Month: July 2008

Rosary trial: necessity denied

Our motion for a “necessity defense” in our upcoming federal trial for praying the rosary has apparently been denied.

Telegram & Gazette:

A federal magistrate judge has denied a motion for a “necessity defense” for five people in the Catholic Worker Movement charged with obstructing the U.S. District courthouse when they prayed there for an end to the war in Iraq.

The group had argued that it was necessary to violate the law to prevent a greater evil.

We haven’t received official notice of this yet; I’ll update this post when we do.

Update: “Religion Clause” has a blog post and what seems to be the PDF of the decision, filed a week ago. Meanwhile, nothing’s come in the mail yet.

Second update: Apparently the T&G reporter got word of this through an electronic court filings service they use. And apparently the court is not going to mail us a copy of this ruling.

Scott Schaeffer-Duffy and I explored some of the legal issues in a podcast this morning. You can download the mp3 or see other formats.

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If you’d like to support this effort, you can meet with the defendants today (July 29, 2008) at the weekly peace vigil in Worcester’s Lincoln Square, 3:30-4:30pm. We hope you can attend our trial, September 23, 2008 at the federal courthouse in Worcester.

Mason Street Musings

I took a call one afternoon from a friend seeking a bed for a woman named “Nancy.” For once, we had not only one empty bed, but three, so I said, “Certainly.” When Nancy arrived, clad in a skirt, blouse, hat, and purple wig, I was surprised to see she had a prominent Adam’s apple, a five-o’clock shadow, and a deep bass voice. Although we have had an enormous variety of guests over the years, people of different nationalities, religions, characteristics, and, on some occasions, sexual preferences, we have never had a man dressed like a woman.
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508 #45: Art heist

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel includes Brendan Melican, Bruce Russell, and Kevin Ksen.

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The Worcester police want $4K before sending records about Officer Mark Rojas to the Telegram & Gazette. Also this week: “At least six city police officers are under investigation for fraudulently claiming overtime pay for time spent testifying in court cases.”

There was an art heist in Elm Park.

Some good things in Worcester: the American Antiquarian Society, the Latin Festival, the Worcester World Cup, the Dive Bar’s new patio, and Jeff Barnard’s recovery.

Worcester Magazine had a nice article on street vendors this week. We finish the show with some audio interviews with vendors.

Choice snippet of the proposed vendor regulations:

For purposes of this provision a threat shall include the assemblage of any number of people in the traveled portion of any public or private way within three hundred feet of the vendor, peddler or merchant.

mp3 link, other formats, feed, low-fi versions

Worcester art under attack

Cross-posted at Worcesteria.

There’s been a public art exhibit in Elm Park for the past few weeks. According to the Telegram & Gazette, one of the metal statues, Fern Cunningham’s “Massai Warrior Adorned,” was stolen.

Massai Warrior Adorned by Fern Cunningham
Photo courtesy WCCA TV13

The authorities think that “It was swiped from its pedestal sometime Saturday night or early Sunday morning,” but it was missing when I walked through the park Saturday after lunch.

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Mike Benedetti photo
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Two comments on two quotes from Nassim Nicholas Taleb

The first quote is from NNT’s book The Black Swan:

These were the days when it was extremely common for traders to break phones when they lost money. Some resorted to destroying chairs, tables, or whatever would make noise. Once, in the Chicago pits, another trader tried to strangle me and it took four security guards to drag him away. He was irate because I was standing in what he deemed his “territory.” Who would want to leave such an environment? Compare it to lunches in a drab university cafeteria with gentle-mannered professors discussing the latest departmental intrigue.

This reminds me of part of the reason I miss living in a Catholic Worker community in those times (like now) when I’m not. The world of finance gave NNT plenty of firsthand opportunities to practice his philosophy of uncertainty, just like a CW house gives someone interested in ethics/religion/politics more than enough real world confrontation with these issues in a given day. Praxis, praxis, praxis.

Also reminds me of a quote from this interview with Steve Van Evera on Iraq:

I felt the neoconservatives were the wrong crowd to be assigned a tough task like this. I think they’re almost congenitally incompetent. For reasons having to do with the way they function as a group. They’re kinda like a cult. They don’t talk much to outsiders. They have great suspicion of the rest of the foreign policy community, so they don’t rub shoulders with others. They don’t share thoughts with people they don’t agree with. And to me, if you want to be smart, you’d better talk to people you don’t agree with. Cause that’s the way you get smart.

The second quote comes from the profile “Nassim Nicholas Taleb: the prophet of boom and doom.” He explains why he’s still a practicing Christian:

Scientists don’t know what they are talking about when they talk about religion. Religion has nothing to do with belief, and I don’t believe it has any negative impact on people’s lives outside of intolerance. Why do I go to church? It’s like asking, why did you marry that woman? You make up reasons, but it’s probably just smell. I love the smell of candles. It’s an aesthetic thing.

I admire his honesty and self-awareness.

Continue reading “Two comments on two quotes from Nassim Nicholas Taleb”

508 #44: Vendors

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel is Brendan Melican, Cha-Cha Connor, Kevin Ksen, and Bruce Russell.

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There is a surprising amount of activity around proposed restrictions on Worcester street vendors. The Catholic Worker national gathering was held in Worcester last week. Worcester is trying to get people to buy homes.

See also: Morris Day vs. a wild animal.

mp3 link, other formats, feed, low-fi versions

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