A NY Times Op-Ed piece of Wednesday, March 25, is must reading. You can probably find it on line, as the Times has not yet proceeded with its tentative plan to charge for web access to at least some sections of its venerable and of late electronic pages.
Headlined, Dear AIG, I Quit ! the article is in fact a letter of resignation sent the day previous by Jake DeSantis, an Executive Vice President of AIG Financial Products, to the beleaguered firm's President, $1-a-year man Edward M Liddy.
Scrupulously fair, and giving credit to Mr Liddy and his selfless service as appropriate, but also hard-hitting, DeSantis lays out the case for the bonuses deserved by him and many of his colleagues who worked hard and brought profits to their firm. He also excoriates those vicious and even threatening attacks on those individuals - and outlines his and these colleagues' resentment over Mr Liddy's "failure to stand up for us in the face of unfair and untrue accusations" from media and elected officials.
We feel the only thing more regrettable than Mr Liddy's submitting himself to the intemperate and hypocritical cries of Congressmen in their ivory tower Committees (the same individuals who had obviously neither read the bill permitting the bonus payments nor heeded the several months of comment about bonuses that preceded it) is the nauseating self-righteousness of NY State's Attorney General, the ambitious Andrew Cuomo, (potential candidate to take on a very weak Governor in a primary challenge) whose posturing and revealing of names of bonus recipients endangered not only these men but their entirely-blameless families.
We also regret that Mr Obama did not immediately say that while he found the appearance of the bonuses odious (as he has the right and doubtless the obligation to do pace his friends and controllers on the left) that their sum is small potatoes, irrelevant to the solution of the financial crisis, a distraction for purely political purposes and an example of how government "oversight" of large enterprises in a supposedly free-market environment is anything but.
And these are the folks who now are telling GM and the rest of the auto manufacturers how to conduct their affairs...
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Sure-fire crowd pleaser: HOLIDAY HAM APPETIZERS
Recipe doubles or halves just fine - this is to show The Contrarian's promise of, occasionally if not more frequently, adverting to the good things of life amidst our catalogue of horrors !
HOLIDAY HAM APPETIZERS
1 ½ cups Bisquick
3/4 cup finely chopped ham
2 cups shredded cheddar
1/4 cup parmesan grated
1 tbs chopped parsley
1 tsp spicy mustard
1/3 - 1/2 cup milk
Mix all ingredients; shape into 1-inch balls.
Place 2 in apart on a lightly greased jellyroll pan.
Bake 20-25 minutes in preheated 350 degree oven.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
A lovely prayer by John Donne
Bring us, O Lord God, at our last awakening into the house and gate of heaven, to enter into that gate and dwell in that house, where there shall be no darkness nor dazzling, but one equal light; no noise nor silence, but one equal music; no fears nor hopes, but one equal possession; no ends nor beginnings, but one equal eternity: in the habitations of thy majesty and glory, world without end. Amen.
False Intimacy Demeans Presidential Office
Has anyone noticed the "new normal" whereby politicians - not to mention others in public life - feel constrained when cameras are whirring to greet their colleagues with a hug or even a kiss, gender-regardless ?
We feel it demeans both the office and society to have such intimate expressions of human feeling displayed for all and sundry, President Obama being the latest victim of this disease.
It demeans the office of President of The United States - arguably the most powerful position in the world - for either the President or his business visitors to embrace one another. It suggests a false intimacy that cannot cover the fact that POTUS has no equals. If Mr Obama wishes to embrace his real friends in private, that is entirely his business, of course. A handshake is the appropriate way to show mutual respect, and it is congenial for both sexes - especially, we would imagine, for men not yet "so comfortable with their bodies" as the modern rubric goes, that they really wish to hug anyone in public except their wives and children (maybe sisters, cousins and aunts, too, if they are liberal or hip enough to feel so inclined !)
Routine hugging in public - by President or peon - also demeans the special nature of intimacy. We embrace those whom we truly love and have long known. In so doing, we are sharing a part of human nature that Christ gave us, Love. We are affirming that we stand with them in a special relationship. Fling this special sign around with random abandon (as well-intentioned but naive churches inflict on their attendees in a most horrid fashion at the mis-named "passing of the peace" - better called "gassing at Mass") and you cheapen the depth and mystery of the most special human bonds.
Happily, whatever his other faults, this horror of the modern age does not appear to have infected Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
We feel it demeans both the office and society to have such intimate expressions of human feeling displayed for all and sundry, President Obama being the latest victim of this disease.
It demeans the office of President of The United States - arguably the most powerful position in the world - for either the President or his business visitors to embrace one another. It suggests a false intimacy that cannot cover the fact that POTUS has no equals. If Mr Obama wishes to embrace his real friends in private, that is entirely his business, of course. A handshake is the appropriate way to show mutual respect, and it is congenial for both sexes - especially, we would imagine, for men not yet "so comfortable with their bodies" as the modern rubric goes, that they really wish to hug anyone in public except their wives and children (maybe sisters, cousins and aunts, too, if they are liberal or hip enough to feel so inclined !)
Routine hugging in public - by President or peon - also demeans the special nature of intimacy. We embrace those whom we truly love and have long known. In so doing, we are sharing a part of human nature that Christ gave us, Love. We are affirming that we stand with them in a special relationship. Fling this special sign around with random abandon (as well-intentioned but naive churches inflict on their attendees in a most horrid fashion at the mis-named "passing of the peace" - better called "gassing at Mass") and you cheapen the depth and mystery of the most special human bonds.
Happily, whatever his other faults, this horror of the modern age does not appear to have infected Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Example of Anglican Lunacy
What sort of an Anglican Bishop - presuming that a Bishop has control over or concern for his priests - a big if, unless of course they are conservative priests who the Bishop will try to bully - would tolerate one of his parish priests mounting a highly indiscreet blog in which inter alia he calls himself a"ninja priest," informs his long-suffering audience that he shares his birthday with Kafka, Tom Cruise and Giraldo Rivera (and modestly allows that "he exhibits the best qualities of all of them"), trumpets his sagacity in running his parish, exults the political left and goes on at length about his hobbies and interests not to mention whatever catches his eye in the media or on the web ?
Time was that priests followed the dictates of the BCP ordinal, which charges them "to forsake and set aside...all worldy cares and studies" and to "apply yourselves wholly to this one thing, and draw all your cares and studies this one way." A tall order, to be sure, and one reason (of many) that we would not be a good priest.
Time was, that Bishops prevented priests from this sort of tedious behaviour.
Times was, the Wardens of the parish served by such a priest would quickly make clear this distracting diary of dilation upon distressing drivel was a no-go.
What the priest might have asked himself is - are my electronic words consistent with the office and dignity of my order ? and of my Master ?
Sad thing: the priest is doubtless sincere, well-intentioned, a good Christian, concerned for his people and not at all devoid of talent.
But people are voting in droves with their feet, and abandoning ecc. Ang. on this Continent, precisely because of their beloved Church's seeming to abandon its principal mission and emphasis on things numinous and metaphysical and holy in favour of the things of this world.
Time was that priests followed the dictates of the BCP ordinal, which charges them "to forsake and set aside...all worldy cares and studies" and to "apply yourselves wholly to this one thing, and draw all your cares and studies this one way." A tall order, to be sure, and one reason (of many) that we would not be a good priest.
Time was, that Bishops prevented priests from this sort of tedious behaviour.
Times was, the Wardens of the parish served by such a priest would quickly make clear this distracting diary of dilation upon distressing drivel was a no-go.
What the priest might have asked himself is - are my electronic words consistent with the office and dignity of my order ? and of my Master ?
Sad thing: the priest is doubtless sincere, well-intentioned, a good Christian, concerned for his people and not at all devoid of talent.
But people are voting in droves with their feet, and abandoning ecc. Ang. on this Continent, precisely because of their beloved Church's seeming to abandon its principal mission and emphasis on things numinous and metaphysical and holy in favour of the things of this world.
INTRODUCTION
Those of you who know Matthew Arnold's great poem Dover Beach will need little explanation as to the purpose of this Blog: the cataloguing of and comment upon the horrors of the present age, especially as they relate to the Church, politics and anything else which catches the eye and engages the brain.
In the closing lines of this work, a lament for the melancholy, long, withdrawing roar caused by the retreat of the Sea of Faith which he recalls was once too at the full, the catastrophe of which he believes can only be overcome, albeit partly, if we love and are true to one another, Arnold writes:
And we are here as on a darkling plain,
Swept by confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
In the closing lines of this work, a lament for the melancholy, long, withdrawing roar caused by the retreat of the Sea of Faith which he recalls was once too at the full, the catastrophe of which he believes can only be overcome, albeit partly, if we love and are true to one another, Arnold writes:
And we are here as on a darkling plain,
Swept by confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
Some of the foci and ferocity of this Blog will include -
- the insanity of the Nanny State, including the supine attitude of many towards its rapacious destruction of individual freedom
- the self-destruction of the Anglican Communion, particularly the Anglican Church of Canada and the Episcopal Church of the United States, caused by a combination of heretic bishops, synodical governance, wishy-washy priests, the split of the Anglo-Catholic wing thereof, the substitution of "green" for "God" and the seduction of the Church by the left
- the tyranny of touchy-feeliness in casual inter-personal relationships
But we shall not be altogether negative. Our loves and plaudits to be explored will include -
- great restaurants, good cooking and allied pleasures of the flesh including Las Vegas
- magnificent personalities who stand up against the received wisdom of the day
- books and music we enjoy
- priests and parishes who resist the influences described above
Your civilized contributions to discussions of these and related topics are welcome.
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