SEX IS DEATH. (Worse than homelessness)

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


****** UPDATE ******

It seems ineffective law enforcement and prosecution are death-enablers...

The Daily Comet: Dominique accused of rape before going on alleged killing spree
Ronald Dominique, a suspected serial killer indicted on nine counts of first-degree murder earlier this month, was accused of rape on two separate occasions before he allegedly killed his first victim, according to newspaper reports on Saturday.

In 1993, a Houma man told Thibodaux police that Dominique raped him, but officers chose not to make an arrest, the Daily Comet and the Courier newspapers reported. And in 1996, a Thibodaux man went to the same police officer with an almost identical account of rape at Dominique's hands. Dominique was arrested and jailed, but released three months later and never prosecuted.

****** UPDATE ******


AP: Suspect in Louisiana serial deaths 'a nobody'

Well, he sure is somebody now.

Houma, Louisiana - Short, overweight and suffering from a heart condition, Ronald J. Dominique hardly seemed a threat, much less a serial killer.

A near-broke nobody who lived with his sister before moving into a homeless shelter, he went willingly, leaning heavily on a cane, when officers came to get him last week.

Even with a meek persona, investigators said, Dominique bound and strangled or smothered 23 men and teenage boys in south Louisiana in what the FBI considered its most urgent serial killing case.

Dominique apparently was able to charm his victims into accompanying him, said Les Bonano, director of investigations for the state attorney general's office.

"He'd meet them on the street, walking or riding their bikes, and just start talking to them. He'd offer them a ride or talk them into sex and they'd go with him," Bonano said Tuesday.

Once again, kiddies, we see that disordered sexual desire is death.

Dominique, 42, was arrested Friday at a homeless shelter in Houma and charged with two murders. On Monday, authorities filed nine more counts against him and said more charges were possible.

Dominique was being held without bond at the Terrebonne Parish jail pending a Jan. 17 arraignment. A message seeking comment was left with the parish public defender's office, which was assigned Tuesday to represent him.

Joseph Waitz, the Terrebonne district attorney, said he will seek the death penalty.

Death again. But this time it will be deserved. And he will have a luxury he did not grant his victims: an opportunity to repent and confess before he meets his soul's Judge.

Once investigators began interrogating him, Dominique eagerly claimed credit for the killings, Terrebonne Sheriff Jerry Larpenter said.

"We'd been talking to him just a short period of time and he just started giving it up," Larpenter said. "I don't know what prompted it. Maybe he just wanted to clear his conscience."

Dominique is believed to have raped his victims before killing them, Larpenter said.

"He's nothing on the street, a nobody. But here he had power. Once he got those ropes on them, they were his," he said.

Until the week of his arrest, Dominique was living with his sister in Bayou Blue, a rural area near Houma, a Cajun community of 32,000 surrounded by bayous and sugar cane fields, where many work in commercial fishing or the oil industry. His camper was parked behind a trailer covered by a broad, wood roof.

Dominique hit the shelter almost penniless. Phillip "Pappy" Breaux, who lives at the shelter, said Dominique told him he had enough money to pay for a room for five or six nights at $10 a night.

"If he hadn't been arrested he could have been here 20 years and nobody would have paid any attention to him," Breaux said. "He complained about his health some, but that was about it."

Investigators said Dominique was charged at least seven times and jailed twice over the years, mostly for minor offenses such as traffic violations, simple battery and disturbing the peace by offensive language.

But one case apparently planted the seed for his later crimes, according to Larpenter.

On Aug. 25, 1996, Dominique was arrested on a charge of forcible rape. He was booked into jail, but the case did not go to trial because the victim could not be found.

Larpenter said Dominique told investigators that brief brush with incarceration left him determined not to go back to jail.

"He said he killed them because he didn't want to get caught," Larpenter said. "But I would think he discovered somewhere on the way to killing 23 that it was not just because of that. I think he discovered he liked it."

Disordered thinking and disordered desire always lead to more (and more horrific) disorder.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Jim Bernazzani said FBI profilers felt this was the most significant current serial killer case in the country in terms of the number of victims and its time span — the killings took place from 1997 to 2005.

"A serial killer like this hides in plain sight," Bernazzani said. "They do not disturb people. That's why they are so effective.'"

All the victims were homeless males, ranging from 16 to 46, all were strangled or asphyxiated and all the bodies were bound. Their bodies were dumped in remote spots in seven parishes.

May God have mercy on their poor souls.

The break in the case came when an ex-con told his parole agent about getting away from a man who wanted to tie him up for sex, Larpenter said.

Dominique voluntarily gave investigators a DNA sample, which connected him two Jefferson Parish murders, Sheriff Harry Lee said.

"He went along with it, let us take a swab," Lee said. "He was no trouble at all."

May God have mercy on Mr. Dominique's soul. He will need it.

Part 1: SEX IS DEATH. (Stories for boys) is here.
Part 2: SEX IS DEATH. (Distaff death) is here.
Part 3: SEX IS DEATH. (Joyously dispensing death) is here.
Part 4: SEX IS DEATH. (Sex is depression) is here.
Part 5: SEX IS DEATH. (When self-pleasuring becomes self-destruction) is here.
Part 6: SEX IS DEATH. (Sex is theft) is here.
Part 7: SEX IS DEATH. (A review of Bareback Mountain) is here.
Part 8: SEX IS DEATH. (What is the ultimate penalty?) is here.
Part 9: SEX IS DEATH. (Haven from reality) is here.
Part 10: SEX IS DEATH. (Sin-redemption-reasons-reason) is here.
Part 11: SEX IS DEATH. (Mommy loves you) is here.
Part 12: SEX IS DEATH. (George Gilder offers a clue) is here.
Part 13: SEX IS DEATH. (Post-killem depression) is here.
Part 14: SEX IS DEATH. (Whither womanhood) is here.
Part 15: SEX IS DEATH. (Saving psychology 1) is here.
Part 16: SEX IS DEATH. (Saving psychology 2) is here.
Part 17: SEX IS DEATH. (Fear of the boomers) is here.
Part 18: SEX IS DEATH. (The battle continues apace) is here.
Part 19: SEX IS DEATH. (Hot for teacher) is here.
Part 20: SEX IS DEATH. (Kids do the darndest things) is here.
Part 21: SEX IS DEATH. (Defects) is here.
Part 22: SEX IS DEATH. (Privates' privacy) is here.
Part 23: SEX IS DEATH. (National Condom Week) is here.
Part 24: SEX IS DEATH. (Wegenics) is here.
Part 25: SEX IS DEATH. (White wedding) is here.
Part 26: SEX IS DEATH. (Literally) is here.
Part 27: SEX IS DEATH. (Can't get me no satisfaction) is here.
Part 28: SEX IS DEATH. (Wrestle with mania) is here.
Part 29: SEX IS DEATH. (Press one for death/Presione uno para la muerte) is here.
Part 30: SEX IS DEATH. (Raunch culture) is here.
Part 31: SEX IS DEATH. (Gimme some of that sweet zombie lovin') is here.
Part 32: SEX IS DEATH. (The devil made me eat my baby) is here.
Part 33: SEX IS DEATH. (Mind control = womb control) is here.
Part 34: SEX IS DEATH. (The expense of playing with yourself) is here.
Part 35: SEX IS DEATH. (You can't always get what you want) is here.
Part 36: SEX IS DEATH. (Whom does a master serve?) is here.
Part 37: SEX IS DEATH. (Shootin' 5 for 8) is here.
Part 38: SEX IS DEATH. (Being a never-wed mom of four and an illegal alien is no picnic either) is here.
Part 39: SEX IS DEATH. (Duane indulges himself then goes out in a blaze of cowardice) is here.
Part 40: SEX IS DEATH. (The line is not fine at all) is here.

Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, a Catholic gentleman, wants to be president.

AP: Brownback: energize GOP base
Cedar Rapids, Iowa - Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback billed himself as a "full-scale conservative" Tuesday as he courted activists in the state where precinct caucuses have traditionally kicked off the presidential nominating season.

Brownback said the lessons Republicans should take from the November elections in which Democrats won both houses of Congress is that that they face enormous trouble when the party's conservative base isn't energized.

That makes sense.

"Our ideas weren't repudiated, our execution was," said Brownback. "Our base was lethargic because of too much spending and the Washington corruption cases."

Brownback filed papers Monday creating an exploratory committee allowing him to travel the country and raise money for a possible run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.

The senator said he would launch a campaign swing in 10 states holding important early tests of strength. The first stop was in Iowa, where he spoke to Linn County Republicans.

The key, Brownback said, is focusing on conservative values on a broad range of issues.

"I see myself as a full-scale conservative," he said.

Cool.

Brownback seeks to grab the "compassionate conservative" title that President Bush used in his first campaign. That means focusing on issues such prison reform, cancer research and fighting AIDS in Africa not normally associated with conservatism.

Uh-oh.

Brownback was agriculture secretary in Kansas before winning election to the Senate, and he said he has nurtured deep ties with the farm community. He also said he brings to the race Midwestern values that can sell well in Iowa.

"I'm a fellow Midwesterner and that helps," Brownback said. "There's a Midwestern nature that I think people are comfortable with."

Here is more detail from a Kansas perspective:

The Wichita Eagle: Sam Brownback forms exploratory committee

For Sen. Sam Brownback, it was the first formal step in what could be a two-year marathon of campaigning for the ultimate prize in politics.

"After much prayerful consideration," the conservative Kansas Republican said, he filed papers Monday with the Federal Election Commission creating a presidential exploratory committee.

"I am running for America... to be of service in a crucial time of trial," Brownback said. He called the United States "a blessed nation at an important crossroads."

His first campaign stop will be today in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to be followed by visits to 10 states over the next month.

An exploratory committee is a placeholder that allows Brownback to raise money and hire staff for a presidential campaign, and to transfer money from his Senate campaign committee for the White House bid.

The 50-year-old Kansan, a darling of social conservatives but little-known in wider circles, is a leading opponent of abortion rights, embryonic stem cell research and same-sex marriage. But he also is generally opposed to the death penalty and has made alleviating disease and poverty in the developing world a cornerstone of his Senate work.

He called for a flat tax, for term limits for judges and members of Congress, and for "compassionate yet practical programs to help the poor here and around the world," in his prepared statement Monday. He also described his vision of America.

"Ours is an exceptional nation united by our ideals," Brownback said. "But we are a great nation because of our goodness. If we ever lose our goodness, we will surely lose our greatness... we need a culture that encourages what is right and discourages what is wrong -- and has the wisdom to understand the difference."

Nice.

He wrote that he considered "my citizenship and the responsibilities it carries today in the light of eternity."

He does not have a chance if he keeps talking like that. It is beautiful, profound, and theologically sound. He will be ripped to shreds and labeled a religious nut.

A 20-member exploratory advisory group includes Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza; Bowie Kuhn, former Major League Baseball commissioner; retired Gen. Charles Krulak, former U.S. Marine Corps commandant; and Steve McEveety, a Hollywood producer closely affiliated with Mel Gibson whose credits include "The Passion of the Christ."

Also officially on board: Chuck Hurley, a friend of Brownback from law school who is a leader among social conservatives in Iowa, site of the crucial first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses in 13 months.

Brownback's Senate chief of staff, Rob Wasinger, has left to run the exploratory committee, which will be based in the Kansas City area. Kansas native Wasinger, 34, has worked for Brownback for 10 years and is well-known and well-regarded in Washington and national social conservative circles.

From Washington's other newspaper:

Sam Brownback's Inner Circle

Since Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) announced his intention to form a presidential exploratory committee yesterday, The Fix launches The Inner Circle with a look at his team.

Unlike many aspiring presidential candidates, Brownback has a relatively small group of close advisers. Some of that size is dictated by the fact that he hasn't had a serious race since 1996 and some of it is because he largely keeps his own counsel on political matters.

Without further ado, the Brownback Inner Circle:

* David Kensinger: Kensinger has been with Brownback since his first race -- for the House in 1994. Kensinger served as Brownback's chief of staff for a time and has also done stints at Wirthlin Worldwide, a Republican polling firm, and as executive director at GOPAC. He now has his own consulting firm based in Topeka.

* Rob Wasinger: Brownback's current chief of staff, Wasinger is moving over to help lead the presidential exploratory committee. Wasinger has been with Brownback for a decade, serving a variety of roles including understudy to Kensinger. Wasinger also worked for former Kansas Gov. Bill Graves (R) and Rep. Jerry Moran (R).

* Paul Wilson: Wilson is a partner in the media consulting firm of Wilson Grand Communications, which has long handled Brownback's television advertising. The firm has also done work for Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts and, more recently, the ill-fated Senate bid of Rep. Katherine Harris in Florida.

* Tom Monaghan: The founder of Domino's Pizza, Monaghan is a major force within the evangelical movement. He was one of a handful of supporters named to Brownback's exploratory advisory committee and will likely play a lead role in the fundraising operation that the senator will put in place for a national race.

More on Brownback:
* Full voting record in Congress.
* Official Senate Web page.
* Fundraising profile on OpenSecrets.org.

Website of the Day.

Was there any doubt?

DatelineHollywood.com

They put the weird in Hollyweird.

If it's on the Internet, it must be true. Right?

TheChurchMilitant is still proudly Michael Richards free! This is really a dumbass media story.

Baltimore Sun: WJZ red-faced over blackface story
Only two weeks after unleashing a racially offensive tirade at a West Hollywood comedy club, actor Michael Richards appeared in blackface at a celebrity roast for Whoopi Goldberg over the weekend, drawing gasps from the audience, according to WJZ-TV, Channel 13, the CBS affiliate in Baltimore.

Except that he didn't.

WJZ's story, broadcast at least twice yesterday afternoon in breaking-news style by anchor Sally Thorner, was attributed to DatelineHollywood.com. But WJZ's news department was apparently unaware that every story on the Web site satirizes Hollywood.

"It should not have aired," Gail Bending, WJZ's news director, said after being alerted by a colleague to the story's lack of foundation and the site's cheerful irreverence for the truth. Bending said the producer who proposed the story did not verify its accuracy. The station ran a brief correction during its 11 p.m. newscast, saying the Richards story "turned out to be a hoax."

No, not a "hoax". It was satire. The word "hoax" implies the satirical website intentionally tricked WJZ into running a false story. Sorry, Gail, you can't avoid the fact you dumbasses don't know how to do your jobs.

Some of the "facts" in the Web site's story might have been a tip-off to their falsity. The story quoted an attendee of the supposed roast, Stephen Mawrs, as saying that Richards, after appearing from behind a curtain in blackface, "took out a bottle of Aunt Jemima syrup and poured it over Whoopi's head."

Heehee.

Richards "then started doing this 'Mammy' song," Mawrs said, according to the story. "It was just really uncomfortable. But to his credit, Michael never once lost his cool."

Now that's funny.

Richards' publicist, Howard Rubenstein, was then "quoted" as saying, "It's very sad to see Michael say those nasty things at a comedy club and then show up in blackface and offend nearly everyone."

Another story on the site reported that George Clooney and Danny DeVito "woke up naked together in bed last Wednesday, unsure whether they had a sexual encounter after a brutal night of drinking."

Richards, who played Cosmo Kramer on Seinfeld, has expressed remorse for his Nov. 17 outburst at the comedy club.

The Web site identifies itself as having been founded in 360 B.C. as Gladiators Weekly "to cover the booming entertainment industry in the coliseums of ancient Rome."

As a human of Italian descent, I am offended! Whom do I sue?

Note: This article has been updated to reflect that WJZ ran a correction on the story.

Evan 'Bye' Bayh spits into the mighty wind blowing from the posterior of The Party of Blasphemy, Buggery, and 'Bortion.

AP: Bayh warns against ideological agenda
Des Moines, Iowa - White House hopeful Sen. Evan Bayh warned on Monday that Democrats could lose their newfound grip on Congress if the party pursues an ideological course.

Of course he does not mean any of it, kiddies. Bayh is a leftist yahoo, too. He merely appears more reasonable than other Democrasses.

The Vietnamization of Iraq is complete.

There's no panel like a blue ribbon panel, kiddies...

AP: Panel: Try diplomacy in Iraq, then leave
Washington - The United States faces a "grave and deteriorating" situation after three years of war in Iraq, a high-level commission warned bluntly on Wednesday, recommending enhanced diplomacy to stabilize the country and hopefully permit the withdrawal of most combat troops by early 2008.

Once again, our moral and intellectual superiors have decided to declare victory and run away, which will give us seven more wars of bad luck. (That whole Korean thingee is going to get messy again soon.)

Memo To Those Iraqis Who Don't Need To Murder To Feel Like Men: Of course you are welcome! But I wouldn't wait for the last helicopter on our embassy's roof if I were you...

The Story of St. Nicholas.

From Catholic Online:

St. Nicholas, called "of Bari", Bishop of Myra (Fourth Century)

The great veneration with which this saint has been honored for many ages and the number of altars and churches which have been everywhere dedicated in his memory are testimonials to his holiness and of the glory which he enjoys with God. He is said to have been born at Patara in Lycia, a province of Asia Minor. Myra, the capital, not far from the sea, was an episcopal see, and this church falling vacant, the holy Nicholas was chosen bishop, and in that station became famous by his extraordinary piety and zeal and many astonishing miracles. The Greek histories of his life agree that he suffered imprisonment of the faith and made a glorious confession in the latter part of the persecution raised by Dioletian, and that he was present at the Council of Nicaea and there condemned Arianism. The silence of other authors makes many justly suspect these circumstances. He died at Myra, and was buried in his cathedral.

This summary account by Alban Butler tells us all that is known about the life of the famous St. Nicholas, and even a little more; for his episcopate at Myra during the fourth century is really all that seems indubitably authentic. This is not for lack of material, beginning with the life attributed to the monk who died in 847 as St. Methodius, Patriarch of Constantinople. But he warns us that "Up to the present the life of this distinguished Shepard has been unknown to the majority of the faithful", and sets about enlightening their ignorance nearly five hundred years after the saint's death. This is the least unreliable of the "biographical" sources available, and a vast amount of literature, critical and expository, have grown up around them. Nevertheless, the universal popularity of the saint for so many centuries requires that some account of these legends should be given here.

We are assured that from his earliest days Nicholas would take nourishment only once on Wednesdays and Fridays, and that in the evening according to the canons. "He was exceedingly well brought up by his parents and trod piously in their footsteps. The child, watched over by the church enlightened his mind and encouraged his thirst for sincere and true religion". His parents died when he was a young man, leaving him well off and he determined to devote his inheritance to works of charity. An opportunity soon arose. A citizen of Patara had lost all his money, and had moreover to support three daughters who could not find husbands because of their poverty; so the wretched man was going to give them over to prostitution. This came to the ears of Nicholas, who thereupon took a bag of gold and, under cover of darkness threw it in at the open window of the man's house. Here was a dowry for the eldest girl and she was soon duly married. At intervals Nicholas did the same for the second and third; at the last time the father was on the watch, recognized his benefactor and overwhelmed him with his gratitude. It would appear that the three purses represented in pictures, came to be mistaken for the heads of three children and so they gave rise to the absurd story of the children, resuscitated by the saint, who had been killed by an innkeeper and pickled in a brine-tub.

Coming to the city of Myra when the clergy and people of the province were in session to elect a new bishop, St. Nicholas was indicated by God as the man they should choose. This was at the time of the persecutions at the beginning of the fourth century and "As he was the chief priest of the Christians of this town and preached the truths of faith with a holy liberty, the divine Nicholas was seized by the magistrates, tortured, then chained and thrown into prison with many other Christians. But when the great and religious Constatine, chosen by God assumed the imperial diadem of the Romans, the prisoners were released from their bonds and with them the illustrious Nicholas, who when he was set at liberty returned to Myra." St. Methodius asserts that "thanks to the teaching of St. Nicholas the metropolis of Myra alone was untouched by the filth of the Arian heresy, which it firmly rejected as death-dealing poison", but says nothing of his presence at the Council of Nicaea in 325. According to other traditions he was not only there but so far forgot himself as to give the heresiarch Arius a slap in the face. Whereupon the conciliar fathers deprived him of his episcopal insignia and committed him to prison; but our Lord and His Mother appeared there and restored to him both his liberty and his office. As against Arianism so against paganism, St. Nicholas was tireless and took strong measures: among other temples he destroyed was that of Artemis, the principal in the district, and the evil spirits fled howling before him. He was the guardian of his people as well in temporal affairs. The governor Eustathius had taken a bribe to condemn to death three innocent men. At the time fixed for their execution Nicholas came to the place, stayed the hands of the executioner, and released the prisoners. Then he turned to Eustathiujs and did not cease to reproach him until he admitted his crime and expressed his penitence. There were present on this occasion three imperial officers who were on their way to duty in Phrygia. Later, when they were back again in Constantinople, the jealousy of the prefect Ablavius caused them to be imprisoned on false charges and an order for their death was procured from the Emperor Constantine. When the officers heard this they remembered the example they had witnessed of the powerful love of justice of the Bishop of Myra and they prayed to God that through his merits and by his instrumentality then might yet be saved. That night St. Nicholas appeared in a dream to Constatine, and told him with threats to release the three innocent men, and Ablavius experienced the same thing. In the morning the Emporor and the prefect compared notes, and the condemned men were sent for and questioned. When he heard that they had called on the name of the Nicholas of Myra who had appeared to him, Constatine set them free and sent them to the bishop with a letter asking him not to threaten him any more but to pray for the peace of the world. For long this was the most famous miracle of St. Nicholas, and at the time of St. Methodius was the only thing generally known about him.

The accounts are unanimous that St. Nicholas died and was buried in his episcopal city of Myra, and by the time of Justinian there was a basilica built in his honor at Constantinople. An anonymous Greek wrote in the tenth century that, "the West as well as the East acclaims and glorifies him. Wherever there are people, in the country and the town, in the villages, in the isles, in the furthest parts of the earth, his name is revered and churches are built in his honor. Images of him are set up, panegyrics preached and festivals celebrated. All Christians, young and old, men and women, boys and girls, reverence his memory and call upon his protection. And his favors, which know no limit of time and continue from age to age, are poured out over all the earth; the Scythians know them, as do the Indians and the barbarians, the Africans as well as the Italians." When Myra and its great shrine finally passed into the hands of the Saracens, several Italian cities saw this as an opportunity to acquire the relics of St. Nicholas for themselves. There was great competition for them between Venice and Bari. The last-named won, the relics were carried off under the noses of the lawful Greek custodians and their Mohammedan masters, and on May 9, 1087 were safety landed at Bari, a not inappropriate home seeing that Apulia in those days still had large Greek colonies. A new church was built to shelter them and the pope, Bd. Urban II, was present at their enshrining. Devotion to St. Nicholas was known in the West long before his relics were brought to Italy, but this happening naturally greatly increased his veneration among the people, and miracles were as freely attributed to his intercession in Europe as they had been in Asia. At Myra "the venerable body of the bishop, embalmed as it was in the good ointments of virtue exuded a sweet smelling myrrh, which kept it from corruption and proved a health giving remedy against sickness to the glory o f him who had glorified Jesus Christ, our true God." The translation of the relics did not interrupt this phenomenon, and the "manna of St. Nicholas" is said to flow to this day. It was one of the great attractions which drew pilgrims to his tomb from all parts of Europe.

It is the image of St. Nicholas more often than that of any other that is found on Byzantine seals; in the later middle ages nearly four hundred churches were dedicated in his honor in England alone; and he is said to have been represented by Christian artists more frequently than any saint except our Lady. St. Nicholas is venerated as the patron saint of several classes of people, especially, in the East, of sailors and in the West of children. The first of these patronage is probably due to the legend that during his life time, he appeared to storm tossed mariners who invoked his aid off the coast of Lycia and brought them safely to port. Sailors in the Aegean and Ionian seas, following a common Eastern custom, had their "star of St. Nicholas" and wished one another a good voyage in the phrase "May St. Nicholas hold the tiller". The legend of the "three children" gave rise to his patronage of children and various observances, ecclesiastical and secular, connected there with; such were the boy bishop and especially in Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, the giving of presents in his name at Christmas time. This custom in England is not a survival from Catholic times. It was popularized in America by the Dutch Protestants of New Amsterdam who had converted the popish saint into a Nordic magician (Santa Claus = Sint Klaes = Saint Nicholas) and was apparently introduced into this country by Bret Harte. It is not the only "good old English custom" which, however good, is not "old English", at any rate in its present form. The deliverance of the three imperial officers naturally caused St. Nicholas to be invoked by and on behalf of prisoners and captives, and many miracles of his intervention are recorded in the middle ages.

Curiously enough the greatest popularity of St. Nicholas is found neither in the eastern Mediterranean nor north-western Europe, great as that was, but in Russia. With St. Andred the Apostle he is patron of the nation, and the Russian Orthodox Church even observes the feast of his translation; so many Russian pilgrims came to Bari before the revolution that their government supported a church, hospital and hospice there. He is a patron saint also of Greece, Apulia, Sicily and Loraine, and of many cities and dioceses (including Galway) and churches innumerable. At Rome the basilica of St. Nicholas in the Jail of Tully (in Carcere) was founded between the end of the sixth and the beginning of the seventh centuries. He is named in the preparation of the Byzantine Mass.

Saint of the Day and daily Mass readings.

Today is the Feast of St. Nicholas, fourth century Bishop of Myra and the patron of bakers and pawnbrokers. (Yes, that St. Nicholas. See the next post for more.) Pray for us, all you angels and saints.

Today's reading for the Feast of St. Nicholas is Isaias 6:1-8.
Today's Responsorial Psalm is Psalms 40:2, 4, 7-8, 9, 10, 11.
Today's Gospel reading is Luke 10:1-9.


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
ZENIT - The World Seen From Rome


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.


Anima Christi

Soul of Christ, sanctify me; Body of Christ, save me; Blood of Christ, inebriate me; Water from Christ's side, wash me; Passion of Christ, strengthen me; O good Jesus, hear me; Within Thy wounds hide me; Suffer me not to be separated from Thee; From the malicious enemy defend me; In the hour of my death call me; And bid me come unto Thee; That I may praise Thee with Thy saints and with Thy angels Forever and ever. Amen.


Prayer to St. Anthony, Martyr of Desire

Dear St. Anthony, you became a Franciscan with the hope of shedding your blood for Christ. In God's plan for you, your thirst for martyrdom was never to be satisfied. St. Anthony, Martyr of Desire, pray that I may become less afraid to stand up and be counted as a follower of the Lord Jesus. Intercede also for my other intentions. (Name them.)


Prayer To Saint Michael The Archangel

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the divine power, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.


Prayer to End Abortion

Lord God, I thank You today for the gift of my life, and for the lives of all my brothers and sisters. I know there is nothing that destroys more life than abortion, yet I rejoice that you have conquered death by the resurrection of Your Son. I am ready to do my part to end abortion. Today I commit myself never to be silent, never to be passive, and never to be forgetful of the unborn. I commit myself to be active in the pro-life movement, and never stop defending life until all my brothers and sisters are protected and our nation once again becomes a nation with liberty and justice, not just for some, but for all. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.


Prayer For Vocations

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


Prayer Before The Crucifix

Behold, O kind and gentle Jesus, I kneel before Thee and pray that Thou would impress upon my heart the virtues of faith, hope, and charity, with true repentance for my sins and a firm purpose of amendment. At the same time, with sorrow I meditate on Thy five precious wounds, having in mind the words which David spoke in prophecy: "They have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones."


Divine Praises

Blessed be God.
Blessed be His Holy Name.
Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true Man.
Blessed be the Name of Jesus.
Blessed be His most Sacred Heart.
Blessed be His most Precious Blood.
Blessed be Jesus in the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
Blessed be the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.
Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary most holy.
Blessed be her holy and Immaculate Conception.
Blessed be her glorious Assumption.
Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother.
Blessed be Saint Joseph, her most chaste spouse.
Blessed be God in His angels and in His saints.
May the Heart of Jesus in the most Blessed Sacrament
Be praised, adored and loved
With grateful affection at every moment
In all the tabernacles of the world
Even to the end of time. Amen.

DAY 104: PLUTO HELD HOSTAGE

February 4, 2007 is International Save Pluto Day!

Revenge of the Food Nazis!

AP: NYC becomes first U.S. city to ban trans fats

Hey, Bloomberg! Does this include "unidentified red meat" ?

Food Nazis are trying to kill you with 'organic chicken'.

And your taste buds, too!

Evening Standard: Organic chicken 'less nutritious' than battery-farmed birds
With its premium price tag, shoppers expect organic chicken to be both tastier and healthier than cheaper battery-farmed birds. But organic poultry is actually less nutritious, contains more fat and tastes worse than its mass-produced equivalent, research has shown.

Just Food: UK: Research finds organic chicken contains less fatty acids
According to UK researchers, organic chicken breasts contain lower levels of essential fatty acids and antioxidants than conventional and free-range alternatives.

Supreme knucklehead Stephen Breyer declares the First Amendment unconstitutional!

Fox News: Transcript: Justice Stephen Breyer Sits Down With 'FNS'
The following is a partial transcript of the Dec. 3, 2006, edition of "FOX News Sunday With Chris Wallace"

'FOX NEWS SUNDAY' CHRIS WALLACE: It's highly unusual for a member of the U.S. Supreme Court to come on a Sunday morning talk show. In fact, it's never happened in the 10-year history of this program. That is until this week, when I spoke with the author of the book "Active Liberty."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: Joining us now in studio, Justice Stephen Breyer of the U.S. Supreme Court.

And, Mr. Justice, welcome to "FOX News Sunday."

SUPREME COURT JUSTICE STEPHEN BREYER: Thank you.

WALLACE: Let's start with the title of your book, "Active Liberty." I'm sure that there are some conservatives out there who break out in hives when they hear a judge talking about activism. They get the idea you think it's OK to read all sorts of things into the Constitution so you get the results you want.

BREYER: I think the best description in one sentence of that title, "Active Liberty," is that the point of the book is we don't need activist judges; we do need activist citizens. And it's about not how judges should be activists. To the contrary, it's about how every citizen should participate in government.

WALLACE: But let's talk about that. Because in your book, you say that judges have various tools when they decide a case. And more important even than the language of the law, you say, are the purpose of the provision and the consequences of deciding it one way or another.

I want to put up a quote from your book and take a look at it, if you will. Here it is: "Since law is connected to life, judges, in applying a text in light of its purpose, should look to consequences including contemporary conditions, social, industrial and political, of the community to be affected."

Justice Breyer, when a judge takes it upon himself to interpret what purpose the founders, the framers meant when they put something in the Constitution, doesn't that allow them, a judge, to do almost anything?

BREYER: No, I think it's the contrary.

You see, it takes place in a context. I think whether you are a judge on my court or whether you are a judge on a court of appeals or any court, and lawyers too — and if you're interested in law yourself, you'll be in the same situation — you have a text that isn't clear.

If the text is clear, you follow the text. If the text isn't clear, you have to work out what it means. And that requires context.

The freedom of speech. Do you know what it means? Basically. But you don't know its entire content, and it doesn't tell you itself. Those words, "the freedom of speech," "Congress shall pass no law abridging the freedom of speech." Neither they, the founders, nor those words tell you how to apply it to the Internet.

So what can you use in a tough case to figure out how the First Amendment applies to cable television and requirements that cable carry over-the-air stations? How do you do it?

WALLACE: Well, let me give you another example, a very specific example. You voted in 2003 to uphold the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law.

Now, you acknowledge that by setting spending limits on advertising that you were, as you put it, interfering with free speech. But you said that there is a higher purpose here.

Higher than the First Amendment?

BREYER: That isn't quite what I said. I think what I said was, when you get a case like that, you start to look to slogans to decide the case. It won't work.

The First Amendment itself, "the freedom of speech," doesn't tell you the answer. Nor does a slogan.

If you want to use the slogan, "Money is at stake, not speech," that seems to work. That means they can regulate anything. But if you think about it for two minutes, you realize that money is very important to speech, because no one can run for office and have his message heard without money. So the First Amendment is involved.

Then if you think the opposite, "Well, wait a minute, these campaign finance limits, what they're doing is they are telling the person who wants to give $20 million that he can't finance all the speech he wants. Doesn't that violate the First Amendment?" I'd say that's a slogan. Why? Because think about that First Amendment. It was done, enacted, passed, to help our country of now 300 million citizens run fair and free elections. (Emphasis mine.)

NO! NO! NO! NO! The First Amendment was "done, enacted, passed" to protect political speech from tyrants like you, Breyer! You should be impeached and thrown into prison for the rest of your life with only a copy of the Federalist Papers for company, you criminal!

The very point of speech in an election is to get a message across. And that may mean, in part, that you don't want one person's speech, that $20 million giver, to drown out everybody else's. So if we want to give a chance to the people who have only $1 and not $20 million, maybe we have to do something to make that playing field a little more level in terms of money.

If you accept that at all, you've suddenly bought in to the proposition that there are First Amendment interests on both sides of this equation.

And once you're there, you see this problem is complicated. And once you see it is complicated, you begin to factor in to what extent do we defer to Congress. And the answer is going to be quite a lot but not completely.

You see what I've done? I've showed you how to go back to that quote.

I'm tempted to label Breyer a retard here, but that would be unfair to the mentally handicapped. Most of them don't wish their fellow men to be ruled by the capricious will of the power-mad.

WALLACE: Right.

BREYER: I used that word, "purpose," to help me in a case where the language isn't clear, where the history isn't clear, where the tradition isn't clear, where the precedents aren't clear, that we have to decide how in that realm of ambiguity to apply the value that's permanent and always there, free speech, to a modern, difficult situation.

WALLACE: You talk a lot in the book about the fact that the Constitution promotes active liberty and, as you put it in the answer to my first question, encouraging democratic participation, encouraging democratic conversation.

From that point of view, isn't one of the reasons that abortion has remained such a hot-button issue in this country because the Supreme Court took it out of the political process, took it away from the legislatures when it was being decided as part of that democratic conversation in 1973?

BREYER: Well, I purposely chose my examples in this book to illustrate a theme. And I didn't choose abortion as one of them.
Because more important to me in writing a book — I mean, I'll decide abortion cases when they come up, but I know perfectly well that anything I say on that subject is enormously volatile. And so, I don't want to talk about that subject, particularly in a public forum that isn't the court.

WALLACE: Even the question as to whether or not...

BREYER: No, not any question to do with abortion. I go back to book.

All thugs are moral cowards. Breyer is an excellent example of a totalitarian of the middle.

WALLACE: All right. Let me ask you another question, because this is something I know you have talked about.

BREYER: Yes?

WALLACE: Precedent.

BREYER: Of course.

WALLACE: You say that — well, pro-choice supporters say that Roe v. Wade is precedent, is settled law, and it has been since 1973. On the other hand, Plessy v. Ferguson was settled law, was precedent for 60 years. That was the Supreme Court decision that established separate but unequal in education. That was overturned by Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, which I think we would all agree ended segregation of schools.

How do you, as a justice, decide what's good precedent and what's bad precedent?

BREYER: There are principles that help you decide, because you're quite right in saying no precedent is 100 percent secure, but the more the precedent has been around and the more people rely on it, the more secure it has to be. And...

WALLACE: Well, Ferguson was around a long time.

BREYER: Yes, that's right. There are a number different factors.
And it's going to take more than 12 minutes if I go into them here. But I can tell you, you can read some of them in Casey v. Polino, in the decision that Justice Souter, Justice O'Connor and Justice Kennedy wrote.

But precedent is important in this way. My message in this book and the reason that I wrote it in respect to the law is to try to show people what we do. And there we use precedent, we use text, we use tradition, we use history, we use purpose of the provision, and we use consequences, not any old consequence, but the consequences that are relevant to the provision at issue. Fourth Amendment: privacy. First Amendment: speech. And I try to show how that's done.

Now, the purpose behind the purpose — and we're getting close to the real purpose. The purpose behind the purpose is that I want to say, having read that document, the Constitution, that when those framers sat down, their primary objective was not to have judges decide how people should live. Their primary objective was to create a democratic system so that people themselves could decide in their own community what kind of rules that wanted.

Ack! Porpoises!

Well, what do we do? What I, in the book, call us is I say we're the boundary patrol. There are limits. It's a constitution that protects a democratic system, basic liberties, a rule of law, a degree of equality, a division of powers, state, federal, so that no one gets too powerful.

Well, those are the limits. And within those limits, there is a vast area for people to decide for themselves. And we're there to patrol the limits.

Now, life at the boundary is sometimes very hard. And you bring up abortion. And I understand how difficult that is, how difficult it is for people to decide to whether it's on one side of the limit or the other. Many cases are like that.

But the moral, the purpose behind the purpose behind the purpose, is I don't want to forget that big area where their participation is necessary to decide whether and how our democratic system will create rules. Because if they forget that and they forget to participate and they forget that the decision-making power is theirs ultimately, then our Constitution won't work.

WALLACE: You have voted at least twice to limit the power of the president to fight terrorists.

You talk about consequences. How do you satisfy yourself, as a justice in that white marble building up there, that when you vote to strike down a tool that the president, as commander in chief, is using in the war on terror, that you're not endangering the country?

BREYER: I don't think it was argued in — well, perhaps — but the case, for example, that we had, which was several years ago, probably the main one, was whether a person who is held as a prisoner in part of the United States, even if he was an alien at Guantanamo, had a right to come to court. And we held that he did have a right to come to court.

And there are...

WALLACE: But there's also the interrogation of prisoners, there have been other issues.

BREYER: We haven't gone into the — there have been a lot of issues, but, I mean, you're asking what we, in particular, have taken...

WALLACE: What I guess I'm asking...

BREYER: But your basic question is, how does the judge know? And the answer is that the judge has to look at the record and the testimony and what's being elicited, just as he does in all difficult cases.

Ultimately we have a Constitution that guarantees a democratic system and that guarantees certain individual rights. I show that in this book. I discuss some of them. The rights are important.

Of course, as Justice Goldberg said, as Justice Jackson said, the Constitution is not a suicide pact. Everyone understands that.

And that's why that Constitution in the Fourth Amendment uses words like "reasonable." There is flexibility in it.

The court has made terrible mistakes sometimes in its history, now recognized. Eighty thousand Americans, Japanese Americans, citizens of the United States, were brought during the early parts of World War II to camps, camps where they were held against their will, even though J. Edgar Hoover said there's no need to do that and even though every historian says there was no need to do that.

But it happened, and the court ratified it over three votes — Jackson, Murphy, Roberts — who said, "Don't do this."

So what you've done, Chris, which is correct, is that you've shown how difficult that problem is. We can't ignore the civil liberties aspect. You can't ignore — you can't ignore the security aspect.

And what judges try to do in that situation is to listen to what they're told by the lawyers, the witnesses and the others, and then they do their best not to make a mistake.

Not as mistake as to their personal opinion, by the way, but a mistake as to how those words that guarantee freedom in the Constitution apply to this situation.

WALLACE: Justice Stephen Breyer, the name of the book, "Active Liberty." Thank you for joining us, sir.

Trouble In Paradise Update.

AP: Military seizes control in Fiji
Suva, Fiji - The military seized control of Fiji on Tuesday after weeks of threats, locking down the capital with armed troops and isolating at home the elected leader whose last-minute pleas for help from foreign forces were rejected.

From The More Beauty (but not by much) Than Brains Department:

Moldova.org: Paltrow: proud and lucky to be American

Darn right, honey. And don't you forget it.

Gwyneth Paltrow insisted that contrary to a recent article in a European newspaper, she feels “proud to be American” and would never compare her homeland unfavorably to Britain, according to Reuters.

In a statement issued through People magazine’s Web site, Paltrow said she was “deeply upset” by remarks attributed to her by the Portuguese newspaper Diario de Noticias, which quoted the actress as saying: “The British are much more intelligent and civilized than the Americans.”

“I never, ever would have said that. I feel so lucky to be American. I feel so proud to be American,” said Paltrow, who is married to British rock star Chris Martin.

The Oscar-winning actress, who resides part time with him and their two children in London, denies giving an interview to the Portuguese daily, though she did speak at a news conference in Spanish, as People says.

Barber Shop of the Day.

Paradise Cuts, a "hair salon" where attractive stylists wear bikinis (yea!) and sarongs (boo!) is now open in Fairfax, VA. But fear not, boys, franchise opportunities are available!

BTW, there aren't any photos on their website.

The nightmare begins...

No civilization that permitted the brutalization of its women survived for long. And in many cases, we mandate it.

Tucson Citizen: More women vets coping with post-traumatic stress
Chicago - The nightmares didn't start until months after Alicia Flores returned home. The images were stark and disturbing: In one dream, a dying Iraqi man desperately grabbed her arm. In another, she was lost in a blinding sandstorm.

Sometimes, Flores awakened to discover her mouth was dust-dry - as if she were really stumbling through the scorching, 120-degree desert.

The nightmares bring Flores back to Iraq, and her service in the Army's 92nd Chemical Company. She was just 19 when her unit arrived there. Now 23, she's left with memories of women and children being killed, of hauling bodies, of shooting a teenage Iraqi fighter. ("It was him or me," she says.)

Flores is one of a new generation of women who have returned from war to cope with emotional stress or physical wounds that linger long after the sounds of mortar and gunfire have faded. Studies of Vietnam and Gulf War veterans have documented post-traumatic stress in females - with higher rates than men, in some cases.

But the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have seen a far larger deployment of women - more than 155,000 - with far more females exposed to ambushes, roadside bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and other deadly hazards.

Flores says she's not alarmed by her diagnosis of post-traumatic stress; she's getting help for her sleeping problems. It wasn't the war, but the adjustment to the civilian world that she found difficult.

"It was, OK - now what?" she says. "You have nobody to talk to. Your family can't relate to what you and your soldiers had and it's just really hard. . . . I felt lost. . . . I didn't know what to do with my time."

That anxiety - along with depression, irritability and feelings of isolation - also are common symptoms for men with post-traumatic stress, but some mental health experts believe there are distinct pressures for women veterans.

Some come from military service itself - where some women feel they need to prove themselves - while others come from the transition from vigilant soldier to caring wife or mother.

'Tis the season for right wing smiles...

...from RightWingStuff.com:

Bob Tyrrell, Jr. beats down Senator-elect Bulwer-Lytton.

For some inexplicable reason, The American Spectator's head honcho has some kind words for the imbecile from Virginia's scribbling. But there are more than enough reasons to detest Citizen Webb for people of all tastes.

CNN.com: Unpleasant people

His campaign was a prolonged demonstration of his caddishness. He who had called President Bill Clinton's administration the most corrupt in modern history invited Clinton to campaign with him. He actually exploited his own son's present service in Iraq for political advancement. While campaigning he paraded around in his son's combat boots! There were others in the 2006 election with sons in Iraq. One is a leading opponent of the war. None put a son in such an embarrassing and potentially dangerous position. Once elected, Webb took his boorishness to the White House.

Invited there with other freshmen members of Congress, Webb refused to stand in the presidential receiving line. He would not have his picture taken with the president. "How's your boy?" the Washington Post reports the president asking him later during the reception. Webb replied that he would like to get the troops home, a point appropriate for the campaign trail but not at a White House social event. "That's not what I asked," the president persisted, "How's your boy?" "That's between me and my boy, Mr. President," the unpleasant Webb replied, and he cut his host. This the Post portrayed as part of Webb's "unpolished style." "I'm not particularly interested in having a picture of me and George W. Bush on my wall," he told a reporter. Well, then a gentleman does not accept the president's invitation to the White House and no one told him he would have to display the picture anywhere.

According to The Hill, Webb even told a source for the paper that "he was so angered by this (encounter) that he was tempted to slug the commander-in-chief." Webb claims that one of his heroes is President Andrew Jackson. I too admire Old Hickory, but I at least recognize the rough ways of the early 19th century are not to be reprised in the 21st century. What next, will the junior senator from Virginia begin challenging those who arouse him to a duel? What century does Webb think he is living in? Believe me Sen. Webb is going to be a vast source of amusement, and he will fit in nicely with the unpleasant pols whose political base is the Angry Left.

I have said it before and I shall be saying it again, often politics is not a rational act. Increasingly, especially in the Democratic Party, it encourages behavior that is abnormal: politicians windsurfing to assure their constituencies that they are just like them or ranting to show how genuinely human they are. These pols play on the fantasies of mildly delusional voters. In the case of the unpleasant Webb, the delusions are a bit over the top. It makes me wonder why his stay at the Department of the Navy was so brief. Did the Reaganites shove him out? Did one of them make the mistake of taking him to dinner? Or did they catch him acting up at a White House reception that has gone unreported? Some reporters should have looked into this.

Another heart- (and other body parts) warming holiday story.

AccessNorthGA: Man accused of trying to force wife into oven on Thanksgiving

A man has been arrested after allegedly trying to force his estranged wife into an oven on Thanksgiving in front of their five children.

Martin Luther Jackson, 31, of Decatur, has been charged with aggravated assault, aggravated battery, cruelty to children and possession of marijuana after the Nov. 23 incident, said Sgt. Jodi Shupe of the Rockdale County Sheriff's Office.

Jackson and his 29-year-old wife, who have been separated since July, have five children ranging in age from 1 to 13 years old, Shupe said. Jackson apparently started fighting with his wife after she and the children returned to their Conyers home on Thanksgiving.

At one point during the fight, Jackson allegedly attempted to stuff his wife inside the kitchen oven, which had been left on to heat the house, Shupe said. The woman escaped and went to the sheriff's office with visible head injuries, Shupe said.

Investigators found Jackson hiding under a bed at his mother's house in Decatur, where he had been living since the separation, Shupe said.

At least this guy has an excuse.

AP: Georgia state senator's wife faces deportation order

Atlanta - The Colombia-born wife of a Georgia state senator emerged from hiding and turned herself in Tuesday to face a deportation order.

Sascha Herrera, 28, arrived at the Martin Luther King Federal Building shortly before 8 a.m. to face authorities in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office.

"I'm very nervous right now," Herrera said. "I think I'm doing the right thing. I hope my name and my husband's name is clean."

Her husband, State Sen. Curt Thompson said, "The main goal is to make sure after the interview that they will allow Sascha to go home."

She had been in hiding since Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrived at her home Nov. 28 with an order to remove her from the U.S. She was not home at the time.

Her attorney, Charles Kuck, claims she was duped by a man handling her immigration requests and that she never received the immigration notices that triggered her deportation order.

Kuck filed a petition Monday to stay her deportation order and reopen her case, arguing that a man filed an asylum petition on her behalf without her knowledge and before her husband sponsored her green card application based on their April marriage.

The deportation order stems from Herrera's repeated failure to appear before a judge on the asylum application, which Kuck said she did not know had been filed.

The case hinges on whether Herrera received a notice to appear in court, and whether the asylum application could have been filed without her knowledge, said Victor Cerda, former general counsel for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Thompson, a Democrat and attorney, has been a strong advocate of immigration rights.

Surprise!