Tom Faranda's Folly

Just love it when media has "fun" with black children adopted into white families

UPDATE: She apologized - here - and here is her twitter feed.

I can't express how beneath comtempt these people are. I hope my two boys run into Melissa Harris-Perry sometime on the street.

 

Bloomberg spent $650 mil. of his own money while mayor; well saved the taxpayers...

Not all of it on mayoral things, but lots was.

Mr. Bloomberg’s all-expense-paid mayoralty was, depending on the vantage point, exhilarating (for his aides), infuriating (for his rivals) cost-saving (for his constituents) or selfless (for the beneficiaries of his largess).

But for anyone who interacted with the billionaire, his gilded approach to governing was a breathtaking thing to behold. Guy V. Molinari, the former Staten Island borough president, recalled the time Mr. Bloomberg invited him to see the new commuter ferries that would bear Mr. Molinari’s name.

Mr. Molinari had assumed that the invitation would mean visiting the boats in the humble waters of Staten Island. Mr. Bloomberg had a grander plan: He whisked Mr. Molinari to Wisconsin on his pristine private plane to view the factory where the ships were being built.

“It’s a beautiful plane,” Mr. Molinari said, “and I remember asking him, ‘What does it cost, a plane like this?’ ”

The mayor’s reply: $28 million.

“I thought to myself,” Mr. Molinari said, “how many people could just take $28 million out of your bank account to buy a plane?”

In the eyes of Chris McNickle, a historian who has written about the city’s mayors, Mr. Bloomberg’s financial might made him the most potent mayor since the birth of modern New York City in late 1800s.

Because he was largely liberated from the demands of campaign donors, interest groups or political parties, “his power was both intensified and expanded,” Mr. McNickle said.

This year: Top 10 ways Congress wasted our $$$

Amazing and depressing. I especially "liked" #3, the $1 million rock sculpture at our London Embassy (they have a picture).

 

Neat WSJ video - "Shot Put: How Hard Can it Be?"

I stumbled across this video - the Journal put it up on their website back during the 2012 Olympics. A former World Champion tries to teach a Journal reporter.

Tim, being in high school, uses the 12 lb. shot, and his PR is 40'5" (You can see it here, at the Big Chill Relays - an indoor meet, but held outdoors, 3 weeks ago). Right now he's in the heart of his indoor season.

 

WSJ: Why is the Administration pulling back it's diplomatic post from the Vatican?

A good op ed from a couple of days ago by two former Ambassador's (one Democrat, one Republican) to the Vatican.

The Vatican has strong, quiet diplomacy throughout the world. Why pull back?

A Mystifying U.S. Diplomatic Pullback From the Vatican Much will be lost by shutting the Embassy to the Holy See and moving its operations to America's outpost in Rome.

The Holy See—the embodiment in international law of the pope's mission as universal pastor of the Catholic Church—was a diplomatic actor centuries before the U.S. was founded, or before modern Italy was born. The Holy See plays a unique and often crucial role in world affairs, from John Paul II's pivotal role in the collapse of European communism, to the important achievements of the Holy See in standing up for human dignity and human rights, and the Vatican's "honest broker" role in international conflicts and in disasters requiring significant and rapid humanitarian aid.

The Holy See also plays a distinctive role as a diplomatic hub where more than 175 countries are accredited, and where virtually the entire world is in constant conversation at a level of confidentiality and seriousness that is impossible anywhere else—most certainly including the United Nations.

The U.S. acknowledged all of this by establishing full diplomatic relations with the Holy See. A move to the U.S. Embassy to Italy would downgrade that relationship, as if the U.S.-Holy See relationship were a stepchild of U.S.-Italian relations. That is simply not true, for the range of issues on which America is engaged with the Holy See is broader, and in some respects more consequential, than the dialogue with our good ally, Italy.

To downgrade the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See is to ignore the ability of popes to put issues on the agenda of international conversation as no other leaders can. Moving Embassy-Vatican inside Embassy-Italy will not change that fact. But it will signal a lack of U.S. governmental respect for such papal influence, and it will not go unnoticed by other countries.

The responsibility of the American diplomatic corps is to advance the country's interests by building international support for actions we believe can create a more stable world for Americans and others. The bedrock of U.S. foreign policy is to promote peace and freedom and to enhance human dignity. As former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once noted, "America's ultimate challenge is to transform its power into moral consensus, promoting its values, not by imposition but by willing acceptance."

Where will America find a more important diplomatic partner today than the Holy See in trying to further its goals of peace and freedom, including religious freedom? It is ironic that just as Pope Francis's influence was reflected by his selection as Time magazine's "Person of the Year," the U.S. seems intent on diminishing its relationship with a person to whom the world is now listening so closely.

 

Fr. Robert Barron's call to the priesthood - 2 and 1/2 minute video

As he says, I think this is probably an unusual way to discern a vocation. I think most priests find there vocation through dealings with other people.

Harvard healthcare poll of Dems, age 18-29

Raise the voting age to 30?

 

Except for NPR, liberal talk radio is kaput as stations dump them

Can't even make it in NY or San Fran.

Liberal Commercial Talk Radio Disappears in NY, LA, SF in 2014 Only NPR is left.

In New York, WWRL 1600 AM will flip to Spanish-language music and talk, throwing Ed Schultz, Thom Hartmann, Randi Rhodes, and Alan Colmes off the air. In Los Angeles, KTLK 1150 will be dumping Stephanie Miller, Rhodes, Bill Press and David Cruz off the air in favor of Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. In San Francisco, KNEW 960 will leave Miller, Hartmann, and Mike Malloy without a radio home in the market.

Replaced by Beck, Rush, and Hannity - what a laugh!

...KTLK was ranked #41 in the market in November 2013, with WWRL registering almost no pulse at all. KNEW registered just an 0.4 in the San Francisco market in December 2013, placing it #31 in the market.

The failure of commercial leftist talk means that only government-sponsored NPR remains in many major markets.

Doomsday Prep/Bugging Out comes to Wall Street

This guy owns a financial firm and is a Forbes magazine contributor. At the least this will get Marotta and his Firm lots of free publicity.

Amusing, but it won't work in the event of a total fiscal collapse. Where are you going to hide? in the mountains? What happens when you child develops appendicitis?

Marotta said that many clients fear an end-of-the-world scenario. He doesn’t agree with that outcome, but does with much of what has people worried.

“I, along with many other economists, agree with many of the concerns expressed in these dire warnings. The growing debt and deficit spending is a tax on those holding dollars. The devaluation in the U.S. dollar risks the dollar's status as the reserve currency of the world. Obamacare was the worst legislation in the past 75 years. Socialism is on the rise and the NSA really is abrogating vast portions of the Constitution. I don't disagree with their concerns,” he wrote.

In his latest note, he said that Americans should have a survival kit to take in case of a financial or natural disaster. It should be filled with items that will help them stay alive for the first 72-hours of a crisis, including firearms.

 

WSJ book review challenges: "Either the New Testament Gospels are true or they are collections of precious fables. There is no third option."

in the Wall Street Journal, an interesting review/essay. the op ed author suggests he doesn't require a literal interpretation of the four Gospels, but he certainly leans that way. I disagree with that interrpetation. 

The Quest for the Historical Jesus, an attempt to interpret the canonical Gospel texts without reference to supernatural explanations, began with German scholarship in the 18th century, gradually took hold of universities and divinity schools elsewhere in Europe and America during the 19th century, and exploded in popularity during the latter half of the 20th century. Hundreds, probably thousands, of books purporting to explain the identity and intentions of Jesus of Nazareth have been published since the "quest" began in the 1770s; and yet, despite scholars' confident pronouncements about how Jesus went from political revolutionary or peaceable philosopher to Eternal Son of God, the Gospels' claims about him are neither more nor less plausible than they were before.

Skeptical or "critical" New Testament scholarship begins with the assumption that the Gospels' claims about Jesus' miracles and divinity must be false. The denial of the supernatural isn't a conclusion but a prior commitment. Fair enough, but it's not obvious how these accounts came about if they were fictions. Their authors certainly didn't believe they were fictions: Again and again they offer precise details, almost as if to encourage their original readers to verify the stories. In Mark 10, for example, Jesus didn't simply restore sight to a blind man. He restored the sight of " Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, " and it happened in Jericho.

The point here isn't that the Gospels must be true. It is that the Gospels offer no easy way to explain away their content. They therefore demand one of two choices. Either they relay things that Jesus actually said and did, in which case he really is who the New Testament claims he is, or they are haphazard collections of deliberately fabricated stories about a man who may have said some extraordinary things in first-century Judea but who has no more claim on your attention than Socrates.

As far as the book he is reviewing:

But the real trouble with Mr. Parini's stance isn't so much its incoherence as its banality. It's the same with all attempts to make religion palatable to the learned. Rather than accepting its authority or ditching it altogether, the urge is to weaken its demands and make its doctrines vague or optional. The result is usually an agreeable but boring philosophy that anyone can adopt and no one would die for. "The Way of Jesus . . . ," Mr. Parini writes, "involves self-denial, a sense of losing oneself in order to find oneself, moving through the inevitable pain of life with good cheer, accepting gracefully the burdens that fall on our shoulders and the tasks that lie before us. This is true discipleship."

If that's all Jesus came here to tell us, it's hard to see what all the fuss was about.

Well, I certainly agree with that.

Two American heroes

Both died this month - this is from the NY Times.

Rodolfo Hernandez, 82, Dies; Awarded Medal of Honor

In Korea, 1951 -

Corporal Hernandez had already been struck by grenade fragments and was bleeding heavily from a head wound when his commanding officer ordered his platoon to fall back. He continued firing until his rifle malfunctioned, then threw six grenades and charged at the opposing foxholes.

******

He managed to kill six attackers before falling unconscious from grenade, bullet and bayonet wounds. His action allowed his unit to retake the hill.

Corporal Hernandez was so badly wounded that his comrades initially took him for dead. They were placing him in a body bag when someone noticed movement in his hands, said his wife, Denzil. His injuries were so extensive that he had to relearn how to walk, how to speak and how to write with his left hand (his right arm was permanently damaged).

A Vietnam pilot and POW -

Edwin A. Shuman III, Former Prisoner of War Who Defied Hanoi Hilton Guards, Dies at 82

A few days later, Lt. Cmdr. Edwin A. Shuman III, a downed Navy pilot, orchestrated the resistance, knowing he would be the first to face the consequences: a beating in a torture cell.

“Ned stepped forward and said, ‘Are we really committed to having church Sunday? I want to know person by person,’ ” a fellow prisoner, Leo K. Thorsness, recounted in a memoir. “He went around the cell pointing to each of us individually,” Mr. Thorsness continued. “When the 42nd man said yes, it was unanimous. At that instant, Ned knew he would end up in the torture cells.”

Queen Elizabeth's Christmas speech

A faith-filled message from the Queen - the first vid is the excerpted short version - which I watched and the second is the full nine minute speech - which I haven't watched - which I also watched and is well worth watching. Pretty good for 87 years old.

Brigid loves this stuff!

Note if you will the nasty comments, especially on the short version. Some people just haven't a clue.

Here's the full speech.

Christmas at Croton Landing - Brrr!

Went for a 47 minute walk - yup it was cold ( 19 degrees + the wind chill factor) and the wind was a-coming down from the north, right down the Hudson. Pictures were taken between 11:30 and exactly noon, with my phone. Very few people on the outward leg of my walk - only four - but over a dozen coming back. The blurred person in the last picture, wearing a blue jacket is my friend Alicia, who often walks at Croton Landing.

I took six pictures & Brigid just said "Hey, your pictures are starting to look like mine, I guess you're learning something."

Looking southwest -

Hard to zoom with a phone for a quick snap (at least for me) so some blur -

Santa did bring the family a new camera (a Panasonic; we like the current one we have) so will soon give it a try.

 

Pope Francis first Christmas message - Openness to God

Francis delivered a short homily that was as simple as his white vestments: Man can choose between darkness and light.

"... On the part of the people there are times of both light and darkness, fidelity and infidelity, obedience, and rebellion; times of being a pilgrim people and times of being a people adrift," he said, speaking in Italian.

"In our personal history too, there are both bright and dark moments, lights and shadows. If we love God and our brothers and sisters, we walk in the light; but if our heart is closed, if we are dominated by pride, deceit, self-seeking, then darkness falls within us and around us," he said.

******

"Do not be afraid! Our Father is patient, he loves us, he gives us Jesus to guide us on the way which leads to the promised land. Jesus is the light who brightens the darkness. He is our peace," he said.

The Vatican Christmas Eve Mass - right here!

The English translatino version.

 

Pope Francis approval rating (88%) is heavenly

A CNN/ORC International poll released Tuesday found that 88% of American Catholics approve of how Francis is handling his role as head of the 1.2 billion-member church. The popular pontiff has also made a positive impression among Americans in general: Nearly three in four view Francis favorably. The new survey suggests that the Pope is arguably the most well-regarded religious figure among the American public today, said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

Stan Brooks

Ahhh, I loved to listen to this guy on 1010 WINS the first all news radio station in New York. Really a fine radio journalist with a lovely, easy listening voice and he rarely let his personal feeling intrude on telling the story. He covered lots of NY City stories since the mid 60's, especially the mayors.

I was driving home from Long Island around 6 yesterday evening when the news came out as I was listening to 1010 that he had died earlier in the day. The announcer - a woman - was quite choked up about it. As other reporters talked about him, you could tell they all held him in high esteem.

I'd never seen him, had no idea what he looked like, but he was very comfortable to listen to. I suppose this is a funny thing to post about, but he was a New York institution.

This from the 1010 WINS website, about him.

How do you tell the story of the story teller? How do you provide perspective on the man who pioneered the most successful and recognized all-news brand in radio history? How do you compose a symphony that plays the notes of a 60-year love affair between a husband and wife? How do you let go and say goodbye?

 

 

 

Some Christmas art

These are all from some of my past Christmas postings.

 

A Botticelli, Lifted from Michelle Malkin's weblog. Merry Christmas!

Is "Meet the Press" on the chopping block?

"The longest running television show in American Broadcasting history", so they say. I used to very occasionally watch it when Tim Russert was the "presenter." Never now. I don't watch any of the Sunday AM news shows. 

The shows are obsolete.

Anyway, this article isa real knee-slapper.

Turness has been trying to figure out the future for David Gregory’s “Meet the Press,” with options including bringing in MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” team of Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski for a Sunday show, or blowing up the entire franchise and trying something completely different, sources familiar with the situation said.

Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski??? OMG!!

As Advent ends, a brief meditation from Fr. Rutler

I have posted stuff from Fr. George Rutler (Pastor of the Church of St. Michael on 34th St. in NYC) before.

I liked this and have hijacked it directly from his weekly email.

Like all feasts and fasts of the year, the days of Advent appear year after year and will do so until the end of time. Obviously then, this is a cyclical fact, but these days are not cyclical in the ancient philosophical sense of meaningless repetition, or the ambiguous kind of time loop fantasized in the 1993 film Groundhog Day. The days of Advent are more like the wheels on a vehicle that go round and round in order to reach a goal. That is the reason we speak of “the end of time.” Advent is about the ending of all created things, beginning with light itself, of which time itself is the measure.
 
It is obvious that darkness is the absence of light, as death is the absence of life, but human attempts to explain these contrasts get complicated because of our limited intelligence. Complications indicate that we have yet to understand the whole economy of the universe. What is called the Universal Theory of the Universe, or the Theory of Everything, or a variant of String Theory, is the Holy Grail of physics: the explanation of how all matter is coordinated and behaves. The physicist John Wheeler, of Johns Hopkins and Princeton, said some years ago that he did not know if such a formula could be found but he expected that, if it were discovered, the most surprising thing about it would be its simplicity.
 
Such a theory, though, would explain only the “what” and “how” of things, but not the why. God alone can explain why matter matters and why the end of time as a physical proposition is also the end of time as a moral fact. Each year Advent wheels us closer to a perception of this moral reality by its four mysteries of Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. Our instinct of that inclines us to speak of what is heavenly and what is hellish.
 
In celebrating the enfleshment of the Word that uttered all things into being, the Church rejoices that this Word, Christ, wants heaven for us. It was Christ, and no imaginative philosopher, who told us that Hell is real, as eternal separation from him, but is the destiny only of those who misuse their free will to “love darkness rather than light” (cf. John 3:19). In this darkest time of the year, the Light of Christ shines brightest, and so we can pray with confidence that there be cast into Hell “Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.”

 

Lockerbie disaster 25 years ago; a flight Brigid missed by one week

Yesterday was the 25th anniversary of the terror bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, a flight Brigid had taken a week earlier.

Last night I was out on a Midnight Run and Brigid caught the BBC documentary "Living With Lockerbie" (I cannot find it online forthe USA yet) on the BBC cable channel available here. Sobering. I'd forgotten that quite a few students from Syracuse University were on the flight.

Here is a short (3 minute) video from the UK on yesterday's ceremonies.

Lockerbie disaster 25 years on: tributes paid to victims

 

 

Fr. Barron on the Pope as Time's Person of the Year

I meant to post this a few days ago.

Another excellent commentary, well worth investing the 11 minutes.

 

NY mayor-elect de Blasio says liberalism will sweep the country

From a conference a week ago.

Well. We will see...

Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio went down to Washington, D.C. today to meet with President Barack Obama, emerging emboldened that a “progressive movement” was sweeping the nation.

“I think it was, to begin with, inspiring to hear our president, his concern for what we’re facing … He was quick to make clear how much he wanted to help us as we go through our transitions and help our cities as the leading edge of our national economy,” he said, surrounded by his fellow mayor-elects. “We talked a lot about the crisis of inequality. A lot of us ran in our elections on a message of addressing the inequality and it was extraordinarily gratifying to hear the passion with which the president and the vice president spoke about this challenge that our country faces and their desire to be active partners with us addressing income inequality and so many other challenges we face.”

Text message conversation with Tim yesterday afternoon

Tim - 465 on squats

Me - Wow!

        One rep?

Yeah then failed at 485 but I was tired

Why jump 20? Why not ten?

Next time I will.

Or even 5

I would have gotten 475 I know that

Good stuff. Who was spotting?

Tyler and this guy Richie

Good

Now convert all this thigh power into big throws and big hits.

Reviewing - he was tired after squatting 465. Yeah, I guess.

And glad he had two spotters (would have been one at each end of the bar). Don't want any accidents with that much weight.

A powerful quote from President Obama!?

What he coulda shoulda said at his press conference yesterday:

"Stubbornness is never a good grounding for policy. Today I am ordering the federal government to delay implementation of ObamaCare for one year. I mean to work with Republicans on Capitol Hill to turn around what doesn't work. I am not giving up and not giving in; we are, however, recognizing and accepting reality. The American people should not be asked to pay the price in anxiety for mistakes that have been made along the way. I am frankly asking for constructive cooperation from my Republican friends. It would be a most unkind party that wouldn't pitch in at a moment like this."

That's what Peggy Noonan says he should have said.

And here's another comment from her column yesterday -

The sentence of the year is very famous. "If you like your health-care plan, you can keep it," which President Obama promised from the beginning of his health bill straight through to the time before its unveiling. It was a lie and has been called lie of the year.

******

The president's statement was simple, clear, understood—meaning it was memorable. Pretty much anyone hearing the promise replayed today would know right away who said it and what it referred to. For all his much vaunted excellence as a speaker, Mr. Obama has never had a famous phrase that encapsulated his leadership—no "evil empire" or "Ask not," or "We have nothing to fear."

Now he does. And it encapsulates more than he would have wished.

 

 

CNN: Great 2 minute vid, Tim Conway/Carol Burnett on comedy

Ha! Love Burnett's comment: "... written by teenage boys in a locker room." Couldn't be more right.

 

Here's a classic of real humor with Conway and Harvey Korman - three minutes from a nine minute skit as Dentist Conway treats his very first patient. Korman can't keep from cracking up ...

 

High finance and bathrooms! Don't go together ...

This was sent to me by Brigid's niece June, from Australia, who has sent me other stuff and who I've posted about before. Here's one from January, 2011.

Funny, and painful to read. Takes about five minutes - maybe good bathroom reading?

The Most Embarrassing Private Jet Flight Of All Time

There's just one problem. In your rush to get out of the hotel, down to breakfast and onto the plane you forgot to do one very crucial thing. Go to the bathroom. And I'm not talking about peeing. You have a stomach full of dinner, desert, drinks, eggs, waffles and coffee churning around your lower intestine at 30,000 feet. But that's not the worst part. True horror sets in when you realize you're not on a spacious 20 person G5 with couches, beds, lay-z boys and a fully tucked away private bathroom. No, on this day you are traveling on a six-person puddle jumper sitting shoulder to shoulder with your clients and co-workers. But wait, somehow the story gets even worse…

 

Poll: Religiousity in the U.S. continues to drop

Some strange numbers in this poll. I wonder how seriously the people being polled (was it by phone?) take these questions when they're asked.

It is a short article, if you hit the link.

And it shows that 42% of Americans believe in ghosts (especially younger people), 36% each believe in creationism and UFOs, 29% believe in astrology, 26% believe in witches and 24% believe in reincarnation – that they were once another person.

-- 19 percent of Americans describe themselves are "very" religious, with an additional four in ten (40%) describing themselves as "somewhat" religious (down from 49% in 2007). Nearly one-fourth of Americans (23%) identify themselves as "not at all" religious – a figure that has nearly doubled since 2007, when it was at 12%.
- See more at: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/poll-americans-belief-god-miracles-and-heaven-strong-declining#sthash.yDAJRg19.dmK70KVu.dpuf

Barbara Walters on the failed Messiah, Obama.

I guess she left him off her annual list of ten most fascinating people - I didn't make it either - and Piers Morgan wants to know what the story is. Took her five years to figure this out?

 

Bordeaux wine: one minute video

Off the Wall Street Journal website. I am trying to decide if posting this makes me a wine snob?

 

Economically speaking, is parenthood a net benefit or negative?

A positive of course. Here's an article on the subject, which is actually a commentary on some research (there's a link, but you have to be a "member")recently done by economists.

Population Research institute is a pro-life think tank.

Population Research Institute: The Numbers Don’t Lie: Babies are Blessings for Everyone

The researchers calculated that childless individuals added $328,000 to the common good over their lifetime, whereas a parent adds a whopping $545,000. So society receives $217,000 in benefits when an individual decides to become a parent.

Note that the study focused on “the transition to parenthood, that is, the costs and benefits of leaving childlessness and becoming a parent.”  It did not go on to consider the benefits to society of a second, third, or higher order child, which would presumably be substantial.

Anticipating criticism from the environmentalists, the authors even tried to calculate the “environmental costs” of childbearing.  At PRI, we are generally suspicious of “greenhouse costs per person,” since we believe the net impact of global warming—if it occurs—is not man-made.  Still, they concluded that childbearing remains a net positive to society even after deducting such “costs.”

Although we at PRI are very excited by this study, we do not suggest that parenthood ought to be forced on those who are unwilling or unready to be parents.  People have a natural right to determine for themselves the number and spacing of their children.

There's more if you hit the link.

The story of Pedro Calungsod, new teenage Catholic Saint

Came across this fellow in the Magnificat prayer book. Killed in 1672, his story was lost for centuries.

From wikipedia which has a longer, pretty good entry -

Pedro Calungsod

Determined to kill the missionaries, Mata'pang went away and tried to enlist another villager, named Hirao, who was not a Christian. Hirao initially refused, mindful of the missionaries' kindness towards the natives, but when Mata'pang branded him a coward, he became piqued and capitulated. Meanwhile, during that brief absence of Mata'pang from his hut, San Vitores and Calungsod baptised the baby girl, with the consent of her Christian mother.

When Mata'pang learnt of his daughter's baptism, he became even more furious. He violently hurled spears first at Pedro, who was able to dodge the spears. Witnesses claim that Calungsod could have escaped the attack, but did not want to leave San Vitores alone. Those who knew Calungsod personally meanwhile believed that he could have defeated the aggressors with weapons; San Vitores however banned his companions to carry arms. Calungsod was hit in the chest by a spear and he fell to the ground, then Hirao immediately charged towards him and finished him off with machete blow to the head. San Vitores absolved Calungsod before he too was killed.

Mata'pang took San Vitores' crucifix and pounded it with a stone whilst blaspheming God. Both assassins then denuded the corpses of Calungsod and San Vitores, tied large stones to their feet, brought them out to sea on their proas and threw them into the water.^[12]

The Catholic Church considers Calungsod's martyrdom as committed In Odium Fidei ('In Hatred of the Faith'), referring to the religious persecution endured by the person in evangelisation.^[13][14]

Beatification

Banner by Filipino artist Rafael del Casal depicting Calungsod during beatification rites in Vatican City, 2000.

A month after the martyrdom of San Vitores and Calungsod, a process for beatification was initiated but only for San Vitores. Political and religious turmoil, however, delayed and halted the process. When Hagåtña was preparing for its 20th anniversary as a diocese in 1981, the 1673 beatification cause of Padre Diego Luís de San Vitores was rediscovered in old manuscripts and revived until San Vitores was finally beatified on 6 October 1985. This gave recognition to Calungsod, paving the way for his own beatification.^[15]

No one actually knows what Pedro looked like. Here's the canonization miracle -

On 19 December 2011, the Holy See officially approved the miracle qualifying Calungsod for sainthood by the Roman Catholic Church.^[18] The recognised miracle dates from 26 March 2003, when a woman from Leyte who was pronounced clinically dead by accredited physicians two hours after a heart attack was revived when an attending physician invoked Calungsod's intercession.^[19][20][21]

Another happy headline: "Pew: Liberal support for Obama at all-time low, worse than George W. Bush and conservatives"

Pew: Liberal support for Obama at all-time low, worse than George W. Bush and conservatives

Just 54 percent of liberal Democrats strongly approve of Obama in their new poll. For Bush at this stage of his presidency, 65 percent of conservatives strongly supported the Republican.

Worse for Obama: Younger liberals have lost their thrill for Obama more than older liberals. Of those aged 18-49, just 46 percent strongly approve of the president, 39 percent “not so strongly,” said Pew.

Some 65 percent of older liberals approve of Obama “very strongly,” compared to 20 percent who chose “not so strongly.”

CNN re: Howard Camping - "Doomsday Guru Meets his Doom"

Camping is the fellow who made all those predictions a couple of years ago. He was a trained engineer and gave it up in the 1950's to start Family Radio, a very fundamentalist radio program with quite a following.

I first heard of him in the late 90's - I heard him while driving back from coaching rugby in New Jersey and listened occasionally. He had a bizarre (to me) view of the bible, and disliked anyone who disagreed - was very anti-Catholic.

The video is only two minutes & indicates that he "repented", so good for that.

 

Never get too much of this headline, "Obama Numbers Hit New Low"

UPDATE: Obama's Current Approval Rating Is The Ugliest Since Nixon .

From the Washington Post -

Obama suffers most from year of turmoil, poll finds

The president’s overall approval rating stands at 43 percent, while disapproval is at 55 percent. ...

Obama ends his fifth year in office with lower approval ratings than almost all other recent two-term presidents. At this point in 2005, for example, former president George W. Bush was at 47 percent positive, 52 percent negative. All other post-World War II presidents were at or above 50 percent at this point in their second terms, except Richard M. Nixon, whose fifth year ended in 1973 with an approval rating of 29 percent because of the Watergate scandal that later brought impeachment and his resignation.

 

Happiness: men and women, liberals and conservatives compared

One of the bits of data from the NY Times weekend feature  A Formula for Happiness which I posted about here. Good feature on happiness: genes, events, and values

Results no surprise to me.

Beneath these averages are some demographic differences. For many years, researchers found that women were happier than men, although recent studies contend that the gap has narrowed or may even have been reversed. Political junkies might be interested to learn that conservative women are particularly blissful: about 40 percent say they are very happy. That makes them slightly happier than conservative men and significantly happier than liberal women. The unhappiest of all are liberal men; only about a fifth consider themselves very happy.

 

NY Times article: "Skip the Supplements", plus CBS report

As in vitamins, antioxidants, sports supplements ...

Here's the NYT article - Skip the Supplements

And the CBS feature -

Multivitamin researchers say "case is closed" after studies find no health benefits

“We believe that the case is closed -- supplementing the diet of well-nourished adults with (most) mineral or vitamin supplements has no clear benefit and might even be harmful,” concluded the authors of the editorial summarizing the new research papers, published Dec. 16 in the Annals of Internal Medicine. “These vitamins should not be used for chronic disease prevention. Enough is enough.”

I don't know about this - I think there's a fair body of evidence, for instance tha Vitamin D supplementation can be beneficial (I take it on recommendation of my physician) or as another example that creatine can help people exercising to build strength and muscles (Tim uses it).

Interesting stat on income inequality

"... The 50 richest members of America's Congress are worth $1.6 billion in all. In China, the wealthiest 50 delegates to the National People's Congress, the rubber-stamp parliament, control $94.7 billion."

From Jim Geraghy's "Morning Jolt" email - Here's the whole section:

A gentle reminder for the next time some fan of Tom Friedman tells you that China is the better place to do business: "Many Americans grumble about the wealth of their politicians, but they are paupers compared with their Chinese counterparts. The 50 richest members of America's Congress are worth $1.6 billion in all. In China, the wealthiest 50 delegates to the National People's Congress, the rubber-stamp parliament, control $94.7 billion."

 

Christmas apology letter, one spouse to another

From my friend R C-G.

APOLOGY LETTER TO SPOUSE -

 

Hi Sweetheart,

I am sorry about getting into an argument about putting up the Christmas lights.  I guess that sometimes I feel like you are pushing me too hard when you want something.  I realize that I was wrong and I am apologizing for being such a hard-headed guy.  All I want is for you to be happy and be able to enjoy the holiday season.  Nothing brightens the Christmas spirit like Christmas lights!  I took the time to hang the lights for you today; and now I will be off to the hockey rink.

Again, I am very sorry for the way I acted yesterday.  I'll be home later.

Love you.. 

Her response -   Hi Honey,    Thank you for that heart-felt apology.  I don't often get an apology from you, and I truly appreciate it.  I, too, felt bad about the argument and wanted to apologize.  I realize that I can sometimes be a little pushy.  I will try to respect your feelings from now on.  Thank you for taking the time to hang the Christmas lights for me.  It really means a lot.  In the spirit of giving, I washed your truck for you; and now I am off to the mall.  I love you too!

Good feature on happiness: genes, events, and values

In the NY Times by Arthur Brooks, who usually has op eds in the Wall Street Journal.

A Formula for Happiness

To review: About half of happiness is genetically determined. Up to an additional 40 percent comes from the things that have occurred in our recent past — but that won’t last very long.

That leaves just about 12 percent. That might not sound like much, but the good news is that we can bring that 12 percent under our control. It turns out that choosing to pursue four basic values of faith, family, community and work is the surest path to happiness, given that a certain percentage is genetic and not under our control in any way.

The first three are fairly uncontroversial. Empirical evidence that faith, family and friendships increase happiness and meaning is hardly shocking. Few dying patients regret overinvesting in rich family lives, community ties and spiritual journeys.

Work, though, seems less intuitive.

There's plenty more if you hit the link.

WSJ outlines the full catastrophe for people covered (!?) under Obamacare

Is the government taxpayer going to reimburse the insurance companies for the government's folly? What a shameful mess. The sort of absurdity you'd expect in a Third World country run by a dictator.

Hit the link - 11 paragraphs long.

As it has realized that the government-created chaos is exposing patients to nasty and even deadly surprises, the government is now forcing the insurance industry to cover everyone retroactively and also to waive the contractual terms of that coverage—or else.

Late Thursday, the Health and Human Services Department suddenly released a new regulation that explains "there have been unforeseen barriers to enrollment on the exchanges." The passive voice is necessary because the barriers are all the result of politically driven delays, the botched website and the exchanges that transmit false information about enrollment to insurers.

******

The White House seems to understand that hundreds of thousands of patients may soon discover that they face gaps in coverage through no fault of their own, but because their old plan was canceled and the exchanges malfunctioned. Some will have life-threatening illnesses, or be diagnosed as such, and require certain advanced or continuous treatments that they will not be able to obtain. ObamaCare will be blamed and rightly so, which is why the White House wants to transfer political accountability to the insurers.

******

Patients forced into Obamacaid may not realize today that their access to care has been severely limited. The exchanges are supposed to publish searchable online provider directories so patients can call up their physicians, but those functions are still down or not built. Enrollees may only learn that their providers don't belong to their new plans only after they are billed for the full freight as if they were uninsured. Old networks were tiered with different costs for different doctors; now it's often the narrow network or nothing.

These disruptions extend to medication and restricted lists of covered drugs. At risk are people using expensive specialty medicines for rare conditions or who require several medicines whose doses must be controlled over time. The new HHS rule commands insurers to refill any prescription, no questions asked.

How these new mandates are supposed to be financed is anyone's guess. Obamacaid plans aren't priced to provide the same quality as normal private insurance, but with two weeks to go insurers must now provide coverage as if they are. Supposedly the new regulation lasts only for January, but this is an ad hoc "interim final rule" that takes effect immediately without public comment and HHS says it may be extended or changed.

 

Friday was anniversary: 5 years since Al Gore predicted an ice free North Pole in five years.

Friday was also the day it snowed in Cairo for the first time in 100 years.

Here's the info:

FIVE YEARS AGO TODAY— Al Gore predicted the North Polar Ice Cap would be completely ice free in five years. Gore made the prediction to a German audience in 2008. He told them that “the entire North ‘polarized’ cap will disappear in 5 years.”

Devastating critique of Reza Aslans book "Messiah"

By the Passionist order priest and scholar Donald Senior. It is in the lastest edition of the Jesuit magazine America.

I heard Aslan interviewed a few months ago by Don Imus, who read and loved the book. But I won't be reading it; nor will I be reading Bill O"Reilly's book Killing Jesus. I just prefer real scholarship (calling the late Fr. Raymond Brown!).

The entire review is 17 paragraphs.

Messiah Complex

... sad to say, the end result could easily be assigned to fiction. Here is a summary of Aslan’s basic thesis. The portrayal of Jesus in the four Gospels and the writings of Paul completely mask the true historical Jesus, a Galilean peasant consumed with zeal for God’s kingdom who advocated the overthrow of the ruling powers (this included the high priests in Jerusalem as well as their Roman overlords) and who saw himself as the God-appointed king of this new realm.

******

How did such a distortion happen? Aslan’s explanation of the process is mind-boggling, to say the least. The first step was that the earliest followers of Jesus were ignorant, illiterate peasants who made the mistake of erroneously applying Old Testament Scriptures to Jesus, beginning the process of idealizing him. Then came the need to get along with Roman authorities, particularly on the part of Greek-speaking Jewish Christians spread throughout the Roman Empire. The revolutionary intentions of the real Jesus had to be muted and his mission made spiritual and harmless.

******

How is one to assess an effort like this? The attempt to drive a wedge between the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith is not a new enterprise, but Aslan’s proposal is particularly stark and radically reductionist. Most scholars who hold this thesis have nuanced their argumentation, noting an evolutionary process in which the resurrection faith of the early community gradually idealized its portrayal of Jesus.

Aslan rolls through any nuances without hesitation: the writings of Paul and the Evangelists are simply contrived. Little is mentioned about the preaching, teaching and worship of the early community as an important conduit for the early church’s traditions about Jesus. And their motives, it should be noted, are base: Aslan repeatedly characterizes the early church’s portrayal as a “flat-out fabrication,” as a “desperate” attempt, as “convoluted,” as a “concoction” (referring to Mark’s passion narrative), as an effort for which “factual accuracy was irrelevant.” The accumulation of such descriptors gives the impression that the early church’s distortion of the real Jesus was something akin to a modern Washington cover-up rather than a serious and sincere theological and religious process rooted in the community’s historical memory of Jesus and his mission.

Similarly, the author’s characterization of Judaism is also disturbing. Aslan rightly contends that the Jewish Scriptures and traditions would have influenced Jesus of Nazareth, but the God he has in mind—one who legitimates Jesus’ revolutionary mission—is summarized as follows: The God of the Hebrew Scriptures is “the same God whom the Bible calls, ‘a man of war’ (Ex 15:3), the God who repeatedly commands the wholesale slaughter of every foreign man, woman and child who occupies the Land of the Jews, the ‘blood-spattered God’ of Abraham and Moses, and Jacob and Joshua (Is 63:3), the God who ‘shatters the heads of his enemies,‘ bids his warriors to bathe their feet in their blood and leave their corpses to be eaten by dogs (Ps 68:21–23). That is the only God Jesus knew and the sole God he worshipped.” To say that this vengeful God is the “only” image of God Jesus could draw from his Jewish heritage is an irresponsible distortion.

In fact, Aslan’s whole book has an exaggerated and tendentious tone. In an age when there were a number of messianic claimants, Aslan describes Judea as “teeming” with them; in an age when healers were recognized, Aslan claims there were “untold numbers” of them, “as well established” as the profession of a “woodworker or mason”—and better paid. There are also strange, out-of-focus and inaccurate observations about the topography of the land in Jesus’ day. Jerusalem is situated “between the twin peaks of Mount Scopus and the Mount of Olives” (these mountains share one ridge and are to the east of Jerusalem); Sepphoris is a “day’s walk” from Nazareth (it is only five miles away, a little over an hour’s walk); Nazareth is built on a “gently sloping hill” (in fact it is situated on very steep bluffs facing the Jezreel valley); the lands near the Sea of Galilee were nurtured by “cool salt breezes” (remarkable for a fresh-water lake).

The whole review is worth reading; hit the link above.

Part 2 of The Hobbit trilogy will have a lady elf.

The original book the Hobbit had no women featured in it. But the writersThe Desolation of Smaug
added Tauriel.

I never heard of this actress, but then again, I'm not exactly cutting edge on this stuff.

 

UK investigation: Quality control in British medical practices not so good

Actually real issues in the land of socialized medicine. This from the Guardian, UK.

And some of the stats are quite poor like a 22% failure in hygiene and infection control. I wonder how U.S. practices would compare?

GP surgery inspections reveal practices that put patients at risk Inspections by the Care Quality Commission find third of practices fail at least one of required standards

Evidence of medical records left lying around, vaccines not kept at the right temperature, and dangerously dirty rooms with maggots found at one practice, have all been uncovered during inspections of GP surgeries, an official report reveals on Thursday.

The practice witht he maggots was rated otherwise "good." !

The inspections of 1,000 surgeries across England since April by the Care Quality Commission found "some examples of very poor care", with "very serious failings" found at nine surgeries. Some of the problems were so serious that patients' safety was endangered, with some potentially at risk of dying.

While many people received an excellent service, more than a third of surgeries (34%) failed to meet at least one of the required standards on good practice and protecting patients.

 

 

Who knew? James Bond (the fictional one) is an alcoholic!

Based on the Ian Fleming novels.

Dead at 56 is the prediction of docs.

Yes, Mr. Bond, we expect you to die -- from booze

Pope's message to USA: America is called to be “a land prepared to accept life at every stage, from the mother’s womb to old age.”

In a message sent to the Americas on Dec. 12, a day the Catholic Church celebrates in honor of the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico, Pope Francis, who was named Person of the Year this week by Time magazine, said that America is called to be “a land prepared to accept life at every stage, from the mother’s womb to old age.”

“Mary’s embrace showed what America – North and South – is called to be: a land where different peoples come together; a land prepared to accept human life at every stage, from the mother’s womb to old age; a land which welcomes immigrants, and the poor and the marginalized, in every age. A land of generosity,” said the Pope.

“That is the message of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and it is also my message, the message of the Church," he added.  "I ask all the people of the Americas to open wide their arms, like the Virgin, with love and tenderness.”

- See more at: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/barbara-boland/pope-america-should-be-prepared-accept-human-life-every-stage-mother-s#sthash.VhLdVZBg.7Bys1qN4.dpuf

“Mary’s embrace showed what America – North and South – is called to be: a land where different peoples come together; a land prepared to accept human life at every stage, from the mother’s womb to old age; a land which welcomes immigrants, and the poor and the marginalized, in every age. A land of generosity,” said the Pope.

“That is the message of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and it is also my message, the message of the Church," he added.  "I ask all the people of the Americas to open wide their arms, like the Virgin, with love and tenderness.”

- See more at: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/barbara-boland/pope-america-should-be-prepared-accept-human-life-every-stage-mother-s#sthash.VhLdVZBg.7Bys1qN4.dpuf

“Mary’s embrace showed what America – North and South – is called to be: a land where different peoples come together; a land prepared to accept human life at every stage, from the mother’s womb to old age; a land which welcomes immigrants, and the poor and the marginalized, in every age. A land of generosity,” said the Pope.

“That is the message of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and it is also my message, the message of the Church," he added.  "I ask all the people of the Americas to open wide their arms, like the Virgin, with love and tenderness.”

- See more at: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/barbara-boland/pope-america-should-be-prepared-accept-human-life-every-stage-mother-s#sthash.VhLdVZBg.7Bys1qN4.dpuf

The indispensible (to me) Evernote app - here's an article about it.

I started using evernote (find at Evernote)  in October, last year. I have only scraped the surface of it's uses, but it sure is a  great organizing tool. I use the free version (of course) but am actaully thinking of going premium, which costs about $50 a year.

The NY Times yesterday had a pretty good article which is worth looking at, but contains almost too much information.

You won't go wrong looking at Evernote.

An app that will never forget

Evernote provides a comprehensive single archive of your digital life, giving you one location to store and find practically everything saved on a computer or phone. And the files are automatically backed up on Evernote’s servers. It even makes sharing things with others far easier than emailing attachments around — but it will do that, too.

The only real downside with Evernote is that it has so many features, which can make getting started with the app daunting. But once you understand how to do a few things with it, you can get working and worry about the rest later.

Here’s the big point to understand: Use Evernote as the place you put everything you might need later. You can drag it in, tap it in or forward it in, and then search for it, share it or post it later. When you need to dig it up, you don’t first ask yourself which device it’s on — it’s in Evernote, from whatever device is at hand.

 

 

Washington Post: "Megyn Kelly, Fox News’s brightest star"

A pretty good article on her - quite "fair and balanced"

Megyn Kelly, host of Fox News’s “The Kelly File”: Kelly, who started her career as a lawyer, is now the host of “The Kelly File.” The show debuted just over two months ago and is now second only to O’Reilly in the overall ratings, which means she’s the No. 2 person on cable news’s No. 1 channel.

 

MSNBC's Blabbermouth Schultz being paid off by unions

Amazing!

Unions Paid MSNBC's Schultz $177,000 in 2012, $75,000 in 2013

All you have to do is shill for certain unions on your talk show.

Nice work if you can get it.