I'll laugh myself silly if the Repansycans lose control of Congress because of THIS.

From Inside Politics by Greg Pierce of The Washington Times:

"If Democrats retake the House next year, we can mark the start of the party's resurgence to a speech Nancy Pelosi delivered on Capitol Hill last week," Brendan Miniter writes at www.OpinionJournal.com.

"It was there, at a press conference called to attack Republicans over their response to Hurricane Katrina, that the House minority leader actually used the words 'waste, fraud and abuse' in talking about government spending," Mr. Miniter said.

"What Ms. Pelosi and a few other Democrats seem to be figuring out in the wake of Katrina is that Americans aren't happy with their government throwing billions of dollars around with little if any accountability. Therefore, she's laying out a legislative agenda aimed at capturing the mantle of fiscal responsibility.

"So far that agenda includes calling for an 'antifraud commission' to look into Katrina spending as well as an independent examination -- modeled after the 9/11 commission -- of the government's response to the monster storm. And, of course, her party has long attacked Republicans for deficit spending and no-bid contracts to Halliburton in Iraq. A Halliburton subsidiary is already coming under scrutiny for receiving a contract to help rebuild the Gulf Coast.

"What Ms. Pelosi is now counting on is that as Republican spending goes through the roof, obstructionism might finally pay off for Democrats.

"This may come as a shock to some on the right. It shouldn't.

Republicans have held the House for almost 12 years and have occupied the White House for all but eight of the past 25 years, yet they have failed to shut off the spending valves in Washington. It was only a matter of time before Democrats ran against wasteful Republican spending."

Gee, I guess the Clinton jug band didn't make it past customs.

Artistic ambassadors

The classic music of Paderewski and Chopin will be performed at the Library of Congress this evening with the hope that such artistic works will be resurrected as an important part of U.S. diplomacy.

"When great music is wedded to cultural exchange, it transforms and raises the human spirit and allows for artistic values to traverse cultural and political differences," explains John Robilette, a concert pianist who will perform at the 7:30 p.m. program, entitled "Great Music, America and the World: The Emotional and Political Power of the Arts as Statecraft."

With the support of President Reagan more than two decades ago, Mr. Robilette established the Artistic Ambassador Program, which sent "musical ambassadors" from the United States to 63 countries to perform, teach and interact with students and artists.

The program had "extraordinary" impact during the Cold War, with the Bangkok Post observing: "With artistic ambassadors like these, why does America need a naval presence?"

Because it is more difficult to kill bad guys with a flute.

Tonight's performance will be hosted by Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman, chairman of the Senate Arts Caucus and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who says the music exchange program is one proven way "to improve America's public diplomacy." (Thanks to Inside the Beltway/The Washington Times for the heads up.)

What will CuriousGeorge FlyingBushMonkey gonna do with this one?

Bush Near End of O'Connor Successor Search...

Trust, but verify, kiddies.

We'll get that death toll over 10,000 one way or another!

Arkansas Clinic Offers Free Abortions To Hurricane Evacuees...


A doctor has offered to perform free abortions on hurricane evacuees, saying it may be too dangerous for them to wait (Emphasis mine.) until they return home.

Despite protests from abortion opponents, Little Rock Family Planning clinic director Dr. Jerry Edwards said he has already performed six free abortions. The clinic usually charges between $525 and $600 for a first-trimester abortion.

"If we didn't provide it now, they would get it later — a late-term abortion that would give greater risk to the mother's health," Edwards told KTHV-TV in Little Rock.

NASA administrator says space shuttle and space station were mistakes.

Yep. Welcome to the real world, Mr. Griffin.

I'll bet you $20 he doesn't call for the government to get out of the space business.


The space shuttle and International Space Station — nearly the whole of the U.S. manned space program for the past three decades — were mistakes, NASA chief Michael Griffin said Tuesday.

In a meeting with USA TODAY's editorial board, Griffin said NASA lost its way in the 1970s, when the agency ended the Apollo moon missions in favor of developing the shuttle and space station, which can only orbit Earth.

“It is now commonly accepted that was not the right path,” Griffin said. “We are now trying to change the path while doing as little damage as we can.”

The shuttle has cost the lives of 14 astronauts since the first flight in 1982. Roger Pielke Jr., a space policy expert at the University of Colorado, estimates that NASA has spent about $150 billion on the program since its inception in 1971. The total cost of the space station by the time it's finished — in 2010 or later — may exceed $100 billion, though other nations will bear some of that.

Only now is the nation's space program getting back on track, Griffin said. He announced last week that NASA aims to send astronauts back to the moon in 2018 in a spacecraft that would look like the Apollo capsule.

The goal of returning Americans to the moon was laid out by President Bush in 2004, before Griffin took the top job at NASA. Bush also said the shuttle would be retired in 2010.

Griffin has made clear in previous statements that he regards the shuttle and space station as misguided. He told the Senate earlier this year that the shuttle was “deeply flawed” and that the space station was not worth “the expense, the risk and the difficulty” of flying humans to space.

But since he became NASA administrator, Griffin hasn't been so blunt about the two programs.

Asked Tuesday whether the shuttle had been a mistake, Griffin said, “My opinion is that it was. … It was a design which was extremely aggressive and just barely possible.” Asked whether the space station had been a mistake, he said, “Had the decision been mine, we would not have built the space station we're building in the orbit we're building it in.”

Joe Rothenberg, head of NASA's manned space programs from 1995 to 2001, defended the programs for providing lessons about how to operate in space. But he conceded that “in hindsight, there may have been other ways.”

Nope, didn't think so. All you suckers, send me your twenties.

Democrass apparatchik Ronnie Earle indicts Tom DeLay...

...for being a Republican!

Saith Mr. DeLay in reply:

This morning, in an act of blatant political partisanship, a rogue district attorney in Travis County, Texas named Ronnie Earle charged me with one count of criminal conspiracy, a reckless charge wholly unsupported by the facts.

This is one of the weakest, most baseless indictments in American history.

It is a sham, and Mr. Earle knows it.

It is a charge that can not hold up even under the most glancing scrutiny.

This act is the product of a coordinated, premeditated campaign of political retribution, the all-too-predictable result of a vengeful investigation led by a partisan fanatic.

Mr. Earle is abusing the power of his office to exact personal revenge for the role I played in the Texas Republican legislative campaign in 2002 and my advocacy for a new, fair and constitutional congressional map for our state in 2003. (Thanks to the LA Times for not demanding Mr.DeLay's summary execution.)

Bob Dylan is much cooler than most of his so-called fans.

I told you, I told you, I told you.

And he is infinitely cooler than any music critic who loved his stuff or hated it.

In the fall of 1964 I was living in a rented room in north London. The house was owned by a lady who had misplaced her husband somehow — I don’t recall the details. She had a son and a daughter living at home. The daughter was in her early twenties, and working. The son was about my age — I was 19 — and a student at the local art college. I didn’t know much about the art-school scene, and the little I knew I didn’t much like, so I can’t say I found the guy very simpatico. We got on all right, though; and living in the same house, we occasionally sat and talked about this or that, when neither of us had anything better to do.

One evening I went to the guy’s room to borrow something. He was sitting there listening to a record — one of the old vinyl LPs, of course. He signaled me to sit down and be quiet till the song had finished. I sat on the bed listening to the song. It was like nothing I’d ever heard before.

The voice was obviously American, which made a nice change. These were the glory years of British rock, and mostly what you heard from the radio and friends’ stereos was either the Mersey sound or its London echo (the Stones, Manfred Mann, the Who). The backing was a single acoustic guitar. That was all right, even in this age of thumping groups; I’d been hanging out at some folk clubs, and quite liked the folk sound. This wasn’t much like regular folk, though, neither the antiquarian Sir-Jasper-stole-my-precious-rose style of the English singers nor the sweet-aching prison ballads of the back-country U.S.A. This guy was talking right to you as an equal, trying, almost a little too hard, to tell you something, albeit in a sort of mangled and self-consciously “poetic” diction:

Through the wild cathedral evening the rain unraveled talesFor the disrobed faceless forms of no position — Tolling for the tongues with no place to bring their thoughts,All down in taken-for-granted situations…

Most striking of all was the voice. It wasn’t a pleasant voice in any conventional way — not at all melodious or expressive. It snagged you and stuck to you though, somehow, like Velcro (which had not, in point of fact, been invented yet). You couldn’t get away. I couldn’t get away — I clearly remember that. I asked some questions.

“Why, it’s Bobby Dylan,” said my companion, in the airy tone of someone who’d been to school with ol’ Bobby and knew his family and dated his sister. That was a thing I disliked about the art-school crowd: They were always way ahead of everyone else on trends and coolness, and made sure you knew it. There were other things I disliked too, mainly the way they popped strange little pills all the time.

As artistic first impressions go, I think that was the deepest I ever experienced. I still recall the strangeness of that voice and the things it was saying, the strangeness. It sounded like nothing else at all. Of course, I had come late to Dylan. This was his fourth LP, and in the earlier ones, which I went out and bought more or less immediately, he did sometimes sound like other people, though it took me a lot of background listening to appreciate the fact.

Dylan, in fact, had done what all great artists do. He had begun by attempting dead-on imitations of his own idols: 1950s pop singers like Johnnie Ray, country singers like Hank Williams, the black blues and gospel singers, early rockers like Gene Vincent and Little Richard (the caption to Dylan’s high school yearbook photo declared his ambition “to join Little Richard”), and of course the older line of gritty folk and protest balladeers — Cisco Houston, Woody Guthrie.

Then, somehow, from all that stuff banging around in his head for years on end, all day long for years, there emerged a sound that was his own; not a mere blend or a mixture (in the chemical sense), but a compound (in the chemical sense), a new substance with new properties, as far removed from its components as salt is from soft shiny sodium and stinking chlorine. There you have the miracle of art. The 2004 movie Ray gave a glimpse of this same process. And then, to pile miracle upon miracle, the artist pushed his style forward in unexpected, sometimes unwelcome, directions, re-inventing himself over and over, while yet somehow holding on to a core of Dylan-ness.

YES YES YES! Ex-freakin'-actly!

Well, having been thus Dylan-struck early on in life, I naturally watched the Martin Scorsese bio of Dylan, No Direction Home, on PBS the other night. The thing I most wanted to learn, the thing I always hope to learn from bios of highly creative people, is: Where does it come from? This is a futile hope, as no one really has a clue, least of all the artist himself. Socrates found that out long ago.

I went to the poets … I took them some of the most elaborate passages in their own writings, and asked what was the meaning of them — thinking that they would teach me something. … I must say that there is hardly a person present who would not have talked better about their poetry than they did themselves. That showed me in an instant that not by wisdom do poets write poetry, but by a sort of genius and inspiration; they are like diviners or soothsayers who also say many fine things, but do not understand the meaning of them. — The Apology

That is scary, but true.

Compare Dylan, saying in Scorsese’s film: “I don’t know where it comes from.” Nobody does, Bob. I suppose the sociobiologists have come up with something to explain the peculiar, bone-deep thrill you get from certain voices doing certain things. Perhaps there was some sort of group advantage, way back in the Paleolithic, to having a person who could bind the tribe together with vocal charismatics. I think I myself am more than usually susceptible to this, but I have never really understood the roots of it.

Scorsese had the good sense to play down the “protest” side of the early Dylan. That stuff was in the air, of course, and Dylan could hardly have helped but pick it up, given the crowd he was hanging out with. He got some fine numbers out of it, too. Watching the footage of him and Pete Seeger singing their songs in a field crowded with civil-rights people and black southerners, you got a flavor of the idealism and, yes, patriotism that carried the movement along. And of course, brave deeds were done and great things accomplished. It needs a constant effort, though, watching that footage now, to push away the thought of how many hopes were not fulfilled — of how, in some ways, black and white Americans are still as far apart as ever. Also, even more distressing, to see that fine idealism from 40 years on, and notice the slight aura of silliness and moral preening that flickered around it. I found myself looking at the faces of the black people in that field, and wondering what they were thinking. Scorsese, always one step ahead of you, has one of them tell us: “Who was this white kid from New York talking about walking hard roads? It was my father that walked those roads. White people don’t have hard times…”

Dylan, in any case, though he could see the injustice — anyone with eyes could see it — and felt what his peers felt, was never much interested in politics, except as a source for lyrics. Dylan was, and is, all music, all through. Watching him talking on the Scorsese film, he does not really come across as very bright. For sure he is not very articulate. Musical people rarely are, and pop musicians practically never. (I once saw an interview with Mick Jagger. I hope I get a clean run to the grave without ever having to see another one.)

The lesson to be learned here is, kiddies, to enjoy the music and the lyrics and totally ignore anything else. Especially the politics, but also the clothes and (please!) the haircuts. Take it from me, a guy who has been burned by everyone from Springsteen to R.E.M.

Not that Dylan didn’t sometimes have a way with words. A very literary person of my acquaintance, a published poet, once told me that he thought “the dog up and died” (from “Mister Bojangles”) one of the loveliest lines in the English language. I could bring forth 100 better candidates for that particular award, but I do see my friend’s point. If you write as many lyrics as Dylan, though, and have a musician’s feel for the rhythmic properties of language, you are bound to come up with good lines once in a while. Hank Williams, who was next to illiterate, wrote some very beautiful lines.

Dylan was a generation younger than Williams, and from the north-midwest, not the south. The “old, weird America” of carny freak shows, town drunks, ragged mystics, stoical beaten-down Negroes, and long dusty roads with the hope of something better at the end, was slipping away even in Dylan’s childhood. He reached out and grabbed at it as it fled, though, and ripped off a corner of its strange starry cloak, and turned it into songs, by the miracle of art. I thought Scorsese did a pretty good job on the man and his music; but really, the music is all there is — and goodness knows, it ought to be enough for anyone.
(Thanks to John Derbyshire of NRO for the heads up.)

Behold the political fantasies of middle aged matrons.

Commander in Chief stinks out loud.

Oh, deary me. If only women were given a chance at power. Then we'd show them.

We'd bring peace AND elightenment to all because we understand. Yes we do.

But could you imagine going on tv with that hairstyle? What was Geena thinking?

Those folks on the Gulf Coast are our neighbors. You know what to do.

First, last, and always, PRAY. Pray for the survivors. Pray for the repose of the souls of those who were killed. Pray for the families and friends. Pray for the relief workers, the cops, the firemen, the troops, and the technicians. Pray for the volunteers.

It is time to step up once again, kiddies. "Do unto others", "I was naked and you clothed me", et cetera.

As time passes, the memory of these disasters will fade for those of us fortunate enough to live outside the devastated areas, but recovery and restoration will take years.

Please, whatever you do, don't become a cynic. (I know, I know. But I just play one on the computer.) Of course there will be more horror stories like the abuse of the debit cards and that $250-odd billion federal package will produce insane amounts of corruption, but our fellow Americans will be suffering from Katrina for a long time. True charity, (News Flash!: Taxes ARE NOT charity.) like the money you donate to Catholic Charities will help the truly needy and will not foster dependency.


Catholic Charities USA is collecting financial donations to Catholic Charities agencies’ emergency and long-term recovery efforts in the wake of both Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. Catholic Charities USA is consistently ranked among the highest and most efficient organizations across the country. Approximately 96 percent of contributions made to the 2005 Hurricane Relief Fund will be used for emergency response and recovery efforts.

Mail Checks To:
Catholic Charities USA
2005 Hurricane Relief Fund
PO Box 25168
Alexandria, VA 22313-9788

Call:(800) 919-9338

Contribute Now Online


News
09/23/2005 — Catholic Charities USA Creates Parish Partnership Project 09/22/2005 — Florida Catholic Charities Continue to Offer Disaster Relief to Diocese of Biloxi
09/15/2005 — Catholic Charities USA Testifies before Congress on the Critical Housing Needs of Hurricane Katrina Victims
09/14/2005 — Catholic Diocese of Alexandria Welcomes Special Evacuees
More news...

FAQs
FAQ - Donations
FAQ - Hurricane Relief


Agencies Impacted:
Catholic Charities of Miami
Catholic Charities of New Orleans
Catholic Community Services of Baton Rouge
Catholic Social Services of Houma-Thibodaux
Catholic Social and Community Services of Biloxi, MS
Catholic Charities of Jackson, MS
Catholic Social Services of Mobile, AL

How you can help:
Unfortunately, Catholic Charities USA is unable to accept contributions of food, clothing, blankets and other relief supplies. Monetary donations will be used to provide for the emergency relief and long-term recovery of Katrina's and Rita's victims. Catholic Charities USA is consistently ranked among the highest and most efficient organizations across the country. Approximately 96 percent of contributions made to the 2005 Hurricane Relief Fund will be used for emergency response and recovery efforts.

About the Disaster Response Office
Catholic Charities USA, which has been commissioned by the U.S. Catholic Bishops to represent the Catholic community in times of domestic disaster, responds with emergency and long-term assistance as needed. Its Disaster Response Office connects the Church's social service agencies and disaster planning offices across the nation.

And, as always, give generously to the special collections for hurricance disaster relief in your local parish.

Scriptural Snippets

To me, the theme of today's readings is the burden that is The Faith. It is truly a Cross to suffer the hatred of the world for The Truth. This enmity comes not only from those who sadly proclaim themselves to be unbelievers, but from those who call themselves Christian and Catholic as well.

You know the ones I mean. The ones who ridicule us for our defense of the Magisterium. The ones who hate tradition because they know it is a check on their defective wills. Those who magnify the sins of the believers while denying their own. The ones who see The Church as an instrument of power they can use to corrupt the flock precisely as they themselves have been corrupted.

Remember, gentle reader, from the moment of the Ascension earthly man has lived in the Age of Antichrist. Whether he walks among us now is not as important as what you are doing to prepare for your last days, even if creation does not happen to end when you do.


1 Peter 3:14-17:


14 But if also you suffer any thing for justice' sake, blessed are ye. And be not afraid of their fear: and be not troubled.

15 But sanctify the Lord Christ in your hearts, being ready always to satisfy every one that asketh you a reason of that hope which is in you.

16 But with modesty and fear, having a good conscience: that whereas they speak evil of you, they may be ashamed who falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.

17 For it is better doing well (if such be the will of God) to suffer than doing ill.


and Matthew 10:34-39:


34 Do not think that I came to send peace upon earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword.

35 For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

36 And a man's enemies shall be they of his own household.

37 He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me.

38 And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth me, is not worthy of me.

39 He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for me, shall find it.

Saint of the Day and daily Mass readings.

Today is the feast of St. Wenceslaus; king, martyr, and patron of Bohemia. Pray for us, all you angels and saints.

Today's reading for the Feast of St. Wenceslaus is 1 Peter 3:14-17.
Today's Gospel reading is Matthew 10:34-39.


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 Saint 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.

Hayden Fry's legacy is in jeopardy...

...or, Key West Tech 's athletic director, call your office.

I'll never forgive him for appropriating the Steelers' uniform colors. Erin, can I sue too?

Pink Isn't Well, He Stayed Back at the Hotel

"A University of Iowa law professor said the school is promoting homophobia and will challenge whether Iowa is violating NCAA rules by painting a visitors' locker room pink," reports Des Moines's KCCI-TV:

Erin Buzuvis moved to Iowa from Boston in the fall and discovered the visiting team's locker room at Kinnick Stadium was pink--something she said promotes sexism and homophobia. . . .

The color was introduced decades ago by former Hawkeye coach Hayden Fry to soften opponents. But recent stadium renovations added more pink items to the locker room, including lockers, sinks and urinals.

If Buzuvis is successful in establishing that pink is a discriminatory color, we can think of a cartoon character who may have a cause of action. The defendants may end up losing by default if they follow the advice of legal scholar Ogden Nash: When sued by a panther, don't anther.
(Thanks to Best of the Web Today for the heads up.)

Marilyn Barnewall: American Democracy is living on borrowed time.

From WorldNetDaily comes a bit of history that does not bode well for the first (and last) Hitlery administration.

In an article I wrote over a year ago, I described a theory created by a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh in 1787.

Professor Tytler said about the fall of the Athenian republic (about 300 B.C.), "A democracy is always temporary in nature. It simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government.

"A democracy will continue to exist up until the time voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury. The result is that every democracy will finally collapse over loose fiscal policy (which is) always followed by a dictatorship."

The year 1787 was the time our forefathers and the thirteen states they represented adopted our Constitution and Bill of Rights.

The Tytler theory points out that "The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through"… the following cycles: "From bondage to spiritual faith. From spiritual faith to great courage. From courage to liberty. From liberty to abundance. From abundance to complacency. From complacency to apathy. From apathy to dependence. From dependence back into bondage." (Emphasis mine.)

Diversity uber alles update.

Remember this one, kiddies?

King Mswati of Swaziland has chosen a teenager to be his 13th wife.

Phindile Nkambule, 17, was revealed to the public when she took part in a traditional Reed Dance ceremony, in which girls perform before the king...

According to custom, King Mswati, 37, will marry Phindile Nkambule once she becomes pregnant.

She is reported to have caught the king's eye during the main annual Reed Dance in late August, when tens of thousands of bare-breasted girls took part in a traditional rite of Spring.

Ms Nkambule is younger than the king's first daughter, Princess Sikhanyiso, who turned 18 this month.

She will now wear royal loin cloths when she appears in public and has dropped out of school in order to be groomed as the monarch's wife.

British "Adult baby" fetishists: Are We Next?

Hospital bans 'cooing' over baby

Debbie Lawson, the neo-natal manager at the special care baby unit, said: "We know people have good intentions but we need to respect the child.

"Cooing should be a thing of the past because these are little people with the same rights as you or me."

The stupidity is mind numbing.

From The I Told You They Don't Like It As Much As We Do Department:

Women move toward 'instant pregnancies'
Increasingly seek IVF treatment as they don't have time, inclination for sex
--London Telegraph

Soon to be convicted Congressfelon William Jefferson (D-LA), go directly to Jail. Do not pass go. Do not collect your cushy congressional pension.

Former FEMA director Michael Brown testifying before a congressional committee:

"My biggest mistake was not recognizing by Saturday that Louisiana was dysfunctional," two days before the storm hit, Brown told the panel.

Enter our hero:

Brown's testimony drew a scathing response from Rep. William Jefferson (news, bio, voting record), D-La.

"I find it absolutely stunning that this hearing would start out with you, Mr. Brown, laying the blame for FEMA's failings at the feet of the governor of Louisiana and the Mayor of New Orleans."

Representative Jefferson was ferried to the hearing by a black DEA helicopter.

Joe Sobran delivers a long overdue beat-down to the pompous fools at National Review for daring to call themselves Conservative.

(Note: 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.)

It takes him some time to get to the point, but do not worry, kiddies. It is worth the time and effort to watch the once great bastion of Catholic conservatism exposed as just another Repansycan house organ.

The late Russell Kirk was a conservative thinker of a breed you don’t find much anymore. His 1953 classic The Conservative Mind did much to inspire the conservative intellectual movement — which you also don’t find much anymore. When I last spoke to Kirk, near the end of his life, he had grown disgusted by what was then passing for conservatism.

Kirk’s hero was the Anglo-Irish politician-author Edmund Burke, author of Reflections on the Revolution in France, one of the great monuments of English prose and political wisdom. I’m only one of many readers who discovered Burke’s nearly Shakespearean eloquence because of Kirk.

Someone said of Burke that he chose his side like a fanatic but defended it like a philosopher. His visceral reaction against the French Revolution turned into profound thought after he was, as he put it, “alarmed into reflection.” That was Kirk too.

When I got to know Kirk personally, I found a kind and colorful man living like a country squire, with his lovely wife and their four teenaged daughters, in a marvelous old house in darkest Michigan (tiny Mecosta). By then I was writing for Bill Buckley’s National Review, as Kirk had done since the magazine’s founding in 1955. We were both to become disillusioned with it.

In 1985 Kirk made a speech to the Heritage Foundation, a leading conservative think tank, in which he quipped that the neoconservatives — who were then attaching themselves to the conservative movement — seemed to think that the center of Western civilization was in Tel Aviv. This caused Midge Decter, the den mother of the neocons, to accuse Kirk of anti-Semitism.

I am so sick of both sides of this neo-con crapfest. It pays to remember two of Fyodor's Rules, kiddies.

Fyodor’s Rule #2: Conservative is as conservative does. (If it spends like a fascist, corrupts the family like a fascist, and excuses fascism like a fascist, IT’S A FASCIST!)

Fyodor’s Rule #3: Israel and Judaism are NOT the same thing. Regardless of what you may have heard.

It was a crude smear. But to my amazement, National Review didn’t defend Kirk, its oldest and most venerable contributor, against the vicious attack. In fact it didn’t even report what Decter had said. This was to become a pattern as the neocons made similar charges against Patrick Buchanan, me, and others who were mildly critical of the state of Israel. This was my introduction to what you might call ostrich journalism: “If we ignore unpleasant news, our readers will be ne’er the wiser.” Mustn’t risk offending the neocons!

Kirk must have been deeply hurt. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I’d urged Buckley to say something — anything — in his behalf, but he could hardly have failed to notice the loud silence when he needed friends. Ever since, the neocons have been able to count on National Review to play along with them. Today it hardly has an identity of its own; it seems just another neocon organ, forever urging war in the Middle East.

The older conservatives who, with Kirk, had helped create National Review 50 years ago — James Burnham, Frank Meyer, Willmoore Kendall, Willi Schlamm, Whittaker Chambers — wouldn’t recognize it today. Even the Buckleys must wince when they read it now. It was founded in order to oppose Eisenhower Republicanism; it currently supports a Republican president far to the left of Eisenhower.

In Kirk’s day, National Review was an exciting magazine, the only one seriously challenging the liberal consensus. Not content with debating liberals, it conducted lively debates among conservatives themselves over basic questions of political philosophy. It was magnetic. Its fearlessness in those days — it defended Joe McCarthy and Southern segregation — make a strange contrast to its timidity today.

You could disagree with it (and its editors often violently disagreed with each other), but its vitality and wicked humor kept you reading. It once ran a featured article by the great screenwriter Morrie Ryskind called “The Dirtiest Word in the Language.” How could you skip a piece with a title like that? (I’ll save you the trouble of searching the archives: the “dirtiest word,” said Ryskind, was minority.)

I’ll never forget the date when I joined the staff: September 11, 1972. I was a very green 26; Bill Buckley was still in charge, Jim Burnham still guided the editorial section, and Kirk still wrote a regular column, but most of the other old-timers were long gone.

Today, any traces of Burkean and Kirkean conservatism are long gone too. Instead of “standing athwart history yelling Stop!”, as it once did, National Review has joined the revolution.

Hey, NR! In the immortal words of Dean Vernon Wormer: "Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son. "

Book of the Day.

I wonder what that old faker "Dr." Dobson thinks about this one?

Big Masturbation certainly won't like it.

(Thanks to Laura Ingraham for the heads up on this one.)

The Game Plan
by Joe Dallas

The Men's 30-Day Strategy for Attaining Sexual Integrity

Countless men's lives are being ruined by sexual sin. It infects, corrupts, and devastates. It destroys relationships, families, and lives. Everywhere men turn today, sexual temptation rears its ugly head, and the internet has made it easier than ever to get caught in the trap of sexual sin. It takes more than a little effort for men to resist the temptations. It takes a plan.

This book is that plan – a plan for getting back in The Game, where the battle for sexual integrity can be won, once and for all. An experienced counselor, Joe Dallas lays out a positive five-point strategy for overcoming harmful sexual addiction. Draing from his own hard-earned lessons and based on biblical principles and practices, Dallas's method is innovative and simple, powerfully equipping those men who have been caught up in pornography, extramarital affairs, or any form of sexual sin.

"Follow The Game Plan. and in thirty days things will change," Dallas promises. "That's not because this book offers a quick fix, but because it offers the right steps. I've walked it, taught it, and seen it in action."•

Ann Coulter: Scalia for Chief Justice!

Our Ann indulges in some harmless (but steamy hot) fantasizing about a country where conservatives rule because they won all the elections.

Hey, wait a minute. Didn't we?

For Christians, it's "What Would Jesus Do?" For Republicans, it's "What Would Reagan Do?" Bush doesn't have to be Reagan; he just has to consult his WWRD bracelet. If Bush had followed the WWRD guidelines, he would have nominated Antonin Scalia for the chief justiceship.

As proof, I refer you to the evidence. When Reagan had an opening for chief justice, he nominated Associate Justice William Rehnquist. While liberals were preoccupied staging die-ins against Rehnquist and accusing him of chasing black people away from the polls with a stick — something they did not accuse Roberts of — Reagan slipped Scalia onto the court.

That's what Reaganesque presidents with a five-vote margin in the Senate typically do. Apart from toppling the Soviet Empire, Scalia remains Reagan's greatest triumph.

Scalia deserved the chief justiceship. He's the best man for the job. He has suffered lo these many years with Justices Souter, Kennedy and O'Connor. He believes in a sedentary judiciary. He's for judicial passivism. Scalia also would have been the first cigar-smoking, hot-blooded Italian (Read: Catholic. - F.G.) chief justice, which I note the diversity crowd never mentions.

Amen to that, Sister. And this:

But most important, if Bush had nominated Scalia, liberals would have responded with their usual understated screams of genocide, and Bush could have nominated absolutely anyone to fill Justice O'Connor's seat. He also could have cut taxes, invaded Syria, and bombed North Korea and Cuba just for laughs. He could even have done something totally nuts, like enforce the immigration laws.

Geena Davis for President!

Golly, kiddies, tonight 's the night the vile Disney Empire begins the final phase of the "A Totalitarian Leftist Bitch in the White House is Not Such a Bad Thing" brainwashing project. (Memo To Hitlery: Eisner is available for an ambassadorship.)

Order a pizza. Have protected sodomy during the "Strong Woman" scene. Pop a Prozac.

But be sure to check your consciences at the door. They will be returned to you after improvements have been made.

"But Fyodor" , you squeal, "you are nothing but a paranoid right-wing crazy guy. No such thing could happen in the land of the promiscuous and the homeof the divorced."

Ha! Read this from NewsMax.com:

ABC insiders deny there's any connection between real-life presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and their new TV show "Commander-in-Chief" - where Geena Davis makes her debut tonight as America's first woman president.

But it turns out the show's lead writer is a longtime Clinton campaign insider who held a top job in Hillary's press office.

Hoohoo!

"Writer Steve Cohen used to work for her in the 1990s, serving as the then-first lady's deputy communications director," reports the Village Voice.

"I have no doubt she is capable, qualified, and ready to be the president of the United States should she choose to run," Hillary's scriptwriter tells the paper.

In fact, Mr. Cohen goes all the way back with the Clintons to their very first presidential campaign.

"I was Governor Clinton's first campaign volunteer in 1991, fresh out of college, took that journey to the White House and spent two years working for President Clinton in his press office," he told National Public Radio last year.

The "Commander-in-Chief" writer followed that gig with a three-and-a-half year stint as Mrs. Clinton's deputy communications director.

In fact, Cohen is so tight with Hillary's top brass that he once shared an apartment with the top Democrat's chief fundraising coordinator, Patti Solis Doyle.

In an interview with Newsweek in 1992, Cohen marveled at the exalted positions he and Doyle had achieved.

"You're doing the scheduling for Hillary Clinton and I'm flying around the country with a person who could be the next president of the United States," he recalled telling her. "Give me a break!"

I'll bet that worked for him with the blue state babes. Big time. Totalitarian leftist chicks dig lackeys.

Despite Cohen's deep Clinton ties, "Commander-in-Chief" creator Rod Lurie tells the Voice that he modeled his female president not on Hillary, but on Susan Lyne, the former head of ABC who now runs the Martha Stewart empire.

Man, how lame is that?

As for Cohen, he insists: "We support the notion of a female president from either side of the aisle."

Yeah. I'll bet he was a big Margaret Thatcher fan.

Q: If the "conservative from the waist up" Repansycans don't give a damn about mindless federal spending, why do they continue to exist?

A: POWER.

Pat Buchanan rips archconsevative Tom DeLay and his ilk a new one.

Yes, conservatives, we have reached the promised land.

Looking over the budget, one-fifth of our entire economy, DeLay says there is simply no more fat to be found. To cut further is to carve out muscle and bone. "After 11 years of Republican majority, we've pared it down pretty good."

Presumably, congratulations are in order. But that is not what is coming The Hammer's way. "I wonder if we've been serving in the same Congress," snorts Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona.

Tom Flake for President!

Tom Schatz of Citizens Against Government Waste is readying a list of $2 trillion in budget cuts over five years for the leader's bed table.

Tom Schatz for President!

David Keene of the American Conservative Union, sponsor of a recent appreciation dinner to honor the embattled DeLay, noted that, even before Katrina, "spending was spiraling out of control" and conservatives were "losing faith" in Bush and the Republican Congress.

Yeah, Keene too!

Even if you exclude the military and homeland security, says Keene, spending increased $300 billion between 2001 and 2005, as U.S. debt grew by $2 trillion. This translates into a permanent bite on taxpayers of $100 billion unto eternity, to pay the annual interest on that part of the national debt run up by George W. Bush alone.

Al Qaeda "newscast" hits the net.

ROME, Sept. 26 -- An Internet video newscast called the Voice of the Caliphate was broadcast for the first time on Monday, purporting to be a production of al Qaeda and featuring an anchorman who wore a black ski mask and an ammunition belt.

The anchorman, who said the report would appear once a week, presented news about the Gaza Strip and Iraq and expressed happiness about recent hurricanes in the United States. A copy of the Koran, the Muslim holy book, was placed by his right hand and a rifle affixed to a tripod was pointed at the camera.

It's good to see Dan Rather got a new gig.

Surprise! Katrina Takes a Toll on Truth, News Accuracy

From the LA Times (via Drudge) comes this cautionary tale of ignorance, panic, poor preparation, and political agenda pushing combining to creating a whole host of myths that will never completely disappear.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune on Monday described inflated body counts, unverified "rapes," and unconfirmed sniper attacks as among examples of "scores of myths about the dome and Convention Center treated as fact by evacuees, the media and even some of New Orleans' top officials."

Indeed, Mayor C. Ray Nagin told a national television audience on "Oprah" three weeks ago of people "in that frickin' Superdome for five days watching dead bodies, watching hooligans killing people, raping people."

This man should be removed from office and imprisoned for the rest of his unnatural life.

Journalists and officials who have reviewed the Katrina disaster blamed the inaccurate reporting in large measure on the breakdown of telephone service, which prevented dissemination of accurate reports to those most in need of the information. Race may have also played a factor.

Racism!

The wild rumors filled the vacuum and seemed to gain credence with each retelling — that an infant's body had been found in a trash can, that sharks from Lake Pontchartrain were swimming through the business district, that hundreds of bodies had been stacked in the Superdome basement.

Ignorance!

"It doesn't take anything to start a rumor around here," Louisiana National Guard 2nd Lt. Lance Cagnolatti said at the height of the Superdome relief effort. "There's 20,000 people in here. Think when you were in high school. You whisper something in someone's ear. By the end of the day, everyone in school knows the rumor — and the rumor isn't the same thing it was when you started it."

Follow-up reporting has discredited reports of a 7-year-old being raped and murdered at the Superdome, roving bands of armed gang members attacking the helpless, and dozens of bodies being shoved into a freezer at the Convention Center.

Hyperbolic reporting spread through much of the media.

Fox News, a day before the major evacuation of the Superdome began, issued an "alert" as talk show host Alan Colmes reiterated reports of "robberies, rapes, carjackings, riots and murder. Violent gangs are roaming the streets at night, hidden by the cover of darkness."

Well, well, well...

The Los Angeles Times adopted a breathless tone the next day in its lead news story, reporting that National Guard troops "took positions on rooftops, scanning for snipers and armed mobs as seething crowds of refugees milled below, desperate to flee. Gunfire crackled in the distance.

Physician, heal thyself.

"The New York Times repeated some of the reports of violence and unrest, but the newspaper usually was more careful to note that the information could not be verified.

Well, well, well...

The tabloid Ottawa Sun reported unverified accounts of "a man seeking help gunned down by a National Guard soldier" and "a young man run down and then shot by a New Orleans police officer."

London's Evening Standard invoked the future-world fantasy film "Mad Max" to describe the scene and threw in a "Lord of the Flies" allusion for good measure.

I'm surprised they did not run with that blacks are cannibals story.

Televised images and photographs affirmed the widespread devastation in one of America's most celebrated cities.

"I don't think you can overstate how big of a disaster New Orleans is," said Kelly McBride, ethics group leader at the Poynter Institute, a Florida school for professional journalists. "But you can imprecisely state the nature of the disaster. … Then you draw attention away from the real story, the magnitude of the destruction, and you kind of undermine the media's credibility."

How sick are we as a nation that an "ethics group leader" (WTF?) is the voice of reason?

Times-Picayune Editor Jim Amoss cited telephone breakdowns as a primary cause of reporting errors, but said the fact that most evacuees were poor African Americans also played a part.

Instant translation: Poor folks are stupid and poor black folks are most stupid.

"If the dome and Convention Center had harbored large numbers of middle class white people," Amoss said, "it would not have been a fertile ground for this kind of rumor-mongering."

Racist!

Some of the hesitation that journalists might have had about using the more sordid reports from the evacuation centers probably fell away when New Orleans' top officials seemed to confirm the accounts.

Nagin and Police Chief Eddie Compass appeared on "Oprah" a few days after trouble at the Superdome had peaked.

Criminals!

Compass told of "the little babies getting raped" at the Superdome. And Nagin made his claim about hooligans raping and killing.

Criminals!

State officials this week said their counts of the dead at the city's two largest evacuation points fell far short of early rumors and news reports. Ten bodies were recovered from the Superdome and four from the Convention Center, said Bob Johannessen, spokesman for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.

10,000!

(National Guard officials put the body count at the Superdome at six, saying the other four bodies came from the area around the stadium.)

Of the 841 recorded hurricane-related deaths in Louisiana, four are identified as gunshot victims, Johannessen said. One victim was found in the Superdome but was believed to have been brought there, and one was found at the Convention Center, he added.

Those folks on the Gulf Coast are our neighbors. You know what to do.

First, last, and always, PRAY. Pray for the survivors. Pray for the repose of the souls of those who were killed. Pray for the families and friends. Pray for the relief workers, the cops, the firemen, the troops, and the technicians. Pray for the volunteers.

It is time to step up once again, kiddies. "Do unto others", "I was naked and you clothed me", et cetera.

As time passes, the memory of these disasters will fade for those of us fortunate enough to live outside the devastated areas, but recovery and restoration will take years.

Please, whatever you do, don't become a cynic. (I know, I know. But I just play one on the computer.) Of course there will be more horror stories like the abuse of the debit cards and that $250-odd billion federal package will produce insane amounts of corruption, but our fellow Americans will be suffering from Katrina for a long time. True charity, (News Flash!: Taxes ARE NOT charity.) like the money you donate to Catholic Charities will help the truly needy and will not foster dependency.


Catholic Charities USA is collecting financial donations to Catholic Charities agencies’ emergency and long-term recovery efforts in the wake of both Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. Catholic Charities USA is consistently ranked among the highest and most efficient organizations across the country. Approximately 96 percent of contributions made to the 2005 Hurricane Relief Fund will be used for emergency response and recovery efforts.

Mail Checks To:
Catholic Charities USA
2005 Hurricane Relief Fund
PO Box 25168
Alexandria, VA 22313-9788

Call:(800) 919-9338

Contribute Now Online


News
09/23/2005 — Catholic Charities USA Creates Parish Partnership Project 09/22/2005 — Florida Catholic Charities Continue to Offer Disaster Relief to Diocese of Biloxi
09/15/2005 — Catholic Charities USA Testifies before Congress on the Critical Housing Needs of Hurricane Katrina Victims
09/14/2005 — Catholic Diocese of Alexandria Welcomes Special Evacuees
More news...

FAQs
FAQ - Donations
FAQ - Hurricane Relief


Agencies Impacted:
Catholic Charities of Miami
Catholic Charities of New Orleans
Catholic Community Services of Baton Rouge
Catholic Social Services of Houma-Thibodaux
Catholic Social and Community Services of Biloxi, MS
Catholic Charities of Jackson, MS
Catholic Social Services of Mobile, AL


How you can help:
Unfortunately, Catholic Charities USA is unable to accept contributions of food, clothing, blankets and other relief supplies. Monetary donations will be used to provide for the emergency relief and long-term recovery of Katrina's and Rita's victims. Catholic Charities USA is consistently ranked among the highest and most efficient organizations across the country. Approximately 96 percent of contributions made to the 2005 Hurricane Relief Fund will be used for emergency response and recovery efforts.

About the Disaster Response Office
Catholic Charities USA, which has been commissioned by the U.S. Catholic Bishops to represent the Catholic community in times of domestic disaster, responds with emergency and long-term assistance as needed. Its Disaster Response Office connects the Church's social service agencies and disaster planning offices across the nation.

And, as always, give generously to the special collections for hurricance disaster relief in your local parish.

Saint of the Day and daily Mass readings.

Today is the Feast of St. Vincent de Paul, the Apostle of Charity. He is the patron of charitable societies. Pray for us, all you angels and saints.

Today's reading for the Feast of St. Vincent de Paul is 1 Corinthians 1:26-31.
Today's Gospel reading is Matthew 9:35-38.


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 Saint 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.

Noted Know-It-All Mrs. James Brolin wants to raise you up from your bourgeois subhumanity.

This summer's back to back superstorms are proof positive we have entered a new period of "global warming emergency," artist/citizen Barbra Streisand warns.

Streisand is back on the scene to promote her reunion disc with Barry Gibb.
As hellstorm "Rita" churned in the Gulf, Streisand sat down for a promotional interview with ABCNEWS's Diane Sawyer.

"We are in a global warming emergency state, and these storms are going to become more frequent, more intense," Streisand urgently declares.

But Sawyer did not remind Streisand that a Category 5 hurricane struck the Bahamas with 160 mph winds -- when the singer was five years old, in 1947!

And when Streisand was 8 years old, a Cat 5 hurricane -- named "Dog" -- packing 185 mph churned-away in the Atlantic.

When she was 9, a Cat 5 storm named "Easy" ripped the seas with 160 mph sustained winds.

Streisand was 13 years old when "Janet" hit Mexico with 150 mph winds.

Streisand was celebrating her sweet sixteen as "Cleo" formed with 140 mph.

At 18, Streisand read news about "Donna" AND "Ethel" -- both storms carried 140 mph winds and formed 9 days apart in 1960!

One year later, when Streisand was 19, it happened again: Two Category 5 storms scared the world: "Carla" and "Hattie!"

"Carla" maxed out at 175 mph winds the year Streisand made her television debut on "The Jack Paar Show."

And who could forget Hurricane "Camille" -- which smashed into the United States with 190 mph, just as "Funny Girl" garners eight Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture and one for Barbra as Best Actress.

Up next on the weather warning watch, Streisand says to ABC: "There could be more droughts, dust bowls. You know, it's amazing to hear these facts." (Thanks to Drudge for the smile.)

From The Farcical Shadowplay Called Modernity Department:

A federal judge in Harrisburg, PA will soon decide what is science and what is not. May God have mercy on us all.

From the Las Vegas Sun (via CNSNews.com):

Eighty years after the Scopes Monkey Trial, the latest legal chapter in the debate over the teaching of evolution in public schools is to unfold in federal court.

The Dover Area School District on Monday was to start defending its policy of requiring ninth-grade students hear about "intelligent design" before biology lessons on evolution.

Dover is believed to be the first school system in the nation to require students be exposed to the concept under a policy adopted by a 6-3 vote in October 2004.

Intelligent design, a concept some scholars have advanced over the past 15 years, holds that Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection cannot fully explain the origin of life or the emergence of highly complex life forms. It implies that life on Earth was the product of an unidentified intelligent force.

Critics say intelligent design is merely creationism - a literal reading of the Bible's story of creation - camouflaged in scientific language, and it does not belong in a science curriculum. Eight Dover families are suing the school district, alleging that the policy violates the constitutional separation of church and state.

Yeah, I'm sure that's what has them all upset. Again and again, ad infinitum and ad nauseam: Get your children out of the government schools!

The clash over intelligent-design is evident far beyond this rural district of about 3,500 students 20 miles south of Harrisburg. President Bush has weighed in, saying schools should present both concepts when teaching about the origins of life.

In August, the Kansas Board of Education gave preliminary approval to science standards that allow intelligent design-style alternatives to be discussed alongside evolution.

Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, which lobbies for the religious freedom of Christians and is defending the school district, said Dover's policy takes a modest approach.
It requires teachers to read a statement that says intelligent design differs from Darwin's view and refers students to an intelligent-design textbook, "Of Pandas and People," for more information.

"All the Dover school board did was allow students to get a glimpse of a controversy that is really boiling over in the scientific community," Thompson said.

The Discovery Institute, a Seattle-based think tank that represents many scholars who support intelligent design, opposes mandating it in public schools. Nevertheless, it considers the Dover lawsuit an attempt to squelch voluntary debates over evolution.

"It's Scopes in reverse. They're going to get a gag order to be placed on teachers across the country," said institute senior fellow John West.
Eugenie Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education, which supports the teaching of evolution in public schools, said the controversy has little to do with science because mainstream scientists have rejected intelligent-design theory.

Intelligent design supporters "seem to have shifted virtually entirely to political and rhetorical efforts to sway the general public," Scott said. "The bitter truth is that there is no argument going on in the scientific community about whether evolution took place."

Wow. That broad has a brass pair. But it's just the Typical Totalitarian Tactic #1: Accuse your opponent of doing what you do.

Second Amendment update.

Thanks to CNSNews.com for these stories.

Tourists Warned About Florida's New Law on Deadly Force(CNSNews.com) - Gun-control activists are taking aim at a new Florida law that allows people to use deadly force against anyone who breaks into their home, car, or workplace.

Judge Issues Restraining Order Against New Orleans Gun Seizures(CNSNews.com) - A federal judge Friday issued a temporary restraining order on behalf of two Second Amendment groups, ending the seizure of firearms from citizens in and around New Orleans. Full Story

Violent Crime at Lowest Level in 30 Years, Survey Says(CNSNews.com) - Violent and property crime rates in 2004 remained at their lowest levels since the Bureau of Justice Statistics started keeping track in 1973, the Department of Justice announced on Sunday. The report also said the use of firearms in crimes has declined substantially over the last 10 years. Full Story

Liberal Group Puts Two Democrats on Its 'Most Corrupt' List...

...or, Dog Bites Dog.

A liberal watchdog group has listed what it considers the "13 most corrupt members of Congress," and while 11 of them are Republicans, two are Democrats.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) says the "most tainted Members of Congress" include Democrat Reps. William Jefferson of Louisiana, who is under investigation for alleged misuse of his office; and Maxine Waters of California, whose relatives reportedly made lots of money doing business with people and businesses that Waters has helped.

Rep. Jefferson recently made headlines when National Guard troops escorted him to his flooded home in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, then waited around for him to remove his personal belongings -- even as life-and-death rescue efforts were going on all around him. (Thanks to CNSNews.com for the heads up.)

Random cat facts.

I did not know that.

Because they can.

One thing you should know about women.

Oh, please. Ladies, you know it's true. Deep down, in your heart of hearts, you know it's true.

Montana Mazurkiewicz, Requiescat in pace.

Coach Weis gets a pass from me for the foreseeable future.

This story comes from ESPN.com:

Charlie Weis doesn't usually let anyone else call plays on offense. He made an exception for 10-year-old Montana Mazurkiewicz.

The Notre Dame coach met last week with Montana, who had been told by doctors weeks earlier that there was nothing more they could do to stop the spread of his inoperable brain tumor.

"He was a big Notre Dame fan in general, but football especially," said his mother, Cathy Mazurkiewicz.

“He said 'What are we going to do?' I said 'We have no choice. We're throwing it to the right' ”

— Charlie Weis, on what he told Brady Quinn before the Irish' first play.
Weis showed up at the Mazurkiewicz home in Mishawaka, just east of South Bend, and talked with Montana about his tumor and about Weis' 10-year-old daughter, Hannah, who has global development delay, a rare disorder similar to autism.

He told Montana about some pranks he played on Joe Montana -- whom Montana was named after -- while they were roommates at Notre Dame.

"I gave him a chance to hammer me on the Michigan State loss, which he did very well. He reminded me of my son," said Weis, whose son, Charlie Jr., is 12 years old.

Weis said the meeting was touching.

"He told me about his love for Notre Dame football and how he just wanted to make it through this game this week," Weis said. "He just wanted to be able to live through this game because he knew he wasn't going to live very much longer."

As Weis talked to the boy, Cathy Mazurkiewicz rubbed her son's shoulder trying to ease his pain. Weis said he could tell the boy was trying not to show he was in pain.

His mother told Montana, who had just become paralyzed from the waist down a day earlier because of the tumor, to toss her a football Weis had given him. Montana tried to throw the football, put could barely lift it. So Weis climbed into the reclining chair with him and helped him complete the pass to his mother.

Before leaving, Weis signed the football.

"He wrote, 'Live for today for tomorrow is always another day,"' Mazurkiewicz said.

"He told him: 'You can't worry about tomorrow. Just live today for everything it has and everything you can appreciate,'" she said. "He said: 'If you're (in pain) today you might not necessarily be in pain tomorrow, or it might be worse. But there's always another day.'"

Weis asked Montana if there was something he could do for him. He agreed to let Montana call the first play against Washington on Saturday. He called "pass right."

Montana never got to see the play. He died Friday at his home.

Weis heard about the death and called Mazurkiewicz on Friday night to assure her he would still call Montana's play.

"He said, 'This game is for Montana, and the play still stands,'" she said.

Weis said he told the team about the visit. He said it wasn't a "Win one for the Gipper" speech, because he doesn't believe in using individuals as inspiration. He just wanted the team to know people like Montana are out there.

"That they represent a lot of people that they don't even realize they're representing," Weis said.

When the Irish started on their own 1-yard-line following a fumble recovery, Mazurkiewicz wasn't sure Notre Dame would be able to throw a pass. Weis was concerned about that, too. So was quarterback Brady Quinn.

"He said 'What are we going to do?'" Weis said. "I said 'We have no choice. We're throwing it to the right.'"

Amen to that, Brother.

Weis called a play where most of the Irish went left, Quinn ran right and looked for tight end Anthony Fasano on the right.

Mazurkiewicz watched with her family.

"I just closed my eyes. I thought, 'There's no way he's going to be able to make that pass. Not from where they're at. He's going to get sacked and Washington's going to get two points,'" she said.

Fasano caught the pass and leapt over a defender for a 13-yard gain.

"It's almost like Montana was willing him to beat that defender and take it to the house," Weis said.

Mazurkiewicz was happy.

"It was an amazing play. Montana would have been very pleased. I was very pleased," she said. "I was just so overwhelmed. I couldn't watch much more."

Weis called her again after the game, a 36-17 victory by the 13th-ranked Fighting Irish, and said he had a game ball signed by the team that he wanted to bring to the family on Sunday.

"He's a very neat man. Very compassionate," she said. "I just thanked him for using that play, no matter the circumstances."

Race, racialists, and racialism.

So let me get this straight.

Notre Dame hired Ty Willingham because it and The Church are racist and it fired Ty Willingham because it and The Church are racist.

Thanks for the education, you lamebrains.

Staunch Defender of Your First Amendment Rights of the Day.

The Myerstown (PA) Herald.

Is this the future of local newspapers? You decide.

Free e-subscription here.

Check out their blog here.

Results of the past weekend's football picks.

For 9/24, I was a spectacular 10 and 4 on my college picks.

For 9/25 and 9/26, I was a sub-par 6 and 8 on my NFL picks.

Those folks on the Gulf Coast are our neighbors. You know what to do.

First, last, and always, PRAY. Pray for the survivors. Pray for the repose of the souls of those who were killed. Pray for the families and friends. Pray for the relief workers, the cops, the firemen, the troops, and the technicians. Pray for the volunteers.

It is time to step up once again, kiddies. "Do unto others", "I was naked and you clothed me", et cetera.

As time passes, the memory of these disasters will fade for those of us fortunate enough to live outside the devastated areas, but recovery and restoration will take years.

Please, whatever you do, don't become a cynic. (I know, I know. But I just play one on the computer.) Of course there will be more horror stories like the abuse of the debit cards and that $250-odd billion federal package will produce insane amounts of corruption, but our fellow Americans will be suffering from Katrina for a long time. True charity, (News Flash!: Taxes ARE NOT charity.) like the money you donate to Catholic Relief Services will help the truly needy and will not foster dependency.

Catholic Charities USA is collecting financial donations to Catholic Charities agencies’ emergency and long-term recovery efforts in the wake of both Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. Catholic Charities USA is consistently ranked among the highest and most efficient organizations across the country. Approximately 96 percent of contributions made to the 2005 Hurricane Relief Fund will be used for emergency response and recovery efforts.


Mail Checks To:

Catholic Charities USA
2005 Hurricane Relief Fund
PO Box 25168
Alexandria, VA 22313-9788

Call:(800) 919-9338

Contribute Now Online


News

09/23/2005 — Catholic Charities USA Creates Parish Partnership Project 09/22/2005 — Florida Catholic Charities Continue to Offer Disaster Relief to Diocese of Biloxi
09/15/2005 — Catholic Charities USA Testifies before Congress on the Critical Housing Needs of Hurricane Katrina Victims
09/14/2005 — Catholic Diocese of Alexandria Welcomes Special Evacuees
More news...

FAQs

FAQ - Donations
FAQ - Hurricane Relief


Agencies Impacted:

Catholic Charities of Miami
Catholic Charities of New Orleans
Catholic Community Services of Baton Rouge
Catholic Social Services of Houma-Thibodaux
Catholic Social and Community Services of Biloxi, MS
Catholic Charities of Jackson, MS
Catholic Social Services of Mobile, AL


How you can help:

Unfortunately, Catholic Charities USA is unable to accept contributions of food, clothing, blankets and other relief supplies. Monetary donations will be used to provide for the emergency relief and long-term recovery of Katrina's and Rita's victims. Catholic Charities USA is consistently ranked among the highest and most efficient organizations across the country. Approximately 96 percent of contributions made to the 2005 Hurricane Relief Fund will be used for emergency response and recovery efforts.

About the Disaster Response Office

Catholic Charities USA, which has been commissioned by the U.S. Catholic Bishops to represent the Catholic community in times of domestic disaster, responds with emergency and long-term assistance as needed. Its Disaster Response Office connects the Church's social service agencies and disaster planning offices across the nation.

And, as always, give generously to the special collections for hurricance disaster relief in your local parish.

Saint of the Day and daily Mass readings.

Today is the Feast of Saints Cosmas and Damian, martyrs. Pray for us, all you angels and saints.

Today's reading is Zechariah 8:1-8.
Today's Gospel reading is Luke 9:46-50.


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 Saint 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.