What Is Most Important for the Nation as Well as for the Individual

Yet another quote from my summer readings…



Theodore Roosevelt
26th President of the United States
“ It seems to me that, for the nation as for the individual, what is most important is to insist on the vital need of combining certain sets of qualities, which separately are common enough, and, alas, useless enough. Practical efficiency is common, and lofty idealism not uncommon; it is the

“I Asked the Sea and the Deeps…”

This is more or less what I was trying to think while sitting beside a restless sea on a cloudy but pleasant August afternoon…

“ Not with doubting, but with assured consciousness, do I love Thee, Lord. Thou hast stricken my heart with Thy word, and I loved Thee. Yea also heaven and earth, and all that therein is, behold on every side they bid me love Thee; nor cease to say so unto all, that

Cannavaro Retires

Soccer legend and Italy’s 2006 World Cup winning captain Fabio Cannavaro retires after persistent knee injuries. The photo of him holding the trophy aloft became the defining image of the 2006 tournament.

Current Issues

Enduring Questions: Traditional approach vs. postmodern approach. I stand for the former, what about you?

Henry James’ Venice

My summer readings’ list includes re-reading Henry James’ Italian Hours, published almost exactly one hundred years ago, in 1909. It’s a classic collection of essays, three of which are about Venice—James had visited Venice for short periods in 1869 and 1872 but his first extended stay in the city took place in 1881—and the novelist’s “special relationship” to this wonderful city. As his

Italy's Austerity Budget

Giulio Tremonti
In the first three months of the year, Italy’s economy—the third-largest economy in Europe—expanded 0.1%, while the euro-zone as a whole grew 0.8%. That’s the real issue, not Italy’s public debt, which is projected to peak at 120 per cent of GDP this year. In fact, many analysts say Italy should be more worried about its long-term prosperity than its solvency. Hence the

Deconstructing Independence on Independence Day

~ “LETTERS FROM AMERICA” - by The Metaphysical Peregrine ~
"It would reduce the whole instrument to a single phrase, that of instituting a Congress with power to do whatever would be for the good of the United States; and as they would be the sole judges of the good or evil, it would be also a power to do whatever evil they please. Certainly no such universal power was meant to be given them. [

“The Shot Heard Round the World”

When the bullet that began the American Revolution was fired at Concord, historians called the event “the shot heard round the world.” Autocratic rulers heard that shot, and things that had not been questioned for millennia were now open to challenge.

Today, many among “the intelligentsia,” as well as “political messiahs,” are doubtful about the American exceptionalism. They ask whether the

Aung San Suu Kyi at Risk, Once Again

Dark clouds are gathering over pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Burma’s government has warned the Nobel peace prize laureate—who has remained in Rangoon since her release from house arrest, but she has said she soon plans to travel to the countryside to meet her supporters—to halt all political activities. The warning is extended to Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the NLD (National League for

Top Blogs and Websites on Religious Studies

I’ve just received an email from Catherine Elson informing me about an article, titled “Top 15 Blogs on Religious Studies,” she just posted on The Divining Blog. I’m glad to pass the information along. Catherine firstly reminds readers that religious studies—which differ from theology in that they are usually conducted by a third party, while theologists are usually a believer in the religion

Smith, Wesson and Me

What would you do if someone tried to kill you by shooting a kind of rocket at you? Of course I wish you not to face a similar situation, but then again, as you know, everything is possible in life. Therefore it’s important to be ready! That’s why, in my opinion, you should consider the kind of reaction shown in the video below (don’t try to do this at home!), provided that you have a .357

George & Emmylou

Emmylou Harris
Country music scholar Bill C. Malone writes, “For the two or three minutes consumed by a song, Jones immerses himself so completely in its lyrics, and in the mood it conveys, that the listener can scarcely avoid becoming similarly involved.” Never has anything more true been said regarding country music legend George Jones. Yet, however true this may be, what makes Jones the best

New Beginning

Claude Monet, Impression Sunrise
Everything in life is temporary. Everything has an end. Winter ends, snow melts, spring ends… But, as the old proverb goes, every end is a new beginning, and when spring ends summer starts. Or, if you prefer, as T.S. Eliot put it, “What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from” (this is

Pentecost on Mount Athos

Fresco in Koutloumoussiou Monastery
 Mount Athos
Mount Athos is not for everyone, at least it isn’t for women—the last authorized female pilgrim set foot there sixteen centuries ago, and her name was Galla Placidia, the daughter of  Theodosius, the Christian emperor of Rome (and Constantinople), but as soon as she entered one of Athos’s monasteries, an icon of the Virgin ordered her: “Halt!”

Where Nothing Is Impossible

Yesterday, here in Italy, was the festival of the Republic, but the Italian Prime minister had few reasons to celebrate after his ruling center-right coalition was resoundingly beaten in runoff administrative elections last Monday. He lost Milan (44.9 percent to 55.1 percent), his home town, the city where he built his economic empire and where his political career started, and in Naples Luigi

Our Memorial Day

~ “LETTERS FROM AMERICA” - by The Metaphysical Peregrine ~
This Monday is a national day of remembrance for US military Soldiers, Marines, Airmen and Sailors that have given their lives in defense of this country and freedom. Memorial Day should have a sense of the sacred, but for most it’s the weekend of barbeques and beer, the weekend that officially kicks off summer, and the weekend of sales.

May 26: Saint Philip Neri

“ O God, who never cease to bestow the glory of holiness on the faithful servants you raise up for yourself, graciously grant that the Holy Spirit may kindle in us that fire with which he wonderfully filled the heart of Saint Philip Neri. ”

[Original Latin text: Deus, qui fideles tibi servos sanctitatis gloria sublimare non desistis, concede propitius, ut illo nos igne Spiritus Sanctus

Welcome to the 21st-Century Food Wars

From the Middle East to Madagascar, high prices of food are spawning land grabs and ousting dictators. The food crisis of 2011—which is real and serious—may bring with it yet more bread riots cum political revolutions. What is worse, if until a few years ago sudden price surges were quickly followed by a return to the relatively low food prices that helped shape the political stability of the

The Long Fall of Silvio Berlusconi

You may say that the round of Italian elections that closed Monday—which went badly for the center right ruling coalition—were only for local administrations, but Silvio Berlusconi emerged as the biggest loser as the outgoing mayor of Milan, Letizia Moratti, failed to avoid a runoff in her bid for re-election. In fact, it was he himself who had presented the local contest as a referendum on his

Draghi Is in Poll Position

A former Goldman Sachs banker and the current Governor of the Banca d’Italia, Mario Draghi is now in pole position in the race for the European Central Bank’s presidency. In fact, besides having been already endorsed by French president Nicolas Sarkozy, he has been given an official blessing by German Chancellor Angela Merkel: “I know Mario Draghi,” she told Die Zeit newspaper, “he is a very

Economic Survey of Italy 2011

From the OECD:

Italy’s economy has passed the deep recession triggered by the global crisis and seems set for a gradual recovery. The strength of this recovery is uncertain: it would be wise to plan for no more than the rather sluggish growth seen in the decade prior to the crisis. Hence, the priority remains structural reforms to increase growth potential, while maintaining a stable fiscal

When a Cloud Covers the Sun

“My life,” says the Dalai Lama, “has not been an altogether happy one; I have had to pass through many difficult times.” Of course hard times include losing his country to Chinese Communist invaders, and trying to promote and  preserve Tibetan culture in exile. “Yet,” he continues, “I regard these difficult periods as among the most important times in my life. Through them, I have gained many new

“Must’ve Been Drunk”

Merle Haggard & George Jones


This song reminds me of two old friends of mine years ago, when they met a young lady from Des Moines who made a great impression on them, in one way or another.

For lovers of country music only: two living legends in a very “relaxed” state of mind...

Why?

The cover of the May 4/10, 2011 issue of The Stranger
I have just learned that Al-Qaeda has confirmed the death of Osama Bin Laden. Well, I’m not what is usually referred to as a “conspiracy hunter,” but if I were, I suppose I couldn’t help asking why on earth they felt the need to do so. But  I just am not that kind of blogger. They must have become suddenly sincere and intellectually honest,

Weren't They a Bunch of Assassins?

Hypocrisy Watch: as everybody knows, Osama bin Laden was killed by SEAL Team Six, officially known as Naval Special Warfare Development Group or DevGru. Yet, when GW Bush was president the media called them “Cheney’s assassination squad.” Now that a Democratic President has employed them to take out Osama bin Laden a lot of things seem to have changed…

Via DDMHA and The PJ Tatler

A Man of God

Yesterday in Saint Peter’s Square the late Pope John Paul II was proclaimed Blessed—the next-to-last step before a Catholic is formally declared a saint—before one million and a half faithful. Yet another show of strength from an extraordinary man. But the event began the previous night, when a crowd of hundreds of thousands, mostly young people, flocked to the Circus Maximus oval to pray, sing

Bombing Libya

 Credit: Reuters/Yannis Behrakis
Certainly it was quite unavoidable, but Italy’s decision to send its warplanes on missions to bomb Libya “has not been easy,” as Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi admitted during a joint press conference in Rome with French president Nicolas Sarkozy. Not by chance, in fact, for weeks Italy has resisted joining the air missions over Libya. The official reason for

“I Have Seen the Lord!”

Giotto, "Noli me tangere," Cappella degli Scrovegni, Padua

“ Now on the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, while it was yet dark, unto the tomb, and seeth the stone taken away from the tomb. She runneth therefore, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we know not where they

Have a Blessed Holy Week!

Giotto, The Kiss of Judas, Cappella degli Scrovegni, Padua 
I wish all my readers a blessed Holy Week and a glorious Easter!

Going Kindle

Even the last few days have been very busy for me, and as it was not enough I have been mostly off-line lately (new ISP, new modem-router) and still have troubles with Internet connection. Hence the light or no blogging at all. Once again, too bad, since so many things have been happening meanwhile. But if I was prevented from having my say on what is happening in the word—well, no real big

Breakin' the Law

~ “LETTERS FROM AMERICA” - by The Metaphysical Peregrine ~

Last year the Democrats controlled the legislature and executive branches and did not pass a budget as required by law. That left the Republicans with the task of passing that budget for the rest of the fiscal year (the result of the elections which gave them control of the House). We are $14 trillion in debt; that’s $45,000 for every

What Sharia Law Is All About

Ok, perhaps this is nothing new, but, as the old saying goes, repetita iuvant:

Islam is far more than a religion; it is a complete culture which includes a political system and legal code, known as Sharia law. Sharia law is based upon the Qu’ran and the Sunna, which is comprised of the Sira (Mohammed’s biography) and the Hadith (his Traditions). Sharia law covers traditional legal matters such

A Huge Theological Issue

Masaccio, St. Paul, Museo di S. Matteo, Pisa 
I’ve been very busy these days, that’s why I haven't blogged lately. It’s really too bad because I had a lot of stuff to talk about. However, the below is my first attempt at trying to make up for the delay.

Steven, at the Metaphysical Peregrine, puts forward a classic theological issue (even though in a very personal context): What about those

Praised Be the Bridge

Photo courtesy of Venice Daily Photo (click to enlarge)

“ Let every man praise the bridge that carries him over.”

~ English proverb.

Benedict XVI, Hans Küng and Fr. de Lubac

Is contemporary Europe a religiously-barren place? Maybe, maybe not. What is certain is that two books, written by two Catholic theologians, recently rocketed up Germany’s best-seller list. One of the theologians is Benedict XVI. The other is Fr. Hans Küng, whose text, Ist die Kirche noch zu retten? (Can the Church Still Be Saved?), was published the same week as volume two of Benedict’s Jesus

If Hillary Calls Assad a Reformer

  Assad & Ahmedinejad
Yet another interesting point of view on the U.S. administration’s policy towards the Arab revolution. This time the focus is on Syria (after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is “a reformer”). Charles Krauthammer in his Friday column in the Washington Post:


Sometimes you cover for a repressive ally because you need it for U.S.

Why Obama’s Libyan Adventure Is Already a Failure

Well, you may agree or disagree with the core argument of this article—it is high time to replace the U.N. Charter (and its obsolete procedures), in whose eyes North Korea, the most brutal totalitarian government in the world, is the equal of the United States, which has done more than any country in the postwar period to protect freedom and democracy, with international rules that encourage

Found the Original King James Bible

CNN

A little English village church has just made a remarkable discovery, a rare 400-year-old book...

“Courtyard of the Gentiles”

Photo courtesy of  radiovaticana.org
Both the idea and the name—“Courtyard of the Gentiles”—came from Benedict XVI himself, the Pope-philosopher. The meeting, promoted by the Pontifical Council for Culture and launched with major international participation on Thursday at the Paris headquarters of UNESCO, was aimed at recovering a broad cultural dialogue between believers and non-believers,

Trees Have no Dogmas

“ The vice of the modern notion of mental progress is that it is always something concerned with the breaking of bonds, the effacing of boundaries, the casting away of dogmas. But if there be such a thing as mental growth, it must mean the growth into more and more definite convictions, into more and more dogmas. The human brain is a machine for coming to conclusions; if it cannot come to

Don’t Give to France What Is not France’s

The story may be told in different ways. One (and the most likely, in my opinion) is that French President Nicolas Sarkozy, with his popularity languishing at a record low and facing a presidential election next year and a revived National Front, the far right party led by Ms Le Pen, was in need of a political boost. And on Saturday—when the Operation “Odyssey Dawn” started—he got it. Yet, even

Spring

Primula (Primrose), messenger of Spring. Courtesy: Stelvio Nat. Park

“ It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. ”


~ Charles Dickens, Great Expectations, first published in serial form in the publication All the Year Round from December 1860 to August 1861 (Chapter 54).

A Farewell to Knut, the Polar Bear Who Charmed the World

Knut, Berlin’s world-famous polar bear who died on Saturday, wasn't just a product of the age of celebrity, he had charisma, and will be very sorely missed. David Crossland in Spiegel Online International:

Knut was a special bear because he had real character. That spring and summer of 2007, he entertained as many as 15,000 visitors a day by biting Dörflein's backside, hiding under a green

A Rare Encore

A couple of quick updates to my previous post on the 150th Anniverary of Italy’s Unification.


Valerie, at 2 Baci in a Pinon Tree, has a good post and interesting links to other bloggers’ views—including my own (grazie!)—of the same event.

Rome Opera House. It is very rare that a conductor concedes an encore for an opera chorus, and even rarer is asking the audience to sing it, but this is

Does Soccer Really Need Characters Like Balotelli?

"Super Mario" Balotelli at work 
It was Roberto Mancini who wanted the so-called Super Mario to join Manchester City, now he has finally figured out who the former Inter Milan striker really is, and not just who he wanted him to be.

Yet, it seems that there are still those who think otherwise, one of them is former Chelsea and Italy legend Gianfranco Zola, who insists Mario Balotelli “has the

Happy Birthday, Italy!

Italy is a long country—about 745 miles from the northern to the southern border—running from the mountainous north down to the sunny south “kissed by the Mediterranean,” and so on. Ok, it’s an old refrain, but, as Denis Mack Smith puts it, “it is with geography that any history of this country must begin” (Modern Italy. A Political History). Almost everybody knows that regional differences in

The Obama Doctrine

Notable Presidential Rhetoric (c) Jack Ohman
“The problem with Obama’s Middle East policy is that there is no policy...” Victor Davis Hanson at The Corner (National Review). Thanks: Sandra Kennedy Schimmelpfennig.

WikiLeaks: Japan Was Warned by the International Atomic Energy Agency

 Photo: AP 
It’s sad to say it, and this for several (and quite obvious) reasons, but the news cannot be ignored or simply swept under the carpet: WikiLeaks reveals that Japan was warned more than two years ago by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that its nuclear power plants were not capable of withstanding powerful earthquakes. Read the full story in the Telegraph here.

O'Reilly Factor - Is The Nuclear Threat Growing In Japan?

Is the worldwide media hyping the nuke situation in Japan a bit too much? The truth is no one knows how bad things are.

Nero Has Nothing on This Guy

~ “LETTERS FROM AMERICA” - by The Metaphysical Peregrine ~

The Middle East is in chaos. Libyan dictator Khadafy is murdering his people. An American female reporter is beaten and ganged raped by Egyptian thugs. Saudi’s are moving into Bahrain. Lebanese again clashing with their oppressors the Syrians. Pirates are capturing ships and killing American citizens.  Obama mouths empty platitudes and

Italy’s top 15 cultural exports

Petrarch, by Andrea del Castagno
(Uffizi Gallery, Florence)
I must confess that debating on what is typically English or French or Italian, etc., is something I like less and less as time goes by and I get older. And this for the simple reason that I like to think of the West (or “Western Civilization”) more as a whole, as a single and, somehow, complete entity, than as the sum of its parts.

Pope Benedict's New Book

Benedict XVI’s new book, Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection—published in English by Ignatius Press—is the sequel volume to Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration, the highly acclaimed work which attracted praise from Catholic and non-Catholic Christians alike. The part II of this fascinating interweaving of history

That's Where I Am Now

The hermitage of Fonte Avellana 

Meanwhile, Lebanon Is Already Lost

Hezbollah
Do you remember the famous quote by Titus Livius, “Dum Romae consulitur, Saguntum expugnatur” (Ab Urbe Condita, XXI, 7)? This could be translated in a much updated version as While Washington (and Rome, London, Paris, etc.) debates what to do with Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, Lebanon falls. Hezbollah has won there, with the support of Iran and Syria. In brief, this is a must read

Venice: It's Carnival Time!

Photo courtesy of www.carnevale.venezia.it
Though not a huge fan of Carnival at large and the Carnival of Venice in particular (I hate crowded places where you're always bumping into people…), I certainly love Venice—how could it be otherwise?—and beautiful pictures. That’s why I recommend you to drop by at Mirino’s blog, where you’ll find both the flavor of Venice and the magic of

Gaddafi Between History and Chronicle

Oriana Fallaci interviewing Gaddafi
It’s always difficult to find wide-ranging, truthful and reliable information on the major issues of today’s world. Generally speaking, the information provided by mainstream media is almost always inaccurate and incomplete. That’s what so often makes reading newspapers and magazines a frustrating experience. Or at least that’s my experience. But this doesn’

Poland Über Alles

Twenty years ago, the deeply Catholic Poland was a backward agricultural and provincial country. Yet, since then, it has experienced an almost nonstop boom. Even during the 2009 recession, which we’re still recovering from, Poland’s economy grew by 1.7 percent. And thanks to its accession to the EU in 2004, unemployment fell from more than 20 percent to about 8 percent today. No surprise that

English Identity: A New Report

An interesting new report (“Fear and HOPE”), commissioned by Searchlight Educational Trust, explores the issues of English identity, faith and race. With 5,054 respondents and 91 questions, it is one of the largest and most comprehensive surveys into attitude, identity and extremism in the UK to date.

“This report paints a disturbing picture of our attitudes towards each another and the unknown

The Rubicon is a River in Wisconsin

Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post:

The magnificent turmoil now gripping statehouses in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and soon others marks an epic political moment. The nation faces a fiscal crisis of historic proportions and, remarkably, our muddled, gridlocked, allegedly broken politics have yielded singular clarity.
[...]
We have heard everyone - from Obama's own debt commission to the

An Afghanistan in the Mediterranean?

Two scenarios of the Arab revolution. That of Egypt, with an unprecedented alliance between Christians and Muslims. And that of Libya, where the collapse of the regime paves the way for radical Islamism. Take a look at the analysis of Khaled Fouad Allam, as expounded in an article by Sandro Magister.


The picture that emerges […] is that of a Muslim world that is much more fragile and

When the Privileged are Angry

James Taranto’s piece in the WSJ’s Opinion Journal is well worth a careful read. He addresses the Wisconsin thing, the main issues at stake—including the differences between public and private sector unions and between Tea Party and union protests—and their political, economic, and “cultural” implications. He also shows how “almost every lie the left ever told about the Tea Party has turned out

If Gaddafi Vows to Die a Martyr

That the Arab revolution might reach Libya was regarded as out of the range of possible (or desirable) things. And if one leader could survive the storm, it seemed to be Kadhafi, with his broad security apparatus, his elite military units and his own oil wells. At least that’s how we felt until a few days ago.

But with their utter courage the demonstrators in Benghazi, Surt, Misurata, Tubruq,

True Grit. Much, Much More Than A Remake

First off let me say that, speaking of movies, as a lover of Westerns I have been a lifelong fan of John Wayne—it is not by chance that Rio Bravo is perhaps my favorite movie ever, though no small part of the credit for this is due to Dean Martin and director Howard Hawks. Second, I think that John Wayne’s 1969 True Grit was a great movie. With all this being said, I have to say that the 2010

Lenin is Alive and Well in America

~ “LETTERS FROM AMERICA” - by The Metaphysical Peregrine ~

That tactics are toned down, the bloody militarism is too, but the mindset is the same. In 1917 the Bolsheviks couldn’t get their way, so they just started a reign of murder and terror until they did. They were able to keep it up for about a century. Mao and his murderers in China couldn’t get their way, so they started a reign of murder

Neoconservatism: An Obituary?

Glenn Beck said that C. Bradley Thompson’s new book Neoconservatism: An Obituary for an Idea is “a must-read for all Americans interested in defending the founding fathers vision of a free and just society.” Actually, as far as I have seen until now, this book is being described by reviewers and readers as a comprehensive analysis of what neoconservatives call their “philosophy of governance”

Egypt: Another Iran In The Making?

Now that Mubarak has stepped down, what will happen in Egypt? That’s the question we all are asking ourselves. More precisely: What will the new Egyptian government look like? And what will be the role of the Muslim Brotherhood? Needless to say, as many international observers—including the Italian doyen of political scientists, Giovanni Sartori—have pointed out, the risk now is that a second

Lincoln, Reagan, Poltical Parties and the Current Political Power Shift

~ “LETTERS FROM AMERICA” - by The Metaphysical Peregrine ~

Last weekend, we celebrated the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan, and this weekend we celebrate the 202nd anniversary of Abraham Lincoln, the founder of the modern Republican Party. What both men had in common was governing by the principals found in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
The Democrat Party tried all

Why Big Government Doesn’t Work

The latest video released by the Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation (CF&P) highlights the “four reasons why big government is bad government.” This is the eleventh video of CF&P’s Economics 101 series, which is designed to explain free market concepts, with particular emphasis on reaching students and young people.

In short, the video explains that excessive government spending:

Ronald Reagan: A Fan’s Tribute

This fan is also a good friend of mine and a valued contributor to this blog, and his tribute is a genuine and heartfelt one, with a couple of moving quotes at the end. I truly loved it, almost as much as I loved, and still do love, what President Reagan did for America, for the world, and for Freedom.



P.S.  I would just point out that there is some similarity between my friend's political

Goggle Introduces Art Project

Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy—with a view on Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus”

Wow! This is absolutely astonishing, brilliant, and breathtaking! Believe me, I’m not exaggerating. By using the same process as the Street View vans that trekked through cities and suburbs for Google Maps, Art Project gives people a first-hand look at 17 of the world’s most acclaimed art museums—including,

Learning From Reagan

What today’s leaders can learn from Reagan (in view of the approaching 100th anniversary of the birth of President Ronald Reagan). Mortimer Zuckerman, in U.S. News & World Report:




He had an instantaneous grasp of the main issue or the true problems, and he was decisive in his responses.
[...]
Reagan provided what Americans wanted most: a strong leader who could and would lead in a

The Great Stagnation

Tyler Cowen 
To be honest, I don’t usually read books on economics, but Tyler Cowen is one of the few economists whose … blog posts I read (or try to read!) quite regularly, in fact, he also runs, along with Alex Tabarrok, Marginal Revolution, a famous economics blog. Yet, despite my own limitations, this post is about a book on economics I have only just started reading, as suggested by my

The Beatitudes

Fra Angelico, Sermon on the Mount. San Marco Church, Florence
Yesterday’s Gospel was the opening section of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5:1-12), which is called the Beatitudes, that is, the  characters and situations which our Lord emphatically pronounced blessed:


When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him.
He opened His mouth

Death Was a Small Price to Pay

The Dalai Lama flees Tibet 
Tibet is, in the West, a story of a weak nation taken over and occupied by a more powerful one. But “this is the American theme, the theme of 1776, when we threw off our own band of occupiers,” says Stephan Talty, the author of Escape from the Land of Snow (see my previous post). That’s why any American, he continues, can understand Tibet in a phrase. And perhaps

Obama Channeling Reagan? Hardly

The story that he is modeling his presidency on Ronald Reagan’s is “one of the least credible tales to come out of President Obama’s recent ideological makeover,” says the Washington Times.  And here is a handy list to remind people how little these two men have in common. Funny but very serious.


Thanks: Sandra Kennedy Schimmelpfennig.

The Loneliness of Silvio B.

Ok, the character may not be one of your favorites—and as for me I have already expressed many times both my personal dislike and my “political acquittal,” so to speak. But this piece by Beppe Severgnini is worth reading:


Some men need an audience just to be able to wake up in the morning. If they can’t find it, they buy it. There is a little of Tiberius (as described by Suetonius) and a little

Chesterton on Dogma

A collection of forty-nine essays which first appeared in June of 1910, G.K. Chesterton’s What’s Wrong With The World is still a fresh and fascinating book, whose message is as applicable in today’s world as, if not more than, when it was first published, as if Chesterton had foreseen some of the issues that arose later in our history.

In this book, as in many other of his writings, with his

How Liberal Journalists Think

An aspiring liberal journalist tries to explain why she thinks the Tea Party is dangerous, or the liberal mindset in one easy video. Via Ace of Spades HQ.

Escape from the Land of Snow (Updated)

The strangest fact about the Dalai Lama’s strange life, writes Jeffrey Paines in his Washington Post review of four books on the subject, is that it remains largely untold. “Most books promoted as biographies of him hardly qualify as such and are indeed no more revealing than Testu Saiwai’s recent manga, or cartoon, biography. That’s why, according to the reviewer, of the recent attempts to

Top 10 Composers

Some candidates: above, from left, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Mozart, Schoenberg, Haydn, and Stravinsky; below, from left, Schumann, Brahms, Schubert, Handel, Bach, and Debussy.



Anthony Tommasini
Are you a fan of classical music? Then, don’t miss in the New York Times these days the double opportunity to take part in the Top 10 Composers poll—at the present stage Beethoven, Bach and

Liberty's Lifeline

Though I haven’t had the chance to read it yet, I guess Liberty’s Lifeline: Engaging the Grassroots Movement to Stop the Erosion of American Freedoms is one of those books that readers will either love or hate, according to their political orientation and whether or not they think Obama is doing a terrific job—well, there must be someone, somewhere, who still believes he is the best for the job,

In One Word, It’s “Boccaccesco”

Min. from Boccaccio, De Casibus Virorum Illustrium, Paris, 1467.
Glasgow University Library Special Collections. 
The right word in Italian is “boccaccesco,” which derives from the Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio (= in the style of Boccaccio), and roughly means “licentious,” “lascivious.” But this is not a literary post. Instead it is a brief note on today’s Italian politics. Yes, all this

“The Glory of American Discourse”

Flags at half staff In Washington after Tucson shooting

What’s the lesson of the heated debate—often rancorous and occasionally defamatory—that ensued over the Tucson shooting? Well, that there is much to admire about political discourse in the U.S. And this is precisely what Americans take for granted, but also the first thing that strikes a visitor:

[T]his is a country where fundamental

In a World Turned Upside Down

Was the reading of the U.S. Constitution in the House the other day “uncalled for?” Well, yes, of course it was, in a world turned upside down … [Thanks: Sandra Kennedy Schimmelpfennig]

“He Must Increase, I Must Decrease”

Giotto, The Baptism of the Lord, Cappella degli Scrovegni, Padua

Today the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. This brings to an end the blissful season of Christmas. The Church recalls Our Lord’s second manifestation or epiphany—the first is the adoration of Jesus by the Magi, and the third is the changing water into wine at Cana of Galilee—which occurred just

What's New In Italy For 2011 (Updated)

You won’t believe it, but visitors to Italy will find less anarchy in 2011. That’s what you’ll discover by reading this report in MSNBC Today Show. Take Rome, for example, where the Colosseum is being cleaned from top to bottom and given permanent lighting.

Or take Florence, where the streets around the Duomo have recently been pedestrianized, and the Uffizi Gallery is undergoing a renovation,

A Man's Best Friend

“ The best friend a man has in the world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name may become traitors to their faith. The money that a man has, he may lose. It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it most. A man's

Constitutionalism, or Why America Is An Exception

There was a highly symbolic moment at the opening of the House of Representatives yesterday with a reading of the Constitution. This had never been done before. Why? Perhaps, as Charles Krauthammer puts it in today’s Washington Post, for the simple reason that it had never been so needed. And as a matter of fact, after fighting for decades over “who owns the American flag,” now the core of the

A Watershed Event in the History of Christianity

The attack of a suicide bomber that took place in Alexandria, Egypt, as worshippers were gathering for a service shortly after midnight on New Year’s Eve marks a watershed event in the history of Christianity. And this not so much for its brutality or its catastrophic effects—21 people killed—as for the fact that this time, unlike the many other times, the international news media coverage is

If California Leads The Way

Victor Davis Hanson
Economist and political commentator Thomas Sowell has a very good commentary for the quietly chilling (and somewhat long) article in the NRO by historian and columnist Victor Davis Hanson about the disturbing decline of rural California. An article which “ought to be read by every American who is concerned about where this country is headed,” because “California is leading

Just a Simple Reminder

Happy New Year Everybody!