This fellow has a Notre Dame name because of how it starts: Ndamukong. [Weak opening, sorry] The Lions’ Suh, that is, the daylight stomper from Detroit.

He nods by calling as witness to his innocence the well-known “man upstairs,” which is to anthropormophize G-d beyond recognition except by Hispanic home-run hitters who look and point up as they round the bases.

But he of whom Ndamukong Suh spoke after going smash-and-stomp on Packers guard Evan Dietrich-Smith has to be NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, says one fellow.

Unfortunately for Suh, the man upstairs in the NFL is Roger Goodell, says another.

But G-d as man upstairs? Not quite how the Psalmist would have us understand Him:

Psalms 45:4 As to Thy majesty — prosper! — ride! Because of truth, and meekness — righteousness, And Thy right hand showeth Thee fearful things. (YLT)

Psalms 47:2 For Jehovah Most High ‘is’ fearful, A great king over all the earth. (YLT)

Psalms 65:5 By fearful things in righteousness Thou answerest us, O God of our salvation, The confidence of all far off ends of earth and sea. (YLT)

Psalms 66:3 Say to God, ‘How fearful ‘are’ Thy works, By the abundance of Thy strength, Thine enemies feign obedience to Thee. (YLT)

Psalms 66:5 Come ye, and see the works of God, Fearful acts toward the sons of men. (YLT)

Psalms 68:35 Fearful, O God, out of Thy sanctuaries, The God of Israel Himself, Giving strength and might to the people. Blessed ‘is’ God! (YLT)

Psalms 76:7 Thou, fearful ‘art’ Thou, And who doth stand before Thee, Since Thou hast been angry! (YLT)

Psalms 76:11 Vow and complete to Jehovah your God, All ye surrounding him. They bring presents to the Fearful One. (YLT)

Psalms 76:12 He doth gather the spirit of leaders, Fearful to the kings of earth! (YLT)

Psalms 89:7 God is very terrible, In the secret counsel of His holy ones, And fearful over all surrounding Him. (YLT)

Psalms 96:4 For great ‘is’ Jehovah, and praised greatly, Fearful He ‘is’ over all gods. (YLT)

Psalms 99:3 They praise Thy name, ‘Great, and fearful, holy ‘it’ is.’ (YLT)

Psalms 106:22 Of wonderful things in the land of Ham, Of fearful things by the sea of Suph. (YLT)

Psalms 111:9 Redemption He hath sent to His people, He hath appointed to the age His covenant, Holy and fearful ‘is’ His name. (YLT)

Psalms 139:14 I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well. (Root in WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS NAS RSV NIV)

Psalms 145:6 And the strength of Thy fearful acts they tell, And Thy greatness I recount. (YLT)

Ndamukong and all ye Hispanic home-run hitters while circling the bases, get ye to your Psalms. For the whole picture.

. . . for sermon time, sometimes: Blessed are the hard of hearing, for they miss most of it.

Song to go with this beatitude:

Turn off your hearing aid, Daddy.
The preacher is off on a tear.
Turn off your hearing aid, Daddy.
The church is afloat in hot air.

Trade knows best:

Trade is in its nature free, finds its own channel and best directeth its own course; and all laws to give it rules and directions, and to limit and circumscribe it, may serve the particular ends of private men, but are seldom advantageous to the public.

Private men: insiders, pols who are connected, etc. etc.

They done Jessica wrong, wrong, wrong but cops had better things to do than arrest them. Drug war trumps all, says Radley Balko.

It’s the spirit of the thing.

Moral hazards most often occur when parties who are largely insulated from risk behave differently from the way they would normally behave if they were fully exposed to the risk. Or put another way, moral hazards generally result in risky behavior stemming from not having enough skin-in-the-game.

Too big to fail in the spirit:

A spiritual bail-out mindset can lead us to forsake obedience and the need for virtuous behavior. If we are not vigilant against the occasions of sin we can carelessly take on too much spiritual risk. Moreover, although Gods ocean of mercy is far greater than our collective scarlet sins that does not mean we can avoid the consequences of sinful behavior, both here and in the hereafter. The truth is that sin offends. It offends Jesus, often others and the very nature of our eternal soul.

And we grow old covered with our faults, as Rev. John A. “Gus” McGrail SJ told young Jesuit Latin students at Milford OH in the early ’50s.

A passel of quotes from T. Jefferson with relevance to the present state of the United States:

“I do verily believe that if the principle were to prevail of a common law being in force in the United States (which principle possesses the general government at once of all the powers of the state governments, and reduces us to a single consolidated government), it would become the most corrupt government on the earth.”

Give this family a look: 14 and counting, seven natural, seven adopted.

Chi Trib’s Steve Chapman finds something else not to like.

Something else? A conservative, he is often, if not usually, dyspeptic about conservative ideas. Or so it seems.

Dunes!

The alleged abuse happened in Colorado when he was assigned to U. of Detroit High School in 2001. The Jesuits turned him in:

Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Ron Hanavan told the Associated Press that Kurtz’s order, the Society of Jesus Chicago-Detroit Province, notified the department in June about the alleged assault, and an arrest warrant was issued on Nov. 18. Police also say this case has no connection with any Colorado church.

Kurtz was booked in the Chicago jail today on $100,000 bond.

They had no choice, of course.

==========

Quite a bit more from CBS Chicago, adding to the AP report:

The province said in a written statement Monday that in 2001, when a report of misconduct first surfaced, it reported the allegation to authorities in Michigan.

The province also has a policy under which it reports abuse allegations to authorities in the place where the conduct is said to have occurred. The province said it has been cooperating with Colorado authorities since April. It wasn’t immediately clear why the report was only made this year.

Kurtz was removed from public ministry soon after the initial allegation was received, the province said. The Jesuits said Kurtz’s activities have been restricted since then. It didn’t say where Kurtz was working at the time of his arrest.

The case has been turned over to prosecutors who will decide whether to charge Kurtz.