Planned Parenthood Fraud?

Abortion giant Planned Parenthood is being forced to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to Washington state following an audit. Sounds a bit like fraud to me. Can you imagine that people who kill babies for a living might lso be guilty of fraud?

Planned Parenthood of the Inland Northwest will pay the state $345,000 after settling a 2009 audit that uncovered the clinic used incorrect codes and provided insufficient documentation for some claims billed to Medicaid.

The original audit finding estimated the Spokane family-planning organization improperly billed Medicaid more than $629,000 for 333 patient procedures from March 2004 through February 2007...

Planned Parenthood appealed and a compromise was reached with the state “without any admission of incorrect billing, documentation of payment,” according the Department of Social and Health Services.

We're all supposed to believe that that this was just a few hundred thousand honest mistakes? You know, Planned Parenthood would probably be able to keep their books straighter if they had some more taxpayer funding.

Parenting According to Monster Movies

In honor of Halloween I’m promulgating my long held theory on parenting informed by monster movies. When I was young and single I was King Kong. The King of all Monsters. Nobody messed with Kong. Nobody. Until…I fell in love. And then down goes Kong.

I’m sure you can relate. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage. I’m sure this path happened similarly for many of you. Let’s walk along the Monster Movie timeline of parenting.

Birth of baby. You are The Fly.

You are an unsuspecting victim who dabbled with powers far beyond your comprehension and changes have come upon you unbidden. You’re not yourself anymore. You don’t know what you are. But it’s not pretty.

1-3 mos. –You are a Vampire

– You’ve been cursed to walk the night and it seems that this may go on for eternity. As a nocturnal creature with red bloodshot eyes you frighten all who come in contact with you. As the sun rises, you curse it and only wish for sleep, peaceful sleep.

Continue reading at the National Catholic Register>>>

Obama Melts Down - Lies!!

Hey, what is a little lying among friends?

In this clip, Obama is heckled by AIDS protesters, again. And he lies about "the other side", again. (ht Gateway)



This is what "the other side" did when it was in charge



You know what liars do? They lie. That's what they do.

Carving A Pumpkin - With STYLE!

This vid speaks for itself.

CMR Wants Your Election Prediction

Every pundit has their predictions about how many seats the GOP will gain on Tuesday. So why shouldn't bloggers like us, right?

My official prediction is - (drumroll please) 74 House seats and 9 Senate seats will be gained.

Patrick's official prediction is 67 House seats and 8 Senate seats. (He would pick more but he's convinced that the Dems will cheat. A lot)

I'm interested in hearing from you guys how many seats the GOP may pick up on Tuesday. Put on your predictin' hats. The combox is yours.

The Pelosi Pity Party Begins

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) expressed sympathy for how Nancy Pelosi is being treated and the media seems to be joining in, according to Weasel Zippers. He said:

“She’s hard-working, focused, trying to do things that are good for the American public, and for average working people, and she’s being vilified. I think that’s unfortunate,” Hoyer, the House majority leader, told The Hill as he campaigned in his home district.

Vilified? I don't think that word means what he thinks it means.

Because I'm not sure I recall Nancy Pelosi being called a "wh*re" by an opposing campaign. I don't remember her being called a "b@tch" numerous times by anyone on national television either. I don't remember any ridiculously false one night stand stories coming out of the mainstream media about her. I don't remember national news stories suggesting that her baby was actually her daughter's baby. Do you?

So I'm going to suggest that maybe many of these Democrats don't know what it is to be vilified. Can you find a Democrat woman who's been vilified like Sarah Palin, Christine O'Donnell, or Sharon Angle? Is there really any comparison?

So hold off on the Pelosi pity party please. OK?

Hunting For God

Who is St. Hubert? Th patron St. of hunting, that's who.

The story of St. Hubert as told by Father John Sewell (An Episcopalian I think I could like) tells the story this way.

In the late 600s A.D., a "party boy" named Hubert had given himself to the vanities of life, and was obsessed with hunting. Once, he chose to pursue his sport on Good Friday, "a real no-no in that time," and received an unexpected wake-up call from above.

During his hunt that morning, a vision of the crucifix appeared to Hubert between the antlers of a great stag. Through the creature, God spoke to him and said, "Hubert, if you don't get your act together, you're going to hell."

Hubert got his act together and is now St. Hubert, patron saint of hunters.

Fr. Joe Classen has written extensively about hunting. Like this...

I’m well aware that some will be upset, and perhaps scandalized, by the notion of a priest who not only actively hunts and fishes, but who also passionately promotes it. I do get rather amusing hate-mail from time to time in which the usually anonymous author emphatically asks, “How can you, a man of God, kill his creatures?” My response is, ultimately, one word: food. While many Americans do their “hunting” at the grocery store, we in the outdoors community do it in the woods and on the waters.

And this.

In the “green” days of political correctness, environmental activism and animal rights, the American legacy of hunting is coming under more scrutiny than ever. There are many concerns in our culture for animal welfare, and a more “humane” way of living. The idea of armed, camouflage-clad individuals taking to the woods in search of their quarry is abhorred by those whose fantasy view of the natural world is based on the subjective, feel-good nonsense of Disney movies and the like.
Indeed, there is a tremendous amount of misinformation about hunting these days, about its purpose and value as well as the laughable stereotypes of those who hunt and fish. There is the incredibly mistaken notion that we hunters are crazed murderers who have a sick fascination with destroying life. Unfortunately, there are people who fit that description: They are called poachers, and they are criminals!

But for those of us who passionately love hunting and all things outdoors, absolutely
nothing could be further from the truth. Hunters are the first and truest environmentalists.

We are the greenest of the green.

Hunters are not mere spectators of creation, as other nature lovers are. Rather, we are active participants as we immerse ourselves completely into God’s creation and take a hands-on role in managing our natural, renewable resources, of which animals are a big part.

I found this prayer from Fr. Mitch Pacwa.

Lord God, You have put all things under man’s dominion. Guide us to take the animals that need to be culled for the preservation of their species and the rest of the ecosystem. Let me always respect the animals I have hunted. Never let me torment them, mock them, or made them objects of ridicule. When I take an animal’s life let me always maintain respect for the wonder of its existence and the importance of its meat to those who need it for sustenance.

Amen.

As I prepare to take to the woods again this weekend; St. Hubert, pray for me.

Catholics Turning to GOP

Are Catholics finally turning their back on the party of death? As we all know, a majority of self identified Catholics voted for Barack Obama for President.

But this past week a number of polls have shown a stunning turnaround; an exodus of sorts from the Democrat Party. The Telegraph reports:

The Democrats' 10-point lead among Catholic voters has been reversed into a 24-point Republican advantage.

That's pretty startling.

Now, of course the pessimist in me wonders if it's simply the bad economy that's pushing that vote or is it the realization of many Catholics that the Democrat Party is the party of death panels, federal funding of abortion and behemoth government that aims to crowd out the Church from public life.

I don't get out much because it's still illegal to velcro the kids to the carpet and leave the house. In fact I think Punxsutawney Phil gets out more than I do but when I do I've heard from a few people that they simply forgot how radical the Democrat party was and the last two years have served as a shocking reminder which have made them flee the Democrat Party.

I don't think we'll know why this happened until perhaps 2012. I don't think we'll know for sure what's driving this Catholic shift away from the Democrat Party until the economy improves.

But if the Republicans prove themselves to be the pro-life, limited government, and traditional values party I wonder if many Catholics will find a long term home there.

Study: The Pill Makes Women Jealous

Did you know The Pill could have side effects? Shock! One researcher is saying that The Pill could make women jealous.Daily Mail reports:

A study claims sex hormones in the contraceptive Pill bring out the green-eyed monster, making a woman more possessive and more likely to fret about her husband or boyfriend’s fidelity.

Those taking brands with the highest levels of oestrogen may even find their hormone-driven suspicions place their relationship in jeopardy, researchers warned.

The finding is one in a long line of ‘emotional’ side-effects attributed to the Pill, which is taken by some 3.5million British women – a quarter of all 16 to 49-year-olds.

The drug is also credited with making women broody, changing their taste in men and even boosting intelligence.

Working with Dutch psychologists, Stirling University’s Dr Craig Roberts asked 275 women a series of questions designed to gauge how much they trusted their partner.

Topics covered included how they feel when their other half flirts with another woman, whether they were worried that he would leave them for another woman and how possessive they were.

The women, who were aged between 17 and 35 had all been taking various versions of the combined Pill, containing synthetic forms of oestrogen and progesterone, for at least three months.

Shock. While I completely believe that The Pill may indeed do something physical to a woman to inspire jealousy shouldn't it also be considered that women on the Pill who have sex with a man without a lifelong commitment to building a family might have reason to be jealous. So whether it's a physical side effect or simply an effect of the contraceptive lifestyle there's little doubt that it harms and misshapes relationships.

Is "The Pill" a Right? For Kids?

Abortion and contraceptive giant Planned Parenthood is suing the state of Montana to force them to provide "The Pill" to children free of charge. Did you get that? FOR CHILDREN.

Planned Parenthood's affidavit, according to KRTV reads:

The State of Montana, through it Healthy Montana Kids ("HMK")program, provides primary and preventive health care services, including prescription drug coverage, to uninsured children through age 18 with family incomes that are too low to purchase private insurance, but too high to qualify for the Medicaid program.

However, Montana has denied comprehensive services to young women enrolled in
HMK because the program excludes coverage for prescription contraceptives

The state administered program provides "The Pill" as long as its prescribed for something other than birth control (which between you and I is one of the biggest scams going in that The Pill is prescribed for many reasons with little warning given as to its other effects.)

But here's the kicker, Planned Parenthood argues that the exclusion of contraception for contraceptive purposes in the plan:

interferes with young women's abilities to make medical decisions about their health - in particular, about whether or not to have a child - without compelling justifications, and therefore, violates the fundamental right of individual privacy.

You get that? Not giving taxpayer funded contraception to children is a violation of their rights. And some of the money for the program is from federal funds as well so everyone would be chipping in to make sure all those teenagers get contraception.

Continue reading at the National Catholic Register>>>

B-List Celebs Warns Against Voting GOP

This is just awesome because of how bad it is. I mean really laughably bad. Ed Wood would walk out on this. This makes me really really want to vote next Tuesday.

Big Hollywood writes:

They trot out a rich, beautiful Hollywood actress set to star in a $170M Disney blockbuster and the guy from “The 40 Year Old Virgin” and put them in a PSA backed by a George Soros-funded advocacy organization to tell us, ever so subtly, that if we vote GOP this Tuesday, it could mean the end of humanity

Cutest Trick or Treater Ever

This was just too cute not to share.


Shamelessly stolen from Jill Stanek.

Scientists Claim to Find Liberal Gene

Some scientists claim to have discovered the "liberal gene." Of course you and I know that this is one of the stupidest thing you'll ever read but if we were to take them at their word the first thing I think is that hey there must be a cure then. We just need to monkey around with their genes a little bit.

NBC San Diego reports:

Researchers have determined that genetics could matter when it comes to some adults' political leanings.

According to scientists at UC San Diego and Harvard University, "ideology is affected not just by social factors, but also by a dopamine receptor gene called DRD4." That and how many friends you had during high school.

The study was led by UCSD's James Fowler and focused on 2,000 subjects from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Scientists matched the subjects' genetic information with "maps" of their social networks. According to researchers, they determined that people "with a specific variant of the DRD4 gene were more likely to be liberal as adults." However, the, subjects were only more likely to have leanings to the left if they were also socially active during adolescence.

How soon until liberal makes it illegal to abort any babies in the womb with an abundance of DRD4?

I love how they say people with lots of friends in high school are liberal, leaving the conservative end of the spectrum to be peopled by societal friendless misfits. This kind of thing is just such pseudo science that only idiots would believe this. But maybe I just don't have enough DRD4 to understand it.

Be Catholic on Voting Day

Ht Les Femmes

Transfats Laws Just Like Abortion Laws?

The Baltimore city health department fined a business called Healthy Choice John's Barbecue, for violating the ban on trans fats. The city passed a law making it illegal to sell foods they deem to be high in trans fats because they raise bad cholesterol and lead to heart disease and other problems. In short, they kill people.

"Trans fats are bad for your health," said Juan Gutierrez, a health department official reportedly said.

But I don't think liberals really believe that trans fats are dangerous because if they truly thought it was dangerous they would be willing to punish the people who purchase and eat the fatty foods not just the organizations that provide the trans fats to people.

If they truly believed transfats are sooo dangerous wouldn't they punish the people as a way to save them. The fact that they don't leads me to believe they don't really believe that transfats are killing people.

In fact, if they truly believed this wouldn't they just make it illegal to be fat. If they truly believed transfats were dangerous why not just create a "fat patrol" that goes around and if they spot a fat person they lasso them, round them up and fine them until they become skinny. (Hey it's not like the fat people can run away and if they do they'll lose weight from running so it's a win-win.)

I make this argument to prove a point of course because this is much like the argument they use that pro-lifers don't truly believe abortion is killing because pro-lifers only want to legally punish the abortionist and not the mothers who procure abortions. They often say our unwillingness to punish women is evidence pro-lifers don't truly believe that abortion is killing.

I know they can have it both ways in their heads because they're liberals but it doesn't mean I shouldn't point it out.

Couric: Middle America = "The Great Unwashed"

I was going to put this on our links page (The Reader) but it's just too priceless. Too perfect. It says it all.

Katie Couric's producer says the reason nobody watches her is because she's stuck behind a desk but now they're going to send her out into middle America. Hilarity ensues.

Hot Air reports:

Rick Kaplan, her executive producer, says that “when she’s on the road—in Iraq with David Petraeus—she has a great way with people. People like her and she likes them. There are anchors who consider being on the road a pain in the butt. She really looks for opportunities to feel the earth and touch people.”

That’s why Couric has spent recent weeks in Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston and New Brunswick, New Jersey. She is touring what she calls “this great unwashed middle of the country” in an effort to divine the mood of the midterms.

The funny part of that quote is that the producer is attempting to explain why Couric hasn't connected with viewers and does exactly that albeit unwillingly.

The funnier part is that Howard Kurtz relayed this quote and didn't think it worthy of a comment.

One can assume that if you live in New York, DC or Los Angeles you're considered "the washed" but anywhere between there and you're kinda'...shall we say...frowned upon.

Btw, I haven't studied geography in a while (ever?) but I'm pretty sure that Alaska is not between New York and L.A. but I'd bet anyone from there (especially former governors) would be considered unwashed.

I love it when people say what they actually mean.

Katie, good luck at CNN or MSNBC or wherever you end up.

Hot Air and Lileks have the story.

Vatican: What Promised Land?

Promised land? What promised land? Chosen people? Not anymore.

So sayeth the Synod of Middle Eastern Bishops.

In the closing statement of the Synod on the Middle East, the Bishops issued a statement. That statement said (among other things)...

n a separate part of the document -- a section on cooperation with Jews -- the synod fathers took issue with Jews who use the Bible to justify settlements in the West Bank, which Israel captured in 1967.

"Recourse to theological and biblical positions which use the Word of God to wrongly justify injustices is not acceptable," the document said.

Many Jewish settlers and right-wing Israelis claim a biblical birthright to the occupied West Bank, which they call Judea and Samaria and regard as a part of historical, ancient Israel given to the Jews by God.

NO PROMISED LAND

Asked about the passage at a news conference, Greek-Melchite Archbishop Cyrille Salim Bustros, said:

"We Christians cannot speak about the promised land for the Jewish people. There is no longer a chosen people. All men and women of all countries have become the chosen people.

"The concept of the promised land cannot be used as a base for the justification of the return of Jews to Israel and the displacement of Palestinians," he added. "The justification of Israel's occupation of the land of Palestine cannot be based on sacred scriptures."

See Jimmy Akin here and here.

Discuss.

Future Speaker Boehner -- I Pray All Day

Future Speaker Boehner (whose skin tone, according to some paleo-socio-archaeologists, is probably very similar to that of a very famous first century semite) say that he prays all day- every day. What fer? Conservative victory? That's what fer.

“I’ve been praying all day, every day,” Boehner told conservative radio host Mike Gallagher this week. “Trying to make it through this election and make sure our team is successful.”

Boehner is a practicing Roman Catholic, and has in the past joined with Democrats, notably the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), to support Catholic charities.

“[Prayer] does work,” Boehner told the host. “You’ve just got to stay at it every day and build a closer relationship with our Savior.”

Kennedy. Hahaha. They said Kennedy.

Current speaker Pelosi has said in the past that she prays, but not for political outcome. Well, I guess that even Madame Speaker does not much care for prayer that solicits more dead babies. Maybe.

Besides, only someone like Aquinas would be deep enough to understand her nuanced theology.

So John Boehner, a Catholic, prays for victory. Good. Because according to a story in in JTA, he should be watching out for a certain Jew.

Cantor poised to become the highest-ranking Jewish member in the history of the U.S. House of Representatives. If the Republicans take the House, as the pundits and polls are predicting, he is expected to rise to the position of majority leader.

Maybe even House speaker, as the buzz goes, if the new wave of Republican lawmakers decide to dump Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), who some conservatives see as too close to lobbyists and establishment interests. Cantor, the only Jewish Republican lawmaker in the Congress, denies that talk.

Catholics. Jews. Prayer. Politics. Boy, all the things you are not supposed to talk about in polite company.

Anyway, I don't know who will become Speaker, the Catholic or the Jew, but I can tell that either one of them will be beaten over their heads with their religion by the Ordinary Ministers of the Media. These stories this week are just the beginning.

Women Abort Because They Love Motherhood

I've seen this tactic being used more and more by the pro-death crowd. Pro-aborts argue in favor of killing babies out of love because they want their imaginary children to be given a great life with advantages so anything less than perfection is not living up to the ideal and therefore not love. So because their real babies don't live up to the expectation they had for their imaginary baby it's a loving thing to kill the real baby. Get it? I know. It gives me a headache too.

Just yesterday on the Rachel Maddow show Dr. Elizbeth Newell put a twist on this by elevating the idea of motherhood to such a high level that any falling short of the ideal of perfect motherhood is such an offense that abortion is clearly the only answer. But it's done out of love of the ideal.

This is nasty:

HT Weasel Zippers.

The Craziest Story on the Internet

We covered lots of serious stuff today so here's some silliness for you guys. Here's the question being asked all over the interwebs. Did a Woman Travel Through Time to Attend a Charlie Chaplin Premier? Seriously.

Some pretty normally sane movie sites are covering this story like Cinematical and Moviefone as well as dozens of looney tunes sites. Heck, Roger Ebert (is he sane?) even Tweeted about it.

Here's the story in a nutshell. There's old footage from a Charlie Chaplin movie premiere where an older woman who may secretly be a man is walking down the street while talking on what may secretly be a cell phone all the way back in 1928.

Check out the vid:

I gotta' admit that it if I saw someone walking down the street my first thought would be that they were talking on the phone but this seems like kinda' flimsy evidence to jump to the conclusion of time travel to me but I'm just here to bring you the latest and greatest stories on the google machine. And besides "The Big Lebowski" and "In America," "Time Bandits" might be my favorite movie of all time.

So...you seeing time travel here?

Gay Mass Disallowed at Catholic Parish

Auxiliary Bishop Oscar Cantu has put a stop to St. Ann's in San Antonio weekly gay/transgender Mass that has been held there for 15 years.

Now, Dignity/San Antonio is saying they're shocked and disappointed. Fred Anthony Garza, president of Dignity/San Antonio, said "Of course it was hurtful and disappointing...Many people in the community felt rejected, so part of our responsibility is meeting the needs and the pastoral needs of those people that are hurting."

KSAT reports:

Deacon Pat Rogers, communications director for the Archdiocese of San Antonio, said there were conflicting messages about the group's official teachings.

"The fact that this was an advocacy group that represented publicly and in their own way, a position that was outside of Catholic teaching in regards to homosexuality," Rogers said. "And, the fact that we understood there was irregularities in the liturgy, itself."

Rogers said the letter from the auxiliary bishop also extended an invitation to the group to join other Catholic parishes without a segregated mass.

But instead the group held a ceremony without a priest at a nearby Presbyterian Church. So maybe they're more serious about being gay than Catholic.

The group's leader Garza said they're pinning their hopes on "opening a dialogue" with Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller which typically means that you do what they want or they'll call you names in the press.

CMR commends Auxiliary Bishop Oscar Cantu's actions here. He has invited them to be non-hyphenated Catholics. He asked them to instead of being gay Catholics or transgender Catholics how about just giving being a non hyphenated Catholic a try. Let's hope they hear him.

Caption Joe's Wandering Hand Pic

There's just so much going on here. You got Joe's wandering hand. You've got the priceless look from the guy who looks like he's about to swat him. But then you got the guy sitting behind them looking right at it.


Joe always loved WC Field's movies.
Don't Ask Don't Tell.
A little jealous of President Obama's ability to create tingles in his supporters' legs, Joe Biden unfortunately tries to manually coax tingles to little effect.

So...you got any captions for this:

HT Free Republic.

The Most Anti-Catholic Political Ad Ever

A Democrat Party supporting independent non profit group has sent out perhaps THE most anti-Catholic political advertisement I've ever seen. Sometimes there's a little subtlety to anti-Catholic political rhetoric but not this time. This is in your face anti-Catholicism. A postcard was sent out to voters with a photo shopped picture of a Catholic priest wearing a campaign button saying: "Ignore the Poor."

As you can see below the pic takes up nearly the entire length of the postcard. It's anti-Catholicism is not one point of many. It's the point.

Continue reading at the National Catholic Register>>>

Obama Calls Republicans "Enemies."

Yup. President Obama who was supposed to heal the country's divisions just called some Americans "enemies." Guess which ones? Republicans. Yup. Enemies.

This is disgusting.

Kathryn Jean Lopez asks: "Did the President of the United States Describe Some Americans as Enemies?"

Via The Hill:

Latino voters, the president said, would have an opportunity to send a message to Republicans, who Obama accused of “politicizing” immigration reform and the border security debate. Obama said “pressure has to be put on the Republican Party” if immigration reform is to become a reality.

“And if Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, we’re gonna punish our enemies and we’re gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us, if they don’t see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it’s gonna be harder — and that’s why I think it’s so important that people focus on voting on November 2,” he said.

This is the President who doesn't call the Taliban an enemy but anyone who's against amnesty is an enemy of Latinos?

This is so wrong on many levels in that the country is at war and The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES is calling half the country "enemies." And it's also playing to the racial divides which harm this country. I can't get over how awful this is. It puts the party label over that which unites us which should be that we're all Americans.

President George Washington warned of the dangers of political parties. He warned:

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty.

Hmmmm...

Update: Hot Air just put up a story on the same subject worth reading.

Debate Crowd Demands Pledge

This is awesome. No. If awesome was a ninja this video would still be awesomer.

I love how the crowd just completely ignored this madwoman trying to stop the people from saying the Pledge of Allegiance.



HT Viral Footage

Paul was there and has got a post on this. Definitely worth a read.

And just because I don't want you feeling too good about our country just days before an election I'll spoil your day a little bit with this well timed breath that congresswoman Betty McCollum took while leading Congress in saying the Pledge of Allegiance. She said later that the Pledge is just sooooooooo long that he had to find a place to take a breath and guess which part she took a breath on.

The Hobbit is Cast. What Say You?

I think this is awesome.

The Washington Post reports:

Martin Freeman will play the hobbit who makes the long journey to Lonely Mountain in the two-part film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's book, New Line announced and The Hollywood Reporter, among other media outlets, reported. For those closely tracking news of all things "Hobbit" this doesn't come as a surprise, since Freeman had already been the subject of Baggins casting rumors.

The British actor is best known for playing Tim on the original version of "The Office." He also starred in the underrated "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and appeared in "Shaun of the Dead," "Hot Fuzz" and "Love Actually," among other films.

Several other actors also had their "Hobbit" status confirmed in the announcement, including Richard Armitage (another Brit) as Thoren Oakenshield and Aidan Turner ("Being Human") and Rob Kazinsky (a British TV actor) in the roles of young dwarves Kili and Fili. Two veterans of the previous "Lord of the Rings" films -- Ian McKellen as Gandalf and Andy Serkis as Gollum -- will also appear in the film, which is slated to begin production in February.

I like it. The guy has a Bilboish feel to me.

I was pleased as punch that Peter Jackson was announced to be directing recently. So now my hopes are officially high. What do you guys think?

10 Things You Can't Do Anymore

I was thinking how different my kid's lives are than mine was and then I thought about how different things are generally. There are so many things I experienced (I'm 40) that kids today don't including:

1) Dodgeball in gym class.
2) Making ashtrays in art class for your parents.
3) Dressing up as hobos for Halloween
4) Public school teachers saying "God bless you" and not have to call their union rep to save their job.
5) Buying chocolate cigarettes.
6) Wrapping your lunch in tinfoil and put it in a paper bag.
7) "Green" was just a color in the crayon box, not a way of life.
8) Carrying around a Swiss Army knife everywhere you went.
9) Learning that America is a great country.
10) Saying the Pledge of Allegiance every morning.

Bonus: Playing war with finger guns in the schoolyard and not getting suspended.

Playing outside all day and your parents having no idea where you were as long as you were back for dinner.


You got any to add?

The Archbishop of 'Chutzpah'

Immigration debate seems to assume, as a pre-requisite, the suspension of all common sense.

I have for some time marveled at the chutzpah of the Mexican government lecturing the U.S. on how it should handle illegal immigration.

Regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum on the debate over illegal immigration, it is difficult not to be slack-jawed at the Mexican audacity. Earlier this year, Mexican President Felipe Calderon lectured the U.S. and Arizona on the floor of Congress over our handling of illegal immigration. Crushing poverty and crime forces millions to flee Mexico, with the tacit approval of their government, and to enter illegally into the U.S.--and they lecture us. Like I said, chutzpah.

Frankly, I have never seen anything else like it. Until now.

The Anglican Church careens down a path ever more divergent from traditional Christianity. The traditional-minded among >>>

Continue Reading @ NAtional Catholic Register>>>>

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Uh oh.

There is a horror movie coming out called Case #39. This story, Proposition #39, is much much much scarier.

Proposition 39 coming out of the Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops.

Propositio 39
Liturgy

The biblical and theological wealth of the Eastern liturgies is at the spiritual service of the universal Church. Nonetheless, it would be useful and important to renew the liturgical texts and celebrations, where necessary, so as to answer better the needs and expectations of the faithful. This renewal must be based on an ever deeper knowledge of tradition and be adapted to contemporary language and categories.

Renewal of the eastern Liturgies? Adapted? Contemporary language? What could possibly go wrong, right?

Have we learned nothing? NOTHING????

We screw this up and the Orthodox will never ever ever trust us.. Leave it alone.

Backin' Up--My Daddy Taught Me Good

This story is being promoted from the Creative Minority Reader.

Friend O'CMR Marcel at Aggie Catholics had this the other day. Matthew's kids have been singing it ever since. Truth is, so have I.

Reason #MMXVII why the Interwebs was invented.

The Original Vid.


And The Masterpiece.

A More Perfecter Metaphor For Our Time

Last week I said that weddings being held at McDonalds was a perfect metaphor for our time. Well, this is a more perfecter metaphor for our time.

Reuters:

Chen Wei-yih has posed for a set of photos in a flowing white dress, enlisted a wedding planner and rented a banquet hall for a marriage celebration with 30 friends.

But there is no groom. Chen will marry herself.

Uninspired by the men she's met but facing social pressure to get married, the 30-year-old Taipei office worker will hold the reception next month in honor of just one person.

"Age thirty is a prime period for me. My work and experience are in good shape, but I haven't found a partner, so what can I do?" Chen said.

"It's not that I'm anti-marriage. I just hope that I can express a different idea within the bounds of a tradition."

We should always remember that any and all traditions have no hold on us, in fact they should not even be considered. Because first and foremost we must remember that it's all about us.

If we can't say marriage is between a man and a woman why should we be able to say it must be between two people rather than just one, right?

The Rite: Anthony Hopkins as the Exorcist

Thoughts?

Study: Starving Babies Takes Longer Than Expected

Wesley Smith freaks me out again. Just in time for the weekend. At least once a week he completely ruins my day with some "advancement" in the name of science or a study.

I was thinking about pulling some quotes out to show you how horrible it is but there are just too many to choose.

Smith writes:

Tube supplied hydration and nutrition is deemed a medical treatment, like aspirin, surgery, or chemotherapy, and hence, can be denied or withdrawn under the law. Normal receipt of food and water, is not allowed to be withheld when it can be taken, since that isn’t medical treatment. Still, take away either form of sustenance from infants (or adults) and they will die.

A disturbing study has come out about how long it takes to starve an infant to death, I assume by withdrawing tube-supplied sustenance.

Continue reading at Secondhand Smoke.

Having Babies Makes Moms Brain Grow

Having babies makes mothers brains grow, according to a new study. That must be why those Catholic women with all those kids seem so smart, huh?

I don't think this has worked on my wife but hey, it's science. (I can say these kinds of things because my wife hardly ever reads the blog.)

This is pretty fascinating stuff in LiveScience:

Although the stress of motherhood may make them feel insane at times, new moms aren't losing their minds. In fact, it's just the opposite: Their brains grow larger in certain regions within months of delivering the newborn, a new study suggests.

And those moms who are particularly awestruck and gushy over their babies show more growth in the brain areas associated with motivation, reward and the regulation of emotion, the researchers said.

The team, led by Pilyoung Kim, a developmental psychologist who is now with the National Institute of Mental Health, used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to scan the brains of 19 moms two to four weeks after the birth of a child, then again up to four months afterward. Images showed small but significant increases in the gray matter in certain parts of the brain, including those responsible for sensory perception, reasoning and judgment.

A change in gray matter over such a short period is unusual among adults, according to the researchers.

That's pretty darn cool, isn't it? But this is mainly awesome because this gives mothers the perfect opportunity to snark it up.

You know how mothers with lots of kids are constantly asked questions about why they have so many kids in that slightly derogatory raised eyebrow way. Well now, the mother surrounded by five, six, seven or eight kids or more can just say, "Oh you don't have as many kids as me so you wouldn't understand because your brain is soooooo puny. Sorry."

Note: While giving you a good triumphantly warm feeling for a brief time, acting in such a snarky way as CMR recommends could put your soul in danger. It's up to you. Just sayin.'

HT Culture War Notes

Harry Reid, Superhero

Harry Reid is unbelievable. Normally people this delusional are hanging out near the Slurpee machine asking for spare change but this guy's the Majority Leader of the Senate. So untethered to reality is Reid that he actually said, "but for me, we’d be in a world-wide depression.”



This is awesome because this is the same guy that said he shouldn't be blamed for the economy just last week. The Hill reported Harry Reid said:

"It would take a real stretch to think I caused the problems with the economy, and that's what she is trying to do," Reid said referencing his GOP opponent, Sharron Angle. "You know that I have nothing to do with those unemployment figures, in fact I have worked hard to change them ..

Soooo Harry wants all the credit and none of the blame. Awesome.

And Sharon Angle's the crazy one?

HT Weasel Zippers

Klavan on the Culture

It's funny 'cause it's true. Bestselling author Andrew Klavan takes on the mainstream media which is on the far left. You'll see.

Monster Talent Agency

This is darn funny:



HT Right Wing News

Even Despots Break into Song Sometimes...

I must be in a silly mood but doesn't it look like these two murderous tyrants are in some weird musical and about to break into song.

What songs might they sing I wonder?

Maybe "Stuck in the middle with Joooos."

Or couldn't you just see Chavez rockin' the cowbell with "Don't Fear the Reaper."

Or perhaps a little Tears for Fears with "Everybody wants to rule the world."

Any other suggestions what these two maniacs might sing.

Wow! NPR Fires Juan WIlliams

Wow. NPR has fired Juan Williams.

I can't believe they fired him for this!

"I mean, look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."

NPR said "inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR."

This seems totally unjustified to me. What he said is that people who wear Islam on their sleeves make him nervous on airplanes. This is not racist, this is rational. Sure, most Muslims or even most Muslims in "muslim' garb are not terrorists, but some of them are.

This is a travesty of political correctness and Williams ongoing association with Foxnews most certainly played a role. The NYT reports:

Mr. Williams’s contributions on Fox raised eyebrows at NPR in the past. In February 2009, NPR said it had asked that he stop being identified on “The O’Reilly Factor” as a “senior correspondent for NPR,” even though that title was accurate.

Alicia C. Shepard, the NPR ombudswoman, said at the time that Mr. Williams was a “lightning rod” for the public radio organization in part because he “tends to speak one way on NPR and another on Fox.”

Ms. Shepard said she had received 378 listener e-mails in 2008 listing complaints and frustrations about Mr. Williams.

Perhaps Mr. Williams was fired for being a Foxnews lightning rod. His relatively innocuous comments may just served as a ready excuse.

What do you think?

Palin and O'Donnell Are So Stupid. Oh Wait.

The media is embarrassing itself over Sarah Palin and Christine O'Donnell. By pointing out how dumb they believe these two conservative women to be this week the media has only pointed out how dumb and how low they'll go to hurt these two women.

Yesterday there was a media firestorm because the Washington Post ran a story saying that Christine O'Donnell didn't know that the establishment clause was in the Constitution. Hahahahaha. The media all had a big laugh and then put on their very serious grown up faces for the cameras and asked what this meant for the conservative movement in general and did this prove that Tea Partiers are all knuckle dragging Neanderthals who shouldn't be trusted with the vote never mind a Senate seat.

Here's the lede from the original Washington Post/AP ran, according to Weasel Zippers:

WILMINGTON, Del. -- Republican Senate nominee Christine O'Donnell of Delaware on Tuesday questioned whether the U.S. Constitution calls for a separation of church and state, appearing to disagree or not know that the First Amendment bars the government from establishing religion.

Now that lede was based on the quote they put into the story they said went down like this:

Coons said private and parochial schools are free to teach creationism but that "religious doctrine doesn't belong in our public schools."

"Where in the Constitution is the separation of church and state?" O'Donnell asked him. When Coons responded that the First Amendment bars Congress from making laws respecting the establishment of religion, O'Donnell asked: "You're telling me that's in the First Amendment?"

Her comments, in a debate aired on radio station WDEL, generated a buzz in the audience.

"You actually audibly heard the crowd gasp," Widener University political scientist Wesley Leckrone said after the debate, adding that it raised questions about O'Donnell's grasp of the Constitution.

Now this set off a firestorm in the media and all sorts of television pundits sounded off on this.

The problem? That's not what happened. And the Washington Post knows it too because last night they went back and rewrote the story.

The lede now reads:

WILMINGTON, Del. -- Republican Christine O'Donnell challenged her Democratic rival Tuesday to show where the Constitution requires separation of church and state, drawing swift criticism from her opponent, laughter from her law school audience and a quick defense from prominent conservatives.

Why the change in the lede. Well the rewritten story now actually tells what happened between Coons and O'Donnell. And guess what, Christine O'Donnell is absolutely right in what she's saying and wasn't confused at all.

"Where in the Constitution is separation of church and state?" O'Donnell asked while Democrat Chris Coons, an attorney, sat a few feet away.

Coons responded that O'Donnell's question "reveals her fundamental misunderstanding of what our Constitution is. ... The First Amendment establishes a separation."

She interrupted to say, "The First Amendment does? ... So you're telling me that the separation of church and state, the phrase 'separation of church and state,' is in the First Amendment?"

So it's clear now that the reporter lied. Perhaps the reporter didn't know that the "Separation of church and state" didn't appear in the Constitution. But don't they have editors?

And all that gasping and laughing from the Widener law students kind of makes Widener look prety bad that they didn't know it either.

The conversation relayed in the original piece is not close to what actually happened. The newspaper either lied or were incredibly bad at their job. But it does seem they become incredibly bad at their job when covering conservatives an awful lot.

And mind you, they didn't run a correction. They simply changed the story later.

Now, another issue happened recently where the media embarrassed itself over a conservative woman. This time it was Sarah Palin. Sarah exhorted a crowd of Tea Partiers not to celebrate this election too soon by saying "Don't party like it's 1773 yet."

Markos Moulitsas and PBS's Gwen Ifill immediately tweeted disparaging remarks about Palin thinking she'd been confused about her dates but it turned out they were only highlighting their own ignorance. Palin, of course, was referencing the Boston Tea Party which makes sense as she was speaking in front of a bunch of Tea Partiers. Duh!

As we know the media dislikes right wing women and they push the meme as often as they can that they're stupid. This week the media embarrassed themselves. But unfortunately this won't stop them. I'm sure they're going to embarrass themselves a lot more the next few years.

Sinead: Jesus Would Burn the $&%@# Vatican To the Ground

Sinead O'Connor has long been one of the leading anti-Catholic celebrities of our time. And in our time that takes some doing.

But Sinead really outdid herself in a recent interview. She didn't just say that the Vatican should be burned to the ground. She said the %$^@#$ Vatican should be burned to the ground. And that if Jesus was around he'd burn it to the ground.

Soooo...Sinead O'Connor believes Jesus is an arsonist. It's possible I guess this comes from a misinterpretation of Luke which states: "I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!" Hey, maybe she's a literalist.

But you've got to read all of her comments to really appreciate how looney tunes she actually gets in this interview...
Continue reading at the National Catholic Register>>>

The Monstrous Russ Feingold

Russ Feingold has been sounding awful conservative recently. But let's not forget who he really is. Watch this monstrous exchange and don't be fooled.

A Strawberry Flavored Apocalypse

Yup. The EPA is telling your kids at school that juice boxes are weapons against the Earth. That's right. Your kids at lunchtime are drinking strawberry flavored apocalypse. And you don't even care. That's why they're bypassing you and going straight to your children.

Mark Hemingway writes:

Of all the questionable lessons our schools are imparting to young kids, the idea that Legos are destroying the planet might just be the most absurd.

“Riding in the car one day with his parents in Tacoma, Wash., Rafael de la Torre Batker, 9, was worried about whether it would be bad for the planet if he got a new set of Legos,” reported The New York Times in May. Where once we dispensed practical advice to children about children about consumerism, “waste not, want not” is being supplanted by the lesson that want a new toy makes children part of an apocalyptic death cult.

This video explains everything:

Raymond Cardinal Burke et al

Archbishop Burke will now be Raymond Cardinal Burke. Huzzah.

Remember all those stories about how he was sent to Rome to minimize him, sent to Rome as a punishment. Well at 62 years old, he may be able to help choose the next 2 Popes. How is that for minimized?

The rest of the list of Cardinal designates.

-- Italian Archbishop Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints Causes, a Salesian, 72. (DOB 6/8/1938)

-- Coptic Patriarch Antonios Naguib of Alexandria, Egypt, 75. (DOB 3/7/1935)

-- Guinean Archbishop Robert Sarah, president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, 65. (DOB 6/15/1945)

-- Italian Archbishop Francesco Monterisi, archpriest of Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, 76. (DOB 5/28/1934)

-- Italian Archbishop Fortunato Baldelli, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, 75. (DOB 8/6/1935)

-- U.S. Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, head of Apostolic Signature, 62. (DOB 6/30/1948)

-- Swiss Archbishop Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, 60. (DOB 3/15/1950)

-- Italian Archbishop Paolo Sardi, pro-patron of Knights of Malta, 76. (DOB 9/1/1934)
ad_icon
Click here!

-- Italian Archbishop Mauro Piacenza, prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, 66. (DOB 9/15/1944)

-- Italian Archbishop Velasio De Paolis, president of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See, a Scalabrinian, 75. (DOB 9/19/1935)

-- Italian Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, 68. (DOB 10/18/1942)

-- Zambian Archbishop Medardo Joseph Mazombwe, retired archbishop of Lusaka, 79. (DOB 9/24/1931)

-- Ecuadorean Archbishop Raul Eduardo Vela Chiriboga, retired archbishop of Quito, 76. (DOB 1/1/1934)

-- Congolese Archbishop Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of Kinshasa, 71. (DOB 10/7/1939)

-- Italian Archbishop Paolo Romeo of Palermo, 72. (DOB 2/20/1938)

-- U.S. Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl of Washington, 69. (DOB 11/12/1940)

-- Brazilian Archbishop Raymundo Damasceno Assis of Aparecida, 73. (DOB 2/15/1937)

-- Polish Archbishop Kazimierz Nycz of Warsaw, 60. (DOB 2/1/1950)

-- Sri Lankan Archbishop Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don of Colombo, 62. (DOB 11/15/1947)

-- German Archbishop Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, 57. (DOB 9/21/1953)

-- Spanish Archbishop Jose Manuel Estepa Llaurens, former military ordinary of Spain, 84. (DOB 1/1/1926)

-- Italian Bishop Elio Sgreccia, retired president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, 82. (DOB 6/6/1928)

-- German Msgr. Walter Brandmuller, retired president of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, 81. (DOB 1/26/1929)

-- Italian Msgr. Domenico Bartolucci, retired director of the Sistine Chapel Choir, 93. (DOB 5/7/1917)

Daddy's Little Girl

Fade in.

A very important looking man sits in a chair. A little blond girl scampers into his lap. The man looks lovingly at the girl.

"Hi, princess."

"Hi Daddy!"

"I love you. You know that, right?"

"Yes Daddy."

"You are my special little lady. You know that, right?"

"Yes Daddy."

"And no matter how big you get, you will always be my little girl. You know that, right?"

"Yes Daddy."

"And if one day you say something stupid on TV that might cost me some votes, I will throw you under the bus as soon as look at you. You know that, right?"

"Yes Daddy."

"That's my special little girl."

Fade Out.

Meghan McCain got some buzz on Sunday by calling Christine O’Donnell a “nut job,” but on “GMA” today her dad didn’t take the bait.

“My daughter and I have very spirited conversations from time to time and it’s a lot of fun,” Sen. John McCain told me. “With all due respect to my daughter, the primary voters of Delaware chose Christine O’Donnell and she’s the candidate.”

Nice. I wonder if he backed up the Straight Talk Express over her just to make sure she wouldn't get up.

Don't worry John, I am sure she will forget all about it by Thanksgiving.

Obama Omits "Creator" Again

You know, I'm starting to think this is a thing.

Weasel Zippers reports that Barack Obama omitted the “Creator” as the source of his “unalienable rights” on Monday at a fundraiser for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC). This is the third time he's done this in recent memory.

Here's what he said:

As wonderful as the land is here in the United States, as much as we have been blessed by the bounty of this magnificent continent that stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific, what makes this place special is not something physical. It has to do with this idea that was started by 13 colonies that decided to throw off the yoke of an empire, and said, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that each of us are endowed with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

The first time he did it the White House said it was all just a big mix up. But now that it's the third time.

Hmmm...I wonder who he thinks grants rights to people.

Most Awkward C-SPAN Moments...Evah

OK. What's the lesson here for Jonah Goldberg. Don't invite two people who just broke up to sit on your panel. ON C-SPAN!!!

Libertarian panelist Todd Seavey blindsides his ex-girlfriend and Social conservative Catholic blogger Helen Rittelmeyer, and ripped into her during a panel discussion on C-SPAN.

This is the one of the weirdest and most awkward moments I've seen in a long time. I gotta' say kudos to his Helen Rittelmeyer for keeping her cool.

"There are 10,000 panels like this a year in Washington, D.C. -- 9,999 aren't memorable." said Goldberg. "I wish this was one of those."



HT Viral Footage

Vatican Newspaper: Homer is Catholic

This drives me crazy for two reasons.

I haven't seen the actual piece but L'Osservatore Romano seems to have declared that Homer Simpson is Catholic. I know. I'm getting this from the MSM so it's possible it's being misreported but the folks at that newspaper do seem to write some crazy things sometimes. This brings me to my second reason this kind of thing drives me crazy. The media is predictably running reports saying that THE VATICAN has decreed the Simpson's to be Catholic.

The way the mainstream media is portraying this you'd think the Vatican had decreed this with the same importance as if the Pope had infallibly stated this after years of studies and councils.

Reuters:

The official Vatican newspaper has declared that beer-swilling, doughnut-loving Homer Simpson and son Bart are Catholics -- and what's more, it says that parents should not be afraid to let their children watch "the adventures of the little guys in yellow."

"Few people know it, and he does everything to hide it. But it's true: Homer J. Simpson is Catholic", the Osservatore Romano newspaper said in an article on Sunday headlined "Homer and Bart are Catholics."

The newspaper cited a study by a Jesuit priest of a 2005 episode of the show called "The Father, the Son and the Holy Guest Star". That study concludes that "The Simpsons" is "among the few TV programs for kids in which Christian faith, religion and questions about God are recurrent themes."

The Simpsons pray before meals, and "in its own way, believes in the beyond," the newspaper quoted the Jesuit study as saying.

This is just one of those ridiculous stories that the media uses to mock the Church. And sometimes the writers at L'Osservatore Romano help them.

Church Blackmails Pols With Excommunication

We're told all the time by politicians how irrelevant the Church is to people's lives but then why do those same politicians attack the Church all the time.

A Polish government minister has accused the Church of using excommunication as blackmail.

TheNews.pl reports:

A government minister has said the threat by some bishops to excommunicate MPs who vote for state funding of IVF treatment in Poland is the equivalent of “blackmail” - though the ruling Civic Platform is not united on the legislation.

“It’s a pity that the Church does not assist [in creating legislation] but threatens and blackmails,” said minister without portfolio Pawel Gras.

Of course this is a wrongheaded view of excommunication.

In a public letter the bishops called IVF the "younger sister of eugenics.”

Stefan Niesiolowski, a deputy speaker in the lower house of parliament, said he didn't fear excommunication. He said, “I wouldn’t have enough courage to tell a married couple who suffer because they can’t have children that I can’t help them,” said the deputy speaker of parliament.

For4 some reason this love Niesiolowski has for others doesn't pertain to the little human beings who will exist in a frozen limbo in perpetuity.

But I think many politicians believe that their public life should have no relevance at all to their standing in the Church. Does that even make sense to you? As a corollary, do they also believe their votes have any bearing on their soul?

Would they not agree that there are sins worthy of excommunication? Would they not agree that just maybe funding the creation of human beings and storing them in a freezer in perpetuity might just qualify?

We saw a similar debate with Obamacare in America recently. When the bishops stood up against the plan mainly because of its funding of abortion some politicians and media types said the church was bullying and threatening their way into the debate.

The debate eventually settles on whether the state simply says what is legal and illegal while the Church can only offer what it thinks is right and wrong. The much argued about separation of church and state is really just an argument that some people don't accept certain morals and therefore they can't be deemed illegal. The state poses as a neutral observer, there only to ensure that nobody's rights are infringed upon. I think that formulation is wrongheaded and illogical because it falls apart under scrutiny. (What are all laws based on but widely accepted morality after all? When immorality gains popularity it eventually becomes legal.)

But the funding of certain acts like abortion and IVF is a different subject altogether. When the state funds something it promotes it. The state can no longer pretend to be a neutral or impartial observer. It's taken a side. And when that side is immoral I thank God the Church is there to point it out and stand strong against it.

Life Is Not a Slippery Slope

I heard two women arguing yesterday. One was pro-life and the other was pro-choice. I could see that the pro-life woman was truly distressed to learn her friend/acquaintance was pro-choice but the argument she gave disturbed me.

The conversation started out about pulling the plug on someone at the end of life. Soon, the sad case of "that Schiavo woman" was raised. The pro-lifer argued that if the law didn't protect Terry Schiavo that one day it wouldn't protect "useful people."

Hmmm...

Within a minute the topic of abortion came up. Once again the pro-lifer argued that if we allow the killing of the unborn who's to say that one day it won't be legal to kill the born.

Now, I know these are arguments to be made to highlight the randomness of choosing birth as the line between where death and life can be decided by others. But we must also be careful not to argue against the starving of Terry Schiavo because someday someone actually useful might be killed. Or that if we allow the unborn to be killed then someday tragically the born will be next on the hit list.

One must be careful not to accept the premises of the other side in this debate. We should not argue that the death of someone "useful" is a greater horror than the bedridden. Every killing is tragic in that it takes someone's life and puts the soul of the taker in jeopardy.

Euthanasia and abortion are evil, not just when they happen to useful people. The worst possible thing in the world happened in the Terry Schiavo case just as it happens every time a mother kills her unborn child. Life is not a slippery slope argument. Once it becomes one we've already lost.

Who Is Mark Shea Talking About?

After several posts by Mark Shea on the subject of "conservatism", I must admit I don't like those conservative Catholics very much. Anyway, at least how Mark Shea describes them. Fortunately, I haven't met very many who fit Mark's description. And I think I would have run into them, for I am a conservative Catholic.

I won't go point for point with Mark on this as he has so many points it would be rather pointless. A snippet then. Mark says things like:

But when alleged conservative Catholics tell me that they would rather get their social teaching from a talking hairdo on FOX than from the bishops, when they tell me that it is “moralistic” not to be willing to put your soul at risk of the fires of hell by committing what used to be called “war crimes”, when they make excuses for buffoons who think saluting the brave idealists of the Waffen SS with their sons is a sure fire indication of sound judgment—and that any criticism of this makes one vehemently suspect of heresy and a traitor to the Faith—I can only say that the Right is becoming as mindlessly ideological as the Left. And ideology is not the Faith.

So Catholics who also call themselves Catholic willingly admit that they would rather get their social teaching from "a talking hairdo on FOX." Truth is, I don't know these people. I know lots and lots of Catholics of a conservative political bent, and I don't know anyone who puts Glenn Beck or any other host ahead of the Bishops. Not one.

Now obviously there are kooks out there I can't speak for every person who call himself Catholic conservative (neither can Mark btw), but that is not any of the Catholic conservatives I know. Glenn Beck is an entertainer, not a ...>>>>

Continue Reading @ National Catholic Register>>>

NBC Today Asks If Monogamy is Passe

Follow the logic used by NBC Today's show here. They posit that because of a spate of recent celebrity breakups and some shows highlighting polygamy maybe monogamy is done for.

Yeah, because we all take our life cues from David Arquette. Al Kresta wonders if its a case of the tail wagging the dog.

Gay Parents More Likely To Have Gay Kids

A Kansas State University researcher is publishing a study that shows that gay parents are more likely to raise gay children.

Duh, right? I know, but the last researcher to state this in a study was promptly called a "Nazi" and got booted from the American Psychological Association.

So Walter Schumm knows he's about to become the next punching bag for the left. But this is where the study led him and he's sticking to the facts, and not heeding the politicized thuggery of the left.

After the last researcher to say such things was drummed out of polite society, Schumm began investigating the effect of parents on sexual orientation (among other things.)

"I just want to know the truth about something," he tells AOL News. And he found it strange that parents can influence so many facets of their children's lives -- but not in any way their sexual orientation.

Schumm's study to be released next month says that gay and lesbian parents are far more likely to have children who become gay.

AOL News reports:

Schumm concluded that children of lesbian parents identified themselves as gay 31 percent of the time; children of gay men had gay children 19 percent of the time, and children of a lesbian mother and gay father had at least one gay child 25 percent of the time.

Furthermore, when the study restricted the results so that they included only children in their 20s -- presumably after they'd been able to work out any adolescent confusion or experimentation -- 58 percent of the children of lesbians called themselves gay, and 33 percent of the children of gay men called themselves gay. (About 5 to 10 percent of the children of straight parents call themselves gay, Schumm says.)

Schumm next went macro, poring over an anthropological study of various cultures' acceptance of homosexuality. He found that when communities welcome gays and lesbians, "89 percent feature higher rates of homosexual behavior."

Studies like this will not go unpunished I assure you.

Abbie Goldberg, a psychology professor at Clark University and the author of "Lesbian and Gay Parents and Their Children: Research on the Family Life Cycle," admits she hasn't read Schumm's study but is still willing to say, "The fundamental problem with this [type of meta-analysis] is such samples tend to be biased."

She hasn't seen the study but already she's talking about bias? That's science?

Schumm though takes it a step further and scolds the scientific establishment for not having done this study earlier. Clearly, he's expecting to be attacked. He concluded his study with a quote from philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. "All truth passes through three stages: First it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."

For many of us this was already self evident but Schumm should get ready for the ridicule part with a little violent opposition thrown in for good measure. It's coming.

MultiKulti Cancelled -- National Socialism -- Not

There is a fair amount of hooha over German Chancellor's obvious, but typically private, observation that multiculturalism has failed.

We are a country which at the beginning of the 1960s actually brought guest workers to Germany and now they live with us, and we lied to ourselves for a while, saying that they wouldn't stay and one day they would be gone.

That's not the reality. Of course, the multicultural approach, that we live here side by side and be happy about each other, this approach has failed, utterly failed.

Duh. What's more, she said some more obvious stuff.

Merkel told a meeting of young members of her conservative Christian Democratic Union that while immigrants are welcome in Germany, they must learn the language and accept the country's cultural norms -- sounding a note heard increasingly across Europe as it battles an economic slump and worries about homegrown terrorism.

Some remarks have been made that German's should be extra-sensitive regarding such issues. Hogwash. Are they asking for anything unreasonable? Besides, German pols are hardly the first in Europe to make such observations. In fact, Merkel is quite behind the curve. Should Germans lose their culture because of the sensitivities of others?

But then again....

In a recent survey, over one third of Germans agreed with the statement "Germany is in serious danger of being overrun by foreigners." Yeah so? They are, right?

"Additionally, more than 30 percent think that "foreigners come to take advantage of the welfare state" and that when jobs are scarce foreigners should be sent "back to their own country."

Ummm....

For the first time, the pollsters asked whether the practice of Islam should be significantly restricted in Germany. A total of 58.4 percent of respondents said that it should be, even though such a restriction would violate Germany's constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion.

58%?? Uh oh.....

More than one-tenth would like a "Führer" -- the survey deliberately used the German word for "leader" that is associated with Adolf Hitler -- who would govern the country "with a firm hand" for the benefit of all.

That's not good.

Some 17.2 percent of respondents agreed with the statement: "Even today, Jews have too much influence."

You know what, forget what I said earlier....

Mother Teresa Zings Hillary Clinton?

Abby Johnson, formerly of Planned Parenthood and now an ardent pro-lifer, tells a crowd of pro-lifers what she believes Mother Teresa said to Hillary Clinton over lunch years ago. It’s a heck of a zinger if it’s true.

Check out the video at the National Catholic Register>>>

Now This Is An Attack Ad!

You think American politicians play hardball? Check out this attack video from Canada with the single greatest closing line evah!!!



ht Hotair

Earthquake in Anglo-Catholicism

This is big news.

Damian Thompson reports:

Bishop John Broadhurst, Bishop of Fulham in the Anglican diocese of London, is to resign his post later this year to join the Pope’s Ordinariate. The Catholic Herald’s Anna Arco broke the story, also revealing that Bishop Broadhurst will stay as chairman of Forward in Faith, which he says is “not a Church of England organisation”. It sounds as if traditional Anglo-Catholicism is undergoing a major shift (or crisis) of allegiance, because FiF, though not representative of everyone in that constituency, was the main body for Anglo-Catholics in the Church of England opposed to women bishops and priests. Now it seems to be heading towards Roman Catholicism.

Continue reading at the UK Telegraph>>>

This Freaked Me Out

They told the kid that the lion just wanted to give a witty bitty kiss but I think we can assume the lion's intentions were much much worse than that. This kind of freaked me out.


EMBED-Zoo Lion Vs Little Kid - Watch more free videos

HT Viral Footage

NOW Prez: Well Whitman is Kind of a Whore

Wow. The President of NOW in California is publicly agreeing with Jerry Brown's assessment of Republican Meg Whitman. They're agreeing that yup, she's a whore.

Weasel Zippers reports:

Last week, the National Organization for Women and the PAC of the California NOW chapter took heat for their endorsement of state Attorney General Jerry Brown (D) over Meg Whitman (R) in the gubernatorial race in the wake of comments by a Brown aide that Whitman was a “whore.” At the time, national NOW President Terry O’Neill said that anyone who “from here on” calls a woman a “whore” should be fired.

She might want to have a talk with California NOW President Parry Bellasalma, who today told TPM in response to a question that “Meg Whitman could be described as ‘a political whore.’ Yes, that’s an accurate statement.”

Can you believe that? NOW is calling a woman candidate a whore. Does it get any lower than this? Why are they doing this? To run political cover for Democrat Jerry Brown.

After someone on Brown's campaign called Whitman "a whore" and Brown seemed to agree, NOW came out the next day and endorsed. Then, after some public backlash, they put out a release saying that nobody from here on out should use that word but that this rule starts after this particular election. I'm not kidding. That's what they said. And now you get the President of NOW agreeing with Brown.

More proof that NOW is simply an arm of the Democrat Party will not be needed.

I used to think that NOW only cared about abortion but Meg Whitman is pro-choice which shows that NOW actually has no ideals whatsoever other than ensuring Democrat victories in exchange for a seat at the table of power.

Uhm...what do you call people who sell themselves out to the highest bidder without shame or principle? Oh yeah.

I humbly suggest that NOW, who is clearly not in favor of women, should change its name to--

Women Happily Opposed to Republicans Everywhere.

What?!

Pro-Life Group Silenced During Election

The Susan B. Anthony List, a pro-life PAC, recently tried to place an ad on four billboards stating that Ohio Representative Steve Driehaus voted for federally funded abortion when he voted for Obamacare.

Driehaus didn't like that and sent out his lawyers to silence them. The lawyers did their thug lawyers things and brought suit against the SBA to the Ohio Elections Commission and convinced the billboard company not to run the ads while the case is pending.

The Commission inexplicably accepted the case. The SBA List says the commision is squelching the group's free speech rights.

Can't we all agree that Obamacare is intended to fund abortion. Can't we all agree on that? HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius even admitted it. The text of the law says it. The one Democrat from Stupak's supposed cadre of pro-life Democrats that actually voted against Obamacare Dan Lipinski said: "the executive order probably would not stand [in court] and even if it did stand, it only covered part of the abortion funding—the direct funding of abortion [at Community Health Centers], not the fees for [subsidized] health plans.”

But the SBA List isn't allowed to state the truth, isn't allowed to say what the HHS Secretary herself said.

Remember the recent kerfuffle concerning the funding to states for plans that included funding for abortion. The HHS was forced to actually issue a rule directly prohibiting states from funding abortions for those in the federally funded "high-risk pool" program.

Doesn't that mean that Obamacare as passed did fund abortions? But facts don't matter when it comes to politics. And it seems free speech doesn't matter when it comes to politics either.

The Weekly Standard reports:

National Democrats have given up on Ohio Representative Steve Driehaus's reelection campaign, but the race took an interesting turn today when the Ohio Elections Commission agreed to allow Driehaus's case against a pro-life group, the Susan B. Anthony List, to proceed.

A three-member panel of the commission ruled that there was "probable cause" to believe that the SBA List is falsely trying to claim in an ad that Driehaus "voted for taxpayer-funded abortion" in the national health care law. The panel's vote was two-to-one, with a Republican member voting against Driehaus and a Democratic member and an independent member voting in Driehaus's favor. The independent member, Harvey Shapiro, had to recuse himself from a 2006 gay marriage elections case because he had donated $1,000 to the campaign against a gay marriage ban. The case will be heard by the seven-member Ohio Elections Commission, which is comprised of three Democrats, three Republicans, and the independent Shapiro. "A criminal conviction for making false campaign statements is punishable by up to six months in jail and/or a fine of up to $5,000," Cincinnati.com reports.

Guess when they meet again to decide? Four days before the election. Convenient, huh?

This is outrageous and is clearly the silencing of free speech.

The only good news to come out of that district is the the Democratic Party has pulled its party money from the race which could spell doom for Driehaus. But if this works in this district expect it to be copies elsewhere and expect to see efforts in every election to silence pro-lifers everywhere.