Confirmation

Today, I recieved the sacrament of Confirmation in the old Catholic rite. We had candidates as young as 11 years old, and some that I would estimate in their mid-50s. We had 60 candidates, in all, from the surrounding states.

You may have seen the bumper sticker that reads: "I'd travel 500 miles for the Latin Mass".

Confirmation is a sacrament that I believe I put off for many years, and my reasons aren't very well articulated. There are times when I regret not being confirmed when I was younger. But I was ready now. Maybe at the heart of it, I wished that I had been ready, sooner.

Bishop Callahan was there to do the confirmations.

I'd like to thank my sponsor, and everyone who was there today in support, and those who could not make it yet still expressed their support. This was a big step in faith and everything was just right.

One of my girlfriends said afterward, "congratulations! you're a man today!".

Which is kind of true. I chose the Confirmation name of Michael. As in "Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle". I can use the help :)

Iran Election: For an interesting read....

Check out the hashtags #gr88 and #iranians. #iranelection is being monitored by their government.

One person I found this morning:
http://twitter.com/Change_for_Iran

Slowest Day Ever

Today, I feel a little bit like our friend the Blobfish. Only a lot sexier. Now, is it me, or is anyone else rather disturbed by the nature of the Blobfish? It has a face. Look at that eye contact in photo #2!

If They Lower The Amount Of Nicotine In Cigarettes

Doesn't that mean that people will buy more cigarettes, and smoke more of them? Doesn't that mean more cancer and other smoking-related illnesses and deaths from all of the fillers?

More tax revenue, more population control? More control?

Sounds like a plan, if you ask me.

Caption This

Be civil.

Thoughts on D-Day Coverage

I'm watching snippets of coverage of Obama et al in Normandy. Military band music is playing. It's very poignant and somber. And to those who have died for our freedom from tyranny and fascism, which ended up being an easy victory here in America, I say aloud, "I'm sorry, guys".

New Word for the Day: Astroturfing

What About Our Daughters has an interesting post this morning.  I really like this blogger, she's done many posts focused on the cultural hitjob of the Black woman's mind and well being.  Most recently, she did a three part series on Essence magazine's "new normal" for Black women and the best they can expect to get out of life.  I admire her for standing up and saying that the absurd is NOT the norm, regardless of how many media outlets push it.  Coincidentally, she was recently attacked by a media outlet. And I have seen this behavior on other newsblogs.  Heck, just read the comments over at CNN on Sarah Palin's most recent speech on the blatant wave of control the government is trying to exert.  You will see the most vicious skewering of an American citizen, you thought you'd never see.  It should give everyone pause.

From WAOD, the definition of Astroturfing:

"What I do not admire are deceitful, insecure, cowardly, duplicitous, dishonorable, unprofessional, neurotic employees of one of the largest media companies in the world PRETENDING to be someone else by using a pseudonym and a FAKE email address to try to defame me on MY OWN BLOG in the comments section I PAID FOR and have the audacity to do so from said LARGEST MEDIA COMPANY IN THE WORLD’S COMPUTER NETWORK! I believe its called ASTROTURFING:

Astroturfing is a word in English describing formal political, advertising, or public relations campaigns seeking to create the impression of being spontaneous “grassroots” behavior, hence the reference to the artificial grass, AstroTurf.
The goal of such a campaign is to disguise the efforts of a political or commercial entity as an independent public reaction to some political entity—a politician, political group, product, service or event. Astroturfing may be undertaken by an individual pushing a personal agenda or highly organized professional groups with financial backing from large corporations, non-profits, or activist organizations."

Read the rest over at her blog. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that astroturfing is the New Norm of the left, the media, and those who try to control our impressions. The media is much more powerful than we think, and we have given them that power.

Hang in there, WAOD. You are right, they are wrong.