tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-304055122024-03-06T21:28:39.321-08:00Coalition for FogFaithful Conservative Catholics™ dedicated to deadening the nation's conscience to torture in favor of the Most Holy Trinity of Bush, Rumsfeld and Cheney. Following the Protocols of the Elders of Likud and Entering into Evil™ since ... wouldn't you like to know!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comBlogger253125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30405512.post-44338213487875887182008-02-06T14:34:00.000-08:002008-02-06T14:36:14.054-08:00By request, from Joe at the start of LentI wish to apologize for having wished publicly that Cdl. Roger Mahony's mother underwent an abortion while she was carrying him. Not only is abortion hideous but it insults those Catholics who revere the hierarchy and takes attention away from the man's episcopal performance. My previous comments served no purpose and unnecessarily offended bystanders. Having said that, let me reiterate that torquemada05http://www.blogger.com/profile/02007449752650768676noreply@blogger.com223tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30405512.post-30722367923461074792007-10-13T12:57:00.000-07:002007-10-13T12:58:20.893-07:00A reading from the Book of Shea ...Like some of the others here, I am not opposed to Mark's idea that he write a book about torture for a lot of the same reasons that Victor and Blackadder laid out in the comments of the previous thread. I would actually be fairly interested to read a book that would involve a serious study of the Catholic approach to interrogation, how the US military has approached the problem, and end with a torquemada05http://www.blogger.com/profile/02007449752650768676noreply@blogger.com211tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30405512.post-73703129503953752112007-10-05T16:25:00.000-07:002007-10-05T17:50:23.738-07:00Mark continues to win friends and influence people ...As shown both here and here. I could point out the logical fallacies, straw man arguments, and above all his complete lack of charity (all of which have been fixtures for him on this issue), but at this point I think these are pretty clear to anyone who takes the time to read the thread. And while I know Mark regards us here at CFF as nothing more than craven apologists for the Bush torquemada05http://www.blogger.com/profile/02007449752650768676noreply@blogger.com52tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30405512.post-50499994065149771812007-10-02T08:56:00.000-07:002007-10-02T08:57:00.384-07:00As I said before, blogging has become less and less of a priority ...The further Mark continues to identify himself with the fringe politics of Ron Paul. And while I think he makes a number of very valid points in his criticism of the Giuliani campaign here and here, Mark not surprisingly goes off the rails and declares that the Bush administration "did a fine job of playing on everybody's fear and whipping up the tubthumpers against traitors and cowards who torquemada05http://www.blogger.com/profile/02007449752650768676noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30405512.post-16742570988073652022007-09-18T18:16:00.001-07:002007-09-18T18:16:52.580-07:00Mark comments ...No doubt as a feature of our continuing irrelevance and his lack of interest in our blog. And at a time when I was just about to post a prayer request for his current woes. As Victor and I have repeatedly stated here, as much as we may disagree with Mark we have no desire to see him suffer, either personally or financially. I am aware that there are other people here who may have different torquemada05http://www.blogger.com/profile/02007449752650768676noreply@blogger.com49tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30405512.post-85332159970642579352007-09-18T17:42:00.000-07:002007-09-18T17:46:04.212-07:00TheocracyI'll get to what Mark wrote in a minute, but first I want to challenge what both Joe D'Hippolito and Diane wrote about theocracy:If your analysis of Mark's political Weltanschaung is correct, then he is no different than many ultra-conservative Catholics who (like Buchanan) effectively decry modern civilization in favor of a quasi-medieval model in which the Church, aided by an allegedly torquemada05http://www.blogger.com/profile/02007449752650768676noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30405512.post-44379349121304542182007-09-15T10:06:00.000-07:002007-09-15T10:55:40.784-07:00All Hail the Great and Honorable Zipp Huang Shangdi!In response to the comments of the previous post. While I can't speak for Victor, posting at CoF has been lessened of late due to a combination of factors including the fact that I was of the understanding that Mark was on something of an extended hiatus. That issue having been resolved, part of the problem with continuing a regular posting schedule for CoF has to do with the fact that at the endtorquemada05http://www.blogger.com/profile/02007449752650768676noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30405512.post-22772313338414377592007-08-02T18:36:00.001-07:002007-08-02T18:36:45.770-07:00More signs of a complete disconnect with reality ...Mark writes:We initially went to war to destroy them and take out Osama bin Laden. However, that just war got put on the back burner so that we could pursue some other grand End to Evil strategy that had basically nothing to do with September 11 and our inital causus belli. The Taliban is therefore still around, as is Osama bin Laden, who is, we are assured, no longer relevant.Short of a major torquemada05http://www.blogger.com/profile/02007449752650768676noreply@blogger.com38tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30405512.post-24878221414128484672007-08-02T18:23:00.000-07:002007-08-02T18:30:54.260-07:00Is it not possible to oppose both?As I and others have noted before:Yes, there is a Brave New World faction in the West, whose chief representatives are, perhaps, the transnationalists of the Davos type. It has little or nothing to do with the neocons. The Brave New Worlders have not prospered in recent years. Part of the story is the foundering of the European Union project; part of it is the defenestration of cultural and mediatorquemada05http://www.blogger.com/profile/02007449752650768676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30405512.post-33859827305813323822007-08-02T18:22:00.001-07:002007-08-02T20:46:37.386-07:00Behold the power of Michael Ledeen!This is Mark, agreeing with my argument that it is not so much Ledeen as what he represents:It is precisely "what Ledeen represents" that I am criticizing ... It is of *far* greater consequence to you that I am impolite to Ledeen and his repellent moral reasoning than that his repellent moral reasoning underlies all the excuse-making that has been made for the Bush Administration's policies of torquemada05http://www.blogger.com/profile/02007449752650768676noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30405512.post-51359800885531042252007-08-01T15:33:00.001-07:002007-08-01T15:33:34.357-07:00For those who wish to continue tracking Chris's attempt to dialogue with Mark ...I would refer you to the comments of the earlier entry. I think that the short form as to why Mark behaves as he does when it comes to Ledeen is that Mark has defined the man in his own mind as a representative of all that is evil when it comes to neoconservatives. The fact that he is now bringing Strauss into this is a clear indication to me as to just how far gone he is.Also, this exchange in torquemada05http://www.blogger.com/profile/02007449752650768676noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30405512.post-14329671954600957802007-07-31T15:19:00.000-07:002007-07-31T15:20:17.200-07:00Serious QuestionA reader noted the following in response to my query of why Mark has such a vendetta against NRO:Mark's been sore at NR for a few years. I recall him once explaining that he felt they stiffed him for a column.I honestly don't remember this. Does anyone else? Mark's behavior towards the publication appears to me to be an incredibly childish display of loathing and resentment. I've just never torquemada05http://www.blogger.com/profile/02007449752650768676noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30405512.post-65999823206824360092007-07-31T15:10:00.000-07:002007-07-31T15:11:17.827-07:00Shorter Mark ..."I'm allowed to misrepresent Michael Ledeen whenever I like because he really is an evil person!"I'm continuing to follow this with unvarnished amusement: "Creative destruction" is an economic term. It refers to the fact that revolutions in technology or innovations in the economy often lead to the destruction of older businesses. The company that manufactures buggies goes out of business with torquemada05http://www.blogger.com/profile/02007449752650768676noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30405512.post-22826026148663232522007-07-31T03:59:00.001-07:002007-07-31T03:59:53.123-07:00This is too funny to pass up ...Inspired by an e-mail from a good and dear friend, this simply must be archived for posterity: I'm going to have to brush up on my understanding of the phrase "Creative Destruction for the Greater Good." I thought it was when the good guys lost sight of what was important, even though their end was a justifiable end, and therefore ended up doing or advocating nasty things as a result. It appears torquemada05http://www.blogger.com/profile/02007449752650768676noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30405512.post-31741446039615780082007-07-28T13:13:00.000-07:002007-07-28T13:17:25.607-07:00Secular Messianists all, no doubt ...Here are some fun quotes for Mark to read the next time he declares Bush a heretic and a secular messianist for asserting that political freedom is a gift from God:"Before any man can be considered as a member of civil society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe. And to the same Divine Author of every good and perfect gift [James 1:17] we are indebted for all thosetorquemada05http://www.blogger.com/profile/02007449752650768676noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30405512.post-60552350837832812312007-07-28T09:03:00.002-07:002007-07-28T13:06:58.908-07:00So, are you in favor of impeachment yet?Mark writes:I can no longer see any good reason why Bush, Cheney, Gonzales and the other schemers and enablers behind this policy could not be convicted of war crimes in the (impossible) event that they were ever tried.So then Mark, are you now in favor of impeachment? If not, why? One wonders if such trials should be conducted in the United States or some other venue. I would also love to see torquemada05http://www.blogger.com/profile/02007449752650768676noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30405512.post-30220930267687090882007-07-28T09:03:00.001-07:002007-07-28T09:03:17.157-07:00If to know history is to cease to be Protestant ...Then to know history is also to know the idiocy of those who would argue that American democracy is increasingly a sham. One wonders what Mark would have thought in the days when to qualify for participation in the electoral franchise one had to own property or (if memory serves) when only the rich could afford to be members of the British parliament because the office drew no salary. Were those torquemada05http://www.blogger.com/profile/02007449752650768676noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30405512.post-40746635268014652382007-07-25T16:19:00.002-07:002007-07-25T16:28:54.139-07:00And this ...Is yet another exercise in counter-factuals:I'm interested in that notion of a "trustworthy government" among conservatives. I *think* it boils down to the reality that conservatives (or at least neocons) trust the government in the form of the military, but not in the form of the post office.I'm not sure why. Part of it seems to be the endless WWII nostalgia which view all wars through that lenstorquemada05http://www.blogger.com/profile/02007449752650768676noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30405512.post-50484896437913731872007-07-25T16:19:00.001-07:002007-07-25T16:19:33.269-07:00I find it somewhat amusing ...That Mark is apparently familiar with Ross Douthat linking to this article in which Ron Paul embraces the John Birch Society:What is interesting is Paul’s idea that the identity of the person who did write those lines is “of no importance.” Paul never deals in disavowals or renunciations or distancings, as other politicians do. In his office one afternoon in June, I asked about his connections totorquemada05http://www.blogger.com/profile/02007449752650768676noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30405512.post-88418526319996216992007-07-19T17:30:00.000-07:002007-07-19T19:01:31.414-07:00It is this type of mentality that we are indebted to the Church for not subscribing to ...Is basically my take on Mark's meditation on a very good book review of The Army of Davids by Glenn Reynolds. Mark basically holds that Western civilization is essentially unsalvageable:It would be nice if the human race were all Jeffersonian Yeoman Farmers who simply wanted to brew beer, play rock and roll, and talk about liberty through technology. However, if even a small percentage of us are,torquemada05http://www.blogger.com/profile/02007449752650768676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30405512.post-56701801403234408262007-07-19T17:17:00.000-07:002007-07-19T17:29:59.457-07:00Too true ...Reader Phillip writes in the comments:Though I think all one has to consider is the content of Mark's blog. It is mostly political at this point with little apologetics. He would disagree perhaps, but polemics is not apologetics.I think that this is best manifested in Mark's angry response to a former reader. The comments in the combox were, as is rapidly becoming standard fare, much better than torquemada05http://www.blogger.com/profile/02007449752650768676noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30405512.post-19672483490039710222007-07-19T15:43:00.000-07:002007-07-19T17:02:19.382-07:00For somebody who moans and wails about American political tribalism ...Mark has this funny way of shifting back to it when it suits his rhetorical purposes.More on that in a moment, but first let us turn to his latest wisdom from Pat Buchanan. Having failed to date at his multiple predictions for when exactly the US is going to get around to mounting that all-out attack on Iran, Mark is now pondering August. It works about as well as any date, I suppose.But here's torquemada05http://www.blogger.com/profile/02007449752650768676noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30405512.post-16020280348119752172007-07-16T16:00:00.000-07:002007-07-16T16:40:52.832-07:00The Essence of the Debate ...I've been watching the discussion between Mark Adams and Kathleen in the combox and felt compelled to weigh in.The short answer is that Mark's entire approach on torture has been fairly incoherent. Depending on who is asking the questions, he has either a mixture of patronizing and willing to admit at least some flaws in his own arguments (his response to Akin) or ready to issue an anathema sit torquemada05http://www.blogger.com/profile/02007449752650768676noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30405512.post-44914873188267205372007-07-13T23:58:00.000-07:002007-07-14T00:07:07.920-07:00Not being a subscriber to First Things ...I can't comment directly on what Father Neuhaus said about the Evangelical Declaration Against Torture until it is up on the website and you'll forgive me for not taking Mark at face value on this one given his past habits of "skimming" on this stuff. As a practical matter, I think that this debate is soon likely to become an anachronism since either there is going to be al-Qaeda attack of torquemada05http://www.blogger.com/profile/02007449752650768676noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30405512.post-18622660721916602392007-07-13T14:10:00.000-07:002007-07-13T14:34:22.436-07:00Not that I advocate it ...When I read moral-equivalence shit and the associated comboxes, where self-righteous pacifists (there is no other kind) maintain that the US military deliberately targets Iraqi civilians -- in those situations, I cannot avoid the thought that it would be a salutory lesson for the US military (and I often have the same thoughts in re Israel) actually to deliberately target civilians for a day. ForAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com48