Saturday, December 27, 2008
I was rather cynical when this poem was written; nonetheless...
'its just the beginning of the message we send
a political season winding down to its end
I will not raise your taxes my friend
just those who make more than you
autumn's arrived coloured leaves on the trees
the Seahawks keep losing we need a reprieve
sitting with santa in pictures say "cheese"
with vertically challenged elves
[Written on 10/14/08]
'its just the beginning of the message we send
a political season winding down to its end
I will not raise your taxes my friend
just those who make more than you
autumn's arrived coloured leaves on the trees
the Seahawks keep losing we need a reprieve
sitting with santa in pictures say "cheese"
with vertically challenged elves
[Written on 10/14/08]
Friday, December 26, 2008
Miscellaneous Musings on Threads of Interest:
This post was mostly drafted back on December 12th and deals with the subject of sports -one that has been such a downer this year that I have said next to nothing on it at all on this humble weblog. Nonetheless...
Jack Zduriencik's first trade is a good one (Steve Kelley)
I waited to see something substantive from this new general manager before saying anything. It is based on basically five frustrating years of watching a team make one disaster of a mistake after another. But Steve Kelley -a columnist whom I disagree with about as often as I agree- really summarizes my view of this trade well and I am not just referring to the Abbot and Costello analogy at the beginning of the column.{1}
New Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik comes out dealing at winter meetings (Larry Stone)
Ken Griffey Jr. was one of the most naturally talented players in baseball history in his prime. Injuries have robbed him of much of the past eight years{2} but at 39 he still has plenty in the tank. He is not gonna hit 50 homers anymore but at Safeco he might do 35-40. The field was literally built for his swing after all. Bring him to town, pay him reasonably, keep him off the field{3} as designated hitter (DH), and it can only help this team which has a serious need for a left handed power bat.
Gary Payton trying to get NBA team in Seattle
May you be as intense and relentless on this project as you were on the court back in the day Gary. Seriously.
Hawks send coach out a winner in his final game
It was nice to see the Hawks put together a battling game this season after the rash of injuries to key players and the lowered morale of losing so many close games. Mike Holmgren is the best coach the Hawks ever had and he made this team respectable as well as annual contenders. I look forward to their return to respectability next season but will always be thankful for what Holmgren did for not only the Hawks but for pro football in Seattle. Now if only someone can do something about the Washington Huskies but I digress.
Notes:
{1} Though that does not hurt of course :)
{2} Here is his stat chart. As readers can seem except for 2000, 2005, and 2007 Griffey had decent numbers -though the latter saw Griffey hit a mere 35 and 30 home runs respectively due to injuries but at least he was able to do something. (In 2000 his hitting 40 was seen as a down year based on his past track record but he has not duplicated that feat since.)
One reason he has not done so is playing him in the outfield where the injury bug has simply been too pervasive a problem for him. (The National League where the Cincinnati Reds play having no DH.) At DH Griffey could probably play five more years and at 32 homers a year on average (if he stays healthy) he could break the "record" set by that steroid bloater unethical cheater Barry Bonds and restore respect to a tarnished record.
{3} He is not the defensive dynamo he once was and though still good with the glove, there is too much risk of injury at this point to put him in any position except DH.
This post was mostly drafted back on December 12th and deals with the subject of sports -one that has been such a downer this year that I have said next to nothing on it at all on this humble weblog. Nonetheless...
Jack Zduriencik's first trade is a good one (Steve Kelley)
I waited to see something substantive from this new general manager before saying anything. It is based on basically five frustrating years of watching a team make one disaster of a mistake after another. But Steve Kelley -a columnist whom I disagree with about as often as I agree- really summarizes my view of this trade well and I am not just referring to the Abbot and Costello analogy at the beginning of the column.{1}
New Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik comes out dealing at winter meetings (Larry Stone)
Ken Griffey Jr. was one of the most naturally talented players in baseball history in his prime. Injuries have robbed him of much of the past eight years{2} but at 39 he still has plenty in the tank. He is not gonna hit 50 homers anymore but at Safeco he might do 35-40. The field was literally built for his swing after all. Bring him to town, pay him reasonably, keep him off the field{3} as designated hitter (DH), and it can only help this team which has a serious need for a left handed power bat.
Gary Payton trying to get NBA team in Seattle
May you be as intense and relentless on this project as you were on the court back in the day Gary. Seriously.
Hawks send coach out a winner in his final game
It was nice to see the Hawks put together a battling game this season after the rash of injuries to key players and the lowered morale of losing so many close games. Mike Holmgren is the best coach the Hawks ever had and he made this team respectable as well as annual contenders. I look forward to their return to respectability next season but will always be thankful for what Holmgren did for not only the Hawks but for pro football in Seattle. Now if only someone can do something about the Washington Huskies but I digress.
Notes:
{1} Though that does not hurt of course :)
{2} Here is his stat chart. As readers can seem except for 2000, 2005, and 2007 Griffey had decent numbers -though the latter saw Griffey hit a mere 35 and 30 home runs respectively due to injuries but at least he was able to do something. (In 2000 his hitting 40 was seen as a down year based on his past track record but he has not duplicated that feat since.)
One reason he has not done so is playing him in the outfield where the injury bug has simply been too pervasive a problem for him. (The National League where the Cincinnati Reds play having no DH.) At DH Griffey could probably play five more years and at 32 homers a year on average (if he stays healthy) he could break the "record" set by that steroid bloater unethical cheater Barry Bonds and restore respect to a tarnished record.
{3} He is not the defensive dynamo he once was and though still good with the glove, there is too much risk of injury at this point to put him in any position except DH.
Monday, December 22, 2008
allowing me to be me
who else could I hope to be
as Ronnie Van Zant's "Freebird" was free
that's my goal in life to some extent
woke up radio on to my favourite band
dreamed that I was lucky but woke up cold in hand
cracked open a Guinness, steak that is canned
obla dee, obla dah, life goes on
[Written on 10/15/08]
who else could I hope to be
as Ronnie Van Zant's "Freebird" was free
that's my goal in life to some extent
woke up radio on to my favourite band
dreamed that I was lucky but woke up cold in hand
cracked open a Guinness, steak that is canned
obla dee, obla dah, life goes on
[Written on 10/15/08]
Points to Ponder:
(On Gun Control)
If gun laws in fact worked, the sponsors of this type of legislation should have no difficulty drawing upon long lists of examples of crime rates reduced by such legislation. That they cannot do so after a century and a half of trying — that they must sweep under the rug the southern attempts at gun control in the 1870-1910 period, the northeastern attempts in the 1920-1939 period, the attempts at both Federal and State levels in 1965-1976 — establishes the repeated, complete and inevitable failure of gun laws to control serious crime. [The Ninety-Seventh Congress: Report on the Senate Subcommittee of the Constitution (circa February 1982)]
(On Gun Control)
If gun laws in fact worked, the sponsors of this type of legislation should have no difficulty drawing upon long lists of examples of crime rates reduced by such legislation. That they cannot do so after a century and a half of trying — that they must sweep under the rug the southern attempts at gun control in the 1870-1910 period, the northeastern attempts in the 1920-1939 period, the attempts at both Federal and State levels in 1965-1976 — establishes the repeated, complete and inevitable failure of gun laws to control serious crime. [The Ninety-Seventh Congress: Report on the Senate Subcommittee of the Constitution (circa February 1982)]
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Paul M. Weyrich died today
This was brought to my attention by Feddie over at Southern Appeal. Weyrich was the first to lead the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation. In remembering him, these words were used by the current Heritage President Ed Feulne:
Moral courage was a defining trait of Paul himself. On any policy issue that turned on a core principle, he never failed to take a public stand–regardless of how that stand might affect his professional or personal relationships. A political animal of the highest order, he always chose principle over any temporary “strategic” abandonment of principle designed to win some transitory political victory.
Having for my part taken public stands on core principles that have affected my professional and personal friendships over the years, I can recognize and appreciate others who manifested this core ethical principle whether I agreed with them positionally or not. May Mr. Weyrich rest in peace, may his labours receive a just reward, and may his example be one which gains greater currency in this age of growing incivility.
This was brought to my attention by Feddie over at Southern Appeal. Weyrich was the first to lead the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation. In remembering him, these words were used by the current Heritage President Ed Feulne:
Moral courage was a defining trait of Paul himself. On any policy issue that turned on a core principle, he never failed to take a public stand–regardless of how that stand might affect his professional or personal relationships. A political animal of the highest order, he always chose principle over any temporary “strategic” abandonment of principle designed to win some transitory political victory.
Having for my part taken public stands on core principles that have affected my professional and personal friendships over the years, I can recognize and appreciate others who manifested this core ethical principle whether I agreed with them positionally or not. May Mr. Weyrich rest in peace, may his labours receive a just reward, and may his example be one which gains greater currency in this age of growing incivility.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Points to Ponder:
A human group transforms itself into a crowd when it suddenly responds to a suggestion rather than to reasoning, to an image rather than to an idea, to an affirmation rather than to proof, to the repetition of a phrase rather than to arguments, to prestige rather than to competence. [Jean-Francois Revel]
A human group transforms itself into a crowd when it suddenly responds to a suggestion rather than to reasoning, to an image rather than to an idea, to an affirmation rather than to proof, to the repetition of a phrase rather than to arguments, to prestige rather than to competence. [Jean-Francois Revel]
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
"Rider Reform Revisited" Dept.
I noted in the immediate aftermath of the election{1} that I was thinking of revisiting two initiative ideas I had gone over to varying degrees of depth over the years. However, I wanted to make sure I finished and published my musings on the election which were completed about a week ago{2} before addressing the initiative ideas I mentioned in passing back on November 5th of this year.{3}
As far as the aforementioned initiatives go, the second one I want to mull over a bit more before putting a sketch to but the first was sketched out in some detail almost five years ago. Here is what I wrote off the cuff in the aftermath of President Bush's 2004 State of the Union Address when I remember bristling over the lack of concern for budgetary matters that said speech contained. Without further ado...
[H]ere are my proposals for making [the rider] process accountable to the voting public.
1) Any proposed rider to a bill must have some reasonably demonstrable congruency with the subject of the main funding bill being voted on. The current practice of attaching unrelated or non-sequitur funding proposals to major funding bills would thereby be eliminated.
2) Any proposed rider should requires a separate congressional "rider attachment vote" so that those who want it and those who do not are on the record.
3) Any proposed rider should require at least two thirds concurrence by each house of Congress insuch that anything less means that the rider initiative fails to attach to the bill.
4) Any proposed rider that succeeds in getting two thirds concurrence by each house of Congress officially attaches with the provision that the president has the right to line-item veto that rider proposal.
5) If the president vetoes such rider proposal but signs the main funding bill to which it was attached, Congress can override and permanently attach said rider to the main funding bill with the concurrence of seventy-five percent of both houses of Congress. If said seventy-five percent concurrence of both houses of Congress cannot be mustered for an override, the override fails and the rider is officially declared dead.
6) And of course the rider proposals -pass or fail- must all be entered into the record for perusal of the people under the 1978 Freedom of Information Act along with (i) the names of the proposers and subsequent sponsors of said rider (ii) their party affiliation and (iii) the state which they represent.
These practices would insure that riders were proposed far less often and rarely enacted if they were because it would put our representatives on the hook and accountable for every proposal they voted on. [Excerpt from Rerum Novarum (circa January 20, 2004)]
Well obviously to the reader who knows their civics I made a small glitch in the above formulation -something that can happen when ideas are thrown together in rough draft form as that one was. The glitch was presenting it in a federal context with the idea of a presidential line item veto. So a constitutional amendment would be needed to secure that first. But in the meantime, everything noted above could apply to state legislatures and states where governors have line item veto capabilities. So that is what I hope to present to someone at the state level where I live to fashion it into the language that would withstand a court challenge should it make the ballot and pass.
I am sick and tired of seeing nothing done with growing budgets no matter which party is in power. It is evident to me that the leviathans of state and federal levels need to be starved to death of funds if they are to be shrunk in size but no political party has the balls to do anything about it. Ergo, this proposal for rider reform and the idea to follow this one which would take an even stronger weapon to government bureaucracy and which to my knowledge would work at both federal and state levels without any additional preparation being needed at the federal level as in the case of the proposal so outlined above.
Notes:
{1} I may however in that interim and as time allows for it sketch out a rough draft of the second of two initiative ideas I want to get on the ballot for Washington State in the 2010 election. (The first idea was sketched out nearly five years ago on this humble weblog and may be revisited again in the interim prior to the election as well.) [Excerpt from Rerum Novarum (circa November 5, 2008)]
{2} On How To Approach the Presidential Election Results of 2008 and Analyzing the Political Trends for 2008 and Beyond (circa December 9, 2008)
{3} Ultrabriefly on the Election Results (circa November 5, 2008)
I noted in the immediate aftermath of the election{1} that I was thinking of revisiting two initiative ideas I had gone over to varying degrees of depth over the years. However, I wanted to make sure I finished and published my musings on the election which were completed about a week ago{2} before addressing the initiative ideas I mentioned in passing back on November 5th of this year.{3}
As far as the aforementioned initiatives go, the second one I want to mull over a bit more before putting a sketch to but the first was sketched out in some detail almost five years ago. Here is what I wrote off the cuff in the aftermath of President Bush's 2004 State of the Union Address when I remember bristling over the lack of concern for budgetary matters that said speech contained. Without further ado...
[H]ere are my proposals for making [the rider] process accountable to the voting public.
1) Any proposed rider to a bill must have some reasonably demonstrable congruency with the subject of the main funding bill being voted on. The current practice of attaching unrelated or non-sequitur funding proposals to major funding bills would thereby be eliminated.
2) Any proposed rider should requires a separate congressional "rider attachment vote" so that those who want it and those who do not are on the record.
3) Any proposed rider should require at least two thirds concurrence by each house of Congress insuch that anything less means that the rider initiative fails to attach to the bill.
4) Any proposed rider that succeeds in getting two thirds concurrence by each house of Congress officially attaches with the provision that the president has the right to line-item veto that rider proposal.
5) If the president vetoes such rider proposal but signs the main funding bill to which it was attached, Congress can override and permanently attach said rider to the main funding bill with the concurrence of seventy-five percent of both houses of Congress. If said seventy-five percent concurrence of both houses of Congress cannot be mustered for an override, the override fails and the rider is officially declared dead.
6) And of course the rider proposals -pass or fail- must all be entered into the record for perusal of the people under the 1978 Freedom of Information Act along with (i) the names of the proposers and subsequent sponsors of said rider (ii) their party affiliation and (iii) the state which they represent.
These practices would insure that riders were proposed far less often and rarely enacted if they were because it would put our representatives on the hook and accountable for every proposal they voted on. [Excerpt from Rerum Novarum (circa January 20, 2004)]
Well obviously to the reader who knows their civics I made a small glitch in the above formulation -something that can happen when ideas are thrown together in rough draft form as that one was. The glitch was presenting it in a federal context with the idea of a presidential line item veto. So a constitutional amendment would be needed to secure that first. But in the meantime, everything noted above could apply to state legislatures and states where governors have line item veto capabilities. So that is what I hope to present to someone at the state level where I live to fashion it into the language that would withstand a court challenge should it make the ballot and pass.
I am sick and tired of seeing nothing done with growing budgets no matter which party is in power. It is evident to me that the leviathans of state and federal levels need to be starved to death of funds if they are to be shrunk in size but no political party has the balls to do anything about it. Ergo, this proposal for rider reform and the idea to follow this one which would take an even stronger weapon to government bureaucracy and which to my knowledge would work at both federal and state levels without any additional preparation being needed at the federal level as in the case of the proposal so outlined above.
Notes:
{1} I may however in that interim and as time allows for it sketch out a rough draft of the second of two initiative ideas I want to get on the ballot for Washington State in the 2010 election. (The first idea was sketched out nearly five years ago on this humble weblog and may be revisited again in the interim prior to the election as well.) [Excerpt from Rerum Novarum (circa November 5, 2008)]
{2} On How To Approach the Presidential Election Results of 2008 and Analyzing the Political Trends for 2008 and Beyond (circa December 9, 2008)
{3} Ultrabriefly on the Election Results (circa November 5, 2008)
Saturday, December 13, 2008
On the Passing of Cardinal Avery Dulles SJ:
(Musings of your humble servant at Rerum Novarum)
I was nearly finished with a posting yesterday on other subject matters when I received the word. Upon hearing this news, I felt compelled to set that material aside and focus on the subject to be covered in this posting. That other posting will be put up in the coming week when I feel inclined to do so but this matter in my mind takes precedence for reasons that hopefully will be come clear.
To start with, someone who has gone though as many deaths of family, close friends, and major influences in my life as I have in the past eight years{1} gets to the point to where they can become rather unaffected by such things. But in the case of Avery Dulles, this one is different for a variety of reasons. And as Cardinal Dulles' passing happens to tie into a general principle long propounded at this weblog and in other places, it seems appropriate to touch on both the principle as well as the man himself.
Not even two months ago, I noted in blogging a commemoration of an important yet often not known papal encyclical letter dealing with the subjects of faith and reason how close so many of my views were with those of the now-late Avery Dulles. Indeed it is no exaggeration to say that if someone wanted to know with ninety percent certainty or more how I would view any given theological issue, all one would have to do to read Dulles' work -something I noted back in October when touching on the aforementioned encyclical commemoration in a footnote.{2}
I realized quite some time ago that after I had studied a theological issue and taken a reasoned position that Dulles and I were so frequently in agreement that it was literally uncanny.{3} I did not study much of his work directly in my more formative period on these matters so it is not because of direct input the lions share of the time. But at the same time, there has to be more to this than a mere coincidence. I believe it shows that when you place importance on reason and logic as natural God-given lights and do not denigrate them, that they are tools that can serve you well in coming to a grasp of knowledge and how to use it to one's profit.
Of course, once I realized how common this occurrence was, I started reading Dulles' writings on subjects where I had already come to my own conclusions after study and reflection: something I did not consciously do for areas where I was still uncertain. The reason for this was to avoid the tendency that so many people can have of intellectual laziness -a malady to which no one can claim immunity from at least potentially. I have never been one to let others do my thinking for me{4} and this is a trait I noticed that Dulles also shared.
Avery Dulles was one who would go wherever the evidence led essentially and did this within the context of a very profound faith. But having noted similarities in the rational approach on various matters, I want to take a moment and distance myself from the late cardinal in the realm of faith. I am not going to claim that my faith is anywhere near as profound as his was before he shed this mortal coil and the distance is probably greater than I currently realize. But hand in hand with faith in some form or another should go concern for ethics and principles and His Eminence was imbued with a concern for both of these things much as your host is.
Now many who have already or who will eulogize him in the coming weeks have themselves evinced no concern for these matters whatsoever{5} but your host will not be among them. Instead, I will endeavour to remember Avery Dulles in the future as I do in the present conscious of what I have obtained from him in the refining of my intellectual outlook on matters theological{6}, of his focus on being a public thinker who challenged conventional views regardless of the source{7}, and in other areas which may be mentioned another time if I am so inclined to do so.
Actually, there is one other area I am going to mention right now because in light of the current age of incivility, this characteristic of His Eminence is one that bears noting: showing patience as well as due respect for opposing viewpoints. Avery Dulles the theologian made many impressions on me but Avery Dulles the Christian imprinted upon me the importance of this important factor when in years past I had not always been as careful as I have tried in subsequent years to be in this area.{8}
Much more could be said but I am at a loss to organize my thoughts on this anymore than I already have so I will take leave of this subject for now after noting two more things. First, I will pray for him to the extent that my pathetic efforts will be either efficacious or even needed and ask him for his prayers for those of us in much greater need than he likely is. I also have created a tag for all Dulles related posts to this weblog both previously blogged as well as for this one and for use in perpetuity. But as he has passed on now, it seems appropriate to recall some of the final public words this tremendous thinker put forth when he released his farewell lecture at Fordham University where he had held a teaching chair for twenty years. Without further ado:
Suffering and diminishment are not the greatest of evils but are normal ingredients in life, especially in old age. They are to be expected as elements of a full human existence. Well into my 90th year I have been able to work productively. As I become increasingly paralyzed and unable to speak, I can identify with the many paralytics and mute persons in the Gospels, grateful for the loving and skillful care I receive and for the hope of everlasting life in Christ. If the Lord now calls me to a period of weakness, I know well that his power can be made perfect in infirmity. “Blessed be the name of the Lord!”
And with that I take leave of this subject for now making my own one for the late Cardinal Avery Dulles a prayer from the Roman Missal.
Lord please remember Avery Dulles. In baptism he died with Christ: may he also share his resurrection, when Christ will raise our mortal bodies and make them like his own in glory. [Roman Missal: Eucharistic Prayer III From Masses for the Dead]
Notes:
{1} I do not want to say anymore on the subject at this time than that.
{2} See footnote two of that note for details from the archives of this blog if interested.
{3} This pattern is one I first noticed about seven to eight years ago.
{4} Well, almost never anyway. (It has been years since I accepted anything uncritically.)
{5} To say nothing of their contempt for such things as reason and logic in reality as opposed to their paying lip service to the concepts through mindless parroting of church texts from one era or another speaking of these matters being of significance.
{6} Particularly in the area of church models -one of the few where there was not only influence from Avery Dulles but of a direct nature in my understanding and approach to this very intricate ecclesiplogical subject matter. Here are threads posted to this weblog in years past in order of oldest to newest where this subject was treated in some detail:
An Outline of Various Church Models Throughout History --Parts I-V (circa November 23-24, 2003)
More on Church Models (circa July 9, 2005)
{7} Including from the Vatican: something today's purveyors of an obsessive uncritical cult of the pope mentality towards every Vatican utterance either currently or from the past would do well to consider.
{8} Nor do I harbour any illusions that I am completely free from need of additional work in this area lest anyone wonder.
(Musings of your humble servant at Rerum Novarum)
I was nearly finished with a posting yesterday on other subject matters when I received the word. Upon hearing this news, I felt compelled to set that material aside and focus on the subject to be covered in this posting. That other posting will be put up in the coming week when I feel inclined to do so but this matter in my mind takes precedence for reasons that hopefully will be come clear.
To start with, someone who has gone though as many deaths of family, close friends, and major influences in my life as I have in the past eight years{1} gets to the point to where they can become rather unaffected by such things. But in the case of Avery Dulles, this one is different for a variety of reasons. And as Cardinal Dulles' passing happens to tie into a general principle long propounded at this weblog and in other places, it seems appropriate to touch on both the principle as well as the man himself.
Not even two months ago, I noted in blogging a commemoration of an important yet often not known papal encyclical letter dealing with the subjects of faith and reason how close so many of my views were with those of the now-late Avery Dulles. Indeed it is no exaggeration to say that if someone wanted to know with ninety percent certainty or more how I would view any given theological issue, all one would have to do to read Dulles' work -something I noted back in October when touching on the aforementioned encyclical commemoration in a footnote.{2}
I realized quite some time ago that after I had studied a theological issue and taken a reasoned position that Dulles and I were so frequently in agreement that it was literally uncanny.{3} I did not study much of his work directly in my more formative period on these matters so it is not because of direct input the lions share of the time. But at the same time, there has to be more to this than a mere coincidence. I believe it shows that when you place importance on reason and logic as natural God-given lights and do not denigrate them, that they are tools that can serve you well in coming to a grasp of knowledge and how to use it to one's profit.
Of course, once I realized how common this occurrence was, I started reading Dulles' writings on subjects where I had already come to my own conclusions after study and reflection: something I did not consciously do for areas where I was still uncertain. The reason for this was to avoid the tendency that so many people can have of intellectual laziness -a malady to which no one can claim immunity from at least potentially. I have never been one to let others do my thinking for me{4} and this is a trait I noticed that Dulles also shared.
Avery Dulles was one who would go wherever the evidence led essentially and did this within the context of a very profound faith. But having noted similarities in the rational approach on various matters, I want to take a moment and distance myself from the late cardinal in the realm of faith. I am not going to claim that my faith is anywhere near as profound as his was before he shed this mortal coil and the distance is probably greater than I currently realize. But hand in hand with faith in some form or another should go concern for ethics and principles and His Eminence was imbued with a concern for both of these things much as your host is.
Now many who have already or who will eulogize him in the coming weeks have themselves evinced no concern for these matters whatsoever{5} but your host will not be among them. Instead, I will endeavour to remember Avery Dulles in the future as I do in the present conscious of what I have obtained from him in the refining of my intellectual outlook on matters theological{6}, of his focus on being a public thinker who challenged conventional views regardless of the source{7}, and in other areas which may be mentioned another time if I am so inclined to do so.
Actually, there is one other area I am going to mention right now because in light of the current age of incivility, this characteristic of His Eminence is one that bears noting: showing patience as well as due respect for opposing viewpoints. Avery Dulles the theologian made many impressions on me but Avery Dulles the Christian imprinted upon me the importance of this important factor when in years past I had not always been as careful as I have tried in subsequent years to be in this area.{8}
Much more could be said but I am at a loss to organize my thoughts on this anymore than I already have so I will take leave of this subject for now after noting two more things. First, I will pray for him to the extent that my pathetic efforts will be either efficacious or even needed and ask him for his prayers for those of us in much greater need than he likely is. I also have created a tag for all Dulles related posts to this weblog both previously blogged as well as for this one and for use in perpetuity. But as he has passed on now, it seems appropriate to recall some of the final public words this tremendous thinker put forth when he released his farewell lecture at Fordham University where he had held a teaching chair for twenty years. Without further ado:
Suffering and diminishment are not the greatest of evils but are normal ingredients in life, especially in old age. They are to be expected as elements of a full human existence. Well into my 90th year I have been able to work productively. As I become increasingly paralyzed and unable to speak, I can identify with the many paralytics and mute persons in the Gospels, grateful for the loving and skillful care I receive and for the hope of everlasting life in Christ. If the Lord now calls me to a period of weakness, I know well that his power can be made perfect in infirmity. “Blessed be the name of the Lord!”
And with that I take leave of this subject for now making my own one for the late Cardinal Avery Dulles a prayer from the Roman Missal.
Lord please remember Avery Dulles. In baptism he died with Christ: may he also share his resurrection, when Christ will raise our mortal bodies and make them like his own in glory. [Roman Missal: Eucharistic Prayer III From Masses for the Dead]
Notes:
{1} I do not want to say anymore on the subject at this time than that.
{2} See footnote two of that note for details from the archives of this blog if interested.
{3} This pattern is one I first noticed about seven to eight years ago.
{4} Well, almost never anyway. (It has been years since I accepted anything uncritically.)
{5} To say nothing of their contempt for such things as reason and logic in reality as opposed to their paying lip service to the concepts through mindless parroting of church texts from one era or another speaking of these matters being of significance.
{6} Particularly in the area of church models -one of the few where there was not only influence from Avery Dulles but of a direct nature in my understanding and approach to this very intricate ecclesiplogical subject matter. Here are threads posted to this weblog in years past in order of oldest to newest where this subject was treated in some detail:
An Outline of Various Church Models Throughout History --Parts I-V (circa November 23-24, 2003)
More on Church Models (circa July 9, 2005)
{7} Including from the Vatican: something today's purveyors of an obsessive uncritical cult of the pope mentality towards every Vatican utterance either currently or from the past would do well to consider.
{8} Nor do I harbour any illusions that I am completely free from need of additional work in this area lest anyone wonder.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Camille Paglia on various issues (Salon Magazine)
Though she and I often disagree, I have often found Camille Paglia to be an interesting and provocative read. On the above thread, she covers:
--The subject of President Obama's pledge of federal money for infrastructure repairs which she applauds as well as the approach to using computers in classrooms.{1}
--The comportment of President Obama{2} thus far with his appointments -something she is pleased with.{3}
--Her question with regards to the appointment of Sen. Hillary Clinton to the position of Secretary of State.{4}
--Her views on the massacre in Mumbai and on (by implication) national security issues.{5}
--Her assessment of Gov. Sarah Palin's preparation of sorts for 2012{6} and she really lets Dick Cavett have it not to mention the ivory tower elitist mentality that permeates how so many of the msm sorts act.{7}
--Her assessment of the antics of the gay lobby on the subject of homosexual so-called "marriage"{8}
--Some musings on Christmas carols which are...interesting to say the least.{9}
What are the views of your humble servant at Rerum Novarum on these issues??? Check the footnotes of this posting for details on that and be sure to give Camille's thread above a review.
Notes:
{1} I am not sure I agree with her on this unless it involves contracting the work out to private companies to do. I cannot stand the idea of the federal government running anything of a business nature because they will inexorably screw it up as always. But if she favours the use of private contractors for this infrastructure work to be done, then we could be simpatico with her on this one. Certainly improvements on this score are needed, the question is more of the how they are to be done sort than the do they need to be done ones because that they are needed is in my mind pretty self-evident.
On the computers issue, we are in agreement most definitely and I speak as someone who went through the whole public school system and got the lions share of my knowledge through my own outside the classroom efforts.
{2} Yes he is the President-elect but barring extraordinary circumstances occurring, he will be president next month so we at Rerum Novarum will refer to him as such now.
{3} She is right that so far President Obama has conducted himself well.
{4} I was wondering much the same thing myself.
{5} Of which I completely concur.
{6} On this she and I are in agreement. I should note in the interest of disclosure that Paglia was one of the few feminists who stood up for Gov. Palin during the election and gave her a lot more credit than the msm as a rule was willing to do. This is to her credit and it illustrates why even in disagreeing with her at times (sometimes diametrically so) that I read her work with interest.
{7} I am one hundred percent in agreement with her on her disdain for this mentality of which we saw in spades during this election in how Gov. Palin was treated (whatever one thinks of Gov. Palin or her politics this treatment was disgusting).
{8} For those readers who wonder why I refer to "so-called 'marriage'", I remind them of a principle I have always adhered to which was outlined again recently:
Revisiting the Subject of the Underlying Weltanschauung of "Language Control" (circa November 25, 2008)
Suffice to say, on this issue Paglia and I have some differences of view and I will leave it at that.
{9} On this subject let it suffice to say that when it comes to an atheist's musings on Christmas carols I am somewhat agnostic but intrigued ;-)
Though she and I often disagree, I have often found Camille Paglia to be an interesting and provocative read. On the above thread, she covers:
--The subject of President Obama's pledge of federal money for infrastructure repairs which she applauds as well as the approach to using computers in classrooms.{1}
--The comportment of President Obama{2} thus far with his appointments -something she is pleased with.{3}
--Her question with regards to the appointment of Sen. Hillary Clinton to the position of Secretary of State.{4}
--Her views on the massacre in Mumbai and on (by implication) national security issues.{5}
--Her assessment of Gov. Sarah Palin's preparation of sorts for 2012{6} and she really lets Dick Cavett have it not to mention the ivory tower elitist mentality that permeates how so many of the msm sorts act.{7}
--Her assessment of the antics of the gay lobby on the subject of homosexual so-called "marriage"{8}
--Some musings on Christmas carols which are...interesting to say the least.{9}
What are the views of your humble servant at Rerum Novarum on these issues??? Check the footnotes of this posting for details on that and be sure to give Camille's thread above a review.
Notes:
{1} I am not sure I agree with her on this unless it involves contracting the work out to private companies to do. I cannot stand the idea of the federal government running anything of a business nature because they will inexorably screw it up as always. But if she favours the use of private contractors for this infrastructure work to be done, then we could be simpatico with her on this one. Certainly improvements on this score are needed, the question is more of the how they are to be done sort than the do they need to be done ones because that they are needed is in my mind pretty self-evident.
On the computers issue, we are in agreement most definitely and I speak as someone who went through the whole public school system and got the lions share of my knowledge through my own outside the classroom efforts.
{2} Yes he is the President-elect but barring extraordinary circumstances occurring, he will be president next month so we at Rerum Novarum will refer to him as such now.
{3} She is right that so far President Obama has conducted himself well.
{4} I was wondering much the same thing myself.
{5} Of which I completely concur.
{6} On this she and I are in agreement. I should note in the interest of disclosure that Paglia was one of the few feminists who stood up for Gov. Palin during the election and gave her a lot more credit than the msm as a rule was willing to do. This is to her credit and it illustrates why even in disagreeing with her at times (sometimes diametrically so) that I read her work with interest.
{7} I am one hundred percent in agreement with her on her disdain for this mentality of which we saw in spades during this election in how Gov. Palin was treated (whatever one thinks of Gov. Palin or her politics this treatment was disgusting).
{8} For those readers who wonder why I refer to "so-called 'marriage'", I remind them of a principle I have always adhered to which was outlined again recently:
Revisiting the Subject of the Underlying Weltanschauung of "Language Control" (circa November 25, 2008)
Suffice to say, on this issue Paglia and I have some differences of view and I will leave it at that.
{9} On this subject let it suffice to say that when it comes to an atheist's musings on Christmas carols I am somewhat agnostic but intrigued ;-)
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Illinois Gov. Blagojevich, chief of staff arrested
Via Drudge we get this story:
Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, were arrested by FBI agents on federal corruption charges Tuesday morning.
Blagojevich and Harris were arrested simultaneously at their homes at about 6:15 a.m., according to Frank Bochte of the FBI. Both were transported to FBI headquarters in Chicago.
In one charge related to the appointment of a senator to replace Barack Obama, prosecutors allege that Blagojevich sought appointment for himself as secretary of Health and Human Services in the new Obama administration, or a lucrative job with a union, in exchange for appointing a union-preferred candidate.
Another charge alleges Blagojevich and Harris conspired to demand the firing of Chicago Tribune editorial board members responsible for editorials critical of him in exchange for state help with the sale of Wrigley Field, the Chicago Cubs baseball stadium owned by Tribune Co.
This has to be the biggest news story of the day because it is not often a chief of staff or a governor of a state get arrested while in office -to say nothing about happening on the same day!!! I do not know what to say about this except to let this thing run its natural course and if these guys are convicted, throw the book at them. But as was noted in part of the commentary posted this morning, this is an area which is fair game as long as those who delve into this area do not attempt to use it to run counter to the will of the voters. Or to quote from earlier this morning:
Chronicling specific examples of voter fraud is fine, outlining various connections of unsavoury persons and circumstances with the Obama campaign is also fine. Going over how absolutely disgracefully the msm conducted themselves is also fine as well as problems with fundraising that the Obama campaign had with various donations of a controversial nature. But using any of this as a pre-text for rejecting the verdict of the voters is unacceptable.
But however this turns out, it is not something that can help incoming President Barack Obama. He will be president soon so I will wait to see how he responds to this both at the moment as well as when he is president. He has done nothing of a near-official capacity{1} thus far to give me reason to not give the benefit of the doubt. Whether that changes or not in the future only time will tell.
Note:
{1} Many things were noted during the campaign that gave reason for pause of course but campaiging is different than governing or getting ready to govern; ergo they should be treated differently.
Via Drudge we get this story:
Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, were arrested by FBI agents on federal corruption charges Tuesday morning.
Blagojevich and Harris were arrested simultaneously at their homes at about 6:15 a.m., according to Frank Bochte of the FBI. Both were transported to FBI headquarters in Chicago.
In one charge related to the appointment of a senator to replace Barack Obama, prosecutors allege that Blagojevich sought appointment for himself as secretary of Health and Human Services in the new Obama administration, or a lucrative job with a union, in exchange for appointing a union-preferred candidate.
Another charge alleges Blagojevich and Harris conspired to demand the firing of Chicago Tribune editorial board members responsible for editorials critical of him in exchange for state help with the sale of Wrigley Field, the Chicago Cubs baseball stadium owned by Tribune Co.
This has to be the biggest news story of the day because it is not often a chief of staff or a governor of a state get arrested while in office -to say nothing about happening on the same day!!! I do not know what to say about this except to let this thing run its natural course and if these guys are convicted, throw the book at them. But as was noted in part of the commentary posted this morning, this is an area which is fair game as long as those who delve into this area do not attempt to use it to run counter to the will of the voters. Or to quote from earlier this morning:
Chronicling specific examples of voter fraud is fine, outlining various connections of unsavoury persons and circumstances with the Obama campaign is also fine. Going over how absolutely disgracefully the msm conducted themselves is also fine as well as problems with fundraising that the Obama campaign had with various donations of a controversial nature. But using any of this as a pre-text for rejecting the verdict of the voters is unacceptable.
But however this turns out, it is not something that can help incoming President Barack Obama. He will be president soon so I will wait to see how he responds to this both at the moment as well as when he is president. He has done nothing of a near-official capacity{1} thus far to give me reason to not give the benefit of the doubt. Whether that changes or not in the future only time will tell.
Note:
{1} Many things were noted during the campaign that gave reason for pause of course but campaiging is different than governing or getting ready to govern; ergo they should be treated differently.
On How To Approach the Presidential Election Results of 2008 and Analyzing the Political Trends for 2008 and Beyond:
(Musings of your humble servant at Rerum Novarum)
We announced in a previous posting, certain exceptions notwithstanding and at our discretion{1}, that this was the only posting we intend to make on election related issues prior to inauguration day. And while we were planning on a shorter yet comprehensive coverage of this subject in the following posting, frankly we are simply not in the mood to do it. So we have decided to touch briefly on a variety of points which we believe point towards general trends of the electorate. From there we will restate in a very brief fashion{2} our own philosophy on these matters, and also point out some steps we believe need to be undertaken if genuine progress is to be made without the sacrificing of core principles as we move into the next administration of government this coming January 20th. It seems appropriate to touch on these in the order listed so without further ado, let us get to it.
To start with the same sex pseudo "marriage"{3} initiatives failed in every state that ran them including those states which went heavily for the soon-to-be President Barack H. Obama. Similarly in states where affirmative action was on the ballot it was voted down. The Republicans despite this being the worst election season to be a Republican since the 1974 midterm election{4} held down some pretty important seats which many of the talking punditry were proclaiming would be likely lost causes. This factor points towards not some sort of "mandate" for the incoming president{5} and congress but more of a referendum on the present administration.
As far as a supposed "landslide" goes, this was no landslide by objective criteria folks. A "landslide" requires a much larger electoral vote margin than the one that Senator Obama got.{6} And those who denied presidential mandates were in order for Presidents Reagan and Bush Sr. (whose electoral college majorities were much larger than that of the soon-to-be-President Obama) cannot be allowed to engage in double standards on this matter. No, they must be held to ethical consistency even if it means dragging them there kicking and screaming in the process. Having noted those matters at the outset, how should conservatives handle this upcoming paradigm shift of sorts??? In our mind there are a variety of ways that this needs to be approached and we will go over the more pertinent ones right now underlining them for easier text differentiation.
Any attempts to pretend that President Brack H. Obama is not "our president" need to be avoided.
It was both stupid as well as embarrassing to see the deranged antics of the moonbat fringe who played this game with President George W. Bush because they did not like how the election of 2000 turned out. Many of these same sorts will make "holy pilgrimages" topray at Mecca worship at the next inaugural. Meanwhile, conservatives who are bitter over how the msm handled the election coverage{7} or how badly in spots Senator John McCain ran his campaign or other factors{8} need to set all that aside now. More on this in a moment.
Opposition if it is made at all must be differentiated between that of the president and the country
Far too often we witnessed since 2000 a tactic taken by those who were opposed to the president that resulted in a blurring of distinctions. Meaning, they took opposition to the president so far and to such an extreme that it inexorably became opposition to the country. This is something conservatives need to avoid at all costs. They must oppose President Obama personally where warranted, support him where warranted, and never in any fashion come across as opposing their country in the process.
Avoid taking a "chickenhawk" approach
One thing that really bothered us was the attitudes of those who despised our last two presidents whereby they took issue with the principle of their utilizing the military as opposed to having issues with the use of the military in a particular situation based on how the presidents themselves never served in the military. Conservatives criticized this with President Clinton before he was elected which was of course just fine much as they raised the superior military credentials of President Bush Sr. in 1992 they did the same with Senator Dole in 1996. In an election season this is one thing but arguing this way on the basis of any president using the military is out of line. Your host never took the latter approach when Clinton was president then{9} and he will not with Obama as president now.
Questioning the verdict of the election
There is voter fraud in all elections including both this last one and the one preceding it -though you would not know that to hear the silence from the msm on the last two elections because they got "their guys" in as opposed to the three elections previous to 2006.
Chronicling specific examples of voter fraud is fine, outlining various connections of unsavoury persons and circumstances with the Obama campaign is also fine. Going over how absolutely disgracefully the msm conducted themselves is also fine as well as problems with fundraising that the Obama campaign had with various donations of a controversial nature. But using any of this as a pre-text for rejecting the verdict of the voters is unacceptable.
Part of being not only a good soldier but also a mature human being is knowing not only which battles have been lost but also which battles are worth fighting. I will not go into the physiological realities behind the inverse natures of intensity and duration at this time but battles will need to be fought with the coming administration but ones based on principles. And acting like the spoiled child who throws a temper tantrum after losing a game -as many of the most rabid supporters of the incoming president did for the past eight years- will not help in any fashion.{10}
Blaming the voters
Your host has at times voiced an opinion of the electorate prior to an election that was by no means flattering. But he has never in recent memory{11} blamed the voters afterward. It serves no constructive purpose as what is done is done. There are reasons for this and the GOP needs to do some serious soul searching first and foremost because they gave the public reasons for doing what they did. That is where they can focus and should they do that, they can expect support from independent voters such as your host. If not...well...lets move onto the next subject.
Refocus for the next election
Building on what was just covered, the focus needs to be the next election and we are not talking about 2012 here. No, we are talking about the 2010 midterms which are less than two years away now. We at Rerum Novarum certainly are going to do our part to assist on these matters at various levels of government as we noted recently in our ultra-brief post election comments.{12} We advise all who are not pleased with how this election went to do likewise.
Strategery, Strategery, Strategery
With an incoming Democratic president and a Democratic majority in both houses of the Congress, a lot of issues are going to be pushed -many of them ones that we who did not vote for President Obama and the Democrats do not agree with. The problem is, if we run all over the map and oppose simply to be opposing, that will achieve nothing constructive. And furthermore, it is naive to think that everything they attempt to do we will be able to stop so that also needs to be taken into account.
Basically, we need to decide in how we go about this first of all, what we will fight tooth and nail for: what are the issues which we absolutely must stand up and hold the line on without an iota of compromise. From there, the rest can be categorized into basically (i) things we want to try and force the Democrats on record supporting so we can make election issues on them in 2010, (ii) things of a less significant nature we actually think can be accomplished despite the Democrats having control of the government, (iii) things we need to put out there for the future which we know will not succeed in the soon-to-be present but nonetheless are points of reference for the future of a positive nature.
In other words, we need to strategerize here and not play the same bullshit of those who opposed the outgoing Bush administration on everything and anything simply because they hated President Bush, thought he was Hitler, or whatever.
It is a tall order and those who are presuming that the incoming president is some kind of messianic figure are going to be profoundly disappointed before long. Keep that in mind and do not let their smugness get to you. And remember, politics is the art of the possible not of the perfect. As far as that goes, it is just about time for a final grade on the Bush presidency and as we do with every administration, President Barack Obama will start off with an A grade by us on the day of his inauguration. What he does after that is up to him.
Notes:
{1} I do not intend prior to the publishing of that commentary to say anything about the election unless it is a response to reader email.[...] Furthermore, even after that commentary is published through at least the final months of President Bush's term that is how I intend to approach this matter. [Excerpt from Rerum Novarum (circa November 5, 2008)]
{2} It is probably a certainty that our view as touched on in this posting will be misunderstood with the brevity to be undertaken -and we would gladly after the inauguration clarify the position as the need is perceived to do so of course. But our intention here is to give a general overview for the reader so they have some points of reference in navigating this and other statements we have made over the years on these matters.
{3} We say "pseudo 'marriage'" because your host refuses to concede to the proponents of such absurdity any pretext of legitimacy for their position. We have explained the extremely important principle being used here in years gone by and felt prior to the posting of this commentary that the subject needed to be revisited in a more complete fashion than could be done in this posting; ergo it was pre-emptively done with the results viewable here:
Revisiting the Subject of the Underlying Weltanschauung of "Language Control" (circa November 25, 2008)
{4} The elections held in the immediate aftermath of the resignation in disgrace of President Richard M. Nxon.
{5} Setting aside the issue of 2000 for a moment here, if there was no "mandate" for President George W. Bush with his 52% popular vote gain in 2004 than there is no "mandate" for President Barack H. Obama who only got 53% of the vote in this election. Those who affirmed the former must out of consistency affirm the latter if they want anyone with a normal intact functioning brain to take them seriously.
{6} We define a "landslide" as far more than a major majority vote but instead an election where the winner received 70% or more of the electoral vote. Here are some examples of presidential electoral landslides to illustrate our point -more than one set of numbers indicates an election with three or more candidates getting electoral votes:
1789: Washington won 69-0 - 1792: Washington won 132-0 - 1804; Jefferson won 163-14 - 1816: Monroe won 116-34 - 1820: Monroe won 231-1 - 1832: Jackson won 219-49 - 1840: Harrison won 234-60 - 1852: Pierce won 254-42 - 1864: Lincoln won 212-21 - 1868: Grant won 214-80 - 1872: Grant won 286-42-18-3-2 - 1904: T. Roosevelt won 336-140 - 1920: Harding won 404-120 - 1924: Coolidge won 382-136-13 - 1928: Hoover won 444-87 - 1932: F. Roosevelt won 472-59 - 1936: FDR won 523-8 - 1940: FDR won 449-82 - 1944: FDR won 432-99 - 1952: Eisenhower won 442-89 - 1956: Eisenhower won 457-83 - 1964: Johnson won 486-52 - 1972: Nixon won 520-17 - 1980: Reagan won 489-49 - 1984: Reagan won 525-13 - 1988: Bush Sr. won 426-111
There has not been a "landslide" since 1988 going by the manner in which we have defined the term and the last time a Democrat won by a landside was LBJ over Senator Goldwater in 1964.
{7} And yes, it was so biased to be ridiculous and has perhaps destroyed if not forever than at least for a long time any remaining credibility the msm had left after the past six years of ever-increasing journalistic ethical malpractice. This was touched on a bit in a dialogue with freelance writer Joseph D'Hippolito which can be read here for those who are interested in the context of a dialogue on the state of journalism in general. (Mr. D'Hippolito was responding to a commentary your host did on journalism back in June of 2005 and while it had been in the can for a while, the increasing irresponsibility of the msm in covering this election is what prompted its posting in the final weeks before the election.)
{8} Including the whole question of who the best Republican candidate would have been, whether Bush was better than McCain would have been as president, and all the other kinds of questions that were thrashed about before the election was concluded.
{9} We opposed President Clinton on many things but never on either the manner in which he was elected or the principle that he as commander in chief of the armed forces was not eligible to utilize them on the basis of who he was personally.
{10} Your host is aware of the court challenges to the legitimacy of President Obama to even run constitutionally due to questions of the circumstances and place of birth, etc. But even if such challenges are in various courts at the present time, prior to any ruling on these matters, the reality of Obama as president needs to be recognized even by those who are filing such cases. We cannot say we have put much thought into this particular approach though we will say this: if those filing the lawsuits do not win, they should show themselves to be of a higher species of humanity than those who spent eight years inaccurately regurgitating what happened in 2000 as their excuse to act like spoiled children who refused to grow up.
{11} Well, not since 1992 anyway: a year we voted for H. Ross Perot incidentally enough.
{12} I may however in that interim [prior to the inauguration] and as time allows for it sketch out a rough draft of the second of two initiative ideas I want to get on the ballot for Washington State in the 2010 election. (The first idea of which was sketched out nearly five years ago on this humble weblog and may be revisited again in the interim prior to the election as well.) [Excerpt from Rerum Novarum (circa November 5, 2008)]
(Musings of your humble servant at Rerum Novarum)
We announced in a previous posting, certain exceptions notwithstanding and at our discretion{1}, that this was the only posting we intend to make on election related issues prior to inauguration day. And while we were planning on a shorter yet comprehensive coverage of this subject in the following posting, frankly we are simply not in the mood to do it. So we have decided to touch briefly on a variety of points which we believe point towards general trends of the electorate. From there we will restate in a very brief fashion{2} our own philosophy on these matters, and also point out some steps we believe need to be undertaken if genuine progress is to be made without the sacrificing of core principles as we move into the next administration of government this coming January 20th. It seems appropriate to touch on these in the order listed so without further ado, let us get to it.
To start with the same sex pseudo "marriage"{3} initiatives failed in every state that ran them including those states which went heavily for the soon-to-be President Barack H. Obama. Similarly in states where affirmative action was on the ballot it was voted down. The Republicans despite this being the worst election season to be a Republican since the 1974 midterm election{4} held down some pretty important seats which many of the talking punditry were proclaiming would be likely lost causes. This factor points towards not some sort of "mandate" for the incoming president{5} and congress but more of a referendum on the present administration.
As far as a supposed "landslide" goes, this was no landslide by objective criteria folks. A "landslide" requires a much larger electoral vote margin than the one that Senator Obama got.{6} And those who denied presidential mandates were in order for Presidents Reagan and Bush Sr. (whose electoral college majorities were much larger than that of the soon-to-be-President Obama) cannot be allowed to engage in double standards on this matter. No, they must be held to ethical consistency even if it means dragging them there kicking and screaming in the process. Having noted those matters at the outset, how should conservatives handle this upcoming paradigm shift of sorts??? In our mind there are a variety of ways that this needs to be approached and we will go over the more pertinent ones right now underlining them for easier text differentiation.
Any attempts to pretend that President Brack H. Obama is not "our president" need to be avoided.
It was both stupid as well as embarrassing to see the deranged antics of the moonbat fringe who played this game with President George W. Bush because they did not like how the election of 2000 turned out. Many of these same sorts will make "holy pilgrimages" to
Opposition if it is made at all must be differentiated between that of the president and the country
Far too often we witnessed since 2000 a tactic taken by those who were opposed to the president that resulted in a blurring of distinctions. Meaning, they took opposition to the president so far and to such an extreme that it inexorably became opposition to the country. This is something conservatives need to avoid at all costs. They must oppose President Obama personally where warranted, support him where warranted, and never in any fashion come across as opposing their country in the process.
Avoid taking a "chickenhawk" approach
One thing that really bothered us was the attitudes of those who despised our last two presidents whereby they took issue with the principle of their utilizing the military as opposed to having issues with the use of the military in a particular situation based on how the presidents themselves never served in the military. Conservatives criticized this with President Clinton before he was elected which was of course just fine much as they raised the superior military credentials of President Bush Sr. in 1992 they did the same with Senator Dole in 1996. In an election season this is one thing but arguing this way on the basis of any president using the military is out of line. Your host never took the latter approach when Clinton was president then{9} and he will not with Obama as president now.
Questioning the verdict of the election
There is voter fraud in all elections including both this last one and the one preceding it -though you would not know that to hear the silence from the msm on the last two elections because they got "their guys" in as opposed to the three elections previous to 2006.
Chronicling specific examples of voter fraud is fine, outlining various connections of unsavoury persons and circumstances with the Obama campaign is also fine. Going over how absolutely disgracefully the msm conducted themselves is also fine as well as problems with fundraising that the Obama campaign had with various donations of a controversial nature. But using any of this as a pre-text for rejecting the verdict of the voters is unacceptable.
Part of being not only a good soldier but also a mature human being is knowing not only which battles have been lost but also which battles are worth fighting. I will not go into the physiological realities behind the inverse natures of intensity and duration at this time but battles will need to be fought with the coming administration but ones based on principles. And acting like the spoiled child who throws a temper tantrum after losing a game -as many of the most rabid supporters of the incoming president did for the past eight years- will not help in any fashion.{10}
Blaming the voters
Your host has at times voiced an opinion of the electorate prior to an election that was by no means flattering. But he has never in recent memory{11} blamed the voters afterward. It serves no constructive purpose as what is done is done. There are reasons for this and the GOP needs to do some serious soul searching first and foremost because they gave the public reasons for doing what they did. That is where they can focus and should they do that, they can expect support from independent voters such as your host. If not...well...lets move onto the next subject.
Refocus for the next election
Building on what was just covered, the focus needs to be the next election and we are not talking about 2012 here. No, we are talking about the 2010 midterms which are less than two years away now. We at Rerum Novarum certainly are going to do our part to assist on these matters at various levels of government as we noted recently in our ultra-brief post election comments.{12} We advise all who are not pleased with how this election went to do likewise.
Strategery, Strategery, Strategery
With an incoming Democratic president and a Democratic majority in both houses of the Congress, a lot of issues are going to be pushed -many of them ones that we who did not vote for President Obama and the Democrats do not agree with. The problem is, if we run all over the map and oppose simply to be opposing, that will achieve nothing constructive. And furthermore, it is naive to think that everything they attempt to do we will be able to stop so that also needs to be taken into account.
Basically, we need to decide in how we go about this first of all, what we will fight tooth and nail for: what are the issues which we absolutely must stand up and hold the line on without an iota of compromise. From there, the rest can be categorized into basically (i) things we want to try and force the Democrats on record supporting so we can make election issues on them in 2010, (ii) things of a less significant nature we actually think can be accomplished despite the Democrats having control of the government, (iii) things we need to put out there for the future which we know will not succeed in the soon-to-be present but nonetheless are points of reference for the future of a positive nature.
In other words, we need to strategerize here and not play the same bullshit of those who opposed the outgoing Bush administration on everything and anything simply because they hated President Bush, thought he was Hitler, or whatever.
It is a tall order and those who are presuming that the incoming president is some kind of messianic figure are going to be profoundly disappointed before long. Keep that in mind and do not let their smugness get to you. And remember, politics is the art of the possible not of the perfect. As far as that goes, it is just about time for a final grade on the Bush presidency and as we do with every administration, President Barack Obama will start off with an A grade by us on the day of his inauguration. What he does after that is up to him.
Notes:
{1} I do not intend prior to the publishing of that commentary to say anything about the election unless it is a response to reader email.[...] Furthermore, even after that commentary is published through at least the final months of President Bush's term that is how I intend to approach this matter. [Excerpt from Rerum Novarum (circa November 5, 2008)]
{2} It is probably a certainty that our view as touched on in this posting will be misunderstood with the brevity to be undertaken -and we would gladly after the inauguration clarify the position as the need is perceived to do so of course. But our intention here is to give a general overview for the reader so they have some points of reference in navigating this and other statements we have made over the years on these matters.
{3} We say "pseudo 'marriage'" because your host refuses to concede to the proponents of such absurdity any pretext of legitimacy for their position. We have explained the extremely important principle being used here in years gone by and felt prior to the posting of this commentary that the subject needed to be revisited in a more complete fashion than could be done in this posting; ergo it was pre-emptively done with the results viewable here:
Revisiting the Subject of the Underlying Weltanschauung of "Language Control" (circa November 25, 2008)
{4} The elections held in the immediate aftermath of the resignation in disgrace of President Richard M. Nxon.
{5} Setting aside the issue of 2000 for a moment here, if there was no "mandate" for President George W. Bush with his 52% popular vote gain in 2004 than there is no "mandate" for President Barack H. Obama who only got 53% of the vote in this election. Those who affirmed the former must out of consistency affirm the latter if they want anyone with a normal intact functioning brain to take them seriously.
{6} We define a "landslide" as far more than a major majority vote but instead an election where the winner received 70% or more of the electoral vote. Here are some examples of presidential electoral landslides to illustrate our point -more than one set of numbers indicates an election with three or more candidates getting electoral votes:
1789: Washington won 69-0 - 1792: Washington won 132-0 - 1804; Jefferson won 163-14 - 1816: Monroe won 116-34 - 1820: Monroe won 231-1 - 1832: Jackson won 219-49 - 1840: Harrison won 234-60 - 1852: Pierce won 254-42 - 1864: Lincoln won 212-21 - 1868: Grant won 214-80 - 1872: Grant won 286-42-18-3-2 - 1904: T. Roosevelt won 336-140 - 1920: Harding won 404-120 - 1924: Coolidge won 382-136-13 - 1928: Hoover won 444-87 - 1932: F. Roosevelt won 472-59 - 1936: FDR won 523-8 - 1940: FDR won 449-82 - 1944: FDR won 432-99 - 1952: Eisenhower won 442-89 - 1956: Eisenhower won 457-83 - 1964: Johnson won 486-52 - 1972: Nixon won 520-17 - 1980: Reagan won 489-49 - 1984: Reagan won 525-13 - 1988: Bush Sr. won 426-111
There has not been a "landslide" since 1988 going by the manner in which we have defined the term and the last time a Democrat won by a landside was LBJ over Senator Goldwater in 1964.
{7} And yes, it was so biased to be ridiculous and has perhaps destroyed if not forever than at least for a long time any remaining credibility the msm had left after the past six years of ever-increasing journalistic ethical malpractice. This was touched on a bit in a dialogue with freelance writer Joseph D'Hippolito which can be read here for those who are interested in the context of a dialogue on the state of journalism in general. (Mr. D'Hippolito was responding to a commentary your host did on journalism back in June of 2005 and while it had been in the can for a while, the increasing irresponsibility of the msm in covering this election is what prompted its posting in the final weeks before the election.)
{8} Including the whole question of who the best Republican candidate would have been, whether Bush was better than McCain would have been as president, and all the other kinds of questions that were thrashed about before the election was concluded.
{9} We opposed President Clinton on many things but never on either the manner in which he was elected or the principle that he as commander in chief of the armed forces was not eligible to utilize them on the basis of who he was personally.
{10} Your host is aware of the court challenges to the legitimacy of President Obama to even run constitutionally due to questions of the circumstances and place of birth, etc. But even if such challenges are in various courts at the present time, prior to any ruling on these matters, the reality of Obama as president needs to be recognized even by those who are filing such cases. We cannot say we have put much thought into this particular approach though we will say this: if those filing the lawsuits do not win, they should show themselves to be of a higher species of humanity than those who spent eight years inaccurately regurgitating what happened in 2000 as their excuse to act like spoiled children who refused to grow up.
{11} Well, not since 1992 anyway: a year we voted for H. Ross Perot incidentally enough.
{12} I may however in that interim [prior to the inauguration] and as time allows for it sketch out a rough draft of the second of two initiative ideas I want to get on the ballot for Washington State in the 2010 election. (The first idea of which was sketched out nearly five years ago on this humble weblog and may be revisited again in the interim prior to the election as well.) [Excerpt from Rerum Novarum (circa November 5, 2008)]
Saturday, December 06, 2008
really helps balance everyone's sorrow and brings love into tomorrow
the next days emotion the previous day had to borrow
with winter coming the farmers have to break out the farrow
to prepare the earth for next year's yield
if its not the cold weather that's getting you down
then for what reason pray tell does your face wear a frown
there is a carnival on the edge of town
crooked games and cotton candy.
[Written on 10/12/08]
the next days emotion the previous day had to borrow
with winter coming the farmers have to break out the farrow
to prepare the earth for next year's yield
if its not the cold weather that's getting you down
then for what reason pray tell does your face wear a frown
there is a carnival on the edge of town
crooked games and cotton candy.
[Written on 10/12/08]
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
There has been a lot of events on the world stage in recent weeks we intend to touch on at some point but feel we cannot do adequate justice to until the post election commentary we mentioned we were working on is completed. It was started on November 14, 2008 and worked on bit by bit as time allowed for it though we had not prior to today (when we worked on it some more) done anything on it since prior to Thanksgiving. And when we were working on it, the draft tangented off into another subject connected with it but at the same time different that we felt the need to segregate the two and tackle the latter one first.{1} So this we did in the days prior to Thanksgiving and want to recall that offering for you the reader at this time:
Revisiting the Subject of the Underlying Weltanschauung of "Language Control" (circa November 25, 2008)
Between that and our recent philosophical revisiting of the subject of comments boxes and the principles behind our longstanding refusal to have any at this humble weblog{2} that should suffice as far as expository style musings on this weblog until we finish the commentary itself which is about 90% completed as of this writing and we hope to have it finished for publishing on Friday of this week.
Notes:
{1} We did after all promise to be briefer in this treatment than any other post election commentary we have written but without losing an overall sense of relative completeness.
{2} On Reiterating Anew Our Comments Box Policy (circa December 1, 2008)
Revisiting the Subject of the Underlying Weltanschauung of "Language Control" (circa November 25, 2008)
Between that and our recent philosophical revisiting of the subject of comments boxes and the principles behind our longstanding refusal to have any at this humble weblog{2} that should suffice as far as expository style musings on this weblog until we finish the commentary itself which is about 90% completed as of this writing and we hope to have it finished for publishing on Friday of this week.
Notes:
{1} We did after all promise to be briefer in this treatment than any other post election commentary we have written but without losing an overall sense of relative completeness.
{2} On Reiterating Anew Our Comments Box Policy (circa December 1, 2008)
Monday, December 01, 2008
On Reiterating Anew Our Comments Box Policy:
(Musings of your humble servant at Rerum Novarum)
It is rare that we are at a loss to know what to blog at a given time and now is such a case. Part of the reason is that we have in some respects too much to do and not enough time to do it in and the window of time will be slamming even tighter in the coming months as we take on additional responsibilities for putting into action goals we have gone over before and indeed touched on anew late last month.{1} With these factors being a reality that cannot be evaded, it seems opportune to revisit a subject that we return to from time to time and that is the subject of comments boxes; ergo the purpose of this posting.
In starting this subject off, we will readily concede that our position is a minority one in the blogosphere and even on the internet in general. Most people who blog have that feature at their site and of course those who want to do so can of course do what they like. And often the treatments we have covered on this in periods of greater contention were defensive in nature -circumstances at the times lent themselves to that admittedly. But we also would be less than truthful if we did not own up to regretting some of the manner in which we expressed ourselves in those postings even though the substance of our positions remains the same. So while we will categorize previous treatments in footnote form on this weblog{2} and even perhaps borrow from some of them in covering this subject again, we intend to do so with a greater focus on being less deliberately provocative and treating on the subject in a briefer way than previously.
Readers with an interest in all the details pertaining to our view on this can review the other posts from years past with the aforementioned deficiencies of approach taken into account. But without further ado, here is why we do not have nor will we barring certain technological breakthroughs on this forum{3} change in our principled position one iota. But the substance of it all can be boiled down to something we said in our last extended treatment on this issue; ergo we refer to it now:
[T]hey are not strictly speaking required for interaction with others as there are many ways to get feedback. I interact with some of the more interesting emails or discussion list stuff on this blog -interesting to me that is and if I am not interested in the subject, it is not going to get dealt with here. Sometimes I get emails from people that they want posted as guest editorials and generally I am willing to do that too -even if I do not agree with viewpoint on the subject matter being posted. There are also times where I will interact with others on discussion lists, in chat logs, on message boards (occasionally) and in the comboxes of other weblogs: virtually none of which I have editorial control over and that is of no small significance.[...]...
Before I started blogging, I perused various weblogs and observed the manner in which comments boxes were handled by their participants. I came to realize after a period of observation that they cause more problems than they are worth most of the time and therefore decided to find other avenues for interaction with others when I got around to starting a blog of my own. This is why I never have had and never will have comboxes at Rerum Novarum of a general nature...
The primary reason I do not use comments boxes is because combox stuff is rarely up to snuff and I do not want to take the time to dig in the coal mines to find the rare diamond or two there may be. Someone who is moved enough to send an email is usually (though not always) going to put some thought into what they send. And I only use the cream of the emails I receive because I have no interest in playing "erect the strawman and knock him down" which much too frequently is what many of those of an "apologetics" mindset do.[...]
There is a serious lack of interest in logic and rational thought out there and I do not want to contribute to it either explicitly or by implication. For that reason, my interest is in taking the best possible argument shots people want to throw my way. There is also the part where I discuss only what I want to discuss at a given point in time. Emails may sit for a while unresponded to until I want to respond to them -usually my stock response to emailers if it is something that I intend to respond to is that I am "working on a response." That lets them know that they will be taken seriously when I do get around to responding to them and not infrequently they send a follow-up email expressing gratitude for that.[...]
In the end, it is quality over quantity and I will take the former any day of the week. [Excerpt from Rerum Novarum (circa January 26, 2007)]
We could delve deeper into the subject than that but there is no need to. It has always been essentially a matter of equal parts concern for quality interactions{4} and a lack of time on our part to police such endeavours which in our experience (observing them on other sites) can descend into the nastiest of invective unworthy of reasonable beings.
Of course those who want to use comments boxes can do so as they wish and that is fine with us. However, the idea that they somehow need to be used in order for there to be interaction with the points of view as propounded on this weblog or anywhere else is of course not true.{5}
And though we could also cite our diminishing time for blogging as one reason to not want to take on additional duties of combox monitoring, that takes a backseat to what we have long believed are rational and substantive reasons for our stance which hopefully this post serves to illustrate -both for those who misunderstand our reasons for this stance and also for others who (like us) believe they can be more hassle and produce less quality material than they are worth to endure most of the time.
Notes:
{1} On Thanksgivings Present and Past and What We Are Thankful For Now (circa November 27, 2008)
{2} In order from earliest to most recent on the matter and excluding any postings that did not to some extend extend or amplify previous comments on this subject:
Unlike major media outlets the contents of this blog are not a result of intense focus group testing nor Zogby-like polling data mind you; Rerum Novarum does not function that way. (So those who wrote about adding comments boxes, nada as I do not have the time to police them and besides: most of those who inquired about the comments boxes are not the sorts I would long tolerate posting in comments boxes at my blog.) The reason I have the occasional "guest editorial" policy is to bridge the gap if you will in that regard. [Excerpt from Rerum Novarum (circa September 30, 2002)]
I also blog and interact with emailers if (i) it is a subject I have not blogged on before (ii) it is a subject that interests me (iii) the emailer is polite and (iv) the emailer asks challenging questions. If the emailer is not polite, then their piece becomes fodder for potential fisking in accordance with my mood at the time.
I also interact with stuff on discussion lists, blogs, and the message boxes at other blogs and all of that is potentially bloggable as well. (And usually I email the link to the person so they can read and respond to it if they want to.) [Excerpt from Rerum Novarum (circa August 24, 2003)]
On the Comments Box Subject Revisited (circa June 6, 2005)
Briefly on Comboxes Again With Jonathan Prejean (circa June 10, 2005)
The Comments Box Subject Revisited (circa January 26, 2007)
{3} Now it is possible when I am able to transfer my blog to the new beta that I may have targeted comments allowed as that can be done on a post by post basis with the new software. But at the present time, I have too many posts for my archive to be moved to the new platform. We shall see when the time comes if a selective use of comboxes on a post by post basis is feasible to do or not. But that is as close as I will get to the comments box zeitgeist for reasons I noted in the text above. [Excerpt from Rerum Novarum (circa January 26, 2007)]
Ultimately that was not possible with the beta format but should that circumstance change, we would strongly consider making those kinds of occasional exceptions to the rule as noted above.
{4} By the lions share of those involved on the sites but (obviously) not everyone.
{5} See footnote two and the quote from the 2003 posting for some details.
(Musings of your humble servant at Rerum Novarum)
It is rare that we are at a loss to know what to blog at a given time and now is such a case. Part of the reason is that we have in some respects too much to do and not enough time to do it in and the window of time will be slamming even tighter in the coming months as we take on additional responsibilities for putting into action goals we have gone over before and indeed touched on anew late last month.{1} With these factors being a reality that cannot be evaded, it seems opportune to revisit a subject that we return to from time to time and that is the subject of comments boxes; ergo the purpose of this posting.
In starting this subject off, we will readily concede that our position is a minority one in the blogosphere and even on the internet in general. Most people who blog have that feature at their site and of course those who want to do so can of course do what they like. And often the treatments we have covered on this in periods of greater contention were defensive in nature -circumstances at the times lent themselves to that admittedly. But we also would be less than truthful if we did not own up to regretting some of the manner in which we expressed ourselves in those postings even though the substance of our positions remains the same. So while we will categorize previous treatments in footnote form on this weblog{2} and even perhaps borrow from some of them in covering this subject again, we intend to do so with a greater focus on being less deliberately provocative and treating on the subject in a briefer way than previously.
Readers with an interest in all the details pertaining to our view on this can review the other posts from years past with the aforementioned deficiencies of approach taken into account. But without further ado, here is why we do not have nor will we barring certain technological breakthroughs on this forum{3} change in our principled position one iota. But the substance of it all can be boiled down to something we said in our last extended treatment on this issue; ergo we refer to it now:
[T]hey are not strictly speaking required for interaction with others as there are many ways to get feedback. I interact with some of the more interesting emails or discussion list stuff on this blog -interesting to me that is and if I am not interested in the subject, it is not going to get dealt with here. Sometimes I get emails from people that they want posted as guest editorials and generally I am willing to do that too -even if I do not agree with viewpoint on the subject matter being posted. There are also times where I will interact with others on discussion lists, in chat logs, on message boards (occasionally) and in the comboxes of other weblogs: virtually none of which I have editorial control over and that is of no small significance.[...]...
Before I started blogging, I perused various weblogs and observed the manner in which comments boxes were handled by their participants. I came to realize after a period of observation that they cause more problems than they are worth most of the time and therefore decided to find other avenues for interaction with others when I got around to starting a blog of my own. This is why I never have had and never will have comboxes at Rerum Novarum of a general nature...
The primary reason I do not use comments boxes is because combox stuff is rarely up to snuff and I do not want to take the time to dig in the coal mines to find the rare diamond or two there may be. Someone who is moved enough to send an email is usually (though not always) going to put some thought into what they send. And I only use the cream of the emails I receive because I have no interest in playing "erect the strawman and knock him down" which much too frequently is what many of those of an "apologetics" mindset do.[...]
There is a serious lack of interest in logic and rational thought out there and I do not want to contribute to it either explicitly or by implication. For that reason, my interest is in taking the best possible argument shots people want to throw my way. There is also the part where I discuss only what I want to discuss at a given point in time. Emails may sit for a while unresponded to until I want to respond to them -usually my stock response to emailers if it is something that I intend to respond to is that I am "working on a response." That lets them know that they will be taken seriously when I do get around to responding to them and not infrequently they send a follow-up email expressing gratitude for that.[...]
In the end, it is quality over quantity and I will take the former any day of the week. [Excerpt from Rerum Novarum (circa January 26, 2007)]
We could delve deeper into the subject than that but there is no need to. It has always been essentially a matter of equal parts concern for quality interactions{4} and a lack of time on our part to police such endeavours which in our experience (observing them on other sites) can descend into the nastiest of invective unworthy of reasonable beings.
Of course those who want to use comments boxes can do so as they wish and that is fine with us. However, the idea that they somehow need to be used in order for there to be interaction with the points of view as propounded on this weblog or anywhere else is of course not true.{5}
And though we could also cite our diminishing time for blogging as one reason to not want to take on additional duties of combox monitoring, that takes a backseat to what we have long believed are rational and substantive reasons for our stance which hopefully this post serves to illustrate -both for those who misunderstand our reasons for this stance and also for others who (like us) believe they can be more hassle and produce less quality material than they are worth to endure most of the time.
Notes:
{1} On Thanksgivings Present and Past and What We Are Thankful For Now (circa November 27, 2008)
{2} In order from earliest to most recent on the matter and excluding any postings that did not to some extend extend or amplify previous comments on this subject:
Unlike major media outlets the contents of this blog are not a result of intense focus group testing nor Zogby-like polling data mind you; Rerum Novarum does not function that way. (So those who wrote about adding comments boxes, nada as I do not have the time to police them and besides: most of those who inquired about the comments boxes are not the sorts I would long tolerate posting in comments boxes at my blog.) The reason I have the occasional "guest editorial" policy is to bridge the gap if you will in that regard. [Excerpt from Rerum Novarum (circa September 30, 2002)]
I also blog and interact with emailers if (i) it is a subject I have not blogged on before (ii) it is a subject that interests me (iii) the emailer is polite and (iv) the emailer asks challenging questions. If the emailer is not polite, then their piece becomes fodder for potential fisking in accordance with my mood at the time.
I also interact with stuff on discussion lists, blogs, and the message boxes at other blogs and all of that is potentially bloggable as well. (And usually I email the link to the person so they can read and respond to it if they want to.) [Excerpt from Rerum Novarum (circa August 24, 2003)]
On the Comments Box Subject Revisited (circa June 6, 2005)
Briefly on Comboxes Again With Jonathan Prejean (circa June 10, 2005)
The Comments Box Subject Revisited (circa January 26, 2007)
{3} Now it is possible when I am able to transfer my blog to the new beta that I may have targeted comments allowed as that can be done on a post by post basis with the new software. But at the present time, I have too many posts for my archive to be moved to the new platform. We shall see when the time comes if a selective use of comboxes on a post by post basis is feasible to do or not. But that is as close as I will get to the comments box zeitgeist for reasons I noted in the text above. [Excerpt from Rerum Novarum (circa January 26, 2007)]
Ultimately that was not possible with the beta format but should that circumstance change, we would strongly consider making those kinds of occasional exceptions to the rule as noted above.
{4} By the lions share of those involved on the sites but (obviously) not everyone.
{5} See footnote two and the quote from the 2003 posting for some details.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Having noted a pattern I have recently set down in no small detail (and that I have every intention of following on this humble weblog), here is another of the poems written earlier this year. Unlike an eight line stanza variation posted recently, this one a haiku but like the aforementioned poem, I had to use someone else's last line as the first line of my own poem. Without further ado...
dreaming sets you free
dont tell the government lest
they tax your slumbers
[Written on 2/13/08]
dreaming sets you free
dont tell the government lest
they tax your slumbers
[Written on 2/13/08]
Points to Ponder:
Habits of mind or of a person's general disposition take time to form and they are thus not going to change as quickly as we might like them too. But if the right approach is set down in advance and a proper strategery undertaken, the odds of success will be much greater in whatever the area of intended improvement happens to be. Just keep in mind the determination that you will succeed at whatever your goals are and do not let setbacks be anything but temporary delays.[Excerpt from Rerum Novarum (circa January 2, 2006)]
Habits of mind or of a person's general disposition take time to form and they are thus not going to change as quickly as we might like them too. But if the right approach is set down in advance and a proper strategery undertaken, the odds of success will be much greater in whatever the area of intended improvement happens to be. Just keep in mind the determination that you will succeed at whatever your goals are and do not let setbacks be anything but temporary delays.[Excerpt from Rerum Novarum (circa January 2, 2006)]
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