Whispers in the Loggia: Kikopalooza: For the Neocats, a Papal Party (via Rorate Caeli)
Are there any bishops who are afraid to take action against a group because they fear offending the Holy Spirit? But if someone in authority truly believes that his action is just, after doing a sufficient investigation and has prayed for the gifts of the Holy Spirit, should he not take action, confident that he has done his duty and that no one, not even a bishop, can frustrate the Holy Spirit? I wonder what the vote in Japan's bishops conference was regarding the Neocatechumenal Way. Did the Pope annul their decision because there were nay votes? If the vote had been unanimous, would the Pope have overriden their vote?
Saturday, January 15, 2011
What is a greater threat to a community's well-being, a sizable number of families with single mothers or one with a sizable number of non-assimilated immigrants? Perhaps the former, as it is not only a cause of social problems but an effect of other problems. (Liberals are accustomed to seeing neither as a problem.)
Patrick Madrid: The National Catholic Register's “About Us” section is about to change
Something from Life after RC not on the Legionaries, but the Neo Catechumenal Way in Japan: (See the UCA News article.)
Something from Life after RC not on the Legionaries, but the Neo Catechumenal Way in Japan: (See the UCA News article.)
The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in England and Wales
Holy See press statement about the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in England and Wales Damian Thompson: The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham
Fr. Z
Zenit: Bishops' Statement on New Ordinariate
"It Is Important … that Our Welcome Is Warm and Our Support Is Strong" [
Fr. Z
Zenit: Bishops' Statement on New Ordinariate
"It Is Important … that Our Welcome Is Warm and Our Support Is Strong" [
Oxytocin fosters ethnic bonding as well?
Bede, in Are we hardwired to be ethnocentric?, comments on the NYT article on the research behind this paper: "Oxytocin promotes human ethnocentrism.”
Natural affection can be supplemented by something more abstract, but engineering a political community in which natural effection is completely replaced by an abstract, natural benevolence may be impossible.
Natural affection can be supplemented by something more abstract, but engineering a political community in which natural effection is completely replaced by an abstract, natural benevolence may be impossible.
Go Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Go!
Sandro Magister, A New Syllabus for the 21st Century
That is, a document condemning mistaken interpretations of Vatican Council II. It's been requested by a bishop of Kazakhstan, at a conference in Rome with other bishops and cardinals. Also prompting reactions is the announcement by Benedict XVI of a new interreligious meeting in Assisi
(via the Western Confucian)
That is, a document condemning mistaken interpretations of Vatican Council II. It's been requested by a bishop of Kazakhstan, at a conference in Rome with other bishops and cardinals. Also prompting reactions is the announcement by Benedict XVI of a new interreligious meeting in Assisi
(via the Western Confucian)
Who's hating whom?
A reader at VFR echoes my thoughts on an emerging tribalism and takes it even further: Predlude to civil war?
Meanwhile, Lawrence Auster looks at the ethnic politics of Paul Krugman and attributes to liberals a hatred of conservatives:
In 2008, Krugman showed that liberals hate conservatives
Another bad cop
Henninger: liberals think conservatives are evil and mad
Comments on Liberal Hategate
Hume on liberals’ view of conservatives
Humans whose souls have been replaced by politics
I don't like Mark Levin, but Jeb Bush deserves to be criticized:
The Mark Levin Show: Why Jeb Bush Should Never Be President
Jeb Bush, along with some other "leading" Republians, believes the party should do what it is necessary to get the Hispanic vote. (Laura Ingraham also criticizes Jeb Bush and Republican immigration policy.)
This just supports the claim that the leadership (and most of the mainstream "conservatives" who want to be the leaders of the party) don't really care about white America or its interests--the preservation of Anglo-American culture and the moral character of the Anglo-American people. Isn't that what they should seek to conserve? I note that Levin and Ingraham offer no solution either, as while they might balk at balkanization, they can only endorse the proposition nation as a part of their outreach to "everyone." They claim the Constitution as their own, but they pay no attention to the Anglo-American customs and mores that are as important.
Meanwhile, Lawrence Auster looks at the ethnic politics of Paul Krugman and attributes to liberals a hatred of conservatives:
In 2008, Krugman showed that liberals hate conservatives
Another bad cop
Henninger: liberals think conservatives are evil and mad
Comments on Liberal Hategate
Hume on liberals’ view of conservatives
Humans whose souls have been replaced by politics
I don't like Mark Levin, but Jeb Bush deserves to be criticized:
The Mark Levin Show: Why Jeb Bush Should Never Be President
Jeb Bush, along with some other "leading" Republians, believes the party should do what it is necessary to get the Hispanic vote. (Laura Ingraham also criticizes Jeb Bush and Republican immigration policy.)
This just supports the claim that the leadership (and most of the mainstream "conservatives" who want to be the leaders of the party) don't really care about white America or its interests--the preservation of Anglo-American culture and the moral character of the Anglo-American people. Isn't that what they should seek to conserve? I note that Levin and Ingraham offer no solution either, as while they might balk at balkanization, they can only endorse the proposition nation as a part of their outreach to "everyone." They claim the Constitution as their own, but they pay no attention to the Anglo-American customs and mores that are as important.
Friday, January 14, 2011
What to make of it?
Zenit: Decree for John Paul II's Beatification
"The Faithful Have Felt, Have Experienced That He Is 'God's Man'"
Benedict XVI to Beatify John Paul II
Discussion at Rorate Caeli.
"The Faithful Have Felt, Have Experienced That He Is 'God's Man'"
Benedict XVI to Beatify John Paul II
Discussion at Rorate Caeli.
California Dems are at it again.
New Bill Would Ban Open Carry In California
It's very difficult to get a CCW license in California, and now they want to ban open carry? How is one supposed to defend one's self with a gun if one is not carrying it at all? Apparently the California Police Chiefs Association supports the bill--how many of the members support it? Those who do support it should lose their jobs.
Examiner
It's very difficult to get a CCW license in California, and now they want to ban open carry? How is one supposed to defend one's self with a gun if one is not carrying it at all? Apparently the California Police Chiefs Association supports the bill--how many of the members support it? Those who do support it should lose their jobs.
Examiner
Out with one Laura, in with another
On the local radio station, at least -- Dr. Laura has been replaced by Laura Ingraham. Nothing outstanding on "conservative" radio here in the Bay Area, unless someone decides to put on an unusual guest, like Gerald Celente.
Dr. Laura hasn't ended her show -- she's just moved it to Sirius XM.
Dr. Laura hasn't ended her show -- she's just moved it to Sirius XM.
Peasall Sisters, "Where No One Stands Alone"
True Grit 2010 Western Peasall Sisters Where No One Stands Alone Movie Trailer [HD]
Plus:
Thursday, January 13, 2011
National Catholic Singles Conference
The NCSC is coming to San Antonio on February 25 and will last until Feb. 27. I know someone in Texas who should check it out.
(via Mark Shea)
(via Mark Shea)
Odd, the same person has appeared in my dreams 3 or 4 times this week. That's a bit obsessive.
Edit. 4:15 PM Weird. That person called me this afternoon. This happened once before, last year. I had a dream about this person, and then she called me an hour or so later to see if I could sub for her.
It's funny, both times she didn't say my name, but introduced herself by her first name... and I ended up calling her Miss. ----- both times. Habits die hard. I wonder what her reaction was. I don't think I'd call her by her first name ever.
Edit. 4:15 PM Weird. That person called me this afternoon. This happened once before, last year. I had a dream about this person, and then she called me an hour or so later to see if I could sub for her.
It's funny, both times she didn't say my name, but introduced herself by her first name... and I ended up calling her Miss. ----- both times. Habits die hard. I wonder what her reaction was. I don't think I'd call her by her first name ever.
Items of Interest, 13 January 2011
VFR: VFR’s prediction about Abercrombie and birth certificate was correct
Paul Gottfried, Leo Strauss’s Left-Wing Nationalism
GG BOOKS: Science Fiction
Bill McKibben, Rewriting the “Tragedy of the Commons”
What cooperation and sharing have to do with saving the world.
Paul Gottfried, Leo Strauss’s Left-Wing Nationalism
GG BOOKS: Science Fiction
Bill McKibben, Rewriting the “Tragedy of the Commons”
What cooperation and sharing have to do with saving the world.
The Peasall Sisters are moving on to other things.
One woman asks, "What is femininity?"
A link to the following was posted over at Gucci Little Piggy -- How American Women Lost Their Femininity.
Crowded House - Don't Dream It's Over Live (HQ)
I first heard this song on MTV in... 8th grade? The channel was playing it over and over again, as MTV was wont to do back in the days when they showed music videos all day long. I was down in Los Angeles for a chess tournament with my math teacher and some of my junior high classmates. It was a fun trip...
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
What is the President going to do about the people on his side?
I haven't read the text of tonight's address by President Obama yet, but in light of this post that I had started to write last year, I wanted to bring up the current controversy generated by the Tucson massacre concerning
the causes of the shooting. The political opportunism started very early, and one of those who was responsible for using the massacre to launch into a diatribe against conservatives as forces of hatred and division was Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, as noted in this article in the Washington Post:
And of course we have seen those who have used the tragedy to call for increasing the power of the state for the sake of public safety and protecting lives -- handgun control, limiting magazine capacity, and so on. Tonight my cousin said that the shooter was not in the system as someone with mental illness. So what could have been done to prevent this from happening? And where was the security at the rally?
I see from my Google results that some in the MSM contrast Sheriff Dupnik with Sheriff Joe Arpaio because of their immigration stance, but their descriptions of the two go beyond just noting their differences on that one position: Time and AOL.
Update: VFR-Loughner is a Democrat—did all that overheated left-wing rhetoric against Blue Dogs trigger the mass murder?
Edit. 1/15/11: VFR--Loughner is an Independent
the causes of the shooting. The political opportunism started very early, and one of those who was responsible for using the massacre to launch into a diatribe against conservatives as forces of hatred and division was Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, as noted in this article in the Washington Post:
In an emotional news conference late Saturday, Pima County Sheriff Clarence W. Dupnik (D) denounced the nation's vitriolic political climate and noted Arizona's part in the rancor after a controversial crackdown on illegal immigration.As I asked in the post on Tribalism, "Is the [political] divide being exaggerated by those who have a story to sell or are seeking self-exaltation?" There are those who seek to portray themselves as a force for enlightenment, and it is not surprising that liberals have been pointing figures at the opposition for being irrational, prejudiced, prone to violence, etc. and blaming various people (Sarah Palin, the Tea Party movement) for the actions of an individual who has not left any evidence of a clear party affiliation that has been discovered yet. (See coverage over at AmCon and VFR, or the mainstream Republican pundits and blogs.) So did Obama chastise Democrats for being hostile towards their fellow Americans through their "polemics of hate and division" and worsening the division?
"The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous, and unfortunately Arizona has become sort of the capital," Dupnik said. "We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry."
The fiery rhetoric that has taken hold in politics, Dupnik said, "may be free speech, but it's not without consequences."
And of course we have seen those who have used the tragedy to call for increasing the power of the state for the sake of public safety and protecting lives -- handgun control, limiting magazine capacity, and so on. Tonight my cousin said that the shooter was not in the system as someone with mental illness. So what could have been done to prevent this from happening? And where was the security at the rally?
I see from my Google results that some in the MSM contrast Sheriff Dupnik with Sheriff Joe Arpaio because of their immigration stance, but their descriptions of the two go beyond just noting their differences on that one position: Time and AOL.
Update: VFR-Loughner is a Democrat—did all that overheated left-wing rhetoric against Blue Dogs trigger the mass murder?
Edit. 1/15/11: VFR--Loughner is an Independent
The President in Tucson
My cousin left a comment on his FB and I think he was referring to his speech -- I will upload video later plus links to any commentary at the blogs I visit. I have no doubt it will sound smooth.
Hayao Miyzaki interview from last year
In The Scotsman.
Something older - Midnight Eye: Hayao Miyazaki interview
Hayao Miyazaki Web
From 1999:
A documentary about Studio Ghibli:
Parts 2, 3,4, 5, 6
The Studio Ghibli Museum
Something older - Midnight Eye: Hayao Miyazaki interview
Hayao Miyazaki Web
From 1999:
A documentary about Studio Ghibli:
Parts 2, 3,4, 5, 6
The Studio Ghibli Museum
The Brutality and Confusion of "War"
Coining derogatory terms for entitled radical feminist American women who seek to corrupt others and have no morals or shame is probably a bad activity, but the use of such words does save time as one no longer has to string adjectives in order to describe the sort of person to which they refer.
I am reminded of the movie Atonement, and despite the anger of men who have been mistreated by women and the courts, they have been surprisingly restrained in their choice of vocabulary, although they may express their anger or misogyny in other ways. Is there an equivalent in Shakespearean English to describe that sort of modern American woman?
I was thinking also about people I know, those men who profess to be egalitarians or even feminists, and attempt to split everything 50/50 -- a "partnership" in their minds, all the while cohabitating and trying things out. Who is more correct, they or those who believe that men and women think differently and approach relationships differently. Was it a good thing to expect that sort of chivalry from men that they would seek to protect the feelings of a woman when courting or dating her? "Women aren't so fragile!" some might declare. In the past upright men weren't to consider just the feelings of women but the consequences of their own words and actions on the dignity and honor of women, their reputations and marriageability. That sex is intended to be procreative is perhaps the primary basis for all of this, but it is not the only component for our understanding of tradition customs for the pairing off of men and women.
These days it seems that "feelings" and how they are impacted by actions are all that matter, though some argue that consent is sufficient to trump feelings. (See mainstream discussions of the Julian Assange case.)
Members of both sexes are victims of radical egalitarianism. The appellation "the war between the sexes" is rather misleading. In so far as feminism is the attempt by women to be like men, they have lost. But both men and women (and children) have suffered as a result of the chaos caused by feminism in families and society at large.
Some women may be lead to compromise their morals in matters of sexual intimacy because of emotion or weakness, but for other women it is a matter of rebellion or pride, as they proclaim that they know better about sex and love than their elders, tradition, or God.
Is recent history just a series of rebellions culminating in the division of man from woman and the destruction of marriage?
I am reminded of the movie Atonement, and despite the anger of men who have been mistreated by women and the courts, they have been surprisingly restrained in their choice of vocabulary, although they may express their anger or misogyny in other ways. Is there an equivalent in Shakespearean English to describe that sort of modern American woman?
I was thinking also about people I know, those men who profess to be egalitarians or even feminists, and attempt to split everything 50/50 -- a "partnership" in their minds, all the while cohabitating and trying things out. Who is more correct, they or those who believe that men and women think differently and approach relationships differently. Was it a good thing to expect that sort of chivalry from men that they would seek to protect the feelings of a woman when courting or dating her? "Women aren't so fragile!" some might declare. In the past upright men weren't to consider just the feelings of women but the consequences of their own words and actions on the dignity and honor of women, their reputations and marriageability. That sex is intended to be procreative is perhaps the primary basis for all of this, but it is not the only component for our understanding of tradition customs for the pairing off of men and women.
These days it seems that "feelings" and how they are impacted by actions are all that matter, though some argue that consent is sufficient to trump feelings. (See mainstream discussions of the Julian Assange case.)
Members of both sexes are victims of radical egalitarianism. The appellation "the war between the sexes" is rather misleading. In so far as feminism is the attempt by women to be like men, they have lost. But both men and women (and children) have suffered as a result of the chaos caused by feminism in families and society at large.
Some women may be lead to compromise their morals in matters of sexual intimacy because of emotion or weakness, but for other women it is a matter of rebellion or pride, as they proclaim that they know better about sex and love than their elders, tradition, or God.
Is recent history just a series of rebellions culminating in the division of man from woman and the destruction of marriage?
Recovery of the lost art of storytelling?
Christianity Today: Testify!
In nightclubs, coffeehouses, and iPods, true first-person storytelling is becoming a cultural force as it borrows from Christian tradition.
Kristen Scharold in New York City
(via First Things)
How has the preservation of storytelling and oral traditions fared in smaller communities?
In nightclubs, coffeehouses, and iPods, true first-person storytelling is becoming a cultural force as it borrows from Christian tradition.
Kristen Scharold in New York City
(via First Things)
How has the preservation of storytelling and oral traditions fared in smaller communities?
Cherryholmes
I just discovered this group three or four weeks ago, and then I read this: Cherryholmes Bites the Dust. But the children will apparently be continuing on their own.
Skaggs Family Records
CMT
NPR story
Photo Gallery
Skaggs Family Records
CMT
NPR story
Photo Gallery
The Right of Association
Mr. Bradley Birzer gives a communitarian explanation on the right of association, one that can be harmonized with CST on solidarity and subsidiarity (and the value of lower-level associations): The Right to Association: Fundamentally and Naturally American
How would he deal, then, with the understanding of the right of association offered by libertarians, in which the right is defined first through commercial transactions and the voluntary nature of such associations is (over-)emphasized? As a result of the emphasis on the voluntary, the right to association is also defined negatively by libertarians as the right not to associate with people. How much interaction is necessary between individuals who at odds on fundamental moral issues?
How would he deal, then, with the understanding of the right of association offered by libertarians, in which the right is defined first through commercial transactions and the voluntary nature of such associations is (over-)emphasized? As a result of the emphasis on the voluntary, the right to association is also defined negatively by libertarians as the right not to associate with people. How much interaction is necessary between individuals who at odds on fundamental moral issues?
Everything has a dark side
Gene Logsdon, OrganicToBe.org
Instead of having to replace the whole fence at one time, I can stick a panel in here or there when and where the old woven wire fence has rusted through. So far, I have had to install only three or four panels a year— easy on the pocketbook, not to mention the back.
Gene Logsdon, OrganicToBe.org
Instead of having to replace the whole fence at one time, I can stick a panel in here or there when and where the old woven wire fence has rusted through. So far, I have had to install only three or four panels a year— easy on the pocketbook, not to mention the back.
Items of Interest, 12 January 2011
EB:
The globe's limitations: How peak oil threatens economic growth
Richard Heinberg, The Nation
Tom Whipple talks about the possibility of civil unrest.
Thinking outside the box
Dave Cohen, Decline of the empire
Secrecy by complexity: Obfuscation in energy data, and the primacy of crude oil
Gregor Macdonald, The Oil Drum
Ecological civilization
Fred Magdoff, Monthly Review
CP:
Franklin Spinney, Surging Tit for Tat in Afghanistan
Alan Nasser /Kelly Norman, The Student Loan Debt Bubble
Mike Whitney, The Unreported War in Mexico
Paul Craig Roberts tilting towards the left? A Brief for Animals
The globe's limitations: How peak oil threatens economic growth
Richard Heinberg, The Nation
Tom Whipple talks about the possibility of civil unrest.
Thinking outside the box
Dave Cohen, Decline of the empire
Secrecy by complexity: Obfuscation in energy data, and the primacy of crude oil
Gregor Macdonald, The Oil Drum
Ecological civilization
Fred Magdoff, Monthly Review
CP:
Franklin Spinney, Surging Tit for Tat in Afghanistan
Alan Nasser /Kelly Norman, The Student Loan Debt Bubble
Mike Whitney, The Unreported War in Mexico
Paul Craig Roberts tilting towards the left? A Brief for Animals
It always happens.
With the recent tragedy in Tucson in their minds, many Democrats and liberal-progressives are pushing for greater restrictions on handgun ownership and the capacity of magazines. It seems to reveal, once again, that in their moral reasoning, the greatest good is related to goods of the body, not goods of the soul. Anything can be justified if it is ordered to preserving life, even if it does away with traditional Anglo-American political liberties, or the further diminishing of republican virtue (which is dependent upon the right to bear arms to defend one's self, family, and community).
NPR: Arizona Gun Laws Among Most Lenient In U.S.
See this post over at Oz Conservative, which deals with the anti-conservative narrative on the tragedy: "Clarissa blames conservatives for all political violence"
NPR: Arizona Gun Laws Among Most Lenient In U.S.
See this post over at Oz Conservative, which deals with the anti-conservative narrative on the tragedy: "Clarissa blames conservatives for all political violence"
Some Paolo Pandolfo videos
It has been a while since I've been to one of his concerts; he has performed for the Boston Early Music Festival, but I don't know if he has been to California before. He is another viola da gamba player.
with Maria Uspenskaya on the harpsichord
The Piccola Accademia di Montisi
with Maria Uspenskaya on the harpsichord
The Piccola Accademia di Montisi
Juan del Encina
Juan del Encina - Ay Triste Que Vengo
LEVANTA, PASCUAL - Juan del Encina (1468 - 1529)
UNA SAÑOSA PORFÍA - Juan del Encina (1468 - 1529)
LEVANTA, PASCUAL - Juan del Encina (1468 - 1529)
UNA SAÑOSA PORFÍA - Juan del Encina (1468 - 1529)
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Pope Benedict XVI's Address to the Diplomatic Corps
Pope Benedict XVI greets the ambassadors accredited to the Vatican during a private audience at the Vatican, Monday, Jan. 10, 2011. The Pontiff demanded that governments do more to ensure Christians can practice their faith without discrimination or violence, in one of his most pointed appeals yet for religious freedom. (AP/Daylife)
VATICAN CITY, VATICAN - JANUARY 10: Pope Benedict XVI sits near the Vatican Gentluomini after delivering his annual 'state of the world' message in the Sala Clementina on January 10, 2011 in Vatican City, Vatican. The Pontiff told representatives from over 170 states that the right to religious freedom should be respected. (Getty/Daylife)
Zenit: Benedict XVI's New Year Address to Diplomatic Corps
"Religion Does Not Represent a Problem for Society"
Chiesa: The Pope Teaches Diplomats the ABC's of Religious Freedom
Limits to the size of a federation?
Paul Zummo asks: Increasing the Size of Congress: Would It Work?
Dr. Clyde Wilson will often write that the federal union has become too big, and should have been broken into several confederations.
Dr. Clyde Wilson will often write that the federal union has become too big, and should have been broken into several confederations.
NLM: Adrian Fortescue and the Eastern Christian Churches
Anthony Dragani, Adrian Fortescue and the Eastern Christian Churches
Gorgias Press, 2007
Anthony Dragani, Adrian Fortescue and the Eastern Christian Churches
Gorgias Press, 2007
Grammar fanatics, check this out.
Top 25 grammar and language mistakes
Are you guilty of making any of these prevalent spelling, word usage or punctuation flubs?
By Daphne Gray-Grant
(via Tea at Trianon)
Are you guilty of making any of these prevalent spelling, word usage or punctuation flubs?
By Daphne Gray-Grant
(via Tea at Trianon)
Dick Winters on Brecourt Manor Assault
Monday, January 10, 2011
Transition Voice interview with Michael Ruppert
Michael Ruppert: To protect and serve
Having grown up Catholic, Ruppert says he’s read the Bible several times. He quoted from scripture in our talk in a way that revealed his enduring respect for messages that resonate, wherever they originate. And in a quiet, personal way Ruppert says he has long had his own vivid spiritual life and perspective over the years. It’s nothing he’s talked much about. It’s his private journey experienced—again—with that broader, non-sectarian perspective that he’s drawn to. But it’s one where he feels he has a purpose, a purpose guided by his connection to his spiritual life.
Gong Koo
"Telling a story" in Cantonese...
Smile, Donghae (웃어라 동해야) has some of the same actors from Three Brothers, but I find it bizarre, even creepy, that two of the male characters have fallen in love with a mentally retarded (so the subtitles say) woman (and one even got her pregnant). Maybe the character is not really mentally retarded, just emotionally retarded, but she is definitely developmentally challenged. One of the men, the uncle in the family, says she is "pure/innocent" but I think this is ridiculous sentimentality. It seems to me that such a woman could never be a functional wife and mother. How was she able to raise a child in the first place? (Some might say there are real-life examples of this happening, but I really doubt that it takes place without additional support and oversight.)
KoreanDrama
Smile, Donghae (웃어라 동해야) has some of the same actors from Three Brothers, but I find it bizarre, even creepy, that two of the male characters have fallen in love with a mentally retarded (so the subtitles say) woman (and one even got her pregnant). Maybe the character is not really mentally retarded, just emotionally retarded, but she is definitely developmentally challenged. One of the men, the uncle in the family, says she is "pure/innocent" but I think this is ridiculous sentimentality. It seems to me that such a woman could never be a functional wife and mother. How was she able to raise a child in the first place? (Some might say there are real-life examples of this happening, but I really doubt that it takes place without additional support and oversight.)
KoreanDrama
Not a metaphysical crisis but an existential one.
R. R. Reno on Graduate Study and Careers (which links to Matthew Milliner's The Useless University).
I think those who are leaving comments understand the question better than Mr. Reno and Mr. Milliner.
"Over the years I’ve had students and young friends ask me whether or not they should pursue graduate study in the humanities (and theology, which is strictly speaking “the divinities”). Here is what I say: “Only do it if you think it’s worthwhile for its own sake, only if you think you’ll always be glad you did so even if you don’t end up as an academic, only if you’re in love with the discipline.”
Shouldn't we be a bit more serious about our lives than that? Many off this sort of platitude as education/job/career advice, but it's lousy. There are just too many opportunity costs involved with a graduate education. I disagree with those who make grand, absolute claims about autodidacticism, but one who has leisure can learn from someone else outside of the modern American university.
I think those who are leaving comments understand the question better than Mr. Reno and Mr. Milliner.
"Over the years I’ve had students and young friends ask me whether or not they should pursue graduate study in the humanities (and theology, which is strictly speaking “the divinities”). Here is what I say: “Only do it if you think it’s worthwhile for its own sake, only if you think you’ll always be glad you did so even if you don’t end up as an academic, only if you’re in love with the discipline.”
Shouldn't we be a bit more serious about our lives than that? Many off this sort of platitude as education/job/career advice, but it's lousy. There are just too many opportunity costs involved with a graduate education. I disagree with those who make grand, absolute claims about autodidacticism, but one who has leisure can learn from someone else outside of the modern American university.
Items of Interest, 10 January 2011
Happy Birthday to my mum!
Dr. Peter Chojnowski, The Coming American Default
America on the Rocks By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
Spinning Unemployment in a Collapsing Empire
A Shocking Act of Political Violence By CHRIS FLOYD
Silent Surge in Afghanistan
"I Want to be a Helicopter Gunner!" By DAVE LINDORFF
A Disturbing Meeting at the Gym
Michael Shedlock, Brown Seeks 10% Pay Reduction For State Employees, Unveils $12.5 Billion Spending Cuts; Suggestions to Eliminate the Gap
From Bloomberg: "Voters will be asked to extend increases in sales and income taxes as well as vehicle license fees in a special election in June, Brown said."
Dr. Peter Chojnowski, The Coming American Default
America on the Rocks By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
Spinning Unemployment in a Collapsing Empire
A Shocking Act of Political Violence By CHRIS FLOYD
Silent Surge in Afghanistan
"I Want to be a Helicopter Gunner!" By DAVE LINDORFF
A Disturbing Meeting at the Gym
Michael Shedlock, Brown Seeks 10% Pay Reduction For State Employees, Unveils $12.5 Billion Spending Cuts; Suggestions to Eliminate the Gap
From Bloomberg: "Voters will be asked to extend increases in sales and income taxes as well as vehicle license fees in a special election in June, Brown said."
An academic dreams
The 80% solution by Juliet Schor (EB)
If a company finds that it can manage fine with a class of employees working 80% of its hours, what's to prevent it from downsizing? The power of the state. She gives an argument based on economics, but I don't see such laws having their intended effects in the real world, or even having a possibility of being put into effect, but I believe that we live in an oligarchy and not in a polity in which the state (or the Democratic party) is at odds with the economic elites. (I could have said socialist state, but I don't know how much of the opposition between these two groups in socialist states is actually real. Do the same dynamics exist in Europe as in here? And if that is the case, why is it more likely to pass such legislation there rather than here?)
I'm all for job security and Americans working less hours and measures to do something about stagnant wages versus the cost of living, but I don't think this proposal approaches being an adequate start, even at the local level. Would these laws be successful in California? To whom would such laws even apply? What sort of jobs fall under the "higher-wage parts of the labor market." Those in technology might appreciate having more free time, but what is stopping continued outsourcing? How would these laws help those in FIRE who are out of work and need re-training first of all?
Spreading the work around so that the "idle" can be employed may look good on paper and practicable in the short-term, but this doesn't address the problem of sustainability. If many jobs cannot be perpetuated in the future, isn't it better to do something about it now rather than delaying it? Yes, this is even more idealistic and less likely to occur, so Professor Schor's' proposal may have more political traction.) Do we currently have a glut of unnecessary jobs? If too many people are being displaced and dispossessed because of cheap energy and the wage slave system, then what does the 80% solution do to address this?
Surprise! Bankers in the Netherlands embraced such laws (while screwing everyone else over?), along with public sector employees and academics.)
If a company finds that it can manage fine with a class of employees working 80% of its hours, what's to prevent it from downsizing? The power of the state. She gives an argument based on economics, but I don't see such laws having their intended effects in the real world, or even having a possibility of being put into effect, but I believe that we live in an oligarchy and not in a polity in which the state (or the Democratic party) is at odds with the economic elites. (I could have said socialist state, but I don't know how much of the opposition between these two groups in socialist states is actually real. Do the same dynamics exist in Europe as in here? And if that is the case, why is it more likely to pass such legislation there rather than here?)
I'm all for job security and Americans working less hours and measures to do something about stagnant wages versus the cost of living, but I don't think this proposal approaches being an adequate start, even at the local level. Would these laws be successful in California? To whom would such laws even apply? What sort of jobs fall under the "higher-wage parts of the labor market." Those in technology might appreciate having more free time, but what is stopping continued outsourcing? How would these laws help those in FIRE who are out of work and need re-training first of all?
Spreading the work around so that the "idle" can be employed may look good on paper and practicable in the short-term, but this doesn't address the problem of sustainability. If many jobs cannot be perpetuated in the future, isn't it better to do something about it now rather than delaying it? Yes, this is even more idealistic and less likely to occur, so Professor Schor's' proposal may have more political traction.) Do we currently have a glut of unnecessary jobs? If too many people are being displaced and dispossessed because of cheap energy and the wage slave system, then what does the 80% solution do to address this?
Surprise! Bankers in the Netherlands embraced such laws (while screwing everyone else over?), along with public sector employees and academics.)
God?
Who Gets to Tell Me I'm Male? by David Ker Thomson
Where Feminism Left Me
A thought: Why not take deconstructivism even further and deny that there is an ego to be preserved?
Where Feminism Left Me
A thought: Why not take deconstructivism even further and deny that there is an ego to be preserved?
Can the Pentagon do some penny-pinching?
Col. Douglas MacGregor, Can We Cut the Defense Budget While We are "At War"?
Gates Proposes Troop Cuts, $78 Billion Reduction in Defense Budget by 2016
Attempts to save money through troop reduction or expensive weapons programs that are not needed--can they compare to the amount of money being wasted on foreign misadventures?
Gates Proposes Troop Cuts, $78 Billion Reduction in Defense Budget by 2016
Attempts to save money through troop reduction or expensive weapons programs that are not needed--can they compare to the amount of money being wasted on foreign misadventures?
The Economics of Happiness
The Post Carbon Institute is sponsoring a screening of The Economics of Happiness at the David Brower Center in Berkeley this Thursday, January 13. Find a screening near you.
Happy happy joy joy
Foreign Policy: Unconventional Wisdom
A special anniversary report challenging the world's most dangerous thinking.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011
Immanuel Wallerstein
THE GLOBAL ECONOMY WON'T RECOVER, NOW OR EVER
A special anniversary report challenging the world's most dangerous thinking.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011
Immanuel Wallerstein
THE GLOBAL ECONOMY WON'T RECOVER, NOW OR EVER
Sunday, January 09, 2011
I was enjoying the first episode of Downtown Abbey, but then the writer threw in a "gay twist" to one of the subplots. Wasn't this already done in Gosford Park? I suppose British TV can't avoid it these days. I'll keep on watching, but I should sit through Remains of the Day...
.50 cal M4
Didn't know they existed until a FB friend posted a photo today -- apparently she went to the range and someone brought it (or rented it? -- Las Vegas). The Beowulf fires the .50 Beowulf, descended from the .50 AE (which is a .50 handgun cartridge).
Military Channel video
Defense Review
AllBusiness
Homegrown Wheatie
Beyond556
Gunblast
Military Channel video
Defense Review
AllBusiness
Homegrown Wheatie
Beyond556
Gunblast
The producer for The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show explains what's going on.
How to get the episodes and What Went Wrong
The episodes for Encore Week January 2011 are available, with the exception of the one with Denise Minger.
The episodes for Encore Week January 2011 are available, with the exception of the one with Denise Minger.
CUSD needs to get a clue.
Just received a phone call with a request to do a survey; I decided to do it. The survey was about a proposed measure to increase the land parcel tax to raise money for the local school district. I suspect the survey was paid for not by those opposing the tax but by the school district. I suppose if I wanted to make my thoughts known, I should go to a meeting and tell the administrators how unprepared they are for a postcarbon economy. (Telling them that they are corrupting the morals of the youth would be pointless.) Can I call the person asking the questions a telemarketer? She didn't ask me to give a short answer as to what I really think about the state of the school district--she stuck to the format of the survey. That's too bad. There will be those who oppose such a measure solely on the basis of how it will impact them financially. I oppose a measure on other grounds as well.
And yes, I do think the CA state employee pension/retirement benefits put an undue burden on CA taxpayers.
And yes, I do think the CA state employee pension/retirement benefits put an undue burden on CA taxpayers.
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