Veni, veni Emmanuel

The King's Singers


Something unexpected:

Contrappasso Magazine: Elmore Leonard Week

Elmore on the birth of Raylan Givens

Some videos:

Battle of the Black Sea

From the FB page for Panteao:

On October 3, 1993 a group of US Rangers and Special Operations soldiers set out on a mission into the heart of the Bakara market in Mogadishu. What started as a mission that should have lasted 30 minutes turned into a battle for their lives. Known by these men as the Battle of the Black Sea and later portrayed in the motion picture Black Hawk Down, here is the untold story of that battle. Coming soon in a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack and streaming from the Panteao website.

Featuring Paul Howe. Pic of the box cover here.

Related:
Stance and Grip with Paul Howe

Jessica Chastain Interviews

The movie will not be in general release until January 11, 2013.

Another Pointless Attempt at Dialogue

Women Leading Congregations, Part II

What sort of resolution does Rod Dreher expect from discussions such as these? Those who think that Judaism or Christianity would be watered-down if teachings about patriarchy were eliminated will not convince those who believe in egalitarianism and the sort of abstract universalism that results from that.

Tallis Scholars on Harmonia Early Music

Tallis Scholars Sing Mouton By WENDY GILLESPIE (mp3)

Some Pieces on Economics and Growth

James Tuttle, A Crisis of Political Economy

Nate Hagens, The End of Growth


Against growth: A conversation with economist Joshua Farley

His reader on Ecological Economics (pdf).

The city of Edmonton features him in a series of videos, talking about Ecological Economy: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5





A hermit from Korea talks about life and death

Richard Heinberg, Conflict and Change in the Era of Economic Decline: Part 4 - Post-carbon governance
Conflict and Change in the Era of Economic Decline: Part 5 - A theory of change for a century of crisis
(I don't think I posted links for parts 2 and 3.)

Related:


Don't fall for the shale boom hype - Chris Martenson Interview by James Stafford (EB) - Part 2

What Sort of Armed Citizenry

Mark Mitchell complains: NRA Proposes More Policemen: "In short, we need a police state to protect our right to own all the guns we want? "

Paleolibertarians have their own complaints about increasing the size of the police (and by extension, the government), instead of allowing citizens and institutions to protect themselves.


(alt)

Text of NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre’s Speech

This is also the solution put forth by Paul Howe. Meanwhile, there are those like Dave Grossman who advocate teachers and administrators being trained to defend themselves and their students and carrying concealed on campus. Some even offer this sort of training for free. One example had his comments posted over at Free the Animal. Other local gun owner associations and tactical instructors offer this service, either at reduced rates or for free as well.

Many will protest having armed teachers at the school - the only "sensible" thing to prevent school massacres is stricter gun control. So what can the NRA say, other than having someone else to defend schools? The NRA, if it is to be faithful to its mission and its understanding of the Second Amendment, will not acquiesce to the demands of those who fear guns or suffer from the "logical fallacy of misleading vividness."

My preferred solution would be to rid ourselves of public mass education. Deprive those with mental issues of a target. But how many would accept that?

Those Catholics (former Democrats?), CST advocates, dwelling at various websites and online discussion groups push for stricter gun control laws. Some are ignorant of our current legislation; others don't see the need for citizens to own semi-automatic rifles or magazines with a capacity higher than 3, 5, or 10. Many, like certain traditionalist Catholics, either dismiss the Constitution or think the Second Amendment is no longer relevant. It is laughable then when they claim we live in a republican system of some sort, when they are ignorant of what makes a republican system possible in the first place - an armed citizenry.


Related:
The Secret History of Guns
(The article of course claims that the text of the Second Amendment is "ambiguous" - failing to take into account the proper interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. The author probably wouldn't bother to read Stephen Halbrook.)

The Unorganized Militia: 10 USC § 311 - Militia: composition and classes

Archbishop Chaput on St. Thomas More

A Man for This Season, and All Seasons

Of course, he is appropriating the example of St. Thomas More in relation to the HHS mandate.

Interview with Chrissy Crowley

Celtic Life International

A new CD is in the works! Her website.

Neutered Christianity

Rod Dreher, Why Don’t Men Come To Church?

Dreher cites Podles, who writes:

"In reading about war, I realized that here was something that men took with deadly (both literally and metaphorically) earnestness. War, and the vicarious experience of war in literature and reenactments, as well as the analogues and substitutes for war in dangerous sports and avocations, provide the real center of the emotional, and I would even say the spiritual, life of most men in the modern world. The ideology of masculinity has replaced Christianity as the true religion of men. We live in a society with a female religion and a male religion: Christianity, of various sorts, for women and non-masculine men; and masculinity, especially in the forms of competition and violence that culminate in war, for men."

So would traditional Ignatian spirituality, for example, be more appealing to men? It invites the Christian to think himself of as a knight choosing between two standards, one standard being that of Christ, the other being...

However, I do not think that what is missing from contemporary Christianity is the lack of thumos -- the emasculation of men goes much deeper than that, to the point that infused fortitude is required at an almost heroic level for the average layman. Or perhaps, it is not the remedy that the frustrated male who feels powerless to live his life as he thinks is appropriate. If we think that men are either on the path of creating or destroying (a simplistic dichotomy, to be sure), it is not enough to tell men that they should abandon themselves to God. Only a few may be given the heavy cross of having no outlet in this world for their energies. Rather, they need to find ways to be men however they can.

More on Robert Bork

Scott Richert
Kevin Gutzman

Lynette Hull, Re-creation of the Icon

(via Byzantine, Texas)

Art of Manliness on Honor

I had not been keeping up with the series - Manly Honor VI: The Decline of Traditional Honor in the West in the 20th Century (via Tea at Trianon, which also links to this 2007 interview with Dr. Anthony Esolen).

The previous installments:
Manly Honor: Part I — What Is Honor?
Manly Honor: Part II — The Decline of Traditonal Honor in the West, Ancient Greece to the Romantic Period
Manly Honor: Part III — The Victorian Era and the Development of the Stoic-Christian Code of Honor
Manly Honor Part IV — The Gentlemen and the Roughs: The Collision of Two Honor Codes in the American North
Manly Honor Part V: Honor in the American South

He's Our Curmudgeon

Dr. Fleming, Christmas: Some Caveats

And, to be perfectly frank, I could never stand to watch Charlie Brown's Christmas and I do not like Vince Guaraldi's music. Two thousand years of art, literature, and music, and people are still watching Peanuts? Schulz is often praised for the Christian themes in his comics, but he was an ex-Christian and a self-described secular humanist. In my view, he was a board member of that sinister Northeastern syndicate.

I hate all Christmas specials, especially the Grinch who did not so much steal as profane Christmas with Seussian inanity. I did get a bang out of the Andy Williams specials for which he hired actors to play his family, while his wife was doing life for murdering her faithless lover the Croat-American skier Spider Sabich. "Ain't that America?"

I am also sick to death of the anti-Christian Charles Dickens' rewrite of Christ's Nativity as a a softcore Marxist parable without Christ or angels but with a new pantheon of bogus deities--the deeply offensive Ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. How dare such a man pen such a line as "God bless us, everyone." The nasty hypocrite should have been on his knees praying to escape the fires of Hell.

I purchased some of the St. Louis ribs that were seasoned in-house from Costco. I can't say much about the quality of the meat, but the ribs were probably over-seasoned. The taste reminded me of some of my early efforts at seasoning. I was too lazy to make the glaze (or to braise the ribs properly, but the ribs came out moist regardless). I do prefer a bbq sauce, or something something with sugar rather than too much spices, even though the sugar wouldn't be so good for me. But 80/20, right?

Saint Pasius Monastery

I don't think I'll be able to visit the bookstore during this coming trip to Arizona. Check out the photos of the interior of the catholicon. There are some other photo galleries as well.

At least there is the online gift shop I can use.

Robert Bork Passes

Tom Piatak, Robert Bork, RIP
Insight Scoop
Rod Dreher, How We Got Borking
Robert Bork and the End of Democracy
The Significance of the Bork Battle
Robert Bork: from Atheism to Christian Faith

A collection of his writings: A Time to Speak

Kyrie eleison.

Interview with Professor Kjell Aleklett

The great energy journey by Jan Fröman (EB; Peak Oil)

I thought I had mentioned his book, Peeking at Peak Oil, in a post, but I can't find it in the search.



ASPO profile
Aleklett's Energy Mix

Kjell Aleklett and Charles Hall: Peak Oil Postponed?


Related:
What Everybody Ought to Know about Energy (EB)
Richard Heinberg, Conflict and Change in the Era of Economic Decline: Part 4 - Post-carbon governance

2 CD Set of the Concert of Byzantine Music by the Choir of St. Romanos the Melodist

The bookstore for St. Nicholas Cathedral has the CD.

With the blessings of His Eminence, Metropolitan PHILIP of North America and His Eminence, Metropolitan ELIAS of Beirut, and thorught the generosity of The Order of St. Ignatius of Antioch (the charitable arm of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America), 12 members of the St. Romanos the Melodist Choir of the Archdiocese of Beirut, Lebanon toured the Self-Ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America in mid-September, 2012. Under the direction of their leader, Father Romanos Joubran, Dean of St. George Orhtodox Cathedral of Beirut, Lebanon and instructor of Byzantine Music, the choir spent two weeks performing concerts and singing at liturgical services from the Midwest to the East Coast. The tour culminated on Sunday, September 22, 2012 in an historic concert attended by more than 450 people at the Mother Cathedral of the Archdiocese, St. Nicholas Cathedral of Brooklyn, NY. With the additional blessings of His Eminence, Archbishop DEMETRIOS of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, the Archdiocesan Byzantine Choir of the GOA, under the direction of Dr. Demetrios Kehagias, made a special guest appearance and added to the beauty of the evening. This 2-CD digitally mastered set of hymns in Arabic and Greek consistst of th esets performed by the Beirut Choir and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese Choir as well as the combined set where they performed together. In addition, there are two tracks from the Divine Liturgy that the Beirut choir chanted the following day in the Cathedral and a few bonus selections from their concert in Boston, MA that were not include in the Brooklyn concert due to time constraints. We hope you enjoy the beauty of this ancient and sacred music.

Each 2-CD set is $20.00 plus $5.00 shipping for each of the first two CD's and $2.00 for each CD after that. Quantity discounts of 10 or more are available.

More information on the CD.

An article about the tour of the St. Romanos the Melodist Choir.

(More from Robert Sweiss)





Beautiful temples.

The Nexus of Emotion and Reason

Zippy, at Dalrock, on female attraction. Attraction (and by extension, hypergamy) is not just an animal instinct but is under the influence of reason - making a judgment about the fitness or suitability of potential mates.

An update on one Christian's attempt to educate other men about being manly.

Connections

Alt Right on the BBC
Archeofuturism from the 1970s

Colin Liddell links to an episode of the documentary series by James Burke which examines our dependence upon technology (and cheap energy) - I find it curious that he would say that such programs have an "Alt-Rightish feel to them" when there have been plenty on the left who have been skeptical about contemporary technology and claims of progress since the 1960s and 70s, if not earlier.

Ryan Grant Reviews Liberty: The God That Failed

Part 1

Someone really should write a critique of the book from a paleo or tradcon perspective. Certainly someone more qualified than I should do so, though I may write something once I have read the book.

Related:
Patrick Brennan wrote the Foreward to the book.

One of the instructional aides re-introduced herself to me today; apparently she remembered me for a good reason, but I couldn't remember who she was, even though I had seen her a couple of times today, once in the morning and once at lunch. Those encounters didn't jog my memory. She is probably correct that we had met before...

A Different Take on Zero Dark Thirty

And its stance on torture: The Kidd Vs. ZERO DARK THIRTY. Diverging opinions. I'll have to watch the movie and see for myself.

C.C. Pecknold on "Catholic instead of what?"

Thinking Well About Things (Other Than Politics) (I posted the video of Dr. MacIntyre's address here.)

Catholics affirm that the state has the authority, within limits, to recognize marriage and to protect people who enter into it; to recognize the sanctity of life, and to do no harm to it; to recognize the dignity of the human person, and therefore ensure an economy in which every person can flourish according to their capacities without being debilitated by poverty. Yet currently, the Catholic is being asked to divide her affirmations and denials more or less equally between political parties that may or may not finally represent these concerns at all. It is like asking King Solomon, or a mother, to tear a child in half.

That means that we are beyond the Churchillian “least bad” problem in choosing between parties. The political culture we inhabit has exceeded that problem. Ours is not only a polarized politics, it is also an excessive politics. It dominates every aspect of life. Political campaigns have learned to carefully cultivate every existing identity for itself, and only for itself. It has come to take over every aspect of life so there is no place where presidential politics is absent. I think this excessiveness is an enduring aspect of every politics that detaches itself from natural limits, that consistently refuses to allow space to that which is not politics, that refuses to admit that there is anything prior to politics, that habitually ignores anything which supersedes politics, and which denies anything which is not reducible to politics.

All of this makes my post-election reflections sound like a plea for resistance to political instrumentalism. It is that, but it is also simply a plea for contemplation on those things which are not political, but are nevertheless important to political community. The popular motto of the Catholic resistance movement during WWII, “France be careful not to lose your soul” is worth recalling to this end. A generation earlier, Charles Péguy, the atheist socialist convert to Catholicism, sought to remind France to attend those things which were preludes to politics: metaphysics, narratives, language, family, friendship and contemplation upon the causes, effects, and ends of our most cherished commitments – our loves and our liberties (to recall St. Augustine). In our post-election reflections, Christians should be the ones asking the really substantial questions, not the ones asked at our very insubstantial presidential debates – but the questions we would want our children to ask: questions about existence, such as why there is something rather than nothing; about justice, and to whom it is owed; about truth, and making ourselves truthful; about the nature of goodness and how we can be formed in accordance with it. Questions like these are pre-political, but they matter for politics too. If these sorts of question whither, we will get the politics we deserve. Amongst ourselves as well as with others, we must be asking what it means to be a Christian in our excessive, polarized, political order.

At its best, true Christianity has always resisted being instrumentalized by politics – it has always affirmed the legitimate authority of the state, but it has also helped the state to flourish precisely by pointing out its limits, and its disorder. Sometimes it has done so with martyrs, but usually with a different kind of Christian witness — one which entails discursive reasoning as well as contemplation and prayer, marked by both seriousness and joyfulness about things other than politics but which nevertheless matter for the political health of the places that God has entrusted to us.

Another Catholic intellectual trying to span the divide but going beyond it, but I don't think he goes far enough. The problem is not with "politics" per se, but with the scale of the "National Unity." Scale is one of those limits which few American Catholics recognize, probably because they have become habituated to living in this mess and thinking that it is normal.

I've been wondering if the lack of real conversion is due to a failure of witness, not only through words but in how we live. (As in that saying attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, "Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.") And not because we fail to live as Catholic individuals, but because we have failed to live as Catholics in community.

Items of Interest, 18 December 2012

Newtown Tragedy Exposes our Deep Societal Flaws Again by Chris Schumerth

Debt-Free Permaculture Farming with Joel Salatin


Announcing 2013 BALLE Local Economy Fellows

More on the Issues Raises by Zero Dark Thirty:
An All-American Nightmare by Peter Van Buren
Rendition, Zero Dark Thirty and the brutal reality of Britain's secret services
Kathryn Bigelow's film about the killing of Osama bin Laden does not touch the reality of what occurred in the 'war on terror'

Diet and Health:
Why Stretching is Bad For You
Latest in Paleo: Perfect Health Diet Q&A with Paul Jaminet (follow-up to episode 64 - mp3)
High-Fat, Low-Carb Ketogenic Diet For Cancer Featured On The 700 Club

Feminism:
RONDA ROUSEY MEETS LIZ CARMOUCHE IN FIRST UFC WOMEN'S TITLE FIGHT AT UFC 157
Dana White on why Ronda Rousey will headline UFC 157: 'She's the champ'

Entertainment:
CS Video Interview: Jack Reacher Director Christopher McQuarrie

Discovery Series American Guns Cancelled
NBC Sports Network Cancels "Gun Programming" - 3-Gun Nation

An Orthodox on the Growth of Christianity in China

ARCHIMANDRTIE TIKHON (SHEVKUNOV): “SEEING YOUNG CHINESE CHRISTIAN SEEKERS IS THE MOST ASTOUNDING EXPERIENCE I’VE HAD IN A LONG TIME.”

Also:
Bishop Chen Shizhong, of Yibin, is dead. He rebuilt the Church of Sichuan
Cardinal Zen denounces Beijing's dismissal of Shanghai's courageous bishop

Available This Week on BBC Radio

The Early Music Show: Cristobal de Morales (expires in 4 days)

BBC Radio 3 - Radio 3 Live in Concert, The English Concert - Corelli, Bach
The English Concert plays music by Corelli and Bach at Christ Church Spitalfields
(expires in 6 days)

This Thursday: Stile Antico
"An exciting couple of days in prospect with performances at Foyles and the Wigmore Hall! Both events are now sold out, but you can hear our Wigmore concert, a glorious Byrd/Tallis programme, live on BBC Radio 3 at 1930 GMT on 20th December. We hope you enjoy it!"

Foodopoly

website

The author, Wenonah Hauter, will be appearing at Book Passage at the Ferry Building in San Francisco on January 22, 2013 at 6 P.M.



Related:
Food and Water Watch

More Videos:

Jessica Chastain on Charlie Rose

Here.

Zero Dark Thirty episode

Terry Eagleton in conversation with Roger Scruton

(via First Thoughts)

'Pride of Place': Gregorian Chant

(via Chant Cafe)

Dr. Fleming on Protectionism

Though he does not explicitly endorse it in this piece: Back to the Stone Age II G: A Trip to Alsatia.

Misc.
David Duley and Robb Wolf discuss the Abbeville Institute video on the size of the United States: (mp3)

Raimondo and Larison are Fighting … Again
Speaking of Intra-paleo Feuds

Episode 2 of the MovNat Podcast

with guest Robb Wolf - mp3.

Another on Torture and Zero Dark Thirty

New Yorker

Related:
The Senate Report on CIA Interrogations You May Never See

Sleepy Man Banjo Boys - Nine Pound Hammer Jam

Their website.

Interview with Rosamund Pike for Jack Reacher

The movie's premiere has been delayed because of the school massacre in Connecticut.

Possible Matriarchy for South Korea?

FT: Park says S Korea needs ‘motherly’ leader

I don't care if she's Catholic; with that kind of campaigning and sloganeering, her party deserves to lose. That sort of conception of statesmanship is patronizing and emasculating. What an embarrassment to South Korea.

* East Asians Confucian bureaucrats/magistrates thought of themselves as father/mother officials, duty-bound to look after the people as if they were their children. At this point I will only say that I disagree with this analogy as well. I'd also disagree with the claim that if Adam had not fallen, men would be governed according to an eternal patriarchy with him as a head (Filmer?). But rule by a male who is claiming to be a "father" is less offensive and problematic than rule by a female posing as mother. Men are at least inclined to submit to the authority of a man they recognize as being superior.

Went to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk today - first time I've actually been there. Don't think I missed anything while growing up, though the commercials I saw on channel 2 did make it appealing to a child. (Advertising.) While the kids went on the Thomas the Tank Engine ride, I started walking around the beach and headed towards the municipal wharf. I didn't make it halfway on the wharf when the train returned.

Afterwards, I went over to Betty's Burgers to try it. The fries there are somewhat like those of The Counter, iirc, except with maybe more batter. The strawberry shake was good and thick. As for the burger, I ordered a Double Dutch - the patties are supposed to be "all natural"; visually the texture of the patties reminded me of Bob's Giant Burgers in Fremont - not sure if what I saw was gristle or something else. The patties were well-done, maybe overcooked, though not dry. But there was a strong charred taste to the surface of the patties. Maybe one of the single-patty burgers would have tasted better.

For Gaudete Sunday

Rejoice Jerusalem by Fr. Rutler



Another:

Crisis Magazine Now Has Articles by Dr. Fleming

For Liberals, Religious Freedom Means Freedom from Religion

More collaboration...