CNN.com - Colonel: Porn led him to kill wife - Sep. 30, 2002 ANNAPOLIS JUNCTION, Maryland (AP) -- A lieutenant colonel at the Army War College pleaded guilty Monday to killing his wife, saying he beat and strangled her as they fought about his use of the Internet to find pornography.
Lt. Col. David Bartlett Jr., 46, reached a plea deal with prosecutors in the slaying of his 39-year-old wife, Suzanne.
Bartlett pleaded guilty to unpremeditated murder, the military equivalent of second-degree murder. Prosecutors -- who had charged him with premeditated murder -- dropped assault and obstruction of justice counts.
Bartlett, the former branch chief of the operations research group at the Center for Strategic Leadership, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole at sentencing next month.
According to Bartlett, the couple argued for several days after his wife discovered he had been viewing pornography on the Internet. On March 19, he said, he beat her with an iron pestle and strangled her with a computer cord after she harassed him, called him names and shoved him.
Bartlett told police she never returned from a walk, but her body was found floating in a creek.
ABC 7 - Woman Charged With Murdering Her Premature Baby
Hey, who's that kneeling Mason?
Uh Oh!
(This is unfortunately an inside joke that depends on your recognition of the likeness of a fellow Catholic blogger.)
"Why don't they want us to kneel at Mass?" via Ad Orientem.
O.O. says, "I think we should make all-natural weapons. That way the peaceniks couldn't get mad. Like a soy bomb - we'd just say, 'Look, we just dumped a million pounds of soy on those people, and they all died. But no preservatives or artificial dyes were used.'"
Another intriguing site: The Memory Hole
Well, Nihil Obstat finally found all the errors at Old Oligarch's blog. I'm surprised he/she didn't find them before - it was probably because I sometimes went in after O.O. to fix his spelling errors. Oh well. :)
This site: Critical Thinking On The Web, looks very cool. I will be poking around it for awhile. Link via Minute Particulars.
Fr. Riley gave an amazing homily today on the difference between mortal and venial sin, which included a run-down of the Ten Commandments and a description of a mortal and a venial sin that would offend against each one. Included in his descriptions was a statement that contraception is a mortal sin. I almost fell over. If you refer to my previous post, you'll see that Fr. Riley just preached on two of the topics I never thought I would hear from the pulpit.

I have been a Catholic since 1998, attending Mass since 1997. In that time I have not heard a priest speak against contraception during a homily. I asked the Old Oligarch, a cradle Catholic who has attended weekly mass all his life, how many times before today he had heard any preaching against contraception. He responded, "Once or twice." How sad.
When Father spoke against contraception, I expected some reaction from the congregation. Maybe a "Boo," or someone leaving, or everyone shifting in the pew, or something. Nothing happened, though.

This homily was very special to me because I have been somewhat bummed out all week from the revelation (via the discussions in the comments boxes on Amy Welborn's blog, and other places) that many of the so-called "Catholic bloggers" in the "Catholic blogosphere" are in fact sucking down The Pill as fast as Ortho-McNeil can produce them. Maybe I am naive, but the spirit in which many of these bloggers write made me believe they were truly orthodox, and I felt pleased that I had found a few like-minded people, which of course I now realize is not true. Maybe I am wrong to be disappointed, given my own multiple imperfections (I know it's hard to believe, but they do exist!), but I think there is a distinction between recognizing that something is a sin and acknowledging that one has fallen short and simply denying that one has sinned.

Charity has always been one of the most challenging virtues for me, and this is but one more example of my need for it, I guess.
Philosophy Test:
Here are my leading philosophical influences, according to the test:
1. Aquinas (100%)
2. Augustine (97%)
3. Mill (81%)
4. Ockham (77%)
5. Bentham (65%)
6. Kant (64%)
7. Epicureans (62%)
8. Aristotle (60%)
9. Spinoza (53%)
10. Prescriptivism (53%)
11. Cynics (46%)
12. Rand (42%)
13. Plato (37%)
14. Hume (24%)
15. Sartre (21%)
16. Stoics (17%)
17. Noddings (15%)
18. Nietzsche (11%)
19. Hobbes (5%)

link via Fr. Jim.
my blogger code: B3 d- t- k s u-- f+ i- o- x+ e- l++ c+
Yahoo! News - More Seek 'Religious' Mutual Funds
Wed Sep 25, 9:51 AM ET
By HOPE YEN, AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - Disillusioned by the accounting scandals that helped decimate stock prices, a growing number of investors are seeking comfort in mutual funds that match their religious values and offer respectable returns.
(P.S.: The fact that the author's name is "Hope Yen" makes the story even better.)
Thanks to Kathryn Lively for the link to Wall of Voodoo.
Kairos writes "I don't usually ask myself 'what would Jesus do?' because it usually turns out Jesus would do pretty much whatever was most convenient and least trouble. Or the opposite. Amazingly, Jesus is usually completely in sync with my present needs and desires."
Reemco - Cat Mantis (TM) Everyone loves the cat mantis!
Economist.com | The Antikythera mechanism The clockwork computer - An ancient piece of clockwork shows the deep roots of modern technology. Link via Fr. Jim.
The Onion | Ask The Dauphin
The Sacramento Bee -- sacbee.com -- Berkeley study finds youths more conservative than parents BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) - Teenagers are more conservative on issues such as school prayer and abortion than their parents, according to a study released Tuesday.
Political science professors Merrill Shanks and Henry Brady of the University of California, Berkeley, found the generation gap was most pronounced on issues such as school prayer - on which 69 percent of teenagers surveyed said it should be allowed, compared to 59 percent of adults 27 to 59.
When it came to federal funding of faith-based charities, 59 percent of college-aged adults supported it along with 67 percent of younger teenagers. That compares to 40 percent of adults in the older age bracket.
On the issue of abortion, 44 percent of those 15 to 22 supported restrictions while 34 percent of adults over 26 shared that feeling.
TIME.com: World -- The Legacy of Abraham He is beloved by Jews, Christians and Muslims. Can this bond stop them from hating one another?
A Postmodern Tribute to Zorak In 1994, the television programme Space Ghost: Coast to Coast came on the air...
notable For its Deconstruction of the tired yet Profitable Late-Night Talk show Format (see Leno, Letterman, Carson), the primary impact of Coast to Coast was its placement of Zorak, a former villain of the former hero-turned-idiot Space Ghost, as the voice of social and moral revolution.
Imprisoned, like the modern consciousness, by a white heterosexist bourgeois male overimpressed with his technological prowess, Zorak resists Space Ghost's consumerist, elitist ideologies by transgressive words and actions. His ironic wit and destructive acts against the System are incredibly revolutionary when placed in the context of ironic postmodern cartoonery.
Furthermore, Zorak, unlike the idiotic Brak (who has been ripped off by the Coen Brothers as both The Dude and Delmar in O Brother Where Art Thou?), has yet to be truly reproduced. For he is a paradigm of snarling revolution, the id in a bloated Westernist consciousness.
Space Ghost VS. Zorak Game
I turn up 2nd on the Compuserve search for divorcing a schizotypal man, and I'm not even a member of the divorcing-your-schizotypal-spouse webring.
The Rat's gay test says I am 29% gay - "That's less gay than average for someone of your gender and supposed orientation. The typical straight female is 32% gay."
Science.
CNN.com - Producers apologize for 'Barbershop' jokes - Sep. 24, 2002 Jackson wants them cut for future editions
Glad to know I am the third hit for the google search homosexual+brahmin+grandfather.

Which Computer Component Are you?


fidius.org: What's My Pirate Name? Your pirate name is:
Iron Morgan Kidd
A pirate's life isn't easy; it takes a tough person. That's okay with you, though, since you are that person. Even though you're not always the traditional swaggering gallant, your steadiness and planning make you a fine, reliable pirate. Arr!
Cartoon Network | Zorak Limited Edition Action Figure
The Real World: A Teenage Mother's life This blog is about the ups and the downs of being 19 and having a son.
"What, did you just fall off the tree of stupidity and ripen?"
--Old Oligarch's comment regarding another driver who cut him off in the parking lot.
Elvis Minister, via Mark Shea.
I met Fr. Jim on Sunday. It's very weird to have a priest greet you by saying, "And you must be the embittered mantis!"
E-Pression reaches 5,000 page views! Hooray!
I AM A MAJOR TOOL. Recommending Stephen Covey to a staff member is a low point in my life.
Victor Lams likes my blog, which is great because I also like his blog. Feel the love!
Test Results: I got the same score for both 4 and 5, and it said I was a 4. I felt this rating did not give sufficient indication of my multifaceted nature, so I included them both below.

Samizdata.net - Glossary This is a glossary of blog terminology, including obscure words directly related to blogging and expressions commonly encountered in the blogosphere (qv) which might be obscure to the uninitiated.
Catecheticalresources.com, community of catechists with free resources.
Dave Pawlak has some additional thoughts on ways to improve the Mass experience.
A short summation of this site: I'm so glad I am the first hit on the Google Search: MDMA Praying.
O.O. says, "Giant women are a major icon in American culture."
ROME (Reuters) - Death is hardly something to look forward to, but one Italian funeral home is trying to make the afterlife a tad more tempting by using bikini-clad women to sell its coffins.
On its site http:/ www.cofanifunebri.it, the Rome-based funeral home and coffin factory Cisa features its hand-crafted caskets alongside models sipping champagne or reclining seductively on the lids.
"We wanted to make the whole idea of picking your coffin less serious, maybe even make people laugh a bit," Giuseppe Tenara, one of the partners, said.
Near-naked women are used to sell everything in Italy from computers to chocolate bars, but Cisa has taken the advertising ploy to new limits.
The page featuring the firm's "Madonna" coffin shows a pouting woman in zebra shorts and high-heel boots kneeling next to the casket, while in "Empire Style," a blonde donning a black G-string leans on a coffin and turns her backside to the camera.
"Unfortunately the site hasn't helped sales much, because we mostly get calls from far away places like Greece and Spain instead of Rome," Tenara told Reuters.
That hasn't stopped Cisa from creating an online "sexy calendar" with yet more temptresses frolicking among the coffins.
Still, not all clients have been charmed.
"Some people are scandalized, but we just explain that we're trying to make people laugh," Tenara said.
Looking for a Few Wise Children (washingtonpost.com)
D.C. Jail Mistakenly Released 4 Inmates (washingtonpost.com)
Wrasslin.com Wrestlers cancel gay wedding
Another reason law school is bad: When you go, you stop blogging.
This is where I work: huh?
Times Online New translation of Mass labelled banal and inadequate
Times Online Mel Gibson launches scathing attack on the Vatican
I just saw that new movie all the young people are talking about, "The Matrix."
HMS Blog has a discussion about singing patriotic songs during the mass, a practice I loathe.
In Zorak's mp3 lineup:
Merle Haggard, "The Days of Wine and Roses"
The Trio (Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt), "Farther Along"
and lots of CCR.
O.O. and I have been enjoying country music as of late. It has to be the really old-time country, though, not Billy Ray Cyrus stuff.
Women in the workplace: As a woman who thinks like a man (ok, stop laughing), I have to say that while the workplace may be bad for women, women can be great for the workplace. Maybe it's just the particular mix of people I work with, but the women are so cheery and sweet, I really enjoy interacting with them. As peers of my other subordinates, they manage to bring out cohesion in my team in a way I haven't been able to - because women are easier to talk to, and can "get away with" interacting with their male colleagues in a friendly and engaging manner.
Just a thought.
This is sad - A guy I knew in college committed suicide. Sadly, I'm not surprised - he had a shaky grip on reality when I knew him in 1994 which later was made much shakier by lots and lots and lots of drugs and alcohol. Please pray for the soul of Alec Horgan.
Isn't there some island where we can send all the needy, annoying people who need constant attention, special treatment and reassurance? If not, I'm going to have to get a taser.
ABC 7 - Barry Takes Campaign for Wilson to Jury Lounge Washington (AP) - Marion Barry took his campaign for the Reverend Willie Wilson to the jury lounge of DC Superior Court, startling those in the room.
About 20 potential jurors watched as Barry walked from seat to seat, shaking hands and urging people to vote for Wilson in his write-in attempt to win the Democratic nomination for mayor.
On Sunday, the Old Oligarch and I drove almost 20 miles in search of a decent mass, and praise God, we found one at St. Louis, Fr. Jim's church. Fr. Jim was not celebrating the 5 pm mass, but we were wonderfully impressed with his fellow priests Fr. Gripshover and Fr. Riley. Here's the lowdown:
1. Not that many hymns, and all were ones that you know, not Marty Haugen.
2. The pastor announced that they intend to move the tabernacle, which is currently to the right of the altar from the congregation's perspective, to the high altar so that it will be the focal point of the church. O.O. and I thought that we might actually be asleep and dreaming this part, but it was real.
3. No funny stuff in the mass. No little jokes, no introductions, nothing that attempts to mitigate the fact that something holy is happening.
4. A reverent congregation. No chatter before mass.
5. On the day that we attended, Fr. Riley gave a "state of the church"-type homily about the past year of the church as well as looking ahead. One would generally anticipate a very dry recounting of the money taken in vs. what was needed, the number of parishoners, etc etc. There was none of this administrative tone. Fr. Riley managed to deliver a spiritually based and inspiring homily, assessing the key measures of the church as a) the respect the congregation had for the Eucharist and b) receipt of the sacrament of confession. Again, I was amazed.
Thank you to the priests at St. Louis for honoring the beauty of the mass without feeling compelled to add distractions and diversions. This is the first week I can remember in a while in which the mass renewed me rather than angering and saddening me and my husband. We will be back.
(LILEKS) James : the Screed Who’s more miserable - the far right or the far left?
To Love, Honor, and Blog: This blog is nice - a husband and wife blog together. I don't think O.O. and I could happily share a blog - although we both rely heavily on a blue color theme, we're both very picky and "have different strengths." (This is a nice way of saying that we often in fact disagree on what a strength is. :-) ) Plus I have no painted stoa.
Check the new poll in the left-hand column.
Eve Tushnet says, "the Yale Federalist Society is a really rockin' crowd."
Um, no, it's not.
HBS Working Knowledge: Organizations & People: Improvising Your Way Out of Trouble When Hurricane Andrew devastated southeast Florida in 1992, UPS drivers still found a way to deliver packages—even to victims living in their cars. Resilient people know how to make do with what's at hand when turbulence arrives. This Harvard Business Review excerpt looks at the art of "bricolage."
Report Cites Problems For Latinos in College (washingtonpost.com) Want to know why? Read the brilliant Walter Williams.
Male Nurses Leaving Profession
Daily Telegraph: Deceived by the ugly face of Islam
Reuters Pitch Dark Bar Opens for Blind Dates
CNN.com - Pope: Bar deviants from priesthood - September 5, 2002 The pope, who has said before he felt personally wounded by the child sex scandals, told the Brazilians he felt "a duty" to remind all bishops they had to use "all means" at their disposal to keep unqualified men out of the priesthood.
Candidates, he said, had to be screened "above all from the standpoint of morals and affections."
He said those who should never be allowed to make it to ordination included "young, immature men or those with obvious signs of deviations in their affections."
"As we sadly know, such men can cause grave deviations in the consciences of the faithful, with obvious harm for the entire Church," he said.
et cetera: you have to see this cartoon.
newsobserver.com : nc24hour : ncnews A fourth-grade teacher has received a formal reprimand for teaching her students the word "niggardly," the teacher's son said.
Nightmare on Temple Mount - article by Daniel Pipes
Wayuu burial rite fades: Any burial rite that involves hard drinking and a mass should be considered for wider use, IMHO.
Zorak's Church Reform: No More Homilies
Since everyone else is offering their ideas on how to change the church, here is mine:
No more preaching by priests. Old Oligarch tells me that in the early years of the Church, only bishops gave homilies, as many priests were not educated enough to preach and not ready to interpret Scripture on their own. Unfortunately the same situation is true today. I dread the homily at every mass I attend, thinking: will it be heretical? Or just lame?
Let's take as evidence of the need for the elimination of preaching the leading subjects of homilies I have heard.

Top Subjects for Homilies Zorak has Sat Through While Waiting for Christ in the Eucharist:
a. Don't do your will, do God's will!
b. Don't get caught up in materialism! Think about the real meaning of Christmas.
c. We're all equal in the eyes of God. No one is better than anyone else.
d. Give money to the poor. (This one really bugs me - not the message, but the consistent failure to provide any specifics as to how I incorporate this into my life. How much? How should I give - to the poor box in the Church or by handing out money on the street? Is this more important than other charities I am considering giving money to that aren't mentioned in the homily? Am I really supposed to get out my wallet in front of 3 scary-looking homeless people on the street? If the answer is yes, then fine, but I bet it's more nuanced than that.)
e. See Christ in others.

None of these in themselves is really so bad, except maybe (a), which O.O. notes sets up a nasty conflict between human will and God's will that isn't consistent with the fact that man is created in the image of God. However, they are generally completely devoid of content, as I noted on example (d). Preachers seem to feel that you're hearing the Christian message for the first time, rather than recognizing that most Christians are challenged by really applying the hard teachings of Christ.

So, Zorak, what DO you want preachers to discuss? Here are a few subjects:
a. The Immorality of Contraception
b. God's Plan for Humanity as Expressed by his Creation of Male and Female
c. Christian Financial Stewardship (i.e., not just how to make the checks out to our parish)
d. Why the Death Penalty is Wrong (I actually saw this one given by a Campus Ministry priest at CUA)
e. What's the Magisterium, and Why Do We Care
f. Basic Differences between Catholics and Protestants
g. Mortal Sin vs. Venial Sin

I know my "reform" will never happen, but wouldn't it be nice just to go and hear the word of God and receive the Eucharist on Sundays (like on the other days of the week) without cringing when the priest gets up to speak? These days, I cope with it by praying for the orthodoxy and quality of the homily, without actually listening to it.

I'm not going to start talking about my views on Church music (here's a hint, it would go the same route as the homilies) since I feel bad for carping on music after Fr. Jim has said such nice things about music in the high mass, and I agree that the low mass can eliminate all knowledge of how to do a high mass correctly if done for too long. In fact, that's probably what's happened at the churches I have attended. But Marty Haugen's "Gather Us In" is awful, and like a wounded animal, I'm prepared to gnaw off a vital part (of the Mass, in this case) to stop the pain.
Living in the Blog-osphere: new blog story from MSNBC
I'm blogging this piece from The New Yorker because the author completely understands the difference between the "old" understanding of marriage and the new one, though she unfortunately prefers the latter.
I am am amazed that Fox is showing "There's Something About Mary" during family viewing hours (8-10:30) on Monday night. O.O. and I often joke about the fact that "mature entertainment" is actually quite immature, and this is one example. It is truly gross and inappropriate for anyone, especially kids. The only good thing about it is that it's pre-empting "Boston Public."
Narrowing down the list of suspects for the real identity of Nihil Obstat: it's not me, it's not Old Oligarch, and it's not Eve Tushnet. I know them both offline and can say definitively that neither is Nihil Obstat. Also, it's not Joe De Feo or Cacciaguida. The search continues . . .
Dave Barry's column: Working the Anglers
"Maryland wildlife officials have moved to kill off the northern snakeheads. The Bush administration has also gotten involved, issuing a ban that prohibits northern snakeheads from entering the country, or, if they are already here, from exercising stock options."