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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Great Catholic conspiracies maybe you missed, from Shrine of the Holy Whapping:

I've always had a soft spot for tacky Church consiracy novels, what I call "Cathsploitation." For once, the Church gets to be secretive, majestic, powerful, arcane, and something other than felt banners and Marty Haugen....

And so on, proceeding to a list of suggested overlooked conspiracies. Highly recommended!
posted by Cacciaguida at 3:59 PM

 
These Eastern Orthodox, man -- there's no talking to them. All I did was say to this one Oriental Schismatic priest online -- and he was, like, totally patronizing me: assuming, since I had been writing candidly about weaknesses I perceived on my own side as well on his, that what I wanted most in the world was for some kindly O.S. priest with a twelve-foot beard to take me under his wing and explain the "problems" with the Filioque to me. He even suggested the Church should change its creed -- "again"!

Well I mean really. All I did was point out that we don't change our creeds to suit factious sectaries animated by the schismatic spirit of Photius and Cerularius -- we don't, right? -- and they start going all Rikios Rikardos on me! What can you do with such people?!

A few months ago I asked my spiritual director: who's doing for Eastern Orthodoxy what Catholic Answers, Envoy, et al are doing for Protestant Fundamentalism? He said -- no one is, b/c we're cultivating good relations with the E.Os.

That won't do. Yes, I know there are high-level ecumenical talks and events, and even the occasional minor breakthrough. But at street level, Easterners -- many of whom are Protestant Fundamentists, only now they've got a few icons in their pockets (seriously: an ex-Prot E.O. I once met, a blazing anti-Catholic bigot, told me he liked Orthodoxy b/c it's "Fundamentalism with pictures") -- are out there sheep-stealing just as hard as Jack Chick, Christians Evangelizing Catholics, and all the other folks that Karl Keating et al, God bless them, have done so much to teach us about and arm us against.

So we need an Eastern-directed Catholic Answers. "Envoy to Constantinople." "Focus on the Photius." "Sail Beyond the Sunset." "When You Care Enough to Send the Very West." "1204 'n' More." I don't now, you pick the name. But somebody's got to do it.
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:37 AM

 
DOJ seeks to dismiss Geronimo descendants' lawsuit against Yale

...even though, as the article notes, Skull and Bones (which allegedly filched some of G's remains to decorate its clubhouse) is "not affiliated with the university."

Now that's interesting. The Pythagorean Brotherhood is no more "affiliated with the university" than Skull & Bones is, yet somehow, if we had bits of a dead Indian lying around (not to mention dung or the M4 Motorway), I don't think either Yale or the U.S. government would be as solicitous.

Ah, but that is because we've had just a few decades less in which to infiltrate Yale and the U.S. government....
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:23 AM

 
Vatican: Lefebvrists Exercise No "Legitimate Ministry." (Link now fixed. Also permalinked in margin as "SSPX suxx.")
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:00 PM

 
WSJ announces: Barbarians in Bankruptcy Court. As an old medievalist, this really got me thinking.

Svend the Spent
Skald the Skint
Attila the Munny
Broke Burgundians
Alemanni outta money
Clovis, King without Francs
Visa-Goths
Hedge funds? No, hedge rows
No-mun invasion
Magyar-card
Citicorpinopolis
GMosticism
Viking Voyage Investments
Too-Late Antiquity
Bankrupcy Code of Justinian
All Rhine, no rhino
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:56 PM

 
Jesuit University of San Francisco President Defends Condom Use for Virus Prevention Yep, during flu season just place securely over nose and mouth and breathe normally....
posted by Cacciaguida at 4:42 PM

 
Palin versus Letterman

One of the few things our sick society is still appropriately uptight about is sex across the age line (currently set at 18), and even jokes about same.

Now, there's plenty of room to ask whether Letterman was over the line or not when he made that off-color Alex Rodriguez joke involving the Palin daughter whom he may have thought was 18-year-old single mom Bristol. Turns out, though, it was actually 14-year-old very-much-non-mom Willow.

Oops.

No Number Three: Writer sending out resumes. But what about Dave?
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:56 PM

 
SkyNews: French security agency links radical Muslim names to AF447

CounterterrorismBlog: Hack-jet: airborne cyberterrorism in a networked world?

A systemic software corruption may account for the mysterious absence of a Mayday call - the communications system may have been offline. Designing airport and aviation security to keep lethal code off civilian aircraft would in the short-term, be beyond any government civil security regime.

posted by Cacciaguida at 1:08 PM

 
UK Europe elections:

Good news: Labour Party humiliated, place third in popular vote behind Conservaties -- and anti-EU fringe party UKIP.

Bad news: even fringier, racist BNP picks up one, maybe two EU Parliament seats. Voter turnout is low. Apathy is dangerous, as anti-BNP Tweaters are pointing out.

As John Redwood points out: when British voters can focus on the Euro-federalism issue (and, one must add, can be motivated to vote), they vote overwhelmingly against further rule from Brussels.
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:04 AM

 
From London: imminent Cabinet re-shuffle, announced through embarrassing leaks.

But the only re-shuffle the electorate is interested in is one that moves Labour from "Government" over to "Opposition." Actually, even that might be stroke of luck for the Labour Party, as one recent poll has it trailing the Liberal Democrats.

Note that one suspected leakeuse is Hazel Blears, a Blairite widely thought to have been the model for Dolores Umbridge. (J.K. likes, and Hazel hates, Gordon Brown.)
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:35 PM