Animal Flesh Recipe of the Day. (PEONWAP*)

* Piss 'Em Off Now With American Pork

Here is another delicious hog-themed delight for all you Crusaders out there courtesy of Gourmet Magazine and the Food Network.


Curried Pork Chops with Brandied Peaches
Recipe Summary
Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 2 servings


1 onion, diced
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons plus 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoon curry powder
Brandied peaches (recipe follows), drained, reserve syrup
1 teaspoon minced fresh parsley leaves
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Four 1-inch-thick pork chops


In a small skillet cook onion in 1 tablespoon oil over moderately low heat, stirring, until softened and stir in 1 teaspoon vinegar and 1/4 teaspoon curry powder. Transfer mixture to a small bowl and stir in peaches and parsley.

Pat pork chops dry. In a small dish stir together remaining 3/4 teaspoon curry powder, salt, and pepper and sprinkle mixture on both sides of pork chops, rubbing it in. In a 9-inch heavy non-stick skillet heat remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and brown pork chops about 3 minutes on each side. Pour off any excess fat and reduce heat to moderately low. Add reserved syrup and remaining teaspoon vinegar and simmer, covered, 10 minutes, or until meat is just cooked through.

Transfer pork chops to plates and keep warm. Boil pan juices until thickened, about 15 seconds, and spoon over pork chops. Serve pork chops with peaches.


Brandied Peaches

1 pound (about 3 medium) firm-ripe peaches
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups brandy

Peel peaches: Cut a small x in the blossom end of each peach. Place peaches in boiling water for about 30 seconds. Remove from boiling water and quickly submerge in ice cold water for a few minutes, or until cool enough to handle. The skin should slip off. Cut peaches in half and remove pit. Dice peaches and put in a sterilized 1-quart Mason-type jar.

In a saucepan bring the sugar and water to a boil over low heat, washing down any sugar crystals clinging to the sides with a brush dipped in cold water until the sugar is dissolved. Simmer the syrup for 3 minutes and remove it from the heat. Add 1/2 cup brandy, 2 tablespoons at a time, stirring, and let it cool. Stir in the remaining 1 cup brandy.

Pour the syrup over the peaches. Add more brandy if necessary to cover completely. Seal the jar with the lid and store in a cool place for at least 1 month

The Religion of Neodarwinism Update...

...or, I double dog dare ya to prove it!

From the Globe and Mail (via WND):

Council cited failure to prove evolution as a reason for denial of $40,000 funding

McGill University wants a federal agency to review its decision to deny funding to a research project examining how intelligent-design theory is being accepted in Canada.

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council refused $40,000 in funding to McGill professor Brian Alters, citing among its reasons that he did not prove scientifically accepted evolutionary theory in his proposal.

Eva Schacherl, a spokeswoman for the council, said yesterday that the multidisciplinary committee was not convinced the proposal's scholarly approach was sound or that it would provide objective results on the question.

Dr. Alters, director of McGill's Evolution Education Research Centre, acknowledged those reasons were contained in his rejection, but he was amazed he was expected to prove established scientific fact.

"Evolution is not an assumption -- it's a fact of science," he said in an interview. "If someone was writing a proposal to investigate how people think about gravity, the researcher would not have to justify gravitation theory in the proposal."

Ah, but there's the rub, doc. If one had to prove gravity's existence, one could.

You see, doc, gravity wasn't always as popular as it is today. It had to be "justified" again and again for centuries.

Now, what exactly is your excuse, doc?

Non-Euclidean Sex Update.

3rd lawsuit filed against lesbian fire chief
Woman claims retaliation after she spurned unwanted sexual advances --St. Paul Pioneer Press


Court hands sisters over to mom's lesbian lover
Ruling marks shift from traditional view that biological parent holds advantage --London Telegraph

Is part of King Goober II's legacy a bullet in Ron Brown's head?

What really happened to Ron Brown
Posted: April 7, 2006 1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

In Argentina, during the dark days, they called them "los desaparecidos," the disappeared. On April 10, 1996, Ron Brown was buried with full honors at Arlington National Cemetery and then joined his fellow desaparecidos. So thoroughly has Brown disappeared from view that the only articles I could find on Google News about the 10th anniversary of his death were those that I had written myself.

What follows, unless new information breaks, is my last article on the subject. In it, I attempt to find the one scenario that makes sense of all the existing evidence. Although speculative in part, it follows the evidence in full. There are no loose ends.

Aviation systems manager Niko Jerkuic does not report in for work on the morning of April 3, 1996, but he has a busy day ahead of him. He is not looking forward to it. Just a day and a half earlier, embattled Commerce Secretary Ron Brown was ordered to fly to Jerkuic's airport in Dubrovnik, Croatia. A trip like this in a war-torn area would typically require weeks of security planning. Not this time.

Right after that change of plans, agents of the Croatian intelligence services gave Jerkuic an assignment he did not feel free to turn down. They needed to misdirect Brown's plane, and they required his assistance.
The project is not technically difficult. Jerkuic has seen a lot in his 46 years. He knows all about "meaconing" or "spoofing" as it is sometimes generically known. Since the 1940s, portable Non-Directional Radio Beacon stations have been available to military and civilian operators and have proved especially useful in war-torn areas like this one near the Bosnian border.

The agents with whom he is working have brought along a gasoline driven generator, a tunable transmitter, and a temporary antenna, all loaded into the back of a pickup truck. Together, they drive to an isolated spot just outside of Dubrovnik and only about three or four miles east-southeast of Kolocep Island, the site of the real Non-Directional Radio Beacon, the beacon on which pilots are supposed to fix in order to guide their planes into the Dubrovnik airport.

Jerkuic sets the frequency of his portable beacon at 318 kilohertz to match that of the Kolocep (KLP) beacon and encodes the KLP Morse code identifier. He cannot power it up, however, until all the earlier scheduled flights have landed.

Still about 100 miles away, a CT-43A, the military version of a Boeing 737 carrying Ron Brown and 34 others, is cleared "direct to the KLP NDB." The primary reason for Brown's trip is to broker a sweetheart deal between Croatia and the Enron Corporation. Croatia's anti-Semitic strongman Franjo Tudhman has agreed to the deal, one disastrous for Croatia, in the hope that by cooperating with Enron he can ingratiate himself to the Clinton administration and avoid indictment by the World Court for war crimes. He has cancer. He doesn't want to die in prison.

The pilots are told they are "number one for beacon approach." When the word comes from the Dubrovnik tower that Brown's plane has checked in at 2:46 p.m. local time and the other planes have landed, Jerkuic shuts down the normal NDB and activates the "rogue" NDB. The automatic direction finder in Brown's plane now points to Jerkuic's beacon near Dubrovnik.

At this distance, the needle shift is negligible. USAF pilots Ashley Davis and Tim Shafer scarcely notice. "Hmmm," Davis thinks to himself when he sees it, "the NDB's a little further east than I thought." But given its 318-kilohertz frequency, Davis naturally assumes the radio signal to be coming from Kolocep and flies toward it. The Dubrovnik tower has no radar. At this stage, the radio signal is the pilots' only real guide to the world below the clouds. In fact, Brown's itinerary was shifted to Dubrovnik only after the weather service confirmed that the next several days would be overcast in Croatia. These conditions were critical for the plan to work.

As the signal strengthens, Davis gradually aligns the automatic direction finder with the posted 119-degree setting. At 2:54 pm, he watches as the ADF swings back around to the bottom, now at a 299-degree reading. He has passed over the beacon and will navigate from the tail of the ADF needle.

"We're inside the locator, inbound," he radios the tower, and the tower clears his approach and landing. At that moment, the charts tell the pilots the airport is 12 miles straight ahead on a 119-degree course. They will be able to see the runway in about three minutes. In fact, however, the plane is now heading right toward St. John's Peak about eight miles away, as the AWACs plane hovering over head will later verify.

Word of the crash comes over Jerkuic's radio. He shuts down the temporary transmitter and reactivates the Kolocep beacon. Still, he has no stomach for this. The agents assigned to him sense his unease, but they have work to do, like finding the plane and making sure the person they were assigned to kill is dead.

They make their way to St. John's Peak and up the mountain. The bodies are scattered, and there are only a few black men among them. They pull out the photo of Brown and start checking. Brown is not hard to find. But what stuns the men is that he is farther from the plane than is anyone else. He appears to have crawled there.

The leader kneels down next to Brown and turns him over on his back. He is still not sure whether Brown is dead or not. He has no obvious fatal wound. The leader pulls out his pistol and fires skillfully into the laceration on the top of Brown's head. In this part of the world, no one even blinks at the sound of gunfire.

The men look around quickly for other survivors. Tech sergeant Shelly Kelly survived the crash in the rear jump sheet. But her back is broken, and she lies mutely amidst the rubble. The men don't see or hear her. They hustle back down the hill. Their colleague back at the airport has misdirected the search in the opposite direction, out over the Adriatic, for several hours. But the men on the hill do not want to hang around any longer than necessary. They exit the area with their portable beacon and deep six it. Kelly will die from that misdirection.

Three days after the crash, a memorial service is held at the Dubrovnik airport for those killed in the crash. Just hours later, Niko Jerkuic answers the knock on his door and greets the men who recruited him. He is still anxious, and they can see it. U.S. Air Force investigators will start interviewing airport personnel in two days. The Croatian agents cannot afford to let the Air Force talk to Jerkuic.

"We hate to do this," says the one agent as he shoots Jerkuic in the chest. They don't sweat the details as they know who will be investigating, Miroslav Tudjman, Franjo's son, the head of Croatian intelligence. Miroslav declares it a suicide.

Back at the Armed Force Institute in Pathology, in Dover, Del., pathologists discover the hole in Brown's head. By order of the White House, there is no autopsy, no forensic testing, no notification of the Brown family. Brown is quickly embalmed, and the head X-rays are destroyed.

Wouldn't it make more sense to incinerate the corpse?

Just asking.

In November 1996, just months after Brown's death and one week after President Clinton's re-election, Tudjman travels not to The Hague to be tried as a war criminal but to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington to have his cancer treated. The Croatia-Enron liaison, Zdenka Gast, later shows up in the Croatian equivalent of People Magazine arm in arm with her buddy Hillary Clinton at Alexis Herman's intimate wedding reception at the White House.

By this time, Ron Brown has long since joined the ranks of "los desaparecidos."

The Theology of the Body: 81. Celibacy for the Kingdom Affirms Marriage

In his General Audience of 5 May 1982, the Holy Father continued his catechesis on Theology of the Body, by concluding his considerations on Christ's words recommending continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. Renunciation of marriage for the sake of the Kingdom affirms the value of what is renounced, in the gift of self to God.


Celibacy for the Kingdom Affirms Marriage

At the general audience in St Peter's Square on Wednesday, 5 May, Pope John Paul II concluded his considerations on Christ's words recommending continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven.


1. In answering the Pharisees' questions about marriage and its indissolubility, Christ referred to the beginning, that is, to its original institution on the part of the Creator. Since those with whom he was speaking recalled the law of Moses, which provided for the possibility of the so-called "decree of divorce," he answered, "Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses permitted you to divorce your wives, but it was not so from the beginning" (Mt 19:8).

After the conversation with the Pharisees, Christ's disciples addressed the following words to him: "'If this is the case of a man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry.' He answered them, 'Not all men can receive this precept, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it'" (Mt 19:10-12).

Understanding values

2. Christ's words undoubtedly allude to a conscious and voluntary renunciation of marriage. This renunciation is possible only when one admits an authentic knowledge of that value that is constituted by the nuptial disposition of masculinity and femininity to marriage. In order for man to be fully aware of what he is choosing (continence for the sake of the kingdom), he must also be fully aware of what he is renouncing. (It is a question here of the knowledge of the value in an ideal sense; nevertheless this knowledge is after all realistic.) In this way, Christ certainly demands a mature choice. The form in which the call to continence for the sake of the kingdom of heaven is expressed proves this without a doubt.

Renunciation is not enough

3. But a renunciation made with full awareness of the above-mentioned value is not enough. In the light of Christ's words, and also in the light of the whole authentic Christian Tradition, it is possible to deduce that this renunciation is at the same time a particular form of affirming that value from which the unmarried person consistently abstains, following the evangelical counsel. This can seem paradoxical. Nevertheless, it is known that many statements in the Gospel are paradoxical, and those are often the most eloquent and profound. Accepting such a meaning of the call to continence for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, we draw a correct conclusion, holding that the realization of this call serves also—and in a particular way—to confirm the nuptial meaning of the human body in its masculinity and femininity. The renunciation of marriage for the kingdom of God at the same time highlights that meaning in all its interior truth and personal beauty. We can say that this renunciation on the part of individual persons, men and women, in a certain sense is indispensable. This is so that the nuptial meaning of the body can be more easily recognized in all the ethos of human life and above all in the ethos of conjugal and family life.

Aspects to consider

4. So, therefore, although continence for the sake of the kingdom of heaven (virginity, celibacy) orients the life of persons who freely choose it toward the exclusion of the common way of conjugal and family life, nevertheless it is not without significance for this life, for its style, its value and its evangelical authenticity. Let us not forget that the only key to understanding the sacramentality of marriage is the spousal love of Christ for the Church (cf. Eph 5:22-23): Christ, the Son of the Virgin, who was himself a virgin, that is, a "eunuch for the sake of the kingdom of heaven," in the most perfect meaning of the term. It will be convenient for us to take up this point again at a later time.

5. At the end of these reflections there still remains a concrete problem: In what way is this call formed in man, to whom the call to continence for the sake of the kingdom has been given, on the basis of the knowledge of the nuptial meaning of the body in its masculinity and femininity, and further, as the fruit of such knowledge? In what way is it formed, or rather transformed? This question is equally important, both from the viewpoint of the theology of the body, and from the viewpoint of the development of the human personality, which has a personalistic and charismatic character at the same time. If we should want to answer this question exhaustively—in the measure of all the aspects and all the concrete problems that it includes—it would be necessary to make a study based on the relationship between marriage and virginity and between marriage and celibacy. However this would go beyond the limits of the present considerations.

Value in this life

6. Remaining within the sphere of Christ's words according to Matthew (19:11-12), we must conclude our reflections with the following affirmation. First, if continence for the sake of the kingdom of heaven undoubtedly signifies a renunciation, this renunciation is at the same time an affirmation: an affirmation that arises from the discovery of the gift, that is, at the same time from the discovery of a new perspective of the personal realization of oneself "through a sincere gift of oneself" (Gaudium et Spes 24). This discovery still lies in a profound interior harmony with the significance of the nuptial meaning of the body, bound "from the beginning" to the masculinity or femininity of man as a personal subject. Second, although continence for the sake of the kingdom of heaven is identified with the renunciation of marriage, which in the life of a man and woman gives rise to the family, in no way can one see in this a denial of the essential value of marriage. On the contrary, continence serves indirectly to highlight what is most lasting and most profoundly personal in the vocation to marriage. It highlights that which in the dimensions of temporality (and at the same time in the perspective of the other world) corresponds to the dignity of the personal gift, bound to the nuptial meaning of the body in its masculinity or femininity.

Capital significance

7. In this way, Christ's call to continence "for the sake of the kingdom of heaven," rightly associated to the reference to the future resurrection (cf. Mt 21:24-30; Mk 12:18-27; Lk 20:27-40), has a capital significance not only for Christian ethos and spirituality, but also for anthropology and for the whole theology of the body, which we discover at its foundation. We remember that Christ, referring to the resurrection of the body in the other world, said, according to the version of the three synoptic Gospels, "When they rise from the dead...they will neither marry nor be given in marriage..." (Mk 12:25). These words, already analyzed, form part of our overall considerations on the theology of the body and contribute to building up this theology.

The Theology of the Body: 80. Celibacy Is a Particular Response to the Love of the Divine Spouse

In his General Audience of 28 April 1982, the Holy Father continued his catechesis on Theology of the Body by further explaining continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven as the particular response of virginity/celibacy to the self-gift of the divine Spouse in the Paschal and Eucharistic Mystery.


Celibacy Is a Particular Response to the Love of the Divine Spouse

At the general audience on 28 April, the Holy Father continued his series of talks on virginity and celibacy freely chosen 'for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven'.


1. "There are others who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven." This is how Christ expressed himself in St. Matthew's Gospel (Mt 19:12).

It is natural for the human heart to accept demands, even difficult ones, in the name of love for an ideal, and above all in the name of love for a person. (By its very nature, love is directed toward a person.) Therefore in that call to continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven, first the disciples themselves, and then the whole living Tradition of the Church, will soon discover the love that is referred to Christ himself as the Spouse of the Church, the Spouse of souls. He has given himself to them to the very limit, in the Paschal and Eucharistic mystery.

In this way, continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven, the choice of virginity or celibacy for one's whole life, has become in the experience of Christ's disciples and followers the act of a particular response of love for the divine Spouse. Therefore it has acquired the significance of an act of nuptial love, that is, a nuptial giving of oneself for the purpose of reciprocating in a particular way the nuptial love of the Redeemer. It is a giving of oneself understood as renunciation, but made above all out of love.

2. In this way we obtained all the wealth of the meaning contained in the very concise, but at the same time very profound, statement of Christ about continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. But now it is fitting that we direct our attention to the significance that these words have for the theology of the body, just as we tried to present and reconstruct the biblical foundations for it "from the beginning." Christ referred to that biblical "beginning" in his conversation with the Pharisees on the subject of marriage, its unity and indissolubility (cf. Mt 19:3-9). He did this shortly before addressing to his disciples the words about continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven (cf. Mt 19:10-12). This analysis of that "beginning" allows us to recall the profound truth about the nuptial meaning of the human body in its masculinity and femininity, as we deduced at that time from the analysis of the first chapters of Genesis (especially from 2:23-25). It was in just this way that it was necessary to formulate and specify what we find in those ancient texts.

3. The modern mentality is accustomed to thinking and speaking about the sexual instinct, transferring onto the level of human reality what is proper to the world of living beings, of animals. Now deep reflection on the concise text of the first and second chapters of Genesis permits us to establish with certainty and conviction that right from the beginning a very clear and univocal boundary is laid down in the Bible between the world of animals (animalia) and the man created in the image and likeness of God. In that text, though relatively brief, there is nevertheless enough to demonstrate that man has a clear awareness of what essentially distinguishes him from all other living beings (animalia).

4. Therefore, it is not at all appropriate and adequate to apply to man this substantially naturalistic category that is contained in the concept and in the expression of sexual instinct. It is obvious that such application can become the basis for a certain analogy. In fact, the particular characteristic of man compared with the whole world of living beings (animalia) is such that man, understood from the viewpoint of species, can not even basically qualify as an animal, but a rational animal. Therefore, despite this analogy, applying the concept of sexual instinct to man—given the dual nature in which he exists as male or female—nevertheless greatly limits, and in a certain sense diminishes what is the very masculinity-femininity in the personal dimension of human subjectivity. It limits and diminishes even what for both of them, man and woman, unite to become one flesh (cf. Gn 2:24). In order to express this in an appropriate and adequate way, we must use also an analysis different from the naturalistic one. It is precisely the study of the biblical beginning that obliges us to do this convincingly. The truth about the nuptial meaning of the human body in its masculinity and femininity seems to be a key concept in this area. It is deduced from the first chapters of Genesis (especially from 2:23-25), that is, the discovery at the time of the nuptial meaning of the body in the personal makeup of the subjectivity of man and woman. At the same time it is the only appropriate and adequate concept.

5. It is necessary to reread and understand Christ's words about continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven precisely in relation to this concept, to this truth about the nuptial meaning of the human body. His words were spoken in the immediate context of that reference to the beginning, on which he based his teaching about the unity and indissolubility of marriage. At the basis of Christ's call to continence there is not only the sexual instinct, which is in the category, I would say, of a naturalistic necessity. But there is also the consciousness of the freedom of the gift. This is organically connected with the profound and mature knowledge of the nuptial meaning of the body, in the total makeup of the personal subjectivity of man and woman. Only in relation to such a meaning of the masculinity and femininity of the human person does the call to voluntary continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven find full warranty and motivation. Only and exclusively in this perspective did Christ say, "He who is able to receive this, let him receive it" (Mt 19:12). With this, he indicated that such continence—although in each case it is above all a gift—can be also received. That is, it can be drawn and deduced from the concept that man has his own psychosomatic "I" in its entirety, and especially the masculinity and femininity of this "I" in the reciprocal relationship which is as though by nature inscribed in every human subjectivity.

6. As we recall from the previous analyses, developed on the basis of Genesis (cf. Gn 2:23-25), that reciprocal relationship of masculinity and femininity, that reciprocal "for" of man and woman, can be understood in an appropriate and adequate way only in the overall dynamics of the personal subject. Christ's words in Matthew (cf. 19:11-12) consequently show that this "for," present from the beginning at the basis of marriage, can also be at the basis of continence "for" the Kingdom of Heaven! Based on the same disposition of the personal subject, thanks to which man fully rediscovers himself through a sincere gift of himself (cf. Gaudium et Spes 24), man (male and female) is capable of choosing the personal gift of his very self. This is made to another person in a conjugal pact in which they become "one flesh." He is also capable of freely renouncing such a giving of himself to another person, so that, choosing continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven, he can give himself totally to Christ. On the basis of the same disposition of the personal subject and on the basis of the same nuptial meaning of the being as a body, male or female, there can be formed the love that commits man to marriage for the whole duration of his life (cf. Mt 19:3-10). But there can also be formed the love that commits man to a life of continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven (cf. Mt 19:11-12). Christ is speaking precisely about this in his overall statement addressed to the Pharisees (cf. Mt 19:3-10) and then to the disciples (cf. Mt 19:11-12).

7. It is evident that the choice of marriage, just as it was instituted by the Creator from the beginning, supposes the learning and the interior acceptance of the nuptial meaning of the body, bound up with the masculinity and femininity of the human person. In fact, this very thing is expressed concisely in the verses of Genesis. In listening to Christ's words addressed to the disciples about continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven (cf. Mt 19:11-12), we cannot think that this second kind of choice can be made consciously and freely without reference to one's masculinity or femininity and to that nuptial meaning which is proper to man precisely in the masculinity or femininity of his being as a personal subject. Furthermore, in the light of Christ's words, we must admit that this second kind of choice, namely, continence for the sake of the Kingdom of God, comes about also in relation to the masculinity or femininity proper to the person who makes such a choice. It comes about on the basis of full consciousness of that nuptial meaning which masculinity and femininity contain in themselves. If this choice should come about by way of some artificial "prescinding" from this real wealth of every human subject, it would not appropriately and adequately correspond to the content of Christ's words in Matthew 19:11-12.

Here Christ explicitly required full understanding when he said, "He who is able to receive this, let him receive it" (Mt 19:12).

HOLY CRAP! Sobran eulogizes WFB; Bill, call your office.

The link above will take you to Joe's current on-line column. The archive is here. Not all of his past columns are available in the archive.

Joe, unlike Your Humble Servant, had his fill of revenge for 9/11/01 rather quickly. We both know war is always used as an excuse to increase the size and reach of Leviathan. Joe seems to think this matters now because there is still something to conserve.

I don't.

No matter how I may disapprove of his version of conservatism, part of me will always love Bill Buckley.

Funny? I’ll say. Once we were discussing a hostile, badly written biography of him, and he quipped, “You know you’re in the hands of a truly boring writer when you’re reading about yourself, and you find your mind wandering.”

It’s no great secret that Bill and his confreres, his lovely sister Priscilla and his friend Jeffrey Hart, are disappointed in the young fry, sometimes called the “mini-cons,” to whom his magazine, National Review, has been entrusted. The current issue features a cover article called “The ‘To Hell with Them’ Hawks.”

What are “to hell with them” hawks? The author is so proud of this phrase — his very own coinage! — that he quotes it in almost every paragraph, as if it were the most telling label since radical chic. He’s the kind of writer who says “prior to” instead of “before,” and “replicates” instead of “repeats.” The mind wanders ...

“To hell with them” hawks are those conservatives you might expect to support the Iraq war, but who are now going wobbly — having second thoughts about it. Obviously this means guys like Bill Buckley, who is in fact criticized — by name! — in an editorial in the same issue for saying the war is an American “defeat.”

It would sound harsh to say Bill deserves successors like the mini-cons, but he has undeniably brought them on himself. When he retired from his magazine a few years ago, he turned his throne over to these young ’uns, instead of (say) his own gifted son Christopher. Now, like King Lear, “fourscore and upwards,” he’s discovering he made a mistake.

The rot started while WFB was still there. I'll repeat this until the day I die: NR died when Buckley swallowed the liberatrian kool-aid and backed the legalization of drugs.

Maybe Chris didn’t want the job. He’d already made a career as a bestselling satirical novelist, an independent talent, and he may have preferred to make his own mark, even if that meant letting the succession fall to young right-wingers with none of the Buckley wit. You can hardly blame them all for not being Buckleys.

Bill always winced at the imitators he attracted. He never wanted to be the stereotyped “right-winger.” He once wrote that though he was philosophically conservative, “temperamentally, I am not of the breed.”
George W. Bush, you might say, belongs to a breed Bill is not of.

Many of his friends were liberals, (Not me. They are all boring at best. Sure, most conservatives bore me too. But at least I feel safe turning my back on them. - F.G.) and he was a skilled (and justly famed) debater who always tried to grasp and answer his opponent’s point. He had such disarming humor and charm that his opponent, very often, became his friend. Those who expected to meet a snob met instead a playful man of ready affections and irrepressible kindness, not to mention personal magnetism.

Bill found a purely “right- wing” atmosphere as stifling as a liberal one, and some of his best friends were brilliant maverick conservatives like his mentors James Burnham and the uproarious Willmoore Kendall, both original thinkers who deserve to be better remembered than they are. He kept his mind fresh with such delights as sailing, skiing, oil painting, and playing Bach on the harpsichord.

Despite his reputation as an intellectual, Bill spent little time in the study pondering ideas. Later in life he wrote spy novels instead of the weightier tomes I’d once hoped for. (He was immensely proud when he and his son made the bestseller list the same week.) Though intellectuals flocked to him, he preferred to live his own life on the move. “There is more true simplicity in the man who eats caviar on impulse than in the man who eats grape nuts on principle,” Chesterton observed, and he might have been writing about a free spirit like Bill Buckley.

Bill ate both, so to speak, but doing his duty as a conservative leader was the grape nuts side of his life. He became somewhat intoxicated by celebrity and, at the same time, averse to taking risks that might let down the team. Some think he chose as his heirs at National Review men who would not outshine him. But there was never any danger of that! He was the one and only. After him, nearly anyone would seem disappointing. Burnhams and Kendalls are in short supply nowadays.

For half a century National Review was fueled by Bill Buckley’s outsize personality. Now he can open the magazine he created and find himself derided as a “to hell with them” hawk. He deserved better than this. Like Lear, Bill is “a man more sinned against than sinning.”

Fyodor's Headlinks.

News stories that have nothing in common...

...or do they?

4th grade girl protests mini-skirt ban...

Gore urges moral crusade against 'global warming'...

The cognoscenti will get this one easily.

It's the economy, Stalin.

Unemployment rate down to 4.7%...

The Theology of the Body: 79. The Value of Continence Is Found in Love

In his General Audience of 21 April 1982, the Holy Father continued his catechesis on Theology of the Body, with regard to the choice of virginity or celibacy. Continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven is the nuptial gift of self to Christ, the Spouse of the soul.


The Value of Continence Is Found in Love

At the weekly audience on Wednesday, on 21 April, held in St Peter's Square, Pope John Paul II continued his catechetical series on continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. Following is the text of his discourse.


1. Let us continue our reflections on Christ's words about continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. It is impossible to understand fully the significance and the nature of continence if the last phrase of Christ's statement, "for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven," is not complete in its adequate, concrete and objective content. We have previously said that this phrase expresses the motive, or in a certain sense places in relief, the subjective purpose of Christ's call to continence. However, the expression in itself has an objective character. It indicates an objective reality for which individual persons, men and women, can "make themselves" eunuchs (as Christ says). The reality of the Kingdom in Christ's statement according to Matthew (19:11-12) is defined in a precise, but at the same time general way, so as to be able to include all the determinations and particular meanings that are proper to it.

Temporal establishment

2. The Kingdom of Heaven means the Kingdom of God, which Christ preached in its final, that is, eschatological, completion. Christ preached this kingdom in its temporal realization or establishment, and at the same time he foretold it in its eschatological completion. The temporal establishment of the Kingdom of God is at the same time its beginning and its preparation for definitive fulfillment. Christ calls to this kingdom and in a certain sense invites everyone to it (cf. the parable of the wedding banquet in Mt 22:1-14). If he calls some to continence "for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven," it follows from the content of that expression that he calls them to participate in a singular way in the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth, through which the definitive phase of the Kingdom of Heaven is begun and prepared.

Kingdom for all

3. In this sense we have said that this call bears in itself the particular sign of the dynamism of the mystery of the redemption of the body. Therefore, as we have already mentioned, continence for the sake of the Kingdom of God manifests the renunciation of one's self, taking up one's cross every day, and following Christ (cf. Lk 9:23). This can reach the point of implying the renunciation of marriage and a family of one's own. All this arises from the conviction that in this way it is possible to contribute more greatly to the realization of the Kingdom of God in its earthly dimension with the prospect of eschatological completion. In his statement according to Matthew (19:11-12), Christ said generically that the voluntary renunciation of marriage has this purpose, but he did not say so specifically. In his first statement on this subject, he still did not specify through what concrete obligation this voluntary continence is necessary and even indispensable for the realization of the Kingdom of God on earth and for its preparation for future fulfillment. We will hear something further on this point from Paul of Tarsus (1 Cor) and the rest will be completed by the life of the Church in her historical development, borne by the current of authentic Tradition.

4. In Christ's statement on continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven, we do not find any more detailed indication about how to understand that kingdom—with regard to its earthly realization and its definitive completion—in its specific and exceptional relation with those who voluntarily "make themselves eunuchs" for it.

Neither is it said through which particular aspect of the reality that constitutes the Kingdom are those associated to it who freely are made "eunuchs." In fact, we know that the Kingdom of Heaven is for everybody. Those who "marry and are given in marriage" also are in a relation with it on earth (and in heaven). For everybody it is the Lord's vineyard in which they must work here on earth, and subsequently it is the Father's house in which they must be in eternity. Therefore, what is that kingdom for those who choose voluntary continence in view of it?

Clear expression of Christ's teaching

5. For now, we do not find any answer to this question in Christ's statement as reported by Matthew (19:11-12). It seems that this is in keeping with the character of the whole statement. Christ answered his disciples in such a way as not to keep in line with their thought and their evaluation, which contained, at least indirectly, a utilitarian attitude regarding marriage ("If this is the case...it is better not to marry": Mt 19:10). The Master explicitly evaded these general lines of the problem. Therefore, speaking about continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven, he did not indicate in this way why the renunciation of marriage is worthwhile, so that the "it is better" would not be understood by his disciples in any utilitarian sense. He said only that this continence is at times required, if not indispensable, for the Kingdom of God. With this he pointed out that continence, in the kingdom which Christ preached and to which he calls, constitutes a particular value in itself. Those who voluntarily choose it must do so with regard to that value it has, and not as a result of any other calculation whatever.

6. This essential tone of Christ's answer, which refers directly to continence itself "for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven," can also be referred indirectly to the previous problem of marriage (cf. Mt 19:3-9). Therefore, considering his statement as a whole, according to Christ's basic intention, the answer would be as follows. If anyone chooses marriage, he must choose it just as it was instituted by the Creator "from the beginning." He must seek in it those values that correspond to God's plan. If on the other hand anyone decides to pursue continence for the Kingdom of Heaven, he must seek in it the values proper to such a vocation. In other words, one must act in conformity with his chosen vocation.

Seek values proper to vocation

7. The Kingdom of Heaven is certainly the definitive fulfillment of the aspirations of all men, to whom Christ addressed his message. It is the fullness of the good that the human heart desires beyond the limits of all that can be his lot in this earthly life. It is the maximum fullness of God's bounty toward man. In his conversation with the Sadducees (cf. Mt 22:24-30; Mk 12:18-27; Lk 20:27-40), which we have previously analyzed, we find other details about that kingdom, or rather about that other world. There are still more in the whole New Testament. Therefore, it seems that to clarify what the Kingdom of Heaven is for those who choose voluntary continence for its sake, the revelation of the nuptial relationship of Christ with the Church has a particular significance. Among the other texts, however, a decisive one is that from Ephesians 5:25ff. It will be especially well to rely on this when we consider the question of the sacramentality of marriage.

That text is equally valid both for the theology of marriage and for the theology of continence for the sake of the kingdom, that is, the theology of virginity or celibacy. It seems that in that text we find almost concretized what Christ had said to his disciples, inviting them to voluntary continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven.

8. In this analysis it has already been sufficiently emphasized that Christ's words—with all their great conciseness—are fundamental, full of essential content and also characterized by a certain severity. There is no doubt that Christ put out his call to continence in the perspective of the other world. But in this call he put the emphasis on everything which expresses the temporal realism of the decision for such continence, a decision bound with the will to share in the redeeming work of Christ.

So, therefore, in the light of Christ's respective words reported by Matthew (19:11-12), the depth and the gravity of the decision to live in continence for the sake of the Kingdom emerge above all, and the importance of the renunciation that such a decision implies finds its expression. Undoubtedly, throughout all this, through the gravity and depth of the decision, through the severity and the responsibility that it bears with it, love appears and shines through, love as the readiness to give the exclusive gift of oneself for the sake of the Kingdom of God. However, in Christ's words this love seems to be veiled by what is put in the foreground instead. Christ did not conceal from his disciples the fact that the choice of continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven is—viewed in the light of temporal categories—a renunciation. That way of speaking to his disciples, which clearly expresses the truth of his teaching and of the demands contained in it, is significant through the whole Gospel. It is precisely this that confers on it, among other things, so convincing a mark and power.

In the name of love

9. It is natural for the human heart to accept demands, even difficult ones, in the name of love for an ideal, and above all in the name of love for a person (love, in fact, is by its very nature directed toward a person). Therefore, in the call to continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven, first the disciples themselves, and then the whole living Tradition of the Church, will soon discover the love that is referred to Christ himself as the Spouse of the Church, the Spouse of souls, to whom He has given himself to the very limit, in the Paschal and Eucharistic Mystery.

In this way, continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven, the choice of virginity or celibacy for one's whole life, has become, in the experience of Christ's disciples and followers, the act of a particular response of love for the divine Spouse, and therefore has acquired the significance of an act of nuptial love, that is, a nuptial giving of oneself for the purpose of reciprocating in a particular way the nuptial love of the Redeemer: a giving of oneself understood as renunciation, but made above all out of love.

Decent people would think this next one is also satire.

Nope, it's the antique media trying once again to prove America is just like the Balkans.

USA Today: 'Dateline' defends planting Muslims at NASCAR race

You see, kiddies, NASCAR fans are typical Americans. They are racist white Christians filled with fear of and hatred for the Other.

After bringing Muslim men to Martinsville Speedway in Virginia to gauge the reaction of NASCAR fans, Dateline NBC won't have its cameras at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend.

In a statement released Thursday, NBC defended its reporting tactics, saying "there have been a lot of inaccurate comments" and that Dateline "had barely begun its reporting."

"Dateline is not planning a story about NASCAR," the statement said. "We are following up on a recent poll and other articles indicating an increase in anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States. We are curious about whether that is true. The NASCAR race at Martinsville was a stop we have made in our research on this story.

"There is nothing new about the technique of witnessing the experience of someone who might be discriminated against in a public setting."

NASCAR officials were angry after learning Dateline recruited Muslims to attend the DirecTV 500. NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said the group walked around outside the track without any reaction from fans.
"It's outrageous that a news organization like NBC would seek to create the news instead of reporting the news," Poston said.

NASCAR is in the final year of a contract with NBC Sports, which will broadcast the second half of the Nextel Cup season.

Those moslem dudes were lucky. NBC could have blown up their vehicle's gas tank and blamed it on Bush.

Girls Gone Wild Released Back Into Civilization

One more from The Onion:

April 5, 2006 Issue 42•14

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, TX—In what wildlifestyle reformation volunteers are calling a "positive step," the first group of rehabilitated Girls Gone Wild were released back into the civilized world Monday, and early signs indicate that they are adjusting smoothly, according to the director of the group responsible for their rescue.

"At first, the girls were disoriented," said Janet Ottley, director of the South Padre Island Wild Life Rescue Foundation. "They were frightened by the absence of familiar comforts such as overt male attention, binge drinking, and camcorders. But over time, we've seen improvement: so far, no reports of nipple exposure, so we're very hopeful."

The 11 girls were captured nearly one month ago during their annual spring migration to the area and then put through an intensive rehabilitation program. "They have come a very long way," Ottley said. "When we first brought them into our clinic, they could barely function beyond baring their breasts, and they communicated solely through loud, sustained hoots."

As their subspecies does every year, the Girls Gone Wild, roaming in packs, flocked to bars and clubs during the spring break migratory season. Lured by drink specials, promotional merchandise, and the chance to "go wild," they were discovered at Señor Chug Chug's, a nightspot where the girls gathered to perform a mating ritual in which brief nudity is exchanged for Jell-O shots and Smirnoff Ice trucker hats.

Rescue volunteers identified the Girls Gone Wild by their torn tank tops, threadbare Daisy Duke-style cutoff shorts, hair extension plumage, and bright orange skin with patterned lower-back markings.

Park ranger Jeff Macken, who assisted in the rescue effort, said they attracted the girls with bright lights similar to those of camera crews. "We had planned to catch them with a net, then sedate them," Macken said. "But we found that shooting them with tranquilizer darts was not as effective as taking a page from nature and putting Rohypnol in their exotic drinks."

The girls were put through an intensive recovery program and, over several weeks, slowly phased back into civilized behavior. Trainers gently conditioned them not only to reduce breast baring, but also to shower alone instead of in pairs or threesomes, and to drink from glasses rather than from each other's navels.

Despite the girls' early positive response, Ottley said that there is still a risk that they could revert to their wild state, so she continued to severely restrict their exposure to the outside world. "Any proximity to a D-list celebrity, a song by Poison, or a neon beer bong could set reintegration back to square one," Ottley said.

In later stages, long-sleeved shirts and full-bottomed panties were reintroduced into their wardrobes. Finally, they were taught to engage in basic economic exchanges, rather than breast-jiggling for plastic beads.

Critics of the program argue that girls, after they've gone wild, can never function at the same level as girls who remain tame, and, once reintroduced into society, pose a threat to non-wild girls.

"Let's face it, they were in the wild too long," said Fort Lauderdale car-show organizer Daryl Dykstra. "At best, they might become spokesmodels, but only through hard work and constant validation." Dykstra reluctantly conceded that they might have some use as Hooters waitresses or tanning-salon clerks.

Ottley disagreed, saying that Girls Gone Wild are "entirely capable" of rejoining society.

"They will be tagged with radio-equipped belly-button rings to alert us of any sign of G-strings or wet T-shirts," Ottley said. "Continual monitoring is essential, because you never really know just how wild these girls could get."

Your Grandpa Insists Someone You've Never Heard Of Should Be In Hall Of Fame

An Onion classic:

SCRANTON, PA—Your grandfather, a retired tradesman in his 80s, continues to demand that a scrappy, tenacious bulldog of a player whom no one else has ever heard of should be admitted to one of the Halls of Fame. "He'd be out there at center every game, giving it his all, playing tough, and never giving up on the play, right up until he went off to the war," your grandpa said, narrowing the unknown player's career down to 40 possible years and four possible sports. "That was before they had these new rules against tough play, too. He was all about fundamentals, playing hard every single minute, and putting in a hard day's work, either in the game or in the owner's factory during the off-season—something these spoiled millionaires today sure wouldn't understand." The only thing you are certain of concerning the player, whose name seems vaguely Italian or Polish on the occasions your grandpa mumbles it, is that he was white.
(Thanks to Steve Czaban for the heads up.)

Chalk one up for sanity and reality at the University of Washington.

Remember how left-fascist ingrates put the kibosh on honoring Pappy Boyington and other Medal of Honor winners?

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: UW students vote for memorial
After a sometimes-heated debate and an unusual roll call vote, the University of Washington student government Tuesday night backed the creation of a campus memorial to honor former students who have received the Medal of Honor.

Yippee! Maybe future generations of Washington students will be reminded of the sacrifices of their predecessors and appreciate them...

Which reminds me...when did you last visit a Revolutionary War or Civil War battlefield?

Super Bowl XL Champion Steelers Update.

From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Steelers 2006 regular season schedule

Thursday, Sept. 7
MIAMI - 8:30 P.M. (NBC)

Monday, Sept. 18
at Jacksonville - 8:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Sunday, Sept. 24
CINCINNATI - 1 p.m. (CBS)

Sunday, Oct. 1
Bye

Sunday, Oct. 8
at San Diego - 8:15 p.m. (NBC)

Sunday, Oct. 15
KANSAS CITY - 4:15 p.m. (CBS)

Sunday, Oct. 22
at Atlanta - 1 p.m. (CBS)

Sunday, Oct. 29
at Oakland - 4:15 p.m. (CBS)

Sunday, Nov. 5
DENVER - 4:15 p.m. (CBS)

Sunday, Nov. 12*
NEW ORLEANS - 1 p.m. (FOX)

Sunday, Nov. 19*
at Cleveland - 1 p.m. (CBS)

Sunday, Nov. 26*
at Baltimore - 1 p.m. (CBS)

Sunday, Dec. 3*
TAMPA BAY - 1 p.m. (FOX)

Thursday, Dec. 7*
CLEVELAND - 8 p.m. (NFL Network)

Sunday, Dec. 17*
at Carolina - 1 p.m. (CBS)

Sunday, Dec. 24
BALTIMORE - 1 p.m. (CBS)

Sunday, Dec. 31*
at Cincinnati - 1 p.m. (CBS)

* Times and TV network may change due to flexible scheduling

(Click here to see all of the 2006 NFL schedules.)

NFL roundup: Steelers sign wideout Baker


Rooney: Opposing teams discriminate against Steelers fans

President Art Rooney II said Steelers fans were victims of discrimination last season.

Opposing teams did all they could to keep Steelers fans out of their stadiums, Rooney said, whether it was forcing them to buy tickets for multiple games or by instructing their fans not to sell tickets to people in the 412 telephone area code.

Rooney broached the topic to other owners prior to the NFL's annual meeting last month in an effort to curtail these practices.

"We were not able to get it on the agenda, so I guess we will have to go through another year that Steelers fans will have to scramble to try to find tickets," Rooney said. "We submitted a resolution where we asked the league to consider not allowing teams to engage in some of the practices they were engaging in as we understood it last year, where they wouldn't sell to people calling from the 412 area code and trying to discern who the buyers were and discriminate against Steelers fans ...

Speaking of wasted talent...

Doc had the stuff baseball dreams are made of...

Maybe prison is better for him. I hope and pray it is.

Nobody wants to have him found dead in an alley somewhere.



Roto-Reuters: Dwight Gooden chooses prison over rehab
Embattled former baseball star Dwight Gooden chose on Wednesday to go to prison for a year and a day rather than enter a drug rehabilitation facility after using cocaine while on probation, court officials in Tampa said.

Have pity on Whitney Houston.

I know, I know...it's her fault. But that voice...and that face...

I thank God Almighty I have never had to go through anything like this:

Superstar Whitney Houston has spiralled into a world of squalor and degradation on deadly crack — as the shocking pictures in today's Sun newspaper reveal.

It shows the disgusting mess in the singer’s bathroom after a drug binge.
Drug paraphernalia including a crack-smoking pipe, rolling papers, cocaine-caked spoons and cigarette ends are strewn across the surface tops.

But Whitney, 42, no longer cares.

She was one of the biggest female artists of her generation — with a string of ’80s and ’90s hit singles like I Wanna Dance With Somebody and more than 100 million albums sold.

Now she is a paranoid wreck hopelessly hooked on crack.

Drugs have devastated her once-famous beauty.

She is haggard, with dark circles under her eyes and a deranged look on her face.

She regularly disappears for days and weeks at a time — holed up in seedy crack dens in dangerous parts of town.

And she has blown much of her multi-million pound showbiz fortune on her habit.

Now family and friends fear the addiction will end in her death unless she can beat it.

The bathroom photo was taken by Whitney’s sister-in-law Tina Brown at the five-bedroom mansion the star shares with her drug-abusing hubby Bobby Brown in Atlanta, Georgia.

Tina, sister of Bobby, is herself a self-confessed former addict who once regularly took crack with mum-of-one Whitney.

She is now clean. But she said: “The truth needs to come out. Whitney won’t stay off the drugs. It’s every single day. It’s so ugly. Everyone is so scared she is going to overdose.”

In a shocking interview, the mother of six told how Whitney spends days locked in her bedroom amid piles of rubbish.

There the woman who co-starred with Kevin Costner in the 1992 hit movie The Bodyguard smokes crack, uses sex toys to satisfy herself and ignores personal hygiene.

When high on drugs, she imagines she sees demons and is being beaten by them.

The sad truth is that she bites and punches her own body without realising it.

Millions of fans will find it hard to believe that this was once the wholesome girl admired for her stunning looks and amazing voice.

The artist who started out aged 11 in a church gospel choir, encouraged by a family of top singers like her mother Cissy Houston, first cousin Dionne Warwick and godmother Aretha Franklin.

Tragically, drug-crazed Whitney has refused all offers of help to get clean and has had failed spells in rehab.

Tina, 42, said: “She’ll point to the floor and say, ‘See that demon. I’m telling you somebody’s messing with Bobby’. She always thinks it’s something to do with Bobby. But it’s her, hitting herself.”

In her paranoia, Whitney made a hole in the bathroom wall so she could see who was in the house.

Tina said: “She breaks everything — mirrors, phones, cabinets, appliances.”
She revealed Whitney’s 13-year-old daughter Bobbi Kristina was often frightened by her mum’s weird behaviour.

Tina also claimed Whitney was so wasted on drugs that she wet herself — then put on a baby’s nappy.

And once Whitney smoked crack on the way to a rehab clinic.
Tina recalled: “She’d say, ‘I’m just gonna act crazy’.”

Whitney allegedly calls a stream of dealers to her house and buys “eight balls” of crack — eighth of an ounce rocks.

Users usually break an eight ball up into smaller pieces.

But Tina said Whitney cuts open a cigar, puts an entire eight ball inside it with marijuana and smokes it.

Whitney was also rushed to hospital in 2003 with blood gushing from her nose — and emerged with a bizarre bandage on it.

A source said: “Everyone wondered what happened to Whitney’s nose.”

Witnesses at a Las Vegas hotel described how she had earlier looked “completely trashed”.

Tina added: “I understand what she’s going through. Addiction is a disease. Maybe this interview will save her life.” (Thanks to the Sun Online [WARNING: The Sun is a British tabloid and, as such, features photos of naked female human breasts on some of its pages to draw readers.] for the heads up.)

Allah is great, eh, you hoser.

Jam! Showbiz (Huh? - F.G.) Muslim-American network receives approval to start broadcasting in Canada
(AP) A first-of-its-kind Muslim-American television network launched a year ago has gone from being a premium pay channel to a basic-cable offering on several cable and satellite systems, broadening its reach from 10,000 to more than one million U.S. homes.

Religion of Peace and Love and Fratricide Update.

They kill moslems, don't they mommy?

AP: Mosque Explosion Kills 46 in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Two suicide attackers wearing women's cloaks blew themselves up Friday in a Shiite mosque in northern Baghdad, killing at least 46 people and wounding scores, police said. It was the second major attack against Shiite targets in as many days.

The Cold War is truly over. (But the hot one here at home rages on.)

Nikolai before he saw the light (left) and Nikolai as a true blue American hero (above).


When one of the baddest of the bad, a true symbol of evil, and a certified commie creep becomes a Republican and decides to run for the Maryland House of Delegates on a lower taxes platform against establishment Repansycans in a Democrass majority district, you know there is still hope for our benighted nation.

God bless Nikolai Volkoff!

When Nikolai Volkoff made an entrance during the height of his fame years ago, he was greeted by boos. Now he hopes for applause.

That's because Volkoff, who as a symbol of the communist Soviet Union in the 1980s was considered one of the most notorious professional wrestlers, is preparing for a run at the House of Delegates in September.

The 6-foot-3, 300-pound Volkoff, now a Baltimore County code inspector, is a veteran of the World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment) from the 1980s, when the likes of Hulk Hogan, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, and Rowdy Roddy Piper crossed paths.

Volkoff, a U.S. citizen since 1970 and now a registered Republican, is actually from Yugoslavia, not the Soviet Union, and has spent the last 10 years learning America's democratic process. He said he supports the GOP because its members helped liberate his country.

That would be 35 years, kiddies. Even if you don't pay attention, you learn.

"They loved me when I wrestled. I made a good living. I just want to give something back," Volkoff said. "I was a good wrestler and now I want to be a good politician."

Volkoff, who plans to make an official announcement in May, fled his native country at 19 and chose his wrestling character to educate Americans about the evils of communism, which he calls "the worst shape of capitalism."

"You can never say anything against government," he said. "You say something against the government and next day you're gone. American people don't know how good they have it here."

Dingdingdingdingdingdingdingdingdingding! That right there is enough to get Volkoff the vote of every red blooded patriot in his district!

The legendary wrestling manager Fred Blassie, who died in 2003, suggested the move, telling Volkoff, "If you don't like those bastards, become one yourself and tell people why."

Lord, have mercy on Freddie's soul.

Wrestlers will often enter politics or movies as extensions of their wrestling characters, but Volkoff does not indicate any ulterior motives, said Mike Mooneyham, who writes a wrestling column and been covering professional wrestling for 40 years.

How cool would it be to have a job like that?

"In Nikolai's case he really seems to be a genuine public servant," he said. "America's been good to him. He played a bad guy for such a long time that I think he wants to finally play a good guy."

Amen to that, Brother.

But unlike other political outsiders, wrestlers have a natural affinity for the public stage and Volkoff is no different, said Alex Marvez, a wrestling columnist for Scripps-Howard News Service.

"It's not unprecedented for performers to make this move," Marvez said. "You have to convince people to believe in your character. You need to have oratory skills and read an audience. It's a gift that can translate to a political realm."

Given that, it is little surprise that Volkoff draws inspiration from both former wrestler-turned-governor Jesse Ventura — a "good friend" — and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who he has met a handful of times.

"They speak from the heart and I speak from the heart too," Volkoff said. "That's the best you can do. Be honest. Be decent."

Volkoff, 59, did not disclose specific campaign issues, but said he is particularly upset with high taxes and the increasing cost of living. He remembered when he could spend "$2 for 20 cans of sardines, and now $5 will get you only six cans."

Damn right. I think politicians should be forced to shop for their own food. They might learn something.

He said he will campaign "mostly" on the Internet, but left open the possibility of wrestling at campaign events. Such a tactic was not met with enthusiasm from his opponents.

"We will wrestle in words, in debates, rhetorically," said J.B. Jennings, R-Baltimore County, the deputy minority whip and one of three incumbent Republican delegates Volkoff will face. "But there's not going to be any physical confrontation."

Get him, Nikolai! Rip that Repansycan's head off! None of them could last 15 seconds in the ring with you.

And the Democrasses would wet themselves and run away before they even got to the ring.

Some people familiar with Volkoff were surprised about his political intentions. Georgiann Makropoulos, who once ran wrestling fan clubs and has known Volkoff since the 1970s, remembers him off-stage as someone reserved, not a showman like Ventura.

"He was a big bad villain in the ring, but when you knew him personally, he was just wonderful," said Makropoulos, who now writes a wrestling magazine.

Volkoff's influence was strongest in the early 1980s when the country's relationship with the Soviet Union was most tense. His "worst moment" came in New Orleans after a friend misplaced the tape with his introductory music. Volkoff himself sang the song, which happened to be the Soviet's national anthem.

"I got scared," he said. "They were mad. They were stamping their feet and I didn't know what to do."

The stunt stuck and Volkoff performed the song until he left professional wrestling in the early 1990s.

Oh, man! I remember that song.

Volkoff is now married with two grown children, and although he insists he is retired from wrestling, he joined other WWE Hall-of-Famers in Orlando March 5 for Wrestlemania Legends.

Winning Maryland's 7th District won't be easy. It's predominantly Democratic — 25,841 Dems to 17,841 Republicans — and the 2002 elections brought in Republicans for the first time in more than 20 years.
Patrick L. McDonough, R-Baltimore County, a Democratic delegate from 1979 to 1983, is convinced that his delegation will prevail in elections over a code inspector "giving out tickets nobody wants" (Note the smartass comment from the Democrass traitor who turned Repansycan. Classy, man. I'll bet your mom is really proud of you. - F.G.) and who lacks any political experience.

This is America. Nikolai gets it. Vote for Nikolai Volkoff!

"It's not a circus, it's not a wrestling match, it's about peoples lives, it's about policy," McDonough said. "Hitting someone over the head with a chair does not really qualify you."

Policy. You see, kiddies, it's about policy. Policy shall set ye free! Can I get an AMEN for policy, my brothers? Can I get a witness?

When will real people start running for office again? (Okay, Nikolai is one.)

Congratulations Patrick L. McDonough (R and D-Baltimore County), you are Fyodor's Shilpit Wee Nyaff * of the Week!

Mr. McDonough obviously does not get it. That should be enough to get him tossed from office.

* "a misshapen little good-for-nothing"

Maggie Dixon, Requiescat in pace.

Army women's basketball coach Maggie Dixon has died. She was 28 years old.

Always remember, kiddies, you know not the hour.


(KDKA/AP) VALHALLA, New York - The college basketball community is in mourning, after learning of the death of Maggie Dixon.

Dixon, was the coach of the U.S. Military Academy's women's basketball team and sister of Pitt men’s basketball coach Jamie Dixon.

She died yesterday afternoon, but the news of her death wasn’t made public until Friday morning.

Dixon collapsed Wednesday at West Point. That morning, she had breakfast with her brother, Jamie.

Doctors say she had an arrhythmic heart epidsode, but don’t know what caused it.

She was hired a few weeks before the season began, and led the Black Knights to their first NCAA tournament appearance last month.

Maggie and Jamie are believed to have been the first brother and sister to have coached in the NCAA tournament in the same year.

Dixon says Maggie seemed fine when they had breakfast together Wednesday, but at a friend's house at West Point that afternoon, she said she wasn't feeling well and collapsed.

An autopsy is scheduled for today.

Today is the sixth Friday of Lent, a Day of Abstinence.

Abstinence
The law of abstinence requires a Catholic 14 years of age until death to abstain from eating meat on Fridays in honor of the Passion of Jesus on Good Friday. Meat is considered to be the flesh and organs of mammals and fowl. Also forbidden are soups or gravies made from them. Salt and freshwater species of fish, amphibians, reptiles and shellfish are permitted, as are animal derived products such as margarine and gelatin which do not have any meat taste.

On the Fridays outside of Lent the U.S. bishops conference obtained the permission of the Holy See for Catholics in the US to substitute a penitential, or even a charitable, practice of their own choosing. They must do some penitential/charitable practice on these Fridays. For most people the easiest practice to consistently fulfill will be the traditional one, to abstain from meat on all Fridays of the year. During Lent abstinence from meat on Fridays is obligatory in the United States as elsewhere.

Those who are excused from fast or abstinence
Besides those outside the age limits, those of unsound mind, the sick, the frail, pregnant or nursing women according to need for meat or nourishment, manual laborers according to need, guests at a meal who cannot excuse themselves without giving great offense or causing enmity and other situations of moral or physical impossibility to observe the penitential discipline.

Aside from these minimum penitential requirements Catholics are encouraged to impose some personal penance on themselves at other times. It could be modeled after abstinence and fasting. A person could, for example, multiply the number of days they abstain. Some people give up meat entirely for religious motives (as opposed to those who give it up for health or other motives). Some religious orders, as a penance, never eat meat. Similarly, one could multiply the number of days that one fasted. The early Church had a practice of a Wednesday and Saturday fast. This fast could be the same as the Church's law (one main meal and two smaller ones) or stricter, even bread and water. Such freely chosen fasting could also consist in giving up something one enjoys - candy, soft drinks, smoking, that cocktail before supper, and so on. This is left to the individual.

One final consideration. Before all else we are obliged to perform the duties of our state in life. Any deprivation that would seriously hinder us in carrying out our work, as students, employees or parents would be contrary to the will of God.---- Colin B. Donovan, STL

Saint of the Day and daily Mass readings.

Today is the Feast of St. John de la Salle, the patron of teachers. He founded the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (approved in 1725) and established teacher colleges (Rheims in 1687, Paris in 1699, and Saint-Denis in 1709). He was one of the first to emphasize classroom teaching over individual instruction. Pray for us, all you angels and saints.

Today's reading for the Feast of St. John Baptist de la Salle is 2 Timothy 1:13-14; 2:1-3.
Today's Responsorial Psalm is Psalms 1:1-2, 3, 4, 6.
Today's Gospel reading is Matthew 18:1-5.



[Links to the readings will be from the NAB until I can find another chapter and verse searchable Douay-Rheims Bible on-line.]


Everyday links:

The Blessed Virgin Mary
The Rosary
Our Mother of Perpetual Help
Prayers from EWTN
National Coalition of Clergy and Laity (dedicated to action for a genuine Catholic Restoration)
The Catholic Calendar Page for Today


Just in case you are wondering what exactly Catholics believe, here is

The Apostles Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son Our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen.


Memorare

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that any one who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession,was left unaided.Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins my Mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful; O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy clemency hear and answer me. Amen.


St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse, pray for us.


Prayer to St. Anthony, Martyr of Desire

Dear St. Anthony, you became a Franciscan with the hope of shedding your blood for Christ. In God's plan for you, your thirst for martyrdom was never to be satisfied. St. Anthony, Martyr of Desire, pray that I may become less afraid to stand up and be counted as a follower of the Lord Jesus. Intercede also for my other intentions. (Name them.)

Prayer To Saint Michael The Archangel

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the divine power, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

C'mon. You knew something like this was coming. It was inevitable. I wonder what she thinks about "global warming...

From Drudge comes some nonsense caused by More Money Than Brains Syndrome (Formerly Michael Jackson Syndrome):

Harry Potter author criticizes women's obsession with weight...

Heehee!

I guess it is time he gets labeled as an "Uncle Tom" or an "Oreo".

Dem Poll Warning: Black Republican Candidate Attracting Large Number Of Black Voters...

Document...

See if you can guess who wrote this.

There is only one among us who writes with this much fire and honesty.

Liberal War on Terrorism Heats Up: DeLay Finally Captured
by ???

If only liberals were half as angry at the people who flew planes into our skyscrapers as they are with Tom DeLay, we might have two patriotic parties in this country.

Any Republicans who didn't ferociously defend Tom DeLay -- which is to say, almost all Republicans in Congress, the president, and alleged conservative writers trying to impress the editorial board of the New York Times -- better hope liberals never come after them. The only proven method for a Republican to avoid having his name turned into a liberal malediction is to be completely ineffective. You'll notice there's no "Stop Lamar Alexander Before It's Too Late" website.

Heehee!

Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Ed Meese, Oliver North, Clarence Pendleton, Newt Gingrich, Karl Rove, Tom DeLay -- all these men saw their names used as curse words.

Only one of them was ever indicted. To wit, the comical indictment of DeLay recently brought by political hack Ronnie Earle. To finally get some grand jury to hand up an indictment, Earle had to empanel six grand juries in Austin, Texas, which is like the Upper West Side with more attractive people. In addition, DeLay knows Republican and gambling lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his associates, who have recently pleaded guilty to various other incomprehensible charges.

Liberals spit out all these names with more venom than they've ever been able to muster for names like "Saddam Hussein" and "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi."

A sign of the times.

In the wake of the trial of Faheem Thomas-Childs' killers...

Phillyburbs.com: Philly prosecutor urges creation of city witness protection fund
The city's top prosecutor is urging the City Council to set up its own $1 million witness-protection fund, citing a climate of intimidation that she says is hampering her office's efforts to bring criminals to justice.

Totalitarian Pennsylvania Update.

Here's a surprise. Totalitarian vote buyers (Rs and Ds alike) have no idea the damage their economic ignorance causes. Instead of helping low-income working families, this nonsense will price them out of the job market. Nice going, bozos.

The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

KYW News Radio 1060: Pa. House Passes Minimum Wage Increase
The Pennsylvania House has passed a bill that would increase Pennsylvania’s minimum wage, but the measure’s fate in the Senate is unclear.

Don't hold your breath waiting for the PA Senate to do what'sright, kiddies.

My Genius Pennsylvania Neighbors Update.

From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

CMU robot walks on water
Carnegie Mellon University mechanical engineers have built a tiny robot that can sprint across land and water with equal aplomb.

If girls ran the world...

I think Non Sequitur is a left-fascist trifle, but I am an evil white male. However, they have been trying to make a point about mohammedism of late and that is better than most of the whiny totalitarians can say.

Ok, now it is getting a bit tiresome.

There better be a very good punchline at the end of this.

Saint of the Day and daily Mass readings.

Today is the Feast of St. Paul Tinh, a Vietnamese priest and martyr. Pray for us, all you angels and saints.

Today's reading is Genesis 17:3-9.
Today's Responsorial Psalm is Psalms 105:4-5, 6-7, 8-9.
Today's Gospel reading is John 8:51-59.


[Links to the readings will be from the NAB until I can find another chapter and verse searchable Douay-Rheims Bible on-line.]


Everyday links:

The Blessed Virgin Mary
The Rosary
Our Mother of Perpetual Help
Prayers from EWTN
National Coalition of Clergy and Laity (dedicated to action for a genuine Catholic Restoration)
The Catholic Calendar Page for Today


Just in case you are wondering what exactly Catholics believe, here is


The Apostles Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son Our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen.


Memorare

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that any one who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession,was left unaided.Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins my Mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful; O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy clemency hear and answer me. Amen.


St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse, pray for us.


Prayer to St. Anthony, Martyr of Desire

Dear St. Anthony, you became a Franciscan with the hope of shedding your blood for Christ. In God's plan for you, your thirst for martyrdom was never to be satisfied. St. Anthony, Martyr of Desire, pray that I may become less afraid to stand up and be counted as a follower of the Lord Jesus. Intercede also for my other intentions. (Name them.)


Prayer To Saint Michael The Archangel

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the divine power, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.