"When it's said and done we haven't told you a thing..."

"... We all know that crap is king/Give us dirty laundry."

After these weeks of world and national upheaval, when news organizations either report on themselves, remain content to read Charlie Sheen's Twitter feed, or take sides and skew the news all the while trying to convince us they are "fair and balanced," when very few in the media, excepting a few, like Matt Taibbi, who once again reports in Rolling Stone on the dangerous travesty that is Wall Street, even seem to care, or to know enough to let us know what is happening, I have no choice but to post the Eagles' Dirty Laundry as our Friday traditio. Well, I do have a choice and I choose Dirty Laundry.

Did you know that average pension for a retired public sector employee in Wisconsin is $24,500 a year? Did you also know that 15% of what that state spends on pensions goes for fees to Wall Street firms?

Here are a few paragraphs from Taibbi's most recent RS piece, which I urge you to read in its entirety:

"Last year, the government deported 393,000 people, at a cost of $5 billion. Since 2007, felony immigration prosecutions along the Mexican border have surged 77 percent; nonfelony prosecutions by 259 percent. In Ohio last month, a single mother was caught lying about where she lived to put her kids into a better school district; the judge in the case tried to sentence her to 10 days in jail for fraud, declaring that letting her go free would 'demean the seriousness' of the offenses.

"So there you have it. Illegal immigrants: 393,000. Lying moms: one. Bankers: zero. The math makes sense only because the politics are so obvious. You want to win elections, you bang on the jailable class. You build prisons and fill them with people for selling dime bags and stealing CD players. But for stealing a billion dollars? For fraud that puts a million people into foreclosure? Pass. It's not a crime. Prison is too harsh. Get them to say they're sorry, and move on. Oh, wait — let's not even make them say they're sorry. That's too mean; let's just give them a piece of paper with a government stamp on it, officially clearing them of the need to apologize, and make them pay a fine instead. But don't make them pay it out of their own pockets, and don't ask them to give back the money they stole. In fact, let them profit from their collective crimes, to the tune of a record $135 billion in pay and benefits last year. What's next? Taxpayer-funded massages for every Wall Street executive guilty of fraud?"

Scripture is not silent on these matters. Look at what the prophet Amos, a non-institutional figure, like Cesar Chavez and Dorothy Day in our time, had to say to the rich cheaters of ancient Israel:

"Hear this, you who trample on the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end, saying, 'When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great and deal deceitfully with false balances, that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals and sell the chaff of the wheat?'

Former CEO of Lehman Bros., Dick Fuld, one of many responsible for the melt-down

"The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: 'Surely I will never forget any of their deeds. Shall not the land tremble on this account, and everyone mourn who dwells in it, and all of it rise like the Nile, and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?

"'And on that day,' declares the Lord God, 'I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on every waist and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day'" (Amos 8:4-10).

I am convinced that when people today ask "Where are the saints?", they don't see them because they're looking for a warm little institutional figure, somebody who is harmless, just the kind of person that Dorothy Day was worried about being dismissed as.

Egypt and the failure of the so-called fourth estate

One feature of the on-going epic failure and collapse of our so-called fourth estate, namely the news media, is its penchant for making itself the news even in the midst of something as monumental as the Egyptian uprising, which quickly brought Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule to an end. Of course, I am referring to nothing else except the lamentable assault on CBS News reporter Lara Logan at the hands of some male protesters. Let me be clear up-front, Logan was certainly the victim of a violent sexual assault. Sexual assaults are reprehensible, morally wrong, which is why such attacks are universally condemned and punished by civil laws, as they should be. Before cutting to the chase, it also bears noting that Logan was rescued by members of the Egyptian military, along with some concerned Egyptian women who were nearby. So, without blaming the victim in the slightest, I do not mind stating that I find it a media failure that this became the story in the final days of the uprising and continued to be the story for several days afterwards. Are we really to believe nothing else of this sort went on in the lawless atmospehere during the days of protest?

As he so often does, Peter Hitchens writes very lucidly about this matter. He begins by wondering about a couple of things concerning Logan’s assault, namely why it isn’t always made clear that she was sexually assaulted by protesters, as well as why the fact that her attackers shouted "Jew, Jew, Jew at her" was not much reported. As regards the Western news media’s narcissism, he concludes that certain, relevant details, like the Judophobic taunts of Logan’s assailants, can be left out because they do not fit the approved the narrative, which holds "that the removal of Egypt’s government is a good thing," unequivocally. In the square where the main protest took place, mob rule, "with all the horrible dangers involved," was in effect, but the news media, according to Hitchens, decided that "people power" sounded "so much nicer." The result of this no doubt "strategic" decision was that a "violent sexual assault on a Western woman, tinged with Judophobia, doesn’t fit this picture," especially one carried out by protesters.

As a long-time foreign correspondent, who continues to spend time in the Middle East, Hitchens also goes on to note what anyone who has spent time in this region knows, namely "that a disgraceful and shaming Judophobia is common in that part of the world, even among educated and otherwise civilised people." He is quite correct in noting that only "a very few reports of the Cairo revolt showed posters of the deposed President Mubarak defaced with crude Stars of David reminiscent of Nazi graffiti." "I suspect," he continues, "the men involved also regarded Ms. Logan’s perfectly normal Western dress as improper and sluttish," an honest view that also does not fit the narrative of the "'lovely, warm-hearted' crowd" of the pie-eyed Western media's 1960ish imagination.

I guess all the phenomenon of significant world events turning into stories by the media about the media is simply an indication that this is much easier than finding out and reporting on what is really happening and has the added advantage of appealing to our prurient interests. This is why I am a believer in what is now called the 5th estate- people on the ground, in the action, just tweeting and blogging away. Sure, they have no editors, but this only insures that they are not constrained by ideologically-driven official narrative, even if other motives drive them. Maybe writing from self-declared or obvious viewpoint is more honest than pretending to be objective.

Blogging: responsibility, accountability, and integrity

Blogging as a Roman Catholic deacon requires responsibility, accountability, and integrity. As a deacon blogger, I strive to be responsible, to have integrity, and to be accountable. None of this means renouncing my right to express myself freely. To that end, on the main page of Καθολικός διάκονος, I have written what I call Integrity notes. These notes have appeared on my blog for the better part of two years. In addition to dealing with issues of copyright and fair use, I also have an extremely clear disclaimer:

"Due to the fact that I blog as a Roman Catholic deacon, I strive to maintain accountability by keeping my pastor informed of my activities, inviting him to read what I post, and insuring that the authorities of my diocese are also aware of my blogging. This in no way implies that what I write reflects the views of my pastor, of the Cathedral of Madeleine, or of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, or even that my views are endorsed by any of the above. Neither does any of this imply a canonically granted imprimatur or nihil obstat. To wit: all thoughts and opinions expressed on this blog are exclusively my own, especially that which proves to be stupid and/or erroneous.

"Given the purpose of this undertaking, I also look to my readers to keep me honest, constructive, and charitable."

More importantly, my wife reads what I write and post on a regular basis, often at my invitation. While it is fair to say that our opinions diverge from time-to-time, she knows what I am doing, which is important to me because this also means being responsible and accountable.

Being responsible as a writer (even one whose preferred genre is uncreative non-fiction), also requires me to be honest and authentic. The way I see my efforts here is that at a time and in a culture when Christian faith is alternately reduced either to sentimentality or to morality, it is important to take an intelligent and adult approach to the way I express my faith by attending to all the factors that constitute reality, especially in the realm of contemporary culture (i.e., literature, film, music, theater, television, et. al.). In service to that end, it is inevitable that I will be provocative and challenging from time-to-time. By no means do I expect everybody to agree with all the conclusions I draw or my way of presenting certain issues. I certainly invite disagreement, especially when it results in intelligent discussion. On the rare occasion I post something I know will cause offense, I give warning in big red letters.

Passive-aggressive is a therapeutic way of saying coward. Because it is a poor way to conduct oneself, it is contrary to the Gospel: "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother," etc. (Matt. 18:15-17). So, if you have objections to what I write and you are a person with any integrity, you have three alternatives: state them to me personally by commenting on the post that provokes you, by e-mailing me, or talking to me in person; read it and remain silent; or don't read my blog. Otherwise, I have no interest in your critique.

I always do a self-reflective post on blogging during Lent. This year's came a little early.

Love is the only reason

Thanks to Nick at Nite, I am realizing again what a really incredible show Malcolm in the Middle is/was, especially as a husband and father of five. Last night they aired the episode where Lois thinks she is pregnant again, which causes them to panic, fight, blame, accuse, and then reconcile by recalling when Lois was pregnant with Dewey, their fourth son. At the beginning of her labor, which comes in the middle of chaos, in a rain storm in their backyard, after they are forced to run from their house, due to a chemistry experiment gone bad, Lois makes Hal give her seven reasons why he loves her, seven reasons that make it all worth it:

"Lois: Okay, here's what we're gonna do. You're gonna tell me three, no five, no seven! I want you to tell me seven things you love about me, seven reasons why this is all worthwhile, seven reasons why we're still here.
Hal: Seven?
Lois: Seven. And I have to believe every one of them and you have to say them all right now.
Hal: Seven?!
Lois: Oh, just please, Hal, just do it....
Hal: Oh, okay, okay, okay.... I... I... I love how your neck smells in the morning.
Lois: Okay, that's one.
Hal: I... I love how every one of your toes looks like it came from another person's foot.
Lois: Oh, oh...
Hal: And, and, and, I love how... how you're honest and... and fearless and... and how when I'm sick you treat me like a baby.
Lois: Okay, that last one counts for two. You've got three more to go. I can tell you that I just adore the... the way your forehead gets all crinkly when you're worried.
Hal: And I love the way you cut your crusts off your toast even though you end up eating both anyway.
Lois: I love your loyalty and your kindness and that you still suck in your gut whenever I walk into the room.
Hal: I love how you didn't dump me when you found out that I was in love with you.
Lois: I love that you still married me even after you met my parents!
Hal: And I love that nothing in my life, not cribbage with my dad, not a new Van Halen album, not even an old Van Halen album for that matter, or any of their solo albums...
Lois: Hal. Hal!
Hal: I love that nothing in my life is complete until I've shared it with you.

Hal: I love how you send the boys to their room just so we can have some alone time.
Lois: I just love you."

Wow! That knocks my socks off because it speaks to my life! I don't mind admitting that I was choked up the first time I watched it and while watching it again last night. After all, isn't love the reason there something rather than nothing? Love is certainly what makes the fear, uncertainty, and chaos of raising children worthwhile, what makes it a joy, what turns life's uncertainties into a celebration, a wonderful and awesome adventure!

Veni Sancti Spiritus, veni per Mariam.

Our czarist system

My latest article for Il Sussidiario about Van Jones' Labor Day weekend resignation, in which I ask Is it time to put an end to the “czar” system?