REMEMBERING THOSE WE'VE LOST

One of the least enjoyable parts of aging is that you lose a lot of beloved friends to death. Sometimes it's avoidable (David's drug addiction and death from overdose and his mother's subsequent suicide by self-neglect) and sometimes, as in the case of my cousin Linda's former husband Johnny, it's due to an aggressive form of colon cancer that evaded a colonoscopy a little over a year ago and ended his life within a very short time frame.

No matter how these beloved family and/or friends have left this earth, they are still deeply missed. And since this is the day before Good Friday (what were those idiots in Davenport, Iowa thinking to want to rename it Celebrate Spring Day?!), today is a good day to consider those beloved lost ones and offer up a prayer or two in their honor. In July I will turn 68 years of age; I have lost both parents, four grandparents, numerous aunts, uncles and cousins. Many friends have died as well and their absence from my life is an ongoing source of pain.

So I will pray for those I have lost and also pray for those who remain and are more cherished by their very continuation in this life of mine. I will also pray for the Kenyan wetback and his family - that they may remain safe until that time when we can kick his skinny ass out of the Oval Office legally!

God bless, Happy Easter!

THAT DESPICABLE CRONE WHO IS SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE GETS IT WRONG - AGAIN

The Anchoress, God be good to her, has the YouTube of that smarmy bitch blathering on erroneously about how today is the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker and how it's sacred to the Italian American people. And how utterly indecent of her to actually claim to be praying to St. Joseph in order to pass the Health Care Reform bill detested by so many Americans! And condemned by the U.S. Bishops! I don't give a rip how many nuns Mrs. Pelosi rounds up to support her pro-abortion attitude, nuns aren't theologians and should be keeping their big fat yaps shut! Very few nuns have any experience of the real world, let alone what most humans must deal with in order to live their day-to-day lives and they are unrealistic thinkers most of the time. I know. I survived Catholic school - 11 years of it!

NO you ignorant piece of excrement you don't know what the hell you are talking about - as usual! This is the Feast of St. Joseph - stepfather to the Christ child and husband to Jesus' mother Mary.

Has the Botox addled your brain, you offensive, ignorant and cretinous slut? You were raised a Catholic, educated in Catholic schools. Were you paying attention at all? What a disgusting and stupid, stupid, STUPID woman you are! You have apparently surrendered your soul to the forces of ambition and vanity and, in the process, have surrendered it to pure evil. I know that Vice President Biden is the champion Gaffemaster of the administration, but bitch you come in a close second.

TWO WRONGS DON'T MAKE A RIGHT!

The demented fanatic who murdered Dr. Tiller, the abortionist, will not be remembered as anything other than a cold-blooded killer by most people - and rightly so. Yes, Dr. Tiller was an apparently unrepentant murderer of the unborn. And yes, his bloody activities are anathema to most decent human beings. But killing him was not the answer. The lack of logic is towering. You want to make a point that killing is wrong - so you make your point by killing? Hmmmm - that one just skids off into irrational thinking territory at warp speed!

Human life - all human life - is deserving of protection! As a Catholic, I find the murder of Dr. Tiller terribly offensive on other grounds. Dr. Tiller was not able to repent his sins in the split second of his death. That is not a good thing - since the doctors soul was laden with error!

The mainstream media is being exceedingly dishonest in its reporting of the recruiting office killings also. The killer was a convert to Islam. Very few news stories bother to report that fact. Hmmmmm - why is that? Most news reports made a point of mentioning that the killer of Dr. Tiller was, in fact, a Christian. How is that a more important descriptive term than any other? If the fact that the killer of Dr. Tiller was a Christian is an important piece of information, then too, the information that the killer of the 23-year old Army recruiter was a Muslim is equally important. That's called balanced reporting, something not to be found too often in the mainstream media.

But then I'm old and have old-fashioned expectations about honor and honesty and civil discourse!

UPSET WITH REVEREND MICHAEL PHLEGER?

This purported priest, guest speaker at Barack Obama's former church in Chicago, mouthed many, if not all, of the offensive statements frequently credited to Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

First question: What is a Catholic priest doing participating in a non-Catholic worship service? We, the faithful, are forbidden to do so, how is a priest any different?

Second question: Why is the Diocese of Chicago not reining in this hoss of peculiar mindset in expeditious fashion?

To that end, I have written a letter requesting illumination from the Diocese of Chicago. Here is the address, should you'd like to do so as well - always remember to be respectful and non-combative in your tone as much as possible (although I must admit to calling the Rev. Phleger a jerk):

Very Rev. John Canary
Vicar General Archdiocese of Chicago
155 E. Superior Street
Chicago, IL 60611

FOR THE RECORD: As I do not accept Hagee's apology, neither do I accept or believe that of Rev. Phleger. You cannot unring a bell and you cannot unsay vicious and provoking words! As to Barack Hussein Obama now resigning his membership - does anyone with a functioning brain cell believe this was anything other than a purely political, utterly cynical ploy?

Yeah, me neither.

UPDATE 6/4/08: The Cardinal Archbishop of Chicago has ordered Rev. Phleger suspended pending investigation and further notice.

THERE IS NOTHING “INTERIM” ABOUT THIS POPE!

From Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. until 8:45 this morning, Washington, D.C. was blessed with the presence of the Holy Father, the extraordinary Pope Benedict XVI.

President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush and daughter Jenna Bush were at Andrews Air Force Base to greet our beloved Pontiff, the first time the President has so honored a visitor to our country. Through the duration of the Pope’s visit and whenever he was in public, there were enthusiastic and vocal welcomes extended to him. On Wednesday, the Pope met with President Bush at the White House and was treated to 2 enthusiastic renditions of “Happy Birthday”, one planned and one spontaneous. He was also given a 21-gun salute – that salute was clearly audible from my office, since we are in an office building with windows that still open (and it was a beautiful Spring day so a lot of the attorneys were taking advantage of that pleasant bonus) just 2 blocks from the White House. I discovered first hand that a 21-gun salute is LOUD! I mean I knew that in theory – but Wednesday I experienced it in real time!

I will be the first one to proclaim loud and clear that for the three days of the Pope’s visit, this holy man blessed this sometimes extremely unholy city with his charm, his humility, his humanity and kindness, together with a demonstrable deep faith in God. Yesterday I was working on a brief all day for my boss, but the nature of this project was that I could keep the Pope's Mass playing in the background throughout its duration. When one round of edits was complete, I could bring the Mass to the foreground and watch and listen to a remarkable event, frequently with moist eyes. The Pope's homily was profoundly moving.

We had heard dire predictions of terrible traffic problems in the weeks leading to the Papal Visit. They really didn’t materialize. In fact, traffic was less snarled than it had been in the prior few weeks when the Cherry Blossom Festival was going on. And there was a sense of joy in Washington, D.C. that I haven’t really noticed before. I know that really listening to the Pope’s words generated in me a sense of rediscovered spiritual lightness.

All the above being said, the one fly in the ointment was, per usual, the chattering classes of the mainstream media beginning with the appalling Katie Couric and continuing through numerous commentators who displayed their complete ignorance of Catholicism and, worse, seemed to be proud of their stupidity!

So I will reiterate what I have said multiple times over the past few weeks when non-Catholics have had the effrontery to tell me what changes the Catholic Church must make in order to satisfy their (non-Catholic) sensibilities! It isn't going to happen. We are who we are. Deal.

Each time someone would reference some Catholic Church doctrine that they felt should be changed, usually a doctrine that I both understand and approve, I had to remind myself of something that Dennis Miller said this week. He opined that it’s okay to insult Catholics because it’s a safe bet that Catholics don’t riot in the streets and kill people when they’re insulted. I guess that means WE are civilized. And I guess we know who isn’t!

God bless, everyone, and have a great weekend. I’m heading into this weekend with a little Papal Energy Boost which hopefully will translate into an immaculate house and lots of clean laundry by Monday morning. And none of this will interfere with my quality time with the remarkable Sam, my 26 pound cat (yes, he's lost a bit of pudge folks) because after all, our beloved Pontiff, Papa Ratzi, loves cats! And Mozart!

THE EXCELLENT BENEDICT WILL BE IN

WASHINGTON, D.C. NEXT MONTH!

The excellent Pope Benedict XVI will be in D.C. next month and will celebrate Mass at the new Washington Nationals stadium during his visit. I very much suspect that he will draw a crowd far larger than will the baseball team – and rightly so.

Pope Benedict garnered headlines during Easter observances when he very publicly baptized with his own hands, and publicly, one Magdi Allam, who chose the baptismal name “Christian”.

As the inimitable and brilliant Anchoress put it:

“Magdi Christian Allam — or Christian Allam, however this very brave man wishes to style it — told reporters, after receiving baptism, confirmation and his first Holy Communion, “this is the happiest day of my life,” and he also had a few words to say about the current state of Islam.

Christian Allam knows that he is now a target, that in some extremist quarters his conversion is seen as justification for his death.

But Christian Allam is now justified by Christ.

I am sure the timing of this baptism was no accident. And I have read more than a few comments suggesting Christian Allam go into hiding, somewhere. But I doubt he will. He seems made of tough stuff.

Christian Allam now feeds on the Body and Blood of Christ - through his veins the blood runs both royal and supernatural. If Christian Allam is now killed for his faith he knows his place in eternity; he knows, too, that anyone stupid enough to murder him for his faith will speed Christian Allam’s way to heaven wearing a martyr’s crown - and a true martyr eats not the golden raisin nor plunders the numerous virgins; he becomes a saint in heaven, and an inspiration. He also becomes an intercessor-in-prayer for the rest of us.”

As an American, and more than that as a Catholic American, I am looking forward to at least being in the same city with this remarkable and holy man!

AT LAST - SOME COMMON SENSE ON GLOBAL WARMING!

In an article in the Daily Mail (London) today, it is reported that the excellent Pope Benedict XVI is essentially saying “not so fast” to the ersatz global warming prophets of doom and suggesting that extensive scientific inquiry might be warranted before declaring impending doom. How refreshingly sensible and intelligent of him! How very adult!

While the prophet of doom (aka Albert Gore, Jr., high priest of faux science) seems to accept as “settled” his conclusions about the threat of global warming, I have been skeptical from his first utterance on the subject. This is a man who is on a “mission” and like many false prophets, he and his slavish devotees allow no discussion of alternative views.

I have repeatedly expressed total doubts about the threat of global warming, most especially because I well remember some 30 years ago when an impending ICE AGE was being predicted by the same nutbars and half-assed scientific types that now are screaming “Chicken Little – the sky is falling” to credulous buffoons who are too lazy to think for themselves, or incapable of doing so.

I have been a fan of Benedict XVI since his election as Supreme Pontiff and as a devout Catholic, I have followed his writings and speeches (get yourself a copy of his address at the University of Regensburg – the one that caused such a ridiculous fuss – it is astounding in its lucid research and reasoning - brilliant work) with great interest. It is my belief that, in his unique way, Benedict XVI will go down in papal history as a GREAT pope. Completely fitting for a Pope who loves both cats and Mozart!

TODAY'S MUST READ

For the sake of your mind and/or your soul, you must head on over to Common Sense America and read, more than once, Christi's remarkable commentary on the Episcopal/Angelican divide in America. She's always good, but this is beyond good - moving right over the line into GREAT! Thanks, Christi!