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

 
The head of the Persian Gulf kingdom of Oman is called Sultan Qaboos.

I'm just saying.
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:58 PM

 
The running dogs of capitalism find a fire hydrant.
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:16 AM

 
The Joys of Triddish: join the discussion of the silent canon, self-appointed clothing censors, and other of flotsam of the returning tide, over at Mommentary.
posted by Cacciaguida at 6:07 PM

 
Sherlock Holmes never said “Elementary, my dear Watson.” Neither Ingrid Bergman nor anyone else in “Casablanca” says “Play it again, Sam”....

And Dracula never said "Gude eeevening, " not in the Stoker novel, nor in the Broadway play based on it. However, in the 1978 revival (and possibly earlier ones), the classic entrance line was indeed used. Dracula (Frank Langella when the production opened, then Raul Julia, and later Jean Leclerq) made his entrance, and the house exploded in cheers. Then he said "Gude eeevening!" -- and the house exploded in fresh cheers for about ten minutes.
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:32 AM

 
ESCAPE FROM CHICAGO! Your blogger eventually makes it home despite snow, freezing rain, slush, wind, and a big O'Hare-y airport.

According to this, far fewer flights were cancelled today than Sunday. I should add, in compliment to United Airlines, that it cancelled no flights out of O'Hare today except for two -- and both of those were to Montreal so they don't matter. True, my late a.m. flight boarded at 2:15 p.m., and achieved wheels up at about 3, but at least it took off, about 27 hours after I was supposed to have left Chicago. (I spent most of those hours back at the downtown hotel I had just vacated, so don't weep too hard.)

For you Chicago travelers: Airport Express is OK for the O'Hare-to-downtown trip, but for the return trip, I found them to be unreliable.

The things I do for the Federalist Society.
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:14 PM

 
Hey, maybe the Edwards Grlzzz did this.
posted by Cacciaguida at 7:02 PM

 
Eve ("she watches dirty movies so you don't have to") has several interesting posts up about Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, as to which I'll just take her word!
posted by Cacciaguida at 6:59 PM

 
Bill Richardson: Obama Should Apologize. Yeah, and Apollo should obamagize.
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:11 PM

 
LePen 'fesses up

Throwing in the towel? Heck no: he's throwing it on!

To anyone who has ever wondered whether Jean-Marie LePen is just a misunderstood conservative, or whether's he's an outright neo-nazi as charged: the evidence for the latter, which has mounted over the years, is now clear and convincing, s'il faut en croire this:

Paris - French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen has dismissed the September 11, 2001 attacks as an "incident", saying the death toll of 3 000 was equal to the number of people killed in Iraq in a month.

Le Pen made the comment in an interview published on Wednesday with the Catholic newspaper La Croix during which he praised Islamic leaders for condemning the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.

9/11 polarized some people in a way not enough remarked upon: those (like me) who felt that that event clarified the unity of "the West," good and bad elements alike, against radical Islam, versus those who, while rightly deploring the decadent aspects of the modern West, foolishly find there a ground for coalescing with radical Islam.

Nice of him, to be sure, to "praise Islamic leaders for condemning the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon," but does he have anything to say to the Islamic leaders who directed those attacks? Or to the rank and file who danced in the streets when they heard about it?

The background issue, sometimes addressed candidly, sometimes not, is that of what people think about "the Jews." Under the first view described above, the state of Israel (generally speaking), and those Jews willing to stand as men of the West, are part of the solution. For those who hold the latter view, "the Jews" are part of the problem, a source of the decadence against which the hijackers launched those airplanes, and the sole beneficiaries of anything the U.S. does to combat terrorism.

It would not be going too far to say that this blog is dedicated, in substantial part, to upholding the first view and combatting the latter.

It may also be of interest that the LePen interview cited above appeared in La Croix, the French Catholic paper that, 100+ years ago, was the leading organ of the anti-Dreyfusards.

Plus ça change, non?

posted by Cacciaguida at 1:32 PM

 
And speaking of Italy, is this story -- a judicially mandated abortion -- for real, or is it an internet hoax? (Also reported here. I have no idea what ShortNews.com is.) The same judiciary system that's so sensitive to human rights it's got to indict American agents for kidnapping jihadi suspects?
posted by Cacciaguida at 2:50 PM

 
Zandonai's FRANCESCA DA RIMINI had its world premiere on this date in 1914. Six months later, war broke out.
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:21 PM

 
"Scientists have estimated the asteroid has a one-in-45,000 chance of striking Earth on 13 April, 2036." The Scotsman reports.
posted by Cacciaguida at 3:07 PM

 
The news from West Virginia ("We're family!").
posted by Cacciaguida at 2:57 PM

 
Congress's fecklessness, and Murtha's "slow-bleed" strategy: keep our soldiers, sailors, and Marines in harm's way, yet deny them the reinforcements they need, keep blame on Bush by not mandating any alternative. How many men will die for the Democrats' 2008 political strategy?

Today's Wall Street Journal editorial on this speaks for me.
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:58 PM

 
"...to imply a human bond that isn't there"

As you've heard by now, John Edwards's Jack-Chicks have "resigned." Though the Left is maintaining the script whereby the two are martyrs to Vatican power and the patriarchy, and to Edwards's failure to maintain a "bar-fight" position in the culture wars, I actually think Edwards is worse off for having backtracked on his initial decision to keep them on -- asssuming that their quitting really was his decision, not theirs.

As for the Jack-Chicks themselves, they'll be fine. One of them is at this moment one of Technorati's top searches; they're heroes to their highly-motivated base; advancealicious book deals and a TV miniseries can't be far off. But as for the impact on the Edwards campaign, Capt. Ed remarks:

I'm actually surprised that she quit, and at this point rather than last week when it might have meant something.... It seemed unlikely that anyone would find more insulting language on Marcotte's blog than already produced, and the decision by John Edwards appeared to tamp down the topic.....

Instead, as a number of bloggers have noted, Marcotte decided to take the opportunity to play the victim. Contrary to her assertion that we "right wing shills don’t respect that a mere woman like me could be hired for my skills," we Catholics drew attention to the fact that she engages in vituperative and demeaning attacks on religion and that Edwards appeared to have endorsed that by hiring her. Along the exact same lines, I would have criticized a Republican dumb enough to hire Fred Phelps as a spokesperson, as would Marcotte herself. She simply refuses to accept the fact that she wrote incendiary and bigoted essays about Christians and embarrassed Edwards by agreeing to work for him after doing so.

Narcissism is a theme that several have picked up on. Tim, of Random Observations, writes:

Commenter after commenter talks about "phony outrage" and "right wing noise", "hype and smear", "baseless" complaints, etc, etc, etc.

...Such remarks strike me, as an outsider, as incredibly stupid: Yes, the "right wing" was desparate to get some random John Edwards-employed blogger, Marcotte, fired. Because, among all the other bloggers who support Democratic candidates, she's -- what, so amazingly good? Why pick on her in particular? And (of course) John Edwards is such a substantial threat to, say, Guiliani, that it's clear they'd certainly go after him first.....

But as I said: this isn't stupidity, and these are (otherwise) sharp people. This is narcissism: it's all a big plot to get Marcotte. It has nothing to do with her sexual comments about God. That's just a superficial excuse to get at her -- because she's "pro-choice" and "not religious", as she explained.

Something that still needs saying is that the word "bigotry," as used in this flap, while perhaps lexicographically accurate, somehow doesn't capture the essence of the thing.

The Jack-Chicks are certainly bigoted in the sense that they have very strong opinions against viewpoints that they have, from all that appears, not made a serious effort to understand. (Chris, of Work in Progress, while noting -- rightly, imo -- that "politeness is only worth so much, especially politeness to people who aren't in the room" -- takes the trouble in this post to respond in a reasonable fashion to the rantings that Catholics are calling bigoted and that the AP referred to only as "deemed anti-Catholic" by Bill Donohue.)

But we usually reserve "bigot" for people who misunderstand and hate persons, not for people who misunderstand and hate teachings. When the latter are involved, and the teachings are those of the Church, "bigot" sounds at once too harsh and too soft. Uncle Di grasps a strand of the thread when he writes:

A man's feelings are hurt not by injury simply, but by injury where good will is expected. Five minutes' browsing on the damsels' blogs suffices to show there's no good will to abuse. And, paradoxically, when one belligerent openly declares war on another, it can thereafter hurt everything pertaining to its enemy except its feelings. Marcotte and McEwan may be "offensive" in the military sense of aggressive, but for Catholics to complain of being offended by their antipathy is to imply a human bond that isn't there.

I gather Bill Donohue believes that Catholics must not be left out of the Victim Game, since that's the coin of the realm, and the Church must not be, or be seen as, the only institution in American life that you can still attack. Fair enough. But now, the Chicks have taken Victim Hill in this round, and Bill (to mix game metaphors many times over) has been caught with the black hat on when the music stopped.

I'm happy with a rule that says "The Catholic Church will get at least as much respect as any other identifiable group in American interest-group, grievance-driven politics." But I'm not so happy with a rule that says "No one whose writings are vulnerable to attack by any grievance group can take any further part in public life." Does this make any sense?

Further blogcredit must go to eagle-eyed Walter Olson, who early on spotted Ms. Marcotte's unhingedness on a different issue -- the Duke lacrosse case -- and posted about it here.

Want to check out what the nutroots Left is saying? Try this, or this ("My stomach clenches when I think of Amanda, bursting with young, sparkling genius... jumped in the club car by vulgar hate-filled minions of the vile godbag Donohue turd..."; the writer envisions a better world in which "enlightened genderless aliens arrive in their organic mothership and aim a Lobotomy Beam at the brains of all woman-hating, dead- ghost- from- the- Roman- Empire- worshiping assholes"). And don't miss out on the comments.

posted by Cacciaguida at 5:02 PM

 
Ms. Lionel Shriver, novelist, ponders a paradox:

In our private lives, we consider it our right to leave even long-term relationships if we're miserable; with imaginary people, we apply the stricter, fustier mores of the 1950s. So, deep down, might Americans still prize loyalty over the pursuit of happiness?

and concludes:

For the morally grounded, infidelity comes with built-in retribution: the anguish of reading your own story, and instinctively siding with someone else; the supreme discomfort of playing the part of a character who, in a book or movie, you would not like. Indeed, the novel proposes that for anyone with a heart, betraying and being betrayed may feel equally awful.

The money phrase: "atmosphere of exception." Exactly what is created by the battle scene in Act II of FRANCESCA DA RIMINI, and, somewhat more innocently, by the situation in Act I of DIE WALKÜRE.

Good belated Valentine's Day reading. (Wonder if her novels are as good.)

posted by Cacciaguida at 1:32 AM

 
Valentine's Day landmark: Elinor has been visiting one of those "day counter" sites -- I don't really know what it is either, but, by using it, she has calculated that as of today -- Feb. 14, 2007 -- she has been married to me more than half her life.

Cool, no?
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:02 PM

 
Does this threaten our supply of Harris tweed?
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:39 PM

 
Well, here I am blogging on "New Blogger." I knew the time would come when "Old Blogger" woundn't be an option any more.

Well, having been a knight in the 12th century, I'm used to innovations that at first sound dodgy but eventually establish their merits and justify their existence. Printing -- that would be one. And electricity. I'm not an "early adapter" (or is it "adopter"?) by nature, and at first I thought those ideas were just nuts. Go know, right?

Then one day everyone was gassing about the "New Mass," and I'm like, dude, the Council of Trent was 400 years ago, and the liturgy they promulgated wasn't strictly speaking "new" even then. Then I found out what they meant, but for now let's not dwell.

When the Internet came along, I was like, whatev'. Then came blogging: putting your opinions out there without an editor -- not even a poetic interpreter, like Dante! Now this had potential....

So to all of you who are (still) with Blogger but are hesitating over New Blogger: it doesn't hurt, at least not like getting cloven with a Saracen sword.
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:19 PM

 
*Sigh* It has come to this: time to stand with Bruce Bawer.
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:36 PM

 
I thought the story about John Edwards and his "Jack Chicks" would die down, but apparently it's got legs like Jolie. The Curt Jester is all over it today in his inimitable way, with cartoons and links.
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:42 PM

 
Eve and Ratty will appreciate this review (and it appears to be typical) of the movie version of Hannibal Rising:

Is nobody just flat-out evil anymore? Not even Hannibal (The Cannibal) Lecter?....
No, it's always a trauma, or some prosaic cause-and-effect, that turns an earnest young child into a pitiless monster, as if garbage-in/garbage-out was all there is to human development. It's lazy psychology in support of prosaic dramaturgy....

posted by Cacciaguida at 1:23 PM

 
Abu Izzinjail: In UK, Firebrand who praised July 7 bombers arrested. Whether the statute, which criminalizes "glorifying terrorism," would pass muster under U.S. con law's Brandenburg test is a close one -- and irrelevant, because Britain has neither the First Amendment nor Brandenburg, and it's not clear to me that either this statute or Mr. Izzadeen's prosecution under it violate any principle of natural law.

Incidentally, while he's Abu Izzadeen to the police, the courts, Osama, and God, he was Trevor Brooks to his mum and dad. Convert, you know.

From his collected wit and wisdom.

(Yes, I "take the Telegraph." Why do you ask?)
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:49 PM

 
The John Edwards campaign and the foul-mouthed anti-Catholic bloggeuses who work for it: check out the story at Hotline (citing leftwing bloggers for whom this is a "bar fight" moment and Edwards must not back down), Power Line, the AP, the press release from the Catholic League that brought this matter to light, and the League's latest comment.
posted by Cacciaguida at 3:19 PM

 
NYC Teacher Allegedly Received Thousands for Tutoring Dead Pupil. Now, now, now: was he dead, or just a visual learner?
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:58 AM

 
"So then, having only four cylinders is like having a wife in the passenger seat."

-- Elinor

(This from the lady whose engagement-era leadfooting on the Merritt inspired comparison with the chase scenes on Endor in Return of the Jedi.)
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:57 PM

 
"Theology is not the most important thing about Orthodox theology."

-- Alexander of Macecon
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:51 PM

 
Deathly Hallows will be out on July 21.

Needed: some "top ten"-style suggestions on how JKR can use Book 7 to take the mickey out of Daniel over Equus. I'm thinking maybe:

10. Ron gets Hermione, Draco gets Cho, Neville gets Ginny, Harry gets plastered.
9. Nude scene -- in the lake, in a Scottish January.
8. Taking over role of Dr. Dysart: Snape!

etc.

posted by Cacciaguida at 11:14 AM