The Final October Surprise

If this is true...

From The Daily Caller:

Gingrich: Senator told me networks may have White House emails commanding counterterrorism group to stand down on Benghazi rescue 

On Tuesday night’s “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren” on the Fox News Channel, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said that major news networks might have secret emails proving that the White House canceled plans to assist the besieged U.S. Embassy in Benghazi. 

Gingrich said that the bombshell emails could be revealed within the next two days.

Shameful Benghazi Narrative

Victor Davis Hanson penned an excellent deconstruction of the Obama Administration's embarrassing narrative on the terror attacks in Benghazi. Appearing in National Review Online:

We have had ambassadors murdered abroad before, but we have never seen anything quite like the tragic fate of Chris Stevens. Amid all the controversy over Libya, we have lost sight of the human — and often horrific — story of Benghazi: a U.S. ambassador attacked, cut off and killed alone, after being abused by frenzied terrorists, and a second member of the embassy staff murdered, as two American private citizens rushed to the rescue, heroically warding off Islamist hit teams, until they were overwhelmed and also killed. 

Seven weeks after the tragedy in Benghazi, new government narratives just keep appearing, as various branches of government point the finger at one another. Now the president insists that “the minute” he “found out what was going on” he gave “very clear directives” to “make sure that we are securing our personnel and doing whatever we need to.” The secretary of defense argues that he knew too little to send in military forces to save the post. Meanwhile, we are hearing from other sources that the beleaguered compound in extremis was denied help on three separate occasions, and there are still more contradictory accounts.

Read on.

Disgraceful: Facebook Censors SEALs

From Breitbart:

FACEBOOK CENSORS NAVY SEALS TO PROTECT OBAMA ON BENGHAZI-GATE 

Over the weekend, Facebook took down a message by the Special Operations Speaks PAC (SOS) which highlighted the fact that Obama denied backup to the forces being overrun in Benghazi. 

The message was contained in a meme which demonstrated how Obama had relied on the SEALS when he was ready to let them get Osama bin Laden, and how he had turned around and denied them when they called for backup on Sept 11.

The Benghazi scandal is astounding, far worse than Watergate.

'Day One'

This is it, Romney's closing argument before the American people. With this pact, Romney will carry the day on November 6. From CNN:

The points Romney will hit are: 

-Make the case for fundamental tax reform designed to help boost the middle-class and American competitiveness in the global marketplace. 

-Talk about his plan to put the country back on track towards a balanced budget. 

-Once again lay out his plan to reverse President Obama's cuts to our nation's military through sequestration. -Describe his plan to expand trade and increase U.S. exports and also level the playing field with China by declaring them a currency manipulator. 

-Explain his plan to achieve energy independence for North America. 

-Focus attention on a comprehensive effort to fix our nation's schools and raise performance levels. 

-Talk about his effort to halt the layers of new regulations, starting with Obamacare, introduced by President Obama that have burdened America's job creators.

They Remain

From The Ticket:

Guards at Tomb of the Unknowns to remain on-site during hurricane 

WASHINGTON—Hurricane Sandy is expected to slam the East Coast and the federal government is shut down—but the U.S. servicemen who guard the outdoor Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery will remain on duty. 

"They will not abandon their post," an employee who answered the Arlington Cemetery's phone confirmed to Yahoo News. He identified himself as "George," but was not authorized to speak on the record to the media.

Texas Strikes Planned Parenthood

From CNN:

(CNN) -- Texas won another battle against Planned Parenthood this week. 

A federal appeals court, on Thursday, refused to grant another hearing to the organization, a decision that stops the organization's fight against Texas' effort to ban state funding for Planned Parenthood affiliates. 

Texas Gov. Rick Perry applauded the decision, by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. 

"Today's ruling affirms yet again that in Texas the Women's Health Program has no obligation to fund Planned Parenthood and other organizations that perform or promote abortion. In Texas we choose life, and we will immediately begin defunding all abortion affiliates to honor and uphold that choice," Perry said.

Rescuing Culture

Flannery O'Connor

From Thomas M. Doran, writing for The Catholic World Report:

A sizeable percentage of committed Catholics have given up on the arts: literature, poetry, visual art, music, and film, at least art that is produced in the public arena. Other Catholics have built a wall between their beliefs and the entertainment they seek from fiction, films, and music, dividing their faith and their recreational reading, viewing, and listening. 

The problem with these attitudes is that modern society, in large part, is formed by the arts, and the steady stream of art that disparages and ridicules Catholic beliefs, with few countervailing influences, is producing a dogmatically nihilistic, self-indulgent society. For over a century, art has been judged through the lens of a kind of aesthetic nihilism, which asserts that there is nothing transcendent, nothing that is objectively True, Beautiful, or Good; everything is ephemeral, subjective, and, ultimately, annihilated by the forces of nature. Thus, art containing a transcendent perspective, no matter how inspired or depicted, is un-serious by definition. Sadly, this lens has coarsened culture rather than elevating it, just subjective opinions to an art elite that prides itself on superior intellect and discrimination. That isn’t to say that all public art is bereft of value, but who can deny that the dark thread of nihilism and materialism has infected much of it? Whose High Art today actually probes, inspires, stirs, and awakens?

Green Bay Bishop Warns Voters

From the Green Bay Press Gazette:

Bishop David Ricken, the leader of the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay, noted in a recent letter to parishioners that voting for candidates who support what he calls “intrinsically evil” positions, such as abortion and gay marriage, could “put your own soul in jeopardy.” 

Ricken’s letter, dated Oct. 24, notes that the church has a responsibility to “speak out regarding moral issues, especially on those issues that impact the ‘common good.’” It goes on to note principles to keep in mind in the voting booth on Nov. 6, including abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning and gay marriage. 

“A well-formed Christian conscience does not permit one to vote for a political program that contradicts fundamental contents of faith and morals,” Ricken said in the letter. “Some candidates and one party have even chosen some of these as their party’s or their personal political platform. To vote for someone in favor of these positions means that you could be morally ‘complicit’ with these choices which are intrinsically evil. This could put your own soul in jeopardy.”

Home Stretch: Obama Embraces Culture of Death

As numbers appear to be working against them, the president and his minions have decided to bet the house on making this election about death and pills. A sign of desperation? No doubt. From Politico:

This was supposed to be an election in which the economy dominated the debate, social issues took a backseat and the culture wars were put on hold. 

Yet in the homestretch of the 2012 campaign, abortion politics is coloring races up and down the ticket. 

And it’s by design. 

Democrats have gone all in for abortion rights, with none of the hedging or defensiveness they’ve shown in recent years — a subtle but striking repositioning with political consequences that extend far beyond Nov. 6.

This makes all their talk about being the "party for the little guy" nauseating.

All the President's Lies

From Fox News:

A series of internal State Department emails obtained by Fox News shows some of the initial assessments of last month's deadly consulate attack in Libya, including one email within hours of the attack that noted the group Ansar al Sharia had claimed responsibility. 

The emails provide some of the most detailed information to surface about what officials knew in the initial hours after the attack. And it again raises questions about why U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice, apparently based on intelligence assessments, would claim five days after the attack that it was a 'spontaneous' reaction to protests over an anti-Islam film.

On Bayonets

From Fox News:

President Obama made bayonets sound like buggy whips at Monday’s presidential debate, but the fact is they’re still standard issue for Marines. 

The knives, which fit on the end of a rifle barrel and have been around since the 17th century, are not just there for when the ammo runs out and the enemy is close. According to the U.S. Army, the M9 bayonet serves as “a hand weapon, as a general field and utility knife, as well as a wire cutter together with its scabbard, and as a saw.”

CC this to the prez.

Academia Against Christianity

Two remarkable stories, hot off the presses. First, from The Weekly Standard:

Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts has banned a Christian group from campus because the group requires student leaders to adhere to "basic biblical truths of Christianity." The decision to ban the group, called the Tufts Christian Fellowship, was made by officials from the university's student government, specifically the Tufts Community Union Judiciary. 

The ban means the group "will lose the right to use the Tufts name in its title or at any activities, schedule events or reserve university space through the Office for Campus Life," according to the Tufts Daily. Additionally, Tufts Christian Fellowship will be unable to receive money from a pool that students are required to pay into and that is specifically set aside for student groups.

And then, from Fox News:

A group of Louisiana State University football fans whose admiration for the Tigers is second only to their love for Jesus is outraged after the school digitally erased the tiny crosses they painted on their bare upper chests at a recent football game. 

LSU officials sent out a photo of The Painted Posse, Christian students who paint their bodies with LSU school colors and small crosses for home games, in an email about the LSU game against South Carolina on Oct. 13. The students were shocked to see the photo, which appeared to be otherwise untouched, in the newsletter that went out following the Tigers' 23-21 win over the then-No. 3 Gamecocks. The Tigers are now 7-1 for the season. ... 

School spokesman Herb Vincent told the site the school altered the image to prevent other students from being offended by the weekly Geaux-Mail newsletter. "We don't want to imply we are making any religious or political statements, so we air-brushed it out," the school said in a statement.

So much for diversity on campus...

Back to the drawing board

From Reuters:

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Most U.S. Catholics think the church should focus more on social justice and helping the poor, even if it means focusing less on issues like abortion, according to a poll released Monday by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute.

The 2012 American Values Survey finding on Catholics goes against the focus of many U.S. Catholic bishops, who have stressed the church's ban on abortion and artificial contraception in their public policy statements.

The poll found that 60 percent of Catholics want a greater focus on social justice issues rather than abortion, while 31 percent support the opposite approach.

Sad, but not at all surprising. Why doesn't being allowed to be born fall under the "social justice" umbrella? Where has the fundamental, parish-level catechesis been? Where is it now? The bishops had better take notice of the sorry state of their flock.

Pope dons the fanon

Today, Pope Benedict XVI wore the papal fanon at Mass in Saint Peter's Square. This hasn't been seen in a long time. As far as I know, JPII wore it once in the 1980's, and that was it.

Lourdes Under Water

Lourdes, France

Security Denied

From CBS News:

(CBS News) In the weeks before his death, U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens sent the State Department several requests for increased security for diplomats in Libya.

Stevens and three other Americans were killed in a terror attack this past Sept. 11 at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi and a separate attack that same night on a safe house where consulate staff had been evacuated.

Steven's memos to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which is investigating attacks, show he personally pressed for strengthened security.

While Rome burns...

Rediscovering Masculinity in the Church

The Battle of Lepanto

Here's an excerpt from a commentary by Dr. Donald Prudlo on the meaning of the "masculine genius." From the Truth and Charity Forum:

If women are the heart and bearers of culture, then men are its elaborators and defenders.  Today this “masculine genius” has been lost in many versions of contemporary Christianity.  If we are truly to have the complementarity so vigorously called for by Bl. John Paul II, it cannot be an either/or dichotomy.  Young men, so often abandoned by our system and our society, need once again to hear stories like the salvation of Christendom at Lepanto.  They need to hear the positive Christian message about those who serve in the military and in public life (Luke 3:14, Matthew 8:5-13, and Acts 10).  They need to know both the heroism that turns the other cheek, together with the knowledge that I cannot turn anyone else’s cheek for them.  This is the message of sacrificial headship (Ephesians 5:23-29). If the weak are oppressed, they need defense.  If there are malefactors, then one can bear the sword of the state against them (Romans 13:4).  The defense of the weak and the oppressed is the holy Christian duty of the strong.  It is the antidote to Nietzsche, and the cure for the genderless pseudo-philosophies of post-modernity.   It is something to be celebrated, especially for boys and young men; it is a path to holiness, and the key to the flowering of a new Christian chivalry for our contemporary times.

Angels and Demons

Read about angels here.

Read about demons here.

Young people and religion

An excerpt from one of the best articles I've come across on the subject. From the Telegraph:

In the Roman Catholic Church of England and Wales, the disconnect is even more stark. Young Catholics take their cue from the traditionalist Pope Benedict XVI, rather than from dreary bishops who only occasionally wake from their slumber to mumble something about renewable energy. (Remember Jack in Father Ted? You get the picture.)

Also – and I can’t tell you how much pleasure it gives me to report this – the Vatican has pulled a fast one by appointing two new diocesan bishops, Mark Davies of Shrewsbury and Philip Egan of Portsmouth, who are in tune with conservative youngsters rather than an English Catholic bureaucracy run by crypto-Marxist megabores trained in the public sector.

Bishop Egan has only been in his post for a few weeks, but already he’s been telling orthodox young Catholics what they want to hear: that they should adore the Blessed Sacrament, advertise their faith by making the sign of the cross, and even keep a rosary handy in the car. Cue barely suppressed shrieks from the old guard in Portsmouth, whose “director of liturgy”, the composer Paul Inwood, writes cod plainchant decked out in the harmonies of a 1970s cocktail lounge.

I like computers

Good news from FOX Business:

Two Colorado University professors have a fancy computer program that has predicted every presidential contest winner since 1980. The secret to the research, they say, is in understanding the Electoral College; better known as the “electors” we elect to elect our president.

... Now the professors, Michael Berry and Kenneth Bickers, have estimated back in August that Romney would run away with the election, taking virtually every swing state. They’ve now updated their research to show (drum roll please) that the former Massachusetts governor does even better.

Bishops correct Biden, sort of...

The Catholic bishops were swift to correct Vice President Joe Biden's inaccurate remarks from the VP debate about the HHS mandate, which compels Catholic institutions to provide free contraceptives. This is encouraging.

On the other hand, and it must be said, I find it odd that the bishops immediately issued this corrective measure regarding an unjust government policy, which they have no direct control over, and yet remain silent on something they have total control over, i.e., Biden's standing in the Catholic Church. Given his abhorrent and scandalous record on abortion and gay "marriage," isn't it about time they start drawing clear lines by taking a firm stand against so-called Catholic politicians who repeatedly profess their Catholicism to the world, and yet are agents of grave scandal via their voting record? Only Biden's diocesan bishop can step in. So...where is he?

ObamaPhone, Baby!

When Democrats win elections...

Saint Teresa of Avila

Bernini's masterpiece

Back on track

Bad Lip Reading

To lighten your day...

One-sided

From the Military Times:

The professional core of the U.S. military overwhelmingly favors Mitt Romney over President Obama in the upcoming election — but not because of any particular military issues, according to a new poll of more than 3,100 active and reserve troops. Respondents rated the economy and the candidates’ character as their most important considerations and all but ignored the war in Afghanistan as an issue of concern. The Military Times Poll is a secure email survey of active-duty, National Guard and reserve members who are subscribers to the Military Times newspapers

Joining the ranks

From the Associated Press:

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI named two new "doctors" of the church Sunday, conferring one of the Catholic Church's highest honors on a 16th-century Spanish preacher and a 12th-century German mystic who wasn't even officially recognized as a saint until earlier this year. St. John of Avila, Spain, and St. Hildegard of Bingen, Germany, join the ranks of only 33 other church doctors who have been singled out over the course of Christianity for their contributions to and influence on Catholic doctrine. Benedict named them doctors at the start of a Mass in St. Peter's Square that kicked off a two-week meeting of the world's bishops to chart the church's new evangelization mission.

SEAL Ship

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Steyn on Sesame Street

Mark Steyn tears into Sesame Street, as only he can. Enjoy this excerpt from his latest piece on the presidential debate. From National Review Online:

Unlike Mitt, I loathe Sesame Street. It bears primary responsibility for what the Canadian blogger Binky calls the de-monsterization of childhood — the idea that there are no evil monsters out there at the edges of the map, just shaggy creatures who look a little funny and can sometimes be a bit grouchy about it because people prejudge them until they learn to celebrate diversity and help Cranky the Friendly Monster go recycling. That is not unrelated to the infantilization of our society. Marinate three generations of Americans in that pabulum and it’s no surprise you wind up with unprotected diplomats dragged to their deaths from their “safe house” in Benghazi. Or as J. Scott Gration, the president’s special envoy to Sudan, said in 2009, in the most explicit Sesamization of American foreign policy: “We’ve got to think about giving out cookies. Kids, countries — they react to gold stars, smiley faces, handshakes . . . ” The butchers of Darfur aren’t blood-drenched machete-wielding genocidal killers but just Cookie Monsters whom we haven’t given enough cookies. I’m not saying there’s a direct line between Bert & Ernie and Barack & Hillary . . . well, actually I am.

Paul Ryan Talks to Catholics

I'm with the Moroccans

From Reuters:

(Reuters) - Morocco blocked a Dutch "abortion ship" from entering one of its harbours on Thursday during a campaign group's first attempt to visit to a Muslim country to raise awareness about safe methods of abortion. The Women on Waves ship, which already has visited traditionally Roman Catholic countries Spain, Portugal and Ireland at the invitation of local women's groups, had planned to arrive at Smir, northern Morocco, but was denied entry. "The harbor is totally blocked by warships so no one can get in, and there are a lot of police here," said Marlies Schellekens, a doctor from Women on Waves who had gone on shore.

Speaking to Christians...

Simply put,

Romney crushed Obama.

Another Obama Race Scandal?

Drudge is teasing with news of another scandalous Obama race video, to be aired later tonight on Fox News. Stay tuned. This could get hot.

Latin Comeback

Surreal News Story

Here we have the United Nations complaining and warming about an aging world population, after they've thrown around free contraceptives and access to abortion for the past several decades. Incredible. Talk about chickens coming home to roost.

A major study published by the United Nations has warned that the growing numbers of the elderly presented significant challenges to welfare, pension and health care systems in both developing and developed nations. And it bemoans the fact that skills and knowledge that older people have acquired are going to waste in societies rather than being used to their full. "We must commit to ending the widespread mismanagement of ageing," said Richard Blewitt, chief executive of HelpAge International, which collaborated on the report, Ageing in the 21st Century.