Ham of Bone Starts Work Monday!

Great news - Ham got a job. Longtime readers will remember him as my out-of-work friend. He'll be working on a 2-month consulting contract with the option of perm hiring. Thanks for your prayers.

Why'd the Democrats Make it Close?

It's not my job to question the wisdom of Democratic primary voters, but Sen. Kerry seems an odd choice. He might win in November but why did the Demos decide to even make it close if they really hate Pres. Bush so much? I think any number of other Dems would've made better candidates and probably had Bush in a choker hold right about now.

It goes without saying that I wouldn't have voted for any of the Democratic candidates. But if I, a conservative, can see some good in a candidate then it stands to reason that he or she would get a large proportion of moderate and swing voters. This was proven back in '91 when I could see some good in Clinton and he was subsequently elected. I couldn't stand Al Gore and he narrowly lost.

So, drawing on my credentials as your average, conservative Midwesterner whose state will play a major role in this year's election I'll mention my take on the former Democratic candidates for VP-picking purposes. Since they all share policies that I don't like, this will obviously be subjective, but I take it that's how the swing voters vote. Without further ado: 1) loathe: Kerry, Wesley Clark 2) Can tolerate: Lieberman, Graham of Florida 3) Could almost like: Gephardt, Edwards.

Washington & the Seeming Aloof

Steven Riddle makes an interesting point about the fallacy of first impressions:

There was a time at which I believed all of the revisionist "stuff" about him [George Washington]--an incompetent leader, a cold and distant unfriendly man, a dullard. But as I have come to know him better I realize that were people to judge me by demeanor (which, of course they do all the time) I would be set with the same labels, and yet, I have to confess a certain amount of confusion about this. I am not deliberately cold nor distant, but someone who does not know me well will often discribe me as aloof and terrifying. (You can't even begin to imagine how funny this is without having seen me--I'm about as terrifying as a gerbil.) So I have felt a certain kinship in judgment.

I used to work with a guy back in the '80s who was a very strong Christian but never said three words together. His face was ashen and you got the sense he didn't get out much. His cubical was festooned with words from Scripture. He was not unpleasant to work with and he never said a bad word about anybody but I always wondered if this was his natural personality or if his single-minded devotion to Christianity made him quieter and more reticent and retiring. A natural reserve that does not cozy to too-soon intimacies is probably the mark of better Christians than me. Thomas Aquinas was so reserved he was considered a dullard and acquired the moniker "Dumb Ox" by schoolmates. That was soon disproven.

Postscript: Steven's musings on history got me thinking. The great thing about an interest in history is how it feeds itself in a search for first causes. If I study the Civil War period, it's natural to be interested in what actually led to it, leading to the 1820s-1850s when the debate raged. This leads back to the Founding Fathers, to figure out what they thought of slavery and states' rights. A strong interest in John Adams led me to the David Fischer's "Albion's Seed" which describes the Puritan migration, which leads to an interest in 16th century England...etc...

    Spanning the Proverbial Globe to Bring You the Constant Variety of Posts

...The weekly exercise where everyone not listed feels p*ssed off.

Even a well-catechized 18-year old, or at least most of them in North America, would benefit from a university-level introduction to theology, philosophy, and literature. Campion was never about secluding the students and innoculating them against modernity as your post implies. We offered the students a series of courses which showed them the amazing interrealted nature of the above-mentioned disciplines. We wanted them to exercise truly human powers and conder what it really means to be a human being. We never tried to have them flee the world--we gave them the opportunity to live in it and not have to be of it. We gave them the opportunity to be adult catholics. Even the best confirmation program cannot and should not do or be that. Faith formation is not the same thing as intellectual formation. Pray for the small-minded souls at Guadelupe Associates and never buy a book from Ignatius Press. - Professor Stephen Cordova, commenting on Campion College's demise via Erik's Rants & Recipes

When he takes away what he once lent us, his purpose is to store our treasure elsewhere more safely and bestow on us those very blessings that we ourselves would most choose to have. --St. Aloysius Gonzaga, via Steven Riddle

I feel he [John Senior, author of The Restoration of Christian Culture] is right about a lot of things--the predominantly evil tendancies of television, the need for devotion to our Lady, family and small nature-and-Reality-based community as foundation for genuine Christian culture... He is evidently a Distributist, which name is noised about quite a bit at school, but doesn't come out into the open very often, except in the Poli-Sci department which tends to be Capitalist. The big question: how much is idealism and how much is practical--or how much *needs* to be?.... - Therese of "Destination:Order"

Help me think of other saints who blazed up early and died young. I am very attracted to them, probably as contrast to the scratched, bug-covered windshield through which I view the Lord and His Mercy. - Therese Z of Exultet

Men have forgotten the greatness of God. - Bishop Sheen of Heaven

I survived five days and four nights of solitude while the rest of the family was up in Massachusetts. I got very little done around the house (though I didn't let the dishes pile up), but slept a lot. I got very little done around the house (though I didn't let the dishes pile up), but slept a lot. I rented the MST3K The Brain that Wouldn't Die and Emma Thompson's Sense and Sensibility and watched the former twice and the latter three times (once with Thompson's commentary); I think she did an excellent job with it. - Bob, the Trousered Ape. Three times? I'm impressed. Bob is one heckuva sensitive male.

Magnitude in spiritual things is not measured by poundage but by perfection. - Fr. Farrell via Bill of Summa Minutiae

Our emotions are slippery and autonomous things. Even once we learn to calm them somewhat and keep them in check, they will still come and go as they please. Just because you have emotions that nudge you toward evil, that doesn't mean you have sinned. Just because you have lovely emotions that nudge you toward benevolence, that alone doesn't mean you've done anything praiseworthy or that you are particularly spiritual. What have you chosen to think, and what have you chosen to do? What have you chosen to say, and what did you decide to leave undone? There's where you can see whether you love your neighbor or not. - Fr. Jim of "Dappled Things"

One line is ringing in my head today - offering God thanks for the "joy that has come to us out of our work" during the past week. I often feel a bit rueful when I hear it. The line makes me think of the swinging of an ax or hammer, putting up preserves, painting a house, toting that barge and lifting that bale on a brisk autumn day where you can do a solid something with tangible results, take a deep satisfied breath, and brush the sawdust off your hands with a sigh of satisfaction. What is the Work from which I rest on the Lord's Day? I talk to people, hunch over my computer, sit in meetings, develop that flat left ear from lengthy phone conversations, encourage, write and rewrite, grouse, snack and sit. I'm not sure what to think or say about that. It doesn't feel virtuous. I suppose it's worthwhile, though the connection between work in Corporate American and doing genuine good seems tenuous at best sometimes. - Roz of "In Dwelling"

There's the pragmatic, "ours is not to reason why" approach, which points out that Scripture tells us to choose good and avoid evil if we want to be saved, not if we know we are going to be saved. We follow Christ's commandments because following His commandments is our job; worrying about how what we do meshes with Divine predestination is above our pay grade. - Tom of Disputations on Predestination

Every society has the means to protect itself - even if it means the temporary loss of civil liberties. - Walker Percy

O'Reilly's Populist Factor

I get a kick over how little Bill O'Reilly cares about appearances. He is a true populist, ambitious for ratings but indifferent to critical approval. You'd think his thirst for audience, now slaked, would morph to a thirst to be taken seriously by the elites but it seems just the opposite. O'Reilly not only does not even try to make the show look more PBS-y, but seems to consciously or unconsciously run in the opposite direction. He hasn't forgotten his roots. Last night he had on detective Beau Dietl, who perpetually manages a three-day beard and looks and sounds Levittown-ish. O'Reilly hired a reporter named "Aphrodite" covering the Scott Peterson trial. No kidding - Aphrodite. She's pretty and tends to ramble a bit. Somehow I can never picture Lehrer or Jennings saying, "What do you think, Aphrodite?". But I guess that's part of Bill O'Reilly's charm. Given Fox's reputation for being a network of bimbos, other TV journalists would say, "I'm not going to hire someone named Aphrodite. It would hurt credibility." There is something wonderful about someone who knows who they are and is impervious to the opinion of the elites.

Clothes Horse...Not

My interest in clothes over the years has waned, going from "small" to "can be seen only with the aid of an electron microscope". This has some unfortunate side effects, such as ignoring this tear in my Dockers. I think it's a well-placed rip though. It's just below my back pocket. My take on this is this: no straight man will ever see it because no straight man looks at another man's arse. So this eliminates 55-60% of the population at work (the ratio of men to women here). Of the women, 20% will not notice either. Of those who notice, 30% will take pity, thinking it must've just happened when actually it happened weeks ago, and 70% will correctly assume I'm a slob. So if I've done my math right only 22.4% will think I'm a slob. Not bad.

On a bike ride through a poor neighborhood

Two houses, alike in dignity, in fair Columbus. One bears the fruits of neglect, weeds garnishing an exposed foundation. It recalls the 1930s: low and dishonest. Across the street stands a quaint chalet, a house as small as it is gem-like. The windows are festooned with lanterns, baskets of flowers warm the window ledges and the hedges are clipped to English garden perfection.

Whole Lot o' Scandalizing Going On

Therese (Destination: Order) reviews H. W. Crocker and his book "Triumph":

He was one of our Major Speakers last semester, beginning his speech with a "joke" that scandalized the student body and maybe some professors as well. A girl at the DSMME retreat recommended this book to me: a dynamic, page-turning 500-pg history of the Church! Well, it is amazingly dynamic, fitting in lots of history and dates while still being engaging and slightly novelesque. Mr. Crocker does *tend* to emphasize the more gossip-rag elements that pop up over the course of the centuries, or at least phrase them in modern vulgar attention-grabbing phrases. When Origen goes to certain extremes, I prefer not to hear it, or if at all, not at the head of the chapter in sensational tones. I do plan to read this book, however, as a good Church History refresher, and to compare with what I've learned before.

I emailed asking what Mr. Crocker's joke was, just for my own edification. I wonder what constitutes scandal for a Christendom student and I suspect it's far to the other side of my own. The ongoing "uber-Catholic" college experiment (Christendom, Campion (now defunct) and Stuebenville & others) is extremely interesting, especially in watching students emerge from protected environments and in watching their reaction to culture.

71
That's about how many of the 100 top-grossing films of all-time I've seen. Via Hokie Pundit. The ones I haven't are:

8. Jurassic Park
9. Shrek 2
11. Finding Nemo
19. Pirates of the Caribbean
23. Matrix Reloaded, The
25. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
26. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (film, not cartoon)
31. Toy Story 2
38. Cast Away
39. Lost World: Jurassic Park, The
40. Signs
41. Rush Hour 2
47. X2
52. Exorcist, The
53. Mummy Returns, The
54. Armageddon
58. Toy Story (1995)
66. What Women Want
70. Jurassic Park III
72. Planet of the Apes
78. Ice Age
81. Elf
87. Tarzan (1999)
89. Chicago
92. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
93. Hannibal
94. Catch Me If You Can
99. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Happy St. Thomas More Feast Day

One of my patron saints. Family of St. Thomas More:



"I will not mistrust him, Meg, though I shall feel myself weakening and on the verge of being overcome with fear. I shall remember how Saint Peter at a blast of wind began to sink because of his lack of faith, and I shall do as he did: call upon Christ and pray to him for help. And then I trust he shall place his holy hand on me and in the stormy seas hold me up from drowning." - from a letter written by Saint Thomas More from prison to his daughter Margaret

St. Aloysius Gonzaga, known for purity of heart

Thoughtful post from ThereseZ reflecting on the innocence of St. Aloysius Gonzaga and the differences between saints who "have a past" and those who don't. The opening prayer at Mass today is deeply affecting:

Father of love,
giver of all good things,
In Saint Aloysius you combined remarkable innocence
with the spirit of penance.
By the help of his prayers
may we who have not followed his innocence
follow his example of penance.

Of Interest to Germ Phobics

I'm unduly fascinated by this discussion around Karl Keating's newsletter, where he says: "The chalice or cup used at Mass is just as likely (or just as unlikely) to transmit disease as is any other cup that is shared among multiple people. The Consecration has no effect whatsoever on this."

This is why I tend not to partake of the cup. The Byzantine Catholic Church I favor has the Eucharist by intinction, but I don't think that's germ-free either since they deliver it via a spoon and although you're not supposed to clamp your mouth down on it, surely some do (infants might - the Eastern rite give the Eucharist to all the baptized).

Think this is a problem only with the new Mass? Not to gross you out (okay, to gross you out), here is what one commenter wrote about pre-Vatican II:

Having served as an altar boy prior to Vatican II changes, I am always surprised by the fuss that is raised about germs. It was not at all uncommon to see string of spit extend from the communicant's mouth to Father's finger as he drew back, having put a thin Host on their tongue. It was, and still is, difficult to put the Host in someone's mouth far enough that it will not fall out, and not make contact with their tongue or lips. And I have yet to see a priest even wipe his fingers (except for the foregoing example; Father would wipe hie hand on the purificator on my left arm). So I fail to see the issue of "germs" from the cup, and not from the receipt on the tongue as opposed to in the hand.

We Can Swear!

This line is pretty sad:

"We don't have those constraints, which provides for more colorful coverage," said Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, whose Daily Kos is among the most visited political blogs. "If I want to use profanity in a post, I'll use profanity."

...from here. Is this all that blogging offers? Opinion with profanity? "Wooo! We can cuss and the mainstream media can't!". That's not something to boast about that.

Against Happiness

This NY Times article scribe apparently hasn't read the Beatitudes. Interesting though:

Sad people are nice. Angry people are nasty. And, oddly enough, happy people tend to be nasty, too.

Such (allowing for a little journalistic caricature) were the findings reported in last month's issue of Psychological Science...The very idea that happiness could harm a person's character -- that it could be associated with prejudice, for example -- would have been unthinkable to ancient philosophers. They believed in an indissoluble bond between happiness and virtue. The virtuous man, they held, was bound to be happy, since he knew himself to be in possession of the highest good, a good that could not be taken away from him even when he was being tortured on the rack. With modern times, however, came the subjective "well-feeling" definition of happiness: when the fellow in the white coat asks you if you're happy, just check your mood, compare your circumstances with those of the people around you, then tell him how contented you feel.

Various & Sundry

Sadly, had to go to a funeral visitation this weekend. One person told me of the pain of the last days of the deceased. She said bitterly, "we don't allow animals to suffer like that!". What does one say? I asked if the morphine was working and she said she thought so but it was so unsettling to see her regain consciousness only to moan and see her eyes rolling around unfocused. I quoted Flannery O'Connor saying that tenderness apart from Christ leads to the gas chamber, but talking about suffering when one doesn't suffer much leaves a bad taste.

Also found out an acquaintance is a fan of the Brown's DaVinci Code. She says she is open-minded about the historicity of the DVC so when she heard who I went to see she said she wants a copy of Amy's book. The harvest is rich.

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Speaking of Amy...My brother has a master list of every major celebration in the world and wants to hit them all in his lifetime. Cinco de Mayo, Oktoberfest in Germany, Mardi Gras, the running of the bulls, etc...I have a less ambitious plan, and to even refer to it as a plan would be a stretch. I'm meeting bloggers! Yeah I can claim two sightings: Eric of "The Mighty Barrister" and now Amy Welborn.

Combined a visit to the 'rents Saturday with hearing her deliver a talk in a Cincy church. The accoustics left something to be desired (fortunately Amy, being a former teacher, projected better than the previous speaker) and the ineffective cooling system caused one poor man to pass out (9-1-1 was called and the paramedics assisted him).
My mom requested a book, so I had one signed for her. It's fun to see bloggers in person. I'd have liked to have stayed till after her signings, but the book-signing queue looked daunting. I looked around for Michael (I'd spied him while waiting in Amy's line) but couldn't find him. Meeting bloggers reverses the natural order. Instead of seeing a person and then learning more about them, you learn about a person and then see them.

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I had an email correspondent mention that he was tired of seeng the papist hat. The hat might get old but it was funny for me because it symbolized a certain catholicity. I could see some over-the-road trucker with two-day old barbecue sauce on his bib overalls, cigar stains on his teeth and a scraggely Ernst Tubbs beard and lo & behold! Atop his head sits a papist hat slightly askew, incongruous with its Baroque script and also for its irony since "papist" is historically a term of derision, not something worn as a badge of honor.