Pope Benedict on St Thérèse of Lisieux

Thanks to Irmo Francis Valeza SJ for the link to the video on his Facebook. The original is on Rome Reports.

Today is the tenth anniversary of my starting as editor of Misyon, the magazine of the Columbans in the Philippines. I was very happy to start on the feast day of St Thérèse of Lisieux, whom I 're-discovered' about twenty years ago. I had read Story of a Soul as a young seminarian - my dentist from childhood, the late Dr Éadbhard O’Brien-Moran, gave me a copy when I was entering the Columbans in 1961 - but didn't find it particularly appealing, maybe because of the style of writing.

But I decided to give it another go forty or so years later and have read it many times since then. I have also found it helpful in telling people how the saint's Little Way can lead us to the holiness to which each of us is called, as Lumen Gentium, The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Vatican II so forcibly reminds us: Therefore in the Church, everyone whether belonging to the hierarchy, or being cared for by it, is called to holiness, according to the saying of the Apostle: 'For this is the will of God, your sanctification' [l Thess 4:3; cf. Eph1:4].

St Thérèse [photo by her older sister Céline, Sr Geneviève in the Lisieux Carmel]

And this was a reminder, not something knew. St Thérèse expresses it this way: Perfection consists simply in doing his will, and being just what he wants us to be (translation of Ronald Knox) or Perfection consists in doing His will, in being what He will us to be (translation of John Clarke OCD).

This statement comes at the end of a comparison that St Thérèse makes between different souls and different kinds of flowers, according to God's will. It's a living image of holiness or perfection, an image of ongoing growth, quite different from the 'blueprint' image of perfection or holiness that I used to have. A blueprint is appropriate for a building but not for a living being, unless you are an architect with the vision of Antoni Gaudí i Cornet, whose yet unfinished Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família (Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family) in Barcelona was consecrated by Pope Benedict in 2010.

Detail of the roof in the nave. Gaudi designed the columns to mirror trees and branches.

Here St Thérèse speaks to us in her own words: 

Jonny Alter's Head Pops Off

I missed this clip at last weekend's Education Nation from MSNBC. It's well worth watching, if only for the entertainment value of seeing pundit Jonathan Alter lose his cool when someone who knows what the hell they're talking about calls him out:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The best part is when Alter says, "No offense." Yeah, sure: why would Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig take offense at having his peer-reviewed study called "cherry-picking" and "bogus" on national TV?

Alter is part of the great mass of pundits who continue to write about education without having the first clue about the topic. The fact is that Vasquez Helig's study shows quite clearly that there is significant and serious attrition at KIPP's schools in Texas. This comports with others' reporting and research - see here, here, and here for starters - that shows KIPP regularly "counsels out" students as part of their program.

KIPP responded to Helig's study aggressively; they know their "brand" is on the line when they are called out on this attrition. Vasquez Helig handles their objections quite deftly, thank you very much. It's fine that this is under debate - fine, that is, to everyone but Alter, who decides to lose his freakin' mind and not even address the study.

KIPP has refused to take Diane Ravitch's challenge and manage an entire school district, and attrition is the primary reason why. A true public school does not have the luxury of "counseling out" students; if a kid is failing, they must continue to work with the kid, no matter how unmotivated he or his parents may be. It is perfectly legitimate - indeed, it's critical - to question whether KIPP's methods are replicable, due to their high attrition rates, in public schools.

Alter says that "successful" charter schools are laboratories that develop "best practices" that all schools can benefit from. Well, KIPP may well run fine schools; but if the kids who can't cut it there wind up leaving, how does that help a real public school? Public schools don't have the luxury of indulging in attrition; they must serve all students. What can a school that has such high attrition teach a school that can't get rid of kids unless they are severe discipline problems?

This is a serious topic, and it deserves a serious conversation. Give Melissa Harris-Perry credit for telling Alter to pipe down and let KIPP critics like Vasquez Helig make their points. If Alter has a serious rebuttal, let him make it.

But fake indignation isn't helping anyone; it isn't fooling anyone, either.

They're not worth it.

Check out the latest from AP.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- A firefight broke out between U.S. forces and their Afghan army allies in eastern Afghanistan Sunday, killing two Americans and three Afghan soldiers and pushing the number of U.S. troops killed in the long-running war 2,000.

The fighting started Saturday when what is believed to have been a mortar fired by insurgents struck a checkpoint set up by U.S. forces in Wardak province, said Shahidullah Shahid, a provincial government spokesman. He said the Americans thought they were under attack from a nearby Afghan army checkpoint and fired on it, prompting the Afghan soldiers to return fire.

The Afghan Defense Ministry said the gunbattle was the result of a "misunderstanding" between international forces and Afghan soldiers manning a checkpoint in the Sayd Abad district.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force, commonly referred to as ISAF, provided a different account.

"After a short conversation took place between (Afghan army) and ISAF personnel firing occurred which resulted in the fatal wounding of an ISAF soldier and the death of his civilian colleague," the coalition said in a statement. It said the three Afghan soldiers died "in an ensuing exchange of fire."

NATO did not say whether it considered this an "insider" attack on foreign forces by Afghan allies.

There has been rising tide of such attacks in which Afghan soldiers or police assault their international allies. The killings pose one of the greatest threats to NATO's mission in the country, endangering a partnership key to training up Afghan security forces and withdrawing international troops.

While it may be days before it becomes clear who fired on whom first, the incident illustrates how tense relations have become between international troops and their Afghan allies.

Officials on both sides went into damage control mode, arguing that Saturday's violence did not mark a new low in Afghan-U.S. relations and urging patience while investigators tried to figure out exactly what had happened.

The deputy commander of NATO's military force in Afghanistan, British Lt. Gen. Adrian Bradshaw, called a last-minute news conference in Kabul to address the incident, even though he had few details to give.

He said the initial report of an insider attack should be amended to note that the incident "is now understood possibly to have involved insurgent fire," and tried to stress that relations between international troops and their Afghan allies "are very strong and very effective."

A spokesman for the Afghan Defense Ministry, Gen. Zahir Azimi, also sought to downplay the incident.

"In a misunderstanding shooting broke out between Afghan army and ISAF forces. As a result of the shooting, three army soldiers were killed, three other soldiers were wounded and number of ISAF forces were killed and wounded," Azimi said in a statement.

These bastards aren't worth it.

Nuff said.

"This Is an Alien City": Amy Lowell's 'A London Thoroughfare. 2 A.M.'

This is another painting by John Atkinson Grimshaw, depicting Chelsea in London. I think that you can expect to see Grimshaw at least occasionally on this blog when I write about London.

I'm still browing and reading through London: A History in Verse, edited by Mark Ford. This anthology really does capture the spirit of London - its events, places and people - across centuries. It is the dark and the light; I wonder if any other city has so much of each. Unified and scattered, sinister and exhilarating - I think London's poetry may carry its essence even more so than its art or photography, for instance. (But then, I would think that...) What fascinates me is that certain themes seem to flow down the centuries and recur so frequently. These include the city as a brooding, dark personality made up of tiny fluttering voices; the underground nature of London, whether that's the actual London Underground or its hidden and lost rivers; and the use of names, its streets and squares and boroughs, with an almost totemic power.

2012 is by some reckoning the 100th anniversary of the Imagist movement in poetry. This enormously influential movement, which helped to launch modernist poetry, concentrated on "clarity of expression through the use of precise visual images." Its early proponents included Ezra Pound and T E Hulme.

Another poet deeply involved in the Imagist movement was Amy Lowell (1874-1925). She was a highly prolific American poet (and businesswoman) who moved between the US and the UK, working to promote the Imagist movement in American poetry. She is now perhaps best known as a critic and anthologist, and as someone associated with more famous figures, but her poetry is wonderful in its own right and is recognised for its variety and sensuality.

This poem, 'A London Throughfare. 2 A.M.', is a bleak portrayal of the city, very closely observed. This is the city as state of mind, reflecting isolation and radiating hostility. It is easy to imagine that under similar circumstances, another poet (or even the same poet in a different frame of mind) might see the scene as beautiful. The fact that Lowell sees the distant moon as a friend, and the city as alien, is very telling.



A LONDON THROUGHFARE. 2 A.M. (Amy Lowell)


They have watered the street,
It shines in the glare of lamps,
Cold, white lamps,
And lies
Like a slow-moving river,
Barred with silver and black.
Cabs go down it,
One,
And then another,
Between them I hear the shuffling of feet.
Tramps doze on the window-ledges,
Night-walkers pass along the sidewalks.
The city is squalid and sinister,
With the silver-barred street in the midst,
Slow-moving,
A river leading nowhere.

Opposite my window,
The moon cuts,
Clear and round,
Through the plum-coloured night.
She cannot light the city:
It is too bright.
It has white lamps,
And glitters coldly.

I stand in the window and watch the moon.
She is thin and lustreless,
But I love her.
I know the moon,
And this is an alien city.

US Navy acts to control tensions in the Pacific.

S. Korea and Japan have been nose to nose.  China and the Philippines have been nose to nose.  Taiwan and Japan have been nose to nose...and we haven't heard one response from our State Dept.  Instead we have a response from the US Navy in the form of TWO carrier battle groups being sent to the region to calm things down.  Check out this press release from the Commander of the 7th Fleet.

Two of the U.S. Navy's global force aircraft carrier strike groups (CSGs) are currently conducting operations in the vital Asia-Pacific region.
Ships of the forward-deployed George Washington CSG, to include the aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73), its embarked air wing, Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, the guided missile cruiser USS Cowpens (CG 63) and the guided missile destroyer USS McCampbell (DDG 85); coupled with the ships of the John C. Stennis CSG, to include the Bremerton, Wash.-based aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74), its embarked CVW 9, and the San Diego-based guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay (CG 53); are currently patrolling the Western Pacific. They are providing a combat-ready force that protects and defends the collective maritime interest of the United States and its allies and partners.

&

The two CSGs are part of a strong U.S. naval presence in the Pacific that has helped to maintain peace and stability in the region as part of the U.S. 7th Fleet, which was established 69 years ago. USS John C. Stennis returned to the 7th Fleet's area of operation four months ahead of schedule to maintain combatant commander requirements for its presence in the region. The crew has been engaging in live-fire exercises, torpedo countermeasures exercises and numerous other training exercises during its current deployment and transit to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations.

The issues between these nations stretch back for centuries...in most cases long before the US was even discovered.  Racial, economic and territorial differences make this almost unsolvable.
Conflict will break out.  The best we can hope for is that its contained, and doesn't have longer lasting implications for regional security.  Confidence is not high. Some of the most technologically advanced forces on the planet are nose to nose.  THIS WILL TURN UGLY.

More Perth Amboy

It never ends in Perth Amboy:

The large crowd of parents and teachers at Perth Amboy High School erupted in applause when the Perth Amboy Board of Education placed Superintendent Janine Caffrey on administrative leave last Saturday. 

After an hour-long private session, the Board passed a resolution to not only place Caffrey on leave but also name Assistant Superintendent Vivian Rodriguez as active Superintendent. The board also unanimously voted to not bring Caffrey back as Superintendent once her current deal expires 

“Many of you are aware that an administrative law judge issued a decision to uphold our vote last May to place Dr. Caffrey on administrative leave,” Board President Samuel Lebreault said. “That decision is under review by the Commissioner of Education, but the final ruling isn’t expected until late October. Our attorneys have advised us that nothing prevents us from taking new action in the meanwhile if we think it is warranted.”

Yeah, there's nothing better for a school district than continually firing then rehiring your superintendent. Kudos to NJ Education Commissioner Cerf for making that happen...

Caffrey has been waging her war with the board in public; looks like they've decided to join her in a media skirmish:

Two weeks ago, an administrative law judge made an initial decision as to whether or not the Board of Education acted legally when on May 7 it suspended her. She presented many arguments to the administrative law judge in an attempt to misdirect the judge’s legal analysis of the case. The administrative law judge was not persuaded by Dr. Caffrey’s arguments. Thus, the judge ruled (on all counts) in favor of the Board of Education. 

She has belittled that decision in another attempt to misdirect attention from her wrongdoings and incompetence and has instead misled the public by stating that an important decision was yet to come; namely that the Ethics Commission would rule on the merits of allegations made by her. When Dr. Caffrey made this statement, she already knew that many of her ethics charges against several board members would be dismissed, while others would most likely continue onward to the next phase of the process. Thus, she attempted to dupe the public into thinking that the decision that went against her was meaningless. Dr. Caffrey wrongly and inaccurately used the Commission’s decisions as her vindication. 

The Ethics Commission decisions plainly indicate the following: The preliminary determinations are not decisions on the merits. The Commission conducted an initial review to determine if probable cause existed, should the allegations be proven later. It is important to note that the Commission already dismissed many of Dr. Caffrey’s claims in their entirety. The allegations have yet to be proven by the facts and evidence that she must produce before an administrative law judge. We are certain Dr, Caffrey will not be able to prove her allegations in any court of law.

Who knows - maybe she will, maybe she won't. But, once again, the staff and students of Perth Amboy's school have to wait while the process plays out. Resolving this quickly for their sakes seems to be the furthest thing from anyone's mind.

Won't Back Down II: The Sequel

Won't Back Down II: The Sequel

After credits roll, fade up on school office. A worker is taking down a sign that says "Adams Elementary" and putting up one that says "KKIP Super Success Academy." In walk Jamie Fitzpatrick (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and Nona Alberts (Viola Davis), smiling and chatting, clearly excited by changes in the school. 

They enter the principal's office, where they are greeted by the new school leader, Geoffrey Barth-Moskowitz (Anthony Hopkins). He stands and shakes their hands.

Geoffrey: Jamie, Nona, how good of you to come. Welcome to the KKIP Super Success Academy!

Jamie: Thank you so much, Mr. Barth-Moskowitz!

Geoffrey: Oh, please, no need to be formal; call me Geoff.

Jamie: The school looks wonderful, Geoff! I can't believe how many new computers you have!

Geoffrey: Well, that's all part of the generous funding we receive from the KKIP Foundation; we are able to spend more per pupil than Adams Elementary was.

Nona: Really? Why couldn't we get that money before when we were a public school?

Geoffrey: Oh, I think you'll find our funders are far more amenable to giving money if the schools match their ideological predilections. Now that you ladies have pulled the "parent trigger" and brought us in to take over this school, you'll find there are many changes coming.

Nona: Yes, well, that's one thing I wanted to ask you about. I figured that we would have a few computers in every classroom, but it looks like there are enough so that every child will have his or her own. Isn't that a little excessive?

Geofrey: Oh, not at all. You see, KSSA is now a "blended learning" school. We'll be delivering content to our customers... uh, sorry, "the children"... digitally, using software developed by K9 Inc. In fact, K9 Inc. will be running the entire school from now on.

Jamie: Wait a minute; this school is supposed to be non-profit. K9 is a for-profit company.

Geoffrey: True, but that was easy enough to get around. We merely set up a non-profit shell, with a board of directors sympathetic to our point of view. And the state and city politicians are all in our pocket... uh, I mean "on our side"... anyway.

Jamie: But that's not what we wanted at all! When we used the parent trigger, we thought we were getting a community-run school!

Geoffrey: Oh, Jamie, I'm sorry to tell you this, but all you did with the trigger was force a change. No one said you would have any say in what that change would be. No one made clear who would make the decisions about how the school would be structured or who would run it. No one had a procedure to appoint a board of directors. I'm sorry Jamie, but when you allowed this school to be converted to a charter, you gave up many of your rights as both a taxpayer and as a parent.

Jamie: Well, I'll go the local school board! They'll force this charter school to have parental involvement!

Geoffrey: My dear Jamie, you didn't think this through, did you? Charter schools offer you "choice"; they do NOT offer you "involvement." If you don't like the way we do things at KSSA, you can "choose" to leave; that's what school "choice" is all about. But your local district, even though it must give us money to run the school, has no say in how we run the school. We are, in effect, our own district now.

Jamie: Well, I don't like it, but it must be better than what we had before at Adams Elementary. So I'll just enroll my daughter and see how it goes...

Geoffrey: Ah, about that. I'm afraid I have some bad news: I've asked you here to help "counsel out" your daughter.

Jamie: WHAT?!

Geoffrey: Yes, unfortunately, your daughter has a learning disability, isn't that correct?

Jamie: Of course; she's dyslexic. That's the whole reason I organized the "Parenttroopers," because her needs weren't being served by those awful unionized teachers!

Geoffrey: Yes, it's funny that. Unions, like those in Chicago, have demanded that districts hire more special education teachers to serve students like your daughter. But they've been criticized for protecting those teachers from layoffs and evaluation systems that could penalize special education teachers. [Update: more here.] Ironic, no?

Jamie: Whatever. All I want to know is why you think my daughter won't do well here!

Geoffrey: Well, Jamie, we here at KSSA base our school on best practices. We look at the best charter schools: after all, Education Secretary Duncan himself has said we should close poor performing charters and emulate the best ones. New Jersey is leading the way with this line of thinking; look at this:

You see how the "successful" schools - the ones Governor Christie touts as exemplary - have fewer children with special needs? And fewer children who are in deep poverty? And fewer children who don't speak English at home? That's our plan as well; "counseling out" the children who keep our test scores low.

Jamie: But you can't keep my child out! The law says you have to accept every child!

Geoffrey: Every child who applies at the right time and right place, you mean. We've made that considerably more difficult.

Jamie: I don't care! I won't back down! I'll get her in this school, you'll see!

Geoffrey: And what then, Jamie? What happens if she doesn't fit in? If she isn't compliant with our strict disciplinary policies? If you can't contribute the significant "voluntary" parent contribution, or pay your child's discipline fines?

Jamie: But my child has an Individualized Education Program! You have to follow that!

Geoffrey: Yes - but we get to decide how to implement it. And if that means your child gets more suspensions than the other students, well...

Nona: Don't worry, Jamie, we'll work this out. After all, I'm the principal now...

Geoffrey: Yes, about that; I'm afraid there's been a change, Ms. Alberts. KSSA will not be requiring your services as an administrator.

Nona: WHAT?! 

Geoffrey: Yes, well, I'm afraid that when K9 Inc. was given the contract to become the school's charter management organization, all personnel matters fell to them. We have decided we need a truly transformational leader, so we are bringing in a young graduate of our KKIP Leadership Academy. Don't worry, he has nearly two years of experience in the classroom...

Nona: But I was going to run this school! The parents love me! I'm the best teacher at the school!

Geoffrey: That may be true, Ms. Albert, but I'm afraid their voices are irrelevant here. In any case, a blended learning environment keeps costs low by cutting staff; someone had to go. Now, if you'd like to reapply for your job as a teacher here, we'll see what we can do. Of course, you'll have to take a pay cut...

Nona: A pay cut?! I just got a divorce; I can't afford a pay cut!

Geoffrey: Ms. Albert, you're asking me to put your interests above the students; even worse, you're asking me to put your interests above the interests of K9 Inc.! If you're not prepared to work longer hours for less money, I don't see how you will fit in here.

Nona: But I have years of experience! You need people like me on the staff!

Geoffrey: Actually, experienced, overpaid teachers are the last thing we need. Churn-and-burn is now how we roll. We need teachers who can put in long days and longer school years.

Nona: But I have a son with a brain injury at home! I can't work longer hours than I already am!

Geoffrey: My word, what a selfish attitude. I can see you don't have the proper love of children it takes to work at this type of successful school.

Jamie: "Successful"?! You're counseling out students who are difficult to teach, burning out your staff, putting resources into corporate profits instead of the classroom, disempowering the community - and you dare to say you're "successful"?!

Geoffrey: I think our test scores will speak for themselves - especially after we have the students drill-and-kill on them...

Nona: Well, we're not standing for this! This isn't what we wanted when we pulled the trigger!

Geoffrey pushes red button on his desk.

Jamie: We won't back down! We're going to take back our school, again!

Two very large men enter.

Geoffrey: These ladies were just leaving; escort them off the premises. If they attempt to reenter the grounds, call the police.

Nona: You can't do this! This is our school!

Geoffrey: Not any more. 

Jamie and Nona are dragged out, yelling. Barth-Moskowitz turns and looks at camera...

Fade to black.

ADDING: Darcie reviews the original. It ain't pretty.

ADDING MORE: I was all excited to get my $19 million check for this script from anti-gay, environment-raping, Won't Back Down producer Philip Anschutz. Then the box office figures started coming out for the weekend; it looks like WBD is on track to have one of the worst openings in Hollywood history.

Damn. I guess I better cancel that order at the Maserati dealer. Well, babe, that's showbiz...

Merit Pay Fairy Lands In Jersey!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Rutgers University's newest mascot: the Merit Pay Fairy!

The best teachers in Asbury Park, Lakewood, Hillside and North Plainfield will be among the first in the state to earn federally financed merit pay, a spokesman from the U.S. Department of Education said.

In partnership with the four low-income districts, Rutgers University will distribute $39.7 million over five years through the department’s Teacher Innovation Fund to bolster educator recruitment, evaluation and rewards systems.

It is not yet known how much an individual district or teacher might receive.

No, of course not. Everyone's got to wet their beak before we actually get around to giving more money to teachers...

Every time I hear about another Merit Pay Fairy sighting, I want to ask the believers the same thing:

You folks say you want to reward great teachers, right? And you believe that every kid deserves a great teacher. Doesn't that mean you are calling for eventually raising the entire teacher payroll? If so, where are you going to get the money?

When Michelle Rhee started her very short, very unsuccessful stint in Washington D.C., she brought in corporate backers to fund her Merit Pay Fairy scheme. But when she got booted out of her job, they turned tail, leaving the district liable for the costs. How do we know that this scenario won't play out exactly the same way in Jersey? How do we know that several years from now these districts won't be left holding the bag?

Rhee's premise was that if she rewarded her "best" teachers, everyone would be motivated to perform better. What's idiotic about this notion is that if you cap the amount of merit pay, you cap the number of people who can earn it. How can everyone be motivated to do better if the reward is always limited to only a select few?

Of course, all of this is premised on the notion that we can objectively identify the "best" teachers; that we can accurately tell which teachers are in the 10% and eligible for rewards, and which teachers miss out because they're only in the top 11%. There is simply no accurate way to do that, which is why merit pay is ultimately demoralizing and divisive. It's why the Merit Pay Fairy remains a myth: merit pay has never worked in schools.

"But, but, but..." stammer the childish Merit Pay Fairy believers. "It wasn't the right kind of merit pay! We just have to tweak it a little more! Clap harder or the Merit Pay Fairy will die!"

In Finland, where adults make education policy, the barrier to entry in teaching is higher; the compensation for all teachers is also higher. If the Merit Pay Fairy's simpering followers really believed that creating a better teaching corps was so important, they'd follow that example.

The sad fact is, they don't. They want to throw a relatively small amount of money at a few teachers and claim they're supporting the profession. Like children, they close their little eyes and wish for magic to come in and "save" our schools. And they're very, very cross when adults tell them to grow up and join the real world.

Wait'll you see what my magic wand does against UConn next week!

F-35's future? Super Cruise!

via Why the F-35 Blog...

AFRL calculates adaptive technology will improve engine fuel efficiency by 25% over the F135 powering the F-35, increasing aircraft combat radius by 25-30% and persistence by 30-40%. The engine could also help address the anti-access/area-denial challenges posed by a potential conflict with an near-peer adversary such as China, says AFRL. This could be achieved via increasing supersonic-cruise radius by 50% and reducing the aerial-refueling tanker burden by 30-74%.

Go to his site to read the whole thing but yeah.  You read that right.  Even before the F-35 enters frontline service plans are already being laid for the airplane that the USMC, USN, USAF and our allies are going to depend on....WILL SUPER CRUISE!

I love it!

Mass Casualty Exercise Horn of Africa.

GRAND BARA DESERT, Djibouti (Sept. 27, 2012) - U.S. Army Personnel Recovery Security Team members disembark a U.S. Marine Corps CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter during Mass Casualty Exercise 12-1, Sept. 25, 2012, in the Grand Bara Desert, Djibouti. The exercise followed a fictitious storyline, but called for the employment of real-world assets. While French and U.S. forces conduct frequent combined training events, this was the first exercise of this type between the two nations in Djibouti. The U.S. forces involved are assigned to Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa, or CJTF-HOA. CJTF-HOA works with coalition partners, such as the French, and with countries in East Africa to promote regional security and stability. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech Sgt. Joseph McKee)

U.S. Airmen with the 82nd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron offload an exercise participant from a U.S. Marine Corps CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter at the simulated triage site on French Forces Djibouti base, Djibouti, Sept. 25, 2012, during Mass Casualty Exercise 12-1, a joint U.S. and French medical exercise. The U.S. forces involved are assigned to Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa, or CJTF-HOA. (DoD photo by Tech. Sgt. Daniel St. Pierre, U.S. Air Force/Released)21

A group of Air Force pararescuemen and an Army Site Security Team (SST) from the Kansas Army National Guard, 2nd Combined Arms Battalion, 137th Infantry Regiment, conducted a rescue mission for survivors of an aircraft crash near in Grand Bara Desert...

Army Spc. Jason Mosqueda (left) and Sgt. Darel Long, Kansas Army National Guard 2nd Combined Arms Battalion, 137th Infantry Regiment, Joint Combat Search and Rescue, provide security for an HC-130P from the 81st Expeditionary Rescue Squadron

Note:
When did the Army develop Site Security Teams?

Interesting. Gun Ban Obama website.

Click here to check it out for yourself.

Congressional trouble for Marine armor and the possible outcome.

Another view of the SUPERAV via Defensenews.com

THINK DEFENCE (you should check out his website if you have an interest in European defense issues in general and UK matters in particular...none better) sent me this pdf and its raises serious issues for Marine Corps vehicle procurement----and the people asking the questions are none other than the Congressional Research Office.


First this...

Legislative provisions in the FY2013 National Defense Authorization Act suggest despite Marine Corps testimony to the congressional defense committees in early 2012, Congress continues to  have questions regarding the ACV/MPC fleet mix. In the previously discussed RFIs for both  vehicles, the ACV must be able to self-deploy from amphibious shipping and deliver a reinforced Marine infantry squad (17 Marines) from a launch distance at or beyond 12 miles, while the MPC must have a “robust tactical swim capability (shore-to-shore) and be capable of operating at 6 knots in a fully developed sea.” Some analysts note the similarity in requirements and question whether, in an era of fiscal constraint, two different vehicles are needed.

Then...

 The ACV is scheduled to achieve Initial Operating Capability (IOC)24 between FY2020 and FY2022, depending on the outcome of the Analysis of Alternatives (AoA)25 and final acquisition plans. The MPC is scheduled to achieve IOC in FY2022

These and a few other simple questions being asked by the eggheads in the CRO should concern anyone that has an interest in Marine Corps armored vehicles.

My issues are as follows...
1.  The MPC is up and running.  The requirements are set, testing will begin next summer and at least Lockheed Martin/Patria and BAE/Iveco are ready to go NOW.  The ACV is still vaporware.  Yet for some reason we're staging the introduction of the MPC AFTER the ACV.  From the outside looking in, it appears that we're going to have a winner of the MPC contest waiting and ready to go while we get the ACV sorted out and in production.  Correction, until we get it sorted out and production complete!  That just doesn't seem like a realistic plan.  Not for the Marine Corps or the manufacturer that wins.

2.  The requirements are so similar and I feel confident (at least right now) that both the HAVOC and the SUPERAV will crush it.  They'll perform up to standards and probably beyond.  How are we going to get the ACV into production (assuming this jacked production scheme actually passing Congressional muster) when the powers that be are going to be looking at vehicles that are "almost" as good as the ACV is suppose to be at lower cost?

Read the entire report for yourself though.  As it currently stands confidence is NOT high when it comes to believing that the Marine Corps will successfully navigate the current plan.

Unless leadership gets a handle on our amphibious vehicle issues and quick I'm afraid that we're going to see another EFV debacle.  Only this time not because of cost but because of a failed plan implemented poorly.

Marine Corps Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV) and Marine Personnel Carrier (MPC): Background and Issues for ...

Don't fuck with a vet!

via CDR Salamander.  This is good stuff!  Like Sal says, West went nuclear.  This race is over.  I can't wait to watch Rachael Maddow's reaction to this commercial.

Futuristic Indonesian Patrol Boat goes up in flames!

NAVY RECOGNITION is reporting that Indonesia's futuristic patrol boat...yeah, the one they just put into service last month.  Went up in flames!  Amazing!  Go to his spot for details.

'He that is not against us is for us.' Sunday Reflections, 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B

St John the Evangelist, El Greco, painted 1610-14 (Web Gallery of Art)

Readings(New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Gospel Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48 (Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition)

John said to Jesus, "Teacher, we saw a man casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him, because he was not following us." But Jesus said, "Do not forbid him; for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon after to speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is for us. For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ, will by no means lose his reward. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung round his neck and he were thrown into the sea. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched". 

+++

In August 1982, after a year’s study in Toronto and before three months of Clinical Pastoral Education in Minneapolis, I supplied in a number of parishes for short periods in the Diocese of Boise, which covers the whole of the state of Idaho in the western USA. One of my purposes for this was to visit the Abbey of Our Lady of the HolyTrinity, Huntsville, Idaho, where I had spent ten days or so in August 1970. There I had met some of the monks who were to be part of the team that would open the first Trappist foundation in the Philippines, in Guimaras island, now the Abbey of Our Lady of the Philippines. 

I spent a week in one parish where the parish priest was from India, there were  reservations of two different Native American tribes, many Spanish-speaking immigrants working on farms in the area and a majority of the people in the town proper of the Mormon faith. The local newspaper carried photos of young Mormons going on mission to other countries.

Just after lunch one day the doorbell rang. A young woman asked me to go to the hospital where an old woman, a Catholic and a relative of hers, had been in a coma for a long time, and was dying. I immediately went to the hospital and, to my surprise, the patient was fully awake and participated joyfully in the Last Sacraments, including viaticum, as I had brought the Blessed Sacrament with me. I learned later that she died about twenty minutes after I left.

The young woman who had asked me to go to the hospital was a Mormon.

When I was a child we lived in a street of terraced houses in Dublin where no one had a telephone. One time one of our neighbours, Jem Norris, got gravely ill in the middle of the night. Charlie Brooks who lived across the road went for the priest, whose house was about a kilometre away.

Charlie was a Protestant.

I have probably posted in Sunday Reflections before about a Mass in Belsen concentration camp, Germany, shortly after it was liberated in 1945. The account, published in 2004 in The Daily Telegraph (London) is by James Molyneaux, then a young officer in the British Army and later leader of the Ulster Unionist Party in Northern Ireland and now a member of the House of Lords. He wrote:

The most moving experience came on the second morning as I was walking from what had been the luxury SS barracks which our troops had transformed into a hospital. My attention was drawn to two packing cases covered by a worn red curtain. A young Polish priest was clinging to this makeshift altar with one hand, while celebrating Mass. Between his feet lay the body of another priest who probably died during the night. No one had had the energy to move the body.

I had no difficulty in following the old Latin Mass, having been educated at St James's Roman Catholic School in County Antrim, and, although an Anglican, I had gained a working knowledge of all the rituals. Still supporting himself against the altar, the young priest did his best to distribute the consecrated elements (editor's note: the Body of Christ). Some recipients were able to stumble over the rough, scrubby heathland. Others crawled forward to receive the tokens (editor's note: to receive the Body of Christ) and then crawled back to share them with others unable to move. Some almost certainly passed on to another - probably better - world before sunset. Whatever one's race or religion one can only be uplifted and impressed by that truly remarkable proof of the ultimate triumph of good over evil.

When I first read this article I was deeply moved in a number of ways. I was surprised to discover that the author had gone to a Catholic school in a community where, at least since the latter 1800s, there has been a deep divide between Catholics and Protestants, for historical reasons that are not entirely theological. But here was an Anglican from that background giving a powerful testimony to the Mass as the Holy Sacrifice. And he noticed how those who were barely able to crawl shared the Body of Christ with those who couldn't move at all.

I find in the three stories above an illustration of the response of Jesus to the complaint of St John, Teacher, we saw a man casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him, because he was not following us. Jesus says, For he that is not against us is for us. For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ, will by no means lose his reward.

St John's complaint reflects that of Joshua to Moses in the first reading. the response of Jesus reflects that of Moses: Would that all the LORD's people were prophets, that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!

A memorial stone erected near the ramps where prisoners for Belsen were unloaded from goods trains

James Molyneaux's article also illustrates the reality of hell that Jesus speaks about today. He writes:

On arrival at Tactical Headquarters, we had been briefed on the discovery of the Belsen prison camp nearby. In company with our RAF medical unit and the two 2nd Army Field hospitals, we wasted no time. Briefed though we were, the shock excelled all the horrors of the battles of the 12 months since Normandy.

As we passed through the camp gates, the Royal Military Police requested us to drive very slowly to avoid the numerous disoriented prisoners. We were handed adhesive tape to put over the vehicle horns in order to prevent them going off accidentally, lest the shock would cause still more deaths. [This little detail is surely telling.]

The British liberators were staggered and shocked by the inhuman behaviour of some of the former guards, who continued to abuse and torment prisoners nearing death when they assumed we were looking the other way. I confess that on such occasions I may have breached the Geneva Convention to prevent further ill treatment of helpless victims. Their behaviour after we had arrived contradicted the excuse that the SS had forced them to carry out orders. Our new orders to them were "Stop acting like savages".

The 'Thousand Year Reich' of Hitler was in ruins after twelve years, and millions dead all over the world. These deaths, like countless deaths since, were caused by persons who chose evil over good. Each choice we make for sin is not at the level of choosing the evil of Belsen but it moves us towards that. Other dictators have tried their hand at their own version of Hitler's distorted vision and people have gone along with them.

Each of us likes to have power. We may not be conscious of this and in many instances there's no sin at all. I remember once  seeing in a Catholic magazine a cartoon  of people assembled for Mass where you were asked to 'spot the errors'. One was the proverbial 'little old lady' kneeling in the middle of a pew instead of blocking it at one end. There are times, especially as I grow older, when I can see the 'little old lady' in myself, trying to subtly ensure that things are done my way. Indeed, in the parish in Idaho where that kind young Mormon woman asked me to go to the dying elderly woman, the housekeeper asked me what time I'd like to have dinner at each day. I told her - but she always served it thirty minutes earlier.

But if I am a spouse, a parent, a teacher, a boss, a priest who doesn't listen to the other, who rules my little domain with a heavy hand, the words of Jesus are directed at me. 

What is the 'hand', the 'foot', the 'eye' that causes me to sin, especially in the use of power?

World Maritime Day

Ships in Distress off a Rocky Coast, Ludolf Backhuysen, 1617 (Web Gallery of Art)

World Maritime Day was observed on 27 September but this Sunday is National Seafarers' Day in the Church in the Philippines. Here is a link to an interview on Vatican Radio with John Green, Director of Development of the Apostleship of the Sea Great Britain. Mr Green speaks of the chaplains and crew on board the Costa Concordia, which ran aground earlier this year in Italy and of the priests on the Titanic, which sank in 1912.

A huge percentage of the world's international seafarers are Filipinos. Misyon, the Columban magazine in the Philippines that I edit, carried a story about some of them in the November-December 2007 issue, Christmas in Teesport. In September-October 2006 Misyon published Evangelizing Seafarers, a title that can be understood in two different ways. The opening paragraph expresses one of those:

Father Arsenio ‘Dodo’ Redulla from Bohol, Philippines, now a priest of the Diocese of Lubbock, Texas, USA, worked for some years with the Columbans in Ireland. Early one Sunday morning he was driving out of the small southeastern port city of Waterford to celebrate Mass in a nearby town and to speak about the work of the Columbans. As we say in Ireland, ‘There wasn’t a sinner to be seen’ – the Irish aren’t early risers on Sunday morning – except for a young Filipino thumbing a lift. At the time there were very few Filipinos in the country and Father ‘Dodo’ was the only Filipino priest there. Of course, he stopped. To his amazement the young man said, ‘I was hoping someone would take me to a church for Mass.’ His ship had just docked and he had never been in Ireland before.

Please remember all seafarers in your prayers.

One of my favourite poems in school was John Masefield's Sea-Fever. Here it is read by Fred Proud. There is some controversy as to whether the first line in each stanza should read 'I must down . . .' or 'I must go down . . .' Fred Proud opts for the former.

I must down to the seas again, 
to the lonely sea and the sky,
and all I ask is a tall ship 
and a star to steer her by,
and the wheel's kick and the wind's song 
and the white sail's shaking,
and a grey mist on the sea's face 
and a grey dawn breaking.

I must down to the seas again, 
for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call 
that may not be denied;
and all I ask is a windy day 
with the white clouds flying,
and the flung spray and the blown spume, 
and the sea-gulls crying.

I must down to the seas again 
to the vagrant gypsy life.
To the gull's way and the whale's way 
where the wind's like a whetted knife;
and all I ask is a merry yarn 
from a laughing fellow-rover,
and a quiet sleep and a sweet dream 
when the long trick's over.

John Ireland's setting of the poem, sung here by Sir Thomas Allen, opts for 'I must go down . . .'

Obama's Teacher Enthusiasm Gap Is HIS Fault!

So the latest, greatest viral video is apparently Samuel Jackson's profane tirade at apathetic Obama supporters.



Forgive me, Sam, but you're really rubbing me the wrong way. Yeah, I'll vote for Obama; Supreme Court nominees are reason enough. But don't expect me to go into the voting booth when any sort of enthusiasm: I'm a public school teacher.

And I know that no one has done more to fortify the regime of standardized testing, expand charter schools, or threaten the professionalism of teachers than Barack Obama. 

Standardized tests under Obama have now become commonplace in kindergarten!

With the stakes so high, many administrators have decided to start testing in the earlier grades, to give kids practice and to identify students who need help.

The Obama administration accelerated the trend in 2011 with a $500 million competitive grant to bolster early childhood education. States that pledged to assess all kindergarteners earned extra points on their applications.”

So now state after state is falling into line, testing the littlest students to find out what they know and what they don’t know. The experts are strangely silent about whether this is developmentally appropriate. It is never too soon to start compiling data, it seems. [emphasis mine]

This is insane. We know the damage the proliferation of these tests has done to education. We know it's completely inappropriate and potentially harmful to administer these tests to children this young. We know the tests are poorly constructed and graded. We know standardized testing is ruining schools and corrupting the curriculum. We know these tests are unethical and promote cheating. Yet the Obama administration promotes them for kindergarteners!

As for charter schools:

The U.S. Department of Education announced grants totaling more than $14.4 million to support high-quality charter schools in more than 25 communities across the country. As a result of today’s grants, an additional 20,000 students in schools in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and the District of Columbia, will have access to a quality education in charter schools. 

Through this funding, Democracy Prep Public Schools will receive more than $4.1 million for the first two years of a five-year grant, and the KIPP Foundation will receive more than $10.3 million for the first two years of a four-year grant. Both organizations will be able to continue and expand their work in schools that have demonstrated success in improving education outcomes for students. [emphasis mine]

Yet we know from many, many, many, many, many, reports that KIPP spends more and engages in more student attrition than public schools. In other words, what KIPP does is not replicable on a large scale. Even they have acknowledged this! But the Obama administration wants to give them more money, instead of putting money into the "failing" schools that are only "failing" because they serve the deserving children KIPP left behind.

Both of these policies are de-professionalizing teaching. The rigid, autocratic style of so many charters keeps their teachers from becoming creative practitioners of their craft. And the requirement of Race To The Top to tie teacher evaluation to test scores assures that good teachers will be misidentified and fired. What's especially infuriating is that Obama claims he doesn't want to "teach to the test," even as he implements a teacher evaluation policy that assures schools will do exactly that.

This is a record of educational failure on multiple levels. It's not so bad that I would sit out this election and let Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan come into power - lord only knows what those two chowderheads would do to this country if they ever won the White House.

But there is no doubt that I and many of my fellow educators and parents will be holding our noses while we pull the lever for Barack Obama. That is not our fault - it's his.

So, Sam Jackson, I love you - but you can shut the f#{% up, thank you very much. Because I'm wide awake, and I don't very much like what I see.

Can you guys believe it? Romney's so bad, teachers will vote for me anyway!

ADDING: Yeah, sure, let even more air out of our tires...

If President Obama wins a second term, Education Secretary Arne Duncan will stay in his job, he told National Journal on Thursday. Duncan is likely to spend much of his time in a second term focusing on ways to rein in spiraling college tuition costs—a significant barrier toward the president’s goal of doubling college graduations by 2020.

“I am staying, unless the president gets sick of me,” Duncan said after speaking at a K-12 Education Forum sponsored by the Hamilton Project. That’s unlikely to happen, considering that Obama and Duncan both cut their teeth on politics in Chicago and have a strong personal relationship.

What I wouldn't give for a viable third party candidate...