From the pages of The King Abdullah Gazette: 
Friday, June 30, 2006
You'd think after a little girl has been raped and murdered, there wouldn't be any more crimes committed against her.
You'd be wrong.
WGAL: Confession Of Man Accused In Fla. Girl's Slaying Tossed
The confession of a man charged with kidnapping, raping and killing 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford isn't admissible in court, but the discovery of her body can be used as evidence, a judge ruled Friday.
The Florida judge said authorities violated "one of the most bedrock principles of criminal law" in handling the suspect.
John Evander Couey, a 47-year-old convicted sex offender, gave the confession to detectives, but also told them that he wanted to consult a lawyer. He wasn't given the opportunity to do so.
The judge ruled the discovery of her body can be used in court.
Jessica Marie Lunsford was found kneeling and clutching a stuffed animal. Her hands were tied with speaker wire and her fingers were poking through the garbage bags in which she was buried alive in March 2005.
Two days earlier, Couey told detectives he kidnapped, raped and killed the 9-year-old girl.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Couey has pleaded not guilty to premeditated murder, burglary, kidnapping and sexual battery.
Jury selection is scheduled July 10.
John Evander Couey, a 47-year-old convicted sex offender, gave the confession to detectives, but also told them that he wanted to consult a lawyer. He wasn't given the opportunity to do so.
The Michael and Cathryn Borden Memorial Book of the Day.*
Warlord : No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy
by Ilario Pantano, Malcolm McConnell
From Booklist:
The impetus for this memoir is the military hearing U.S. marine Pantano underwent in 2004 for the alleged murders of two Iraqi insurgents during a raid in Al Anbar (chronicled in a New York magazine cover story and featured on NBC Dateline). What is initially fascinating about Pantano's story is how 9/11 galvanized him. His first reaction after seeing the smoke and debris choking streets in Manhattan was to run to his barber and get a military haircut. Pantano had been a marine in Desert Storm but then morphed into a commodities trader and the founder of an interactive TV think tank. The core of his book is how 9/11 re-upped the semper-fi side of his identity. Although there is far too much initial background on family and upbringing, the heart of the book, which shuttles from Pantano's experiences in Iraq and the Article 32 hearing into the accusation that he committed premeditated murder, is suspenseful and involving. Pantano provides firsthand accounts not only of the marine ethos and the fighting in Iraq but also of the media pile-on during his hearing and the machinations of military lawyers. Although choosing to tell his story in book form necessitates too much padding--this might have been better as a lengthy magazine article--there is still lots to like here: good courtroom drama, excellent war reporting, and absorbing psychology.
- Connie Fletcher (Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved)
* Huh? Look here.
The last one, literally.
CBS 2 New York: Suit: NBA Player Watching Porn, Drunk Before Crash
On March 30, Minnesota Timberwolves center Eddie Griffin was drunk and masturbating when he crashed his luxury SUV into a parked Suburban outside a store in Minneapolis, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday by the man whose Suburban was hit in the crash.
WCCO-TV obtained copies of 911 calls and store surveillance video of the incident, along with an accident report the police submitted to the state, reports WCCO-TV's Caroline Lowe.
Several of the 911 callers that night said Griffin was drunk. One witness said Griffin told him he was watching pornography in a DVD player mounted on the dashboard of his Cadillac Escalade SUV when he struck a Chevy Suburban parked on University Avenue Southeast.
The location where Griffin crashed is located a couple miles from the Target Center where Griffin had played with his team several hours earlier.
Abed Hassuneh, who is the brother of the victim, said Griffin told him, "That he was masturbating himself going down that street. That's how the accident happened because he was not paying attention. He's paying attention to that video and all of a sudden he's shoveled somebody's car on the top of the sidewalk."
Interim Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan ordered an internal affairs investigation of the conduct of the two officers who responded to the scene, after WCCO-TV made Dolan aware of allegations about the incident.
Key questions are why Griffin wasn't tested for alcohol and why the officers drove him out of the city to his home in St. Paul. Griffin also received tickets for not having a license and inattentive driving.
Griffin's damaged SUV was towed to the Minneapolis impound lot.
Dolan told WCCO-TV he expects impartial policing. Dolan also said officers must get permission to leave the city.
"Obviously, if somebody is drunk and they are driving we want that dealt with by the police officers of Minneapolis," Dolan said.
In the video, Griffin can be heard pleading with witnesses to not call police saying, "I can't go to jail."
The video also shows Griffin admitting he is drunk and doesn't have a driver's license.
The video shows him struggling for minutes to put on his sweatshirt and offering to buy a car for the man who's SUV he crashed into in front of Santana Foods.
Griffin was not available for comment. When he was interviewed by reporters after the crash happened, he said he had dropped his cell phone as he drove.
The two officers involved in the incident, Daniel Anderson and Matthew Lindquist, have been with the Minneapolis Police Department since October 2001. The officers remain on duty pending the outcome of the internal investigation.
The sports crack up continues apace.
Here's a big surprise...
CBS: Doping Charges Rock Tour De France
Favorites Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso are among more than 50 Tour de France racers implicated in a Spanish probe into the use of banned drugs. Ullrich won the race in 1997 and was runner-up five times. Basso was this year's favorite.
There ARE heroes among us.
ANOTHER FALLEN HERO:
From The Washington Post: "'The last call I got from him, I think it was Memorial Day weekend, he said, 'Mom, I saved an Iraqi soldier today -- it was so cool. I put my training to effect; I saved someone. I'm scared, but it's so great doing this.'" Read more.
(Thanks to Laura Ingraham for the heads up.)
See for yourself how the US Supreme Court ignored precedent, law, and tradition, thus giving aid and comfort to our enemies.
Thanks to Laura Ingraham for these links.
THE HAMDAN DECISION:
Read the case, and pay particular attention to the dissents in Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld. (We know it's 184 pages, but there are many important things in here).
BTW, we should all thank God there are still a few real American men like Clarence Thomas.
Five Wrong
By NRO Writers
National Review
The Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, enacted last December, gives the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., exclusive jurisdiction to review habeas-corpus petitions from the terrorists detained at Guantanamo Bay. The act also expressly provides that, other than that court, "no court, justice, or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider . . . an application for a writ of habeas corpus filed by or on behalf of an alien detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba . . ." Legislative word-smithing does not get much clearer than that. Equally clear is Congress's authority to restrict the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court; Article III, Section 2, of the Constitution describes that the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court is subject to "such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make."
American Battle of the Day.
Tomorrow, July 1, is the 143rd anniversary of the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg.
Natalie Maines, call your office.*
AP: Americans rank No. 1 in patriotism survey
When it comes to national pride, Americans are No. 1, according to a survey of 34 countries' patriotism. Venezuela came in a close second in the survey, released Tuesday by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.
* Who? Look here.
International Battle of the Day.
Tomorrow, July 1, is the 90th anniversary of the first day of the Battle of the Somme, the single bloodiest day in British military history.
The Battle of the Somme did not end until that November. It's cost was over one million combined casualties for both sides.
Right Wing Smile of the Day.
Yes, kiddies, Congressman King later apologized as he should have. It is not polite to poke fun at the elderly or the stupid.
KCAU: Congressman Draws Criticism for Comments
In discussing the death of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Rep. Steve King said "there are probably not 72 virgins in the hell he's at, and if there are any virgins there they probably all look like Helen Thomas."
Your Humble Servant is NOT a sicko, but...
...I did stumble across this Salon.com item that purports to answer a question that had been bugging me all week.
Cruise and Kidman never really married?
In the wake of Nicole Kidman's marriage to Aussie country singer Keith Urban over the weekend in Sydney, Australia, there has been some speculation over how the couple were allowed to have a traditional Roman Catholic service when the church doesn't officially recognize second marriages if the first has ended in divorce. The simple answer? Choose not to recognize the first marriage at all. Father Paul Coleman, the Catholic priest who married the couple on Sunday, has reportedly said that the Australian Catholic Church doesn't recognize Kidman's 10-year marriage to Cruise on the grounds that they were married in a Scientology service, making the vows legal but not, according to Coleman, spiritually valid. (E! Online)
SCRATCH MY BACK WITH A HACKSAW! THEY'VE DUMPED MIKE LANGE!
I will understand if Mr. Lange does not want to do the Pens radio broadcasts, but I hope he does.
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Ladies and gentlemen, Lange has left the building...
...and Pittsburgh is less colorful...Langisms
"It's a hockey night in Pittsburgh."
"I'll be cow-kicked!"
"Oh no, Eddie Spaghetti!"
"Heeeeeeeeeeeee shoots and scores!"
"Scratch my back with a hacksaw!"
"Great balls of fire!"
"You would have to be here to believe it!"
"Look out Loretta!"
"Buy Sam a drink and get his dog one too!"
"He doesn't know whether to cry or wind his watch"
"Michael, Michael, Motorcycle"
"Get in the fast lane Grandma, the bingo game's ready to roll!"
"She wants to sell my monkey!"
"Call Arnold Slick from Turtle Creek!"
"He beat him like a rented mule!"
"Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has just left the building!" "Book 'em Dano!"
"Smilin' like a butcher's dog"
"He takes the heat out of a hot kitchen"
"How much fried chicken can you eat?"
"He smoked him like a bad cigar!"
"Buzzing like beeeeeeeeeees around a hive."
"If you missed this one, shame on you for six weeks."
"He's throwing out checks like it's the first of the month."
"Lord Stanley, Lord Stanley, bring me the brandy."
Legendary Penguins announcer Mike Lange was stunned Thursday to learn that he had been fired by FSN Pittsburgh.
Fans also reacted with shock and anger when they heard that Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh decided not to renew Lange's television contract. FSN will replace him with radio play-by-play man Paul Steigerwald.
Broadcasting is a dirty business run by drones, not fans. They did Bob Prince in almost the same way and the Steel City has never fully recovered. I am thankful Myron Cope got out before someone kicked him to the curb.
"It floors you a little bit. We had another year left, a one-year option, and they elected not to renew," said Lange, who recently completed his 30th season as the voice of the Penguins. "They didn't give a reason except that it was a business decision."
"This is a big mistake," said Chuck Kelly, 48, of Marshall, a Penguins season ticket holder for 18 years. "Mike Lange is the best announcer in all of hockey. They'll never get another one like him."
"Mike Lange is Pittsburgh. I probably won't watch another Penguins game," said Michael Plummer, 32, of West View.
"I guess I can't 'buy Sam a drink and get his dog one too' anymore," said Plummer in reference to one of the hundreds of Lange's original sayings that are now part of the everyday parlance of Penguins fans.
Penguins President Ken Sawyer offered Lange the radio play-by-play job that Steigerwald vacates, but Lange has not decided if he will take it.
The television broadcasters are employed by FSN while the radio broadcasters are employed by the Penguins.
Lange said he was never contacted by executives at the television station, who delivered the news to his agent during a meeting yesterday morning.
He said he does not know the specific reasons behind their decision to let him go and that he had no indication that executives were unhappy with him or his work.
"I missed one game in 30 years, and not by my own desire but by doctor's orders not to go into work. ... I put in a lot of time with these guys, was off a whole year without any money (during the 2004-05 lockout) and didn't pursue any other jobs in loyalty to them, and there you have it. But things happen for a reason."
The firing was reminiscent of KDKA-AM's decision to fire another beloved Pittsburgh broadcasting icon, Bob Prince, who spent 29 years as the Pirates announcer.
However, where Prince's folksy style had drawn the ire of the management of both the Pirates and KDKA, officials at FSN said they were not dissatisfied with Lange.
"There have been a number of dramatic changes in the game," said Steve Tello, vice president and general manager of FSN Pittsburgh.
"With the new changes with the players on the ice, the management on the ice and possibly even new owners, we thought this was the time to give Paul the opportunity to move to the TV side," Tello said.
"Paul and (color commentator) Bob Errey were a team on the radio and did a terrific job. We feel that Paul is well suited to what we are trying to do with the game," Tello said.
"Mike has done a terrific job over the years, as has Paul. This is more about Paul's hard work and not a comment on Mike Lange. This is not a political decision. This is a television production decision."
Tello said he hopes that Lange "will embrace" the opportunity to return to radio and remain with the team.
"Once FSN informed us of their decision, we told them we'd like to offer Mike the radio job and keep him in the broadcast family," Penguins vice president of communications Tom McMillan said.
Lange asked for some time to think it over.
"Right now I have to weigh my options, and I need a little time to sort it out," he said.
Steigerwald, who worked alongside Lange as the television and radio color commentator for the Penguins for 14 seasons, said he approaches his new job with trepidation because Lange is his longtime mentor.
"I never angled for the job," said Steigerwald, who just completed his sixth season as the radio play-by-play man.
"I loved doing radio and I would have done it for the rest of my life happily. But from a career standpoint, when you have an opportunity like this you should probably take advantage of it."
Longtime fans of Prince never warmed to Milo Hamilton, who replaced him in the broadcast booth, and Tello said he understands that there may be some backlash from Lange loyalists.
"I certainly understand where some might question the move. Mike deserves all the accolades and attention he has gotten over the years," Tello said, adding that he hopes that Penguins fans give Steigerwald a fair chance.
"I'm pretty dismayed by the whole thing," said Scott Marker, 27, of Greensburg. "After 30 years of loyalty to the city of Pittsburgh and the fans, this is how Fox Sports and the Penguins show their support for Mike Lange? No more 'Arnold Slick from Turtle Creek.' That's unreal."
"Mike Lange is Pittsburgh. He's the only reason I listen to the Penguins. It's certainly not for the hockey," said Mike Smith, 23, of Latrobe.
"It's a public relations disaster. It sends the wrong message to the fans," said Mike Porembka, 31, of Latrobe.
"You have a team that might move without a new arena. The one constant is Mike Lange. I think it sends the wrong message to the people who want to support the team and keep them here. You get rid of Mike Lange, you might as well move the team right now."
Chris Clark, 39, of Shaler, said, "It seems like a stupid move. I like 'Staggy' but he's not Mike Lange. He always gives the party line."
Lange, a native of Sacramento, Calif., began his relationship with the Penguins in the 1974-75 season when he broke into the National Hockey League as a play-by-play man. He left for a season but returned in 1976-77 and has been a fixture ever since.
He did radio exclusively until 1979 when the games began to be simulcast on radio and television. He has been the primary television play-by-play broadcaster for several years.
In 2001, Lange was awarded the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award presented by the Hockey Hall of Fame to members of the radio and television industry who make outstanding contributions to their profession and the game of hockey during their broadcasting career.
Steigerwald, a South Hills native, is a Kent State University graduate who joined the Penguins in 1980 as director of marketing and intermission host during the broadcasts. He became the color commentator on Penguins broadcasts in 1985.
Jayden Odom, Requiescat in pace.
Lord, bless and comfort his family in their hour of need.
From ESPN.com:
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Los Angeles Lakers player Lamar Odom's 6½-month-old son has died, a spokesman for the team said Thursday.
Jayden Odom died Wednesday night, apparently suffocating while sleeping in his crib in New York, according to John Black.
"Lamar is very distraught," Black said. "Both he and the baby's mother are asking that people respect their privacy at this time."
Jayden was born Dec. 15. Odom has two older children -- a son and a daughter.
The 26-year-old Odom came to the Lakers two years ago in the trade that sent Shaquille O'Neal to the Miami Heat.
Randy Walker, Requiescat in pace.
We know not the hour...
SportingNews.com: Northwestern University football coach Walker dead at 52
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern University football coach Randy Walker died of an apparent heart attack Thursday night. He was 52.
Walker died after feeling chest pains around 10 p.m. at his suburban Chicago home, said Mike Wolf, the school's assistant athletic director for media services.
"This is a devastating loss, not only for our athletic program, but for the entire Northwestern community," athletic director Mark Murphy said in a statement early Friday. "Randy truly embraced Northwestern and its mission, and cared deeply for his student-athletes, both on and off the field."
Walker was the first Northwestern coach to lead the school to three bowl games. The Wildcats lost to UCLA 50-38 in the Sun Bowl last December.
In October 2004, Walker checked himself into a hospital after experiencing chest pains. He was diagnosed with myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle; the condition is not a common ailment, and is usually caused by a virus.
Walker was out of the hospital in two days, and said he was taking a new approach to his diet and work schedule.
"I've really taken my doctor's orders to heart, because frankly, I want to see my grandkids someday," he said at the time.
Two months ago, Northwestern gave Walker a four-year extension through the 2011 season. He joined the school in 1999 after nine years at Miami of Ohio.
Walker's Wildcats posted 37 wins, going 7-5 last season. He led the team to three bowl games since 2000.
Northwestern shared the Big Ten title in 2000 and went to the Alamo Bowl. The Wildcats also went to the 2003 Motor City Bowl.
Walker was the first Wildcats coach to guide the team to four seasons with at least six wins since C.M. Hollister in 1899-1902.
One of the most difficult times during Walker's tenure at Northwestern came in August 2001, when defensive back Rashidi Wheeler collapsed after participating in a conditioning drill and died. His parents sued the school, claiming officials did not give their son, an asthmatic, timely or adequate medical treatment.
After years of court wrangling, the player's family was awarded a $16 million settlement. A judge approved the settlement last August.
Walker was an assistant coach at North Carolina from 1978-87 and then coached running backs at Northwestern in 1988 and 1989 before becoming head coach at Miami of Ohio, his alma mater. In nine seasons he compiled a 59-35-5 record, his .621 winning percentage the best in school history when he left.
Walker's 1998 team at Miami went 10-1.
A native of Troy, Ohio, Walker was a fullback at Miami of Ohio and graduated in 1976 with a degree in social studies education. Five years later he got a master's degree in education administration.
During Walker's playing days, Miami compiled records of 11-0, 10-0-1 and 11-1 in the mid-1970s and won three Tangerine Bowls. Walker was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame in 1992.
Walker was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals, and after a short stint returned to Miami as a graduate assistant.
He is survived by his wife, Tamara, and two children, Abbey, 28, and Jamie, 25, who is the school's football recruiting assistant.
Mensa. Yeah, right.
Queens Chronicle: Member Of Genius Club Jailed For Welfare Fraud
A Bronx member of the high IQ club Mensa was sentenced to one to three years in prison for welfare fraud in a Queens court last Thursday. Steven Finkelstein, 58, was convicted of welfare fraud and grand larceny in February for falsely receiving a little over $4,300 in housing benefits.
Religion of Peace and Love and Works of Charity Update.
Osama bin Bring Out Your Dead requests the corpse of a noted retroactive abortionist so he can eat it and gain the strength of 10,000 cowardly goat rapists who also like little boys.
AP: Bin Laden wants al-Zarqawi body released
Osama bin Laden called on President Bush in an audiotape released Friday to release the body of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and said Jordan should allow the slain terrorist to be buried in his homeland.
In the 19-minute message, bin Laden paid tribute to al-Zarqawi and said the former al-Qaida in Iraq leader had been under orders to kill Iraqis who supported U.S. forces in the country. He also vowed more attacks against the United States in the Middle East and Africa.
"We will continue to fight you and your allies everywhere, in Iraq,
Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan to run down your resources and kill your men until you return defeated to your nation," he said, addressing Bush. His voice sounded breathy and fatigued at times.
Due to time and boredom constraints, we now move to further action.
In the tape, bin Laden effusively praised the Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi, often in rhyming couplets.
"Al-Zarqawi's story will live forever with the stories of the nobles, so don't cry over one who is not missing," bin Laden said. "He can teach the world a lesson on how to seize freedom ... and how to resist tyrants."
"Even if we lost one of our greatest knights and princes, we are happy that we have found a symbol for our great Islamic nations, one that the mujahedeen will remember and praise in poetry and in stories secretly and aloud," he said.
Eeeeewwwwwwwwww! Man crush!
The tape comes exactly a week after bin Laden's deputy Ayman al-Zawahri issued his own tribute video to al-Zarqawi, extolling him as "the prince of martyrs."
The tributes appear to be part of an attempt by al-Qaida's leadership to tout their connection to al-Zarqawi, who emerged as a hero among Islamic extremists with his dramatic attacks in Iraq and even stole the spotlight from bin Laden and al-Zawahri.
Al-Zarqawi had sworn his allegiance to bin Laden, the terror network's overall leader, but often had tense relations with him and al-Zawahri. In July 2005, al-Zawahri reportedly wrote a letter to al-Zarqawi criticizing his attacks on Iraqi Shiite mosques and civilians, saying they hurt the mujahedeen's image.
The al-Qaida deputy also asked al-Zarqawi for money, according to the U.S. military, which said it intercepted the message.
Al-Zarqawi apparently brushed off the criticism as he continued to attack Shiites, a strategy intended to spark a Sunni-Shiite civil war.
In the new tape, bin Laden addressed "those who accuse Abu Musab of killing certain sectors of the Iraqi people," referring to the campaign of suicide bombings against Shiites.
"Abu Musab had clear instructions to focus his fight on the occupiers, particularly the Americans and to leave aside anyone who remains neutral," bin Laden said.
"But for those who refused (neutrality) and stood to fight on the side of the crusaders against the Muslims, then he should kill them whoever they are, regardless of their sect or tribe. For supporting infidels against Muslims is a major sin."
Bin Laden's mention of "instructions" to al-Zarqawi could be aimed to show the al-Qaida in Iraq leader was under his command.
"In conclusion, I say that Abu Musab was not just an honor to his tribe, his country and his Islamic nation, but to all mankind, for he embodied the meaning of pride and glory," bin Laden said.
You want his worm-eaten corpse, tough guy? Why don't you come and get it?
If there were any justice in this world, we'd wrap that butcher's remains in a pigskin, blow it up with C4, and feed the pieces to hogs who had been starved for two weeks.
Traveshamockery Democracy Update.
AP: Palestinian PM lashes out at Israelis
In his first public comments since Israel began its Gaza Strip offensive, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Friday that Israel cannot "hijack" his government through retaliatory measures meant to win the freedom of a kidnapped soldier.
Actually, Citizen Haniyeh, they have done just that. Welcome to the real world.
If you are going to play with the big boys, you better toughen up, buttercup.
Meanwhile, there is some good news from the home of the College World Series.
Big Babykilling takes a hit in the heartland.
Christian News Wire: Only Omaha Abortion Mill Closes
Omaha ’s only abortion mill, Women’s Services PC, has closed. The property was bought by the University of Nebraska Medical Center, which gave Women’s Services PC several months’ notice to procure new offices.
The Catholic crack up continues apace.
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: Nun Accused of Improper Spending Surrenders
OMAHA, Neb. - A 71-year-old nun who co-wrote a popular marriage-preparation program was arrested on charges of improperly spending more than $300,000 on casinos, gifts and air travel. Sister Barbara Markey, who was fired in January as director of the Omaha Archdiocese's family life office, turned herself in Wednesday and was released on her own recognizance.
May God have mercy on her immortal soul.
(How ya like that one, Mavis?)
I get a lot of mail from thechurchmilquetoast...
Regarding my post Noted rich guy Warren "Bufu" Buffet is actually trying to buy his way into Hell., someone using the unlikely name of MavisLeonard wrote the following:
May God have mercy on your souls, you black-hearted ghouls.
That's very unchristian of you.
1) It should be "un-Christian". I'm a language Nazi.
2) It isn't. These men are choosing to do evil with their money. Perhaps public chastisement will cause them to repent their evil ways. Until then, I will not refrain from calling mortal sins exactly that.
I get a lot of this kind of nonsense. I like to call it thechurchmilquetoast. I was going to catalog all of it in a necropsy of the leftist pseudo-church that is really totalitarian politics with an extremely thin veneer that sounds like the Sermon on the Mount. But it is just too depressing.
May God have mercy on the souls of all those who spew socialism as their gospel.
Saint of the Day and daily Mass readings.
Today is the Feast of the First Holy Martyrs of the Holy Roman Church, a group of believers who were put to death by the Roman Emperor Nero. He accused them of burning Rome, a crime he committed. Pray for us, all you angels and saints.
Today's reading for the Feast of the First Holy Martyrs is Romans 8:31-39.
Today's Responsorial Psalm is Psalms 124:2-3, 4-5, 7-8.
Today's Gospel reading is Matthew 24:4-13.
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.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Whenever some intolerant leftist creep (or Repansycan pansy) attacks Ann Coulter (or you) for daring to contradict them, just use this paragraph:
"My old friend Ann Coulter has made the remarkable discovery that when you say obvious things that everyone knows to be true, people listen gratefully. She realizes that polite argument with liberals, couched in timid euphemism, gets you exactly nowhere. Their “tolerance” extends only to people who accept their dubious and even absurd premises." - Joe Sobran
Sobran: Tolerance Strikes Again
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.
In which Mr. Sobran notes the ignorance, ugliness, and futility of the left's on-going and everlasting rebellion against reality, which happens to be its only principle.
Another media typhoon: “Metro Board Member Fired for Comment on Gays.” I’m glad I don’t have to unpack that headline for Grandpa Sobran, who went to his reward in 1959, when the world was more or less normal. Today you may lose your job for using the word normal.
Grandpa Sobran deserves to be remembered for one priceless remark. When my father asked him, around 1938, why he thought there would be another war, he explained, “You can’t have two bulls in the same pasture.”
That simple, pregnant comment contained a presumption about normality that is no longer acceptable: that bulls like cows better than they like other bulls. In the age of Brokeback Mountain, we must allow for the possibility that a pair of bulls may prefer an alternative lifestyle.
So the Republican governor of Maryland fired the guy, one Robert Smith, for saying, “Homosexual behavior, in my view, is deviant.” Feeling a need to explain this quaint view, Smith added, “I’m a Roman Catholic.” Catholics still believe that bulls prefer cows. A dogma, I guess.
For more details, look here.
The governor also felt a need to explain his action: “Robert Smith’s comments were highly inappropriate, insensitive, and unacceptable. They are in direct conflict to [sic] my administration’s commitment to inclusiveness, tolerance, and opportunity.”
Such “tolerance” makes the blood run cold. Smith made his comment on an obscure cable show, where he was giving his own opinion (“in my view”), one unrelated to his office. Another Metro board member, speaking as “an openly gay elected official,” said he was “deeply offended,” called for Smith’s head, and got it. Such is tolerance in the year of Our Lord 2006.
Admittedly, Smith made a poor choice of words. He should have said, “Sodomy is a perversion.”
Yep.
My old friend Ann Coulter has made the remarkable discovery that when you say obvious things that everyone knows to be true, people listen gratefully. She realizes that polite argument with liberals, couched in timid euphemism, gets you exactly nowhere. Their “tolerance” extends only to people who accept their dubious and even absurd premises.
Exactly! That is why Ann is right and her enemies are wrong.
Yes, I’d rather not hurt people’s feelings. But there are so many people nowadays who are positively eager to be “deeply offended” that you’re a sucker if you try to avoid offending them. We’re dealing with aggressors who pose as victims.
Amen to that.
The current vocabulary of hypocrisy includes such words as gay, lifestyle, and the ludicrous homophobia, which systematically deny the obvious. We’re talking about an ugly and unsanitary perversion as well as an immoral way of living, the sadness of which should excite our pity as well as our censure.
Yep.
Why should we pretend otherwise? Only because of new taboos — social pressures against candor — that are as perverse as sodomy itself. We are to make believe that “marriage” can mean something it has never meant before, that the rectum is as suitable a receptacle for the male seed as the womb, that a filthy and fruitless union is equal in dignity to one that produces human life? And all this with a straight face?
Oh, Lord. Victorian hypocrisy had nothing on the liberal kind, which insists that all the generations before us were wrong. Overnight we must repudiate what everyone always knew and still knows. We have seen the same obligatory amnesia with fornication and abortion; evils have suddenly become “rights.”
Amen to that.
And this is what our children grow up being taught in state schools and the mass media. Democratic values, you know. Equality. Tolerance. Constitutional rights. Raising public awareness.
But the lies, being lies, don’t work too well. For some reason, kids still love real love — the fruitful mutual love of men and women. They refuse to accept gay as something positive; they use it as a term of abuse and ridicule. They recognize it as a joke, no matter what their elders try to tell them. Reality is insistent. Humor remains, as ever, the final revenge of the normal on the official.
HEEHEE!
The enormous official effort to normalize the abnormal is doomed. Note the root word norm: G.K. Chesterton long ago observed “the modern and morbid habit of always sacrificing the normal to the abnormal.”
But normality seems to be the one thing liberalism’s inclusiveness excludes and its tolerance can’t tolerate.
Amen to all that, Brother.
Cardinal fears Church could face court on abortion
The forces of anti-Christ never rest.
Bring it on, you ghouls, bring it on. The Catholic Church has beaten stronger foes than you.
From Roto-Reuters (via Drudge):
The Catholic Church could one day be prosecuted for its right-to-life stance by some countries where abortion is considered a woman's right, a senior Vatican cardinal said in an interview published on Thursday.
Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, head of the Pontifical Council for the Family, criticized several Western countries for allowing abortion and introducing gay marriage and civil unions.
"I fear that faced with current legislation, speaking in defense of life, of the rights of the family, is becoming in some societies a crime against the state, a form of disobedience of the government, a discrimination against women.
"The Church risks being brought in front of some international court, if the debate gets any more tense, if the most radical opinions are heeded," Lopez Trujillo told Famiglia Cristiana, a Catholic Italian weekly.
Last week, another cardinal said he feared human rights group Amnesty International might start campaigning against countries that make abortion a crime. The group said it was discussing the issue but no decision had been made.
In his interview, Lopez Trujillo, a 70-year-old Colombian, said scientists who experiment on embryonic stem cells should be viewed in the same light as abortionists and be barred by the Church from taking Communion.
"Destroying an embryo equals abortion and that excommunication goes for the woman, the doctors and the scientists who eliminate the embryo," he said.
The Church teaches that communion bread and wine are the body and blood of Christ and that those in a state of sin should not receive it. The sanction automatically applies for people who perform abortions.
Wow. Roto-Reuters almost got it right.
The Fascist Left has allies in its war against freedom..
...stupid Repansycans who think they can out-bid Democrasses in the vote buying game.
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: House Backs Right to Non-English Ballots
The House agreed Wednesday to affirm the right of voters in areas with large populations of non-English-speaking citizens to cast ballots in their native language. The 254-167 roll call in support of bilingual balloting came just a week after GOP divisions over the issue contributed to the postponement of a House vote to renew the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Hear that, kiddies? That's the sound of America dying...
The Germans never should have doublecrossed Budweiser.
New Kerala: Barmy Army swigs German beer breweries dry!
English fans are swigging so much beer that breweries across Germany have warned that the country could run out of its beer stock before the July 9, 2006 FIFA World Cup final.
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About Me
- TheChurchMilitant
- First of all, the word is SEX, not GENDER. If you are ever tempted to use the word GENDER, don't. The word is SEX! SEX! SEX! SEX! For example: "My sex is male." is correct. "My gender is male." means nothing. Look it up. What kind of sick neo-Puritan nonsense is this? Idiot left-fascists, get your blood-soaked paws off the English language. Hence I am choosing "male" under protest.