The Theology of the Body: 105. The Language of the Body in the Structure of Marriage

In his General Audience of 12 January 1983, the Holy Father analyzed the sacramentality of marriage under the aspect of a sign. The sign is expressed in the language of the body, in its masculinity or femininity, as a personal gift to its spouse.


The Language of the Body in the Structure of Marriage

At the general audience of Wednesday, 12 January, in the Paul VI Hall, the Holy Father delivered the following address.


1. We now analyze the sacramentality of marriage under the aspect of sign.
When we say that the language of the body also enters essentially into the structure of marriage as a sacramental sign, we refer to a long biblical tradition. This has its origin in Genesis (especially 2:23-25) and it finds its definitive culmination in the Letter to the Ephesians (cf. Eph 5:21-33). The prophets of the Old Testament had an essential role in forming this tradition. Analyzing the texts of Hosea, Ezekiel, Deutero-Isaiah, and of the other prophets, we find ourselves face to face with the great analogy whose final expression is the proclamation of the new covenant under the form of a marriage between Christ and the Church (cf. Eph 5:21-33). On the basis of this long tradition it is possible to speak of a specific "prophetism of the body," both because of the fact that we find this analogy especially in the prophets, and also in regard to its content. Here, the "prophetism of the body" signifies precisely the language of the body.

2. The analogy seems to have two levels. On the first and fundamental level the prophets present the covenant between God and Israel as a marriage. This also permits us to understand marriage itself as a covenant between husband and wife.1 In this case the covenant derives from the initiative of God, the Lord of Israel. The fact that he, as Creator and Lord, makes a covenant first of all with Abraham and then with Moses, already bears witness to a special choice. Therefore the prophets, presupposing the entire juridical-moral content of the covenant, go much deeper and reveal a dimension incomparably more profound than that of a mere "pact." In choosing Israel, God is united with his people through love and grace. He is bound with a special bond, profoundly personal. Therefore Israel, even though a people, is presented in this prophetic vision of the covenant as a spouse or wife, and therefore, in a certain sense, as a person:

"For your Maker is your husband,the Lord of Hosts is his name;and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,the God of the whole earth he is called....But my steadfast love shall not depart from youand my covenant of peace shall not be
removed, says the Lord" (Is 54:5, 10).

3. Yahweh is the Lord of Israel, but he also becomes her Spouse. The books of the Old Testament bear witness to the absolute original character of the dominion of Yahweh over his people. To the other aspects of the dominion of Yahweh, Lord of the covenant and Father of Israel, a new aspect revealed by the prophets is added, that is to say, the stupendous dimension of this dominion, which is the spousal dimension. In this way, the absolute of dominion is the absolute of love. In regard to this absolute, the breach of the covenant signifies not only an infraction of the "pact" linked with the authority of the supreme Legislator, but also infidelity and betrayal. It is a blow which even pierces his heart as Father, as Spouse and as Lord.

4. If, in the analogy employed by the prophets, one can speak of levels, this is in a certain sense the first and fundamental level. Given that the covenant of Yahweh with Israel has the character of a spousal bond like to the conjugal pact, that first level of the analogy reveals a second which is precisely the language of the body. Here we have in mind, in the first place, the language in an objective sense. The prophets compare the covenant to marriage. They refer to the primordial sacrament spoken of in Genesis 2:24, in which the man and the woman, by free choice, become "one flesh." However, it is characteristic of the prophets' manner of expressing themselves that, presupposing the language of the body in the objective sense, they pass at the same time to its subjective meaning. That is to say, after a manner of speaking, they allow the body itself to speak. In the prophetic texts of the covenant, on the basis of the analogy of the spousal union of the married couple, the body itself "speaks." It speaks by means of its masculinity and femininity. It speaks in the mysterious language of the personal gift. It speaks ultimately—and this happens more frequently—both in the language of fidelity, that is, of love, and also in the language of conjugal infidelity, that is, of adultery.

5. It is well known that the different sins of the Chosen People—and especially their frequent infidelities in regard to the worship of the one God, that is, various forms of idolatry—offered the prophets the occasion to denounce the aforesaid sins. In a special way, Hosea was the prophet of the "adultery" of Israel. He condemned it not only in words, but also, in a certain sense, in actions of a symbolic significance: "Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry, for the land commits great harlotry by forsaking the Lord" (Hos 1:2). Hosea sets out in relief all the splendor of the covenant—of that marriage in which Yahweh manifests himself as a sensitive, affectionate Spouse disposed to forgiveness, and at the same time, exigent and severe. The adultery and the harlotry of Israel evidently contrast with the marriage bond, on which the covenant is based, as likewise, analogically, the marriage of man and woman.

6. In a similar way, Ezekiel condemned idolatry. He used the symbol of the adultery of Jerusalem (cf. Ez 16) and, in another passage, of Jerusalem and of Samaria (cf. Ez 23). "When I passed by you again and looked upon you, behold, you were at the age for love.... I plighted my troth to you and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord God, and you became mine" (Ez 16:8). "But you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot because of your renown, and lavished your harlotry on any passerby" (Ez 16:15).

7. In the texts of the prophets the human body speaks a "language" which it is not the author of. Its author is man as male or female, as husband or wife—man with his everlasting vocation to the communion of persons. However, man cannot, in a certain sense, express this singular language of his personal existence and of his vocation without the body. He has already been constituted in such a way from the beginning, in such wise that the most profound words of the spirit—words of love, of giving, of fidelity—demand an adequate language of the body. Without that they cannot be fully expressed. We know from the Gospel that this refers both to marriage and also to celibacy for the sake of the kingdom.

8. The prophets, as the inspired mouthpiece of the covenant of Yahweh with Israel, seek precisely through this language of the body to express both the spousal profundity of the aforesaid covenant and all that is opposed to it. They praise fidelity and they condemn infidelity as adultery—they speak therefore according to ethical categories, setting moral good and evil in mutual opposition. The opposition between good and evil is essential for morality. The texts of the prophets have an essential significance in this sphere, as we have shown in our previous reflections. However, it seems that the language of the body according to the prophets is not merely a language of morality, a praise of fidelity and of purity, and a condemnation of adultery and of harlotry. In fact, for every language as an expression of knowledge, the categories of truth and of non-truth (that is, of falsity) are essential. In the writings of the prophets, who catch a fleeting glimpse of the analogy of the covenant of Yahweh with Israel in marriage, the body speaks the truth through fidelity and conjugal love. When it commits adultery it speaks lies; it is guilty of falsity.

9. It is not a case of substituting ethical with logical differentiations. If the texts of the prophets indicate conjugal fidelity and chastity as "truth," and adultery or harlotry, on the other hand, as "non-truth," as a falsity of the language of the body, this happens because in the first case the subject (that is, Israel as a spouse) is in accord with the spousal significance which corresponds to the human body (because of its masculinity or femininity) in the integral structure of the person. In the second case, however, the same subject contradicts and opposes this significance.

We can then say that the essential element for marriage as a sacrament is the language of the body in its aspects of truth. Precisely by means of that, the sacramental sign is constituted.

NOTE

1. Cf. Prv 2:17; Mal 2:14

"I wasn't drunk, just loopy on sedatives." Update.

LEFT: Noted Catholic and congressthing Patrick Kennedy seems to have perfected feigning emotion like fellow sociopath King Goober II.


From BostonHerald.com:

Capitol police in Washington, D.C., investigating U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy’s early-morning car wreck have been told by witnesses that the Rhode Island congressman was at a Capitol Hill bar before the crash, the Herald has learned.

A source close to the probe said witnesses have told detectives that Kennedy was at the Hawk & Dove before he slammed his Ford Mustang into a security barrier near the U.S. Capitol. The source added that cops are continuing to seek evidence to confirm that Kennedy was at the watering hole.

The Herald reported last week that a Hawk & Dove hostess said the 38-year-old pol is a frequent customer and was drinking in the bar before the May 4 crash. Kennedy has denied he was drinking, blaming the accident on a cocktail of prescription painkillers and sleeping pills. He has since checked into a Minnesota rehab.

A Kennedy spokeswoman declined comment. A Capitol police spokeswoman also refused comment, citing the ongoing probe.

The crash sparked a furor within the Capitol Police Department after angry patrol officers said higher-ranking cops blocked them from giving Kennedy a sobriety test. Police union head Lou Cannon said two watch commanders on duty the night of the crash have been transferred.

A police report on the 2:45 a.m. crash cited alcohol as a factor, describing Kennedy as slurring his speech, being “unsure” on his feet and having red and watery eyes.

Kennedy told cops he was on his way to a House vote, even though Congress had adjourned three hours earlier.

Here's little Pat's re-election slogan: "I'm not as think as you drunk I am".

27 year old 'man" poses as 16 year old girl and her 17 year old brother on Myspace to lure a 14 year old boy into rape trap.

Myspace. Again. Ain't technology grand, kiddies? No wonder Rupert Murdoch is licking US Senator Hitlerly Shickelgruber's (N-NY) boots.

And, BTW, isn't it strange how the predator in this case is never referred to as a homosexual? He seems to fit the dictionary definition.

If a homosexual robs a bank, his sexual proclivities are usually irrelevant to his crime and therefore are not mentioned in news stories. However, when heterosexual pedophiles rape little girls, they are invariably identified by their sexual preference.

I smell a pro-homo agenda emanating from the nether regions of the antique media.

But I am not accusing anyone of participating in a conspiracy. As I always say: "You don't need a conspiracy when everybody thinks the same way".


A First Coast man is behind bars after police say he posed online as a 16-year old girl to lure a teen victim into forced sex.

27-year-old Travus Earl Belden is charged with attempted sexual battery on a minor, false imprisonment, and battery. His alleged victim -- a 14-year old Neptune Beach boy.

Police who arrested Belden say he told them he was planning to harm the boy.

"He (Belden) said that his intentions were sexual and violent in nature and he intended to do the young boy harm," said Neptune Beach Sergeant Ryan Hall.

I'm pretty sure he couldn't do that boy anything but harm.

Police say Belden created a MySpace internet account posing as a 16-year-old girl and chatted for weeks with the 14-year-old victim.

They decided to meet.

Sergeant Hall described how Belden planned to meet the 14-year-old boy in their online chats.

"He said, 'I'd like to meet you' as a 16-year-old girl, but you have to meet my brother first --he's 17. You want to make sure that there's nothing weird going on and make sure that you're a decent guy," said Hall.

Police say Belden, now posing as a 17-year-old 'brother,' picked the teen up at Jarboe Park in Neptune Beach, stopping at the Day's Inn on Atlantic Boulevard.

"He told the boy he needed to drop something off for a friend who was staying at the hotel," said Sgt. Hall.

"And when they got inside (the room) the suspect locked the door behind him, and the victim realized at this time something wasn't right and tried to leave, and the suspect wouldn’t let him leave."

But Sgt. Hall says, the teen fought back.

Amen to that.

"The victim was able to fight his way out of there.

Too bad the kid didn't have a gun. He could have saved Florida a lot of bother.

"The boy escaped with scrapes and bruises, but police say it could have been far worse.

"The suspect had told me that his intention was to force the victim into sex."

"OMG!!! Where's the parental supervision"? Well...

First Coast News spoke with the boy's mother, who said she had been extremely careful to bring her child up in an atmosphere of safety.

"From the time he was a little boy he knew never to go with a stranger," she said.

"We've had code words that if a stranger tried to pick him up he'd know to ask for the code word and run for help if the stranger couldn't give the right answer," she said.

"But I am amazed that this online person was able to gain his confidence over the course of a few weeks of chatting."

There comes a point (or many points) where your child has to make a decision without you holding his hand. This is where your faith in God (and your child's) will come in handy.

Both the victim and his mother declined an on-camera interview, but both are grateful for the outcome.

"Luckily my son is very strong, and the guy (Belden) is a little guy so he couldn't overpower my son."

Lucky.

Or could it be providence?

Police caution parents to try to know what their teens are doing online and suggest moving computers out of the teen’s bedrooms to more public rooms like living rooms or dining rooms.

Behold the genius of Tom Hanks, philosopher, theologian, crybaby...

...or, I'll bet you $20 ol' Tom is worried about his piece of the gross.

Hmmm...I wonder how many boycotts of...oh, I don't know...trusses made with non-union labor ol' Tommy boy has endorsed in his day?

From This is London (via Drudge):

The row over the imminent release of the Da Vinci Code film grew today when star Tom Hanks hit out at its Catholic critics.

Cardinals, speaking with the authorisation of the Vatican, have called for the Hollywood version of Dan Brown's bestselling novel to be boycotted.
They say the theme of the film - that Jesus Christ had children with Mary Magdalene and that hardline Catholic movement Opus Dei covered up his secret life - is highly blasphemous.

But Oscar-winner Hanks said objectors to The Da Vinci Code are taking the film too seriously, telling the Evening Standard: "We always knew there would be a segment of society that would not want this movie to be shown.

"But the story we tell is loaded with all sorts of hooey and fun kind of scavenger-hunt-type nonsense.

"If you are going to take any sort of movie at face value, particularly a huge-budget motion picture like this, you'd be making a very big mistake.
"It's a damn good story and a lot of fun... all it is is dialogue. That never hurts."

I guess this Hollyweird dumbass never heard of Stalin's show trials. Now that was some dialogue!

Gatlin sets world record in 100 meters

UPDATE From USA Today (5/17/06):

IAAF amends Gatlin's 100-meter record run
Justin Gatlin equaled but did not break the 100-meter world record at the Qatar Grand Prix last week, track's governing body said Wednesday. Gatlin received a time of 9.76 seconds, which was one-hundredth of a second below Asafa Powell's world mark of 9.77. The IAAF said Gatlin's time was actually 9.766 seconds, and should have been manually rounded up to 9.77.

**********************************************************

DOHA, Qatar (AP) -- Olympic champion Justin Gatlin broke the 100-meter world record Friday with a time of 9.76 seconds at the Qatar Grand Prix.
The American sprinter lowered the mark of 9.77 seconds set by Jamaica's Asafa Powell on June 14, 2005, in Athens, Greece.

Gatlin won the 100- and 200-meter titles at the world championships in Helsinki, Finland, last August. He said Monday he intended to break the record in Doha.

Olusoji Fasuban of Nigeria finished second Friday in 9.84 seconds, with Shawn Crawford of the United States third in 10.08.

Yet when guys dress in lingerie and sing songs from 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show', it's a good thing for homos.

After internalizing the message from Bareback Mountain (1. Sodomy is good, clean fun. 2. Sodomites are faithful, clean, respectful, and normal. 3. Sodomites are not depressed and don't do drugs. 4. Nobody could possibly get hurt if married men put their you-know-whats in other men's you-know-wheres.) as the effeminate elites demanded, some frat boys learned the second-hardest way that you just can't please some perverts.

This story comes (sorry) from PlanetOut Network, which seems to be some kind of "news" service for practitioners of non-Euclidean sex. Clever boys. What will they think of next?

SUMMARY: Four University of Vermont frat members are slapped with $1,000 fines after an incident that parodied the movie "Brokeback Mountain."

Four fraternity members at the University of Vermont have been ordered to pay $1,000 fines under Vermont's anti-hazing law after being charged in an incident that parodied the movie "Brokeback Mountain."

Wow. Fined $1,ooo apiece for a movie parody? That must have been some bad satire. The humor nazis are closer to power than even I imagined. No wonder Saturday Night Live hasn't been funny in decades.

Campus police issued civil citations Friday based on 20 witnesses' accounts of pledges being forced to wear cowboy clothes and suffer homophobic insults at a March 2 party at the Phi Gamma Delta house, the Burlington Free Press reported -- accounts the frat's alumni advisers have denied.

Now I get it, kiddies. Having never wasted their money by actually watching the movie, the frat boys mistakenly believed the movie was about sexual perversion and mortal sin when all the reviewers knew it was about love and male bonding and massive bleeding.

As normal boys will do, they proceeded to mock an entire universe of activities that make normal boys cringe. They are lucky they weren't executed for their monstrous hate crime.

"What they did, which I felt was homophobic in nature, was inappropriate," campus Police Chief Gary Margolis told the Free Press.

"There was underage drinking, furnishing alcohol to minors and there was hazing, based on what we learned."

Police singled out fraternity officers Scott Curley II, 18, and Eric Freedman, Bill Holohan IV and Geoffrey Robinson, all 20, saying they should be held accountable.

Despite Vermont's anti-hazing law, the Chittenden County State's Attorney's Office decided not to file criminal charges.

"I feel that the case would be better dealt with in context of a university judicial review," said Deputy State Attorney Ed Sutton. "It was clear there were actions that could be offensive to some people, but there was no intention by anyone to be hurtful."

Jean-Marie Nazetta, a spokeswoman for Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, disagreed with Sutton's assessment.

"I think it was pretty clear that this was something 'hurtful,' " Nazetta said. "If you substituted a movie about women, it would have been hurtful. They were using something that was a landmark film for us to mock people."

If you think that's hurtful, honey, you should be forced to watch what your son does to the guys he professes to "love".

Speaking of which, you did a nice job on the phrase "landmark film". It won't be able to walk right for a month.

Vermont lawmakers passed the anti-hazing law in 1999 after members of the university's hockey team were accused of forcing freshman players to drink warm beer until they vomited and to parade holding each other's genitals in an "elephant walk."

Speaking of pansies...

Fox Sports: Man sues Angels over Mother's Day giveaway
A man who was denied a red nylon tote bag during a Mother's Day promotion at an Angels baseball game has filed a sex and age discrimination lawsuit against the team.

Howie, baby. You gotta read that thing.

CNSNews.com: Dean Statement on Marriage Sparks 'Gay' Backlash

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean is taking heat from one of his party's most loyal constituencies -- homosexuals -- following an attempt to smooth relations with some of the party's most determined foes -- religious conservatives.

In the process, Dean erroneously stated that his party's platform defines marriage as the act between one man and one woman.

Dean made the remarks during an appearance on the Christian Broadcasting Network's "700 Club."

"The Democratic Party platform from 2004 says that marriage is between a man and a woman," Dean said during the May 10 interview on the television network founded by Pat Robertson.

"I think where we may take exception with some religious leaders is that we believe in inclusion, that everybody deserves to live with dignity and respect, and that equal rights under the law are important," he added.

Actually, the 2004 Democratic National Platform for America made no specific reference to marriage being limited to one man and one woman.

The platform only acknowledged that "[i]n our country, marriage has been defined at the state level for 200 years, and we believe it should continue to be defined there." The carefully constructed language leaves open the possibility that individual states will choose to expand their definition of marriage to include homosexuals...

Due to time constraints, we now move to further action...

Check out the reaction of the ultra-left sodomite wing of the Repansycan (laughably literal in this case) Party:

Patrick Guerriero, president of the Log Cabin Republicans, offered stern criticism of Dean from across the political aisle."Howard Dean puts his foot in his mouth so often that he should open a pedicure wing in the DNC during his tenure," said Guerriero, who leads a GOP homosexual advocacy group that did not endorse President Bush for re-election in 2004.

"Howard Dean's positions on LGBT issues have changed more often than the weather in New England, where he's from."The DNC chairman's verbal gaffes regarding homosexual rights are "not good for the movement as a whole," Guerriero added, "and he should be held accountable for these types of actions..."

Heck, even the bottoms are beating the stuffing out of ol' Howie...

However, the strongest reaction came from Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

"Gov. Dean is wrong about what the Democratic platform says about marriage equality," Foreman stated. "Disturbingly, this is not the first time he has misrepresented this important and affirming plank, and he has been asked before to correct the record and to cease making these misleading statements.

"In light of Gov. Dean's pandering and insulting interview" with CBN, "we have decided to return the DNC's recent $5,000 contribution to us," Foreman said. "We do so with great sadness, knowing that the Democratic Party has long been a champion of our rights."

...but everyone knows who they will vote for. After all, It's not called The Party of Blasphemy, Buggery, and 'Bortion for nothing.

They probably won't let you put up a flagpole, either...

...and your old lady's plastic flamingo collection? Forget it.

Honesty is such a lonely word...

It's true. I hear most Kennedys live face down in other people's bathrooms.

Bucky learns why they call it gambling.

Justice?

AP: Lone juror kept Moussaoui alive - report

A single holdout kept the jury from handing a death sentence to Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in this country in the 9/11 attacks.

But that juror never explained his vote, said the foreman of the jury that sentenced the confessed al-Qaida conspirator to life in prison last week.
The foreman, a math teacher in Northern Virginia, told The Washington Post that jurors voted three times — 11-1, 10-2 and 10-2 — in favor of the death penalty on the three terrorism charges that each qualified Moussaoui for execution.

On April 26, the third day of deliberations, the jury's frustrations reached a critical point because of several 11-1 votes on one charge. But no one could figure out who was casting the dissenting vote, the foreman said, because that person didn't identify himself during any discussion — and each of the votes were done using anonymous ballots.

"But there was no yelling," she said in an interview for the Post's Friday editions. "It was as if a heavy cloud of doom had fallen over the deliberation room, and many of us realized that all our beliefs and our conclusions were being vetoed by one person. ... We tried to discuss the pros and cons. But I would have to say that most of the arguments we heard around the deliberation table were" in favor of the death penalty.

Clever Excuse of the Day.

The Herald-Sun: Man says beaver dam, not estranged girlfriend, target of bomb
Otis Cecil Wilkins says it was a beaver dam, not an estranged girlfriend, he intended to blow up. But an ash from his cigarette fell onto the homemade bomb's fuse and ignited it, setting his shorts on fire and sending the 45-year-old to the hospital last year, according to Wilkins' attorney.

He pleaded guilty Wednesday to three counts of assault with a deadly weapon -- one count for his ex-girlfriend and two counts for other people who were near the explosion, including the woman's 3-year-old granddaughter. He had been charged with attempted first-degree murder.
Wilkins was sentenced to 300 days in jail.

Prosecutor Mitchell Garrell said he pursued a plea-bargain because the intended victim was uncooperative with him.

Sheriff's deputies said Wilkins threatened the woman. Then, according to the accusations, he lobbed the bomb at his girlfriend's Oldsmobile in Rougemont as she drove into her yard. Garrell described the bomb as a black bottle containing black gunpowder with wires protruding from it.
Witnesses said it exploded in "a large fireball" when Wilkins threw it. The bottle then rolled back toward him, igniting his shorts.

Wilkins, who was the only person injured in the blast, was treated for more than a week at a hospital burn center.

Public Defender Lawrence Campbell said Wilkins' target was a nearby beaver dam that blocked a waterway.

In a report on the incident, Wilkins played down the attack.

"I ain't no terrorist," he's quoted as saying. "It was just a little bit of black powder. It was just a little boom thing."

I wish the NSA was logging all our calls...

...'cause there was this redhead...I think it was the Fall of 2003. She gave me her number and I called but only got her machine. I left this really dopey message and then I lost her number. If I can reconstruct that message from memory, can you spy guys give me her number?

Floyd Patterson, Requiescat in pace.

Boxing has lost a gentleman and a champion who reigned when those two things were not mutually exclusive. May God have mercy on his soul.

AP and SI.com: Ex-heavyweight champion Patterson dies at 71

Floyd Patterson was small for a heavyweight, but that never stopped him from taking on the giants of his time. Good enough to become the first two-time heavyweight champion of the world, he wasn't big enough to avoid taking beatings from Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston.

Patterson, a North Carolina native, died Thursday at his home in New Paltz, N.Y., at the age of 71. He had Alzheimer's disease for about eight years and prostate cancer, nephew Sherman Patterson said.

A shy, quiet man, Patterson was a popular champion long after he retired, getting big ovations at fights. He was cast as the good guy in bouts against Liston and Ali, but was knocked out twice in the first round by Liston and stopped twice by Ali.

Patterson won fans because he had a big man's punch, but a small man's jaw. He could punch with the best heavyweights, knocking one opponent down 11 times in a fight. But he was also down a total of 21 times during his career, including seven times in an embarrassing loss to Ingemar Johansson, in 1959 at Yankee Stadium that cost him the heavyweight title.

"They said I was the fighter who got knocked down the most, but I also got up the most," Patterson once said.

Patterson would come back to beat Johansson and become the first man to regain the heavyweight title, then would beat him again in a third fight despite being knocked down twice in the first round.

Patterson, who won a gold medal as a middleweight in the 1952 Olympics, weighed only 182 1/4 pounds when he beat Archie Moore for the heavyweight title in 1956. He was still only 188 1/2 pounds when he was stopped in the seventh round by Ali in his last fight in 1972.

That was big enough against the fighters of the late 1950s, but Liston demolished Patterson when they met in 1962, stopping him in the first round in Chicago to win the heavyweight title.

Patterson said years later that President Kennedy had urged him not to fight Liston, who was reputed to be handled by mobsters.

"I'm sorry, Mr. President," Patterson said he told Kennedy. "The title is not worth anything if the best fighters can't have a shot at it. And Liston deserves a shot."

Patterson was so embarrassed at being knocked out in the first round of his first fight with Liston that he donned fake glasses and a beard to avoid being recognized. Liston had no trouble remembering who he was when they met a second time 10 months later in Las Vegas and Patterson was stopped in the first round again.

"He was very quick, next to Ali he was the fastest guy I fought," said George Chuvalo, who lost a decision to Patterson in a hotly contested fight that Ring Magazine named fight of the year in 1965.

Patterson fought for 10 years after losing his title to Liston, getting three more shots at the title but never regaining it.

He fought Ali in 1965, lasting until the 12th round despite taking a beating from the champion, who was angry because Patterson called him by his given name, Cassius Clay.

During the fight, Ali toyed with Patterson, peppering him with jabs and right hands, all the time asking, "What's my name?"

Former Ali business manager Gene Kilroy said the two reconciled in the early 1970s when Patterson came up to Ali while he was eating and said, "Hello, Muhammad Ali." They embraced and remained friendly after that.

"Ali always thought he was a real nice guy," Kilroy said.

Patterson's last fight was also against Ali, who stopped him on cuts and swelling on his face in the seventh round in 1972.

Patterson was born in Waco, N.C., and emerged from a troubled childhood in Brooklyn to win the Olympic gold medal and became the youngest man at the time to win the heavyweight title with a fifth-round knockout of Moore. The title was vacant at the time because of the retirement of Rocky Marciano.

But three years later, Patterson was knocked down seven times in the third round in losing the title to Johansson at Yankee Stadium.

Patterson returned with a vengeance at the Polo Grounds a year later, knocking out Johansson with a tremendous left hook to retake the title. Nine months later he stopped Johansson in the sixth round of their rubber match.

Overall, Patterson finished 55-8-1 with 40 knockouts. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991.

Former welterweight champion Tony DeMarco recalled meeting Patterson for the first time in the early 1950s, when the future heavyweight champ was only about 16.

"He was quite a fighter then. He could hit and he could move," DeMarco said. "He was a sensation then. When he put on weight, he was still fast. He probably lacked a dynamite jaw, but there weren't very many guys who knocked him out, either. I thought he was maybe a better fighter than people anticipated."

After retiring in 1972, Patterson remained close to the sport. He served twice as chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission.

Patterson resigned in 1998 after it was reported that a three-hour videotape of a deposition he gave in a lawsuit revealed he couldn't recall important events in his boxing career.

Patterson said he was very tired during the deposition and, "It's hard for me to think when I'm tired."

Patterson, one of 11 children, was in enough trouble as a youngster to be sent to the Wiltwyck School for Boys. After being released, he took up boxing, won a New York Golden Gloves championship and then the Olympic gold medal in the 165-pound class at Helsinki, Finland.

"If it wasn't for boxing, I would probably be behind bars or dead," he said in a 1998 interview.

He turned pro in 1952 under the management of Cus D'Amato, who in the 1980s would develop another heavyweight champion, Mike Tyson. Patterson fought as a light heavyweight until becoming a heavyweight in 1956.

A memorial service is scheduled for May 27 in Albany, N.Y.

Saint of the Day and daily Mass readings.

Today is the Feast of St. Nereus and St. Achilleus, members of Rome's famed Praetorian Guard and martyrs for the greater glory of God. Pray for us, all you angels and saints.

Today's reading for the Feast of St. Nereus and St. Achilleus is Apocalypse 7:9-17.
Today's Responsorial Psalm is Psalms 124:2-3, 4-5, 7-8.
Today's Gospel reading is Matthew 10:17-22.


Everyday links:

The Blessed Virgin Mary
The Rosary
Our Mother of Perpetual Help
Prayers from EWTN
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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.


Prayer to End Abortion

Lord God, I thank You today for the gift of my life, and for the lives of all my brothers and sisters. I know there is nothing that destroys more life than abortion, yet I rejoice that you have conquered death by the resurrection of Your Son. I am ready to do my part to end abortion. Today I commit myself never to be silent, never to be passive, and never to be forgetful of the unborn. I commit myself to be active in the pro-life movement, and never stop defending life until all my brothers and sisters are protected and our nation once again becomes a nation with liberty and justice, not just for some, but for all. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Theology of the Body: 104. The Substratum and Content of the Sacramental Sign of Spousal Communion

In his General Audience of 5 January 1983, the Holy Father continued his catechesis on Theology of the Body by analyzing the sign (form) of the sacrament of marriage into two aspects: the expression of the will to be united (the wedding vows), and the actual union when the marriage is consummated.


The Substratum and Content of the Sacramental Sign of Spousal Communion

During the general audience of 5 January, the first of the new year, held in the Paul VI Hall, Pope John Paul delivered the following address.


1. "I take you as my wife"; "I take you as my husband"—these words are at the center of the liturgy of marriage as a sacrament of the Church. These words spoken by the engaged couple are inserted in the following formula of consent: "I promise to be faithful to you always, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health, and to love and honor you all the days of my life." With these words the engaged couple enter the marriage contract and at the same time receive the sacrament of which both are the ministers. Both of them, the man and the woman, administer the sacrament. They do it before witnesses. The priest is a qualified witness, and at the same time he blesses the marriage and presides over the whole sacramental liturgy. Moreover, all those participating in the marriage rite are in a certain sense witnesses, and some of them (usually two) are called specifically to act as witnesses in an official way. They must testify that the marriage was contracted before God and confirmed by the Church. In the ordinary course of events sacramental marriage is a public act by means of which two persons, a man and a woman, become husband and wife before the ecclesial society, that is, they become the actual subject of the marriage vocation and life.

2. Marriage is a sacrament which is contracted by means of the word which is a sacramental sign by reason of its content: "I take you as my wife—as my husband—and I promise to be always faithful to you, in joy and sorrow, in sickness and in health, and to love you and honor you all the days of my life." However, this sacramental word is, per se, merely the sign of the coming into being of marriage. The coming into being of marriage is distinguished from its consummation, to the extent that without this consummation the marriage is not yet constituted in its full reality. The fact that a marriage is juridically contracted but not consummated (ratum—non consummatum) corresponds to the fact that it has not been fully constituted as a marriage. Indeed the very words "I take you as my wife—my husband" refer not only to a determinate reality, but they can be fulfilled only by means of conjugal intercourse. This reality (conjugal intercourse) has moreover been determined from the very beginning by institution of the Creator: "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh" (cf. Gn 2:24).

3. Thus then, from the words whereby the man and the woman express their willingness to become "one flesh" according to the eternal truth established in the mystery of creation, we pass to the reality which corresponds to these words. Both the one and the other element are important in regard to the structure of the sacramental sign, to which it is fitting to devote the remainder of the present reflections. Granted that the sacrament is a sign which expresses and at the same time effects the saving reality of grace and of the covenant, one must now consider it under the aspect of sign, whereas the previous reflections were dedicated to the reality of grace and of the covenant.

Marriage, as a sacrament of the Church, is contracted by means of the words of the ministers, that is, of the newlyweds. These words signify and indicate, in the order of intention, that which (or rather, who) both have decided to be from now on, the one for the other and the one with the other. The words of the newlyweds form a part of the integral structure of the sacramental sign, not merely for what they signify but also, in a certain sense, with what they signify and determine. The sacramental sign is constituted in the order of intention insofar as it is simultaneously constituted in the real order.

4. Consequently, the sacramental sign of marriage is constituted by the words of the newlyweds inasmuch as the "reality" which they themselves constitute corresponds to those words. Both of them, as man and woman, being the ministers of the sacrament in the moment of contracting marriage, constitute at the same time the full and real visible sign of the sacrament itself. The words spoken by them would not per se constitute the sacramental sign of marriage unless there corresponded to them the human subjectivity of the engaged couple and at the same time the awareness of the body, linked to the masculinity and femininity of the husband and wife. Here it is necessary to recall to mind the whole series of our previous analyses in regard to Genesis (cf. Gn 1:2). The structure of the sacramental sign remains essentially the same as "in the beginning." In a certain sense, it is determined by the language of the body. This is inasmuch as the man and the woman, who through marriage should become one flesh, express in this sign the reciprocal gift of masculinity and femininity as the basis of the conjugal union of the persons.

5. The sacramental sign of marriage is constituted by the fact that the words spoken by the newlyweds use again the same language of the body as at the "beginning," and in any case they give a concrete and unique expression to it. They give it an intentional expression on the level of intellect and will, of consciousness and of the heart. The words "I take you as my wife—as my husband" imply precisely that perennial, unique and unrepeatable language of the body. At the same time they situate it in the context of the communion of the persons: "I promise to be always faithful to you, in joy and in sadness, in sickness and in health, and to love you and honor you all the days of my life." In this way the enduring and ever new language of the body is not only the "substratum." But in a certain sense, it is the constitutive element of the communion of the persons. The persons—man and woman—become for each other a mutual gift. They become that gift in their masculinity and femininity, discovering the spousal significance of the body and referring it reciprocally to themselves in an irreversible manner—in a life-long dimension.

6. Thus the sacrament of marriage as a sign enables us to understand the words of the newlyweds. These words confer a new aspect on their life in a dimension strictly personal (and interpersonal: communio personarum), on the basis of the language of the body. The administration of the sacrament consists in this: that in the moment of contracting marriage the man and the woman, by means of suitable words and recalling the perennial language of the body, form a sign, an unrepeatable sign, which has also a significance for the future: "all the days of my life," that is to say, until death. This is a visible and efficacious sign of the covenant with God in Christ, that is, of grace which in this sign should become a part of them as "their own special gift" (according to the expression of 1Cor 7:7).

7. Expressing this matter in socio-juridical terms, one can say that between the newlyweds there is a stipulated, well-defined conjugal pact. It can also be said that following upon this pact, they have become spouses in a manner socially recognized, and that in this way the family as the fundamental social cell is also constituted in germ. This manner of understanding it is obviously in agreement with the human reality of marriage. Indeed, it is also fundamental in the religious and religious-moral sense. However, from the point of view of the theology of the sacrament, the key for the understanding of marriage is always the reality of the sign whereby marriage is constituted on the basis of the covenant of man with God in Christ and in the Church. It is constituted in the supernatural order of the sacred bond requiring grace. In this order marriage is a visible and efficacious sign. Having its origin in the mystery of creation, it derives its new origin from the mystery of redemption at the service of the "union of the sons of God in truth and in love" (Gaudium et Spes 24). The liturgy of the sacrament of marriage gave a form to that sign: directly, during the sacramental rite, on the basis of the ensemble of its eloquent expressions; indirectly, throughout the whole of life. As spouses, the man and woman bear this sign throughout the whole of their lives and they remain as that sign until death.

So why exactly must someone associate with homosexuals?

I don't know about you or Coach Portland, but I find the disciples of Non-Euclidean sex to be morally repulsive and intellectually dishonest. That's a deadly combination and I'm too busy trying to live, kiddies.


USA Today: Others make allegations against Penn State's Portland
USA Today recently spoke with five former Penn State women's basketball players who buttress allegations already made by Jennifer Harris that Lady Lions coach Rene Portland discriminates against lesbians.

Let's say Coach Portland discriminated against arsonists.

"I don't want any arsonists on my team" she might say. Or "If I find out you've been setting fire to your teammates, you're off the team."

Reasonable, right? Nope. You are way off.

You see, kiddies, arson is a lifestyle choice and is intimately bound up with many people's sexuality. Many arsonists cannot get aroused without flames, sirens, the odor of burning wood, et cetera.

That means Coach Portland would be denying any arsonists on her team their right to orgasm in the manner they prefer. And everyone knows that is unconstitutional.

"But Fyodor! Sodomites are born that way!"

Sorry, kiddies. Remember Fyodor's Rule # 7: There is no such thing as "born as". (Corollary A: Our destinies are not determined.)

The professional homosexuals need to propagate the myth that sexual proclivities are determined so they can coerce government into coercing us normal folks into accepting deviants as...well, as victims of discrimination akin to to the descendants of African slaves.

When was the last time you heard a homosexual say "I'm a homosexual because I like having "sex" with other men. In fact, I like it so much I use it to define my entire existence"? My guess is never.

Memo To Our Friendly Neighborhood Sodomites:
How can you demand respect from us when you have none for yourselves? Does hiding behind genetic fantasies really liberate you? Or are your guilty consciences tormenting you so much you feel it is necessary to deny free will exists?

Pardon the expression, but it's about time you start being men. Be honest with yourself about what you do and you just might discover who you really are.

Speaking of who we are in reality, Your Humble Servant proudly presents another installment of Pope John Paul the Great's The Theology of the Body...

The insipid Okra Whingefree cult hurtles headlong toward an intellectual Jonestown.

USA Today: The divine Miss Winfrey?

After two decades of searching for her authentic self - exploring New Age theories, giving away cars, trotting out fat, recommending good books and tackling countless issues from serious to frivolous - Oprah Winfrey has risen to a new level of guru.

She's no longer just a successful talk-show host worth $1.4 billion, according to Forbes' most recent estimate. Over the past year, Winfrey, 52, has emerged as a spiritual leader for the new millennium, a moral voice of authority for the nation.

With her television pulpit and the sheer power of her persona, she has encouraged and steered audiences (mostly women) in all matters, from genocide in Rwanda to suburban spouse swapping to finding the absolute best T-shirt and oatmeal cookie.

"She's a really hip and materialistic Mother Teresa," says Kathryn Lofton, a professor at Reed College in Portland, Ore., who has written two papers analyzing the religious aspects of Winfrey. "Oprah has emerged as a symbolic figurehead of spirituality."

I'll end this post with that bit of bovine flatulence.

Didn't Al Gore's illegal alien nanny rock him to sleep while singing the Star Spangled Banner in Spanish?

Matthew McConaughey, Philosopher-King.

The part-time actor and full-time knucklehead offers humanity his opinion on Barry Bonds and provides ammunition to those who believe Hollyweird should be quarantined in this e-mail to the Austin American-Statesman:

"Why root for Bonds"

If Barry Bonds did take steroids or not, even if you think he did or didn't, you gotta root for him because, whatever is true, or whatever you believe, he's clean now. Fact and perception.

So every home run he hits, like the mammoth 452-footer he hit in Philadelphia May 7, is a hit, a home run — for Barry, for baseball. It's a clean pursuit of the record, by maybe the greatest home run hitter ever to play the game.

Whether we admit it or not, we want that. We need it.

We believe in the game of baseball, and although it's somehow easier to root against and boo Mr. Bonds, deep down, we really love to see him succeed.

Look at the fans in Philly as the ball left Bonds' bat. Booing turned to oohing as the ball flew so strongly and longly upward and outward into the depths of the third deck. They stood to witness, and their jeers turned to cheers, as the man, Barry Bonds, who played for the other team, put a mammoth and unanimous steroid-free run on the board.

Maybe the other 712 were the same. Ironically, in a nation whose judicial system says we are all "innocent until proven guilty," we like to think of him as a guilty man who just hit an innocent home run, but that's another story for human nature and socio-psychology.

Whatever. He hit it, and when he hits it that far, we are reminded that the cynics who say he has now "lost" his power are just wrong. Steroids or not, that shot didn't need an extra "roid-assisted 6 feet" to get out of the ballpark. So we all know, and are reminded, 'roids or not, this man has more than the ability, but the talent, to be the greatest home run hitter in baseball history, and I think he is.

So, believe what you want, guilty or not, what the future tells or not, we should, and do, all root for Barry Bonds to break every record in baseball's home run history.

It's even more than what we love about the game; it's what we love about success. We, America, still love to see success. Keep it up. It's why we are who we are.

Just keep livin',

Matthew McConaughey

First, I don't want any of you to assume he was drunk when he wrote this just because his surname is Irish. That's profiling. And in the words of Ron White, "That's wrong."

Second, I do not feel qualified to comment on Mr. McConaughey's missive because I cannot figure out what in the world he was trying to say.

BTW, Henry Aaron will always be my home run king.

Right Wing Smile of the Day.

UPI: 'Da Vinici Code' parody to stream on Web

The legacy of Mayberry's Deputy Barney Fife is invoked in a New Hampshire man's film poking fun at Hollywood's adaptation of "The Da Vinci Code."

New Hampshire attorney Alfred Thomas Catalfo told the Boston Herald he got the idea for his spoof, "The Norman Rockwell Code," after reading Dan Brown's bestseller.

Catalfo's 35-minute film is set in the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass., and invokes Langford Fife, the son of "The Andy Griffith Show's" comical deputy, as his his symbologist.

After the curator of the Norman Rockwell Museum is killed, Fife "sets out to uncover the clues hidden in the paintings of Norman Rockwell," says a description on Catalfo's Web site, www.thenormanrockwellcode.com.

"I like the idea of taking that very, very heavy concept and really very European concept and making it sort of an all-American, mom's apple pie sort of thing," the writer, director and producer told the Herald.

"The Norman Rockwell Code" will make its international debut on the Web site within days, before the May 19 world release of Ron Howard's "The Da Vinci Code."

That's strange...I thought Bill Maher was a Mensa member with stones as big as his IQ...

Bill Maher challenged to intelligent-design debate
Author Ray Comfort says TV satirist too insecure to accept offer --WND

In vitro, no one can hear you scream...

Catholic teacher fired for in-vitro baby
Doctrine says procedure morally wrong because it replaces 'natural' conjugal union --Associated Press

The comedy stylings of Howie Spleen.

He'll be appearing on your tv until November.

Dean: Dems have much in common with evangelicals
Howard calls it misconception his party is 'godless,' without any values --CBN News

Of course they aren't godless. The Party Of Blasphemy, Buggery, and 'Bortion worships Man.

Religion of Genius Marketing Schemes Update.

The guys who brought you the JihadMatic Human Processor and C4 Adult Diapers are planning to give EuroDisney a run for its money.

U.S. Embassy in Iran to become 'Great Satan Park'?
Top commander wants new chapter for 'former American Den of Spies' --WND

Gratuitous Self-Hating Human Photo of the Day.

Isabel Roces, noted plant (and people, of course) hater, is obviously too wrapped up in her ignorant pro-beast ideology to hear the screams of the innocent chili peppers slaughtered for the sake of a dumbass ad campaign.

PETAphiles: 'Even If Animal Research Resulted In A Cure For AIDS, We'd Be Against It'

D. Keith Mano's dark vision of our future wasn't so farfetched after all.

Remember The Bridge, kiddies? If we don't start ignoring these people-hating lunatics soon, we are all going to be in serious trouble. Ignorance is ignorance and hate is hate no matter how many Filipina supermodels swallow it whole.

'Even If Animal Research Resulted In A Cure For AIDS, We'd Be Against It'
Anti-PETA ads in DC Metro use the group's own words

[Press Release] U.S. Newswire via Yahoo! News:

Most Americans would do anything in their power to save the life of a loved one diagnosed with a terminal illness. But most Americans aren't members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). The radical group dedicated to "total animal liberation" has made it clear that given the choice between saving the lives of sick people and lab rats, rodents should win every time.

In new ads running on the Washington, D.C. Metro system, the Center for Consumer Freedom draws attention to PETA's decidedly unethical hostility toward the use of animals for life-saving medical research. The ads quote PETA president and co-founder Ingrid Newkirk saying: "Even if animal research resulted in a cure for
AIDS, we'd be against it."

PETA's preference for lab animals over people has resulted in boycotts of the nation's most respected medical research charities - including the March of Dimes, the American Red Cross, the American Heart Association, the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation (Race for the Cure).

Most treatments and therapies available today to leukemia, diabetes, cancer, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer's sufferers were tested on animals before human beings benefited. The same can be said of anesthesia and countless surgical techniques that routinely save human lives.

The animal nazis better think twice before they cross Big Sodomy.

Gratuitous Tin Foil Hat Photo of the Day.

Don't look now hockey fans, but the Buffalo Sabres are on fire.

AP and SI.com: Sabres blow late lead then rally for 3-0 lead on Sens

Maybe it's time to stop referring to them as the "No-name" Buffalo Sabres.
J.P. Dumont's floater from the right circle 5:05 into overtime gave Buffalo a 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night and a 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

So much for a Sabres team that was counted out since the start of the season for being too young and lacking marquee talent. Buffalo, making its first postseason appearance since 2001, is one win from eliminating the top-seeded Senators.

"Since Day 1, no one thought we were going to make the playoffs," Dumont said. "We knew we had a lot of talent and character to do better than that. And we've showed it and proved it to everybody. ... We don't care what people think of us."

Added co-captain Daniel Briere: "I hope people keep not paying attention to us, that's fine by us."

Chris Drury and Maxim Afinogenov also scored and rookie Ryan Miller stopped 26 shots for the Sabres who have won five straight, are 4-0 at home and defeated the Senators for the ninth straight time in the playoffs, dating to a 1997 first-round series.

Dumont sealed the victory in a game in which the Sabres twice squandered one-goal leads, including giving up Jason Spezza's goal that forced overtime with 90 seconds left in regulation.

Taylor Pyatt started the play carrying the puck up the left wing and feeding a pass across the middle. The puck bounced high off the stick of Ottawa's Mike Fisher, but Dumont had time to leap and bring it down. Dumont then swiped at a bouncing puck, his shot floating in over goaltender Ray Emery's right shoulder.

"I saw the defenseman just stay there in front and he didn't come after me, so I knew had time to put the puck down," Dumont said. "Just shoot it and the puck went in."

"I didn't see it," Emery said. "Next thing I knew it was up there."

And now, the Senators are down there, a team on the verge of extending its dreadful history of playoff collapses. Despite registering 100-plus points for the fifth time in seven seasons, the Senators have only once advanced to the conference finals -- in 2003, when they lost to New Jersey.

This is a team that's never overcome a two-game deficit never mind 3-0, and has little time to regroup with Game 4 of the best-of-seven series at Buffalo on Thursday night.

"You can't give up," said Spezza, who scored twice. "We need to steal a game and bring it back to our rink."

Added captain Daniel Alfredsson: "It's frustrating. But as long as there's hope, we're not going to quit."

The Sabres won despite missing two top regulars -- center Tim Connolly and defenseman Dmitri Kalinin, both hurt in Buffalo's 2-1 win in Game 2 on Monday.

Buffalo limited most of Ottawa's scoring chances to the outside and then showed no signs of wilting after Spezza forced overtime by deflecting in Brian Pothier's shot from the point.

"Just an amazing feeling, an amazing feeling to see how we responded and how we found a way to win the game," Briere said.

The Senators' only hope might be whether injured goaltender Dominik Hasek can make his playoff debut after being out since hurting his groin during the Olympics in February.

Hasek practiced Wednesday morning and suggested he might be ready to return.

Senators coach Bryan Murray played down any speculation, saying Hasek hasn't indicated to him that he's ready.

The Sabres shrugged at the possibility of seeing their former star playing against them.

"If he does, fine, if he doesn't, we don't even want to comment on that," defenseman Jay McKee said.

Then again, goaltending wasn't the Senators' problem on Wednesday.

Emery had his best game of the series, stopping 21 shots.

The Senators' troubles are lack of offense, having managed just three goals on their last 72 shots dating to Game 2.

"Down 3-0 is tough," Alfredsson said. "We want to get it going, get some confidence and we can probably be dangerous again."

Notes: Sabres C Jiri Novotny made his NHL playoff debut filling in for Connolly. D Rory Fitzpatrick replaced Kalinin, making his second appearance this postseason. ... Senators D Anton Volchenkov, hurt during a collision with Buffalo's Paul Gaustad in Game 2, did not play and was replaced by Christoph Schubert. ... The Sabres have scored the first goal in all nine postseason games, two short of matching the NHL record set by Chicago in 1973. (Tony Esposito! Stan Mikita! - F.G.)

Ann Coulter: Conservatives Need 12-Step Program to Manhood

I love Ann, but she may have confused "conservative" with "Repansycan". Two entirely different animals. Of course, "conservative" ain't what is used to be, either. I recommend Ann use "people of faith", though it has drawbacks too.

It's pretty pathetic when a Kennedy is too drunk to drive into the Potomac. After the visibly intoxicated Rep. Patrick Kennedy crashed his car into a police barrier near the Capitol just before 3 a.m. last Thursday morning, he explained to the police he was hurrying back to the Capitol for a vote, a procedure known on the Hill as "last call." It could have been a lot worse: Patrick's designated driver that night was Ted Kennedy.

At some point in his scrolling list of excuses, Kennedy eventually claimed he was addicted to prescription drugs and checked himself into the newly opened Kennedy Wing of the Mayo Clinic. He explained he had been "sleep driving." If people fall for his story, his father, Ted, plans to attribute his last immigration bill to "sleep legislating."

Coming right on the heels of a three-year witch-hunt directed at Rush Limbaugh for an addiction to prescription drugs because of his politics -- as well as the continuing threat to put Tom DeLay in prison because of his politics -- you would think there would be at least some serious discussion of prosecuting the young Kennedy for his addiction to prescription drugs, too.

Perhaps the Republican attorney general in Washington needs to interview Democratic Palm Beach prosecutor Barry Krischer, who wasted three years and untold taxpayer dollars trying to frame Limbaugh, about the danger to society of prescription drug addiction.

Baseball has a system to protect batters from being hit: If your pitcher hits one of our guys, our pitcher will hit one of your guys. This is also the only argument that ever works with Democrats.

Democrats adored the independent counsel statute -- until it was used to catch an actual felon in the Oval Office. Then they noticed all sorts of problems with the law. Democrats swore up and down that women never lie about rape -- until that same felon was credibly accused of rape by Juanita Broaddrick on "NBC News," not to mention the four other card-carrying Democratic women who described being raped by Bill Clinton in eerily similar detail in Christopher Hitchens' book "No One Left to Lie To."

Conservatives will continue to be threatened with prison on trumped-up charges until Democrats start having to worry about being prosecuted for minor offenses, too -- though, in Kennedy's case, not as minor as Rush Limbaugh's offense, which never involved smashing his car into a police barrier. (In Rep. Kennedy's defense, at least he didn't drown the woman in his car and then disappear for nine hours.)

Thank goodness for small miracles.

Democrats have declared war against Republicans, and Republicans are wandering around like a bunch of ninny Neville Chamberlains, congratulating themselves on their excellent behavior. They'll have some terrific stories about their Gandhi-like passivity to share while sitting in cells at Guantanamo after Hillary is elected.

Exactly! You've been warned.

For a political party that grasps the concept of victory against foreign enemies, Republicans can't seem to grasp that concept when it comes to domestic enemies. Instead of taking a page from Sun-tzu's "Art of War," when it comes to fighting liberals, American conservatives prefer the Jimmy Carter unconditional surrender strategy.

Heehee.

Patriotic Americans don't have to become dangerous psychotics like liberals, but they could at least act like men.

Nowadays that's asking quite a bit.

Why hasn't the former spokesman for the Taliban matriculating at Yale been beaten even more senseless than he already is? According to Hollywood, this nation is a cauldron of ethnic hatreds positively brimming with violent skinheads. Where are the skinheads when you need them? What does a girl have to do to get an angry, club- and torch-wielding mob on its feet?

That's easy, Ann. Claim you were raped by a mob of white guys.

There is not the remotest possibility that a man who was recently defending shooting women in the head for wearing nail polish will so much as be snubbed on the Yale campus.

The Taliban claims they were misunderstood. They say they only shot women wearing ugly nail polish. Revlon, call your office.

The only violence on college campuses these days occurs when people like David Horowitz, Michelle Malkin and me show up to give a speech in defense of America. Then we need bomb-sniffing dogs and a lecture hall lined with armed police. But a Talibanist goes about his day at Yale unmolested.

Conservatives may shrink from confrontation with howling, violent liberals, but as General "Buck" Turgidson in "Dr. Strangelove" informed the milquetoast president still hoping to avert a nuclear confrontation with the Russkies: "Well, Mr. President, I would say that General Ripper has already invalidated that policy."

Well, conservatives, I would say liberals have already invalidated your "Let's all just get along" policy.The violence and threats of imprisonment have started. Now the only question is whether conservatives will choose victory.

The Evans-Novak Political Report for May 10, 2006.

The Culture Of Wimpiness that Porter Goss tried to eradicate at CIA seems to have triumphed. I am not betting on Senator War Hero to get the job done.

CIA Resignations:
The abrupt sacking and replacement of Porter Goss as CIA director obscured congressional dissatisfaction with the official behind the change.

1) Ambassador John Negroponte, the first Director of National Intelligence (DNI), effectively made the call that Goss had to go. His replacement by Negroponte's deputy, Gen. Michael Hayden, may mean further "militarization" of the U.S. intelligence and a return to business as usual at the CIA.

2) Negroponte wanted Goss out, and the former Republican congressman did not resist ending his short, unhappy tenure at Langley. While getting no help from Negroponte in cleaning up a dysfunctional CIA that seemed aligned against the President, Goss had found himself losing control over both analytical and intelligence-gathering operations in the agency. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, an experienced bureaucratic infighter, was expanding the Pentagon's creeping intelligence mission.

3) That was not what the Bush Administration and Congress appeared to have in mind in creating a new intelligence system headed by the DNI in reaction to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It was supposed to have restrained the Defense Department under the strong guiding hand of one official. But sacking Goss will not achieve that goal.

4) In the view of members of Congress responsible intelligence oversight, Negroponte is the problem. When he served as U.S. envoy in Iraq, critics said he was too smooth in protecting himself from criticism. That is the criticism made by congressional overseers of his performance as DNI. They contend that he has been interested mostly in avoiding criticism, not really addressing the shortcomings in the intelligence community.

5) Goss had the thankless and daunting task of rooting out malcontents in an election year from an agency where criticism of George W. Bush and support for Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) was rampant. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) urged Goss to clean house, and he tried. But he found an entrenched bureaucracy mobilized against him, as CIA staffers savaged him in leaks to friendly journalists, particularly at the Washington Post. Negroponte was no help to Goss. Although bizarre reasons for Goss' resignation have been floated on the Internet, sources say Negroponte suggested it was time for him to go.

6) Congressional discontent with Gen. Hayden to head the CIA, coming not just from Democrats but also from Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert (Ill.) and Intelligence Chairman Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) stems partly from unhappiness by House members over the way their old comrade was treated in being booted out. An expert in communications intelligence as director of the National Security Agency, Hayden does not seem suited to correct the CIA's deficiencies in human intelligence. He is expected to salute and follow orders as Negroponte's deputy and a military man.

7) With CIA careerist Stephen Kappes returning as deputy CIA director, the days of shaking up the agency seem at an end. McCain said that he wants to make sure that the return of Kappes, forced out by Goss in November 2004, "does not mean a return to business as usual." The White House would not welcome an airing of these issues, but McCain wants public hearings on the Hayden and Kappes nominations to disclose what is really happening.

8) The Senate Intelligence Committee is expected to take up the nominations as soon as next week.

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Memo To Mayor Stephen "Rough Rider" Reed: It depends on whose Al is being gored.

I know this story doesn't interest anyone else, but I think it's hilarious. Harrisburg, PA's mayor-for-life and noted smoker Stephen "Whoa, Big Fella" Reed has been hoisted by the petards (Sorry, kiddies. You'll just have to figure it out for yourselves.) of his fellow Democrasses who control the city council.

Harrisburg Mayor Stephen Reed spoke out Wednesday about Tuesday night's city council vote banning smoking on city property by asking if he was the real target.

It's common knowledge that Reed has been smoking for years. And Tuesday night the city council passed a bill that would make all city-owned or leased buildings and playgrounds smoke free starting in 90 days. Those who want a smoke now must go 15 feet away from the property to light up.
"The nasty politics that permeates the national, state and local system today is the reason for that. And shame on all of them and a plague on all their houses who do that," Reed said.

Golly, Steve, chill out. Your hissy fit is scaring the really sensitive denizens of the Commonwealth's capital.

What's the matter, genius? Don't you like it when the government screws with your life? Welcome to the club, you moron.

The mayor said he wanted to stay above the pettiness of the politics and not point fingers. Reed went on to say he does not have a problem with council members Wanda Williams, Dan Miller, Patty Kim or Vera Jean White.

Councilwoman Gloria Martin Roberts proposed the ordinance. News 8 tried contacting her Wednesday, but calls were not returned.

Currently, city employees are permitted to smoke inside City Hall in designated areas. But if this ordinance takes effect, that will no longer be the case.

Reed said he still has to see the final version of the ordinance before he decides if he will veto it.

Saint of the Day and daily Mass readings.

Today is the Feast of St. Gangulphus, a French hermit and martyr. Pray for us, all you angels and saints.

Today's reading is Acts 13:13-25.
Today's Responsorial Psalm is Psalms 89:2-3, 21-22, 25, 27.
Today's Gospel reading is John 13:16-20.


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.


Prayer to End Abortion

Lord God, I thank You today for the gift of my life, and for the lives of all my brothers and sisters. I know there is nothing that destroys more life than abortion, yet I rejoice that you have conquered death by the resurrection of Your Son. I am ready to do my part to end abortion. Today I commit myself never to be silent, never to be passive, and never to be forgetful of the unborn. I commit myself to be active in the pro-life movement, and never stop defending life until all my brothers and sisters are protected and our nation once again becomes a nation with liberty and justice, not just for some, but for all. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Solidarity by Steven Van Zandt (Blue Midnight Music, 1983)

This song represents the apex of Mr. Van Zandt's career. Lyrically, it obviously was the product of a blind squirrel with a broken watch moment for him. Most of his songs trumpet the usual infantile socialist totalitarianism of those "educated" in government schools.

Currently, Mr. Van Zandt can be found portraying one of my idiot Italian criminal cousins on an HBO show nobody watches. He is the third worst actor in the world.

Solidarity

Everybody wants the same things don't they
Everybody wants a happy end
They just want to see the game on Saturday
They wanna be somebody's friend

Everybody wants to work for a living
Everybody wants to keep their children warm
Everybody just wants to be forgiven
Everyone wants shelter from the storm

Look at me I ain't your enemy
Why can't we walk on common ground
We don't need to be fighting each other
What we need, what we need is solidarity

Nobody likes to ask for money
Nobody likes to play the clown
Nobody likes waiting in the long lines
Nobody likes being pushed around

Everybody wants their family protected
They only want to express themselves
Everybody wants to live forever
Everybody wants to be somebody else

Look at me I ain't your enemy
Don't believe everything you hear
This is no time to be fighting each other
What we need, what we need is solidarity


In 1983, Solidarnosc meant something. This song gets exactly one thing right: Real people don't give a damn about politics, movements, and causes. They just want their governments to leave them alone and allow them to work to make their kids' lives better.

From your mouth to God's ear, Little Steven...

Kosher Cures for the CIA: A little advice for Gen. Hayden from the Mossad.

From OpinionJournal:

Today, the Mossad is again at the top of its game. Among other coups, it is believed to have assassinated Hezbollah terror masters Ali Hussein Saleh in 2003 and Ghalib Awwali in 2004. So it's worth taking note of how the Mossad repaired its own house -- and of what two former Israeli spymasters have to say about how CIA Director nominee Michael Hayden might go about repairing his.

In a telephone interview, Efraim Halevy, Mossad chief from 1998 to 2002 and author of the memoir "Man in the Shadows," offers this advice. The new director "must first work quickly to repair the image of the organization by producing results. He must re-establish credibility at the political level, and this isn't going to be easy because political leaders will be wary of intelligence judgments. He must pass a message of confidence in and respect for the troops. He has to stand up for his people, and not take a back seat while someone else takes the rap. And he has to be creative and allow creativity and courage to show themselves."

Mr. Halevy knows whereof he speaks. "I entered my job in a crisis situation," he recalls. Not long into his tenure, a Turkish newspaper claimed--falsely, according to Mr. Halevy--that the Mossad had been involved in the capture of Abdullah Ocalan, the Kurdish leader of the terrorist PKK. The report, which put Israelis at risk of PKK reprisals, had to be discredited in a way that would be believed. Rather than issue a public denial, Mr. Halevy circulated a memo within the Mossad disavowing any link to the Ocalan operation. The memo then "leaked," achieving the desired impression.

There are lessons here for Gen. Hayden, starting with the fact that it helps to run an organization where leaks, when they happen, are authorized and purposeful. In recent years, the CIA has lost that ability, in part because of a deep-seated ideological animus to the Bush administration (witness the careers of anti-Bush partisans Valerie Plame, Paul Pillar, Michael Scheuer and Mary McCarthy), but also, it seems, as payback from careerists who felt rudely handled by Mr. Goss. If you want to plug leaks--and manage change--try getting the troops on board.

On the whole, however, Mr. Halevy is fairly sanguine about CIA prospects. "I think the quality of the intelligence is very high," he says. Mr. Halevy has interacted with the CIA for nearly four decades, during which he "has not seen a decline" in the caliber of its work. It isn't clear if he's only being polite.

Less optimistic is Uzi Arad, a former head of the Mossad's intelligence division and now the director of the Institute for Policy and Strategy at Israel's Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. "My impression," he says, "is that rather than galloping ahead to compensate for years of absenteeism and lagging behind, you have a kind of vegetating system."

Mr. Arad compares this to what's happened to the U.S. military in recent years. "The field of intelligence has been going through a revolution analogous to the revolution in military affairs," he says. Yet while the Pentagon is devising new technologies and strategies to cope with a new geopolitical landscape, the CIA is adapting "retroactively, as one mishap follows another."

An instructive example: "In the past," Mr. Arad says, "secrecy and compartmentalization were considered to be virtues in the intelligence community, often at the expense of synergy. That made sense during the Cold War, when the U.S. was confronting an enemy capable of penetrating the system. But al Qaeda and Iran probably aren't capable of penetrating the system the way the KGB was. So perhaps we need to tilt away from the culture of secrecy and bring more jointness, more synchronization, more pooling of scarce resources."

Nor is this the only problem Mr. Arad sees. "Despite the current reforms," he says, "the American system is very big, very complex, with many redundancies to protect institutional interests rather than security interests." The Mossad employs an estimated 2,000 agents and officers. The CIA is perhaps 10 times that size, and it's just one of 16 American intelligence agencies. Yet the quantity of resources has done little to improve the quality of U.S. intelligence. On Iran's nuclear program, for instance, last year's Robb-Silberman Report suggests America knows frighteningly little.