Nothing I can say would add to the eloquence of this:
I can only hope that America's REAL enemies - not the "enemies" of those who seek blanket amnesty or the "hostage-takers" who fail to express sufficient enthusiasm for The Messiah's last-minute plan to retain the Bush-era tax rates, but those nations and political movements which wish America ill - don't view this image the same way I do...
God Bless America, now more than ever. Stand beside her, and guide her, through the night with the light from above. This is one dark night we're going through right now.
I really can't believe that the Sox acquired Adrian Gonzales - their hearts' desire - from San Diego for three prospects. This is huge, a bona fide 3 or 4 hitter who's not yet thirty and had averaged over 30 homers and 100 RBI playing half his games in the spacious and pither-friendly Petco Park.
Of course they traded their two best prospects, Kelly and Rizzo, and Fuentes has to be in their top ten. And, rumor has it, there will also be a PTBNL heading San Diego's way. But still, it looks like a real steal from where I sit. Gonzales is virtually an identical player to Mark Teixeira, who the Sox ardently wooed before he signed with the Evil Empire in Gotham. Tex is a switch-hitter and his numbers are slightly better, but he's played in better lineups and MUCH more hitter-friendly parks for the past five seasons. But AG may be an even better fielder, which is no small feat; at least he seems to have superior range although that is hardly the most important attribute for a first baseman.
Of course, the reason AG was available is that he will be a free agent after 2011 and he's looking for a contract comparable to the one the Yankees gave Tex. I have little doubt that the Sox will pony up, probably before the weekend is over. They want this guy - they need this guy - Theo Epstein has been dreaming and scheming how to get this guy - and they're not going to let him slip away over a measly difference of ten or twenty millions of dollars.
Meanhile they're not done - they could still re-sign Adrian Beltre if they were intent on leading the league in Adrians, and there is some speculation that they might do so with an eye toward moving Youk temporarily to left field - egad! Sort of a Yaz-in reverse - everyone remembers that Yaz was a superlative left fielder who became an decent first baseman, but not so many remember (and those of us who do would prefer to forget) his monthlong stint at third at the end of the '73 season, after he volunteered to fill-in for the injured Rico Petrocelli.
Youk is a decent third baseman who has made himself into a superlative first baseman but whose brief stints in left field were reminiscent of Yastrzemski's efforts at the hot corner. Really gives one some appreciation for guys like Steve Lyons, Tony Phillips, Ben Zobrist, et al; who the manager can plug-in just about anywhere knowng that they won't embarrass themselves or the team. But I digress.
I'm still a little woried about the catching situation - in Salty we trust, and let's hope they keep a good supply of Geritol onhand for Tek - and they need some major help in the bullpen, but this one move does a ton to solidify the batting order for 2011 and many years to come.
Amongst the new cardinals created at the recent consistory was the Archbishop of Columbo in Sri Lanka, H. E. Malcolm Ranjith. Some of you might remember Archbishop Ranjith from his time as the secretary for the Congregation for Divine Worship and his high-profile support of liturgical sanity and tradition. It is well-known that he shares Pope Benedict XVI's vision for the Church and enjoys the Pope's confidence. Many think he will be papabile at the next conclave...
Meanwhile I got quite the kick out of some of the photos from the homecoming festivities for the new cardinal. These people know how to be joyous in their faith, no over-scrupulous quaverings about "triumphalism". Of course Catholics - all Christians, actually - comprise less than a tenth of the population of Sri Lanka which makes me wonder what kind of relationship they have with the Hindus, Muslims, and Buddhists of that land. Must be fairly good, nobody seems to have objected to the Galeromobile being driven down the thoroughfares of their fair city.
Pretty cool if you ask me - I challenge the Archdiocese of Braintree to rig up something like this next time we get a new Cardinal!
(For more photos of Cardinal Ranjith's joyous homecoming go here)
The recent groundswell of dissatisfaction with the intrusive airport security measures visited upon ordinary Americans bade me to wonder what the late William F. Buckley, Jr. would have thought of it all. Many years ago Buckley wrote an essay entitled "Why Don't We Complain?" in which he lamented the apathy with which most Americans supinely accept the ever-increasing incursions upon their freedom and autonomy by the government.
It would, of course, have been seen as quite impolitic had Buckley publicly expressed his chagrin at any of the enhanced security measures which were hastily enacted in the wake of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. But with the benefit of nine years experience and hindsight it is readily apparent that the basic approach to airport security, in which everyone is treates as equally suspicious, is simply the gesture of a bloated government which lacks the will to put your safety ahead of the totem of political correctness.
Any measure of security requires us to relinquish some of our personal liberty. In many cases that's a fully acceptable trade-off; I am quite content to be disallowed to stroll blithely into the Pentagon carrying a concealed weapon because the odds are quite overwhelming that someone less trustworthy than little ol' me could try the same thing with malicious intent and purpose. But the requirement that each and every passenger - even a nun in her habit, an infant, a grandmother in a wheelchair - all must submit to a full body scan or an invasive patdown - either of which is a gross affront to modesty - is sheer politically correct cowardice, required because the government is afraid to admit the truth.
We need only look at the practices which Israeil uses to see that these invasive measures need not be applied to every man, woman, and child that attempts to board an airplane. The elephant in the room is "profiling", which we durst not even consider. But every single attempted act of terrorism using airplanes against the United States has been perpetrated by indivduals who fit a certain "profile" - and I'm not speaking only of appearance or national origin. Israel has lived under a constant threat from the same enemies who have now begun to target America and it has successfully protected it's air travelers through the use of intelligent screening and... "profiling"!
Perhaps enough finally is enough. The Tea Party movement, which is a true grassroots American phenomenon, grew out of Americans' frustration at the erosion of their liberties at the hands of an ever-more intrusive and overreaching government. I think the recent spate of airport security incidents is a manifestation of the same sort, representing a further awakening by Americans to the dangers posed by our government's aproach to governing. William F. Buckley would no doubt be pleased by this turn of events and might note that we've finally started to complain!
Ironically, even after the results of the recent election and the MSM's coverage of the airport security controversy, the Obama administration still doesn't seem to get it. We heard this week that Secretary of "Homeland Security" Janet Napolitano is considering a waiver of the intrusive screening requirements for... whom? Nuns? Infants? Grandmothers in wheelchairs? Nope, Muslim women! You can't make this stuff up, as another Buckley - WFB's son Christopher, a novelist - has said: we're living in the post-satirical age!
But don't get me wrong, I'm fine with excluding Muslim women - and Catholic women, and Jewish women, and protestant women, and Mormon women, and Buddhist women, and lots of other women - and men - too. 99% of the traveling public ought to be able to answer a few questions from a screener, keep our shoes on, pass our carry-on baggage through an x-ray machine, and walk through a metal detector. But we ought to adopt some common-sense "profiling" of passengers which would reserve these extraordinary screening methods for those indivuduals whose circumstances raise reasonable suspicions about their trustworthiness. Even The Boston Daily Worker (a.k.a. The Globe) permitted publication of an op-ed piece recognizing this as long ago as 2006, but of course this isn't really the paper's editorial stance. And the majority of the left, in particular the A.C.L.U., vehemently opposes any such practices.
So - keep complaining, America; but in the meantime prepare to be exposed, humiliated, and groped. Unless you're wearing a hijab and burkha, in which case you will probably sail through airport security with nary a touch...
UPDATE: lest anyone think I plagiarized George Will's column in Sunday's Washington Post, be assured that I didn't read it until several hours after posting the above. But do read it yourselves, he has some good things to say - including the pithy description of the airport screening charade as "security theater"! Pitch perfect!
Two news stories this week reminded me of this fact. Here in the People's Republic, a mere 48% of the electorate voted for our benighted governor Deval Patrick. Unfortunately, there were four candidates, and the second-place finisher got 42%. This, to our fearless leader, apparently constitutes a mandate so overwhelming that he can blithely resume his long-held quest to enact a "right" for illegal aliens to pay the in-state tuition rate at state colleges and universities!
Mind you, the children of a member of our armed services living in Massachusetts on active duty does not quality as a "resident" able to receive such a benefit. Nor does someone who lives in a bordering state but who is employed in Massachusetts and pays taxes here. Soldiers and the gainfully-employed are not big priorities for the likes of Deval Patrick.
As for his messianic doppelganger, we got a painful reminder about him this week as well when the civilian trial of an Islamic terrorist almost resulted in his - the terrorist's - aquittal. B.H. Obama had insisted that the best way to try captured terrorists was in civilian courts - as opposed to military tribunals - and the the trial of Ahmen Ghailani was intended to be a rehearsal for the BIG ONE, the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad.
Well, as you're probably aware the rules of evidence are a *little* bit different in our criminal courts than they are in a wartime military tribunal. Nothing wrong with that. But the result in this case was the indubitably guilty Ghailani being acquitted of 284 of 285 charges.
Of course there are none so blind as those who will not see. We elected an inexperienced, radical young leftist as president of the most powerful nation on earth, thus we ought not be surprised that he has surrounded himself with the likes of Eric Holder and Janet Napolitano, who are (not surprisingly) in full agreement with him that trying war criminals in the civilan court system is a good idea.
If this is what Massachusetts - and America - want, so be it. But count me out. Barely six years ago a few leftist celebrities were vowing to leave America if G. W. Bush was re-elected. To my knowledge none did. But right about now Canada is looking better and better to me...
One of the better Botafumeiro videos out there. The Pope. The Botafumeiro. Filmed with a real camera, not someone's phone. Alas it lacks the dramatic nature of the one - somewhere on youtube.com - in which the combination of an overmatched camera, some fortuitous glare, and a full load of incense make the thing look like a glowing meteor streaking across the transepts with a full tail of smoke. (Indeed, watching Benedict's stinginess with the incense I wondered if Spain had their own version of OSHA, but of course OSHA wouldn't allow any such thing unless everyone in the workplace, er, cathedral had hardhats... at least) But this one is much clearer and there are some unique perspectives, also the sound is decent; you can actually hear the words of the Himno al Apostol Santiago...
Don't misunderstand me - I *know* stuff like this is pretty much inessential to eternal salvation. But Catholic worship has always been distinctively sensuous and there's nothing wrong with doing things on an outsized scale in church - we're there to worship the God if infinite power and majesty after all. And for the past 45 years the liturgical "experts" have been introducing an endless stream of novelties in an effort to make the liturgy more "relevant" and "interesting" while eliminating the notions of power and majesty.
Bah! This is no novelty, no meaningless liturgical entertainment. They've been doing it for at least ten centuries. They had to, to relieve the interesting odors presented by hundreds of pilgrims camping inside the Cathedral! And for goodness sake, the thing had already been in use for a few hundred years when Catherine of Aragon - you may remember her - stopped by in 1499 on the way to England to marry the heir to the British throne. During her visit, the Botafumeiro parted company with its rope and crashed through a window in one of the transepts. Maybe she should have taken it as an omen and gone back home...
But anyway, this is an ancient tradition, beloved of Compostelians and pilgrims alike, and so what if it happens to be a little bit over-the-top? When in doubt as to the suitability of a particular liturgical element you can almost always make a proper judgment by asking three questions:
1.) Was it introduced for an actual reason, or as an experiment/novelty for the sake of "change"?
2.) Did it precede the Council (of Trent!)?
3.) What would Bugnini have thought of it?
I rest my case.
(n.b. get your minds out of the gutter, I said "sensuous", not "sensual"!)
On Veterans' Day I'd like to thank all whose selfless service has helped to preserve our freedoms and way of life in the greatest nation ever.
I'd like to personally thank +Uncle Don (WW2 + Korea), +Uncle Bill (WW2), Uncle Bob, Uncle Paul, George, Frankie, Joe, Eddie, Tom, Nathan, Dave, Ulysses, Mariel, and Jesse among others.
The late Ted Kennedy was pretty good at getting into scrapes during his lifetime, but he was even better at getting out of them. The Dems, and particularly our floundering president, could sure use him now.
Were it not for the late Ted Kennedy's endorsement, the callow B. H. Obama might never have become president. Early in the 2008 campaign Senator Hillary Clinton and Obama had each won a couple of primaries but Hillary was considered the frontrunner. Teddy's endorsement of Obama changed all that and launched the candidate on a path to nomination and election as president.
During the first year of the Obama regime a dying Kennedy made a couple of dramatic appearances in the Senate to cast the 60th vote to break G.O.P. filibusters. Then, and after his death, he was constantly invoked by the Democrats at they attempted to pass their wildly unpopular "comprehensive health care" bill. His shade loomed large over the political manoeuvering which broght the bill to the threshold of passage, but the unlikely election of Republican Scott Brown to fill the Senate seat Kennedy had occupied for 47 years seemed to toll the death knell for the legislation.
Alas, Teddy's spirit hadn't yet given up the ghost. Even as the Democrats engaged in some extreme logrolling and extra-parliamentary finagling to pass the bill at all cost and by any means, "We did it for Ted" became their all-purpose apologia.
In due course the midterm elections rolled around. You know the results. Voters were generally dissatisfied with the economy, but they were specifically opposed to the president and his eponymous healthcare plan. Perhaps they should have called it "Teddycare"?
Teddy's political legacy is clear. He bequeathed to America an inexperienced and incompetent chief executive, a political extremist who is the most polarizing president since Nixon. And as a bonus we got an ill-considered, intrusive, and economy-wrecking "comprehensive health care" plan whose repeal is the G.O.P.'s #1 campaign promise.
He got them - and us - into this mess. I, for one, am relieved that he has passed from the political scene, but the Democrats could sure use him now. Say what you want about ol' Ted - I sure have - but he was a veteran political operator and knew how to cut his losses. At least he'd have been able to mentor the feckless Obama, who now seems intent on doubling-down on the disastrous policies that have left the recovery to stagnate while irritating a majority of the country and leading his party to the most stinging midterm rebuke since - when? 1946? 1938? - at least fifty years hence.
"Look, Your Holiness, up in the sky... not a bird... not a plane... Holy Smoke, it's THE BOTAFUMIERO!"
"Guido, Georg, we must have one of these for St. Peter's! And another for the outdoor Masses! Will it fit in the Popemobile?"
"You thought the Bugninists were ticked when I put the candles back on the altar, wait until they see this thing in action!. And the tree-huggers won't like it either!"
"Hmm - this thing would cut quite a swath... properly aimed it could take out a half-dozen bad bishops in one shot..."
For you Botafumiero afficionados who'd like to practice in case there are any openings for tiraboleiros any time soon, there's actually an online simulator! (Leo - you CAN get it to do 360's, even though that would be physically impossible inside the Cathedral...)
In case you haven't noticed the increased volume of traffic on this blog. I have returned from the "secure undisclosed location" and I am once again ensconced in the Archlaical Compound in North Carver.
I've been hankerin' for a good old-fashioned solemn high fisking and when I heard some bits of The Messiah'a presser yesterday I thought I had a winner; alas, after reviewing the fulll text of his remarks I realized that they were far too lengthy for a less-than-book-length fisking.
But - since this is politics - perhaps I can take some items out-of-context and coment on them rather than the whole megillah. So without further ado:
THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, everybody. Last night I had a chance to speak to the leaders of the House and the Senate and reached out to those who had both won and lost in both parties. I told John Boehner and Mitch McConnell that I look forward to working with them. [Like I look forward to a root canal] And I thanked Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid for their extraordinary leadership over the last two years.["Extraordinary" indeed. Just as the decisions made by the captain of the Titanic were "extraordinary"] Over the last few months I've had the opportunity to travel around the country and meet people where they live and where they work, from backyards to factory floors. I did some talking, [and wasn't I brilliant? And eloquent?] but mostly I did a lot of listening. [to myself. Nobody else knows what it's like to be me!] And yesterday’s vote confirmed what I've heard from folks all across America: People are frustrated -- they’re deeply frustrated -- with the pace of our economic recovery and the opportunities that they hope for their children and their grandchildren.[Bush had eight years to screw things up, how do they expect me to fix it all in just two years?]They want jobs to come back faster, they want paychecks to go further, and they want the ability to give their children the same chances and opportunities as they’ve had in life.[They're bitter clingers, obsessed with their guns and their religion and their enemies and their petty hatreds.] The men and women who sent us here don't expect Washington to solve all their problems.[Well, actually the ones who sent me here DO expect that, but I can't say it publicly.]But they do expect Washington to work for them, not against them. [Their hands are out - palms up!] They want to know that their tax dollars are being spent wisely, not wasted, and that we're not going to leave our children a legacy of debt. [Of course it's a little too late for that, they should have thought of that in 2008.} They want to know that their voices aren’t being drowned out by a sea of lobbyists and special interests and partisan bickering. They want business to be done here openly and honestly. [Again, they should have thought about that in 2008!]
Now, I ran for this office to tackle these challenges and give voice to the concerns of everyday people. [because I'm smarter than everyone else. Figured I'd sweep into town and solve these problems and win re-election by acclamation.] Over the last two years, we’ve made progress. But, clearly, too many Americans haven’t felt that progress yet, [it's their fault, WE have made the progress but THEY haven't felt it! Don't you understand?] and they told us that yesterday. [It was a temper tantrum.] And as President, I take responsibility for that. [I'm only saying that because I have to sound contrite.]
What yesterday also told us is that no one party will be able to dictate where we go from here, [even though we just spent the last two years shoving unpopular legislation down the nation's throat without any Republican votes.] that we must find common ground in order to set -- in order to make progress on some uncommonly difficult challenges. And I told John Boehner and Mitch McConnell last night I am very eager to sit down with members of both parties and figure out how we can move forward together. [Now that partisan is out, I want to be bipartisan, or at least give the MSM a chance to claim I am...]
I’m not suggesting this will be easy. I won’t pretend that we will be able to bridge every difference or solve every disagreement. [But now that I can't have it ALL my way I'll settle for half - what's unfair about that?] ... And with so much at stake, what the American people don’t want from us, especially here in Washington, is to spend the next two years refighting the political battles of the last two. [In other words, hands-off Obamacare! We can let the Bush tax cuts expire, and repeal anything else we dodn't like, but don't you dare touch anything WE'VE done!] We just had a tough election. We will have another in 2012. [Unless you ignorate proles figure it out by then.] I’m not so naïve as to think that everybody will put politics aside until then, but I do hope to make progress on the very serious problems facing us right now. And that’s going to require all of us, including me, to work harder at building consensus. {the 2012 Campaign starts tomorrow, I'm gonna have to criss-cross the whole country and spoon-feed it to to you thick-headed provincial noodniks so you understand how much you need all this stuff we're doing for you!] ... You know, a little over a month ago, we held a town hall meeting in Richmond, Virginia. And one of the most telling questions came from a small business owner who runs a tree care firm. [Let's not talk about the woman who was tired of defending me.] He told me how hard he works and how busy he was; [and I told him how hard *I* worked and how busy *I* was,] how he doesn’t have time to pay attention to all the back-and-forth in Washington. And he asked, is there hope for us returning to civility in our discourse, to a healthy legislative process, so as I strap on the boots again tomorrow, I know that you guys got it under control? It’s hard to have a faith in that right now, he said. [So you see, the problem is that the Republicans aren't civil enough. This is beautiful - I'm half-way to turning America into a supersized Sweden and these people are still stupid enough to worry about "civility". GodAlinsksy bless their little souls. We're enacting a revolution but a few words about how those damn Republicans won't play ball are enough to set their tongues a-clackin' about "civility"!]
I do believe there is hope for civility. [I love this talk about "civility", keep it up!] I do believe there’s hope for progress. And that’s because I believe in the resiliency of a nation that’s bounced back from much worse than what we’re going through right now -- a nation that's overcome war and depression, that has been made more perfect in our struggle for individual rights and individual freedoms. [We survived Carter and two years of me, now that's resiliency!]
Each time progress has come slowly and even painfully, but progress has always come -- because we’ve worked at it and because we’ve believed in it, [and used parliamentary tricks, and traded pork for votes, and gotten the activist courts to decree what we never could have enacted legislatively,] and most of all, because we remembered that our first allegiance as citizens is not to party or region or faction, but to country -- because while we may be proud Democrats or proud Republicans, we are prouder to be Americans. [as long as we're Democrats]
And that's something that we all need to remember right now and in the coming months. [Listen to me, you unwashed cretins!] And if we do, I have no doubt that we will continue this nation’s long journey towards a better future. [Led on the shining path to a glorious workers' paradise by Barack the Benevolent. Someday you will all appreciate me!]
There's plenty more fodder in The Messiah's answers to the questions, maybe I can get to those tomorrow......
As a tide of red swept the electoral map on Tuesday night, a few enclaves of moonbattery reasserted their approval of business-as-usual. Even in the midst of the largest G.O.P. victory in decades - an election which deposed Madam Speaker, decisively repudiated B. H. Obama's agenda, and left Harry Reid quivering in his boots - the voters of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and California stuck their fingers in their ears: "la, laa, laaa, I can't heeeeeaaaaar yooooooou"
Or perhaps a better image would be them thumbing their noses at the rest of us.
California and Rhode Island have been hit hard by the recession. The unemployment rate in R.I. is almost 12%, and it's higher in Calif. Masachusetts is facing a huge unfunded public pension liability, with their pension obligations only 63% funded (5th lowest in in the nation!)
What kind of people vote for Governor Moonbeam over Meg Whitman, or Barbara Boxer over Carly Fiorina, or David Cicillini over John Loughlin, or Deval Patrick over... anyone?
And I didn't even mention Barney, who remains in my prayers (really) although I wouldn't vote for him for dogcatcher.
Meanwhile the rest of the country, or most of it, has woken up to the dangers we're facing. I wonder what things will look like in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and California a few years hence, in 2012?
Whomever wins Game 1 will win the series in seven. -Well, I got the "Game 1" part right"
If I *had* to bet one way or the other I’d say the Giants in seven. -I did have the Giants...
House of Representatives:
The G.O.P.gains 55+ seats - I was too conservative, it looks like the final tally will be 60-65
Nancy Pelosi will resign her seat in the House to “spend more time with the grandchildren” - Pending
...and then demand use of a government jet to ship her goods back home. - Pending
Senate:
The G.O.P. gains 9 seats - Missed on that one, it's currently 5. AK, CO, and WA aren't yet decided...
Massachusetts:
Governor’s race will require a recount - blew that one! Maybe Obama's visit put him over the top...
Perry will beat Keating by 5 points -and that one too. Perry just had too much baggage.
Barney will eke out a win over Sean Bielat... -not quite "eke"...
...and be typically ingracious in victory. -well, THAT didn't exactly take a crystal ball to predict!
The surprise of the night will come in the 6th District… -maybe someday, not this year! Blew that one.
Rhode Island:
John Loughlin will defeat David Cicilline by a very narrow margin. - Nope. And a real shame, too.
Stock Market:
the Dow will go up by at least 350 points - HA! Nailed that one cold, as I write this the Dow is up EXACTLY 350... oops, the Archlady just pointed out that it's up 3.50, not 350... never mind.
Media:
Nevada - Got that one completely wrong.
Delaware - The MSM is indeed touting O'Donnell's loss as a defeat for conservatism and the "Tea Party".
Florida - The MSM hasn't completely ignored Rubio but they've downplayed him. And they do not seem to have any comprehension of what he's all about, they're calling him the "Obama of 2010"!
Guess I won't quit my day job... at least not yet!
Clinton - Bill, that is - has nothing on this guy.
“Now the Republicans are saying that I'm calling them enemies” quoth The Immaculate One.
Ummmm.... yah, the Republicans ARE saying that. Because it's... true!
But don't worry, we just misunderstood him: “And I said, well, you can't punish your friends when — the folks who’ve been supporting it. Now, I did also say if you're going to punish somebody, punish your enemies, and I probably should have used the word ‘opponents’ instead of ‘enemies.’ Now the Republicans are saying that I'm calling them enemies. What I'm saying is you’re an opponent of this particular provision, comprehensive immigration reform, which is something very different." (Full story: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/44508.html)
Oh, excuse us. How dare we think that you consider us to be "enemies", nothing else you've said or done has given that impression. Ler us slink back to our guns and religion - and cling to them bitterly!
Tomorrow we begin to take back America. 2012 cannot come soon enough. Let's hope America has learned her lesson in time. Another four years of an inexperienced out-of-touch elitist might be too much for us to overcome. (Did I mention he's a socialist?)
Had a very wealthy wife. Thanks to Teresa's money, Liveshot had a cushy life.
(to the tune of "Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer" - or, if you prefer, "Teddy the Red-nosed Senator"!)
Our senior senator, J. F. "Don't-you-know-who-I-am" Kerry, a.k.a. "Liveshot", "Lurch", "Lovey", etc. takes a back seat to nobody when it comes to self-aggrandizement, so it was no surprise to see that he came in #1 on Slate Magazine's "Vanity Index" of the biggest egos in the U.S. Senate. Apparently his "ego wall", photos of the subject with various celebs, was a full (horse-faced) head and shoulders above anyone else's.
(Wonder if there was a shapshot of him with Pope Pius XXIII?)
Hey, he might be a lousy senator and he'd sure have been a lousy president, but everyone's good at something. Self-advertisement is Liveshot's talent, and he's not shy about it!
Time magazine seems to agree with me on the likelihood of Madam ex-Speaker's retirement once the dust settles from the Dem debacle; they even posit that her reason will be the grandchildren! So far nothing about the jet to transport her boodle back to San Fran.
Apparently this little blog is read far and wide, even by members of the MSM. Just think, you regulars can say you knew the Archlaic when he was a nobody!
Hope the rest of my prognostications are as accurate!
One week to go until Election Day. And-oh-by-the-way the World Series starts tomorrow night. The Archlaic found himself in a prognosticative mood today, herewith some predictions on current events:
House: The G.O.P.gains 55+ seats for a 31 seat majority. Nancy Pelosi will resign her seat in the House to “spend more time with the grandchildren” and then demand use of a government jet to ship her goods back home.
Senate: The G.O.P. gains 9 seats, thereby resulting in a technical Republican “majority”of 2. The 48 Democrats will claim it is a “tie” because the one socialist member and the one independent member caucus with them, then they will claim that since the Vice President casts the tie-breaking vote on matters before the Senate they are entitled to retain (at least) a majority of chairmanships and also a majority of the memberships of committees. The media will side with the Democrats.
Massachusetts: Governor’s race will require a recount. Perry will beat Keating by 5 points. Barney will eke out a win over Sean Bielat and be typically ingracious in victory. The surprise of the night will come in the 6th District…
Rhode Island: John Loughlin will defeat David Cicilline by a very narrow margin. The ProJo will be beside themselves.
Tea Party triumph that the media will attempt to explain away: Sharron Angle beating Majority Leader Harry Reid in Nevada.
Tea Party defeat that the media will trumpet day and night: Christine O’Donnell’s loss to Chris Coons in Delaware.
Story the MSM will attempt to ignore: Marco Rubio's win in Flroida
Stock Market: the Dow will go up by at least 350 points on Wednesday 3 November!
World Series: I’ll hedge and say that whomever wins Game 1 will win the series in seven. Both teams have good starting pitching, Texas has a better lineup but the Giants have a better bullpen. Since postseason series usually come down to the bullpen, if I *had* to bet one way or the other I’d say the Giants in seven.
As an aside, the media is really downplaying this WS matchup, and the television ratings will certainly be far below those for a series involving New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, L.A., or even St. Louis. Interesting to think that if this were a football game involving teams from these two cities (the Rangers play in Arlington, just outside of Dallas), say an NFC championship game between the Coyboys and 49ers, the hype would be considerably higher. At one time that was one of the NFL’s great rivalries, although it has cooled-off in recent years.
Even during his presidency, and especially after his resignation, Richard Nixon was depicted by the MSM as paranoid. For goodness sake, the man had an "enemies list"! But he's a minor leaguer compared to our community-organizer-in-chief, who regularly blames "Republican obstruction" on his inability to pass certain legislation despite the fact that the his Democrat party has had a majority of both houses of Congress for every single day of his preseidency - so far anyway.
Today he referred to those who disagree with his - B. H. Obama's - version of "immigration reform", i.e. AMNESTY, as "enemies":
"And if Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, we're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us, if they don't see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it's gonna be harder — and that's why I think it's so important that people focus on voting on November 2"
And how demeaning is it that he blithely makes the assumption that if someone is of Latino, what, ancestry? origin? heritage? their minds have been made up for them by The Messiah and the Democrat party?
Next Tuesday cannot come soon enough. 2012 cannot come soon enough. This man is far too radical to be president of the United States and it's becoming increasingly apparent that he's incompetent as well; frankly he's becoming an embarrassment.
I don't know how much the nation can take, but I can't take much more of it myself - I feel a Howard Dean primal scream coming on: YAAARRRGGGHHH!
Oh oh, here come some of those nice people here at the "undisclosed secure location", the ones with white coats! Gotta go now!
Archbishop Fulton Sheen was probably the foremost Catholic evangelist in American history. In addition to reaching millions through his long-running radio and television programs he was also known to make direct approaches, in person or by telephone, to famous non-Catholics. He usually got right to the point:
"There's something I'd like to talk to you about"
"What would that be, Bishop Sheen?"
"Your immortal soul!"
On numerous occasions his audacious approach led to that person's conversion and reception into the Church. Some notable examples are famed Jewish violinist and composer Fritz Kreisler, agnostic journalist Heywood Broun, and actress, author, and congresswoman Clare Boothe Luce.
Of course there are very few who have the perfect combination of gifts to carry off such in-your-face evangelization. Sheen's years on radio and television had made him a national celebrity, while this provided an easy entree to many public figures it took far more than Sheen's sparkling personality to lead these souls to conversion. Sheen was extremely well-educated and possessed of a significant intellect but he also had the graces and indelible charisms of his sacerdotal and episcopal ordinations. And he knew where his real power came from: he invariably made a holy hour every single day!
There aren't many like him, but we could use a few these days.
I have a hunch that if Sheen were alive today, and in the fullness of his powers, one of the public figures who might receive such a phone call is Massachusetts congressman Barney Frank.
We cannot, of course, judge Barney's soul; but we are certainly expected to take account of his public actions and outward demeanor. From these we can legitimately draw the conclusion that his soul would seem to be in great jeopardy. And, like the rest of us, he's certainly not getting any younger. For years I've despised his politics and scandalous lifestyle but I've recently begun to remember him in my prayers. Jesus told us to pray for our enemies and in the sense that his politics and lifestyle are inimical to ours I think this is fully warranted.
(I also pray for his political defeat, so he'll have plenty of free time to contemplate greater issues!)
I hope I don't sound too much like the Pharisee (as in "the Pharisee and the Publican" in Luke 18), heaven knows I have my own sins to atone for.
Anyway, the late Archbishop is properly titled "Servant of God Fulton Sheen", his cause for canonization having been opened in 2002. As you probably know, one of the prerequisites for canonization is an authenticated miracle, and I can think of few earthly events more likely to be acknowledged as supernatural and miraclulous than Congressman Frank's true and public conversion to the Catholic Faith. Perhaps we should all begin directing our prayers to this great Servant of God, Archbishop Fulton Sheen, for this intention.
Tuesday night the Texas Rangers trailed the Yankees 3-2 in the sixth inning of Game 4 of the A.L.C.S. The mercurial and enigmatic A.J. Burnett was within one out of his first quality start in months when the Rangers unveiled their secret weapon, Benjie Molina.
The senior member of the famed "Catching Molinas" strode to the plate and immediately deposited a badly-aimed Burnett fastball into the left field stands for a three-run homer. 5-3, Rangers, and 50,000 New Yorkers silenced and stunned. As Curt Schilling once said, to be able to do that is a great feeling. Speaking of great feelings, that homer sparked a 10-3 Texas victory which gave them a 3-1 series lead.
With Game 5 this afternoon in the reproduction Yankee Stadium the Rangers had a chance to continue their momentum and close out the series. Unfortunately, their manager appears to be a somewhat unobservant man, and he obviously possesses little intuition. With a chance to clinch the series and a lefthander on the mound for the Yankees he left Molina on the bench and started his other catcher.
Is anyone surprised that New York won to stay alive and send the series back to Arlington?
One can only hope that mistake isn't repeated on Friday night!
(Even when the Sox aren't it it, there's always a reason to watch postseason baseball. And there's usually a Molina involved...)
I have been recommending Martin Mosebach's book "The Heresy of Formlessness" to all sentient Catholics, and especially priests, since I read it a couple of years ago. I have even given a copy to one bishop as a present. Mosebach, a novelist rather than a liturgist or theologian, has some amazingly good insights which go a long way toward helping the average Catholic understand the importance of the liturgy and, not incidentally, the relationship between the liturgical chaos of the past forty-something years and the disintegration of Catholic belief and practice in so many regions.
Mr. Mosebach recently spoke at a liturgy conference in the Archdiocese of Columbo (in Sri Lanka), whose incumbent is the redoubtable Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith. Mosebach's talk, entitled "The Old Roman Missal: Loss and Rediscovery" is well worth reading, and may be especially interesting for those who have not yet had a chance to read his book.
By the way, for those who are not famililar with Archbishop Ranjith, he is a man to watch in the Catholic Church. Most knowledgeable churchmen expect him to be named a cardinal very soon, and eventually to return to Rome in some high post.
One of the more interesting phenomena of the past few years has been the absolutely mindless adulation which our bien pensant friends in Europe have showered upon the man-god B.H. Obama. Now I don't think much of their opinion in most matters, food and wine being the most obvious exceptions. Fortunately there are some pockets of sanity, most notably in the former Soviet satellites of Eastern Europe.
Over the weekend a few people mailed me a quote which has been rocketing around the Internet:
“The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president.
"The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America . Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince.
The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a ltitude of fools such as those who made him their president.”
I have been unable to source this, most references are a bit vague, e.g. "a reader of Prager Zeitung, a German language newspaper published in Prague". My first thought was that Vaclav Havel must be a subscriber to that paper, such was the directness and sensibility of the comment.
Think about it for a second: what the anonymous writer says is true. The American people, or at least some of them, have committed a nearly unpardonable dereliction of duty by voting for an unqualified and virtually unknown celebrity hologram. Nobody of stature on the American political or journalistic scene has really put it into such terms, except perhaps Rush Limbaugh who is neither a politician or a journalist but a unique cultural force. It has taken an unknown Czech to give voice to the blunt condemnation which is in the minds of more and more Americans each day.
The complicity of the media is absolute. MSM opinion journalists have recently started commenting on the lack of vetting Obama received prior to his election, but it's hard o believe that they can do this with a straight face. If they'd done their job during the primary season instead of devoting their time to the parentage of Trig Palin or John McCain's liver spots the American public would have had some of this information in time to possibly make a difference.
The obtuseness of the MSM - intentional or otherwise - is stunning. There has recently been a spate of articles explaining how Obama has "grown" in office or "grown into the job"; from the sound of them one might imagine that he was either a midget or an adolescent instead of the demigod their authors were perfervidly swooning over just two years ago. "The Education of a President", which recently appeared in the New York Times Magazine, is typical of the genre. While a good deal of it is sweet pablum and soft blue floodlights, there are a few bits of useful information in it. For instance we're privileged to learn of this "Light dawning over Marblehead" moment, as the president suddenly realizes that "[T]here’s no such thing as shovel-ready projects" after several fruitless rounds of stimulus spending.
Wow. Big of him to notice. This from the man who insisted repeatedly, for months on end in 2009, that by funding "shovel-ready projects" he'd put America back to work and end the recession. Except that it was b.s. He either lied, or - more likely - had no idea what he was talking about. This more than anything else, even including his politics, is the problem. His policies are wildly unpopular, but they are also spectactularly ineffective. America has survived bad policy and pad leadership before, but the critical thinking vacuum that has resulted in The Barack Obama Experiement poses a clear and present danger to the future of our nation.
We can't fully rectify our mistake for another two years, but in two weeks we'll have a chance to fit him for a political straitjacket which will enable sane adults to check his excesses, its possible that we may even force him to acknowledge reality and attempt to govern in a fashion more palatable to thinking Americans.
The blogosphere has been a-twitter lately regarding the unexplained absence of The Archlaic from these precincts. Rumors have abounded, and scores of anxious messages have been received from well-wishers. As such it was felt necessary to issue an official statement from the Archlaical Seat, and we are privileged to be able to offer a brief interview with His Magnitude as well.
I (an unworthy Archpeon) am pleased to report that His Magnitude The Archlaic is alive and well albeit in an undisclosed location. For reasons of security, as well as the sensitive nature of the matters to which he is devoting his time and energies, it has been unwise for him to make any public comments in this forum for the past month, he Archlaic remais hopeful that the crisis will soon abate and that he will be able to rejoin us in the very near future.
Herewith the transcript of a brief conversation I had with His Magnitude just the other day:
Key: Ap= the Archpeon, Al = His Magnitude the Archlaic of North Carver
Ap: Your Magnitude, one or two a great many of your loyal subjects readers have expressed befuddlement grave concern over your recent absence. What can you tell them to reassure them?
Al: I appreciate their concerns but it's none of their damn business where I am right now necessary that my present whereabouts here in "the undisclosed secure location" remain undisclosed for reasons of security. I can say that my absence involves a highly sensitive matter of great importance which - I'm sure my subjects friends would agree if I were free to disclose any further info - is highly important and terribly sensitive.
Ap: Can you tell us which of your realms of influence this great and sensitive matter concerns?
Al: Sorry, not a chance. It's far too important and sensitive.
Ap: Your Magnitude, there have been rumors that you are unwell, can you put those to rest?
Al: Hogwash! I've never felt better in my life. The doctors here are wonderful and the food is actually quite good, if a bit grey. I've been getting a great deal of sleep and they even gave me a stylish new jacket. But for some reason they keep telling me the wrong time for "Happy Hour"...
Ap: Umm, er, Archlaic, Your Magnitude, does your absence have anything to do with politics?
Al: Sorry, it would be rather impolitic of me to comment on that.
Ap: Well then, can you tell us whether it pertains to an ecclesiastical matter?
Al: The only way I could tell you that is if you were wearing a collar and a purple stole!
Ap: I see. I know you have good reason for your reticence in this matter, but inquiring minds want to know.
Al: What can I tell you, some things are best kept out of the public eye.
Ap: What about the Archlady, is she aware of your whereabouts?
Al: Good heavens, man, that's an extraordinarily silly question. "She Who Must Be Obeyed" knows ALL!
Ap: Sorry, maybe we ought to change tacks: has this got something, perhaps, to do with the Red Sox?
Al: That, at least, is a slightly more intelligent and plausible question!
Ap: But you haven't answered it...
Al: How dare you address my exalted person in such an irreverent manner, you ignorant peon!
Ap: Begging your pardon, Your Magnitude, ARCH-peon; and I naturally thought...
Al: My absence is not in any way related to the Boston American League Baseball Club, nor the National Pastime itself...
Ap: Again, Your Most Magnanimous Magnitude, I humbly apologize...
Al: As I was saying, I had a lengthy conversation the other day with Dan Duquette and Jimy Williams...
Ap: Most fascinating, Your Magnitude...
Al: Indeed. We were in complete agreement on the way forward for this team.
Ap: Way forward, your magnitude?
Al: Yes, we were all in agreement that Martinez needs to pitch deeper into games, and that this Ortiz character will never be more than a platoon player. I also suggested they consider a "bullpen-by-committee"...
Ap: Duquette and Williams? Are they inmates too staying somewhere near the undisclosed location?
Al: You know I can't comment on that. I've already said too much! Although I will say that I still have my doubts about this "Designated Hitter" fad...
Ap: Perhaps, then, you can comment on the persistent rumor that you're writing a book?
Al: Who told you that? Where did they get that information? Has it made the papers?
Ap: It's just a rumor, Your Magnitude...
Al: Well, I can understand why people would think that a man of my eloquence would be writing a book...
Ap: Anyway, when can we expect you back?
Al: In due course, perhaps after the election the onset of Daylight Saving Time, but meanwhile...
Ap: Yes, Your Magnitude?
Al: As I was saying, I now have a secure link so I'll be able to transmit posts more regularly from now on.
Ap: Wonderful news. I know this has been very hard on you. We look forward to your return.
Al : Thank you, and thanks to both of all of my loyal subjects readers.
Well, we didn't have to wait very long for this - did we?
Today's lesson comes from Comrade the Honorable Deval Patrick, General Secretary Governor of The People's Republic of Taxachusetts.
Radio host Jim Braude asked our benighted governor what his thoughts were on the rally in Washington organized by Glenn Beck.
“It’s a free country. I wish it weren’t, but . . . it’s a free country,” Patrick said on the “Jim & Margery Show” on WTKK-FM. “You know, you got to, you got to respect that freedom.”
In the time-honored fashion of liberal Democrats from Taxachusetts (e.g. J. F. "it-was-a-botched-joke" Kerry or Barney "Hot Bottom" Fwank), Deval attempted to explain it all away: “I wish they hadn’t chose that place and that day to have that event,” Patrick said. “But it’s a free country. That was my point, and it has to be respected.”
Oh, I see, nothing to worry about, right? I'm sure that Deval will be out in front defending the next conservative who misspeaks, right?
BTW, did I mention what Deval's stance is on the "Ground Zero Mosque" - and those who dare question the means and motives of it's backers? After all, there's "SACRED GROUND!" (once trod by Dr. M.L. King) and "sacred ground?" (where over 2,000 Americans died in a terrorist attack motivated by adherence to militant Islam - so what?)
The scary part is that this carpetbagging socialist, whose approval ratings after four years as Governor are between 19-22% depending upon which poll you believe, has a better-than-even chance of being re-elected if he can get 34-40% of the vote in a 3-way race. That anyone would vote for him at all, especially in the current political climate, is a measure of how thoroughly brainwashed the typical Taxachusetts liberal voter is.
OK boys and girls, today's lesson is about the First Amendment to our Constitution. The 1st Amendment, the cornerstone of our Bill of Rights, protects our freedom of religion and freedom of speech. Let's look at some real-life examples of how it applies, courtesy of our friends on the left side of the policital spectrum:
A Moslem group wants to build a mosque in the shadow of "ground zero", the site of the 2001 World Trade Center attacks by terrorists acting in the name of... Islam. Not surprisingly a significant percentage of the population thinks this is a plain bad idea. Some lost loved ones in the attacks and resent the incursion upon what they regard as "sacred ground", others see it as a deliberate provocation, a monument of sorts to a "victory" for militant Islam, still others think it could potentially be used for purposes inimical to the national security of the United States, and some believe it will further damage the image of American Moslems. As with any avidly contested issue there are hotheads who inflame the debate.
Of course under the 1st Amendment the Moslems are free to build their house of worship anywhere, zoning and other laws notwithstanding. Whether it is a good idea to do so, or whether other legitimate interests may come into play here, are reasonable questions to ask - again, under the 1st Amendment guarante of the right to free speech. But to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (among others) anyone who dares question the means or motives of those behind the project ought to be "investigated".
By whom, Madame Speaker? Under what authority? As Winston Churchill noted in 1945, no socialist "utopia" can function without some sort of Gestapo:
"No Socialist Government conducting the entire life and industry of the country could afford to allow free, sharp, or violently-worded expressions of public discontent. They would have to fall back on some form of Gestapo, no doubt very humanely directed in the first instance. And this would nip opinion in the bud; it would stop criticism as it reared its head, and it would gather all the power to the supreme party and the party leaders, rising like stately pinnacles above their vast bureaucracies of Civil servants, no longer servants and no longer civil.
"And where would the ordinary simple folk—the common people, as they like to call them in America—where would they be, once this mighty organism had got them in its grip? I stand for the sovereign freedom of the individual within the laws which freely elected Parliaments have freely passed."
More recently, as you may have heard, talkmeister Glenn Beck held a rally this weekend on The Mall in Washington, D.C. The theme was "Restoring Honor" and it was focused on re-dedicating oneself and America to the Christian ideals of the Founding Fathers and the Constitution, in many ways it was closer to a "revival meeting" than a political rally. Intentionally or not it was on the same date and in the same location as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's. famous "I have a Dream" speech in 1963. This did not sit well with the left.
Al Sharpton, for one, was incensed, accusing Beck of "Distort[ing]...Dr. King's dream" and referred to the site as "sacred ground". "Rev." Walter Fauntroy, D.C.'s non-votring delegate to the Congress went considerably further, claiming that Beck and the rally attendees "seized the hallowed ground of the 47th anniversary ... to promote their universal vision of exclusion."
"It would be wrong for us to allow those who espouse the universal value of exclusion to hijack the site and the message of that marvelous day and to use it against the very vision that Martin Luther King Jr. articulated so magnificently," he said (in less-than-articulate or magnificent fashion!)
(Incidentally, Beck's rally was supported - and attended - by Dr. King's niece Alveda Scott King...)
There's a couple of lessons here. Consider the two uses of the word "sacred ground". And consider who's making wild accusations against their political opponents as well. The left takes full advantage of their 1st Amendment rights to free speech even as they use it to attempt to intimidate the right into yielding their own rights. Beware when a liberal Democrat talks about "rights", usually he means "for me, not for thee"...
I'm not too lazy to write anything original, just too busy today. But I'm trying to avoid any more two-week gaps betwen posts, so anyway there were two pieces in today's NRO which I thought you might find edifying:
First off, one of my favorite curmudgeons, John Derbyshire, offers his prescription for reforming the nation's education system: "First, destroy all the schools"
The indictment of Roger Clemens, charged with committing perjury before the United States Congress, brings a few questions to my mind:
1.) Should we be prosecuting a retired athlete for lying about using performance enhancing substances? There's a surprisingly large number who say "no", and they're not all rabid Roger Clemens fans. One argument seems is the old "he's suffered enough", i.e. he's become a pariah in MLB circles and his once-certain election to the Baseball Hall of Fame now seems extremely unlikely.
There are also those who dismiss the gravity of the offense about which he apparently lied, "it wasn't murder or treason or something". And there are those - myself included - who ask what business Congress has investigating steroid use in professional sports.
We heard many of the same arguments during the impeachment trial of President Clinton, who had certainly committed perjury himself. "it's impractical" to remove the President of the United States from office over a lie he told in a deposition regarding a rather personal matter; but this was only a small part of the argument contra impeachment. The most famous was that the offense "didn't rise to the level of impeachment", which I always found specious.
Is anyone reading this old enough to remember Alger Hiss? For the younger set, Hiss was an official in the U.S. State Department who had been at Yalta with F.D.R. and was secretary of the founding meeting of the United Nations. In 1948 an ex-Communist who was an editor at Time magazine, Whittaker Chambers, accused Hiss of being a Communist. This was a cause celebre, especially since Hiss was an member of the "East Coast Establishment", an Ivy Leaguer who'd been a protege of one Supreme Court Justice while at Harvard (Felix Frankfurter) and susequently clerked for another (Oliver Wendell Holmes). Hiss protested his innocence, and sued Chambers for libel. The events which Chambers was able to prove were beyond the existing statutes of limitations, but Hiss was eventually charged with perjury, convicted, and jailed for several years.
Men (and women, lest they cavil at my insensitivity) lie, about matters large and small, for reasons good and bad. But we need to be able to have confidence in our judicial proceedings and so the crime of perjury must be prosecuted and its perpetrators punished. And prosecutions for perjury ought not be so rare that they are reserved as a "safety net" for instances when the law provides otherwise-insuficient remedy for the deeds of a miscreant.
2.) Why is Congress investigating steroid use in Major League Baseball in the first place? On balance I suppose it might be a good thing, insofar as it keeps them from further curtailing our liberties, raising our taxes, or voting on any more legislation they haven't read! But really, how's this their business? Interstate commerce? "Equal protection"? Baseball's informal status as our "national pastime"? Or the "Imperial Congress" doing what it darn pleases? Not that any of that is germane to the plight of Clemens, for one thing he wasn't subpoenaed or anything, he volunteered to testify!
3.) There is much to be said about the effect of steroids (and H.G.H. and other stuff) on the game, far too much for this already-too-long post. But please indulge me in a modest proposal: how about a separate league for players who want to use performance-enhancing drugs? If, as the argument goes, a certain number of guys are going to do this no matter what, why not give them a venue to compete on an equal basis with their chemically-enhanced peers? Middle infielders routinely hitting tape-measure homers, "real" power hitters routinely racking-up 75 home run seasons, relief pitchers throwing 100 m.p.h. for mutiple innings on back-to-back nights, and a 5-day disabled list in consideration for the "quicker recovery" that most players caught using P.E.D.s claim as their reason for using the juice? If the "X-Games" and "Arena Football" were made for t.v., how much more the fully-juiced game of baseball? Maybe then the rest of us fans could go back to watching the game as Wiliams and Koufax played it; or at least reasonably so. (the mention of those names raises the question - how come these guys who are on the juice max-out at 100 pitches every fifth day, or need a break after a few straight games in the field?)
Something's been rotten in the Archdiocese of Braintree Boston for quite a while now, and most well-informed Catholics are aware that the Chancery "Pastoral Center" is riddled with heterodox clerics and self-serving hirelings whose advice and dealings have redounded to the discredit of the incumbent Cardinal Archbishop.
Recently two new blogs have been started by individuals possessed of a good deal of inside information on the peculiar goings-on within the Pastoral Center. The picture they paint is not pretty, but from my own sources I have been able to verify sufficient of their facts to convince me that both blogs are reporting the truth about the state of the Archdiocese.
If you have any interest in what's going on in the Archdiocese, check out:
Average Americans, many of whom were hornswoggled into voting for him in 2008, have only "known" Barack H. Obama - now our 44th president - for a little over two years. Aside from liberals and members of the Democrat party, he got an awful lot of votes because he: 1.) wasn't G. W. Bush, 2.) was our first serious black candidate, 3.) seemed cool, charismatic and charming, and 4.) promised "hope and change".
That got him elected, but since then it hasn't gotten him very far.
Fast-forward to August of 2010. The national economy continues to stagnate in large part because business and the markets have a great deal of uncertainty about the next 6-12 months. Will there be another "stimulus" - carefully crafted to funnel massive doses of your tax dollars to the hard left's favorite constituencies? How much more will Obama, Pelosi, and Reid add to the deficit - and the National Debt? And will they let the Bush tax cuts expire, thereby implementing the largest tax increase in American history effective 1 January 2010? What effect will the short-term Federal bailouts of many irresponsible states have on their long-term economies?
At a time when every job is precious and most states are running immense deficits due mainly to the cost of entitlements, our border with Mexico remains (malignly) neglected by the Federal government, permitting an ongoing flood of illegal immigrants whose presence further exacerbates the situation - to say nothing of the unfettered entree available to criminals and terrorists.
Meanwhile we're still fighting in Afghanistan and "occupying" Iraq to prop-up the nascent Iraqi government, but it's pretty obvious that the mission is poorly-defined and oh-by-the-way morale is rotten. The SecDef is happily cutting the military budget and the C-in-C never speaks of "victory", only of "withdrawal". Iran is less than a week away from activating a nuclear reactor which will allow them to produce weapons-grade plutonium.
Speaking of our enemies, a group of "moderate" Muslims is pushing ahead with a plan to build a mosque in the shadow of the World Trade Center site, a.k.a. "Ground Zero". These "moderate" Muslims, however, are only "moderate" when compared to the most zealous and murderous purveyors of militant Islam, and it has been demonstrated thay they have ties to
If ever there was a time for leadership this is it. But what have we got? An aloof president who doesn't "do" press conferences, or any other unscripted appearances if he can help it. On the rare occasions when he sallies forth without his plexiglass wingmen, the "TelePropmter Twins", he is invariably forced to issue a morning-after correction of his latest gaffe - usually delivered from a position of ignorance - on one of the the issues of the day; e.g. "Skippy Gates" vs. the Cambridge Police, the Arizona illegal alien law, the "Ground Zero Mosque", etc. ad nauseum.
Twenty months ago, some of B. H. Obama's more leg-tingling admirers in the M.S.M. were likening him to F.D. Roosevelt. Well, they're both liberal Democrats who never left an opportunity pass to increase the role of government in the lives of the governed. But F.D.R. was a known quantity to the American people when they elected him. Scion of an old New York family, cousin of President Theodore Roosevelt, Assistant Secretary of the Navy during World War I, candidate for Vice President in 1920, and two-term Governor of New York; Roosevelt had a record of accomplishment and the obvious qualifications for the nation's highest office.
F.D.R. compiled a mixed record during the Great Depression, while his first acts in office unquestionably staved-off a national panic his later policies - which included tax increases and unprecedented government regulation - are now understood to have prolonged the Depression beyond its duration in many other countries. But he was quite willing to acknowledge the failure of one or another of his programs or policies and scrap it in favor of an alternative; and I regard his foreign policy - at least 1938-44 - as having been largely correct.
Alas, B.H.O. is no F.D.R. During the last twelve tumuluous months President Obama has taken no fewer than seven vacations running to some forty days - not including Mrs. Obama's lavish vacation in Spain. None of these vacations were spent at property he owned himself - recall how often President Reagan and both Bushes were criticized for spending working "vacations" at their OWN residences in California, Maine, and Texas respectively. Indeed, F.D.R.'s favorite retreats were his own estate in the Hudson River Valley and the cottage he purchased at Warm Springs, Ga. Nobody doubts that the White House is able to maintain 24x7 contact with Obama when he's away from Washington, but neither do we labor under the illusion that he's devoting much time to the affairs of state.
When he does spend more than a week or so in Washington we are treated to carefully doled-out photo-ops, scripted and Teleprompter'ed remarks, and rambling statements by his press secretary. Poltics 24x7, but damn little substance.
So - who, and what, are these people we know so little about? Obama describes himself as a "progressive" and claims to be a "Christian". The former may be apt, but the latter is a bit of a puzzle. Twenty months after settling into the White House he has yet to "pick" a church. One of his stated reasons is a reluctance to inconvenience the other worshippers but his presence, but this contrasts rather badly with his willingness to inconvenience his fellow golfers, or beachgoers, or diners, etc. when one of his favored leisure activites is on the agenda. He's wont to lecture us - inaccurately - on being "our brother's keeper" when it serves to advance his nationalization of health care while embracing the feminist abortion-on-demand agenda. Reagan was pilloried for peripheral associations with Billy Graham, Jery Falwell, et al, but consider that Obama's two "spiritual" mentors are Rev. Jeremiah "God-damn-America" Wright and Fr. Michael "Non Compos Mentis" Pfleger.
Obama has been called a Marxist, a Socialist, an Alinskyite, un-American, and a closet Muslim. It's safe to say that no other sitting president has ever been identified in this way. The M.S.M. derides anyone who dares to voice questions about whether he really DOES answer to one or more of those designations, but they avoid the question of WHY people think these things about our 44th president. America didn't know who this man was when they elected him. We knew even less about his wife. Nearly two years later we can only judge him by his words and deeds.
One thing is clear - he and the Democrat Congress have taken the country in directions of which a majority of Americans disapprove, and they have lost the consent of the governed. As things stand now it is very likely that the G.O.P. will reclaim at least the House of Representatives in November, and there is certainly a path open for them to take the Senate as well. This election is as much a referendum on the Obama presidency as it is on the Democrat Congress, but the real verdict will be delivered in November of 2012.
America has twenty-seven more months to find out who the Obamas really are. Based upon the first half of his presidency I'm guessing they'll have a very hard time warming up to him during the second.
