I Stand With Angie

I always liked Angie Harmon. She's a high-class babe. She uses logic and she doesn't back down.

That's a real "strong woman."

Dreams from My Teleprompter...

It can't have any content, can it???

h/t The Lair of the Catholic Cavemen

Bad Catholic, No Biscuit!

Hillary Hillary Hillary.... how I would love to mock you over this one.

From CNA:

"Hillary Clinton leaves flowers for Our Lady of Guadalupe, asks ‘Who painted it?’

Mexico City, Mexico, Mar 27, 2009 / 04:59 pm (CNA).- During her recent visit to Mexico, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made an unexpected stop at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe and left a bouquet of white flowers “on behalf of the American people,” after asking who painted the famous image.

The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was miraculously imprinted by Mary on the tilma, or cloak, of St. Juan Diego in 1531. The image has numerous unexplainable phenomena, such as the appearance on Mary’s eyes of those present in the room when the tilma was opened and the image’s lack of decay.

Mrs. Clinton was received on Thursday at 8:15 a.m. by the rector of the Basilica, Msgr. Diego Monroy.

Msgr. Monroy took Mrs. Clinton to the famous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which had been previously lowered from its usual altar for the occasion.

After observing it for a while, Mrs. Clinton asked “who painted it?” to which Msgr. Monroy responded “God!”

As a "Catholic, recovered" (and, recovered by the old rite, the TLM), I am still learning about the events of Catholic and Christian history, especially within this century.

But if I was representing the country, I'd want some background on the significant locations that I'd be visiting. Wouldn't you... if only out of the respect for your host?

That said, I did not know about the Guadalupe visit, or the miraculous image bestowed by Mary. Here is a beautiful account of this great visit.
There is so much more to learn. God is ever present in our lives and inseparable from us.

Creeping towards 40....

Photo courtesy of Martha Stewart online

Tonight, I bought my first set of casserole baking dishes. Two of them, even. Whyfor? Well, tomorrow night is Mac and Cheese and Finance night at Grandma and Grandpa Jones'. I'm bringing the chow.... after all, it's a Jeffersonian food!

And since you've asked, no, the casseroles I bought aren't the sexy ones pictured above.

But the recipe looks outstanding.... gruyere, sharp white cheddar, parm reggiano, fontina.... outstanding stuff.

How could it possibly be better? Just add shredded rotisserie chicken.

Oh yeah :)

The Capitalist Spirit

Just a thought this morning.

If we end up being forced under the yoke of nationalized healthcare, I hope that entrepreneurial Americans will still set up businesses to provide low-cost healthcare outside of the system.

It's well-known that cash-only transactions are often the least expensive.

You know...barring any laws about competition against the gubmint.

Riddle Me This

Does Joss Stone suck?

"There's only two kinds of money: your money, and my money"

Milton Freedman.

And if you didn't earn "your" money, that means it's mine.

"And you know, a funny t-shirt can be a great conversation starter."

Yes Josh, yes sir, it can.

"Mr. Geithner, Tear Down This Economy!!!"

Keep Wishing...

Obama is far from a saint, savior, messiah, or otherwise. Quit trying to kid everyone.

Besides, the truly beatified actually did something to earn it. That darned "A-Word". Accomplishment.

KEEP OUT

Can you imagine the outrage if a bunch of latin-praying Catholics got together and founded their own exclusive community? Or a group of NRA-supporting opponents of abortion? Or worse yet, a bunch of people who decide enough is enough with the crime and high taxes - establish a mini-state where everyone obeys simple laws and pulls their own weight?

Outrage. Who do they think they are? What, they have their own schools? Their own *shooting range*? In the MOUNTAINS?

No problem for a group of Islamists in New York. With allll kinds of terrorist ties, mind you. Give this a read.

Any other group would be highly scrutizined and demonized for doing the same. Unless of course, it was anti-society.

Remember the Video of Bush Being Pressed About the Names of World Leaders?

Yeah, so do I.

Too bad I am not seeing it anywhere, because sacre bleu, it would be a funny comparison to Obama's gaffe of the day for Sunday. Wait, I forgot, he had two. I don't want to cheat the man, or anything...

Call me punch drunk....

One of My Favorite Prayers

The prayer to the Holy Spirit:

O Holy Spirit, beloved of my soul, I adore You.
Enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me, console me.
Tell me what I should do, give me Your orders.
I promise to submit myself to all that You desire of me
and to accept all that You permit to happen to me.
Let me only know Your will. Amen.

Today is a time when we're told to go it alone. Our culture is focused on being in control of every aspect of our lives, which move very fast. Every waking moment of our lives requires mental occupation. Our attention is a commodity: we're constantly being persuaded to take a side or otherwise be divided, or trying to belong to something, or checking on our updates (emails, meetings, other technical gadgets).

I've often said lately that if you're being petitioned or otherwise approached, they want your money or your mind.

This prayer is a reminder of something that has been bred out of our lives: that we belong to the spirit of God. We live within it whether we accept those graces or not.

Remember what used to be said about certain people: "they accepted life with grace", "never complained", "a good winner, a good loser". People didn't sue at the drop of a hat or form a posse at the slightest offense to their feelings.

That's grace. That's, what I think, this prayer is about. To not assume that you own it all. This is putting faith in God and accepting what life brings to you with grace and humility. To ask for the strength to make it through what life throws at you and remain connected and graceful in the company of your fellow man. You deal with it and get through it, knowing it is part of God's plan for you.

Missing out on that is to miss out on God's love. God's flexibility, God's blessings. God's ability to move you forward in life in a strengthened manner.

I Daresay, I'm Ticked About Missing American Idol Next Week

They actually have talented people on the show this time around.

Adam Lambert, Anoop Desai, Megan Joy. Don't deprive me of content.


Wait.... oh I totally forgot! I have a CHOICE! I have HOPE! I have...... CABLE!

Ah, Change never felt so good.

Reagan's Words Never Rang Truer....

"If we continue to accommodate, if we continue to back and retreat, then eventually we must face the final demand--the ultimatum. And what then? When Nikita Kruschev has told his people he knows what our answer will be? He has told them that we are retreating under the pressure of the Cold War and that one day, when the time comes to deliver the ultimatum our surrender will be voluntary because by that time we will have weakened from within spiritually, morally, and economically. He believes this because from our side he has heard voices pleading for peace at any price, or better Red than dead, or as one commentator put it, he'd rather live on his knees than die on his feet."

I'm afraid that we are now saddled with many of those who would do just that... they elected Barack Obama, president.

Total Classic Time: Cameo

Candy!

"Yyyesssh Aiii doooooow!"

The original video is on YouTube (embedding disabled by request). I always forget how very, very, very strange the 80's were. Happily, I also do a good job of forgetting how cool we all thought their style was...

Caption This:

I'll go first.

After taking a massive dump on the economy, Obama gets to work.

Brilliant... Adam Lambert

I tuned in to American Idol because I wanted to check out Anoop. But Adam Lambert just completely blew me away with his rendition of "Ring of Fire". I hope I can find a YouTube of it. It was totally wrong from a traditional Johnny Cash perspective, but by itself, it was amazing.

"Don't Be Afraid to See What You See"

These, the words of Ronald Reagan...ring as true today as they ever could.

The trouble is, the volume is very high. Which is, I think, the point.

A Little Ammo, Every Weekend

Every other weekend - and sometimes in between - I pick up a few boxes of ammo for both barrels. Ammo accountability or other gun laws won't be debated, they'll slam them through in the dead of night just like they're doing with everything else. We'll wake up one day and surprise, we'll have new laws.

Ammo...if I could only earn compound interest on it... although the payoff could some day be the preservation of my life.

Obama: A Loser Held Up To The Light

It's rare that I will republish an entire post, but I came across something today that bears repeating, if not sharing with many. From Vir Speluncae Catholicus:

(To my lefty readers: try being as open minded as you espouse, for once)

My good goomba Al, over at Is Anybody There? had an interesting comment on one of my recent posts. In reference to Obama "being too tired" to properly greet the British PM, Al got me thinking.

What if the Marines... from the Halls of Montezuma to the Shores of Tripoli, with stop overs at Belleau Wood, Iwo Jima, the Chosin Reservoir and Fallujah... had said they were tired, faced exhaustion and felt overwhelmed?

What if the Navy... from the deck of the Bonhomme Richard, to Manila Bay, to Midway, to Yankee Station... had said they were tired, faced exhaustion and felt overwhelmed?

What if the Army... from Valley Forge, to Gettysburg, to Normandy, to the Ia Drang Valley... had said they were tired, faced exhaustion and felt overwhelmed?

What if the Air Force (Corps)... from the skies of Europe in two World Wars, to MiG Alley, to Desert Storm... had said they were tired, faced exhaustion and felt overwhelmed?

What if the Coast Guard... from the days of the Revenue Cutter Service, to manning the Landing Craft of all theaters of WWII, to battling drug smugglers... had said they were tired, faced exhaustion and felt overwhelmed?

What if the firefighters, police officers and paramedics at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon had said they were tired, faced exhaustion and felt overwhelmed?

What if the passengers of United Flight 93 had said they were tired, faced exhaustion and felt overwhelmed?

This sorry-ass excuse for a President is only at the half-way point of his first hundred day "honeymoon period", and there's already bitching about how tired, exhausted and overwhelmed he is.

What a pitiful excuse for a human being.

A few thoughts.

This is shameful that we have allowed things to get this far... that a princessy, totalitarian pathological narcissist is able to recline in the White House, at our expense. The expense of our freedom, our hard-earned money, our American values.

This is someone who will never, ever, ever put the country ahead of himself. We are there to serve him. Let's be very clear about that.

That giant flushing sound you hear? The flushing of our history and values and all we've worked for thus far...that giant flushing sound is Obama sitting in the White House.

Team Obama Gears Up For Countrywide Intimidation

This isn't good news.

Obama and team apparently plans to use more Alinskian tactics to intimidate the country into loving their economic plans.

From Obama's Propaganda Director:

In the video, Mitch Stewart, the director of Organizing for America, urged the president's supporters to take part in the "Organizing for America Pledge Project."

"The pledge project is an ambitious effort to map out and identify support for President Obama's economic blueprint across towns and communities in America," Stewart said.

"We're doing that by asking people to pledge your support for the broad initiatives outlined in President Obama's economic plan.

"Once you do, we will ask you to build support in your own communities by forwarding this pledge by email, by knocking on doors and by making phone call," he said.

"We will show in every state, in every congressional district the hunger, for leadership and long range thinking that's in too short supply here in Washington."

It's bad news, and I'm sure it's their "response" to the Tea Party.

They also will have the airwaves. Cover your ears and keep your mind.

"F*ck You, Pay Me"

Sound familiar?

It's from Goodfellas. And like many things that once sounded absurd that are now the norm...

Think about the coming tsunami of fees, taxes, controls, and other usurpations of our freedoms. The other day I decided to NOT walk to work because why? Why peasant don't you want to walk to work? Well my flipping leg hurt ok? So I drove. Much to my dismay, parking rates downtown have been raised from $1.00 per hour to $1.50.

Economy bad? Your legs hurt? F*ck you, pay me.

I'm not even going to get into all of the cars I'm seeing confiscated or otherwise towed from the downtown area. The cars of the people who actually pay taxes yet still get ticketed to death.

This clip from Goodfellas is the new norm. As Pa always said, for the money, "at least the Mob will protect you".

Giving Up Unnecessary Items for Lent

Facebook...texting...and other social networking.

Believe it or not, they ARE unnecessary. More important than these things, are real human relationships and the ability to connect with other people. These types of sites and all of the bells-and-whistles mobile devices are sold to us as ways to "stay connected". Of course, these are great technological advances. But for many people, they actually impair our ability to personally and emotionally connect with other people.

Remember emotionally connecting with other people? One of the great gifts we have been given?

What's really necessary is real connection with other people. Real friendships...not just dropping by to give them a one-liner or flipping them a few words in broken English. What, that's all you have time for? Not good, my friend.

I thought about giving up Facebook for lent in early January. Well, that and Starbucks. I'm reading more and more stories about people giving up social networking and other virtual communication for Lent. Turns out....someone in particular agrees with me. Or I agree with him. Either way we agree:

From Fox News:

" Chrch sez stop txtn 4 lent.

Or, put another way, the Italian branch of the Roman Catholic Church wants its followers to forswear text messaging, social-networking Web sites and computer games in the run-up to Easter.

While many Italians traditionally give up fatty foods or, in extremis, alcohol, the appeal to go without some of the trappings of the modern world, including Facebook, iPhones and computer games, on Fridays — and on other days if possible — is unprecedented.

It appears to stem partly from Pope Benedict XVI's recent warning to the young not to substitute "virtual friendship" for real human relationships.

The Pontiff warned on his YouTube site in January that "obsessive" use of mobile phones or computers "may isolate individuals from real social interaction while also disrupting the patterns of rest, silence and reflection that are necessary for healthy human development."

Pope Benedict also has personal experience of the distractions of obsessive texting. President Sarkozy of France, a renowned technophile, came in for withering criticism for checking his mobile phone for text messages during a personal audience with the Pontiff.

.........

Read the rest here

One thing I'd like to add to the above.  "Human development" never stops.  Your brain and your soul can go in different - and opposite - directions at any time.

PS, so far, the great giveup is going just fine.

I've Hit A Wall Of Sound....

Tired of performers?

Remember musicians...people who know how music is supposed to fit together?

This is different, but stick with it.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Ms. Theresa Andersson:

Defending the American Dream Summit

Still on the fence about whether I'm going. I'm concerned that they're putting too many speakers in the general session and that we won't hear enough from people like Paul Ryan, Scott Walker, and others. In looking at the afternoon sessions...well...I'm not sure either. I wish there was more about the future of gun owner's rights and concealed carry in WI.

$36 is a lot for me to spring right now given the circumstances.

I Hope I Can Hide My Change

Just sayin'.....

...and don't you CafePress types get any ideas. That one's mine! Unless of course, you want to do the Photoshop :)