Photos: Benedict XVI wears saturno for the first time

Today had a quick story about this, so I figured there would be photos available online

Pope Benedict XVI wears a 'saturno hat', inspired by the ringed planet Saturn, to shield himself from the sun as he is driven through the crowd of faithful prior to his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2006. Pope Benedict XVI prayed to the Virgin Mary on Wednesday, wishing for a renewed season of faith and progress for the German people as he prepares to travel to his native country. The pope leaves Sept. 9 for a 5-day trip which will take him back to his native Bavaria, including stops in Munich and the village of Marktl am Inn, where he was born. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

Pope Benedict XVI wears a red hat as he arrives to lead his weekly general audience in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican September 6, 2006. REUTERS/Max Rossi (VATICAN)

Austrian faithful wear their traditional caps as they wait the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI to lead his weekly general audience in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican September 6, 2006. REUTERS/Max Rossi (VATICAN)

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SK: Intellectuals Come Out Against Sole Troop Control

Intellectuals Come Out Against Sole Troop Control

Intellectuals on Tuesday broke their silence on Korea’s plans to take over wartime operational control of its troops from the U.S. Protests against the plan so far were primarily led by retired generals and former defense ministers, but now civil servants and serving officers, lawyers, activists and business leaders as well as academics signed a petition urging the government to scrap the plan. “The Roh Moo-hyun administration is politicizing the security issue,” a group of 722 signatories said in a statement announced at a press conference in Myeongdong. “If we take over wartime operational control and Combined Forces Command is dismantled, it could cause our security environment to deteriorate and our military dependence on the U.S. and Japan would increase further.”

The statement said while many Korean intellectuals “have been critical of the structure of the Korea-U.S. alliance, which is not based on an equal partnership, and have argued for taking back wartime operational control from the U.S., the alliance currently maintains an optimal security cooperation based on an equal partnership and mutual respect.” They added it was “unreasonable” to pursue on a critical security issue that could determine national survival for political gain. “Exercising sole wartime operational control requires a huge amount of money, which is why we need to discuss the issue only after becoming an advanced nation. The truth is that we do not have the capability required to exercise sole wartime operational control,” the statement said. “It will not be too late to raise the issue after North Korea gives up its nuclear program and the two Koreas build a peace framework on the peninsula.” (englishnews@chosun.com )

A rather Confucian action to take. I can't think of anything comparable being done by U.S. academics; perhaps some signed a petition against the second Gulf War, but no organized effort. Perhaps our so-called intellectuals cannot be taken seriously as neutral observers interested only in the common good, given their supposed partisan leanings.

Old interview with Gabriel Suarez

From October 2003

Some excerpts:

Since then, I've always taken a very pragmatic approach to any fighting concept or method, whether it involves guns, knives, or fists. This hasn't endeared me to traditional trainers in the gun world (I think there's got to be a Gabe Hater’s Club out there somewhere), but I question everything. You have to do this. Doctors are not the only ones who bury their mistakes.
As for the firearms side of the package, I was largely self-taught up to the point when I entered law enforcement. Then my credentials opened lots of doors for training, so I took every opportunity to learn. I'll be painfully honest--most police shooting schools are trash and are more concerned with teaching tolerance and politically correct shooting than gunfighting. When the cops want to learn gunfighting, they go to the civilian schools. The state of the art resides in the private sector.

My turning point came when I went to train with Jeff Cooper at Gunsite Academy in 1989. Jeff is a true warrior, and he helped me to codify what was the correct mental attitude in a fight. Police schools make people think they are going to go to pieces and start crying, and such, in a gunfight. Cooper taught that this was not so and gave us alternatives to the commonly held notions. “Getting my mind right” was my primary focus in those days, and much of what I’ve learned since then is written in my new book, The Combative Perspective (Paladin Press, September 2003).

Gunsite Academy

I trained with Jeff a few more times. We became good friends, and I learned more in the conversations I had at his house than in all the police schools I attended put together. I still credit him with pointing me in the right direction in terms of marksmanship, but I do not teach or train his methodology any longer. Unwittingly through the years, I was blending the martial arts concepts and the gun, but that would only become evident to me later when I began to write the training curriculum for one of the courses I teach, Close-Range Gunfighting.

From the Q&A section:

Paladin: You say that "traditional" firearm trainers take issue with your teachings. Which specific concepts or techniques do they disapprove of and why?

GS: Well, you have a group of established teachers and schools stating that you must use their methods because they are the best and nobody else has any answers. They say you must shoot this special $2,000 pistol; stand this special, school-approved way; use this approved technique; and so on. Then I come along and kick their food bowl all the way out of the house by saying, “Shoot any kind of gun you want, don't stand but move—and move like you are going to fight. Integrate hand-to-hand combat and the gun, and use whatever technique works for you.” To the student it is liberating; to the traditional trainer it’s a nightmare of questions.

Paladin: You criticize police shooting practices as too "politically correct." What do you mean by that?
GS: The majority of officially sanctioned police schools that I have attended, whose course outlines I've read, or whose students I've trained, do not focus on the same type of material you'd get at a private-sector training event. And that includes many industry-sponsored schools as well. Oftentimes, their overall focus is to make cops so afraid of the repercussions of shooting anyone that they are almost afraid to take their guns to work. In one class, the training cadre was made up of Internal Affairs investigators! And that was a tactics class. I had one administrator (who was prominent in training cops and now is a vice-chief in Southern California) tell me, "It’s not about enforcement; it’s about perception." I laugh when some trainer advertises his class as “for police only,” as if that phrase somehow makes the class more advanced or the topics more "deadly." Rubbish. The state of the art resides in the private sector salles d'armes, the unofficial shooting schools.

Suarez International
(alt?)

Vatican Agency Honors Chinese Film Director

Vatican Agency Honors Chinese Film Director

Zhang Yuan Hopes His Award Will Bridge Cultures

VENICE, Italy, SEPT. 5, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications gave the Robert Bresson Award to Chinese film director Zhang Yuan, saying the honor is "a cultural bridge."

Archbishop John Foley gave the award today in the context of the Venice Film Festival.

Zhang Yuan, born in Nanjing in 1963, was honored in Venice in 1999 when he received a Silver Lion for his film "Seventeen Years," a story of redemption and forgiveness.

"Zhang Yuan is a sincere spokesman of this great artistic and human lesson that Chinese cinema gives the West," explained Vatican Radio when reporting the award.

Archbishop Foley said on Vatican Radio that the award is "a cultural bridge" and hopes "it will be very important for the film industry in China."

Universal value

For his part, Zhang commented: "It is a particularly happy day for me. Archbishop Foley came from Rome especially to give me this Vatican award, an award that not only honors me personally, but which I believe has universal value.

"The Vatican is a state, which has a very influential culture on the whole of humanity, and China has more than 1 billion inhabitants," the director added. "Despite this factual data, the two states do not have diplomatic relations. I hope I will be the first brick of a bridge that unites both cultures. This is the greatest meaning I see in the award."

The Robert Bresson Award, in its seventh edition, is conferred by the Pontifical Councils for Culture and for Social Communications, Italy's Entertainment Entity and the Italian magazine " Il Cinematografo."

I had not heard of Zhang before this; are any of his films available in the U.S. on DVD?

Dok Bua Thai Kitchen

website

After going to Fed Ex this afternoon in South Boston to pick up some of her packages (and we travelled through the same neighborhood the New Scot and I drove through last year, looking for an Irish pub with live music--no luck then), Fujian Gal and I went to Dok Bua Thai Kitchen on Harvard St.

The popcorn chicken was deep fried and overcooked--very hard, and not much flavor. Not as good as the popcorn chicken one would get a Q Cup (whoa, I didn't know that Q-Taste was doing something illegal; official notice; are the shops in Milpitas and Vallco Village still open?), and even the popcorn chicken there wasn't so great. One could probably do a better job making one's own, but it would require more work, batter, egg, spices, deep-fry...

We also ordered Larb salad with pork--it was very spicy; so spicy that Fujian Gal gave up eating it... does eating spicy foods regularly kill the taste buds? I managed, but I had to drink a lot of water... so I was able to taste everything else... alas, was there anything to taste?

Fujian Gal ordered vermicelli with chinese broccoli and chicken; I ordered a dinner special, pad-bai-gra-pow with beef. The beef was tough and overcooked. The vermicelli was ok; I'm not sure where the "seafood" taste came from--Thai version of oyster sauce? Some other sauce? With the dinner special I got tom-yum soup; the sourness of the lemon juice was rather strong, but it wasn't too spicy.

The dessert, sliced mango with sticky rice was slightly warm; I was surprised, I thought it would be a cold dish. The mango was of course not fully ripe--it is hard to slice mango when it is ripe, it is just too soft. The sticky rice was good, but not something I really wanted to eat after such a large meal. Coconut milk covered everything. Probably the best part of the meal.

The prices were ok, and it might be a nice place to hang out and get a snack with one's friends. Reminded me of that one (Chinese?) restaurant KK and I went to in Chicago. But that one was better. I'm not sure if I would return to Dok Bua though.

From Fox 25 news:
Hrm, evidently Massachusetts is investigating Fung Wah bus driver for safety violations after another accident. A Fung Wah bus rolled off the exit ramp; took a turn to fast, hit the curb and the bus tipped right over, crashing on the driver's side. Last August a bus caught on fire; passengers are blaming the driver for this accident. Authorities have said the safety record for the company has improved sinec the bus fire. The bus driver is facing only one charge for now, speeding. Will the state be looking at the company again?

I wonder--No more Chinatown express to NYC? Is the other company being investigated as well. (I would guess not, since there haven't been any problems with it.)

Sami Moubayed, Iraq Loses Its Voice of Reason

article

Mr. Daniel Larison writes in response to the Daily Telegraph's article:

It’s over. Sistani’s influence was one of the last things keeping this from becoming a complete nightmare. If anyone needed a clear sign that now was the time for us to get out, this is it.

So how close is Iraq to being plunged into a civil war? And is there any way for the U.S. to negotiate some sort of arrangement that would lead to a relative peaceful break-up of the country? (Or would that be impossible, given the parties involved, Sunnis, Shia, and Kurds? And what role does oil have to play in keeping the country "unified" and under the control of a central government? That is, would countries have the same level of access to the oil in the region if the country were divided?

The ayatollah has his own website, which is rather sophisticated. How much infrastructure is needed to make this possible, and who are the people who can access this website? (How many Iraqis can? Or is it necessary for them to--do they have more direct links to the ayatollah and his teachings?)

Pallavi Aiyar, Islam with Chinese characteristics

Islam with Chinese characteristics
By Pallavi Aiyar

YINCHUAN, China - The muezzin sounds the evening call to prayer. White skullcaps glint in the fading brightness of the setting sun as the faithful make their way into the mosque. The shush of whispered "salam alaikums" fills the hall. Outside, the mosque's minarets stretch up into the sky; a single crescent moon decorates the top of the green dome.

An unremarkable scene were it not for the fact that this mosque is tucked away in the landlocked interior of officially atheist and traditionally Buddhist China. When the imam preaches, he speaks Mandarin. Under the skullcaps and behind the veils of the men and women gathered, there are Chinese faces concentrated in prayer.

Reliable data are difficult to obtain, but China's estimated 20 million to 30 million Muslims may in fact be the second-largest religious community in the country, after the 100 million or so Buddhists. Islam in China is moreover in the process of a strong revival, spurred on by increasing trade links with the Middle East that have ended the centuries-long isolation of Chinese Muslims from the wider Islamic world.

Orthodoxy among Chinese Muslims is on the rise as ever larger numbers go on hajj and youngsters return from their studies abroad in Muslim countries. Nonetheless, Chinese Islam retains characteristics that set it apart. The communist revolution with its emphasis on gender equality has left its mark here. Mao Zedong famously said that "women hold up half the sky", a lesson China's Muslims seem to have imbibed well. Female imams such as Nu Ahong and exclusively female mosques such as Nu Si play a unique role in the Middle Kingdom.

Islam in China has a long tradition stretching back more than 1,200 years. The largest community among the Chinese Muslim groups is the Hui. Numbering about 10 million, the Hui are descendents of Middle Eastern traders and their converts who first traveled to China along the silk route during the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-906). Centuries of isolation meant that they blended in with the largely Confucian and Buddhist Han Chinese who make up more than 90% of the modern nation's population.

The Hui speak Mandarin and look like Han. The primary way of telling the two communities apart has traditionally been the absence of pork, a meat that is the primary staple for Han, from the diet of Hui Muslims. The Hui are also not to be confused with the other large Muslim minority group in China, the Uighurs, who are of Turkic ethnicity and live mostly in the western autonomous region of Xinjiang.
...

In the past the Hui were among the least orthodox Muslims in the world. Many smoked and drank, few grew beards, and Hui women rarely wore veils. Increased contact with the Middle East, however, has wrought changes. Thousands of Hui students have returned from colleges in Arab countries over the past few years and they have brought with them stricter ideas of Islam. Mosques in Ningxia have now begun to receive worshippers five times a day, more Hui women have taken to wearing headscarves, and skullcaps are in wide evidence.

There is a strong identification among the Hui community today with the wider problems of the Islamic world. "It's American policy that has given all of us Muslims a bad reputation," said Yang, Tai Zi Mosque's female imam, quivering with indignation. "We are a peace-loving religion, but look what they [the Americans] have turned us into. Look what lies they spread about us," she continued. The 50 women surrounding her all nodded slowly in assent.

For many non-Muslim Chinese, this identification of the Hui with communities outside of China is problematic. "Earlier the Hui were just like us except they didn't eat pork. Now they think they are very special. They think of themselves as foreigners," a Foreign Office official in Ningxia complained.

The Hui are exempt from China's one-child policy, and affirmative-action schemes reserve special seats for them at universities and government departments. In interior regions such as Ningxia that have been left out of the economic boom of China's coastal region, competition for jobs is intense and resentment against the Hui's "special" privileges is increasing.

Confrontations between the two communities are often sparked by minor incidents. In 2004, for example, large parts of Henan province were placed under curfew after fighting between Hui and Han left dozens dead. The fighting began when a Hui man bumped into a Han girl with his vehicle and refused to pay compensation.

"The main job of every government official in Ningxia these days is to keep the peace with the Hui," said the Foreign Office official.

For the Hui, greater freedoms and contact with the wider world mean they must undertake the difficult task of negotiating among their increasingly complex identities: at once Muslim, Hui and Chinese. For the Han, the challenge is to foster Hui culture without alienating the community from the rest of Chinese society. The manner in which both sides address these challenges will be key to the maintenance of social stability in China in the coming years.

William Whalen on Masonry

The Origins of Masonry (an excerpt from his book Christianity and American Freemasonry)
The Masonic Religion
Christianity and the Lodge

Interview with John Sharpe

Mr. Sharpe is head of IHS Press.

the interview, at Distributist Review

An excerpt:

Getting to the heart of what you publish, some people like to call Distributism Communism, mind you these people often misspell Capitalism as Catholicism, but how do you respond to the communism claim?

People who throw these labels around rarely understand what they mean in a real and historical sense. Communism, in its essence, is the denial of the existence of the right of private individuals or families to own productive property. It’s not the “curtailing” of that right, the “limitation” or “direction” of it, or the denial of it in limited, particular circumstances. It is the principled denial of the idea that families and individuals have the right to own productive property, and absent that denial there is no Communism or Socialism. And unless you can prove that someone engages in that categorical denial, you can’t, either accurately or validly, call him a Communist. You can look that up in Cathrein’s “magisterial” work on Socialism.

If you take the broad definition of Socialism or Communism that many neocons and Capitalists use, everyone who mails a letter at the Post Office – which is owned and operated by the government -- is at least implicitly “conspiring” with Communists for the destruction of private ownership. But that’s pure and simple nonsense, isn’t it? Indeed, how do these people react when they read the words of Pius XI where he says, “certain kinds of property, it is rightly contended, ought to be reserved to the State since they carry with them a dominating power so great that cannot without danger to the general welfare be entrusted to private individuals”? Was he a Communist too because he allowed for public ownership of certain kinds of enterprises?

As for Distributism, how one gets from a doctrine or philosophy that says that there should be MORE widespread private ownership of productive property to a doctrine which denies ownership of productive property to men and families is a complete mystery to me. Frankly, it is intellectually dishonest to even imply that there is any similarity between Distributism and Communism (unless you’re operating at the level of the absolutely absurd, like saying Distributism and Communism are somehow ideological “cousins” because both are, quite similarly, not the word “catfish”). Those like TIA who try to hint at that similarity by reviewing books by Arthur Penty and illustrating the reviews with pictures of Joseph Stalin are coming very close to LYING. If advocating that the use and ownership of private property be controlled and limited in view of the common good is Stalinism, then Pius XI is a Stalinist. Look at QA §49: “when the State brings private ownership into harmony with the needs of the common good, it does not commit a hostile act against private owners but rather does them a friendly service....”

Finally, if these were honest scholars were making honorable investigations into Distributism, they’d feel compelled to read the primary sources of the Distributists, which denounced Communism and Collectivism time and time again. Think of Penty’s Communism and the Alternative (1933) or the Belloc pamphlets against Socialism or the “manifesto” of the Distributists, before Penty’s of 1937, called Liberty and Property by H. E. Humphries from 1930, in which he calls Communism “utterly opposed to Distributism”; “Our difference with the Communists,” he says, “is on philosophy and therefore on everything else.”

Also, people who haven’t bothered to read a single Distributist work characterize it as a “forcible equal redistribution” of land a la the land confiscations of the communists. Beyond the fact that this absurd idea is not to be found in any single work of any single distributist, do you characterize your work as aiming for such a goal?

No. One who would maintain the contrary would be obligated to provide proofs that we pursue such an aim; and those proofs would be 100% impossible to find.

As for the Distributists generally, one might profitably recall Chesterton’s remark at the end of What’s Wrong with the World: “In speaking of a sweeping redistribution, I speak of decision in the aim, not necessarily of abruptness in the means. It is not at all too late to restore an approximately rational state of English possessions without any mere confiscation.”

Seems pretty clear, doesn’t it? But then I know that it’s a lot to ask of some people that they take the words of me, my colleagues and contacts, and our much more worthy predecessors at face value. There is always the more-or-less unsubstantiated imputation of some kind of sinister motive – like your friend’s suggestion that I’m clamoring after the “instruments of power.” But again, none of this can be substantiated by anything I or any Distributist has ever said or written.

All that said, I think that intellectual honesty demands that we admit that the question of the state seizing (or “facilitating” the sale of) an unused or neglected piece of surplus land from a wealthy landowner – again, after compensating him for it in some fashion – and making it available for sale to the landless proletarian at an affordable price, so that he too can own a piece of productive property, is perfectly acceptable according to Catholic doctrine. No one is proposing this today, and no one can even think about doing it today (at least not in this country...). Anyway, the author of Quadragesimo Anno – Oswald von Nell-Breuning, S. J. – says as much explicitly in his commentary on the encyclical he drafted for Pius XI, and in a way the entire history of the land movement in Ireland bears the point out. The great Cardinal Manning of England supported this Irish movement, and he was hardly squeamish on doctrine. Again, not that it’s likely to happen in this country today, or that’s it’s even an approach that anyone’s seriously recommending, but it is worth knowing what the Church’s experts and thinkers have said and written on a given topic before hurling epithets.

Well is the label Distributism problematic, since it may imply a RE-distribution?

Let’s start with a counter example, the term ‘Collectivism.” What exactly does someone mean by “Collectivist”?

First, he means someone who thinks that productive property should be owned in some fashion by the community, and second he means someone who views that collective holding of productive property as a refutation of the idea that productive property can be privately owned. So the essence – as we looked at a little before – is a denial of the right of private ownership of productive property. But it implies nothing about how that denial is to be realized. It might be Stalinist-style, murdering everyone who doesn’t give up his land, or it might be Fabian-style, implemented through voting, bureaucratic reform, and propaganda. The point is that the term “Collectivism” says a lot about the ideal form of society, according to Collectivists, but it says quite a little about how that form is to be brought about.

So with Distributism. The goal is a widespread distribution of ownership of productive property. How one gets there is another question, and those who say that Distributism necessarily implies a wholesale “re-distribution” make as much sense as those who insist that “Collectivism” necessarily means a wholesale “re-collection.”

Now this isn’t to say that “Distributism” isn’t a bit of an awkward word. Would it, however, be too much to ask that those who criticize the term – and point out that the Church never herself used it – familiarize themselves with the actual works of the Distributists? These Distributists themselves admitted that “Distributism” was an awkward, novel, and even undesirable word invented to express an idea that was so common as to, in fact, lack a specific term, owing indeed to the idea’s commonness. Will Titterton’s 1936 memoir of GKC records Belloc even jokingly “apologizing to God and man” for having invented the term, if he did indeed invent it, during the first official meeting of the Distributist League in 1926. But of course this doesn’t mean that the term is necessarily vague. It’s actually quite clear, and the articles of Irish political economist Charles Stanton Devas in the old Catholic Encyclopedia do quite a nice job of hinting at exactly what Distributists are aiming for, if in case GKC’s Outline of Sanity and Belloc’s few essays aren’t enough. Devas says: “the proper unfolding of human liberty and personality is historically bound up with [private property], and cannot develop where each person is only a sharer in a compulsory partnership, or, on the other hand, where property is confined to a privileged few. Suitably, therefore, the same Pope who had defended the true dignity and true liberty of man urged the diffusion [emphasis mine; he almost says “distribution”...whew, that was close] of property as the mean between Socialism and Individualism, and that where possible each citizen should dwell secure in a homestead which, however humble, was his own.”

As for keeping the term “Distributism,” let’s also bear in mind that we do have some obligation to historical accuracy and continuity. Catholics, of all people, should recognize the importance of doctrinal and even semantic continuity – remember how sacred the formulas themselves of our Faith are, along with the actual Faith they express. The fact of the matter is that for the last several hundred years priests and laity alike, thinkers and doers alike – all loyal sons of the Church – have risen up to speak with Christian Faith on matters of society, politics, economics. In England in the 1910s, 20s, and 30s, a good portion of the men who did this were known as or called themselves Distributists. It’s simply a fact. Why not just admit it, live with it, pick up their torch, and carry it on?

Isn’t it intellectually dishonest for people to pretend they know what they’re talking about when they have never bothered to read a single Distributist work, such as the seminal An Essay on the Restoration of Property?

Agreed. But, interestingly, that doesn’t stop them from pontificating about all the evils of Distributism and those who advocate it. A more honorable, honest, and even Catholic approach would be to figure out what Distributism is, and then praise it or condemn it insofar as it is deserving, one way or another. If Distributism is so obviously against the Faith or condemned in light of Catholic doctrine, why are these very noisy critics so short on critical substance? The only piece to attempt – and I give him credit for at least sticking to substance – such a critique was John Clark’s scandalous hatchet-job of Belloc in The Latin Mass some years ago, and anyone who knows what Belloc believed and what the Church teaches knows that Mr. Clark was way off the mark. It’s a shame and a disappointment that TLM ever printed it. But again, it illustrates, by contrast almost, how plainly obvious it is that the Distributist vision is perfectly compatible with the Faith.

John, getting back to the idea of private property, there are some people in America, and lamentably, even some Traditional Catholics, who believe that private property comes with unlimited rights. No one can tell me how much property I can buy with my money.

That’s an outrageous assertion, at least for a Catholic. Narrowly considered, it’s fine to argue that a Catholic social order would not set a specific limit as to how much money you would have or how much land you would own. But that completely misses the point, because the issue isn’t how much property you have to consume (although I think it’s safe to say that the capitalistic “spirit,” indeed the whole mood of secular economics, whether Capitalist or Socialist, which sees man’s purpose as amassing and consuming as much property as possible, militates against the Catholic spirit of poverty which looks only for a frugal and becoming sufficiency of material goods, and therefore consciously rejects pursuit of more than necessary, and even feels an obligation to dispense surplus to those in need).

Rather the issue is, first, about productive property, and, second, what having too much does to the opportunity of others to have their share and to employ it productively. The argument against Wal-Mart isn’t simply that it’s big and sells lots of junk (though from a cultural or aesthetic standpoint those are probably valid criticisms), it’s that its bigness enables it to exercise an unfair advantage over smaller firms that are unable to compete – even while those firms represent people’s livelihoods and people’s fair share of productive property, the ownership of which everyone is entitled to, as Leo XIII and Pius XI made so perfectly clear. Note that I didn’t say “resources are finite” and people shouldn’t have more than their share. There’s a little truth to that – as in the case of land, for instance – but it’s not completely true. The more compelling point is that a certain huge mass of wealth enables companies to take competitive actions that shuts out their smaller competitors, and which they simply wouldn’t be able to do if they weren’t possessed of so much productive property.

When Henry VIII and his “nobles” confiscated the common lands that were held in trust by the community or the Church for use by those who would otherwise have been landless, the question was not really one of how he shouldn’t have enriched himself (by feudal law he was overlord of all England, anyway, so he had more than he could have ever been able to use or enjoy). It was more one of what the enclosures did to those who needed their small share of productive property, even if commonly held in trust, to provide themselves with both physical sustenance and also with – and this is even more important, and it’s an argument against the technology worshipers who say that people don’t need gardens and plots of land because technology makes all the “stuff’ (for consumption, mind you) we could possibly need – the sense of ownership, control, stewardship, and responsibility over the material means of their livelihoods, which has its own spiritual, moral, intellectual, and psychological benefits, and which is absolutely essential for all of us truly to work out our salvation while on pilgrimage toward heaven. These enclosures not only directly deprived peasants their share of ownership of common land, they massively enriched the textile manufacturers and merchants so that their newfound concentration of wealth could be employed to crush small competition – the guilds, basically – and enable the further amassing of wealth, unto the vicious cycle we have today. If anyone doubts this, let him look at the Shared Capitalism Institute’s statistics, which until recently (evidently) were available on the net, and quite convincing.

Thanks to Traditio in Radice.

IHS Press books are moderately priced; I'd love to have their entire collection, but that is out of the question at the present moment.

Notes:
Fringe Watch v. Catholic Neocon Observer
plus this link

It is inevitable that there be a political dimension to Catholicism, because everything needs to be ordered to God and Christ, including the life of the political community. It only underscores the need for a definitive "Catholic social teaching" to provide the principles (and limits) for discussion.

Reaction from Spanish viewers of Alatriste not so good

Those who sent in their reports to AICN, at least...

apparently, they tried to pack too much in 2.5 hours by squeezing 5 novels into one movie. Now why would they do that, instead of leaving room for sequels?

Then again, the sequel to Horseman on the Roof never got made. Maybe Europeans are more cautious about planning for sequels...

Let's see if Russell Crowe does another Captain Jack Aubrey movie...

Economic "progress" in China, at what cost?

Two articles from Asia News today:

Migrants’ wages increase in Guangdong

Migrant workers: pariahs of the economic miracle

Magister: The Pope Rewrites the Handbook of the Good Pastor

The Pope Rewrites the Handbook of the Good Pastor

6. ON THE ART OF CELEBRATING THE MASS

In his “Rule,” Saint Benedict says to the monks, speaking of the recitation of the Psalms: “Mens concordet voci,” the heart should be in accord with the voice, with the words. [...] The Sacred Liturgy gives us the words; we must enter into these words, and find a harmony with this reality that precedes us.

Apart from this, we should also learn to understand the structure of the liturgy, and why it is arranged as it is. The liturgy developed over two millennia, and even after the reform [of Vatican Council II] it did not become something concocted by a few liturgists. It remains always the continuation of that perennial unfolding of adoration and proclamation. And so it is very important, in order to attune ourselves, that we understand this structure that has developed through time and enter with our minds into the “voice” of the Church. [...]

This is the first condition: we ourselves must interiorize the structure, the words of the liturgy, the word of God. Thus our celebration really becomes a celebration together with the Church: our hearts are opened wider, and we are not just performing any sort of act, but we are joined with the Church in conversation with God. It seems to me that the people sense whether we are truly in conversation with God and with them, and are drawing others into our common prayer and into the communion of the children of God, or whether we are just going through the motions. The fundamental element of the true “ars celebrandi” is this harmony, this concord between what we say with our lips and what we think in our hearts. [...]

In other words, the “ars celebrandi” is meant as an invitation, not to some sort of theater or spectacle, but to an interiority that makes itself felt and becomes acceptable and evident to those present. Only if they see that this is not an external, showy “ars” – we are not actors! – but the expression of the journey of our hearts, which also draws their hearts, only then does the liturgy becomes beautiful, it becomes the communion of all those present with the Lord.

Naturally, to this fundamental condition expressed in the words of Saint Benedict “Mens concordet voci” – the heart should be truly raised up, elevated to the Lord – external things must be added as well. We must learn to pronounce the words well. Sometimes, when I was still a professor in my own country, the young people read the Sacred Scripture [at Mass]. And they read it as one reads the text of a poet one does not understand. Naturally, to learn to pronounce well, one must first understand the dramatic nature of the text, its immediacy. So also with the preface. And the Eucharistic prayer. It is difficult for the faithful to follow a text as long as that of our Eucharistic prayer. This leads to the birth of certain “inventions.” But the constant creation of new Eucharistic prayers does not address the problem. The problem is that this is a moment that should also invite others to silence with God and prayer with God. So things can go better only if the Eucharistic prayer is pronounced well, which includes the appropriate moments of silence, if it is pronounced with interior devotion, but also with refinement of speech. [...] I think we must also find opportunities in catechesis, homilies, and on other occasions, to explain this Eucharistic prayer thoroughly to the people of God, so that they can follow its major outlines – the recounting of the words of institution, the prayer for the living and the dead, the giving of thanks to the Lord, the epiclesis – to achieve the community’s genuine involvement in this prayer.

So the words must be pronounced well. There must also be adequate preparation. The acolytes must know what to do, the lectors must truly understand how to pronounce the words. And then the choir, the singing, must be prepared, and the altar must be decorated well. All of this is part – even if it’s a matter of many practical things – of that “ars celebrandi” that [...] is the art of entering into communion with the Lord.

Meanwhile, those concerned with liturgical reform wait for something to be issued from Rome...

House, M.D.

Official website.

The New Scot and Watcher like this show.

It stars Hugh Laurie as Dr. Gregory House:








I think Hugh Laurie is good-looking for his age, even if he is tall and skinny. (What Brit actor isn't?)

It also stars Jesse Spencer, Jennifer Morrison, Omar Epps, Hugh Laurie, Lisa Edelstein, Robert Sean Leonard, Sela Ward (as his ex-wife):








More Yahoo! photos.

House leads his team of young doctors as they are confronted each week with a new baffling illness that requires their specialized attention. As a medical diagnostic mystery, the show is decent, but I think it's the "drama" that people are hooked to.

A cantankerous, misanthrope of a doctor, with a lousy beside manner--in fact he's usually downright hostile to patients and their loved ones. Why wouldn't he be? They're not honest with him and House sayinh things like, "Don't believe what people say, people lie"or"i'm not your husband, you don't have to lie to me"

Is House a hero? Someone was disturbed by the fact that House is such a favorite among Americans (especially males?)--I can't find the article or blog post right now; I vaguely associate it with Mere Comments, but I don't know if it is really there. (*edit -- it's at Boundless*) A flawed man who is addicted to painkillers and couldn't keep his marriage together because he drove his wife away. Bitter because one of his legs is paralyzed and he can no longer have the active sports lifestyle that he once had. Who can't relate to that? But maybe that is part of the problem. However, I don't think House makes excuses for himself. Does the fact that people like the character mean that people secretly wish they could be nasty in their interpersonal relations and get away with it? I don't think that is necessarily the case--I think they sympathize with a screw-up who is good at his profession but messes everything else up.

(Does he blame his ex-wife for choosing the surgery which left his leg paralyzed but saved his life? I'm not clear on that one. However, it appears that he would have preferred to save the leg, even if it would have cost him his life. Unreasonable, and he's definitely self-centered.)

He and his ex-wife had a tryst last season; if their marriage was valid, it's not adultery, even if she did get "re-married," but I think that it was cheating in her mind. But I wasn't paying attention to her reaction, so I'm not sure. She did want to leave her current husband for House though. I'm not a regular watcher of House, so I don't know how that story arc is proceeding.

I think Jennifer Morrison is pretty. (She plays Dr. Allison Cameron.)







Then there is Sela Ward, playing House's ex-wife Stacy Warner. (And yes, Lady Downstairs, she is over the age of 40.)




The Fall 2006 season premiere is scheduled for September 5. (Tomorrow!)

House Fansites
House M.D. Guide; Resources (has links to other pages)
HouseTV.org

Watcher prefers House over 24; next season of 24 won't start until next January. We'll see what happens to Jack Bauer next (and how he survives the ending of last season).










More Yahoo! photos for 24.

24 Fansites:
Official fanclub
24 Fans
www.kiefersutherland24.net
24weblog.com

Hrm, Bo Derek has a new series, Fashion House. (Fashion House also stars Morgan Fairchild--I don't know how they maintain their appearance, though Bo Derek claims to use nothing.) It and Desire are styled after Spanish telenovelas, and will be shown M-F on the first HDTV network, myNetworkTV. (Her official website.)

A promo pic of Bo Derek from the show. (And she's almost 50, dob: November 20, 1956.)


Youtube clip from Fashion House of Derek fighting with Fairchild.

Which reminds me, Project Runway photos at Yahoo!.

Mannam by Han Moo-Sook

I plan on getting the novel, but the English translation. Too bad I don't know Korean; otherwise I would read it in the original language. The novel is about the scholar Chong Yak-yong, also known as Tasan.

Review of the English translation (according to the novel? Chong apostasized; I don't know if he did, and if he did, whether he repented or not, but the wiki entry makes no mention of it).

Han Moo-Sook's house (?)

Young-Key Kim-Renaud's homepage (biographical sketch)
(daughter of Han Moo-Sook)

Korean Philosophy: Its Tradition and Modern Transformation

Regis Nicoll, Desperate Coeds

The first paragraph:

The Confusion of Campus Romance

On a recent to visit Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, I picked up a copy of the student newspaper and read with interest an op-ed by Michelle Hope, “Is Rhodes too sexually conservative?” What prompted Michelle’s article was a conference she attended the previous weekend for college editors. The topic? Sex and relationships on college campuses. The host? Trojan, the condom manufacturer.

Little surprise, then, at Michelle’s embarrassment to learn that her small liberal arts school in the buckle of the Bible Belt was the only college (among Princeton, UNC, Harvard, Duke, Rutgers, and others) without condom machines in the dorms. Rhodes also had the distinction of being one of only two schools without a sex column in their student publications.

Upon reflection, Michelle felt this explained the “shallow culture” in which many of her peers found it “hard to meet new friends” and had difficulty reaching “closure on failed relationships.” “Huh?” you twitch. More in a moment.

Togos, and Chinese fast food

A local chain in California (does it exist elsewhere? maybe in Texas), it's my favorite, definitely better than Subway or Quiznos. (It's also better than the local delis around here in Brighton.) Although in principle I should like the local Vietnamese restaurants in California, because they are local, I don't like the sandwiches so much (although the bread is very good!).

I don't know what chains there are in So Cal. KK probably has a better idea. There is Jerry's Famous Deli (which also exists in Florida).

I usually get the Italian or the Ham and Cheese at Togos...

Hrm. Chopstix. (Guide to Chinese cuisine.) I wonder how authentic this website is.

I don't care much for Chinese fastfood--Panda Express, definitely not Chef Chau's; Pei Wei is ok. I have not tried Yan Can (no official website yet; another intro here; interview with Martin Yan); I have heard that the sauces taste generic. There is another chain in SoCal called Pick Up Stix, I haven't seen any in NoCal. (Whoa, there is one in Cupertino. Must be new.) Maybe I would try it if I got desperate. But in general I stay away from Chinese or Asian fast food chains... the food isn't authentic enough.

But I do like cafes/restaurants offering quick service (and usually pearl drinks and snacks) like Cafe Leido, in SoCal. Unfortunately I can't find the address online. There are some in and around Cupertino, but the quality of the food generally isn't as good as what one would find in a normal restaurant...

Steve Irwin killed by stingray

article here

Fallen Creation is not safe for man. Something we need to keep in mind.

Crocodile Hunter website (currently down?)
Animal Planet
Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course movie website (another)

JHK visits New Zealand

and reflects

I don't think I'll be able to save enough money to immigrate to NZ. Ah well... I'm not sure if I would want to move there, despite the natural beauty and agricultural/permacultural promise... more on the reasons why later, when I talk about returning to CA.

Rob Hopkins, Why the Survivalists Have Got it Wrong

Why the Survivalists Have Got It Wrong.
by Rob Hopkins

A response to Preparing for the Crash by Zachary Nowak.

How much longer? The end of the oil era looms. (Alexander Jung)

The Demise of a Techno-fix Psyche. (Brandon Marshall)

"Church destroyed in Fujian, another to follow shortly"

4 September, 2006
CHINA
Church destroyed in Fujian, another to follow shortly

The police consider the buildings to be threats against security. Two Catholics were injured. The community saved for years to fund the constructions and now they feel “pained and indignant”.

Rome (AsiaNews) – Police of Pingtan (Fujian) have destroyed a church in Yutouchang village and have sworn to demolish another in a neighbouring village.

Around 500 policemen and local officials appeared at 8am (local time) on 1 September to destroy a church of the unofficial community of Fujian. The church stood in Yutouchang village on the islet of Pingtang off Fuzhou (Fujian). For some time, the island, not far from the Chinese coast, has hosted at least 10,000 unofficial Catholics.

AsiaNews sources in China revealed that the police arrived with bulldozers to destroy the building – illegal according to Chinese law – and they beat some believers who sought to stop the demolition. Two people were injured. The church was completed in July 2006: covering an area of 1000 square metres, it cost 400,000 yuan (40,000 euros).

The police also warned that in the coming days they will destroy another church that is under construction in Ao Qian village. In recent years, Ao Qian’s community of 400 believers, mostly fishermen, contributed tithes to raise more than 500,000 yuan to build the church. The building covers an area of 250 square metres and has more than one floor. The AsiaNews sources said: “Our people sacrificed themselves, even saving on food, to be able to build this church. But now the government ignores the blood and sweat of these poor people and is destroying everything. All this is completely ridiculous and we feel pained and indignant!”

The police justify these demolitions by citing “security reasons”. China allows the practice of religion only in places of worship registered by the Religious Affairs Department and considers practice in illegal places of worship to be a threat to security.

In Fujian, there is a strong unofficial community that refuses to be registered for fear that it would have to submit to controls by the Patriotic Association, which aims to create a national church detached from the Holy See.

"Islam walking a tightrope between violence and reform"

Islam walking a tightrope between violence and reform
by Samir Khalil Samir, sj

The Islamic world is frontpage news. In places like Iran Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Lebanon a warlike Islam is facing off the West in increasingly harsh ways. In the West itself, Muslim communities grow in number as do conversions. But what might appear as a renaissance is in fact the sign of a profound crisis within the religion founded by the prophet Muhammad. Fr Samir Khalil Samir, a Jesuit and Islam scholar who teaches in Beirut, offers an across-the-board analysis of what ails contemporary Islam and the ways radical and progressive Muslims try to nurse it back to health. Here, exclusive for Asia news, is the first part of a series of article on the subject.

Beirut (AsiaNews) – The Islamic world is troubling to the Western observer: it appears as a force, an extraordinary power, which is on the move that no one can stop. This sensation – which frightens many Westerners – corresponds to what many Muslims call Sahwah, the Reawakening. Actually though this power is suffering from a profound crisis which is perceived by all Muslims: the inability to adapt to the modern world, to assimilate modernity.

In fact, Islam is going through a very profound crisis. It is a fact which is not only evident to outside observers. There is by now no Muslim, thinker, Arab or Islamic newspaper that is not discussing this fact: Islam is facing a crisis.

There is a distinction to be made. For radical Islamists – who are pursuing the project for a political Islam – the “blame” for the crisis falls on the West and its aggressiveness. For some, this crisis dates back to the Crusades; for others, to recent colonization; for others, to the creation of the State of Israel; for others still, it goes only as far back as American aggression in Afghanistan and Iraq. In all cases, what is ailing Islam comes from outside itself, from the Other.

There is however another group, ever more numerous, which affirms that Islam’s ailment is within itself. This position is usually found among liberal personalities, intellectuals. They too stop short of saying that the problem is right in the Koran: for them, the problem is in the interpretation made of the Koran, of Islam as a religious, political, social and cultural system. Judging by comments that appear in the press in Islamic countries, we can say that positions of radical Islamism amount to a good 20%; liberal tendencies account for some 10 to 20%.

All agree however that the time has come for reform in Islam.

A. HISTORICAL ROOTS

1. Islam's slumber

A recurring topic in such debates is that of “Islam’s slumber”. Radicals attribute this “slumber” to four centuries of Ottoman domination, which would have curbed the religion’s development. Liberals instead affirm that this “slumber” began already in the 12th century and perhaps even earlier. In any case, all agree that this slumber created a “closure of the opening to interpretation,” the expression which literally translated from Arabic is “closure of the door of ijtihād.” In this context of reform, ijtihād is a key word. This word shares the same root with jihād, holy war. It expresses an effort which in jihād is oriented toward violence, to armed battle on the path of God. Ijtihād is the moral and intellectual effort to reform; it is “interpretation”.

Something that is continuously repeated in the Islamic world is that “the door has been closed to ijtihād”; little room has been left to interpretation, which has resulted in fossilization, stiffening. It is a discussion that has been present in the Arab world since the mid 1800s. For decades, there has been talk of “the closing of the door” to define the urgency of reform in Islam. For many liberals of the time, including the great religious leaders such as Khair ad-Dīn Al-Tūnisi (1810-1899), from Tunisia, Jamāl ad-Dīn al-Afghāni (1838-1897) from Persia, Abd al-Rahmān al-Kawākibi (1854-1902) from Syria, and, above all, Sheikh al-Azhar Muhammad ‘Abdoh (1849-1905) from Egypt, reform was to be made absorbing elements of Western culture and achieving a harmonious unity between the Islamic world and the Western world.

The First World War and the fall of the Ottoman Empire then brought to the secularization of Turkey and the abolition of the Caliphate (1923-4), as well as the control of various Arab nations by the West, England and France. All this marks the great religious-political fall of Islam which suddenly found itself divided into nations, with no caliph, no leaders, no guides.

2. Radicalism of the Muslim Brotherhood

This situation of crisis gave rise to the Muslim Brotherhood which was seen as the authentic solution, in opposition to that of reformists who wanted to imitate the West. Its founder, Hassan al-Banna (1906 – 1949), used a very simple argument: our great reformers wanted to reform Islam taking Europe as a model, and it was Europe itself which dismantled the Islamic world and deceived us. He was supported in his reasoning by the Imam Muhammad ‘Abduh’s dearest disciple, Sheikh Rashid Rida, a naturalized Egyptian originally hailing from Tripoli-Syria (now Lebanon), who had pronounced a simple principle: Islam is the solution to all problems of society (al-Islām huwa al-hall); there is no need to resort to anything outside Islam. It is enough to go back to the roots of Islam, namely to the Koran and the Tradition of the Prophet, taken literally.

In the effort to deal with the crisis, such a position does not strive to innovate, but to return to a "primitive" Islam, taking original Islam as a model. When "original" Islam is spoken of, what is meant is the conquering Islam. In fact, such a vision relies above all on the second phase of Mohammad's life, the Medina phase (622-632), when Islam organized itself politically; and then on the era of the first caliphs, known as "the well guided", who conquered the Middle East and the Mediterranean (632-660). That period is seen as that of real Islam, capable of conquering the world. The return to these origins, the reasoning goes, is what will allow Muslims to enlarge their worldwide conquests.

Since then, this tendency has become ever more radical, giving life to all those movements we call "Islamist" or "fundamentalist."

As can be seen, such an approach provides a direct solution to the crisis, skirting the need for an in-depth analysis of the reasons for the crisis. If one asks: Why has Islam stayed behind (in science, in technology, in culture, in art, in the spread of ideas at the global level, in domination...)? The answer is obvious: because it was attacked, thwarted, imprisoned...The Other is to blame for the crisis.

3. Liberals and the interpretation crisis

The liberal position, instead, attributes the main responsibility for crisis to the erroneous way in which Muslims have interpreted the Koran: that of having made it into a political handbook, of having projected onto the Koran the sociological and cultural conceptions typical of a certain period, the domination of male over female, the desire for violence, ignorance etc. In the current period, liberals are speaking out against the ignorance of the people, the authoritarianism (the non-democracy) of their governments, and above all the poor training given to imams, which has, at this point, generated a popular Islam which is by the ignorant and for the ignorant.

The only invasion I foresee is that done through legal immigration in both Europe and the United States. Hence the hair-tearing by conservatives and Catholics in proclaiming that the Muslims want to take over can go to an extremes, if they are implying they will do so by force. Even in South East Asia and the Philippines it appears that the majority of Muslims are content to maintain the status quo. (iirc, in the Philippines Abu Sayyaf the rebels are fighting for independence, not to take over the Philippines.)

What does a supposedly inspired and complete text need of a human authority? And what to do if there are two (main) rivals for authority? The fact that many Sunni and Shia schools of thought have gradually come closer to each other over the years does not obviate from the historical fact that at the very beginning there was a question of who held legitimate authority after the passing of Muhammed. It certainly does strain the credibility of his message. After all, shouldn't God be a little be more competent than that, if He were revealing Himself to mankind through human instruments?

Playford's Dancing Master

I've been listening to the recording put out by Classical Express of some of John Playford's music, ballads and dances--pretty good. So who wants to dance? haha

Here is the medieval.org page on this and other recordings. Classical Express (division of Harmonia Mundi)

What are 'Playford' dances?

See the text online at The English Dancing Master
(another html version; pryanksters.org)
Fascimile of the 1651 edition.
A short intro to the text.

A Brief Biography of John Playford

More on ECD:
ECD and its American cousin
Country Dance and Song Society (in MA! too bad I don't have a car)

Last night I had a dream about Alex which quickly morphed into something else, involving a prison, an urban area, and vampires or something... or maybe it was the other way around. This morning I had a dream about the pope entering into discussions with the Romanian? Orthodox; and then later the Armenians came up. And while we were walking we passed by some Orthodox bishops and he blessed them. Weird.

Review of Children of Men

in the Hollywood Reporter

I wasn't going to give it a second thought, but perhaps this movie may turn out to be really good.

More on Alatriste

Some Spanish websites (no official U.S. site yet):

el Capitan Alatriste
official movie website
unofficial movie site (gallery)

The Hindu "Hugging Saint," Amma

documentary on Amma [another official page?] about.com page on her; wikipedia

(Hrm, the Rick A. Ross Institute [specializing in cult awareness] has a page on her as well.)

I first heard about her about a year ago on Soompi, someone had posted a news article about her. Here's a recent USA Today article. No doubt Fr. Seraphim Rose would have some choice words to say about her.

Teachings
Amma's life is her message. In other words, Amma does not teach anything that she herself does not practice. Living from moment to moment in a constant state of supreme happiness, Amma warmly embraces thousands of people day after day, wiping their tears, giving them her divine guidance and offering solace to all who come to her. Amma recommends the path of selfless-service through the example of her own life.

Nothing wrong with a "path of selfless-service."

Amma says, "The beauty and charm of selfless love and service should not die away from the face of the earth. The world should know that a life of dedication is possible, that a life inspired by love and service to humanity is possible.

Sounds ok.

Meditation and studying the scriptures are like two sides of a coin. The engraving on that coin is selfless service, and that is what gives it its real value. Our compassion and acts of selflessness take us to the deeper truths. Through selfless action we can eradicate the ego that conceals the Self. Detached, selfless action leads to liberation. Such action is not just work; it is karma yoga."

Studying which scriptures? (Hindu, no doubt.) But, what is the ultimate purpose of meditation and study? To get to the Transcendent Other? Or to find the Self? Looks like this is not a version of monotheistic Hinduism, but, as one suspects, some version of monistic Hinduism.

Amma always points out that the purpose of one's life is to realize who we really are. She says, "By realizing our own Self we become full, with nothing more to gain in life. Life becomes perfect."

No God as ultimate end here.

To attain this goal, Amma says that no particular path or spiritual practice can be recommended for all. "Just as a doctor gives different dosages or even different medications to patients with the same ailment according to their constitution, so does a Spiritual Master prescribe different methods to different people to reach the same goal. Spirituality is the practical science of life. Apart from taking us to the ultimate goal of Self-realization it also teaches us the nature of the world, and how to understand life and live fully in the best way possible."

However, Amma says that the path of devotion and selfless-service is the safest and most conducive path for many people.

Not much different from Buddhism--so what does she say about reincarnation?

However:

Meditation

Amma says true meditation is a state of the mind, an experience. Those who pray to God and meditate on Him sincerely will not feel a shortage of anything that is essential. That is God's resolve. It is Amma's own experience. Constant thought directed to God is meditation, like the flow of a river. Meditation is good even for small children. Their intelligence will become clear, memory will increase and they will learn well.

So there is a "God" after all. But is God different from the Self?

God's Perfect Hiding Place

"Children, have you heard this story? God decided to create the world. His purpose was to give Himself a place to live. So as soon as He had created this beautiful earth full of trees and plants, animals and birds, mountains and valleys, God began to dwell here. Everything was perfect and God was leading a blissful life. Years rolled by until one day God made a mistake. He created human beings. From that day on, there was trouble. Night and day, the human beings complained to God. No matter what God was doing, whether He was eating or sleeping, they would come knocking on His door.

"The never-ending complaints drove Him crazy. God soon lost His peace of mind. No sooner was one problem solved than another one arose. The first man's solution became the second man's problem. One person wanted rain. But when God granted rain, another person would complain, 'God, how can you do this to me? My whole house is leaking. My crops are ruined.' Everything became a problem. No matter what God did, people complained.

"Eventually God asked His advisors to suggest a way out. One suggestion was that God should go to the Himalayas. But God said, 'No, no. People would soon come there.' 'What about the moon?' asked another of God's advisors. 'Soon man would also make his way there,' God replied. 'You, my good friends, cannot see the future,' continued God. 'But I can. No matter where I go, man will come to know about it. He will follow me and I will again be in trouble.'

"This statement was meant with silence. After some time an aged advisor stepped forward and whispered in God's ear. God's face brightened. 'Wonderful!' he exclaimed. The old man had suggested the perfect hiding place for God. 'Go and hide deep within man,' the wise man had advised. 'Yes. It is perfect,' was God's reply. 'Man would never think to look for Me inside himself. There is no chance that he will find Me there.'"

"Children,God is deep within us. He dwells there as innocence, as pure and innocent love. But the mind and its egoistic feelings veil this innocence. But it is always there. It has only been forgotten. You have to go deep within. You have to rediscover and remember."

Sounds like God is just a symbol of the "divine" that is winthin us, trapped and waiting to be revealed. This sounds like a typical Hindu teaching, as far as I know. (Is there only one real Self?)

Apparently she has a syncretistic approach to other religions, another feature of contemporary Hinduism.

Also on Apple:
trailer for Little Children--so a married man with a child has an affair with a (single) mother who also has a child... and the wife finds out... and there is drama. Is this really worth 2 hours of one's life? Unless it makes the rather simple point--don't destroy your family by having an affair. Even then, people should just call Dr. Laura instead if they need that point made to them.
Couldn't Kate Winslet find a better movie to do?