Happy New Year - We're Doomed

I gotta tell ya. This guy is seriously growing on me!



ht to Michael Hirsh

Union Protests, Baby Dies

This is the most disgusting story I've ever read. I'm horrified that this occurred. Horrified. A newborn baby died in New York City because some city workers wanted to score a political point against the Mayor.

In the greatest, most technologically advanced city in the world a little baby cried out for help. The baby's mother dialed 911 for nine hours but nobody came. Nobody came because somebody thought their political games were more important.

The New York Post is reporting:

Selfish Sanitation Department bosses from the snow-slammed outer boroughs ordered their drivers to snarl the blizzard cleanup to protest budget cuts — a disastrous move that turned streets into a minefield for emergency-services vehicles, The Post has learned.

Miles of roads stretching from as north as Whitestone, Queens, to the south shore of Staten Island still remained treacherously unplowed last night because of the shameless job action, several sources and a city lawmaker said, which was over a raft of demotions, attrition and budget cuts.

“They sent a message to the rest of the city that these particular labor issues are more important,” said City Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Queens), who was visited yesterday by a group of guilt-ridden sanitation workers who confessed the shameless plot.

Halloran said he met with three plow workers from the Sanitation Department — and two Department of Transportation supervisors who were on loan — at his office after he was flooded with irate calls from constituents.

The snitches “didn’t want to be identified because they were afraid of retaliation,” Halloran said. “They were told [by supervisors] to take off routes [and] not do the plowing of some of the major arteries in a timely manner. They were told to make the mayor pay for the layoffs, the reductions in rank for the supervisors, shrinking the rolls of the rank-and-file.”

So these union thugs wanted to score points so they didn't do their job. And guess what happened, people died including a newborn baby that waited ten hours for emergency personnel to show up.

The New York Daily News reports:

A blizzard baby delivered inside the lobby of a snowbound Brooklyn building died after an emergency call of a woman in labor brought no help for nine excruciating hours.

The baby's mother, a 22-year-old college senior, was recovering Tuesday night at Interfaith Medical Center, where her newborn was pronounced dead at 6:34 p.m. on Monday. That was 10 hours after the first 911 call from the bloody vestibule on Brooklyn Ave. in Crown Heights.

"No one could get to her. Crown Heights was not plowed, and no medical aid came for hours," said the student's mother.

I drove up to New York and unfortunately got caught in the blizzard and I couldn't believe how bad the roads were on that day and the ensuing days. The roads had dangerous ice patches on them for days and I witnessed several awful accidents, one where a car flipped over. So many people I spoke with said they'd never seen anything like this where the city had just not done anything to help. They said they couldn't imagine why nothing was being done.

And now that I've heard I still can't imagine that callousness of some who would do something like this. I'm serious when I say the people behind this plot should be arrested for reckless endangerment and callous disregard for life among other charges. I'm truly horrified. A baby died so somebody could make a point about how powerful they were.

Part of me wants to make a point about this is what happens when you have an incestuous relationship between government and unions but I don't have the patience to think that through right now. It comes down to this -these people knew that people would get hurt and possibly die when they did nothing when the snows came. They knew that and they didn't care. Their raises were more important. Their political power, their muscle, their seat at the table was more important than the life of that newborn baby.

A baby cried out in the most technologically advanced city in the history of man. But nobody came. Because those who were supposed to didn't care. And a baby died.

HT Gateway Pundit

Dude!! Dumbest Story Of The Day

What some women will do for a sale!!

A WOMAN staged her abduction just to see if her husband would pay £20,000 to get her back.

But she was arrested in the car park of a shopping centre on her way to the sales – just 30 minutes after picking up the bag with the ransom money.

Her horrified husband had been sent a photo on his mobile phone showing his wife’s bound feet and hands.

A text message demanded £20,000 for her release, along with a warning not to tell anyone. But the man, who has not been named, went to Spanish police who launched a search and planted a tracking device with the ransom.

Officers followed her car to a ­shopping centre in Gandia and arrested her. She claimed her captors had freed her but later confessed to faking the kidnapping “to find out what her husband would be willing to do for her”.

A police statement said: “The woman, who was travelling alone and was in perfect health, was the supposed victim of the kidnapping.”

One officer said: “The sales are on and she had a suitcase full of cash.”

She might like the sales but she is certainly no bargain.

Attention S-Mart shoppers, there is a blue-light special on orange jumpsuits and barrels full of stupid.

Fr. Barron on Pope Benedict's Christmas Message

A great elucidation on Pope Benedict's recent Christmas message on renewal in the wake of moral compromise and dysfunction within the Church, especially related to the sexual abuse of children. A really important commentary.

Exit Interviews For Lapsed Catholics

There is an interesting article over at America Magazine by William J. Byron, S.J. of St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia. In the article, Fr. Byron advocates for the use of business-style exit interviews for Catholics leaving the Church.

• Why have you stopped attending Sunday Mass regularly?

• Are there any changes your parish might make that would prompt you to return?

• Are there any doctrinal issues that trouble you?

• Does your pastor or anyone on the parish staff know you by name?

• Are you in a mixed-religion marriage?

• Do your children go to church?

• Did you ever really consider yourself to be a member of a parish community?

I think that this idea has some merit. There are a number of reasons why people leave the Church and, for certain, some of them can actually be addressed by Church leadership. While there really are no valid reasons for leaving the Church, there are things that the Church could certainly do better. But....

Fr. Byron has received a lot of feedback on this idea from a previous article he wrote on the subject and he quotes from some of it in his America article. Here is a sampling...

Another woman who identified herself as “a cradle Catholic, educated exclusively in Catholic schools, married to a practicing Catholic, raised five children in the faith, taught C.C.D., was involved in the marriage preparation program in our parish—in short, one of the active practitioners of the faith,” said she had opted out because of “the recent church teaching on end-of-life issues; the moving, instead of removing, of priests and bishops involved in the molestation of children; the headstrong opposition to the use of condoms in Africa to prevent the spread of AIDS; and the absence of any priest I can talk to.”
...
“Exit interviews for departing Catholics or those just not attending Mass is a nice thought,” said a 69-year-old retired businessman, “but it is obvious to me that there are two reasons for the drop in Mass attendance and withdrawal of financial support: (1) the pedophile issue and (2) the exclusion of women and married men from the priesthood.”
...
“I am on the knife edge between staying and leaving the church,” he said. He offered these reasons: “(1) I no longer trust the management; (2) I have no way of influencing the selection or change of a priest or bishop; (3) the clergy sex abuse scandal continues to grow; and (4) the continuing lawsuits continue to drain my spirit.”

As previously stated, I think the idea of business-style exit interviews has some merit but I think it presents a real danger as well. If we begin to treat the Church as a business, we run the risk of thinking like a business. The successful business mindset embraces to varying degrees the mantra "the customer is always right."

But when it comes to the business of saving souls, the customer is not always right.

First a caveat. While the scandal of sex-abuse, a black mark on the Church that puts many souls at risk, is included in many lists of reasons, I hardly think we need a poll for anyone to understand this. Those of us who stay in the Church are at the very least equally disgusted by the sin of sex abuse and the sin of cover-up. That said, I have my doubts about the role this plays for many of these people. But let's stipulate that this is a deal-breaker for those who don't really understand what the Church IS. How it's holiness is not dependent on the holiness of its members. Its holiness comes from Truth. The full truth that can only be found in the Church. So to this point, we need to fix forever the blight of priestly abuse and we need to educate Catholics about what the Church IS.

Now, take a look at some of the previous quotes. Many of them include reasons in which the quitters directly oppose the teaching of the Church. What? No condoms, I am outta here. No women priests? Not the Church for me.

So what if we conduct a multi-million dollar exit-interview program and these issues are at the top of the list. Then what? In this case the customer is not right. These things cannot change. We can focus our efforts toward educating people as to the whys and hows of Church teaching, but we already know this.

Exit interviews may serve the interest of better pastoral care, but doctrine is doctrine. If people leave the Church because they do not like what the Church teaches, then the only option is for the Church to teach it louder and better, in words and in deed.

The risk in such exit interviews is the expectation that the Church will pivot, ala Bill Clinton, to give the public what it wants. That is not the job of the Church. The job of the Church is to teach the truth.

When Jesus said "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you," many of those who had previously followed Him found this to be a hard saying and no longer followed him.

Jesus did not then turn to the twelve and ask them to conduct exit interviews for those who would no longer follow. He asked them if they would leave too? They responded "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."

This is why we stay and this is why they go.

MTV's Abortion Special Forgot One Little Thing

If abortion is a completely legitimate and moral decision why not televise it? I know it’s a shocking suggestion but I think dragging abortion out of the media imposed darkness is essential to the pro-life cause. So many of the gains made by the pro-life cause have been due to advances in technology in ultrasound and people seeing the unborn with their own eyes. But last night MTV aired their VERY IMPORTANT SPECIAL on abortion. Now, silly me, I actually had some hope that something good might come out of it. I was wrong.

The show “16 and Pregnant” on MTV actually does a good job of showing the real life ups and downs of being a young Mom. In fact, last year a number of feminists were upset that the show had some girls who accepted the baby and one couple who gave up their baby for adoption but nobody on the show opted for abortion. Why not abortion, they asked. So MTV aired a special on abortion where some young girls opted for abortion. But the REALLY BIG SHOW ABOUT ABORTION actually skipped over one kind of essential part -THE ABORTION. Now, even though the show often shows births they didn’t show the actual abortion. They didn’t even come close. One minute the young girl is talking about her options and the next she’s announcing that she’d had the abortion. Can you imagine a show about becoming a mother skipping over the actual birth or the whole trip to the hospital? So why skip the abortion? If it’s not a person in the womb, just a potential person, why not show it? Because then, the abortion industry couldn’t get away with their lies. And they do lie.

Continue reading at the National Catholic Register>>>

R. Lee Ermey Calls Out "Socialist" Obama

You can fast forward the first minute and a half until he starts talking. Then it gets awesome.

Catholic Charity Splits With United Way over Abortion Funding

CMR kudos to Portland Archbishop John Vlazny and a Catholic charity in Oregon which split with the United Way over the organization's funding of Planned Parenthood.

This is a brave and correct decision that will I'm sure be misreported in the media as the Catholics turning their backs on the poor in favor of the unborn. But this is exactly the kind of decision which should inspire us all because it shows that the same impulse to help the poor is tied in with the defense of the helpless unborn.

The Register Guard reports:

The Catholic Community Services Board has decided to immediately forswear the use of United Way dollars for its charity work because United Way of Lane County gives money to Planned Parenthood.

The discussion began in March after Archbishop John Vlazny of the Portland Archdiocese visited Eugene to sprinkle holy water around the 58-year-old charity’s new Sixth Avenue service center for homeless and low-income clients.

The visit came just before Planned Parenthood of Southwest Oregon began its first-time offering of the abortion pill, RU-486, which some church leaders regard as the moral equivalent of surgical abortion.

The archbishop advised Catholic Community Services to contact United Way and explain its objections to Planned Parenthood, said Bud Bunce, archdiocese spokesman.

“If there was going to be no changes made, his recommendation was they (Catholic Community Services) would need to withdraw from United Way,” Bunce said. “Planned Parenthood is now offering abortion services in Lane County. Abortions are contrary to Catholic moral teachings.”

The Catholic Community Services board voted at its meeting earlier this month to sever ties with United Way, which had been a partner in serving the poor in Lane County for at least two decades.

This is a financial blow to the organization as the United Way allocated $71,000 to Catholic Community Services, which was set to provide help to the poor.

But this is the kind of decision that can and should inspire parishioners to give to the charity. Priests around the archdiocese will I hope explain it.

Planned Parenthood has insisted publicly that none of the money they receive from the United Way goes towards abortion funding but that's just a shell game that Archbishop Vlazny saw right through. Archdiocese spokesman Bud Bunce said “Catholic Community Services could be seen to raise money in their promotional efforts for United Way and could be seen as raising money for Planned Parenthood in that way."

Let's hope other Catholic charities are inspired by this decision and follow suit. You simply can't help the poor by turning your back on the unborn. We are called to stand up for the helpless. All of them.

French Makes You Stupid

Nothing proclaims diversity like banning stuff, n'est-ce pas?

Quebec’s family minister, Yolande James, has banned all religious instruction in government-subsidized daycare centers. Since 1997, the province has subsidized 85% of daycare costs, with parents paying $7 per child per day.

“I want the young Quebecers who attend our daycare services to do so in a spirit of openness to others and diversity,” said Yolande James, Quebec’s family minister.

Under the new regulations, subsidized daycare centers are permitted to set up Christmas trees and Nativity scenes, but are forbidden to identify Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as figures in the scene, according to two Canadian newspaper reports. Christmas carols are also forbidden.

Remember, we won't be truly diverse until we have banned everything.

If you are wondering why the obnoxious title? It seems like a gratuitous ad hominem attack on the Frenchies, and after all, they are not the only ones that do this stupid stuff.

Ummm.

OK, it is a gratuitous ad hominem attack on the Frenchies. Which I admit seems doubly unfair since we are not even talking about real Frenchies here, but rather some snobby guys who live ten minutes north of Massena, NY.

Its just that I prefer to be condescended to and discriminated against by a better class of people. Its kinda like being racially discriminated against by a bunch of civil war re-enactment dweebs.

Insult to injury.

Worst Pastor Evah!!!

Pastor Grinch, I guess.

HT The Blaze

UK Catholic School Now 95% Muslim

Via Weasel Zippers we found this sad, but ultimately unsurprising story.

(Daily Star) – A CATHOLIC school faces being taken over by a mosque after it was revealed that 95% of its pupils are Muslim.

It is believed to be the first case of its kind in Britain.

Church leaders say it is no longer “appropriate” for them to run Sacred Heart RC Primary School which has just six Christian pupils.

Just 10 years ago more than 90% of pupils were Catholic. But now most are of Asian origin, do not speak English as their first language and follow Islam.

The school in Blackburn, Lancs, could be handed to the nearby Masjid-e-Tauheedul mosque.

Harry Devonport of Blackburn with Darwen Council Children’s Services, said the decision to abandon the school was made by the Diocese of Salford.

Diocese education director Geraldine Bradbury said: “We have never experienced a change to this extent before. We would not be serving the local community by insisting that we run the school. It brings things like having a Catholic headteacher and devoting 10% of the timetable to RE.

“It would be wrong of us to insist on putting a school community through that.”

The mosque runs an Islamic girls’ secondary school. Head Hamid Patel said: “Given that almost all of the pupils are Muslim, it makes sense.”

All in 10 years. Astonishing.

The Lord of the Flies School

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But, when I became a man, I decided to put the children in charge.

I hesitate to call an idea stupid (OK, I really don't), but in the history of stupid ideas, this gets top billing right next to getting involved in a land war in Asia and "Flock of Seagulls" haircuts.

The idea? Schools entirely run by kids. Little kids.

What could go wrong?

Read and See Vid at NCRegister.com>>>>

Begging Obama to Help Iraqi Christians

A group of Republicans and Democrats are urging President Obama to help prevent the death of more Iraqi Christians. In their public letter to President Obama, the group warned that that unless something is done the situation “promises more innocent Christian blood in Iraq, more turmoil in that country, and more shame for America.

The Hill wrote that since 2004, 40 Christian churches and institutions have been bombed, according to the Chaldean Assyrian Syriac Council of America, seven on the eve of Orthodox Christmas alone in 2007.

Before the ouster of Saddam Hussein, there were about 1.4 million Christians in Iraq. Today, through a mass exodus and violence that has included a dozen members of the clergy killed or kidnapped, about 400,000 remain.

We can sometimes forget that in many parts of the world how brave it is to be a Christian. We must remember that in many parts of the world just being a Christian is punishable by imprisonment or death. To hear that many Catholics showed up at Christmas Mass in Iraq despite the threat of death is awe inspiring to me. I pray that I would have such courage.

America can still do something about it in Iraq though while we still have influence. Rep. Frank Wolf said: “What you’re seeing is the eradication of the Christian community,...The world has pretty much turned away.”

My hopes are not high as it seems that standing by while wagging our finger is the fallback position for Western civilization in the face of genocide.

Note:Thanks to Weasel Zippers Weasel Zippers for the heads up on this story.

Is Happy New Years Offensive?

Happy New Year! Or is that offensive?

We're told that "Merry Christmas" is offensive because not everyone celebrates Christmas. So we're stuck with generic salutations like "Happy Holidays." But the mere fact that there are some who don't celebrate a holiday make it offensive? To any normal person, the answer would be an obvious no.

But I was traveling yesterday and stopped in to grab a soda and the man behind the counter said, "Happy New Year" to me. And then I wondered to myself why in a world where many people like Jews and the Chinese have different calendars isn't wishing someone a Happy New Year offensive?

Why? Because it has nothing to do with God. Stomping "Merry Christmas" out of the public domain has nothing to do with respect for other cultures it only has to do with ensuring any discussion of religion in public out of existence. You see, it's not just anti-Merry Christmas, it's anti-God.

Death by Regulation

For years, progressives unable to convince a majority of Americans of the rightness of their opinions looked to judges to change the law of the land via fiat, rather than putting their ideas up for a vote.

This has had disastrous consequences for this country. Access to abortion would clearly be very different in America if legislatures were allowed to vote but instead a majority of justices declared the killing of the unborn a "right" thereby cutting off all debate and leaving America with some of the most liberal abortion laws in the world.

The New York Times is now reporting a new end run around the peopl. Due to Republicans gaining strength in Congress, the Obama administration may look to regulation rather than legislation to pushing massive changes. In fact, it's already starting.

Continue reading at the National Catholic Register>>>

Anti-Christian Violence Continues

At least 38 people have been killed since Christmas Eve in attacks across Nigeria, including assaults against two churches.

Local police suspect radical Muslim group Boko Haram, which has a history of anti-Christian violence, in the church attacks.

In the northern town of Maiduguri, armed men dragged the pastor of Victory Baptist Church out of his home and then shot him to death. Two men rehearsing for the carol service at the church and two people walking nearby were also killed. Afterwards, the mob set the church and pastor’s house on fire, according to The Associated Press.

Also within the same city and on the same day, another group of men attacked the Church of Christ in Nigeria and killed an elderly security guard.

Adding to the death toll are bomb blasts Friday evening in central Nigeria that killed 32 people. Two bombs exploded near a market where people were Christmas shopping, another exploded in a predominantly Christian area in Jos, and a fourth bomb blasted near a road leading to a mosque.

It is currently unclear if the church attacks and the bombing in central Nigeria are linked.

Linked by hatred if nothing else. Christians continue to be the most persecuted religious group in the world.

A Snowbound Liberal

I hate my neighbors. Well, not hate hate, but ya know--hate.

By the look of things, on average, I would say that we got about 18 inches of snow. However, the way the fickle winds swirl in my neighborhood, all the snow that rightfully belongs on my neighbors driveways across the street, now resides on mine.

I have drifts of 3 feet on my driveway while the blacktop of their driveways is visible almost until the street. An here is the kicker. They have snow-blowers. I don't.

So, I was thinking. Shouldn't their be some law for the fair distribution of snow and snow-blowers? Truth is, I suppose I could have spent my money and purchased a snow-blower before the storm, but I spent it on a Wii-fit and a Kindle (which is really cool by the way), but that shouldn't matter. They have snow-blowers and I don't and I need it more than they do.

Didn't Barack Obama promise a snow-blower in ever garage, or something?

On second thought, maybe I will just send my kids out to shovel while I read my kindle. The Wii-fit is still in the box. I will get to it, ya know, later.

The Gregarious and Hug-able, Ken Starr?

Seriously? The Gregarious and Hug-able, Ken Starr?

I found this article to be most fascinating on two fronts. The first half of the article is a profile on the new Baylor University President, Ken Starr. A taste...

But the reality of Kenneth Winston Starr, who in June became the 14th president of Baylor University, is quite different. To watch him work the crowd at the Baylor-Texas A&M football game, in fact, is nothing short of a revelation.

Here, he seems less a pious righter-of-wrongs than a sort of funny uncle. Resplendent in a white warm-up suit trimmed with green and gold and a yellow Baylor cap, and bearing a cherubic smile that never quite leaves his face, the 64-year-old Starr plunges into groups of startled tailgaters. He talks to everyone. He hugs anyone who will agree to be hugged. He tells jokes. He tosses footballs. He poses for photographs, lots of them.

When the Baylor players emerge from their bus to walk a gauntlet of fans, Starr tries to hug all of them, many of whom appear to have no idea who he is. He fails, but is undeterred.

Though his enemies might prefer to think otherwise, this is the actual Ken Starr, the one the TV cameras never quite got: warm, kind, humble, funny and engaging.

There is much more to the profile and its worth a read in and of itself. However, I found even more fascinating, perhaps, the description of the mission Baylor University.

Baylor wants to turn itself into a top-ranked institution and research university all while not just maintaining, but emphasizing, its Christianity. The only comparable model would be Notre Dame, except well, actually Christian.
His larger mission is to fulfill one of the most breathtaking visions in American higher education. Baylor wants nothing less than to transform itself from its traditional role as a somewhat sleepy, second-rate, predominantly regional Baptist school to a world-class research university with highly ranked graduate programs.

And it wants to accomplish all that while asserting itself as a fully Christian, evangelical university with avowedly Christian professors. No Protestant university has ever done this before or even tried. Old-line schools founded on Christian principles like Harvard, Princeton and Yale historically bowed before a relentless secularism and are now places where religion is relegated to extracurricular status. Notre Dame is the only remotely comparable model. It is very definitely a world-class research institution, but not absolute in requiring its faculty to be Catholic or Christian.

Read the entire article. It remarkably well done.

He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother....

Merry Christmas from CMR to all!

We pray that God blesses all of you this wonderful Christmas day.

If you want to read something that will lift your spirits, something that will remind you what real Christianity looks like...

Read this story. Really. Read it.

San Fran To Ban Circumcision

In San Francisco you must accept the culture of others, as long as the others are the good others--ya know the gay-lesbo-socialist-anarchist types. They MUST be respected.

Jews, not so much.

San Francisco residents may vote on a ballot measure next year that would outlaw circumcision.

The initiative, which requires 7,000 signatures before it can be added to next November's ballot, would make it a misdemeanor to "circumcise, excise, cut or mutilate the...genitals" of all minors, and would not make exceptions for religious reasons.

The decision to permanently remove a boy's foreskin should not be made by parents, says Lloyd Shofield, the proposal's author.

"People can practice whatever religion they want, but your religious practice ends with someone else's body," Schofield told CBS affiliate KCBS. "It's a man's body and...his body doesn't belong to his culture, his government, his religion or even his parents. It's his decision."

On the upside, the fact that San Franciscans want to protect by law a blob of tissue may be “a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility.”

Or not. These people are crazy. You can kill a baby by law up until the moment it is born, and sometimes after, but you cannot circumcise it?

Easy solution. Mohels must learn to perform circumcision in utero. Blobs of tissue are never protected there. Then if SFO wants to save the foreskin, they must save the baby too.

Senator Writes Letter to Santa

I wasn't really planning on posting much today but this story was just so ridiculous that I had to. In the lamest political stunt evah, New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez wrote a public letter to Santa apologizing that man made global warming was destroying the North Pole. I'm serious.

Dear Santa Claus,

I am writing out of concern, because you may have to move from the North Pole due to the dramatic melting of Arctic sea ice. The Navy's chief oceanographer says that by the summer of 2020 the North Pole may not have summer ice and other scientists project that an ice-free Arctic is possible as soon as 2012!

Scientists overwhelmingly agree that polar ice is melting because of greenhouse gas pollution and I am working hard to reduce these emissions. But there is probably nothing we can do in time to save the North Pole. I am worried about your safety and your ability to deliver billions of Christmas gifts if the ice cap on the North Pole no longer stays frozen all year. What will happen to your house, your workshop, the elves' houses and your reindeer barns?...

Please know that I will work to mobilize the U.S. federal government to assist when you relocate. I am sure we can both agree that on a warming planet, we need to do all we can to save Christmas.

This just seems to be a really really stupid idea right before Christmas. Using Santa for political purposes on Christmas Eve is dangerous business that's sure to land him on the naughty list. Oh wait, his Obamacare vote probably did that already. Because let's remember Santa, unlike Obamacare supporters, actually likes children.

HT Weasel Zippers

A Little O Holy Night

I love Christmas and this song gets me like no other. I love the lyrics.

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
'Til He appear'd and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Merry Christmas to all of you.

Super Cute Nativity Story

I loved it.

HT Right Network

A Great Story on the Nashville Dominicans: on NPR!

National Public Radio is not what one might call particularly Catholic friendly. As the national voicebox for the values of Modernity, they often have a hard time understanding ideas that preexist Kant, Descartes and Nietzsche. But even NPR can't resist the charm of the Nashville Dominican Sisters. Read the NPR article here.

Lame Duck? No. Zombie Duck

The lame duck session of Congress is finally over.

This session of congress has been called "the most ambitious legislative agenda that’s ever been pursued in a lame-duck session since the 20th Amendment."

Since the what amendment?

The 20th amendment. That is the amendment to the Constitution that was supposed to kill lame duck congresses forever. Now we have Zombie Duck Congresses.

Lame duck sessions of Congress have always seemed wrong to Americans. We just voted the bums out, why should they get to decide anything? They shouldn't.

So the Congress passed and the states ratified the 20th amendment. The headline in the 1933 Washington Post declared "Present Lame Duck Session Will Be Last."

Then came the Zombie Duck.

See, the framers of the 20th amendment ...

Continue Reading @ National Catholic Register>>>>

Christian Bale to Play Heroic Priest

This looks pretty interesting. MTV reports:

Bale will headline "Nanjing Heroes," a period drama about the Massacre of Nanjing, also known as the"Rape of Nanking, from award-winning Chinese filmmaker Zhang Youmi ("Hero," "Raise the Red Lantern")...

In the film, Bale will play an American Catholic priest who shelters a group of prostitutes and female students in his church during the Massacre of Nanking, a 1937 invasion in which Japanese soldiers stormed China's then-capital and murdered and raped thousands of Chinese citizens.

Based on Yan Geling's novel "The 13 Women of Nanjing," the film will begin shooting in China in January, with roughly 40 percent of the dialogue spoken in English and the rest in Mandarin.

Bale's a pretty great actor so I'm definitely intrigued by this movie. A movie with a priest as a hero would be a nice change of pace.

A Honus Wagner Christmas

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:

The School Sisters of Notre Dame, who had been bequeathed the 100-year-old card, thought they had a buyer last month when it sold for $220,000 at a Dallas-based auction house.

When that buyer reneged, auction officials phoned DePace, of Haddonfield, who also bid on the card but dropped out when the price went too high.

Given the circumstances, DePace, a Catholic, quickly changed his mind.

"I wasn't going to let the nuns go without their Christmas gift," said DePace, who seemed to be enjoying the splash his purchase had made.

The nuns were thrilled, too.

"We want to thank him for making our Christmas so bright," said Sister Virginia Muller, Notre Dame's trustee of the card...

A brother of a deceased nun had kept the card DePace bought in a safe-deposit box since 1936. It was in poor condition, the man had written in a note, but would still be very valuable.

The nuns hoped the proceeds of the sale would help finance their ministries in 30 countries, Sister Muller said.

Doug Walton of Knoxville, Tenn., made national news last month as the winning bidder. According to the Associated Press, he owns a string of sports card stores across the Southeast. Walton had 30 days to pay.

"He never returned our phone calls," said Mark Jordan, the consignment director of Heritage Auctions.

Usually, when a bidder does not close the deal, a new auction is held, Jordan said.

But, with "the nuns and the holidays," Jordan said he wanted to get the deal closed right away, so he called DePace, a respected customer.

"I knew he was a Catholic," Jordan said.

DePace was at work when he got the call last week.

"For the nuns, I'll do it," he said he told Jordan.

DePace, 57, has three cardiology offices in Philadelphia and South Jersey, and is a medical author and professor at Hahnemann University Hospital. He has been collecting sports memorabilia for 30 years....

He's thrilled about helping the nuns, he said. "I feel so good I could climb Mount Everest."

"This is the most famous Honus Wagner card now because it's going to help thousands of people, and that's more than any other Honus Wagner card has ever done," he said.

Don't You Make My Red State Blue

Many are cheering some pretty radical populations shifts in the latest Census. Folks from blue areas are moving to red areas. Shock, right? And some of those blue areas are losing representation. And that's all well and good.

Overall, I'd rather see blue states lose representation.

But beware. I remember about ten years ago Montgomery County Pennsylvania was a GOP stronghold. But here's what happened. Democrats in Philadelphia ran the city into the ground. Crime went up, taxes went up, and school quality went down.

Recognizing the downward trajectory of Philadelphia, many Democrat voting families moved out of the city and into the suburbs like Montgomery County. And then what did they do? They voted Democrat. Instead of realizing that the Democrats destroyed the city they lived in and walking away from the party they kept voting the same way and expanded the Democratic Party's reach into the suburbs.

Now, who represents Montgomery County? Much of it is represented by a far left former abortion clinic owner who is sometimes called the Nancy Pelosi of the East.

And this isn't just a city to suburbs concern.

Freedom's Lighthouse points to a population surge in Texas and Arizona and writes "some of the population change is a result of increased Hispanic populations in Texas and Arizona, and it is still unclear whether they will move those states closer to being in play for Democrats or not."

So beware demographic shifts. When blue staters move into red states they don't necessarily become red staters. Sometimes they make the red state blue.

The Case For Personhood

Personhood.

Personhood for the unborn. What pro-lifer could be against such a thing. Well, I suppose that no pro-lifer is opposed to personhood in principle. Some oppose personhood as a strategy.

Personhood can never work, they say. At least not now. The better approach is incremental. Focus on the achievable. That might seem like good sense. Steve Ertelt of Lifenews.com thinks this is the way to go.

In order to defeat Obama and ultimately stop abortions, personhood amendments must be put aside in 2012 so the pro-life community can focus on the number one goal: installing a pro-life president who will put the nation in a position to legally protect unborn children.

But Shaun Kenney, also at Redstate says, not so fast. Let's look at what the "incremental and achievable" strategy has gotten us.

Arguments against are legion: it bleeds cash and resources, it’s not politically viable, and worst of all, it deprives Republicans the chance to elect a pro-life president with a nominally pro-life Congress.

Of course, were this even remotely true, abortion would have ended with the election of George W. Bush, and the Republican Congress would have passed a series of bills defunding Planned Parenthood, mandating parental notification and consent laws, passing a series of fetal pain bills, forcing abortion clinics to meet the basic standards of medical care, and perhaps even joined hands with the personhood movement and passed a bill recognizing the basic right to exist — ultimately thrusting the decision into the hands of a 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court and ending abortion once and for all.

One small problem. This never happened.

Kenny then goes on to make the case for Personhood as a strategy.

I am torn in this debate having been in the Steve Ertelt camp for years, but increasingly I am drawn to the personhood movement, again as a strategy. I am truly on the fence.

This is a very important debate within the pro-life movement.

Please read both articles (here and here) and let me know what you think.

This May Scare the Heck Out of You

Dude. I warn you. If you watch this, it may make you very nervous about our country's safety.



Obviously, this is a major flub. I'm not so much concerned about the man as I am about the communication going on between the three of them.

Now, Janet Napolitano did say they work to keep America safe 364 days a year so maybe that day was Clapper's one day off a year.

HT Weasel Zippers

Catholicism: A Trailer

This series called "Catholicism" by Father Robert Barron looks great.



Fr. Barron is truly brilliant. He has the ability to make complex theological points that make sense to even idiots like me. I think he's still looking for help funding this so please feel free to help the Word on Fire ministry with this amazing undertaking. Click here.

Update: There's a special offer where donors of $250 or more can reserve a limited First Edition of the series, and a special gift from Fr. Barron. The link to donate and get more information is here.

If Only Dasher Could Swim

Yes, I believe a reindeer can fly. Swim? Not so much.


To make matters worse, this scene greeted children at a Christmas village!

Santa's gonna need Rudolph this year.

Detention for Christmas Cheer?

The Blaze has this video:

Teachers Can't Say 'Merry Christmas'

Insanity. A Nevada public school is prohibiting teachers from saying "Merry Christmas" for fear of an ACLU lawsuit.

Weasel Zippers:

There is controversy and confusion in the town of Mesquite, NV after teachers and staff members at the local high school were told to stop saying, “Merry Christmas,” according to an attorney with a conservative advocacy group.

Teachers at Virgin Valley High School are reportedly not allowed to post any religious Christmas decorations, and are prohibited from engaging in other Christmas activities as part of an agreement with the Nevada American Civil Liberties Union, according to Alliance Defense Fund attorney David Cortman.

Lawsuits are the preferred weapon of the left. Even the threat of them makes administrators buckle.

And make no mistake the secularist left is winning in America today in many ways.

Remember earlier this year there was concern among some teachers in a public school whether they could say "Bless you" if someone sneezed and the solution was pretty much that they could say it if they didn't really mean it.

If our government were a limited government the demands of the Big Government secularist wouldn't be as big a deal but with government encroaching every facet of our lives including education and healthcare, the practice of Christianity becomes increasingly banned.

Mind you, the one private institution in this world that provides education for millions of youths and healthcare for millions is the Catholic Church. The Church is the bulwark against the march of secularism covering our country. And that's why the Church is public enemy number one of the secularists.

Happy Meals, Sex and Violence

The New York Times and their cohorts in kookiness have their pom poms out for a new lawsuit against a fast food giant for advertising happy meals. Why? Because parents feel bad about saying no to their children. Seriously.

Continue reading at the National Catholic Register>>>

The Richest Man In Town

Its a wonderful life! Truly.

Watch this video. Watch and be amazed. The wonderful life of Loren Krueger.

Public Schools Pedophile Problem

Wait, I thought this was exclusively a Catholic problem!? I'm sure we'll be seeing hundreds of news articles about this, a few movies, and dozens of books on the subject. Oh wait, the elites like public schools so...never mind.

Van Helsing writes:

To evaluate the performance of Comrade Obama's Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings, let's circumvent the establishment media's Obamunist whitewash and listen to what the British media has to say:

Convicted paedophiles are finding it easy to get jobs in schools because teachers are failing to stop them and hushing up cases of abuse, an official report has found.

Read the rest at Moonbattery>>>

7 Yr. Old Sings Amazing Grace

George from Convert Journal gives a little history of this little girl. That is, if 7 year old's can have history. This is pretty amazing.

Rhema Marvanne's mom died of ovarian cancer when she was only 6. Now as a grown-up 7 year old, she has become a popular Christian singer. Here she sings Amazing Grace:

Forgive The Expression "Christmas Party?"

These people are insane. There is no other way to say it.

In their feeble little liberal minds, to even say the word Christmas is so offensive that it must be apologized for in advance.

Nina Totenberg of NPR appeared on Inside Washington this weekend. On the show she made the following remark without the least bit of levity or irony. She really does think it is offensive.

“I was at – forgive the expression – a Christmas party,”

Yes. She asked for forgiveness for saying the phrase "Christmas Party." I am not kidding.

Well, these agencies, including the Defense Department, don't know how much money they've got and for what. And I was at – forgive the expression – a Christmas party at the Department of Justice and people actually were really worried about this.

These people are insane!



Remember, she is the one who didn't get fired from NPR.

Thanks to Newsbusters for the story!

Chastisement

When reading the Old Testament, the chastisement of the Jews is relentless. Every time they turn their back on God through disobedience, they are attacked, enslaved, or displaced. Every time. But they kept on doing it.

Reading about the Old Testament Jews reminds me of watching a horror movie. You scream fruitlessly at the screen "Don't do it!! Exile and slavery are waiting behind the door!!" Alas, alack.

That is the thing, characters in a horror movie do no know they are in a horror movie, they live their lives as if all is normal.

So too, life in chastisement seems much the same. Do you think that your average brick making Jew in Egypt realized that his people were being purified? Nope. He was a pre-occupied with making bricks as I am with going to work each day.

Chastisement can be that way. Many have this notion that chastisement as a sudden and unmistakable event of obvious biblical comeuppance "Sodom and Gomorrah" style. Sometimes. But if the Bible teaches us anything ...

>>>Continue Reading @ National Catholic Register>>>>

Economics Takes the Place of Morality

I recently read a piece in the Irish Times worrying that economics was entering into the debate over euthanasia. But I can't help but think it's always been there.

Let's face it, without any agreed upon morality concerning human life and ethicists unable to agree that about the value of human life, some concern must fill the vacuum and form the bedrock of our opinion. And once life is no longer priceless, a price tag is necessarily affixed. After that, it's all just haggling.

And just in case you're OK with that, please remember that in economics everything comes down to supply and demand and unless there's a big demand for you when you get sick or injured and you're no longer contributing the supply of you will likely soon be zeroed out.

In economics, once people are no longer contributing to society there's very little economic case that can be made to extend their lives. When they talk about "quality of life" what they're really talking about is the cost/benefit analysis of you.

Our culture is happily shrugging off that old time religion but remember it will be replaced by something. And that something is economics. And more people have died in the name of economics than any religion. That's right communism, I'm talking to you. Take that Dawkins!

I-Phone App Rebuilds Tower Of Babel

And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech... And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children built. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

And it came to pass, that an I-phone app undid the confounding work of God.

Once again, now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

Behold



Doomed.

The Digital Nativity Story

Awesome.



HT Flopping Aces

Is It Restraining Order Time?

OK. Seriously. After watching this I'm wondering if Matthews wears Obama underoos and sings himself to sleep with a loop of Barack-Hussein-Obama MMM-mmm-MMM lullaby playing on his Ipod.

This is creepier than that drug lord with the mural of Justin Bieber in his living room.

Note to Secret Service: Just drop in on Chris Matthews place and take a look around. Please. And remember to check under the bed.

HT Newsbusters

Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet

Before you listen to this very simple and beautiful song please just read the story as to how it came about from Gavin Bryars:

In 1971, when I lived in London, I was working with a friend, Alan Power, on a film about people living rough in the area around Elephant and Castle and Waterloo Station. In the course of being filmed, some people broke into drunken song - sometimes bits of opera, sometimes sentimental ballads - and one, who in fact did not drink, sang a religious song "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet". This was not ultimately used in the film and I was given all the unused sections of tape, including this one.

When I played it at home, I found that his singing was in tune with my piano, and I improvised a simple accompaniment. I noticed, too, that the first section of the song - 13 bars in length - formed an effective loop which repeated in a slightly unpredictable way. I took the tape loop to Leicester, where I was working in the Fine Art Department, and copied the loop onto a continuous reel of tape, thinking about perhaps adding an orchestrated accompaniment to this. The door of the recording room opened on to one of the large painting studios and I left the tape copying, with the door open, while I went to have a cup of coffee. When I came back I found the normally lively room unnaturally subdued. People were moving about much more slowly than usual and a few were sitting alone, quietly weeping.

I was puzzled until I realised that the tape was still playing and that they had been overcome by the old man's singing. This convinced me of the emotional power of the music and of the possibilities offered by adding a simple, though gradually evolving, orchestral accompaniment that respected the tramp's nobility and simple faith. Although he died before he could hear what I had done with his singing, the piece remains as an eloquent, but understated testimony to his spirit and optimism

I find it beautiful but I know others have heard it and yawned. I'll let you decide.

Feds Force Bank to Drop Christmas

This far exceeds the regular ol' war on Christmas story. This isn't some town crank complaining about a nativity scene. This isn't a sad little group of atheists holding a press conference. This isn't the ACLU filing a lawsuit.

This is the federal government forcing a small town bank to take down any religious Christmas symbols in the bank.

Weasel Zippers reports:

PERKINS, Okla. — A small-town bank in Oklahoma said the Federal Reserve won’t let it keep religious signs and symbols on display.

Federal Reserve examiners come every four years to make sure banks are complying with a long list of regulations. The examiners came to Perkins last week. And the team from Kansas City deemed a Bible verse of the day, crosses on the teller’s counter and buttons that say “Merry Christmas, God With Us.” were inappropriate. The Bible verse of the day on the bank’s Internet site also had to be taken down.

What is it about "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion... or prohibit the free exercise thereof."

The Federal Reserve's argument supposedly is that the bank's decorations may "express, imply or suggest a discriminatory preference or policy of exclusion." Imply? Really? So their policy trumps the free exercise clause of the First Amendment? How does that work?

And there's also this little factoid that they don't seem to have internalized at the Fed - CHRISTMAS IS A FEDERAL HOLIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This one really disturbs me. This is why you constantly hear liberal secularists talking about "freedom to worship" rather than "freedom of religion." They're all fine with religion as long as it's relegated to one hour on your weekend. To secularists, religion should not rear its ugly, dangerous, homophobic head in public. At all.

They don't just want a separation of church and state they want a separation of religion from life. And what is a religion that doesn't inform one's actions? What would that make us? Oprah watchers. It makes us people who say things like, "I'm not religious per se but I'm very spiritual which means I do whatever the heck I want and feel very self affirmed about it."

Is that really what we want?

Note: Weasel Zippers has the original story.

NOW: Abortion Good, Hooters Bad

The National Organization for Women doesn't believe parents should have the right to bring their kids to a Hooters restaurant.

Yeah, the same people who want to outlaw children going into Hooters are actually pretty OK with 7th grade girls skipping out on Social Studies to hop on down to the local abortion clinic without parental consent.

Weasel Zippers reports:

The restaurants in San Francisco, San Bruno, Sacramento and Orange County are classified as “adult entertainment” establishments but also serve minors, NOW’s California chapter said in papers filed with police and prosecutors.

What’s more, the organization said, Hooters provides child menus, high chairs and booster seats, and sells T-shirts in children’s sizes that identify the wearer as a “Future Hooters Girl.”

Patricia Bellasalma, NOW’s California president, asserted that Hooters is violating state and local laws prohibiting sexually oriented “adult” businesses from serving minors. The chain is also violating federal employment standards, she said.

It's not that NOW is against kids going into Hooters because who the heck wants their kids going into Hooters? Not me. But it's the hypocrisy that drives me crazy. They immediately reach out to the government to put a stop to it. Mind you, these are the same people who are constantly yelling about parental choice. So, according to NOW, parents are allowed to choose to kill their children, they just can't take them for a burger at Hooters.

Like I said, I'm not pro-Hooters. I'm just kinda' anti-NOW. So sue me. Oh wait, they might.

No Emanations and Penumbras In Europe?

I am still getting used to this topsy-turvy world in which Europeans increasingly act like (ol' fashioned) Americans and new-fangled Americans increasing act like Europeans.

In Europe we can see a growing rejection of tax and spend and of socialism. Sure, its roots are real deep but there is a new aware it seems. But while Europeans reject failed socialism, Americans embrace it. While Members of Parliament throughout Europe give fiery speeches in defense of sovereignty, Americans blithely give theirs away bit by bit.

And now in the latest blow to my notions of American exceptionalism, European courts have decided that individual States can come to their own conclusions about abortion upholding Ireland's abortion ban.

The European Court of Human Rights today released its judgment in ABC v. Ireland, a case in which three unnamed women claimed a right to abortion under the European Convention on Human Rights sufficient to trump Ireland’s own pro-life constitutional provisions.

First, the good news. The ECHR held there was no right to abortion under the convention, which is binding on 47 nations. Thus, each nation may decide for itself what to do about abortion. While this is good news, it shouldn’t be surprising — the convention never mentions the word “abortion.”

While there may be other troubling things in the ruling, the bottom line is that individual states are free to ban abortion because the European constitution does not mention abortion. No emanations of penumbras for our Euro friends. If its not in there, its not in there.

So in this respect, Europeans are more free than Americans. They are free to protect life in their states. Americans can not.

This is one time I wish the U.S. was more like Europe.

Planned Parenthood Aborts 97% of the Time

Abortion giant Planned Parenthood released its 2008-2009 Annual Report. And the news is horrific.

Red State reports:

Behind the colorful graphics and happy faces is a stark number: Planned Parenthood received $363 million in government grants and contracts from 2008 to 2009 alone, all at the expense of the U.S. Taxpayer and the lives of unborn babies.

How many lives are we talking? 324,008 unborn human lives destroyed in one year. How many adoption referrals? 9,433.

That means over 97% of the time they aborted babies rather than referred to an adoption center. Over 97%.

Yet somehow we're supposed to be convinced that with the billions of dollars they've received in taxpayer funding, none of it went to abortion when they're aborting over 97% of the unborn they come in contact with.

Planned Parenthood must be defunded because that horrendous and alarming statistic makes plain that the more funding they receive the more abortions there will be. Red State has a graphic that shows it in great clarity.

Pro-aborts are always yelling that they don't want government to have anything to do with abortion...except they want the government to pay for it?

Republican legislators must stand together and defund Planned Parenthood come January.

Christmas Bonus For Planned Parenthood?

I don't know if the push to defund Planned Parenthood is a reality in the next Congress. I know Michelle Bachmann and a few others have talked about it but it's one of those things that I'll believe it when I see it. I'm hoping and praying for it as well.

But the Democrats seem to at least have some fear that the spigot may be tightened because deep in the bowels on the omnibus bill is a p[retty nice Christmas bonus for the abortion giant Planned Parenthood.

Kathryn Lopez writes:

A pro-life Hill aide points out more Omnibus outrageousness:

$327 million is allocated for the Title X Family Planning Program which provides funding to groups like Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the nation. This is a $10 million increase over last year (FY10 level was $317 million) and a $44 million increase over the last four years (FY07 level was $283 million). (page 979)

And there's more. Lots more.

Read Lopez's piece at the Corner to get yourself all good and outraged just in time for Christmas.

Worst News Caption...Ever

HT Failblog

New Statesmen: Meet the Radical Jesus

The New Statesman's Mehdi Hasan explains why Jesus was just a big lefty radical.

Never mind that they're clearly drawing a comparison between Jesus and mass murderer Che Guavera. You've gotta' admit this is the kind of image of Jesus that could circulate rather well in college dormitories.

The piece labels Jesus "a class warrior" and "a banker basher" and uses the fact that Jesus didn't charge for His miracles as an endorsement of socialized healthcare.

Forget that liberals seem to forget that Jesus had a major run in with big government that didn't go all that swimmingly and please show me the part where Jesus forcibly made people "share the wealth." Jesus called us to a radical love. He didn't force feed a secular utopia.

And are liberals really really comfortable with the idea of government playing the role of God? Oh wait. Sadly, yes. Yes they are.

Anglican Nuns Joining The Battle. Will You?

We have all seen the war movies and heard the stories of those too young to serve lying about their age so as to join the service in defense of liberty, justice, or freedom. Some said they were young and naive, but they wanted to be in the battle. They wanted to make a difference.

When I hear these stories, I usually think of the kid from Brooklyn or the farm boy out of Iowa. They knew where the real battle of their day was occurring and they wanted to be part of it.

The kid from Brooklyn, the farm boy from Iowa, the nuns at Walsingham?

Continue Reading @ National Catholic Register >>>

This Supermodel Can Lecture Me Anytime

Wow. Supermodel Kathy Ireland gives just about the best defense of life I've ever heard.

Seriously.

(I know this might be a bit old but it's new to me.)

Santorum: JFK Was Wrong

Definitely worth a watch. Former Senator Rick Santorum rejects JFK's separation of church and state pretty forcefully.

CNN Clearly Hates Half the Country

CNN has officially lost its mind. OK. That may have happened a long time ago but this is just too ridiculous.

CNN is having Kathy Griffin back to co-host its New Year's Eve special, according to Media Bistro. You know the Kathy Griffin that got booed by the military after calling Bristol Palin fat. You know, the Kathy Griffin, who thinks so highly of conservatives that she beefed up her own security after getting booed.

Newsbusters reminds us that this is the same Kathy Griffin who recently called Sen. Scott Brown's daughters "prostitutes" and dropped the F-bomb during last year's CNN New Years Eve coverage.

The same Kathy Griffin who "joked" that Sarah Palin performed a "sex act" on John McCain to get picked for the VP nomination. The same Kathy Griffin who called Michelle Bachmann a bigot.

And yeah, the same Kathy Griffin who said, "Suck it, Jesus. This award is my God now."

Yeah, that one. I could go on but I don't think I really need to.

If CNN is wondering why nobody's watching, it's not because half the country hates them. It's because they hate half the country.

Hmmmm. WaPo Pays for Poll But No Report

I wonder what could be going on to make the Washington Post pay for a poll but then not to report on it. Hmmm...wonder what the results were.

Newsbusters reports:

A new ABC-Washington Post poll found ObamaCare sunk to its lowest popularity yet: 52 percent opposed, and only 43 percent in favor. ABC mentioned the poll without fanfare at the end of a Jake Tapper report on Monday’s World News, and Tapper added this was the health law's "lowest level of popularity ever." But Tuesday’s Washington Post reported not one sentence on the poll in the paper – even as they reported in the paper that the same survey found Obama’s tax-and-unemployment-compensation deal has “broad bipartisan support.”

This is the same Post that highlighted the news on Page One on October 20, 2009, when they found a “clear majority” in favor of a socialist “public option” -- amid charges they oversampled Democrats.

You might remember all those polls they covered up that Bush's popularity was cratering. You might remember them because THEY WERE ON THE FRONT PAGE!!!!

These people are shameless. And it's awful because these huge media companies are capable of so much good. And they often do good but they color so much of the news that they've become viewed as completely unreliable. I remember sitting at a meeting in a newspaper where I was working and the subject of bias came up. But it wasn't brought up as a real concern, it was a punchline. I remember me and the one other in-the-closet conservative kind of looked at each other and rolled our eyes. The journalists and editors truly believed that impressionable conservatives had simply bought into a lie promulgated by their conservative overlords.

I'm sure the WaPo talked themselves into reasons why this poll wasn't newsworthy but I'd bet they reached the conclusion not to publish and then worked backwards from there coming up with reasons not to publish.

Fat Kid Guantanamo

First lady Michelle Obama said this week that, “childhood obesity isn’t just a public health threat, it’s not just an economic threat, it’s a national security threat as well.”

Hey, finally, a national security threat that an Obama actually wants to do something about.

CMR is putting forth a strategic plan to deal with this newly discovered national security threat. When Obama empties the prison at Guantanamo Bay and frees all the terrorists there, CMR is asking whether it would be possible to send fat kids to Guantanamo.

That's right. Let's make GITMO a new "Fat Camp." Hey, it's a national security issue.

The federal government could employ a roaming group of "chubby chasers" that spots and chases down fat kids in order to round them up to put them in GITMO. And even if the kids escape the authorities the act of running away might make them less fat and less of a security threat.

If a fat kid is seen ready to down a Yodel it can now be viewed as a "clear and present danger," and any government official can act in a way to prevent this by fining the organization supplying Yodels to fat kids or perhaps re-educating the child's parents.

If you have any additions to deal with this national security threat, please put it in the combox.

Homecoming King and Queen with Down Syndrome

HT Mommy Life
Jill Stanek

Post-Natal Abortions Are All the Rage

The culture war seems to be operating on an unsuspected new front. While many pro-lifers have been focused on mothers not killing babies in the womb, a staggering new scientific study indicates that incidences of parents killing their newborn babies is five times higher than previously believed.

It's all the rage.

Come on, you can't be surprised, can you? You didn't think a little thing like birth would stop people from killing their babies did you? Seriously, why should the much heralded "choice" end just because the baby is lying on a table rather than in the womb?

Continue reading at the National Catholic Register>>>

Mecca In, Christmas Out

Mecca in. Christmas Out.

To get a good read on where we are nowadays, I want you to check out this news story and then read this letter from a high school student.

The AP (via Weasel Zippers) reports:

The federal government sued a suburban Chicago school district Monday for denying a Muslim middle school teacher unpaid leave to make a pilgrimage to Mecca that is a central part of her religion.

Compare that with this letter from a high school student to her local newspaper:

I am a Grade 11 student at North Delta Secondary school.

When I walked into school Monday morning, I couldn’t help but notice that the bulletin board just outside of our counselor’s office did not say Merry Christmas, but rather Happy Holidays.

This bothered me and I will tell you why. Earlier this year the global unity club, which is in charge of this board, had put up displays for Eid, a Muslim tradition, and Diwali, a Hindu and Sikh tradition.

That’s not the problem – the problem for me is that they are trying to support global unity and diversity, which I will admit our school is very good at.

However, they are not willing to recognize Christmas, a once religious holiday now celebrated world wide by every almost every culture.

Christmas is one of Canada’s national holidays and, may I remind you that without it, we wouldn’t be having “winter break” as it is now known.

Why are we allowed to have a Christmas tree in the foyer of our school but the board can’t post a simple message of “Merry Christmas?”

When I asked the sponsor teachers in charge of the group, I was given nothing but endless excuses such as “it is the students’ idea; there are many holidays around this time” and, my favourite one by far, “not everyone celebrates Christmas.”

If those really were the reasons, why can’t the bulletin board say “Happy Hanukkah” one week and “Merry Christmas” the next?

It is completely unfair to say, “not everyone celebrates Christmas” because I for one do not celebrate either Eid or Diwali.

I am not trying to start a war or create a struggle. I would appreciate it if we did not discriminate against anyone’s traditions or beliefs, including mine.

Chelsea Phelps, Delta

I guess Diwali is soooo much cooler than Christmas.

Westboro Baptist to Picket Catholic HS in Philly

The nuts from Westboro Baptist Church will be picketing two Catholic high schools in Philadelphia on the basis that it would seem that, according to them, that the Catholic school teaches premarital sex and birth control are ok. And oh yeah, the students are demon possessed.

Hey, you want logic out of people who picket military funerals and whose website is Godhatesfags.com?

Father Judge High School in Philadelphia, PA December 20, 2010 2:00 PM - 2:25 PMWBC to picket Father Judge High School. The children in this country are in peril. They do not know God, they do not know His standards, and the worst part is that they are purposefully raised on lies. You teach your children that God is a liar! God says no premaritaly sex. You say, as long as you use birth control and condemns, go ahead and fornicate your brains out! Oh, and if those don't work, no problem, just murder the baby (though God says, Thou shalt not kill. Ex 20:13) God says NO FAGS! (Le 18:22) You say, it's OK to be gay. God says obey and keep His commandments. (De 13:4) You say, how does that make you feeeeeeeeeeeel?! Wake up! You are raising your children to have NO moral compass. Instead, you give them a PhD in pride and rebellion before they are out of grade school. Then, you encourage them to out onto the battlefields where they will inevitably receive their own GodSmack - either coming up maimed or dead - and having no idea why! They need to know that God is a consuming fire! (De 4:24) They need to know that their God is the one that holds the breath of life!

De 32:39 See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.

The need to be taught to obey! Today! We know that this will not happen, but they must hear the words lest their blood be on our hands. This is a nation that will not hear the words or obey God. You have made God your enemy and you send you children over to be in the cross hairs of that angry God. You should humble yourselves underneath His mighty hand and obey for the rest of your life. Amen!

They're also going to picket another Catholic high school in Philly because the kids are "Demon possessed."

Archbishop Ryan High School in Philadelphia, PA December 20, 2010 7:10 AM - 7:40 AMWBC to come to Archbishop Ryan High School to show the children at this school some truth for probably the only time in their lives. They have been taught a steady diet of lies their whole lives with a side of pride and rebellion. You raise these demon-possessed brats to have no knowledge of the Bible, much less a true understanding of their God. Now there is an entire generation that has no idea what it means to be obedient to their God. Instead, they worship their feeeeeeeeeeeelings. How shameful. They have NO moral compass! They grope around in darkness day and night, believing the twin lies (God loves everybody and It's OK to be gay) that they have been taught their whole lives. The parents, preachers, teachers, and leaders - all the way up to Antichrist Obama - are to blame. You have all neglected your Deutoronomy 6 duty. Shame on you!! Your destruction is imminent!

HT Laura, a faithful reader

The Public School 12 Days of Winter

Funny 'cause it's true.



HT Divine Ripples

CS Lewis Schools Wolffe on Palin

HT The Blaze

Great! At Home Gender Selection

A woman my wife is friendly with just announced she was pregnant and that even though she was just a few weeks into her pregnancy she was going to learn the gender of the baby in the 7th week.

My wife said she didn’t think that information was available until much later but then this woman told her about a fairly new product, an at home gender detector kit, that can work just seven weeks into a pregnancy. When my wife told me about this I’ve got to tell you my heart sank. It’s a sad world where I find this to be bad news.

Continue reading at the National Catholic Register>>>

Worst Toy Ever

File this under things my children will not be getting for Christmas. The ad is in German but you'll get the gist.



HT The Blaze

This is Why Mitch Daniels Won't Get My Vote

Indiana Governor Mitch "The Truce" Daniels will not get my vote for President. No way. No how. And I think most of you will agree.

Check out what he said today about pro-life legislation:

He told 6News in Indianapolis that conservatives in the state legislature can move forward with pro-life legislation so long as it doesn’t distract from the economic and education-related legislation he prefers to push.

“As long as it doesn’t get in the way of the really crucial (objectives) — keeping Indiana in the black, improving our economy and bringing big reform to things like education. As long as it doesn’t get in the way of that, there’s plenty of time and capacity,” Daniels said.

The really crucial issues? Seriously? LIFE doesn't count as a crucial issue?

Is this guy trying to tick off social conservatives?

If you ask me, Daniels' presidential run ended on this day. Here lies Mitch "The Truce" Daniels' presidential aspirations, killed under the weight of his own words. The voters thought it crucial to keep him away from the Presidency.

Hot Air has the whole story.

She Chose Life

Excellent story from CBS about a mother who was told by a doctor that her twins would be born vegetables and she should abort, instead chose life. Check it out:

Overpopulation is a Myth

Check out these vids from the Population Reseach Institute concerning showing that overpopulation is a myth.






Al Kresta says this debate has a spiritual and theological dimension and I agree with him - not that anybody cares what I think.