'Cash register justice': Private probation services face legal counterattack

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Kathleen Hucks was walking her dogs down the dirt road that leads out of Mim’s Rentals, a small trailer park in rural Augusta, Ga., when a police officer in a cruiser stopped her on Labor Day weekend.

The officer asked the slight 57-year-old for identification and ran her name through the system. Nothing came up for Richmond County, where she lives. Then the officer ran one more search.

“He says, ‘Ma'am I have to place you under arrest -- Columbia County’s got a hold on you for violation of probation,’” Hucks remembered.

...It was no mistake. A warrant for Hucks’ arrest had been issued in 2010, long after she completed a 24-month probation term arising from a 2006 conviction for drunken driving, possession of marijuana and driving with a suspended license. The reason: She hadn’t paid all the fees she owed to the for-profit company that supervised her probation.

Even though the company’s ability to collect the debt had expired when her probation did, she was arrested. Hucks spent 20 days in jail before a judge freed her.

Read the rest here.

Obama's off the record, now on the record interview

President Barack Obama suggested he'll be able to achieve a major fiscal reform deal as well as comprehensive immigration reform in his second term, according to his off-the-record conversation with the Des Moines Register.

The White House reversed course on insisting that the president's conversation on Tuesday with the editor and the publisher of the Iowa paper remain off-the-record and allowed the paper to publish a transcript of the conversation.

Read the rest here.

Cops: Racist attack was a hoax

Sharmeka Moffitt, 20, told police she parked her car by a walking trail in Civitan Park in Winnsboro, La., on Sunday evening to go exercise when she was set on fire by three men who she described as wearing white hoodies. She was able to extinguish the flames herself and when police found her car, the letters "KKK" and the N-word had been scrawled across the hood.

But what had the rumblings of a hate crime was all apparently a "self-inflicted situation," police said.

“In less than 24 hours, the state crime lab was able to analyze the evidence found at the scene, including a cigarette lighter, lighter fluid and also the hood of the car that had a paste-like substance spread across it, and it identified [Moffitt’s] fingerprints as well as some female DNA,” Louisiana State Police Capt. Doug Cain told NBC News. “With this evidence, investigators were able to determine that she was alone in the park that night and made up the story.”

Read the rest here.

Bishop Williamson Expelled From SSPX

Rorate has the news.

THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT!

It's the Giants vs the Tigers in the World Series.

The Sad Fate of an American Historic Relic

The USS Williamsburg, the official yacht of President Harry Truman has all but rusted into oblivion sitting in Italy. It is for sale, though I fear it is now beyond viable restoration for anything less than nine figures. See here for a short history with some wonderful photos of the old girl in her prime.

Could "rogue" electors swing the election?

Extremely unlikely, but not impossible...

While Barack Obama's and Mitt Romney's presidential campaigns rage on toward November 6, another campaign has been under way for some time, one that's mostly out of the public's eye.

An investigation by The Associated Press last month revealed that as many as five Republican electors expressed uncertainty whether they would actually vote for Mitt Romney if he carried their state. These electors appear to be unhappy with Romney and continue to show support for his primary rival Rep. Ron Paul.

In the wake of this news, one of the electors abruptly resigned her position. On another front, a Minnesota elector suggested that he may not vote for the Romney-Ryan ticket if the candidates fail to furnish their birth certificates (in an effort to put pressure on all candidates to furnish their birth certificates).

These potentially rogue electors would effectively disenfranchise hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of voters. The 2012 election will probably be very close. Consequently, in the worst of scenarios, a "faithless" vote might not only disenfranchise voters but alter the outcome of the race. While unlikely, this begs the question: Why do presidential electors still have independence in our current presidential selection process?

Read the rest here.

Entertaining Royalty in Belle Époque Britain

Twenty to thirty years ago, that is to say in the ‘seventies and ‘eighties, there was formed a group of men and women who became familiarly known as “the Marlborough House set.” Of this set it is remarkable how few ” survive,” in the social sense. Some, indeed, have really died, notably Mr. Christopher Sykes, nicknamed the “Benefactor,” and Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild, while others, not less conspicuous in their day, have suffered social extinction and have ” gone under,” of whom perhaps the most obvious example is Sir William Gordon-Gumming. At the present moment the Prince of Wales has but few contemporaries with whom he was really intimate as a young man, but such a circle reconstitutes itself with magic celerity, and in however sudden and tragic a fashion the void has been created, there have been always plenty who are eager to step in and take their chance of meeting with the same fate.

It has been computed, though of course such statistics are impossible to obtain with any accuracy, that the entertainment of royalty costs English society each year two millions sterling,—that is to say, fully ten million dollars. Hardly a week passes, save at those comparatively rare times when the whole of the British royal family is plunged into the deepest family mourning, without some fortunate persons finding themselves in the position .of host and hostess to a royal personage. A very clear distinction is still drawn between those houses where the Prince and Princess of Wales go together in semi-state, and those to which the Prince invites his own friends. In the latter case it is understood that he is quite at liberty to make a convenience of his hosts in every sense, and of course it was on such an occasion that the incidents which led to the great baccarat case occurred. The British plutocrat who desires to entertain royalty, buys or hires an estate close to one of the great race-courses. Tranby Croft, destined to mark an epoch in the social history of England, was a case in point. The Prince and a party entirely composed of his own immediate friends were staying with Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Wilson during the St. Leger week, and, as became clear at the trial, the baccarat which was got up each evening on the royal party’s return from Doncaster races was played in absolute disregard and defiance to the host’s feeling, though the Prince of Wales—who is personally a courteous and well-bred man of the world—would certainly not have sanctioned even the mild gambling which then took place had he been aware of Mr. Wilson’s feeling on the subject.

It would be very difficult to lay down any hard and fast rules as to what are the special gifts and, it may be added, peculiarities required of those who form the charmed circle of entertainers of royalty, an exception of course being made in favor of the great nobility, who apparently regard the privilege as a not altogether desirable appanage of their position. Although great, or at any rate apparent, wealth is of course an essential, the golden key does not necessarily open the door to a royal visitor. But still human nature, even royal human nature, loves to be entertained, and several of the most successful hosts of royalty owe the favor with which they are regarded to their power of providing new and original forms of amusement. The late Mr. Christopher Sykes, who was for so many years one of the closest of the Prince’s intimates, was a Yorkshire gentleman of no great position in the world until he became known as his future King’s fidus Achates. Not only the Prince of Wales but the Princess and the young Princesses were very fond of Mr. Sykes; he was a frequent guest at Sandringham, and his fatal illness began while he was on a visit to the Duke and Duchess of Fife.

Read the rest here.

A note of caution; if you are an animal lover you may want to just skip this post.

Odds & Ends

A very slow day for blog worthy news or commentary. I note that Pope Benedict XVI canonized a number of saints today and created a stir among Traddies by wearing the long moribund papal fanon. The Giants have forced a game 7 for the NLCS. Not being a fan of St. Louis, this is good news. Also a quick reminder that I am generally not approving comments on really old threads. Once the post has dropped off the front page of the blog I pretty much consider comments to be closed. Most of the would be comments are SPAM but too many of the others are addressed to other commenters who have almost certainly stopped paying attention to the thread.

I have a huge stack of books that I am plowing through in my spare time. Most recently finished Friedrich Schiller's history of the Thirty Years War and "Anglican Difficulties" (thanks to Dr. Tighe for the book). Am currently about 1/3 of the way through Dr. Tim Blanning's "The Pursuit of Glory," a history of early modern Europe from the Treaty of Westphalia (1648) to the end of the Wars of the French Revolution (1815). How good is it? I haven't finished it yet but I will make one observation. If someone had told me I would ever find myself enthralled by a sixty some odd page discussion of agriculture and policies related to that subject in 17th and 18th century Europe I would have been more than skeptical. And yet such was the case. Again, I haven't finished the book, but so far it's the best history of the period in question that I have read. And no it's not all about farming.

Among the works in line for my attention are Peter Wilson's modern and exhaustive work on the aforementioned Thirty Years War, "The Permanent Portfolio" by Craig Rowland & M L Lawson (both of whom I am honored to have corresponded with), and "The Court of the Last Czar" by Greg King. The latter being an extremely in depth description of the palaces, court ritual and daily life of the Romanovs in the twilight of the Russian Imperial Monarchy. (Bill TGF you really need to see if you can get a copy.)

And if it ever comes off the reserved until the Second Coming list at the local library, I would like to have a go at Stephen King's revisionist historical novel about the Kennedy Assassination. Longtime readers will know I am not a fan of conspiracy theories but the book sounds fun.

RIP: George McGovern

He was a dedicated leftie, but also a gentleman and a war hero. Memory eternal.

Television adds you just don't see anymore

For the Record

In line with the previous post, I support the Prague Declaration.

There may be differences in details, but morally they are on the same level.

Another Article On The Greek Neo-Nazi Party

ATHENS — At first glance, the shop on a nondescript street in this chaotic capital looks standard-issue military. Fatigues. Camouflage. Hunting gear. Deeper inside, the political message emerges. Black T-shirts emblazoned with modified swastikas — the symbol of the far-right Golden Dawn party — are on sale. A proudly displayed sticker carries a favorite party slogan: “Get the Stench out of Greece.”

By “stench,” the Golden Dawn — which won its first-ever seats in the Greek Parliament this spring and whose popularity has soared ever since — means immigrants, broadly defined as anyone not of Greek ancestry. In the country at the epicenter of Europe’s debt crisis, and where poverty and unemployment are spiking, the surplus shop doubles as one of the party’s dozens of new “help bureaus.” Hundreds of calls a day come in from desperate families seeking food, clothing and jobs, all of which the Golden Dawn is endeavoring to provide, with one major caveat: for Greeks only.

Read the rest here.

Interesting that WAPO seems fixated on a small though admittedly fascist political party while ignoring that the second largest party in Greece is neo-Communist. Communism and Nazism occupy the same moral plane. And yet the WAPO seems unable to tear its eyes from a minor right wing fringe party long enough to note the presence of the huge party that espouses an ideology responsible for the murder of tens of millions of people around the world.

Islamists Demolish Historic Tombs

Al Qaeda-linked rebels in northern Mali destroyed historic and religious landmarks in Timbuktu on Thursday, claiming the relics are idolatrous, residents told CNN.

Three four-wheel-drive trucks carrying at least 30 armed fighters arrived Thursday morning at three mausolea -- all U.N. World Heritage sites -- in the southern Timbuktu neighborhood of Kabara, two residents told CNN by phone.

"They started destroying the first mausoleum's wooden door with their axes," said Ibrahim Ag Mohamed, a guide. "Then they went inside and burned the cloth covering the grave before destroying the building with picks and axes."

Read the rest here.

Savages. How long I wonder before this sort of thing starts going down in Eurabia?

An Arrest in the News, an Exoneration in Silence

Google me, Travis Tremell said. See what comes up.

The first item on the screen is a short 2006 article in The New York Times. The headline read, “Man Charged in Killing After Brooklyn Robbery.”

Travis Tremell’s was the first name that popped up in the article. The second was Earl Williams, shot dead in a Bedford-Stuyvesant basement two weeks before.

Now, almost six years later, Mr. Tremell said, “I was arrested for a murder I didn’t do.”

That he said this standing on a sunny Brooklyn sidewalk, not inside a prison, lent him some credibility. 

Read the rest here.

Jewish Groups Rebuke Christians For Anti-Zionism

A letter signed by 15 leaders of Christian churches that calls for Congress to reconsider giving aid to Israel because of accusations of human rights violations has outraged Jewish leaders and threatened to derail longstanding efforts to build interfaith relations.

The Christian leaders say their intention was to put the Palestinian plight and the stalled peace negotiations back in the spotlight at a time when all of the attention to Middle East policy seems to be focused on Syria, the Arab Spring and the Iranian nuclear threat.

“We asked Congress to treat Israel like it would any other country,” said the Rev. Gradye Parsons, the top official of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), “to make sure our military aid is going to a country espousing the values we would as Americans — that it’s not being used to continually violate the human rights of other people.”

The Jewish leaders responded to the action as a momentous betrayal and announced their withdrawal from a regularly scheduled Jewish-Christian dialogue meeting planned for Monday. In a statement, the Jewish leaders called the letter by the Christian groups “a step too far” and an indication of “the vicious anti-Zionism that has gone virtually unchecked in several of these denominations.”

Read the rest here.

Chuck Schumer: Democrats have tax reform all wrong

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is the Senate Democrats’ third-in-command, and widely acknowledged as the party’s top political tactician in the Senate. He’s also a bit shocked that his colleagues have, as he sees it, allowed themselves to get snookered into a vision of tax reform that begins with lowering rates. On Tuesday, he gave a speech trying to talk them out of it.We spoke on Friday about his position. A lightly edited transcript of our conversation follows. 

Read the rest here.

France: Controversy Over Proposed Conversion of Catholic Church Into Mosque

VIERZON, France — When the Rev. Alain Krauth preached to his dwindling flock at Mass last Sunday, the subject was real estate. But it was also Christian charity, tolerance and, indirectly, the gnawing malaise in France over an increasingly visible Muslim minority.

The issue was Saint-Eloi’s, a graceless 1950s-vintage church on the edge of this declining French city 150 miles south of Paris. With six churches to maintain and fewer faithful every year, Roman Catholic authorities decided they could no longer afford Saint-Eloi’s. It must be sold, Father Krauth lamented, and if one of the prospective buyers is a peaceful Muslim association looking for a new mosque, then so be it.

Read the rest here.

An Indictment of the War on Drugs

Do you want to live in an authoritarian society? Do you desire an intrusive government? Do you wish for a government that is a nanny state? Do you yearn for government bureaucrats to tell you what you can and cannot do? Do you like puritanical busybodies telling you how to live your life? Do you believe that the government should define and enforce morality? Do you reason that vices should be crimes? Then you should support the war on drugs.

Do you love liberty? Do you treasure freedom? Do you want to live in a free society? Do you prefer government at all levels to be as limited as possible? Do you think people should be responsible for the consequences of their own actions? Do you wish the federal government would at least follow its own Constitution? Do you reason that vices should not be crimes? Then you must oppose the war on drugs.

Read the rest here.

Yes, there are limits to casual Friday

OK folks, what is up with that pic of Biden from the main page of the WAPO? He doesn't look like someone who is serious and getting ready for hard work. He looks like a drunk staggering home from an all night bender. And no that's not a partisan shot. I've seen similar photos of Romney and Ryan.

Look, if you don't want to dress professionally, fine. Skip the tie and button down shirt. Go casual. But please, if you are going to wear a tie, then wear it correctly. This is not an inspiring image. It makes me wonder if we are electing a back-alley bum.

If you want a passport, get it NOW!

Ignoring massive public opposition, and despite having recently admitted that it is already using the “proposed” forms illegally without approval, the State Department is trying again to get approval for a pair of impossible-to-complete new passport application forms that would, in effect, allow the State Department to deny you a passport simply by choosing to send you either or both of the new “long forms”.

Early last year, the State Department proposed a new “Biographical Questionnaire” for passport applicants, which would have required anyone selected to receive the new long-form DS-5513 to answer bizarre and intrusive personal trivia questions about everything from whether you were circumcised (and if so, with what accompanying religious rituals) to the dates of all of your mother’s pre- and post-natal medical appointments, your parents’ addresses one year before you were born, every address at which you have ever resided, and your lifetime employment history including the names and phone numbers of each of your supervisors at every job you have ever held.

Most people would be unable to complete the proposed new form no matter how much time and money they invested in research. Requiring someone to complete Form DS-5513 would amount to de facto denial of their application for a passport — which, as we told the State Department, appeared to be the point of the form.

Read the rest here.

Further evidence of our country's slow but inexorable decline into an authoritarian police state.

US Credit Downgrade Likely

The sovereign credit rating of the U.S. will be cut as “fiscal theater” plays out in the world’s biggest economy, according to Pacific Investment Management Co., which runs the world’s largest bond fund.

“The U.S. will get downgraded, it’s a question of when,” Scott Mather, Pimco’s head of global portfolio management, said today in Wellington. “It depends on what the end of the year looks like, but it could be fairly soon after that.”

The Congressional Budget Office has warned the U.S. economy will fall into recession if $600 billion of government spending cuts and tax increases take place at the start of 2013. Financial markets are complacent about whether the White House and Congress will reach agreement on deferring the so-called fiscal drag on the economy until later next year, Mather said.

In a “base case” of President Barack Obama being re- elected and Congress becoming more Republican, there is a high likelihood an agreement “doesn’t happen in a nice way, and we have disruption in the marketplace,” he said.

Read the rest here.

What to do when the cops punch out

O'BRIEN, Ore. (AP) — There's no room in the county jail for burglars and thieves. And the sheriff's department in a vast, rural corner of southwest Oregon has been reduced by budget cuts to three deputies on patrol eight hours a day, five days a week.

But people in this traditionally self-reliant section of timber country aren't about to raise taxes to put more officers on the road. Instead, some folks in Josephine County, larger than the state of Rhode Island, are taking matters into their own hands — mounting flashing lights on their trucks and strapping pistols to their hips to guard communities themselves. Others have put together a virtual neighborhood watch, using Facebook to share tips and information.

"I believe in standing up for myself rather than waiting for the government to do something for me," said Sam Nichols, a retired marina manager.

Nichols has organized a posse of about a dozen fed-up residents who have started patrolling the small community of O'Brien, which has about 750 residents.

Read the rest here.

New York Hedge Fund Seizes Argentine Naval Ship

The Libertad, a three-mast tall ship with 330 navy cadets and crew aboard, was seized at Tema, an industrial port east of Ghana’s capital, Accra, on Oct. 2 through a court order obtained by N.M.L. Capital, a holdout creditor from Argentina’s default a decade ago that says it is owed more than $370 million. The creditor is among a few remaining holdouts to refuse debt restructuring agreements in 2005 and 2010. It had tracked the vessel through the Libertad’s Web site.

N.M.L., a subsidiary of Elliot Capital, a New York-based hedge fund with $20 billion under management, offered to release the ship if Argentina paid a $20 million security. It also offered to bear the costs of flying the sailors home.

Argentina’s foreign minister, Héctor Timerman, said in a statement, “The vulture funds have crossed a boundary in their attacks on the Argentine republic.” He said the seizure violated the Vienna Convention, which grants military vessels diplomatic immunity.

Read the rest here.

Obama and Romney Meet Over Jokes And Tails

Both presidential candidates took the night off (sort of) from campaigning to attend the annual Al Smith charity dinner held in New York. The event is sponsored by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, raising millions for Catholic Charities, and regularly attracts the 'A list' of New York politicians and high society figures. In presidential election years it has become a tradition for the nominees of both parties to appear at the dinner and deliver usually humorous remarks to the crowd. Over the years the dinner has attracted its share of luminaries including Sir Winston Churchill. It also has gained a measure of fame as one of the last remaining society functions with a formal (white tie) dress code.

See here for Governor Romney's speech.
See here for President Obama's speech.

Romney gains in the polls

Former Governor Mitt Romney got more good news from some daily tracking polls today. The Rasmussen poll showed him up by 2 points over Obama and the daily tracking poll from Gallup showed him up by a whopping 7 points. That indicates a Romney lead that is outside the margin of error. It is looking like this is going to be a much tighter election than many people thought.

SSPX: Rumors of an ultimatum to their wayward bishop

I have been hearing rumors, recently repeated on some generally credible websites,that Bishop Fellay has reached the end of his patience with his fellow Bishop Williamson. As is widely known Williamson has been repeatedly ordered to refrain from making comments online and elsewhere and to desist in repeating opinions which call into serious question his temperament and judgment without express permission from his boss. Those orders have been openly flouted. Indeed it is widely believed that Williamson has become the most vocal opponent in the Society of any rapprochement with the Holy See and some of his activities are viewed as coming close to open revolt against the Superior General.

According to these rumors which seem to be gaining credibility Fellay has issued an ultimatum to Williamson demanding he take down his blog and cease any and all public commentary. It is also reported that the Superior General is demanding a public act of repentance from Williamson for all of the trouble he has caused the Society. If he refuses he will be expelled from the SSPX.

Assuming the reports are true, this is a long overdue measure. Williamson has been a loose cannon for years and is a certifiable nut whose anti-Semitic comments and opinions have been a recurring source of scandal.

The Episcopal Organization Deposes South Carolina's Bishop

Bishop Mark Lawrence of South Carolina, one of the last orthodox (small 'o') leaders of the Episcopal Organization, has been deposed on the supremely ironic charge of abandoning the church. The arch-heretic Ms. Katherine Jefferts Schori notified him of the action on Monday, a week before a scheduled meeting between the two.  It had been hoped the meeting would find a way for the Diocese of South Carolina to remain in TEO while remaining true to traditional Christian teachings.

Read the details at T-19.

Guilty Plea in Iranian Plot To Murder Saudi Ambassador

A former used-car salesman accused of conspiring with Iranians in an audacious murder-for-hire plot pleaded guilty Wednesday to helping plan the assassination of a Saudi diplomat at a posh Georgetown restaurant.

Manssor Arbabsiar, 58, a Texan with dual Iranian and U.S. citizenship, entered the plea in a New York courtroom just over year after his arrest in a case that shocked the world and drove U.S.-Iranian relations to a new low.

Read the rest here.

I am glad this got stopped. Much as I am loathe to get dragged into all the crap in the Middle East which is mostly none of our business, this would have been a big deal if it had gone down. No self respecting sovereign state can allow foreign governments to orchestrate the assassination of diplomatic envoys on their soil. If it had happened I don't see how we could have failed to treat it as a causus belli without dishonor.

And the lunatics in Tehran should give thanks to their false god that this ended with an embarrassing whimper rather than a bang.

Britain prepares for historic referendum on Scottish independence

LONDON – Britain and Scotland signed an accord Monday paving the way for a historic vote for independence that could see this island’s northern lands stand alone for the first time in three centuries as Europe’s newest sovereign state.

Monday’s accord effectively launches a critical two-year independence campaign during which the Scottish National Party — whose surprise victory in regional elections last year laid the path for a referendum — will go toe-to-toe against those fiercely opposed to rupturing modern Britain.

Read the rest here.

Tiny Azerbaijan Irritates Iran

BAKU, Azerbaijan — The latest weapon in this country’s ideological war with Iran arrived late last month in an armada of jets from California, accompanied by a private security force, dazzling pyrotechnics and a wardrobe that consisted of sequins and not much else.

A crowd of nearly 30,000 gathered to watch as the leader of this mini-invasion pranced onto a stage built on the edge of the Caspian Sea. With a shout of “Hello, lovers!” Jennifer Lopez wiggled out of her skirt and launched into a throbbing disco anthem, delighting her Azerbaijani fans and — it was hoped — infuriating the turbaned ayatollahs who live just across the water.

Read the rest here.

Ex Dem Nominee George McGovern Is Dying

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- Longtime former U.S. Sen. George McGovern, the Democratic presidential candidate who lost to President Richard Nixon in a historic landslide, has moved into hospice care near his home in South Dakota, his family said Monday.

"He's coming to the end of his life," his daughter, Ann McGovern, told The Associated Press. She declined to elaborate but noted that her 90-year-old father has suffered several health problems in the last year.

Read the rest here.

The Republican Road Not Taken: The Foreign-Policy Vision of Robert A. Taft

First elected to the Senate in 1938, Robert A. Taft represented Ohio from 1939 until his death in 1953. Although Taft was defeated for the Republican presidential nomination three times, in 1940, 1948, and 1952, he was universally acknowledged as the leader of the Republican Party’s congressional wing. Taft offered both a positive vision of international organization following World War II and a prescient critique of the internationalist policies developed by Presidents Roosevelt and Truman. Dwight Eisenhower embraced and continued these internationalist Democratic policies during his two terms in office (1953–61), so his victory over Taft at the Republican convention in 1952 represented a decisive rejection of the alternative foreign policy advocated by Taft and other isolationist Republicans of that period. The significance of Taft’s defeat—and the thesis of this article—was well articulated by journalist Nicholas von Hoffman, writing in the midst of the Vietnam War almost two decades later. Observing that Taft’s critique of internationalism had been vindicated subsequently on almost every point, von Hoffman characterized Taft’s foreign-policy vision as “a way to defend the country without destroying it, a way to be part of the world without running it” (qtd. in Radosh 1975, 147).

Many of Taft’s contemporaries dismissed him as an “isolationist” in foreign policy (for good examples, see Schlesinger 1952 and Van Dyke and Davis 1952). Although subsequent scholarship has suggested that this characterization was highly misleading (Berger 1967, 1971, 1975; West 1952), Taft was isolationist if isolationism is defined, following careful scholarship, as “an attitude of opposition to binding commitments by the United States government that would create new, or expand existing, obligations to foreign nations” (Rieselbach 1966, 7). Like many Americans of his era, Taft did not welcome the intrusion of foreign policy and gladly would have “let the rest of the world go its own way if it would only go without bothering the United States” (Osgood 1953, 433). For much of his career, Taft advocated what he called “the policy of the free hand,” whereby the United States would avoid entangling alliances and interference in foreign disputes. This policy permitted government leaders the freedom of action to decide in particular cases whether a sufficiently vital U.S. interest warranted involvement (Taft 1951, 12).[1]

The real problem with the term isolationism is not that it misrepresented Taft’s general orientation, but rather that it permitted defenders of various Roosevelt and Truman policies to discredit Taft without having to engage his arguments seriously. Labeling opponents of administration policies as “isolationists” implied that they were naive, like ostriches with their heads buried in the sand, nostalgic for an earlier era in which the United States could hide behind the safety of two oceans and avoid involvement in international affairs (Doenecke 1979, 11–12; Graebner 1968).[2] In reality, however, none of the members of the isolationist wing of the Republican Party ever believed it possible for the United States to isolate itself from the rest of the world, and so all of them accordingly rejected that label.

Taft’s foreign-policy views were neither naive nor nostalgic. To the contrary, his critique of internationalism deserved to be taken seriously and was vindicated subsequently on many points. Taft criticized the Roosevelt/Truman approach to postwar international organization, correctly pointing to features of the United Nations that would prevent its serving as a real force for peace and equality under the law. He also challenged the Truman administration’s assessment of the Soviet military threat against western Europe, a threat that now appears to have been overstated consciously and deliberately to secure congressional support for the Marshall Plan, universal military training, and an expanded air force (Berger 1967; Kofsky 1993). He anticipated correctly that a steady rise in defense outlays could lead to a “garrison state” and the erosion of civil liberties (Higgs 1987). Finally, Taft was prescient in warning that even well-meaning internationalism would necessarily degenerate over time into a form of imperialism that would breed resentment against the United States around the globe, eventually endangering U.S. national security.

Read the rest here.

The Best Legal Advice You Will Ever Get

Never ever ever talk to the police. Yes, even if you are 100% innocent.

HT: Craig

An America eternally ‘at war’

A great power without a significant enemy? That's what the U.S. has become.

Osama bin Laden is dead. Al Qaeda is reportedly a shadow of its former self. The great regional threats of the moment, North Korea and Iran, are regimes held together by baling wire and the suffering of their populaces. The only incipient great power rival on the planet, China, has just launched its first aircraft carrier, a refurbished Ukrainian throwaway from the 1990s on whose deck the country has no planes capable of landing.

The U.S., by contrast, has 1,000 or more bases around the world. It spends as much on its military as the next 14 powers (mostly allies) combined.

It will spend an estimated $1.45 trillion to produce and operate a new aircraft, the F-35 — more than any country, the U.S. included, now spends on its national defense annually. The U.S. Navy, with its 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carrier task forces, dominates the global waves, and the U.S. Air Force controls the skies in much of the world. And the president now has at his command two specialized armies to supplement the traditional armed forces: the CIA, which has been heavily militarized and is running its own private assassination campaigns and drone air wars throughout the Middle East and environs; and the Joint Special Operations Command, cocooned inside the U.S. military, whose members are deployed to hot spots around the globe.

By all the usual measuring sticks, the U.S. should be supreme in a historically unprecedented way. And yet it couldn't be more obvious that it's not. Despite its overwhelming military superiority, nothing seems to work out in an imperially satisfying way.

Read the rest here.
HT: T-19

RIP: Arlen Specter the Senate's Fierce Moderate

Former senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, one of the nation’s most durable political figures, who during three decades in the Senate became known for his command of constitutional law, died of cancer Oct. 14 at his home in Philadelphia. He was 82.

The death was confirmed by Scott Hoeflich, Sen. Specter’s former chief of staff.

Read the rest here.

How The West Is Killing Free Speech

Free speech is dying in the Western world. While most people still enjoy considerable freedom of expression, this right, once a near-absolute, has become less defined and less dependable for those espousing controversial social, political or religious views. The decline of free speech has come not from any single blow but rather from thousands of paper cuts of well-intentioned exceptions designed to maintain social harmony.

In the face of the violence that frequently results from anti-religious expression, some world leaders seem to be losing their patience with free speech. After a video called “Innocence of Muslims” appeared on YouTube and sparked violent protests in several Muslim nations last month, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned that “when some people use this freedom of expression to provoke or humiliate some others’ values and beliefs, then this cannot be protected.”

It appears that the one thing modern society can no longer tolerate is intolerance. As Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard put it in her recent speech before the United Nations, “Our tolerance must never extend to tolerating religious hatred.”

Read the rest here.

The Good News In the Global Debt Crisis - Military Budgets Are Going To Be Cut

WASHINGTON — Whether or not America's politicians can find a way to sidestep the brutal automatic military cuts of sequestration, the era of rising Western spending on weapons and wars is over.

That reality increasingly is challenging major arms manufacturers, spurring them to look for new markets, cost cuts and mergers. It is also confronting policymakers with difficult political and strategic choices as new rivals, particularly China, spend more on their armed forces.

U.S. military spending still dwarfs that of other countries - the equivalent of the next 13 nations' spending by some estimates - but the global military balance is clearly shifting. With European states already cutting, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies this year reported that Asian military spending outstripped Europe's for the first time in several centuries.

Read the rest here.

George Will: End Too Big To Fail And Break Up The Mega Banks

If in four weeks a president-elect Mitt Romney is seeking a Treasury secretary, he should look here, to Richard Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Candidate Romney can enhance his chance of having this choice to make by embracing a simple proposition from Fisher: Systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs), meaning too-big-to-fail (TBTF) banks, are “too dangerous to permit.”

Romney almost did this in the first debate when he said the Dodd-Frank Act makes TBTF banks “effectively guaranteed by the federal government” and constitutes “the biggest kiss that’s been given to — to New York banks I’ve ever seen.” Fisher, who has a flair for rhetorical pungency, is more crisp:

There are 6,000 American banks, but “half of the entire banking industry’s assets” are concentrated in five institutions whose combined assets amount to almost 60 percent of the gross domestic product. And “the top 10 banks now account for 61 percent of commercial banking assets, substantially more than the 26 percent of only 20 years ago.” The problems posed by “supersized and hypercomplex banks” may, Fisher says, require anti-obesity policies equivalent to “irreversible lap-band or gastric bypass surgery.” The land of TBTFs is “a perverse financial Lake Wobegon” where all crises are “exceptional,” justifying “unique” solutions that are the same — meaning bailouts. This incurs “the wrath of ordinary citizens and smaller entities that resent this favorable treatment, and we plant the seeds of social unrest.”

Read the rest here.

California may lead prison-reform trend, ease '3 strikes'

SAN FRANCISCO — More than a decade after California set a national trend toward longer sentences for habitual criminals with its three-strikes law, crime in the Golden State is down, prison costs are up - and voters are poised to soften the hardline stance.

A California ballot measure that would let some nonviolent offenders out of jail faster is the most high-profile example of what Adam Gelb, a criminal justice expert at the Pew Center, calls "a sea change across the country in attitudes on crime and punishment."

While the main financial backer of the campaign to pass the measure is a liberal billionaire, it has drawn support from religious conservatives, fiscal hawks and a broad array of constituencies who have supported "tough on crime" policies in the past.

Read the rest here.

US Deficit Tops $1 Trillion For Fourth Year

The federal budget deficit has topped $1 trillion for a fourth straight year. But a modest improvement in economic growth helped narrow the gap by $207 billion compared with last year.

The Treasury Department said Friday that the deficit for the 2012 budget year totaled $1.1 trillion. Tax revenue rose 6.4 percent from last year to more than $2.4 trillion, helping contain the deficit.

The government's revenue rose as more people got jobs and received income. Corporations also contributed more tax revenue than in 2011. This pushed receipts up to $2.449 trillion in 2012, up 6.4 percent from last year, according to the Treasury Department.

Read the rest here.

Quote of the day...

The EU won the Nobel Peace Prize for what, not invading Poland?
-The Young Fogey

A Really Bad Day

So yea, yesterday was the worst day I can remember in baseball playoffs in years. First the Yankees win against Baltimore and then the Nationals undergo the most excruciatingly painful late game collapse I think I have ever seen in a postseason game.

Somebody wake me up in April.

Strauss-Kahn Exposes Libertine Lifestyle of French Elite

PARIS — More than a year after resigning in disgrace as the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn is seeking redemption with a new consulting company, the lecture circuit and a uniquely French legal defense to settle a criminal inquiry that exposed his hidden life as a libertine.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn, 63, a silver-haired economist, is seeking to throw out criminal charges in an inquiry into ties to a prostitution ring in northern France with the legal argument that the authorities are unfairly trying to “criminalize lust.”

That defense and the investigation, which is facing a critical judicial hearing in late November, have offered a keyhole view into a clandestine practice in certain powerful circles of French society: secret soirees with lawyers, judges, police officials, journalists and musicians that start with a fine meal and end with naked guests and public sex with multiple partners.

Read the rest here.

Washington stays alive with dramtic walk off home run

The ball tore a hole in the cold October air, headed out toward the Capitol dome, gleaming white in the starless sky. Jayson Werth tossed his bat and pointed to the home dugout at Nationals Park. Red fireworks exploded behind home plate. Werth’s teammates charged out of their dugout and the raucous fans exulted, all of them warmed by the knowledge the baseball season still lived in Washington.

They all got another day. They have another game. In the bottom of the ninth inning Thursday night, Werth ended a 13-pitch at-bat with a walk-off home run to lift the Nationals to a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals to even the National League Division Series at two games each. Werth came to Washington two years ago vowing he could win in this city. Thursday night, he gave them the chance to play again.

Read the rest here.

Feds are silent as three states ponder legalizing marijuana

Voters are set to cast their ballots in three Western states next month on whether to legalize the sale of marijuana for recreational use, initiatives that would directly violate federal law but that have drawn only silence from the Justice Department.

Despite the urging of drug enforcement experts, officials in Washington have not said how the federal government would deal with possible state laws in Colorado, Washington and Oregon that would conflict with the federal Controlled Substances Act. Federal law prohibits the production, possession and sale of marijuana and classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, putting it in the same category as LSD and heroin.

Read the rest here.

Bad Liturgy

We've all seen it. Some of us who were (or still are) Catholic had to endure it routinely. But this is so over the top, it's unquestionably the worst I've seen in a long time. Or in the minds of some it is one of the great examples of liturgical renewal thanks to Vatican II.

How California can stop the flight of the wealthy

California was once the land of opportunity, but it is going down the tubes. Several California cities have declared bankruptcy, such as Vallejo, Stockton, Mammoth Lakes and San Bernardino. Others are on the precipice, and that includes Los Angeles, California's largest city. California's 2012 budget deficit is expected to top $28 billion, and its state debt is $618 billion. That's more than twice the size of New York's state debt, which itself is the second-highest in the nation.

Democrats control California's Legislature, and its governor, Jerry Brown, is a Democrat. California is home to some of America's richest people and companies. It would then appear that the liberals' solution to deficit and debt would be easy. They need only to raise taxes on California's rich to balance the budget and pay down the debt – or, as President Barack Obama would say, make the rich pay their fair share.

The downside to such a tax strategy is the fact that people are already leaving California in great numbers. According to a Manhattan Institute study, "The Great California Exodus: A Closer Look," by Thomas Gray and Robert Scardamalia (October 2012), roughly 225,000 residents leave California each year – and have done so for the past 10 years. They take their money with them. Using census and Internal Revenue Service data, Gray and Scardamalia estimate that California's out-migration results in large shares of income going to other states, mostly to Nevada ($5.67 billion), Arizona ($4.96 billion), Texas ($4.07 billion) and Oregon ($3.85 billion). That's the problem. California politicians can fleece people in 2012, but there's no guarantee that they can do the same in 2013 and later years; people can leave. Also, keep in mind that rich people didn't become rich by being stupid. They have ingenious ways to protect their money.

Read the rest here.

Conspiracy Mania

When Republicans began questioning President Obama’s birth certificate four years ago, it seemed at first like a petulant reaction to a lost election, a flush of nativist and racist anger that would diminish over time. But the preposterous charges never went away. As this election cycle shows, many in the Republican Party continue to see the president as the center of a broad and malevolent liberal conspiracy to upend the truth.

To live and seethe in that world of conspiracy theories means rejecting any form of objective reality. When unemployment numbers make the administration look good, they are obviously “cooked.” When poll numbers put Mr. Obama ahead, they are skewed. Birth certificates are forgeries. Safety-net programs are giveaways to supporters. Health insurance reform is socialism. And campaign donation disclosure is antibusiness.

It’s an upside-down version of life, and it is not innocuous. When desperation leads political critics of the president to discredit important nonpolitical institutions — including the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Federal Reserve and the Congressional Budget Office — the damage can be long-lasting. If voters come to mistrust the most basic functions of government, the resulting cynicism can destroy the basic compact of citizenship.

Read the rest here.

It is rare in the extreme for me to be able to say that I substantively agree with an op-ed piece in the NY Times. But while I have major issues with some of the entities they name in here, like the Federal Reserve, their main point is a fair one. The political right is drifting into an alternate reality of dark conspiracy theories that appears largely motivated by a visceral hatred for President Obama. Throughout the course of history there have always been a certain amount of kooks and nut jobs that populate the political fringe. But when the nuts take over one of the two major political parties we have a serious problem.

In 1960 the John Birch Society accused President Eisenhower of being a conscious agent of The International Communist Conspiracy. This obviously lunatic pronouncement was immediately and vociferously denounced by almost every respectable member of the conservative movement lead by the late William F. Buckley at his National Review magazine. The result was that the extremist element on the right was isolated and began a rapid decline into political irrelevance. That isolation and irrelevance lasted until the election of Bill Clinton when it began to slowly regain strength and a certain amount of respectability in conservative circles. Today right-wing extremism has gained a level of power in American politics not seen since the heyday of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920's. Republican members of Congress and US Senators are afraid to call out the Birther nuts for fear of political retribution. Some are openly sympathetic with to this extremist insanity.

I don't know how far this is going to go, but I am increasingly alarmed by a movement that made it possible for a Republican candidate for president to ask aloud during a campaign speech, to wild cheers, whether or not the time had come for a second amendment solution to Barack Obama's presidency. When that sort of thing is happening we have reached a dangerous point in our political society. My question is where are the voices of reason in today's GOP?

Israel to hold early elections

 JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Tuesday called for elections early next year instead of as scheduled in October 2013, saying that conversations with his coalition partners had proved it would be impossible to pass “a responsible budget” with deep cuts.

Read the rest here.

Taliban guns down teen girl for advocating education

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A 14-year-old Pakistani student who won international acclaim for speaking out for girls barred from school by the Taliban was critically wounded Tuesday by a gunman who boarded her school bus, asked for her by name, aimed his pistol at her head and fired, officials said.

The Pakistani Taliban asserted responsibility for the attack on ninth-grader Malala Yousafzai, who gained notice in early 2009 when she wrote a diary about Taliban atrocities under a pen name for the BBC’s Urdu service. Yousafzai lives in Mingora, a city in the scenic northwestern Swat valley, where Taliban insurgents imposed harsh Islamic law for two years before being routed by a major military operation in May 2009.

Read the rest here.

These people are barbarians. That said what goes on in Pakistan is not our government's business.

1920: Out of Beer

Comedian Ernie Hare's famous photographic commentary on the start of prohibition.

From Shorpy

How Romney Hijacked 4 Ron Paul Delegations in Tampa

If you want a lesson in dirty politics this is a good primer.
HT: Molonlabe70

One in five Americans reports no religious affiliation, study says

One-fifth of U.S. adults say they are not part of a traditional religious denomination, new data from the Pew Research Center show, evidence of an unprecedented reshuffling of Americans’ spiritual identities that is shaking up fields from charity to politics.

But despite their nickname, the “nones” are far from godless. Many pray, believe in God and have regular spiritual routines.

Their numbers have increased dramatically over the past two decades, according to the study released Tuesday. About 19.6 percent of Americans say they are “nothing in particular,” agnostic or atheist, up from about 8 percent in 1990. One-third of adults under 30 say the same. Pew offered people a list of more than a dozen possible affiliations, including “Protestant,” “Catholic,” “something else” and “nothing in particular.”

Read the rest here.

Arkansas: Right-wing loony land

Remember former Republican legislator Charlie Fuqua, running again for legislature with financial support from the Arkansas Republican Party and U.S. Reps. Tim Griffin and Steve Womack, among others? We've mentioned some excerpts from his book, "God's Law: The Only Political Solution."

I have more for you today. To save space, I've omitted the Biblical citation for Fuqua's endorsement of the death penalty for rebellious children. Fuqua doesn't think execution would have to be used often on children who defied their parents, but suggests the deterrent effect of its legality would be beneficial. Verbatim, from the writing of Charlie Fuqua, a former lawyer for the Arkansas Department of Human Services:

    The maintenance of civil order in society rests on the foundation of family discipline. Therefore, a child who disrespects his parents must be permanently removed from society in a way that gives an example to all other children of the importance of respect for parents. The death penalty for rebellioius children is not something to be taken lightly. The guidelines for administering the death penalty to rebellious children are given in Deut 21:18-21:...

...Still waiting for Republican leadership, too, on the question of endorsement of sitting Republican Rep. Loy Mauch of Bismarck, who we've quoted repeatedly in defense of slavery and harshly critical of GOP patron saint Abraham Lincoln. Mauch scorns Lincoln as a Nazi and Marxist. The Republican representative is a follower of the neo-Confederate League of the South.

Republican officials also haven't pulled endorsements and financial support for slavery apologist Republican Rep. Jon Hubbard of Jonesboro.

Read the rest here.

There is a fierce battle on the part of the GOP to take over the state government in Arkansas right now as they are the only one that is not solidly Republican in the old Confederacy. It appears that in that effort the GOP is prepared to overlook quite a bit from some of their candidates.

Photos From The Hermitage of The Holy Cross

I draw the reader's attention to some wonderful photos from the recent pilgrimage weekend and the Feast of the Elevation of the Holy Cross which can be found here. Also please take note that the monastery is now publishing the English language translation of Everyday Saints and Other Stories. It has been one of the best selling books in Russia.

In Congress, a Shrinking Pool of Moderates

WASHINGTON — While the occupant of the White House and the composition of the next Congress are still to be decided, one thing is clear: there will be many fewer moderate politicians here next year.

A potent combination of Congressional redistricting, retirements of fed-up lawmakers and campaign spending by special interests is pushing out moderate members of both parties, leaving a shrinking corps of consensus builders.

Middle-of-the-road Democrats, known as Blue Dogs, have been all but eviscerated from the House over the last few elections, and now three who have been in the Republicans’ cross hairs for years are fighting uphill battles for re-election.

Among Republicans, Senator Olympia J. Snowe of Maine and Representative Steven C. LaTourette of Ohio, weary of partisan battles, chose to retire this year, and some, like Representative Charles Bass of New Hampshire, have found themselves moving away from the center to survive, a technique employed by Senator Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, who found it was too little too late and lost his primary campaign. 

Read the rest here.

How bad is it in Detroit?

It's so bad that the cops have issued a statement cautioning would be visitors to come at their own risk. They (the cops) can't protect you. Also the chief of police resigned today in a sex scandal.

Polls: Romney closes the gap

In a major development polls taken since last week's presidential debate are showing that President Obama and former Governor Romney are now in a statistical tie. One, the Pew Research Poll, shows Romney taking a decisive lead (see here). Prior to the debate Obama lead Romney in virtually all national polls including in the decisive swing states. While I am still not planning to vote for either of these men, as a spectator I have to admit that the election just got interesting.

France: High end real estate tanks as the wealthy flee

A flood of top-end properties are hitting the market as businessmen seek to leave France before stiff tax hikes hit, real estate agents and financial advisors say.

"It's nearly a general panic. Some 400 to 500 residences worth more than one million euros ($1.3 million) have come onto the Paris market," said managers at Daniel Feau, a real-estate broker that specialises in high-end property.

Read the rest here.

France is discovering what many left leaning states in the US have found out the hard way. If you raise taxes above a certain threshold the more productive elements in society will revolt and "vote with their feet." With European integration, immigration between varying EU states is not nearly as complicated as it used to be.

Romanian Orthodox church in Jerusalem attacked

Police said unknown assailants on Monday threw stones, bottles and garbage at the door of a church in Jerusalem, in the third attack against Christian sites in Israel in recent weeks.

Police spokesperson Luba Samri told AFP nobody was injured in the attack on the Romanian Orthodox church, St George's, but that the door was damaged. Police were investigating, she added.

The church is located near a Jewish ultra-Orthodox neighborhood.

Read the rest here.

Daily 'power walk' can halve heart attack risk

Walking every day can halve the chance of a risk or stroke - but only if you step up the pace - according to new research.

Intensity of exercise matters far more than duration, found Danish scientists who studied the health of 4,000 people for a decade.

Those who went on a fast walk daily were at half the chance of having a heart attack or stroke as those who didn’t. Jogging daily cut the odds by 40 per cent.

But those who said they walked for an hour at a leisurely pace had just the same risk as those who were largely inactive

Read the rest here.

Great Britain to expand self defense rights

Home owners who attack burglars will not face arrest or prosecution unless they use “grossly disproportionate” violence, the new Justice Secretary will announce on Tuesday.

Chris Grayling is to change the law “at the first opportunity” to give stronger legal safeguards to those who use force to protect their family or property.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph on Monday night, Mr Grayling said that he wanted to “finally lay the issue to rest once and for all” following a series of high-profile cases where home owners who have confronted criminals have been arrested. In the future, only those using clearly excessive force, such as stabbing a burglar who was already unconscious, should face the prospect of criminal action, he said.

Read the rest here.

Astonishing news. Of course it would be better if homeowners were allowed the means to defend themselves... like a gun.

Julian Assange’s bail backers told to pay up

Julian Assange's high-profile backers have been warned they face jail unless they pay £93,500 within a month in what has been called a “unique and wholly exceptional” case.

Julian Assange’s friends and supporters have been ordered to pay a court £93,500 after he skipped bail to seek asylum inside the Ecuadorian Embassy.

Read the rest here.

Nobel Prize winner, was 'too stupid' for science at school

Never give up!

A British scientist whose schoolmasters told him he was too stupid to study the subject has been awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology for his pioneering work on cloning.

Read the rest here.

Britain: Homeowners downsizing to cut bills

A third of home owners who plan to downsize in the near future are doing so in order to cut their household bills, a study has found.

Just over half of home owners surveyed who are planning to move house in the next three years said they plan to downsize, compared with just over a fifth (22pc) who are looking to trade up to somewhere bigger, Lloyds TSB found.

But "empty nesters" who no longer need the space are not the only ones looking to trade down, and while 63pc of those looking to do so are aged over 55, more than a quarter are aged between 46 and 55 and around 5pc are aged between 36 and 45, the study found.

Money worries have strongly influenced people's plans to downsize, with 33pc of potential downsizers saying they need to move to reduce their household bills and 37pc saying they would like to free up some equity. Three in 10 of those planning to trade down said they were doing so to boost their retirement income.

Read the rest here.

Angela Merkel heads to Greece amidst tight security

Greek police are preparing a huge security operation involving 7,000 officers, water cannon and a helicopter to protect German chancellor Angela Merkel during her visit to Athens tomorrow.

Ms Merkel is due to land in Greece tomorrow morning for talks with her counterpart Antonis Samaras and president Carolos Papoulias. But she is likely to face angry protests in a country where many feel their already-struggling economy has been dealt further harm by austerity measures demanded in return for a bail-out.

Read the rest here.

The Socio-Political Dangers of a Long Depression

 What we are witnessing in Europe — and what may loom for the United States — is the exhaustion of the modern social order. Since the early 1800s, industrial societies rested on a marriage of economic growth and political stability. Economic progress improved people’s lives and anchored their loyalty to the state. Wars, depressions, revolutions and class conflicts interrupted the cycle. But over time, prosperity fostered stable democracies in the United States, Europe and parts of Asia. The present economic crisis might reverse this virtuous process. Slower economic expansion would feed political instability and vice versa. This would be a historic and ominous break from the past.

Read the rest here.

The San Francisco Chapter of the Democratic Party at Prayer is Throwing a Fit

That alleged snub referenced in an earlier post of the Episcopal Bishop of California (really SF) by the Roman Catholics at the installation of their new archbishop is still generating all kinds of commentary. Some of which is just off the scale idiocy (see this comment by an ex-TEO bishop). Personally I think the whole thing was an honest screw up. I would prefer to think that he really was snubbed, because frankly he deserved to be. But I just don't see the Catholics being that in your face in expressing their displeasure.

In any case here is a memo to "bishop" Andrus in the form of an old expression I picked up in the Navy. I am cleaning this up a bit since the original was a little salty. But here's the gist ...

One does not urinate on the welcome mat and then expect to be received as an honored guest.

MCJ has been keeping tabs on this business. Read the last four or five posts if you are not sure what the stink is all about.

SNL Roasts MSNBC Coverage of the Debates

Hans Kung (yes, he's still alive) is at it again - compares Pope to Hitler

One of the world's most prominent Catholic theologians has called for a revolution from below to unseat the pope and force radical reform at the Vatican.

Hans Küng is appealing to priests and churchgoers to confront the Catholic hierarchy, which he says is corrupt, lacking credibility and apathetic to the real concerns of the church's members.

In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Küng, who had close contact with the pope when the two worked together as young theologians, described the church as an "authoritarian system" with parallels to Germany's Nazi dictatorship.

"The unconditional obedience demanded of bishops who swear their allegiance to the pope when they make their holy oath is almost as extreme as that of the German generals who were forced to swear an oath of allegiance to Hitler," he said.

It goes downhill from there. But if you are some sort of masochist you can read the rest here.

Government backed student loans are crushing families

More than a decade after Aurora Almendral first set foot on her dream college campus, she and her mother still shoulder the cost of that choice.

Almendral had been accepted to New York University in 1998, but even after adding up scholarships, grants, and the max she could take out in federal student loans, the private university — among nation's costliest — still seemed out of reach. One program filled the gap: Aurora's mother, Gemma Nemenzo, was eligible for a different federal loan meant to help parents finance their children's college costs. Despite her mother's modest income at the time — about $25,000 a year as a freelance writer, she estimates — the government quickly approved her for the loan. There was a simple credit check, but no check of income or whether Nemenzo, a single mom, could afford to repay the loans.

Nemenzo took out $17,000 in federal parent loans for the first two years her daughter attended NYU. But the burden soon became too much. With financial strains mounting, Almendral — who had promised to repay the loans herself —withdrew after her sophomore year. She later finished her degree at the far less expensive Hunter College, part of the public City University of New York, and went on to earn a Fulbright scholarship.

Read the rest here.

Combatting military suicides: Limit access to private weapons?

With nearly half of all suicides in the military having been committed with privately owned firearms, the Pentagon and Congress are moving to establish policies intended to separate at-risk service members from their personal weapons.

The issue is a thorny one for the Pentagon, with gun-rights advocates and many service members fiercely opposing any policies that could be construed as limiting the private ownership of firearms.

But with suicides continuing to rise this year, senior Defense Department officials are developing a suicide prevention campaign that will encourage friends and families of potentially suicidal service members to safely store or voluntarily remove personal firearms from their homes.

“This is not about authoritarian regulation,” Dr. Jonathan Woodson, the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, said in an interview. “It is about the spouse understanding warning signs and, if there are firearms in the home, responsibly separating the individual at risk from the firearm.”

Rea the rest here.

Police shoot and kill naked unarmed college student

A day after a naked student at the University of South Alabama was fatally shot in the chest by a campus security guard, his mother and friends are asking why no other means were used to subdue the 18-year-old.

According to a statement released by the university, an officer heard loud banging on the police station window early Saturday and left his post to investigate. The man banging on the window was Gilbert Thomas Collar, an 18-year-old freshman who had graduated high school the previous spring. He was naked.

Collar was a wrestler whose favorite quotation, according to his Facebook profile, was “Be easy.” His profile photo is of himself, sporting a skinny black tie and light facial hair, his arm wrapped around his mother.

According to the university statement, the officer “was confronted by a muscular, nude man who was acting erratically. The man repeatedly rushed and verbally challenged the officer in a fighting stance.”

The officer allegedly asked Collar to stop, but the young student chased him “in a threatening manner and ignored the officer’s repeated commands.”

That’s when the officer drew his police sidearm and shot Collar once, striking him in the chest.

Collar “got up once more and continued to challenge the officer further before collapsing and expiring,” the report said. The officer has been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation.

Collar’s mother told CNN she doesn’t understand why the officer had to shoot her son. Her son, she said, was 5-foot-7 and weighed 135 pounds.

Read the rest here.

AXIOS!

To Fr. David Thatcher of St. Mary Magdalene parish in Merced, the priest who brought me into The Church (and an occasional commenter on this blog). On Sunday October 7th he is to be raised to the dignity of Archpriest by Archbishop Benjamen of the Diocese of the West. At the same liturgy Mark Doiel a friend and former co-laborer on the parish council is to be tonsured as a Reader.

It had been my intention to attend but to my intense disappointment I have been thwarted by logistical difficulties.

Axios and many years!

Full Patriarchal Liturgy - Church Consecration and Consecration of New Bishop

 Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Full liturgy from 12 September 2012 (NS) the feast of St. Alexander Nevsky and the consecration of the Church of the Nativity in Krasnoyarsk. Also shown the consecration of Archimandrite Seraphim to the episcopate.

California: City of Atwater Declares Fiscal Emergency

(Reuters) - The city council of Atwater, California approved a fiscal emergency declaration on Wednesday night, a move that could put the city of 28,000 on the path to becoming the fourth city in the most populous U.S. state to declare bankruptcy this year.

California requires its local governments to try to enter talks with their creditors to avert bankruptcy filings, but municipalities may declare fiscal emergencies to circumvent the law and file for bankruptcy.

Read the rest here.

When I first moved to California seven years ago I lived in Atwater. It was a nice smaller sized city that was, like most of the central valley, about to get buried by the real estate crash. In 2005-2006 which was when I lived there, houses were being sold for near a half million dollars that you can get now for under $200k.

50 Years Ago Today

The first James Bond film premiered on October 5 1962.

Unemployment rate falls to 7.8%

The nation's unemployment rate dropped to the lowest it has been in almost four years in September, giving President Barack Obama a potential upbeat talking point as the presidential race heads into the final innings.

The Labor Department reported Friday that the unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent in September, a decline of 0.3 percentage point and the lowest since January 2009. The government said the economy created 114,000 jobs, about as expected, and generated 86,000 more jobs in July and August than first estimated.

Read the rest here.

For an alternative and somewhat more skeptical view of these statistics see here.

Chavez faces tough reelection challenge

On Sunday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, 58, will face the toughest election of his 14-year rule. Chavez and his oil-financed largesse are pitted against fresh-faced challenger Henrique Capriles' promise of jobs, safer streets and an end to cronyism.

Chavez staged a remarkable comeback from cancer this year and wants a new six-year term to consolidate his self-styled socialist revolution in the oil-rich nation.

Read the rest here.

UK court rules Islamist cleric can be extradited to US

LONDON -- The radical Islamist cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri on Friday lost his final appeal against extradition from Britain to the United States, where he is wanted on charges of supporting al-Qaida and aiding a fatal kidnapping in Yemen.

Judges at the High Court in London dismissed his request for more medical tests that his lawyers said would prove he was unfit to be extradited, clearing the way for a handover.

The decision caps a long legal battle, which saw the cleric launch a fresh appeal in Britain last week after the European Court of Human Rights rejected his earlier bid to avoid being sent to the United States.

Read the rest here.

Persona Non Grata

As some may already be aware, on October 1st Bishop (sic) Marc Andrus of the Episcopal Diocese of California based in San Francisco issued an open letter that was widely regarded as a calculated slap in the face to the incoming Roman Catholic Archbishop of the city by the bay.  Read it here.  Now according to claims by the Episcopal Church (see here and here) Bishop Andrus was snubbed when he arrived for today's installation mass for Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone.

One might wonder if this portends a new era in ecumenism.

HT: Dr. Tighe

Sometimes the dragon wins

OK now back to the important things in life, like baseball. I note that the Yankees managed to snatch the AL East pennant on the last day of the regular season. Sigh...