Catholicgauze's Religion

You scored as Neo-Conservative Catholic. You see that the government of the United States was originally founded on recognizably Catholic natural law principles and reason in the tradition of Saint Thomas Aquinas, and the freedom of religion acknowledged in the Constitution has allowed Catholicism to flourish in this largely Protestant country. You recognize that the American system of government, even with its faults, is the most moral social order developed in history. You are committed to being a Catholic active in society. Like the Liberal Catholic, your views might be too determined by American culture, and you may uncritically accept many theories that may be harmful to yourself and society; instead you may need rediscover traditional Catholic teaching. You should emphasize the love of your neighbor, especially love for the poor, in your everyday business dealings. http://saint-louis.blogspot.com - Rome of the West Neo-Conservative Catholic 78% Traditional Catholic 74% New Catholic 74% Evangelical Catholic 52% Radical Catholic 43% Lukewarm Catholic 17% Liberal Catholic 14% What is your style of American Catholicism? created with QuizFarm.com

I think this is pretty accurate. I align with blogs like The Cafeteria is Closed and American Papist. (Hat tip: All2Common)

Geology Maps on Google Earth

San Diego State University's Department of Geology has a neat webpage dedicated to local and national geology. One can view maps and information either in PDF form or via Google Earth. The geology of Baja California Norte can be viewed on Virtual Earth.

It is great to see even more academic departments using common neogeography tools to educate the public. The role of academia is to create an educated, civic society and every good dose of a well-rounded liberal education helps.

Geography and Wine

Wine is one of a few things that can make people ponder about the interrelationships of the world. Think about any fancy bottle of wine you have ever drank. For the bottle to reach you there needed to be a complex network of trade from vineyard to your home. But more importantly as anyone who knows anything about wine would tell you, the wine needed to come from grapes grown in just the right conditions.

The geography of wine has long been a topic of many. The subfield even has its own specialty group in the Association of American Geographers. It has been a college course in many universities. Vineyards even champion their local geography.

Fortunately I have found some resources one may be interested in. Kobrand offers an interactive flash map of wine producing regions world wide. Geology@About.com has a selection of links dealing with soils and geology of wine. The French Wine Guide gives a geographical overview of French wine. There are even webpages dedicated to surveying wine geography.

For the record Catholicgauze hates the taste of wine and all other alcoholic drinks. The pop companies got me hooked at an early age...

James Cameron and Raiders of Jesus' Tomb

James Cameron, the man behind such blockbuster films like Alien, Titanic, and Terminator, has announced his involvement in a documentary which claims the discovery of the tomb of Jesus, Mary, Mary Magdalene, and the children of Jesus.

Now this find, if true, is ground shaking. Saint Paul said if the resurrection did not happen then Christianity is pointless. Islam believes in Jesus assent into heaven. So finding Jesus' tomb would damage or destroy about half the world's faith. But let us ignore that aspect and focus on the more scientific parts of the evidence.

The Jerusalem Post points out a few major flaws in the theory. The tomb is in Talpiot right outside of Jerusalem. Jesus was a Galilean, the Appalachia of its day (the city folk and rural Jews by Galilee tried to be as separate as possible), and had no ties to Jerusalem. There is no reason for him to have a tomb in city with no family ties to it. Secondly Jesus was not a rich man. Affording a tomb for himself, his family and extended family is not something the average carpenter could afford. Finally, while the tomb is for a "Jesus" and a few "Marys" one must remember that these names are as common as Maria and Jesús are today in Hispano countries. Think about how many Simons and Judases are in the Bible and you begin get the picture.

A weird claim by Cameron is that he is using DNA evidence to prove it is the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth. How? Is there the "God" Y Chromosome? All he can determine is if the people are related and that proves nothing. Hot Air has more on this.

So what is going on? It is simple. During the time of Lent religion is on the mind of many including the religious and non-religious. So now is the perfect time to cash in on causing religious controversy. National Geographic did this last year (same story too: an old find is given new life by hype). How things change how things stay the same.

Insurgency in Iran

All the news dealing with the War on Terrorism currently is focused on Iraq. One of the major issues in Iraq is how Iran is funding and equipping anti-Iraqi and anti-American militias. However, Iran is currently engaged against anti-regime forces.

News on this insurgency started earlier this month when Iranian military police engaged in a fire fight against several tribes in central Iran. The tribes and the religious government have long been in a "back burner" war for years. Then in Zahedan, in western Iran, a series of raids were conducted against police. These were quickly followed by a series of bomb blast which killed police and state-allied terrorists. There have even been possible attempts on President Ahmadinejad's life.

Things have really begun to pick up. The latest news is an Iranian helicopter was shot down in Northeast Iran. The Iranian military in turn has killed 17 anti-regime fighters.

The recent problems can be tied to the Iranian nuclear program, Iran's involvement in Iraq, and the Iran-United States Cold War. The United States has realized a direct land war in Iran would be a long, bloddy affair. Instead, the best way to institute regime change is via indirect methods. These methods include encouraging student discontent and reaching understandings with anti-Mullah forces in Iran.

Iran is unique compared to other countries in the Muslim world. Iran is like Turkey in the sense that it has managed to resist complete Arabization of its culture. Many youths, but certainly not all, enjoy Western-lifestyles and pirating MTV and going to raves is the cool thing to do. They are nationalistic enough to support Iran over America in case of war but many do not wish to see that happen.

A direct attack would lose many anti-Mullah Iranians. So instead the United States is conducting a indirect conflict against Iran to return relations back to a level similar to the era of the Shahs. The key is to unite non-Persians and youth into common cause.

My Father: 1948-2007

I love you, dad. Thank you for everything. I will see you again.

About to lose Dad

The word has reached me. Dad will be taken off his support. I wish these clothes, laid out by him for the next day will be worn; but I know they won't. I love you, Dad.