Adrian Goldsworthy's latest book is How Rome Fell: Death of a Superpower.

The author's website. Orion Publishing Group Q&A. Wiki.

Related links:
A review by Philip Matyszak
America's reflection in Rome's past

Several weeks ago, I mentioned that Fr. Thomas Euteneuer appeared on Raymond Arroyo's The World Over to speak about exorcism. The audio for that program has been archived. [mp3]

His new book will be entitled Exorcism and the Church Militant. I'm not sure when it is being published. From 2008 on Catholic Answers, "Exorcism and the Church Militant": [rm, mp3]

California Catholic Daily: “Mixing up morality and contractual obligations”
University of San Francisco faculty leader threatens Jesuit school with legal action if abortion removed from insurance coverage, says USF “not a Catholic school”

What Makes Higher Education "Higher?" by Daniel N. Robinson

Another piece in Public Discourse.

If the term “higher education” is to be distinguished from other forms of learning or training, surely the distinguishing feature cannot simply be the number of years students have devoted to the cultivation of one or another specific ability. Were that the case, the longer one worked at the grinding wheel or in the paint shop, the higher would one’s education be. No, what the term refers to is the study of things that are themselves higher; higher in the order of abstraction, higher in that plane of thought and of action on which the examined life is lived. Understood in these terms, higher education found itself a century and a half ago on a collision course with what the general public was equally pleased to call “the real world,” the world of commerce, careers and popular estimations of success.

How long has the term "higher education" been used to refer to university (or college) education? And what did it originally mean? The same as "advanced" education or learning? I agree with the substance of Mr. Robinson's essay, on the purpose of a university education. I just wonder if this minor historical/semantic point is correct. If it is not, is it sufficient to discredit his arguments?

From Public Discourse: Jennifer Roback Morse, The Institution Formerly Known As Marriage

So Sacramento has a Contra Dance/ECD group: Sacramento Area Contradances and English Country Dances. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to move to the area.

NLM: Archbishop Burke Celebrates Pontifical Mass in the Usus Antiquior in Lourdes

Has anyone read Alta Vendita?

The wiki entry which links to the document, in Italian.
Freemasonry and the Subversion of the Catholic Church . CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Carbonari.

From the Wilderness' Peak Oil Blog

THE SAUDI CAT IS OUT OF THE BAG -- AL NAIMI SAYS PRODUCTION TO FALL
by Michael C. Ruppert

Italian magazine interviews Richard Heinberg
Staff, Consapevole (Italy)
"The most likely scenario [is] a partial economic recovery that would be cut short by rising energy prices. The economic crisis will “help” only if we take this brief opportunity to implement drastic energy conservation measures and invest substantial sums in new renewable energy infrastructure." (Good summary of Heinberg's current thinking)

(original)

Spain's Crown Prince Felipe (L-R), Spain's Queen Sofia, France's First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, Spain's King Juan Carlos and Spain's Princess Letizia attend a photo session before dinner at the Royal Palace in Madrid April 27, 2009. Sarkozy is in Spain on a two-day state visit. (Reuters/Daylife)

Elysee.fr Présidence de la République
The Royal Household of His Majesty the King

Mary Ann Glendon refuses Laetare Medal

First Things: A Letter for Mary Ann Glendon
Statement by Father John Jenkins on the Laetare Medal

American Papist: Flash: Mary Ann Glendon *turns down* Notre Dame Laetare Medal
Update: Expert commentary on Glendon's noble refusal
Flash: Fr. Jenkins announces he will transfer Laetare Medal
Report: What Fr. Jenkins is telling top donors and ND officers
Breaking: White House responds to Glendon Refusal

Crunchy Con: Mary Ann Glendon: Keep your Dame medal!
Mirror of Justice: Mary Ann Glendon Declines Notre Dame's Laetare Medal

Laetare Medal
Laetare Medal // ND Report // University of Notre Dame

Mary Ann Glendon -- wiki
The President's Council on Bioethics: Mary Ann Glendon, J.D., L.LM.
EWTN.com - MARY ANN GLENDON ON TODAY'S UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
Google Books: Rights talk: the impoverishment of political discourse

ND Center for Ethics and Culture profile




In this photo released by the Vatican's L'Osservatore Romano newspaper, Pope Benedict XVI, left, looks on with Washington's new ambassador Mary Ann Glendon, before receiving her credentials at the Vatican, Friday Feb. 29, 2008. The pontiff told Glendon that he appreciates efforts by what he said are the many Americans opposed to abortion, euthanasia and gay marriage. He welcomed the American people's "historic" appreciation of the role of religion in shaping public policy. Mary Ann Glendon, a Harvard law professor and anti-abortion scholar, has taken up the post as ambassador to the Holy See just six weeks before Benedict's first trip to United States. (AP/Daylife)

VATICAN CITY - JUNE 13: (L to R) U.S. first lady Laura Bush, Pope Benedict XVI , U.S. President George W. Bush and U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Mary Ann Glendon (R) pose at the Tower of St. Giovanni, June 13, 2008 in Vatican City, the Vatican. Bush is skeduled to fly to Paris where he will speak at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (Getty/Daylife)

Misc: YouTube - Walker Percy at Notre Dame

Crunchy Con: Metropolitan Jonah in Moscow

Last weekend on the BBC Early Music Show--

Henry VII and Philip the Handsome
Catherine Bott explores the musical meeting in 1505 of Henry VII and Philip the Handsome.

Henry VIII Choirbook
Music from a choirbook gifted to Henry VIII

Some articles about the Jane Harman scandal

Philip Giraldi, Free Jane Harman, Some Things to Think About, and Making Jane Go Away
Justin Raimondo, Harmanic Convergence and The Shamelessness of Jane Harman

Do Americans care? Do Americans even understand what's at issue?

The Virtual Office of Congresswoman Jane Harman.

The philosophy major at Thomas More College in New Hampshire. You might wonder why there isn't a course on the philosophy of nature. It's in the Cowan Core Curriculum:

Natural Science I—Introduction to Natural History
Natural Science II: Nature and Motion

Something from the TMC Online Lecture Library:
"Every Little Social Commonwealth: Jane Austen’s Vision of Social Order” by Dr. Christopher Blum, Professor of Humanities, at the 2007 President's Council Symposium (November 3, 2007)
[mp3]

Sandro Magister, Anselm of Aosta: a "formidable thinker" among the modern prophets of nothing
Nine hundred years later, his "intelligence of faith" is still the main way through "our age of the proliferation of doubts." The blistering homily with which Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, in the name of the pope, opened the celebrations for the great doctor of the Church

Guardian UK: Reinventing MySpace: a new CEO is just the beginning

What will happen in 2 or 3 years to both MySpace and Facebook?

While American TV from the past can bring on nostalgia because of the characters and stories--but's not quite the same with Japanese and British television--there's something about just the music and the aesthetics of commercials and dramas that suffices.

Crunchy Con: James McWilliams: A contrarian agrarian

Will the Anti-Locavorism Never End? - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com
James McWilliams : Department of History : Texas State University
Food That Travels Well - New York Times
James E. McWilliams

Twitch: Return To Middle Earth With THE HUNT FOR GOLLUM!

AP: Swine flu confirmed in NYC high school students

Last night on Coast to Coast Radio I heard a whole bunch of conspiracy theories being tossed about. One theory was that the Chinese had introduced an engineered bioweapon into Mexico in order to get it into the U.S.

CDC - Influenza (Flu) Swine Influenza (Flu)
What is swine flu and how can humans catch it?‎
Mexico swine flu deaths spur global epidemic fears - Yahoo! News
Mexico fights swine flu with 'pandemic potential'

The American Papist: Update: Notre Dame offers to pay for Obama's visit and Video: Interview with Undersecretary of the CDF:

Ordo Praedicatorum (vocations blog for the Dominican Province of St. Joseph)

Zenit: Thomas Aquinas College's New Chapel and Thomas Aquinas College Buries Its President.

Andrew Bacevich, Obama's sins of omission (see also Style and Substance by Daniel Larison)