No vote for Romney? Well ...

In the most recent Gilbert Magazine, Dale Ahlquist, he of seemingly infinite Chestertonian knowledge, wrote an editorial entitled, "Why I won't vote for Mitt Romney."

I was intrigued.

I can think of many reasons not to vote for Romney, and I was curious to see if his reasons jibed with ones that had occurred to me.

He threw a curve ball - sort of.

Ahlquist talked about his experience as a lobbyist in 1996 and witnessing the Republican machine in operation determining the 2000 nominee. He saw the same process in operation this time around.

So he views Romney as a product of the party machine, and not the real choice of the voters.

Okay, I can see that.

He also alluded to some of the reasons why I will not vote for Romney. The Republican Party tends to pay lip service to social values such as the pro-life position on abortion, but once it suckers in the social conservatives it fails to deliver. Even worse for folks in my neck of the woods (New York) many of our local Republican Party elected officials and candidates would be Democrats in most other states. Heck, I'm currently represented by a Catholic Republican Congressman who supports abortion!

The Republican Party is really about money, he contends, and I agree. Big Business, as he puts it. Of course, the alternative is Big Government (that other major party).

And, to be honest, given Romney's track record, I still don't know how sincere he is on the issues that are important to me - like the Right to Life.

Where I might stray from Ahlquist's position is that Romney is still slightly better that Obama on some significant issues, and if I had to chose, and if I lived in a state where my vote might actually count, I would reluctantly vote for him. Romney is more likely to change some policies, and to chose judges who might be more reasonable. I think. I hope. 

Of course, because of the Electoral College, my vote in New York doesn't matter. This state will give its Electoral votes to Obama no matter what happens in the next few months - unless they indict him, and even then he still might carry the state. 

So I don't have to vote for either of the machine-chosen major party candidates. I hear Santa Claus is running. Hmm.....

But if I lived in a state like Ohio, I'd consider voting for Romney - sorry Dale. I don't want to see four more years of anti-life, anti-faith policies.

Ahlquist says he will vote for neither Obama nor Romney, concluding: "I will not play this game anymore."

I understand where he's coming from.

I'm just not there yet.

Well Done

Back in May we, along with others, posted about an e-book project to help the seminarians in Africa. They needed to raise $4,000.00 dollars and thanks to all-you-all they raised $18,050. This is good. Very GOOD.

Let us bring a joyous ending to pie week as we sing



from the little band that could.

from the no crap column

"It's actually a pretty absurd policy," says James Liang, a leading businessman in Shanghai.

lets all pray they turn this boat around before it hits the rocks.

MEAT AMERICA

Add a tankard of beer and you have a holiday.

Any way I am headed off to London this weekend to visit my son and his family and want to take in some Chesterton sites. Any recommendations? I will also be doing some 'stand-up' when I am there in which i have found ways to use Chesterton quotes as punch lines for political humor - Beer and Bacon Party!

Amazed it even got published

If there is a WAR ON WOMEN there is a truth that there will be some women that will be seen as “traitors” like Anne-Marie Slaughter who says there is a difference between Feminism and Femininity. It does not matter that she is telling the truth that women are not the same as men and that they have a unique roll to fulfill in the world.

“What she is basically saying is what the Church has been saying for years: yes women deserve to be in the house and the senate so to speak but they also should not have to deny who they are as women namely their unique design as life bearers in order to get ahead. The articles are another example of how truth is truth and eventually, no matter how hard we try to suppress it, it does come to the surface."

Whether she is aware of it or not she continually restates the position the church has taken for oh um centuries. here is just one example LETTER OF POPE JOHN PAUL II to Woman.

Sarcasm aside I don't think this is a War on Women but there is a war its a Female Civil War.

I know this is the kind of Quote that gets Chesterton in trouble yet it explains the core of the War. “It [feminism] is mixed up with a muddled idea that women are free when they serve their employers but slaves when they help their husbands.”

and

"Well, to get this honest but unpleasant business over, the objection to the Suffragettes is not that they are Militant Suffragettes. On the contrary, it is that they are not militant enough. A revolution is a military thing; it has all the military virtues; one of which is that it comes to an end. Two parties fight with deadly weapons, but under certain rules of arbitrary honor; the party that wins becomes the government and proceeds to govern. The aim of civil war, like the aim of all war, is peace. Now the Suffragettes cannot raise civil war in this soldierly and decisive sense; first, because they are women; and, secondly, because they are very few women. But they can raise something else; which is altogether another pair of shoes. They do not create revolution; what they do create is anarchy; and the difference between these is not a question of violence, but a question of fruitfulness and finality. Revolution of its nature produces government; anarchy only produces more anarchy." read it here

It still amazes me that there is any honest discussion that anyone can 'have it all'. It is the kind of pursuit that will make you mad precisely because it is totally unattainable this side of the great divide.

Keep Calm and Carry On

True, "You cannot grow a beard in a moment of passion." but you can celebrate the thing.

Or you could make a study of the thing and learn such neat facts like:

"The most treacherous beard in history was that of Austrian Hans Steininger. It was more than two metres long and he kept it rolled and stowed in a leather pouch, but in 1567 he tripped over it while running from a fire, and perished.

One of the CIA's more insane attempts to destabilise Cuba was to put toxic thallium salts in the shoes of Fidel Castro to make his beard fall out."

‎"But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” Matthew 17:21
‎

Our God King to the Bishops

When asked about the HHS mandate that free contraception would lead to free abortion everyone poo-pood the idea “No one is talking about making that step.” I heard a talking head say.

I snickered then knowing abortion is sometimes called after sex contraception. Also when the Government offers something for “free” they expect you to take advantage of that service - by force if necessary. They have to protect their phony baloney jobs - It is for the public good after all and pregnancy IS the monster of our time so grab your torches!!

"In reality there is not that big of a leap between government deciding to subsidize a behavior and government deciding to enforce that behavior by law". In a previous life this was a common saying: “The first one is free the next one will cost you.” (90% percent of those came back with cash).

Note: My home state of Connecticut has made that step.

“The most unfathomable schools and sages have never attained to the gravity which dwells in the eyes of a baby” GKC

Well well CT. sure doesnt want any of that gravity.

In our current materialistic culture the self is God and pleasure is the source and summit of life. Consequently any slight to the self is a blasphemy and a denial of pleasure is a mortal sin.

So it is easy to see how many have lost their sense of humor.

“Humour is meant, in a literal sense, to make game of man; that is, to dethrone him from his official dignity and hunt him like game.” G.K. Chesterton.

If you make sport of me, a god, I will smite you.

a new documentary

I love the whole idea of this.

Learn more about it here release date is sometime in 2013 if they don't run out of money.

I am fairly sure this film won't be playing in a cinaplex near you, (or anyone for that matter), so keep an ear out maybe your local Knights of Columbus will host a screening.

Along with the poets song writers have also been curiously silent the subject of cheese -  tomatoes on the other hand...

Tony's feast day

Really, who doesn't love this guy.

This prayer has always worked for me:

Anthony, Anthony
I've looked all around
somethings been lost
and can't be found.

Dear St Anthony i pray
bring it back with out delay.

When I was coaching and one of my players was off their game, we said that prayer together. It worked.

or what grandma taught her daughters

Anthony Anthony
find me a man
as fast as you can.

My Grand mother had a very personal relationship with the saints. There were several statues of her favorites around her house. She would talk to them and offer up novenas through them for certain things to happen. If after such a novena, to a particular saint, the thing she wanted did not happen she would show her disappointment in them by turning that saints statue upside down.

When we would visit her we could tell what kind of mood she would be in by how many statues were upside down.

Saint Anthony got a real work out in my Grandma's life time yet his statue was rarely upside down.

I saw a very delightfuldocumentary, "A Model for Matisse: The Story of the Vence Chapel"the other night and recommended it to any one you likes art, nuns, monks, architecture, intrigue and agape love.

(now on Netflix)

Yes, I am a big fan of Matisse and have always loved the Chapelle du Rosaire. If I believed in a bucket list visiting that chapel would be high on that list.

As an artist, that work is a true inspiration to me being that Matisse began that work when he was 77 (it is his master piece) showing that is never too late and great work does not always happen in the fire of youth.

I knew of  Sister Jacques-Marie as an art history footnote until seeing this film. Simply put without her this Chapel would never have happened and her continued input was not a small one. 

Of course she plays down her role in true humility. She is a beautiful soul.

I loved her quote "I was sickly and I decided that if I am only going to live half a life I will live it to the fullest." For her living it to the fullest was to become a nun.

Wonderful!

I left the film with a new appreciation of how God works in the lives of people to bring about the new kingdom and to build up the body of Christ. I think that through Sister Jacques-Marie Matisse died a good death. Sister also shows us what humility looks like.

In her obituary it ends with "When Sister Jacques Marie's role in the creation of one of the most important works of art in the 20th century was revealed by Barbara Freed in this documentary, A Model for Matisse: The Story of the Vence Chapel (2003), there were mischievous suggestions in the press that her relations with the artist had been more than merely platonic. "I never really noticed whether he was in love with me," she told an interviewer in 1992. "I was a little like his granddaughter or his muse, but he was always a perfect gentleman.""

Why I include that note is that a movie is now in the works, staring Al Pacino about Matisse and his relationship with  Monique Bourgeois (Sister Jacques-Marie). Maybe it's me but Hollywood does not do facts well and not since The Bells of Saint Mary's they certainly don't do agape love. I think they will go with the rumor and not the facts which will certainly be a shame. 

Maybe I'm wrong.

When forces of secular and religious fanaticism were locked in a no-quarter battle for the country's soul.

By now you have all seen The Avengers so I won't enter another over the top review. However I will mention that one of things I liked about the mechanics of this film was that there were no opening credits. I hate that part of any film more than i hate overtures. Both are a waste of time and are void of any artistic merit.

I was hoping that was going to become a trend and lo and behold I went to see For Greater Glory and....no opening credits.

Anyway go see For Greater Glory not just cause of the no opening credit thing but it really lives up to all the hype. Actually most movies claiming to be a "Christian" movie have been either lame or only slightly better than home movie quality. This film has the production quality we have grown used to.

Yes, the pace of this film is not the usual for a war movie, however it is perfectly suited the story. What I have found interesting is that those critics that have panned this film all have an anti-Christian bent using phrases like "martyr melodrama" or "Scene after scene is either a referendum on devotion or a display of brutality ". This film used faaaaar less blood than any modern war movie and how do you show a war without brutality?  If you remember the reviews of the Passion the most often used phrase against that film was "Little more than blood porn." Yet films like Saw are called edgy and Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch was called "...a bloody, high-body-count eulogy to the mythologized Old West. Pouring new wine into the bottle of the Western." And Kill Bill was called fearless film making.

"Scenes on a referendum on devotion" -what the what - did these reviewers miss what this movie was about and why this civil war took place.

and as a side note it is still against the law, in Mexico, to hold a mass out of doors. 

Who dares attack my Chesterton an excellent article by Zac Alstin who comes out against another critic who gets it wrong.

Maybe its me but as I read the quotes from GKC, Zac mentions on the Prussians, I could not help but think of our current resident and his plans for Utopia through Tyranny...

“In other words, the Prussian Empire, with all its perfections and efficiencies, has one notable defect—that it is a dead thing. It does not draw its life from any primary human religion or poetry; it does not grow again from within. And being a dead thing, it suffers also from having no nerves to give warning or reaction; it reads no danger signals; it has no premonitions; about its own spiritual doom its sentinels are deaf and all its spies are blind.”

Find a rally near you

Good Advice

hush up your crying

Doc Watson has just moved away

growing he be to eighty nine

its summer let us dance let us play

music as wild flowers he left behind

more GKC birthday celebrating

Someone is celebrating GK's Birthday by giving away Card Gype.

Well... not just somebody but its our friend Paul Nowak inventor of our 2nd favorite game to play - Table Gype

he also gives us a third party we can all get behind

Looking for something GOOD to do

"In Cameroon, Africa, books are scarce--especially the good ones. Which means few Catholics have access to quality spiritual reading. Fr. Linus, who is studying at one of the Cameroon seminaries, explains:

"One of the key problems the Church in Cameroon is facing, as in many parts of Africa, is that Christians do not read. And if they do, it's very thin. Most know very little about the Catholic faith and the situation is worst among the young people."

But what if we could change that, patricularly in the seminaries? What if we could provide good Catholic books to every future-priest in the country?

With eBooks and new media, I think we can."

go here and here

Chesterton spotings

Well first of all Happy birthday Uncle Chestnut!

Nice blurb about GK on the writers almanac where i found out his Father Brown mysteries later inspired Alfred Hitchcock.

Also, as I was on a recipe hunt, I came across a blog dedicated to cheese. The section dedicated to cheese poetry has the mast head : "The poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese". They do not give credit to GKC and when they post...

SONNET TO A STILTON CHEESE

Stilton, thou shouldst be living at this hour
And so thou art. Nor losest grace thereby;
England has need of thee, and so have I—
She is a Fen. Far as the eye can scour,
League after grassy league from Lincoln tower
To Stilton in the fields, she is a Fen.
Yet this high cheese, by choice of fenland men,
Like a tall green volcano rose in power.

Plain living and long drinking are no more,
And pure religion reading 'Household Words',
And sturdy manhood sitting still all day
Shrink, like this cheese that crumbles to its core;
While my digestion, like the House of Lords,
The heaviest burdens on herself doth lay.
.....
they list his name as W. K. Chesterton. I left a post asking for a correction pretending any one will listen to me.

On Memorial Day I usually think of my father, my uncles, as well as the fathers and uncles of my childhood friends. The men of world war 2. These men are all dead now.

My friends and I think more of their war than ours, and honor thier generation more than ours. Maybe you need the distance to see clearly or at least the distance not to have a memory make you bleed.

Joel Mabus, Touch a Name On The Wall

Are You Hip Enough

If we are to make any headway in this culture war (during our life time) it is important to understand "the power of cool" as Victor Davis Hanson lays it down). This explains why some people can get away with certain misdeeds (sin) and others who commit the same deeds can not. Also how some are dismissed out of hand, shouted down, or bumper stickered blind because their views are not the cool MSM ones.

Now one would think the Pope is cool (I do) but the MSM thinks he's "cute" or 'adorable' but ultimately out of touch with the real world.

In a recent Facebook debate on Planned Parenthood one of my comments was responded to with a derisive "Next we will be talking about shooting moose from a helicopter". The 'cool kids' couldn't click Like fast enough.

Granted being a follower of Christ has never been cool, but being cool has never before been the trump card in public debate.

We do not need to be cool - we need to rise up and say "Enough already! Sit back down and let the adults talk."

The May Magnificat

May is Mary's month, and I
Muse at that and wonder why:
Her feasts follow reason,
Dated due to season-

Candlemas, Lady Day;
But the Lady Month, May,
Why fasten that upon her,
With a feasting in her honour?

Is it only its being brighter
Than the most are must delight her?
Is it opportunest
And flowers finds soonest?

Ask of her, the mighty mother:
Her reply puts this other
Question: What is Spring?-
Growth in every thing-

Flesh and fleece, fur and feather,
Grass and greenworld all together;
Star-eyed strawberry-breasted
Throstle above her nested

Cluster of bugle blue eggs thin
Forms and warms the life within;
And bird and blossom swell
In sod or sheath or shell.

All things rising, all things sizing
Mary sees, sympathising
With that world of good,
Nature's motherhood.

Their magnifying of each its kind
With delight calls to mind
How she did in her stored
Magnify the Lord.

Well but there was more than this:
Spring's universal bliss
Much, had much to say
To offering Mary May.

When drop-of-blood-and-foam-dapple
Bloom lights the orchard-apple
And thicket and thorp are merry
With silver-surfed cherry

And azuring-over greybell makes
Wood banks and brakes wash wet like lakes
And magic cuckoocall
Caps, clears, and clinches all-

This ecstasy all through mothering earth
Tells Mary her mirth till Christ's birth
To remember and exultation
In God who was her salvation. 

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Good bye Maurice. Have a nice trip.

One of the up sides of the current resident’s hostile distain of the Catholic church is that the bishops have grown a pair. 

They are seeing the folly of 'go along to get along'. They have remembered that you cannot compromise with the devil.  So finally they are saying "no" to those Catholics who think it is ok to slice and dice babies from speaking at Catholic Schools. One such case is that Rep Bob Hagan has been uninvited to speak because of his pro child murder stance. The thing is that Hagan just can't understand it he said, “I have fought for social justice my entire life and today, I am one disappointed Catholic. After being invited to give the commencement speech at Mercy Nursing School here in Youngstown, I got a call telling me that the Bishop has overruled their invite and they have rescinded the invitation because of some of the political positions I have taken. I am saddened that the work that I have done to feed the poor, clothe the naked, help cure the sick, and to bring an end to the death penalty has fallen on deaf ears.”

So for him he believes that these goods outweigh the evil of his support of the wholesale slaughter of children which he calls a political position. He is not alone.

Interesting that we would vote for someone who does these goods but actively maintains the okedness of the slicing and dicing of babies for the health of the mother but we would never vote for someone who said it would be ok to slap your wife occasionally for the health of the marriage.

I pray for Rep Hagan that he may gain sight and I continue to pray for the bishops that they stay strong.

Is it too soon to say hurrah?

Although one might think boycotts work and that Pepsi has seen the light but I can not help remembering the Susan G. Komen fiasco. Then again Pepsi has the bottom line to guide its moral decisions.

Strange (wink. wink) that there was never any mention of this guy in the movie.

"In almost every line that has been written, and in every sentence that has been spoken, there stands boldly out above every other expression a picture of sublime heroism that will be copied into the pages of history. And well it may, for it is deserving of that honor.

But when it is, mention should be made of one whom pens and tongues have almost forgotten in their accounts of this awful sea tragedy. Among those who safely reached the land again no one seems to have been aware of his presence on the ship, but we may hope that many who meet him in a blissful eternity will praise God that Father Thomas Byles was there to administer absolution unto them."

you got to love this and this.

just keep swimming. just keep swimming.

toleration is not enough YOU must approve

Adrian Smith, a Christian, was found guilty of gross misconduct by his publicly funded housing association for saying that allowing gay weddings in churches was ‘an equality too far’.

He posted the comment in his own time, on his personal page on the Facebook website, which could not be read by the general public.

OH WHAT A TANGLED WEB WE WEAVE

You may remember this case where the parents decided that the birth of their child was a horrible mistake and somebody had to pay. Well someone did.

Now coming before the supreme court is an interesting case where a woman went through in vitro and conceived a child after the father had died .

She now wants Social Security survivor's benefits. Now if the Court finds in her favor (and there is no reason to think they won’t), what about all those other children that entered the world through artificial means? One strong donor has conceived 100 plus children through this oh so romantic method.

If the court does rule in favor of this women when that donor dies will all those children be receiving SS checks?

I am so glad that redefining marriage and family has no ill effect on society.

NO LONGER AFRAID. NO LONGER SILENT.

AN EXCELLENT HOMILY

Robert R. Reilly presents a well crafted, logical and well reasoned argument with 'A Weimar moment for America'. It is precisely because of that this article will be ignored at best, illicit death threats at worst. Every knows that quoting Aristotle, (“Men start revolutionary changes for reasons connected with their private lives.” ) and Plato in the same essay will be immediately dismissed as hopelessly out of touch.

It is almost as bad as quoting Chesterton.

Screwtape would be proud

From the 'sin makes you stupid' dept. I heard Soraya Chemaly on the radio the other day talking about her article titled "I'm No Longer a Catholic. Why Are You?" It was so utterly inane I started yelling at the radio. The only way anyone could be as wrong as her on so many points would be that she has spent NO time studying and less time thinking.

She honesty believes this:

"At its core, this debate is about control. And not just birth control. Either you are willing to support and participate in a culture in which men, refusing to accept women as fully human, use a perverted claim of divine right to control women and their bodies, or you don't."

And in keeping with the 'Keep your rosaries off my ovaries.' song book they now have "I will start paying more attention to the bishops' position on birth control on the day a Catholic bishop becomes pregnant." not as catchy but they are working on it.

She is making progress towards the rank of journeyman deceiver

And There Goes Maryland

Maryland Gov. signs bill making same sex marriage okaydoky.

"Religious freedom is the very reason for our state's founding, and at the heart of religious freedom is the freedom of individual conscience," said Gov. O'Mally.

The Governor's statement changes everything. He has now equated same sex marriage with the practice of religious freedom. I am not sure if he is referring to Spreadleggyism or Itsallaboutmeism but i am sure that now

Individual conscience is a good thing when choosing evil but a bad thing when choosing good. Oh how gay it all is!

"...In the book Heretics, Chesterton almost makes a prophecy of the misuse of the word “gay”: He writes of “the very powerful and very desolate philosophy of Oscar Wilde. It is the carpe diem religion; but the carpe diem religion is not the religion of happy people, but of very unhappy people.”

In further discussion of Oscar Wilde and the “decadents,” Chesterton says, again prophetically: “Decadents may like living in a dream which they can alter at any moment to suit themselves, in which they can create causes without creating consequences, in which they can pervert the future or unmake the past. But I think a decent working man of any class, whether he is working at cube roots or cabbage roots, ought to be glad that, as he sows, so shall he surely reap.”

Read Dale’s article Chesterton And The Defense Of Marriage here

The Pelvic Left

"A Georgetown co-ed told Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s hearing that the women in her law school program are having so much sex that they’re going broke, so you and I should pay for their birth control."

"Forty percent of the female students at Georgetown Law reported to us that they struggled financially as a result of this policy (Georgetown student insurance not covering contraception), Fluke reported.

It costs a female student $3,000 to have protected sex over the course of her three-year stint in law school, according to her calculations.

I think most of us could easily do 30 minutes of stand-up on this but i have a few questions.

First being, how did Pelosi find this women, what kind of surveys were used to find going broke, sex crazed law students? They probably got the tip from Bill Clinton who graduated from Georgetown.

The second question is what kind of contraception is she using? The pill costs from $15.00 to $50.00 a month so that is at maximum $600.00 a year. If she is using condoms at $1.00 each she would have to have sex 5 times a day (more on weekends) to equal $1000.00 a year.

When does she have time go to class?

When you listen to her you get the feeling that the the lack of coverage for contraception is the new black plague that is sweeping the country.

Sandra Fluke Opening Statement

- Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

A Gilbert Moment

The fifth grader I am tutoring is reading, Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville.

The dedication reads:

"For Jane.

Believing in dragons is easy. Jane believes in people - an act of love that takes considerably more imagination."

I thought that was a very Chestertonian thing to say.

Another sign the Apocalypse is upon us.

I can sometimes understand the campaing for Responsible Drinking from those who do not understand what drinking is about or from those who don't drink in their own neighborhood,- "...It is quite a mistake to suppose that, when a man desires an alcoholic drink, he necessarily desires alcohol." GKC

BUT RESPONSIBLE SNAKING?!?!

This is what Mars is saying and with a straight face no less:

Responsible snacking

To offer consumer more choice we developed Mars RED. Mars RED is a viable great tasting option for consumers looking for a lower fat treat (Mars RED is 50% less fat than the average leading chocolate bar brands).

King Size is made two pieces - one for now and one for later.

We’re developing packaging to encourage chocolate lovers to snack wisely.

This initiative is being strongly opposed by the American Federation of Fourth Graders. “First we get Happy Meals with apple slices and now you’re making our candy smaller?”

Said my daughter, the local AFFG chairperson, “There’s something wrong with you people! There’s something wrong with your whole fascist machine!”

Once again they confuse reasonable with responsible.

For those of you who thought the bishops would be snookered again or that they might back down on their fight with the current occupant:

A letter from Archbishop Schnurr: response to Obama’s mandate ‘accommodation’

February 13, 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Despite the so-called “accommodation” announced by President Obama on Friday, the mandates from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services regarding insurance coverage for abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception still do not adequately and clearly protect the freedom of conscience of employers and their employees.

Although the announcement claims now to exempt religious employers by placing the onus of coverage for these services on insurers, many of the details remain unsettlingly murky. For instance, many religious organizations – including the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and its agencies – are self-insured, which apparently means that they would still have to pay for services they find immoral. (emphasis added) Secondly, it is unclear how insurers can be forced to cover these services for “free” while not passing on the cost to the insured. This could still violate the conscience rights of many employees who do not want to be forced to provide objectionable services for others, such as through their premium payments.

The Catholic Church, along with many other religious leaders, is reiterating its firm position that the freedom to follow one’s conscience and to have access to health care are both fundamental human rights. We will not be forced into a position of choosing between the two. We are open to conversation and dialogue with the Administration to find solutions. However, one course of action which would provide a permanent resolution would be the passage of the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act (HR 1179 and S 1467). We renew our call for people of faith to stand up for religious liberty and urge Congress to pass this comprehensive legislation.

CALL TO ACTION: Contact your U.S. Representative and Senators by e-mail, phone, or FAX letter:

Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, or call your Members’ local offices.

Send your email to Congress through www.usccb.org/conscience.

Additional contact information can be found on Members’ web sites at www.house.gov and www.senate.gov.

MESSAGE: “Please co-sponsor the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act (H.R. 1179, S. 1467) and help enact it into law. The Obama Administration’s decision to require even religious institutions to provide coverage of sterilization and contraceptives, including drugs that can cause an abortion, makes passage of this measure especially urgent. Please ensure that the rights of conscience of all participants in our nation’s health care system are respected.”

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Most Reverend Dennis M. Schnurr

Notre Dame finally sees the Long Con

When Obama received his honorary degree at Notre Dame's May 17, 2009, commencement, he vowed to respect the conscience rights of those who believe abortion is wrong.

“Let's honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause, and make sure that all of our health care policies are grounded not only in sound science, but also in clear ethics, as well as respect for the equality of women,” said Obama. “Those are things we can do.”

Oh How they loved him then. "See," they said, "he ain't so bad."

In responce to his recent power play the faculty now says: “This is a grave violation of religious freedom and cannot stand. It is an insult to the intelligence of Catholics, Protestants, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Jews, Muslims, and other people of faith and conscience to imagine that they will accept an assault on their religious liberty if only it is covered up by a cheap accounting trick.”

Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming.

Why They Hate Us So.

The Current Resident seems to have backed down on his insistance that Catholic groups provide contraception and abortion service free of charge in their health insurance. He is now saying that the insurance companies will have to pay for it. So if a Church provides insurance to its employees in a policy from X company than X company HAS TO provide this coverage. He still gets what he wants.

Obama's new plan is analogous to having a father take $50 out of his wallet and put it in his wife's purse to pay for their son to attend a rap concert he doesn't want junior to attend.

NOW HERE THIS: The current resident has no Constitutional authority to mandate that Churches do anything! So now he looks like he is respectful of the Churches concerns with this compromise BUT he has no constitutional authority to mandate that insurance companies provide a service at a price he dictates.

As many hail this compromise we lose sight of the fact that he is acting outside the powers of the president and that day by day we lose bits of our freedoms. Which is what he wants any way. As my football coach used to say. "By the yard its hard. By the inch its a cinch."

Please understand if he gets away with overstepping in this there is no reason he can't over step where ever he wants when ever he wants.

It looks like he is retreating from his attack on the Catholic Church but he will be back because as Father Barron stated the great enemy to liberal totalitarians is the Catholic Church.

Happy Birthday Chuck

We are celebrating this today in no small part of what Uncle Gilbert did with his book Charles Dickens: A Critical Study (1906).

A very awkward sentence indeed.

Wrong Again White Boy

What was I thinking?!?

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation apologized for cutting off funding from Planned Parenthood.

Yes that's right APOLOGIZED.

"Screw the facts, the statistics, and screw the body count. We are sorry. Please continue to send your money don't worry about how we spend it. And we really need to be loved by Mayor Bloomberg and his friends. Really we won't make the mistake of being right again."

and the walls begin to crumble

And so it begins: The Komen Foundation no longer is sending money to Planned Parenthood. Of course they are not doing this because of the documented connection between breast cancer and abortion or that PP does not provide mammograms, which Komen admits, but because PP is under investagation for financial misconduct. (Shocked I say Shocked!)

A spokeswoman for the the Komen Foundation, Leslie Aun, explained that the cutoff was a result of the charity's newly-adopted criteria barring grants to organizations that are under investigation by local, state, or federal authorities.

They need that rule because common sense is too diiiiiiifficult to understand.

the March

Those in the red caps is our group

It’s been said that the reason the Government Media Complex does not cover the March for Life is that, “Since it happens each year it is not news.” I would like purpose that since it does happen every year makes it news.” and here is another good reason why they stay away. Also the numbers that go is growing. Last year it was estimated that 400,000 people were there this year they are saying it is close to a half million. I don't know if that is true but I do know that we filled our bus this year and when we tried to take a break at a truck stop outside of DC we were told that there was no room for our bus. None of that has happened before.

I took my youth group to The March for Life in DC again this year. Yes it rained, it was cold, and we were tired from the red eye bus trip, but they knew why they were there why they had to be there. A couple of my kids smiled when one of the politicians said, "If only we had a republican president and control over both houses we could end this!" These kids knew the history. We had that and still nothing was done. Most of the Marchers know that the ruling class has no intention of seriously battling Planned Parenthood, NARAL and the like, they are learning what Chesterton meant when he said “....Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless.” It is easy to feel discouraged and that the situation won't change. However many of us are encouraged. We can't expect someone else to do the heavy lifting for us anymore. Maybe this is an inadvertent positive change the current occupant gave us.

When he says stuff like this, “I remain committed to protecting a woman’s right to choose and this fundamental constitutional right.” we know he is full of crap.

New Year's

by Dana Gioia

Let other mornings honor the miraculous.

Eternity has festivals enough.

This is the feast of our mortality,

The most mundane and human holiday.

On other days we misinterpret time,

Pretending that we live the present moment.

But can this blur, this smudgy in-between,

This tiny fissure where the future drips

Into the past, this flyspeck we call now

Be our true habitat? The present is

The leaky palm of water that we skim

From the swift, silent river slipping by.

The new year always brings us what we want

Simply by bringing us along—to see

A calendar with every day uncrossed,

A field of snow without a single footprint.

A Chesterton Buffet

I was reading a recently published collection of the best Chesterton essays when I thought of a local Chinese restaurant.

I wasn't thinking of Chesterton's dining habits. Indeed, I have doubts that Chesterton ever ate what we think of as Chinese food - though I don't know that for certain. Maybe he did enjoy an egg roll or some chow mein at some point.

The restaurant in question serves meals, but the bulk of its business is its buffet. It has four rows of various Chinese and non-Chinese foods - pizza?? - with heated pans and heat lights. Most diners just grab plates and wander up and down the rows taking a little bit of this and a little bit of that, though there are always some individuals who grab a lot of this and a lot of that until their plates are piled so high one wonders how much of the food will actually make it to their tables.

Once while eating in this restaurant I began to reflect on differing styles of enjoying a buffet of this sort. I observed some people who would go to one row, fill their plates from that row only, and then head back to their seats to eat. When they finished their first plate they would then go back and load up from the second row, and so on, in order until they had visited each row. Did some of them methodically take a little bit of everything? Perhaps.

Then there are those who circulated among the rows, taking this from this row and that from that row. When they went back, they continued the pattern. Perhaps they had favorites and only ate those foods. Perhaps they were afraid to try new things. Or perhaps they were like me, vegetarians who avoid meat dishes.

Recalling this restaurant got me to musing about reading styles when approaching collections of any sort.

There are some people who seem to enjoy by sampling pieces in various sections of the book. Perhaps they seek out particular topics or writers, or maybe they just trust to luck and read whatever they come to that captures their interest.

There are some collections that lend themselves to this sort of sampling.

Then there are those people who methodically work their way through the collection from preface to index.

There are some collections that lend themselves to this approach.

Both methods have their pluses and minuses.

The sampling method ensures that one will enjoy what one reads for such readers tend to gravitate toward those things for which they already have an interest.

But in doing so, such readers might miss out on gems that just didn't happen to catch their attention.

The methodical readers take in everything the collection contains, good and bad, and thus might have a complete understanding of the organizing principle behind the collection, and along the way perhaps discover unknown treasures and nuggets of information they might otherwise never have encountered.

On the other hand, they might also run into a patch of less interesting pieces that might lead them to stop reading.

When it comes to Chesterton, either approach is acceptable. You can just plunge in and sample as the spirit moves you. Or you can work your way through from beginning to end, knowing that because it is Chesterton there won't be any less interesting pieces to get you questioning whether or not to go on.

When it comes to the restaurant - and many collections - I tend to be a sampler.

With this collection of Chesterton, I'm going the cover-to-cover route.

Either way works well when accompanied by a nice cup of tea.

Two books to enjoy

I've been busy with school work - and the sickness that now has me on antibiotics. But I did manage to squeeze in some good reading.

First up was Exiles, by Ron Hansen, and interesting account of Fr. Gerard Manley Hopkins and the five nuns that became the inspiration for his poem, "The Wreck of the Deutschland." I've always enjoyed historical "fiction," and this gave me some insights into his life. Good read.

I also just finished (while sitting in the doctor's waiting room) The Man Who Invented Christmas, by Les Standiford. It's an account of Dickens' writing A Christmas Carol, and the effects it had on his career and how the book helped to revive the celebration of Christmas. Also a good read - especially for fans of Dickens and Christmas (like me).

Two thumbs up.

Now, back to those Chesterton essays.

Christmas Books

Every Christmas, relatives and friends gift me with books.

Some of the books are ones I've indicated in not always subtle ways that I want. This year, for example there was one particular book (involving Chesterton, I might add) that I really wanted. When a catalog from a well-known Catholic publisher arrived, I searched through it until I found the title, folded the catalog open to the right page, circled the book several times, and sang some Christmas carols with an earnest smile.

I got that book.

Other times people give me books based upon my particular interests. Chesterton, St. Francis of Assisi, poetry, and Dickens are among the interests addressed this year.

Some people knowing my quirky sense of humor give me books they think I will find amusing. This year, a relative who moved to Utah, a state that, to be honest, has never been of the slightest interest to me, although I do like Marie Osmond's version of a Dada poem, sent me a book about Utah curiosities. I've already discovered one story in it about a woman who uses cow pies - yes, those "pies" - to make clocks, and picture and mirror frames.

A keeper.

The books end up either next to my bed in the pile of books to be read, or outside the "reading room."

This year's additions:

In Defense of Sanity: The Best Essays of G.K. Chesterton. Circles and Christmas Carols do work.

The Road to Assisi: The Essential Biography of St. Francis by Paul Sabatier. Chesterton's biography is the essential one, in my opinion, but this modern examination of his life looks like it has much to offer.

Surpassing Pleasure by John Slater. A contemporary Cistercian poet: I can't wait to test those verbal waters.

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot. I'd actually read many of these poems long ago and enjoyed them, so it's wonderful to have them before me again. Plus, it's nice to be reminded that Eliot didn't always write as if he had spiritual heartburn.

How to Do Everything (From the Man Who Should Know) by Red Green. Red Green is a Canadian comedian who is an acquired taste, and a taste that I acquired long ago.

The Man Who Invented Christmas by Les Standiford. A book that examines how Dickens helped to save Christmas from those who would downplay the celebration of it, and, in the process, apparently saved his own career. I've always loved Dickens and his Christmas tales, so this should be an intriguing read.

Utah Curiosities by Brandon Griggs. Cow pies. Need I say more?

Much reading to do.

Oh joy.

I've been remiss: Merry Christmas

Happy Feast of St. Stephen.

I realized today I had not posted here in about three months. Chesterton deserves better than that!

This Christmas I gave a copy of Chesterton's Irish impressions to an Irish friend. And then (after some not so subtle hinting on my part), on Christmas morning my dear bride presented me with a copy of In Defense of Sanity: The Best Essays of G. K. Chesterton.

It's wonderful to find some of may favorite essays - "A Piece of Chalk," "What I Found in My Pocket," "On Lying in Bed," "Cheese," and more - all in one place. And there are many other essays I haven't read yet conveniently waiting for me.

I just have to finish Ron Hansen's Exiles, and then I dig into this treasure trove.

As for my Chesterton endeavors, I'll be sending in to Gilbert a batch of clerihews my students wrote, and scribbling a few more of my own. Plus, I've decided to give a more prominent role to the Chesterton-based character in that novel I've been writing forever.

Tally ho!