Calvin gets it right. . .

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

A postmodern version of Nero fiddling while Rome burns?  E.U. nannies ban children from blowing up balloons.  Europe is sliding into the abyss and E.U. bureaucrats are legislating who can and can't inflate a party favor.  

Lawyers who wrote memo arguing that B.O. has the authority to kill an American citizen w/o trial are the same lawyers who blasted Bush for doing the same thing. 

Hypocrisy Alert:  "Why Isn’t the Working Families Party Paying Its Employees a Living Wage?"  NB.  The WFP is one of the many lefty groups currently "occupying Wall St." 

Though not as prominent or loud as the Pelvic Dissidents, there is an increasingly worrisome rise in the number and volume of those who place Real Catholic Folk Heroes above the magisterium.

Occupy the Vatican?  Fordham "theologian" calls for protests against the Church.  I say, "Go For It!"  It's just the nail the Church needs to seal the coffin of the Professional Ecclesial Left.

“They expect everything, everything for free, nothing to pay."  Of course they do.  Making them pay for stuff does violence to their self-esteem.   Wards of the State don't pay.  Sheesh.

Coptic Christian martyrs in Egypt.  "Arab Spring" not such a great thing for Christ's own.

Another Episcopal parish escapes the suicidal destruction of the Anglican Communion.  Welcome!

Server's down. . .achhhkkkk. . .sunlight!!!

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Greatest American Catholic Intellectuals

The Georgian Institute at Benedictine College in KS posts a useful list:  "10 Greatest American Catholic Intellectuals."  I've added links to each for more information.

Orestes Brownson (1803–1876)

John Courtney Murray (1904-1967)

John Senior (1923-1999)
 
Avery Dulles (1918-2008)

James Schall (1928-)

Ralph McInerny (1929-2010)

Richard John Neuhaus (1936-2009)

Mary Anne Glendon (1938-)
 
George Weigel (1951-)

Robert P. George (1955-)

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Calling all nerdy Thomists. . .

I need a little help with a question about Aquinas' definition of truth in the Summa.

In my thesis I used what I thought was the definition of truth given by Thomas in the Summa: "Veritas logica est adaequatio intellectus et rei" (ST.I.21.2).  Because I had seen this definition quoted in Maritain, Lonergan, the Catholic Encyclopedia, and the recent Davies/Leftow translation of the Prima pars, and a couple of other places, I didn't check the Latin text of the Summa to verify it (mea culpa!).  

One of my inquisitors. . .ermmmm. . .I mean, examiners pointed out that this definition never appears in the Summa.  The problem is the addition of the word logica in the definition quoted above. 

Any ideas/suggestions/explanations out there about how the word logica got inserted into these sources?

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Coffee Bowl Browsing (OccupyHancAquam Edition)

OccupyWallStreet:  "anarchists for Big Government."  Heh.

On creating your own dragons to slay:  Challenge violent Islamic hegemony?  Too dangerous.  "Better to create a dragon that can only be slain with performance-art zombie metaphors.”

Occupiers & Tea Partiers:  "Scrape off the 31 different kinds of Marxist mold growing on the surface of the 99 Percenters, hose off the stench of urine, bong water, and failure, and you’ll find a complaint that many Tea Partiers can appreciate. . ."

Boston officials (all Dems) let Occupiers occupy their city w/o permits.  Not so much when the Tea Partiers were in town.

"Down with evil corporations," he wrote on his iPhone while balancing a Starbucks' venti latte on his Edie Bauer backpack.

Good morning!

Don't ask.   Just accept it and move on.

Hairy Captain Picard cradles a log.  No, seriously.

Rockin' goats.

She saw the whole thing!  And now she can't unsee it.

I can actually smell this picture.

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Editing as propaganda

Under the title, "Cops beating people up at occupy wall street," the blog masters of the protesters' site posts an interesting video:

What you don't see in the video above is what happened about few seconds before the cops start waling on people. Here's the unedited video:

Can you tell the difference?

Just in case: in the top vid we see Evil Corporate Stooges assaulting poor peace-loving citizens. In the unedited video we see these same peace-loving citizens counting down and then rushing the police en masse.

Wonder why the OccupyWallStreet folks edited out that part? Hmmmmm. . .




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DoneDOneDoNEdOnE!!!!!!

I passed.  One word:  "Hallelujah"





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Finished (almost)

Finished the first part of the license exam!

My topic:  the metaphysical constitution of finite being. 

 Piece of cake.  Finite cake, that is.

Tomorrow is the presentation and defense of the thesis and an exam on my topics outlines.

Then. . .(drumroll, please!). . .I.WILL.NEVER.HAVE.TO.TAKE.ANOTHER.TEST.IN.MY.LIFE.

Never.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

Palin isn't running. . .Deo gratis!  I like most of the things that make the Barracuda the whipping-girl of the MSM, but I can't imagine her as Prez.  I was cheering for the Fat Man. . .but he's out too.

R.I.P. Steve Jobs.  I remember the day in 1987 when Ole Miss got 50 Mac 512K's for our brand spanking new Writing Center--one of the first such centers in the U.S.  Unfortunately, we used our Mac's for Evil by teaching writing according to the Marxist theories of Pablo Freire.

A point by point response to the Occupy Wall St. demands.  His basic point is that these Rainbow-Unicorn delusionists utterly fail to understand human nature.  It looks to me like they want everyone in the U.S. to become subsidized full-time university undergrads majoring in Peace Studies. 

CCHD is still funding dubious lefty "community organizing" groups that explicitly oppose Catholic teaching.  Remember this when the plate comes around in November.

The Dallas Charter used as a tool of vengeance.  For all practical purposes, that's what it was designed to do.

The Mass is an infinitely malleable celebration designed by each succeeding generation of Catholics to satisfy contemporary needs. . .until we get it the way we want it then it's a fixed, unalterable text.

Ah, the ambitions of youth. . .

This is funny.  I don't know why.

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A few questions. . .

Lots of questions from y'all about the No-Philosophy-Doctorate-for-Fr-Philip News.  

Most of these questions are some version of:  where will you be assigned?  Don't know yet. Suggestions?

The next is:  what happened?  Nothing happened.  After reporting in to my Provincial and Regent and asking them for some clarification on my Roman Mission, they decided to call me home.  I think they miss me.  :-)

A couple of you asked whether or not I will get to teach philosophy.  Very likely.  There are a number of places where this could happen.  In fact, not doing the PhD probably makes it more likely that I will end up teaching philosophy somewhere.  Ph.L.'s are cheaper to hire than Ph.D.'s.

So, you're still gonna need all those philosophy books, uh?  Yup. 

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Coffee Bowl Browsing (Sorta-cranky Edition)

Heh.  Even their "revolutions" are market-tested, campaigned, and financed.  No wonder no one takes any of this leftist dribble seriously.

Their reality-challenged "demands."  It's about what you'd expect from a generation whose members were incubated as Wards of the State and graduated into the warm, comfy totalitarianism of the academic alter-verse.

A letter to the Brats in Manhattan:  "You know what [real working folks] don't worry about, ever? Smashing patriarchy and capitalism."

More on the dramatic decline in violent crime in Chicago after gun ban is ruled unconstitutional. 

Fast & Furious Lying:  Oh my, AG Holder lied to Congress about selling guns to Mexican drug cartels.  Gov't officials lying???  What's next?  Cheerleaders cheering?  Firefighters fighting fires?

Anti-Catholic Nannies in Canada fine a Catholic group for celebrating Mass.  It's the Frog in Boiler of Cold Water, folks.  Feel the water getting hotter.

Military archbishop rules out same-sex weddings at West Point's Catholic chapel.  Prediction:  some Pentagon bureaucrat is going to pull an arcane administrative rule out of his. . .ermmm. . .nose and close the chapel.

B.O. waives penalities against countries who use children as soldiers.  Still waiting for Leftist Outrage™.

First World Problems:  a fat tax in Denmark.

Pumpkin carving ideas. . .

Jim Jones' cult was a "social gospel" project.  The "Peoples' Temple" was actually a communist front.  Learn something new everyday. . .

LOTS of creepy Wikipages. . .

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Thanks. . .

Thanks to Jenny K. and D.J. for the Kindle Books!

I am well stocked for the months ahead.  Be assured of my prayers. . .

God bless, Fr. Philip, OP


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Arrivederci Roma!

I rec'd news yesterday morning that I am to finish the philosophy license and return to the U.S. for reassignment.

IOW, no philosophy Ph.D. for me. 

I wasn't expecting this bit of news at all.  There are a number of reasons for this change. . .let's just say that I am needed at home.

I am not at all unhappy about this change.  From the beginning I've been deeply ambivalent about starting another doctorate at 47 y.o. and about my ability and commitment to complete the work required.  I've been more or less a full-time student since 1982, and I am tired of taking exams, writing papers, etc. . . I know, I know:  Dominicans are always students. . .but Dominicans are not always enrolled as students in an academic institution. 

No word yet on where I will be assigned or what I will be doing.  Please pray for my provincial, Fr. Chris as he discerns our needs and how I can help meet them.

God bless, Fr. Philip

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On being cranky, flying monkeys, and mashed toes. . .

I've been in an uber-cranky mood all day. . .more on this later. . .

And then I saw this on facebook:

 And laughed so hard I smashed my toe on the underside of the desk. 

Not cranky anymore. . .but my toe hurts.


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Coffee BOWL Browsing

Headline you'll never see:  When He Was a Democrat, Perry Owned Ranch Named with a Racial Slur.  Yea, doesn't really fit the narrative.

TX Dems defend Perry.  Oddly, I never heard much about Perry one way or the other when I was in TX.  By design, TX's governor is relatively weak.

Don't visit this site if you think gov't is the solution to all of our problems.  

Looks like all those "Occupy _____" protests are really just fronts for public-sector unions. 

U.N. economist on Climate Change:  “One has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy.  This has almost nothing to do with environmental policy anymore. . .one must say clearly that we redistribute de facto the world’s wealth by climate policy.”

 

Pics and video of B.O. marching with black supremacist group, the New Black Panthers, in 2007.  Imagine Bush or Perry or Newt marching with the KKK. . .

Did Jesus die for the Klingons?  "Christians, in particular, might take the news [of the existence of extraterrestrial life] hardest, because the Christian belief system does not easily allow for other intelligent beings in the universe. . ."  This is nonsense.  There is nothing in Christian doctrine that precludes the existence of extraterrestrial life, or their inclusion in salvation history.

Hysterical predictions of local pols prove to be. . .well. . .hysterical.  Dramatic drop in Chicago's violent crime rate after the Supremes overturn the city's gun ban. 

Feds inflate census figures for same-sex couples by 160%.  Now, why would they do that?

May Catholic get piercings, tattoos, etc.?  Generally speaking, I think tattoos are a bad idea for Catholics.  This is not a hill I'm willing to die on.  Piercings--other than ear piercings--also strike me as a bad idea.  Not gonna die on this hill either.  Discuss.

Great story on America's only pontifical seminary:  the Josephinum.

The Procrastinator's Creed!  Nos. 4 and 11 are my personal favs.

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