Feinstein Publicly Accuses C.I.A. of Spying on Congress

The chairwoman of the Senate intelligence committee on Tuesday accused the Central Intelligence Agency of improperly removing documents from computers that committee staff members had been using to complete a report on the agency’s detention program, saying the move was part of an effort to intimidate the committee.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California and the chairwoman of the committee, suggested on the Senate floor that the agency had violated federal law and said the C.I.A. had undermined Congress’s constitutional right to oversee the actions of the executive branch.

“I am not taking it lightly,” she said.

Read the rest here.

Czar Nicholas II Reviewing Troops at Krasnoye Selo

)
Some very rare and excellent footage of the Czar Martyr along with the Czarevitch Alexei and various members of the Imperial Court reviewing troops during the summer military encampment at Krasnoye Selo. Among those who are can be identified are the Grand Duke Nicholas (later Russian military commander during World War I) and the elderly Count Vladimir Fredericks the head of the Imperial Household from 1897 to the fall of the monarchy in 1917. The date is uncertain but most likely in the late 1900's.

HT: RR

The president's power grab

Recently, a bizarre scene unfolded on the floor of the House of Representatives that would have shocked the framers of the Constitution. In his State of the Union address, President Obama announced that he had decided to go it alone in areas where Congress refused to act to his satisfaction. In a system of shared powers, one would expect an outcry or at least stony silence when a president promised to circumvent the legislative branch. Instead, many senators and representatives erupted in rapturous applause; they seemed delighted at the notion of a president assuming unprecedented and unchecked powers at their expense.

Last week, Obama underlined what this means for our system: The administration unilaterally increased the transition time for individuals to obtain the level of insurance mandated by the Affordable Care Act. There is no statutory authority for the change — simply the raw assertion of executive power.

The United States is at a constitutional tipping point: The rise of an uber presidency unchecked by the other two branches.

Read the rest here.
HT: MCJ

The Triumph of Orthodoxy concelebrated by the Primates of the local churches

Notorious speed trap in N. Florida may be shut down

Anyone who has traveled on US 301 in North Florida will know the route's dreadful reputation for its myriad speed traps. It's so bad that the last time I went down that road late last year, some people had actually put up giant billboard sized signs on their own lawns warning motorists of the speed traps ahead. But the story behind the tiny "city" of Hampton (pop. 477) and the more than ten thousand tickets it handed out each year, even managed to shock me. The corruption sounds breathtaking...

HAMPTON, Fla. — It’s easy for motorists driving down busy Route 301 to miss this speck of a city in rural north-central Florida: Fiddle with the car radio, unwrap a pack of gum, gaze out the window at the sunset and, whoosh, it’s gone.

And so it fell to the police to force hurried travelers to stop and savor the 1,260-foot ribbon of roadway belonging to this city. Hidden by trash bins or concealed in a stretch of woods, the officers — a word loosely applied here — pointed their radar devices. Between 2011 and 2012, Hampton’s officers issued 12,698 speeding tickets to motorists, many likely caught outside Hampton’s strip of county road.

But, as it turns out, surprised motorists are not the only ones getting burned. So many speeding tickets were churned out for so many years and with such brazenness that this city of 477 residents came under scrutiny — and not just for revenue raising with a radar gun. Now, Hampton, an 89-year-old city, is fighting legislative momentum to wipe it off the map, after a state audit last month uncovered reams of financial irregularities, shoddy record-keeping and missing funds.

Read the rest here.

The nuns have been freed!

The nuns abducted from their monastery in Syria have been freed. Glory to God!

Great and Holy Council to meet in 2016

As widely reported in the Orthodox blogosphere the recent Synaxis of the Primates of the Orthodox Church held in Constantinople made some very important announcements.

• The long anticipated Great and Holy Council of the Orthodox Church is to convene sometime in 2016.
• It will be composed of twenty hierarchs from each of the canonically recognized autocephalous Orthodox Churches (some may have less than twenty bishops). No, the OCA will not be represented.
• The agenda currently has eight items on the list. This may grow.
• Each local Church will have one vote. Decrees of the Council will require the unanimous support of all the local churches.
• Presumably the local Holy Synods will give some form of authority to their delegates to speak on their behalf, so that the Council's decrees will have binding effect upon the universal Church.

Some, mostly non-Orthodox are referring to this as an Orthodox Ecumenical Council.  And in fairness it might eventually become an Ecumenical Council. But Ecumenical Councils don't become Ecumenical before they meet. In the Orthodox Church a council first needs to meet, and then have its pronouncements received by the universal Church before it is considered Ecumenical. And even then the actual term 'Ecumenical' may not be everywhere applied.  There have been seven councils that are universally accepted within the Church as Ecumenical. But there have been nine Great and Holy Councils whose edicts are universally recognized. The last two are also termed as Ecumenical by many Orthodox (including this blog's author). But others have shied away from that term though all accept their pronouncements. So yes, it is possible that this could become either the eighth or tenth, depending on your reckoning, Ecumenical Council.

But don't get too worked up over it. The way things work in the Orthodox Church any such final determination, if it actually happens, would almost certainly come long after anyone reading this has been reduced to dust. The last Great and Holy Council met over 700 years ago and we are still not all agreed if it was Ecumenical! (It was, but that's another topic.)

Catching up on news

Last week was a major one for news. For those who weren't paying attention I will be posting some of the more important developments along with more current stuff.

Thank you

For the numerous prayers and expressions of sympathy in comments and emails. Normal blogging will resume tomorrow. I will also try to get through the backlog of emails.

Memory Eternal!

My step-father Harold died a short while ago, bringing to a close his long battle with dementia. There will be no blogging for a little while and your indulgence is begged if I don't respond to emails promptly. As always, prayers are deeply appreciated.

Interview with Fr. Joseph Huneycutt: Syrian Christians in a Time of Conflict

Two-and-a-half years ago Fr. Joseph Huneycutt traveled to Syria as part of an official delegation of Christian pastors and leaders to investigate the emerging political crisis and to assess the situation of Syria’s Christians. The September 2011 trip was sponsored by the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America, and a report of the delegation’s findings was issued here. Now in its third year, the Syria conflict has taken countless lives and has left much of the country destroyed. Reports seem to come in weekly detailing the struggles of Syria’s ancient Christian community. Reports of kidnapping, murder, rape, torture, and destruction of churches at the hands of rebel insurgents are now a common theme of the Syria crisis. Last December, Fr. Joseph’s parish, St. Joseph Orthodox church in Houston, hosted the “Hope, Humanity, Healing” benefit concert to spread awareness of the plight of Syria’s Christians and to raise funds for the relief of all suffering innocents of the conflict. Fr. Joseph agreed to speak with Levant Report this week:

 Read the rest here.

German Catholic bishop defies Rome on doctrine

The responses to the Vatican questionnaire on the family are a clear signal that certain changes concerning the church’s teaching on sexual morality are imperative, according to Bishop Stephan Ackermann of Trier, Germany.

Interviewed by the Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz, Ackermann, 50, said the responses showed “quite clearly” that for the majority of the faithful the church’s teaching on moral sexuality was “repressive” and “remote from life.” Declaring a second marriage after a divorce a perpetual mortal sin, and under no circumstances allowing remarried divorced people ever to receive the Sacraments, was not helpful, he said and added, “We bishops will have to make suggestions here. We must strengthen people’s sense of responsibility and then respect their decisions of conscience.”
It was also no longer tenable to declare that every kind of cohabitation before marriage was a grievous sin, and “the difference between natural and artificial birth control is somehow artificial. No one understands it I fear,” Ackermann said.

As far as homosexual relationships were concerned, the church would have to appeal to people’s sense of responsibility, he continued. “The Christian concept of the human being emanates from the polarity of the sexes but we cannot simply say homosexuality is unnatural,” he explained. While the church must “hold fast” to the uniqueness of marriage between a man and a woman, it could not just ignore registered same-sex unions where the couples had promised to be faithful to and responsible for one another.

Read the rest here.

Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris

A blessed Fast to those observing Ash Wednesday.

White dinner jackets at the Oscars, oh my!

We interrupt the blog fast to post something incredibly snobbish.

In the United States the rule of thumb is that gentlemen eschew white excepting the period from Memorial Day through Labor Day. (An exception is usually admitted in the tropics.) So that was the first mistake. But setting aside that social faux pas, there just aren't many men who can make the white dinner jacket work. Think Bogart in Casablanca. As always the rule in polite society, is don't draw attention to yourself. (Mistake #2) But if you are going to attempt something out of the ordinary in a social setting make sure you have the necessary skills to carry it off. White dinner jackets are NOT advised for the novice, lest you end up looking like you stopped by on your way home from the Junior PROM (circa 1984).

And on a side note, if the invite says "Black Tie,"  a burgundy bow tie is probably not a good idea either.

On the Eve of the Great Fast

I ask pardon for any offense that I may have caused in word, action or by neglect, especially for anything written on this blog. Please forgive me.

It has been my custom in years past to minimize blogging during Clean Week and refrain entirely during the first several days of the Fast. I hope to continue that practice this year, events personal and otherwise permitting. In closing I again ask your prayers for my step-father Harold who has been disconnected from all life support and is now in hospice.

I wish you all a blessed fast.

Please pray for the peoples of Ukraine and Russia

Russia Seizes the Crimea (and maybe that's not such a bad thing)

SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine — As Russian armed forces effectively seized control of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula on Saturday, the Russian Parliament granted President Vladimir V. Putin the authority he sought to use military force in response to the deepening instability in Ukraine.

The authorization cited a threat to the lives of Russian citizens and soldiers stationed in Crimea and other parts of Ukraine, and provided a blunt answer to President Obama, who on Friday pointedly warned Russia to respect Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty.

Read the rest here.

Let's see. The Crimea is overwhelmingly populated by ethnic Russians who want nothing to do with Ukrainian nationalists. The Ukraine itself has been a part of Russia in one form or another for at least 500 years. How would we react if China decided to meddle in the affairs of our neighbors? I suspect that that there would be a huge outcry and demand for action. The Monroe Doctrine would be dusted off and waved from every flagpole. 

Here is the bottom line from my perspective. The Ukraine borders Russia. The Crimea is a vital piece of real estate to Russian national security because of its access to the Black Sea and its being the home port of a large part of the Russian Navy. And around half the country's population is solidly pro-Russian. In short, Russia has legitimate interests in the Ukraine.

Does that mean war is justified? Probably not. And if Russian troops were to move into the western part of the Ukraine that would be going too far. But anybody who thought that Russia was going to stand by and allow a bunch of pro-West Ukrainian nationalists, almost certainly supported by Western intelligence services, overthrow a legitimately elected (albeit heavy handed) pro-Russian government and move the country into the anti-Russian EU and maybe even NATO, was delusional.

Does anyone remember what we (the US, EU and NATO) did to Serbia and Kosovo? My guess is we are witnessing the same thing in the Ukraine. And that might not be a horrible thing if war can be avoided. The entity we call the Ukraine is inhabited by two groups of people, in roughly equal proportion, who detest one another. Given that they rather conveniently inhabit different parts of the country, a divorce might be the best solution.

In the meantime, unlike Russia, we have no vital interests. We should offer diplomatic council if that can help avoid bloodshed, but in the end this is none of our business.

On a side note... 

Memo to Russia and China: Stay out of Mexico and Canada.

Lent is almost here - a note on fasting

As I sit at my desk, contemplating the four cheese vegetarian lasagna cooling on the kitchen counter, it occurs to me that our favorite time of year is now only a couple of short days away. And so a few quick points on fasting may be in order.

A general guide to the fasting discipline of the Church may be found here. Be aware that as with many other things in Orthodoxy, your mileage is going to vary a bit. There are local variations and you can find stricter, more detailed, and more lenient versions of the fasting discipline if you want to look around. But the linked site gives a pretty decent run down of the basics.

It is important though to remember that Lent is not a legalistic test to see how well we can keep a fourth century dietary code. Rather it is a spiritual exercise intended to stretch and temper the body so it does not come to rule the spirit. To which end I'm going to add a few observations and addendums.

• Mind your own business. Your fast is your concern, your neighbor's is not. If you feel the need to brag about how well you are keeping the fast, save it for confession.
• In line with the above, avoid gossip. It is one of the vices most frequently condemned in Scripture yet most prevalent in modern society.
• Be prepared for failure. I have NEVER come close to keeping the Lenten Fast perfectly. Very few outside of monastics do. That is not an excuse to ignore it, but it is an acknowledgment of our human weakness. When you fall, pick yourself up and get back on the horse.
• Shelve the triumphalism. I am seriously sick of the annual commentary about how WE still fast, unlike you know who. Every year those comments are as inevitable as a call of nature, and more or less as pleasant to contemplate.
• Baptism by total immersion is a no no with fasting. If you are new to the Faith, do not attempt the full rigors of the fast. You will fail, probably badly, get discouraged and ultimately surrender. Talk to your spiritual father and get a modified rule from him. For the non-Orthodox looking to try something perhaps a bit more stringent than what they are accustomed to, I suggest Ad Orientem's Lenten Fasting for beginners... no meat throughout Lent and keep a strict fast (one meal only with no meat fish wine oil or dairy) on Wednesdays and Fridays. If you can handle that, you are doing pretty good. The other stuff can come later.
• Common sense is not on the fasting list. If you are at work and feel faint because you are so hungry... don't be a twit, EAT SOMETHING! Likewise legitimate health issues trump the fasting rules. When in doubt consult your doctor and spiritual father.
• Don't play the martyr. If you are making other people miserable because of your fasting either eat something or excuse yourself from the company of others. If someone unknowingly surprises you with a nice meal that's not on the OK list, the correct response is not "sorry I'm fasting." You smile, politely thank them and eat, even though that succulent juicy steak will undoubtedly make you miserable. The basic rule here is if your fasting makes someone else feel really bad then you have failed.

With that, I wish everyone a blessed fast.

Muslims impose strict Islamic law on Christians in Syria

A jihadist group in Syria has demanded that Christians in the northern city of Raqqa pay a levy in gold and accept curbs on their faith, or face death.

The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) said it would give Christian residents "protection" if they agreed to the list of conditions...

...The directive from ISIS, citing the Islamic concept of "dhimma", requires Christians in the city to pay tax of around half an ounce (14g) of pure gold in exchange for their safety.
  
It says Christians must not make renovations to churches, display crosses or other religious symbols outside churches, ring church bells or pray in public. Christians must not carry arms, and must follow other rules imposed by ISIS (also known as ISIL) on their daily lives.

The statement said the group had met Christian representatives and offered them three choices - they could convert to Islam, accept ISIS' conditions, or reject their control and risk being killed.
"If they reject, they are subject to being legitimate targets, and nothing will remain between them and ISIS other than the sword," the statement said.

Read the rest here.

Russia Invades Ukraine

Reports are headlining pretty much every news website, excepting at this point NBC and CNN who seem to be alone in grasping the importance of President Obama's moving recollections of his childhood and later experimentation with drugs.

American flag banned in an American high school for Cinco de Mayo

This is how far things have sunk. Awaiting Anti-Gnostic's comment in 5-4-3-2-1...

Ukrainian crisis shifts to pro-Russian regions

SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine — The revolutionary upheaval in Ukraine’s faraway capital has awakened the separatist dreams of ethnic Russians living here on the Crimean Peninsula, where on Thursday pro-Russia gunmen who occupied the regional parliament building were met with an outpouring of support.

A group of men dressed in camouflage and armed with rocket-­propelled grenades entered the building early Thursday in the capital of Ukraine’s Crimea region, according to local reporters, then barricaded themselves inside and raised the Russian flag on the roof — a succinct answer to warnings from the United States and Europe that Ukraine remain united and Russia stand back.

Read the rest here.

Cry for Me, Argentina

USHUAIA, Argentina — A bon mot doing the rounds in post-commodities-boom South America is that Brazil is in the process of becoming Argentina, and Argentina is in the process of becoming Venezuela, and Venezuela is in the process of becoming Zimbabwe. That is a little harsh on Brazil and Venezuela.

Argentina, however, is a perverse case of its own. It is a nation still drugged by that quixotic political concoction called Peronism; engaged in all-out war on reliable economic data; tinkering with its multilevel exchange rate; shut out from global capital markets; trampling on property rights when it wishes; obsessed with a lost little war in the Falklands (Malvinas) more than three decades ago; and persuaded that the cause of all this failure lies with speculative powers seeking to force a proud nation — in the words of its leader — “to eat soup again, but this time with a fork.”

A century ago, Argentina was richer than Sweden, France, Austria and Italy. It was far richer than Japan. It held poor Brazil in contempt. Vast and empty, with the world’s richest top soil in the Pampas, it seemed to the European immigrants who flooded here to have all the potential of the United States (per capita income is now a third or less of the United States level). They did not know that a colonel called Juan Domingo Perón and his wife Eva (“Evita”) would shape an ethos of singular delusional power.

“Argentina is a unique case of a country that has completed the transition to underdevelopment,” said Javier Corrales, a political scientist at Amherst College.

Read the rest here.

China’s assertiveness leaves its neighbors anxious

A Chinese military expert is explaining to a conference
here what he sees as the benign inevitability of Beijing’s rising power
in the Pacific. “You should trust China,” he says cheerily. “In 10
years, we will be much stronger, and you will feel safer...”

...It is a sign of the times that delegates here talk openly about the danger of war in the Pacific. That’s a big change from the tone of similar gatherings just a few years ago, when Chinese officials often tried to reassure foreign experts that a rising China wasn’t on a collision course with the United States or regional powers. Now, in the East and South China seas, the collision seems all too possible.

Just two weeks ago, U.S. Navy Capt. James Fanell warned at a conference in San Diego that China had been training for a “short, sharp war” to assert primacy over islands claimed by Japan as the Senkakus and by China as the Diaoyus. “I do not know how Chinese intentions could be more transparent,” he said, noting that Beijing’s talk of “protection of maritime rights” was actually “a Chinese euphemism for the coerced seizure of coastal rights of China’s neighbors.”

Read the rest here.

The Divine Liturgy Project

Do check out this interesting project. Details are available over at the NLM.

GOP proposes radical overhaul of the income tax

The Republican chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee unveiled a bold but politically hazardous overhaul of the nation’s tax laws Wednesday that would jettison hundreds of popular tax breaks in favor of a simpler code with lower rates.

The proposal drafted by Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) would significantly reduce rates for individuals and corporations, pushing the top corporate rate down to 25 percent from 35 percent and the top individual rate down to 35 percent from 39.6 percent.

Tax-filing season would also be much easier for most households, with 95 percent of filers likely to claim a new expanded standard deduction and call it a day.

However, all that simplicity comes at the cost of hundreds of credits and deductions that have been woven into the American way of life. There would be no more personal exemptions for you, your spouse and your dependents; no more credit for child care; no more deductions for medical bills or for state and local taxes.

The mortgage interest deduction would be available only for mortgages worth less than $500,000, instead of the current $1 million (though currently held mortgages would be grandfathered). And an important tax break for the poor would be dramatically scaled back.

Investment income would lose its special status and be taxed like regular income. And the wealthiest households — those earning more than $450,000 a year — would lose virtually every deduction and credit, including the tax-free treatment of health insurance premiums paid by their employers.

Read the rest

I haven't read enough on this bill to form a definitive opinion, but my first impression is one of pleasant surprise. It's not exactly a state secret that the Republicans in Congress, especially the House, have been a bitter disappointment to me. But this bill sounds like it could be a really big step in the right direction. Assuming there isn't something horrid buried in it that I haven't found out about yet, I hope the bill gets some serious debate. And maybe (dare I hope?) some constructive input and support from Democrats. There's quite a bit in here that should appeal to their anti-1% constituents.

Judge strikes down gay marriage ban in Texas

A Texas judge has struck down that state's ban on gay marriage.

U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia did not say gay marriages could be performed immediately. Instead, he stayed the decision, citing a likely appeal.

"Without a rational relation to a legitimate governmental purpose, state-imposed inequality can find no refuge in our United States Constitution," Garcia wrote in his decision. "These Texas laws deny Plaintiffs access to the institution of marriage and its numerous rights, privileges, and responsibilities for the sole reason that Plaintiffs wish to be married to a person of the same sex."

The state's gay marriage ban was challenged by two gay couples -- one seeking to marry in Texas and one seeking to have their marriage, which was performed in Massachusetts, to be recognized.

Read the rest here.

As said in an earlier post, this battle is lost. It's time to refocus on the strongest possible conscience protection legislation.

Russia masses troops near Ukrainian border

MOSCOW — President Vladimir V. Putin ordered a surprise exercise of ground and air forces on Ukraine’s doorstep Wednesday, intending to demonstrate his country’s military preparedness at a time of heightened tensions with Europe and the United States over the turmoil gripping Russia’s western neighbor. The Obama administration said any Russian military intervention in Ukraine would be a costly and “grave mistake.”

Russia’s military put tens of thousands of troops in western Russia on alert at 2 p.m. for an exercise scheduled to last until March 3. The minister of defense, Sergei K. Shoigu, also announced unspecified measures to tighten security at the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet on Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula.

Read the rest here.

I really need to get a dog...

California couple finds $10 million in gold coins while walking their dog.

If stupidity were a crime...

There are some school administrators in Tennessee who would be looking at the electric chair. These are the people who are preparing the next generation of Americans for the challenges of the future. Not to unduly alarm anyone.

HT: RuralEngineer

Francis and Benedict XVI enjoy warming friendship

VATICAN CITY — Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is not “jealous” of his successor’s worldwide celebrity, holds him in “high esteem” and is developing an ever closer relationship with Pope Francis through “regular” communications, according to the former pontiff’s private secretary and prefect of the papal household, Archbishop Georg Gänswein.

In a rare interview with a U.S. media outlet, Gänswein, a Benedict confidant who resides with the retired pope in a remodeled Vatican City convent, suggested that despite their obvious differences, the former pope was not seeking to influence the new pontiff on major church decisions. In addition, Gänswein said, Benedict’s surprise appearance at a swearing-in ceremony for 19 new cardinals this past weekend should not be taken as a sign of his reemergence into public life. 

Read the rest here.

Setting aside the inevitable shot at Benedict's "ponderous conservatism," it's nice that the two men are on good terms and talk regularly. Ex-Pope's are not all that common and historically haven't always fared well.

Steep cuts proposed for military budget

The Defense Department on Monday proposed cutting the Army to its smallest size in 74 years, slashing a class of attack jets and rolling back personnel costs in an effort to adjust a department buoyed by a decade of war to an era of leaner budgets.

The five-year budget blueprint outlined by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel reflects a willingness by the Pentagon to make deep cuts to personnel strength to invest in technology and equipment as it eases off a war footing. 

Read the rest here.

A good start. But I don't imagine that the Obama Administration will be showing a similar appetite for attacking the welfare state.

Prayers for the Ukraine

Prayers for peace and commemorating the casualties of the crisis in the Ukraine at St. Micheal the Archangel Church.

Sunday of the Last Judgment (Meatfare)

Much to meditate upon today and I hope everyone is having a pleasant meatfare. Getting ready to grill a couple of steaks here.

Pat Buchanan on the situation in the Ukraine

Richard Engel of NBC, reporting from Maidan Square in Kiev, described what he witnessed as the Feb. 19 truce collapsed.

Police began to back away from their positions in the square, said Engel. And the protesters attacked. Gunfire was exchanged and the death toll, believed to be in the dozens, is not known.

In short, the reality in Kiev is more complex than the black-and-white cartoon of Vladimir Putin vs. the freedom fighters drawn by our resident Russophobic elite. Perspective is in order.

Read the rest here.
HT: TYF

Ukraine’s parliament votes to oust president; former prime minister is freed from jail

KIEV, Ukraine — In a day of fast-moving events that changed the political landscape of Ukraine and brought joy to protesters who had defied the government, the Ukrainian parliament voted Saturday evening to dismiss President Viktor Yanukovych from office, saying he was guilty of gross human rights violations and dereliction of duty.

The parliament, now dominated by opposition politicians, declared that an election to choose a new president would be held May 25. 

Read the rest here.

Prayers Please

In your kindness please keep my step-father Harold in your prayers as also my mom. His long battle with dementia appears to be coming to an end.

The Myth of ‘Settled Science’

I repeat: I’m not a global-warming believer. I’m not a global-warming denier. I’ve long believed that it cannot be good for humanity to be spewing tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. I also believe that those scientists who pretend to know exactly what this will cause in 20, 30, or 50 years are white-coated propagandists.

“The debate is settled,” asserted propagandist-in-chief Barack Obama in his latest State of the Union address. “Climate change is a fact.” Really? There is nothing more anti-scientific than the very idea that science is settled, static, impervious to challenge. Take a non-climate example. It was long assumed that mammograms help reduce breast cancer deaths. This fact was so settled that Obamacare requires every insurance plan to offer mammograms (for free, no less).

Now we learn from a massive randomized study — 90,000 women followed for 25 years — that mammograms may have no effect on breast-cancer deaths. Indeed, one out of five of those diagnosed by mammogram receives unnecessary radiation, chemo, or surgery.

So much for settledness.

Read the rest here.

Carnage and Chaos in Ukraine

The latest reports..

• The death toll may now be over 100. 
• Some police are defecting to the protesters and scores of others have been captured.
• The government may be employing military troops with live ammunition. There are credible reports that army snipers have been firing on protesters.
• Both the European Union and the United States are moving to impose sanctions on Ukrainian government officials.
• Some fear civil war.

Kiev monastery a sanctuary for battered protesters

Reuters - The injured, bloodied and bandaged, lay beneath icons and candles on the floor of St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery.

The combat fatigues and green helmets of some recalled the primitive field hospitals of distant wars.

As the death toll climbed from Ukraine's bloodiest day in two decades of independence, the wounded sought refuge on Wednesday beneath the bell tower of a sympathetic Kiev church.

Volunteers sorted through medical supplies - iodine, gauze, bandages - brought in bags and boxes by anxious residents of the capital. Doctors tended to the wounded on beds in a side-building of the monastery complex, while people hurried through the main doors clutching bottled water, bread, ham and processed cheese.

It was a scene of quiet determination and order, a short walk uphill from the black smoke and violence of Independence Square, crucible of a geopolitical battle between Russia and the West.

Read the rest here.

Note: The monastery belongs to one of the schismatic branches of the Ukrainian Church.

An open letter to His Holiness Pope Francis from Prince Bertrand of Orleans-Braganza

Oh my... This is going to raise a few eyebrows.

Famous snake handling preacher dies from bite

After sustaining numerous snake bites over the years, a prominent serpent-handling minister and co-star of Snake Salvation died Saturday night after a rattlesnake bit him during a Kentucky church service.

Jamie Coots, 42, died two hours later in his home surrounded by family. Andrew Hamblin, Coots's co-star on the reality TV show, was also present at the incident, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Emergency workers tried to convince the minister's family to let them take him to the hospital, but his wife and son refused.

"He always said, 'Don't take me to the doctor,'" his son Cody Coots told the Herald-Leader. "It was totally against his religion."

Read the rest here.
HT: T-19

Setting aside his flaky theology, if stupidity were a virtue the man would be a strong candidate for sainthood. Prayers for his family.

Salt Lake City parish fight reaches Constantinople

What a mess. It looks like the EP has had enough of this parish civil war playing out in the press. Let's hope someone steps in and restores order.

Feds want to be able to track where your license plate goes

The Department of Homeland Security wants a private company to provide a national license-plate tracking system that would give the agency access to vast amounts of information from commercial and law enforcement tag readers, according to a government proposal that does not specify what privacy safeguards would be put in place.

The national license-plate recognition database, which would draw data from readers that scan the tags of every vehicle crossing their paths, would help catch fugitive illegal immigrants, according to a DHS solicitation. But the database could easily contain more than 1 billion records and could be shared with other law enforcement agencies, raising concerns that the movements of ordinary citizens who are under no criminal suspicion could be scrutinized.

Read the rest here.

Scottish Independence would be a train wreck

There is a simple yet fatal contradiction at the heart of Alex Salmond’s case for Scottish independence. With self-government comes the need to earn economic credibility – and yet Salmond is threatening a confidence-shattering default on Scotland’s share of the national debt, is clueless about which currency he will adopt, has no idea how to retain a financial sector in Edinburgh, doesn’t have a realistic plan to deal with Scotland’s declining oil revenues, hasn’t thought through his future trading arrangements and continues to support a nonsensical, something-for-nothing approach to the public finances. 

It’s a recipe for disaster, and the very opposite of the cautious, prudent, pro-market manifesto that would be needed to make independence succeed. 

Read the rest here.

Ukraine: Protests escalate - turn violent

Violent clashes between hard-line protesters and police erupted Tuesday in Kiev, Ukraine, after more than a week of relative calm, leaving at least nine people dead and many more wounded.

The Interior Ministry reported that seven protesters and two interior troops were killed during the clashes. It wasn’t clear whether this total included a body found in the headquarters of the ruling Party of Regions after it had been cleared of occupying protesters. That man was identified as an office worker for the party.

Read the rest here.

Pope Francis may float compromise on divorce

...Sometimes mocked as “Catholic divorce,” an annulment is a declaration by a church court that a marriage never existed in the first place because one of the conditions for validity wasn’t satisfied, such as free consent by both parties.

Facing that tension, a compromise may be coming into focus: No change on the sacraments ban, but an easier and broader process for granting annulments.

O’Malley floated that idea during a recent Globe interview, saying that perhaps annulments could be sped up by eliminating the possibility of appeal to Rome, a provision that often means a case can drag on for years if one of the parties wants to contest the result.

A Feb. 15 conference of church lawyers in the Italian region of Liguria seemed to point in the same direction, arguing that the grounds upon which an annulment can be granted ought to be expanded.

In particular, these church lawyers proposed adding “mamma-ism” to the list, meaning a situation in which spouses are so completely under the thumb of one of their parents – usually, according to the jurists, the mom – that they don’t have free will.

Whatever one makes of “mamma-ism” as a legal or psychological concept, it illustrates how eager many Catholic officials are to make annulments more user-friendly.

Read the rest here.

Disclaimer: The Boston Globe is not a Catholic friendly news source. That said they are offering direct quotes with attribution.

US offers prisoner exchange with Taliban

In an effort to free American captive Bowe Bergdahl before the bulk of U.S. forces leave Afghanistan this year, the Obama administration has decided to try to resume talks with the Taliban and sweeten an offer to trade Taliban prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for the Army sergeant, current and former officials said.

Five members of the Afghan Taliban who have been held at Guantanamo for years would be released to protective custody in Qatar in exchange for the release of Bergdahl, who was captured in Afghanistan in 2009 and is thought to be held in Pakistan by the Haqqani network, an allied insurgent group.

Read the rest here.

For the record, I strongly endorse this move. I expect much hysteria from the usual suspects among the neo-imperialists. But the fact is that POW swaps are an honorable and humane custom with a  history almost as old as organized warfare itself. As long as he doesn't give the store away, and it doesn't sound like that's on the table, I applaud the President for making this tough decision. One that is certain to generate a lot of criticism from his political opponents.

Why so many cops like the war on drugs

It's a huge cash cow. Follow the money.

UN Panel accuses N. Korea of crimes against humanity

SEOUL — A year-long investigation by the United Nations is set to conclude that North Korea has committed crimes against humanity, according to a leaked outline of the report, in the most authoritative indictment to date of abuses carried out by Pyongyang’s leaders.

The U.N. panel will also recommend that the North’s crimes be referred to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, according to the Associated Press, which obtained the outline of the findings. The report of the three-member Commission of Inquiry will be released Monday.

Read the rest here.

World War II is a touchy subject in Russia

SOCHI, Russia — The pageant of Russian history presented in the Olympic Opening Ceremonies passed over the Soviet victory in World War II to the consternation of more than a few patriots. But the war seems to be making the news these days more than ever nonetheless.

Russian sacrifices in the fight against the Nazis 70 years ago were stupendous, and feelings still run deep. Every family paid a price, and the war haunts everyday life here in a way that short-memory Americans would find startling. But there’s another side to its legacy: For decades after the war, Soviet leaders sought to reinforce their legitimacy by exploiting the memory of the titanic struggle.

And today the Russian government appears to be turning in the same direction.

Read the rest here.

Legislating and/or politicizing history is always a bad idea. That said, in the great drama that was the Second World War, the main actors were definitely Germany and the USSR. The United States and Great Britain were in basically supporting roles, at least in Europe from 1941.

Slow Posting

Catching up on some other (non urgent) stuff that's been piling up along with a backlog of reading I have been intending to get to. The news has been a bit slow of late anyways.

Athletes and their private lives

Christopher Johnson over at MCJ has noted that a certain college football player, and presumptive candidate for the NFL draft, has gotten into the news after confirming some rumors about his personal life. My take...

Whatever. I suppose there is valid a reason for making a public statement. There were rumors floating around and he didn’t want the National Enquirer staking out his apartment with photographers. I can understand that. But now that it’s on the record, any further mention of this young man in the press or media should be solely with regard to his abilities and activities on the gridiron.

It's coming...

Eat drink and be merry for Lent is approaching...  (No fasting this week)

RIP: Hollywood Film Icon Shirley Temple (Black)

Memory eternal.

Feast of the Holy New Martyrs of Russia

Commemoration of the New Martyrs of Russia (OC) in the Cathedral of the Dormition in the Kremlin.

British court summons Mormon head on fraud allegations related to church doctrine

A British magistrate has issued an extraordinary summons to the worldwide leader of the Mormon church alleging that its teachings about mankind amount to fraud.

Thomas S. Monson, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been ordered to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London next month to defend the church’s doctrines including beliefs about Adam and Eve and Native Americans.

A formal summons signed by District Judge Elizabeth Roscoe warns Mr Monson, who is recognised by Mormons as God’s prophet on Earth, that a warrant for his arrest could be issued if he fails to make the journey from Salt Lake City, Utah, for a hearing on March 14.

In one of the most unusual documents ever issued by a British court, it lists seven teachings of the church, including that Native Americans are descended from a family of ancient Israelites as possible evidence of fraud. 

Read the rest here.

Forget the liberals, the real fight in the Catholic Church is between conservatives

For most casual observers, whether Catholic or not, the main battle lines within American Catholicism today seem self-evident. The cleavage overlaps perfectly the divide between the political parties, leading to the frequently-used labels “liberal” and “conservative” Catholics. We have Nancy Pelosi and Andrew Cuomo representing the Left, and Rick Santorum and Sam Brownback aligned with the Right. Mainstream opinion has classified Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI as honorary Republicans, and Pope Francis as a Democrat (hence, why he is appearing on the covers of Time and Rolling Stone magazines).

This division does indeed capture real battle lines, but more than anything, the divide is merely an extension of our politics, and—while manned by real actors—does not capture where the real action is to be found today in American Catholic circles.

The real action does not involve liberal “Catholics” at all. Liberal Catholicism, while well-represented in elite circles of the Democratic Party, qua Catholicism is finished. Liberal Catholicism has no future—like liberal Protestantism, it is fated to become liberalism simpliciter within a generation. The children of liberal Catholics will either want their liberalism unvarnished by incense and holy water, or they will rebel and ask if there’s something more challenging, disobeying their parents by “reverting” to Catholicism. While “liberal” Catholicism will appear to be a force because it will continue to have political representation, as a “project” and a theology, like liberal Protestantism it is doomed to oblivion.

The real battle is taking place beyond the purview of the pages of Time Magazine and the New York Times. The battle pits two camps of “conservative” Catholicism (let’s dispense with that label immediately and permanently—as my argument suggests, and others have said better, our political labels are inadequate to the task).

Read the rest here.
HT: Dr. Tighe

This is one of the more interesting articles I have read in a while. I suspect that there will be at least some Orthodox who are sympathetic to the more trad wing of this debate, myself included. Lots of links in there for those really interested in following the ongoing fight.

Memo to NBC News

Your new website sucks. I can't even load it in my browser (Firefox). And no, I'm not switching browsers. I took a look at it in I.E (first time I've opened that browser in a few years) and I think I like the unloadable version more. Yes, it's that bad.

Faced with drug shortage Virginia looks to 'old sparky'

Virginia has joined the ranks of states preparing for the day when they will not be able to lay their hands on the drugs needed to execute prisoners. Unlike Missouri which is considering firing squads, or Washington State, that still has the country's last operational gallows, the Old Dominion is planning to plug in its old electric chair.

UN slams Catholic Church on sex abuse scandal and doctrine

BERLIN — A United Nations committee on Wednesday issued a scathing indictment of the Catholic Church’s handling of child sexual abuse involving clerics, releasing a report that went far beyond how the church responded to abuse allegations and included criticism of its teachings on homosexuality, gender equality and abortion.

“The Committee is concerned that the Holy See and Church-run institutions do not recognize the existence of diverse forms of families and often discriminate against children on the basis of their family situation,” the report by the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child said. 

Read the rest here.

I'm not going to defend the Roman Church's handling of the sex abuse crisis. Until very recently that could fairly be characterized, depending on location and other factors, as ranging somewhere between poor and appalling. But the UN is way out of line when they start meddling in religious doctrine. I hope the Vatican tells them to go pack sand. For that matter the US government should put the new world order guys on notice that they have overstepped their brief. Unfortunately, with things as they are that's likely to happen on or about the day pigs fly.

On a side note, am I the only one who sees some pretty rich irony in an organization with an ugly history of sexual abuse allegations against its own staff and so called "peace keepers" lecturing others on that subject?

Romania and the Patriarchate of Jerusalem restore communion

Details can be found on Byzantine Texas. Glory to God!

Some Roman Catholic Suggestions for the Pan Orthodox Synod

Two interesting posts on our much discussed forthcoming (?) Pan-Orthodox Synod from a Roman Catholic blog. See here and here.

Boston Byzantine Music Festival 2014

For those in the New England area I am pleased to pass along notice of the forthcoming Byzantine Music Festival scheduled for Feb 24 and 25, 2014. More information can be found here.

Quote of the day... (from a Seahawks fan)

Here in the land of gentle whale watchers, granola-eating earthy crunchies, metrosexual jammie clad health care discussers, soppy gay wedding sentimentalists, intense Janeane Garofalo lookalikes in hornrim glasses, passionate advocates for polymorphous perversities, fanatical recyclers, Unitarians in blocky African wooden jewelry and Birkenstocks leading bake sales to fund the library, chainsaw artists, bicyclists filled with snooty contempt for petrochemical consumers, New Age crystal gazers with 35,000 year old spirit guides helping them with their investment decisions in aromatherapy corporations, Pike Place fishmongers, gritty Indie bands, hipsters conducting their entire romances by tweeting partners of indeterminate gender from two tables away at the Starbucks on Aurora and 220th, Prius dealers offering cars with the Obama sticker pre-applied, parents placing their three year olds in high-intensity courses to groom them for executive positions at Microsoft and Nintendo, damp and dispirited Metro riders waiting patiently for winter rain to turn to spring rain like cattle waiting for nothing in particular… well, we appeared to the scions of cowpokes and painted ladies to be…. soft.

Read the rest here.
HT: Deacon Greg

An illegitimate veto

Attorneys general, both state and federal, are entrusted with the power and responsibility to enforce and defend laws created by the political process, which can be highly contentious. They are to do so without political influence.

I have been attorney general of Colorado for nine years, during which time the state has enacted laws that span the philosophical and political spectrum. I personally oppose a number of Colorado’s laws as a matter of public policy, and a few are contrary to my religious beliefs. But as my state’s attorney general, I have defended them all — and will continue to.

Recently, however, attorneys general in Virginia, Pennsylvania and California have given in to the temptation to abuse the power entrusted to our position by refusing to defend their states’ bans on same-sex marriage in court. Depending on one’s view of the laws in question, such a “litigation veto” may, in the short term, be a terrific thing; an unpopular law is defanged and the attorney general can take credit — indeed, he can be the hero to his political base and keep his political ambitions intact.

Read the rest here.

Western US braces for worst drought on record

LOS ANGELES — The punishing drought that has swept California is now threatening the state’s drinking water supply.

With no sign of rain, 17 rural communities providing water to 40,000 people are in danger of running out within 60 to 120 days. State officials said that the number was likely to rise in the months ahead after the State Water Project, the main municipal water distribution system, announced on Friday that it did not have enough water to supplement the dwindling supplies of local agencies that provide water to an additional 25 million people. It is first time the project has turned off its spigot in its 54-year history.

State officials said they were moving to put emergency plans in place. In the worst case, they said drinking water would have to be brought by truck into parched communities and additional wells would have to be drilled to draw on groundwater. The deteriorating situation would likely mean imposing mandatory water conservation measures on homeowners and businesses, who have already been asked to voluntarily reduce their water use by 20 percent.

Read the rest here.

How to shave with a straight razor

HT:AoM

For the record I don't use a straight razor. If I feel the need for a super close shave, I will let the barber do it.

Socialist cleanup needed on aisle 7

CARACAS, Venezuela — On aisle seven, among the diapers and fabric softener, the socialist dreams of the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez looked as ragged as the toilet paper display.

Employees at the Excelsior Gama supermarket had set out a load of extra-soft six-roll packs so large that it nearly blocked the aisle. To stock the shelves with it would have been pointless. Soon word spread that the long-awaited rolls had arrived, and despite a government-imposed limit of one package per person, the checkout lines stretched all the way to the decimated dairy case in the back of the store.

Read the rest here.

Union officials say Obama betrayed them on health-care

Labor leaders who have spent months lobbying unsuccessfully for special protections under the Affordable Care Act warned this week that the White House’s continued refusal to help is dampening union support for Democratic candidates in this year’s midterm elections.

Leaders of two major unions, including the first to endorse Obama in 2008, said they have been betrayed by an administration that wooed their support for the 2009 legislation with promises to later address the peculiar needs of union-negotiated insurance plans that cover millions of workers.

Read the rest here.

Dear America, I Saw You Naked

And yes, we were laughing. Confessions of an ex-TSA agent.

HT: Bill (aka The Godfather)

What's up with MSNBC?

OK, I know they are a lefty propaganda network. But lately it's like they are completely SOS (stuck on stupid). Granted, FOX has some serious bias but you can actually get real news with at least a passing effort at getting both sides of a story. Not so MSNBC. And now they are just going out of their way to show how generally mean and nasty liberals can be.

See here for the latest.

Feast of Charles the Martyr

Charles I of England Scotland and Ireland

Who’s ‘godless’ now? Russia says it’s U.S.

MOSCOW — At the height of the Cold War, it was common for American conservatives to label the officially atheist Soviet Union a “godless nation.”

More than two decades on, history has come full circle, as the Kremlin and its allies in the Russian Orthodox Church hurl the same allegation at the West.

Read the rest here.

Wow!

So much for being able to disappear in a crowd.
HT: Molonlabe70

Heads of all canonical Orthodox Churches to meet in Constantinople

Patriarch Bartholomew has invited the heads of all canonical Orthodox Churches to a meeting in Constantinople (Istanbul) on March 9 2014, for the planning of the organization of [the] Pan-Orthodox Council for the next year. As said by the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the meeting should be a serious effort toward the unity of the Christian world and improve cooperation of the local Orthodox Churches. At the meeting will also be discussed the issue of uniformity of the calendar for all Orthodox Christians.

Source.

The State of the Union

For the love of God... STOP IT! It has slowly devolved from solemn state occasion to political theater to little more than a circus that is beneath the dignity of the Presidency and the Congress. We now have no less than four(!) responses coming from the opposition party. Every other member of Congress is giving seats in the gallery to politically charged "guests." Enough already. We need to go back to the old way and send the message up in writing. On which note, the modern custom is yet another legacy of President Wilson, the worst of the 43 men who have occupied the office.

What a surprise!

Bishop Williamson (formerly of the SSPX)...

Pope Francis merely expresses more blatantly than his five predecessors the madness of Vatican II. The question remains whether any of the six Conciliar Popes ... can really have been Vicars of Christ. The question is not of prime importance. If they have not been Popes, still the Catholic Faith and morals by which I must “work out my salvation in fear and trembling” (Phil. II, 12) have not changed one iota.

From here. I have been saying for years that in addition to being an all around nut, Williamson is a closet sede vacantist. It seems he is starting to inch out of the closet.

Quote of the day...

"By adhering to the monarchical principle we avoid one defect inherent in the Constitution of the United States. By the election of the president by a majority and for a short period, he never is the sovereign and chief of the nation. He is never looked up to by the whole people as the head and front of the nation. He is at best but the successful leader of a party. This defect is all the greater on account of the practice of reelection. During his first term of office he is employed in taking steps to secure his own reelection, and for his party a continuance of power. We avoid this by adhering to the monarchical principle – the sovereign whom you respect and love. I believe that it is of the utmost importance to have that principle recognized so that we shall have a sovereign who is placed above the region of party – to whom all parties look up; who is not elevated by the action of one party nor depressed by the action of another; who is the common head and sovereign of all."

- John A. Macdonald, speaking in 1865 about the proposals for the upcoming Confederation of Canada

Spy Agencies Scour Phone Apps for Personal Data

When a smartphone user opens Angry Birds, the popular game application, and starts slinging birds at chortling green pigs, spies may be lurking in the background to snatch data revealing the player’s location, age, sex and other personal information, according to secret British intelligence documents.

In their globe-spanning surveillance for terrorism suspects and other targets, the National Security Agency and its British counterpart have been trying to exploit a basic byproduct of modern telecommunications: With each new generation of mobile phone technology, ever greater amounts of personal data pour onto networks where spies can pick it up.

Read the rest here.

Roman Rights and Wrongs

Every January for over a century now, Christians have set aside a special week to pray for unity. This week, my friend the Orthodox priest and historian Oliver Herbel posted an excellent reflection in which he upbraided his fellow Orthodox for, as he powerfully put it, “spitting in the eye of Rome” every time she makes advances towards East-West unity. Father Oliver then went on to note some changes that he and his fellow Orthodox should make to respond better to Rome’s invitations.

Let me return the favor of my gracious friend. Speaking as an Eastern Catholic who tries to help East and West understand each other, let me offer a few reflections on the kind of changes Eastern Catholics and, perforce, Eastern Orthodox, want to see in very practical ways for unity to become a closer and more realistic possibility. However, I do not want to be thought querulous, so let me dwell briefly on areas where I think Roman practice is right and needs to be encouraged:

Read the rest here.

Pope says judgments on annulments must be impartial and pastoral

...Pope Francis has said that church law on marriage is a topic that exemplifies a general need for mercy in the Church today, and that it will be among the subjects of discussion at this October’s extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the “pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelization.”

In his speech to the Rota, the Pope said a judge on a Church tribunal must sympathise with the “mentality and legitimate aspirations” of the community he serves, and thus render “justice that is not legalistic and abstract, but appropriate to the needs of concrete reality.”

Read the rest here.

Archbishop Seraphim guilty of sexual assualt

It's being widely reported but for those who may have missed it, the story is here.

Stocks take a beating; worst week in three years

 U.S. stocks fell sharply and Treasuries rallied on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbling triple-digits for a second session and posting its worst week since November 2011, as investors pulled money from emerging markets and other assets viewed as risky.

As Wall Street's faith in some of the world's largest developed countries unraveled, currencies of those nations were hit, with Turkey's lira falling to a record low against the dollar, and Argentina's peso down sharply against the U.S. currency.

Read the rest here.

Stop jerking Canada around

Fixated as we Americans are on Canada’s three most attention-getting exports — polar vortexes, Alberta clippers and the antics of Toronto’s addled mayor — we’ve somewhat overlooked a major feature of Canada’s current relations with the United States: extreme annoyance.

Last week, speaking to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Canada’s foreign minister calmly but pointedly complained that the United States owes Canada a response on the Keystone XL pipeline. “We can’t continue in this state of limbo,” he sort of complained, in what for a placid, imperturbable Canadian passes for an explosion of volcanic rage.

Read the rest here.

Florida jury hits Baptist Convention with $12 M in damages in sex abuse case

This is ridiculous. Did the defense attorney bother to point out that the accused could not be guilty of this as he is not Catholic? [/s]

Read the story here.

Feast of the Holy New Martyrs of Russia

Spitting in Rome’s Eye: A Reflection on How Orthodoxy’s Sinfulness Prevents Reunion

In my previous post, I mentioned some of the internal problems besetting the Orthodox Church, causing dysfunction (which I termed “implosion”).  I noted how it affects the Great Commission and how our relationship with Rome is part of that larger picture (for a unified front between these truly-mega-churches would give strength in spreading the Gospel).  I noted how Moscow currently rejects the Ecumenical Patriarch’s (legitimate) claim to primacy, in wanting to convoke a pan-Orthodox council and in engaging in serious dialogue with Rome.  It doesn’t take a very long search for someone to see that many Orthodox Christians agree with Moscow, calling Rome heretical and, furthermore, expressing not a little invective (or at least heated rhetoric) when taking that stance.

An important factor in this is that the kind of careful historical and theological analysis (not to mention humility) that occurs within official Orthodox-Catholic dialogues is not seeping into the Orthodox groundwater.  Many Orthodox prefer to dismiss Catholicism and Protestantism as two sides of the same coin, as though Orthodoxy is completely separate from them.  If it weren’t for the fact that such an attitude is based on ignorance, it would be audacious in the extreme.  Take, for example the North American Catholic-Orthodox dialogue.  They haven’t skirted the issues that need to be addressed and yet they have produced helpful starting points, free from anti-Westernism (based, ironically, on rather Western models):

Read the rest here.

Please leave your comments there.

More trouble with the Episcopal Assembly

Possible resignation by Antiochians from Assembly of Bishops

A sign of the times

So, I just popped over to WAPO to see what's going on in the world and checked out the top five stories being recommended by readers. In order they are...

1. Falling temps tonight ahead of big snow storm
2. Significant snowstorm Tuesday with 4" or more
3. Forecast's first real winter storm has region on edge, plows ready and schools tracking storm
4. Major snowstorm Tuesday; live updates
5. How toilet paper explains the world

Russians celebrate Theophany with a dip

Yes, that's ice. From here.

Eastern Europe’s Christian Reawakening

In Hungary, Croatia, and elsewhere in Eastern Europe, a pro-family, pro-life revolution and a rediscovery of Christian roots is occurring. While few in the American media have noticed, this trend should challenge those who simply lament Europe’s moral malaise. Unnoticed in the shadow of a secularized west, religion’s public role has been growing in the east since the collapse of communism.

Read the rest here.

Battle over police pensions turns ugly

(Reuters) - A drive by some American cities to cut costly police retirement benefits has led to an extraordinary face-off between local politicians and the law enforcement officers who work for them.

In Costa Mesa, California, lawmaker Jim Righeimer says he was a target of intimidation because he sought to curb police pensions. In a lawsuit in November, Righeimer accused the Costa Mesa police union and a law firm that once represented them, of forcing him to undergo a sobriety test (he passed) after driving home from a bar in August 2012.

That followed a call to 911 by private detective Chris Lanzillo, who worked for the police union and the law firm that represented it, according to the suit. Lanzillo is also named as a defendant, accused of following Righeimer home from the bar.

Disputes such as these have intensified as Detroit and two California cities, Stockton and San Bernardino, have gone bankrupt in the past two years. Police pension costs were a major factor in the financial troubles facing all three. Now large cities, including San Jose and San Diego, say they have no choice but to alter pension agreements lest they end up in bankruptcy too.

Read the rest here.

Faced with drug shortage, some states look to firing squads

A Nazi spy about to be shot by firing squad during World War II

A shortage of a drug commonly used in executions has prompted lawmakers in at least two states to call for the return of firing squads.

Missouri state Rep. Rick Brattin, a Republican representing Harrisonville, introduced legislation Friday (.pdf) that would add five-person firing squads as an alternative to the state's current method of capital punishment, lethal injection.

Brattin cited the prolonged death Thursday of Dennis McGuire in Ohio as evidence that alternative methods were needed after manufacturers of pentobarbitol, the drug most commonly used in lethal injections, began withdrawing it from use in executions on ethical grounds.

Read the rest here.

Longtime readers of the blog know my view of capital punishment. I think it's usefulness, which is almost nonexistent, is outweighed by its many flaws. But that aside, I have also long held that if we are going to do it, this is one area where low tech is almost certainly better and more humane. Americans are by and large contradictory when it comes to the death penalty. Most still favor it, though those numbers are dropping rapidly. But it seems that when it comes down to the mechanics of killing another human being we are a little squeamish. We have been forever trying to find a new more technologically advanced way to kill other people without creating a mess or appearing too violent.

Unfortunately all of our innovations have failed to reliably shorten the process of making someone who is alive, dead, and or they appear to be positively barbaric as in the case of the electric chair. And what's with this obsession over lethal injection? There are just way too many documented cases of it taking over half an hour to kill the inmate using that method.

A lot of the problem stems from the fact that unlike European countries that had paid and professionally trained executioners, we never went for that. Consequently if you were sentenced to be hanged in the old West, it could be almost anyone who ended up with the job of seeing you into the hereafter. Predictably, this lead to botched hangings which in turn gave that method of execution a bad reputation. But the reputation was not deserved.

In Britain, which did have professional executioners on the civil service list who were required to be trained and apprenticed in their craft, a hanging typically took less than a minute from the time the executioner entered the condemned man's cell. He was pinioned and frog marched into an adjoining room where the gallows was kept, a hood was popped over his head followed by the noose and then the trap was released.

No reading of the death sentence, no hymn singing or pious sermons and no last words. Likewise a bullet to the back of the head is hard to beat for speed, simplicity and conclusive results. For those who just have to some level of tech involved, the French method also seems pretty quick and effective. So why don't we adopt one of these methods?

It has nothing to do with the condemned man, it is the sensibilities of the witnesses and guards who have to watch. Hanging, no matter how fast, is a violent act aimed at breaking a man's neck. Shooting and mechanical decapitation are also pretty violent, not to mention gory.

So my guess is that all of this talk is going nowhere.

A tough math equation for Republicans in 2016

A recent conversation with a veteran of GOP presidential campaigns raised this question: Which, if any, of the recent battleground states are likely to become more Republican by 2016? The consensus: very few.

That reality highlights one problem Republicans face as they seek to regain the White House after six years under President Obama. Lots of factors affect elections: the quality of the candidates, the state of the economy, the effectiveness of the campaigns. But in a country whose demographics continue to change, Republicans will begin this campaign with one significant disadvantage.

Read the rest here.

Why Millennials Long for Liturgy

America’s youth are leaving churches in droves. One in four young adults choose “unaffiliated” when asked about their religion, according to a 2012 Public Religion Research Institute poll, and 55 percent of those unaffiliated youth once had a religious identification when they were younger. Yet amidst this exodus, some church leaders have identified another movement as cause for hope: rather than abandoning Christianity, some young people are joining more traditional, liturgical denominations—notably the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox branches of the faith. This trend is deeper than denominational waffling: it’s a search for meaning that goes to the heart of our postmodern age.

For Bart Gingerich, a fellow with the Institute on Religion and Democracy and a student at Reformed Episcopal Seminary, becoming Anglican was an intellectual journey steeped in the thought of ancient church fathers. He spent the first 15 years of his life in the United Methodist Church, where he felt he was taught a “Precious Moments” version of Christianity: watered down, polite, and unreal. His family joined a nondenominational evangelical church when Gingerich was 16. Some of the youth he met were serious about their faith, but others were apathetic, and many ended up leaving the church later on.

Read the rest here.
HT: Dr. Tighe

Brother Fred pens a love letter to Maureen Dowd

OK, there is more than a hint of misogyny in here. But I won't lie. I haven't laughed that hard in a while. Sometimes it just feels so good to VENT. And nobody vents like Fred Reed. As someone who has fantasized about Maureen Dowd in the hands of the Spanish Inquisition once or twice, I am bookmarking this one for whenever I am dumb enough to read her column.

Caution: Fred pulls no punches, so if you have any feminist sympathies you may just want to move on. Otherwise you may read his missive here.

Foot, meet gun

So arch-libertarian and gun rights activist Adam Kokesh actually carried out his long standing threat to openly carry a weapon in DC last year. He videotaped himself loading a shotgun in Freedom Plaza and broadcast it, with predictable results. He was arrested and charged with possession of an unregistered firearm with drug possession thrown in for good measure as he had some in the house when the cops came knocking.

Today this sad chapter in idiocy came to a close with Kokesh entering guilty pleas in exchange for a suspended sentence with probation, less time served (about four months in the clink). Of course, he also now has a felony criminal record. So no more guns for Mr. Kokesh... anywhere.