The Murder of Marilyn Monroe

With the French Revolution, the Abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel was closed—like many church buildings—and it was turned into a prison. “What a strange place is this Mont-Saint-Michel!” wrote Victor Hugo, in 1836. “All around us, as far as one can see, infinite space, the blue horizon of the sea, the green horizon of the earth, clouds, air, freedom, birds in full flight, ships with full sails; and then, all of a sudden, there, in the crack of an old wall, above our heads, through a barred window, the pale face of a prisoner.” In a poem, he called it the “pyramid” of the seas.
In 2005, the French government, which owns the abbey, began work on a major project to “restore the maritime character” of Mont-Saint-Michel. The buildup of silt was gradually reducing the parts of the bay that filled up with water at high tide, and, according to some studies, if nothing was done, the island would find itself permanently connected to the mainland by 2040. The French central state, together with the regional governments of Normandy and Brittany (Mont-Saint-Michel is technically in Normandy but the Bay of Mont-Saint-Michel is shared by both regions) and the European Union, undertook a massive and expensive renovation project budgeted at nearly $300 million. The main features of the project include: the destruction of the old causeway to allow the sea to move freely around Mont-Saint-Michel and the construction of a light bridge or walkway in its stead; a dam on the Couesnon River to hold water during high tide and then release it when the tide recedes, to push sand away from the island; the destruction of a large parking lot at the foot of the Mont and the construction of a parking area on the mainland with a shuttle bus service to bring tourists and employees to and from the island.
The initial impression of the place as one makes one’s way from the shuttle bus is decidedly more commercial than spiritual. The village of Mont-Saint-Michel, which grew up around the church, is tiny, with a full-time population of roughly 50. Its narrow, medieval streets are quickly crowded with tourists, who, shoulder to shoulder, four or five thick, mill about like subway commuters at rush hour along the main street, which is nonstop cafés, hotels, restaurants and shops, selling every kind of souvenir imaginable: key rings, paperweights, potholders, T-shirts, bowls, cups, postcards, caps, pencils, dishes, place mats. The food is mostly bad and overpriced. Almost every other place bears the name La Mère Poulard, the town’s most famous restaurant and the flagship business of Eric Vannier, the former mayor (he just stepped down) and the island’s biggest businessman. Along with numerous hotels and restaurants, he has started a successful brand of Mère Poulard biscuits, cakes and cookies. The brand is so ubiquitous in Mont-Saint-Michel that Vannier is widely, and usually not affectionately, known as Mayor Poulard, which in French (Maire Poulard) sounds almost exactly like Mère Poulard. The omelettes at La Mère Poulard cost between €24 and €49 ($33 to $68). It must be quite an omelette.



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I feel sorry for Marilyn. Psychologically, she was a complete and total mess. I admire how she wanted so much to be a serious actress and tried to hone her craft. Unfortunately, she was the object of lust for too many powerful men. And she did not have the will power to resist. From The Daily Mail:

Marilyn Monroe’s death on August 4, 1962 was not a suicide but a murder orchestrated by Bobby Kennedy to silence her as she was about to reveal all the dirty Kennedy family secrets she kept logged in a little red diary. 

And Bobby did not act alone. He had co-conspirators in her murder - his brother-in-law, actor Peter Lawford, and Marilyn’s psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenson who gave the star a fatal injection of pentobarbital to the heart. 

Those are the explosive allegations detailed in a blockbuster new book by writers Jay Margolis, a long-time investigative reporter and Monroe expert, and Richard Buskin, a New York Times bestselling author of 30 non- fiction books. 

The volume - The Murder of Marilyn Monroe: Case Closed - claims to blow the lid off the world’s most notorious and talked-about celebrity death through eyewitness testimony and interviews,  MailOnline can exclusively reveal. (Read more.)

With the French Revolution, the Abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel was closed—like many church buildings—and it was turned into a prison. “What a strange place is this Mont-Saint-Michel!” wrote Victor Hugo, in 1836. “All around us, as far as one can see, infinite space, the blue horizon of the sea, the green horizon of the earth, clouds, air, freedom, birds in full flight, ships with full sails; and then, all of a sudden, there, in the crack of an old wall, above our heads, through a barred window, the pale face of a prisoner.” In a poem, he called it the “pyramid” of the seas.
In 2005, the French government, which owns the abbey, began work on a major project to “restore the maritime character” of Mont-Saint-Michel. The buildup of silt was gradually reducing the parts of the bay that filled up with water at high tide, and, according to some studies, if nothing was done, the island would find itself permanently connected to the mainland by 2040. The French central state, together with the regional governments of Normandy and Brittany (Mont-Saint-Michel is technically in Normandy but the Bay of Mont-Saint-Michel is shared by both regions) and the European Union, undertook a massive and expensive renovation project budgeted at nearly $300 million. The main features of the project include: the destruction of the old causeway to allow the sea to move freely around Mont-Saint-Michel and the construction of a light bridge or walkway in its stead; a dam on the Couesnon River to hold water during high tide and then release it when the tide recedes, to push sand away from the island; the destruction of a large parking lot at the foot of the Mont and the construction of a parking area on the mainland with a shuttle bus service to bring tourists and employees to and from the island.
The initial impression of the place as one makes one’s way from the shuttle bus is decidedly more commercial than spiritual. The village of Mont-Saint-Michel, which grew up around the church, is tiny, with a full-time population of roughly 50. Its narrow, medieval streets are quickly crowded with tourists, who, shoulder to shoulder, four or five thick, mill about like subway commuters at rush hour along the main street, which is nonstop cafés, hotels, restaurants and shops, selling every kind of souvenir imaginable: key rings, paperweights, potholders, T-shirts, bowls, cups, postcards, caps, pencils, dishes, place mats. The food is mostly bad and overpriced. Almost every other place bears the name La Mère Poulard, the town’s most famous restaurant and the flagship business of Eric Vannier, the former mayor (he just stepped down) and the island’s biggest businessman. Along with numerous hotels and restaurants, he has started a successful brand of Mère Poulard biscuits, cakes and cookies. The brand is so ubiquitous in Mont-Saint-Michel that Vannier is widely, and usually not affectionately, known as Mayor Poulard, which in French (Maire Poulard) sounds almost exactly like Mère Poulard. The omelettes at La Mère Poulard cost between €24 and €49 ($33 to $68). It must be quite an omelette.



Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/massive-controversial-attempt-preserve-one-worlds-most-iconic-islands-180951441/#KVCpawxvbO2fLYHQ.99
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With the French Revolution, the Abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel was closed—like many church buildings—and it was turned into a prison. “What a strange place is this Mont-Saint-Michel!” wrote Victor Hugo, in 1836. “All around us, as far as one can see, infinite space, the blue horizon of the sea, the green horizon of the earth, clouds, air, freedom, birds in full flight, ships with full sails; and then, all of a sudden, there, in the crack of an old wall, above our heads, through a barred window, the pale face of a prisoner.” In a poem, he called it the “pyramid” of the seas.
In 2005, the French government, which owns the abbey, began work on a major project to “restore the maritime character” of Mont-Saint-Michel. The buildup of silt was gradually reducing the parts of the bay that filled up with water at high tide, and, according to some studies, if nothing was done, the island would find itself permanently connected to the mainland by 2040. The French central state, together with the regional governments of Normandy and Brittany (Mont-Saint-Michel is technically in Normandy but the Bay of Mont-Saint-Michel is shared by both regions) and the European Union, undertook a massive and expensive renovation project budgeted at nearly $300 million. The main features of the project include: the destruction of the old causeway to allow the sea to move freely around Mont-Saint-Michel and the construction of a light bridge or walkway in its stead; a dam on the Couesnon River to hold water during high tide and then release it when the tide recedes, to push sand away from the island; the destruction of a large parking lot at the foot of the Mont and the construction of a parking area on the mainland with a shuttle bus service to bring tourists and employees to and from the island.
The initial impression of the place as one makes one’s way from the shuttle bus is decidedly more commercial than spiritual. The village of Mont-Saint-Michel, which grew up around the church, is tiny, with a full-time population of roughly 50. Its narrow, medieval streets are quickly crowded with tourists, who, shoulder to shoulder, four or five thick, mill about like subway commuters at rush hour along the main street, which is nonstop cafés, hotels, restaurants and shops, selling every kind of souvenir imaginable: key rings, paperweights, potholders, T-shirts, bowls, cups, postcards, caps, pencils, dishes, place mats. The food is mostly bad and overpriced. Almost every other place bears the name La Mère Poulard, the town’s most famous restaurant and the flagship business of Eric Vannier, the former mayor (he just stepped down) and the island’s biggest businessman. Along with numerous hotels and restaurants, he has started a successful brand of Mère Poulard biscuits, cakes and cookies. The brand is so ubiquitous in Mont-Saint-Michel that Vannier is widely, and usually not affectionately, known as Mayor Poulard, which in French (Maire Poulard) sounds almost exactly like Mère Poulard. The omelettes at La Mère Poulard cost between €24 and €49 ($33 to $68). It must be quite an omelette.



Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/massive-controversial-attempt-preserve-one-worlds-most-iconic-islands-180951441/#KVCpawxvbO2fLYHQ.99
Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! http://bit.ly/1cGUiGv
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Mental Health and Gun Control

From The American Spectator:

This time the shooter is 22-year-old Elliot Rodger. Like clockwork, the cry goes up blaming the National Rifle Association and calling for tougher gun laws. But this time there’s a problem for believers in gun control. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence gave an “A-” to California's gun control laws, passed as they were by one of the most liberal state governments in the country.

On December 9, 2013 — barely six months ago — the Los Angeles Times was pleased to report the following, beginning with this headline:

California has toughest gun control laws in country, study finds

SACRAMENTO — California has the toughest gun control laws in the nation, receiving an A- grade in a state-by-state analysis by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

In the year after a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, eight states, including California, passed “major gun reforms,” said Amanda Wilcox, the legislation and policy chair for the California Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

California chapters of the Brady Campaign supported 18 bills sent to Gov. Jerry Brown.

“A record 11 bills were signed into law, including measures to keep guns out of dangerous hands and closing loopholes in California’s law prohibiting large capacity magazines,” Wilcox said. “The research shows that strong gun laws can keep people safe from gun violence. We know that California’s strong gun laws are saving lives.”

Now comes young Mr. Rodger, who went on a shooting spree near the UC campus in Santa Barbara, killing seven, including himself, and wounding thirteen others. So what happened? Well, California’s strong gun laws most assuredly did not “keep people safe from gun violence.”

It’s understandable that the grief-stricken father of one of the victims would lash out, in this case at the NRA. But the hard fact here is that California — a state that is run from top to bottom by liberal Democrats — did exactly what gun control advocates asked. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the Elliot Rodger shooting illustrates exactly the point of gun law critics. It isn’t the gun, it’s the person. In fact, three of the victims were not shot — they were stabbed to death.

Elliot Rodger was mentally ill. His own family had alerted authorities that they were concerned about their son. The Washington Post reported it this way:

Rodger, who police say fatally shot himself after his killing spree Friday, had been receiving treatment for years from several psychologists and counselors. Last month, the 22-year-old wrote, his mother was so concerned about his well-being after seeing some of his videos on YouTube that she contacted mental-health officials, who dispatched sheriff’s deputies to check on him at his apartment in Isla Vista, an enclave near the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Had the officers sensed something awry during their April 30 visit, they might have searched Rodger’s home. They would have found his three semiautomatic handguns, dozens of rounds of ammunition and a draft of his 137-page memoir-manifesto. They would have read about his plot for a “Day of Retribution” — when, as Rodger wrote, he planned to “kill everyone in Isla Vista, to utterly destroy that wretched town.”

But the deputies did not look. They concluded that Rodger seemed “quiet and timid… polite and courteous,” Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

So they left and never returned.

(Read more.)

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A Gaucho Guide

Wines of the Argentine. To quote:

One of the more amazing parts of staying at The Vines is that every guest is assigned a gaucho. By definition, gauchos are cowboys who live in the countryside or pampas, but colloquially, a gaucho is just a straight-up good guy. In Argentina, when you do someone a gauchada, it means you've done them a favor. My gaucho, Matias Soria, a slender, big-eyed and big-hearted Mendoza native, embodies everything a gaucho ought to. I was completely taken care of. He gave me a cell phone to call him whenever, kept my fridge stocked with sparkling water and set me up in front of the fireplace in the lodge with a glass of late-harvest Torrontés. He even arranged for me to plant a couple of Malbec vines with vineyard manager Francisco Evangelista.

Matias also rode along with me to the top of the mountain on our sunrise horseback trek, naming all of the surrounding peaks along the way. We tried to spot Tupungato though the clouds; it's the tallest mountain in the valley, and everyone spoke of it as if it were a loyal friend. They all promised I'd see it during my visit. That was not to be.

Later, Matias set up a tasting and blending session with The Vines' generous, knowledgeable wine director, Mariana Onofri. We sat outside and tasted through more than a dozen owners' barrels and bottles, while watching an intense thunderstorm roll in over the desert. She was checking on how the wines were coming along. The young Malbecs were still quite juicy and fruity, while those with age had taken on structure and depth. The Vines bottles its own wines, too, and exports them to the US, including a crisp, fragrant Torrontés and its signature Malbec, a ripe, black cherry–scented wine. (Read more.)

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A Life in Photographs

A collection of photos of Tsar Nicholas II. Share

Night Riders

A sad and disgusting chapter of American history. From History Today:

As was common among the upper-middle classes in the South at the time, Amoss had been sent as a boy to a military school, where he learned the basics of drill, strategy and tactics, lessons that would be put to good use as the conspiratorial Night Riders emerged as an underground sect within the Association that would perform the ugly work of persuasion. Secret night-time meetings were held throughout the Black Patch, with the Night Riders’ underlying purpose delivered by Amoss in firmly Jacobin terminology:

To burn or otherwise destroy the property of growers and to whip them and others who refuse to co-operate with you in winning your fight against the Trust is more than they deserve. There is no reason why a few persons should continue to make the masses suffer when their cooperation would not only be to their benefit, but would increase the earnings and thus improve the conditions of all equally.

The Night Riders’ oath, sworn by lantern light on bended knees and with one hand on the Bible, was couched in scriptural references to the paramount importance of being one’s brother’s keeper (willingly or not) and to the equally supreme necessity of total secrecy. By the spring of 1906 around 2,000 men had taken the oath and, orders in hand, spread out into the countryside to do their work. (Read more.)

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Health Benefits of Red Wine

From The Telegraph:
1. It improves your balance
 
If you stumble after drinking red wine, you may be doing it wrong. An experiment on laboratory mice found a diet rich in resveratrol - a compound found in red wine - improved older mice’s balance over time.

"Our study suggests that a natural compound like resveratrol...could actually decrease some of the motor deficiencies that are seen in our aging population," the scientist who led the experiment told the American Chemical Society.

2. It keeps the bed bugs away 
 
Bed bugs live off human blood - but they are less keen on the blood once the human in question has drunk a couple of glasses of red wine, according to research carried out at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the United States. Drinking more wine, then, could lead to fewer bug bites (or you could tackle the problem head on and try getting rid of the insects).

3. It keeps you mentally agile
 
People who drink a glass of red wine a day are less likely to develop dementia, especially Alzheimer's, according to a study conducted at the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim, Germany.

The academics found that subjects who drank between two and three units a day were almost a third less likely to be showing signs of dementia at the end of a three-year-period than those who were teetotal.

4. It helps during childbirth
 
Don’t take my word for it: Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, apparently prescribed wine to alleviate pain during childbirth - as well as lethargy and diarrhea.

5. It helps you keep weight off 
 
Women who drink a moderate amount of alcohol with meals were found to have a lower risk of becoming overweight in middle age, according to a 2010 report in the Archives of Internal Medicine - with red wine-drinkers the least likely to become overweight.

The authors of the report noted that the women showed an increase in energy expenditure after drinking, which they suggested balanced out the additional calories in the alcoholic drink.

6. It makes you live longer 
 
Research suggests resveratrol - which was thought to be responsible for the better balance in older mice - could help humans live longer lives, by suppressing molecules which cause inflammation as well as compounds in the blood which interfere with the production of insulin. (Read more.) Share

Three Vases for the Queen

From Vive la Reine: "Three egg-shaped vases with Chinese-style paintings by Louis-François Lécot....These vases were purchased by Marie Antoinette in 1776." Share

The Madness of North Korea

From The Guardian:

There is no way of checking on the narrative, but Jang's account looks like the most telling yet of the madness of North Korea. Jang fled the country in 2004, ending up in South Korea, after a series of events sparked by a friend, to whom he had given a book purloined from Office 101, leaving it on a train where it was found by police. So this book is, in a sense, 10 years out of date. But there is no reason not to think that the system Jang describes remains in place today including the harrowing details of public executions, his own escape story via China and the North Korean women sold there "as pigs", plus an important and convincing account of how the Dear Leader conspired to wrest power from his ageing father, Kim Il-sung, and the score  settling that followed. This seems to have been replicated by  recent events with fresh executions at the top, including that of Jang Song-Thaek, the uncle of Kim Jong-un, and his entire extended family. (Read more.)

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Isabel and the Spanish Jews

Here is an interesting article although it does not go into all the tumultuous circumstances which were involved in the decision to expel from Spain all Jews who would not convert to Christianity. In Isabel's time religious unity was seen as the key to political unity. Although the biography of the Queen by William Thomas Walsh has sometimes been accused of being anti-Semitic, Walsh details most sympathetically the sufferings of the Jewish people after they left Spain. To quote:

There is no disputing Isabella’s strong religious principles and deep piety. She also modernised the army, patronised the arts, raised the level of education of the Spanish clergy, and, like the Dominican Bartolomé de las Casas, was concerned for the welfare of the Indians once America was discovered. But was she anti-Jewish? If she was, then it is extremely odd for, until the expulsion edict of 1492, Jews occupied influential and high-ranking positions, such as financiers, astrologers, lion keepers and physicians at both the courts of Castile and Aragon.

Incidentally, not only was Isabella’s husband Ferdinand descended from a Jewish great-grandmother, Paloma of Toledo, but Isabella herself was delivered at birth by the Jewish court physician Maestre Semaya. Jews such as Abiathar Crescas, a court astrologer and physician to Ferdinand’s father, John of Aragon, were crucial to the successful suit of Ferdinand for Isabella’s hand in marriage. Others such as Pedro de la Caballeria, a convert cleric who observed both Jewish and Christian customs and was commander of the city of Saragossa, were responsible for most of the funding of Ferdinand’s suit. Abraham Senior, a tax farmer to the monarchs of Castile and a professing Jew, was so valued at court as to be dubbed the Crown Rabbi and Judaism’s own Castilian archbishop.

For both the Reconquista of Spain from the Moors and the Columbus expedition, Isabella and her husband relied heavily on loans provided by their favourite conversos such as Luis de Santangel, comptroller of the royal household in Aragon, together with prominent Jews such as Don Isaac Abrabanel, a tax farmer, army contractor and chief spokesman for Spanish Jewry. The president of the commission set up to investigate Columbus’s ideas, before he was finally invited to proceed with his expedition, was the New Christian and Dominican confessor of the queen, Hernando de Talavera, later first Archbishop of Granada.

What is most likely is not that Isabella was anti-Jewish but that, alongside others of her time, she became deeply suspicious of those conversos who were suspected of not having converted fully to Christianity. Incidentally, such people were often just as deeply distrusted by Orthodox Jews with whom they frequently lived cheek by jowl.

For Jews who wished to practise their Judaism, it is probable that Isabella felt no animosity, which is not to say that she did not wish to see them convert to Christianity. Abraham Senior, who converted in 1492 and for whom Isabella and Ferdinand stood as godparents, is a case in point. Indeed, some historians today argue that Isabella’s motive for issuing the edict of expulsion in 1492 was essentially for proselytising purposes, due to the influence of the Dominican Tomás de Torquemada. In this, the queen was a child of her times.

We must totally deplore Isabella’s edict and the appalling suffering and misery it resulted in for the Sephardic Jews. It is nevertheless anachronistic to describe her action as an example of ethnic cleansing. One should not forget that England, France, Hungary, Strasbourg, Austria, Cologne, Augsburg and Breslau all expelled Jews before Isabella.

It was ironic that, on the very same tide that Columbus set sail on his voyage of discovery, the last vessel carrying the Jews that Isabella and Ferdinand had expelled also left Spain. (August 2 1492 was their deadline and any Jew who remained after that was liable to be executed unless he or she embraced Christianity.) Thousands of pitiful refugees were aboard, bound either for the more tolerant lands of Islam or the only Christian country – the Netherlands – which would welcome them. (Read more.)

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Return to Bordeaux

The Duc and Duchesse d’Angoulême around the time of their return to France after the final fall of Napoleon in 1815. (Via Vive la Reine.)

They made a triumphant return to Bordeaux which earlier they had left in haste due to Bonaparte's escape from Elba. (Via Tiny-Librarian.) Share

A Deep Sadness Amidst Unthinkable Crimes

Judie Brown reflects. To quote:

When I first heard the painful story of Santa Barbara City College student Elliot Rodger, it was extremely hard to believe. Media reports detailed the rampage that resulted in six murders perpetrated by this troubled young man prior to his taking his own life.

News reports focused particularly on the comment of one of the victim’s fathers who expressed his anger at what he called “craven, irresponsible politicians and the NRA” (National Rifle Association), suggesting that perhaps gun control of some sort might have prevented this tragic event.

But one has to wonder if this story of one man’s loneliness and deep-seated disregard for himself and for those he believed had rejected him is more about how we live today and less about whether or not guns should be banned.

We know, for example, that Elliot had been having serious psychological problems for quite some time and that his divorced parents had asked the police to intervene. Yet, nobody knows what it was that provoked this violent response to his emotional pain.

Having said that, I believe that, as a human family, we should be reflecting inwardly on this heartbreaking event. In that regard, there is one cultural attitude that I feel represents a growing problem, not just for troubled young people, but for all of us. That is the prevailing sense of not wanting to get involved in the life of another human being, no matter what. It is as though each person is on an island and nobody else needs to be around. With cell phones, texting, Facebook, and the like, social interaction is nearly passé.
Then there’s the cultural reset on what it means to respect another human being.

America has lived for 40 years with this legally protected crime. Elliot and his peers are among the millions who comprise the second generation of Americans who, for the most part, never give abortion a single thought, unless of course an inconvenient pregnancy occurs.(Read more.)

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Outrageous

We must pray for Meriam Ibrahim who is imprisoned in Sudan for refusing to renounce her Christian faith. She just gave birth in prison. From The Guardian:

A Sudanese woman sentenced to death for apostasy has given birth to a baby girl in the Khartoum prison where she is being held with her 20-month-old son. Meriam Ibrahim, 27, gave birth in the early hours of Tuesday, a month before her due date. Amnesty International said the condition of the mother and baby was not known as Ibrahim's lawyer and her husband, a US citizen, had been denied access to her.

Omdurman women's prison has a basic clinic, where the child is thought to have been born. Ibrahim has been shackled since being imprisoned. "The Sudanese government must guarantee her safety and the safety of her children, including the newborn baby," said Amnesty's Manar Idriss. Amnesty has called for Ibrahim's unconditional release.

This month a court ruled that Ibrahim's marriage to a Christian man was invalid and that she was guilty of apostasy and adultery. Ibrahim was sentenced to 100 lashes for adultery and to be hanged for apostasy.

Ibrahim denied the charges, telling the court she was the daughter of a Sudanese Muslim man and an Ethiopian Christian woman, and had been brought up as a Christian after her father left when she was six. She refused to renounce her faith.

Her lawyers lodged an appeal against the convictions last week. "There is no timeframe for the appeal. They usually take a few months, but given the international attention this might be much quicker," Idriss said. If the appeal fails, Ibrahim's lawyers may seek rulings from Sudan's supreme court and constitutional court.

Sudan has faced mounting international criticism over the case, with the UK government calling the convictions and sentences barbaric. The US state department said it was deeply disturbed by the case. Globally, more than 700,000 people had backed Amnesty's call for Ibrahim's release by noon on Tuesday, including 113,500 in the UK.

Idriss said conditions inside the prison were reasonable, but Amnesty was concerned about the use of restraints. It described shackling as cruel and inhuman. Ibrahim has told her lawyers that the shackles are painful and make movement difficult. Daniel Wani, Ibrahim's husband, who lives in Manchester, New Hampshire, is in Khartoum trying to secure his wife and children's release. The couple decided it was better for their young son, Martin, to remain with his mother. (Read more.)

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Marie-Antoinette's Childhood Home

Pictures of Schönbrunn from Tiny-Librarian. Share

A Purpose in Life

Science speaks. To quote:

Feeling that you have a sense of purpose in life may help you live longer, no matter what your age, according to research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

The research has clear implications for promoting positive aging and adult development, says lead researcher Patrick Hill of Carleton University in Canada:

“Our findings point to the fact that finding a direction for life, and setting overarching goals for what you want to achieve can help you actually live longer, regardless of when you find your purpose,” says Hill. “So the earlier someone comes to a direction for life, the earlier these protective effects may be able to occur.”

Previous studies have suggested that finding a purpose in life lowers risk of mortality above and beyond other factors that are known to predict longevity. But, Hill points out, almost no research examined whether the benefits of purpose vary over time, such as across different developmental periods or after important life transitions.

Hill and colleague Nicholas Turiano of the University of Rochester Medical Center decided to explore this question, taking advantage of the nationally representative data available from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study. The researchers looked at data from over 6000 participants, focusing on their self-reported purpose in life (e.g., “Some people wander aimlessly through life, but I am not one of them”) and other psychosocial variables that gauged their positive relations with others and their experience of positive and negative emotions.

Over the 14-year follow-up period represented in the MIDUS data, 569 of the participants had died (about 9% of the sample). Those who had died had reported lower purpose in life and fewer positive relations than did survivors. Greater purpose in life consistently predicted lower mortality risk across the lifespan, showing the same benefit for younger, middle-aged, and older participants across the follow-up period. (Read more.)

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The Truth about the English Reformation

Sixteenth-century English Protestants pulling down the high altar and the altar rail in a Catholic church. (I witnessed the same thing happening in America in the 1970's.)

From The Telegraph:

If you looked inside an English parish church on the eve of the Reformation, you would have seen a space filled with the lives and loves of the community. The saints would be draped in the parishioners’ best clothes, jewellery, and beads, often given as bequests in wills. The nave would have numerous side altars, most funded by local guilds to provide daily masses for favoured saints and the deceased of the parish. If the church had the relics of a saint, the reliquary or tomb would be festooned with gold, silver, and wax models of everything from healed limbs to ships saved from calamities at sea — it would be a mini-history of the gratitude of the people. Flowers and candles would be everywhere, as would parishioners, who regularly attended weekday prayers and masses at the many guild and chantry altars. In an age of increasing literacy, significant numbers of the upper and artisanal classes read along in their own devotional books. Religious printing had become big business. It has been estimated that, on the eve of the Reformation, over 57,000 Books of Hours were in circulation in England.

All in all, parish churches were at the heart of a vibrant English parish life, where the living celebrated their good fortune and remembered the dead.

The first thing to go under the reformers’ axe was the cult of saints. The ancient robed and flower-garlanded effigies were smashed up and carted off. Stone and alabaster were ground up. Wood was burned. In addition to the dramatic loss of these cherished protector figures, the parishes were also deprived of around 40 to 50 saints’ “holy days” (holidays) a year, when no servile work was allowed from noon the previous day. This was a dramatic change to the rhythms of life the country had known for centuries. The reformers were keenly aware this would boost economic activity, and welcomed the increase in output it would bring.

The next biggest change was the abolition of purgatory. The reformers ridiculed the cult of the dead (“purgatorye ys pissed owte” one memorably wrote). But these age-old rites of death and the afterlife provided a unique framework that late medieval English people embraced to cope with death. When the reformers ripped out grave stones and brasses inviting prayers for the departed, when they burned the local bede-rolls remembering the dead of the parish, and when they sledge-hammered the chantry altars where relatives were daily prayed for, they did something even more profound than the vandalism. They stole the dead from the daily lives of their communities, rendering the deceased suddenly invisible to those long used to honouring and remembering their departed relatives and friends. Whether or not intentional, this was an attack on people’s memories. (Read more.)

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How China Hacked America

From Ars technica:

In 2008, according to the indictment, the hackers sent e-mails to 19 senior employees at aluminum-maker Alcoa in Pennsylvania. The account of the sender impersonated a member of the company's board of directors. The message included malware in an attachment "disguised as an agenda for Alcoa's annual board meeting." The attack led to the theft of more than 2,900 e-mail messages and 863 attachments, "including internal messages among Alcoa senior managers" discussing a Chinese acquisition, according to the indictment.

In 2010, a sole employee of United States Steel was targeted with a spear-phishing e-mail. The attack provided "hostnames and descriptions for more than 1,700 servers, including servers that controlled physical access to the company's facilities and mobile device access to the company's networks." And in 2012, a spear-phishing attack allowed the hackers to access "network credentials for virtually every employee" at Allegheny Technologies, which has some 9,500 full-time workers in the aerospace, defense and "specialty materials solutions" sectors.

The indictment also said that the Chinese military gained access to Westinghouse secrets to build nuclear power plants and hijacked e-mails from its chief executive officer in 2010. Between 2010 and 2012, the Chinese military was accused of stealing a total of at least 1.4 gigabytes of data, "the equivalent of roughly 700,000 pages of e-mail messages and attachments, from Westinghouse's computers." (Read more.)

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The Leper King

A medieval hero. From Nobility:

In 1176, Baldwin came of age and took charge of the kingdom at the tender age of 15. During the two years since his coronation, his condition had worsened, and was now clearly discernable as leprosy. Nevertheless, he possessed the strength and character necessary to rule. As historian Stephen Howarth aptly put it: “Baldwin assumed full power, and soon showed that he made up for any disability with sheer nerve…”³

One of Baldwin’s first actions as king was to reject the peace made with Saladin and raid the lands surrounding Damascus. This forced Saladin to quit his attack in Aleppo and adopt a defensive posture. Later that year, the young king led another raid in the Beka’a valley in Lebanon and Syria, and defeated an attack led by Saladin’s nephew. In the first months of his reign, Baldwin proved his capacity to rule. By countering Saladin with an attack on Damascus rather than a frontal assault at Aleppo, Baldwin demonstrated maturity and wisdom beyond his years.

This wisdom would guide Baldwin throughout his short life. His insistence on invading Egypt in autumn of 1176 was another example of it. From the beginning of his reign, Baldwin planned to hit Saladin in his Egyptian power base. Lacking sufficient naval strength, he forged an alliance with the Byzantine Empire.

The stage was set for invasion. However, the king’s brother-in-law, William of Montferrat, a key element to the raid, fell sick and died. Then Baldwin fell ill and the entire operation was jeopardized.

Meanwhile, Baldwin’s kinsman, Philip of Flanders, arrived from Europe on crusade, supported by Saint Hildegard’s mandate: “if the time shall come when the infidels seek to destroy the fountain of faith, then fight them as hard as, with God’s help, you may be able to do.”⁴ Hoping that Philip would salvage the doomed mission, Baldwin offered him regency until he could recover. Philip did not like the terms of the deal and refused. Raymond of Tripoli opposed the attack and the new Grand Master of the Knights of Saint John, young and inexperienced, hesitated.

When Byzantine ambassadors became skeptical of the mission and withdrew their support, the assault the king so desired was cancelled. Never again would the Crusaders have such an opportunity to wound Saladin in his power base. Only Baldwin had been wise enough to recognize the mission’s importance.

More than wisdom and courage, what made Baldwin IV a great king was his indomitable faith – a virtue he demonstrated at the famous battle of Montgisard. After the attack on Egypt was cancelled, Philip of Flanders took his army to campaign in the northern territories of the kingdom, where Raymond of Tripoli joined him. The move left Jerusalem in a precarious situation. Very few troops had stayed behind to defend the capital and the king’s condition had worsened.

Saladin was quick to seize the opportunity and directed his main army of 26,000 elite troops toward Jerusalem. From his sick bed, Baldwin summoned what little strength he had and rode out to meet his adversary with less than 600 knights and a few thousand infantrymen.⁵ By this point Baldwin’s strength was so deteriorated many thought he would die. Bernard Hamilton quotes a contemporary Christian writer who described the king’s condition as “already half dead.”⁶ Realizing the impotence of the king’s force, Saladin ignored him and continued his march to Jerusalem until Baldwin intercepted him near the hill of Montgisard, only 45 miles from Jerusalem. Seeing the overwhelming Muslim army, the Christians became petrified. However, such desperate situations afford great men an opportunity to show their mettle, and Baldwin rose to the challenge. Dismounting his horse, he called for the Bishop of Bethlehem, to raise up the relic of the True Cross he carried. The king then prostrated before the sacred relic, beseeching God for success. Rising from prayer, he exhorted his men to press the attack and charged. (Read more.)

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"The Past and Present Mingle"

From Wiseblood Books:

The Paradise Tree, by Elena Maria Vidal, author of Trianon: A Novel of Royal France and Madame Royale, among other titles: The Paradise Tree  grows from the maxim "in every Eden, there dwells a serpent . . . " The year is 1887 in Leeds County, Ontario. The O’Connor clan is gathering to mourn the loss of its patriarch Daniel O’Connor, an Irish immigrant. The story of Daniel and his wife Brigit is one of great hardships, including illness, ill-starred romances, war and political upheavals, as well as undying love and persevering faith. As Daniel is laid to rest, his grandson Fergus receives a piercing insight into what his own calling in life will be.

On OCTOBER 5, 2014, The Paradise Tree will be available for purchase via Amazon or www.wisebloodbooks.com

The first reviews:

"With this marvelous immigrant saga, Elena Maria Vidal reminds us why our forebears left the Old World for the New: for Faith, family, and freedom! Through three generations of an Irish clan in Canada, she invites us into their home for struggle and triumph, celebrations of joy and sorrow, music, feasting, and dancing. The Paradise Tree makes ‘the past and present mingle and become one’ for the reader’s great delight." ~Stephanie A. Mann, author of Supremacy and Survival: How Catholics Endured the English Reformation 

“Elena Maria Vidal’s latest book, The Paradise Tree, is the fictionalized true story of the author’s devoutly Catholic ancestors who immigrated to Canada from Ireland. It is filled with rich detailed history recounting the hardships and joys of the 19th century O’Connor Family. Beautifully written with great attention to historical, geographical and religious accuracy, this fascinating and moving family saga is a treasure that I highly recommend!” ~Ellen Gable Hrkach, award-winning author of In Name Only and four other novels

Visit the Elena Maria Vidal website for more information.

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Eucharistic Mysticism

From Fr. Angelo:

Having provided a definition of “mysticism” in my first post, I now continue with a description of the characteristics of true mysticism. We can identify three primary qualities of any authentic Catholic mysticism, broadly, strictly or narrowly defined. Any mysticism that deserves the name Catholic must be 1) Eucharistic, 2) Marian and 3) Ecclesial.

This does not simply mean that true mysticism is everywhere in the Catholic Church where people who go to Mass, spend time in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and pray the Rosary. These are all foundational aspects of Catholic mysticism, but by themselves they do not guarantee its authenticity. These external acts must be real signs of full communion with the Church, an active effort to conform oneself to the life of Christ, and to do so by allowing the Immaculate Virgin to form Jesus within us. True mysticism does not support fundamental and willful inconsistencies in these matters.

It is necessary here to see the analogous relationship between the different definitions of mysticism so that we can accurately discern between the true and the false. In this post we will focus on the Eucharistic aspect. (Again, here is the link to the page with the various definitions of mysticism.) (Read more.)

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The Red Barn Murder

A totally bizarre story, stranger than fiction. To quote:

The daughter of a molecatcher (Thomas Marten), Maria had had a checkered past, having had two illegitimate children, one the child of William Corder’s older brother Thomas. That child died in infancy, but another child, Thomas Henry, was alive at the time of Maria’s death. She was four and twenty when she and William began their affair.

William held a reputation as a fraudster and a bit of a cad. He sported the nickname of “Foxey,” which indicated his disposition for duplicity. William was known to have sold his father’s pigs without his father’s permission. Later on, he forged a £93 cheque, as well as assisting a local thief, Samuel “Beauty” Smith, to steal a neighbor’s pig.

In shame, William had been sent to London, but he was recalled to Polstead when his brother Thomas accidentally drowned when crossing what he thought was a frozen pond. Over the next eighteen months, William’s father and three brothers died. This turn of events left William the family farm, not a bad thing for a minor son.

Corder reportedly attempted to keep his relationship with Marten a secret, but it became public knowledge when she bore him a child in 1827. Some say the child died soon afterwards, but other rumors suggest the child had been murdered. Corder, according to Ann Marten, supposedly suggested the elopement, claiming he had heard rumors that the parish officers planed to prosecute Maria for the girl’s loose ways.

Originally, the couple was to elope on 16 May, a Wednesday. Corder postponed until Thursday, saying his brother had taken ill. This was questionable for many said his brothers had all passed. On Friday 18 May, Corder called upon the Marten household with the news the local constable had a warrant for Maria’s arrest. In reality, no such warrant existed. He suggested that Maria dress as a man to aid her escape. They would meet at the barn so she might change clothes before they left for Ipswich.

Corder left shortly after the incident, and to cover his trail, he sent letters to Marten’s family, claiming that she was too ill to respond to their letters, that they were now living on the Isle of Wight, that she had injured her hand, etc., but she would return soon for a visit. Unfortunately for Corder, after Maria’s stepmother, Ann Marten, claimed to have had a dream where Maria’s ghost showed the woman her gravesite, Maria’s father dug up his daughter’s remains in the Red Barn on 19 April 1828. (Read more.)

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Coming in October!

 Visit Wiseblood Books for more information.

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Marie-Antoinette and the Chevalier d'Assas

From Gio, quoting Charles Duke Yonge:

In the Seven Years' War, when the French army, under the Marshal De Broglie, and the Prussians, under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, were watching one another in the neighborhood of Wesel, the Chevalier d'Assas, a captain in the regiment of Auvergne, was in command of an outpost on a dark night of October. He had strolled a little in advance of his sentries into the wood which fronted his position, when suddenly he found himself surrounded and seized by a body of armed enemies. They were the advanced guard of the prince's army, who was marching to surprise De Broglie by a night attack, and they threatened him with instant death if he made the slightest noise.

If he were but silent, he was safe as a prisoner of war; but his safety would have been the ruin of the whole French army, which had no suspicion of its danger. He did not for even a moment hesitate. With all the strength of his voice he shouted to his men, who were within hearing, that the enemy were upon them, and fell, bayoneted to death, almost before the words had passed his lips. He had saved his comrades and his commander, and had influenced the issue of the whole campaign.

The enemy, whose well-planned enterprise his self-devotion had baffled, paid a cordial tribute of praise to his heroism, Ferdinand himself publicly expressing his regret at the fate of one whose valor had shed honor on every brother-soldier; but not the slightest notice had been taken of him by those in authority in France till his exploit was accidentally mentioned in the queen's apartments. It filled her with admiration. She asked what had been done to commemorate so noble a deed. She was told "nothing;" the man and his gallantry had been alike forgotten.

"Had he left descendants or kinsmen?" "He had a brother and two nephews; the brother a retired veteran of the same regiment, the nephews officers in different corps of the army." The dead hero was forgotten no longer. Marie Antoinette never rested till she had procured an adequate pension for the brother, which was settled in perpetuity on the family; and promotion for both the nephews; and, as a further compliment, Clostercamp, the name of the village which was the scene of the brave deed, was added forever to their family name. (Read more.)

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Lady Crookback

An interesting post on disabled heroes and heroines in historical fiction from The History Girls. To quote:

Lady Mary Grey, youngest sister of the tragic Lady Jane was described by a contemporary ambassador as 'small, crookbacked and very ugly.' It is thought by some historians that she was born with the congenital scoliosis of her ancestor Richard III (possibly also suffered by her cousin Edward VI) and there is more than one reference to her diminutive stature, suggesting that she was, aside from her spinal distortion, remarkably small. It would seem that Lady Mary then was a woman with significant disabilities and yet one who inhabited the highest echelons of the court. It was this intriguing figure that inspired my novel Sisters of Treason.

My own daughter was paralysed as a baby and for many months we believed she would never walk. Happily she did, but that experience fuelled my desire to give a voice to one of history's invisible women and to articulate something of the kind of life she might have led as both court insider and outsider. One comes across the occasional  man with physical differences in historical fiction: Bucino the dwarf of Sarah Dunant's In the company of the Courtesan, George RR Martin's Tyrian Lannister and polio victim Tomas Ashton of Rosie Allison's The Very Thought of You. All these characters play a pivotal part in their respective narratives, with Ashton as a damaged romantic lead in the mould of Jojo Moyes's quadriplegic hero in Me Before You, Lannister as a key character and Bucino as the protagonist of Dunant's novel. But there is a distinct absence of women with disabilities at the heart of historical fiction. It seems that women are allowed flaws of character, and a prevalence of women with psychological challenges can be found, but bodily flaws seem to be taboo. Looking to the past for literary examples offers little. There is the wheelchair-bound Edith in Stephan Zweig's wonderful Beware of Pity and a number of tragic girls like Beth in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women and Love For Lydia Springs to mind too, who are defined by debilitating illness but it is hard to find empowered women who do not conform to the physical norm. It is for this reason that I chose to take that ambassador's grim appraisal at face value when creating the character of Mary Grey. I didn't want to tone down her disabilities or blur them in any way and felt it was important for her to live on the page as she was in life and allow her, in some small way, speak for all the invisible women of her time. (Read more.)

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The Future Tsar Nicholas II in 1870

Via Tiny-Librarian. To quote:

You are looking into the face of a child, making eye contact across centuries. You see the play of lights on his eyes, his lashes, the patterning of the iris. He is serious, intent - perhaps a little questioning. Yet because this is a particular child - the child who will one day grow into Nicholas II, last Tsar of Russia - there is a historical irony at play here. You are aware of his future, he is not, and you are meeting him at a moment when the tragedy of the revolutionary years was beyond imagining. It might still have been prevented. He stares into the camera lens over 130 years ago. The camera and the photographer are long gone but the child lives on, his gaze captured on a frail piece of paper as if it were here and now.    ~from The Camera and the Tsars by Charlotte Zeepvat.

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Keeping Secrets

Fr. Angelo discusses the moral issues which accompany blogging. To quote:

The early Church protected the sacred mystery of the Eucharist from the misunderstanding and profanation of pagans by the disciplina arcani, “discipline of the secret.” This meant that the newly baptized were not introduced the mystery of the Real Presence in the Eucharist until just before they received Holy Communion for the first time. In the context of the Church’s persecution, the pagan misunderstanding of Holy Communion as an act of cannibalism could have dire consequences for both believing Christians and those who needed to be evangelized.

So the motives for this discipline were that of reverence and humility. The practice was eventually abandoned. Even so, since the time of Our Lord’s discourse on the Bread of Life in John 6, there has been this tension between the frank and unapologetic proclamation of the full truth about the Eucharist and the need not to throw our pearls to the swine.

We certainly could use more reverence and humility today, especially as it concerns the Eucharist. However, keeping people in the dark about the true meaning of the Eucharist no longer serves this purpose.

Disciplina Esoterica

That being said, the “discipline of the secret,” was not the same thing as the disciplina esoterica, the “esoteric discipline” of the gnostics, who always veiled their beliefs and practices behind myths and arcane symbols and ciphers. They thought that their “sacred mysteries” were inherently too good for the mass of men, and that only those who were truly worthy would be able to penetrate the veil. This belief justified their elitism and was a pretext for them to deal with the uninitiated in a manner that was, shall we say, less than frank.

The esoteric discipline really has nothing to do with humility and reverence, but with pride and covetousness. And of course this is one of the most fundamental differences between true and false mysticism. Where does the mystery lead? To the light or to the darkness? But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God. (Jn 3:21).

Disciplina Alinski

In both cases there are doctrinal and pastoral motives. One might say speculative and political motives. There is a concern to preserve the doctrine. But to do this one must deal prudentially with various persons.

With the “discipline of the secret” and the more general disposition of “reverence,” which must be retained, there is a good faith concern about being honest with the catechumen, even if the revelation of the mystery is gradual. Indeed, the neophyte must know and believe the full revelation concerning the Eucharist in order to be in full communion with the Church and receive Jesus in Holy Communion. And it is the will of the Church that all men come to know, believe and fully participate in this mystery.

On the other hand with the “esoteric discipline,” the effort to protect the doctrine is posited on the belief that some men simply do not deserve it, nor do they deserve the good faith of honesty about what is really going on. It is not about gradually introducing someone to a mystery. It is about keeping it for “us” and hidden from “them.”

In secular politics and social relations, secret keeping has no sacred function, unless one concedes that politics is the religion of the godless. Fine by me. In that case, lying politicians are gods in the secular pantheon.

But the current argument about lying in the service of the gospel (cf. Alinski disciple, James O’Keefe) indicates a problem that hits closer to home. It certainly is not the discipline of the secret, nor is it exactly the esoteric discipline, though it is a very odd attempt to synthesize the godless-secular and sacred-Catholic models.

Is this the “discipline of Alinksi?” It is really pretty much bald-faced Machiavellianism parading around in altar boy robes. The alinskian tactic of appearing to take the high moral ground, all the while demonizing the enemy in order to be successful, requires several other anlinskian ingredients: constant agitation and deception. In fact, rule number one in Rules for Radicals is

Power is not only what you have, but what an opponent thinks you have. If your organization is small, hide your numbers in the dark and raise a din that will make everyone think you have many more people than you do.

Deception, or the sacred euphemism, “discretion,” or the ever-popular “mental reservation” is the rule.

Agitate. Agitate. Agitate, all the while hiding in the shadows. And then when one is called on it, “who me? I am just the messenger,” or “my cause is just.” (Read more.)

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The Closing of the Collegiate Mind

From Ruth Wise writing for the WSJ:

Assaults on intellectual and political freedom have been making headlines. Pressure from faculty egged on by Muslim groups induced Brandeis University last month not to grant Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the proponent of women's rights under Islam, an intended honorary degree at its convocation. This was a replay of 1994, when Brandeis faculty demanded that trustees rescind their decision to award an honorary degree to Jeane Kirkpatrick, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. In each case, a faculty cabal joined by (let us charitably say) ignorant students promoted the value of repression over the values of America's liberal democracy. 

Opponents of free speech have lately chalked up many such victories: New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly prevented from speaking at Brown University in November; a lecture by Charles Murray canceled by Azusa Pacific University in April; Condoleezza Rice, former secretary of state and national-security adviser under the George W. Bush administration, harassed earlier this month into declining the invitation by Rutgers University to address this year's convocation.

Most painful to me was the Harvard scene several years ago when the Committee on Degrees in Social Studies, celebrating its 50th anniversary, accepted a donation in honor of its former head tutor Martin Peretz, whose contributions to the university include the chair in Yiddish I have been privileged to hold. His enemies on campus generated a "party against Marty" that forced him to walk a gauntlet of jeering students for having allegedly offended Islam, while putting others on notice that they had best not be perceived guilty of association with him.

Universities have not only failed to stand up to those who limit debate, they have played a part in encouraging them. The modish commitment to so-called diversity replaces the ideal of guaranteed equal treatment of individuals with guaranteed group preferences in hiring and curricular offerings.

Females and members of visible minorities are given handicaps (as in golf). Courses are devised to inculcate in students the core lesson that (in the words of one recent graduate, writing online at the Huffington Post) "harmful structural inequalities persist on the basis of class, race, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity in the U.S." On too many campuses, as in a funhouse mirror, ideological commitment to diversity has brought about its opposite: ideological hegemony, which is much more harmful to the life of the mind than the alleged structural inequalities that social engineering set out to correct. (Read more.)

Some commentary from Bloomberg View, HERE. Share