JEWEL A. writes: Say goodbye to the minimum wage waitress, and hello to industrialized pizza on steroids. Blessings upon you this Lent. (I won't be missing pizza. I haven't had the stomach for it much, lately)
SHAKESPEARE called death "the undiscovered country from whose bourn / No traveller returns." Ash Wednesday is a day for repentance and contemplation of the unpleasant fact that you, dear reader, and I will someday travel to that country and leave behind mere dust. "Remember, man, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return." (Gen. 3. 19) In observance of this day, here is St. Thomas Aquinas on the reason for death: Now in man's first creation he was divinely endowed with this advantage that, so long as his mind remained subject to God, the lower powers of his soul were subjected to the reason and the body was subjected to the soul. But because by sin man's mind moved away from its subjection to God, it followed that the lower parts of his mind ceased to be wholly subjected to the reason. From this there followed such rebellion of the bodily inclination against the reason, that the body was no longer wholly subject to the soul. Whence followed death and all the bodily defects. For the life and wholeness of body are bound up with this, that the body is wholly subject to the soul, as a thing which can be made perfect is subject to that which makes it perfect. So it comes about that, conversely, there are such things as death, sickness and every other bodily defect, for such misfortunes are bound up with an incomplete subjection of…
WHILE nominally Catholic colleges annually host stagings of the Vagina Monologue, invite homosexual and pro-abortion speakers to campus, treat the Democratic Party as the American Vatican, encourage feminism (both the radical and mainstream versions) and pursue cultural Marxism with such impunity that at least one survey has shown the obvious reality that students are much less likely to be Catholic by the time they graduate from a supposedly Catholic institution than they were when they entered, a small Texas institution trying to swim against the tide and adhere to the faith has come under attack from the Vatican II hierarchy. This is truly a remarkable instance of hostility to Catholicism within the superstructure of the American Church.
The bishop of Fort Worth, Texas, the Most Rev. Michael Olson has stepped in (his letter is posted at Rorate Caeli and has been confirmed by the college) not to clamp down on abuses such as those above but to ban the Latin Mass at Fisher More College, which considers the Mass at the center of its academic mission, as every Catholic college should. The college has been struggling to survive and this action seems intended if not to destroy it altogether to change its entire mission. (more…)
THE excellent speech given by President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda on Feb. 24th on the signing of his anti-homosexuality bill is well worth reading in its entirety for its unequivocal rejection of pressure by the Obama administration. Margaret Galitzin has commentary here. Museveni’s actions would likely arouse much, much more hatred in the West, probably the kind of all-out antipathy and hatred extended to Putin for Russia’s anti-homosexual propaganda bill, if he were a white European.
PATRICK BUCHANAN writes that there is no important U.S. interest in Ukraine that would justify any military action or economic sanctions in response to Russia’s actions:
What is the U.S. vital interest in Crimea? Zero. From Catherine the Great to Khrushchev, the peninsula belonged to Russia. The people of Crimea are 60 percent ethnic Russians.
And should Crimea vote to secede from Ukraine, upon what moral ground would we stand to deny them the right, when we bombed Serbia for 78 days to bring about the secession of Kosovo?
Across Europe, nations have been breaking apart since the end of the Cold War. Out of the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia came 24 nations. Scotland is voting on secession this year. Catalonia may be next. (more…)
MORE evidence that feminism is anti-woman. We’re supposed to believe that interfering with the complex hormonal system of women is progress. It never ceases to amaze how the enlightened promote the use of oral contraceptives while insisting on pesticide-free broccoli.
ATILA SINKE GUIMARÃES, in this older entry at Tradition in Action, contends that the medieval knight succumbed to vanity: This was the means the Revolution used to change the humble and serene medieval man turned toward the glory of God into a proud and superficial peacock absorbed in himself and his own exploits and talents, spending a considerable amount of his time catching up with the latest fashions. This is how the medieval man became the Renaissance man.
“CONSERVATIVE” columnist Ross Douthat writes in The New York Times that those who risk financial ruin if they refuse to approve of same-sex unions should not complain of persecution:
Christians had plenty of opportunities — thousands of years’ worth — to treat gay people with real charity, and far too often chose intolerance. (And still do, in many instances and places.) So being marginalized, being sued, losing tax-exempt status — this will be uncomfortable, but we should keep perspective and remember our sins, and nobody should call it persecution.
Since homosexuality is objectively immoral and harmful, this is similar to saying that people who refuse to be accomplices to embezzlement or burglary should accept government coercion because the Church has always condemned embezzlement and theft. To rephrase his statement:
Christians had plenty of opportunities — thousands of years’ worth — to treat burglars with real charity, and far too often chose intolerance. (And still do, in many instances and places.) So being marginalized, being sued, losing tax-exempt status — this will be uncomfortable, but we should keep perspective and remember our sins, and nobody should call it persecution.
Douthat is a useful idiot for the liars, moral imbeciles and propaganda artists at the Times.
I don’t mean to interfere with your pre-Lenten festivities (which may resemble the Dutch painting by Jan Steen above), but here, as a bit of foreshadowing, are some words of Dom Lorenzo Scupoli from his famous work The Spiritual Combat. First published in 1589 and once a hit bestseller, this is a practical manual on spiritual warfare and the struggle to overcome self. This section is titled Of the Way to Rule the Tongue:
It is very necessary that the tongue be well bridled and regulated because we are all much inclined to let it run on upon those things which are most pleasing to the senses.
Much speaking springs ordinarily from pride. We persuade ourselves that we know a great deal; we take delight in our own conceits, and endeavor by needless repetitions to impress them on the minds of others, that we may exercise a mastery over them, as though they needed instruction from us.
It is not possible to express in few words the many evils which arise from overmuch speaking.
Julie writes: Just wanted to share some pictures of teenage girls from my hometown playing basketball. They're a reminder of how our society encourages this unfeminine behavior. I loved sports as a teenager and was a competitive swimmer, but to me it seemed there were just some sports that were more suitable for males. I actually swam on the boys' high school swim team as a freshman in the 1970s. There was no team exclusively for girls at that time, so it was allowed. Although I had a competitive spirit, I recognized the difference between my abilities and theirs. It was not commonplace for a female to be a bodybuilder in order to compete with men. We had a mutual respect for one another and functioned as teammates. A year later the first girls' swim team was formed.
RYAN D. writes: I stumbled upon this. It's evidence of the Pizza Industrial Complex and its hold on feminism. Keep up the good work. I enjoy your writing very much.
“We must examine and penetrate the full meaning of the faith, for which we are combating … There is no such thing as original sin. Every child is born innocent and is not marked beforehand by the sin of Adam. That impious, barbarous myth is disappearing. In its place, justice and humanity stand forth. Accordingly, two principles are now face to face; the Christian principle and the principle of 1789. There is no possibility of reconciliation between them. Odd and even members will never agree, neither will justice and injustice, so in the same way 1789 and the heritage of original sin will be ever opposed to each other … Education then will be completely different according as it takes as its starting point the old or the new principle.”
—- Nos Fils, Jules Michelet (1798-1874)
THE British judge who sentenced Lewis Gill, the man who killed a mentally disabled pedestrian with one blow, has been reportedly besieged with complaints about the leniency of the four-year sentence. Meanwhile, The Daily Mail reports, the mother of the convicted man said the crime was "not a big deal." ‘This story will be the lining of chips tomorrow. I just don’t understand what all the fuss is about.’
HENRY McCULLOCH writes:
I am more than usually disappointed by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer’s veto of the “religious liberty” bill. I had believed that Brewer was a woman of principle who would not be buffaloed. Not so, I guess.
In this episode, the disgraceful threatening of Arizona by corporations (“American” Airlines, AT&T, Marriott, Delta, Verizon, Apple, Intel) is another low in American social-political life. It is also further evidence that the cultural-revolutionary elite that is the enemy of civilization extends far beyond the targets conservatives usually criticize — government, academia, media, entertainment — into things most people still instinctively think of as conservative: business, the military, organized religion. Those of us who follow the immigration wars know that, but most people still don’t. We should publicize, as best we can, the role of big businesses in this cultural subversion. Another good example is the Coca-Cola Company’s Super Bowl ad, with the U.S. national anthem ostentatiously sung in a myriad of languages other than English by a host of people who are visibly not American. These are all insults to actual Americans, but we seem to have had the ability to take justified offense bred out of us.
TED D. writes:
After Obama won re-election, Sam Donaldson stated: “It’s their country now.” Increasingly, it seems white Americans are in agreement, and are withdrawing from civic institutions and public spaces. This article about falling volunteer levels mirrors what I have observed among friends, family and co-workers; a sense of alienation from their less fortunate countrymen (whom they identify as Obama voters), and a subsequent lack of empathy. For example, my father used to give generously to Toys-For-Tots. This year, in his own words, he decided to “let Obama buy their kids Christmas gifts.” I have also curtailed my charitable giving for similar reasons; I get the sense that the people I would be helping most likely hate me, so why bother. The comments that follow the above article match these sentiments. (more…)
BUCK writes:
The black racialist Spike Lee went on a obscenity-laced rant (see here and here) on Tuesday about gentrification in New York City. The tirade took place during an African-American History Month event and Lee was speaking to an obviously all black audience, after being asked a reasonable question by a man in the audience about gentrification in some of the well-known historic New York City neighborhoods. A paraphrase of his question is: “Why is it a bad thing that a long-time homeowner who lived in a $40,000 home can now sell that home for $3.5 to $4 million?”
Many points can be made about the intellectual dishonesty revealed by Spike Lee’s contradictions and hypocrisies, especially as juxtaposed against Daniel Attila’s story. But the speech, which I have transcribed below, speaks for itself.
Spike Lee begins by saying: “Let me just kill you right now,” to laughter.
IN 1997, Daniel Attila described his experience working for four years as a conductor for the New York City subway system. The piece, published at American Renaissance, was titled, "Hell on Wheels." Attila began with this: I was born in Hungary, from which I escaped in 1982 at age 18. I settled in New York in 1984 with the intention of becoming an artist, but after nearly a decade of struggle I realized I might never make it. In 1993 I enrolled in the City University of New York, while I supported myself for four years as a conductor on New York City subway trains. There can be only a few jobs that so quickly introduce an immigrant to the realities of multi-racialism. Beneath the streets of New York I have seen and done things that very few whites will—I hope—ever see or do.
FOUR outstanding entries on objections to sedevacantism -- which is the position that the Vatican II Church is not the Catholic Church -- and on the failures of Catholic "traditionalism" can be found at Novus Ordo Watch here, here, here and here. These are lucid and brilliant arguments with quite devastating conclusions for those who recognize the Pope's heresies and yet still see him as the Pope. At bottom, it all boils down to this: Is truth relative or not? In other words, does truth exist?