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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Everyone enjoying Dark Knight? Let me tell you this: it is not in fact the case that anyone can excel as a villain if you slap paint on him and give him a lot of bwah-ha-ha lines. That boy, it turns out, was one of greatest acting talents to come to the movies in a long time, and we'll miss him.

Meanwhile, though I'm not a comic-book fan, I have long had a weak spot for this Batman cover:


posted by Cacciaguida at 11:08 PM

 
The Mets are in first place.
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:13 PM

 
"spiritual Alzheimer's" and "ecclesial Parkinson's" -- Cardinal Ivan Dias tries a new tack in Vatican-Anglican relations.
posted by Cacciaguida at 7:05 PM

 
Today's Britnews

* Batman arrested! But now doubt he'll be able to make Bale ha ha ha ha ha ha ha....

(Hey girls! Remember Christian Bale as Demetrius in A Midsummer Night's Dream, opposite Allie McBeal's Helena, and understandably pursuing Anna Friel's Hermia?)

* They might not be picking up your garbage any more.

The government is to give councils the power to refuse to collect rubbish if home owners fail to abide by draconian rules which may include leaving bins in the right place, sticking to weight restrictions and following strict recycling policies.

Labour is quietly pushing the new rules through parliament without any debate after it proposed amendments to a 130-year-old law which has, until now, made it a statutory duty of local authorities to collect household waste.

There are fears that the changes to the law will lead to large increases in fly-tipping, bonfires of noxious substances and rat infestations around uncollected waste. Despite this, there will no reduction in council tax for home owners.

The Conservatives described the plans as "disgraceful", adding that bin men will now be able to use "any excuse not to empty your bin".

Many Labour MPs fear the changes will add to a growing backlash against the government which has seen them slump in the polls.

"Fly-tipping," it turns out, means emptying your trash in an unauthorized location, such as in front of your local Labour MP's home.

posted by Cacciaguida at 4:02 PM

 
Usually I put something up on this blog to mark July 20, the anniversary of the failed but valiant attempt on Hitler's life by a group of German army officers, senior politicians, and diplomats, most of them ennobled in Germany's ancient social hierarchy even before they became so in deed, and all of whom paid dearly.

But as I will most likely be out of blog-range on the 20th this year, I'll just send flowers:


posted by Cacciaguida at 10:19 PM

 
Vatican asks for Cardinal Newman exhumation on path to sainthood

...

Catholics hope that Pope Benedict XVI will issue a decree declaring Cardinal Newman as Blessed in December, which would pave the way for beatification next spring.

The final step would be for the Cardinal to be canonised as a saint.

Father Paul Chavasse, Provost of the Birmingham Oratory, said: "One of the centuries-old procedures surrounding the creating of new saints by the Catholic Church concerns their earthly remains.

"These have to be identified, preserved and, if necessary, placed in a new setting which befits the individual's new status in the Church.

"This is what we have been asked to do by the Vatican with regard to Cardinal Newman's remains, which have lain at Rednal since his death in 1890."

posted by Cacciaguida at 12:07 AM

 
If Dostoevsky wrote political headlines...



The Brothers Katabalzov
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:48 PM

 
Well, whoever signed up the Workshop this week at Kenthurst made out like a bandit!
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:54 PM

 
Conversation chez Cacciaguida: player pianos

CACCIADELIA: She [local friend] has the song on a paper that makes a piano play it.
ELINOR: You mean a piano roll?
CACCIADELIA: I think so, yeah.
CACCIAGUIDA: Those used to be really popular, before gramophones and victrolas became widespread.
ELINOR: They still are. At least, I still see piano rolls for sale on E-bay.
CACCIAGUIDA: Piano rolls? I'm surprised. I know there are "automatic" pianos now, for cocktail lounges and the like, but they're computerized.
ELINOR: Remember the one at the hotel where Zorak and the Old Oligarch had their wedding rehearsal?
CACCIAGUIDA: Not likely to forget it. I emerged into the lounge and found an invisible pianist playing Phantom of the Opera.
CACCIADELIA [now a huge Phantom fan]: Phantom of the Opera? Really?
CACCIAGUIDA: Mm hm. "Music of the Night" and "All I Ask of You."
CACCIADELIA: How appropriate.
CACCIAGUIDA: You have no idea.
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:56 AM

 
Dead as church, C of E is reborn as comedy troupe

A senior church leader says he would be willing to consecrate Britain’s first openly gay bishop, despite fears that such a move would further split the Anglican communion.

The Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, told The Sunday Telegraph that practising homosexuals should not be barred from becoming bishops.

He accused conservative Anglicans of being “exclusive” and narrow-minded in their opposition to gay clerics.

Now I ask you. If it were a matter of wanting to keep the tacky people out and associating only with the cool and "clubbable," would that be an argument for excluding the gay guys? Come now. (And stop giggling, that's a perfectly valid expression.)

The Archbishop, who is an old friend of Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, said that the Church should select people on their ability rather than discriminating against them because of their sexuality.

Goyische Kopf! All these years I've thought it was a question of the nature of human sexuality in the context of Christian anthropology and theology. Turns out it's just a two-way mulitple-choice question, and one of the "answers" is clearly a throw-away so that all of us can pass! Well pass me my ballot then!

The man at the centre of the controversy, Bishop Robinson, was set to preach in a London church. He told this paper he fears for his life

Of course he does, luv, it's part of the script. Like that time a decade and a half or so ago when a bunch of them disrupted a Christmas morning Mass at Old St. Mary's in Washington D.C. Clearly they thought their conduct would provoke physical reprisals by the congregants. When none of the worshippers rose to the (admittedly yummy) bait, some of the activists stuck to the script anway, falling to the floor and shouting "Oh oh oh you're hurting me" to no one in particular.

The Welsh archbishop, who last week chaired a meeting of the Modern Churchpeople’s Union, said that rigid dogmatism was damaging the Church.

“There used to be a generosity of spirit and diversity in the Anglican communion. There should be a backlash against this fundamentalism that has been thrust upon us.

“It is contrary to the ministry of Jesus and damaging that in the Church, we’re still fighting battles that have already been won in society."

I take it, then, that to the Modern Churchperson, the "ministry of Jesus" consists of conforming the Church to "society"; once "society" has a settled opinion, what business is it of the Church's to do anything other than fall in line instanter, and stay there? (Did William Wilberforce know that?) "Go forth and make late-capitalist consumerist citizens of all churches, baptizing them in the name of the Creating/Evolution-Managing Entity, the Redeeming-Accepting Entity, and the Empowering Entity...."

And so on, up to St. Loony up the Cream Bun and Jam....

posted by Cacciaguida at 12:19 AM

 
Daily Telegraph:

Anglican bishops in secret Vatican summit

Senior Church of England bishops have held secret talks with Vatican officials to discuss the crisis in the Anglican communion over gays and women bishops.

They met senior advisers of the Pope in an attempt to build closer ties with the Roman Catholic Church, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt.

Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was not told of the talks and the disclosure will be a fresh blow to his efforts to prevent a major split in the Church of England.

In highly confidential discussions, a group of conservative bishops expressed their dismay at the liberal direction of the Church of England and their fear for its future.

The rest

St. Thomas Becket, St. Thomas More, St. Edmund Campion, Venerable John Henry Newman, pray for us! Obtain for us, and for England thy Dowry, every grace and blessing, O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:27 PM

 
Note on Jesse Helms and the right to life

I feel I should pass on something I learned about Sen. Helms from a one-time fellow Hill-staffer and pro-life activist.

Sen. Helms's mailbag (and likewise that of his equally conservative, equally pro-life colleague, Sen. John East) would occasionally toss up the sort of letter that protests these senators' pro-life stands on openly racist grounds. That is, if you can believe it, "Senator, we've got to have legal abortion, otherwise you-know-who will keep multiplying...." That's not a direct quote, but it's a summary of the sentiment. (And I'm sure longtime readers of mine know all about Margaret Sanger's views on race, and about Planned Parenthood's targeting of black neighborhoods, etc.)

To this sort of pro-choicer, as well as to the conventional kind, Sen. Helms -- who takes so much guff on the "civil rights" issue, even in death -- would reply: "This is where I stand, and if it's the issue I go home on, then I'll go home."

In the event, Sen. Helms "went home" politically only when he was good and ready. Now he has has gone home to the good Lord on the Fourth of July. And Lord, Te Martyrum innatorum candidatus laudat exercitus.
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:56 PM

 


JESSE!!
(Helms, that is)
1921-2008
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:14 PM

 
Oh dear, Clan McHammed is offended

ETA -- Charles Moore writes in the July 5 Daily Telegraph:

Later this month, Labour may well lose the by-election in Glasgow East to the Scottish National Party. Nearby, in Glasgow Central, the SNP candidate is Osama Saeed. Mr Saeed is now the adviser on Islamic matters for Alex Salmond, the First Minister. "Scotland can be the hub for the Muslim world," he says. As part of the Scottish Contest programme, he offers young Muslims "alternatives" to al-Qa'eda material on the internet. This is how he proposes to do it: "When people talk about deradicalisation, the last thing you want to do is say you must be against terrorism." At various times, Mr Saeed has told Western countries that they must change their foreign policy to avoid being blown up, praised "martyrdom operations" (suicide bombing) and called on Scottish Muslims to act "in defiance" of police inquiries about terrorism. He is the Scottish spokesman of the Muslim Brotherhood.

posted by Cacciaguida at 11:07 PM