There's some fight in us, yet

Frontpage details a new article in La Civiltà Cattolica, a "semi official Jesuit magazine" out of the Vatican, that talks about the threat Islam has always posed to our civilization and the myths of Muslim tolerance.


The Religion of Peace

Well, duhhh. The good news is that someone in the kinder-and-gentler Vatican knows the scoop. If we all continue to sit on our hands, our grandchildren will be dhimmis, or sell-out and become heathens themselves. Just wait until Islam brings female circumcision to North America.

Pope John Paul II has made many wonderful contributions with his writings. And, I'm impressed by his clamping down of the Latin American liberation theologists, and his taking the lead in the fall of European/Russian communism. But why the snuggling up to Islam? It has killed, enslaved, raped, and conquered our co-religionists for more than a millenium, and still does today. I hope the next pope will take his name and inspiration from Julius II, who led Papal troops to battle.

Cross your fingers for Julius IV!

Where's Mary Poppins when you need her?

I think I need a nanny. I am only barely able to take care of myself. For most grown men, the wife fills this role, and most are only too happy to do it.

Unlike my wife though, my potential nanny needs to be able to follow me everywhere and stop me from making stupid decisions. She needs to be there when I'm about to drink too much downtown, or say something stupid on a sales appointment.



Most importantly, though, she needs to reason with me on my wavelength. When my wife tells me (God love her) that I need to brush my teeth "because they're gross," I'm not too motivated. The perfect nanny would at first gently remind me of the consequences of not brushing my teeth. And instead of telling me to put down the Sam Adams "because you're too silly," she would give me a stern look and refresh my memory about how every two beers equal one night-time trip to the bathroom.

So, my nanny needs to:
1: Love me like my wife.
2: Talk to me like an educated friend.
3: Be able to follow me everywhere.
4: Work for free.

Applications are being accepted at this web site's e-mail address.

Life is too important to be taken seriously

That's a quote from G.B. Shaw, and probably the only thing we agree on. Even then, the quote has a saccharine flavor I don't enjoy. As far as it goes though, it's accurate.

Wonder is largely missing from life, and despite cubicles and not having to kill our own food, the world is still a fearful place. Perhaps a better world is "awful," in its traditional sense, that is, "full of awe." The easiest approach to awe is to simply contemplate youself in the grand scheme. It's juvenile exercise, and I hope you've done it by now, but it's instructive. Although your mass takes up little space, the universe was created by God, for us, and even the smallest actions you take have massive consequences in the future, which none of us will never know about. What if Charlemagne's father had never had that tryst? What if his great-grandfather never had children? What if Karol Woytila never became a priest? What if Shakespeare was too lazy to write, or if his parents had never taught him? And conversely, the obvious smallness of your being warrants amazement.

Digging deeper, let's consider some cosmology. The standard, and somewhat accurate, protrayal of creation is that of the physical universe on a lower plane than that of the spiritual. That has some truth in metaphor, but I think a closer analogy would place the earth above Heaven, in that the spiritual reality is the truest, and our material world is much closer to phantasm. Both exist only by the whim of God, and through His continuing providence. You could, for no apparent reason, just cease to be at His thought. But you don't. These are the passing things and the world to come is much more concrete.

That said, there should be some amazement at existence. Your finitude is (mathematically, as well philosophically) the source of infinite wonder.

Now look at uniformitarianism, which says that physical processes are the same as they have always been. While some truth is here, the literal interpretation is one of the legs upon which humanistic science stands. You want to talk about faith? Uniformitarianism is completely unprovable, and yet accepted by virtually everyone as part of the modern scientific method. That's faith. Prove to me that "The Things Which Came Before" acted in the same way as our universe does now.

I say that not to induce subjectivism, but to show that all "first things" are faith, and deserve awe. Goedel had this figured out in a secular sense. So, try to find some wonder in your life.

What did we do to deserve this?

So, now Bush is hosting Ramadan dinners. When is Laura going to start running around in a headscarf?


Future First Lady fashion?

Our ancestors fought and died for hundreds of years to keep this oppressive idolatry out of the West. Now we welcome it in. Hopefully, I won't be alive when the two-party system becomes a choice between the Republicrats and the US Islamic Party.

Set your sun dials accordingly

Daylight savings time has to go, for two very simple reasons.



1: The human animal works on rhythms! You can't just go and mess with the time that everyone has to get up and go to bed! Luckily, I can sleep as late as I want. But, when I used to work a more regular job, my body was thrown off for the better part of a fortnight.

2: The government has no right to be fiddling with something as elemental as time. I liken it to legislating high tide. Noon should be when the sun is at its highest point. If you want more daylight, get your lazy behind up an hour early and get it yourself!

I'm starting to get a complex

First, I wanted to pay for premium Blogger service, and they had it out "for maintenance" for months before finally abolishing it. Now, I want to pay for premium Blogspot service, and it's under repair. What kind of business runs away from my money like that?

Reading can be a waste of time, after all

A new Borders was opened today down the street from my abode. Perusing the shelves, I decided to buy a book about Hannibal (of Carthage, not Lechter).



I only get the time and opportunity to read one solid book per month. That is not a rate that would qualify me for any awards. Now, considering that the average human may eek out 80 years on Earth, I posit that there is much reading of little value or that is completely worthless.

In such a short span of time, why would you subject yourself to nonsense? There are two issues to consider here:
1: You are wasting your time reading falsehood.
2: Said falsehood, if you are of weak intellect, may corrupt you.

In my case, Beat writers were the piffle I used to enjoy. Some writings from this literary fad have value, but none is to be found in "Naked Lunch," or any poetry by Kerouac. It did modestly distort my view of the world vis a vis personal freedom, and I was wasting time that could have been better spent on something of value.

If you are a better person than I am, and read a half dozen books a month, I would allow you the leisure to indulge in the occasional stupidity. Especially if you are a writer; we need authors to respond to the foolishness to be had out there. Firstly, if you read that much, the majority of your intake should be fortifying and your taste is likely advanced, secondly, you probably are savvy enough to know claptrap when you see it.

What would be some examples of such tommyrot? Well, since you asked:
1:Any nonfiction with a subjectivist or modernist viewpoint.
2:Free verse.
3:Most literary criticism.
4:"Character study" fiction.
5:Anything with a hyphen. Afro-, Gyno-, Phallo- ... whatever.

I am now going to go read something satisfying.