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

 
* Order of the Phoenix movie will open on July 11, two days earlier than announced.

* HP theme park will open in Florida in 2009. In Florida? Why not Scotland?
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:29 PM

 
I'm not saying it has anything to do with our anniversary, but Elinor recently found online -- and I'm now passing it on to you -- the classic Looney Toons feature, much beloved of us both, in which Prissy Hen sets out to marry Foghorn Leghorn, gets caught in the crossfire between that great southern rooster and a New York-bred dog, but gets her man in the end.

"'Course you know this means WAWW!" "YEAH-uss!"
posted by Cacciaguida at 2:08 AM

 
Anniversary!
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:38 PM

 
Memorial Day

I give you Prof. Andrew Bacevich, and his son, the late 1st Lt. Andrew "Andy" Bacevich.


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.

MALCOLM

He's worth more sorrow,
And that I'll spend for him.

-- Macbeth, Act V Scene VIII

posted by Cacciaguida at 2:55 PM

 
Daily Telegraph: Revealed: Queen's dismay at Blair legacy

The queen has been left "exasperated and frustrated" at the legacy of Tony Blair's 10 years in power, friends have disclosed....

Royal sources said that the Queen also believes privately that Mr Blair and his Government have meddled unnecessarily in Britain's heritage, including the reform of the House of Lords.

The accompanying picture tells a thousand words about HM's view of the PM's efforts to draw her into grooviness at a "millennium" celebration.

As for the House of Lords, I don't know what's for the best -- but throwing out most of the hereditaries was just daft. Here's a thought: not all commoners can sit in the House of Commons just because they're commoners, right? They've got to choose one, on a district basis, right? Well maybe peers should have their own election: get Poppy, Tuppy, Chuffy and their friends together at each election and make them decide whose turn it is to go down to Westminster and do a spot of work. For districts, use country seats. Think about it.
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:14 PM

 
In the New English Review, Hugh Fitzgerald gives Karen Armstrong a much-need dissection:

For Karen Armstrong history does not exist. It is putty in the hands of the person who writes about history. You use it to make a point, to do good as you see it. And whatever you need to twist or omit is justified by the purity of your intentions – and Karen Armstrong always has the purest of intentions. She knows that we in the “white Western world” (as some like to call it) fail to understand others. She knows of our deep need to create “the Other” – a psychic need felt exclusively, and with great intensity, apparently, only by us, and never by anyone else....

“In 1492, the year that is often said to inaugurate the modern era…” Who says that the year 1492 inaugurated the modern era? And what does the phrase “the modern era” mean in any case? The year 1492 was chosen by this lover of symmetries and “three monotheisms” (now said to be studying Buddhism as the latest stop in her Spiritual Search) because in that year, in Spain, Jews and Christians and Muslims each acted, or was acted upon, in ways that Karen Armstrong finds useful to both misstate, and exploit. She will not mention what happened before 1492. She will not tell us about the Muslim invasion and conquest of Spain, or about the 500 years of the Reconquista, nor will she tell us when the Jews first came to Spain, long before the Muslim invasion, even before the Visigoths arrived. She will not point out that the Jews were inoffensive victims, and unlike the Muslims, never invaded, never conquered, never held the Christians of Spain in thrall, never posed a threat to the body politic.

In 1492 “the Catholic monarchs conquered Granada, the last Muslim stronghold in Europe.” What then should we call all those lands in southern and eastern Europe that the Ottomans were at that very moment busy conquering and seizing, including Constantinople, the richest, most populous, most important city in all of Christendom for 800 years (taken by the Turks on a Tuesday – May 29, 1453), and the Balkans (including the then-vast Serbian lands), and what are modern-day Albania, Greece, Rumania, Bulgaria, and they continued to press northward and westward, later seizing much of Hungary and threatening Vienna twice. Were these not parts of Europe, and was not a good deal of Europe, including what had been its most important city for a millennium, Constantinople, firmly in Muslim hands before Granada fell – and after?

But it would not do to remind readers that while the Muslim invaders and conquerors of Spain lost their last “stronghold” in Granada, other Muslim invaders and conquerors were busy at the other end of Europe, seizing lands and subjugating the native populations to the devshirme (the forced levy of Christian children) as well as to the jizyah (the tax on non-Muslims) and all the other disabilities that, wherever Muslims conquered, were imposed, as part of a clearly elaborated system, and not merely the whim a ruler, on all non-Muslims.....

posted by Cacciaguida at 7:28 PM

 
It seems Ron Paul has joined the Buchanan-BinLaden Axis. Sad, really.
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:41 PM

 


This is the Brompton Oratory, London. I went to Mass here this morning; also yesterday, Saturday, and last Thursday. (On Friday I went to Westminster Cathedral.) (As of this writing, I am back home -- and pretty tired too.)

At the Brompton Oratory, there are no "altars of sacrifice" as distinct from "altars of repose," so all Masses are said ad orientem, regardless of whether the Tridentine or Novus Ordo rite is being used. The Tridentine is offered every Sunday at nine. Mass is offered frequently every day, generally in the N.O. -- but last Thursday, following the scheduled 7 a.m. Mass (N.O.), a priest came out and offered the Tridentine rite on a different side altar; two passers-by attended.

This is an amazing place. Here is a good article on it.
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:43 PM

 
Hullo. All's well with me here in London. Just got back from an evening of recollection at St. Thomas More Church, Swiss Cottage, Camdentown.
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:01 PM

 
My first Harry Potter post in quite a while

I'll blog from London if I can; that will depend on whether I can get access to a computer.

Meantime, I haven't forgotten that we're moving into the biggest two-month run-up in the history of Harry Potterdom. While the Journal predicts a bursting bubble for the world of para-Potter publishing, I'm not so sure. Compare Tolkien: (a) we still read Lord of the Rings; (b) new books are still published about it; and (c) de-facto-new Tolkien books are still published as fast as Christopher Tolkien can "edit" them. Unless you think Pottermania has been driven exclusively by suspense over how it will end, these books will enter the fantasy canon -- and more importantly, as with Tolkien, they will be in that part of the fantasy canon that is loved by people who aren't full-time fantasy fans.

That said, summer of '07 will surely be unique in Potter history, with the release of the final book, preceded by the movie of OoTP.

Here's a question: To what extent, if at all, do you think prospects of future sales, and future generations of readers, will turn out to have influenced the ending? I mean, if Frodo had died in Mount Doom, even if the Ring had also been destroyed, that might have been a downer that would have dampened the books' popularity. J.K. surely doesn't need the future income, but she might want those future readers.

What say? Would a downer ending dampen future readership? If Harry or Hermione buys it (two of the worst outcomes I can think of), does the public stop buying it? Or is the series ending-proof? Does/should J.K. care?

(N.B. One of the best-regarded books on Wagner's RING cycle is called Finding an Ending. Apparently Wagner considered different ones.)

Opine.
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:10 PM

 
From the Archbishop of Pamplona, political advice you don't see every day (any more):

In the third chapter of a document entitled 'The Church's current situation' presented in León on the 17th March, the archbishop expresses his support for "political parties that are faithful to the Church's social doctrine in its entirety, such as the Traditionalist Catholic Communion, Alternative Spain, the Catholic Legion of Political Action, and the JONS Spanish Falange. All of these parties are often overlooked, but have a testimonial value that might justify a vote. They have little chance of influencing political life, although they could form useful alliances if they receive the support of enough catholics."

Discussion here on a Spanish site called St. Thomas More Forum. Web sites for the parties he mentions? Found these:

* interview with the Gen.Sec. of Alternativa Española. Why was the party founded?

La decisión de fundar Alternativa Española (AES) la tomamos cuando gobernando el P[artido P[opolar], con mayoría absoluta, pudimos comprobar, con sorpresa y tristeza, que los abortos crecían vertiginosamente (80.000 en el año 2003), se aprobaba la píldora abortiba RU-486 y la del día después, la ley sobre la manipulación del embrión humano, el PP ya anunciaba su apoyo incondicional a las uniones homosexuales, alcaldes del PP, como el de Vitoria, abrían registros públicos de parejas homosexuales, en Comunidades gobernadas por el PP los homosexuales podían acoger a menores....

* Tercio Católico. Sound on the big issues, but has an integrist-clericalist edge. Caution urged.

* Falange Española de los JONS. I used to know what the JONS are; now all I remember is that it's an acronym left over from the more truly fascist side of Franco's coalition in the '30s-- as is this party, it would appear. It makes pro-life noises, but then detours almost immediately into the crime issue. Anti-monarchical, and favors "syndicalism" over capitalistic "represenation." Not recommended.

AES sounds like the best of them. Anyway, the Archbishop was suggesting protest votes, which would have the effect of signalling to the "mainstream" "conservative" party, the Partido Popular, that it has to bring in these discontented voters. Hey, it worked in France, where Sarkozy flattened the Front National by coopting some of its legitimate issues.
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:54 PM

 
Farm Street Jesuits, as seen in Brideshead Revisited. (Well, probably not as seen in Brideshead Revisited, but the same location and organization.)
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:29 PM

 
Giuliani Tries to Clarify Abortion Stance UHgain.

You know, I don't have much use for the word "devout" myself, but since the W.Post and other MSM seem to insist on using it (mainly to describe pro-abort or pro-ssm Catholics), I'd be curious about what they think it means.
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:26 PM

 
Since I'm preparing for a trip to England, and HM The Queen is here in the U.S., here's a round-up of recent HM The Queen jokes (all via Newsmax):

* Awkward moment when President Bush congratulated her on her Academy Award. (Letterman)

* She mentioned to the President that she had been on the throne for 55 years; he suggested Metamucil. (Leno)

* "Earlier this week, President Bush hosted a state dinner in Queen Elizabeth’s honor. The guests included Trent Lott, Elisabeth Hasselbeck from The View, and the winning jockey from the Kentucky Derby. Which explains why the Queen was overheard saying, 'This party bites the big one.'" (Conan)

And click here for the Top Ten Signs Your Horse Won't Win the Kentucky Derby.
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:59 PM

 
What we have here is....

Eventually St. Blog's will unravel exactly what the Holy Father said and meant about excommunication and pro-abort pols. Here (thanks to John Allen, and a hat-tip as well to Whispers in the Loggia) is a transcript of the press conference aboard the plane to Brazil.

It seems clear that we actually have here (for better or worse) is no global campaign of formal excommunication, but merely an observation that when certain Mexican bishops said the e-word in connection with Catholic pols who voted for Mexico City's new pro-abort law, they were simply reflecting what's in Canon Law and not pulling something out of their -- berettas.

Also, we must keep in mind -- because the MSM certainly won't -- the distinction between being in mortal sin and being formally excommunicated. There's something I call the Santuzza Fallacy, after the heroine of Mascagni's ever-popular one-acter, CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA. Santuzza had it off with this guy Turiddu, see, and so she figures, correctly, that she can't take communion (pending confession). She also announces, quite incorrectly, that she is excommunicated ("scommunicata"), and therefore cannot enter the village church to witness the Easter Mass that's going on.

(Evidently, the Santuzza Fallacy also afflicts some whose job it is to narrate CAVALLERIA to others.)

As the Pope said on the plane, being complicit in abortion is inconsistent with receiving communion. So is any mortal sin. But (and this is me talking once again, not the Holy Father) being in mortal sin, without more, is not the same as being excommunicated, at least as I understand the matter. I entreat comments on whether I'm right about this, and about whether any special rules pertain to abortion.

Let's get our distinctions clear now, b/c I suspect we're going to hear more about this in our presidential race: it features several nominally Catholic pro-aborts, and this time, one of them is a Republican.
posted by Cacciaguida at 7:52 PM

 
A star done blowed up. Britain's leftist Guardian, unable to blame it on the Bush-Blair alliance, reports:

The enormous star explosion released about 100 times more energy than a typical supernova and at its peak was 100,000 million times brighter than the sun.

Is it too late to name it Hermione?

[S]uper-massive stars had a live fast, die young existence in astronomical terms.

Leave it to the Brits to describe astronomical phenomena in terms of clubbers.

Usually, supernovas occur when stars exhaust their fuel and collapse.

Supernova? I once had a Chevy Nova that did that....

Its massive core may have produced so much gamma radiation that some of the energy was converted into particle and anti-particle pairs.

Ah. The kind you don't want to seat next to one another at parties.

This produced a huge gravitational pull that tugged the star in on itself. The collapse triggered runaway thermonuclear reactions which caused the explosion to spew star detritus into space.

Yo, Iran, watch this....!

Of course, given the distance, all this happened 240 million years ago, and we're just seeing it now. Sort of like me and the second season of Lost. But there is a nova going into business much closer:

[C]loser to home in the Milky Way lies a star called Eta Carinae, some 7,500 light years away. It has been losing mass rapidly

What, did it have a liturgical reform?

and looks as though it may develop into a supernova. It is hard to predict what it would look like to us, but some suggest it would be so bright that it would be visible alongside the sun in the day.

And everyone's Blackberry will konk out....
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:00 PM

 
The Inland Empire Strikes Back. Michael Barone, in today's WSJ, has some (too rare) good demographic news for conservatives.

....Americans are now moving out of, not into, coastal California and South Florida,and in very large numbers they're moving out of our largest metro areas. They're fleeing hip Boston and San Francisco, and after eight decades of moving to
Washington they're moving out....

Democratic politicians like to decry what they describe as a widening economic gap in the nation. But the part of the nation where it is widening most visibly is their home turf, the place where they win their biggest margins(these metro areas voted 61% for John Kerry) and where, in exquisitely decorated Park Avenue apartments and Beverly Hills mansions with immigrant servants passing the hors d'oeuvres, they raise most of their money....

...the Interior Boomtowns voted 56% for George W. Bush in 2004. Texas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia and Nevada -- states dominated by Interior Boomtowns -- are projected to pick up 10 House seats in the 2010 Census....

posted by Cacciaguida at 2:58 PM

 
Sarko!
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:23 PM

 
In Veto Signature, a Tribute: Bush Stopped Iraq Bill With Pen From Fallen Marine's Dad

Awesome. Bloody f'in' awesome. (Hat-tip: David Zincavage.)
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:14 PM

 
It turns out Gustav Neidlinger, whose evil-dripping bass-baritone voice made him the greatest Alberich and Klingsor ever, was also great in the role of the kindly, self-effacing Hans Sachs. You can get that MEISTERSINGER at Berkshire Record Outlet for about $20. It's a Teatro de Colon (Bueonos Aires) performance from 1968, and Gus's co-stars are Sandor Konya, Claire Watson, and Franz Crass. Can't beat that with a stick, as a friend used to say.

No, I'm not the guy who knows the most in the whole world about opera -- but I know the guy who is, and he told me -- we're talking about Gus Neidlinger again -- that in his home house, which was Stuttgart, Gus did the whole range of heldenbariton roles. Neidlinger as Wotan? Apparently it happened. Recordings will surface one of these days. The Germans record everything, and have done since, oh, the early '40s.

(The discography at this site is incomplete: there exists a complete PARSIFAL with Neidlinger as Amfortas (to set alongside his numerous recorded Klingsors). It's from La Scala in, I think, 1966, under Cluytens. I know: I have it. Took me long enough.)
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:52 PM

 
Why yes, I was away for a few days, doing mostly politics and law, but also some opera. Opera ended up on top. Tomorrow I have to start grading law exams. I propose to keep my sanity by listening to the CD of the Karajan RING that I just scored off the Amazon used market for a very good price.
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:11 PM