Blogworthies LXIII

Because The Blog from the Core simply can't cover everything.

Noteworthy entries @ Catholic Light, Evolution News & Views, Mere Comments, Armavirumque, Power Line, Cella's Review, The Moderate Voice, Cor ad cor loquitur, The Paragraph Farmer, Dyspeptic Mutterings, Bizblogger, Michelle Malkin, Wittingshire, Between Worlds, Flos Carmeli, Lead and Gold, cut on the bias, Patterico's Pontifications, Envoy Encore, Rerum Novarum, Off the Record, Discriminations, JunkYardBlog, and Some Have Hats.

Setting your expectations @ Catholic Light:

We here at Catholic Light are just as grateful as can be for the election of Pope Benedict XVI, and so are most of our readers.

Yet we cannot overlook the plight of readers who are disappointed or frustrated to find that this new Pope believes exactly the same faith as did Pope John Paul II. He believes the same as every other Pope before him, without subtraction or contradiction....

Benedict XVI: Science May Have a New Friend and Neo-Darwinism a New Foe @ Evolution News & Views:

Cardinal Ratzinger’s sermon at the Mass for the Election of a Supreme Pontiff has been trumpeted as a frontal assault against cultural relativism. This it was and, yet, digging deeper one finds reason to believe that Ratzinger, the newly elected Pope, may also have materialist interpretations of science (including Darwnism) in his sights....

The Mission of Benedict XVI: Act Two? @ Mere Comments:

Benedict XVI was a “member of the Nazi Youth,” fought in the German Army, became a Catholic priest, a bishop, a cardinal, a hard-liner, a “Rotweiler” for the Vatican — these are few of the “facts” certain media outlets have thrown out there for public consumption. This is so you will understand why it is that American Catholics are “dismayed” by the choice of Ratzinger as Pope.

Of course, this is all nonsense. Ratzinger, like all German boys was considered a member of the Hitler youth—and (did they tell you?) he resisted and skipped meetings. He was drafted into the army, which is what you would expect, and deserted, though was later kept, briefly, as a prisoner of war. His father, by the way, was a known dissident.

One report I heard also said that Ratzinger and Karol Wojtyla were “on opposite sides” during the War. Technically true — they were born in countries at war with each other. But both men enlisted in the priesthood and were decidedly not involved in politics. Neither had any use for either fascism or communism....

The new Benedict @ Armavirumque:

It looks like the philosopher Alisdair MacIntyre got his wish, at least for now. In his book After Virtue (1981; 2nd ed. 1984), MacIntyre offered the "disquieting suggesting" that we in the West live among the unorganized fragments of a shattered world view and that we have "very largely, if not entirely, lost our comprehension" of morality....

Robert Burns, call your office @ Power Line:

Masthead is the periodical publication of the professional society of newspaper editorial writers. Masthead's editor this year is Doug MacEachern, columnist and editorial writer at the Arizona Republic. MacEachern invited me to contribute a piece for the current Masthead issue's symposium on how blogs are changing "opinion-framing," and he kindly sent me a copy when it was published last month.

Among the several interesting columns in the symposium was one by Phil Boas, deputy editorial page editor at The Arizona Republic.... Here is Boas's contribution to the Masthead symposium....

I recently watched ... @ Cella's Review:

... portions of a very typical movie — so typical, indeed, that it hardly seems necessary to identify it by name. This movie was one in a very long and even tedious line of movies, which aims to deflate and discredit the image of America before it was emancipated from patriarchy and the shackles of traditional sexuality, and thus implicitly preserve and succor the regime of sexual license under which we live. “Tradition told them they would only be wives,” the packaging for the film introduces. “Miss Watson taught them how to be women.” A fitting introduction to this genre. Its very narrowness is announced in tones of dramatic broadmindedness....

Mixed Reaction To Joseph Ratzinger As Pope Benedict XVI @ The Moderate Voice:

When German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI there were two reactions in the square and around the world: great relief on the part of some — and great disappointment on the part of others....

The Holy Spirit Has Spoken Through the Cardinals: Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger): My Own Thoughts on the Current "Mind of the Church" @ Cor ad cor loquitur:

Praise God! Cardinal Ratzinger and Cardinal Arinze were the only two "candidates" I really knew all that much about, so I am absolutely delighted by this choice. But of course, that is only my own opinion, which counts for little....

A megapost on sola scriptura and other beliefs @ The Paragraph Farmer:

Although I make no secret of my Catholicism on this blog, my primary focus is not on apologetics. Still, my friend Gary and I just wrapped up what by our standards is an epic argument that involved multiple comments by each of us over the last eight days.

This five-round discussion happened on Gary's blog and was sparked by the passing of John Paul II, but it quickly became a rehashing of the arguments for and against "sola scriptura."

While neither of us said anything that professional theologians would find startlingly new, I think a summary of our discussion, together with a few of the comments made by other people, is worth posting. This is my take on the highlights, and I won't pretend to be fair....

Repeat after me @ Dyspeptic Mutterings:

"SuperPope does not exist. SuperPope does not exist...."

I've done some surfing among fellow parishoners, and I'd like to toss a bucket of cold water on the ecstasy, if I may....

Decade of Deceit: The Oklahoma City Bombing @ Bizblogger:

During the 9/11 congressional hearings a year ago, there was a common question that the commissioners seemed to enjoy asking: Why was the U.S. not on “war footing” when the 9/11 attack occurred? If the government truly wanted to seek all information regarding intelligence failures leading up to 9/11, the Commission should have asked one of its own members about the Oklahoma City bombing that killed 171 lives (168 plus 3 unborn) a decade ago on April 19, 1995. In one of the biggest cover-ups in the history of the U.S., the federal government purposely avoided investigating incriminating evidence of a plot that pointed directly to Middle East terrorism. The evidence is so extensive and so captivating that I can only hope and suggest that you will read the whole story for yourself....

Astroturf Alert: Another Moveon.Org Mail Blitz @ Michelle Malkin:

Editorial page editors, be on guard. MoveOn.org is calling on its left-wing troops to flood your offices with letters to the editor attacking Republicans over judicial appointments. (Hat tip: Reader Chip A.) Here are the MoveOn. org "talking points" being used by fake "grass-roots" letter writers: ....

On Boys and Bikinis @ Wittingshire:

A few days ago my eight-year-old son noticed a catalog — Lands End or LL Bean, or something along those lines. It was lying open on the counter, beside the rest of the mail. I saw him notice it, and I saw his face darken with irritation. Then he slapped it closed and shoved it beneath a Highlights magazine.

"Why do girls go around in bikinis?" he groused. "Of all the dumb things to wear."

This struck me as funny, which provoked him still further....

Fighting Back Against Historical Revision @ Between Worlds:

Glenn Reynolds follows up on the topic of historical revision. Apparently, Sylvester Brown, who had been named in Glenn's earlier piece on historical revision, did not enjoy the criticism, and suggested that Glenn did not know what he was talking about: ....

I Know My Redeemer Lives @ Flos Carmeli:

.... What does it mean to be redeemed? How often have I really considered the depth of the word, and yet paid no attention to what it really meant? How often have I heard the word. Sometimes in various masses one will hear the trinity expressed as "Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier" (a poor expression at best — for where does the creator leave off and the redeemer begin — attempting to define the persons by their functions is doomed to failure as all of the functions belong in greater or lesser degree to all three persons.). We know that we have been redeemed through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. But what does that mean....

Diseconomies of scale @ Lead and Gold:

For some reason, I get a fair number of Google hits from this post. So, I thought I'd recycle....

Another blogging wake-up call @ cut on the bias (emphasis in original):

The NYT has a must-read article on blogging, dealing specifically with a blogger's right to blog whatever (s)he wants to without it affecting her/his job. The bottom line: There is no real protection....

A Legal Argument Why the Federal Courts Should Have Granted the Schiavo Injunction @ Patterico's Pontifications:

The Terri Schiavo case is over, but it continues to have importance to the looming battle over judicial confirmations....

Emotional Converts @ Envoy Encore:

There is a forum out there in cyberland where the validity of any conversion to the Catholic faith that contains an emotional element is being called "emotionalism." My own conversion has been bashed with this term a few times.

Yesterday my precious dauther, Kimberly, was married in the Catholic Church. It was a full Mass. Father Steve gave a great, apologetics homily. The whole event was permeated by the Holy Spirit. It was great.

As I turned to watch each of my daughters process in, I glanced around the congregation for a glimpse of a familial face. There is just something about a wedding that makes you want to share the joy with your family.

Other than my lovely daughters, I had no blood relatives at the wedding. I was alone watching my daughter and her new husband take their vows. My family refused to attend the ceremony because they hate the Catholic Church. I know they loathe the openness to life that their wedding vows included. They openly mock the things we hold most sacred.

Now, let's talk emotions, shall we?...

On the Conclave and Papal Selections Redux @ Rerum Novarum:

This is a continuation thread of sorts to the previous post on the conclave....

It is very difficult for me to see how a newly minted cardinal will be elected. History does not countenance it and the latter is instructive of the likely patterns that this conclave will follow. To start with, you have to have some cardinal experience as a rule first. (I will get to the exceptions in a moment.) It also does not hurt to trace out the recent history of who was elected to learn from the past. With that in mind, consider the past as a reference point: ....

unclear on the doctrine @ Off the Record:

High dudgeon highbrow prophesying from His Holiness, a biography of Pope John Paul II, by Carl Bernstein (1996), p. 408....

"Virulent" Democrats? @ Discriminations:

Perhaps I'm overreacting (I'm told it wouldn't be the first time), but I'm bothered by several items in staff writer Charles Babington's article in the Washington Post this morning. This article is not labeled "analysis," so it is presumably intended to be straight news. I'm not sure, however, how straight it is....

There Ought To Be A Law! Somewhere In The World There Is, And It May Soon Be The Law Of Our Land @ JunkYardBlog:

University of Tennessee law professor and InstaPundit Glenn Reynolds makes a decent point, accidentally, in his latest column on judicial reform. It is a column citing several problems conservatives have with the judiciary, and how they might be fixed. His fourth point makes the accidental point: ....

I Can Explain: I'm Not Very Smart @ Some Have Hats:

Really, I'm not.

People have been telling me that I am since I was six, and I have been wondering why they think so. I'm pretty good at memorizing stuff (as long as I don't have to remember it longer than, oh, let's say a week) and God gave me a good ear for writing and I pick up languages easily, and from time to time something insightful occurs to me. But the intellectuals leave me in the dust in five minutes. Which, I presume, is why I have such a hard time getting along with Jesuits....

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sat. 04/23/05 08:14:30 AM
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