Whoo boy, he’s the Hollywood Candidate!
(HT: Jim Kirk @ Early & Often)
Category: Blithe Spirit
In whom do we trust?
Try this on for size, from James Bovard:
“To blindly trust government is to automatically vest it with excessive power. . . .
I disapprove of splitting the infinitive, but let that pass and read the rest here.
Faint praise — it’s a killer
American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us by Robert D. Putnam and David E. Campbell is a landmark book, says Martin Marty, who praises it suspiciously.
It is fat, full of good stories, and crammed with data: the authors seem never to have found an opinion poll they didn’t like, and readers will be well served by the array of graphs which can be put to work in ways that relate to their interests, prejudice, and hopes.
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Term limits, anyone?
Here we go, with an oldie but goodie:
“I cannot accept, your canon that
we are to judge pope and king unlike other men, with a favorable presumption that they do no wrong. If there is any presumption, it is the other way against holders of power …
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
He did labor long and hard to head off the infallibility resolution at Vatican Council I, managing to get away with his opposition without being excommunicated.
To this end, he had convinced his local bishop, who was also his former teacher, that his position was sound as to essentials. In addition, as an intimate of the prime minister, Gladstone, Acton was too good a card for the Vatican to throw away.
The historian Gertrude Himmelfarb has that fascinating story here.
Deeply deceptive?
A persuasive argument here for disbelieving Woodward in what he claimed to have heard from Deep Throat.
How it bounces is what counts
This pic is from today’s Dems of Oak Park e-blast for its Get out OUR Vote! campaign:
But didn’t the West Wing character do that all the time? Play with a rubber ball? A little fantasizing here? Actually, downsizing the prez, since the West Wing fellow was a mere aide. But showing O. as the shirtsleeved easy-goer, cool fella, our kind of guy. I think that’s the idea, but I’m not sure.
Grim statistics
SNAP has studied the matter:
—256 of the Chicago archdiocese’s roughly 400 parishes have, at one time, had an accused pedophile priest working there,
– 30 parishes had two or more alleged predator priests assigned to them at one time, and
– a disproportionate percentage of parishes in lower income neighborhoods had accused priests working at hem.
The leaders:
Two parishes have had five accused priests [each] (St. Leonard in Berwyn and St. Aloysius in Chicago). Six have had four accused priests [each] (Holy Innocents in Chicago, St. Christina in Chicago, St. Eulalia in Maywood, St. John Vianney in Northlake, St. Thomas of Villanova in Palatine, and Resurrection Life Center in Chicago).
Maybe a new group? Priests who Stood by Unknowing or Uncertain (PSUU)? In silence, that is. Many of them feeling not so good at this point, I bet.
A little bit of Oxford in River Forest
Latest from the Church Reporter:
(POSTED: 10/11/10) The amazing thing about the Rev. Timothy Radcliffe at Dominican U.-River Forest on Sept. 30 was that he was completely interesting and engaging. He was scripture prof at U. of Oxford, where he studied, there and in Paris. He’s past provincial for English Dominicans and past master (general) for the Dominicans worldwide. He gives retreats around the world, writes books on spirituality, etc. Who knew that he’d make a terrific talk-show host?His talk was all about love, and a trifle airy at times, but this was a Caritas et Veritas lecture (Love & Truth), and anyhow he salted it with apt citations and anecdotes. It was easy listening.
As to questions, which do tend to be idiosyncratic and overly complicated, he demonstrated much aplomb.
. . . .
More more more at Chicago Catholic News.
Book thrown, Obama missed
Aimed at the Teleprompter, we presume.
Noodling how to grow (verb intransitive)
The people I know who listen regularly to NPR are almost all degreed. It appeals to them partly for the very aspect that this study says is limiting its audience:
A new study for NPR identifies a much bigger potential news audience that would listen to public radio if the field works to break down perceptions that its programs are elitist and stuffy.
Producers would have to make shows that are more lively and conversational and promoters would have to take greater care when describing public radio as “intelligent” and “serious,” according to the Los Angeles-based firm SmithGeiger.
So. Maybe more like Rush Limbaugh?
