Jimmy Akin – Page 693

Bat Ye’or On Bill O’Reilly?

WHOA!

Powerline is reporting that Bat Ye’or is going to be on Bill O’Reilly tonight!

What is "Bat Ye’or"? The pseudonym of a Jewish woman from Egypt. Hence "Bat Ye’or" means "Daughter of the Nile" (in Hebrew).

Why does Bat Ye’or use a pen name? Because she is the foremost scholar of dhimmitude.

What is dhimmitude? The condition of the dhimmi (THEM-ee), the "protected" non-Muslim peoples in Muslim society (e.g., Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians), whereby they are allowed not to be given the choice of convert-or-die as long as they pay special taxes Muslims don’t have to pay and live in subjugation to Muslims.

Who is Bill O’Reilly? Y’know . . . "the crabby man."

I’m amazed at Bat Ye’or going on TV. I was surprised before when I heard she was doing a public talk. Putting her face on international television is a whole ‘nuther deal! God protect her!

No B5 Movie . . . For Now

J. Michael Straczynski has been hinting for some time that there was a Babylon 5 movie in the offing, titled Babylon 5: The Memory of Shadows.

Rumors emerged earlier this year that he was having problems with Warner Brothers over the casting of the movie. Some roles (such as Technomage Galen) were apparently under pressure to be cast with different (and more popular) actors.

Now JMS tells us that the movie deal is off . . . for now. And that he can’t use the script he wrote for it should a movie deal be revived with someone else. (Makes me glad that he, apparently, didn’t tell the story of the Telepath Crisis–as I was hoping–in this script).

JMS writes:

The rule of thumb in Hollywood is that for every thousand scripts that get written, only a few dozen get into development, and out of those, only one will ever get made…if that.

A little over a year ago, I was approached by a company that wanted to make a Babylon 5 movie. They optioned the rights, and commissioned a script. (It’s worth mentioning that I, not WB, own the rights to a B5 movie. When we were negotiating the original B5 deal — by whose terms I will never see a dime in profit — the one thing they did let me have were the movie rights, figuring they’d never be worth anything in the long run.)

Anyway…on December 27th of 2003, the script for "The Memory of Shadows" was turned in, and the process began of trying to make the deal work with all the various forces involved. It is, to say the least, a very difficult process on any movie where the studio does not directly take the financial reins. In terms of B5, Warner’s position was esssentially, "We only do big-budget movies with big names, so you’re on your own." If there were big-name movie actors in the film, they’d get behind it; without that, things become very problematic, especially as far as the financing was concerned. You much have to put together a consortium of international interests and business plans rivaled in complexity only by the Allied invasion of Normandy Beach.

Nonetheless, every attempt was made by the people involved to get this deal in place. This was not being done by Doug or myself, but rather by the company/individuals who approached us and optioned the rights. At times, it seemed we were inches away from a deal…stages were reserved at Elstree, actors were contacted, a director was in place, the script went through many revisions, a few key staff were hired, again not by me…it was really a year-long roller coaster ride. During that time, the people involved, with every good intention, tried very hard to pull the necessary pieces together on the deal. The option expired in late December 2004, but I renewed it without cost, to give those involved more time to try and make things work.

In the end, however, the deal could be put together, and it did not look as if that was going to change at any point in the foreseeable future. So the option has reverted, and to all intents and purposes, the project has dead ended. Nor do I think this particular incarnation will arise again at any point in the future, though prognostication has always been a tricky art, especially if you have to do it without the benefit of hindsight.

This was not the first time someone’s taken a run at a B5 feature film, and it will not be the last. Eventually it will happen, because such things are simply inevitable. If they can do a Brady Bunch movie, you can be sure that sooner or later, somebody’s going to do a B5 movie. The only thing I can say without equivocation is that when that day comes, as the rights-holder, I will make darned sure that it’s done right, because I’d rather have no B5 movie than one that doesn’t live up to what fans and I myself would want to see.

To that end…I can wait.

Anyway, just thought you should know the story.

jms

[SOURCE.]

More Retroviruses Jump From Monkeys To Humans

Scientists have found more retroviruses (the class of viruses to which AIDS, among others, belongs) that have jumped from monkeys to humans.

THIS IS A SCARY THINGS THAT HAS HAPPENED BEFORE.

MORE THAN ONCE.

What I find interesting about an article reporting the fact that more retroviruses have made the jump is this remark:

"What’s increasingly clear is that the hunting and butchering of non-human primates is associated with the transmission of retroviruses to humans," says Nathan Wolfe, at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, US, who led the study.

No, duh!

We’ve been luck so far that the viruses that have jumped either haven’t been very harmful or haven’t been transmissible by casual contact. If we got something as deadly as AIDS that could be spread as easily as a cold, we’d be in serious, serious trouble.

Of course, if it could spread that easily in us, it’d probably spread that easily in monkeys, but you never know. It could mutate.

In any event, monkeys and apes are just too close to us genetically for us to be hunting them and eating their meat. Their DNA is too much like our DNA. Their diseases (including SIV/HIV) have just too great a likelihood of infecting us.

For an American, I’m adventurous in what I’ll eat (Durian fruit? No problem! I like the taste of burning rubber. Raw squid? Love the stuff! Ika sushi is a favorite!), but I wouldn’t eat monkey meat if you paid me. Don’t know what human-transmissible virus (including HIV) might be lurking in it!

So how to we get the bushmeat industry SHUT DOWN?

GET THE (SCARY) STORY.

Third Of A Mill

This morning we crossed the third of a million hits mark since moving to TypePad ten months ago.

These hits do include people going to the comments boxes, but they are page calls and do not include individual file calls (e.g., images on the page).

At this rate, we’re on track to hit the million mark in about 8 months. (If the blog keeps growing, though, we’ll hit it in less than that.)

THANKS, Y’ALL! THAT’S Y’ALL’S DOING!

(NOTE: The "Today" field really isn’t today. It’s everything-since-yesterday-midnight.)

Cocky Pope-Hopeful Ready To Make Some Changes Around The Vatican

GET THE STORY.

From The Onion.

(Cowboy hat tip to the reader who pointed this out.)

Mmmm-Hmmm . . . ?

A reader writes:

I listen to you all the time on the radio Q&A. This is my own fabulous opinion, meaning you don’t have to pay it any attention:

I think you’ll sound better if instead of saying "mmm-hmm" while callers set up their question, you say "yes," or "continue," or some other words. Mmm-hmm is what I say when I don’t really want to be listening to what someone is saying (especially my kids)….I don’t know if listeners take it that way or not.

BTW, I have a question which I can’t phone in since I hear you taped, maybe you could answer it on the air:

In the pre V2 days the Mass was divided into the Mass of the Catechumens and the Mass of the Faithful; today it’s the Liturgy of the Word and Liturgy of the Eucharist.

Any ideas why this changed, and what is the point of the new terminology?

First, in regard to the question: I don’t have a firm answer from an official document explaining why the change was done. A check of the cumulative index of the BCL Newsletter and some leafing around in the 1969 issues didn’t turn anything up (though further digging might); neither did a check of Documents on the Liturgy (a standard collection), but my sense is that the terminological change was due to two things:

First, the custom of the ancient church of dismissing the catechumens at the end of the liturgy of the word had fallen out of use (at least in the Latin rite). Consequently, retaining the terminology was more confusing than not. By calling the rite "the liturgy of the word," it mede it more clear what the true purpose of the rite was.

Second, there was a desire to more greatly stress the unity of the Mass and the relevance to of the word to the Eucharist.

That’s my sense, anyway. If someone else has more specific information (and can quote a source), I hope they’ll add it in the comments box.

Now, regarding the mmmm-hmmm issue: After you’ve worked in radio for a while, you get an inbuilt instinct that dead air must be avoided at all costs, and so I use "mmmm-hmmmm" to fill dead air sometimes. I try to say it supportively, to indicate that I’m listening attentively to what the person says (and, in some cases, to hurry the caller up if he’s rambling), but I don’t know how it comes across to listeners, especially when it goes through the filtering process that causes some of my inflection to drop out.

"Yes" or "continue" would sound impatient to my ears, but I could be wrong.

Whadda y’all think?

Marriage Involvement 2

A reader writes:

I have a question about marriage involvement. I know that I cannot attend my cousin’s upcoming "wedding" because she is Catholic and divorced, "marrying" a divorced man, in a non-Catholic ceremony. But what about attending the reception and/or giving a gift? My wife (a non-Catholic Christian) wants to do both, but I feel uncomfortable about them. However, I suffer from OCD, often in the form of scrupulosity, so I can’t really be sure of my judgment in this matter. (Prudential judgment is very difficult with OCD!)

I understand your situation, and it’s good that you check this out. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder frequently does lead people to needless scrupulosity regarding matters. I have dealt with several individuals with OCD, and have some familiarity with it.

In this case, though, I don’t think that you are being scrupulous. If a wedding cannot be attended due to known or presumed invalidity, I could not recommend attending the reception or giving a wedding present. The last in particular, even more than attending, conveys an endorsement of the event. Gifts are given to celebrate things, and if a thing should not have happened, it should not be celebrated.

Even if you tell someone that you do not believe that they are really married and that you could not attend the wedding for that reason, if you turn around and give them a gift for their wedding, it undercuts the force of the message you are otherwise sending–a message that they very much need to hear and that is an act of charity toward them (as long as the message is communicated in a sincere and loving way).

A couple that received a gift from such a person would say to themselves, "Well, he may say that he doesn’t think we’re married, but the gift shows he isn’t really serious about that. The gift shows what he really thinks–where his heart is–and the other stuff is just talk."

Attending the reception isn’t as bad but also serves to undercut the basic message of honesty. It also would send mixed signals to a couple that need to understand the reality of their situation, and so I could not recommend it either.

As a non-Catholic Christian, your wife may not understand all this, but she should understand and respect that your religious conscience (now verified by a professional of your own faith) and recognize that you need to act in accord with that conscience.

Hope this helps!

Burial In Veterans' Cemetery

A reader writes:

I was born Catholic many years ago and remain faithfully practicing. I am a WW2 veteran – USCG. What is the correct thinking about burial in a county veterans cemetery? (unhallowed ground?)

I find my self reading your blog again and again. Thank you for it.

Thank you, sir! Always glad to have a member of the Greatest Generation reading! Y’all did a huge service for the world! One of my grandfathers was also in the Coast Guard in WWII, down in the Gulf of Mexico where Nazi subs were prowling.

I hope it’s a lot of years yet before you need to make use of this info, but it is permitted for you to be buried in a veterans’ cermetery. The Code of Canon Law provides that:

Canon 1240

§1. Where possible, the Church is to have its own cemeteries or at least areas in civil cemeteries that are designated for the deceased members of the faithful and properly blessed.

§2. If this cannot be achieved, however, then individual graves are to be properly blessed.

So: The veterans’ cemetery you’re thinking about may already have a section that has been set aside and blessed for Catholics, or your own grave could be blessed (before or after the interment, according to my understanding).

Like I said, though: Here’s hoping it a long time before that’s necessary. I’ll say a prayer to that end and encourage others to do so as well.

Hope you’ll keep visiting the blog!

Burial In Veterans’ Cemetery

A reader writes:

I was born Catholic many years ago and remain faithfully practicing. I am a WW2 veteran – USCG. What is the correct thinking about burial in a county veterans cemetery? (unhallowed ground?)

I find my self reading your blog again and again. Thank you for it.

I hope it’s a lot of years yet before you need to make use of this info, but it is permitted for you to be buried in a veterans’ cermetery. The Code of Canon Law provides that:

Canon 1240

§1. Where possible, the Church is to have its own cemeteries or at least areas in civil cemeteries that are designated for the deceased members of the faithful and properly blessed.

§2. If this cannot be achieved, however, then individual graves are to be properly blessed.

Like I said, though: Here’s hoping it a long time before that’s necessary. I’ll say a prayer to that end and encourage others to do so as well.

Hope you’ll keep visiting the blog!

My Favorite Towns!

When I travel, I sometimes encounter towns with the most wonderful names.

Two of these are Yeehaw Junction, Florida and Cut’N Shoot, Texas.

I first encountered Yeehaw Junction when I was on my way to the first Catholic Answers cruise, which was leaving from South Florida. I was tooling down the highway when I happened to find myself in Yeehaw Junction, which is this little . . . junction . . . near Orlando where they have some stores where they sell various and sundries, including postcards with the town name (and pictures of rambunctious cartoon mules on them).

Hope I get to go back there sometime and pick up some postcards!

I encountered Cut’N Shoot when I was on a road trip all over the Southwest last summer. Though I’ve spent a lot of time in Houston (where my mom’s people lived for so long and where all my aunts and uncles still live), but I normally come into the city from a north easterly direction, driving down from the family ranch in Deep East Texas. This summer, though, happenstance took me on a detour to enter Houston from a more northerly direction, and in the process I found myself in Cut’N Shoot.

Gotta love a town with a name like that!

Despite it being in Texas, though, the town’s name doesn’t have anything (directly) to do with knives or guns.

According to the Handbook of Texas Online:

It was apparently named after a 1912 community confrontation that almost led to violence. According to the different versions of the story, the dispute was either over the design of a new steeple for the town’s only church, the issue of who should be allowed to preach there, or conflicting land claims among church members. A small boy at the scene reportedly declared, "I’m going to cut around the corner and shoot through the bushes in a minute!" The boy’s phrase apparently remained in residents’ minds and was eventually adopted as the town’s name.

So, in the best Hee-Haw tradition, let’s salute these two towns for their great countrified names!

ALL: Saaaaaaa-lute!!!