On Following a Crazy Person

Andrei Rublev, Christ the Redeemer  
 Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Just a few posts ago, I was hinting at a subject that I have always been passionate about and that I believe to be at the core of my Christian faith: the “folly of God” which, in St Paul’s words, “is wiser than the wisdom of men.” Well, today Fr. Philip Neri Powell has something to say about “following a crazy person,” that crazy person being our Lord Jesus Christ. I’m sure my Christian readers (and not only them) will find it very insightful and interesting. “We,” in turn, says Fr. Philip Neri Powell, “may be out of our minds for following a crazy man, but [...].” Well, read the rest to find out what comes after the “but.”

Stop SOPA & PIPA

Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. The two bills in question are known as the Protect IP Act, PIPA, in the Senate (“IP” stands for “intellectual property”), and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), in the House.

Both SOPA and PIPA would censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American business. To raise awareness about this harmful legislation, the English Wikipedia, along with a dozen other major websites (including Google, Wordpress, Reddit, and Moveon) are protesting the PIPA/SOPA legislation by either completely blacking out their sites for 24 hours or by modifying their front pages. Read here to learn more. In my view, a very worthy cause to support. Needless to say, please spread the word!

Ship Commander? This Guy... Not So Much (Updated)

Capt. Francesco Schettino and Capt. Gregorio De Falco

I really think there’s not much to be said about what happened that night, except that there are no words. However, here (and here) is a translation of the transcript of the conversation between Capt. Francesco Schettino, commander of the grounded Costa Concordia, and Capt. Gregorio De Falco of the Italian Coast Guard in Livorno. De Falco vehemently and repeatedly ordered Schettino to return to the ship to oversee the evacuation. Two opposite ways of understanding and practicing what  the duties of a Ship Commander are, one is honorable, the other is not…

UPDATE:  January 18, 2012, 9:15 pm

This piece by John Hooper in today’s online edition of The Guardian is definitely worth reading. The title says much about what’s inside the piece: “Costa Concordia shipwreck’s hero and villain lay bare two souls of Italy.”

And the Markets Didn't Give a Damn What S&P Said

People demonstrate with "a" placards in front of the headquarters 
of Standard & Poor's in Paris.

First of all let me state that I generally don’t like people who say, “I knew it was going to be like that.” But now I’m going to contradict myself by saying, “And sure enough, the markets didn’t give a damn what Standard & Poor’s said.” In fact they shrugged off S&P decision to downgrade the credit ratings of nine euro-zone countries. Parallely, it was no surprise, too, that Standard & Poor’s axe took another swing at Europe Monday, this time stripping Europe’s bailout fund of its AAA status. Even in this case we could apply the same scheme as that applied above: Quod erat demonstrandum…

New Hampshire: the Bigger Winner Was Ron Paul

Charles Krauthammer

As a diligent but very prudent observer of U.S. politics, that is, the politics of a country that I don’t live in, I have always taken the liberty of maintaining these two basic convictions: a) Ron Paul is “a principled, somewhat wacky, highly engaging eccentric,” as Charles Krauthammer puts it, who may be (terribly) wrong on a couple or so issues—though rather important, to say the least—but he is dead right on many other things; b) the above mentioned Charles Krauthammer is a very bright Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated columnist, political commentator, and physician who may sometimes be a bit too “straightforward,” so to speak, but who is almost always right, as this piece in today’s Washington Post shows ad abundantiam.

“There are two stories coming out of New Hampshire. The big story is Mitt Romney. The bigger one is Ron Paul.” Yet, Paul is less a candidate than a “cause.” And

after a quarter-century in the wilderness, he’s within reach of putting his cherished cause on the map. Libertarianism will have gone from the fringes — those hopeless, pathetic third-party runs — to a position of prominence in a major party.

He is 76, Krauthammer continues, and “he knows he’ll never enter the promised land,” but what he has already wrought is “a signal achievement, the biggest story yet of this presidential campaign.”

Believe me, it’s a must-read.

Obama’s New Year’s Resolution

Cartoon by William Warren - Via NetRightDaily

Elections, Corruption, Predictions

~ “LETTERS FROM AMERICA” - by The Metaphysical Peregrine

In his latest puff piece interview with Steve Croft on the program “60 Minutes”, President Obama claimed there were only three presidents greater than him, Lincoln, FDR and Johnson, i.e., he’s the forth greatest president ever. On the flip side, Jimmy Carter, who gave us double digit inflation and unemployment, may correctly say he’s no longer the worst president ever, that mantle has been assumed by Obama.

One would think it impossible, after noting the items mentioned below, that there’s no way Obama can get reelected. Traditionally, a president entering the election cycle with a positive rating under 50% (Obama between 43% and 47%) and employment over 6% (now 8.6%) is sure to loose. Obama has reported a $billion in his campaign war chest, and the Main Stream Media  will again actively campaign for him; 47% of citizens are not paying income tax, and 51% of American households are receiving some sort of largess from the government. They have a vested interest keeping the status quo. About 43% of citizens will vote for Obama and the Democrat Party ticket no matter what. He only needs 3% or 4% more to get enough electoral votes to win.

Hopefully, and it’s a great unfounded hope, the weak, stupid and cowardly Republican Party leadership will mount a campaign exposing the truth of this Marxist president that ignores the Constitution.

Since Obama became president, our national debt has increased by 4 $Trillion. He asked for, a couple weeks ago, to raise the debt limit again by another $Trillion (temporarily put on hold for political reasons). Every American citizen is in debt $48,705 as a result. The first two years of his administration, both houses of the legislature were controlled by his political party, and they got two of his major bits of legislation passed, the stimulus package and Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare). Stimulus package money went primarily to State employees, which are unionized, which means a lot of that money went to the unions, which in turn went to the Democrat Party and Obama. A nice money laundering scheme paid for by the taxpayers. One would think such a thing illegal. Guess not. Obamacare was passed near midnight on Christmas Eve. Not one Republican, even RINO’s (Republican in Name Only) voted for it. Two of the three years Obama and his party controlled government, yet three years in they still blame Bush, Republicans and the TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party for the financial and employment woes of this country. That's what weak leaders do, blame their predecessors rather than take responsibility for the results of their decisions. 

There have been a lot of scandals, especially this past year, perpetrated by this administration, barely or not mentioned by the Main Stream Press. Obama and the Democrats are hell bent on destroying the energy sector of our economy. Since the disaster in the Gulf, permits for new drilling have been denied; this is against the law and is un-Constitutional. All coastal oil production has been shut down. Mining for coal has been massively slowed down because new environmental regulations have made it too costly for many mining companies to continue. Domestic oil production on land has been shut down. We have more oil and gas reserves than Saudi Arabia; we can be mostly energy independent if we so choose. He denied the Keystone oil pipeline from Canada, which would reduce energy costs and create about 20,000 US jobs, plus support jobs to those. What few factories are still in production are shutting down because of new environmental regulations. Jobs moving offshore are increasing because of increasing costs. GE was paid $Millions to create jobs. They are. In China.

This is so Obama can pay off his paymasters and contributors in the “Green” industries. Solyndra, a "green" company received half a $billion even when it was known by Obama it wasn’t a viable company. They went bankrupt, and the American taxpayers are out half a $billion. This whole thing is under investigation by the FBI. At this point, I’ll just start listing a few scandals, because even mention of some of the particulars of each would take up thousands of words and hours of reading. A more comprehensive accounting here. There’s  LightSquared involving Administration pressure on a couple Generals to perjure themselves before Congress and $millions in payoffs. There’s Fast and Furious where the Obama Administration sold guns to Mexican cartels that have resulted in several hundred deaths of Mexican citizens and a US Border Patrolman. There are thousands of waivers to companies and States to not have to pay for ObamaCare; they are all political payoffs. The States that got waivers are all Democrat controlled. That's okay, Republican controlled states will cover the cost! We have a racist Black US Attorney General that refuses to prosecute African Americans. By the way, it's now politically incorrect to call Black people Black. Go figure. I'm a frequent visitor to an African American (Black) blog where it's okay to use the term "whitey" and say all Republicans are racists. Of course that's not a double standard. What are you thinking? 

Obama signed into law on New Year’s Eve the National Defense Authorization Act, allowing the government to detain US citizens without due process; approved by the knuckleheads that objected to the Patriot Act’s horrendous (they claimed) violation of civil liberties because the government could request from libraries what books someone checked out, or to follow the money of suspected terrorists, or trace overseas phone calls of suspected terrorists.  Also to start off the year he said he’s cutting the US military by half a million personnel, creating yet more unemployed people in a horrible economy he’s created while decimating the military he hates. He also started the year appointing four of his cronies that are supposed to be approved by the Senate. He claimed they were recessed and so he was making these as part of his Executive Powers. Problem is, Congress was not in recess. 

A note, no segue, about the “Occupy Wall Street” movement. It’s supported by Islamists, Communists, and Unions; was formed and is controlled top down. It’s supported and endorsed by Obama and the Democrat Party. When the TEA Party, a true grass roots movement was being effective, by organizing and voting, nonviolently, they were called violent and fascists. The “Occupy” knuckleheads want to control the media, confiscate the wealth of producers, imprison those that disagree with them, and have all debts absolved; that sounds like fascism to me. As to violence, none of which happened at any TEA Party meeting unless created by a union thug, here’s a brief summary of “Occupiers” rap sheet:

- 9 deaths, 5 found dead in tents, One found dead after 2 days

- 2 murders

- Tens of millions of dollars in damages, layoffs, vandalism, law breaking

- Multiple Rapes

- Thousands of arrests

- Public masturbation

- Feces

All pretty much ignored by the Democrats and their propaganda mouthpiece, the Main Stream Media.

The point of this is we have the most corrupt administration since FDR, a man that as a matter of principle and policy is set out to destroy this Constitutional Republic, a Marxist ideologue that hates free enterprise and entrepreneurship, the US Military, and the Constitution. He’s a full blown racist that has caused more racial tension than has been seen since the 1960’s. He did make a campaign promise, to “fundamentally” change America. He’s being successful.

Being a new year, some predictions. Romney will win the Republican nomination for President. He’s a RINO, but at worst is infinitely better than Marxist Racist anti-Semite Islamist Obama. Republicans will gain at least 3 seats in the Senate and gain control of it. The House will remain in the control of Republicans. Expect Obama and Democrats to play the race card massively during the campaign. This will be the meanest, most vile and disgusting presidential campaign in US history. Obama has no record of any success to run on, so he has no choice but to convince Citizens that the alternative is worse. That can only be accomplished by a campaign of hate, lies and corruption.

America is at a crossroads. Liberty or Tyranny. We’ll know November 7th.   

Where Do the Ducks Go in the Winter?

You might well ask yourself, “What’s the use of Italian foreign correspondents in the U.S.?” Well, just ask them the famous Holden Caulfield question of where the Central Park ducks go when all the lakes are frozen over, and if you’re lucky—hey, just kidding…he’s a very good foreign correspondent!—you’ll know the answers to both of these questions.

Sara Cedar Miller, the Conservancy’s historian and official photographer for Central Park:

I have no idea what Salinger was thinking. I’ve worked for the Park for 27 years, and I’ve always seen the ducks in winter.

Epiphany

Duccio di Buoninsegna, Adoration of the Magi
Museo dell'Opera del Duomo - Siena

“ Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee. For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples; but Jehovah will arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And nations shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: they all gather themselves together, they come to thee; thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be carried in the arms. Then thou shalt see and be radiant, and thy heart shall thrill and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be turned unto thee, the wealth of the nations shall come unto thee. ”

~ Isaiah 60: 1-6

The Folly of God-Denial

Giotto, The Kiss of Judas - Cappella degli Scrovegni, Padua

An anonymous follower of this blog emailed me this post (thanks!) by Matt Barber on Townhall.com, the title of which is eloquent enough: “The Folly of God-Denial.” I suppose it is neither philosophically expedient nor politically correct—even if we grant for the sake of argument that it was meant to be a political and/or philosophical discourse—but I am bound to say that I agree with the substance of its line of reasoning, even though I prefer to speak of the “folly of God” which, in St Paul’s words, “is wiser than the wisdom of men.” Good choice of quotations from the New and Old Testament, but also from Albert Einstein and C.S. Lewis.

Those Overpaid Italian Parliamentarians

Enrico Giovannini

“In short,” writes today the Corriere della Sera newspaper, “Italy’s deputies and senators pocket 60% more than the European average.” That’s no surprise, of course. The big news, if anything, is that this is what has just been posted by the Giovannini Committee on the Civil Service ministry website (.pdf, in Italian). The working group chaired by Enrico Giovannini, the president of Italy’s ISTAT statistics institute, and made up of experts in the field including a representative from Eurostat, was required—by a rule introduced by former Economy minister Giulio Tremonti and adopted by the leaders of both houses—to conduct a study of the institutional and organisational structures of seven countries, included Italy, in a few months “to a level of detail never hitherto achieved in the literature.” Needless to say, the committee came up against some problems… As a result, in the committee’s own words, the data included—from which it emerges that Italy’s elected representatives cost from 20% to 400% (!!!)  more than their colleagues abroad—are to be considered “provisional and of insufficiently high quality for the purposes indicated by the law.” As the song suggests, “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary.”

Waiting for the 'Liberal' Revolution

“The pledge to liberalise Italy’s service industries has proved more often a campaign slogan than reality,” says the Financial Times. Yet Mario Monti’s new government has already chalked up one “revolution,” as the Corriere della Sera newspaper put it, “that puts the country ahead of much of Europe.” Read the rest to learn more about the whole thing. Meanwhile we are keeping our fingers crossed over here, because the liberal revolution—liberal in the classic sense of the word—has many powerful enemies in this country. After all, Mario Monti himself is the man who managed to bring to heel the U.S. software giant Microsoft, but was stopped in his tracks last month by Italian taxi drivers and pharmacists, as the FT rightly points out, and as all of us well know.

Snowy Time

Pieter Bruegel, The Hunters in the Snow - Kunsthistorisches Museum - Vienna

Announced by all the trumpets of the sky

Arrives the snow, and, driving o'er the fields,

Seems nowhere to alight: the whited air

Hides hills and woods, the river and the heaven,

And veils the farm-house at the garden's end.

The steed and traveller stopped, the courier's feet

Delayed, all friends shut out, the housemates sit

Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed

In a tumultuous privacy of storm.

Come, see the north wind's masonry.

Out of an unseen quarry evermore

Furnished with tile, the fierce artificer

Curves his white bastions with projected roof

Round every windward stake, or tree, or door.

Speeding, the myriad-handed, his wild work

So fanciful, so savage, naught cares he

For number or proportion. Mockingly

On coop or kennel he hangs Parian wreaths;

A swan-like form invests the hidden thorn;

Fills up the farmer's lane from wall to wall,

Maugre the farmer's sighs, and at the gate

A tapering turret overtops the work.

And when his hours are numbered, and the world

Is all his own, retiring, as he were not,

Leaves, when the sun appears, astonished Art

To mimic in slow structures, stone by stone

Built in an age, the mad wind's night-work,

The frolic architecture of the snow.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The Snow-Storm”

Just a quick Hello to everyone! I’m sure you’ll enjoy the above beautiful poem.

P.S. Light blogging until January 10, 2012

An Infinite Idea

“ The progress of our soul is like a perfect poem. It has an infinite idea which once realized makes all movements full of meaning and joy. But if we detach its movements from that ultimate idea, if we do not see the infinite rest and only see the infinite motion, then existence appears to us a monstrous evil, impetuously rushing towards an unending aimlessness. ”

~ Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore was not a Christian, but the above quoted statement could have been written by St. Augustine, because there is in it the same enthusiasm—in the etymological sense of the word: filled with the spirit of theos, God—and depth characterizing so many passages of St. Augustine’s writings. By the way, at the November 30, 2005 general audience in the Vatican, Pope Benedict, quoting from Augustine’s Expositions on the Psalms, said something very interesting about “those who do not know Christ” and yet, “within them, they have a spark of desire for the unknown, for the greater, for the transcendent: for true redemption.” However, apart from any theological consideration about this complex matter, I thought this was a very special way to wish all of you, dear readers,

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Gentile da Fabriano, Pala dell'Adorazione dei Magi (part. Natività)
Uffizi Gallery - Florence

The Turin Shroud: Created by Flash of Supernatural Light

This is more an Easter story than a Christmas story, but then again, as the French saying goes, “tout se tient” (“to some degree everything is connected to everything else”), and that’s one more reason why we need to pay attention to it, rather than pretend nothing happened, as the mainstream media seem to be doing. Unfortunately for them, though, there is someone who doesn’t observe the rule of silence:

The image on the Turin Shroud could not be the work of medieval forgers but was instead caused by a supernatural “flash of light”, according to scientists.
Italian scientists have found evidence that casts doubt on claims that the relic - said to be the burial cloth of Jesus - is a fake and they suggest that it could, after all, be authentic.
Skeptics have long argued that the shroud, a rectangular sheet measuring about 14ft by 3ft, is a forgery dating to medieval times.
Researchers from Italy’s National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development spent years trying to replicate the shroud’s markings.
They have concluded only something akin to ultraviolet lasers - far beyond the capability of medieval forgers - could have created them.
This has led to fresh suggestions that the imprint was indeed created by a huge burst of energy accompanying the Resurrection of Christ.
“The results show a short and intense burst of UV directional radiation can colour a linen cloth so as to reproduce many of the peculiar characteristics of the body image on the Shroud of Turin,” the scientists said.
The image of the bearded man on the shroud must therefore have been created by “some form electromagnetic energy (such as a flash of light at short wavelength)”, their report concludes. But it stops short of offering a non-scientific explanation. Professor Paolo Di Lazzaro, who led the study, said: “When one talks about a flash of light being able to colour a piece of linen in the same way as the shroud, discussion inevitably touches on things such as miracles.
“But as scientists, we were concerned only with verifiable scientific processes. We hope our results can open up a philosophical and theological debate.”

Adeste Fideles

Duccio di Buoninsegna, The Nativity with the Prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel
National Gallery of Art - Washington

“Adeste Fideles” is not only one of the most popular of all Christmas hymns, it is also one of which the origins are less generally known. As a matter of fact, the history of this most beloved hymn was shrouded in mystery for many years—perhaps that’s also the secret of its charm—and before the emergence of English hymnist John Francis Wade (1711-1786) as the probable composer, the music was attributed to many composers, including the English organist John Reading, Sr. (d. 1692) and his son John Reading, Jr. (1677-1764), Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1759), Christoph Willibald von Gluck (1714-1787), and Portuguese musician Marcos Antonio da Fonesca (1762-1830).

The original Latin lyrics, in turn, were attributed from time to time to 13th century Italian scholar St. Bonaventura and others, from various countries, including the Cistercian order of monks.

John Francis Wade was a Catholic layman who escaped religious persecution in England and fled to France (after the Jacobite rising of 1745), where made his living by teaching mu¬sic and “by copying and selling plain chant and other music” (B.Ward, History of St. Edmund’s College, Old Hall, London, 1893, quoted here).

One of the many legends surrounding “Adeste Fideles” is also the reason why it has often been called “the Portuguese Hymn:”

This is because a 1795 performance of the hymn by Samuel Webbe was first heard by the Duke of Leeds at the chapel of the Portuguese embassy in London, one of the few strongholds of Catholic culture in the country at that time. The Duke was so impressed that he commissioned a fuller arrangement by Thomas Greatorex. This arrangement was performed at a "Concert of Ancient Music" (a.k.a. the Ancient Concerts) on May 10, 1797. According to Vincent Novello, the hymn was identified as "The Portuguese Hymn" since the Duke erroneously assumed that Portugal was source (Novello also wrote a popular arrangement).3 Soon the carol became very popular throughout England, Europe, and the United States.

Also a different account of the story is that according to which King John IV of Portugal (1603–1656 ), also known as “The Musician King,” wrote this hymn to accompany his daughter Catherine to England, where she married King Charles II. The account says that, wherever Catherine went, she and her embassy were announced and accompanied with this hymn.

The hymn, which has been translated into at least 125 languages, appears to have been written and composed by at least 1743, and possibly as early as 1740. In 1822, three additional Latin verses were added by Abbé Étienne Jean François Borderies to the original four; and in 1850, an unknown contributor added another Latin stanza. The most popular English translation (“O Come All Ye Faithful”) is that by Frederick Oakeley, a Church of England priest who subsequently followed John H. Newman in converting to Roman Catholicism.

Giotto, La Natività (The Birth of Christ) - Assisi Lower Basilica

Yet, apart from the above mentioned historical and philological aspects of the whole subject, let’s not forget the main issue here, I mean, there’s only one thing missing: we should ask ourselves—and try to figure out a good answer!—why “Adeste Fideles” is one of the most beloved Christmas hymns ever. It invites all the faithful to come to Bethlehem to worship the new-born Saviour, and that’s a great thing in itself—the greatest thing in the world!—but there are a lot of hymns and Christmas songs that express the same concept. So why this and not one of the others?

Well, the answer is up to each of us. Perhaps, in my humblest opinion, this one is not as amazing as “Silent Night,” nor as moving, and yet it is somehow unique, it has something old (if not ancestral), something eternal. It is as if we were transported back in time to 2000 years ago, as if we were surrounded by shepherds and we could see the star of Bethlehem. It’s “timeless.” That’s more than enough for me… Adeste Fideles, for ever and ever.

R.I.P. Václav Havel

Candles illuminate a portrait of former Czech President Vaclav Havel
Prague - December 19, 2011 (AFP PHOTO/ STR)

The strange coincidence of December 18 will be remembered for a long time: the deaths of both Kim Jong Il, North Korea’s totalitarian “Dear Leader,” and Václav Havel, the Czech dissident playwright who stood firm against Communism and led his people to freedom in 1989 and turned president. In other words and in brief, respectively, the bad and the good. Of course, with all due respect for “our Sister Bodily Death,” as St. Francis of Assisi called it, we mourn the latter, not the former.

Here is a video showing how how Czechs bid goodbye to Havel (the clip ends on a humorous note, with an excerpt from a film directed by Havel himself, in which he emerges from below the surface of a pond, wearing a suit and tie, to say: “Thank you for turning off your cellphones. Truth and love must win over lies and hatred. You can now turn your cellphones back on.” Soon after, with both arms extended in a wave, he descends back into the pond. (Via NYT)

But, as not many may know, Havel was also a thoughtful observer of western democracies. In a series of speeches given in the 1990s, he saw “similar absolutist trends” in government structures that strive toward uniformity and ultimate solutions: an analysis that, if truth be told, seems even more relevant today. Read this piece in The Atlantic to dig deeper into this. Here is an excerpt:

Western governments, he said, are organized on a flawed premise not far removed from the Soviet system that had just collapsed. "The modern era has been dominated by the culminating belief," he said, "that the world ... is a wholly knowable system governed by finite number of universal laws that man can grasp and rationally direct ... objectively describing, explaining, and controlling everything."

These bureaucratic structures are profoundly dehumanizing, Havel believed, striving to control choices that should be left to human judgment and values. This "era of systems, institutions, mechanisms and statistical averages" is doomed to failure because "there is too much to know" and it cannot "be fully grasped." The drive towards standardization is fatally flawed, Havel believed: "life is nonstandard."

Theologians of the 20th Century

What the “Credo” proclaims, from the ecumenical councils of Nicaea and Chalcedon on, that the only-begotten Son of God became man without ceasing to be God, is also “what is most contested or obfuscated or forgotten today, inside and outside of the Church.” Which 20th Century theologians have given the most brilliant responses to this crucial problem? They are Oscar Cullmann, Wolfhart Pannenberg, and Ioannis Zizioulas. The first two are Protestant, the third Orthodox. And yet they are among the closest to the vision of Benedict XVI. This is what you will learn by reading a book which has been published this year in Italy (La teologia del Novecento). The author is

[A] Protestant theologian, the Waldensian Fulvio Ferrario, which is striking not only for the rare clarity and richness of its exposition and its narrative efficacy, but also for the prominence given to some great theologians who are, among non-Catholics, precisely those closest to the vision and sensibility of the current pope, himself a theologian.

Go to Sandro Magister’s website to read a brief but comprehensive introduction to the book. The many “false theologians” who are crowding the stage today “to ‘humanize’ Jesus instead of preaching him as true God and true man,” says Magister, have been served.

The Versatile Blogger Award

As a Nobel Prize winner recently said, “Prizes are always a nice thing. It doesn’t change the research per se, of course, but it’s lovely to have the recognition.” Well, er, mutatis mutandis, this could apply to me, too… In fact last Thursday, a talented young lady from India—a country I deeply love and which has always inspired me—was kind enough to nominate me for the Versatile Blogger Award. Of course it’s an honor for which I am truly grateful. But mostly I like the idea that this recognition comes from a young blogger from the other side of the world. It just shows how small this world has become…

Yet, as the old saying goes, “there is no rose without a thorn,” that is, in this case, since life is full of rules and regulations—and the Versatile Blogger Award is no exception—there is no prize without rules. And since I wouldn’t disappoint my kind and generous friend for anything in the world, I’ll take upon myself the burden of the rules (even though only in part, as I will explain later), which are the following:

1. Thank the award-giver and link back to them in your post.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass this award along to 15 recently discovered blogs you enjoy reading.
4. Contact your chosen bloggers to let them know about the award.

Now, since I already thanked my friend, and since the rule number 4 is my own business, only the rules number 2 and 3 are left:

7 Things about myself

1. The first thing I think of when I wake up is listening to radio and tv news reports.
2. My favorite smell is that of bread baking, which, as I once heard, “like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight.” A reminder of my childhood, and, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest aromas on earth.
3. My favorite place to relax is along the seaside, watching sea-gulls and listening to the sound of waves washing up the shore.
4. The animal I would most like to be is a seagull. I like the way seagulls fly as much as I love some of their typical habitats - such as, for instance, the Cliff of Moher in Ireland and the Côte Sauvage in Brittany. Moreover I love the sea, any time, in any season, in any latitude, as every seagull is supposed to do.
5. I have always been a strong believer in the Power of Words. They can build up and just as quickly tear down. How we speak says libraries about who we are and what we believe.
6. My most beloved movie is Howard Hawks’ 1959 Rio Bravo, with John Wayne and Dean Martin
7. The last thing I do before falling asleep is read at least a page of the Bible.

Passing this along to other bloggers

This is the most difficult part of the task… You know, how to make a choice between dozens of bloggers I am dealing with everyday? How to avoid hurting someone’s feelings, or annoying someone else? Because bloggers sometimes are such touchy and/or lazy people! That’s why I decided to limit the range to just two categories of bloggers: the most frequent commentators and contributors on WRH, and some  recently discovered bloggers I like very much. But they (unfortunately or fortunately, it depends on the point of view) are not 15 but only 6. Here they are:

• Diana Stevan 
• Someday Somewhere 
• The Metaphysical Peregrine 
• Viewfinder 
• Kitty’s Pitara 
• News from Italy

R.I.P. Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens died Thursday night at 62. Journalist, essayist, and one of England’s most celebrated, yet controversial  polemicists, he waged countless battles on behalf of causes left and right. The following excerpt from the full interview with him by Richard Dawkins in the New Statesman, that was trailed a few days ago, is  perhaps the most effective portrait of him—it is not yet online and I’m quoting from Norman Geras’ blog. And yes, along with Norm and many others, I will miss him.

I have one consistency, which is [being] against the totalitarian - on the left and on the right. The totalitarian, to me, is the enemy - the one that's absolute, the one that wants control over the inside of your head, not just your actions and your taxes. And the origins of that are theocratic, obviously. The beginning of that is the idea that there is a supreme leader, or infallible pope, or a chief rabbi, or whatever, who can ventriloquise the divine and tell us what to do.

That has secular forms, with gurus and dictators, of course, but it's essentially the same. There have been some thinkers - Orwell is pre-eminent - who understood that, unfortunately, there is innate in humans a strong tendency to worship, to become abject. So we're not just fighting the dictators. We're criticising our fellow humans for trying to short-cut, to make their lives simpler, by surrendering and saying, "[If] you offer me bliss, of course I'm going to give up some of my mental freedom for that." We say it's a false bargain: you'll get nothing. You're a fool.