Australia: New law may require priests to reveal some confessions

THE prospect of government forcing priests to report what was said in confession is the sign of a "police state mentality", says a priest and law professor.

Hundreds of years of Catholic tradition in the confessional could be overturned by Victoria's inquiry into child sex abuse.

Priests would be ordered to reveal crimes told to them in private confessions under one proposal before the inquiry.

But priests say they will resist being forced to reveal secrets of the confessional.

Priest and law professor Father Frank Brennan said the move would be a restriction on religious freedom.

Read the rest here.

Catholics are understandably up in arms about this. But we should be as well. The Orthodox tradition regarding the confidentiality of confession is the same.

Bernanke Calls Ron Paul Audit Bill "A Nightmare"

WASHINGTON U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday rebutted Republican lawmakers pushing a bill that would give Congress the ability to review monetary policy decisions, saying it could compromise central bank independence.

Bernanke said it would be a "nightmare scenario" if politicians decided to second-guess monetary policy.

"That is very concerning because there's a lot of evidence that an independent central bank that makes decisions based strictly on economic considerations and not based on political pressure will deliver lower inflation and better economic results in the longer term," Bernanke told the U.S. House of Representatives' Financial Services Committee.

Read the rest here.

Syria: Bomb kills top government officials

Syria's defense minister and President Bashar Assad's brother-in-law were killed in a Damascus bomb attack on Wednesday, state television reported, the most serious blow to Assad's high command in the country's 16-month-old rebellion.

The bomber -- said by a Reuters security source to be a bodyguard assigned to Assad's inner circle -- struck during a meeting attended by ministers and senior security officials in the Syrian capital as battles raged within sight of the presidential palace.

Read the rest here.

Bulgaria: Bomb kills four Israeli tourists

SOFIA, Bulgaria -- An explosion on a bus carrying Israeli tourists at an airport in Burgas killed at least four people and injured at least 30 others, Bulgarian authorities said.

Bulgarian officials could not confirm the deadly blast was terror-related but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Iran.

"Iran is responsible for the terror attack in Bulgaria, we will have a strong response against Iranian terror," said Netanyahu in a statement, according to Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper.

Read the rest here.

I'm going out on a limb here...

But I am going to guess that skin cancer was not as prevalent back in 1910 as it is today.

Blog Bump

From time time I add new blogs to the sidebar so do check it out as I don't always announce changes. I do however want to draw your attention to a newly discovered blog that will either leave you deeply fascinated (me) or bored to tears. If you are a history enthusiast read on. It's called Shorpy and the blogger posts historic photographs showing scenes of life or subjects of interest from roughly 1850-1950ish. The photos are often taken directly from glass negatives and can be enlarged to offer breathtaking detail.

Click here to see a super detailed photo of what appears to be the boardwalk in Rockaway New York circa summer 1903. Is it just me or do the two kids in the lower left look like they are trying to break into the machine? Note the advertisements for five cent ice cream and lemonades and ten cents for a box of fresh peanut brittle, and the sign post warning that "Nuisances Prohibited."

These sort of photos that were taken of people going about their ordinary lives in another era allow one to almost feel like you could reach through time.

 P.S. See this page for information about, and photos of, the blog's namesake.

HSBC allowed money laundering that likely funded terror, organized crime

A "pervasively polluted" culture at HSBC allowed the bank to act as financier to clients moving shadowy funds from the world's most dangerous and secretive corners, including Mexico, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria, according to a scathing U.S. Senate report issued on Monday.

The report [link to PDF here] which comes ahead of a Senate hearing on Tuesday, said large amounts of Mexican drug money was likely to have passed through the bank.

HSBC's U.S. division provided money and banking services to some banks in Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh believed to have helped fund al-Qaida and other terrorist groups, according to an Al-Jazeera story on the report.

While the big British bank's problems have been known for nearly a decade, the Senate probe detailed just how sweeping the problems have been, both at the bank and at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a top U.S. bank regulator which the report said failed to properly monitor HSBC.

Read the rest here.

Banks are the enemy.

No Relief In Sight For Cash Strapped States

WASHINGTON — The fiscal crisis for states will persist long after the economy rebounds as states confront financial problems that include rising health care costs, underfunded pensions, ignored infrastructure needs, eroding revenues and expected federal budget cuts, according to a report issued here Tuesday by a task force of respected budget experts.

The severity of the long-term problems facing states is often masked by lax state budget laws and opaque accounting practices, according to the report, an independent analysis of six states released by a group calling itself the State Budget Crisis Task Force. The report said that the financial collapse of 2008, which caused the most serious fiscal crisis for states since the Great Depression, exposed a number of deep-set financial challenges that will grow worse if no action is taken by national policy makers.
Read the rest here.

Democrats threaten to go over ‘fiscal cliff’ if GOP fails to raise taxes

Democrats are making increasingly explicit threats about their willingness to let nearly $600 billion worth of tax hikes and spending cuts take effect in January unless Republicans drop their opposition to higher taxes for the nation’s wealthiest households.

Emboldened by signs that GOP resistance to new taxes may be weakening, senior Democrats say they are prepared to weather a fiscal event that could plunge the nation back into recession if the new year arrives without an acceptable compromise.

Read the rest here.

See also this related story.

Major Israeli Party Quits Coalition Government Over Military Draft

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s massive coalition government shrunk back to a slim majority Tuesday as the centrist Kadima party quit amid feuding over proposals to draft religious students into the military.

The defection ended one of the largest coalitions in Israel’s history, a little more than two months after Kadima rocked Israeli politics by joining Netanyahu’s hawkish government. That union rescued Netanyahu’s coalition, which had been on the verge of collapse over the draft issue, and Tuesday’s split revived the possibility of early elections.

Kadima leader Shaul Mofaz, a former military chief, had pledged to push through a new military draft law that would end exemptions for ultra-Orthodox seminary students. On Tuesday, Mofaz accused Netanyahu of pandering to smaller religious factions in the coalition by blocking a solution that would sharply accelerate recruitment of the religious students. That gave Kadima “no choice” but to abandon the alliance, Mofaz said.

Read the rest here.

Bishop Matthias Explains The Reasons For Met. Jonah's Resignation

Home for lunch and found an email from a blog reader with the tip. Read the Archpastoral Letter here. It is extremely sad, but more or less comports with what I had been hearing for sometime. Please exercise restraint and charity in any comments. This is not an "I told you so" moment.

Was Oil Manipulated Too?

Concerns are growing about the reliability of oil prices, after a report for the G20 found the market is wide open to “manipulation or distortion”.

Traders from banks, oil companies or hedge funds have an “incentive” to distort the market and are likely to try to report false prices, it said.

Politicians and fuel campaigners last night urged the Government to expand its inquiry into the Libor scandal to see whether oil prices have also been falsely pushed up.

They warned any efforts to rig the oil price would affect how much drivers pay at the pump, which soared to a record high of 137p per litre of unleaded earlier this year.

Robert Halfon, who led a group of 100 MPs calling for lower fuel prices, said the matter “needs to be looked at by the Bank of England urgently”.

Read the rest here.

Egyptian Christians Snub Hillary Clinton

Prominent Christian Egyptians snubbed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday because they feel the U.S. administration favors Islamist parties over secular and liberal forces in society at the expense of Egypt's 8 million Christians.

The critical theme was repeated by others Sunday in Cairo and Alexandria despite Clinton denying U.S. interference in Egyptian elections.

The politicians, businessmen and clerics who snubbed Clinton were supposed to take part in meetings between Clinton and influential members of civil society.

Coptic Christian businessman and politician Naguib Sawiris and three other Coptic politicians said in a statement they were objecting to Clinton's policies in solidarity with the mainstream Egyptian.

Read the rest here.

More On Douthat's Article

Chris Johnson over at MCJ has a good take on the previously posted NY Times essay "Can Liberal Christianity Be Saved?"

In Britain Hostility To The EU Nanny State Is Rising Sharply

LONDON –Like so many others in this fiercely independent island nation, Steve Baker, a dashing English engineer, is fed up with the long hand of the European Union in British life.

The E.U., he said, has meddled for years in British legal affairs and labor laws. But now the 27-nation body had gone too far by interfering with his pride and joy: the retrofitted KTM 950 motorcycle he rides on the country lanes of Buckinghamshire. Proposed new pan-European rules would forbid motorcycle owners from doctoring bikes themselves, outraging tens of thousands of British bikers and becoming the latest symbol here of continental authority run amok.

Baker is also the wrong biker to mess with. An elected member of the British Parliament, he is part of a growing rank of furious politicians ratcheting up the pressure on Prime Minister David Cameron to hold a national referendum on a once unthinkable notion here: leaving the E.U.

Read the rest here.

US Mulls Criminal Charges Against Banks In Rate Fixing Scandal

(Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department is building criminal cases against several financial institutions and their employees related to the manipulation of interest rates, The New York Times reported on Saturday.

Citing government officials close to the case who spoke on condition of anonymity, the Times said traders at Barclays Plc were among the individuals against whom Justice was building cases. Authorities expect to file charges against at least one bank later this year, the newspaper reported.

Read the rest here.

Can Liberal Christianity Be Saved?

IN 1998, John Shelby Spong, then the reliably controversial Episcopal bishop of Newark, published a book entitled “Why Christianity Must Change or Die.” Spong was a uniquely radical figure — during his career, he dismissed almost every element of traditional Christian faith as so much superstition — but most recent leaders of the Episcopal Church have shared his premise. Thus their church has spent the last several decades changing and then changing some more, from a sedate pillar of the WASP establishment into one of the most self-consciously progressive Christian bodies in the United States.

As a result, today the Episcopal Church looks roughly how Roman Catholicism would look if Pope Benedict XVI suddenly adopted every reform ever urged on the Vatican by liberal pundits and theologians. It still has priests and bishops, altars and stained-glass windows. But it is flexible to the point of indifference on dogma, friendly to sexual liberation in almost every form, willing to blend Christianity with other faiths, and eager to downplay theology entirely in favor of secular political causes.

Yet instead of attracting a younger, more open-minded demographic with these changes, the Episcopal Church’s dying has proceeded apace. Last week, while the church’s House of Bishops was approving a rite to bless same-sex unions, Episcopalian church attendance figures for 2000-10 circulated in the religion blogosphere. They showed something between a decline and a collapse: In the last decade, average Sunday attendance dropped 23 percent, and not a single Episcopal diocese in the country saw churchgoing increase.

Read the rest here.
HT: T-19

Quote of the day...

In some ways, Bastille Day is a very appropriate holiday for a republic to have. Republics, after all, tend to be based on a minority telling lies to the majority, pretending to be looking out for their best interests, and the majority pretending to believe them, going along with the charade even though they know perfectly well they are being lied to. One side pretends to care, the other pretends to believe them and all go along with it because they want to believe the narrative and don’t wish to be confused with the facts. In the same way, Bastille Day is, like Napoleon himself said about history, “a set of lies agreed upon”.

-The Mad Monarchist

Sources: SSPX Says "No" To Rome

Caveat: The report posted on Rorate has NOT been confirmed.

Via Rorate word that the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) will inform Rome tomorrow that they are declining the Pope's offer of a personal prelature in exchange for the their reintegration into the Catholic Church. Long time readers of this blog will know that I have been skeptical about the likelihood of the SSPX ever submitting to Rome. They have been separated for too long and have developed a very strong schismatic mindset. That said, if this report is true then I am saddened and disappointed. It was a very close thing.

If true, what does this portend for the future?

It probably means that a de-facto schism will to some degree become more formal and hardened. The Pope is in his 80's and it is most unlikely that anyone who might be elected to succeed him will treat with the SSPX on such generous terms. Benedict felt keenly the pain of the events of 1988 in which he was a significant player and he wanted to end the breach if it was at all possible. But it is looking increasingly unlikely that this will happen.

Nor can I envision the circumstances under which the SSPX would get terms more favorable than what they have been offered, and have reportedly rejected. A more likely scenario is that the Society will drift into formal schism and for all intent and purposes become their own little church. It is not at all beyond the realm of possibility that the Holy See may respond with formal sanctions, perhaps even reinstating the excommunications of the four bishops.

This is a great loss for the Roman Church. But in the end it is the Society's hardened heart that has set the course.

Wall Street sleaze keeps growing

Just when you thought Wall Street couldn't sink any lower - when its excesses are still causing hardship to millions of Americans and its myriad abuses of public trust have already spread a miasma of cynicism over the entire economic system - an even deeper level of public-be-damned greed and corruption is revealed.

Sit down, and hold on to your chair.

Consider the most basic services banks provide you: You put your savings in a bank to hold in trust, and the bank agrees to pay you interest on it. Or, you borrow money from the bank and agree to pay the bank interest on the loan.

We trust that the banking system is setting interest rates based on its best guess about the future worth of the money. And we assume that guess is based, in turn, on the cumulative market predictions of lenders and borrowers all over the world (including central banks) about the future supply and demand for the dough.

But suppose our assumption is wrong. Suppose the bankers are manipulating the interest rate so they can place bets with the money you lend or repay them - bets that will pay off big for them because they have inside information on what the market is really predicting, which they're not sharing with you.

Read the rest here.

It must be a chilly day in the sulpherous pit because I actually agree with Robert Reich about something. I supported the repeal of Glass Steagall back in the 90's because it was anti-free market. I now accept that I was wrong. Institutions that are as big and powerful as the major banks have become are a threat to liberty and the financial security not just of the United States but quite possibly of the world. Glass Steagall needs to be reinstated and existing antitrust legislation needs to be strengthened to allow the Feds to break up any bank or other corporation that is "too big to fail."

The banks in particular have in just the last four years demonstrated an absolutely breathtaking disregard for the law, and have suffered almost no significant consequences. There has been a shocking parade of one bank related scandal after another. At some point one must conclude that we have a systemic problem when such  institutions are permitted to operate with near impunity while thumbing their noses at the law.

Enough! Reinstate Glass Steagall and break up the mega banks.

Ron Paul Comes Up Short in Nebraska

The failure to gain a plurality of delegates means that it will be all but impossible to put Ron Paul's name in nomination from the floor of the GOP convention. While no one with even one foot planted in the real world believed Dr. Paul was going to magically dethrone Mitt Romney, such a move would have given him a 15 minute speaking slot and it would have forced some open debate on topics the GOP would rather not discuss.

I still expect some fireworks at the convention. But they will not be as bright.

From the you can't make this up file...

The National Border Patrol Council Local 2544 in Tucson, Ariz., is just a little angry. Local 2544, which is the largest Border Patrol union local with over 3,300 dues-paying members, tags itself as "the real border security experts". What are they angry about? Apparently, the current administration's Department of Homeland Security (DHS) senior officials have created what agents call "virtual brainwashing videos". Their website states that Border Patrol agents have been forced to take a virtual learning course on "active shooters" where the bottom line is that if they encounter an active shooter, as in Fort Hood, the Giffords shooting, or Columbine, they — as law enforcement officers — are to "run away" and "hide".

The site goes on, "If we are cornered by such a shooter we are to (only as a last resort) become 'aggressive' and 'throw things' at him or her." As if the Border Patrol is not law enforcement, they are then advised to "call law enforcement and wait for their arrival …. Multiple quizzes throughout the course and a final test ensure repeatedly that we know that we only have three options … 1. Run away; 2. Hide; and 3. Only put up a fight as a last resort by acting aggressively and throwing things at the shooter. Not one mention anywhere of 'if you are carrying a gun and you have the opportunity take the shooter out'."

Read the rest here.

It appears that having the IQ of a house plant is now a requirement for being put in charge of law enforcement training.

Debris Found Possibly Linked To Amelia Earhart

This is very significant news. A coral atoll in the South Pacific has yielded pieces of women's cosmetics jars and cases. They have even identified the specific products and manufacturers, all American and all from the 1930's. The tiny island lies between Australia and Hawaii more or less on Earhart's projected flight path. According to the report (read it here) skeletal human remains were found there around 1940. Unfortunately they have since been lost. Experts are now scouring the waters around the island looking for any evidence of a plane wreck.

Turkey's oldest Christian monastery at risk

ANKARA, JULY 12 - The Mongolians failed to destroy it 700 years ago despite the massacre of 40 friars and 400 Christians. Yet the existence of the oldest functioning Christian monastery in the world, the fifth century Mor Gabriel Monastery in the Tur Abdin plane (the mountain of God's servants) near the Turkish-Syrian border, is at risk after a ruling by Turkey's highest appeals court in Ankara.

Founded in 397 by the monks Samuel and Simon, Mor Gabriel in eastern Anatolia has been the heart of the Orthodox Syrian community for centuries. Syriacs hail from a branch of Middle Eastern Christianity and are one of the oldest communities in Turkey.

Today the monastery is inhabited by Mor Timotheus Samuel Aktash, 3 monks, 11 nuns and 35 boys who are learning the monastery's teachings, the ancient Aramaic language spoken by Jesus and the Orthodox Syriac tradition.

Read the rest here.

WSJ: What Ails the Episcopalians

Episcopalians from around the country gathered here this week for their church's 77th triennial General Convention, which ended Thursday. Although other Protestant denominations have national governing councils, the Episcopal Church's triennial gathering stands apart. For starters, it's one of the world's largest such legislative entities, with more than 1,000 members.

General Convention is also notable for its sheer ostentation and carnival atmosphere. For seven straight nights, lavish cocktail parties spilled into pricey steakhouses, where bishops could use their diocesan funds to order bottles of the finest wines.

During the day, legislators in the lower chamber, the House of Deputies, and the upper chamber, the House of Bishops, discussed such weighty topics as whether to develop funeral rites for dogs and cats, and whether to ratify resolutions condemning genetically modified foods. Both were approved by a vote, along with a resolution to "dismantle the effects of the doctrine of discovery," in effect an apology to Native Americans for exposing them to Christianity.

But the party may be over for the Episcopal Church, and so, probably, its experiment with democratic governance. Among the pieces of legislation that came before their convention was a resolution calling for a task force to study transforming the event into a unicameral—that is, a one-house—body. On Wednesday, a resolution to "re-imagine" the church's governing body passed unanimously.

Read the rest here.

When Scientologists Split

Though Katie Holmes has not addressed reports that Scientology was a reason she split with Tom Cruise, a former Church of Scientology spokesman said some families, including his own, were torn apart when one spouse wanted to leave the religion.

“My wife, my son, my daughter, my mother….they disconnected from me.  They will not communicate with me,” said Mike Rinder in an interview with Kate Snow airing on Thursday, July 12 at 10pm/9c on NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams.

Rinder joined the church as a child in Australia and rose to be Scientology’s international spokesman before he left the church in 2007.

He said he had been unhappy inside the church for a long time, but was afraid to leave because he said the church encouraged members to cut ties with relatives who want to leave.

“Part of that environment is keeping track of how people think…it’s a crime to …think bad thoughts about what’s going on and people will turn you in. Even your spouse will turn you in or your children will turn you in and then you’ll be in trouble,” he said.

Read the rest here.

Scientology is a dangerous manipulative cult. Some of the things they have been involved in makes me wonder why a RICO investigation hasn't been done on them.

Liberal Catholics Revolt As Bishops Demand Oath And Orthodoxy

Kathleen Riley knows her beliefs on the male-only priesthood and contraception put her at odds with leaders of her church. But as a fifth-generation Catholic who went to a Catholic school and grew up to teach in one, Riley feels the faith deeply woven through her. So when her Arlington parish asked for volunteers last summer to teach Sunday school, she felt called by the Holy Spirit to say yes.

A year later, the 52-year-old computer scientist feels the same spirit calling her to say no.

Last month, Riley joined at least four other Sunday school teachers and resigned from her post at St. Ann’s parish after a letter arrived at her home requiring her — and all teachers in the Arlington Catholic Diocese — to submit “of will and intellect” to all of the teachings of church leaders.

Read the rest here.

Looks like the Romans are trying to root out the Episcopal wannabes from important positions. Good for them.

Independent Inquiry Slams Penn State

Former Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno and the senior leadership at the university covered up incidents of child sexual abuse on the Penn State campus by a former assistant football coach, showing “total disregard for the safety and welfare of the victims,” a team of investigators concluded in findings released Thursday morning.

Former FBI director Louis Freeh, who along with his law firm conducted an independent review of the circumstances surrounding the scandal, blamed Paterno and university officials in his report for “catastrophic failures” that were reinforced by a Board of Trustees that had failed to create an environment of accountability.

Read the rest here.

Get Over It! We Are Not All Created Equal

"No one questions why there aren't any females in the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, etc. Olympic athletes are the elite of the elite. No one questions why the women compete against women and men against men. Those are great sports and achievements. But lives and missions aren't on the line. In our world, if you move slower one day, you don't get bumped off the medal stand, you could die or get someone else killed." 

-An anonymous female US Marine from this excellent article.

See also this outstanding related article.

SOS For America's Only Super Ocean Liner

PHILADELPHIA — Caretakers for the SS United States, the legendary ocean liner moored on the Delaware River since 1996, are renewing and expanding their emergency distress call for the beleaguered piece of American maritime history.

In an eleventh-hour reprieve that spared the ship a date with the scrap yard, a local philanthropist's $5.8 million gift allowed the SS United States Conservancy to buy it and keep it afloat until November 2012. With that date looming, the nonprofit conservancy launched a "Save the United States" fundraising rally Wednesday to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the ship's maiden voyage on July 3, 1952.

Read the rest here.

If this country allows its maritime flagship and the last purpose built ocean liner still around to be scrapped then we just suck.

Salvation Army loses discrimination case

It sounds rather complicated but this may be a legal blip due to the wording of a particular statute.

The latest from the Episcopal Organization, Transgender clergy, gay marriage and communion of non-Christians

The High Church wing of Unitarianism, sometimes known as the Episcopalians, are holding their General Convention and have approved three significant new resolutions.

1. They have forbidden any discrimination against transgendered persons seeking ordination.
2. They have approved rites for homosexual unions.
3. They have approved communing persons who have not been baptized, albeit with the caveat that baptism should normally precede  the reception of Holy Communion. But they made it clear that the act is now permissible.

I wish I could say that I am shocked, but I'm not. The TEO  ceased to be Christian in all but name sometime ago. They jumped off the cliff in the late 70's and have been in free fall ever since. But that fall is now gaining speed. We can bicker about some of Metropolitan Jonah's actions but one thing I think almost all Orthodox can agree on is the wisdom of his decision to sever all ecumenical dialogue with that body.

I have said this in the past, with as much delicacy as I could muster. The time for delicacy is over. If you are a member of the Episcopal Organization... GET OUT!

Fr. Oliver Herbal On Met. Jonah's Resignation

I think this is an excellent post on the matter.

Third California City Files Bankruptcy

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) - As recently as last month, no city in California had opted for bankruptcy since 2008, and no U.S. city of more than 200,000 people had ever chosen that route.

The past two weeks have changed that, as the fiscal struggles faced by many American cities became too much for some to bear. San Bernardino became the third California city in that small span to choose Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection with a City Council vote on Tuesday night.

The Southern California city of about 210,000 people will also become the second largest in the nation ever to file for bankruptcy. Stockton, the Northern California city of nearly 300,000, became the biggest when it filed for Chapter 9 on June 28. The much smaller city of Mammoth Lakes voted for bankruptcy July 3.

San Bernardino's City Council directed the city attorney to make the move during a meeting in which administrators explained the dire fiscal circumstances and urged them to choose the bankruptcy option.

Read the rest here.

Romney gets a chilly reception from the NAACP

HOUSTON — Less than four years after President Obama swept into the White House with the overwhelming support of the black community, Mitt Romney appeared on Wednesday before the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People with a bold claim: “If you want a president who will make things better in the African-American community, you are looking at him,” Mr. Romney said.

His assertion was met with cackles and boos — as well as some tepid applause — and was emblematic of his entire speech, in which he tried to appeal to the African-American community, while still offering some tough medicine and policy prescriptions unpopular with the group.

Read the rest here.

Not going to vote for the man, but I give him credit for showing up. He must have been tempted to pass on the speech. After George Bush was roundly booed he never went back. But being honest the NAACP is pretty much just the African American Caucus of the Democratic National Committee.

The left and their love of word games or what part of "illegal" is inaccurate?

"When the facts are against you, argue the law. When the law is against you, argue the facts. When both the law and the facts are against you, pound on the table."

This rule of thumb for lawyers has been adopted by the pro-illegal immigration crowd. The facts are against them: 11 million illegal aliens cause a host of serious problems for job seekers, for taxpayers, for public order, for national security.

Likewise, the law is against them. There's no question that immigration laws are legitimate and that every illegal immigrant knows perfectly well that he is breaking American law.

What's left? Pound on the table, demanding that illegal aliens be referred to in ways that obscure their illegality, such as "undocumented worker" or simply "immigrant." "Unauthorized worker" is less deceitful, but still evades the basic fact of illegality.

Read the rest here.

So where is Jesse?

I once met Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. at a restaurant in D.C., where he was entertaining a table of genial conservative lobbyists and hatchet men. All assured me that he was a decent sort — and in those brief interactions, he appeared to be — willing to work with the other side, and considerably more moderate than his father, the Rev. Jesse Jackson. One can make a reasonable case that his moderation is one of tone — he’s a committed liberal but one with little time for clenched-fist radicalism. But as Sylvester Monroe argued in The Root in 2010, Jackson’s tenure in politics has been seriously hampered anyway, his effectiveness as a legislator compromised by mounting scandals.

Because he has a lower profile than his father, few people outside his district noticed when, last month, Jackson took leave from his seat for “exhaustion”— that resilient little euphemism that typically obscures something embarrassing or sinister. Jackson’s office updated his status a few weeks ago, with an equally opaque message claiming that the representative has “grappled with certain physical and emotional ailments privately for a long period of time.” The plot thickened.

Now we are two weeks out since the last update-that-didn’t-really-update, and even Jackson’s fellow Democrats are losing patience. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin urged Jackson to update his constituents “soon” and explain “the physical condition he’s struggling with,” even though it’s not clear that if the missing congressman is suffering from something “physical.”

Read the rest here.

Baseball: National League on the verge of routing the American League (NL wins Allstar Game 8-0)

It's the top of the 9th and the score is 8-0.  GO NL!

Update: NL wins!

Survey: 1 in 4 on Wall Street believe you need to cheat to get ahead

Nearly one-fourth of financial services professionals feel it’s at least sometimes necessary to do illegal or unethical things to be successful, and many are motivated to do so by fat bonuses and other compensation.

That’s according to a new survey of 500 U.S. and British fund managers, bankers, asset managers and other financial services professionals. It was conducted in June on behalf of the law firm Labaton Sucharow, which specializes in whistleblower cases.

Twenty-four percent of respondents said if you work in financial services you must at times engage in unethical or illegal activity to be successful.

Read the rest here.

What a surprise!

Scranton PA Mayor Slashes All Civil Service Pay To Minimum Wage

Unions representing civil servants in the city of Scranton, Pa., are girding for battle after the mayor announced recently that he would be cutting pay for police, firefighters, garbage collectors and other public workers to minimum wage.

The unions' attorney, Thomas Jennings, told the Scranton Times-Tribune Tuesday that they would be filing a lawsuit against Mayor Chris Doherty in federal court under the Fair Labor Standards Act accusing the city of failing to pay wages on time and failing to pay overtime.

The lawsuit will be among several legal actions the unions may take after Doherty made the announcement last Friday that the city's 398 workers would be paid $7.25 an hour because the city was running out of money.

The Times-Tribune, quoting City Business Manager Ryan McGowan, reported that as of Monday the city had $133,000 in cash, but owed $3.4 million in vendor bills. One of those bills was health insurance, McGowan said.

Read the rest here.

Calls to Destroy Egypt's Great Pyramids Begin

According to several reports in the Arabic media, prominent Muslim clerics have begun to call for the demolition of Egypt's Great Pyramids--or, in the words of Saudi Sheikh Ali bin Said al-Rabi'i, those "symbols of paganism," which Egypt's Salafi party has long planned to cover with wax. Most recently, Bahrain's "Sheikh of Sunni Sheikhs" and President of National Unity, Abd al-Latif al-Mahmoud, called on Egypt's new president, Muhammad Morsi, to "destroy the Pyramids and accomplish what the Sahabi Amr bin al-As could not."

This is a reference to the Muslim Prophet Muhammad's companion, Amr bin al-As and his Arabian tribesmen, who invaded and conquered Egypt circa 641. Under al-As and subsequent Muslim rule, many Egyptian antiquities were destroyed as relics of infidelity. While most Western academics argue otherwise, according to early Muslim writers, the great Library of Alexandria itself--deemed a repository of pagan knowledge contradicting the Koran--was destroyed under bin al-As's reign and in compliance with Caliph Omar's command.

Read the rest here.

Evidence of Global Deflation Mounts In Asia

China is on the cusp of a deflationary vortex.

This was signalled late last year by the sharpest contraction in the (real) M1 money supply since modern records began. The hard data is now confirming the warnings.

Consumer prices have been falling for the last three months, producer prices have been falling for four months. This is not a food cost story. It is systemic.

"While an economy-wide generalized deflation is yet to be seen, the deflationary spiral looks to have started in some industrial sectors, attesting to considerable stress with the economy. Persistent deflation can be poisonous," said Xianfang Ren from IHS Global Insight in Beijing.

Indeed it can be poisonous, and China already has the twin-afflictions of the deflation malaise: a fast aging nation, and a surfeit of factories and industrial plant.

Meanwhile, Japanese machine tool orders fell 14.8pc in May, the biggest drop since 2001 – when Japan’s deflation began in earnest. The post-Fukushima reconstruction boom has run its course. Asia is turning stone cold.

Read the rest here.
HT: T-19

OCA: Holy Synod appoints Archbishop Nathaniel Locum Tenens

The latest from the Holy Synod. It goes without saying that the usual suspects are throwing tantrums on the internet and elsewhere. One internet personality in particular, who has not been in the Church for a very long time but seems to be attracted to church politics like a moth to a candle, has directed some truly shocking invective at the Holy Synod. I could get into a protracted discussion of the matter... or I could keep it simple and cut right to what needs to be said. The gentlemen in question really just needs to shut up.

That was much easier and it felt better.

Prayers for the Holy Synod and all concerned.

Obama to fight for tax cuts, but not for the rich

The Obama administration has faced a difficult choice: Does it put off the fiscal crisis looming at the end of the year by capitulating to Republican demands to extend all the Bush tax cuts until 2013 — a move that would infuriate the Democratic base and muddle the campaign’s message? Or does it stand and fight on fiscal policy, even if that means increasing the chance that markets panic in the most crucial months for the president’s reelection bid?

On Monday, President Obama chose door No. 2, proposing a one-year extension of the Bush tax cuts for families making less than $250,000 and, through his press secretary Jay Carney, promising to veto any effort to “extend tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.” It’s a strategic decision that could have a tremendous effect on the economy — and thus on the president’s chances in the fall.

Read the rest here.

Lance Armstrong suffers legal setback in doping charges

AUSTIN, Texas -- A federal judge handed Lance Armstrong a quick setback Monday as he went to court to save his seven Tour de France titles and his reputation as one of the greatest cyclists ever.

Armstrong filed a lawsuit aimed at preventing the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency from moving ahead with charges that he used performance-enhancing drugs throughout much of his long career.

But within hours, U.S. District Court Judge Sam Sparks dismissed the 80-page complaint. He said it seemed more intended to whip up public opinion in Armstrong's favor that focus on the legal argument.

Read the rest here.

Breaking News: Metropolitan Jonah Ousted As Head of the OCA

From the website of the OCA...

SYOSSET, NY [OCA]

In a letter addressed to the members of the Holy Synod of Bishops dated Friday, July 6, 2012, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah tendered his resignation as Primate of the Orthodox Church in America.

His Beatitude composed and signed the letter at his residence in Washington, DC, in the presence of Archpriest John Jillions, OCA Chancellor.

On Saturday, July 7, the letter was presented to the Holy Synod in the course of a conference call in which all of the hierarchs participated, except His Eminence, Archbishop Alejo of Mexico City.

The text of His Beatitude’s letter reads as follows.

“To the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America,

“Brothers,

“As per your unanimous request, as conveyed to me by Chancellor Fr. John Jillions, I hereby tender my resignation as Primate of the Orthodox Church in America, and humbly request another Episcopal assignment.

“I had come to the realization long ago that that I have neither the personality nor the temperament for the position of Primate, a position I never sought nor desired.

“It is my hope that due consideration will be made for my financial situation, both in any interim and in consideration for any future position. I am the main financial support for both my parents and my sister, beyond my own needs.

“I will appreciate your consideration in this, and beg forgiveness for however I have offended you, and for whatever difficulties have arisen from my own inadequacies and mistakes in judgment.

“Asking your prayers, I remain faithfully yours,
“Metropolitan Jonah, Archbishop of Washington”

The hierarchs again will meet via conference call on Monday, July 9, after which additional information will be made available.

HT: Bill (aka the Godfather)

TV / Movie Review

So, on the recommendation of another blogger I went over to Netflix yesterday and searched for the old TV series "Firefly." To my surprise they had it, and I settled in to watch the first episode. Five hours later I unglued my eyes from the screen long enough to eat. Today I finished watching the short lived series (only 14 episodes) and I loved it. I also caught the movie that was made to pick up where the series left off. So if you haven't seen it and have some time to kill, the show has my enthusiastic endorsement. You can catch it on Netflix or it makes for a good video rental.

It's a Sci-Fi series set in the 26th century. Definitely not what I expected but the concept was very clever and the acting was quite good. Think Star Wars meets the Old West. Probably not suitable for young kids... violence some language and adult situations. 

Best quote was from Shepard Book, a Protestant minister, played by Ron Glass of Barney Miller fame. He is loading a wicked looking weapon in preparation to rescue some captured comrades and one of the crewmen asks him if the Bible doesn't say rather specific things about killing people? To which he replies "Yes, but its kinda fuzzy on kneecaps."

Is it time to stand down from the nuclear hair trigger?

THROUGHOUT THE Cold War, the United States kept land-based missiles with nuclear warheads on alert and ready to launch in three to four minutes after the president gave the order. Every president of the missile age was briefed about the procedure: In the event of an impending attack, the decision to launch would have to be made in 13 minutes or less. The theory of deterrence was that the United States had to threaten certain and large-scale retaliation against the Soviet Union, and that meant being prepared to shoot fast.

When new presidents were briefed about how it worked, they found it unthinkable. “And we call ourselves the human race,” John F. Kennedy is said to have commented. Not the least of their worries was the prospect of incomplete or faulty warning — a bad signal from a satellite, perhaps, or a missile launched by accident or by rogue actors. There was never a real missile attack during the superpower arms race, but there were serious false alarms.

Read the rest here.

Fr. Z says "Enough!" to one sided ecumenism

A great post by Fr. Z which I strongly concur with. I'm too lazy to jump through the hoops required to register as a commenter on his blog but it really does address an issue that too many people ignore.

Man pays off his mortgage... with 62,000 pennies

What started out as a joke 35 years ago ended with a Massachusetts man paying off his mortgage using 62,000 pennies. "I've never saved anything other than pennies. And it started out as a whim. You know, a penny for the mortgage," Thomas Daigle told NBC affiliate WHDH-TV of Boston.


Daigle, from Milford, Mass., recalled how, after signing the mortgage papers 35 years ago, he found a penny on the ground. He and his wife then joked about collecting pennies to pay off the loan -- and the rest is history.


Over the next 35 years, Daigle would roll pennies, 50 cents at a time. His bank found out the hard way just how much work that was -- it reportedly took tellers two days to unroll the penny cases.

From here.

The bank may have gotten the better part of the deal. The price of copper is so high that the melt value of a penny is higher than its 1 cent face value.

Planning a trip to Russia? Pack lots of patience

If only I’d known what I was getting myself into.

It was early April when my 29-year-old son, who lives in Boston, told me that he and five friends were planning a trip to Russia this summer and asked if I’d go to the consulate in Washington to apply for their visas.

Russia has five consulates in the United States — in New York, Washington, San Francisco, Seattle and Houston — and they don’t accept mail or electronic visa applications from residents of the continental United States. They require each would-be visitor to fill out an application online, print out a copy and have someone (not necessarily the applicant himself) hand-deliver it.

Checking the Russian Embassy Web site, I learned that as of April 10, the visa processing duties would be transferred from the consulate to a contractor called Invisa Logistics Service (ILS), which would charge $30 per application on top of the consulate’s $140 fee for processing, which was supposed to take about two weeks, or one week with rush service (for an extra payment, of course).

Read the rest here.

Peter Jackson says filming of The Hobbit is done

For the filmmaker Peter Jackson, this is not the end of his quest to bring “The Hobbit” to the screen, nor the beginning of the end, but maybe – just maybe – it’s the end of the beginning: the director has finished filming in New Zealand for his long, long-in-the-works adaptation of that J. R. R. Tolkien novel. In a message posted late Thursday or early Friday, depending on how one measures, on his Facebook page, Mr. Jackson wrote: “We made it! Shoot day 266 and the end of principal photography on ‘The Hobbit.’ Thanks to our fantastic cast and crew for getting us this far, and to all of you for your support! Next stop, the cutting room. Oh, and Comic Con.”

Read the rest here.

California Approves $8 Billion Boondoggle

The $8-billion legislation will fund the project's first stretch, covering 130 miles from Madera to Bakersfield.

The project had become increasingly controversial as Democratic senators from around San Francisco and Los Angeles asked why construction was was set to start with a 130-mile stretch in the Central Valley.

"The ridership is not in the Central Valley," said Sen. Leland Yee (D- San Francisco), speaking Thursday night. "The ridership is along the 101 corridor," referring to the U.S. highway stretching from the Bay Area to Los Angeles.

Read the rest here.

There are places where high speed trains make sense and would be a good investment. This isn't one of them.

Holocaust museum makes changes to exhibit on Pope Pius XII

Jerusalem, Israel, Jul 5, 2012 / 03:38 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial has made changes to a controversial exhibit on Pope Pius XII, presenting a more balanced view of his actions toward the Nazis and their Jewish victims.

Pave the Way Foundation President Gary Krupp, a prominent Jewish defender of Pope Pius XII, said his inter-religious group was “very pleased” with Yad Vashem's change of position, which “should show the world that it is truly an institution based on facts and truth.”

“The black legend against Pope Pius XII is being bleached white by the stark light of truth,” Krupp told CNA on July 5. Further research, he said, will show that the Pope, born Eugenio Pacelli, “was indeed a great hero to the Jewish people during our darkest years of the Shoah.”

Yad Vashem's new wall panel on Pius XII and the Vatican “presents a more complex picture than previously presented,” the museum said in a July 1 announcement, citing “research that has been done in the recent years” on the wartime Pope.

Read the rest here.

Economy adds a mere 80,000 jobs

The U.S. economy generated a paltry 80,000 jobs in June, showing that the nation's job-creation machine is stumbling even as voters' attitudes about the economy begin to gel ahead of the November election.

The unemployment rate is unchanged at 8.2 percent, the Labor Department reported Friday.

Job-creation has stumbled since March amid worries about consumer spending, the debt crisis in Europe and stagnation in Congress.

"There's just not a lot of momentum in the economy," said Sam Bullard, an economist at Wells Fargo  in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Read the rest here.

Are the Feds spying on you?

Do bears do their business in the woods?

Does the U.S. government read your email? It's a simple question, but apparently there's no simple answer. And the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service are reluctant to say anything on the topic.

In March, the American Civil Liberties Union caused a nationwide stir when the advocacy group released the results of its year-long investigation into law enforcement use of cellphone tracking data. After issuing hundreds of Freedom of Information Act requests, the ACLU learned that many local police departments around the country routinely pay mobile phone network operators a small fee to get detailed records of historic cell phone location information. The data tell cops not just where a suspect might have been at a given moment, but also create the possibility of retracing someone's whereabouts for months. In most cases, law enforcement obtains the data without applying for a search warrant; generally, subpoenas are issued instead, which require law enforcement to meet a lower legal standard.

Read the rest here.

Alice Linlsey takes on the "young Earth" creationists

Read it here (additional links at the site).

Former Top General Wants A Draft

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the former top commander of international forces in Afghanistan, said this week that the United States should bring back the draft if it ever goes to war again.

"I think we ought to have a draft. I think if a nation goes to war, it shouldn't be solely be represented by a professional force, because it gets to be unrepresentative of the population," McChrystal said at a late-night event June 29 at the 2012 Aspen Ideas Festival. "I think if a nation goes to war, every town, every city needs to be at risk. You make that decision and everybody has skin in the game."

He argued that the burdens of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan haven't been properly shared across the U.S. population, and emphasized that the U.S. military could train draftees so that there wouldn't be a loss of effectiveness in the war effort.

"I've enjoyed the benefits of a professional service, but I think we'd be better if we actually went to a draft these days," he said. "There would some loss of professionalism, but for the nation it would be a better course."

The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq placed unfair and extreme burdens on the professional military, especially reservists, and their families, McChrystal said.

Read the rest here.

Although I am generally opposed to conscription, I will make one observation in its favor. A draft, if it's done fairly, is a very powerful deterrent to military adventurism. If the sons of the rich and powerful were being handed rifles I guarantee you we would never have invaded Iraq.

Church of England braces for critical vote on women bishops

The Church of England may be about to turn its back on more than 2,000 years of Christian tradition by allowing women to be ordained as bishops.

Since the days of Jesus and his 12 male apostles the Church has been led by exclusively male bishops, their authority handed down the generations by the laying on of hands.

There is a general consensus in the Church of England - which ordained women as priests for the first time 18 years ago - that the role of bishop should be open to women too...

..."High church" traditionalists share the Roman Catholic view that because Jesus chose only men to be his apostles, the spiritual leadership of the Church should be male only.

They argue that because the Roman Catholic Church (from which Anglicans inherited their ancestry of male bishops at the time of the Reformation) and the Orthodox Church cannot accept women bishops, the Church of England is not able to make such a fundamental decision.

Some say it is impossible to be sure that women can be bishops - or priests either for that matter.

For these traditionalists, if a woman presides at Holy Communion, they cannot be sure the bread and wine contain the "real presence" of Jesus.

They argue that if a woman bishop were to ordain a man, they could not be sure he was a real priest.

Read the rest here.

An unusually fair and balanced story (for the msm) on this topic via the BBC.

Egypt: Coptic Church threatens to wihdraw from Assemblies over Islamist constitutional changes

The Coptic Orthodox Church threatened to withdraw its Constituent Assembly representatives Wednesday over concerns the new constitution will not represent minorities.

Church leaders discussed the potential withdrawal Wednesday in an all-day meeting, according to Bishop Benjamin of Monufiya. At the heart of the discussion was ongoing debate within the assembly over whether Article 2 of the 1971 Constitution should be changed.

Some conservative Islamists have advocated that language stipulating "the principles of Sharia," as the primary source of legislation be changed to "the commandments of Sharia," which could allow for a more literal application of Islamic law.

Coptic leaders want the original language preserved with an additional clause allowing non-Muslims to follow their own religious laws in personal affairs, the appointment of religious leaders and religious rituals, Benjamin said during a press conference following the Wednesday meeting.

Read the rest here.

In Ukraine Violent Clashes Mark Bill Over Russian Language

MOSCOW — The chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament resigned Wednesday after refusing to sign a contentious bill that would allow local and regional governments to grant official status to Russian and other languages, while hundreds of opponents of the measure clashed violently with riot police officers in Kiev, the capital.

The chairman, Volodymyr M. Lytvyn, said Parliament acted illegitimately in adopting the bill, and tendering his resignation temporarily blocks it from reaching President Viktor F. Yanukovich, who could sign it into law.

Lawmakers from Mr. Yanukovich’s Party of Regions, which holds the majority, pushed the bill through in such a surprise maneuver that Mr. Lytvyn was not even present for the vote.

Read the rest here.

Sober Commnetary From the Smartest Man In Europe

When the New Democracy party in Greece defeated the anti-bailout Syriza, I was anxious to learn what The Smartest Man in Europe thought of it all.  The next day I flew across the Atlantic to meet him and we had a long discussion about the world financial outlook.  Many of you remember The Smartest Man from earlier essays; I have been writing about him annually for more than a decade.  He has been a friend for thirty years, and during that period he has shown an almost uncanny ability to see major events affecting the financial markets before other observers.  Among these were the fall of Japan as an economic power in the 1980s, the economic changes in China and their significance the early 1990s, and the serious consequences of excessive borrowing in the developed world in the last decade.

His DNA endowed him with a certain amount of business acumen.  His ancestors operated canteens along the Silk Road, selling food, weather protection and supplies to travelers to India and China.  He apprenticed in finance in New York, but returned to Europe to take advantage of opportunities created during the post-war recovery there.  Along the way he has acquired the ABC’s of European wealth – an airplane, a Bentley and a house on a Cap in the French Riviera.  The depth and breadth of his art collection is impressive, but material things are not what gives him a high.  He gets his thrills from identifying a problem, thinking it through and being right in determining how it gets resolved.  In his ninth decade, he is an inspiration to me.

He started out by saying he had done some preparation for our visit.  “I think the title of your essay should be ‘Dancing around the Fire of Hell.’  For years I’ve been telling you that the accumulation of debt was going to be the ending of the developed world and for years you have been telling me my views are too extreme.  The problem is you are an optimist and I am a realist.  You go around with a smile on your face thinking that there are serious problems facing us, but that everything will turn out favorably because the policy makers will do what they have to do to avoid disaster, and so far you have been right.  The developed economies and their stock markets have plodded along and investors haven’t made or lost much money in spite of the challenges.  At a certain point, however, the temporary measures that the policy makers put in place to avoid financial catastrophe prove insufficient and that’s where we are now.  I’m not saying that it will happen tomorrow but events are falling into place that will take the smile off your face.

Read the rest here.

John Adams on American History (the lies we tell)

Happy Birthday Calvin Coolidge

Happy 140th birthday to my favorite President. Some facts about President Coolidge...

• He was the last President to balance the budget every year while in office.
• During his administration the top income tax rate fell to its lowest level in the history of the country to the present day at about 25%.
• He paid down the national debt every year he was in office.
• He cut spending in every department of the government during his administration.
• Coolidge supported sound money and made sure the United States remained on a rigid gold standard. During his administration he encouraged, with only limited success, the European nations to return to a gold backed currency which they had abandoned during the Great War.
• President Coolidge believed war was a monstrous and barbaric waste to which end he supported disarmament and the rather idealistic Kellog Briand Treaty that supposedly outlawed war.
• He was the last president who never learned how to drive a car. However he was sufficiently impressed with the Pierce Arrow touring car at the disposal of the President that when he left office he paid the US Government $900 for it. A new one would have cost at least $1200 but Coolidge pointed out that the car was "used" and refused to pay a dime more.
• He was the last president who wrote all of his own speeches without an aid.
• He intensely disliked telephones and refused to allow one in the oval office and refrained from using them as much as possible. He believed it was undignified for the President to communicate in such an impersonal manner and also he complained that you never knew who might be listening in.
• Although he was in office during prohibition, he was personally opposed to coercion in personal habits. Nonetheless he felt duty bound to enforce the law of the land.
• Coolidge was legendary for his economy not only with money, but also with his words. He was known as "Silent Cal" and was the butt of scores of jokes and amusing stories related to his tight wallet and lips not all of which were apocryphal.

Coolidge related the story about when he was a boy during the summer of 1880 he once asked his father for a penny after finishing his farm chores. His father asked him what he wanted the penny for and Coolidge responded that he wanted to buy a candy stick. His father shook his head sadly and explained that it was an election year and that it looked like the Democrats were going to win. If that happened it would mean hard times for the country and therefor he must learn to economize. Several months later the telegraph reported that Garfield and the Republicans had won the election. Cal then went to his father reminding him of their earlier conversation and "in view of such favorable intelligence I was able to secure the advance of the sum requested."

His wife Grace Coolidge told the story about how not long after they married a traveling salesman came to the door hawking a home medical guide. Impressed by the book Mrs. Coolidge bought it for the rather steep sum of $5.00 (about $100 in today's money). After a little bit Mrs. Coolidge became concerned about how her husband would react so she decided to just put the book on the shelf and see what came of it. And there it sat unremarked upon for years until one day she pulled it off the shelf to thumb through it and noticed a note penned in the flyleaf. There her husband had written "I find in this work no cure for a sucker."

One Sunday morning Cal went to church to hear a famous preacher. After he returned home he sat in his favorite chair and began to read the paper. His wife asked him if the preacher had been at church. Without moving his eyes from the paper he replied "yep." After a couple of minutes she asked him what was the subject of the sermon. Again not stirring from his paper Coolidge responded "sin." After a few more minutes Mrs. Coolidge asked "what did he have to say about it?" The President finally looked up from his paper in some evident exasperation and replied "he's against it."


Newsreel footage from President Coolidge's 1925 inauguration and a number of other public events.


An actual voice recording of President Coolidge outlining his political philosophy.

Feast of the Holy Royal Martyrs of Russia

Happy 4th of July

And God Save The King!

Quote of the day (language)

It's mind boggling how batshit insane the French are.  It's one thing for some crony douchebag to come to power in Venezeuela, Zimbabwe, Moldova or some other basket case full of economically-illiterate and impoverished peons, but France...?  LOL!
-MachineGhost from here, and in reference to this...

This is why Mr Hollande will start by cutting the retirement age for some workers to 60, putting the top marginal income-tax rate up to 75%, raising taxes on wealth, inheritance and dividends, increasing the minimum wage and making it much harder for employers to fire workers. Far from curbing the size of the public sector, at 56% of GDP the biggest in the euro zone, he seems likely to expand it. With these policies he is acting against the grain of change in the rest of the EU. This will do nothing to improve France’s competitiveness which, as its gaping trade deficit shows, has declined fast. Nor will it make the business climate any friendlier (see Schumpeter).

A Great Victory

Prince Hans-Adam II (Johannes (Hans) Adam Ferdinand Alois Josef Maria Marko d'Aviano Pius von und zu Liechtenstein

Via Wilson Unplugged news that the people Lichtenstein defeated by a crushing super-majority a proposal that would have stripped the Sovereign Prince of His right to refuse the royal assent to popular referendums. 76% of those voting in a referendum said Hereditary Prince Alois should be allowed to retain his power of veto over decisions made in nationwide ballots. Matters were brought to a head last September, ahead of a referendum on decriminalizing abortion, in some cases, up to the 12th week of pregnancy. In Liechtenstein, abortion is strictly illegal. Women wanting to end a pregnancy have to travel to neighboring Germany or Austria, and if found out, risk imprisonment. A few days before voters were due to cast their votes, Alois, announced that he would veto any relaxation of the ban on abortion, whatever the voters decided in the referendum.

Many years to Prince Alois!

RIP: Andy Griffith

Private Probation Companies Rack Up Huge Profits As The Poor Are Jailed

CHILDERSBURG, Ala. — Three years ago, Gina Ray, who is now 31 and unemployed, was fined $179 for speeding. She failed to show up at court (she says the ticket bore the wrong date), so her license was revoked.

When she was next pulled over, she was, of course, driving without a license. By then her fees added up to more than $1,500. Unable to pay, she was handed over to a private probation company and jailed — charged an additional fee for each day behind bars.

For that driving offense, Ms. Ray has been locked up three times for a total of 40 days and owes $3,170, much of it to the probation company. Her story, in hardscrabble, rural Alabama, where Krispy Kreme promises that “two can dine for $5.99,” is not about innocence.

It is, rather, about the mushrooming of fines and fees levied by money-starved towns across the country and the for-profit businesses that administer the system. The result is that growing numbers of poor people, like Ms. Ray, are ending up jailed and in debt for minor infractions.

Read the rest here.

Ron Paul Chairs Hearings On Fractional Reserve Banking

Memory Eternal

The well known priest Fr. Peter Gillquist has reposed.

150 Years Ago: The battle of Malvern Hill

Private Edwin Francis Jennison of Louisiana killed at Malvern Hill, aged 17

The end of June 1862 found the Union general George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac at the end of a week-long retreat during the Seven Days battles, having finally taken up a strong position on Malvern Hill near the James River. Several lines of infantry were arranged along the hill’s slope, with numerous batteries of artillery positioned behind them with a clear view of any approaching Rebels. McClellan’s position seemed nearly impregnable, but Gen. Robert E. Lee believed one more attack on July 1 would destroy the exhausted Union Army.

Col. Eugene Waggaman’s 10th Louisiana was one regiment that participated in the dramatic charge. Waggaman was a deeply religious and popular officer who commanded a motley crew of soldiers. Most of his men were from New Orleans, and they reflected that city’s cosmopolitan makeup: one company had recruits from 15 foreign countries and another was made up almost entirely of Greeks and Italians. Because many of Waggaman’s men could not speak English, the regiment used French drill commands exclusively. It was motley in other ways as well: the men of the 10th Louisiana were constant camp discipline problems and helped create the notorious reputation of the famed and feared Louisiana Tigers. It would also see its share of hard service: of the regiment’s 845 members, 205 would not survive the Civil War.

Read the rest here.

I found the post script about the events of 2004-05 both sad and moving.

Feast of St. John of San Francisco and Shanghai

Patron of this blog and my name day.

My kind of doctor

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day

Rupert Murdoch apparently tweeted that Scientology is a "creepy weird cult."

The Episcopal Organization is at it again

The Episcopal Organization (it has long since ceased to be a "church" in any meaningful way) is launching an inquisition style prosecution of nine bishops for offering support to persecuted Anglicans in court filings.  Every time I think I've posted about them for the last time, they go off and do something even more outrageous. But yea, if you needed further evidence that liberals are often the most illiberal people around look no further than here.

Europe’s bad debts are a ticking bomb

Bad debts in the eurozone are a “ticking time bomb” for the continent’s economy, with the worst effects expected to be felt next year, a report has warned.

Banks’ balance sheets will contract by a record margin in 2012, further constraining the supply of credit to businesses and consumers, according to Ernst & Young, but the “real impact” of Europe’s debt crisis will not arrive until 2013.

The accountancy firm said banks will shrink their balance sheets by €1.6 trillion (£1.3 trillion) this year as the result of asset disposals and a contraction in their lending activity – a sharper decline than during the financial ­crisis.

As a result, it predicted that corporate lending will contract by 4.8pc in 2012, while consumer loans will fall by 6.6pc, which would represent the fastest pace of lending contraction on record for the eurozone.

However, next year looks even more “bleak” as the fallout from bad debts is felt across Europe, Ernst & Young’s Eurozone Financial Services Forecast said.

Read the rest here.

Pelosi: GOP being 'mouthpiece' for health insurance industry

See or read the interview here.

She is of course right. But the fact that the GOP is owned by the insurance cartel has no bearing on the constitutionality of the law. I respect why Roberts voted the way he did. But he was wrong.

Florida's Governor Vows Defiance of Health Care Law

Florida Gov. Rick Scott now says Florida will do nothing to comply with President Barack Obama's health care overhaul and will not expand its Medicaid program. The announcement is a marked changed after the governor recently said he would follow the law if it were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

"Florida is not going to implement Obamacare. We are not going to expand Medicaid and we're not going to implement exchanges,'' Scott's spokesman Lane Wright told The Associated Press on Saturday. Wright stressed that the governor would work to make sure the law is repealed.

Scott told Fox News the Medicaid expansion would cost Florida taxpayers $1.9 billion a year, but it's unclear how he arrived at that figure.

Read the rest here.

Monarchist sentiment is on the rise in parts of Europe

 Meanwhile, Simeon’s brother sovereigns in the Balkans are doing a sterling job carrying on as shadow heads of state. Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia and his family live in the White Palace in Belgrade. (The president inhabits the Royal Palace.) Sixty-four percent of Serbs support Alexander’s restoration to the throne. After a tumultuous life filled with coups and exile, King Michael I of Romania—the only World War II-era ruler still around—now splits his time between Switzerland (the country that hosted him under communism) and Romania. His oldest daughter, Crown Princess Margarita, and her husband Prince Radu, live full-time in the country on returned property and play a large role in national life. Among other things the prince has become a sort of roving ambassador for Romanian business. Young Crown Prince Leka II of Albania has also found government employment. He acts as special advisor to his country’s ministries of interior and foreign affairs. This sort of “creeping restoration” has gone furthest in Montenegro, where Crown Prince Nicholas II and his family have had an official position alongside (and paid at the same rate as) the president.

Read the rest here.