A Continuing Anglican Bishop Gets It

The archbishop and metropolitan of the Anglican Catholic Church says that the Bishop of Rome has served as an unintentional instrument of unity among Anglo-Catholics in a way no one could have anticipated or the way anyone expected.

Archbishop Mark Haverland said Anglicanum Coetibus - the Pope's offer for Anglicans to reunite with Rome - galvanized Anglo-Catholics around the world to reflect on why they are Anglicans and what they believe, he told a world gathering of Continuing Anglicans at St. Paul's in Brockton, Massachusetts.

Haverland said the besetting issue, Women's Ordination, continues to bedevil Anglicans in North America and Africa. He also predicted it would force a realignment of the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA) if the issue of women being ordained to the priesthood is not examined and reversed. "My premise is that bad theology and bad morals drive out good theology and good morals. The toleration of erroneous theological and moral principles tends to increase acceptance of the errors that flow from those principles.

"Within the Canterbury Communion the ordination of women to Holy Orders has grown from an eccentric mid-20th century proposal into a widely supported proposal in the 1970s, then into accepted practice in North America and the Antipodes. In the 1970s opposition to the new view was officially protected with conscience clauses. While most of the Canterbury Communion did not adopt the innovation in the 1970s and 1980s, the bad theology that it implies was not definitively rejected by the majority through the explicit breaking of communion with the innovators and by the explicit breaking of communion with those who tolerated the innovation."

Haverland said it was not sufficient to refrain from communion with the error; one also must not tolerate communion with those who tolerate the error. Why? Because bad theology drives out good theology.

Read the rest here.
HT: John Larocque

A surprisingly good article.

Nicea, a church transformed into a mosque

Hagia Sophia in Nicea, where the Seventh Ecumenical Council was held in 787, is about to be declared a mosque by the Turkish authorities. As the Turkish press reports, the call to prayer was sung from the Muezzin last Thursday, for the first time since the founding of the Turkish Republish in 1923. The minaret was added to the church in the city that the Turks called “Iznik” in the Ottoman age. Last year it was restored. With the prayer to be said at the beginning of the Islamic feast of sacrifice on Sunday morning, the former church will be ready for Islamic religious ceremonies.

The decision by the office of the Administrative Council, the competent authority, has sparked fierce debate. Selcuk Mülayim, of the University of Marmara, an art historian, underlined the building's importance in the history of Christianity and warned that the move would mark the beginning of protests from all over the world. Iznik's chamber of commerce criticized the move as lacking any sense, since the small city lives off tourism. Equally controversial is the issue of whether it is the Council's duty to explain how the former church was changed from a museum into a mosque. The office explained that the building had been marked out by the community “unjustifiably” as a museum, since it had never been used as a museum before. Last year, a sign was posted in front of the restored church building, with “Museum” written on it; a guard made visitors pay for an admission ticket.

In Hagia Sophia, the bishops of the Roman empire gathered in 787 to decide over the Byzantine iconoclastic controversy, and to approve the veneration of icons. Nicea was also the meeting place of the First Ecumenical Council, in the year 325. The palace where the Council took place no longer exists. Hagia Sophia was transformed into a mosque by the Muslims in 1331, when they conquered the city. After a fire, it was restored by the architect Mimar; it was later destroyed in the battle of Bursa in the Turkish war of independence in 1920. The ruins were restored in 2007 and have attracted Christian religious tourism.

Source.

There's a New Star in the Russian Sky. His Name Is Aleksandr

From Dr. Tighe...

ROME, November 7, 2011 - Among the religious leaders listening to the pope in Assisi, in the photo above, the first on the left with the solemn white headdress is Metropolitan Aleksandr of Astana and Kazakhstan.

The fact that the Orthodox patriarchate of Moscow and all Russia sent him as the head of its delegation to Assisi made some think of a downgrading and of a sticking point in the dialogue with the Church of Rome.

Nothing could be more mistaken.

Aleksandr is not at all a second-rank figure. He is the new star of Russian Orthodoxy.

Born 51 years ago in Kirov, northeast of Moscow, Aleksandr attended the seminary of Saint Petersburg, known as Leningrad at the time, when its rector was the current patriarch of Moscow, Kirill. As an archbishop, he spent ten years directing the synodal department for young people. In March of 2010, he was appointed archbishop of Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. Four months later he was elevated to the rank of metropolitan. And at the beginning of this autumn, he was appointed a permanent member of the Holy Synod.

The Holy Synod is the supreme authority of the Russian Orthodox Church. Until a few weeks ago, it was made up of twelve members: seven permanent and five temporary, the latter of which remain in office for no more than a year.

With Aleksandr, the number of permanent members of the Holy Synod has been brought to eight: a sign that his appointment was so strongly desired as to require a modification in the canons, which will be ratified soon.

In Assisi on October 27, of the ten delegates from the patriarchate of Moscow, three were bishops. One of them was another permanent member of the Holy Synod, the metropolitan and patriarchal exarch Filaret of Minsk and Belarus, a great supporter of dialogue with the Catholic Church who will soon host, in his city, a conference on relations between Orthodoxy and Catholicism, from November 13 to 15.

But in spite of Filaret's authority and prestige, in Assisi the role of head of the Russian Orthodox delegation was in effect played by Aleksandr, who is much younger than him.

In the afternoon ceremony in front of the basilica where Saint Francis is buried, it was Aleksandr who spoke. And before this, during the "frugal" lunch, he was the one seated at the same table as Benedict XVI.

Read the rest here.

Penn State Sacks Paterno and Spanier

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Penn State trustees fired football coach Joe Paterno and university president Graham Spanier amid the growing furor over how the school handled sex abuse allegations against an assistant coach.

The massive shakeup Wednesday night came hours after Paterno announced that he planned to retire at the end of his 46th season.

But the outcry following the arrest of former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky on molestation charges proved too much for the board to ignore.

One key question has been why Paterno and other top school officials didn't go to police in 2002 after being told a graduate assistant saw Sandusky assaulting a boy in a school shower.

Source 

(Note: This is breaking news and the text at the linked site is likely to change.)

Late, but at least they did it.

Stocks Plunge Near 400 pts on European Debt Crisis

Worries that the growing European debt crisis would drag down the global economy slammed Wall Street Wednesday, pushing the Dow Jones industrial average down about 3 percent at the close.

The broader market was harder hit. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended down almost 4 percent. The market’s fear gauge, the CBOE Volatility Index, hit a high of 36 during the session. At one point during the session, the Dow was off more than 400 points.

Financial stocks led what was a global rout. Shares of Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and Citigroup all tumbled on worries about bank exposure to Europe.

U.S. stocks had been under selling pressure from the first clang of the opening bell after Italy's borrowing costs soared to 7.502 percent, a level that many feel is unsustainable. Investors pushed Italian rates higher because they wanted more than just Italian Prime Minister Sylvio Berlusconi’s promise he would step down when the Italian parliament passes a package of austerity measures.

Read the rest here.

OCA News ceases publication

As has been widely reported, Mark Stokoe's web site ocanews.org has announced it is closing down after almost six years of posts. The raison d'être for the site was to expose the serious corruption then rampant in the upper levels of the OCA mostly centered around the church's former chancellor Robert Kondratick.  Later Stokoe also took on the cult of personality and corruption centered around Metropolitan Philip of the Antiochian Archdiocese.  More recently the target of the website has been Metropolitan Jonah whose relationship with the Holy Synod and the Metropolitan Council has been severely strained.  (See this earlier post.)  At this years All American Council Metropolitan Jonah apologized and accepted full responsibility for the bad relationship and what he acknowledged as an "administrative disaster."

Quoting Ecclesiastes, Stokoe indicated that it was time to close down the site.  There have also been rumors that he was acting on the orders of his bishop. 

For my part, I thank Mark for his invaluable service to the Church in exposing entrenched corruption at the highest levels of its administration.  I don't think I am overstating things in saying that without him, Kondratick might still be the OCA Chancellor and Herman our Metropolitan.  Likewise, while his campaign to expose the cult of personality and corruption surrounding Met. Philip was less successful, at least he shined a light on some very dark spots that needed illumination.

All of which said, I believe Mark has made the right decision here.  His campaign against Met. Jonah was starting to look rather personal and at times peevish.  Whatever Jonah's shortcomings are (and they appear to be many) there has been no hint of real scandal.  This basically strikes me as a spate of nasty church political infighting.  That is not IMHO an appropriate venue for lay people venting.  Worse his seeming obsession with Met. Jonah gave cause for his own critics and enemies (and a man like him is going to collect them) to strike back.  Suggestions have been made that the real issue was Jonah's social conservatism vs an alleged quasi Episcopalian liberalism on the part of the Synod and people like Stokoe.  His homosexuality was cited as evidence to this effect in an effort to discredit him.

In any event the time is right for this move and I wish Mark well in his future.

Orthodox church at the gates of purgatory

With each passing day, the crisis that has swept across Europe has thrown into question not only the capacity of states to maintain a minimum of solvency, but also the philosophy that has provided the basis for the social and economic system since the Second World War.

Established ideologies are no longer in tune with current realities and their adjustment to accommodate these realities appears increasingly difficult. It is in this context that the economic crisis has not only heralded the end of public debt and the bankruptcy of the principles that made it possible, but it has also marked the end of certain taboos.

Consider, for example the Greek and Romanian Orthodox Churches, and the provocative attitudes displayed by both of these entities. For several months, the impudence of high-ranking members of the clergy in Athens and Thessaloniki has known no bounds, now that the lost sheep demonstrating in the streets have begun to focus their attention not only on the rejection of austerity packages, but also on the redistribution of wealth and in particular the wealth of the Orthodox Church, which has never been evaluated [the Orthodox Churches in both Greece and Romania do not pay taxes and benefit from a certain number of privileges].

It is regrettable that the pressure on the higher echelons of the Greek clergy has not been instigated by public debate, but is rather the result of an outburst of rage prompted by extreme social and economic circumstances – and this observation also applies to the Romanian Church – because this has been used to justify the cynical and curt response of the ecclesiastical hierarchy which has no qualms about dismissing those voices from civil society which have yielded to the sin of questioning its prerogatives.

Read the rest here.

Elections: A good night for Democrats (not so good for unborn children)

The outcomes Tuesday in balloting from Maine to Mississippi included enough wins for Democrats, abortion rights advocates, and labor unions to give a bit of a lift to President Obama and his allies as they look toward the 2012 elections, 12 months from tonight.

In Ohio, voters overwhelmingly rejected the law enacted last spring by Gov. John Kasich and the Republican-controlled legislature that limited the ability of public employee unions to collectively bargain.

The law also would have required performance-based pay for most public employees and required them to pay 15 percent of the cost of their health care benefits.

Democratic National Committee Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz cheered the outcome in Ohio calling the law “a blatantly partisan attempt to lay the blame for our economy on middle-class Americans, while letting the wealthiest and special interests off the hook and not asking them to pay their fair share. Voters in Ohio know that targeting public employees for political reasons will do nothing to create jobs or boost Ohio’s economy.”

Yet at the same time that Ohio voters were boosting labor unions, they also delivered at least a symbolic rebuff to Obama’s health care reform law by overwhelmingly approving a ballot measure saying that no federal, state, or local law or rule could compel any person or employer to participate in a health care system. The practical effect of that Ohio measure hinges on the outcome of legal challenges in federal courts to Obama’s health care law.

In Mississippi, abortion rights advocates scored a somewhat surprising victory as voters defeated Initiative 26, a proposed amendment to the state’s constitution that would have defined the word “person” to include every human being “from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the functional equivalent thereof.”

More than 55 percent of voters were voted “no” on the ballot measure, The Associated Press reported, falling far short of the threshold needed for it to be enacted.

Read the rest here.

Epic storm hits Alaska

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Initial reports from towns along Alaska's northwest coast early Wednesday indicated that a massive Bering Sea storm had tossed rocks onto roads, eroded beaches and blown off roofs — and that's before water surges expected to peak Wednesday night.

In Nome, the largest town with 3,600 residents, the main street was closed due to rock and log debris. Residents were told to stay off streets due to live wires from downed power lines, and a highway was feared cut by beach erosion.

Roofs were also blown away overnight, when the height of snow and hurricane-force winds hit at about 2 a.m.

"Waves were hitting Front Street since after 1 a.m.," Nome resident Penny Frieda Olanna posted on Facebook. "We could see the waves flying and our window is covered in sleet, the waves are splashing high."

Read the rest here.

Penn State: Paterno to retire at the end of the season

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Joe Paterno, the Penn State football coach who preached success with honor for half a century but whose legend was shattered by a child sex abuse scandal, said Wednesday he will retire at the end of this season.

Paterno said he was "absolutely devastated" by the case, in which his one-time heir apparent, Jerry Sandusky, has been charged with molesting eight boys over 15 years, including at the Penn State football complex.

He said he hoped the team could finish its season with "dignity and determination."

The trustees could still force him to leave immediately. It also could take action against the university president, Graham Spanier. Spanier will either resign or be voted out by the end of the day, the Express-Times of Lehigh Valley reported.

Paterno said the school's Board of Trustees, which had been considering his fate, should "not spend a single minute discussing my status" and has more important matters to address.

Read the rest here.

Euro crisis widens, Italy pushed to the brink, Stocks tank, Merkel calls for "New Europe"

ROME/BERLIN (Reuters) - Italian borrowing costs reached breaking point on Wednesday after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's insistence on elections instead of an interim government opened the way to prolonged instability and delays to economic reform.

Italian 10-year bond yields shot above the 7 percent level that is widely deemed unsustainable, reflecting investors' concerns that they may not get their money back and prompting German Chancellor Angela Merkel to issue a call to arms.

Merkel said Europe's plight was now so "unpleasant" that deep structural reforms were needed quickly, warning the rest of the world would not wait. "That will mean more Europe, not less Europe," she told a conference in Berlin.

She called for changes in EU treaties after French President Nicolas Sarkozy advocated a two-speed Europe in which euro zone countries accelerate and deepen integration while an expanding group outside the currency bloc stayed more loosely connected -- a signal that some members may have to quit the euro if the entire structure is not to crumble.

Read the rest here.

Cairo’s Christians worry about Egypt’s next chapter

Coptic Christians are worried about their future in the new Egypt, as I could see Thursday night at a political rally in a poor Coptic neighborhood known here as Garbage City.

Gathered in an alleyway framed by heaps of trash, and Christian symbols decorating every nearby wall, the residents heard a simple message: To protect their families, Christians must vote in the parliamentary elections that begin late this month. Otherwise, Egypt may be controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood, which is mobilizing its own supporters.

“Muhammad and John need to live side by side,” admonished one of the speakers, arguing that Christians must fight for a secular state that will be moderate and tolerant. “If you don’t go vote, you have only yourself to blame for the consequences.”

Christians have “definitely” become more afraid since the revolution, explained Dina Beshay, a 29-year-old woman from the neighborhood. If the Muslim Brotherhood gained power, it would be a “big shock,” she said, because Christians would feel marginalized. “It is impossible for us to live in constant fear.”

Read the rest here.

Orthodox Church-backed abortion bill sparks protest in Russia

Women of all ages used to fill gynecologist Lyubov Yerofeyeva’s Soviet state clinic, lined up by the dozen for back-to-back abortions. “It was more common to take sick days for an abortion than for a cold in those days,” she said.

Two decades after the Soviet Union’s collapse, wider availability of contraception and a resurgence of religion have reduced the numbers of abortions overall, but termination remains the top method of birth control in Russia.

Its abortion rate — 1.3 million, or 73 per 100 births in 2009 — is the world’s highest.

Backed by the Russian Orthodox Church, an influential anti-abortion lobby is driving a moral crusade to tighten legislation and shift public attitudes that are largely a legacy of the Soviet era.

Adding to the debate is the Russian government’s effort to reverse a population decline caused by low birth rates combined with very high death rates. With Russians dying nearly twice as fast as they are born, the United Nations predicts that by 2050 its population will shrink by almost one fifth to 116 million.

Women’s rights groups voice outrage that the Church would play a role in shaping Russia’s secular laws and say abortion must remain a choice. They acknowledge the statistics point to a public health travesty but suggest the problem would be better resolved by sex education.

At the heart of the debate is an amendment to Russia’s law on health that is all but guaranteed to pass in the lower house after it was approved in a critical second of three readings on Oct. 21.

The law would cap abortions at 12 weeks, impose a waiting period of up to one week from initial consultations and require women over six weeks pregnant to see the embryo on ultrasound, hear its heartbeat and have counseling to determine how to proceed.

“Our two main motives are the fact that Russia is dying out and our religious tradition. We cannot forget our faith,” Yelena Mizulina, chair of the family issues committee that fielded the law, told Reuters. “Despite the long Communist period, it is seen as murder, as a violation of the Ten Commandments.”

Source.

Congress fiddles while America burns and why we are broke

Congressional Republicans have offered to increase tax revenue by nearly $300 billion over the next decade through an overhaul of the tax code, a significant concession aimed at breaking a long-standing impasse in negotiations over the federal debt.

The offer envisions a tax code rewrite that would lower rates for everyone while raising overall tax collections by $250 billion, mainly by limiting the value of itemized deductions such as write-offs for home mortgage interest, state and local taxes and other expenses.

In addition, Republicans are offering to use a less generous measure of inflation to adjust formulas government-wide, a proposal that would push people more rapidly into higher tax brackets. That would generate an extra $40 billion over the next decade, according to several people with knowledge the discussions.

Read the rest here.

What a surprise! Government resorting to manipulation of statistics. This will do more than push people into higher tax brackets. It will affect how much money is paid to people on programs that are indexed to inflation, like Social Security. And the poor fools who bought US Government Bonds that are supposed to be inflation protected (TIPS) seem to have forgotten that the same entity they lent their money to, also happens to control inflation (the printing press) and how it's officially calculated.

All of this however is meaningless. As bad as it is (and it really is bad), the debt (now $15 Trillion) is not the problem. The problem is forward projected unfunded obligations. In other words, it is what we have promised to spend in the future, mostly on entitlements, but don't have the money for. In 2004 the unfunded forward obligations of the United States amounted to $50,000,000,000,000 (that's what 50 Trillion dollars looks like in numeric form). In 2011 it is estimated that our forward projected unfunded obligations now amount to $100 Trillion.

How do you find that kind of money in any combination of spending cuts and or new taxes? You can't. What Congress is doing is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, and hoping nobody will notice the water coming over the bow. Here is the bottom line.

We are broke.

How long will it be before this fiscal house of cards comes crashing down? I don't know. There are a lot of variables that could delay or advance that unhappy event. But it is coming. John Williams, a renowned statistician, has been crunching the deadly numbers for years and has reached the conclusion that a major, and potentially catastrophic, fiscal crisis is likely to strike the United States no later than 2018. You can read his analysis here.

Fasten your seat belts folks.  We are going over the cliff.

Italy's Berlusconi Will Resign

ROME — As Italy grappled with a mounting debt crisis Tuesday, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi agreed to resign after parliament passes a key budget bill that includes provisions demanded by fellow members of the European Union.

The embattled 75-year old media tycoon told Italian President Giorgio Napolitano he would step down once lawmakers approve the bill, which is scheduled to come to a vote next week. Berlusconi made the pledge hours after losing his parliamentary majority as the country teetered on the brink of a full-blown debt crisis. As his political support crumbled earlier in the day, he came under growing pressure to resign.

Read the rest here.

UN Report: Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons

VIENNA — Iran is suspected of conducting secret experiments whose sole purpose can only be the development of nuclear weapons, the U.N. nuclear atomic energy agency said for the first time in a report released Tuesday.

While some of the suspected secret nuclear work can have peaceful purposes, "others are specific to nuclear weapons," according to the report by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency.

A 13-page attachment to the report details intelligence and IAEA research that shows Tehran working on all aspects of research toward making a nuclear weapon, including fitting a warhead onto a missile.

Read the rest here.

Supreme Court wrestles with Executive vs Legislative powers

WASHINGTON - US Supreme Court justices on Monday seemed to back the Obama administration's position that only the president can recognize foreign states, as they heard the case of a boy born in Jerusalem to American parents who want his passport to list Israel as his birthplace.

The parents of 9-year-old Menachem Zivotofsky argued that the move should be made under a 2002 law - passed weeks before Menachem was born - that included a provision allowing Israel to be listed as the place of birth on the passport of any American citizen born in Jerusalem.

At stake in the diplomatically sensitive case is whether the executive branch has exclusive control over dealings with foreign nations, or whether Congress and the courts also have a say.

While Israel calls Jerusalem its "eternal and indivisible" capital, few other states accept that status. Most countries, including the United States, maintain their embassies to Israel in Tel Aviv.

The Palestinians want East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967, as capital of the state they aim to establish in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, alongside Israel.

Zivotofsky was born on Oct. 17, 2002, in a hospital in west Jerusalem. The State Department, applying long-standing US policy, insisted his birth certificate show Jerusalem - with no country specified - as the place of birth, not Israel as his mother requested.

Nathan Lewin, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney arguing on behalf of the boy and his parents, who attended the arguments, said Congress properly exercised its power over passports and it can control a passport's contents.

President George W. Bush signed the law, but refused to follow it on the grounds it infringed on the president's power to formulate foreign policy. The Obama administration agreed.

Source.

In general I agree with the administration on the issue of authority in matters related to foreign affairs.  Congress overstepped its bounds.  Here though is my problem.

Bush SIGNED THE LAW.  And then he issued a so called "signing statement" saying he would not abide by it.  Sorry, it doesn't work that way.  Someone should have given George a remedial crash course in basic civics before he was allowed to become President.  There is no such animal as a "signing statement" anywhere in the Constitution.  What Bush was clearly trying to do was give himself a line item veto, and not just over spending bills.  But once again there is no provision to be found for this in the Constitution.  Once a president signs a bill it is law... ALL OF IT.  And no, you don't get to pick and choose which parts you will abide by.  This is merely one of many reasons I think George W Bush will go down as one of our country's worst presidents.  He should have been impeached for this alone.

Sadly it appears Zero is once again demonstrating that we basically got G. W. Bush's third term on yet another subject.  Obama has  decided he too likes "signing statements."  How's that "change" we voted for working for you?

Shamelessly stolen from here.

Israel: Reports of ultra-Orthodox Jews spitting on Christian clergy

Ultra-Orthodox young men curse and spit at Christian clergymen in the streets of Jerusalem's Old City as a matter of routine. In most cases the clergymen ignore the attacks, but sometimes they strike back. Last week the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court quashed the indictment against an Armenian priesthood student who had punched the man who spat at him.

Johannes Martarsian was walking in the Old City in May 2008 when an young ultra-Orthodox Jew spat at him. Maratersian punched the spitter in the face, making him bleed, and was charged for assault. But Judge Dov Pollock, who unexpectedly annulled the indictment, wrote in his verdict that "putting the defendant on trial for a single blow at a man who spat at his face, after suffering the degradation of being spat on for years while walking around in his church robes is a fundamental contravention of the principles of justice and decency."

"Needless to say, spitting toward the defendant when he was wearing the robe is a criminal offense," the judge said.

When Narek Garabedian came to Israel to study in the Armenian Seminary in Jerusalem half a year ago, he did not expect the insults, curses and spitting he would be subjected to daily by ultra-Orthodox Jews in the streets of the Old City.

Read the rest here.

I have heard reports of harassment by ultra-Orthodox Jews against Christians and particularly Christian clergy in Israel. Unfortunately this gets very little press.

HT: The Deacon's Bench

Europe's rescue fiasco leaves Italy defenceless

The six weeks allotted to save monetary union have expired. The G20 has come and gone, yet no workable firewall is in place as the drama engulfs Italy and threatens to light the fuse on the world’s third largest edifice of debt.

As of late Friday, the yield spread on Italian 10-year bonds over German Bunds was a post-EMU record of 458 basis points. This is dangerously close to the point where cascade-selling begins and matters spiral out of control.

The European Central Bank has so far bought time by holding a series of retreating lines but either it has reached its intervention limits after accumulating nearly €80bn of Italian debt, or it is holding fire to force Silvio Berlusconi to resign – if so, a foolish game.

Read the rest here.

If Rome burns, U.S. will feel the heat

The financial fires raging in Europe threatened to consume Italy Monday, as investors fled the country’s debt, driving up borrowing costs and pressuring Premier Silvio Berlusconi to resign. Unless those fires can be contained, the U.S. and the rest of the world will soon feel the heat.

After multiple failed attempts by Berlusconi’s government to reform Italy’s debt-heavy budget and after weekend reports that the government may fall, the financial markets pummeled Italian bonds Monday morning, sending interest rates approaching 7 percent. At those rates, the cost of periodically rolling over Italy’s $2.6 trillion in outstanding debt would quickly swamp its already strained budget.

Nearly two years after similar broken reform promises by Greece, the epicenter of the current financial crisis, the widening turmoil poses a much bigger threat.

"Italy has much more systemic implications than Greece, its debt is larger than the rest of the periphery put together, it is too big to fail, too big to save,” Thanos Vamvakidis, a financial market analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “The markets don’t believe Berlusconi at this point.”

Read the rest here.

Austria: Dissident Catholics in open revolt

VIENNA (Reuters) - Dissident Austrian Catholics announced lay people will start celebrating Mass when a priest is unavailable, a clear call to disobedience just as the country's bishops hold their autumn conference.

A manifesto adopted by dozens of activists at the weekend said lay people will preach, consecrate and distribute communion in priestless parishes, said Hans Peter Hurka, head of the group We Are Church.

"Church law bans this. The question is, can Church law overrule the Bible? We are of the opinion, based on findings from the Second Vatican Council, that this (ban) is not possible," he said Monday.

The Catholic Church only allows ordained priests to preside at Mass.

Read the rest here.

I know what should be done.  But the odds of it happening are lower than mine of hitting the trifecta at the Kentucky Derby. (Which are rather low since I don't play the horses.)  Austria used to be a pretty solidly Catholic country.  Today it is Protestant in all but name.

Westminster Abbey. Coronation Music for King James II. (Henry Lawes. William Child. William Turner)

I meant to post this yesterday but forgot.

Scenes from the consecration of the church of St. Mary of Egypt at Optina

Occupy protestors block roads, some are struck by car (no charges)

Three people were injured after apparently being struck by a car, authorities said.

Lt. Christopher Micciche of the D.C. police told the Associated Press that the driver was not cited because he had a green light when his vehicle struck three people.

He said witnesses told police that the three pedestrians “either ran toward or jumped in front of the moving vehicle.” He said one pedestrian jumped on the hood of the car. One of them was cited for being in the roadway.

“The protesters were apparently trying to block the roadway,” Micciche said. “It was essentially an accident where three individuals were injured but they were in violation by being in the roadway.”

D.C. fire department spokesman Lon Walls said Saturday morning that the three were transported to two area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.

The witness accounts provided by the police contradicted the description of the events some protesters gave The Post.

About 500 protesters stood in the streets at half a dozen intersections around the building, preventing cars from coming or going.

Several said that their aim was to prevent those inside from leaving.

Read the rest here.

Anyone is free to protest. No one is free to abduct people or block roads. These people should all be in jail.

Niall Ferguson: Fiscal Crises and Imperial Collapses: Historical Perspective on Current Predicaments

I had posted a link to this lecture earlier but I just found a copy of the video that can be embedded.  This is an outstanding lecture on how countries get too heavily indebted and then suffer a ruinous financial collapse.  If you want to understand what is going on now in Europe, and what is almost certainly going to happen here in the coming years, watch this lecture.  I suggest starting at around the 8 minute mark to skip the introductions.

Why Wall Street Can't Handle the Truth

Over the past 12 years, longtime banking analyst Mike Mayo has issued numerous calls to sell bank stocks, a rarity in a system where nearly all stocks are rated buy or hold. His negative ratings have frequently gotten him in trouble with banks, clients and his own bosses, who didn't want to alienate those companies. In this excerpt from his new book, "Exile on Wall Street," Mr. Mayo gives an inside view of the fights, the scolding and the threatening phone calls he received as a result of yelling "sell"—and offers a proposal to fix the banking sector.

Read the rest here.

RIP: Andy Rooney

Mr. Rooney has reposed at 92.

Scenes from the feast of the Icon of Our Lady of Kazan

GOP while blocking tax hikes looks to escape automatic defense cuts

WASHINGTON — As pessimism mounted this week over the ability of a bipartisan Congressional committee to agree on a deficit-reduction plan, lawmakers began taking steps to head off the large cuts in Pentagon spending that would automatically result from a failure of the panel.

Members of both parties and both chambers said they were increasingly fearful that the 12-member committee would be unable to bridge deep partisan chasms and find $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction as required under the law that raised the debt ceiling and created the committee in the summer.

As talks sputtered, one panel member publicly lamented that the process was not working, and the group was chastised by a bipartisan group of budget experts at a public hearing as failing to show progress. Several members of Congress, especially Republicans on the House and Senate armed services committees, are readying legislation that would undo the automatic across-the-board cuts totaling nearly $500 billion for military programs, or exchange them for cuts in other areas of the federal budget.

Read the rest here.

Business as usual in Washington.

Europe Unraveling -- but Is That All?

The news from Europe is uniformly disturbing. The trouble that started in Greece has received only a band-aid, and now the Greeks themselves are not even certain that they wish to put it on. Meanwhile, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Ireland are teetering on the brink, as well. Even the incoherent "protesters" who wanted to shut down the London Stock Exchange managed only to shut down St. Paul's Cathedral instead. Can't anyone in Europe do anything right? (The word "ineptocracy" has been coined to describe the phenomenon, which is, in my own phrasing: "A system where those least capable of leading are elected by those least capable of producing. The former then bungle through as long as they can, by taking from those who are producing, until everyone may enjoy being as impoverished as those who are not producing.")

We may finally be witnessing the inevitable consequences of a global system built upon exclusively fiat currencies -- money that consists only of paper promises. When an economy's medium of exchange is transformed from gold into paper, a certain convenience is achieved, to be sure -- but the convenience comes at a huge hidden cost. As I explained in my previous series on money, paper money is based entirely on debt -- on promises to pay in the future. But pay with what? You guessed it -- more paper money, or more promises to pay. An endless and spiraling cycle of debt is the driver of a fiat money economy.

Read the rest here.
HT: Bill (aka The Godfather)

Good post. I doubt that we will see the complete collapse of fiat paper currency. But I do think that there is going to be a dramatic devaluation of most of the world's currencies as a necessary consequence of the staggering levels of debt, which can not be paid off without some combination of a draconian program of austerity coupled with sharp tax rises and or deliberate financial repression with currency debasement and inflation as its corner piece. Historically few nations, and no democratic ones that I am aware of, have had the intestinal fortitude for the kind of long term deep austerity that would be necessary. That leaves us with the printing press.

The myths of Obamacare in GOP campaign

WASHINGTON — To hear some Republican presidential candidates tell it, the president's pen is a magic wand that can make "Obamacare" vanish in one day and sweep in cheaper health care, economic growth and lots of jobs in businesses freed from the health care law's heavy hand.

But there is no such fairy dust in Washington.

Across the board, the contenders pledge to repeal the health law they denigrate as "Obamacare." In doing so, some are more realistic than others about what they can achieve and how fast.

FACT CHECK: To hear some Republican presidential candidates tell it, the president's pen is a magic wand that can make "Obamacare" vanish in one day and sweep in cheaper health care, economic growth and lots of jobs in businesses freed from the health care law's heavy hand.

The Republican case against the law comes with a dose of myth-making that may raise false hopes among voters who wish it could, in fact, simply go "poof." If the overhaul is to fall, it won't happen overnight with a new GOP administration. Any dismantling promises to be just as much of a slog as was its creation.

Mitt Romney has been the most persistent in claiming that as president, he would free states from the law's requirements with an executive order on his first day in charge, even though he would have no authority to do so. Rick Perry has held out the prospect of lower health insurance premiums once the law is gone, citing research that actually tells a mostly different story.
Story: In midst of sex scandal, Gloria Cain emerges as non-traditional campaign wife

Herman Cain would like to turn repeal into a birthday present of sorts. He says if Congress moves fast enough he'd sign the repeal March 23, 2013 — his son's birthday and the third anniversary of the law's signing.

All place the law's repeal as a chief component of their plans to grow the economy and jobs, rightly noting the overhaul's myriad regulations but overselling the ability of one act of legislative subtraction to lift all boats.

Read the rest here.

For those still predicting the 'imminent' reunion of Orthodoxy and Catholicism...

Read this over at Rorate Caeli.

NBA: Players threaten to "decertify union" if demands not met

In case you thought sanity might encroach on the NBA labor talks, we bring you this report:

A group of hardline NBA players, about 50, participated in a conference call this week behind the back of union leadership, reports both the New York Times and Yahoo. The upshot of the mid-week call is that if the union gives any more on either system issues or percentage of basketball related income, the group will start a drive to decertify the union.

Know that this is as much a negotiating tactic as a real threat, and effort to give the union some leverage. (“You need to get a deal with us now before this renegade group tries to hijack the talks.”) That said, the threat could anger owners and handcuff union leadership — Billy Hunter and Derek Fisher — in those talks.

Here are the highlights from Howard Beck at the Times:

Read the rest here.

Not a basketball fan. But I do find it amusing that the players are threatening to revolt against their union and probably kill the season over 2% in revenue when even poorly paid players are already among the wealthiest Americas. Somehow I don't see this playing well with the fans, many of whom have no job. Score this an 'F' in public relations.

Flock sleep in church to stop thieves

A CONGREGATION has been forced to spend nights sleeping in a church to defend it from thieves.

St Nicholas Orthodox Church, a Russian orthodox church in Marston, was targeted in raids on two consecutive nights, prompting the sleep-in.

A brass-plated steel cross from the church’s roof was stolen on Saturday, October 22, and then irreplaceable religious relics were taken the following night.

Members of the congregation were so alarmed that six of them spent the next five nights, from Monday to Friday, sleeping inside the church.

Their concern was justified on Tuesday, when thieves again attempted to access the building late at night.

Read the rest here.

HT: ByzantineTexas

Fiscal Crisis and Imperial Collapses

Niall Ferguson (professor of financial and economic history at Harvard) gives the definitive explanation of the sovereign debt crisis from an historical perspective with a glimpse of what is coming.  The video of the presentation can be found here (sorry no embed). The actual presentation begins at about the eight minute mark for those who want to skip the introductions. I can not recommend this too strongly. The PowerPoint presentation can be seen here.

Why The U.S. Is Set to Join The Zombie Club of Nations

The zombie apocalypse is coming.

That's according to Michael Pento, President of Pento Portfolio Strategies. But he's not talking about people or banks turning to lifeless monsters. He's talking about sovereign nations having the life sucked out of them.

Why? "Because they are saddled with so much debt," he tells the Daily Ticker's Aaron Task in the accompanying clip. "They are sucking the life blood of capitalism out of their economies and pouring them into the servicing of government debt; you cannot grow and therefore, you are a zombie nation."

The U.S. is currently vying for a spot within what he calls "the zombie club of nations" with a national debt nearing $15 trillion. But most notably these days, Pento is referring to Greece, which currently has a deadly debt-to-GDP ratio of 170% and is teetering on the brink of default.

What about the Greek bailout?

It doesn't matter, says Pento. Even if Greece decides to stay in the EU and take the bailout so kindly served up to it by other Eurozone countries last week, it is destined for the zombie club of nations, which should be noted began in Japan two decades ago. He calls the EU deal a "farce" because the country will likely not be able to lower its debt-to-GDP ratio to 120% by 2020 as required by the deal. And even if it does, that level of debt is more than the country can withstand, Pento says, while gesturing to Italy, which is going through a similar same scenario right now.

Read the rest here. Also again see the video interview at the linked site.

Mike Pento: To Hell With What the Fed Says, “Inflation Is Already Here”

The Fed kept rates at zero Wednesday and Chairman Ben Bernanke practically guaranteed more action by the central bank to boost the economy during his press conference following the FOMC meeting. (See: Borrowers Win, Savers Lose as Fed Stands Pat — Again)

In justifying it's uber-easy stance, the Fed cited a "subdued outlook for inflation," which has "moderated since earlier in the year as prices of energy and some commodities have declined from their peaks."

That's poppycock, according to Michael Pento, president of Pento Portfolio Strategies and a senior strategy at Agora Financial.

"Inflation is already here," Pento says, citing the following stats:

Inflation: The Consumer Price Index is up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis and Pento (among many others) believes that index grossly underestimates inflation in the real world.

The Misery Index: A combination of unemployment plus CPI inflation, the Misery Index recently hit a 28-year high. (If history is prologue, that's bad news for President Obama.)

Money Supply: M2 Money Supply has grown over 10% in the past 12 months through September. 'They'll claim the money is staying in the banking system but it's not, it's being lent out," Pento says, citing a recent uptick in Commercial & Industrial loans as evidence.

Read the rest here. Also see the video interview at the linked site.

Marriage and Divorce Law; Time for a change

OK. Anyone who has not been living on another planet has probably heard that Kim Kardashian has filed for divorce just 72 days into her marriage with sports star Kris Humphries. On a certain level my attitude is, if you find out you made a colossal mistake, better to admit it upfront and cut your losses. Certainly better to deal with it before there are children involved.

On the other hand this only adds to a culture that is fast reducing marriage to something of a joke. There was a time when once you said "I do" that was it. There was no waking up one morning and seeing your honey in curlers and face cream for the first time and asking if maybe you need to go see a lawyer. For better or worse meant just that. And divorce, quite properly IMHO, carried a social stigma.

No, I don't want to go back to the days when it was all but impossible to get a divorce. There are legitimate reasons for it. Even Roman Catholics, while maintaining the indissoluble nature of marriage as a sacrament, have in recent years accepted that there are some grounds where a civil divorce may be justified. But we need to find some sort of middle ground between forcing people to remain in a poisonous or abusive marriage and those for whom you need a stop watch to keep up with their marriages.

To whit I have a few modest proposals.

First, limit "no-fault divorce."  That should be a one time deal only.  If I were czar I would do away with it entirely, but I am trying to keep my proposals within the realm of the realistic given our polity and culture today.  Secondly require anyone under the age of 21 to undergo some form of marriage counseling BEFORE they marry.  Third, impose a 90 day cooling off period from the time a couple applies for a marriage license until it is granted.  Exceptions can be made for unusual circumstances.  But no more drive-thru weddings.  And finally, no more serial wedding and divorces.  There should be a firm number of times you can divorce and remarry.  In the Orthodox Church that number is three, though we apply that also to cases where the spouse died which I don't support extending into civil law.  Still I think three is a reasonable number.  It should sober someone up if they have been twice married and divorced knowing that there will be no hubby number four. Let's call this the Eddie Fisher rule (after Liz Taylor's fourth husband).

Will this put the breaks on our divorce happy culture?  Probably not.  But it might act as a speed bump.  I would settle for that at the moment.

Metropolitan Vladimir of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (the real one) is hospitalized (updated)

Metropolitan Volodymyr of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate was hospitalized on October 30 again.

Ukrainian News learned this from a posting on the Website of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate.

According to the statement citing Archbishop OIeksandr, the secretary for the metropolitan, doctors assess the health condition of Metropolitan Volodymyr as being grave.

Read the rest here.

Update: As of the 2nd of November the UOC issued a statement calling the Metropolitan's condition "stable but grave."    No more details have been released.  Source

DiCaprio plays J. Edgar Hoover in film

TO transform himself into an aging J. Edgar Hoover, Leonardo DiCaprio sat for hours at a time while makeup artists gave him liver spots, yellow teeth and big, bulbous love handles. He spends a good chunk of Clint Eastwood’s film “J. Edgar” that way, sweating and sneering in the unforgiving lighting of F.B.I. headquarters.

The part also meant memorizing endless monologues that needed to be delivered with Hoover’s own breakneck cadence. Additionally Mr. DiCaprio, who typically comes accessorized with a supermodel girlfriend in real life, had to wrestle aggressively with a man and then kiss him.

Oh, and wear a dress.

Faced with a role with demands like that, most superstar actors, even those eager to catch the attention of Oscar voters, would have turned and run. Look unhandsome and unheroic? Too big a risk, even with Mr. Eastwood at the wheel. But Mr. DiCaprio, at least the post-“Titanic” one, has made a career of highly risky choices, and somehow it keeps paying off not only on the awards circuit — he has been nominated for three Academy Awards — but at the box office as well.

“When I can’t immediately define the character, and there’s an element of mystery to it and still a lot to be explored, that’s when I say yes,” the 36-year-old Mr. DiCaprio said in an interview last week on a patio at the Bel Air Hotel here. “I like those kinds of complicated characters. I just do.”

Read the rest here.

Rare 16th century book stolen at Frankfurt fair

FRANKFURT — Thieves stole a rare 16th-century Portuguese book estimated to be worth 18,500 euros ($25,500) at the world's biggest book fair here last month, police said Wednesday.

Written in 1542 by Portuguese humanist philosopher Damiao de Gois, a friend and student of Erasmus, the 30-page book is entitled "Hispania damiani a goes equitis lusitani".

Read the rest here.

“For him that stealeth, or borroweth and returneth not, this book from its owner, let it change into a serpent in his hand and rend him. Let him be struck with palsy, and all his members blasted. Let him languish in pain crying aloud for mercy, and let there be no surcease to his agony till he sing in dissolution. Let bookworms gnaw his entrails in token of the Worm that dieth not, and when at last he goeth to his final punishment, let the flames of Hell consume him forever.”

-From a sign posted in the library of the Benedictine Convent of San Pere near Barcelona.

WikiLeaks: British High Court rejects Assange extradition appeal

LONDON — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange lost his battle against extradition Wednesday when Britain’s High Court ruled that he should be sent to Sweden to face questioning over allegations of sexual misconduct.

The judgment, handed down by High Court judges John Thomas and Duncan Ouseley with Assange in attendance, dismissed all four of the objections raised by Assange’s legal

In their ruling, the judges said that the European Arrest Warrant that triggered Assange’s arrest and subsequent proceedings by the Swedish authorities were “proportionate.”

Read the rest here.

Corzine, top Obama fundraiser, under FBI investigation

Jon Corzine, now the center of an FBI investigation into the handling of hundreds of millions of dollars invested in his securities firm, was one of the leading Wall Street fundraisers for President Obama’s campaign and suggested to investors that he might take a top administration post if the president were re-elected.

His new legal troubles, sparked by the bankruptcy filing of his investment firm, MF Global, could complicate the president’s efforts to raise money from the financial community given Corzine’s central role in those efforts.

A recent list of top “bundlers” or elite fundraisers released by Obama’s campaign listed Corzine in the highest category -- reporting that he had raised more than $500,000 for the campaign. A substantial chunk of those funds were collected at a $35,800 per ticket fundraiser that Corzine hosted at his wife’s spacious Fifth Avenue apartment last April -- an event that was touted at the time as part of a concerted effort by the president’s campaign team to reach out to well-heeled Wall Street donors who had been alienated by some of his policies and previous public comments.

Read the rest here.

With few options, Fed turns to 'jawboning'

With little ammunition left in its armory, the Federal Reserve has entered the "jawboning" phase of its campaign to spur stronger economic growth.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his fellow policymakers emerged from a two-day meeting to declare they planned no major changes in their policy of using low interest rates to get the job and housing markets back on track. In a statement, the Fed pointed to a recent improvement in the outlook but warned that the recovery is still very fragile.

"Economic growth strengthened somewhat in the third quarter," the Fed said in its post-meeting statement. "There are significant downside risks to the economic outlook, including strains in global financial markets."

At least one committee member believes talk alone won’t cure the economy's ills. Charles Evans, president of the Chicago Fed, formally dissented from the decision, saying he thinks his colleagues should be taking further action to revive growth.

So far, the Fed’s strongest artillery has had little apparent impact. Shortly after the Panic of 2008 rocked global financial markets, the central bank flooded the system with cash, slashing to zero the rate banks pay to borrow overnight. That move was followed by a massive program of buying nearly $2 trillion in bonds to force long-term rates sharply lower. But three years after embarking on its easy-money policies, unemployment remains stuck above 9 percent and the housing market is mired in its worst downturn since the 1930s.

Read the rest here.

GOP condemns anti-Obama image showing gunshot wound

The Republican Party of Virginia on Monday strongly condemned an e-mail sent by Loudoun County’s GOP committee that shows President Obama as a zombie with part of his skull missing and a bullet through his head.

The e-mail, first reported on the blog Too Conservative, has “Halloween 2011” in the subject line and has several other images, including one of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), whose face has been made to look deformed with one eye bulging from its socket.

“The disgusting image used today on a mass e-mail has no place in our politics. Ever,’’ said Pat Mullins, chairman of the state party. “The Republican Party of Virginia condemns the image and its use in the strongest possible terms.”

Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) said through a spokesman that the e-mail is “shameful and offensive.’’

Read the rest here.

Further evidence of the radicalization of our politics. Those we disagree with are no longer political opponents. They have become "the enemy."

Obama at odds with Catholics

A contentious battle between Catholic groups and the Obama administration has flared in recent days, fueled by the new health-care law and ongoing divisions over access to abortion and birth control.

The latest dispute centers on a decision by the Department of Health and Human Services in late September to end funding to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to help victims of human trafficking, or modern-day slavery. The church group had overseen nationwide services to victims since 2006 but was denied a new grant in favor of three other groups.

The bishops organization, in line with the church’s teachings, had refused to refer trafficking victims for contraceptives or abortion. The American Civil Liberties Union sued, and HHS officials said they made a policy decision to award the grants to agencies that would refer women for those services.

The bishops conference is threatening legal action and accusing the administration of anti-Catholic bias, which HHS officials deny.

The fight escalates an already difficult relationship between the government and some Catholics over several issues. The bishops fiercely oppose the administration’s decision in February to no longer defend the federal law barring the recognition of same-sex marriage. Dozens of Catholic groups also have objected in recent weeks to a proposed HHS mandate — issued under the health-care law — that would require private insurers to provide women with contraceptives without charge.

Read the rest here.

Episcopalians move to 'rehabilitate' Pelagius

The Diocese of Atlanta has been asked to rehabilitate Pelagius.

Delegates to the diocesan convention will be asked to reverse the condemnation of the Council of Carthage upon Pelagius, and to explore whether the Fifth century heretic may inform the theology of the Episcopal Church.

Resolution R11-7 before the convention states in part:

“Whereas the historical record of Pelagius’s contribution to our theological tradition is shrouded in the political ambition of his theological antagonists who sought to discredit what they felt was a threat to the empire, and their ecclesiastical dominance, and whereas an understanding of his life and writings might bring more to bear on his good standing in our tradition;”

“And whereas his restitution as a viable theological voice within our tradition might encourage a deeper understanding of sin, grace, free will, and the goodness of God’s creation, and whereas in as much as the history of Pelagius represents to some the struggle for theological exploration that is our birthright as Anglicans, Be it resolved, that this 105th Annual Council of the Diocese of Atlanta appoint a committee of discernment overseen by our Bishop, to consider these matters as a means to honor the contributions of Pelagius and reclaim his voice in our tradition.”

Read the rest here.

HT: T-19

Happy All Hollows Eve

When a kid, like probably most children, I was somewhat partial to horror movies.  For the most part they didn't really bother me too much.  Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr, and of course the immortal Bella Lugosi were all regulars on the late night Chiller Theater every Saturday night on WPIX channel 11 out of New York City.  I can still remember the corny opening for the program showing a hand coming out of the ground and one by one pulling each of the letters in CHILLER into the ground.  Remember this was the 1970's.

So anyways it wasn't until the summer of 1979 that I was cured of my thing for horror flicks.  That was the summer that Stephen King did something really really bad.  You see up until then I could care less about werewolves vampires and such, because they all existed in some never clearly defined world, called Transylvania or such more than a hundred years ago.  What Mr. King did was to eliminate that psychological safety zone.  In short, Stephen King took his vampires, and moved them in next door to me.

I remember watching Salem's Lot (based on the novel of the same name) with my best friend David who lived two houses down a typical suburban street from me.  A two minute walk, three if I was taking my time.  Right off we could tell there was a problem.  The story was set in a small normal middle class town IN THE HERE AND NOW.  It went down hill from there.  And it really didn't help that some of the main characters (and victims) were normal kids... just like me and my buddy.  To this day, more than thirty years later I can still hear the sound of one of the vampire kids scratching on the window whispering "it's me Danny... let me in" as he floats outside the 2nd floor bedroom window of one of the main characters, another kid.

Of course the program ended in due course.  And then I had to walk home.  Alone.  At night.  Did I mention alone?  I am not sure exactly how long it took me to get home.  But had I been timed I feel confident I would have qualified for the US Olympic track team. Today I suspect that the 1979 version of Salem's Lot would be considered fairly tame, if not actually lame, by aficionados of the horror genre.  But it scared the $^#& out of at least one 12-13 year old back then.  I have heard that a few years back Rob Lowe starred in a remake of the film.

Maybe one day... (emphasis on 'day'), but I don't think this is it.

Going out with class, LaRussa retires on top

In the last few days of his tenure as the Cardinals’ longtime manager, Tony La Russa went about his business with an air of serenity, even as his upstart team sought to nail down a World Series championship. La Russa’s often grumpy demeanor with reporters dissolved into friendly, almost comedic, banter, and he took a genuinely inquisitive tone at times, when in the past he could be dismissive.

Now there would seem to be an explanation for that sudden burst of relaxation for a manager more commonly thought of as relentless. On Monday morning, three days after he captured the third title in his long managing career, and less than a day after St. Louis celebrated with a victory parade, La Russa, 67, announced that he was retiring.

So, it turns out, that amid all the World Series tension of the last week, and all the uncertainty of Friday night’s Game 7, La Russa had his own finish line firmly in view.

La Russa made his disclosure at a news conference in St. Louis. After 16 years as the manager of the Cardinals and 33 years over all in the job, La Russa is done marching relievers in and out of games and outthinking most of his counterparts. His next destination is surely the Hall of Fame.

“It’s just time to do something else,” he said.

With 2,728 victories, La Russa ends his career with the third most victories of any manager, behind Connie Mack (3,731) and John McGraw (2,763). He is only the ninth manager to win at least three World Series titles, and his résumé also includes six league championships, three each with the Oakland Athletics and the Cardinals.

Read the rest here.

OCA: Met. Jonah vs The Metropolitan Council and the Synod

I haven't posted on this subject because I try to avoid church politics, and that is pretty much what this is.  There are no real allegations that I am aware of that rise to the level of scandal.  That said there has been a nasty round of backbiting and intrigue in the higher levels of the OCA.  Of course when has there not been in the 2000 year history of the Church?  The Fathers repeatedly warn and complain about bad bishops.  Sigh. 

Anyway for those not familiar with the saga my suggestion is just skip this post and move on.  There is nothing edifying here.  However for those who have been following things and or those who can't avert their eyes from the proverbial car wreck, you may click here to read the AAC report from the Diocese of the West.  The salient parts run from pages 3 to 4.  There have been a lot of efforts on the part of some to make this out to be Jonah fighting for the soul of the OCA against creeping quasi-Episcopalian liberalism.  Rubbish.  The problem is (mainly) that His Beatitude does not play and get along well with others.  He needs to learn to do so, or his tenure as our primate is going to be one very long headache.

HT: Bill (aka The Godfather)

Largest two schismatic Ukrainian churches talk unification

(RISU) - On 27 October, in a session hall within the Golden Dome Monastery of St. Michael, the first joint session of the committees set up by the Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP) and the Hierarchical Council of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) to conduct the dialogue on unification was held.

Read the rest here.

Russian Orthodox Church revival "colossal" over 20 years - Moscow Patriarchate

Moscow, October 31, Interfax - The Russian Orthodox Church has made colossal achievements in its revival over the past 20 years, the Moscow Patriarchate said.

"In 1991, the Russian Orthodox Church had 12,000 parishes, 117 monasteries and convents, two theologian academies, seven theologian seminaries, 16 theologian colleges and four schools. In 2011, we have 30,675 parishes, 29,324 priests, 3,850 deacons and 805 monasteries and convents. The number of theologian educational establishments has increased, too," Vladimir Legoida, the head of the Synodal Information Department, said at a news conference at Interfax on Monday.

"Twenty years is not much in the history of a Church on the one hand, but on the other, the achievements made since 1991 are colossal," he said.

Spiritual revival is only at its start, he also said.

The spiritual revival of present-day Russia will be in the center of an exhibition and forum, Orthodox Rus, to be held in Moscow on November 4-7, he said.

Source.

Iran demands US apology, cash over assassination plot charges

Iran is pushing back against U.S. efforts to strengthen sanctions against Tehran in response to an alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington, demanding a public apology and unspecified monetary damages, an Iranian diplomat tells NBC News.

The Iranian demands were contained in a recent letter to the U.S., according to the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity. It calls on the U.S. to apologize publicly to both the Islamic republic and officials of the Al Quds Force for “material and moral damages” caused by “this baseless accusation,” which it argues violated "international rules and regulations."

The letter states that such deception has become "a permanent part of statecraft in the U.S.," according to the source, citing as an example the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which it says was “based on such false information.”

"After killing hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis and U.S. soldiers and wasting billions of dollars from the U.S. citizens' pocket, the U.S. has no other way out except leaving Iraq," the diplomatic source said, recounting the argument made in the letter.

Read the rest here.

A tough day

Ever have one of those days that starts out very promising and ends with an urgent desire for something a little stronger than root beer?  I just did.  My parents are snowed in.  No. I am not kidding. My Godson is ill.  Yes the same one who was severely injured in a car wreck several months ago.  The illness is not serious, but it is very painful.  And my car landed in the shop after a very close call with possible disaster.  The starter got stuck and would not turn off, even when the key was removed from the ignition.  Not surprisingly it quickly fried and cooked a significant amount of electrical wiring in the process.  There was smoke poring from the engine when I opened the hood and rapidly disconnected the battery.  I and the mechanics fixing the mess think that another minute or two of power running into the melted wiring could have started an electrical fire that might have destroyed the car.

In the words of the late WC Fields "All in all, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."

Officers Jeer and Curse as Colleagues Are Arraigned on Ticket-Fixing Charges

A three-year investigation into the police’s habit of fixing traffic and parking tickets in the Bronx ended in the unsealing of indictments on Friday and a stunning display of vitriol by hundreds of off-duty officers, who converged on the courthouse to applaud their accused colleagues and denounce their prosecution.

As 16 police officers were arraigned at State Supreme Court in the Bronx, incensed colleagues organized by their union cursed and taunted prosecutors and investigators, chanting, “Down with the D.A.” and “Ray Kelly, hypocrite.”

As the defendants emerged from their morning court appearance, a swarm of officers formed a cordon in the hallway and clapped as they picked their way to the elevators. Members of the news media were kept behind metal barricades at the ends of the hallway by court officers, and the assembled police officers blocked cameras from filming their colleagues.

Read the rest here.

Corruption is corruption and it can't be condoned.  That said I do smell the distinct odor of hypocrisy and selective prosecution here.  If we sacked every cop who ever fixed a ticket for mom or a buddy... or in more than a few cases for a public prosecutor... we would be in deep trouble.  Seriously folks.  Ticket fixing is a slap on the wrist offense as long as that's ALL we are talking about and they don't make a habit out of it.  I do understand from the article that some of the officers are facing more serious charges.  That's a whole different ballgame.  They get their day in court like anyone else and let the chips fall where they will.

But hooking up mom cuz she was late for work and double parked?  Give me a break.  To my mind that's a couple days of the most boring clerical work the duty officer can invent and maybe a day or two of docked pay with a written "Don't do it again" warning. These guys deal with the dregs of society day in and day out and the kind of crap 90% of us would not put up with for any money.  I think a little perspective is in order here.

Peter Schiff and Cornell West on CNN

Admin Note

Just a quick FYI to let people know that if there seems to be less posting on weekends it's because... there usually is.  I try to keep a little time away from the computer and especially on Sundays not to spend a large part of my day staring at a monitor.  I do check email and try to take note if something has happened that is important.  But in general I am making an effort to set some boundaries in my life and to get out and spend time doing other things.  I also note that there is less traffic to my blog on weekends.  And yes, that's a good thing.

So go out and enjoy your weekend.  :-)

British Commonwealth nations agree to changes in Royal Succession

PERTH, Australia — British Prime Minister David Cameron said Friday that the 16 Commonwealth countries for which Queen Elizabeth II is monarch have agreed to remove gender discrimination in the order of succession to the throne.

Commonwealth national leaders also agreed at a summit in the west coast city of Perth to lift a ban on monarchs marrying Roman Catholics, he said.

Any one of the former British colonies could have vetoed the changes to the centuries-old rules that ensure that a male heir takes the throne ahead of older sisters.

"Attitudes have changed fundamentally over the centuries and some of the outdated rules — like some of the rules of succession — just don't make sense to us any more," Cameron told reporters in Perth.

Read the rest here.

Investigative committee declares Imperial Family remains ‘authentic’

The Russian Investigative Committee confirmed on Thursday that the remains of Russia’s tsar family buried in St. Petersburg’s St. Peter and Paul Cathedral, as well as the bodies of Tsar Nicholas II’s children Alexei and Maria, which still remain unburied, were authentic.

“As a result of a probe, the Investigative Committee has come to the categorical conclusion that the remains are authentic,” investigator Vladimir Solovyov told journalists in Moscow, adding that the conclusion was based on “summarized data including court documents, genetic analysis, and historical and other materials.”

The authenticity of the remains of the tsar's family, who were murdered by Bolsheviks in 1918, has been repeatedly challenged despite positive results of forensic tests conducted by a dozen organizations in Russia and abroad.

Tsar Nicholas II, his wife, their four daughters and son, and several servants, were shot dead in a cellar in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg in the early hours of July 17, 1918. Remains of the murdered family, except Alexei and Maria’s bodies, and the servants, were discovered in 1991. In 1998, they were authenticated and buried in the St. Peter and Paul Cathedral.

Alexei and Maria’s bodies were discovered in 2007 near Yekaterinburg. Their authenticity has also been proven by DNA tests.

The Russian Orthodox Church, which canonized the murdered Romanovs in 2000, has not recognized the remains.

Read the rest here.

Embracing Faith, Facing Death (a must read)

I am not going to excerpt this one. Just click here and read it all.

G.O.P. Pushes Military Custody for Terror Suspects

WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans increasingly reject any use of the civilian criminal justice system for handling cases involving Al Qaeda, hardening their stance in a dispute with the Obama administration over whether such suspects should be held and prosecuted exclusively by the military.

Republican senators are pushing to include a provision in a 2012 military authorization bill that would require Qaeda suspects accused of plotting attacks and who are not American citizens to be held in military custody — even people arrested in the United States. The White House opposes such a blanket rule.

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Muslims say crosses at Catholic University Violate “Human Rights”

The Washington, D.C. Office of Human Rights confirmed that it is investigating allegations that Catholic University violated the human rights of Muslim students by not allowing them to form a Muslim student group and by not providing them rooms without Christian symbols for their daily prayers.

The investigation alleges that Muslim students “must perform their prayers surrounded by symbols of Catholicism – e.g., a wooden crucifix, paintings of Jesus, pictures of priests and theologians which many Muslim students find inappropriate.”

A spokesperson for the Office of Human Rights told Fox News they had received a 60-page complaint against the private university. The investigation, they said, could take as long a six months.

Read the rest here.

HT: Fr. Z

This is just grandstanding and trying to stick their finger in the eyes of Catholics. The complaint should be immediately dismissed as frivolous and the students should be told that they will not be allowed to return next semester and to plan on transferring to another school. The professor should be disciplined, though I fear his tenure will protect him from any consequences for his outrageous actions.

Financial Markets Rally on Good News From Europe and US Economy

The economy's pace picked up in the third quarter, but it's still not fast enough to make a dent in unemployment.

U.S. economic growth increased at its fastest in a year in the third quarter as consumers and businesses set aside fears about the recovery and stepped up spending, creating momentum that could carry into the final three months of the year.

Read the rest here.

And...

BRUSSELS — European leaders clinched a deal Thursday they hope will mark a turning point in their two-year debt crisis, agreeing after a night of tense negotiations to have banks take bigger losses on Greece's debts and to boost the region's weapons against the market turmoil.

After months of dawdling and half-baked solutions, the leaders had been under immense pressure to finalize their plan to prevent the crisis from pushing Europe and much of the developed world back into recession and to protect their currency union from unraveling.

World stock markets surged higher Thursday on the news. Oil prices rose above $92 per barrel while the euro gained strongly — a signal investors were relieved at the outcome of the contentious negotiations.

"We have reached an agreement, which I believe lets us give a credible and ambitious and overall response to the Greek crisis," French President Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters after the meeting ended early Thursday. "Because of the complexity of the issues at stake, it took us a full night. But the results will be a source of huge relief worldwide."

Read the rest here.

What's So Patriotic About The Patriot Act?

Not a damned thing!

George Weigal on the situation in the Ukraine

Summary: The Ukrainian Greek Catholic (uniate) Church is the repository of Ukrainian nationalism trying to fend off Putin and his puppet Russian Orthodox Church from stamping out Ukraine's independence.  Read the article here if you are so inclined. 

Weigal's Russophobia and pronounced hostility to the Orthodox Church is becoming tiresome.  Speaking of which, Mr. Weigal now lays the blame for the suppression of the UGRCC on the Russian Orthodox Church co-equally with Stalin's secret police. As though the window dressing that was the above ground Russian Church could so much as take a bathroom break without Stalin's prior direction.  That said the Russian Church keeps handing ammunition to Weigal and others like him by their obstinate refusal to disavow the sham union of 1946-47.

Russian businessman donates 70 icons worth around $1m to the Church

MOSCOW. A Russian businessman has donated more than 70 icons with an estimated value of Ru 30m (around $1m) to the Russian Orthodox Church. Property mogul Sergei Shmakov has spent over a year tracking down the icons—which were taken out of Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution and during the first world war—at auctions, antique stores and flea markets abroad. The icons include a rare mid-18th-century icon, St John the Theologian in Silence, which depicts the apostle with his fingers over his lips and an angel peering over his shoulder as he contemplates the gospel he is composing.

Read the rest here.

Perry: Obama is an American citizen (Says he was just kidding in birther comments)

Seeking to end three days of distractions from his campaign, Texas Gov. Rick Perry says in an interview to air Sunday that he has no doubt that President Obama is an American citizen, saying he was only kidding around about the issue when he raised doubts about where Obama was born.

The St. Petersburg Times reported today that Perry told the newspaper, when asked if he thinks Obama is an American citizen, "I have no doubt about it." (See transcript at the end of this story.)

Though Perry has repeatedly called the so-called "birther" talk a "distraction," he has continued the sideshow by refusing to answer questions about whether he believes Obama was born in the United States. It has had a negative impact on his campaign, overshadowing at times the tax and entitlement reform proposals he unveiled on Monday and Tuesday. And it raised the question of potential pandering by the Perry campaign to extremists in the Republican Party who maintain that Obama's origins are suspect in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Read the rest here.

Stick a fork in him.  Perry is (well) done.

Europe's looming calamity

There are plenty of reasons to be freaked out by the banking and sovereign debt crisis now reaching a crescendo in Europe. But one factor that’s gotten little attention could turn this Very Bad Situation into a True Calamity.

It’s this: Regulators here and in Europe have no idea — repeat, no idea — of the full extent of the derivatives exposure that could be triggered by an “official” Greek default, or by the failure of a major French bank. And if the people in charge have no clue as to the fallout from what may be trillions of dollars in side bets waiting to be triggered in a catastrophic cascade, they’re basically flying blind.

Read the rest here.