Extreme Unction

Watch, if can bear it, the installation of Mary Glasspool, the first lesbian bishop in the Episcopal Church, in a multi-culti extravaganza. Note the ghastly surrounds, a dismal convention center. Note the row upon row of empty seats. Note the preponderance of grey heads among those who did attend, how atrociously dressed people are, the drab depressing dowdiness of it all.

Note also, as I did with particular pain, the wretched music. Not the myriad ethnic numbers (I am clueless about that stuff), rather the few traditional works--tossed in, I suppose, to suggest continuity with the Episcopal Church's glorious Anglican heritage. Up until now, the Episcopal Church has kept its performance practices up to a high standard; whatever other nonsense might take place during a state occasion, you could always count on a few, well-performed traditional anthems or hymns that would thrill you to the marrow. Not any more. The choirs here are dreadful: obviously amateurs, mostly old women with wobbly voices, the ensemble and pitch horrendous. Even the brass choir, which I assume is professional, makes countless clams.

The less said about the liturgy and ritual, of course, the better. What we are witnessing here is an institution in its death throes; what is sadder still is except for those who have or had a connection to it, nobody cares. Requiescat in pace.

(Thanks to Banished Child of Eve and StandFirm)

Extreme Unction

Watch, if can bear it, the installation of Mary Glasspool, the first lesbian bishop in the Episcopal Church, in a multi-culti extravaganza. Note the ghastly surrounds, a dismal convention center. Note the row upon row of empty seats. Note the preponderance of grey heads among those who did attend, how atrociously dressed people are, the drab depressing dowdiness of it all.

Note also, as I did with particular pain, the wretched music. Not the myriad ethnic numbers (I am clueless about that stuff), rather the few traditional works--tossed in, I suppose, to suggest continuity with the Episcopal Church's glorious Anglican heritage. Up until now, the Episcopal Church has kept its performance practices up to a high standard; whatever other nonsense might take place during a state occasion, you could always count on a few, well-performed traditional anthems or hymns that would thrill you to the marrow. Not any more. The choirs here are dreadful: obviously amateurs, mostly old women with wobbly voices, the ensemble and pitch horrendous. Even the brass choir, which I assume is professional, makes countless clams.

The less said about the liturgy and ritual, of course, the better. What we are witnessing here is an institution in its death throes; what is sadder still is except for those who have or had a connection to it, nobody cares. Requiescat in pace.

(Thanks to Banished Child of Eve and StandFirm)

Water Music

Comes the most peculiar news from Boston of a musical tribute to the Kennedy family.

The world premiere of "The Dream Lives On: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers," is set for Tuesday night at Symphony Hall. Celebrity narrators Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris will read from some of the most famous speeches of President John F. Kennedy and Sens. Robert and Edward Kennedy.

Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart commissioned composer Peter Boyer and lyricist Lynn Ahrens to write the piece, which will be performed several other times this spring and during the Pops summer season.

I suppose those Bostonians are welcome to it but I can't imagine scalpers will do a brisk business outside Symphony Hall on nights the Kennedy brothers portrait is performed. Still, if the Pops wants to do this thing right, they will join forces with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus at some point during the tribute for a rousing rendition of the famous and much beloved Teddy Kennedy Song (to the tune of the Irish Washerwoman):

Oh, your mother is dead
And your father is dead
And your brother is dead
And your brother is dead
And your brother is dead
And your wife is a drunk
And your kid has one leg
And your car doesn't float.

Hat tip to Robbo

Water Music

Comes the most peculiar news from Boston of a musical tribute to the Kennedy family.

The world premiere of "The Dream Lives On: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers," is set for Tuesday night at Symphony Hall. Celebrity narrators Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris will read from some of the most famous speeches of President John F. Kennedy and Sens. Robert and Edward Kennedy.

Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart commissioned composer Peter Boyer and lyricist Lynn Ahrens to write the piece, which will be performed several other times this spring and during the Pops summer season.

I suppose those Bostonians are welcome to it but I can't imagine scalpers will do a brisk business outside Symphony Hall on nights the Kennedy brothers portrait is performed. Still, if the Pops wants to do this thing right, they will join forces with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus at some point during the tribute for a rousing rendition of the famous and much beloved Teddy Kennedy Song (to the tune of the Irish Washerwoman):

Oh, your mother is dead
And your father is dead
And your brother is dead
And your brother is dead
And your brother is dead
And your wife is a drunk
And your kid has one leg
And your car doesn't float.

Hat tip to Robbo

Cry Babies

Damien Thompson of the Telegraph reports on the welcoming gift being prepared for the Pope when he visits England in September for the beatification of Cardinal Newman.

A ghastly discovery today: plans to subject Pope Benedict XVI to trendy musical tripe when he celebrates the Beatification Mass for Cardinal Newman at Coventry Airport on September 19. According to Nick Baty, a supporter of the little gang of composers who have liturgical commissions sewn up in this country, the music for the Mass will include...

Since all that crap sounds alike, it's pointless to list it. Thompson continues,

Oh, and there’s a brief motet by Elgar and a couple of rousing Newman-based hymns; but basically it’s game set and match to the Society of St Gregory (SSG), the mafia of the mediocre who ensure that most music at Mass in most dioceses reeks of the 1960s, 70s and 80s. This stuff didn’t sound either beautiful or cutting-edge when it was performed for Pope John Paul; how will it sound to the ears of a genuine music lover, Pope Benedict XVI? And young Catholics, especially, loathe it.

Good for those young Catholics. They, like baby boomers of the past, rebel against hoary and hidebound conservatism but unlike in my generation, the conservatives are the liberals these days. The Holy Father's advocacy of the Catholic Church's glorious musical and liturgical legacy is well known and he has fought mightily to have them restored to their rightful place in the mass. The ploy of larding up up Newman's beatification mass with post-Vatican II sludge can only be interpreted as an effrontery, a temper tantrum to let the mean old Pope know just what the liberal English Catholic hierarchy thinks of him.

They're getting so old, these people; what a shame they won't grow up.

Cry Babies

Damien Thompson of the Telegraph reports on the welcoming gift being prepared for the Pope when he visits England in September for the beatification of Cardinal Newman.

A ghastly discovery today: plans to subject Pope Benedict XVI to trendy musical tripe when he celebrates the Beatification Mass for Cardinal Newman at Coventry Airport on September 19. According to Nick Baty, a supporter of the little gang of composers who have liturgical commissions sewn up in this country, the music for the Mass will include...

Since all that crap sounds alike, it's pointless to list it. Thompson continues,

Oh, and there’s a brief motet by Elgar and a couple of rousing Newman-based hymns; but basically it’s game set and match to the Society of St Gregory (SSG), the mafia of the mediocre who ensure that most music at Mass in most dioceses reeks of the 1960s, 70s and 80s. This stuff didn’t sound either beautiful or cutting-edge when it was performed for Pope John Paul; how will it sound to the ears of a genuine music lover, Pope Benedict XVI? And young Catholics, especially, loathe it.

Good for those young Catholics. They, like baby boomers of the past, rebel against hoary and hidebound conservatism but unlike in my generation, the conservatives are the liberals these days. The Holy Father's advocacy of the Catholic Church's glorious musical and liturgical legacy is well known and he has fought mightily to have them restored to their rightful place in the mass. The ploy of larding up up Newman's beatification mass with post-Vatican II sludge can only be interpreted as an effrontery, a temper tantrum to let the mean old Pope know just what the liberal English Catholic hierarchy thinks of him.

They're getting so old, these people; what a shame they won't grow up.

I ♥ Polarization

The editors at the Washington Post, in top handringing form, lament the recent trend toward "partisanship and paralysis" and wonder if there is a way to "carve out some space for those who strive to work across party lines in the national interest?" Which makes Mona Charen at the National Review wonder in return where those budding sculptors at the Post were hiding just a short while ago.

This call to a high-minded spirit of compromise was utterly absent in the winter of 2009, when it seemed that the Democrats would carry all before them. When newly inaugurated Barack Obama airily spurned Republicans who objected to aspects of the stimulus bill with the reply “I won,” the Post did not pull its chin about the problem of polarization. Nor did the great stewards of bipartisanship turn a hair when Speaker Pelosi declared, during the health-care debate, that “a bill can be bipartisan without bipartisan votes.”

Finally, at long last, the Republicans (some of them, anyway) realize this country is charging full speed toward the abyss. Liberals like those at the Post, terrifed at the prospect of their cherished doctrines in jeopardy, now suggest in the spirit of compromise our run off the cliff be slowed to a stately and respectable promenade.

I ♥ Polarization

The editors at the Washington Post, in top handringing form, lament the recent trend toward "partisanship and paralysis" and wonder if there is a way to "carve out some space for those who strive to work across party lines in the national interest?" Which makes Mona Charen at the National Review wonder in return where those budding sculptors at the Post were hiding just a short while ago.

This call to a high-minded spirit of compromise was utterly absent in the winter of 2009, when it seemed that the Democrats would carry all before them. When newly inaugurated Barack Obama airily spurned Republicans who objected to aspects of the stimulus bill with the reply “I won,” the Post did not pull its chin about the problem of polarization. Nor did the great stewards of bipartisanship turn a hair when Speaker Pelosi declared, during the health-care debate, that “a bill can be bipartisan without bipartisan votes.”

Finally, at long last, the Republicans (some of them, anyway) realize this country is charging full speed toward the abyss. Liberals like those at the Post, terrifed at the prospect of their cherished doctrines in jeopardy, now suggest in the spirit of compromise our run off the cliff be slowed to a stately and respectable promenade.

Expediency

Illegals are pouring over our border in Arizona and the federal government not only does nothing about it but, via the Obama Administration, derides Arizona for simply doing what the feds refuse to do. Meanwhile, up in Franklin, Vermont, a sleepy town on the Canadian border, the feds tell a dairy farmer to accept $39,500 for his five acres of his land or they will take it from him by force, so they may spend $8 million to "secure" a little-used border crossing abutting his property. The feds do this, obviously, so they may claim they are "doing something" about illegal immigrants yet be spared angry accusations from the usual suspects they are targeting the wrong illegal immigrants.

Expediency

Illegals are pouring over our border in Arizona and the federal government not only does nothing about it but, via the Obama Administration, derides Arizona for simply doing what the feds refuse to do. Meanwhile, up in Franklin, Vermont, a sleepy town on the Canadian border, the feds tell a dairy farmer to accept $39,500 for his five acres of his land or they will take it from him by force, so they may spend $8 million to "secure" a little-used border crossing abutting his property. The feds do this, obviously, so they may claim they are "doing something" about illegal immigrants yet be spared angry accusations from the usual suspects they are targeting the wrong illegal immigrants.

Unmitigated Gall

From nj.com:

TRENTON -- A Senate committee approved legislation today creating scholarships for students to attend private schools during a raucous hearing held in front of the Statehouse Annex building.

Hundreds of demonstrators, mostly students from private and charter schools, gathered to rally for the bill. Supporters said it provides students a chance to leave failing public schools, while opponents said it undermines the public school system.

Actually, the public schools were undermined years ago, by the very same people so fiercely opposed to vouchers. They did not prevail, however. This part is priceless.

The bill was unanimously approved by the Senate Economic Growth Committee. The hearing was scheduled to be held in a normal committee room, but senators said it was packed with NJEA members when they arrived.

Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union) said he asked them to make room for some of the bill's supporters, splitting the seating evenly between the two sides.

"They said we're not moving. So we'll have it outside," he said.

Statehouse staff carried out desks and chairs for senators, and the hearing -- complete with testimony and parliamentary procedure -- was held in front of hundreds of demonstrators.

"It's a great lesson in civics," Lesniak said.

Sure is and how deliciously humiliating! If anyone had told me a year ago this would be take place in one of bluest states in nation, I would have asked him what he was smoking. We are witnessing a tide change in this country.

UPDATE: Also galling is the implication taxpayers are to serve the schools, not the other way around.

Unmitigated Gall

From nj.com:

TRENTON -- A Senate committee approved legislation today creating scholarships for students to attend private schools during a raucous hearing held in front of the Statehouse Annex building.

Hundreds of demonstrators, mostly students from private and charter schools, gathered to rally for the bill. Supporters said it provides students a chance to leave failing public schools, while opponents said it undermines the public school system.

Actually, the public schools were undermined years ago, by the very same people so fiercely opposed to vouchers. They did not prevail, however. This part is priceless.

The bill was unanimously approved by the Senate Economic Growth Committee. The hearing was scheduled to be held in a normal committee room, but senators said it was packed with NJEA members when they arrived.

Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union) said he asked them to make room for some of the bill's supporters, splitting the seating evenly between the two sides.

"They said we're not moving. So we'll have it outside," he said.

Statehouse staff carried out desks and chairs for senators, and the hearing -- complete with testimony and parliamentary procedure -- was held in front of hundreds of demonstrators.

"It's a great lesson in civics," Lesniak said.

Sure is and how deliciously humiliating! If anyone had told me a year ago this would be take place in one of bluest states in nation, I would have asked him what he was smoking. We are witnessing a tide change in this country.

UPDATE: Also galling is the implication taxpayers are to serve the schools, not the other way around.

Don't Sugarcoat it, Governor

I like this guy.

Gov Christie calls S-L columnist thin-skinned for inquiring about his 'confrontational tone'

It's being noised he's presidential material. Works for me.

Don't Sugarcoat it, Governor

I like this guy.

Gov Christie calls S-L columnist thin-skinned for inquiring about his 'confrontational tone'

It's being noised he's presidential material. Works for me.

McWorship

I made the claim earlier that most modern the pop songs sound alike and provided strong evidence to back it up. That claim, apparently, may also be made for so-called "contemporary worship."

Thanks to Fr. C

McWorship

I made the claim earlier that most modern the pop songs sound alike and provided strong evidence to back it up. That claim, apparently, may also be made for so-called "contemporary worship."

Thanks to Fr. C

Some Dictatorships are More Equal than Others

Glenn Reynolds wonders at the disparity between Western attitudes toward communism verses Nazism. While most among our elite now acknowledge that abuses took (and take) place in communist regimes, abuses that used to be politely ignored, there is far more attention paid to the atrocities of Nazism; this despite the general consensus there were over 150 million people who died at the hands of the communists in the last century, far more than those murdered by the Nazis.

The reason for the muted reaction to communist abuses, I think, is that Western culture is overwhelmingly dominated by liberals and ultimately there isn't a whole lot of difference between liberals, in their modern incarnation, and hard-line Stalinists. The goal is the same; the only difference is the timetable. It was not for nothing around 1935, during the New Deal, it was popularly said by communists to their liberal colleagues that they were simply "liberals in a hurry." And to what were they hurrying? Forced equality, at the point of a gun if necessary, just like the liberals.

The tacit endorsement of communism by liberals was made strikingly clear to me back in the 'nineties when a bar opened in the newly-hip Lower East Side (after, of course, Republican ogre Rudy Giuliani had cleaned up crime in New York). I can't remember its name, the "Politboro" or the "Kremlin"--it doesn't matter, but the theme of place was the former Soviet Union, with a hammer-and-sickle and red stars motif, along with portraits of Uncle Joe Stalin and the gang, photographs of May Day parades--you get the idea.

The joint was hugely popular for a while and was considered by many (for almost a whole year!) a Bar of the Century. I remember, though, at the time wondering just how well that bar would have been received had it adopted as its theme Nazi Germany, with portraits of Hitler and Himmler and stills from "Triumph of the Will" hanging on the walls. Not terribly well, was my conclusion; some forms of tyranny are absolutely unacceptable to the hip liberal elite.

Some Dictatorships are More Equal than Others

Glenn Reynolds wonders at the disparity between Western attitudes toward communism verses Nazism. While most among our elite now acknowledge that abuses took (and take) place in communist regimes, abuses that used to be politely ignored, there is far more attention paid to the atrocities of Nazism; this despite the general consensus there were over 150 million people who died at the hands of the communists in the last century, far more than those murdered by the Nazis.

The reason for the muted reaction to communist abuses, I think, is that Western culture is overwhelmingly dominated by liberals and ultimately there isn't a whole lot of difference between liberals, in their modern incarnation, and hard-line Stalinists. The goal is the same; the only difference is the timetable. It was not for nothing around 1935, during the New Deal, it was popularly said by communists to their liberal colleagues that they were simply "liberals in a hurry." And to what were they hurrying? Forced equality, at the point of a gun if necessary, just like the liberals.

The tacit endorsement of communism by liberals was made strikingly clear to me back in the 'nineties when a bar opened in the newly-hip Lower East Side (after, of course, Republican ogre Rudy Giuliani had cleaned up crime in New York). I can't remember its name, the "Politboro" or the "Kremlin"--it doesn't matter, but the theme of place was the former Soviet Union, with a hammer-and-sickle and red stars motif, along with portraits of Uncle Joe Stalin and the gang, photographs of May Day parades--you get the idea.

The joint was hugely popular for a while and was considered by many (for almost a whole year!) a Bar of the Century. I remember, though, at the time wondering just how well that bar would have been received had it adopted as its theme Nazi Germany, with portraits of Hitler and Himmler and stills from "Triumph of the Will" hanging on the walls. Not terribly well, was my conclusion; some forms of tyranny are absolutely unacceptable to the hip liberal elite.

C'mon Harry, One More Time

Has Barack Obama finally seen the light regarding the multi-trillion dollar debt?

"For too long, Washington has kicked this challenge to the next generation...This time, the status quo is no longer acceptable to Americans.

Nope, keep dreaming. Those stirring words were spoken by our plucky President about the just-introduced Senate bill limiting carbon dioxide emissions, the "cap and tax" bill.

Lest you think, "now there's one that's DOA," don't forget many of us thought the same of the healthcare monstrosity last year. I say, however, go ahead and pass the thing. If this bill, with its huge tax increases, meets with even half the acclaim healthcare did, we may be reasonably sure the Democrats are going the way of the Whigs.

C'mon Harry, One More Time

Has Barack Obama finally seen the light regarding the multi-trillion dollar debt?

"For too long, Washington has kicked this challenge to the next generation...This time, the status quo is no longer acceptable to Americans.

Nope, keep dreaming. Those stirring words were spoken by our plucky President about the just-introduced Senate bill limiting carbon dioxide emissions, the "cap and tax" bill.

Lest you think, "now there's one that's DOA," don't forget many of us thought the same of the healthcare monstrosity last year. I say, however, go ahead and pass the thing. If this bill, with its huge tax increases, meets with even half the acclaim healthcare did, we may be reasonably sure the Democrats are going the way of the Whigs.

Vote Early and Often

Run, don't walk, over to Christopher Johnson's Bad Vestments website and nominate your pick for "worst Christian vestment you have ever seen." There is a tempting array of choices on the Bad Vestments site and you will certainly find many, many more on the Internets.

For what it's worth, here is my nominee.



No need for a telescopic sight to dispatch that fearsome creation, especially when the thing is modeled in the manner shown.

Vote Early and Often

Run, don't walk, over to Christopher Johnson's Bad Vestments website and nominate your pick for "worst Christian vestment you have ever seen." There is a tempting array of choices on the Bad Vestments site and you will certainly find many, many more on the Internets.

For what it's worth, here is my nominee.



No need for a telescopic sight to dispatch that fearsome creation, especially when the thing is modeled in the manner shown.

How Will Anyone Know?

New York Post: LEGISLATURE OKS FURLOUGH FOR STATE WORKERS

How Will Anyone Know?

New York Post: LEGISLATURE OKS FURLOUGH FOR STATE WORKERS

Thanks, But I'm Looking Forward to Root Canal that Day

A recently received invitation.

Thanks, But I'm Looking Forward to Root Canal that Day

A recently received invitation.

Many Happy Returns

New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority, the agency responsible for the city's trains, buses, bridges and tunnels is hemorrhaging money, a victim of declining revenues owing to the recession and colossal mismanagement. Lately the agency has been making drastic cuts in subway and bus service and threatens more of them unless it can get its financial affairs in order.

It is thus gratifying to learn that despite its severe financial woes, the MTA is digging deep beneath the sofa cushions to find the $134,000 per annum necessary to keep Chief Equal-Employment-Opportunity Officer Gloria Colon on the payroll. Ms. Colon recently displayed her incalculable worth to the MTA and city's long-suffering commuters by distributing a memo to 300 employees announcing a significant milestone in the history of mass transit: the 50th anniversary of the FDA's approval of Enovid, the first oral contraceptive.

Why thank you, Ms. Colon and a very happy anniversary to you, too.

Many Happy Returns

New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority, the agency responsible for the city's trains, buses, bridges and tunnels is hemorrhaging money, a victim of declining revenues owing to the recession and colossal mismanagement. Lately the agency has been making drastic cuts in subway and bus service and threatens more of them unless it can get its financial affairs in order.

It is thus gratifying to learn that despite its severe financial woes, the MTA is digging deep beneath the sofa cushions to find the $134,000 per annum necessary to keep Chief Equal-Employment-Opportunity Officer Gloria Colon on the payroll. Ms. Colon recently displayed her incalculable worth to the MTA and city's long-suffering commuters by distributing a memo to 300 employees announcing a significant milestone in the history of mass transit: the 50th anniversary of the FDA's approval of Enovid, the first oral contraceptive.

Why thank you, Ms. Colon and a very happy anniversary to you, too.

She Got it Right the First Time

From the New York Post:

The Golf Channel reporter who explained why Tiger Woods yesterday pulled out of a major tournament could use some lessons in anatomy.

"[Woods] says he's been playing with a bad neck for about a month and thinks it could be a bulging d- - k," Win McMurry said on-air.

What she meant to say is that the serial-cheater quit in the final round of The Players Championship in Florida because of a bulging disc in his upper back.

The red-faced reporter quickly corrected her X-rated observation.

She Got it Right the First Time

From the New York Post:

The Golf Channel reporter who explained why Tiger Woods yesterday pulled out of a major tournament could use some lessons in anatomy.

"[Woods] says he's been playing with a bad neck for about a month and thinks it could be a bulging d- - k," Win McMurry said on-air.

What she meant to say is that the serial-cheater quit in the final round of The Players Championship in Florida because of a bulging disc in his upper back.

The red-faced reporter quickly corrected her X-rated observation.

Here was a Really Bad Guy

From Taylor Marshall's blog Canterbury Tales:

By now we know that the founder of the Legionaries of Christ Marcial Maciel had abused drugs, abused children, abused millions in Church donations, and worked under four to five alias in order live as husband or lover to a number of women...

It has been recently revealed that Marcial Maciel refused to confess his sins on his death bed and that he refused Last Rites by saying to the priests at hand "I said no!" and that he "did not believe in God's pardon." The reaction led to the summoning of an exorcist.

*****

Maciel's life seems thoroughly diabolical--plagued with lies, sacrilege, adultery, false witnesses, rape, theft, incest, and child molestation. The stories and legends that will arise about him through the ages will be stupendously haunting--a true Faustus. He is perhaps the greatest ecclesiastical villain since Judas Iscariot.

Wow, after a long sordid run he checks out of this existence by blaspheming the Holy Ghost, the unpardonable sin. This guy was truly evil.

Read it all.

(Thanks to Augustine)

Here was a Really Bad Guy

From Taylor Marshall's blog Canterbury Tales:

By now we know that the founder of the Legionaries of Christ Marcial Maciel had abused drugs, abused children, abused millions in Church donations, and worked under four to five alias in order live as husband or lover to a number of women...

It has been recently revealed that Marcial Maciel refused to confess his sins on his death bed and that he refused Last Rites by saying to the priests at hand "I said no!" and that he "did not believe in God's pardon." The reaction led to the summoning of an exorcist.

*****

Maciel's life seems thoroughly diabolical--plagued with lies, sacrilege, adultery, false witnesses, rape, theft, incest, and child molestation. The stories and legends that will arise about him through the ages will be stupendously haunting--a true Faustus. He is perhaps the greatest ecclesiastical villain since Judas Iscariot.

Wow, after a long sordid run he checks out of this existence by blaspheming the Holy Ghost, the unpardonable sin. This guy was truly evil.

Read it all.

(Thanks to Augustine)

You've Got to be Carefully Taught

I work but a block from Fifth Avenue and so can observe close up most of the various ethnic parades that take place on New York City's Main Street. You see lots of flag waving, of course, the flags of the celebrants' (or their ancestors') native countries as well as of their their adopted country, the United States. This holds true regardless the parade: the St. Patrick's Day, the Columbus Day, the Greek Independence Day, the Steuben Day, the Dominican Day Parade and the host of others I have surely left out.

The national day of Mexico, Cinco de Mayo, is not celebrated to any great extent in New York but is, as you might expect, in California. Yesterday, May 5th, five high school students in Morgan Hill, California, a suburb of San Jose, were suspended when they refused an order from an educrat to turn the t-shirts they were wearing inside out because he considered them "incendiary." The shirts were adorned with American flags.

"They said if we tried to go back to class with our shirts not taken off, they said it was defiance and we would get suspended," Dominic Maciel, Galli's friend, said.

The boys really had no choice, and went home to avoid suspension. They say they're angry they were not allowed to express their American pride. Their parents are just as upset, calling what happened to their children, "total nonsense."

"I think it's absolutely ridiculous," Julie Fagerstrom, Maciel's mom, said. "All they were doing was displaying their patriotic nature. They're expressing their individuality."

But to many Mexican-American students at Live Oak, this was a big deal. They say they were offended by the five boys and others for wearing American colors on a Mexican holiday.

"I think they should apologize cause it is a Mexican Heritage Day," Annicia Nunez, a Live Oak High student, said. "We don't deserve to be get disrespected like that. We wouldn't do that on Fourth of July."

Miss Nunez speaks the truth, in a way. We can be sure she and her friends will never be seen waving an American flag, on the Fourth of July or any other day. That would be contrary to the narrative so carefully taught in the public schools that for ethnic victims like herself, the United States of America is a racist and oppressive nation, not to be celebrated but condemned. Miss Nunez has learned her lesson well and owes a debt of gratitude to that racist and oppressive nation providing her schooling.

You've Got to be Carefully Taught

I work but a block from Fifth Avenue and so can observe close up most of the various ethnic parades that take place on New York City's Main Street. You see lots of flag waving, of course, the flags of the celebrants' (or their ancestors') native countries as well as of their their adopted country, the United States. This holds true regardless the parade: the St. Patrick's Day, the Columbus Day, the Greek Independence Day, the Steuben Day, the Dominican Day Parade and the host of others I have surely left out.

The national day of Mexico, Cinco de Mayo, is not celebrated to any great extent in New York but is, as you might expect, in California. Yesterday, May 5th, five high school students in Morgan Hill, California, a suburb of San Jose, were suspended when they refused an order from an educrat to turn the t-shirts they were wearing inside out because he considered them "incendiary." The shirts were adorned with American flags.

"They said if we tried to go back to class with our shirts not taken off, they said it was defiance and we would get suspended," Dominic Maciel, Galli's friend, said.

The boys really had no choice, and went home to avoid suspension. They say they're angry they were not allowed to express their American pride. Their parents are just as upset, calling what happened to their children, "total nonsense."

"I think it's absolutely ridiculous," Julie Fagerstrom, Maciel's mom, said. "All they were doing was displaying their patriotic nature. They're expressing their individuality."

But to many Mexican-American students at Live Oak, this was a big deal. They say they were offended by the five boys and others for wearing American colors on a Mexican holiday.

"I think they should apologize cause it is a Mexican Heritage Day," Annicia Nunez, a Live Oak High student, said. "We don't deserve to be get disrespected like that. We wouldn't do that on Fourth of July."

Miss Nunez speaks the truth, in a way. We can be sure she and her friends will never be seen waving an American flag, on the Fourth of July or any other day. That would be contrary to the narrative so carefully taught in the public schools that for ethnic victims like herself, the United States of America is a racist and oppressive nation, not to be celebrated but condemned. Miss Nunez has learned her lesson well and owes a debt of gratitude to that racist and oppressive nation providing her schooling.

Upsetting the Apple Cart

In the small-and-getting-smaller-world of Anglo-Catholicism (whence your Bloviator originates) there was a bit of a tizzy recently when word leaked out several A-C bishops had traveled to Rome and met with Vatican officials, including the Pope, allegedly, to discuss details of the Anglicanorum Ceotibus, a vehicle devised by the Vatican by which Anglicans may become Roman Catholics en masse while retaining most aspects of Anglican worship, via so-called Anglican Ordinariates. The meeting was precipitated by, among other things, the impending move by the General Synod of the Church of England to permit women bishops.

Among the Anglicans in Rome was John Broadhurst, Bishop of Fulham and chairman of Forward in Faith International, an Anglo-Catholic "support group" within the Anglican Communnion. He is not a happy camper about the leak and has expressed great concern over its consequences as well questioning the motive of whomever spilled the beans. He recently issued a statement to members of FIF in which he informed them:

I am embarrassed by the leak to the press that we had visited the Holy See. All of us have expressed an interest in the Ordinariate and so it is obviously necessary to understand exactly what is intended and how the Ordinariate will be implemented. We were certainly neither negotiating nor plotting. The leak came as a real surprise to me as it happened whilst I was abroad. As we had not informed others of our visit, who leaked it - and why - is a very serious question. It risks damage to the Church of England, and to Catholic Anglicans in particular, as well as to the forthcoming visit to the UK of the Holy Father. It also has serious ecumenical implications. To say it was malicious would seem to fit the facts.

Bishop Broadhurst maintains, sincerely I am sure, that he is still a loyal Anglican (although so did Newman up until he poped). He states further:

I have a deep love for the Church of England and its Anglo-Catholic tradition in particular. The question of how it is to continue is a serious one. Though the signs in General Synod do not look good, many still hope for proper provision in line with previously made promises. Our visit must not be allowed to colour these discussions.

The biggest obstacle facing Anglo-Catholics who wish to come over to Rome is not the Anglican Church, rather liberal Catholic bishops (whose numbers, thankfully, are also getting smaller), holdovers of the dreadful post-Vatican II reforms . They are vehemently opposed to large numbers of Anglo-Catholics becoming Roman Catholics because they will spoil everything by bringing with them tasteful liturgy and soaring music, in short, worship for grownups, which appalls the felt banners and giant puppets contingent, who earnestly believe worshipers should be treated like children. Opposition from liberal Catholic bishops is, apparently, the reason the Anglican bishops bypassed them went and straight to the Vatican, a wise move, I think. Let us pray the press leak does not force Coetibus off the rails.

Upsetting the Apple Cart

In the small-and-getting-smaller-world of Anglo-Catholicism (whence your Bloviator originates) there was a bit of a tizzy recently when word leaked out several A-C bishops had traveled to Rome and met with Vatican officials, including the Pope, allegedly, to discuss details of the Anglicanorum Ceotibus, a vehicle devised by the Vatican by which Anglicans may become Roman Catholics en masse while retaining most aspects of Anglican worship, via so-called Anglican Ordinariates. The meeting was precipitated by, among other things, the impending move by the General Synod of the Church of England to permit women bishops.

Among the Anglicans in Rome was John Broadhurst, Bishop of Fulham and chairman of Forward in Faith International, an Anglo-Catholic "support group" within the Anglican Communnion. He is not a happy camper about the leak and has expressed great concern over its consequences as well questioning the motive of whomever spilled the beans. He recently issued a statement to members of FIF in which he informed them:

I am embarrassed by the leak to the press that we had visited the Holy See. All of us have expressed an interest in the Ordinariate and so it is obviously necessary to understand exactly what is intended and how the Ordinariate will be implemented. We were certainly neither negotiating nor plotting. The leak came as a real surprise to me as it happened whilst I was abroad. As we had not informed others of our visit, who leaked it - and why - is a very serious question. It risks damage to the Church of England, and to Catholic Anglicans in particular, as well as to the forthcoming visit to the UK of the Holy Father. It also has serious ecumenical implications. To say it was malicious would seem to fit the facts.

Bishop Broadhurst maintains, sincerely I am sure, that he is still a loyal Anglican (although so did Newman up until he poped). He states further:

I have a deep love for the Church of England and its Anglo-Catholic tradition in particular. The question of how it is to continue is a serious one. Though the signs in General Synod do not look good, many still hope for proper provision in line with previously made promises. Our visit must not be allowed to colour these discussions.

The biggest obstacle facing Anglo-Catholics who wish to come over to Rome is not the Anglican Church, rather liberal Catholic bishops (whose numbers, thankfully, are also getting smaller), holdovers of the dreadful post-Vatican II reforms . They are vehemently opposed to large numbers of Anglo-Catholics becoming Roman Catholics because they will spoil everything by bringing with them tasteful liturgy and soaring music, in short, worship for grownups, which appalls the felt banners and giant puppets contingent, who earnestly believe worshipers should be treated like children. Opposition from liberal Catholic bishops is, apparently, the reason the Anglican bishops bypassed them went and straight to the Vatican, a wise move, I think. Let us pray the press leak does not force Coetibus off the rails.

Stop Me if You've Heard This One Before

In the 70s I found myself listening to rock 'n' roll less and less, giving it up entirely by decade's end; it seemed all the songs sounded alike. I was not mistaken.



In the unlikely event you want to know, the four chords in question are the tonic, dominant, submediant and subdominant (I-V-vi-IV).

(Thanks to Robbo)

Stop Me if You've Heard This One Before

In the 70s I found myself listening to rock 'n' roll less and less, giving it up entirely by decade's end; it seemed all the songs sounded alike. I was not mistaken.



In the unlikely event you want to know, the four chords in question are the tonic, dominant, submediant and subdominant (I-V-vi-IV).

(Thanks to Robbo)

Here I Stand, I Can Do No Other...But Ask Me Again Tomorrow.

A few years back, Episcopalians were bemused (as this then-Episcopalian certainly was at the time) when the recently retired Bishop of the Diocese of Albany, Daniel Herzog, announced he was leaving the Episcopal Church for Rome; a round trip for him, since he had swum the Tiber the other way many years earlier, leaving the Catholic Church for the Episcopal Church.

The move puzzled me because although Herzog was fairly conservative on most church matters, he was an ardent proponent of the ordination of women, indeed he was ordaining them almost up to the moment he decamped for Rome, seemingly wanting to get as many in as he could before could do so no more. Now it looks as if Herzog has had third thoughts about where he stands; he has returned to the Episcopal Church, warmly received by his successor in Albany, Bishop William Love and none other than the Presiding Bishop herself, Katharine Jefferts Schori.

This is indeed a puzzlement for Bishop Herzog's enthusiasm for women in the priesthood was equaled by his strong opposition to partnered-homosexual clergy and same-sex marriage. I remember a stern letter read from the pulpit one Sunday, written by the Bishop and read at his behest in every church in his diocese in the wake of the installation of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire. If I recall correctly, the letter denounced both Robinson's installation and same-sex marriage. That was and is, of course, the polar opposite of the prevailing ethos in the Episcopal Church these days so you have to wonder just what is going on in Herzog's head. He has made this journey three times now. I wonder if he might make it one more time.

(Thanks to William Tighe)

Here I Stand, I Can Do No Other...But Ask Me Again Tomorrow.

A few years back, Episcopalians were bemused (as this then-Episcopalian certainly was at the time) when the recently retired Bishop of the Diocese of Albany, Daniel Herzog, announced he was leaving the Episcopal Church for Rome; a round trip for him, since he had swum the Tiber the other way many years earlier, leaving the Catholic Church for the Episcopal Church.

The move puzzled me because although Herzog was fairly conservative on most church matters, he was an ardent proponent of the ordination of women, indeed he was ordaining them almost up to the moment he decamped for Rome, seemingly wanting to get as many in as he could before could do so no more. Now it looks as if Herzog has had third thoughts about where he stands; he has returned to the Episcopal Church, warmly received by his successor in Albany, Bishop William Love and none other than the Presiding Bishop herself, Katharine Jefferts Schori.

This is indeed a puzzlement for Bishop Herzog's enthusiasm for women in the priesthood was equaled by his strong opposition to partnered-homosexual clergy and same-sex marriage. I remember a stern letter read from the pulpit one Sunday, written by the Bishop and read at his behest in every church in his diocese in the wake of the installation of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire. If I recall correctly, the letter denounced both Robinson's installation and same-sex marriage. That was and is, of course, the polar opposite of the prevailing ethos in the Episcopal Church these days so you have to wonder just what is going on in Herzog's head. He has made this journey three times now. I wonder if he might make it one more time.

(Thanks to William Tighe)

Counting the Days in Los Angeles, Part 2

The United States Code 1304(e) states

Every alien, eighteen years of age and over, shall at all times carry with him and have in his personal possession any certificate of alien registration or alien registration receipt card issued to him pursuant to subsection (d) of this section. Any alien who fails to comply with the provisions of this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall upon conviction for each offense be fined not to exceed $100 or be imprisoned not more than thirty days, or both.

The Governor of the State of Arizona, which has been besieged by illegal border crossers, has signed a bill that requires

For any lawful contact made by a law enforcement official or agency of this state . . . where reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States, a reasonable attempt shall be made, when practicable, to determine the immigration status of the person.

In other words, the Arizona bill simply specifies how the federal law is to be enforced but perhaps more accurately, specifies that it is to be enforced. Naturally, the usual suspects, from the President and the Reverend [sic] Al Sharpton on down, are up in arms about it, claiming somehow that enforcement of long-established federal law violates the "rights" of illegal aliens and, of course, is "racist" because it singles out Hispanics (well, duh! Arizona borders Mexico, not England or Germany).

Protest from that quarter is little cause for concern; it is to be expected and may be safely ignored (although if Democrats think championing the "rights" of illegal immigrants when there is a ten-percent unemployment rate is a winning strategy, one really must question their cranial capacity). When protest comes from a Cardinal of the Holy Catholic Church, however, even when he is the faculties-impaired Roger Mahony, attention, regretfully, must be paid. Cardinal Mahony thus complains:

The Arizona legislature just passed the country's most retrogressive, mean-spirited, and useless anti-immigrant law....The tragedy of the law is its totally flawed reasoning: that immigrants come to our country to rob, plunder, and consume public resources. That is not only false, the premise is nonsense.

Nonsense? Really? That should come as news to administrators of public schools and hospitals in Arizona overwhelmed and bankrupted by hordes of non-paying customers, not to mention to chiefs of police and crime victims in towns along the Arizona-Mexico border. The Cardinal's concern for the rights of those in this country illegally (and no Christian would deny they should be treated with respect, even when apprehended) ought also to extend to those here legally, especially immigrants who have survived the admittedly arcane (and woefully needful of reform) procedures to become United States citizens. It is they, after all, who must pay for the vast array of social services Cardinal Mahony and other liberals also insist are a right and to be lavished upon those here illegally, at no charge.

Counting the Days in Los Angeles, Part 2

The United States Code 1304(e) states

Every alien, eighteen years of age and over, shall at all times carry with him and have in his personal possession any certificate of alien registration or alien registration receipt card issued to him pursuant to subsection (d) of this section. Any alien who fails to comply with the provisions of this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall upon conviction for each offense be fined not to exceed $100 or be imprisoned not more than thirty days, or both.

The Governor of the State of Arizona, which has been besieged by illegal border crossers, has signed a bill that requires

For any lawful contact made by a law enforcement official or agency of this state . . . where reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States, a reasonable attempt shall be made, when practicable, to determine the immigration status of the person.

In other words, the Arizona bill simply specifies how the federal law is to be enforced but perhaps more accurately, specifies that it is to be enforced. Naturally, the usual suspects, from the President and the Reverend [sic] Al Sharpton on down, are up in arms about it, claiming somehow that enforcement of long-established federal law violates the "rights" of illegal aliens and, of course, is "racist" because it singles out Hispanics (well, duh! Arizona borders Mexico, not England or Germany).

Protest from that quarter is little cause for concern; it is to be expected and may be safely ignored (although if Democrats think championing the "rights" of illegal immigrants when there is a ten-percent unemployment rate is a winning strategy, one really must question their cranial capacity). When protest comes from a Cardinal of the Holy Catholic Church, however, even when he is the faculties-impaired Roger Mahony, attention, regretfully, must be paid. Cardinal Mahony thus complains:

The Arizona legislature just passed the country's most retrogressive, mean-spirited, and useless anti-immigrant law....The tragedy of the law is its totally flawed reasoning: that immigrants come to our country to rob, plunder, and consume public resources. That is not only false, the premise is nonsense.

Nonsense? Really? That should come as news to administrators of public schools and hospitals in Arizona overwhelmed and bankrupted by hordes of non-paying customers, not to mention to chiefs of police and crime victims in towns along the Arizona-Mexico border. The Cardinal's concern for the rights of those in this country illegally (and no Christian would deny they should be treated with respect, even when apprehended) ought also to extend to those here legally, especially immigrants who have survived the admittedly arcane (and woefully needful of reform) procedures to become United States citizens. It is they, after all, who must pay for the vast array of social services Cardinal Mahony and other liberals also insist are a right and to be lavished upon those here illegally, at no charge.

Oh My God

Behold the new tomb of St. Pio of Pietrelcina, aka St. Padre Pio.




Escalators to heaven?

(Images from the Mail Online)

Attention Christopher Johnson, proprietor of the splendid blog Bad Vestments: if you have ever considered expanding beyond vestments, here is your opportunity, writ large.

Oh My God

Behold the new tomb of St. Pio of Pietrelcina, aka St. Padre Pio.




Escalators to heaven?

(Images from the Mail Online)

Attention Christopher Johnson, proprietor of the splendid blog Bad Vestments: if you have ever considered expanding beyond vestments, here is your opportunity, writ large.

From the Bottom of His Heart

Let us bow our heads in grateful thanks to resident New York Times theologian and Church historian Nicholas Kristof, who selflessly takes the trouble to explicate the myriad faults of the Catholic Church and offer suggestions for her improvement; suggestions that if followed will make her virtually indistinguishable from the Episcopal Church, thus finally allowing Holy Church to share in the brilliant successes that elite and august Protestant body has enjoyed these past thirty years.

Lest you think otherwise, Prof. Kristof does know whence he speaks when it comes to the Catholic Church: you see, he's been around. Consider this brilliant nugget he picked up while globetrotting.

In my travels around the world, I encounter two Catholic Churches. One is the rigid all-male Vatican hierarchy that seems out of touch when it bans condoms even among married couples where one partner is H.I.V.-positive. To me at least, this church — obsessed with dogma and rules and distracted from social justice — is a modern echo of the Pharisees whom Jesus criticized.

(Since the failure rate of condoms is upwards of fifteen percent, is it churlish of me to ask Nicholas Kristof, since he apparently prescribes the Catholic Church do same, if he recommends a person with AIDS go ahead and have sex with loved one who does not, so long as condoms are used? It is churlish? Okay, I withdraw the question.)

No doubt the 27 observant Catholics who still read The New York Times have already fired off telegrams to the Vatican urging the Holy Father to strongly consider the sage counsel from this brilliant and caring soul. It is thus only a matter of time Kristof's cogent and brilliantly thought out reforms will be enacted and all will be well with Holy Mother Church. How does one repay such magnanimity and generosity?

Thanks to William Tighe.

From the Bottom of His Heart

Let us bow our heads in grateful thanks to resident New York Times theologian and Church historian Nicholas Kristof, who selflessly takes the trouble to explicate the myriad faults of the Catholic Church and offer suggestions for her improvement; suggestions that if followed will make her virtually indistinguishable from the Episcopal Church, thus finally allowing Holy Church to share in the brilliant successes that elite and august Protestant body has enjoyed these past thirty years.

Lest you think otherwise, Prof. Kristof does know whence he speaks when it comes to the Catholic Church: you see, he's been around. Consider this brilliant nugget he picked up while globetrotting.

In my travels around the world, I encounter two Catholic Churches. One is the rigid all-male Vatican hierarchy that seems out of touch when it bans condoms even among married couples where one partner is H.I.V.-positive. To me at least, this church — obsessed with dogma and rules and distracted from social justice — is a modern echo of the Pharisees whom Jesus criticized.

(Since the failure rate of condoms is upwards of fifteen percent, is it churlish of me to ask Nicholas Kristof, since he apparently prescribes the Catholic Church do same, if he recommends a person with AIDS go ahead and have sex with loved one who does not, so long as condoms are used? It is churlish? Okay, I withdraw the question.)

No doubt the 27 observant Catholics who still read The New York Times have already fired off telegrams to the Vatican urging the Holy Father to strongly consider the sage counsel from this brilliant and caring soul. It is thus only a matter of time Kristof's cogent and brilliantly thought out reforms will be enacted and all will be well with Holy Mother Church. How does one repay such magnanimity and generosity?

Thanks to William Tighe.

Treading Water

Or the labors of Sisyphus:


(Click graph to enlarge.)

From Hot Air via Instapundit.

Treading Water

Or the labors of Sisyphus:


(Click graph to enlarge.)

From Hot Air via Instapundit.

Why Indeed?

From the Washington Post:

Why should The Post give credibility to a bloviating blogger?

Why Indeed?

From the Washington Post:

Why should The Post give credibility to a bloviating blogger?

Maybe There's Something in the Communion Wine in Chicago

Well-known loud, obnoxious heretic and Barack Obama intimate, Fr. Michale Pfleger, took time out from his busy schedule giving continual cause for scandal in Holy Mother Church to accept a "lifetime achievement" [sic] award from Cardinal George of the Archdiocese of Chicago. A few days later Fr. Pfleger showed his gratitude to his superior, as well his obediance to Church teachings, by preaching the following:

That’s why there should be woman priests, that’s why there should be married priests, that’s why there should be woman Bishops and women Cardinals.

Pfleger has been a boil on the neck of the Cardinal for quite some time; you would think His Eminence would have learned by now appeasing the rabble rouser only encourages him further.

In my humble opinion, the most graceful way for Cardinal George to deal with this nuisance is to present Pfleger with yet another award (make one up, if necessary), offer him copious thanks for his service, then remove him promptly from his parish and install him as a cemetery chaplain as far from Chicago as possible.

Maybe There's Something in the Communion Wine in Chicago

Well-known loud, obnoxious heretic and Barack Obama intimate, Fr. Michale Pfleger, took time out from his busy schedule giving continual cause for scandal in Holy Mother Church to accept a "lifetime achievement" [sic] award from Cardinal George of the Archdiocese of Chicago. A few days later Fr. Pfleger showed his gratitude to his superior, as well his obediance to Church teachings, by preaching the following:

That’s why there should be woman priests, that’s why there should be married priests, that’s why there should be woman Bishops and women Cardinals.

Pfleger has been a boil on the neck of the Cardinal for quite some time; you would think His Eminence would have learned by now appeasing the rabble rouser only encourages him further.

In my humble opinion, the most graceful way for Cardinal George to deal with this nuisance is to present Pfleger with yet another award (make one up, if necessary), offer him copious thanks for his service, then remove him promptly from his parish and install him as a cemetery chaplain as far from Chicago as possible.

Is There Something in the Lobsters in Maine?

From Fox News:

Maine Commission Moves to Ban Gender Specific Bathrooms, Sports Teams in Schools

By Diane Macedo - FOXNews.com

The Maine Human Rights Commissions taking heat over a proposal to ban schools from enforcing gender divisions in sports teams, school organizations, bathrooms and locker rooms, saying forcing a student into a particular room or group because of their biological gender amounts to discrimination.

The issue came to light last year when the commission ruled that, under the Maine Human Rights Act, a school had discriminated against a 12-year-old transgender boy by denying him access to the girls' bathroom.

Now the commission aims to issue guidelines on how schools should deal with similar situations in the future. It would make Maine the first state to implement such guidelines for schools as young as preschool and nursery -- and even some private schools.

Actually, the lobsters in Maine are just fine, last time I checked. What we have here is just another manifestation of the post-modern academic left, whose titular head is Barack Obama. Expect to see much more nonsense like this over the next few years, unless we put a stop to it.

Thanks to Augustine

Is There Something in the Lobsters in Maine?

From Fox News:

Maine Commission Moves to Ban Gender Specific Bathrooms, Sports Teams in Schools

By Diane Macedo - FOXNews.com

The Maine Human Rights Commissions taking heat over a proposal to ban schools from enforcing gender divisions in sports teams, school organizations, bathrooms and locker rooms, saying forcing a student into a particular room or group because of their biological gender amounts to discrimination.

The issue came to light last year when the commission ruled that, under the Maine Human Rights Act, a school had discriminated against a 12-year-old transgender boy by denying him access to the girls' bathroom.

Now the commission aims to issue guidelines on how schools should deal with similar situations in the future. It would make Maine the first state to implement such guidelines for schools as young as preschool and nursery -- and even some private schools.

Actually, the lobsters in Maine are just fine, last time I checked. What we have here is just another manifestation of the post-modern academic left, whose titular head is Barack Obama. Expect to see much more nonsense like this over the next few years, unless we put a stop to it.

Thanks to Augustine

Counting the Days in Los Angeles

Jose Gomez, the new Archbishop of Los Angeles

With former Archbishop of Milwaukee Rembert Weakland heading toward oblivion, albeit fitfully, and his successors having made headway cleaning up the Augean mess he left behind, let us now contemplate with pleasure the upcoming retirement next February of the equally egregious Cardinal Mahony of Los Angeles. His successor was named today and it looks as if Catholic traditionalists at last have something to look forward to in that beleaguered diocese.

Jose Gomez, who has been tapped to take over the archdiocese of Los Angeles, has risen rapidly through the Catholic church and earned a national reputation.

In replacing Cardinal Roger Mahony, Gomez, 58, would instantly become the most prominent Latino bishop in the United States, leading an archdiocese that is by far the nation’s largest and is dominated by parishioners with roots in his native Mexico.

If his personal history is any guide, he also could be expected to guide the Los Angeles church along a more traditional -- some would say conservative -- path than Mahony, known as one of the most progressive archbishops in the country and an impassioned fighter for immigrants’ rights.

This is especially encouraging:

A long affiliation with the conservative teaching group Opus Dei guarantees him the Vatican's doctrinal confidence and a support and information network leading high up in Rome.

Gomez will take his chair in perhaps the ugliest church in Christendom, courtesy of Cardinal Mahony, and there is little he can do about that. But he can do something about the deplorable liturgical innovations Mahoney foisted upon his dioocese. More important, let us pray Archbishop-to-be Gomez deals with predatory priests with greater alacrity than did Cardinal Mahony, who appears to have ignored the problem until it could be ignored no longer and was then forced to write a check for 660 million diocesan dollars to the 508 victims of those monsters.

Counting the Days in Los Angeles

Jose Gomez, the new Archbishop of Los Angeles

With former Archbishop of Milwaukee Rembert Weakland heading toward oblivion, albeit fitfully, and his successors having made headway cleaning up the Augean mess he left behind, let us now contemplate with pleasure the upcoming retirement next February of the equally egregious Cardinal Mahony of Los Angeles. His successor was named today and it looks as if Catholic traditionalists at last have something to look forward to in that beleaguered diocese.

Jose Gomez, who has been tapped to take over the archdiocese of Los Angeles, has risen rapidly through the Catholic church and earned a national reputation.

In replacing Cardinal Roger Mahony, Gomez, 58, would instantly become the most prominent Latino bishop in the United States, leading an archdiocese that is by far the nation’s largest and is dominated by parishioners with roots in his native Mexico.

If his personal history is any guide, he also could be expected to guide the Los Angeles church along a more traditional -- some would say conservative -- path than Mahony, known as one of the most progressive archbishops in the country and an impassioned fighter for immigrants’ rights.

This is especially encouraging:

A long affiliation with the conservative teaching group Opus Dei guarantees him the Vatican's doctrinal confidence and a support and information network leading high up in Rome.

Gomez will take his chair in perhaps the ugliest church in Christendom, courtesy of Cardinal Mahony, and there is little he can do about that. But he can do something about the deplorable liturgical innovations Mahoney foisted upon his dioocese. More important, let us pray Archbishop-to-be Gomez deals with predatory priests with greater alacrity than did Cardinal Mahony, who appears to have ignored the problem until it could be ignored no longer and was then forced to write a check for 660 million diocesan dollars to the 508 victims of those monsters.

The Great Dumbing Down

For Catholics with brains, it was Vatican II.

For Episcopalians with brains, it was the 1979 Prayer Book.

For all mankind with brains, it's this.

Mattel changes the rules of Scrabble for the first time since 1948

The official rules of Scrabble are being changed for the first time in 62 years, to allow the names of celebrities, places and companies to be used.

[snip]

Players will now be permitted to use proper nouns, which will enable high scores from celebrities such as Jordan, Beyoncé and Shakira. Mattel is also considering allowing players to spell words backwards and upwards on the board and place words unconnected to other pieces.

This is the last straw. How low can we go?

(Thanks to Robbo)

The Great Dumbing Down

For Catholics with brains, it was Vatican II.

For Episcopalians with brains, it was the 1979 Prayer Book.

For all mankind with brains, it's this.

Mattel changes the rules of Scrabble for the first time since 1948

The official rules of Scrabble are being changed for the first time in 62 years, to allow the names of celebrities, places and companies to be used.

[snip]

Players will now be permitted to use proper nouns, which will enable high scores from celebrities such as Jordan, Beyoncé and Shakira. Mattel is also considering allowing players to spell words backwards and upwards on the board and place words unconnected to other pieces.

This is the last straw. How low can we go?

(Thanks to Robbo)

We're from the Government and We're Here to Help

25 men are dead and four are missing after a a methane explosion in West Virginia. Meanwhile, Fox News reports that

...the country's top mine safety agency was not adequately retraining its veteran inspectors, even as hundreds of new inspectors were being hired.

The audit, released on March 30, found that 56 percent of veteran Mine Safety and Health Administration inspectors had not completed required retraining between 2006 and 2007. A few hadn't attended any training sessions since the policy was enacted a decade earlier, and even entry-level hires "lacked supporting documentation" to show they went through the required 21-23 weeks of instruction.

The report found there were "no consequences" for not attending retraining, and said that training gap "increases the possibility that hazardous conditions may not be identified and corrected during inspections which, in turn, could increase the risk of accidents, injuries, fatalities."

We're from the Government and We're Here to Help

25 men are dead and four are missing after a a methane explosion in West Virginia. Meanwhile, Fox News reports that

...the country's top mine safety agency was not adequately retraining its veteran inspectors, even as hundreds of new inspectors were being hired.

The audit, released on March 30, found that 56 percent of veteran Mine Safety and Health Administration inspectors had not completed required retraining between 2006 and 2007. A few hadn't attended any training sessions since the policy was enacted a decade earlier, and even entry-level hires "lacked supporting documentation" to show they went through the required 21-23 weeks of instruction.

The report found there were "no consequences" for not attending retraining, and said that training gap "increases the possibility that hazardous conditions may not be identified and corrected during inspections which, in turn, could increase the risk of accidents, injuries, fatalities."

Democrats and Episcopalians

I wonder if the Democratic Party's leadership and liberal-left commentators, who have been having a field day trashing the Tea Party movement, might learn from the cautionary tale of the Episcopal Church.

There was a time when the Episcopal Church was referred to, only semi-facetiously, as "the Republican Party at Prayer." Those days are long gone, of course, and while the rapidly diminishing Episcopal Church is, ironically, even whiter and more upper-class than it was in its WASPy heyday, it is even harder to find Republicans and conservatives in its churches than baptisms and confirmations.

The reasons for the disappearance of Republicans and conservatives from the Episcopal Church no doubt vary but certainly the relentless innovations of the past forty years are largely responsible. I suggest, however, it may actually have been less the innovations themselves that drove many Republicans and conservatives, who were much more likely to be traditionalists, out of the Episcopal Church than it was the unceasing vilification of them from pulpit and church leadership. People don't stay where they aren't wanted.

The Democratic Party should heed that example. Via Instapundit we learn two recent polls show a fair number of those supporting or sympathizing with the Tea Party movement identify themselves as Democrats. Nonetheless, the trashing of Tea Partiers from Democratic leadership and the liberal press continues unabated, with the increasingly stale and ineffective charge of racism being the most popular tactic.

The Democrats, just like the Episcopal Church, do not seem to grasp that constantly smearing your opponents, especially those in your ranks, does not not win them over and will eventually drive them away. If the Democrats and their cohorts in the media continue this foolish ploy--and they will, being so ideologically driven as to be blinded to reality--they may find themselves facing not only an electoral disaster this November but worse, becoming as irrelevant an institution as the the Episcopal Church is today.

Democrats and Episcopalians

I wonder if the Democratic Party's leadership and liberal-left commentators, who have been having a field day trashing the Tea Party movement, might learn from the cautionary tale of the Episcopal Church.

There was a time when the Episcopal Church was referred to, only semi-facetiously, as "the Republican Party at Prayer." Those days are long gone, of course, and while the rapidly diminishing Episcopal Church is, ironically, even whiter and more upper-class than it was in its WASPy heyday, it is even harder to find Republicans and conservatives in its churches than baptisms and confirmations.

The reasons for the disappearance of Republicans and conservatives from the Episcopal Church no doubt vary but certainly the relentless innovations of the past forty years are largely responsible. I suggest, however, it may actually have been less the innovations themselves that drove many Republicans and conservatives, who were much more likely to be traditionalists, out of the Episcopal Church than it was the unceasing vilification of them from pulpit and church leadership. People don't stay where they aren't wanted.

The Democratic Party should heed that example. Via Instapundit we learn two recent polls show a fair number of those supporting or sympathizing with the Tea Party movement identify themselves as Democrats. Nonetheless, the trashing of Tea Partiers from Democratic leadership and the liberal press continues unabated, with the increasingly stale and ineffective charge of racism being the most popular tactic.

The Democrats, just like the Episcopal Church, do not seem to grasp that constantly smearing your opponents, especially those in your ranks, does not not win them over and will eventually drive them away. If the Democrats and their cohorts in the media continue this foolish ploy--and they will, being so ideologically driven as to be blinded to reality--they may find themselves facing not only an electoral disaster this November but worse, becoming as irrelevant an institution as the the Episcopal Church is today.

The Underlying Motive

Why we must regard most criticism of the Pope, no matter what the issue, with the deepest of skepticism; this from a Lutheran, no less:

Neither apostates within Holy Christendom nor naked unbelievers outside her borders will ever forgive Ratzinger for the grave breach of secularist, pluralist etiquette involved in the first volume of his Jesus of Nazareth. It goes without saying (and around the Holy Week of each year the several forms of mainstream media say it loudly, often, and emphatically) that Jesus was an ordinary man, a wacko apocalyptist, or a failed political revolutionary. Stones must fly and clubs be brandished against a learned man fully familiar with all the “Jesus of history” literature from Reimarus to the present, who winsomely draws on believing scholarship of all confessions to offer a calm and cogent argument that the real, actual Jesus is the one who meets us in the Gospel record. Where the North American liberal intelligentsia can offer no refutation, they spit contempt. And a Western Europe sunk in a new heathenism and undergoing Islamic takeover can only howl at this attempt to arrest its suicidal downward slide.

From "The Dictatorship of Relativism Strikes Back—and Goes Nuclear," by John Stephenson in Logia: a Journal of Lutheran Theology, and well worth reading in its entirety.

UPDATE: Archbishop Dolan of New York takes on the New York Times (again) and its pernicious attempt tarring the Holy Father with covering up for a loathsome priest, now dead, who decades ago sexually abused numerous adolescents at a school for the deaf. Dolan points out the appalling lapses in the Times' reporting, and suggests, reasonably, it "gives every indication of being part of a well-oiled campaign against Pope Benedict." Yes it does, and for the reason given above.

(Thanks to William Tighe)

The Underlying Motive

Why we must regard most criticism of the Pope, no matter what the issue, with the deepest of skepticism; this from a Lutheran, no less:

Neither apostates within Holy Christendom nor naked unbelievers outside her borders will ever forgive Ratzinger for the grave breach of secularist, pluralist etiquette involved in the first volume of his Jesus of Nazareth. It goes without saying (and around the Holy Week of each year the several forms of mainstream media say it loudly, often, and emphatically) that Jesus was an ordinary man, a wacko apocalyptist, or a failed political revolutionary. Stones must fly and clubs be brandished against a learned man fully familiar with all the “Jesus of history” literature from Reimarus to the present, who winsomely draws on believing scholarship of all confessions to offer a calm and cogent argument that the real, actual Jesus is the one who meets us in the Gospel record. Where the North American liberal intelligentsia can offer no refutation, they spit contempt. And a Western Europe sunk in a new heathenism and undergoing Islamic takeover can only howl at this attempt to arrest its suicidal downward slide.

From "The Dictatorship of Relativism Strikes Back—and Goes Nuclear," by John Stephenson in Logia: a Journal of Lutheran Theology, and well worth reading in its entirety.

UPDATE: Archbishop Dolan of New York takes on the New York Times (again) and its pernicious attempt tarring the Holy Father with covering up for a loathsome priest, now dead, who decades ago sexually abused numerous adolescents at a school for the deaf. Dolan points out the appalling lapses in the Times' reporting, and suggests, reasonably, it "gives every indication of being part of a well-oiled campaign against Pope Benedict." Yes it does, and for the reason given above.

(Thanks to William Tighe)