The Occasional Observer

and will miss him. God bless you in your retirement, Holy Father!

Shoot first, look at your target later.  Link:

F&S: What about the other uses, for self-defense and target practice?

BIDEN: Well, the way in which we measure it is—I think most scholars would say—is that as long as you have a weapon sufficient to be able to provide your self-defense. I did one of these town-hall meetings on the Internet and one guy said, “Well, what happens when the end days come? What happens when there’s the earthquake? I live in California, and I have to protect myself.”

I said, “Well, you know, my shotgun will do better for you than your AR-15, because you want to keep someone away from your house, just fire the shotgun through the door.” Most people can handle a shotgun a hell of a lot better than they can a semi-automatic weapon in terms of both their aim and in terms of their ability to deter people coming. We can argue whether that’s true or not, but it is no argument that, for example, a shotgun could do the same job of protecting you. Now, granted, you can come back and say, “Well, a machine gun could do a better job of protecting me.” No one’s arguing we should make machine guns legal.

America! F*ck Yeah!

BTW: Is Joe always drunk, or is this just the way he talks? If he actually was sober, can you imagine how much fun it would be to get Biden in a hunting cabin for a week?

Read this for more information.

Read 'em and weep.

Of the many articles discussing the Pope's resignation, this WSJ piece is worth discussing here, as it touches on the intersection of religion, culture, and politics, and makes some very important points about Benedict's agenda and the nature of Western Civilization:

Perhaps the most important religious development in our time is the rise of Islamist fundamentalism. Benedict courted controversy over Islam with his 2006 speech, "Faith and Reason," in Regensburg, Germany. He quoted the 14th-century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologus saying uncomplimentary things about Islam, quotes that led to death threats against the pontiff.

Largely lost in that controversy was the Pope's purpose in delivering the speech—an insistence that Faith and Reason need not be antagonists. Their convergence, he argued, "created Europe and remains the foundation of what can rightly be called Europe."

You might also call it a defense of Western civilization, or simply the West. In the modern West, however, we have turned skepticism and tolerance into such pre-eminent values that we are in danger of rendering ourselves incapable of defending the virtues of the Western tradition. Pope Benedict refused to turn a blind eye when radical Islam suppressed freedom, notably freedom of conscience.

In the Middle East, China and elsewhere, Christians face persecution, expulsion, imprisonment or even death for cleaving to their faith. Coptic Christians in Egypt have suffered greatly after Mubarak, and in Iraq some of the oldest Christian communities in the world cling to a tenuous existence. Benedict's pontificate deserves to be remembered for the attention and energy he gave to the plight of Christians living in unfree conditions for religious practice.

There is much to say, and for those who are interested, you can undoubtedly find pieces ranging from recaps of his Papacy, to analysis, to conspiracy theories, most of which are by writers with competence far exceeding my own. The only thing I wish to add are my personal feelings.

I am grateful to an incredibly learned, deeply prayerful man for accepting the call of the College of Cardinals, at a time in his life when he had lost a close friend, and had hoped to be peacefully resting in his native Germany. I am moved by his love of God (the theme of his first Papal Encyclical), and how that love filtered into a love for all doctrines and traditions of the Church, especially the Sacred Liturgy.

As far as the Holy Father's resignation, I am saddened to see him go. I have no standing to "analyze" it as a matter of institutional precedence. I have only hopeful belief that it is in the best interest of the Church and humanity, and the conviction that Benedict would not have chosen this path unless he believed it so.

Or put another way, if you were focusing on the category with the smallest number, maybe saving lives isn't really your priority. ht: US News