Sonnet to Our Lord on the Cross

I believe this was translated from a Spanish work; the prayer book I found it in gives no author. I'm no poetry expert anymore than I am a poultry expert, but I think this is a beautiful poem for Holy Week, simple and unpretentious.

I am not moved to love you, O my God,
That I might hope in promised Heaven to dwell;
Nor am I moved by fear of pain in Hell
To turn from sin and follow where you trod.
You move me, Lord, broken beneath the rod,
Or stretched out on the cross, as nails compel
Your had to twitch. It moves me that we sell,
To mockery and death, your precious blood.
It is, O Christ, your love which moves me so,
That my love rests not on a promised prize;
Nor holy fear on threat of endless woe;
It is not milk and honey, but the flow of blood
From blessed wounds before my eyes, that
Waters my buried soul and makes it grow.
(Manual of Prayers, p. 178)

Bad Guys Killed and Captured

It's bad news whenever we lose troops in Iraq. But it's good news whenever we kill terrorists. We need a better, more publicized body count of bad guys, IMHO.

The raids were part of the ongoing enormous effort by U.S. and Iraqi security forces to break the backs of the various armed groups warring in Iraq. The Iraqi government cited the success of that operation yesterday in announcing that the nightly curfew will be pushed back by two hours.

HT Laura Ingraham.

Personnel Advice to Jesus

You all might have seen this before. An imaginary management consulting team advises Our Lord on the potential, or lack thereof, for management and leadership possessed by each of his Apostles.

Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper. Andrew has absolutely no qualities of leadership. The two brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, place personal interest above company loyalty. Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine morale. We feel that it is our duty to tell you that Matthew had been blacklisted by the Greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus definitely have radical leanings, and they both registered a high score on the manic-depressive scale.

It's worth a read even if you know or can guess the conclusion.

Comics Beat Stocks

Here's one for Bubba. Turns out that vintage comic books are, well they were, a good investment. One reason is that a comic book kept in good shape is rare considering most adolescent male consumers beat the crap out of them.

Old comic books have been among the best-performing collectibles, whipping coins, antiques, and violins. Analyzing prospects for supply and demand, Kevin Hassett asks whether the future for superheroes will be as fantastic as the past.

Sanity on the Global Warming "Debate"

...from Walter Williams, natch. Required reading. Dr. Williams remains one cool-headed smart-guy regardless of the current temperature of the Earth.

You can watch the entire "Great Global Warming Swindle" video here on YouTube.com. It's 75 minutes long; I'll probably check it out after 24.

Said Richard Lindzen, professor of Atmospheric Science at MIT: "Scientists who dissent from the alarmism have seen their funds disappear, their work derided, and themselves labeled as industry stooges."

Said Nigel Calder, a former editor of New Scientist: "Governments are trying to achieve unanimity by stifling any scientist who disagrees. Einstein could not have got funding under the present system."

LOL. So it's a Galileo déjà vu without the mean ol' Catlick church to blame.

Barone Scenarios for '08

I like to read Michael Barone pieces like this one for a number of reasons. First, they're really short. Secondly, they're interesting whether or not you come away feeling enlightened. I think it's because the dude knows his history, American and that of elsewhere as he demonstrates in these analyses and predictions. Thirdly, I'm sick of all the messengers of doom on the conservative side ripping up their tickets when the race has barely started. Barone bats up the middle and is about as balanced as he is smart.

One Year Ago Today

Yes, Bubba's Pots & Kettles post. It's short, so read it. Now, the comments, first one is from Rayne:

Now this is rich. The rest of us are "soft" - but Dreher et al - padding about in their lesbian sandals on the cobblestone paths to their artsy-crafty bungalows fretting about their profiles in the Style section of the Washington Post - THEY are the poster boys for Alpha males. Is a Crunchy Con anything but a disaffected metrosexual with a ludicrous passion for food and an unhealthy preoccupation with home decor and ugly, expensive footware? I cannot wrap my head around Dreher hailing from Southern Louisiana - it just doesn't seem possible. No wonder those guys love homeschooling - they probably got the living crap beat out of them on the playground.

Oh, man, I'm remembering how hard I laughed during this whole period of time. You can't plan stuff like the concrunchy blog, it just has to happen. Anyway, Bubba continues with a comment:

It's all here: hippie mumbo-jumbo (with a Catholic [oops] twist), definitions that make no sense from people who make no attempt to communicate effectively to the unitiated, viceral hatred of the Enlightment and the free market -- which we all know are cancers on humanity compared to the Inquisition, Islamic fundamentalism, and socialism -- and the sort of rhetoric that makes people want to punch you straight in the mouth.

Italics mine above. That's always been one of my greatest irritations with these folks; do you speak newspeak? Casey's last comment highlights the poutiness which had set in near the end of the NRO CrunchyCon blog:

The crunchies are going out on typically sour notes. Stegall describes us as a nation of Prufrocks, which will irritate anybody who gets the allusion. Rod just recommended a book which dumps on the suburbs, where most people in the U.S. live.

Rest assured, the crunchies will never attract much of a following in this country which they love to hate.

And now it's time to say good night...with apologies to Ringo, it's been fun puncturing the stuffed-shirt sanctimony and laughable hypocrisy of the crunchies. See y'all.

I ended with a comment comparing the possibility of a liturgical city versus a more realistic potential for a Catholic city, i.e., the whole Ave Maria project just burgeoning at the time and well on it's way now. This I believe is a great contrast between the scrappy, git-r-done folks who build the world and the crunchy academic elites who complain about how nothing is right; it's the difference between the concrete and the vague, between having a metal thermos cup o' joe in the morning and the quest for the perfect latté, between lighting the candle and cursing the darkness.

It's also the difference between saying your prayers at night and complaining that no one else is saying theirs. There's a good story about that, BTW. I remember seeing an little outdoor shrine on someone's property when I was in Assisi and thinking that it really doesn't take much to make a city closer to God, at least not if you're Catholic. And whether you are or not, you can still listen for the "still small voice". Even in the suburbs.

Pens, Clipboards... Leeches anyone?

Newt Gingrich penned -- or maybe used a computer to write -- this damning piece about how horribly behind the health care industry is in the area of information technology. Unbelievable.

Every major industry has taken advantage of the information revolution— except health care. It is a 1950s model of administration, epitomized by a ballpoint pen, a clipboard, and rows and rows of paper medical records. This backwardness undermines both the quality and efficiency of care.

The Institute of Medicine has reported that preventable medical errors kill up to 98,000 Americans every year, and medication errors alone make another 1.5 million Americans sick. Since 2000, American workers have seen an 87 percent increase in premiums—a rate four times faster than the growth of wages over the same period.

Those numbers are staggering. Aside from the life-threatening error reductions, can you imagine the cost savings with increased efficiency due to automatic data retrieval? Newt concludes:

The migration to a modernized, interconnected health care system is inevitable. We can see doctors, hospitals, and other providers investing in new technology every day. But we must accelerate the process. Taxpayers, employers, and their employees cannot afford to carry our broken system for much longer. Too many lives are lost and too much money is wasted by tolerating an obsolete and antiquated system. Health information technology, combined with consumer engagement, is a powerful formula that can tear down the old order and create a better health system. And to get there, we need continued bold leadership—from every stakeholder in health care.

You've got to read the whole thing. I had no idea health care was this far behind. I've heard of union local offices with hundreds of workers and without one computer, but their troglodytism doesn't surprise me as much. It would seem to me that we can't seriously talk about a so-called "reform" of the health care industry until the thing is built properly. Then an IT strategy would seem to be the first perscription to get it healthy.