I am surprised to see Luke’s commentary in the post “Leave it to the gays” below. Like post commenter #1 (also known as Chad), it seems to me not only possible, but exceptionally likely that opposition to a proposed international gay pride parade in the holiest of cities would be motivated not by hatred of anyone, but by sincere religious conviction. I read the article you linked and can find no outright evidence of hatred or bigotry, or even homophobia (with the possible exception of the homo land/Holy Land crack, but I imagine--and hope--that it was motivated out of humor rather than hatred). At least, I do not see any evidence of bigotry on the part of the religious leaders mentioned in the article.

I am surprised because it was not too long ago (please direct your attention to the 1/7/05 post titled, "Christians versus gays?") that I read an intelligent defense of the Christian/religious attitude towards homosexuality on DC. The post reads: "This may come as a shock to some gays, but most Christians don't want there to be a purging or forced conversion of homosexuals in this nation." It continues: "These homosexuals should know better. When your struggle has been to gain acceptance for who you are, is it not hypocritical to turn around and not accept somebody for who they are religiously?"

The New York Times quotes Hagai El-Ad as saying it is ironic “that [Catholics, Jews, and Muslims] are coming together around such a negative message.” It is not ironic that men who share a faith in the Old Testament (or Hebrew Bible) agree on an issue of vital importance to that faith. It is ironic that the executive director of the gay and lesbian group endeavoring to bring this ‘festival’ to the Holy Land dares to claim that someone else is attempting to “globalize bigotry.” It is ironic that he criticizes religious leaders for spreading intolerance of others’ beliefs.

The article also quotes Rabbi Kleinbaum, who rejects that “they have the right to define religion in such a narrow way.” The irony is that his definition is equally narrow—unless of course gay and lesbians are really the only human beings who understand what it truly means to be created in God’s image.

The only downright fear or contempt obvious to me is the downright theophobia that is generating the opposition to the opposition to this rally.

The Catholic sacrament of last rites, known as extreme unction, is given to a person preceding death, or when seriously ill, with death not necessarily certain.

At this juncture I am too emotional to explain the mix of feelings this entails in me.

...the notion of the post immediately below. To reiterate what I said in the comments to it, I don't think it right to invoke God's blessing against people who are trying, even if failing, to do God's work. Perhaps I am agitated because of (see above post)

For he is funny...

Nearly two weeks after a court ordered her feeding tube removed, and after multiple attempts by her parents to get the order lifted, Terri Schiavo passed away on Thursday at the age of 41...

Overlooked in this tragic story (in my opinion) is why Mrs. Schiavo was in a PVS. Please please please, if someone you love has an eating disorder, get help for them. If you don't know what to do, anorexia.com and bulimia.com are two wonderful places to start.

...to unite Jews, Muslims, and Catholics in Israel. And to make the story even more queer (pun intended), the man who helped unite these groups is an evangelical minister who runs a church out of a hotel in San Diego.

Here's the story in condensed form: gay groups decide to hold gay pride rally in Jerusalem; Rev. Giovinetti, who has fought against gay marriage in America and has many religious contacts in Israel, organizes joint opposition from leaders from the 3 aforementioned groups; despite this opposition, the rally will probably happen anyways, because non-Orthodox Jewish leaders have given it their blessing.

Read the article, and the quotes in particular, and you will see that the opposition to this rally is being generated by downright homophobia.

May she rest in peace

I'm moving open blog day to Thursday away from Friday... effective immediately... just an FYI

-lds

Former Republican Senator John Danforth, currently an Episcopalian minister, wrote an op-ed for the NYTimes today, criticizing what he sees as the GOP's move to an increasingly sectarian party. While I don't agree with the totality of his conclusions, he does have some good quotes:

High-profile Republican efforts to prolong the life of Ms. Schiavo, including departures from Republican principles like approving Congressional involvement in private decisions and empowering a federal court to overrule a state court, can rightfully be interpreted as yielding to the pressure of religious power blocs...

But in recent times, we Republicans have allowed this shared agenda to become secondary to the agenda of Christian conservatives. As a senator, I worried every day about the size of the federal deficit. I did not spend a single minute worrying about the effect of gays on the institution of marriage. Today it seems to be the other way around.

The historic principles of the Republican Party offer America its best hope for a prosperous and secure future. Our current fixation on a religious agenda has turned us in the wrong direction. It is time for Republicans to rediscover our roots.

But Danforth misses one of the main reasons behind the GOP's shift towards religiousity, and that is the Democratic party's lurch towards secularism.

Any way you slice it, a political system polarized into a religious and secular party, is bad for America.

Judge in Schiavo case receiving death threats...

In this high-paced world in which many of us live, too much human faculty is dedicated to reaction and not enough to deliberation. The result is impulsiveness. The result is fickleness. The result is too many cursory examinations of the issues that affect us. The result, therefore, is negative.

A possible solution is to find creative means to slow down certain activities in life-- sometimes using the very technology which has enabled our high pace to begin with.

Observe: the noble game of chess. The ultimate civilized battle of deliberation, which is too often bastardized into a speed game over Yahoo! games, may be redeemed by a casual e-mail game.

Indeed, a friend of mine and I have just embarked on such a game... It's simple, relaxing, and deliberate. Just a couple of moves a day. It's kindof like those old movies you have probably seen, in which a couple men play chess via mail and receive their opponent's move, while smoking a pipe in their plush leather chair, but with a technological twist.

Note to self: drag out one of my pipes and smoke the chianti-barrel aged tobacco while ordering pawn up two spaces...

If you had asked most people 1, 2, 3 years ago, 'will Iraq have a democratic government in which Shia, Sunni, and Kurds are working together?' the resounding answer would have been 'no.'

But here we stand, and we have just that. While the unified government in Iraq was recently dealt a minor setback, as a top Sunni leader withdrew his name for Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, Shia and Kurdish officials reiterate their wish to include Sunnis in the government, and another Sunni leader is bound to fill the role.

According to this Reuters article, Hitler's Mein Kampf has been on Turkey's top 10 best sellers list for two months.

For some reason, Turkish government spokesperson, Cemil Cicek's, categorical assurance that "there is no racism in this country" rings hallow to me, given their reading preferences. But worry not, Israel. Political analysts quoted in the article say that the success of Mein Kampf in Turkey probably expresses anti-U.S. and pro-nationalist attitudes among the people, not anti-semitism, as Turkey and Israel have had good relations recently.

Oh, that's right. It's just nationalism... nothing to worry about there... (please note the sarcasm). But given the current number one best seller, maybe it is the U.S. and not Israel who should be worrying:

The current No. 1 bestseller in Turkey, ahead of "Mein Kampf," is "Metal Storm," which depicts a U.S. invasion of the country. The Turkish hero avenges his homeland by destroying Washington with a nuclear device.

...but provide one if you feel like :-)

The new PlayStation Portable, from Sony, is badass; I won't deny it. Will it kill the iPod? No, and it was not intended to do that. It's too bulky and inconvient to compete with the iPod on its turf. It's heavy, has an important screen that can be scratched really easily if placed in a pocket, and has no hard drive for storing your music library.

But the PSP is destined to create its own market and eat into Nintendo's portable gaming options. The PSP's graphics are supposed to be superior to Nintendo's, and the PSP offers some awesome features that will make it a huge hit among kids and adults who still feel like kids at heart.

It reads miniature optical discs called, Universal Media Discs (UMDs), which were developed by Sony specifically with this device in mind. UMDs (not to be confused with WMDs) are almost 2 GB in size and can hold games, music, photos, and specially formatted full-length feature films that supposedly rival DVDs in quality. SpiderMan 2 has already been released in UMD format.

The device also has a USB port, so it can be hooked up to a computer to upload music and photos to its memory stick card, which will be too small to store enough to be very useful. In the end, this device has the potential to be the road trip passenger's dream machine. Movies, games, and music all in one handy device. Cool.

Most of my readers are probably familiar with Freud's construction of the id and the ego (I'll leave out the superego at this juncture). The id represents are inner emotional drive, our lusts and passions, while the ego represents our center of rational thought. The id tells us that we want that candy bar, while the ego tells us that it will make us fat-- which could keep us from getting that girl that our id also craves...

Now using MRI technology, scientists have identified what they believe are neurological reasons for Freud's dichotemy. From this Business Week article:

Brain scans show that when people feel they're being treated unfairly, a small area called the anterior insula lights up, engendering the same disgust that people get from, say, smelling a skunk. That overwhelms the deliberations of the prefrontal cortex. [where rational thought takes place]

My reaction to this was pretty much: 'Well duh! What does this tell us that Freud already hasn't?' But the article interestingly applies this understanding to human behavior in economic transactions and makes the article more than a worthwhile read.

Catholic Mass, first reading: (Acts 10: 34, 37 - 43):

34 And Peter opened his mouth and said: "Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality,
37 the word which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism which John preached:
38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
39 And we are witnesses to all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree;
40 but God raised him on the third day and made him manifest;
41 not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
42 And he commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that he is the one ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead.
43 To him all the prophets bear witness that every one who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

4 Hoosier soldiers die in Afghanistan

Two posts down, Emperor Dan questioned the alleged political motivation behind the congressional GOP's efforts to reinsert Terri Schiavo's feeding tube: if a vast majority of Americans oppose reinserting the tube, then how can their efforts be politically motivated?

I have one theory, supported by some recent developments, which speaks directly to the rule and legitimacy of law in this nation. Republican legislators have done pretty much everything in their power, short of open defiance of court orders, to get the feeding tube reinserted. And when Terri dies, they can shout at the top of their lungs: 'look at these activist judges with all this power! they are out of control!'

Look at the Terri Schiavo Act passed last week. It was publicized as intending to change the jurisdiction of the case, such that a federal district judge could hear the case. Now that that tactic failed, and judges consistently affirmed lower court decisions, the congressional GOP leadership did a 180 and suddenly proclaimed yesterday that the law they passed was intended not just to change the jurisdiction but actually to ORDER the reinsertion of the feeding tube.

Forget for a moment that if this really were the intention, that the law would have been blatently unconstitutional. The problem is that this new intention arose from thin air--why? So the GOP can yell: 'damn activist judges ignored our law.'

Republicans are upset, justifiably so to a large extent, that too many justices have ruled from an aspirational and not a traditional/textual philosophy, and that this is tantamount to legislating from the bench. But the manner and rhetoric many of them use to attack the judiciary, now, is injuring the legitimacy of the court and the rule of law. Have we forgotten that last year the House GOP passed a law that would have removed the Defense of Marriage Act from the Supreme Court's jurisdiction? And a few weeks ago, Sean Hannity was showing off some dude who advocated putting term limits on supreme court justices.

Too many in the public see the courts, the Supreme Court included, as bodies that should carry out their wishes, should make policy. Judicial aspirationalism itself is partly to blame for this attitude, but the latest GOP attacks on the court are perpetuating it.

Tis so short-sighted of them.

[listen to my thoughts on the Republicans attack on the Constitution in this audio post from last year]

U.S. forces kill 85 rebels and insurgents at a camp in Iraq (Unlearning College)

Male doctors convince a male judge that another male should be able to end the life of his female partner.

National Organization for Women, what is your response?

.......

Oh, I understand. You're so outraged that you're speechless! Here, take all the time you need.

.......

I see. Look! There's a 12-year-old who wants to have an abortion behind her parents' backs! To the rescue!

Well, you don't need a B.A. in political science to understand this, but here it goes...

I've read and heard much about how the GOP is using the Terri Schiavo case for "political" advantage. If they are, they should fire their consultants.

Polls show, despite faulty wording on numerous occassions, that the majority of the public is for letting Terri die. How does a party exploit this by advocating the opposite position? It would seem that, far from pandering to public opinion, Republicans are hurting themselves with their current stance.

Then the evitable counter: oh, but they're just doing this because they're beholden to the religious right, their base. Maybe. But if so, they're no more in the pocket of the Christian right than the Democrats are in that of the secular left, which wants Terri dead.

But I don't think this is the case either. Some polls indicate that even people who describe themselves as ardently pro-life (e.g., the keeper of this blog) are for Michael Schiavo. Church-goers are split on the issue.

So how is this political? What gains are the GOP expected to reap from taking such an unpopular position?

I might be able to resolve this apparent conflict for some of you. Democrats in general may have a difficult time understanding this since their party does nothing if it does not poll well. But maybe, just maybe, the Republicans are acting on their own convictions, speaking from their own hearts. All in the face of public opinion.

Scary, eh?

For the love of God, all you who are advocating removing her feeding tube, will one of you just muster your courage and kill this woman?

You do realize you're arguing for her death, don't you? I mean, she's going to die without food or water, and that's about as close to a certainty as it gets. She will die, eventually.

And the reason you're advocating this is because you believe she wouldn't want to be kept alive like this. Or at least her husband thinks so, and so you believe him.

And the whole point of this is to be humane, right? We don't want her to suffer on like this, so we are "letting" her die.

Well, I submit to you that there are far more humane ways to go about it. Starving to death is a long, drawn out process. It takes time, and hey, it's costing more money the longer she stays alive. Not to mention all the resources being wasted on the idiot lawyers. Isn't there something quicker and more painless?

Even convicted murderers get to die in more humane ways. The gas chamber and lethal injection are certainly preferred to what is now a week without nutrition. I know which I'd choose. The electric chair might be a tad more painful, but at least it's over more quickly.

Look, we put animals to sleep all the time. No one bats an eye. And even the PETA people agree that's a pretty humane way to go. So why not give Terri the same option? She's about as useful as a lame horse anyways, if not quite as intelligent. Doesn't she deserve a nice little shot in the arm instead of a week of the ultimate Atkins diet?

It could all be over so quick, and we could all go back to our purposeful little lives and put this all behind us. Michael Schiavo could go back to his wif....well, that woman he lives with. And Congress could go back to not interfering with states rights like it did in the 1960s.

I'm sure that this course of action would be pleasing to all parties, maybe even Terri. So please, someone, put a gun to her head and blow out what's left of her brains. It's what she'd want you to do.

This was the name of a chronicling the history of the Catholic Church in Eastern Oregon (my home diocese). However, it may soon describe the current state of affairs in both my Diocese of Baker and the Archdiocese of Portland (all of Western Oregon). Both Archbishop John Vlazny of Portland and Bishop Robert "Darth" Vasa of Baker have recently attempted to quell theological disunity among their flocks by insinuating or blatantly stating that Catholics questioning church doctrine may find other denominations more suitable.

This is exactly what's wrong with today's church. Questioning church doctrine is not heresy; sometimes it may even be right. Galileo was excommunicated for saying the Earth revolved around the Sun. The early Church, while not endorsing the practice, did not explicitly condemn the keeping of slaves, consistent with Biblical writings in both Testaments. Various popes blessed four Crusades. If the Church is not strong enough to tolerate differences of opinion among its faithful, then its problems are bigger than anyone can imagine.

My own experiences with Darth Vasa have been less than ideal. Our previous bishop had been Bishop of Baker for over 25 years, very warm, very personable. Unfortunately he was over 75 and forced to retire. Bishop Vasa was ordained in 2000. He was originally from the Diocese of Lincoln where he was some type of assistant to Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz, described by many as the most conservative bishop in the US.

Shortly after arriving in Baker, his first diocese, he made several "my way or the highway" personnel moves; reassigning priests, ordering the very popular "priests' choice" bishop candidate to return to his home diocese in Idaho, hiring like-minded diocesan DRE's, etc. As much as I didn't like his style, I tried to give him the benefit of every doubt, even after I read the pastoral letter.

However, this past October, our parish priest requested a leave of absence to seek help for a drinking problem. He was the ideological opposite of our bishop, and he was a bit preachy, but he loved being a priest and he upheld the Church's teachings. When he asked for a leave of absence, Bishop Vasa told him that by leaving he was resigning his commission as parish priest in the diocese and can never celebrate the sacraments in the Diocese of Baker ever again. To chastise a lay person is one thing, but to essentially defrock a priest because he disagrees with his bishop is unconscionable.

Like many other young people my age with steady income and solid employment, the idea of owning a house is a daunting one but has attractive potential benefits. If you’re tired of throwing rent money down the hole and with the market currently booming, jumping into the real estate market sounds like the right thing to do.

But is it?

This New York Times article compares the current real estate market in America with the stock market obsession of the late 90's.

Friends of mine in similar circumstances who own homes say they are a pain to take care of and require more work than they're worth. They miss having an apartment, but even with the realization that there's a bubble up ahead, they are torn between taking their money and running and simply riding the wave and dealing with the necessary repairs and all the trouble that goes into owning a home.

That all said, I don't think individual home owners have much to worry about, if they enjoy owning their own home. Most individually owned real estate holds its value quite well and why it won't necessarily continue to grow in leaps and bounds as we have in the last few years, a bursting bubble would most likely hurt those who have stretched to buy investment properties and stacked their retirement on property gaining incredible values as it has in the last few years.

Also people who have tried to snatch every dollar out to make a mansion out of their home might also be hurt because if the bubble does burst they are going to owe more on the house than what it's worth. If they have to sell for a new job or other circumstances, they are going to lose some.

For now I will stay put in my apartment and know that without the burdens of owning property, I have more flexibility in which jobs I take or what cities I choose to live in.

A few random thoughts on the Schiavo case:

Michael Schiavo is a huge ackassjay (I gave up swearing for Lent). The man fathers two children out of wedlock while his wife is in a PVS, he manages to spend all but $50,000 of the $1 million awarded to him in the malpractice action against his wife's doctors, and he alienates his wife's family so badly during Terry's ordeal that their legal wrangling spills into the halls of the US Congress (more on this later). The guy doesn't push my pity button. That being said, he certainly should not be forced to watch his wife die on national television. Nor should Terry have to live or die on TV. This is a family dispute that is nobody's business but theirs, and while Michael has a conflict of interest, the removal of the feeding tube, right or wrong, is ultimately his decision to make.

Congress and the President completely overstepped their bounds when they involved themselves in this case. Apparently the 10th Amendment only applies when the federal government likes the outcome of state actions (watch this clip from The Daily Show for a hilarious but disturbingly accurate assessment of this premise). In a red-letter day for stupid ideas, "Dr." Bill Frist made a "diagnosis" of Mrs. Schiavo's condition by watching the video tapes (I swear I am not making this up).

This isn't cooking with Emeril; it's more akin to claiming to be competent in averting a nuclear holocaust by cribbing from James Bond. On a side note, more about the Texas case Rep. Wasserman Schultz refers to can be found here. The hypocrisy meter is off the charts on this one; Congress and the President believe saving the life of one comatose person and determining whether professional athletes use steroids to be more pressing than Iraq, Social Security reform, or, I don't know, preventing suspected terrorists from legally purchasing weapons.

Lastly, the intercession by Congress and "rediagnosis" of Mrs. Schiavo's condition by other doctors could set a potentially treacherous precedent, which I didn't even consider until after I spoke with my father this morning. If he recommended to a patient's family to discontinue life support, a third party who disagrees could potentially hire their own doctor to contradict my father's recommendation and perhaps file a malpractice claim. I find it infuriating when lawmakers have the chutzpah to think they know more about medicine than doctors.

Today is Good Friday, the holiest day of the year in the Catholic tradition, marking the passion and crucifixion of Jesus. If you can't make it to church, or if you're just interested, here is a link to today's gospel, John's Passion narrative.
And if you're feeling bummed out that Jesus died (I did when I was in primary school) remember this: "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends." (Jn 15:13)

The Catholic Church's position is that Terri Schiavo's feeding tube must be reinserted, right?

Well, maybe not. According to Jesuit bioethicist, Rev. John Paris, the Church's position may have been misinterpreted by some within and outside of it.

Check out the article...

[thanks to Kristine for the article]

From Technology Daily:

Individual political activists who write online journals known as Web logs on their own behalf would remain untouched by proposed campaign-finance disclosure rules released by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) late Wednesday. National Journal's Technology Daily reports that the draft rules would create a general exception for online election-related communications but draw the line at paid political advertising on Web sites. Those sites would have to carry disclaimers and be counted in expenditure filings to the FEC. "The commission notes that with respect to most Internet Web sites andblogs, the burden of complying with a disclaimer requirement and the resources needed for the commission to monitor such a requirement could outweigh the value of disclosure," the proposed rule said. The commission proposed creating an exemption from regulation for campaign volunteer activity on the Internet -- a clear recognition of the intensive blogging related to federal candidates.

But now the new rules will likely face review again from the courts, so I would not hold my breath too long on this development. [thanks to Daniel for the info]

Josh Claybourn is going to be on the Hugh Hewitt radio show... with his thoughts on the Terri Schiavo affair

What in the world are Motorola and Apple up to? Due to some good information indirectly from a friend, the puzzle seems to be coming together...

It is quite likely that in the next couple weeks we will see the roll out of a cell phone that can be used to listen to snippets of songs playing on the radio and then commanded to purchase the song it heard from the iTunes Music Store, possibly directly over the cell network, or perhaps by hooking the phone up to a computer later on.

Apple and Motorola are publicly collaborating on a joint venture, so this cool product could be the fruit of their labors.

Back on January 5, I blogged about some of the speculation surrounding an Apple cell phone or cellular network, and I said the following:

More likely, Apple is working to create an iTunes music store network that works over the existing cellular systems. One that would seamlessly allow the new Motorola iTunes enabled phones to purchase music anywhere there is cell coverage.

Prophetic? Not really. Well, we'll see... The technology for devices to recognize songs over the radio is not new. A couple years ago I heard about this car radio which could record a few seconds of a song and then be plugged into your computer to identify the name of the song. But if true, this new iTunes cell phone would up the ante considerably. Imagine the impulse buying this thing would enable.

I feel more comfortable than ever to own my .00001% of Apple (or whatever percentage it is).

Yet another video from military.com. Remember that one of the goals of this site is to recruit new soldiers into the United States armed forces. Note, it was accompanied by this caption:

"WARNING: GRAPHIC. This video allegedly shows an Iraqi insurgent firing his rifle and being hit by a tank round. Lesson: Don't bring a rifle to a tank battle."

"I don't believe in blue states or red states. I believe in purple states -- and some are more purple than others."

-Howard Dean

Daniel alerted me to Duke guard, J.J. Redick's poetry which has been published on SI.com.

I have to admit. My first reaction was, 'Wow this kid is not very good at poetry.' The rhyming was forced, and the rhythm "clunky" (as my friend and fellow law student Rishi, who refers to himself as "the be-all and end-all authority on all things poetic," described it).

However, after reading it further, I came to really appreciate Redick's heart and spirit, though still not the poetic value of his words. In the opening of this poem, Redick emphasizes a great point about life:

My life story is read in poetic stages
I was once weak-minded, now I'm courageous
The cause and effect of a thousand actions
The mathematical breakdown of micro-fractions
It's difficult to fathom the coming of the rapture
What if I awoke in an empty pasture?

Catholics refer to this process as the formation of conscience. Every decision in life matters and preps your conscious for those tougher and more difficult moral questions which inevitably face us in life. At my Catholic high school, we always used the saying 'do the little things right.' I should follow my own advice more often.

Josh Claybourn has a great legal analysis of why Congress overstepped their bounds by changing the jurisdiction of the Schiavo case at the last minute this week.

There has been much talk of Terri Schiavo's mental condition. Is she in persistent vegitative state (PSS) or not? As these videos show, she can respond to stimuli, but that in itself does not prove anything, as mere reflexes could be at stake.

But does that explain the smile, big eyes, increased agitation, and head movement from side to side, as can be seen in this video?:

Can you tell that I'm feeling the need for hyperbole today? Anyways, I'll be blunt: music in the late 90s and at the turn of the millenium sucked. It's getting better now in a hurry, and I'm forced to wonder if Apple's iPod and iTunes Music Store (ITMS) influence are partly responsible. Their hot picks on the ITMS are sweet and ahead of their time quite often. I firmly believe that Apple has pushed some bands to the forefront that otherwise may not have made it. Ever noticed how cool Apple's iPod commercials are to jam along to?

Besides the Nintendo Entertainment System, perhaps nothing else defines and unites the 23-30 year old generation more than the Back to the Future trilogy. I mean, who can forget the scene in Back to the Future II, when Marty enters Cafe 80s and a virtual Reagan greets him and asks for his order?

Anyways, indulge the past by checking out IMDB's trivia page for Back to the Future. A fun read.

As Father Jenkins is set to take the high chair of Notre Dame du lac at the end of the spring semester, I ask: can he save our hallowed institution?

Let there be no mistake, outgoing President Father Malloy was no slouch. He continued Fr. Hesburgh's dedication to better academics, and he was an amazing fundraiser. But he knew nothing of Notre Dame's soul. His presidency, then, approached Faust, and no I do not speak of ND's ex football coach by that same name.

A few examples, which occurred during my 4 years at ND, come to mind. The first occurred after 9/11. On 9/11, at 3 PM, thousands of Irish students, staff, and faculty met on South Quad for a mass. This was a touching scene and showed the character of which Notre Dame is capable. Then, before the following football game, Monk spoke a "prayer" which was televised on NBC. The prayer sounded like a promotional speech for ND, not the solemn remembrance of 9/11 victims that would have been appropriate at this time. Admirable actions seem cheap when a person feels it necessary to brag about them. Ever heard the expression, Monk, speak quietly but carry a big stick?

Another example is how he handled the changes to ND's alcohol and SYR policies. Whether or not the policy changes were good or bad, the manner in which they were carried out stunk. Meaningful student input was not sought-- no campus deliberation, no significant alumni contribution, nothing. When students march the Golden Dome and burn copies of the university's rule book on its steps, that just might be an indication that something was done incorrectly. Monk fundamentally changed ND's cherished and traditionally campus life with the flick of his magic wand.

A third example is how Monk allowed our football program to slip into disrepair. The underfunding of athletic facilities for the team, the terrible personnel decisions, and the tolerance of the AD's numerous serious gaffes, all speak volumes. Kevin White's decisions to sign Bob Davie to a 5-year contract extension and to hire George O'Leary without a background check, each should have warranted his dismissal.

Finally, Monk showed his true colors when he tore apart ND and Fr. Jenkins, when he commented to the national press that he was embarrassed by ND when they fired Tyrone Willingham. Inexcusable and I don't need to explain why.

But enough of the past! Fr. Jenkins showed courage and resolve when he fired Willingham. Let's hope he can continue this attitude in the face of ND's oppressive bureaucracy and restore ND's spirit.

Life is beautiful. Life is unique. Life is wondrous. Life is good.

And for these reasons the Terri Schiavo affair is of the utmost importance in our nation's dialog on life.

I find it curious then that until now I have been silent on this drama-- my modest indifference striking in contrast to the great fervor of Evangelical and Catholic political voices against removing her feeding tube.

Perhaps I have been dodging the issues, or perhaps I have simply not been morally offended, and that is why I delayed. Nevertheless, I now humbly offer my opinion, which because I am tackling this topic de novo, will be dialectic in form (read: it will seem like I'm rambling).

The "right to die" is a sloppy way to characterize this case's issue, for it covers divergent moral scenarios. Euthanasia and assisted suicide (as with abortion and capital punishment) entail the purposeful termination of life that would otherwise naturally live. Pulling a feeding tube or a ventilator simply removes an artificial device that sustains life.

Would these same voices that oppose the pulling of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube also oppose a cancer patient's decision to forego chemotherapy or a diabetes patient's refusal to undergo another kidney transplant? Probably not.

Perhaps, then, what bothers them is the same thing that bothers me: unlike with the example of the cancer patient, we have no definite indication from Terri Schiavo that she wishes to not be artificially sustained. All we have is the husband's word on her intentions versus the feelings of her family.

The law should require more. The law should require certainty of the patient's wishes when his or her life is at stake. If I were a legislator, I would push a bill that would require written or recorded proof of a person's wish to be let to die.

However, if a person's higher level brain is not functioning, i.e. either brain dead or in a persistent vegetative state, I am not inclined to think that a life is actually at stake. The wonders and value of life are not derived from a body animated by electrical impulses without thought, without a soul.

If scientists have determined this beyond a reasonable doubt in the case of Terri Schiavo, then let us not stop her husband from pulling her feeding tube. But if there is a doubt, the law should protect life in the absence of a person's clear wish to the contrary.

George Will is a true conservative. His arguments in this column, against using the nuclear option in the senate to subvert Democrats' filibustering of Bush judicial nominations, show that his conservatism is ideological and consistent, not partisan and subject to the whims of the day. I'll quote, but read the whole thing. That's an order.

Some conservatives oddly seem to regret the fact that the government bristles with delaying and blocking mechanisms -- separation of powers, bicameral legislature, etc. The filibuster is one such mechanism -- an instrument for minority assertion. It enables democracy to be more than government-by-adding-machine, more than a mere counter of numbers. The filibuster registers intensity, enabling intense minorities to slow or stop government...

It has been 98 years since Republicans have had 60 senators. But in the past 50 years, there were more than 60 Democratic senators after seven elections: 1958 (64), 1960 (64), 1962 (67), 1964 (68), 1966 (64), 1974 (61), 1976 (62). Republicans might reach 60 if the president devoted as much energy to denouncing obstruction of judicial nominations as he is devoting to explaining Social Security's problems. Solving those problems is important, but not as important as achieving a judiciary respectful of the Constitution...

No Democratic filibuster can stop the 2006 elections. Those elections, however, might stop the Democrats' filibusters.

Just as I have been saying. Force the Dems to filibuster and then reap the political rewards.

It is important to have the right focus.

A common bugaboo in science fiction novels and movies (think: The Matrix) is a state of human subservience to machines. The plots of these works follow a similar path: men create machines; machines become so advanced they can think; the thinking machines enslave the human race and harvest them for computing power. You know the drill.

But perhaps our focus should not lie with the behavior of machines, but rather with our own behavior. As humans increasingly integrate technology into their lives, in my observation, their behavior increasingly appears to be mechanical.

Take rush hour for example. The daily commute to work or school is quite mechanical in form-- timing, path, and speed all regular and determined largely by outside technological factors such as stoplights.

I raise this point not as a neo-luddite outcry but rather to give some perspective on how technology impacts human behavior. As the march of technology continues, such as this cool technology out of Japan that lets human bodies be used to transfer information between electronic devices, it will be increasingly important to maintain this critical perspective.

Well, I'm back from my spring break travels, and I assure you that DC will once again come alive... and with all my pent up thoughts, I might be unusually prolific.

Today is St. Patrick's Day, and Irish, fake Irish, and Notre Damers such as myself, all will celebrate this Holy day. But do you know exactly what we're celebrating? Well take a moment to educate yourself about the man and about the holiday. The History Channel's site is an easy read and informative, as is The Holiday Spot's page.

The war in Iraq has been deemed "the war of the wounded" because of the extremely high ratio of wounded to dead it has produced. This is a testament to modern battlefield medicine, but it is also a sad testament to the nature of the enemy our brave soldiers face.



[Update: to make room for other videos, this video has been removed from the server; if you would like a copy, e-mail me and I can send it]