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

 
Blog-break until next Monday. Happy New Year!
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:20 PM

 
Almost forgot that Becket carol I promised you. Here it is. Tune: Good King Wenceslas.

Good King Henry 2 got whipped
On the Feast of Becket.
Great his heart and eke his tongue
Whan that he could check it.

But one day, "This priest," said he,
"Who shall rid me of him?"
Now he's got five Saxon monks
Swinging whips abo-O-ove him.
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:03 PM

 
Asian tsumani: Here is a report from an island near the epicenter. At the risk of seeming to trivialize the disaster, which is the opposite of my intent, I note that the description is eerily similar to that of the destruction of Atlantis in this modern Arturian novel, one that has been passing among my sons and myself in the last few weeks.

Fwiw, Amazon is helping the Red Cross collect disaster relief funds.

The new Pacificism? Bush announces that "the United States has formed a coalition with India, Australia and Japan to coordinate worldwide relief and reconstruction efforts...."
posted by Cacciaguida at 2:15 PM

 
Christmastide is a nearly unbroken sequence of great feasts.

Today is Childermas. More latterly it has been called the Feast of the Holy Innocents, which is a fine name for it, but we're going to revive the old name, aren't we?

First there's Christmas Day, then the Feast of Stephen, then the Feast of John, and then Childermas. After Childermas comes the Feast of St. Thomas Becket, which has not yet been accorded the same status by the Church, but should be. Tomorrow, on that feast, I'll re-post my Becket carol.
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:36 PM

 
Torygraph column on Christianity and the Blair government, including Ruth Kelly and Opus Dei, here. Meanwhile, interesting comments continue under this Blair-themed post.
posted by Cacciaguida at 3:21 PM

 

"...where the Angel of Music first held Christine Daaé
fainting in his trembling arms..."

Review of new movie of The Phantom of the Opera. The AP reviewer isn't impressed, but there's ground to question how much she knows. She writes:

The Phantom gets a back story here, in Schumacher and Lloyd Webber's script, to explain his torment. Apparently, he was put on display like a circus freak as a child for his facial disfigurement, and the little girl who would go on to become the Opera Populaire's ballet mistress (played as an adult by Miranda Richardson) helped him escape and squirreled him away inside the opera house.

These additions will undoubtedly appall purists....

But that "back story" is in the show. It's a modification (and a reasonable one) that the show makes from the original novel by Gaston Leroux, not one that the movie makes from the show. (In the novel, the Phantom's guardian is a retired police officer he met in Persia, the "Daroga." The show fuses the Daroga with Mme. Giry, the Opera's choreographer.)

The film producers have made the defensible decision to cast the movie with newcomers rather than established stars. Again, the reviewer is not impressed, this time by Scottish actor Gerard Butler in the title role:

Sure, he's Christine's "angel of music," having secretly mentored her from chorus girl to stage star....But anyone can see that rather than being sucked in by the Phantom's creepy charms, Christine should be focusing her attention on the theater's wealthy patron, Raoul (Patrick Wilson). He's cute and he's into her and, um, he isn't a psycho stalker.

Well, Christine Daaé does focus her attention on Raoul de Chagny, as she should: he's a Nice Man such as I'd want my daughter to marry. But on the way, she profoundly transforms her adoring Phantom.

Andrew Lloyd Webber's show is the only adaptation that is faithful to the ending, and therefore the essence, of the novel. (The Lon Chaney "classic" version is faithful except for the ending, which it massacres.) The Phantom is a violent man who learns generosity by means of a hopeless love, and through the sympathy of the girl who cannot return that love but understands his plight as a man with a great heart but a horrific face.

It is a great story; the musical does it justice; and if the film is at all representative of the musical, it will do justice to both.

OK, here are two of my favorite passages from the original novel. From Chapter Two, "The New Margarita" (and btw that's the female lead in Gounod's FAUST, not a drink!):

Hardly breathing, he [Raoul] went up to the dressing-room and, with his ear to the door to catch her reply, prepared to knock. But his hand dropped. He had heard a man's voice in the dressing-room, saying, in a curiously masterful tone:

`Christine, you must love me!'

And Christine's voice, infinitely sad and trembling, as though accompanied by tears, replied:

`How can you talk like that? When I sing only for you!'

Raoul leaned against the panel to ease his pain. His heart, which had seemed gone for ever, returned to his breast and was throbbing loudly. The whole passage echoed with its beating and Raoul's ears were deafened. Surely, if his heart continued to make such a noise, they would hear it inside, they would open the door and the young man would be turned away in disgrace. What a position for a Chagny! To be caught listening behind a door! He took his heart in his two hands to make it stop.

The man's voice spoke again: `Are you very tired?'

`Oh, to-night I gave you my soul and I am dead!' Christine replied.

`Your soul is a beautiful thing, child,' replied the grave man's voice, `and I thank you. No emperor ever received so fair a gift. The angels wept tonight.'

And at the end, the narrator says:

I have prayed over his mortal remains, that God might show him mercy notwithstanding his crimes. Yes, I am sure, quite sure that I prayed beside his body, the other day, when they took it from the spot where they were burying the phonographic records. It was his skeleton. I did not recognize it by the ugliness of the head, for all men are ugly when they have been dead as long as that, but by the plain gold ring which he wore and which Christine Daaé had certainly slipped on his finger, when she came to bury him in accordance with her promise.

The skeleton was lying near the little well, in the place where the Angel of Music first held Christine Daaé fainting in his trembling arms, on the night when he carried her down to the cellars of the opera-house.

posted by Cacciaguida at 3:22 PM

 
Second Day of Christmas

It's snowing here. It doesn't often do that. It's supposed to stop well before I have to, sigh, take Jonathan Lee to the not-so-nearby airport for his return to Twentynine Palms.

Christmas Day: We went to Midnight Mass, and when we got back, most of us didn't feel like going to sleep right away, so we had egg-nog and talked Marine for a while. In the morning I was the early bird -- 11 a.m. It was therefore in the afternoon that we opened presents and Elinor and Caccia di Gregorio prepared Christmas Dinner. Dinner was roast beef and ham, with an inexpensive Chilean Shiraz that I loved, though my abilities as a wine critic are a work in progress. After dinner we watched one of the all-family presents: the expanded edition of Return of the King. During the day, my prayer was aided by this and this.

Re the extended ROTK. Restored: Voice of Saruman, courtship of Eowyn and Faramir (though too brief), and Mouth of Sauron. Bravo!

posted by Cacciaguida at 2:54 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
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:06 PM

 
The Old Oligarch says:

When heaven is wedded to earth, how can a soul appreciate that nuptial mystery in a throng? Pious festivity redounds reflection; reflection draws one out into solitude, for solitude is the condition of intimacy. Thus -- at a dinner, sing carols, wherever -- one finds oneself suddenly lonely, for the Beloved cannot fully be There in the way He wants to be.

....and he provides a musical solution. Mine is this:


The ethereal harmonies the cathedraline echoes on this recording whisk me away to some great Gothic church, alone. Listen especially to tracks 8 and 15. The former is "Gabriel Fram Heven King."

The latter, "Als I Lay on Yoolis Night," is a strange variation on the Annunciation narrative -- Mary telling it to the infant Jesus who is asking to have His life foretold as a bedtime story, saying this is what all mothers do -- framed as a dream dreamed by one who lies in his room on Christmas night, "alone in my longing." Why is he alone? What is he longing for? We don't know, and the questions add to the divine mystery of the song.
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:48 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, weazles, rats, and ferrets;
From curfew-time
To the next prime

-- Cartwright

(Taken from the "Christmas at Bracebridge Hall" stories in Washington Irving's Sketch Book.)
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:30 PM

 
Gabriel Fram Heven King (Middle-English carol)
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:26 PM

 
Dickens goes hard

"And it was a very uncommon kind of torch, for once or twice when there were angry words between some dinner-carriers who had jostled each other, he shed a few drops of water on them from it, and their good humour was restored directly. For they said, it was a shame to quarrel when there's a Marine standing right behind you. And so it was! God help them, so it was!"

-- Charles Dickens (but Jonathan Lee helped)
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:44 PM

 
A ministering angel vs. a leering satyr

An Army chaplain recounts his experiences tending the wounded and dying after Tuesday's attack in Mosul, here.

After you've read that, go read Hugh Hewitt's analysis of what the New York Times did with this event.
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:11 PM

 
And speaking of Verdi, I've just discovered an awesome essay by critic Alex Ross, in which he explains "what's up with" Verdi (with special emphasis on OTELLO, RIGOLETTO, BALLO, and TRAVIATA), compares Verdi to Hitchcock, and also mounts a thoughtful attack on modern Euro-trashy stage directors. Clickami, Alfredo!
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:49 PM

 
I'm "Carlo il sommo imperatore"!

"Carlo il sommo imperatore
Non e piu che muta polve...."

("Charles, the great emperor, is nothing but silent dust...")

-- Verdi, DON CARLO, Act II (Act I if you ditch the Fontainebleau scene)

Take the quiz: "What Monarch Are You?"

Charles V
You are a mastermind. Sinister? No. Disconnected from humanity at times? Occasionally. But, you look out for you and yours by making alliances and by keeping quiet and striking when it's time. Try and be more humane. Don't dumb yourself down, but be sure and employ the empathy emotion more often so that you don't lose touch.

As a matter of fact, I have taped to my office wall the following words of wisdom from the ghost of Charles V, as he appears, disguised as a monk, in DON CARLO:

"Il duolo della terra
Nel chiostro ancor c'insegue.
Del core sol la guerra
In ciel si calmera."

("The pain of earth follows us into the cloister. The war of the heart will be calmed only in heaven." At the end of the opera, the long-dead Emperor saves his grandson, the Don Carlo of the title, from both Philip II and the Grand Inquisitor, taking young Carlo with him into the monastery into which he himself had retired.)
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:32 AM

 
Alexander of Macedon struggles with Filioque.

EDITED TO ADD: The Old Oligarch weighs in here.
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:51 PM

 
Recent grab-bag from The Daily Torygraph

*Charles fights death penalty for converts. By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent (Filed: 18/12/2004) -- The Prince of Wales is brokering efforts to end the Muslim death penalty on converts to other faiths, The Telegraph has learned. The Prince may not be a total loss after all.

* Archbishop of Cardiff: Life is Sacred: That's What Christmas Really Means. (RC, natch.)

* Conservative leader Michael Howard joins Blair in support of national ID cards but faces rebellion by his party's right wing, including shadow-cabinet member John Redwood, and also Lady Thatcher, who calls the very idea of ID cards "Germanic" (which from her is not praise).

* Mark Steyn on our de-Christed Christmas

* New RHEINGOLD at Covent Garden, featuring Bryn Terfel's first Wotan: review here; rumpus over Rhinemaidens' rum-pum-pum-pums here.
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:09 PM

 
Tech Central Station debates: Which party does Santa Claus belong to?
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:18 PM

 
It's been cold lately where I am. How cold is it? Ask Dave Letterman. According to him:

* It's so cold, the Bush twins switched their margaritas for Irish coffee.

* It's so cold, up on Park Avenue a poodle had to be chiseled off a fire hydrant.

* It's so cold, Paris Hilton made a video with her clothes on.

* It's so cold, Bernard Kerik was happy to be in hot water.


posted by Cacciaguida at 4:52 PM

 
Defense Against Dumb Arts

Can a dead human body be "personal property" for larceny purposes? If so (which I doubt), is it so when the defendant is also the killer? If this is a separate crime at all, wouldn't it be more like obstruction of justice/misprision of felony?

I ask because I read this in an exam paper, in a fact pattern where Defendant is trying to dispose of a corpse: "D may face a charge of larceny for the stealing of the body.... D may be charged with the stealing of the body from the victim's next of kin or the government," one of which, the student maintains, had "constructive possession" of the body as soon as -- well, I guess, as soon as the victim was dead.

My lame-o-meter went crazy, and my "fight, flight, or snark" instinct was triggered. So I wrote in the margin: "A human body is not personal property; see U.S. Const. Am. 13."

If any of you can cite me to a case where they did some guy for larceny as well as murder, when he had removed the body so as to hide it (which, I admit, would probably qualify as "intent to deprive permanently"), please do so, so I can raise this kid's grade appropriately.
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:17 PM

 
Sorry for the light blogging. It's either a cold or the flu; it's where you've got some cold symptoms, plus, most of your musculature goes to Martinique for the winter and all you get is this lousy T-shirt, over which you put an oxford, a shetland, and an electric blanket. Knamean? Better tomorrow.
posted by Cacciaguida at 3:45 PM

 
Renata Tebaldi, R.I.P.
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:00 AM

 
Can we now substitute "Tony Blair" for "Franco" in the standard diatribe?

Apparently the range of people "in touch with The Work" in Britain includes at least one lady of the Labour Party, who has now ascended to the post of Education Minister, which just happens to be the highest post Margaret Thatcher attained in government before becoming Prime Minister. And Ruth Kelly (unlike, one notes with sadness, Mrs. Thatcher) is altogether pro-life. I'll never figure out the Blair Government. (Hat-tip: The Curt Jester.)
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:38 AM

 
Supreme Command : Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in Wartime, by Eliot Cohen, pp. 205-6:

There is a danger that absent recent or current experiences of really dangerous war -- war in which the other side can inflict damage and has options -- civilian and military decision-makers alike will forget the lessons of serious conflict. Those lessons are, above all, that political leaders must immerse themselves in the conduct of their wars no less than in the great projects of domestic legislation; that they must master their military briefs as thoroughly as they do their civilian ones; that they must demand and expect from their military subordinates a candor as bruising as it is necessary; that both groups must expect a running conversation in which, although civilian opinion will not usually dictate, it must dominate; and that that conversation will cover not only ends and policies, but ways and means. [Emphasis added.]

The previous 200 pages demonstrate this thesis, focusing on the war leadership of Lincoln, Clemenceau ("war is too important to be left to the generals"), Churchill, and Ben-Gurion. There is also a chapter on how, no, as a matter of fact, Vietnam does not disprove the thesis, despite what you've heard about Johnson approving bombing targets, b/c he never did more than ratify the military's choices, and b/c there was throughout the Vietnam war an amazing lack of curiosity on the part of civilian leaders and an equally amazing lack of intellectual firepower on the part of military ones.

Excellent book.
posted by Cacciaguida at 4:22 PM

 
Time was, Don John of Austria was going to the war. Now, we f'in' invite 'em in.
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:14 AM

 
TOP TEN EXCUSES TO USE WHEN A MARINE OFFICER CHATS WITH YOUR MARINE SON, THEN TURNS TO YOU AND ASKS WHEN AND WHERE YOU SERVED, AND THE FACT IS, YOU DIDN’T

10. I was doing Medieval Studies at Yale. Hey, when the First Crusaders bridged the Bosporus, was that a cool amphib op or what?

9. In my family, things skip a generation. My father was Navy, I've got one Marine son so far. My grandfather was a lawyer who was never in the military....

8. Before I’da gotten outta the yellow footprints, youd’a told me I was a d__khead for thinking I could ever be a Marine, and youd’a been right.

7. I was part of the lazy generation. (No wait, that's the one I actually used!)

6. Two words – John Keegan!

5. I was going to give you a list of famous people who never served, but after looking at it I changed my mind.

4. Er, would you believe, member of the Society for Military History?

3. I wanted to get an early start on making new Marines.

2. No bases near the Met, dude.

--and--

1. “I shovelled sh_t in Louisiana.”
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:04 PM

 
Meanwhile, there's a judge in Alabama who seems determined to be a living, walking exam question.
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:52 AM

 
Intelligent design theory? You aren't allowed to teach that, says the ACLU, switching to the speech-suppression mode it adopts whenever it perceives a threat to a God-free origins theory.

If the ACLU wins this suit, what will it recommend that the school board do with all those intelligent-design texts it ordered -- burn them?

More here.
posted by Cacciaguida at 2:28 PM

 
Louisiana Judge Suspended for Wearing Blackface. Well, Louisiana, you know. Just be glad it was a private party and not a sentencing hearing.
posted by Cacciaguida at 2:07 PM

 
Ragemonkey sound on Santa Claus!
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:09 AM

 
Al Maghtas (The Baptismal): new magazine for Christian Arabs. (In Arabic, unforch, but the linked article talks normal.)
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:31 PM

 
Spc. Thomas Doerflinger, RIP

If you've ever worked in Washington pro-life circles, you've probably met Richard Doerflinger, the intellectual mainstay of the USCCB's Pro-Life office. Dick has given his career to helping the unborn; last month he gave up his son, Army Spc. Thomas Doerflinger, age 20, to the cause of stopping terrorism and spreading freedom.

ROSS
Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier's debt:
He only lived but till he was a man;
The which no sooner had his prowess confirm'd
In the unshrinking station where he fought,
But like a man he died.

SIWARD
Then he is dead?

ROSS
Ay, and brought off the field: your cause of sorrow
Must not be measured by his worth, for then
It hath no end.

SIWARD
Had he his hurts before?

ROSS
Ay, on the front.

SIWARD
Why then, God's soldier be he!
Had I as many sons as I have hairs,
I would not wish them to a fairer death:
And so, his knell is knoll'd.

-- Macbeth, Act V, Scene VIII
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:50 PM

 
Chrenkoff lauds Steve Vincent's In the Red Zone, a Iraq travelogue from Spence Publishing.

(Order by clicking the Spence link at your left -- or 270 degrees to the right, as the case may be -- and I just may get something that I don't get from publishing law review articles.)
posted by Cacciaguida at 4:54 PM

 
NRO's DaVinci Code parody.
posted by Cacciaguida at 3:14 PM

 
A medieval English poet links Christmas, Our Lady, and human dignity

And thorwe a maide faire and wys
Now man is made of ful grete pris;
Now angelys knelen to mannys seruys,
And at this time al this byfel.
Nowel!

See this book, p. 44.
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:31 PM

 
Jonathan Lee reports in.
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:28 PM

 
AP: Gay divorce

The first gay divorce case in Suffolk County, which includes Boston, was filed Wednesday by a male couple who exchanged vows on May 22, five days after same-sex marriage was legalized.

One partner was a 33-year-old religious educator from Boston, the other a 39-year-old professor based in Washington. Since then, the couple said in their divorce filing, "our interests have grown in different directions." Each man signed a settlement attesting that the marriage had "irretrievably broken down."

In less than seven months? Just what did they think they were "vowing"?

The most difficult part of the settlement appeared to be custody of their three cats, who will live exclusively with the professor.

But "in recognition of the emotional hardship of such relinquishment," the settlement reads, the professor agreed to provide his ex "with periodic updates, photographs, and any health-related information pertaining" to the cats.

Cats. Right. In a sense, it all fits: they had a make-believe marriage, so they also have make-believe kids, played by cats. Gay men seem to be good at make-believe. I wonder if that's why so many of them like opera.
posted by Cacciaguida at 2:33 PM

 
Society for Military History.
posted by Cacciaguida at 6:13 PM

 
We're family

Bishop Wilton Gregory to be new Archbishop of Atlanta. Retiring Archbp. John Donohue will be a tough act to follow. Bp. Gregory, of course, was USCCB president during the years in which the clerical-abuse fit hit the shan.

Meanwhile, the Rector of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Msgr. Michael Bransfield, is the new Bishop of Charleston-Wheeling, WVa. DC to WVa? Now there's self-giving in the service of the Church. At least they've got 70 mph speed limits out there, which are very useful when you want to leave.

Outside of WVa, we'll all benefit from Msgr. Bransfield becoming a bishop, having a vote in the USCCB, rising further, etc. In the meantime, one hopes the National Shrine -- a happy fallback for Washington-area Catholics both by the soundness of its liturgies and the generosity of its sacramental schedule -- will remain in equally good hands.
posted by Cacciaguida at 4:18 PM

 
A "heads up" on exams

A colleague passes me in the hall and says: "At this time of year [i.e. exam period], I like to check word derivations and make sure that 'proctor' is in fact different from 'proctologist.'"
posted by Cacciaguida at 7:47 PM

 
Harry Potter and the Impresario's Tone

Casting suggestions (both as to fach and as to specific singers) for a hypothetical Harry Potter opera: here, and here. (Hat-tip: Eve.)

* Casting Harry and Ron on the analogy of Tamino and Papageno makes some sense.

* Snape should be an Alberich-type bass-baritone. Classic model: Gustav Neidlinger. Current: Richard Paul Fink. Btw, Scarpia is a baritone, not a bass, profundo or otherwise. True, Sam Ramey recorded the part, but that was obvious fach-busting.

* Arthur Weasley could well be a character tenor, even if mated to a mezzo Molly. That said, I think the first post has too many character tenors in its cast. Dumbledore, maybe; Lucius Malfoy, I don't think so -- more a menacing second-string baritone, like Schlemihl in TALES OF HOFFMANN. Classic: Clifford Harvuot.

* Instead of a second-banana soprano, Ginny could be the sort of romantic lyric-mezzo that Rosalind Elias was in her prime, the sort of mezzo you'd expect as Fenena in NABUCCO or Erika in Sam Barber's VANESSA. Hermione/Ginny could be Mimi/Musetta (two sopranos), but could also be Norma/Adalgisa (soprano and mezzo, though Adalgisa is sometimes sung by a soprano: Freni and Caballe both sang it).

Whoever wrote the second post says:

Narcissa Malfoy: Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. The uncharitable would mention those strictly-not-to-be-commented-upon Nazi connections, but hey, I won't go there.

YESS! And on her birthday, too! "Lizzie Blackhead," we call her. A bitch as well as a Nazi. Nice voice, though.

Mad-Eye Moody: Hans Hotter. Alas, not the young Hotter, who was in both voice and carriage easily one of the sexiest things to walk onto the opera stage, but the old Hotter, who kept singing well into his 70's (and teaching until he died), portraying LULU's Schigolch, one of the creepiest characters in the entire repertory. Grizzled and tough, capable of delicacy but still also able to blast out the lights and scare the sh_t out of an audience.

Ah, the late Hans Hotter -- baritone with full bass range, and the greatest at everything from Wagner's Wotan to Verdi's Grand Inquisitor. (No pix of Hotter as the Inquisitor, but wanna see Jerry Hines and Jim Morris get "granded" up?) (Hotter could also be Snape -- check out the pictures at the bottom of the bio.)

Voldemort: Russell Oberlin. Oberlin is a voice utterly in a class of his own (although I will be very surprised if any of you have heard him); countertenor range, but not the 'falsettists' that I (and others) generally consider most countertenors to be. He could sing a cadence going down two octaves from a top F with no break audible in the voice--and yes, the sound is rather otherworldly. Perfect for the high and thin voice of Voldemort. It's so nice not to have a basso villain.

True, Rowling has hemmed us in here by insisting on V's high speaking voice, at least pre-cauldron. But "honestly" -- a counter-tenor?

Albus Dumbledore: Kurt Moll. Moll is one of the truly great Wagner and Mozart basses (not to mention the two grand Strauss roles), but with a warm bass instead of a black bass. Immensely dignified, capable of displaying both raw power and complete gentleness. Good in both comedy and drama, but let's put him in the serious role here.

Interesting: half of these posters want Dumbledore to be a high character tenor, half of them want him to be a way-down-there bass, like Moll. Is D. more like Mozart's Sarastro (a deep bass role, for which Kurt Moll is noted), or more like Rimsky-Korsakov's Astrologer (in LE COQ D'OR), an unnaturally high character-tenor role? (Romantic lead tenore leggero Enrico di Giuseppe graciously undertook the role of the Astrologer at the New York City Opera in the '60s, and some thought it was his best role.)

Rubeus Hagrid: Martti Talvela. Great Finnish bass, also a warm voice as opposed to black, but a real comedic talent to boot, especially as Osmin. Perfect casting for Hagrid because he was a giant of a man, standing about 6'7". Famous at the Met for his Boris Godunov, and taking the tumble down the stairs for the death scene. Also capable of great sensitivity; I love his Winterreise deeply.

Yes, a real-life gentle giant. Hate to disillusion, though, but all Met Borises in the (superb) current production take the final fall ramrod-style, just as Talvela did: the costume is padded!! (N.B. Awkward if Dumbledore and Hagrid are both deep basses.)

Severus Snape: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. A baritone who decided he wanted to be a Heldenbariton, which are all actually bass roles (RHEINGOLD Wotan, Hans Sachs), with disastrous results.

The RHEINGOLD Wotan is not a bass role, and Fishy-Dishy's venture into it was not disastrous. (Much good sense thereon in this review, though I don't agree with its criticisms of the Solti RING.) Other than that, the guy is right: Snape is a low baritone, and "ubiquitous"!

Sirius Black: Jon Vickers.

YESSS!

Minerva McGonagall: Anja Silja.

OK, or Helga Dernesch. Or Leonie Rysanek, as long as we're casting dead singers (like Hotter). These Wagnerian-sopranos-turned-mezzos would fit McG well. Martha Moedl. Margaret Harshaw (mezzo turned soprano, but never lost that matriarchal edge). Stop me before I cast again....
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:12 PM

 
...Tu gloria Jerusalem, tu laetitia Israel...

Went to the local indult Tridentine parish this evening for Imm.Conc. The gradual of the Mass for this feast seems to be the text of Tota Pulchra es Maria, consisting of snippets from the Book of Judith and from the Song of Songs.

Bruckner wrote a motet based on this text, and my high school chorus sang it at one of our joint orchestra-chorus concerts. It's one of the reasons I'm a Catholic today. Here you can see the score of the first twenty bars of it, and hear a partial rendition via MIDI. It's included in this recording of Bruckner liturgical music (led by ace Bruckner exponent Eugen Jochum), and you can listen to a bit of it there too via Windows Media.
posted by Cacciaguida at 6:56 PM

 
Immaculate Conception.


posted by Cacciaguida at 1:58 AM

 
Henry Dieterich wisely says: "If this poor child could possibly cease to believe in Christmas because she understands that Santa Claus is a fiction, then her parents have failed her as Catholic parents. If they think that belief in Santa Claus is more important than knowing about the birth of Jesus Christ, then their own faith is sorely deficient."
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:52 AM

 
Is there anyone besides me who feels like retching violently at the whining of a few Boston "Catholics" whose parishes are being closed because they are no longer justified by the quantity of Catholics in the area?

If these people had either reproduced in adequate numbers, produced priestly vocations, or made converts, their parishes wouldn't be museum pieces today. They didn't do any of these things in sufficient numbers, leading the Archdiocese to maintain them for years as a sort of local charity. That will no longer work financially, so the parishes are being closed and the buildings sold. But not nearly fast enough.

The idea has gotten around that a parish is a sort of community clubhouse. "My grandmother was baptized here" -- whinges like that become arguments for maintaining the parishes even if the number of baptisms has plunged. "Financial mismanagement by the Archdiocese" -- indeed, such as carrying deadweight, deadwood parishes on the books for decades.

The latest is that one of the parishes slated for closing is being occupied by a "vigil," as parishioners fill it with the sort of activities that are meaningful to today's modern Catholic, such as "classes in wreath-making, cake-decorating and slate-painting, along with Bible study for adults and a new Catholic book group," and "the 'daily chuckle' that Pelly Tulimieri appends to the homily [sic] he delivers at evening services. The 84-year-old retired sheet-metal engineer said he finds Catholic-themed jokes on the Internet and in magazines."

The above quote comes from the L.A. Times's Elizabeth Mehren, plainly the Rita Skeeter of the Church. She brings us news, too, that the modernist ideologues that Boston never fails to produce have glommed onto the "vigil" at St. Albert (former) Church as a sort of new Reformation.

Archdiocese officials are frustrated and surprised by the disobedience. Theologians, noting that parishioners are conducting services that lack only a priest to qualify as Masses, say a revolution might be taking place....The vigils at St. Albert and elsewhere are 'a significant development' for the Catholic church, said James Post, a Boston University management professor."

Mr. Post, Ms. Mehren mentions in passing, is also the local head of "Voice of the Faithful," a group founded to leverage the sex abuse crisis into progress for the long-stymied AmChurch agenda.

Unauthorized para-liturgies are also taking place, using consecrated hosts.

Let's make some reparation -- and get these ex-parishes to the auction block expeditiously. As for those sweet, sensitive "vigil" dudes -- since selling humans is immoral, I'd recommend throwing them into the deal for free.
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:13 AM

 
Entering the Matrix. Blog-break until Tuesday, Dec. 7. More Catholic conservative operatic legal Marine stuff comin' after that.

And re opera, I just saw THE MERRY WIDOW -- a performance of it, I mean.

BARON ZETA: I'm going to listen at the keyhole.
COUNT DANILO: That's not done in the best diplomatic circles.
BARON ZETA: Ours aren't the best.
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:01 AM

 
MarineParents.com! Many thanks to JarheadDad.
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:47 PM

 
Certain aspects of the Marine difference

Begging permission from Tom of Domine, Non Sum Dignus, I'd like to reproduce below passages from a little essay that he received and posted from a Marine sergeant. I have selected certain passages for emphasis; certain of my readers will know why.

WHAT MAKES A MARINE A MARINE?

...The choice is made clear. You may join the Army to go to adventure training, or join the Navy to go to Bangkok, or join the Air Force to go to computer school. You join the Marine Corps to go to War! But the mere act of signing the enlistment contract confers no status in the Corps. The Army recruit is told from his first minute in uniform that “your in the Army now, soldier.” The Navy and Air Force enlistees are sailors or airmen as soon as they get off the bus at the training center. The new arrival at Marine Corps boot camp is called a recruit, or worse (a lot worse), but never, never, ever a MARINE. Not yet, maybe never. He or she must earn the right to claim the title of UNITED STATES MARINE and failure returns you to civilian life without hesitation or ceremony.

History classes in boot camp? Stop a soldier on the street and ask him to name a battle of World War One. Pick a sailor at random to describe the epic fight of the Bon Homme Richard. Everyone has heard of McGuire Air Force Base. So ask any airman who Major Thomas McGuire was, and why he is so commemorated. All of the services have glorious traditions but no one teaches the young soldier, sailor or airman what his uniform means and why he should be proud of it. But - ask a Marine about World War One and you will hear of the wheat field at Belleau Wood and the courage of the Fourth Marine Brigade and the Fifth and Sixth Infantry Regiments....

Every Marine knows this story and dozens more. We are taught them in boot camp as a regular part of the curriculum. Every Marine will always be taught them! You can learn to don a gas mask anytime, even on the plane in route to the war zone, but before you can wear the Eagle Globe and Anchor and claim the title you must know about the Marines who made that emblem and title meaningful....

Dan Daly’s shouted challenge [“Come on you sons a bitches, do you want to live forever?”] takes on its true meaning - if you lie in the trenches you may survive for now, but someday you will die and no one will care. If you charge the guns you may die in the next two minutes, but you will be one of the immortals. All Marines die in the red flash of battle or the white cold of the nursing home. In the vigor of youth or the infirmity of age all will eventually die, but the Marine Corps lives on. Every Marine who ever lived is living still, in the Marines who claim the title today. It is that sense of belonging to something that will outlive your own mortality which gives people a light to live by and a flame to mark their passing.

Semper Fi....

The choice is clear. You may join one of the other services, or you may petition....

The full text is very much worth your time.
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:28 PM

 
AP: Netherlands Hospital Euthanizes Babies. But there's no slippery slope when you start euthanizing only the sentient elderly with severe chronic illness who specifically request it and with expert ethics panels in place as a safeguard -- no-o-o-o-o-o.
posted by Cacciaguida at 3:03 PM

 
Another new blog: a Catholic-military one called Domine Non Sum Dignus, by "Tom" (no relation to any 'Guida family member, as far as I know). The title poignantly captures the sentiments of non-military parents giving sons to the Marine Corps (though if the total number of 'Guidi who don the globe-and-anchor exceeds two, Elinor will demand the Mom Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster).

Though Tom's blog is not exclusively Marine, I will file it under "The Few, the Proud, the On-Line."
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:58 PM

 
Feeling unusually foreign-policy-y today -- yet still right-wing? Check out The Diplomad, Transatlantic Intelligencer, and The Daily Demarche.

posted by Cacciaguida at 10:05 PM

 
Jonathan Lee has "Thanksgiving dinner with the American people," and other adventures.

(If any of you can give me an informed opinion about JL being assigned to Ground Radio Repair rather than Amphibious Assault for his MOS -- that's the only bad news he has -- please do so.)

posted by Cacciaguida at 4:55 PM

 
More on Dante translations: re Sayers

In response to Patrick's question in the comment boxes of the Esolen post just below:

Definitely hang on to your Sayers! Her introductions and notes are the best ever. Her erudition in things medieval is considerable, and she views Dante through the prism of a yearning toward Catholicism that only a certain type of Anglo-Catholic (what she called a "Roamin' Catholic) can achieve.

Her translation itself is controversial. I like it. It is one of the very few that replicate Dante's terza rima. (I've been told there's another -- Cary? -- but I'm not sure).

Because English is less rhyme-rich than Italian, writing terza rima in English leads to more stilting and awkwardness than in Italian. This accounts for what strikes some readers as self-consciously "olde" in Sayers' version. It doesn't bother me; it's still much better poetry than the wretched Ciardi version, which does not attempt terza rima.

If someone were to publish the Sayers version, with complete notes and intros, and with the original on facing pages, then you'd have a real competitor to Esolen.

I'd like to put in a good word, as well, for the translation by Mark Musa, available separately or as The Viking Portable Dante (incudes Vita Nuova!). No original-on-facing-pages in this version, and only minimal notes, but the translation itself scores very high both on literal accuracy and on smoothness and euphony as English poetry (more so than Sayers, because Musa is not attempting terza rima).

The real goal, of course, is reading the Italian. No excuses: we live in world full of Spanish speakers, and most of us pick up some Latin, Spanish, or French in the course of ordinary schooling. The Latin-derived ("Romance") languages are not so alien from one another that we have any reason to be afraid of Italian. Being an opera jock helps, but it is not necessary.

"But it's medieval Italian!" Only chronologically. Such was Dante's influence that he acted as a preservative on his own language; his Italian is far less removed from today's than is Chaucer's English from today's. At most there are a few words and spellings that you wouldn't see in the daily Osservatore Romano.
posted by Cacciaguida at 2:24 PM

 
Exciting Dante translation news



Anthony Esolen has just published his translation of Paradiso, completing his Divine Comedy for Modern Library, and beating Robert and Jean Hollander to the punch (they have published their Inferno and Purgatorio but not their Paradiso).

Of translations published since about 1990, these two, Hollander and Esolen, are clearly the best, not least because the Hollanders and Esolen are all in fundamental sympathy with Dante's vision. The Hollander and Esolen versions both give us the original Italian on facing pages, and both have excellent notes. But Esolen's translation is the more powerful poetry by far.

Prof. Esolen, a young man (PhD 1987), teaches at Providence College. In addition to his scholarly work, he is a contributing editor to Touchstone, and he has also published in Crisis and the New Oxford Review. Here is one of his Touchstone articles.

I have sampled Esolen's Paradiso, using XV 139-144 as my test verses. His version is even more moving, and more belligerent, than that of Dorothy Sayers, which I quoted (with one minor emendation) here.

The Conservative Book Club is currently offering its members the entire Esolen Divine Comedy in hardcover. Whether you buy it that way, or whether you get the paperback Inf and Purg and wait for the paperback Par -- either way, run, don't walk, to get this translation.
posted by Cacciaguida at 4:24 PM

 
Two NEW BLOG announcements:

Young and Catholic, by Tim Drake, of the National Catholic Register inter alia (check out his book too)

Basia me, Catholica sum, by Meredith, Christendom College undergraduate


posted by Cacciaguida at 5:48 PM

 
Spence Publishing writes to say it is holding a Christmas book sale now through 11:59 p.m. tomorrow, Wednesday, November 24. All hardcovers will be $10, and all paperbacks $7.50.
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:44 PM

 
The Empire Ricks Back


Warner: "Turn to the Moderate Side! It is your destiny!"
Santorum: "No! I'll never join you!!"

The Hill reports:

Sen. Rick Santorum’s (R-Pa.) actions on behalf of his embattled senior GOP home-state colleague, Arlen Specter, have strained relations with some conservative groups that Santorum will need to win reelection in 2006.....

Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah) predicted that while conservative voters “may be disappointed with [Santorum] at the moment, when they look at who his opponent is, they’ll recognize that Rick is their guy.”

Maybe. But wait, looky here:

One possible Democratic challenger to Santorum is state Treasurer Bob Casey Jr., son of the former governor, who led the state ballot Nov. 2 with 3.3 million votes.

Also to be noted from this Hill article: when block-Specter-for-chairman forces needed a place to meet, space was made available in the office of pro-life leader and stem-cell-research-ban author Sen. Sam Brownback. I totally like you, Sam-I-am!
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:00 AM

 
The Ninomaniac gets confrontational about the Confrontation Clause.
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:44 PM

 
What a surprise!
posted by Cacciaguida at 6:11 PM

 

"You don't know what you're talking about!" said Ron, starting to get angry. "Grims scare the living daylights out of most wizards!"

"There you are, then," said Hermione in a superior tone. "They see the Grim and die of fright. The Grim's not an omen, it's the cause of death! And Harry's still with us because he's not stupid enough to see one and think, right, well, I'd better pop my clogs then!"

-- HP & the P of A

posted by Cacciaguida at 1:57 AM

 
Daily Telegraph: Although Mr Powell's departure was announced on November 15, his letter of resignation was dated November 11, the day he had a meeting with Mr Bush.

As Urquhart would say: "Think it over. I'll delay the press release until noon." (Caution: House of Cards spoilers at the Urquhart link.)
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:20 AM

 
Read Chester the Marine on why defeat of the intelligence reform bill in its present version is very good news, why further centralization of intelligence is bad, and why the Pentagon must not lose budgetary authority over the intelligence ops of the respective services.
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:04 PM

 
Christian Science Monitor: The white flag may be an international symbol of surrender, but in Fallujah it has become another tool of guerrilla war....

Fake surrenders have been a standard resistance tactic throughout this war; see e.g. page 63 of this book. If violation of the international-law status of surrender is not out of bounds, there is no reason to think abuse of the international-law privileges of wounded prisoners is out of bounds either. This will stand in for a much longer post I was planning about the Marine who killed someone said to have been an unarmed and wounded enemy.

Meanwhile, in The Washington Post:

The U.S. military has found nearly 20 houses where intelligence officers say they believe hostages were killed or tortured in this city, including one containing a cage in which a British contractor who was beheaded last month was probably confined.

U.S. Army intelligence officers said the cage, discovered in a house in southern Fallujah, matched almost identically one shown in a videotape of the contractor, Kenneth Bigley, whose death was confirmed Oct. 10....

Bigley, 62, an engineer, became the first British hostage killed in Iraq. In a videotape aired on an Arab satellite network before his death, Bigley was shown in a metal cage with a chain around his neck, pleading for his life.

"They had a sick, depraved culture of violence in that city," said Lt. Col. Daniel Wilson, an operations officer with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.

Maj. James West, a Marine intelligence officer, said the houses, which he referred to as "places of atrocities," were scattered across Fallujah. Some had false walls that led to rooms splattered with blood. One house had bloody handprints on the wall. "They chained people to the walls," West said.

Note to the media: Could we have some pictures of these findings, please? Lord knows we were shown pictures of Abu Ghraib. I don't think American misdeeds should be covered up, but I do think that pictorial evidence of the evil we are fighting should be beamed from the housetops, just like pictures of the concentration camps after WWII.


posted by Cacciaguida at 10:16 PM

 
Feast of Christ the King


The encyclical inaugurating this feast is Pius XI's Quas Primas, 1925.

As one who teaches separation of powers to his students, I find it good to be reminded that this is a provisional, human arrangement, and that in Christ, all powers are re-integrated:

14. Let Us explain briefly the nature and meaning of this lordship of Christ. It consists, We need scarcely say, in a threefold power which is essential to lordship. This is sufficiently clear from the scriptural testimony already adduced concerning the universal dominion of our Redeemer, and moreover it is a dogma of faith that Jesus Christ was given to man, not only as our Redeemer, but also as a law-giver, to whom obedience is due. Not only do the gospels tell us that he made laws, but they present him to us in the act of making them. Those who keep them show their love for their Divine Master, and he promises that they shall remain in his love. He claimed judicial power as received from his Father, when the Jews accused him of breaking the Sabbath by the miraculous cure of a sick man. "For neither doth the Father judge any man; but hath given all judgment to the Son."[26] In this power is included the right of rewarding and punishing all men living, for this right is inseparable from that of judging. Executive power, too, belongs to Christ, for all must obey his commands; none may escape them, nor the sanctions he has imposed. [Emphasis added]

Right, then, but inquring minds still want to know: this kingship, is it eventual and apocalyptic, or is it here and now and let's break out the rifles and red berets?

15. This kingdom is spiritual and is concerned with spiritual things. That this is so the above quotations from Scripture amply prove, and Christ by his own action confirms it. On many occasions, when the Jews and even the Apostles wrongly supposed that the Messiah would restore the liberties and the kingdom of Israel, he repelled and denied such a suggestion. When the populace thronged around him in admiration and would have acclaimed him King, he shrank from the honor and sought safety in flight. Before the Roman magistrate he declared that his kingdom was not of this world. The gospels present this kingdom as one which men prepare to enter by penance, and cannot actually enter except by faith and by baptism, which, though an external rite, signifies and produces an interior regeneration.

But:

17. It would be a grave error, on the other hand, to say that Christ has no authority whatever in civil affairs, since, by virtue of the absolute empire over all creatures committed to him by the Father, all things are in his power. Nevertheless, during his life on earth he refrained from the exercise of such authority, and although he himself disdained to possess or to care for earthly goods, he did not, nor does he today, interfere with those who possess them. Non eripit mortalia qui regna dat caelestia.

And yet:

32. Nations will be reminded by the annual celebration of this feast that not only private individuals but also rulers and princes are bound to give public honor and obedience to Christ. It will call to their minds the thought of the last judgment, wherein Christ, who has been cast out of public life, despised, neglected and ignored, will most severely avenge these insults; for his kingly dignity demands that the State should take account of the commandments of God and of Christian principles, both in making laws and in administering justice, and also in providing for the young a sound moral education.

But in the end, much responsibility devolves upon us:

33. The faithful, moreover, by meditating upon these truths, will gain much strength and courage, enabling them to form their lives after the true Christian ideal. If to Christ our Lord is given all power in heaven and on earth; if all men, purchased by his precious blood, are by a new right subjected to his dominion; if this power embraces all men, it must be clear that not one of our faculties is exempt from his empire. He must reign in our minds, which should assent with perfect submission and firm belief to revealed truths and to the doctrines of Christ. He must reign in our wills, which should obey the laws and precepts of God. He must reign in our hearts, which should spurn natural desires and love God above all things, and cleave to him alone. He must reign in our bodies and in our members, which should serve as instruments for the interior sanctification of our souls, or to use the words of the Apostle Paul, as instruments of justice unto God.[35] If all these truths are presented to the faithful for their consideration, they will prove a powerful incentive to perfection.

St. Josemaria Escriva, always alert to the distinction between wanting Christ to reign and merely pursuing clerical politics, said of this feast: "If we let Christ reign in our soul, we will not become authoritarian....I do not go outside my role as a priest when I say that if anyone saw Christ’s kingdom in terms of a political program he would not have understood the supernatural purpose of the faith, and he would risk burdening consciences with weights which have nothing to do with Jesus, for his yoke is easy and his burden is light. Let us really love all men; let us love Christ above all; and then we cannot avoid loving the rightful freedom of others, living in harmony with them."
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:10 AM

 
Scarpia's letter openers. Also check out Toscaholic t-shirts, with a checklist to see whether you or someone you know is a Toscaholic.
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:49 PM

 
Available as bumper-sticker, mug, etc., from a right-wing corner of CafePress: What Part of Europe Are You From? The Part Whose A__ We Saved, or the Part Whose A__ we Kicked?
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:17 PM

 
Jonathan Lee has sounded off from Camp Pendleton. See comments to post headed "Bummer."
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:51 AM

 
Please pray for Renata Tebaldi, possibly the greatest soprano who ever lived, now apparently facing her last days.
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:24 PM

 
Specter update: He's virtually sewn it up, in that the presently-incumbent Judiciary Committee Republicans have agreed to support him for chairman. The Republican caucus in January, including the newbies, still have to vote on the committee chairmanships.

The agreement by committee members to support Specter "represents the views of people at this time, on this day," said Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.

That seems to me to imply that it could be different at another time and on another day -- say, in January; Sessions is such a lawyer, he might use words that way.

Anyway, how humiliating is it that in order to get a committee chairmanship that should be yours by right of seniority, you have to submit a written good-conduct bond.

posted by Cacciaguida at 8:07 PM

 
Missal launch

Catholic World News on the coming improved translation:

The first indication that things are to be different will come early in the Mass, with the congregation’s response to “The Lord be with you,” where the faithful are to say: “And with your spirit”—not “And also with you.” ... Another significant change occurs in the Nicene Creed, where Credo is translated accurately as “I believe” rather than the present “We believe.” ... A typical example of the new prose used [in Eucharistic Prayer I, the Roman Canon] is: “Most merciful Father, we therefore humbly pray and implore you through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, to accept and bless these gifts, these offerings, these holy, and undefiled sacrifices.” In the present Missal, this passage reads as: “We come to you Father, with praise and thanksgiving, through Jesus Christ your Son. Through him we ask you to accept and bless these gifts we offer you in sacrifice.”

More
posted by Cacciaguida at 6:59 PM

 
On Arlen "Hannibal" Specter

In case you've been on Mars since the election, Sen. Arlen Specter, RINO-PA, is expected to be chosen for the chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee in the next Congress. This committee, you should know, functions as a sort of Theban Sphinx for judicial nominees suspected of conservatism in any form.

Pro-lifers are organizing to persuade Republican Senators to reject him because of his past successful opposition to judicial nominees who question Roe v. Wade, especially Judge Robert Bork in 1987. Specter was, to be fair, a great help in the confirmation of Justice Clarence Thomas in 1991; but then, he was facing reelection, and a primary challenge from the right, in 1992. Now, he has beaten back an even stronger primary challenge from the right, is unlikely to run again in 2010, so he can do as he likes.

To top it all off, CBS had barely called Ohio for Bush when Specter went before the mikes to issue what sounded to most people like a warning to the President against even trying to send up a Supreme Court nominee who might question Roe. Pro-lifers immediately reminded him that, goyische kopf, he isn't judiciary Committee chairman yet, and now that he's mouthed off like that, he might never be. Currently Specter is lobbying the old-boys' network within the Senate, with some success; but the final decision will be made by the new Senate, which will include at least four more conservative Republicans than the current one: Coburn (OK), DeMint (SC), Martinez (FL), and Thune (SD).

In an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer, Sen. Specter says:

...they also know that the controversy has arisen as to whether I would block pro-life nominees. And they know that I haven't on the facts. And they know as to Bork it was not a question of pro-life, it was a question of original intent and so when I talked to them it was generally favorable.

So it's not pro-life nominees he'd block, it's the ones who favor a jurisprudence of original intent.

O.I.C! There just happens to be a near-perfect overlap in those categories where eligible judicial candidates are concerned, but never mind. It sure will be good to know Specter will be blocking them because of their original-intent views, not because of their pro-life views.

Just in case you might want them, here are links to relevant Senators, who might benefit from hearing from you, perhaps with a message like "Don't let Specter become Judiciary chairman":

Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-TN (plans to run for President, needs conservative and pro-life support; is staying detached and sceptical about Specter)

Judiciary Committee Republicans:
Orrin Hatch, R-UT (current chairman; already caved, of course: never count your Hatches before they chicken)
Chuck Grassley, R-IA
Jon Kyl, R-IA (presumptively the next chairman if Specter gets the bird)
Mike DeWine, R-OH
Jefferson Sessions, R-AL (himself a "Borked" judicial candidate; has got religion big-time on the judges issue)
Lindsey Graham, R-SC
Larry Craig, R-ID
Saxby Chambliss, R-GA
John Cornyn, R-TX

and also a non-committee-member, but relevant:

Rick Santorum, R-PA. Santorum, a sincere pro-lifer, has become a pitiful victim of conflicting pressures. Like Frist, he wants to run for President and needs pro-life support; unlike Frist, he has to live in terror of Specter, who could seriously mess up Santorum's 2006 reelection. 'Course, if Santorum is serious about his future, maybe he should quit the Senate after '06, as Frist is doing; in one stroke he could buy himself time to run for President full-time, and take away the political gun Specter is holding on him....)


posted by Cacciaguida at 10:31 AM

 
Attention: Morristown fans

Jonathan Lee Morris is now off to Camp Pendleton for his MOS (military occupational specialization); he'll have daily liberty from 16:00 to 05:00, so he may well get chances to blog. So do check from time to time with our favorite of "The Few, The Proud, The On-Line."

This picture...



...shows the Marine Combat Training ground at Camp Geiger, part of Camp Lejeune, Jacksonville, North Carolina, where Jonathan Lee has just finished the three-week MCT program. (From what I can gather, "Camp Geigner" is virtually interchangeable with "School of Infantry." For some, infantry becomes their MOS; but all Marines get at least these three weeks of infantry training, because, as they have long said, and as General Gray liked to repeat -- "Every Marine a rifleman!")

As JL is now on his way to Pendleton (he should arrive there about three hours from this posting) without coming home first, Caccia di Gregorio and I went down to Lejeune to attend the MCT graduation and to hand over to JL some necessary items for his stay at Pendleton, such as a recording of LE NOZZE DI FIGARO.

At Pendleton he will be doing his MOS in amphibious assault. This is the MOS he always wanted. For a long time he was slated for an MOS in ground radio repair. All I'll say about the change is that he's happy because it's what he wanted; I'm happy because studying amphibious assault seems to me to have more of the mask of command about it than does fixing radios; and earlier today, during a relaxed moment, a colonel asked him if he was happy about the change, in a tone that suggested anyone would be.

(If you go to this site about the School of Infantry, you'll see that "All students are drug tested upon reporting." Indeed they are. In JL's case they found nothing more decadent than Red Bull, but I'll tell you what: as a result of those tests, some of the guys who back at Parris Island were so heavily promoted and "recognized" you thought butter wouldn't melt in their mouth, well, some of them ain't such golden boys any more, that's all I'm gonna say.)

Onward and upward with the oo-rah.
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:11 PM

 
Click here for a frequently-overlooked, but powerful, argument for keeping it tightly zipped outside of marriage.
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:50 AM

 
Clergy shortage? At least we're not this church.
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:24 PM

 
While staring at the spine of Michael Zuckert's Launching Liberalism, the mind wanders...

"LUNCHING LIBERALISM"
Robert Nozick: Anisette, Shrimp, and Utopia
John Rawls: quail of ignorance
Bruce Ackerman: The Steakholder Society
David A.J. Richards: porn-on-the-cob
Ronald Dworkin: Taking Dessert Seriously
John Dewey: The Public and its Pudding
Cass Sunstein: The Second Bill of Fare
Mark Tushnet: Taking One's Constitution Away from the Tortes
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:14 PM

 
Deputy Chief Resigns From CIA Agency Is Said to Be in Turmoil Under New Director Goss. Excuse me, but is it unheard of -- in Washington, of all places -- that when a new boss comes in, he brings his guys with him, and the former guy's guys either go with the old guy or line up to xerox their resumes? I've done it (lined up to xerox my resume, that is); I would do it (fire the previous guy's guys, that is); better men than me have done both; surely the Washington Post knows this. But some of its friends at the Company are quitting, so it's "turmoil." For more, see David Brooks on the CIA versus Bush.

posted by Cacciaguida at 1:51 AM

 
James Dobson: The religious right's new kingmaker. OK, what's in the next issue? "Ecklectricity, Muggles' new spell"? Just for the record, tne Dobson-Bauer-FRC alliance began in 1989, not 1983, and it made Dobson a Washington player almost immediately, such that it needed only a little over a decade, plus a teeth-kicking election, for the Michael Crowleys of the world to notice.

And btw -- a little-noticed bonus prize from the voters: John Zogby isn't God any more!
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:42 AM

 
More announcements heard on Southwest Airlines:

Please check to make sure you have taken all personal items with you. Anything you leave behind will be on E-Bay tomorrow.

[Just before take-off, hostess sings a torch riff on the words "cleared for takeoff," passengers applaud, and she adds:] Thank you. My CD is available at Ace Hardware.

posted by Cacciaguida at 1:00 AM

 
Last week I had yet another excellent air travel experience with Southwest. Part of it was their refreshing set of variations on the standard pre-takeoff orations. Heard over the plane's intercom before take-off:

In the unlikely event of a loss of cabin pressure, quit screaming, place the mask over your mouth and nose, and breathe normally.

Disabling a smoke detector may lead to a fine of two thousand dollars, and if you had that kind of money, you’d be flying Delta.

This is a no-complaining, no-whining flight. In the event of dissatisfaction with our service, please take a moment to familiarize yourselves with the location of our emergency exits, keeping in mind that the nearest emergency exit may be behind you.

If you are transferring to another Southwest flight, please consult the schedule screen in the concourse for your departure gate. If you are transferring to another airline, we don’t care!

posted by Cacciaguida at 10:17 PM

 
I'm late with this, b/c of recent travels etc., but -- Congratulations to the Old Oligarch, who passed his comps with distinction, a rare achievement at his university and department!
posted by Cacciaguida at 6:23 PM

 
Today's feast (in addition to the birthday of the Marine Corps, see infra): Pope St. Leo the Great (reigned 440-461), scourge of the Monophysite heresy, unarmed defender of the City against Attila.


posted by Cacciaguida at 5:17 PM

 
MARINE CORPS ORDERS
No. 47 (Series 1921)
HEADQUARTERS U.S. MARINE CORPS
Washington, November 1, 1921


759. The following will be read to the command on the 10th of November, 1921, and hereafter on the 10th of November of every year. Should the order not be received by the 10th of November, 1921, it will be read upon receipt.

(1) On November 10, 1775, a Corps of Marines was created by a resolution of Continental Congress. Since that date many thousand men have borne the name "Marine". In memory of them it is fitting that we who are Marines should commemorate the birthday of our corps by calling to mind the glories of its long and illustrious history.

(2) The record of our corps is one which will bear comparison with that of the most famous military organizations in the world's history. During 90 of the 146 years of its existence the Marine Corps has been in action against the Nation's foes. From the Battle of Trenton to the Argonne, Marines have won foremost honors in war, and is the long eras of tranquility at home, generation after generation of Marines have grown gray in war in both hemispheres and in every corner of the seven seas, that our country and its citizens might enjoy peace and security.

(3) In every battle and skirmish since the birth of our corps, Marines have acquitted themselves with the greatest distinction, winning new honors on each occasion until the term "Marine" has come to signify all that is highest in military efficiency and soldierly virtue.

(4) This high name of distinction and soldierly repute we who are Marines today have received from those who preceded us in the corps. With it we have also received from them the eternal spirit which has animated our corps from generation to generation and has been the distinguishing mark of the Marines in every age. So long as that spirit continues to flourish Marines will be found equal to every emergency in the future as they have been in the past, and the men of our Nation will regard us as worthy successors to the long line of illustrious men who have served as "Soldiers of the Sea" since the founding of the Corps.


JOHN A. LEJEUNE,
Major General Commandant
75705--21


Happy 229th Birthday to the United States Marine Corps!
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:09 PM

 
The Fallujah campaign is being carried out by the U.S. Marine Corps ("Maybe You Can Be One Of Us....") and the U.S. Army (...but if not, "Be All You Can Be")!
posted by Cacciaguida at 3:08 PM

 
Marines begin taking Fallujah (Fox photo)



Later, I rode at Emperor Conrad's side,
Who girded me among his chosen knights,
My service left him so well satisfied;

And in his train I marched to foreign fights
Against those Infidels that, through the sin
Of the Chief Pastors, have usurped your rights.

-- Paradiso XV 139-144 (tr. Sayers)
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:19 PM

 
Conversation near Cacciaguida

Scene: Just gotten into an airport shuttle bus at Salt Lake City, UT.

PASSENGER: Who d'ya think's in that stretch limo over there?

DRIVER: My wives.
posted by Cacciaguida at 2:26 PM

 
I'm not a huge fan of David Brooks, but once in a while he hits an overlooked cultural fact spot-on. He did so back in March of 2003, in a way that anticipated, better than he realized, the 2004 election. I've just found it in my archives. He said in The Atlantic:

Secularism is not the future; it is yesterday's incorrect version of the future.... Western foundations and universities send out squads of researchers to study and explain religious movements. But as the sociologist Peter Berger has pointed out, the phenomenon that really needs explaining is the habits of the American professoriat: religious groups should be sending out researchers to try to understand why there are pockets of people in the world who do not feel the constant presence of God in their lives, who do not fill their days with rituals and prayers and garments that bring them into contact with the divine, and who do not believe that God's will should shape their public lives.

posted by Cacciaguida at 2:17 PM

 
Blog-break for a few days.
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:08 PM

 
After the Kerry concession

So I told my students earlier this afternoon: "The theological question for today is, which comes first: the Rapture, or CBS calling Ohio for Bush?" Gosh, I'm witty.

Say, anyone wonder how Al Gore feels today, now that John Kerry has so conspicuously, and so graciously, decided not to follow his example? Yes, Gore was in a stronger PR position, having won the popular vote. Nonetheless, Nixon in '60 and Kerry in '04 will be remembered as instances of class; Gore in '00 will not. (Not that Nixon in '60 and Kerry in '04 are connected by anything other than class: Nixon may well have been the true winner of that race; Kerry certainly did not win yesterday, popularly or electorally.)
posted by Cacciaguida at 4:28 PM

 
Ohio is now 51-49 Bush with 93% reporting; NBC and Fox have called Ohio for Bush. The provisionals won't add anything but delay, if that. Ohio means Bush has 266 EVs. He's a shoo-in in Alaska; that gets him up to 269, enough to send it to the House, where he'll win. In Iowa, which looked secure for Kerry two hours ago, Bush now has a lead. And in New Mexico, it's 52-47 Bush, with 86% counted. That's 5 more EVs, for 274, not counting Iowa. So that's it.

We win!!

Also, Jim Bunning has won after all in KY, Martinez is ahead in FL with 99% reporting, and in SD, Thune is now on the high end of the see-saw, 51-49, with 89% reporting.

I'm gonna bed.

posted by Cacciaguida at 1:08 AM

 
Three-hour blog-break there 'cause I left work for home and our DSL connection was out until Cacciamichele got home and fixed it.

ABC has called PA for Kerry and FL for Bush. That puts the EV at Bush 237, Kerry 188. That 188 includes his big inevitables, NY and CA. OH is still too close to call, but Washingtonpost.com, which doesn't bend over backwards to produce good news for Republicans, shows Bush up in OH 52-48%, with 64% counted.

In the Kentucky Senate race, Jim Bunning seems to have come back from the dead, but he's not home yet.

posted by Cacciaguida at 11:46 PM

 
Eight o'clock round-up

Fox's electoral vote count: Bush 39, Kerry 4. Several east coast states plus Illinois are about to come in for Kerry, but after that the Midwest (minus Illinois, and with Ohio still presumably too close to call) are about to come in for Bush.

Florida? Power Line says: "With 7% of the vote in, President Bush is leading by 57% to 42%. Martinez is leading his Senate race by seven. The Democrats I'm hanging out with here aren't as cocky as they were a few hours ago."

Nationwide popular vote, according to Drudge, with 3% of precincts reporting:

George W. Bush 57% 1,899,722
John Kerry 43% 1,425,81

Drudge's EV count: Bush 66, Kerry 51

Only bad news: Kentucky Sen. Jim Bunning is in trouble.

posted by Cacciaguida at 8:00 PM

 
Just gleaned from Power Line:

David E. Johnson, CEO of Strategic Vision, e-mails:
At Strategic Vision, we have been reviewing and conducting exit polls and do not know where the media reports came from. We are showing a slight advantage for Bush in Florida by 1 point.

and

There is a ridiculous rumor on the web that Kerry is ahead on exit polls. THERE IS NO EVIDENCE OF THIS! This untrue rumor was started on the web by two internet gossip columnists and one of them now admits that her source is "not exactly trustworthy."
No one knows who is winning right now---get out and vote!

Please forward this to your email friends and help stop this fraud from being spread around the internet. Please do your duty and vote. Deserve victory!

posted by Cacciaguida at 5:56 PM

 
To put this exit poll stuff in perspective, visit Hugh Hewitt.

posted by Cacciaguida at 4:30 PM

 
Drudge as of 4:14 pm, with my interpolated comments:

National Election Pool -- representing six major news organization -- shows Kerry in striking distance -- with small 1% lead -- in Florida and Ohio, sources tell Drudge. BUT: early 2000 exit polls showed Gore +3 in Florida; showed Gore-Bush even in CO (Bush won by 9), 2000 exits showed Gore +4 in AZ (Bush won by 6).

Exits Senate races: Thune (R-SD)+4 (dramatic R pickup); Castor (D-FL) +3 (D retention, and bad news for Bush unless Martinez gets it in gear or there are a lot of ticket-splitters); Burr (R-NC) +6 (R pickup); Bunning +6 (R retention); Coburn (R-OK) +6 (R retention); DeMint (R-SC) +4 (R pickup); Salazar (D-CO) +4 (D pickup).

posted by Cacciaguida at 4:15 PM

 
A friend wrote last night:

1. Fox News reports that 6th Cir has reversed the injunction against poll watchers.

2. Fox website reports that Ohio Supreme Court has sided with Republicans who want watchers at each individual precinct.

3. Zogby has Bush up 6 in Ohio. This number includes some polling TODAY (11/1), and some over the weekend. Fox has Bush up 3 in Ohio, but only polled through Sunday, when Republicans are less likely to pick up the phone.

4. Forecast for Columbus tomorrow is Thunderstorms in early morning giving way to "few showers" and then "rain" from noon until early evening. High temp, 69. The Demcocrats have filed suit seeking to enjoin the rain in Democrat counties.

5. Ohio Republicans have sued Acorn, etc. for RICO in connection with misleading phone calls made in Republican Counties.

Another friend replies:

I'm here in Columbus, and can confirm several items on the list (save for Zogby)

1) 6th Circuit's decision came in at about 1:15 AM, and followed an earlier decision by the Ohio Supreme Court that granted a writ of mandamus ordering the Secretary of State to permit monitors in the polling places. In some places, including Columbus, reporters have registered as monitors.

2) Also permitted into the polling places are exit pollsters, who claimed that they needed to be within the 100 foot boundary in order to get reliable data. ABC won a suit in the Southern District of Ohio yesterday permitting them into the boundaries. In a related case involving a newspaper, a federal judge in the Northern District reached the opposite conclusion.

3) We're getting reports of voter intimidation by organizations like ACORN, ACT, and Move-On.org from around the state. Stay tuned on this.

4) The weather in both Columbus and Cleveland is truly nasty (cold, blowing rain). As a native Ohioan myself, I can tell you that this is bad even by local standards.

5) We have no confirmation of a RICO suit, but it's a good idea.

posted by Cacciaguida at 1:14 PM

 
* Drudge: Fraud starts early in Philly. Confirms Gerard's observations in comments to previous post. As a Philadelphia lawyer I am shocked, shocked.

* Here is Sen. Daschle's legal complaint filed last night in federal court, where one of his closest pals on the bench found he had to reject most of it. See Paragraph 14 for the worst of the SD-GOP's allegedly federal-law-violating activities.

* Joseph Bottum of The Weekly Standard, a native South Dakotan, says:

Daschle has seriously misunderstood the power of the alternative media, especially radio and the Internet, to get news about this kind of thing out to the voting public. The South Dakota bloggers have been relentless: Jon Lauck live blogged the hearing (and the judge whined about it in open court: is that cool, or what?) Jason Van Beek kept the stream coming through the night, as did Steve Sibson, Ryne McClaren, and others.

The kind of political trick that Daschle's lawyers tried works only if it remains an unverified rumor through Election Day, and things don't remain rumors anymore. The new electronic world welcomes you, Senator Daschle--and it says goodbye to you, as well.

posted by Cacciaguida at 10:22 AM

 
Heavy turn-out in my precinct in Virginia. We're a pretty conservative precinct. OTOH, it seemed there were more black folk in line than usual, and they're supposedly a Democtatic constituency. OTOOH, it's been reported that Kerry has less cred among African-Americans than Gore did, partly because of being an arrogant preppy nerd (as opposed to merely an arrogant nerd), and partly because of gay-rights issues, where many African-Americans decline to play the role assigned them in the white-liberal script.

Also, one of the Afr-Ams in line was an Army officer in uniform.

For (more) good news, visit Power Line and The Horserace Blog. E.g., in SD, Daschle loses his 11th-hour bid to ban GOP pollwatchers. In OH, all we can say is that if those legions of newly-registered Democrats exist, they're not voting early.
posted by Cacciaguida at 7:08 AM

 
Gen. Schwarzkopf denounces fraudulent phone-claims that he has endorsed Kerry; story gets play in Florida.
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:31 PM

 
We need a brief break from politics...

Happy 81st birthday to Castilian soprano Victoria de Los Angeles!


posted by Cacciaguida at 6:07 PM

 
Kerry Navy discharge story: Here Comes the (New York) Sun

When this election is over -- assuming the lawyers on both sides ever allow that to happen -- this blog will reverse the drift towards practical politics that has overtaken it in recent weeks. But first, The New York Sun -- which did not wait until November 1 to break this story -- has had a breakthrough on it:

Kerry's Discharge Is Questioned by an Ex-JAG Officer
BY THOMAS LIPSCOMB - Special to the Sun
November 1, 2004

A former officer in the Navy's Judge Advocate General Corps Reserve has built a case that Senator Kerry was other than honorably discharged from the Navy by 1975, The New York Sun has learned.

The "honorable discharge" on the Kerry Web site appears to be a Carter administration substitute for an original action expunged from Mr. Kerry's record, according to Mark Sullivan, who retired as a captain in the Navy's Judge Advocate General Corps Reserve in 2003 after 33 years of service as a judge advocate. Mr. Sullivan served in the office of the Secretary of the Navy between 1975 and 1977.

On behalf of the Kerry campaign, Michael Meehan and others have repeatedly insisted that all of Mr. Kerry's military records are on his Web site atjohnkerry.com, except for his medical records....

"Mr. Meehan may well be right and all Mr. Kerry's military records are on his Web site," Mr. Sullivan said. "Unlike en listed members, officers do not receive other than honorable, or dishonorable, certificates of discharge. To the contrary, the rule is that no certificate will be awarded to an officer separated wherever the circumstances prompting separation are not deemed consonant with traditional naval concepts of honor. The absence of an honorable discharge certificate for a separated naval officer is, therefore, a harsh and severe sanction and is, in fact, the treatment given officers who are dismissed after a general court-martial."...

Certainly something was wrong as early as 1973 when Mr. Kerry was applying to law school.

Mr. Kerry has said, "I applied to Harvard, Boston University, and Boston College. I was extremely late. Only BC would entertain a late application."

It is hard to see why Mr. Kerry had to file an "extremely late" application since he lost the congressional race in Lowell, Mass., the first week of November 1972 and was basically doing nothing until he entered law school the following September of 1973.A member of the Harvard Law School admissions committee recalled that the real reason Mr. Kerry was not admitted was because the committee was concerned that because Mr. Kerry had received a less than honorable discharge they were not sure he could be admitted to any state bar....

Read the whole thing. Tell your friends.

Just to be clear: I'm not remotely claiming that I would support Kerry if only he could prove that his discharge from the Navy was honorable. But if it wasn't, then this fact, and the campaign's efforts to claim otherwise, add urgency. It's not treasonous to be less-than-honorably discharged, but it is -- well, less than honorable. If he was so discharged, he could have gained much grudging respect by putting that fact in his public bio and arguing that it was somehow a necessary consequence of a principled stand that he took against the Vietnam War. But that would have conflicted with his "Band of Brothers"/"Reporting for duty" campaign theme. So what his "brothers" really thought of him, and how he fulfilled the duty for which he reported, become highly relevant.

Lastly, see this Power Line post for the "internals" of the latest poll.


posted by Cacciaguida at 10:23 AM