Comments Posted By George Michalopulos

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Rahm Emanuel, Chicago, and “Ethnic Cleansing”

James, I concur. His Grace is a breath of fresh air at least since his retirement. He cuts to the quick and won’t stand for cant and the happy talk that comes out of Syosset.

» Posted By George Michalopulos On April 8, 2013 @ 11:57 am

Actually, Social Security is nothing but a Ponzi scheme and will collapse when the money runs out.

» Posted By George Michalopulos On April 6, 2013 @ 12:15 pm

Good question. The apparent inability of many in the African-American community to exercise sobriety and virtue. I dare say that this is due in large part to the influence of modern African-American leaders to be rewarded by Progressives with wealth. Remember when Jesse Jackson was pro-life? He said “abortion is genocide.” That all went by the wayside when he –like Esau–sold his birthright for a bowl of porridge. This unfortunate phenomenon is being replicated in spades among working class whites (in whose ranks I was born into). Cf Charles Murray’s most recent opus, Losing Ground.

» Posted By George Michalopulos On April 6, 2013 @ 12:11 pm

I rather agree. This blog is more broad than what Aaron supposes. He forgot Trayvon Martin, Liberal (classical) economics, gun control, etc.

» Posted By George Michalopulos On April 6, 2013 @ 12:06 pm

Touche! Mdme Rosenbaum was rather kinky but her philosophy did not inevitably lead to her idiocies, anymore than Cesar Chavez’s working to improve the lot of stoop-workers lead to his own cult of personality.

» Posted By George Michalopulos On April 5, 2013 @ 10:49 pm

If these pittances are too much to ask for, why doesn’t Syosset just release him?

» Posted By George Michalopulos On April 5, 2013 @ 10:47 pm

That’s good to know. Does the Synod of the Russian Church also slander their primates?

» Posted By George Michalopulos On April 5, 2013 @ 10:43 pm

Mr Frost, I dare say that the vast majority of my correspondents and readers have read and re-read the heavily redacted minutes of the latest Metropolitan Council meeting. That is why good people of differing views on said Council voted against the proposed package.

I’m sorry, but a Primate being “gainfully employed” as a pastor in a parish which is in a diocese headed by a tormentor and subject to his whims, caprices, and diatribes is not, cannot, and can never be considered “gainful employment.” I rather think that your own employment situation would not fall into this characterization. I don’t know anybody else who does either. Mine certainly doesn’t.

Also, I don’t understand why you look in askance at the fact that His Beatitude is represented by an attorney. I dare say that said representation is the only thing standing between Jonah and living on the streets and eating out of a dumpster.

You forget the torment that his dear sister had to suffer because of lies, slanders, and distortions leveled against her brother. Said actions contributed mightily to her untimely death. I seriously doubt that you would allow your own parish priest to be treated in such a fashion.

» Posted By George Michalopulos On April 5, 2013 @ 10:42 pm

You are right. I shouldn’t have posted that characterization of His Grace. I deeply regret it and ask for His Grace’s forgiveness. Bishop Tikhon Fitzgerald is many things: erudite, sarcastic, scholarly, caustic, knowledgeable, a tad irascible at times, too progressive for my tastes, disingenuous at times, but he is no fool.

» Posted By George Michalopulos On April 5, 2013 @ 10:33 pm

BTW, the great black leaders of the late 19th/early 20th century believed the same thing that Steve Sailer said in that quote. Booker T Washington wanted African-Americans to be trained, educated, and self-sufficient where they were rather than be integrated with whites who did not have the legacy of three centuries of slavery. He called it “putting down your pail where you were.” Marcus Garvey, Jackie Robinson, Jesse Owens, and others likewise believed that blacks should rely only upon themselves, live lives of rectitude and morality, pursue education for its own sake, and refrain from indolence, sloth, and mayhem. To their credit, Minister Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam likewise preach these attitudes. Instead, the entertainment culture glorifies the worst aspects of ghetto culture to the detriment of black people everywhere. The final straw for me was the vilification heaped upon R G Lewis III, an outstanding scholar-athlete who is called a “cornball brother.” Instead of being proud in this man’s accomplishments and sterling character, thugs like Snoop Doggie Dogg are looked upon as exemplars.

» Posted By George Michalopulos On April 5, 2013 @ 10:26 pm

Good question, unfortunately, it’s a diversion. This blog is about politics, culture, and religion, from decidedly High Church, Traditionalist, Burkean Conservative (with some Objectivism thrown in) perspectives. If I see something awry, I address it. If I see something I like, I feature it.

As for “picking on Bishop Tikhon” I have done anything but that. I respect His Grace and am mightily honored that he is a regular correspondent. I very much admire his perspicacity in uncovering the corruption in Syosset and exposing the criminality of the actions against Metropolitan Jonah. Let us not forget, it was he that first uncovered the e-mail conspiracy against His Beatitude some two years ago. I just feel that we have to agree to disagree with his assessment of how Syosset is presently treating His Beatitude, that’s all.

» Posted By George Michalopulos On April 5, 2013 @ 7:11 am

OK, if you see Him, ask him if he would have treated Jonah the way Syosset did.

» Posted By George Michalopulos On April 5, 2013 @ 7:04 am

Very well stated.

» Posted By George Michalopulos On April 4, 2013 @ 10:03 pm

As I replied to His Grace earlier Dr Stankovich, where is Christ in all of this?

» Posted By George Michalopulos On April 4, 2013 @ 10:01 pm

Your Grace, this is all very interesting but where is the Christ in all of this?

» Posted By George Michalopulos On April 4, 2013 @ 10:00 pm

Far from it! Conservatives, Libertarians, and other Classic Liberals are not at all against pensions, severance packages, and the like. Besides, Helga and I are Christians, and we would never deign to think that Christians like to kick one of their own when he’s down. (Much less come up with defamatory letters in order to remove another Christian from office. Or undermine, backstab, kibbitz or otherwise make a superior’s life miserable.) Let’s not forget, we are talking about Christian witness here.

» Posted By George Michalopulos On April 4, 2013 @ 9:59 pm

Good point, Helga. And I might add, there are NO OCA institutions which could care for Jonah’s elderly parents. No nursing homes, no extended care facilities, and no hospitals, hospice, soup kitchens, orphanages, free clinics, etc, etc, etc. We do have Sex Czars though (and mandatory continuing education)!

» Posted By George Michalopulos On April 4, 2013 @ 7:25 am

Your Grace, there is no American city in which anybody derives and “income” of only $1,000.00 per month if said person is gainfully employed and/or on some type of disability/pension/govt assistance.

Let us stop being trite and call a spade a spade: the denizens of Syosset are incapable of Christian charity and acting like Christian gentlemen.

» Posted By George Michalopulos On April 4, 2013 @ 7:20 am

I for one agree with you. The phrase “ethnic cleansing” has been bandied about too promiscuously in my opinion. The problem however, is that those who do so invariably come from the left side of the political spectrum. Those who are screaming loudest in the school-closing imbroglio are even further to the left of Mayor Emanuel. That a progressive like Emanuel is being hoist on his own petard is a delicious irony.

» Posted By George Michalopulos On April 2, 2013 @ 6:56 pm

What I Did on Spring Break

Well said.

» Posted By George Michalopulos On April 2, 2013 @ 1:44 pm

Your Grace, I believe the operative mode of operation here would be “Christian charity,” as mentioned by “James” below. He was speaking in regards to how the GOA treated Arb Spyridon after they unceremoniously dumped him. The fact that the Syosset/Synod/MC has no understanding of this strange concept does not bode well for the future.

I will continue to call the present occupant of the primatial throne “Archbishop” and “His Eminence.” (If this was good enough for the Vatican, it’s good enough for me.)

» Posted By George Michalopulos On April 2, 2013 @ 1:43 pm

Mr Mathes, let’s not forget what else “the Patriarch of Moscow has already done,” and that is expect His Beatitude to be accorded the respect that he deserves. That he be “afforded every comfort” in his diocese.

» Posted By George Michalopulos On April 2, 2013 @ 8:10 am

So ultimately, neither you or I were there and it’s still his word against Jonah’s?

As for His Beatitude’s self-assessment of the office of Metropolitan as constituted in the OCA, he’s probably right. The bad news is nobody else does either. Seeing that nobody in the Syosset/MC axis seems to know what the Metropolitan is supposed to do (and this would included the Synod itself), I’m afraid Jonah will prove to be a prophet yet again.

» Posted By George Michalopulos On April 2, 2013 @ 8:08 am

If I may add Ryan, the whole idea of the OCA’s supposed transparency because it has a Metropolitan Council is laughable on its face. Lately, it has taken weeks to get the minutes redacted and published. To be charitable, “redaction” is less what is happening than “laundering.” Nobody outside the MC knows what’s going on, which bishop acted like a child, which bishop took another one to task, which lay-members publicly humiliated the previous Metropolitan, etc.

And then let’s not forget that they go into “executive session” at the drop of a hat. That’s kind of like “super-secret, double-serious suspension” (courtesy of Dean Wormer, Animal House). Yes, the House that Schmemann Built makes things up as they go along, depending on who is the object of a 1984-like Two Minute Hate. Metropolitan Jonah filled the role of Emanuel Goldstein this go-around. Who is next?

If the OCA was truly a transparent organization, they would videotape the MC meetings so that the people could see who said what, where, and when.

I hate to say this, but if I may paraphrase The Grey Ghost in the run-up to the Rebellion against the Mother Country: “I would rather be ruled by a tyrant 3,000 miles away than 3,000 tyrants 1 mile away.” The foreign patriarchs have nothing on the Syosset Set.

» Posted By George Michalopulos On April 2, 2013 @ 8:04 am

Two things: it’s “Metropolitan Jonah.” Before monastic tonsure he was “James Paffhausen, Jr.” I would think you of all people, with your insistence on correct nomenclature, titles, and degrees, would understand that. No. 2: are you sure there were only “two (2) men in the room”?

» Posted By George Michalopulos On April 1, 2013 @ 8:21 pm

I’ll explain it. If His Beatitude was lied to in the run-up and he was misinformed, that’s how. It’s really quite simple.

» Posted By George Michalopulos On April 1, 2013 @ 8:16 pm

Your Grace, please see Helga’s reply to you. It’s factual, succinct, and provides the complete context.

» Posted By George Michalopulos On April 1, 2013 @ 7:11 am

Helga, I couldn’t have said it better myself.

» Posted By George Michalopulos On April 1, 2013 @ 7:10 am

I’m not following you. Please explain.

» Posted By George Michalopulos On April 1, 2013 @ 7:10 am

Your Grace, your characterization of the events is quite unfair. Whatever Bishop Jonah of Ft Worth said at Pittsburgh in 2008 about a previous metropolitan was after the fact of pastorate in question. (And we don’t know which metropolitan he was referring to.) You forget as well that the defenestration of Metropolitan Jonah was done illegally, uncanonically, and in a most defamatory way during his very pastorate. It was you for example who termed the (unsigned) letter put out by the Synod as “the STINKBOMB” letter. You are 100% correct. The stench emanating from that letter has still to abate.

» Posted By George Michalopulos On March 31, 2013 @ 6:37 am