A Happy and Blessed New Year To All!

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, In
Memoriam A.H.H.

It's 2014 in Australia: New Year's Fireworks Celebration from Sydney

Nanny Bloomberg's Legacy: 12 Years of Tyranny in 2 Minutes

Bashar al-Assad Sends Private Message to Pope Francis

Syrian president told pontiff countries supporting rebels groups would have to stop before peace can be agreed, reports say
 

Pope Francis delivers his weekly Sunday Angelus prayer to the gathered faithful below his apartment on St Peter's Square Photograph: Fabio Frustaci/EPA

The Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, has sent a private message to Pope Francis as a delegation from Damascus visiting the Vatican met on Saturday with the pontiff's two most senior diplomatic representatives.

The contents of the message were not disclosed by the Vatican, which said in a statement simply that Joseph Sweid, a Syrian government minister, had met both Francis's secretary of state, Archbishop Pietro Parolin, and foreign secretary, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti.

"The delegation brought a message from President Assad for the Holy Father and outlined the position of the Syrian government," it added.

But, according to Sana, Syria's state-run news agency, the message set out the Assad regime's position ahead of next month's peace conference in Geneva, saying it was willing to take part in the talks but that countries supporting rebel groups would have to stop.

Read more at The Guardian >>

The Vatican's Year in Review: A Year of Two Popes

Heritage Foundation's Top 10 Examples of Government Waste in 2013

GOP Establishment and TEA Party Leaders Agree: Lose Lindsey

Why Lindsey Graham is bad for South Carolina

From The Post and Courier
By Dianne Belsom and Kevin Thomas

The tea party is a political movement, not a political party, and it began as a spontaneous reaction to the overreach of the federal government. Spurred on by Rick Santelli's rant, I (Dianne Belsom) organized a Tax-Day Tea Party Rally in April 2009 in my town of Laurens.

However, it quickly became clear that our movement wasn't so much about taxes as it was about freedom, and it also quickly became clear as to which of our elected representatives were on our side.

Harry Christophers and The Sixteen Choir - "A Choral Christmas"

Harry Christophers has directed The Sixteen choir and orchestra throughout Europe, America and the Far East gaining a distinguished reputation for his work in Renaissance, Baroque and 20th-century music.

 

 

Mandela, Churchill and the War for the Future

By Patrick J. Buchanan

By their heroes shall you know them.

In his eulogy, President Obama put Nelson Mandela in the company of three other heroes: Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Abraham Lincoln.

What did these men have in common? Three were assassinated, and all four are icons of resistance to white rule over peoples of color.

Lincoln waged the bloodiest war in American history that ended slavery. Gandhi advanced the end of British rule in India. King led the civil rights struggle that buried Jim Crow. Mandela was the leader of the revolution that overthrew apartheid.

Obama's heroes testify to his belief that the great moral struggle of the age is the struggle for racial equality.

For the neocons, the greatest man was Winston Churchill, because he stood up, almost alone, to the great evil of the age -- Nazism.

Thus, to neocons, Munich was the great betrayal because it was there that Neville Chamberlain, rather than defy Hitler, agreed to the return of the Sudeten Germans to German rule. [To the Old Right, Yalta, where Churchill and FDR ceded Eastern Europe to Stalin, a monster as evil and more menacing than Hitler, was the greatest betrayal.]

But what did Churchill think of Obama's hero Gandhi?

"It is alarming and nauseating to see Mr. Gandhi, a seditious Middle Temple lawyer, now posing as a fakir of a type well known in the east, striding half naked up the steps of the Viceregal Palace ... to parlay on equal terms with the representative of the Emperor-King."

What did Churchill think of ending Western white rule of peoples of color? Here he is in 1937:

"I do not admit ... that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia ... by the fact that a stronger race, a higher grade race ... has come in and taken its place."

Here is Churchill during World War II:

"I have not become the King's first minister in order to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire."

In short, Dunkirk defiance aside, Churchill's convictions about the superiority of some races and civilizations, and their inherent right to rule what Kipling called "the lesser breeds without the law," was and is the antithesis of what Obama believes.

Any wonder Obama shipped that bust of Churchill that "W" kept in the Oval Office back to the British embassy. Any surprise Obama failed to show up at the funeral of Margaret Thatcher, a Churchillian who sent the fleet to retake the Falkland Islands from Argentina.

The point: Obama's vision of an ideal world and Churchill's are irreconcilable.
Second, not only is Churchill dead, his empire is dead, his world is dead, and his ideas on superior races and civilizations would be censured and censored if spoken in any international forum.

We are in Obama's world now. It is a world where not only are all races, religions and civilizations equal, but within nations the greater the diversity of races, religions, cultures and ethnic groups the better.

And not only should all have equal rights, but more equal rewards.

Inequality equals injustice. Income inequality is the new enemy.

But though Obama's world is today, it is looking less like tomorrow.

Across the Middle East and Africa, Islamists are murdering and persecuting Christians as they do not regard Christianity as equal.

Ethnonationalism unites Chinese against Tibetans and Uighurs and propels a confrontation with the Japanese who have never been forgiven for the Rape of Nanking.

Vladimir Putin is in the crosshairs of Western secularists for seeking to revive and restore Orthodox Christianity and its moral precepts to primacy in Russian law, which likely means no Gay Pride parades in Red Square any time soon.

In a Christmas card to this writer, the Washington Post's Harold Meyerson brings up my late father's support of Spain's Gen. Francisco Franco -- to reveal the son's suspect motives.

In a civil war from 1936-1939, Franco ran off a Christophobic regime of Socialists, Stalinists and Trotskyists as their comrades of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion got waxed at Jarama River and ended up on the Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations.

Sorry about that, Harold.

Across Europe, globalism and transnationalism, as represented by the eurozone and EU, seem in retreat, as nationalism is resurgent. Now it is the UKIP, a new British independence party, which seeks to secede from the EU that is surging -- at the expense of the Tories.

Let France be France! Let Britain be Britain! Let Scotland be Scotland! These are the cries coming from the hearts of Europeans rejecting mass immigration and the cacophonous madness of multiculturalism.

All men may be equal in rights. But most prefer their own faith, country, culture, civilization, and kind. They cherish and wish to maintain their own unique and separate identities. They do not want to disappear into some great amalgam of the New World Order.

Whether globalism or nationalism prevails, the big battle is coming.

In the Beginning: Washington & the Birth of American Political Parties

This is an engaging and informative  lecture by Grove City College President Dr. Richard G. Jewell '67.  Before a sold out room at the American Founders Luncheon Series in Pittsburgh on December 3, 2013, Jewell spoke about George Washington and the beginning of political parties in America.

Francis Leads Silent Prayer for World’s Persecuted Christians

Pope Francis greets pilgrims gathered for the Angelus yesterday (CNS)

Pope Francis prayed for Christians suffering persecution around the world as he marked the feast of St Stephen, the Church’s first martyr, today.

Read more at The Catholic Herald >>

Christmas 2013 Broadcast of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

"I believe from my heart that the cause which binds together my peoples and our gallant and faithful allies is the cause of Christian Civilization."  

 ~ King George VI 

Broadcasting on December 25, 1939

Pope Francis' 'Urbi Et Orbi' (to the City and to the World) Message for Christmas 2013

 

URBI ET ORBI MESSAGE
OF POPE FRANCIS

CHRISTMAS 2013 

Wednesday, 25 December 2013

Video

Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours (Lk 2:14)

Dear brothers and sisters in Rome and throughout the whole world, Greetings and Happy Christmas!

I take up the song of the angels who appeared to the shepherds in Bethlehem on the night when Jesus was born. It is a song which unites heaven and earth, giving praise and glory to heaven, and the promise of peace to earth and all its people.

I ask everyone to share in this song: it is a song for every man or woman who keeps watch through the night, who hopes for a better world, who cares for others while humbly seeking to do his or her duty.

Glory to God!

Above all else, this is what Christmas bids us to do: give glory to God, for he is good, he is faithful, he is merciful. Today I voice my hope that everyone will come to know the true face of God, the Father who has given us Jesus. My hope is that everyone will feel God’s closeness, live in his presence, love him and adore him.

May each of us give glory to God above all by our lives, by lives spent for love of him and of all our brothers and sisters.

Peace to mankind

True peace - we know this well - is not a balance of opposing forces. It is not a lovely “façade” which conceals conflicts and divisions. Peace calls for daily commitment, but making peace is an art, starting from God’s gift, from the grace which he has given us in Jesus Christ.

Looking at the Child in the manger, Child of peace, our thoughts turn to those children who are the most vulnerable victims of wars, but we think too of the elderly, to battered women, to the sick… Wars shatter and hurt so many lives!

Too many lives have been shattered in recent times by the conflict in Syria, fueling hatred and vengeance. Let us continue to ask the Lord to spare the beloved Syrian people further suffering, and to enable the parties in conflict to put an end to all violence and guarantee access to humanitarian aid. We have seen how powerful prayer is! And I am happy today too, that the followers of different religious confessions are joining us in our prayer for peace in Syria. Let us never lose the courage of prayer! The courage to say: Lord, grant your peace to Syria and to the whole world. And I also invite non-believers to desire peace with that yearning that makes the heart grow: all united, either by prayer or by desire. But all of us, for peace.

Grant peace, dear Child, to the Central African Republic, often forgotten and overlooked. Yet you, Lord, forget no one! And you also want to bring peace to that land, torn apart by a spiral of violence and poverty, where so many people are homeless, lacking water, food and the bare necessities of life. Foster social harmony in South Sudan, where current tensions have already caused too many victims and are threatening peaceful coexistence in that young state.

Prince of Peace, in every place turn hearts aside from violence and inspire them to lay down arms and undertake the path of dialogue. Look upon Nigeria, rent by constant attacks which do not spare the innocent and defenseless. Bless the land where you chose to come into the world, and grant a favourable outcome to the peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians. Heal the wounds of the beloved country of Iraq, once more struck by frequent acts of violence.

Lord of life, protect all who are persecuted for your name. Grant hope and consolation to the displaced and refugees, especially in the Horn of Africa and in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Grant that migrants in search of a dignified life may find acceptance and assistance. May tragedies like those we have witnessed this year, with so many deaths at Lampedusa, never occur again!

Child of Bethlehem, touch the hearts of all those engaged in human trafficking, that they may realize the gravity of this crime against humanity. Look upon the many children who are kidnapped, wounded and killed in armed conflicts, and all those who are robbed of their childhood and forced to become soldiers.

Lord of heaven and earth, look upon our planet, frequently exploited by human greed and rapacity. Help and protect all the victims of natural disasters, especially the beloved people of the Philippines, gravely affected by the recent typhoon.

Dear brothers and sisters, today, in this world, in this humanity, is born the Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. Let us pause before the Child of Bethlehem. Let us allow our hearts to be touched, let us not fear this. Let us not fear that our hearts be moved. We need this! Let us allow ourselves to be warmed by the tenderness of God; we need his caress. God’s caresses do not harm us. They give us peace and strength. We need his caresses. God is full of love: to him be praise and glory forever! God is peace: let us ask him to help us to be peacemakers each day, in our life, in our families, in our cities and nations, in the whole world. Let us allow ourselves to be moved by God’s goodness.

---

Christmas greetings after the Urbi et Orbi Message:

To you, dear brothers and sisters, gathered from throughout the world in this Square, and to all those from different countries who join us through the communications media, I offer my cordial best wishes for a merry Christmas!

On this day illumined by the Gospel hope which springs from the humble stable of Bethlehem, I invoke the Christmas gift of joy and peace upon all: upon children and the elderly, upon young people and families, the poor and the marginalized. May Jesus, who was born for us, console all those afflicted by illness and suffering; may he sustain those who devote themselves to serving our brothers and sisters who are most in need. Happy Christmas to all!

Homily of His Holiness Pope Francis for Christmas Midnight Mass

 

SOLEMNITY OF THE NATIVITY OF THE LORD

HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS FRANCIS

Saint Peter's Basilica
Wednesday, 25 December 2013

Video

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light (Is 9:1).

This prophecy of Isaiah never ceases to touch us, especially when we hear it proclaimed in the liturgy of Christmas Night. This is not simply an emotional or sentimental matter. It moves us because it states the deep reality of what we are: a people who walk, and all around us – and within us as well – there is darkness and light. In this night, as the spirit of darkness enfolds the world, there takes place anew the event which always amazes and surprises us: the people who walk see a great light. A light which makes us reflect on this mystery: the mystery of walking and seeing.

Walking. This verb makes us reflect on the course of history, that long journey which is the history of salvation, starting with Abraham, our father in faith, whom the Lord called one day to set out, to go forth from his country towards the land which he would show him. From that time on, our identity as believers has been that of a people making its pilgrim way towards the promised land. This history has always been accompanied by the Lord! He is ever faithful to his covenant and to his promises. “God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all” (1 Jn 1:5). Yet on the part of the people there are times of both light and darkness, fidelity and infidelity, obedience, and rebellion; times of being a pilgrim people and times of being a people adrift.

In our personal history too, there are both bright and dark moments, lights and shadows. If we love God and our brothers and sisters, we walk in the light; but if our heart is closed, if we are dominated by pride, deceit, self-seeking, then darkness falls within us and around us. “Whoever hates his brother – writes the Apostle John – is in the darkness; he walks in the darkness, and does not know the way to go, because the darkness has blinded his eyes” (1 Jn 2:11).

2. On this night, like a burst of brilliant light, there rings out the proclamation of the Apostle: “God's grace has been revealed, and it has made salvation possible for the whole human race” (Tit 2:11).

The grace which was revealed in our world is Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary, true man and true God. He has entered our history; he has shared our journey. He came to free us from darkness and to grant us light. In him was revealed the grace, the mercy, and the tender love of the Father: Jesus is Love incarnate. He is not simply a teacher of wisdom, he is not an ideal for which we strive while knowing that we are hopelessly distant from it. He is the meaning of life and history, who has pitched his tent in our midst.

3. The shepherds were the first to see this “tent”, to receive the news of Jesus’ birth. They were the first because they were among the last, the outcast. And they were the first because they were awake, keeping watch in the night, guarding their flocks. Together with them, let us pause before the Child, let us pause in silence. Together with them, let us thank the Lord for having given Jesus to us, and with them let us raise from the depths of our hearts the praises of his fidelity: We bless you, Lord God most high, who lowered yourself for our sake. You are immense, and you made yourself small; you are rich and you made yourself poor; you are all-powerful and you made yourself vulnerable.

On this night let us share the joy of the Gospel: God loves us, he so loves us that he gave us his Son to be our brother, to be light in our darkness. To us the Lord repeats: “Do not be afraid!” (Lk 2:10). And I too repeat: Do not be afraid! Our Father is patient, he loves us, he gives us Jesus to guide us on the way which leads to the promised land. Jesus is the light who brightens the darkness. He is our peace. Amen.

A Christmas Wish: That You May "Touch Immortal Things"

(The following message is a reprint of our first Christmas post in 2007)

"Adoration of the Magi" by Peter Paul Rubens, 1616-17

"Were Men to Learn the Message

Silence Always Brings,

They’d Learn to Span Earth’s Bridges

To Touch Immortal Things." 

 ~ Sister Elizabeth Loretto Triail, C.S.J.

My dear Friends, 

When I began blogging this past July, I could not have imagined the extraordinary worldwide network of friends and the powerful movement of which I was becoming a part. 

Among all the chatter and noise of the worldwide web, are a conversation and a movement from which I have drawn far more than I have contributed. It is a movement in defense of Truth and Beauty. It rejects what Malcolm Muggeridge called “The Great Liberal Death Wish.” It stands up to the new tyranny threatening Europe and America. It is a great multi-national effort to defend the gates of Christian civilization against the demonic Islamism that would murder us all, and it recognizes, as did Churchill, that victory at all costs is essential, “for without victory there is no survival.” 

This blog draws its name from a speech by the great Churchill because I believe that the crisis facing the West is of the same nature and no less perilous than that which Churchill confronted. We stand at a crossroads where we either “move forward into broad, sunlit uplands” or, if we fail, “the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age, made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.” 

T. S. Eliot in “Notes Towards a Definition of Culture” wisely recognizes that “no culture can appear or develop except in relation to a religion.” Eliot also states: “Fortunate the man who, at the right moment, meets the right friend; fortunate also the man who at the right moment meets the right enemy.” Has the West finally encountered the “right enemy,” the enemy that will drive us to our knees and turn our gaze once again to the baby born in a manger who split time into two, the God who “so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting?” 

During this holy season I pray that you and all those who may visit these pages in the months ahead will hear and know the God who speaks to us in silence. May you “touch immortal things” this Christmas, and may God richly bless you and all those you love, now and forever. 

Daniel Cassidy 

A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from the Choir of King's College, Cambridge

From the 2010 Christmas Eve Service.

Lindsey Graham Supporter Mike Huckabee Defends Phil Robertson and is "Interested" in a 2016 Presidential Run

According to a story in The Christian Post, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee has defended "Duck Dynasty" star Phil Robertson, while also revealing that he is considering another run for the presidency in 2016.

It is good that Governor Huckabee is not bowed by an intolerant, anti-Christian agenda and speech code.  We also respect Governor Huckabee's right to speak out on behalf of any candidates that he chooses to endorse.  However, despite our past support for Governor Huckabee, we will not be supporting him in the future because he has foolishly and unnecessarily chosen to intervene in the South Carolina GOP Primary for the United States Senate.  Huckabee is currently featured in radio spots being run throughout South Carolina touting the "conservative" Lindsey Graham (a symptom of Graham's multiple personality disorder that manifests itself every six years).

As we have said many times, Lindsey Graham does not represent the people of South Carolina; he has been a far better ally of Barack Hussein Obama.  His votes on major issues routinely cancel-out the votes of South Carolina's conservative United States Senator, and his ideas about America's role in the world, our Constitution and its defense of God-given rights are anathema to most Republicans.  He believes in a tyrannical, big, interventionist government and has played a key role in transforming a conservative Supreme Court into one that has upheld Obamacare.

At least four conservatives will challenge Lindsey Graham in next year's GOP primary.  We  think Bill Connor is the very best of these choices, but any one of them would be far superior to Lindsey Graham.  In fact, we expect a runoff and seriously doubt that Lindsey Graham will be in that runoff.

Mike Huckabee has shown disregard for the political future of our state and country and contempt for the conservative movement with his endorsement of Lindsey Graham.

Riding the wave of a national backlash over the persecution of Phil Robertson is too little, too late, Governor.  We know Lindsey Graham very well here in South Carolina; it is you, Governor, we apparently misjudged.


 

Chanticleer - "There Is No Rose of Such Virtue"

Patriarch of Moscow: Great Expectations for Francis’ Pontificate

Kirill met with the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Cardinal Kurt Koch, and proposed closer collaboration with the Vatican on the Middle East and traditional values.

Moscow ( AsiaNews) - The Patriarch of Moscow, Kirill, yesterday confirmed the "great expectations" placed in the new Pope and a "common understanding" between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church during his meeting with the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Cardinal . Kurt Koch. The cardinal has concluded his visit to Russia, where he arrived December 14 and where he had meetings with not only the local community but also with representatives of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Yuval Levin on The Great Debate: Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, and the Birth of Right and Left

Court Sides with Catholic Schools, Hospitals Against HHS Mandate

From Catholic World News

Invoking the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, a federal district court judge has barred enforcement of the HHS mandate against two New York-area Catholic high schools and two Catholic health care systems. The Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Rockville Centre, which are currently exempt from the mandate, also joined the lawsuit. 

The “plaintiffs have demonstrated that the Mandate … compels them to perform acts that are contrary to their religion,” ruled Judge Brian Cogan, whom President George W. Bush appointed to the bench.

“And there can be no doubt that the coercive pressure here is substantial,” he added. “If plaintiffs do not comply with the Mandate, they are subject to fines of $100 per day per affected beneficiary. If they seek to cease providing health insurance altogether, they face an annual fine of $2,000 per full-time employee. The only other option available to plaintiffs is to violate their religious beliefs.” 

The New York ruling is important because it is the first case in which a federal court has granted a permanent injunction against the enforcement of the HHS mandate. (Other non-profit groups have won preliminary injunctions, barring enforcement until the case is settled.) The Obama administration has the option to appeal the ruling. 

Additional sources for this story Some links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

• Religious groups get win vs. O’care birth-control mandate (New York Post)  
• Another Victory Against HHS Mandate “Accommodation” (National Review Online)
• Full text of decision

Is Putin One of Us?

 

By Patrick J. Buchanan

Is Vladimir Putin a paleoconservative?

In the culture war for mankind’s future, is he one of us?

While such a question may be blasphemous in Western circles, consider the content of the Russian president’s state of the nation address.

With America clearly in mind, Putin declared, “In many countries today, moral and ethical norms are being reconsidered.”

“They’re now requiring not only the proper acknowledgment of freedom of conscience, political views and private life, but also the mandatory acknowledgment of the equality of good and evil.”

Translation: While privacy and freedom of thought, religion and speech are cherished rights, to equate traditional marriage and same-sex marriage is to equate good with evil.

No moral confusion here, this is moral clarity, agree or disagree.

Margaret Thatcher: A Rare and Highly Personal Interview in 1985

In a time when America's national leadership doesn't dare admit to its true agenda or call its ruinous Marxist philosophy by its proper name, this insightful and highly personal interview with Margaret Thatcher in 1985 is a reminder of what noble, highly principled leadership looks like.  

Emerson wrote that “When it is dark enough, men see the stars;” so it seems to be in discerning great leaders.  We can take hope in the knowledge that statesmen of Margaret Thatcher's caliber, and that of Ronald Reagan, come along when times are dark and they are most needed.  With the ruin of our nation at the hands of a man who daily violates his oath to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States," surely great hearts and minds are being summoned, as was Thatcher, to put matters right.

St John's College Choir, Cambridge - "Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus"

On This Day in History: When Winston Churchill Met Mark Twain

From The Claremont Institute

By Joseph Tartakovsky

Mark Twain

On the evening of December 12, 1900, in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, 26-year-old Lieutenant Winston S. Churchill arrived to speak about his adventures as a war correspondent in South Africa during the Anglo-Boer War. He had already been an officer in the army, serving in Sudan and Egypt, but came to South Africa as a journalist. Shortly after arriving, a train carrying him was attacked, and Churchill the journalist led a brave but futile defense against the well-armed burghers. Churchill was captured and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp, but within a month he made a daring escape. Hunted through Pretoria with a bounty on his head, he hid in mines and railway cars, eventually to return to England a hero.

"The grand ballroom was crowded to the doors," said the December 13, 1900 New York Times. Churchill's gift for language was already known--he had books to his credit--but some of the attendees, at least, must have been drawn by his introducer, Mr. Mark Twain.

Mark Twain, now 65 and internationally famous, began:

Winston Churchill

Mr. Churchill and I do not agree on the righteousness of the South African war, but that is of no consequence.... For years I have been a self-appointed missionary, and have wrought zealously for my cause--the joining together of America and the motherland in bonds of friendship, esteem and affection--an alliance of the heart which should permanently and beneficently influence the political relations of the two countries. Wherever I have stood before a gathering of Americans or Englishmen, in England, India, Australia or elsewhere, I have urged my mission, and warmed it up with compliments to both countries and pointed out how nearly alike the two peoples are in character and spirit. They ought to be united....

...yet I think England sinned in getting into a war in South Africa which she could have avoided without loss of credit or dignity--just as I think we have sinned in crowding ourselves into a war in the Philippines on the same terms.

Mr. Churchill will tell you about the war in South Africa, and he is competent--he fought and wrote through it himself. And he made a record there which would be a proud one for a man twice his age. By his father he is English, by his mother he is American--to my mind the blend which makes the perfect man. We are now on the friendliest terms with England. Mainly through my missionary efforts I suppose; and I am glad. We have always been kin: kin in blood, kin in religion, kin in representative government, kin in ideals, kin in just and lofty purposes; and now we are kin in sin, the harmony is complete, the blend is perfect, like Mr. Churchill himself, whom I now have the honor to present to you.

"Mr. Churchill was greeted cordially by the audience," said the New York Times. "He showed nervousness at first, but soon forgot himself in his subject, and held the attention of his listeners by a clear recital of some of the most striking episodes of the struggle between Boer and Briton. A touch of humor, introduced half unconsciously, lightened up the lecture considerably."

Churchill returned to England, became a renowned politician, was appointed the empire's Home Secretary, and held a number of high posts during World War I. Twenty years later, he would save Western civilization. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. In 1930 he published a biography, My Early Life: 1874-1904, in which, three decades after his speech in New York, he recalled his encounter with Twain:

Throughout my journeyings I received the help of eminent Americans¦and my opening lecture in New York was under the auspices of no less a personage than 'Mark Twain' himself. I was thrilled by this famous companion of my youth. He was now very old and snow-white, and combined with a noble air a most delightful style of conversation. Of course we argued about the [Boer] war. After some interchanges I found myself beaten back to the citadel 'My country right or wrong.' 'Ah,' said the old gentleman, 'When the poor country is fighting for its life, I agree. But this was not your case.' I think however I did not displease him; for he was good enough at my request to sign every one of thirty volumes of his works for my benefit; and in the first volume he inscribed the following maxim intended, I daresay, to convey a gentle admonition: 'To do good is noble; to teach others to do good is nobler, and no trouble.'

And there you have it: Twain on Churchill, and Churchill on Twain. We celebrated both their birthdays yesterday. But more celebrating needs to be done. Tomorrow night, almost exactly 105 years later, in a hotel's grand ballroom, at a dinner convened on Winston Churchill's account, another Mark--like Twain, a renowned and witty man of letters, and, like Churchill, a man who has sounded the alarm against our age's totalitarian aggressors--is to speak. This is Mark Steyn. And his introducer? The parallels amaze: a fellow dedicated to preserving the memory and legacy of both great men: Bruce Sanborn.

Pope Francis Named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year

Pope Francis has been named Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2013.

Read more at The Catholic Herald >> 

Reagan Was Right on South Africa

By Patrick J. Buchanan

"Apartheid is an affront to human rights and human dignity. Normal and friendly relations cannot exist between the United States and South Africa until it becomes a dead policy. Americans are of one mind and one heart on this issue."

So said Ronald Reagan in his 1986 message to Congress vetoing the "sweeping and punitive sanctions" Congress was seeking to impose.

Reagan equated the sanctions to "declaring economic warfare on the people of South Africa."

His Treasury Secretary James Baker said Sunday that Reagan likely regretted this veto. But having worked with the president on his veto message and address on South Africa, I never heard a word of regret.

Nor should there have been any.

An Advent Carol Service by the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge

This video is from a live webcast  from Trinity College Chapel on November 25, 2012.  More information about Trinity College Choir is available here.  

The Feast Day of Saint Nicholas of Myra, Wonder-Worker

The true story of Santa Claus begins with Nicholas, who was born during the third century in the village of Patara. At the time the area was Greek and is now on the southern coast of Turkey. His wealthy parents, who raised him to be a devout Christian, died in an epidemic while Nicholas was still young. Obeying Jesus' words to "sell what you own and give the money to the poor," Nicholas used his whole inheritance to assist the needy, the sick, and the suffering. He dedicated his life to serving God and was made Bishop of Myra while still a young man. Bishop Nicholas became known throughout the land for his generosity to those in need, his love for children, and his concern for sailors and ships.

Is the Sun Rising in the East?

By Patrick J. Buchanan

The scores are in from the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment, which, every three years, tests 15-year-olds from the world’s most advanced countries.

For the United States, the report card is dismal. The U.S. ranking has fallen to 17th in reading, 21st in science, and 26th in math.

Florida, one of America’s diverse mega-states, competed separately in the PISA exam, and scored below the U.S. average.

In the academic Olympics, the American superpower is a mediocrity.

British House of Commons Discusses Persecution of Christians

From Catholic World News

On December 3, members of the House of Commons devoted nearly three hours to discussing the persecution of Christians, with some calling upon the British government to do more to address the issue. 

“I believe that the persecution of Christians is the biggest story in the world that has never been told, and its importance cannot be underlined enough,” said Member of Parliament Jim Shannon, who began the discussion. “The subject burdens me, and many other members, judging by the number here.” 

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“100,000 Christians will be massacred this year because of their beliefs,” he continued. “200 million Christians will be persecuted due to their faith.”

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• Transcript (House of Commons)

America's Hoochie Mama

What is it about children's events that causes America's First "Lady" to dress like a ghetto ho?  Here she is yesterday at a children's White House Christmas (they wouldn't call it that, but we will) party:

and here's the hoochie mama at the Kids' Choice Awards:

One never expected class from this lot, but America should not expect to see its First "Lady" in outfits that get some women arrested for soliciting.  Maybe she needs another vacation -- or a man.

An Ironic Ecumenism: The Global War on Christians (Part 2)

If I asked you to name the country that has witnessed the single greatest outburst of anti-Christian violence in recent years, you'd probably guess somewhere like North Korea or an Islamic country such as Egypt.

You'd be wrong. The answer is India. As John L. Allen tells us in his new book, "The Global War on Christians," in 2008, "a series of riots [in the state of Orissa] ended with as many as five hundred Christians killed." Even more shocking than the number of those killed was the way they were killed: "many were hacked to death by machete-wielding Hindu radicals."

By the time the violence ended, "thousands more were injured, and at least fifty thousand were left homeless."

Unlike North Korea or Saudi Arabia, the perpetrators were not government officials but private individuals and groups, acting with the implicit and sometimes explicit approval of local officials.

Thus, after a nun was "raped, marched naked through the streets and beaten," local "police sympathetic to the radicals discouraged the nun from filing a report and declined to arrest her attackers."

Read more at The Christian Post >>

Traditional Liturgy Flourishing in the Bible Belt

A South Carolina parish demonstrates that reverent, beautiful liturgies—in the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms—are possible in a modern American parish.

 

Prince of Peace Catholic Church in Taylors, South Carolina

This September marked the sixth anniversary of the implementation of Summorum Pontificum, the motu proprio of Pope Benedict XVI that provided juridical recourse to Catholic laymen interested in receiving regular access to the traditional Latin Mass and the sacraments. Since the document went into effect, what results can be seen in the United States and Canada in terms of the availability of Holy Mass in the Extraordinary Form? 

The Coalition in Support of Ecclesia Dei keeps a comprehensive list of locations in which the traditional Latin Mass is available. At last count, in the 191 dioceses in North America, there are about 485 parishes that offer Mass in the Extraordinary Form with some frequency (monthly, twice-per-month, or weekly), with 335 parish locations offering it weekly. 

In North America there are 75 parish locations that offer daily access to the Extraordinary Form. Of those locations, 38 are in the care of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter and 13 are provided for by the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. That leaves 24 locations run by dioceses or religious communities (such as the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius in Chicago) where the Mass in the Extraordinary Form is offered daily. 

One such parish is thriving in what may seem to some to be the least likely of places—what is often referred to as “the buckle of the Bible Belt,” Greenville, South Carolina. Prince of Peace Catholic Church, located in Taylors, SC, is a diocesan parish with nearly 2,000 families and an evangelical liturgical approach that is beginning to draw national and international attention. 

Read more at The Catholic World Report >>