My mother had eyes in the back of her head; Doug Quinn must have them in the palms of his hands. How else to explain the way he muddled mint for a mojito — and went on to make the rest of the cocktail — while glancing alternately at the door to see if anyone new was coming in, at the far end of the bar to see if anyone was telegraphing thirst, and at the guy in front of him, who was babbling anew about something or other? Not once did Mr. Quinn look down at the drink. It was like bartending in Braille.Read the rest here.
He filled beer mugs without watching what he was doing. He could apparently tell, by the weight of them, when to stop. He plucked bottles from their perches without pausing to check labels. He apparently had, in his head, the whole liquor layout at P.J. Clarke’s, on the East Side.
And he remembered what my companion and I were drinking, even though we had ordered just one round so far, and there were at least 35 people clumped around the bar on this early May night, and he was dealing — alone — with all the tickets from all the servers in the adjacent dining rooms, and he wasn’t writing anything down, not that I could see.
“Another?” was all he asked, and a half minute later I had a Hendrick’s gin martini, up, with olives and jagged little floes of ice, just like the martini before it. My companion was sipping a second Manhattan with rye, not bourbon, per his initial request. Mr. Quinn works quickly, and he works without error.
It is legend, this efficiency of his. I learned of it one night at PDT, a faux speakeasy in the East Village — secret entrance, abundant taxidermy — that’s about as far in spirit (and spirits) from the blunt, timeless rough-and-tumble of P. J. Clarke’s as you can get. I asked Jim Meehan, the cocktail shaman there, whom he and other celebrated young mixologists of the moment looked up to.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
I gotta get back to New York
I've been gone for too long and am starting to feel the yin for a trip back East.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Easy Money, Hard Truths (A must read)
Are you worried that we are passing our debt on to future generations? Well, you need not worry.Read the rest here. This is an outstanding piece by the highly respected David Einhorn and I recommend it strongly.
Before this recession it appeared that absent action, the government’s long-term commitments would become a problem in a few decades. I believe the government response to the recession has created budgetary stress sufficient to bring about the crisis much sooner. Our generation — not our grandchildren’s — will have to deal with the consequences.
Hat tip T-19
The Episcopal Assembly
Yes, I have been keeping tabs on the goings on in NYC. Last night I even started to write a post on the subject. But halfway into it, I realized I had very little to note that others haven't already said, in many cases better than I could. So I will confine myself to referring those interested in the much anticipated meeting of our hierarchs to some of the sites covering or commenting on the affair.
For coverage of the meeting and the text of some of the opening speeches Josephus over at Byzantine Texas has been doing a good job of keeping up on things. Two good blog posts dealing with the hopes for the Assembly that I strongly recommend were written by Fr. Jonathon (hat tip Owen) and Fr. Stephen Freeman. Both are in my opinion excellent posts.
For coverage of the meeting and the text of some of the opening speeches Josephus over at Byzantine Texas has been doing a good job of keeping up on things. Two good blog posts dealing with the hopes for the Assembly that I strongly recommend were written by Fr. Jonathon (hat tip Owen) and Fr. Stephen Freeman. Both are in my opinion excellent posts.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem: The Eastern Churches need liturgical revolution
Somehow I missed this, but it's significant.
Via Rorate Caeli:
As for liturgical collaboration with the Orthodox; I have no idea what planet these people are from, but I hope the weather is nice. The last time I checked the Jerusalem Patriarchate (the real one) does not even accept Latin baptisms. If they think they are going to score points with us by suggesting "liturgical collaboration" and that we do a Novus Ordo on the ancient liturgy of the Church then the Vatican needs to start drug testing its bishops.
Via Rorate Caeli:
One peculiarity of the Middle East is the large number of sui iuris Eastern Churches that have taken root here: the Melkites, Syrians, Maronites, Copts, Armenians and Chaldeans. These churches need to live their liturgical and linguistic particularity on the one hand, and a greater communion among themselves on the other. Currently, this communion leaves something to be desired. They also need pastoral and liturgical renewal. The Latin Church went through this change at the Second Vatican Council, which revolutionized its liturgy and ecclesiology and gave it a new openness to the world. The Eastern Churches are in need of a similar revolution so that they might be able to adapt and modernize and thus better meet the needs of their congregations today...Read the rest here. The comments are interesting. Not surprisingly a lot of the Trad Catholics are obsessing about the use of dead languages for the liturgy and are missing the point. It's not the language... it's the Language that matters.
...60. The Liturgy promises to be an area of regular collaboration between Catholics and Orthodox. Many desire a liturgical renewal which is grounded in Tradition and cognisant of modern sensitivities and current spiritual and pastoral needs. As far as possible, such work needs to be collaborative undertaking.
As for liturgical collaboration with the Orthodox; I have no idea what planet these people are from, but I hope the weather is nice. The last time I checked the Jerusalem Patriarchate (the real one) does not even accept Latin baptisms. If they think they are going to score points with us by suggesting "liturgical collaboration" and that we do a Novus Ordo on the ancient liturgy of the Church then the Vatican needs to start drug testing its bishops.
“The Church is conservative by nature, as it maintains the apostolic belief. If we want to pass the belief from one generation to another for centuries, the belief must be intact. Any reform damaging the belief, traditions and values is called heresy.”-Patriarch Kyril of Moscow and all the Russia's
Fr. Anthony Chadwick (TAC): New Hope in Europe – Holy Russia
...Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, said to the Pope: that the Catholic Church will not be alone in the new evangelization of dechristianized Europe, because it will have at its side the Russian Orthodox Church, “no longer a competitor, but an ally.” The Russian Church has seen many things change for the better under Benedict XVI, quite apart from the fact that the Russians detest the Poles. Benedict XVI is made of the theological and intellectual stuff that the Orthodox admire, and the fact that dechristianisation has to be beaten before it beats the Churches. We can only do this together. The third vital dimension is mutually embracing the great Christian Tradition at the heart of the Church’s mission to Europe.Read the rest here. I strongly recommend it in its entirety.
What strikes me in Patriarch Kirill’s writing, Norm of Faith as Norm of Life, is a convergence with a former reflection of mine in The Anglo-Catholic, that of the futility of moral and political combats without first transmitting the faith. Before we can fight the evils of abortion and perverted sexuality and other such problems of society, we have to transmit faith in God and the experience of conversion to Christ. Otherwise, activism is futile. How refreshing it is to read the teaching of the Patriarch of Moscow!
The first notion to come out is that of Tradition, but the great tradition and not the ideology of marginal groups of western Christian reactionaries. He urges us to a totally different philosophy of life based on man’s transfiguration and sanctification. The big problem we all suffer is not having the spiritual health needed to defend ourselves from the rot of relativism and what Pope John Paul II called the culture of death. The Patriarch traces the history of the liberal Enlightenment ideas and the rejection of Tradition, chiefly expressed by the French Revolution and the Protestant Reformation.
He has this to say about some of the current problems in the west:If we look at the question of female priesthood or that of the admission of homosexuality, is not this perhaps precisely what happens today? Both of the questions confirm, among other things, the thesis about the liberal nature of Protestantism, as previously defined. It is absolutely evident that the introduction of female priesthood and the admission of homosexuality have taken place under the influence of a certain liberal vision of human rights: a vision in which these rights are radically opposed to sacred tradition.Now, the Patriarch would not then go and deny man all freedom and subject him to slavery, but rather establish the basis of a different anthropology from that with which we have become familiar in the liberal and anti-traditional west. It is the same liberty of perfection as we find in the moral theology of St Thomas Aquinas. The truth makes us free. True liberty is freedom from sin, determinism and mechanisation. It is the freedom that comes through suffering and asceticism. A vital dimension in this emancipation is the communion of the Church. We are made for love and community, not for individual isolation and alienation.
The modern conception of liberalism has penetrated into every institution and each one of us, and it is the greatest obstacle to evangelisation. How do we do something about it? Do we resort to terrorism and violence, or what? This is precisely the question I asked in my other article.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Memory Eternal: H.I.M. the Dowager Empress Leonida (Romanov) has reposed
MOSCOW, May 24 (RIA Novosti) - The Moscow Patriarchate expressed its condolences on Monday over the death of Grand Duchess of Russia Leonida Georgievna Romanov.Read the rest here.
"Grand Duchess Leonida Georgievna, who had lived a very dramatic, complicated and long life, never forgot Russia," archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, who is in charge of the Russian Orthodox Church's relations with society, said.
The de-jure empress, the eldest representative of the Romanov family, died late on Sunday at the age of 95 in Madrid.
"Yesterday, the senior priest of the Russian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate in Madrid, Father Andrei Korodchkin, visited her and administered the Holy Mysteries. Towards evening, there was deterioration [in her health], and the monarchess was taken to hospital," spokesman for the Romanov house Alexander Zakatov said.
He said Leonida Georgievna's daughter and Head of the Romanov Dynasty Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, remained by her mother's side until the end.
Leonida Georgievna was the last representative of the Romanov Imperial House born before the Russian Revolution in 1914. She was descended from the House of Mukhrani, a collateral branch of the Bagrationi dynasty. Her family ruled ancient Georgia and Armenia from the early Middle Ages until the beginning of the 16th century.
It is reported that she is to be laid to rest in the imperial crypt at the Fortress of Peter and Paul in St. Petersburg.
May her memory be eternal!
A well preached funeral
I draw the reader's attention to the sermon of the late Dr. E. V. Hill at his wife's funeral. He was a Protestant so I am not making any theological endorsements. But I found it quite moving.
Hat tip: Fr. John Whiteford
Hat tip: Fr. John Whiteford
Sweden's Royal Romances (and scandals)
Sweden has got royal wedding fever, and it's got it bad: when Victoria, 32, first in line to her country's throne (and 196th in line to ours), marries on June 19 after a courtship of eight years, it will mark the culmination of Love Stockholm, a two-week extravaganza of music, theatre, food and outside events that begins on June 6, National Day. At least half a million people are expected to throng the cobbled streets of the capital to watch the celebrations, which will include a voyage by the newlyweds across Stockholm Bay on the royal barge Vasaorden. The date coincides with the 200th anniversary of Sweden's reigning Bernadotte dynasty. There has been nothing this big in the royal world since Charles and Diana walked down the aisle of St Paul's in 1981 — though we all know how that one ended.Read the rest here.
The souvenir sellers of Gamla Stan, the old town in which the palace lies, are already laying out their merchandise. Want a Victoria and Daniel fridge magnet? Or a Sweden Year of Love snow globe? "We're getting the T-shirts in next week," says an Indian shopkeeper. Sales so far have been mostly to foreigners, but he's optimistic Swedes will start to buy as the great day approaches.
Not everything has been going to plan on the domestic front, however. First, Victoria's brother, Carl Philip, 31, ended a decade-long relationship with his girlfriend, Emma Pernald, and began stepping out with Sofia Hellqvist, a glamour model and reality-TV star who posed for a shoot wearing nothing but a G-string and an artistically arranged python. Then came an even worse moment: with weeks to go until Victoria's big day, her glamorous younger sister, Madeleine, 27, once spoken of as a match for Prince William, stunned Swedes by breaking off her engagement to her dashing lawyer fiancé, Jonas Bergström, after he reportedly two-timed her with Tora Uppström Berg, a Norwegian former handball star, now studying at university in Bournemouth.
This is a rather sad indication of how low things have sunk among Europe's modern royals. As someone recently noted on a related issue; if they keep marrying commoners at this rate, incest and inbreeding won't be an excuse for their dysfunctional behavior much longer.
Is liberal Catholicism dead?
One can only hope. Some good points despite the all too common sloppy journalism in the MSM when the topic is religion. Try to ignore the rather glaring factual errors.
The liberal rebellion in American Catholicism has dogged Benedict and his predecessors since the Second Vatican Council of 1962-65. "Vatican II," which overhauled much of Catholic teaching and ritual, had a revolutionary impact on the Church as a whole. It enabled people to hear the Mass in their own languages; embraced the principle of religious freedom; rejected anti-Semitism; and permitted Catholic scholars to grapple with modernity.Read the rest here.
But Vatican II meant even more to a generation of devout but restless young people in the U.S. Rather than a course correction, Terrence Tilley, now head of the Fordham University's theology department, wrote recently, his generation perceived "an interruption of history, a divine typhoon that left only the keel and structure of the church unchanged." They discerned in the Council a call to greater church democracy, and an assertion of individual conscience that could stand up to the authority of even the Pope. So, they battled the Vatican's birth-control ban, its rejection of female priests and insistence on celibacy, and its authoritarianism.
Rome pushed back, and the ensuing struggle defined a movement, whose icons included peace activist Fr. Daniel Berrigan, feminist Sister Joan Chittister, and sociologist/author Fr. Andrew Greeley. Its perspectives were covered in The National Catholic Reporter, Commonweal and America. Martin Sheen held down Hollywood, and the movement even boasted its own cheesy singing act: the St. Louis Jesuits. The reformers' premier membership organization was Call to Action, but their influence was felt at the highest reaches of the American Church, as sympathetic American bishops passed left-leaning statements on nuclear weapons and economic justice. Remarks Tilley, "For a couple of generations, progressivism was an [important] way to be Catholic."
Then he adds, "But I think the end of an era is here."
Is Europe a ticking economic bomb?
If the trouble starts -- and it remains an "if" -- the trigger may well be obscure to the concerns of most Americans: a missed budget projection by the Spanish government, the failure of Greece to hit a deficit-reduction target, a drop in Ireland's economic output.Read the rest here.
But the knife-edge psychology currently governing global markets has put the future of the U.S. economic recovery in the hands of politicians in an assortment of European capitals. If one or more fail to make the expected progress on cutting budgets, restructuring economies or boosting growth, it could drain confidence in a broad and unsettling way. Credit markets worldwide could lock up and throw the global economy back into recession.
For the average American, that seemingly distant sequence of events could translate into another hit on the 401(k) plan, a lost factory shift if exports to Europe decline and another shock to the banking system that might make it harder to borrow.
"If what happened in Greece were to happen in a large country, it could fundamentally mark our times," Angelos Pangratis, head of the European Union delegation to the United States, said Friday after a panel discussion on the crisis in Greece sponsored by the Greater Washington Board of Trade.
S. Korea severs nearly all ties with the North
SEOUL, South Korea — President Lee Myung-bak said on Monday that South Korea would drastically reduce trade with North Korea, restrict North Korean merchant ship use of South Korean sea lanes and call on the United Nations Security Council to punish the North for what he called the deliberate sinking a South Korean warship two months ago.Read the rest here.
“We have always tolerated North Korea’s brutality, time and again,” Mr. Lee said in a nationally televised speech. “But now things are different. North Korea will pay a price corresponding to its provocative acts.
“Trade and exchanges between South and North Korea will be suspended,” he added.
Cutting off trade with North Korea is probably the strongest unilateral action the South can take against the impoverished North. South Korea imports $230 million worth of seafood and other products from the North a year. North Korea earns $50 million a year making clothes and carrying out other business deals with South Korean companies.
Mr. Lee also said that South Korea would block North Korean merchant ships from using South Korean waters off the southern coast. That would force the ships to detour and use more fuel.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Dissent in Cyprus
As noted in an earlier post the Archbishop of Cyprus had some strong words for those protesting the Papal visit. Many of these people are associated with some of the schismatic sects out there. Now however, Metropolitan Athanasios of Lemesou (Cyprus) has chimed in. Mincing no words in a recent interview; he blasted the Pope's planned visit and launched into a fierce attack on the papacy and the Roman Catholic Church...
Frankly, I see no reason for this sort of invective. As I have noted on numerous occasions there is absolutely no danger of any pending restoration of communion. Let the Pope go where he will within reason. Somehow I doubt that this sort of virulent reaction would be forthcoming if the person visiting Cyprus was the Archbishop of Canterbury (whose orders and sacraments the Church of Cyprus is actually on record recognizing as of the early part of the last century!).
Seriously, how is the Pope threatening the Orthodox Church? Is it because we refer to him as the Pope and address him with the honorifics customary to the office? We do that with Protestant clergy all the time. It's called courtesy and does not imply acceptance of anyone's sacraments or holy orders. It is a given that the Orthodox Church is not of one mind on the subject of the grace of Catholic sacraments.
I don't have a problem with pointing out the silliness of those who constantly predict the imminent end of the schism. I have done that quite a bit myself. It is one thing to point out that we have major issues dividing us and despite four decades of "dialogue" no real progress has been made. It is altogether a different matter to be unnecessarily rude to a guest and make comments which some might call petty (see the references to the Pope's car).
I am inclined to agree with some of what +Athanasios said. The Roman Church is heretical. If I did not believe that I would still be Catholic. But in my experience I haven't seen a lot of people converted by insulting them. Nor is this likely to advance relations with a body (heretical or no) with whom we share a great deal of common interests like combatting the rising tide of secularism and Islamo-Facism and promoting charity. Surely this does not imply the abandonment of the Orthodox Faith.
"Frankly and before all I disagree with the coming of the Pope to Cyprus and I say with my whole soul that the Pope is a heretic, he is not a bishop, he is not an Orthodox Christian and this is what the Holy Fathers say. If I am wrong, I am ready to be corrected, but on the basis of the Holy Fathers, not based on the mindset of globalization. Just because I disagree does not mean that I am being disorderly and am outside the Church [as some have claimed]."Read the rest here.
Frankly, I see no reason for this sort of invective. As I have noted on numerous occasions there is absolutely no danger of any pending restoration of communion. Let the Pope go where he will within reason. Somehow I doubt that this sort of virulent reaction would be forthcoming if the person visiting Cyprus was the Archbishop of Canterbury (whose orders and sacraments the Church of Cyprus is actually on record recognizing as of the early part of the last century!).
Seriously, how is the Pope threatening the Orthodox Church? Is it because we refer to him as the Pope and address him with the honorifics customary to the office? We do that with Protestant clergy all the time. It's called courtesy and does not imply acceptance of anyone's sacraments or holy orders. It is a given that the Orthodox Church is not of one mind on the subject of the grace of Catholic sacraments.
I don't have a problem with pointing out the silliness of those who constantly predict the imminent end of the schism. I have done that quite a bit myself. It is one thing to point out that we have major issues dividing us and despite four decades of "dialogue" no real progress has been made. It is altogether a different matter to be unnecessarily rude to a guest and make comments which some might call petty (see the references to the Pope's car).
I am inclined to agree with some of what +Athanasios said. The Roman Church is heretical. If I did not believe that I would still be Catholic. But in my experience I haven't seen a lot of people converted by insulting them. Nor is this likely to advance relations with a body (heretical or no) with whom we share a great deal of common interests like combatting the rising tide of secularism and Islamo-Facism and promoting charity. Surely this does not imply the abandonment of the Orthodox Faith.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Sunday May 23: Feast of the Great New Martyr St. Evgeny Rodionov
Evgeny (or Yevgeny) Aleksandrovich Rodionov was eighteen years old and serving his obligatory military service when he was captured by Muslim insurgents near Chechnya. After enduring months of extremely harsh captivity he was told he could save himself by converting to Islam. But he refused to remove the cross he wore. On May 23rd 1996, his 19th birthday, after enduring great torture he was decapitated by his captors and buried with three other murdered soldiers in a shell crater. His mother went to great lengths and expense to locate and recover her son's remains which have been reburied with honor. His grave is now a popular shrine for pilgrims and St. Evgeny has become the unofficial patron of the Russian Army.
His mother is still alive and often writes and speaks about her son.
Great Martyr Evgeny pray for us!
Mother Earth, Pagan Rituals, Ancestor Worship, Dancing Girls—the Consecration of Mary Glasspool (Episcopal Bishopess)
Its just...I don't know what to say. I've never seen anything like it.
-Matt Kennedy
Source with a link to the full video. Caution: Be sure to put your coffee down and remove any blunt instruments from arms reach before watching this.
-Matt Kennedy
Source with a link to the full video. Caution: Be sure to put your coffee down and remove any blunt instruments from arms reach before watching this.
Europe's reality check
PARIS — Across Western Europe, the “lifestyle superpower,” the assumptions and gains of a lifetime are suddenly in doubt. The deficit crisis that threatens the euro has also undermined the sustainability of the European standard of social welfare, built by left-leaning governments since the end of World War II.Read the rest here.
Europeans have boasted about their social model, with its generous vacations and early retirements, its national health care systems and extensive welfare benefits, contrasting it with the comparative harshness of American capitalism.
Europeans have benefited from low military spending, protected by NATO and the American nuclear umbrella. They have also translated higher taxes into a cradle-to-grave safety net. “The Europe that protects” is a slogan of the European Union.
But all over Europe governments with big budgets, falling tax revenues and aging populations are experiencing climbing deficits, with more bad news ahead.
With low growth, low birthrates and longer life expectancies, Europe can no longer afford its comfortable lifestyle, at least not without a period of austerity and significant changes. The countries are trying to reassure investors by cutting salaries, raising legal retirement ages, increasing working hours and reducing health benefits and pensions.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Britain: New Prime Minister is resisting the security bubble
The guys with wires coming out of their ears are there for a reason...David Cameron is rejecting the advice of top security officials by insisting on walking around Whitehall, refusing police motorcycle escorts and demanding to be allowed to keep his BlackBerry smartphone.Read the rest here.
There is increasing nervousness about the protection of the Prime Minister, who officials believe is making himself vulnerable to terrorists, lone obsessives and cyber-criminals.
Security analysis would suggest that if Mr Cameron is more vulnerable to attack, then the ministers and police officers walking with him, and the members of the public around him, are also at greater risk. Deeper concerns have been expressed that his actions undermine the Government’s message on national security. The MI5 threat assessment is now at “severe”, meaning that an attack is highly likely.
I empathize with Mr. Cameron. Nobody wants to live their life in a bulletproof goldfish bowl, no matter how comfortable the bowl might be. But some things have to be put up with, and in his job security is near the top of that list. The article is correct in noting that when VIP's step outside the security bubble they are not just putting themselves at risk. They put all of those in their vicinity in danger as well. It's not fair but that's the way things are.
When he first took office President Reagan bristled at the constant presence of his Secret Service minders and one evening complained aloud about being "crowded" by them. The senior agent responded matter-of-factly "Mr. President, we are like Hail to the Chief. We come with the job." Several weeks later that agent (Jerry Parr) body slammed President Reagan into his bulletproof car as a madman tried (and nearly succeeded) to kill him outside the Washington Hilton Hotel. Three other people were gravely wounded in that attack.
Memo to anyone seeking high political office: The guys in suits and sunglasses with wires coming out of their ears are not stage props. If you don't want them around, consider another line of work.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
PA Attorney General Subpoenas Twitter to Name Bloggers
Harrisburg, Pa. - The state attorney general's office has issued a subpoena threatening officials of the social networking service Twitter with arrest unless they reveal the names of two bloggers who have been critical of Attorney General Tom Corbett and his public corruption investigation.Read the rest here.
The subpoena orders Twitter's custodian of records to provide "any and all subscriber information" pertaining to the accounts "bfbarbie" and "CasablancaPA," including name, address, contact information, creation date, and Internet protocol address.
The accounts have criticized Corbett's use of grand juries, suggesting he used the investigations for political gain and to go after political opponents.
The Twitter representative was supposed to appear before the statewide investigating grand jury on May 14 to "give evidence regarding alleged violations of the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania." The court document does not specify what crime is being investigated.
The subpoena, issued May 6, further states that failure to attend may result in an arrest warrant for contempt of court. It is not clear whether Twitter has turned over the information.
Here they go again
To the various readers who have very kindly sent me links to the plethora of recent news reports on Ortho-Cath relations, my thanks. I have seen many of them, though several were new. My silence should not be interpreted in this case so much as ignorance as rather ignoring. The vast majority of these reports are from the Catholic press, which to be frank, has a rather unfortunate reputation for making rosy predictions of pending meetings between Moscow and the Pope or even talk of imminent restoration of communion every time there is any contact between the Orthodox and Rome. Indeed I shudder to think of the forests laid waste by this repetitive ritual. It seems that they are unable (or unwilling?) to discern the difference between our legitimate interest in closer relations and cooperation with Rome on matters of mutual interest from evidence of serious progress in healing the schism.
Just for the record; my silence on the latest wave of fluff reporting is simply because I have already addressed this silliness so many times that I don't see any point in going over it every time the Catholic press (sadly the secular press too often takes their cue from them) decides to start trumpeting the latest thaw in relations with us. The facts have not changed. No progress worthy of mention has been made on the very serious theological issues that divide Rome from Orthodoxy. If/when that changes it will be a story worthy of front page coverage. Until then we would all be well advised to calm down.
For now I am glad H.H. is traveling to Cyprus and wish him a pleasant and safe trip. One hopes he will have some time to relax a little. I am reliably informed that Cyprus is very beautiful in the spring.
Just for the record; my silence on the latest wave of fluff reporting is simply because I have already addressed this silliness so many times that I don't see any point in going over it every time the Catholic press (sadly the secular press too often takes their cue from them) decides to start trumpeting the latest thaw in relations with us. The facts have not changed. No progress worthy of mention has been made on the very serious theological issues that divide Rome from Orthodoxy. If/when that changes it will be a story worthy of front page coverage. Until then we would all be well advised to calm down.
For now I am glad H.H. is traveling to Cyprus and wish him a pleasant and safe trip. One hopes he will have some time to relax a little. I am reliably informed that Cyprus is very beautiful in the spring.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Orthodox Primate of Cyprus condemns anti-Catholic protesters
THE ARCHBISHOP yesterday slammed religious groups who oppose the Pope’s visit in June, warning that they put themselves outside the Church. A group, calling itself the ‘Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Motherland Traditions’, has been circulating a booklet entitled Pope: The Cause Of Evil. “Unfortunately there are in Cyprus too, the mindless who go against the decisions of the official Church,” Archbishop Chrysostomos II said.Read the rest here.
He warned that these people were placing themselves outside the Church. The Archbishop said the Pontiff had been officially invited to Cyprus by the government with the Church’s agreement and “as the official Church we will welcome him with love and respect.” Chrysostomos II said there will not be any talks between the Church and Pope. “We will exchange views and I believe his visit will be positive and beneficial for our country and our people,” Chrysostomos II said. He urged those who opposed the visit to “come round” and listen to the official church.
Note: The above excerpt was slightly modified in format, though not wording, to make it more readable.
A brief history of the Islamic persecution of the Coptic Church of Egypt
At 11:30 p.m. on January 6, the Orthodox Christmas for millions of Egyptian Christians, gunshots rang from a drive-by car, killing 7 parishioners exiting evening mass. The Nagaa Hamadi Church Massacre, as it became known, left 26 seriously injured in the small southern town.Read the rest here.
During the funerals, greater mayhem erupted. In surrounding towns and villages some 3,000 Muslims broke into Coptic properties, agricultural plots, and businesses, looting and setting fires to shops. Across the country churches were burned. It took Egypt’s police three days to show up and six weeks to arrest a single culprit.
As it has become customary, the government described the attack as ‘’an individual incident’’, another dispute among villagers. The phrase has become so habitual in describing attacks on Christians over the past 40 years, it is used as a practical joke.
In reality The Nagaa Hamadi Church Massacre was the latest spike in a 40-year-long campaign of killing and violence against of Egypt’s estimated 12 million Christians, known as Copts It’s a campaign that is all the more ghastly for the fact that it has been largely ignored by the world of elite opinion. Yet in the past 40 years, the numbers of victims has soared to well more than 20,000, if the count includes those killed, wounded, dispossessed, or otherwise harmed, according to human rights groups.
Britain begins dismantling the nanny state
LONDON — Defying those who said it might be paralyzed by internal divisions, Britain’s new coalition government of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats on Wednesday unveiled the most ambitious plan in decades for upending the highly centralized and often intrusive way the country is governed.Read the rest here.
The plan, as laid out by the new deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, would roll back a proliferation of “nanny state” laws, non-elected administrative bodies and surveillance systems — many of them a product of Labour’s 13 years in power — that critics say have severely curbed individual freedoms and enlarged state powers to a degree unrivaled by most other democratic societies.
Vowing that the coalition would end “the culture of spying on its citizens,” Mr. Clegg said it would “tear through the statute book,” scrapping a nationwide system of identity cards on which the Labour government spent huge sums, and abandoning a new generation of “biometric” passports that would hold a vastly expanded archive of personal data. In addition, he said, there would be new restrictions on the government’s right to intercept and hold personal Internet and e-mail traffic and to store DNA data from people not convicted of any crime.
Mr. Clegg said the changes would also place new curbs on tens of thousands of closed-circuit television cameras in public places — a field in which, critics say, Britain is a world leader. Those critics, including Mr. Clegg during the recent election campaign, have complained that despite the cameras — which the police use to trace the movement of suspects and victims through shopping centers, city streets, hospitals, gas stations and other public places — there has been little impact on crime rates over the years.
“It is outrageous that decent, law-abiding citizens get treated as if they have got something to hide,” Mr. Clegg said.
The plan would also create a fully elected House of Lords, scrapping heredity and political favor as a passport to power, and commit the government to a referendum on changing the voting system for the House of Commons. Under the coalition’s proposed “alternative vote” system, similar to one used in Australia, candidates would have to accumulate 50 percent or more of the vote in their constituencies to secure election, effectively shaking up the politics of “safe” parliamentary seats that has given scores of M.P.’s what amounts to lifetime employment.
Fr. Stephen on the struggle for True Communion
An outstanding post. Read it here and leave your comments there please.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Breaking: Joe Sestak has defeated Arlen Specter
MSNBC is reporting that veteran PA Senator Arlen Specter (D) who defected from the Republican party last year has been defeated by his primary challenger Joe Sestak. This is likely to greatly improve the odds of the GOP gaining the seat in November. It is also further evidence of a powerful anti-incumbent and anti-establishment sentiment in the country at large.
S. Korea to blame the North for ship sinking but plans no retaliation
South Korea will formally blame North Korea on Thursday for launching a torpedo at one of its warships in March, causing an explosion that killed 46 sailors and heightened tensions in one of the world's most perilous regions, U.S. and East Asian officials said.Read the rest here.
South Korea reached its conclusion that North Korea was responsible for the attack after investigators from Australia, Britain, Sweden and the United States pieced together portions of the ship at the port of Pyongtaek, 40 miles southwest of Seoul. The Cheonan sank on March 26, following an explosion that rocked the vessel as it sailed in the Yellow Sea off South Korea's west coast.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because South Korea has yet to disclose the findings of the investigation, said that subsequent analysis determined that the torpedo was identical to a North Korean torpedo that had previously been obtained by South Korea...
...South Korea's conclusion underscores the continuing threat posed by North Korea and the intractable nature of the dispute between the two Koreas. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak must respond forcefully to the attack, analysts said, but not in a way that would risk further violence from North Korea, whose artillery could — within minutes — devastate greater Seoul, which has a population of 20.5 million...
...The sinking — and the reluctance of the South to respond with an in-kind attack — is the latest example of the raw military intimidation that North Korea has practiced for decades. With 1.19 million troops on active duty, the Korean People's Army has positioned about 70 percent of its fighting forces and firepower within 60 miles of the border with the South.
I empathize with S. Korea's position. But I also believe that part of the problem is that N. Korea has gotten away with this kind of outrageous behavior for so long that they feel they can commit acts of war and mass murder with impunity. Something needs to be done to send a message that business as usual is over.
Rand Paul's win in Kentucky sends a tremor through the political world
WASHINGTON – Rand Paul, one of the early leaders of the Tea Party movement, won the Republican nomination for Senate from Kentucky Tuesday night, delivering a powerful blow to the party’s establishment and offering the clearest evidence yet of the strength of the anti-government sentiment simmering at the grass-roots level.Read the rest here.
Mr. Paul, the son of Representative Ron Paul of Texas, easily defeated Trey Grayson, the Secretary of State from Kentucky. Kentucky voters turned against Mr. Grayson even though he had the support of the state’s best-known political leader – Senator Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader.
"I have a message," Mr. Rand said, delivering a victory speech in Bowling Green. "A message from the Tea Party. A message that is loud and clear and does not mince words: We have come to take our government back."
Mr. Paul may well become the first Libertarian Senator in our country's history. Of course Peter Schiff is also running in Connecticut.
Gay Couple Convicted in Malawi
A gay couple in Malawi were found guilty on Tuesday of unnatural acts and gross indecency, the consequence of their holding an engagement ceremony in an insular nation where homosexuality is largely seen as nonexistent or something that must be suppressed.Read the rest here.
Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 33, and Steven Monjeza, 26, face up to 14 years in prison. A magistrate said he would sentence the men on Thursday.
Is their conduct worthy of condemnation from the pulpit? Yes. Is this the legitimate business of the government? No.
+Bartholomew to visit Russia
ROME, MAY 18, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Moving forward in a sometimes troubled history, the Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople will visit his counterpart in Moscow, arriving Saturday and staying through the end of the month.Source
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia invited Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople to make the visit. Bartholomew I will be accompanied by an entourage including a few ranking Orthodox prelates and several laypeople.
The program includes Moscow, the Laura of the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius, the Monastery of the Transfiguration on Valaam, and St. Petersburg.
The two patriarchs will celebrate Divine Liturgy together Sunday, and other activities on the program include marking Kirill's name day on May 24, the opening ceremony of the Days of Slavonic Literature and Culture, a concert to be performed at the State Kremlin Palace and a reception given on behalf of the government of Russia.
The two patriarchs will join to celebrate the Divine Liturgy the next Sunday as well, Orthodox Sunday of All Saints, in St. Petersburg.
Oh to be a fly on the wall...
Calif pension fund asks state for additional $600M
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Facing massive investment losses, the board of California's giant pension fund voted Tuesday to make the state increase its contributions to employee retirement benefits by $600 million in the coming fiscal year.Read the rest here.
The increase comes as California grapples with a $19 billion budget deficit and a threat by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to eliminate its welfare program.
The contribution increase would be for one year starting in July, but the board is likely to require similar increases in future years. Local school districts, already facing their own budget struggles, also will see their pension contribution rates grow.
The development is driven largely by huge investment losses by the California Public Employees Retirement System, but also because people are living longer and retiring earlier.
Monday, May 17, 2010
"There's no money left."
Liam Byrne, the former Chief Secretary to the Treasury, last week wrote a letter for his successor - the Liberal Democrat David Laws - stating: "I’m afraid to tell you there’s no money left.”Read the rest here.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Mr Laws said: "When I arrived at my desk on the very first day as Chief Secretary, I found a letter from the previous chief secretary to give me some advice, I assumed, on how I conduct myself over the months ahead.
"Unfortunately, when I opened it, it was a one-sentence letter which simply said ’Dear Chief Secretary, I’m afraid to tell you there’s no money left’, which was honest but slightly less helpful advice than I had been expecting."
'Obliterating' Iraq's Christians
What is most startling about the report of the heartless double bus bombings on May 2 that targeted and injured 80 Christian students traveling to northern Iraq's Mosul University was that the young Christians there attend university at all. Since the U.S. invasion, Iraq's Christians have been mostly driven out of the country by violence directed against them for their religion. Their communities are shattered. That these young people continued to dream of preparing themselves to serve their country signals that community's deep commitment to Iraq and a modicum of hope they still harbor for its future.Read the rest here.
Unless the Obama administration acts fast to develop policies to help them, though, their hope will likely be in vain.
Relentless waves of bombings, assassinations, kidnappings, extortions and rapes have triggered a mass exodus of Christians from Iraq over the past seven years. Since 2003, over half of the estimated 1.5 million Iraqi Chaldean Catholics, Assyrian, Syriac Orthodox, and Armenian Christians, as well as some Protestants have fled to Syria, Jordan and farther flung places. While only 3 or 4 percent of Iraq's pre-2003 population, they account for 40 percent of its refugees, the UN reported.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Ortho-Cath discussion
I draw the reader's attention to the current discussion at Eirenikon where the topic is the same one I addressed here. A lot of the comments are just the usual boiler plate back and forth about the Pope, Vatican I etc. But if you scroll down you will find a series of excellent and very thoughtful comments by Carlos Antonio Palad. Mr. Palad is a traditional Catholic and regular contributor over at Rorate Caeli, whose comments on matters Orthodox I have tended to find both well reasoned and fair. He stands out among many online Catholics who too often tend to one of two extremes, being either utterly lost to the Kumbaya "can't we all just get along" wing, or the polemically anti-Orthodox who have little use for the "schismatic Easterners" until we kneel and kiss the Pope's ring.
I commend his comments as well worth the read.
Please leave comments at Eirenikon.
I commend his comments as well worth the read.
Please leave comments at Eirenikon.
The pattern is set - betting the bank on a Keynesian free lunch
Kyle Bass writes his investors again
This is one of the best (and shortest) reads on what just happened, and what is going to happen.
This is one of the best (and shortest) reads on what just happened, and what is going to happen.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Illinois: Trying to make California look good
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - For 35 years, frail senior citizens in southern Illinois could turn to the Shawnee Development Council for help cleaning the house, buying groceries or any of the chores that make the difference between living at home or moving to an institution.Read the rest here.
No more. The council shut down the program Thursday because of a budget crisis created by the state of Illinois' failure to pay its bills.
Paralyzed by the worst deficit in its history, the state has fallen months behind in paying what it owes to businesses and organizations, pushing some of them to the edge of bankruptcy.
Illinois isn't bothering with the formality of issuing IOUs, as California did last year. It simply doesn't pay.
Plenty of states face major deficits as the recession continues. They're cutting services or raising taxes or expanding gambling to close the gap. But Illinois is taking the extra step of ignoring bills.
Right now, $4.4 billion worth of bills, some dating back to October, are sitting in the Illinois comptroller's office waiting to be paid someday.
Owner of exploded oil rig citing 1851 law seeks to limit liability to $27 million
NEW YORK - The company that owns the sunken Deepwater Horizon rig said Thursday it will petition a federal court in Houston to cap its overall liability from the incident at less than $27 million.Read the rest here.
If successful, Transocean Ltd. would be left with as much as $533 million in insurance money from the failed venture. That's almost enough to cover the revenue the company was expecting from a three-year contract with BP PLC.
The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.
-Shakespeare; Henry VI Part 2 - Act 4 - Scene 2
Clearly this is a company that is already morally bankrupt. Let us hope that actual fiscal bankruptcy follows quickly. And no, I don't give a damn about the share holders.
Top ten most likely sovereign defaults
| Entity Name | Mid Spread | CPD (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Venezuela | 1002.63 | 48.82 |
| Argentina | 900.74 | 44.58 |
| Pakistan | 668.50 | 36.28 |
| Greece | 526.00 | 35.56 |
| Ukraine | 568.07 | 32.44 |
| Dubai/Emirate of | 429.58 | 25.63 |
| California/State of | 265.00 | 20.84 |
| Latvia, Republic of | 333.05 | 20.58 |
| Sicily/Region of | 250.10 | 19.45 |
| Iraq | 304.00 | 19.26 |
Source
Hawaii to birther loons: Go away!
HONOLULU — The conspiracy theorists who cling to the false belief that President Obama was born outside the United States outrage many Democrats and embarrass many Republicans. But to a group of state workers who toil away in a long building across from the Capitol, they represent something else: a headache and a waste of time.Read the rest here
The theorists, known as “birthers,” have deluged the state Health Department here with so many demands for information about the president’s birth in Hawaii that Gov. Linda Lingle, a Republican, signed a law this week allowing state agencies to ignore repeated requests from people who have had a request answered in the last year.
It comes none too soon for Health Department workers, who have been inundated with so many requests for the president’s birth records that a printout of the e-mail messages they have received on the topic through March stands some 13 inches high. Each one required a response, and many required consultations with state lawyers.
“It became really, really a burden,” said Janice Okubo, a spokeswoman for the department, who said that handling the hundreds of requests took up huge amounts of the department’s time as it was trying to respond to an H1N1 flu outbreak. Many requests, she said, came from the same handful of people.
My take on birthers.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
The Western world keeps spending its way to disaster
The Swiss-based Bank of International Settlements (BIS), the oldest international financial institution in the world, has functioned as the central bank of central bankers for 80 years. In a working paper written by three senior staff economists (“The future of public debt: prospects and implications”), released in March, BIS warns that Greece isn’t the only Western economy with hazard lights flashing.Read the rest here.
Indeed, it names 11 more: Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Britain – and the United States. Without “drastic measures,” BIS says, all of these countries will hit a wall of debt.
When the senior economists at BIS warn 12 of the richest countries on Earth that they must take drastic action to reduce debt, you know that it’s time to check the air bags. The only thing you don’t know, that you need to know, is the precise time of the crash. The lesson is already obvious: Governments can’t drive recklessly, use only the accelerator for braking and not eventually crash.
Hat tip Jim Sinclair
As a followup; the original paper by BIS referenced above can be found online here. It is well worth reading.
A couple of bumps
I would like to draw the reader's attention very briefly to two minor changes in the side bar. First Mike Liccione's excellent blog Sacramentum Vitae is back. Mike was off in the big city working for a while. And secondly please take note of Saint George's Military Orthodox Association (SGMOA) whose blog is now linked in the sidebar. This is an organization dedicated to supporting the Orthodox members of our armed forces. Please check out their blog and lend your support in any way you can.
16 Reasons why California is the next Greece
1. California has a $20 billion budget gap -- despite last year's ravaging cutbacks.Read the rest here.
2. Without a federal bailout, Schwarzenegger will TERMINATE at least six major state programs. These programs include Healthy Families, CalWORKS, Adult Day Health Care, In-Home Supportive Services, California Food Assistance Program, and all funding for Transitional Housing Placement for foster kids.
The NY Times on our coming Greece moment
It’s easy to look at the protesters and the politicians in Greece — and at the other European countries with huge debts — and wonder why they don’t get it. They have been enjoying more generous government benefits than they can afford. No mass rally and no bailout fund will change that. Only benefit cuts or tax increases can.Read the rest here.
Yet in the back of your mind comes a nagging question: how different, really, is the United States?
The numbers on our federal debt are becoming frighteningly familiar. The debt is projected to equal 140 percent of gross domestic product within two decades. Add in the budget troubles of state governments, and the true shortfall grows even larger. Greece’s debt, by comparison, equals about 115 percent of its G.D.P. today.
The United States will probably not face the same kind of crisis as Greece, for all sorts of reasons. But the basic problem is the same. Both countries have a bigger government than they’re paying for. And politicians, spendthrift as some may be, are not the main source of the problem.
We, the people, are.
I think the Times has underestimated just how serious the debt bomb is. But I do give them credit for nailing the responsibility part. The American people want it all. We just don't want to pay for it. Americans are all of one mind when the question is asked; do we need to reduce the debt? They absolutely agree it should be a major priority... as long as none of the measures touch either their wallets or their favorite government service/entitlement program.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
The problem is debt
May 10 (Bloomberg) -- Governments will only bring about an end to the credit crisis through the “blood, sweat and tears” of cutting the amount of public debt, “Black Swan” author Nassim Taleb said.Read the rest here.
“The crisis came from debt and you don’t escape it with more debt,” Taleb said in an interview on Bloomberg Radio’s “Bloomberg Surveillance” today. “We’re in a situation where we had a patient who we discovered had cancer a year and a half ago and all we’ve been giving the patient is painkillers. The tumor is getting worse because we are transforming private debt into public debt and public debt is not manageable.”
Britain has a government
Five days after the people spoke, Britain has a new government. A little over an hour ago Gordon Brown resigned as Prime Minister and moments ago David Cameron arrived at No. 10 Downing Street as the country's new Prime Minister. Unlike in the United States there is no real "lame duck" period. Mr. Brown had no sooner departed the palace then H.M. the Queen summoned Mr. Cameron and asked him to form a government. After the proforma meeting at the palace Mr. Cameron became at once the Prime Minister.
Governing as a minority Prime Minister will be challenging If history is a guide this might not last that long. We will have to see. But the last hung parliament was dissolved in less than a year.
Governing as a minority Prime Minister will be challenging If history is a guide this might not last that long. We will have to see. But the last hung parliament was dissolved in less than a year.
The Euro's rescue... NOT
Confidence in the ability of nations to get their debts under control is not high. Yesterday’s big move in the stock market was a dead cat bounce. Greece is still broke. The EU is now on the hook for another trillion or so dollars. These are facts that can’t be papered over. And the markets are taking notice.
As I write gold is up more than $20 per oz.
Monday, May 10, 2010
70 years ago today: A fateful moment for civilization
Nazi Germany launched its long planned invasion of France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. In Britain a long simmering political crisis came to a head. Neville Chamberlain was forced to resign and Winston Churchill became Prime Minister in one of the darkest hours in history. Within a month Continental Europe would be lost and Britain would be living under the threat of invasion for the first time since Napoleon's era.
The Netherlands surrendered within days, Rotterdam was bombed with thousands killed even after the Dutch had sued for peace. Belgium fought for ten days before capitulating with her king becoming a prisoner of war. Luxembourg was swallowed in hours. The French army fought well but they were outmaneuvered and unable to stop the massive rush of tanks and bombers. Their vast system of much vaunted fortifications were shown to be of little use. Defeatist sentiment swelled up.
And the British army was forced to retreat to the harbor city of Dunkirk. With their back to the sea and hopelessly encircled the British undertook one of the epic military evacuations of history. Under continuous attack from air and artillery the Royal Navy supported by nearly every water craft in the British Isles that was able to get underway removed the vast bulk of Britain's army and many French troops, sans their heavy equipment which was lost to the enemy.
On June 4th 1940 Winston Churchill stood up at the Treasury Bench in the Commons to report on the events of the war. It was one of the most sobering and at the same time inspiring speeches of the 20th century.
Part 1
Part 2
The final three words of the speech were cut off. They were "...of the old."
The Netherlands surrendered within days, Rotterdam was bombed with thousands killed even after the Dutch had sued for peace. Belgium fought for ten days before capitulating with her king becoming a prisoner of war. Luxembourg was swallowed in hours. The French army fought well but they were outmaneuvered and unable to stop the massive rush of tanks and bombers. Their vast system of much vaunted fortifications were shown to be of little use. Defeatist sentiment swelled up.
And the British army was forced to retreat to the harbor city of Dunkirk. With their back to the sea and hopelessly encircled the British undertook one of the epic military evacuations of history. Under continuous attack from air and artillery the Royal Navy supported by nearly every water craft in the British Isles that was able to get underway removed the vast bulk of Britain's army and many French troops, sans their heavy equipment which was lost to the enemy.
On June 4th 1940 Winston Churchill stood up at the Treasury Bench in the Commons to report on the events of the war. It was one of the most sobering and at the same time inspiring speeches of the 20th century.
Part 1
Part 2
The final three words of the speech were cut off. They were "...of the old."
Stalin's Ghost
Over the objections of many Russians, posters bearing Stalin’s image were approved by Moscow’s city government for display during celebrations marking Victory Day in Russia on Sunday. The issue was debated in the weeks leading up to the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, and, in the end, the anti-Stalinists won. Only a few such posters were on display, and they were hardly prominent.Read the rest here.
This latest battle over how to remember The Great Patriotic War is part of an ongoing struggle for Russia’s post-Soviet identity. Since 2007, a widely used high school history textbook for teachers, developed by the Kremlin, has openly praised Stalin’s wartime leadership and condemned Allied behavior as perfidious. And in 2009 the Kremlin created a history commission dominated by the security services to counter foreign and domestic arguments that the Soviet Union shared responsibility with Nazi Germany for starting the war.
Western scholars and commentators have used such facts to argue that Russia has clearly failed the “Stalin test” — that the brutal dictator (and the Soviet era as a whole) has enjoyed a gradual rehabilitation under Vladimir Putin.
An "I told you so" moment for conspiracy theorists?
Federal agents have launched parallel criminal and civil probes of JPMorgan Chase and its trading activity in the precious metals market, The Post has learned.Read the rest here.
The probes are centering on whether or not JPMorgan, a top derivatives holder in precious metals, acted improperly to depress the price of silver, sources said.
The Commodities Futures Trade Commission is looking into civil charges, and the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division is handling the criminal probe, according to sources, who did not wish to be identified due to the sensitive nature of the information.
The probes are far-ranging, with federal officials looking into JPMorgan's precious metals trades on the London Bullion Market Association's (LBMA) exchange, which is a physical delivery market, and the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) for future paper derivative trades.
Various conspiracy theorists have long argued that there is widespread price manipulation in the precious metals markets.
Exit stage left
It is now four days since the general election, and Britain still does not know who will have No 10 Downing Street as their mailing address. Today in a desperate effort to keep Labor in office Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced he will step down, although not before September. Meanwhile Nick Clegg continues to play the role of Hamlet on the Thames.
Updates here, here and here.
Updates here, here and here.
Nice to see the Republicans aren't the only ones eating their own
LITTLE ROCK -- Frustrated that Congress has not enacted a more liberal agenda under big Democratic majorities, national labor unions are making a high-stakes stand this primary season in a most unlikely place: Arkansas.Read the rest here.
This small Southern state is more Mississippi than Michigan, a right-to-work jurisdiction where Wal-Mart was born and where unions have never been particularly powerful.
Nevertheless, labor is blanketing the airwaves here with multimillion-dollar expenditures designed to deny Sen. Blanche Lincoln a third term in the May 18 Democratic primary. In a mark of their unhappiness with Lincoln -- and their limited options -- they are rallying behind Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, who is hardly a poster boy for progressivism.
Saturday, May 08, 2010
Friday, May 07, 2010
Russian President Medvedev attacks historical revisionists and the cult of Stalin
President Medvedev has issued a stinging repudiation of the Soviet Union, condemning it as a totalitarian state that had deprived Russians of their basic rights.Read the rest here.
He also condemned Joseph Stalin’s record of repression before Victory Day celebrations on Sunday marking the 65th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, an event that many elderly Russians attribute to the leadership of the Soviet dictator.
The President’s outspoken verdict on Russia’s Soviet legacy contrasted sharply with that of his predecessor Vladimir Putin, who called the collapse of the Communist state “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century”. Mr Putin, the Prime Minister, has also been much more equivocal about Stalin.
Mr Medvedev said that Stalin had committed unforgivable crimes regardless of any progress made by the Soviet Union under his rule. In an interview with Izvestia newspaper that was also broadcast on state television, he rejected arguments that Stalin was responsible for the victory over Hitler in what Russians call the Great Patriotic War.
“The Great Patriotic War was won by our people, not by Stalin or even the generals,” Mr Medvedev said. “Their role was undoubtedly very serious but, at the same time, the people won the war at the cost of great efforts and a huge number of lives.
“Stalin committed mass crimes against the people. And despite the fact that he worked a lot, despite the fact that under his leadership the country achieved successes, what was done to his own people cannot be forgiven.”
The Russian Orthodox Church also recently issued a strongly worded attack on the renewed veneration of Stalin.
Britain finds oil near the Falklands and Argentina fumes
Argentina reacted with fury last night to the news that British company Rockhopper Exploration had made significant oil discoveries in waters around the Falkland Islands.Read the rest here.
As news broke that the company had encountered a 53m-thick deposit of oil 220km (135 miles) north of the islands, that could lead to the discovery of up to 200 million barrels of oil worth £17 billion at current prices, Argentina’s Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana condemned British actions in the region as “illegal” and “unilateral”.
Argentine media labelled the British as “pirates” and said that British action in the region “would push Argentina to its limits”.
Metropolitan Filaret: It's Time to Take a Step Toward Unity
(Note: This is not the schismatic Filaret.)
Thanks to an anonymous emailed tip to which I sent the following reply...
"Very interesting. I applaud the sentiment (which the story is long on) but question the particulars (which the story is short on). Very serious doctrinal issues still separate Rome from Orthodoxy. As far as I am aware no great progress has been made in resolving those issues. Zenit has a reputation for posting these kinds of fluff stories from time to time. When I see a story reporting major breakthroughs on doctrinal questions then I will become a bit less skeptical. Thanks for sending this."
VATICAN CITY, MAY 6, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The time is now for the Orthodox and Catholic Churches to take a step toward unity, and for Benedict XVI and the Orthodox patriarch of Moscow to meet, says the Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus.Read the rest here.
Metropolitan Filaret of Minsk and Sluck said this Tuesday at the international conference held in Rome on "The Poor Are the Precious Treasure of the Church: Orthodox and Catholics Together on the Path of Charity.
During the conference, which was promoted by the Sant'Egidio Community, participants reflected on the reception of the most frail in our societies, the testimony of the Fathers of the Church, and the challenges dictated by new social problems.
According to Metropolitan Filaret, the time has come to take decisive steps toward unity, reported the country's Catholic news service.
The Orthodox leader added that both Churches seek to establish full unity, and stressed that he has come to this conclusion based on the fraternal dialogue and the meetings that they have held with representatives of the Catholic Church"
Thanks to an anonymous emailed tip to which I sent the following reply...
"Very interesting. I applaud the sentiment (which the story is long on) but question the particulars (which the story is short on). Very serious doctrinal issues still separate Rome from Orthodoxy. As far as I am aware no great progress has been made in resolving those issues. Zenit has a reputation for posting these kinds of fluff stories from time to time. When I see a story reporting major breakthroughs on doctrinal questions then I will become a bit less skeptical. Thanks for sending this."
Prayers requested
In your charity please pray for Matushka Jeannette, wife of Fr. Gabriel Seamore (OCA), who has been struggling with numerous health issues for years and very nearly died during Holy Week. I am informed that she has just been readmitted to the hospital in critical condition.
Fr. Gabe served for many years as our deacon here in Merced before he answered the call to be ordained as a priest. Both he and Matushka are much missed here.
Fr. Gabe served for many years as our deacon here in Merced before he answered the call to be ordained as a priest. Both he and Matushka are much missed here.
Thursday, May 06, 2010
Britain's Election: Early returns...
...Are suggesting that the conservative party has made broad gains, but will fall short of an absolute majority in the House of Commons. Prime Minister Gordon Brown (Labor) has indicated that he may attempt to form a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats. This however is very likely to still fall short of a majority. Similarly David Cameron (Conservative party leader) may attempt to form a government by bringing in the Unionist MPs from N. Ireland. In either case it appears increasingly likely that Britain will have its first hung parliament since 1974.
There are significant fears in the British financial markets about the consequences of a hung parliament. Many fear that a minority government will not be able to impose the necessary (and painful) measures to bring Britain's exploding national debt under control. The Pound has been hit hard in foreign exchange rates over these fears and this could also impact the bond market and interest rates for Gilts (British treasury bonds).
Results are still coming in as of this writing and exit polling has in the past not always been reliable. Also many areas of the country where Conservatives tend to do better often report their results later. Thus nothing has been firmly decided. However, it is likely that in the overnight hours leaders in all of the major parties will be putting out feelers to some of the smaller parties about possible coalitions. Further complicating things are reports that one or more prominent Labor MPs are prepared to challenge Gordon Brown for leadership in the party if the results go badly. It would seem Mr. Brown may have a limited amount of time to try and patch something together, if he can. That said, there is at least one indicator that there is no urgent rush.
British media and press are reporting that H.M. the Queen has no plans to summon anyone to the palace before noon.
There are significant fears in the British financial markets about the consequences of a hung parliament. Many fear that a minority government will not be able to impose the necessary (and painful) measures to bring Britain's exploding national debt under control. The Pound has been hit hard in foreign exchange rates over these fears and this could also impact the bond market and interest rates for Gilts (British treasury bonds).
Results are still coming in as of this writing and exit polling has in the past not always been reliable. Also many areas of the country where Conservatives tend to do better often report their results later. Thus nothing has been firmly decided. However, it is likely that in the overnight hours leaders in all of the major parties will be putting out feelers to some of the smaller parties about possible coalitions. Further complicating things are reports that one or more prominent Labor MPs are prepared to challenge Gordon Brown for leadership in the party if the results go badly. It would seem Mr. Brown may have a limited amount of time to try and patch something together, if he can. That said, there is at least one indicator that there is no urgent rush.
British media and press are reporting that H.M. the Queen has no plans to summon anyone to the palace before noon.
Today in numbers and what they mean...
Setting aside for the moment a near 1000 pt drop in the DOW over the space of about 15 minutes (that was probably at least partly a technical glitch) today was the latest in a string of very ugly days as the world appears to be finally taking notice of the oceans of red ink out there.
Some quick numbers for consideration...
The DOW ended down 347.8 or 3.4%
The S&P 500 down 37.2 or 3.24%
The NASDAQ down 82.65 or 3.44%
Oil down 2.81 to 77.21 per barrel (It was over $86 just last week)
The Euro was slammed, dropping to 1.2529 to the dollar
The only things that rose were the dollar which made new highs for the year against the Euro and and the Pound, US high grade bonds which rallied across the curve and gold which rose 33.20 to $1209.80 oz an advance of some 2.8%.
Conclusions... there is a growing alarm at the vast amount of sovereign debt in the world and the possibility of a cascading debt crisis. As per normal in times of alarm there was a flight to the dollar and the most conservative of dollar denominated securities. However this time, unlike in 2008, we are also seeing a large move into gold which has been rising steadily for well over a month. Of particular noteworthiness is that gold has been rallying IN TANDEM with the dollar. This has been going on for weeks and does not appear to be an aberration. If in fact gold, which has historically done the opposite of the dollar, is in the process of decoupling from the USD it could signal investors increasing concern over US sovereign debt levels and the anticipation of large scale intervention by the FED and other central banks around the world. In effect gold may be in the process of becoming once again the world's defacto reserve currency.
Some quick numbers for consideration...
The DOW ended down 347.8 or 3.4%
The S&P 500 down 37.2 or 3.24%
The NASDAQ down 82.65 or 3.44%
Oil down 2.81 to 77.21 per barrel (It was over $86 just last week)
The Euro was slammed, dropping to 1.2529 to the dollar
The only things that rose were the dollar which made new highs for the year against the Euro and and the Pound, US high grade bonds which rallied across the curve and gold which rose 33.20 to $1209.80 oz an advance of some 2.8%.
Conclusions... there is a growing alarm at the vast amount of sovereign debt in the world and the possibility of a cascading debt crisis. As per normal in times of alarm there was a flight to the dollar and the most conservative of dollar denominated securities. However this time, unlike in 2008, we are also seeing a large move into gold which has been rising steadily for well over a month. Of particular noteworthiness is that gold has been rallying IN TANDEM with the dollar. This has been going on for weeks and does not appear to be an aberration. If in fact gold, which has historically done the opposite of the dollar, is in the process of decoupling from the USD it could signal investors increasing concern over US sovereign debt levels and the anticipation of large scale intervention by the FED and other central banks around the world. In effect gold may be in the process of becoming once again the world's defacto reserve currency.
An Episcopalian's Creed
This from a blog post I found via a link on Perry Robinson's blog (blame him!). I am going to repost the entire "creed"as I believe it is worth reading. Caution: Put down your coffee cup before proceeding.
I believe in One God: God that was First Cause and God that continues to be, running through all of creation. I believe God created all through scientific and natural laws, which God created as well. I call the aspect of God that runs through all Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is what activates the image of God that already exists in all of us when we allow it into us; Holy Spirit allows us to bring the good of God out of us and into the world where it can transform other people and situations. I believe that some of us are more open and receptive to Spirit; the prime example to me of one who was so open to Spirit that the line between the humanity of that person and the divinity of God blurred into One is Jesus Christ.Source
I believe I am to follow Jesus and live as he taught. In Jesus I found my entry-point to the wholeness and trueness of One God and as such I have a responsibility to seek Justice, love mercy, and walk in kindness. I am to seek Christ in the heart of the poor, the homeless, the outcast, the rejected, and the unloved—I am to spread the love of God to all I interact with and I am to seek to transform this world into a more just and fair world in whatever ways that I can.
I believe the Bible is a human attempt at understanding God and the meaning of life in relationship with God. I believe that in certain moments of private reflection and meditation and in communal readings scripture from the Bible can become the Word of God when they touch our soul and awaken in us a deeper love for God and neighbor and stronger thirst for justice. Although I believe other texts from other traditions can become the Word of God for those respective traditions, as one with roots in Christianity I most often find that Word in the Hebrew and Christian testaments.
I believe that sin occurs when we act in ways that damage our relationship with God or neighbor. I believe these actions occur in us all, but that we all can be forgiven and redeemed from them daily as we try to follow more closely in the ways of love for God and neighbor.
I believe we live in a broken world but we must live as if it can be restored, redeemed, and renewed and that we must live so as to make this world as it ought to be—I believe the Church cab be the primary institution in bringing about this global, temporal yet eternal, transformation and salvation. I believe our personal salvation occurs when we place our faith and trust in a proper place and we thus are free from the chains of greed, apathy, failure, pain, death, and sin so that we can move forward with acts of mercy.
I believe the Christian faith best exemplifies for me the way to live—personally and communally, but I do not discount other ways for other people whose roots are in their own traditions. I believe that as we move deeper into the 21st century, we must all—Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, and Atheist—find ways to work together for the betterment of all humankind. We must have respect for our differences, security for our individualism, and love for each other and ourselves.
In some of my darker moments I have wondered if the current state of the Episcopal Organization (TEO) is not a consequence of God's amusement (or lack thereof) at the old cliche about Episcopalians being the Republican Party at prayer.
I apologize in advance to any of my Episcopal readers (I do have some). I am fairly certain that what I am about to write will be hurtful to you. But I think it needs to be said.
On a side note; this tends to reinforce the conviction that has been growing in me for a few years now, that the time has come for the various Orthodox churches to end the policy of giving more or less automatic "close enough" status to Episcopal baptisms among converts. The simple truth is that we just don't know what is going on among the "clergy" of that body anymore. Perry Robinson is correct in his observations that the Episcopal Organization is not a Christian body in any sense that could be accepted by the Church Fathers. Mormons have a stronger claim to that title.
This is not to say that here are no Christians left in TEO. But they are a rapidly diminishing minority. And if they are in TEO they are also in full communion with bishops that are so far gone in heresy or outright apostasy as to be beyond the pale. I hardly need to point out that TEO is a body with no real doctrine to speak of, beyond the Left Wing flavor of the week socio-political cause. I think it is sufficient to point out that when we accept an Episcopal baptism from the last 25 years or so, we are accepting a baptism performed by someone who was in full communion with John Shelby Spong.
If we are going to accept theirs, on what grounds do we reject anyone's?
Arab Israelis urge boycott of goods manufactured in "settlements"
Arab leaders in Israel are preparing a boycott of settlement-made products, following Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s call for such a ban by West Bank Arabs.Read the rest here.
Starting on Thursday, Israeli-Arab retailers will be urged to place lists of settlement-made items in their establishments, notifying shoppers which products to avoid. Among the 1,000 companies slated to be boycotted are Ahava Dead Sea health products, Beigel & Beigel pretzels, Super Drink soft drinks and Openheimer chocolates.
Analysis: Arab-Israeli boycott puts social cohesion at risk
“We are launching a campaign across the entire Arab sector to boycott all goods manufactured in the West Bank settlements,” said Mansour Dahamshy, chairman of the Kafr Kana public committee. “We mean to show solidarity with the Palestinian people and wage battle against the settlements and the occupation.”
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Truth in advertising
I found this on Damian Thompson's generally excellent blog. Anyone else find it somewhat amusing?
Quote of the day
"Stalin is our father, our idol. The historical truth should be glorified."
-Sergei Obukhov (Russian Member of Parliament- Communist Party)
From a Newsweek article on the revival of Stalin's cult in Russia.
BRAVO ZULU
The keys found in the ignition of the sport utility vehicle that was left to explode in Times Square on Saturday evening did more than just start cars: one opened the front door to Faisal Shahzad’s home.Read the rest here.
The young woman in Bridgeport who last month sold Mr. Shahzad the rusting 1993 Nissan Pathfinder prosecutors say he used in the failed attack did not remember his name. But she had his telephone number.
That number was traced back to a prepaid cellular phone purchased by Mr. Shahzad, one that received four calls from Pakistan in the hours before he bought the S.U.V.
It was 53 hours and 20 minutes from the moment the authorities say Mr. Shahzad, undetected, left his failed car bomb in the heart of Manhattan until the moment he was taken off a plane at Kennedy Airport and charged with trying to kill untold numbers of the city’s residents and tourists.
Many of us (including your truly) are quick to belittle government incompetence. Sometimes we get so used to it we need to be reminded that YES there are things we need the government to do. And further, there are some very competent and dedicated public servants who do great work for the people who employ them, often at considerable personal risk.
Case in point; the NYPD mounted policeman who after being alerted to a suspicious vehicle raised the alarm, and helped evacuate Times Square. Had the car bomb gone off many people would have owed their lives to his quick thinking and professionalism. And it's quite possible that they would have had to express their gratitude at his wake since he remained on the scene until the bomb squad took over.
And then there are the scores of cops from New York and other jurisdictions along with the FBI's G-Men who through very aggressive good old fashioned police and detective work cracked the case and arrested the perp in 53 hours and 20 minutes. Yea they caught a lot of breaks with evidence. But that is still good police work... damn good.
In the Navy there is a tradition that when a ship does something extraordinary and worthy of recognition the admiral used to hoist the signal flags B and Z with the pennant for the ship to whom the recognition was directed. This strikes me as a good excuse to run up the signal BRAVO ZULU!
Tuesday, May 04, 2010
A Royal Dilemma: The role of a constitutional monarch in the event of a hung parliament
H.M. The Queen at the State Opening of Parliament attended by H.R.H. Prince Phillip the Duke of Edinburgh, the royal pages, ladies in waiting and the Peers of the Realm in the House of LordsShe makes no speeches on the hustings; she remains aloof from the political fray. She admits no party affiliation and is not permitted to vote or stand for office. Yet, she addresses Parliament with bejeweled and regular fanfare; for more than half a century, she has held secret conversations with a cavalcade of 11 prime ministers; and, in a peculiarly British way, she could be cast in a central, yet largely powerless, role if Britain’s elections on Thursday stray into the gray zone known as a hung Parliament.Read the rest here
As I was saying...
From one of yesterday's posts...
A rather insightful comment from a discussion board over at yahoo...
So what are we left with? Another massive bailout of banks by tax payers in an effort to prop up a zombie country that was broke yesterday, is still broke today and I am willing to bet more money than I have will still be broke three years from now. When and where does this end? How much money can the EU (or the Congress here in the USA) shell out to prop up bankrupt institutions whether countries, states, or private corporations?Today major financial markets across Europe and in the United States dove as nervous investors began to take a hard look at Europe's problems. The DOW was down over 2% and the Euro was slammed down to its lowest exchange level versus the dollar in a year. I wonder how long before people notice that the United States has a massive sovereign debt problem of its own? Once they do the dollar and Treasuries (now sporting record low yields) will become very unattractive in a hurry.
A rather insightful comment from a discussion board over at yahoo...
Debt to GDP ratios and all that math are good. But pretty much, when people decide it is over,...It is over. It is a human thing. Sovereign debt and currency is not like the stock market. It is never backed by anything. Not these days anyway. The money and debt cannot be converted into assets during a bankruptcy. Once faith is gone, it is gone. And the truth of fiat currency is slowly coming to forefront of global consciousness.Source.
Central bankers may struggle to hold the system together. But we are looking at a global currency episode. Most Americans still think the dollar is backed by gold, just like Europeans thought the Euro was partially backed by gold. The learning curve sharpens fast when questions start being asked.
Trust requires ignorance.
Great and wondrous are His works
OK. It's not the parting of the Red Sea. But I'm sill chalking this one up to Divine Intervention. As longtime readers may have gleaned from occasional references, our mission parish in Merced CA has been going through some very challenging times over the last several years. Money has been a tough subject here with debts piling up (our priest is now several months behind on pay) and the economic situation here is simply horrific. The Central Valley of CA is one of the hardest hit areas in one of the hardest hit states in the country. The New York Times called Merced "ground zero" for the real estate collapse that triggered the current Great Recession. The local unemplyment rate is around 25%. (That's depression level.) And I think it may be higher in our congregation. Things have been so bad that there have been moments where we were not altogether sure we were gong to make it.
And yet this last weekend we celebrated our 25th anniversary as a parish. In the small borrowed chapel we use for our services we managed to cram into the altar area one bishop, our own priest and some 14 (I think) visiting clergy who came to help us give glory to God on our Parish Feast Day. (Yes. It's the lesser feast for Saint Mary Magdalene but it's just too hot here in July for us to keep the major feast.) After one of the most wonderful hierarchical liturgies (with an incredibly timely sermon on putting our trust in God) I have been privileged to participate in we repaired to a reserved hall for a feast fit for royalty.
Well OK... maybe more like greater nobility, but still; it was pretty awesome with much wine, champagne, dancing and general merriment over great food with great company. All in all a very classy affair that was really fun. That by itself was a minor miracle.
Then today comes the second demonstration of divine favor. We on the parish council get an email from our Treasurer reporting the receipt of a wholly unexpected check from PG&E for enough money to cover Fr. David's back pay. Apparently PG&E owed us a refund for some work we had done many years ago for which they were overpayed.
We are still up to our chin in red ink. But we are no longer sinking. Our other financial obligations, although by no means unimportant, do not pose a realistic threat to our survival as a mission parish.
Glory to God!
And yet this last weekend we celebrated our 25th anniversary as a parish. In the small borrowed chapel we use for our services we managed to cram into the altar area one bishop, our own priest and some 14 (I think) visiting clergy who came to help us give glory to God on our Parish Feast Day. (Yes. It's the lesser feast for Saint Mary Magdalene but it's just too hot here in July for us to keep the major feast.) After one of the most wonderful hierarchical liturgies (with an incredibly timely sermon on putting our trust in God) I have been privileged to participate in we repaired to a reserved hall for a feast fit for royalty.
Well OK... maybe more like greater nobility, but still; it was pretty awesome with much wine, champagne, dancing and general merriment over great food with great company. All in all a very classy affair that was really fun. That by itself was a minor miracle.
Then today comes the second demonstration of divine favor. We on the parish council get an email from our Treasurer reporting the receipt of a wholly unexpected check from PG&E for enough money to cover Fr. David's back pay. Apparently PG&E owed us a refund for some work we had done many years ago for which they were overpayed.
We are still up to our chin in red ink. But we are no longer sinking. Our other financial obligations, although by no means unimportant, do not pose a realistic threat to our survival as a mission parish.
Glory to God!
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