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.


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Tomorrow is the Feast of Becket. I can't promise that your local parish will observe it. It's listed as, at best, an optional memorial in U.S.-published Novus Ordo missals, and as "in England and Wales" in the 1962 Missal. That marvelous prayer-helper Fr. Francisco Fernandez omits it entirely in both of the volumes of In Conversation With God where it might be expected to appear, Advent-Christmas and Special Feasts July-December.

All of which just shows that a lot of people need their Becket consciousness raised.

This is the sign of the Church always,
The sign of blood. Blood for blood.
His blood given to buy my life,
My blood given to pay for his death,
My death for His death.

-- T.S. Eliot, Murder in the Cathedral

I will be in New York for a few days, so blogging may be light. 'Meantime, there've been some eminently commentable posts here since Dec. 23 that haven't drawn many comments yet, so scroll down and go wild.

posted by Cacciaguida at 9:57 PM

 
From BORIS GODUNOV, the opera for Childermass, from the scene outside St. Basil's Cathedral:

THE HOLY FOOL: Boris, ah Boris, those wicked boys are nasty to me. They took my only coin away. Why don't you have them killed, just like you killed our Tsarevich?
PRINCE SHUISKY: Silence, fool! Arrest the stupid fool!
TSAR BORIS: Leave him alone. -- Pray for me, holy man.
HOLY FOOL: No, Boris. I cannot pray for you. I must not pray for a child's murderer. I must not pray for Tsar Herod. Do not pray for him, says the Mother of God.

(General shock. Boris clutches his chest and moves on.)
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:31 PM

 
Childermass (Feast of the Holy Innocents). Some on-point news items: Archive Sheds Light on Nazi Death Camp (via The Rat):

The "pyramid" ranged from death camps such as Auschwitz at the top, to secondary and tertiary detention centers. There were 500 brothels, where foreign women were put at the disposal of German officers, and more than 100 "child care facilities" where women in labor camps were forced to undergo abortions or had their newborns taken away and killed — usually by starvation — so the mothers could quickly return to work.

And: Ukraine babies in stem cell probe. Congrats to the BBC for investigating this, and to Drudge for posting it:

Healthy new-born babies may have been killed in Ukraine to feed a flourishing international trade in stem cells, evidence obtained by the BBC suggests.

Disturbing video footage of post-mortem examinations on dismembered tiny bodies raises serious questions about what happened to them.

Ukraine has become the self-styled stem cell capital of the world.

There is a trade in stem cells from aborted foetuses, amid unproven claims they can help fight many diseases.

But now there are claims that stem cells are also being harvested from live babies.

The Weekly Standard is on it too: it's more than even the BBC found. (One wonders, btw, whether in the case of those who die by partial-birth or other late-term abortion, the Beeb is equally eager to "raise serious questions about what happens to them.")

According to the Standard, serious questions about what happens to them need to be asked as well about vanishing newborns in Europe: "The Council of Europe 'describes a general culture of trafficking of children snatched at birth, and a wall of silence from hospital staff upwards over their fate.' "

It's as Robby George predicted: fetal stem cells aren't all that useful, but stem cells from seven-month-olds may be. These can be obtained through clone harvesting, as permitted by new laws in New Jersey and Missouri (the latter sold to the public as "anti-cloning" because it requires the killing of the baby once it's been tapped for cells), or simply by stealing newborns and letting them ripen until use.
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:57 PM

 
Can any good thing come out of Cornell? Could be. Hat-tip: Philokalia Republic.
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:59 AM

 
Conversation chez Cacciaguida: inspiration

ELINOR: I've just realized something.
CACCIAGUIDA: Happens to us all.
ELINOR: I'll give ya such a pinch.
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:52 AM

 
The great feasts within the Octave of Christmas: St. Stephen (today), St. John the Apostle (Dec. 27), Childermass (Dec. 28), St. Thomas Becket (Dec. 29).
posted by Cacciaguida at 7:52 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
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:17 PM

 
Fourth Sunday of Advent meditation from Catholics in the Military:

....I've taken the trouble to go over these very particular conditions [for just war] to make it clear to any open-minded reader that there is--at the very least--a clear argument for holding that the present war in Iraq is a just war. Consequently, those who hold that it is not just (such as those bloggers, clerical and otherwise, that I mentioned) are simply stating their opinion. Unfortunately, they do not ever seem to make it clear that the view they hold is just that: merely an opinion. Indeed their opinion is (in classical Catholic morality) the less probable opinion. I say this because, in the widely-regarded moral system of St Alphonsus of Liguori, if something is established by the law (in this case the declaration of war and statement of causes for declaring war), it has the presumption of being the more probably correct opinion.....

So, how does all this tie in to what we said about Advent, Christmas, and peace? Our presumptions concerning our Catholic faithful in the military should be that they are in good faith (since "charity believes all things"); they are engaged, often enough amid great hardship and sacrifice, in a just war to protect one of our greatest natural goods, the safety and prosperity of the nation. In other words, these Catholics (including their priest-chaplains) most certainly are to be considered in union with, and serving under, the Prince of Peace, who desires that the tranquillity of order (as St Augustine defines "peace") should reign everywhere, even where violent men violently resist it. If, therefore, you ever had doubts about the war and those who help to wage it--especially our fellow members of the "household of the faith"--cast them aside! And pray for the safety and salvation of all those who have done so much, risked so much, and continue to endure much for the sake of things very dear to the Heart of the Saviour. To all of you and yours, a most blessed and holy Advent and Christmas!

Also, Christmas posts from Mike the Marine and from Mudville Gazette. Jonathan Lee is with us this year; pray for, and thank, those who are over there.


posted by Cacciaguida at 4:46 PM

 


I don't recall where I found out about it, but this year's new (to me) English children's-dark-fantasy Christmas book is John Masefield's The Box of Delights. (Find a used copy here, or order it new from England here.) Enjoy -- and don't get scrobbled!
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:16 PM

 
The title of the seventh and final Harry Potter book has been announced:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Hm. Hm. A "hallow" is a saint, but there's no particular reason to expect JK to use it that way. How have author British fantasy authors used this word? Any Charles Williams fans out there care to help us out?

At first glance I'd say this title neither indicates nor excludes what some of us have been suggesting is the way-coolest possible ending: that the successful struggle against Voldemort entails the end of the entire magical world. It strengthens marginally my conviction that Harry is going to be the one who pops his clogs (or will be among those who pop theirs).
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:33 PM

 
Gen. Abizaid, head of CENTCOM, to retire. Good: he sucks. Details here.

And anyway, why can't the President have exactly the generals he wants? People argue about what exactly the "Commander in Chief" power extends to, but the hiring and firing of military commanders at will should be an easy case.
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:08 AM

 
Ember Days. Tomorrow is one (for winter); so was last Wednesday, and this Saturday will be as well.

For years I've seen that mysterious term, "Ember Days," on Tridentine calendars. Now I understand it a little better. Ember Days are days of moderate penance (or, if occurring during Advent or Lent, of moderately more penance). As part of our centuries-long campaign to affirm the goodness of God's creation, convert reasonable pagan practices to Christian uses, and freak out those crypto-dualists in the Protestant camp, the Ember Days are brazenly seasonal and agriculturally based:

The purpose of their introduction, besides the general one intended by all prayer and fasting, was to thank God for the gifts of nature, to teach men to make use of them in moderation, and to assist the needy. The immediate occasion was the practice of the heathens of Rome. The Romans were originally given to agriculture, and their native gods belonged to the same class. At the beginning of the time for seeding and harvesting religious ceremonies were performed to implore the help of their deities: in June for a bountiful harvest, in September for a rich vintage, and in December for the seeding; hence their feriae sementivae, feriae messis, and feri vindimiales. The Church, when converting heathen nations, has always tried to sanctify any practices which could be utilized for a good purpose.

And so, after evolving from 4th century origins:

[t]hey were definitely arranged and prescribed for the entire Church by Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085) for the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after 13 December (S. Lucia), after Ash Wednesday, after Whitsunday, and after 14 September (Exaltation of the Cross).

I'm sorry to learn that the actual words "Ember Days" are a "corruption from Lat. Quatuor Tempora, four times...." I had visions of Catholic hearths -- in the middle of the huts of the poor, in the grand fireplaces of the rich -- dwindling down to embers, whose greyness reminded us that all created goods pass, but whose enduring heat reminds us that God's love and grace await us beneath the apparent ashes of daily life and of our own failings. In fact I think I will retain that vision, now that I have rediscovered (such treasures Holy Mother Church placed in her attic back in the '60s!) the Ember Days.
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:44 AM

 
Rep. Virgil Goode, whoo hoo! Actually, in a better world, I would criticize him for using the Islamic threat to bolster the anti-immigration views that he seems to hold on other grounds. However, mega-snaps to him for flipping the bird to CAIR, as he has so far, and long will, Deus volt.
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:55 PM

 
Lord Mowbray, RIP. The rest of this post is from the Telegraph's obit (emphases are mine):

Lord Mowbray, Segrave and Stourton, who died on Tuesday aged 83, was the premier baron of England and the head of one of the oldest Roman Catholic families in the country.

A cheerful, Wodehousian figure, known for his piratical eyepatch, Lord Mowbray was well-liked in the Upper House and, during his 40 years on the Conservative benches, seemed to progress almost seamlessly from Bertie Wooster to Lord Emsworth, contributing a mixture of geniality and erudition to House of Lords proceedings....

...[H]e served as a Tory Whip for 13 years and as a Government spokesman on the Environment in both the Heath and Thatcher administrations....

...Lord Mowbray was a Tory loyalist who seldom deviated from the party line. A rare exception occurred in 1986 when he teased the government for its backing for the centenary celebrations of the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688, when James II was ousted from the throne in favour of William of Orange. In announcing his intention to "boycott" the event, Lord Mowbray said: "I have no intention of celebrating Dutch William's accession to the throne. I think the whole thing should be called off." The so-called Glorious Revolution, he pointed out, had deprived his family, as Roman Catholics, of their right to sit in Parliament, a right which was restored only with Catholic emancipation in 1829....

The baronies of Mowbray and Segrave were created in 1283 by writ of summons to Parliament by Edward I. The Barony of Stourton was created in 1448 for a Treasurer of the Household under Henry VI. Geoffrey de Mowbray, Bishop of Coutances, from whose brother Charles Stourton was directly descended, was a companion, and one of the chief advisers, of William the Conqueror. Another ancestor, William de Mowbray, a landowner in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, was one of the barons who confronted King John at Runnymede in 1215. The family's ancestral home is Allerton Park, near Knaresborough, Yorkshire. Allerton Castle is regarded as the most important Gothic Revival stately home in England.

Charles was educated at Ampleforth and at Christ Church, Oxford. During the Second World War he saw active service in France as a lieutenant in the 2nd Armoured Battalion of the Grenadier Guards but, after being wounded at Caen in 1944, he lost an eye and was invalided out the following year. His old friend, Sir Iain Moncrieffe of that Ilk, recalled that, when his brother officers urgently called for a doctor to treat their badly wounded comrade, Charles Stourton demanded that a priest be summoned instead — an indication of priorities to which he remained unshakeably committed throughout his life.....

...Lord Mowbray was vice-president and longest-serving Knight of the British Association of the Sovereign and Military Order of Malta. He was also chairman of English Catholic Ancestor, a society which aims to acquire and disseminate knowledge of the history of English Catholic families....

posted by Cacciaguida at 4:35 PM

 
Truro Church, Falls Church, et al.: not "anti-gay" but pro-marriage? Has anyone noticed that the entity these parishes are joining, the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, has the initials CANA, as prominently displayed in this picture of the Truro and Falls pastors?
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:07 PM

 
The Scotsman notes that Sen. Johnson "continued to improve after brain surgery." I daresay many Democrats would.

Seriously, you must admire my avoiding the ghoulish yet emintently Washingtonian swoop into treating a man's life-threatening illness in terms of its impact on Senate politics.

Well, now that we've broken that ice, here's the deal:

1. Johnson need not resign as long as he's alive.

2. If he -- ahem -- resigns, watch for Democrats to argue that the "organization" adopted by each in-coming Senate is binding for the term of that Senate. It is, unless the minority party raises an objection to that particular rule, as the Democrats did early in 2001 (can anyone say "Jeffords"?). One hopes, and expects, that under Mitch McConnell's leadership, and with the possibility of a Lieberman switch or a Johnson, um, resignation, the Republicans will raise the appropriate objection next month.

3. Now I'm going to get ghoulish. What if Johnson goes onto life support, and left a clear "living will" asking that the tubes be yanked in such a case? Better start downloading all those Democrat speeches and press releases on Terri Schiavo....
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:46 PM

 
Foucault's Pendulum: and gnow, to gnegate gnefarious gnosticism

The character of Lia in this novel is not major in terms of her "screen time," but she is so in terms of her symbolism. She is the earthy and very-much-attained love of our narrator, Casaubon. She is contrasted with Lorenza, the unattained (and airheaded) love of the main hero, Jacopo Belbo. Lorenza says things like "Once you've freed yourself from the flesh, you're beyond good and evil." She's being fed lines like that by this really sketch guy who calls her "Sophia," after a gnostic deity.

In contrast, Lia, who doesn't have the faith but can see through gnostic esotericism, tries to talk sense into Casaubon, whose child she is joyfully (because reproduction is good) carrying. Casaubon and his two friends are drawing themselves into a world in which nothing ever means just itself, where everything is an arcane symbol of something else, some great secret. Similar symbols are found over continents and millennia, so "obviously" they have a unifying, esoteric signifance; they are guarding a secret.

For Lia, on the other hand, the world is indeed full of symbols, but they are symbols of the everyday, the ordinary, the bodily. Much of her language is raw (not inappropriately, because she's making an argument that has earthiness as its essence), but I'll try to quote around that:

"...and if we put these two together, a new thing is made, and we become three. So you don't have to be a university professor or use a computer to discover that all cultures on earth have ternary structures, trinities.

"...Or, if you like, take the anatomy of your menhir, which your authors are always talking about. Standing up during the day, lying down at night -- your thing, too. No, don't tell me what it does at night. The fact is that erect it works and prone it rests. So the vertical position is life, pointing sunwards, and obelisks stand as trees stand, while the horizontal position and night are sleep, death. All cultures worship menhirs, monoliths, pyramids, columns, but nobody bows down to balconies and railings. Did you ever hear of an archaic cult of the sacred bannister?...

"...Anyway, that's how we're put together, all of us, and that's how we work out the same symbols millions of kilometers apart, and naturally they all resemble one another. Thus you see people with a brain in their head, if they're shown an alchemist's oven, all shut up and warm inside, think of the belly of the mama making a baby, and only your Diabolicals think that the Madonna about to have the Child is a reference to the alchemist's oven. They spent thousands of years looking for a message, and it was there all the time: they just had to look at themselves in the mirror."

As narrator, Casaubon remarks:

I should have listened to Lia. She spoke with wisdom of life and birth. Venturing into the underground passages of Agarttha, into the pyramid of Isis Unveiled, we had entered Gevurah, the Sefira of fear, the moment at which wrath manifests itself in the world....

And much later, he adds:

Lia was right. We should have talked about it earlier. But I wouldn't have believed her, all the same. I had experienced the creation of the Plan like the movement of Tiferet, the heart of the sefirotic body, the harmony of Rule and Freedom. Diotallevi had told me that Moses Cordovero had warned: "He who because of his Torah becomes proud over the ignorant, that is, over the whole people of Y____h, leads Tiferet to be proud over Malkhut." But what Malkhut is, the kingdom of this earth, in its dazzling simplicity, is something I understand only now -- in time to grasp the truth; perhaps too late to survive the truth.

Lia, I don't know if I will see you again. If not, the last image I have of you is half-asleep, under the blankets, a few days ago. I kissed you that morning, and hesitated before I left.

That abrupt transition, from cabalistic speculation to hard and fast experiences of human intimacy, is a perfect symbol of Casaubon's plight. (Oh but yikes -- did I just say "symbol"??)

FP is not about the cabalistic sefirot, but rather uses them as a narrative template. One thing seems clear, though: it is gnostic -- and therefore dangerous and wrong -- to exalt Tiferet over Malkhut.

Next time we'll hear more from Diotallevi.
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:40 PM

 


create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

Via Jonathan Lee

posted by Cacciaguida at 6:48 PM

 
Foucault's Pendulum: More posts coming, but real quick:

* I loved it. Haven't had that much fun with a novel since The Secret History, though Declare, with which it has an affinity or two (re: postulating a hidden history of our times), comes close.

* It's cross-genre: mystery/suspense, dark fantasy, and elements of Bildungsroman.

* Lia throughout, and Diotallevi in his last scene, are absolutely blazing spokesmen against gnosticism and esotericism, the more so because neither is a Catholic, so neither can make specifically Catholic arguments.

Note: I've finished the book, and I think the end -- the very end -- reinforces the anti-gnostic theme. Notice that I have not written any spoilers here. If your comments contain spoilers, include warnings as well (e.g. "SPOILER ALERT").
posted by Cacciaguida at 2:44 PM

 
They say there may be life there after all, and water may have flowed there within the past five years. But enough about Twentynine Palms...!
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:51 PM

 
Lufthansa orders 20 more 747s from Boeing. I didn't even know they were still making 747s!

The 747 (whether the "8" stretch version or not) is the most beautiful airplane ever built, and (I hear indirectly from pilots) the airworthiest. It was the very first widebody, beating out McDonnell-Douglas's disastrous DC-10 and entering commercial fleets in the early '70s. Its four-engine configuration, instead of the two-monster-engine configuration that is standard on more recent widebodies, makes it safer, and more flexible on transoceanic routes.

The 747 can be spotted by its distinctive and graceful "dolphin head" bulge on its prow, marking the second floor of the first-class cabin.


Even as a cargo plane, the 747's
"brow" stands out handsomely

I don't get to go upstairs when I'm in economy class, but I'd still rather fly a 747 for a long haul than any other plane. Korean Air uses them for the Atlanta-Seoul route, and they are fleet staples for other airlines with trans-Pacific routes, such as Singapore and Qantas. But it's getting hard to find them on coast-to-coast or even trans-Atlantic routes. Good on Lufthansa.


Super-fantastic!
posted by Cacciaguida at 6:02 PM

 
First the Flying Imams, now a Gym Gyhad: using civil rights law to Islamoform American life?

Btw -- Detroit Catholic church becomes a mosque; and first Muslim congressman to take office in January.

"Emperor Constantine 'XI' Dragazes, last Byzantine Emperor, reached for comment, remarked: 'At least with you they're taking it slow.'"

I'm just sayin'.
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:46 PM

 
Bishop Loverde's pastoral letter against pornography
posted by Cacciaguida at 6:15 PM

 
British Airways can't catch a break. Today, this. OK, all together now: HOW COULD THEY TELL?
posted by Cacciaguida at 7:28 PM

 
The Daily Telegraph reports Britain is crawling with Russian spies and a "shadowy," Okhrana-esque society of nationalistic ex-KGBers called "Dignity and Honor."
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:38 AM

 
It is just coincidence, is it not, that as I near the end of Foucault's Pendulum, I read in an Indian paper's take on the Litvinenko investigation that Mario Scaramella, who allegedly delivered sensitive documents to Litvinenko on the day of the poisoning, and who himself shows "significant" but not immediately dangerous levels of polonium-210, is "a mysterious Italian posing as an 'academic' with claimed links to an Indian university"?

There are coincidences, aren't there?
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:11 PM

 
The Toronto Star credits the Holy Father with a successful "charm offensive" in Turkey. (And is there really something called "Bilge University" in Constantinople?)
posted by Cacciaguida at 3:31 PM

 
Here are six headlines describing one place where the Holy Father said a prayer today as "Turkey Mosque." I guess "Turkish Mosque" sounds awkward to many editors (though why, I can't imagine), and "Blue Mosque," as the place is actually called, perhaps strikes some as reflecting excessive interest in decor. ("Oh but you must see the Mauve Synagogue!" "Can't tonight -- Gawain and I are going to the Green Chapel.") But "Turkey Mosque"?

"Cripes, they're building a mosque down the street."
"I just hope it isn't one of those turkey mosques!"
"All those turkeys comin' through here...!"
"And the parking...!"
"And the whole week before Thanksgiving -- you never heard such caterwauling...!"
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:11 PM

 
Daily Mail: Passengers alerted as radiation traces found on planes in spy death probe.

The BA 767 planes operate on routes within Europe and up to 800 passengers on four flights may have been affected.

But they also use Boeing 767s on the Heathrow-to-Philadelphia route, no?

Oh well. Gotta glow.
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:47 PM

 
Brussels Journal, a blog by European conservatives, considers Constaninople's great Cathedral of Hagia Sophia, its sad fate, and its lingering hope.
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:44 PM

 
Our faculty's P&T Committee met today. We decided not to P in our T. Developing.
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:57 PM

 
The Hill reports:

At a private reception held at the White House with newly elected lawmakers shortly after the election, Bush asked Webb how his son, a Marine lance corporal serving in Iraq, was doing.

Webb responded that he really wanted to see his son brought back home, said a person who heard about the exchange from Webb.

“I didn’t ask you that, I asked how he’s doing,” Bush retorted, according to the source.

Webb confessed that he was so angered by this that he was tempted to slug the commander-in-chief, reported the source, but of course didn’t.

Well Jim -- I calls ya Jim on accounta we both got sons what's Marine Lance Corporals and been/are in Iraq -- I tell you what. No, not nothin' 'bout the difference 'tween White House receptions and White House policy meetins', 'cuz I don' reckon the folks back home set no store on them kind o' hoyty-toyty distinctions, so neither do you.

No, what I'll tell you is that that guy you were talkin' to won him an election (or two: I know there's some everlastin' hollerin' goin' on about that) to be President, while you done win one to be a Senator, which is... legislative branch... separation of... you still with me, Jim? Look, Senator's high but not as high as President, 'zwat it boils down to, and only the President got him that Commander in Chief thing goin' in the Constitution.

Know what that means, Jim? Means he can tell you your son, or mine, to do any good-goddam thing he wants to. S'long as it ain't no war crime, our sons gotta do it. I know folks say he went for the tall grass during 'Nam, while the only tall grass you was in was the kind with VC in it. Know that; read your book; country honored you like it should, and all that. Know what all that's worth when it comes to who decides when your son comes home, or -- heck who knows -- when mine goes back?

That's right Jim. Yer lernin'.
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:20 PM

 
Maggie Gallagher reports:

Six centuries after the fall of Constantinople, Patriarch Bartholomew's flock is tiny, perhaps just 2,000 people. But just before taking off, Pope Benedict spoke with reporters on the plane, according to National Catholic Reporter's John Allen: "Numbers don't really count," Benedict said. "It's the symbolic and historical weight (of the office) that matters."

Bringing together "the two sister churches of Rome and Constantinople," the pope said, is a "very important moment in the search for Christian unity." It is, he acknowledged, a symbolic encounter, but one that "is not just empty, but is full of reality."

Maggie also details "the disgraceful state of dhimmitude to which the patriarch of Constantinople and his church remain subject to this day."

Meanwhile, Mehmet Ali Agca wants a meeting with the Pope. Sorry dude: if you want to be in the news again, you'll have to divorce Kid Rock or make an ass of yourself in a standup comedy act or something.

posted by Cacciaguida at 10:14 PM

 
Needless to say, Christ is also king of Anatolia, or "Asia" as St. Paul called it, or "Turkey" as it has been known since the present Saracen occupation of Constantinople began in 1453.

I speak, of course, with the candor that comes of not being a Vatican official, and I urge understanding of the predicament of those who are.
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:37 PM

 
Christ the King. Pope Benedict's message.

How did we get this feast-- actually, a solemnity? Pope Pius XI instituted it at a time when "laicism" -- meaning, aggressive official secularism in countries where Catholicism was, how shall I say, deep-seated -- had long been all the puff in France and Germany, had had a spell in power in Portugal, would lead to a major persecution in Spain starting the following years, and would take over briefly but ferociously in Spain six years later.

Under the circumstances, it was inevitable that this feast and some of its imagery would be appropriated by the clericalist rad-trad right, which cites Quas Primas like it owns it. Cela dit, however, QP is still part of the ordinary papal magisterium, and, however uncomfortable it makes us, it says, inter alia,

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.

In the present calendar this feast is of course the last Sunday of the liturgical year, but Pius XI placed it, and the calendar in use in the 1962 Missal sector of the Latin Rite still has it, on the last Sunday in October. Is there signifance to the change? One effect is that in the U.S., this solemnity will always come well after Election Day instead of just before it. Hmmmmm....
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:07 PM

 
Litvinenko has died.

Why did it take ten days for the hospital to do toxicological tests?

It may have looked like common food poisoning at first -- Lenin's Cheka, and its successors, the KGB and today's FSB, have traditionally designed their poisons that way (see op-ed in 11/22 WSJ, not on line) -- but, in this day and age when massive testing is routine, if only for liability purposes, why did a sudden "violent" illness in a Russian defector known to be investigating the current regime's crimes not provoke any heightened suspicion?

What did these docs say to themselves -- "Gor'blimey, just another one of 'em Russian dissident blokes -- no need for any special worries about 'im"? Would they have diagnosed Anna Politskovskaya as having "excessive leaden missile intake"?

Why did they at first confirm, and later rule out, thallium?


ETA 1. "Sasha" Letvinenko's last statement, as dictated to a friend; plus his father's statement. Worthwhile.

ETA 2. It was polonium-210, not thallium -- at least for now. In the linked article, the Financial Times adds:

Tiny amounts of polonium-210 – made in nuclear reactors – are used in a few industrial processes but obtaining a lethal dose would be beyond the means of a lone poisoner.

...In the memorable words of Andrea Sella, a chemist at University College London: “My gut feeling...is that whoever did this wanted not only to harm him but also to send a spectacular message to others – mess with us and we make you die a lingering death.”

ETA 3. And meanwhile, Russian rocket deliveries to Iran started. (Reminds me of a recent conversation I had with a friend whom you might call a Russophilic Islam-hawk. He said: "Russia will tell us, 'Hey, everyone's entitled to one terrorist ally, and yours is Saudia Arabia.'" The truth hurts.)

ETA 4: NRO's Jim Geraghty receives a message (scroll down), from an e-mail account at the European Court of Justice, hinting vaguely that the Letvinenko and Politskovskaya cases are linked to the "neocons" and the "Israel lobby." So, gradually, "never again" keeps turning into "maybe next Tuesday."

ETA 5:

"If this regime falls, and I think it will fall, because a regime with no morality and conscience is doomed, then the street where Alexander was born in the city of Voronezh will be named after him. He will always be in our hearts and in the hearts of the Russian people."

-- Walter Letvinenko

posted by Cacciaguida at 11:29 PM

 
General James T. Conway, USMC, a hero of Fallujah, takes over as Marine Commandant, and says (in AP's paraphrase) that the Marine Corps "may need to increase in size in order to sustain continued deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan without sacrificing needed training or putting undue stress on the corps."
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:14 PM

 
Today is November 22, and you know what that's the anniversary of. Yes -- the death of Aldous Huxley!

Just kidding. It's actually the anniversary of the death of -- C.S. Lewis!
posted by Cacciaguida at 6:16 PM

 
Ain't it a blogwatch night?

Laodicea on how nominalism eviscerates good politics and dominates modern ideologies

Eve: ALL OF LIFE IS A CHOICE OF GENRE. Ermm, maybe so, if you're so postmodern, you need a mutual friend to introduce you to your reflection? Perhaps explain...?

Erik reacts to a particularly oily piece of theological revisionism, one that shows, as we see every day, what happens when you make the simple mistake of placing existence before essence.

Southern Appeal endorses Brownback, as will I, probably, very soon.
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:55 PM

 
Litvinenko. The Daily Telegraph editorializes:

[T]he British government cannot be seen to accept a situation in which a citizen of the United Kingdom is subjected to a murderous attack under conditions that raise grave, and reasonable, suspicions of the involvement of foreign agents.

The Foreign and Home Offices must be seen to pursue this case with the greatest rigour and to the highest possible level, and to demand whatever explanations they feel are required from the Russian authorities. Otherwise, there will be a clear suggestion that Britain dare not offend a Russian regime that may hold much of Europe to ransom over energy resources within a decade.

posted by Cacciaguida at 11:30 AM

 
Shetland sweater!
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:16 PM

 
Head Warns Turkey: No, not a Thanksgiving-themed horror story: the full hedder is "Orthodox Church Head Warns Turkey over Pope Visit." The Patriarch of Constantinope is asking "Turks" -- i.e. Muslims: Patriarch Bartholomew is a Turk himself, if you want to talk ethnic -- to behave during the Holy Father's visit. Another small step in Rome-Constantinople solidarity, and thanks are due largely to the Regensburg speech.

I've been writing so snarkily lately that perhaps I should aver separately (as I here do) that the above is absolutely "straight."

Now for some more snark: Let the record show that for Thanksgiving, the Pope is visiting Turkey. And is the President planning the annual "pardon" of a turkey? He should say outright that he'll wait until January when they actually begin to arrive.
posted by Cacciaguida at 7:56 PM

 
More from Foucault's Pendulum:

The first text was a kind of demoniacal litany, a parody of a Semitic language:

Kuabris Defrabax Rexulon Ukkazaal Ukzaab Urpaefel Taculbain Habrak Hacoruin Maquafel Tebrain Hmcatuain Rokasor Himesor Argaabil Kaquaan Docrabax Reisaz Reisabrax Decaiquan Oiquaquil Zaitabor Qaxaop Dugraq Xaeolobran Disaeda Magisuan Raitak Huidal Uscolda Arabaom Zipreus Mecrim Cosmae Duquifas Rocarbis

"Not exactly clear," Belbo remarked.

"Demoniacal litany" my ass -- that's my shopping list for Walgreen's!! Reminds me, I've got to refill Docrobax and Zaitabor....
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:31 PM

 
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Jim Webb promises to be a redneck class-warrior. What in the heck do you make of this part:

Still others [i.e. corporate execs he talked to during his campaign and whom he didn't like] have gone so far as to argue that these divisions are the natural results of a competitive society. Furthermore, an unspoken insinuation seems to be inundating our national debate: Certain immigrant groups have the "right genetics" and thus are natural entrants to the "overclass," while others, as well as those who come from stock that has been here for 200 years and have not made it to the top, simply don't possess the necessary attributes.

Most Americans reject such notions.

And so, clearly, does Webb. But what's the point of even bringing this up? To imply that corporate America is engaged in a race war against Webb's beloved Scots-Americans, the folks he wrote about in his book Born Fighting, and on whose behalf he cherishes obvious resentments based on both race and class ("those who come from stock that has been here for 200 years and have not made it to the top")?

And just who are these "natural entrants" into the "overclass" -- notions that Webb softens by putting them into his villains' mouths, but which he obviously thinks are in play? Who does Webb think -- exuse me: who does Webb think corporate America thinks -- are the "overclass"? Asians? Anyone else?

My point being: this op-ed features explicit class resentment, and implicit race resentment, and is therefore highly weird.
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:00 PM

 
Sasha Cohen ("Borat") lands role of Pirelli in SWEENEY TODD movie. Good choice, assuming you're casting SWEENEY with non-singers anyway.
posted by Cacciaguida at 2:38 PM

 
So many things run through your mind when you're hiding alone inside a periscope.

-- Umberto Eco, Foucault's Pendulum
posted by Cacciaguida at 4:13 PM

 
Arinze: "Take Latin out of the refrigerator."

(Note that, according to the diligent, detail-oriented reporter who wrote up this story: "Homilies, he said, should always be in the vernacular." I'm sure there was a lot of debate about that. After all, if medieval peasants and 1950s Irish mothers could understand homilies in Latin, why can't we? -- Of course, I can think of many homilies I've heard where congregational comprehension ought to have been minimized, but Latin is not the way to achieve that, given that, in the ideal world, we would all be fluent in it. -- Actually, in the true "ideal world," we will be, since it's what they speak in Heaven.)

posted by Cacciaguida at 3:30 PM

 
Was in New York last Saturday night. Zandonai rules. More later.
posted by Cacciaguida at 6:18 PM

 
Well I'll be.
posted by Cacciaguida at 6:11 PM

 
Ann Coulter sez: "History was made this week! For the first time in four election cycles, Democrats are not attacking the Diebold Corp. the day after the election, accusing it of rigging its voting machines."
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:08 AM

 
Rumsfeld out, former CIA Director Gates in. Cripes. Way to stand by your man, W. Whether it's good news militarily or not, I defer to my military readers....
posted by Cacciaguida at 2:11 PM

 
So why is it that Democrat-leaning precincts reported in late, as in Missouri and Virginia? Aren't those supposed to be the urban precincts, and aren't urban areas supposed to have the latest gee-whiz technology? Maybe it's the Ghet-Toe that's reporting in late, and maybe they have bad election machinery b/c, you know, the Man hates them.

But Falls Church? Oh yeah, bronze-age conditions out there. We'll naturally hear from the coal counties much earlier -- they'll be e-mailing in their votes while the Falls-Churchers are still loading their paper ballots onto pony carts.

Give. Me. A. Break.
posted by Cacciaguida at 2:05 PM

 
Information paralysis. So here I sit, not unlike a moron, refreshing the CNN Senate race page every two minutes. And this is the guy who's now a scholar and has given up the life of the political junkie. (Or so it says on the labels someone sews into my underwear.)

Anyway. Annoying how CNN has called Maryland for Cardin, with 48% reporting, even though Steele is actually ahead at the moment, and has been for the last forty-five minutes. Yet they haven't called Missouri for Talent, even though he's maintaining a six-point lead over McCaskill with 46% reporting.

Oh and with 86% reporting and Corker leading Ford by three points in Tennessee, could we have a wee widdy call, please? Gaa. This is not a poll. Three percent is no longer within a "margin of error." It's win-ning.

Santorum and DeWine were carried out on stretchers round about eight o'clock. Santorum will be missed.

Allen is ahead -- by about 10,000 votes, of around 2.5 million cast; the percentage is 50-49.

Overall, it looks like the GOP loses four Senate seats, keeping the majority. The House -- kiss it g'bye for now. If they got Northrup, they'll get the rest that they need.

Anyway it's a good night 'cause the Marriage Amendment passed substantially in Virginia.
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:25 PM

 
Man of Steele

You know, if St. Mathias, patron of contested elections, granted me one race tomorrow to decree by wand-wave, I'd wave in Michael Steele of Maryland. This Catholic, pro-life, black politician, already Lt.Gov. of his state, is exciting, and if elected would soon started getting mentioned for President. Someone like him could stir up American politics in a very good way.

He could actually win the Senate race tomorrow: though he hasn't led his opponent, Rep. Ben Cardin (D-Idiot), in any polls, he has recently had tons of "mo" (that's momentum, not Cardin's type of "mo," which is mo-ron), and has pulled up even with his barely-sentient opponent.

Moreover, in his night-before predictions, Robert Novak calls this one for Steele:

Maryland: The momentum in this race has all been going one way for weeks now. The problem is that for a Republican in Maryland, there is always such a long way to go. Not only has Lt. Gov. Michael Steele (R) run a near-flawless campaign, he has also benefited from several gaffes by his opponent, Rep. Ben Cardin (D) -- particularly one debate performance that can be described only as disastrous for Cardin.

Near the end, the two are tied in the polls. The question here is whether Steele will get the 12 percent of the black vote that those public polls suggest, or the 20-plus percent suggested by his internals.

The Braynard Group did a late poll for us showing Cardin leading, 48-38, and Steele attracting just 12 percent of the black vote. We had to consider this an outlier, particularly when Mason-Dixon, Survey USA, and the Baltimore Sun all showed a much closer race. However, the others may be missing something, and it is interesting how they share the 12 percent number in common.

The problem is that 12 percent would be consistent with a year in which Republicans did not win a single new black vote, and Steele has been collecting key endorsements from Democrats in the black community, and should do much better than the average Republican.

Steele may well outperform Gov. Bob Ehrlich (R) on tomorrow's ballot, and we believe that both will win. Leaning Republican Takeover.

Other states?

Missouri: The race between Sen. Jim Talent (R) and state Auditor Claire McCaskill (D) is so tight that both sides are preparing for a recount....

Ohio: Sen. Mike DeWine (R) has shown some late signs of life, and a late ad attacking Rep. Sherrod Brown (D) may have helped him gain some ground. But it's too late. Ohio will be a disaster for Republicans this year, littered with GOP corpses. Likely Democratic Takeover.

Pennsylvania: State Treasurer Bob Casey (D) will bring an end to the career of Sen. Rick Santorum (R) tomorrow. Likely Democratic Takeover.

Tennessee: Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker (R) is running away with this one. Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. (D) probably lost at least 1,000 votes every time he opened his mouth to talk about "the Lord" in the past two weeks. Leaning Republican Takeover.

Virginia: We wrote last week that Sen. George Allen (R) was behind, but as the race has moved back toward positive campaigning in the final days, Allen appears to have successfully weathered any backlash from his slash-and-burn campaign tactics. Allen now appears to have surged, but this one will be very close.

Even if former Navy Secretary Jim Webb (D) does not beat Allen, he ends Allen's presidential aspirations for 2008. Allen never took his race seriously -- that is what will go on his tombstone if he loses. Leaning Republican Retention.

(This post brought to you by the 17th Amendment -- which should be repealed immediately, but that's another post.)
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:55 PM

 
An article on packing, in yesterday's Washington Post, says chocolate is a no-no: "Stacked, it may alarm security officials." Because their machines can't see through it. Or, they may just want it. "Mmmmm, Hershey's! I need you to step this way, sir...."
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:27 AM

 
Jonathan Lee reviews Flags of our Fathers.
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:24 PM

 
Je suis Celeste, Reine des Elephants: female elephants can recognize themselves in the mirror. A little heavy sodium should fix that. If not, Dapertutto may take an interest (see infra).
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:25 PM

 
"Pursued by furies," eh? Jolly good yours aren't Councilman Lindorf, who always carries his resolutions, his liquor, and his women; Prof. Coppelius, whose magic glasses can make a plastic girl look alive or a bad check look good; Doctor Miracle, always on hand the day your loved one dies; or Captain Dapertutto, confidant of courtesans and a discriminating collector of the shadows and reflections of men.

The above are from Offenbach's THE TALES OF HOFFMANN. This article is informative, but I disagree that the formerly-traditional order of acts (Olympia-Giulietta-Antonia) is "absurd": a good performance of the Chère enfant trio -- Antonia, Dr. Miracle, and the supposed ghost of Antonia's mother, conjured by Dr. Miracle to inspire Antonia to sing herself to death -- is emotionally exhausing and leaves no room for anything except the Epilogue. (The Giulietta act could work in the #3 position -- if über-editor Michael Kaye ever makes up his mind which of several wildly contrasting "versions" of it is the "real" one.)

My favorite audio recording. Don't know the DVDs well enough to make a recommendation.



Andrea Rost as Antonia, Samuel Ramey as Dr. Miracle

ETA (which happen to be the historical Hoffmann's initials, as well as signifying "Edited to Add"): If you want to the sample the more "authentic" version edited by Prof. Kaye -- and it has its moments, I must say -- try this recording: Jeffrey Tate's meditative tempi aid in Offenbach's well-known desire to assert by means of this opera (and I paraphrase): "I know I'm a boulevardier who writes farceur operettas, but I really, really can put serious dark fantasy on the opera stage!"
posted by Cacciaguida at 6:03 PM

 
Exempt this

I've had a chance to look over the decision of the New York Court of Appeals (that state's highest court) upholding a state law that forces Catholic and other objecting social-service employers to include contraceptive coverage in their health plans if they offer prescription coverage at all.

As I suspected, the culprit is the statute, not the court. In the age of Lochner (which I taught this morning), laws telling private employers what they must include in their health coverage were just not done. Today, that sort of "social legislation" is done all the time. Some of our friends think "religious exemptions" are the ticket to preserving the Church's breathing room while the thicket of government activism chokes off the rest of civil society. That won't work, either theoretically or practically.

I do not know whether Catholic Charities of New York fought this bill itself when it was enacted in 2002, or whether they put all their eggs in the basket of a statutory religious exemption; I suspect the latter. In any event, the religious exemption they got was so narrow, Mother Teresa's order wouldn't qualify, as was pointed out at the time.

Perhaps the real motivation of those who opposed a broader exemption was precisely to undermine the faith of Catholics (and of conservative Baptists and orthodox Jews, who also objected). But courts should not look at hidden legislative motivation, and they only make a mess when they try. As far as a court can determine, this statute is simply social legislation that does not target religion but has an incidental effect on it.

Quite correctly, the New York court held that this is not the kind of law the U.S. Constitution's Free Exercise Clause prohibits. Also correctly, and very perceptively, it pointed out that other courts that have claimed to subject all infringements of religious freedom to a strict "compelling state interest" test have generally been lying. (My term, not the court's -- the court puts it in terms of "lip service.")

To religious social service providers who thought they could approve the endless expansion of social welfare legislation and ignore government's embrace of contraception, secure in a cocoon of judicially-administered exemptions -- welcome to earth.

To readers who think the court's deference to the legislature here was too flaccid: a few weeks ago, when the same court unexpectedly yet firmly upheld New York's refusal to recognize same-sex marriages, deference to legislative judgment was again the keynote. You need a consistent approach to how and when courts should defer to legislatures. "They should defer when I like the law and not when I don't" is lame.

What can Catholic Social Services of New York do now? Options: 1. Offer medical benefits without prescription coverage. Not attractive to prospective employees, but then, who ever went into social services for the money? 2. Fight back in the legislature until the statute is repealed, or at least until the statutory religious exemption is expanded. 3. Disband Catholic social services as an organized entity in New York. The religious Wyatt's Torch. "I'm leaving it just the way I found it."
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:39 PM

 
And of all the branches of Eastern Orthodoxy to which Dreher's search for an annoyance-free Sunday morning could have taken him -- the Russian? Among which priests does he find the moral purity he's been seeking -- the ones that work(ed) with the KGB, or the ones that worked with the Okhrana? (I'm sure his own priest is pure as the driven snow, as are yours and mine, but this is supposed to be about institutional integrity, right?)
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:49 AM

 
Rod "Crunchy Con" Dreher has become Russian Orthodox. He gave us a chance, but we're just not up to his standards, which apparently include moral perfection in the hierarchy, and laypeople's right to "look forward" to Sunday liturgy. (Re the latter: for one whose bestselling book is in part a critique of American materialism, he sure has a comfort-seeking approach to life in the Church.)

Anyway, canonist Ed Peters, as is his wont, brings some clarity:

1. By all accounts Dreher has committed a formal act of schism; according to 1983 CIC 1364, he is liable to latae sententiae excommunication....

2. ...the "sincerity" of a parental decision to deprive a Catholic child of his or her religious heritage does not rehabilitate that decision. 1983 CIC 1366 authorizes "a censure or other just penalty" against parents who "hand over their children to be... educated in a non-Catholic religion."

3. Apparently most Orthodox Churches receive Roman Catholics into their communion by the celebration of the sacrament of confirmation or chrismation. The Catholic Church, in contrast, presumes the validity of Orthodox chrismation and does not re-confirm those coming into full communion with us (instead, Orthodox converts to Catholicism make a profession of faith). Assuming the 40-year-old Dreher was already confirmed in the Catholic Church, if he underwent this Orthodox rite (I cannot verify either point in his case), his "second" confirmation would be invalid and objectively sacrilegious as an attempt to re-confer a seal sacrament (1983 CIC 845, 1379).

posted by Cacciaguida at 6:18 PM

 
The Book of Ball, 2006:10-19

Cardinal LaRussa said, "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen the ninth inning: two runs to lighten the gentiles.

But Willie the son of Randolph sent two men and said to them: "Go and view the land from the bases." So they entered first and second bases and lodged there.

And The Lord said to the Cardinal, "Behold, my servant Paul LoDuca walketh in the ways of righteousness. By first base I shall give him rest. In green fields shall he await Beltran." And the Lord saw that it was very good.

But behold, Beltran striketh to three. Four shall he not strike to, for, behold, the Cardinals dance with timbrel and harp while yet the plate umpire doth point.

And so the Cardinals were delivered from the Mets and over to the Tigers in that day.

posted by Cacciaguida at 1:39 AM

 


Well that's that for baseball '06.

Wasn't the young pitcher's fault. Both teams played very well, and if Endy Chavez's record-book-making robbery of Rollen's home-run meant that the Mets "deserved" to win in some karmic sense, well, coming back from that setback merits admiration too.

I doubt I'll have anything to say about the World Series. I don't even know if I'll be "for" either side. Sorry but I ain't comin' outta no tree for Tommy LaSorda nor nobody. I don't "live for this" -- I live for the Mets winning, and for lots and lots of things completely outside of baseball.

Just wait til next year!
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:00 AM

 
Perez seems to have his stuff: struck out his first two batters, and, except for a bizarre and ulimately trivial error by Delgado, had a perfect inning.

Elinor is sequestered from the television, as she is a gazetted "whammy."
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:32 PM

 
The Mets in NLCS Game 7

Well. After we split the first two games in New York, I said well: assuming pessimistically (as one does with the Mets) that we only take one of the three games in St. Louis, I still fancy our chances of winning the last two in New York, thereby winning the Championship and going on to the World Series. Nothing about the starting line-ups: just my sense of the Shea Stadium dynamic.

Well, we did win only one of three in St. Louis. Going into last night, the only appropriate attitude was:



Doomed! Doomed, I tell you!

Never an inappropriate pre-game show with the Mets. But, guess what -- we won last night.

Tonight the pitching matchup is more lopsided in St. Louis's favor; we've been fighting the whole postseason with neither Pedro nor El Duque. But in our last six games started by Oliver Perez, the kid who will start tonight against the fearsome Jeff Suppan, we're 4-2. Look, maybe a nice respectable first-place finish in the NL East is all we'll have to take home from 2006. But well: let's see if the Shea atmosphere, Jose Reyes with his upbeat Ricky-Ricardo-ing, and the Carloses witht their bats, can make it exciting.

ESPN: Mets heavily favored tonight by America, minus Missouri and a few surrounding marches.
posted by Cacciaguida at 7:17 PM

 
Thanks for all the comments on opera video vs. opera audio. Keep them coming: the issue is not closed. I do, however, discern a pattern: newbies tend to be pro-video, fans tend to be either pro-audio or to have ornery and inconsistent views. I.e., fans act like fans! But if the newbies prefer video, that's signficant.

Anyway, besides wanting those comments to pile up, another reason I haven't posted in a while is that most of us chez 'Guida, self included, have been sick as parrots. Greg has pneumonia; he's recovering at home on a course of antibiotics. Most of the rest of us have some kind of sub-pneumonial bronchitis. Besides cough, one of the symptoms is mental disorientation. Today I left my car on all day at school, and last week I drove a mile past an intended turn. Lord knows what I've been saying in class. I shouldn't be going in, but I cancelled class last Thursday and Friday, and there's only so far I can let things fall behind.

The galloping dumbs that I've been having are not attributable to the prescription cough syrup my doc gave me. It's good stuff -- extremely rich in controlled substances -- but I don't use it before driving or teaching.

And the Mets. Oi, the Mets...! Thank God for another rain delay tonight: gives me a break, and lets Glavine get a normal spell of rest between starts....

Btw, be sure some day to listen to BLUEBEARD'S CASTLE while on fancy cough syrup. The Fifth Door was never like this!
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:03 PM

 
Opera at home: video or audio? Vote now!

Based on this post from Eve, I see have a big opera post coming up. But, I'd like to ask readers a preliminary question. This question is for opera fans and opera newbies alike.

The question is: which is better -- opera on DVD, or on audio only?

When I was starting, nobody except the highest-ranking TV and movie professionals had home video equipment, so audio (LPs and reel-to-reel tape) was it. That, and going to "the House," meaning the Met (though the New York City Opera could also be "the House" if it was clear from context which "House" was meant). But today it seems most natural to start with DVDs, which are becoming more numerous. And many of them are superb.

But since the arguments are closer than you might think, let me make the case for each side:

* Of course a video medium is better. Opera is the combination of music, drama, and stagecraft: nothing else comprehends all three. That's where opera makes its "value added" contribution in comparison to the printed word, the spoken theatre, concerts (classical or rock), ballet, etc. etc. When you can't get to "the House," DVD (or VHS) is the closest substitute.

Also, it duplicates very nearly the experience of serious opera-goers in the age of the "canonical" opera composers: from Handel through Puccini, no one got to listen to the entire opera before going to see it in the House (except for professionals who could get hold of a piano-score and sight-read the whole thing). Even by the time of the death of Richard Strauss, complete opera recordings were rare -- b/c you needed a U-Haul to lug all those 78s. (Plus, changing discs every five minutes in an opera that lasts two or more hours really sucked.)

Verdi's and Wagner's first audiences got the "audio" and "video" together, so it's those who grew up in the LP/CD-but-pre-VHS/DVD age who are the anomolies.

But on the other hand:

* An audio-only medium is better. One, it lets the music (orchestral and vocal both) make its impact first; this enhances the later DVD or "House" experience. Two, in our age, self-indulgent auteur stage directors are running wild throughout opera, gleefully imposing themselves and their nutter "interpretations" on the composer, the librettist, and the audience. Opera on audio-only CDs cuts these pompous twits out, and lets you be the stage director.

Also, opera on DVD requires two levels of directing: the guy who directs the production being taped, and the guy who directs the taping (e.g., where is the camera going to focus at which moments, etc. etc.) It's interesting that opera on television got nowhere until a genius at this secondary directing emerged: Brian Large, who began in the mid-70s and is still active. He has set the bar high enough so that he has some good successors. But if you get hold of a pre-Large opera DVD, you take your chances. If it was made for TV, it was probably well-directed. But if it was a stage production captured on kinescope, chances are the crew just pointed the camera at the stage and pressed "on" when the conductor emerged.

So, if you care to, please do two things in the comboxes: identify yourself as "fan" or "newbie," then vote "video" or "audio." I'm especially interested in which is better for newbies, but I value opinions from both fans and newbies on that question. Thank you.
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:58 PM

 

Happy Anniversary, Zorak and the Old Oligarch!

posted by Cacciaguida at 9:27 PM

 
Feast of Lepanto


posted by Cacciaguida at 2:13 PM

 
Just found an interesting bio of Christopher Lee. For instance, I did not know -- did you? -- that he:

* is descended on his mother's side from a nearly 2000-year-old Italian noble family, and Charlemagne was like a second cousin or something (now that I think of it, I think I did meet his great great...great great grandmother at a party in Florence in 1152 or so....)?

* has a near-operatic voice, was encouraged in this by legendary tenor Jussi Bjoerling (who was extremely generous, and also, almost certainly sozzled at the time), and succeeded in an audition at the Swedish Opera, but lacked the money to train?

* once quaffed a few with Tolkien at the Bird & Baby, and was the only person involved with the LOTR movies who had met the author?

* was in the running to replace Harris as Dumbledore? Now, choosing Gambon over Lee was clearly the work of dark wizards, am I right? Am I right?
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:30 PM

 
Now here's a Pope who knows the deep meaning of "Oi gevalt!"
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:37 PM

 
Mets win game two of the Division Series. As the games move to L.A. and the Dodgers face elimination in this best-of-five series, the Traitors-to-Brooklyn* have to be considered favorites to win game three tomorrow. However, I fancy my team's chances of moving on to the Championship Series. Then the World Series. Then -- I dunno, November maybe.

*The Los Angeles Dodgers are not the Brooklyn Dodgers: the New York Mets are the Brooklyn Dodgers!!
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:33 PM

 
Mets take Game One of the Division Series, thanks in part to some bonehead baserunning by the Dodgers.
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:00 PM

 
Tu n'y dépendrais de personne;
point d'officier à qui tu doives obéir,
et point de retraite qui sonne
pour dire à l'amoureux qu'il est temps de partir!*
Le ciel ouvert, la vie errante,
pour pays tout l'univers, et pour loi ta volonté!
Et surtout la chose enivrante:
la liberté! la liberté!

-- CARMEN, Act II

Or, as the Supreme Court would put the same sentiment:

At the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life. Beliefs about these matters could not define the attributes of personhood were they formed under compulsion of the State.

*Yes, I too had trouble with the scansion of that line. Try eliding "pour" and "dire" into one syllable; then treat "l'amou" as if it were a complete word, and start the next musical phrase (after the octave jump) with "reux." Works that way.
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:45 PM

 
Singes soi-rendants mange-fromages

That's my attempt to translate "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" into French. Can any of you do better? (The idea came to me when I was wondering what to say if I visit my local Alliance Francaise: Bonjour, messieurs les....)
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:10 AM

 
Added, under "Crusaders' Corner": Xavier's multi-lingual blog, Buscaraons (which is "Let us search" in, I'm guessing, Catalan?).
posted by Cacciaguida at 7:18 PM

 
"Sterilize bad parents." Here's another guy who needs his political career terminated ASAP. For the benefit of Google and Technorati and the pro-life oppo researchers who will use them, that would be Larry Shirley, of the Charleston SC City Council.

The questions is, is Mr. Shirley just an isolated git, or is there a movement here that we should be aware of?

Nice tourist-dependent destinations they've got down there in Charleston. 'Be a shame if other local politicians were to fail to express disgust over Shirley's remarks right away.

(And don't try "Shirley you jest," 'cause it's been done.)
posted by Cacciaguida at 2:18 PM

 
L'affaire Foley: Well, there goes the ChildhelpUSA Man of the Year award, as Pat Buchanan might have put it. And there goes FL 16, as the NRCC is probably thinking.


1. What happened

You know, it wasn't the e-mails: those were creepy, but not instant-resignation time. The problem was the IMs. (Say -- if Foley had used the phone instead of IM, then would we have had to rely on the NSA to detect him?) Mr. Foley didn't quit when the e-mails became public: he quit when ABC News (apparently tipped off by CREW, an organization whose leaders include numerous alumni of "Alliance for Justice," they of Anita Hill fame, Washington's principal leftwing attack unit in judicial confirmation politics) began asking questions about the IMs. Then Foley resigned. Then the IMs began appearing on the 'net.

This is not, of course, the first time a Member, so to speak, has gotten in trouble for trying to stick his hand, so to speak, in the deep cookie-jar that is the Capitol page corps. Rep. Dan Crane (R-IL-Straight) tried it, and lost his next election. Rep. Gerry Studds (D-MA-Gay) tried it, and got reelected time and time again until he jolly well felt like retiring.


2. E mi farà il destino
ritrovar questo paggio in ogni loco!

Why does Congress have pages, anyway? As a means of communication, they've been outmoded since the invention of the telephone, never mind the fax and e-mail. No, they serve two purposes: (1) patronage -- Members can cultivate donors by giving donors' kids a cool credential for their college apps; and (2) chicken.

I don't know whether this is relevant to the Foley case or not, but I've been on Capitol Hill and there's something I should tell you about the pages. Being straight as a slide-rule myself, I'll confine my remarks to the subject of the page girls. Female and gay-male friends with Hill experience may, if they like, comment on whether the equivalent can be said of the boys.

The page girls are most noticeably characterized by long, thick, exquisitely managed hair that they flick at you in the elevators. They are all extremely pretty. They wear make-up very well, by which I mean, they never overdo it; it helps, never hurts, the over-all effect. This suggests to me -- but what do I know about this, really? -- that they spend more time on their make-up than on delivering messages. But then, is delivering messages really why they're there? Or why the Members who hire them put them there?

Of course in all charity I should assume that every one of them is there to learn about government, that they take care of their looks because that's what nice girls do, and that they want others to see how nice-looking they are because they're full of youthful enthusiasm for the legislative process. So consider it assumed.


3. "Hypocrisy" estoppel as incipient speech regulation

One more thing: everyone's using the word "hypocritical" in relation to Foley's legislation on behalf of sexually exploited children. But is it necessarily "hypocritical," say, for an alcoholic to vote for prohibition? Or for a porn addict to vote for tough obscenity bans? Such legislators could be hypocrites -- or they could just be, ummm, policy experts. They may vote for restrictions because they think (rightly or wrongly) that they understand better than others why restrictions are needed. I wonder if there isn't more hypocrisy in people who vote to ban vices that they happen not to be attracted to. I have more problems with the alcoholic who's "tough on drugs" (meaning, other people's drugs) than with the child molester who's tough on child molestation.

It's not fairness to Foley that I'm concerned about; he can go either home to West Palm or to prison, as far as I care. What concerns me about the way we throw around the word "hypocritical" is that it tends toward preventing sinners (i.e. all of us) from debating public responses to sin, even where such public responses may be appropriate.

St. Thomas rightly teaches that it does not belong to the state to repress all evil; but surely it belongs to the state to repress some evil. Even libertarians agree the state should ban force and fraud. But how will it do that if the rules on "hypocrisy" inhibit debate by any who have ever committed, or even been tempted to commit, some form of force or fraud?

Not infrequently, it's those who've been around the block who know best why one shouldn't go around the block. Sometimes they're the only ones who know it. So sure, let's silence exactly those people -- who benefits from that?


EDITED TO ADD some 2nd day folo: This is a tough case for the Democrats too. They don't want to be seen as soft on ephebophiles, but neither do they want to alienate their base. So what's their spin? That the dirt on Foley should have been handed over to them. Makes a certain kind of sense: you can't buy oppo research like that.

The Nation's spin is that it's all the fault of those rightwing voters in Florida who, one just knows, would never "accept" Foley "for who he was," thus creating "pressures" to stay in the closet, and once you're under that kinds of "pressures," we-el then, it's no wonder....
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:41 PM

 
Lebanese Christians Protest Hezbollah. "Don Samir of Lebanon is going to the war...."
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:15 PM

 


It's Michaelmas! So, start the term!
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:04 PM

 
Subject-line of e-mail from Ignatius Press (maybe you got it too): "15% off Women of Grace." Sheesh, everyone's selling out....
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:16 PM

 
My god-daughter is a genius!
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:06 PM

 

Mozart Opera Canceled for Muhammad Scene

A leading opera house in Berlin, Germany canceled a 3-year-old production of Mozart's "Idomeneo" that included a scene showing the severed head of the Prophet Muhammad, unleashing a furious debate over free speech.

In a statement late Monday, the Deutsche Oper said it decided "with great regret" to cancel the production of the 225-year-old opera after Berlin security officials warned of an "incalculable risk" stemming from the scene.

After its premiere in 2003, the production by Hans Neuenfels drew widespread criticism over the scene in which King Idomeneo presents the severed heads not only of the Greek god of the sea, Poseidon, but also of Muhammad, Jesus and Buddha.

Yes, I noticed it too: among the "heads" arbitrarily added to this opera, by yet another hotdogging Eurotrash director, was that of Jesus as well as Muhammad. But that only drew "widespread criticism," which is what Eurotrash productions are meant to do. But throw in Muhammad, and that's, you know, different.

"A furious debate over free speech?" You mean, over whether or not it would be a good idea? Because it seems that's all the Deutsche Oper has left itself to debate about.

UPDATE: Deutsche Oper reverses decision; cojones on loan from new German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who btw was also the first European leader to defend the Holy Father over the Regensburg speech. (Hat tip: The Rat.)
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:59 PM

 
Dennis Prager makes an interesting connection: Pius attacked for not confronting evil, Benedict attacked for confronting evil
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:48 PM

 
Thomas Stewart, RIP



Stewart with wife, soprano Evelyn Lear

From the message I just received:

Dear Friends,
>It is with great sadness and personal grief that I inform you that
>Thomas Stewart died this afternoon.
>He was on the golf course. He was with Evelyn. He fell to the ground
>and he died instantly.
>As you can imagine, Evelyn is distraught but being as brave as
>possible. Her son and daughter in law are with her. I will be there
>tomorrow.
>This is a great moment of sadness for all of us. But, I feel that I
>and all of us who are part of the ESP [Emerging Singers Program], had the wonderful experience
>of knowing this truly great man and we will continue his work for
>great Wagner Singing.
>RIP, Thomas Stewart. Great Man, Great Singer, Great Artist, Great Human Being.

Stewart, a Wagnerian baritone from Texas, was the great Wotan of the late 1960s and early '70s, that otherwise-desolate period after the retirements of Hans Hotter and George London, and before the rise of Donald McIntyre (who was Stewart's equal but not his superior).

Stewart's distinctive Valhalla-on-the-Range style is, laus Deo, preserved in Karajan's complete RING cycle. (Actually, Fischer-Dieskau sings Wotan in DAS RHEINGOLD, but Stewart takes over the more mature Wotan of DIE WALKURE and SIEGFRIED, and also reappears as Gunther in GOTTERDAMMERUNG, giving that weak character an unusual dose of Rocky Mountain oysters.)

Long after his retirement, Stewart contributed to Wagnerian opera -- and especially to Wagnerian opera in the Washington area -- through his Emerging Singers Program, several of whose alumni I have heard and admired (e.g. tenor Thomas Rolfe Truhitte, bass-baritone Charles Robert Austin). In 2000, Stewart himself came out of retirement to sing the appropriately sepulchral role of Titurel in PARSIFAL at the Washington Opera. Number One Son and I heard that performance and chatted with him backstage after Act I (Titurel's only singing part).

Though Wagner was Tom's specialty, I also saw him as Verdi's Iago and Ford, and as Offenbach's Four Villains.

Tom Stewart was an example in another way as well: through the constancy of his marriage to Evelyn Lear. In the multiple-divorcing world of show biz, the Stewart and Lear team were a rock of stability and general marriedness.
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:43 PM

 
Yale (1-1) over Cornell (0-2), 21-9. Harvard (2-0) over Brown (1-1), 38-21. Rest of Ivies played outside their league today (esp. Dartmouth, which lost to New Hampshire 56-14)
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:28 PM

 
Finally -- some Catholics riot!
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:21 PM

 
Getting harder for the Episcopal Church to make news....
posted by Cacciaguida at 4:08 PM

 

Despite there being separate sections at the cemetery in Low Wood Road for different faiths, the council wanted to give a tidy, linear appearance.

...so this new cemetary in Nottingham, England -- as in, Nottingham, England, Europe -- will have all its graves facing Mecca. Christians who desire a different configuration (facing east, as distinct from southeast) can petition for special arrangements, as is customary for minority religions.
posted by Cacciaguida at 4:02 PM

 
Conversation chez Cacciaguida: the quiet man

ELINOR'S CELL PHONE: *rings, on other side of room*

NUMBER ONE SON: Here, I'll get it. -- It's Jonathan Lee. -- Hello? Hello? -- Here, maybe he'll talk to you.

ELINOR (into phone): Hello?

CACCIAGUIDA: Only Jonathan Lee would call up in order not to say anything.

ELINOR: Hello?

NUMBER ONE SON: It's probably in his pocket and got dialled accidentally.

ELINOR: I know, that's why I'm yelling. HELLO??

NUMBER ONE SON: Throw it at the ceiling....
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:04 PM

 

Yale University to post courses on Web for free

BOSTON, Massachusetts (Reuters) -- Yale University said on Wednesday it will offer digital videos of some courses on the Internet for free, along with transcripts in several languages, in an effort to make the elite private school more accessible.

When you read that, I'll bet you had the exact same reaction I did: why in hell is a news item about Yale datelined Boston?
posted by Cacciaguida at 3:57 PM

 
Leno sez: "You know what the Pope really needs to apologize for? That Notre Dame game against Michigan last Saturday -- what's up with that?"
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:55 PM

 
New York Mets clinch the National League East championship! This is their first division title in 18 years. Of course they made it to the World Series in 2000, but that was courtesy of the "wild card" system that had to be introduced when both major leagues split into an odd number of divisions.

If the Mets make it to the World Series -- which would mean winning two sets of playoff series first -- then they are "scheduled" to win it. See, they won their first World Series, in 1969 (beating the highly-favored Baltimore Orioles). They lost their second, in 1973, to the Oakland A's. They won their third, in 1986, beating the Boston Red Sox and postponing that almost equally lovable team's next World Series victory until the memorable 2004 postseason.

Lastly, the Mets lost their fourth World Series, in 2000, to the Yankees. As already noted, they "backed into" the postseason that year as the "wild card" team: they had no realistic chance of beating that year's Yankees, and indeed did not.

But this year it's different. A win, a loss, a win, and a loss -- that's the Mets' World Series record so far. So, if they get into the Series this year, they are due to win -- even if they're playing the Yankees again.
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:13 PM