Why Obama will win and how our political future could look

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNW0btkUumo
  
  
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKsoXHYICqU

For the record

• David Freddoso, "Life with Obama: Abortion champion" (National Review, August 13, 2008).
  
  
• Fr. John F. Kavanaugh, "Dear Senator Obama" (America magazine, August 18, 2008):

  I am writing this open letter to you, Senator, on the outside chance that one of your National Catholic Advisory Council members might read America and pass it on to you.
  
  You have an abortion problem, especially with pro-life Catholics who would like to vote for you—something to keep in mind when you ponder the fact that there has been up to a 15 percent rise in Catholics voting Republican in the past two elections.
  
  Catholic voters do not think monolithically. That should come as no surprise to you, since you have many Senate colleagues with a Catholic background who have supported every bill insuring a “woman’s right to choose.” But if you are interested in the respectful hearing of opposing positions, as you often note, it will be valuable for you to have serious conversations with groups like Democrats for Life of America and Feminists for Life.

  Of course, some Catholics do think monolithically, and the ONLY issue keeping them from voting for Sen. Obama is his outspokenly pro-abortion stance. But as we've argued since early in his campaign, there are many other issues besides abortion that make Sen. Obama's candidacy problematic for us, not the least of which are his positions on fundamental constitutional issues. But abortion certainly is one of the most fundamental issues by which to measure a candidate's orientation and values.

Without comment

Baal worship in Los Angeles?

Pagan? Definitely. Christian? Implausibly. Catholic? In whose overheated imagination? This, my friends, is the Liturgy of the Word from the 2008 LA Religious Education Congress Mass, presided over -- if you can find him -- by the irrepressible Roger Michael Cardinal Mahony.

If I squinted really hard, and maybe dropped acid, I suppose I could imagine some sort distal relationship to an etiolated Christianity here somewhere -- perhaps like Israel's worship of the Golden Calf beneath Mt. Sinai could be seen as having a distal relationship to her broken covenant with Jehovah. But as I watch this video, I keep looking for a Golden Calf to appear somewhere. I keep expecting a sacrificial virgin to be carried out and place on the altar and prepared for human sacrifice. And I keep asking myself: is there anything in these precincts beside the gaggle of usual suspects in liturgical vestments among the dancing nymphs that is remotely reminiscent of Catholicism here?

Is this the future of Catholic liturgy, the Source and Summit of our lives, of which the liturgical arthitects of Vatican II desired us to drink deeply for our spiritual sustenance? Vade retro Satana! Nunquam suade mihi vana. Sunt mala quae libas. Ipse venena libas.

Pax.

[Hat tip to N.B.]

Venerable John Henry Newman, Pray for us!

The Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman (February 21, 1801 - August 11, 1890)

Summer travels, liturgical thoughts

The connection, of course, is inevitable. You go on vacation. You travel over the summer. You visit your parents or in-laws. You go to Mass. You come away, as Martin Mosebach says, a theatre critic.

Our last two Sundays were in familiar Novus Ordo territory -- in North Carolina and Iowa. Neither venues evidenced what anyone present would have likely called egregious liturgical abuse. Attitudes were generally in line with the generally accepted practices of AmChurch parishes across the country.
For example, in one parish, the hymns at the Vigil Mass were from the Glory and Praise book and led by the "Contemporary Choir," which did and outstanding job as such music goes. The choir was situated to the left side of the altar, partially elevated, partially on the altar, partially off, facing the congregation. Some of the female singers were particularly attractive and almost self-consciously so, with what one might almost call celebrity-style hairdos and clothing. Furthermore, in the exceptionally lively recessional number, which was accompanied with bongos, one of them actually began dancing movements with her arms, occasionally laughing with the young lady next to her.

The priest, widely respected among the conservative parishioners for solid homilies, gave a good sermon, and celebrated the Mass with exacting precision according to the rubrics, facing the congregation. After the Mass, before offering the final blessing, he thanked the choir for its exceptional work and called for a round of public applause in a gesture of appreciation for its hard work and excellent performance.

Yet as I thought about all of this, something occurred to me -- something that I still haven't through through entirely, but something I'm increasingly sure is true. The intentions behind turning the priest around to face the congregation, to audibly communicate the Eucharistic Prayers in the vernacular so they can be understood by everyone, to stand the choir up front to face the congregation and to involve the congregation by way of "active participation" as much as possible in the worship may have all been good in one way or another. Yet there have been all sorts of unintended effects which have been anything but edifying -- and probably directly contrary to their ostensibly intended effects.

This is not the place for me to go into details. I will do this in time. This is the place only for me to testify to my own experience of what I have witnessed and ask for your own responses as well.

I have just come from a Monday evening low Mass of the Extraordinary Form, followed by Benediction, the singing of St. Thomas's two Eucharistic hymns, the devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help, and the recessional hymn, Adoremus in Aeternum. I have come to appreciate these Monday evening Masses in a particularly personal way. There is a depth there that I cannot find elsewhere. I do not go there to hold hands with anyone, to watch any self-appointed diva bray at me from a mike, or lead me in a hip-swaying, hand-clapping attempt to relate to Paris Hilton or Hannah Montana, or to hear a priest's opinion about this or that sporting event. Forgive me if this offends any of you, but I go to Church to meet God, not to meet you.

The emphasis today, however, seems to be entirely on the other foot: Church is where one goes to be welcomed into a Community of glad-handing, rubber-necking, incessantly talking social butterflies. One is never quite sure where God is, if He is there at all. Although it's hard to fault the motives of those who wish to emphasise putting on a welcoming face on Catholic parishes, it's just as hard to see where such horizontalism will end when left unchecked.

One of my sons sent me several video clips from the 27th Annual Catholic Youth Celebration held at the Gulf Coast Convention Center (March 12-14, 2004), which are instructive in this regard:

• Father Tony Ricard Makes a Grand Entrance
  
  
• Bishop Rodi is in the House (former Bishop of Biloxi, now Archbishop Rodi of Mobile, AL)
  
  
• Procession of Banners

The degree of the pathology is proportional to the extent that the events represented in these video clips will strike many readers as singularly unexceptional -- almost as when Peter Kreeft's students at Boston College were assigned Christopher Derrick's Sex and Sacredness, and had little trouble understanding sex but were, according to Kreeft, uncomprehending about the meaning of sacredness.

I would only ask: where is one's attention drawn in these respective Masses? Is it drawn to Christ? An attractive woman's dancing movements? A goofy dancing priest (in the video clip)? One's need for repentance and reparation? One's desire to fit in? One's desire to impress others? Is God elevated? Is the priest? Is the bishop? Is the congregation? When I see a priest trying to give something holy like the Catholic religion a value-added "hipness" by dancing with a bunch of teenagers (like this one in the video), he just looks like a pathetic middle-aged man trying very hard to look unpriestly -- like John Belushi in Blues Brothers -- and I think the very secular sorts of images and music being engaged would very well without him, because he sticks out like a sore thumb. This, too, seems to be the pattern with many contemporary Masses.

Home again

The Gingerich clan, my mother's side of the family, is a lively bunch -- everything from medical physicians and entrepreneurs in Canada to adventurers of the sort I idolized as a youngster: pilots, cowboys and motor cycle riders in Idaho who broke horses, traveled to Africa, S. America, up the Amazon to Manaus, drover their motorcycles to Panama and Alaska and back, and enjoyed trying to blow things up as kids and should have been dead several times over at age 20. My cousins' dad, furthermore, wasn't the kind of dad who dampened their enthusiasm, but would say, why don't you try and see if it wouldn't work better like this? Insane. And of course we loved it.

Off to Iowa again

This time for a family reunion -- happy occasion. St. Christopher, pray for us. St. Joseph, pray for us. Lord willing, back Sunday night.

Opus Dei in Diocese of Charlotte

On 5-6 September at St. Ann in Charlotte, Opus Dei is offering a day of recollection, one for men on the 5th, another for women on the 6th. For more information, please contact Remy Ignacio at (704)752-7155; E-mail Address: joremy.ignacio@gmail.com

[Hat tip to S.C.]

Yes we can? Slack off for Prez?

Laura Ingram, "PROFESSOR OBAMA, SLACKER" (Laura's Daily Blast, July 30, 2008):

The New York Times reports today that in the 12 years Sen. Barack Obama spent teaching at the University of Chicago Law School, he never completed a single work of legal scholarship! Richard Epstein, a former Obama colleague and one of the most influential legal scholars alive, observed that "His entire life, as best I can tell, is one in which he's always been a thoughtful listener and questioner, but he's never stepped up to the plate and taken full swings." Could it be that the candidate of Hope! and Change! was concerned the content of his writing might come back to haunt him later in his political career? Or maybe he was too busy running five political races during his twelve years there? Most likely, it was both: Obama spent every moment scheming plots for higher office.

[Hat tip to C. Binder-Scapone]

Pelosi: morality of abortion a "regional" issue

"Pelosi Says Her Church Has Not Denied Her Communion For Supporting Abortion Rights" (Medical News Today, August 5, 2008).

Interviewed on C-SPAN on Sunday (August 5, 2008) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was asked about other pro-abortion politicians like Senator John Kerry and Mayor Rudy Giuliani who have come under fire for being pro-abortion Catholics.

Pelosi said the Catholic officials in San Francisco, where her House district is located, have not given her flack for strongly supporting abortion.

"'I think some of it is regional' she said. 'It depends on the bishop of a certain region and fortunately for me, communion has not been withheld and I'm a regular communicant and so that would be a severe blow to me if that were the case.'"

[Hat tip to A.S.]

Summorum Pontificum, a year later

Remnant columnist Brian Mershon recently published this informative interview with Fr. John Berg, the Superior General of the Priestly Fratenity of St. Peter (FSSP): "Summorum Pontificum One Year Later":

In conjunction with Michael Matt’s exclusive report from the priestly ordinations performed May 30 by Darío Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos for the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) in the Cathedral of Lincoln, Neb., The Remnant provides this exclusive interview with Fr. John Berg, Superior General of the FSSP.

Fr. Berg outlines the current growth in apostolates for the FSSP both in the U.S. and worldwide, along with his impressions of the deeper significance behind the recent ordinations by high-ranking members of the Roman curia.

He also provides an update on the FSSP’s role in assisting with the education of diocesan and religious priests wishing to learn the Traditional Roman rite. In addition, Fr. Berg touches on some controversial issues regarding concelebration and the “cross-pollination” of the two forms of the Roman rite.

B. Mershon: With Cardinal Castrillón and Archbishop Ranjith performing priestly and diaconate ordinations in Lincoln, Nebraska, and in Wigratzbad, Germany, do you believe this is a significant sign from the Holy See in light of the heightened attention given to the Traditional Latin Mass and sacraments since the promulgation of Summorum Pontificum?

Fr. Berg: Sure. I think there is overall a kind of greater acceptance. We also have Cardinal Rode, who is the head of the Congregation for the Religious, who performed ordinations in Wigratzbad on the 28th of June.

So, yes, I have found the Roman curia has had much more openness to coming and doing ordinations and in offering the extraordinary form in general.

But Cardinal Hoyos did come one time before to do them for us in Wigratzbad, I think 2 or 3 years ago. He has also done them for a couple other groups; for instance, for the Institute of the Good Shepherd and the Institute of St. Phillip Neri.

He has been quite active since becoming head of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei to get around and do a lot of traditional Masses.

B. Mershon: Has this been the first time that someone like Cardinal Castrillón has come to the United States specifically to perform traditional ordinations?

Fr. Berg: Yes. This is the first time that anyone has come to the United States to do them.

B. Mershon: Summorum Pontificum one year later… What is your assessment so far? Has it been primarily beneficial or have the results been mixed?

Fr. Berg: That is a good question. I would say that overall it has been positive but that it varies greatly depending upon the area of where it is in the United States and in North America. It has been very well received in certain parts of Europe; Italy, for example, at least in certain places. Although I do know a number of other countries have been less receptive. I think there has been an application of it that has been very limited—like just applying it on a Sunday here and there, and not giving much more than that.

So there has been [a positive response], obviously, in those countries where there has been a greater increase in Masses. And I think if you look at just the sheer numbers, it looks pretty good in a lot of areas where it has increased, it looks pretty good for the availability of a Sunday Mass. But when you factor in the ability of priests to do other work [aligned with Summorum Pontificum] that a priest has to do within the diocese, sometimes those results are not nearly as good. And then you kind of evaluate if there is a stable presence and how it has really grown in those situations where it is just allowed on Sunday, it is difficult to see how—unless it really is presented in a positive manner or unless the priest really wants to do it—it will be sustained and how it will continue to grow.

So it’s pretty mixed—at least at the level of where it has been allowed for the Mass to take place within the diocese.

But then again, to really ascertain the fruits of the motu proprio after only one year, I suppose we must consider the different ways of measuring it—to find out whether it has been positive or negative thus far. One of the ways is certainly simply to add up the number of new Sunday Masses. Another way is to look at places where it has really become accepted and where it has really become a part of the parish life, like in places where a chaplaincy or a new apostolate has been set up, for example.

And there is another way of looking at it. That is by looking at the number of priests who offer the Ordinary form on a regular basis but who now have begun to say the Extraordinary form.

And a third way to evaluate it would be with priests who have gone around to different places. I think one of the reactions of our priests has been about how much easier it has been and how much more welcome they are when they go to different pilgrimage sites or different churches to celebrate the Mass in different countries wherever they might be. The fact they offer the Mass [extraordinary form] isn’t such a strange thing anymore.

Certainly, I think the acceptance among the number of priests who ordinarily offer the new rite has been really well received in that way based on the numbers.

B. Mershon: One example is that Fr. Robert Ferguson, professor at the FSSP’s seminary in Denton, Neb., has conducted training sessions both for Raleigh and Charlotte dioceses where he has educated 20 or more priests in the Traditional liturgy. Are there other examples where the Fraternity has been called upon?

Fr. Berg: I know we did a session in New Orleans. And we did one in Lafayette, as well. We also did one in Scranton.

It has been a question for us going into this next year whether we may have a priest next year dedicated to doing this training exclusively or not. We’re a little bit stretched as far as the number of priests and the resources that we have.

I know that about 100 have been trained at our sessions in Denton [home of the FSSP seminary near Lincoln, Neb.]. There have been a good number of invites from bishops. A lot of those have been priest study days, which are only one- or two-day sessions. They recognize we’re not going to do the full training, but it provides the spirit of things and gives the foundation for them to continue their study.

B. Mershon: So based upon your growth and the challenges of priestly resources, do you foresee the FSSP continuing to do this training in the future?

Fr. Berg: We will certainly continue the sessions at the seminary. But I don’t think we’ll do it as much elsewhere, just due to the number of priests it requires and the additional demands we’ve had from other new dioceses. We’re going to try to place those priests in new apostolates we’re going to be opening up this summer.

B. Mershon: There has been much said about the so-called potential “gravitational pull” and “cross-pollination” of the two forms of the one Roman rite. With the new Good Friday prayer, the allowance of vernacular readings (even without the corresponding Latin text being read by the priest) and other rumored changes such as new prefaces, it seems the pull has thus far only been in one direction—from the Novus Ordo into the Traditional Latin Mass.

Is this accurate and will the pull also occur in the other direction? For instance—Cardinal Medina once mentioned the possibility of the use of the Traditional offertory as an option for the Novus Ordo? What about the elimination of communion in the hand? Communion under both species? Altar girls? The habitual abuse of extraordinary ministers on a weekly basis when administering Holy Communion?

Fr. Berg: I think that the old rite is certainly held up as a standard in that it has fixed norms. It doesn’t have a lot of options, so it is easier to hold it up as a standard in a certain way. I think the new rite could have some of those introduced.

If you go back and read Summorum Pontificum, I don’t think it was the intention of the Holy Father nor was it spelled out as to the meaning of mutual enrichment in either of the rites. I think we also could to some extent be slipping into a “spirit of Summorum Pontificum” similar to “the spirit of Vatican II” by taking liberties and making certain changes with regard to the rubrics in one direction or the other as something that was allowed or was intended or even the “vision” of the Holy Father.

Some liturgical “experts” like to think that this whole thing is ultimately about creating one rite way down the road. But I think that if you understand that one of the primary principles of the liturgy is to be subservient to the liturgy—not that it is something that is your own, but you being obedient to the liturgy and to the prayer of the Church, not your individual prayers, but the prayer of the Church.

What that involves is following the rubrics and the guidelines as they are written. So I think it would be disastrous if anyone were to take it upon himself, as you have already mentioned, to think they are going to take the first steps to move these two forms of the rite together.

Of course the document itself clearly says that the vernacular can be used in the readings, but just because that is allowed does not mean it is required or that there are a host of other things in the document that allow other changes.

B. Mershon: To be fair, in some places over the past 40 years and even prior to the Second Vatican Council, the lesson and Gospel were both read in the vernacular, right?

Fr. Berg: In both France and Germany, it was a completely standard practice prior to 1962.

B. Mershon: Because Latin is the norm for the liturgical language of the Latin Church, even if the readings are in the vernacular, doesn’t it make perfect sense to have the priest say the prayers in Latin simultaneously, or even better, have him read them from the ambo in the vernacular (outside of the liturgy) during the sermon? And a related question, since the ideal liturgy is the Solemn High Mass, or at least the Missa Cantata, it certainly makes sense for the readings to be sung in Latin, right?

Fr. Berg: True. To me, that goes back to jumping on that clause of the motu proprio. As far as the Fraternity of St. Peter goes, the general norm in those places where we have been serving in English-speaking countries for 20 years is to pray the readings at the outset in Latin and then to read them in the vernacular prior to the sermon.

I think you have to be careful of falling into that tendency, which has been very prevalent in the liturgy for the past 30 years, where priests come into a church and think they know what the faithful need, or they know what they want.

For me personally, I went to Thomas Aquinas College and that was the first time I ever experienced the liturgy in Latin. And after that, I started to go to the Mass in Latin.

So I think it would be a real mistake to think that just because the readings are read in Latin, they are less followed or somehow more difficult to follow. My personal experience both as a pastor at a church in California and attending the Mass as a layman, is that even children before their first Communion can quite easily follow along from a hand missal.

I think it is a mistake to just walk in and think, “Oh this group is not used to the Latin Mass, so we should do the readings in the vernacular.” I just don’t think that is necessarily true—that you’re going to get a greater following of the Gospel texts.

B. Mershon: There has been much discussion, both online and elsewhere, on the issue of the so-called second (or third) Confiteor prayed by the altar boys prior to Holy Communion. Some have even gone so far to state that the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei has disallowed its use. How do you respond, and what has been the FSSP’s practice in this regard?

Fr. Berg: While I certainly think that the internet and the blogging world is a good source of information, I think it would be a real mistake to think that the Commission is going to hand down decisions on liturgical practice through blogs X, Y or Z. It is an abnormal world that we live in when we think that Rome is going to speak officially through internet blogmasters.

If the Commission wants to make a statement on this question, then it will. Maybe that will be part of this Instruction document that has been promised; but, then again, that will happen on the date of publication. Until that time, as far as we understand and what we have received from the Commission from the beginning, including conversations with the Cardinal, we have been told to keep the practice as we have found it in the places we serve. So when it comes to the second Confiteor, we have a mixed usage within the Fraternity in the United States, depending upon what the communities had as a regular practice before we arrived.

There is no use to rock the boat one way or the other. So, yes, to a certain degree, it varies by country and it varies much more in North America and England and in English-speaking countries. We keep the practice as it is [and will continue to do so] unless or until the time of further clarification.

One example: The Commission brought Campos and Msgr. Rifan back into full communion in the Church and the second Confiteor is used there. They didn’t ask for any kind of change within the liturgical practice there.

I think that some may be getting a little ahead of themselves.

B. Mershon: How do you respond to priests or bishops who still question the FSSP priests regarding concelebration of the Novus Ordo at the annual Chrism Mass with the bishop? Some bishops in the past have used this as a sort of test. Do you have examples of how this has been handled with the FSSP in various dioceses?

Fr. Berg: One, I think this is kind of before my time, by and large. During the time I have been doing this, I haven’t run into any bishops who have made it a sine qua non in order to come into the diocese. Again, if we look back at the liturgical changes and we see that for 1,000 years this [concelebration] didn’t take place, ecclesial unity was obviously achieved through other elements.

So I think there is a seeking of those elements of unity for communion with other priests and the bishop and the faithful in the diocese that runs much deeper than one annual liturgical action. It hasn’t been set up as a sine qua non.

My response to the bishop is that I have been given this responsibility and put in this position to govern and not to legislate, and I must do what the Holy See has asked me to do with what the Fraternity is able and allowed to do within the diocese.

B. Mershon: So in your tenure thus far, you haven’t had any bishops categorically state that your priests must concelebrate or you aren’t going to be allowed in our diocese?

Fr. Berg: No, I haven’t had that happen in any country.

B. Mershon: Do you have any final thoughts or comments?

Fr. Berg: I think that with regard with the motu proprio, one of the things that it has made us do is to refocus on our own priests and on our own constitutions. Therein it is stated that in addition to doing parish work, we will be at the service of other priests and this includes the training of other priests—whether it is a matter of training seminarians in the seminary or holding retreats and inviting priests and seminarians into Fraternity houses for theological discussions or if they want to learn the Mass.

So the motu proprio has certainly provided us the opportunity to do some things which really are part of our overall mission, especially this priest training and especially that which we provide at the seminary. I think it really runs much deeper than simply saying to the priests that come to us: “You move your left foot. You move your right foot. You put your hand here. You put your hand there.”

Our task is to give him a more profound reading of the rubrics and everything else that comes with it and what lies underneath it—the spirituality of the Mass—the sacred priesthood and its relationship to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

That I believe has been a real opportunity and now we have followed that up with a DVD that was just completed recently. It has given a new scope to what we’re trying to do to benefit the Church, not just being in each diocese where there is a need, but inviting those priests and helping those dioceses serve the needs of the faithful.

And frankly, we enjoy helping serve the needs of the priests even if they are going to be saying this rite just privately on a regular basis.

[Hat tip to B.M.]

Detroit's mayor jailed

"I will never quit on you ..." -- Kwame Kilpatrick

"What do we have to do to get you to quit?" -- Detroit

Sowell: Iran makes election a no brainer

Iranian Secret Missile Launch

(Image from dbtechno.com)
I hate confrontation and saber rattling. I like diplomacy and civility. Yet as a confirmed student of history, I'm also convinced that the surest route to the brutality and hell of war is the easy recoil and capitulation of appeasement. Even as a parent, however, I know that strategy is doomed to failure. Why should I think it would work among the school yard bullies or amidst the internecine squabbling of nations? As counterintuitive as it may seem, the most tried and true path to a just and lasting peace in the world has often been a hard line backed by a strong and sure defense. Whatever lies ahead in our geopolitical future, one thing is certain: Israel is not going to stand idly by and watch Iran build thermal-nuclear weapons. Israel took out Iraq's nuclear reactor outside of Bagdad in 1981, and it is likely preparing to take similar steps in Iran, despite alarmingly elevated stakes, if negotiations fail. The following analysis by the African-American libertarian analyst, Thomas Sowell, offers some sobering details for consideration amidst the TV/YouTube celebrity contest of our current election campaign:

Now that the two parties have finally selected their presidential candidates, it is time for a sober-- if not grim-- assessment of where we are.

Not since 1972 have we been presented with two such painfully inadequate candidates. When election day came that year, I could not bring myself to vote for either George McGovern or Richard Nixon. I stayed home.

This year, none of us has that luxury. While all sorts of gushing is going on in the media, and posturing is going on in politics, the biggest national sponsor of terrorism in the world-- Iran-- is moving step by step toward building a nuclear bomb.

The point when they get that bomb will be the point of no return. Iran's nuclear bomb will be the terrorists' nuclear bomb-- and they can make 9/11 look like child's play.

All the options that are on the table right now will be swept off the table forever. Our choices will be to give in to whatever the terrorists demand-- however outrageous those demands might be-- or to risk seeing American cities start disappearing in radioactive mushroom clouds.

All the things we are preoccupied with today, from the price of gasoline to health care to global warming, will suddenly no longer matter.

Just as the Nazis did not find it enough to simply kill people in their concentration camps, but had to humiliate and dehumanize them first, so we can expect terrorists with nuclear weapons to both humiliate us and force us to humiliate ourselves, before they finally start killing us.

They have already telegraphed their punches with their sadistic beheadings of innocent civilians, and with the popularity of videotapes of those beheadings in the Middle East.

They have already telegraphed their intention to dictate to us with such things as Osama bin Laden's threats to target those places in America that did not vote the way he prescribed in the 2004 elections. He could not back up those threats then but he may be able to in a very few years.

The terrorists have given us as clear a picture of what they are all about as Adolf Hitler and the Nazis did during the 1930s-- and our "leaders" and intelligentsia have ignored the warning signs as resolutely as the "leaders" and intelligentsia of the 1930s downplayed the dangers of Hitler.

We are much like people drifting down the Niagara River, oblivious to the waterfalls up ahead. Once we go over those falls, we cannot come back up again.

What does this have to do with today's presidential candidates? It has everything to do with them.

One of these candidates will determine what we are going to do to stop Iran from going nuclear-- or whether we are going to do anything other than talk, as Western leaders talked in the 1930s.

There is one big difference between now and the 1930s. Although the West's lack of military preparedness and its political irresolution led to three solid years of devastating losses to Nazi Germany and imperial Japan, nevertheless when all the West's industrial and military forces were finally mobilized, the democracies were able to turn the tide and win decisively.

But you cannot lose a nuclear war for three years and then come back. You cannot even sustain the will to resist for three years when you are first broken down morally by threats and then devastated by nuclear bombs.

Our one window of opportunity to prevent this will occur within the term of whoever becomes President of the United States next January.

At a time like this, we do not have the luxury of waiting for our ideal candidate or of indulging our emotions by voting for some third party candidate to show our displeasure-- at the cost of putting someone in the White House who is not up to the job.

Senator John McCain has been criticized in this column many times. But, when all is said and done, Senator McCain has not spent decades aiding and abetting people who hate America.

On the contrary, he has paid a huge price for resisting our enemies, even when they held him prisoner and tortured him. The choice between him and Barack Obama should be a no-brainer.

Thomas Sowell, "Obama and McCain and Iran" (Real Clear Politics, June 5, 2008).

[Hat tip to C. Binder-Scapone]

Theodore Plantinga -- 1947-2008

I take note of the passing of the philosopher, Theodore Plantinga (not to be confused with Notre Dame's Reformed philosopher, Alvin Plantinga), not only because of his particular contributions to the field of Dilthey studies and historical philosophy from his perspective as a Reformed Christian, but because of his personal assistance to me in my days as a doctoral student in helping me formulate my dissertation topic in such a way that it brought together my interest then in the Dutch Reformed phenomenologist, Herman Dooyeweerd, with parallel strands in the German phenomenological tradition adjacent to that of Dietrich von Hildebrand and Karol Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II) in Max Scheler and the critique he leveled against the classical ethical formalism of Immanuel Kant. The yield of this line of advice, years later, was my publication of Scheler's Critique Of Kant's Ethics, Continental Thought Series, V. 22 (Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 1995).

I never got to know Plantinga well, although I did read several of his books and articles, through which I gained considerable appreciation for his perspective and depth of analysis.

Here, in part, is how his university memorial reads under News and Events, "In Memoriam Professor Theodore Plantinga" (Redeemer University, Ancaster, Ontario, July 5, 2008):

It is with deep sadness that Redeemer University College announces the death of Dr. Theodore Plantinga, Professor and Chair of the Philosophy Department. Dr. Plantinga died peacefully at his home in Dundas on the evening of July 4, 2008 . Visitation will be held in St. James Anglican Church from 6:30 – 8:30 Tuesday evening (137 Melville, Dundas), and a memorial service will be held there on Wednesday at 1 pm.

Theo Plantinga was born in 1947 in Ee, Friesland , the Netherlands . His family emigrated to Canada when he was four, settling in Winnipeg , where he attended elementary and secondary schools. He went to university at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan , where he received a B.A. in philosophy in 1969. He subsequently completed a Masters degree, and a Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of Toronto (1975). His doctoral dissertation, published by the University of Toronto Press in 1980, was Historical Understanding in the Thought of Wilhelm Dilthey.

During the next two years, Dr. Plantinga held a full-time position as lecturer in philosophy at Bishops University in Lennoxville, Quebec. Subsequently, he was a translator and managing editor for Paideia Press in St. Catharines, Ontario. He was appointed Executive Director of College Development for the Ontario Christian College Association, founded to explore the possibility of starting a Reformed Christian liberal arts and science college in Ontario.

Plantinga spent the next quarter century as the chair of Redeemer's philosophy department during the institution's founding years. He also translated numerous books by Dutch authors into English, including volumes by the philosopher Herman Dooyeweerd. He also became managing editor of the Dooyeweerd Centre at Redeemer in 2005.

The memorial concludes with these words: "He had a lively wit, a vibrant faith, a ready laugh, a listening ear and a particular fondness for the eccentric. He will be greatly missed as a friend, colleague, teacher and mentor. 'Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.'"

[Hat tip to C.B.]