Ann Coulter On Herman Cain

Ann Coulter puts the Cain accusations in context and it seems fairly despicable and highly implausible.

I will note that the other day I posted on the new Cain accusation then only weakly pseudo-denied by Cain's lawyer (who he should immediately fire) which only served to make him look guilty. Cain has now firmly denied the accusations and after reading this Coulter piece, this looks like one of the worst political hit jobs ever.

After the first round of baseless accusations against Cain, an endless stream of pundits rolled out the cliche – as if it were the height of originality – "This isn't he said-she said; it's he-said, she-said, she-said, she-said, she–said."

Au contraire: We had two "shes" and only one "said."

Remember? Only two women were willing to give their names. And as soon as they did, we discovered that they were highly suspicious accusers with nothing more than their personal honor to support the allegations. Only one of the two would even say what Cain allegedly did.
...
Ginger White claims she had a 13-year affair with Cain – and all she has are two books with inscriptions that could have been written to an auto mechanic who waited in line at a Cain book signing. Even her business partner during the alleged affair says White never mentioned Cain's name.

These women are like triple-A ball players with the stats being: number of bankruptcies, smallest bank account, number of liens, most false claims, number of children out of wedlock, degrees of separation from David Axelrod, total trips to human resources and so on.

That wouldn't be dispositive – except for the fact that their only evidence is their word.

But this is how liberals dirty you up when they've got nothing: They launch a series of false accusations, knowing that Americans with busy lives won't follow each story to the end and notice that they were all blind alleys.

Read the whole thing.

ht Culture War Notes

Bishop: Stop Holding Hands During Lord's Prayer

As if the new translation wasn't tough enough, a bishop in Kentucky is now trying to kill the spirit of Vatican II!!!

Bishop Roger Foys is telling parishioners to stop holding hands during the Our Father.

WCPO reports that Bishop Foys wrote:

Special note should also be made concerning the gesture for the Our Father. Only the priest is given the instruction to "extend" his hands. Neither the deacon nor the lay faithful are instructed to do this. No gesture is prescribed for the lay faithful in the Roman Missal ; nor the General Instruction of the Roman Missal , therefore the extending or holding of hands by the faithful should not be performed.

Diocesan spokesman Tim Fitzgerald said:

"Bishop Foys’ purpose [in issuing the decree] was to reiterate the directives guiding the celebration of the Mass as specified by the Second Vatican Council and related Vatican documents, fulfilling his role as chief teacher of the diocese; he did so as the new translation of the Roman Missal was first used in the diocese and in the United States last weekend. The decree concerned the proper texts of Mass prayers; liturgical music; gestures for priests, deacons, religious and lay faithful; the location of the choir and other musicians; and prayerful silence before and after Mass.”

To be honest, I don't see this as much as I used to. I never really understood why it was done in the first place but it always smelled a little hippie to me so I stayed away from it.

CMR kudos to Bishop Foys.

The Unheralded Gains of the Pro-Life Movement

You should read this piece about the gains the pro-life movement had made by Fred Barnes at the Weekly Standard:

Opponents of abortion are rarely interviewed on television these days. “It’s much harder to get on TV than it used to be,” says Charmaine Yoest, who heads Americans United for Life. Bookers of guests for news shows tell her, “We don’t want to talk about abortion. We’re tired of it.”
Photo of ultrasound

Perhaps the mainstream media are simply incapable of covering more than one social issue at a time. For the moment, the conflict over gay marriage and gays in the military is monopolizing media coverage, TV and print alike. Abortion is barely an afterthought.

Click here to read it.

Cdl. Burke Questions Sebelius' Catholicism

I believe HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius who is currently attempting to force Catholic institutions to pay for contraception calls herself a "practicing Catholic." I've even seen the word "devout" used a few times.

But in a recent interview that's on Campus Notes, Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke questioned Sebelius' Catholicism pretty directly.

“To the degree to which (Sebelius) proclaims herself to be a practicing Catholic, she is very wrong,” said Cardinal Burke. He sees it as “simply incomprehensible” for a Catholic to “support the kind of measures that she is supporting.”

Maybe Sebelius is practicing a modern strain of Catholicism known as Pelosism.

Sebelius infamously declared war on pro-lifers at a NARAL event. “We’ve come a long way in women’s health over the last few decades, but we are in a war.” Uhm. Who would that war be against? The Catholic Church, which says all life is sacred?

It's funny (in a sad pull out your hair way) that Sebelius just a few years ago said, "My Catholic faith teaches me that all life is sacred, and personally I believe abortion is wrong."

So she knows what she's doing is wrong but does it anyway. I sincerely wish that all Catholics had the bravery of Cardinal Burke to say the truth.

The 7 Worst Christmas Specials...Evah.

I've got a bunch of kids. And I've got a television. This is a recipe for disaster, especially around Christmas time. If my kids see an ad for a Christmas special they're on their knees pleading
"pleasecanwestayuptowatchitjustthisonceandwepromisewe'llgorighttobedandwewon'thiteachotherevenwhentheydeserveitandwe'llevenreadtomorrowpleasepleaseplease...

And I invariably say yes mainly because Christmas specials were a big deal for me as a kid. A really big deal. But I've noticed something while watching Christmas specials with my kids...they stink. Most of them stink really bad. Never mind the fact that most don't even mention Jesus outside of that weird long eared donkey one. They're just really really bad. But some are worse than others. So here's my list of the worst Christmas specials I've ever seen.

Continue reading at the National Catholic Register>>>

1979 or 2011? This Is Strange.

Muppet movie is hot at the box office.

There was a huge nuclear accident that dramatically set back the nuclear industry.

Attack on embassies in Tehran.

Islamist revolutions in middle east deposing strongmen.

High gas prices.

Newt Gingrich is a rising star in Republican circles.

Pittsburgh Steelers won the Superbowl.

A pre-season ranked Notre Dame football team underwhelmed.

Alabama to play for National Championship.

Against the odds, William Shatner stages a career comeback.

We are told that the electric cars that will save us are just around the corner.

Fading super power mired in ongoing war in Afghanistan.

US Economy in the tank.

President blames Americans for being in a malazy funk.

We have a failed socialist President with plummeting poll numbers.

And we are constantly told that a real conservative can't possibly win the presidency.

What year is this again?

Now That's a Conscience

This is a heckuva story about an old man whose conscience was bothering him a bit for a looong loooong time. You've got to check this out.

AOL.com reports:

The manager of the Sears store in downtown Seattle says an elderly man has repaid - with interest - cash the man says he stole in the late 1940s.

The note said the man stole $20 to $30 from a cash register decades ago and wanted to pay back $100.

Manager Gary Lorentson says he thinks the man's conscience "has been bothering him for the past 60 years."

Store security cameras recorded the man, but Sears officials said they don't know who he is and they won't release the video.

The store plans to put the money toward helping needy families in the holiday season.

A Very Newt Christmas

I was reminded on Twitter about this classically unbiased Time cover from 1994.

@jimgeraghty said" Newt has a funny line about that. "It wasn't enough that I was holding Tiny Tim's crutch. I'd broken it in half!""

How Dumb Does Tim Pawlenty Feel Now?

Tim Pawlenty never had his bump. He got in, the polls didn't budge, he got out. But I'm thinking he bailed way too soon. Way.

We had the Bachmann burst and bust, we had Perry's prosper and pop, and Herman Cain's con and clang.

The Republican Primary process has become a knock down drag out last man standing affair. Governor Tim Pawlenty could've been that man. Let's face it. He probably would've been had he just stuck around. His non-entity-ness would've actually been a benefit to him if he just showed a little stick-to-it-iveness.

He's a pro-life Governor who cut taxes. Yeah, he allowed himself to be bullied with the nonsensical arguments of Bachmann which looked really bad for him. But had he stuck to it, I'd bet we wouldn't even remember that anymore.

Now we've got Mitt and Newt looking to battle it out to the end.

I'm not saying Pawlenty would've been my guy but I'm just pointing out that this guy could've been the guy if he'd just hung around. Now, he's stuck angling for a Veep nod from Mitt. Good luck with that.

The Cure For Hangovers( and Other Things)

Researchers make magnetic nanoparticles that can latch on to harmful molecules and purge them from the blood. “The project involves magnetized nanoparticles that are coated with carbon and studded with antibodies specific to the molecules the researchers want to purge from the blood: inflammatory proteins such as interleukins, or harmful metals like lead, for example. By adding the nanomagnets to blood, then running the blood through a dialysis machine or similar device, the researchers can filter out the unwanted compounds.”

Great. This sounds like a hangover cure if ever I heard one. Filtering out unwanted compounds from the blood. I will believe it when it works on Misses Lohan and Cyrus.

ht Instapundit

Old: Cain A Harrasser. New & True: Cain A Cheater

Well. It seems that Herman Cain may very well be a dirtbag after all. Maybe not a harassing dirtbag, but likely a cheating one.

I say likely because after being accused of a 13 yr extra-marital affair by an Atlanta woman, the campaign issued this defacto-admission.

"Mr. Cain has been informed today that your television station plans to broadcast a story this evening in which a female will make an accusation that she engaged in a 13-year long physical relationship with Mr. Cain. This is not an accusation of harassment in the workplace – this is not an accusation of an assault - which are subject matters of legitimate inquiry to a political candidate.

Rather, this appears to be an accusation of private, alleged consensual conduct between adults - a subject matter which is not a proper subject of inquiry by the media or the public. No individual, whether a private citizen, a candidate for public office or a public official, should be questioned about his or her private sexual life. The public's right to know and the media's right to report has boundaries and most certainly those boundaries end outside of one's bedroom door.

Mr. Cain has alerted his wife to this new accusation and discussed it with her. He has no obligation to discuss these types of accusations publicly with the media and he will not do so even if his principled position is viewed unfavorably by members of the media."

Don't ask, don't tell?

Gimme a G. Gimme U. Gimme an I....

What kind of bizarro world do we live in where Newt freakin' Gingrich is looking better each day but the honorable Rick Santorum can't get above 2%?

At least Newt's peccadilloes are old an out in the open, I hope.

So this is my choice now? Newt or Mitt? Wow, life sucks.

And btw, Newt made his most convincing argument yesterday saying "I am not perfect, but I am more conservative than Mitt. And I am electable." Yes, yes, and maybe. But I don't know if I trust Newt anymore than I trust Mitt, just for different reasons.

Cheaters and Liars.

Rick, you have my vote.

The Robopocalypse Will Be Brought to you by Harvard

The apocalypse will be brought to you by Harvard University. Seriously, did you ever think it would come from anywhere else?

Harvard researchers just announced that they've built a flexible robot that can crawl and slither under a pane of glass and into your home thus making your ability to hide out in your home and ride out the apocalypse about...bupkis.

The Washington Post reports:

Harvard scientists have built a new type of flexible robot that is limber enough to wiggle and worm through tight spaces.

It’s the latest prototype in the growing field of soft-bodied robots. Researchers are increasingly drawing inspiration from nature to create machines that are more bendable and versatile than those made of metal.

They say this is great news for people trapped in mines and such things. And it is, I guess. Hey, I'm glad for all the trapped miners who will have bendable robots to keep them company as they suffocate but do you doubt that one day these bots will be sneaking into your homes and unlocking the door for other robots with other specialties like...I don't know...crushing larynxes?

Milquetoast Catholic Mag to Become Catholic Again!!

This is great news. First the translation, now this! The whole "Catholic, but..." crowd will be reeling upon hearing this news.

Danielle Bean of DanielleBean.com and Faith & Family Live fame is taking over leadership of the Catholic Digest. Catholic Digest is probably the largest, oldest, and best-known Catholic publication in the U.S. They've got hundreds of thousands of readers so it's kind of a big deal.

But what makes it especially awesome is that this is the same publication that once featured the Catholic Mario "personally pro-life" Cuomo on the cover. Yup. This is the same publication that drooled all over its interview with un-Catholic Barack "it's above my pay grade" Obama. (Do magazines drool?)

But now they put the muy Catholic Danielle "personally and publicly pro-life" Bean in charge. This is seriously great news.

Danielle has done great things over at Faith & Family Live. I read it and I'm a dude. CMR has every confidence in Danielle, because besides everything else, Danielle is Catholic, unadorned and unafraid.

And given that the publication's readership probably skews towards seniors, hopefully Danielle will be moving the magazine out of the nursing home and into the nursery.

This is a seriously big deal in that a major "Catholic" publication is abandoning the tired old wishy washy "future Church" garbage and putting an authentically Catholic person in charge.

I suspect Danielle's influence will be felt immediately at the Catholic Digest. This is great news for Catholic media. Now, if Pat and I could just take over the National Catholic Reporter we'd all be set.

CMR Agrees With Nat'l Catholic Reporter!!!

A National Catholic Reporter editorial bemoaned the new translation of the liturgy, saying it makes them feel sad. And CMR is all like boo-freakin' hoo. But there was one paragraph where we couldn't help but agree with the editorial. Wholeheartedly.

The Reporter editorial says:

Yet this Sunday, Nov. 27, the first Sunday in Advent, when we are gathered around the eucharistic table -- what should be the greatest sign of our unity -- many of us will feel depressed. We will feel like losers when we hear not the words that Jesus’ blood “will be shed for you and for all” but that Jesus’ blood “will be shed for you and for many.”

Finally! CMR and the National Catholic Reporter can agree on something.

It's not so much we're calling them "losers." It's more like we're just agreeing with their self evaluation.

Nuevo Trad Catholics Revolt

A bunch of old fogey whiners in love with the liturgy of the past want to return all of us kicking and screaming back to the Dark Ages or something. They're angry that the liturgy has changed.

Hey man, Catholicism has progressed.

Critics of the new language are saying that this liturgy is faulted.

Soon they'll say things like it's illicit and they'll form their own society that says the Mass must be the way it was when they were kids. And I'm all like just because something was once that way doesn't mean it has to exist that way forever. It's like these people want to stop the Church from progressing or something.

They're saying the liturgy has been "hijacked" by "deception."

These people! Why are they trying to drag the Church backwards?! We are a 21st century Church. That old liturgy is soooo 20th century. The Mass is a living breathing thing man. You wanna' take us back the Mass of the height of the sex abuse scandal. Is that what you want?

Oh the lamentations of, "I remember when I was a kid the liturgy...blah blah blah..." and the whining about why did everything have to change because everything was so (insert blahs here.)

All these Nuevo Trad Catholics want to force us all into the way way back machine. I mean, why not just have the Mass the same as it was in the 70's or something.

Triple My Non Sum Dignus, Please

Its official, we are now blessed with the new English translation of the Roman Missal which went into effect this past weekend. By way of reporting, all went very well in my parish. The people seemed ready, they payed attention more than usual, and hit all changes well. Our priest had a tougher time of it. He caught himself falling back on old habits more than once, correcting himself by reading veeeeeerrrrrryyyyy slooooooowly. It made me smile.

But now a little confession. For the first time in years I actually said the "Lord, I am not worthy...." Actually, for the first time in years I actually said it in English. The translation of this particular line of the liturgy was so off, that I preferred to say it in the original Latin "Domine, non sum dignus, ut intres sub tectum meum: sed tantum dic verbo, et sanabitur anima mea," now properly rendered as "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed."

With all the poor translations in the mass, why is that this particular line brought out the closet sedevacantist in me?

Some history....

Continue Reading >>>>

First Mass With the New Missal: Vatican II Not Eradicated

I was visiting my childhood parish of Christ the King on Long Island tonight and just returned from the Saturday evening anticipated Mass. Guess what? The Mass went on with its elegant language and there were no riots! No complaining among the faithful. A little bit of enthusiastic instruction and a few people forgetting to look at their sheets here and there. But the priest knew his parts perfectly. The achievements of Vatican II did not vanish and people understood the words, no matter what some of the professional-naysayer liturgical intelligentsia were saying would happen. (Remember those riots in South Africa?) Aside from the slight novelty of a few new words and the reminders at the beginning of Mass, the new texts were hardly a distraction at all to active participation. And to an attentive listener, they were a rich source of theology.

However, here's what was a distraction to active participation in the Wedding Feast of the Lamb in all of its eschatological dimensions, new texts or not:

1. Mass opening with the suggestion that we turn to our neighbor and introduce ourselves.
2. The show-tune style Kyrie accompanied by a piano and a cantor singing like a Broadway soloist with arms stretched wide and a big grin.
3. The mother in front of me giving animal crackers to her over-the-age-of-first-Communion daughter and assisting in her breaking the Communion fast.
4. The permanent deacon leaving the sanctuary and pacing back and forth in the front aisle, preaching for 13 minutes and never once mentioning the Gospel reading from the Mass.
5. More piano-accompanied Broadway-style singing during Communion complete with a wide wavy vibrato and vocal scooping.
6. The general roar of conversation in the church after Mass with no interest at all in reverent silence.

Praise God that we have elegant and elevated new texts. But they were almost forgotten among the mundane, the un-liturgical and the just plain tacky. Much work remains to be done in implementing the riches of the Council.

How'd it go in your parish?

New Mass Translation and Reporting

I found this article on the new Mass translation going into effect his weekend and I had to laugh.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think the reporter had bad intent at all, rather just the context seems funny to me.

The Latin-esque wording is more formal, says choir member Meg Auer — and more meaningful.

"I actually really like, in the Gloria, going back to: 'We praise you, we bless you, we glorify you,' " she says. "I think that's really beautiful — something that was missing in the translation before."

In fact, those words are in songs sung in Spanish, or French, or Italian — because all translations except for English are based word for word on the Latin Mass. This highlights what the Vatican sees as one of the flaws of the English Mass: It was translated very quickly after Vatican II, and it was made a little too conversational for the Vatican's taste. So it's being revised, to bring the English Mass back in line with Latin and other translations.

Latin-esque? I like it. I have no idea what it means, but I likes. And saying the Latin Mass as opposed to the mass in Latin is confusing at best. You say Latin Mass, and people think something else entirely.

The article is actually fairly good otherwise. But be prepared for some bad reporting, purposeful or otherwise.

Awesome Vid: Conception to Birth

Astoundingly and graphically beautiful. Amazing.



To learn more about this, click here.

Who Is Grover Norquist And Why Do I Care?

Who is Grover Norquist and why am I blindly following him?

I have to admit that I find this one of the most laughable things to come out of this election cycle so far. The idea that Grover Norquist is some sort of Karl Rove, Machiavelli, and Khan Noonien Singh wrapped into one and is secretly (although every Dem knows it) telling all Republicans what to do while most Republicans have never even heard of him so laughable as to make me cry.

Norquist, the head of Americans for Tax Reform, is being blamed by every Democrat that can get to a microphone (not easy with Chuck Schumer around) for the failure of the super-committee. See, Republicans members of the committee that was supposed to cut spending, refused to raise taxes, even though they did agree to raise taxes.

Yes, the very same super-committee that everyone knew was doomed to failure from the day it was conceived.

But its Grover Norquist's fault. Republicans need only have raised taxes, the line goes, and the world would be fixed. Except the Republicans agreed to raise taxes, billions of dollars in taxes, they just didn't agree to raise rates. Krauthammer says:

Nice theory. Except for the following facts:

●Sen. Tom Coburn last year signed on to the Simpson-Bowles tax reform that would have increased tax revenue by $1 trillion over a decade.

●During the debt-ceiling talks, House Speaker John Boehner agreed to an $800 billion revenue increase as part of a Grand Bargain.

●Supercommittee member Pat Toomey, a Club for Growth Republican, proposed increasing tax revenue by $300 billion as part of $1.2 trillion in debt reduction.

For a guy controlling the Republican party, he kinda sucks at it. Republicans are falling all over themselves to raise "revenues" (formerly known as taxes) and our leading front-runner candidates are Romney and Gingrich.

Boy, I wish we had a real Grover Norquist instead of this fake one.

"I Just Stayed in the Toy Aisle."

Nothing like the smell of mace to inspire those warm fuzzy holiday feelings.

I've never heard of "competitive shopping" before. But that's what the LA Times is saying led to a woman at a Wal Mart to start spraying other women and children on her way to a discounted X-Box.

I just love the last line and it seems like something we would all be wise to listen to:

Twenty people, including children, were injured when a woman at a San Fernando Valley Walmart store used mace against other customers in what authorities referred to as a "competitive shopping" incident.

The Los Angeles Times reports that a scuffle broke out shortly before 10 p.m. Thursday night, just before shopping was to begin, among customers waiting to buy Xbox gaming consoles and Wii video games.

Alejandra Seminario, told the Times she was waiting in line to buy toys about 9:55 p.m. when there was a commotion in the next aisle when shoppers began tearing off plastic encasing gaming consoles.

"People started screaming, pulling and pushing each other, and then the whole area filled up with pepper spray," she said.

Seminario breathed some in and started coughing. "I did not want to get involved. I was too scared. I just stayed in the toy aisle," she said.

I just stayed in the toy aisle. Seems like good advice. Stay in the toy aisle. Chillax a bit.

When you read stories like this it's easy to sour completely on humanity but just remember there are people in the toy aisle who are just as shocked and scared as you. In fact, consider CMR the toy aisle of the blogosphere. We'll all huddle together horrified and shocked and then we'll laugh a bit because after all we are in the toy aisle.

And then after security comes and cleans out all those crazies with the Mace we'll go get the X-boxes those idiots were fighting over.

PETA Ad Features Baby as Main Course for Thanksgiving

The nutjobs at the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) always try to get noticed for how loony they've actually become. And let's be honest, they do a good job at that. Well, this week, they've outdone themselves.

According to the LA Times:

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals put its Thanksgiving baby feast up for display in Philadelphia and, most recently, on Tuesday in Baltimore.

"They set up a table" on a Baltimore sidewalk, PETA media coordinator Adam Miller told the Los Angeles Times, “like a Thanksgiving spread, with silverware and plates and stuff and the baby in the middle.”

Not a real baby but a doll, he said, and the display featured signs that read, “Everybody’s somebody’s baby.”

Continue reading at the National Catholic Register>>>

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Now go be thankful!

Save the Tofurkey!!

Vegetarians around the planet were horrified to learn today that the popular Thanksgiving dish for vegetarians called Tofurkey doesn't actually derive from the vegetarian bean curd known as Tofu but from a very small and extraordinarily cute endangered species called the Tofurkey.

This is the first photo of a Tofurkey taken at a farm in Rhode Island just moments before it was skinned, torn limb from limb, had its eyes removed while still alive, and was finally dipped in boiling oil.


A tofurkey farm is not a typical farm. The tofurkey is extraordinarily cute and very inexpensive to keep because they're fed exclusively by hugs and smiles. "That's all they need," said one tofurkey farmer. "And they've got these huge expressive eyes that melt your heart." It's those expressive eyes that make "slaughter season" very hard for tofurkey owners.

Most tofurkeys spend their days playing with balloons, blowing bubbles, and singing in high pitched angelic voices. "They don't speak English or nothing but sometimes just listenin' to 'em makes me think about puppies and angels," said one tofurkey owner.

The misunderstanding for vegetarians originated because of the similarities between the names Tofurkey and Tofu. One Tofurkey farmer said he never lied about where Tofurkey came from but he's glad to profit from the misunderstanding. "I think those wacky vegetarians just wanted to believe they were eating Tofu and I wasn't about to tell 'em no different."

He said that back when his "product" began doing brisk business he wondered why. "I know those little cute tofurkeys don't really taste so good so I wondered why so many people was eating 'em. But hey, who am I to complain?"

Vegans and vegetarians have been shocked and horrified at the discovery of this Tofurkey farm. "Every time I ate Tofurkey on Thanksgiving I felt so principled and better than everyone else," said one vegetarian. "I'm going to miss that feeling."

(Originally posted on a previous Thanksgiving but I think I'm funny so I put it back up.)

Bishop Lori on "Immediate and Palpable Threats to Religious Freedom”

CMR kudos to Bishop William Lori, Chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, who joined Fox and Friends to speak about the disappearing religious freedoms in this country right now.

He said, according to Fox News, that while he’s engaged in a dialogue with the administration, “We certainly are experiencing right now some immediate and palpable threats to religious freedom.”

That's some strong words. I'd been hoping that the bishops' push back on this issue had succeeded -at least to a point. After Archbishop Timothy Dolan met with Obama he seemed to say that Obama gets it and everything would be worked out. But here's the thing - Obama says nice things all the time. No President ever talked about bipartisanship more than Obama but he's one of the most partisan nasties the Oval Office has seen since LBJ. So just because Obama says nice things, it doesn't necessarily mean that his actions will follow. Remember, when he spoke at Notre Dame, he was all sunshine and unicorns about conscience protections. How's that working out?

Bishop Lori went on to say on Fox and Friends: “Catholic hospitals, catholic charities, our schools, provide first-rate services, and I believe it’s the duty of government to accommodate our religious beliefs and convictions and allow us to perform those services according to our own light, even when we are engaged in a government contract.”

Check out the interview here. Definitely worth it.

Walking Thru Doors Makes You....Um?

From the DUH! Institute for the Advanced Study of the Obvious comes this startling find.

Walking through doorways causes forgetting, new research shows

We’ve all experienced it: The frustration of entering a room and forgetting what we were going to do. Or get. Or find.

New research from University of Notre Dame Psychology Professor Gabriel Radvansky suggests that passing through doorways is the cause of these memory lapses.

“Entering or exiting through a doorway serves as an ‘event boundary’ in the mind, which separates episodes of activity and files them away,” Radvansky explains.

“Recalling the decision or activity that was made in a different room is difficult because it has been compartmentalized.”

The study was published recently in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.

Their next research project is on whether men and women respond differently to the Three Stooges. Can't wait for that one.

There Are No Protestants In The Marathon

When you are suffering at mile 24 of the marathon, some thoughts become crystal clear. As I ran in the Philly marathon this past Sunday, one obvious truth and one question kept popping up in my head.

How could anyone running a marathon not believe in Purgatory?

Metaphors are inherently flawed. That said, miles twenty to twenty-six of the marathon make an awfully good metaphor for purgatory. (Emphasis on the awfully)

Let's start at the beginning. Nobody makes you do a marathon. You choose to enter and you choose to train. That finish line is a place that you really want to cross. Something awaits you at the end of the marathon that makes you want to suffer. Make no mistake about it. Choosing to do a marathon, like purgatory, is choosing to suffer.

So you have chosen to cross that finish line, to make it to your heaven. To do so, you must take up your cross, either in this life or the next.

In marathoning, this life is your training. What you choose to do in this life makes ...

Continue Reading @ The Register>>>>

Kmiec Defends Obama

Catholics hatin' on Obama? That can't stand. So Captain Kmiec, Obama apologist, flies in to the rescue in the pages of the National Catholic Reporter.

National Catholic Reporter:

Sometimes one is tempted to say a plague on both your houses. We're not even close to the 2012 election season and already there are overheated claims that the Obama administration is at war with Catholics.

It is not.

Kmiec knows better than the bishops. Kmiec knows better that the presidents of Catholic college. He seems to be saying that Obama couldn't be at war with Catholics mainly because Obama, is a man of faith. But that hardly refutes the facts of the case.

Kmiec seems to be saying that forcing Catholic institutions to pay for coverage for contraceptives (including abortifacients) and sterilization procedures isn't asking them to act against their religious beliefs at all.

That the law may specify that abortion or contraceptive coverage be included as choices for employees ought not be seen as making the employer contributing to the legally imposed medical premium complicit in the act itself. To think that an authorizing statute or executive decision violates principles of religious liberty or free exercise merely because it allows a choice contrary to faith is to misunderstand the nature of democracy and individual freedom. It also vastly understates the responsibility of the church's own obligation of moral formation -- including effectively revealing to married couples the sublime joy and significance of intimacy that is total and ever open to new life.

At present, however, both political parties are remiss in not reminding the body politic how the principle of religious liberty actually operates. This has permitted some media voices, like the Washington Post's Michael Gerson, to perceive religious hostility where there is none. There is no violation of religious liberty when HHS announces a temporary (or permanent) regulation requiring all employers -- religious or nonreligious, Catholic or not -- to provide employees with an insurance benefit for artificial contraception. Yes, it would be more congenial if the HHS administrative process adopted the Catholic view of contraception over that of other churches, but that declination was a choice the church herself since Vatican II has conceded belonged to Caesar. Had the HHS regulation gone farther and demanded a religious employer to affirmatively endorse or require the use of artificial contraception or any other choice contrary to its own teaching or face a penalty, that would violate the principle of religious liberty.

So making Catholic institutions pay for abortifacients isn't forcing them to act against their conscience, but asking them to say they liked it, would be?

Huh? I'm not sure where the distinction lies?

This leads me back again to the shift in language from this administration to "freedom of religion" to "freedom of worship." It's a subtle shift with big implications. The freedom to worship seems to me to be a bit narrower. It says you can worship in your mind and sing whatever you want in the place of your religious tradition but don't you bring your religion out into the real world. This HHS mandate seems to say that you can believe what you want as long as it doesn't have any real world application.

It just reminds me a little too much of the short poem by Russian poet Tanya Khodkevich who was sentenced to ten years in the gulag by the Soviets for writing this:

You can pray freely
But just so God alone can hear.

Plummer: Tebow Should Shut it About Jesus

Former Denver QB Jake Plummer attempts to prove he's a jerk. Succeeds wildly.

In an interview recently, he was asked about Tim Tebow, who is succeeding despite pretty much every sports analyst calling him "garbage." Plummer said Tebow was a winner but he did wish he'd shut up about one particular subject. The Jesus.

"Tebow, regardless of whether I wish he'd just shut up after a game and go hug his teammates, I think he's a winner and I respect that about him. I think that when he accepts the fact that we know that he loves Jesus Christ then I think I'll like him a little better. I don't hate him because of that, I just would rather not have to hear that every single time he takes a good snap or makes a good handoff…like you know, I understand, dude, where you're coming from ... but he is a baller.

Nice guy, huh?

I don't know if Tebow will make a long term NFL quarterback but he seems like a great guy. And to me talking a lot about Jesus is kind of a good thing to be known for, don't you think? Hey which is a better way to spend your time in the national spotlight, talking constantly about Jesus or talking about the awesomeness of yourself.

Now That's a Catholic College!

The President of Belmont Abbey College President said he would close the college before submitting to the HHS mandate that would require them to provide coverage for contraceptives and sterilization procedures, according to Campus Notes.

Now that's a Catholic college! Wow. President Bill Thierfelder gets some major CMR kudos for that. Now, let's hope it doesn't come to that. As he said, there's many stops to go before even considering something like that. But just that willingness to stand for something should inspire us.

But it's clear that one of the goals of leftism is to drive the Catholic Church out of the public sphere.

What would happen though if they succeeded and the Catholic Church stopped being so darn Catholic and did things like help people.

I compiled a small list last year at the National Catholic Register of things that would happen if the Church stopped doing what the Church does.

Almost 7,000 schools would close in the United States alone. Already under-performing public schools suffering from overcrowding would likely collapse under the weight of about 2.6 million children showing up at the door expecting a free education. You think test scores are low now? Wait until 2.6 million more kids show up.

Over 200 Catholic colleges and universities with over 600,000 students would suddenly be without a school, leaving supply diminished and demand unchanged thus skyrocketing the already exorbitant cost of college.

The over 200 Catholic residential homes for children, or orphanages, which serve 50,000 children in a given year would be gone. The children would be shuttled into already crammed government programs or lost completely.

The over 84 million people who receive care at any of about 600 Catholic hospitals every year would be forced to seek help elsewhere, clogging up hospitals. The more than 15 million emergency room visits per year to Catholic hospitals would be headed to other hospitals already suffering from financial losses of emergency rooms. Emergency vehicles would also have increased travel times, driving up fatality rates.

The Catholic health care network, which also includes over 400 health care centers and over 1,500 specialized homes, would shut down. Many assisted living facilities, adult day care and senior housing would be gone.

Many crisis pregnancy centers would vanish, leaving women without options or help when they need it most.

Many homes for pregnant women or abused women would disappear, forcing women to the streets or a return to a perhaps abusive relationship from which they sought escape.

Nearly 70% of U.S. dioceses sponsor housing or housing-related services. That would stop, and homeless numbers would rise.

Over 135 national and hundreds more local Catholic lay organizations that serve the Church and provide services in communities throughout the United States like the Knights of Columbus and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul would disappear. To get an idea, in a given year, the K of C donated $139,711,619 to charity and volunteered 64,039,706 hours. All of that would be gone. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul has about 120,000 members serving 15 million people per year, which include 646,820 home visits, 360,596 hospital visits, 361,420 aged daycare visits, 159,257 prison visits, and $392 million in total expenditures and volunteer services. All gone.

The Catholic Church and organizations supported by the Catholic Church are the largest care providers of HIV and AIDS in the world. All of that would be gone.

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development, which has granted hundreds of millions to thousands of community-based, self-help projects initiated and led by people living in poverty, would cease all grants, leading to the destruction of programs aimed to help the poor.

Catholic Relief Services spends millions to help provide clean water, improve agriculture, and educate the young in countries with little access to any of it. But that too would all be gone along with programs that deliver mosquito nets to prevent malaria in Africa, without which thousands more would likely die needlessly of malaria.

Catholic Charities—which alone is the fourth largest charity in the United States, above the Red Cross and the Salvation Army, and consists of 1,400 agencies that run soup kitchens, temporary shelters, child care, and refugee resettlement all around the country and provides help for 6.5 million people, regardless of religious, social, or economic backgrounds—would be gone.

That's not even close to a complete list. The Catholic Church is THE most charitable organization in the world. Bar none.

Yet still, the Church is viewed as the enemy of leftists in many cases and therefore must be wiped out. But the leftists are smart. They're not going to attempt to wipe the Church out so much as make it non distinctive from the rest of the world. Assimilate it. Secularize it. Leave it as a shell.

And it's that which Belmont Abbey College is standing up to. God bless them. It's a fight worth fighting.

For more info check out Campus Notes.

A Super Super Committee

So the super committee failed. Miserably.

Did anyone expect something different?

Look we all knew it never stood a chance. So now we move onto charade #3.

Charade #3: Wherein both sides propose legislation to mitigate against the draconian measures each side included in the budget deal in order to "insure" that the other side would deal in the super committee. They will propose legislation to both keep military spending AND raise "revenues" (formerly known as taxes).

And guess what? We are likely to have both.

And then both sides can complain about how bad the other guys are while we scratch our heads trying to figure out why that even after we elected a whole new bunch of guys everything stayed the same.

What we really need is a super super committee. Ya know. One that will really force the other side to come to the table once and for all until the next once an for all. 'Cause if we don't really come to the table, how can we possibly compromise to make sure nothing changes.

Congress is like marriage. Nobody admits they like it, but they do it none the less. Almost everyone who is married will tell you that compromise is the key to a successful marriage. Of course, compromise means making a big stink but ultimately turning a blind eye to the stuff that your spouse does that annoys you so that you can still do the stuff you do that annoys her. Ya know, compromise.

Hey Congress. I wanna divorce.

If Batman Were OWS

This Bat-signal type symbol was shone on a building during the Occupy Wall Street madness a few days ago.

It got me wondering though what an OWS superhero would be like. Bruce Wayne is clearly part of the 1% so if there were an OWS superhero that could be hailed by the 99% signal, what would he look like, what would his powers be, and what would his crime fighting strategy be?

1) Super strong...smell.
2) Understands that with great irresponsibility comes great media power.
3) He wouldn't have money for batarangs or other hero equipment so he'd hold up signs saying, "Will fight crime for food."
4) He'd be obsessed with white collar crime and pretty much ignore all other crime. In fact he'd pretty much support all other kinds of crime.
5) He wouldn't give chase to criminals because he's been lying around for so long he gets winded pretty quickly.
6) He'd throw things (including feces) but mostly at police.
7) Get arrested. A lot.
8) He wouldn't really have a catchphrase so much as just bore everyone with a few memorized lines from Marx and hold up signs saying, "Untruth, Injustice, is the Amerikkka way."
9) He wouldn't wear a cape or have an outfit. He'd essentially wear all of his clothing at once because he's kinda' between addresses right now.
10) His lair would be Zuccotti park. And it wouldn't really be too secret.

Will Newt's Conversion to Catholicism Change His Perspective on ESC?

In the past, Newt Gingrich has been for federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, according to quotes that Ramesh Ponnuru unearthed today on The Corner.

In 2001, during the same time that President Bush was being pushed to federally fund ESC, Newt cut pro-lifers off at the knees and called for federal funding.

Newt said:

My hope is that [President Bush] will draw a sharp distinction between research on fetuses, which I think would be abhorrent and anti-human, and research on cells that are in fertility clinics that have never been in anyone’s body, in terms of being — becoming a person, and which, frankly, are currently unregulated and will disappear. And I think that’s a different kind of question. These are not prehuman cells in the sense they’re going to be implanted. . . . I have a 100 percent pro-life voting record, but I’ve always drawn a distinction at implantation. And I think there’s a real difference in the two kinds of cells. I notice that former senator Connie Mack, who is himself is a Catholic, takes the same position. And I think people who’ve looked at this issue can honorably disagree. But for many of us, there’s a very, very real distinction between doing something with an unborn child, a fetus that is implanted, and doing something with cells in a fertility clinic that are otherwise going to be destroyed.

I've also never understood the obsession with implantation. And what the heck is "pre-human" anyway?

And there's absolutely no logical reason to differentiate between embryos in wombs and embryos in refrigerators. Does our purpose for them change who they are? It just makes no sense, except if you're running for office and you understand that being against any kind of stem cell research that can perform untold miracles (untold because there's no evidence yet of any significant advancements from ESC) is ruinous to your political advancement.

But recently, Newt seems to possibly be changing his tune or maybe just playing a game of emphasizing different aspects of his position. Ponnuru writes:

More recently, Gingrich has had, at the very least, a different rhetorical emphasis. He recently said that he was against “killing children” for stem-cell research and that adult stem cells were just as promising as embryonic stem cells. But that leaves several questions unanswered. Does he still favor federal funding of stem-cell research that involves the destruction of human embryos obtained from fertility clinics? Does he still believe these embryos are “prehuman”? Does he still believe that the right to life depends on implantation? And if he now thinks he was mistaken in the past, when and how did he come to this realization?

It's quite possible that Newt's hedging this position during the primary process. Or it could be something real and wonderful. It could be that Newt's conversion to Catholicism explains a true conversion on this issue.

I'd be elated if Newt's conversion to Catholicism played a role in changing his mind on the question of whether human life can be used for spare parts for others.

I think this is something that he needs to be pressed on. I'd love to hear the answer. For me, it would tell me a lot about the man.

A Thanksgiving Play You Wouldn't See at a Public School

Today, my four year old and I went to see my six year old in the first grade Thanksgiving play at our local parish school. It's nice because all the grades comes down to watch it too and since I pretty much have a kid in every grade it's like a little family reunion.

So all the first graders came out in pilgrim hats and they suffered through the cramped spaces on the Mayflower. It was my six year old who first spotted America. Yay us.

So all the kids line up pretending to be on land and the narrator says, "It was a harsh winter and some of them died."

Suddenly half of the first graders just dropped to the ground. Boom. Dead.

Silence.

And then uproarious laughter from all the parents and kids who were just so surprised. All I could think was that I've seen lots of Thanksgiving plays but this is the first time they killed half the class. Normally they skip that part.

Don't worry all the dead pilgrims came back to life as Native Americans.

And later in all the kids even pretended to hunt for food with invisible guns. And the pilgrims and the Indians all prayed together. Gasp!

I can't help but think that this wouldn't go on in a public school.

I saw one of the parents of another first grader while the four year old and I ran across the street to 7-11 for Gulps and Chocolate Milk. I asked him if his kid had survived the harsh winter.

"No," he said ruefully. "But she was the first to hit the ground at least."

"There's mercy in that," I told him and we laughed.

Crash & Burn: A Marathon Cautionary Tale

After a five year layoff, I completed my fifth marathon. Yay. Honestly, I thought it might never end.

It wasn't even in my mind. When I first got off the couch just six months ago and began preparing to marathon again, the idea of going for a personal record was the furthest thing from my mind. It should have stayed there.

My goal six months ago, actually even until six weeks ago, was just get back in shape, lose the 70 lbs I put on in the intervening years, and to finish the marathon in one piece. That was no small ambition. But then I got this crazy idea.

As my running improved, I began to wonder if was possible that I could set a personal record for the marathon by breaking 4 hours. As Matt as my witness, I tried to talk myself out of this. For that way lies madness. Six months is simply not enough time to go from 70 lbs overweight couch potato to sub 4. I knew this. But...

Over the last weeks of my training, running seemed so easy, my times had improved so much that I decided, against my own better judgment, to go for it.

I decided to run with a pacing group to try and take all the thinking out of it. I would not monitor my own mile splits, let the pacer take care of it. Just run.

Now the pacer is supposed run as close to even splits for the entire marathon. To break 4 hours with about 30 seconds to spare, you need to average about 9:08 per mile.

I lined up with the 4:00 hr pacer, who carries a sign with balloons attached and we went. I didn't even wear a watch and I didn't even look at the clocks. I ceded all responsibility for pacing to the pacer. I ceded all responsibility for my pacing to a person I had never met. Yeah.

Honestly, for the first 16 miles I thought that this was the smartest move ever. I was moving along very nicely, never straying more that 50 feet from the pacer. My running felt easy most of the time. I began to think that 4 hrs was mine. It wasn't.

At mile 16 I began to develop a pain in my right hamstring and it quickly developed. I started to fade off the pace. I tried to catch back up but that only made the pain worse. By mile 17 my right hamstring began to cramp. Badly. I had to stop, stretch, walk, and then try to run again. It just got worse and worse. I was doing more and more walking. Even small hills made my leg scream. Even more walking. The pain got so severe that I even wondered if I might have to quit. But I kept going.

Miles 16 to 21 were a nightmare. I kept trying to run, but my leg would not cooperate. It hurt pretty bad. My gait was now completely off and this caused the rest of me to start hurting as well.

Stop, stretch, walk, run. Rinse. Repeat. I just kept going.

Somehow, when I got to mile 21, I found that I didn't have to stop as much. From mile 21 on, other than walking through the water stations, I was able to run the rest of the way, albeit at a greatly reduced speed.

I crossed the line relieved but somewhat disappointed in 4:31. Given the nightmare I experienced out there, I guess a 1/2 hr lost could have been a lot worse.

So the question is, what went wrong?

Well, a number of things. Number one, I don't think I drank enough. It was fairly warm and I skipped a number of water stops. Also, I was probably not fit enough for sub 4, even if my pacing went as planned. But the thing is my pacing strategy did not go as planned. I envisioned that with a professional pacer, to achieve my overall 9:08 pace, that my mile splits would vary from 9:00 to 9:20. I knew that too much under 9:00 and I would be in trouble. My Iphone was on my waist and recorded my mile splits.

Mile 01 - Average 9:35 /mile
Mile 02 - Average 8:45 /mile
Mile 03 - Average 9:01 /mile
Mile 04 - Average 9:16 /mile
Mile 05 - Average 9:24 /mile
Mile 06 - Average 8:44 /mile
Mile 07 - Average 8:05 /mile
Mile 08 - Average 8:56 /mile
Mile 09 - Average 8:38 /mile
Mile 10 - Average 9:05 /mile
Mile 11 - Average 9:16 /mile
Mile 12 - Average 8:54 /mile
Mile 13 - Average 9:02 /mile
Mile 14 - Average 9:01 /mile
Mile 15 - Average 8:30 /mile
Mile 16 - Average 9:06 /mile

Oh boy. Fully seven of my first 16 miles were under 9:00, some of them well under. This kind of pacing was a prescription for disaster for me and disaster is what I got. I should have paced my self. I ceded a responsibility that should have been mine and I payed the price.

But then again, even though it was a slower and more painful experience than need be, I finished the darn thing and now I am officially a marathoner again. Yay. I think I will take a nap now.

Contraception is Like Communism

The contraceptive culture is like communism. It doesn't work in long term real world application and only exacerbates the exact problems they were meant to fight.

When things get worse we're told it's just human error. And its failure is only evidence that we need more of it.

We're told it's people who are failing to live up to the ideals of the plan. But in the future, with more funding and more planning, all the goals will be realized. Trust them.

And we're told the Church is the real enemy of progress and if only the Church would get out of the way, everything would get better.

Oh, and there's a body count. A big body count. But don't worry it's only the unnecessary people...and don't worry because they weren't really "people" at all.

Pamela Anderson Playing the Virgin Mary Says It All

Pamela Anderson, the silicon enhanced sex tape star and Playboy centerfold, will be playing the Virgin Mary in a sketch comedy show that will appear on the Comedy Network and in Canada.

Anderson will play the mother of Jesus opposite comedian Russell Peter Joseph in a mock manger scene in a comedy sketch Christmas special. CTV described the special as Peters’ “irreverent twist” on the Christmas special.

But I have to wonder - what’s the twist? There’s no twist to irreverence anymore. It’s been done and overdone.

Irreverence is so commonplace that it’s now the norm.

Honestly, how is it an “irreverent twist” when nobody’s making reverent Christmas specials anymore? You want to shock us, show a little reverence. But I fear that too many of us have forgotten how to feel or show reverence. It’s not so much that we’ve forgotten how to worship, it’s just that we’re worshiping all the wrong things.

Continue reading at the National Catholic Register>>>

Home Stretch: In Philly

Well, this is it.

I am at Matt's house and now just mere hours away from the marathon. I am psyched and a little nervous. It has been five years since I have done one of these. We'll see how I hold up.

Matt and I are heading over to the expo to pick up my race number and do some shopping. I am thinking something in spandex? Kidding. Maybe get some runner bling though.

Then I will get myself a famous Philly pretzel and a cheese steak. Watch the Notre Dame game against that other pseudo-Catholic college, B.C.

Then off to bed to get up at 4am.

Then 26.2. I will let you know how it goes. Keep me in your prayers.

Environmentalist Nuts vs. Animal Right Nuts

This is just priceless. In 2006, voters in the state of Washington went all hippy and passed an initiative that required utilities to buy wind power for energy.

So a bunch of counties got behind a project to build the first major wind farm in Western Washington.

But the U.S Fish and Wildlife stepped in and gasped that one marbled murrelet seabird could be killed every two years and that's too high a price to pay and the put the kabosh on the wind farm.

So to get this right - counties responded to a state environmental initiative but was stopped by the federal government due to worries about a bird.

It liked the area because it could help with wind power transmission concerns. Among other transmission benefits, the wind blows there primarily in the winter, while other wind projects in the state have strong winds in the spring and fall.

The land already had been disturbed. Forest has been cut down on the ridge and a large gravel pit and communication towers are operating on top of the ridge, Baker said.

The project partners spent three years conducting scientific studies that showed that the wind farm could be operated in a way that would result in an average of one bird hitting a turbine every two years, he said. That clearly showed the wind project would not jeopardize the species, he said.

The seabirds, which can fly 50 mph, nest in the forest near the ocean to raise their young in the spring and fly out to the ocean in the morning to feed, he said.

However, in mid-August, Energy Northwest learned a draft for a required Fish and Wildlife environmental impact statement would require that the wind project be shut down for six months of the year in the daylight hours. Instead of a 25-year permit, only a five-year permit with extensions would be granted.

The project participants had agreed to spend $1 million to buy 300 acres of old growth forest to set aside for habitat. But the draft environmental study also would require $10 million for the federal government to spend on other habitat projects, Baker said.

The project participants already had adapted the project, including reducing the size of the turbines, and the additional conditions came as a surprise, he said.

Seattle Audobon called the decision to abandon the project a major victory.

Although it supports projects to reduce climate change, the harm to marbled murrelets outweighed the benefits of reduced carbon output, the group said.

Come on. You've gotta' love this story, right?

Wedding Photo Of Doom

Michael and Nancy wanted to get married. They booked the hall and everything was set to go. Their family and friends gathered at the lodge they had booked for their wedding.

When Michael and Nancy were ready for the big moment, they came out of their hotel to go to the pavilion. Only one li'l problem. the pavilion was engulfed by a 10 fire truck blaze.

Cake. Gone.

Flowers. Gone.

All of it gone.

So what did they have?

The awesomest wedding photo of all time.

A wedding with a 10 alarm blaze and police tape. Wow. My wedding only had the police tape.

Congrats Mike and Nancy. Can't wait to see what you have planned for your anniversary.

Students Protest Against Priest

A group of students at a Catholic college are protesting against a priest who has publicly talked about abortion.

Let's face it, if that story were about pretty much any Catholic college in America it would be about a bunch of hippie kids yelling about personal choice...or something.

But this college is in Colombia and the students are protesting against a priest who is publicly pro-choice.

Here's a bit of the story from CNA:

Dozens of youth in Colombia reacted against Jesuit priest Father Carlos Novoa's support for abortion and called on Colombian bishops and the Society of Jesus to make a statement on the controversy.

“It is very disappointing and frustrating to see people who have received formation as Jesuits not defending the message of Christ and the principles for which St. Ignatius of Loyola fought his entire life,” said student protestor Liz Rodriguez.

On Nov. 12, young people gathered outside the Pontifical Xavierian University in Bogota where Fr. Novoa teaches to protest against his repeated statements in favor of abortion.

In several recent radio and television interviews, Fr. Novoa defended the practice through his own interpretation of passages from John Paul II’s encyclical "Evangelium Vitae," documents from Vatican II and canon law.

Maria Isabel Magana, a student taking part in the protest, said that “the statements by Fr. Novoa have been very damaging to the Church because they contradict the messages that have been part of the magisterium and tradition of the Church throughout history which Pope Benedict XVI has also defended.”

“When a priest goes contradicts this message in the media, he is confusing the faithful. This attitude must be counteracted with courage and rigor,” she added.

Another protestor, Ramon Cortes, said Fr. Novoa’s statements are ultimately damaging to the pro-life movement at large.

“They put us at a disadvantage with pro-abortion groups,” he said. “Not only do we have to fight against these groups, but also unfortunately against some members of our own Church.”

“We call on the Jesuits to state their true position regarding the defense of life, and I think it should be the same thing that St. Francis Xavier or St. Ignatius of Loyola would say if they were alive right now,” Cortes said.

Student Liz Rodriguez added that life “is not negotiable. As the laity, as believers, we have to always defend it.”

“For reasons unknown to us, Fr. Novoa is saying things that are totally opposed to the principles we defend as Catholics, as believers and as citizens in defense of natural law,” she said.

How absolutely refreshing is that?

It reminds me a bit of when a number of students protested the honoring of Barack Obama being honored at Notre Dame. That was one of the only good things to come out of that debacle.

I pray for the day when America's campuses have so many young people radically committed to the sacredness of the individual. I pray for the day when America recommits itself to a culture of life.

New Twilight Movie is Pro-Life?

Breaking Dawn, the latest chapter of the Twilight series comes out tonight at midnight. I'm sure there will be thousands of people on line waiting to get in. But as I have a Y chromosome I won't be there. I don't do vampires that sparkle.

But I've done a little reading and it seems to me that "Breaking Dawn" might be one of the most pro-life movies to come out of Hollywood in recent years. Yeah, sure there's the whole brooding undead and werewolves with no shirts but in this movie, Bella, the heroine of the movies gets married and gets pregnant. (Yes, they waited until marriage to have sex.) And when she gets pregnant with some kind of half vampire/half human hybrid baby, the girl is told by a few people that she could die if she carries this baby to term.

But here's the thing - Bella decided to keep the baby even knowing the risk. That's pretty cool. And yeah, there's probably lots of things wrong in the movie but that's a pretty good message for young people. So before you roll your eyes at all things Twilight, know that all those girls lining up to see the film are going to see a very pro-life message come out of a mainstream movie.

DefCon from Number Two

A pilot accidentally locks himself in the bathroom, he starts banging on the door for help, a passenger who speaks with an accent responds and starts banging on the cockpit door to get help.

Hilarity (and a terror scare) ensues with the scared co-pilot yelling to Air Traffic control, "The captain disappeared in the back, and, uh, I have someone with a thick foreign accent trying to access the cockpit."

Which is why we tell pilots that if you have to go, go before you get on the plane.

You've gotta' check out this story. If it happened in a movie you wouldn't believe it:

A pilot who accidentally locked himself in the bathroom of his LaGuardia-bound plane caused a terror scare last night when a helpful passenger with an accent tried to come to his rescue by banging on the cockpit door.

The embarrassing comedy of errors began when the captain of a Chatauqua Airlines flight from Asheville, N.C., decided to take a bathroom break before landing.

But when he tried to get out of the men’s room, the door jammed, trapping him in the tight quarters.

Desperate to get out and land the plane — which was in a holding pattern above the airport — he pounded his fists on the door to attract attention.

A well-intentioned passenger sitting in the front row heard his thumping and hurried over to help.

Relieved, the pilot told the passenger to go to the cockpit and alert the crew to his plight.

But crew members didn’t react well to the unexpected visit from a stranger trying to breach the highly secure area of the plane.

Continue reading here.

My God, My God. Why Hast Thou Left The Gun And Taken The Canoli?

Were I to say to any man between the age of 18 to 60, "Leave the gun, take the canoli," I would venture to say that 99% would know exactly what I was taking about. Don't you?

Of course, I am quoting "The Godfather." Any self-respecting dude that does not live in San Francisco's Castro district has memorized almost every line of that movie. It is our mutual cultural reference point. If I say to someone "You gotta go to the mattresses," they automatically understand that I am encouraging them to fight with everything they have and to bring that fight to the enemy.

I was working overnight on a major systems upgrade. Some colleagues and I were sitting around while the systems engineers did their voodoo. Somehow the conversation turned to religion. A colleague of mine said he didn't believe. After a little discussion, he dropped what he thought would be a trump card on another fellow in the group.

"If Jesus was God, why did he say '"My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?' Doesn't that prove that even Jesus didn't think he was God."

I waited for the other guy to respond as the question was directed at him but I could see from the look on his face that he had never considered this question. The questioner had a look of victory on his face. I jumped in.

"I can answer that. Leave the gun, take the canoli."

I got the desired reaction, blank stares.

"Let me clarify....

Continue Reading @ The Register>>>>

How About Pro-Lifers Sue Driehaus?

It's pretty well known that former Congressman Steve Driehaus is suing the Susan B. Anthony List for allegedly lying about his record as a "pro-life" politician.

The SBA-List accused Driehaus in a series of ads that he voted for federal funding of abortion in Obamacare - an accusation that I, along with the President of Planned Parenthood who called Obama's order a "symbolic gesture," a Department of Justice Attorney Laurence Tribe who called it merely a "signing statement on steroids," and with the National Right to Life and the USCCB all agree.

But as George Will wrote, "A judge has ruled that his suit against the SBA List, charging “substantial economic and reputational harm” due to defamation, can go to trial. The SBA List is challenging the constitutionality of the false statement law."

So let's go with the logic a bit. If Driehaus can sue for "substantial harm" due to the actions of the SBA-List, why can't pro-lifers sue Driehaus for alleged "harm" because of his telling pro-lifers that he wouldn't vote for abortion funding.

All those pro-lifers can argue that they donated to Driehaus specifically for the purpose of having him vote against abortion. And then he turned around and voted for federal funding of abortion, according to many.

We can also certainly argue that we've been hurt due to being forced to pay for abortions in the future. And hey, if we need standing in the court, we'll just say as "former fetuses" we're suing on behalf of the unborn who will never get a chance to sue Driehaus themselves.

After that we'll get to Bob Casey, Bart Stupak and...

Looking Old You Say?

The 89 yr old Lady Trumpington let this young whipper snapper know what she thinks of him suggesting that she looks "old." (Warning: Awesome Two Finger Salute)

The Wimpification of our Kids

This is the text of a letter from a principal of an elementary school. I shouldn't even have to comment on this. Pure lunacy speaks for itself.

Global Toronto has the letter:

Dear Parents/Guardians:

These past few weeks, we have had a few serious incidents, staff and students being hit by a hard ball or nearly being hit by a hard ball in our schoolyard. Despite attempts to control the use of soccer balls, footballs, volleyballs and tennis balls and several requests to our students to be careful and mindful of bystanders, we have not been able to ensure the safety of all students and adults.

As a result, starting today, Monday, November 14, 2011, students are not going to be allowed to bring or play with any kind of hard ball to school. Any balls brought will be confiscated and may be retrieved by parents from the office. The only kind of ball allowed will be nerf balls or sponge balls.

We regret that we have had to resort to this measure. We hope that this move will make our schoolyard a safer place to be.

Oh boy.

How will our kids know to duck if they've never gotten nailed in the head with a ball?

I wonder if there will be a zero tolerance policy. Cubby searches? Nannyism hurts children. It's funny, in a few years the same school district will probably be handing these kids condoms and telling them to go out and play.

Ya' Been Hoodwinked! Bamboozled!

What could possibly go wrong with a bill that had in its name "Religious Freedom Protection?"

It sounds like something Catholics and Christians across this fruited plain should embrace, right? Well remember when Illinois passed the "Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act."

Yeah. You see, the second part kinda' nullified the first part.

The church was being forced to extend foster care services to same-sex couples, regardless of the church’s stance on gay marriage. And now in Illinois, Catholic Charities has been forced to drop its suit against the state over foster care simply because it was costing way too much and the chances of getting a good ruling from a politically appointed judge weren't so good anyway. You're not going to bankrupt the government in a legal fight. They bankrupt you.

Catholic Charities still says it was right on the law.

Peter Breen, an attorney for the Thomas More Society who represented Catholic Charities in the legal battle, put out a statement Monday saying, “This stands as a stark lesson to the rest of the nation that legislators promising ‘religious protection’ in same sex marriage and civil union laws may not be able to deliver on those promises."

May not? They have no intention of keeping their promises. They left pays lip service to religious liberty but as you can see they hoodwink. They bamboozle.

In negotiating with these people they're not looking to compromise, they're looking for the right configuration of words to make you accept what they want. Much like the "signing statement on steroids" that "pro-life" Bart Stupak accepted to push Obamacare through.

Remember what Obama talked about on his visit to Notre Dame. Religious liberty. Can you imagine that? It's just words to make you accept what they want.

The good news is that this can't surprise anyone anymore. The bishops seem very aware of this finally and that's good news. Let's not be hoodwinked anymore.

CMR Poll: Worst Movies of All Time?

There are some movies that are just so bad that you will never forget them. No matter how much you try.

Matt and I count these among some of the worst movies we have ever seen. In no particular order.

Cool World

I bet that they though after the success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit that doing the same thing, only edgier, was a great idea. Not so much.

Highlander II
Highlander was great. Then they negated everything the first movie was about by making them all aliens. ALIENS! This movie was so bad, part III pretended part II never happened. That bad.

Shark Boy and Lava Girl
My kids made me see it some years back. I will never forgive them for that 90 mins. Even worse, it introduced Taylor Lautner who has the dubious distinction of being in another horrible movie...

Twilight Part II
Wow. I could not believe how bad this movie was. Put on a shirt, jerk. Vampires need killin', not understanding. Just bad.

M. Night Double Feature: The Happening & Lady in the Water.
After some great movies and great success, M. Night fired the lady who used to tell him no. The Happening was so bad I actually called Matt from the theater to tell him how bad it was. I usually like Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel, but the acting was horrendous.

I imagine M. Night's direction went something like this. "Zooey, act scared. Make your eyes bigger!! No bigger." "Zooey, act angry. Make your eyes bigger!! No bigger." "Zooey, act happy. Make your eyes bigger!! No bigger."
"Mark, just stand there and look blank. No! Blanker!"

Side Out with C. Thomas Howell.
Actually, make that any C. Thomas Howell movie since the Hitcher. Actually make that any C. Thomas Howell movie or Rutger Hauer movie since the Hitcher. Except for Batman Begins. We will give Rugter a pass on that one.

What movies do you love to hate and why?

Is the Obama Administration Anti-Catholic?

A majority of Catholics voted for Barack Obama. And for it, we got a nice photo op at the University of Notre Dame and some ameliorating verbiage. But since then, we've seen a long list of actions that's caused obvious displeasure among many Catholics, including priests and bishops.

And it has some asking if the Obama administration anti-Catholic?

Continue reading at the National Catholic Register>>>

Startling Video Of Republican Primary Process

This just about says it all.

A Pro-Life Catholic GOP Nominee?!

So if you had told me a month ago that a pro-life Catholic man was looking strong for the GOP nomination I would've thought that Santorum's campaign caught fire or Governor Bobby Jindal entered the race.

But alas neither of those two things happened. New Gingrich is currently making a strong run in the polls.

Breitbart reports:

White House hopeful Newt Gingrich, the former US House speaker whose campaign to win the Republican nomination appeared all but over just weeks ago, has surged toward the front of the pack.

His campaign's revival follows the rise and fall of leading rivals, most recently former Godfather's Pizza chief executive Herman Cain who is battling a sexual harassment scandal and stumbled badly Monday in responding to a question on Libya.

The Republican Party has struggled to find the right alternative to frontrunner Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor seen by many as the most formidable challenger to President Barack Obama in the November 2012 election but who has been unable to gain support of the party's conservative base.

While congresswoman Michele Bachmann and Texas Governor Rick Perry, two conservative party rivals, shot to the top of the heap as soon as they entered the race only to see their campaigns fizzle, Gingrich has trended in the opposite direction.

His detailed ideas to overcome such US hurdles as budget deficits coupled with his recent string of strong debate performances has helped reignite the campaign, political operatives said.

Gingrich took the lead in a Public Policy Polling survey released Monday with 28 percent support, compared with 25 percent for Cain and 18 for Romney.

A pro-life Catholic GOP nominee! But why aren't I more excited? Wait. Why aren't I excited at all?

What is it about Newt that makes this Anybody but Mitt Republican feel like...meh. There's the stepping out on the wife. There's the global warming ad with Pelosi. There's lots. How about you?

And should we be taking this surge seriously? I mean, it seems like every two weeks we have a candidacy surge to the front and then falter back behind Romney. Will the Newt bubble be different?

But if we discard Newt, who else is there? Will the specter of Mitt force me to accept Newt?

I can't believe there's a pro-life Catholic that I'm not interested in for the Presidency. Sad.