More Rome pics

 The Angelicum's courtyard. . .the trees on the right are orange trees.

The Angelicum's backyard. . .which is really an orchard:  orange, lemon, apple, pear, etc.

Rome Pics

I went down to the V.E.M. this morning to watch the National Day parades. . .but it was too crowded to see anything. 

So, I snapped a few pics.

This is La Chiesa dei Santi Domenico e Sisto. . .and the entrance to the Angelicum.  I had just missed getting our resident gypsy, Maria, in the pic.

Coffee Bowl Browsing

President Thin Skin:  "In Obama's eyes, he is always the aggrieved, always the violated, always the victim of some injustice."  What else could he think given that his entire career has been one long series of exceptions being made by guilty white liberals? 

Even Mother Nature is weary of his speechifying.

Alternative narratives to the "Evil Israeli Soldiers Slaughter Innocent Peace Activists" meme being pushed by the lefty media.  Some commentary on this P.R. disaster.  Predictable condemnations of Israel.

What if the euro/E.U. collapses?  What would it mean for the U.S.? 

Oops!  An inconvenient truth about the anti-illegal immigrant law in AZ. . .CA citizens support it.

Licensing journalists?  An idea that only Big Brother could love.  Watch the MSM fall all over themselves loving this idea.

A hole to the center of the Earth?  Is this the doorway through which the Apocalyptic Hordes of Zombies will shamble? 

Yea, that was my reaction too!

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What's a friar to wear?

Question:  Just curious, is there any regulation regarding what Dominican friars wear under the habit? 

Answer:  Nope.  The specifics of the habit itself are spelled out in the constitution, but what we wear underneath the habit is not.  I wear shorts and a tee-shirt (even in winter) b/c of my tendency to overheat.  I've seen jeans, black dress pants, PJ's, undertunics, khakis, clerics.  Traditionally, we wear white socks and black shoes.  However, you will see friars wearing everything from sandals to cowboy boots.  By tradition, the habit is not to be decorated with pins, buttons, etc.  Dominican bishops may wear the habit with their pectoral cross over the capuce.  In Europe, you will sometimes see friars wearing the black skull cap.  Jewelry is not forbidden, but you rarely see anything too conspicuous.  Younger friars have taken to wearing a simple metal band on their left ring finger as a sign of consecration.  Earrings would be frowned on!  Before 1968, friars had to have permission to wear a beard.  Since I'm headed back to Texas in a few weeks, I may test the waters on wearing a pistol on my belt. . .   ;-)

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Rosaries for the novices

Generous benefactors have offered the purchase rosaries for our novices as simple profession gifts. . .

Can anyone suggest a good place in the U.S. to buy nice but not outrageously expensive rosaries to be worn with the OP habit, i.e., sturdy, fifteen decades?  

Is there a Dominican monastery in the U.S. that makes rosaries?  It would be a double gift if the rosaries could be purchased from our own nuns!

Mille grazie!

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

Check out the new theology blog run by Sean DeWitt (a former student of mine) and Paul Bechter.  Sean and Paul are seminarians at Holy Trinity Seminary in Irving, TX. 

Finally!  That preachy-leftist courtroom drama, Law and Order, is being canceled. 

Is B.O.'s dream dead?  "The new world order as envisioned by Obama in January 2009 was, I think, supposed to look something like the following: A social-democratic America would come to emulate the successful welfare states in the European Union."  Unfortunately, for Obama, the E.U. experiment in socio-economic engineering has failed miserably.  The one economic truth that wealth-redistributionists can't quite seem to grasp is that in order to give The Many the wealth of The Few, The Few have to be able to generate wealth.  But redistributive economic policies discourage wealth generation.  No wealth, no redistribution.

Thoughts on our legal drinking age.  I was 19 when the age was raised to 21.  I think 21 is too high.  When U.D. students come to Rome for a semester in their sophomore year, they are legally old enough to drink in Italy.  They seem to handle it quite well. 

Peggy Noonan:  "The president, in my view, continues to govern in a way that suggests he is chronically detached from the central and immediate concerns of his countrymen." 

The New Atheists make a lot of ideological hay with the Church's handling of Copernicus and Galileo.  Mark Shea helps us with some of the myths.  I would also recommend the book, Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion.  This is a serious academic anthology published by Harvard Univ Press but written for an educated general audience.

If you are Catholic and subscribe to TIME Magazine. . .it's probably time to cancel your subscription.  Yet another hit piece on the Holy Father. 

Bill introduced in Congress to repeal ObamaCare.  Will the GOP leadership screw this up?  Probably.

University faculty unions?  Academic faculties harbor some of the most pampered do-nothings in the universe!  Why would they need to unionize?  Prediction for fifty years out:  the only place students will be able to get a serious liberal arts education will be small, independent Catholic colleges. 

Proof that Big Nanny Statism can be thwarted. 

Dissecting the Sestak/White House job offer scandal. . .crime and cover-up?

Italian police arrest notorious gay activist priest on charges of child sex abuse.

"I'm spiritual but not religious" is relativistic nonsense disguised as profundity. 

This sad, then funny, then sad again. . .

Grand Unification Theory of Cutlery. . .I hope Burger King doesn't see this.

Sesame Street goes emo. . .

Kids answer the tough questions about romance, marriage, and parenthood.

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Clarification on my K.C. post

There seems to be some confusion about my recent post on the Knights of Columbus controversy.  So, let's make sure my thoughts are clear. . .

The Knights of Columbus helped me pay for my novitiate medical insurance.  They contributed to several service projects I organized while at U.D.  I have a great deal of respect and admiration for the Knights and their work. 

I was asked by readers to respond to a very particular question:  given the K.C.'s policy on not allowing local/state chapters to expel members who take public stands against Church teaching, should we consider resigning?

My answer was and still is:  sure, consider it. . .but stay on and fight as long as your conscience allows it.  In no way does my answer indicate a lack of respect for the Knights or an ignorance of the tremendous good that they do. 

However, if the K.C. policy is morally wrong, no amount of good work will make it right.  IOW, appeals to their long tradition of public service and dedication to the Church are irrelevant to the question of whether or not local and state chapters should be allowed to expel Knights who oppose Church teaching in ways that cause scandal. 


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The Knights of Columbus: to stay or go?

Dr. Jeff Mirus has it exactly right on the Knights of Columbus controversy:

It may be true that the first step toward a just social order is clear Catholic teaching by the clergy. But the second step is the day’s own trouble for the laity, the application of Catholic teaching in all the concrete dimensions of daily life. It is laymen who are expected to draw the lines that may not be crossed—not in terms of what the Church teaches, but in terms of the proper response when that teaching is ignored and our culture is subverted by those who participate in social and political life. It is laymen who are called to make it clear that if you want to be honored in our circles, you cannot campaign against what we stand for. And if you do, you will be corrected. And if you refuse correction, you will no longer be able to enjoy our company, our camaraderie, our sympathy and our support. 

The whole article is here.  I am especially impressed by Dr. Mirus' emphasis on the responsibility of the laity in defending Church teaching.

I would emphasis one essential flaw in the KC's defense of their policy:  critics of the policy are not asking the KC's to conduct investigations into the beliefs of every Knight in order to determine whether or not he is orthodox.  The problem comes when Knights who are also public figures take stands against Church teaching.  A Knight is a pro-abortion state governor not only risks his immortal soul by supporting abortion, he risks being held eternally responsible for those who may be lead to believe that since a Knight is pro-abortion, abortion must an acceptable practice in the eyes of the Church.

Whether or not any individual Knight should resign in protest against this policy boils down to a prudential judgment:  will my resignation bring about a change in the policy?  My choice would be to stay and fight.  Work to change the policy through normal channels.  There's always the chance that this will become a losing battle.  Then you would have to make another judgment:  am I giving my consent to the policy by remaining? 

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When theologians play at being scientists (and vice-versa)

The two links below will take you to proof that the relationship between science and religion--when improperly understood--can lead to confusion in both science and religion.  

Belief in divine creation is not the same as "intelligent design."  The Intelligent Design Movement attempts to change the nature of normal science in order to account for divine creation, all the while claiming that this change is true to the nature of normal science. (H/T:  Mark Shea)

A physicist corrects Jebbie theologian's confusion regarding quantum physics and transubstantiation. When theologians play at being scientists, like making the latest discoveries in physics foundational to theological discourse, they risk undermining the whole point of theology and making science into God.  (H/T:  Curt Jester)

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St. Philip Neri: the Roman Socrates

 Your One Stop Spot for All Things St. Philip Neri. . .

Basic biographical/historical info. . .NB. the entry under "Political Activity"

My favorite modern biography of Philip:  The Fire of Joy

St Philip Romolo Neri

A maxim a day keeps the Devil away!  Philip Neri sayings for everyday of the year.

EWTN: Philip Neri

Patron Saint Index with lots of links

Saint of the Day: Philip Neri, saint and joker

The Toronto Oratory

The London Oratory, Brompton

At Catholic Fire: Philip Neri, humorous saint

. . .and the Chiesa Nuova, Philip Neri's church in Rome. Only in Rome can you call a 16th century church a "new church"! Philip is buried in a side chapel there. I've visited frequently, asking for a better sense of humor for dealing with the enemies of the Church.

And today is my 46th birthday. My mother denies it, refusing to believe that she has a 46 year old son!  Though she did tell me on the phone recently that I am starting to look my age. 

I am often asked why a Dominican would choose "Philip Neri" as his religious name. I wish there were some mystical, mysterious story to tell. There isn't. When I was going through RCIA, my pastor urged us all to take confirmation names. He suggested that we look at the saints honored on our birthdays for inspiration. He reasoned that picking a name from a saint celebrated on our birthday would help us to remember to imitate that saint. I picked "Philip Neri" for no other reason than that May 26th is his feast day. When I joined the Order, we were told we could use a religious name. One of the brothers asked me my confirmation name and suggested that I make it my religious name. With just a little research into Philip Neri's life, I found quite a lot I wanted to imitate!  

Though I cringe when my name is shortened to "Fr. Phil," there is one diminutive of the great saint's name I don't mind. . .Philip's closest friends used "Pippo" as a term of endearment for him.  Here's an article by the French Oratorian, Fr. Louis Bouyer that includes a couple of funny stories about the saint.

Philip knew many of the great Dominicans of his day. He was a renowned preacher and confessor. He worked tirelessly among the spiritually defeated youths of Rome. He was a practical joker and an outrageous spiritual director. When he died, an autopsy revealed that his heart had grown too big for this body. An apt description of this saint of Christ's joy! Philip was canonized along with Theresa of Avila and Ignatius of Loyola.

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CAUTION! Praying is risky business

Feast of St Philip Neri

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

SS. Domenico e Sisto, Roma

Podcast

The ancient Greeks knew that asking the gods for favors was a dangerous business. They just might give you what you want. The same caution applied to the three wishes granted to those who freed genies from captivity. Choose your wishes very, very carefully. Though we no longer honor the Greek gods with our prayers nor believe that genies grant wishes, Christians still call on God for His help. We regularly petition Him to grant us the graces we need to survive and thrive. Since we are asking for help from an all-loving, all-knowing God, do we need to be careful when asking for what we need? St. Augustine thought so. He once famously prayed, “Lord, give me chastity and continence. . .but not yet.” Smart man. This prayer reveals both a desire for holiness and an awareness that holiness entails the radical transformation of the person praying. Augustine isn't asking for more time to sin; he's confessing his humility, his unworthiness for the gifts of chastity and continence. He simply isn't strong enough to honor these gifts as they deserve. Yes, be careful when you pray. Make sure you are ready for God's answer.

Case in point: James and John ask Jesus to grant them the seats of honor at his side. They want to be his Top Dog Apostles. Jesus replies to this foolish request: “You do not know what you are asking.” James and John are probably thinking about power and prestige; they want to be his heirs, successors to his throne. Jesus quickly deflates their dreams, “Can you drink the chalice that I drink. . .?” Of course, they say, “We can.” But they do not fully understand what drinking Christ's chalice means. To be the first among Christ's disciples means being the least of them all, the servant to all. It means taking a permanent demotion in status and power, stepping down the career ladder from Apostle to Slave. Not exactly what the ambitious brothers had in mind! If they had known themselves better, perhaps they would have exercised greater caution in asking for a sip from Christ's chalice. 

Knowing what to pray for requires a keen sense of discernment. You have to know your flaws, your strengths, your gifts. You have to be intimately acquainted with both God's overall purpose for you and how you will freely cooperate with this plan. Are you prepared to receive the grace you are praying for? Well, who isn't ready to get a gift?! Ask the many lottery winners in the U.S. who have seen their lives destroyed by money. Ask those who have achieved their dreams of political power only to see themselves corrupted nearly beyond redemption. Ask those who exercise incredible gifts of artistic creativity but eventually find themselves sliding down the drain to insanity and addiction. Asking for a gift is a easy. Getting it and using it wisely can be much, much harder.

So, what assurance do we have that the graces we need, once granted, won't drown us in sorrow and regret? Every grace we receive from God is perfected by serving others. Jesus says to his disciples, “. . .whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.” There is nothing spiritually dangerous about using God's gifts in the service of His people. No danger of pride. No danger of selfishness. No danger of remorse because you prayed for too much, too soon. We come to know ourselves best by coming to know God better and better in prayer. The best we can ask for is to serve, to be the least of all, the slave to all.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

Hey whaddaya know!  That anti-illegal immigrant law in AZ succeeded in forcing B.O. to--ya know--do his job.  Note that the Left isn't calling their hero a racist or a fascist for this token move.

Two in one day. . .White House backs the Vatican's defense against spurious lawsuit.

Did porn, crystal meth, and free football tickets contribute to the BP's oil disaster?

For all my friends and fellow friars who voted for B.O. b/c they hated Bush's anti-terrorism policies and believed The One would do things differently:  secret military operations.

Are the adults in our culture finally starting to reassert their authority? 

"Unexpected" is the favorite adjective used by the MSM to insulate B.O. from his disastrous economic politics.  "Little noticed" is the fav adjective used by the MSM to excuse its refusal to vette ObamaCare responsibly before it was passed.

In the name of "safety," U.K. nannies limit the number of faithful who can attend Papal Masses during the Holy Father's September visit.  I hope Damien and the Catholic Herald sit on the organizing committee and pour through every decision these guys make. 

How to get more traffic on your blog:  misspell something.  I've also found that using Latin helps.  Latin geeks are compelled by Natural Law to correct one's faulty Latin grammar. 

Is this the first stage of the Coming Zombie Apocalypse? 

Bubba and the Pope. 

17 ways to lace up your sneakers.  The normal way of lacing up sneakers is too complicated for me.  I just wear sandals.

Lots of useful French expressions.  My fav: "Il n'y a pas de quoi fouetter un chat."  Translation: "It's no reason for whipping a cat."  NB.  some of these are R-rated.

Hilarious video of a Japanese girl scaring folks as they come through a door.  I think the reason she is scary is b/c she looks like the freaky girl from the movie, The Ring.

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Gettin' holy ain't for sissies

NB.  I made a couple of mistakes while preaching this one. . .no time to rehearse in front of the mirror before Mass!

8th Week OT (T)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

SS. Domenico e Sisto, Roma

Podcast

There's a bumper sticker popular among America's geriatric citizens: “Gettin' old ain't for sissies!” Aging is a long haul. It's hard work. It take courage, perseverance, and strength. Chances are that those who lack the required virtues for “gettin' old” never make it past retirement age. They falter long before the really tough stuff begins. Catholics, never shy about using what we're given to preach the gospel, should take this bumper sticker and revise it to teach another ancient truth: “Gettin' holy ain't for sissies!” All the virtues required for enduring old age come in quite handy for traveling the way of holiness. Standing up to the rulers of this world, confronting one's own demons, and coming out victorious, requires courage, perseverance, and strength. Despite the dangers of aging, many manage to do well enough without ever receiving all that God has to give them. No such thing is possible in our travels toward holiness. Peter writes, “. . .as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in every aspect of your conduct, for it is written, Be holy because I am holy.” 

The saints and doctors of the Church teach us that we are made to be holy. We are designed in such a way that we are not only capable of being holy but are, in fact, compelled to seek out holiness. Why then do we find being holy so difficult? Why do we expend so much time and energy fighting against who we were made to be? Peter gives us a hint when he teaches us how to be holy: “. . .gird up the loins of your mind, live soberly, and set your hopes completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” If these are the things we must do to grow in holiness, then it makes sense that our resistance to being holy rests in our failure to follow through with this admonition. The creativity and productivity of our minds is scattered, loose, unfocused. Our daily lives show us to be immoderate, irrational, anxious. And we have set our hopes on the fleeting goodness of people, ideas, and institutions who are in themselves incapable of making us Good. If we fail to understand that God is the only source of holiness, then we are doomed to falter long before the way before us gets really tough. God says, “Be holy because I am holy.”

Being holy, like growing old, is hard. We have to grow old. No choice in that. But do we have to be holy? If it's so difficult, why bother? First, we are called to it. Drawn to God by His love for us, we are seduced into wanting to be perfect as He Himself is perfect. Without the desire for holiness, we are just animals, creatures eating, breeding, and dying without a purpose larger than our biology. Second, by accepting the graces of baptism and the Holy Spirit, we are shown who we are (sinners) and who we can be (saints). To endure the difference between the two without seeking to close the gap is unbearable. Third, as St Augustine says, we are restless—agitated, unhappy, aimless—until we rest in Him. Seeing that we are capable of being like God, can we ever be truly satisfied with being like anything less than God? 

Peter says to Christ, “We have given up everything and followed you.” Surrender is the first step and the last step. But the steps in between must follow Christ. With hearts and minds focused on Christ; our lives lived in the sobriety of his commandment of love; and our hope resting solely in the one revealed to us by the Holy Spirit, we can surrender everything unholy and become holy for no other reason than that He is holy. For those who love him, this is reason enough.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

A review of my prayer books from HancAquam reader and commenter extraordinaire, Opey124! 

Best Link Tag for a story about Sarah Palin:  "I can see November from my house!" 

The Left pitched an eight year hissy fit over "W's" alleged misuse of wire-tapping, torture, etc. in the war on terror.  B.O. has not only continued all of "W's" policies in this area, he has now authorized the assassination of American citizens w/o due process.  You will search in vain for any hissy fits pitched by the Left.

Student suspended for bringing his rosary to school.  School officials claim the beads endanger the safety of the school.  This reminds me of my CPE summer when the sisters--all Dominicans!--I worked with at SLU Hospital harassed me for wearing my habit.  They eventually convinced the hospital that religious habits are a "safety issue" and had them banned.

Does B.O. have the guts to keep us out of the E.U. Nanny state financial collapse?  I doubt it.

Deconstructing WaPo's deceptive paraphrase of TX's new curriculum standards.  You know you have won the debate when your opponent has to lie about your position in order to challenge it.  Strawmen are built for those too intellectually lazy to fight a real man.

America's new culture war:  free enterprise vs. government control

Confirmation class at an Episcopal parish compose their own versions of the Nicene Creed.  I remember doing this when I was an Episcopagan!  

Sad story about the disappearance of the Octave of Pentecost.

A heartening story about the public witness of priests in clerics and habits.  I wear my habit on the streets of Rome all the time.  I've never had anyone spit on me!  Maybe the sight of a 300lbs Dominican in full habit tweaks the survival instinct in even the most anti-clerical Roman!

(An aside:  during a UD mission trip to Lima, Peru, my students and I visited the family of one of our students.  The student's older sister was pregnant.  Before we left the apt. I asked the woman if I could bless her and her baby.  She broke into a huge smile and eagerly agreed.  Before I knew what was happening, every member of the large family was lining up for a blessing!  My student told me months later that the family had been shocked that I would offer a blessing and that they were still talking about it.  Apparently, Peruvian priests are somewhat stingy with blessings. . .)

Article on the Apostolic Visitation of U.S. sisters and nuns.  Warning:  don't read this article if you have high blood pressure.  It is stuffed with factual errors, leftist bias, and anti-Catholic venom.

The Knights of Columbus respond to criticism of their recent decision not to boot Knights who are also pro-abortion politicians. 

New English translation of the Roman Missal is a reach back into tradition.  Maybe.  It is certainly more traditional than the awful 1970 ICEL translation.  The better way to describe the new edition of the Missal is to say that it is a more faithful English translation of the Latin texts.  The theological problems inscribed in the 1970 edition start with an embedded Pelagianism.  It seems that the 1970 translators went out of their way to render out the necessity of God's grace in our growth toward holiness.

Why are Catholics staying in the Church despite the constant problems with clerical sexual abuse?  Oh, that's easy.  Because most Catholics are smart enough to distinguish between the holiness of their Church and the falleness of her clergy.  There's not a Catholic alive who can say, "I am without sin."

Cute pic of the day. . .a helping paw.

The one day you decide to drive with the top down. . .

World's funniest jokes? 

A list of great home remedies and practical solutions.

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Server down

There is no Pentecost homily for you this morning b/c the proxy server for the priory was down for almost 24 hrs.  

The friar--yes, there is only one--who maintains the server was out of town and only returned about 2 hrs. ago.  Ah, good ole Italian efficiency at its best.

Look for that homily to show up sometime on Monday.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing (B.O.-less Edition)

The American Papist's initial reaction to the Knights of Columbus brouhaha.  

The pagan rites of a lesbian-Episcopalian consecration.  I never witnessed this sort of thing when I was an Episcopalian.  I had to become Catholic to see it.    Fair warning:  this vid is spew-worthy.

Again, words matter: no created being can create;  we can recombine existing things to produce something new, but we can't create.  That's God's job.

Did she excommunicate herself?  On the Catholic sister who approved an abortion in AZ.

An English translation of the Descartes letter we were given to translate for our exam.  I've read it five or six times--in English!--and I don't know what he's talking about.

One priest's experience with multi-lingual Continentals.  Here at the Angelicum, most of the friars are at least trilingual (native tongue, Italian, and English).  Several friars speak all of the major European languages.  And some can boast Latin, Greek, and Hebrew on top of these.  In my limited experience, our Polish brothers are the most proficient at picking up foreign languages.

On the suicide of Catholic culture in Spain.  Perhaps these folks yearn for the return of the Moors.

"No one is listening until you make a mistake" and 53 other cynical Thoughts for the Day.

Do-it-yourself consumer warning labels:  "A Dead Sea scroll found that UFO's cause liberalism in bald Armenians, so just don't over do it." 

Ronald "The Pimp Meister" McDonald reiterates, "I said NO special orders!"

Dog diary vs. Cat diary.  I love dogs, but would rather be a cat.

First Lesson of Law School:  never ask a witness a question you don't already know the answer to.

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The Knights, Pro-aborts, & You

I'm getting a lot of questions about the recent ruling of the national leadership of the Knights of Columbus that forbids local chapters from expelling Knights who are pro-abortion politicians. 

I've not had a chance to ferret out all the relevant info.

My advice for the moment:  don't resign from your local council just yet.  You can't change the policy if you are on the outside.  Resignation is an option if the national leadership will not budge.  But for now, learn as much as you can about the policy.  Express your respectful, considered opinion to your KC leadership, your pastor, and your bishop.  And pray!

As I learn more about what's going on, I will opine at length.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

Words matter. . .but they matter more to some than to others:  B.O.'s P.C. assault on how we talk about terrorism.

What are the paradoxes inherent in the creative mind?  Most of these apply to the preacher, I think.  How does a preacher of an ancient message bring that message to a contemporary world without sacrificing its substance?

Immigrants reduce violent crime in urban areas?  This study says yes.  NB.  the study doesn't distinguish between legal and illegal immigration nor does it factor in the use of mandatory sentencing laws as a deterrent to crime.  Read the comments for other flaws in the study.

The dangers of Multiculturalism in a multicultural society.  When it comes to the Dogma of Immaculate Multiculturalism, leftists consistently confuse "descriptive multiculturalism" with "prescriptive multiculturalism;" in other words, there is a difference between saying, "Wow.  We have a lot of different cultures in the US" and "The difference ethnic cultures in the US must be allowed to dominate American culture."

Damien Thompson reports that the Holy Father will not be tortured by trendy, folksy music during his visit to the U.K.

Female "priest" denied a Catholic burial.  This column is so full of factual errors that it's hard to fisk it.  NB.  the Vatican did NOT excommunicate this woman.  By pretending to be ordained a Catholic priest, she excommunicated herself.  By denying her a Catholic burial, the archdiocese was simply honoring her wishes not to be included in the life of the Church.

America Magazine quietly edits the on-line anti-Benedict rant of one of its Jebbie columnists.  Maybe they got a call from The Inquisition?

If you have ever watched an episode of The Shield, you know how important it is to have a gangster name.  So, here's the Gangster Name Generator.  Mine is "Fredo 'Louie Ha-Ha' Giordano." 

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YAAAAYYYYY!!!

This week started with some bad news:  the French Failure.

But it's ending with some much, much better news:  the Summer Housing Crisis is over!

There is room at the inn.  I won't have to make any changes in my travel plans, class schedule, or visits home.  

Now, we just have to keep that Klingon Volcano in Iceland under wraps for the summer.

Thank you all for your prayers and kind encouragement.  And special thanks to Frs. Carmen and Rudy for their generosity.

God bless, Fr. Philip 

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Fr. McDermott, OP on Catherine of Siena, OP

My friend and Dominican brother, Fr. Thomas McDermott on EWTN!



Fr. McDermott recently published a book on St Catherine, Catherine of Siena:  Spiritual Development in Her Life and Teaching.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

Looks like most of us have something to look forward to anyway:  Happiness begins at 50.

The socialist government of Spain has admitted that their "green jobs" economic policies have been disastrous.  Will the socialist in the White House pay attention?

A physicist de-mythologizes the myth of "renewable energy."

What importance should we give to a politician's/nominee's senior thesis?  Not much, probably.  I wrote for my college newspaper my first year of grad school (I was 22 y.o.).  I wrote the Friday opinion column.  My shtick was Anti-Reagan/Anti-Religious Right Polemics.  I read those columns now and cringe.   

President George W. Obama asked about holding a real news conference sometime soon.   Remember:  "W" was mercilessly pounded in the press for not holding news conferences.  So far, B.O. has gotten a pass.

The Real Scandal of the lying Dem candidate in PA:  the media.

Maybe these guys can come up with something usable before I have to retake the French exam!

What is a leftist to do if the democratic process at home rejects his agenda?  Use international treaties, of course!

“He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up.”   Classy insults.

OK. . .this has to be the creepiest pic I've ever seen.   [Shudder]

How a giraffe might save you on a math exam.

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"It was not a success. . ." (UPDATE)

UPDATE:  Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement!  My poor poet's brain is simply not wired to be trained to use foreign languages.  I was a horrible algebra/calculus student in high school and college b/c the formulas, rules, etc. just wouldn't stick in my head. . .seeds cast on rocky soil!  I recoil when I see symbolic logic used in philosophy texts--it looks like Math!  I understand why foreign languages (esp. French and German) are required for the study of philosophy.  But their necessity as research tools is not sufficient to reconfigure my aging brain. 

The dean of the philosophy school informed me this morning that my French exam "was not a success."

No surprise there.  I studied the wrong kind of text in exactly the wrong way.

So, on to October!

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We belong to Christ

7th Week of Easter (T)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

SS. Domenico e Sisto, Roma

Podcast

Coming to Christ in baptism and following after him throughout our lives sets us apart from the world and at the same time puts us right in the middle of it. We are at once observers and participants, watching from the sidelines and digging in with everyone else. If there is a paradox, a contradiction that causes the Church more difficulty than this one, I'm not sure what it is. How do we manage to live in the world and yet not be of the world? Buddhists and Muslims have much simpler solutions to this problems. Buddhists see the world as an illusion, a deceptive projection of the suffering self. They withdraw from the illusion and seek out the selfless freedom of no-mindedness. Muslims see the world as Allah's kingdom, large portions of which are occupied by the devil's minions. When the whole of the world is conquered for Allah, his divine law will be enforced as the only law. For us, there is Christ and Caesar, the Church and the State. There is the world we must live in; the same world we cannot belong to. How do we manage this without illusion or violence? Praying for us, Jesus says to his Father: “They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.” We belonged to the Father and the Father gave us to Christ. So long as we keep his word, we belong to him and not this world.

Paul reveals how he kept Christ's word. He reports to the Church at Ephesus: “I served the Lord with all humility. . .I did not at all shrink from telling you what was for your benefit, or from teaching you in public. . .I earnestly bore witness for both Jews and Greeks. . .Yet I consider life of no importance to me, if only I may finish my course. . .” Paul kept Christ's word by teaching, by bearing witness, by serving the Father's family. To what end? To proclaim the “entire plan of God.” The entire plan of God includes the whole of creation. Not just the Church but the world as well. Not just the Jews but the Greeks too. Male and female, slave and free. The world we must live in; the same world we cannot belong to.

What are we then? What are we in the world? We are seeds spread and nurtured to grow where we land. We are invading viruses, replicating Christ in the blood and bone of the world, infecting our sick host with the grace we ourselves have been freely given. We are tourists, visiting for a time, scattering the wealth of the gospel—the culture of eternal life—in a foreign land. We are salesmen, marketplace hawkers, and beggars, always displaying our wares and enticing those who need what we have to give. We are physicians who heal. Tailors who clothe. Chefs who feed. Saints who live in heaven while walking on earth. Sinners who see through the lies but have not yet received perfect grace. We are all of these in the world, but who we are from our rebirth to our eternal end belongs to Christ. And we cannot rest until the course is finished.

The Church cannot serve the world by abandoning it to evil. Nor can we serve the world by conquering it with violence. The Father gave us to Christ. And Christ sent us out to follow him. As we make our way back to him, along the way, we can frighten those we meet, or we can alienate them, or we can condemn them. If we want to finish this course, however, we will entice them, convince them, show them God's mercy in us. Even against violent resistance and withering ridicule, we will be ambassadors for the one who sent us, envoys to a world waiting to belong to Christ.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

Are left-wing undergraduates running the country?  Yea, I think so.  Fortunately, we will soon have an opportunity to put the adults back in charge.

Corollary:  America is the university, B.O. is our dean.  I've been thinking about this analogy for some time.  It struck me one day that someone who has spent his whole professional life in the academy would see university culture as a great model for governing a nation.

Jimmy Akin and Fr. Fessio fisk the controversial remarks of Cardinal Schonborn.  There's a time and place to get philosophical. . .interviews with the bigots of the anti-Catholic MSM isn't one of them.

Along with Boston Legal, I stopped watching Law & Order about 10 yrs. ago.  Got tired of being preached to by their dramatic recreations of NYT op-ed disinformation.

Gallup Poll:  76% of Americans say moral values in the United States are getting worse.  No surprise here.  Empires in decline abroad always rot from within.  

Case in point. . .the Big Brotherization of the U.K.

What is it with B.O. admin-lackeys and their willingness to condemn the AZ anti-illegal immigration law even though they haven't read it?

Damien Thompson reveals a plan by British liturgists to torture the Holy Father when he visits the U.K. in September. 

For the discerning papabile in your life:  Pope Pius IX's cologne.  Growing up in the 80's as a zealot yuppie, I spent many a dollar on good cologne.  At one point in my life--while holding down a good-paying job--I had about 20 bottles of the stuff.  I rarely wear any now. . .when I do it's John Varvatos--an older friar gave me a bottle he was given as a Christmas gift.

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les mauvaises herbes du mal. . .

Sigh. . .French translation exam is done.  Ran out of time before I finished.

I've been practicing on a book by Etienne Gilson, L'etre et l'essence.  Very straightforward, logical Thomistic stylist.

The exam was a passage from Descartes letters!  Not a straightforward, logical Thomistic stylist.  I should have been a little more eclectic.

So, here's to trying again in October. . .

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Mass at the Angelicum chapel

Frs. Philippe-Andre, Philip Neri, Cyprian, and Benedict celebrate Mass 

at the Chapel of SS. Domenico e Sisto, Angelicum in Rome.

The Bible (New Revised Children's Version)

A cousin sent this to me. . .no idea where she got it.


The Children's Bible in a Nutshell 

In the beginning, which occurred near the start, there was nothing but God, darkness, and some gas. The Bible says, 'The Lord thy God is one, but I think He must be a lot older than that.  Anyway, God said, 'Give me a light!' and someone did.

Then God made the world.  He split the Adam and made Eve. Adam and Eve were naked, but they weren't embarrassed because mirrors hadn't been invented yet.

Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating one bad apple, so they were driven from the Garden of Eden.  Not sure what they were driven in though, because they didn't have cars.

Adam and Eve had a son, Cain, who hated his brother as long as he was Abel.

Pretty soon all of the early people died off, except for Methuselah, who lived to be like a million or something.

One of the next important people was Noah, who was a good guy, but one of his kids was kind of a Ham. Noah built a large boat and put his family and some animals on it. He asked some other people to join him, but they said they would have to take a rain check.

After Noah came Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob was more famous than his brother, Esau, because Esau sold Jacob his birthmark in exchange for some pot roast. Jacob had a son named Joseph who wore a really loud sports coat. 

Another important Bible guy is Moses, whose real name was Charlton Heston. Moses led the Israel Lights out of Egypt and away from the evil Pharaoh after God sent ten plagues on Pharaoh's people. These plagues included frogs, mice, lice, bowels, and no cable. 

God fed the Israel Lights every day with manicotti. Then he gave them His Top Ten Commandments. These include: don't lie, cheat, smoke, dance, or covet your neighbour's stuff. Oh, yeah, I just thought of one more: Humour thy father and thy mother. 

One of Moses' best helpers was Joshua who was the first Bible guy to use spies. Joshua fought the battle of Geritol and the fence fell over on the town. 

After Joshua came David. He got to be king by killing a giant with a slingshot. He had a son named Solomon who had about 300 wives and 500 porcupines. My teacher says he was wise, but that doesn't sound very wise to me. 

After Solomon there were a bunch of major league prophets. One of these was Jonah, who was swallowed by a big whale and then barfed up on the shore.

There were also some minor league prophets, but I guess we don't have to worry about them.

After the Old Testament came the New Testament. Jesus is the star of The New. He was born in Bethlehem in a barn. (I wish I had been born in a barn too, because my mom is always saying to me, 'Close the door! Were you born in a barn?' It would be nice to say, 'As a matter of fact, I was.')

During His life, Jesus had many arguments with sinners like the Pharisees and the Democrats.

Jesus also had twelve opossums.

The worst one was Judas Asparagus. Judas was so evil that they named a terrible vegetable after him.  Jesus was a great man. He healed many leopards and even preached to some Germans on the Mount.

But the Democrats and all those guys put Jesus on trial before Pontius the Pilot. Pilot didn't stick up for Jesus. He just washed his hands instead. 

Anyways, Jesus died for our sins, then came back to life again. He went up to Heaven but will be back at the end of the Aluminium.  His return is foretold in the book of Revolution.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

We are in the very best of hands:  AG Holder hasn't even read the AZ anti-illegal immigrant law he has threatened to challenge in court.

One of my fav games in grad school:  while attending university functions, I always ended up in chats with faculty/students from one or both US coasts or from Europe. . .we would discuss literature, politics, philosophy, etc.  I loved to watch the incredulity on their faces when I told them that I was born and raised in rural Mississippi and attended public schools.  For them, this was like learning first-hand that monkeys can not only talk but read and write as well!

On the adverse consequences of training college students to hear racism, classism, and sexism in the most innocuous language.  The central hermeneutical problem with "racial awareness" dogma is that the perceptions of the hearer are given priority over the intent of the speaker.  IOW, it doesn't matter what you meant or what you actually said. . .the only thing that matters is "what I heard you say."

SCOTUS nominee Elena Kagan calls Judge Richard Posner (7th Circuit Court of Appeals), “the most important legal thinker of our time."  If this is so, then why doesn't she decline B.O.'s nomination and argue that Posner be given a seat on the S.C.  Answer:  Posner is considered a conservative legal rock star. 

Venezuela is quickly becoming another example of the inevitable failure of socialism.   

Weird statues from all over the world

Insta-buttons for all your fav movie/video game/prank sound effects.

The Poet and the Thug-rose: a lesson on perspective.

Useful phrases for those times when the temptation to be a smart-a$$ just can't be resisted. 

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A few updates. . .

Finally!  There is some positive movement on the Summer Plans front. Not all is doom and gloom.  Deo gratis.

French translation exam tomorrow afternoon. . .please, get those prayers heading heavenward.  I'm gonna need them.  If I pass the exam, I will move on to the oral/written exams and the defense of the thesis.

Thanks for the activity on the Wish List.  I will have a nice stack of new material to keep me and the squirrels busy while visiting the parentals.

I'm still drinking the Apple Cider Vinegar solution.  It has allowed me to skip the evening meal w/o getting a low blood sugar headache.  I've not really been able to test out its anti-sweating effects.  The weather here has been cool and cloudy.

Nice side effect of skipping dinner:  I'm sleeping much, much better.

Podcasting News:  since 4/19 there have been 510 homily downloads.  Mille grazie.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

The White House reports that a group of enraged Lutheran extremists in Sweden attacked the cartoonist who drew a picture of Martin Luther with a dog's body.  B.O. called on Christians to denounce this violence and end the persecution of those who disagree with them.

In other Christian-terrorist news, a member of the MSA (Methodist Student Association) at UCSD openly calls for a Holy Crusade against the Muslim minority populations of the Middle East.

Here's one surefire way to make sure professors don't run their classes into overtime:  concealed handguns!  Apparently, this solution is spreading.

Take one look at this pic and you will see where the Catholic Left wants to take the Church of Rome: down the suicidal path of the Episcopal Church.  The unanswered question remains:  if this is where dissenting Catholics want to go, why don't they just go?

In Ontario, teachers are becoming Catholic in order to get teaching jobs with Catholic schools.  The astonishing piece of info in this notice?  The province's Human Right Code graciously deigns to allow Catholic schools to discriminate against non-Catholic when hiring their teachers.  Thank you so much, Ontario, for tolerating our irrational prejudices!

Just fine by us:  "A new Pew Research Center Poll finds fully 73% of the country thinks police requesting immigration status documents is fine, while 67% think detaining someone for a status check is OK."  Keep in mind:  the new AZ anti-illegal immigration law empowers state police to check a person's immigration status only in the context of otherwise lawful police activity; in other words, a traffic stop, a shoplifting arrest, drug bust, etc.  Police are not empowered to wander around randomly asking people for papers.

B.O.'s nominee to head the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, Donald Berwick:  “Any health care funding plan that is just equitable civilized and humane must, must redistribute wealth from the richer among us to the poorer and the less fortunate. Excellent health care is by definition redistributional.”  Surprise!

Are you a small-bladdered movie buff?  Here's a site just for you!

On textbook content bias and local school boards:  revisionist histories of the dinosaurs

My kind of organic chemistry!

A whole bunch of funny pics. . .

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Sample pages of my book

The good folks at Liguori Publications have recently posted a link to a few sample pages of Treasures Holy and Mystical, including the table of contents!

Check it out. . .

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We are the "Much More" that Christ has to say

6th Week of Easter (W)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

SS. Domenico e Sisto, Roma

Podcast

What is the truth that Jesus believes the disciples cannot bear? What is the “much more” he has to tell them? The intrigue of knowing that there is a secret to tell but not knowing what that secret is might tempt us into wild speculation. Is there a body of occult Christian knowledge to be learned? Arcane symbols, rituals, books of secreted lore? We might even go so far as to guess that the gospel writers left out the Good Stuff so that the herd of gullible believers wouldn't contaminate the True Teachings of Christ. Do all those non-canonical gospels—the Gospel of Peter, the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary—do they reveal the “much more” that Jesus thought the disciples couldn't bear? No, they don't. There is no secret knowledge, no truths hidden in coded messages, no decoder rings, or elaborate handshakes. There is the truth that Christ himself reveals. No more, no less. Christ himself is the Truth. Following after him, getting behind the Truth, is at once freeing and binding; Christ cuts our bonds, binding us to his truth. 

Jesus tells his disciples that there is much more he needs to tell them, but what he has left unsaid is too much for them to bear. At that moment the disciples must have been deeply, thoroughly scared to death. Consider what he has already told them. He has told them that he will be tortured and that he will die—horribly—and they will be left to carry on his preaching. He has told them that because they will go on to preach his good news that they too will be tortured and that they will die, also, horribly. If Jesus believes that his students can bear up under this bit of dark prophecy, what could he possibly have left to tell them that is too much for them to bear?! We can imagine that their worst fears, their most dread nightmares are rising to the surface. . .

They will have to wait to hear what waits for them. Just a little while more, wait. Jesus tells them, “. . .when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.” All that he has taught them to this point has been true. But he has not taught them all the truth. The truth he has not yet to teach them is not teachable, not transferable in a lesson or a parable; what he has left over is not sayable in words or done ritual, not unveiled in gesture or exposed by display. The whole truth, all the truths of Christ, must be lived and lived in the coming Spirit, revealed to the grief-burdened men and women of the Upper Room by the ferocious bonfire of the Holy Spirit's passing. In modern terms, we would say that the “much more” Christ has to tell us is intelligible only as direct experience; “much more” must be lived to be known. But “experience” is a sterile word; it hardly does justice to what it means to be freed by Christ and bound to him forever.

When the Spirit comes to speak to us all that he has heard from Christ, to declare all the things that are to come, to glorify his holy name and unstick our tongues to praise that Name, then we will know the “much more” that Jesus would not speak, all the truths that he knew our unprepared souls could not bear. How will we know? Because when the moment of revelation comes, we will not being reading about it, or hearing it described, or watching it unfold. We will be on fire, in the center of the conflagration, ourselves the fuel and air that feeds the flames of truth's unveiling. We won't have to ask, “Is this the 'much more' Jesus didn't tell us?” Why? Because we will be Much More, the living sparks who set the bonfires that burn through this world's darkness; the lights of Christ, bound to his light and freed to shine.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

On SCOTUS nominee, Elena Kagan:  Being nice to your ideological enemies is not a sign that you think they are right.  

Does Kagan believe that the Constitution can be read to support SSM?  Maybe. 

64 high speed chases in AZ county. . .not one of the perps was a U.S. citizen.

John Allen outlines the significance (and possible consequences) of Cardinal Pell being appointed to the head the Congregation of Bishops. 

Following the electoral chaos in the U.K. makes me very happy that our Founding Fathers chucked the parliamentary system in favor of something more republican!

On the factually-challenged MSNBC. . .Chris Matthews blames the right-wing gov'ts of Greece, Spain, and Portugal for financial collapse.  FACT:  all three countries are currently governed by socialist parties.

The Welfare State Death Spiral. . .is Greece a preview for the U.S.?

On Obama Messiahism:  "If twentieth-century history teaches us anything, it’s that political religions spell trouble."  The Devil is always trying to seduce us with movements/ideas/causes that mimic the Church. . .anything to draw us away from Christ!

Homer Simpson, call your cardiologist!  It's processed ham infused with more processed ham.  

10 Bizarre Psychological Disorders. . .these are bizarre; however, nothing beats Borderline Personality Disorder when it comes to just plain scary. . .and untreatable.

Or, you could suffer from Dress Up Like a Doctor Kill a Deer and Drive Around in a Stolen Ambulance Disorder.   

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Where are you going?

6th Week of Easter (T)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

SS. Domenico e Sisto, Roma

Podcast

Have the disciples been listening? Have they truly heard what Jesus is trying to teach them about who and what they are to become? On many occasions in the three years they have spent with Jesus, the disciples have misunderstood him, ignored him, failed to follow him, and now, as he stands on the verge of leaving them behind, they exhibit a curious lack of curiosity. Jesus says to them, “Now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?'” Do they fail to ask because they do not care? Or, because they already know and don't want their worst fears confirmed? Jesus answers the question for us, “. . .because I told you [that I am leaving], grief has filled your hearts.” His friends know that he is leaving them behind, moving on to Jerusalem and a gruesome death. Though their grief is only natural, it cannot stand against the coming of the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, who convicts the world of sin and convinces the worldliest heart that not even death can triumph over the promise of eternal life through Christ. 

Jesus will leave his friends behind. He will go to Jerusalem, suffer at the hands of his enemies, die on the cross, and rise from the grave to live again. He will ascend to the Father, and the Holy Spirit will come to sweep across those who heard his words and witnessed his deeds. All their fear, doubt, worry; all their confusion, questions, insecurities; any hesitation they harbor in preaching the gospel, all of these will be set ablaze, burned away by the coming of the Holy Spirit. Then they will set out to heal, to cast out demons, to speak God's word of mercy to sinners, to suffer and die as Christ himself suffered and died. In the rush to pack and leave for their missions, do they remember the question they forgot to ask, “Where are you going?” If they were listening to Jesus while he was among them, they already know how to answer, “Lord, I am going to Jerusalem; I am following you to the cross.”

Two thousand years later, the question still matters. Baptized, confirmed in the Spirit, nourished at the altar, where are you going? Jesus is gone and the Advocate has come. Where are you going? To Jerusalem and your cross? Of course. But there are many hours and many miles between now and then, here and there. If the Spirit has convicted us of our sin and convinced us of the truth, what do we do in the meantime, all those miles in between? We do what Jesus did. We do what the disciples did once the Spirit seized their grieving hearts. Proclaim the truth. Heal the sick. Feed the hungry. Forgive, love, show mercy. Bring peace to worry. Bear good fruit and give it away. Live in joy. Die for your friends. Each time, a step behind our Lord. Each step, a moment longer with him. 

Where are we going? Wherever the Spirit sends us. When are we leaving? If we've been listening, we are already well on our way.

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Podcasting. . .???

Comments on the Podcasts?

Clear?  Speaking too fast?  Too slow?  Ease of downloading?  Problems of any sort?

The echo is unavoidable since the chapel has a 30ft ceiling. . .I turn the microphone away from the lectern b/c I figure my big mouth hardly needs amplification. 

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

<---Yes, the actual Bowl of Coffee Bowl Browsing!

Presumably, one of the reasons people want to immigrate to the U.S. is to enjoy our tradition of natural rights, including the right of free expression.  But, as we all know, when natural rights conflict with The P.C. Cause of the Moment, rights take a hike.  

On the cheap gracelessness of the New Atheists. . .David Hart puts the smackdown on this generation's Barbie Unbelievers:  "The principal source of my melancholy, however, is my firm conviction that today’s most obstreperous infidels lack the courage, moral intelligence, and thoughtfulness of their forefathers in faithlessness."

Weekly Standard:  "Why does the Obama administration find it so hard to utter the words ‘terrorism’ and ‘jihad’ and ‘Islamic extremism’?"  Because, like most postmodern relativists/nominalists, B.O. believes that words magically create reality. . .

Polling opinion on the Supreme Court:  Americans don't want a more liberal Court.  NB.  the poll doesn't ask respondents to define "liberal," so it is not entirely clear what this info means.

B.O.'s Attorney General says that the new AZ anti-illegal immigrant law is not motivated by racist ideology.  

A poem by Pablo Neruda:  "I Do Not Love You"

The Game of Kings. . .with booze!

Goat hooves, a gold revolver, and footwear. . .High Caliber Fashion!

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