The Del McCoury Band Perform "Misty"

Left Jab, Right Cross

The man who earned my vote in '08's "new book is coming out with a daring goal... to break through the corporate imposed gridlock that prevents those on the left and right from realizing they actually agree on and can activate new directions for our country" — Left-Right Alliances.

"As American as Apple Pie and Agent Orange"

Justin Raimondo exposes a disgusting lot — A Neocon’s Lament.

The Race Unrealists

Steve Sailer exposes "the liberal creationist myth that race isn’t real" — The Liberal Creationists.

Valerie June Performs "Somebody to Love"

If I was surprised to hear this recent discovery on WRUR | Different Radio today, which I was, how much more surprised I should be to find the above video on the telescreen.

Mom's Boyfriend Strikes Again

A local tragedy — Boyfriend arrested in Greece toddler's death.

Years ago, in posting a similar story, I suggested readers to "Google the terms 'mom's boyfriend' and find a litany of horrors" — Mom's Boyfriend. Of course, as was pointed out by this blogger even ealrier, "It is extremely politically incorrect to suggest that living together might not be the best living arrangement," so this post probably qualifies as hate speech — Shacking Up and the Abuse of Society's Most Vulnerable.

In the first of those posts, a dear and missed female commenter dared to disparage the type of "man who is perfectly happy to be the boyfriend of a single mother." I'm far more politically incorrect than I ever was, and have come to fully endorse this statement. Only a Darwinian dead end fool of a man would contemplate the raising of the genetic material of another living man. Unspeakable violence against the innocent occurs as a result of the absurdity of such arrangements, which our society is unable to even address.

Amanda Palmer Performs Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees"

Her green plastic watering can
For her fake Chinese rubber plant
In the fake plastic earth.
That she bought from a rubber man
In a town full of rubber plans
To get rid of itself.
It wears her out, it wears her out
It wears her out, it wears her out.

She lives with a broken man
A cracked polystyrene man
Who just crumbles and burns.
He used to do surgery
For girls in the eighties
But gravity always wins.
And it wears him out, it wears him out.
It wears him out, it wears . . .

She looks like the real thing
She tastes like the real thing
My fake plastic love.
But I can't help the feeling
I could blow through the ceiling
If I just turn and run.
And it wears me out, it wears me out.
It wears me out, it wears me out.

And if I could be who you wanted
If I could be who you wanted
All the time, all the time.

The Devil Makes Three Performs "Aces and Twos," "Shades," & "Gracefully Facedown"

Performing tonight at the The Zeppa Auditorium at the German House.

"Breakfast Is the Healthiest Meal of the Day"

"Lie #1" from Dr. Joseph Mercola latest list — Top 10 Destructive Nutrition Lies Ever Told.

Saturn in the News

Saturn may be spawning tiny new moon

Saturn moon hides sea within, scientists conclude

Tiny planet found to have Saturn-like rings

W.A. Mozart's Spatzenmesse, Performed by Corale S.s. Pietro & Paolo, Orchestra Sinfonica Gaetano Donizetti di Gessate, Nicoletta Ceruti, Alessandra Fratelli, Sergio Rocchi, Gabriele Sagona, M° Emilio Brambilla, Directed by M° Costante Ronchi, Mario Ronchi, and PierAngelo Pelucchi

Parts of this mass were performed by Eastman School of Music students at last night's Easter Vigil at Our Lady of Victory-St. Joseph's Church, a.k.a. "The Little French Church That Has Served Downtown Since 1868".

J.S. Bach's Oster-Oratorium Performed by Hannah Morrison, Meg Bragle, Nicholas Mulroy, Peter Harvey, the Monteverdi Choir, and the English Baroque Soloists, Directed by Sir John Eliot Gardiner

Happy Easter!

The English term, according to the Ven. Bede (De temporum ratione, I, v), relates to Estre, a Teutonic goddess of the rising light of day and spring, which deity, however, is otherwise unknown, even in the Edda (Simrock, Mythol., 362); Anglo-Saxon, eâster, eâstron; Old High German, ôstra, ôstrara, ôstrarûn; German, Ostern. April was called easter-monadh. The plural eâstron is used, because the feast lasts seven days.

Christ is risen!

Thomas Tallis' Spem in Alium à 40 Sung by The Sixteen Directed by Harry Christophers with the Laurenscantorij and Guest Singers Directed by Wiecher Mandemaker

Spem in alium nunquam habui
praeter in te, Deus Israel,
qui irasceris et propitius eris,
et omnia peccata hominum
in tribulatione dimittis.
Domine Deus,
creator coeli et terrae
respice humilitatem nostram.
I have never founded my hope
on any other than thee. O God of Israel,
who shalt be angry, and yet be gracious,
and who absolvest all the sins of mankind
in tribulation.
Lord God,
creator of heaven and earth,
be mindful of our lowliness.

"GO WARN THE CHILDREN OF GOD OF THE TERRIBLE SPEED OF MERCY"

Last night, on Maundy Thursday, I finished reading The Violent Bear It Away by Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964). Upon finishing it, I have now read every published word by this writer about whom Thomas Merton wrote:

[W]hen I read Flannery I don't think of Hemingway or Katherine Anne Porter or Sartre, but rather of someone like Sophocles. What more can be said of a writer? I write her name with honor, for all the truth and all the craft with which she shows man's fall and his dishonor.

The novel, from which this post's title, so appropriate for Lent and Eastertide, comes, had me thinking of the via negativa of St. John of the Cross.

It is high time I renewed my private devotion to her as an intercessor for my daughter, who was born while I was reading a short story about a character who shared my daughter's name, and whom I would later learn a similar disability, similar also to the one the authoress bore. During my daughter's major surgery, Flannery's letters comforted my in the PICU. Yes, it is time I renewed my devotion.


St. Flannery O'Connor, ora pro nobis

Gregorio Allegri's Miserere Mei, Sung by the Sixteen, Directed by Harry Christophers

Tomás Luis de Victoria's "First Lamentation for Maundy Thursday" Sung by the Tallis Scholars, Directed by Peter Phillips

CH on JC

Jesus Had Game

Hurray for the Riff Raff Perform "People Talkin'"

"The Obama Game"

"The overriding goal of US policy in Ukraine is to stop the further economic integration of Asia and Europe," explains CounterPuncher Mike Whitney — Is Putin Being Lured Into a Trap? While "Putin’s main objective is to make money, ... the US wants to dominate the Eurasian landmass, break Russia up into smaller, non-threatening units, and control China’s growth."

Mr. Whitney begins with a quote from fellow CounterPuncher Andre Vltchek:

Russia … is now recognized as the center of the global ‘mutiny’ against global dictatorship of the US and EU. Its generally peaceful .. approach is in direct contrast to brutal and destabilizing methods used by the US and EU…. The world is waking up to reality that there actually is, suddenly, some strong and determined resistance to Western imperialism. After decades of darkness, hope is emerging.

It makes perfect sense that this "strong and determined resistance to Western imperialism" is led by a paleoconservative

The 77 Percent

"It is a statistical fraud when Barack Obama and other politicians say that women earn only 77 percent of what men earn -- and that this is because of discrimination," reminds Thomas Sowell, economist — Statistical Frauds. The author concludes:

If the 77 percent statistic was for real, employers would be paying 30 percent more than they had to, every time they hired a man to do a job that a woman could do just as well. Would employers be such fools with their own money? If you think employers don't care about paying 30 percent more than they have to, just go ask your boss for a 30 percent raise!

Upstate Rising

A massive but quiet act of civil disobedience begins today in my home state — As Many As One Million Armed New Yorkers Are About To Break The Law. In a post titled The Guns of Upstate, I mentioned this bumper sticker quite popular in these parts, referencing our Governor Benito:

Wine and Sun

We all know that the former can "sweep plaque from your arteries," but Dr. Joseph Mercola informs us the latter can as well — The Importance of Vitamin D for Normalizing Your Cholesterol Levels.

I got a good start with the rest of this area this past weekend when it was sixty degrees higher than it is supposed to be tomorrow, spending most of the days outside playing ball and playing music.

A Death Without Dignity

Anne choose euthanasia; soon people like her (and us) will be not be given a choice, and will simply be euthanized — Retired British art teacher ends life at Dignitas ‘because she couldn’t adapt to modern world’. From the story:

“They say adapt or die. At my age, I feel that I can’t adapt, because the new age is not an age that I grew up to understand. I see everything as cutting corners. All the old-fashioned ways of doing things have gone.”

Anne told the newspaper she felt email had taken the humanity out of human interaction, and said people were “becoming robots” sat in front of screens.

She described her horror at the rows of ready-made meals on sale in supermarkets, and her fears about the environmental impact of overcrowding and pollution.

“I find myself swimming against the current, and you can’t do that,” she said. “If you can’t join them, get off.”

How to Be a Man (2013)

A few nights ago, I watched How to Be a Man (2013), and then watched it immediately again with the missus. This is the most genuinely touching raunchy comedy I've ever seen, and probably the only one I've seen the manages to be both touching and raunchy, no small achievement. I'd seen Gavin McInnes, a guy exactly the same age (동갑) as me, in The Brotherhood of the Traveling Rants (2013) and linked to his rants numerous times on these pages. This addition to his œuvre may just earn him a place as the spokesman of my generation.

Johann Sebastian Bach's Johannes-Passion, Performed by Mark Padmore, Peter Harvey, Katherine Fuge, Robin Blaze, Nicholas Mulroy, Jeremy Budd, Matthew Brook, English Baroque Soloists and Monteverdi Choir, Directed by Sir John Eliot Gardiner

"Three-dimensional theology" performed tomorrow at the Lutheran Church of the Reformation as part of the Rochester Bach Festival, a fitting start to Holy Week.

Foghorn Stringband Perform "Outshine The Sun"

A great gospel number by Charlie Poole, said to have died after an eleven-week drinking binge.

Endocrinology and Ecology

Not news, but Chateau Heartiste picks up another story on the trouble caused by "endocrine disrupting chemicals (which are found in everyday products such as pesticides, contraceptive pills and detergents)" — Is Pollution Feminizing Men?

If it turns out pollution is a major cause of beta orbiters, male feminists, and other self-flagellating pudding pops, then Western technological civilization can rightly be accused of waging a war against men, and the war is going global.

And it’s a good bet that whatever’s feminizing men is also masculinizing women. Manjaws and narrow boy hips are everywhere, in case you haven’t noticed. American women are counting notches on their bedposts while American men are penning sappy paeans to pedestaled sluts.

This blogger has been following this story for seven long years now — The Culture of Death and Dead Rivers, The Birth Control Pill, A Crime Against Nature, Contracepting Ourselves, Contracepting Nature, Drugged and Contracepted Fish, Contracepting the Ecosystem, Endocrinological Crisis.

Of course, just mentioning these stories means that I must hate women.

Scarlet Letter, Great Gatsby, Invisible Man, Moby-​Dick, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

All contenders for title of Great American Novel, according to Michael Dirda — The Big Read: Can a Single Book Sum Up a Nation?

I was leaning towards agreeing with the author and choosing the penultimate title on my list, but think I would choose the last one. That said, the author is right to rhetorically ask, "Is there a better book about the DNA of these United States than Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America?"

Amy LaVere Performs "Damn Love Song," "Red Banks"," & "Washing Machine"

In town tonight at the Abilene Bar and Lounge.

Leftist Logic Leads to Forced Prostitution

The Nation's Katha Pollitt reminds us that what rightly used to be seen as "part of the general degradation of the working class, and the subjugation of women, under capitalism" is now seen as "just another service job, with good points and bad" — Why Do So Many Leftists Want Sex Work to Be the New Normal?

Of course, following this logic, "in a welfare state where people receive state benefits when they are unemployed," this means "if we really believed that prostitution were the same as hospital cleaning or serving in a shop, those who were unemployed could justifiably be forced into prostitution if an opening for a prostitute became available," as Theodore Dalrymple reminded us some months ago — None Dare Call it Prostitution

All of this aside, prostitution's wrongness does not mean that it should be criminalized. Following the proto-libertarian St. Thomas Aquinas, not everything that is immoral should be illegal. Better to follow no harm, no foul and de minimis non curat lex.

Punch Brothers Perform "Reptilia," "Rye Whiskey," "This is the Song," & "Alex"

Backpfeifengesicht

"The Germans have a word (the Germans always have a word) for 'a punchable face,'" teaches Chateau Heartiste to describe this "bald, pale, pencil-necked, peach-fuzzed, brony fluffer" — Omega Male Of The Month.

A Rochesterian's Library

The Art of Manliness includes the above image in this article about a man for whom "reading meant freedom" — The Libraries of Great Men: Frederick Douglass.

Amythyst Kiah and This Mountain Perform "Myth"

Southern rock still kicks ass, all the more so when infused with Memphis soul. (Mr. Otis Redding, may I introduce you to Mr. Lynyrd Skynyrd.) As the prophetess Tanya Tucker sang in I Believe The South Is Gonna Rise Again:

But I believe the south is gonna rise again
But not the way we thought it would back then
I mean everybody hand in hand
I believe the south is gonna rise again

Amen.

Minor League Manliness

With the Rochester Red Wings opener called off for weather today, let us read this LewRockwell.com-linked-to article from The Art of Manliness by the Springfield Cardinals' Vance Albitz, who reminds us that "baseball is a game of failure" — 4 Manly Lessons from the Minor Leagues.

Major league manliness tomorrow as we head up to the Rogers Centre to watch the Toronto Blue Jays host the New York Yankees.

Back to the Land Upstate

As a former FFA-member, I welcome this story — Young Farmers NY launched to prompt young adults to take up farming. My day may still come.

A Golliwog Sighting

While watching the second episode of season one of "Call the Midwife," the missus and I were horrified to catch glimpse of a golliwog, in the hands of an elderly nun (Anglican) no less. I wanted to report Auntie Beeb to the bobbies, but did not know their number.

Ram Narayan's Alap from Raga Mishra Bhairavi Performed by the Kronos Quartet

The Lunchbox (2013)

"A mistaken delivery in Mumbai's famously efficient lunchbox delivery system connects a young housewife to an older man in the dusk of his life as they build a fantasy world together through notes in the lunchbox," reads the IMDb blurb for The Lunchbox (2013), which the memsahib and I just returned from seeing, the kids having been ensconced off to sleepovers.

I had learned of the film about five minutes before rushing off to see it; nothing else looked remotely watchable. (That the Pittsford Cinema 9 shows such films from time to time says something for our town, I think.) I was expecting one of those foreign movies combining romantic comedy and shots of food being prepared that were popular two decades back, but although there was both humor and delicious-looking food, instead I was treated to a profound, humanistic meditation on loneliness in the modern world, making Like Water for Chocolate (1992) and Eat Drink Man Woman (1994) look even shallower than they actually were. I am thankful that I was able to hear of and see this lovely movie.

Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mehmed IV of the Ottoman Empire

'Twas not until reading Listverse's 10 Amazing Acts Of Defiance Throughout History, linked to by LewRockwell.com, that I learned of "one of the most offensive letters ever written," immortalized in the painting Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks above.

Here's the letter they got from the Sultan:

Sultan Mehmed IV to the Zaporozhian Cossacks:

As the Sultan; son of Muhammad; brother of the sun and moon; grandson and viceroy of God; ruler of the kingdoms of Macedonia, Babylon, Jerusalem, Upper and Lower Egypt; emperor of emperors; sovereign of sovereigns; extraordinary knight, never defeated; steadfast guardian of the tomb of Jesus Christ; trustee chosen by God Himself; the hope and comfort of Muslims; confounder and great defender of Christians -- I command you, the Zaporogian Cossacks, to submit to me voluntarily and without any resistance, and to desist from troubling me with your attacks.

--Turkish Sultan Mehmed IV

Their reply:

Zaporozhian Cossacks to the Turkish Sultan!

O sultan, Turkish devil and damned devil's kith and kin, secretary to Lucifer himself. What the devil kind of knight are you, that can't slay a hedgehog with your naked arse? The devil excretes, and your army eats. You will not, you son of a bitch, make subjects of Christian sons; we've no fear of your army, by land and by sea we will battle with thee, fuck your mother.

You Babylonian scullion, Macedonian wheelwright, brewer of Jerusalem, goat-fucker of Alexandria, swineherd of Greater and Lesser Egypt, pig of Armenia, Podolian thief, catamite of Tartary, hangman of Kamyanets, and fool of all the world and underworld, an idiot before God, grandson of the Serpent, and the crick in our dick. Pig's snout, mare's arse, slaughterhouse cur, unchristened brow, screw your own mother!

So the Zaporozhians declare, you lowlife. You won't even be herding pigs for the Christians. Now we'll conclude, for we don't know the date and don't own a calendar; the moon's in the sky, the year with the Lord, the day's the same over here as it is over there; for this kiss our arse!

Koshovyi Otaman Ivan Sirko, with the whole Zaporozhian Host.

Amen.

Caleb Klauder Performs "Hard Times," "Pieces On The Floor," "The Last Time I Saw You," & "It's All Your Fault"

"The Calamity from which all other Calamities Sprang"

We mark its centenary this year — Still in the grip of the Great War. "The war destroyed empires (some quickly, some more slowly), created fractious new nation-states, gave a sense of identity to the British dominions, forced America to become a world power and led directly to Soviet communism, the rise of Hitler, the second world war and the Holocaust."

The Rule of Two-Thirds

Click on the link to learn "a deep and abiding truth about sex, love and the erotic nature of women that was known to the literary greats of the distant past" — Shakespeare Vindicates Chateau Heartiste.

Hiroya Tsukamoto Performs "From Coast to Coast," "Asadoya Yunta," "Takibi," "Gemini Bridge"

The Berklee College of Music graduate is playing at Bernunzio Uptown Music this Friday.

The Education of an Anti-Imperialist

Andrew Bacevich reviews a book of that title about a great American who warned us a century ago that Empire "would make us the object of endless jealousies and hazards, involve us in perpetual war, and lead to the extinction of our domestic liberty" — La Follette’s Lessons in Empire.

Looking Smart

Unsurprisingly, it turns out "that the perceived intelligence of men correlates strongly with their actual intelligence – but the same doesn’t hold true for women" — Can you Tell a Man's Intelligence Simply by Looking at him? Yes.

More Alpha Than Expected

I answered more than half of these "yes" — You’ll Know You’re An Alpha Male If… Most involve mortal sin, so nothing to be proud of. My favorite: "You’ve ever acquired an honest-to-god stalker. (This may be indisputable proof of alphaness.)"

The Haden Triplets Perform "Single Girl, Married Girl," "Voice From On High," "Slowly," & "Tiny Broken Heart"

It's almost as if Charlie Haden's daughters have been practicing those three-part harmonies from the womb! Beautiful stuff!

Materialist Orthodoxy

The greatest taboo among serious intellectuals of the century just behind us, in fact, proved to be none of the "transgressions" itemized by postmodern thinkers: It was, rather, the heresy of challenging a materialist worldview.

Thus spake Victoria Nelson, quoted in this article as an epigraph — Visions of the Impossible.

Freeman Dyson

A great interview with the "the world-renowned mathematical physicist who helped found quantum electrodynamics with the bongo-playing, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman and others, devised numerous mathematical techniques, led the team that designed a low-power nuclear reactor that produces medical isotopes for research hospitals, dreamed of exploring the solar system in spaceships propelled by nuclear bombs, wrote technical and popular science books, penned dozens of reviews for The New York Review of Books," all without permanent head damage — A ‘Rebel’ Without a Ph.D.