Defending the 12th century since the 14th; blogging since the 21st.

Catholicism, Conservatism, the Middle Ages, Opera, and Historical and Literary Objets d'Art blogged by a suburban dad who teaches law and writes stuff.


"Very fun." -- J. Bottum, Editor, FIRST THINGS

"Too modest" -- Elinor Dashwood

"Perhaps the wisest man on the Web" -- Henry Dieterich

"Hat tip: me (but really Cacciaguida)" -- Diana Feygin, Editor, THE YALE FREE PRESS

"You are my sire. You give me confidence to speak. You raise my heart so high that I am no more I." -- Dante

"Fabulous!"-- Warlock D.J. Prod of Didsbury

Who was Cacciaguida? See Dante's PARADISO, Cantos XV, XVI, & XVII.


E-mail me

 
Light blogging for a few days while the 'Guidi are on the road.
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:51 AM

 
Feast of St. Thomas Becket



I'm working on an appropriate song about the saint, or rather, about King Henry II doing penance at his tomb. Here it is so far (tune: Good King Wenceslas):

Good King Henry 2 got whipp'd
On the feast of Becket.
Wise his heart and eke his tongue,
When that he could check it.

But one day, said he, "This priest,
Who shall rid me of him?"
Now he's got five Saxon monks
Swinging whips above him.
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:47 AM

 
Ann Coulter sez:

About just who it is that's afraid that someone, somewhere, is having fun:

It's the blue states that are constantly sending lawyers to the red states to bother everyone. Americans in the red states look at a place like New York City—where, this year, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade featured a gay transvestite as Mrs. Claus—and say, Well, I guess some people like it, but it's not for me.

Meanwhile, liberals in New York and Washington are consumed with what people are doing in Alabama and Nebraska. Nadine Strossen and Barry Lynn cannot sleep at night knowing that someone, somewhere, is gazing upon something that could be construed as a religious symbol.

It's never Jerry Falwell flying to Manhattan to review high school graduation speeches, or James Dobson making sure New York City schools give as much time to God as to Mother Earth, or Pat Robertson demanding a crèche next to the schools' Kwanzaa displays. (Is it just me, or is Kwanzaa becoming way too commercialized?)

But when four schools in southern Ohio have Ten Commandments displays, sirens go off in Nadine Strossen's Upper West Side apartment.
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:49 PM

 
Religion of peace™

LGF summarizes for you here the last three years' worth of sermons broadcast over the radio and televion of the Palestinian Authority, by mullahs salaried by the PA (though ultimately, in all likelihood, by the Saudis). Full texts are available at MEMRI.
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:38 PM

 
Merry Third Day of Christmas; Happy Feast of St. John



St. John the Evangelist. Not credited -- but it's by
El Greco, or I'm Yosemite Sam.
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:38 PM

 
Cacciadelia at the podium: a voice for the voiceless

"The toys all say good night."
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:53 PM

 
Fox News: Naked man found in chimney

Now do you agree with me about Santa Claus?
posted by Cacciaguida at 4:07 PM

 
More exams

Another student just told me in his/her exam that so-and-so can be charged with conspiracy because he had a "steak in the venture."

Me, I always order the fish when I'm planning a crime. Brain food, you know. Maybe I should bring some for my students.
posted by Cacciaguida at 4:03 PM

 
An opera friend is circulating this one under the heading "Cavalleria Newyorkiana."

The appropriate charge would be Second Degree Murder With Oak Leaf Cluster. The sentence should be banishment from Rao's for an entire week.
posted by Cacciaguida at 2:41 PM

 
In the dumps with my exams

On the Criminal Law exam that I'm now grading, I asked a question about Numbers 35, which we discussed in class. An exam I just graded talked about the "cities of refuse." Yup, r-e-f-u-s-e. I don't know where that is, but if you do, could you give that student directions?

If it's a typo, then it's the funniest one since I wrote a speech for a U.S. Cabinet-level official and left the "L" out of "public". (It was caught before it got to the boss.)

You did know I was once a speechwriter for a U.S. Cabinet official, didn't you? You may hear more about it as this blog grows and flourishes.


posted by Cacciaguida at 2:22 PM

 
The news from Mars

Assault on Mars reaches its climax, says an MSNBC headline -- but any analogy between space exploration and sex is strictly postmodern-literary-theoretical twaddle, right?

Meanwhile, Britain's Beagle 2 Martian exploration craft appears to have gone native.

posted by Cacciaguida at 12:34 PM

 
Merry Second Day of Christmas, and happy Feast of St. Stephen!

Today's news tells us that the U.S. bishops' "ad hoc committee on the implementation of the Catechism" (did you know they had one? an ad hoc committee, I mean?) has determined that "[n]early two-thirds of high school catechetical materials used throughout the United States are not in conformity with the Catechism of the Catholic Church."

No moss grows on them, no sirree.

The story is reported here by Zenit, and actually, the findings appear to be spot-on, if somewhat Entish in their timing. (But we bloggits are hasty folk....)
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:27 PM

 
I want to add a few remarks about last night's Tridentine Mass.

First off, the Mass is the Mass, in any liturgy approved by the Holy See in Rome. For those who think otherwise I know a number of names, of which the most polite is "schismatic." Enough said about that (for now).

Moving along, then, I can say that I had the distinct feeling last night that Christmas "clicked" for me in a long-forgotten way. All the memories we cultivate, all the "old-time Christmas" merchandise that gets sold every December, testify to a real, paradigmatic Christmas that we dimly know of, the way we dimly know of the Beatific Vision -- of which the paradigmatic Christmas is no doubt a part.

I got very close to the paradigmatic Christmas as a toddler, despite the absence of the "religious side of it," which toddlers can't really understand anyway. As soon as I was old enough to feel the lack of that "side," the absence of it made the Christmas vision ever more elusive. Early on, though, I figured out that including the "religious side of it" was somehow vital to the lost vision. And so it was. Ever since Elinor and I founded a Catholic family, we have been having "real Christmases" on a level that I had not know for years before.

But there are matters of degree here. Here's what happened last night. We followed the readings (which for the Midnight Mass of Christmas are substantially the same in both rites: both involve Titus 2 and Luke 2; Novus adds Isaiah 9, Trid adds lines from Psalms 109 and 2) in Latin; they aren't printed in Latin in my Tridentine Missal, but I printed them out beforehand thanks to some biblical links provided by the Old Oligarch. These readings include Luke 2:1-14, which includes the "Linus speech" made familiar by A Charlie Brown Christmas. (Btw, go here for O.O.'s Catena in Natale Domini. Way to blog on the road, O.O.!)

Then came the consecration, under a brass crucifix against a red velvet altar-hanging. Then the time came for communion, and as my row's turn came, the choir struck up Adeste Fidelis, in Latin. "O Come all ye Faithful." There I was, answering that call, approaching at the same time both the symbolic manger (off to one side) and the Lord's real presence at the altar-rail in front of that red-velvet-backed altar, amidst a liturgy that directly, rather than homeopathically, supports my faith in that presence.

That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

The chapel where we were is not exactly Chartres, I might add. It's a former barn, small and ill-ventilated. It even looks as though it may once have been a stable, just like the one He was born in. But the altar where He came to us last night was more splendid than the one in many airy, roomy modern churches, and therefore more fitting for His Majesty. He did not disdain to be born in a manger, but that's no reason for us to be content with -- or worse, be proud of ourselves for -- providing him with no more than a faux-marble lunch-table to appear on, when we can do so much better.


posted by Cacciaguida at 9:42 PM

 
Conversation chez Cacciaguida: the truth comes out

Cacciadelia (bursting back into the dining room after dinner): Caccia di Gregorio hit me!!

Cacciaguida (heavy sarcasm here, folks): Well WHAT ELSE is NEW?

Cacciadelia: What's new is, he hit me first!
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:13 PM

 
Conversation chez Cacciaguida: the matter-of-fact Marine

Scene: while opening presents; Cacciagiuseppe has opened up a copy of Thomas Ricks's Making the Corps.

Cacciaguida: So, when's Parris Island?

Cacciagiuseppe: Next May and June.

Number One Son: So you're actually doing Parris Island?

Cacciagiuseppe: Yeah. The only other one is in San Diego.
posted by Cacciaguida at 7:36 PM

 
Christmas Conversation chez Cacciaguida

Scene: We're opening presents while listening to carols, and "Ding-Dong Merrily on High" is up.

Cacciamichele (to Number One Son, recalling days in Catholic middle school in Manassas): Do you remember when the high school sang this and you were in it too?

Number One Son: I had the easy part. I was one of the ding-dongs.

Cacciaguida: Nothing much has changed, has it.

Number One Son: And people wonder why teenagers are bitter and alienated.
posted by Cacciaguida at 6:09 PM

 
OK, quick survey of the Christmas-day headlines:

1. A redneck Christmas

This one comes to us from AP via CNN (click here for full story). Excerpts:

Son calls stunned parents after his funeral
Thursday, December 25, 2003 Posted: 1:38 PM EST (1838 GMT)

OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma (AP) -- Charles Wyckoff and his wife had returned home after a funeral for their son when the phone rang.

"Hey, Dad," Kevin Wyckoff said.

"Huh. Well, damn boy. We just had your funeral today," his father said Monday, according to a transcript of the call provided Wednesday by the Oklahoma Corrections Department.

"Yeah, I know. I heard," Kevin Wyckoff said.

"Well, what the hell is going on?" his father asked.

Prison officials had misidentified an inmate who had hanged himself behind bars as Wyckoff. The inmate, who was buried Monday in Wyckoff's place, is believed to be Steven L. Howe, the Corrections Department said.


2. Cows have issues

Earlier in the day, this story on MSNBC about an apparent U.S. appearance of mad-cow disease was titled: Investigators Trace History of Afflicted Cow. Right -- like, tell me about your mother, Clarabelle. Apparently the headline checkers at MSNBS work Christmas Day.

That's all. At home, we're now in the gender-role phase of Christmas-day merrie disport: the guys are playing their new LORD OF THE RINGS computer game, while Cacciadelia is listening to her new recording of Rodgers & Hammerstein's CINDERELLA on her new CD player.

posted by Cacciaguida at 5:46 PM

 
Now burn, new born to the world,
Double-natured name,
The heaven-flung, heart-fleshed, maiden-furled
Miracle-in-Mary-of-flame,
Mid-numbered He in three of the thunder-throne!

-- Gerard Manley Hopkins, SJ, The Wreck of the Deutschland, 34


Fr. Jim's Christmas homily is here.

All seven of us went to the midnight Tridentine Mass last night. 8-]


posted by Cacciaguida at 1:03 PM

 
Saint Francis and Saint Benedight
Blesse this house from wicked wight;
From the night-mare and the goblin,
That is hight good fellow Robin:
Keep it from all evil spirits,
Fairies, weezels, rats, and ferrets:
From curfew time
To the next prime

-- English poet "Cartwright" (William Cartwright, 1611-1643?), as quoted in Washington Irving, Christmas at Bracebridge Hall. (The latter also printed as part of The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.)
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:04 PM

 
The day before yesterday was --

Elinor's Bloggiversary!

Congratulations on Mommentary's first year!
posted by Cacciaguida at 2:02 AM

 
Mark Steyn to Europeans: Have more babies. Via Daily Telegraph.

Did you know, btw, (and this is from the Steyn column) that as practised by Buckinghamshire County Council, multiculturalism means All Saints Church can't put up one sheet of A4 paper announcing tomorrow night's carol service on the High Wycombe library notice board, but, inside the library, Rehana Nazir, the "multicultural services librarian", can host a party to celebrate Eid?
posted by Cacciaguida at 4:26 PM

 
Off the elf (the fat one, I mean)

Mark Shea is sound on the question, but, amazingly, some folks who comment on his blog seem to think that a feast day celebrating the birth of the Savior, and full to boot of family reunions, beautiful decorations, food treats, and presents, is just not enough unless you also purvey to your children, as fact, a story made up in the 19th century about how a "right jolly old elf" -- an offensive parody of a great saint, Nicholas of Myra -- flies through the air and yadda yadda yadda.

How your children are supposed to trust you on God, the Incarnation, the Mass, Confession, or indeed on anything, after you've admitted to putting one over on them about Santa Claus, is something I've never figured out.

Anyway, here is the last word on the subject -- my post about it from last year.

And Elinor's, of course.

Sancte Nicole, ora pro nobis.

posted by Cacciaguida at 6:53 PM

 
Bend it like Becket

One of the "saints of Christmas" is Thomas Becket, whose feast falls on December 29. This year I'm preparing by reading Dom David Knowles's biography of Thomas.

Meanwhile, buried in a routine "ailing Pope" story by The Washington Post, carried also by MSNBC, we find the following:

In any event, reports of the pope's incapacity are premature, said George Weigel, a papal biographer. Weigel said he dined with John Paul, 83, last Monday and found him "strikingly stronger than in October," when the pope presided over the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of his papacy. "I thought then we were in the final phase. But he's fooled us again," Weigel said.

The pontiff's "mobility and animation of expression" were improved and his mind was agile, Weigel added. "I presented him with a book of T.S. Eliot's poems. The pope looked at it and cracked, 'Ah. Murder in the Cathedral,' " Weigel recalled. Murder in the Cathedral is Eliot's play about the death of the medieval Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, a symbol of Christian resistance to political authority. "He clearly recognized what I was giving him," Weigel said.


While we're on the topic, I notice that another book on Becket is subtitled: "Saint or Troublemaker?" Uhh -- why is this a dichotomy?

posted by Cacciaguida at 3:49 PM

 
In the Diocese of Richmond, a licit, indult-based Tridentine parish (actually a "mission" of a regular parish), called St. Benedict's Chapel, draws favorable attention from the local paper.



Dec. 15, 2002: priests, l to r: Fr. Damian Abbaticchio, chaplain of
St. Benedict's; Bishop Walter Sullivan (now Bishop Emeritus);
Fr. James Buckley, FSSP. In this picture Bishop Sullivan prepares
to celebrate the Tridentine Mass at St. Benedict's. Don't we live
in interesting times?
posted by Cacciaguida at 3:29 PM

 
Star of Bethlehem

MSNBC reports the views of astronomer and wise-man-watcher John Mosley:

...if we suppose that the “star” actually referred to the planets, the situation is less problematic. The movements and groupings of planets in the night sky were of exceeding interest to astrologers and were closely tracked around the world. Historical records and modern-day computer simulations indicate that there was a rare series of planetary groupings, also known as conjunctions, during the years 3 B.C. and 2 B.C.

The show started on the morning of June 12 in 3 B.C., when Venus could be sighted very close to Saturn in the eastern sky. Then there was a spectacular pairing of Venus and Jupiter on Aug. 12 in the constellation Leo, which ancient astrologers associated with the destiny of the Jews.

Between September of 3 B.C. and June of 2 B.C., Jupiter passed by the star Regulus in Leo, reversed itself and passed it again, then turned back and passed the star a third time. This was another remarkable event, since astrologers considered Jupiter the kingly planet and regarded Regulus as the “king star.”

The crowning touch came on June 17, when Jupiter seemed to approach so close to Venus that, without binoculars, they would have looked like a single star.

Doesn't do much for the Dec. 25 dating, but interesting nonetheless. (For the record, theologian and Christmas-analyst Réné Laurentin says Dec. 25 is as likely as any other date. Don't give me the bit about shepherds not abiding in the fields in winter: this is Judea, not Maine. Put on a woolen cloak -- no shortage of wool, you gotta figure -- then build a fire, and you're all set.)


posted by Cacciaguida at 8:36 AM

 
Conversation chez Cacciaguida: combat duty

First, you should know that Cacciagiuseppe, 17, is in the process of becoming a Marine reservist. He will do the weekend-warrior thing while in college, then go on to Officer Candidate School.

Messages of congratulation to him, me, or both may be sent via the e-mail link in the left margin.

Now, here we were, standing outside the recruiting station in our (present) home town. I'm fixing to drop him off for a recruits' Christmas party before going off for some last-minute shopping at WalMart. Problem is, the door is locked, and no one is around. In fact, the party was at 8 a.m., not p.m. Looks like Cacciagiuseppe will have to come to Walmart with me.

Cacciaguida: Ha, ha: You guys took Iwo Jima, but do you think you can find a Cuisinart at WalMart?

Cacciagiuseppe: Not at this time of year.
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:21 PM

 
Kross & Sweord is back in service, now that blogger Matt Shaddrix has passed the bar! Congratulations on that -- and on the bar too! :) Go to K&S for his comments on ROTK, Saddam, Cardinal Martino, and much else.

And btw, Matt writes in to say:

Eowyn eh? She was excellent in the film. I especially loved the way she hacked the head off the Fell Beast. Arwen is still my favorite.

I'll be writing more about Eowyn, of course. Meanwhile Elinor has an interesting observation about her here.

By the way, the Mouth of Sauron will be in the extended edition along with a confrontation between Gandalf and the Witch King (its when he and Merry are trying to get to Faramir and save him from his Heathen King imatator daddy and that is when Gandalf's staff is broken, notice he uses a Gondorian's lance to knock Denethor off the pyre), also there is a pledge of loyalty scene btwn Merry and Theoden that will be there and probably much, much more.

Glad to hear it! But what about the "Voice of Saruman" scene?
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:47 PM

 
A New Yorker article by Alex Ross, comparing Tolkien's RING and Wagner's

Excerpts (in boldface) from Ross's excellent article:

The Ring of Power extends its grip through the medium of music, which is the work of the gifted film composer Howard Shore. In the preceding scenes, an overview of the habits of hobbits, Shore’s music had an English-pastoral, dance-around-the-Maypole air, but when the ring begins to do its work a Wagnerian tinge creeps in—fittingly, since “The Lord of the Rings” dwells in the shadow of Wagner’s even more monumental “Ring of the Nibelung.” J. R. R. Tolkien’s fans have long maintained a certain conspiracy of silence concerning Wagner, but there is no point in denying his influence, not when characters deliver lines like “Ride to ruin and the world’s ending!”—Brünnhilde condensed to seven words.

A music-theory aside:

Shore manages the admirable feat of summoning up a Wagnerian atmosphere without copying the original. He knows the science of harmonic dread. First, he lets loose an army of minor triads, or three-note chords in the minor mode. They immediately cast a shadow over the major-key music of the happy hobbits. (A digression for those who skipped grade-school music class or never had one: Why does the minor chord make the heart hang heavy? First, you have to understand why the major triad, its fair-haired companion, sounds “bright.” It is based on the spectrum of notes that arise naturally from a vibrating string. If you pluck a C and then divide the string in half, in thirds, in fourths, and so on, you will hear one by one the clean notes that spell C major. Wagner’s “Ring” begins with a demonstration: from one deep note, wave upon wave of majestic harmony flows. The C-minor triad, however, has a more obscure connection to “natural” sound. The middle note comes from much higher in the overtone series. It sets up grim vibrations in the mind.)

The minor triad would not in itself be enough to suggest something as richly sinister as the Ring of Power. Here Wagner comes in handy. He famously abandoned the neat structures of classical harmony for brooding, meandering strings of chords. In the “Ring,” special importance attaches to the pairing of two minor triads separated by four half-steps—say, E minor and C minor. Conventional musical grammar says that these chords should keep their distance, but they make an eerie couple, having one note (G) in common. Wagner uses them to represent, among other things, the Tarnhelm, the ring’s companion device, which allows its user to assume any form. Tolkien’s ring, likewise, makes its bearer disappear, and Shore leans on those same spooky chords to suggest the shape-shifting process.

Did Tolkien know Wagner's work?

Tolkien refused to admit that his ring had anything to do with Wagner’s. “Both rings were round, and there the resemblance ceased,” he said. But he certainly knew his Wagner, and made an informal study of “Die Walküre” not long before writing the novels. The idea of the omnipotent ring must have come directly from Wagner; nothing quite like it appears in the old sagas. True, the Volsunga Saga features a ring from a cursed hoard, but it possesses no executive powers. In the “Nibelungenlied” saga, there is a magic rod that could be used to rule all, but it just sits around. Wagner combined these two objects into the awful amulet that is forged by Alberich from the gold of the Rhine. When Wotan steals the ring for his own godly purposes, Alberich places a curse upon it, and in so doing he speaks of “the lord of the ring as the slave of the ring.” Such details make it hard to believe Tolkien’s disavowals. Admit it, J.R.R., you used to run around brandishing a walking stick and singing “Nothung! Nothung!” like every other besotted Oxford lad.

So how do the two RING cycles relate to each other?

In both [world] wars, [Tolkien] witnessed the wedding of Teutonic mythology to German military might. He bemoaned how the Nazis had corrupted “that noble northern spirit.” You could see “The Lord of the Rings” as a kind of rescue operation, saving the Nordic myths from misuse—perhaps even saving Wagner from himself. Tolkien tried, it seems, to create a kinder, gentler “Ring,” a mythology without malice. The “world-redeeming deed,” in Wagner’s phrase, is done by the little hobbits, who have no territorial demands to make in Middle-earth and wish simply to resume their gardening. In the end, the elves give up their dominion, just as, in Wagner, the gods surrender theirs. Yet it is a peaceful transfer of power, not an apocalyptic one. The story ends not with the collapse of Valhalla but with the restoration of a wasted world.

...Alberich forges the ring only after the Rhine maidens turn away his advances. Wotan becomes obsessed with it as a consequence of his loveless marriage; he buries himself in his work. Even after he sees through his delusions, and achieves a quasi-Buddhist acceptance of his powerlessness, he has nothing else to lean on, not even his Gandalfian staff, and wanders off into the night. Siegfried and Brünnhilde, lost in their love for each other, succeed in remaking the ring as an ordinary trinket, a symbol of their devotion. They assert their earthbound passion against Wotan’s godly world, and thus bring it down. The apparatus of myth itself—the belief in higher and lower powers, hierarchies, orders—crumbles with the walls of Valhalla. Perhaps what angered Tolkien most was that Wagner wrote a sixteen-hour mythic opera and then, at the end, blew up the foundations of myth.

OK, but he also restored it. It blows up at the end of each performance/listening of GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG, but it begins again every time you go to see, or crank up the CD of, DAS RHEINGOLD.

Now, what about the "suspension of disbelief" thing?

People like to think of Wagner as a lot of large people standing around and singing loudly, and they are not mistaken. The Met lacks a Heldentenor who looks even a little bit like Viggo Mortensen. But if in the opera house you sometimes notice a discrepancy between what you hear in the libretto and music and what you see onstage it is no less distracting than what moviegoers are asked to believe on a routine basis. You don’t ask whether an elf could kill an oliphaunt, or even what an oliphaunt is; you go along with the premise. It is the same in opera. The premise is that performers trained as opera singers are going to assume action-hero roles. Squint a little and it’s all fine.

Bravo, Mr. Ross and The New Yorker.


posted by Cacciaguida at 3:09 PM

 
Further ROTK comments culled from my e-mails to friends over the past two days:

I agree that the Arwen subplot was well-handled in ROTK, and therefore in the movie-cycle as a whole. One of my apprehensions going into the theater last night was that we would see too much of that insufferable drip Liv Tyler, and not enough of that ADORABLE Miranda Otto. Fortunately it was quite the reverse!

On the whole I thought the movie was excellent. There are two episodes that need to be added into the extended cut: the Voice of Saruman, and the Mouth of Sauron.

How can you have Christopher Lee and not shoot the V of S scene? And how can you leave CL out of the last movie? (I agree that dropping the scouring of the Shire is no loss, though I wouldn't mind seeing Saruman's throat cut at SOME point.)

Mouth of Sauron: my son Caccia di Gregorio tells me that Bruce Spence (the Trainman in MATRIX REVOLUTIONS) is listed on a database as playing this part, but I have not been able to verify this.

There were a number of STAR WARS hat-tips:
* The war-elephants (think Imperial Walkers)
* Eowyn to dying Theoden: "I'm going to save you." Theoden: "You already have."
* Hero turns from coronation to huge but organized crowd of ardent followers, who then cheer (think finale of first SW movie) My sons spotted about four others.

Some of you wonder what I don't like about Liv Tyler. Well, she projects dumbosity. If she were blonde, the stereotype would be too crude to include in a serious movie. Her lines about voluntarily giving up her immortality are capable of being well-delivered, but somehow Tyler makes them sound like Hallmark cards.

It's not only the actresses, though: Eowyn is a much greater character than Arwen. Or rather, in the book, Eowyn IS a character, while Arwen is a generic princess from the stock-character vault. This is one of Tolkien's few characterization failures, one that is eminently overlookable in view of the rest of his characters -- and no, he's NOT weak on female characters -- see e.g. Eowyn! I might even agree (though I wouldn't insist on the point) that PJ did well to drop Glorfindel and have Arwen rescue Frodo at the ford. At least that way Arwen at some point does something besides simper and look purty.

Let the flaming commence!


posted by Cacciaguida at 2:39 PM

 
Maybe this should make me wish the Maccabees had been regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, but it doesn't. Via Zorak.
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:48 PM

 
Lawyers Compile Book on John Paul II's Teachings on Law
Includes Jewish and Muslim Authors

VATICAN CITY, DEC. 19, 2003 (Zenit.org).- Hundreds of lawyers gave John Paul II an encyclopedic book on his teachings on law, as a gift for his 25th anniversary as Pope.

Among the authors of the 1,148-page book, entitled "John Paul II -- The Paths of Justice: Itineraries for Lawyers of the Third Millennium," are Jews and Muslims.

The book was coordinated by professors Aldo Loiodice of the University of Bari, and Massimo Vari, vice president emeritus of the Italian Constitutional Court.

Inspired by the Pope's own work, the authors, each of whom wrote in his native language -- there are pages in Chinese -- analyze the strength of law to protect the human person regardless of culture, race or religion.

The volume, published by the Vatican Publishing House and by the Italian Bardi Publishing House, is divided in 25 sections which address issues such as democracy; human rights, particularly the right to life; biogenetics; marriage and family law; and freedom.

posted by Cacciaguida at 11:48 AM

 
Eowyn, shield-maiden, White Lady of Rohan...

...rules. Go here, and go wild.
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:57 PM

 
Return of the Davidic King

Just saw Return of the King, and it's great, but more of that later. (If only the Voice of Saruman scene and the Mouth of Sauron make it into the extended cut, it'll be perfect.)

I think it's providential that this movie was released on December 17, when the readings at Mass happen to be about the Return of the King -- the Davidic King, that is: the heir of the house to which God promised "I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever" (II Samuel 7:13, RSVCE). (Same in Douay, except the cite is II Kings 7:13.)

The first reading, Genesis 49:2, 8-10, contained Jacob's promise that "the scepter shall not depart from Judah." (Long after Jacob's time, the kingdom of Judah was ruled by the Davidic line even after the northern kingdom broke off. That's just one of many cool things about the Old Testament: the north secedes!) The responsorial psalm, based on Psalm 72 (71 Douay), was on the theme "O God, with your judgment endow the king, and with justice the king's son."

Then the Gospel was Matthew 1:1-17, often dismissed as one of those incomprehensible "begats," when in fact this passage is crucial for salvation history. It makes the claim that the Davidic line, widely thought among 1st century Jews to have died out after the Babylonian exile, in fact survived, and continued until Jesus. The text groups the heirs into three sets of fourteen, corresponding repsectively to the patriarchs, the kings, and the "lost period" following the exile.

If the faithless dead soldiers of Gondor revive, fight, and accept redemption when faced with Isildur's heir, what should we do when faced with David's heir?
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:10 PM

 
Postmodern Luke: "And there went forth a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be text."

posted by Cacciaguida at 1:42 PM

 
Reuters: Italy Boosts Vatican Security After Threat Warning

Me: The Via della Conciliazione will be closed to traffic through Christmas, in response to terrorist threats detected by Israeli intelligence and publicized in Italy through the Rome-based newspaper La Repubblica, the only Italian daily sympathetic to Israel, as far as I know. Friends are as friends do.
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:43 AM

 
Whoa, a very cool new blog called Otto-da-Fe! Unless I miss my guess, Otto has a very "widening gyre." Anyway, given the "Friends" column in his blogroll, he definitely gets filed under "Axis of Eve." Welcome!
posted by Cacciaguida at 4:43 PM

 
Bishop Raymond Burke, of LaCrosse, WI, about to take over as Archbishop of St. Louis, proudly stands by his stern letters to politicians:

Journal Times Online: Just a Shepherd Doing his Job

LaCross Tribune: Bishop Burke Doesn't Mind "Taking the Heat"

Tom Bethell, for BeliefNet: Catholic Politicians Can't Have it Both Ways

And don't miss columnist Joel McNally, from (of course) Madison, who writes:

Disregarding [John F.] Kennedy's insistence on the constitutional duty of elected officials to represent all their constituents, bishops are demanding that Catholics in public office take their orders directly from the pope in Rome.

La Crosse Bishop Raymond Burke, newly appointed by the pope as the archbishop of St. Louis, sent a going away present to Catholic politicians in Wisconsin by demanding that they support anti-abortion legislation or else.

When the Catholic hierarchy decides to dictate how politicians must vote, it has some firepower other lobbyists don't. Burke said he would have to withhold the sacraments of the church from any Catholic politician who did not obey his orders.

The ultimate sanction, of course, would be to cast the souls of disobedient politicians into the fiery pits of hell to burn for all eternity.

Yeah -- AARP, NRA, RIAA, eat your hearts out!

There's more to McNally's screed. Fisk away, if you like; I've got exams to grade.
Bottom line: It's a new millenium, and the kind of men we need in the upper positions of the hierarchy are at long last starting to get there.



posted by Cacciaguida at 11:21 AM

 
Upcoming in the Harvard Law Review: The Role of the Local in the Doctrine and Discourse of Religious Liberty.

Sounds promising. I know I always go down to the local to discourse on religious liberty.
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:36 PM

 
Nineteenth century Dante translators Carlyle and Wicksteed, in their headnote to Inferno IV, say:

Dante is roused by a heavy thunder, and finds himself on the brink of the Abyss.

I hate it when that happens.


posted by Cacciaguida at 6:06 PM

 
Saddam caught. Cool. From the picture, it looks like the Barber of Baghdad ain't been around much lately!
posted by Cacciaguida at 6:01 PM

 
A Brit columnist reflects here on the scandal that prayer causes in secular society.

Among his observations: The ancient assumption is the pessimistic one that the human condition is essentially disastrous. We are weak, incompetent and fallible. We are miserable sinners. The modern, liberal assumption is the very opposite of that. It is the essentially optimistic idea that, if only we sort things out properly, we are fine.

And his tentative conclusion: is prayerlessness debilitating?
posted by Cacciaguida at 4:11 PM

 
Barnabas Fund: Egypt: Christian Convert Still Being Held, Four Others Released

Police in Cairo have released on bail four more of the Alexandrian Christians originally arrested in late October. However they have called on the services of an eminent Islamic scholar in their case against the last remaining detainee.

posted by Cacciaguida at 12:15 PM

 
The Supreme Court's First Amendment

According to this bizarre and unwritten legal text, you are fully protected if you

* purvey soft-core pornography
* purvey simulated child pornography
* advertise tobacco
* share illegally intercepted communications
* dance naked, as long as any legislation limiting your right to do so is based on circumambient criminality, not on morality

But if you criticize politicians, and especially if you donate money to others to help them criticize polilticians, your activities may be sharply regulated by Congress in the interest of keeping political speech "fair." That's the short version of this week's horrendous and chilling opinion in McConnell v. FEC, the campaign finance case.

Here is a sampler from Justice Scalia's dissent:

This is a sad day for the freedom of speech. Who could have imagined that the same Court which, within the past four years, has sternly disapproved of restrictions upon such inconsequential forms of expression as virtual child pornography, Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, 535 U.S. 234 (2002), tobacco advertising, Lorillard Tobacco Co. v. Reilly, 533 U.S. 525 (2001), dissemination of illegally intercepted communications, Bartnicki v. Vopper, 532 U.S. 514 (2001), and sexually explicit cable programming, United States v. Playboy Entertainment Group, Inc., 529 U.S. 803 (2000), would smile with favor upon a law that cuts to the heart of what the First Amendment is meant to protect: the right to criticize the government.

But what about the danger to the political system posed by “amassed wealth”? The most direct threat from that source comes in the form of undisclosed favors and payoffs to elected officials–which have already been criminalized, and will be rendered no more discoverable by the legislation at issue here.

The premise of the First Amendment is that the American people are neither sheep nor fools, and hence fully capable of considering both the substance of the speech presented to them and its proximate and ultimate source. If that premise is wrong, our democracy has a much greater problem to overcome than merely the influence of amassed wealth. Given the premises of democracy, there is no such thing as too much speech.

If the Bill of Rights had intended an exception to the freedom of speech in order to combat this malign proclivity of the officeholder to agree with those who agree with him, and to speak more with his supporters than his opponents, it would surely have said so.

The first instinct of power is the retention of power, and, under a Constitution that requires periodic elections, that is best achieved by the suppression of election-time speech. We have witnessed merely the second scene of Act I of what promises to be a lengthy tragedy. In scene 3 the Court, having abandoned most of the First Amendment weaponry that Buckley [v. Valeo] left intact, will be even less equipped to resist the incumbents’ writing of the rules of political debate.

More: Jonah Goldberg here, Gregg Easterbrook here, Cal Thomas here, an Indianapolis Star editorial here, a Detroit News editorial here, the Ninomaniac here.

posted by Cacciaguida at 12:43 PM

 
Our Lady of Guadalupe

For my sins, I ended up at the school Mass this morning. The priest, a Latin American, actually did a very good job recounting the story of the apparition, and he didn't forget the detail about how the bishop, St. Juan, et al. can be seen in the image's eye.

Inevitably, however, a guitar-wielding quasi-nun was present, and frequently led the students in interrupting the liturgy. A kid in the second row ralphed. I am not making this up. Get that kid a free subscription to the Adoremus Bulletin!

Anyway, happy feast day. Cool, how there are so many Marian feasts during Advent.
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:33 PM

 
Bad week for bucket-kicking. Not only Hans Hotter (scroll down), but the WSJ's Bob Bartley has also joined the club.
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:05 PM

 
Washington Post: Malvo Killed to Please Muhammad, Court Told

That's funny: it appears most Virginians would be pleased to kill Muhammad.
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:52 PM

 
The news hasn't reached the English-speaking media yet, but Hans Hotter, the greatest Wagnerian bass-baritone of all time, has died at age 94.


As Wotan


As The Flying Dutchman


Recent picture


Less recent picture


Still less recent picture


Even less recent picture: Take me to your Lieder!



In sum:

SIEGMUND
In Walhalls Saal Walvater find' ich allein?

BRÜNNHILDE
Gefallner Helden hehre Schar
umfängt dich hold mit hoch-heiligem Gruß.

-- Die Walküre, Act II




posted by Cacciaguida at 7:07 PM

 
Well, of course:

I'm terza rima, and I talk and smile. Where others lock their rhymes and thoughts away I let mine out, and chatter all the while. I'm rarely on my own - a wasted day Is any day that's spent without a friend, With nothing much to do or hear or say. I like to be with people, and depend On company for being entertained; Which seems a good solution, in the end. What Poetry Form Are You?

posted by Cacciaguida at 6:19 PM

 
A very short story
posted by Cacciaguida at 6:14 PM

 
In your dreams

Eve recently had this dream. Can I top that? Well, last night I dreamed that Eve was about to be appointed Secretary of Education, and that I had as good a chance as any to be her general counsel.

Now, why would I dream about becoming general counsel to a cabinet department?
posted by Cacciaguida at 6:05 PM

 
Washington Post: Army Chaplain Faces Non-Spying Charges

And don't let us catch you non-spying again!

posted by Cacciaguida at 12:32 AM

 
Reuters AlertNet: Muslim rioters burn 13 churches in north Nigeria

posted by Cacciaguida at 12:30 AM

 
OK, back now. Did some flying around in a fancy suit; kung fu'ed a few a'holes -- the usual stuff. Thought for a while I might have to invoke the traveler's privilege with regard to the obligation yesterday, but soon realized I need not worry -- I was passing through the Diocese of Arlington, and a Mass was just starting!

Also, on part of the journey, I listened to tapes of the two Henry IV plays, so I'm in a mood to go yell at some sons....
posted by Cacciaguida at 7:38 PM

 
Entering the Matrix. Blog-break until Tuesday 12/9. Happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception!
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:06 PM

 

Happy 80th birthday, beloved 50s-era baritone Frank Guarrera!
posted by Cacciaguida at 7:40 PM

 
I take thee, Elinor, into a dyad....

An abstract from a to-be-published law review article crossed my desk today, containing this:

Recent developments emphasize that marriage is a legal artifact.
No matter what end they pursue - extending marriage to same-sex
couples, a "defense of marriage" that seeks the opposite goal,
reform of divorce rules, or marriage promotion as social
policy-marriage activists are fighting over rights,
entitlements, and appropriations. As their wins and losses
reveal, the legal effects of two persons' joining together into
a dyad are not static.

It's not an encouraging sign for the success of a rational debate about marriage that leading scholars in the field keep taking highly controversial conclusions as their starting points. (Nonetheless, do keep reading MarriageDebate.com.)

Of course marriage is not a "dyad." Even without counting God, marriage involves the community and the hypothetical future children as, so to speak, third party beneficiaries. And, as the lawyers will recall from 1st year Contracts, a vested third party beneficiary is one of the most powerful things in the Common Law.
posted by Cacciaguida at 6:51 PM

 
The Old Oligarch, a great drink-mixer, mixes mixing and graduate lab reports.
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:26 PM

 
Headlines

Washington Post: White House, EPA Move To Ease Mercury Rules

Yeah, from now on he doesn't have to leave his caduceus outside when he visits the prez.


Washington Post: How 'Don't Tell' Translates
The Military Needs Linguists, But It Doesn't Want This One

See? Gay rights are a national security issue. What are you -- on the terrorists' side? (Actually, it's lame to dismiss these dudes, given the shortage of Arabic speakers in national service, civil or military.)


And lastly, Forbes.com has exercised true headline genius:

U.S. Puts Hold On China Bras
Dan Ackman, 11.19.03, 9:29 AM ET

NEW YORK - The Bush Administration yesterday imposed quotas on Chinese knit fabric, dressing gowns, robes and bras, invoking so-called "safeguard relief" on those products in response to petitions filed by U.S. manufacturers.



posted by Cacciaguida at 12:22 PM

 
Well, many dioceses wanted him, but only one could have him....



Bishop Raymond Burke of LaCrosse, WI...

is the new Archbishop of St. Louis, replacing Cardinal Rigali, now Archbishop of Philadelphia.

Bishop Burke has been outspoken about the Terri Schiavo case; he spoke at this conference together with Cardinal Lopez Trujillo, Fr. Tom Euteneuer of HLI, and Fr. Mitch Pacwa; and his peace-and-justice staffer, Arthur Hippler, writes frequently for The Wanderer.

If St. Louis is going to become a red-hat see again, the next consistory would be a great time to do it.
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:04 PM

 
The Rat is back! Actually she's been back since October, but now she's way back!

Among her links today:

The Onion: College Freshman Cycles Rapidly Through Identities

Last two grafs:

With a few weeks left in the fall semester, peers speculate that Vanderkamp will change personas at least once more. The top contenders for his next identity include sports enthusiast, raver kid, and motivated careerist.

"Those are all good guesses," Yusef said. "But you have to remember, we're coming up on Hanukkah. Some people don't know this, but Kirk's Jewish. My money says he's going to be one of those guys who gets serious about his Jewish heritage. He's totally going to start wearing a yarmulke and keeping kosher. Either that, or film nerd."



posted by Cacciaguida at 9:55 PM

 
Law-school exam advice
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:45 AM

 
Conversation chez Cacciaguida: Croats, Christmas, and Cacciadelia

Elinor: Terry [our parish's excellent DRE] took me aside after Mass. I said "What have I done now," and she said, "No, no -- there's this new family in the parish that's from Croatia or Slovenia or somewhere in eastern Europe --"

Cacciaguida: Don't tell Croats they're eastern-European. They'll be offended. I found that out the hard way when I was in Zagreb.

Elinor: So what are they, west Asians?

Cacciaguida: Central Europeans. Heirs to Hapsburg culture. That's huge for the Croats, and I'd guess for the Slovenians too, since they're even closer to Austria than Croatia is. For them, "eastern" means --

Elinor: Gypsies?

Cacciaguida: Worse: Serbs! People who write in cyrillic letters and don't bathe. Croats won't even admit that the mountains north of Zagreb are Balkans.

Elinor: So what are they then?

Cacciaguida: I dunno -- South Alps, I guess.

Elinor: Well anyway, Terry says that these people have certain Christmas customs, and --

Cacciaguida: Like boiling a Jew, and they want me to volunteer, is that it?

Elinor: No, no, no. They pick a child in the parish to whom they can be a "secret Santa," and they send that child a present, anonymously. And guess whom they've chosen.

Cacciaguida: Cacciadelia.

Elinor: Of course. So Terry just wanted us to know that when a present arrives for her from people with a Croatian name whom we don't know, it's not a bomb.

Cacciaguida: Ah. Always a worthwhile heads-up.
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:38 AM

 
What Justice Scalia probably meant when, dissenting in Lawrence v. Texas, the sodomy decision, he said that the "mystery passage" from Planned Parenthood v. Casey is "the passage that ate the rule of law"
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:47 PM