Filibuster +12 hrs: High Drama in the Senate

It's past midnight here on the right coast and Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky) is continuing his historic filibuster. It has been over twelve hours since he seized control of the Senate floor and announced that he would not yield it until either his voice failed or the White House definitively answered the question which can be summed up as "Does the President believe he has the legal authority to assassinate American citizens on US soil without trial?"

The galleries are reported to be packed with spectators including many members of the House of Representatives who have come over to witness this rarest of congressional spectacles. For the first time I can remember, excepting votes or quorum calls, the floor of the Senate chamber is crowded with Senators from both parties, some of whom have been making lengthy remarks thinly disguised as questions in an effort to give Senator Paul a break from the long ordeal of continually standing and speaking.

True filibusters are exceedingly rare and one of this duration has not been seen in decades. And yes they actually have records of the longer ones and Senator Paul has a ways to go if he wants to break the records for any of the five longest filibusters...

5. Sen. William Proxmire (D-Wis.): 4 a.m.
4. Sen. Robert La Follette (R-Wis.): 6:11 a.m.
3. Sen. Wayne Morse (I-Ore.): 10:14 a.m.
2. D’Amato: 11:18 a.m.
1. Sen. Strom Thurmond (D-S.C): 12:06 p.m

Stand with Rand!

Filibuster (8 hrs and still going)

As of this posting Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is still filibustering the nominee for CIA Director over the administration's assertion that it has the right to assassinate American citizens on US soil without trial. Of course in the short term the filibuster is doomed to fail. But at least he is taking a stand and drawing attention to Obama's criminal policies.

Update: It looks like some left leaning news outlets are doing their best to bury this story. Just looked over at the NY Times and its not even mentioned on the front page of their website. Other sites while noting it have it way down in the list of stories.

Battle Looms Over Budgets and Deficits

...Right now Washington is obsessed with the sequester and the blame game and the “continuing resolution” and the next debt-ceiling showdown. And not without reason. Heck, the president is canceling White House tours, so things are tough all over.

But Paul Ryan’s new budget, slated to be unveiled next week, will alter the debate in ways no one has prepared for.

To be sure, I expect Ryan’s new blueprint to be another exercise in faith-based budgeting, a duplicitous document that pretends once more that taxes don’t need to rise as the baby boomers retire and we double the number of people on Social Security and Medicare (though Ryan will quietly bank Obama’s recent tax hikes on top earners). It will thus rely on magic asterisks while ravaging government, save for programs serving seniors and defense.

But – and this a big “but” – Ryan’s plan will call for the budget to be balanced in 10 years.

This new goal is a game-changer. Until now, Ryan’s plans have been regressive, phony blueprints that also mocked all notions of prudence by not reaching balance for three decades. Though he managed to fool the press and even many arbiters of budget sanity into thinking otherwise, Ryan’s plans were never fiscally conservative.

Next week, Ryan’s plan will still be regressive and phony. But if early reports are correct, it will show on paper a path to balance in 10 years. No matter how magic the asterisks and specious the assumptions, the embrace of this goal will transform the debate.

Why? Because even as Democrats attack Ryan’s plans along familiar lines – critiques the press has heard for years now and will find boring – they will be forced to respond to what’s new here. Are Democrats in favor of balancing the budget or not? If not, why not? You mean never? And if so, by when?

Read the rest here.

Senator Rand Paul Launches Old Fashioned Filibuster Against CIA Nominee

“I will speak until I can no longer speak,” Paul said. “I will speak as long as it takes, until the alarm is sounded from coast to coast that our Constitution is important, that your rights to trial by jury are precious, that no American should be killed by a drone on American soil without first being charged with a crime, without first being found to be guilty by a court.”

Paul began his filibuster at 11:47 a.m. Eastern time. Around the one-hour mark, he acknowledged “I can’t talk forever” and said his throat was getting dry.

Read the rest here.

Good for him! Obama has refused to rule out assassinating American citizens on American soil.

Coincidence?

A  blog reader has advised me that yesterday when Venezuela's El Commandante passed to wherever Marxist thugs go when they die, it was also the 60th anniversary of Joesph Stalin's death. File that under things that make you go hmmmm...

More on Deaconesses

Dr. Cyril Jenkins has posted some thoughts on Fr. David Bissias' excellent refutation of the heretic Valerie Karras and her call for women to be ordained in the Orthodox Church. It touches on a number of issues that Fr. David omitted or did not explore as fully as he might have. You can read it here.

This is one of the more disturbing things I have read

Two weeks ago, after Pope Benedict XVI had announced to the world that he would be resigning the office of Peter as of February 28th, I put the Pope’s picture, that usually hangs in the rectory, in the church. A handful of people told me that they would rather it not be there. They explained that the feeling was while he was Pope, as well as his time as a Cardinal, Pope Benedict had made hurtful and hateful statements regarding the LGBT Community and thus, his picture should not be placed on the altar of MHR. I was also warned, many parishioners would walk out of Sunday Mass if the picture was not removed. I spoke with a close priest friend of mine, and even though both of us were saddened by this, the wisest course, I felt, was to remove the Pope’s picture.

Read the rest here.

This is a parish that urgently needs to be suppressed and a priest who needs to be assigned to some duty where he can do no harm until he has demonstrated a reasonable level of comprehension and submission to the doctrine of the church from which he draws his salary.

Israel: New Coalition May Limit Influence of Ultra-Orthodox

 What if Israel had a coalition government that was not beholden to the fervently Orthodox parties’ hold on matters of marriage, divorce, conversion, and army exemptions for yeshiva students?

That possibility is beginning to appear likely, generating enthusiasm among the leaders of the liberal streams as well as the Modern Orthodox.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been trying these last few weeks since the national election to form a coalition that would include the haredi (or, ultra-Orthodox) parties that have supported him in the past in return for funding for their schools and projects, and control of the Interior Ministry, which deals with issues of religious law in citizens’ personal lives.

But the two surprise successes of the election, Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid and Naftali Bennett of the Jewish Home Party, have held firm to their post-election alliance, saying they would not join a government with the haredi parties. And it appears Netanyahu has little choice but to go along.

It would be the first government since 2003 formed without the haredi parties.

Read the rest here.

Venezuelan Strongman Hugo Chavez is Dead

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who went from a young conspiratorial soldier who dreamed of revolution to the fiery anti-U.S. leader of one of the world’s great oil powers, died March 5 in Caracas of complications from an unspecified cancer in his pelvic area.

He was 58 and had been president since 1999, longer than any other democratically elected leader in the Americas. Vice President Nicolas Maduro announced the death.

Read the rest here.

Student suspended for wrestling loaded revolver away from gunman

A 16-year-old student from Fort Myers, Fla., was suspended for three days after he wrestled a loaded gun away from another student on the school bus.

The Cypress Lake High School student grappled a loaded .22-caliber RG-14 revolver away from the 15-year-old suspect on the ride home Tuesday.

Witnesses say the suspect, a football player, aimed the weapon point-blank at a teammate and threatened to shoot him.

Read the rest here.

Joyce Carol Oates depicts 'highly bigoted' Woodrow Wilson in new novel

Acclaimed author Joyce Carol Oates explains why she has portrayed former US President Woodrow Wilson as 'highly bigoted and contemptuous of women’s suffrage' in her upcoming novel The Accursed.

Read the rest here.

For my take on Wilson see here.

Letter from Patriarch Kirill to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

March 1, 2013
Your Holiness!

In these exceptional days for you, I would like to express the feelings of brotherly love in Christ and respect.

The decision to leave the position of Bishop of Rome, which you, with humility and simplicity, announced on February 11 this year, has found a ready response in the hearts of millions of Catholics.

We have always been close to your consistent ministry, marked by uncompromisingness in matters of faith and unswerving adherence to the living Tradition of the Church. At a time when the ideology of permissiveness and moral relativism tries to dislodge the moral values of life, you boldly raised your voice in defence of the ideals of the Gospel, the high dignity of man and his vocation to freedom from sin.

I have warm memories of our meeting when you were elected to the Roman See. During your ministry we received a positive impetus in the relations between our Churches, responding to the modern world as a witness to Christ crucified and risen. I sincerely hope what developed during your active participation, a good trusting relationship between the Orthodox and the Catholics, will continue to grow with your successor.

Please accept my sincere wishes for good health, long life and help from above in prayer and in your theological writings.

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace" (Romans 15:13).

With love in the Lord,

+ Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
From here.
HT: Blog reader Dave B.

Romanian Church Reconciles with Jerusalem Patriarchate

A schism that should never have been and which makes us look silly if not downright petty has been resolved, praise God. See here for details.

Queen Elizabeth Hospitalized By Severe Stomach Flu

The Queen has been admitted to hospital in London after experiencing symptoms of gastroenteritis, Buckingham Palace said today. All official engagements for this week will be either postponed or cancelled as a precaution, the Palace added.

Her Majesty, who is 86, is expected to stay at the King Edward VII hospital in London for two days and is otherwise said to be in “good health and good spirits”.

A Royal visit to Rome planned for later this week will be cancelled or postponed, Buckingham Palace confirmed.

Read the rest here.

Update: It appears that HM The Queen has recovered rapidly and has left the hospital.

Fr David Bissias Refutes Valerie A. Karras on Women's Ordination

The eminent physicist Wolfgang Pauli was well-known for his abrupt and scathing criticism of colleagues, often proclaiming their work “utterly wrong” (ganz falsch).  Once, when asked for a comment on an article by a younger physicist, he replied, “Not only is this not right, this is not even wrong [das ist nicht einmal falsch]!”  He meant that the article’s assertions could not be tested and therefore proven correct or wrong.  Scientifically, “not even wrong” meant something worse than “utterly wrong”: that the effort provided no benefit whatsoever to the scientific endeavor, for even disproven theories contribute to scientific progress.

If Pauli were an Orthodox Christian theologian, he might have responded in a similar manner to Valerie A. Karras’ article, “Theologies of Women and Ordained Ministry.”[1]  Obviously, her general argument cannot be scientifically “tested,” but that is not the point.  The article makes numerous valid observations, but none of them amounts to even a single “theology” of women; nor is there criticism of several such “theologies of women.”  However, the questions that Karras rightly poses merit answers by the contemporary Church.  Unfortunately, the answer she suggests or, often more accurately, implies, cannot be judged right or wrong based on the argument she presents.  Thus, es ist nicht einmal falsch—it is not even wrong.

The ultimate point of her article is that there is no “theological” justification for the Church to continue excluding women from the ranks of the presbyter and bishop, not to mention other ministries in the life of the contemporary Church.  To make this point more attractive, Karras relies on anecdotal evidence of women’s “subservient” position in the Church, a limited reading of patristic authorities, false analogies, a narrow view of an Orthodox “anthropology,” an overly-schematized view of “history” and an eschatology which is certainly subject to dispute.  If this is not enough, she has also neglected apparently more contrary evidence from ancient and contemporary authors and canonical sources (including Holy Scripture), largely dismissed contemporary “hard” science and social science and, perhaps most importantly, ignored a great deal of the liturgical-sacramental life of the Church.  The discerning reader cannot but help notice that her argument reveals a predetermined conclusion which is not at all supported directly and positively by the evidence Karras provides, and she certainly has not provided convincing arguments to account for the more obvious contrary evidence (such as Holy Scripture) that seems to support a conclusion opposite of her own.

Read the rest here.
HT: Dr. Tighe

Greece reclassified to 'emerging market' from developed

A major fund manager has reclassified Greece from a developed to an emerging market, in an unprecedented move reflecting the "unfortunate economic tailspin" of the Greek economy, which has threatened the future of the euro.

Russell Investments, which advises funds with $2.4 trillion (£1.6 trillion) in assets, said the Greek economy has been a "world concern" since it revealed unsustainable levels of public debt in 2009.

The American-based company said Greece, which Russell designated as a developed market in 2001, has been on a path towards reclassification as an emerging market since 2010, having failed Russell's operational and macro risk tests, including per-capita income, total market capitalisation and the level of trading volume, which determine the economic health and status of countries.

Read the rest here.

Hail Armageddon

“The worst-case scenario for us,” a leading anti-budget-cuts lobbyist told The Post, “is the sequester hits and nothing bad really happens.”

Think about that. Worst case? That a government drowning in debt should cut back by 2.2 percent — and the country survives. That a government now borrowing 35 cents of every dollar it spends reduces that borrowing by two cents “and nothing bad really happens.” Oh, the humanity!

A normal citizen might think this a good thing. For reactionary liberalism, however, whatever sum our ever-inflating government happens to spend today (now double what Bill Clinton spent in his last year) is the Platonic ideal — the reduction of which, however minuscule, is a national calamity.

Read the rest here.

Detroit Nearing Bankruptcy

Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan on Friday declared a fiscal state of emergency in Detroit in a move that could lead to the appointment of a financial manager who could file for the largest municipal bankruptcy ever.

Snyder's decision allows the city a 10-day grace period to formulate a plan to fix its finances before the governor reconsiders appointing an emergency manager who would likely drastically reduce services.

The Republican governor said he had identified a top candidate for the position, but he declined to name the person.

"I believe it's appropriate to declare the city of Detroit in financial emergency," Snyder said at a forum in Detroit.

Snyder said he agreed with a Feb. 19 report by a six-member team of experts that concluded Michigan's largest city is in dire financial shape and a plan put in place last April to aid Detroit was not sufficiently working.

Read the rest here.

The burning question for the day

What to have for lunch?

Or...

Liberals adrift on a sea of red ink

One revealing stress test of a political viewpoint is the way it deals with facts that are large, consequential and ideologically inconvenient.

For conservatives, the challenge is climate change. A variety of studies, using increasingly refined methodologies, indicate that climate change is happening and that greenhouse emissions play a contributing role. But many on the right aren’t comfortable with the policy implications. So some deny the science; more ignore or downplay it.

For liberals, the challenge is deficits and debt. President Obama argues that we are “more than halfway towards the $4 trillion in deficit reduction that economists and elected officials from both parties say we need to stabilize our debt.” Economist Paul Krugman calls the deficit “a problem that is already, to a large degree, solved.” At a recent meeting of the House Financial Services Committee, two Democratic members objected to the display of the debt clock — a running count of the federal debt — as “a political prop designed to message ideologically.” Numbers, it turns out, have an offensive ideological bias.

Downplaying the debt — arguing that it has stabilized as a percentage of gross domestic product in a 10-year window — has become an ideological commitment on the left. It is often accompanied by criticism of the “deficit scolds” who attribute moral content to a mathematical dispute.

Read the rest here.