Zenit: Dateless? An Angel to the Rescue

Dateless? An Angel to the Rescue

Web Site Offers Novena Prayer to St. Raphael

LONDON, FEB. 11, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Singles worried about spending the upcoming Valentine's Day by themselves are being encouraged to seek help through the prayers of an angelic matchmaker.

A Web site of the Catholic Enquiry Office, part of an agency of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, is encouraging Catholic singles to pray a novena to the Archangel Raphael.

Raphael is traditionally considered an ally in the realm of love and relationships thanks to the role he played in helping Sarah and Tobit in the Old Testament.

The book of Tobit explains how Raphael delivered Sarah from an evil spirit that had brought about the death of seven husbands on seven successive wedding nights.

Monsignor Keith Barltrop, director of the Catholic Enquiry Office, explained, "Many people have testified to the help they have received in finding a life partner through the prayerful help of the archangel. At this time of year, significant numbers are seeking someone special, or maybe dealing with recent heartbreak. St. Raphael is there to help."

Singles are being encouraged to join a novena starting Feb. 14, using the following prayer:

For the Choice of a Good Spouse

St. Raphael, you were sent by God to guide young Tobias in choosing a good and virtuous spouse. Please help me in this important choice which will affect my whole future. You not only directed Tobias in finding a wife, but you also gave him guidelines which should be foremost in every Christian marriage: "Pray together before making important decisions."

Amen.

The online resource includes tips from a matchmaking expert, information about the archangel and intercessory prayer, true love stories and a competition offering the prize of a meal for two.

Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon

trailer (via Twitch); official site

also from Twitch: movie posters

This project has been underway for a while; still, maybe it's time for a moratorium on Chinese historical epics.

So The Hobbit might not be made?

Tolkien estate sues studio over 'Hobbit'

The estate of J.R.R. Tolkien sued New Line Cinema on Monday, seeking a court order terminating any rights the studio has to any of the author's works, including "Hobbit."

I don't know if Christopher Tolkien is in charge of the estate (I don't think he is), but he strongly opposed the adapting of the trilogy to film.

The Tolkien Estate

Dinner at Darda

Tonight I met with xiao Jimmy and CC for dinner at Darda (yelp) at Milpitas Square. CC is supposed to be returning to Taiwan on the 14th, though she was offered another job by a different company. But she hasn't received a written offer yet, so she doesn't think she can stick around to see if she gets one. Darda is a Chinese Moslem restaurant. It's similar to Fatima in Cupertino and Ma's in San Jose (not sure if the same people are involved with all 3).

Xiao Jimmy thought the food was too oily--it was. The black pepper beef short rib had too much black pepper, and the chicken with snow peas--something tasted funny. The beef with green onion was ok, as was the Westlake beef soup. Would this be considered complaining? Or just making a judgment about the food? After all... we should be thankful that we can have such food, especially so much meat. Meat should be a luxury, and yet we tend to take it for granted. At any rate... I suppose one should make a judgment about the quality of food, if only to avoid wasting money in the future. Though I can understand why some people hate cooking for only themselves, but enjoy cooking if it is for others. If I get a job that requires long hours I may have to adopt the "typical" well-off bachelor lifestyle... eating out everyday...

At another table I noticed everyone was praying before dinner--the only woman there made a sign of the cross, so I'm guessing she's Catholic. The two men didn't, so I don't know if they're Catholic or Protestant. The Caucasian that she was sitting with... her bf? Well, she did gaap sung for him. She looked a bit like Christy Chung, at least face-wise, but she has a much thinner frame. But she seems devout at least. Maybe it was just some sort of interdenominational Christian gathering of some sort. But I hope her bf? is not Protestant... I've heard about too many couples of which the girl is Catholic and the guy is Protestant and the girl ends up becoming Protestant.

-:-Totally Christy Chung-:

There was another woman having dinner with her boyfriend, who didn't look Chinese, but the waitress was speaking in Mandarin, so at least one of them is Chinese. She looked more Thai than Chinese... she seems to be very conscious of her appearance (lots of make-up, painted toe nails, etc.), but her walk wasn't very lady like. Xiao Jimmy thought she was very good-looking and I too picky.

Inside one of the private rooms was an Indian? (Pakistani?) family--the daughter was very pretty... Jimmy said a lot of Indian families eat at restaurants that serve beef... if they are strict Hindus, is this permissible?

My nose is stuffed and I'm getting a cough now... Did I get this cold from my housemates or from the students last week? Bah.

Calhoun and Popular Rule

Calhoun and Popular Rule: The Political Theory of the Disquisition and Discourse
By H. Lee Cheek, Jr.

University of Missouri Press
Google Books

Economy in Crisis: Solutions to America's Economic Problems

Solutions to America's Economic Problems

The following suggestions should be considered as part of a new plan to recover American industry and economic health:

* Appoint an economic czar, a major cabinet post, to develop policies that protect our economy from foreign predatory practices and to create conditions to make manufacturing competitive and profitable through government sponsored research, tax changes and subsidies.
* Develop an industrial research and development division (similar to government sponsored National Institute of Health (NIH) - in Medicine or the Manhattan Project in World War II or Japan's (MITI) Ministry of International Trade & Industry) to focus on needs and development procedures for new and existing industries. Our country's future as we know it is at stake.
* Selective use of Tariffs for strategic and endangered industries to prevent their loss.
* Change tax structure for select industries that we can't afford to lose - steel, etc.
* Consider changing agreement with the W.T.O. or else get out of W.T.O. - it usurps our sovereign rights and places unreasonable limitations on us.
* Control our Balance of Trade Deficit.
* Analyze every international trade deal - does it benefit America; currently most deals do not.
* Curtail subsidies foreign owned companies receive from our State Governments.
* We should attempt to discourage technology transfer and outsourcing manufacturing if it causes us to lose industries.
* Prevent sale of strategic companies or institutions to foreign ownership.
* Faster depreciation on capital equipment investment - it will lessen the need to outsource manufacturing.
* Free trade has been a disaster. It must be replaced with intelligent trade that prevents foreign predatory practices and better serves our interests.


OTHER SUGGESTIONS AND THINGS TO CONSIDER
o Strive to become competitive, otherwise we must exist on imports with more debt, accompanied with high unemployment.
o American owned companies have lost their edge and on balance are not as productive or as protective as many other foreign companies- we must learn to correct this.
o It must pay to manufacture in America by American owned companies or we won't do it.
o We are losing a major economics war; we are relinquishing management and control of our economy through effects of our Balance of Trade Deficit, outsourcing, subsidized insourcing and foreign tax benefits.
o Consider the consequences of losing whole industries such as publishing, autos, movies, steel, electronics, clothing and how it impacts national security and living standards.
o Analyze and correct negative effects of WTO rules and decisions regarding their impact on our economy.
o Analyze and correct violations of WTO rules practiced by other countries to our detriment.
o Analyze and correct restrictions (specific and/or in practice) imposed by foreign governments on American exporting companies.

Too much reliance on central planning and protectionism without addressing the root causes of the lack of economic freedom for most people?

Variety: Slumping Korean biz in fund freeze

Slumping Korean biz in fund freeze

Maybe this will lead to greater scrutiny of scripts so that less bad movies will be made. If it is like the US, then there will be more money-makers with stupid plots being produced, but I don't know if I want to claim Korean comedies are as dumb as American ones (with the exception, perhaps, of Korean sex comedies.)

Because they're useful for confined spaces?

2 from the LRC blog:
Automatic Shotguns (which appears to be missing something)
More On Automatic Shotguns

One shouldn't be using an automatic shotgun to hit someone at a fairly long distance (like they needed to do at the LA North Hollywood bank robbery)--hence the need for a patrol rifle for officers. But automatic shotguns can be useful at short distances and the scatter at short distances is less of a problem than at long distances, is it not? Hence they will be employed for CQB, as far as I know. Another example of a rash reply by an anti-state LRC contributor?

What happened to that anti-spanking bill?

First mentioned here. An update from California Catholic Daily:

They let it die
Deadline kills “anti-spanking” bill in state assembly

From 2004: AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS Guidance for Effective Discipline
AAP: What is the best way to discipline my child?

From the American College of Pediatricians:

Analysis of Corporal Punishment by Parents

The American College of Pediatricians carefully reviewed the available research on corporal punishment in developing a position statement on the subject. Its conclusion: Disciplinary spanking by parents, when properly used, can be effective component in an overall disciplinary plan with children. The details are contained in the following statements.

Corporal Punishment Position Click on this link to view the Corporal Punishment position statement. For the complete report, view the policy statement listed below.

Guidelines for Parental Use of Disciplinary Spanking Click on this link to view guidelines for a parent's use of disciplinary spanking.

Corporal Punishment Policy

Click on this link to view the Corporal Punishment policy statement, which contains all the research and support
for the position statement.

PJB Blog: McCain: Conservative or Globalist?

McCain: Conservative or Globalist?

USA Today: U.S. Hispanic population to triple by 2050

Via Drudge:

U.S. Hispanic population to triple by 2050

So will people start to take Pat Buchanan a little bit more seriously?

Pew Research summary; the report

Now for VDare to put up a response...

Of course for those who advocate a "proposition nation," this isn't a problem--all you need to be a real American is to believe the "American creed." Just another excuse to continue to maintain power at the center.

Ron Maxwell interview

with Howard Phillips--the clip at YouTube. The opening music for the program is so... 80s...

Trailer for Street Kings

@ Yahoo! Movies

More on Redbelt

Variety
AICN

Can't find verification about Gracie involvement, but Randy Couture is in the cast.


(from his appearance in The Unit)

YouTube - David Mamet talking MMA film REDBELT
First Look: Chiwetel Ejiofor in David Mamet's Redbelt ...

Zenit: B16--Papal Address to Participants in Congress on Women

Papal Address to Participants in Congress on Women

"Recall the Design of God That Created the Human Being Male and Female"

VATICAN CITY, FEB. 10, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave Saturday upon receiving in audience participants from the international conference that marked the 20th anniversary of the publication of Pope John Paul II's apostolic letter "Mulieris Dignitatem."

The conference, sponsored by the Pontifical Council for the Laity and titled "Woman and Man, the 'Humanum' in Its Entirety," ended Saturday.

* * *

Dear Brothers and Sisters!

With true pleasure I welcome all of you who are taking part in the international conference on the theme "Man and Woman: The ‘Humanum' in Its Entirety," which has been organized on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the publication of the apostolic letter "Mulieris Dignitatem." I greet Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, and I am grateful to him for being the interpreter of shared sentiments. I greet the council's secretary, Bishop Josef Clemens, and the members and the collaborators of this dicastery. In particular I greet the women, who are the great majority of those present, and who have enriched the conference's proceedings with their experience and competence.

The question on which you are reflecting has great contemporary relevance: From the second half of the 20th century until today, the movement for women's rights in the various settings of social life has generated countless reflections and debates, and it has seen the multiplication of many initiatives that the Catholic Church has followed and often accompanied with attentive interest. The male-female relationship, in its respective specificity, reciprocity and complementarity, without a doubt constitutes a central point of the "anthropological question" that is so decisive in contemporary culture. The papal interventions and documents that have touched on the emerging reality of the question of women are numerous.

I limit myself to recall those of my beloved predecessor Pope John Paul II, who, in June 1995 wrote a "Letter to Women," and in Aug. 15, 1988, exactly 20 years ago, published the apostolic letter "Mulieris dignitatem." This text on the vocation and the dignity of women, of great theological, spiritual and cultural richness, in its turn inspired the "Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Collaboration of Men and Women in the Church and in the World" of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

In "Mulieris Dignitatem," John Paul II wanted to delve into the fundamental anthropological truths of men and women, the equality in dignity and their unity, the rooted and profound difference between the masculine and the feminine and their vocation to reciprocity and complementarity, collaboration and communion (cf. "Mulieris Dignitatem," No. 6). This dual-unity of man and woman is based on the foundation of the dignity of every person, created in the image and likeness of God, who "created them male and female" (Genesis 1:27), as much avoiding an indistinct uniformity and flattened-out and impoverished equality as an abysmal and conflictive difference (cf. "Letter to Women," No. 8). This dual-unity carries with it, inscribed in bodies and souls, the relation with the other, love for the other, interpersonal communion that shows that "the creation of man is also marked by a certain likeness to the divine communion" ("Mulieris Dignitatem," No. 7). When, therefore, men or women pretend to be autonomous or totally self-sufficient, they risk being closed up in a self-realization that considers the overcoming of every natural, social or religious bond as a conquest of freedom, but which in fact reduces them to an oppressive solitude. To foster and support the true promotion of women and men one cannot fail to take this reality into account.

Certainly a renewed anthropological research is necessary that, on the basis of the great Christian tradition, incorporates the new advances of science and the datum of contemporary cultural sensibilities, contributing in this way to the deepened understanding not only of feminine identity but also masculine identity, which is frequently the object of partial and ideological reflections.

In the face of cultural and political currents that attempt to eliminate, or at least to obfuscate and confuse, the sexual differences written into human nature, considering them to be cultural constructions, it is necessary to recall the design of God that created the human being male and female, with a unity and at the same time an original and complementary difference. Human nature and the cultural dimension are integrated in an ample and complex process that constitutes the formation of the identity of each, where both dimensions -- the feminine and the masculine -- correspond to and complete each other.

Opening the work of the 5th General Conference of the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopate last May in Brazil, I recalled how there still persists a macho mentality that ignores the novelty of Christianity, which recognizes and proclaims the equal dignity and responsibility of women with respect to men. There are certain places and cultures where women are discriminated against and undervalued just for the fact that they are women, where recourse is even had to religious arguments and family, social and cultural pressures to support the disparity between the sexes, where there is consumption of acts of violence against women, making them into objects of abuse and exploitation in advertising and in the consumer and entertainment industries. In the face of such grave and persistent phenomena the commitment of Christians appears all the more urgent, so that they become everywhere the promoters of a culture that recognizes the dignity that belongs to women in law and in reality.

God entrusts to women and to men, according to the characteristics that are proper to each, a specific vocation in the mission of the Church and in the world. I think here of the family, community of love, open to life, fundamental cell of society. In it, woman and man, thanks to the gift of maternity and paternity, together play an irreplaceable role in regard to life. From the moment of their conception, children have a right to count on a father and a mother who care for them and accompany them in their growth. The state, for its part, must sustain with adequate social policies all that which promotes the stability of matrimony, the dignity and the responsibility of the husband and wife, their rights and irreplaceable duty to educate their children. Moreover, it is necessary that it be made possible for the woman to cooperate in the building-up of society, appreciating her typical "feminine genius."

Dear brothers and sisters, I thank you once more for your visit and, while I wish you complete success in the work of the conference, I assure you of a remembrance in prayer, invoking the maternal intercession of Mary, that she help the women of our time to realize their vocation and their mission in the ecclesial and civil community. With such vows, I impart to you here present and to your loved ones a special apostolic blessing.

[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]

Zenit: B16--On Entering Into Lent

On Entering Into Lent

"Live This Time of Grace With Interior Joy and Generous Commitment"

VATICAN CITY, FEB. 10, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered today before reciting the midday Angelus with several thousand people gathered in St. Peter's Square.

* * *

Dear Brothers and Sisters!

Last Wednesday, with the fast and the rite of ashes, we entered into Lent. But what does it mean to "enter into Lent?" It means to enter into a time of particular commitment in the spiritual combat that opposes us to the evil present in the world, in each one of us and around us. It means to look evil in the face and dispose oneself to fight against its effects, above all against its causes, right up to its ultimate cause, Satan. It means not unloading the problem of evil onto others, onto society, onto God, but recognizing one's own responsibility and consciously taking it upon oneself.

In this regard Jesus' invitation to everyone to take up his "cross" and follow him in humility and confidence (cf. Matthew 16:24) resounds more urgently than ever. The "cross," as heavy as it may be, is not synonymous with misadventure, with a disgrace that must be avoided as much as possible, but with the opportunity to follow Christ and in this way acquire strength in the battle against sin and evil. Entering into Lent therefore means renewing the personal and communal decision to face evil together with Christ. The way of the cross is in fact the only way that leads to the victory of love over hate, of sharing over egoism, of peace over violence. Seen in this way, Lent is truly an occasion for determined ascetic and spiritual commitment founded upon the grace of Christ.

This year the beginning of Lent providentially coincides with the 150th anniversary of the apparitions at Lourdes. Four years after the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception by Blessed Pius IX, Mary appeared to St. Bernadette Soubirous in the grotto of Massabielle for the first time on Feb. 11, 1858. Other appearances followed, accompanied by extraordinary events, and at the end the Holy Virgin, bidding farewell to the young visionary, told her in the local dialect, "I am the Immaculate Conception." The message that the Madonna continues to spread at Lourdes recalls the words Jesus pronounced at the beginning of his public mission and that we hear again often during these days of Lent: "Convert and believe in the Gospel," pray and do penance. Let us accept Mary's invitation, which echoes Christ's, and let us ask her to help us to "enter" with faith into Lent, to live this time of grace with interior joy and generous commitment.

We entrust to the Virgin as well the sick and those who care lovingly for them. Tomorrow, the memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, we celebrate, in fact, the World Day of the Sick. I greet with all my heart the pilgrims who are gathering in St. Peter's Basilica led by Cardinal Barragán, president of the Pontifical Council of Health. Unfortunately I cannot meet them because this evening I will begin spiritual exercises, but in silence and in recollection I will pray for them and for all the necessities of the Church and the world. To all those who will remember me to the Lord I offer my sincere thanks in advance.

[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]

[After the Angelus the Holy Father greeted the pilgrims in six languages. In English, he said:]

I warmly greet all the English speaking pilgrims present at today's Angelus. I particularly welcome members of the Hohenfels Catholic Military Faith Community from the United States of America, as well as young people from the Sant'Egidio community in Asia and Oceania who are attending a formation course in Rome. My dear friends, this past week we began our Lenten practice of prayer, fasting, and -- in a special way -- almsgiving. I invite all believers to enter this "spiritual battle" with hearts full of generosity towards those in need. In this way, we learn to make our lives a total gift to God and to our brothers and sisters. I wish all of you a fruitful preparation for the Paschal Feast!

© Copyright 2008 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Professor Deenen explains why economics cannot be morality-free

A Moral Economy?

Underground Fires

via EB

Coalmine fire put out after half a century
Jane Macartney, Times (UK)

The article is from last year, but go to the comments part and see how many other fires are taking place underground, especially in coal mines. Incredible...

Mine fire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Centralia Mine Fire
Mine Fire, Centralia, Pennsylvania
Field Trips / 417-Coal Mine Fire Field Trip

Scott's Apple/1984 commercial

alt

1984 by George Orwell

Wired: Q&A: Ridley Scott Has Finally Created the Blade Runner He Always Imagined

Q&A: Ridley Scott Has Finally Created the Blade Runner He Always Imagined

The Mother of All Arts: Agrarianism and the Creative Impulse

by Gene Logsdon, 20% off from University Press of Kentucky:

When Gene Logsdon realized that he experienced the same creative joy from working on his farm as he did from writing, he began to suspect that farming itself was a form of art. Thus began his search for the origins of the artistic impulse in the agrarian lifestyle. The Mother of All Arts is the culmination of Logsdon's journey, his account of friendships with farmers and artists driven by the urge to create. He chronicles his long relationship with Wendell Berry and discovers the playful humor of several new agrarian writers. He reveals insights gleaned from conversations with Andrew Wyeth and his family of artists. Through his association with musicians such as Willie Nelson and his involvement with Farm Aid, Logsdon learns how music--blues, jazz, country, and even rock 'n' roll--is rooted in agriculture.

Logsdon sheds new light on the work of rural painters, writers, and musicians and suggests that their art could be created only by those who work intimately with nature. Unlike the gritty realism or abstract expressionism often favored by contemporary critics, agrarian art evokes familiar feelings of community and comfort. Most important, Logsdon convincingly demonstrates that diminishing the connection between art and nature lessens the social value of both.

Humorous and introspective, The Mother of All Arts is neither conventional cultural criticism nor traditional art criticism. It is a unique, lively meditation on the nature and purpose of art--and on the life well lived--by one of the most original voices of rural America.

Gene Logsdon, a writer and farmer in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, is the author of many books, including Wyeth People, The Contrary Farmer, and the forthcoming novel The Lords of Folly.

Amazon

How's that for an edorsement

McCain a 'True Conservative,' Bush Says

Shouldn't that be enough to discredit Senator McCain?

NLM: How to Sing Dominican Chant III: An Example

How to Sing Dominican Chant III: An Example

Petrodollar Warfare

Inspired by this post from Professor Deneen: Paper Tiger

I need to do more reading about the dollar being the reserve currency and so on--I have seen differing opinions on what the impact of changing the currency in which oil is priced would be...

Petrodollar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Petrodollar warfare - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Feasta - Oil, Currency and the War on Iraq
From 2005: Petrodollar Warfare: Dollars, Euros and the Upcoming Iranian Oil ...
Iraq, the Dollar and the Euro by Hazel Henderson - The Globalist ...
Putin: Why Not Price Oil in Euros? - Social and Economic Policy ...
Petrodollar became the essential basis for the US economic ...
Petrodollar Theories of the War

Petrodollar Warfare, by William R. Clark
Petrodollar Warfare - Home

William Clark talks about "Petrodollar Warfare"
William Clark updates "Petrodollar Warfare," part 1 - Brightcove
alt
New Society Publishers - Petrodollar Warfare
Google Books
Interview With William R. Clark, Author "Petrodollar Warfare: Oil ...
Global Public Media: Author William Clark on Radio New Zealand's "Nine to Noon"

Plus:
American House of Saud :: Steven Emerson
Review of The American House of Saud

The Dollar as Reserve Currency
The dollar’s reserve currency role is drawing to an end
The World's Reserve CurrencyPCR:
The Dollar’s Reserve Currency Role Is Drawing to an End
Asia Times: US dollar hegemony has got to go
Dollar Hegemony and its Danger: Reading Henry CK Liu | american ...

Can I live with less?

Tonight KK, her husband, my mother and I drove up to SF to have dinner with the grandparents at... of course Emperor Palace. We should have made a reservation, as plenty of others had done so, to have dinner to celebrate the New Year there. We were able to get a table, but it was in the corner, and it was not such a comfortable arrangement, as they had pushed two smaller rectangle tables together, presumably to get them out of the way since a lot of large tables had been set up in the main dining room. The food there was generally good, though I heard the chicken wasn't. And my sister and her husband still prefer salt and spicy pork over the si jap gwat dish that came with the $21.95 wo choi lunch/dinner special (which my mother usually orders when she takes the grandparents to lunch).

I wouldn't consider my grandparents to be poor or destitute--but they don't have that much, and their apartment is rather simple. There is running water, electricity, heat... a small TV too. Nothing like the luxuries most Asians aspire to have these days... I wonder how many of us would be content with what my grandparents have?

Now if only they would be converted to Christ. When they lived at our home, which was a long time ago, maybe 20 years now, my mother noticed that they did not talk to each other much. They might take a walk or read newspapers, but there was very little conversation. Maybe their relationship has improved since then--I noticed that my grandfather gaap sung/grabbed food to give to my grandmother again tonight. He hadn't done this before. My mother marvelled when I mentioned it to her after the last time he did it--the change in character was quite unexpected.

At Emperor Palace there is a TV, and KCNS was broadcasting special New Year's programming from Mainland China. There were plenty of people in the audience. How many people in China could entertain themselves? Make their own music and so on? Is the percentage of people who can do so even less there than it is here? One can live the simple life but not by choice. On the other hand, the simple life is probably not incompatible with having leisure. As Wendell Berry points out, we need to learn how to entertain ourselves, rather then relying upon mass-produced "culture." But like the domestic skills and arts that we have lost, the art of singing or making music and so on must be recovered.