Eternal Light Shine Upon Him.

Robert Bork has passed away.

Professor Jacobson writes:

I wrote about this a little over a year ago, 24 years ago today, Borking was born.

Was there ever a more obscene spectacle on the floor of the Senate than to see Ted Kennedy, who left a girl to die and used his family name and political power to escape punishment, rip into Robert Bork?

It’s unfortunate that Borking will be what people most remember about Robert Bork, while Mary Jo Kopechne is at most a footnote all but written out of existence from the history of the Lion of the Senate.
 

 The lies and slanders levelled at Robert Bork by intellectual midgets and ethical lepers like Joe Biden and Ted Kennedy were inexcusable.

On the other hand, after losing the Supreme Court nomination, Bork did convert from atheism to Catholicism.  Perhaps being slandered by unworthy idiots was part of the divine plan to save his soul.

Frances Berry and Mike Ribera...

...were a couple in - the couple for - Bullard High's Class of 1977. The Ribera boys were a virtual clan peppering the high school with their names all starting with "M" - Mike, Matt, Mitch, Mark.

Unlike a lot of high school sweethearts, Frances Berry and Mike Ribera were married after high school and raised a family and were still together when Mike passed away from cancer in his 53rd year.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

James Q. Wilson - the author of "Thinking About Crime" and the "broken windows" theory...

...has passed away at 80.

I was a fan of Wilson back in my High School days.

Eternal Light shine on him, O Lord.

Eternal Rest.

EDWARD JAMES BRADLEY | Visit Guest Book

Lt. Edward James Bradley (USN, Ret.) passed away Friday, February 17, 2012 from congestive heart fail-ure. He was sur-rounded by his loving family, his wife, Betty, sons, Peter and David, and granddaughters, Morgan, Deirdra and Meredith, and by his friends, Rick and Nancy Quan.

Mr. Bradley was born on March 15, 1927 in Brooklyn, New York to Dan and Rebecca Bradley. He enlisted in the United Sates Navy in 1944 at age 16 with a special waiver from his parents. He became a "Mustang Lieutenant" and retired from the Navy in 1969. He then obtained college degrees, including a Masters, and taught as a second career at Juvenile Hall for the Fresno County Office of Education, retiring in 1996. He was also a Past Grand Knight of Knights of Columbus Council 6092.

Mr. Bradley was a world traveler from his years in the Navy. He was also a wise, patient and loving man, who could be fierce in his loyalties. He was an unforgettable character with a ready wit and a willingness to use it. He is missed by his family and friends.

Visitation will be held at Farewell Funeral Service on Thursday, February 23, 2012 from 5:00 - 8:00 p.m. with a Recitation of the Rosary to be held at 6:00 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held in the Guadalupe Chapel at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church on Friday, February 24, 2012 at 11:00 a.m. Interment will be held at San Joaquin Valley National Cemetery in Gustine.

Published in the Fresno Bee on February 22, 2012

Here is a video put together by my very talented oldest daughter:

A worthless bit of matter previously exhibiting the form of a "slightly more evolved primate" has experienced a catastrophic systems failure and will be assuming a new configuration as worm food.

Christopher Hitchens has died.

Hitchens wrote with style and flourish.  He was confrontational and epically entertaining in his confrontations.

But he was also narrow-minded and ignorant, and smug in his narrow-minded ignorance, such as when he attempted to challenge St. Thomas Aquinas' proof of God in a single paragraph by calling Aquinas' proofs "ontological proofs for the existence of God."  It was clear from that that Hitchens had no idea about the subject; Aquinas was famous for rejecting ontological proofs.

Hitchens was also famous for speaking ill of the dead. His hatchet job on Mother Teresa is one case in point.

From examples like these it was clear that Hitchens' attitude toward religion was formed by some deep pathology, not by reason.  The pathology was probably sexual, as suggested by Hitchens' constant bizarre argument that evolution had permitted human arms - the arms of "evolved primates" - to reach down to the groin.

But for all that, Hitchens had talent, which he misused, and he was made in the image of God and had only slightly less than infinite value.  He now stands before the Creator for judgment, and, so, we pray:

Requiem Aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetuae luceat eis. Requiescant in pace.

Amen.

 

Eternal rest, grant unto our brother, Christopher Hitchens,O Lord

and let perpetual light shine upon him.

       Amen.

Dennis Hopper Tribute.

Two of the creepiest actors face off in True Romance.

Eternal light.

Anthony Flew has passed away.

Now he knows the answer.

Eternal Light.

Michael Spencer - the Internet Monk - has passed away from the brain cancer that he was diagnosed with only a few months ago.

Spencer was one of those talented people that the internet allowed to share their gifts with a far broader audience than was the case in an earlier time.  His reflections on faith were invariably valuable and he set a uniquely irenic tone for those divided by the Reformation.  He had recently published a book on his reflections on Christianity and seemed to be poised to make a significant contribution to the ongoing discussion of faith and culture.

He was 53 years old.  Far too young.

He will be missed.