Animal Flesh Recipe of the Day.

From that most fabulous of Food Network babes, Giada De Laurentiis (a niece, I think, of Dino) comes a wonderful way to consume that inhuman human-hater, the cow.

Beef Crostini with Red Pepper Mayonnaise

Recipe Summary
Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 3 hours
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Yield: 12 servings


36 slices (1/2-inch thick) baguette bread
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2/3 cup roasted red peppers, preserved in water, drained well and patted dry
1/3 cup mayonnaise
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 (1 1/2-pound) piece beef tenderloin, trimmed
3 tablespoons drained capers, chopped
Coarse sea salt, to serve

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.


Arrange the bread slices on 2 heavy large baking sheets. Drizzle 3 tablespoons oil over the bread slices. Bake until the crostini are pale golden and crisp, about 15 minutes.

Blend the bell peppers and mayonnaise in a food processor until smooth and creamy. Season the bell pepper mayonnaise, to taste, with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate.

Tie the beef with kitchen string to help maintain its shape. Season the beef with salt and pepper. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a heavy small skillet over medium heat. Add the beef to the skillet and cook until brown and cooked to desired doneness, about 8 minutes for rare. Freeze the beef until it is just frozen (this will make it easier to slice), about 3 hours. Using a large sharp carving knife, cut the beef into thin slices.

Spread the bell pepper mayonnaise over the crostini and top with the sliced beef. Arrange the crostini on a platter. Scatter over the capers, sprinkle with the coarse sea salt, and serve.

Do-Ahead Tip: The bell pepper mayonnaise and sliced beef can be made 1 day ahead. Cover separately and refrigerate.

Alternative: If desired, the beef tenderloin can be substituted with 1 pound freshly sliced roast beef. Since the roast beef is already cooked and can be used as is, it makes a great time-saving alternative.

Heart of Stupidity.

Journey upriver with your intrepid guide Amy, gentle hausfrauen, as she searches for ways to control other people. Yes, that does make you petits fascistes, but Kurtz must be taught to put his clothes in the hamper! And that native blood doesn't come out easily...

What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage
by Amy Sutherland

AS I wash dishes at the kitchen sink, my husband paces behind me, irritated. "Have you seen my keys?" he snarls, then huffs out a loud sigh and stomps from the room with our dog, Dixie, at his heels, anxious over her favorite human's upset.

In the past I would have been right behind Dixie. I would have turned off the faucet and joined the hunt while trying to soothe my husband with bromides like, "Don't worry, they'll turn up." But that only made him angrier, and a simple case of missing keys soon would become a full-blown angst-ridden drama starring the two of us and our poor nervous dog.

Now, I focus on the wet dish in my hands. I don't turn around. I don't say a word. I'm using a technique I learned from a dolphin trainer.

I love my husband. He's well read, adventurous and does a hysterical rendition of a northern Vermont accent that still cracks me up after 12 years of marriage.

But he also tends to be forgetful, and is often tardy and mercurial. He hovers around me in the kitchen asking if I read this or that piece in The New Yorker when I'm trying to concentrate on the simmering pans. He leaves wadded tissues in his wake. He suffers from serious bouts of spousal deafness but never fails to hear me when I mutter to myself on the other side of the house. "What did you say?" he'll shout.

These minor annoyances are not the stuff of separation and divorce, but in sum they began to dull my love for Scott. I wanted — needed — to nudge him a little closer to perfect, to make him into a mate who might annoy me a little less, who wouldn't keep me waiting at restaurants, a mate who would be easier to love.

So, like many wives before me, I ignored a library of advice books and set about improving him. By nagging, of course, which only made his behavior worse: he'd drive faster instead of slower; shave less frequently, not more; and leave his reeking bike garb on the bedroom floor longer than ever.

We went to a counselor to smooth the edges off our marriage. She didn't understand what we were doing there and complimented us repeatedly on how well we communicated. I gave up. I guessed she was right — our union was better than most — and resigned myself to stretches of slow-boil resentment and occasional sarcasm.

Then something magical happened. For a book I was writing about a school for exotic animal trainers, I started commuting from Maine to California, where I spent my days watching students do the seemingly impossible: teaching hyenas to pirouette on command, cougars to offer their paws for a nail clipping, and baboons to skateboard.

I listened, rapt, as professional trainers explained how they taught dolphins to flip and elephants to paint. Eventually it hit me that the same techniques might work on that stubborn but lovable species, the American husband.

The central lesson I learned from exotic animal trainers is that I should reward behavior I like and ignore behavior I don't. After all, you don't get a sea lion to balance a ball on the end of its nose by nagging. The same goes for the American husband.

Back in Maine, I began thanking Scott if he threw one dirty shirt into the hamper. If he threw in two, I'd kiss him. Meanwhile, I would step over any soiled clothes on the floor without one sharp word, though I did sometimes kick them under the bed. But as he basked in my appreciation, the piles became smaller.

I was using what trainers call "approximations," rewarding the small steps toward learning a whole new behavior. You can't expect a baboon to learn to flip on command in one session, just as you can't expect an American husband to begin regularly picking up his dirty socks by praising him once for picking up a single sock. With the baboon you first reward a hop, then a bigger hop, then an even bigger hop. With Scott the husband, I began to praise every small act every time: if he drove just a mile an hour slower, tossed one pair of shorts into the hamper, or was on time for anything.

When does he get to have zoo sex?

I also began to analyze my husband the way a trainer considers an exotic animal. Enlightened trainers learn all they can about a species, from anatomy to social structure, to understand how it thinks, what it likes and dislikes, what comes easily to it and what doesn't. For example, an elephant is a herd animal, so it responds to hierarchy. It cannot jump, but can stand on its head. It is a vegetarian.

The exotic animal known as Scott is a loner, but an alpha male. So hierarchy matters, but being in a group doesn't so much. He has the balance of a gymnast, but moves slowly, especially when getting dressed. Skiing comes naturally, but being on time does not. He's an omnivore, and what a trainer would call food-driven.

Once I started thinking this way, I couldn't stop. At the school in California, I'd be scribbling notes on how to walk an emu or have a wolf accept you as a pack member, but I'd be thinking, "I can't wait to try this on Scott."

On a field trip with the students, I listened to a professional trainer describe how he had taught African crested cranes to stop landing on his head and shoulders. He did this by training the leggy birds to land on mats on the ground. This, he explained, is what is called an "incompatible behavior," a simple but brilliant concept.

Rather than teach the cranes to stop landing on him, the trainer taught the birds something else, a behavior that would make the undesirable behavior impossible. The birds couldn't alight on the mats and his head simultaneously.

At home, I came up with incompatible behaviors for Scott to keep him from crowding me while I cooked. To lure him away from the stove, I piled up parsley for him to chop or cheese for him to grate at the other end of the kitchen island. Or I'd set out a bowl of chips and salsa across the room. Soon I'd done it: no more Scott hovering around me while I cooked.

I followed the students to SeaWorld San Diego, where a dolphin trainer introduced me to least reinforcing syndrome (L. R. S.). When a dolphin does something wrong, the trainer doesn't respond in any way. He stands still for a few beats, careful not to look at the dolphin, and then returns to work. The idea is that any response, positive or negative, fuels a behavior. If a behavior provokes no response, it typically dies away.

In the margins of my notes I wrote, "Try on Scott!"

It was only a matter of time before he was again tearing around the house searching for his keys, at which point I said nothing and kept at what I was doing. It took a lot of discipline to maintain my calm, but results were immediate and stunning. His temper fell far shy of its usual pitch and then waned like a fast-moving storm. I felt as if I should throw him a mackerel.

Now he's at it again; I hear him banging a closet door shut, rustling through papers on a chest in the front hall and thumping upstairs. At the sink, I hold steady. Then, sure enough, all goes quiet. A moment later, he walks into the kitchen, keys in hand, and says calmly, "Found them."

Without turning, I call out, "Great, see you later."

Off he goes with our much-calmed pup.

After two years of exotic animal training, my marriage is far smoother, my husband much easier to love. I used to take his faults personally; his dirty clothes on the floor were an affront, a symbol of how he didn't care enough about me. But thinking of my husband as an exotic species gave me the distance I needed to consider our differences more objectively.

I adopted the trainers' motto: "It's never the animal's fault." When my training attempts failed, I didn't blame Scott. Rather, I brainstormed new strategies, thought up more incompatible behaviors and used smaller approximations. I dissected my own behavior, considered how my actions might inadvertently fuel his. I also accepted that some behaviors were too entrenched, too instinctive to train away. You can't stop a badger from digging, and you can't stop my husband from losing his wallet and keys.

Professionals talk of animals that understand training so well they eventually use it back on the trainer. My animal did the same. When the training techniques worked so beautifully, I couldn't resist telling my husband what I was up to. He wasn't offended, just amused. As I explained the techniques and terminology, he soaked it up. Far more than I realized.

Last fall, firmly in middle age, I learned that I needed braces. They were not only humiliating, but also excruciating. For weeks my gums, teeth, jaw and sinuses throbbed. I complained frequently and loudly. Scott assured me that I would become used to all the metal in my mouth. I did not.

One morning, as I launched into yet another tirade about how uncomfortable I was, Scott just looked at me blankly. He didn't say a word or acknowledge my rant in any way, not even with a nod.

I quickly ran out of steam and started to walk away. Then I realized what was happening, and I turned and asked, "Are you giving me an L. R. S.?" Silence. "You are, aren't you?"

He finally smiled, but his L. R. S. has already done the trick. He'd begun to train me, the American wife.

The conservatives' favorite serial adulterer (now that Reagan's dead) and non-married (HA!) Viagra addict made a big deal about this one today although it has been rattling around bloggerdom for over a month. I guess that is what cutting edge means these days.

It Takes A Village To Staff A Gestapo Unit Update.

PR Newswire (Press Release): Hillary Topless - Documentary Uncovers Nude Origin of Sex Museum's 'Presidential Bust' of Senator Clinton

Ack! The bust is enough to make you rip your own head off. Now there's film?




The nude study of Senator Hillary Clinton used in creating her first portrait as U.S. President is featured in a documentary now viewable at YouTube.com, the net's leading video download site. "Hillary's Bust", an eight-minute short produced by Goodnight Film, reveals the sexy origins of a statue of the former First Lady planned for display at New York's Museum of Sex. The film contains the only footage taken of an unclothed preparatory study of Hillary Clinton's upper torso used for developing the heroic-scaled "Presidential Bust of Hillary Rodham Clinton: First Woman President of the United States of America."

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

The film reveals the bust is the second Presidential portrait by Edwards. "Richard Nixon made a rare stop in my hometown when I was a young sketch artist for the local newspaper. I drew him during a speech."
Edwards' other political portraits include presidential aspirant George C. Wallace ailing in his Alabama sickbed shortly before his death.

"Hillary's Bust" is the first "political" film for Argentine born director, A.D. Calvo. "I'm typically more drawn to macabre stories," says Calvo. (Emphasis mine.) "I share Edwards' beliefs on the importance of promoting the image of a woman President. We both have young daughters. They need to grow up believing anything is possible for them in America -- even becoming President someday."

If Hitlery Schicklgruber (N-NY) isn't macabre, I don't know what is.

"Hillary's Bust" will be available on YouTube.com and the newly redesigned Triggerstreet.com, actor Kevin Spacey's online community for burgeoning filmmakers, from now through the six-week engagement of Hillary Clinton's Presidential Bust display at the Museum of Sex that starts August 9th.

If you think the bust looks bad above, wait'll you see the video! It looks like a prototype for the creature from Alien.

Bellissima! Monica Bellucci. (The Last)

From the pages of The King Abdullah Gazette:

I know the feeling, Asok.

Bellissima! Monica Bellucci. (Part Nine)

From the pages of The King Abdullah Gazette:

Bellissima! Monica Bellucci. (Part Eight)

From the pages of The King Abdullah Gazette:

And now for something completely different. A protestant zionist in Israel.

From Israelinsider:

Early this morning (Wednesday, July 26, 2006), I met with nine other men in the new King of Kings Pavilion Prayer Tower high above downtown Jerusalem. On top of our prayer agenda, naturally enough, was the ongoing war that has been triggered by Muslim Arabs bent on destroying the Jewish state.

It is not always easy to know what or how to pray in such circumstances. We know that God's thoughts are not our thoughts nor are our ways His ways, and we do not wish to pray presumptuously. We even have to submit our understanding of what we read in God's Word, the Bible, to His Holy Spirit. Sometimes it is perhaps best to simply pray that Word back to God and, as it were, remind Him of what He has written.

Early in the meeting today Pastor Wayne Hilsden was prompted to read Psalm 83. For those of us living in Israel, this is a well known imprecatory psalm -- one of the "War Psalms."

Part of it reads: For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; and those who hate You have lifted up their head. They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, and consulted together against Your sheltered ones. They have said, "Come, and
let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more." (Psalm 83:2-4)

[I don't know why the schismatics and heretics (and newfangled Catholics) are messing with the Word of God, but that is from Psalm 82:


82:2. O God, who shall be like to thee? hold not thy peace, neither be thou still, O God.
Deus ne taceas ne sileas et non quiescas Deus

82:3. For lo, thy enemies have made a noise: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.
Quia ecce inimici tui tumultuati sunt et qui oderunt te levaverunt caput

82:4. They have taken a malicious counsel against thy people, and have consulted against thy saints.
Contra populum tuum nequiter tractaverunt et inierunt consilium adversum arcanum tuum

82:5. They have said: Come and let us destroy them, so that they be not a nation: and let the name of Israel be remembered no more.
Dixerunt venite et conteramus eos de gente et non sit memoria nominis Israhel ultra ]

We prayed into it.

Huh? Must be a prod thingee.

Upon returning home two hours later, I found that someone had emailed me a fascinating AP wire report off the CNN website (reprinted in Israel Insider). It was headlined:

"Medieval book of psalms unearthed -- First millennium manuscript, open to Psalm 83, found in Irish mud."

According to the report, the 20-page book, which was found by a construction worker digging in the bog last week, has been expertly dated to the years AD 800 to 1000.

It was the first time in more than 200 years that an early medieval Irish document had been unearthed.

AP quotes the director of the National Museum of Ireland, Pat Wallace, who described the discovery as "really a miracle find."

"There's two sets of odds that make this discovery really way out," Wallace said. "First of all, it's unlikely that something this fragile could survive buried in a bog at all, and then for it to be unearthed and spotted before it was destroyed is incalculably more amazing."

What's even more incredible to me is that this book, opened to this psalm, was discovered at this specific time in history.

For right now Israel's enemies are again united in their desire to "cut Israel off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more." They purpose to take for themselves the "pastures of God for a possession." And that they are in league -- or in a confederacy -- is clear.

From Gaza, supported by most of the Arab states, the violence is being directed by the Palestinian Arab terrorist groups: the PLO, Hamas, the Palestine Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front For the Liberation of Palestine and the popular resistance Committees.

In the north, the Lebanese group Hizb'allah, supplied and enabled by Syria and the non-Arab but also Islamic Iran, is raining rockets down on Israel.

This, given the current situation, makes Psalm 83 a fascinating and fitting read, the ancient find nothing short of a phenomenon.

I don't want to take it any further than I should, but time may also show that the discovery of the Irish psalm book was a warning.

Many people have sensed that Damascus could be sucked into this war. Twelve days ago the Islamic Republic of Iran warned that an Israeli strike on Syria would be considered an attack on the whole Islamic world and would elicit a "fierce response."

Iranian president Mahmud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly spelled out his vision for Israel.

"Israel must be wiped off the map." (October 26, 2005)

"The West [must] remove what they created sixty years ago ... [or] the Palestinian nation and other nations will eventually do this for them." (February 11, 2006)

"Like it or not, the Zionist regime is heading toward annihilation. The Zionist regime is a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm." (April 15, 2006)

And on July 8, 2006 Ahmadinejad told the foreign ministers of Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Turkey, Bahrain and Egypt, together with the heads of the Arab League and the Islamic Conference that "all the conditions for the removal of the Zionist regime are at hand.... It won't take long before the wrath of the people turns into a terrible explosion that will wipe the Zionist entity off the map."

Wrote one commentator: None of the foreign ministers present, including Jordan, Egypt or Turkey -- commonly regarded as Israel's friends in the Arab/Muslim world -- objected to the call for annihilation.

Kofi "Alack and..." Annan, call your office.

Just in case you are suffering under the prejudices of the fascist media...

Jerusalem Post: 'Hizbullah using UN post as a shield'

CBS News: Annan: Strike 'Apparently Deliberate'
CBS News U.N. chief Kofi Annan said Israel appeared to have struck a U.N. observation post intentionally, but Israel denied it. The strike killed two peacekeepers and two are missing.

Bellissima! Monica Bellucci. (Part Seven)

From the pages of The King Abdullah Gazette:










Now that's some sweet, sweet action!

Meanwhile, back in the Holy Land...

From Israelinsider:

Ahmadinejad: Israel pushed self-destruct button in Lebanon
Israel has ordained its own end by invading Lebanon, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday, the state news agency said.


As IDF forces leave northern Gaza, rockets hit kindergarten near Ashkelon
Two pre-schoolers were hurt after when a rocket hit a kindergarten in Zikim, south of Ashkelon, despite an IDF incursion in Gaza that killed 29 terrorists.


Israeli physician kidnapped, murdered and burned by Palestinian terrorists
The burnt body of Dr. Daniel Yaacobi, 60, reported missing from his home in Yakir in Samaria, was discovered stuffed in the trunk of a car near a Palestinian village east of Qalqilya. Security forces making the grisly discovery were fired on from the surrounding villages. Earlier Thursday evening, a Palestinian terrorist wounded three security officers at a checkpoint in southern Jerusalem before being shot dead. [more]


Israeli jets pound Lebanon; Rice returning to Israel for more talks
As US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced plans to return to the Middle East, Israeli warplanes pounded 130 targets in Lebanon on Friday, including a Hezbollah base in the Bekaa Valley where long-range rockets were stored, killing at least three people and wounding nine, officials said. The IAF also hit a missile base in Tyre. Meanwhile, US and British officials stepped up diplomatic efforts to end the crisis.


If Olmert's team fails to deliver, replace him
Dr. Aaron Lerner
If Olmert and his team project weakness and hesitation rather than strength and determination, a change in leadership can give Israel a second shot.


"We will not lose this war"
Captain Uri Lavie
An IDF Golan Birgade company commander briefs his soldiers, nine months into their army service, before engaging Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon.


All Quiet on the Northern Front
David Bedein
Olmert glanced at the IDF report, stood his ground, and reiterated his stand that "I meant to say that they have not fired into Israel in the last five years."

Religion of Bravery in the Face of the Zionist Menace Update.

Drudge: Hezbollah leader said to be hiding in Iranian Embassy

Religion of Peace and Love and Bloody Temporal Power Update.

Al-Jazeera (WTF???): Mystery aircraft lands in Mogadishu

A cargo aeroplane said to be loaded with weapons has landed in Mogadishu from Eritrea in violation of a United Nations arms embargo.

Somalia's transitional government said the aircraft that landed on Wednesday was carrying land mines, bombs and guns from Eritrea for the Islamic militia that has taken control of the capital and much of the south of the country.

The aircraft was reportedly met by two senior Islamic commanders and another member of the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia (SICS).
Fighters chased journalists from the heavily guarded facility where the aircraft landed.

The aircraft's tail carried a flag from Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic that often makes its fleet available for charter.

SEX IS DEATH. (The expense of playing with yourself)

I came to Carthage, where I found myself in the midst of a hissing cauldron of lusts. I had not yet fallen in love, but I was in love with the idea of it, and this feeling that something was missing made me despise myself for not being more anxious to satisfy the need. I began to look around for some object for my love, since I badly wanted to love something. —St. Augustine, Confessions


The ghouls and fiends of New York magazine help you find stuff you can buy that will aid you in your rebellion against God and your "pursuit of happiness." (No, Mr. Nader, we're not talking about SUV's.)

Toy Time: A Guide To New York's Most Rewarding (WTF??? - F.G.) Sex-Toy Shops
by Charlotte Druckman

With the opening of the elegantly appointed Kiki de Montparnasse in Soho, buying erotica has achieved a new level of respectability. Here, a guide to New York’s most rewarding sex-toy shops.

Yep. No peepshow jerkoff booths for these sophisticates. Peewee Herman is not REPEAT NOT welcome.

1. Kiki de Montparnasse

The newest, and most frankly alluring, of the group, it was opened by former fashion marketing executive Andrew Pollard and his girlfriend, fashion designer Jennifer Zuccarini. They imagined a den of luxury where people could “explore intimacy” and, yeah, go shopping.

Ooooooooh! That sounds soooooooooo hot! Tell us what it looks like!

If Colette, Belle de Jour, and Dita Von Teese shared an apartment in Paris. A dimly lit, beautifully furnished store with original Man Ray, Irving Penn, and Richard Avedon photos.

Huh?

“We don’t consider ourselves a sex shop,” says Pollard. Sex toys are renamed “instruments of pleasure”; dildos, “dilettos.”

Awwwwww...Isn't that cute?

Their best seller?

Currently, it’s the cashmere crocheted robe for $995, although the dilettos are also very popular.

Pollard and Zuccarini want to make the store a real salon, so they host invitation-only dinners in an upstairs dining room. There are also art exhibits and product demonstrations.

Shopping as foreplay. Literally. This store will put you in the mood faster than you can say “Ravish me now, right here, in the velvet-draped dressing room with its adjustable mood lighting.”

Oops! I guess they do have booths.

MOST DECADENT PRODUCT: The Mi-Su titanium "diletto" ...$3,750

2. Babeland

There’s been a Babeland in New York since 1998 (the first was on Rivington Street). The more-upscale Soho branch opened its doors in 2003.

Like a college bookstore, with a rocking soundtrack, bright yellow-orange walls, and open bookshelves stocked with titles like Sex Toys 101: A Playfully Uninhibited Guide.

The company’s mission statement, emblazoned on a wall in large letters, includes words like fun, accessible, interactive, sleaze-free, and sex-positive.

They certainly could not print the truth (despair, disease, death, et cetera)on their walls. The suckers who keep them rolling in cash would scatter.

Their best seller?

The ever-popular Rabbit Habit, $88.

Stunningly, it is not as bad as I'd feared. It was once the most intelligent character on Sex and the City.

You can arrange private shopping sessions where you have the whole store and a Babeland Sex Educator all to yourself.

Cool. Your own private tour guide from Hell.

With its cheery, enthusiastic emphasis on education and self-love, Babeland isn’t exactly the place to get it on, but you’ll leave well informed about getting it on later.

MOST DISCREET PRODUCT: The Jimmy Jane "Little Gold" ...$275

3. Myla

A British lingerie company, Myla started the high-end sex-toy trend when it opened its Upper East Side shop in 2004.

Tuned to its Upper East Side clientele. The window exposes glamorous bras and panties, while the objects are discreetly housed in lower shelves, making it easy to pretend you’re there for the bras. They sell sex toys? Oh, so they do!

Modesty? Shame? If that is the case, there may be hope. But I am not holding my breath, kiddies.

“Sex Life Accessories” is the official tag.

Their biggest seller?

The Bone, an ultrasleek, hand- finished resin vibrator by British design icon Tom Dixon, $380.

I'd hate to see his idea of an ice cream scoop!

An in-house seamstress can alter everything, including that bejeweled G-string.

Classy, with just a whisper of tartiness. It has an excellent selection of pasties, but you have to search for them.

MOST DESIGNED PRODUCT: The Bone ...$380

Part 1: SEX IS DEATH. (Stories for boys) is here.
Part 2: SEX IS DEATH. (Distaff death) is here.
Part 3: SEX IS DEATH. (Joyously dispensing death) is here.
Part 4: SEX IS DEATH. (Sex is depression) is here.
Part 5: SEX IS DEATH. (When self-pleasuring becomes self-destruction) is here.
Part 6: SEX IS DEATH. (Sex is theft) is here.
Part 7: SEX IS DEATH. (A review of Bareback Mountain) is here.
Part 8: SEX IS DEATH. (What is the ultimate penalty?) is here.
Part 9: SEX IS DEATH. (Haven from reality) is here.
Part 10: SEX IS DEATH. (Sin-redemption-reasons-reason) is here.
Part 11: SEX IS DEATH. (Mommy loves you) is here.
Part 12: SEX IS DEATH. (George Gilder offers a clue) is here.
Part 13: SEX IS DEATH. (Post-killem depression) is here.
Part 14: SEX IS DEATH. (Whither womanhood) is here.
Part 15: SEX IS DEATH. (Saving psychology 1) is here.
Part 16: SEX IS DEATH. (Saving psychology 2) is here.
Part 17: SEX IS DEATH. (Fear of the boomers) is here.
Part 18: SEX IS DEATH. (The battle continues apace) is here.
Part 19: SEX IS DEATH. (Hot for teacher) is here.
Part 20: SEX IS DEATH. (Kids do the darndest things) is here.
Part 21: SEX IS DEATH. (Defects) is here.
Part 22: SEX IS DEATH. (Privates' privacy) is here.
Part 23: SEX IS DEATH. (National Condom Week) is here.
Part 24: SEX IS DEATH. (Wegenics) is here.
Part 25: SEX IS DEATH. (White wedding) is here.
Part 26: SEX IS DEATH. (Literally) is here.
Part 27: SEX IS DEATH. (Can't get me no satisfaction) is here.
Part 28: SEX IS DEATH. (Wrestle with mania) is here.
Part 29: SEX IS DEATH. (Press one for death/Presione uno para la muerte) is here.
Part 30: SEX IS DEATH. (Raunch culture) is here.
Part 31: SEX IS DEATH. (Gimme some of that sweet zombie lovin') is here.
Part 32: SEX IS DEATH. (The devil made me eat my baby) is here.
Part 33: SEX IS DEATH. (Mind control = womb control) is here.

The War This Time Update.

Thanks to CNSNews.com for these links.

International Divisions Deepen Over Lebanon
(CNSNews.com) - The United States finds itself increasingly under fire for supporting Israel. In two recent instances, U.S. backing for Israel has blocked initiatives by other nations wanting to take a firmer line with the Israeli government. Full Story

Israel Deploying Anti-Missile Batteries Near Tel Aviv, Report Says
(CNSNews.com ) - Israel is planning to deploy anti-missile batteries near Tel Aviv to intercept any longer-range rocket that Hizballah may fire at Israel's second-largest city, state-run radio reported on Friday. The army would not confirm the report. Full Story

USA Today: Iraqi Snipers Taught to Target Doctors, Chaplains, Engineers

Jerusalem Post: 'Hizbullah using UN post as a shield'

Jerusalem Post: What Are UNIFIL Troops Doing in A War Zone? Absolutely Nothing...
Could UNIFIL troops have helped disarm Hizballah, a reporter asked a French peacekeeper in southern Lebanon this week. "How would I disarm them?" the peacekeeper responded. "With my telephone?"

Blog of the Day.

The Lady in the Pew is produced by a Catholic gentlelady from the People's Republic of Massachusetts, where the sky literally is falling.

Here's a recent sample of her blogging in which she beats down Big Babykilling with an unlikely stick (and one I would never, ever have noticed) the August 2006 British edition of Marie Claire magazine.


Marie Claire: Pro-abortion magazine inadvertently articulates pro-life message?

...However, some of the women interviewed didn't exactly seem like cheerleaders for the "Abortion Rights" lobby.

Some quotes from the five-page article:

Michelle Ashworth: “As the months went on after the abortion, I couldn’t stop myself from working out how many months pregnant I would have been and even thinking about baby names. I felt horribly empty inside....the termination is still on my mind...I can't even begin to describe how much I regret my decision. It was the worst mistake I ever made."

Elaine Jowsey: “My decision to take that future from that child will be a personal life sentence for me.”

Nadine Can: “I still think about it and I always feel pretty miserable around the anniversary of the termination.”

Linda Eaglesfield: “I turned to alcohol to blot out the sense of bereavement and guilt and, for the next two years, I drank heavily.”

Sarah Fry: “I blame my abortion for my two miscarriages... My termination was a quick fix – I only wish I’d considered how I would feel when it came to not being able to have the babies I do want.”

Carly Bridges: "Nothing can prepare you for how gruesome a medical abortion is and the volume of blood you lose. I was overwhelmed with guilt afterwards.”

(I stopped by a bookstore today and noted that the article was not run in the US edition of Marie Claire, and that the UK August edition was not yet on the shelves.)

An interesting, and, one prays, effective reaction.

The correspondent recommends that, rather than writing the magazine to complain about the evidently heavily pro-abortion article, pro-lifers write letters of commendation to the editor, and to offer congratulations for "highlighting the traumatic psychological and physical consequences of abortion," using some or all of the quotes to illustrate the point.

Sounds like a good idea to me. It may, please God, change some hearts.

Amen to that, Sister.

Saint of the Day and daily Mass readings.

Today is the Feast of Pope St. Innocent I, fifth century defender of The Faith and of Rome. Pray for us, all you angels and saints.

Today's reading is Jeremias 3:14-17.
Today's Responsorial is Jeremiah 31:10, 11-12, 13.
Today's Gospel reading is Matthew 13:18-23.


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.

Bellissima! Monica Bellucci. (Part Six)

From the pages of The King Abdullah Gazette:

In the two photos below, Monica displays the fire for which the Italian female is famous. (At least those not in captivity.)

Bellissima! Monica Bellucci. (Part Five)

From the pages of The King Abdullah Gazette: