As of 2013 my blog is being relocated to its new home on my official website. Please update your links as follow:
My blog: Starcrusader
My website: Homepage of Michael G. Thomas
Pussification of the Marine Corps continues..
via AP.What would Chesty do?
The U.S. Marine Corps, known for turning out some of the military's toughest warriors, is studying how to make its troops even tougher through meditative practices, yoga-type stretching and exercises based on mindfulness.Marine Corps officials say they will build a curriculum that would integrate mindfulness-based techniques into their training if they see positive results from a pilot project. Mindfulness is a Buddhist-inspired concept that emphasizes active attention on the moment to keep the mind in the present.
And now the China apologist comes forward.
Feng writes for Information Dissemination.
I always considered him a Chinese apologist and he confirmed that view with his latest article.
Its fun to watch (or rather read) his concerns as the free nations of the region all team up to deal with a belligerent and aggressive China.
I always considered him a Chinese apologist and he confirmed that view with his latest article.
Its fun to watch (or rather read) his concerns as the free nations of the region all team up to deal with a belligerent and aggressive China.
Let's have a fresh look at Special Operations.
This post was prompted by a discussion with Eric.
Do we need a fresh look at Special Operations?
Mission sets include... unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, special reconnaissance, direct action, and counter-terrorism. Other duties include combat search and rescue (CSAR),counter-narcotics, counter-proliferation, hostage rescue, humanitarian assistance, humanitarian de-mining, information operations, peacekeeping, psychological operations, security assistance, and manhunts
If you look at the list above only unconventional warfare and hostage rescue are outside the current operational reach of conventional forces.
So all things considered. Do we really need a Special Operations Command that has under its command almost 100,000 people?
SOCOM when it finishes enlarging will be bigger than the Australian Army, Canadian Army, the Netherlands Army, the Singaporean Army, the S. African Army and many many others.
Does the current mission set indicate a need for anything other than the US Army Rangers and Special Forces?
Explain to me why we have all the services providing forces that duplicate each other. Tell me why we don't need a serious rethink of Special Operations and what they actually provide to the nation.
Do we need a fresh look at Special Operations?
Mission sets include... unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, special reconnaissance, direct action, and counter-terrorism. Other duties include combat search and rescue (CSAR),counter-narcotics, counter-proliferation, hostage rescue, humanitarian assistance, humanitarian de-mining, information operations, peacekeeping, psychological operations, security assistance, and manhunts
If you look at the list above only unconventional warfare and hostage rescue are outside the current operational reach of conventional forces.
So all things considered. Do we really need a Special Operations Command that has under its command almost 100,000 people?
SOCOM when it finishes enlarging will be bigger than the Australian Army, Canadian Army, the Netherlands Army, the Singaporean Army, the S. African Army and many many others.
Does the current mission set indicate a need for anything other than the US Army Rangers and Special Forces?
Explain to me why we have all the services providing forces that duplicate each other. Tell me why we don't need a serious rethink of Special Operations and what they actually provide to the nation.
The biggest lie about the Newtown shooting.
The President, Newtown officials (especially that pedophile looking Coroner) and the news media all owe the American public an apology.
They all lied when they said assault weapons were used in the attack.
Police found 4 pistols inside the school and the so called assault weapon was in the car. Let me say that again. THE ASSAULT WEAPON WAS IN THE CAR.
This President and his followers are using this incident as an excuse to play political games and to take the American people's eye off the real issues that face our country. The debt. A faltering economic recovery. Out of control government spending. A situation that's zooming out of control in Africa. A war that is still being fought in Afghanistan... They want to talk about anything that divides the people and keeps the masses from focusing in on what's important.
I never actually bought the term "sheeple" before but I do now. Only a fool could look at this latest information and believe that the Administration isn't trying to manipulate people.
Below is a vid of the coroner's press conference. Many noted the lies that were being told then. The news media didn't follow up and those that pointed out the inconsistencies were labeled as conspiracy theorist. Watch and weep for your country. You're all being spun and don't even realize it.
Para-Rescue gets their truck.
Thanks Michael for sending this to me. I got to it late...busy day.
The award announcement is rather generic so I won't place it here.
I don't have a problem with BC Customs and HDT winning.
I do have a problem with the entire concept. Emphasis on internal carry was ditched but the idea that you're going to drop a vehicle at point A...travel fifty or so miles to rescue a person...head in a different direction to point B fifty miles away and get picked up is pure craziness.
The SOCOM selection of small trucks will be interesting. Next up Rangers.
Oversight of Education Dies In NJ
Here's an interesting tidbit I haven't seen reported in the local press:
Gee, there's a shock...
The reorganization of Newark into a two-tiered system of segregated charters and public schools was conceived using funds provided by Eli Broad. Interns paid by Broad came up with the plan to disenfranchise citizens in Camden and elsewhere. Broad paid for a consultant to reorganize the NJDOE; he also got the NJDOE to install one of the graduates of hisbook club unaccredited superintendents "academy" as the superintendent of Jersey City.
George Norcross funded the installation of the KIPP, the charter management group, into Camden on a site that was originally designated for a public school. Mark Zuckerberg's money funded the installation of merit pay in Newark as well as the expansion of virtual charters in the district.
All of these radical changes to New Jersey's outstanding public schools were made without appropriate consultation with and oversight from the duly-elected Legislature. All were funded with private monies that the Legislature had no control over.
A-3617 is a no-brainer, if you believe in transparency and accountability in government. This bill should be flying through the Assembly and the Senate. It speaks volumes that it is not.
You mean Christie gutted a provision that would have stopped the practice of allowing private donors like Broad to withhold their money if pols like Christie get voted out of office?Bill Would Require Public Disclosure of Private Funding of State Services
Assembly Budget Chairman Vincent Prieto and Assembly Education Chairman Patrick J. Diegnan Jr. announced December 14 that they have introduced legislation to establish legislative oversight of private money being used to pay for state services.The legislation comes on the heels of press coverage outlining several grants provided by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation to the New Jersey Department of Education in recent months. The grants total over $430,000 education grant, and include a stipulation that the funding is available only as long as Gov. Chris Christie remains in office (Private education grant tied to Gov. Christie staying in office, NJ Star Ledger, December 13, 2012).The bill,A-3617, matches language proposed by the Legislature in this fiscal year's state budget to establish oversight protections for donated or private funds. The provision was line-item vetoed by the Governor. [emphasis mine]
Gee, there's a shock...
Can you believe that we don't already require this in New Jersey? That private donors can give unlimited amounts of money to state agencies as they see fit, and the Legislature doesn't have to be informed?The legislation establishes budgetary oversight authority over state government expenditures of private donations and expenditures for advising and consulting services. The bill requires agency and department heads to provide notice and an accounting of such spending practices to the Joint Budget Oversight Committee within 30 days of the end of the fiscal year.The bill also requires private money used to pay for the discharge of the duties or responsibilities of an agency or department employee be reported to the Speaker of the General Assembly and the Senate President. The notice shall identify the person by name and title, the services provided by the person and the private source of funding from which the person was paid.
The reorganization of Newark into a two-tiered system of segregated charters and public schools was conceived using funds provided by Eli Broad. Interns paid by Broad came up with the plan to disenfranchise citizens in Camden and elsewhere. Broad paid for a consultant to reorganize the NJDOE; he also got the NJDOE to install one of the graduates of his
George Norcross funded the installation of the KIPP, the charter management group, into Camden on a site that was originally designated for a public school. Mark Zuckerberg's money funded the installation of merit pay in Newark as well as the expansion of virtual charters in the district.
All of these radical changes to New Jersey's outstanding public schools were made without appropriate consultation with and oversight from the duly-elected Legislature. All were funded with private monies that the Legislature had no control over.
A-3617 is a no-brainer, if you believe in transparency and accountability in government. This bill should be flying through the Assembly and the Senate. It speaks volumes that it is not.
Just keep smiling and don't answer any questions about where the money is going...
Christie Uses NRA To Silence His Biggest Critics
Say what you will about Chris Christie, he but always takes advantage of a good political opportunity.
Yesterday, with one simple statement, he managed to pull himself toward the political center in anticipation of his upcoming campaign for reelection as New Jersey's governor, and set up a defense against what could be one of the most effective attacks against him in that campaign.
Because when Christie lashed out against the NRA, he not only created his own Sister Souljah moment; he set up a defense against his personal hypocrisy on the issue of school funding.
Let me start by giving Christie his due here. The plain truth is that even if I believe the power of the NRA is way overstated, it still takes political courage for any nationally recognized Republican to take them on. Christie deserves credit for doing so; however, it would be naive not to acknowledge that there is a benefit, in a deep blue state like New Jersey, for a Republican governor to triangulate against the gun lobby.
What's really slick about Christie's statement, however, is that he has used this moment to challenge the notion that it is fair game to talk about his children:
(1:51) I think it's awful to bring public figures children into the political debate. They don't deserve to be there. And I think for any of us who are public figures, you see kind of ad and you cringe. You cringe, because it's just not appropriate in my view to do that. They've got real issues to debate on this topic. Get to the real issues. Don't be dragging people's children into this; it's wrong.
Why does this matter? Because, on the issue of school funding, Chris Christie is one of the biggest hypocrites in America.
All of Christie's children go to private schools which brag on low student:teacher ratios, broad and rich curricula, lots of extracurriculars, and large amounts of spending per child. His eldest son, for example, attended the tony Delbarton School in Morristown. I've written about this before:
Remember: that nearly $28K in tuition doesn't even cover the full costs of educating a student at Delbarton. And the student body does not have children with severe or even moderate learning disabilities, physical disabilities, or emotional problems. The school doesn't educate children living in chronic poverty or who have limited proficiency in English; these are the children who are the most expensive to educate.
Yet even as the Christie children have enjoyed their education - an education free of state-mandated standardized testing - the governor himself has waged a campaign to defund schools across the state. Back in 2010, he slashed state aid to schools so severely that even relatively affluent districts were forced to cut programs and charge activity fees. Shamelessly, when the courts forced Christie to restore many of his cuts (thank you Education Law Center!), he actually bragged that he had increased state funding for education, when all he had really done was partially restore the draconian cuts he made the year before (you have to include the surpluses he forced districts to use up as part of his cuts).
This year, in an effort to play to his suburban base, Christie has sent his privatization-loving Education Commissioner, Chris Cerf, out to sell a funding plan that would severely impact the poorest districts in the state. Cerf's scheme to recalculate funding weights as required by the School Funding Reform Act (SFRA) would most heavily impact the former Abbott districts, denying large amounts of funding to the children who need it the most. Those kids would have to make do without the many advantages Christie has afforded his own children in their educations.
There is only one defense that Christie can mount against this shamelessness: screaming that any discussion of his personal hypocrisy is an attack against his children and off limits. He's tried it before:
Looking back at this YouTube moment, it's worth noting that Christie never addressed the question: how can he call for spending cuts when his own children go to schools that spend so much per pupil and don't have to serve the most expensive children to educate?
The truth is - and Christie knows this - that there is no answer; his hypocrisy is transparent and outrageous. The only chance he has to defuse the issue is to conflate his children's security - a legitimate concern - with the disparity between the costs of their education and the educations of the poorest children in the state.
The Democratic nominee who runs against him for the governor's seat in Trenton should not back down on this shameless posturing. Christie is vulnerable on this issue; he should be held to account for insisting on less for your children than his own.
Yesterday, with one simple statement, he managed to pull himself toward the political center in anticipation of his upcoming campaign for reelection as New Jersey's governor, and set up a defense against what could be one of the most effective attacks against him in that campaign.
Because when Christie lashed out against the NRA, he not only created his own Sister Souljah moment; he set up a defense against his personal hypocrisy on the issue of school funding.
Let me start by giving Christie his due here. The plain truth is that even if I believe the power of the NRA is way overstated, it still takes political courage for any nationally recognized Republican to take them on. Christie deserves credit for doing so; however, it would be naive not to acknowledge that there is a benefit, in a deep blue state like New Jersey, for a Republican governor to triangulate against the gun lobby.
What's really slick about Christie's statement, however, is that he has used this moment to challenge the notion that it is fair game to talk about his children:
(1:51) I think it's awful to bring public figures children into the political debate. They don't deserve to be there. And I think for any of us who are public figures, you see kind of ad and you cringe. You cringe, because it's just not appropriate in my view to do that. They've got real issues to debate on this topic. Get to the real issues. Don't be dragging people's children into this; it's wrong.
Why does this matter? Because, on the issue of school funding, Chris Christie is one of the biggest hypocrites in America.
All of Christie's children go to private schools which brag on low student:teacher ratios, broad and rich curricula, lots of extracurriculars, and large amounts of spending per child. His eldest son, for example, attended the tony Delbarton School in Morristown. I've written about this before:
Chris Christie sends his sons to the Delbarton School:Tuition:The course of study offers preparation in all major academic subjects and a number of electives.The studies are intended to help a boy shape a thought and sentence, to speak clearly about ideas and effectively about feelings, and to seek relevant facts in making judgments.The faculty, many of whom hold higher degrees in field, consists of 80 men and women. And because the average class size is 15 and student-teacher ratio 7:1, the learning environment at Delbarton is designed to be intimate and challenging. [emphasis mine]Tuition for the 2011-12 academic year is $27,800.00. Tuition is all-inclusive and covers such items as a daily hot lunch, technology costs, and activity fees.Actual costs per student:Delbarton Fund contributions are used to support technology upgrades, athletic fields and facilities, service projects, financial aid for worthy students, and maintenance of the campus, among others.Fundraising as a whole covers 10% of the annual budget, or approximately $1,900 of each student's tuition. [emphasis mine]
Remember: that nearly $28K in tuition doesn't even cover the full costs of educating a student at Delbarton. And the student body does not have children with severe or even moderate learning disabilities, physical disabilities, or emotional problems. The school doesn't educate children living in chronic poverty or who have limited proficiency in English; these are the children who are the most expensive to educate.
Yet even as the Christie children have enjoyed their education - an education free of state-mandated standardized testing - the governor himself has waged a campaign to defund schools across the state. Back in 2010, he slashed state aid to schools so severely that even relatively affluent districts were forced to cut programs and charge activity fees. Shamelessly, when the courts forced Christie to restore many of his cuts (thank you Education Law Center!), he actually bragged that he had increased state funding for education, when all he had really done was partially restore the draconian cuts he made the year before (you have to include the surpluses he forced districts to use up as part of his cuts).
This year, in an effort to play to his suburban base, Christie has sent his privatization-loving Education Commissioner, Chris Cerf, out to sell a funding plan that would severely impact the poorest districts in the state. Cerf's scheme to recalculate funding weights as required by the School Funding Reform Act (SFRA) would most heavily impact the former Abbott districts, denying large amounts of funding to the children who need it the most. Those kids would have to make do without the many advantages Christie has afforded his own children in their educations.
There is only one defense that Christie can mount against this shamelessness: screaming that any discussion of his personal hypocrisy is an attack against his children and off limits. He's tried it before:
Looking back at this YouTube moment, it's worth noting that Christie never addressed the question: how can he call for spending cuts when his own children go to schools that spend so much per pupil and don't have to serve the most expensive children to educate?
The truth is - and Christie knows this - that there is no answer; his hypocrisy is transparent and outrageous. The only chance he has to defuse the issue is to conflate his children's security - a legitimate concern - with the disparity between the costs of their education and the educations of the poorest children in the state.
The Democratic nominee who runs against him for the governor's seat in Trenton should not back down on this shameless posturing. Christie is vulnerable on this issue; he should be held to account for insisting on less for your children than his own.
When I don't have a good answer, I make this face!
Its about to get ugly ...
Awesome hunting vid. He got the mythical double kill.
A note to the PETA folks out there. Like he says in the video, feral pigs are labeled a nuisance animal and can be killed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with no license and no bag limit.
Friday Escape.
Sometimes you need a simple diversion from all the news of the week. I bring "Sugar Boy" to your attention to fill that need. Enjoy. Oh and subscribe...this is crazy cool.
Doodle
I feel that I have to blog about Doodle cos I've been patronizing it lots in the last few months (before starting my new posting where I'm cooped up for lunch) and I really like the place. The last time I was able to roam free for lunch I went over and got myself some comforting pasta.
They have many different types of pastas - ranging from locally inspired laksa, Thai tom yum, Indian tandoori chicken pasta etc. But if you're feeling unadventurous, there's always the old staples like carbonara, Bolognese or arrabbiata sauce.
My favourite (not that I have been trying many different kinds since once I find something I like I tend to stick with) is the Sweet spot, which has tender pulled pork with a sweet wine based sauce. Very homely, comforting and filling (usually I will be very satiated and sleepy after this meal).
Paired with a small Caesar salad and iced lemon tea, the set is a very affordable $15 nett.
Doodle
8 Sinaran Road
#02-01 Oasia Hotel, Singapore 307470
Rockabilly Pretty
I'm going to start by saying that I don't love rockabilly. It's not historically accurate. It's too sexy. I think most rockabilly ladies would look better with less tattoos and piercings. And I never got the 40s victory rolls with a 50s inspired outfit.
But there are somethings I find really inspiring about rockabilly fashion.
Rockabilly has such excitement! It takes a small snipet of the rock 'n roll, youth counterculture of the 50s and reinvents it with all of the advantages of the 21st century. Stretch fabrics! Airbrush makeup! Crazy high heels! Bold hair colors!
Speaking of hair, these girls have it going on! It's always so perfect and striking! Whether night black, bleach blonde, fire engine red or bold pink, it always makes a statement.
And the make up is gorgeous! Really, these girls have skills! I must learn how to do this.
They are so creative and push boundaries! This girl has a yarn and knitting needle fascinator! Eep!
But they are not all over the top glamor. They know how to do casual and still look fabulous.
What do you love about rockabilly? What parts could you live without?
But there are somethings I find really inspiring about rockabilly fashion.
Rockabilly has such excitement! It takes a small snipet of the rock 'n roll, youth counterculture of the 50s and reinvents it with all of the advantages of the 21st century. Stretch fabrics! Airbrush makeup! Crazy high heels! Bold hair colors!
Speaking of hair, these girls have it going on! It's always so perfect and striking! Whether night black, bleach blonde, fire engine red or bold pink, it always makes a statement.
And the make up is gorgeous! Really, these girls have skills! I must learn how to do this.
They are so creative and push boundaries! This girl has a yarn and knitting needle fascinator! Eep!
But they are not all over the top glamor. They know how to do casual and still look fabulous.
What do you love about rockabilly? What parts could you live without?
Rhee Lawyers Up
Yesterday, I posted about a story by John Merrow that alleges that a memo exists that likely shows Michelle Rhee was warned about potential widespread cheating in Washington, D.C. early in her tenure as schools chancellor. If it turns out that this memo says what Merrow conjectures it does, it calls into question Rhee's claims of success as a school leader, her diligence in pursuing testing irregularities, her current claim that she fully cooperated with investigators, and the efficacy of the climate she built around high-stakes testing in the district.
The memo was written by a researcher Rhee herself hired. He claims he can't release it without DCPS's permission because it is a "work for hire." And this is where the story turns into a classic case of stonewalling:
(BTW, several people have confirmed to me Weingarten is no relation to Randi Weingarten, the president of the AFT, the teacher union. It's a funny coincidence, though.)
Here's what I'd really like to know: Merrow says he got phone calls from Weingarten this summer. How did that happen, exactly? Did Weingarten call unsolicited? Was he calling in response to an inquiry made to Rhee? And why did Rhee feel she needed a prominent criminal defense attorney to answer Merrow?
This entire thing is getting stranger and stranger. It's time for the rest of the DC press and national education beat reporters to get in on this story.
The memo was written by a researcher Rhee herself hired. He claims he can't release it without DCPS's permission because it is a "work for hire." And this is where the story turns into a classic case of stonewalling:
So DCPS says it doesn't exist, but the IG contradicts them. Huh.Here beginneth our tale of FOIA frustration. Starting in early May of 2012, we submitted FOIAs to DCPS, the DC Inspector General, the Mayor and the US Department of Education. DCPS told us the document did not exist. The DC Inspector General told us he had it but wouldn’t release it, a decision echoed by the US Department of Education’s IG. The Mayor supported DCPS. I have copies of 46 communications on my desk as I write this, but there may have been more. [emphasis mine]
It gets worse:Careful readers will recall that Sanford reported to McGoldrick and that he regularly invoiced her for payments. We inferred from this that they probably communicated by email, given that Sanford was in California and McGoldrick in DC. Therefore, on July 3, 2012, we filed a FOIA with DCPS for email communications between the two. We sent ‘reminder’ requests on August 14 and October 1. On October 5 the DCPS FOIA officer, Donna Whitman Russell, wrote to say “We should receive the emails within the next 15 days. We’ll have to review them. And hope to have response in approximately 20 days.” Our November 5, 2012 FedEx letter to her was returned, unopened, with the notation, “moved.” However, Ms. Russell was still on the job as of January 15, 2013.It’s been over six months, and we have still not received the McGoldrick-Sanford emails. How hard can it be to find email? Or could there be something in the McGoldrick-Sanford communications that DCPS does not want the public to read? [emphasis mine]
Wait a minute: the Reid Weingarten?If you have read this far, you must be wondering why we didn’t simply ask McGoldrick or Rhee for the document. I called McGoldrick at her home in California at least a dozen times. I never got anything but her answering machine (including once again this morning). I left messages with a call back number. She hasn’t called.As for Michelle Rhee, we did ask, but even that story is a bit complicated. It begins with phone calls this past summer from a prominent Washington criminal attorney, Reid Weingarten. Mr. Weingarten indicated that, if we would submit our questions in writing, she would reply in writing.I responded to Mr. Weingarten’s offer in good faith. In my email dated August 22, 2012, I asked the former Chancellor to release Sanford’s memo. She did not reply.In that same letter, I asked for a formal sit-down interview for our Frontline film to give her ‘the last word.’ She did not reply. [emphasis mine]
Reuters is out with an intriguing storythat Goldman Sachs Lloyd Blankfein has hired a prominent defense attorney. Shares of Goldman Sachs sank on the news, and ended the trading day at a 52-week low.Yes, folks, it's true: Michelle Rhee has hired the lawyer for Bernie Ebbers and Roman Polanski. Ebbers, at the center of one of the biggest fraud cases Wall Street has ever seen. And Polanski, one of the highest-profile celebrity criminal cases in American history.
UPDATE: Our Journal colleagues also have confirmed Blankfein hired a defense attorney. Goldman Sachs said Blankfein hired counsel amid a Senate report on events leading up to the financial crisis. Goldman said hiring legal counsel is “common in such situations.”
Here are some nuggets about Blankfein’s attorney, Steptoe & Johnson’s Reid Weingarten, an experienced Washington defense attorney.
Prior clients: Bernie Ebbers, the former WorldCom CEO convicted of securities fraud; Roman Polanski, the film director who has been wanted in the U.S. for decades-old charges involving having sex with a 13-year-old girl; Lauren Stevens, the GlaxoSmithKline attorney cleared of corporate misconduct; Former agriculture secretary Mike Espy, who won acquittal on corruption charges.
Quotable quotes: When Stevens, the Glaxo attorney, was cleared of misconduct by a judge, Weingarten said: ”We did not have a bad five minutes in that courtroom; if it had been a prize fight, they would have stopped it,” Weingarten was quoted in a Wall Street Journal story.
“I feel like I’m in the French Revolution, defending the nobility against the howling mob,” Weingarten told BusinessWeek for a 2002 profile, referring to his corporate clients. “They want to guillotine these people without any evidence.” (He used a similar French Revolution metaphor in a 2005 “Charlie Rose” interview.)
In the 2005 trial of Bernie Ebbers, during cross examination of government witness and former WorldCom CFO Scott Sullivan, Weingarten asked: ”So you looked those 12 people in the eye and lied your head off?” reported the New York Times.
Background: Used to work in the Department of Justice’s public integrity division. Described himself as a ”hard-core child of the ’60s,” according to a 2002BusinessWeek profile. Reportedly friends with Eric Holder, the U.S. Attorney General.
(BTW, several people have confirmed to me Weingarten is no relation to Randi Weingarten, the president of the AFT, the teacher union. It's a funny coincidence, though.)
Here's what I'd really like to know: Merrow says he got phone calls from Weingarten this summer. How did that happen, exactly? Did Weingarten call unsolicited? Was he calling in response to an inquiry made to Rhee? And why did Rhee feel she needed a prominent criminal defense attorney to answer Merrow?
This entire thing is getting stranger and stranger. It's time for the rest of the DC press and national education beat reporters to get in on this story.
Oh, I don't think that's necessary...
'Do whatever he tells you.' Sunday Reflections. 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C
Readings(New American Bible: Philippines, USA)
Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)
Gospel John 2:1-11 (Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition)
On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples. When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." And Jesus said to her, "O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come." His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." Now six stone jars were standing there, for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the steward of the feast." So they took it. When the steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now." This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
Feast of the Sto Niño
On the third Sunday of January the Church in the Philippines celebrates the Feast of the Sto Niño, the Holy Child. These Sunday Reflections focus on the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C. But you may want to read an article by a good friend in Cebu, Judge Simeon Dumdum, Jr, which I featured on this blog in 2009, The Sleeping Sto Niño.
To complicate matters for me, here in the Diocese of Bacolod, as Sunday is 20 January, we celebrate the Solemnity of St Sebastian, patron of the Cathedral, of the Diocese and of the City, and will observe the Feast of the Sto Niño the following Sunday.
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B
Last Sunday I featured the late King Baudouin of the Belgians. This week I feature him again, with Queen Fabiola. The story of how they met is quite remarkable and the late Cardinal Suenens tels the story in his biography of the King, Baudouin, King of the Belgians, The Hidden Life.
The video above has as background music and Irish song that I learned in Grade Three, The Dawning of the Day, in Irish Gaelic Fáinne Geal an Lae, the version I learned. An Irish song is not at all inappropriate as the matchmaker of the marriage of Baudouin and Fabiola was an Irish woman, Veronica O'Brien.
Veronica was envoy of the Legion of Mary to France and some other European countries. Much 'cloak and dagger' work was involved in finding a wife and queen for the young king. Much more importantly, much prayer was involved too, prayer that was basically a searching for God's will. They became formally engaged in Lourdes, France, King Baudouin travelling incognito, as he always did when he went there.
The couple were married in Brussels on 8 July 1960. The video shows photos of both the civil and church ceremonies. In a number of European countries a separate civil ceremony is required by law and takes place before the church celebration. The King wrote in his spiritual diary for that day: Normally we are awake by day and dream at night, but this time it's as if I'm in a dream all day.
On 8 July 1978 Baudouin wrote in his diary: My God, I thank you for having led us by the hand to the feet of Mary, and every day since then, I thank you, Lord, that we have been able to love each other in your Love, and that that love has brown each day.
And Queen Fabiola wrote to Veronica: I knew Our Blessed Lady was a Queen and a Mother, and all sort of other things, but I never knew that she was a Matchmaker!
Quoting the Queen led Cardinal Suenens to quote a Spanish verse:
Cristo dijo a su Madre
el dia de la Asunción
no te vaya de este mundo
sin pasar por Aragón.
Christ said to his Mother
on the day of the Assumption:
do not eave this world
without passing through Aragón.
Before her marriage the Queen was Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón.
The Cardinal quotes freely from Baudouin's diary about Queen Fabiola.
Fill Fabiola with your holiness. May she live her life in your joy and your peace. Teach me to love her with your own tenderness . . .
Fabiola is so loving; she warms my heart. Her silent, yet active presence is a source of great joy to me. My God, how you have spoiled me!
Thank you, Jesus, for having nurtured in me an immense love for my wife. Thank you for having given me a spouse whose love for me is second only to her love for You. May we both grow in you, Lord.
When Veronica O'Brien met Fabiola in Spain she asked the young woman, who had no idea why where things were leading, why she had never married. She replied, What can I say? I have never fallen in love up to now. I have put my life into the hands of God. I abandon myself to Him, maybe he is preparing something for me.
Veronica recounted all of this in a letter to the King and concluded, It was utterly astounding, because I knew exactly what God was preparing for her.
Thirty years later the King wrote in his spiritual diary: Mary, show me what I should do so as not to miss an opportunity of loving, of denying myself for your sake, of living the present moment to the full, as if it were my last, and of loving my darling Fabiola infinitely more. yes, Mother, teach me to love her with tenderness, gentleness, thoughtfulness, respect, and teach me to have faith in here . . .
And Baudouin, addressing the Lord, wrote, Teach me too to respect her personality with its difference adn its inconsistencies. Jesus, I thank you for having given me this wonderful treasure.
Both King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola in these extracts reflect the spirituality of a book that Cardinal Suenens had given the King before he met his future queen and wife, Abandonment to Divine Providence by Jean-Pierre de Caussade SJ. One English translation of this masterpiece has the title The Sacrament of the Present Moment, which captures the essence of the book, that God's will is in the present moment.
Shortly before he left for Motril, Spain, in 1993, where he died suddenly, King Baudouin confided to Cardinal Suenens and Veronica, I love Fabiola more and more each day: what an inspiration she is to me!
This led the Cardinal to quote Jean Guitton, the first lay person to be invited to Vatican II as an observer, Love is always fruitful, were it only because it transforms those who love.
Children's Games, 1560, Peter Bruegel the Elder
One of the great sorrows in the life of Baudouin and Fabiola as a married couple was that they had no children. The Queen had five miscarriages. Reflecting on this, the King said to a group visiting the Palace, We have pondered on the meaning of this suffering and, bit by bit, we have come to see that it meant that our heart was freer to love all children, absolutely all children.
In a letter to a young mother the King wrote about a children's party that he and the Queen had hosted at the Palace: In one corner there was a group of handicapped children, several of them with Down's syndrome. I brought over a plateful of toffees to a little girl who had scarcely any manual control. with great difficulty, she succeed in taking a toffee but, to my astonishment, she gave it to another child. then for a long time, without ever keeping one for herself, she distributed these sweets (candies) to all the healthy children who could not believe their eyes. What a depth of love there is in those physically handicapped bodies . . .
One by one the children left. We really felt as if they had become in some sense our children. I think they felt it too. It was a very special afternoon; the presence of the Lord was really tangible. There was such peace and joy. that was pure gift!
I have read Baudouin, King of the Belgians, The Hidden Life, a number of times and each time I am moved by it. I see in it a reflection of what's in today's gospel: his gratitude to God, like the gratitude of all at the wedding feast, not mentioned explicitly but clearly there; his and Fabiola's submission to God's will through Mary: Do whatever he tells you; and the extraordinary generosity of Jesus, God and Man, turning water into the equivalent of about 500 or 600 bottles of the best wine, a generosity that led Baudouin and Fabiola, who couldn't have children of their own, to see that our heart was freer to love all children, absolutely all children.
When we allow him, Jesus can turn the very ordinary in our lives into the extraordinary, just as a little girl with physical and mental disabilities revealed the presence of God to the King of the Belgians, just as Fabiola, his wife and queen, was a daily revelation of God's loving presence to him.
God has the same desire to reveal himself to each of us every day, specifically in the present moment. And He has given us his Mother, who is our Mother also, to guide us with her words of absolute faith, do whatever he tells you.
Galrahn is sounding the alarm. China is a threat.
+amphibious+assault+ships++People's+Liberation+Army+Navy+(PLAN+or+PLA+Navy)+Z-15+WZ-10+Z8+Z-9+ka-27282931+aew+vtolstol+j-18+STOVL+is+an+acronym+for+short+take+off+and+vertical+landing+(4).jpg) |
| artist impression of the Chinese Type 081 LHD via China Military Review |
One power rises the other declines.
Are we headed toward a civil uprising?
I watch MSNBC so that I can see what the other side of the street is thinking. Besides being totally convinced that the liberal/progressive side can do no wrong, besides believing that the entire world resides either in the Northeast - New York Megatropolis area, besides believing that their way of life is the only way of life in the US...I detected one other thing from the newscasters on that channel. They're scared that something evil is coming from the right wing.
To that I say this. Change agents always fail because whether its an organization or a country. Change comes gradually. Unless you want bloodshed or extreme strife, the text books say to implement points of change. Allow the organization to absorb it and conform to those changes and then to start again.
The President believes that he's a change agent but is violating the basic and primary ingredient to make it work.
I personally don't see a civil uprising coming. I don't discount the chance that an individual might be becoming radicalized because he sees his belief system under assault but that's a different discussion. Check out the graphic below.
To that I say this. Change agents always fail because whether its an organization or a country. Change comes gradually. Unless you want bloodshed or extreme strife, the text books say to implement points of change. Allow the organization to absorb it and conform to those changes and then to start again.
The President believes that he's a change agent but is violating the basic and primary ingredient to make it work.
I personally don't see a civil uprising coming. I don't discount the chance that an individual might be becoming radicalized because he sees his belief system under assault but that's a different discussion. Check out the graphic below.
New York's gun control law forgot something.
That shows how rushed this bill was. But even more interesting is the protected class of citizen that is being established here. If you're wealthy then you can afford additional security and will live in safe areas. If you're law enforcement then you can be armed normally. If you're middle class or poor you're at the mercy of criminals. I am shocked that the people of the state of New York fell for this. Well actually I'm not. I'll check back in a year to see how this is working out for them.
T S Eliot Prize Redux: Robin Robertson's 'At Roane Head'
As I'm still feeling a bit preoccupied with all things T S Eliot Prize-related, I thought I might post an entry or two or three on poems or collections from past years which made a particularly strong impression on me. I'm not good on detail, so it's often the case that I remember more of an impression or a feeling from such an event, rather than specific poems or moments. If I do remember a moment vividly, it was something powerful.
I realised that Robin Robertson (who I am not obsessed with!!) has been responsible for a couple of these moments in my personal T S Eliot Prize history. One was at the 2006/2007 readings, when he was nominated for Swithering. I remember being quite taken by the long poem on Actaeon and Diana which he read; the rather bleak Scots accent, and the poem's lines cutting like knives.
Even more impressive was hearing Robertson read 'At Roane Head', at the 2010/2011 readings in the Royal Festival Hall. This poem had already won the 2009 Forward Prize for best single poem, which is a great honour. It also formed part of his T S Eliot Prize-nominated collection The Wrecking Light.
I won't describe the poem, particularly: it is self-explanatory when you read it. It would probably suffice to say that it is mythic, unpleasant, and unforgettable. The imagery, as is often the case with Robertson's poems, is taut and sharp: many cutting, percussive words which interweave into something flowing, like the drag of pebbles on a seashore.
What I remember is the extreme, tense silence in the Royal Festival Hall as he read the final lines unhurriedly, almost flatly. It was a silence so complete, in a hall full of people, that it was slightly frightening.
You can read 'At Roane Head' on this link:
AT ROANE HEAD (Robin Robertson)
And this is a video of Robertson reading the poem:
Are we seeing a low grade regional war?
Question.
With almost the entirety of Northern Africa engaged in combat...with wars continuing in the Middle East...are we seeing what amounts to a low grade regional war?
Additionally are we seeing the French replace the US as the leader in this effort and since they are a member should the effort in Mali be supported by NATO?
Can a case be made that the Jihadist have left Afghanistan and are engaging Western Forces in Africa and if that's the case should we accelerate/redeploy forces to the conflict in Mali?
I just don't know.
With almost the entirety of Northern Africa engaged in combat...with wars continuing in the Middle East...are we seeing what amounts to a low grade regional war?
Additionally are we seeing the French replace the US as the leader in this effort and since they are a member should the effort in Mali be supported by NATO?
Can a case be made that the Jihadist have left Afghanistan and are engaging Western Forces in Africa and if that's the case should we accelerate/redeploy forces to the conflict in Mali?
I just don't know.
Rhee-ly Big Trouble
Oh, my:
A few things:
- This is really outstanding reporting by John Merrow. But why wasn't it in his Frontline report on Rhee? Merrow glossed over many other problems with Rhee's resume to focus on the cheating scandal. I wish he hadn't; however, if he's going to concentrate on that story, why didn't he include these revelations in his report? Had he not yet confirmed some key pieces of the story? If so, that's a shame, and I hope PBS lets him do a follow-up.
- When you read Merrow's full post, you'll learn that Sanford made a lot of money from his time at DCPS:
What did Sanford do to push Rhee to investigate? Did he write any other memos? Were there any conversations with Rhee where he urged her to follow through? Did he ever become frustrated that a wider investigation wasn't being conducted? Was he interviewed during the investigation of cheating by the IG of the USDOE? And what did he think about the public adulation Rhee heaped on schools that turned out to have suspicious test scores?
I understand that Sanford has an obligation to protect "work product," but he has a greater obligation to protect the public interest. It's time to tell the entire story of the Rhee reign in Washington, D.C., and his part in it.
- This part of Merrow's post really killed me:
But it's possible that Sanford is saying Rhee didn't have a background in data. That would explain why Rhee instituted a teacher evaluation system that was a mathematical train wreck, why she put out a "report card" that makes the same mistake, why she won't even consider student achievement in her evaluation of state education systems, and why the work coming out of StudentsFirst these days is just generally goofy and illogical.
Let's see how this plays out. But if this memo contains anything like Merrow conjectures it does, we could see Michelle Rhee's image take yet another beating.
So there's a memo out there that has not been released that probably confirms former DCPS Chancellor Michelle Rhee knew that Stanford - a consultant Rhee herself had hired - raised concerns about widespread cheating in her district. And this was back in 2008, very early in Rhee's tenure.It’s been over six months, and we have still not received the McGoldrick-Sanford emails. How hard can it be to find email? Or could there be something in the McGoldrick-Sanford communications that DCPS does not want the public to read?But we know the Sanford memo is out there. What does it say? Three secondary sources have told us that Sanford was troubled by the widespread erasures. An anonymous letter was mailed to me on June 20, 2012, stating in part, “The memo indicated there was cause for concern with a significant number of school test results….(Sanford) did not draw conclusions, but we all know he suspected cheating was widespread.”A second secondary source told of being in a meeting where McGoldrick spoke of Sanford’s memo and conveyed his concern. A third secondary source said much the same thing.Primary sources are the gold standard, of course, and in this case there is only one: the memo itself.In my conversation with Dr. Sanford (November 20, 2012), he said to me, “You know, the memo doesn’t say what you think it says.”And what is that, I asked him?“You think it says I found cheating.”No, I responded. I think it says that there was cause for concern.He was silent.Am I right, I asked? Is that what you reported, that there was reasonable cause to investigate?He was silent.I asked him to confirm or deny.He was silent for a long time, and then he changed the subject.I inferred from that exchange that he did not want to lie to me but that he also felt bound by the rules of his contractual relationship and could not answer. By this point in our conversation I come to feel that Dr. Sanford was a straightforward and honorable man. [emphasis mine]
A few things:
- This is really outstanding reporting by John Merrow. But why wasn't it in his Frontline report on Rhee? Merrow glossed over many other problems with Rhee's resume to focus on the cheating scandal. I wish he hadn't; however, if he's going to concentrate on that story, why didn't he include these revelations in his report? Had he not yet confirmed some key pieces of the story? If so, that's a shame, and I hope PBS lets him do a follow-up.
- When you read Merrow's full post, you'll learn that Sanford made a lot of money from his time at DCPS:
Nice work if you can get it, eh? But wait a sec: Sanford was on the payroll for "roughly three years," which would be close to the entirety of Rhee own time at DCPS. But he wrote this mysterious memo in November of 2008, early in Rhee's term. He may well have been concerned with a possible cheating scandal, but it appears he hung around for two more years after he wrote the memo.Sanford’s undated agreement says he will be paid $85 per hour for work performed at his offices in California (his company is called Eduneering) and $1500 per day for work performed at DCPS, plus reimbursement for travel, food and lodging.The document makes clear that he would be under the direct supervision of McGoldrick. His duties are broadly defined in five areas: professional development; data analysis and data modeling; critical review of plans, programs or any other related topics, program design and implementation; and–the open-ended job–”any other services not specified above but related to the data and accountability welfare of the district as directed by the Chief of Data and Accountability (McGoldrick).”McGoldrick and DCPS relied on Dr. Sanford to the tune of at least $218,935.45 in roughly three years. Sanford’s purchase orders and invoices, which we obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) were invariably sent to the attention of Erin McGoldrick (with her email address) and paid by DCPS. [emphasis mine]
What did Sanford do to push Rhee to investigate? Did he write any other memos? Were there any conversations with Rhee where he urged her to follow through? Did he ever become frustrated that a wider investigation wasn't being conducted? Was he interviewed during the investigation of cheating by the IG of the USDOE? And what did he think about the public adulation Rhee heaped on schools that turned out to have suspicious test scores?
I understand that Sanford has an obligation to protect "work product," but he has a greater obligation to protect the public interest. It's time to tell the entire story of the Rhee reign in Washington, D.C., and his part in it.
- This part of Merrow's post really killed me:
She [Rhee] turned to a trusted advisor, Dr. Fay G. ‘Sandy’ Sanford. Dr. Sanford began consulting for DCPS early in Rhee’s tenure. He had been approached by Erin McGoldrick, Rhee’s Chief of Data and Accountability, even before she began working for DCPS. “She didn’t have any background in data-driven instruction,” Sanford told me in mid-November of last year, “and so she asked me for help.”Now, I read that as Sanford saying McGoldrick didn't have any background in data-driven instruction. Which is pretty amazing: Rhee's head honcho in charge of data didn't have a background in data? Really?
But it's possible that Sanford is saying Rhee didn't have a background in data. That would explain why Rhee instituted a teacher evaluation system that was a mathematical train wreck, why she put out a "report card" that makes the same mistake, why she won't even consider student achievement in her evaluation of state education systems, and why the work coming out of StudentsFirst these days is just generally goofy and illogical.
Let's see how this plays out. But if this memo contains anything like Merrow conjectures it does, we could see Michelle Rhee's image take yet another beating.
Merrow! Stop asking for my memo!
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