Saturday, February 28, 2009

Texas Music ... Served Spicy [UPDATED]

Me gusta mucho:


Flaco Jiminez



Freddy Fender and Flaco Jimenez: "Volver, Volver"
(with special guest Willie Nelson)



Raul Malo and Flaco Jiminez:
"Seguro Que Hell Yes"




Ry Cooder and Flaco Jiminez: "He'll Have To Go"



Los Lobos and Flaco Jimenez:
"Ay Te Dejo En San Antonio"




Texas Tornados - "Anybody Goin' to San Antone"



Texas Tornados (incl. Flaco Jiminez) on Austin City Limits:
"¿Hey Baby, Que Paso?"


If you like this stuff, then I highly recommend Flaco's CD "Partners". Also recommended is "Texas Tornados- Live from Austin, TX".


UPDATE (1 Marzo)
Just for good measure, the Texas Tornados on their Grammy-award winning hit, "Soy de San Luis":



Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
When You Hear Twin Fiddles and a Steel Guitar ...

Big Tex's Texas Music Recommendations

The Hauntingly Beautiful Voice ...

Steve Earle

What's Left of Texas?

Guy Clark

The Late Great ...

Robert Earl Keen [UPDATED]

That's Right (You're Not From Texas)

Jerry Jeff Walker

Homesick

... and the Boys

... and Willie ...

Waylon ...

The King of Western Swing

Willie & The Wheel

Not-So-Random Thought on a Saturday Afternoon While Listening to a Bob Wills Tribute Album With My Kids ...

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When You Hear Twin Fiddles and a Steel Guitar ...

George Strait (one of the few musicians remaining true to country music - and especially Western Swing - who nevertheless manages to somehow get radio airtime):


NOTE: This is NOT the way country music is supposed to be performed.
George Strait's movie "Pure Country" was an indictment

against the "Garthicization" of country music,
which has now morphed into the "Rascalization" of country music
(in the immortal words of Robert Earl Keen, "WTF is going on with that?")




By way of contrast, here's George Strait performing the song
the way country music is supposed to be done




George Strait takes on the "Garthicization" and "Rascalization"
of country music once again with "Murder on Music Row"




George Strait sings "Amarillo by Morning"



George Strait sings "All My Exes Live in Texas"



George Strait sings "Texas"



George Strait's induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame



Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Big Tex's Texas Music Recommendations

The Hauntingly Beautiful Voice ...

Steve Earle

What's Left of Texas?

Guy Clark

The Late Great ...

Robert Earl Keen [UPDATED]

That's Right (You're Not From Texas)

Jerry Jeff Walker

Homesick

... and the Boys

... and Willie ...

Waylon ...

The King of Western Swing

Willie & The Wheel

Not-So-Random Thought on a Saturday Afternoon While Listening to a Bob Wills Tribute Album With My Kids ...

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Friday, February 27, 2009

Digest of Today's Posts (27 February 2009)

  • Big Tex's Texas Music Recommendations

  • The Hauntingly Beautiful Voice ...

  • Prayers for a Friday of Lent

  • Steve Earle

  • Sen. Casey (and, Presumably, Vice-Pres. Biden) Put on Notice That They Could be Denied Communion in Diocese of Scranton




  • (Digest of Today's Posts (26 February 2009))

    Labels:

    Big Tex's Texas Music Recommendations

    In comments to one of my previous posts, Big Tex offers his Texas Music recommendations:
    Some other artists I like from the Texas music scene:

    Pat Green

    Kevin Fowler [ED.: This one's my personal Fowler favorite.]

    Cross Canadian Ragweed

    Cory Morrow

    Roger Creager (love the Mexican influence in some of his tunes)

    Aaron Watson

    Then there's
    Texas Aggie music.

    These artists and the other artists I have been highlighting over the last couple of weeks (and I still have a few more to go) can be heard online here:

    http://www.radiofreetexas.org
    http://www.radiofreetexas.org


    Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
    The Hauntingly Beautiful Voice ...

    Steve Earle

    What's Left of Texas?

    Guy Clark

    The Late Great ...

    Robert Earl Keen [UPDATED]

    That's Right (You're Not From Texas)

    Jerry Jeff Walker

    Homesick

    ... and the Boys

    ... and Willie ...

    Waylon ...

    The King of Western Swing

    Willie & The Wheel

    Not-So-Random Thought on a Saturday Afternoon While Listening to a Bob Wills Tribute Album With My Kids ...

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    The Hauntingly Beautiful Voice ...

    ... of Jimmie Dale Gilmore:


    Jimmie Dale Gilmore sings "Your Love is My Rest"



    Jimmie Dale Gilmore pays tribute to Townes Van Zandt



    Jimmie Dale Gilmore sings "Dallas"



    Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Iris DeMent team up
    on an old Hank Williams standard




    The Flatlanders (incl. Jimmie Dale Gilmore) on Austin City Limits


    Now THAT'S what country music should sound like!


    Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
    Steve Earle

    What's Left of Texas?

    Guy Clark

    The Late Great ...

    Robert Earl Keen [UPDATED]

    That's Right (You're Not From Texas)

    Jerry Jeff Walker

    Homesick

    ... and the Boys

    ... and Willie ...

    Waylon ...

    The King of Western Swing

    Willie & The Wheel

    Not-So-Random Thought on a Saturday Afternoon While Listening to a Bob Wills Tribute Album With My Kids ...

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    Prayers for a Friday of Lent


    The following prayers appear in The Sadness of Christ, by St. Thomas More - the last book written by the martyred English saint while he awaited his execution in the Tower of London, and which is the book I have chosen, as I did a couple of years ago, for my Lenten reading:
    Psalm on Detachment

    Give me thy grace, good Lord:
    To set the world at nought;
    To set my mind fast upon thee,
    And not to hang upon the blast of men’s mouths;
    To be content to be solitary,
    Not to long for worldly company;
    Little and little utterly to cast off the world,
    And rid my mind of all the business thereof;
    Not to long to hear of any worldly things,
    But that the hearing of worldly phantasies may be to me displeasant;
    Gladly to be thinking of God,
    Piteously to call for his help;
    To lean unto the comfort of God,
    Busily to labor to love him;
    To know mine own vility and wretchedness,
    To humble and meeken myself under the mighty hand of God;
    To bewail my sins passed,
    For the purging of them patiently to suffer adversity;
    Gladly to bear my purgatory here,
    To be joyful of tribulations;
    To walk the narrow way that leadeth to life,
    To bear the cross with Christ;
    To have the last thing in remembrance,
    To have ever afore mine eye my death that is ever at hand;
    To make death no stranger to me,
    To foresee and consider the everlasting fire of hell;
    To pray for pardon before the judge come,
    To have continually in mind the passion that Christ suffered for me;
    For his benefits uncessantly to give him thanks,
    To buy the time again that I before have lost;
    To abstain from vain confabulations,
    To eschew light foolish mirth and gladness;
    Recreations not necessary — to cut off;
    Of worldly substance, friends, liberty, life and all, to set the loss
    at right nought for the winning of Christ;
    To think my most enemies my best friends,
    For the brethren of Joseph could never have done him so much good
    with their love and favor as they did him with their malice and hatred.

    These minds are more to be desired of every man than all the treasure
    of all the princes and kings, Christian and heathen, were it
    gathered and laid together all upon one heap .

    ~ St. Thomas More, Written while imprisoned in the Tower of London, 1534



    A Devout Prayer

    O HOLY TRINITY, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, three equal and coeternal Persons, and one Almighty God, have mercy on me, vile, abject, abominable, sinful wretch: meekly knowledging before thine High Majesty my long-continued sinful life, even from my very childhood hitherto.

    In my childhood, in this point and that point, etc. After my childhood in this point and that point, and so forth by every age, etc.

    Now, good gracious Lord, as thou givest me thy grace to knowledge them, so give me thy grace, not in only word but in heart also with very sorrowful contrition to repent them and utterly to forsake them. And forgive me those sins also, in which by mine own default, through evil affections and evil custom, my reason is with sensuality so blinded that I cannot discern them for sin. And illumine, good Lord, mine heart, and give me thy grace to know them, and forgive me my sins negligently forgotten, and bring them to my mind with grace to be purely confessed of them.

    Glorious God, give me from henceforth thy grace, with little respect unto the world, so to set and fix firmly mine heart upon thee, that I may say with thy blessed apostle St Paul: Mundus mihi crucifixus est et ego mundo. Mihi vivere Christus est, et mori lucrum. Cupio dissolvi et esse cum Christo. [The world is crucified to me and I to the world’ (Gal. 6, 14). ‘To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain’ (Phil. 1, 21 ). ‘I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ’ (ibid. 23).]

    Give me thy grace to amend my life, and to have an eye to mine end without grudge of death, which to them that die in thee, good Lord, is the gate of a wealthy life.

    Almighty God, Doce me facere voluntatem tuam. Fac me currere in odore unguentorum tuorum. Apprehende manum meam dexteram, et deduc me in via recta propter inimicos meos. Trahe me post te. In chamo et freno maxillas meas constringe, quum non approximo ad te. [‘Teach me to do thy will’ (Ps. 143, 10). ‘Make me to run after thee to the odour of thy ointments’ (Cant. 1, 3). ‘Take thou my right hand and guide me in the straight path because of my enemies’ (Passages from the Psalms). ‘Draw me after thee’ (Cant. 1, 3 ). ‘With bit and bridle bind fast my jaws when I come not near unto thee’ (Ps. 31, 9).]

    O glorious God, all sinful fear, all sinful sorrow and pensiveness, all sinful hope, all sinful mirth, and gladness take from me. And on the other side concerning such fear, such sorrow, such heaviness, such comfort, consolation and gladness as shall be profitable for my soul: Fac mecum secundum magnam bonitatem tuam Domine. [Deal with me according to thy great goodness, O Lord’ (cf. Ps. 118, 124).]

    Good Lord, give me the grace, in all my fear and agony, to have recourse to that great fear and wonderful agony that thou, my sweet Saviour, hadst at the Mount of Olivet before thy most bitter passion, and in the meditation thereof, to conceive ghostly comfort and consolation profitable for my soul.

    Almighty God, take from me all vainglorious minds, all appetites of mine own praise, all envy, covetise, gluttony, sloth, and lechery, all wrathful affections, all appetite of revenging, all desire or delight of other folks’ harm, all pleasure in provoking any person to wrath and anger, all delight of exprobation or insultation against any person in their affliction and calamity.

    And give me, good Lord, an humble, lowly, quiet, peaceable, patient, charitable, kind, tender, and pitiful mind, with all my works, and all my words, and all my thoughts, to have a taste of thy holy, blessed Spirit.

    Give me, good Lord, a full faith, a firm hope, and a fervent charity, a love to the good Lord incomparable above the love to myself; and that I love nothing to thy displeasure, but everything in an order to thee.

    Give me, good Lord, a longing to be with thee, not for the avoiding of the calamities of this wretched world, nor so much for the avoiding of the pains of purgatory, nor of the pains of hell neither, nor so much for the attaining of the joys of heaven, in respect of mine own commodity, as even for a very love to thee.

    And bear me, good Lord, thy love and favour, which thing my love to theeward (were it never so great) could not but of thy great goodness deserve.

    And pardon me, good Lord, that I am so bold to ask so high petitions, being so vile a sin-ful wretch, and so unworthy to attain the lowest. But yet, good Lord, such they be, as I am bounden to wish and should be nearer the effectual desire of them, if my manifold sins were not the let. From which, O glorious Trinity, vouchsafe of thy goodness to wash me, with that blessed blood that issued out of thy tender body, O sweet Saviour Christ, in the divers torments of thy most bitter passion.

    Take from me, good Lord, this lukewarm fashion, or rather key-cold manner of meditation and this dullness in praying unto thee. And give me warmth, delight and quickness in thinking upon thee. And give me thy grace to long for thine holy sacraments, and specially to rejoice in the presence of thy very blessed body Sweet Saviour Christ, in the holy sacrament of the altar, and duly to thank thee for thy gracious visitation therewith, and at that high memorial, with tender compassion, to remember and consider thy most bitter passion.

    Make us all, good Lord, virtually participant of that holy sacrament this day, and every day make us all lively members, sweet Saviour Christ, of thine holy mystical body, thy Catholic Church.

    Dignare, Domine, die isto sine peccato nos custodire. Miserere nostri, Domine, miserere nostri.
    Fiat misericordia tua, Domine, super nos quemadmodum speravimus in te.
    In te, Domine, speravi, non confundar in aeternum.
    [‘Deign, O Lord, to keep us on that day without sin. Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us. Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, as we have hoped in thee. In thee, O Lord, have I hoped, let me not be confounded for ever’ ( From the Te Deum ).]

    V. Ora pro nobis, sancta Dei Genitrix.
    R. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.
    [‘Pray for us, O holy mother of God. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.’]

    PRO AMICIS [For Friends]

    ALMIGHTY GOD, have mercy on N. and N. (with special meditation and consideration of every friend, as godly affection and occasion requireth)

    PRO INIMICIS [For Enemies]

    ALMIGHTY GOD, have mercy on N. and N., and on all that bear me evil will, and would me harm, and their faults and mine together, by such easy, tender, merciful means, as thine infinite wisdom best can devise, vouch-safe to amend and redress, and make us saved souls in heaven together where we may ever live and love together with thee and thy blessed saints. O glorious Trinity, for the bitter passion of our sweet Saviour Christ. Amen.

    Lord, give me patience in tribulation and grace in everything to conform my will to thine: that I may truly say: Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in coelo et in terra. [‘Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.’]

    The things, good Lord, that I pray for, give me thy grace to labour for. Amen.


    ~ St. Thomas More, "A Devout Prayer [before Dying]", July 1535


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    Steve Earle

    His politics may be to the left of Che Guevara.

    And he's so foul-mouthed that the very religious Del McCoury Band (my favorite Bluegrass artists) quit touring with him a few years back while they were promoting their joint effort, The Mountain (which is EXCELLENT, by the way ... I do not exaggerate when I say that this CD is about as good as it gets in the folk/bluegrass genre).

    But whether you agree or disagree with his political views and personal habits, you have to respect Steve Earle's outstanding abilities as a singer and a songwriter:


    Steve Earle sings "Copperhead Road" on David Letterman



    Steve Earle sings "Hillbilly Highway on Austin City Limits



    Steve Earle sings "Fort Worth Blues"
    (Earle's tribute to Townes Van Zandt)



    Steve Earle and the Del McCoury Band Live at Farm Aid
    (Watch the whole thing ... it's well worth it)



    Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
    What's Left of Texas?

    Guy Clark

    The Late Great ...

    Robert Earl Keen [UPDATED]

    That's Right (You're Not From Texas)

    Jerry Jeff Walker

    Homesick

    ... and the Boys

    ... and Willie ...

    Waylon ...

    The King of Western Swing

    Willie & The Wheel

    Not-So-Random Thought on a Saturday Afternoon While Listening to a Bob Wills Tribute Album With My Kids ...

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    Sen. Casey (and, Presumably, Vice-Pres. Biden) Put on Notice That They Could be Denied Communion in Diocese of Scranton

    Matthew Archbold reports at Creative Minority Report.


    Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
    Deal Hudson: Bishop Martino "in the Tradition of Cardinal O'Connor"

    Bishop Martino of Scranton Calls Casey Jr. to Account

    Deal Hudson: "The Power of a Bold Bishop"

    Bishop Martino: "I cannot have [the] Vice President-elect coming to Scranton, saying he learned his values there"

    Deacon Fournier: "Bishop Martino is Right, ‘This is Madness People’"

    Bishop Martino of Scranton: "Respect Life"

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    Thursday, February 26, 2009

    Digest of Today's Posts (26 February 2009)

  • What's Left of Texas?

  • Joke of the Day

  • "What We Have Here ...




  • (Digest of Yesterday's Posts (25 February 2009))

    Labels:

    What's Left of Texas?

    The Cody Johnson Band plays a modern Texas anthem lamenting what passes for "progress" these days:



    "What's Left of Texas?" by the Cody Johnson Band

    I'm sorry, but you just can't beat lyrics like this:
    They've taken God's name out of the schools
    And Robert Earl Keen right off the radio.
    They've taken John Wayne out of Hollywood
    And replaced him with some Brokeback picture show!

    Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
    Guy Clark

    The Late Great ...

    Robert Earl Keen [UPDATED]

    That's Right (You're Not From Texas)

    Jerry Jeff Walker

    Homesick

    ... and the Boys

    ... and Willie ...

    Waylon ...

    The King of Western Swing

    Willie & The Wheel

    Not-So-Random Thought on a Saturday Afternoon While Listening to a Bob Wills Tribute Album With My Kids ...

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    Joke of the Day

    FaithfulDemocrats.org.

    Except the joke's not funny, with offerings such as this pantload from a Catholic hospital chaplain:
    "We know Christ transcends death, but can Christ transcend choice?"

    ... I think our discussion on the legality of abortion needs to take into account the spiritual nature of choice. To those who say, "Some choices are so obvious God doesn't need us to make them on an individual basis, we know how God wants everyone to act." I say, "Then why do we have the story of Abraham and Isaac?" Why is Abraham, the one who was willing to terminate his child's life, the spiritual father of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths?

    In Scripture, when God calls out to humans, there is a common reply: "Here I am Lord". In Hebrew it is hineni. "Behold, I". I believe God is calling out to us all the time, and only rarely are we able to offer our honest selves in response. "Here I am Lord." When we do, a partnership between divine and human is established, making way for miracles of, yes, biblical proportions.

    One thing I have never heard discussed in all the debates on abortion is: what would be taken away from those who choose to bring their pregnancies to term if abortion is made illegal. I vividly remember the complex array of emotions and questions and prayers that flooded me when I conceived. Each time, my commitment to bear my children (and my husband's commitment to parent them) was a process that unfolded. Knowing I had the choice to say ‘yes' or ‘no', I had to dig deep. What unfolded was a glorious "hineni". Here I am Lord! I absolutely believe that my response - born of struggle and doubt and discernment -- came from so deep that its truth infused my womb. Thus my children's first home was a place that said, "Yes to you!!" and taught them by example the wondrous fruits that come from saying, "Here I am Lord".

    So can you see what could be lost if we legislate such discernment out of existence? Without the possibility of safely, legally terminating pregnancies we help to create womb-environments that say "Well you're here so I guess that's the way it's going to be, like it or not." ...
    You know, because the child would be so much better off DEAD than to find himself or herself in a "womb-environment" that says "Well you're here so I guess that's the way it's going to be, like it or not."

    Oh, that's right. The focus here isn't on what's in the best interest of protecting the child, but rather in providing women with a "meaningful" opportunity to "say 'Yes!' to God".

    (Hat tip: Mark Shea)

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    "What We Have Here ...

    ... is a failure to excommunicate."

    The best line offered at Creative Minority Report's most recent photo caption contest.

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    Wednesday, February 25, 2009

    Digest of Today's Posts (25 February 2009)

  • Off the Market

  • Lent Beer

  • New Arrivals

  • The Reviews of Jindal's 1st Big Speech in the National Spotlight Are In ...

  • Dilemma: "Willie and the Wheel" or "The Lily and The Lamb"?



  • Shamelessly lifted from
    The Curt Jester.

    Labels:

    Off the Market

    The lovely and talented Miss Lima is no longer "Miss Lima". It seems Adriana has tied the knot in a secret Valentine's Day ceremony.

    She is categorically denying rumors that it was a shotgun wedding. The Brazilian beauty, who professes to be a devout pro-life Catholic, once stated in an interview that she would remain a virgin until married, proclaiming "Sex is for after marriage."


    Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
    See
    .

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    Lent Beer


    Here's something I won't be giving up for Lent ... I'm delighted to report the following about my domestic beer of choice - Shiner Bock:
    Shiner Bock — Shiner's flagship beer. Bock has been brewed since 1913, almost as long as the Spoetzl Brewery has been in business. However, it wasn't until a few decades ago that Shiner began producing Bock year-round. Bock was considered a lent beer, and therefore was only made around that season.
    Source: Wikipedia entry for "Spoetzl Brewery" (emphasis added).

    Here's more:
    Shiner: The town was named after Henry Shiner, who donated 250 acres to get it started in 1887.

    Bock: A type of wheat-based lager, this beer was popular among monks who needed sustenance during the fasting season of Lent.

    Spoetzl Brewery: Kosmos Spoetzl was the Bavarian brewmaster who bought the brewery in 1915 and started brewing what would become Shiner Bock.
    Source: Dallas Morning News story "Deciphering the label of a Shiner Bock", May 30, 2008 (emphasis added).

    So, I'm going to follow the example of the monks who drank bock during Lent, and continue to drink Shiner Bock throughout the Lenten season. Because I'm going to need some sustenance during my fast from sweets and soda pop.

    +:-)


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    New Arrivals

    Congratulations are in order for 2 very good friends of this blog on the newest additions to their families.

    Congrats to 1st-time daddy, Paul, on the arrival of Bernadette Lily Zummo:
    Born early in the morning of February 19, 2009.

    Mom and baby are doing fine. Daddy is very tired. Actually, all are tired.

    Childbirth is awesome.

    And all the best to 6-time daddy, Rich, on the birth of David Joseph Leonardi:
    5:36 pm EST, 24 February 2009
    8lbs., 1oz.; 22"
    Hands like catcher's mitts

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    The Reviews of Jindal's 1st Big Speech in the National Spotlight Are In ...

    ... and, unfortunately, they're hardly ringing endorsements. Here's a sampling from the Catholic blogosphere:

  • A Louisiana Viewpoint On Jindal's Response to Obama

  • Cajun cooking needs a bit more spice

  • Bobby Jindal’s Response and His Rhetoric



  • Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
    Pro-Life Catholic Gov. Bobby Jindal to Deliver Republican Response to Obama Speech

    Creative Minority Report on Gov. Bobby Jindal: "The Purpose-Driven Governor"

    Jindal Excites GOP As a Possible Running Mate

    Bobby Jindal: Inklings of a New (True) Champion of the Right

    Kristol Touts Jindal as McCain's Veep [UPDATED]

    Bobby Jindal's National Prospects

    Louisiana, The Media, and the Katrina Blame Game

    Bobby Jindal - Catholic Convert and Son of Indian Immigrants - Wins Louisiana Governor's Race

    Michael Denton's First Newspaper Column

    A Strange Way to Woo Religious Voters

    Louisiana Democrat "Know-Nothings" Attack Jindal

    Dems Go After Jindal's Catholicism & Ethnicity

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    Dilemma: "Willie and the Wheel" or "The Lily and The Lamb"?

    Today, my new "Willie and the Wheel" CD arrived:



    It being the first day of Lent, however, I should be listening to my standard Lenten music, "The Lily and The Lamb":

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    Tuesday, February 24, 2009

    As If We Didn't Already Know: Media Cohorts Expose Bill Moyers as Propagandist Hack

    Ed Morrissey reports the details:
    Apparently, a dam has burst among media figures regarding PBS scold Bill Moyers after last week’s Washington Post report that Moyers tried digging for homosexual dirt on LBJ aides. Suddenly, media analysts have lots of Moyers stories — and not the kind that make Moyers look any better. After reading Jack Shafer’s entry into Moyerama, which also includes a roundup of everyone else’s dishing, one has to wonder whether Moyers is as unpopular with his peers as he is with the rest of us ...

    ***
    It casts Moyers as someone very comfortable with propaganda techniques, and that is very relevant, especially given Moyers’ long history as a documentarian/critic...


    [More]
    (emphasis added)


    Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
    "One of the Last Sane Conservatives"

    "Reporting's Easier When You Don’t Worry About Facts"

    Bill Moyers: "Rove Turned Religion Into a Weapon of Political Combat"

    Feddie, on Behalf of Jimmy Akin, Tells Bill Moyers and His Lawyers to Go Pound Sand

    Bill Moyers - Still An Idiot After All These Years

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    Monday, February 23, 2009

    Digest of Today's Posts (23 February 2009)

  • Kmiec Calls Pope's Comments "Intrusive" [UPDATED]

  • Guy Clark
  • Labels:

    Kmiec Calls Pope's Comments "Intrusive" [UPDATED]

    (Hat tip: Catholics in the Public Square)

    From the man who once said he'd change his effusive views on Obama if the Pope called him to admonish him on the subject:

    Obama backer Pepperdine Professor Douglas Kmiec has described Pope Benedict's comments to Nancy Pelosi as "intrusive" because they put the whole judicial system in an impossible moral dilemma.

    Catholic News Agency reports that in his piece in Time magzine Prof. Kmiec implied that the Pope exaggerated or at least did not measure the consequences of his words when he told Nancy Pelosi that "jurists," in addition to legislators, must work "in cooperation with all men and women of good will in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development."

    According to Kmiec, such a statement "has the potential, at least theoretically, to empty the U.S. Supreme Court of all five of its Catholic jurists, and perhaps all other Catholics who sit on the bench in the lower federal and state courts.

    The Pepperdine professor suggests the Pope, instead, could take "a different, less intrusive course," by "continuing to observe the difference between a jurist and a legislator."

    "Few are pleased with the abortion jurisprudence as it is," argues Kmiec, but by "imposing moral duties on Catholic jurists that are incompatible with their envisioned judicial role in a democracy," Pope Benedict XVI "is hardly likely to make it better."

    Edward Whelan, President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and director of its program on The Constitution, the Courts, and the Culture, questioned "whether Kmiec's reading (of the Vatican statement) is actually a careful one."

    "For starters, Kmiec assumes that the term 'jurists' is equivalent to 'judges'," Whelan explains, when actually the terms applies to "any person who possesses a degree in law."

    The EPPC expert explains that "even if the statement does apply to American judges, all it says is that 'jurists' should 'work in co-operation with all men and women of good will in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development.' Kmiec turns this into an "admonition to 'jurists' to undertake an activist, law-changing role. But the statement doesn't compel that reading."
    My Comments:
    I think we can kiss that ambassadorship goodbye at this point.

    So much for listening to what the Holy Father has to say on the subject of pro-life politics. Prof. Kmiec has tasted the dissident Kool-Aid and seems to have decided he likes it.


    UPDATE
    (Hat tip: Opinionated Catholic)

    Fr. Z makes an important point about Kmiec's comments:
    ... Kmiec wants the reader to accept the premise that the Pope is imposing a new moral duty imposed on jurists, a duty to "undertake an activist, law-changing role".

    The Pope didn’t say that at all. The statement does not say that jurists must be activists. It says that jurists should "work for a system of law capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development".

    Kmiec says that there is now a "new directive" from Rome. There isn’t.

    Here is the slight of hand: Kmiec says the Pope says that judges must use judicial activism in order to limit abortion, implying that they should "legislate from the bench" as judges do when they interpret the US Constitution broadly instead of narrowly or strictly). Kmiec reasons that the Pope is saying that if judges don’t oppose abortion by employing this kind of activism, then they are guilty in the same way as Catholic legislators are when they promote abortion rights.

    Again, that is not what the Holy See’s statement says.

    The statement did not, as Kmiec claims, impose "moral duties on Catholic jurists that are incompatible with their envisioned judicial role".

    Kmiec wrongly interprets the papal statement as putting jurists and legislators in the same category so that their responsibilities about protecting human life must be exercised in the same way. Kmiec says the pope doesn’t recognize that there are different roles.

    Remember that Kmiec is writing for the for TIME/CNN machine, which has its expectations. He is using "activist" as the polar opposite of "originalist". I think he uses "originalist" because it sounds more like "fundamentalist" than "strict constructionist" would. On the surface, Kmiec is trying to make it seem that the Pope came out against originalism embraced by Justice Scalia. In other words, you can no longer hide behind originalism. Kmiec says the Pope says you MUST become a judicial activist.

    Rubbish.

    All of that said….

    My biggest problem with Kmiec’s article is how he seeks to undercut the Pope’s authority. He is suggesting that the Pope is being unreasonable...


    [Read the whole thing]
    (emphasis in original)


    UPDATE #2
    See also "Kmiec's epic fail in Time magazine" at American Papist.


    The Passion of the Kmiec - A Pro Ecclesia Timeline:

    February 2009

    Kmiec Calls Pope's Comments "Intrusive"

    Catholic World Report: "Douglas Kmiec and His Misinformation Offensive for Barack Obama"


    January 2009
    Kmiec Claims He's In the Loop for Vatican Post

    American Papist's Open Letter to Prof. Kmiec

    Kmiec the Martyr

    Prof. Kmiec Eulogizes Fr. Neuhaus in a Manner That is All About Prof. Kmiec and Justifying his Obama Vote [UPDATED]


    December 2008
    Prof. Bainbridge on Doug Kmiec and U.S. Diplomatic Relations with the Holy See


    November 2008
    Vatican Official Says Kmiec Will Not Become New Vatican Ambassador

    The Kmiec Catholic Re-Education Camp

    Former Student of Prof. Kmiec Calls Him Out on "Revealing His True Colors"

    A Modern-Day "Vicar of Bray"

    Douthat Smacks Kmiec

    Amy's "Wrap-Up" of Pre-Election Abortion Coverage

    Pathetic


    October 2008
    George Weigel on Kmiec's "Flawed Thinking"

    Archbishop Chaput: Kmiec Doing a "Disservice to the Church"

    Mainstream Media Compliant in Obama's "Faith Outreach" Pitch

    Bill Donohue: "I'm Catholic, Staunchly Anti-Racist, and Support David Duke" [UPDATED]

    Debate Over at Amy's: Should Catholics Work for Legal Restrictions on Abortion?

    Deacon Fournier Puts Smack Down on Prof. Kmiec

    Kmiec's Payoff? [UPDATED]


    September 2008
    The Obama-Kmiec Magical Mystery "Faith Tour"

    Deacon Fournier: "Doug Kmiec’s ‘Can a Catholic Support Him?’ Asks the Wrong Question"

    Ponnuru Raps Kmiec for Defending Obama's Born-Alive Vote

    "Separate But Equal" Redux - Pro-Life Edition

    Mark Stricherz: "Why the Democratic Abortion Strategy is Worse"

    Whither the "Catholic Vote"? Some Interesting Posts at the Fidelis Blog


    August 2008
    Darwin Catholic: "Douglas Kmiec, Master of Dissembling" [UPDATED]

    Prof. Rick Garnett on Kmiec's "Missing the Point"

    A Former Student of Prof. Kmiec Speaks Out ...

    Prof. Kmiec Shifts the Goalposts

    Kmiec's "Bridge Too Far"? Obama's Attacks on Justice Thomas

    Without Further Ado: Doug Kmiec on McCain v. Obama at Saddleback [UPDATED]

    Paging Prof. Kmiec ...

    Doug Kmiec Claims Democrats Making "Steps Toward Honoring Life" in Platform

    Prof. Garnett Takes on Prof. Kmiec ... Again

    Casey Jr. to Get Prime-Time Slot in Denver to Appease Catholics [UPDATED]


    July 2008
    Fr. Neuhaus Responds to Doug Kmiec

    Deal Hudson's Open Letter to Doug Kmiec

    National Catholic Register on Catholics, Kmiec, and Obama

    Prof. Hadley Arkes: "Political Distraction Among the Catholics"


    June 2008
    Doug Kmiec - What He Said Then vs. What He Says Now Re: Constitutional Jurisprudence

    What is the "Pro-Life Position" Regarding Abortion?

    Traumatized

    Unrequited Love

    Doug Kmiec: "After Meeting with Barack" [UPDATED]

    Cranky Conservative: "But At Least He Says It with a Smile"

    Doug Kmiec Again Places Platitudes Above Policy [UPDATED]

    Prof. Bainbridge on "Obama, Abortion, & Catholics"

    Prof. Rick Garnett on Kmiec's Latest Nonsense

    Deacon Keith Fournier: "Why I Disagree with Doug Kmiec, Once Again"

    Give It a Rest Already, Prof. Kmiec!

    Doug Kmiec's Newfound Celebrity Status Among Those on the Left

    Doug Kmiec Soon To Be Sorely Disappointed

    E.J. Dionne on Kmiec Being Denied Communion [UPDATED]


    May 2008
    Deal Hudson on Prof. Kmiec and Blurring the Lines Between "Pro-Choice" and Pro-Abortion

    Did Doug Kmiec Just Now Catch On That Obama and NARAL Are Politically Conjoined? [UPDATED]

    Deal Hudson on "How Obama's Catholics Will Dodge the Infanticide Question"

    Kmiec's Dishonesty [UPDATED]

    Catholic Teaching and Political Risk Taking: When Credit Isn't Given Where Credit is Due [UPDATED]


    April 2008
    Kmiec's Wishful Thinking on Obama and Abortion


    March 2008
    The Curt Jester: "Shameless Garment" [UPDATED]

    So-Called "Catholic Reaganite" Doug Kmiec Endorses Obama [UPDATED]

    No'bama for Me, Thanks"

    Can a Catholic Vote for Obama?


    February 2008
    Obama's Pledge to Planned Parenthood: "I Will Not Yield"

    "Why American Catholics are Supporting Barack Obama"

    How the Catholic Left Will Tackle McCain

    Why Does Kmiec Criticize McCain for Positions on Which He Gave Romney a Pass?

    Deal Hudson on "Douglas Kmiec and the Lure of Obama"

    Douglas W. Kmiec on "The Moral Duty to Inquire"

    Professor Bainbridge: "Will Catholic Reaganites Go for Obama?"

    Deal Hudson: "Preacher Man: Barack Obama and the the Gospel of Liberalism"

    "Sorry, Doug Kmiec, But This Catholic Isn't Buying Obama"

    Ramesh Ponnuru on Douglas Kmiec and "Catholic Reaganites for Obama" [UPDATED]

    Romney Advisor Says Obama "a Natural for the Catholic Vote"



    Labels: , , , , , , ,

    Guy Clark

    "Dublin Blues":




    "LA Freeway":




    "Texas Cooking" (a song after my own heart - and stomach):




    "I Don't Love You Much, Do I" (with Emmylou Harris):




    "Stuff That Works" (Smithsonian Folklife Festival):




    "Desperados Waiting for a Train" (with an all-star cast of singer-songwriters on David Letterman):





    Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
    The Late Great ...

    Robert Earl Keen [UPDATED]

    That's Right (You're Not From Texas)

    Jerry Jeff Walker

    Homesick

    ... and the Boys

    ... and Willie ...

    Waylon ...

    The King of Western Swing

    Willie & The Wheel

    Not-So-Random Thought on a Saturday Afternoon While Listening to a Bob Wills Tribute Album With My Kids ...

    Labels: ,

    Saturday, February 21, 2009

    The Late Great ...

    ... Townes Van Zandt:



















    "Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that."
    ~ Steve Earle


    NB: I grew up in Van Zandt County in East Texas. Townes Van Zandt was the great-great-great-grandson of Isaac Van Zandt, a prominent leader of the Republic of Texas, one of the founders of Fort Worth, and the namesake of my home county.


    Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
    Robert Earl Keen [UPDATED]

    That's Right (You're Not From Texas)

    Jerry Jeff Walker

    Homesick

    ... and the Boys

    ... and Willie ...

    Waylon ...

    The King of Western Swing

    Willie & The Wheel

    Not-So-Random Thought on a Saturday Afternoon While Listening to a Bob Wills Tribute Album With My Kids ...

    Labels: ,

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