Saturday, March 29, 2008
Despite pop belief Satan is very quiet
There's not much left for him to do. Like people who cannot stop being self cutters, the people of the world have messed things up in so many thousands of ways, continually, that the big guy is laying low, and has been for years now. Even the jinn are not so busy because so many humans have in their arrogance "appointed" themselves to those roles. Humans have really pushed Satan out of a "job," ha, in their manic pursuit of disbelief, distortion and depravity. When people pray to St. Michael to guard them against the "snares of the devil," all St. Michael can do is raise his eyebrows (so to speak) as he sees Satan lying low and the only snares are those humans continue to set for themselves, snares that will cost them their lives, their health, their loved ones, their sanity and ultimately their salvation.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Easter western and eastern dates
I hope that the faithful had a good Easter, filled with renewal, or at least the resolution to do so. Greetings to all who have entered the Catholic Church at this time. Please do not politicize the one nominal Muslim convert; that serves neither faith, both of whom are blessed in the eyes of God and both of whom benefit from converts all the time.
I was not going to blog because it's obvious that the sign of the Lord earlier this week signals that people listen to me, but do whatever the **** they feel like doing anyway, even when I correct their errors in the faith. I can tell this was another Easter of lukewarm faith disguising secular and New Age beliefs for many, and like God, I am disgusted and fed up. The only exception is, of course, the work of the Holy Father in Rome, who continues to do all that he can as the worthy and true Vicar of Christ.
I am going to comment and clear up one thing, and that is the difference between "eastern" and "western" dates because I know that this factors into head games and mind games by some who have one foot on the dock of Catholicism (and Christianity in general) and one on the (sinking) boat. The "eastern" rites don't celebrate Easter until April 27. The eastern rites claim to have "the more accurate and oldest calendar." Baloney. And I mean no disrespect, as my much loved deceased stepfather was pious eastern rite. But the correct dates of Easter are the western dates. It does not matter that "calculations" and "tradition" argue for "eastern dates." The correct dates are those celebrated by the Seat of Peter, period. When eastern rites schismed from the Roman Catholic Church they lost their correctness on such matters. Jesus said clearly two things on this matter. One is that he is where several gather in his name. The other is that what Peter loosens or binds on earth is loosened or bound in heaven. Period. So the calendar that the Seat of Peter observes is the calendar that is "observed" in heaven. Period. If Peter had sailed to Ireland and placed the Seat of Peter there, that would have been the place and he would have been endorsed as making that binding decision by Jesus, who gave him and him alone that authority. Likewise the correct liturgical calendar is the responsiblity of the Seat of Peter.
I am sick of smarty pants beating me over the head with this subject. And if I am sick of it I will let you imagine how the Lord God feels about it. I do not want to weaken the faith of the eastern rite or tell them that they need to change their dates or piety, but I'll be a freaking monkey's uncle if I put up with people telling me, directly or indirectly, that they are "more correct" on this subject or any other. You can schism your fannies off but it does not make you more correct, it makes you incorrect because you no longer place yourself under the divinely inspired and correct position of the Seat of Peter. I'd really stop bragging about it if I were you with your noses in the air (and here I am again not insulting the pious, but those on the borderline who manipulate the differences between the east and west like it is some sort of sick arbitrage that they can benefit from).
I was not going to blog because it's obvious that the sign of the Lord earlier this week signals that people listen to me, but do whatever the **** they feel like doing anyway, even when I correct their errors in the faith. I can tell this was another Easter of lukewarm faith disguising secular and New Age beliefs for many, and like God, I am disgusted and fed up. The only exception is, of course, the work of the Holy Father in Rome, who continues to do all that he can as the worthy and true Vicar of Christ.
I am going to comment and clear up one thing, and that is the difference between "eastern" and "western" dates because I know that this factors into head games and mind games by some who have one foot on the dock of Catholicism (and Christianity in general) and one on the (sinking) boat. The "eastern" rites don't celebrate Easter until April 27. The eastern rites claim to have "the more accurate and oldest calendar." Baloney. And I mean no disrespect, as my much loved deceased stepfather was pious eastern rite. But the correct dates of Easter are the western dates. It does not matter that "calculations" and "tradition" argue for "eastern dates." The correct dates are those celebrated by the Seat of Peter, period. When eastern rites schismed from the Roman Catholic Church they lost their correctness on such matters. Jesus said clearly two things on this matter. One is that he is where several gather in his name. The other is that what Peter loosens or binds on earth is loosened or bound in heaven. Period. So the calendar that the Seat of Peter observes is the calendar that is "observed" in heaven. Period. If Peter had sailed to Ireland and placed the Seat of Peter there, that would have been the place and he would have been endorsed as making that binding decision by Jesus, who gave him and him alone that authority. Likewise the correct liturgical calendar is the responsiblity of the Seat of Peter.
I am sick of smarty pants beating me over the head with this subject. And if I am sick of it I will let you imagine how the Lord God feels about it. I do not want to weaken the faith of the eastern rite or tell them that they need to change their dates or piety, but I'll be a freaking monkey's uncle if I put up with people telling me, directly or indirectly, that they are "more correct" on this subject or any other. You can schism your fannies off but it does not make you more correct, it makes you incorrect because you no longer place yourself under the divinely inspired and correct position of the Seat of Peter. I'd really stop bragging about it if I were you with your noses in the air (and here I am again not insulting the pious, but those on the borderline who manipulate the differences between the east and west like it is some sort of sick arbitrage that they can benefit from).
Saturday, March 22, 2008
A great goodness should have taken place
A great goodness should have taken place
Here is a message from the Lord God. Certain people should have performed a great goodness by March 19. They know who they are, they know what that goodness is, and they have been repeatedly and patiently told what to do over a period of years. March 19 came and God sent a great sign, but that sign, which should have sealed and celebrated the great good, was unmet by any benevolent action by the responsible humans. They ignored the date except to continue to “celebrate” the betrayal of Christ, “spy Wednesday,” which fell on March 19 this year. (And here I am not referring to the Catholic Church which is correct in their liturgical celebrations). I am referring to secular heretic spies, both nominal "Christians" and not Christians. But every year March 19 is the feast day of the great St. Joseph, faithful spouse to the Virgin Mary and therefore father, protector and provider to the baby Jesus. Generations past have honored Joseph for his greatness, and Mary appeared with him at her side in Ireland at Knock. Yet Joseph and all he stands for is increasingly ignored and mocked.
On March 19 the brightest star that humans have ever seen appeared, as a star exploded in the constellation Bootes. As you know once before the Lord God used a star to herald a great promise for humans, the birth of Jesus. The star on March 19, however, was not to bring different news from the Good News already given. It was meant to seal, reward, insure and celebrate the long awaited act of goodness and faithfulness that the people mentioned above were supposed to have delivered. It is obvious for a number of reasons that can be observed (and have nothing to do with divination or fortune telling, which is profane and is what has caused this final and most serious rejection of God’s will). First of all Bootes is the constellation directly over Virgo, the Virgin. The star appeared on the feast day of St Joseph, chaste and honorable spouse of the Virgin Mary. So it is obvious that God used symbols that even the stupidest unbeliever could understand. In the direction of the constellation over the Virgin constellation erupted the brightest star ever seen by humans on the day of St. Joseph. Second, if you examine the constellation Bootes and go in order from brightest star downward (Bootes alpha, beta, gamma and delta) they form the cross. Not only do these stars form the cross but they do so in the order that Christians make the sign of the cross (top, down, left, right). Further the shape of the cross thus made is the upside down cross of St. Peter, who in his modesty insisted on being crucified upside down because he felt he did not merit dying in the same position as the crucified Christ. St Peter was, like St Joseph, a humble man who loved and served the Lord God without question. Further, Bootes is located next to a constellation that forms a crown. On this day there should have been a certain great goodness in deed and a crowning of modesty. Third the erupted star is measured to be 7.5 billion light years from earth, which means the eruption took place when the universe was half its present age and the earth was far from having even been formed. Yet the light managed to reach earth 7.5 billion years later due to its immense and incomprehensible intensity of light, but also on the precise day the significance of which I have alluded to above. Only God can make such a sign. It is the rarest of events and only the second time a star has been used in such a way. Yet it was ignored except by the understandably excited scientists who will dutifully and accurately analyze and understand its valid scientific principles. But the people who should have been rewarded with this great sign that would have come as a surprise on the day of their goodness continue to play the profane fools. They have thrown away the second greatest sign and “insurance policy” that humans have ever seen, or will, as God’s will is not golf mulligan “do overs” that will be offered again and again. They will not. By ignoring God’s will and his timetable this celebration and “insurance policy” were rejected and there will not be the opportunity to remediate and correct in fullness what humans have ruined. Humans have chosen partial success and partial ruin on their own schedule, and that is all they can hope for now. Disobedient and unbelieving humans have inflicted a great wound and insult on those who least deserve it and indeed do not deserve such disgrace at all. This is the message from the Lord God, from whom all goodness comes and whose Will and Word must be served without question.
Here is a message from the Lord God. Certain people should have performed a great goodness by March 19. They know who they are, they know what that goodness is, and they have been repeatedly and patiently told what to do over a period of years. March 19 came and God sent a great sign, but that sign, which should have sealed and celebrated the great good, was unmet by any benevolent action by the responsible humans. They ignored the date except to continue to “celebrate” the betrayal of Christ, “spy Wednesday,” which fell on March 19 this year. (And here I am not referring to the Catholic Church which is correct in their liturgical celebrations). I am referring to secular heretic spies, both nominal "Christians" and not Christians. But every year March 19 is the feast day of the great St. Joseph, faithful spouse to the Virgin Mary and therefore father, protector and provider to the baby Jesus. Generations past have honored Joseph for his greatness, and Mary appeared with him at her side in Ireland at Knock. Yet Joseph and all he stands for is increasingly ignored and mocked.
On March 19 the brightest star that humans have ever seen appeared, as a star exploded in the constellation Bootes. As you know once before the Lord God used a star to herald a great promise for humans, the birth of Jesus. The star on March 19, however, was not to bring different news from the Good News already given. It was meant to seal, reward, insure and celebrate the long awaited act of goodness and faithfulness that the people mentioned above were supposed to have delivered. It is obvious for a number of reasons that can be observed (and have nothing to do with divination or fortune telling, which is profane and is what has caused this final and most serious rejection of God’s will). First of all Bootes is the constellation directly over Virgo, the Virgin. The star appeared on the feast day of St Joseph, chaste and honorable spouse of the Virgin Mary. So it is obvious that God used symbols that even the stupidest unbeliever could understand. In the direction of the constellation over the Virgin constellation erupted the brightest star ever seen by humans on the day of St. Joseph. Second, if you examine the constellation Bootes and go in order from brightest star downward (Bootes alpha, beta, gamma and delta) they form the cross. Not only do these stars form the cross but they do so in the order that Christians make the sign of the cross (top, down, left, right). Further the shape of the cross thus made is the upside down cross of St. Peter, who in his modesty insisted on being crucified upside down because he felt he did not merit dying in the same position as the crucified Christ. St Peter was, like St Joseph, a humble man who loved and served the Lord God without question. Further, Bootes is located next to a constellation that forms a crown. On this day there should have been a certain great goodness in deed and a crowning of modesty. Third the erupted star is measured to be 7.5 billion light years from earth, which means the eruption took place when the universe was half its present age and the earth was far from having even been formed. Yet the light managed to reach earth 7.5 billion years later due to its immense and incomprehensible intensity of light, but also on the precise day the significance of which I have alluded to above. Only God can make such a sign. It is the rarest of events and only the second time a star has been used in such a way. Yet it was ignored except by the understandably excited scientists who will dutifully and accurately analyze and understand its valid scientific principles. But the people who should have been rewarded with this great sign that would have come as a surprise on the day of their goodness continue to play the profane fools. They have thrown away the second greatest sign and “insurance policy” that humans have ever seen, or will, as God’s will is not golf mulligan “do overs” that will be offered again and again. They will not. By ignoring God’s will and his timetable this celebration and “insurance policy” were rejected and there will not be the opportunity to remediate and correct in fullness what humans have ruined. Humans have chosen partial success and partial ruin on their own schedule, and that is all they can hope for now. Disobedient and unbelieving humans have inflicted a great wound and insult on those who least deserve it and indeed do not deserve such disgrace at all. This is the message from the Lord God, from whom all goodness comes and whose Will and Word must be served without question.
St Joseph's Feast Day was March 19
The day of the brightest object ever seen, the exploding star that I wrote about earlier. Hmmm.
Another baby beaten to death by father
Two months old.
I'm losing count, how about you?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-child-abusemar22,1,5185547.story
I'm losing count, how about you?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-child-abusemar22,1,5185547.story
Friday, March 21, 2008
Some amateur astronomy talk
Regular readers know that one of my first favorite hobbies was astronomy. This is because when I was a small child my teenage neighbor was an amateur astronomer with his own observatory and was very generous in supporting my interest.
Back in the 1980's, when it seemed that the teaching of science in schools had hit its lowest, I was looking at the stars with my niece. I explained to her that when you look at a star you are not seeing how it really is right now, but you are seeing how it was millions of years ago. This is because they are so far away that it takes millions of years for that "snapshot" of the star to arrive at our eyes to see. So if a star is three million "light years" away that means when you look at it you are seeing it as it was three million years ago, not how it is today.
Well, read this article.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Exploding-Star.html
Star Explodes Halfway Across Universe
snip
The aging star, in a previously unknown galaxy, exploded in a gamma ray burst 7.5 billion light years away, its light finally reaching Earth early Wednesday.
snip
The 7.5 billion light years away far eclipses the previous naked eye record of 2.5 million light years. One light year is 5.9 trillion miles.
''This is roughly halfway to the edge of the universe,'' Burrows said.
Before it exploded, the star was about 40 times bigger than our sun. The explosion vaporized any planet nearby, Gehrels said.
***
OK, so this means that on Wednesday if someone had been looking at the sky at the right spot and time they would have seen this exploding star. They would have seen the star explode, but it actually exploded 7.5 BILLION years ago!
Now I have to make the obligatory *talks like a broken record* explanation to "astrologers." Some "astrologers" think they are extra "serious" because they monitor and use "fixed stars" in addition to planets for their "predictions." I've always giggled, except it's so awful and serious, the damage astrologers have done, that they "monitor" and "predict" based on stars that may or may not even be in existence at the time they are drawing up their stupid retarded astrology charts. In theory none of the stars they use might actually even exist anymore, because if they had blown up no one on earth would know about it for millions or billions of years, since the light of their demise has not reached here yet. However, they make the gullible think that the stars are the key to destiny and spirituality. Nothing like making "predictions" based on a star that blew up millions or billions of years ago and humans don't know that it had. Ha ha ha. It would be funny if it wasn't so sick.
BTW, here's the link to the time lapse image so you can see it yourself. Remember that you are seeing a star that explodes before the earth was even in existence.
http://grb.fuw.edu.pl/pi/ot/grb080319b/normal.html
*Clue phone continues to ring*
Back in the 1980's, when it seemed that the teaching of science in schools had hit its lowest, I was looking at the stars with my niece. I explained to her that when you look at a star you are not seeing how it really is right now, but you are seeing how it was millions of years ago. This is because they are so far away that it takes millions of years for that "snapshot" of the star to arrive at our eyes to see. So if a star is three million "light years" away that means when you look at it you are seeing it as it was three million years ago, not how it is today.
Well, read this article.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Exploding-Star.html
Star Explodes Halfway Across Universe
snip
The aging star, in a previously unknown galaxy, exploded in a gamma ray burst 7.5 billion light years away, its light finally reaching Earth early Wednesday.
snip
The 7.5 billion light years away far eclipses the previous naked eye record of 2.5 million light years. One light year is 5.9 trillion miles.
''This is roughly halfway to the edge of the universe,'' Burrows said.
Before it exploded, the star was about 40 times bigger than our sun. The explosion vaporized any planet nearby, Gehrels said.
***
OK, so this means that on Wednesday if someone had been looking at the sky at the right spot and time they would have seen this exploding star. They would have seen the star explode, but it actually exploded 7.5 BILLION years ago!
Now I have to make the obligatory *talks like a broken record* explanation to "astrologers." Some "astrologers" think they are extra "serious" because they monitor and use "fixed stars" in addition to planets for their "predictions." I've always giggled, except it's so awful and serious, the damage astrologers have done, that they "monitor" and "predict" based on stars that may or may not even be in existence at the time they are drawing up their stupid retarded astrology charts. In theory none of the stars they use might actually even exist anymore, because if they had blown up no one on earth would know about it for millions or billions of years, since the light of their demise has not reached here yet. However, they make the gullible think that the stars are the key to destiny and spirituality. Nothing like making "predictions" based on a star that blew up millions or billions of years ago and humans don't know that it had. Ha ha ha. It would be funny if it wasn't so sick.
BTW, here's the link to the time lapse image so you can see it yourself. Remember that you are seeing a star that explodes before the earth was even in existence.
http://grb.fuw.edu.pl/pi/ot/grb080319b/normal.html
*Clue phone continues to ring*
Understanding Islam and Christianity, example
Here is an interesting article:
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=208625&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16
snip
MUSLIMS celebrating the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday in Qatar have come under fire as several Doha-based Muslim scholars yesterday criticised the practice as an “un-Islamic habit” imported from Christians. Sheikh Raad al-Hussein, who was giving the Friday sermon at Hussein Bin Kamal Mosque at al-Hilal, criticised the celebration of the Prophet’s birthday as bida’a (an innovation in the religion) saying that none of the Muslims who accompanied the Prophet during his life ever celebrated his birthday. “It has not been proved that any of the earlier Muslims commemorated the occasion. Even the exact day of birth of the Prophet is not known with certainty. Some contemporary researchers have confirmed that he died on the 9th of Rabee’ al-Awal rather than the 12th as is commonly believed. Arabs were not known for using calendars or writing history during that time,” al-Hussein said.Al-Hussein said that the celebration was always full of undesired and wicked things which oppose the basis of the religion of Islam. “There are many sins committed in the name of that day like free mixing of men and women in one area and many other objectionable acts,” he said. The scholar warned Muslims against what he called “over praising the Prophet Muhammad” saying that Christians have started praising Jesus excessively and ended up as “worshiping him as a son of God”. “Muslims have been warned by the Prophet himself not to exalt him as the Christians did with Jesus and worshipped him instead of Allah. This celebration has no basis in the holy Qur’an or the tradition. The Prophet has never performed it or informed his nation to do so,” he said. He blamed the then-Christian peoples of Egypt and Syria for “exporting their habit of celebrating Jesus Christ’s birthday” to the Muslims in the region.
***
I have no comment about the propriety of either celebrating the Prophet (PBUH) birthday as some do, or not as this scholar criticizes.
However, this is a great opportunity to educate and correct an error. Christians need to better understand their own faith, and Muslims should not believe what is not true about Christians.
First of all, Christians are not celebrating the birthday of Jesus as an ordinary birthday event. Muslims need to understand that the first faith of our shared forefather Abraham, which is the faith of the Jews, predicted at God's word the arrival of the Messiah. The Messiah is predicted throughout what Christians call the Old Testament by both the Prophets and by King David. Therefore the birthday of Jesus is celebrated because it is the arrival of the Messiah. The Qur'an devotes considerable attention to the occasion of the birth of Jesus. So it is an error to think that the celebration of Jesus' birthday on the designated date of Christmas, or as we call it the Nativity, is a "birthday event." It is celebration of the day that Christians believe, and the Qur'an confirms, that the Jewish Savior and Messiah arrived on earth.
In the same Bible passages that predict the Messiah, it is predicted that he will be referred to as the "son" of God, who will treat him as a Son. I don't want to get into the entire "excess of worship of Jesus" argument because that is beyond the scope of what I want to clarify here. The point I want to make for the education of Christians and Muslims alike is that your discussion about the celebration of the Prophet's (PBUH) birthday, or not, does not have an intellectual scholarly parallel with the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus. Jesus' birthday is not a cultural event but the day where it is remembered that the promised Messiah arrived. That is different than a birthday. If Jesus had arrived on a cloud rather than through human birth from the Virgin Mary, Christians would celebrate the Messiah arriving on the cloud day.
I hope this helps and best wishes to all who dialogue in good faith.
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=208625&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16
snip
MUSLIMS celebrating the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday in Qatar have come under fire as several Doha-based Muslim scholars yesterday criticised the practice as an “un-Islamic habit” imported from Christians. Sheikh Raad al-Hussein, who was giving the Friday sermon at Hussein Bin Kamal Mosque at al-Hilal, criticised the celebration of the Prophet’s birthday as bida’a (an innovation in the religion) saying that none of the Muslims who accompanied the Prophet during his life ever celebrated his birthday. “It has not been proved that any of the earlier Muslims commemorated the occasion. Even the exact day of birth of the Prophet is not known with certainty. Some contemporary researchers have confirmed that he died on the 9th of Rabee’ al-Awal rather than the 12th as is commonly believed. Arabs were not known for using calendars or writing history during that time,” al-Hussein said.Al-Hussein said that the celebration was always full of undesired and wicked things which oppose the basis of the religion of Islam. “There are many sins committed in the name of that day like free mixing of men and women in one area and many other objectionable acts,” he said. The scholar warned Muslims against what he called “over praising the Prophet Muhammad” saying that Christians have started praising Jesus excessively and ended up as “worshiping him as a son of God”. “Muslims have been warned by the Prophet himself not to exalt him as the Christians did with Jesus and worshipped him instead of Allah. This celebration has no basis in the holy Qur’an or the tradition. The Prophet has never performed it or informed his nation to do so,” he said. He blamed the then-Christian peoples of Egypt and Syria for “exporting their habit of celebrating Jesus Christ’s birthday” to the Muslims in the region.
***
I have no comment about the propriety of either celebrating the Prophet (PBUH) birthday as some do, or not as this scholar criticizes.
However, this is a great opportunity to educate and correct an error. Christians need to better understand their own faith, and Muslims should not believe what is not true about Christians.
First of all, Christians are not celebrating the birthday of Jesus as an ordinary birthday event. Muslims need to understand that the first faith of our shared forefather Abraham, which is the faith of the Jews, predicted at God's word the arrival of the Messiah. The Messiah is predicted throughout what Christians call the Old Testament by both the Prophets and by King David. Therefore the birthday of Jesus is celebrated because it is the arrival of the Messiah. The Qur'an devotes considerable attention to the occasion of the birth of Jesus. So it is an error to think that the celebration of Jesus' birthday on the designated date of Christmas, or as we call it the Nativity, is a "birthday event." It is celebration of the day that Christians believe, and the Qur'an confirms, that the Jewish Savior and Messiah arrived on earth.
In the same Bible passages that predict the Messiah, it is predicted that he will be referred to as the "son" of God, who will treat him as a Son. I don't want to get into the entire "excess of worship of Jesus" argument because that is beyond the scope of what I want to clarify here. The point I want to make for the education of Christians and Muslims alike is that your discussion about the celebration of the Prophet's (PBUH) birthday, or not, does not have an intellectual scholarly parallel with the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus. Jesus' birthday is not a cultural event but the day where it is remembered that the promised Messiah arrived. That is different than a birthday. If Jesus had arrived on a cloud rather than through human birth from the Virgin Mary, Christians would celebrate the Messiah arriving on the cloud day.
I hope this helps and best wishes to all who dialogue in good faith.
Prayers needed for permanent Uganda peace
This is a good article about the current status of trying to bring to final peace Uganda's LRA headed by Kony. One of my longest standing prayer intentions is that Kony will return to sanity, realizing he is not Jesus Christ (no one is Jesus but the one Jesus who is in heaven), repent, and I'd like even more than punishment that he join a mainstream Christian church and work as a civilian volunteer to rebuild the society he has destroyed and the lives he has shattered.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080321.wuganda21/BNStory/International/home
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080321.wuganda21/BNStory/International/home
Inspiring pregnancy story
The wonders of life and each person's individual story! Prayers of anticipation along with this expectant couple.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=541608&in_page_id=1879&ct=5
Woman, 57, thought she had cancer until doctors told her she was 30 weeks pregnant
A woman of 57 with suspected ovarian cancer was in fact expecting her first baby.
Susan Tollefsen feared the worst when she was sent to hospital for a scan on her growing bump.
But the sonographer told her: "Congratulations, you're almost 30 weeks pregnant."
She will become one of Britain's oldest mothers when she has a caesarean section next week.
The remarkable story, which she describes as an Easter miracle, follows-several years of attempts to have a baby by IVF treatment at foreign clinics.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=541608&in_page_id=1879&ct=5
Woman, 57, thought she had cancer until doctors told her she was 30 weeks pregnant
A woman of 57 with suspected ovarian cancer was in fact expecting her first baby.
Susan Tollefsen feared the worst when she was sent to hospital for a scan on her growing bump.
But the sonographer told her: "Congratulations, you're almost 30 weeks pregnant."
She will become one of Britain's oldest mothers when she has a caesarean section next week.
The remarkable story, which she describes as an Easter miracle, follows-several years of attempts to have a baby by IVF treatment at foreign clinics.
Read this story and then tell me if you think...
... that the same government who permitted such horrific abuse should pass a bill OK'ing human and animal hybrid cell breeding. Oh yeah, I'm sure they will be such ethical and responsible stewards of research. Read about the more than 4 children tortured with the complicity of the government agencies by one "father" known to them since 1989 and tell me what a great job the Brit government will do with Frankenstein.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=541849&in_page_id=1770&ct=5
Boys blinded and paralysed by their sadistic parents sue social workers for £1m each
Two young brothers left paralysed and blind by savage abuse in the first weeks of their lives are suing social workers for failing to protect them.
One boy, who is now ten, was blinded with "a sharp instrument" and a chemical substance by his parents. He also had his fingers crushed and was left with severe brain damage after being violently shaken.
His younger brother, now eight, is also said to have been attacked within weeks of his birth and was so badly brain damaged he is paralysed from the chest down.
snip
The father's second child, born to another mother, was admitted to hospital within days of birth with a broken collarbone, bruising, torn skin in her mouth, finger marks around her jaw and septic toes.
Social workers put the new baby on the at-risk register but, according to court papers, they allowed her to return home to her parents.
In the ensuing weeks she was in hospital four more times suffering from septicaemia, swelling of the brain and non-accidental bruising before finally being taken into care.
The couple had another baby the following year and the family was placed in a residential unit in an attempt to help them with parenting skills.
While there, a member of staff heard the father tell his infant daughter. "Shall we throw you out of the window?" but the family was allowed to take her home.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=541849&in_page_id=1770&ct=5
Boys blinded and paralysed by their sadistic parents sue social workers for £1m each
Two young brothers left paralysed and blind by savage abuse in the first weeks of their lives are suing social workers for failing to protect them.
One boy, who is now ten, was blinded with "a sharp instrument" and a chemical substance by his parents. He also had his fingers crushed and was left with severe brain damage after being violently shaken.
His younger brother, now eight, is also said to have been attacked within weeks of his birth and was so badly brain damaged he is paralysed from the chest down.
snip
The father's second child, born to another mother, was admitted to hospital within days of birth with a broken collarbone, bruising, torn skin in her mouth, finger marks around her jaw and septic toes.
Social workers put the new baby on the at-risk register but, according to court papers, they allowed her to return home to her parents.
In the ensuing weeks she was in hospital four more times suffering from septicaemia, swelling of the brain and non-accidental bruising before finally being taken into care.
The couple had another baby the following year and the family was placed in a residential unit in an attempt to help them with parenting skills.
While there, a member of staff heard the father tell his infant daughter. "Shall we throw you out of the window?" but the family was allowed to take her home.
Brit Catholic leaders against monstrous bill
Pray for the souls of the British government. They want to legalize monstrous abominations through this bill, claiming future "medical cures." I have despaired of Britain as a whole for quite some time.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/21/nembryo121.xml
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/21/nembryo121.xml
Glimpse inside a lovely home
The late Prime Minister Edward Heath had a lovely home that he loved and that is now opened as a museum, left decorated exactly as when he lived there. I really enjoyed the pictures in the linked article because I share his taste and really like the uplifting decor.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/22/nheath122.xml
snip
When he first saw it, Heath described it as "love at first sight" and it was the only home he ever owned.
snip
"Sir Edward adored Arundells," said Stuart Craven, the museum's manager. "He loved to sit in the summer house and unwind."
Mr Craven arrived at Arundells in 1985 to help redesign the two-acre gardens. Special Branch ordered him to quickly plant a screen of large shrubs so that an IRA sniper could not take a shot at the former PM in his upstairs study.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/22/nheath122.xml
snip
When he first saw it, Heath described it as "love at first sight" and it was the only home he ever owned.
snip
"Sir Edward adored Arundells," said Stuart Craven, the museum's manager. "He loved to sit in the summer house and unwind."
Mr Craven arrived at Arundells in 1985 to help redesign the two-acre gardens. Special Branch ordered him to quickly plant a screen of large shrubs so that an IRA sniper could not take a shot at the former PM in his upstairs study.
Excerpt from Holy Father's words on Good Friday
"Day after day we are covered by all sorts of filth, empty words, prejudices, reduced and altered knowledge; many half- or open falsehoods continuously seeps into our innermost self.
All this darkens and contaminates our soul, threatens our capacity to see what is true and good. If we welcome the words of Jesus with an attentive heart, they will turn out to truly cleanse and purify the soul, the inner man.”
Spoken at Holy Thursday Mass
All this darkens and contaminates our soul, threatens our capacity to see what is true and good. If we welcome the words of Jesus with an attentive heart, they will turn out to truly cleanse and purify the soul, the inner man.”
Spoken at Holy Thursday Mass
Very sad accident in Mississippi, 3 are dead
On Good Friday this accident and loss of three men who were just doing their job, hooking up sewer systems, is particularly painful and sad. Prayers for them and their families. What a very sad loss.
http://www.wdam.com/global/story.asp?s=8051069
snip
Coroner Butch Benedict has identified all three workers who died after a construction site collapse at the Hattiesburg-Forrest County Industrial Park.
The three men's names are: Leonardo Navarro Diaz, 30, of Sumrall; Brandon Edward Rathbone, 19, of Hattiesburg; Wayne Dale Kelly, 55, of Columbia.
All three men have worked for American Air Specialists, formerly known as Tucker Heating and Air.
The three workers were buried alive and crews attempted to excavate them by hand early around 10 a.m.
The incident took place near Kohler Engine Co. where a Sam's distribution center is under construction.
The men were completing work on a sewer line, according to Hattiesburg mayor Johnny DuPree.
http://www.wdam.com/global/story.asp?s=8051069
snip
Coroner Butch Benedict has identified all three workers who died after a construction site collapse at the Hattiesburg-Forrest County Industrial Park.
The three men's names are: Leonardo Navarro Diaz, 30, of Sumrall; Brandon Edward Rathbone, 19, of Hattiesburg; Wayne Dale Kelly, 55, of Columbia.
All three men have worked for American Air Specialists, formerly known as Tucker Heating and Air.
The three workers were buried alive and crews attempted to excavate them by hand early around 10 a.m.
The incident took place near Kohler Engine Co. where a Sam's distribution center is under construction.
The men were completing work on a sewer line, according to Hattiesburg mayor Johnny DuPree.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Spiritual direction: wise words by Pope Pius XII
While he wrote these words in an Encyclical to commemorate a certain day, I think everyone would be well advised to ponder these words and their spirit on each and every day.
10. May it be for the Faithful a day of grace, on which the fire that Our Lord came to cast upon the earth will kindle with ever greater light and purity. May it be a day of grace for the lukewarm, for the weary, for the afflicted, that their heads, which have become faint, may give proofs of interior renewal and regeneration of spirit. May it be a day of grace also for those who have not known Christ or who have lost Him; a day when from millions of faithful hearts will rise to Heaven the prayer that "the Light which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world" (Saint John i. 9) may make clear to them the way of salvation, that His grace may stir in the "troubled heart" of the wanderers a homesickness for things eternal, a homesickness that impels them to return to Him, Who from His sorrowful throne of the Cross thirsts for their souls also and Who is consumed by a desire to become for them, too, "the Way, and the Truth and the Life" (Saint John xiv. 6).
Summi Pontificatus
Pope Pius XII
10. May it be for the Faithful a day of grace, on which the fire that Our Lord came to cast upon the earth will kindle with ever greater light and purity. May it be a day of grace for the lukewarm, for the weary, for the afflicted, that their heads, which have become faint, may give proofs of interior renewal and regeneration of spirit. May it be a day of grace also for those who have not known Christ or who have lost Him; a day when from millions of faithful hearts will rise to Heaven the prayer that "the Light which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world" (Saint John i. 9) may make clear to them the way of salvation, that His grace may stir in the "troubled heart" of the wanderers a homesickness for things eternal, a homesickness that impels them to return to Him, Who from His sorrowful throne of the Cross thirsts for their souls also and Who is consumed by a desire to become for them, too, "the Way, and the Truth and the Life" (Saint John xiv. 6).
Summi Pontificatus
Pope Pius XII
Happy Nowruz (Iranian New Year) to all
To all who celebrate best wishes for peace, health and prosperity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norouz
snip
Nowrūz (Persian: نوروز, various local pronunciations and spellings) is the traditional Iranian new year holiday celebrated in Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Albania, Armenia, Georgia, the countries of Central Asia such as Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan, as well as among various other Iranian and Turkic people in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Pakistan, India, Northwestern China, the Caucasus, the Crimea, and the Balkans.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norouz
snip
Nowrūz (Persian: نوروز, various local pronunciations and spellings) is the traditional Iranian new year holiday celebrated in Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Albania, Armenia, Georgia, the countries of Central Asia such as Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan, as well as among various other Iranian and Turkic people in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Pakistan, India, Northwestern China, the Caucasus, the Crimea, and the Balkans.
Happy Birthday Prince Hassan
And many years to come of health and prosperity.
http://www.jordantimes.com/index.php?news=6555
snip
AMMAN (JT) - HRH Prince Hassan celebrates his 61st birthday today, following a year of diverse active and pro-active engagement with cultural, humanitarian and environmental issues across the world.
In contrast, the Prince will celebrate his birthday quietly with his family, and has received warm messages of goodwill from friends and colleagues from around the world.
In recent months, his work for peace and understanding has received eclectic international recognition.
snip
Prince Hassan has continued to emphasise the need for common standards for the humane treatment of all people in the region. He recently called on all peoples from the region to recognise their traditions of common humanity, of peace building and of reconciliation.
Prince Hassan has also emphasised his commitment to the environment in recent months, with a strong focus on increasingly relevant energy issues.
In November, the Prince presented a white paper on the DESERTEC concept for energy, water and climate security to the president of the European Parliament. This paper described the vast potential of deserts to supply secure, clean and cheap power to Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
The initiative aims to fight climate change in a way that is economically, technically and politically feasible.
Prince Hassan’s work for a sustainable environment has been complemented by his efforts to empower civil society in West Asia–North Africa.
http://www.jordantimes.com/index.php?news=6555
snip
AMMAN (JT) - HRH Prince Hassan celebrates his 61st birthday today, following a year of diverse active and pro-active engagement with cultural, humanitarian and environmental issues across the world.
In contrast, the Prince will celebrate his birthday quietly with his family, and has received warm messages of goodwill from friends and colleagues from around the world.
In recent months, his work for peace and understanding has received eclectic international recognition.
snip
Prince Hassan has continued to emphasise the need for common standards for the humane treatment of all people in the region. He recently called on all peoples from the region to recognise their traditions of common humanity, of peace building and of reconciliation.
Prince Hassan has also emphasised his commitment to the environment in recent months, with a strong focus on increasingly relevant energy issues.
In November, the Prince presented a white paper on the DESERTEC concept for energy, water and climate security to the president of the European Parliament. This paper described the vast potential of deserts to supply secure, clean and cheap power to Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
The initiative aims to fight climate change in a way that is economically, technically and politically feasible.
Prince Hassan’s work for a sustainable environment has been complemented by his efforts to empower civil society in West Asia–North Africa.
Very good speech by King of Jordan
http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=6563
snip
May God grant you good health, and a happy new year to you and the homeland.
Our meeting on this blessed day coincides with a great anniversary dear to the hearts of Muslims, the birthday of the Prophet Mohammad (pbuh). We remember from this pure place that is soaked with the blood of martyrs and the gallant deeds of the Arab Army, the 40th anniversary of the Battle of Karameh during which this army's honourable officers and soldiers realised the greatest of victories. They registered an epic of bravery, heroism, sacrifice and belonging, and reclaimed for the nation its dignity and self-confidence.
In this place, 40 years ago, Jordanians fought with honour and bravery, to defend Jordan's soil, and in spite of the enemy's superiority in equipment, armoury and capabilities, the sons of this army achieved a victory that stunned the enemy, and forced it to concede defeat for the first time in its history.
snip
As for those who were martyred, the noblest among men, they were honoured by God, with an honour greater than any honour on earth. God Almighty said: "Do not think that those who were killed for God's cause are dead. They are living, and are being sustained by God." (Al Imran: 169). And within our tradition of being proud of our history, we stand today in reverence of the Arab Army's martyrs in the Karameh Battle and all others that the Arab Army has fought in defence of Arab land and Arab dignity, whether in Palestine, or any other place in the great Arab homeland.
Whatever conditions prevail, the battles of the Arab Army and its sacrifices and the names of the martyrs and their heroic deeds, will always remain medals of pride and honour that every Jordanian citizen holds dear, because it is our history and identity that we cannot forget. And we will never allow it to be compromised, or denied or belittled, by anybody, whoever he may be.
The historical lesson of this battle, which the world and the conflicting parties in the Palestine question should understand, is that the solution and settlement of this issue cannot be realised either through war or an enforced solution. A solution will only be realised by returning rights to whom they are due, and by recognising the Palestinian people's right to establish their independent state on Palestinian soil. This is the road of salvation from war and its destruction, from which the peoples of the region have suffered for more than 60 years.
snip
May God grant you good health, and a happy new year to you and the homeland.
Our meeting on this blessed day coincides with a great anniversary dear to the hearts of Muslims, the birthday of the Prophet Mohammad (pbuh). We remember from this pure place that is soaked with the blood of martyrs and the gallant deeds of the Arab Army, the 40th anniversary of the Battle of Karameh during which this army's honourable officers and soldiers realised the greatest of victories. They registered an epic of bravery, heroism, sacrifice and belonging, and reclaimed for the nation its dignity and self-confidence.
In this place, 40 years ago, Jordanians fought with honour and bravery, to defend Jordan's soil, and in spite of the enemy's superiority in equipment, armoury and capabilities, the sons of this army achieved a victory that stunned the enemy, and forced it to concede defeat for the first time in its history.
snip
As for those who were martyred, the noblest among men, they were honoured by God, with an honour greater than any honour on earth. God Almighty said: "Do not think that those who were killed for God's cause are dead. They are living, and are being sustained by God." (Al Imran: 169). And within our tradition of being proud of our history, we stand today in reverence of the Arab Army's martyrs in the Karameh Battle and all others that the Arab Army has fought in defence of Arab land and Arab dignity, whether in Palestine, or any other place in the great Arab homeland.
Whatever conditions prevail, the battles of the Arab Army and its sacrifices and the names of the martyrs and their heroic deeds, will always remain medals of pride and honour that every Jordanian citizen holds dear, because it is our history and identity that we cannot forget. And we will never allow it to be compromised, or denied or belittled, by anybody, whoever he may be.
The historical lesson of this battle, which the world and the conflicting parties in the Palestine question should understand, is that the solution and settlement of this issue cannot be realised either through war or an enforced solution. A solution will only be realised by returning rights to whom they are due, and by recognising the Palestinian people's right to establish their independent state on Palestinian soil. This is the road of salvation from war and its destruction, from which the peoples of the region have suffered for more than 60 years.
Future baby killers
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/sfl-319goose,0,7415962.story
and while we are on the subject, from an area near Pittsburgh:
http://kdka.com/pets/Dog.Grindstone.Fire.2.676887.html
(When will someone come forward to law enforcement about the satanist kids who hung and burned these dogs?)
and while we are on the subject, from an area near Pittsburgh:
http://kdka.com/pets/Dog.Grindstone.Fire.2.676887.html
(When will someone come forward to law enforcement about the satanist kids who hung and burned these dogs?)
Driver safety
I've read so many incidents recently where there have been fatal car wrecks as a result of a simple error. I'm not sure that drivers education is teaching how to handle this error anymore, they sure did in my day, and of course not much helps if the driver is impaired. However any parents who are reading this should pass along to their kids this advice.
It is a common event to have the car drift off the road a bit onto the shoulder. The wrong thing to do is to panic and jerk the steering wheel back toward the road. This often causes a skid and loss of control, frequently flinging the car into a spin and/or into the other lane. It seems I've been reading of this happening just about every day recently.
What you should do is not panic and react but keep driving with your wheels still off the road where they had drifted. This ensures that your wheels are straight. So if you drift say a half a foot off the pavement onto the shoulder keep driving for a few seconds at exactly that distance off the road. Then gradually tip the steering wheel slowly back toward the road and ease back on. I do this myself. Just the other day a car pushed into my lane on a narrow country road so to avoid that driver my car right wheels went off the pavement into the weeds (no shoulder on the spot that driver chose to be pushy). But I just kept driving along for a few seconds where the wheels had gone off the road pavement and then eased back fully onto the road.
If you have a young driver in the house be sure to practice this sometime. Go with your young driver and while driving at a slow speed for practice have him or her drift off the road (in a safe and deserted area of course) so they can train their reflexes to not panic and feel what it is like to just keep driving with the two tires off the road and on the shoulder or on grass or weeds or whatever lines the road edge. Then have them ease back onto the road. Practice it a few times so that their reflexes are secure. You might want to do that yourself too, it's never too late to practice safe driving. Hope this helps.
It is a common event to have the car drift off the road a bit onto the shoulder. The wrong thing to do is to panic and jerk the steering wheel back toward the road. This often causes a skid and loss of control, frequently flinging the car into a spin and/or into the other lane. It seems I've been reading of this happening just about every day recently.
What you should do is not panic and react but keep driving with your wheels still off the road where they had drifted. This ensures that your wheels are straight. So if you drift say a half a foot off the pavement onto the shoulder keep driving for a few seconds at exactly that distance off the road. Then gradually tip the steering wheel slowly back toward the road and ease back on. I do this myself. Just the other day a car pushed into my lane on a narrow country road so to avoid that driver my car right wheels went off the pavement into the weeds (no shoulder on the spot that driver chose to be pushy). But I just kept driving along for a few seconds where the wheels had gone off the road pavement and then eased back fully onto the road.
If you have a young driver in the house be sure to practice this sometime. Go with your young driver and while driving at a slow speed for practice have him or her drift off the road (in a safe and deserted area of course) so they can train their reflexes to not panic and feel what it is like to just keep driving with the two tires off the road and on the shoulder or on grass or weeds or whatever lines the road edge. Then have them ease back onto the road. Practice it a few times so that their reflexes are secure. You might want to do that yourself too, it's never too late to practice safe driving. Hope this helps.
Bible Reading: Proverbs 17
1. Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than a house full of sacrifices with strife.
(sacrifices mean the best goods and feasts that would be suitable for sacrifice, in other words, lavish entertainment food).
therefore it can also be translated:
Better a dry crust with peace than a house full of feasting with strife.
(sacrifices mean the best goods and feasts that would be suitable for sacrifice, in other words, lavish entertainment food).
therefore it can also be translated:
Better a dry crust with peace than a house full of feasting with strife.
Bible Reading: Proverbs 15
11. The nether world and the abyss lie open before the Lord; how much more the hearts of men!
better translation:
Hell and destruction are before the Lord; how much more, then, the hearts of the children of men?
better translation:
Hell and destruction are before the Lord; how much more, then, the hearts of the children of men?
Bible Reading: Proverbs 15
3. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.
Many pro gun advocates ignorant putzes
I can barely listen to the ignorance of the fanatic pro gun lobby. Now I grew up in the country in a family that hunted and fished and I have no problems with gun ownership. But I have problems with the maniacal gun worshipping fanatics who don't even have their facts straight, yet attack anyone (including cops) who even question their stances and they actually claim they are the well informed ones. What idiots.
They constantly cite the Founding Fathers and right to bear arms, yet they cite it without a clue as to what the Founding Fathers viewed as arms ownership normalcy. Remember that there are three huge differences between "then" and "now," and therefore are problematic as far as meeting the Founding Fathers' original intentions.
1) There was no such thing as concealed weapons during the time our country was founded. People wore their guns and their swords openly. The Founding Fathers never envisioned a time of concealed weapons. That would have been viewed as abnormal behavior and against every code of honor and it was not even technically possible, as only long arms existed at that time. So you cannot legitimately quote the Founding Fathers when discussing concealed arms.
(By the way, the closest model to how it was during the days of the Founding Fathers is, ironically, Israel, where civilians and soldiers openly bear arms).
2) Guns were tools rather than weapons. Farmers and ranchers depended on guns to protect their family, homesteads and livestock. It came from the not very nice part of history where guns were used by the first American settlers to defend against Indian attacks and to overcome Indian defenses of their land. Guns replaced swords for obvious reasons, but swords remained as openly worn weapons of honor and as indicators of rank in the military and government. So the Founding Fathers lived in a time where guns and swords were essential tools to DAY TO DAY life. They would never in their wildest dreams have envisioned an America like we have now where guns are recreation and score settlers, with millions of them afloat both legal and illegal. Weapons were very expensive and dear in the time of the Founding Fathers; they would never have envisioned cheap weapons for personal use. A weapon was like a car; it was essential and a huge purchase for an individual or family. It was expected to last a lifetime and it was passed down from father to son, just as the expensive tool that it was. So you cannot cite the Founding Fathers legitimately as it is apples to oranges type of comparison between their milieu and intentions and the situation today.
3) The Founding Fathers had just fought off a corrupt monarchy and were rightfully suspicious of government. They created a Republic. A Republic is an affiliation of democratic states. The Founding Fathers ensured that the public would be able to bear arms so that the states could raise a militia in the event that an oppressive government takes over. Again, this is completely different from the argument about whether punks and gun fanatics should have personal arsenals. You cannot compare what the Founding Fathers intended, which is that the public should have their right to bear arms protected and to serve in their state militia, with the unbelievable social nightmare of gun pollution that we have today.
Like I said, I have no problem with responsible gun ownership. However, we as a country have gone FAR beyond what the Founding Fathers intended. Guns have lost their honor, their role as a tool, and their emphasis on patriotic militias and have become something that would have been indescribable to the Funding Fathers. You idiots who quote the Founding Fathers have no right to and your tongues should cleave to the tops of your mouths in punishment. You drool over a so called rock star who stood on stage and said a presidential candidate who is female should suck on the barrel of a gun. You gun advocates disgust me.
They constantly cite the Founding Fathers and right to bear arms, yet they cite it without a clue as to what the Founding Fathers viewed as arms ownership normalcy. Remember that there are three huge differences between "then" and "now," and therefore are problematic as far as meeting the Founding Fathers' original intentions.
1) There was no such thing as concealed weapons during the time our country was founded. People wore their guns and their swords openly. The Founding Fathers never envisioned a time of concealed weapons. That would have been viewed as abnormal behavior and against every code of honor and it was not even technically possible, as only long arms existed at that time. So you cannot legitimately quote the Founding Fathers when discussing concealed arms.
(By the way, the closest model to how it was during the days of the Founding Fathers is, ironically, Israel, where civilians and soldiers openly bear arms).
2) Guns were tools rather than weapons. Farmers and ranchers depended on guns to protect their family, homesteads and livestock. It came from the not very nice part of history where guns were used by the first American settlers to defend against Indian attacks and to overcome Indian defenses of their land. Guns replaced swords for obvious reasons, but swords remained as openly worn weapons of honor and as indicators of rank in the military and government. So the Founding Fathers lived in a time where guns and swords were essential tools to DAY TO DAY life. They would never in their wildest dreams have envisioned an America like we have now where guns are recreation and score settlers, with millions of them afloat both legal and illegal. Weapons were very expensive and dear in the time of the Founding Fathers; they would never have envisioned cheap weapons for personal use. A weapon was like a car; it was essential and a huge purchase for an individual or family. It was expected to last a lifetime and it was passed down from father to son, just as the expensive tool that it was. So you cannot cite the Founding Fathers legitimately as it is apples to oranges type of comparison between their milieu and intentions and the situation today.
3) The Founding Fathers had just fought off a corrupt monarchy and were rightfully suspicious of government. They created a Republic. A Republic is an affiliation of democratic states. The Founding Fathers ensured that the public would be able to bear arms so that the states could raise a militia in the event that an oppressive government takes over. Again, this is completely different from the argument about whether punks and gun fanatics should have personal arsenals. You cannot compare what the Founding Fathers intended, which is that the public should have their right to bear arms protected and to serve in their state militia, with the unbelievable social nightmare of gun pollution that we have today.
Like I said, I have no problem with responsible gun ownership. However, we as a country have gone FAR beyond what the Founding Fathers intended. Guns have lost their honor, their role as a tool, and their emphasis on patriotic militias and have become something that would have been indescribable to the Funding Fathers. You idiots who quote the Founding Fathers have no right to and your tongues should cleave to the tops of your mouths in punishment. You drool over a so called rock star who stood on stage and said a presidential candidate who is female should suck on the barrel of a gun. You gun advocates disgust me.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Spiritual direction: unfit parents
Trust me, whenever I read a news report about some crack head parent who abuses their child I'm as infuriated as the next person. But inevitably in the "comments" section there are those who use that type of tragedy to rant about unfit parents with the agenda of pushing more birth control and more abortions. How sad and wrong headed is that attitude, as understandable as it is in the heat of the outrage and the moment over the abuse. My equivalent is to spend a moment or two contemplating the parent in hell. But I need to guide people away from thinking that "less life" and "less children" are EVER the answer to wrongs committed against children. A child killed by crackhead parents was still entitled to life and there should have been a way to perform an intervention. Investigations show that usually there were MANY chances to do so.
One of my favorite "every day" birds is the mourning dove. It is called that because of its plaintive call. They are a commonly found bird, and they've been residents where I lived in NY, in NJ, in CT, in AZ and here in MS. When one hikes in the desert one hears their call, and it's welcome company. Pairs stay very close together. They are simply sweet birds.
When I had my house in NJ I had a large backyard and on an outside wall bracket that was about three feet up from the ground was looped the garden hose in case I needed to water by hand. But usually there was ample rain and so the hose would be undisturbed for weeks or months. One day I walked outside and to my total amazement a mourning dove had laid about a dozen sticks on top of the looped hose and had laid an egg. Now there was no way that the egg or nest could last there because it would roll off in the slightest breeze, and it was only about three feet above the ground, in easy reach of the many cats and squirrels. But she came and sat on it and I left her and her mate alone and sure enough the nest did not last (I had taken some photographs though, and they should be still be packed in my storage unit). Mourning doves are very serious nesters but nest in the most simple and haphazard nest arrangements. They are very unlike birds who nest in difficult to see or reach locations, or who develop fantastic works of architecture for their nest, like daub and wattle or woven basket structures. Yet as I said, even though this nest failed, the mourning doves are everywhere and thrive.
If I was as censorious as some I know, would I not have said, "Oh what a stupid bird and such a poor mother! She deserved not to have that egg." Of course not, that would be idiotic. The mourning dove's loud and persistent YES to life has rewarded it with being a ubiquitous bird all across this country in every terrain from back yard suburb to wetlands edges to desert. I saw several pairs in my usual drive today to and from the store. The mourning dove is a bird that loves life and says yes to life even in the most unpromising situations, such as balanced on top of my garden hose loops exposed to the elements of wind, rain and predator. Is that being stupid or a bad parent or is that saying yes to life?
Society needs to restore its morality and the nurturing of even the most unsuitable parents. Sometimes the nurturing means to exercise tough love and enforce drug detoxification and taking away children from them. But the focus must always be on that child. When a society only looks for more examples of people who should say "no" to life, then that society is doomed and will die.
Speaking of birds, did you know that the cardinal has two and up to three broods a year?! They never rest! They have one of the first fledglings of spring, then have a summer brood, and if the season is long enough and food is plentiful they will even have a third nesting and offspring before winter. Talk about saying "yes" to life!!!
One of my favorite "every day" birds is the mourning dove. It is called that because of its plaintive call. They are a commonly found bird, and they've been residents where I lived in NY, in NJ, in CT, in AZ and here in MS. When one hikes in the desert one hears their call, and it's welcome company. Pairs stay very close together. They are simply sweet birds.
When I had my house in NJ I had a large backyard and on an outside wall bracket that was about three feet up from the ground was looped the garden hose in case I needed to water by hand. But usually there was ample rain and so the hose would be undisturbed for weeks or months. One day I walked outside and to my total amazement a mourning dove had laid about a dozen sticks on top of the looped hose and had laid an egg. Now there was no way that the egg or nest could last there because it would roll off in the slightest breeze, and it was only about three feet above the ground, in easy reach of the many cats and squirrels. But she came and sat on it and I left her and her mate alone and sure enough the nest did not last (I had taken some photographs though, and they should be still be packed in my storage unit). Mourning doves are very serious nesters but nest in the most simple and haphazard nest arrangements. They are very unlike birds who nest in difficult to see or reach locations, or who develop fantastic works of architecture for their nest, like daub and wattle or woven basket structures. Yet as I said, even though this nest failed, the mourning doves are everywhere and thrive.
If I was as censorious as some I know, would I not have said, "Oh what a stupid bird and such a poor mother! She deserved not to have that egg." Of course not, that would be idiotic. The mourning dove's loud and persistent YES to life has rewarded it with being a ubiquitous bird all across this country in every terrain from back yard suburb to wetlands edges to desert. I saw several pairs in my usual drive today to and from the store. The mourning dove is a bird that loves life and says yes to life even in the most unpromising situations, such as balanced on top of my garden hose loops exposed to the elements of wind, rain and predator. Is that being stupid or a bad parent or is that saying yes to life?
Society needs to restore its morality and the nurturing of even the most unsuitable parents. Sometimes the nurturing means to exercise tough love and enforce drug detoxification and taking away children from them. But the focus must always be on that child. When a society only looks for more examples of people who should say "no" to life, then that society is doomed and will die.
Speaking of birds, did you know that the cardinal has two and up to three broods a year?! They never rest! They have one of the first fledglings of spring, then have a summer brood, and if the season is long enough and food is plentiful they will even have a third nesting and offspring before winter. Talk about saying "yes" to life!!!
When famous and/or rich people die
Notice how few people comment on their assurance that he or she was alright with the Lord. Probably because they have no basis with which to have that assurance.
Compare that with the Sago mine disaster survivor who when he was out of coma and well enough to comprehend the events commented about his known to be devout, "average Joe" co-workers who perished, "I hope they were saved."
Compare that with the Sago mine disaster survivor who when he was out of coma and well enough to comprehend the events commented about his known to be devout, "average Joe" co-workers who perished, "I hope they were saved."
Am designing an abaya to sew for myself
Not sure which style yet, so I'm working on draping the fabric to see what flows best. The fabric is blue cotton floral pattern. It's a general design I envisioned having use for many years ago. I also bought a metallic blue fabric for the hood.
For around the house I've always preferred caftan or abaya long form-covering gowns with hoods. I like Gaza and Gulf styles. One in deep blue with a hood and one silver antique button that I sewed in the 1980's I wore until it totally fell apart; it must have lasted at least 15 years.
For around the house I've always preferred caftan or abaya long form-covering gowns with hoods. I like Gaza and Gulf styles. One in deep blue with a hood and one silver antique button that I sewed in the 1980's I wore until it totally fell apart; it must have lasted at least 15 years.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Prayers for Progeria baby/family and all sufferers
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/03/17/international/i160029D89.DTL
snip
Baby Suffers From Rare 'Aging' Disease
(03-17) 16:00 PDT Frankfort, Ky. (AP) --
If he's lucky, Zach Pickard will live past the age of 13. Zach, now 13 months old, suffers from Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome, a disease that accelerates the aging process when the child is 18-24 months old.
Children with this syndrome die of heart disease at an average age of 13 after aging at a rate six to eight times faster than an average person. Approximately 100 cases have been formally identified in medical history and the odds of being diagnosed with it are roughly one in 8 million.
snip
"We realized God had chosen to bless us with this baby. And we are honored. Truly honored," Tina Pickard said.
Right now, Zach is young enough that he isn't showing many physical symptoms. As he grows, however, the recognizable traits of Progeria will begin to show up: limited growth resulting in a short stature, hair loss, a small face, thin skin and a loss of body fat.
Now, the Pickards are trying to raise money and awareness of the rare disease that afflicts Zach.
snip
Because heart disease is the number one killer in America, finding a cure will not only help children like Zach, but it may provide keys for treating millions of adults with heart disease and stroke associated with the natural aging process.
Researchers recently discovered the cause of Progeria in 2002. They believe it is caused by a mutation in the gene called LMNA, which makes the Lamin A protein. The defective Lamin A protein renders the nucleus of a cell unstable and that cellular instability appears to lead to the process of premature aging.
Zach's aunt, Kristin Pickard, organized a recent fundraiser in Frankfort, with the money going to the Progeria Research Foundation. Tina Pickard hopes that through this fundraiser, more people can know and understand the disease.
***
I post this to extend my prayers to this good family, to other sufferers of this disease, and all families and individuals who struggle with an illness, especially one that is a great challenge, a burden, or a mystery. I encourage readers to focus some attention and resources toward the Progeria Research Foundation.
To researchers, this is where medicine can make a difference. Here is how you need to look at it philosophically. When a mutation like this occurs it is part of the history of mutations that spring up in both humans/animals and plants. Random mutations are caused by the environment and are a survival trait. Imagine in this case if there was a survival advantage for babies or cubs to grow up very quickly. Suppose the environment had changed so that the young were at a food gathering disadvantage. What is an illness in Progeria nowadays could, and did, play out as a sudden environmental advantage that springs into being in one person or animal, and if it gave a tremendous advantage, it would have been rewarded by better survival and thus pass on the mutation to offspring. But with as humans have evolved so that mutations no longer convey a survival advantage, each of these becomes rather than a saving grace mutation for the whole species, a great burden and mystery for the individual and their family. So in the evolutionary context, Progeria is like a "suggestion" delivered randomly to see if the recipient suddenly has a survival advantage. So this mutation is like if millions of years ago for some reason circumstances changed so that human babies could not be sustained during a long childhood, and/or the land could not sustain the long life of humans for some reason. This mutation could have changed the course of human history where babies aged tremendously rapidly, people as a whole lived many years less in lifespan, but they survived through this imaginary crisis that we are using for the purpose of explanation where the environment changed so that long childhood/long adult lifespans could not be sustained.
I thought I'd take a little time to explain why these mutations take place in a metaphysical and theological context. This family is very brave and to be admired in their understanding. I hope this helps. God would "want" researchers to do all ethical research that they can to mitigate and perhaps someday cure mutations that are now evolutionarily "unnecessary" when they occur in a person like this sweet baby. People don't want mutations to never happen, because life and the hospitality of this planet is unpredictable, and mutations continue to give plants and animals possible advantage when the environment changes radically. So researchers and their supporters need to understand that the focus should be on understanding the particular mutation, as they are doing in this example, and explore ways to reverse it, bypass it, substitute another pathway, or some mitigating gene therapy. It's a huge challenge. God bless all who try.
snip
Baby Suffers From Rare 'Aging' Disease
(03-17) 16:00 PDT Frankfort, Ky. (AP) --
If he's lucky, Zach Pickard will live past the age of 13. Zach, now 13 months old, suffers from Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome, a disease that accelerates the aging process when the child is 18-24 months old.
Children with this syndrome die of heart disease at an average age of 13 after aging at a rate six to eight times faster than an average person. Approximately 100 cases have been formally identified in medical history and the odds of being diagnosed with it are roughly one in 8 million.
snip
"We realized God had chosen to bless us with this baby. And we are honored. Truly honored," Tina Pickard said.
Right now, Zach is young enough that he isn't showing many physical symptoms. As he grows, however, the recognizable traits of Progeria will begin to show up: limited growth resulting in a short stature, hair loss, a small face, thin skin and a loss of body fat.
Now, the Pickards are trying to raise money and awareness of the rare disease that afflicts Zach.
snip
Because heart disease is the number one killer in America, finding a cure will not only help children like Zach, but it may provide keys for treating millions of adults with heart disease and stroke associated with the natural aging process.
Researchers recently discovered the cause of Progeria in 2002. They believe it is caused by a mutation in the gene called LMNA, which makes the Lamin A protein. The defective Lamin A protein renders the nucleus of a cell unstable and that cellular instability appears to lead to the process of premature aging.
Zach's aunt, Kristin Pickard, organized a recent fundraiser in Frankfort, with the money going to the Progeria Research Foundation. Tina Pickard hopes that through this fundraiser, more people can know and understand the disease.
***
I post this to extend my prayers to this good family, to other sufferers of this disease, and all families and individuals who struggle with an illness, especially one that is a great challenge, a burden, or a mystery. I encourage readers to focus some attention and resources toward the Progeria Research Foundation.
To researchers, this is where medicine can make a difference. Here is how you need to look at it philosophically. When a mutation like this occurs it is part of the history of mutations that spring up in both humans/animals and plants. Random mutations are caused by the environment and are a survival trait. Imagine in this case if there was a survival advantage for babies or cubs to grow up very quickly. Suppose the environment had changed so that the young were at a food gathering disadvantage. What is an illness in Progeria nowadays could, and did, play out as a sudden environmental advantage that springs into being in one person or animal, and if it gave a tremendous advantage, it would have been rewarded by better survival and thus pass on the mutation to offspring. But with as humans have evolved so that mutations no longer convey a survival advantage, each of these becomes rather than a saving grace mutation for the whole species, a great burden and mystery for the individual and their family. So in the evolutionary context, Progeria is like a "suggestion" delivered randomly to see if the recipient suddenly has a survival advantage. So this mutation is like if millions of years ago for some reason circumstances changed so that human babies could not be sustained during a long childhood, and/or the land could not sustain the long life of humans for some reason. This mutation could have changed the course of human history where babies aged tremendously rapidly, people as a whole lived many years less in lifespan, but they survived through this imaginary crisis that we are using for the purpose of explanation where the environment changed so that long childhood/long adult lifespans could not be sustained.
I thought I'd take a little time to explain why these mutations take place in a metaphysical and theological context. This family is very brave and to be admired in their understanding. I hope this helps. God would "want" researchers to do all ethical research that they can to mitigate and perhaps someday cure mutations that are now evolutionarily "unnecessary" when they occur in a person like this sweet baby. People don't want mutations to never happen, because life and the hospitality of this planet is unpredictable, and mutations continue to give plants and animals possible advantage when the environment changes radically. So researchers and their supporters need to understand that the focus should be on understanding the particular mutation, as they are doing in this example, and explore ways to reverse it, bypass it, substitute another pathway, or some mitigating gene therapy. It's a huge challenge. God bless all who try.
Spiritual direction: Understanding the Popes
I need to now detox conspiracy theorists from their crazy theories about the untimely death of Pope John Paul I. This kindly man, the predecessor to Pope John Paul II, died after only about a month as pontiff. Since Popes are not given autopsies it is assumed he died of a heart attack or stroke (and that is indeed the case, I can assure you) but there is no medical report, obviously. So since this is the time of freak show New Age paranoia and conspiracy theories there are many who keep the suspicion toward the Vatican and Catholics in general churning through this innuendo and libel. Here is the healthy way to think of it.
Hardly a day goes by that a child doesn't fall dead in elementary school or high school. Sometimes this happens in a sports context, and sometimes it just happens in the class, walking down the hall, or in other routine activity. Can you think of something more shocking? Should not paranoids worry more about a child who is healthy who drops dead than a middle age or older man who has suddenly received one of the most stressful "jobs" in the world? Who are you more surprised by, an older, sedentary man who becomes Pope and has a heart attack or stroke, or a healthy 7 or 8 year old child who drops dead in school with no warning signs of a pre-existing medical condition? Yet obviously each child's death is examined and usually a medical reason is uncovered. Why are not the paranoids running around and creating blogs and websites of suspicion around every child who suddenly dies? Because they are not pursuing an agenda, therefore reality sinks in. If you are not carrying an axe to grind you are able to comprehend reality. A child drops dead and it's a tragedy, but because you don't have an axe to grind you accept that it is a tragedy, feel bad for the parents, maybe hug your own child a little closer that night, and move on. But a middle age or older man who happens to be the Pope drops dead upon having that very heavy mantle fallen upon his shoulders and out come the axes. Half is from people who hate Catholics, and half is from you own weak self hating Catholics. You "want" to find something nefarious in order to self aggrandize and weaken the faith in reflection of your own loss of dignity. That is what it really is about. Catholics, like many others, have lost their own self respect and dignity. Everything is a dirty soap opera to you. So some poor man of God who falls of a medical problem when he receives the mantle of St. Peter suddenly is the the object of the most disgusting and undignified fantasy about conspiracies and pagan spiritualism. *Slap* Snap out of it! Regain your brains and your dignity! Momentous and strange things happen all the time. Stop turning those that involve the Catholic Church into some freak show. There's not a day that goes by that someone's relative doesn't just fall dead of some undiagnosed or undetected existing medical condition. No one runs around saying it is a PTA conspiracy, or that the garden club had it in for him. Good grief, I do despair of humans. I hope this helps but I won't hold my breath about it.
Hardly a day goes by that a child doesn't fall dead in elementary school or high school. Sometimes this happens in a sports context, and sometimes it just happens in the class, walking down the hall, or in other routine activity. Can you think of something more shocking? Should not paranoids worry more about a child who is healthy who drops dead than a middle age or older man who has suddenly received one of the most stressful "jobs" in the world? Who are you more surprised by, an older, sedentary man who becomes Pope and has a heart attack or stroke, or a healthy 7 or 8 year old child who drops dead in school with no warning signs of a pre-existing medical condition? Yet obviously each child's death is examined and usually a medical reason is uncovered. Why are not the paranoids running around and creating blogs and websites of suspicion around every child who suddenly dies? Because they are not pursuing an agenda, therefore reality sinks in. If you are not carrying an axe to grind you are able to comprehend reality. A child drops dead and it's a tragedy, but because you don't have an axe to grind you accept that it is a tragedy, feel bad for the parents, maybe hug your own child a little closer that night, and move on. But a middle age or older man who happens to be the Pope drops dead upon having that very heavy mantle fallen upon his shoulders and out come the axes. Half is from people who hate Catholics, and half is from you own weak self hating Catholics. You "want" to find something nefarious in order to self aggrandize and weaken the faith in reflection of your own loss of dignity. That is what it really is about. Catholics, like many others, have lost their own self respect and dignity. Everything is a dirty soap opera to you. So some poor man of God who falls of a medical problem when he receives the mantle of St. Peter suddenly is the the object of the most disgusting and undignified fantasy about conspiracies and pagan spiritualism. *Slap* Snap out of it! Regain your brains and your dignity! Momentous and strange things happen all the time. Stop turning those that involve the Catholic Church into some freak show. There's not a day that goes by that someone's relative doesn't just fall dead of some undiagnosed or undetected existing medical condition. No one runs around saying it is a PTA conspiracy, or that the garden club had it in for him. Good grief, I do despair of humans. I hope this helps but I won't hold my breath about it.
Discussions of reverting/fall of civilization
Some of my favorite talk show hosts correctly worry about the decline of civilization. Around twenty years ago it was called "coarsening," because the signal for this was an increasing lack of day to day civility and an increase in coarse and vulgar behavior. I agreed that these were warning signs. Now these talk show hosts tend to use the primitive and fundamentalist, anti-social and anti-intellectual beliefs of terrorists as the example of what they fear "falling back to." While I condemn terrorism and encourage theological correction of terrorists I disagree they are the examples of "fall backs" and decline of civilization. There is no "going backwards" because Pandora's box has been opened and it would be a blessing, rather than a concern, if we could go back to even the most difficult and severe society (such as the Taliban are used as an example). Why do talk show hosts not need to worry that we will "fall back" to a primitive and erroneous model such as the Taliban? Because Pandora's box has opened the reality of a society that has groomed and endorsed people capable of raping their own newborn infants, as they cry and bleed, often to death, and film the assaults to share over the Internet and for private pervert viewing. The most primitive society with even the most horrendous behaviors had not the total collapse in morals OR the technology/material temptations to even support the idea of looking at a baby, their own baby, and seeing a f*** hole. Now it is impossible to do a news search on any given day and not read about a parent or family acquaintance who has beaten, tortured or raped a baby to death or permanent scarring. And there are dozens of examples of an entire caste of pedophiles who crave newborns, infants, toddlers, boys, girls, animals, you name it. They not only rape and murder but they film and share like it's some sort of book club.
Everyone has been contaminated. Just ask a law enforcement official who has to set up sting operations, or view this material for prosecution. You cannot know about these actions and not be changed in a way that society has NEVER seen. So stop wasting time thinking that everyone might "fall back" to "having to cover yourself and worship Allah" if we don't "defeat the terrorists." Terrorism is a crime and an error in theology. It's not a hallmark of what humans can "fall back to." Humans have already fallen far below what they ever were at their lowest. The mere fact I can type a blog posting like this and you can read it and think, "Yeah, I know" means it's too late to "fall back." A "fallen back" human would have grabbed a club or sword and slain on the spot someone who raped a baby as an abomination. Not a criminal, not a mentally disabled, but an abomination. I'm not saying to do vigilante justice. I'm giving you a self-test so you can believe me when I say that humans can never "go back" to where they were, even primitively. They have passed a depravity threshold.
When God appeared to Isaiah he insisted that he was unworthy to be contacted by God because "he had unclean lips among a people of unclean lips." (See Isaiah 6, where the angel remedies his concern by purifying his lips with a burning coal from the altar of God). The point is that this extremely holy prophet of God immediately recognized that simply having to speak and live among speakers of unclean things renders one unworthy of speaking to God, even when God is the one to approach him first. The first Psalm also warns that it is dangerous to live among the sinners and unclean. Well, thanks to the media and hedonistic liberalism everyone is now "infected." No one's brains react toward depravity with the moral outrage that is essential for human survival. Moral outrage is a species survival trait. Moral outrage is like being able to tell poison on one's plate from safe food. It's really too late because the ability to feel moral outrage has been lost in large segments of the population, and those who do still feel it have been rendered helpless. The problem is now damage control so that this new depravity mental wiring does not conquer everyone and seal the fate of everyone of goodness and innocence. So stop worrying about "falling back" to some "primitive theocracy"... trust me, that would have been a better place to restart from than where "humanity" finds itself now. The depravity is brought lower and lower and earlier and earlier to the youngest of children through the media and through "sex education" and other "well meaning" saturations that totally orient even the youngest, and turn the minds of the perverts, toward unclean acts and thoughts that the decent people have to swim within like a broken sewage system. This never existed before in human history. The most hedonistic cities (like Sodom) never dreamed of raping their own babies and creating porn "art" from it to share. No one's brains even conceived of such depravity. A line has been crossed that is a horror that cannot be compared to any past horror during human's history.
Everyone has been contaminated. Just ask a law enforcement official who has to set up sting operations, or view this material for prosecution. You cannot know about these actions and not be changed in a way that society has NEVER seen. So stop wasting time thinking that everyone might "fall back" to "having to cover yourself and worship Allah" if we don't "defeat the terrorists." Terrorism is a crime and an error in theology. It's not a hallmark of what humans can "fall back to." Humans have already fallen far below what they ever were at their lowest. The mere fact I can type a blog posting like this and you can read it and think, "Yeah, I know" means it's too late to "fall back." A "fallen back" human would have grabbed a club or sword and slain on the spot someone who raped a baby as an abomination. Not a criminal, not a mentally disabled, but an abomination. I'm not saying to do vigilante justice. I'm giving you a self-test so you can believe me when I say that humans can never "go back" to where they were, even primitively. They have passed a depravity threshold.
When God appeared to Isaiah he insisted that he was unworthy to be contacted by God because "he had unclean lips among a people of unclean lips." (See Isaiah 6, where the angel remedies his concern by purifying his lips with a burning coal from the altar of God). The point is that this extremely holy prophet of God immediately recognized that simply having to speak and live among speakers of unclean things renders one unworthy of speaking to God, even when God is the one to approach him first. The first Psalm also warns that it is dangerous to live among the sinners and unclean. Well, thanks to the media and hedonistic liberalism everyone is now "infected." No one's brains react toward depravity with the moral outrage that is essential for human survival. Moral outrage is a species survival trait. Moral outrage is like being able to tell poison on one's plate from safe food. It's really too late because the ability to feel moral outrage has been lost in large segments of the population, and those who do still feel it have been rendered helpless. The problem is now damage control so that this new depravity mental wiring does not conquer everyone and seal the fate of everyone of goodness and innocence. So stop worrying about "falling back" to some "primitive theocracy"... trust me, that would have been a better place to restart from than where "humanity" finds itself now. The depravity is brought lower and lower and earlier and earlier to the youngest of children through the media and through "sex education" and other "well meaning" saturations that totally orient even the youngest, and turn the minds of the perverts, toward unclean acts and thoughts that the decent people have to swim within like a broken sewage system. This never existed before in human history. The most hedonistic cities (like Sodom) never dreamed of raping their own babies and creating porn "art" from it to share. No one's brains even conceived of such depravity. A line has been crossed that is a horror that cannot be compared to any past horror during human's history.
Wearing of the green
Happy St. Patrick's Day, though it's not so much a saintly day anymore.
It's tradition to wear something green. My ex-husband and I liked to joke that I'd wear my emerald ring on St. Patrick's Day, which I did. It's a ring that I bought myself when it caught my eye on the way to work. I bought it in the bottom level of shops in the World Trade Center.
I really loved that ring. It was a flower shape, with 7 petals each an exquisite color emerald. The center was a perfect little diamond.
Well, I divorced in 1993 but my friends all knew the joke of my "wearing of the green (ring)" on St. Patrick's Day, so the wry humor continued each year until 1999. In February of 1999 my house was burglarized while I was at work and all my valuable jewelry stolen, including not only that ring, but the ring that belonged to my dead father. My poor old dog was traumatized and hurt but thankfully not killed.
I thought about that ring when the World Trade Center fell.
And I think about it on St. Patrick's Day. And how now I could not even afford the ring box to put it in, say nothing of a ring like that one. And my father's ring is irreplacable; one that belonged to my mother was also stolen. The only valuable jewelry not taken, but fingered, were the crosses and crucifixes.
It's tradition to wear something green. My ex-husband and I liked to joke that I'd wear my emerald ring on St. Patrick's Day, which I did. It's a ring that I bought myself when it caught my eye on the way to work. I bought it in the bottom level of shops in the World Trade Center.
I really loved that ring. It was a flower shape, with 7 petals each an exquisite color emerald. The center was a perfect little diamond.
Well, I divorced in 1993 but my friends all knew the joke of my "wearing of the green (ring)" on St. Patrick's Day, so the wry humor continued each year until 1999. In February of 1999 my house was burglarized while I was at work and all my valuable jewelry stolen, including not only that ring, but the ring that belonged to my dead father. My poor old dog was traumatized and hurt but thankfully not killed.
I thought about that ring when the World Trade Center fell.
And I think about it on St. Patrick's Day. And how now I could not even afford the ring box to put it in, say nothing of a ring like that one. And my father's ring is irreplacable; one that belonged to my mother was also stolen. The only valuable jewelry not taken, but fingered, were the crosses and crucifixes.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
20 years since gas attack in Iraq killed villagers
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F6B0D713-9330-4466-82ED-7D208EE86E95.htm
snip
Iraqi Kurds remember the deaths of 5,000 villagers killed 20 years ago in chemical attacks in Halabja blamed on Saddam Hussein's forces during the Iran-Iraq war.
Kurdish villagers dressed in black to mark the anniversary of March 16, 1988.
Ceremonies were also held in Baghdad, the capital, and the main Kurdish city of Arbil.
Victims' families also used Sunday's anniversary to renew their demands for compensation and to demand that those behind the killings be hanged.
Suad Hassan, 50, a Halabja resident, said: "My three brothers and parents died in the attacks. I am the only survivor from my family."
"We want compensation and we also demand that Ali Hassan al-Majid be executed in Halabja."
Majid was sentenced to death by an Iraqi court last year, charged with genocide and found guilty of overseeing the killing of 180,000 Kurds in the 1988 Anfal campaign. Legal arguments have delayed his execution.
Some Kurds, who still see a higher cancer rate and other health problems 20 years later, are also demanding that the companies which supplied the Iraqi government with chemical weapons be sued.
Ahmed Abdallah, 75, a villager, said: "My nine children died in the attacks. I had six daughters and three sons. We want the company which supplied the gas to be prosecuted."
snip
Ali al-Dabbagh, an Iraqi government spokesman, said Iraq had plans to seek compensation from companies and countries which supplied chemicals.
"We are also approaching the United Nations to declare March 16 as an international day against chemical arms," al-Dabbagh said in a statement.
***
I was outraged when this happened, and wondered why everyone in the western sphere was so silent about Saddam's evils then.
I fully support the proposal to declare March 16 as an International Day Against Chemical Arms. It's something that both liberal and conservative hypocrites should be able to support, one would think.
snip
Iraqi Kurds remember the deaths of 5,000 villagers killed 20 years ago in chemical attacks in Halabja blamed on Saddam Hussein's forces during the Iran-Iraq war.
Kurdish villagers dressed in black to mark the anniversary of March 16, 1988.
Ceremonies were also held in Baghdad, the capital, and the main Kurdish city of Arbil.
Victims' families also used Sunday's anniversary to renew their demands for compensation and to demand that those behind the killings be hanged.
Suad Hassan, 50, a Halabja resident, said: "My three brothers and parents died in the attacks. I am the only survivor from my family."
"We want compensation and we also demand that Ali Hassan al-Majid be executed in Halabja."
Majid was sentenced to death by an Iraqi court last year, charged with genocide and found guilty of overseeing the killing of 180,000 Kurds in the 1988 Anfal campaign. Legal arguments have delayed his execution.
Some Kurds, who still see a higher cancer rate and other health problems 20 years later, are also demanding that the companies which supplied the Iraqi government with chemical weapons be sued.
Ahmed Abdallah, 75, a villager, said: "My nine children died in the attacks. I had six daughters and three sons. We want the company which supplied the gas to be prosecuted."
snip
Ali al-Dabbagh, an Iraqi government spokesman, said Iraq had plans to seek compensation from companies and countries which supplied chemicals.
"We are also approaching the United Nations to declare March 16 as an international day against chemical arms," al-Dabbagh said in a statement.
***
I was outraged when this happened, and wondered why everyone in the western sphere was so silent about Saddam's evils then.
I fully support the proposal to declare March 16 as an International Day Against Chemical Arms. It's something that both liberal and conservative hypocrites should be able to support, one would think.
"The Prophet's Responsibility" excellent
This is an excellent commentary and applies to both Muslim and Christian believers/unbelievers. The author has done a superlative job and fully understands this topic and God's will.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=5§ion=0&article=107833&d=17&m=3&y=2008&pix=islam.jpg&category=Islam
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=5§ion=0&article=107833&d=17&m=3&y=2008&pix=islam.jpg&category=Islam
Displaced Iraqi families have NOTHING
http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=6483
And then read this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7299914.stm
***
That d*** conflict. What an unbelievable shame and mess. How could people have been so stupid and irresponsible 5 years ago???
And then read this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7299914.stm
***
That d*** conflict. What an unbelievable shame and mess. How could people have been so stupid and irresponsible 5 years ago???
I appreciate and thank media in Islamic countries
Who have carried coverage of Pope Benedict's Palm Sunday message. I am always appreciative and moved when I read coverage that allows mutual affection and respect for the messages that Christ brought. Peace and blessings to the Christian and the Islamic faithful.
http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-22/0803165445195201.htm
http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-22/0803165445195201.htm
Woman torn/hooked apart as buses race
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080317/jsp/frontpage/story_9029243.jsp
snip
Bus race rips arm and life
A STAFF REPORTER
Barasat, March 16: Uma Maity’s arm was ripped off from her elbow and two rods pierced her throat and temple as the bus she was travelling to work in raced another this morning.
For a few minutes after her arm fell on the road below, the 47-year-old widow screamed in pain. Then she died.
“We have seized both the buses. We have launched a search for the drivers of both buses who have escaped,” said Supratim Sarkar, the North 24-Parganas superintendent of police. The drivers have been charged with “culpable homicide not amounting to murder”, he added.
snip
Bus race rips arm and life
A STAFF REPORTER
Barasat, March 16: Uma Maity’s arm was ripped off from her elbow and two rods pierced her throat and temple as the bus she was travelling to work in raced another this morning.
For a few minutes after her arm fell on the road below, the 47-year-old widow screamed in pain. Then she died.
“We have seized both the buses. We have launched a search for the drivers of both buses who have escaped,” said Supratim Sarkar, the North 24-Parganas superintendent of police. The drivers have been charged with “culpable homicide not amounting to murder”, he added.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Qatar press report of new church consecration
A really nice and thorough report, with a photo of the celebrants inside the church. Gratitude once again to the Qatar government who granted the land and permission for this and subsequent Christian churches to be built.
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=207520&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16
A good picture with this article:
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/513789-thousands-attend-first-mass-at-qatari-church?ln=en
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=207520&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16
A good picture with this article:
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/513789-thousands-attend-first-mass-at-qatari-church?ln=en
Friday, March 14, 2008
Picture of adorable newly hatched rare kiwi bird
This is so cute! The baby was hatched March 7
http://www.livescience.com/imageoftheday/siod_080313.html
http://www.livescience.com/imageoftheday/siod_080313.html
In case you are wondering my treatment approach
Some probably think what a smarty pants I am, so what would I actually do if I were the therapist? For example, how would I have treated the woman who was Jung's patient who thought she has lived on the moon. Obviously I don't know the facts beyond this anecdotal story of the type and extent of her illness and other symptoms. But here is what I would do if I were presented with a woman who, due to mental illness, felt she had been on the moon. I would treat her as if she had indeed been on the moon and then guide her through behavior and cognitive therapy that would utilize the model that she is now fully "relocating" to earth. I'd have her intercept thoughts about her moon experiences with thoughts about how she's packing away photos she took of those times, for example, as she's now fully living in her apartment (or clinic) here on earth. Whenever a moon event would arise in her mind I would incorporate it into her doing both mental and real activities that relate to her making a "permanent change in residence" here on earth. For example, she could use art therapy to draw her "moon passport" and her "earth passport" and then work on canceling and filing away the moon passport since she will no longer need it. So while she would be having the mainstream treatment for whatever her baseline illness is (e.g. schizophrenia) I would transition her behavior and cognition from the delusional ones to the reality using tools such as envisioning her relocating to earth.
Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.
Explanation of Carl Jung breakthrough treatment
When Jung first interned and practiced medicine people who were “insane” were considered to be just babbling and what they actually said was never attended to. While Freud had already invented psychoanalysis or what’s called “the talking cure,” it was a tool used for people with mild issues or neuroses. No one really dreamed of using a talking cure with a severely mentally disabled and institutionalized patient. One of the most famous and seminal episodes in Jung’s first days as a doctor was when he encountered an institutionalized schizophrenic woman who insisted she was from the moon and had, obviously, been on the moon. To the astonishment of his colleagues Jung engaged her in therapeutic dialogue and accepted “as fact” that she had been on the moon. Jung explains in his writings that the way the conscious and unconscious mind works, this woman was providing valuable and “true” information to be used for her own therapy. A patient who states and lives within such a reality of belief has to be treated within the context of the very real impact that this belief has on their psyche and prognosis.
Here is a modern day example. When a soldier comes back from war, often he or she has post traumatic stress disorder. One symptom of PTSD is frequent flash backs occurring in either dreams while asleep or while awake. Years ago studies were done that demonstrated that each incidence of dreaming one is back in battle is the same physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually as if the service person had actually been transported back to battle in reality. In other words, every dream or flashback is another “dose” of the traumatizing event, just as if the event had in fact happened again. Therapists who are very “venting” oriented may make a serious error by minimizing as “natural” repeats in the imagination of the traumatizing events. This is not “letting it out” but actually reinforcing and repeating the event as if it was actually, physically in reality taking place again. Further, a person who dreams of a traumatizing or violent event over and over will have changes made to them even if they have actually never experienced that event even once in personal reality. Thus a civilian who had never seen war but who dreams of battle over and over can and will be traumatized with PTSD even if they never had been a soldier in fact. The dreams and imaginings will change the brain, spirit and body chemistry in such as way as if the person was actually thrust into battle over and over.
So Jung was the first to recognize that a woman who believed she lived on the moon and had been there several times “really has been there.” Her body and mental reality would be shaped by her “experiences on the moon.” Therefore Jung applied psychoanalytical practices to this patient and others like her, treating their perceived experiences as if they were real because for all intents and purposes of therapy they WERE real experiences to the patient.
Nowadays an idiot New Ager would conclude that the woman was an “alien,” or “was trying to remember past lives,” or “had a strong lunar position afflicted in their astrology chart.” Good grief. Malpractice would be too mild a word for this. That is like treating the soldier by saying that instead of being traumatized in Iraq, he or she had “an afflicted Mars in their chart,” or was a “reincarnated soldier in Napoleon’s army.” Somewhere along the line popular thought has become unhinged and can’t even comprehend that “it is what it is.” As my neighbor would say about such people, “They don’t remember that two plus two equals four.”
When I worked with crazed New Agers who actually are paid lots of money to be “therapists,” they were terrified of actually listening to the dream of a person with a serious mental disorder, such as schizophrenia. They have rejected not only Jung but also Freud, for such people, and have bought into the pill popping culture of the insurance companies and entertainment media. They peed in their pants or skirts at the thought of my listening to and analyzing the dreams of any of my “clients” (we can’t call them patients because that would imply they are sick, duh). Even my personal Jungian analyst dragged out stupid reincarnation books for me (that was one of my first big clues about the New Age and Gnostic stalker cabal), forgetting Jung’s own teaching that reality is reality and nothing more. So I did listen to the dreams of “clients,” even those with schizophrenia. I cannot describe the relief and palliative effects that they experienced when their dreams and experiences were treated with dignity and reality and analyzed and explained accordingly. Whether they thought they saw Jesus or whether they had traumatic or embarrassing dreams, those are their realities and need to be treated as such because their bodies and their minds sure react and conform as if those events were reality. So dreams and hallucinations are important to heed and not to go to either extreme of: discarding/forbidding/shutting them off as “ravings” or elevating them as symbols of some fruity cultic worship that will do even more harm to the patient. The last thing a patient who dreams of war repeatedly needs is to be treated as if he was a reincarnated soldier in Napoleon’s army. The second to the last thing the patient needs is to be encouraged to keep “venting” because it is “healthy” to keep remembering and repeating trauma and then drugging it into submission. One must medicate to remove the pain so that one can treat. I cannot believe what poor, little or no treatments that our Iraq and Afghanistan service people are receiving, for example. Every repeat they have of their trauma is as if the trauma has actually occurred once again. But what do I know, I’m not a licensed social worker or part of the pseudo medical elite.
Anyway, I thought I’d share this famous breakthrough of Jung’s and explain it as it really is, rather than some of the mythology that has grown up around it. Jung has quite incorrectly become the poster child for depraved liberal New Age Gnostic “values” and the baby papa of every moon calf that is running around ruining medicine today. Moderation and reality have been thrown out the window in far too many places in modern society and as a result wounds are not healing… they are becoming infected instead. People with severe illness need to be institutionalized and treated with appropriate REAL remedies and therapies. People have not only removed the safe container of places of healing but they have also mainstreamed snake oil and charms along with pills as “therapy.” It’s unbelievable. The damage is far beyond what anyone can imagine. Ugh. *Sigh.*
I don’t want to leave a blog posting on a negative note, though I must be a straight shooter about what is really going on or the fall for everyone is going to be long, hard and unrecoverable. So the positive that I want to give you to consider, and the reason I told this Jung story, is that the body and the mind want to heal and do give accurate signals on their face value of what is wrong. There is no mystery or double meaning. When a woman feels she has been on the moon, she “has” been on the “moon.” When a person dreams about traumatic events there are “in” those events and need to be treated accordingly. They need to be treated at face value because their minds, bodies and spirit are telling the therapist what they are experiencing in the here and now in truth, and not in some goofy sci-fi fantasy symbolic Gnostic world. A dream grenade is a virtual reality of a physical grenade. It is not an anagram for a “deer nag” and thus the sufferer is found to be a reincarnated pushy antelope. *Rolls eyes.* I wish I were joking or exaggerating but as many of you know first hand I am actually understating the problem, sadly.
Here is a modern day example. When a soldier comes back from war, often he or she has post traumatic stress disorder. One symptom of PTSD is frequent flash backs occurring in either dreams while asleep or while awake. Years ago studies were done that demonstrated that each incidence of dreaming one is back in battle is the same physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually as if the service person had actually been transported back to battle in reality. In other words, every dream or flashback is another “dose” of the traumatizing event, just as if the event had in fact happened again. Therapists who are very “venting” oriented may make a serious error by minimizing as “natural” repeats in the imagination of the traumatizing events. This is not “letting it out” but actually reinforcing and repeating the event as if it was actually, physically in reality taking place again. Further, a person who dreams of a traumatizing or violent event over and over will have changes made to them even if they have actually never experienced that event even once in personal reality. Thus a civilian who had never seen war but who dreams of battle over and over can and will be traumatized with PTSD even if they never had been a soldier in fact. The dreams and imaginings will change the brain, spirit and body chemistry in such as way as if the person was actually thrust into battle over and over.
So Jung was the first to recognize that a woman who believed she lived on the moon and had been there several times “really has been there.” Her body and mental reality would be shaped by her “experiences on the moon.” Therefore Jung applied psychoanalytical practices to this patient and others like her, treating their perceived experiences as if they were real because for all intents and purposes of therapy they WERE real experiences to the patient.
Nowadays an idiot New Ager would conclude that the woman was an “alien,” or “was trying to remember past lives,” or “had a strong lunar position afflicted in their astrology chart.” Good grief. Malpractice would be too mild a word for this. That is like treating the soldier by saying that instead of being traumatized in Iraq, he or she had “an afflicted Mars in their chart,” or was a “reincarnated soldier in Napoleon’s army.” Somewhere along the line popular thought has become unhinged and can’t even comprehend that “it is what it is.” As my neighbor would say about such people, “They don’t remember that two plus two equals four.”
When I worked with crazed New Agers who actually are paid lots of money to be “therapists,” they were terrified of actually listening to the dream of a person with a serious mental disorder, such as schizophrenia. They have rejected not only Jung but also Freud, for such people, and have bought into the pill popping culture of the insurance companies and entertainment media. They peed in their pants or skirts at the thought of my listening to and analyzing the dreams of any of my “clients” (we can’t call them patients because that would imply they are sick, duh). Even my personal Jungian analyst dragged out stupid reincarnation books for me (that was one of my first big clues about the New Age and Gnostic stalker cabal), forgetting Jung’s own teaching that reality is reality and nothing more. So I did listen to the dreams of “clients,” even those with schizophrenia. I cannot describe the relief and palliative effects that they experienced when their dreams and experiences were treated with dignity and reality and analyzed and explained accordingly. Whether they thought they saw Jesus or whether they had traumatic or embarrassing dreams, those are their realities and need to be treated as such because their bodies and their minds sure react and conform as if those events were reality. So dreams and hallucinations are important to heed and not to go to either extreme of: discarding/forbidding/shutting them off as “ravings” or elevating them as symbols of some fruity cultic worship that will do even more harm to the patient. The last thing a patient who dreams of war repeatedly needs is to be treated as if he was a reincarnated soldier in Napoleon’s army. The second to the last thing the patient needs is to be encouraged to keep “venting” because it is “healthy” to keep remembering and repeating trauma and then drugging it into submission. One must medicate to remove the pain so that one can treat. I cannot believe what poor, little or no treatments that our Iraq and Afghanistan service people are receiving, for example. Every repeat they have of their trauma is as if the trauma has actually occurred once again. But what do I know, I’m not a licensed social worker or part of the pseudo medical elite.
Anyway, I thought I’d share this famous breakthrough of Jung’s and explain it as it really is, rather than some of the mythology that has grown up around it. Jung has quite incorrectly become the poster child for depraved liberal New Age Gnostic “values” and the baby papa of every moon calf that is running around ruining medicine today. Moderation and reality have been thrown out the window in far too many places in modern society and as a result wounds are not healing… they are becoming infected instead. People with severe illness need to be institutionalized and treated with appropriate REAL remedies and therapies. People have not only removed the safe container of places of healing but they have also mainstreamed snake oil and charms along with pills as “therapy.” It’s unbelievable. The damage is far beyond what anyone can imagine. Ugh. *Sigh.*
I don’t want to leave a blog posting on a negative note, though I must be a straight shooter about what is really going on or the fall for everyone is going to be long, hard and unrecoverable. So the positive that I want to give you to consider, and the reason I told this Jung story, is that the body and the mind want to heal and do give accurate signals on their face value of what is wrong. There is no mystery or double meaning. When a woman feels she has been on the moon, she “has” been on the “moon.” When a person dreams about traumatic events there are “in” those events and need to be treated accordingly. They need to be treated at face value because their minds, bodies and spirit are telling the therapist what they are experiencing in the here and now in truth, and not in some goofy sci-fi fantasy symbolic Gnostic world. A dream grenade is a virtual reality of a physical grenade. It is not an anagram for a “deer nag” and thus the sufferer is found to be a reincarnated pushy antelope. *Rolls eyes.* I wish I were joking or exaggerating but as many of you know first hand I am actually understating the problem, sadly.
More Devotional Art Ideas
I blogged a while back about how I enjoy making triptychs based on holy themes, and suggest this as a great, easy and thrifty activity to do with children. Here is more about what I’ve been working on and thus some ideas; although I’m sure you have many of your own.
I just did a triptych of Pope John Paul II and I love how it came out. I bought at Wal-Mart a gallery style frame for 3 4x6” photos. I printed 3 photos of JP in the vertical orientation. The first photo is of him leaning on his crosier, eyes shut, when he was older and ailing but still absorbed in prayer. The middle photo is a photo of the younger and strong JP performing the Elevation of the Host in a beautiful monstrance. The third photo is one that had become very well known. It shows the extremely ailing Pope during Mass sprinkling holy water while reading the liturgy while being supported by an aide at one elbow, out of view of the photo, but on the left being observed by the concerned (and ready to intercede) Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. The impact of these three photos is very powerful. I have the framed gallery of photos sitting on an artist easel where I can see it while I’m using this computer.
At Dollar General today I bought a gallery frame for six 4x6” photographs. I made the theme of that display “devotion and piety.” The photos are from top left to right Pope Benedict XVI kneeling in prayer, Cardinal Sean in Boston carrying a candle on the St. Francis feast day, and Archbishop Burke at prayer in his residential chapel. From left to right on the bottom row are a photo of a woman prone in front of the altar in a church in the Holy Land, a brother kneeling in prayer in his room at St. Joseph’s Friary in the Bronx, and an old holy card of a girl child praying before the cross before going to bed. I love how this gallery came out. It would be a wonderful arrangement for a child’s room. It is dark in a comforting way as these are representations of men and a child at prayer in the darkness of their rooms or in a church, and is a great “nighty night” kind of picture for a young child.
When I was a kid and parents decorated a child’s room there were not the hundred percent emphases on an entertainment theme as there is today. While parents would select a theme suitable for children there would also be a crucifix and holy pictures too. This is crucial for young children to be properly formed in love of the Lord. So while I love decorating a child’s nursery or room with a theme (an acquaintance of mine once did a room totally in “the cow jumped over the moon” for her twins, which I thought was creative) there should also be ample representation of the Lord. Children learn that God loves them and to trust him by parents teaching, for example, the child to say “nighty night” to Jesus before bed and knowing Jesus is watching over them. This is why photos of people at prayer before going to bed is also an ideal devotional art form for a young child’s room, especially when they are in their “afraid of the dark” phase.
I’m now collecting photos of antique and current scenes in Syria, a country of which I am very fond. I also have the photos for a triptych of Pope Paul VI.
And I am working on a gallery frame of four 4x6” photos of St Peter the Apostle and Jesus. One of my favorite paintings is a Dutch school of Jesus handing the keys to Peter, so I have that on top in horizontal layout. To the right of it is a painting of St. Peter in vertical layout as he holds the keys and looks heavenward. On the bottom left I have in vertical layout a painting of Jesus walking on water and putting out his hand to rescue the sinking St. Peter. And I’m now going to browse to find a suitable horizontal layout photo for the fourth place in the frame.
I bought two of the above four photo format frames from Dollar General. I just completed one in the theme of “Jesus Christ first priest.” The first photo top left is a church mosaic of Jesus with the Eucharist and chalice. Top right is a black and white holy card of Jesus crowning a priest as the priest performs the elevation of the chalice. Bottom left is a holy card that shows Jesus as priest overlooking a consecration of priests. And the bottom right is a photo of Cardinal Pell raising his arms in front and over the chalice during the celebration of the Mass.
Other obvious ideas for a child’s room would be the theme of the baby Jesus, Jesus as shepherd with lambs (you could include a great photo of the Pope blessing the lambs on the feast of St. Agnes for use in weaving the paliums.
Other ideas, ones that I am working on, include using a six photo frame to create a kind of virtual representation of a specific church building or room. Redemptoris Mater is a Vatican chapel with the most amazing floor to ceiling paintings in the most vivid colors and I’m working on collecting good representations of the walls and close ups of scenes. I’d like to put together a gallery that arranges the photos in a virtual representation of the actual chapel layout. If I had had my head about me back when I visited the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul back in 1995 I would have photographed each wall in order to have created such a virtual reality layout of that amazing place of Christian (and Islam) worship. So when you visit a shrine or a church you might want to photograph layouts with this idea in mind. Hope you find these ideas interesting and inspires your own devotional creativity!
I just did a triptych of Pope John Paul II and I love how it came out. I bought at Wal-Mart a gallery style frame for 3 4x6” photos. I printed 3 photos of JP in the vertical orientation. The first photo is of him leaning on his crosier, eyes shut, when he was older and ailing but still absorbed in prayer. The middle photo is a photo of the younger and strong JP performing the Elevation of the Host in a beautiful monstrance. The third photo is one that had become very well known. It shows the extremely ailing Pope during Mass sprinkling holy water while reading the liturgy while being supported by an aide at one elbow, out of view of the photo, but on the left being observed by the concerned (and ready to intercede) Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. The impact of these three photos is very powerful. I have the framed gallery of photos sitting on an artist easel where I can see it while I’m using this computer.
At Dollar General today I bought a gallery frame for six 4x6” photographs. I made the theme of that display “devotion and piety.” The photos are from top left to right Pope Benedict XVI kneeling in prayer, Cardinal Sean in Boston carrying a candle on the St. Francis feast day, and Archbishop Burke at prayer in his residential chapel. From left to right on the bottom row are a photo of a woman prone in front of the altar in a church in the Holy Land, a brother kneeling in prayer in his room at St. Joseph’s Friary in the Bronx, and an old holy card of a girl child praying before the cross before going to bed. I love how this gallery came out. It would be a wonderful arrangement for a child’s room. It is dark in a comforting way as these are representations of men and a child at prayer in the darkness of their rooms or in a church, and is a great “nighty night” kind of picture for a young child.
When I was a kid and parents decorated a child’s room there were not the hundred percent emphases on an entertainment theme as there is today. While parents would select a theme suitable for children there would also be a crucifix and holy pictures too. This is crucial for young children to be properly formed in love of the Lord. So while I love decorating a child’s nursery or room with a theme (an acquaintance of mine once did a room totally in “the cow jumped over the moon” for her twins, which I thought was creative) there should also be ample representation of the Lord. Children learn that God loves them and to trust him by parents teaching, for example, the child to say “nighty night” to Jesus before bed and knowing Jesus is watching over them. This is why photos of people at prayer before going to bed is also an ideal devotional art form for a young child’s room, especially when they are in their “afraid of the dark” phase.
I’m now collecting photos of antique and current scenes in Syria, a country of which I am very fond. I also have the photos for a triptych of Pope Paul VI.
And I am working on a gallery frame of four 4x6” photos of St Peter the Apostle and Jesus. One of my favorite paintings is a Dutch school of Jesus handing the keys to Peter, so I have that on top in horizontal layout. To the right of it is a painting of St. Peter in vertical layout as he holds the keys and looks heavenward. On the bottom left I have in vertical layout a painting of Jesus walking on water and putting out his hand to rescue the sinking St. Peter. And I’m now going to browse to find a suitable horizontal layout photo for the fourth place in the frame.
I bought two of the above four photo format frames from Dollar General. I just completed one in the theme of “Jesus Christ first priest.” The first photo top left is a church mosaic of Jesus with the Eucharist and chalice. Top right is a black and white holy card of Jesus crowning a priest as the priest performs the elevation of the chalice. Bottom left is a holy card that shows Jesus as priest overlooking a consecration of priests. And the bottom right is a photo of Cardinal Pell raising his arms in front and over the chalice during the celebration of the Mass.
Other obvious ideas for a child’s room would be the theme of the baby Jesus, Jesus as shepherd with lambs (you could include a great photo of the Pope blessing the lambs on the feast of St. Agnes for use in weaving the paliums.
Other ideas, ones that I am working on, include using a six photo frame to create a kind of virtual representation of a specific church building or room. Redemptoris Mater is a Vatican chapel with the most amazing floor to ceiling paintings in the most vivid colors and I’m working on collecting good representations of the walls and close ups of scenes. I’d like to put together a gallery that arranges the photos in a virtual representation of the actual chapel layout. If I had had my head about me back when I visited the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul back in 1995 I would have photographed each wall in order to have created such a virtual reality layout of that amazing place of Christian (and Islam) worship. So when you visit a shrine or a church you might want to photograph layouts with this idea in mind. Hope you find these ideas interesting and inspires your own devotional creativity!
Female wasps pollinate fig trees for 60 million years
This is a great "wonder of nature in harmony" article. But it also is a, hopefully, humbling reminder that nature works the way that it does for a God given reason. These female wasps who lay their eggs in the fig tree fruit have aided the perpetuation of the species for 60 MILLION years. How long have humans been "civilized?" About 6000 years. Good thing for fig trees that the wasps didn't decide they are lesbian, or start smoking crack, or decide they want jobs rather than raise baby wasps, is it not?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23577684/
snip
The relationship between the wasps and figs — which has lasted more than 60 million years — involves female wasps entering figs and pollinating tiny flowers within. The pollinators then lay their eggs in the blossoms, and wasp offspring feed off the seed that develops in the flower.
One mystery scientists face when it comes to mutualism is how it remains stable. What prevents one partner from exploiting the relationship? For instance, the wasps might easily overwhelm the figs with offspring that devour all the seeds.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23577684/
snip
The relationship between the wasps and figs — which has lasted more than 60 million years — involves female wasps entering figs and pollinating tiny flowers within. The pollinators then lay their eggs in the blossoms, and wasp offspring feed off the seed that develops in the flower.
One mystery scientists face when it comes to mutualism is how it remains stable. What prevents one partner from exploiting the relationship? For instance, the wasps might easily overwhelm the figs with offspring that devour all the seeds.
Baby dumped in trash to die rescued/adopted
Read this great story with picture in India.
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/dumped-in-garbage-bin-bihar-baby-finds-a-home/47036-3.html
snip
Patna: Barely three-days-old, a baby girl lying in the ICU ward of a hospital in Patna has got a new lease of life.
Abandoned at birth, she was found lying in a garbage dump by locals who handed her over to the police.
“We heard that there was an abandoned baby at Kargil Chowk and we rushed to the place and rescued her,” says a police officer, Mudrika Prasad.
The doctors say that her condition is stable now.
snip
As news of this abandoned baby spread in the city, a couple even approached the police and offered to adopt her as their 4th child.
“I have one daughter and two sons. She will be my fourth child,” says the baby girl’s foster mother, Yashodha.
”I saw the baby. She was so beautiful. I came back and told my wife and then we decided to adopt her,” says the baby girl’s foster father, Om Prakash.
***
Bless all the rescuers and the adoptive family. Notice the father had the idea of adoption and how quickly his wife agreed, what generous hearts!
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/dumped-in-garbage-bin-bihar-baby-finds-a-home/47036-3.html
snip
Patna: Barely three-days-old, a baby girl lying in the ICU ward of a hospital in Patna has got a new lease of life.
Abandoned at birth, she was found lying in a garbage dump by locals who handed her over to the police.
“We heard that there was an abandoned baby at Kargil Chowk and we rushed to the place and rescued her,” says a police officer, Mudrika Prasad.
The doctors say that her condition is stable now.
snip
As news of this abandoned baby spread in the city, a couple even approached the police and offered to adopt her as their 4th child.
“I have one daughter and two sons. She will be my fourth child,” says the baby girl’s foster mother, Yashodha.
”I saw the baby. She was so beautiful. I came back and told my wife and then we decided to adopt her,” says the baby girl’s foster father, Om Prakash.
***
Bless all the rescuers and the adoptive family. Notice the father had the idea of adoption and how quickly his wife agreed, what generous hearts!
The Chinese example of my idea
As you should know the Chinese government limits couples to one child and will require and force abortions for couples who desire a second child. At the same time there are orphanages with children who have no hope of being adopted, especially if they are disabled or special needs. Gays also know that the Chinese will not allow adoption by gay couples.
I would like to see organization of funding an internal adoption agency where parents who truly desire a second child but who are forbidden by the government from having one naturally be allowed to adopt and receive financial support for that child. This is win-win. If an couple who already have a child wish to adopt a second child they should be encouraged to adopt and receive a financial incentive for the child's support. Most people, despite the booming economy, are still extremely poor, as the government admits, as they work on job creation and other solutions. Why could we not create a way to finance the adoption of children into properly vetted and loving families? This would be especially true for special needs children. Each couple that receives the money to care for a special needs child is changing the society's attitude and prejudices toward the disabled while at the same time growing a real family.
Gays have tremendous influence and access to resources (again, excuse my positive stereotyping). While adopting from China does not solve a prospective gay parent's fundamental objective of finding a child to adopt, I would think that the tender hearts of such gay advocates would be moved by seeing that Chinese impoverished couples are denied second children while special needs and abandoned children languish in orphanages, often without the necessary love, care and treatment. Why not apply your energy to this type of initiative in addition to your primary purpose of having a child? You can grow garden of life in your own patch in addition to helping others to do so on theirs.
I would like to see organization of funding an internal adoption agency where parents who truly desire a second child but who are forbidden by the government from having one naturally be allowed to adopt and receive financial support for that child. This is win-win. If an couple who already have a child wish to adopt a second child they should be encouraged to adopt and receive a financial incentive for the child's support. Most people, despite the booming economy, are still extremely poor, as the government admits, as they work on job creation and other solutions. Why could we not create a way to finance the adoption of children into properly vetted and loving families? This would be especially true for special needs children. Each couple that receives the money to care for a special needs child is changing the society's attitude and prejudices toward the disabled while at the same time growing a real family.
Gays have tremendous influence and access to resources (again, excuse my positive stereotyping). While adopting from China does not solve a prospective gay parent's fundamental objective of finding a child to adopt, I would think that the tender hearts of such gay advocates would be moved by seeing that Chinese impoverished couples are denied second children while special needs and abandoned children languish in orphanages, often without the necessary love, care and treatment. Why not apply your energy to this type of initiative in addition to your primary purpose of having a child? You can grow garden of life in your own patch in addition to helping others to do so on theirs.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Another comment about gay adoption
I wanted to make this separate from the previous posting because it is a narrowing in on one aspect of gay parenting, which is the adoption route.
I know homosexual couples who have adopted children who are disabled, at risk, or cast outs in their native countries. On the face of it I understand why this seems like a noble act. However, gays are new to the "greater good" perspective as they mature in their own identity and finding their place in the pro life movement (and by pro life I don't mean simply the anti-abortion and pro life imperative, I mean the bias toward life that ensures humanity, as I described in my previous post). There are several reasons that adopting children, especially those who are disabled or at risk, is not as beneficial as one might assume.
While the world is increasingly a global community, children should not be viewed as commodities even if there are dire circumstances in their home countries. When you adopt a "reject" you are enabling the attitude in that culture that creates the deplorable circumstances. If you are a gay activist and love children then why would you not fund raise for quality orphanages or volunteer to serve in a charitable capacity to lift up ALL the children in that situation rather than try to adopt one? If you want to be a parent do so, but do it in the natural way of having your own genetic offspring as I endorse in the previous posting. If you want to save the world and be a child advocate then do THAT by using your skills and your resources to sponsor the cause of the children and their placements as a whole. Can you imagine if gays with money and influence had descended on Romania and transformed the orphanages in that sad decrepit country? You could have had your own child in a natural way, but also struck a blow for improving the lot of an entire cadre of children that have no voice or advocate.
When celebrities and others fly around buying children, especially disabled ones, they are contributing to the breakdown of their own home land's social fabric, rather than "rescuing" a child. How about fostering a native family so they can adopt their own special needs child? If I had the money I'd happily pay for a Chinese family to adopt and care for a special needs child in China rather than try to adopt and remove that child on my own.
The second recommendation I'd make about gay adoption is that if you truly cannot have a child in a natural way and adoption is your only recourse, then combine that with being a pro life and anti-abortion advocate. There are millions of abortions and they are all an abomination and loss of a precious real life. I wish that both straight and gay couples have interventions with women about to abort and make arrangements for adoption instead. Here you are truly saving a life and again, it is closer to the natural path as the baby will arrive "as is," a blessing from heaven and not from strictly a laboratory project. This is how it used to be. Many children were adopted through private arrangement, usually within families or among close friends. I know first hand where this has happened. I wish that homosexual couples would turn their attention toward the scourge of abortion and decouple it from their "sexual freedom" thinking. If you want to be a parent for all the good reasons then you should understand what I mean. Over one fourth of all Afro-Americans in this country are aborted. If you want to be a parent but also political and make a social statement, why is this not of more urgent concern to gays than it is? Why would you fly to another country to "rescue" a child so you can be a parent, while dozens are being aborted down the street from you? Gays MUST get more involved in the turning of America's heart away from the strain of abortion and toward performing loving interventions in order to bring a would-have-been aborted child to life.
I have huge compassion toward special needs children who are orphans throughout the world. The Catholic Church and other Christian agencies led the way in caring for such children throughout its history and around the world. I also have huge compassion for gay couples or individuals who truly wish to be a parent. But the trend toward adopting special needs children and feeling you are making a difference is combining two problems most ineffectively rather than solving them. Gays should use their energy and organizing power (excuse my positive stereotyping) to improve the conditions of the special needs children in situ, promote their adoption in situ, AND have their own children either naturally or as I said as a grassroots anti-abortion intervention.
I hope this is some refreshing and supportive thinking for all of you. Best of luck and good wishes.
I know homosexual couples who have adopted children who are disabled, at risk, or cast outs in their native countries. On the face of it I understand why this seems like a noble act. However, gays are new to the "greater good" perspective as they mature in their own identity and finding their place in the pro life movement (and by pro life I don't mean simply the anti-abortion and pro life imperative, I mean the bias toward life that ensures humanity, as I described in my previous post). There are several reasons that adopting children, especially those who are disabled or at risk, is not as beneficial as one might assume.
While the world is increasingly a global community, children should not be viewed as commodities even if there are dire circumstances in their home countries. When you adopt a "reject" you are enabling the attitude in that culture that creates the deplorable circumstances. If you are a gay activist and love children then why would you not fund raise for quality orphanages or volunteer to serve in a charitable capacity to lift up ALL the children in that situation rather than try to adopt one? If you want to be a parent do so, but do it in the natural way of having your own genetic offspring as I endorse in the previous posting. If you want to save the world and be a child advocate then do THAT by using your skills and your resources to sponsor the cause of the children and their placements as a whole. Can you imagine if gays with money and influence had descended on Romania and transformed the orphanages in that sad decrepit country? You could have had your own child in a natural way, but also struck a blow for improving the lot of an entire cadre of children that have no voice or advocate.
When celebrities and others fly around buying children, especially disabled ones, they are contributing to the breakdown of their own home land's social fabric, rather than "rescuing" a child. How about fostering a native family so they can adopt their own special needs child? If I had the money I'd happily pay for a Chinese family to adopt and care for a special needs child in China rather than try to adopt and remove that child on my own.
The second recommendation I'd make about gay adoption is that if you truly cannot have a child in a natural way and adoption is your only recourse, then combine that with being a pro life and anti-abortion advocate. There are millions of abortions and they are all an abomination and loss of a precious real life. I wish that both straight and gay couples have interventions with women about to abort and make arrangements for adoption instead. Here you are truly saving a life and again, it is closer to the natural path as the baby will arrive "as is," a blessing from heaven and not from strictly a laboratory project. This is how it used to be. Many children were adopted through private arrangement, usually within families or among close friends. I know first hand where this has happened. I wish that homosexual couples would turn their attention toward the scourge of abortion and decouple it from their "sexual freedom" thinking. If you want to be a parent for all the good reasons then you should understand what I mean. Over one fourth of all Afro-Americans in this country are aborted. If you want to be a parent but also political and make a social statement, why is this not of more urgent concern to gays than it is? Why would you fly to another country to "rescue" a child so you can be a parent, while dozens are being aborted down the street from you? Gays MUST get more involved in the turning of America's heart away from the strain of abortion and toward performing loving interventions in order to bring a would-have-been aborted child to life.
I have huge compassion toward special needs children who are orphans throughout the world. The Catholic Church and other Christian agencies led the way in caring for such children throughout its history and around the world. I also have huge compassion for gay couples or individuals who truly wish to be a parent. But the trend toward adopting special needs children and feeling you are making a difference is combining two problems most ineffectively rather than solving them. Gays should use their energy and organizing power (excuse my positive stereotyping) to improve the conditions of the special needs children in situ, promote their adoption in situ, AND have their own children either naturally or as I said as a grassroots anti-abortion intervention.
I hope this is some refreshing and supportive thinking for all of you. Best of luck and good wishes.
Clarity about gay parenting
God is first and foremost about life. God IS life and the bias in all actions toward life and fruitfulness. A bias away from life and being anti-life is a trend line away from God and away from, ultimately, humanity as a whole. Therefore I have absolutely no problem with gays who have a genuine desire to have a child and provide that child with a loving, appropriate upbringing and family life.
Here is the theology. Catholics are entirely within their right to not want to endorse homosexuality, which is forbidden in the Bible, by refusing to allow children within their adoption agencies to be adopted by homosexuals. Gay prospective parents should have a generosity of heart and not try to force the Church to go against its legitimate doctrine through "equal rights" arguments. A gay who persecutes the Church regarding adoption rights is demonstrating a black mark against their parental heart and motivations.
Having said that, please note there is nothing in the Bible about homosexuals not being parents. Notice that the relevant passages forbid the homosexual acts, but certainly do not forbid a homosexual having a child. God always biases toward life. Honor thy father and thy mother is pertinent to both heterosexual AND homosexual parents, assuming they are good pious people who deserve to be honored. So Bible thumpers who state that God is against homosexuals being parents are flat wrong. In ancient times a man or woman who tended toward homosexuality would in all likelihood be ordered by the priest to go home and have relations with their straight spouse and have children anyway. This is because priests corrected perceive that the uniting bond among humanity must be a bias toward having children and toward life in all its fruitfulness.
I have a friend who is gay, and I've not had a chance to see him for a long time, too long in my opinion. While we've never discussed it I think he would be a wonderful father and would like to see him be a father one day. My preference would be for him to do it the natural way with a woman friend. But anyway, I think of him often and how happy he would be as a father.
I caution gays to not approach having children as though it's a technically complex project because as I pointed out about forcing adoption against a Church's legitimate beliefs, a complicated and cold test tube approach is a distancing from the naturalness of parenthood that is unfortunate. I'm most pleased when I read about a gay man, for example, having a baby with a woman friend of his because this is the closest to the natural way that I wish on all people, straight or gay, who pursue parenthood. You see, it's a testimony to the gay parent if he has a friend who would participate in parenthood with him, rather than be a monetary, political or scientific colleague in the generating of an offspring. See how cold those words are compared to "deciding to have a baby with a friend?" While infertility treatments are a blessing for many heterosexual couples who have problems conceiving, the laboratory should be avoided wherever possible when that is an option rather than the only solution. Again, I am counseling you all in my role as an "uber parent" and spiritual director that if you want to be a parent, walking as close to the path of natural parenthood is the way that is the most fulfilling and satisfying.
I hope this helps. I love gays who love life and children, with pure hearts and minds, and who wish to be parents. Please do not, however, ruin the parental experience by persecuting Catholic agencies who have enough problems without having to be martyred by gay politics. People and governments who persecute Catholic adoption agencies are showing a cold heart that is dubious both for parental goodness and in the eyes of God.
Do search out the most natural way of actually bearing a child wherever you can. A gay prospective parent who has a friend who would actually take the risk and make the commitment of bearing a natural child is a credit to pro life and good parenting.
Here is the theology. Catholics are entirely within their right to not want to endorse homosexuality, which is forbidden in the Bible, by refusing to allow children within their adoption agencies to be adopted by homosexuals. Gay prospective parents should have a generosity of heart and not try to force the Church to go against its legitimate doctrine through "equal rights" arguments. A gay who persecutes the Church regarding adoption rights is demonstrating a black mark against their parental heart and motivations.
Having said that, please note there is nothing in the Bible about homosexuals not being parents. Notice that the relevant passages forbid the homosexual acts, but certainly do not forbid a homosexual having a child. God always biases toward life. Honor thy father and thy mother is pertinent to both heterosexual AND homosexual parents, assuming they are good pious people who deserve to be honored. So Bible thumpers who state that God is against homosexuals being parents are flat wrong. In ancient times a man or woman who tended toward homosexuality would in all likelihood be ordered by the priest to go home and have relations with their straight spouse and have children anyway. This is because priests corrected perceive that the uniting bond among humanity must be a bias toward having children and toward life in all its fruitfulness.
I have a friend who is gay, and I've not had a chance to see him for a long time, too long in my opinion. While we've never discussed it I think he would be a wonderful father and would like to see him be a father one day. My preference would be for him to do it the natural way with a woman friend. But anyway, I think of him often and how happy he would be as a father.
I caution gays to not approach having children as though it's a technically complex project because as I pointed out about forcing adoption against a Church's legitimate beliefs, a complicated and cold test tube approach is a distancing from the naturalness of parenthood that is unfortunate. I'm most pleased when I read about a gay man, for example, having a baby with a woman friend of his because this is the closest to the natural way that I wish on all people, straight or gay, who pursue parenthood. You see, it's a testimony to the gay parent if he has a friend who would participate in parenthood with him, rather than be a monetary, political or scientific colleague in the generating of an offspring. See how cold those words are compared to "deciding to have a baby with a friend?" While infertility treatments are a blessing for many heterosexual couples who have problems conceiving, the laboratory should be avoided wherever possible when that is an option rather than the only solution. Again, I am counseling you all in my role as an "uber parent" and spiritual director that if you want to be a parent, walking as close to the path of natural parenthood is the way that is the most fulfilling and satisfying.
I hope this helps. I love gays who love life and children, with pure hearts and minds, and who wish to be parents. Please do not, however, ruin the parental experience by persecuting Catholic agencies who have enough problems without having to be martyred by gay politics. People and governments who persecute Catholic adoption agencies are showing a cold heart that is dubious both for parental goodness and in the eyes of God.
Do search out the most natural way of actually bearing a child wherever you can. A gay prospective parent who has a friend who would actually take the risk and make the commitment of bearing a natural child is a credit to pro life and good parenting.
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