Attack of the redheads: Alicia Witt! (Part Two)

From the pages of The King Abdullah Gazette:

Attack of the redheads: Alicia Witt! (Part One)

From the pages of The King Abdullah Gazette:

Meagan Good is very, very. (The Last.)

From the pages of The King Abdullah Gazette:

Meagan Good is very, very. (Part Two)

From the pages of The King Abdullah Gazette:

ACK! Can hairless and naked men be far behind?*

Animal DNA changing with climate - study

* More may be found here.

Myspace.com. Again.

Apparently, this guy had his own road map to get a piece. (Sorry. What do you want for free?)

Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: Michigan girl flew to Jordan to meet MySpace friend

SAGINAW, Mich. — The grumblings about MySpace predators are bound to grow louder after this.

A 16-year-old girl traveled to the Middle East to see a West Bank man she met on MySpace.com. Katherine Lester was detained by Jordanian officials when she arrived in Amman this week.

Her mother, Shawn Lester, said Katherine had persuaded her in April to help her get a passport so she could go on a two-week vacation to Canada with a friend's family. That turned out to be a cover-up for her trans-Atlantic plans.

When Katherine disappeared Monday, the Tuscola County sheriff's department contacted the FBI, who traced the teen to a flight from New York to Amman.

FBI spokesman Brian Endrizal declined to provide any details and would not comment on the man's identity or background.

The Theology of the Body: 120. A Discipline That Ennobles Human Love

In his General Audience of 28 August 1984, the Holy Father continued his reflections on Humanae Vitae, turning his attention to natural regulation of fertility, which is consistent with responsible parenthood, though artificial contraception is not.


A Discipline That Ennobles Human Love

At the 28 August general audience held in St Peter's Square, the Holy Father continued his reflections on the encyclical "Humanae Vitae" regarding the Church's teaching on the transmission of life.


1. The Encyclical Humanae Vitae, while demonstrating the moral evil of contraception, at the same time fully approves of the natural regulation of fertility and, in this sense, it approves of responsible parenthood. Here one must exclude the possibility of describing as "responsible" from the ethical point of view that procreation in which recourse is had to contraception in order to regulate fertility. On the contrary, the true concept of responsible parenthood is connected with the right and lawful regulation of fertility from the ethical viewpoint.

2. We read in this regard: "The right and lawful ordering of the births of children presupposes in husband and wife first and foremost that they fully recognize and value the true blessings of family life, and secondly, that they acquire complete mastery over themselves and their emotions. For if with the aid of reason and of free will they are to control their natural drives, there can be no doubt at all of the need for self-denial. Only then will the expression of love, particular to married life, conform to right order. And this is especially true as regards the practice of periodic continence. But self-discipline of this kind is a shining witness to the chastity of husband and wife and, so far from being a hindrance to their love of one another, transforms it by giving it a more truly human character. And if this self-discipline does demand that they persevere in their purpose and efforts, it has at the same time the salutary effect of enabling husband and wife to develop to the full their personalities and be enriched with spiritual blessings..." (HV 21).

The proper attitude

3. The Encyclical then points out the consequences of such a line of conduct not merely for the couple themselves but also for the whole family understood as a community of persons. It will be necessary to treat this subject again. The encyclical underlines that a right and lawful regulation of fertility demands above all from husband and wife a definite family and procreative attitude. That is to say, it requires "that they acquire and possess solid convictions about the true values of life and of the family" (HV 21). Beginning from this premise, it was necessary to proceed to an overall consideration of the question as the 1980 Synod of Bishops did (cf. On the Role of the Christian Family). Later, the doctrine concerning this particular problem of conjugal and family morality, treated of in the Encyclical Humanae Vitae, found its proper place and fitting perspective in the comprehensive context of the Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio. The theology of the body, especially as the pedagogy of the body, has its roots, in a certain sense, in the theology of the family and, at the same time, leads to it. This pedagogy of the body, whose key today is the Encyclical Humanae Vitae, is explained only in the full context of a correct vision of the values of life and of the family.

4. In the text quoted above, Pope Paul VI refers to conjugal chastity when he writes that the observance of periodic continence is the form of self-mastery in which conjugal chastity is manifested (cf. HV 21).

In undertaking now a deeper analysis of this problem, it is necessary to bear in mind the whole doctrine on chastity understood as the life of the Spirit (cf. Gal 5:25), already considered by us, in order to understand the respective statements of the encyclical on the theme of periodic continence. That doctrine remains indeed the real reason, beginning from which the teaching of Paul VI defines the regulation of births and responsible parenthood as ethically right and lawful.

Even though the periodicity of continence in this case is applied to the so-called "natural rhythms" (HV 16), the continence itself is a definite and permanent moral attitude. It is a virtue, and therefore the whole line of conduct guided by it acquires a virtuous character. The Encyclical emphasizes clearly enough that here it is not merely a matter of a definite technique, but of ethics in the strict sense of the term as the morality of conduct.

Therefore, the Encyclical opportunely sets out in relief, on the one hand, the necessity to respect in the above-mentioned line of conduct the order established by the Creator, and on the other hand, the necessity of an immediate motivation of an ethical character.

5. In regard to the first aspect we read: "To experience the gift of married love while respecting the laws of conception is to acknowledge that one is not the master of the sources of life, but rather the minister of the design established by the Creator" (HV 13). "Human life is sacred"—as our predecessor of holy memory, John XXIII, said in his Encyclical Mater et Magistra—"from its very beginning it involves directly the creative action of God" (AAS 53, 1961; cf. HV 13). As regards the immediate motivation, the Encyclical Humanae Vitae requires that "there exist reasonable grounds for spacing births, arising from the physical or psychological condition of husband or wife, or from external circumstances..." (HV 16).

Living by the Spirit

6. In the case of a morally upright regulation of fertility effected by means of periodic continence, one is clearly dealing with the practice of conjugal chastity, that is, of a definite ethical attitude. In biblical language we could say that it is a case of living by the Spirit (cf. Gal 5:25).

The morally correct regulation is also called "the natural regulation of fertility," which can be explained as conformity to the natural law. By natural law we mean that order of nature in the field of procreation, insofar as it is understood by right reason. This order is the expression of the Creator's plan for man. It is precisely this that the encyclical, together with the whole Tradition of Christian teaching and practice, stresses in a particular way: the virtuous character of the attitude which is expressed in the natural regulation of fertility is determined not so much by fidelity to an impersonal natural law as to the Creator-Person, the Source and Lord of the order which is manifested in such a law.

From this point of view, the reduction to a mere biological regularity, separated from the order of nature that is, from the Creator's plan, deforms the authentic thought of the Encyclical Humanae Vitae (cf. HV 14).

The document certainly presupposes that biological regularity. Indeed, it exhorts competent persons to study it and to apply it in a still deeper way, but it always understands this regularity as the expression of the order of nature, that is, of the providential plan of the Creator, in the faithful execution of which the true good of the human person consists.

The Lord God set his bow in the sky as a sign.

In a breathtaking blaze of glory, Nature puts on one of its most spectacular sky shows.

Reds, oranges, blues and greens create a flaming rainbow that stretches above the clouds.

But this circumhorizon arc, as it is known, owes more to ice than fire. It occurs when sunlight passes through ice crystals in high cirrus clouds. It is one of 15 types of ice halos formed only when the most specific of factors dovetail precisely together.

This blanket of fire, covering hundreds of square miles, is the rarest phenomenon of them all. It was spotted in the US on the Washington-Idaho border around midday last Saturday.

Dr Jonathan Fox, of the US National Weather Service in Spokane, Washington, said: 'It was even more spectacular than the Northern Lights. I feel lucky to have seen it because it only forms in very rare situations. This is the first one I've ever seen. It was a breathtaking sight and it hung around for about an hour.'

To create a rainbow of fire, clouds must be at least 20,000ft high and the ice crystals within them align horizontally instead of their usual vertical position. The sun also needs to be at least 58 degrees above the horizon. Then, the magic can begin. (Thanks to the Daily Mail for the heads up.)

It looks like that whole statehood thingee didn't stick.

From Human Events Online comes the chilling tale of morons who want Hawaii to be ruled by a king or something.

Senate to Vote on Dismantling America
By Elaine D. Willman
Bill would lead to claims from indigenous Mexicans

· View the Map: The Balkanization of Hawaii
· Tell your senators to vote no on S. 3064


Racist Bill Would Segregate Hawaii
By Edwin Meese III and Todd Gaziano
Senate to begin debate on bill as early as tomorrow

· Did Anyone Ask the Hawaiians?
· A Call to Arms: Stop the Native Hawaiian Bill


Akaka Bill Stands Democracy on Its Head
By Richard O. Rowland
Send the Native Hawaiian bill back to Hawaii

· Even U.S. Civil Rights Commission Opposes Bill


Hawaii Governor Betrays People, Party
By H. William Burgess
Linda Lingle trashes Lincoln's two highest principles

· Let the Hawaiian People Decide Their Fate

Here's a surprise. Dumbass political parties all over the world think alike.

Suppose you are a leftist Israeli politician and your party stands for the destruction of your own nation. To whom do you turn when your website needs a little spiffing up? Why, The Party of Blasphemy, Buggery, and 'Bortion!

World Net Daily: Israeli PM's party plagiarizes from Texas Democrats?
Kadima rep warns WND against highlighting almost word-for-word similarities


Kadima USA, the American branch of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's political party, (Huh? Does the John Birch Society know about this?- F.G.) featured on its official website policy summaries that match almost word-for-word detailed paragraphs on the same topics published on the Texas Democratic Party's website.

In many instances, the only differences between the Texas website and that of Kadima were the inclusion of the words "Kadima," "Jews" and "Israel" in the place of "Texas," "Democratic Party" and "America."

One Kadima USA representative would not comment on the organization's website and its likeness to the Texas Democratic Party's site, but he warned WorldNetDaily against printing a story on the subject.

"You are making enemies with the wrong people," said Solomon Vas Diaz, executive director of Kadima USA.

Solomon Vas Diaz? Only in America, baby.

That reminds me of a story. Once there was a boxing manager who's fighter wore a Star of David on his trunks. In one interview the manager said "Only in America can an Italian kid pretend he's Jewish and beat up on Puerto Ricans to earn a living".

"This is rank and file plagiarism," said New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, D-Brooklyn, who first brought the website similarities to light.

"Kadima USA copies the policy platform, and I mean literally copies it, from the website of President George Bush's opponents in his hometown of Texas."

Hikind told WND he thought something was "a little off" upon browsing the Kadima USA site.

"Things seemed very generic, almost like what should be descriptions of an American political party," said Hikind.

So the politician performed a series of Web searches using select sentences from the Kadima USA site. He said the top search results repeatedly linked to the Texas Democratic Party's website.

Upon closer inspection, Hikind learned sections of both sites were almost exactly the same.

One section of the Texas website, entitled, "The Democratic Mission," states: "United by a sense of purpose and recognition that elections do have consequences, Texas Democrats are working to elect public servants who practice the most fundamental democratic principle: that public policy decisions should be guided by honest open debate. …"

A similar section was featured on the Kadima USA website until it was taken down following a query from a reporter for the New York Jewish Week, a local Jewish newspaper.

According to Jewish Week, Olmert's American site featured a section titled, "The Democratic Mission for Zion and Israel."

That section stated, "United by a sense of purpose and recognition that elections do have consequences, Kadima USA is working to elect public servants who practice the most fundamental democratic principle: that public policy decisions should be guided by honest, open debate. ..."

I guess boilerplate is still boilerplate, even in Hebrew...

The Kadima USA website reportedly even lifted the Texas Democratic Party's take on Middle East policy.

The Democratic website contended that "lasting stability in the Middle East depends upon a true, mutually respectful peace with safe and secure borders and governments dedicated to peace and democracy for Israelis and Palestinians.

"We affirm our long-standing policy that such a peace must result from direct negotiations between willing and responsible partners. Texas Democrats call for an end to all preaching and teaching of hatred and intolerance and for the withdrawal of support from agencies and programs that promote hatred. America must not dictate a solution, but we must be prepared to assist and encourage actions that lead toward peaceful coexistence, and we note with dismay the current administration's lackluster efforts to encourage those who seek a lasting peace in the Middle East."

The Kadima site included word-for-word most of the same paragraph but skipped the last sentence, which criticizes the Bush White House.

...flapdoodle, too. It kind of makes you proud to be a citizen of the universe, doesn't it?

Kadima's stated general ideology also mimics the Texas site.

"Kadima believes Israel draws its power from the trust and respect of other nations, not only from the might of weapons," read the Kadima USA site.
The Texas site announces: "Texas Democrats believe America draws its power from the trust and respect of other nations, not only from the might of weapons."

Sick.

A policy section entitled "Education" on the Texas website demands, "Equal opportunity for all Texans to achieve and succeed in their efforts to get a quality education, find a good job, buy a home, provide health care for their families. …"

The Kadima USA platform on education espouses, "Equal opportunity for all Jews to achieve and succeed in their efforts to get a quality education, find a good job, buy a home, provide health care for their families. …"

Jewish Week noted Kadima's education section does not take into account non-Jewish Israelis, including Arabs, who make up about 20 percent of Israel's population.

At least 17 sections of the Kadima USA site were similar or identical to those featured on the Texas Democratic Party's site.

One paragraph on the Kadima USA website actually spoke out against plagiarism.

"[W]e must build support for strong intellectual property laws that prevent piracy and other forms of theft worldwide," stated the Kadima site.

The sections in question have been removed from Kadima's website.

The Texas Democratic Party's website reportedly was posted in 2004, before the Kadima Party was founded by late Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Some questions even have been raised as to the originality of the Kadima name. The main logo on the Texas site reads, "Moving Texas Forward." Kadima is the Hebrew word for "Forward."

Spokesmen for the Texas Democratic Party's offices were not available for comment before press time. A voicemail message announced the offices were closed yesterday with employees attending a state democratic convention.

Marc Schneier, who recently was appointed by Olmert as president of Kadima USA, did not return repeated calls for comment.

Instead, Dan Wassner, a representative for Ruder Finn, a Jerusalem-based public relations firm working with Kadima USA, contacted WND and said Schneier was not involved in website development. Wassner said a webmaster was responsible for the site's content and was fired.

"Schneier did not know anything about the website. He wasn't involved in its development. He found out who was behind those sections of the website and that person was fired," said Wassner.

Schneier also is founder of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, the Hampton Synagogue in Westhampton Beach and the New York Synagogue in Manhattan. He has close ties to many significant Kadima donors.

One member of Kadima USA said one of its representatives was responsible for the website's content and not a webmaster, but he refused to elaborate.

"You have to talk to Schneier," the Kadima USA member said.

Hikind demanded an explanation from Kadima.

"I don't believe Schneier for a minute," he said. "It is absurd to think he wasn't involved in creating the stated Kadima USA platform. How can he copy from the Texas Democrats? He owes everyone an apology and an explanation. Olmert needs to look for new American leadership."

Hikind, an outspoken critic of Olmert's planned evacuation of Judea and Samaria, said he originally was drawn to the Kadima site after reading a full-page ad placed by Schneier in last month's New York Times that Hikind said implied most American Jews support the withdrawal plan.

The ad stated, "The American Jewish Community stands as one with the State of Israel and fully supports the Prime Minister's quest for peace."

"Pure baloney," said Hikind. "When did Kadima USA do a poll that showed the majority of American Jews support Olmert's quest? It's about as true as Kadima's website featuring original content."

Fyodor's Headlinks.

News stories that have absolutely nothing in common...

Or do they?

From World Net Daily:

Teen girls feel pressured into sex
Study shows many give in because they're afraid --Reuters


Christian women raped for changing religion
Radical activists in India inflict punishment for leaving Hinduism --Indian Catholic News Service

Joe Sobran, another real conservative, also has doubts about our form of government.

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.

Anatole France once observed, “The majestic equality of the law forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.” I read that as a youth and have never forgotten it.

France’s aphorism should be pondered with another — Bismarck’s, I think, though I can’t find it — to the effect that you should no more watch how laws are made than how sausages are made. Legislating is a revolting business.

Crooked politicians (if the term isn’t redundant) cut deals. Then they pass laws. And the rest of us are supposed to obey. Or else.

That is what we call freedom, kiddies. I think we should call it what it really is - relative freedom.

We have to obey not because those laws are wise, or good, or necessary, but because, however arbitrary they may be, they have the power of the state behind them. Unless we obey thousands of laws, far more than we can keep track of, we may be punished.

Thus every law is an “or else,” a threat. Keeping the Ten Commandments, or even all 613 commandments of the Torah (or Pentateuch), isn’t enough to protect you from the wrath of the state, which is constantly adding thousands of new commandments of its own — “incessantly engaged in legislation,” as C.S. Lewis once put it.

That’s a lot of threats. At what point will we have enough of them? This question is seldom asked, since all parties agree that we need more threats (alias “laws”) and the idea that we already have enough, or too many, and that some should be repealed, is inadmissible.

We have traded genuine freedom for license - sexual, moral, and economic (except for taxes, of course). That's where decadence originates, kiddies.

Though the state is the fox, and the rest of us are rabbits, this cunning fox has convinced most of the rabbits that they need him to protect them. Without him, as Thomas Hobbes might say, there would be a war of every rabbit against every rabbit. Thus most of us believe that the state that threatens us simultaneously guarantees our safety. No wonder many Russians yearn for another Stalin.

Ask the people of East St. Louis how safe they feel.

To most people in our devoutly political age, disbelief in the state is political atheism. We need government, don’t we, even if politicians are crooked? Even if government is organized force and its laws are, at bottom, extortionate threats of violence? Even if government is what makes huge wars possible?

Huge governments make huge wars possible. Wouldn't it be better if we just asassinated every Hitler, Lenin, or Mao we meet? Isn't that why precision guided munitions were invented? Let's just whack ol' President Hungadunga with a 500 pound bomb. Then we'll keep killing their leaders until they come up with one willing to play ball. How is that less moral than killing tens of thousands of ordinary Iranians is an old fashioned war?

Some Christians see obedience to the state as a religious duty. Odd that Jesus said nothing about it. He did call the Pharisees “blind guides,” who had obfuscated the commandments of God by multiplying the commandments of men, which sounds like a prophecy of the modern state. No wonder he was crucified.

Actually, I believe there is a Jewish saying that goes something like this: "The law of the land is the law". Of course, Jews have learned in the hardest of ways to keep their heads down. Catholics have no excuse. Protestants...well, volumes could be written.

How can there be a duty to obey countless fickle commandments negotiated by conspiring politicians meeting in what they themselves call “closed session”? Imagine what Jefferson would have thought of the staggering quantity of government secrets and “classified” information we take for granted — things the government withholds from us on the pretext that they have to be withheld from our enemies, including the defunct Nazi and Soviet regimes!

Joe scores major points with that one.

These days you can never be sure you aren’t violating these myriad commandments of men, as I once did literally unconsciously — when my little grandsons took my unlicensed puppy for a walk while I was asleep. Luckily a vigilant policeman, protecting the public, caught the villains. I got a ticket, with a threat to revoke my driver’s license if I didn’t pay the fine.

Did you ever notice how it always comes down to pets in America?

And who hasn’t had similar experiences? Land of the Free? I’d call it the Land of the Licensed. We are “free” to do only what our rulers choose to permit. That’s hardly what our ancestors meant by freedom.

He's right, kiddies.

If the words tyranny and servitude now sound rather antique to us, I think it’s because we no longer recognize them when we see them, even if they apply to us. George III was called a tyrant for far less than the U.S. Government does every day.

EXACTLY!

Now the bar for despotism has been raised; we’re content with anything less onerous than Hitler and Stalin, and our discontents are assuaged by assurances that, after all, we enjoy the privilege of living in a democracy.

Maybe democracy really is, as Churchill said, the worst form of government except for all the others that have been tried. You can see his point. I hope you can also see the point he didn’t realize he was making.

Pat Buchanan offers a dose of reality for the democracy fetishists.

In the best tradition of Catholic polemicists, Pat Buchanan tries to remind the Land of the Free that freedom without righteousness is doomed. And who thinks we're producing righteous people in sufficient quantities these days?

Writing in that fateful year, 1939, T.S. Eliot, intellectual and Christian, admonished his contemporaries who had placed their faith in the triumph of democracy. Democracy is not enough, Eliot wrote.

''As political philosophy derives its sanction from ethics, and ethics from the truth of religion, it is only by returning to the eternal source of truth that we can hope for any social organization which will not, to its ultimate destruction, ignore some essential aspect of reality.

''The term 'democracy,' as I have said again and again, does not contain enough positive content to stand alone against the forces you dislike – it can easily be transformed by them. If you will not have God (and He is a jealous God), you should pay your respects to Hitler and Stalin.''

Amen to that, Brother. I thank God we had what was necessay to eventually defeat both totalitarian regimes. We have to admit our decadence has made us weaker. One of the consequences of this is the increased likelihood of our use of nuclear weapons. Protracted wars will be unwinnable for us.

When Eliot wrote, the world had before it a textbook example of how democracy can be exploited by its enemies: the Third Reich.

After his failed Beer Hall Putsch in 1923, Hitler decided to take the longer road to power, the democracy road.

He won a fair election with the help of the German communists.

Named chancellor of Germany as leader of the largest minority party in the Reichstag in 1933, Hitler used plebiscites to enable the German people to participate in his rule and ratify his policies. After the reoccupation of the Rhineland and the Anschluss with Austria, national referenda were held. Up to 99 percent of all Germans endorsed his actions. By Munich, he was the most popular political leader in Europe.

This, then, is the point. Democracy is but a process by which people participate in choosing and confirming their rulers. But if the peoples of Europe have lost their belief in the truths of Christianity – the faith that made Europe – and the morality and ethics derived from those truths, they can wind up with a hell on earth.

The preceding paragraph should be tattooed backwards on everyone's forehead.

Which brings us to Holland, a nation that can rightfully claim to be in the avant-garde of post-Christian Europe.

Make that post-reality Europe.

In Amsterdam, in the Red Light District, there are brothels, sex shops and sex museums. Women advertise their charms in storefronts. Window prostitution has been legalized, as has possession of marijuana and hashish, which are sold over the counter in coffee shops. Drugs are done openly. Pornography is pervasive.

Amsterdam has a ''liberal and tolerant attitude,'' runs a web ad. ''Instead of criminalizing everything, this upfront city wears its heart on its sleeve.'' Not to be outdone, Utrecht has a canal-based red light district. Rotterdam has sex clubs and private houses for the legalized enjoyment of the pleasures of the flesh.

SEX IS DEATH for nations, too.

Holland also leads Europe in the ''liberal and tolerant'' stance it has taken toward suicide. In April 2002, a Dutch law took effect permitting physicians to assist in euthanasia and suicides so long as the procedure is carried out in a medically appropriate fashion.

Anyone 16 or over has a right to suicide. If you are between 12 and 16, you have to get your guardian's approval to kill yourself. In World War II, the Dutch doctors who resisted the Nazi euthanasia program were heroes. Apparently, those doctors were just behind the times.

And now they're all dead.

The latest news from Holland is that a new party is about to be formed, the Charity, Freedom and Diversity Party. Principal platform plank: reduction of the legal age for sex from 16 to 12 years old.

''We are going to shake The Hague awake!'' say the pedophiles of Holland, for whom dropping the age for sex to 12 is but the beginning. They wish to eradicate all prohibitions on sex with children and with animals.

How sick is that? Wait a minute...Didn't Hitlery endorse the abolition of all Age of Consent laws?

This, of course, would cheer the late Dr. Alfred Kinsey, the American sexologist whose ''researchers'' either abused scores of children and infants, or who used the testimony of child-molesters to make the case that adult-child sex can be beneficial to both.

"Doctor" Kinsey (his education taught him to study bugs, not people) is surely rotting in a particularly nasty circle of Hell at this moment. Sadly, the havoc he wreaked still plagues us.

Which brings us back to Eliot's point. If one rejects Christianity, and the morality and ethics that proceed from it, on what ground does one stand to outlaw drugs, prostitution, euthanasia, assisted suicide and sex with children or dogs?

None whatsoever.

Holland today, and America – with its toll of aborted babies now nearing the 50 million mark since Roe v. Wade – raise profound questions for conservatives and traditionalists.

What if the free society chooses to become a decadent and depraved society? Do we still owe it allegiance and loyalty? Does a community have the right to impose its values, if those values are rooted in religion, on a minority that disbelieves in those values? We certainly did that during the civil rights era of the 1960s.

Those who freely choose to sin are slaves.

At what point does a regime, even if democratically elected, become illegitimate, as surely Hitler's was by the time Eliot wrote?

''What makes you think the West is worth saving?'' the priest asked Whittaker Chambers when he visited him in that hospital room in the 1950s. Good question then. Better question now.

Amen to all that, Brother Pat.

Rest assured, kiddies, we will get exactly what we deserve. Eventually.

Perhaps the Muslims, who may well be a majority in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague in 10 years, will moot the issue for us all.

Golly, Sergey, that's really, really big of you...

...but what are you going to do to atone for your sins?

AP: Brin says Google compromised principles

Google Inc. co-founder Sergey Brin acknowledged Tuesday the dominant Internet company has compromised its principles by accommodating Chinese censorship demands. He said Google is wrestling to make the deal work before deciding whether to reverse course.

Meeting with reporters near Capitol Hill, Brin said Google had agreed to the censorship demands only after Chinese authorities blocked its service in that country. Google's rivals accommodated the same demands — which Brin described as "a set of rules that we weren't comfortable with" — without international criticism, he said.

"We felt that perhaps we could compromise our principles but provide ultimately more information for the Chinese and be a more effective service and perhaps make more of a difference," Brin said.

Brin also addressed Internet users' expectations of privacy in an era of increased government surveillance, saying Americans misunderstand the limited safeguards of their personal electronic information.

"I think it's interesting that the expectations of people with respect to what happens to their data seems to be different than what is actually happening," he said.

Google has battled the U.S. Justice Department in court seeking to limit the amount of information the government can get about users' Internet searches. It also says it has not participated in any programs with the National Security Agency to collect Internet communications without warrants.

Google's free e-mail service is among the Internet's most popular.

Brin visited Washington to ask U.S. senators to approve a plan that would prevent telephone and cable companies from collecting premium fees from companies such as Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! for faster delivery of their services. Brin, dressed casually in jeans, sneakers and a black sport jacket, said he wasn't sure whether he changed any lawmakers' minds.
Google's China-approved Web service omits politically sensitive information that might be retrieved during Internet searches, such as details about the 1989 suppression of political unrest in Tiananmen Square. Its agreement with China has provoked considerable criticism from human rights groups.

"Perhaps now the principled approach makes more sense," Brin said.
The Paris-based group Reporters Without Borders said Tuesday that Google's main Web site, http://www.google.com, was no longer accessible in most Chinese provinces due to censorship efforts, and that it was completely inaccessible throughout China on May 31.

Brin said Google is trying to improve its censored search service, Google.cn, before deciding whether to reverse course. He said virtually all the company's customers in China use the non-censored service.

"It's perfectly reasonable to do something different, to say, 'Look, we're going to stand by the principle against censorship and we won't actually operate there.' That's an alternate path," Brin said. "It's not where we chose to go right now, but I can sort of see how people came to different conclusions about doing the right thing."

Saint of the Day and daily Mass readings.

Today is the Feast of St. Pelagia of Antioch, a virgin martyred at age fifteen. Pray for us, all you angels and saints.


Today's reading is 2 Timothy 3:10-17.
Today's Responsorial Psalm is Psalms 119:157, 160, 161, 165, 166, 168.
Today's Gospel reading is Mark 12:35-37.


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.


Prayer For Vocations

Send forth your Spirit, Lord, into the hearts of your faithful people, that we may be conscious of our vocation to holiness and sevice to others. Grant that many of us may dedicate ourselves to You through the priesthood and the religious life.We pray especially for the needs of our own parish and diocese. Grant that we may always have sufficient good and holy priests, and dedicated Sisters to serve our commumities.We pray, too, for religious orders; that generous men may join them to become zealous missionaries in preaching the Gospel in word and action, especially to the poor and abandoned.We make this prayer through Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Redeemer. Amen.

It Takes A Village To Staff A Gestapo Unit Update.

(I recently received a note from Herr Goebbels, Hitlery's spokesthingee. It said her name should be spelled "Schicklgruber", not "Shickelgruber". Since I am not a fool, I will comply.)

US Senator Hitlery Schicklgruber (N-NY) seems to be all over the antique media these days. Strangely, the stories don't seem to be happy ones anymore...

Insight: Hillary OKs ‘loving couple’ strategy for 2008

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has approved plans to foil any Republican Party campaign to attack her marriage in the 2008 presidential election.

Democratic Party sources said Mrs. Clinton has decided to force the issue of her relationship with Bill Clinton during her current re-election campaign for senator of New York. The decision has included giving the former president a high-profile role over the next few months.

"You're going to see Hillary and Bill together a lot during the campaign," a party source knowledgeable of Mrs. Clinton’s campaign said. "Bill will be politicking alone and with Hillary, and the idea is to present them as a loving couple."

The sources said Mrs. Clinton has assessed that the GOP plans to make her marriage a key issue in any presidential race in 2008. They said this could include questions as to whether the Clintons are living together as husband and wife or are simply maintaining a marriage of convenience to preserve Mrs. Clinton's presidential ambitions. The Clintons have been married for 30 years.

Over the last few weeks, Mrs. Clinton has leaked information to friendly media outlets, including the New York Times, on her purportedly tension-free marriage with Mr. Clinton. The leaks portrayed an extremely busy couple who spend about two weeks per month together but avoid public appearances.

"There was widespread expectation after Bill left office that their marriage was over," a source close to the Clinton campaign said. "But that didn't happen and in New York, this was never an issue. But the dynamics of this marriage would be definitely addressed and Hillary wants this to be resolved now rather than in 2008."

Mrs. Clinton has approved a campaign video that features Mr. Clinton, in which he praises his wife. The 18-minute video, shown at the state Democratic convention in Buffalo last week, seeks to portray a happy and mutually supportive couple.

"She could have had a much easier and more lucrative life, but it wouldn't have been her life," Mr. Clinton says.

CNET News.com: Sen. Clinton: Feds must help parents on video games

New Poll Lets Readers Vote on Hillary Clinton’s Most Vicious Quotes
[Press Release] PR Web - Hillary Clinton calls Coulter book “vicious,” prompting editor of Hillary quote book to claim that no one in politics is more vicious than the NY senator. Unveils online poll to let Americans vote on Hillary’s many malicious statements. “That’s chutzpah!”

Hillary Clinton jokes about hairstyle
The Times of India - Hillary was famous for her constantly changing hairstyle. (AP) NEW YORK: Senator Hillary Clinton, wife of former US President Bill Clinton, was famous for her constantly changing hairstyle and joked about it at a Women for Hillary luncheon.


Clinton media guide helps parents protect kids
Albany Business Journal - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) released a media guide to help parents make their home a safe media environment this summer.

Clinton Attacks ESRB in New Media Guide
Kotaku - Senator Hillary Clinton certainly wears her heart on her sleeve in the Media Guide for Parents she released this morning. Sure she explains the current system, but then she quickly points to a...


Sen. Clinton: Feds must help parents on video games
ZDNet - Hillary Clinton, a longtime critic of video games, calls on the government to do more to find out how electronic media harms kids.

Fineman: If Not Hillary, Then Who?
Newsweek - There are at least 11 potential challengers to Hillary Clinton's presidential bid. Meet one of them, Christopher Dodd.


Some Democrats fear Clinton bid
MSNBC - Jun 07 8:07 AMPolitically active Democrats voice a sense of resignation, verging on fatalism, about a Hillary Clinton run for the 2008 presidential nomination. MSNBC.com's Tom Curry reports on the anti-Hillary sentiment.

Clinton’s ethanol ideas are flawed
Tribune Chronicle - Jun 07 9:14 PMIt’s no secret that New York Sen. Hillary Clinton has her eye on the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

TV Is Surrogate Parent, Says Clinton
Broadcasting and Cable - Jun 07 11:21 AMSpeaking to a content-control forum on Wednesday, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) said the country was in the midst of a social experiment of TV as surrogate parent, so it better bone up on the repercussions of that electronic babysitter.

Warner Raises Questions About a Clinton Candidacy
New York Times - Jun 06 7:52 PMMark R. Warner, the former governor of Virginia who is eyeing a Democratic presidential bid, said Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton wasn't the presumptive Democratic nominee for president.

Hillary Clinton is Not the Persuader, Bill Clinton is
[Press Release] PR Web - When a national survey measured the persuasive power of public figures, Bill Clinton finished near the top of the list, Hilary near the bottom

Can Hillary Win Florida or Ohio in '08?
RealClearPolitics.com - If Hillary Clinton is such a shoe-in for her party's 2008 presidential nomination, then a new Florida poll is something for Democrats to worry about.

Good evening ladies and germs. We are now proud to present the comedy stylings of Kofi "Alack and" Annan.

Hurry. His New York engagement is almost over.

In Praise of Migration
Nations that welcome immigrants are the most dynamic in the world.
BY KOFI A. ANNAN

Ever since national frontiers were invented, people have been crossing them--not just to visit foreign countries, but to live and work there. In doing so, they have almost always taken risks, driven by a determination to overcome adversity and to live a better life. Those aspirations have always been the motors of human progress. Historically, migration has improved the well-being, not only of individual migrants, but of humanity as a whole.

And that is still true. In a report that I am presenting tomorrow to the U.N. General Assembly, I summarize research which shows that migration, at least in the best cases, benefits not only the migrants themselves but also the countries that receive them, and even the countries they have left. How so? In receiving countries, incoming migrants do essential jobs which a country's established residents are reluctant to undertake. They provide many of the personal services on which societies depend. They care for children, the sick and the elderly, bring in the harvest, prepare the food, and clean the homes and offices.

They are not engaged only in menial activities. Nearly half the increase in the number of migrants aged 25 or over in industrialized countries in the 1990s was made up of highly skilled people. Skilled or unskilled, many are entrepreneurs who start new businesses--from round-the-clock delis to Google. Yet others are artists, performers and writers, who help to make their new hometowns centers of creativity and culture. Migrants also expand the demand for goods and services, add to national production, and generally pay more to the state in taxes than they take out in welfare and other benefits. And in regions like Europe, where populations are growing very slowly or not at all, younger workers arriving from abroad help to shore up underfunded pension systems.

All in all, countries that welcome migrants and succeed in integrating them into their societies are among the most dynamic--economically, socially and culturally--in the world.

Meanwhile, countries of origin benefit from the remittances that migrants send home, which totaled around $232 billion last year, $167 billion of which went to developing countries--greater in volume than current levels of official aid from all donor countries combined, though certainly not a substitute. Not only do the immediate recipients benefit from these remittances, but also those who supply the goods and services on which the money is spent. The effect is to raise national income and stimulate investment.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...Stop, man. You're killing me. (Well, at the very least your "soldiers" are raping my funny bone.)

What? Don't you get it? He's an African, man. And he's lecturing us about immigration! Oh, my, that's precious! I'm gonna miss ol' Kofi and Cream. I hear he's replacing John Stewart on The Daily Show...

Website of the Day.

The National Pro-Life Alliance

Life at Conception Act
A Frontal Assault on Roe v. Wade

For more than thirty years, nine unelected men and women on the Supreme Court have played God with innocent human life.

The result has been a brutal holocaust that has claimed the lives of nearly 45 million innocent and helpless unborn children in America.

In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade ruling forced abortion-on-demand down our nation's throat.

In the past, pro-lifers have limited themselves to protecting a life here and there -- passing laws which slightly control abortion in the most outrageous cases. But pro-life organizations always tiptoed around the Supreme Court, hoping they wouldn't be offended.

Life at Conception Act Follows the High Court's Instructions To Define When Life Begins

Now the time to grovel before the Supreme Court is over.

Working from what the Supreme Court ruled in Roe, pro-life lawmakers can pass a Life at Conception Act and end abortion by using the Constitution instead of amending it.

Therefore, a simple majority vote is all that is needed to pass a Life at Conception Act as opposed to the two-thirds required to add a Constitutional amendment.

When the Supreme Court handed down its now-infamous Roe v. Wade decision, it did so based on a new, previously undefined "right of privacy" which it "discovered" in so-called "emanations" of "penumbrae" of the Constitution.

Of course, as constitutional law it was a disaster. But never once did the Supreme Court declare abortion itself to be a Constitutional right.
Instead the Supreme Court said:

"We need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins. . . the judiciary at this point in the development of man's knowledge, is not in a position to speculate as to the answer."

Life at Conception Act Would Dismantle Roe

Then the High Court made a key admission:

"If this suggestion of personhood is established, the appellant's case [i.e. "Roe" who sought the abortion], of course, collapses, for the fetus' right to life is then guaranteed by the [14th] Amendment."

That's exactly what a Life at Conception Act would do.

A Life at Conception Act changes the focus of the abortion debate. It takes the activist Supreme Court out of the equation and places responsibility squarely on the shoulders of the elected representatives who, unlike life term judges, must respond to grass-roots pressure.

National Pro-Life Alliance members have led the fight to build support for a Life at Conception Act to end abortion-on-demand. They have generated over 1.5 million petitions to Congress to date urging lawmakers to cosponsor and fight for passage of a Life at Conception Act.

Fight to Overturn Roe v. Wade Heats Up in House

Those continued efforts have led to ever-increasing support for a Life at Conception Act in Congress. Representative Duncan Hunter's (R-CA) Life at Conception Act (H.R. 552) was introduced in the House of Representatives on February 2 with a record 36 original cosponsors.

Members of the National Pro-Life Alliance are lobbying hard to gain a record number of cosponsors for a Life at Conception Act.

An up or down vote on a Life at Conception Act will put politicians on record either for or against ending abortion-on-demand.

Pro-lifers are urged to call (202) 224-3121 and insist that their Congressmen cosponsor Duncan Hunter's H.R. 552 today.

Wow. How did Mel Gibson get his movie past these guys?

Thank goodness the movie police are protecting us from that Jesus guy and his message of love.

Narrow focus draws 'PG' rating for Baptist-backed film

By TERRY MATTINGLY of the Scripps Howard News Service

The Motion Picture Association of America is crystal clear when it describes why its "PG" rating exists _ it's a warning flag.

"The theme of a PG-rated film may itself call for parental guidance," states the online explanation of the rating system. "There may be some profanity in these films. There may be some violence or brief nudity. ... The PG rating, suggesting parental guidance, is thus an alert for examination of a film by parents before deciding on its viewing by their children. Obviously such a line is difficult to draw."

Disagreements are a given. The Christian moviemakers behind a low-budget film called "Facing the Giants" were stunned when the MPAA pinned a PG rating on their gentle movie about a burned-out, depressed football coach whose life _ on and off the field _ takes a miraculous turn for the better.

"What the MPAA said is that the movie contained strong 'thematic elements' that might disturb some parents," said Kris Fuhr, vice president for marketing at Provident Films, which is owned by Sony Pictures. Provident plans to open the film next fall in 380 theaters nationwide with the help of Samuel Goldwyn Films, which has worked with indie movies like "The Squid and the Whale."

Which "thematic elements" earned this squeaky-clean movie its PG?
"Facing the Giants" is too evangelistic.

The MPAA, noted Fuhr, tends to offer cryptic explanations for its ratings. In this case, she was told that it "decided that the movie was heavily laden with messages from one religion and that this might offend people from other religions. It's important that they used the word 'proselytizing' when they talked about giving this movie a PG. ...

"It is kind of interesting that faith has joined that list of deadly sins that the MPAA board wants to warn parents to worry about."

Overt Christian messages are woven throughout "Facing the Giants," which isn't surprising since the film was co-written and co-produced by brothers Alex and Stephen Kendrick, who are the "associate pastors of media" at Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Ga. In addition to working with the megachurch's cable-television channel, they created its Sherwood Pictures ministry _ collecting private donations to fund a $25,000 movie called "Flywheel," about a wayward Christian used-car salesman.

"Facing the Giants" cost $100,000 and resembles a fusion of the Book of Job and a homemade "Hoosiers," or perhaps a small- school "Friday Night Lights" blended with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association movies that used to appear in some mainstream theaters. Sherwood Pictures used local volunteers as actors and extras, backed by a small crew of tech professionals.

The movie includes waves of answered prayers, a medical miracle, a mysterious silver-haired mystic who delivers a message from God and a bench-warmer who kicks a 51-yard field goal to win the big game when his handicapped father pulls himself out of a wheelchair and stands under the goal post to inspire his son's faith. There's a prayer-driven gust of wind in there, too.

Oh, my! I'm feeling faint. Somebody show me something by Oliver Stone, and quickly!

But the scene that caught the MPAA's attention may have been the chat between football coach Grant Taylor _ played by Alex Kendrick _ and a rich brat named Matt Prader. The coach says that he needs to stop bad-mouthing his bossy father and get right with God.

The boy replies: "You really believe in all that honoring God and following Jesus stuff? ... Well, I ain't trying to be disrespectful, but not everybody believes in that."

The coach replies: "Matt, nobody's forcing anything on you. Following Jesus Christ is the decision that you're going to have to make for yourself. You may not want to accept it, because it'll change your life. You'll never be the same."

Now it makes sense. I'm surprised they didn't force this movie into being shown in little booths in Sodom By The Bay. I could see where that would be awfully intimidating and offensive.

That kind of talk may be too blunt for some moviegoers, said Kendrick, but that's the way real people actually talk in Christian high schools in Georgia. Sherwood Baptist isn't going to apologize for making the kinds of movies that it wants to make.

"Look, I have those kinds of conversations about faith all the time and I've seen young people make decisions that change their lives," he said. "The reason we're making movies in the first place is that we hope they inspire people to think twice about their relationships with God.

"So we're going to tell the stories that we believe God wants us to tell. We have nothing to hide."

(Terry Mattingly (www.tmatt.net) directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities.)

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

Here's a surprise. After much soul searching and ethical vetting (ack!) our moral and intellectual superiors decide some humans are expendable when it comes to helping other humans. No, I don't get it it either, but I am sure you can find some clever justification below.

The London Times Online: Harvard funds human cloning
The world’s richest university has put its clout behind medical research opposed by President Bush

AMERICA’S richest university threw its reputation and financial resources behind efforts to clone human embryos for medical science yesterday.

Scientists at Harvard University were awarded ethical approval and private funds to pursue therapeutic cloning experiments, which are strongly opposed by the Bush Administration and the Religious Right. Researchers hope that they could lead to cures for conditions such as diabetes and motor neuron disease.

The Harvard team will seek to clone embryos using cells from patients with these disorders, and then to create “disease-specific” colonies of embryonic stem cells that can be used to develop new treatments.

The work is hugely contentious in the US, where experiments on embryonic stem cells created since 2001 cannot receive federal funding and attempts to outlaw the use of cloning for medical research have narrowly failed to pass in Congress.

The Bush Administration has campaigned in the UN for a global ban on all forms of human cloning, whether for reproductive purposes or developing therapies.

It is also one of the first therapeutic cloning projects to be started since the disgrace of Woo Suk Hwang, the South Korean scientist found last year to have faked his data.

While another research team at the University of California, San Francisco, announced last month that it was attempting to clone human embryos in this fashion, the approval at Harvard is particularly significant because of the university’s vast reputation and wealth.

The university, which has an endowment of $27 billion (£14 billion), which makes it the richest in the world, took more than two years to vet the ethical and scientific credentials of the project before deciding to give it its support. The project is the first of its kind in the US that will be conducted without commercial backing.

Larry Summers, the president of Harvard, said: “While we respect the beliefs of those who oppose this research, we are equally sincere in our belief that the life-and-death medical needs of suffering children and adults justify moving forward with this research.”

The research will be led by the scientists Douglas Melton, Thomas Dudley, Kevin Eggan and George Daley and will focus on diabetes, motor neuron disease and blood disorders.

The initial goal is to take nuclei from adult cells belonging to patients with these diseases, and to transplant them into eggs from which DNA has been removed.

Were these to divide to form clones, they would be genetically identical to the patients, and carry mutations linked to the conditions.

The cloned embryos would then be used to create embryonic stem cells, which could be grown into specialised adult cells that mimic the diseases in question.

In the longer term the aim is to develop cloned embryonic stem cells for transplant as “spare-part tissue” that would be genetically matched to patients.

“We plan to take skin cells from a patient with a genetic disease and reprogram that skin cell back to its embryonic state,” Dr Daley said.

HOORAY ANN!

You know Ann Coulter was right on target when she dared to question the fascist left's most effective tactic. (You could tell because all the slimy things crawled out from under their rocks and squealed at the same time.)

Hiding behind the "morally unimpeachable" victims (Cindy Seahag, The Guernsey Girls, Juanita Broaddrick...Oops! Silly me. Senator Hitlery Shickelgruber (N-NY), call your office.) works because most Americans can't imagine anyone would be sick enough to exploit a loved one's murder for political purposes.

AP: Ann Coulter lambasts some 9/11 widows
The group of outspoken 9/11 widows who pushed for the commission to investigate the attacks are "self-obsessed" and act "as if the terrorist attacks happened only to them," conservative author Ann Coulter charges in her new book.

ABC News: Hillary Lashes Out at Ann Coulter
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton Says Ann Coulter Launched a Mean-Spirited Attack on 9/11 Widows

Fox News: Grrr! Ann Coulter Goes Too Far
Ann Coulter offends Mike Straka's Grrr sensibilities.

Sun-Sentinel: Author Ann Coulter lambastes three 9-11 widows in new book
The group of outspoken 9-11 widows who pushed for the commission to investigate the 2001 attacks are "self-obsessed" and act "as if the terrorist attacks happened only to them," conservative author Ann Coulter charges in her new book.

Contra Costa Times: PEOPLE: 9/11 widows respond to attack from Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter's new book ignited a nasty controversy this week, and it doesn't appear ready to die down anytime soon. In "Godless: The Church of Liberalism" she writes that a group of outspoken 9/11 widows who pushed for investigations into the attacks, "enjoyed" their husbands' deaths, and are "self-obsessed" and act "as if the terrorist attacks happened only to them."

**************************************************************
UPDATE 6/12/06

Fyodor struck a left-fascist nerve and gets enough mail to last a month of Sundays...

Ann Coulter must get the sickest e-mails in the world. The screeching of the banshee left continues unabated and this is conclusive evidence she was correct as usual.

I said she was right about the Guernsey Churls here in my tiny idiot corner of Bloggerdom and I received a heaping pile of steaming foolery (I only bothered to permit a couple of examples to ooze through.) its writers like to pretend is thought or even religion.

Speaking of the latter -

Memo To Anonymous (What else can one expect from a coward, kiddies?):

When was the last time you made a good confession, madame? You should worry about that gargantuan ignorance-fueled plank of hatred stuck in your own eye before bothering any of your neighbors, anonymously or not.

For those of you who think Major League Baseball is NOT dead...

Tucson Citizen: Steroid case costs pitcher Jason Grimsley his job

If a journeyman pitcher witha seventeen year career can elude detection...

Who am I kidding? Nobody cares.

The Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday released pitcher Jason Grimsley, one day after his home was searched by federal agents as part of an investigation into steroid use by athletes.

General Manager Josh Byrnes told a Chase Field news conference that Grimsley had requested his unconditional release in meetings with team officials Tuesday and Wednesday.

“We accepted his request,” Brynes said. Byrnes would not discuss if Grimsley would be paid the remainder of his roughly $800,000 salary.

Diamondbacks pitcher Terry Mulholland said Grimsley addressed his teammates after Tuesday’s loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.

“He expressed to us that he had too much respect for us to allow this to bring us down,” Mulholland said. “He’s that kind of guy.”

Grimsley’s locker in the calm clubhouse was empty when the room was opened to the media before this afternoon’s game with the Phillies.

Thirteen federal agents had searched the reliever’s Scottsdale home for six hours Tuesday, but they would reveal what they found.

Investigators who cracked the BALCO steroid scandal in San Francisco said Grimsley initially cooperated in the probe but withdrew his assistance in April. He allegedly made “extensive statements” about illegal drug use, “for the purpose of performance enhancement,” before ending his cooperation, according to the court documents.

In asking for a warrant, IRS Agent Jeff Novitsky told a federal judge that investigators wanted to search the right-hander’s house for “any and all records showing contact or relationship with any and all amateur or professional athletes, athletic coaches or athletic trainers” regarding illicit drug use and purchases.

Grimsley, 38, began his big league career with Philadelphia in 1989 and has pitched for Cleveland, California, the New York Yankees, Kansas City, Baltimore and Arizona. He has a career record of 42-58 with a 4.77 ERA.
He was not at the Chase Field on Wednesday.

According to court documents, Grimsley failed a league drug test in 2003. Authorities said when he was cooperating, he admitted to using human growth hormone, amphetamines and steroids.

Diamondback managing general partner Ken Kendrick told reporters in the dugout before Wednesday’s game that the player’s union and management need to get together on even tougher drug testing.

“We just hope the union will look at it as we do,” Kendrick said. “We’ve got to do the very best that is possible to rid ourselves of any and all drugs in our game.”