Memory Eternal

Patriarch +Kirill asks Irish President for equal status to the Roman Catholic Church

Moscow, September 10, Interfax - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia at the meeting with President of Ireland Mary McAlleese discussed the question of changing status of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ireland and registering it as a Church, not a charitable organization.

"His Holiness the Patriarch talked to the President and raised the issue of giving the Russian Orthodox Church a registration in some respect similar to the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland. It's a very important task," head of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations communication service Fr. Georgy Zavershinsky told an Interfax-Religion correspondent commenting results of the meeting.

Fr. Georgy explained that parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in many Western European countries are registered as charitable communities alongside with other religious or even sectarian communities. Today the Russian Church has such kind of registration in Ireland and in Great Britain.

The President offered to conduct bilateral consultations for discussing this topic at the level of ministries or if needed prime ministers.

"It is an important moment, as far as I know there are few such precedents in Western countries," Fr. Georgy stressed.

Today the Russian Orthodox Church has five parishes and about 1500 parishioners in Ireland.

Source

Russians request restoration of the Imperial Double Eagle to the Kremlin Spasskaya Tower

Moscow, September 10, Interfax - Participants of the Vozvrascheniye (Return) public movement turned to the Russian President with the request to take away a five-point star from the Kremlin Spasskaya Tower and to set up a double-headed eagle there.

"We're convinced that now after returning an icon of the Savior, it is necessary to erect a double-headed eagle - state emblem of new Russia - to the Spasskaya Tower," activists said in their address conveyed to Interfax-Religion on Friday.

They remind that on October 24 it will be exactly 75 years since the day when a double-headed eagle was thrown down from the Spasskaya Tower where it had been located from mid 17th century.

Recent opening of the icon over gates of the Spasskaya Tower that was covered with plaster for long decades gave a reason for such address.

Meanwhile, the museum community is skeptical about the idea to change stars for eagles on the Kremlin towers. "This theme appears sporadically. But will we return the lost Russia by setting up eagles to the towers? Moreover, they will be newly made," deputy general director of the Moscow Kremlin museums Andrey Batalov told Izvestia paper this August.

"I will express my private opinion: it will turn Red Square and the Kremlin into pseudo historic cacophony, where, on one side, we have concerts and motocycle races on the Vasilyevsky slope right in front of St. Basil's Cathedral of Russian stars and on the other side - Lenin's mausoleum, a man who destroyed the Russian Empire," Batalov said.

He stressed that "starts have also become historic - they symbolize the existing image of the Kremlin."

Source

Supreme Court: Justice Kagan has recused herself from 21 cases

When President Obama nominated Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court in May, we and many others reported out that she’d likely have to recuse herself from a handful of cases for the upcoming term.

The reason: she was the Solicitor General for the U.S. So she’d be conflicted on a number of cases, having already served as an advocate on many of them.

But we never dreamed that Kagan would recuse herself from half the cases for the upcoming term. But it seems that’s where we are, at least for now. Kagan this week, in the words of National Law Journal reporter Tony Mauro, “quietly” recused herself from 10 more cases to be argued in the upcoming term. That brings the number of cases from which she’s recused herself to 21. As Mauro points out, that’s more than half of the 40 cases the court has so far agreed to hear.

Read the rest here.

San Bruno Blast

A massive explosion and fire in San Bruno California has killed at least four people, seriously injured more than 50 others and leveled or burned dozens of homes. Full coverage here. Reports now indicate that complaints of a gas leak were made to PG&E days ago. Needless to say it's still early and details are fuzzy. But it does appear safe to make one prediction. Between this catastrophe which will likely be laid at the door of PG&E and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, blamed largely on BP, it's shaping up to be a banner year for trial lawyers.

Prayers for those affected.

Some perspective

Image via the Young Fogey

The xenophobic hysteria which seems to be sweeping the country lately (or at least the internet) is frankly more than a little disturbing. To whit I think the Florida pastor planning on burning the Quran is a selfish obnoxious idiot who doesn't seem to care that his grandstanding could get people hurt or killed. Yes, the overwhelming majority of Muslims are no more violent than ordinary Christian Americans. But just as we have our psuedo Christian violent groups (the KKK, Aryan Nation etc.) they have theirs. However there are people who are enthusiastically cheering him on. So let me pose the question...

What is the objective?

Are we going to convert any Muslims by burning their sacred book? Who knows. But I will simply note that in my entire life I have never once met anyone, or even heard of anyone, converted by insulting them.

If conversion (which is the ultimate commission we all have as Christians) is not the objective, then what exactly is it? Is it simply intended to insult or strike back at 1.6 billion people who this man perceives are his enemies? If so, where does Scripture command us to return evil for evil (granting for the sake of argument that all Muslims are in fact our enemies)? Is it his intention to declare a sort of Holy War against Islam and all Muslims? And if so, who exactly gave him the authority to do that? Clearly 99% of the Muslim world does not see itself as being at war with us, although many of them have profound religious differences with us, something that I fully reciprocate.

Long time readers of this blog will note that I have been a frequent and severe critic of Islam. But that is a far cry from condoning an act that will be seen as deliberate sacrilege. Many of the same people who are cheering this man on have been appalled when in the past someone of another, or no religious faith acquired a piece of consecrated Communion from an Orthodox or more usually a Catholic Church and desecrated it. I respectfully submit that this is no different except in our obvious differences in identifying the sacred.

Finally, we are clealry commanded to do all things in love. Where is the love in this act? If someone is going to contend that this is motivated in some way by love and charity you are going to have a tough sell here. I see only malice and hatred.

As an American who has no wish to see the government interfere in matters of religion (that is a slippery slope), I respect his right to burn the Quran. As I have said many times, in America everyone has an absolute right to be a damn fool, even an obnoxious damn fool. Just as I have the right to let them know that they are fools. But I do think it is sad when some poor kid trying to get money for college might have to take a bullet in order to protect that fool's rights. They do not constitute even an insignificant percentage of the world's Muslim population. But yes, there are dangerous fanatics with guns who will take it upon themselves to return this gesture with violence.

First living Medal of Honor recipient since Vietnam

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama will award the first Medal of Honor to go to a living service member who fought in the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta served as a rifle team leader during combat operations in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley. The White House says Giunta went beyond the call of duty during an October 2007 attack when he exposed himself to enemy fire to pull a comrade back to cover. When he later noticed two insurgents carrying away another fellow solider, Giunta engaged the enemy, killing one and wounding the other before providing medical aid to the wounded U.S. soldier.

Obama spoke with Giunta Thursday to inform him he would receive the nation's highest military honor.

Source

Judge: "Don't ask don't tell" is unconstitutional

The “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy toward gay members of the military is unconstitutional, a federal judge in California ruled Thursday.

Judge Virginia A. Phillips of Federal District Court struck down the rule in an opinion issued late in the day. The policy was signed into law in 1993 as a compromise that would allow gay and lesbian soldiers to serve in the military.

The rule limits the military’s ability to ask about the sexual orientation of service members, and allows homosexuals to serve, as long as they do not disclose their orientation and do not engage in homosexual acts.

The plaintiffs challenged the law under the Fifth and First Amendments to the Constitution, and Judge Phillips agreed.

“The 'don’t ask, don’t tell' act infringes the fundamental rights of United States service members in many ways,” she wrote. “In order to justify the encroachment on these rights, defendants faced the burden at trial of showing the 'don’t ask, don’t tell' act was necessary to significantly further the government’s important interests in military readiness and unit cohesion. Defendants failed to meet that burden.”

The rule, she wrote in an 86-page opinion, has a “direct and deleterious effect” on the armed services.

Read the rest here.

Purely on a side; what is it with the press and their love affair with one sentence paragraphs? Were these people not required to take (and pass) high school English before being admitted to journalism school?

Seriously folks, is anyone surprised?

For nearly every New Yorker who has received a summons in the city — caught at a checkpoint monitoring seat-belt use, or approached by a small army of police officers descending on illegally parked cars — quotas are a maddening fact of life.

No matter how often the Police Department denies the existence of quotas, many New Yorkers will swear that officers are sometimes forced to write a certain number of tickets in a certain amount of time.

Now, in a secret recording made in a police station in Brooklyn, there is persuasive evidence of the existence of quotas.

The hourlong recording, which a lawyer provided this week to The New York Times, was made by a police supervisor during a meeting in April of supervisors from the 81st Precinct.

The recording makes clear that precinct leaders were focused on raising the number of summonses issued — even as the Police Department had already begun an inquiry into whether crime statistics in that precinct were being manipulated.

The Police Department’s chief spokesman, Paul J. Browne, did not respond Thursday to three e-mails and three phone calls requesting comments on the tape. He was sent extensive excerpts from the recording.

On the tape, a police captain, Alex Perez, can be heard warning his top commanders that their officers must start writing more summonses or face consequences. Captain Perez offered a precise number and suggested a method. He said each officer on a day tour should write 20 summonses a week: five each for double-parking, parking at a bus stop, driving without a seat belt and driving while using a cellphone.

“You, as bosses, have to demand this and have to count it,” Captain Perez said, citing pressure from top police officials. At another point, Captain Perez emphasized his willingness to punish officers who do not meet the targets, saying, “I really don’t have a problem firing people.”

Read the rest here.

Serbians in Kosovo may seek Russian citizenship for protection

Via Fr. Milovan:

Leader of a Serbian group in Kosovo has said that Kosovo Serbs will seek Russian citizenship if Serbia agrees to the EU brokered UN Resolution in which it will abdicate its sovereignty over Kosovo.

“If that resolution gets accepted and Serbia’s President Tadic accepts it without the agreement from Russia, we will initiate a drive to have the Russian citizenship granted to Serbs in Kosovo because Russia knows how to shield its citizens no matter where they live,” said Milan Ivanovic, leader of the Serbian National Committee for the Northern Kosovo.

Read the rest here.

Beware of Greeks Bearing Bonds

Father Arsenios at the Vatopaidi monastery, overlooking the Aegean Sea, in Mount Athos, Greece. He is considered by many to be Vatopaidi’s C.F.O., “the real brains of the operation.”

As Wall Street hangs on the question “Will Greece default?,” the author heads for riot-stricken Athens, and for the mysterious Vatopaidi monastery, which brought down the last government, laying bare the country’s economic insanity. But beyond a $1.2 trillion debt (roughly a quarter-million dollars for each working adult), there is a more frightening deficit. After systematically looting their own treasury, in a breathtaking binge of tax evasion, bribery, and creative accounting spurred on by Goldman Sachs, Greeks are sure of one thing: they can’t trust their fellow Greeks.

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After an hour on a plane, two in a taxi, three on a decrepit ferry, and then four more on buses driven madly along the tops of sheer cliffs by Greeks on cell phones, I rolled up to the front door of the vast and remote monastery. The spit of land poking into the Aegean Sea felt like the end of the earth, and just as silent. It was late afternoon, and the monks were either praying or napping, but one remained on duty at the guard booth, to greet visitors. He guided me along with seven Greek pilgrims to an ancient dormitory, beautifully restored, where two more solicitous monks offered ouzo, pastries, and keys to cells. I sensed something missing, and then realized: no one had asked for a credit card. The monastery was not merely efficient but free. One of the monks then said the next event would be the church service: Vespers. The next event, it will emerge, will almost always be a church service. There were 37 different chapels inside the monastery’s walls; finding the service is going to be like finding Waldo, I thought.

“Which church?” I asked the monk.

“Just follow the monks after they rise,” he said. Then he looked me up and down more closely. He wore an impossibly long and wild black beard, long black robes, a monk’s cap, and prayer beads. I wore white running shoes, light khakis, a mauve Brooks Brothers shirt, and carried a plastic laundry bag that said eagles palace hotel in giant letters on the side. “Why have you come?” he asked.

Read the rest here.
Hat tip: Josephus Flavius of Byzantine TX who was kind enough to tip me off with an email.

This is a REALLY good article.

California bid to legalize marijuana sparks fierce debate

No single election contest this fall combines the buzz and history-making potential of California's Proposition 19, which would make the state the first to legalize recreational use of marijuana.

It's the most eye-catching of roughly 150 ballot measures that voters in 35 states will be considering on Nov. 2 — encompassing such volatile topics as abortion, affirmative action, health care and liquor sales.

In the littlest state, with the longest formal name, voters will have a chance to shorten it to just Rhode Island instead of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Advocates of the change say the full name evokes images of slavery in a state where merchants once prospered from the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

In California, recent polls indicate voters are closely divided over Prop 19, which would allow adults 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of pot for personal use. Individuals could grow marijuana gardens of up to 25 square feet on private property; cities and counties would decide whether to allow sales and taxation of marijuana within their boundaries.

On both sides, passions are high.

Read the rest here.

Fidel Castro says Cuban economic model is not working

HAVANA — Fidel Castro said Cuba's economic model no longer works, a U.S.-based journalist reported on Wednesday following interviews with the former president last week.

Jeffrey Goldberg, a writer for the Atlantic Monthly magazine, wrote in a blog that he asked Castro, 84, if Cuba's model — Soviet-style communism — was still worth exporting to other countries and he replied, "The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore."

The comment appeared to reflect Castro's agreement, which he also expressed in a column for Cuban media in April, with his younger brother President Raul Castro, who has initiated modest reforms to stimulate Cuba's troubled economy.

Goldberg said Julia Sweig, a Cuba expert at the Council on Foreign Relations think tank in Washington who accompanied him to Havana, believed Castro's words reflected an acknowledgment that "the state has too big a role in the economic life of the country."

Read he rest here.

Australia: A Greek Orthodox Church is vandalized and burned

Children allegedly set alight a Trent Road church last week, just 30 metres from Port Augusta’s fire station.

Two 13-year-old girls were arrested at the scene, while two boys, aged 15 and 12, were later charged as well.

The four have been bailed to appear in court at a later date.

According to MFS senior fire fighter Gary Gliddon, the Greek Orthodox Church of St John was deliberately set on fire at about 9.30am on Friday, with fire crews quick on the scene and able to control the blaze within 15 minutes.

Mr Gliddon said when crews arrived and gained entry to the building, it was clear that the church had been trashed prior to the fire being started.

“Fire crews went in with breathing apparatus on and extinguished the flames, but they noticed some extensive damage inside due to vandalism, so obviously it’s been seen that someone had already entered the building,” he said.

Police reported later in the day there was extensive damage done to the inside of the church, where the blaze was lit, with the damage bill at about $75,000.

A spokesman for the Greek Orthodox South Australian Archdiocese said although the community used the church sparingly, it would be repaired.

“We are trying to get someone up there to have a look at the damage, but of course, we’ll rebuild it for sure,” he said.

Source

An appallingly bad day for the rule of law

WASHINGTON – A sharply divided federal appeals court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit involving the Central Intelligence Agency’s practice of seizing terrorism suspects and transferring them to other countries for imprisonment and interrogation. The ruling handed a major victory to the Obama administration in its effort to advance a sweeping view of executive secrecy power.

By a six-to-five vote, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, reversing an earlier decision, dismissed a lawsuit against Jeppesen Dataplan Inc., a Boeing subsidiary accused of arranging flights for the C.I.A.’s “extraordinary rendition” program, as it is known. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the case on behalf of five former prisoners who say they were tortured because of the program – and that Jeppesen was complicit in their treatment.

Judge Raymond C. Fisher described the case as presenting “a painful conflict between human rights and national security.” But, he said, the majority had “reluctantly” concluded that the lawsuit represented “a rare case” in which the government’s need to protect state secrets trumped the plaintiffs’ need to have any day in court.

The decision bolstered an array of ways in which the Obama administration has pressed forward with broad counter-terrorism policies after taking over from the Bush team, a degree of continuity that has departed from the expectations fostered by President Obama’s campaign rhetoric, which was often sharply critical of President Bush’s approach.

Among other policies, the Obama team has also placed a United States citizen on a targeted-killings list without a trial, blocked efforts by detainees in Afghanistan to bring habeas-corpus lawsuits challenging their indefinite imprisonment, and continued the C.I.A. rendition program – though the administration says it now takes greater safeguards to prevent detainees from being mistreated.

The American Civil Liberties Union swiftly said it would appeal the ruling in the Jeppesen Dataplan case to the Supreme Court, presenting the Roberts Court with a fresh opportunity to weigh in on a high-profile case testing the scope and limits of presidential power when it comes to countering terrorism.

Read the rest of this dreadful news here.

Let their be no doubt. We live in a country where the government can do what it wants, to who it wants, whenever it wants; because it is the government. The rule of law is, if not quite dead, at least on life support.

110 Years Ago: The Great Hurricane of 1900

A heartbreaking story from the Great Storm of 1900

On September 8th 1900 the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States (as measured by loss of life and excluding pandemics) occured when a high end category 4 hurricane virtually obliterated Galveston Texas. Estimates on the loss of life vary widely from as low as six thousand to as high as twelve thousand. So many families were wiped out entirely along with any close friends or relations that it was difficult to figure out who was missing or to identify bodies which suffered rapid decomposition in the heat and humidity. Thousands of people were cremated in mass funeral pyres and thousands more bodies were taken out to sea and dumped, though many later floated back into the harbor.

A fascinating video history of the disaster can be found here.

Peter Sellers' 85th Birthday

Peter Sellers born on September 8th 1925. Thanks for the laughs. May his memory be eternal.

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day

Marriage is a religious issue and the state (and the courts) should stay out of it. Glenn Beck gets it and he is right. Having just typed such a vile sentence you will now excuse me as I go wash my hands and throw up (not necessarily in that order) .

Hat Tip: Alice Linsley

Quote of the day...

Even supposedly smart analysts are missing the big picture. In housing, it is this: there are about 20 million unoccupied homes in America. Given average family size, that’s enough for 70 million people, and there aren’t anything like that many people living under bridges.

If about a third of Americans rent (for assorted reasons) that leaves perhaps 200 to 210 million in the home ownership sector. Consequently we have a 35% over-capacity in houses, and for the next half-generation the demographics for house purchase will continue to worsen.

We are a long way from the bottom. After the last big real estate boom peaked in 1893, prices eventually bottomed in the 1930s and did not return to previous levels until 1982 (inflation-adjusted). The phenomenon was nearly identical, whether in the US, Norway, or other developed nations.

The economic, social and political implications of this one will absolutely sear the attitudes of at least the two rising generations.

-Bart Hall
From here.

God is no longer a man, says Scottish Episcopal church

The Scottish Episcopal Church has caused controversy by removing masculine references to God in a new order of service.

The new form of worship, which removes words such as 'Lord, he, his, him' and 'mankind' from services, has been written by the church in an attempt to acknowledge that God is 'beyond human gender'.

Episcopalian bishops have approved the introduction of more 'inclusive' language, which deliberately removes references suggesting that God is of male gender

Traditionalists have criticised the changes on the grounds that they smack of political correctness and because they believe they are not consistent with the teachings of the Bible.

The alterations have been made to provide an alternative to the established 1982 Liturgy, which, like the Bible, refers to God as a man.

The new order of service, which can be used by priests if they have difficulties with a male God, has been produced by the church's Liturgy Committee in consultation with the Faith & Order Board of General Synod and the College of Bishops.

The controversial changes were discussed at the church's General Synod recently. The minutes of the synod reveal that female priests had asked why God was still referred to as a man.

Read the rest here.

But I bet we will continue "ecumenical dialogue" with these heretics and accept their baptisms as close enough for converts. Sorry for the bluntness and lack of irenic commentary. But sometimes you gotta call a spade a spade. These people (I decline to call them a church) have gone completely off the deep end. Let there be no mistake. This is where the CofE and the American Episcopal Organization are heading. In fact I would bet good money that Ms. Schori is steamed that the Scots beat her to it.

Are they even Christians anymore? I have doubts that we could accept them as Trinitarian if they implicitly deny the Divinity of Jesus Christ by refusing to concede that God is male. What formula do they use for baptisms? Was Jesus Himself a heretic for His many references to God the Father (including the most famous prayer in Christendom)? As I see it the theological implications here may well put them outside what most Orthodox would call Christianity (even heretical).