Thursday, November 29, 2007

"Anti - war voices clearly don't understand the military"

By Col. Ken Allard, USA, Retired. The San Antonio EXPRESS - NEWS, Thursday, November 29, 2007.

"It is as though the land of the free had suddenly become the Wimpodite nation.

"As if Beowulf had inexplicably conceded that Grendel had issues or the Spartans at Thermopylae had sent a tactful note to the Persians deploring the senseless use of violence.

"But with the war in Iraq turning decisively in our favor, the Democrats controlling Congress are living in Fantasyland, barely able to get up each morning without legislating fresh absurdities requiring U.S. troops to evacuate the combat zone in, let's say, the next 10 minutes or so...."

A GOOD READ!!

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

"Vengó a su madre"

"MATO AL AGRESOR DE SEIS BALAZOS"

"RELATOS DEL CRIMEN"

"El baile de la escuela terminó en tragedia"

"La madre le pedía a su hijo que no buscara pleito, que no era necesario hacer una locura ya que las cosas no habían sido tan graves para comenzar una riña, pero el homicida estaba lleno de rabia y coraje por la agresión hacia su madre"

"Faustino Hernández Rocha, de apenas 23 años de edad, defendió el honor se su madre y de sus tías al quitarle la vida a Roberto"

Por Sinhué Samaniego, El Zócalo, Monclova, México. Miércoles 21 de Noviembre de 2007.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

"Community grieves UTEP student"

By Elida S. Perez, The UTEP Prospector, Tuesday, November 20, 2007.

"Family, friends and co-workers have an opportunity to remember Jessica "Jessie" Pando on a memorial Web site:

www.jessiepando.com.

"Pando, 22, died in a single vehicle rollover crash on Doniphan Road on Nov. 14.

"Pando was a member of the student fan group, the Miner Girls, a freshman pre - business major and worked at P.F. Chang's China Bistro.

Her ex - supervisor, "who attended her funeral mass yesterday, said the restaurant was missng about 66 percent of its staff due to the funeral services."

www.utepprospector.com

Monday, November 26, 2007

"The Care Bear Stare has no real power"

¡Ora, UTEP! ¡Ora, MEChA! ¡Adelante, DESTINO!

"The Care Bear Stare is the psychological weapon of choice for people who cannot reconcile themselves to a world without guaranteed happy endings."

"People can't fix the world with sunny thoughts"

The Dallas Morning News and its Editorial Columnist, Rod Dreher, let fly in the San Antonio EXPRESS - NEWS, Sunday, November 25, 2007. (A by the seat of your pants adaptation)

"As [journalist Julian] Sanchez explained on his blog, The Care Bear Stare was a sort of deus ex machine the magical furballs could employ when faced with some insuperable obstacle: They'd line up together and emit a glowing manifestation of their boundless caring, which seemed capable of solving just about any problem.

"Behind The Care Bear Stare is the ideological conviction that there's no problem that can't be solved by the power of human intelligence and [the] relentless application of good will.

"Alas for the Care Bears and their cute little tummies glowing with gladsome light, we live in an imperfect world.

"History teaches that the attempt to perfect it is not only futile but could make things worse (e.g., communism as a solution to poverty and inequaity).

"But so what? Our tummies are warm, our hearts are in the right place, and we won't stop thinking about tomorrow."

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

"¿Inventan una nueva misa en Holanda?"

"En Holanda inventan otra misa. Con el copyright de los dominicos"

"El experimento ya está en curso.

"En lugar del sacerdote hay hombres y mujeres designados por los fieles.

"Y todos juntos pronuncian las palabras de la consagración, que también se varían a voluntad.

"Según los dominicos holandesas, eso es lo quiere el Concilio Vaticano II."

por Sandro Magister...

"ROMA, 3 de octubre del 2007 -- etc...."

Para continuar con el hilo original:

http://www.panodigital.com/actualidad-eclesial/inventan-una-nueva-misa-en-holanda?.com

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Eric Voegelin's "discovery" of the social stratification of English usage.

Source: Ellis Sandoz's The Voegelinian Revolution, page 76.

What follows is in Voegelin's own words, regarding an experience he had at Lousiana State University during WW II.

Voegelin himself was trying to acquire an adequate use of English himself.

"The nature of my problem can be gathered from a conversation with Cleanth Brooks.

"Once, when crossing the campus, I met him, deep in sorrow and thought, and asked him what worried him.

"He told me he had to prepare a chapter on typical mistakes for a textbook on English style which he had to reedit together with Robert Penn Warren, and that it was quite a chore to find typical mistakes.

"I was a bit surprised and innocently told him, Well, that is very simple to find typical mistakes. Just take any education textbook and you will find half a dozen on every page.

"He then explained to me that he could not use this method because educationists were far below the level of average literacy, their mistakes could not be considered to be typical for an average English - speaking person."

Ha, ha, ha!



Saturday, November 17, 2007

Happy Thanksgivng to all!

"En nomás que un rato,
Disfrutamos nuestra Grand Día,
El Gran Día de Guajalote,
Y aquí lo festejamos, ¿OK?,
Mediante un gran mitote"

¡Ora, UTEP! ¡Ora, Brackettville!

¡Ora, MEChA! ¡Adelante, DESTINO!

Friday, November 16, 2007

"Supreme Court upholds Rosas as president"

¡Ora, UTEP ! ¡ Ora, MEChA !

¡Adelante, DESTINO!

By Natalie Hinojosa, The UTEP Prospector, November 13, 2007.

www.utepprospector.com

"Un buen chivo expiatorio es casi tan bueno como una solución al problema" Anónimo.

Fuente: El Zócalo / Piedras Negras, Coahuila, México / Martes 6 de Noviembre de 2007.

"JAQUE MATE

"Hallar culpables

Por el señor licenciado Sergio Sarmiento.

"Leo en una nota periodística que el director de la Estrategia Internacional de Reducción de Desatres de la ONU, Sálvano Briceño, sustuvo que la tragedias de Tabasco pudo haberse evitado con medidas relativamente sencillas y baratas, como sistemas de alerta, evalucación de riesgos, planes de desalojo, educación a la población vulnerable y planeación del uso de la tierra."

Cadet James Ferrell, NMSU, Cadet Army ROTC:

One heck of a good story, soldier!

Scroll below, to: "Incoming info on Lt. Col. Abbott!"

"James, thanks a million. Speaking for myself, I just wish you could get some of those other NMSU cadets to come on in and talk just as straight, and here's why: Neither the NMSU student paper, nor the sports section for that Las Cruces newspaper responded for zip, even though we queried both within a maximum of two(2) to three(3) weeks after the incident in question."

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Dr. John J. Pilch, Phd., publicly "dissed!"

Big time, and by Yo ...

This month's Homeletic and Pastoral Review, pages 5 and 6.

Yeah, we know, it's a limited circulation monthly, maybe 15,000 a month with a hardcorps readership of around 8,000 subcribers.

But!

A big percentage of those are Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops, Priests, Deacons, Phd.'s, you name it.

So that is what rocks, for yours truly, anyway....

"Belated Happy Veteran's Day, everybody!"

Here in Brackettville, Texas, this Monday past, the good folks at Jone's Elementary and Middle School put on what by all accounts was a real nice Veterans' Appreciation Day event starting at 1 pm.

I guess the "message" here is that Small Town Anywhere U.S.A. is still where it's all at, right?

www.thebrackettnews.com

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Incoming info on Lt Col Abbot!!

Here's a brief recap:

(1) "Something" goes down at UTEP - NMSU game in Sept. 2005. Female UTEP eyewitness sees most all of it. And that at least two(2) NMSU coeds were involved, one(1) female ROTC member, one NMSU student newspaper member. Her observations make it to the pages of the UTEP Prospector.

(2) Dennis contacts her. She replies confirming her indentity and provides more detailed eye - witness info.

(3) Dennis contacts Lt. Col Abbott.

(4) Lt Col Abbott responds.

(5) Lt. Col. Abbott then really screws up, contacts senior female administrator for NMSU in Las Cruce. Gives her his own mendacious version -- only this time it's take #2.

(6) She forwards the whole mess, including NMSU Police Chief Chavez's equally lying and mendacius spin to Dennis, most likely unbeknownst to both the NMSU Police Chief and Lt. Col. Abbott (heh! heh!), who has become very, very intangled in his own little web of deception and coverup.

(7) Now! Comes James F. an eyewitness NMSU ROTC cadet in his own right.

In James own words:

"You think you know what happened, but I was one of the [male ROTC] cadets that was assaulted at that game.

"After we had finished going up the stairs at the southgate, I reported the incident to a New Mexico State Police officer, not a [NMSU] University officer, but I was told that nothing could be done as they did not see the incident.

"I was called into LTC Abbot's office and gave a verbal statement about the incident thevery next day.

"I had also informed my NCOIC of the incident immediately after it had occured.

"It's a shame I ran into this web page a year too late.

"If you don't believe me, just reply to this comment and I'll give you contact info."

NOTE: In his followup this am, James F. says: "So what would you like to know?"

My answer: "James, every flipp'in thing, o.k.? OK!

Semper Fi, soldier!

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Today's Catholic looks at Halloween...

Tracing the traditions: From hauntings to hallows in Halloween.

By Patricia Kasten, Special to Today's Catholic, October 26, 2007. [an excerpted fragment]

"Let's start with All Saints Day.

"A feast day commemorating the saints goes far back into Christian history.

"It arose from feasts honoring martyrs.

"Early Christian churches were often built over the tombs of martyrs.

"For a while, the first Sunday afer Pentecost was a preferred day for this feast.

"However, by 610 A.D. that changed.

"That year, Pope Boniface IV chose May 13 as the date for All Saints Day [a custom] continued until the time of Pope Gregory III (731 - 41).

[Pope Gregory III] dedicated a chapel in St. Peter's Basilica to all the saints on Nov. 1.

"The feast day's date has stuck ever since.

"Gregory III doesn't have the only claim to setting the Nov. 1 date.

"That also goes to Irish monks and grew out of Celtic traditions.

"Rather than try to abolish Samhain [the druidic celebration of the pagan Lord of the Dead that occurred on October 31], the monks set their own festival celebrations of All Saints on Nov. 1 and co-opted the [pagan] celebration so fthe night before.

"The vigil of All Saints Day became known as All Hallows Eve, eventually shortened to Halloween.

"All Souls Day follows All Saints, and is a time to pray for the [poor] souls in purgatory.

"It dates at least to the fifth century, when a day of prayer for the dead was held on the Monday after Pentecost.

"Saint Odilo (962 - 1049) gets credit for moving the feast[of All Souls Day ] to after All Saints Day, at least for the monks of his order, the cluniacs."

Monday, November 05, 2007

A couple of books reviewed years back in America...

"Vows of Silence: The abuse of Power in the Papacy"

by Janon Berry and Gerald Renner. Free Press. 353p $26.00. ISBN 0743244419.

As reviewer Fr. Thomas H. Stahel, S.J. tells us:

"It is Berry's and Renner's view that the power play used in sexual abuse is mirrored in the power plays used by the hierarchy to shut people up about it, as when Cardinal Law [of Boston] swore an abuse victim to confessional secrecy...."

America, April 19 - 26, 2004.

"Our Fathers: The Secret Life of the Catholic Church in an Age of Scandal"

by David France: Broadway Books. 656p $26.95. ISBN 0767914309.

Rev. Fr. Stahel, S.J., again!

"The book is better than any movie will be.

"It has fascinating if incidental historical narrative besides stories of abuse and coverup.

"For instance, how Barbara Blaine founded SNAP ("Survivors Netwrok of Those Abused by Priests").

"How The Boston Globe changed from being protective of the church to being adversarial.

"How Dominic Spagniola got his priesthood, lost it, got it back, then lost it again."

America, April 19 - 26, 2004.

Wow! Both sound like good deals to order right here in Brackettville, Texas -- through the Interlibrary Loan Dept. of our friendly neighborhood Kinney County Library, don't you think ??!!

Saturday, November 03, 2007

At last, unleashed!

Ms. Martha Fernández - Sardina !!

Goes over on an evangelical offensive !!

Defies her wannanbe - New Age Archdiocesan political handlers !!

"Be prepared to be used by God"

"Ms. Martha Ferández - Sardina is Director of the archdiocesan Office of Evangelization and a bilingual speaker and teacher."

As she tells us in this current issue of Today's Catholic, October 26, 2007:

"[T]here are many people in our neigborhoods, parish boundaries, cities and spheres of influence who are ready and willing to hear about Christ's plan and promise of eternal salvation.

"What the Lord is doing in Fredericksburg -- where dozens of Jeremy and Monica's fellow parishioners openly say:

I have been a Catholic Christian for one year .. for 4 years .. 36 years .. and I love it..

"...can happen in your neck of the woods, if you allow yourself to be used by God."

The legendary Father Samuel Heitkamp:

"I want to thank all of you for your prayers.

"Last year it was for cancer treatment, which was also succesful.

"This year it was hip replacement.

"I'm 66 now and I have said for years that the warranty runs out at 60 and then we begin to fall apart."

Yea, Padre! 'Way to go ! (heh, heh!)

Today's Catholic, October 26, 2007, page 17.

www.todayscatholic.org

Friday, November 02, 2007

Sample reviews of Alyssa Pitstick's book on Hans Urs von Balthasar...

Aidan Nichols, Oxford University, tells us:

"This severe, but forcefully argued, study will have to be borne in mind in all future assessemnts of Balthasar's theological doctrine."

John Neuhaus -- in First Things.

"Alyssa Pitstick gives no quarter.

"She notes instances in which Balthasar, in her view, misrepresents scriptural, patristic, and magisterial texts and simply ignores aspects of the tradition inconvenient to his arguement...

"Pitstick has thrown down a gauntlet that other theologians should not ignore...

"Thanks to Pitstick, a new and lively debate over Balthasar's achievement is almost certainly underway."

Thursday, November 01, 2007

ADISTA:

"Notizie, documenti, rassegne, dossier su mondo cattolico e realità religiose. edición española, 87. 9 deciembre 2006."

"Eucaristía: Para Muchos, pero no Para Todos. Del Vaticano una nueva traducción del Misal Romano.

[Nuestra humilde adaptación, ¡claro!]

"3365. ROMA - ADISTA. En uno o dos años más, va a cambiar la versión italiana de las palabras de la consagración del cáliz en la celebración de la misa: reemplazando el actual para todos, en uso desde hace más de veinte años, con la formula para muchos, que adhiere más al texto latín del Missale Romanum, que dice pro multis.

"El cambio sucede por voluntad del papa Benedicto XVI, que comunicó su dirección al Prefecto de la Congregación para el Culto Divino, [El Cardenal] Francis Arinze, quien a su vez informó a los presidentes de las distintas Conferencias Episcopales Nacionales en una carta con fecha [de] 17 de octubre de 2006, hecha pública en estos días.

"La formula latina presente en el Missale Romanum, único para todas las naciones y en que se basan las traducciones autorizadas en los idiomas nacionales, es:

accipite et bibite ex eo omnes / hic est enim cáliz sanguinis mei / novi et aeterni testamenti / qui pro vobis et pro multis effundetur / in remissionem peccatorum / Hoc facite in meam commemorationem...

"La expresión pro multis fue traducida en italiano per tutti, (para todos) y en la mayoría de los otros idiomas de manera análoga: en alemán, für alle, en inglés for all, en español para todos los hombres.

"En cambio, en francés se recita pour le multitude."

"El Pasoans celebrate Halloween"

The UTEP Prospector, Tuesday, October 30, 2007.

By Kathryn Holly.

"People around the world celebrate Halloween by trick - or - treating, getting spooked at haunted houses or having parties, but not everyone knows why they partake in the holiday or know its its deep roots.

"The history of Halloween dates back to Celtic tribes, who celebrated Nov. 1 as the beginning of the New Year and coming winter.

"The holiday is also called Samhain, the Lord of the Dead, taking its name from a god of Ireland's ancient Druid religion.

"It was a time to celebrate the year passed and their ancestors as well as a time when the dead reportedly came back among the living.

"When All Saints Day was moved from May 13 to Nov. 1 by Pope Gregory IV, the day before became known as All Hallow's Eve, shortened to Halloween.

"Since then, All Saints Day has become more a cultural than religious holiday."

Good read! So, anyone can feel free to read on at:

http://www.utepprospector.com/