Last Thoughts before First Primary (Probably) 12/15/2011

I started out as a Thaddeus McCotter supporter, with the yard signs to prove it.  When he dropped out,  I never really got behind anyone, but didn't think the media-types were fair to Herman Cain, and I still don't believe his accusers.  I believe he suspended his campaign knowing he could protect his family from the slander and resulting pain.  Even so, Cain had a real issue with the foreign affairs learning curve.

So now what to do?  Rick Santorum is now my first choice.  "Foolish," you may say.  He has been hanging in the 5% or less column so long, no sane person thinks he is viable.

Hope and Joy

As my students left the final exam today, I had the rare experience of hugging or shaking hands with each of them.  This has been a rare class.  I've had two this semester, but today was the end of the best of the two.

Here's how today went:

First, when I arrived an hour before the exam, I found several students sitting in the commons area of the building.  I told them the room was open and they could come and study there if they liked.  They did.  They came, but other than the occasional question, shouted out and answered in chorus, they mostly talked among themselves.  On a State University campus, most people make friends in their frats, sororities, and dorms.  These people bonded in my speech class.

Second,  as the class was filling, more students than seats, somehow the conversation came around to buffaloes.  I mentioned Larry the Cucumber's Water Buffalo song, YouTube was engaged, and many sang along.  With ten or more minutes to go before the final, the atmosphere became more like a party than a study session.  We listened to "I Love my Lips" followed by Barbara Manatee.  Imagine a 24 year old atheist hippie who was raised on the road hearing Veggie Tales for the first time!

Then it was time for the test.  As each left, I shook hands or hugged them,then thanked them for their work.  They thanked me too, but that was less important to me.

I have grown to love each of them, as a light for the future.  Some of them advocated for a return to courtship rather than dating  (because women like Balls, as in ballroom dancing.).  Some of them advocated for sexual abstinence.  Some advocated for support of the Occupy movement.  Some for Romney.  Some for Cain.  Some for Tea Parties. Some for phantom time. Some for Darth Vader for president because he's a family man.  Two advocated for using a shake-weight, and actually drew abs on one's belly!

 Every young person I meet seems to understand that he or she has more to do in college than drink and play.

That gives me hope. They give me joy.

And so one last video for my students.  They don't know my pen name.  They may never see this.  Consider it a prayer of gratitude:

Thank You Very Much!

I begin to hope for our future because these young men and women give me joy.  I hope my readers can do the same.

Merry Christmas and a very happy and hopeful New Year!

Why I believe Herman Cain

Have you ever worked in a restaurant?    There's something about serving food and drinks that can bring out the concupiscence in otherwise modest people.  I remember being told to dress a little sexy to increase my tips.  I remember having a customer reach inside my apron top as I delivered his food.  I remember my manager asking the customer if there had been a problem when I refused to return to the table.

Restaurant people can be really sleazy.  Not all of them, but sometimes.  Even, and maybe especially in high-end restaurants, trollops of all sorts, male and female will work the lounge. Some of them rise through the ranks and become members of the National Restaurant Association.  If you are a woman at a convention run by the NRA, you may be tempted to dress like a sexy hostess.  That would be your choice.  If a normal man gives you a compliment, and you don't want him to, you may feel uncomfortable.

Then you have two choices:  1.  Smile, say thank you, and forget about it, or 2.  ruminate on it, feel offended, and lawyer-up.

A  non-sexual gesture that made you feel uncomfortable may remind you of times when you were truly violated, but that is not the real offense.  You were treated like a serving wench  in your past, so radar may be a little touchy.  And it may just be misguided.

Black men like Herman Cain have been treated in this country like they are always on the make.  This was one of the more common accusations that could result in a lynching not too long back in our history.  For as sleazy as the high-end restaurant business can be,  the family restaurants tend to be far less so.    So Herman Cain was associated with a pizza chain, not the places where vixens hunt.  At least that was true until he was president of the NRA.  But most people are not likely to lose core principles when they change jobs.  Isn't that the reason we hoped for change that never came with our current president.  (Not that I thought he would change, nor did I commit the mortal sin of voting for him.)

Today Herman Cain said he was aware of a severance package given to his accusers.  He did not say he was aware of a settlement.  I know several people who have received severance packages.  A severance package is not an omission of guilt. 

The accusers can't come forward unless someone is willing to release them from their non-disclosure statement.  That would be the best thing that could happen for Herman Cain.  I believe that would show their allegations to be completely false.  After all, they would have to describe the  non-sexual gestures that made them feel uncomfortable. 

I'm tired of women on the media wearing low-cut dresses and too much make-up telling me that men should be able to make eye-contact when women are talking.  If a woman wants to avoid feeling uncomfortable in the presence of a man, maybe she could just dress modestly.  Or if she dresses to attract attention, she should accept the consequences. It takes two to tango.  Don't attract attention if you don't want it.

Persecution Can Lead to Joy

I'm feeling validated today. Several websites I follow are finally starting to post articles about the abuse of the First amendment and persecution of the Catholic and Christian faiths.  They waited until the puss was oozing out of the sore to talk about it, but at least the USCCB via the leadership of Archbishop Dolan, and the bishops in Illinois are finally starting to fight back.  Checkout Our Sunday Visitor for a brief review.  Of course they speak of persecution as just starting.  Talk about having a head in the sand.

Nobody likes to whine, and nobody wants to argue the slippery slope.  But you see, thoughts become words, words become actions...  When I think, "Hey, consenting adults can do what they want,"  what I'm saying is that actions don't have consequences.  That is obviously a false statement. 

If I say, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me,"  I'm failing to see the imminent threat.   This is why oppressors will claim that expressing our religious beliefs is hate speech.  Bullying programs now focus on acceptance of GLBTG agenda.  People have been bullied for a long time.  Are you a bully if you tell a lesbian parent that painting her son's toenails pink is a bad thing to do?  (www.foxnews.com)

How do we combat persecution?  One, pray. Two, call it what it is.  Three, be joyful in faith, and expect others believe as well.  I've spoken before about the inherent discrimination that is encourage by the separatist thinking of diversity trainers and multicultural enthusiasts.  Their primary goal seems to be to tell Catholics and Christians to shut up and take it.  Even Catholic University is being sued by Muslim students who expect to be given a Christ-free place to pray.  On a Catholic campus.  With Catholic in the name of the school.  If they wanted a Christ-free place to worship, perhaps they should not have chosen a Catholic school.

Since I teach at a state run university, I used to be silent and kind of apologetic about my beliefs.  Now, in conversations with my students, I will make natural references to my life, and sometimes these include a reference to something religious.  For example, when a student asked how my weekend was, I said, " There's this beautiful little girl named Molly who colored a picture for me during Mass on Sunday.  Here, I have it in my purse."

This is not an in your face defense of religion.  It is simply a statement that it is a part of my life, and gives me joy. My students know I'm a baby stalker.  (That's what my son calls me.)  I see a baby, and I am immediately on a mission to get that child to give me a smile.  I have the same mission with the young adults I teach.  I want them to smile.  I want them to laugh.  I don't want them sitting in my class trying to figure out what my agenda is.  I want them to know I accept them, warts and all, and pray for their well-being.

I can do all of that with out checking my faith at the door. In fact, I do it better when I don't check my faith at the door. Pope Benedict XVI once said, "Each of us is the result of a thought of God.  Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary."  Sometimes when faced with a troubled student, or a difficult colleague, I may ask God, "What were you thinking?" But they are probably asking the same question about me.

I accept them, but I don't want to celebrate their warts.  We are all fallen creatures, but legislating and protecting and glorifying sin only hurts the sinner.  So I intend to be joyful in this time of persecution.  I will love the sinner and hate the sin.  God willing, and with God's help.

A Slow and Steady Apocalypse

I have friends and relatives who think that the world is facing a minor chastisement by God.  In the course of this minor chastisement, at least a third of the world's population will disappear.  I know that many people would be bothered that 1/3 of the population dying would be considered a 'minor' chastisement.  But for these believers, it is significantly fewer people than, say, were killed when Noah and his family were the only survivors.

The who, what, and where of such punishment is the subject of news stories and private blogs all over the place.  So is the why.  We will be punished for failing to follow God's word, for a lack of faith, for tinkering with life to preserve the breath of those who are ready to die, and killing those who are ready to breathe.  We will be punished for our pettiness in dealing with others.  We will be punished for thinking about our hatred of others, rather than our love of neighbor, and our need for mercy.  We will be punished, and should be for all of the above, as well as our sins of omission.  I see a man or woman walking down the street, carrying groceries, children, or simply struggling to walk, and I keep driving with my empty minivan, because, you know, they could hurt me.  My lack of care for my fellow man is at the center for why I will be punished.  I deserve it.  I can take it.

It's the HOW of this that is my center of speculation.  Sometimes I read blogs and articles that seem to reflect a notion that the coming chastisement, which I do not doubt is coming, will come in some big way.  Comets will crash to earth.  Earthquakes will devour rivers and mountains and whole populations.  Storms will get wild and kill willy-nilly.  Fire, floods, hail, plagues...

It seems to me more likely that God will try to show us, in his mercy, that our punishments will be consummate with our crimes.  We didn't fall into sin over night.  We will descend into our punishment with an equal pace.  ---Disclaimer:  I am no prophet.  I am simply talking about what I believe, knowing God in His mercy will give us as much time as possible to turn ourselves toward Him.

My last post was about parish festivals and paranoia, but it was also about an expectation of vain self-centeredness.  If you, like me, have always been a bit preoccupied with how white your teeth are, how tan you skin is, how perfect your hair color, how skillfully applied your make-up, then you know that the perfect punishment would be the slowly apparent inability to counteract the aging process.  You may even find that the remedies you've used to preserve youth will accelerate your aging.  Wouldn't that be a perfect punishment?

What if you have always allowed abortion to continue through omission?  What if you never spoke up when you encountered a friend or colleague who was about to have an abortion?  What if you were a politician who voted for abortion rights, while being 'personally pro-life'?  Your slow, quiet, legislative support would be matched by what kind of punishment?  Maybe you would simply find yourself sterile.  Maybe you would have no grandchildren.  Maybe you would be lied to about your culpability in the culture of death as you blithely assumed you were being saved by the prayers and counseling of a priest who wanted to use your influence, rather than save your immortal soul.

I think we are in the midst of a slow drip of chastisement.  We didn't get here with 50,000,000 babies killed in a single nuclear attack.  We got here with one woman at a time choosing to quietly go to a clinic and convince herself that the baby didn't really exist yet, and her finances were inadequate to raise the child anyway.  It's been a slow drip of sin.  It will be a slow drip of punishment.

We are seeing it now.  Good faithful people are finding themselves infertile.  Because they are strong, prayerful, and faithful believers, God steers them to adopt the children who would be otherwise killed.  In this respect, God's mercy is both painful and healing.

Maybe that is what we can expect.  God's mercy will be painful and healing.  Kind of like when you get a bad burn, you will hurt for a while.  It may even hurt to the point that you can't imagine being able to tolerate the pain much longer.  In the end, you will survive the pain, live with the scars, and know that you shouldn't play with fire.

Can't Stop the Rant

If you don't want to share a dark moment, don't read this post.

My candidate of choice for president, Thaddeus McCotter,  pulled out this week.  And he endorsed ROMNEY.  Blech. I put my yard sign away.

A student in my university class gave a great Christian witness in his first speech, and it was received well.  Then for the second speech, a different student will be speaking on how to conjure demons.  Blech. I'm packing my holy water and rosary.

My family is arguing over who will host a combined birthday party for my brother and my mother.  I want to do it, but apparently the conventional wisdom is that I don't have enough furniture.  Blech.  We'll probably go out to eat.

Blech. Blech, Blech.  That's about all I can manage.

Underlying all of this blech is deep feeling that we can no longer stop God from punishing us for our sins.  I fast.  I pray.  I receive the sacraments.  But even in saying that, I know that what I'm talking about is what I do, not what God does.  I expect He's near the end of his patience.

How else could God react when we fund abortions with our tax dollars, force people of faith to pay for contraception and sterilizations, treat pregnancy as a disease, take asthma inhalers off the market to save the ozone layer, take companies to court for daring to build a factory that would hire people who don't pay bloated union bosses, raise the debt ceiling so we can borrow more money than has ever been made in the history of mankind (Does anyone remember the sin of usury anymore?), use math tricks to pretend unemployment isn't as bad as it really is, pay people to not work, and then wonder why they stop looking for jobs, ignore our local priests in favor of rock-star preachers and then wonder how they could betray us...

We are foolish people.  May God forgive us all.

Children Behaving Badly: Traditional Ways to Act Up at Mass

I'm not going to pile-on here about cell phone games and loud and/or garish toys at Mass.  I know there are serious issues about what people think is acceptable in church.  When I picked up the Red Bull can that I found under the pew in front of me at Mass, the amount of lipstick on the rim told me there had been a wedding the day before.  I don't want to add to the list of misbehavior and sacrilege.

This is a celebration of youthful exuberance that is a time honored source of consternation to parents, and discrete smiles from those whose children are too old to do it anymore.

1.  The first family I want to tell you about has 5 boys and one girl.  The oldest can't be more than 7.  None of the children have made their first communion.  The parents make sure the girl wears a dress and the boys wear suits and ties.  The parents of this swarming mass of youthful energy are calm, devout, and do not pander to the children with toys during Mass.  Still, you can regularly witness one brother turning a bulletin into a telescope or megaphone so his brother can hear him whisper, "I'm watching you."  I know I did this with my 11 siblings growing up.

2.  A toddler has just learned to take her offering up to the priest by herself.  The parents wait, beaming with pride for her return up the aisle.  She comes walking solemnly back towards their pew.  She smiles, and pauses.  Then she makes a mad dash for the door, parents chasing her with chagrin.

3.  Once again, children are walking up to make offerings to the priest at offertory.   The family that is bringing up the gifts have told their children to dress-up for Mass.  For their three-year-old daughter, this means accessories.  She proudly walks ahead of her family with her pink sparkly dress, purple sparkly mary-janes, matching handbag, hat and sunglasses.  She looks like a movie-star incognito.  The parents smile sheepishly, but the congregation is in love.

4.  A toddler is being held by a parent during the Eucharistic Prayer.  The parent is kneeling, the toddler is balanced on the back of the pew in front of the kneeling parent.  In the first scenario, the toddler, using all of the strength of high-pressure vise grips, holds the parent's face in her hands and starts kissing the parent's face.  When the parent tries to stop the child, the child becomes boneless and flops into the pews in front.  Crying ensues, but the congregation is torn between sympathy for the parent and child.

5.  The contagious sibling poking-fest.

6.  After getting caught by the parents as the one instigating the sibling poking-fest,  the children engage in the ancient meditative chant of, "Mom, he's touching me."  This chant is frequently performed as a round.

7.  Contagious laughter of no discernible cause.

8.  Contagious snorts, coughs and bathroom trips caused by laughter of no discernible cause.

9.  Toddler and pre-school aged children have scoped out the soft-hearted-adults-for-whom-they-can-do-no-wrong.  These children will make faces at said adults, talk to them about their plans for the day, show off new items of apparel, and generally be too cute to be denied.

10.  A young girl or boy is making her/his first communion.  The younger brothers and sisters spend the Mass trying to sit closest to this impressive family member.  They crawl over each other, squishing themselves into a bare inch of space, just to be able to share the moment with their older sibling.

These behaviors were a problem when my son did them, or when I did them as a child.  Now, I'm part of the loving congregation that finds God and the Joy of his many gifts made real to me by these simple pleasures.  I hope you won't mind if I make a face and poke your child back.  

Why I Hate the Main Stream Media's Coverage of Candidates

1.  Because they have limited time and resources, news outlets try to pick a winner in a political race as early as possible.  They have to follow the money in order to pay the bills, so only rich candidates or good fundraisers get on the news.  Tonight, there's another lotto drawing.  If I bought a ticket, and won, I would give half of the winnings to the person I thought was the best candidate regardless of name recognition.  But in our current world, I don't buy lottery tickets, and people who win spend their money foolishly, and those who have money go where money is already going.  It's like a dog chasing its tail.  When I see relatively small websites like Creative Minority Report backing Perry and asking who his running mate should be...  AAAAARGH!

2.  Polls are for suckers.  I want you, dear reader to consider how many times you have been polled about your political thoughts.  Do you take the call?  Do you, being a good conservative with children and a job  have time to respond to their questions?  Polls are skewed by the people who have the time to answer the questions.  An unemployed man or woman who receives benefits from the state is far more available to answer questions while they T.VO. the latest about the Kardashians on V-H1.

3.  News outlets feed the entertainment arms of their media monstrosities.   So you settle in to watch a nice crime show at the end of the day, and you see the criminals are all priests, white people, men, Christians, republicans, whatever the demonic flavor of the month is.  Adding the fantasy story-telling to the MSM news scheme reinforces the beliefs of those sitting on couches around the country.

4.  If you are a really good candidate with a real plan, but no money, how do you get the coverage necessary to get your name in the public consciousness?  You probably have to have a ridiculous gaff, or say something really scathing.  A scandal might help too.  But if you have a scandal, you lose the votes of the very people who wanted you to succeed.  If you are a good, honest person like McCotter or Santorum or Cain, what could you possibly do to get some press?  McCotter or Santorum could let one of their children have a child out of wedlock, or go on dancing with the stars, but that hasn't helped Palin.  Maybe they should all state forthrightly and with conviction in plain and even base language what they really think of our current president.  If they think he's a narcissistic jerk with a hidden past and dangerous ties to and ideas from people who hate America, then say so.  It's working for Perry.

5.  I want a boycott of any media show that pushes frontrunners this early in a presidential race.  Be fair.  Be balanced.  Or we won't watch you anymore.

August 2011 Iowa Debate

The Fox News Debate between GOP presidential candidates (8/11/12)  was aggravating.  As a country we are facing some of the biggest foreign policy, economic, and social problems of the past 30 years.  Yet Chris Wallace asks about turnover in Gingrich's campaign staffing that has been covered ad nauseum by the media lefties, and Byron York asks Bachman if she can be a submissive woman to her husband and still be president?  And let's not forget the way Santorum was ignored, Ron Paul encouraged in nuttiness, Pawlenty and Cain Baited with old controversies, and Romney given nothing but soft marshmallows so that he can simply rise above it all.

Okay, Fox News, we get it.  You have decided that you think Romney should be the nominee.  You saw how the blatantly liberal media outlets chose The Mighty and Powerful B.O. over every other stinkin' progressive.  Now you want to take a page from their playbook, flex your influence muscles and see how far you can go.

I would be okay with that, but in choosing for us, you are denying us the freedom to choose.  Why, for instance would you insist on polls showing  a minimum percentage of a vote before allowing participation in a debate, if you know the person to otherwise have apropriate credentials and credibility to run for president?  Doesn't that feed into the millionaire culture that says only the wealthy can run for office?  I'm thinking in particular of Thadeus McCotter who would be a far better candidate than Huntsman or Romney. 

And now because he made a dirty attention grab this week to steel thunder from the other candidates by leaking his intentions on Thursday, and announcing during today's straw poll,  Rick Perry is poised to replace Romney as the Fox News darling.  I've cheered and jeered Perry.  I'm happy to see Romney the Rino disappear, but not sure Perry is our man.

As for the Straw Poll in Ames, Iowa:

If I had my way, Rick Santorum, Herman Cain, Thaddeus McCotter, and Michelle Bachman would share the top four slots at every straw poll from here to January.  These are all serious conservatives and each one can prove it.  I would feel comfortable with any configuration of those four in the POTUS/VPOTUS positions.  And those configurations matter.  I pray every day for B.O.'s health because the thought of a Biden presidency can cause men to weep like babies, and women to abandon hope, and children to run wild in the streets.

I will post the results as an update to this post as soon as I see them.  Pray hard for good leadership, and may even the candidates we distrust surprise us with their courage and faith in word and deed.

Update:  Bachman wins, Paul 2nd, Pawlenty 3rd.  Here are the others in order from most votes to fewest:  Santorum, Cain, Romney, Gingrich, Huntsman, McCotter.

Updat 2:  If you were a Pawlenty fan, visit www.mccotter2012.com and send your donations and support to a better candidate than you started with!!!

Hospitals, Schools, and Insurance, Oh My!

For the progressive left, there is nothing worse than the notion that Catholics may want to provide an alternative to public health care, schools and insurance options.  The tyrany of the federal Department of Education and Health and Human Services is quickly becoming omnicient and all powerful.

1.  What do they want Catholics to accept? 
Cardinal Daniel DiNardo explained:  “Under the new rule our institutions would be free to act in accord with Catholic teaching on life and procreation only if they were to stop hiring and serving non-Catholics. “Could the federal government possibly intend to pressure Catholic institutions to cease providing health care, education and charitable services to the general public?”

The simple answer to the Cardinal's question is, "Yes." The Federal government wants to provide all education and health care. They do not want others involved.  In particular, the use of contraceptives must not only be promoted, it needs to be enforced.  So, since the World Health Organization considers chemical contraception to be a class 1 carcinogen, causing breast and ovarian cancers, then forcing women to contracept kills not only the children conceived with these abortafacients, It also kills the women who used the chemicals.  That's one way to reduce reliance on social security.


2.  What does the USCCB promote that helps the disinitgration of Catholic beliefs? 
During this past lent, I couldn't seem to get away from a USCCB suggestion that Catholics give up, among other things, plastic grocery bags for lent as a way to do something penetential that would also save the planet.  As we know, saving the planet from too many babies is the primary reason many give for birth control.  Just look at the scolding the Beckhams are recieving for having a (outrage of all outrages) fourth child.  Never mind that they can clearly afford it, and love their children.

Back to the age old Catholic lenten practice of giving up plastic grocery bags...  Oh wait.  I forgot.  That is just one more way the USCCB aids in the disintigration of Catholic beliefs.
3.  How are the two working together from an ideological perspective?
I guess the only 'green' way to have children is to adopt them from people so poor that they would sell you their newest child in order to provide for the others, like Madonna's or Angelina's kids, or to be a homosexual who hires a surrogate. After all, we wouldn't want that pesky natural conception and birth thing getting in the way of protecting nature, would we?

In his wonderful analysis of the Catholic church in Boston, The Faithful Departed, Philip Lawler outlines the gradual loss of spine among clergy as they strove to be politically relevant, rather than spiritually grounded.  Now when I see a Cardinal or Archbishop smiling with a known apostate politician, I wonder, "Quo vadis?"

I know this seems like a little thing following all of the issues mentioned above, but in its home-spun-sense verses big-government-obtuseness, the following story tells it all:

 Healthy Eating Costs More

If you do any grocery shopping at all, you know that heavily processed foods like margarine are far less expensive than natural products like butter.  Why are fresh peaches more expensive than canned? It's because more of them rot on the way to the store.  We pay for the transportation and cost of the ones we buy, and everyone that was shipped and had to be thrown away.

Use this as an analogy for the free birth control debate.  Thanks to government run healthcare, education, and insurance payments for contraception, we will now pay not only for the baby that is delivered, but for everyone that is discarded, and for the health costs to the women who carried them for a short time.  Public education costs more than twice as much per student as Catholic schools, with a much worse result in terms of graduation rates and college attendance.  Like the groceries, it's more expensive, but not necessarily better for you.

Let's seperate the sadistic nonsense of the green movement from the Catholic faith once and for all.  Killing babies, attacking Catholic hospitals and schools and insurance companies, and shaming people who seek to provide for their families by buying fresh in season, and canned the rest of the time because that's human and normal, is the craziness of the green movement.  If the USCCB thinks we should use paper instead of plastic, perhaps they have departed from the faithful, as Lawler would say.  If they are unwilling to tackle the freedom of conscience issues of forced funding of contraception, then maybe they should not be telling us how to respond to, "Paper or plastic?"

Diversity Training in Omaha Public Schools; Or Proof that I Rant

Friday on  The Five on Fox News, I saw a conversation about a new text book, paid for with stimulus money, that is coming to Omaha Public Schools. Mark Steyn also mentioned the book in his most recent article for NRO.  Since I don't have priestly faculties to perform an exorcism, I haven't read the book, and don't want it in my home.  What (or who) has possessed people to think of spending money in our cash strapped world on diversity manuals for children?

Diversity, like tolerance, is one of those words that has become a mantra for the forces of darkness in education.  These forces do not really want to teach, do not expect children to learn, do not expect parents to raise their own children, and do expect police protection at every school.

Diversity training is the victimization of a group based on the supposition that skin color provides privilege.  After victimizing the target Christian Caucasians, diversity training seeks to elevate the sinful behavior of a protected class, like an African American transgendered lesbian parent of children with fetal alcohol syndrome.  Diversity training would have us believe that the behavior of the latter person is not just equal  in virtue to the Christian Caucasian,  but of greater value because from that deviant we can learn about tolerating drunken perverse sexuality and the horrors it visits on the children of its practitioners.

Here's the demographic breakdown of Omaha Public schools:

Students, in 2006	47,044
White	20,098	43%
Black	14,724	31%
Hispanic	10,640	23%
Asian	828	2%
Native American	754	2%

Christian Caucasian students are in the minority in Omaha.  What better time to make them feel disenfranchised?  What better time to instill self-loathing?  Bob Beckel said on The Five that there were no black people in Nebraska.  Perhaps he should refer to the New York Times, my source for the above demographic breakdown.  Mark Steyn may have thought the same when he made his comment at NRO.

The problem isn't a lack of understanding of diversity.  It is a lack of virtue.  The moral cesspool that our schools have become is shocking.  Omaha has rates of STD infections that are double the national average.  Most of those infections, about 70%, are among 15-24 year olds.  Aren't these the same kids who have been given a steady diet of safe-sex training, with only an occasional mention of abstinence as the truly safest way to stay healthy?

So then they have their children and blended families, they fight at lunch time over a betrayal by a boy- and/or girlfriend, and we say its a diversity problem.  They receive healthcare and most of their meals at the school, so the  parents have plenty of time and money to pursue something other than good parenting, and diversity training will solve this?

But students have been taught well that their pent-up rage is the result of institutional racism.  It's not because they've been taught narcissistic self-love is, as Whitney Houston could belt out before the crack destroyed her, "the greatest love of all."  It's not because they don't feel well after trying to replace the lack of care at home with sexual escapades with the infected homeroom drug dealer.  It's not because their tired after working the streets for the family business the night before.  It's not because they just started to inject the same drugs their parents do.  It's not because mom's new boyfriend likes to walk in on them in the shower.  It's not because they know in their gut that it would be murder to keep the appointment at the planned parenthood that was just set up  by the school "health" care staff.

A strong dose of fidelity, chastity, and responsibility would do more to help the students in Omaha Public Schools.  It would also help the faculty.


All scenarios in this post are based on real circumstances I encountered while teaching in the Omaha Public School District.  No names have been used to protect those who have tried to move on from the depravity they learned while attending the public schools.

Political Candidates in a Perfect World, Revisiting the Herd

For those of you who have never visited before, I live in a low population state with a late primary, Nebraska.  That means that my individual vote comes after the other states have chosen a front-runner.  I am determined to influence those who have a primary vote that matters.  Read at your own discretion.

Having previously discussed the names on the (seemingly endless) list of GOP candidates, It is now time to check back in.  Some are out already, some may not enter regardless of our wishes and prayers, others continue to be foisted on us by people who really don't understand true conservatives.

I'm going to work backwards through the above categories, and end with my perfect world assessment as of today.  New information comes to light in campaigns on an almost daily basis, so I can't say with certainty who will ultimately be the candidate to get my support.  This is how it looks to me today:

If I hear one more pundit tell me that Mitt Romney could be our best GOP candidate, I will be forced to vote for a third party.  A true conservative would never have allowed his state to oblige people of religious beliefs to provide adoption services to homosexual couples and individuals.  Nor would he institute state-run health care.  Nor would he then use his position as governor to provide waivers at his discretion.  The last action here is the worst.  It shows a kind of imperial attitude towards executive privilege that is completely unconstitutional.  No Mitt.  No republican organization gets any money from me until I'm certain it will not help Mitt.  No. No. No.

I do wish that Sarah Palin and Chris Christie would run.  They have real star power, and fairly solid records.  Palin is probably better suited to being head of the fundraising end of the GOP, and I'm concerned for her family if she runs.  Vows and vocations come before careers.  So on some level, I don't want her in the race.  Christie has some issues with being the only republican to attend a state dinner for the Chinese.  I'm sure it was a decision based on the fiscal gain he could achieve for his state, but that's a serious deal with the devil.  China's human rights violations are so perverse and pervasive, (forced abortions, ordaining 'Catholic' priests and bishops...)   his attendance at the dinner is truly problematic.

Two that I hoped for initially but could not support now are Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry.  I was listening to Dennis Miller recently and heard him deflate as he learned that Perry had been a campaign manager for Gore.  Like Dennis Miller, I could have overlooked the Gardasil vote as a mistake, but promoting Al Gore shows a real lack of insight.  Newt's out of his own accord.

So in a perfect world the remaining candidates for me fall into the following jobs, if God loves us and allows each of them to do their best:

Rick Santorum- President  (He is a man of principles and is most in line with my beliefs, see previous posts.  I trust him.  He's my choice.)
Herman Cain- Vice President or Chairman of the Federal Reserve  (As vice president he would preside over the senate and could be key in proposing reform legislation.  He's had experience on the Fed so he would be a star there.  I like him for president too, but with out political experience, he's my second choice.)
Michele Bachmann-  Speaker of the House, or Secretary of the Treasury (She's a proven organizer and should use her tax expertise where it is most needed.  I like her for president, but I think she's needed more in these other positions right now.)
Sara Palin- Chief of Staff  (Perfect for her, she knows how to run a shop!)
Chris Christie- Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board or Secretary of Education  (Enough said!!!)
Paul Ryan- Secretary of Health and Human Services (Beyond enjoying the reaction to him in this position from the left, he has the chops to streamline entitlements and get it done.  I'd vote for him for president, but he's not running.)
John  Bolton- Secretary of State  (The best foreign policy mind in the country.  And the Eastern Europeans always respect the 'stache.)
Tim Pawlenty- Secretary of Commerce  (His primary work in Minnesota was balancing the budget.)
Ron Paul- Chairman of the Fed (If Herman Cain is VP)

So there's my line-up to date.  What do you think?

Thanks to Father Sam, SOLT

Medley Minute with Fr Sam: I am deeply saddened at the news of my brother pri...: "'What do you think? He is your brother priest and part of your order?' people ask me this about the sad news that the sexual allegations a..."


I only want to add that this whole saga has me sad and wondering.  When I told my husband that I was sad for all of the grey-haired ladies who followed Father Corapi, he said, "What about me?"  Yes indeed.  What about each individual who has been helped and led to the better life?  God help us all. 

It looks like Father Sam could help.

SOLT News: Press Release Concerning Fr John Corapi from SOLT ...

SOLT News: Press Release Concerning Fr John Corapi from SOLT ...: "July 5, 2011 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE From: Rev. Gerard Sheehan, SOLT Regional Priest Servant Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Ro..."

This is incredibly sad news.  Incredible in that Father Corapi profited greatly from those who consider themselves to be very orthodox Catholics, while clearly leading a life of grave sin.  Sad in that so many will have their faith shaken by this.   I'm reminded of Sinclair Lewis's Elmer Gantry.

Elmer Gantry was an indictment of revivalism in Christianity.  At a time when main-line protestants were seeing a drop in church attendance, revivals traveled the country (and still do via the media) to enhance the spiritual experience.  But their ability to bring people back to a religious center is limited, because the revivalist movement is based solely on an ego maniacal obsession with bring-em-in.  Make some money, move on.  Elmer Gantry had very real accusations against him.  Given the above statement by the SOLT, the accusations against Father Corapi are just as credible.

Like Elmer Gantry, Father Corapi gave up the high life for a higher life, for a while.  Unfortunately during that time in pursuing the higher life, he found his schtick and descended back into the high life.  We need to pray for him.

I remember being shocked when he made repeated reference to being hounded by photographers (and exiting his home, naked, and guns blazing) during his visit to Omaha last year.  It was creepy to have those images fleeting through the mind as he spoke.  But, of course, it was all about him. 

After Elmer's true spiritual foil dies in the fire, he leaves, blessing those gathered in sorrow.  Will he continue on the straight and narrow?  Will he return to his decadent ways?   The reader is left to decide that for himself.

So it goes with Father Corapi.  Was he maligned but planning to continue in holiness?  Has he been decadent and now wants to continue to be so uninhibited?  His followers are left to wonder.

God bless Father Corapi.  I refuse to not call him Father.  He took the vows.  He is no less a priest now than I am any less a married woman, even though less than 10% of my activity would require me to be married.

Sad.  And Incredible.

Consumer Dating: Should Catholics Marry Young?

Should Catholics Marry Young? YES!!! Over at the National Catholic Register and Creative Minority Report, Pat Archbold is asking this question. He sees the trend to marry later in life as an extension of the narcissism of immaturity, and dangerous for the development of the love of God necessary for marriage. Having married late. I have to agree.

This weekend we celebrate our 13th anniversary and my 48th birthday. I don't dwell on my years as a single person much. They were markedly lonely years for me and for my husband. Now as my son begins to talk about girls (saying things like, "I know there's something special about her for me because it's really hard to talk when she's around.") I hope to teach him to accept the love God sends to his life at the time he is most prepared to develop fidelity to that love. For that reason I do not discourage a crush he has had since kindergarten on a sweet little girl.

I work with college students, meeting about 100 young men and women on the cusp of their adulthood. It would be in their best interests to take dating more seriously at a younger age. The shop-around culture turns relationships into consumerism. Everyone becomes nothing more than their parts, a check-list of attributes, with the non-negotiable items that may be as shallow as good hair. The wise ones see more deeply into the soul of the person with whom they are developing a relationship. The slow ones, like me, keep looking for the greener pastures, and if we're lucky, God knocks us over the head before it is too late.

I met my husband on the first anniversary of my Grandma's death. I believe he was a gift from her. I pray in gratitude everyday for her intervention.

Before that I was definitely into the consumer culture of narcissistic dating. Comparison shopping of persons is dehumanizing on every level. It can start in the dating world and lead to the determination of gender and other attributes of children. If you don't like the child you get, because it's 'defective' or may be the 3rd girl when you wanted a boy, you could abort it. If the spouse you chose, or rather the one God gave you, is not what you imagined with your check-list in hand, you can divorce that one and re-enter the dating market. Do it online and you can reduce your shopping time.

This consumer attitude is not new. In The Country Wife by William Wycherley, his anti-hero Horner states, "For marriage is but a bargain made, to further the interests of commerce and trade." This iconic line of the Restoration drama of England is representative of the decadence of the royal classes. It is representative of the hook-up culture of Tom Wolfe's Charlotte Simmons. The difference between the two time periods is the wealth of our times. Even the 'poor' of our country can whoop it up with a non-committal fling because the birth control is free or discounted through government funding of Planned Parenthood.

I know these seem like big leaps. But the truth is that consumerism has replaced the fundamental faith of our fathers. Many people really do believe that you can spend your way out of debt. After all, "You have to spend money to make money." Right?

Translate that to the marriage market. You spend your self to make your... home? marriage? love? Instead that consumer attitude just seems to gnaw away pieces of soul. Only a gift from God can provide the re-growth.

Wouldn't it be better to avoid the damage in the first place? If taking yourself off the market earlier is the answer, because like me you didn't have the strength to avoid being damaged goods, then do it. Marry early. Strengthen your soul in its union to another. Parents and teachers should encourage young men and women to be thinking about the consumer metaphors placed on their persons. We did abolish slavery. We can stop selling ourselves again.

Some Great Books for Kids

Some Great Books for Kids

Some Great Books for Kids

As a homeschooling Mom of a 10 year-old boy, I struggle with finding books.  I can go to Adoremus books on line or in town, and everything looks good, but then I bring them home and they disappoint. 

It's my fault.  I love buying books.  The libraries hate me because I have a horrible tendency to pay no attention to due dates.  I'm also a bit rough with them, taking them with me to the zoo, pool, reading while cooking or eating...  I know I've touched it if there is coffee or pizza sauce spilled on it.

This week my son and I took a long walk through Adoremus, led by a college aged girl who had been home-schooled.  We looked inside of everything, and after much discussion finally came away with some books we really love.

For the past two years, we've been hit and miss, taking advice from other families.  One of the reasons people home-school is to be able to choose curriculum.  We received great advice, but the texts didn't necessarily fit with how my son, or I, think.  And that's key to educational success.  When I teach on the college level, I am sure to offer all important material in at least 3 different ways.  That way I know most of my students will get it on some level.

At home, I've been reading The Trivium by Sister Miriam Joseph, C.S.C., Ph.D.  I thought I would write a classical curriculum for my son based on her book.  Then I found the writings of Susan Wise Bauer.  She's done the work, and done it better than I ever could have by myself.  Her history books (linked through amazon above, but buy them from the Catholic home-school family at Adoremus if you can, and no they don't pay me for advertising) are so well written, real history in story form, but not light weight at all.  When your son is excitedly critiquing the Code of Hammurabi, you know you've found a great book.

We also found a newer series of mysteries for his age level. by Diane Ahern.  The first is called Lost in Peter's Tomb.  She had James by the second paragraph.

We've also been amazed at the vocabulary growth from the English From the Roots Up flash cards.  This series teaches Latin and Greek words, and the English words that come from them.


Having finished the Baltimore Catechism, we are now switching to the Faith and Life Series from Ignatius Press.  We will supplement that with The Book of Saints and Heroes by Andrew and Lenora Lang.

Lastly we chose Saxon Math and Spectrum Science.

I'd love to know if you have any other suggestions, and clearly want to recommend these choices to you. I also want to make a request.  If any of you sit on the boards of Catholic schools, could you recommend these selections to them?  Scholastic book sales fill our Catholic schools with books of spurious merit.  Catholic schools frequently have to contract with public school districts to get a break on books.  If they could just get the support to choose better books, the Catholic schools could be unstoppable.  Check out these books, compare them with what your child is reading at his/her school, and you will see what I mean.

Again, any suggestions?

Responding to Father Corapi, Another Open Letter

Dear Father Corapi,

In your recent audio announcing your plans to become the 'blacksheepdog' you say that all things change, only God stays the same.  You also express gratitude for the gift you have been given of the last 20 years.  Those 20 years, for those who admire and follow your work, have been important in that they brought us closer to God.  If God does not change, then his call to you has not changed.  In this dark night of your priesthood, be careful not to abandon Him.

Leaving public ministry could be considered 'laying down and dying' only if you believe that is all you are called to.  As a priest, you have been called to much more than just public preaching.  Your hands have been consecrated so that you may lovingly hold the Body of Christ in the Eucharist.  You have been given the faculty to absolve sins, so that in the person of Christ, you can spread his divine Mercy.  You can baptize people into unity with Christ and his church.  You preside over the vows of Matrimony in a sacrament that is as inviolable as the vows of Holy Orders which you took.

Jesus called you in the past 20 years to speak.  Perhaps He is now testing your fortitude by calling you to silence.

I see in your choice of the Black Sheep Dog a reference to the Hound of Heaven. In Thompson's poem, the dog follows him through his dark walks in search of opium, guarding him as he tries to leave his addictions behind, and return to the Father who loves him.  Is that your plan?  Or are you running in fear from the dog, that is Jesus who wants only to lick your wounds and heal you?

Or are you uniting yourself to Christ in order to better heal the wounds of the Catholic Church by licking its wounds from the outside?

I can't help but feel that if you abandon your priesthood to continue to preach, you are ignoring God's call.  I make no mention of accusations or bishops.  None of that is at the crux of this matter. You are a priest.  You will always be a priest.  Speaking or silent, that is fundamental to who you are.

I ask you now to make the choice of Martha and Mary.  Do you keep doing, or do you listen to Jesus?

John Corapi: Special Announcement. June 17, 2011

Father Corapi has been known to say, "No Priest, No Eucharist."  I am sad and confused. 

Debate Reveals More about CNN than Candidates

I did not watch the whole debate.  I forgot about it until there was only 45 minutes left.  Bachmann has clearly gained ground from it, and Romney held place.  That opinion is based on the assessment of others.  I didn't focus enough on content to come to any determination.  I was distracted.

I was distracted by the moderators ridiculous questions.  As they would cut to commercial, CNN would show questions from viewers on a screen in the hall.  Those questions deserved answers.  They were insightful and important.  The moderators questions were shallow and juvenile.  Answers didn't matter.

I was distracted by the camera angles. 

Tim Pawlenty's camera angle was designed to emphasize his forehead, make his chin look smaller, and his hair look poofy.  The overall effect was that he displayed a recessive gene from an alien as a close relative, the cosmic kind, not illegal.

Michele Bachmann's camera emphasized the fact that she was shorter than the men in a way that suggested dwarfism. They also managed to light her clothes so that what was clearly an expensive suit looked like a threadbare, clearance-rack special from Target.

Mitt Romney, was given the best treatment, which makes him the loser in my book.  If CNN makes him look good, he must be the liberal favorite.  He will not be mine.

Rick Santorum was half in the dark.  Maybe they were running out of fresnels.  It seemed obvious they didn't think him important enough for proper lighting.

Also poorly lit was Herman Cain.  They seemed to want to shoot his angle as straight on as possible to make him look like a cranky bulldog.

Newt is Newt.  They didn't have to mess with his camera.  All he needs is a microphone.

The recipient of the worst treatment of the night by the camera crews was Ron Paul.  They shot him at an angle that left one with the distinct impression of a small deformed troll with crazy eyes. He looked a little hump-backed. His eyes seemed to wander.    It would not have been surprising to hear him say, "Who's that walking on my bridge?"

Having seen all of these candidates when the cameras are kinder, I can say that none of these impressions hold true for the candidates as a whole.  What does hold true is that the liberal media knows that we react to people.  Our assessments are usually based heavily on appearance.  If they can make the field look its weakest, they can weaken our resolve to get Obama out of the White House.

So who won the debate?  The cameras.

Creative Minority Report: Palin Email: "A Down's Syndrome Baby will Expand your World"

Creative Minority Report: Palin Email: "A Down's Syndrome Baby will Expand your World"

Reading this today reminded me that my 53 year old mentally retarded brother really is a gift to our family.  I always think of him when I hear the song, "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother." (Which is kind of an inside joke because he's overweight and tells people he's having a baby.)  So this morning when he annoyed me by eating the last of the Cap'n Crunch, and waking my husband up to get his morning shave, I didn't get crabby.  I thought of Trig, and Pat and all of his Downs friends and thanked God.

Shopping for a Right to Privacy

I went to our local Playhouse to buy tickets to a musical.  The first question out of the mouth of the box-office worker was, "What is your home phone number?"  He wanted my name, address, phone number, and email address.  Sometimes I think I can't shop anymore with out giving that much information, even for eggs and bread.  And I know it's not because I'm cute and they want to call me.

Walk with me down memory lane to 1970.  People all over the country were talking about a right to privacy.  Of course this meant that you could do whatever you wanted in the privacy of your own home (illicit drugs, perverse sex with consenting adults) and that your body was yours to do with what you will (kill your baby, commit suicide).  The greatest outside intrusion on our lives came from junk mail and unwanted radio and television commercials.

Now the right to privacy, which never existed in the first place, has been suborned to the right to be tracked for commercial purposes.  You no longer have a right to remain silent and everything you say, do, buy, watch, search for on the internet, and befriend on face-book can and will be used against your bank account by luring you into spending money you don't have.(After all, who really needs a snuggie?)

The right to privacy never existed in the first place because it is a natural road block to a healthy society.  Healthy communities have standards.  When those standards are violated, the whole community suffers.  Those who are exposed to pornography, illicit drugs and perversions in secret, are not exercising the right to privacy.  They are hiding the shame of the sinful behaviors which they know instinctively are wrong.  Shame and remorse are natural emotions in everyone but sociopaths.

Parents sometimes create a breeding pool for secretive behavior by allowing children to have unmonitored televisions and computers in their rooms.  Would Anthony Wiener have tweeted his smaller self if his wife or mother could have walked into the room at any moment?

Looking back to where this started, the right to privacy protects the drug-users, perverts and those who have habits they wish to keep secret, but invades the privacy of the average Midwestern mom looking to buy dog food at the local Petco.  Everywhere I go,  "Have you shopped with us before?  May I have your phone number?"  All I wanted was theater tickets for my Dad for Father's Day.  I don't want a long-term relationship with the local playhouse. Besides they are down the street about 2 blocks.  I can walk down and ask.

The irony is that everyone has my information, and I have nothing to hide.  Those who hide their information or troll the internet using false identities have everything to hide.  I want some privacy.  But the only way to get it back is to increase respect for others and encourage a broader sense of shame for those who practice illicit behaviors. You want privacy?  Stop asking for my information.  I'm sure this will destroy the jobs of marketers and data entry clerks around the country.  Given the oversexed, tawdry nature of most advertising, the marketing crowd won't understand this article anyway.

Respect for others and a healthy sense of shame...  Imagine how those could change our world.

From CMR:Protestors Disrupt Special Olympics

Creative Minority Report: Protestors Disrupt Special Olympics

These Are Not the Candidates You are Looking For...

Yes that is a Star Wars reference.  Yes I mean the Jedi Mind Trick. And yes, I'm talking about the people whose names always top the list in national polls about GOP Candidates.  I will now list the candidates who should drop out so that their money can be used to elect the real nominee:

1. Newt Gingrich  has too much baggage.  No Tea Party people will accept him.  His time is done.
2. Gary Johnson because his manner will be perceived as weak, and his libertarian views are too purist for cultural conservatives.
3.  Ron Paul is too isolationist in his foreign policy to be taken seriously by many mainstream conservatives.  He has more of a chance than the previous two.
4. Tim Pawlenty, yawn... (Update:  Pawlenty on Cavuto just scolded those who want an entertainer in chief.  He has experience, he's unfolding plans...)
5. Mitt Romney, not only has Romney-care, but he was also governor when Boston's Catholic Charities closed their adoption program rather than provide children to homosexual couples and individuals.  He presided over the fiscal and moral funeral of Massachusetts, even though he may not have caused the death.  I have a hard time believing any serious conservative would even consider him.
6. Michele Bachmann is needed in the House.  She could be Speaker some day.
7. Rudy Giuliani has no cultural conservative chops.  After Wiener, we should not consider anyone who can't speak with some moral sense if not authority.
8. Lindsey Graham is the definition of a RINO.
9. Sarah Palin should raise funds for candidates, but not be one herself.  I don't think she really wants it.  But keeping her name out there is good for the kind of work she's good at.  She keeps the others honest,  and shows the absurdity of liberal feminists.  

Now for the candidates we should be looking for in no particular order.:

• Rick Santorum.  
• Herman Cain
• Allen West
• Paul Ryan
• Rick Perry
• John Bolton

And once the field is set, maybe the candidates should agree to serve in the cabinet of the nominee  in whatever capacity is his/her forte. 

Could we work together to show libs how it's done?  The right way?

The First Amendment: More Conscience than Speech

EWTN over the weekend reported that a bill, titled "Every Child Deserves a Family Act" ... "would prohibit 'discrimination in adoption or foster care placements'  based on sexual orientation, gender identity or marital status of any prospective adoptive or foster parent, or the sexual orientation or gender identity of the child involved.

"The bill would affect any adoption or foster care agency that receives federal assistance or contracts with an entity that receives federal assistance."  Read more: http://ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/US.php?id=3291#ixzz1NwtNBvFG

We now need to read and parse the First Amendment of the Constitution. and I do mean NEED:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The first two phrases of the amendment are exactly relevant to this issue.  Congress cannot interfere with the free exercise of religion, and cannot establish one itself.  By forcing religious groups to participate in adoptions to and of homosexuals, the government is in fact establishing a religion and interfering with the free exercise of religious beliefs.  

Now that isn't exactly what the proposed bill says.  What it says is that Congress will not provide federal assistance to agencies or make contracts with agencies that don't allow homosexual adoptions.  The federal funds are used by states to encourage adoptions of children in foster care, and children with special needs.  There is another $13,170 dollars in federal adoption tax credits that can be allowed for the adoptive family.  All of these funds are designed to encourage adoption.  The figure for Federal spending on adoptions was over $1.5 billion last year.  By comparison, and understanding that Planned Parenthood claims to provide adoption referrals,  Planned Parenthood received $317 million in federal funding last year.

The proposed bill would take funds away from Catholic Charities and other adoption agencies, or rather cease to augment private funding of adoptions at religious affiliated agencies.  In March of 2006, following similar regulations in Massachusetts, Catholic Charities of Boston shut down their adoption agency.  Then Governor Mitt Romney decided at the time that his administration would not act against other adoption agencies that refused to accept gays and lesbians as adoptive parents.  He used his executive office like a benevolent despot to allow religious beliefs to be expressed in action.

This is exactly what President Obama is doing in providing waivers to states, corporations, unions, etc., releasing them from the onerous expense of his healthcare program.  

And that is the crux of this issue.  The government should not be involved in adoptions and child care.  Our government should not be involved in abortion or health care.  As soon as our tax dollars are sent away, we allow someone else to determine how to allocate the money we have earned.  And then they tell us that we must follow their rules before we can get it back.

Many Catholics of good conscience would say that de-funding programs for adoption and children, or care for the elderly, is evil.  What they are missing is the fact that government intervention denies freedom of conscience.  The government can and does determine which beliefs are acceptable, and which are not.  If we don't accept those determinations, our money leaves our pockets, and never comes back to anything we can support in good conscience.  We are left to hope that our current executive will be benevolent and overlook our 'discrimination' of others based on strongly held beliefs.  We cease to be free in our exercise of our religion. 

Congress has established a religion. It is the religion of anything goes, except Catholic or Christian values.

RINOs Please get out!!!

Romney, Gingrich, Perrry, Pawlenty, Daniels, Trump, Huckabee, and others are either jumping into or leaving the presidential race.  I want the RINOs to leave.  Rush Limbaugh recently spoke about Newt as the McCain candidate.  I don't care what anyone says, we don't need a McCain candidate. 

What we need is a real man. I know I'm stepping on the toes of feminists while wearing cleats, but feminists have fought to provide food, housing, abortions, birth-control, child care, schooling, health-care for children, health-care for the elderly, nursing homes, mammograms, everything except ultrasounds for those considering abortion.  And given their largess, one would think they were in some real sense 'liberal'.  But they are not.

What they really want is to abdicate the basic functions of women.  My sister Amy once said that being a mother is like living the beatitudes.  I think it is more like the corporal works of mercy.  Caring for the sick, feeding the poor, visiting those in prison (or time-out), clothing the naked (when you can catch them), all of these and the other works of mercy are part and parcel of being a mother.

What real men do is support women at home by taking what I believe to be the easier task.  Yes, I know, men work hard to provide for their families.  That is not the issue.  The fact is that the roles of men and women are fundamentally different.  Everyone from Matt Archbold to Pope John Paul II recognize this difference.

Because of this difference, I think any RINO who is willing to cave on life issues should be cast aside.  Here's where I get really controversial.  I don't think that any young(er) mother should be considering a run for the presidency.  This includes Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin.

Both women have children who are not of adult age.  To subject your children to the scrutiny of the media would be nothing short of negligence.  If children have a father who takes on the high profile job, you can expect some scrutiny.  Women, by nature and nurture, will not be afforded the same restraint.

What we need is a real man.  We need a man who understands that life has value from conception to natural death.  We need a man who doesn't play games with his beliefs or his origins.  We need a man who loves his country more than he loves popularity.  We need a man who will oppose the de-christianisation of the Middle East.  We need a man who will tell the household that the money has run out.  We need a man who will say we can't borrow our way out of debt.  We need a man who will cut off the uncle who refuses to earn his own way.  We need a man who will refuse to pay for the children of people who refuse to care for their own children. 

If we want a real man in the White House, we should agree to:

Feed and protect our own children.
Provide health-care for our own children.
Discipline our own children.
Teach our own children.
Care for our Elderly parents.
Pay for our own homes.
Provide for those who need charity.
Care for the disabled.
Grow our own food.
Produce our own fuel.
Protect our own lands.
Offer care and sustenance to our friends, locally and abroad.

When we truly do these things we will be a nation in which men and women are strong and proud.

If any Republican runs on any platform less than this, we are doomed.

Praises for and Pitfalls of the Combox

There are days when I know I am blowing-off every important activity in which I should be engaged.  Those days are marked by the number of times I write in a comment box on a favorite blog.  I comment because I want to be a part of the conversation, feel sassy, want to promote my blog, have something funny/mean/irreverent to say, or any combination of the above.

The internet makes commenting very easy.  Just imagine if you had to stop with a screaming toddler in a public place, to write something by hand, and put it in this thing every time you wanted to respond in a snarky way! 

Notice that I include three of them.  Comboxes multiply like rabbits on the internet.  I can, and sometimes do, comment on the site with the article, and referring site from which I arrived at the article, and any links sites at which I arrived because of the article.  It's like repeating to my son seven times that he needs to let the dogs outside, brush his teeth and put on his best clothes, before he actually does it.  Or more likely, before I can be certain that all steps have been followed.

There are also times when I'm certain that I am writing in a combox so I don't feel compelled to argue with my husband, a colleague, neighbor or friend.  Those of you who do the same know who you are.

And there are also the sentimental comments that fall into the category of, "I think you are really smart.  I wish you were my neighbor, colleague, or friend.  Will you like me as much as I like you?"  I fall into this sometimes by leaving my blog-link in a combox.  I always feel dirty when I do it.  It's too much like being one of the cranks at www.theblaze.com. 

Such are the pitfalls of comboxes.

But what is worthy of praise in comboxes must be the information shared by those who actually know something.  It happens all the time.  I read an article, and then the combox discussion.  I notice that people who offer real information that is relevant tend to use something close to a real name. They are not ashamed or afraid to be known. 

Sometimes they seem to know the person.  Granted, sometimes  when a commenter seems to know the person writing the blog the comments are complimentary.  When that happens I often think they must be friends.  The whole thing seems to reek of face-book and starts to violate my trust in the blogger.

But overall, when a great combox discussion gets started, I feel like I'm at a fantasy cocktail party.  Everyone is engaged.  You may have to leave the conversation to say hello to the schmo that has a cubicle next to yours, but you make a point of spending time with the people who excite your intellect and stir the conversational pot.  Even the cranks at  the Blaze are like the crabby uncle in the corner that somebody felt certain it would be rude to exclude, even though he doesn't contribute more than the occasional request for someone to refill his drink.

So fill those comboxes.  Look for me at the party.  I'll be looking for you!

John Boehner is Less of a Weenie than I Thought

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/john-boehner%E2%80%99s-spending-and-debt-promise/

 Having criticized Speaker of the house John Boehner for making tax and spending cuts that were so tiny that they could have danced with some angels on the head of a pin, I am glad to hear that he has changed his tune.

All of the economists in the world can't make debt go away by increasing spending and increasing the debt ceiling.  All those economists do by making such arguments is reveal the absolute lack of value of our currency.  If we don't reduce debt and spending, the fire will go out, the smoke will clear, and the mirrors will break.

Doom, Death, Destruction

The truth is that, at this time, Osama Bin Ladin's death means very little to our security as a nation.  Unless you view this episode on a time-line.  The time-line has to include the future as seen by OBL's followers.

Looking back only, only Americans and our friends can celebrate his death.  Or maybe only people who have a primary concern in the continuance of their lifestyles can celebrate.  Go out and drink all night, yell slogans of hate, dance in the streets, eat a BigMac, and sleep late the next day.  I'm not against drink, but the only difference here between us and the Arab street is the alcohol.

I'm going to tell you all about a mystic experience.  Last night, as the attack on OBL was happening in Pakistan, I was sitting on my deck, looking at the sky.

I saw a face in the sky.  Now, I'm not one of those face in a grilled-cheese people.  This never happens to me.  I looked at a face in the clouds, and said, "  Is that you Jesus, or is it some evil face?"  What happened next was surprising.

The cloud face stared at me.  I watched it as it blew away.  But what was weird was how quickly the face blew away, while the rest of the clouds remained unchanged.

And that is what happened to OBL.  The face has blown away.  The clouds remain.

May God forgive him.  May God forgive those who can't forgive him. 

Thank God for the young Navy Seals who took on this challenge.

May God guide our leaders to pursue those actions that are important and meaningful.  May God guide us as we choose those who choose our national course of action.

A Trifecta of Blessings on a First Communicant

Our godson, John Paul is making his first Holy Communion today.  Imagine that:

• His namesake is beatified today.
• His namesake created the feast of Divine Mercy for today.
• He makes his First Communion to complete the trifecta.

You have to know Johnny to know how special, how beloved, how cherished he is in a family that  has 34 grandchildren for my parents.  He is unique.  A little nutty, but in a really good way.

A few 'Johnny' stories:  When Johnny was about 5, on Christmas day, he came up to the circle of Aunts who were deep in conversation.  The mere fact that he approached his Aunts in conversation shows a fearlessness that is surely a heroic virtue.  He joined the conversation saying, "I'm not really happy with the way my life is going right now."  He was 5.  He was in tune with the greater purpose of existence.  His Aunt Monica responded, "Johnny, you're five.  Go play with your cousins." He did.

Again with Aunt Monica in carpool a few months later.  Johnny says from the back seat, "This song is completely inappropriate."  Monica suddenly pays attention to the radio.  The day was Valentines Day.  The song was 'Love Stinks' by the J. Giles Band.  Johnny says, "I am going to school to celebrate love with my classmates.  This song is completely inappropriate for me to be listening to today."

Finally, with me.  I was watching all of my sister Amy's children one day, and told Johnny I would make whatever treat he wanted while he was at my house.  (He is my Godson after all.)  He wanted Chocolate chip cookies.  I made them.  I brought out the first cookies to him as a special gesture.  He looked at them, but didn't eat them.  I asked why.  He said, "Aunt Suzanne, your cookies are creeping me out."  I don't know why.  Apparently I make creepy cookies.  Johnny is also annoyed by my husband's singing, but that's another story.

He knows today is special. He received the usual First Communion gifts, but he received a few special ones as well.  As his Godparents, we found a medal of Blessed John Paul II with all of the documentation to show that it had been blessed by Pope Benedict XVI.  His cousin Katherine had just returned from a pilgrimage to Rome with what she called, "A very special action figure." It was a statue of JPII that had also been blessed by Benedict XVI.

As I was saying goodbye to Johnny today.  I gave him a hug.  He gives really good hugs back.   We held each other close.  I kissed his head.  I said, "You have two Popes praying for you today."  He looked at me with tears in his eyes and hugged a little closer.  I think he felt the weight of responsibility.

Thank God for John Paul II.  Thank God for Johnny and all of the namesakes our Blessed Pope has across the globe.  Thank God for the Eucharist and all good priests.  That is the trifecta of blessings.

Wide but not Deep?

The GOP candidates are suffering from a wealth of girth and a lack of depth.  They seem to have shallow commitment to social concerns and the debt crisis, (which is the direct result of the sin of usury), as well as an inability to stick to principles in order to win.

For example, Donald Trump. Could any true conservative take this man seriously? Maybe he could take our country safely through a bankruptcy filing.  Maybe senate approval of his nominees might be more entertaining, like the early years of The Apprentice.  That's the only value I see there.

I like Charles Krauthammer's analysis as a rule, But here:
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/265428/2012-racing-form-charles-krauthammer  
he seems more inspired by Urbane Urban Thinking than anything else.  Charles should take a field trip to the Midwest, and I don't mean Ohio.  Head into the bread (ethanol) basket of the Dakota's,  Iowa, Wyoming, and dare I say Nebraska, and I think he would find himself surrounded by people who think Romney and Gingrich are non-starters.  Let's face it, Romney is pretty, but not conservative.  Gingrich is a fountain of baggage, not ideas.  Barbour has already pulled out.

Pawlenty and Daniels are known only to news-junkies right now. And Daniels deferring of social issues is a real problem.  You see, when you abandon marriage and abortion as real issues, you increase entitlements to provide for the unmarried and Planned Parenthood.  There is a real relationship between marriage and children.  When that is broken, the society is broken.  Thinking you can fix our economy with out taking a long look at social issues is simply misguided.

I really don't hear any buzz about Sarah Palin or Mike Huckabee from anyone on the street.  They have their place, helping to form and motivate the base, but they are not presidential.

Krauthammer misses some good potential candidates.  Herman Cain would be a a great president.  He understands that at this point, religion and economics are foreign policy.  Paul Ryan and Chris Christie seem to understand that as well.  Maybe even Michele Bachmann understands that.

I want to offer a candidate who is completely off of anyone's radar.  Senator Mike Johanns of Nebraska has been a Governor, Secretary of Agriculture, and a staunch conservative for his entire career.  He is a very likable guy.  He has foreign policy experience.  He is solid as the day is long.  Bob Kerry was almost nominated on the Dem side years ago.

We may be only a fly-over state to some, but Johanns is worth recruiting.

I've met him in person.  He called my son to follow-up on a letter from my home-schooled boy.  I asked questions of him about articles I had read that day, and he had read them too.  This man is top-notch, trustworthy, calm, capable and experienced.

He is deep.  The rest are just wide.

Going Gaga for Judas

I wish Lady Gaga wouldn't embarrass herself this way.  It reflects poorly on any 'faith formation' she might have received at the Catholic schools she attended.  It reflects poorly on our cousin, Luc, with whom she's had a long relationship.  But the Catholic League should not be embarrassed for mentioning her, unless they don't look at the root cause.

The root cause of 'Catholic' pop stars who leave the church and it's teachings is the education they receive before the become famous.  The Religious of the Sacred Heart who educated Stephanie, aka Gaga, and the women in my family, have been watering down the faith in their schools.  It is to the point that a girl who graduates with her faith in tact is the exception rather than the rule.

The sisters even have featured a picture of Gaga on their promotional brochures.  Think about that.  They are proud of her.  They openly tell prospective parents, "If your daughter comes to our school, she could be the next Gaga."

I know we all wish that when we see little Catholic girls in their uniforms.  Oh wait, maybe not.

Sarah Palin Rocks

http://vimeo.com/22495566

Shame on me for thinking she had too much baggage and might not be presidential.  She clearly has it goin' on!!!  Come on Sarah, run like the wind!!!

Planning for Holy Week

I've been checking all of the movie channels for anything like a good Holy Week or passover movie.  They seem to be hard to find this year.  I like to limit my viewing time during Holy Week to exclusively religious themes.  Doing so helps me to enter more fully into the essence of the week.

I'm also trying to find a traditional three hour service for good Friday.   I remember attending them as a child.  The Veneration of the Cross was always moving.  So far, no parish seems to offer this important and meaningful act of humility this year.

I know that our parish will have a beautiful Mass on Holy Thursday.  At the end of the Mass, The altar will be stripped and the Eucharist will be exposed until midnight.  The silent procession to the small chapel  always leaves me feeling bereft. That feeling will grow during Stations of the Cross and Confessions on Good Friday. I will feel that way until Easter.

There's an edginess to that feeling.  I fell exposed.  I feel Jesus is not with us.  I feel like I imagine the apostles felt, lonely, afraid, unprotected, surrounded by a world full of people without God to guide them.  I chant aloud or in my head, like a mantra, "Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom."  I imagine the battle in hell as Jesus releases the souls of the faithful.

Then Easter comes and the joy of hearing the alleluias is profound.  Heaven is open once more to us, and the Light has won.  Eternal Light seems to expand throughout the earth, and I begin to relax again into joy and hope.  Like Mary Magdalene, I run again with renewed strength.  HE IS RISEN.

Without Holy Week, we are all Judas.  Judas who betrays.  Judas who is afraid.  Judas with no request for remembrance.  Judas despairing.  Judas who never gets to the Alleluia.

Ethics, Morals, and Teaching College Freshmen

I teach a public speaking class at a local state university.  Because the course is required by all students, I have many freshmen in my classes.  It's basically a skills class, but at the end of every semester the students must present two persuasive speeches, using sound reasoning and avoiding the fallacious use of reasoning, claims, and evidence.  It's my favorite part of the semester, but also the most tricky.

When students make unsubstantiated claims, provide little evidence, no evidence, or evidence that doesn't support the claim, or when students use faulty reasoning, I play devil's advocate to show them their errors.  It's not often that I am given a new argument by a students.  They tend to stick to the tried and true topics that interest them, aliens, social problems, legalizing drugs, abortion, capital punishment, etc.

I was therefore thrown when a student proposed for advocating in favor of medicinal prostitution for patients receiving care for chronic pain and terminal illnesses.  His premise was that if medicinal marijuana is okay, why not?

Today as I prepare for class I have to summon every braincell to discuss with him the moral pitfalls of such an argument.  I plan to discuss the importance of the failure rates of contraception that could lead to aborting the child of a sex therapist created with a terminal patient.  If a child is conceived, does someone determine whether the child is:

•  Added to the will and provided for by the estate of the (presumably) deceased?
• Allowed to be brought to term and adopted?
• Aborted as an unintended by product of therapy?

And of course, who will make this decision: The patient?  The therapist?  The prescribing physician?  The existing heirs of the patient?  If the patient is the one who is pregnant, does this make it impossible for them to receive other treatments that would affect the unborn child?

What is striking about this entire idea is that the notion of sex as palliative care because it makes people feel good is completely devoid of any notion of sex as procreation.

I know we are making great strides in the pro-life movement among college students.  That is an amazing thing,  I  see the changes in student attitudes all of the time.  Ten years ago students never mentioned a desire to have children in the future.  Now most do.

But the suggestion of  medicinal prostitution by a 19 year-old young man from a small town tells me we have a long way to go.  A very long way to go.

***I had my conversation today and the young, thoughtful, man decided to continue,even though this is an  argument he is making only for argument's sake.  And one of my other students who wanted to advocate for homosexual adoption now understands that she must address freedom of conscience issues for religious providers of adoption services.

Overall, a successful day.

Update #2:

My student gave his speech today.  He included stories of the men and women who live at the nursing home that provides his day job.  One man has Viagra PRN to have relations with his wife.  My student said on walking into their room while they were active, "Dinner is ready.  Do you want a fork or a spoon?"  Nice use of humor, but one of the points he made was that women who have partners who do not use condoms are less likely to be depressed.  The study is out of Ireland.  So you see, happy couples who are open to children are happier and live longer.  I knew I could trust him to find the right info!