I'd like to see more of this from Romney

This was a great idea:

Mitt Romney Visits Solyndra Amid Attack on Obama Jobs Record

“Two years ago President Obama was here to tout this building and this business as a symbol of the success of his stimulus,” said Romney, stepping off a bus and onto the public sidewalk in front of the Solyndra buildings just outside Silicon Valley. “Well you can see that it’s a symbol of something very different today.”

“It’s a symbol not of success but of failure,” he said. “It’s also a symbol of a serious conflict of interest. An independent inspector general looked at this investment and concluded that the administration had steered money to friends and family – to campaign contributors. This building, this half a billion dollar taxpayer investment, represents a serious conflict of interest on the part of the president and his team.”

“It’s also a symbol of how the president thinks about free enterprise,” said Romney. “Free enterprise to the president means taking money from the taxpayers and giving it freely to his friends.”

BURN!

Greatest News Story Ever

Cows Crash Drinking Party, Steal Beer

BOXFORD — Six cows crashed a house party on Main Street and wound up drinking the beer left behind on a picnic table when the partygoers fled.

Police Lt. James Riter said he got a call about 9 p.m. Sunday for cows in the road on Main Street near Foster Street close to the town line with North Andover.

Riter said when he arrived, he found "evidence" in the street that the cows had been there, but the animals were gone. He found them a short distance away on the side of the road, and they wandered into the front yard of a Main Street home.

Riter said the partygoers decamped to the deck, abandoning their beverages, and watched as the cows approached the picnic table.

The thirsty creatures knocked over the plastic cups of Bud Light and Miller Light beer that were left on the table and began slurping away at the beer. "They seemed to prefer the Bud Light," Riter observed.

Those are my kind of cows!

Oh Commonweal, Part 2423

Someone doesn't like the new translation of the Mass

Six months after the imposition of the new English edition of the Roman Missal, the volume of dissatisfaction has moderated. People seem resigned to the wooden and literal translations (“people of good will,” “enter under my roof”), archaic vocabulary (“dewfall,” “consubstantial,” “oblation”), and inflated language of prayer (“holy and unblemished,” “graciously grant,” “paying their homage”).:

But these are just some of the flaws.  The problem with the new Mass translation is the use of the word "chalice" .  How hierarchical!

Stand up for yourself

Contrary to popular opinion, not everyone's moral, political, or philosophical beliefs are "ideology".

Ideology, properly understood, is the imposition of a philosophy upon the world.   Philosophy in this sense is to be understood as a set of beliefs and principles which may or may not be true. Because ideological philosophy (or beliefs) is imposed upon the world, it can be used to explain everything in the world.  Ideologues know everything, and can explain anything that happens.

Ideology can be contrasted with true knowledge.  True knowledge is much more limited than ideology.  It is more humble. True knowledge, rather than being imposed upon the world, comes out of our experience in the world.  True knowledge comes from nature, reason, and revelation.  It comes "from without" rather than "from within".  True knowledge imposes itself upon us - we impose nothing upon true knowledge (think - what say do I have in whether 1+1 = 2).

The notion that political conversation and discussions about morality and mores are nothing but the competition of ideologies is a self-defeating skeptical point of view, but a very democratic point of view.  This position is normally coupled with a belief that the most-powerful always end up ruling.  I think this is the dominant theory of our republic today, evidenced by the growing number of people who are enthralled with the idea that society is controlled by a powerful, elite few.  Witness the "Occupy" movement, who blame "the 1%" for their woes.

Believe something long enough and it will become true.  Or we can stand up for ourselves.