Sean Duffy Humiliates MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell

Black on White Crime/Racism

Where does true racism reside? From Pat Buchanan, writing for WND:

Interracial violence is overwhelmingly black-on-white 

Last Friday, Christopher Lane, a 22-year-old Australian here on a baseball scholarship, was shot and killed while jogging in Duncan, Okla., population 23,000. He died where he fell. 

Police have three suspects, two black and one white. The former said they were bored and decided to shoot Lane for “the fun of it.” 

As Lane was white and the shooter black, racism has surfaced as a motive. Thursday came reports that killing a white man may have been an initiation rite for the black teens in joining some offshoot of the Crips or Bloods.

Absolutely disgusting. These people are filthy barbarians. Where is President Obama shooting off his mouth about this racism? It just shows what a despicable person he is. When an incident involves a black 'victim' (who often is not really a victim), Obama will jump into the story to advance his race agenda. When a white person is the victim of black violence, he and his minions in the media are silent.

Christians in Egypt

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Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

For which reason, after we have poured forth prayers of supplication again and again to God, and have invoked the light of the Spirit of Truth, for the glory of Almighty God who has lavished his special affection upon the Virgin Mary, for the honor of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages and the Victor over sin and death, for the increase of the glory of that same august Mother, and for the joy and exultation of the entire Church; by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory. ~Pope Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus

Drag Queens Perform at "Diversity Day" on Military Base

From The Blaze:

Several drag queens reportedly took the stage at the Los Angeles Air Force Base on Thursday as part of the military base's 2013 "Diversity Day" celebration. 

According to Fox News' Todd Starnes, three individuals dressed in drag were featured in a musical performance that sparked outrage among some military personnel. 

"I am really surprised that this happened on a military installation," an unidentified airman reportedly told Starnes. "I get that people want to be able to have committed relationships with members of the same sex, but this crossed the line." 

Another said the performance was "totally offensive and inappropriate." 

Photos reportedly from the event appear to validate the claims, showing two individuals dressed in drag performing to a small crowd on the military base.

Just what the hell is "Diversity Day" anyway?

"Really surprised" by this?

Let's review:

- Obama is president.

- The "Dictatorship of Relativism" is in full swing.

- The gay lobby is emboldened as never before.

- The military, once a reliable bastion of true, masculine virtues, is undergoing a thorough process of emasculation and social engineering.

"Surprised" you say?

During emergency rescue, priest appears, then vanishes

Communion in Plastic Cups: Where's the Outrage?

Catholic blogs are abuzz with these images from Rio, showing "Eucharistic Ministers" distributing Holy Communion from disposable plastic cups. PLASTIC CUPS! Truly stunning. Where is our faith? Our reverence? Our devotion? The incredible thing is that these well-intentioned people genuinely believed they were doing a great service in "getting involved." Who on earth was in charge of these kinds of decisions?

Scooping up the Blessed Sacrament, fistful by fistful

Gimme gimme gimme!

That was then: antique ciborium and chalice, sacred vessels fit for a King

Sports Scandals and a Perverse Culture

 Brewers Star Ryan Braun is just one case among many

Can anyone answer the following headline?

Lying, cheating and murder charges: Why sports scandals have no real impact

I would venture to say that, living under the "dictatorship of relativism," lying, cheating and, with the example of abortion on demand, murder cease to faze many Americans. Of course, you're not going to find that charge in any mainstream media story. But is it disputable?

Our culture is so coarsened, so sick, that once-common moral ills no longer phase us. We have people like Bill Clinton to thank. Here's a man who perjured himself while president and is now viewed as a wise, elder statesman by much of the public.

With the case of Ryan Braun, it was not so much his abuse of performance enhancing drugs that I found so offensive, but the lies. Make a mistake, come clean, reform. But Braun bent over backwards to dramatize his situation, lacing a now-embarrassing press conference with one lie after another. In the immediate aftermath, the public is rightly outraged, but I doubt it will stick. Our culture is accustomed to lies simply because so many people think that lying is really not a big deal. Someone lies, we shrug our shoulders. If a president can do it and live to see another day in office, what's to stop anyone, anywhere from doing it? The only real sin is getting caught.

A Basilica, a Procession, and a Fish on a Pole

You've gotta see it to believe it. This occurred at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in DC. "Why do I support the Latin Mass," you ask? The irony is that those of us who attend the Latin Mass are often portrayed as extreme or a bit odd. All I can say is, we're not the ones stickin' a fish-kite on a stick.

Outrageous AP Story about "Francis Revolution"

Get a load of this story. Another tedious Francis vs. Benedict screed. These folks in the mainstream media can't help themselves. From the Associated Press. (My comments are peppered [ ] throughout. Are these writers this devious, or just lazy and totally uninformed about what the Church teaches...?)

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Francis Revolution is underway. Not everyone is pleased. 

Four months into his papacy, Francis has called on young Catholics in the trenches to take up spiritual arms to shake up a dusty, doctrinaire church [OFFENSIVE] that is losing faithful and relevance [OFFENSIVE]. He has said women must have a greater role — not as priests, but a place in the church that recognizes that Mary is more important than any of the apostles. And he has turned the Vatican upside down, quite possibly knocking the wind out of a poisonously homophobic culture by merely uttering the word "gay" and saying: so what? [NOT WHAT HE SAID AT ALL, HE ACTUALLY REINFORCED WHAT THE CATECHISM TEACHES.] 

In between, he has charmed millions of faithful and the mainstream news media, drawing the second-largest crowd ever to a papal Mass [BUT I THOUGHT THE CHURCH WAS "LOSING RELEVANCE" AND FAITHFUL]. That should provide some insurance as he goes about doing what he was elected to do: reform not just the dysfunctional Vatican bureaucracy but the church itself [IMPOSSIBLE TO REFORM THE CHURCH ITSELF, IN TERMS OF DOCTRINE], using his own persona and personal history as a model. 

"He is restoring credibility to Catholicism," said church historian Alberto Melloni. 

Such enthusiasm isn't shared across the board. 

Francis' predecessor, Benedict XVI, had coddled traditionalist Catholics attached to the old Latin Mass and opposed to the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council. [THOSE "REFORMS" HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE ACTUAL COUNCIL ITSELF!!!!! BY THE WAY, BENEDICT/RATZINGER WAS DEEPLY INVOLVED IN VATICAN II, NOT FRANCIS. BENEDICT DEDICATED MUCH OF HIS PAPACY TO CLARIFYING MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT VII.] That group greeted Francis' election with concern — and now is watching its worst fears come true. Francis has spoken out both publicly and privately against such "restoratist groups," [BENEDICT WARNED ABOUT THE DANGERS OF EXTREMES AS WELL. BEING TRADITIONAL IS NOT COTERMINOUS WITH "RESTORATIONIST."] which he accuses of being navel-gazing retrogrades out of touch with the evangelizing mission of the church in the 21st century. ... [NAUSEATING. SO, IS THIS WHY TRADITIONAL PARISHES ARE DYNAMIC, YOUNG AND GROWING, WHILE CLAP-HAPPY PARISHES ARE OLD, SHRINKING AND FLOUNDERING? FRANCIS, BY THE WAY, HAS ALSO SPOKEN OF CHERISHING OUR LITURGICAL TRADITIONS. HE'S MADE IT CLEAR THAT HE INTENDS TO RETAIN MONSIGNOR GUIDO MARINI, BENEDICT'S MASTER OF PONTIFICAL LITURGICAL CELEBRATIONS.]

As you read more, it gets worse... This is what the agenda-driven media does so well: fabricate a false narrative and constantly breath new life into it with stories peppered with lies and half-truths. If all goes according to plan, the lie will overtake reality. The liberals in the Church did this very thing with regard to Vatican II. Most Catholics actually believe that the Council did away with Latin, Gregorian Chant, ad orientem worship, etc. Totally false.

We've got to be informed Catholics so that this kind of sheer nonsense can be shot down whenever and wherever it crops up.

Monogamy, the Next Victim

Love, now reduced to examining the track record of monkeys. From CBS News:

Only a few species of mammals are monogamous, and now dueling scientific teams think they've figured out why they got that way. But their answers aren't exactly romantic. 

The answers aren't even the same. 

One team looked just at primates, the animal group that includes apes and monkeys. The researchers said the exclusive pairing of a male and a female evolved as a way to let fathers defend their young against being killed by other males. 

The other scientific team got a different answer after examining about 2,000 species of non-human mammals. They concluded that mammals became monogamous because females had spread out geographically, and so males had to stick close by to fend off the competition. 

So it's not about romance, said researcher Dieter Lukas of the University of Cambridge, lead author of the mammals study. "It's just really the best he can do." ...

You can see where this narrative is going...

On the one hand, radical environmentalists will often reduce humanity to just another blip on the evolutionary chain, nothing special, nothing unique, totally dependent on natural selection. Then, on the other hand, those on the left will simultaneously hold that we are something different, so different and superior to the rest of the natural order that we can change the laws of nature to restructure the order of things to suite our individual preferences, desires, etc.

To the left, we're either brute animals or gods.

Pro-Life Incursions

From The Christian Science Monitor:

... Forty years after the US Supreme Court legalized abortion nationwide in Roe v. Wade, the abortion wars are raging as hot as ever. From Texas to North Carolina to Wisconsin to Ohio, to name just the most recent examples, states across America are enacting new restrictions in a wave that began in 2011 – a direct result of the conservative backlash of 2010 that swept Republicans into power in the US House, state legislatures, and governor's chairs. Some have made regulating abortion a top priority. 

If 2011 saw a peak in the passage of post-Roe abortion restrictions at the state level – 92 – then 2013 is poised to come in second. As of July 30, the number of new restrictions is at 55, past the total of 43 for all of 2012, according to the pro-abortion-rights Guttmacher Institute, which researches reproductive health matters. 

And like the political map of the country, divvied up into red and blue states, so, too, are the states increasingly polarized over abortion. Solid-red Texas now has some of the toughest restrictions in the nation, including a just-signed ban on abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. At the other end of the spectrum, solid-blue California is moving to expand access to early-term abortions by allowing nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, and physician assistants to perform certain types. ... 

But in the realm of new abortion laws, there are far more Texases than Californias. And now there's a new wrinkle: Moderate, battleground states – the "purple" states that decide presidential races, such as North Carolina, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Virginia – are joining the abortion crackdown as never before. In 2008, all four voted for Barack Obama for president. In 2012, all but North Carolina voted to reelect him.

Hear It: "Counting Stars"

Great song. Take a break.

Big Day for Gay?

From Reuters:

ROME (Reuters) - Pope Francis has said gay people should not be marginalized but integrated into society, in some of the most conciliatory remarks by a pontiff on the issue of homosexuality. 

In a broad-ranging 80-minute conversation with journalists on the plane bringing him back from a week-long visit to Brazil on Sunday night, he also said he could not judge gay priests, an emotive topic that divides Catholic opinion. 

But the 76-year-old Argentine did reaffirm Church teaching that homosexual acts are a sin. ...

Then there's really nothing to this apparently "big" story. But if you believe the headlines, you'd think that the Catholic Church, under Francis, was edging towards sponsoring the next gay pride march in Rome, while under Benedict, it was a mere hop, skip and a jump away from the Westboro Baptist loons.

Nothing fundamental has changed. Nothing fundamental will change. The media is, once again, making hay out of these off the cuff remarks of Pope Francis. I don't recall Pope Benedict calling for the persecution or marginalization of gays. Benedict upheld Church teaching. Francis upholds the same teaching.

When reports are written by non-Catholics, or by Catholics who don't understand Church teaching (about 95% of Catholics) you see stories like this. They are inflated, astroturf reports that claim some big shift or imminent change is on the way. Francis obviously speaks a bit differently than his predecessors on various subjects. He is more impromptu in style, less guarded, and likes to shoot the breeze. That said, the ever-feckless communications arm of the Vatican needs to be a lot quicker when it comes to issuing clarifications after the pope kibitzes with reporters. Such clarifications would help blunt some of the media's efforts to confuse the faithful with stories like this.

"Criticism" of Benedict in Rio?

Is the Church still relevant? More than 3M young Catholics on Copacabana think so. 

An excerpt from a piece appearing in the Telegraph:

On Saturday, in what was interpreted as veiled criticism of his earnest, theologian predecessor, Benedict XVI, Francis said the Catholic Church often uses language that many ordinary people found baffling and overly intellectual. 

The Church was "perhaps too cold, too caught up with itself, perhaps a prisoner of its own rigid formulas," he said. At times we lose people because they don't understand what we are saying, because we have forgotten the language of simplicity and import an intellectualism foreign to our people," he said.

Context is crucial. Was this really an intentional critique of Benedict? I doubt it. Ever since Francis was elected, the media has been relentlessly billing him as the anti-Benedict. I've written about this a bit. More humble, more simple, less "baroque," the "people's pope," more down to earth, and so on. It's getting way too predictable. Francis would object to such tactics, I think.

That said, I can't agree that a problem dogging the Catholic Church over the past forty years has been "intellectualism" or "rigid formulas." If anything, we've traded in the intellect for the purely sentimental, even saccharine. For two generations and counting, Catholics have been reared in an anti-intellectual ethos, from schools to liturgy. Have you been to a typical Catholic parish recently? It's almost all touchy-feely: name tags, silly songs, hand-holding, Father Personality and his cringeworthy jokes, backslapping, high-fives, no substance, etc. It never ends. And having attended Catholics schools for most of my youth, I can't say that "intellectualism" was a cause for many of my peers leaving the Church (which many of them did). We simply weren't taught the essentials of the faith. Period. Feelings and self-esteem took precedence.

Are people abandoning a church that is "too cold"? Judging by the Latin Bishops do the Brady Bunch soundtrack shtick from last night in Rio (see below), it's difficult for me to swallow the "too cold" proposition. Maybe that's happening somewhere, but I don't see it. What's happening is a reaction to the opposite extreme, that of sentimentalism. Many are tuning out because faith rooted in a solitary reliance on sentimentalism and emotions, absent a personal encounter with Christ and solid formation, quickly dries up. There's no depth. Along with his humility, sanctity and unrivaled experience, Benedict brought his much-needed intellect (not intellectualism) to the papacy. George Weigel called Benedict the greatest papal preacher since Pope Saint Gregory the Great.

It is true that intellectualism is a threat (as an -ism) that can sometimes eclipse conversion and that necessary, personal encounter with Christ. That would be a problem, no doubt. The faith isn't an academic formula. I get it. Still, I wouldn't mind seeing a little more mind, a little less schmaltz, and a lot less dancing bishops, in our Church.

Bishops Get Down on Copa

Auditions for the next movie, Bishop Act? It's oddly mesmerizing... 

There are other, better ways to connect with youth. 

Liturgy and Morality: Two Sides of the Same Coin

Cardinal Raymond L. Burke offered an extensive interview with Zenit. His insightful comments on the future of the liturgical reform are noteworthy, as well as his observations on the origins of the rampant liturgical abuses we see on a daily basis.

...There’s no question in my mind that the abuses in the sacred liturgy, reduction of the sacred liturgy to some kind of human activity, is strictly correlated with a lot of moral corruption and with a levity in catechesis that has been shocking and has left generations of Catholics ill prepared to deal with the challenges of our time by addressing the Catholic faith to those challenges. You can see it in the whole gamut of Church life. ~Cardinal Raymond L. Burke

While it's comforting to read this, it's not surprising, considering it's Cardinal Burke. What is frustrating is that so few of his peers speak out on this matter. Liturgical "style" is simply treated as a matter of personal taste. We're to believe that there's no intrinsic code of right and wrong when it coms to the offering of Mass. With more and more multi-cultural add-ons finding their way into liturgy, the Mass has just become another useful venue for displaying the "diversity" of the Church. It's all about us! Cultural narcissism once again rears its ugly face.

Rather than celebrating and encouraging bizarre liturgical innovations as positive manifestations of our narcissism, er, diversity, we should see them for what they are...evil, harmful, etc. Can we please see more bishops and priests take this matter seriously? We're waiting.

Heart to Heart

Confessions of WYD

Defend Second Amendment

Saint James

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.” “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” “We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.” 

When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10: 35-45

And viva España! Here's the burial site of Saint James, the Patron Saint of Spain, located in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

Even Popes do el camino!

African-American Pastor is RIGHT

Here's a remarkable (and true) excerpt from Dr. Ken Hutcherson's latest article, appearing in The Christian Post. Backing up another black conservative, Dr. James Manning, Hutcherson writes:

I believe Dr. James Manning hit it on the head when he said that black people have a difficult time accepting truth simply because they are black. That's right, black people are involved and it is impossible for the average black person to believe the truth. They refuse to believe that a black boy could be in the wrong when it comes to a white Hispanic. Blackness is the apex of victimhood and our blackness is above truth, above our Christianity, above our God, above our Holy Spirit, so that means if our blackness is above the Holy Spirit, then it is above Truth. This is so important for everyone to know this so they can understand why this Trayvon and Zimmerman case is where it is today and why blacks refuse to believe what really happened. ...

Obama is a pathological narcissist

Incredible. Obama just now: "Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago."

Absurd. Obama as a youth never lived the inner-city life that Martin did. He grew up in relative comfort and security in a white family.

There have been so many instances where the president (and his wife) twist stories that are totally unrelated to them back to themselves. You'll no doubt remember his, "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon." Just yesterday, Michelle told a bunch of young girls in Chicago, "I was you." The examples are endless. It is truly remarkable and a bit creepy. Setting aside Obama's nauseating race pandering that demeans the office of the presidency, I simply marvel at this personality disorder that he so conspicuously demonstrates. The discussion could be about traveling to the moon, and Obama would say, "When I was young, I wanted to be an astronaut." No joke. He simply can't help himself. Narcissism betrays a severe insecurity and an obsessive need to assert oneself into every discussion and story. Ever notice how many times he'll use "I" or "me" in a speech? Google it and find out. BIZARRE.

As an aside, I just saw on Politico a headline reading, "Obama weighs in on race, reluctantly." Yeah, "reluctantly"... how laughable. You people at Politico are either the most naive of all political reporters, or you're partisan hacks. Either way, it's embarrassing.

"Hope" Sinks

From the pen of Stuart Stevens, writing for The Daily Beast:

Hope Isn’t Enough: Without Conviction or Destination, Obama Flounders 

Perhaps it was inevitable, that any president branded and sold as “Hope” was destined to disappoint. But in these scorching summer doldrums of 2013, you have to wonder: did it have to be this disappointing?

Ah, the latecomers to the truth. I guess we'll take in the converts. Conservatives warned about the shame that is the manufactured Obama mystique before '08. But who was listening? Fooled again in '12, the masses were caught up in an embarrassing political ecstasy that was bound to burst.

An (Honest) National Dialogue about Race

Sad. Protesters looking for answers in all the wrong places. 'Racism' jibes with the narrative that it's someone else's fault, so the demonstrations will continue. 

Pat Buchanan wrote an excellent article on the true state of affairs in America when it comes to the question of race. The article is entitled Black America's Real Problem Isn't White Racism. Rather than blaming white-on-black racism, or "gun violence" for the tragic deaths of black youth, Buchanan asks the black community to perform a little self-introspection when it comes the search for answers.

He also asks a logically sound question: If the rare instances of white-on-black crime are unquestionably manifestations of racism, then, logically, don't we have to conclude that the astonishingly higher percentage of black-on-white crime indicates an even stronger, wide-spread degree of racism within the black community? Sad thing is, logic, reason, facts, numbers and statistics matter very little in our time. Emotions, street protests, outbursts and convenient cliches that serve a political end trump all else.

Here are some excerpts.

When [Eric] Holder delivered his 2009 "nation-of-cowards" speech blaming racism for racial separation, Manhattan Institute's Heather Mac Donald suggested that our attorney general study his crime statistics. 

In New York from January to June 2008, 83 percent of all gun assailants were black, according to witnesses and victims, though blacks were only 24 percent of the population. Blacks and Hispanics together accounted for 98 percent of all gun assailants. Forty-nine of every 50 muggings and murders in the Big Apple were the work of black or Hispanic criminals. ... 

Though blacks are outnumbered 5-to-1 in the population by whites, they commit eight times as many crimes against whites as the reverse. By those 2007 numbers, a black male was 40 times as likely to assault a white person as the reverse. 

If interracial crime is the ugliest manifestation of racism, what does this tell us about where racism really resides — in America? 

And if the FBI stats for 2007 represent an average year since the Tawana Brawley rape-hoax of 1987, over one-third of a million white women have been sexually assaulted by black males since 1987 — with no visible protest from the civil rights leadership. ...

Has any major news outlet reported these statistics in their coverage of the Trayvon Marin shooting? You'd think that, in the search for answers, these facts might be helpful. The secret is, the real answers and the sad truth must be buried, swept under the rug, because they get in the way of the left's political agenda. So, Democrats and their willing accomplices in the mainstream media will manipulate events like the Martin shooting, and the black community in general, to further their political goals of gun control, white guilt and trumped up charges of "racism" to explain away the sorry state of black America.

One of the best things the black community could do for itself is to sever all ties to the Democratic Party. Don't hold your breath. The arrangement has been carefully constructed: blacks deliver the votes to the Democratic Party on election day, and, in return, the Democrats deliver on entitlements, and in perpetuating the lies that supposedly explain the tragic state of the black community, i.e., racism, slavery, the evil Republicans hate you, the "system" is unjust, you need us to survive, it's not your fault, and so on. Sad, but predictable.

American Decline

BFFs: Michelle and Beyonce

This shouldn't surprise me, but I read that Michelle Obama took her girls to a Beyonce concert last night in Chicago. Let's just be honest here. Beyonce is trashy. Read her lyrics. Watch her dance. Look at her minimalist approach to covering up. She dresses like a dominatrix and, along with a host of pathetic degenerate celebrities, is contributing to the decline and corruption of America's youth by objectifying the body as a sexual play thing. Young girls imitating an "entertainer" like Beyonce is hardly the kind of thing we should be celebrating, and yet Michelle O. cannot resist fawning over this woman time and time again. How would she feel if her girls went out on a date dressed like Beyonce on stage? Just curious.

We (rather the media and elites) build up people like Michelle O. as brilliant, sophisticated, savvy, cool, etc., but when it comes down to it, she has zero class, zero taste and zero culture. Anyone who goes gaga over someone as grotesque and trashy as Beyonce only shows how vulgar, clueless, and culture-deprived they themselves are. If this is what passes for entertainment and music in America nowadays, there's not much hope for civilization... a little hyperbolic, but you get my point.

Sad. It's the decay of our culture. That our nation's First Lady is contributing to this is sadder still.

Persecution of Christians in Egypt

Manufactured Outrage

I just heard that, in the time between the tragic shooting of Trayvon Martin, and Saturday's not guilty verdict for "white Hispanic" George Zimmerman, 513 African American youths have been murdered by other African Americans across America. No cries of "Justice!" and nation-wide street protests for those black Americans killed by fellow black Americans.

Black on black crime = silence from most of the black community and the mainstream media, "nothing to see here"

"White Hispanic" (or whatever) on black self-defense = de facto state-approved racism on a grand scale, call in the national media, ban all guns! If there's any "white" in the equation, look out.

What a double standard! This proves that all the outrage from the NAACP is nothing but a politically manufactured spectacle. It's a sad attempt to manipulate the death of an individual, and an entire segment of society for political ends. It's what liberals are so damn good at: exploitation and manipulation. In our low information age, it's no surprise that their modus operandi is so successful.

And did you hear Obama's self-serving counsel that we should "honor" Martin with gun regulation? What a disgrace! How about Obama calls for an end to the rampant ghetto-thug aura that has latched onto the black entertainment industry and has dominated the mentality of young African Americans for over a decade. That would put him at odds with his legion of rapper cronies and the millions of dollars they no doubt funnel into his political coffer. He's not a man of principle, folks.

New Tactics

From the National Journal:

Abortion opponents have turned to different tactics since the Supreme Court legalized most abortions half a century ago, from imposing 24-hour waiting periods to banning late-term procedures to requiring minors to get permission. 

But in the wake of Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia abortion doctor convicted in May of first-degree murder in the deaths of three babies, the anti-abortion movement has increasingly aimed its fire at the brick-and-mortar. On Friday, Texas became the 16th state to tighten regulations on abortion clinics in the past three years, more than doubling the number of states with what opponents call "targeted restrictions on abortion providers."

Pro-life WI

From Reuters:

MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed into law on Friday new abortion restrictions that opponents said could lead to the closing of two of the state's four abortion clinics. 

Walker's office said in an emailed statement that he signed the law requiring women to undergo an ultrasound before they get an abortion. It also requires doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of their clinics. 

"This bill improves a woman's ability to make an informed choice that will protect her physical and mental health now and in the future," said Tom Evenson, a spokesman for the governor.

It would be nice to see a statement of support from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. We shall see. If it's immigration or union-related news, you can expect a statement right away.

Update: And a district judge froze the law until a hearing on July 17, at which point he will determine the law's fate. Disgusting, but predictable. What the left cannot achieve via the democratic process they will impose via courts. These judges have too much power. Stay tuned...

'Light of Faith'

Read Pope Francis' first encyclical, Lumen Fidei, here. Mostly written by Benedict XVI, Francis made some final touches to the work.

Francis Okays Saint JPII

Liturgy in Crisis

Let nobody tell you we are not in a serious liturgical crisis in the United States. From Berkeley, CA. I almost choked on my water watching this. 

Modern Martyr

Persecution of Catholics is in full swing across the globe. From The Blaze:

CATHOLIC PRIEST BEHEADED IN SYRIA BY AL-QAEDA-LINKED REBELS AS MEN AND CHILDREN TAKE PICTURES AND CHEER 

...Catholic Online is raising alarm that western nations are providing support to the rebels who have shown a proclivity toward persecuting Christians: 

This should make it clear to Christians around the world what jihadists are about. Make no mistake. Catholics and Christians around the globe are under dire threat, particularly from the spread of militant Islam. Until the threat is recognized and taken seriously, martyrdoms like this will continue.

Total madness. We're waiting to hear a statement from President Obama and the U.N. condemning this savage act perpetrated by "religion of peace" Muslims. Stories like this, which are very common across the Muslim world, don't fit the narrative, the lie, that liberals like Obama have carefully constructed about Islam. They'll try to sweep this under the rug and move on. It's much easier to prattle on about all that "racism" and "inequality" here in the U.S.

Archbishop Listecki warns Milwaukee: "Prepare to be shocked"

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

In a major turning point in its nearly 3-year-old bankruptcy, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee on Monday is scheduled to make public thousands of pages of documents detailing the sexual abuse of minors by priests going back decades, and what church leaders did — and did not do — in response. 

The records will contain parts of 42 priests' personnel files as well as depositions of former Archbishop Timothy Dolan, now cardinal of New York; retired Archbishop Rembert Weakland; retired Bishop Richard Sklba; and now-defrocked priest Daniel Budzynski. ... 

"Needless to say, there are some terrible things described in many of the documents," Archbishop Jerome Listecki said in his weekly letter to local Catholics in advance of the release. To those deciding to read the files, Listecki advised, "prepare to be shocked." 

According to interviews and court records, the documents are expected to include: details about how church officials shuttled abusive priests from one parish or school to the next without divulging their histories; correspondence between the archdiocese and the Vatican, which has the final word on defrocking priests; evidence that the archdiocese under Dolan paid some priests to accept that decision without protest; and graphic accounts of sexual assault of young people. ...

A sad chapter in our history, but a collective healing of memory is important. The full scope of the horrors that unfolded here will be laid bare for all to see. This a necessary step. Stay tuned.

Scenes from Obama's America

Not sure which one looks worse...the androgynous he/she or the gal who, well, needs a lesson in proper fitting clothes. 

Speaking of androgynous, and for kicks...(Julia Sweeney is crazy liberal, but her "Pat" routine came to mind right away.)

Saints Peter and Paul

Thomas Jefferson on the Supreme Court

To consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions [is] a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy. Our judges are as honest as other men and not more so. They have with others the same passions for party, for power, and the privilege of their corps. Their maxim is boni judicis est ampliare jurisdictionem [good justice is broad jurisdiction], and their power the more dangerous as they are in office for life and not responsible, as the other functionaries are, to the elective control. The Constitution has erected no such single tribunal, knowing that to whatever hands confided, with the corruptions of time and party, its members would become despots. It has more wisely made all the departments co-equal and co-sovereign within themselves. —Thomas Jefferson to William C. Jarvis, 1820

Jimmy Carter the fool, irrelevant as ever

From the Associated Press:

ATLANTA (AP) — Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter says religious leaders, including those in Christianity and Islam, share the blame for mistreatment of women across the world. 

The human rights activist said Friday religious authorities perpetuate misguided doctrines of male superiority, from the Catholic Church forbidding women from becoming priests to some African cultures mutilating the genitals of young girls.

A national embarrassment. We rejected him thoroughly in the 80s and he's been trying to reassert himself, to no avail, ever since.

Mystery and Liturgy

Another Benedict vs. Francis piece...

Late this evening, I came across a piece on Pope Francis, by John Gehring entitled, "How the Francis effect could rescue the church". Like so many boring pieces written since the election of Pope Francis, Gehring sets out to contrast Benedict and Francis, rather than appreciating them as complimentary. It's a narrow approach and sadly, plays into an all-too-common narrative.

There is no depth in the article, no appreciation for Benedict's rich theological teaching which he bequeathed to the Church. It's rooted in superficial observations about different styles, which are then magnified and manipulated to signify fundamental differences. Here's an excerpt:

As the first Jesuit pope, Francis has taken a vow of poverty. He ditched the silk, fur-trimmed cape favored by Pope Benedict XVI for a simple white cassock. Golden throne? Francis prefers a wooden chair. The red carpet laid out in the Vatican’s Hall of the Throne has been rolled up. 

"The world tells us to seek success, power and money; God tells us to seek humility, service and love,” Francis has tweeted. 

All of these aesthetic changes signify deeper meaning, especially in a church where rituals and images seek to convey transcendent truths. 

The pope’s toned-down style and pastoral touch are also a more fitting brand for a church built on the teachings of an itinerant preacher who in the Gospel says: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.” 

If the Catholic Church hopes to inspire lapsed Catholics and others to embrace the faith with renewed vigor, it will require a radical return to the essence of Christianity. Gospel means “good news.” A smiling, good-humored pope stands in stark contrast to those dour-faced religious leaders who act as gloomy scolds and spy threats around every corner.

What the hell is Gehring talking about here? The irony is that the Catholic Church, alone among Christian denominations, has never departed from "the essence of Christianity", and that's precisely what sets it apart. A so-called Catholic who doesn't get that basic teaching demonstrates the tragic catechetical lacuna so prevalent among lay Catholics that Pope Benedict so-often lamented and sought to correct. By missing this, Gehring misses the boat completely. The "good news" (Theology 101) has to do with our emancipation from sin, and our adoption as sons of the Father through Christ. Among recent popes, few have taught that better than Benedict.

The anti-climactic tone in the last couple of sentences is stunning. First, Gehring talks about the need for a "radical return to the essence of Christianity". You get the sense that something big is coming. What could this essence be? A loud "thud" results however, when he reveals that that "radical return" and "essence" have to do with a, wait...wait..."smiling, good-humored pope". Really? 

The last sentence is embarrassing, and is obviously intended as a swipe at Benedict. Younger Catholics were/are drawn to Benedict because he helped them rediscover a buried treasure that was the Church's liturgical patrimony. John, if you look at the brilliant papacy of Benedict XVI, and all you see is a "fur-trimmed cape" (it's called a mozzetta, by the way), and a "red carpet" there's not much I can do for you.

Spanish gov. accused of 'cozying up' to Catholic Church

A fascinating article, from The Christian Science Monitor:

As Spain's people drift from Catholic Church, government cozies up 

After years of moving in a more socially liberal direction along with the rest of western Europe, the Spanish government is now doing an about face, seeking to clamp down on abortion and return the Roman Catholic Church to a prominent role in the country's school system. 

Though the church is still losing ground among the faithful, it has powerful friends in the current conservative Popular Party government, which has traditionally had close ties to the Vatican. Now the PP is pushing a controversial bill in parliament that would dramatically restrict access to abortion. ...

Not so bad for Republicans

Lately, it's seemed as though everything cuts in favor of the left. Obama gets away with everything. The nation re-elected a man who is more or less a complete fabrication. No one cares. At one level, it looks like the good times keep rollin' for the Democratic Party. Upon closer inspection however, quite the opposite is true. This article, from Politico, focuses on two points: redistricting and the majority of state governments run by Republicans.

Democrats fell far short of winning the House in 2012, an otherwise banner year for the party, and many are privately glum about taking back the chamber in 2014. 

But that grim immediate outlook raises a far more troubling longer-term prospect for Democrats: that the newly drawn congressional lines have tilted the electoral playing field so decisively in the GOP’s favor that the party could control the House through 2020. ... 

But strategists in both parties say they are still reckoning with the long-term implications of Democrats’ disastrous performance in 2010. Not only did they lose the House that year, but setbacks in state capitals meant that Republicans controlled the once-a-decade process of line drawing in 213 districts — nearly five times the number of districts Democrats had oversight over. And Republicans used that power with a vengeance.

Send in the SEAL-ettes

Hang in there...for now

From CBS News:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Women may be able to start training as Army Rangers by mid-2015 and as Navy SEALs a year later under plans set to be announced by the Pentagon that would slowly bring women into thousands of combat jobs, including those in elite special operations forces. 

Details of the plans were obtained by The Associated Press. They call for requiring women and men to meet the same physical and mental standards to quality for certain infantry, armor, commando and other front-line positions across the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel reviewed the plans and has ordered the services to move ahead. ...

This is such a joke. It's surreal to even read this story as a serious news report. Although laughable/embarrassing news stories are becoming all the more common these days. What is happening to our military? (A rhetorical question, folks.) Women as Navy SEALs and Special Forces...? "Equality" does not square with basic biological facts and physical limitations. Talk to anyone actually serving as a SEAL or in the Special Forces (as I have) and I guarantee you'll get a very different opinion about this scheme. Make no mistake about it, this nonsense is being pushed by ladder climbing, rank-obsessed generals and the like in Washington who are more concerned about their promotions and fancy titles than about what's in the best interest of the soldiers on the frontline.

The irony is, while this is intended to elevate and empower women, it is only through the military radically lowering physical training expectations that will this have a chance of working. (And then what's the point of calling a watered-down version of a SEAL 'elite'?) Otherwise, this experiment will only result in the embarrassment of women who simply cannot complete the rigorous tests that are already in place.

Alas, it's not even worth going into details to refute it. Read some of the comments after the article. They're spot on. Something about using women as a fighting force by simply letting them talk the enemy to death... Just joking, everyone.

Pope Francis Meets with Young Cancer Patients

This is really moving.

So, what will heaven be like?

It's a question I think a lot about. First things first, getting there. "Eye has not seen..." That is true, but there is something irresistible about wondering, and looking forward. Eternal happiness, union with the Triune God, bliss, immortality, glorified body, the list goes on.

Writing from a very Catholic perspective, Howard Kainz offers a good article about this very question, What Will We Do in Heaven? Check it out. He focuses more on the state of the blessed souls in heaven prior to reunification with the glorified body.

Pelosi touts her Catholicism, pro-abortion stance...again

Pelosi gets flustered, and for obvious reasons. Her position (anti-Kermit Gosnell yet pro-abortion) is irreconcilable.

Pro-Life Wisconsin

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Madison — Republicans in the state Senate gave preliminary approval to a bill Tuesday requiring women seeking abortions to get ultrasounds and doctors providing them to have hospital admitting privileges, clearing the way for the measure to become law by the end of the month. 

Democrats blocked a final vote on the bill Tuesday, but Senate President Mike Ellis (R-Neenah) said senators would return to the floor at 8 a.m. Wednesday to give final passage to the measure. 

The plan has the support of Republicans who control the Assembly, as well as GOP Gov. Scott Walker. The Assembly could take it up as early as Thursday. 

Opponents contend the provision on admitting privileges would shut down one of the state's four abortion clinics. Closing Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin's Appleton clinic would mean Milwaukee and Madison would be the only cities in the state where abortions were available. 

Walker said Tuesday he would sign the measure if it gets to him. 

"I don't have any problem with ultrasounds. I think most people think ultrasounds are just fine," Walker told reporters after a voucher school event at Hotel Metro in Milwaukee.

About to get very interesting...

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Gay 'Marriage' Conundrum

1. Does every child have a right to a mother and a father? Most answer in the affirmative. 

2. Does everyone have the right to marry whomever they choose? This is more controversial, but more and more people are saying 'yes'. 

3. Do homosexual 'married' couples have the right to adopt children?   

These 'rights' cannot coexist. Either the first is right (every child has a right to a mom and a dad), and the others are false, or the last two are correct and the first is false. There's no way around it.

With gay rights and abortion, Democrats only care about the people who can vote for them. They throw kids and the unborn under the bus in favor of the women who have abortions and the gay couples who can adopt children. The unborn and little kids, powerless at the ballot box, are left to suffer the consequences. Tells you everything you need to know about liberals and their fake concern for the little guy.

Taking a Stand

From the Washington Examiner:

NFL champ skips WH visit because Obama said ‘God bless’ Planned Parenthood 

Retired Baltimore Ravens center Matt Birk, who won a Super Bowl with the team last year, skipped the team’s visit to the White House due to President Obama’s support for Planned Parenthood. 

“I have great respect for the office of the presidency but about five or six weeks ago, our president made a comment in a speech and he said, ‘God bless Planned Parenthood,’” Birk, a former Minnesota Viking, told a local Minnesota sports blog. “I’m very confused by [Obama's] statement,” he explained. “”For God to bless a place where they’re ending 330,000 lives a year? I just chose not to attend.” 

Kirk said he’s a pro-life Roman Catholic. “Planned Parenthood performs about 330,000 abortions a year,” he said. “I couldn’t endorse that in any way.”

And you'll no doubt remember this? Talk about a study in contrasts.

On Modern Church Buildings

From the Telegraph:

Opposition is mounting in the Holy See to a spate of recent, ultra-modern churches, in Italy and abroad, by high profile architects. 

"The lack of integration between the architect and the faith community has at times been negative," said Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Vatican's Pontificial Council for Culture. "Sometimes it goes wrong." 

Cardinal Ravasi said a church built in 2009 in Foligno, Italy by the celebrated Italian architect Massimiliano Fuksas, which resembles a monolithic concrete cube, has been "highly criticised". 

In his native town of Merate in Lombardy, Cardinal Ravasi said the local priest needed to bring his own image of the Madonna to mass, because Mario Botta, the architect who designed the church, had not installed one. 

"The problem is that in Catholicism, unlike Protestantism, things like the altar, the images, are essential, while architects tend instead to focus on space, lines, light and sound," said Cardinal Ravasi.

This realization is coming about thirty years too late...so much damage already done.

On Welfare and Poverty

From NBC News:

Two decades after President Bill Clinton promised to "end welfare as we know it," Americans blame government handouts for persistent poverty in the United States more than any other single factor, according to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Thursday. 

Given a list of eight factors and asked to choose the one most responsible for the continuing problem of poverty, 24 percent of respondents in the poll chose "too much government welfare that prevents initiative." 

Whether Americans are too dependent on government was a flashpoint of the presidential campaign last year, and shrinking government has been a focus of the Tea Party movement, which has risen since the election of President Barack Obama.

Wow! I'm not totally hopeless when it comes to the American public after all.

Liturgy with Benedict and Francis

Three Cheers

From The Washington Times:

Crowd stunned after valedictorian rips up speech, recites Lord’s prayer 

A South Carolina valedictorian garnered wild applause after he ripped up his pre-approved speech and delivered the Lord’s prayer at his high school graduation on Saturday. 

The act was apparently in protest of the Pickens County School District’s decision to no longer include prayer at graduation ceremonies, Christian News reported. Officials said the decision was made after the district was barraged with complaints by atheist groups. 

But that didn’t stop Roy Costner IV of Liberty High School. He ripped up his graduation speech for all to see, before he started talking about his Christian upbringing, Christian News reported.

Picture of the Week

The Blessed Sacrament and Pope Francis, AP photo

Cardinal (with Biden and Pelosi) Honor Church Dissident

From The Cardinal Newman Society:

Washington insiders, University of Notre Dame alumni, and Cardinal Theodore McCarrick gathered for a Capitol Hill reception last week to honor Fr. Theodore Hesburgh's 70th anniversary of his ordination. Fr. Hesburgh served as the president of the University between 1952 and 1987. U.S House minority leader Nancy Pelosi invited Fr. Hesburgh to the birthday party/reception in his honor. Vice President Joseph Biden made a surprise appearance. 

“Father Hesburgh brought to this country a new understanding of what a university education should be,” said Cardinal McCarrick, comparing him to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. 

“You’re one of the most powerful unelected officials this nation has ever seen,” said Vice President Biden. "In 1972 I ran for public office as a 29-year-old kid because of your passion for civil rights. You're one of the reasons I've been so proud to be a Catholic." 

Fr. Hesburgh was the principal organizer and signatory of the Land O' Lakes Statement, in which Catholic university presidents declared "true autonomy and academic freedom in the face of authority of whatever kind, lay or clerical." Fr. Hesburgh also served as board member and chairman of the Rockefeller Foundation, devoted to population control. In 2008, Fr. Hesburgh told the Wall Street Journal that he had no objection to female ordination.

Pelosi and Biden played McCarrick for the fool. This pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage joke of a politician orchestrates a "Catholic" bonanza for a rogue Catholic priest, and a Cardinal, a Prince of the Church, arrives to give his stamp of approval. And people wonder why so many faithful Catholics are outraged and disillusioned with their leadership? Any surprise why so many American Catholics go along with the Kennedy/Biden/Pelosi/Kerry brand of Catholicism? Abortion would not be legal in this country if Catholics voted as they should. A majority of Catholics in America are not formed and have no clue about their faith in large part due to pathetic leadership from the top. Some are better at giving mixed signals than in handing on the faith. WHERE IS OUR LEADERSHIP???????? I'm thoroughly disgusted. Is being a Cardinal to these people all about attending VIP cocktail parties, sipping wine and eating caviar with the elites?

Insanity slowly becoming the norm

From the Associated Press:

'Boy or Girl?' Gender a new challenge for schools 

CHICAGO (AP) — From the time they are born, we put our boys in blue beanies and our girls in pink ones. It's a societal norm, an expectation even, that you just are what you are born — a boy or a girl. 

From early on, we divide toys and activities by very distinct gender lines, with superheroes and trucks and muck on one side and princesses and dolls and all things frilly on the other. 

Many children land, enthusiastically, on the expected side. Others dabble in both "girl" and "boy" things. But what if your kid, even from an early age, mostly showed interest in doing opposite-gender things? More importantly, what if they wanted to BE the opposite gender — or a less-defined mix of both? And what if they wanted to test those limits in public places, like school?

Liturgy: Sacred vs. Secular Music

Can you tell the difference?? from Corpus Christi Watershed on Vimeo.

Church documents on this subject are so clear...I have to wonder whether most American bishops have just decided to completely ignore them. I recently went to a Mass (novus ordo) where the processional song was so awful I had to excuse myself and wait in the narthex until it was over.

“The more closely a composition for church approaches in its movement, inspiration and savor the Gregorian form, the more sacred and liturgical it becomes; and the more out of harmony it is with that supreme model, the less worthy it is of the temple.” ~Blessed Pope John Paul II

 “An authentic updating of sacred music can take place only in the lineage of the great tradition of the past, of Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony.” ~ Pope Benedict XVI

Have any of our bishops (excepting a select few) in the United States come close to saying anything like this? One of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's greatest gifts to the Church was his emphasis on Catholic identity and culture. A huge part of the problem has to do, in my opinion, with the overall, widespread vulgarization of our culture. Bishops and priests, like many in today's society, simply are not inspired by true beauty anymore. Most bishops in the U.S. were reared in the iconoclastic, culturally depraved years of the 1960s, which speaks volumes about their cultural formation. High culture has been relegated to an elitist status that is seen as unappealing to the everyday man more interested in sports, pop-culture and television. Bishops desperately want to be seen as approachable and average Joe-ish, and so they are deeply insecure and nervous about promoting a high culture of beauty that challenges the banal, status quo low culture. They fear being seen as out of touch, and all that nonsense.

What I find interesting and inspiring is that, in the absence of any leadership from the bishops who are running away from high culture, there is a new movement of cultured and educated laity rising to the challenge to fill the void, re-educating Catholics about the necessity of beauty and the arts, in other words, authentic culture.

Catholic and Orthodox Liturgy

As a Catholic, I am embarrassed. Look at Deacon Johnson dance up the aisle with the Gospel at around the 1.30 mark. The sad thing is, look at all the bishops who are there. It's not like this is going on under the radar of the episcopacy. What a disgrace. Where is the reverence? We have a beautiful liturgy too, when offered properly. They've turned this into a show. 

Papal Exorcism?

Sure looks like it. Vatican officials are downplaying the mysterious encounter (don't know why), but I'm not convinced it was simply a customary blessing. Satan is real, and his power is immense.

From the Associated Press:

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Is Pope Francis an exorcist? 

The question has bubbled up ever since Francis laid his hands on the head of a young man in a wheelchair after celebrating Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square. The young man heaved deeply a half-dozen times, shook, then slumped in his wheelchair as Francis prayed over him. 

The television station of the Italian bishops' conference reported Monday that it had surveyed exorcists, who agreed there was "no doubt" that Francis either performed an exorcism or a prayer to free the man from the devil. ... 

'Nation of Slobs'

Weak Shepherds, Weak Flock

Commenting on the stunning decline in Christian affiliation in the U.K., the Telegraph's Damian Thompson takes the leadership of the Anglican and Catholic communities to task for providing ZERO leadership for younger people. I think much of his point can be applied to the U.S. Here's an excerpt:

Take a bow, Anglican and Catholic bishops. I don’t know if the British Humanist Association hands out awards, but you certainly deserve one – a statuette of Polly Toynbee, say, for untiring efforts to water down the Christian message to the point where it’s not worth believing in.

Consider the following story from this week’s Daily Telegraph. A five-year-old boy at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Wimbledon called another pupil’s shoes “gay”. The head, Sarah Crouch, called in Stonewall. Whether she was doing this to protect miniature footwear from homophobic abuse or as part of a wider programme of thought reform is not clear. But we do know that Stonewall conducted a “training day” at the school – with the blessing of the Archbishop of Southwark, Peter Smith, who apparently chose to gloss over the fact that Stonewall is 100 per cent opposed to Catholic teaching on homosexuality. ... 

The internal secularisation of the Churches may be only an element in the collapse of religious belief among young people, but it’s an important one. If RE lessons are all about turning kids into “climate change ambassadors”, no wonder they find it so easy to brush aside the supernatural claims of faith when they grow up.

Picture Perfect

As we gear up for Pentecost...

Fiend Gosnell GUILTY

From CBS News:

(CBS/AP) PHILADELPHIA - Dr. Kermit Gosnell, the 72-year-old abortion doctor accused of murdering four babies after they were allegedly born alive during abortion procedures at his Philadelphia clinic, was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder Monday. 

Gosnell was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a patient who came to him for a later-term abortion procedure.

A small bit of justice today for the unspeakable atrocities Gosnell committed. Possibly facing the death penalty for these crimes, his reckoning has only just begun.

_______

Update: Will face life in prison. Lots of time to reflect in silence and solitude on his deeds.

Mother's Day Question

Is there something unique about mothers? Is there something special that they alone contribute to the life of their children? Most people would answer in the affirmative. But what is the point of celebrating Mother's Day if we can deny children the right to a mother? If two men adopt a child, are we not denying that child the right to those gifts that only a mother, a woman, can provide? The same goes for Father's Day. If you think about it, once we've embraced the redefinition of marriage, why go on celebrating the uniqueness of a mother and father? Why celebrate Mother's Day, Father's Day? Are not these days simply old-fashioned holidays from a bygone era when gender differences actually mattered? We've gone beyond gender. In fact, we could argue that Mother's Day and Father's Day are offensive, sexist, repressive, judgmental, unfair, mean, intolerant.

We can't have it both ways. We can't single out the irreplaceable role that a mother and a father have in the development of their children and, at the same time, deny those children the right to a mother or father with the promotion of gay 'marriage'.

813 Martyrs Canonized Today

Martyrs of Otranto

From the Associated Press:

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Francis on Sunday gave the Catholic church new saints, including hundreds of 15th-century martyrs who were beheaded for refusing to convert to Islam, as he led his first canonization ceremony Sunday in a packed St. Peter's Square. 

The "Martyrs of Otranto" were 813 Italians who were slain in the southern Italian city in 1480 for defying demands by Turkish invaders who overran the citadel to renounce Christianity. 

Their approval for sainthood was decided upon by Francis' predecessor, Benedict XVI, in a decree read at the ceremony in February where the former pontiff announced his retirement. 

Shortly after his election in March, Francis called for more dialogue with Islam, and it was unclear how the granting of sainthood to the martyrs would be received. Islam is a sensitive subject for the church, and Benedict stumbled significantly in his relations with Muslims.

This is a magnificent day for the Church. Over 800 Saints! Let's ask these holy martyrs to pray for the Church in these difficult times.

Just an aside: "Islam is a sensitive subject for the church." Yeah, I wonder why. The audacity of this reporting... Let's review: the story is about how Muslims beheaded over 800 Catholics in their attempt to conquer all of Europe with the sword, and it is Benedict XVI who has a P.R. problem! Incredible. These media people are so predictable.

Democrats in Decline

From Politico:

One of the Democrats’ most veteran strategists warns that the party is “in decline” and “at considerable risk” when President Barack Obama is no longer on the scene. 

“Since Obama was elected President, the Democrats have lost nine governorships, 56 members of the House and two Senate seats,” Doug Sosnik, the political director in Bill Clinton’s White House, writes in a new memo. 

While Republican branding problems get the lion’s share of attention, the Democratic Party’s favorability rating has declined by 15 points since Obama took power. 

A Pew Research Center survey this January showed that the Democratic Party was viewed favorably by 47 percent of Americans, down from 62 percent in Jan. 2009.

I have suspected this for some time. Obama has basically become the Democratic Party. Once he's off the scene, the Dems will be out of gas. They have invested everything in one man. There's no one who can replicate what was a once-in-a-generation phenomenon. Even now, people are getting Obama fatigue. Benghazi will take Hillary out. And Biden? Seriously?

Art and Liturgy

Abortion in the News Again

Is there a link between abortion and sick, evil people? First Kermit Gosnell and now this. From NBC News:

Prosecutor will seek murder charges for terminated pregnancies in kidnap case 

An Ohio prosecutor vowed Thursday to pursue murder charges against the Cleveland kidnapping suspect for terminating the pregnancies of the women he is accused of holding captive for a decade. 

The prosecutor, Timothy McGinty of Cuyahoga County, also said that he would consider seeking the death penalty. 

Meanwhile, new details about a confession the suspect, Ariel Castro, made to police were revealed, including that he admitted that he was a sex addict and “cold blooded,” reported WKYC, Cleveland's NBC affiliate. Also, in a suicide note he wrote in 2004 Castro blamed the girls for their abductions. 

Castro is already charged with four counts of kidnapping — three for the women he is accused of abducting and one for a baby that one of the women bore in captivity.

The details of the Gosnell and Castro cases, especially with regard to the total disregard for life, are simply horrific. I think it's more than a coincidence that two very high-profile, macabre stories in the news recently have involved the murdering of unborn children. If abortion is okay, if Obama celebrates it, why pursue murder charges for the termination of a pregnancy?

Benghazi. We Want the Truth.

Whistleblowers who were present on the day of the terrorist attack are expected to give shocking testimony to Congress today which will contradict the administration's version of what happened. Stay tuned.

More on Otranto

Damian Thompson raises some good points about the 15th century martyrdom of 800 Catholics in Otranto, Italy at the hands of maniacal Muslim invaders. From the Telegraph:

The cathedral of Otranto in southern Italy is decorated with the skulls of 800 Christian townsfolk beheaded by Ottoman soldiers in 1480. A week tomorrow, on Sunday May 12, they will become the skulls of saints, as Pope Francis canonises all of them. In doing so, he will instantly break the record for the pope who has created the most saints. ... 

But the murders really happened, and their significance is immense. The Turks had been sent by Mohammed II, who captured the “second Rome” of Constantinople and planned to do the same to the first. His fleet landed in Otranto, Italy’s easternmost city, and laid siege. The citizens held out for two weeks, allowing the King of Naples to muster his forces. Rome did not fall. 

“All of this took place because of the indifference of the political leaders of Europe to the Ottoman menace,” wrote the conservative Italian senator Alfredo Mantovano in an article about the martyrdoms in 2007. You can guess where his argument was heading. “In Otranto, no one displayed rainbow pacifist flags, nor invoked international resolutions… Today Europe is under attack, not by an institutionally organised Muslim phalanx but by a patchwork of non-governmental organisations of fundamentalist Muslims.” 

Pope Francis desires warm relations with Islam – so, as I say, I wonder how pleased he was to discover this event in his diary. Already the interfaith lobby is squirming, always a fun sight. But, equally, the Church can’t allow the ceremony to be hijacked by rabble-rousers.