Miss Kelly

No Wonder There's a Teenage Pregnancy Problem in Gloucester

After reading about the meeting held in Gloucester Wednesday this week about the teenage pregnancy problem, I think I see why there's a problem there:

"More than a month after a Time magazine report about an alleged pregnancy pact thrust this seaside city into the worldwide spotlight, Gloucester school officials last night turned to a host of teen pregnancy experts for help on the issue."

"School Committee member Val Gilman recalled her own tough conversation about safe sex with her now 20-year-old daughter when she was 12. "

How incredibly sad, this borders on child abuse.  Why is a parent having a talk about "safe sex" with a 12-year old?  Why have parents and teachers utterly abdicated their responsibilities to their own children?  Do we teach children how to do "safe drugs" or "safe cigarette smoking"?   Why is it we can tell kids not to drink and smoke, but we can't tell children not to engage in sex?   

"Patricia Quinn of the Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy, said teens who are already sexually active need access to confidential contraception, and there’s no evidence that abstinence-only-until-marriage programs work."

Is Patricia Quinn deaf or just an idjit?  Many of the Gloucester High School young women who got knocked up were trying to get pregnant.  Short of somebody injecting these teens with Depoprovera, all the access to birth control in the world wouldn't have prevented these pregnancies.  What teenager can't walk into any CVS or WalMart's and buy condoms and birth control foam?  Birth control has never been so easily available as it is now, so it's clearly not about access to birth control.

How can adults be so blind?  So many of that generation think that being sexually active is some sort of "inalienable right", a harmless and consequence-free activity that kids are just gonna do anyway.  These  adults refuse to see the incredible harm caused by the so-called "sexual liberation" movement.  It just can't be questioned by these folks. 

"City officials have said that some of the fathers were in their 20s, raising the possibility of statutory rape, because some of the girls were under age 16 when they were impregnated."

Book 'em, Danno.  That's one outcome of the sexual liberation movement, adult men being free to have sex with teenagers.  And "teen pregnancy experts" are calling for high schools to give out free birth control.  These "experts" are right up there with Planned Parenthood in enabling creepy older men to have sex with much younger women.  Yeah, that's really liberating and progressive.   

How many of these Gloucester teens came from stable families where a father was present?  I'm guessing most did not.  Very sad.   

Jail Time for Care International Treasurer

A second sentence was handed down last week in the Care International trial.  Last Thursday, Emadeddin  Muntasser, former president of Care International Inc., was sentenced to one year in prison and fined $10,000 for lying to an FBI agent when he denied traveling to Afghanistan in 1994-1995.  Last Friday, Muhamed Mubayyid, the former treasurer of Care International, was sentenced to eleven months in prison and fined $1,000. 

"The judge exceeded advisory sentencing guidelines calling for no more than a six-month sentence, but gave the father of three (Mubayyid) seven months less prison time than prosecutors asked for."

"... Judge Saylor exceeded the sentencing guidelines because he said he agrees with the government that there still was harm in Care’s forcing U.S. taxpayers to subsidize radical Islamic actions in other parts of the world... Judge Saylor said he believes the defense that a great deal of the money Care dispersed went to legitimate charitable works such as supporting widows and orphans."

"Arguing for increasing the sentence, Mr. Chakravarty said the sentencing guidelines do not contemplate that violation of the tax code would result in advocacy for killing and violence in the name of religion. He said the government proved that Care was in effect providing life insurance to jihadists by supporting their widows and orphans."

More details about Care International in this summary article from the Braintree Forum:

"In the 1990s, Muntasser was involved in operating the Boston branch office of the Al-Kifah Refugee Center, a supporter of mujahideen (Muslim holy warriors) engaged in jihad."

"Al-Kifah Boston published a pro-jihad newsletter called Al-Hussam, which means 'The Sword' in Arabic."

"Following media reports in 1993 linking Al-Kifah to the World Trade Center bombing, Muntasser founded Massachusetts Care International, Inc. (Care), a purported charitable organization."

"....Shortly after it was incorporated in 1993, Muntasser sought and was granted a tax-exempt status for Care from the IRS on the basis that it was a charitable organization. ... From 1993 to 2003, Care collected approximately $1.7 million in tax-deductible donations."   

"...In addition to publishing Al-Hussam, Care published articles about military operations and activities of the mujahideen on its web site from approximately 1998 to 2001; printed and distributed solicitations for tax deductible donations to support the mujahideen from approximately 1994 to 2001; and published and distributed an English translation of Join the Caravan, a pro-jihad book."

Can they be deported after serving their jail sentence?  We don't need people here in the U.S. who support Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, author of Join the Caravan.   Here's a charming blurb about the book at a UK Islamic website:

About the Author
"He was responsible for reviving Jihad in the 20th Century." [Time Magazine]
"Muslim women have proven themselves incapable of giving birth to a man like him after he was killed." [Osama bin Ladin]

"In the 1980's, the martyred Sheikh Abdullah Azzam coined a phrase whose meaning reverberates today across the battlefields of Chechnya. He described the Mujahideen who were killed in battle as joining the 'Caravan of Martyrs."' [Field Commander Khattab]

Written at the peak of the Afghan Jihad in 1987, this book was one of the principal inspirations for thousands of Muslims from all over the World to go and fight in Afghanistan to defend Muslim blood, property and honour. The Sheikh brought together evidences from the Quran, the Sunnah of the Prophet (SAWS) and the early scholars to explain the concept of fighting in the Way of Allah as applicable today. Fully referenced, this new edition is complete with inspiring stories from early and latter generations to provide a comprehensive study from a scholar who practised what he preached.

I'm disappointed Muntasser and Mubayyid only got twelve month and eleven month sentences, respectively. There has to be a better way to rid our country of these folks.

  

 

What You Won't Learn in Any "Gender Studies" Course

Yoy'll probably never learn this in a Gender Differences course in the Women's Studies Department of any college, but men and women's brains handle spatial and emotional memories differently, and scientists have located two genes that affect that. Also more there about the different effects of Alzheimer's on men and women. 

Camille Paglia made this point at her talk at Harvard a few months back, that so-called Gender Studies never go near the science of gender differences, preferring to believe that everything is just a "social construct."  BTW, Paglia's lecture at Harvard can be read here (hat tip to Jill of Estate Vaults).   Relevant excerpt:

"In the 1970s, women’s studies courses and programs were created in profusion....Women’s studies was assembled haphazardly and piecemeal, without due consideration of what the scholarly study of gender ought to entail. The victim-centered agenda of the current women’s movement was adopted wholesale, an ideological bias that neither women’s studies nor its successor, gender studies, has been able to shed. Furthermore because so many of the first women’s studies professors came from literature departments, science was completely excluded. But without a grounding in basic biology, neither students nor teachers can negotiate the tangle of nature and culture that produces human sex differences."

Jail Time for Muntasser

Emadeddin Z. Muntasser, former president of Care International,  gets a one year jail sentence, which apparently keeps open the option to detain and possibly deport Muntasser after he serves his sentence.  This is a welcome outcome after Saylor overturned the jury's guilty verdict last month and dropped a number of charges against other Care International officers. Not too shabby an outcome, all in all. 

"The founder of a Muslim charity was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court to a year in prison and fined $10,000 for lying to an FBI agent when he denied traveling to Afghanistan in 1994-1995."

"In sentencing Emadeddin Z. Muntasser, former president of Care International Inc., a defunct Boston charity, Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV doubled the maximum amount of prison time and the fine called for under the federal advisory sentencing guidelines. Mr. Muntasser, 43, is a former Worcester resident and Worcester Polytechnic Institute graduate living in Braintree. He must report for his prison sentence within four weeks."

"...Mr. Muntasser was detained Jan. 11, the day a federal jury convicted him in Boston on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States and scheming to conceal material facts as well as lying to a federal agent. But expectations that Mr. Muntasser might be freed on a sentence of time served were raised after Judge Saylor reversed the jury verdict on the two most serious charges and freed Mr. Muntasser June 13 on conditions to await sentencing yesterday."

Judge Saylor said that Muntasser's statements to a federal agent - about a trip to Afghanistan to meet with Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar - were not the "garden variety false statements."  I like this exchange of  views between the defense and Judge Saylor:

"...Ms. Sullivan (defense lawyer) argued that Mr. Hekmatyar had been invited to the White House as an anti-Soviet hero, but Judge Saylor said that by 1994 Mr. Hekmatyar was shelling Kabul and by the time of the interview in 2003 he had been branded a terrorist by the U.S. government."

The judge also commented that while Muntasser showed "many charitable and other worthy attributes," Saylor had difficulty reconciling that with what he read in Care International's newsletter Al Hussam, which supported violence and called for "rivers of blood to flow."  Welcome to the fight against jihadism and  extremism, Judge Saylor.   That's what it looks like, there's the public side and there's the underside. The public side masks the underside, where the real action is. The public side is so good, that people who raise questions about the underside get branded as Islamophobes or racists.  It's an effective cover.

Who would have thought a couple of years ago that we'd be talking about Afghan warlords and jihadi newsletters in our civilian court trials?  For a case where Judge Saylor kept reminding the jury "wasn't about terrorism," it obviously was.  I don't have a problem with that, but as it seems a clumsy, costly, often ineffective way to fight terrorism.  It makes a dent, no doubt, and maybe scares some people from supporting terrorist groups.  But this trial demonstrates what a poor fit our civilian court system is for  getting these guys. 

And the jail time for Muntasser does nothing to deal with the hundreds (thousands?) of people in the Boston/Worcester area who wrote out checks to Care International marked "for Chechnya" or "for jihad only."   How do we fight what appears to be significant support for terrorist groups in Massachusetts?

Kudos to Lee Hammel of the Worcester Telegram for his in-depth reporting on this case.  Lee, how about asking for comments from Muntasser’s previous defense team – Susan Estrich and Harvey Silverglate? 

My previous blog postings on this case here.

Summertime....and the Livin' is Easy

Fish are jumpin',
and the cotton is high.

I like Sam Cooke's version best, with those eerie, ethereal vocals in the background. Who was that woman?

As you may have noticed, blogging is way down at Miss Kelly. I'm posting about once a week now.  This will continue throughout the summer.   We'll pick up the pace again in September.

Enjoy your summer, everybody!

Pontius Pilot Was in Scotland??

Funny, touching article: "Prisoners are being sent out into the grounds of their jails to hug trees as part of a Lottery-funded scheme." At first I thought it was some sort of enviro-kooky, touchy-feely therapy for British inmates.  But no, this is tree-hugging of a different sort.  Many British prisons are located on former  estates that have ancient trees on their property, and the prisoners are hugging them to measure th  trunk size of these magnificent trees.

"Amongst the trees already known about are a yew in Scotland which experts say could be 5,000 years old and once provided a resting place for Pontius Pilate."

"Also there are the hollow trees which hid Charles II, those used by Robin Hood, others preached beneath by John Wesley and one in East Sussex which so impressed Queen Elizabeth that she left her shoes there."

Wicked cool!

Legal Jihad Continues with CAIR and the Flying Imams

The discovery process is underway in the Six Flying Imams case.  Omar Mohammedi, attorney for the imams  and President of the Board of Directors for the New York Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, filed a motion to "compel US Airways to divulge its training manuals, and information on its security procedures, so that they could show that the security procedures were not followed down to the last jot and tittle when the imams were removed from US Airways Flight 300 on November 20, 2006."  As if!  As blogger Douglas from CrosswordBebop remarks:

"When I realized what Mohammedi was asking for, I was briefly dazed, as I heard the sound in my mind’s ear of a thousand bloggers screaming something to the effect of “Ok, let me get this straight. A group of imams led by a fundraiser for a Muslim charity (the Holy Land Foundation) which was shut down by the Treasury Department for its connections to Hamas, is asking a judge to compel an airline to divulge its security procedures. And everyone’s OK with that?!?”

Not!  Kudos to US Airways for fighting this seditious organization. 

More legal jihad shenanigans from CAIR reported by Patrick Poole at Pajamas Media, this an attempt by CAIR to pressure the police in Fairfax County, Virginia.

"On February 9, Abassi committed an improper turn which prompted a traffic stop by Fairfax County police. After consent for a search of the vehicle was given, police discovered loose pills, needles, and prescriptions written to other individuals in the trunk of the car, violations of Virginia law. Dr. Abbasi admitted that he treated members of his mosque out of his vehicle, also a violation of Virginia medical rules (it should be noted that he is also a U.S. Customs and Immigration Service-approved immigration doctor). Abbasi received a summons for unlawfully prescribing drugs and three others for possession of controlled substances, and was allowed to leave the scene on his own recognizance."

"More than two months later, a letter was sent from CAIR national legal counsel Nadhira Al-Khalili to Colonel David Rohrer, chief of the Fairfax County Police Department, claiming that the traffic stop was made on the basis of profiling and that Dr. Abassi’s consent to the vehicle search was never given. She also claimed that Abbasi’s arrest was part of a pattern of 'religious discrimination' by the department."

What crap, really, and what a shame and a waste of of taxpayer, county and municipal dollars to have to respond to this crap.   The guy made an illegal turn and he was illegally giving out medical prescriptions.

Death by a thousand papercuts.  CAIR needs to be countersued ten times over.  It looked like they were going to tone down the baseless lawsuits that is their MO, copied somewhat successfully by other Islamic groups, including the Islamic Society of Boston.  But no, CAIR - with its measly 1,700 members in 2006 - is back to their usual baseless but time-consuming and costly legal jihad. 

 

Madrassahs in Buffalo?! Founder Comes to Boston

Who knew? 

The local MAS sent out an e-mail announcing that Shaykh Ibrahim Madani is coming to town this weekend, July 11 and 12.  He's lecturing, leading prayers and giving one-on-one counseling sessions at the Islamic Center of Burlington.  Now there's a golden opportunity. 

Who is Shaykh Madani? He was born in Medinah, Saudi Arabia, where he studied the Koran and the Hadith (traditions about what the Muslim prophet Muhammed said and did).  In 1980, he went to England and studied at Darul-Uloom Holocombe, one of a chain of Deobandi madrassahs.  In 1987, Madani moved to Waterloo, Canada to be an imam at a mosque there.  In 1991, he moved to Buffalo, New York with his father and brothers to help establish Darul-Uloom Al-Madania, an Islamic boarding school.   Madani is currently an Imam for the Islamic Society of Niagara Frontier, and a teacher of Arabic, Fiqh, Hadith, and Tafseer at the madrassah he established in Buffalo.There are lots of audio files available there. 

While much of what Madani writes is about improving oneself, he's also written articles about keeping your pants above your ankles, not a trivial matter. "Whatever hangs beneath the ankles of the izaar is in the hellfire."  Don't want that!  He's also written about what the Koran says about prayer, noting that Allah gave special orders to women: "And stay in your houses, and do not display yourselves like that of the times of ignorance, and perform Salah, and give Zakah, and obey Allah and His Messenger."  I bet some of the men at the Islamic Society of Framingham use that quote a lot, I've heard there's much controversy about women's participation at the Framinham  mosque. 

The Darul Ulooms boarding schools were established in 1866 "as a movement for Islamic revivalism after the fall of Islamic Empire in India," and practice traditional Sunni Islam.  More on Darul Uloom here and here.   This Sunni forum about the Darul Ulooms notes where the schools are in the US and Canada and what they cost. Rather predictably, a Muslim woman in Texas asks this question at the forum:

"For those of you in Houston, where can a sister study or send her children for Islamic studies, that is friendly toward Americans. I find most of the traditional masjids here are not very accomodating of women or Americans."

Tell me again why we allow these institutions in our country?  How exactly does our beloved country benefit by allowing people to come here and set up institutions which are explicitly anti-American and discriminate  against women?

The Darul Uloom boarding school in NY appears to allow girls to study only until the 10th grade.  Boys are educated for 12 years. According to a former student, it is required for female students to wear niqab (covering everything but the eyes, even hands) if they leave the premises.  Given that the only courses appear to be Islamic religious studies, I'm surprised that these are approved by New York as secondary schools.  The website is curiously devoid of any pictures of actual human beings, and provides no information about teachers, aside from Madrani and the principal.  Creepy.  The mosque associated with the school is a former 100-year old Polish Catholic church, which is a sad statement in itself.  A former student makes allegations of rampant violence and sexual abuse at the Buffalo madrassah here.  While I take those allegations with a grain of salt, there's ample evidence of sexual abuse at madrassahs in Pakistan and Indonesia.

What the heck are madrassahs - notorious for generating radical Islamists -  doing in this country? 

And why are Boston area Muslim organizations inviting "scholars" who preach that women shouldn't attend mosques and men's pants shouldn't hit their ankles?  Is this standard Islamic teaching?  Do most Muslims follow this?

"Teenager Finds Baby Bat in Her Bra"

The Brits have the best headlines.  True story! It was there for five hours.....

Independence Day - What We Should Be Fighting For

Robert Spencer reminds us what is at stake today and what we should be fighting for:

• Freedom of Religion
• Freedom of Speech
• Equality of Rights Before the Law
• Governments deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

As Spencer concludes:

Never surrender. Never submit. Never be silenced. Freedom and independence forever.

Gratitude for Those Who Protect Our Freedoms

From Freedom Watch, a suggestion to honor our soldiers on this day that we commemorate our freedoms:

"In the midst of the barbeques, the fireworks, and the fun, remember those who cannot be with their families because they are fighting to defend the unalienable rights enshrined in our Declaration of Independence - life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Because of their efforts, freedom is now more than a distant ideal to millions of people around the world."

"Please take a few moments to express your gratitude to an active duty soldier or veteran by visiting Show Your Support, an online resource by the Department of Defense. And share this message with your friends and family so that the cost of our freedom will not be forgotten."

"We Hold These Truths to be Self-Evident...."

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

Peek-a-Boo

These ladies are playing peek-a-boo with their fellow Americans.  They can see us, but we can't see them. Guess where these photographs were taken?

I realize that these women were unhappy that I took their photo, but if you dress like a bandit, don't be surprised that average Americans find that odd and worthy of a photo.  They no doubt consider me rude to take their photo, but I consider it rude to cover one's face in public. So I guess we're even.

In the U.S. and in all Western countries,  we don't cover our faces.  That's true for most cultures in the world.

"Is Google Making Us Stupid?"

This article by Nicolas Carr in The Atlantic caught my eye, as I have noticed a decline in my ability to focus and concentrate in the past few years, my brain seems to flit all over the place.  I've wondered if I have ADD, but that seems like a  feeble excuse. I didn't used to find it difficult to concentrate.  The author thinks that our skimming on the web is altering the neural networks in our brains and essentially making us stupid.  Unfortunately, it was a 5-page article.  I can't focus long enough to read the whole thing.......so I just skimmed it. And linked to it. I can't help it!!

Seriously, after my week in Chicago with limited internet access, I found out how much time I had been spending on the internet, it can really suck you in.  And much of that time is flitting around, clicking, clicking, always in search of something new.  Could be dangerous, I'm cutting way back.  Hence the reduced blogging too. 

Geek Porn on Route 93?

Looks like Geek Porn to me, a fembot with DD boobs.  I drove past this last week, I think it was on Route 93 south of Boston.  Call me a prude all you want, I don't want to have this stuff on billboards along the highway.  Idiotic sentiment, too.  Hmmm, who can I complain to? 

I don't object to pornography, but I don't want to look at it on the highway either.  Keep it in your own home, not on billboards on interstate highways. Ewwww.

Apparently a number of Quincy neighbors were angry about this too. 

Wimbledon Underway - Good Women's Match Friday

UPDATE IN TEXT

A potentially verrrrry interesting match tomorrow: Serena Williams versus Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo.

Mauresmo (photo below) has more finesse and grace, and one of the better net games.  But she often chokes and apparently lacks mental toughness.  Serena can overpower and dominate games, even when she's out of shape.  She's the best at intimidation and mind games.  In their previous 11 matches, Serena has won 9.  But if Mauresmo is on, she can be terrific.  She's always a joy to watch, as she has a greater repertoire of shots than most players do these days and fluid, graceful movement. 

Friday: Make that 10/12 for Serena.  She beat Mauresmo 7-6(5), 6-1.  Sigh.....poor Amelie.

More on Serena's Nike rain coat here.

Blake and Roddick out already, and it's only the second round!  Maria Sharapova is also out.  She might want to spend more time on practice and less time on fashion and jewelry design, if she really wants to win another Grand Slam. 

Where's the Good Church Music?

I've had a category here on the blog for Bad Church Music, for the times when the dreckky songs sung at church made me run away screaming.  OK, I'm exaggerating, I never screamed, but I did leave Mass twice when the music was especially bad.  Once, when I noticed that every single song of the four songs at the Mass was written in the 1980's.  This, from a church with an unmatched legacy of 2,000 years of the most beautiful music!  The second time was when a group of aging hippies took out their guitars to strum and sing up next to the altar.  Exit stage left.  I'm not doing penance at Mass.  But now, after a memorable and  transcendent week at the Sacred Music Colloquium in Chicago, I'm inspired to seek out and publicize where the great Catholic music and worship services are in the Boston area or on TV. 

Here's the scoop:

Friday, June 27
Concert of Sacred Music, Boston -- Mission Church, the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, will host a concert of sacred music at 7:30 p.m. There will be performances by Les Petits Chanteurs du Mont-Royal, a youth choir from Montreal, of works by Mauduit, Viadana, Victoria, Gabrieli, Verdi, Busto and Patenaude. The Youth Pro Musica choir will join in singing Franck's Psalm 150. The suggested donation is $10 for adults, $5 for seniors and free for children under 12. For more information, call 617-666-6087.

VESPERS (Evening Prayers) FOR THE START OF THE PAULINE YEAR, on EWTN
From the Basilica of St. Paul's Outside the Wall, Pope Benedict XVI leads Vespers at the beginning of the Pauline Year.   90 minutes.
Sat 6/28/08 12:00 PM ET &  9 AM PT
Sat 6/28/08 4:30 PM ET &  1:30 PM PT

Friday, June 27 and Sunday, 29
Closing Events, Boston -- Holy Trinity German Church invites everyone to the final weekend of events. There will be a holy hour with silent adoration and group prayers with Father John Connolly, administrator of the parish, June 27 from 7-9 p.m. The final Masses will be held on June 29 with the Latin Mass at 9 a.m. and bilingual English and German Mass at 11 a.m., followed by adoration and a reception. For more information, call 617-426-6142 or visit www.holytrinitygerman.org.  Very sad that this church is closing.  Latin masses are becoming more common across the country, thanks to Pope Benedict, but Boston is closing the only church in the city which offers the Latin mass.  The Boston Globe wrote about the church closing a few weeks ago here.

Sunday, June 29
Solemn Evensong and Benediction, West Roxbury -- The Congregation of Saint Athanasius (Anglican use) will offer solemn evensong and Benediction on the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul at Saint Theresa of Avila Parish at 5 p.m.

More events are listed here,  You can sign up for a weekly e-mail from Cardinal Sean O'Malley here.

Oh, and that transcendent music from last week?  You can hear some of it here. Breath-taking stuff.  Enjoy!

Spengler's Take on Bush and Benedict, Islam and Christianity

Nifty article by Spengler at the Asia Times Online about the affinities between President Bush and Pope Benedict, and a very different take on what the future may hold in Europe.  On what President Bush and Papa Ratzi have in common:

"Acting on faith in politics means exactly what it does in personal life: to do what is right even when it is dangerous to do so, when received opinion howls against it, and when the ultimate consequence of such actions cannot be foreseen. After Pope Benedict XVI showed unprecedented courtesy to visiting American President George W Bush last week, much has been written about the Christian faith that binds the pope and the president."

"It is not only faith, but the temerity to act upon faith, that the pope and the president have in common. In the past I have characterized Benedict's stance as, 'I have a mustard seed, and I'm not afraid to use it.' Despite his failings, Bush is a kindred spirit."

Spengler speculates on why the U.S. invaded Iraq after September 11th, and he discusses the Bush's decision to do so:

"Bush was magnificently right to conduct a punitive expedition against Saddam, but horribly wrong to wade into the mire of nation-building. He should have found a cooperative dictator to replace Saddam and marched out, as American neo-conservative historian and political commentator Daniel Pipes suggested at the time. Nevertheless, as I wrote in 2004, 'The West should be thankful that it has in US President George W Bush a warrior who shoots first and tells the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to ask questions later. Rarely in its long history has the West suffered by going to war too soon. On the contrary: among the wars of Western history, the bloodiest were those that started too late.' "

Finally, while many in the West wring their hands about post-Christian Europe - not to mention  post-Europe Europe (due to the failure of Europeans to reproduce themselves, while their Muslim populations have large families), Spengler sees a very different possibility:

"The Salt Had Turned to Gold"

Blogger-friend Sissy's work is part of an exhibition at the Pearl Street Gallery in Chelsea.  There's a reception from tomorrow, June 24, 2008, from 5-7 PM. 

Dan Adams is curating the "Landing Salt" show, which will have photographic images of the working waterfront at Chelsea.  Here's what he's done with Sissy's images posted at her blog Sisu:

"We're talking huge blow-ups that would be mounted between acrylic sheets and hung — together with quotations from sisu — front and center in the windows of Chelsea's Pearl Street Gallery as part of the "Landing Salt" exhibition, with back-to-back prints so they would be seen from both outside and inside."

Sounds wicked cool. 

Monday Miscellania

The UK Telegraph recommends these 50 books for summer reading.  I can't imagine "enjoying" reading Things Fall Apart while at the beach.  Does make me want to read A Moveable Feast (Hemingway) and Kim (Kipling).

Also from the UK Telegraph, a neat opinion piece suggesting that we have "misunderestimated" how history will eventually judge President Bush. 

Interesting WSJ article about Project Nur, a college organization that's a student-led initiative of the American Islamic Congress.  Project Nur is an organization for Muslim students who want an alternative to the "hardline dgomatists" and radicals of  Muslim Student Association groups.  Project Nur sponsored the Muslim women's film festival held in Boston last month.  More power to them!