Border Patrol Ordered Not To Wear Masks

Protection for me but not for thee. That is the mixed message out of the White House.

While Amtrak Joe Biden is telling everyone to stay off trains, subways, schools, or any confined space to avoid exposure to the disease formerly know as Mexican Swine Flu but now referred to as Undocumented Flu , Janet Napolitano at DHS is refusing requests from the Border Patrol to wear masks.

The Washington Post writes of the disparity:

It's a border, not a barrier, yet the money-changers on the Mexican side wear rubber gloves and face masks. And 50 feet to the north, Raul Martinez changes pesos into dollars with his bare hands, and not a stitch covering a smile that turns rueful when he's asked why.

DHS is afraid of how it might look if Border Agents wear masks but not concerned about Agents catching the disease. I suppose they haven't thought about the fact that masks on agents also protect the people the agents are inspecting. What if an agent gets the flu and has contact with thousands of people a day? How will that look? Janet, it is the Department for Homeland Security not Homeland Sensitivity. How did this woman get the job again?

Sarah Palin - Chopper Mom.

Sarah Palin - Chopper Mom.

So Sarah was on American Chopper and hung with the bike-building guys behind Orange County Choppers for a bit.

Sarah seems really relaxed here and it shows how easily she relates to regular folks.

Now, we don't want to be seen as partisan so we're also going to post a picture of Obama on his own Chopper just to be fair.

It's Not Mexican and It's Not Swine

Might political correctness have fatal consequences when it comes to swine flu?

Whether or not it does, there's no question that political correctness is playing a role in every step of how the government is treating this disease which Professor Neil Ferguson of the World Health Organization now says, "Clearly we are on track for a pandemic in the coming months."

Let's just start with the nomenclature battle over this disease. I mean, what happened to the "Mexican Swine Flu?" Has it disappeared? Nah. Just a name change. It's now like the rock star "Prince" in that it now goes by "H1N1, the disease formerly known as Mexican Swine Flu."

If you now type in "Mexican Swine Flu" into Google News you get about 20,000 matches (mostly from overseas publication) but if you type in "H1N1" you get over 50,000 from the mainstream media.

So while regular folks worry about this new deadly flu, rest assured that governments across the globe along with the media are worrying about what politically correct name to give the disease? And President Obama is neck deep in the nomenclature wars. And you just know that when Obama renames something, the media follows suit.

First, what happened to the "swine" aspect of "Mexican Swine Flu"?

ABC's Jake Tapper reports:

In the Oval Office last night as Health and Human Service Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was sworn in, President Obama said, "we wanted to swear her in right away because we've got a significant public health challenge that requires her immediate attention, and that is the H1N1 flu outbreak."

"H1N1"?

Well, yes. That's the virus subtype the world is dealing with here.

Huh? Not "swine flu"?

On Sunday, the White House held a "press briefing on swine influenza."

On Monday, in his remarks before the National Academy of Sciences, President Obama used the unscientific name, referring to the virus as "swine flu."

What changed?

As has been noted by others, China, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, Thailand, Ukraine, and the United Arab Emirates have all banned meat and pork products from some parts of the US, according to the office of US Trade Representative Ron Kirk.

The World Health Organization reiterated that one cannot contract the virus by eating pork, and pointed out that no pig had been found yet with this particular virus.

Representatives of certain agricultural industries made their displeasure known to the Obama administration, especially Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who said during a briefing on Tuesday that "there are a lot of hardworking families whose livelihood depends on us conveying this message of safety...and we want to reinforce the fact that we're doing everything we possibly can to make sure that our hog industry is sound and safe and to make sure that consumers in this country and around the world know that American products are safe."

(Also it turns out that Egypt is now slaughtering all the pigs in the country for fear of the Swine Flu. Plus Muslims aren't huge fans of pigs anyway so some of them might just be using it as an excuse.)

But Obama and the White House are dumping the "swine" word because it's bad for the pig business. OK. Fair enough. But what about the "Mexican" part? While some media in other countries are still calling it "Mexican Swine Flu" no mainstream media in America is still using that term. Why not?

Political correctness? Does "Mexican Swine Flu" sound racist? I think that's the worry. Obama may be pushing "H1N1" as a friendly gesture to Mexico. You've got to think that Obama would be grateful that the Mexican association with this disease is lost forever as his administration is seeking immigration reform as early as this year. And let's not forget when this disease first broke out, Obama refused to tighten border security. In fact, he's still against it.

HHS Secretary Janet Napolitano is still refusing to significantly tighten border security, according to The Baltimore Sun:

Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said...her agency is resisting calls from Capitol Hill to screen inbound air travelers from Mexico and those crossing at border checkpoints...Our focus is not on closing the border or conducting exit screening," she said. "It is on mitigation."

Just to make you feel safe U.S. customs agents are now authorized to conduct "passive screening" of travelers entering the U.S. from Mexico which essentially means that if you're coming in from Mexico by land or plane they'll ask you if you're feeling alright. I'm serious. That's what they're doing.

Now she's recanting that term "passive security" but not changing the actual policy. Another case where the White House seems to believe that nomenclature trumps actual...action.

But nothing at all is being said about the dangers of illegal immigrants crossing the borders. No matter what you think about dealing with illegal immigration, undocumented immigrants are entering this country all the time. Shouldn't we be...I don't know...looking into stopping that while we're at risk of a pandemic. Or maybe we could even start just asking them how they're feeling after they swim across the Rio Grande.

I think it should be asked how many American deaths is it worth to the White House that America is not called a racist? Couldn't we just tighten security for a while and then send Obama over to Mexico next year to apologize. He seems to like doing that.

Mexico City is in complete lockdown. Is the Mexico City government racist against Mexicans too?

Ironically, Obama who's "monitoring the situation" said this morning that schools should consider closing if the spread of the swine flu virus worsens.

So schools should close but we shouldn't tighten border security? Huh?

Vatican Newspaper Say What?

We can argue about whether The Vatican newspaper was right or wrong when, according to CNS, it said that President Barack Obama's first 100 days in office have not confirmed the Catholic Church's worst fears about radical policy changes in ethical areas.

I assume they're referring to Obama not signing the Freedom of Choice Act. But other than that I can't think how much more anti-life Obama could've been in his first 100 days short of slaughtering a toddler in a televised news conference.

There's much to argue too where it says that the new president has operated "with more caution than predicted in economics and international relations." To me, tripling the deficit doesn't seem like he's acting with caution. It seems like a cautionary tale that's going to end in big trouble.

But here's where the article became very disturbing to me. It said that the new draft guidelines for stem-cell research, for example, did not constitute the major change in policy that was foreseen a few months ago.

And then here's a quote I found incredibly disturbing coming from the Vatican Newspaper: "

(The guidelines) do not allow the creation of new embryos for research or therapeutic purposes, for cloning or for reproductive ends, and federal funds may be used only for experimentation with excess embryos."

I'm sorry but did the Vatican newspaper really refer to "excess embryos?"

Look, I know what they're saying but that's a term that the left pushes to marginalize those defending life. As if the only reason for that embryo's life was the use intended by scientists in the lab. I don't accept their terminology of "excess embryo" because I don't accept their premise that any life is a means to some other end.

This could be a mistranslation by CNS or just lazy language usage but doesn't this strike anyone else as problematic?

The Headline Next Door

If found the following two headlines on CNN right next to each other.




Uh huh.

Pro-Lifer "Lashes Out?"

This report from Fox News really bugged the heck out of me. And this isn't the first time.

This is just the latest example of such blatantly anti-pro-life garbage from the mainstream media.

And remember that Fox News censored Matt Drudge (remember his show?) when the network prevented him from showing photos of surgery on the fetus of Samuel Armas. Drudge wanted to use a picture of a tiny hand reaching out from the womb to dramatize his argument against late-term abortion, but Fox refused to allow him and Drudge bravely walked.

But just yesterday I read this story. As you might have heard, model Kathy Ireland announced that she was pro-life and here's the headline Fox News gives the story:

KATHY IRELAND LASHES OUT AGAINST PRO-CHOICE

Now, I leave it to you to read this story and you look for the "lashing out."
Read the story and let me know:

Supermodel Kathy Ireland Lashes Out Against Pro Choice

It’s no secret that the majority of Hollywood stars are strong advocates for a woman’s right to choose whether or not she wants to terminate a pregnancy, however former "Sports Illustrated" supermodel-turned-entrepreneur-turned-author Kathy Ireland has gone against the grain of the glitterati and spoken out against abortion.

"My entire life I was pro-choice — who was I to tell another woman what she could or couldn’t do with her body? But when I was 18, I became a Christian and I dove into the medical books, I dove into science," Ireland told Tarts while promoting her insightful new book "Real Solutions for Busy Mom: Your Guide to Success and Sanity."

"What I read was astounding and I learned that at the moment of conception a new life comes into being. The complete genetic blueprint is there, the DNA is determined, the blood type is determined, the sex is determined, the unique set of fingerprints that nobody has had or ever will have is already there."

However Ireland admitted that she did everything she could to avoid becoming a believer in pro-life.

"I called Planned Parenthood and begged them to give me their best argument and all they could come up with that it is really just a clump of cells and if you get it early enough it doesn’t even look like a baby. Well, we’re all clumps of cells and the unborn does not look like a baby the same way the baby does not look like a teenager, a teenager does not look like a senior citizen. That unborn baby looks exactly the way human beings are supposed to look at that stage of development. It doesn’t suddenly become a human being at a certain point in time," Ireland argued. "I’ve also asked leading scientists across our country to please show me some shred of evidence that the unborn is not a human being. I didn’t want to be pro-life, but this is not a woman’s rights issue but a human rights issue."

Ireland also asserted that she believes "no justification is adequate" (for an abortion) unless another the mother's life is in danger.

"In that instant, your intention is not to kill but to save the life of another. If we’re about to demolish a building we make absolute certain there are no human beings in there before we take a wrecking ball to it, but the unborn doesn’t have a voice so it's up to us to speak for them," she added passionately. "If I see someone abusing a child I am going to stand up against that, and that’s how I feel about abortion. Women are not given all the facts, they’re told it is a harmless procedure and now it has turned into such a political football."

The committed Christian and devoted mother even dedicated the chapter "Faith & Your Family" in her new book to her foundations in Christianity and believes that this is what’s missing from so many American families today.

"You have to figure out your own values and why you have them. People are going to try and push and pull at your convictions, so you have to have boundaries and put them in place," she said.

Could you find the "lashing out?" Me neither. It might be more accurate to read this and say:

Fox News Lashes out Against Pro-Life Model.

Are Conservative Women Hotter?

Look, I'm not sexist or anything but I am a man. A non-Perez Hilton kinda' guy, if you know what I mean. So these ideas occur to me from time to time.

I've always dug conservative women. Even when I was a young atheist idiot liberal I always thought conservative women were just prettier and more self confident but I think the idea has now gained a national and undeniable prominence.

I'm starting to think conservatives are getting hotter than their liberal counterparts.

Just recently, Miss California came out against gay marriage. And just as the parasites from the left attack her, Angie Harmon defends Miss California.

Then just today I read that Kathy Ireland announces she's pro-life.

And Janine Turner defends Sarah Palin like it's her job.

And that's just off the top of my head.

If I'm a liberal I'm starting to worry about the hotness gap.

I don't know about you but I could kind of get into being a member of the hotter end of the political spectrum. I know. I know I've said before we shouldn't be shallow about looks but that's when I didn't know we were hotter than the other side.

I mean we could come out with calendars kind of hot. Not swimsuits or anything but maybe some casual business wear. (I hear we could get Sarah's old campaigning clothes pretty cheap. They're practically giving them away!)

I mean it's been great all these years telling the libs that we're more moral than them but when we drop on them that we're hotter, that'll hit them where it hurts. Oh yeah.

I'm feeling so good about myself today that I'm goin' struttin'.

If there are any female Catholic bloggers who would like to make a male list feel free. We'll link to it. I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

Update: Pundette has lightheartedly taken us up on our offer.

Update II:S. Logan thinks it's all about the "gumption."

Pope's Would-Be-Assassin A Catholic Convert?

In a letter allegedly written from prison and published by an Italian Weekly Mehmet Ali Ağca, the would be assassin of Pope John Paul II, is claiming to have renounced Islam and embraced Catholicism.

The intent of the letter doesn't seem to be announcing his alleged conversion. Instead, it seems he's seeking a pen pal who is a Catholic woman because of his conversion.

I honestly don't know what to make of this but some foreign newspapers are running the story so I ran the article through a series of translators but it's still a little choppy. Here it is:

7s7 Monde is reporting:

Mehmet Ali Agca, author of the failed attempt against Pope John Paul II in 1981, claims to have renounced Islam and embraced the Catholic faith, in a letter written from prison in Turkey and published Tuesday by an Italian weekly Diva e people donna.

"I am looking for an Italian woman, who wants to correspond with me. Obviously (I hope) it is Catholic because, since 13 May 2007, I decided to renounce the Muslim faith and becoming a faithful l 'Roman Catholic Church, "writes Ali Agca, who is serving a prison sentence in Turkey.
"I decided to return peacefully on the square (St. Peter's in Rome) and to testify to the world of my conversion to Catholicism," he says in the letter written in Italian, as Diva and Donna. "I wish only to one day return to Rome to pray at the tomb of John Paul II to express my appreciation for its subsidiary forgiveness," he adds.

Questioned by AFP in Turkey, his former lawyer Mustafa Demirbag, said he was "very skeptical" about the conversion. To be recognized as Catholic, a simple declaration is not enough and a long path leading to baptism is necessary. Ali Agca also said to have expressed his "desire (to visit St. Peter's Square) to Pope Benedict XVI", without having received "no response so far" and claims to have informed the Vatican of his conversion.

"For the Vatican, I may still be the man who tried to assassinate the Polish Pope, but now I changed, I am a different man," he says. John Paul II forgave his assailant he had met in prison in 1983.

I found this via Big Blue Wave and she asks that people recognize the date of May 13 as the same date of the assassination attempt.

I still don't what to think but I pass it on to you. Like I said, it's making its way around news sites and blogs in Europe. It's likely we'll be hearing more about this. Obviously, this would be a huge story, if true. We should all pray for him just as Pope John Paul II did.

Check out Big Blue Wave too.

The Swine Flew!

The moment was five years ago. Senator Arlen Specter was on the ropes and locked in a dead heat with little known Congressman Pat Toomey in the GOP Senate primary.

Republicans had to make a choice. Vote their conscience or vote strategy. It was the conversation at every political event that year.

I worked the polls that day and remember many Republicans came that day and said they were "holding their nose" and voting for Specter. They looked down on the "conscience voters" that supported Toomey. They said that the Toomey people didn't understand the big picture. They said the Toomey supporters didn't know how to play the game. They said the Toomey voters were unsophisticated.

They said that we couldn't risk losing the majority in the Senate. Yeah, they agreed that Specter wasn't a conservative but they just weren't sure Toomey could win in the general election vs. then Congressman Joe Hoeffel and then we'd have a Democrat majority in the Senate.

So, many Republicans (including sadly, then Senator Rick Santorum) supported Specter to be safe. We were assured it was the smart vote.

Well how did the "smart vote" work out? We've had years of Specter torpedoing President Bush and the GOP. Pro-lifers never forgave Santorum who got trounced in his next election partly because his base never forgave him for endorsing Specter over pro-life Toomey. And now we're facing a filibuster proof majority by the Democrats with Specter as a Democrat.

Let's make it clear. If the GOP had stood on principle five years ago this wouldn't be happening right now. We thought we were smart. We thought we could play the game. Well, we got played.

FOX News reports:

Veteran GOP Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania intends to announce Tuesday he will switch political parties and run in the Democratic primary in 2010.

Republican voters had sent him to the Senate five times. But faced with the prospect of a strong challenge from conservative Pat Toomey in the GOP primary and the state trending Democratic, Specter jumped ship.

"I deeply regret that I will be disappointing many friends and supporters," Specter said in prepared remarks to be delivered at a news conference on Tuesday.

"I can understand their disappointment," he continued. "I am also disappointed that so many in the party I have worked for for more than four decades do not want me to be their candidate. It is very painful on both sides."

The switch puts Democrats within one vote of a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Democrats currently hold 56 seats in the Senate, and two independents typically vote with the party. Republicans have 41 seats, and there is one vacancy.

For a while the story's going to be how the GOP has driven the kindly old moderates out of its ranks. But in the end, Specter needed to go.

But let it be known that Arlen Specter is not leaving because of some principle. Arlen is leaving because he was going to get beaten badly in the primary and Arlen couldn't stand the thought of not waking up in the morning as a Senator.

And the only reason that Specter is in the Senate to betray us is because we betrayed ourselves first.

For updates on this story please check out The Other McCain.

What? Obama Doesn't Care About Unborn?!

A "Conservative evangelical" on President Obama's Faith Council is shocked...shocked I tell you to discover that President Barack Obama doesn't really care about the unborn!

According to CBN:

Dr. Frank Page, one of the key conservative evangelicals on President Obama’s Faith Council tells The Brody File that when it comes to the social issues surrounding President Obama’s presidency he has been disappointed and not very encouraged by the first 100 days in office.

The Brody File traveled to Taylors, South Carolina to interview Dr. Page who is Senior Pastor at Taylors First Baptist Church. He’s also former past president of the Southern Baptist Convention and has been an important conservative Evangelical voice on President Obama’s Faith Council.

When Obama said he didn't want his daughter "punished with a baby," I guess Dr. Page thought Obama was kidding.

Well, he meant it. And anyone who's just realizing this now should either get a chip for finally sobering up, welcomed out of their coma, or congratulated for just learning the language. Other than those excuses, I don't really understand how you fell for Obama in the first place.

There's video here but here are some of the just priceless quotes from Dr. Page:

"I have not been surprised by anything our President has done but I have been surprised at the rapidity with which he has done what he has done, removal of what few protections there are for example regarding innocent unborn babies. This has happened quickly...

How can he say this when Obama said during the campaign that the first thing...the first thing he would do as President is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. Did Dr. Page think he was misspeaking?

"By and large I have not been very encouraged by our President's first 100 days in regards to pro-life issues, in regards to sensitivity to the Evangelical community."

Sensitive to the evangelical community? Why would he ever have thought Obama would be sensitive to the evangelical community when our dear leader made it clear that he sees middle America as just bitter people clinging to their guns and religion to explain away their frustrations.

"I have stated often that I will stay on this council as long as I thought my voice was being heard to some degree. There have been a couple instances where I've seen what I thought was a listening to the voice but in most instances yes there has been merely lip service given to the cause of those who want to protect the innocent and unborn."

Ya' think? This is President "I won." He's not taking advice. The One's suggestion Inbox is closed. Has been since day One.

Well after reading these quotes you'd think that at least Dr. Page has woken up now, right? He's seen Obama for what he truly is. Nope. Get ready for the complete non sequitur quote from Dr. Page. This one is going to kill you. Ready?

"I would say that I am cautiously optimistic because indeed it's been a short time at this point. There is hope that yet there may be some policies enacted that might indeed reduce the number of abortions and that might indeed help responsible fatherhood in our nation, etcetera. So I do have hope. I have not lost all hope yet though it's difficult to sit back and see policy after policy changed, executive order made or removed that effects the life of the unborn."

OK. Either this guy is a concussion victim or this gig is such a resume enhancer that he's just not willing to give it up. What's going on in this guy's head? He's being used as cover for Obama's wildly pro-abortion policies. Everybody not named Dr. Frank Page knows this.

Obama's using Dr. Page just as he's using Notre Dame. This is all part of the One's divide and conquer strategy. I do appreciate Dr. Page for speaking his mind but he's got to wake up to how he's being used.

What is Wrong With These People?

In what the Washington Post calls The Fix (Political News and Analysis,) Chris Cillizza writes what may be the sickest piece of journalism I've read in...well...hours.

Cillizza asks the most pertinent question: How is Swine Flu affecting Barack Obama? And is the deadly disease a distraction? I'm not kidding. Read it in its entirety here but here's some lowlights:

With less than 24 hours before President Obama celebrates his 100th day in office, the wall-to-wall coverage of the swine flu threatens to swamp efforts out of the White House to frame the president's accomplishments...

While the White House has argued for much of the last several weeks that they pay little attention to phony measuring sticks like the 100 days -- White House senior adviser David Axelrod famously referred to Wednesday as a "Hallmark holiday" -- there is clear evidence that the administration is seeking to capitalize on the attention being paid to the day by the media.

Obama is scheduled to attend a town hall meeting in St. Louis, Mo. (a critical swing state in 2008 and likely again in 2012) Wednesday morning and then jet back to Washington that evening for the third prime-time press conference of his presidency.

All of that activity is aimed at one thing: ensuring that the White House's preferred message on what the first 100 days means is the one that most Americans consume on Wednesday...

Given the attention being paid to the swine flu, it's hard to imagine that by Wednesday the nation will be interested in anything else but whether there are any more than the 40 known cases of the disease in the United States and what if anything can be done to stop is spread...

All of that is not to say that the swine flu has destroyed what would have been a banner week for the Obama administration. In every crisis there is opportunity -- to paraphrase White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel -- and that is of course true with the swine flu...

The swine flu offers Obama and his senior team the chance to prove that even amid an economic recession, two foreign wars and a debate over whether to prosecute CIA officials involved in harsh interrogation practices, he (and they) can handle a worldwide heath crisis.

"I don't think it hurts at all," said Democratic consultant Phil Singer of the swine flu. "Instead of being a retrospective on the last 100 days, the President can use the milestone to demonstrate his leadership skills in real time."

What is wrong with these people? Are they so brainwashed by Obama that they must view every news story through the prism of Obama?

Hey guys, Obama is the President. The swine flu is not a distraction. It's his job.

So far, we've seen North Korea firing a missile, Iran's nuke building, pirates taking American hostages, and the recession all labeled distractions by the media which has so completely lost all pretense of objectivity this past year.

Hey news organizations, people are actually getting kind of scared about this swine flu. And guess what? They didn't give a rats ... over the first 100 days anyway. That was always a media creation and nothing more.

Yesterday, a report came out saying that newspaper circulation took another big hit this year, even deeper than they thought. The Audit Bureau of Circulations said Monday that average sales of newspapers declined 7.1 percent in the October-March period from the same six-month span in 2007-2008. This story is why.

You Sure You Want Socialized Medicine?

Are you old? A little chubby? A smoker? Well then, no cancer treatment for you. You can't be surprised. This is the inevitable end of socialized medicine and a British cancer specialist is spelling it out pretty clearly.
Times Online reports:

A leading UK Cancer Specialist warned that the National Health Service (NHS) is facing very difficult choices about which diseases would be treated and which would not in the coming future. Professor John Smyth of Medical Oncology at the University of Edinburgh, gave a speech at the International Science Festival, Edinburgh. In his speech “The Future of Cancer Treatment - can we afford it?”, he stressed on the fact that in the wake of limited public funding, very stringent decision can be made over the types of diagnosis and drugs to use in the future.

He questioned as to how to allocate funds towards treating over one disease over another. He enquired about what was to be the criterion of giving preference. He elucidated on the fact that the NHS had been stretched to its maximum value treating people suffering from heart disease, cancer and stroke. The breakthrough of new medicines was putting amplified pressure on the limited resources of the health services.

So get that. New medicines are bad in a socialized healthcare framework because those pesky people actually want new medicines.

And BIG GOVERNMENT will be deciding which diseases get treated and which people get the treatment? Something tells me that our representatives in the House and Senate will be taken care of rather well.

I'm not criticizing Smyth here. He's right in what he's saying. The government can't afford to cover everything and costs will eventually lead to rationing. But that's because government healthcare doesn't work. At some point they'll be rationing.

Just a quick question here. One argument says that because someone allowed themselves to become obese then they don't deserve to be treated because they essentially brought it upon themselves or they're not a good risk in the future. Now, I have to wonder, will the government say that many AIDS patients shouldn't be treated because it's likely they either persisted in the homosexual lifestyle or had unsafe sex which is considered high risk behavior? You think? So in reality, the government would be disallowing treatment for the politically incorrect.

With government controlled health care you would ultimately end with groups lobbying for the government to cover diseases.

Professor John Smyth said that the country was already saddling with ageing population. Therefore, there are very few people who are contributing towards the health care budget, this is aggravated by the financial recession. Hence the Health Services are under a lot of pressure. As strides are being made in Medical Sciences, a way needs to be found to properly apportion available resources and funds to the patients.

Man, it's almost like we need more babies to be born to grow up and financially support the country. The interesting thing here is that socialism might actually work for a little while as long as each generation was bigger than the last but the socialists just can't help themselves. Babies are a burden and must be...thinned. But with people having less children the taxpayer base is gone so there's nobody to support the generation that aborted millions of babies. So it turns out that their own selfish ideology is their destruction. Unfortunately, we're all victims too.

An Interesting Evening

I am currently in the city of Essen Germany on business. I have been here probably a dozen times over the years but I have never made the less than one hour trip down to the Cathedral in Cologne. Oh, I've planned to many times but I was either too tired or my schedule didn't permit it. Last year I took the train from Dortmund to Frankfurt and I saw, across the river, the spires of the Cathedral along the way and I resolved right then that the next time I visited Essen I would make the trip to Cologne.

I arranged my flight so that I would arrive on Monday morning, get some sleep and head to Cologne in advance of my meeting beginning Tuesday. Then, just a few weeks later during Easter, Denis McNamara (CMR contributor, Assistant Director and Faculty Member at The Liturgical Institute at Mundelein Seminary, and my brother-in-law) mentioned that he would be in Cologne in a few weeks. Me too. Turns out DMac is accompanying Fr. Robert Barron on a whirlwind tour of Europe filming segments for Fr. Barron's upcoming documentary on Catholicism.

As it worked out, we were all in Cologne on the same day. I got off the train this evening and beheld a behemoth. The Cologne Cathedral is more massive than I can convey. I have never seen anything like it. This Gothic structure was for four years back in the 1880's the tallest in the world. It is a mountain of a building jutting up from the landscape in a way similar to those mountains in the southwest U.S. that seem to pierce the flat ground to make their way skyward only to fall just short.

Time was short so I went into the Cathedral to see it and take some pictures before it closed. Then I made my way along the street heading in the direction of DMac's hotel when I ran in to him and Fr. Barron. We decided to grab a bite to eat at, don't judge me, McDonald's. After some Big Macs, we started a quick little walking tour of the city that surrounds the Cathedral.

We visited the Dominican priory where St. Thomas Aquinas lived when he came to Cologne, along with Albertus Magnus in 1248. This was the same year when the original Cathedral burned. The current Cathedral being built over the centuries since.

We also visited the Church of the Franciscans where Duns Scotus is entombed. As we made our way back toward the Cathedral the sky was darkening. We noticed a brightness on the facade of the Cathedral that we initially took to be artificial lighting kicking in. But it continued to brighten and burn. Since the Church faces east the entrance faces west. The setting sun lit up the facade with burning fire. We simply sat down and watched it in awe until it had completely faded. It was something I will not soon forget.

That is what I did last evening. What did you do?

So Who's Awarded the Medal Now?

Fr. John I. Jenkins, President of the University of Notre Dame, announced that he's "disappointed" that former Vatican Ambassador Mary Ann Glendon has declined to provide cover for the University by standing on the dais with President Obama. He then announced that it's his intention to award the Laetare Medal to another deserving recipient.

Just for reference, The Laetare Medal is annually awarded by the University of Notre Dame in recognition of outstanding service to the Roman Catholic church and society.
So I'm looking for a list of those who you think Fr. Jenkins will pick. (Not who he should pick)

OK. It's up to you. I'm not a betting man but David Freddoso jokingly asked if it would be Joe Biden and I'm sure you guys have some suggestions as well.

I'm definitely thinking that no pro-life hero can possibly stand in now so I'm thinking Fr. Jenkins is going to be looking for a "social justice" hero.

I'll get us started:

1) Nancy Pelosi
2) Doug Kmiec
3) Caroline Kennedy

Now, it's up to you...

(Oh, and there's no truth to the rumor that Fr. Richard McBrien sent over candy and forget-me-nots to Fr. Jenkins today just to wish him well in these trying times.)

Wow! Mary Ann Glendon Declines ND Invite

Mary Ann Glendon has refused the invitation to be honored at Notre Dame. This is huge. Read her letter.

Now that's what I call dialogue! It seems to me that she was dissapointed that Notre Dame was using her presence there as coverage. This does two things. It keeps the story alive just as it seemed to be dying and it puts the focus back on Father Jenkins who made the terrible decision to invite Obama.

The fact that she took so long to make this decision indicates that this was not an easy decision for her and it was not a reactionary response but a calm and deliberate one.

How sad that the former Ambassador to the Vatican doesn't feel that she can attend the country's most well known Catholic University. That alone says so much. Glendon went from "profoundly moved" at the thought of receiving an honor from Notre Dame to "great sadness." I think we can all understand why.

By Mary Ann Glendon
Monday, April 27, 2009, 9:32 AM
April 27, 2009
The Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.
President
University of Notre Dame

Dear Father Jenkins,
When you informed me in December 2008 that I had been selected to receive Notre Dame’s Laetare Medal, I was profoundly moved. I treasure the memory of receiving an honorary degree from Notre Dame in 1996, and I have always felt honored that the commencement speech I gave that year was included in the anthology of Notre Dame’s most memorable commencement speeches. So I immediately began working on an acceptance speech that I hoped would be worthy of the occasion, of the honor of the medal, and of your students and faculty.

Last month, when you called to tell me that the commencement speech was to be given by President Obama, I mentioned to you that I would have to rewrite my speech. Over the ensuing weeks, the task that once seemed so delightful has been complicated by a number of factors.

First, as a longtime consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, I could not help but be dismayed by the news that Notre Dame also planned to award the president an honorary degree. This, as you must know, was in disregard of the U.S. bishops’ express request of 2004 that Catholic institutions “should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles” and that such persons “should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.” That request, which in no way seeks to control or interfere with an institution’s freedom to invite and engage in serious debate with whomever it wishes, seems to me so reasonable that I am at a loss to understand why a Catholic university should disrespect it.

Then I learned that “talking points” issued by Notre Dame in response to widespread criticism of its decision included two statements implying that my acceptance speech would somehow balance the event:

• “President Obama won’t be doing all the talking. Mary Ann Glendon, the former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, will be speaking as the recipient of the Laetare Medal.”

• “We think having the president come to Notre Dame, see our graduates, meet our leaders, and hear a talk from Mary Ann Glendon is a good thing for the president and for the causes we care about.”

A commencement, however, is supposed to be a joyous day for the graduates and their families. It is not the right place, nor is a brief acceptance speech the right vehicle, for engagement with the very serious problems raised by Notre Dame’s decision—in disregard of the settled position of the U.S. bishops—to honor a prominent and uncompromising opponent of the Church’s position on issues involving fundamental principles of justice.

Finally, with recent news reports that other Catholic schools are similarly choosing to disregard the bishops’ guidelines, I am concerned that Notre Dame’s example could have an unfortunate ripple effect.

It is with great sadness, therefore, that I have concluded that I cannot accept the Laetare Medal or participate in the May 17 graduation ceremony.

In order to avoid the inevitable speculation about the reasons for my decision, I will release this letter to the press, but I do not plan to make any further comment on the matter at this time.

Yours Very Truly,
Mary Ann Glendon

HT First Things


Update: Cardinal Newman Society president Patrick J. Reilly issued the following statement:

“Mary Ann Glendon is one of the most accomplished Catholic and pro-life leaders of our time. In heroic fashion, she has willingly sacrificed an award that she richly deserves, as a casualty of Notre Dame's choice to betray its Catholic mission. We urge Catholics nationwide to continue to pray that Notre Dame will end this scandal.”


Update II: Canon lawyer Ed Peters has more:

The evil that ND President Jenkins and his Board of Trustees committed has, Deus laudetur, occasioned one of the most striking displays of episcopal fortitude I can remember, mobilized hundreds of thousands of American Catholics against another quiet surrender to the Culture of Death, and effected notice to several once great Catholic institutions that it's time, finally, to decide where they stand...

Update III: Father Raymond J. de Souza writes in the National Catholic Register: Father John Jenkins likely thought himself very clever. Professor Mary Ann Glendon just took him to school.

In declining to receive the Laetare Medal alongside President Barack Obama’s honorary doctorate of laws at next month’s commencement, Glendon has refused to participate in the shabby manipulation Father Jenkins attempted to engineer. It is a rare personage who could ennoble an award by refusing to receive it, but Professor Glendon has done just that. The Laetare Medal will now be known best for the year in which it was declined. Glendon chose, to use the apt words of Bishop John D’Arcy in this regard, truth over prestige...

Continue reading his excellent article here.

Update XVIVLVPVI: David Freddoso of The Corner reports that Notre Dame intends to give the award to someone else. But who else would take it now? David has an idea here.

When Scientists & Ethicists Unite - Be Worried

When I saw the headline "Scientists and ethicists unite to attack doctor's clone plan" I was intrigued. Lately science has a pretty feeble track record when is comes to ethics particularly when reproduction is involved. As far as ethicists go, they seem a particularly smarmy lot intent on crafting language that make horrific behavior sound peachy.

But here they both were combating an intrinsic evil, cloning. Had they finally acknowledged that human life has dignity from conception to natural death? Well, no.

As it turns out, the intrinsic evil that has these scientists and ethicists in attack mode is violation of procedure and the failure to publish.

Leading figures in the fertility world, including Lord Winston of Imperial College London, poured scorn on Dr Zavos's claims, saying he had not produced any scientific evidence to support his statements, which critics said can only be done by publishing the work in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

"I do not know of any credible evidence that suggests Dr Zavos can clone a human being. This seems to be yet another one of his claims to get publicity," said Lord Winston, who was the head of a fertility clinic at Hammersmith Hospital in London.

Alastair Kent, director of the Genetic Interest Group, a charity dedicated to helping families affected with inherited disorders, said that Dr Zavos claimed to have mastered a technology that other scientists had been struggling with for years.

"Once again he claims to have used it for purposes widely condemned as unsafe and dangerous. And he has done this in secret, using the hopes of couples desperate to create or to recreate a child as a springboard for his vaulting ambition," he said.

"For his claims to have credibility, and to prevent the unethical exploitation of grieving or desperate couples Dr Zavos must throw open his work to peer review. He must demonstrate openness and allow scrutiny by experts, not just by the media. If he is as good as he claims then he has nothing to fear. If he is not, then vulnerable women and couples need protection from his activities," Dr Kent said.

Not much as far as 'attacks' go. There is so much wrong with cloning that point out the failure to publish and to submit his work to peer review and the use of "unsafe cloning techniques" only serves to confirm my suspicion that there is very little in the way of actual ethics in modern science. The implication here is that if "safer" cloning techniques can be developed and some other scientist is willing to publish his work for peer review, well that might be ok. Procedure is no substitution for ethics.

These days whenever scientists and ethicists unite you can be sure of one thing. The world just got pushed a little further down the slippery slope.

Throw the Gun Or Run?

I've been thinking about evil. Hard not to sometimes if you're reading the news. It seems to me there are different kinds of evil.

There's the guy who knows he's committing evil and either just doesn't care or gets a thrill out of it. When caught, he giggles and says something like, "Yup. I've been thinking about killing someone for a long time now. So I did it." You've read about these guys on the front page of newspapers. There's a manhunt and people lock their doors at night. Usually there's big headlines and it's what everyone talks about and everyone shakes their heads and says stuff like "Can you believe..."

I think there's some comfort in everybody shaking their heads at the same things.

You can say all you want about that kind of evil but at least you're dealing with the same definitions. You're looking at the same game board, just making different decisions.

There's another kind of evil though. The kind that doesn't get in the newspaper much -at least not labeled as such. It's the kind of evil that doesn't even acknowledge the terms good or evil.

That's the kind that scares me. It's abortion. It's euthanasia. It's embryo banks where people come for spare parts. It scares me because there's not one name linked to it. There's no manhunt. You can't lock the doors because it's already inside.

And I don't see many people shaking their heads over these things.

And it's all got me thinking -which is always dangerous - about whether it's time or not. We've all seen the moment in movies. After the nameless Evil has come. It's gone into the vents. It's terrified the villagers. It's killed half the cast. And the good guys are using everything they have on it but nothing's working. All the lasers, bullets, or cannons have done little to slow the Abomination. In fact, the Abomination isn't even limping. And now it's coming at our hero. So what now?

It comes down to that. Do you throw the gun or just run?

I feel sometimes that maybe throwing the gun is all one man can do. Maybe that's what blogging is. It's the last resort. It's throwing the gun. I've been throwing the gun so long at the same Abominations that the idea of running sometimes seems appealing. Even logical. I mean, at some point isn't it smart just to pull up stakes? Give up the fight. Cut bait. Go Amish. Find your hidey-hole and live your life.

At some point just focusing on my family, my friends, and the little piece of the world around me seems appealing. And just stop fretting about the rest of the country all eagerly climbing into the handbasket. Maybe, just forget the public schools. The universities. The culture. The often quoted ethicists without ethics. The scientists. The celebrities. Maybe forget them all and just worry about what I've got right here.

I'm not there yet. But the idea comes into my head more often than it used to. And probably more often than it should.

Maybe I'm not talking much sense. It's late. I didn't mean to even write about this. But you read these stories about abortions, baby banks, and euthanasia and let's face it, the bad guys are winning. The Abomination ain't even limping. And nobody's shaking their head.

What? This Isn't an AP Photo?

WND reports:

On his 100th day in office, President Obama will be "crowned" in messianic imagery at New York City's Union Square.

Artist Michael D'Antuono's painting "The Truth" – featuring Obama with his arms outstretched and wearing a crown of thorns upon his head – will be unveiled on April 29 at the Square's South Plaza.

According to a statement released about the portrait, "The 30" x 54" acrylic painting on canvas depicts President Obama appearing much like Jesus Christ on the Cross: atop his head, a crown of thorns; behind him, the dark veil being lifted (or lowered) on the Presidential Seal. But is he revealing or concealing, and is he being crucified or glorified?"

Even the title of the piece, "The Truth," suggests a play on biblical themes, as Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

"More than a presidential portrait," writes D'Antuono on a website touting the painting, "'The Truth' is a politically, religiously and socially-charged statement on our nation's current political climate and deep partisan divide that is sure to create a dialogue."

Like others in the news who have depicted Obama in Christ-like imagery, D'Antuono insists he isn't claiming the man is Messiah, but only inviting "individual interpretations."

"'The Truth,' like beauty, is in the eyes of the beholder," claims the exhibit's press release.

D'Antuono even invites the public to email him with reactions to the piece, answering his posed question, "What's your truth?"

It's hard to even get too worked up about this idiocy because it's only aim is publicity. A talentless amoral hack craves attention and money and does the only thing he knows how to do to make everyone he knows applaud like trained seals and have the free newspapers call him "important" and "edgy." It's actually rather sad. But what's even sadder is how similar this is to all the photos taken by "reputable" news organizations.

Required Viewing for Former Gitmo Guests

A City Council in Montana voted 5-0 Tuesday in favor of a proposal to house terror suspects currently detained at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay in their city's empty jail.

President Obama has 240 terror suspects he has said must be moved out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within a year.

Seems like it all fits perfectly. But there's going to be a storm over this which we'll cover later. For the sake of argument, let's say that Montana is going to house the (alleged) jihadists.

One of the nice things about Gitmo was that it's right on the shores of shark infested waters and therefore escape wasn't a high priority.

But if this Montana prison begins housing detainees, the inmates might be alerted to the fact that while there are not a lot of sharks in Montana they'll be surrounded by...something slightly more dangerous.

The guards should make it clear to the detainees that they're not protecting the Montana populace from the detainees, they're protecting the detainees from the Montana populace. This video from Al Jazeera should be required viewing for all former Gitmo detainess before their move to Montana.
After watching that, the detainees will be asking the guards to make sure the gates are locked.

Careening Car, Meet Cliff

Is our economy headed toward unprecedented disaster?

I will point you back to my 2009 predictions post from last December. I re-read it today to see if I still stand by my gloomy outlook. Indeed I do. I think that some of the geo-political events that I mentioned are in the works right now. I encourage you, if you feel like being depressed, to read that post in its entirety.

For this post I will excerpt what I wrote about the economy then.

Temporary uphill before going off the cliff. In the first half of 2009 we will see a modest recovery in the U.S. economy only to be followed by even more serious financial turmoil and deepening recession. When I say recovery, I really mean a slowdown in the negative growth giving some false hope that the recession may be nearing and end. Instead it will be the beginning of even harder times.

Runaway inflation and unemployment. All this stimulus and cheap money designed to address the slowdown will actually make things worse. It will give us a head fake toward recovery but soon will have the opposite effect. It will lead to runaway inflation beginning in the second half of 2009. This inflation could top double digits and beyond in 2010. Unemployment the same.

More Riots in Europe. What will be hitting us economically will also hit Europe and maybe just as hard. The riots these past weeks in Greece are just the beginning. Ostensibly related to a police shooting, the real cause was economic. Greece is an economic basket case with massive crushing debt. The fact that this rioting has spread to other European cities shows that this frustration is widespread especially among youth. All this is just the beginning of the woes. As the economy dramatically worsens in the second half of 2009, rioting will be more widespread. Italy, France, England, and Germany will not be spared.

I thought it then and after Obama's ludicrous spending spree, I am now convinced of it. Apparently I am not alone. I came across this video at fellow doom-and-gloomer Karen Hall's place. Meet Gerald Celente, an economist with an impressive track record. What he says will scare you.

Woman Runs from Bear, Hit by Car!

If ever you're walking around feeling sorry for yourself, STOP! You're having a good day because you're not getting chased by a bear or run over by a car in a hit and run. At the same time! Not everyone can say that. According to Mercury News:

A pregnant woman was running from a bear when she darted into the road and was struck by a car, said the Colorado Springs Police Department...

Swendsen was taken to Memorial Hospital and is in stable condition.

Officer Robert Patterson of the Falcon Division said he doesn't know how the chase began but that bears frequently use drainage ditches in the area as a crossing.

Police and the Department of Wildlife located the bear and tranquilized it. If Swendsen identifies it as the one that chased her, it will be destroyed.

Police also are searching for the driver who hit the woman and did not stop.

So let's get this straight. There's going to be some kind of bear lineup where she has to pick the offending bear out. How does something like that work? That would seem difficult to control.

And the bear's going to get "destroyed" while the person who hit and run our heroine is nowhere to be found. I say put him in the lineup with the bears. Kind of a last meal for the bear on Death Row.

(The CMR theology department reminds me that CMR doesn't support the death penalty but was stumped when I asked about a fair cage match between the driver and the bear. So far, there's seems to be no papal instructions on that but they're searching the archives. Maybe Nancy Pelosi knows something Augustine said about this. But the CMR Theology department also reminded me we would not be allowed to gamble on the event which really takes the fun out of the whole thing so just forget it.)

Anyway, I think this bear just needs a good lawyer. Maybe the bear was just chasing her to tell her not to run out in traffic and was misunderstood.

But the point is that stop feeling sorry for yourself. It's the weekend and you're not being chased by a man eating bear or run over.

Abortionists Calling Lila Rose a Liar?

Don't believe your lying eyes, says Planned Parenthood. Or your ears. Just listen to Planned Parenthood. But not too closely.

I know it's hard to believe but yet another counselor at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Memphis, TN was caught on hidden camera coaching a 14-year-old girl to lie to a judge so he would not find out about her 31-year-old boyfriend so the girl could obtain a waiver for an abortion without her parents' knowledge. According to news reports, Tennessee law requires health providers to notify law enforcement upon learning a minor has sex with someone over 18 who is at least four years older, felony statutory rape under state law.

This is the sixth Planned Parenthood (PP) clinic busted by Lila Rose in a developing multi-state child abuse scandal, involving the deliberate suppression of evidence of statutory rape by PP employees.

But never you mind what those videos show. Planned Parenthood is shocked...just shocked about these allegations. In fact, they're so shocked that they're essentially accusing Lila Rose of misleading people with lots of tricky editing.

Barry Chase, president of Planned Parenthood in Memphis, called the recent video "highly edited" and promised that it was being investigated in The Daily Times.

Chase said he's written to Lila's web site and asked for the full unedited tape so they can "figure out what happened." And all the reporters writing on this story are just repeating what PP says about the dubious nature of the editing and leaving it there.

Except here's the thing. Lila Rose actually posts the full footage on her website so it's there for anyone to see at LiveAction.org. Too bad, none of the brain dead reporters could actually lift up the phone and call Lila Rose themselves to ask her. (The Memphis footage will be posted Monday and Live Action as of Friday morning has received nothing from Planned Parenthood.)

You see, I spoke with Lila Rose, the young woman who makes these videos, this morning. I think she's out in California and I called her at 8:50 a.m. Eastern time which would make it 5:50 a.m. her time. But she was gracious and pretended that she didn't mind. I felt like a dumb jerk for calling so early but she told me not to worry. But if an idiot like me can get her at 5:50 a.m., why can't any of these reporters?

And anyway, no matter how edited it is, the PP counselor is still advising a 14 year old girl to lie to a judge. See for yourself.


For months, Lila Rose has been doing a great job exposing Planned Parenthood abortion clinics but the abortion giant has simply obfuscated and attacked Lila Rose herself or simply remained silent.

But things are changing. Now, some legislators are talking about removing federal funding from Big Abortion because of what's being shown on the videos and Planned Parenthood is responding the only way they can when attacking and lying hasn't worked. They're attacking and lying even more.

Lila Rose said that Planned Parenthood has threatened to sue her and they're issuing "bogus denials" which seems to be standard operating procedure. "Planned Parenthood plays this game. They say they're investigating this. They say they're retraining their staff...But they know this is what's happening. We find it again and again."

Lila said that she releases all footage to state authorities so there's no excuse for the state not to act or for PP to pretend that the video is highly edited and misleading.

But here's the good news: State legislators in Tennessee are citing Lila's video to support a bill that could end the agency's $721,000 state contract to provide family planning services in Shelby County.

According to the Commercial Appeal:

Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey joined colleagues Wednesday expressing outrage over actions depicted in a hidden-camera video released Monday by Live Action, a group that opposes abortion. It says the video was shot at the Planned Parenthood clinic on Union Avenue last summer.

Ramsey and sponsors of the bill said the video prompted them to push ahead with a bill this year...

Lila Rose is doing great work. Check it all out at Live Action - A New Media Movement for Life. We should all keep her in our prayers that she continues doing the great work she's doing. And that she doesn't get woken up by brain dead bloggers every morning.

CMR's 8 Signs of Apocalypse (Vol IX)

══ 1 ══

Yup, you're looking at Bacon flavored Vodka. Look. Once we can do that, there's really nothing left worth doing. That is, unless you really want to get greedy and make something like...

══ 2 ══

A Raspberry Flavored Galaxy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's right. Scientists just discovered that our little galaxy tastes like raspberries, according to the UK Telegraph.

Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, were searching space for evidence of amino acids: the basic chemicals from which life is created.

They told the Guardian newspaper that, despite failing to locate any such aminos, they did find a substance called ethyl formate, the chemical responsible for the flavour of raspberries.

Honestly. I don't even know what to say about that. But anytime you find out that the galaxy you're in tastes like rasberries, you just feel a little more vulnerable. I don't even know why. But maybe it's because God made things taste good so they'd be eaten. He made cows taste like steak so we would eat them. And now we find out we taste like raspberries. It's not good. That's all I'm sayin'. I would just feel a lot safer if we were in an arugula-tasting galaxy. Man, those guys are probably living large.

Now, I know what you're saying. Oh Archbolds'. What could possibly eat an entire galaxy. Oh, I don't know. MAYBE THIS!!!!!!!!!

══ 3 ══

‘Dark Gulping’ Black Holes.

Says MSNBC:

Supermassive black holes are a mystery. These behemoths can pack the mass of billions of suns, and often lurk in the centers of big galaxies like the Milky Way. But scientists don't know how they got started nor how they grew so massive.

A new computer model suggests dark gulping is one possible route to forming these monsters. The idea involves invisible dark matter, which is stuff of unknown nature that astronomers know exists because they see its gravitational effects on galaxies.

In this scenario, a large cloud of dark matter could interact with gas to form a dense central mass. Depending on how the dark matter stores heat, this mass could be unstable. A small disturbance might prompt the dark matter to collapse quickly, gulping itself down to create a black hole. Though it would originally be invisible, soon it would gobble down regular matter and gas and, with all that material swirling in and being superheated and luminous, become visible.

No word yet on whether the dark gulping black hole likes strawberries but even if it doesn't it probably knows another one that does.

══ 4 ══

Smarter Robots Today Means Joy For All Mankind

McClatchy reports:

WASHINGTON — Robots are gaining on us humans.

Thanks to exponential increases in computer power — which is roughly doubling every two years — robots are getting smarter, more capable, more like flesh-and-blood people...Robots guided by their own computer "brains'' now can pick up and peel bananas, land jumbo jets, steer cars through city traffic, search human DNA for cancer genes, play soccer or the violin, find earthquake victims or explore craters on Mars.

OK. Great ideas guys. Let's see how else some of those useful talents can be used:

Peeling Bananas - They can also peel our skin off as means of torture until the excruciating pain from our exposed nerve endings cause us to tell everything we know about the Resistance fighters planning to take back Earth for the humans.

Land Jumbo Jets - Great! You just made them mobile enough so there's nowhere in the world to hide from them.

Drive cars - So now they can fly near the resistance hideout and actually rent a car and drive over in one afternoon. Great. The Resistance is falling apart here folks.

Play Soccer - Great. That means they can probably run faster than us and kick things at us when they get close.

Find earthquake victims - Wonderful. They can find people in even the tiniest hidey holes no matter how far underground. Now no place is safe.

Thanks guys. Thanks a lot. I hope at least all these robots are manufactured with an accessible and obvious destruct button.

══ 5 ══

The Stupidest Idea Ever

The Corner: MOUNDSVILLE - Days of lugging home heavy backpacks filled with textbooks could soon be over for students in Marshall County, where school officials may stop requiring them to complete their homework.

Bonnie Ritz, director of curriculum and instruction, said administrators have discussed a policy that would not penalize students for failing to do their homework. The idea is that students who do their homework would improve their grades, but students not doing the work would not see grades suffer as a result. She said the concept grew out of concerns that some students in the county don't have sufficient help or resources at home...

..."We always have to be aware that we have students that don't have support at home or may not have computers to help them," she said.

Have you ever read anything more apocalyptic than that. I mean, seriously.

══ 6 ══

Have A Happy Extinction!

This was captured and being studied by British doctors, according to The UK Telegraph.

The scientists are saying he's not dangerous but I think they're confusing the smile with something far more sinister. Look. Nobody's that happy. This creature is on the edge of extinction and it's THAT happy. No. Something's going on. Nuke it. Nuke it now.

══ 7 ══

These Guys!

══ 8 ══

Alien Vampires (Not the Band)

Via All News Web:Numerous residents in and around the village of Mezoband, in the Mures region of Transylvania at the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains witnessed a UFO three weeks ago. The object was described by witnesses as bright, spherical and darting too and forth in a seemingly impossible manner. Shortly after appearing the object shot off. It was reported by local media that photos of the object were taken but none have come to light yet...The village is only a stone’s throw away from the region’s main metropolis of Sighisoara, the birthplace of Vlad the Impaler or Count Dracula.

Wait. Let's get this right. A UFO near Dracula's home that can't be photographed? Do we know any other creature that can't be photographed that hails from this region? It's bad enough that aliens of old were sticking stuff in us in naughty places but if they start drinking our blood I think it's time to just start nuking the sky and seeing what happens.

5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 ..................................

Posted by Patrick & Matthew Archbold

Save the Digital Babies

Sociologists and ethicists along with millions of Americans joined together yesterday in protest of what some are calling a harbinger of societal breakdown with the introduction of a new IPhone game which features the killing of digital babies.

Sociologist and ethicist Richard Iam said we must be careful of a slippery slope when it comes to how we treat digital children. For years, he said, America has made it perfectly legal, acceptable, and often even preferable to kill real human babies but he added that we should all be concerned that society may soon believe it's acceptable to kill digital babies.

Millions agree that there must be a line drawn somewhere and expressed outraged that the Apple iPhone App allowed the killing of digital babies with its "Baby Shaker" game. Apple Inc. pulled the 99-cent iPhone game called "Baby Shaker" yesterday due to the outrage by millions.

And rightly so, say some pro-digital children organizations. "Apple went way over the line on this one," said spokesperson for Save the Metaphorical Babies, Lou Nacey. "What did a metaphorical baby ever do to anyone?"

In fact, the App starts up with these words: "On a plane, on the bus, in a theater. Babies are everywhere you don't want them to be! They're always distracting you from preparing for that big presentation at work with their incessant crying. Before Baby Shaker there was nothing you could do about it."

"But that's making digital babies pay for the sins of real babies," said Missy Conduct, spokeswoman for The Society for the Sustaining of Metaphorical Characters.

She said that in many ways digital babies are so much better than real ones and deserving of constitutional protection. "Human babies are often a burden to society, have massive carbon footprints, and add to overpopulation while with digital children there's no dirty diapers, no noise pollution, and no responsibility" said Mz. Conduct. "If a sixteen year old girl has a human baby her life is over. She immediately has no career opportunities, her education is out the window, and she's likely to be shunned by her parents so it makes sense to abort. But digital children have never harmed anyone. They are truly innocent victims."

Sensing a groundswell, a number of Democrat legislators introduced legislation yesterday to protect children made of binary codes but the bill was defeated when one Republican tried to stick an Amendment that would have included flesh and blood babies under the same legal protection. "A Republican dirty trick," said Congressional aide Anita Ayecue. "Without legal protection, it may be open season on digital children and Republicans just don't care."

ACORN representatives have already registered thousands of digital children to vote in the hopes of creating a powerful lobbying force for legal protection of digital children.

Media Bias, No Media BS

Check out this headline from Reuters."Recession linked to more abortions, vasectomies."The article begins by telling the story of a nurse who was suprised by her pregnancy. I suppose she wasn't aware that she chose to have sex. Anyway, surprised and fearful of the economy she decides that abortion is the prudent choice.

The article then goes on to suggest that more people are opting for abortions and vasectomies because of economic fears. Where do they get this information? Why they made it up of course.

The recession may be a factor influencing more Americans to opt out of parenthood with abortions and vasectomies, although there is no data available yet to suggest a trend.

Even so, there is some anecdotal evidence that would-be parents are factoring the rough economic times into the most personal of reproductive choices, some experts said.

In 2005, the last year for which data is available, the U.S. abortion rate fell to the lowest level since 1974, according to the Guttmacher Institute in New York, a nonprofit group focusing on reproductive issues.

This is not merely blatant abortion advocacy and media bias, this is media BS. Look at that again, The recession may be a factor leading to more abortion although they admit to absolutely no statistical evidence. But they claim Even So, we have anecdotal evidence even though the latest data we have shows abortion at the lowest rate since 1974.

Somebody explain to me how this can be labeled reporting and not advocacy? If Reuters was capable of shame, they ought be ashamed. But wait, there is more.

The anecdotal evidence they tout, abortion hot lines claim to be getting lots of calls. Yup, that is it. Not even statistics from abortion providers, just a claim that their phones are busy. But rest assured Reuters has a moral to this made up story.

As with many other nonprofits, abortion assistance groups are being inundated with requests for aid just as funding is drying up.

Ah abortion providers (a multi billion dollar industry) claim that their phones are busy, we need more government money and Reuters dutifully passes it off as reporting. Reuters: The PR division of Planned Parenthood.

Parents! We Don't Need No Stinking Parents!

Get thee to a private school or just keep your children home. File this story as reason #3,493 to get your family out of public schools.

World Net Daily did a story on the San Francisco School District's launching of a website that says "April is Gay Pride Celebration!" in an attempt to make schools "safer" for gays, bisexuals, and transgenders, as well as "questioning youth."

According to WND, the site has testimonials from school officials on how they're making their schools more friendly to LGBTQ students. Susan, a school nurse from Burton High School, for example, explains the steps her school is taking:

"Probably the most fun activity that we've organized and I think the most informative for the students is what we call the Rainbow Café," writes Susan. "One week during Gay Pride Month … we have a room that's set aside and there are snacks. The [Gay-Straight Alliance] has usually chosen a topic, and each day at lunch there's a speaker on a different topic. So Monday might be gays in the military, Tuesday might be gay parents, the next day might be gays and religion, and then it might be legislating civil rights for gays. We usually culminate the week with a Day of Silence. We've asked teachers to give extra credit to allow kids to come who wouldn't normally come. But because they get extra credit, kids who wouldn't be exposed to this kind of programming will be taught to think about it.

So they're offering kids free eats and extra credit in order to expose them to their gay agenda. I'd bet these are the same folks who are against trans-fats in every other case but here's they're willing to hook up Ring-Dings to the I.V.'s in order to get the kids to listen to "Heather has Two Mommies and a Questioning Pet."

But then Susan really puts the icing on the cake when she says that, of course, there are some challenges to their attempts at indoctrination.

"When asked about challenges she faces in creating an "equally safe, equally loving, equally equal environment" in schools, Susan responded, "I think any time you talk about youth relative to sexuality, and sexual behaviors, there are barriers to overcome – whether they're personal barriers or family barriers or whether they are barriers within the schools. … But I don't think they're insurmountable. We always manage to either cross over them or get around them."

So family objections to such things just need to be gotten around. But that can be difficult so many times they just don't tell the parents.

In fact, the school district then comes right out and says it in its parental notification section,

"A discussion about gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning people does not constitute a discussion about human sexuality or family life education and does NOT require parent notification according to the California Education Code."

Specifically, the website states, parents do not need to be notified of homosexual parents talking to students about their careers, intervention in name-calling incidents that violate the anti-slur policy, reading books that highlight LGBTQ characters or celebrating Diversity Days or Gay Pride Month at school.

Public schools clearly see parents as impediments to indoctrination. You are something to be "gotten around" while they busily mold the mind of your children. Never mind, that it's your child and your taxpayer money paying their salaries. Many of these school officials have nothing but contempt for you and your beliefs.

Remember always that to our cultural elite, whether or not you are in the majority, you are an anti-social backwards thinking impediment to a "New America." If you doubt it, check out the website or just watch a Miss America pageant.

Exchange of the Day

Maureen Dowd doesn't like Twitter and was essentially acting like a jerk to the guys who invented Twitter in a Q and A. She asks this question and the comeback is 140 characters or less and perfect:

Dowd: Twitter seems like telegrams without the news. We now know that on the president’s trip to Trinidad, ABC News’s Jake Tapper’s shower was spewing brown water. Is there any thought that doesn’t need to be published?

BIZ STONE: The one I’m thinking right now.

Can't do better than that.

Fr. Barron On Common Perceptions of Mass

Fired Priest Isn't Going Quietly

A long time ago when I was much younger and not well behaved (at all) and still drinking (a lot), my college friends and I got a touch out of control and we got kicked out of a bar.

The bouncers said it was because we were rowdy, drunk, swearing, and fighting but we'd argued that we'd been rowdy, drunk and swearing for hours and nobody seemed to mind. The fighting was the only change and we promised to stop. The massive bouncers grabbed us by our necks and shirts and tossed us out. We slurred to the behemoths that we were coming back with everyone we knew and they'd be sorry.

Well, Fr. Peter Kennedy seems to be leaving St. Mary's Church in Australia in much the same way.

But we at least had the smarts to just go to sleep it off before we did any lasting damage. Fr. Kennedy is essentially swearing his revenge on the Catholic church by starting his own church just down the street.

You might remember Fr. Kennedy as the priest who compared himself to Jesus and had a UFO cult rally to his aid.

Father Kennedy in his stay at St. Mary's Church has focused almost exclusively on social justice while eschewing spirituality altogether. Fr. Kennedy has allowed women to preach at St Mary's Church and he often blesses homosexual couples. He allowed a Buddhist statue in the church and even questioned the virgin birth of Jesus.

Archbishop John Bathersby terminated Fr Kennedy's appointment there and Fr. Kennedy tried to rally people to his cause during Sunday Mass because that's what Sunday mass is for. And this has been going on for months. There were even bomb scares phoned in to the bishop over Fr. Kennedy's removal.

Well, according to Australia Incognita, Fr. Kennedy's last Mass was Sunday.

Today was Fr Kennedy's last mass at South Brisbane, and the media coverage continues, to the end, to be blatantly biased in favour of him (take a look at this Courier Mail story to see what I mean), even as he says ever more outrageous things. Like, Is the Pope a Catholic? on ABC tv news. Or this, on the ABC website:

"Our story might give hope to all those Catholics you know who've left the church for all sorts of good reasons," he said. "Those who've been excluded on grounds of gender or sexual orientation, or just people who have been oppressed by the doctrines and dogmas and regulations and rules of the Catholic Church."

Well, now it seems that Kennedy has started up his own church of sorts. After his last Mass, many of the people followed Fr Kennedy 200 metres down the road after the mass to the Trades and Labour Council building where his new congregation, St Mary's in Exile, will be based.

According to the Courier Mail:

Fr Kennedy said the majority of the St Mary's church community would join his congregation.

"Father Ken Howell (the newly appointed St Mary's administrator) will have to rent a crowd," Fr Kennedy said. "They are in denial that this community will walk down the road and join St Mary's in Exile.

"They came before because we were different. We ran liturgies for the people."

Yes. You don't want any of that weird God stuff working its way into the liturgy. Booooringggg!

We should pray for Fr. Kennedy and hope that he comes to his senses. And stop hanging out with Raelians.

(If by chance any of those bouncers that booted me out of the bar are reading this, I'm sorry and I'm not still gathering friends to come back. Just in case you were worried.)

Wait. Hitler Hated Hitler's Pope?

If one were only to get their news from mainstream sources and the culture at large this story would make little sense to you. If you believe that Pope Pius XII was "Hitler's Pope" because some anti-Catholic author wrote it in order to sell books, then you might be shocked to read that Hitler had a plot to kidnap the Pope. According to the UK Telegraph:

Pope Pius XII told senior bishops that should he be arrested by the Nazis, his resignation would become effective immediately, paving the way for a successor, according to documents in the Vatican's Secret Archives.

The bishops would then be expected to flee to a safe country – probably neutral Portugal – where they would re-establish the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church and appoint a new Pontiff.

That Hitler considered kidnapping the Pope has been documented before, but this is the first time that details have emerged of the Vatican's strategy should the Nazis carry out the plan.

"Pius said 'if they want to arrest me they will have to drag me from the Vatican'," said Peter Gumpel, the German Jesuit priest who is in charge of researching whether Pius should be made a saint, and therefore has access to secret Vatican archives.

Pius, who was Pope throughout the war, told his advisers "the person who would leave the under these conditions would not be Pius XII but Eugenio Pacelli" – his name before he was elected Pontiff – thus giving permission for a new Pope to be elected.

"It would have been disastrous if the Church had been left without an authoritative leader," said Father Gumpel.

"Pius wouldn't leave voluntarily. He had been invited repeatedly to go to Portugal or Spain or the United States but he felt he could not leave his diocese under these severe and tragic circumstances." Vatican documents, which still remain secret, are believed to show that Pius was aware of a plan formulated by Hitler in July 1943 to occupy the Vatican and arrest him and his senior cardinals.

Weird, huh? Why would Adolf Hitler be coming up with a plan to kidnap the Pope if the Pope were on his side? Hmmm...

Rabbi David Dalin wrote in his book "The Myth of Hitler’s Pope: How Pope Pius XII Rescued Jews from the Nazis" that Pope Pius deserves to be recognized as a "righteous Gentile" for his efforts to rescue Jews from the Nazis.

Rabbi Dalin shows that the Catholic Church, under direct orders from Pius XII, sheltered and protected thousands and thousands of Jews.

The truth is that the myth of "Hitler's Pope" started in 1963 with left-wing German writer Rolf Hochhuth’s fictional play The Deputy, which portrayed Pius XII as indifferent to Jewish suffering. Then the KGB spread the lie to harm the Catholic Church. They did so only after the Pope's death.

The lie of "Hitler's Pope" has become pervasive in the culture but the truth can be found. If only one is willing to look. Even a little.

The truth is that Pope Pius was an untiring enemy of the Nazi regime and Hitler knew it and that's why he wanted to remove him from the papacy.

According to Jimmy Akin:

The Pope’s efforts did not go unrecognized by Jewish authorities, even during the War. The Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, Isaac Herzog, sent the Pope a personal message of thanks on February 28, 1944, in which he said: "The people of Israel will never forget what His Holiness and his illustrious delegates, inspired by the eternal principles of religion which form the very foundations of true civilization, are doing for us unfortunate brothers and sisters in the most tragic hour of our history, which is living proof of divine Providence in this world."[17]

Other Jewish leaders chimed in also. Rabbi Safran of Bucharest, Romania, sent a note of thanks to the papal nuncio on April 7, 1944: "It is not easy for us to find the right words to express the warmth and consolation we experienced because of the concern of the supreme pontiff, who offered a large sum to relieve the sufferings of deported Jews. . . . The Jews of Romania will never forget these facts of historic importance."[18]

The Chief Rabbi of Rome, Israel Zolli, also made a statement of thanks: "What the Vatican did will be indelibly and eternally engraved in our hearts. . . . Priests and even high prelates did things that will forever be an honor to Catholicism."[19]

It becomes increasingly difficult to honestly believe in the myth of Hitler's Pope. But something tells me that those who hate the Church will still find a way.