals favor Republicans

2008-05-27T16:49:00.003-05:00

Tapes from UBL, the Hezbollah takeover in Lebanon, and more unease from the IAEA about Iran's pre-nuclear mischief all seem to hint that the Al Qaeda and other radicals really do want to provoke the country into a conservative vote in the fall. You would think that these folks would lie low and play very politely in order to cast the impression that their intentions really are peaceful. After all, who wants to believe that they're really bullies?

Either that, or they can't wait.

Pure Propaganda

2008-05-15T14:46:00.002-05:00

No wonder the daily papers are having trouble. That this disinformation should pass an editorial board is jaw-dropping:

Palestinians marked the 60th anniversary of their uprooting with rallies, sirens and black balloons today -- an annual ritual made even darker this year by crippling internal divisions and diminishing independence hopes.

... Today's events commemorated the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who either fled or were driven out of their homes during the 1948 war over Israel's creation. Palestinians call it their "nakba," Arabic for catastrophe.

The only catastrophe here is this version of events. By the way: who initiated hostilities?

24 hours of interesting developments

2008-05-14T21:28:00.002-05:00

As some members of the media have noticed, Senator Obama may be wearing the victor's mantle, but he's having a difficult time holding up his trousers. The West Virginia result is embarrassing--it would have to be to have him stoop to the ploy of soliciting and announcing Senator Edwards' endorsement. By demeanor and pattern of choices, Obama appears far more desperate than Senator Clinton does.

There is still an endgame waiting to be played out here, and while the result appears to be inevitable, I have a feeling that there may be some unpredictability left in this complex and apparently unstable system.

An observation

2008-05-14T21:26:00.001-05:00

Politics is the nervous dance between ideology and conscience.

Is Mrs. Clinton finished?

2008-05-07T13:01:00.003-05:00

See here. The answer is No. She should (and will, I believe) take her basket (a rather large one) of voters and delegates to the convention and insist on working out a political solution for ending the race formally before a floor fight takes place. With the close margins now existing, she can't be said to have no leverage at all. The Democrats can't afford the luxury of a wrenching fight for the ultimate control of the party, even though that might be a valuable prophylaxis in the long run. They see themselves in a must-win situation, and they want a winning unification ticket in place for the fall. A unilateral withdrawal would not bring this about--it's an acknowledgement of defeat, and with defeat comes the next round of treachery, perfidy, back-stabbing, etc. Withdrawal doesn't push the party's core toward an acceptable middle. Hard-edged negotiation does. I don't see that happening until all the primaries are over. They will be in less than a month, without an official victor. The preliminary rules meetings take place in early June. We'll be able to tell then what the weather will be in Denver.

Well, the results are in.

2008-05-07T11:15:00.002-05:00

Obama by a goodly margin in North Carolina, Clinton by a hair in Indiana. I think they both underperformed in their "favored" situations. Perhaps even among Democrats each has a "ceiling." Nothing about yesterday, except for Obama's incremental advance toward nomination, should be satisfying for the Democrat inner circles.

Worth studying: Did Operation Chaos really make the difference? It may not have last time, but the likelihood of an altered outcome in Indiana seems plausible prima facie. Again, this is serious mischief. I'm not sure it helps the Republicans in the fall. At this point they must surely suspect that there might be a law of diminishing returns in sway as the campaign comes closer to resolution. Does keeping these candidates on the front burner of the news help the cause of John McCain in the fall? On the other hand, these two candidates are not at their best as they continue to bicker. The case might be made that the electorate will be so jaded by this uglier sort of campaign that they will just stay home from the general election. Surely Clinton's and Obama's camps will consider this sort of hypothetical situation.

Secondary guesses on the primary

2008-04-22T20:33:00.003-05:00

Fox has a pretty steady 53-54% share running for Hilary with 35% of precincts reporting. If that holds, then she's somewhat undershot the punditry's bar for her. Now she and her folks will have to blab it up as a triumph of epic proportions. In fact, they already are. The race goes on. And Barone is now saying that this will give her a very slight lead in total popular vote--a significant benchmark in itself, if you play the right games with Florida/Michigan.

National Review's eye on the exit polls has her getting a 10% bump from cross-registering Republicans. I'd like to see some more corroboration of this, but if true does it mean Ms. Clinton owes her win to Operation Chaos? That's world-class mischief....

Also, saw a pointer to this article on McCain's polling "ceiling" in The Atlantic. I'm not sure that 45% is a ceiling, considering the early date, his "background" status right now, and the unpredictability of independent voting pending the lack of a final Democrat candidate. One might be able to make a case that it's more of a floor than a ceiling. It's just too early.

The team we're supposed to see

2008-04-20T16:34:00.003-05:00

Today's 6-4 victory displayed the Astros team we're supposed to see: contributions from hitters up and down, good selectivity by the hitters, getting men on base (Matsui in the 2-spot helps a lot), competitive pitching, and the closer, Val Verde, in something resembling closer form.

Do that again.

Ba-racky vs. Apollo Clinton

2008-04-19T17:41:00.001-05:00

Click the title to view this little spoof. No further comment.