Veni Veni Emmanuel

Zoltán Kodály
L'Accorche-Choeur, Ensemble vocal Fribourg

Medieval Carols, Hymns and a Renaissance Motet for Christmas

Marie Digby - Bring Me Love - Original Song

Went to Crepevine Palo Alto today after dropping something off at Mr. W's house. It was as good as the one in Oakland; I got the burger - I think the patty might be from Niman Ranch. I ordered medium well, but it was more well-done. Tasty, but a bit dry. My mother got a chicken sandwich. I think it's better than BJ's; I'll have to try one of the salads.

Walking this morning, I found the local roads were quite empty, somewhat abnormal for a Saturday morning. It must have been because today is Christmas Eve. Going for another walk now...

Plus, some advice for speculators...

via Patriactionary

Corelli: Christmas Concerto; Op.6/8 -- Freiburger Barockorchester

(via Harmonia Early Music)

On the Eve of the Nativity...

Eve of Nativity Troparion


An Arabic Christmas Carol (Byzantine Hymn of the Nativity)


Valaam Monastery Choir - Stanza of the Ninth Hour for the Eve of the Nativity of Christ


Giorgos Fanaras - Nativity Troparion


The Canon of The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ in diffrent languages

The Development of the State

I read through J. R. Strayer's On the Medieval Origins of the Modern State; has something critical or an alternate history ever been written in response? I think it is proper to look for the origins of the development of the modern state in what preceded it, especially in the growth of the bureaucracy needed as a tool for the centralization of power by kings. Strayer thinks that the state is a good thing because of what it is able to achieve (greatness) that smaller polities cannot - things which are probably condemned by those on the left today. I'll grant that there may have been a necessity to the growth and centralization of the king's power in coping with competitotrs anda external threats, but was it good absolutely? What was lost in terms of true self-rule and strong communities? Stayer argues that the rise of the state required the switching of loyalty from family and local communities (and the Church) to the state. But he does not explain why this happens, especially since he claims that nationalism could be an impediment to the development of the state as well as as an aid. The displacement/mobility that results from the dispossession of land and the concentration fo wealth in the hands of the few takes place relatively later, does it not? What are the earlier factors that contributed to the destruction of local communities, assuming that this took place in addition to the transference of loyalties. It seems possible to have a relatively strong communal life while professing a greater loyalty to the state of which one's community is a part.

Martina McBride performs "O Holy Night" on Opry Live

Items of Interews, 23 December 2011

Three Myths about the Detention Bill
If America is a Battleground, Nobody Has Any Rights
“Lawfare” – using the law to undermine the Constitution (a powerful tool in the quiet coup now in progress)

PATRICK COCKBURN, Iraq Trembles Amid Renewed Sectarian Violence

PJB, War with Iran? Make Congress Vote on It

John Robb, The Future of Drone Warfare

Economics:
Rob Hopkins, Can We Manage Without Growth, An Interview with Peter Victor Part Two
The power of sovereign economics: myth vs reality

Energy:
Occupying science: technology for the 99 percent by Erik Curren (EB)
The peak oil crisis: 2012 – apocalypse now? by Tom Whipple (EB)
John Michael Greer, Tweedledoom and Tweedledee

Farming:
Wes Jackson: A perennial revolution in agriculture by Ken Meter (EB)

Relocalization and the Simple Life:
Lindsay Curren, When down is up: Review of “The Power of Community”
Shannon Hayes, Reclaiming Christmas, Radical Homemaker-Style

Catholic:
Dom Alcuin Reid on Praying the Christmas Liturgy
Dominican Chant for Matthew's Genealogy of Jesus Christ
Tea at Trianon, New Book About Philip of Spain
Heavenly Music From Hildegard Of Bingen, A Soon-To-Be Actual Saint
St. Peter Canisius, Priest, Doctor, and the Second Apostle of Germany

Marianne Cope and ‘Lily of the Mohawks’ to be canonised
Pope Benedict XVI advances Causes of 20 men and women and recognises 64 martyrs of the Spanish Civil War

History:
Hong Kong's unwanted Christmas present By Ronan Thomas

Act of Valor #2

Apple

While cleaning my desk, I found the card to register for the Catholic Legislative Network, affiliated with the California Catholic Conference, "The official voice of the Catholic community in California's public policy arena representing the Bishops on legislation and social issues." How much are the CA bishops spending for this organization? It is supposed to inform the laity about Catholic Social Teaching...

More bureaucrats for evangelization.

Went to Tomi for lunch to celebrate the nephew's birthday, then to New Harbor for dinner... it's been a bad week, diet-wise. I definitely have to take a walk tonight.

With respect to the comment I made about the LDS outreach to minorities, here's a post at OneSDTV with further evidence: Mormons Go Race Liberal. (I saw some billboards in Phoenix with photos of Mormons who were members of minorities. And I think I've remarked before that I've seen a pair of Asian male missionaries at the local library.)

The Hobbit trailer

Apple

The probably will be some things that irk the purists. I am sympathetic to them and to those who contend that we should be reading the book instead of watching movie adaptations, but this is still probably better than the trash coming out of Hollywood? I hope Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro didn't tinker around too much, but there is also the sequel that might be more objectionable.

The Hobbit Blog

Karen De Coster: Tom Woods Interviews Mark Sisson


Edit: Mr. Woods's blog post

Items of Interest, 20 December 2011

Fabius Maximus: Fear the enemies within America more than those without

N. Korea:
Srdja Trifkovic, Kim Jong-il, the Leader from Hell
The Dear Leader’s Death Creates Dangers and Hopes

Economics:
Kevin Carson, Don’t Put a State Ceiling on Rents; Abolish the State Floor Under Them
Gregor Macdonald, Why oil prices are killing the economy (EB)
Rob Hopkins, Can we manage without growth? An interview with Peter Victor. Part One (EB)
Simplifying Complexity (EB) - mp3
It’s the December Transition podcast! Community energy companies, farms and resource centres! (EB)
Bill McKibben, At last, a new story for the future (EB)
THOMAS H. NAYLOR, Deep Green Resistance
FPR: The Founding Gardeners
Buying Local Yields More Jobs, Stronger Communities

the spark that lights the stove by Charlotte Du Cann (EB)
She talks about Masanobu Fukuoka and uses work to support what approximates a vegetarian diet:

It takes time for the body, revved up by an exotic, highly processed, high-fat Western diet, to reorganise and recover its natural appetite. It takes time to learn how to absorb the kind of food Fukuoka (and several contemporary Western writers on food) are talking about: plenty of plants, not much meat, not much. It takes time to break habits and to let go of the complexity of diets and science in one’s mind and the emotional reactions caused by an unnatural way of life. To engage in a way of being where food is naturally limited by place and time.

The problem with the Western diet is that it is high-fat? WAPF and paleo followers would beg to differ.

Ron Paul:
Paul Gottfried, Ron Paul's Moderate Foreign Policy

Education:
Oz Conservative: Rethinking Education for Boys

Catholic:
Divine Office at Le Barroux Online
Book Notice: Anton Baumstark - On the Historical Development of the Liturgy
Every Artist Should Buy and Read this Book: Techniques of Icon and Wall Painting, by Aidan Hart
Ordinations - I: a new Russian Greek Catholic priest
Ordinations - II. Two new priests for the Apostolic Administration of St. John Vianney in Campos

Camera Lucida: Presidential Family Portraits

While a critical examination on the family background of a presidential candidate (or the present resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue) may be valid in so far it is an influence upon, and an extension of, that person's character, it is unlikely to be an effective attack that would persuade voters, given how permissive society has become, especially young people. Plenty of things could be said about the mother, but the feminists and the white knights would get upset and claim that this was unfair. If you are going to run for high office why shouldn't you be prepared to have your family life and background scrutinized? No one is born an adult.

It's bad enough that there are people who proudly display Obama 2008 bumper stickers on their cars, but the morons who have Obama 2012 stickers? Have you been paying attention to what your man in the Oval Office has been doing (or not been doing)? They deserve pity and contempt. Women for Obama? Another sign that the franchise was wrongly given to them. It may be difficult to argue that the enfranchisement of women is a violation of of distributive justice without also claiming that universal franchise for males is [probably] unjust. But the latter can be justified insofar as men are the head of families, and politics is in part ordering the affairs not just of individuals but of families, the basic cell of society. (Those men who have attained the other necessary qualifications but are unmarried not through their own fault should be allowed to participate as well, though the sort of knowledge required to know whether it a particular man's fault or vice which keeps him single is probably available only through local networks. All the more reason to have the actual conferral of citizenship done at the local level, even if standards are issued by the state.)

The continuing rebellion against God and nature...

It is the function of men to cooperate for the good of the group. It is the function of women to be the helpmates of men (and to nurture the familial and communal networks accordingly).

Items of Interest, December 19 2011

Sheriff Mack Announces Lawsuit Against SPLC, Run for Congress

Economics:
Thomas Storck, Economics and the Real World

Energy:
Real wealth: Howard T. Odum’s energy economics

Demanding less: why we need a new politics of energy (report excerpt) by Rebecca Willis and Dr. Nick Eyre (EB)

Peak Oil:
OPEC says, "Don't Count on Us" for More Supply

California:
WAKE UP: There's A 82% Chance That California's Public Pension System Will Run Out Of Money

What's the point of being right if you end up dead like the person next to you? Why not party it up in ignorance?

Feminism:Mirror of Justice: originalism and sex discrimination

Diet and Health:
Natural remedies for cavities

Catholic:
Fr. Skeris, Singing Lessons
Alan Jacobs, Christianity and the Future of the Book (via Mere Comments)

Chrysostomos Christmas Concert 2011

(You can download clips from the concert at the above link.)

American History:
Freedom Betrayed, Again and Again by John Willson

Rhonda Vincent and the Rage - Ghost of a Chance

Kim Jong-il reportedly dead

CNN

Kyrie eleison. May the transition be a peaceful one.

"Conservative" Robert George, part 2

Immigration and American Exceptionalism (via MOJ)

Immigration and American Exceptionalism from Center for Vision and Values on Vimeo.

Squatting

In the past I've looked down on people squatting on sidewalks right in front of buildings -- it seemed like a peasant thing to do, and not proper for someone civilized. (It's a common sight in various Asian countries.) But the squatting itself is done well, and it is a better position for bowel movement than sitting on the standard toilet.

Mark's Daily Apple on squatting

Alan Jackson, "Wanted"