Friday, January 10, 2014
This week my brother Joe was moved from University Hospital in Newark to a rehab facility in Raritan NJ (much closer to my sister & a long but easier trip for my brother Jim, who lives down near Atlantic City.). He promptly was taken to Somerset Hospital with a variety of serious problems, & had a "code blue" cardiac arrest. He's holding on.
Poet Amiri Baraka died, age 79. He had been hospitalized in another Newark Hospital over the holidays with undisclosed problems. Baraka (Leroi Jones when he made his initial reputation) was a huge literary figure in Jersey, an activist & committed Marxist. Establishment politicians of course despised him. Strangely, Amiri was appointed Poet Laureate of NJ back around 2001, read a poem about 9/11 that offended all sorts of people, & the position was abolished rather than just firing & replacing him. There aren't many poets in Jersey who would have accepted that position, because Baraka was, like him or not, the most prominent literary Presence in Jersey. No one else came close. Only Allen Ginsberg, when he visited Jersey, as he did frequently, was bigger, & he & Baraka were old friends dating back to the Beat era. I'll be writing more about Amiri Baraka. He did influence me & figure into my education in some odd ways.
Poet Amiri Baraka died, age 79. He had been hospitalized in another Newark Hospital over the holidays with undisclosed problems. Baraka (Leroi Jones when he made his initial reputation) was a huge literary figure in Jersey, an activist & committed Marxist. Establishment politicians of course despised him. Strangely, Amiri was appointed Poet Laureate of NJ back around 2001, read a poem about 9/11 that offended all sorts of people, & the position was abolished rather than just firing & replacing him. There aren't many poets in Jersey who would have accepted that position, because Baraka was, like him or not, the most prominent literary Presence in Jersey. No one else came close. Only Allen Ginsberg, when he visited Jersey, as he did frequently, was bigger, & he & Baraka were old friends dating back to the Beat era. I'll be writing more about Amiri Baraka. He did influence me & figure into my education in some odd ways.
Labels: in the news
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Boston Red Sox
Congratulations. Historic & deserving World Series win in six games over the Cards, Entertaining Series for me, having no particular like for either team, I found myself rooting for the Sox to win one at home. Emotionally, deeply satisfying for a city still dealing with the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings. & they beat some great pitchers.
Labels: baseball, in the news, sports
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Hurricane Sandy one year later
I posted this on the afternoon of 10/29/12
Early reports & photos from Cape May County are alarming. Coastal communities are already underwater, & the main storm surge & most dangerous high tide aren't due until evening. Coastal flooding in north Jersey has occurred at levels associated with the height of noreasterns. Sandy projected to come ashore south of Atlantic City. My live cam links have been going down one after another, the remaining working sites apparently so busy I can't get on to them with my slow internet service. More wind than rain here in Elizabeth. The heavy rain is only about 20 miles south now. Jersey has had many bad storms over the past fifty years, but none with the devastating tidal surges of the March '62 storm. The tide comes in, stays in, & structures that could withstand a fast-moving storm are battered into rubble,Whatever I was expecting - & I was expecting a very bad storm - it was worse than I imagined. I was briefly outside walking around that evening. Then the brunt of it hit. I thought my windows would blow in. The power went out. It was long scary night. There wasn't much serious damage in my neighborhood, thank heavens. The day after the storm, while thousands picked through the rubble of ruined homes & businesses, my neighbors were raking wet leaves.
Labels: Elizabeth NJ, in the news, jersey shore, weather
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Nothing in history suggests ...
"America is such a compassionate nation, nothing in history that suggests that churches and communities and our families would let people die of hunger, there is absolutely nothing." Kenneth Blackwell, Family Research Council, supporting "Food Stamp" cuts.
What? & this guy's American ancestors were slaves!
How ignorant can one be of both American & Christian history. It boggles the mind. We didn't get a fairly firm handle on widespread hunger in America until the Sixties. John F. Kennedy, when he was running for President in 1960, toured Appalachia at the request of some governors & was appalled; he saw children with bloated bellies. People have always starved in America. Churches have never made more than slight dent in hunger, well-meaning as they are. Most churches do little at all, or just enough to assuage the consciences of their congregants. It's sickening what happened to poor people in the United States from industrialization through the New Deal.
We are a "compassionate nation," but let's not be delusional about it.
SNAP may be the best social service program we have. It is entirely income/resource-based & has only one goal - providing food to people who lack income to buy sufficient amounts of food to feed themselves & their families. Food purchases made with SNAP cycle back into the economy, & the food industry from farm to retailer benefits so well that I can't understand how the Republicans can buck the lobbies. SNAP is not a welfare-to-work program because it is designed to also help able-bodied working people. Years ago the "middle class" didn't need Food Stamps except during layoffs or periods of unemployment, & the benefits tended to be short term for them. It is hardly the fault of the middle class that its income has declined into food stamp eligibility. Are we to order underpaid working people to take second full-time jobs because they are "able-bodied." Even with SNAP, food pantries cannot supply the demand for food. A lot of families that would benefit from SNAP are disqualified because they have too many "resources" - savings accounts, a late model car. The moral issues here are hunger & wages so low that people literally work themselves into debt & poverty.
How ignorant can one be of both American & Christian history. It boggles the mind. We didn't get a fairly firm handle on widespread hunger in America until the Sixties. John F. Kennedy, when he was running for President in 1960, toured Appalachia at the request of some governors & was appalled; he saw children with bloated bellies. People have always starved in America. Churches have never made more than slight dent in hunger, well-meaning as they are. Most churches do little at all, or just enough to assuage the consciences of their congregants. It's sickening what happened to poor people in the United States from industrialization through the New Deal.
We are a "compassionate nation," but let's not be delusional about it.
SNAP may be the best social service program we have. It is entirely income/resource-based & has only one goal - providing food to people who lack income to buy sufficient amounts of food to feed themselves & their families. Food purchases made with SNAP cycle back into the economy, & the food industry from farm to retailer benefits so well that I can't understand how the Republicans can buck the lobbies. SNAP is not a welfare-to-work program because it is designed to also help able-bodied working people. Years ago the "middle class" didn't need Food Stamps except during layoffs or periods of unemployment, & the benefits tended to be short term for them. It is hardly the fault of the middle class that its income has declined into food stamp eligibility. Are we to order underpaid working people to take second full-time jobs because they are "able-bodied." Even with SNAP, food pantries cannot supply the demand for food. A lot of families that would benefit from SNAP are disqualified because they have too many "resources" - savings accounts, a late model car. The moral issues here are hunger & wages so low that people literally work themselves into debt & poverty.
Labels: human rights, in the news
Friday, September 06, 2013
What a mess, Mr. President
President Obama made two mistakes, & I thought they were mistakes when he made them. The first was making a big issue with Putin over Russia giving asylum to Edward Snowden. While Americans had very mixed feelings about what Snowden did & how he did it, from hero to traitor, most Americans believe we needed to know what he exposed about the N.S.A. The President's obsession with bringing Snowden to "justice" did not acknowledge the big problem was no longer Snowden; it was the Obama administration response to the N.S.A. revelations. Snowden is not the dangerous man; Putin is. Snowden seems to be a jerk, & hardly makes me feel good about privatizing our national security. Bad enough you can't enlist in the Army to learn to be a cook anymore. We're hypocrites in Jersey; we despise rats even when we agree with what they do. It's just the way we are.
The second mistake was "drawing the line" for Assad. I happen to agree with John Kerry that the President should not take diplomatic or military "options" "off the table." Not in public, in speeches. We have a nuclear strike arsenal, for cripessake, & the activation codes are never more than a few steps from the President. I also think use of chemical weapons is "different." But the President should not have put himself in the situation of having no options at all. To use another cliche, he did not "get all his ducks in a row" before mouthing off to Assad. Then he dumps the serious matter on Congress - I don't basically object to that, but this congress is really screwed up - but hasn't said he would abide by its decision if it went against him. When the Brits - our only truly trustworthy allies in the world - wouldn't support us, that should have given him & everyone pause.
So now at a time when he ought to be seeking international unity for some form of action in Syria, with a number of "options" "on the table," & guiding the transition to a new healthcare program, he's isolated himself at the G-20 conference. What a mess.
The second mistake was "drawing the line" for Assad. I happen to agree with John Kerry that the President should not take diplomatic or military "options" "off the table." Not in public, in speeches. We have a nuclear strike arsenal, for cripessake, & the activation codes are never more than a few steps from the President. I also think use of chemical weapons is "different." But the President should not have put himself in the situation of having no options at all. To use another cliche, he did not "get all his ducks in a row" before mouthing off to Assad. Then he dumps the serious matter on Congress - I don't basically object to that, but this congress is really screwed up - but hasn't said he would abide by its decision if it went against him. When the Brits - our only truly trustworthy allies in the world - wouldn't support us, that should have given him & everyone pause.
So now at a time when he ought to be seeking international unity for some form of action in Syria, with a number of "options" "on the table," & guiding the transition to a new healthcare program, he's isolated himself at the G-20 conference. What a mess.
Labels: bully pulpit. war more war, in the news
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
The March on Washington
I don't recall The March on Washington having any effect on me one way or another. Puzzled me. I was aware of it. Knew it was happening, Read papers, heard news on radio if not always on TV. Surely my family didn't like it. By that time I was becoming uncomfortable with the language of racism & turned off by the violence. I was beginning to feel the civil rights cause was unstoppable. It wasn't affecting me much where I lived.
Then I realized I was almost certainly with my Grandmother in Atlantic City on Wednesday August 28, 1963. Rarely read newspapers there. Watched TV only for an hour or two in the evening if I wasn't on the boardwalk. I usually had a novel to read in bed, & listened to the local rock station my small transistor radio. I simply wasn't paying attention.
Recently read this book: The March on Washington: Jobs, Freedom, and the Forgotten History of Civil Rights, a new book by William P. Jones. Not the most enjoyable prose I ever read. Crammed with facts. It begins before WWII, with A. Philip Randolph's plans for the first March on Washington in 1941, how the groundwork was laid then for the 1963 march, with many of the same leaders & organizers. About 80% of the history, involving labor unions, African-American organizations, African-American women's groups, many unfamiliar names, was new to me.
One of the demands of the 1963 March, stated at the end from the podium by Bayard Rustin, was for a higher minimum wage.
Then I realized I was almost certainly with my Grandmother in Atlantic City on Wednesday August 28, 1963. Rarely read newspapers there. Watched TV only for an hour or two in the evening if I wasn't on the boardwalk. I usually had a novel to read in bed, & listened to the local rock station my small transistor radio. I simply wasn't paying attention.
Recently read this book: The March on Washington: Jobs, Freedom, and the Forgotten History of Civil Rights, a new book by William P. Jones. Not the most enjoyable prose I ever read. Crammed with facts. It begins before WWII, with A. Philip Randolph's plans for the first March on Washington in 1941, how the groundwork was laid then for the 1963 march, with many of the same leaders & organizers. About 80% of the history, involving labor unions, African-American organizations, African-American women's groups, many unfamiliar names, was new to me.
One of the demands of the 1963 March, stated at the end from the podium by Bayard Rustin, was for a higher minimum wage.
Labels: Atlantic City, growing up, human rights, in the news
Monday, August 26, 2013
Butt humping America
Labels: bully pulpit. war more war, culture, in the news
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Carlos Danger, Private Sextitextigator
"I'm Carlos Danger, Private Sextitextigator."
"You look like Anthony Weiner, disgraced ex-congressman."
"No, really, I'm Carlos Danger. Says so right there on my card."
"That's a bizarre photo to put on a business card, isn't it Mr. Danger?"
"Do I have a pistol in my pocket or am I just happy to see you?"
"What kind of question is that, Carlos Danger, or whoever you are?"
"Ask me if I have a license to carry a concealed weapon."
"I'm not the police, Mr. Danger."
"Please, ask me."
"Alright, Mr. Danger. Do you have a license to carry concealed?"
"No. Now you have to stop & frisk me."
"I'm not going to frisk you, Mr. Danger."
"What if I gave you fifty bucks?"
The Carlos Danger Theme
"You look like Anthony Weiner, disgraced ex-congressman."
"No, really, I'm Carlos Danger. Says so right there on my card."
"That's a bizarre photo to put on a business card, isn't it Mr. Danger?"
"Do I have a pistol in my pocket or am I just happy to see you?"
"What kind of question is that, Carlos Danger, or whoever you are?"
"Ask me if I have a license to carry a concealed weapon."
"I'm not the police, Mr. Danger."
"Please, ask me."
"Alright, Mr. Danger. Do you have a license to carry concealed?"
"No. Now you have to stop & frisk me."
"I'm not going to frisk you, Mr. Danger."
"What if I gave you fifty bucks?"
The Carlos Danger Theme
Labels: in the news
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
City haters
A high school student in Newark NJ requested that he be permitted to leave school early, in the afternoon. For some reason permission was granted. He was shot & killed a block away in a targeted execution. Police say they have "determined a motive." Councilman Ras Baraka called it "crazy." Indeed. Crazy has become the norm in Newark.
But I'm not writing about this particular murder. Rather, I'm writing about the white people from the suburbs who always have plenty to say in the comments below the story. These people inevitably decry the lawlessness, the poverty, with barely-concealed racism. The only reasons they care at all are: 1. They correctly perceive that urban crime & poverty affect their taxes. 2. They fear the crime will suddenly overtake them. But statistics do not bear this out. The crime stays where it is. The menace of crime to these people is symbolic. What they really fear are the ideas that come from cities. They don't give a damn about the humanity. It would be refreshingly honest if they admitted it.
Of course, many suburbanites love cities. They commute to them, go to concerts, museums, the events & places & culture not available in the suburbs. They appreciate the physical safety of the suburbs. It's not purchased cheaply. But other people find nothing useful at all in or about cities. They hate cities. They choose to reside in the suburbs because they believe it will isolate them not only from the crime & poverty - which it generally does (altough there are increasing numbers of poor folks in suburbia struggling to maintain), but also from everything else that cities provide, mainly, a liberal spirit. Not only political liberalism. In that sense, a political conservative residing in most American cities is like a liberal residing in the Bible Belt*; you're in the permanent minority, so get used to it. But urban culture & ideas have ways of making themselves felt, & gaining acceptance, outside cities. An easy current example is marriage equality, which spread remarkably fast.
If indirectly paying the cost of crime in Newark makes you believe you're a victim in the safety of your suburban shelter, you're entitled to believe it & vent online. But don't forget that the real victims of urban crime & poverty are the people directly affected by them. What you really fear is something else.
* Christianity began as a dangerous idea from the cities.
But I'm not writing about this particular murder. Rather, I'm writing about the white people from the suburbs who always have plenty to say in the comments below the story. These people inevitably decry the lawlessness, the poverty, with barely-concealed racism. The only reasons they care at all are: 1. They correctly perceive that urban crime & poverty affect their taxes. 2. They fear the crime will suddenly overtake them. But statistics do not bear this out. The crime stays where it is. The menace of crime to these people is symbolic. What they really fear are the ideas that come from cities. They don't give a damn about the humanity. It would be refreshingly honest if they admitted it.
Of course, many suburbanites love cities. They commute to them, go to concerts, museums, the events & places & culture not available in the suburbs. They appreciate the physical safety of the suburbs. It's not purchased cheaply. But other people find nothing useful at all in or about cities. They hate cities. They choose to reside in the suburbs because they believe it will isolate them not only from the crime & poverty - which it generally does (altough there are increasing numbers of poor folks in suburbia struggling to maintain), but also from everything else that cities provide, mainly, a liberal spirit. Not only political liberalism. In that sense, a political conservative residing in most American cities is like a liberal residing in the Bible Belt*; you're in the permanent minority, so get used to it. But urban culture & ideas have ways of making themselves felt, & gaining acceptance, outside cities. An easy current example is marriage equality, which spread remarkably fast.
If indirectly paying the cost of crime in Newark makes you believe you're a victim in the safety of your suburban shelter, you're entitled to believe it & vent online. But don't forget that the real victims of urban crime & poverty are the people directly affected by them. What you really fear is something else.
* Christianity began as a dangerous idea from the cities.
Labels: bully pulpit, in the news, justice, New Jersey
Thursday, May 02, 2013
Jersey's pedophile enabler
Newark archbishop allows priest who admitted groping boy to continue working with children.
He [Fugee] has attended weekend youth retreats in Marlboro and on the shores of Lake Hopatcong in Mount Arlington, parishioners say. Fugee also has traveled with members of the St. Mary’s youth group on an annual pilgrimage to Canada. At all three locations, he has heard confessions from minors behind closed doors.
What’s more, he has done so with the approval of New Jersey’s highest-ranking Catholic official, Newark Archbishop John J. Myers.My attitude toward American RC Bishops ranges from indifference to contempt. Sometimes one of my Catholic friends mentions an o.k. one. Myers is not o.k. Aloof, isolated, autocratic, inclined to speak to the hoi polloi through his cathedral office mouthpieces, this is not his first pedophile cover-up scandal. But it is showing some endurance in local media, & is slowly going national The Star-Ledger called for his resignation in an editorial, an unusual act for a newspaper (although I'm sure it's happened elsewhere). Parishioners at the church where Fugee was assigned are outraged, as are the vast majority of Jersey Catholics polled on this. Catholic politicians are calling for Myers to step down. Except our Governor, who says it's political "grandstanding." He will soon perceive the error of that statement.
I think Myers can be pushed or removed from office this time, if media stays on the story, if pressure from New Jersey Catholics is relentless (following through on threats of withholding tithes), & some of his fellow Bishops in Jersey continue refusing to support him. There's a new Pope. Eventually he'll hear about it, if he hasn't already. Pope Francis can make an example of Myers if he truly wants to set himself apart from his two predecessors: Esto termina ahora. This ends now.
Labels: blogging against theocracy, in the news, New Jersey, religion
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
An American alleged terrorist
I am relieved there was no delay, no waffling about charging Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as a civilian & a United States citizen & subjecting him to civilian justice. Many "conservatives" (who ought to know better but rarely do) wanted him tried as an "enemy combatant" in military court. The dangers of doing that are chilling, the very thing right wing Second Amendment purists would seem to be warning us against. You want martial law? Just start funneling civilians into military courts, with their lack of transparency.
Beyond that, I don't want Dzhokhar Tsarnaev given an "out" as an American citizen. As an "enemy combatant" he becomes an "other," an "outsider," not one of us & could justify his actions on that basis. He still can, but he will face the consequences as an American, as unrepentant killers Timothy McVeigh & Eric Rudolph did. Dzhokhar by accounts of his acquaintances is very much an American. He was nine years old when he came here. America raised him from there. There doesn't seem at this early stage of the investigation to be any camouflage involved until, possibly, a few weeks or months before the bombings. If Dzhokhar is guilty, he is guilty as an American, as one of us, which is far worse a thing than being an "enemy combatant."
Beyond that, I don't want Dzhokhar Tsarnaev given an "out" as an American citizen. As an "enemy combatant" he becomes an "other," an "outsider," not one of us & could justify his actions on that basis. He still can, but he will face the consequences as an American, as unrepentant killers Timothy McVeigh & Eric Rudolph did. Dzhokhar by accounts of his acquaintances is very much an American. He was nine years old when he came here. America raised him from there. There doesn't seem at this early stage of the investigation to be any camouflage involved until, possibly, a few weeks or months before the bombings. If Dzhokhar is guilty, he is guilty as an American, as one of us, which is far worse a thing than being an "enemy combatant."
Labels: in the news
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Boston MA
Tuesday, April 02, 2013
Crazy Mike Rice
Labels: in the news, New Jersey, Rutgers, sports
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Pope Francis
There were no "liberal" candidates for Pope. To elect the first American, first Latin American, first Jesuit & first Pope Francis is remarkable. I have no idea what he will do as Pope.
Been an interesting few weeks. Not for the speculation on the choice of a new Pope, but for seeing the amount of discomfort many people feel toward the Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholics, the process of choosing a Pope. Except for the general tone a Pope sets, I don't see why most non-Catholics should care one way or another who the Pope is. I care mainly because the Catholics I know care. Only non-Catholics with fantastical, unrealistic notions of change would think there could be a Pope from the current collection of Cardinals with different views on abortion, marriage equality, & the ordination of women.
Argentinians still ask questions regarding his dealings with the military junta during the "dirty war" of the 1970's.
What I hope for is a Pope more concerned with cleaning his house of the rancid Vatican Bank dealings & sex abuse enablers than with disciplining nuns & college professors. A certain type of conservative Pope could want that, perhaps an Argentine Jesuit who takes the name of Francis - Assisi or Xavier or both. Perhaps he can help stem the flow of Latin Americans into charismatic Evangelical churches, which I see in my own city, & it makes me sad. Because the resources of the Roman Church when it attends to "least among us" are powerful, effective, global.. This must be what many American Catholics want their Church to do. Stop trying to influence civil elections, or at least show some consistency with issues of life, which also include opposing war & capital punishment, & the usual what would Jesus do? stuff: feeding the hungry, comforting the afflicted, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, healing the sick, visiting the imprisoned.
Been an interesting few weeks. Not for the speculation on the choice of a new Pope, but for seeing the amount of discomfort many people feel toward the Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholics, the process of choosing a Pope. Except for the general tone a Pope sets, I don't see why most non-Catholics should care one way or another who the Pope is. I care mainly because the Catholics I know care. Only non-Catholics with fantastical, unrealistic notions of change would think there could be a Pope from the current collection of Cardinals with different views on abortion, marriage equality, & the ordination of women.
Argentinians still ask questions regarding his dealings with the military junta during the "dirty war" of the 1970's.
What I hope for is a Pope more concerned with cleaning his house of the rancid Vatican Bank dealings & sex abuse enablers than with disciplining nuns & college professors. A certain type of conservative Pope could want that, perhaps an Argentine Jesuit who takes the name of Francis - Assisi or Xavier or both. Perhaps he can help stem the flow of Latin Americans into charismatic Evangelical churches, which I see in my own city, & it makes me sad. Because the resources of the Roman Church when it attends to "least among us" are powerful, effective, global.. This must be what many American Catholics want their Church to do. Stop trying to influence civil elections, or at least show some consistency with issues of life, which also include opposing war & capital punishment, & the usual what would Jesus do? stuff: feeding the hungry, comforting the afflicted, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, healing the sick, visiting the imprisoned.
Labels: in the news, religion
Monday, February 11, 2013
Pope Benedict stepping down, cites poor health
The decrepit Pope John Paul II symbolized the Catholic Church's unwillingness / inability to honestly confront & deal with the child abuse scandals wracking the Church. One asked the question, "Is anyone in charge here?" The answer was, "Sort of." The person in charge was the future Pope Benedict behind the scenes. He dealt with it no better after becoming Pope. The situation requires outrage hitched to unquestioned moral integrity. Would the younger, vibrant John Paul II, age 59 when he took office, have used his authority to expose the tragedy & deliver justice? We can never know.
Pope Benedict at least recognizes that he does not want to become like John Paul II in his final years; an ineffectual shell. He wants to influence the election of his successor. Benedict is a cerebral man, an intellectual. He can live out his final years comfortably, with limited mobility. He won't be bored.
The next pope will likely share Benedict's conservative views. The voting Cardinals were all appointed either by him or John Paul II. Occasionally (meaning rarely) the Conclave anoints a complete surprise; a man they thought they knew but didn't really, a "miracle" like Angelo Roncalli, Pope John XXIII, the "simple priest," or one who is radically changed by the office itself. Every new pope brings new possibilities.
The main open question now concerns the future pope's nationality. Will the next pope be from Africa or Latin America? If not this one, probably the one after. Or will this pope be the last hurrah of the European popes? Perhaps even an Italian pope for old time's sake.
The decrepit Pope John Paul II symbolized the Catholic Church's unwillingness / inability to honestly confront & deal with the child abuse scandals wracking the Church. One asked the question, "Is anyone in charge here?" The answer was, "Sort of." The person in charge was the future Pope Benedict behind the scenes. He dealt with it no better after becoming Pope. The situation requires outrage hitched to unquestioned moral integrity. Would the younger, vibrant John Paul II, age 59 when he took office, have used his authority to expose the tragedy & deliver justice? We can never know.
Pope Benedict at least recognizes that he does not want to become like John Paul II in his final years; an ineffectual shell. He wants to influence the election of his successor. Benedict is a cerebral man, an intellectual. He can live out his final years comfortably, with limited mobility. He won't be bored.
The next pope will likely share Benedict's conservative views. The voting Cardinals were all appointed either by him or John Paul II. Occasionally (meaning rarely) the Conclave anoints a complete surprise; a man they thought they knew but didn't really, a "miracle" like Angelo Roncalli, Pope John XXIII, the "simple priest," or one who is radically changed by the office itself. Every new pope brings new possibilities.
The main open question now concerns the future pope's nationality. Will the next pope be from Africa or Latin America? If not this one, probably the one after. Or will this pope be the last hurrah of the European popes? Perhaps even an Italian pope for old time's sake.
Labels: in the news, religion
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Te'o, Te'o, football over & me wan' to go home
The tale of Notre Dame football player Manti Te'o's imaginary or fake girlfriend is quite bizarre. Nobody is fully buying Notre Dame's official statement that it was a totally a cruel hoax on Manti. Perhaps it was. But there are some curious matters involving his own statements & his reaction to news of her "death."
However, the naivete of Mormons should not be underestimated. & for a young, single Mormon of large size & Samoan extraction, The Notre Dame campus in South Bend, Indiana might be a very lonely place even for a Heisman Trophy candidate.
However, the naivete of Mormons should not be underestimated. & for a young, single Mormon of large size & Samoan extraction, The Notre Dame campus in South Bend, Indiana might be a very lonely place even for a Heisman Trophy candidate.
Labels: in the news, sports
Monday, January 07, 2013
Notre Dame versus Alabama
Later: Alabama 42, Notre Dame 14. Ouch! Whadda nightmare!
Lost in this debacle is the fact that Notre Dame was unranked preseason & consensus was the team was a year away from really making an impact. Then they got lucky. They kept winning, including some games that were signs & portents of vulnerability. They over-achieved. Oregon & Alabama lost games. Had the Irish lost a game during regular season, been ranked 4 or 5, played in another BCS bowl & won, or kept it close, the season would have been deemed a success, with great hopes for 2013-14.
***
Rooting for Notre Dame tonight. Not as a Notre Dame fan - a pair of married N.D. alumni friends softened me up a bit over past few years. With the possible exception of Tennessee, it's impossible for me to favor an S.E.C. school.
***
Rooting for Notre Dame tonight. Not as a Notre Dame fan - a pair of married N.D. alumni friends softened me up a bit over past few years. With the possible exception of Tennessee, it's impossible for me to favor an S.E.C. school.
It's more that I grew up in an Army football family with a connection to the glory teams of WWII, an uncle at West Point then. There was still some national prestige attached to Army in the late Fifties, with Heisman Trophy winner Pete Dawkins. For years, the Army - Notre Dame game at Yankee Stadium was a national event. Army usually got its butt kicked. The series is Irish 38, Army 8, one tie - that 1946 scoreless contest one of the "Games of the Century." But it was an honorable rivalry, filled with tradition dating back to the famous 1913 "forward pass" game with Knute Rockne making the catches. It's generally forgotten that Army won in 1914. Army fans will gladly point out that Navy has played Notre Dame nearly twice as many times, winning only 12 games.
The game Notre Dame won for "The Gipper" was against Army. (See Ronald Reagan, whose career might have taken a different path had he not played George Gipp in "The Knute Rockne Story.")
Both teams still have their traditions & pageantry. No matter how awful Army is, a game at historic Michie Stadium at West Point is an unforgettable experience. There is a bond between the two teams. Whatever one thinks of Notre Dame's conceit & arrogance (fueled by a relentless P.R. machine), The Joe Paterno / Penn State scandal showed that hubris takes many forms, even quietly evil ones masquerading as sainthood.
I'm not forgetting that there is at Notre Dame an unresolved sexual assault tragedy involving a current player & a St. Mary's student who later committed suicide. Notre Dame thinks it has been resolved, the dead student's family does not, nor do some Notre Dame alum sitting out this Championship Game because of it. It's received pitifully little attention over the past month. There may also be a second incident. Should Notre Dame win the Championship (I think "Bama will prevail), there could be a ticking time bomb inside it the Irish publicity machine cannot defuse.
Labels: education, in the news, sports
Monday, December 17, 2012
Every act of violence
The long procession of Newtown funerals began today.
Every act of violence indicates a failure of some kind. Doesn't matter if it is a criminal act, the act of a senseless madman, self-defense, a state execution, a revolution, or a war. We compound the failure by refusing to acknowledge it is a failure.
Any Christian who invokes God in the name of violence worships "The Great Deluder,' as theologian Walter Wink names this false deity.
But it is equally mistaken to write, as one person did, that the "God of love" "does not allow violence." God surely does allow violence as an expression of free will. The violence is perpetrated by us, not by God. God is not punishing anyone. We punish ourselves. In Dante's Inferno, the damned are not forcibly driven to the banks of the River Acheron, but drawn to it by their own perverse natures, a profound psychological insight for its time. Such is the attraction of violence, especially redemptive violence; the false idea that violence redeems & heals. Most Christians never question the concept of redemptive violence, taken from the inaccurate history in the Old Testament, a common misinterpretation of the Crucifixion, & long human experience of an unwillingness to see what occurs when one rejects it.
Every act of violence indicates a failure of some kind. Doesn't matter if it is a criminal act, the act of a senseless madman, self-defense, a state execution, a revolution, or a war. We compound the failure by refusing to acknowledge it is a failure.
Any Christian who invokes God in the name of violence worships "The Great Deluder,' as theologian Walter Wink names this false deity.
First Moloch, horrid king, besmear’d with blood
Of human sacrifice, and parents’ tears,
Though for the noise of Drums and Timbrels loud
Their children’s cries unheard, that pass’d through fire
To his grim idol. (Paradise Lost 1.392-96)
But it is equally mistaken to write, as one person did, that the "God of love" "does not allow violence." God surely does allow violence as an expression of free will. The violence is perpetrated by us, not by God. God is not punishing anyone. We punish ourselves. In Dante's Inferno, the damned are not forcibly driven to the banks of the River Acheron, but drawn to it by their own perverse natures, a profound psychological insight for its time. Such is the attraction of violence, especially redemptive violence; the false idea that violence redeems & heals. Most Christians never question the concept of redemptive violence, taken from the inaccurate history in the Old Testament, a common misinterpretation of the Crucifixion, & long human experience of an unwillingness to see what occurs when one rejects it.
Labels: in the news, religion
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Bullseye
He asked me if I had ever
fired a gun? Yes, many times.
A hand gun? Yes. A shotgun?
Yes, several of those. Even a musket.
Do they have much of a kick?
It depends. Does the trigger
give any resistance? That also depends.
They are all different -
you never know what to expect
until it actually goes off.
You have to aim it at a target,
whatever you want to shoot.
I've fired a World War One deck cannon
with a caliber the size of a soup can,
& a replica Revolutionary War cannon
you could stuff with rusty nails.
Professional historians asked my dad
what his cannon would do to a Redcoat
if you loaded it with nails, a question
dad was always willing to address.
***
A poem that sat unfinished for a long time. You can tell the final two stanzas are different from the first three, glued on. But I think it works because I move from a desultory tone about a topic that doesn't particularly interest me into an animated explanation of why modern weapons don't interest me. The poem is also for anyone who mistakes me for an anti-gun ownership ideologue
It's natural to be outraged by the murderous carnage at Newtown,. The good people of that place do not need a million condolence cards & 10,000 teddy bears, or whatever those who believe there's an absolute right to the possession of military assault weapons say we ought to be doing in lieu of expressing outrage. It's the same after every mass murder: save it, not now, show compassion & empathy, don't politicize it. That is an agenda; trying to silence the outrage. The most compassionate thing we can do is to fan our outrage & not let it go this time. The people of Newtown will be feeling the outrage too when the grief starts to wear off.
fired a gun? Yes, many times.
A hand gun? Yes. A shotgun?
Yes, several of those. Even a musket.
Do they have much of a kick?
It depends. Does the trigger
give any resistance? That also depends.
They are all different -
you never know what to expect
until it actually goes off.
You have to aim it at a target,
whatever you want to shoot.
I've fired a World War One deck cannon
with a caliber the size of a soup can,
& a replica Revolutionary War cannon
you could stuff with rusty nails.
Professional historians asked my dad
what his cannon would do to a Redcoat
if you loaded it with nails, a question
dad was always willing to address.
***
A poem that sat unfinished for a long time. You can tell the final two stanzas are different from the first three, glued on. But I think it works because I move from a desultory tone about a topic that doesn't particularly interest me into an animated explanation of why modern weapons don't interest me. The poem is also for anyone who mistakes me for an anti-gun ownership ideologue
It's natural to be outraged by the murderous carnage at Newtown,. The good people of that place do not need a million condolence cards & 10,000 teddy bears, or whatever those who believe there's an absolute right to the possession of military assault weapons say we ought to be doing in lieu of expressing outrage. It's the same after every mass murder: save it, not now, show compassion & empathy, don't politicize it. That is an agenda; trying to silence the outrage. The most compassionate thing we can do is to fan our outrage & not let it go this time. The people of Newtown will be feeling the outrage too when the grief starts to wear off.
Labels: in the news, poem
Saturday, December 08, 2012
Mass gay weddings expected in Washington state
OLYMPIA, Washington (Reuters) - Washington state will usher in same-sex marriage on Sunday as hundreds of gay and lesbian couples exchange vows in mass weddings on the first day they can legally tie the knot — and the biggest party will be in Seattle.
Washington, Maine and Maryland became the first U.S. states to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples by a popular vote, with the November passage of separate ballot measures that marked a watershed moment for gay rights.
Washington's law went into effect on Thursday, when hundreds of couples lined up to apply for marriage licenses, and the first legal same-sex weddings are due on Sunday after the expiry of a three-day waiting period required of all marriages.
Diane Butzberger and Amanda Russ of Tacoma plan to be among the first of 140 couples to get married at Seattle's City Hall on Sunday morning in a feted mass celebration.Dear Nitwits of America:
I'm sorry you lay awake night after night imagining what "those people" are doing. I'm sorry you're in emotional turmoil all day, appetite ruined, your marriage & relationships destroyed. I'm sorry you're a bigoted idiot with no gay or lesbian friends you can be happy for & with.
Labels: blogging against theocracy, in the news
