Hopefully they aren't serving this at your Mardi Gras

The Curt Jester pulled one of his gems from the archives and shared it.

I wouldn't have a problem giving up this ice cream for Lent.

Idaho Rose

Micheal Duff writes a good opinion article in the Idaho Statesmen on why we need the marriage amendment.

"Idaho Rose" and her liberal kindred spirits are manifestly at odds on this issue (as they are on a number of issues) with the rest of their fellow citizens. For instance, in November 2004, 11 states approved amendments defending marriage on the same day. In those 11 states, 67 of 71 daily newspapers supported homosexual marriage while the average vote of the people in support of traditional marriage was 70.2 percent.

Certainly a majority of Idahoans supports marriage on moral grounds, which means, for "Idaho Rose," that they are bigots.

If that isn't a telling demographic! Only 4 of the 71 papers in those states represent the mainstream view of 70% of the population. And yet it is the Christians that are out of touch.

tip to DFO

Age old question

Upper Canada Catholic brings up the age old question, Ashes on or off? Help him decide with your comments.

I prefer the original method.

Steve at The Fifth Column has a great article on "Outsourcing Parenthood". This strange science seems to be a strange product of contraception compared to the "free love" of the sixties; but it just goes to show that Satan will go any direction to separate the procreative and the unitive aspects of the marital act.

Looks like I am moving

To Florida no less. And as soon as there is a job opening, I am moving to Ave Maria, Florida; the new Catholic town. With free cheese pizza every Friday from Dominoes. Anything that Frances Kissling finds “very disturbing” must be worth looking at.

tip to relapsed catholic

Didn't they consider NetWare for the Barque of Peter

Looks like the Vatican is upgrading their computers.

But alas, if they had considered Netware, it would surely run 153 large servers without fail. But I can't argue with the stronger backbone they are installing.

Cosmic reality of sin

This thread on CAEI reminded me of something else I have read on sin. Something that I have shared with my kids and my wife rather liked.

Sin doesn't just affect us. There is a moral fiber that runs throughout the world. When we sin, we weaken that fiber, like pulling the strands off a fraying rope. (sorry I can't give a reference this, but that part was developed by someone else.) Just like the sin of David and Bathsheba didn't just affect them. Their son died and then the the Kingdom was split forever. Abraham's lack of trust in God gave us Ismael and the result of Islam.

So be careful what you do. It may have a more profound impact than you can ever imagine. I think this will be my focus for lent. The small things I do matter.

Not saying, just commenting

With the fallout in Iraq turning ugly, we have to remember one thing. Freedom is a Judeo-Christian concept. Freedom to do as we ought, not to do as our fallen nature tempts us.

Excuse me, your slip is showing

Being a computer geek, I surely enjoyed this "little" slip up.

Memo to MS, if you want to be a media center, make sure you stay out of the way.

I'll tolerate that

Bishop Vasa of Portland sets the record straight on tolerance

There is a point at which passive “tolerance” allows misleading teachings to be spread and propagated, thus confusing or even misleading the faithful about the truths of the Church....

Canon 750 concludes: “therefore, one who rejects those propositions which are to be held definitively is opposed to the doctrine of the Catholic Church.” It is certainly necessary to exercise a great deal of caution and care in arriving at a founded conclusion that someone accepts or teaches heresy.... Nevertheless, there are those of the household of Faith who obstinately deny some truth that is to be believed by divine and Catholic faith.

The Curt Jester takes this and applies it to the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Why go to confession

Archbishop Bruno Forte answers the question. In a nutshell:

To ask for forgiveness with conviction, to receive it with gratitude and to give it with generosity is a source of inestimable peace: Because of this, it is right and beautiful to go to Confession.

Walking to Heaven Backwards

Father Jonathan Robinson writes on Recovering the Liturgy in his book, "The Mass and Modernity: Walking to Heaven Backward"

The subtitle of the book is "Walking to Heaven Backward." Can you explain its meaning?

Father Robinson: The phrase is from a sermon of Newman's where he writes: "We advance to the truth by experience of error; we succeed through failures. We know not how to do right except by having done wrong … we grope about by touch, not by sight, and so by a miserable experience exhaust the possible modes of acting till nought is left, but truth, remaining. Such is the process by which we succeed; we walk to heaven backward; we drive our arrows at a mark, and think him most successful, whose shortcomings are the least."

Newman was not preaching the modern idiocy that we have to sin in order to be virtuous, but he was reminding us that bad practice is based on confused and false principles, and it is by an often bitter experience that we finally see the truth a bit more clearly.

I think that confused and false principles have seriously damaged the liturgy. That means that any reform, or renewal, of the liturgy will cause us to walk to heaven backward.

We will have to walk to heaven backward without any sign posts and without any certainty except for the promises of Christ to his Church; but if we believe in the Church we know that out of disorder and wrong turns God's truth will ultimately prevail.

It is hard to quote Cardinal Newman and go wrong. And I am certainly tired of tripping over everyone else just because we walk backwards during Mass.

New blog

Eric of Square Zero is on the map. And with a vengance, his article on masculine friendships, Brokeback Indeed is a great start. Keep it up Eric.

The next step

We get to vote! The Idaho senate passed the constitutional amendment that defines marriage between a man and woman.

This is great news in many ways. This belongs at the state level and it is about time Idaho followed the suit of so many other states already. If the states don't clarify their rights, the fedgov is likely to intrude. And check out these comments by some of the senators.

“I’ve been told by some that if I vote against this bill, I’ll never see this place again,” said Gannon, R-Buhl, as he stood outside the Senate chambers. “Sometimes you’ve got to go with what your constituents are telling you.”

Duh! That is why they ELECTED you. This is a government of the people, by the people and for the people. Not just a bunch of elites telling us how we should live.

Sen. John Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene, stood up midway through the voting roll call to explain why he was changing his vote from a no last year to a yes this time around.
“Let’s let the citizens vote, and the Supreme Court determine the law of the land,” he said.

Sen. Richard Compton, R-Coeur d’Alene, said he was voting for the proposal because the people in his district had told him they wanted a chance to vote on the matter themselves.
“When I vote in my district I will vote no,” he said.

Very well. You can personally vote no, but I am glad the pressure finally made them realize they REPRESENT us, not themselves.

Tip to DFO

Federal lands for sale

A firestorm has erupted locally about the local article about the sale of 26,000 acres of federal land in Idaho. (if that link doesn't work, you can get in from the local blog link.) Some of the lands in Idaho that are proposed for the sale are questionable, looking like developers are getting some preferential treatment. I am opposed to any cronyism (bureaucracies are rife with it) but the greater question here is why the federal government owns so much land to begin with.

Does anyone know that constitutionally, the Federal Government is only allowed to own a small fraction of land that it needs for basic national defense?

principal 105 from article 1.8.17 of the U.S. Constitution

The people of the states empower congress to exercise complete jurisdiction and authority over all lands or facilities purchased within a state, providing it shall be with the consent of the legislature of that state. Such lands shall be used for "erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, doc yards, and other needful buildings."

The NW ordinance of 1787 declared that all new states would come into the union on the basis the equality of the original 13 states

Therefore it was assumed that as soon as a new territory was granted statehood, the people of that state would acquire title to every acre of land other than the very small percentage noted above.

When Ohio was admitted in 1803, the government retained title to all the public lands, but assured that the people would acquire jurisdiction as soon as these lands could be sold to pay off the national debt.

From that time on, Congress established this policy for the new states with the guarantee they would dispose of these lands as soon as possible and private ownership would take place as soon as Congress could sell the lands.

When the territory of the Southwest was obtained from Mexico, the policy was changed further to full retention of ownership. And by the time Alaska was omitted to the Union, the citizens of that state were only allowed to occupy 4 percent of their land.

From "The Makings of America" by W. Cleon Skousen p. 458-459

Ownership of land is so inherent to freedom that our founding fathers considered it one of the 3 God-given rights. The "pursuit of happiness" refers distinctly to the ability to own land. They had seen first hand the lack of freedom that the royalty allowed when the kings and lords owned all the land.

So we see the slope we have descended. The Constitution allows for Federal ownership of a small fraction of land. The growing bureaucracy has slowly grabbed more and more of the God-given right to "pursuit of happiness."

And couple that with the Forest Service acquiring "about 100,000 acres of new land annually." I cannot see any reason for opposing this sale. Unless we want to be children, serfs if you will, of the nanny state that takes "care" of all our God-given rights.

Fr. Enteneuer of HLI honored

One of my favorite organizations is run by one of the best.

A lesson for all

The Curt Jester comments on Fr. Powell's Spirit of Dissent.

A reminder that we all need to be students and practice humility. I am a humble man, and I am very proud of that!

More depth than I ever thought

Steve Kellmeyer at The Fifth Column has a great entry on the Muslim rioting over the cartoons. It is long but well worth the time.

Even as the orthodox Muslim watches his own image on Islamic television, he knows he is blond like Hitler, slim like Goehring and tall like Goebbels. But that doesn’t matter. The burning is a carthartic balm to the nagging concern that the faith which is Islam, the faith which is his identity, is somehow crumbling into ash and dust. If a few Danes must be knifed, or a few priests must be shot in order to maintain that soothing self-image, well then, so be it. Mohammed assassinated those who questioned his image. It is just.

In the words of a 5 year old

While getting my boys ready for bed, we were talking about the superbowl and I taught them to say "One for the thumb." while giving the thumbs up sign. My almost 5-year old, came back with "Seahawks get none for the thumb."

Gotta love these kids!

I protest so long I forget what I am protesting

Via Right Wing news with a tip to relapsed catholic

is it wrong

to relish another person's misery? Then I best go to confession cuz I am having fun riling the native (read homer) Seahawk fans.

But on to more "serious" items. Justice Alito's first task.

tip to DFO

Go Steelers!

And here is why. The organization is classy. Now the players don't all walk around lockstep or live out the faith perfectly. But I would say the owner comes closer to it than most people I know, let alone people with money.

Football doesn't mean beans compared to God, but we all are called to live our faith in the world. Rooney is an example of this, from:

Though most NFL teams train during the off-season right outside their corporate headquarters, the Steelers train at the St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pa. Rooney told the Register it’s “inspirational” to work in the presence of Catholic brothers, deacons and priests.

to this fabulous quote,

“If you want a successful life, you have to put yourself in the hands of God,” Rooney said, as his team prepared for Super Bowl XL. “I’m not saying God runs the ball for us, but it’s tremendously helpful to be in relationship with him when striving to achieve.”

Interesting to note how many Catholic owners there are in the NFL world. The late Wellington Mara of the Giants and Pat Bowlen of the Broncos are two more. Nice see a great example of living your faith quietly but without compromise in the professional sports arena.