Green Pigs

Taiwan proudly announced today that it has created a floresent green pig. It will help them to become the new leaders in stem-cell reasearch. The green pigs are unique because they are green throughout, even their organs are green. The world now welcomes three transgenic male pigs.

I'm saddened to think that soon, and perhaps already, a similar procedure has been inflicted on a human embryo. The "doctors" inject flouresecent green protein into the embryos.

I also don't see the connection between a pig and a human being. Man is both spiritual and temporal, and these "doctors" don't seem to see that what they are investigating is something sacred and unique.

"Before I formed thee in the womb I knew thee, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."Jeremiah 1:4-6

"Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered." Luke 12:7

A stroke of brilliance

The Omaha World-Herald announced today "Man found dead in Wahoo cemetery" [omaha.com, subscription required]. I'm just glad to know the police are looking in all the right places!

Indian Abortions

A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic. - Joseph Stalin (1879 - 1953)

On Monday, January 2, 2006 the Lancet, a UK medical journal reported that 10 million female babies were aborted in India in the past two decades. They report that this atrocity is largely due to prenatal sex determination. India largely regards daughters as a liability.

Let's put 10 million into perspective.

6 million - The number of Jewish people killed in the Holocaust between 1933 and 1945.
50,000 - The number of Americans killed in WWI
1,370,000 - The number of abortions in the U.S. (Allan Guttmacher Institute)

And some less muderous statistics:
55,601 - The number of people that can be seated in Shea Stadium
1,048,319 - Population of Rhode Island
8 million - The population of New York City

Staggering, is it not?

The Emergence of the Family in Hollywood

I have watched the emergence of such movies as Cheaper by the Dozen, Nanny McPhee, and the Pacifier with an element of chagrin. Each of these movies portrays a large family (12, 7, and ~5, respectively), which I was initially very excited by, thinking Hollywood was glorifying the idea of a larger family. Well, my admiration was quite mistaken. The families are portrayed as an unruly lot. Indeed, The Pacifier and Nanny McPhee assert that the only way to manage the ungodly number of children these families have is to be a super controlling person, such as a Navy SEAL. Forget the idea of an organized mother and a strong father; they’re not capable of rearing children.

These movies suggest that an extra baby only adds more chaos.

Sadly, these movies only add to the disdain many large families are faced with. A father and mother with more than one child are often viewed as a menace to society, since Americans are being fed with the idea we are overpopulating the earth.

On the sacred nature of the feminine

Fydor Dostoevsky once said "to love someone is to see him as God intended him." It inspired me to delve more deeply into the archetypes ideas of man and woman and also the relationship between them.

Alice von Hildebrand asserts the dignity of the woman by stating that woman was not made from dirt and saliva, as man was. Rather, she was created from the flesh of Adam. Since she enjoys this high privilege, she is also one of great responsibility. She has the role of bringing into the world new life. She deserves utmost respect. She is a vessel of life. Perhaps even the vessel of life. Chesterton states "Nothing can overcome that one enormous sex [that of the female] superiority, that even the male child is born closer to his mother than to his father.

Men must treat women with great respect then, as they are indeed sacred. The chivalric code between men and women aims at maintaining a woman's dignity, and is indeed based on the love between Jesus and Mary. However, that has been lost in the modern world where both men and women are responsible for the breakdown of chivalry. It is the job then of both sexes to return to this code.

With great interest, I turned to Brad Miner's "The Compleat Gentleman: the Modern Man's Guide to Chivalry." Although it had a rather interesting section on sprezzatura (the effortless grace of the masculine in pursuit of truth and goodness), the rest of it is at best a lengthy, dry, history. It is hailed as "witty" by Publisher's Weekly, but it not worthy of such praise.

I wouldn't bother with it, but if you have, I would love to know your opinion.

Overpopulation

I have always thought those ridiculous admonitions about humans eating themselves off the face of the planet were false. However, that could just be because I hail from one of the largest states in the union that happens to be stocked with an abundance of goods.

However, today I was happy to read an article from ABC.com about great myths the American public subects themselves to. John Stossel states:
MYTH #7 — The World Is Getting Too Crowded

We've heard protests about this for decades: News articles warn of "the population bomb," and "a tidal wave of humanity," and plead: No more babies.

The world population today is more than 6 billion. It seems like so many people. But who says it's "too many?"

There are lots of problems all over the world caused by too many people, but there's no space problem. Our planet is huge. In fact we could take the entire world population and move everyone to the state of Texas, and the population density there would still be less than that of New York City. But, you might wonder, won't we run out of resources, like food?

Paul Ehrlich wrote the book "Population Bomb," and warned 65 million Americans would starve in a "Great Die Off" in the 1980s. The 1973 movie "Soylent Green" predicted food riots would erupt in the year 2022 but it doesn't look like that will happen. According to media mogul and philanthropist Ted Turner, population growth is "a time bomb waiting to happen." If it continues, at the current rate, according to Turner, "Eventually you stand around in a desert with nothing to eat." But that too is a myth. We see the pictures of starving masses in populous places, but the starvation is caused by things like civil war and government corruption that interfere with the distribution of food.

With more people, we also have more smart ideas. Every year we learn how to grow more food on less land. Thanks to improved technology, the United Nations now says the world overproduces food.

About 15,000 babies are born every hour. But they are not a burden, they offer more brains that might cure cancer, more hands to build things, more voices to bring us beautiful music."

St. Thomas Becket

BBC released their 2005 edition of the 10 "Worst Historical Britons" on December 27. Sadly, St. Thomas Becket was named the worst of the years spanning 1100-1200. He was aligned with such infamous villans as Jack the Ripper who may be responsible for the murder of about 200 people.

"The "greedy" Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was nominated by Professor John Hudson, of St Andrews University, as the 12th century's worst villain.
"He divided England in a way that even many churchmen who shared some of his views thought unnecessary and self-indulgent," he said.
"He was a founder of gesture politics.
"Those who share my prejudice against Becket may consider his assassination in Canterbury Cathedral on 29 December, 1170, a fittingly grisly end." " http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4560716.stm

"Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to that arrogant oligarchy who merely happen to be walking around." - G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, 1908

This past semester I have reflected often on Tradition, especially in light of my recent exposure to a cerain college. Here the chivalric code is preserved and I love that.

Dostoyevsky's "The Devils" reflects on man's rejection of tradition. The rebellion of the young against the percieved romanticim of their elders results in chaos. But I suppose what I appreciated most was that although Dostoyevsky follows in the very dark Russian tradition, he leads us in with a redemptive epigram from the Gospel of Luke 8:32-36 "A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into them, and he gave them permission. 33When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. 34When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, 35and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus' feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 36Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured." So it is in our dear Lord we may find comfort, for He will put to flight these demons.

Novena to the Sacred Heart

Padre Pio and the Sacred Heart
"...In a letter to one of his spiritual daughters of high virtue, Padre Pio wrote: "Do not ever lose heart when the tempest rages; place all your trust in the Heart of the most gentle Jesus. Pray and I might add, devoutly pester the divine Heart."

Irresistible Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
O my Jesus, Thou didst say: "Amen, I say to you, ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you." Hence I knock, I seek, and I ask for the grace of...Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory be...
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in Thee!
O my Jesus, Thou didst say: "Amen, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He will give unto you.” Hence I ask the Father, in Thy name, for the grace of...Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory be...
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in Thee!
O my Jesus, Thou didst say: "Amen, I say to you, heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away." Encouraged by Thy infallible words, I now ask for the grace of...Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory be...
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in Thee! Let us pray Sacred Heart of Jesus, for Whom one thing alone is impossible, namely, not to have compassion on the afflicted, have pity on us miserable sinners and grant us the grace we ask of Thee, through the intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Thy tender Mother and ours.
Hail Holy Queen...
Saint Joseph, friend of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pray for us!Heart of Jesus, rich unto all that call upon Thee, have mercy on us! Heart of Jesus, salvation of those who hope in Thee, have mercy on us!
Consecration to The Sacred Heart
Jesus Christ, I recognize Thee as the King of the universe. Thou art the Author of all creation. Exercise over me all Thy rights. Renew in me those promises that I solemnly made in my baptism, rejecting Satan with all his works and pomps. O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I offer Thee all of my poor works and actions so that men might recognize Thy Sacred Royalty and reign that Thou dost desire to establish throughout the whole universe. Amen.

"Feminism is a metaphysical revolt against the characteristics of women. Men seem to have all the advantages, and so feminists try to become a caricature of men."
Dr. Alice von Hildebrand

A professor illuminated an interesting aspect of feminism this past year to me. We were reading Plato's Republic. There Plato equivocates the male with the female, submitting the female to the same warlike predisposition of the male. The professor pointed out that Plato devalued all the things that women do well. The feminist does the same thing.

She refuses to admit the seperate function of the roles of men and women and glorifies only the male role, entirely neglecting the female.

Stats on life.

18 days - heart begins to beat.
21 days - the baby pumps own blood through a separate closed circulatory system with his or her own blood type.
28 days - eye, ear and respiratory system begin to form.
42 days - brain waves recorded, skeleton complete, reflexes present.
9 weeks - squints, swallows, moves tongue, makes fist.
11 weeks - spontaneous breathing movements, has fingernails, all body systems working.
12 weeks - weighs one ounce.
16 weeks - genital organs clearly differentiated, grasps with hands, swims, kicks, turns, somersaults, (still not felt by the mother.)
18 weeks - vocal cords work – can cry.
20 weeks - has hair on head, weighs one pound, 12 inches long.
23 weeks - 15% chance of viability outside of womb if birth premature.*
24 weeks - 56% of babies survive premature birth.*
25 weeks - 79% of babies survive premature birth.*
*Source: M. Allen et. al., "The Limits of Viability." New England Journal of Medicine. 11/25/93: Vol. 329, No. 22, p. 1597.

Something to consider.

The Second Coming
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart, the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand,
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in the sands of the desert
A shape with a lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving is slow theighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?

I think this poem tuly speaks to the situation the modern world faces. It opens with the falcon spinning away from the falconer, to the point where he can no longer hear his master.

Then, Yeats continues with his vision of mass destruction. Who is this figure? The Anti-Christ, I think. Where the world was formerly guided and ruled by Christ, this beast seemingly replaces it. Christendom is replaced with anti-culture.

Fascinating, don't you think?

Narnia

The new Narnia movie is beautifully done. I would highly suggest it to anyone, especially if you enjoyed the books by C.S. Lewis.

The movie maintained much of the Christian references that Lewis masterfully entertwined into his books. However, the movie doesn't come off as "preachy." It asserts the truth without shoving it down one's throat.

However, the character of Peter was somewhat weak. It seems to me that he is meant to remind one of Peter, the rock upon which Christ instituted His Church. He didn't live up to my expectations and seemed to fail even his own. When he surveyed the battle field as he goes to defend truth and slay evil itself... his eyes do not glimmer with courage and power. Rather, he seems to falter.

Opera et al

It might be evident to the reader from my choices of titles for this blog that I really enjoy opera. Wagner is by far my favorite.

On another note, I greatly enjoy Russian novels. They speak so much to the crisis of man today, where he is "turning and turning in the widening gyre," yet, the "falcon [man] cannot hear the falconer." Of course, Yeats is not Russian, but I like him too. I recently read "The Devils" by Dostoevsky, and it beautifully showed the decline of man when he revolts against Tradition.

About me

"Beauty will save the world." I find this quote from Dostoevsky to be quite intriguing. I feel it ties in strongly with the feminine nature, which brings beauty into the world. Indeed, women bring life in to world, which is one of the most beautiful gifts man recieves.

The Christmas season is an apt time for this relfection.

The First Post

Well, I just hope I can remember all the opera variations I have chosen to come up with this blog. It's all rather complicated!

Peace, from the Greatland.