Diebold Does It Again!

Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

The eternal question- the answer

Question: What do women want?

Response:

It appears that, as per Dr. Freud, women want a shlong.

Objection:

However, given the premise all men are pigs, all pigs have shlongs and Herr Freud smoked crack. For “sometimes a banana is just a banana”.

Yet, it seems more likely that women don’t know what they want as evidenced by any shopping trip involving shoes.

Reply:

Women don’t know what they want. This is so given that nothing is willed without first being understood. Therefore that which is not understood cannot be willed. Conversely, that which is understood must be finite since it is made of parts. However, the infinite cannot be understood and then willed specifically since it is not composed of parts. Ergo women don’t know what they want since they want everything (i.e. the infinite).

The eternal question meme

What do women want?


I think I have some sort of an answer to this question (mostly humorous) but want to hear what you have to say first. (Show your work.)

(tagged Advise and Disssent, Torgo Devil, From the Upstate)

How White are You? Meme

This is a parody blog making blatant generalizations about white people. Actually after the 80's all white people became either yuppies or white trash, sad to say. Before that the only white people were WASPS, only after the 60's did the Civil Rights Movement have the unintended consequence of making Italians, Germans, Jews, Slavs etc, which are grandfathers referred to with short ethnic slurs, all become identified as white.
This site is a lampoon of self-satisfied yuppies, secretly continuing the white man's burden. Sad but funny.

Stuff White People Like

See what White stuff you like (Tag: Advise and Dissent, Torgodevil, The Upstate)

Here are the White things I am guilty of or others which I strongly disagree with:

#71 I feel just the opposite and like it when other white people are around since I am with Asians all the time.


#58 Who doesn't like Japan? Japanese culture is the most accessible of Asian cultures for the White man.


#55 Apologies and White Guilt. This is actually one of the problems of Western Culture. We are too self-hating, not because we actually feel sorry and repent but because we are self-centered narcissists who actually think any one else cares about what White people did in the past. It's all about us you see.


#53 I actually like some of these songs- Bust A Move for example.


#50 I think Sarah Silverman's comedy is very, very crude and stupid. However she reminds of many of the Jewish princesses I grew up with in Cleveland which makes her kind of funny to me.


#47 Whole Food. I've been to Whole Food (Whole Paycheck) several times but have never bought anything since I have no money.


#46 The New York Times. I used to like the Sunday New York Times, however, over the past 7-8 years the periodical has seriously gone down in quality and has become completely irrelevant for all practical purposes.


#44 NPR. I have a love-hate relationships with Public Radio and NPR. It is the whitest thing in the world like mayo spread on white bread tempered by Kenny G playing in the background. The thing is they actually have real foreign correspondents while the TV networks have all fired theirs. So there international news is actually top notch on most cases. However I tire of their gentle disdain for the common man. NPR is far too elitist. Also, it needs more Garrison Keillor and the Car guys Click and Clack to give it some soul. And not crap like Fair Game which is hipster trash.


#43 Who doesn't like Plays?


#42 Sushi is OK but I'm not in love with it. Sushi actually originated in its present from in California. Sure they ate raw fish in Japan but the whole Sushi scene started on the West coast.


#41 Indie music can be either great or completely crappy. And once you think of what other people, especially minorities listen to you feel very white indeed.


#39 I use Netflixs at times but also use Block Buster. Whatever.


#35 Who doesn't like the Daily Show and the Colbert Report? Hilarious stuff, especially in the times we live in. Somebody has to say something.


#24 I used to like wine but Indonesians don't drink it that much so that stage is over.

#22 The use of two last names is Child Abuse. Also the use of last names for first names such as Anderson or Parker. Not right. Kids are not accessories or designer goods.


#20 I like other cultures so I can forget that I am the whitest man alive. Although Spaniards are actually white for all practical purposes. They just are Mediterranean White and not Nordic White. The same for Italians.


#17 I like traveling but it is important not to be a schmuck about it.


#16 I actually like my parents.


#15 I don't care for the tendency of White culture to unquestioningly embrace Eastern Culture such as Chinese or Indian for their own ends and not on that Culture's terms. This is the narcissistic tendency of White Culture to be ashamed of its own tradition and flee to anything but itself. But actually we end up projecting our own beliefs and preferences on that other culture and thus we are never challenged to change our pampered and self-centered ethos. Pretty sad. There should be more attention to how India has many cultures and how Hinduism has a caste system, and how Hindus are actually very conservative morally speaking. And how anti-Christian violence in India is very high. Especially against the untouchables who convert to Christianity because Hindu culture treats them like crap.


#14 I've had black friends but you should never have a racial quota in your friend making but instead have a friend because you appreciate that person for his or her self.


#11 Doh! I am the Rice King.


#6 He can talk but can he actually do anything? Also, he's not very Black. He's half African not Black. An African has a better chance in America, sadly, than an African America. Emigrate from Ghana today.


#2 I was raised Episcopalian and become Catholic. Oh, so different!


In sum, I am the Whitest man alive.

Answer to unanswerable theological meme:

Would there have been an Incarnation even though Adam had not sinned?

I would say yes, following the radical Christo-centrism of Fray Luis de León which stems from Scotus on this point..

Actually, I got the idea for the meme after reading through some articles on the Christology of Fray Luis de León.

I will put some other unanswerable questions later to flesh out Fray Luis complete view point. I take "unanswerable questions" as being not De Fide- and therefore open to uncertainty- about things that our American minds consider impossible to imagine even thinking about.

And also I thought Advise and Dissent would say yes. Although this question is in no way final, and St. Thomas' discussion is incomplete on this point.

Here is what Fray Luis has to say:



Excerpt from: On the names of Christ, (Chapter 1 on the name Blossom), Fray Luis de León (1583):

“And the greatest thing it was possible to accomplish was the personal union between the Divine Word and Christ’s human nature, which made one person with man.”

“There’s no doubt it is the greatest.” Sabino said.

“Then it necessarily follows that God in order to makes this most fortunate and marvelous union, created all that is seen and unseen which is to say that the end for which the variety and beauty of the world was made was to bring to light this composite of God and man. Or better said, this person both God and man that is Jesus Christ."

“It necessarily follows”- Sabino replied.

“Well Christ being a fruit and Scripture give Him this name to make us understand that Christ is the end of all things. He for Whose happy birth all creatures were created and directed. For just as the tree root was not made for itself nor the trunk that is born and sustains itself on top but one and the other together with the branches, flowers and leaves and all the rest that the tree produces is ordered and directed toward the fruit that comes out of it which is its end and completion. Thus in the same manner these extended heavens which we see and the stars that shine in them and amongst them this fount of clarity and light that illuminates everything. The round and beautiful earth painted with flowers, the waters teaming with fish, animals, men, this whole universe so great and beautiful it is God made it for this end: to make His Son a man and produce this unique and divine fruit that is Christ. Which we can truly call the common birth of all things.

"And thus as the fruit (for whose birth the firmness of the trunk and the beauty of the flower, along with the greenery and freshness of the leaves were made) contains within itself and its strength all that which is ordered in the tree or better yet, the tree contains everything necessary within itself. Thus does Christ for Whose birth God first created the firm and deep roots of the elements and afterwards erected on top of them the greatness of the world with such variety. Thus the branches and leaves contain all within themselves which is then embraced and summarized in Him."

"And lo, I saw the son of man descending from the clouds . .

Humorous quotes from America's latest obsession:

Barack Obama is the Messiah

Unanswerable Theological Meme

Would the Incarnation still have taken place if Adam had not sinned?

(Tagged: Advise and Dissent)

What the dealio?

"One of the ironies of the American scene is that although Catholics have been the largest Christian communion in the US for 150 years (we are nearly four times the size of the next-largest: the Southern Baptist Convention), the primary Christian cultural influence in America today is evangelical Protestantism."

A discussion about this phenomenon:

When Evangelical is Not Enough


From Intentional Disciples Blog:

http://blog.siena.org/

I am Darren Nichols . . . deal with that.

A horribly pretentious director addresses his cast who are about to start a production of Hamlet. From a Canadian show "Slings and Arrows". Funny stuff.

Election in Potomac Land

Flash Backs from The Life of St. John of the Cross part I

I have found a 35 minute video that dramatically evokes the life of San Juan de la Cruz (St. John of the Cross). This is the first portion of the video, which is around 5 minutes. The video is in Spanish so I have provided a translation below. Other section will follow if I find the time. The movie is really well done. Down to the period music and his exquisite torture by the other monks.

The video begins with St. John expiring this mortal coil in the city of Ubeda.





Ubeda December 1591


The bells of St. Paul's in Ubeda have rung for prayers during a cold night in December the year of 1591. St. John of the cross has taken shelter in the nearby Carmelite convent and is now gravely ill. What thoughts? What images fill the sick man's memory on that night when is life is to end?


Scene I Úbeda, Juan lays dying . .

Carmelite: Padre Juan, the doctor says your reverence is fading, put yourself right with God . . .



Scene II The Carmelite Priory

(A row of friars walks under a row of cypresses, one of them is forcibly driven along, wearing a black sheet over his head.)

(They enter the Monastery. The Prior speaks.)

Prior: By the authority of the High Pontiff Gregory XIII, it is ordered that all religious elected against the general statutes and against obedience to the prior and master general because they received convents and towns in any whatsoever against the general prior’s will. Any areas they solicited, inhabited or inhabit may they be dispossessed of them and removed from all office and administrative position without appeal. Because some rebellious and stubborn people commonly called discalced religious have lived and are presently living outside the province of Old Castile in Granada and Seville against the general prior’s statutes.
And they refused to humbly accept the prior general’s letters and commands excusing themselves with falsehoods, threats, and avoidances. These discalced religious are under apostolic punishment and censure so that in the space of three days they submit and if they resist that they be seriously punished, invoking secular power if necessary. And let it be known that they are ordered to appear in person before us and in case of resistance they should be provided witnesses.

Juan: If Your Grace will allow me I would like to . . .

Prior: I guess you may defend yourself.

Juan: Of course. If you call something vulgar being born from the heart and intelligence of Mother Theresa of Jesus, her known holiness, I accept the terms. Rebels, disobedient? What punishment can avail me if I come handing out mercy?


Carmelite Brother: Don’t be stubborn, Brother Juan, life can be so much more pleasant with a priory, a nice cell and a gold crucifix.

Juan: A friar should not be overwhelmed by such unnecessary possessions. He who searches out Christ naked has no need of gold or jewels.

Carmelite Brother: Don’t you realize you are to be thrown in prison?

Juan: God also chose the prison of the soul so that man may be free.

Prior: This tribunal proclaims you to be in rebellion.

I decide, I mean we decide that you be incarcerated in a conventual prison.


Scene III

(Juan is thrown into prison)

Juan: Could I be mistaken? Perhaps the prior is right? Oh Lord free me from the terrible lash of doubt. Remove from me any vestige of pride.


Scene IV

Carmelite: What’s wrong Brother Juan, be calm.

Book meme

1) Find the nearest book to you with at least 123 pages.
2) Turn to page 123.
3) Find the 5th sentence.
4) Type the next 3 sentences after the 5th sentence.
5) Tag 5 people

Apologia Pro Vita Sua by John Henry Cardinal Newman

p. 123 Sentences 6, 7 and 8:

"This was about the middle of September. It was on the Donatists, with an application to Anglicanism. I read it, and did not see much in it."

Chinese New Year- All 'Bout Da Red Envelopes!

Tomorrow is the start of the Chinese year of the Rat.

Background to Chinese New Year:

According to legend, in ancient China, the Nián (年) was a man-eating beast from the mountains (in other versions from under the sea), which came out every 12 months somewhere close to winter to prey on humans. The people later believed that the Nian was sensitive to loud noises and the colour red, so they scared it away with explosions, fireworks and the liberal use of the colour red. These customs led to the first New Year celebrations. Guò nián (simplified Chinese: 过年; traditional Chinese: 過年), which means to celebrate the new year, literally means the passover of the Nian.


Chinese New Year Customs:

Irreverent children may jokingly use the phrase (Traditional Chinese:恭喜發財,紅包拿來, Simplified Chinese: 恭喜发财，红包拿来) (Mandarin PinYin: Gōngxǐ fācái, hóngbāo nálái) ( Cantonese: 恭喜發財,利是逗來 ), roughly translated as "Congratulations and be prosperous, now give me a red envelope."

Back in the 1970s, children in Hong Kong used the saying: 恭喜發財,利是逗來,伍毫嫌少,壹蚊唔愛 (Cantonese), roughly translated as, "Happy New Year, now give me a red envelope, fifty cents is too little, don't want a dollar either." It basically meant that they disliked small change - coins which were called "hard substance" (Cantonese: 硬嘢). Instead, they wanted "soft substance" (Cantonese: 軟嘢), which was either a ten dollar or a twenty dollar bill.

(from Chinese New year article on Wikipedia)