Archive for the ‘News/opinion’ Category

Breaking: Harvard Black Mass Moving

Posted: May 12, 2014 by datechguy in catholic, catholic devotions, culture, education, News/opinion
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I’m currently in the non-denominational at MIT where I just saw this tweet via Lisa Graas:

Harvard Extension School club holding “black mass” will relocate event to Middle East nightclub in Central Square. | Story soon @thecrimson.

— The Harvard Crimson (@thecrimson) May 12, 2014

Apparently however the Middle East Night Club decided they wanted no part of this

Here is the story:

Perhaps they will find an a deserted graveyard to use.

With an hour to the procession at MIT the crowd is starting to build The globe is here conducting interviews along with myself. I suspect this is going to be one of the most significant religious events in the area in a while.

Expect updates

A large canopy has just been brought in for the procession by a group of brothers. A busload of worshipers are now arriving

Update: Over 500 people processed from MIT all the way to Harvard where the Church could fit the crowd, (Base count 1200 plus an estimated 300 who couldn’t make it in. Meanwhile the Satanic Black Mass was cancelled and the taunting of the Catholic League by the Satanists failed to rattle them.

Final score God 3 Satan 0 full recap in the morning.

Update last: I’ll have the full story in a post in the morning but here are two videos to give you an idea of he crowd, first from the procession:

It took almost 5 minutes for all the people at the MIT Adoration to pass by.

Meanwhile here is the crowd at St. Pauls

If only they were Burning a Koran at Harvard…

Posted: May 10, 2014 by datechguy in catholic, culture, education, News/opinion
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(Fr.) Roger Landry hits the nail on the head in his letter to Harvard University’s president:

It’s not enough for Harvard to put out a press release saying that Harvard doesn’t “endorse the views or activities of any independent student organization.” Harvard simply would never allow itself or its properties to be associated with events that mock the religious beliefs, desecrate the sacred texts, or insult the spiritual sensitivities of Jews or Muslims.

Likewise it wouldn’t allow its reputation or institution to be affiliated in any way with the activities or views of an “independent student organization” that was reenacting the lynchings of African Americans or homophobic attacks or violence against women. Harvard would act decisively in those situations, both out of just concern for its own reputation but also out of moral outrage against such insensitivity that clear thinking, ethical people immediately recognize as evil.

That the question that Harvard has to answer, but in one sense the question concerning “burning a Koran” at Harvard is silly. The thought of doing such a thing would not occur to these “Satanists” as the islamic response would look nothing like this:

“In a recent statement, Pope Francis warned of the danger of being naïve about or underestimating the power of Satan, whose evil is too often tragically present in our midst. We call upon all believers and people of good will to join us in prayer for those who are involved in this event, that they may come to appreciate the gravity of their actions, and in asking Harvard to disassociate itself from this activity.”

or this

The archdiocese plans to hold a holy hour at 8 p.m. Monday at St. Paul’s Church, located near the campus.

As Father Michael Drea Senior Chaplin of the Harvard Catholic Chaplaincy put it

While the Satanists are “historically re-enacting” the devil at Queen’s Head Pub, Father Drea said the Harvard Catholic community will respond to evil with good by hosting a Eucharistic Holy Hour at St. Paul’s Church from 8pm to 9pm “to focus on the gift of the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist.”

“We take strength from [the Eucharist] to be the life of Christ in the world, to bring his message of life and love into the world and to be effective ambassadors of the New Evangelization,” he said. “We want to help people understand the beauty and centrality of our Eucharistic theology and how we are nourished by this great gift of Our Lord’s body, blood, soul and divinity.”

These are important points but they are directed at Harvard by those in the faith trying to defend it, and them from a danger they don’t acknowledge.

Now that the MSM is covering the story they obviously have a secular take to their questions to those concerned, let me suggest a few:

1. If this “Cultural Studies event”as it has been widely reported is about “culture” why are they hosting a group that claims to not have the cultural belief in what they are doing?

I would think that the answer the Harvard “Cultural Studies”  group gives would be rather newsworthy.

2.  When the story of this event was being reported in blogs the spokespeople for the Satanic Temple had no problem stating they were using a Consecrated Host even confirming it in writing , once the story broke into mainstream  media non-blog outlets those  confirmation were called “miscommunication” .   How does the Satanic Temple and Harvard reconcile this change?

I would further ask do they have possession of a consecrated host?  If so, how was it obtained and as they claim to respect all religions will it be returned?

Of course I don’t see how you reconcile “respecting all religions”  and performing a Black mass.

3.  As Harvard has plenty of Alumni who are Catholic and more than a few donors as well.  Given that the Black mass is a direct parody or insult to the Catholic Mass by design what kind of public objection or statement will they make?  Are you concerned that you will see more reactions like this?

“Harvard is under the same God as the rest of America, and religious freedom depends upon a shared reverence for Him while tolerating different religious beliefs.  Given Harvard’s heritage as a divinity school, it ought to be well aware that this event will darken its name in the minds of Christians—and particularly Catholics—for generations to come.

I think donors or alums who profess Christianity might have an issue giving to and associating with a university that is unwilling to even object to the Black mass.

4.  What do you  insert name of Catholic pol as a Catholic pol think of Harvard’s black mass & their response?

There are plenty of  pols running for office in 2014, many who have associations with Harvard.  Furthermore there are plenty of Catholic pols out there including Democrat minority leader & the speaker of the house.  What is going to happen when Harvard refusal to stop or even condemn this affront to their religion.  Who is going to be the person on the floor of the House or Senate defending the Black mass at Harvard as free speech that should be protected as opposed to offence to Catholics worldwide.  Will the same pols who critiqued the burning of the Koran by a southern pastor be as loud to defend Catholic sensibilities?

Oh and one more thing this line from Garret Quinn that this was first reported by Boston Magazine correct but as the Anchoress puts it:

Do any of them give a nod to the blogs? No. But that’s okay. What’s important is getting the story seen, and hopefully some opportunity for the Diocese to teach the faith!

Still I think her efforts deserve acknowledgement

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C.S. Lewis saw the Harvard Black Mass Coming

Posted: May 9, 2014 by datechguy in catholic, culture, News/opinion
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I’m slightly embarrassed that Ed Morrissey thought of Screwtape #7 before me

“I have great hopes that we shall learn in due time how to emotionalise and mythologise their science to such an extent that what is, in effect, a belief in us (though not under that name) will creep in while the human mind remains closed to belief in the Enemy. The ‘Life Force’, the worship of sex, and some aspects of Psychoanalysis, may here prove useful. If once we can produce our perfect work— the Materialist Magician, the man, not using, but veritably worshipping, what he vaguely calls ‘Forces’ while denying the existence of ‘spirits’— then the end of the war will be in sight.”

A correspondent of the Anchoress has a more modern Boston Centric  take:

“Dear Wormwood,

I congratulate you on the success of your latest efforts at Harvard University. I must say, dear nephew, that you have hit the baseball ball over Fenway Park’s “Green Monster” (what a delightful name) with this one. These mortals, especially the ones who claim to not believe in anything supernatural, have fallen once again into the trap. Since they are convinced we do not exist (what a wonderful lie that is!), they convince themselves that they need not worry about invoking our master’s name in anyway, let alone worshipping him. To them, it is all a little harmless fun, and their celebration of a black mass is meant only “as an expression of personal independence from overwhelming cultural influences!” How utterly delightful!”

with Elizabeth adding the ending.

“once emancipated from all that overwhelming light, there will be so much more room for us to encroach and overtake with our blessed darkness.”

But if you want a more professional take on the subject of the Devil who better to ask than Time Magazine’s Man of the Year Pope Francis:

We too are tempted, we too are the target of attacks by the devil because the spirit of Evil does not want our holiness, he does not want our Christian witness, he does not want us to be disciples of Christ. And what does the Spirit of Evil do, through his temptations, to distance us from the path of Jesus? The temptation of the devil has three characteristics and we need to learn about them in order not to fall into the trap. What does Satan do to distance us from the path of Jesus? Firstly, his temptation begins gradually but grows and is always growing. Secondly, it grows and infects another person, it spreads to another and seeks to be part of the community. And in the end, in order to calm the soul, it justifies itself. It grows, it spreads and it justifies itself.

furthermore

“We are all tempted because the law of our spiritual life, our Christian life is a struggle: a struggle. That’s because the Prince of this world, Satan, doesn’t want our holiness, he doesn’t want us to follow Christ. Maybe some of you might say: ‘But Father, how old fashioned you are to speak about the devil in the 21st century!’ But look out because the devil is present! The devil is here… even in the 21st century! And we mustn’t be naïve, right? We must learn from the Gospel how to fight against Satan.”

And that’s why the Black Mass can’t be ignored and the Holy Hour to fight it is so important.

Update:  Moonbattery (ross posted at Right Wing News) nails it

With each generation, our liberal ruling class becomes less subtle about where it is coming from, morally and spiritually speaking.

The real question: South Africa under the ANC

Posted: December 11, 2013 by datechguy in culture, News/opinion
Tags: ,

People who say, “I vote for the man, not the party” are therefore fools, blown around by the wind and prone to believe whatever they see on TV, because when you vote for the man, you get the party

RS McCain: Pulling at the other end of the Rope

Now that the Mandela memorial service is over and his funeral service a day away it’s time to look at the state of South Africa since his initial election.

Electorally it’s no surprise to anyone that since 1994 Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress has dominated the electoral landscape.  Mandela own election was practically a foregone conclusion.  He won the election in 1994 with over 62% of the vote and his African national congress won 252 seats in the 400 seat parliament.

It’s fair to say that problems of transitioning out of white minority rule was the primary duty of Mandela and by any standard that was admirably done.  His decision to not seek re-election and give up power that he could have kept was key to ensure democratic rule.

But the nation didn’t just get Mandela in power, it got the ANC in power and while Mandela didn’t run in 1999 the ANC did

In 1999 ANC did even better than in 1994 electing Thabo Mbeki with 66.35% and winning 266 seats in parlament.  In 2005 the trend continued as Mbeki was reelected with 69.69% of the vote and the ANC parliamentary majorly went to 279 seats.

Mbeki resigned in Sept 2008 over a corruption case involving Jacob Zuma who would win the presidency in 2009 for the ANC with 65.9% of the vote and 264 seats figures better than Mandela’s initial election but the lowest level of support for the ANC since then.

So the ANC, the party of Mandela has ruled the Country for 20 years. with solid overwhelming majorities.  In fact the irony is ANC’s  worst electoral showing was the year Mandela ran.   The question is:  What kind of job have they done for South Africa?

Well one simple measure of how a country is doing is the unemployment rate.  Let’s look at the IMF figures:

In 1990 the year that Nelson Mandela was released South Africa’s unemployment rate was at 18.78% doubling the 1980 rate of 9.24%.  By the first year of free elections (1994) it was up to 22.89%.  There was a sudden drop in the rate in 1995 to 16.71% but by 1997 the rate was back over 20% (20.95%) and since h left office in 1999 through 2010 the rate has averaged 25.76%  from a high of 30.41% in (2002) and a low of 22.23% (2007).

The current rate in the 3rd quarter of 2013 according to government stats is 24.7%

**************************************************

Another excellent measure of a county is life expectancy at the time of Mandela’s election let’s take a look at the trend since 1985

South Africa life expectancy 1985-2010

You would think that the end of incredible repression would increase, not decrease life expectancy.  A lot of this has to do with the AIDS rate:

More than five million people in South Africa are HIV-positive – about 10% of the total population.

Last year more than 260,000 people with Aids died – almost half the figure of all those who died in the country.

and the future is not bright:

At least 28% of South African schoolgirls are HIV positive compared with 4% of boys because “sugar daddies” are exploiting them, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has said.

He said 94,000 schoolgirls also fell pregnant in 2011, and 77,000 had abortions at state facilities, The Sowetan newspaper reports.

So under ANC rule South Africa has a quarter of its work force idle.  More than a quarter of schoolgirls HIV positive and  Life expectancy down a full 1/6.

And we haven’t even talked the murder rate at 31.3 per 100,000 (by comparison even with the Cartel violence Mexico’s murder rate is 22 per 100,000)

As the LA times reports

South Africa has some of the world’s highest rates of violent crime, with casualty figures mounting like those in a small war. The country had slowly whittled down its murder rate since 1995, but this year’s marginal increase raised fears that the battle against crime may have stalled.

The Institute for Security Studies, a South African think tank, said the figures were presented in a “vague” manner, making analysis difficult. Only the percentage change was provided, without the raw figures.

In fairness the murder rate the year Mandela was elected it was 64.9 higher than Detroit.  Now they are doing better than Detroit.  Let’s look at where South Africa’s killings are taking place

Residents in low-income areas, the analysis shows, are far more likely to be murdered than their middle and high-income counterparts. Half of South Africa’s murders occur in only 13% or 143 out of 1 127 of police precincts.

A vast majority of the average of 43 murders that take place daily do not make the news. They happen in areas where crime and violence are part of the daily despair of residents who already feel marginalised and forgotten by media and politicians.

Remember the person writing this article is a person trying to downplay the violence in South Africa.

As for Rape:

Interpol says South Africa is the world’s rape capital and less than 1% of rape cases are reported to police. According to a reliable website that compiles rape statistics this has had a detrimental effect on successfully pursuing rape cases in the country.

How bad is it? This bad::

South Africa’s parliament issued a reprimand to police Monday after media outlets reported that police stations across the country were running out of rape kits

Mind you all of this is after two decades of rule by the African National Congress duly elected and regularly re-elected by the free people of South Africa.

Without question the removal of the evil Apartheid laws was a positive good and franchise being extended to all citizens is simple justice.  A People must have the right to govern themselves and a government that doesn’t reflect the consent of the governed is unjust.

What is not axiomatic is that a popularly elected government will govern well.

The people have freely chosen to elect The African National Congress for 20 years by landslide majorities.  That party has failed to stem unemployment,   has seen life expectancy drop by nearly a decade during their rule and been a haven for murder and rape.

Yesterday spectacle to the world showing how South Africans  has progressed under the management of the leftist African National congress.  It’s been a great time for the country “except maybe for the people who got killed or raped.”

I’m sure some will think this a rather hard critique, some might even throw an epithet at me for it (remember there are five a’s in raaaaacist).  To those critics of all races, creeds and political beliefs I ask this question:

Would any one of you choose to move to such a country, raise your children in such a country or encourage your sons and daughters to do so?

Update: While the media is busy discussing Angelo-American-Danish relations almost nobody in media seemed to notice or bother covering the booing of the President of South Africa

Hmm @bbcamerica says South Africans may use POSA’s speech to express anger over corruption etc yet they regularly vote ANC 60% #tcot #p2

— Peter Ingemi (@DaTechGuyblog) December 10, 2013

But apparently the South African president did

Ah, freedom MT @BBCAndrewH: Pres Zuma’s advisor tells me Mandela stadium booing was “humiliating” & those responsible will be “dealt with”

— Jeff Emanuel (@jeffemanuel) December 11, 2013

Perhaps the booing might have something to do with this:

Speaker at #mandela funeral talked of the link between SA & #cuba in development etc. That explains much (24.7% unemployment) #tcot #p2

— Peter Ingemi (@DaTechGuyblog) December 10, 2013

The question is: Will they make the ANC pay at the ballot box?

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