extreme Catholic 

Bush says to trust her. (1) I don't know. (2) I don't know why I'm being asked to trust her.

Miers avoided in her entire career any alignment with the originalist movement.

I'm beginning to wonder if she's really, really prepared to champion it, or is she the designated safe vote. (As we thought O'Connor, Souter, and Kennedy were)

Bush misunderestimated the loyalty of the conservative movement to principle.

This seems like a win-win to the Dems -- which is why if she's collapsed before the finish line, the Dems will drag her across it. If she's utterly clueless before the judiciary committee, she will be rejected and Bush will be humiliated. If she does OK, she's in a seat that could have gone to a non-crony originalist judge. We will have to wait for the third vacancy on the Court.

I don't like the undercurrent of -- on the one hand, we know she's an originalist, but no we didn't discuss Roe, privacy, gay marriage, Kelo, etc. Someone's lying.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:15 PM   Permalink  

RNClife had a great line in their email to me:

The opportunity to replace Justice Sandra Day O’Connor should have resulted in a nominee who is to life what Ruth Bader Ginsburg is to abortion.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:46 PM   Permalink  

Amy Welborn has devoted some serious thought to the question of admitting homosexual persons to seminaries.

Same sex attraction is a disorder and represents a risk to the Church which should be manifest to anyone paying attention. Homosexual acts are 80% of the clergy sexual abuse of minors.

I have gone to school with and worked with homosexual persons all my life. There's no question in my mind that some are good Catholics and living a life of grace. I think they would, if the opportunity presented itself, to suppress what the Church teaches on human sexuality.

Many priests, and many bishops have revealed themselves to be homosexuals and have been working for years or even decades to undermine Church teaching on human sexuality. Even if they were not caught with their pants down, they were betraying the Church in their obligation to teach what the Church teaches by omission and artful distortion of the truth.

Persons afflicted with disorders such as addictions to gambling and drugs don't form networks to undermine the Church's teachings in these areas.

If there's a climate of fear in seminaries today, it's the fear of men committed to celibacy and chastity from other seminarians and people appointed above them to accept (or tolerate in others) the lifestyle choice of unchastity.

I am be alone in believing this but I believe at the heart of the crisis is the abuse of discretion -- given any loophole, any rationalization to permit an sexual abuser priest to have access to children -- the bishop's discretion invariably was against the accuser, the witness, the whistleblower, etc. and for a brother priest.

A rule that permits exceptions in the area of excluding homosexuals from seminaries means that in practical terms, no homosexual will be turned away. It's parallel to the so-called health exception in abortion which includes psychological health, for example, a self-diagnosis of anxiety in allowing the unborn child to continue to live. Such an exception has the real effect of not restricting any abortions.

To borrow Amy's term of witch hunt. I think the witch hunt will be for the seminarians naive or bold enough to hold to what the Church teaches.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:47 PM   Permalink  

I don't want Congress to be 535 lawyers. Congress needs some occupational diversity. But what about the Supreme Court?

"Even if he is mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren't they?" - Roman Hruska in defense of Harold Carswell on the charges that he was 'mediocre'. A Nixon nominee, Carswell was rejected by the Senate.

But first, let me do a little "Paul Harvey"-style aside. Justice Abe Fortas was forced to resign after it had been learned by he accepted cash from a businessman under investigation. Nixon nominees Clement Haynsworth and Harold Carswell were rejected by Senate. In exasperation he went for the safe but not well known Harry Blackmun -- who later went on to write the majority opinion in Roe v. Wade

Rather than being a man or woman of the people, I want a pilot's pilot, a surgeon's surgeon, a genius like Scalia or a near-genius like Thomas to craft the opinion that will reverse Roe and maybe Griswald as well.

God save this honorable court! God bless America!

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 7:48 PM   Permalink  

The Battle of Lepanto, October 7, 1571

A fresco from the wall of a chapel depicts the Battle of Lepanto, St-Etienne-de-Tinee, Cote D'Azur, France. (CORBIS)

434 years have passed. Yet this war is not over. The original dedication of the Church for this day was to Our Lady of Victory. Many churches carry this name as well as the name of the new dedication for this day to Our Lady of the Rosary.

Pope St. Pius V prayed the Rosary and believed through the intercession of the Blessed Mother, the Austrian (?) fleet under Don Juan (?) was victorius. (Austria's border's once include the Mediterrean Sea, the royal houses of Spain and Austria were allied at this time.)

It was also one of the greatest days of emancipation of slaves. This battle was the last to be fought primarily by oared ships. The Ottoman fleet had 15,000 Christian slaves. 10,000 of which were liberated after the battle.

The beginning of Lepanto by G.K. Chesterton

We call the enemy Al-Qaeda but what do they call themselves? During the Clinton administration and after the 1993 American humiliation in Mogadishu and the first bombing of the World Trade Center, bin Laden proclaimed in 1998 the Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders.

Before the takeover of the Iranian embassy in Teheran, who thought the 21st century's principal conflict would be rooted in the 16th century?

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 7:14 PM   Permalink  

I'm not a biologist. I only read books with sci-fi plots that involve some sort of world-ending plague.

Avian flu human transmission is the big one.

Pope John Paul II died from the flu. We can ask for his intercession that was don't face a pandemic as the world faced in Spanish flu pademic of 1918-1919.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:05 PM   Permalink  

If you are like me and wondered what happened to the prices of these stocks. Joshua wrote a Spam Stock Tracker to report on the stocks he was told about.

If I were writing a tracker like this I would automatically sell at gain or loss of 25%. I wonder how different the results would be for that.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:00 PM   Permalink  

EPS is educating lay Catholics for participation in the Church's life and mission through academic and spiritual programs.

Fr. Carleton Jones, O.P. is pastor of St. Vincent Ferrer Church at East 65th Street and Lexington Ave. I am fortunate to be one of his students this term.

The Gothic church is one of the most beautiful churches in New York City.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:47 PM   Permalink  

Maybe picking Miers wasn't a betrayal, but demanding that we take this all on faith was. (Yes, I'm taking that smirk on President Bush's face personally.)

Why should the conservative movement risk so much nowafter we have achieved victory?

This nomination should have been the sewing of the salt over the ruins of Carthage.

We can only hope that the next nomination, if we should be so blessed with be.

Does anyone know of an Evangelical Christian who isn't 100 percent behind Miers?

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:55 AM   Permalink  

The Bush would say "Trust Me" and conservatives would shout back "No".

Hannity and Limbaugh (and I) are really on the fence -- certainly wishing the this would not have happened -- but willing to listen to all sides.

I think the critical question (and I've not read this elsewhere) is which way is the obligation facing?

• Is Bush obligated to the conservative movement which elected him to keep his promise and appoint an originalist like Scalia or Thomas?
• Or is the conservative movement which elected him obligated to trust his judgment that his judgment of Miers is sufficient?

Only 2 justices are Democratic appointees: Breyer and Ginsberg.

Where are the 7-2 decisions -- which would reflect the values of the conservative movement? Elections out to mean something.

The Fight

An full-of-himself caller to Hannity thought himself clever to say "Isn't the best general the one who wins a war without firing a shot?".

The question was not answered directly on the show but I can answer it here. Sometimes, to win the war, the enemy has to be educated -- there can be no ambiguity as to who won the war and who lost.

Leaving behind Saddam after the first Gulf War was a tragedy. The coalition of 1991 ended a limited war without winning a peace.

Lincoln knew that a negotiated end to the Civil War would be the end of the United States, which is why he continued to pursue an unconditional surrender. The South had to be educated that they lost the war.

The best electable conservative since Reagan is in the White House, we have a solid House majority, and 55 Senate votes, if that's not enough when will there be enough on our side to fight?

This nomination should have been the fight because it's by no means certain that Bush will get a third nomination -- or that we will get the White House in 2008.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:10 PM   Permalink  

Lohan family drama : New York Daily News, Rush and Malloy

Lindsay Lohan poured her soul out in the video for "Confessions of a Broken Heart," shooting in Chelsea last week. At left, actors portraying Michael and Dina Lohan duked it out (note Mom's rosary). Lindsay's sister Ali got in on the action, clutching a teddy (and rosary). Finally, Linds (rosary in hand) had her say. The song is reportedly about the singer/actress' issues with her father.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:58 PM   Permalink  

William Bennett: What is there say about this other than the attacks on him are unfair?

He's accused of supporting something that he called morally reprehensible.

They play the tape without including that part.

Ellis Henican in Newsday has a particularly unfair spin on things.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:33 PM   Permalink  

Scott Libby gave her a wavier of source confidentiality in 2004.

Why wasn't that wavier good enough?

Scott Libby wrote on September 15, 2005, this is the same wavier you got last year. It's personal. It's uncoerced. She accepts the same wavier and now claims its a different wavier.

No one is buying that story.

Possible explanations:

• It was only a misunderstanding. Someone forgot to make or to return a phone call or email.
• She's got a source other than Libby for Plame-Wilson.
• She did the time in order to cut a deal for leaking to the Muslim group Global Relief Foundation that the FBI was about to raid them and thereby giving them time to destroy the records the FBI was seeking.
• She did the time for a resume enhancement. She figured she had enough and needed some rationalization to get out of jail.

All I know is that she and her lawyers have been lying.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:09 PM   Permalink  

As an over-the-hill 31 year old fashion model, one has to admire her ability to obtain valuable contracts from several fashion houses.

A supermodel who abuses drugs. That's a dog bites man story. What's really news here is that she was so out of it that she was photographed.

She's sorry she was caught. Does anyone think that she'd check into rehab if she wasn't photographed, or if the photos came out and she's wasn't dropped by H&M, Chanel, etc.?

I hope the rehab is successful. With the sort of money that she has earned, it's tragic that she can't be happy without using cocaine.

Perhaps that's a harsh judgment on my part, I've never been as rich as she is.

To make the point about how greed doesn't transform into happiness, I told the old joke: Money can't buy love, but it's a down payment.

Update: A writer at Slate: Kate Moss: The ironies of her downfall. extends this observation of hypocrisy to the entire industry.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:14 AM   Permalink