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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That reminds me -- today is the first day of the Novena of the Immaculate Conception. Let's pray to Our Lady for many favors needed, including the conversion of the Muslims.
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:07 PM

 
Switzerland Defends Ban on Mosque Minarets.

Wtf is the fuss? Height restrictions are one of the most common forms of land-use regulation known to man.

No, this one is not religion-neutral -- but then, Switzerland doesn't have a First Amendment. On the contrary, it specifically designates each of its cantons "Protestant" (most of them) or "Catholic" (fewer, but man, they're really Catholic). None is designated "Muslim," which I guess in time will itself become defined as a human rights violation, but in the meantime, kwitcherbitchin.

More places in Europe -- especially Rome, ahem ahem -- should have done this long ago.
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:59 PM

 
Pager Messages Sent During WTC Attacks Posted Online
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:55 PM

 
Headline Win, from Catholic News Agency: Pope and Anglican Primate meet for 20 minutes, say dialogue will continue
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:11 AM

 
Elsewhere in the Journal, the indispensible Reuel Marc Gerecht writes:

A concern for not giving offense to Muslims would never prevent the French internal-security service, the Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire (DST), which deploys a large number of Muslim officers, from aggressively trying to pre-empt terrorism. As Maj. Hasan's case shows, this is not true in the United States. The American military and especially the Federal Bureau of Investigation were in great part inattentive because they were too sensitive.

The rest
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:37 PM

 
Top Wall Street Journal headline today: Health Haggling Heats Up. Murdoch much?
posted by Cacciaguida at 6:28 PM

 
'Obama Pride' Official Starts 'Church Outing' Website to Expose (or Smear) Catholic Priests

The Church in D.C. has opposed the legalization of same-sex "marriage" there, you see, so it's drawn down the wrath.
posted by Cacciaguida at 7:41 PM

 
Russian Priest Gunned Down in Church

A Russian Orthodox priest known for his missionary work among Muslims was gunned down in his Moscow church, Russian officials said Friday.

posted by Cacciaguida at 7:53 PM

 
Miley Cyrus slips "you're gay:" does she deserve a break? I don't know. Are you gay?
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:44 PM

 
When a group of key officials gathered in the spring of 2008 for their monthly meeting in a Bethesda, Md., office, one of the leading — and most perplexing — items on their agenda was: What should we do about Hasan?…
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:51 AM

 

Fort Hood's 9/11

By RALPH PETERS

Last Updated: 2:50 PM, November 6, 2009

Posted: 1:36 PM, November 6, 2009

On Thursday afternoon, a radicalized Muslim US Army officer shouting "Allahu Akbar!" committed the worst act of terror on American soil since 9/11. And no one wants to call it an act of terror or associate it with Islam.

What cowards we are. Political correctness killed those patriotic Americans at Ft. Hood as surely as the Islamist gunman did. And the media treat it like a case of non-denominational shoplifting.

This was a terrorist act. When an extremist plans and executes a murderous plot against our unarmed soldiers to protest our efforts to counter Islamist fanatics, it’s an act of terror. Period.

When the terrorist posts anti-American hate-speech on the Web; apparently praises suicide bombers and uses his own name; loudly criticizes US policies; argues (as a psychiatrist, no less) with his military patients over the worth of their sacrifices; refuses, in the name of Islam, to be photographed with female colleagues; lists his nationality as "Palestinian" in a Muslim spouse-matching program, and parades around central Texas in a fundamentalist playsuit — well, it only seems fair to call this terrorist an "Islamist terrorist."

But the president won’t. Despite his promise to get to all the facts. Because there’s no such thing as "Islamist terrorism" in ObamaWorld.

And the Army won’t. Because its senior leaders are so sick with political correctness that pandering to America-haters is safer than calling terrorism "terrorism."

And the media won’t. Because they have more interest in the shooter than in our troops — despite their crocodile tears.

Maj. Nadal Malik Hasan planned this terrorist attack and executed it in cold blood. The resulting massacre was the first tragedy. The second was that he wasn’t killed on the spot.

Hasan survived. Now the rest of us will have to foot his massive medical bills. Activist lawyers will get involved, claiming "harassment" drove him temporarily insane. There’ll be no end of trial delays. At best, taxpayer dollars will fund his prison lifestyle for decades to come, since our politically correct Army leadership wouldn’t dare pursue or carry out the death penalty.

Maj. Hasan will be a hero to Islamist terrorists abroad and their sympathizers here. While US Muslim organizations decry his acts publicly, Hasan will be praised privately. And he’ll have the last laugh.

But Hasan isn’t the sole guilty party. The US Army’s unforgivable political correctness is also to blame for the casualties at Ft. Hood.

Given the myriad warning signs, it’s appalling that no action was taken against a man apparently known to praise suicide bombers and openly damn US policy. But no officer in his chain of command, either at Walter Reed Army Medical Center or at Ft. Hood, had the guts to take meaningful action against a dysfunctional soldier and an incompetent doctor.

Had Hasan been a Lutheran or a Methodist, he would’ve been gone with the simoon. But officers fear charges of discrimination when faced with misconduct among protected minorities.

Now 12 soldiers and a security guard lie dead. 31 soldiers were wounded, 28 of them seriously. If heads don’t roll in this maggot’s chain of command, the Army will have shamed itself beyond moral redemption.

There’s another important issue, too. How could the Army allow an obviously incompetent and dysfunctional psychiatrist to treat our troubled soldiers returning from war? An Islamist whacko is counseled for arguing with veterans who’ve been assigned to his care? And he’s not removed from duty? What planet does the Army live on?

For the first time since I joined the Army in 1976, I’m ashamed of its dereliction of duty. The chain of command protected a budding terrorist who was waving one red flag after another. Because it was safer for careers than doing something about him.

Get ready for the apologias. We’ve already heard from the terrorist’s family that "he’s a good American." In their world, maybe he is.

But when do we, the American public, knock off the PC nonsense?

A disgruntled Muslim soldier murdered his officers way back in 2003, in Kuwait, on the eve of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Recently? An American mullah shoots it out with the feds in Detroit. A Muslim fanatic attacks an Arkansas recruiting station. A Muslim media owner, after playing the peace card, beheads his wife. A Muslim father runs over his daughter because she’s becoming too Westernized.

Muslim terrorist wannabes are busted again and again. And we’re assured that "Islam’s a religion of peace."

I guarantee you that the Obama administration’s non-response to the Ft. Hood attack will mock the memory of our dead.

--------

The above was written by Col. Ralph Peters, USA Ret., for the New York, which holds the copyright thereto.

posted by Cacciaguida at 11:15 PM

 
OK, I wasn't going to say anything about the name and/or religion of the principal Fort Hood shooter. I might have pointed out that these appear to have been coordinated shootings, which is not what typically happens in a "he just snapped" situation, which tend to be solo performances. But nope, I wasn't going to say anything about the main gunman being a Muslim.

Until this, from UK's The Independent:

Army spokesman Lieutenant General Bob Cone said witnesses heard Major Nidal Malik Hasan cry "Allahu Akbar" - Arabic for "God is great" - before opening fire at the Fort Hood complex.

EDITED TO ADD: Newsmax (credible? You tell me) adds:

His name appears on radical Internet postings. A fellow officer says he fought his deployment to Iraq and argued with soldiers who supported U.S. wars. He required counseling as a medical student because of problems with patients.

posted by Cacciaguida at 1:28 PM

 
Influenza cure (via tasteful blog An Affordable Wardrobe)
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:05 AM