New member

as you can see below, the blog has a new member. My better half now has joined the blogging age and can post her own items (rather than giving me an article to post for her.)

Wow, an email address of her own and two weeks later she is bloggin.

destined to be a classic

Tim Jones spoofs the Time "Man of the Year" issue with a Sola Scriptura Bible showing the "Bible Scholar of the Year"

 

This is a gem, and read the comments too.  There are some creative people out there.

 

Via The Curt Jester.

the marrying kind

Excellent Commentary on Bettnet on Rabbi Boteach's article on Beliefnet on getting married young.

 

Dom calls on the married men to back him up.

The most underestimated problem of the vocations crisis is that we also have a crisis in marriage. If we had more Catholics marrying and not putting off their families, we’d have more priests.

Dead on here. Sacrifice begets sacrifice if you understand my meaning.

 

I was listening to the CD "How To Keep Your Kids Catholic" by Ken Hensley from the Lighthouse Catholic Media. He mentions how in speaking to children and young people, one sure way to reach then is to show them the way to happiness.  A 7 year old isn't going to be searching for Truth, but they are looking for happiness.  It was kind of a light bulb going on in the struggle with keeping my kids growing in their faith.  True happiness is found in Christ.  And we get to know Him by following His commandments.  It took me a while to figure that out in marriage, but I am finally starting to get the message. 

 

I got married just shy of 21.  If I had to do it all over, I would skip the tough years of marriage were I was concerned about "getting my share" or being selfish with time.  All the years I wasted looking to find happiness in selfish pursuits.  And I finally found true happiness in self-sacrifice and selfless service of my wife and family. 

 

I know that sounds like how TV portrays Christians with the long face and dull lives claiming they are happy.  Truth is, the dullness and sadness of being lonely and selfish are the real downers.  It is hard to explain unless you have experienced it.  But take Pascal's wager and live it for several weeks, a couple months and see what difference it makes.

 

to our health

I decided to eat healthier this Christmas season.  So I have reduced my Milk Chocolate intake and replaced it with Dark Chocolate. (it is supposed to be healthy right?  Perhaps not in the quantities I am dealing with, but every little bit helps.)

 

 

crack shot

One moment I am making a snide comment on Bettnet about Joseph Rago's dependence on an editor in his piece dismissing bloggers as lacking "complexity and complication" and just too "informal" to be journalists.

you would take away his straw man.  Where else can he point to the lowly masses and use big expensive-daddy-paid-for college words.

 

It is much more fun to look down and scoff than to actually think.  Or to write about something meaningful.  “oh look at those mormons [ed. note (morons?)] with computers, thay [ed. they] can’t even spell.”

and then next I stumble on the Day by Day cartoon lampooning him for forgetting a period.  Great minds think alike?  Or all those minds lacking "complexity and complication" think in parallel?

top ten animal geeks

Another slightly off-the-wall attempt at geek humor.  This Top Ten Animal Geeks is worth the time for geek humor.

 

Pavlov's dog gets a nod at #2.  Mr. Ed didn't make it but Hoover the Seal did.

Hoover was a seal who could speak in what has been described as a "drunken New England accent" and would insult the neighbours of his Boston owners. He appeared on television and in newspapers, offering expert commentary on the issues of the day -- admittedly with a rather nonsensical and limited vocabulary, while slobbering wildly, but then those same disabilities haven't stopped political careers.

Hoover lived a happy life as an international novelty, but died in a moulting incident in 1985.

Tragic end it must have been.

and Merry Christmas to you too

Had to stop by Best Buy today and was pleasantly surprised by the cashier wishing me a Merry Christmas as I left.  Seems as more places are understanding that people are shopping for CHRISTMAS presents and won't be offended by a Christmas greeting.

 

I saw a big Merry Christmas button on the front of Sear's black Friday ad.  And no mentions of "Holiday Trees" were to be found.

 

Perhaps the pendulum has started back the other way.

 

scarce

Life is hectic around Christmas, and work is keeping me busy. So I probably won't be posting much until 2007. But this item caught my eye. As a Minnesota Viking fan, I don't like the Bears and don't shed any tears for them. But it is a bit painful to watch a guy be stupid as Tank Johnson has been.

I usually am on the defendant's side on gun charges unless he has a criminal record preventing him from rightfully owning guns. But when someone can't stay home on the day they are arrested, something isn't quite right. I love this line from the coach.

Teammates came to Johnson's defense following Sunday's game, and Smith called him "a caring guy" and "a good father" with two "beautiful children." But the Bears' patience may be wearing thin.

Yeah, he has a long rap sheet and his friend gets busted for Felony drug possession. And to celebrate they head to a night club (sans the weapons that were confiscated?) and the friend gets shot and killed. Umm, a good father might have been home with the "beautiful children"?

And the foot in the mouth award goes to the GM Angelo.

"We have been meeting internally all day regarding Tank Johnson," Angelo said. "It is a complicated matter that involves many parties. We are currently pursuing a course of action and communicating with the league to reach a conclusion as quickly as possible."

I don't think he meant parties at the bar, but yeah it does make it complicated.

show me the money

Or we'll shut our doors.  Seems as though the mantra about caring for women runs a bit shallow.  Especially when the money runs a bit low.

An abortion business in Seattle that targeted poor women is closing after doing abortions for thirty-four years. The Aradia Women's Health Center abortion facility is closing down because it mostly does abortions on low-income women and rising costs for rent and other expenses have made it difficult to operate.

This is good news of course, but it also exposes the underlying support for abortion.  It is a good money maker in most cases.  And when it is not, well they shut down.

all your children are belong to us

Dom has some scary revelations of the ideology the public schools are indoctrinating the kids of Massachusetts.  The one line of their slogan gives me the creeps,“These kids are our kids.”

 

On one hand it makes me thankful we live in Idaho.  But on the other, that line of thinking, as Dom puts it "That they must 'educate' children over the parents’ objections because they know what’s best for the kids and for society." pervades even the relatively good elementary schools of Idaho.  They aren't shoving homosexuality down the grade-schoolers throats.  That can wait until middle school and high school. 

 

But the "our kids" theme pervades most of what they do.  Take for example, the recent intense focus on the 3 Rs during the Christmas season.  (yes I know it isn't Christmas yet and it is actually Advent, but consider the target audience.)  The first R we should focus on is mateRialism.  Two items were included in this subject. 

 

The first one stated that the class was going to sponsor a needy family.  A noble claim I guess, but not exactly what I send my child to school for.  Sponsoring needy families is best handled by the local churches and other quasi-Christian entities.   So we considered this request and looked at the "wish list" was for the family.  The two children actually submitted what kind of presents they wanted.  Seemed a bit odd for a "needy" family, but I suspended judgment.  That is until I saw the "bratz" doll on the list.  And no mention of good books, sort of a glaring omission considering one of the original Rs was Reading.

 

Then the school offered a "store" for the child to shop for his parents.  Insinuating that the parents couldn't handle this task I guess.  We of course didn't send any money, but we heard from another parent that tried that approach and the teacher gave her kid money so she wouldn't feel left out.  Just stare at the screen and repeat,“These kids are our kids.” 

 

On to the next R.  spRelling.  Mistakes happen, I can deal with that.  But this bites right at the source.  We have our blind child in public school to learn Braille.  Braille is difficult, the resources are expensive and it is very time consuming.  The public school has the teachers, the aides and the resources to do a good job.  Or so that was the promise.  But I would doubt that promise when our son has to point out spelling mistakes in his homework.  And not just any homework, but Spelling.  Four or five mistakes on one spelling lesson? 

 

So forgive us for feeling that the school doesn't seem to care about education when they send leaflet after leaflet home touting the goody-goody "all your children are belong to us" activities and they can't get his spelling words spelled right.

job opening

Looks like there might be a job opening here.  If they take laymen, I might recommend a few.  (right Eric)

 

via the Curt Jester

the Sibling Advantage

In the second of this ongoing feature, it was actually our babysitter who revealed this sibling advantage to me.  While driving her home she mentioned that she had another babysitting job the next day, but it was a single child across town.  I mentioned it was quite opposite of our many children and just a few blocks away.  She stated that she preferred watching multiple children because there is no escaping the single child.  They must be entertained at all times  was her insinuation.

 

And it got me to thinking about it.  Children with multiple siblings have entertainment and stimulation available at most every turn.  They have siblings to play with, wrestle with, hide from and even avoid. 

Today's Sibling Advantage: Life isn't just about being entertained.  They don't have a chance to get bored, so occasional time by themselves is cherished rather than dreaded.

twisted pair

And not in the network cabling terminology.

 

A Canadian Bishop has done his duty as a shepherd and of course is now being taken to task by the media. via Bettnet.

 

See if you can follow the twisted logic from a twisted situation after they "married" they took placed an announcement and photo in the paper.  Archbishop Terrence Prendergast did his duty and instructed their pastor and them of their situation and that they were restricted from receiving communion.

"Your state of life — after having celebrated a same-sex civil marriage and spoken about it publicly on radio and television — has established your relationship as a public scandal," the archbishop wrote to them in a letter dated Aug. 18.

"This disciplinary measure is to remind you of the objective seriousness of your present state and to invite you to renounce it and to return to living according to Christ’s injunction to ‘sin no more.’ "

The paper of course gives them ample free room to twist in the wind as they explain their case.

A Roman Catholic couple say they’re being driven from the church over the archbishop’s opposition to their same-sex union....

When the notice appeared, the couple’s priest at Stella Maris in Meteghan told them that Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, head of the Halifax archdiocese and administrator of the Yarmouth diocese, which includes Meteghan, had directed that they could no longer receive communion or assume any leadership position in the church. That meant Mr. Poirier could no longer serve as a director of the choir at Stella Maris.

....Mr. Poirier and Mr. Murphy subsequently joined Beacon United Church in Yarmouth, where they felt more welcome.

....But the men maintain they’re Roman Catholic and still attend a service at Stella Maris once in a while.

Not that this would be the back-breaking straw, but going to another church and not attending Mass on Sunday would mean they aren't really Roman Catholic.  Although most readers will have already gathered that.

"For seven years, we’ve been accepted by the people of the community and the people that go to church," he said. "There hasn’t been a problem."  The archbishop is denying them something that’s integral to their faith because renouncing their way of life is out of the question, Mr. Murphy said. "We were born this way," he said. "God has created us this way and the way that we live is blessed by God."

In reality, that should read

The archbishop has shown them they are denying something that’s integral to their faith because they put their 'way of life' ahead of their faith.  We were born to love, honor and serve God. God has created us this way and the way that we live is should be in line with the teachings of Christ.

And that "we've been accepted" part would be further proof the Archbishop was right in saying.

"Fellow believers, seeing this and the nonchalance of Catholics, would be led astray and weakened in their faith," he said.

expressing their guilt

Overall, a great article in the Fort Wayne Gazette by Rob Stein about the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction.  Run by Thomas Hilgers, the institute treats women using “natural procreative technology,” and the article even has a local connection in it.

Their destination was the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction, which has become perhaps the most prominent women’s health center serving Catholics and other doctors, medical students and patients who object for religious reasons to in vitro fertilization, contraceptives and other aspects of modern reproductive medicine.

“We have built a new women’s health science,” said Thomas Hilgers, who runs the institute. “Our system works cooperatively with the natural fertility cycle and enables doctors to treat women and married couples, especially Catholic married couples, in a way that allows them to live out their faith.”

Hilgers and his supporters say the approach, called “natural procreative technology,” can address a spectrum of women’s health issues, including family planning, premenstrual syndrome, postpartum depression and infertility, without the use of birth control pills, sterilization, abortion or in vitro fertilization. Instead, Hilgers said, he uses diagnostics, hormones and surgery to identify and treat underlying causes of reproductive ailments that other doctors often miss.

But as good as the article is, the columnist has to insert the obligatory bitter comments from "the other angle." 

But many mainstream authorities question Hilgers’ assertions that his techniques are equal or even superior to standard therapies. They worry that women are being misled and given unproven, ineffective treatments, denying them the best available care.

“This is anti-science,” said Anita Nelson, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of California at Los Angeles. “I respect people’s personal values. But I am deeply concerned that they are giving treatments and making claims that are not scientifically proven as safe and effective.”

"safe and effective" like the morning after pill that has a side effect of death.  Safe as in pumping a young girl's body full of un-natural chemicals to suppress a natural function.  Effective as in most contraceptions that have a sizable failure rate, and those 'failures' often lead to abortions, safe and effective in its own way.  As long as you don't consider the health and well-being of the baby or the mother.

Although some independent experts say that some of the institute’s offerings may be acceptable alternatives for religious patients, as long as they are fully informed about their options, others view its work as a disturbing example of religion intruding into secular society.

“Combining medicine and religion is dangerous,” said the Rev. Carlton Veazey, president of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. “This tendency is creeping into our health care system.”

I like the Curt Jester's response to that one.  I guess the Rev. Veazey never heard of St. Luke's, Holy Family or Sacred Heart hospitals.  Just look at the health care industry, how many of the hospitals have Catholic names on them?  Most all that have been around for some time, unless they have changed to a secular name.  No, Rev. I would say the tendency towards ripping faith and religion out of medicine has had its full and dangerous course.  Perhaps the pendulum is starting to swing back towards natural treatments, towards treating the fertility as normal rather than a disease.

“If you look at what’s happened with abortion services being severely limited in large parts of the country, this is not at all an unrealistic fear,” said R. Alta Charo, a bioethicist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

The controversy is part of a larger debate over the relationship between religion and medicine, which is being sparked by conflicts between patients and religious health care workers who refuse to provide care they find offensive, citing a “right of conscience.”

These supporters of Pro-Choice don't think much of choice when it isn't their choice.  There is no way the title of bioethicist should follow that person's name.  It seems to be a case where they "doth protest too much."  They seem to express their guilt with their narrow-minded attack on women who make the CHOICE to seek alternative care.  Case in point is this money quote:

“They might as well be advocating prayer for infertility,” said Richard Paul, a fertility expert at the University of Southern California.

“The reason that this is dangerous is because women have a biological clock, and while they are using up time with less effective therapies, time may run out.”

That oxy-moronic quote shows the pro-choice world has shown that they don't care about the women.  They care about their pocketbook.  Any choice that doesn't feed their greed shouldn't be a choice in their mind.  This person would probably be able to turn around and say (with a straight face) that women should have the choice not to be forced to bear a child should they get pregnant. 

Although on the positive side, it shows their excess protestations may show that the conscience is not yet dead.

 

Komen Foundation supports breast cancer?

Seems like a conflict of interests given the data connecting abortions with breast cancer.  But what "Foundation" really supports an end to their reason for getting funds.  I guess it is a no brainer then that the Susan G. Komen Foundation would support Planned Parenthood.  Sort of works in favor of both groups.  Komen keeps the "cause" alive by supporting abortions, PP gets funds from unsuspecting sources.

Komen representatives also appeared to be "more concerned about assisting women after they had contracted breast cancer, than informing them to avoid breast cancer risk by avoiding abortions and having [an] early, full term pregnancy."

Yeah, that seems consistent with the business model they use.  Promote the tragedy, but don't prevent it.

worst president?

Greg at Crowhill brings up an interesting point about the Worst President Ever.  And he raises the question about the southern states claim about secession. 

Interestingly three of the original states would not join the Union unless they were able to explicitly reserve the right of secession. two of those were NY and NH (I think NH was the second) who fought for the North.

Glad he brought this up. Most people have such a skewed view of history today. But then again, we learn our history from the victors.