Azerbaijan Accidentally Releases Official Election Results Early

As in the day before voting was to begin. Call me cynical, but something is fishy here.

Study: Two percent of counties responsible for majority of US executions

Just two percent of counties in the United States are responsible for more than half of the country's executions since 1976, according to a new report from the Death Penalty Information Center.

The report, released last week, found that not only are just 62 U.S. counties behind the majority of the death row population and death sentences, but 85 percent of the remaining 3,081 counties in the U.S. have not had a single case resulting in an execution in over 45 years.

"In large swaths, there are no executions. The U.S. is in one sense a death penalty country, but in another sense, a very hesitant, pick-and-choose kind of death penalty country. It's not used in the majority of our jurisdictions," said Richard Dieter, the Death Penalty Information Center's executive director and author of the report.

The total cost of one death sentence is estimated at $3 million, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a non-profit organization that promotes discussion on capital punishment.

Read the rest here.

Tea Party: Debt limit is no big deal

WASHINGTON — Senator Richard Burr, Republican of North Carolina, a reliable friend of business on Capitol Hill and no one’s idea of a bomb thrower, isn’t buying the apocalyptic warnings that a default on United States government debt would lead to a global economic cataclysm.

“We always have enough money to pay our debt service,” said Mr. Burr, who pointed to a stream of tax revenue flowing into the Treasury as he shrugged off fears of a cascading financial crisis. “You’ve had the federal government out of work for close to two weeks; that’s about $24 billion a month. Every month, you have enough saved in salaries alone that you’re covering three-fifths, four-fifths of the total debt service, about $35 billion a month. That’s manageable for some time.”

Read the rest here.

Strictly speaking, they are correct. The danger of an actual default on US Treasury debt is pretty low in the near term. But the good news definitely stops there. While there will be enough money in the near term coming in from ordinary tax receipts to cover the interest on US bonds, there is no where near enough to run even minimal essential services beyond that.

When considering what we need to spend money on, Government expenditures can be ranked into three tiers by priority. The top tier is the national debt. This is covered by language in the 14th Amendment which IMHO means the debt gets serviced before anything and everything else. Period. After that we have so called non-discretionary spending. These are programs that are required by law to spend certain amounts of money. Think Medicare. And then we have discretionary spending which pretty much covers everything else, like law enforcement, air traffic controllers and national defense. We probably have enough to cover the first two tiers of priorities without more borrowing. After that though, there will be damned little left over.

So we are talking about the immediate imposition of a level of austerity the likes of which would almost certainly be devastating economically and create serious risks to public safety and national security. And while our bonds are safe, contractors and vendors who are owed money by the US Government would be in the bottom tier of spending priorities for our suddenly balanced budget. They may be waiting a while until they get paid.

The ripple effects of this will be like an economic bomb going off. And it will get worse quickly. As the economy plunges into another recession, possibly including another panic on Wall Street, tax receipts are going to start dropping rapidly. This is going to mean that we are going to have to rebalance our budget on an almost month by month basis with ever deeper cuts in non-discretionary spending. Which in turn will have worse and worse effects on the economy causing further drops in tax revenue... repeat until sanity returns.

Paul Craig Roberts on the Shutdown

The inability of the media and politicians to focus on the real issues never ceases to amaze.

The real crisis is not the “debt ceiling crisis.” The government shutdown is merely a result of the Republicans using the debt limit ceiling to attempt to block the implementation of Obamacare. If the shutdown persists and becomes a problem, Obama has enough power under the various “war on terror” rulings to declare a national emergency and raise the debt ceiling by executive order. An executive branch that has the power to inter citizens indefinitely and to murder them without due process of law, can certainly set aside a ceiling on debt that jeopardizes the government.

Read the rest here.
HT: Blog reader Jason

I don't agree with all of his points but this is an interesting read with some cogent arguments.

Just wondering

Back in 2008, The One campaigned on a platform of health care reform. He pointed out, ad nauseum, that tens of millions of Americans had no health care insurance. Fair enough.

So why is it that five years and untold millions of dollars later, the Obama Administration appears not to have planned for the possibility that millions of people might try to sign up for this new insurance thingy? Seriously. Who did they hire to design their website? Was his last name Cruz?

Frank Bruni: Hold the hyperbole please

You might think that the methodical extermination of millions of Jews by a brutal regime intent on world domination would resist appropriation as an all-purpose metaphor. You might think that genocide, of all things, would be safe from conversion into sloppy simile. 

You’d be wrong. 

After Paul Ryan’s fact-challenged address at the Republican National Convention last year, the chairman of the Democratic Party in California actually compared him and his compatriots to the Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. A short time later, the chairman of the Democratic Party in South Carolina likened that state’s Republican governor, Nikki Haley, to Adolf Hitler’s mistress, Eva Braun. 

Read the rest here.

I too have occasionally been guilty of overheated rhetoric... mea cula mea culpa...

Gary Gutting thinks the Pope is still Catholic

And he is not happy about it.

WAPO: Don’t slam D.C. for the shutdown America; You sent these wackos here.

A pointed and not altogether unfair article.

The latest battle over abuse of eminent domain

Very early on a Wednesday morning in September, the city council of Richmond, Calif., did something that no American city had yet managed: It voted for a plan to wrest underwater mortgages from the hands of Wall Street, depriving investors of tens
of millions of dollars in order to save borrowers from foreclosure...

...In short, here's how it would work: Richmond condemns mortgages on homes that are now worth far less than what the borrower owes. The note holders -- investors such as pension funds and mutual funds -- are forced to settle for the current fair market value. The city pays for this with cash from a new set of investors, who now own the mortgage. The new price is set by the current market, and the homeowner settles into a more manageable loan.

It's that smashing of the bond between lender and debtor that animates investors. They've acted aggressively to stop it, lobbying the mayor and council members directly. Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank, on behalf of scores of investment funds, sued to stop the plan. The securities industry points out that the plan would also hurt pensioners who own pieces of Richmond's mortgages. Indeed, last week, California Public Employees' Retirement System -- the safety net for some Richmond workers -- expressed concerns.

Read the rest here.

Don't want to raise debt ceiling? Get ready for severe austerity

A recent CNN/ORC poll found that 38% of Americans think it would be a good idea not to raise the debt ceiling.

If the country wants to continue paying all its bills, that's not a realistic option for many reasons large and small, legal and practical. Here are just two:

Bills may be delayed but must be paid: Putting off payments to, say, federal contractors wouldn't save the government any money. In fact, it would cost taxpayers more money. The Treasury Department must pay those bills at some point, along with interest penalties for being late.

Spending must be slashed or taxes hiked: The Congressional Research Service estimates that over the next 12 months, the government will spend an average of $30 billion more every month than it takes in.

But if Congress hasn't raised the debt ceiling, borrowing to bridge the difference won't be possible. Instead, lawmakers would have four options to choose from that would have to be implemented abruptly:

Slash discretionary spending (including defense) by 33% every month. Cut mandatory spending (such as spending on Social Security) by 16% every month. Raise taxes by 12% every month. Or some combination of all three

That's the gentle scenario.

Read the rest here.

Supreme Court Has Deep Docket in Its New Term

WASHINGTON — After back-to-back terms ending in historic rulings that riveted the nation, the Supreme Court might have been expected to return to its usual diet of routine cases that rarely engage the public.

Instead, the court’s new term, which starts Monday, will feature an extraordinary series of cases on consequential constitutional issues, including campaign contributions, abortion rights, affirmative action, public prayer and presidential power.

Read the rest here.

Moderate Republicans Plan Challenges to Far Right Congressmen

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Nearly three years after a band of renegade congressmen brought the tea party insurgency to Washington, there are early rumblings of a political backlash in some of their districts.

Here in the Dutch Reformed country of West Michigan, long a bastion of mainstream, mannerly conservatism, voters in 2010 handed the House seat once held by Gerald R. Ford to Justin Amash, a 33-year-old revolutionary and heir to the libertarian mantle of former congressman Ron Paul (R-Tex.). Amash was part of an attempted coup against House Speaker John A. Boehner (R- Ohio) and is a leader of the House tea party faction that helped force a government shutdown last week.

But within Grand Rapids’ powerful business establishment, patience is running low with Amash’s ideological agenda and tactics. Some business leaders are recruiting a Republican primary challenger who they hope will serve the old-fashioned way — by working the inside game and playing nice to gain influence and solve problems for the district. They are tired of tea party governance, as exemplified by the budget fight that led to the shutdown and threatens a first-ever U.S. credit default.

Similar efforts are underway in at least three other districts — one in the moneyed Detroit suburbs and the others in North Carolina and Tennessee — where business leaders are backing primary campaigns against Republican congressmen who have alienated party leaders. The races mark a notable shift in a party in which most primary challenges in recent years have come from the right.

Read the rest here.

Worth a glance

Exorcism in the Haunt of Demons
The Pope said WHAT?!

Armenian Church, Survivor of the Ages, Faces Modern Hurdles

ECHMIADZIN, Armenia — In this ancient city, tucked in a valley that has witnessed the rise and fall of empires, King Tiridates III converted to Christianity and declared Armenia to be the world’s first Christian state. The year was 301, more than a decade before the Emperor Constantine put Rome on a similar path.

Since then, the Armenian Apostolic Church, which still has its main cathedral here, has survived conquest and dispersion, genocide and government-imposed atheism during the years Armenia was part of the Soviet Union. It also endured centuries of internal rancor, including a split in 1441 that led to the establishment of a rival leadership now based in Lebanon.

Read the rest here.

Why Obamacare is not like the Canadian system

Despite the partisan war in Washington that shut down the federal government this week, President Barack Obama has succeeded in implementing the first major health reform in the United States in nearly 50 years, as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act goes into effect. Even though its most virulent critics raise the spectre of “Canadian-style” health care, “Obamacare” does little to change the enduring differences between the two health care system. What, exactly, does “Obamacare” look like compared to Canada?

Not single-payer: Canadian critics tend to rail against “two-tiered” medicine, but in fact, the U.S. has a multi-tiered system. And despite the hype on both sides of the Congressional aisles, Obamacare keeps the same complex structure in place, while adding another layer through the introduction of health care “exchanges” for uninsured Americans. But the majority of Americans will continue to access care through a variety of health insurance plans made available or subsidized by their employer; nearly 50 million elderly and disabled through the federal Medicare program; another 60 million lowest-income through state-federal Medicaid arrangements.

Not universal coverage: Health care in Canada is based on a simple proposition: every legal resident is covered through a publicly-financed provincial or territorial plan. The individual mandate, derived from a Republican precedent in Massachusetts, stands in stark contrast to Canada’s universality principle. Even though Obamacare broadens coverage, the individual mandate relies on a fundamental insurance principle – care depends on type of coverage – and compels Americans to purchase insurance to access care. Americans now have more affordable insurance options and subsidies to cover their costs, and the lowest-income may be eligible for public coverage through the expansion of Medicaid. Still, despite the crush of online traffic as enrolment began Tuesday, only half of the estimated 40-plus million uninsured will be affected by Obamacare.

Read the rest here.
HT: T-19

Obama welcomes Pope Francis' remarks on gays, abortion

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Wednesday welcomed Pope Francis' recent remarks that the Catholic Church must shake off an obsession with teachings on abortion, contraception and homosexuals, saying the pontiff was showing incredible humility.

"I tell you, I have been hugely impressed with the pope's pronouncements," Obama said in a CNBC interview.

Read the rest here.

With economy near collapse Iran seeks accomodation

For years, Iran’s leaders have scoffed at Western economic sanctions, boasting that they could evade anything that came their way. Now, as they seek to negotiate a deal on their nuclear program, the leaders are acknowledging that sanctions, particularly those applied in 2010 on international financial transactions, are creating a hard-currency shortage that is bringing the country’s economy to its knees.

This was evident in New York last week when Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, emphasized the need to act swiftly to resolve the standoff over Iran’s nuclear program, perhaps in three to six months. While there may well be political reasons for him to be in a hurry, Mr. Rouhani and other officials admitted that the sanctions were hurting.

In repeated meetings during the week, Mr. Rouhani and his foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said the government’s financial condition was far more dire than the previous president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had let on.

Read the rest here.

Rod Dreher is not going back to Rome

Pope Francis has apparently not impressed him. Why an Orthodox Christian would consider the particular policies of a given Pope in terms of remaining in The Church escapes me. But in any event he is remaining Orthodox. His piece is something of an indictment of the problems of the post Vatican II Roman Church that even Fr. Z found compelling. But not surprisingly he has drawn sharp criticism from more than a few corners of the Catholic blogosphere and their attendant comboxes. For the record I am not offended by that kind of criticism. If you fire a full broadside at someone's church you can't cry foul if they shoot back, though some of the commentary was snarky and personal.

But while if you have serious problems with your church, that may or may not be a good reason for leaving (circumstances depending), I am somewhat confused by Rod’s decision to leave the Roman Church. Did he leave because it has become a nest of modernist liberals? Or was it because he became convinced the Roman Catholic Church is heretical in its teachings? The latter is a good reason for leaving, the former is more doubtful.

And then there is the question of why Orthodoxy? Whatever your reason for leaving your previous confession, you need to be “all in” when you join a Church (as opposed to ‘church’), that like Rome, claims to be The One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church spoken of in the Creed. I am not getting this from his piece. One needs to be careful when judging or impugning the motives of others. But if he joined the Orthodox Church because he wanted the Catholic Church without all of the liberal crap, then he did so for the wrong reasons.

Obviously, I am Orthodox and a former Catholic. And while the over the top liberal craziness did not make my decision to leave any harder, in the end I left the Roman Church because I became convinced over time that it was wrong on a number of important doctrinal points. Orthodoxy’s initial attraction was its magnificent liturgical rites and sound moral teachings. But I did not enter until I became convinced of the truths of Holy Orthodoxy.

I would have felt a little better if I had gotten that message from Rod. In the end though all we can do is to try and do right as God gives the light to discern right from wrong. Beyond that, we are all under that Great Mercy that none of us deserves, and without which we are all doomed.

HT: Ordo Antiquus

Rethinking Neville Chamberlain

Seventy-five years ago, on Sept. 30, 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain signed the Munich Pact, handing portions of Czechoslovakia to Adolf Hitler's Germany. Chamberlain returned to Britain to popular acclaim, declaring that he had secured "peace for our time." Today the prime minister is generally portrayed as a foolish man who was wrong to try to "appease" Hitler—a cautionary tale for any leader silly enough to prefer negotiation to confrontation.

But among historians, that view changed in the late 1950s, when the British government began making Chamberlain-era records available to researchers. "The result of this was the discovery of all sorts of factors that narrowed the options of the British government in general and narrowed the options of Neville Chamberlain in particular," explains David Dutton, a British historian who wrote a recent biography of the prime minister. "The evidence was so overwhelming," he says, that many historians came to believe that Chamberlain "couldn't do anything other than what he did" at Munich. Over time, Dutton says, "the weight of the historiography began to shift to a much more sympathetic appreciation" of Chamberlain.

Very interesting... read the rest here.

Send in the clowns

Multiple sources are reporting that Piero Marini is about to be named as head of the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship (CDW). This is the department that is supposed to handle all things liturgical. For those of you who don't know who Marini is, just take my word that this is really bad news for the Catholic Church.

World Yawns at New Wave of Christian Martyrdom

Hiding the Christian name on his ID with his thumb, Joshua Hakim approached the gunmen and showed them the plastic card. “They told me to go. Then an Indian man came forward, and they said, ‘What is the name of Muhammad’s mother?’ When he couldn’t answer they just shot him.”

That’s the way it went inside the Westgate Premier Shopping Mall in Nairobi last Saturday. If you said when asked that you were Muslim, you were let go. If you answered no, you stayed. And maybe died.

Read the rest here.

Decades after Holocaust, Germany asks what it owes Jews

KOBLENZ, Germany —Sixty-eight years after the end of the Holocaust, Germany is asking itself what it still owes its Jews.

The answer, as measured by a vote in this small southwestern city, is very little.

Read the rest here.

A Rosie the Riveter original, still on the job at 93

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Remember that cliche 'Age is just a number?'  Meet Elinor Otto, 93, who gets up at 4 a.m. each morning and drives to the Boeing plant in Long Beach, Calif., where she inserts rivets into the wing sections of C-17 cargo planes.  It's a job she's been doing at various aircraft assembly plants since 1942.

That's right -- Otto was one of the original "Rosie the Riveter" girls, celebrated in the popular song of the same name, who supported the war effort by filling tens of thousands of jobs because able-bodied men had joined the fighting overseas.

"We were part of this big thing," Otto said. "We hoped we'd win the war. We worked hard as women, and were proud to have that job."

Read the rest here.

The GOP’s fork in the road

When the John Birchers had to be kicked out of the Republican Party, William F. Buckley Jr. effectively excommunicated them from the GOP. When the “smoking gun” Watergate tape came out, it was the late Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.) who urged Richard Nixon to resign. And when Pat Buchannan’s views could no longer be called anything but anti-Semitic, it was Buckley who called him out.

If the GOP has one big problem now it is that there is no Goldwater, no Buckley to tell Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and his ilk that enough is enough. The Republicans interested in governance are now participants in the political scrum. The biggest of the conservative magazines, whose editors should know better, are too timid. They poke and prod here and there, but really stand up to the destructive right wing? No. They fear a full throttle debunking would put at risk their place in the conservative cosmos. They mistakenly believe that their role is to rebuke only liberals.

The Wall Street Journal editorial page or a conservative eminence like George Will or Charles Krauthammer can call the tune of charlatans, but the Cruz crowd dismisses even them as pawns in the Great GOP Sell-out. They are thought leaders, but, by definition, influence only those who prize rationality. These days that is but one faction of the conservative movement.

Read the rest here.

Shutdown grows more likely as House digs in

Top House Republican leaders Thursday rejected the short-term spending plan expected to be passed by the Senate in coming days, increasing the possibility of a government shutdown next week.

Asked if the House would pass the bill unchanged once it is sent from the Senate, Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) replied: “I do not see that happening.”

Read the rest here.

It is a cardinal rule...

...of blogging to never post while drunk. You might accidentally put up something as silly as this.

Traveling

No blogging for a few days.

California Gives Expanded Rights to Noncitizens

LOS ANGELES — California is challenging the historic status of American citizenship with measures to permit noncitizens to sit on juries and monitor polls for elections in which they cannot vote and to open the practice of law even to those here illegally. It is the leading edge of a national trend that includes granting drivers’ licenses and in-state tuition to illegal immigrants in some states and that suggests legal residency could evolve into an appealing option should immigration legislation fail to produce a path to citizenship.

With 3.5 million noncitizens who are legal permanent residents in California, some view the changes as an acknowledgment of who is living here and the need to require some public service of them. But the new laws raise profound questions about which rights and responsibilities rightly belong to citizens over residents.

Read the rest here.

This is a very bad idea.

Here we go again...

WASHINGTON — House Republicans muscled through a stopgap bill Friday that would fund the government only if all spending for President Obama’s health care law is eliminated. Senate Democrats and President Obama quickly made it clear they had no intention of going along, putting the government on a course toward a shutdown unless one side relents. 

The 230-to-189 party-line vote in a bitterly divided House set in motion a fiscal confrontation with significant implications — politically and economically — but with an uncertain ending. Without a resolution, large parts of the government could shut down Oct. 1, and a first-ever default on federal debt could follow weeks later. 

Read the rest here.

This is what a politically damaged White House has been praying for. Some people are just lousy at history. That, or they are politically dumber than a box of rocks. In these kinds of battles the President ALWAYS wins and he will win again in this fight. Why?  Because he knows that the House GOP can't keep the government shutdown forever, (and yes, they are the ones doing this), nor can they allow the US to default on its debt. (Though I concede that there really are some who are so extreme in their views that they would like to see this.)

Memo to the GOP... never take hostages unless you are prepared to shoot them.

When isolationism ruled the land

In January 1938, Rep. Louis Ludlow, an Indiana Democrat, proposed a constitutional amendment strongly supported by the public: “Except in the event of an invasion of the United States or its territorial possessions and attack upon its citizens residing therein, the authority of Congress to declare war shall not become effective until confirmed by a majority of all votes cast thereon in a Nation-wide referendum.” Although narrowly defeated, 209 to 188, it might have passed without President Franklin Roosevelt’s last-minute opposition.

During Barack Obama’s, shall we say, sinuous progress toward a Syria policy, he has suggested, without using the word, that isolationism is among his afflictions. During his news conference-cum-soliloquy in Russia, he said:

“These kinds of interventions . . . are always unpopular because they seem distant and removed. . . . I’m not drawing an analogy to World War II other than to say, when London was getting bombed, it was profoundly unpopular both in Congress and around the country to help the British.”

He wisely disavowed (while insinuating) this analogy, lest Americans wonder which is more implausible, casting Bashar al-Assad as Hitler or himself as Roosevelt. But the term “isolationism” is being bandied as an epithet, not to serve as an argument for U.S. military interventions but as a substitute for an argument. To understand the debate that roiled America before World War II is to understand why today’s reservations about interventionism are not a recrudescence of isolationism.

Read the rest here.

Nazareth... Jewish now and forever

NAZARETH ILLIT, Israel — This hilltop city has placid parks, broad avenues, low crime, a fancy mall and trash collection three times a week — all very nice and neat, and by design, slightly dull.

But not these days.

Over the past few years, well-to-do Arab Israelis, both Muslim and Christian, drove their minivans 10 minutes up the hill from the ancient, overcrowded nearly all-Arab city of Nazareth and snapped up some sweet but pricey five-bedroom, four-bath houses.

Many of the homes are worth a half-million dollars or more, and Arab citizens of Israel now count for 18 percent of the 50,000 residents in “Upper Nazareth,” as it is translated in English.

They are welcome here, says the mayor, as long as they remember one very important rule.

“This is a Jewish city,” said Shimon Gafsou of his adopted home town, “now and forever.”

To be more specific: “I would rather cut off my right arm than build an Arab school,” the mayor said in an interview on his terrace at city hall.

Ditto mosques. “No, no, no. No mosques, ever,” said Gafsou. Nor churches. Or Ramadan lanterns or manger scenes. “And no Christmas trees,” said the mayor of a town that abuts the largest Arab city in Israel, celebrated as the childhood home of Jesus.

Read the rest here.

Russia Seizes Greenpeace Ship for Investigation

MOSCOW — Russia’s Federal Security Service announced on Friday that it had seized a Greenpeace International ship and its crew after a series of protests at an offshore oil rig in the Arctic Ocean and would tow the ship to port in Murmansk to conduct an investigation.

The seizure of the ship on Thursday night, which was carried out by armed border guards dropped by helicopter, threatened to escalate into a diplomatic confrontation, since the crew includes citizens of several countries, including the United States. Russia’s Foreign Ministry had already issued a protest to the Dutch ambassador, since the ship, the Arctic Sunrise, is registered in the Netherlands and Greenpeace International is based there.

Read the rest here.

Pope Francis Criticizes Emphasis on Doctrinal Orthodoxy and Morals

Pope Francis, in the first extensive interview of his six-month-old papacy, said that the Roman Catholic church had grown “obsessed” with preaching about abortion, gay marriage and contraception, and that he has chosen not to speak of those issues despite recriminations from some critics.

In remarkably blunt language, Francis sought to set a new tone for the church, saying it should be a “home for all” and not a “small chapel” focused on doctrine, orthodoxy and a limited agenda of moral teachings.

“It is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time,” the pope told the Rev. Antonio Spadaro, a fellow Jesuit and editor in chief of La Civiltà Cattolica, the Italian Jesuit journal whose content is routinely approved by the Vatican. “The dogmatic and moral teachings of the church are not all equivalent. The church’s pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently.

“We have to find a new balance,” the pope continued, “otherwise even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel.”

Read the rest here.

Oh my... this is going to cause a serious firestorm in the blogosphere. And yes, I do find this disturbing. I really hope the Pope has been grossly and maliciously misquoted. Please take a deep breath before commenting.

P.S. For the record, the full interview can be read here. The NY Times, not surprisingly, is focusing on a very small part.

Tom Delay's Conviction is Overturned

A Texas appellate court has overturned the conviction of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) for allegedly scheming to influence Texas state elections with corporate money, his attorney told several news organizations early Thursday.

A three-judge panel voted 2-1 to overturn the conviction, calling the evidence "legally insufficient," according to the majority ruling. The decision formally acquits DeLay of all charges, but could still be appealed by the government.

Read the rest here.

Did the FED dodge a bullet?

The American economy has shed 347,000 jobs over the past two months, roughly comparable with the rate of loss seen during the Great Recession. It is remarkable that the US Federal Reserve should even have been thinking of phasing out life-support in such circumstances. 

 Read the rest here.

CBO issues new long-term budget and debt forecasts

It makes for some pretty grim reading.
HT: MCJ

House GOP launches attack on Obamacare

House Republican leaders announced Wednesday morning that they would take a risky double-barreled attack on President Obama’s health-care law, making it the cornerstone fight over government funding due to expire Sept. 30 and the effort to lift the Treasury’s borrowing authority.

Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), flanked by his leadership team, told reporters that the stopgap government funding bill that they will advance Friday would yield to conservative demands of including a rider to block funding for the law commonly known as Obamacare.

Read the rest here.

Virginia: Libertarian Sarvis could shake up the election for governor

WASHINGTON, September 18, 2013 — With both Republican Ken Cuccinelli and Democrat Terry McAuliffe bringing scandal and bad press to the Virginia gubernatorial election, Libertarian Robert Sarvis could become the deciding factor in November’s election.

A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday shows McAuliffe and Cuccinelli in a virtual tie.  While the poll technically gives McAuliffe a slight lead over Cuccinelli, that lead falls within the margin of error.

Although polling shows that it is unlikely Sarvis will outright win the election, he has held a surprisingly high percentage for a third party candidate ranging between 5 and 10 percentage points. That could split votes and push one of the major candidates into victory.

Read the rest here.

As a friend on another forum noted, it would seem that the Nobel Peace Prize is really a strange Norwegian joke that only they understand.

A Great House Trapped in Time

A look inside a mansion once owned by aristocrats with all of its furnishings and belongings down to the steamer trunks of its former owners left untouched for decades. The photos are eerie.

HT: Bill (aka the Godfather)

Patriarch Kirill at the Consecration of the New Armenian Cathedral

A great photo here.

Pope Francis Again Hints at New Approach to Divorce and Remarriage

ROME (AFP) - Pope Francis on Monday called for "another way" of treating divorcees who remarry - a thorny issue since Catholics who wed a second time are currently not allowed to receive Holy Communion at mass.

Read the rest here.

This appears to be a topic the Pope has taken an interest in as he has mentioned it several times now in his still young pontificate. It is also worth noting that in a free wheeling interview with the press on the plane from the World Youth Day events, he referenced the Orthodox approach to divorce and remarriage when discussing the issue.

Elizabeth Scalia on Womyn's Ordination

Vain - Disingenuous - Thoughtless

And I will add the word "brilliant" as a descriptive for her post.
HT: Fr. Z

The typical American family makes less than it did in 1989

The Census Bureau is out with the annual report on incomes and poverty. And while you might think that after years of stagnant incomes and elevated poverty rates, we would be inured to the depressing facts contained therein, it still somehow has the power to shock.

For my money, the most depressing fact about the economy is not the fact that household incomes were basically flat in 2012 (the real median household income was down to $51,017 from $51,100 in 2011, a statistically insignificant change). It wasn't even the fact that 15 percent of the U.S. population was living in poverty, according to the official, flawed definition of the term.

Nah, the most depressing result comes when you look at the longer view of household incomes in the United States. This chart shows real median household income over the past 25 years; that is, the money earned, in inflation-adjusted dollars, by the family at the exact middle of the income distribution.

Read the rest here.

Another (likely) Terrorist Attack

As an ex-sailor this one hits kind of close to home. Prayers for all involved and their families.

Limited Posting

Sorry for the slow posting. Things have been rather hectic and my mom is in the hospital. This may continue for a little while. There are a number of things I would like to post on and I also wanted to reply to this in detail. But life happens and right now blogging is a low priority.

NY Times Guest Op-Ed: Vladimir Putin on Syria

MOSCOW — RECENT events surrounding Syria have prompted me to speak directly to the American people and their political leaders. It is important to do so at a time of insufficient communication between our societies.

Relations between us have passed through different stages. We stood against each other during the cold war. But we were also allies once, and defeated the Nazis together. The universal international organization — the United Nations — was then established to prevent such devastation from ever happening again.

Read the rest here.

Memory Eternal

Quote of the day...

“No person shall be admitted a member of this College, unless, upon examination by the President…he shall be found acquainted with the fundamental rules of arithmetic, and able to read, construe and parse Cicero’s select orations, Virgil’s Aeneid and Greek testament, and to write Latin grammatically, and shall also produce satisfactory credentials of his good moral character.”

 -Standards for admission to Bowdoin College (1802) from here.
HT: T-19

The Border: Where Warrantless Searches and Seizures are Allowed

Newly released documents reveal how the government uses border crossings to seize and examine travelers’ electronic devices instead of obtaining a search warrant to gain access to the data.

The documents detail what until now has been a largely secretive process that enables the government to create a travel alert for a person, who may not be a suspect in an investigation, then detain that individual at a border crossing and confiscate or copy any electronic devices that person is carrying.

To critics, the documents show how the government can avert Americans’ constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure, but the confiscations have largely been allowed by courts as a tool to battle illegal activities like drug smuggling, child pornography and terrorism.

Read the rest here.

Obama Cautiously Welcomes Russia's Proposal on Syria

President Obama on Monday called a Russian proposal for Syria to turn over control of its chemical weapons to international monitors in order to avoid a military strike a “potentially positive development,” that could represent a “significant breakthrough,” but he said he remains skeptical the Syrian government would follow through on its obligations based on its recent track record.

“Between the statements that we saw from the Russians — the statement today from the Syrians — this represents a potentially positive development,” Obama said in an interview with NBC News, according to a transcript provided by the network. “We are going to run this to ground.  [Secretary of State] John Kerry will be talking to his Russian counterpart. We’re going to make sure that we see how serious these proposals are.”

Read the rest here.

A Tour of China's Ghost Cities

Very eerie. The photographs look like scenes from a post apocalyptic world.

HT: Pointedstick

Feast of St.Peter of Kiev

Liturgy in the Cathedral of the Assumption in the Kremlin

Australia: Conservatives Bury Labour in Landslide Election

Conservative leader Tony Abbott has celebrated a landslide victory in Australia's general election, after reducing the Labour Party to its worst result in a century with promises of tough action against immigrants and scrapping a tax on carbon emissions.

The 55-year-old British-born former student boxer was long regarded as unelectable even by some of his own ranks and struggled to connect with voters, particularly women, thanks to sometimes abrasive style.

But he steered the Liberal-National coalition back to power after six years in opposition amid widespread disillusion with years of infighting in the ruling party.

Read the rest here.

Mr. Abbott is cool on military interventionism, a staunchly conservative Catholic and a monarchist. All in all it was a good day down under.

Poll Shows Overwhelming Support For Invading Syria

WASHINGTON—As President Obama continues to push for a plan of limited military intervention in Syria, a new poll of Americans has found that though the nation remains wary over the prospect of becoming involved in another Middle Eastern war, the vast majority of U.S. citizens strongly approve of sending Congress to Syria.

The New York Times/CBS News poll showed that though just 1 in 4 Americans believe that the United States has a responsibility to intervene in the Syrian conflict, more than 90 percent of the public is convinced that putting all 535 representatives of the United States Congress on the ground in Syria—including Senate pro tempore Patrick Leahy, House Speaker John Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and, in fact, all current members of the House and Senate—is the best course of action at this time.

Read the rest here.
HT: T-19

A War the Generals Don't Want

The tapes tell the tale. Go back and look at images of our nation’s most senior soldier, Gen. Martin Dempsey, and his body language during Tuesday’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings on Syria. It’s pretty obvious that Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, doesn’t want this war. As Secretary of State John Kerry’s thundering voice and arm-waving redounded in rage against Bashar al-Assad’s atrocities, Dempseywas largely (and respectfully) silent.

Dempsey’s unspoken words reflect the opinions of most serving military leaders. By no means do I profess to speak on behalf of all of our men and women in uniform. But I can justifiably share the sentiments of those inside the Pentagon and elsewhere who write the plans and develop strategies for fighting our wars. After personal exchanges with dozens of active and retired soldiers in recent days, I feel confident that what follows represents the overwhelming opinion of serving professionals who have been intimate witnesses to the unfolding events that will lead the United States into its next war.

They are embarrassed to be associated with the amateurism of the Obama administration’s attempts to craft a plan that makes strategic sense. None of the White House staff has any experience in war or understands it. So far, at least, this path to war violates every principle of war, including the element of surprise, achieving mass and having a clearly defined and obtainable objective.

Read the rest here.

Little GOP support for Syrian strike is seen in the face of strong popular opposition

...Mr. Cole’s constituent experience is not isolated. Representative Mick Mulvaney, a Republican swept into power in 2010 in military-focused South Carolina on a platform of small government, said that in his three-plus years in Congress, no issue had elicited as passionate a response as Syria. And, he added, “to say it’s 99 percent against would be overstating the support.”

Of the 1,000 or so calls and e-mails he has received, three supported some kind of response. And two-thirds of the correspondents have never reached out to him before.

Representative Candice S. Miller, Republican of Michigan, said she was at a peach festival parade last weekend in her district, an event that does not typically draw the type of constituent who is overly political. But as she made her way down the parade route, one person after another urged her to vote no on any authorization of force in Syria.

“It was not a political event at all,” Ms. Miller said. “But there were a lot of people, older veterans especially in their hats, all saying, ‘No on Syria!'   “

Read the rest here.

Saturday Fast

A quick reminder that Pope Francis has appealed for a day of fasting and prayer on behalf of peace in Syria to be observed tomorrow. This appeal was not restricted to Catholics and appears to be voluntary for all concerned. Right now I can think of few better causes for a day of prayer and voluntary fasting.

As US ponders options, so does Iran

They’re weighing whether to order Hezbollah to launch rockets at Israel or target U.S. warships in the Mediterranean. Or they could send shadowy groups for suicide-bomb attacks against Israelis and Americans. Or, as one blogger has called for, they could try kidnapping families of American military officers in far-flung corners of the globe.

Or Iran may do nothing.

One thing, however, is clear: The debate over whether Congress approves the Obama administration’s plan to strike Syria for its use of chemical weapons is being watched nowhere more closely than in Iran, where the notoriously opaque political leaders are wrestling over whether — and how — to retaliate.

Read the rest here.

Summer is Waning

Time for a quick look back. Helmar cigarettes with all you can drink root beer and ginger ale for 5 cents on the Atlantic City boardwalk 1908. Click here for the supersized version of the photo.

Brutality of Syrian Rebels Posing Dilemma in West

The Syrian rebels posed casually, standing over their prisoners with firearms pointed down at the shirtless and terrified men.

The prisoners, seven in all, were captured Syrian soldiers. Five were trussed, their backs marked with red welts. They kept their faces pressed to the dirt as the rebels’ commander recited a bitter revolutionary verse.

“For fifty years, they are companions to corruption,” he said. “We swear to the Lord of the Throne, that this is our oath: We will take revenge.”

The moment the poem ended, the commander, known as “the Uncle,” fired a bullet into the back of the first prisoner’s head. His gunmen followed suit, promptly killing all the men at their feet.

This scene, documented in a video smuggled out of Syria a few days ago by a former rebel who grew disgusted by the killings, offers a dark insight into how many rebels have adopted some of the same brutal and ruthless tactics as the regime they are trying to overthrow.

Read the rest here.

Melkite Leader Says U.S. Attacks on Syria Would Worsen the Conflict

WASHINGTON — The leader of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church has argued that, despite reported chemical attacks in Syria, foreign military intervention is a destructive option that will only worsen the ongoing civil war.

“I am adding my voice to all the statements made by most of my brother Eastern patriarchs, several episcopal conferences, the archbishop of Canterbury, and especially His Holiness Pope Francis and his representative at the United Nations in Geneva,” said Melkite Patriarch Gregorios III in an Aug. 30 statement.

“I state categorical rejection by Syria’s Catholic Churches, including the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, in Arab countries and those of the expansion, of any foreign intervention in Syria and any attack or intervention of any sort whatsoever.”

Patriarch Gregorios III, a native-born Syrian, is the president of the Assembly of the Catholic Hierarchy in Syria, as well as patriarch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, an Eastern Church in communion with Rome.

Read the rest here.
HT: Blog reader John L.

The Consecration of a Convent Chapel

September 3rd at Holy Trinity Monastery (Convent)

Property Rights vs Public Safety on the Jersey Shore

SURF CITY, N.J. — Anchor Produce Market sells homemade mozzarella, its own fresh salsa and what many regulars swear is the best sweet corn on Long Beach Island.

But, a sign on the counter declares, it will not sell anything to the owners of 63 Long Beach Boulevard, 7 Coast Avenue, 12 Sea View Drive South or 34 other nearby oceanfront properties. 

Those owners have refused to grant easements to allow the federal government to build a massive dune along a 35-mile stretch of the Jersey Shore. Without the protective ridge of sand, engineers predict it is only a matter of time before homes, neighborhoods, even entire communities are wiped out by rising seas — a reality brought into stark relief by the devastation from Hurricane Sandy. 

 So until they sign the easements, holdouts should buy their groceries elsewhere. 

Read the rest here.

I loathe eminent domain. As in I really detest it, because it has an incredibly long history of abuse wherever it is legal. But I have never quite been able to bring myself to call for its complete abolition, Mainly because in the back of my mind I have always accepted that there are very rare cases where it can be justified. This might be one of them.

As much as I hate to side with the statists, this really does sound like a handful of people invoking property rights over public safety. And even libertarians will generally concede that your rights end if and when they threaten someone elses. It's a bit like invoking property rights in a refusal to abide by the fire code. My guess is many of these same people who are screaming about their "view" took public money to help repair the damage inflicted by Hurricane Sandy or will happily file claims when their house is devastated by the next big storm. Speaking as one of the people who will have to foot that bill I think their position is hard to stomach. 

Even so, I would likely side with them if it were just their property or lives they are endangering. They could be told to sign the easement or renounce any and all future claims to disaster aid, end of story. But it's not just their property at risk. They are endangering other people's property, and potentially even lives on a significant scale. 

Sorry. No one has that right. 

Further, the inconvenience and loss of property value is relatively minor compared to the potential public dangers of failing to build the sand barriers. So yea, this has dragged on long enough. Ask the holdouts nicely one more time. But if they still say no, then invoke eminent domain and expropriate the property required to protect the local community from a major hurricane.

My fingers actually hurt typing that last sentence.

Good News From Down Under

Tony Abbott, the British-born leader of the Australian Liberal Party, has been ridiculed as a boorish brawler, whose deep conservatism and apparent misogyny ought to make him terminally unelectable. A monarchist and a devout Catholic who once trained to be a priest, his nicknames have included “Dr No”, “The Mad Monk” and “People Skills” (because he was presumed not to have any). 

Read the rest here.

Sounds like my kinda guy. On a side note, why do Australians refer to their conservative party as liberal?

Slow Posting

I've been a little busy lately and this may continue for a few days. Nothing serious. Just the routine things that pop up and need to be taken care of. Fall cleaning of the house, yard work and working on a buddy's 1969 GMC truck with him. What some people won't due to avoid the damn SMOG checks!

Pope Francis Calls For Fasting and Prayer for Peace

Pope Francis has designated this Saturday September 7th, the vigil of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary on the western calendar, as a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria and throughout the world. There appears to be some confusion as to whether this is a voluntary appeal or he is issuing a more formal "thou shall" declaration. That aside, he has also invited non-Catholic Christians to join in the prayer and fasting.

This strikes me as something that anyone who calls themselves a Christian could agree on and support.

The Worst Op-Ed of the Month

Competition for this honor is always stiff. But here is August's winner.

100 Years Ago Today

Here we are at the end of August and 100 years ago...

Nothing of any great importance was going on.

In Congress Democrats were calling for higher taxes on the wealthy. They were insisting on a tax bracket of five (5) percent for the very wealthy under the new income tax code made possible by the recent ratification of the 16th Amendment. In Great Britain a pack of wannabe women voters attacked Prime Minister H.H. Asquith and physically dragged him over a stretch of golf course until he was rescued. Meanwhile the United States is rattling sabres with foreign countries. President Wilson is threatening Mexico and a fleet of nine battleships has been dispatched to cruise off their coast. (Some things don't seem to have changed much.)

In sports news The Boston Red Sox beat the Washington Senators in eleven innings 1-0. Washington's ace pitcher, Walter "the big train" Johnson, shut down the Sox for the first ten innings but finally gave up the winning run in the eleventh. In other sporting news The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Boston Braves and the New York Giants fell before the Phillies. Also it is reported that an agreement has been reached establishing the rules for the official America's Cup Sailing  competition, with the first race set for 1914.

For those seeking to escape the brutal heat of New York in August (in a world without AC) the Pennsylvania Railroad is advertising a $2.50 round trip excursion ticket to Atlantic City and it's cool beaches. Excursion boats are also advertising. For those seeking a longer term escape numerous ocean and lake front hotels and resorts are advertised (most made of wood and highly combustible). If travel is in your plans you can find the railroad schedules and also the sailing schedules for all of the ocean liners sailing to distant ports. The German liner SS Imperator plans to sail tomorrow morning despite damage from a recent fire. And for those in a rush to Europe, the Lusitania is sailing on September 3rd (less than six days to cross the Atlantic!).

In business news stocks were higher on active trading both in the New York and the Curbside Exchanges. And it was reported that over the first three months of the year only 158 people died and a further 3628 persons were injured in train related accidents. This is universally seen as a sign of progress in railroad safety.

In other words nothing of great importance was going on at the end of August 100 years ago. It will be six years before I will be able to write those words again.

Britain: Government in crisis as Parliament rejects attack on Syria

In a stunning rebuke, the House of Commons has voted decisively not to endorse a military strike on Syria. Significant numbers of Conservative (Tory) MPs joined the opposition Labor Party in voting against authorization for armed intervention. This is being seen as a major revolt on the part of Tory backbenchers and it has called into question the viability of Mr. Cameron's Government. After the vote, Mr. Miliband, the Leader of the Opposition, asked the Prime Minister if he would give his assurance to the House that he would not invoke the Royal Prerogative and attack without the support of Parliament. To which the Prime Minister answered in the affirmative saying he understood and respected the sentiment of the House.

This is a HUGE blow to the Prime Minister and there is a sense of political crisis as open questions are now being raised about the degree of support Mr. Cameron has within his own party. It is also worth noting that the Tories do not have a majority in the House of Commons but are governing in a Coalition with the Liberal Democrats.

The bottom line is that the British Government is not going to be joining any attack on Syria anytime soon and that Mr. Cameron's position as Prime Minister is almost certainly no longer safe. Calls for his resignation and or the dissolution of Parliament with an early election are expected imminently.

Prayers please

Your prayers are kindly requested for my Godson Basil as he prepares to leave for seminary in Jordanville.

RIP: Gus - New York's iconic (and slightly weird) polar bear

There are not a huge number of ways to become famous as a polar bear. Gus somehow managed to do it by behaving like a perfectly ordinary New Yorker: he was neurotic. He became the Neurotic Polar Bear...

...Polar bears are among the most beloved animals, but Gus was something else. In 1994, notice was drawn to his peculiar swimming protocol. He would plop into the pool and swim lap after lap in figure-eight patterns, pawing his way through the water with powerful backstrokes. He did this for as many as 12 hours a day. Every day. Every week. Every month.

Zoo visitors found the repetitive swimming by the 700-pound polar bear mesmerizing. Zoo ticket sales shot up. Tourists and New Yorkers alike flocked to glimpse what had become a novelty act: the endlessly swimming bear.

But zoo officials became increasingly worried. Why was he doing this? Was it something physical? Was it woman problems? Was he having a nervous breakdown?

Read the rest here.

Breaking up is never easy

Kim Jong-un's ex-girlfriend was among a dozen well-known North Korean performers who were executed by firing squad nine days ago, according to South Korean reports.

Hyon Song-wol, a singer, rumoured to be a former lover of the North Korean leader, is said to have been arrested on Aug 17 with 11 others for violating laws against pornography.

The reports in South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper indicate that Hyon, a singer with the Unhasu Orchestra, was among those arrested on August 17 for violating domestic laws on pornography.

All 12 were machine-gunned three days later, with other members of North Korea's most famous pop groups and their immediate families forced to watch. The onlookers were then sent to prison camps, victims of the regime's assumption of guilt by association, the reports stated.

Read the rest here.

I am going to take an educated guess that no "red lines" have been crossed here and that we won't be bombing North Korea anytime soon.

Missouri State Legislature Ponders Insurrection

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Unless a handful of wavering Democrats change their minds, the Republican-controlled Missouri legislature is expected to enact a statute next month nullifying all federal gun laws in the state and making it a crime for federal agents to enforce them here. A Missourian arrested under federal firearm statutes would even be able to sue the arresting officer. 

Read the rest here.

This needs to be called what it is, a declaration of armed insurrection against the United States Government. These clowns are threatening arrest, and by implication... violence, against any officer or employee of the US Government who attempts to carry into execution the laws of the United States.

THAT IS INTOLERABLE.

And these illiterate herbs, who seemingly can neither read the plain language of the Constitution nor hold any regard for 200 years of settled case law apparently want to play armed anarchist. Andrew Jackson called  nullification what it was. Treason. The President should put them on notice that if any Federal officer is arrested or attacked while carrying into execution the laws of the Republic that he will arrest each and every member of the state legislature who votes for this constitutional abortion.

Enough is enough!

Here we go again

Getting ready to attack yet another country, intervening in a civil war where there are no good guys, and almost certainly making things worse for the already severely persecuted Christian minority. See Dr. Adam DeVille's post here. Why doesn't Obama just bomb the Phanar and or the Vatican and get it over with? If there has ever been an administration with a foreign policy so overtly hostile to persecuted Christians I can't remember it.

Feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary

Services for the Feast held in the Cathedral of the Assumption in the Kremlin.

A great speech is remembered with a very exclusive party

So today is the 50th anniversary of Dr. King's most famous speech, which I will not quote here out of deference to the copyright, jealously guarded by his family. While conceding the flaws of the messenger, the message was an important one. And I join the vast majority of American's in expressing my gratitude for his courage and eloquence in a great and noble cause. And it is entirely appropriate that the occasion should be commemorated.

To which end there have been a series of events going on all week in Washington, culminating in an endless procession of speeches and orations by some of our country's great luminaries, including three US Presidents.

All of them Democrats.

Come to think of it, I am trying really hard to name any Republicans at any of these events. Now a number of possibilities come to mind. Maybe the two Presidents Bush were unable to make it. Maybe the entire Republican Party really despises Dr. King and they quietly boycotted the event. Maybe there were lots of Republicans there and they just got blacked out by MSNBC and CNN.

Or maybe, none were not invited.

Charity dictates I give some weight to the first few possibilities. But my gut strong suspects the latter. If anyone has evidence to the contrary I will be more than happy to be proven paranoid in my suspicions of racial politics at such an important anniversary.

Anglican Archbishop urges Christians to ‘repent’ over ‘wicked’ attitude to homosexuality

The Most Rev Justin Welby told an audience of traditional born-again Christians that they must “repent” over the way gay and lesbian people have been treated in the past and said most young people viewed Christians as no better than racists on the issue.

Archbishop Welby, who as a young priest once opposed allowing gay couples to adopt children, said the church now had to face up to what amounted to one of the most rapid changes in public attitudes ever.

While insisting that he did not regret voting against same-sex marriage in the House of Lords, he admitted that his own mind was not yet “clear” on the wider issues which he was continuing to think about.

And he admitted that, despite its strong official opposition to allowing same-sex couples to marry, the Church is still “deeply and profoundly divided” over gay marriage.

Read the rest here.

New York Times Website Hacked

The website of the New York Times is still down almost 24 hrs after a foreign based cyber attack carried out by self proclaimed allies of Syrian dictator Bashir Al-Assad.

Vigil for the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos

Fred Reed on a College Education

In 1964 Hampden-Sydney College, in Southside Virginia, was fairly typical of American schools and particularly of the small, good Sothern schools of the region: Randolph-Macon College for men in Ashland, co-ed William and Mary in Williamsburg, and Randolph-Macon Women´s College in Lynchburg among others.

H-S, as we called it, was entirely male, both as to students and professors. This had the great advantage that we could concentrate on the job at hand, as for example learning things, instead of pondering the young lovely at the next desk. These latter were available at Longwood State Teachers College (now of course Longwood University), seven miles away.

Hampden-Sydney was not MIT. Average SATs were perhaps 1150 if memory serves. The students were chiefly drawn from the small and pleasant towns of rural Virginia, and would go on to become doctors, attorneys, and businessmen. Yet H-S embodied (and may still) a, by today´s standards, a remarkable philosophy of education, and showed that reasonably but not appallingly bright young can be educated. So did most colleges.
It was then believed that higher education was for the intelligent and the prepared, for no more than the upper twenty percent, perhaps fifteen ore even ten percent of graduates of high school.

At Hampden-Sydney, “Prepared” meant “prepared.” It was assumed that students could read perfectly and knew algebra cold. There were no remedial courses. The idea would have been thought ridiculous if anyone had thought it at all. If you needed remediation, you belonged somewhere else. Colleges were not holding tanks for the mildly retarded.

Read the rest here.

A Reflection on the Lifespan and Fragility of National Governments

Government survivability are the odds of a government continuing into the future intact (it’s a type of political risk). Gold is a hedge against this kind of threat. Let’s discuss.

Governments Are Fragile

When I look back over the last 100 years there are maybe just seven or so governments that still exist more or less intact (meaning their debts, currency, markets, etc. haven’t gone to the black hole). So off the top of my head those are: Canada, U.S., Australia, New Zealand, U.K., Sweden, and Switzerland. There may be a couple more, but you get the idea. It ain’t many. And notice I say “governments” and not “countries.” France still exists as a geographic area, but it has had multiple governments the past 100 years. Same for Japan, Italy, China, Russia, etc. Geographically the countries are (more or less) the same, but the management has had high turnover. And with this turnover, so goes the currency and debt promises made. Many countries had far more unsavory things happen than just losing money, but for our purposes we won’t go into them.

So let’s be generous and say 10 countries out of hundreds on the planet still have the same government and currency from 100 years ago. In fact, many governments you see today probably weren’t in existence even 75 years ago. Those are really bad odds! That means in the average person’s lifetime, if trends hold, they could likely experience their government having a major problem (up to and including vanishing and being replaced with something entirely different kind of major problem).

Does that also mean the United States falls under the same rules of history? Whether you want to believe it or not, it does. In fact, there should be a voice in the back of your head that is always giving a gentle reminder: The U.S. government is old.

Now when I say the U.S. government is old, I don’t mean in a way that it’s going to blow up tomorrow. It’s just that the longer we go on a timeline, the odds of the same government existing gets worse, not better. Governments are not a fine wine. They don’t get better with age. Governments are fragile and get more fragile the older they are. Think about it in human terms. A 20 year old has a much better chance of waking up tomorrow than a 100 year old. Age catches up with everything, even governments.

Read the rest here.

This is really good and thought provoking post. Please leave comments there.

Riddle me this...

Q: What do you call a man whose professional resume is starting to resemble Elizabeth Taylor's personal life?

A. Keith Olbermann.

After six budget showdowns, big government is mostly unchanged

After 21 / 2 years of budget battles, this is what the federal government looks like now:

It is on pace, this year, to spend $3.455 trillion.

That figure is down from 2010 — the year that worries about government spending helped bring on a tea party uprising, a Republican takeover in the House and then a series of ulcer-causing showdowns in Congress.

But it is not down by that much. Back then, the government spent a whopping $3.457 trillion.

 Measured another way — not in dollars, but in people — the government has about 4.1 million employees today, military and civilian. That’s more than the populations of 24 states.

Back in 2010, it had 4.3 million employees. More than the populations of 24 states.

Read the rest here.

The Telegraph: It's left wing prats who are defending our freedom

A few weeks ago, a British national newspaper was visited by a detachment of national security agents who demanded that its computers and hard drives be destroyed. The security men then stood over its staff while they smashed their equipment to pieces. In the peace-time history of a free country, this incident is about as shocking as it gets. And yet, a remarkable consensus has grown up, including – I’m sorry to say – many on my side of the political fence, to the effect that this is no big deal.

The reasons that this scene – which looks, on the face of it, like something out of East Germany in the 1970s – is apparently perfectly acceptable seem to be: a) the data in the computers was a threat to the national security of this country and to that of our American allies; b) this information was stolen from the US government and published illegally by people who are narcissistic/eccentric/of dubious political judgment, and c) the newspaper in question was the Guardian, which is full of annoying Left-wing prats. Let’s consider these points in order of importance.

Read the rest here.

Unfortunately on this side of the pond, I see little evidence of any revolt by our own left wing prats against Dear Leader. But yeah, she does have a point. The Guardian has been on the front-line, and (gasp!) the right side of this fight.

A Coptic Monument to Survival is Destroyed

No one knows exactly when the Virgin Mary Church was built, but the fourth and fifth centuries are both possible options. In both cases, it was the time of the Byzantines. Egypt's Coptic Church—to which this church in modern-day Delga belonged—had refused to bow to imperial power and Rome's leadership over the nature of Christ. Constantinople was adamant it would force its will on the Copts. Two lines of popes claimed the Seat of Alexandria. One with imperial blessing sat in the open; the other, with his people's support, often hid, moving from one church to the other. Virgin Mary Church's altar outlasted the Byzantines. Arabs soon invaded in A.D. 641. Dynasties rose and fell, but the ancient building remained strong, a monument to its people's survival.

Virgin Mary Church was built underground, a shelter from the prying eye. At its entrance were two ancient Roman columns and an iron door. Inside were three sanctuaries with four altars. Roman columns were engraved in the walls. As in many Coptic churches, historical artifacts overlapped earlier ones. The most ancient drawing to survive into the 21st century: a depiction, on a stone near the entrance, of two deer and holy bread. Layers and layers of history, a testament not only to the place's ancient roots but also to its persistence. Like other Coptic churches, the ancient baptistery was on the western side, facing the altar in the east. Infants were symbolically transferred through baptism from the left to the right. The old icons were kept inside the church, the ancient manuscripts transferred to the Bishopric in modern times.

Once there were 23 other ancient churches next to it, all connected through secret passages. Only Virgin Mary Church remained. Decline and survival, loss and endurance, the twin faces of the story of the Copts who built it.

Read the rest here.
HT: T-19

'Sovereign Citizens' wage war of paper against government and enemies

MINNEAPOLIS — One of the first inklings Sheriff Richard Stanek had that something was wrong came with a call from the mortgage company handling his refinancing.

“It must be a mistake,” he said, when the loan officer told him that someone had placed liens totaling more than $25 million on his house and on other properties he owned.

But as Sheriff Stanek soon learned, the liens, legal claims on property to secure the payment of a debt, were just the earliest salvos in a war of paper, waged by a couple who had lost their home to foreclosure in 2009 — a tactic that, with the spread of an anti-government ideology known as the “sovereign citizen” movement, is being employed more frequently as a way to retaliate against perceived injustices.

Read the rest here.

The best way to deal with this is to criminalize the intentional filing of false leans or other claims. These nut jobs can whine all they want to about the false government from behind bars.

Class

 

Class circa 1949

From here

A Catholic Conservative Breaks Ranks on Gay Marriage

 HOT SPRINGS, S.D. — In the past couple of years, conservative opposition to same-sex marriage has clearly started to erode. Prominent Republicans like Senators Rob Portman and Lisa Murkowski and former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell have come out in support of gay marriage. Even David Blankenhorn, the expert witness in the Proposition 8 trial in California and a Democrat, announced that he had changed his mind.

They are, for the most part, moderate conservatives using secular, democratic arguments. None come from the Christian right. Among religious conservatives, opposition to same-sex marriage has remained essentially unquestioned.

Which is why “The Things We Share: A Catholic’s Case for Same-Sex Marriage,” an essay by Joseph Bottum, published Friday on the Web site of Commonweal magazine, is something new in this debate.

Read the rest here.

No surprise he is getting front page coverage from the NY Times.

Ft. Hood Shooter is Guilty of Murder x 13

He may face the death penalty. Of course I am on the record as being against capital punishment. However I have no real moral qualms about executing people like that, especially when there is zero doubt of their guilt. Here are the problems in this case...

* No one has been executed by the military since the early 1960's.
*Most legal experts believe the death penalty system in the military is so dysfunctional that it effectively doesn't exist.
* If appeals are filed it is going to cost a fortune and take decades to kill this evil SOB, if it is even possible.
* Hasan is currently a crippled killer who knows he is going to die in prison no matter what. He desperately wants a glorious martyrdom as opposed to a life of solitary confinement in a supermax prison while confined to a wheelchair.

I have no interest in giving him what he wants.

The worst thing we could do to him would be to toss him in the deepest darkest cell we can find and throw the key away. Let him languish there for a hundred years as just another sociopath who got his fifteen minutes of fame at the expense of other peoples' pain and suffering. For him that would be akin to torture. And of course if we kill him, he is likely to become a hero to extremists both in this country and abroad.

So however emotionally satisfying it would be to see him out of this world with the proverbial blindfold and cigarette, I say let the bastard rot in jail until the Second Coming.

Mounting Evidence of Syrian Gas Attack

Conspiracy theories from Assad apologists notwithstanding, the evidence that the Syrian dictator's forces launched a deadly attack using poison gas is mounting. In addition to France, both Turkey and Britain have stated that they believe the attack happened along with several independent human rights groups. But perhaps most damning is that sources in Israel, which greatly fears the fall of the Assad regime and the dangers that would pose for their national and regional security, also clearly believes the allegations. The Israeli government is avoiding formal comment because they do not support the rebels, but cabinet level sources say Mossad is convinced it happened.

Even the Russians, while not officially conceding the attack, are offering no defense of Syria. Their comments have been extremely guarded and limited to calling on Syria to allow international observers into the area. So far Syria is refusing.

None of which means it's any of our business. From my perspective we have two groups of people who both hate the West trying to slaughter each other. While I feel badly for the innocent victims I see no reason to meddle in this.

More Unitarian Claptrap From the NCC

From the MCJ. How long must we endure membership in this overtly anti-Christian body? Props to the Antiochianss who walked out a few years ago and shook the dust from their sandals.

Quote of the day...

The White Man’s Burden
The United States in the Middle East – 2010

Give up the White Man’s burden–
It isn’t worth the game.
You’ll lose your sons and daughters;
The world will be the same.
You cannot save the heathen
Or civilize the wild.
Your gritty foes survive you
And breed another child.

Give up the White Man’s burden—
And turn the other way
When generals speak of glory
And politicians pray.
When duty calls, or danger,
For solid men and true,
The one to bear the burden
Will not be them, but you.

Give up the White Man’s burden—
The City on a Hill
Is yours to build and cherish,
But not the others’ will.
A world of bloody prophets,
Where fathers slay their own,
Will wear you down and kill you.
It’s better left alone.

Give up the White Man’s burden—
And save your time and breath:
You cannot reach the hearts of men
Who stone young girls to death.
They do not want your justice;
They love their cruel laws.
Your shining dreams of freedom
Will never be their cause.

Read the rest here. It's comment 18 by Winston.

Boston: St. John's Albanian Orthodox Church Destroyed By Fire

SOUTH BOSTON – Nearly 100 firefighters responded to a five-alarm fire that ripped through St. John the Baptist Albanian Orthodox Church Wednesday morning on West Broadway in South Boston.

The fire was reported near 9:00 a.m. but fire officials on the scene said that efforts to fully put out the fire could go on into the evening. “A lot of the structure is compromised, it may have burned through the roof and we can’t totally hit the hotspots from the inside,” said Deputy Fire Chief Robert Calabrisi, adding that the roof could collapse due to the intensity of the fire.

The cause of the fire is unknown at this point.

Read the rest here.

A Musical Interlude With Edith Piaf