Words Can't Express His Sorrow

New York Post Columnist John Podhoretz is really, really, really, really sorry he called New York State gubernatorial candidate Kristin Davis (left) a "hooker." He did so in his column October 19th, when writing about the recent and oh-so-dignified candidates' debate, and the poor thing was so upset she called her lawyers, who issued a press release threatening to sue. So, tale between the legs (metaphorically, of course), Podhoretz, in his column today, apologizes profusely for calling Kristin Davis a hooker,  doing so nearly 40 times by my count.

It turns out, you see, the little lady has a legitimate beef: Ms. Davis "spent four months on Rikers Island after pleading guilty to one count of promoting prostitution." Which, of course, makes her a pimp, not a hooker. Silly Mr. Podhoretz, you should know better! I'm so glad you're man enough to own up to it.

Words Can't Express His Sorrow

New York Post Columnist John Podhoretz is really, really, really, really sorry he called New York State gubernatorial candidate Kristin Davis (left) a "hooker." He did so in his column October 19th, when writing about the recent and oh-so-dignified candidates' debate, and the poor thing was so upset she called her lawyers, who issued a press release threatening to sue. So, tale between the legs (metaphorically, of course), Podhoretz, in his column today, apologizes profusely for calling Kristin Davis a hooker,  doing so nearly 40 times by my count.

It turns out, you see, the little lady has a legitimate beef: Ms. Davis "spent four months on Rikers Island after pleading guilty to one count of promoting prostitution." Which, of course, makes her a pimp, not a hooker. Silly Mr. Podhoretz, you should know better! I'm so glad you're man enough to own up to it.

Islamophobia

From Politico:

President Obama has canceled a visit to a Sikh temple in India to avoid wearing a head covering that could make him look like a Muslim, The New York Times reports.

Visitors to the Golden Temple, a spiritual center in Punjab, must cover their heads with material that can be tied, and can’t wear baseball hats. The Times notes that “Sikhs in the United States have often been mistaken for Muslims.”

“It is very unfortunate that even the White House is conveying the message that there is no difference between Muslims and Sikhs,” H. S. Phoolka, a Sikh lawyer, told the paper.

Stop the hatred!

Islamophobia

From Politico:

President Obama has canceled a visit to a Sikh temple in India to avoid wearing a head covering that could make him look like a Muslim, The New York Times reports.

Visitors to the Golden Temple, a spiritual center in Punjab, must cover their heads with material that can be tied, and can’t wear baseball hats. The Times notes that “Sikhs in the United States have often been mistaken for Muslims.”

“It is very unfortunate that even the White House is conveying the message that there is no difference between Muslims and Sikhs,” H. S. Phoolka, a Sikh lawyer, told the paper.

Stop the hatred!

Jumping the Shark

The President will announce soon he is appearing on the Discovery Channel's "Mythbusters."

Have we reached the point where even the liberals find this guy embarrassing?

(h/t Instapundit)

Jumping the Shark

The President will announce soon he is appearing on the Discovery Channel's "Mythbusters."

Have we reached the point where even the liberals find this guy embarrassing?

(h/t Instapundit)

Blessed are They that Will Mourn: For They Shall be Comforted

My blogger colleague Christopher Johnson of the Midwest Conservative Journal asks, concerning the President's recent statement at a fundraiser that "fear and frustration" drive voters: "Why would any intelligent political party think that 'Vote for us or you’re an effing moron' is a sound electoral strategy?'"

The answer, of course, is they do not think that; electoral strategy is not their intent. The President is fully aware he long ago squandered his ability to persuade even a single member of the opposition to come around. He speaks solely to the remaining faithful, giving a "pre-postmortem," you might say; an anticipatory salving of the wounds about to be inflicted in the electoral catastrophe to take place three weeks hence.

Blessed are They that Will Mourn: For They Shall be Comforted

My blogger colleague Christopher Johnson of the Midwest Conservative Journal asks, concerning the President's recent statement at a fundraiser that "fear and frustration" drive voters: "Why would any intelligent political party think that 'Vote for us or you’re an effing moron' is a sound electoral strategy?'"

The answer, of course, is they do not think that; electoral strategy is not their intent. The President is fully aware he long ago squandered his ability to persuade even a single member of the opposition to come around. He speaks solely to the remaining faithful, giving a "pre-postmortem," you might say; an anticipatory salving of the wounds about to be inflicted in the electoral catastrophe to take place three weeks hence.

This Comes as No Surprise

The Simpsons are Catholic (from CNN).

Homer Simpson - perhaps the most profane character and worst father ever to headline a mainstream American television program - is Catholic, the Vatican's official newspaper has declared.

"Few know it, and he does all he can to hide it. But it is true," Luca Possati writes in Sunday's Osservatore Romano.

OK, Homer snores through the Rev. Lovejoy's sermons.

Yes, he relentlessly humiliates his evangelical Christian neighbor Ned Flanders.

But the show is one of the few in American life that takes religion seriously, a Jesuit is arguing - from grace before meals to an (admittedly off-kilter) belief in the afterlife. 

It is, after all, the religion for slackers.

This Comes as No Surprise

The Simpsons are Catholic (from CNN).

Homer Simpson - perhaps the most profane character and worst father ever to headline a mainstream American television program - is Catholic, the Vatican's official newspaper has declared.

"Few know it, and he does all he can to hide it. But it is true," Luca Possati writes in Sunday's Osservatore Romano.

OK, Homer snores through the Rev. Lovejoy's sermons.

Yes, he relentlessly humiliates his evangelical Christian neighbor Ned Flanders.

But the show is one of the few in American life that takes religion seriously, a Jesuit is arguing - from grace before meals to an (admittedly off-kilter) belief in the afterlife. 

It is, after all, the religion for slackers.

One and the Same

A recently published book by Yale historian Timothy Snyder, Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin, documents how Hitler and Stalin (as Glenn Reynolds puts it) "enabled each other's crimes." We need to see more of this.Communism and Nazism have far more in common than differences yet for decades the left has successfully managed to preserve itself from the taint of the Nazis, even though that word itself is an acronym for Nationalsozialisten and even though the two ideologies work to the the same end: earthly utopia and the extermination of those who might thwart it.

Comes the day the image of Che Guevara is regarded with the same abject horror as that of Josef Mengele the left will be a spent force.

One and the Same

A recently published book by Yale historian Timothy Snyder, Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin, documents how Hitler and Stalin (as Glenn Reynolds puts it) "enabled each other's crimes." We need to see more of this.Communism and Nazism have far more in common than differences yet for decades the left has successfully managed to preserve itself from the taint of the Nazis, even though that word itself is an acronym for Nationalsozialisten and even though the two ideologies work to the the same end: earthly utopia and the extermination of those who might thwart it.

Comes the day the image of Che Guevara is regarded with the same abject horror as that of Josef Mengele the left will be a spent force.

No Choice

From Damian Thompson comes word that the Right Rev'd John Broadhurst, Bishop of Fulham in the Anglican diocese of London and also Chairman of Forward in Faith, "is to resign his post later this year to join the Pope’s Ordinariate." Well, bully for him but I cannot say I agree with Thompson's (or whomever wrote the headline for his Telegraph blog) assertion his Grace's move is "an earthquake in Anglo-Catholicism," significant though it is. Anyone mindful what has occurred in the Anglican Church these past forty years, particularly in the western hemisphere, should come to the reasonable conclusion that Bishop Broadhurst could do no other.

The Church of England, furiously playing catch-up with its American counterpart so that it, too, may shout triumphantly: "Look how progressive we are!" is, like the Episcopal Church, so far down the road to apostasy it cannot possibly reverse course. With Pope Benedict's uncommonly gracious invitation to Anglo-Catholics to embrace the full faith in numbers, Bishop Broadhurst has realized, as every orthodox Anglo-Catholic in England and abroad has or will, the moment has come: if one cares about the well-being of his soul, there is no possibility of remaining any longer in the Anglican Church.

The dramatic events described above will, I think, make things rather difficult for those Anglican parishes that profess "Catholic worship" yet stray from Catholic teachings. As the number of orthodox Anglo-Catholics heading Romeward increases to a steady, albeit non-torrential, stream (as I believe it will), those Anglo-"Catholics" remaining behind will not only appear increasingly and glaringly protestant (which they are, of course) but also (and sadly, in a way), as they continue their practice of elaborate pre-Vatican II choreography liturgies with accompanying frippery, downright ridiculous.

No Choice

From Damian Thompson comes word that the Right Rev'd John Broadhurst, Bishop of Fulham in the Anglican diocese of London and also Chairman of Forward in Faith, "is to resign his post later this year to join the Pope’s Ordinariate." Well, bully for him but I cannot say I agree with Thompson's (or whomever wrote the headline for his Telegraph blog) assertion his Grace's move is "an earthquake in Anglo-Catholicism," significant though it is. Anyone mindful what has occurred in the Anglican Church these past forty years, particularly in the western hemisphere, should come to the reasonable conclusion that Bishop Broadhurst could do no other.

The Church of England, furiously playing catch-up with its American counterpart so that it, too, may shout triumphantly: "Look how progressive we are!" is, like the Episcopal Church, so far down the road to apostasy it cannot possibly reverse course. With Pope Benedict's uncommonly gracious invitation to Anglo-Catholics to embrace the full faith in numbers, Bishop Broadhurst has realized, as every orthodox Anglo-Catholic in England and abroad has or will, the moment has come: if one cares about the well-being of his soul, there is no possibility of remaining any longer in the Anglican Church.

The dramatic events described above will, I think, make things rather difficult for those Anglican parishes that profess "Catholic worship" yet stray from Catholic teachings. As the number of orthodox Anglo-Catholics heading Romeward increases to a steady, albeit non-torrential, stream (as I believe it will), those Anglo-"Catholics" remaining behind will not only appear increasingly and glaringly protestant (which they are, of course) but also (and sadly, in a way), as they continue their practice of elaborate pre-Vatican II choreography liturgies with accompanying frippery, downright ridiculous.

The True Face of Socialism

From the Telegraph

Doctors-rights-to-refuse-abortion-on-conscientious-grounds-under-threat.

The right of doctors to refuse to refer women for abortions on conscientious grounds is under threat from the Council of Europe.

A draft resolution would end the opt out and compel medical staff to carry out the procedure itself against their wishes if patients have nowhere else to go for the treatment.

It also calls for a register of doctors who object to abortion on conscientious grounds and a complaints mechanism for women who feel aggrieved by a refusal of a doctor to either grant an abortion or to perform the procedure directly.

This is, of course, only the beginning. Depend on it, if the resolution passes it will be but a short while doctors are required to assist in suicides and euthanasia.

The True Face of Socialism

From the Telegraph

Doctors-rights-to-refuse-abortion-on-conscientious-grounds-under-threat.

The right of doctors to refuse to refer women for abortions on conscientious grounds is under threat from the Council of Europe.

A draft resolution would end the opt out and compel medical staff to carry out the procedure itself against their wishes if patients have nowhere else to go for the treatment.

It also calls for a register of doctors who object to abortion on conscientious grounds and a complaints mechanism for women who feel aggrieved by a refusal of a doctor to either grant an abortion or to perform the procedure directly.

This is, of course, only the beginning. Depend on it, if the resolution passes it will be but a short while doctors are required to assist in suicides and euthanasia.

The Ideal Anglican Bishop

As explained by Sir Humphrey Appleby in Yes, Prime Minister: the best candidate is a "modernist," i.e. an atheist without saying so (he would lose his stipend). No doubt the same good counsel applies to the Episcopal Church on this side.



The late Nigel Hawthorne was one of my favorite actors of all time. It's hard to believe it was the same man who played such disparate roles as Sir Humphrey, Archdeacon Grantly in the Barchester Chronicles, Georgie Pillson in Map and Lucia and, most movingly for me, C.S. Lewis in Shadowlands on Broadway, of which I was fortunate enough to catch the closing performance in 1991.



(H/t Fr. Rutler)

The Ideal Anglican Bishop

As explained by Sir Humphrey Appleby in Yes, Prime Minister: the best candidate is a "modernist," i.e. an atheist without saying so (he would lose his stipend). No doubt the same good counsel applies to the Episcopal Church on this side.



The late Nigel Hawthorne was one of my favorite actors of all time. It's hard to believe it was the same man who played such disparate roles as Sir Humphrey, Archdeacon Grantly in the Barchester Chronicles, Georgie Pillson in Map and Lucia and, most movingly for me, C.S. Lewis in Shadowlands on Broadway, of which I was fortunate enough to catch the closing performance in 1991.



(H/t Fr. Rutler)

What They Would Really Like to Do to Us

An environmentalist fantasy: its creator says he was trying to be funny. See how funny you think it is.



(Thanks to the MCJ)

What They Would Really Like to Do to Us

An environmentalist fantasy: its creator says he was trying to be funny. See how funny you think it is.



(Thanks to the MCJ)