It's California's #1 tax crop, and the nation's fourth largest.
That's right, reefer. And serious legislators want it legal, taxed and regulated.
The savings to individual states in prison costs as well as law enforcement and the boost in revenues from the pot tax would be gigantic.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Post-depression business travel
Las Vegas and 2 am cabbies lose. St. Louis and the dayshift win. Courtesy of reader C.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
DC gets a congressman
And kudos to Dick Lugar for joining Democrats in voting for it.
That said, Robert Byrd didn't, and quite possibly for the right reasons. The move may be indeed be unconstitutional.
D.C. should be reduced to the size of the area immediately surrounding the White House, the Supreme Court and Congress, with the rest folded into Virginia and Maryland. Republicans like Lamar Alexander (who, naturally, claim they want DC incorporated only into Maryland and not battleground Virginia) should be called on their bluff.
That said, Robert Byrd didn't, and quite possibly for the right reasons. The move may be indeed be unconstitutional.
D.C. should be reduced to the size of the area immediately surrounding the White House, the Supreme Court and Congress, with the rest folded into Virginia and Maryland. Republicans like Lamar Alexander (who, naturally, claim they want DC incorporated only into Maryland and not battleground Virginia) should be called on their bluff.
Danny Gokey
There is nothing with having an interracial homosexual relationship with someone from your evangelical church. Some, however, might question its coming
so soon after personal tragedy.
so soon after personal tragedy.
Holocaust-denying bishop
Tries to escape the media in Buenos Aires' international airport. Today, he claims to have unlearned anti-Semitism his coreligionaries tried to keep alive in their reaction to Vatican II.
Benedict XVI, whose reaction to Vatican II has lasted almost as long, will presumably be pleased to accept the apology, which comes in time for his trip to Israel. And once he's back, he can presumably welcome the Nazi faithful back into the Church once memories of the incident subside, say in a year or so.
Benedict XVI, whose reaction to Vatican II has lasted almost as long, will presumably be pleased to accept the apology, which comes in time for his trip to Israel. And once he's back, he can presumably welcome the Nazi faithful back into the Church once memories of the incident subside, say in a year or so.
Best line from American Idol last night
Adam Lambert: "I'm going to sing a song by my mother's favorite rock band, the Rolling Stones."
Recall Cao
It may be unconstitutional, but that hasn't been absolutely established yet, and it will be a lot of fun trying. And it will scare the crap out of congressional Republicans if the effort spreads to other districts.
Courtesy of Gail Collins
Could we launch a congressional and or Justice Department investigation into the $130 billion spent on post-Katrina aid? Piyush Jindal surely has a lot to answer for. And so does his fellow 2012 contender, Haley Barbour.
Many Mississippians have benefited from Governor Haley Barbour's efforts to rebuild the state's devastated Gulf Coast in the two years since Hurricane Katrina. The $15 billion or more in federal aid the former Republican national chairman attracted has reopened casinos and helped residents move to new or repaired homes.
Among the beneficiaries are Barbour's own family and friends, who have earned hundreds of thousands of dollars from hurricane-related business. A nephew, one of two who are lobbyists, saw his fees more than double in the year after his uncle appointed him to a special reconstruction panel. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents in June raided a company owned by the wife of a third nephew, which maintained federal emergency-management trailers.
Meanwhile, the governor's own former lobbying firm, which he says is still making payments to him, has represented at least four clients with business linked to the recovery. [...]
When Haley Barbour was sworn in as governor of Mississippi in 2004, he set up a blind trust to avoid conflicts of interest and said he had severed ties with the Washington lobbying firm he co-founded.
The blind trust document he signed about six weeks later says that on Jan. 13, 2004, the day he took office, Barbour still had a stake worth $786,666 in the publicly traded parent company of Barbour Griffith & Rogers Inc., as well as pension and profit-sharing plan benefits from the lobby firm.
A copy of the notarized trust agreement, obtained from an individual who requested anonymity, says Barbour receives $25,000 per month, or $300,000 a year, from it. He lists the trust in his annual Mississippi ethics filing as his only source of income outside his $122,160 salary as governor.
Barbour, 59, a former Republican National Committee chairman, has refused to discuss his personal finances. His attorney, Ed Brunini Jr., said in a statement yesterday that "the provisions of his blind trust are fully appropriate and legal under Mississippi law." Brunini alleged that the disclosure of the information was unlawful. Barbour spokesman Pete Smith said Brunini's statement would have the governor's approval.
It couldn't be learned what, if any, interest Barbour had in Barbour Griffith when the members of the firm lobbied the state last year in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina two years ago. The minimal disclosure required by Mississippi law contrasts with federal executive-branch rules that individuals who set up blind trusts report publicly their initial holdings and what they are worth, within ranges.
It's time to investigate welfare queens, and Mississippi and Louisiana are among the cream of the vast red state crop.
Many Mississippians have benefited from Governor Haley Barbour's efforts to rebuild the state's devastated Gulf Coast in the two years since Hurricane Katrina. The $15 billion or more in federal aid the former Republican national chairman attracted has reopened casinos and helped residents move to new or repaired homes.
Among the beneficiaries are Barbour's own family and friends, who have earned hundreds of thousands of dollars from hurricane-related business. A nephew, one of two who are lobbyists, saw his fees more than double in the year after his uncle appointed him to a special reconstruction panel. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents in June raided a company owned by the wife of a third nephew, which maintained federal emergency-management trailers.
Meanwhile, the governor's own former lobbying firm, which he says is still making payments to him, has represented at least four clients with business linked to the recovery. [...]
When Haley Barbour was sworn in as governor of Mississippi in 2004, he set up a blind trust to avoid conflicts of interest and said he had severed ties with the Washington lobbying firm he co-founded.
The blind trust document he signed about six weeks later says that on Jan. 13, 2004, the day he took office, Barbour still had a stake worth $786,666 in the publicly traded parent company of Barbour Griffith & Rogers Inc., as well as pension and profit-sharing plan benefits from the lobby firm.
A copy of the notarized trust agreement, obtained from an individual who requested anonymity, says Barbour receives $25,000 per month, or $300,000 a year, from it. He lists the trust in his annual Mississippi ethics filing as his only source of income outside his $122,160 salary as governor.
Barbour, 59, a former Republican National Committee chairman, has refused to discuss his personal finances. His attorney, Ed Brunini Jr., said in a statement yesterday that "the provisions of his blind trust are fully appropriate and legal under Mississippi law." Brunini alleged that the disclosure of the information was unlawful. Barbour spokesman Pete Smith said Brunini's statement would have the governor's approval.
It couldn't be learned what, if any, interest Barbour had in Barbour Griffith when the members of the firm lobbied the state last year in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina two years ago. The minimal disclosure required by Mississippi law contrasts with federal executive-branch rules that individuals who set up blind trusts report publicly their initial holdings and what they are worth, within ranges.
It's time to investigate welfare queens, and Mississippi and Louisiana are among the cream of the vast red state crop.
I don't seem to remember
Warnings about undue adulation to George W. Bush when he opposed John Paul II on Iraq. Indeed, what I remember is the present pope, then a Cardinal, writing a letter to American bishops (on behalf of his boss), asking them to deny communion to his challenger.
What it comes down to is that the Roman Catholic hierarchy has jettisoned the Church's rich social gospel and its tradition engagement with the world. There are now only three issues to be concerned about, all of which have something to do with sex: contraception, homosexuality and abortion.
So here's some advice for young ambitious clergy in the Legionaries and Opus Dei. Take a clue from Maciel and Chaput: don't look skywards, for there are far greater riches "down below."
What it comes down to is that the Roman Catholic hierarchy has jettisoned the Church's rich social gospel and its tradition engagement with the world. There are now only three issues to be concerned about, all of which have something to do with sex: contraception, homosexuality and abortion.
So here's some advice for young ambitious clergy in the Legionaries and Opus Dei. Take a clue from Maciel and Chaput: don't look skywards, for there are far greater riches "down below."
If you read the comments...
You will note that at least some people think this might be a tribute to Black Madonnas and not a defacing.
The Legionaries of Christ and Opus Dei, on the other hand, are a defacing of the Church, and we happily note the comments of the first American archbishop to give up the Koolaid, at least the Legionary flavor.
“This is not about orthodoxy,” he said. “It is about respect for human dignity for each of its members.”
The archbishop noted that he has heard reports that the movement claims that the first duty of a Legionary is to love the Legion.
Such policies subject a person’s use of reason not to one’s own judgment, Archbishop O’Brien said, but to a spiritual director.
“It’s been said that the founder is alone called ‘nuestro padre’ (‘our father’) and that no one else can have that title,” Archbishop O’Brien said. “All are bound to identify with him in his spirit, his mind, his mission and in his life. This would suggest that the very basis of the Legion movement should be reviewed from start to finish.” [...]
Last summer, Archbishop O’Brien was on the verge of asking the Legion and Regnum Christi to leave the archdiocese. He wrote a June letter to the order’s leader asking that a liaison be appointed who would inform the archbishop of all of the Legion’s activities within the archdiocese. He also asked for more transparency of Regnum Christi programs and for the order to stop giving spiritual direction to minors.
“As far as we can judge, they are responding well to our requests,” Archbishop O’Brien told The Catholic Review, “but these larger questions are looming ever more threateningly.”
The links come courtesy of right wing website The American Papist, which, unlike America's best known Catholic blog, has yet to deteriorate into celebrations of the American hierarchy and their simply fabulous outfits.
The Legionaries of Christ and Opus Dei, on the other hand, are a defacing of the Church, and we happily note the comments of the first American archbishop to give up the Koolaid, at least the Legionary flavor.
“This is not about orthodoxy,” he said. “It is about respect for human dignity for each of its members.”
The archbishop noted that he has heard reports that the movement claims that the first duty of a Legionary is to love the Legion.
Such policies subject a person’s use of reason not to one’s own judgment, Archbishop O’Brien said, but to a spiritual director.
“It’s been said that the founder is alone called ‘nuestro padre’ (‘our father’) and that no one else can have that title,” Archbishop O’Brien said. “All are bound to identify with him in his spirit, his mind, his mission and in his life. This would suggest that the very basis of the Legion movement should be reviewed from start to finish.” [...]
Last summer, Archbishop O’Brien was on the verge of asking the Legion and Regnum Christi to leave the archdiocese. He wrote a June letter to the order’s leader asking that a liaison be appointed who would inform the archbishop of all of the Legion’s activities within the archdiocese. He also asked for more transparency of Regnum Christi programs and for the order to stop giving spiritual direction to minors.
“As far as we can judge, they are responding well to our requests,” Archbishop O’Brien told The Catholic Review, “but these larger questions are looming ever more threateningly.”
The links come courtesy of right wing website The American Papist, which, unlike America's best known Catholic blog, has yet to deteriorate into celebrations of the American hierarchy and their simply fabulous outfits.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Misty Daniels 2010!
One of JUSIPER's top races in the upcoming Senate cycle. With Tony Perkins now threatening to go after Senator Diapers from the right, you never know what could happen in the nation's most electorally bizarre state.
And she already has a great quote about one of her colleague's clients: "I don't see how I could possibly embarrass him more than he's already embarrassed himself."
One more: "I might be a porn star, but I haven't done anything illegal."
And another: "And I guess the big question is not just why is David Vitter still in office, but why is he not in jail?"
MIS-TY, MIS-TY, MIS-TY!
And she already has a great quote about one of her colleague's clients: "I don't see how I could possibly embarrass him more than he's already embarrassed himself."
One more: "I might be a porn star, but I haven't done anything illegal."
And another: "And I guess the big question is not just why is David Vitter still in office, but why is he not in jail?"
MIS-TY, MIS-TY, MIS-TY!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
The pendulum has swung
The text of the President's speech to Congress today, the fulfillment of dreams that for forty years seemed crushed forever.
$150,000
That's how much it will cost you to be enlightened by the man who lived in the White House until a month ago.
Rome's boy leaves New York
They loved the incoming Cardinal Egan because he worked for them. The fetid air from his pedigree was evident from the beginning of his ill-fated tenure.
At his New York news conference yesterday, Bishop Egan answered a question in English but used an English translation of the Italian word for condoms, ''preservatives,'' to the confusion of some reporters.
Like Pope John Paul II, the man who named him, he was gifted not only with language but the art of enabling dozens of cases of abuse and covering them up.
Now John Paul's right hand man has named Egan's successor. It's great to know that the Holy Spirit is still at work:
For a few deeply unpleasant days, the Rev. David Cooper found himself in the crosshairs of the Roman Catholic hierarchy.
It was 2003, and the priest had opined to a reporter that women should be ordained. Faraway bishops rumbled about censure. Then he picked up the telephone and heard the baritone of Milwaukee’s archbishop, Timothy M. Dolan. Father Cooper immediately offered to resign.
No, no, the archbishop replied, we just need to repair the damage. “He was very pastoral and caring,” Father Cooper recalled.
And how was it resolved? “Oh, I agreed to recant,” he said. “He effectively silenced me.”
Archbishop Dolan, whom Pope Benedict XVI named on Monday to lead the Archdiocese of New York, is a genial enforcer of Rome’s ever more conservative writ, a Falstaffian fellow who talks of his love of the Brewers baseball team and Miller beer, and who takes obvious joy in donning his bishop’s robes and pounding his bishop’s staff as he tromps into church. When talking with parishioners, he places his hand on their shoulders, sidles in close and, out of the corner of his mouth, cracks a joke.
Are you laughing yet?
At his New York news conference yesterday, Bishop Egan answered a question in English but used an English translation of the Italian word for condoms, ''preservatives,'' to the confusion of some reporters.
Like Pope John Paul II, the man who named him, he was gifted not only with language but the art of enabling dozens of cases of abuse and covering them up.
Now John Paul's right hand man has named Egan's successor. It's great to know that the Holy Spirit is still at work:
For a few deeply unpleasant days, the Rev. David Cooper found himself in the crosshairs of the Roman Catholic hierarchy.
It was 2003, and the priest had opined to a reporter that women should be ordained. Faraway bishops rumbled about censure. Then he picked up the telephone and heard the baritone of Milwaukee’s archbishop, Timothy M. Dolan. Father Cooper immediately offered to resign.
No, no, the archbishop replied, we just need to repair the damage. “He was very pastoral and caring,” Father Cooper recalled.
And how was it resolved? “Oh, I agreed to recant,” he said. “He effectively silenced me.”
Archbishop Dolan, whom Pope Benedict XVI named on Monday to lead the Archdiocese of New York, is a genial enforcer of Rome’s ever more conservative writ, a Falstaffian fellow who talks of his love of the Brewers baseball team and Miller beer, and who takes obvious joy in donning his bishop’s robes and pounding his bishop’s staff as he tromps into church. When talking with parishioners, he places his hand on their shoulders, sidles in close and, out of the corner of his mouth, cracks a joke.
Are you laughing yet?
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Philip Bailey is in the house
The White House, that is.
After a week that saw the President travel to Arizona and Colorado, sign the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law, unveil his Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan, and make his first foreign visit, he's going to have a very quiet weekend.
According to a White House press release, the first family has no scheduled public events, but on Sunday night, the President and First Lady will host the 2009 Governor's Dinner at the White House. In attendance will be the Vice President and Dr. Biden, and the National Governors Association.
The event will feature musical performances by the United States Marine Band and Earth Wind and Fire (there's a sentence I never expected to type in my life).
After a week that saw the President travel to Arizona and Colorado, sign the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law, unveil his Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan, and make his first foreign visit, he's going to have a very quiet weekend.
According to a White House press release, the first family has no scheduled public events, but on Sunday night, the President and First Lady will host the 2009 Governor's Dinner at the White House. In attendance will be the Vice President and Dr. Biden, and the National Governors Association.
The event will feature musical performances by the United States Marine Band and Earth Wind and Fire (there's a sentence I never expected to type in my life).
Friday, February 20, 2009
Benedict's Nazi-sympathizing bishop
Expelled from Argentina. Not by SSPX. By the country.
The interior ministry said Richard Williamson had been given 10 days to leave Argentina.
Earlier this month the bishop was removed from his post as the head of a Roman Catholic seminary in Argentina. [...]
Argentina's interior ministry said on Thursday that Bishop Williamson "has concealed the true motive for his stay in the country".
He had said he was an employee of a non-governmental group rather than declaring "his true activity" as the director of a seminary, the ministry stated.
SSPX, however, has not expelled him. And, as we have noted before, anti-Semitism is part and parcel of traditionalist Catholicism. Republican Catholics and your comrades around the world: this is the Church of Pius XII, the Roman Catholicism you and Benedict XVI want to go back to, with lots of Latin and the incitement of pogroms. You're welcome to it.
The interior ministry said Richard Williamson had been given 10 days to leave Argentina.
Earlier this month the bishop was removed from his post as the head of a Roman Catholic seminary in Argentina. [...]
Argentina's interior ministry said on Thursday that Bishop Williamson "has concealed the true motive for his stay in the country".
He had said he was an employee of a non-governmental group rather than declaring "his true activity" as the director of a seminary, the ministry stated.
SSPX, however, has not expelled him. And, as we have noted before, anti-Semitism is part and parcel of traditionalist Catholicism. Republican Catholics and your comrades around the world: this is the Church of Pius XII, the Roman Catholicism you and Benedict XVI want to go back to, with lots of Latin and the incitement of pogroms. You're welcome to it.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Cardinal Dziwisz and the Legionaries
Today he is a cardinal. But for decades he was John Paul II's personal secretary. He loved Founder Maciel (that link needs to be read in its entirety) and repeatedly stopped his boss from investigating him.
And in case you think there are no connections between the two major right wing political groups that John Paul II elevated and nourished, think again.
Such weighty protests have not moved John Paul II, whose views on Escriva's saintliness, and regard for Opus Dei in general, are well known. A few days before the first 1978 Conclave after the death of Pope Paul VI (which elected John Paul I, who died after only 33 days in office) the future pope paid a visit to the Villa Tevere headquarters and prayed at Escriva's tomb. After the death of the founder's successor, Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, in 1994, John Paul II returned to the prelatic church and knelt before the prelate-general's funeral bier. This bending of protocol - a pope only kneels before the earthly remains of a cardinal - was regarded by many as a sign of fidelity to the organisation that had done everything in its power to raise him to the papal throne.
In spite of opposition from Paul VI's closest adviser, Cardinal Giovanni Benelli, in November 1982 John Paul II elevated Opus Dei to the unique status of personal prelature. Benelli had died of a sudden heart attack the month before. Since then the papal household has increasingly come under Opus Dei's domination.
The Work and its allies control the papal purse strings and the Vatican, after years of piling up deficits, now runs at a profit. It is claimed that the papal secretary, Monsignor Stanislaw Dziwisz, is an Opus Dei associate. During papal travels, Dziwisz makes a point of exchanging the customary Opus Dei form of salutation with local members. Opus Dei Archbishop Julian Herranz, one of the most powerful members of the Roman Curia, is co-chairman of the Papal Council of Advisers. His two co-chairmen are strong Opus Dei supporters, one of them having given key testimony to the Roman tribunal investigating Escriva's saintliness. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls, a celibate lay member, holds ministerial status in the papal entourage.
Many authors have done John Paul II the kindness of not blaming him for the coverup. And that narrative can only make sense if Dziwisz was some sort of evil consigliere. But that really, really doesn't make a whole lot of sense; anyone who has read Marco Politi and Carl Bernstein's biography knows just how politically astute and aware the pope was. Right wingers credit John Paul II with the strategic sense to conspire with Casey, Reagan and Haig to bring down Communism and Poland. The Legionaries themselves state that
John Paul II himself was an outstanding example of “thinking outside the box” for evangelization—especially in his revolutionary way of dealing with the mass media.
So this pope who read all the newspapers, who handpicked just about every powerbroker in the Catholic Church, whose master plan destroyed Communism, who could out-think top media strategists, somehow was kept in the dark about an allegation that was published in a well regarded American newspaper and Italy's top newsmagazine as early as 1997, eight years before his death?
Much more likely: John Paul II felt that his larger goals for the Church were better served by keeping his favored institutions, Opus Dei and the Legionaries strong and active. They were top fundraisers, and their links with right wing groups like our own Republican Party made them the perfect vehicles for the social change he wished to see carried out in Europe and the Americas. His conclusion was, really, one any cost-benefit analysis would result in: a few sins here and there by this founder or that one were hardly an onerous price for saving the world.
His Republican backers in the United States referred to him as "John Paul the Great" within minutes of his death. They chanted "Santo Subito" in an Italian they pronounced as badly as the Latin they planned to foist on everyone.
In a few years, their fervor and money, coupled with the ignorance of too many faithful, will result in his canonization.
But how many will buy his medallions a hundred years from now, once the truth is out?
I think I know the answer.
And in case you think there are no connections between the two major right wing political groups that John Paul II elevated and nourished, think again.
Such weighty protests have not moved John Paul II, whose views on Escriva's saintliness, and regard for Opus Dei in general, are well known. A few days before the first 1978 Conclave after the death of Pope Paul VI (which elected John Paul I, who died after only 33 days in office) the future pope paid a visit to the Villa Tevere headquarters and prayed at Escriva's tomb. After the death of the founder's successor, Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, in 1994, John Paul II returned to the prelatic church and knelt before the prelate-general's funeral bier. This bending of protocol - a pope only kneels before the earthly remains of a cardinal - was regarded by many as a sign of fidelity to the organisation that had done everything in its power to raise him to the papal throne.
In spite of opposition from Paul VI's closest adviser, Cardinal Giovanni Benelli, in November 1982 John Paul II elevated Opus Dei to the unique status of personal prelature. Benelli had died of a sudden heart attack the month before. Since then the papal household has increasingly come under Opus Dei's domination.
The Work and its allies control the papal purse strings and the Vatican, after years of piling up deficits, now runs at a profit. It is claimed that the papal secretary, Monsignor Stanislaw Dziwisz, is an Opus Dei associate. During papal travels, Dziwisz makes a point of exchanging the customary Opus Dei form of salutation with local members. Opus Dei Archbishop Julian Herranz, one of the most powerful members of the Roman Curia, is co-chairman of the Papal Council of Advisers. His two co-chairmen are strong Opus Dei supporters, one of them having given key testimony to the Roman tribunal investigating Escriva's saintliness. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls, a celibate lay member, holds ministerial status in the papal entourage.
Many authors have done John Paul II the kindness of not blaming him for the coverup. And that narrative can only make sense if Dziwisz was some sort of evil consigliere. But that really, really doesn't make a whole lot of sense; anyone who has read Marco Politi and Carl Bernstein's biography knows just how politically astute and aware the pope was. Right wingers credit John Paul II with the strategic sense to conspire with Casey, Reagan and Haig to bring down Communism and Poland. The Legionaries themselves state that
John Paul II himself was an outstanding example of “thinking outside the box” for evangelization—especially in his revolutionary way of dealing with the mass media.
So this pope who read all the newspapers, who handpicked just about every powerbroker in the Catholic Church, whose master plan destroyed Communism, who could out-think top media strategists, somehow was kept in the dark about an allegation that was published in a well regarded American newspaper and Italy's top newsmagazine as early as 1997, eight years before his death?
Much more likely: John Paul II felt that his larger goals for the Church were better served by keeping his favored institutions, Opus Dei and the Legionaries strong and active. They were top fundraisers, and their links with right wing groups like our own Republican Party made them the perfect vehicles for the social change he wished to see carried out in Europe and the Americas. His conclusion was, really, one any cost-benefit analysis would result in: a few sins here and there by this founder or that one were hardly an onerous price for saving the world.
His Republican backers in the United States referred to him as "John Paul the Great" within minutes of his death. They chanted "Santo Subito" in an Italian they pronounced as badly as the Latin they planned to foist on everyone.
In a few years, their fervor and money, coupled with the ignorance of too many faithful, will result in his canonization.
But how many will buy his medallions a hundred years from now, once the truth is out?
I think I know the answer.
Livni is right
Kadima should not join Bibi's far right government. Labor, meanwhile, seems to have opted for permanent third party status.
Nate handicaps the Oscars
If he's right, my congratulations. But I suspect Best Actor is a bit closer than he makes it seem, and he might miss Supporting Actress entirely.
More
On the founder of Regnum Christi, one of a number of right wing political Catholic groups that Pope John Paul II went out of his way to protect. With thanks to reader C.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Hey, red state governors
Please do refuse your stimulus money. Your blue state brethren are mighty tired of you leeching off them.
In 2003, the top subsidy-sucking state, in percentage terms, was red-lite New Mexico, which received $1.99 in federal money for every dollar it sent to Washington, D.C. All the next eight net recipients of federal spending were redder yet: Kentucky, Virginia, Montana, Alabama, North Dakota, West Virginia, Mississippi and Alaska, which received $1.60 to $1.89 back for each tax dollar.
The list of net losers in the state-federal exchange, by contrast, reads like a Who's Who of Blue. Two of the top 14 were traditionally red Western states that are starting to turn purple, Colorado and Nevada. The other 12 are all blue: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Washington, Wisconsin and the biggest chump of all, New Jersey, where the federal government spends just $.57 for every dollar it collects. Clearly Tony Soprano did not negotiate this deal.
Only five blue states were net recipients of federal subsidies. Only two red states were net payers of federal taxes. Washington, despite its large military presence and big defense contractor The Boeing Co., received just 90 cents on its federal tax dollar. Oregon and swinging Florida are perfect washes: They received one federal dollar for every dollar they paid in taxes.
So, please, act on principle. Be real Republicans. Refuse the money that your Republican senators and representatives didn't vote for. We will be sure to use it well.
Besides, it was our money to start with.
In 2003, the top subsidy-sucking state, in percentage terms, was red-lite New Mexico, which received $1.99 in federal money for every dollar it sent to Washington, D.C. All the next eight net recipients of federal spending were redder yet: Kentucky, Virginia, Montana, Alabama, North Dakota, West Virginia, Mississippi and Alaska, which received $1.60 to $1.89 back for each tax dollar.
The list of net losers in the state-federal exchange, by contrast, reads like a Who's Who of Blue. Two of the top 14 were traditionally red Western states that are starting to turn purple, Colorado and Nevada. The other 12 are all blue: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Washington, Wisconsin and the biggest chump of all, New Jersey, where the federal government spends just $.57 for every dollar it collects. Clearly Tony Soprano did not negotiate this deal.
Only five blue states were net recipients of federal subsidies. Only two red states were net payers of federal taxes. Washington, despite its large military presence and big defense contractor The Boeing Co., received just 90 cents on its federal tax dollar. Oregon and swinging Florida are perfect washes: They received one federal dollar for every dollar they paid in taxes.
So, please, act on principle. Be real Republicans. Refuse the money that your Republican senators and representatives didn't vote for. We will be sure to use it well.
Besides, it was our money to start with.
The Inquisition arrives
You have to wonder if right wing pressure on blue state Republicans could cause some of them to switch parties. Or, if they cave on key votes, cause states like Pennsylvania and New York to become more like New England, whose six states aren't represented by a single Republican.
More conservative reaction to Maciel
Diogenes of Catholic Culture responds. Via Republican Catholic website The American Papist.
Teenage "crime"
These judges should be put away for life at a maximum security prison.
You know, as a deterrent.
Hillary Transue did not have an attorney, nor was she told of her right to one, when she appeared in Ciavarella's courtroom in 2007 for building a MySpace page that lampooned her assistant principal.
Her mother, Laurene Transue, worked for 16 years in the child services department of another county and said she was certain Hillary would get a slap on the wrist. Instead, Ciavarella sentenced her to three months; she got out after a month, with help from a lawyer.
"I felt so disgraced for a while, like, what do people think of me now?" said Hillary, now 17 and a high school senior who plans to become an English teacher.
Laurene Transue said Ciavarella "was playing God. And not only was he doing that, he was getting money for it. He was betraying the trust put in him to do what is best for children."
Kurt Kruger, now 22, had never been in trouble with the law until the day police accused him of acting as a lookout while his friend shoplifted less than $200 worth of DVDs from Wal-Mart. He said he didn't know his friend was going to steal anything.
Kruger pleaded guilty before Ciavarella and spent three days in a company-run juvenile detention center, plus four months at a youth wilderness camp run by a different operator.
"Never in a million years did I think that I would actually get sent away. I was completely destroyed," said Kruger, who later dropped out of school. He said he wants to get his record expunged, earn his high school equivalency diploma and go to college.
"I got a raw deal, and yeah, it's not fair," he said, "but now it's 100 times bigger than me."
You know, as a deterrent.
Hillary Transue did not have an attorney, nor was she told of her right to one, when she appeared in Ciavarella's courtroom in 2007 for building a MySpace page that lampooned her assistant principal.
Her mother, Laurene Transue, worked for 16 years in the child services department of another county and said she was certain Hillary would get a slap on the wrist. Instead, Ciavarella sentenced her to three months; she got out after a month, with help from a lawyer.
"I felt so disgraced for a while, like, what do people think of me now?" said Hillary, now 17 and a high school senior who plans to become an English teacher.
Laurene Transue said Ciavarella "was playing God. And not only was he doing that, he was getting money for it. He was betraying the trust put in him to do what is best for children."
Kurt Kruger, now 22, had never been in trouble with the law until the day police accused him of acting as a lookout while his friend shoplifted less than $200 worth of DVDs from Wal-Mart. He said he didn't know his friend was going to steal anything.
Kruger pleaded guilty before Ciavarella and spent three days in a company-run juvenile detention center, plus four months at a youth wilderness camp run by a different operator.
"Never in a million years did I think that I would actually get sent away. I was completely destroyed," said Kruger, who later dropped out of school. He said he wants to get his record expunged, earn his high school equivalency diploma and go to college.
"I got a raw deal, and yeah, it's not fair," he said, "but now it's 100 times bigger than me."
Número uno en todo lo malo
Latinos account for 40% of all those convicted of federal crimes. But 72% of that group are not American citizens. And about half of the convictions come from immigration offenses.
A bonanza, presumably, for the prison-industrial complex, which, incidentally, better not be getting any of that stimulus money.
Not that it needs the stimulus, with friends like these:
In one of the most shocking cases of courtroom graft on record, two Pennsylvania judges have been charged with taking millions of dollars in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers.
"I've never encountered, and I don't think that we will in our lifetimes, a case where literally thousands of kids' lives were just tossed aside in order for a couple of judges to make some money," said Marsha Levick, an attorney with the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center, which is representing hundreds of youths sentenced in Wilkes-Barre.
Prosecutors say Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan took $2.6 million in payoffs to put juvenile offenders in lockups run by PA Child Care LLC and a sister company, Western PA Child Care LLC. The judges were charged on Jan. 26 and removed from the bench by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court shortly afterward. [...]
The high court, meanwhile, is looking into whether hundreds or even thousands of sentences should be overturned and the juveniles' records expunged.
Among the offenders were teenagers who were locked up for months for stealing loose change from cars, writing a prank note and possessing drug paraphernalia. Many had never been in trouble before. Some were imprisoned even after probation officers recommended against it.
Many appeared without lawyers, despite the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1967 ruling that children have a constitutional right to counsel.
A bonanza, presumably, for the prison-industrial complex, which, incidentally, better not be getting any of that stimulus money.
Not that it needs the stimulus, with friends like these:
In one of the most shocking cases of courtroom graft on record, two Pennsylvania judges have been charged with taking millions of dollars in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers.
"I've never encountered, and I don't think that we will in our lifetimes, a case where literally thousands of kids' lives were just tossed aside in order for a couple of judges to make some money," said Marsha Levick, an attorney with the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center, which is representing hundreds of youths sentenced in Wilkes-Barre.
Prosecutors say Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan took $2.6 million in payoffs to put juvenile offenders in lockups run by PA Child Care LLC and a sister company, Western PA Child Care LLC. The judges were charged on Jan. 26 and removed from the bench by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court shortly afterward. [...]
The high court, meanwhile, is looking into whether hundreds or even thousands of sentences should be overturned and the juveniles' records expunged.
Among the offenders were teenagers who were locked up for months for stealing loose change from cars, writing a prank note and possessing drug paraphernalia. Many had never been in trouble before. Some were imprisoned even after probation officers recommended against it.
Many appeared without lawyers, despite the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1967 ruling that children have a constitutional right to counsel.
An exodus of talent
I thought talent was supposed to contribute in some way to society. These folks were spiritually ugly, unproductive, and broke the economy.
Plus aren't they they, like, totally against welfare?
Just as Michigan is scrambling to retrain laid-off auto workers, New York City officials have come up with a plan to find new work for the unemployed of its core industry: investment banking.
Under a program Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg unveiled on Wednesday, the city wants to invest $45 million in government money to retrain investment bankers, traders and others who have lost jobs on Wall Street, as well as provide seed capital and office space for new businesses those laid-off bankers might create.
The plan is intended to stem the exodus of talent from the rapidly collapsing financial services industry, which has been the city’s economic engine for decades, and speed the industry’s recovery, which may take years, officials said.
Plus aren't they they, like, totally against welfare?
Just as Michigan is scrambling to retrain laid-off auto workers, New York City officials have come up with a plan to find new work for the unemployed of its core industry: investment banking.
Under a program Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg unveiled on Wednesday, the city wants to invest $45 million in government money to retrain investment bankers, traders and others who have lost jobs on Wall Street, as well as provide seed capital and office space for new businesses those laid-off bankers might create.
The plan is intended to stem the exodus of talent from the rapidly collapsing financial services industry, which has been the city’s economic engine for decades, and speed the industry’s recovery, which may take years, officials said.
"I did it for the guy who lost his mom"
A rare moment of classand redemption for our nation's generally sordid sports culture.
Alan "I destroyed America "Greenspan
Now supports bank nationalization. Let's hope that doesn't mean it's actually a bad idea.
Palin pregnancy
And still some questions don't have a very good answer. This is the latest iteration, courtesy of reader M.
According to a new book, the governor decided against telling family members of her own pregnancy with son Trig until its final weeks, as she privately coped with worries about rearing a child with Down syndrome.
At least we can be sure that the new baby really is Bristol's:
Amid the questions over her public agenda, her family continues to make headlines. In an interview with Fox News, her 18-year-old daughter, Bristol, who gave birth to a son late last year, said that the decision to go ahead with her unplanned pregnancy was hers alone and that teaching abstinence to teenagers, a concept supported by her mother, is "not realistic at all."
According to a new book, the governor decided against telling family members of her own pregnancy with son Trig until its final weeks, as she privately coped with worries about rearing a child with Down syndrome.
At least we can be sure that the new baby really is Bristol's:
Amid the questions over her public agenda, her family continues to make headlines. In an interview with Fox News, her 18-year-old daughter, Bristol, who gave birth to a son late last year, said that the decision to go ahead with her unplanned pregnancy was hers alone and that teaching abstinence to teenagers, a concept supported by her mother, is "not realistic at all."
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
He was very quiet during the presidential campaign
Richard Lugar may not have voted with the President on the stimulus package, but he is a key foreign policy ally in the Senate. And unlike just about anyone else in Washington DC, he has the guts (and security credentials) to call for a dollar a gallon gas tax.
The presidency or bust
Mitt Romney sells his house in Massachusetts, where he's political dead meat, and his house in Utah, where he's, presumably, too multiple choice on abortion. That leaves the one in New Hampshire, which he'll presumably sell following the 2012 primary. And the one in California, which he'll retire to once he's out of presidential politics in 2013.
On the bright side
Our Treasury Secretary may be understaffed and Wall Street's best friend. But at least he's sober.
A kinder view
The right wing Telegraph begs the Pope to rein in the curia, ignoring the possibility that this particular fish might be rotting from the head down.
But even this rightwinger gets one thing right: it's the New Movements like Opus Dei and the Legionaries that destroyed the Church from the inside with their sexual obsessiveness, secrecy, bizarre right wing politics, and, we now find out, criminality. All of it, disturbingly, with the full cooperation of Pope John Paul II.
The Pope does not have time to reform the Roman curia, which was neglected under John Paul II and is now stuffed with placemen who are too stupid, reactionary and cowardly to implement the Pope's grassroots reform of the liturgy. For years, they have relied on the "New Movements" to inject vitality into the Church; but some of those movements indulge in the creepy founder-worship one associates with cults, the Legionaries being a classic example.
Everyone says Benedict XVI is isolated in the Vatican. It's true, but I wonder if that's such a bad thing, because the people he is isolated from are such deadbeats. In the case of the SSPX, he was unlucky and perhaps rash: he was so fed up with the Vatican's useless professional ecumenists that he rushed things and relied on the wrong people. In the case of the Legionaries, his instincts proved sound at a time when "John Paul the Great" and his advisers were defending Maciel to the hilt against credible charges.
The Pope must bang heads together, investigate the scandal quickly, and then act firmly but compassionately to dismantle or reinvent the Legionaries and Regnum Christi. I feel sure he is up to the task.
In the meantime, Legionary leaders' talking points were leaked to the American Papist.
But even this rightwinger gets one thing right: it's the New Movements like Opus Dei and the Legionaries that destroyed the Church from the inside with their sexual obsessiveness, secrecy, bizarre right wing politics, and, we now find out, criminality. All of it, disturbingly, with the full cooperation of Pope John Paul II.
The Pope does not have time to reform the Roman curia, which was neglected under John Paul II and is now stuffed with placemen who are too stupid, reactionary and cowardly to implement the Pope's grassroots reform of the liturgy. For years, they have relied on the "New Movements" to inject vitality into the Church; but some of those movements indulge in the creepy founder-worship one associates with cults, the Legionaries being a classic example.
Everyone says Benedict XVI is isolated in the Vatican. It's true, but I wonder if that's such a bad thing, because the people he is isolated from are such deadbeats. In the case of the SSPX, he was unlucky and perhaps rash: he was so fed up with the Vatican's useless professional ecumenists that he rushed things and relied on the wrong people. In the case of the Legionaries, his instincts proved sound at a time when "John Paul the Great" and his advisers were defending Maciel to the hilt against credible charges.
The Pope must bang heads together, investigate the scandal quickly, and then act firmly but compassionately to dismantle or reinvent the Legionaries and Regnum Christi. I feel sure he is up to the task.
In the meantime, Legionary leaders' talking points were leaked to the American Papist.
"They are fundamentally in denial about their insolvency"
Nobel Prize winner Stiglitz echoes Nobel Prize winner Krugman on just how bad TARP 2 could be for the country.
Commander in Chief
Perhaps it's time for the military commanders to give a good example and start firing those of its members who refuse to acknowledge their new boss.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Gandhian hardball
Hertzberg on Obama's political smarts:
Fifty years ago, the civil-rights movement understood that nonviolence can be an effective weapon even if—or especially if—the other side refuses to follow suit. Obama has a similarly tough-minded understanding of the political uses of bipartisanship, which, even if it fails as a tactic for compromise, can succeed as a tonal strategy: once the other side makes itself appear intransigently, destructively partisan, the game is half won. Obama is learning to throw the ball harder. But it’s not Rovian hardball he’s playing. More like Gandhian hardball.
Fifty years ago, the civil-rights movement understood that nonviolence can be an effective weapon even if—or especially if—the other side refuses to follow suit. Obama has a similarly tough-minded understanding of the political uses of bipartisanship, which, even if it fails as a tactic for compromise, can succeed as a tonal strategy: once the other side makes itself appear intransigently, destructively partisan, the game is half won. Obama is learning to throw the ball harder. But it’s not Rovian hardball he’s playing. More like Gandhian hardball.
Conservatives in Britain
Remarkable.
Here's an interesting item to think about in the debate over executive-compensation limits. A British politician is now calling for bonuses at bailed-out banks to be limited to £2,000, the amount typically received by low-level bank tellers.
At current exchange rates this is equal to $2,854.30 -- less than 1% of the cap that Claire McCaskill has advocated over here, and for which she's been either praised or reviled as a populist lefty.
The British pol who is calling for this: David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party.
Here's an interesting item to think about in the debate over executive-compensation limits. A British politician is now calling for bonuses at bailed-out banks to be limited to £2,000, the amount typically received by low-level bank tellers.
At current exchange rates this is equal to $2,854.30 -- less than 1% of the cap that Claire McCaskill has advocated over here, and for which she's been either praised or reviled as a populist lefty.
The British pol who is calling for this: David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party.
Maine's "moderate" senators
Republicans till the end. And going out of their way to protect criminals.
"A first step towards marriage"
If you're straight, anyway. News from France, allegedly liberated but, going back to the French Revolution, continually behind these United States.
Thanks to reader M. for the link.
Thanks to reader M. for the link.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
American Catholic Right: Excommunicate Pelosi
If only she'd been pro-life. She could have committed any number of crimes against children and enjoyed papal esteem under Benedict and John Paul II. So long, you know, as the victims were already born.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
For those of you watching American Idol
Here's some background on Danny Gokey's church and on his foundation.
T.D. Jakes' son
Yet another victim of the black church's homophobia... and the Dallas Police's as well. It ought to make the city feel a lot safer. I mean, this little thing is the only other threat facing this city:
North Texas law enforcement authorities are bracing for what they fear could be an escalation of violence bubbling up from the years-long battle among Mexican drug traffickers.
While the beheadings, kidnappings and daylight shootouts common in parts of Mexico haven't become rampant north of the Rio Grande, the discovery of military-grade weaponry closer to the U.S. border and in some cases in Texas are signs that the relative calm here might not hold.
Most recently, U.S. investigators have linked a grenade used in an attempted attack in South Texas with other weapons in Mexico thought to belong to the Zetas, the Gulf cartel's enforcement arm. No grenades exploded in an attack on a bar in Pharr, Texas, just north of the Rio Grande, last month.
The Gulf cartel has long controlled cocaine trafficking into Dallas, which is a distribution hub to various points throughout the U.S., authorities say. [...]
"The propensity for violence in dealing with these trafficking groups is huge," he said. "We hear daily about things like beheadings, heinous torture, that we are not used to seeing domestically. Are we going to start seeing that here? That's the fear."
But why go after beheadings when there's lower, uh... fruit. There are no heroes in this story.
North Texas law enforcement authorities are bracing for what they fear could be an escalation of violence bubbling up from the years-long battle among Mexican drug traffickers.
While the beheadings, kidnappings and daylight shootouts common in parts of Mexico haven't become rampant north of the Rio Grande, the discovery of military-grade weaponry closer to the U.S. border and in some cases in Texas are signs that the relative calm here might not hold.
Most recently, U.S. investigators have linked a grenade used in an attempted attack in South Texas with other weapons in Mexico thought to belong to the Zetas, the Gulf cartel's enforcement arm. No grenades exploded in an attack on a bar in Pharr, Texas, just north of the Rio Grande, last month.
The Gulf cartel has long controlled cocaine trafficking into Dallas, which is a distribution hub to various points throughout the U.S., authorities say. [...]
"The propensity for violence in dealing with these trafficking groups is huge," he said. "We hear daily about things like beheadings, heinous torture, that we are not used to seeing domestically. Are we going to start seeing that here? That's the fear."
But why go after beheadings when there's lower, uh... fruit. There are no heroes in this story.
Friday, February 13, 2009
What's this about?
I wonder:
Politico’s Josh Gerstein says the President taped an unannounced interview with the Chicago-based Spanish-language radio show “El Pistolero” (“The Gunman”).
For Spanish speakers, more details here. Sounds like a very smart move.
Politico’s Josh Gerstein says the President taped an unannounced interview with the Chicago-based Spanish-language radio show “El Pistolero” (“The Gunman”).
For Spanish speakers, more details here. Sounds like a very smart move.
How out of touch they can be
Republicans actually think this will be a political victory. Maybe talk radio fans will respect them, but most Americans only see one thing that isn't broken in Washington right now, and that's the President.
After recusing himself from Senate procedures since his nomination Feb. 3, Gregg will return for the stimulus vote, expected today. He has refused to say how he will vote. His Republican friends expect him to oppose the measure, giving them the symbolic victory of a former Obama insider voting against the legislation.
After recusing himself from Senate procedures since his nomination Feb. 3, Gregg will return for the stimulus vote, expected today. He has refused to say how he will vote. His Republican friends expect him to oppose the measure, giving them the symbolic victory of a former Obama insider voting against the legislation.
Krugman: The economy is toast
The future of progressive politics and a America's return to rationality depends on what the economy looks like in June, 2012. There's a good chance it will look pretty bad, says Paul Krugman.
Stem cells and HIV
There are only two achievements the great, moral defenders of the Bush presidency cling to at this point: that there were no further attacks after 9/11 (on American soil). And he helped Africa.
But if he set a treatment or a cure for AIDS back by eight years, the latter argument is out the window.
But if he set a treatment or a cure for AIDS back by eight years, the latter argument is out the window.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Gregg
The best of all worlds:
1. We get a decent Commerce Secretary who can oversee the Census properly.
2. He's still not running for re-election.
New Hampshire governor Lynch wouldn't replace him with a Democrat (any chance someone can run against him in a primary?), so there was no political gain for the party with this appointment. His replacement was a former staff member who may not have been as moderate as advertised.
Now Lynch looks like a fool, Gregg looks like a baby, and the country once again gets to see just how incapable Republicans are of bipartisanship.
The nation wins.
1. We get a decent Commerce Secretary who can oversee the Census properly.
2. He's still not running for re-election.
New Hampshire governor Lynch wouldn't replace him with a Democrat (any chance someone can run against him in a primary?), so there was no political gain for the party with this appointment. His replacement was a former staff member who may not have been as moderate as advertised.
Now Lynch looks like a fool, Gregg looks like a baby, and the country once again gets to see just how incapable Republicans are of bipartisanship.
The nation wins.
Our greatest president turns 200
Let us remember:
Fellow-Countrymen:
At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.
On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, urgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.
One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
Fellow-Countrymen:
At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.
On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, urgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.
One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
Final results are in
Even with soldiers' votes, Kadima is still ahead of Likud by 1. Symbols still matter.
But Shas v Lieberman is still the most interesting fight.
But Shas v Lieberman is still the most interesting fight.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
"Did you know Gillibrand was anti-immigrant?"
Well, New York's top Hispanic paper is letting everyone know. Presumably immigrant Markos Moulitsas prefers her position to Caroline Kennedy's.
Two scandals at once
No accident, says Joan Frawley Desmond. Link via the American Papist.
My contacts assert that the convergence of these two big news events--the outrage prompted by the Bishop Willliamson affair, followed shortly afterwards by the new revelations regarding Father Maciel's "double life" -- was no accident: the order's superiors and their ecclesial allies took advantage of the crisis surrounding Bishop Williamson to minimize the impact of the new disclosures regarding Maciel. The Mexican superiors, I'm told, believe the present tempest will blow over and the Legion will pull itself together and go on as before.
It is interesting that -- judging from news reports, at least -- the Americans in the Legion seem most concerned with coming to grips with the past: Could that be a consequence of the clergy sex abuse crisis that has roiled the church in the United States? Phil Lawler, who chronicled the implosion of the Catholic Church in Boston brought this to my attention and I think he might be right: American Catholics have learned something from all the pain and suffering of the last decade. Now, the question is: What has Rome learned?
My contacts assert that the convergence of these two big news events--the outrage prompted by the Bishop Willliamson affair, followed shortly afterwards by the new revelations regarding Father Maciel's "double life" -- was no accident: the order's superiors and their ecclesial allies took advantage of the crisis surrounding Bishop Williamson to minimize the impact of the new disclosures regarding Maciel. The Mexican superiors, I'm told, believe the present tempest will blow over and the Legion will pull itself together and go on as before.
It is interesting that -- judging from news reports, at least -- the Americans in the Legion seem most concerned with coming to grips with the past: Could that be a consequence of the clergy sex abuse crisis that has roiled the church in the United States? Phil Lawler, who chronicled the implosion of the Catholic Church in Boston brought this to my attention and I think he might be right: American Catholics have learned something from all the pain and suffering of the last decade. Now, the question is: What has Rome learned?
Prize for the best search terms bringing a reader to JUSIPER this week: "what do the jonas brothers think about fr. maciel?"
JUSIPER. Your #1 source for find out what the Jonas Brothers think of Fr. Maciel. Answer: he would have liked them a lot. A few years ago, anyway.
JUSIPER. Your #1 source for find out what the Jonas Brothers think of Fr. Maciel. Answer: he would have liked them a lot. A few years ago, anyway.
It's not about the Latin Mass
That's just a smokescreen. There are other reasons Benedict XVI is anxious for reconciliation, as progressive Adventist minister Bill Cork points out:
Why isn’t this a crisis for the SSPX? Simply because Williamson is not exceptional. This is the sentiment of SSPX members. I’ve noted this on this blog many times over the past years. I have noted that the SSPX bookstore south of Houston has sold many classic antisemitic texts. I have drawn attention to Williamson’s views, as in this post from 2003. [...]
While reading through the “Father Feeney Archive,” I came across a link to a letter by SSPX Bishop Richard Williamson, May 1, 2000, which says, “God puts in men’s hands the ‘Protocols of the Sages of Sion’ and the ‘Rakovsky Interview’, if men want to know the truth, but few do.” Williamson is also quoted as saying, “There was not one Jew killed in the gas chambers. It was all lies, lies, lies. The Jews created the Holocaust so we would prostrate ourselves on our knees before them and approve of their new State of Israel.”
Now, will the antisemitism of the SSPX cause a problem in the attempts of Benedict to reconcile? That is indeed the million dollar question, because no Vatican spokesperson has ever mentioned these problems. These are not incidental to the SSPX–Lefebvre’s argument with Vatican 2 was not about Latin vs. modern languages in the liturgy; rather, he rejected that council’s teachings about the Jews, religious liberty, and the drastic revisions that took place not just in the liturgy for mass but the liturgy for the ordination of bishops and priests. And the Vatican has never come out and called the SSPX on their teachings on the Jews.
I congratulate the Simon Wiesenthal Center for shining a light on this subject and trying to get a response.
Why isn’t this a crisis for the SSPX? Simply because Williamson is not exceptional. This is the sentiment of SSPX members. I’ve noted this on this blog many times over the past years. I have noted that the SSPX bookstore south of Houston has sold many classic antisemitic texts. I have drawn attention to Williamson’s views, as in this post from 2003. [...]
While reading through the “Father Feeney Archive,” I came across a link to a letter by SSPX Bishop Richard Williamson, May 1, 2000, which says, “God puts in men’s hands the ‘Protocols of the Sages of Sion’ and the ‘Rakovsky Interview’, if men want to know the truth, but few do.” Williamson is also quoted as saying, “There was not one Jew killed in the gas chambers. It was all lies, lies, lies. The Jews created the Holocaust so we would prostrate ourselves on our knees before them and approve of their new State of Israel.”
Now, will the antisemitism of the SSPX cause a problem in the attempts of Benedict to reconcile? That is indeed the million dollar question, because no Vatican spokesperson has ever mentioned these problems. These are not incidental to the SSPX–Lefebvre’s argument with Vatican 2 was not about Latin vs. modern languages in the liturgy; rather, he rejected that council’s teachings about the Jews, religious liberty, and the drastic revisions that took place not just in the liturgy for mass but the liturgy for the ordination of bishops and priests. And the Vatican has never come out and called the SSPX on their teachings on the Jews.
I congratulate the Simon Wiesenthal Center for shining a light on this subject and trying to get a response.
News from Alabama
Good Christian folk:
A 22-year-old man affiliated with Neo Nazi groups decided to vandalize what he apparently believed to be a “Jewish” house of worship in Mobile, Alabama.
The man arrested, Thomas Hayward Lewis, was charged with third-degree criminal mischief, criminal possession of explosives and possession of a controlled substance.
The words “Juden raus,” which is German for “Jews get out,” was spray painted on a building occupied by a religious group known as the “Congregation Tree of Life.”
However, the congregation named is really not Jewish at all, but rather composed of self-proclaimed “Messianic Jews” that are essentially fundamentalist Christians who “believe” in “Jesus Christ,” reports the Press Register. [...]
It seems that within this idiot’s confused mind pretended “Jews” are as likely as real Jews to become the focus of his wrath.
Ironically, the neo-Nazi and the targeted congregation actually appear to share at least one thing in common.
That is, both would like to see an eventual end to Judaism, as we know it, albeit by different means.
A 22-year-old man affiliated with Neo Nazi groups decided to vandalize what he apparently believed to be a “Jewish” house of worship in Mobile, Alabama.
The man arrested, Thomas Hayward Lewis, was charged with third-degree criminal mischief, criminal possession of explosives and possession of a controlled substance.
The words “Juden raus,” which is German for “Jews get out,” was spray painted on a building occupied by a religious group known as the “Congregation Tree of Life.”
However, the congregation named is really not Jewish at all, but rather composed of self-proclaimed “Messianic Jews” that are essentially fundamentalist Christians who “believe” in “Jesus Christ,” reports the Press Register. [...]
It seems that within this idiot’s confused mind pretended “Jews” are as likely as real Jews to become the focus of his wrath.
Ironically, the neo-Nazi and the targeted congregation actually appear to share at least one thing in common.
That is, both would like to see an eventual end to Judaism, as we know it, albeit by different means.
Missed this
June 27, 2008:
If Pope John Paul II fails to get on the fast track to sainthood, it could have something to do with how he handled sex abuse charges against one of Mexico's most influential priests: the late Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the Legionnaires of Christ.
At least that's the opinion of retired Bishop Geoffrey Robinson of Sydney, Australia, who spoke to an overflow crowd recently at the University of California at San Diego. Robinson's talk drew considerable media attention since three local Catholic prelates forbade him from speaking in their dioceses: Bishops Robert Brom of San Diego, Tod Brown of Orange, and Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles.
Asked why these and other bishops interdicted him, Robinson shrugged his shoulders and said, "You'll have to ask them." But a sharper response came from a nearby panelist: "He asks too many questions," piped in Dominican Father Thomas Doyle, a world renowned canon lawyer who has written extensively about the church's mishandling of sexual abuse allegations against the clergy.
Robinson, who headed an Australian bishops' commission on clerical sexual abuse from 1994-2003, visited San Diego on a world tour to promote his book, "Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church." In it Robinson accuses church authorities, including two popes, of managing the clerical sex abuse problem rather than confronting it honestly.
He describes Pope John Paul II's non-response in the matter of Father Maciel Degollado, head of the traditionalist Legionnaires of Christ, as "a failure of moral leadership on a massive scale." The late pontiff had access to extensive documentation that Maciel Degollado had sexually abused 30 seminarians from the 1940's to the 1970s, mostly in Spain and Italy. Some believe the true figure to be much higher.
But John Paul II, a close friend of Maciel Degollado, remained silent. The latter stood at the pope's right hand during three papal visits to Mexico. Later, John Paul referred to him as "an efficacious guide to youth" and he heaped praise on Maciel Degollado on the 60th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood in 2004.
After John Paul II's death, a Vatican investigation resulted in Maciel Degollado's suspension in 2006 as superior general of the Legionnaires of Christ and a ban on performing his priestly duties. Some of his alleged victims believed he should have been laicized, but leading Catholic conservatives, including William Donahue of the conservative Catholic League, still maintain his innocence. [...]
In his own book, Bishop Geoffrey Robinson takes careful aim at this culture of silence and secrecy in the Catholic Church as well as the absolute authority concentrated in the hands of one person: the pope. He sees the need for the Roman Curia, the church's government, to place checks and balances on papal power, and to be accountable to average Catholics in the pews. [...]
Robinson regrets that the Catholic Church is divided between pro-claimers of certainties and seekers of truth. "Many people feel marginalized in a church that has given them meaning and direction for their lives. I am writing this book for them-to tell them that there is a church for them, fully in accord with the mind of Jesus."
In his talk at UCSD, Bishop Robinson recalled the Pope John Paul II's funeral at St. Peter Basilica on April 8, 2005. At that event, large numbers of people shouted "Santo Subito!" (Make him a saint, now!)
But Robinson added a cautionary note. "If sainthood for John Paul II is placed on the fast track, those in charge should take note of the cases of priestly sexual abuse he ignored, especially that of Father Marcial Maciel Degollado."
If Pope John Paul II fails to get on the fast track to sainthood, it could have something to do with how he handled sex abuse charges against one of Mexico's most influential priests: the late Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the Legionnaires of Christ.
At least that's the opinion of retired Bishop Geoffrey Robinson of Sydney, Australia, who spoke to an overflow crowd recently at the University of California at San Diego. Robinson's talk drew considerable media attention since three local Catholic prelates forbade him from speaking in their dioceses: Bishops Robert Brom of San Diego, Tod Brown of Orange, and Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles.
Asked why these and other bishops interdicted him, Robinson shrugged his shoulders and said, "You'll have to ask them." But a sharper response came from a nearby panelist: "He asks too many questions," piped in Dominican Father Thomas Doyle, a world renowned canon lawyer who has written extensively about the church's mishandling of sexual abuse allegations against the clergy.
Robinson, who headed an Australian bishops' commission on clerical sexual abuse from 1994-2003, visited San Diego on a world tour to promote his book, "Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church." In it Robinson accuses church authorities, including two popes, of managing the clerical sex abuse problem rather than confronting it honestly.
He describes Pope John Paul II's non-response in the matter of Father Maciel Degollado, head of the traditionalist Legionnaires of Christ, as "a failure of moral leadership on a massive scale." The late pontiff had access to extensive documentation that Maciel Degollado had sexually abused 30 seminarians from the 1940's to the 1970s, mostly in Spain and Italy. Some believe the true figure to be much higher.
But John Paul II, a close friend of Maciel Degollado, remained silent. The latter stood at the pope's right hand during three papal visits to Mexico. Later, John Paul referred to him as "an efficacious guide to youth" and he heaped praise on Maciel Degollado on the 60th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood in 2004.
After John Paul II's death, a Vatican investigation resulted in Maciel Degollado's suspension in 2006 as superior general of the Legionnaires of Christ and a ban on performing his priestly duties. Some of his alleged victims believed he should have been laicized, but leading Catholic conservatives, including William Donahue of the conservative Catholic League, still maintain his innocence. [...]
In his own book, Bishop Geoffrey Robinson takes careful aim at this culture of silence and secrecy in the Catholic Church as well as the absolute authority concentrated in the hands of one person: the pope. He sees the need for the Roman Curia, the church's government, to place checks and balances on papal power, and to be accountable to average Catholics in the pews. [...]
Robinson regrets that the Catholic Church is divided between pro-claimers of certainties and seekers of truth. "Many people feel marginalized in a church that has given them meaning and direction for their lives. I am writing this book for them-to tell them that there is a church for them, fully in accord with the mind of Jesus."
In his talk at UCSD, Bishop Robinson recalled the Pope John Paul II's funeral at St. Peter Basilica on April 8, 2005. At that event, large numbers of people shouted "Santo Subito!" (Make him a saint, now!)
But Robinson added a cautionary note. "If sainthood for John Paul II is placed on the fast track, those in charge should take note of the cases of priestly sexual abuse he ignored, especially that of Father Marcial Maciel Degollado."
A bit more on SSPX
Williamson is but a symptom of the foundational theology of the group that Benedict XVI wishes to incorporate into the Church as his right flank.
From the Southern Poverty Law Center:
On Wednesday, the Vatican made a dramatic move to tamp down growing worldwide furor over its late January decision to revoke the excommunication of Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) Bishop Richard Williamson, who has a 20 year track record of vocal Holocaust denial.
What the Vatican has not yet addressed is SSPX’s clear record of anti-Semitism. The SSPX as a whole, which has chapels and schools across the United States and in several other countries, is a font of anti-Semitic propaganda. It is in The Angelus, published monthly by the SSPX, and on SSPX’s website, that the radical anti-Semitism of the order is most evident. One example now on the website is an Angelus article by two SSPX priests that calls for locking Jews into ghettoes because “Jews are known to kill Christians.” Further examples of the group’s anti-Semitism can be found here.
From the Southern Poverty Law Center:
On Wednesday, the Vatican made a dramatic move to tamp down growing worldwide furor over its late January decision to revoke the excommunication of Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) Bishop Richard Williamson, who has a 20 year track record of vocal Holocaust denial.
What the Vatican has not yet addressed is SSPX’s clear record of anti-Semitism. The SSPX as a whole, which has chapels and schools across the United States and in several other countries, is a font of anti-Semitic propaganda. It is in The Angelus, published monthly by the SSPX, and on SSPX’s website, that the radical anti-Semitism of the order is most evident. One example now on the website is an Angelus article by two SSPX priests that calls for locking Jews into ghettoes because “Jews are known to kill Christians.” Further examples of the group’s anti-Semitism can be found here.
Mitigating factor
It may not be possible to re-excommunicate any of Catholic conservatives' Holocaust-denying allies. It's all in the the last line.
News from Austria
Oh oh:
The Pope is in hot water with Austrian politicians after an article he wrote that appeared in a right-wing publication over a decade ago has surfaced.
The Vienna daily "Österreich" reports today (Tues) Greens’ MP Karl Öllinger had said the revelation would make it necessary to re-evaluate Pope Benedict XVI’s position on the right-wing Pius X Brotherhood and British Bishop John Williamson, a Holocaust denier.
The newspaper said an article written by the Pope was published by the publishing house "Aula-Verlag" 11 years ago.
The Documentation Archive of the Austrian Resistance (DÖW), which has charged Aula-Verlag is an extremely right-wing operation, said today the Pope had actually written the article, entitled "Freedom and Truth," in 1995 when he was Josef Cardinal Ratzinger.
The article appeared in an anthology entitled "1948 – Heritage and Mission" published by Aula Verlag in 1998.
Stephan Roth from DÖW said: "It was a republication of the original article written in 1995."
The Pope is already under fire in Austria for his rehabilitation of four members of the Pius X Brotherhood and his nomination of the controversial Gerhard Maria Wagner as auxiliary bishop of the Linz diocese.
News of his article in an Aula Verlag publication will probably do little to make him more popular in Austria.
Wagner’s nomination has already resulted in a spurt in the number of people leaving the Roman Catholic Church in the Linz diocese.
A little detail:
Titled "Freedom and Truth," the article contains "absolutely no formulations that could be considered in any way 'right-wing,' " Vatican radio said.
The head of the Aula publishing firm is a former Nazi Party member and S.A. storm trooper named Otto Scrinzi, according to a report in the Osterreich daily newspaper.
UPDATE: More
The Publisher of Aula, Otto Scrinzi, is a former member of the Nazi party and former SA-Sturmführer. His co-editor was the German extreme right wing propagandist Jürgen Schwab. Most of the authors belong to the hard-core extreme right.
In Cardinal Ratzinger’s Article “Freedom and Truth” there is criticism of National socialism, which was according to Josef Ratzinger apart from Marxism “the greatest slave-system of modern history”. But in the long philosophical article the Cardinal also criticises Liberalism and Democracy. [...]
Erich Leitenberger, the spokesman of the archdiocese Vienna disagrees. The article of Ratzinger was published first in 1995 in the international periodical Communio. The publishers of Aula, he says, “evidently did not ask for the Cardinal’s permission to publish”.
However, after the election of Benedict XVI, Aula-Publishers have claimed that Ratzinger did put his article “at the disposal of the edition”. Aula published the picture of Josef Ratzinger in May 2005 on its title page entitled: “The German Pope From Aula-Author to Holy Father”
According to MP Öllinger, this Pope is liked by the German Neo-Nazi-Scene this article. Horst Mahler, a former German RAF-Terrorist, has used Ratzinger’s article as part of the defence in the court case against the German Holocaust Denier Ernst Zündel.
The Pope is in hot water with Austrian politicians after an article he wrote that appeared in a right-wing publication over a decade ago has surfaced.
The Vienna daily "Österreich" reports today (Tues) Greens’ MP Karl Öllinger had said the revelation would make it necessary to re-evaluate Pope Benedict XVI’s position on the right-wing Pius X Brotherhood and British Bishop John Williamson, a Holocaust denier.
The newspaper said an article written by the Pope was published by the publishing house "Aula-Verlag" 11 years ago.
The Documentation Archive of the Austrian Resistance (DÖW), which has charged Aula-Verlag is an extremely right-wing operation, said today the Pope had actually written the article, entitled "Freedom and Truth," in 1995 when he was Josef Cardinal Ratzinger.
The article appeared in an anthology entitled "1948 – Heritage and Mission" published by Aula Verlag in 1998.
Stephan Roth from DÖW said: "It was a republication of the original article written in 1995."
The Pope is already under fire in Austria for his rehabilitation of four members of the Pius X Brotherhood and his nomination of the controversial Gerhard Maria Wagner as auxiliary bishop of the Linz diocese.
News of his article in an Aula Verlag publication will probably do little to make him more popular in Austria.
Wagner’s nomination has already resulted in a spurt in the number of people leaving the Roman Catholic Church in the Linz diocese.
A little detail:
Titled "Freedom and Truth," the article contains "absolutely no formulations that could be considered in any way 'right-wing,' " Vatican radio said.
The head of the Aula publishing firm is a former Nazi Party member and S.A. storm trooper named Otto Scrinzi, according to a report in the Osterreich daily newspaper.
UPDATE: More
The Publisher of Aula, Otto Scrinzi, is a former member of the Nazi party and former SA-Sturmführer. His co-editor was the German extreme right wing propagandist Jürgen Schwab. Most of the authors belong to the hard-core extreme right.
In Cardinal Ratzinger’s Article “Freedom and Truth” there is criticism of National socialism, which was according to Josef Ratzinger apart from Marxism “the greatest slave-system of modern history”. But in the long philosophical article the Cardinal also criticises Liberalism and Democracy. [...]
Erich Leitenberger, the spokesman of the archdiocese Vienna disagrees. The article of Ratzinger was published first in 1995 in the international periodical Communio. The publishers of Aula, he says, “evidently did not ask for the Cardinal’s permission to publish”.
However, after the election of Benedict XVI, Aula-Publishers have claimed that Ratzinger did put his article “at the disposal of the edition”. Aula published the picture of Josef Ratzinger in May 2005 on its title page entitled: “The German Pope From Aula-Author to Holy Father”
According to MP Öllinger, this Pope is liked by the German Neo-Nazi-Scene this article. Horst Mahler, a former German RAF-Terrorist, has used Ratzinger’s article as part of the defence in the court case against the German Holocaust Denier Ernst Zündel.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Israel, take two
Maybe, just maybe, the key isn't Lieberman but Shas, which hates him. But the smart money is on Bibi. Bernard Avishal at TPM closes his brief analysis by saying:
MY BET IS that Netanyahu will form a rightist government, and take his chances with Washington, the collapse of relations with the PA, and riots among Israeli Arabs.
Brace yourselves.
MY BET IS that Netanyahu will form a rightist government, and take his chances with Washington, the collapse of relations with the PA, and riots among Israeli Arabs.
Brace yourselves.
Peres
From the Jerusalem Post's awfully prescient pre-election analysis:
Where Peres would have a certain dilemma is if the final tally shows Kadima as the largest party, but Netanyahu the favored prime minister of most of the new intake of MKs. Here, too, though Peres's decision should be relatively straightforward: Netanyahu would be given the first chance to build a government.
That dilemma would deepen considerably, however, if Kadima is the biggest party, Netanyahu gets more support than Livni from the various party chiefs with whom Peres consults, but that support for Netanyahu falls short of the 61 seats that constitute a Knesset majority. Who, then, would the president choose to form a coalition? Would his path through these uncharted waters be informed by the fact that Livni's Israeli-Palestinian vision is far closer than Netanyahu's to his own? Which other factors might guide him?
Where Peres would have a certain dilemma is if the final tally shows Kadima as the largest party, but Netanyahu the favored prime minister of most of the new intake of MKs. Here, too, though Peres's decision should be relatively straightforward: Netanyahu would be given the first chance to build a government.
That dilemma would deepen considerably, however, if Kadima is the biggest party, Netanyahu gets more support than Livni from the various party chiefs with whom Peres consults, but that support for Netanyahu falls short of the 61 seats that constitute a Knesset majority. Who, then, would the president choose to form a coalition? Would his path through these uncharted waters be informed by the fact that Livni's Israeli-Palestinian vision is far closer than Netanyahu's to his own? Which other factors might guide him?
Via Andrew Sullivan
The other shoe drops. Asia's economy is about to collapse. Unless you have enough cash on hand to to take advantage of their upcoming real estate crash.
The big foreign policy crises of the Obama Administration may have a whole lot more to do with the aftereffects of a global depression than terrorism.
The big foreign policy crises of the Obama Administration may have a whole lot more to do with the aftereffects of a global depression than terrorism.
Livni to Bibi
Upset!
"I call out to Binyamin Netanyahu tonight," she said. "I proposed to you before the elections were set to join a unity government under my leadership...you refused, saying that the people must decide. Today the people decided - Kadima."
"Now all that is left is to do the right thing, to honor the decision of the citizens of Israel, to do what is right for Israel at this time…and to join a unity government led by us," Livni said.
"Today I hear talk of camps again. Ladies and gentlemen, I entered politics when camps were fighting a bitter war between themselves. The 'Eretz Israel' camp and the 'peace camp,' and today I hear the name 'National Camp' [referring to the right wing bloc]," Livni said.
"'Eretz Israel' does not belong to the right, just as peace does not belong to the left," she said.
But Bibi is still likely to form the next government.
"I call out to Binyamin Netanyahu tonight," she said. "I proposed to you before the elections were set to join a unity government under my leadership...you refused, saying that the people must decide. Today the people decided - Kadima."
"Now all that is left is to do the right thing, to honor the decision of the citizens of Israel, to do what is right for Israel at this time…and to join a unity government led by us," Livni said.
"Today I hear talk of camps again. Ladies and gentlemen, I entered politics when camps were fighting a bitter war between themselves. The 'Eretz Israel' camp and the 'peace camp,' and today I hear the name 'National Camp' [referring to the right wing bloc]," Livni said.
"'Eretz Israel' does not belong to the right, just as peace does not belong to the left," she said.
But Bibi is still likely to form the next government.
For those who think the Pope's actions don't matter
There's never a good time to make nice with Holocaust deniers.
The Anti-Defamation League said Tuesday that a survey it commissioned found nearly a third of Europeans polled blame Jews for the global economic meltdown and that a greater number think Jews have too much power in the business world.
The organization, which says its aim is "to stop the defamation of Jewish people and secure justice and fair treatment to all," says the seven-nation survey confirms that anti-Semitism remains strong.
The poll included interviews with 3,500 people - 500 each in Austria, Britain, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Spain.
It says that in Spain, 74 percent of those asked say they feel it is "probably true" that Jews hold too much sway over the global financial markets. That is the highest percentage in the survey.
Nearly two-thirds of Spanish respondents said Jews were more loyal to Israel than they were to their home countries.
Foxman said the study's findings were "particularly worrisome" in light of the anger spawned by the global economic meltdown, and following a number of violent acts against Jews or Jewish property after Israel's military action in the Gaza Strip.
Around Europe, several attacks have been reported against Jews and synagogues in France, Sweden and Britain since the Israeli offensive began in late December. Some Gaza protests in Europe have included the use of Nazi imagery, including signs and slogans comparing Israeli soldiers to German troops, the Gaza Strip to the Auschwitz death camp and the Jewish Star of David to the Nazi swastika. [...]
In total, about 40 percent of those questioned said Jews have too much power in the business world, including more than half of Hungarian, Spanish and Polish respondents. And 44 percent said they believe it is "probably true" that Jews still talk too much about the Holocaust.
The Anti-Defamation League said Tuesday that a survey it commissioned found nearly a third of Europeans polled blame Jews for the global economic meltdown and that a greater number think Jews have too much power in the business world.
The organization, which says its aim is "to stop the defamation of Jewish people and secure justice and fair treatment to all," says the seven-nation survey confirms that anti-Semitism remains strong.
The poll included interviews with 3,500 people - 500 each in Austria, Britain, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Spain.
It says that in Spain, 74 percent of those asked say they feel it is "probably true" that Jews hold too much sway over the global financial markets. That is the highest percentage in the survey.
Nearly two-thirds of Spanish respondents said Jews were more loyal to Israel than they were to their home countries.
Foxman said the study's findings were "particularly worrisome" in light of the anger spawned by the global economic meltdown, and following a number of violent acts against Jews or Jewish property after Israel's military action in the Gaza Strip.
Around Europe, several attacks have been reported against Jews and synagogues in France, Sweden and Britain since the Israeli offensive began in late December. Some Gaza protests in Europe have included the use of Nazi imagery, including signs and slogans comparing Israeli soldiers to German troops, the Gaza Strip to the Auschwitz death camp and the Jewish Star of David to the Nazi swastika. [...]
In total, about 40 percent of those questioned said Jews have too much power in the business world, including more than half of Hungarian, Spanish and Polish respondents. And 44 percent said they believe it is "probably true" that Jews still talk too much about the Holocaust.
Excerpts from Der Spiegel's interview
With Bishop Richard Williamson:
SPIEGEL: How can an educated Catholic deny the Holocaust?
Williamson: I addressed the subject in the 1980s. I had read various writings at the time. I cited the Leuchter report (eds. note: a debunked theory produced in the 1980s claiming erroneously that the Nazi gas chambers were technically impractical) in the interview, and it seemed plausible to me. Now I am told that it has been scientifically refuted. I plan now to look into it.
SPIEGEL: You could travel to Auschwitz yourself.
Williamson: No, I will not travel to Auschwitz. I've ordered the book by Jean-Claude Pressac. It's called "Auschwitz: Technique and Operation of the Gas Chambers." A printout is now being sent to me, and I will read it and study it. [...]
SPIEGEL: What does the repeal of the excommunication by Pope Benedict XVI mean to you?
Williamson: We just want to be Catholic, nothing else. We have not developed our own teachings, but are merely preserving the things that the Church has always taught and practiced. And in the sixties and seventies, when everything was changed in the name of this Council (eds. note: the Second Vatican Council), it was suddenly a scandal. As a result, we were forced to the margins of the church, and now that empty churches and an aging clergy make it clear that these changes were a failure, we are returning to the center. That's the way it is for us conservatives: we are proved right, as long as we wait long enough. [...]
SPIEGEL: The pope will travel to Israel soon, where he plans to visit the Holocaust Memorial. Are you also opposed to this?
Williamson: Making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land is a great joy for Christians. I wish the Holy Father all the best on his journey. What troubles me about Yad Vashem is that Pope Pius XII is attacked there, even though no one saved more Jews during the Nazi period than he did. For instance, he had baptismal certificates issued for persecuted Jews to protect them against arrest. These facts have been distorted to mean exactly the opposite. Otherwise, I hope that the pope will also have an eye and a heart for the women and children who were injured in the Gaza Strip, and that he will speak out in support of the Christian population in Bethlehem, which is now walled in.
SPIEGEL: Your statements have caused great injury and outrage in the Jewish world. Why don't you apologize?
Williamson: If I realize that I have made an error, I will apologize. I ask every human being to believe me when I say that I did not deliberately say anything untrue. I was convinced that my comments were accurate, based on my research in the 1980s. Now I must review everything again and look at the evidence. [...]
SPIEGEL: Your statements and the lifting of your excommunication have triggered protests worldwide. Can you understand this?
Williamson: A single interview on Swedish television has dominated the news for weeks in Germany. Yes, it does surprise me. Is this the case with all violations of the law in Germany? Hardly. No, I am only the tool here, so that action can be taken against the SSPX and the pope. Apparently Germany's leftist Catholicism has not yet forgiven Ratzinger for becoming pope.
Well, at least he's right about being a tool.
SPIEGEL: How can an educated Catholic deny the Holocaust?
Williamson: I addressed the subject in the 1980s. I had read various writings at the time. I cited the Leuchter report (eds. note: a debunked theory produced in the 1980s claiming erroneously that the Nazi gas chambers were technically impractical) in the interview, and it seemed plausible to me. Now I am told that it has been scientifically refuted. I plan now to look into it.
SPIEGEL: You could travel to Auschwitz yourself.
Williamson: No, I will not travel to Auschwitz. I've ordered the book by Jean-Claude Pressac. It's called "Auschwitz: Technique and Operation of the Gas Chambers." A printout is now being sent to me, and I will read it and study it. [...]
SPIEGEL: What does the repeal of the excommunication by Pope Benedict XVI mean to you?
Williamson: We just want to be Catholic, nothing else. We have not developed our own teachings, but are merely preserving the things that the Church has always taught and practiced. And in the sixties and seventies, when everything was changed in the name of this Council (eds. note: the Second Vatican Council), it was suddenly a scandal. As a result, we were forced to the margins of the church, and now that empty churches and an aging clergy make it clear that these changes were a failure, we are returning to the center. That's the way it is for us conservatives: we are proved right, as long as we wait long enough. [...]
SPIEGEL: The pope will travel to Israel soon, where he plans to visit the Holocaust Memorial. Are you also opposed to this?
Williamson: Making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land is a great joy for Christians. I wish the Holy Father all the best on his journey. What troubles me about Yad Vashem is that Pope Pius XII is attacked there, even though no one saved more Jews during the Nazi period than he did. For instance, he had baptismal certificates issued for persecuted Jews to protect them against arrest. These facts have been distorted to mean exactly the opposite. Otherwise, I hope that the pope will also have an eye and a heart for the women and children who were injured in the Gaza Strip, and that he will speak out in support of the Christian population in Bethlehem, which is now walled in.
SPIEGEL: Your statements have caused great injury and outrage in the Jewish world. Why don't you apologize?
Williamson: If I realize that I have made an error, I will apologize. I ask every human being to believe me when I say that I did not deliberately say anything untrue. I was convinced that my comments were accurate, based on my research in the 1980s. Now I must review everything again and look at the evidence. [...]
SPIEGEL: Your statements and the lifting of your excommunication have triggered protests worldwide. Can you understand this?
Williamson: A single interview on Swedish television has dominated the news for weeks in Germany. Yes, it does surprise me. Is this the case with all violations of the law in Germany? Hardly. No, I am only the tool here, so that action can be taken against the SSPX and the pope. Apparently Germany's leftist Catholicism has not yet forgiven Ratzinger for becoming pope.
Well, at least he's right about being a tool.
Andrew Sullivan
Must read. The best written and best distilled summary of the meaning of SSPX and Maciel.
Legionaries
Still in denial. One of their priests uses their present crisis to glorify his own experiences in the priesthood. He recognizes that Maciel did something wrong, but he never describes the sin (acting on his heterosexuality... you know, with adult women, the author might have you suppose). Even if he had, he wouldn't have listed Maciel's actual crimes, which they are still in denial about, eleven years after they appeared in Connecticut newspapers. And check this paragraph out:
I have learned as a priest, when you see, get to know and experience so many things about a person's life in and outside the confessionary, that personal judgment only corresponds to God. The Gospel is very clear "don't judge and you will not be judged, forgive and you will be forgiven".
Remarkable for a group known for being judgmental about a lot of groups in society.
The right wing, politically activist, sex-obsessed groups that came of age in the United States during the years of John Paul II were never examined by the media or even many in the American Church.
Opus Dei and the Legionaries' continual preoccupation with sexuality and right wing politics made them a perfect match for John Paul II's agenda for the Church. This dual obsession also mirrored that of the American Religious Right, which was coming of age just as the new pope arrived in Rome. The groups' financial contributions to the Vatican didn't hurt. The Pope canonized the founder who was dead (Josemaria Escrivá) and honored the one who was living (Maciel). He granted Opus Dei a personal prelature and made certain that Maciel's pedophilia and drug use would never be investigated.
Meanwhile, the strange triangle between the American Church, John Paul II, and these bizarre, wealthy, and highly secretive right wing institutes continued, bringing grief to thousands, and lots of money to the Church. The biggest political beneficiary of this alliance would be the Republican Party. The five Republican Catholic men (OK, minus Kennedy) on the Supreme Court are but one small reflection of the outsized importance of these groups on our political discourse.
Between the Nazi bishops and the pedophilia, the events of the last two weeks are surely an opportunity to reflect on the very sick politico-religious culture that came into being in the United States under the aegis of Pope John Paul II. The Legionaries and Opus Dei were both symptoms and tools of the illness. Getting their secrets out are a necessary first step in in cleansing the Church and healing our nation's politics.
I have learned as a priest, when you see, get to know and experience so many things about a person's life in and outside the confessionary, that personal judgment only corresponds to God. The Gospel is very clear "don't judge and you will not be judged, forgive and you will be forgiven".
Remarkable for a group known for being judgmental about a lot of groups in society.
The right wing, politically activist, sex-obsessed groups that came of age in the United States during the years of John Paul II were never examined by the media or even many in the American Church.
Opus Dei and the Legionaries' continual preoccupation with sexuality and right wing politics made them a perfect match for John Paul II's agenda for the Church. This dual obsession also mirrored that of the American Religious Right, which was coming of age just as the new pope arrived in Rome. The groups' financial contributions to the Vatican didn't hurt. The Pope canonized the founder who was dead (Josemaria Escrivá) and honored the one who was living (Maciel). He granted Opus Dei a personal prelature and made certain that Maciel's pedophilia and drug use would never be investigated.
Meanwhile, the strange triangle between the American Church, John Paul II, and these bizarre, wealthy, and highly secretive right wing institutes continued, bringing grief to thousands, and lots of money to the Church. The biggest political beneficiary of this alliance would be the Republican Party. The five Republican Catholic men (OK, minus Kennedy) on the Supreme Court are but one small reflection of the outsized importance of these groups on our political discourse.
Between the Nazi bishops and the pedophilia, the events of the last two weeks are surely an opportunity to reflect on the very sick politico-religious culture that came into being in the United States under the aegis of Pope John Paul II. The Legionaries and Opus Dei were both symptoms and tools of the illness. Getting their secrets out are a necessary first step in in cleansing the Church and healing our nation's politics.
Monday, February 09, 2009
Bishop Williamson ousted!
Uh... from his job as director of an Argentine seminary. He's still a bishop in good standing with SSPX. If that's enough to make this story go away, Catholics will deserve SSPX' future presence in their Church.
The other big battle in tomorrow's elections in Israel
The civil war between the religious parties, punctuated by a final day campaign stunt: Lieberman's visit to the Western Wall. How many votes will they lose to him? A related piece here.
Axelrod overruled by Geithner
Bad move. And publicizing the difference means progressive Democrats now have license to oppose it.
Summary
Of a three week old presidency:
"I can't believe we got lectured by Republicans on fiscal policy," one Democratic strategist told First Read. How did the party, when the RNC was blasting out emails about Hilda Solis’ husband’s tax problems, not aggressively fire back that the wife of the GOP presidential nominee also failed to pay back taxes? And why didn’t the party pounce on NRCC chairman Pete Sessions comparing the Republican Party’s insurgency to the Taliban’s? "I don't get it," griped another Democrat. Time for Apollo Creed to help the champ get his mojo back?
"I can't believe we got lectured by Republicans on fiscal policy," one Democratic strategist told First Read. How did the party, when the RNC was blasting out emails about Hilda Solis’ husband’s tax problems, not aggressively fire back that the wife of the GOP presidential nominee also failed to pay back taxes? And why didn’t the party pounce on NRCC chairman Pete Sessions comparing the Republican Party’s insurgency to the Taliban’s? "I don't get it," griped another Democrat. Time for Apollo Creed to help the champ get his mojo back?
Vows of Silence
The documentary on Fr. Maciel. Also starring John Paul II, Joseph Ratzinger, and Jeb Bush.
And remember, the crimes in this documentary (publicized in major newspapers over ten years ago!) have yet to be acknowledged by the Legionaries, who are still trying to pretend that their founders' only sin lay in fathering a child.
And remember, the crimes in this documentary (publicized in major newspapers over ten years ago!) have yet to be acknowledged by the Legionaries, who are still trying to pretend that their founders' only sin lay in fathering a child.
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Key Grammy moments
1. A resurrected Whitney Houston presents Jennifer Hudson with Best R&B Album.
2. Jennifer Hudson sings "You Pulled Me Through."
3. Stevie Wonder imitating the Jonas Brothers attempting "Superstition."
4. Adele leers at the Jonas Brothers in her acceptance speech for Best New Artist. Let's hope she doesn't go the way of Christopher Cross and Milli Vanilli.
5. M.I.A., whose baby was due today, holds her own at the hip hop summit.
6. The USC Trojan marching band, a masterpiece of visual architecture.
7. Smokey Robinson phrases a line from "Reach Out" perfectly in a tribute to the Four Tops.
8. Lil Wayne's pointed tribute to New Orleans.
9. Morgan Freeman... and Kenny Chesney. Go figure.
10. As for the Album of the Year, the Jon Caramanica has the last word: "I’m not disappointed in the music, only in the inevitability. I mean, next year, let’s dispense with pretense and nominate five albums for the NPR/AARP set."
11. Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland the best Anastacia since Anastacia.
2. Jennifer Hudson sings "You Pulled Me Through."
3. Stevie Wonder imitating the Jonas Brothers attempting "Superstition."
4. Adele leers at the Jonas Brothers in her acceptance speech for Best New Artist. Let's hope she doesn't go the way of Christopher Cross and Milli Vanilli.
5. M.I.A., whose baby was due today, holds her own at the hip hop summit.
6. The USC Trojan marching band, a masterpiece of visual architecture.
7. Smokey Robinson phrases a line from "Reach Out" perfectly in a tribute to the Four Tops.
8. Lil Wayne's pointed tribute to New Orleans.
9. Morgan Freeman... and Kenny Chesney. Go figure.
10. As for the Album of the Year, the Jon Caramanica has the last word: "I’m not disappointed in the music, only in the inevitability. I mean, next year, let’s dispense with pretense and nominate five albums for the NPR/AARP set."
11. Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland the best Anastacia since Anastacia.
SSPX Father Abrahamowicz reacts to his expulsion
Fascinating:
In fact, who ordered the injurious decree of "removal" was Joseph Ratzinger, who is still stuck in the Modernist ecumenism of the Second Vatican Council, ... , incurring in the excommunication reserved to the Modernists. An excommunicate revokes a non-existing censure!
...
A Traditionalist Catholic CANNOT [sic] neither request nor welcome such a decree, even less embrace and kiss its authors, making believe that this act is a gift of Our Lady.
We pray for Joseph Ratzinger so that he may abjure Modernism and embrace the Catholic faith, and for the Fraternity of Saint Pius X so that it may remain faithful to the work of Archbishop Lefebvre.
In fact, who ordered the injurious decree of "removal" was Joseph Ratzinger, who is still stuck in the Modernist ecumenism of the Second Vatican Council, ... , incurring in the excommunication reserved to the Modernists. An excommunicate revokes a non-existing censure!
...
A Traditionalist Catholic CANNOT [sic] neither request nor welcome such a decree, even less embrace and kiss its authors, making believe that this act is a gift of Our Lady.
We pray for Joseph Ratzinger so that he may abjure Modernism and embrace the Catholic faith, and for the Fraternity of Saint Pius X so that it may remain faithful to the work of Archbishop Lefebvre.
The National Christian Register
Is the Legionaries' American propaganda outlet.
The Legionaries of Christ only recently found out that their founder had fathered a child, knowledge that has caused the members great suffering, but has not destroyed the gratitude they owe him, said a spokesman for the religious order.
Father Paolo Scarafoni, spokesman at the Legionaries’ headquarters in Rome, told Catholic News Service Feb. 4 that, despite the failures and flaws of the late Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, members of the order are grateful to him for having founded the order and its various ministries.
“We found this out only recently,” Father Scarafoni said, referring to the fact that Father Maciel had a daughter.
They might have just found out about the child he fathered, but they knew long ago about the ones he molested.
The Legionaries of Christ only recently found out that their founder had fathered a child, knowledge that has caused the members great suffering, but has not destroyed the gratitude they owe him, said a spokesman for the religious order.
Father Paolo Scarafoni, spokesman at the Legionaries’ headquarters in Rome, told Catholic News Service Feb. 4 that, despite the failures and flaws of the late Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, members of the order are grateful to him for having founded the order and its various ministries.
“We found this out only recently,” Father Scarafoni said, referring to the fact that Father Maciel had a daughter.
They might have just found out about the child he fathered, but they knew long ago about the ones he molested.
An open letter to Legionaries
By Dr. Germain Grisez of Mount Saint Mary University. Excerpts:
Sex-abuse involving diocesan clerics and members of religious institutes has been dealt with up to now solely by sanctions against those guilty of abusive activities and by measures to prevent such activities. The bishops, religious superiors, and others who were guilty of complicity in such wrongdoing, lying about it, irresponsibility toward victims, and so on have in general not honestly admitted, much less rectified, what they did and failed to do. For that reason, the injury to the Church continues to fester. Still, those past experiences might seem to some Legionaries to provide a model by which your present plight can be overcome.
That would be a grave mistake for two reasons.
First, no matter how corrupt the hierarchy may be, faithful Catholics cannot do without it, but we can do without any particular religious institute. Everyone realizes that Father Maciel's double life required the complicity of associates, some of whom surely are still members of the institute, and some of whom probably are functioning as superiors. Unless those who shared in the betrayal are identified and faithful Legionaries cleanly separate from them, the latter group's common good will not continue receiving the support of faithful Catholics, and will not be preserved.
Second, when a bishop dies, the diocese's priests cease cooperating with him. But even after the death of an institute's saintly founder, its members' service and life continue as cooperation with him or her. Regardless of Father Maciel's subjective moral responsibility, which only God knows, the evidence of his objective betrayal of his commitment makes it impossible for you and other good and faithful Legionaries any longer to carry on your service and life as cooperation with him. Unless you and your confreres proceed as quickly as possible to terminate the juridical person, the Legionaries of Christ, and reorganize yourselves into a new institute, the common good you now share will begin to decompose: very few new men will join you, many in formation will leave, some professed members will separate, and the collaboration and support of the lay faithful will shrink.
The Pope is the ultimate superior on earth of every religious institute. Only the Pope can oversee the termination of the Legionaries of Christ, the salvaging of its faithful members and other assets, and their reconstitution into a new institute. Therefore, if I were you, I would at once appeal to the Pope to fulfill his responsibility toward you, to appoint two or three prelates, members neither of the Legionaries nor of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life, as an ad hoc papal commission to conduct a thorough visitation, identify those complicit in Father Maciel's wrongdoing and its concealment until now, and work closely with faithful, professed members in carrying out an orderly termination of the existing Institute, election of a small group to serve as founders of its replacement, and the preparation of an entirely new and reformed body of particular law for the new institute.
Some of your good and faithful confreres undoubtedly will tell you that following my advice would violate your vow of obedience and constitute grave disloyalty to your superiors. Those sincere men will be mistaken. Your vow is to obey morally acceptable precepts. In the present disaster, it is, in my judgment, your grave moral duty to appeal to the Pope, as your superior, to save the common good of the faithful members of the Legionaries of Christ by terminating the present juridical person, and seeing to the formation of a new institute. I am sure that most who were complicit in Father Maciel's wrongdoing were constrained by a false sense of loyalty. Do not follow their bad and disastrous example. Remember instead your responsibility to Jesus and to his Church, to all those whose souls are still to be saved by your service and that of the members of the new foundation.
Be sure to take a look at the comments page, which includes a whole lot of additional information about the order, including some of their disturbing, secret rules.
Sex-abuse involving diocesan clerics and members of religious institutes has been dealt with up to now solely by sanctions against those guilty of abusive activities and by measures to prevent such activities. The bishops, religious superiors, and others who were guilty of complicity in such wrongdoing, lying about it, irresponsibility toward victims, and so on have in general not honestly admitted, much less rectified, what they did and failed to do. For that reason, the injury to the Church continues to fester. Still, those past experiences might seem to some Legionaries to provide a model by which your present plight can be overcome.
That would be a grave mistake for two reasons.
First, no matter how corrupt the hierarchy may be, faithful Catholics cannot do without it, but we can do without any particular religious institute. Everyone realizes that Father Maciel's double life required the complicity of associates, some of whom surely are still members of the institute, and some of whom probably are functioning as superiors. Unless those who shared in the betrayal are identified and faithful Legionaries cleanly separate from them, the latter group's common good will not continue receiving the support of faithful Catholics, and will not be preserved.
Second, when a bishop dies, the diocese's priests cease cooperating with him. But even after the death of an institute's saintly founder, its members' service and life continue as cooperation with him or her. Regardless of Father Maciel's subjective moral responsibility, which only God knows, the evidence of his objective betrayal of his commitment makes it impossible for you and other good and faithful Legionaries any longer to carry on your service and life as cooperation with him. Unless you and your confreres proceed as quickly as possible to terminate the juridical person, the Legionaries of Christ, and reorganize yourselves into a new institute, the common good you now share will begin to decompose: very few new men will join you, many in formation will leave, some professed members will separate, and the collaboration and support of the lay faithful will shrink.
The Pope is the ultimate superior on earth of every religious institute. Only the Pope can oversee the termination of the Legionaries of Christ, the salvaging of its faithful members and other assets, and their reconstitution into a new institute. Therefore, if I were you, I would at once appeal to the Pope to fulfill his responsibility toward you, to appoint two or three prelates, members neither of the Legionaries nor of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life, as an ad hoc papal commission to conduct a thorough visitation, identify those complicit in Father Maciel's wrongdoing and its concealment until now, and work closely with faithful, professed members in carrying out an orderly termination of the existing Institute, election of a small group to serve as founders of its replacement, and the preparation of an entirely new and reformed body of particular law for the new institute.
Some of your good and faithful confreres undoubtedly will tell you that following my advice would violate your vow of obedience and constitute grave disloyalty to your superiors. Those sincere men will be mistaken. Your vow is to obey morally acceptable precepts. In the present disaster, it is, in my judgment, your grave moral duty to appeal to the Pope, as your superior, to save the common good of the faithful members of the Legionaries of Christ by terminating the present juridical person, and seeing to the formation of a new institute. I am sure that most who were complicit in Father Maciel's wrongdoing were constrained by a false sense of loyalty. Do not follow their bad and disastrous example. Remember instead your responsibility to Jesus and to his Church, to all those whose souls are still to be saved by your service and that of the members of the new foundation.
Be sure to take a look at the comments page, which includes a whole lot of additional information about the order, including some of their disturbing, secret rules.
Krugman: The economy is toast
I'm afraid he's right--at least in the sense that the stimulus will have little net impact, and a second one is unlikely to pass.
I’m still working on the numbers, but I’ve gotten a fair number of requests for comment on the Senate version of the stimulus.
The short answer: to appease the centrists, a plan that was already too small and too focused on ineffective tax cuts has been made significantly smaller, and even more focused on tax cuts.
According to the CBO’s estimates, we’re facing an output shortfall of almost 14% of GDP over the next two years, or around $2 trillion. Others, such as Goldman Sachs, are even more pessimistic. So the original $800 billion plan was too small, especially because a substantial share consisted of tax cuts that probably would have added little to demand. The plan should have been at least 50% larger.
Now the centrists have shaved off $86 billion in spending — much of it among the most effective and most needed parts of the plan. In particular, aid to state governments, which are in desperate straits, is both fast — because it prevents spending cuts rather than having to start up new projects — and effective, because it would in fact be spent; plus state and local governments are cutting back on essentials, so the social value of this spending would be high. But in the name of mighty centrism, $40 billion of that aid has been cut out.
My first cut says that the changes to the Senate bill will ensure that we have at least 600,000 fewer Americans employed over the next two years.
The real question now is whether Obama will be able to come back for more once it’s clear that the plan is way inadequate. My guess is no. This is really, really bad.
I’m still working on the numbers, but I’ve gotten a fair number of requests for comment on the Senate version of the stimulus.
The short answer: to appease the centrists, a plan that was already too small and too focused on ineffective tax cuts has been made significantly smaller, and even more focused on tax cuts.
According to the CBO’s estimates, we’re facing an output shortfall of almost 14% of GDP over the next two years, or around $2 trillion. Others, such as Goldman Sachs, are even more pessimistic. So the original $800 billion plan was too small, especially because a substantial share consisted of tax cuts that probably would have added little to demand. The plan should have been at least 50% larger.
Now the centrists have shaved off $86 billion in spending — much of it among the most effective and most needed parts of the plan. In particular, aid to state governments, which are in desperate straits, is both fast — because it prevents spending cuts rather than having to start up new projects — and effective, because it would in fact be spent; plus state and local governments are cutting back on essentials, so the social value of this spending would be high. But in the name of mighty centrism, $40 billion of that aid has been cut out.
My first cut says that the changes to the Senate bill will ensure that we have at least 600,000 fewer Americans employed over the next two years.
The real question now is whether Obama will be able to come back for more once it’s clear that the plan is way inadequate. My guess is no. This is really, really bad.
“I got a hug!”
That's our First Lady, liberating the Executive Branch after eight long years... piece by piece. And if you work for her, you won't just get a hug. You'll get a cheeseburger and fries, too.
Saturday, February 07, 2009
More from Marco Politi
With thanks to reader L for his translation:
It is remarkable, Politi writes, but rather revealing of the prevailing climate at the outset of Ratzinger’s pontificate that L’Osservatore Romano thoughtlessly asserted the Second Vatican Council should not be “mythified.” The very same Council that Lefevrians have always “contested, rejected and slandered.” This is why, Politi reminds us, the cardinals summoned to Rome on March of 2006 to give their opinion on the matter said that a “faithful adherence to the Council” must be enjoined from the followers of the schismatic bishop. Ratzinger, however, “royally ignored” this indication. “The Lefebvrians’ letter to Benedict XVI cunningly speaks about ‘acceptance of the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church’ as well as Papal primacy and its prerogatives. But no mention of the Council is made. The problem is that the Vatican nowadays thinks this is all right.”
It is remarkable, Politi writes, but rather revealing of the prevailing climate at the outset of Ratzinger’s pontificate that L’Osservatore Romano thoughtlessly asserted the Second Vatican Council should not be “mythified.” The very same Council that Lefevrians have always “contested, rejected and slandered.” This is why, Politi reminds us, the cardinals summoned to Rome on March of 2006 to give their opinion on the matter said that a “faithful adherence to the Council” must be enjoined from the followers of the schismatic bishop. Ratzinger, however, “royally ignored” this indication. “The Lefebvrians’ letter to Benedict XVI cunningly speaks about ‘acceptance of the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church’ as well as Papal primacy and its prerogatives. But no mention of the Council is made. The problem is that the Vatican nowadays thinks this is all right.”
And in Madrid
The Lefebvrians celebrate:
"We have never felt excommunicated or schismatic, but this decision of the Holy Father says we were right [all along]. We are grateful, despite the delay. We expected it for a long time, especially after the election of Pope Ratzinger. We are very happy," said a spokesman.
And, say local SSPX parishioners:
We recognize the Pope as the head of the Church and we believe everything the Church does. They've never taught me different things [here]. Sometimes I read that this Pope and the earlier ones governed our Church very poorly and that they permitted things they shouldn't have...
Like Vatican II, presumably, including Nostra Aetate. Good thing the Pope recognizes that they were right all along.
"We have never felt excommunicated or schismatic, but this decision of the Holy Father says we were right [all along]. We are grateful, despite the delay. We expected it for a long time, especially after the election of Pope Ratzinger. We are very happy," said a spokesman.
And, say local SSPX parishioners:
We recognize the Pope as the head of the Church and we believe everything the Church does. They've never taught me different things [here]. Sometimes I read that this Pope and the earlier ones governed our Church very poorly and that they permitted things they shouldn't have...
Like Vatican II, presumably, including Nostra Aetate. Good thing the Pope recognizes that they were right all along.
"The Mysteries of the Jews"
It has been removed from the SSPX website. Fortunately, David Gibson of Commonweal points us to the key paragraphs, including this:
Catholics are not to enter into commercial, social, nor political relations which are bound hypocritically to seek the ruin of Christendom. Jews must not live together with Christians because this is what their own Jewish laws ordain and also because their errors and material superiority have virulent consequences among other peoples.
He also points to an ADL document: "The Society of St. Pius X: Mired in Anti-Semitism."
Meanwhile, the National Catholic Reporter's John Allen:
I take at face value the assurances of Vatican officials that they were unaware of Williamson's interview, but they hardly needed Swedish television to alert them that something was amiss. In 1989, Williamson narrowly escaped prosecution in Canada for praising the writings of Ernst Zundel, a German-born Canadian immigrant whose works include The Hitler We Loved and Why and Did Six Million Really Die?, both mainstays of Holocaust denial literature. All this was documented in press coverage at the time. In 1991, Williamson published an open letter referring to "the false messianic vocation of Jewish world-dominion, to prepare the Anti-Christ's throne in Jerusalem." In 2000, Williamson went on record asserting that the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" are legitimate. His reputation was so well-known that in 2008, Shimon Samuels, director of international relations at the Simon Weisenthal Center, told the Catholic Herald in England that Williamson is "the Borat of the schismatic Catholic far-right."
Further, it's not as if the Vatican can claim to have been surprised by Jewish reaction. In September 2006, Benedict set off a similar firestorm in the Muslim world with his lecture at Regensburg, in which he quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor to the effect that Muhammad had "brought things only evil and inhuman." Regensburg should have brought home the lesson that when the pope does something likely to cause alarm in another religious community, you have to see the train wreck coming in order to avert it. [...]
As noted above, Williamson's views should not be used to discredit every Catholic who feels the tug of classical liturgical forms, or who takes a traditional doctrinal stance. Many of the people drawn to the Society of St. Pius X, or any of the various traditionalist groups already in communion with Rome, are simply Catholics hungry for a clear sense of spiritual identity in a rootless world.
On the other hand, it would be equally misleading to style Williamson as a "lone gunman," an isolated crank with no connection to broader currents of thought in the traditionalist world.
The folly of that view was illustrated on Thursday by Fr. Floriano Abrahamowicz, a well-known priest of the Society of St. Pius X in northeastern Italy, who gave an interview to an Italian paper in which he defended Williamson. Abrahamowicz said he wasn't sure that gas chambers had been used by the Nazis for anything other than "disinfection," seemed to cast doubt on the number of six million Jews killed, complained that the Holocaust has been exalted by Jews at the expense of other acts of genocide, and called the Jews a "people of deicide," referring to the death of Christ.
The fact that Abrahamowicz would voice these sentiments even after Fellay had apologized, and after Fellay insisted that the Society of St. Pius X has no competence to speak on anything other than faith and morals, illustrates how deeply entrenched they are in some quarters of traditionalist Catholicism. [...]
Meanwhile, Fr. Pierpaolo Petrucci, a prior within the Society of St. Pius X, told reporters on Thursday that traditionalists still believe that many aspects of Vatican II "contradict the teaching of previous popes." In particular, Petrucci said the Lefebvrites remain "scandalized" by Pope Benedict XVI's 2006 trip to Turkey, in which the pope paused for a moment of silent prayer in the Blue Mosque alongside the Grand Mufti of Istanbul. Petrucci said that popes before Vatican II had rejected inter-religious relations as a matter of principle, implying that Benedict XVI (like John Paul before him) is some sort of apostate.
In the wake of all this, the leadership of the Society of St. Pius X in Italy has canceled an upcoming national meeting, in order to avoid "further polemics and confusion." Translation: the leadership wasn't sure it could keep a lid on what might be said on the floor of the meeting, or around the edges.
What recent events make clear is that there are two camps in the small universe that rotates around the Society of St. Pius X. The first, represented by Fellay, is composed of traditionalists whose concerns are solely liturgical and doctrinal, and who see the future of their movement as a leaven within the formal structures of the church; the second, represented by Williamson and Abrahamowicz, includes people for whom theological traditionalism bleeds off into far-right politics, xenophobia, and conspiracy theories, and who are far more suspicious of any "deal" with the post-conciliar church.
Catholics are not to enter into commercial, social, nor political relations which are bound hypocritically to seek the ruin of Christendom. Jews must not live together with Christians because this is what their own Jewish laws ordain and also because their errors and material superiority have virulent consequences among other peoples.
He also points to an ADL document: "The Society of St. Pius X: Mired in Anti-Semitism."
Meanwhile, the National Catholic Reporter's John Allen:
I take at face value the assurances of Vatican officials that they were unaware of Williamson's interview, but they hardly needed Swedish television to alert them that something was amiss. In 1989, Williamson narrowly escaped prosecution in Canada for praising the writings of Ernst Zundel, a German-born Canadian immigrant whose works include The Hitler We Loved and Why and Did Six Million Really Die?, both mainstays of Holocaust denial literature. All this was documented in press coverage at the time. In 1991, Williamson published an open letter referring to "the false messianic vocation of Jewish world-dominion, to prepare the Anti-Christ's throne in Jerusalem." In 2000, Williamson went on record asserting that the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" are legitimate. His reputation was so well-known that in 2008, Shimon Samuels, director of international relations at the Simon Weisenthal Center, told the Catholic Herald in England that Williamson is "the Borat of the schismatic Catholic far-right."
Further, it's not as if the Vatican can claim to have been surprised by Jewish reaction. In September 2006, Benedict set off a similar firestorm in the Muslim world with his lecture at Regensburg, in which he quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor to the effect that Muhammad had "brought things only evil and inhuman." Regensburg should have brought home the lesson that when the pope does something likely to cause alarm in another religious community, you have to see the train wreck coming in order to avert it. [...]
As noted above, Williamson's views should not be used to discredit every Catholic who feels the tug of classical liturgical forms, or who takes a traditional doctrinal stance. Many of the people drawn to the Society of St. Pius X, or any of the various traditionalist groups already in communion with Rome, are simply Catholics hungry for a clear sense of spiritual identity in a rootless world.
On the other hand, it would be equally misleading to style Williamson as a "lone gunman," an isolated crank with no connection to broader currents of thought in the traditionalist world.
The folly of that view was illustrated on Thursday by Fr. Floriano Abrahamowicz, a well-known priest of the Society of St. Pius X in northeastern Italy, who gave an interview to an Italian paper in which he defended Williamson. Abrahamowicz said he wasn't sure that gas chambers had been used by the Nazis for anything other than "disinfection," seemed to cast doubt on the number of six million Jews killed, complained that the Holocaust has been exalted by Jews at the expense of other acts of genocide, and called the Jews a "people of deicide," referring to the death of Christ.
The fact that Abrahamowicz would voice these sentiments even after Fellay had apologized, and after Fellay insisted that the Society of St. Pius X has no competence to speak on anything other than faith and morals, illustrates how deeply entrenched they are in some quarters of traditionalist Catholicism. [...]
Meanwhile, Fr. Pierpaolo Petrucci, a prior within the Society of St. Pius X, told reporters on Thursday that traditionalists still believe that many aspects of Vatican II "contradict the teaching of previous popes." In particular, Petrucci said the Lefebvrites remain "scandalized" by Pope Benedict XVI's 2006 trip to Turkey, in which the pope paused for a moment of silent prayer in the Blue Mosque alongside the Grand Mufti of Istanbul. Petrucci said that popes before Vatican II had rejected inter-religious relations as a matter of principle, implying that Benedict XVI (like John Paul before him) is some sort of apostate.
In the wake of all this, the leadership of the Society of St. Pius X in Italy has canceled an upcoming national meeting, in order to avoid "further polemics and confusion." Translation: the leadership wasn't sure it could keep a lid on what might be said on the floor of the meeting, or around the edges.
What recent events make clear is that there are two camps in the small universe that rotates around the Society of St. Pius X. The first, represented by Fellay, is composed of traditionalists whose concerns are solely liturgical and doctrinal, and who see the future of their movement as a leaven within the formal structures of the church; the second, represented by Williamson and Abrahamowicz, includes people for whom theological traditionalism bleeds off into far-right politics, xenophobia, and conspiracy theories, and who are far more suspicious of any "deal" with the post-conciliar church.
No surprise
Bishop Williamson is now a hero on American Aryan websites.
More articulate, brave people like this man must step forward and say what he is saying. And notice how this poor soul has to defend himself against charges of "antisemitism" just for wanting to discuss some facts and some alternative ways of looking at history. People like Richard Williamson poke holes in the story, and expose the lies. [...]
I think it is better as is---Holocaust DENIERS are invariably portrayed as loons. The prelate cites a well known source, suggests authority to Christians by his position, and overall states his case carefully, exactingly. He DENIES with all credibility, and empowers others. The hoax is currently taken as fact by virtually all Kwans. In short, his statements and persona validate deniers issuances.
Meanwhile, French holocaust deniers have launched a petition to support their brother.
Going by this disgusting webpage, the SSPX (who were on their way to being reinstated in the Catholic Church) has just found a new flock. They even celebrate Floriano Abahamowicz, who was expelled hours ago from the Italian branch of SSPX.
More articulate, brave people like this man must step forward and say what he is saying. And notice how this poor soul has to defend himself against charges of "antisemitism" just for wanting to discuss some facts and some alternative ways of looking at history. People like Richard Williamson poke holes in the story, and expose the lies. [...]
I think it is better as is---Holocaust DENIERS are invariably portrayed as loons. The prelate cites a well known source, suggests authority to Christians by his position, and overall states his case carefully, exactingly. He DENIES with all credibility, and empowers others. The hoax is currently taken as fact by virtually all Kwans. In short, his statements and persona validate deniers issuances.
Meanwhile, French holocaust deniers have launched a petition to support their brother.
Going by this disgusting webpage, the SSPX (who were on their way to being reinstated in the Catholic Church) has just found a new flock. They even celebrate Floriano Abahamowicz, who was expelled hours ago from the Italian branch of SSPX.
From a 2005 article
Sent by reader C. Who ever thought they would see a quote like this after the papacy of John XXIII and his heroic actions during World War II:
In Israel, Simon Wiesenthal Center director Ephraim Zuroff said, "Membership in the Hitler Youth doesn't disqualify someone from being pope," and said Benedict XVI should be judged by his record since the war.
Some might want to go there anyway.
No communion for the Vice President of the United States of America. But a pope who once belonged to Hitler Youth is happy to give it to a Holocaust denying bishop.
Mindboggling.
In Israel, Simon Wiesenthal Center director Ephraim Zuroff said, "Membership in the Hitler Youth doesn't disqualify someone from being pope," and said Benedict XVI should be judged by his record since the war.
Some might want to go there anyway.
No communion for the Vice President of the United States of America. But a pope who once belonged to Hitler Youth is happy to give it to a Holocaust denying bishop.
Mindboggling.
Most entertaining of all
German theologians say there's only one solution:
The Catholic theologian Hans Küng says that a renewed excommunication might be an appropriate lever. "That would be a clear position," he told the German television channel N24. But Williamson cannot be excommunicated solely for his position on the Holocaust, explains Monica Herghelegiu, a professor for Catholic Church jurisprudence at the University of Tübingen. "The denial of historical fact does not provide legal grounds for excommunication," she says. According to the Code of Canon Law, the ecclesiastical law of the Catholic Church, infractions such as abortion, a violation of the Seal of Confession -- the absolute confidentiality of all things said in confession -- or any violation of the unity of the church may be punished. [...]
Legally, the Vatican handled the case correctly and protected itself, Catholic law expert Herghelegiu told SPIEGEL ONLINE -- although, she added, the results are a "political catastrophe." Pope Benedict XVI is an "81-year-old, brilliant dogmatist from deep Bavaria" who is locked into his way of thinking, according to Herghelegiu.
The expert saw only one possibility for excommunicating the four members of the Society of St. Pius X anew: The fact that the group refuses to acknowledge the Second Vatican Council in which the church expresses support for freedom of religion.
The Vatican's call for Williamson to revoke his statements is weak: "Recognition of the Society of Pius X depends upon the group's recognition of the Second Vatican Council." But there is no discussion of excommunication -- despite the fact that challenging Vatican II is heresy according to the Code of Canon Law, says expert Herghelegiu. "This would be a new case."
This is where the congregation of bishops comes into play. In order to reverse their suspension to act as bishops, Williamson and his cohorts must appear before the central Roman authorities. The congregation can set conditions -- "and one of them must be recognition of Vatican II," says Herghelegiu. "If the four men fail to do so, they must be excommunicated a second time."
Challenging Vatican II is heresy. Someone should have told the last two popes.
The Catholic theologian Hans Küng says that a renewed excommunication might be an appropriate lever. "That would be a clear position," he told the German television channel N24. But Williamson cannot be excommunicated solely for his position on the Holocaust, explains Monica Herghelegiu, a professor for Catholic Church jurisprudence at the University of Tübingen. "The denial of historical fact does not provide legal grounds for excommunication," she says. According to the Code of Canon Law, the ecclesiastical law of the Catholic Church, infractions such as abortion, a violation of the Seal of Confession -- the absolute confidentiality of all things said in confession -- or any violation of the unity of the church may be punished. [...]
Legally, the Vatican handled the case correctly and protected itself, Catholic law expert Herghelegiu told SPIEGEL ONLINE -- although, she added, the results are a "political catastrophe." Pope Benedict XVI is an "81-year-old, brilliant dogmatist from deep Bavaria" who is locked into his way of thinking, according to Herghelegiu.
The expert saw only one possibility for excommunicating the four members of the Society of St. Pius X anew: The fact that the group refuses to acknowledge the Second Vatican Council in which the church expresses support for freedom of religion.
The Vatican's call for Williamson to revoke his statements is weak: "Recognition of the Society of Pius X depends upon the group's recognition of the Second Vatican Council." But there is no discussion of excommunication -- despite the fact that challenging Vatican II is heresy according to the Code of Canon Law, says expert Herghelegiu. "This would be a new case."
This is where the congregation of bishops comes into play. In order to reverse their suspension to act as bishops, Williamson and his cohorts must appear before the central Roman authorities. The congregation can set conditions -- "and one of them must be recognition of Vatican II," says Herghelegiu. "If the four men fail to do so, they must be excommunicated a second time."
Challenging Vatican II is heresy. Someone should have told the last two popes.
And the genie is out of the bottle
In Germany, the Catholic Church is most definitely a political issue:
German Green Party leader Claudia Roth is one of them. She told SPIEGEL ONLINE on Thursday that it has to be made crystal clear "that Williamson, who has repeatedly denied the Holocaust, and the anti-democratic, reactionary SSPX cannot be part of the Catholic Church." The Central Council of Jews in Germany have also demanded that the Vatican turn its back on the SSPX.
The affair promises to continue. Holocaust denial is forbidden by law in Germany and on Jan. 23, public prosecutors in Bavaria opened an investigation into Williamson for incitement. Should he be found guilty, he could face a fine or even a jail term.
German Green Party leader Claudia Roth is one of them. She told SPIEGEL ONLINE on Thursday that it has to be made crystal clear "that Williamson, who has repeatedly denied the Holocaust, and the anti-democratic, reactionary SSPX cannot be part of the Catholic Church." The Central Council of Jews in Germany have also demanded that the Vatican turn its back on the SSPX.
The affair promises to continue. Holocaust denial is forbidden by law in Germany and on Jan. 23, public prosecutors in Bavaria opened an investigation into Williamson for incitement. Should he be found guilty, he could face a fine or even a jail term.
Do you think it's just Williamson?
Meet Father Franz Schmidberger, one of SSPX' less controversial members over at German HQ:
He went on German radio on Thursday to censure German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her critical comments about the pope's handling of the scandal and about the need to clearly condemn Holocaust denial. "She doesn't understand, after all, she's not Catholic," he said. Then he turned his attention to the Prophet Muhammad. He had "sexual contact with an eight or nine year old girl," Schmidberger said according to a statement released in advance of the interview's broadcast. "In today's terminology, we would certainly call that child molestation. But I don't want to belabor the point, I haven't specifically studied the issue."
His position on the Prophet's biography is one that is highly controversial -- and one that certainly isn't new. One year ago, a right-wing populist politician in Austria got in trouble for giving voice to the same viewpoint. And it certainly isn't the kind of stance that will further dialogue among religions. That, though, is clearly not a concern of Schmidberger's. Indeed, he also made his feelings about Judaism clear. "Christ explicitly sent his apostles into the world to convert all peoples, including the Jews, to him," he says.
In the interview, Schmidberger distanced himself from Williamson's statements regarding the Holocaust, but he did say that Holocaust deniers could certainly remain part of the Catholic Church. "As long as he remains faithful to the Catholic dogmata, of course," he said. And what about the pope's decision to lift the excommunications of the four SSPX brothers? "It was absolutely necessary, because faith has become extremely diluted and we are living in a neo-heathenish society."
Still, as much as SSPX members like Schmidberger talk about submitting to papal authority, it has become clear just how little they do so. On Thursday, this disobedience once again became clear. The Cologne daily Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger reported that Bernhard Fellay, the Swiss bishop who is also the superior general of the Society of Saint Pius X, inducted so-called "minor orders" -- as the lower ranks of Catholic clergy are called -- last Sunday.
Fellay is another of the four bishops whose excommunications were recently lifted. However, the quartet remains suspended as bishops -- which means they are still prohibited by the Vatican from performing liturgical rites or administering the Sacraments.
It is, church jurist Peter Krämer told the newspaper, "an act of deliberate disobedience of the pope."
He went on German radio on Thursday to censure German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her critical comments about the pope's handling of the scandal and about the need to clearly condemn Holocaust denial. "She doesn't understand, after all, she's not Catholic," he said. Then he turned his attention to the Prophet Muhammad. He had "sexual contact with an eight or nine year old girl," Schmidberger said according to a statement released in advance of the interview's broadcast. "In today's terminology, we would certainly call that child molestation. But I don't want to belabor the point, I haven't specifically studied the issue."
His position on the Prophet's biography is one that is highly controversial -- and one that certainly isn't new. One year ago, a right-wing populist politician in Austria got in trouble for giving voice to the same viewpoint. And it certainly isn't the kind of stance that will further dialogue among religions. That, though, is clearly not a concern of Schmidberger's. Indeed, he also made his feelings about Judaism clear. "Christ explicitly sent his apostles into the world to convert all peoples, including the Jews, to him," he says.
In the interview, Schmidberger distanced himself from Williamson's statements regarding the Holocaust, but he did say that Holocaust deniers could certainly remain part of the Catholic Church. "As long as he remains faithful to the Catholic dogmata, of course," he said. And what about the pope's decision to lift the excommunications of the four SSPX brothers? "It was absolutely necessary, because faith has become extremely diluted and we are living in a neo-heathenish society."
Still, as much as SSPX members like Schmidberger talk about submitting to papal authority, it has become clear just how little they do so. On Thursday, this disobedience once again became clear. The Cologne daily Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger reported that Bernhard Fellay, the Swiss bishop who is also the superior general of the Society of Saint Pius X, inducted so-called "minor orders" -- as the lower ranks of Catholic clergy are called -- last Sunday.
Fellay is another of the four bishops whose excommunications were recently lifted. However, the quartet remains suspended as bishops -- which means they are still prohibited by the Vatican from performing liturgical rites or administering the Sacraments.
It is, church jurist Peter Krämer told the newspaper, "an act of deliberate disobedience of the pope."
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