Pope Francis and the Condundrum of the Communist Crucifix

On the second leg of his trip to South America, Pope Francis traveled to Bolivia. The Holy Father made a courtesy visit to  Eso Morales at the Palace of the Government in La Paz.  Pope Francis only made a short four hours visit in La Paz as the 4,000 meter altitude was difficult for him to breath as he has only one lung. 

As is customary when heads of state meet, the President and the Pope exchanged gifts. Pope Francis gave the  Bolivian president a mosaic of the Marian icon of the “Salus Populus Romani". For his part, Bolivian President Eso Morales gave the Holy See  a crucifix based on a hammer and sickle, essentially a communist crucifix.  This was not the only politically charged gift. Morales also gave Pope Francis "The Book of the Sea" a tome bemoaning Bolivia's loss of access to the sea in the 1879-93 War of the Pacific.

As for the gift of religious art, Pope Francis shook his head as the Socialist President gave him this communist styled crucifix and audibly said: “No está bien eso”.  As this exchange was filmed for transmission throughout the world, the Holy Father's embarrassment seemed visible.

Aside from his Socialist politics, Eso Morales gift had some symbolism associated with Catholicism, as this hammer and sickle crucifix was modeled after one carved by Jesuit missionary Fr. Luis Espinal Camps, S.J.. Espinal Camps  was abducted by the paramilitaries loyal to the Bolivian dictatorship, tortured for five hour and shot 17 times in 1980.

Shortly after arriving in Bolivia Pope Francis' motorcade stopped along the highway where Fr. Espinal Camps was abducted.  Pope Francis prayed:

"Remember one of our brothers, a victim of interests that didn't want him to fight for Bolivia's freedom,.  Father Espinal preached the Gospel, the Gospel that bothered them, and because of this they got rid of him."

Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi, tried to walk back from this diplomatic faux pas by claiming that Pope Francis was unaware that the gift was inspired by Fr. Espinal Camps crucifix and that the Holy Father meant to say: "I didn't know" instead of "This is not right".  That explanation is courteously convenient but seems spurious considering the Pope's actual words and his visible embarrassment over the gift.

For all those  Catholic criticasters who claim that Pope Francis' beatification of Blessed Oscar Romero was an embrace of liberation theology or that the environmental encyclical Laudato Si was a Marxist manifesto, how do they reconcile Pope Francis' exclamation: “No está bien eso”?  

During his remarks to grassroots groups helping the marginalized in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Pope Francis addressed head on the charge that he is a communist. "When I talk about this [Land, Lodging and Labor], some people think the pope is a communist, They don't realize that love for the poor is at the center of the Gospel."

No doubt that Pope Francis believes in a evangelical option for the poor, as do many contemporary Jesuits and that he walks the talk on social justice.  But if Pope Francis were the Red Pope, why would he recoil at a communist crucifix?

Perhaps the Bolivian visit highlights the conundrum of Pope Francis' disposition towards social justice.  Austral University Historian Roberto Bosca noted that Jorge Bergolio (later Pope Francis) opposed liberation theology during the 1970s, but that he accepted the premise of liberation theology (especially the preferential option for the poor) done in a non-ideological fashion.  But as the rhetoric meets reality, as demonstrated by Eso Morales photo op, secular socialists (and communists) may strive to exploit this sympathy for their own atheistic advantage.

Why the Red Card on the FIFA World Cup of Corruption?

In the wake of Attorney General Loretta Lynch pulling out a red card on 14 F.I.F.A officials for an alleged World Cup of Corruption, Russian President Vladimir Putin opined that the Americans were offsides. 

It is bizarre that Putin purports that the United States is culminating a three year investigation in order to interfere with the F.I.F.A. election of Joseph Sepp  Blatter, but that sort of agiprop distracts from the Russians continuing to mass heavy firepower on the Ukrainian border. But then again, Putin's Russia used the Sochi Winter Olympics as cover for initially invading Crimea in 2014.

To answer why the Department of Justice issued a 47 count indictment over F.I.F.A. corruption, it is worth noting that the plots were hatched in the United States and utilized the U.S. banking system.  It is wrong to think that the F.I.F.A. case does not affect American politics either.  The United States missed out on winning the 2018 World Cup to the Russian Federation's Sochi bid and the out of the box award to Qatar in 2022.  The U.S. would be a natural backup in case either the Russian or Qatari bids fall through.

Moreover,  the Clinton Foundation received between  $50,000 and $100,000 and partnered with the Fédération Internationale de Football Association.  President Bill Clinton was said to have been so upset at the US losing the 2022 World Cup bid to Qatar that he smashed a mirror.  But the Qatar 2022 tried to make it up by giving the Clinton Foundation  $250,000 and $500,000 as well as the Qatari government pitching in between $1 million and $5 million.

This may only be the beginning of the F.I.F.A. fallout. Suddenly the business of soccer has become very exiting.  Goooooooooooool!

h/t: Steve Bell

Guardians of Free Speech or Vanguards of the Dhimmitude?

The Mainstream Media loves to trumpet the trope that they are Guardians of First Amendment rights for Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press.  However, the timorous self-censoring displayed by major media outlets in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo terror attack in Paris exposes this ideal as an intellectual chimera.

CNN Senior Editorial Director Richard Griffin issued an internal memo which dictated that the media outlet not show images that could be considered offensive to Muslims.  The Politico released Griffin's email:

Although we are not at this time showing the Charlie Hebdo cartoons of the Prophet considered offensive by many Muslims, platforms are encouraged to verbally describe the cartoons in detail. This is key to understanding the nature of the attack on the magazine and the tension between free expression and respect for religion. 

Video or stills of street protests showing Parisians holding up copies of the offensive cartoons, if shot wide, are also OK. Avoid close-ups of the cartoons that make them clearly legible.

It's also OK to show most of the protest cartoons making the rounds online, though care should be taken to avoid examples that include within them detailed depictions of the Charlie Hebdo cartoons.

NBC News mimicked this tact by guiding their outlets to neither show headlines nor cartoons which could be deemed insensitive or offensive.

In the print medium, the Associated Press applied an internal policy of "not moving deliberately provocative images" so it removed Charlie Hebdo images from their database. However, it only took the Associate Press 27 years and an embarrassing exposure by the Washington Examiner for the same standard to be applied to Andres Serrano's "Piss Christ" (1987).   Was this because a crucifix dipped in urine and displayed as art is not deliberately provocative? Do elitist editors think that anti-Christian imagery is not provocative but that they dare not offend adherents to the Prophet Mohammad?  Or does publishing some provocative pictures might put their lives on the line by radical terrorists?

The New York Daily News covered the source material which provoked these three Islamic terrorists to assassinate twelve French citizens by pixillating the Prophet Mohammad's image.

Stephane Charbonnier posing with satirical cover pixillated in NY Daily News {photo FRED DUFOUR/AFP}

As Mark Steyn remarked, the New York Daily News put Mohammad in the witness protection program with their editorial sensitivity, yet the editors did not obscure the hook nose caricature of a Jew which shared the frame. So much for sensitivity or avoiding provocative pictures.

It is galling that the media outlets are proud as a peacock as being protectors of Free Speech while acting in a duplicitous and cowardly manner.  While these Charlie Hedbo pictures are provocative, they are no longer a polemic point of view but now are a news story. None the less, the major media acts in a Milquetoast manner towards the prophet Mohammad.  No wonder why they can derisively known as the "Lamestream Media".

In 2013, Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) sought to limit who can be a journalist. Feinstein argued that a federal shield law should only apply to "real reporters".  But what if these paid journalists refuse to report the news?

These pusillanimous journalists should review what dhimmitude means.  This second class citizenship of non-Muslims acknowledges the dominance of sharia law and does not allow anything to offend those within the Dar-Islam.   Self-censorship so as not to give offense to Muslims is a major step in accepting those social shackles.

In Paris, many protesters to the Charlie Hebdo atrocity carried pencils to symbolize that the pencil is mightier than the sword and that they are not afraid. The cartoon of the Twin Tower of Pencils links terrorism from America's 9/11 attack to the Parisian terrorism.  Sadly this cartoon has another connection.  American news networks stopped showing the terrorist planes hitting the World Trade Center except briefly during the 9/11 anniversary to supposedly not to show provocative images. Of course, such horrific footage might remind people about the consequences of unchecked terrorism.  

Contemplating Free Speech and the Charlie Hebdo Terror Attack

Stephane Charbonnier, Chief Editor of the French satirical magazine "Charlie Hebdo", was one of France's leading cartoonists who created under the pen name "Charb".   Charbonnier was also an outspoken advocate for free speech who fiercely defended his right to push material that others, particularly Muslims, deemed offensive. 

In 2011, Charbonnier invited the Prophet Muhammad to be a guest editor to Charlie Hebdo. This prompted a firebombing which destroyed Charlie Hebdo's offices and put Charb on an Al-Qaeda hit list. 

Stephane Charbonnier defiantly posing after Charlie Hebdo firebombing,  Nov. 2011

The three Islamic terrorists who brutally attacked Charlie Hebdo's offices on January 7, 2015 reportedly asked for Charb by name as they slaughtered twelve people. 

Some Muslim spokesmen justify a rabid response like the terrorist attack as Charlie Hebdo published pieces which were offensive to the Prophet Muhammad.  Bill Donohue,  President of the (American) Catholic League, condemned the killings but stated that "Muslims have a right to be angry" over Charlie Hebdo's provocative publications.

Many media outlets are quick to point out that Charlie Hebdo is a French satirical publication, which is true but is misleading.  This Charlie Hebdo massacre was an attack on Free Speech.  It was cultural jihad which is imposing tenants of sharia law (among which is to not to offend Muslims) on Western society.  This movement is being aided and accelerated by Political Correctness, which seeks to not  provoke favored minorities but is happy to taunt traditional mores.

The fact that many media sources were self-censoring about showing "provocative" Charlie Hebdo covers, but had no problems publicizing Andres Serrano's "Piss Christ" (1987) or Chris Orfill's depiction of the Virgin Mary covered in elephant dung (1996) shows the double standard from the supposed guardians of the First Amendment.

Such spurious self-censoring of provocative content towards a violent minority which seeks to apply sharia law is an early stage of dhimmitude. 

Scuttlebutt on the Sony Hack Cyberwar Skirmish

Former Speaker of the House  Newt Gingrich opined that America lost its first cyberwar associated by the Sony Hack, which demanded that the feature film "The Interview" be withdrawn from distribution. 

So America's freedom of speech is subject to the whims of a tinpot dictator (albeit with a few nuclear bombs) from the Hermit Kingdom of North Korea. 

A corporation like Sony Pictures may harbor concerns about liability associated with the publicized threats made by the anonymous hackers calling themselves "Guardians of Peace"  against movie-goers who attended the now cancelled Christmas day opening.  

Voices from both side of the political spectrum, from former Governor Mitt Romney (R-MA) to Alan Dershowitiz.  But Sony Pictures pulled "The Interview" from all prospective platforms.  There may also have been pecuniary motive for the move.  If the picture is never officially released, Sony Pictures could recover from insurance money, otherwise they would absorb the $41 million production costs.  

This does not explain Hollywood's cowardice towards pissing off Pyongyang. After Sony Pictures cancelled "The Interview",  the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Austin, Texas announced that it would show "Team America: World Police"(2004),  Alas those puckish plans were foiled by Paramount Pictures which refused to offer the Trey Parker and Matt Stone's film which satirizes Kim Jon Un's father Kim Jong-il due to "circumstances beyond their control." Those who want to revel to "I'm So Ronery" can still see it on Netflix or through Amazon Instant Video. 

If that is not sufficient evidence that Hollywood waved the white flag for the Hermit Kingdom, New Regency pulled the plug on the Steve Carell project "Pyongyang", which was slated to start up in March, 2015. And George Clooney spent a week asking a large number of Hollywood executives to sign a petition protesting the Norks blackmailing Hollywood through the Sony Hack.  Tellingly, no one had enough courage to sign the petition.  During World War II, studio produced propaganda pieces like Bugs Bunny cartoons sending up der Fuehrer. Now, such Tinseltown execs like the fortitude to sign a meager memo protesting business blackmail and standing up for freedom of speech. 

During his end of the year press conference, President Barack Obama opined that Sony Picture executives made a bad choice in pulling the film and that they should have talked with him.  It seems that running a rough cut in front of State Department officials was insufficient. Our Dear Leader's messianic charisma, Obama's renown negotiating skills and his steadfastness in setting red lines (and then ignoring them) surely would have made a difference.  But President Obama promises to study the problem and offer a measured US response to North Korean Cyberwar provocation. After all, Mr. Obama will be 6,000 miles closer on golf courses in Hawaii to offer leadership.

The United States does have limited options in dealing with North Korea.  There are virtually no economic sanctions left to use.  Moreover, Pyongyang is insulated by charity from the Peoples' Republic of China so the NORKS can continue create trouble with the US.  We can not forget that the Hermit Kingdom does have nuclear capabilities.  Then there is the small matter of the DRK having 10,000 missiles aimed at our treaty ally South Korea, where we incidentally have 37,000 soldiers stationed.  

There may be black operations by the US which should not become public, as well as behind the scenes diplomatic de marches with DRK allies in Beijing.  But the best public responses that I have heard so far involve Hollywood using the Oscars ceremony on Washington's Birthday to use "The Interview" actors James FRANCO, Seth Rogen and Randall Park to come out in character and joke around.  While at the same time, the Pentagon sponsors a joint training operation with the South Korean, Japanese and American military forces in the Sea of Japan.

But considering the cravenness recently displayed by Hollywood, it is more likely that the Oscars would be hosted by the actual Kim Jong Un with a special appearance by Sony Picture's Racial Inclusion Czar, the Reverend Al Sharpton.

h/t: Steve Sack

Obama White House Channels JFK?

In response to the uproar over President Obama normalizing relations with Cuba without gaining any real concessions from the Castros, White House spokesman Josh Earnest invoked the spirit of JFK.  Earnest intimated that President Kennedy would change his policy of isolation after seeing that it did not bring about the desired change.

Really?  Is this wisdom akin to Mr. Obama's assertion that he heard the 2/3rds of Americans who did not participate in the Midterms shellacking of President Obama's Democrats in the House and Senate?  Of course, such perspecaciousness is unsurprising for a Commander-in-Chief who can see fallen heroes in a Memorial Day audience, especially Navy Corpsemen (sic). 

While the left and the right may seek to claim the mantle of Camelot after 50 years, it certainly seems like a stretch to imply that a Cold Warrior such as JKF, would give up for nothing.  After all, President Kennedy gave the final  approved for the Bay of Pigs invasion (before he withdrew air cover during the operation thus dooming the mission).  And Kennedy stood up to the Soviets during the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Furthermore, JFK  plotted several assassination attempts against Fidel.  It seems with his spurious assertion that Josh Earnest continues to be the ironic Obama spokesman.

But pro arguendo, should American foreign policy toward economically isolating Havana change after 50 years?  Well, 190 other nations have not been observing the boycott and what sort of political and economic liberalization has occurred in the island prison state?   Hmm, foreign tourists enjoy white  sandy beaches in Cuba but are cordoned off from the grime the common people live with through tourist apartheid separated by barbed wire fences.  Many regular Cubans seek to work as "sex workers" since prostitutes can garner some hard currency from tips.  Western companies can invest, but they must partner with the kleptocratic communist Cuban government  which keeps 92% of the joint venture worker's salary.

Then consider President Obama's diplomatic skills.  Once again, the 44th President is coddling a dictatorial government who is actively opposed to our interests, without winning anything in return. Wonder what our Dear Leader will offer Kim Jong Un in the wake of Sony Hack Attack in appeasement?

h/t: A.F. Branco 

What Does H.A.M.A.S. Really Stands For?

Hamas is a Palestinian Sunni Muslim group that is internationally recognized as a terrorist organization.  Hamas which has dominated the Gaza Strip since 2005 when Israeli settlements were voluntarily relinquished settlements to implement the Oslo Accords as part of the peace process.

Hamas is an acronym for Ḥarakat al-Muqāwamah al-ʾIslāmiyyah, Arabic for "Islamic Resistance Movement".  The acronym means "Enthusiasm".  But sometimes acronyms are given more meaning by actions. 

The modus operandi of Hamas is to indiscriminately lob crude missiles at their Israeli "enemy" (the one's who ceded the territory where they operate).  But these "brave" Muslim Brotherhood affiliates operate their rockets in the middle of civilian settlements, schools  or mosques.   The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) discovered 20 missiles in schools run by UNRWA and then handed them back to the "local authorities" to then be fired at Israel.  Then there is  the Shuja'iya neighborhood in Northern Gaza, Hamas used a mosque and two adjacent buildings connected by tunnels were extended to the Israeli border and used as a depot for Hamas rockets. 

Even though the Israeli Defense Forces give early warning to civilians to evacuate before the IDF attacks in Gaza, the inhabitants defiantly refuse to leave.  Some pro-Palestinian apologies reason "Where can they go?"  But Hamas spokemen urged the civilians not to heed the IDF warnings.  These human shields can then be pointed to as brutality by their enemy.  This is why Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu labels Hamas tactics as a double war crime.

Hamas knows that it can not win conventional warfare against the IDF, but if enough Palestinian civilians are killed during Operation Protective Edge, the International Press can decry the humanitarian loss along with an anti-semetic gloss.  

Former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meier anticipated this culture of death among militant Palestinians when she proclaimed: "We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children.  We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.".

Even though Hamas might sound like enthusiasm in Arabic, based upon their tactics and weltanschaaung, what Hamas really stands for is Hiding Among Mosques and Schools.

h/t: Steve Breen

On ISIS Marking Christians for Extermination and Expropriation in Iraq

As jihadist Sunni Islamist terrorists from ISIS/ISIL strive to create a sharia inspired Caliphate as they take over territory in Iraq and Syria, they are slaughtering innocent Christians.  

However, even sharia law allows for dhimmitude, second class citizen status for "people of the book" (i.e. Jews and Christians) so long as they pay the jizya tax.  But that is not good enough for ISIS jihadists.  They have taken to mark the buildings of Christian institutions with spray-painted red marks indicating holdouts to exterminate and expropriate.

Spraypainted ISIS Extermination Graffiti on Christian buildings in Mosel, Iraq

"Nun" 14th letter in Arabic alphabet

 The symbol is "Nun", the 14th letter in the Arabic alphabet.  It is the first letter in the name "Nazara" (or Nazarenes) the way in which Muslims have referred to Christians since the 7th Century. This is intended as a badge of shame for what is perceived as a contemptible and disobedient sect. 

While those who follow world events may be aware of the genocidal fervor of ISIS terrorism, it is for this systematic genocide to get lost in the tumult of today's world news.  Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Younan's interview with Vatican Radio was a shocking reminder of the consequences of America's precipitous withdrawal from Iraq and not tamping down Islamist forces in Mesopotamia.  There are no Christians left in Mosul.  Many Christian refugees have fled to Kuridstan, but now their Prime Minister claims that it can receive no more refugees.  The last ten families fleeing from the Mosul area were robbed of everything they own and left at the frontier of the city.  Now they may not have anyplace to which to go.

Sophisticates in the West mock the notion that Christians are being persecuted around the world.  The "Nun" marks in Mosul show that Christian brothers and sisters are being marked for their faith and may face martyrdom. 

It would not be a panacea but if Western powers really stood for religious liberty, actions could be taken to mitigate the ISIS mire.  But with  Secretary of State John Kerry's  recent equivocation about religious pluralism rather than noting the source threatening religious liberty in Ethiopia as well as the Obama Administration's open hostility to people practicing their faith in the public square, this issue is likely to be way behind priorities such as political fundraisers and swanky vacations. 

h/t: Rorate Caeli

Pope Francis' Cri-de-Coeur on Syrian Slaying

Dutch Jesuit Fr. Francis van der Lugt was brutally murdered in Homs, Syria by masked gunman. The septigenarian cleric was beaten by a masked man on the street in front of the Jesuit monastery in Bustan al-Diwan, a Christian portion of the Old City,  and then he was shot twice in the head.

Fr. van der Lugt who was a trained psychotherapist, had spent fifty years living in Syria ministering to disabled people at the Al Ard Center near Homs.  The Center also took in refugees from the Syrian Civil War, but that mission curtailed as the staff fled since they could not ensure the safety of their guests.  Fr. van der Lugt tried to be a companion to those in mental distress and give them as much food as possible.

Fr. Frans refused to be part of the February 2014 UN supervised evacuation of 1,400 people from the city, which had been besieged for a year and a half.  In the Old City of Homs, the Christian population had shrunk from tens of thousands to just 66.  Christians used to make up 10% of the Syrian population before the Civil War, but Christians have been brutalized for their faith during the conflict Fr. van der Lugt reasoned that he was the only priest remaining to minister to his people so how could he leave.

In January, Fr. van der Lugt made pleas through the media that gained world-wide attention to have humanitarian aid sent to the city to feed the starving Muslim and Christian population.




This led to meeting with UN officials to receive aid and hear first hand accounts of the humanitarian trials in Homs. Fr. van der Lugt procured four kilos of kilos of flour a week from a Muslim charity so that he could make bread and distribute half a loaf to the enclaves neediest 30 people.

Besides, Fr. van der Lugt considered Syria to be his home. The Jesuit proclaimed:  "The Syrian people have given me so much, so much kindness, inspiration and everything they have. If the Syrian people are suffering now, I want to share their pain and their difficulties."  Per the priests instructions, his earthly remains will be buried in Syria.

Syrian opposition forces were quick to blame the Bashar al-Assad government for the slaying, claiming that government would be the only ones to benefit from the killing.  Yet Fr. van der Lugt believed that even after eighteen months of being under siege that the opposition was not popular among Syrians.  The amnesty which was offered in January only applied to Syrians.  Thus the foreign fighters who remained in the Old City may have looked askance at one who was not a co-religionist.

Regardless of who was responsible, Fr. Francis van der Lugt was a martyr for the faith. Aside from Pope Francis' cri-de-coeur at his fellow Jesuit's brutal slaying, the Vatican voiced outrage over the killing of Fr. van der Lugt.  Federico Lombardi, spokesman for the Holy See declared: "This is the death of a man of peace, who showed great courage in remaining loyal to the Syrian people despite an extremely risky and difficult situation."  Lombardi added that the Dutch priest had offered "the testimony of Jesus to the end." 

Fr. van der Lugt's selfless dedication to his fellow man and openness to serve the Lord even unto death echos the ultimate sacrifice that our Lord Jesus Christ which we will celebrate next week in the Triduum.

Understanding the EuroMaidan Unrest in Ukraine

As the world watches the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russian Federation, there is unrest in Kjiv, Ukraine.  Nearly twenty years ago, Nike advertised the that Revolution would not be televised.  That proves untrue as Espreso TV was carrying it live as paramilitary attacked the peaceful protestors throughout the night of February 19th.   First news reports indicate that 22 fatalities with 1,000 people injured,  but  based on the constant pops in the night air and the burning pyres of the barricades  in the main square, this could be a low estimate. 

At first blush,  research intimated that it the Ukrainian unrest might stem from ethnic demarcations, as the Russian speaking Ukrainians might want a Slavic version of Aunshluss as expressed through trade agreements.   When violence escalates in a nation of 45 million that is known as the breadbasket of Europe, which neighbors an expansion happy Russian Federation, I was driven to learn more.  Yet I took some claims with grains of salt.  It was bothersome to read reports  claiming that Nazi sympathizers had taken up arms in Western Ukraine.  This type of damning news tracks Russian propaganda ploys which Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa, the former spy chief for Ceaucescu’s Romania,  detailed  in his book Disinformation.  

Unfortunately, most Americans will be more worried about the opening week of American Idol or watching NBC’s polished rebroadcast of Olympic events in Sochi to worry about internal unrest half-way around the world.  But when the Putin-alooza ends on the Black Sea on February 23rd, it would not be surprising if the Russians troops helped their Russo-philic Ukrainain President Viktor Yanukovych.  Putin has promised  Ukraine $15 billion in aid but is withholding $12 billion in case the Yanukovych loses power.

[L] Russian President Vladimir Putin [R] Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych at Sochi Winter Olympics 

The EuroMaidan protests began on November 21st, 2013 when protestors gathered at Independence Square in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine when President Yanukovych suddenly swayed away from an associate agreement with the European Union and chose to strengthen economic ties with Russia.  The protest snowballed on November 30th when a group of students were attacked by the police, and it became a national movement.  

Protestors have been gathering in Independence Square, in the bitter Ukranian cold day and night to protest.  But people do not get passionate about just trade agreements.  People are concerned about the rampant corruption in Ukraine. President Yanukovych’s aloofness and unresponsiveness to the will of the people engenders ire.  And of course, the heavy handed tactics, which killed five protestors in late January and the wider violence and bloodshed today. 

While Kjiv’s main square constantly has 20,000 protestors (and can swell up to 800,000), there are said to be mini Maidans throughout the country, but much more pronounced in Western Ukraine.    George Weigel characterized the Euromaidan protests as the rising up of a nation which is tired of being ruled by thieves and barbarians and stand against a thugocracy. 

Last week, Bishop Borys Gudziak, of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparch of  Paris, gave an interview with New York Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan about Ukraine.   Gudziak, who is also the President of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv examined  the roots of the Euromaidan protests along with highlighting the unifying spirit which has brought together Orthodox, Catholic, Protestants, Jews and Muslims to protest the current Ukrainian Government.  





Bishop Gudziak has been a leading voice to oppose the oppression of the Yanukovych government and to urge for peaceful protest from the people.   Gudziak has observed: “The country, in somewhat traumatic ways, is trying to break the bonds of the past and the bonds of fear and subjugation by declaring the God-given dignity of every human being."   Bishop Gudziak has summarized protestors aspirations : The EuroMaidan seeks many of the values that Paris, France, and Western Europe represent: rule of law, equal justice for all, social freedoms and guarantees.

What is really remarkable about the EuroMaidan protestors is how they were Seeing Deeper in a practical way through ecumenical prayer.  Bishop Gudziak noted that during the nightwatch, the top of each hour was led by prayer.  Watching the protests live, I could discern speakers intoning prayers to God, (Bog), peace (mir), and the Ave Maria as well as shouts of “Death to tyranny”.    This does not sound like the stuff of neo-Nazis. 

As Americans, it is easy to feel lured into indifference about unrest in other parts of the world.  But Ukraine is an important nation and is may serve as fodder for Russian imperialist expansion.  

It is prudent for policymakers and the public not to rush into judgment and rashly embark the US  into perilous partnerships like in Libya, Egypt and as the Obama Administration was angling for in Syria.  But our prudence must not ossify into inaction, since if you choose not to choose,you have still made a choice. 

These Euromaidan protests have been going on for the last three months.  It is a region of the world that we are familiar with through the Cold War.  Now that we know the protesters goals and modus operandi, what is the Yanukovych Ukrainian government position, and how much which "friendly" neighbors help resolve the uprising?

Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has called for sanctions against the Ukrainian government.  Aside from geopolitical considerations, this is a people who wished to be freed from tyranny.  We ought not abandon such lovers of liberty as the Obama Administration did with the Green Revolution in Iran in 2009.   Then again, a God fearing people protesting against thievery and heavy handed tactics may not find much sympathy in today’s corridors of power of the District of Calamity. 

Marveling at Super-Pope Francis via Graffiti Art

Artist Mauro Pallotta with his graffiti art "Superpope" Francis (photo:  Andreas Dueren/CNA)

Mauro Pallotta is a 41 year old artist and sculptor based in Rome.  But Pallotta may better be known as a celebrated street artist based on widespread notoriety of his graffiti "Super-Pope" Francis on the Via Plauto, a tiny cobble stoned street in the Borgo Pio district near St. Peter's Square in Rome (Vatican City).

Pallotta (a.k.a. Maupal) was inspired to do the piece one evening when he was reading a comic book and the image of the Pope appeared on television.  Pallotta opined:

“I thought of representing this Pope, Francis, as a super hero of the Marvel (Heroes), simply because, according to me, he is one of the few people who, having a real power as a Pope, he uses it for the good like the superheroes of the American Marvel.” 

It dawned on the artist that this Pope also had superpowers in the form of humility and empathy.

Pallotta likened Super-Pope  to  "It's  a little bit like Greek mythology brought to modernity.”   In depicting Pope Francis as a superhero using his papal authority for the good, the pontiff is shown as a pop style dressed in his understated white cassock, simple shoes and an iron pectoral crosscross as the Super-Pope carrying a black briefcase labeled "Valores" (meaning values in both Latin and Spanish).  This symbolizes that the first New World  Pope only carries his Christian values.

A red and blue scarf is hanging out of the briefcase, which is for the Argentine San Lorenzo de Football (soccer) club, which the Pope been a fan of this underdog team since his boyhood.

Graffiti art in Buenos Aires, Argentina of Pope Francis and San Lorenzo Football Club (photo TripAdvisor)

Pope Francis greeted players from San Lorenzo at the Vatican in December after a Wednesday general audience to congratulate them on winning the Tornial Incial championship.

 Pope Francis has repeatedly spoken of the spiritual values of sports teams.  His Holiness exhorted Argentine and Italians sports clubs that:  "[R]ugby is like life because we are all heading for a goal, we need to run together and pass the ball from hand to hand until we get to it".

The artist explained that the San Lorenzo soccer scarf brought Super-Pope Francis to being human.  However, considering Pope Francis' connection between sports and spirituality, carrying  the San Lorenzo scarf with his values "baggage" , it can be seen as a reminder that even a "Super-Pope" needs the support of his underdog team to achieve the goal of advancing the kingdom of God.

Vatican Communications embraced Pallotta's Super-Pope folk art tribute by posting it on  its Twitter feed.

The Super-Pope graffiti art lasted but a day, as Rome's decorum police acted faster than a speeding bullet took down this street art in record time.  

Iranian Big Science and Western Farsi-cal (sic) Reactions

Iran has boldly been pursuing several big science projects that have dual use.   The space program for the Islamic Republic of Iran is unlikely to foster a business of launching commercial satellites or out-of-this-world travel packages for more than space monkeys, unlike Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic or Space X.






 The same technology used for launching spacecraft can be applied to military applications like ICBMs.

The other Iranian project is nuclear power.  Why an oil rich nation needs to have nuclear power for peaceful endeavors is dubious.  But the Iranians have been refining their "peaceful" products from centrifuges to create bomb grade nuclear fuel.  Moreover, these nuclear sites have been scattered throughout the country and many have been buried.

As of January 20th, 2014, an "interim" accord between the six major powers and Iran takes effect.  The pact, facilitated by U.S. Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman, lifts hard fought international sanctions and access to $4.2 billion in frozen assets which have been crippling Tehran regime in exchange for a six month promise to dilute half of its 20% enriched uranium to 5% enriched uranium levels.

The Iranians feel free to continue their "research" and need not dismantle facilities.  The Iranians believe that this interim agreement legitimizes its nuclear program, while the west disagrees.  Moreover, the Iranian chief negotiator Abbas Aranqui, indicates that there are "non-papers" or secret side agreements which validate Iran's right to continue nuclear research along with a joint commission to oversee the deal.

Despite assertions that these sanctions can quickly be reapplied if Tehran is proven to be pursuing a non-peaceful nuclear program, this talk is worth the paper on which it is written.  It is highly unlikely that the Russian Federation and the Peoples Republic of China will be open to reapply these hard fought for international sanctions, especially if the free flow of Iranian oil and a fly in the West's ointment helps their positions.

Wendy Sherman

This "interim accord" is shaping up to be like Wendy Sherman's other negotiating gem under the Clinton Administration which intended to prevent North Korea's nuclear program in exchange for food.  See how well that worked, and the proliferation of nuclear technology to both Pakistan and Iran, the latter which later tried to share it with Syria.



Iran need not build an extensive atomic arsenal to try to annihilate America, which revolutionary Iranian government still considers "the Great Satan".  A few placed nuclear bombs on ICBMs set to explode in the atmosphere could effective bomb America into the stone-age via an EMP, an electromagnet pulse.

So much for Farsi-cal (sic) scientific projects.   It's a pity that the responses in most of the West to these Iranian provocations seems like a sick joke.

Sean Penn Cruz-ing for a Political Bruising (sic)

That Maui Wowie from 1982 must have been pretty chronic to inspire such pearls of wisdom to seek the to commit Congress-critters with whom Penn disagrees into insane asylums.  And to suggest that the Executive Branch has such authority makes Mr. Hand's one-on-one history tutoring moot.

Of course, Fast Times on Richmond High was a 1982 movie, and Sean Penn was play acting a stoner surfer there who had delusions of grandeur.  This recent appearance on Piers Morgan was meant to be taken seriously and Sean Penn was playing himself.

Penn was promoting his activism for Haiti.  But in the same breath of supporting his altruistic cause, he chooses to insult the electorate and the Tea Party while slandering Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX).

 [T]he way peoples perception of political positions are, is a direct reaction to their lack of, of their education which is a huge problemthat we're dealing with in the country.

and between of an uneducated people and the solipsism of people like Ted Cruz and their party.

 It's a poisonous thing and these things with what we talked about with, you know, this is why this period of time, this is one of the things that's so fascinating to me in Haiti.

Penn's political pronouncements with Piers Morgan do not sound very coherent.  But he was not on a script and TOTUS (Teleprompter of the United States) was otherwise occupied.

But I hate to break it to the activist/actor but if you are trying to raise funds for Haiti, you are insulting many of the people who AEI's Arthur Brooks argues are the most charitably inclined as individuals.  But maybe after Penn's  J/P HRO group received $8.75 million from the World Bank for Haitian relief, maybe he does not need more friends.

After Penn's "Crazy" diatribe on Piers Morgan Live,  people can figure out who got wasted.  Res ipsa loquitur-- the fact speaks for itself.