I had to take some time today to enroll in an online society which seeks a moratorium on the music of Marty Haugan and David Haas. The thread can be found HERE. Apparently, I am not the first to enroll here from St. Blogs. As one who attends a parish where this kind of music is rare, my involvement is more for the purposes of solidarity with those who have to hear this kind of music on a regular basis. (As I used to before becoming part of Blessed Sacrament.) Nonetheless, this link is added to the side margin in perpetuity all things to the contrary notwithstanding.

Miscellaneous Threads for Review:

Senate candidate says: U.S. out of U.N.

Tony Blair criticizes the "swinging'60s"

Three Cheers for the Coz (Part I)

Three Cheers for the Coz (Part II)

Will the West Survive?

Democrat Magicians

The Cos Again

In Remembrance of Who:
(Mournful musings of your humble servant at Rerum Novarum)

It is wise to have all animals in before you go to bed or when you leave the house -particularly if they are cats. Rarely have I controverted this principle but last night was an occasion where I left for the office with one cat (Dr. Who) still outside. Upon getting home, I tried the usually effective catnip bribe to get him to come in a few times but it did not work after three or more attempts. I figured he would be at the window wanting in come morning so I went to bed about four am. Upon waking around nine thirty, I walked the property calling for Doc and he was not to be found. Not to be found until I went around the front of the house to check the boulevard.

For upon doing that, I found him in the street dead. He was stretched as if trying to reach the side of the road. Having never seen him near the street in almost nine years (he was scared of loud noises), the last place I thought to look for him was there.

Though there have been many pets for which unique personalities made for unique memories, I have never had a pet so gentle as he was -gentle as well as strong.{1} (His paws were downright Paul Bunyan-like and when I would scratch his back, he would flex open and close his massive paws.) He was also very affectionate. More could be noted but that is all I will say at this time. I repeat: it is wise to have all animals in before you go to bed or when you leave the house. I did not do this and unlike the other times when this has happened, this time it was costly.

It is times like this where I wish I was a competent poet but apart from haikus I am not. Anyway, I have to finish my morning chai and prepare a proper grave for him -probably the same plot where I buried my dog Buddy about year and a half ago. (Whose death was followed a year to the day by my Uncle Mel Denny.) I honestly do not know how many more I can take my friends: the third family death this year and at least the fourteenth family death since March of 2000.{2} At some point there has to be a reasonable length of time between deaths one would think...one would think...

Today would have been the 89th birthday of my maternal grandmother -one of those who died in the string going back to March of 2000. Please pray for the repose of the souls of Mary Haluk Kanski, Melvin Denny, and the others.{3} And also, if you do not mind, please offer up a prayer to St. Francis that Doc could have died as quickly and painlessly as possible. It has always been the case in my family since I was a child that our animals live to ripe old ages and we put them down on our terms. This time it did not happen and poor Doc ended up dying in the worst possible way: alone.

There will probably be a brief sabbatical from mainline blogging{4} as I need to sort this out so it does not affect my competency viz. running my business. However, I would be remiss in not thanking you in advance for your prayer generosity.

Notes:

{1} Buddy my old dog was also very gentle. Most of my pets have been but Doc was a bit more gentle than the others. I do not know how else to describe it so that is all I will say on the matter.

{2} I know there are some others that I cannot readily recall at the moment -mainly because they are either distant relatives or distant friends.

{3} A simple "Shawn's other deceased relatives" followup would work since God know whom they all are.

{4} I will be working intermittently in the coming months on a long planned weblog with the working title Repose of Souls for the names of family and friends and maybe even pets -though with the latter the prayer would be for as painless of a death as possible: why not do this since we are the ones restricted in ti me right??? (I am thinking of setting up a St. Francis of Assisi shrine for them.) Anyway, when it is ready, I will let you know and (of course) if you have loved ones to list there let me know and I will do it.

[Update: The problem with a complete sabbatical is that it detracts from the importance of the upcoming election. If this was an off-election year, it would be much easier to justify a complete sabbatical. However, after thinking on the matter, I will to some degree continue blogging at least articles for readers to peruse on various subjects. But do not expect very much in the way of commentary for a while as that takes effort that I do not have in sufficient enough reserve at this time to do proper justice to. -ISM 7/19/04 3:52pm]



Doctor Who
(8/14/95-7/18/04)
The above picture was taken on May 17, 2004.

Some Sites Worth Catching Up On:

Of many which could be listed, these five seem good at this time for noting:

Musings of a Pertinacious Papist -Dr. Philip Blosser

Basically, just read everything on the front page. We not sure what it says about Us in finding the story about the kitten out at sea screaming for help to be so compelling; nonetheless that and the parts about Bush's accusers being confuted (yet again) on the war subject are particularly worth noting.{1}

A Catholic BLOG for Lovers - Gerard Seraphin

Again, everything on the front page is worth reading.

The Curt Jester BLOG - Jeff Miller

Everything on the front page -particularly the posts on Dissent as an Endorsement for Bishop DeLorenzo, Prayer and Punditry, and (for a bit of levity) CJ Sports.

The HMS BLOG (Various)

The front page appears to be the "Kevin Miller Show" which as readers of this weblog know is fine with Us.

The Cor ad Cor Loquuitur BLOG - Dave Armstrong

Likewise, We recommend a review of everything on the front page.

Finally, We have a couple of Ecumenical Jihad threads to recommend here as well:

Rabbi Daniel Lapin's Toward Tradition Website

Rabbi Lapin has long been Our favourite Sunday night talk show host. And with Toward Tradition, his discourses on moral matters and engaging the culture are always worth reading. We particularly recommend Rabbi Lapin's article The Slippery Slope of Secularism and Samuel Silver's Guide to Same Sex Marriage.


Debbie Schlussel's latest editorial on the FBI.

Enjoy!!!

Note:

{1} Oh, and congrats on the good news Phil.

Miscellaneous Mutterings:
(On post volume: a digression)

The ironic thing about writing is that it is possibly the one area of my life where I am anything but economical. When it comes to the written word, often have I been accused (and not without justification) of tending towards the verbose in my written pieces.{1} Having posted a profile at Lidless Eye today to account for the summary of my weblog mutterings these past near two years, the sum total as of this moment is 1,405 posts totalling 980,330 words.{2} The post per weblog averages are 644 words at Rerum Novarum and its subsidiaries, and 1,383.5 words at Lidless Eye. Taken together, that is a per post average of 697.74 or 698 if we round up to the nearest word. I assure you just reflecting upon those totals gives me reason to pause and consider a greater effort towards economy of verse.

It is true that I have improved in this area on the whole with my written essays over the years. Also, this weblog medium has forced me to significantly economize over what I used to do before on discussion list forums when my prowess with the cut and paste made for quite ponderous and lengthy cogitations by my own admission. Heck, compared to the days of yore, 700 words a post does not seem like much but then again, just because a 747 is small compared to the Grand Canyon does not mean that a 747 is small if you catch my drift.

I think the time constraints of my current endeavours have helped significantly in this area. At the very least it has resulted if not in actual reduction in volume then at least in frequency of posting. Either way though, I promise to work on this aspect of my blogging to the extent that I can do so without losing the essence of the points I strive to make on various issues I muse on at my weblogs.


Notes:

{1} To put it mildly.

{2} 839,213 words in 1303 posts to this weblog and its subsidiaries, 141,117 words in 102 posts to the Lidless Eye weblog.

"Confuting Conventional Wisdom" Dept.
(Musings of your humble servant at Rerum Novarum)

[Prefatory Note: I wrote this yesterday in a message box at one of my favourite weblogs. -ISM]

The notion that two totalitarian systems (i.e. communism and fascism) could be polar opposites philosophically speaking is an example of Aristotle's Law of Non-Contradiction being violated in spades. Think about it for a moment:

---If Communism represents totalitarian control over every sphere of a society, the opposite of total control is no control. Thus, the converse of communism is not fascism but anarchy.

Fascism is nothing except a slightly more palatable form of socialism than communism. Oh and do not even bring up Nazi Germany as an "opposite" of communism. Communism is totalitarian socialism and the Nazis were the National Socialist German Workers Party. Unless the entire political spectrum is socialist, the notion that fascism or naziism could be the political "opposite" of communism is ludicrous on its face. Yet notice how many anointed "experts" trot out this false notion of political opposites.

I believe the reason this is done is because if people believe that extremities of either liberalism or conservatism are both totalitarian -as communism and fascism so obviously are- that it will consciously shove a lot of people incapable of solidly logical thought towards the presumed "safer ground" of the political middle: those who often identify themselves as "moderates."

With regards to the so-called "moderates", most people who situate themselves here are precisely the sort of people who are incapable of making decisive judgments -indeed they often impugn people who do this. And as a result, they set themselves up as lambs for the slaughter by those who can make decisive judgments and who lack the moral grounding to render such judgments in accordance with any standard of morality except the subjective morality of the individual.

Ecce Homo

On NFP and a Unique Contribution to the Arena of Ideas:
(Musings of your humble servant at Rerum Novarum)


[Update: I cannot believe I forgot the title and footnotes for this post yesterday. But then again, if you take into account that it was "Friday" for me yesterday all the way until around 6pm, hopefully these oversights can be understood. (What occasioned this is in retrospect rather hilarious but I have no time to discuss it at this point.) Nonetheless, I have added the title and footnotes to this post that were intended and apologize for their omission. -ISM 7/16/04 11:07am]

Though I have not said much of anything on my weblogs about the matter thus far,{1} the subject of NFP{2} is one which I have approached in some of my web writings -particularly my treatise which was promulgated to the web four years ago last D-Day. In that work, I dealt with the subject as it pertained to certain Jansenistic outlooks on sexuality and also certain contemporary realities that were often not taken into account by those who were of the "traditionalist" persuasion. (In the case of NFP, the "traditionalists" are not infrequently quick to scoff at this practice.) Here is some what I noted on the matter then -though this section received a little touching up in last year's revision viz. the approach taken towards this position (though not the arguments utilized to sustain it):

There are also an often very rigorous (often fanatically so) attitudes of 'traditionalists' with certain warped concepts of modesty. A woman not wearing slacks is one concept that comes to mind. Never mind the degree of modesty that a given pair of pants may have (there are after all, immodest and modest pants), comments such as "the Blessed Mother never wore slacks" are thrown out which are indicative of a gross stupidity. First of all, in apostolic times both men and women wore long flowing garments. In fact, the actual attire was quite similar between women and men back then (except women covered their heads often time of course). Another warped concept is one of an exaggerated Puritan concept of marriage and also the relationship between the spouses. When it comes to husband and wife relationships, 'traditionalists' take an exaggerated view of the submission owed by a wife to her husband and makes it equivalent to a near-servitude (if not explicitly stated as such).

Then there is the subject of conjugal love and procreation. Ignoring the manifold factors that make excessively large families less congruent to modern society, there is the condemnation of NFP and other family planning methods (that are intrinsic ally congruent to the Divine Law) by the 'traditionalist' movement both implicitly and explicitly. The facts that (i) we live in a more urban and industrialized culture so (ii) the need of large families to support an agriculturally based society is no longer necessary are not factors that are ever taken into consideration. Further still (iii) with the death rate being overcome in the late nineteenth century, the same degree of emphasis on the need to preserve the species is not in existence. This is due in no small part to (iv) numerous advances in medicine that aid in the cure of many ailments that were fatal to infants and young children even a century ago along with (v) a lower degree of miscarriages today primarily since we have greater knowledge of the types of stress that causes a miscarriage: knowledge that did not exist in previous centuries. In other words, the same number of conceptions today would result in a vastly higher rate of both births and survival to adulthood of many children who due to the particular circumstances in previous centuries were either miscarried, stillborn, or died before the age of five.

The Church in her timeless wisdom has recognized in certain situations (because of the changes in times and circumstances and the advance of medicine and knowledge) there are natural God-given means of addressing these matters. There is of course nothing wrong with having a large family of course. (Nor is it being implied in this paragraph that there is.) However at the same time it is not and never has been a Catholic understanding that one was to have as many children as they could. The difference in the industrial-technological society of today is that family sizes that were common in centuries past are often not as practical as they once were and (because of our advances in medicine and knowledge) it is often necessary to be regulated as long as such regulation is conducted in a morally licit manner. There are legitimate and illegitimate means of limiting and/or spacing births and the judicious use of NFP is just such a means, which is in no way contradictory to the Divine Law. Nevertheless, many 'traditionalist' groups erroneously ascribe such methods to "Modernism."

While these methods of consistent natural regulation were not unheard of in previous centuries; using philosophical approaches predating the twentieth century to analyze discoveries of the twentieth century is what is known as a "non sequitur." These methods only became known with enough information to be reasonably consistent in their application around the turn of the century (becoming better known in the 1920's), it involves having recourse to more recent decisions of the Magisterium in this vein to have a proper perspective on these matters. Initial methods of natural regulation (such as rhythm) were not as efficient as the more advanced ones developed since the early to mid 1970's (and refined since then), but the principle is the same. It appears to be God's answer to the contraception mania that has erupted this century since Lambeth in 1930. (Since reasonably consistent natural regulation was only discovered before the evil of contraception became more prominent.) This is not to say that a contraceptive mentality should be employed in utilizing NFP of course, but there are legitimate reasons for its usage which the Church has approved of. Even predating Vatican II we can find this principle outlined in Pope Pius XI's Encyclical Letter Casti Connubii:

Nor are those considered as acting against nature who in the married state use their right in the proper manner although on account of natural reasons either of time or of certain defects, new life cannot be brought forth. For in matrimony as well as in the use of the matrimonial rights there are also secondary ends, such as mutual aid, the cultivating of mutual love, and the quieting of concupiscence which husband and wife are not forbidden to consider so long as they are subordinated to the primary end and so long as the intrinsic nature of the act is preserved. (Pope Pius XI: Encyclical Letter Casti Connubii §59 circa December 31, 1930)

The intrinsic nature of the act is not deterred through sexual abstinence; therefore methods such as NFP which utilize period of abstinence cannot be accused of acting against nature. However, there are many so-called 'traditionalists' who would mark such people as 'untraditional' and demonstrate in doing so the very kind of rigorism that is another parallel to Jansenism. [I. Shawn McElhinney: A Prescription Against 'Traditionalism' Part XIII (c. 2000, rev. c. 2003)]

I never presumed that those were the only arguments to sustain a cogent support for NFP mind you; however, I did in the context of that multi subject work find them adequate for dealing in short order with that matter. Some who identify themselves as "traditionalists" would give at most a grudging acknowledgement of NFP as a kind of "lessor of two evils." However, as I have often noted when it comes to the almost pathological nature of many people to try to box people into various categories, that this can work on the other side as well -with the way those who call themselves "traditionalists" are approached by other people.

With this subject, I have an opportunity to demonstrate my assertions in this vein{3} with a real life example.{4} That therefore is what this weblog entry will endeavour to do in pointing out a person who identifies in many respects with the "traditionalist" weltanschauung but who has shown that they can think outside the box. That personage is one Charles De Nunzio.

When surfing over at Charles De Nunzio's weblog yesterday, I found him supporting NFP for many of the same reasons I noted in the writing quoted above. He also posted additional reasons -some of which to a degree go beyond the ones that I noted in my treatise of four years ago.

Now, my concern in writing the material above was to explain this from predominantly the area of modern physical issues which pertain to the matter -advances in science, adjustments in the economies of scale, and preservation of the species essentially. Charles goes beyond this and advances the theory that the spiritual climate of society since (roughly) the mid twentieth century is a good argument for the judicious usage of NFP. I am not sure I completely concur with his analysis but I find myself intrigued enough to ponder this point further. And having noted that, a development that has long been latent has come to fruition in my mind.

For I have been monitoring Charles' site for a while with considerations of adding it to my scroll of links. This line of argumentation he has set forth on NFP -being very original and presenting some rather compelling points to ponder- was the cincher for me on that matter. Henceforth, you will find after this post is added, Charles' weblog link added to the side margin under Ecumenical Jihad all things to the contrary notwithstanding.

Notes:

{1} If you check the archives, you may find a post or two on the matter but I do not believe I blogged on this particular subject before prior to now.

{2} Natural Family Planning in case you are unfamiliar with the term.

{3} The assertion that the indiscriminate usage of labels is a woefully inadequate (and often inaccurate) way of trying to separate various distinctions of outlook from people with differing operative presuppositions.

{4} Mr. De Nunzio is far from "garden variety" in his particular views on this or numerous other matters.

A TALE OF TWO MOVIES: FAHRENHEIT 9/11 vs PASSION OF THE CHRIST

The above compendium is courtesy of Jeff at Beautiful Atrocities. Oh, and lest I forget, this link was brought to the attention of St. Blog's patrons and visitors via Dominico Bettinelli's Bettnet BLOG to which I was directed by my friend Mark Bonocore at a discussion list that we both frequent. Thanks for the headsup guys but I am not at all surprised at this double standard.{1}

For bringing down Bush and promoting liberal idiocy is not a minor bagatelle to these kinds of people. Rather, Moore's movie it seems is being viewed by them as yet another sacrament in their secularist "religion."{2} Again, this is no surprise at all but thanks Jeff for compiling the list for us all to see.

Notes:

{1} As longtime readers of my musings at this weblog can attest to.

{2} Abortion is the most obvious "sacrament" in their "religion." I am left to wonder if ousting Bush and Moore's movie are actually "sacraments" or are mere "sacramentals" to them.

Readers of a pious nature who think I am being sacrilegious with this terminology apparently do not realize just how integral such things as abortion, gay marriage, pornography, and public funding and/or promotion of these and other abominable matters are to people of this mindset. They are core pillars to their particular weltanschauung akin to the sacraments in Christendom. For that reason, they are properly referred to in that context as their "sacraments" (or "sacramentals") if you will -provided that one shrouds those words in proper quotation marks when doing so.

My Public Profile Is Now Released:

Okay, it is not much of a profile but I decided to put a little bit of information about myself in cyberspace.

Regular readers of this weblog since its earliest of days will probably see very little that I have not explicated or implicated before at this humble weblog. Nonetheless, there are still some additional bits of information here and there that may be of interest. I also dug up the only web photo of me that there is and added it as well.{1}

One should bear in mind that these figures do not include postings to The Lidless Eye Inquisition or any of my web essays but only what I have blogged since August of 2002 from my Rerum Novarum weblog and other direct affiliates to it.{2} Having noted those things, the following statistics are interesting:

On Blogger Since August 2002

August 22, 2002 to be precise. (Yes, Our two year anniversary is a little over a month away.)

Recent Posts 22

By "recent" I presume they mean in the past month.

Avg Posts Per Week 13

Based heavily on my blogging overall prior to February of this year I am sure.

Posts Written 1,298

All but ten of those are posts from Rerum Novarum.

Words Written 836,630

If we divide number of words by number of posts, we get an average post length of 644.55 words...geez.{3}

Outbound Links 2,831

Presumably that does not rule out double and triple counting of the same links at times. (Either way, it is quite a lot but no Amy Welborn, Mark Shea, or Instapundit that is for sure.)

Profile View 0

Well, I just set it up so there should not be any profile views yet. Anyway, I hope that you find this information to be of some interest.

Notes:

{1} It is posted to my two Journeyman e-zine entries from September of 2001 and November of 2001. I still resemble in some ways the person in the picture even though the latter was taken 35 months ago today. I will try to get another one taken in the next few months to replace the one on this profile.

{2} Meaning the Rerum Novarum Miscellaneous BLOG and also the Rerum Novarum Comments BLOG.

{3} None of those stats include this current post of course.

"Anathema Sit" Dept.

Though I commented on the most recent Boston Heresy Case HERE, there have been some additional developments since my aforementioned comments.

For example, apparently the founder of De Fide (one Marc Balestrieri), has probably lost his job as a result of this action.

Over at Envoy Encore, my good friend Pete Vere (he with the JCL) assesses the current situation HERE. He also goes into some of the background elements in the equation including the issue of what could be constituted as a kind of "canonical tradition" in the sense of certain unwritten rules that differing sides in a dispute are expected to follow.

Apparently, canon law like baseball has its own version of "The Book" which is unwritten but which the major players are expected to follow. Between that and the various behind the scenes machinations, I think I am starting to see why canon law can have such die-hards like Pete, Edward Peters, and others. Anyway, see the above link to Pete's commentary for more details on the matter.

Also, I exhort you all to offer some some prayers for Mark and anyone else involved in this enterprise that they are successful in their endeavours. Whatever problems there were with overzealous and rash suspicions viz. canonical "investigations" in days of yore, in recent decades the opposite extreme has happened.

In closing, the correct approach is balanced between the two and at the moment, the scale needs to be tipped towards more discipline being meted out.

Points to Ponder:

I find myself not just a little confused by the mantras of those who say "we support the troops but oppose the war." I have to wonder if they realize how sophistic this stance really is. For if (i) they believe the war is immoral or evil and (ii) the troops they claim to "support" as a rule{1} believe in what they are fighting and willing to die for and (iii) they claim to support the troops who are fighting in that war, then (iv) they are claiming to "support" people who by an overwhelming majority profess a belief in and willingness to sacrifice themselves for something that they (the antiwar crowd) believes is evil or immoral. In short, their positions are patently illogical and a classic example of sophistic rationale. [I. Shawn McElhinney: Lunchtime Musings on the War circa 7/08/04]

Note:

{1} I realise there are some who do not take this view but from all indications that I have seen thus far, the troop support for what they are doing exceeds those troops who do not endorse what they are doing by at least 3 to 1.

As We noted earlier, the addition of Debbie Schlussel's website to the Ecumenical Jihad listing was deemed to be the less proper place for categorizing. Instead, due to the predominantly political nature of her material, We decided to reclassify her to the Predominantly Political category and to slightly retitle that category. It now reads Approved* Weblogs and Websites of a Predominantly Political Nature. It also seemed appropriate to add the recently launched weblog of Michelle Malkin to that category as well -based heavily on her precedent for writing thought provoking material.{1}

Oh and lest anyone accuse Us of discrimination by not including women journalists or commentators in Our scroll of recommended links, let this serve to confute that accusation and make known the fact that We have no objections whatsoever to recommending well-reasoned work composed by brainy and beautiful infobabes.{2} Having noted that, We declare by virtue of Our authority that the aforementioned adjustments are hereby promulgated to Rerum Novarum in perpetuity, all things to the contrary notwithstanding.

Notes:

{1} We have followed her since her days as a staff columnist for The Seattle Times. (Followed her work that is.)

{2} That oughta rile the so-called "feminists" a bit :)

A Very Minor Weblog Update:

Some adjustments were made to the template at this weblog a few minutes ago -almost exclusively in the area of adding to the Ecumenical Jihad category. Though there are a few additional sites and weblogs that I am mulling over adding to the scroll of links, the following were added today:

---Debbie Schlussel's Website (Jewish)

---The Catholic Kerry Watch BLOG - Christopher Blosser, Jeff Miller, Oswald Sobrino, Earl A. Appleby, Jamie Blosser

---Christopher Blosser's Watching Michael Moore BLOG

Also restored to the recommended list of catholic weblogs was Alan Phipps' weblog. Somehow it was overlooked when the template was restored last month but it has been readded now.

By virtue of my authority as Sovereign Thane and Lord High Executioner of Rerum Novarum, I declare that these adjustments to said weblog are promulgated in perpetuity all things to the contrary notwithstanding.

[Note: Upon further reflection, as Debbie Schlussel's material is predominantly political and not a hybrid of religious and political material, it properly should be classified with JYB and company. For that reason, it will be reclassified hopefully later today. -ISM 7/8/04 7:30 am]

The readers of this humble weblog may be interested to know that I made some tweaks to the draft of the Reagan book review that I posted earlier on. It now reads on the weblog exactly as it will read when I submit the review tomorrow or so to Amazon.

Points to Ponder:

Difficulties can be solved with philosophy and theology, but in order to "solve" a mystery, it takes obedience and submission. Sometimes, when we ask God questions, He answers with a question, like when He was in the temple, and the way to get the answer is to be silent and let Him come to you...All types of mysteries can only be answered by an abandonment to Christ, letting Christ work through you. [Apolonio Latar III (circa 2/14/04)]

Rev. Michael J. Pahls outlines the fate of slavery in the US if President Lincoln had "thought" on slavery like Kerry does on abortion.

Ronald Reagan - How an Ordinary Man Became an Extraordinary Leader:
(Musings of your humble servant at Rerum Novarum)

[Note: This is the second and probably final third and final draft of a review I will be submitting to Amazon.com hopefully later in the week. President Reagan, may you rest in peace - ISM]

*****

One of history's greatest presidents...

...and definitely the best president of the second half of the twentieth century. Dinesh D' Souza would argue that Ronald Reagan was the greatest president of the twentieth century. I would claim a bit less myself: second perhaps to President Roosevelt...and not the President Roosevelt that most people would presume I refer to. But that is neither here nor there.

This book is very compact and seeks to cover a lot of material in a reasonably economical manner. The prologue sets the tone, starting with the manner whereby the Soviet Union was viewed prior to its collapse by the establishment "experts." From there, D' Souza explains why the "wise men" were all wrong and the "dummy" (as the intellectuals viewed Reagan) was right. He also deals with the manner whereby revisionists have sought to paint the USSR's collapse as "inevitable" which is certainly not what these same people were saying at the time. It seems that the approach is say anything except give credit to Reagan for his foresight on this significant issue.

The aforementioned prologue ("The Wise Men and the Dummy") sets the table for the manner whereby the rest of the book unfolds. The topics covered in the work in sequential order are as follows with brief comments from yours truly:

---Why Reagan Gets No Respect.

This chapter outlines well the manner whereby not only the pseudo-"intellectual" elites of the left viewed Reagan but also many hard nosed conservatives of the right (including some of their recognized bigwigs such as George Will and Michael Novak).

---The Education of an Actor.

This chapter is a necessary look into the formation of Reagan's conservative political philosophy as well as the paradigm shift from Roosevelt New Deal supporter to conservative Goldwater-style in his philosophy.

It starts to some extent from his formative years because in order to hope to understand Reagan, one must understand those events which formed the environment which shaped his outlook and convictions. And as Reagan reached his conservative Republican outlook after being born into poverty and living through two world wars, the Great Depression, Korea, the McCarthy era, and the early 1960's, it is important to review this period where his philosophy -which he would refine and deepen in later years- was first set forth in its broad outlines. The chapter ends with Reagan's speech at the 1964 Republican convention: the speech that definitively put him "on the map" for a political career.

---Mr. Reagan Goes To Washington.

This chapter covers the period where Reagan's philosophy received greater deepening and refinement through two terms as governor of California and two significant challenges to the presidency (1976 and 1980). Some may refer to his campaign of 1968 but that was not a serious campaign and Reagan had no chance at the nomination then.

---A Walk on the Supply Side.

If no other chapter in this book was read, this one is essential because it debunks so much of the idiotic myths surrounding Reagan and his role in the increasing deficits of the 1980's.

This chapter outlines an integral part of Reagan's presidential economic plan. It is well worth a read due to the profound ignorance commonly expressed about supply-side policies by historical revisionists and economists too wedded to Keynesian policies: policies which were discredited in the 1970's economic climate by the way.

The reviewer who said that D'Souza "dismisses the massive budget deficits accumulated during the Reagan years" would do well to reread this chapter since the deficit subject is discussed in the context of the Democratic Congress not following through on their promise to cut $3 in spending for every $1 in taxes during the 1982 budget battle. Oliver North was criticized for lying to Congress during Iran-contra but the dishonour Congress brought on themselves in the interim -starting with their broken promises in 1982- made North's actions a venial sin at best.

Those who want to discuss the budget deficits need look no further than here for the reasons. But of course that reviewer is not about to do that because 75% or more of the federal budget is unconstitutional and they are certain to support a fair amount of it. At least Reagan's military spending was constitutional but I digress.

---They Don't Call it Reaganomics Anymore.

This chapter is a good follow-up to the one on supply side economics because it explains the truth behind Reagan's economic policies. In a short phrase: they worked.

---Confronting the Evil Empire.

Picks up and develops what was touched on in the prologue.

---Making the World Safe for Democracy.

In this chapter, D'Souza outlines the principles behind Reagan's approach to totalitarian dictatorships -and the success those policies had throughout the world as dictatorship after dictatorship fell in places such as Central America, South America, Asia, and the Philippines. In this context, Reagan's policy towards Nicaragua and supporting the contras stands out as the brilliant policy that it was. Even Grenada's invasion in 1983 is noted as a significant milestone in foreign policy in that it was the death-knell of the Breshnev Doctrine. Those who are unfamiliar with the latter would do well to read this chapter.

---And the Wall Came Tumbling Down.

Much as the Reagonomics chapter built on the preceding supply side chapter, this one builds on the one that precedes it in dealing with Reagan's skills in negotiating an end to the Cold War. (Through arms reduction treaties and also standing firm against Soviet demands.) This is all material "conveniently" overlooked by modern revisionists. But as "ninety five percent of what is published on all things is hogwash" (A. Jones), this should hardly surprise.

---The Man Behind the Mask.

After dealing with the external effects of Reagan's policies on America and throughout the world, this one seeks to go into the man himself and deal with the many paradoxes that were Reagan. This section is essential for coming close to understanding Ronald Reagan the man.

---Spirit of a Leader.

This chapter deals with Reagan as a leader and also highlights his responses to some of the administrative controversies that occurred in his Administration. Subjects such as PATCO, Lybian jets firing on the USS Nimitz in late 1981, the visiting of the Bitberg cemetery in Germany in 1985, the Lybian bombing of a West Berlin discoteque in 1986 and the US response to it, Iran-contra, and other examples are covered here.

With regards to the latter, D' Souza deals well with Iran-contra. Unfortunately, he did not touch on the 240 odd Marines who died in Lebanon in 1983 as a result of a suicide bomber. Despite the many fabrications and exaggerations often conjured up by Reagan-despising historical revisionists, this was a definite policy blunder and it would have been good to cover here along with some of the others that D'Souza does note. Despite the brevity of this tome, that is not asking too much as it would provide a bit more balance in a work that on the whole is quite vindicating of Reagan's legacy as president and as a man.

---Epilogue: The Road Not Taken.

The epilogue essentially explains why the Republicans have for the most part been floundering without a firm sense of purpose since Reagan left office.

One interesting par of this book is D'Souza's approach which is geared quite obviously to setting the record straight in areas where it is often anything but. To do this, he often follows a pattern of outlining what Reagan's opponents said about his ideas and policies -buttressed with source citations from newspapers and magazines as well as books written by critics or adversaries- and then recounts Reagan's uncanny ability to confute his adversaries again and again. In that sense it reads like an apologetic but, in light of the mountains of lies and distortions that are fed the populace about Reagan and his policies, perhaps that approach is the best way of cutting through the rubbish and focusing on what really happened. (As opposed to what Reagan's opponents wish had happened.)

The subtitle of the paperback is "how an ordinary man became an extraordinary leader." Indeed that is what President Reagan was and no one who approaches the historical record who makes any pretense of objectivity can conclude otherwise. And this book well explains the many reasons why this was so.

"Anathema Sit" Dept.

Apparently John F word Kerry has had a libellus filed against him in the Ecclesiastical Court of Boston. The charge: heresy. You can read more about this HERE and visit the plaintiff's site HERE. Among other points noted in De Fide's statement of purpose is the following:

DE FIDE aims to stop the monumental scandal which has been ongoing for the past thirty-one years of baptized Catholic politicians claiming to be Christian while professing the life-threatening Right-to-Murder heresy.

The crisis is outrageous - it is completely unacceptable - it must be stopped. Otherwise, we, and our children, and our children's children stand more to lose than simply our lives: We risk losing our salvation.

Please help DE FIDE defend the Church and the Faith.

Despite some questioning of the potential fallout from this action viz. the upcoming election,{1} We at Rerum Novarum must nonetheless take into account the potential snowball effect this could cause in the Catholic Church for the public order and the common good of the Church in America{2} as well as the Church universal.{3} For that reason, We will be supporting this cause{4} even if it seems potentially Custerian of Us to do so. John F word Kerry: Anathema Sit!!!

Notes:

{1} We refer here to the possibility that this could help Kerry in recruiting other heretic, schismatic, and apostate Catholics to his cause by waving about the "Inquisition" red herring for the gullible masses to lap up like Jim Jones' Kool-Aid.

{2} There is also the possibility that this will mobilize many of the pro-life fence sitters to throw in for Bush who has a significantly better track record in this area than Kerry does.

{3} It is possible that this could start a worldwide trend amongst savvy prolife people.

{4} As one of Our earliest political and intellectual mentors Senator Barry Morris Goldwater of happy memory stated at the Republican Convention in 1964:

"Extremism in the pursuit of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."

Those who would question this approach can ask themselves if the "liberty" of the unborn has been adequately secured in the past thirty-one odd years or if it has been (to put if quite mildly) profoundly compromised by heretical traitors such as Kerry and company.

"Serendipity on Ice" Dept.

Among other offhand tasks, I am currently working on a review of Dinesh D' Souza's 1997 book on Ronald Reagan. This time though, the Amazon word limit will hopefully not be my enemy. (As the book is a shade under 300 pages and was an enjoyable couple of hours read.)

I do not know where those who write so many reviews for Amazon get the time to do it...those who write detailed reviews I mean. The plan is to have it done before the week is out and (of course) it will be posted to this weblog before it is put up at Amazon. As one who has not written a book review in eighteen months, the sudden nature of this endeavour is rather strange in light of my lack of time to actually do what I am doing (in my spare time).

I am guessing that it is the recent flareup of lividness with regards to Michael Goebbels Moore that has lit the fire under me to write a review for that book{1} but either way, it is getting done and will be done soon. (Hopefully before the week is out.)

Note:

{1} I may have to actually write that review for Ann Coulter's book Treason which I recall intending to do about ten months ago or so. While not as enjoyable a read as D' Souza's book, it was still very informative and (contra the sophisms of Al Franken) quite accurate. Nonetheless, that will be dealt with in the review if I can find the time to do it.

Exhausted web reads
Albert King solos wailing
My chai almost gone

Notification on Some Upcoming Weblog Post Subject Matter:
(And some links on Joseph Goebbels Reincarnated Michael Moore)

To start with, I plan to blog a bit in the coming week on the war, "traditionalism", "progressivism", possibly some more entries on Reagan, and perhaps on some other subjects.{1} In the meantime though , since a member of my family is so insistent that I watch Michael Moore's latest self-styled "documentary" with them,{2} it seems appropriate to provide the following sources as a public service to the readers of Rerum Novarum to balance out what the major media is not going to tell you about this steaming pile of manure "man."

Hatriotism and Michael Moore

The Moore Lies Archive

If you still have time to read this stuff (and are not sick of it yet), I offer the following as additional sources:

Bowling for Truth

Moorewatch

The last one I must admit has a disturbing subtitle of Watching Michael Moore's Every Move. Considering (i) Moore's ponderous girth and (ii) how much he must eat, I am not so sure I want to see his every move if you know what I mean.

With regards to the above links, I would say "happy reading" but Moore is the very embodiment of the kind of people I noted previously that I spit upon. In the meantime, We at Rerum Novarum extend Our support for Michael Wilson's Unfinished Project and exhort you all to do so in like manner. What's the matter Mikey Moore, afraid of a 17 year old kid interviewing you???

In closing, while par t of me feels that Michael Moore should be treated as the seditionist that he is, at the same time, I am confident that most people are reasonable enough to see through this crap with the appropriate guidance.

I emphasize guidance because I said that prior to the 1996 election also and was proven wrong back then.{3} For that reason, I am supplying some links for my readers despite my belief that they are (as a group) the most intelligent of weblog readers in the blogosphere and do not need said links supplied to them.{4}

[Update: Christopher Blosser informed me today that he now has a Michael Moore weblog. Also worth noting is Debbie Schlussel's review which is an effective dismantling of Moore's film. I definitely recommend printing out and sharing with others --and not only because she opens the review with one of my favourite dictums from Mark Twain. - ISM 6/28/04 11:58 am]

Notes:

{1} Most of the materials are already written and need to be formatted for posting.

{2} My comments last night by phone to this relative included the following question: "how about I watch that film with you and then afterwards we can watch some of Joseph Goebbels' filmwork together???" The response given was "sure" which prompted me to immediately respond with this question: "you do not know whom Joseph Goebbels was do you???"

Out of pity for those who vindicate Santayana's dictum on history, I revealed Goebbels' identity to this family member along with my view that I expected about as much truth from Moore's work as I do from Goebbels' movies or from the texts promulgated as "truth" by the Journal of Historical Review.

The coming days will reveal just how much of an impact the aforementioned statement has on this family member -who despite being very liberal is still much too smart to fall for Moore's drivel. I cannot be more disappointed in them for that reason so I shant reflect upon it much except when they bring the subject up again.

{3} Thankfully, when I made the same prediction in 2000 and 2002, it was vindicated both times. Time will tell if it holds up for 2004 as well.

{4} Call it an "insurance policy" if you will.

Points to Ponder:

An altered eye alters all things. [William Blake]

On Paul Johnson and the Worthless Human Debris Who Murdered Him:
(Musings of your humble servant at Rerum Novarum)

[WARNING: Any children or those with weak stomachs or sensitive eyes, kindly do not read this post. You have been warned. -ISM]

The beheading of another American ( Paul Johnson RIP) is an occasion to reiterate my previous notes on the beheading of Nick Berg and perhaps to further develop some of those points.

To start with, I need to note that the same essence of the message (and the same sentiments expressed therein) apply here for Paul Johnson and for the Johnson family as I noted there for Nick Berg and the Berg family. Among the views set forth back then on the subject (among other things) were the following:

I suppose we are still going to hear the hollow paens of "involving the UN" in the Iraq situation - the same UN who cannot even run a simple oil for food program without massive corruption. I suppose we are going to still hear the cheap rhetoric of "give peace a chance" and after all, if we simply reason with these people and if we show them we are nice people that they will be nice too and all will be well. No my friends, you do not deal with a rabid disease infested dog that attacks you with kind words or idle threats. You deal with such an animal by shooting it. Likewise, these vile people need to be dealt with.

Of course in some quarters this kind of approach towards these vile specimens has continued. Now inasmuch as extreme liberalism is a mental disorder and not a philosophy in its own right,{1} I can at least understand their idiocy.

For so many of those kinds of people are mentally ill and are to be pitied more than anything. The problem is, not all who take this approach are extreme liberals. There are also some who are generally speaking quite "on the ball" in political and social issues who fall into this trap.{2} Those are the people to which I cannot pity -even when I number them among my friends and/or associates. They are smart enough and they should know better. But I digress.

I already dealt with why what was outlined previously at this weblog does not conflict with the Church's teaching on the death penalty --not to mention why my previously enunciated stance on the war effort was likewise the proper position to be taking. (And further still, why it did not conflict with Church teaching.){3} In the meantime, it is worth noting that the evidence reinforcing my position on the war (as enunciated in February of 2003) has only been increasing over the months and here is another piece for you to mull over. Kindly take a moment and view these pictures:

Pictures of Paul Johnson's Beheading

As I see it, stake burning is too good for the worthless excuses for "people" who would do such a thing to another human being. Even serial murderers do not deserve this kind of death. I am sick and tired of seeing the United States government pussyfoot around on this matter: find these dregs of humanity and wipe them off the face of the earth.

DO NOT TALK TO ME ABOUT REMEDIES FOR THE DISEASE OR PREVENTION MEASURES WITH PEOPLE WHO HAVE NO CONSCIENCES!!! THEY ARE BEYOND BEING REASONED WITH!!! Give them only enough time to commend their souls to whatever their twisted view of "God" is and then destroy them. Then and only then will you have any hope of a long-term peaceful solution.{4}

For that is the only way these kinds of people can be "reasoned with." The only "reasoning" they can do is at the most instinctive survival-level and our message there should be clear: if you kill civilians you will be killed and your remains buried in pig entrails. That will not only take care of them in this life but also in the next.{5}

Once these people are hit where they will hurt -meaning making examples of some of them as noted above- they will be far more likely to stop thinking that they can get away with what they are currently getting away with. And upon achieving that paradigm shift in the actions of these animals (if not their outlooks), then we can focus more on the "transforming society in ways that neutralize or otherwise inhibit the likely formation of such individuals" subject matter.

The above talk is fine in its proper season. However, it is not that season at this time. And Sacred Scripture is clear that there are times and seasons for everything:

All things have their season, and in all their times all things pass under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal; a time to destroy and a time to build...A time to rend and a time to sow; a time to keep silent and a time to speak. A time of love and a time of hatred; a time of war and a time of peace. (Ecclesiastes iii,1-3; 7-9).

In other words, the idea that there is never a time for war, a time to kill, or a time for hatred is false. We are at war with sub-animals and we cannot reason with them. They either want us to convert to their perverted notion of "religion" and worship their perverted notion of "God" or they will kill us. This has been explicitly stated by them and they have been demonstrating this intention for some time now -the latest example of which was Paul Johnson (may he rest in peace).

Wake up you self-anointed "activists" with your blind and irrational hatred of George Walker Bush. Your position is not only illogical but further: it is idiotic and plays Russian roulette with this nation's national security. You would compromise the safety of American citizens for the sake of political advantage in an election. For that, I spit on you!!!{6}

For as arduous and annoying as this election season is (and will be), one thing is clear as crystal to this writer: President Bush, despite his many problems is the only major presidential candidate who understands the nature of the enemy that we are facing and what they are capable of.{7} That is information that should be first and foremost in the minds of anyone interested in their survival and the safety of their nation when they step into that voting booth.

For those who claim they will "not be voting", I remind you that half a loaf (Bush) is better than no loaf at all (Kerry) and that Catholic teaching recognizes this principle throughout its social corpus.{8} The most fundamental factor involved in this conflict is our survival. And if this country is not kept safe, then all your rantings for your precious agenda items are in vain because should we lose, the Islamofascists would not care a whit about your precious "causes". It is that simple really.

In closing, if the savage beheading of American civilians by rabid infested subhuman debris is not enough to get self-styled "activists" to wake from their pathetic Vietnam-era pretensions and face reality, I have to wonder what it will take. And if they think people like me will wait around for them to finally "get it", I have some ocean front property in Arizona to sell them. That is all for now.

Notes:

{1} Credit for this apt analogy goes to radio talk host and best selling author Michael Savage.

{2} I will not mention names here for the sake of keeping this focused on issues and not personalities. However, those of you to whom the shoe fits...you know who you are!!!

{3} Seethe aforementioned Rerum Novarum post on Nick Berg and his murderers for those details and the other mentioned archive links.

{4} Without strength, there can be no peace: this is what history has shown us in many lurid colours over the millennias.

Mankind has not changed in the sense that bullies will ever actually refrain from picking on those whom they perceive as being weak or unwilling to fight. That is what we are seeing with Al Queda sorts who see America as being weak in will and unwilling to stand up for herself. That perception has to be changed and it needed to be changed yesterday.

{5} As it will screw them out of their seventy-odd virgins in the afterlife: thus making their life a hell on both sides of the eschaton.

{6} I would say more but I think you can imagine what might be said.

{7} I am thinking of making two bumperstickers that would read as follows:

--- "Support Al Queda: Vote for John Kerry for President in 2004"

---"Support Islamofascism: Abstain from Voting in 2004."

Anyone who wants to beat me to the punch on those slogans, by all means feel free to use them without concern for proper crediting. For my concern for the common good overrides everything else in this war. (And what is important is the message, not the one delivering it.)

{8} As my late father used to astutely note about voting, "those who do not vote have no credible grounds for complaint later on." I for one happen to concur with that view.

The following is probably the best non-Catholic commentary on Trent Session VI that I have ever read:

Reversing Babylon: A Calvinist Reading of the Tridentine Doctrine of Merit - Rev. Michael J. Pahls

For those who set the constitutions, declarations, and decrees of Vatican II in the "ambiguous" category while presuming that the canons and decrees of Trent are "perspicuous" or otherwise "crystal clear" in their elucidation of doctrine, this will not be easy reading for you. Of course those of you who are familiar with my work on "traditionalist" related magisterial exegesis --either in essay form or on one of my weblogs-- will not be surprised by this factor at all.

A "Politically Correct" Pledge of Allegience:

This was thrown together rather quickly so it may need some tweaking later on. Nonetheless...

I pledge allegience to the ACLU
of the racist and homophobic nation of America.

And to the Supreme Court who invents the laws
Many nations, possibly under a Supreme Being{1}
Divisible, with multiculturalism and diversity for all.

As for liberty and justice, I pledge belief in them for those who agree with the ACLU and the Supreme Court.

And I pledge belief in liberty and justice also for all those whose existence is not judged to be worthless or inconvenient{2} by others who are judged by the ACLU or the Supreme Court to be of greater worth.

Notes:

{1} Or just the UN.

{2} As in the case of fetal unviable tissue masses and anyone so old that they are judged by the ACLU and the Supreme Court to be *useless* members of society.

"Cohiba Ergo Sum" Dept.
(A Rerum Novarum Double Slam)

Much as in the case of Christopher Blosser, another personage of the blogosphere who does not post enough is The Curmudgeon.{1} The following are his two most recent entries to the Disturber of the Peace BLOG. Just a sampling though, you have to click on the links for the rest...

AL QUEDA'S USEFUL IDIOTS:

At Least One Columnist 'Gets It' About Islamo-Fascism

In his very thoughtful column yesterday at National Review Online, Victor David Hanson addresses a central Western liberal attitude which will inevitably lead to the demise of the West if something isn't done to reverse it.

The West, especially Europe, says Hanson, has been playing into the hands of Al Queda and other militant Islamist threats through self-loathing combined with ignorantly regarding them as mere nutcases and unthinking fanatics who 'don't understand' us. On the contrary, he asserts, they understand us all too well, and perhaps better than we understand ourselves.

Uh oh.

And that is what makes them so dangerous, on some level even more dangerous than the Nazis and the USSR were...For more on this, please click HERE.

Have they been reading Sun Tzu's Ancient Art of War on the importance of understanding one's enemy as well as themselves???{2} This writer for one certainly hopes not.

The essential difference between the USSR and the Nazis and these terrorist sorts is that many of the latter believe they are fighting for God. And that is what makes them (in this writer's view) significantly more dangerous.{3}

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY FOR WHOM?

Political Correctness and the Coming Death of the First Amendment

Dr. James Hitchcock, a professor of history at St. Louis University, notes some scary trends here and in the rest of the West which bode ill for the survival of freedom of conscience and religion -at least for those whose consciences are religious in orientation.

In an his weekly column titled Religious Liberty for Whom? Hitchcock cites some examples of how liberal government officials here and abroad have been increasingly trampling on the rights of Christians and other religious people who refuse to walk in lockstep with whatever guilt-and-envy-driven public policy comes down the pike...For more on this, please click HERE.

I wish I could say I was surprised but alas, I am not.

Notes:

{1} The Curmudgeon is a regular contributor to comments boxes at various message boards. See this thread for some examples. (For the record, this writer sides with The Curmudgeon on the subject he is discussing here contra Mark Shea.)

{2} Thus, here are five factors from which victory can be known: (1) One who knows when he can fight, and when he cannot fight, will be victorious; (2) One who recognizes how to employ both large and small numbers will be victorious; (3) One whose upper and lower ranks have the same desires will be victorious; (4) One who, fully prepared, awaits the unprepared will be victorious; (5) One whose general is capable and not interfered by the ruler will be victorious.

These five factors are the Way (Tao) to know victory.

Thus it is said that one who knows the enemy and knows himself will not be endangered in a hundred engagements. One who does not know the enemy but knows himself will sometimes be victorious, sometimes meet with defeat. One who does not know the enemy and does not know himself will invariably be defeated in every engagement. [Sun Tzu: Ancient Art of War Chapter III on Planning Offenses (c. 2500 BC)]

{3} The danger comes from the warped notion of "God" that these sorts of people possess.

"JunkYard BLOG" Dept.
(A Rerum Novarum Quadruple Slam)

It has been a long time since a JYB update thread made to this humble weblog. Nonetheless, in light of the recent report of "no connection between Al Queda and Iraq by the Elect Kerry Campaign so-called "9/11 commission" and the play it is getting in the press,{1} it seems time to address these assertions. We at Rerum Novarum defer on that matter to the JYB where the following entries (among others) have been blogged:

THE ABU GHRAIB BAIT AND SWITCH

As I predicted weeks ago, the Abu Ghraib scandal is the one line of attack available to everyone who opposed the Iraq war--the Western left, Democrat demagogues the likes of Ted Kennedy and Joe Biden, the press, and most obviously the terrorists themselves--that has any chance of succeeding. And because it has a chance of succeeding, it is being pursued with untrammeled vigor. I'm sure Biden and Kennedy and their allies can see the top of the hill they're climbing now, unmindful or uncaring that their possession of that hill all but dictates that we lose the war in Iraq and on terrorism itself. That's fine with them, as long as anybody but Bush is in the White House this time next year.

The latest round of the Abu Ghraib abuse-a-thon has to do with the Justice Department memos written up presumably for the Attorney General and President's consideration in the wake of 9-11. Gleeful Democrat Senators have adopted a slashing [technique] of demanding the Attorney General's testimony before their committees, then mocking each of his answers to all of their questions. They are also, in the process, pulling a bait and switch.

They are holding up Justice memos that suggest, correctly, that al Qaeda terrorists are not subject to treatment under the Geneva Conventions because in their techniques, their tactics and their mode of dress have taken themselves outside Geneva's strictures and therefore its protections. Those memos are then being used to suggest that they created policy that became the abuse in Abu Ghraib...For more on this posting, please go HERE.

If you read nothing else in this post, read everything Bryan wrote word for word on the Abu Ghraib subject -as he is as on target as he possibly can be.{2} Moving on we find this interesting piece on the war and who is winning it:

WHO'S WINNING THE WAR IN IRAQ?

To listen to our press, not only are we losing the war, but because of Abu Ghraib we deserve to lose. To listen to terrorist Abu al Zarqawi, though, we're handily winning the war in Iraq:

Al Qaida's most dangerous operative, Abu Musab al Zarqawi, has personally warned terror kingpin Osama bin Laden that his troops are under intensifying pressure from U.S. forces in Iraq and prospects for a terrorist victory look bleak.

A purported letter from Zarqawi to bin Laden, posted to Islamic web sites Monday night, complains that al Qaida fighters in Iraq are being "squeezed" by U.S.-led coalition forces, the Associated Press said...For more on this posting, please go HERE.

Bryan's noting of how this dispatch -whether it is authentic or a forgery- is a win-win for us is worth reflecting upon.

And with the question of WMD's in mind, the following post is of interest:

Another interesting story on the discovery of some of Saddam's weapons cache in junkyards other than this blog. That this information is coming from Blix-free UNMOVIC is startling. UNMOVIC is mad at the US, yet is essentially making our case for war for us. And the Bush administration isn't seizing the moment for some bizarre reason. I just don't get that at all.

So let's get this straight--Saddam Hussein ran one of the most odious regimes on earth. He loved terrorists--kept several of them as pets in Baghdad. Yeah, he put one of them to sleep right before the war, but probably only to keep him from falling into our hands and ratting him out.

Czech intelligence insists to this very day that 9-11 hijacker Mohammed Atta met an Iraqi intel agent in Prague in 2001 a few months before the attacks. The press has fabricated stories that try to knock down the Praque connection, but the Czechs still insist it's true. And there's a whole book on the subject of Saddam and al Qaeda. Yet the 9-11 Whitewash Commission's final report insists that Saddam and al Qaeda didn't tango. Sorry, not buying it.

When that Commission gets testimony from one of the most relevant players in the intel/law enforcement scene--Jamie Gorelick--it will regain about 10% of its lost credibility. Until that time, I will consider that Commission to have been full of sound and fury, but signifying not a thing.

Its final report is worse than useless as a national security document--it is counterproductive. And not just because it states a case it can't prove (the lack of an Iraq-al Qaeda connection), but because the Commission went out of its way to keep a tainted member of its little unity cult on board when she clearly had a conflict of interest...For more on this posting, please go HERE.

Scratch my previous statement, this one is essential reading too. Bryan goes into an interesting theory on Saudia Arabia being among the next targets of Al Queda and notes similarities between this election and 1992. Both are worth a read.

Finally, Bryan's post on "fighting the lie" is short and sweet so it will be posted here in its entirety. Those who are interested in the truth would be wise to do as he outlines:

FIGHT THE LIE

I don't normally include action items in posts, but in this case I'm going to. Here's the thing--the persistent lie that Bush lied about Iraq's WMDs in order to get the American people to support the war has reached the status of Established Truth. It is, however, a lie. And there is a simple and effective way to counter it.

So, in order to counter it, I'm going to ask you to do two things, neither of which will take up much time. The first assignment is to bring up a Google search window and type in three words: Clinton Iraq 1998. Once you run that search, you will find a treasure trove of quotes from the ancien regime regarding Iraq and the reasons Saddam should be pushed off a cliff.

Poke around in the stories you will find, and you will find yourself illuminated on the subject of Iraq's WMD programs like never before. You will read Madeline Albright arguing that the United States should attack Iraq, and you will read Sandy Berger and William Cohen--Clinton administration figures all--agreeing with her.

You will read a tantalizing quote from Berger arguing that pre-emption is a proper doctrine in a world in which stateless terrorism has become the number one national security threat.

I want you to remember that search string--Clinton Iraq 1998. For good measure, you can add Ohio State to it and you'll zero in on an episode you've probably forgotten.

In February of 1998, the Clinton administration tried and failed to take America to war in Iraq. The hard left denounced them at the time for running a racist war. The hard left always plays the race card, even when the action of ousting Saddam results in freeing millions of people with brown skin.

You will need this information in the coming months. Whenever you run across someone who maintains that Bush lied, give them the search string. If you can, sit down with them and run the search with them and make sure they read at least one or two of the stories it finds. You will impress your family and amaze your friends, and you just might change a mind or two.

Fight the lie!

Notes:

{1} And even by some who are good friends of this humble weblog.

{2} It is also worth noting thatt this JYB post was highly recommended by one of Our favourite columnists in the media: Michelle Malkin.

Apparently she has a weblog now which will soon be in the recommended list of predominantly political weblogs at this humble weblog. At least that is this writer's prediction on the matter...

It would be remiss on the part of this humble weblog not to note that Against the Grain has many good threads as of late. Here are a few that We found of particular interest:

---To start with, there is a story on Cardinal Ratzinger who apparently wants to slap around genteely meet with US bishops to discuss the issue of distributing communion to politicians.We lead off with a Ratzinger story to remind you folks that Against the Grain is your best source for Ratzinger information this side of Zenit.

---There is also a good piece on the conversion of Canon Edward Norman. This guy apparently is an ecclesial historian and the chancellor of York Minster. In three words: heap big fish.

And of course the following one:

---In light of the many would-be "philosophers" that permeate cyberspace, Christopher notes a milestone anniversary of one of the most gifted philosophers in recent centuries.

As one of the favourite stops of this weblog writer, the more frequent blogging by Against the Grain of course pleases Us greatly. The above examples are just a few offerings and are by no means the only ones worth reviewing while you are there.

The Haloscan software at the Lidless Eye weblog and the Rerum Novarum Comments blog{1} has been upgraded. This was done to do away with that absurd 1000 character limit...yes my friends, I basically snapped and decided to fix that problem once and for all.

What that means essentially is this: I paid Haloscan to jazz up my Haloscan account -which should include removing character limits to responses. Worry not, there will be no monetary blegging on my part: only the request that people handle this new freedom of sorts responsibly and make their interactions with others on the threads interesting.

Oh, and if you could say some prayers for the repose of the soul of my father, that would be greatly appreciated.

Note:

{1} For those who are interested, I will be discussing a side of my philosophical weltanschauung in the comments box at the Rerum Novarum Comments weblog that thus far has not been directly dealt with at Rerum Novarum or my other weblogs.

The following is a poem written by a good friend of mine. I post it here because it has become very difficult to talk with them in recent months and as a way of letting them know that I am thinking of them at the present time. I hope I have posted it with the right couplet divisions -if not I will allow the author of the work to correct me on the matter.

Jesus Christ I might as well be dead

If I can't see how dangerous it must feel to be

Training human cogs for the machine

Without some shell-shocked lunatic like me

Bombarding their still soft shores

With sticks and stones that were lying around

In the pile of unspeakable feelings I'd found

And I turned back the stone

Turned over the stone

Of my own disappointment

Back home

Monitum on Recent Weblog Activity and Upcoming Subjects for Discussion:

The Lidless Eye Inquisition weblog has been active in recent days with posts from both myself as well as Apolonio Latar. I plan to add the third installment to the thread I was working on either today or tomorrow. (It is done but needs to be formatted properly.)

In the meantime, some poetry from a friend and discussion of a late mentor of mine are on the burner for the upcoming posts. I may also interact with some of the stupid gripes that unthinking liberal loons have about President Reagan in the coming weeks as well.

Please pray for the eternal repose of the soul of my beloved father Richard Dunn McElhinney. Today is the third anniversary of his passing.



Eternal rest grant unto his soul oh Lord and may thy perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace with all the souls of the faithfully departed. Amen..

On the UN and Their Latest Abomination:
(Musings of your humble servant at Rerum Novarum)

The moral bankruptcy of the UN is something that has hardly been a secret to those who have been paying attention the past four odd decades. I will save on noting here a litany of UN failures in the past sixty years to achieve anything of note in the area of world peace. That is not to say that they are completely worthless but it is "kicking against the goad" in my view to argue against the proposition that their value has steadily declined since at least the early 1970's.

Despite many failings nonetheless, the popes have sought to allow for some degree of UN involvement in the world affairs -in part because the UN was viewed as integral to the post WWII community of nations.{1}

Despite these noble intentions however, the events in recent decades have gradually snowballed to the point that even the Vatican is beginning to have second thoughts about the UN's usefulness.{2} In the abstract of course, it works fine but reality is what must be focused on. And surely this latest charade against the Catholic Church will provide more ammunition for those who want the UN torpedoed and replaced.{3}

Nonetheless, The Curt One astutely remarked upon blogging on this subject that [t]his is the same tactic Margaret Sanger used. For her "Negro Project" she got liberal black pastors to preach the message of birth control. That the UNFPA can publish a report like this just shows you what the culture of the UN is like. Frankly, I can find nothing of disagreement there.

Jeff continued by asking if we [c]ould...imagine the outcry if a Vatican document was uncovered that planned to subvert UN programs to promote the moral views of the Catholic Church? I am reminded of some emails I wrote to a private discussion list in recent days on the subject of hypocrisy. Certainly Jeff is right to note that it applies here and in spades at that.

He finally notes that [t]his document should provoke anger by all, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Admittedly I am not outraged by this. However, that is because I suspected this kind of stuff all along. I have hope that with the availability of information now compared to past years{4} that notifications of this kind of crap is more easily circulatable to the masses. Certainly at Rerum Novarum we will do our part by noting it here. My request is for those who want to rip down the UN completely is to have a viable alternative in mind. As at the very least it is obvious that a thorough reform of the UN is needed, in that vein the questions I have are as follows:

---Can enough of a groundswell be generated to bring such a proposal to fruition???

---Is there an individual or group out there who can take this on as their pet cause behind which the masses of people (such as those of us who favour such an approach) can rally???

As the old saying goes "inquiring minds want to know..."


Notes:

{1} And in part because it provided a structure for potentially integrating Catholic social teachings into the world consciousness.

{2} Including Pope John Paul II calling for a new international arrangement of sorts earlier this year.

{3} And of course the conspiracy theorists who think the UN is responsible for everything except bad breath will have more ammunition too. However, their lack of a serious alternative renders their views easily dismissible - a position that I remind you is coming from a former conspiracy theorist at that.

{4} Such as the internet and (of course) the blogosphere.

More on the Passing of President Reagan:

Shawn:

Hello Greg.

I see that you blogged my message to you the other day about the passing of President Reagan.

Yes, I did.

I also noticed that you didn't blog what I said about Reagan being the closest (or at least one of the closest) thing America has ever had to a real Catholic president, his being non-Catholic notwithstanding.

I was in a rush at the time and had to be selective in what I blogged. The omission was not because I disagreed with that assessment mind you.

When one studies "Reaganomics" and its practical effects, we could charge Reagan with plagarizing Leo XIII and Pius XI's social encyclicals and get a conviction even from the O.J. jury (ok, expecting a conviction from the O.J. jury may be stretching it a bit may be stretching it a bit, but you get the point).

You omitted mention of John XXIII's social encyclical Pacem et Terris which (as you know) is heavily suffused with not only the thought of John XXIII but also Pius XII.{1}

The central facet of "Reaganomics" was that economics could not viewed through the lense of a "Wall Street v. Main Street" dichotomy. Catholic condemnation of this kind of class warfare goes back as least as far as Pope Clement I:

"The strong must take care of the weak; the weak must look up to the strong. The rich must provide for the poor.The poor must thank God for giving him someone to meet his needs.(Letter to the Corinthians A.D. 96 #38)"

Heck, we could take this back to at least St. Paul if not earlier:

I charge you to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ; and this will be made manifest at the proper time by the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. As for the rich in this world, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on uncertain riches but on God who richly furnishes us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good deeds, liberal and generous, thus laying up for themselves a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life which is life indeed. O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you. Avoid the godless chatter and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge, for by professing it some have missed the mark as regards the faith. Grace be with you. [1 Timothy vi,14-21]

I need not surely point out the Scriptural exhortations against greed which can apply to the poor as much as to the rich.{3}With regards to the rich "giving generously", need we point out that charitable contributions during the 1980's were significantly higher than they were in the 1970's??? A good reason for this is that people keeping more of their own money had more with which to give to others. That is part and parcel to supply-side economics: a subject that I once defended before a class of mostly liberal students (and a liberal teacher) in college interestingly enough.{2} But I digress.

Ronald Reagan is often called an optimist. But he was more than just an optimist. He was a realist.

Precisely.

He was the kind of realist that not only saw the glass as half full, but half empty as well. He understood better than anybody the dangers we faced and the grave risks entailed in confronting those dangers. But, laboring under his fundamental understanding of good vs. evil and that the good would ultimately win out, he had a positive view of that reality.

Agreed. Indeed though I have confuted the idea before that George W. Bush is another Reagan, in one respect they have a common ground. That is, just as Reagan saw communism for what it really was,{4} President Bush understands the true nature of the enemy we are currently facing in the war on terror. May the Lord grant to President Reagan an abundance of mercy and bring him into the perpetual light. I have a feeling that Reagan's departure at this time will be a benefit to the war on terror -hopefully as an intercessor from beyond time and space.

That's all for now.

Yes but I intend to revisit these themes later on.

Notes:

{1} Indeed I am of the view that Pacem et Terris would not have been possible without recourse to numerous allocutions and other magisterial pronouncements of Pope Pius XII.

{2} The college itself was like a mini-Kremlin in some respects. With regards to the defense, interestingly enough, by the end of it I had won the bulk of the class (and the teacher) over to the concept of supply-side economics. Only then did I mention that it was the backbone of the Reagan economic approach :)

{3} Blessed [are] the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. lessed [are] they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. lessed [are] the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed [are] they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.Blessed [are] the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed [are] the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessed [are] the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed [are] they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. [Matthew: v,3-10]

{4} And Reagan took a lot of flak for it from the communist sympathizers and appeasers in Congress and the major media in doing so I might add.

Another experimental weblog of sorts.

Another Anniversary:
(And a Quick Shameless Plug As Well)

Today is the fourth anniversary of the debut on the weeb of my treatise A Prescription Against 'Traditionalism'.{1} The date coincides with the 60th Anniversary of D-Day not by accident: a situation which gives me an opportunity to speak on that subject. I will probably later in the week blog more on that issue as time allows.{2} Right now, to deal with two birds with on e post so to speak, I direct you to the late President Reagan's speech at Omaha Beach on the 40th Anniversary of D-Day. May that great president (and the heroic men who lost their lives on that day) rest in peace.

Notes:

{1} Tomorrow will (of course) be the fourth anniversary of certain so-called "traditionalists" trashing the piece before they even read it. And for those who wonder about this, I will simply note at this time that yes, I happen to know some of the parties involved in that kind of behaviour who later tried to pretend to my face that they were "interested" in the very work they were trashing unread behind my back. (Literally within hours of the work's release.) But I digress.

{2} Right now though, thoughts of Ronald Wilson Reagan (one of my earliest intellectual mentors viz. politics) and his recent passing is heavily on my mind. (That is another subject I will blog on in the coming weeks.))