extreme Catholic 

was for a set classical music records featuring an actor named John Williams (not the composer)

In this commerical he asked "Do remember this song as 'Strangers in Paradise'? Well, it is actually Polovetsian Dance Number 4 by Borodin."

This commercial was satirized by comedian Robert Klein in the 70's with "Every song ever recorded". I believe this is on his "Child of the 50's" CD.

And with DVD and next generation HD-DVD, this will be possible.

This is the sort of stuff that only people over 50 know now.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 6:37 PM   Permalink  

I was reading one article on asymmetrical warfare in Iraq and then an article on labor strife in London where a handful of strikers triggered a cascade of events resulting in the loss of over $100 million to British Airways. Labor laws make this strike by workers supporting 600 workers who lost their jobs legal there. The loss works out to $167,000 per job. That's a big ouch! Asymmetrical economic warfare. I'm not an expert but I believe that such sympathy strikes are not legal in the US.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 2:31 PM   Permalink  

Click on the image to see it its full size from Newsday. Avert your eyes if she seems immodest to you.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 7:26 PM   Permalink  

A point I've made in the comment boxes, and this is especially addressed to you married men -- stay clear of temptation.

Don't do one on one lunches with female co-workers.

Don't over-compliment women -- especially when they see this as a opening to closer social contact.

Never do overnight business travel with a female co-worker.

Never go to a strip club.

Don't hang out with men who brag about their affairs, encounters with prostitutes, etc.

Do watch Fatal Attraction

Love your wife.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 5:35 PM   Permalink  

If Able Danger doesn't make any sense to you, read this Fox News before proceeding.

The idea was to attack Bush for not getting Atta before 9/11. Earlier in the week, the old anti-Bush partisan 9/11 commissioners spoke out and demanded answers. They make regret doing so.

It turns out that it was the Clinton administration who was asleep and blocking useful flows of information between the military and civilian parts of the government.

If Deborah Orin is correct it may turn out the Gorelick was the catylst for Atta's evasion of the FBI and during the 9/11 investigation used her position in the commission to cover-up this and perhaps other opportunities to have stopped the hijackers.

The MSM is dropping the ball and not talk radio and bloggers have to run with it.

With eerie foresight, [United States Attorney Mary Jo] White warned that the Reno-Gorelick wall hindered law enforcement and could cost lives, according to sources familiar with the memo — which is still secret.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 4:51 PM   Permalink  

Rocco made the connection to resigned-at-age 59, Bishop James McCarthy. I should have recalled that one myself. (Doh!)

This CNN story reported that he admitted to sexual relationships with more than one adult woman.

While resigning, Msgr. Clark denies the allegations.

In both cases, Cardinal Egan didn't face the media but let Joseph Zwilling represent him.

Zwilling is very professional and for people who get their news exclusively from TV, they have seen his face more than the face of the cardinal. I think that since his appointment to Cardinal, I've even seen Cardinal O'Connor's face on TV more than Cardinal Egan's. That's what I call a low profile.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 2:40 PM   Permalink  

So we make the trip to Westchester, and this dude doesn't want to talk to us... Let's have a little fun as we get our payback. We're media and we buy ink by the barrel. NY Post

...But yesterday, Philip DeFilippo, who turned to the media to air his family's dirty laundry, hid like a frightened child inside his Eastchester home, peering out occasionally.

The DeFilippos' 14-year- old daughter — who told police in sworn statements how she saw her mom kissing and sitting on the monsignor's lap in his hot tub — was dropped off at the home yesterday by women who called reporters "bastards."

Philip DeFilippo at one point scampered out of his home to his car — after covering his windows and concealing his license plate with wrapping paper. His neighbors used another car to block in the media.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 2:34 PM   Permalink  

I want to let everyone know that this is not a "gotcha" game to me. The victims here are many, first let's not forget that adultery, as official spokesman of Cardinal Egan, Joseph Zwilling reminds us is no longer a criminal act. It remains unspoken that it is a mortal sin against God and against Philip DeFilippo.

The reputation of all priests has been harmed. The reputation of Catholics who accept the teaching of the Church on sexual morality is harmed and undermined. He's connected to Legatus, EWTN, and the Knights of Malta. Our ememies are delighted.

It's a betrayal. It's probably the Clinton excuse: "...because I could...".

Today's links: Newsday

NY Daily News and its editorial

New York Times

New York Post 'Randy' Rev. Casts Himself Out, with glamourous picture of "lay person" Laura DiFilippo.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:42 AM   Permalink  

Diogenes wishes that the denial was really an expression of repentance. He points out even if a crime was not committed, the integrity of the DiFilippo's marriage has been harmed. That a priest is held to a different standard is clear from Canon Law ("clerics are to shun completely everything that is unbecoming to their state" -- Canon 285), and Diogenes calls this "objectively blameworthy".

A comment I've added there

Clark's lawyer said on Tuesday that the allegations of sexual impropriety had been "contrived" from "innocent events." But what is the innocent explanation for checking into a hotel under an assumed name for five hours during the daytime and changing clothes in the middle of the day? Don't tell me what he didn't do. What did he do (given the facts and pictures he has not denied)? Now that would be a denial with some credibility.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:22 AM   Permalink  

The New York Times gives free publicity to NARAL's campaign against Roberts.

The Roberts supports anti-abortion terrorism ad

Things like this are so over the top, it's going to backfire.

The new media is going to point out the lies in this. Thankfully, the last abortion clinic bombing was 1998 (Eric Rudolph in Birmingham) -- seven years ago. Sometimes I think the other side hopes that there will be another bombing.

Some internal dissent on the left. Our very own Frances Kissling thinks it bad for the movement on tactical grounds:

Within the larger liberal coalition of which Naral is a part, there was considerable uneasiness about the advertisement, although leaders of other groups generally refused to speak on the record. One who did, Frances Kissling, the longtime president of Catholics for a Free Choice, said she was "deeply upset and offended" by the advertisement, which she called "far too intemperate and far too personal."

Ms. Kissling, who initiated the conversation with a reporter, said the ad "does step over the line into the kind of personal character attack we shouldn't be engaging in."

She added: "As a pro-choice person, I don't like being placed on the defensive by my leaders. Naral should pull it and move on."

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 3:53 PM   Permalink  

but does not confess, apologize, admit, repent, etc.

AP :Newsday

NY1 TV

More details emerged: the teenaged daughter of Laura DeFilippo was aware of the alleged affair and informed her father. The period when the the two were in the hotel was five hours during the daylight under a false name in a single room. Entering and leaving the hotel, they wore different clothes. The clothing worn by Mrs. DeFilippo can only be described as short-shorts -- just covering the bottom of the buttocks. It was not a "business casual" attire day.

These are hard facts that are very difficult to explain away.

Ponder this:

Archdiocesan spokesman Joseph Zwilling had said Wednesday that Clark was not asked to step down as rector because unlike priests who were accused of molesting boys, he was not accused of anything illegal and was denying the allegations.

And in signed statements to Eastchester Police in Westchester County, Philip DeFilippo, his 14-year-old daughter and his wife's sister all describe how the teen allegedly found her mother "sitting on [Clark's] lap wearing a satin teddy."

The girl told police she ran to her room where her mother "yelled at me, convincing me that I didn't see what I saw, and it wasn't what I thought. She told me that he had prostate cancer, and I couldn't tell anyone what I saw or I would be in trouble."

Is this too much information?

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 3:07 PM   Permalink  

This one isn't on the wires yet. It apparently was an exclusive to Fox 5 News in New York:

Monsignor Eugene Clark, the rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral, was photographed in the company of his secretary at a motel in the Hamptons (over 100 miles away from his Cathedral). He's 71 and she's 46.

The photographs were apparently taken by a detective working for her husband. They are in the middle of a divorce.

Update: Also, WCBS TV

WABC TV

NY Daily News and also Michael Daly's column

NY Times

NY Post

Readers here might recall that Monsignor Clark gained national attention in 2002 for assigning responsibility for the sexual abuse crisis to non-celibate gay priests in a sermon at St. Patrick's Cathedral. (CBS News) I thought the Archdiocese was disgraceful in disavowing the rector with "he was speaking for himself." -- with the implication that Cardinal Egan wouldn't speak to responsibility for the scandal then (or it seems, ever)

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:08 PM   Permalink  

Blogger Credit: NRO Corner

I will be watching for reaction to this in the Irish and Irish-American media.

I never saw "No Irish Need Apply" -- I was a wee lad of 6 when JFK was elected, but I was told this was the case in the New York up to about World War I.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:03 AM   Permalink  

Domenico Bettinelli blogs The Redemption of Shane Paul O'Doherty : Boston Globe

Shane Paul O’Doherty is not perfect. He is a pacifist and rejects the Church’s teaching on just war, but I suppose that is to be expected from a man who completely rejected his violent and murderous past while spending 14-1/2 years in an English prison.

What about the opposite path? A priest who becomes a terrorist.

Patrick Moloney, Irish born, American resident, Mekite priest and convicted of possession of money from the fifth largest armored car heist in history: the Brinks robbery of 1993 $7.4 million cash taken from a depot. The cash was never recovered but it is believed to have been given to the IRA.

Samuel Millar has admitted to the robbery in a recently published book, On The Brinks Fr. Pat was suspected in the robbery but never charged. He maintained his innocence of both the robbery and the stolen cash possession. I don't know if he has been implicated by Millar or the other conspirators in the time since the statue of limitations expired.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:37 PM   Permalink