James Earl Carter, voyeur?

In his 1976 Playboy interview, Jimmy Carter confessed to committing adultery in his heart. Times change. Nearly three decades later, he seems to have moved on to stronger stuff:

Carter recalled . . . a young Ethiopian girl’s eagerness to demonstrate that she, like her brother, could use the small latrine their father had made for them.

"She spread her skirt out very carefully and she squatted down to relieve herself." Carter said.

Carter added jokingly, "We took some pictures of it."

Hat Tip: Jim Taranto

Pervez Musharraf is in NYC today

Heavy security presence around his appearance at the Time-Life building (CNN interview today?).

Hurricane Katrina

Peggy Noonan has a good column on Katrina and its implications for Bush. As frequently happens, Ms. Noonan gives eloquent voice to things felt but difficult to phrase. The federal response to this natural disaster has been disastrous as well, and claims of local and state incompetence, however true, smack of an "everybody else is doing it" defense. The president has a lot of work to do to reassure the public that we are prepared for another disaster (or terrorist attack).

Louisiana 1927

Randy Newman wrote a great song about the flood in Louisiana in the 20's. Aaron Neville did a beautiful cover. If you've got Rhapsody, you can listen to these songs here. Otherwise, it's worth getting from iTunes or on CD.

Hell is . . .

Excellent piece on Hunter S. Thompson at Godspy.

Let 'em eat sex

To a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail. Planned Parenthood of Houston confronts the most terrifying problem faced by survivors of the disaster in New Orleans. Starvation? Nope. Disease and unsanitary conditions? Nah. Homelessness? Guess again:

Did you escape the hurricane without your birth control? As a courtesy to women fleeing Hurricane Katrina, we will offer one free cycle (one month) of birth control or one free Emergency Contraception kit to women presenting to a PPHSET clinic with a valid Louisiana or Mississippi driver's license. We also are offering one depo injection at a total fee of $41.00 (we are waiving the office visit charge, and offering the depo at a 50% discount). This offer is good until September 10th.

Hat tip: The Corner.

Pray for the Big Easy

Still on hiatus. In the meantime, our heart goes out to the residents of New Orleans, as the disaster worsens. Two places where readers can make contributions: Catholic Charities USA and Stormaid.com.

On Hiatus

Mrs. T. (Monster Mom) is a monster mom again. Happy birthday to Augustine James, born Aug. 22, 2005. He weighed in at 7 lbs., 8 oz. We're on hiatus from blogging until things quiet down -- we'll post photos soon.

Pope Benedict, speaking in Cologne synagogue, warns of rising antisemitism

Story here: "Speaking before Germany's oldest Jewish community in Cologne, Benedict said that 'today, sadly, we are witnessing the rise of new signs of anti-Semitism and various forms of a general hostility toward foreigners.'"

Saleh Mohammed al-Aoofi, Al Qaeda leader in Saudi Arabia, killed

AP reports:

Al Qaeda's leader in Saudi Arabia was killed Thursday during clashes with police in the western city of Medina, the Interior Ministry said.

Saleh Mohammed al-Aoofi was among six al Qaeda militants reported killed Thursday during police raids on numerous locations in the holy city of Medina and the capital, Riyadh, security officials told The Associated Press.

Hat tip: In the Bullpen.

Osama heading for Iraq?

Indian press is reporting on intercepted Al Qaeda communications that indicate that Bin Laden is going to Iraq to direct the jihad. Can't find any confirmation of this story so far.

Woman with a knife kills leader of Taizé in front of worshippers

Sad story. R.I.P., Brother Roger.

Iranian prosecutor now threatening family of Ganji

The New York Sun reports:

WASHINGTON - The Iranian prosecutor responsible for jailing Akbar Ganji hinted that he would pursue prosecution of family members of the dissident journalist.

Ganji is in the 69th day of his hunger strike.

Are sacred texts "all-or-nothing" in public schools?

Mike G. Gaither at libertyWatch has been asking some questions regarding Odessa and church-state relations.

As a matter of law, public schools may constitutionally teach Bible courses, as this opinion demonstrates:

[I]t might well be said that one's education is not complete without a study of comparative religion or the history of religion and its relationship to the advancement of civilization. It certainly may be said that the Bible is worthy of study for its literary and historic qualities. Nothing we have said here indicates that such study of the Bible or of religion, when presented objectively as part of a secular program of education, may not be effected consistently with the First Amendment. (Abington School Dist. v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963)).

Note that the study of the Bible (either on its own or as part of a general discussion of religion) is specifically approved here. The Abington precedent has been cited as allowing the Bible to be studied for literary and historic qualities in later Supreme Court decisions (e.g., Epperson v. Arkansas, 1968 and Stone v. Graham, 1980). Mike asserts: "The Supreme Court (the folks we hire to interpret the Constitution) has ruled fairly consistently the government (i.e. public schools) cannot endorse one religion over another. A class teaching the Koran (Quoran) with no other classes teaching the texts of other religions available, would be just as biased and unlawful." There is much in the existing jurisprudence that is not based in the text, legislative history, or intent of the Constitution, but even the Court has ruled in these cases that mere teaching of the Bible as literature or history does not in and of itself constitute an establishment of religion. Is there a SCOTUS precedent that requires schools to teach the Koran as literature if the Bible is taught as literature? If so, is there a mandate to the Bhagavad Gita be taught as literature/history? What about L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics -- must that be taught as literature/history?

Iraqi Chemical Stash Uncovered

Iraqi Chemical Stash Uncovered:

U.S. troops raiding a warehouse in the northern city of Mosul uncovered a suspected chemical weapons factory containing 1,500 gallons of chemicals believed destined for attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces and civilians, military officials said Saturday.

Monday's early morning raid found 11 precursor agents, "some of them quite dangerous by themselves," a military spokesman, Lt. Col. Steven A. Boylan, said in Baghdad.

Combined, the chemicals would yield an agent capable of "lingering hazards" for those exposed to it, Boylan said. The likely targets would have been "coalition and Iraqi security forces, and Iraqi civilians," partly because the chemicals would be difficult to keep from spreading over a wide area, he said.

Boylan said the suspected lab was new, dating from some time after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. . . .

Too bad the murder weapon wasn't a "cyber-knife"

File under Modern Weird: Chinese online gamer gets life for murder - Games - MSNBC.com:

BEIJING - A Shanghai online game player who stabbed a competitor to death for selling his cyber-sword has been given a suspended death sentence, which in effect means life imprisonment, state media said on Wednesday.
The case had created a dilemma in China where no law exists for the ownership of virtual weapons.
Qiu Chengwei, 41, stabbed competitor Zhu Caoyuan in the chest after he was told Zhu had sold his "dragon sabre", used in the popular online game, "Legend of Mir 3," the China Daily said.

Able Danger -- overrated?

A lot of current news indicates that most of the "Able Danger" story was overstated and inaccurate. Will try to roundup info later.

Michael Ledeen on Able Danger

Channeling James Jesus Angleton again, he finds it par for the course.

More "Able Danger"

Turns out that the "Able Danger" team notified the 9/11 Commission that they had identified Atta as a terrorist more that a year before the attacks, but the Commission omitted it from their report. This story is getting interesting . . . .

Pilgrim Fellowship of Faith

With his election as Pope Benedict XVI, Joseph Ratzinger's views, style, and thought have taken on a new relevance. Pilgrim Fellowship Of Faith: The Church As Communion is as good a place as any to start to gain insight into the man. Read more . . .

A collection of speeches, papers, and letters collected by his students for his 75th birthday, it examines the relationship between theology, faith, ecclesiology, and sacrament. It reveals a man who strives to be ecumenical in the most serious way -- who seeks real dialogue, which requires all participants to be as honest and searching about their beliefs and to accord dignity and respect to other interlocutors. This collection includes gracious letter exchanges with Orthodox Metropolitan Damaskinos of Switzerland and with Lutheran Provincial Bishop Johannes Hanselmann of Bavaria.

In the course of the works cited, Ratzinger deals in depth with these and other questions: What is theology, what is its relation to faith, and how can her methods lay claim to providing knowledge? What is the role of the Holy Spirit in ecclesiology, in our understanding of the Church? What is the relation between Communion as Eucharist and communion as Christian fellowship, and how does christology shape ecclesiology? What role to lay movements serve in the Church? How does the Church go about remembering and atoning for sins?

If there is a common theme, it is the primacy communion -- a vision of God as triune communion, a vision of the Universal Church with many local churches in communion, a vision of the ecumenical movement as a striving to realize Christian communion as a gift from God, a vision of sacraments as visible signs of communion. Also interesting is what he declares communion not to be. Specifically, it is not to be taken as a cover for blanket centralization of ecclesiastical authority in Rome.

It's a good read. A comparison with Wojtyla's style is perhaps inevitable. Ratzinger's writing is perhaps more pragmatic and concise, less grandiose. There's a quiet precision and grace here. Ratzinger seems like a quiet, patient teacher, a somewhat self-effacing man with a penetrating mind. It's an excellent way for Catholics to begin to learn their new pope's mind. It's a great book for other Christians who want an insight into how ecumenism fits into Pope Benedict's theological views. It's also a good book for non-Christians who wonder how the Church sees itself.