Diversity über alles.

From Best of the Web Today:

From Bad to Diverse

Heehee.

From the Yakima Herald-Republic, here's the latest foolery (Flapdoodle! Or bilgewater. - F. G.) from Washington state:

A "diversity calendar" published by the state Department of Corrections that lists the birthdays of several controversial historical figures, including the Japanese commander who planned the attack on Pearl Harbor, has angered at
least one employee and Sen. Jim Honeyford, who called it a "personal affront to veterans."

Honeyford, R-Sunnyside, wrote Corrections Director Harold Clarke requesting an explanation for why the April and May calendars recognize Isoroku Yamamoto, (WTF??? - F.G.) Lenin, Karl Marx and Ho Chi Minh. . . .

Gary Larson, a spokesman for Corrections, said the calendars are not celebrations of individuals.

"Basically, the purpose of this calendar was meant to be an
instructional tool that just lists people who had an impact on the world and provoke thought. The intent was certainly not to be offensive to veterans or anyone else," he said. "One of the goals of diversity is that we co-exist in the world with people we disagree with."

Remember the good old days when the only thing prisoners had to worry about learning was how to make brooms and license plates?

This is going to sound harsh, but Larson was funnier when he was doing The Far Side. Anyway, the calendar also included less offensive names, such as Irving Berlin, Audrey Hepburn, Sigmund Freud, Peter the Great, Eva Peron, Booker T. Washington, Charlotte Bronte and Sheena Easton. But it contains errors, such as listing Lenin's first name as Nikolai and misspelling Joe Louis.

What's more it occurred to us that among people born in April, one of those who had the greatest "impact on the world" was Hitler (April 20). Presumably he didn't make the calendar cut or the outrage would have been even greater. Columnist Peter Callaghan of the Tacoma News Tribune proves our instinct correct:

I asked Larson if there are limits to the type of person who might be included. April also is the birth month of Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein and Oklahoma City bomber Tim McVeigh. May contains the birthdays of Cambodian despot Pol Pot and Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth. Larson suggested all are
eligible.

"I don't know that we would have necessarily included or excluded anyone else," he said.

Hitler as a symbol of diversity? Or perhaps as a symbol of the emptiness of the concept.

Diversity über alles, indeed.

Opus Dei: There is no such thing as bad publicity.

The Times of London: Catholics are 'opening up' to Da Vinci Code

Opus Dei, the Roman Catholic organisation portrayed as a sinister and violent cult in The Da Vinci Code, is looking forward to becoming “the best-known group in the Catholic Church” as a result of the book.

In contrast to a Vatican statement last week condemning the 40-million bestseller, Opus Dei and the Catholic Church in England and Wales intend to capitalise on the interest created by the book to win converts.

Contrast? Don't be stupid. Both are valid responses to an attack on The Church.

The Archbishop of Westminster’s director of public affairs, Austen Ivereigh, will make a statement tomorrow setting out the Church’s position on the book and the forthcoming film. The bishops, including Cardinal Cormac Murphy- O’Connor, are intending to remain aloof from the controversy but are understood to regard the book and film as “teaching opportunities”, not heresies.

Again, the book is heretical and ahistorical. All heresies are "teaching opportunities" for The Church. My guess is the genius reporter has no idea at all what the Cardinal thinks.

Writing on Opus Dei in today’s Spectator, Mr Ivereigh — who is not a member of the organisation — says that the Catholic Church is approaching the portrayal of the Opus Dei monk Silas in The Da Vinci Code as murderous and masochistic, as an opportunity to “turn lemon into lemonade”.

Mr Ivereigh says that Opus Dei has benefited already, with some new recruits hearing about the organisation through the book.

As Opus Dei’s spokesman, Jack Valero, and his colleagues rush between television studios, “it is hard to remember that this was once the Catholic Church’s most defensive organisation, obsessed with secrecy and taking an almost perverse pride in the media’s hostility,” Mr Ivereigh said.

He continued: “Once the whipping boy of progressive Catholics, long associated with shadowy Spanish politics and Vatican intrigues, the face of Opus Dei is now Valero’s: cheery, energetic, transparent, as open as its doors.”

This approach is at odds with that of Monsignor Angelo Amato, the No 2 at the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who last week called on Catholics to boycott the film and organise protests. He said that if “such lies and errors had been directed at the Koran or the Holocaust, they would have justly provoked a world uprising”.

Ack! I really must stop reading nonsense like this. My poor stomach...

Ok, one more time because I want to help save some souls. The Monsignor urged people not to see the movie because it is a scandal and might cause some to lose their faith. For those who have already lost theirs or have never had any, The Church is ready to lead them to salvation through Jesus the Christ as He instructed.

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

An ignorant old English woman and an ignorant Italian doctor conspire to violate The Natural Law.

The Times of London: Britain's oldest mother-to-be stands up to her critics

A child psychiatrist who is pregnant aged 63 spoke of her joy at her impending motherhood as she appeared in public for the first time as Britain's oldest mother-to-be.

As if being the son of a child psychiatrist wasn't enough to screw a kid up for the rest of his life...

Wearing a dark coat to hide any discernible bump, the mother-of-two briefly raised her eyebrows in astonishment as she walked through a scrum of journalists to a waiting car. Historian Mr Farrant, bearded and in a grey blazer and green cords, stood beaming at her side.

"We're delighted with the pregnancy...," she said. "We take our responsibility very seriously and regard the best interest of the child as paramount. What we would wish now is the right to pursue our family life in private."

In an attempt to head off accusations of selfishness, the couple issued a statement earlier today saying that a great deal of love and thought had been invested in their decision to have a baby after fertility treatment abroad.

Dr Rashbrook, who has two grown-up children, will become Britain's oldest new mother when she gives birth in July. By the time her son is 16, she will be almost 80. Asked bluntly whether she was too old to have a child, she replied: "No comment."

Severino Antinori, the controversial Italian doctor who began the IVF treatment at his clinic in Rome in October, said that he was "excited and proud" at the prospect of the historic birth.

"The case of the English woman gave me great joy," he told Reuters, adding that the treatment was successful at the first attempt using a single embryo.

If true, that would be a miracle. Usually, the compassionate in vitro nazis kill a whole bunch of kids before they get it "right".

He said that Dr Rashbrook, who he last saw in November, was "perfect" for the treatment, because although she was 62 at the time, she had a biological age of about 45.

Huh? Her biological age is 62, lamebrain. She may be as fit as a 45 year old woman, but her body and all its biology is still 62.

I wouldn't let this dumb dago treat my hangnail, let alone due something important.

"She came here with her husband, the couple love each other, she is very slim, blonde (!!! WTF??? - F.G.) and in perfect condition, she fits all the criteria for maternity. She should live for at least 20 to 25 years - we are not giving birth to an orphan," he said.

You're not giving birth to anyone, jackass. She's giving birth to a child who's mom will be too old to mother him.

The mother-of-two's home had been besieged by reporters since news of her pregnancy was revealed in The Sun today.

In a joint statement with Mr Farrant, the couple said: "We wish to emphasise that this has not been an endeavour undertaken lightly or without courage.

Yeah, pal. You're all heroes and heroines.

"A great deal of thought has been given to planning and providing for the child’s present and future well-being, medically, socially and materially."

Whatever helps you sleep at night.

Dr Rashbrook, who has been married before, is a consultant child psychiatrist with the East Sussex Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.

The couple said in their statement: "We are very happy to have given life to an already much-loved baby, and our wish now is to give him the peace and security he needs." They added that they were pleased with the pregnancy "notwithstanding its unusual and potentially controversial aspects".

Refusing to go into details of the treatment received, which is believed to have cost £50,000, the future parents insisted the child’s welfare was their top priority and called for their privacy to be respected.

Professor Antinori has become a controversial figure for his work with post-menopausal women and attempts at human cloning. The issues have divided opinion in Italy, with a poll last year rejecting a proposed relaxation in the fertility laws.

If my idiot Italian cousins had any stones at all, he'd be in jail.

Dr Rushbrook’s pregnancy has triggered a wave of criticism from some groups, which have branded her selfish.

Josephine Quintavalle, from Comment on Reproductive Ethics (Core), said: "It is extremely difficult for a child to have a mother who is as old as a grandmother would be.

"It is just that consumer society that wants absolutely everything, and never stops to think that a child is not a product. She is being selfish and sometimes greater love is saying no."

Bingo!

The campaign group Life also gave warning warned that having a baby at such a mature age was not in the best interests of the child.

Yep.

A spokesman, Matthew O’Gorman, said: "We see this just as another component in our culture where children are treated as a means to an end. Quite simply, the child is not being looked after properly - one is not genuinely having regard for the welfare of the child.

Exactly! It's a thing. We can kill it, or we can put in some old post-menopausal woman if we want. We can freeze it or throw it in the trash. We can harvest some parts from it if we think they might be useful.

"He or she is going to be without a mother or father at the most crucial moment of adolescence or when that child is growing to maturity. This is not the way to bring a child into the world."

Not to mention the fact that the poor child was conceived in a glass dish and then implanted into his mother. Trust me. That is not the way to do it.

The Japanese are different than you and me...

Visitors to the "Dream Party" festival in Tokyo line up to take photos of a woman dressed as a comic book maid posing for them Thursday, May 4, 2006. Thousands of people thronged to the one-day annual sub culture event for those who are fascinated with Japan's "manga" comic books and animation featuring sexy doe-eyed characters in mini-skirts. (AP)


About 800 carp streamers sent from across Japan flutter in the wind over Kanna River in Gunma Prefecture. Local residents began using old carp streamers 25 years ago in a bid to promote the area. The streamers will be on display until May 6. Special entertainment events will be performed on a stage set along the river from Wednesday to Friday. (Mainichi)


Yuina Yabe (C) cries as she is held by an amateur sumo wrestler while a sumo referee (L) judges during a baby-crying contest at Sensoji temple in Tokyo April 29, 2006. Seventy-four babies born in 2005 took part in the event, which is held to pray for the babies' health and growth. (Reuters)

...well, maybe not so much...

Children splash around to cool off in Asukayama public park in Tokyo's Kita-ku on May 1, 2006. (Mainichi)


Girls cheer on Friday as the outdoor heated pool at the Akasaka Prince Hotel in Tokyo's Chiyodu-ku is opened early this year. (Thanks to the Mainichi Daily News for the heads up.)

Did you ever wonder what happens when your friendly neighborhood athlete is sentenced to "community service"?

Surprise!

USA Today: Athletes lightly punished after their day in court

Moral equivalence über alles.

You'd think the story of a Florida kid getting mutilated by a bomb would get the attention of the media whores, wouldn't you? Guess again.

Daniel's Story
By Lori Lowenthal Marcus

It is a perverse human quality, but we are drawn to news stories about human tragedies. Some characteristics of such stories intensify the level of our interest: descriptions or pictures of gore or disfigurement; pictures of grieving loved ones; and some form of personal connection - no matter how indirect - to those at the center of the tragedies. The adage, "if it bleeds it leads," condenses this notion to a pithy directive.

Yet the American media has failed to cover a story containing every item on the sure-to-interest newsreaders' checklist. I invite you to ponder why that is.

An Arab Palestinian homicide bomber detonated himself at a falafel stand in Israel on April 17th, during Passover. The murderer killed nine innocent people and wounded dozens.

A broad range of news sources including USA Today, the New York Times, the Washington Post, CBS, ABC, CNN, and the Philadelphia Inquirer included personal background information about the bomber. We learned that he was an al-Quds University drop-out, and, incredibly, that he had been a social worker. In his going-away video, the murderer claimed he sought martyrdom on behalf of imprisoned Arab Palestinians.

Satisfying its compulsion to draw parallels between Israeli and Arab Palestinian suffering, at least one newspaper - the Philadelphia Inquirer - placed on page 1 of its April 18th edition a photograph of an unnamed Israeli grieving over the body of an Israeli victim. Placed directly below that is a photograph of the murderer's mother wistfully holding two photographs - in one he is holding a rifle - of her now-dead son.

Juxtaposing these photographs suggests that there are victims on both sides of the conflict in the Middle East: Arab mothers grieve for their dead sons and young Israeli men grieve for dead Israelis.

Yep. That's the Inquirer for you.

I find this moral equivalence repulsive.

But let's take one more step.

If bleeders are leaders, and some kind of personal connection with the bleeders increase consumers' interest in a news story, then there is a follow up story from the April 17th bombing that should have been all over the American media.

Daniel Wultz is a 16 year old Florida teen who accompanied his father to Israel to visit relatives during Passover. On April 17th, Daniel and his father were eating in one of the few kosher Shawarma restaurants in Tel Aviv. Daniel was almost killed by the homicide bombing. In a coma for two weeks, Daniel's spleen and one of his kidneys had to be removed. Then, this basketball-loving teenager had to have one leg amputed at the knee. It is still unknown whether the doctors will be able to save Daniel's other leg.

An American teenager, a healthy athletic boy from sunny Florida is transformed in a split second into a shattered vessel, a soul hovering between life and death. More and more parts of his body, instead of providing him with mobility and life support, turn against him, and are pared away in an effort to save his life.

Islamic Jihad claimed credit for the April 17th bombing. One of the terror group's leaders expressed sorrow that Daniel had not been killed, according to WorldNetDaily, one of the few media sources to cover the story.

You see, kiddies, the antique media is not "anti-semitic". Oh, no, not at all. All good little left-fascists know that is a bad thing to be. But they are anti a certain type of semite...

Another Arab terrorist group seeking to share credit for the bombing extolled the double treat of having almost murdered an American and a Zionist. Islamic Jihad threatened Americans and Jews everywhere, saying they are all legitimate targets.

What American could hear this story, and not become riveted, eager for updates, eager to cheer his progress, or despair any further impediments? But other than the Florida newspapers, such as the Sun Sentinel and the Miami Herald, and an AP story picked up by the Los Angeles Times (but by none of AP's other major subscribers), the rest of the mainstream American media has ignored the continuing and profoundly moving story of Daniel Wultz.

Is it because his parents, so focused on praying for their broken son, will not share his story with the media? (Amen to that. - F.G.) That is true, but there is quite a bit of information available about Daniel, information that fleshes out the cold anonymity of just a name and hometown, information that one would think would draw the interest of caring Americans. Information that is likely to interest news consumers, if only the news sources would provide it.

Daniel Wultz has been a student of the David Posnack Hebrew Day School in Plantation, Florida since elementary school. One of Daniel's passions is playing basketball; he played competitively at his local YMCA. It will be a miracle if Daniel, who has already spent the equivalent of days in surgery, will ever be able to walk, let alone play basketball. He will probably remain in hospital in Israel for at least six months.

The Wultz family synagogue, Chabad Lubavitch of Weston, Florida, distributed blue and white rubber wrist bands, imprinted with "Pray for Daniel." The synagogue also set up a fund through its website, to help assist the family with the extraordinary expenses with which it is suddenly faced.

Daniel's parents, Sheryl (Sarah) and Tuly, changed Daniel's Hebrew name to Chaim Meir Naftali. Following Jewish custom, the word for life was added to the beginning of his name in an effort to guard him from further danger.

How can it be that an American Jewish teenager whose survival of a terrorist bombing has been called a miracle is something most American media sources consider inconsequential? Why is his story not newsworthy - because Daniel Wultz is a teenager, an American, now an amputee, or because he is a Jewish Zionist? Or is it because the media thinks we are only interested in the personal lives of homicide bombers and their families? And whose fault is that?

Traveshamockery Democray Update.

Israelinsider: Hamas says blocking of funds to Palestinian government is "real holocaust"

Cutting through the fog of nonsense surrounding oil with the fine folks of Human Events Online.

Simple Steps to Cut Oil Company Profits
Merrill Matthews, Human Events
Companies would spend on exploration if they could

The Oil Crunch Is a Rich Opportunity
Mary Claire Kendall, Human Events
Necessity is the mother of invention

The Myth of 'Price Gouging'
Alex Epstein, Human Events

Satire: It's a Bird. It's a Plane. No, It's ... Little Chuckie Schumer
Thomas Humber, Human Events
Senator probes price gouging by shoe designers

New Offshore Drilling = More Oil and Fish

Humberto Fontova (Human Events Online) battles the pitch-blackness of left-fascist obscurantism on energy and the environment as well as the Repansycans who quiver when anyone challenges them in any way.

That clique of noisy, well-heeled and politically powerful south Florida voters is at it again. And as usual, Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Mel Martinez are pandering shamelessly. Never mind the national interest. This cantankerous group's archaic prejudices still prevail. Never mind simple logic. Their emotions still guide our national policy to the frustration of the rest of the nation, to the detriment of our economic well-being and to the bitter amusement of much of the world.

Never mind almost half a century of visible evidence against their moss-ridden bugaboos. Their zealotry, intransigence and apparently incurable block-headedness again prevail. This groveling by Republican politicians to a fringe group of highly emotional Florida voters is a national scandal by now. It's high time these hotheads in Florida got with the national program. They need to shed their petty obsessions with the past and start assessing the national interest soberly and in light of current developments, not stale policies enacted in the heat of hysteria almost half a century ago. Most outrageous of all, their policies hurt the very people they claim to help.

One of the first things one learns about the thuggish intellectualoid left is to ignore the words they produce and study the consequences they inflict on others.

I refer, of course, to offshore oil drilling, currently banned off Florida because of rich pressure groups. That shock and awe at the gas pump might wake up a few people. There's something called the law of supply and demand. Rant and rave all you want, bellow and whine all you want, throw as many tantrums as you want, hold as many rain dances as you want, hold as many séances with ghosts as you want, sacrifice as many virgins as you want, burn as many witches as you want -- but no amount of legislation or wishful thinking will abolish it.

Apparently, Mr. Fontova has been to a Democrass convention or two.

We need more oil and there are millions of barrels offshore, especially in the eastern Gulf of Mexico off Florida. Soon Fidel Castro himself with the help of Spanish and Chinese oil companies (who are not subject to U.S. environmental rules) will be drilling for it barely 45 miles of the Florida coast. This raises the fascinating prospect of Florida beaches fouled by the very oil we'll later use to fuel the SUVs to transport us to those beaches -- all purchased from Communists who crave to blow us up.

Only politicians could create such a prospect.

Ain't that the truth?

Actually the fouling of beaches is a long shot. The environmental dangers of oil exploration and extraction rank right up with the marvels of Cuba's healthcare as modern man's most zealously cherished fables. It's the transportation of oil that accounts for the overwhelming number of oil spills. Recall the Valdez, the Cadiz, and the Argo Merchant. These were all tanker spills.

And even these (though hyped hysterically as environmental catastrophes) always play out as minor blips, those pictures of oil soaked seagulls notwithstanding. To the horror and anguish of professional greenies, Alaska's Prince William Sound recovered completely. More birds get fried by landing on power lines and smashed to pulp against picture windows in one week than perished from three decades of oil spills.

In fact, Florida's gorgeous and tourist-packed beaches have suffered from an ugly oil spill. It happened summer of 1976 off Panama City and Destin, by far the most beautiful beaches in America. That sugar white sand and those emerald waters were fouled from a tanker spill. The current drilling ban will make another such spill more likely. The ban not only puts us at the mercy of shaky sheikdoms and Hugo Chavez for oil, it also means we'll need to keep transporting that oil stateside -- typically to refineries in Louisiana and Texas. This path takes those tankers smack in front of Florida's beaches.

Hey, that reminds me. Where exactly are all those Katie Couric follow-up trips? Why haven't we seen her crawling over lifeless beaches in a pink designer HazMat suit with tears in her eyes?

But there's another resource shortage that more drilling would solve. "Big-Fish Stocks Fall 90 Percent Since 1950," said a National Geographic headline a couple years ago. "Our demand for seafood appears to be insatiable. From giant blue marlin to mighty blue fin tuna, and from tropical groupers to Antarctic cod, industrial fishing has scoured the global ocean. There is no blue frontier left."

Then let's create a new fishing frontier, using offshore oil platforms and the explosion of marine life that always accompany their installation. It happened here in Louisiana. The observable evidence is overwhelming. The verdict is in. Of the 3,739 offshore oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico nowadays, 3,203 lie off the Louisiana coast. We love offshore oil drilling, and not just for the loot (taxes) extorted from oil companies for the privilege.

"Environmentalists" wake up in the middle of the night sweating and whimpering about offshore oil platforms only because they've never seen what's under them. This proliferation of marine life around the platforms turned on its head every "expert" opinion of its day. The original plan, mandated by federal environmental "experts" back in the late '40s, was to remove the big, ugly, polluting, environmentally hazardous contraptions as soon as they stopped producing. Fine, said the oil companies.

About 15 years ago some wells played out off Louisiana and the oil companies tried to comply. Their ears are still ringing from the clamor fishermen put up. Turns out those platforms are going nowhere, and by popular demand of those with a bigger stake in the marine environment than any "environmentalist."

Every "environmental" superstition against these structures was turned on its head. Marine life had EXPLODED around these huge artificial reefs. Louisiana produces on third of America's seafood In fact a study by Louisiana State University shows that 85% of Louisiana offshore fishing trips involve fishing around these structures and that there's 50 times more marine life around an oil production platform than in the surrounding Gulf bottoms. Louisiana produces one-third of America's commercial fisheries -- because of, not in spite of, these platforms.

You'll never see these real scientific facts in National Geographic. Or the Sierra Club's newsletter. Or an Al Gorehound speech. Or a UN document.

All of this and not one major oil spill in half a century -- not one. As more assurance, today's drilling technology compares to the one used only 20 years ago about like the Kitty Hawk compares to a jumbo jet. The one that gave us the Santa Barbara Oil Spill in 1969 compares to today's like a fossil.

Market forces, not meddlesome bureaucrats, account for cleaner, safer oil drilling. A deep-water drilling rig might cost $1 billion. This thing has to produce oil daily -- hourly(!) -- to recoup such a gargantuan investment. A blowout and spill would shut them down for weeks. No oil company could stay in business that way.

Exactly! The market is the answer. (Except for those too stupid or lazy or totalitarian to compete.)

In 1986 Louisiana started the Rigs to Reef program, a cooperative effort by oil companies, the feds and the state. This program literally pays the oil companies to keep the platforms in the Gulf. Now they just cut them off at the bottom and topple them over as artificial reefs; more than 60 have been toppled thus far.

Louisiana wildlife and fisheries officials were recently invited to Australia to help them with a similar program. Think about it: here's the nation with the Great Barrier Reef, the world's biggest natural reef, the world's top dive destination, asking for help from Louisiana about developing exciting dive and fishing sites by using the very structures that epitomize (in greenie eyes) environmental disaster.

Mark Ferrulo, a Florida "environmental activist" who lobbies incessantly against offshore drilling called Louisiana's coastal waters "the nation's toilet."

You see, kiddies, such activists don't really care about water and fishees. They hate the world as it is, and all their energy is spent combatting reality. They think they can create a world where they are recognized for their genius, are compensated appropriately, and get to lord it over their fellow men.

Then Florida's fishing fleet must love fishing in toilets. And her restaurants must love serving what's in them. Many of the red snapper you eat in Florida restaurants are caught around Louisiana's oil platforms. We see the Florida-registered boats tied up to them constantly. Sometimes we can barely squeeze in.

It also turns out that Louisiana's natural reefs are much healthier than the much-protected and pampered Florida reefs. The Flower Garden coral reefs lie off the Louisiana-Texas border. Unlike any of the Florida Keys reefs, they're surrounded by dozens of offshore oil platforms that have been pumping away for the past 40 years. Yet according to G.P. Schmahl, a Federal biologist who worked for decades in both places, "The Flower Gardens are much healthier, more pristine than anything in the Florida Keys. It was a surprise to me, and I think it's a surprise to most people."

"A key measure of the health of a reef is the amount of area taken up by coral," according to a report by Steve Gittings, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's science coordinator for marine sanctuaries. "Louisiana's Flower Garden boasts nearly 50 percent coral cover ... in the Florida Keys ... it can run as little as 5 percent."

The panorama under an offshore oil platform staggers the most experienced divers. I've seen divers fresh from the Cayman's Wall surface from under an oil platform too wired on adrenaline to do anything but stutter and wipe spastically at the snot that trails to their chins. I've seen an experienced scuba-babe fresh from Belize climb out from under a platform gasping and shrieking at the sights and sensations, oblivious to the sights and sensations she was providing with her bikini top near her navel.

Mr. Fontova is the author of Fidel: Hollywood's Favorite Tyrant

Today is the National Day of Prayer, but...

...I know all you good little kiddies pray every day, don't you?

Anyway, here is the NDoP website, but it does not seem to be working at the moment.

Did you know that this coming Sunday is World Day of Prayer for Vocations? I doubt we will get many protestants and hindus to sign on for that one...It's more of a Catholic thing.

However, if non-Catholics were smart (I know, I know.) they would pray very fervently for more good Catholic men to answer God's call to the priesthood. You know, just to hedge their bets.

Hmmm...Sexual assault allegations against college athletes...I wonder why the media whores haven't swarmed over Minnesota State...

Star-Tribune: 6 Mankato hockey players are focus of sex assault investigation

Police and Minnesota State, Mankato officials are investigating sexual assault allegations against six members of the university men's hockey team. Nobody has been charged, but four players were suspended for the final games of the season and homes were searched. As the investigation into exactly what happened early on a Tuesday morning in February continues, the university, students

Wasting paint in Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh bridge renamed to honor environmentalist Rachel Carson

Who was the real Rachel Carson? I'm glad you asked.

The Evans -Novak Political Report for May 3, 2006

Here are a few choice excerpts of the latest report. If you crave more, there is a subscription link at the bottom of this post.

Republicans:

RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman met with Republican members of Congress this week to impress upon them just how bad the opinion polls are looking for them, and warning that they face a possible catastrophe in November.

1) This warning contributed to GOP determination to pass a tax reconciliation bill that will extend the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts beyond their current expiration dates at the end of the decade.

A positive step, but too little and perhaps too late.

2) On Tuesday, Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) were supposed to meet with President Bush in the Oval office to discuss the tax bill, which, if passed, will be one of the most important Republican accomplishments of 2006 leading into the midterm elections. But Grassley bowed out, giving the excuse that he had constituents in town from Iowa. Even in the face of disaster, Republicans seem unable to get their act together.

Grassley has always been a pinhead.

3) Despite all the media coverage given to the issues of immigration and "corruption," polls show that the issue currently concerning voters the most -- even more than immigration -- is the wasteful spending by the Congress. With its vote on Thursday in favor of the rule for the lobby reform bill, the House has taken its first step toward patching up damaged Republican credibility.

I find that hard to believe. I wish it was true.

4) Republicans will focus in their campaign on the danger of electing Democrats to a majority in Congress. Their catch-word is "dangerous," a word taken from an ill-considered appearance by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) on the Senate floor next to a sign (color-coded to match her outfit) stating "Dangerously Incompetent" in large letters. The Stabenow appearance was meant to highlight the administration's incompetence.

Little Debbie does not seem to be much of a politician.


New Orleans:

Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu (D) will likely defeat incumbent Ray Nagin (D), who came in for much criticism over his handling of Hurricane Katrina, in the run-off. Nagin received 38 percent in the first round of voting, but cannot crack 50 percent without the help of a significant number of white voters who will not support him. New Orleans does not have the same ethnic makeup it once did, and Nagin cannot count on winning by moving left and seeking to appease black voters.

The irony here is that Nagin had originally run as a quasi-Republican candidate when he was first elected in 2002. In 2003, he endorsed now-Rep. Bobby Jindal (R) for governor. He is now losing the moderate voters who put him in office.

This election, interestingly, gives Landrieu a parachute out of the ailing administration of Gov. Kathleen Blanco (D), making him more viable for a future run for state-wide office. Leaning Landrieu.

Sign up here to get your own FREE subscription to the Evans-Novak Political Report

Saint of the Day and daily Mass readings.

Today is the Feast of St. Sacerdos, Benedictine abbot and bishop. This is also the Feast of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. Pray for us, all you angels and saints.

Today's reading is Acts 8:26-40.
Today's Responsorial Psalm is Psalms 66:8-9, 16-17, 20.
Today's Gospel reading is John 6:44-51.


[Links to the readings will be from the NAB until I can find another chapter and verse searchable Douay-Rheims Bible on-line.]


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.

Life!

This jury has done a disservice to their country and to the cause of justice. I can't wait to hear their excuses.

AP: Al-Qaida Conspirator Moussaoui Gets Life

A federal jury rejected the death penalty for al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui on Wednesday and decided he must spend life in prison for his role in the deadliest terrorist attack in U.S. history.

As usual, Peggy Noonan hits the morons on the head:

They Should Have Killed Him
By Peggy Noonan
The Wall Street Journal

Excuse me, I'm sorry, and I beg your pardon, but the jury's decision on Moussaoui gives me a very bad feeling. What we witnessed here was not the higher compassion but a dizzy failure of nerve. From the moment the decision was announced yesterday, everyone, all the parties involved--the cable jockeys, the legal analysts, the politicians, the victim representatives--showed an elaborate and jarring politesse. "We thank the jury." "I accept the verdict of course." "We can't question their hard work." "I know they did their best." "We thank the media for their hard work in covering this trial." "I don't want to second-guess the jury..."

Earl Woods, Requiescat in pace.

ESPN.com: Tiger Woods' father, Earl, succumbs to cancer

Earl Woods, who was more determined to raise a good son than a great golfer and became the role model, architect and driving force behind Tiger Woods' phenomenal career, died Wednesday morning at his home. He was 74.

Earl Woods first was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1998, but the cancer returned in 2004 and spread to other parts of his body. He has not seen his son play since Woods won his Target World Challenge in December 2004 at Sherwood Country Club.

"My dad was my best friend and greatest role model, and I will miss him deeply," Tiger Woods said on his Web site. "I'm overwhelmed when I think of all of the great things he accomplished in his life. He was an amazing dad, coach, mentor, soldier, husband and friend. I wouldn't be where I am today without him, and I'm honored to continue his legacy of sharing and caring."

He went to Augusta, Ga., for The Masters last year, but never made it to the course. Woods broke down in tears after winning his fourth green jacket in a playoff.

"My dad was my best friend and greatest role model, and I will miss him deeply."

"Every year that I've been lucky enough to win this tournament, my dad's been there to give me a big hug. And today, he wasn't there," Woods said. "I can't wait to get home and see him, and give him a big bear hug."

Earl Woods' health was said to be deteriorating over the holidays, and he was not strong enough to attend the grand opening Feb. 10 of the Tiger Woods Learning Center in Anaheim, Calif. Woods said he spoke to his father the night before the opening, and "he kept telling me how proud he was of what I was able to do, and proud of me for thinking of this. It's hard on all of us."

Earl Woods was a retired Army sergeant who was credited by his son for developing a mental tenacity that led to Tiger Woods' ascension to No. 1 in the golf world.

"All of us at the PGA Tour are very saddened to learn of the passing of Tiger Woods' father, Earl. Our hearts and deepest sympathies go out to Tiger and his family during this very sad time," PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said in a statement. "Earl Woods will always be remembered for the tremendous way in which he and Tiger's mother, Kultida, provided Tiger with every opportunity to develop the physical and mental qualities that enabled Tiger to become the world's best golfer and an outstanding representative of the game and its values."

More from ESPN on Mr.Woods and Tiger:

Callahan: Sweet Earl

Right all along

Rosaforte: Earl taught Tiger how to win

The Theology of the Body: 98. Loss of Original Sacrament Restored with Redemption in Marriage-Sacrament

In his General Audience of 13 October 1982, Pope John Paul II continued his exposition of the fifth chapter of the Letter to the Ephesians, by relating Christ's redemptive love to marriage as instituted in the beginning, when it was a sacrament of God's gift of Himself to man and woman at their creation.


Loss of Original Sacrament Restored with Redemption in Marriage-Sacrament

At the general audience in St Peter's Square on Wednesday morning, 13 October, Pope John Paul II continued his treatment of the subject of the sacramentality of marriage, basing his analysis on St Paul's Letter to the Ephesians.


1. In our previous consideration we have tried to study in depth—in the light of the Letter to the Ephesians—the sacramental "beginning" of man and marriage in the state of original justice (or innocence).

We know, however, that the heritage of grace was driven out of the human heart when the first covenant with the Creator was broken. The perspective of procreation, instead of being illumined by the heritage of original grace, given by God as soon as he infused a rational soul, became dimmed by the heritage of original sin. We can say that marriage, as a primordial sacrament, was deprived of that supernatural efficacy which at the moment of its institution belonged to the sacrament of creation in its totality. Nonetheless, even in this state, that is, in the state of man's hereditary sinfulness, marriage never ceased being the figure of that sacrament we read about in the Letter to the Ephesians (Eph 5:21-33) and which the author of that letter does not hesitate to call a "great mystery." Can we not perhaps deduce that marriage has remained the platform for the actuation of God's eternal designs, according to which the sacrament of creation had drawn near to men and had prepared them for the sacrament of redemption, introducing them to the dimension of the work of salvation? The analysis of the Letter to the Ephesians, especially the classic text (5:21-33), seems to lean toward such a conclusion.

2. When in verse 31 the author refers to the words of the institution of marriage contained in Genesis (2:24: "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will cling to his wife, and the two shall become one body"), and then immediately states: "This is a great mystery; I mean that it refers to Christ and the Church" (Eph 5:32), he seems to indicate not only the identity of the mystery hidden in God from all eternity, but also that continuity of its actuation. This exists between the primordial sacrament connected with the supernatural gracing of man in creation itself and the new gracing, which occurred when "Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her to make her holy..." (Eph 5:25-26)—gracing can be defined in its entirety as the sacrament of redemption. In this redemptive gift of himself "for" the Church, there is also contained—according to Pauline thought—Christ's gift of himself to the Church, in the image of the nuptial relationship that unites husband and wife in marriage. In this way, the sacrament of redemption again takes on, in a certain sense, the figure and form of the primordial sacrament. To the marriage of the first husband and wife, as a sign of the supernatural gracing of man in the sacrament of creation, there corresponds the marriage, or rather the analogy of the marriage, of Christ with the Church, as the fundamental great sign of the supernatural gracing of man in the sacrament of redemption—of the gracing in which the covenant of the grace of election is renewed in a definitive way, the covenant which was broken in the beginning by sin.

Supernatural gracing

3. The image contained in the quoted passage from the Letter to the Ephesians seems to speak above all of the sacrament of redemption as that definitive fulfillment of the mystery hidden from eternity in God. Everything that the Letter to the Ephesians had treated in the first chapter is actuated in this mysterium magnum (great mystery). As we recall, it says not only "In him [that is, in Christ] God chose us before the world began, to be holy and blameless in his sight..." (Eph 1:4), but also "in whom [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the remission of sins, so immeasurably generous is God's favor to us..." (Eph 1:7-8). The new supernatural gracing of man in the sacrament of redemption is also a new actuation of the mystery hidden in God from all eternity—new in relation to the sacrament of creation. At this moment, gracing is in a certain sense a new creation. However, it differs from the sacrament of creation insofar as the original gracing, united to man's creation, constituted that man in the beginning, through grace, in the state of original innocence and justice. The new gracing of man in the sacrament of redemption, instead, gives him above all the remission of sins. Yet even here grace can "abound even more," as St. Paul expresses elsewhere: "Where sin increased, grace has abounded even more" (Rom 5:20).

4. The sacrament of redemption—the fruit of Christ's redemptive love—becomes, on the basis of his spousal love for the Church, a permanent dimension of the life of the Church herself, a fundamental and life-giving dimension. It is the mysterium magnum (great mystery) of Christ and the Church. It is the eternal mystery actuated by Christ, who "gave himself up for her" (Eph 5:25). It is the mystery that is continually actuated in the Church, because Christ "loved the Church" (Eph 5:25), uniting himself with her in an indissoluble love, just as spouses, husband and wife, unite themselves in marriage. In this way the Church lives on the sacrament of redemption. In her turn she completes this sacrament just as the wife, in virtue of spousal love, completes her husband. In a certain way this had already been pointed out "in the beginning" when the first man found in the first woman "a helper fit for him" (Gn 2:20). Although the analogy in the Letter to the Ephesians does not state it precisely, we can add also that the Church united to Christ, as the wife to her husband, draws from the sacrament of redemption all her fruitfulness and spiritual motherhood. The words of the letter of St. Peter testify to this in some way when he writes that we have been "reborn not from a corruptible, but from an incorruptible seed, through the living and enduring word of God" (1 Pt 1:23). So the mystery hidden in God from all eternity—the mystery that in the beginning, in the sacrament of creation, became a visible reality through the union of the first man and woman in the perspective of marriage—becomes in the sacrament of redemption a visible reality of the indissoluble union of Christ with the Church, which the author of the Letter to the Ephesians presents as the nuptial union of spouses, husband and wife.

New actuation of the mystery

5. The sacramentum magnum (the Greek text reads: tò mystérion toûto méga estín) of the Letter to the Ephesians speaks of the new actuation of the mystery hidden in God from all eternity. It is the definitive actuation from the point of view of the earthly history of salvation. It also speaks of "making the mystery visible": the visibility of the Invisible. This visibility is not had unless the mystery ceases to be a mystery. This refers to the marriage constituted in the beginning, in the state of original innocence, in the context of the sacrament of creation. It refers also to the union of Christ with the Church, as the great mystery of the sacrament of redemption. The visibility of the Invisible does not mean—if it can be said this way—a total clearing of the mystery. The mystery, as an object of faith, remains veiled even through what is precisely expressed and fulfilled. The visibility of the Invisible therefore belongs to the order of signs, and the sign indicates only the reality of the mystery, but not the unveiling. The "first Adam"—man, male and female—created in the state of original innocence and called in this state to conjugal union (in this sense we are speaking of the sacrament of creation) was a sign of the eternal mystery. So the "second Adam," Christ, united with the Church through the sacrament of redemption by an indissoluble bond, analogous to the indissoluble covenant of spouses, is a definitive sign of the same eternal mystery. Therefore, in speaking about the eternal mystery being actuated, we are speaking also about the fact that it becomes visible with the visibility of the sign. Therefore we are speaking also about the sacramentality of the whole heritage of the sacrament of redemption, in reference to the entire work of creation and redemption, and more so in reference to marriage instituted within the context of the sacrament of creation, as also in reference to the Church as the spouse of Christ, endowed by a quasi-conjugal covenant with him.

SEX IS DEATH. (Wrestle with mania)

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

Ladies and gentlemen! This is a battle to the death with a 30 hour time limit!

In this corner, it's The Driving Instructor! And in the far corner, it's The Minor Child!

Sounds like a mismatch...

Teacher charged with attempted murder of teen

Police believe a high school teacher who moonlights as a pro wrestler attacked a 17-year-old girl and then left her in the woods with a broken neck for than 30 hours before accompanying investigators back to where she lay.

Searchers who spotted Ashley Reeves through driving rain were sure she was dead — until they saw her take a breath. Authorities believe 26-year-old Samson Shelton, a teacher at a different school, tried to kill her a day earlier.

"It was almost disbelief that she was still alive," investigator Steve Johnson of the St. Clair County, Ill., Sheriff's Department, recalled Tuesday.

Reeves was in serious condition Tuesday. Shelton, a wannabe pro wrestler and driver's education teacher in tiny Freeburg, Ill., is jailed on $1 million bond and charged with kidnapping and attempted murder.

Police said they were still investigating why the muscular, 6-foot-1, 200-pound teacher tried to strangle the 5-foot-5, 120-pound junior with a belt and, according to the criminal complaint, use "his forearm with such force as to break the neck of Ashley Reeves."

Authorities have said Reeves and Shelton had a "relationship," though Johnson would not elaborate. He would not say how the girl, who attended a different school, knew the older man.

Ah, yes...a "relationship". There are relations and then there are relations.

The investigator would only describe Shelton as a known acquaintance of Reeves and say that Shelton was with investigators early Saturday when they finally found her in a desolate area of Citizens Park in the St. Louis suburb of Belleville, Ill.

She had been missing since leaving her home Thursday afternoon for a job interview; the Jeep she was driving was found eight hours later in another park in the area.

Let us hope and pray Ashley will soon be well enough to testify against the pervert who used her and then tried to discard her.

And what is a SEX IS DEATH story without a personal webpage detailing somebody's sick fantasies?

St.Louis Post-Dispatch: Web life may draw scrutiny

In a profile on the Web, Samson R. Shelton described himself as a line-dancing "pimp" with a girl in every port, whose hobbies include prostitutes and pornography.

Whether it was a joke shared among friends or a genuine self-assessment, Shelton's online writing raised questions after his arrest this weekend on charges of attempted murder of a teenage girl from another school.

It was at odds with the earnest, athletic educator he seemed to be in the real world. In clear hindsight, perhaps, the disparity could have been a warning sign.

Until now, schools have been mostly concerned with policing computer usage on campus.

But a veteran educator said Monday that the episode could jar schools to sleuth more into online behavior of teachers.

"I wouldn't hire him," said William Rebore, chairman of the department of educational leadership at St. Louis University and a former superintendent for the Francis Howell and Valley Park school districts.

"If the person said, 'Oh, that's nothing, it's just a joke,' well, professional people don't joke in that manner, especially when it comes to children."

Rebore said he thinks schools will more commonly ask employees to disclose what they are posting on the Internet.

A job application could ask, "Do you have a Web site? Are you featured in any Web site?" Rebore said. "Certainly, if someone were not honest about that, it could be grounds for termination. It wouldn't surprise me if districts started putting that on an application."

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

Freeburg's school superintendent, Andrew W. Lehman, said the district had neither a policy about off-campus computer use nor any method of checking what has been published.

He said he was not sure whether the district could do anything about such writing because of "freedom of speech and those types of things..."

Huh? And speaking of mystifying...

In the wake of Shelton's arrest, many were wondering why a teacher would write in such coarse terms and expect his words to remain private.

A friend, Tim Davis, said the profile and others like it on the softball team were meant to be jokes, not windows on deeper problems. Davis said his own profile listed his hobby as "getting divorced." Another team member claimed to be the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "Body by Bacon."

Har dee har har har. Get a load of Shecky Kindmörder and his comic genius friends.

It was a bunch of friends joking around, he said.

Amanda Lenhart, senior research specialist at the Pew Internet and American Life Project, in Washington, said: "There is a real sense that when people interact with digital media that it's private." She said, "It feels private. It's you and the computer."

Except when you stop typing and start reading, right? Or is that too difficult a concept? Did Ashley have a MySpace page and what does it say about her?

A school system does not necessarily have a responsibility to know about, or act on, such a posting, she said. "The Internet is a big place."

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.

Kudos to local school boards, administrators, and politicians everywhere!

Without your tireless efforts, the fiendish plot by shadowy figures to control the world by ignoring most of it wouldn't be succeeding.

Young Americans know little about world geography, with the majority unable to locate Iraq on a map and three quarters unable to find Indonesia, according to a study.

The Roper poll conducted on behalf of National Geographic found that most of the young adults questioned between the ages of 18 and 24 also had little knowledge about their own country, with half or fewer unable to identify the states of New York or Ohio on a map.

Moreover, the study said, many of those questioned were not bothered by their lack of geographic knowledge.

"Half think it is 'important but not absolutely necessary' either to know where countries in the news are located (50%) or to be able to speak a foreign language (47%)," a report on the survey said.

That is the real triumph of government "education": Apathy. Sheep don't give a damn about anything other than eating, sleeping, and copulating.

The report said that despite nearly constant news coverage since the US invasion of Iraq in March 2003, 63 percent of respondents could not find Iraq on a map and 75 percent could not find Israel or Iran.

It added that that nine in ten also could not find Afghanistan on a map of Asia and 70 percent could not find North Korea.

When questioned about natural disasters, only a third (33%) correctly chose Pakistan from four possible choices as the country hit by a huge earthquake in October 2005.

China fared better than most countries, with seven in ten (69%) respondents able to find it on a map. Still, the study found, young Americans have a number of misconceptions about China.

Nearly 75 percent believe English is the most widely spoken native language, rather than Mandarin Chinese, and half think that China is the biggest exporter of goods and services rather than the United States.

Oy vey!

The survey was conducted between December 2005 and January 2006 and involved 510 interviews.

National Geographic released the survey in launching a five-year campaign to improve geographic literacy among young people in the United States.

"Geographic illiteracy impacts our economic well-being, our relationships with other nations and the environment, and isolates us from our world," said John Fahey, National Geographic Society president. "Without geography, our young people are not ready to face the challenges of the increasingly interconnected and competitive world of the 21st century."
(Thanks to Breitbart.com and WND for the heads up.)

Senator Tal'aura, call your home world.

Invisibility becomes clearer to scientists
Experts in Utah, Australia find 'that cloaking might be realized'
--London Telegraph

Scriptwriters will be pleased to discover that this science fiction idea is deemed today to be closer to science fact than we realised, according to a paper published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences.

Prof Graeme Milton, of the University of Utah, and Nicolae-Alexandru Nicorovici, of the University of Technology, Sydney, announce that "we have found that cloaking might be realised". The "making of an object invisible through some cloaking device is commonly regarded as science fiction", said Prof Milton.

But with Dr Nicorovici he outlines how to do it with the help of materials with bizarre optical properties that were first postulated in 1968 by Victor Veselago, a physicist working at the General Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow.

His work remained obscure until six years ago, when his mathematical fantasy was realised by the creation of superlenses that can make objects placed near them invisible."

When an object is bathed in light of one colour, Prof Milton and Dr Nicorovici predict that light becomes trapped near the lens and "almost exactly cancels the light incident on each molecule in the object, so it has essentially no response to the incident light. Numerically we see that the molecule is effectively invisible".

By looking through a superlens at the object "one would only see the back half of it".

Congress cuts funds for anti-satellite laser weapon.

That should be the headline and the focus of the story, kiddies, but the Old Gray Whore sees it differently.

The Bush administration is seeking to develop a powerful ground-based laser weapon that would use beams of concentrated light to destroy enemy satellites in orbit.

The largely secret project, parts of which have been made public through Air Force budget documents submitted to Congress in February, is part of a wide-ranging effort to develop space weapons, both defensive and offensive. No treaty or law forbids such work.

The laser research was described by federal officials who would speak only on the condition of anonymity because of the topic's political sensitivity. The White House has recently sought to play down the issue of space arms, fearing it could become an election-year liability.

Indeed, last week Republicans and Democrats on a House Armed Services subcommittee moved unanimously to cut research money for the project in the administration's budget for the 2007 fiscal year. While Republicans on the panel would not discuss their reasons for the action, Congressional aides said it reflected a bipartisan consensus for moving cautiously on space weaponry, a potentially controversial issue that has yet to be much debated.

Ooooooo! We wouldn't want to weaponize the vast, dumb, faraway emptiness of outer space, would we?

The full committee is expected to take up the budget issue today.

The laser research is far more ambitious than a previous effort by the Clinton administration nearly a decade ago to test an antisatellite laser. It would take advantage of an optical technique that uses sensors, computers and flexible mirrors to counteract the atmospheric turbulence that seems to make stars twinkle.

The weapon would essentially reverse that process, shooting focused beams of light upward with great clarity and force.

Though futuristic and technically challenging, the laser work is relatively inexpensive by government standards — about $20 million in 2006, with planned increases to some $30 million by 2011 — partly because no weapons are as yet being built and partly because the work is being done at an existing base, an unclassified government observatory called Starfire in the New Mexico desert. (Thanks to Drudge for the heads up.)

Junior

Fox Sports: Pete Rose Jr. sentenced to prison
Pete Rose Jr., the son of baseball's career hits leader, was sentenced Monday to one month in prison and five months of home detention for distributing a drug sometimes sold as a steroid alternative to his minor league teammates. Rose faced up to two years in prison and a $1 million fine for distributing GBL. Federal judge Robert Echols waived a fine for Rose.

'Tis the season for Notes From Allergyland.

Sometimes, when I blow my nose, it sounds like The Doctor's Tardis.

BTW, just as Henry Aaron will always be my home run record holder, Tom Baker will always be Doctor Who to me.

Religion of Peace and Love Update.

...or, At what price order?

Roto-Reuters: Somali teen executes father's killer under Sharia

A 16-year-old Somali boy stabbed his father's killer to death on Tuesday in a public execution ordered by an Islamic Court, witnesses said.

Omar Hussein, 45, was convicted under sharia law of killing teacher Sheik Osman Moallim two months ago in the capital Mogadishu after a dispute over his son's education.

An Islamic court in the Bermuda district of Mogadishu ordered that Moallim's son Mohamed should execute his father's killer in the same manner that his father was murdered.

Hundreds of people watched the teenager stab Hussein several times in the chest and throat at the Koranic school where his father had worked, witnesses including a Reuters reporter said.

"I am happy now because I killed the man who killed my father," Mohamed Moallim said.

Hussein, who was tied with a rope and flanked by Islamic court militia, shouted "There is no God but Allah!" in Arabic as he was killed.

Mogadishu's Islamic courts have created a semblance of order in the lawless capital by providing justice under sharia law, which states that if someone murders, they should also die.

Somalia plunged into chaos in 1991, when warlords ousted military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

A fledging interim government, formed in neighboring Kenya in 2004, is weakened by internal power struggles and has little control over the nation of 10 million people. Most are Muslim.

The execution was believed to be Somalia's first in public in recent years.

Seattle's foreign-born players lobby for day off in solidarity with illegal aliens...

...just kidding.

Now, this is a prank.

More than a million immigrants and supporters walked off the job nationwide to rally for immigrant rights - so why not some of the Seattle Mariners?

That's the last thing manager Mike Hargrove expected to hear Monday as the team prepared to play the Minnesota Twins.

But Adrian Beltre - whose father-in-law in California took the day off as part of the national boycott - gathered Seattle's foreign-born Latino players for a prank on Hargrove. They told him they felt they had to honor the boycott.

The group included Eddie Guardado, born in the United States but whose father was born in Mexico; Yuniesky Betancourt (Cuba); Beltre (Dominican Republic); Jose Lopez (Venezuela); Rafael Soriano (Dominican Republic); Roberto Petagine (Venezuela); and Julio Mateo (Dominican Republic).

"Three times he asked, 'Are you serious?" Beltre said. "He really bought it."

Guardado gave it away by laughing.

"For the longest time, I didn't buy it," Hargrove said. "But there was about 15 seconds where I thought they were on the level. But then Eddie gave it away. (Thanks to ESPN.com for the heads up.)

Saint of the Day and daily Mass readings.

St. Phillip (left) and St. James (right)



Today is the Feast of St. Phillip and St. James, Apostles and martyrs. Pray for us, all you angels and saints.

Today's reading for the Feast of St.Phillip and St. James is 1 Corinthians 15:1-8.
Today's Responsorial Psalm is Psalms 19:2-3, 4-5.
Today's Gospel reading is John 14:6-14.


[Links to the readings will be from the NAB until I can find another chapter and verse searchable Douay-Rheims Bible on-line.]


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.

It Takes A Village To Staff A Gestapo Unit Update.

If only she had at one time thought she could grow up to be a painter...

Politics wasn't first on list of US Senatrix Hitlery Shickelgruber's (N-NY) career picks

She's a former first lady, a United States senator, and a potential 2008 presidential candidate. But to hear Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton tell it, all of that pales in comparison to her real childhood dreams.

This is all political flapdoodle of the lowest order. She "remembers" her childhood through the prism of her current nationalist-socialist beliefs.

"I wanted desperately to be an Olympic athlete," Clinton said Monday at a Purchase College symposium on Title IX, the 1972 law outlawing sex discrimination in educational programs that receive federal funding. "I tried everything. I ran every race, and if I was really lucky I finished second to last...I couldn't jump, I couldn't run, I couldn't swim."

Maybe she could hitch a ride with Senator Murder...

After determining she'd never be an athlete, she set her sights on becoming an astronaut.

"So I wrote to NASA and said, 'How do I sign up to be an astronaut?"' she said. "And they wrote back very politely and said, 'We don't take girls."'

Awwwww...Penis bad, vagina good.

Next went the dream of a career in medicine.

"I volunteered at the hospital but kept getting lightheaded and woozy when I saw anyone in any kind of distress," she said.

That is why she avoids looking at her victims.

She also abandoned hopes of becoming a scientist or mathematician because she didn't have the best grades in those subjects.

That is obvious. She cannot think.

That, she said, left her current career choice - one that was shaped at the family dinner table.

And so, as is the case with all totalitarians, she who had no discernable talent turned to the one vocation that requires none. Little Hitlery dedicated her life to lording it over her neighbors.

"We had the most lively, contentious dinner table conversations that probably anybody has endured," Clinton recalled of her family's mealtime public policy debates. "I thought well, I do like to study what goes on in the world around me, I adore government as a subject in school, I'm very interested in politics and history. So I went to law school."

Despite all those apparent setbacks, Clinton urged students in the audience to pursue their dreams by believing in themselves and ignoring obstacles in their path."My whole life has been a speed bump," she said to laughs.

Ha.

Ha.