FT commentator on immigration

I have one year left in which I can make up my mind on immigration. Until then, I'm keeping my position under my hat, thanks a lot...

The Liberals have been nuts for centuries now.

Compare those who try their best to make our culture sicken Muslims, then try to get along with Islam.

And those who call Christians intolerant while trying to shut everyone else up on certain moral questions.

Doing one's duty can be a real pain.

Let us be glad that the boundless ingenuity of statesmen help them make strident attacks upon that which the American state is intended to protect.

Namely, the rights and dignity of man (including his right not to be muzzled by the government when he protests its actions).

And did I mention the government's duty to not contradict the natural law, explicitly or implicitly?

Goes to show...

Popularity ain't worth a darn if it's coming from the wrong folks.

WHO CAN LEARN FROM THIS: Anyone who has a job in America, Catholic bishops, Catholic politicians.

H/T: Provoking the Muse.

Ugly guff from the right-side pews

Yes, I support much of what is called "traditional" because I think it's good. But I'm not really that into the Latin Mass. Beautiful, yes, but beauty is not always a benefit in worship. After all, look at the grotesque figure above the altar of a Catholic Church (or somewhere in there, if said church is the "modified" sort).

I know not all "traditionalists" are as rabid as this. All those I know personally are not. But people who talk like that are just plain nasty.

PS. Someone explain about the "Untouchables." I know they were lawmen out to bust the Capone empire on Chicago, but other than that...

Catholic Charities want Uncle Sam to shell out more to the poor

I'd rather give my cash right to Catholic Charities. After all, the government may decide the poor really, really badly need "emergency contraceptives" - and if that happens, what can I do about it?

My Motu Proprio theory

Well, as lots of people have a fuss over the Motu Proprio that's supposed to come out soon, allowing the "Tridentine"* rite to be celebrated by any obedient priest who so desires...I'll just drop my two cents in.

My theory is that the Motu Proprio is to be released once either: a) the SSPX caves in on something important, like the validity of several Vatican II documents, or b) a significant liberal group or clique starts obeying the Pope. However, the former is more likely.

Let's view it in a political sense. The MP is something both liberal and traditionalist are interested in - the latter is excited, the former worried. Merely saying there is a MP in the works can be used as a goad. The traditionalists can be told: "Obey us or this Motu Proprio stays in a desk at the Vatican." The liberals can be told: "So, you don't want the Motu Proprio coming out, huh? Well, then, do what we say!"

Of course, traditionalists are more likely to be affected by this, as liberals will usually just abandon ship for the Nutty Church of Sumpin'. So I expect some valuable concession by the SSPX will precede the Motu Proprio's release.

------------------------------------------------

Of course, this does not deal with the religious or cultural effects the MP could have, nor does it mention that the Holy Spirit could throw a curveball (Cf. Pope Vigilius) that defies political common sense. It's just a theory on the subject. After all, part of the Pope's duty is politics, and the MP is political as well as religious in significance.




*I put quotation marks around "Tridentine" because many people do not like the name, and, although it is the most common word used for the pre-Vatican II mass, it isn't quite accurate. The Tridentine rite did not originate in the Council of Trent. It was an Italian rite that the Council chose as a worldwide standard.

Even 21st-Century Americans know partially-born babies are human.

Maybe our country isn't in total thrall to Satan yet.

Speaking of "thrall to Satan," in the Dallas Morning News there was an article on foreign responses to the VA Tech shootings; the London Times asked why Americans "tolerate gun laws and a culture that seems to condemn thousands of innocents to death every year..."

We don't seem to condemn "thousands of innocents" to death, London Times; we do condemn thousands of innocents to death every year. And folks make good money doing it, too. And a large lobby protects the Constitutional right to own abortifacents and abortion equipment.

And don't get all hoity-toity about it, either. We need a hand out of the Pit.

This is why you MUST. READ. MARK. SHEA'S. BLOG.

Evidence that Postmodernism is, culturally speaking, an immature kid without the guts to commit itself to anything whatsoever.

Back in the 18th Century, Voltaire and other deist/atheist heretics blasted Christ, in rather well-written books and poems, all arguing that Christianity (and therefore Christ) was evil and not deserving of life.

In the 19th, atheism did its utmost to destroy Christ - it turned biology, economics, pyschology, and everything in the intellectual arsenal upon Him. It hoped to prove Christ a myth, His teachings a "pie-in-the-sky" myth, and His Godhood impossible.

In the 20th, men like Jean-Paul Sarte even denied all meaning in order to get Christ, so desperate were they. They literally cut off their noses to spite the face.

But now, they've stopped fighting. They've stopped arguing. Instead, they've started fantasizing, "Ooh! Ooh! What if we could, you know, shoot Jesus, hee hee hee! How edgy! How fun! How delightfully pleasant!" They don't want to tear, coax, seduce, or badger mankind away from Christ. They want to spit on Christ. They're two millenia late for that, so they pretend - like kids.

They have awfully bad timing, however. For Christ is risen and regards this as a stupid devils' joke. Which it is. And Christ cannot simply permit devils' jokes.

Those Women!

This post was too sarcastic. It has therefore been censored.

I am sorry for what I wrote here, which was definitely bad even if meant sarcastically.

Second Week of Lent Bulletin

Stand in the Light;
Step into Freedom;
Healing Balm;
Bearer of Hope,
Restoring Spirit;
Clothed in Love;
Imaging Love:
Empowering Lives;
Passion for Justice;

(I could say it was part of a litany in praise of Sen. Barack Obama, but for this next one)

and who could forget David Haas'
"Voices that Challenge".

Dredged up by Gerald Augustinus.

First, a confession: I forgot to fast and pray per my vow. I'll have to make it up this Friday. That's the bad news. The Good News is twofold: H.L. Crawdad got his essay done, and the Sucrose Inquisition released me Monday morning when I identified myself. They apologized profusely (I'm their boss), and promised never, never, never to get near me with a squeaking toy again.

They were last seen Saturday at dusk, heading in the general direction of the Church of Jumbuck, armed with a copier, a sqeaky rubber duck, and their trusty soft cushions. God help us all.

Read this if you have any interest about politics. In my opinion, conservatism's innate tendency to be the Champion ofthe Status Quo is coming out now, with defenders of what 45 years back was abhorrent jockeying for nominations in the Republican Party. Of course maybe people will get sick of the current society and stop voting for people who perpetuate it. Some people are actually doing that.

Now this is a nice example of the "position then evidence" attitude so much in evidence among, say, Kennedy-Assassination maniacs. If you find a historian using that, then throw his book into the nearest high-temperature-producing device.

Well, folks, I mind as well provide some prayers, translated by the ICEL from Latin.

Grace before meals:
Dear God: we like food. We like the food you give us. We like Jesus because he gives us food. Amen.

Grace after meals:
Thank you, God, for giving us stuff. You will not die. Amen.

Guardian Angel Prayer:
Dear angel, God told you to follow me around. Please don't get lost. Please tell me what to do. Amen.

Now let us speak of other things.

This is NICE:
Scroll down to the bottom of this link, and see what you find.

(From the same folks: the Tabasco-Sauce Holster!)

Not nice at all:
The picture actually looks more like, uh, uh, Elizabeth Gold from The Spy Who Came in from the Cold than Mary. Besides, it's filthy ugly. If I were Elizabeth Gold, or Mary, or whoever the statue's supposed to be, I would sue for libel. Then again, Gold didn't wear those floppy wing sleeves. Nor would Mary have, according to the unamious testimony of everyone from early Christians to 12-century sculptors to Velazquez to Our Lady of Guadalupe to Bernadette Soubirous.

Next week's essay: A Short Story concerning a Bookcase.

Yet More Schadenfreude, at the expense of the Chinese "Patriotic" Church

Apparently Chinese Catholics prefer the Real McCoy:

Although the Catholic Church is theoretically under the control of the Patriotic Association, in practice virtually all Chinese Catholics prefer to align themselves directly with the Holy See.

Gosh, wonder why? Could it be that all state-run churches are either Herodian tyrants or doctrinally mushy Gilbert and Sullivan characters?

Oh the SCHADENFREUDE!

Now, I know it's a bad thing. I know it's not a moral way of carrying out a war. I don't approve of it. But, when it happens in the same country which seems to be supplying weapons to Iraqi militias, well...

McEwan resigns from John Edwards' campaign

To quote McEwan:

"The wicked Religious Right (especially that [censored] [censored] Bill Donahue) caused my resignation. Their patriarchal desire to eat the spirits of dead babies shows itself everywhere - even though I'm not a dead baby and I don't have spirit. Now, mind if I say some really obscene stuff about Mohammed's [censored] wives and their [censored] [censored]s. Strictly off the record, dontcha know."

Concerning John Edwards himself: I think Edwards can't be nominated anyway. What memorable thing has he ever done? Obama has at least made a media splash, and Hilary had HillaryCare and It Takes a Village, but John Edwards is most memorable for showing up at the DNC in 2004.

Political Heroes

Six Political Heroes

From Mulier Fortis

1. Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa: now, there's not much to recommend him. He intended to gain complete control of the Holy Roman Empire, which made the Pope nervous (the Holy Roman Empire had a claim to Italy, and 'caesaropapism' was a real threat in the Middle Ages). He sought political power more than religion, and at times warred with the Pope. However, he never promoted heresy or committed mass slaughters - unlike many German rulers - and died leading an army to the Third Crusade. Furthermore, he reputedly is in Kyffhauser Castle, growing hair, and waiting to return to life and rule Germany. I don't know why he's one of my political heroes, but he is.
2. Abraham Lincoln: I certainly know why here. He prevented the utter destruction of the United States of America in the Civil War and banned slavery - the abortion of his day.
3. Ronald Reagan: if it weren't for him, odds are I'd be worrying about the Cold War, not Islam.
4. Benedict XVI (under the same exemption Mulier Fortis gave JP2): hey, it takes courage to face Islam nowadays...
5. G. K. Chesterton: even though his economics were deathly flawed, he did take part in English politics, and fought against corruption and oppression of the poor. You can't denounce that.
6. Charles Francis Adams: for his great one-liner of the Civil War. "It would be superfluous to remind your lordship [Lord Palmerstone, then Prime Minister] that this means war."

Another good quote:

"To God I speak Spanish, to women Italian, to men French, and to my horse - German."

- Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor 1519-1556.