The family Secret nobody wants to share

But which it is vitally important that we do:

The Pope today criticized the curia itself

15 spiritual diseases that the Pope specifically wants Cardinals to avoid- I think I've got a couple of these spiritual diseases myself.

Best kid's description of High Functioning Autism yet!

The most awesome liberal anti-feminist post EVER

This lady doesn't want her girl limited to girl's toys this Christmas and makes an awesome point about the real danger of affirmative action and artificial diversity in the process.

Being female isn't a disability. But she doesn't go far enough. Being a mother isn't a disability either, and it's high time we stopped treating mothers as less valuable citizens.

A close second is this conservative rant from the world of Open Source libertarianism.

Note that BOTH articles, despite being anti-feminist; are written by women, about women, for women.

Before I lose this link

I knew Comedy Central was more Edgy than Fox- but I never expected a pro-life episode of The Tick. Too bad I missed it when it first came out, and I need to watch it someday when I have a half-hour.

A brother Knight asks for help

My friend James Michael Morgan has some severe lung problems. He is headed for a transplant. Click here to help him with medical expenses.

----Update 1/8/2015---

Prayers partially answered, but keep praying! He received his new lungs on January 4, and is in recovery. Additional need: if you are retired and would like room and board in Seattle for two months in exchange for being present at night and able to dial 911, please contact me at seebert42@gmail.com.

Pope Francis's take on gay marriage

Take that, Elton John!

The Leonine Contract

It's a pretty standard trope, but one that libertarians do not seem to believe can possibly exist. And it is a blind spot in economic justice in the United States of America.

The Lion and his Fellow Hunters, By Aesop
Once, a lion, a fox, a jackal, and a wolf went hunting. They caught a stag and killed it, and quartered the meat. "This quarter," said the lion, "is for me, as I am the King of Beasts. And this quarter is mine as the arbiter of the spoils. The third quarter is mine because of my part in chasing down the stag. And as for the fourth – well, I'd like to see any of you dare to put so much as a paw on it." The other three animals were bitterly disappointed, but they slunk away, unwilling or unable to fight for their share of the meat.
Just because you help a lion doesn't mean he'll share.

So remember boys and girls, just because you help a rich man to run his business, does not mean he'll share the profits with you. Which leads us right back to an entirely Different Leo and his successors.

I want nothing to do with people who refuse to acknowledge that the Dallas Protocol exists

I do not care if you are a Bishop, a Priest, or a Called to Action member. If you show by your argument that you do not understand the Dallas protocol and its implications, I simply do not want to discuss the sex abuse scandal with you- on either side of the debate.

After the synod, Sanity returns

Pope Francis appoints pro-family, pro-marriage, conservative African Cardinal to head the CDWDS, the powerful congregation that dictates how we celebrate the Sacraments. No way will Cardinal Sarah put up with divorce and remarriage, let alone divorce, remarriage , and forcing people to pay taxes just to go to get the Eucharist.

BBC News - Sex 'emerged in ancient Scottish lake'

The name of the fish that Rabbi Sacks referred to at the Vatican:



BBC News - Sex 'emerged in ancient Scottish lake': "Microbrachius dicki"



'via Blog this'



Somehow, that just fits.

Monogamy Made Us Human | National Review Online

Monogamy Made Us Human | National Review Online:





A very interesting theory indeed, that claims that the very thing that sets western civilization apart, is the very thing we are abandoning.

A worthy, worthy cause

Archbishop Sample has asked My Knights Council to support Building the Domestic Church, the Family Fully Alive. But we're too new of a council, in too unsupportive of a parish, to fully fund our launch. We need a $310 license for showing movies under the DMCA, and we only have half that amount.

If you are a follower of mine in this blog, you already know that I'm struggling with my hope over the last couple of years. Despair is something I keep tripping over.

I see my volunteering for this program as being a major step towards beginning to have hope again, beginning to find my way to hope that Catholic families will continue at St. Clare's.

If you can spare a couple of bucks for this purpose- for getting families more involved in their faith and towards us drawing families in with a movie night on December 12- then click on the Donate button below. Knights of Columbus is a 501c8, so give only if you can out of your generosity, you can't write off donations to fraternal societies.

--------------Update----------------
We are now within $45 of having the total needed for the copyright license.
--------------Update 2----------------
We have enough, First Movie Night is December 12, everybody's invited.

Seven views of Eden

"The love that brings new life into the world" - Rabbi Sacks on the institution of marriage - Rabbi Sacks

The first, according to a report in the press on 20th October of this year, took place in a lake in Scotland 385 million years ago. It was then, according to this new discovery, that two fish came together to perform the first instance of sexual reproduction known to science. Until then all life had propagated itself asexually, by cell division, budding, fragmentation or parthenogenesis, all of which are far simpler and more economical than the division of life into male and female, each with a different role in creating and sustaining life.
When we consider, even in the animal kingdom, how much effort and energy the coming together of male and female takes, in terms of displays, courtship rituals, rivalries and violence, it is astonishing that sexual reproduction ever happened at all. Biologists are still not quite sure why it did. Some say to offer protection against parasites, or immunities against disease. Others say it’s simply that the meeting of opposites generates diversity. But one way or another, the fish in Scotland discovered something new and beautiful that’s been copied ever since by virtually all advanced forms of life. Life begins when male and female meet and embrace.

You can go to the link to read the rest- but Adam and Eve is the END of the story, not the beginning. I've been fond of saying that homosexuality denies 6000 years of human history and research into marriage, and while that is true, I think I'm now going to change it to say that homosexuality denies 385 million years of evolution.

When bad science meets bad religion

You get such nonsense as the Historical Jesus who somehow seems to morph to fit the theology of whoever is writing about him.

The same phenomenon exists in every form of science used to prove political theories.

All Martyrs are volunteers

So ISIS has beheaded another American. But what I don't see anybody pointing out, is that all the Americans so far who have met this end, volunteered for the mission. Probably not intelligently, likely not purposefully, but by traveling to the Middle East during this internal conflict in Islam that has been going on for the past two centuries, they put themselves in this situation willingly.

What all modernists need to see

The best description of the debate I've seen yet. Too bad we've lost the debate already- and the culture has become irrational because of it.

Consent is a myth

No, this isn't about sex. It touches on sex and sexuality only because our insane culture thinks that consent is enough to prevent rape; but where the myth of consent really lies is in the world of finances.

We have human brains and imperfect knowledge about our world and our future. Due to this, there is no such thing as a coercion free contract. ALL contracts, supposedly signed in freedom, contain things people need to survive, otherwise there would be no basis for economics. ALL contracts, supposedly signed in freedom, have one party profiting more than the other party, this is why business is profitable.

And that is why consent is a myth- a leap of faith in unjustified trust at best. There is no reason behind it.

What every parent really needs to read

Yes, it is long, but it is worth it. If you are on Facebook or Twitter, this is worth a click through back to my blog to read the Infographic.

Another crazy Oregon Political Idea

Oregon has a major problem with the Urban/Rural divide. 75% of the voters now live in Portland and Eugene, and dictate to the rest of the state who our state officials are.

Due to this, I would like to see Oregon adopt an electoral college methodology, based on county and population, to even things out a bit for statewide races like governor and the senate.

Materialism and evolution are not mutually compatible

And because of that, atheism is irrational.

Crazy political idea of the week- any local Oregon State Reps want to run with this?

Agriculture in the Willamette Valley has changed since land use planning was passed in 1972. I recommend that Oregon start offering EFU (Exclusive Farm Use) landowners an optional zoning classification of TAU- Tourist Agricultural Use. Like EFU, TAU should come with some restrictions, just restrictions that better fit the idea of tourist farms:

1. Once a farm gains TAU classification, it can no longer be subdivided, even if covered by an expanding urban growth boundary.


2. Minimum 25% of land area must be for human food production of some sort.


3. TAU farms may include onsite food processing, as long as food input is limited to food grown on either the same farm as the processing equipment or another nearby farm owned by the same family


4. TAU farms are limited to single proprietorship inherited by biological family, and if sold, revert to EFU status, even if contained within an urban growth boundary.


5. TAU farms may offer complementary services to consumers, such as hotels, bed and breakfasts, farm produce stores, wedding services, playgrounds, and restaurants, as long as such activities are restricted to 10% of the total land area owned by the family.


6. TAU farms must include at least one single family dwelling for the caretaking portion of the family.


7. All local ordinances for the various types of allowable enterprises apply.

Gender Studies

The attempt to take away all of a woman's ambition by training her to be unsuitable for any profitable job while simultaneously making her unsatisfied with housework and parenthood.

Super Crazy Political Theory, Explained

This has got to be the best thing I've ever seen on the subject of the Urban/Rural Political Divide.

Super crazy political theory of the week

Republicans vs Democrats is not as deep a divide in morality as cosmopolitan vs rural.

It is impossible for a Democrat to lose in a majority urban voting block; it is equally impossible for a Republican to lose in a majority rural voting block. But where you live dictates your core principles far more than what party you belong to. A rural person is going to be far less tolerant of evil, far more pro-human-life, for where he lives, humans are rare. An urban person is far more likely to tolerate evil, for how else is he to get along with his neighbors less than 100 feet away?

What did I say?

Suddenly, I'm getting a lot of followers on Disqus. They appear to be from Turkey, or at least, that region of the world. I'd love to know what I posted to gain this following, so I'm posting this in my blog and will comment on it, in hopes that a few of my new followers will see it and tell me: What did I say?

Surprises aren't random

Apparently, I've gotten caught between my knowledge of language and the Jesuit tendency to use language in new and novel ways. "The God of Surprises" doesn't actually refer to God at all, but merely to man's inability to see the future with clarity.

Surprise! You're not God. But since when did you expect to be God?

The first thing I have read from the Synod that actually gives hope instead of fear

For some strange reason, Pope Francis's words at the end of the Synod give me hope instead of fear.

Until this morning, when I suddenly realized Pope Francis's view on the Holy Spirit is essentially the same as Loki

It took a man from Gay Paris to finally mention children

We should also be concerned about children: in many cases, it is the children of a heterosexual couple in which one spouse or partner has changed his life. Children are often more mature than one would think. They put up with the situation, but that does not mean they do not suffer.

The Synod that started the sexual revolution

Lambeth on Contraceptives

Will we have a repeat from the German and Italians in Rome as they contemplate 5 sacraments instead of 7?

My problem with Jesuits....and Romans, and Italians

Sorry, but the synod’s draft report is no earthquake | CatholicHerald.co.uk: One professor, who was absolutely no liberal, said: “All sexual relations have a positive element to them; even when a man visits a prostitute, he may not know it, but he is looking for something good, and that is positive.”

That statement, in and of itself, sounds extremely liberal to me to the point of denying the existence of evil. I have a huge problem with the position of Aquinas, Augustine, Romans, Italians, and the Jesuits on this point, because if we aren't working for God, then surely we have joined the Standard of the other Army. A choice needs to be made- for good or for evil. And I see no good in the privation of the good.

Hypothetical

For the sake of argument, I'd like you to consider that true wealth lies in face to face human conversations. From that standpoint, the wealthy autistic hiding behind a screen using a telepresence robot to interact with human beings, is far more poor than the 12th century peasant who had 1/1000 of the autistic's possessions.

Hypothetical, that's just fiction

Hypothetical arguments. This XKCD raises an interesting point- are they actually worth anything? I recently became engaged in an online flame war about a hypothetical situation on the subject of Catholic annulments. I have to say, at least half the people in the conversation didn't realize that hypothetical arguments are based in fiction, and that the Devil's Advocate, like the Father of Lies himself, also by necessity is a liar.

What California Consent Teaches Us About Women’s Needs

People say I'm crazy to equate fornication with rape; to suggest that fornication contains dire consequences for women and that consent isn't defined strictly enough.  But recently, California changed that with the Yes means Yes act- which strictly defines consent for sex.  Maybe not as much as sacramental marriage does, but at least it's a step in the right direction.



What California Consent Teaches Us About Women’s Needs:

Why we can't trust democracy to decide morality

Marriage | Gallup Historical Trends:





An excellent example of how even objective morality isn't obvious to most human beings.

More against the Muwahiddun

There is a reason why the Muwahiddun look a lot like Christian Fundamentalist groups we know in the United States.  The religion of the Ishmaelites, as St. John Damascene called them in his book on heresies, are a Christian heresy related to Arianism.



St. Peter's List: Islam as a Christian Heresy: 8 Quotes from St. John Damascene A.D. 749:



'via Blog this'

My prediction for the Synod.

Ok, everybody's hot button issue is, can a couple living in technical adultery (due to lack of an annulment for a first marriage) take communion?

Here is my analysis of what I think the synod CAN accomplish:

Canon Law is made up of dogma, doctrine, and discipline. Not taking communion when in a state of mortal sin, is dogma, and is not specific to marriage. Annulments in general are a Doctrine- they are a natural development of Christ's teaching that a man who marries again after divorce, is committing adultery. Proving that the original marriage wasn't a marriage is a way out of that, and that is why the doctrine developed, it isn't likely to change. The ONLY way for a Catholic in a second marriage to stop mortal sin is to get an annulment. But that leads us to discipline, which is how the Church uses doctrine to teach moral truth. The current discipline surrounding annulments is broken. They're expensive, they take a long time, they're horrendous to go through, and maybe worst of all, there is a sense that they're just rubber stamping the secular divorce for the rich. The process can and should be made better.

Synods in general can't change dogma or doctrine, but they can change discipline. For the sake of the wounded modern family, the Synod should change this.

And then it should go on to discuss all the other stuff in the working document.

American College of Pediatrics Blasts Medical Group for Promoting Myth of "Safe Sex" - Aleteia

ACP vs AAP- the only safe sex is no sex.



American College of Pediatrics Blasts Medical Group for Promoting Myth of "Safe Sex" - Aleteia:



'via Blog this'

Experts Discuss Devastating Breakdown of Marriage, but Believe Church Can Turn It Around - Aleteia

The best thing I've read yet on why gay marriage is just another step on the slippery slope.



Experts Discuss Devastating Breakdown of Marriage, but Believe Church Can Turn It Around - Aleteia:



'via Blog this'

From here on out

When engaging with an outraged liberal on any topic, "Who are you to judge?" is going to be my standard answer, with a hit of "Resist not evil" for any claiming to be Christian.

Pope Francis: Uniter or Divider? - Aleteia

Pope Francis: Uniter or Divider? - Aleteia:
The three things you need to remember when asking this question:
1. The pope is a “dream catcher”; we project our dreams of unity or division on him.
2. The Pope is divisive and uniting because he is above all a pastor.
3. Pope Francis is that guy who challenges our assumptions and stretches our understanding.

I for one am really frustrated with #2.  Oh, I understand the need to go running after the lost sheep.  But in the mean time, on both the left and right sides of the pen, there's a hungry wolf who has cut a hole in the fence and is stealing sheep while the shepherd is away.

Stuff people say to autistics

Yes, exactly right. And I heard some of these before I even had my diagnoses at age 30:

A Good question

If Sex is so great, why do you need to be chemically neutered to enjoy it?

The Gay Bullyboys Want You Jailed - Crisis Magazine

The Gay Bullyboys Want You Jailed - Crisis Magazine:



Alarmist?  yes.  Accurate?  Yes.



There is a dark side to many liberal organizations.  And as the article points out, conservative organizations are not immune to seeking state support.



But I've got a question- How does an "Institute" in the United States, running on a budget of a mere $54,494/year, lobby governments in Moldova, Russia, and Poland and actually accomplish their goals enough to get on a hate crimes report? Or Family Watch International, who has apparently been lobbying the UN on a budget of $26,569/year (maybe Sharon Slater is cleaning their toilets?).
Scott Lively is the one who has been receiving the actual death threats from the Human Rights Campaign, alledgedly for singlhandly being responsible for anti-gay legislation in Uganda, Eastern Europe, Russia, and the United Kingdom. All on a budget of less than $100,000/year (I challenge you to even take a vacation in those four areas in a year on such a budget).

Apparently undercutting the gay bullyboys is worse than cutting the heads off of reporters....

Downright Prophetic

Paul Harvey, from 1965. He did the same speech over the years, updating it regularly. Not sure quite what year this is, but because I've run into people who no longer believe in the devil today:

Drugs are always, always evil

Even when they seem to create a good at first, when you mix drugs and sex, things go badly.

Scientism Cannot Explain Away the Grandeur of God - Crisis Magazine

Scientism Cannot Explain Away the Grandeur of God - Crisis Magazine:



The real problem is that Scientism isn't really a form of atheism.  It just replaces the authority of God with the authority of Science (tm) of a form that most people don't understand is really just materialism.

PETA isn't always so ethical

An old story, but one that shows the culture of death goes far beyond human beings, and yes, the courts are involved too:

The following story is from This is True dated 17 July 2005. It is Copyright 2005 Randy Cassingham, all rights reserved, and reprinted here with permission:

"Ethical" Defined

After more than 100 dead dogs were dumped in a trash dumpster over four weeks, police in Ahoskie, N.C., kept an eye on the trash receptacle behind a supermarket. Sure enough, a van drove up and officers watched the occupants throw in heavy plastic bags. They detained the two people in the van and found 18 dead dogs in plastic bags in the dumpster, including puppies; 13 more dead dogs were still in the van. Police say the van is registered to the headquarters of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and the two occupants, Andrew B. Cook, 24, and Adria Joy Hinkle, 27, identified themselves as PETA employees. An autopsy performed on one of the dogs found it was healthy before it was killed. Police say PETA has been picking up the animals -- alive -- from North Carolina animal shelters, promising to find them good homes. Cook and Hinkle have been charged with 62 felony counts of animal cruelty. In response to the arrests PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said it's against the group's policy for employees to dump animals in the trash, but "that for some animals in North Carolina, there is no kinder option than euthanasia." (Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald) ...Oops, my mistake: that's "Playing God" Defined.

In his author's notes section, Cassingham had more to say about this story:

The more I learn about PETA, the less I think of them. The story of them killing animals isn't even unusual. According to PETA's own filings, in 2004 PETA killed 86.3 percent of the animals entrusted to its care -- a number that's rising, not falling. Meanwhile, the SPCA in PETA's home town (Norfolk, Va.) was able to find loving homes for 73 percent of the animals put in its care. A shortage of funds? Nope: last year PETA took in $29 million in tax-exempt donations. It simply has other priorities for the funds, like funding terrorism (yes, really). But don't take my word for it: I got my figures from http://www.PETAkillsAnimals.com -- and they have copies of PETA's state and federal filings to back it up. The bottom line: if you donate money to PETA because you think they care for and about animals, you need to think some more. PETA literally yells and screams about how others "kill animals" but this is how they operate? Pathetic.

And you know what I wonder? PETA's official count of animals they kill is 86.3 percent. But if they're going around picking up animals, killing them while they drive around and not even giving them a chance to be adopted, and then destroying the evidence by dumping the bodies in the trash, are those deaths being reported? My guess: no. While 86.3 percent is awful, the actual number is probably much, much higher. How dare they lecture anyone about the "ethical" treatment of animals!

(This is True is a weekly column featuring weird-but-true news stories from around the world, and has been published since 1994. Click the link for info about free subscriptions.)

Littering?

Islamic Mathematical Paradise

Apparently there has been some inflation under Allah's government in the afterlife. Forget 72 virgins, try for 19,880 of them. Plus your four wives. Plus 70 years of sex with each of them. Which brings us to nearly 1.4 million years of sex to start out your eternity.

An interesting thought

If the Freedom From Religion Foundation claims that spending *any* tax money on religion is against the Constitution, and religion is defined as any system of belief, and atheism is a system of belief, isn't it wrong to use the courts, which are paid for with tax dollars, to promote atheism?

#1 way to prevent AIDS- reduce # of sexual partners

Statistical abstinence works better than condoms, at least in Africa, where the HIV rate is extremely high. Best way to protect individuals- don't have multiple sexual partners. Sounds like a no-brainer, right?

To Hell with the 7 Layer OSI Model

I don't know who dogman@europa.com was, but this bit of brilliant rant against 1980s eurocentric hubris is well worth saving from the Wayback machine. And since it's just a static HTML page, it's easy to rescue. Well, mostly easy to rescue. Because I'm not even sure dogman@europa.com still exists, or even if europa.com still exists

To hell with the OSI 7 Layer Model

Back in the 1980's, when all music sucked and men dressed like sissies, a bunch of sissy Europeans got together in a passionate effort to overstandardize computer networking. They created this thing called the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) networking suite. Anyone who has taken a CS (Computer Science) or CIS (Computer Information Systems) course knows this; they cram this fact down the student's throat from day freaking one. It is only when the student enters the real world do they realise that the OSI seven layer model is a sham.

First off, what the hell is any European organization doing dictating standards that have to do with computers or networking? (Well...besides that paradigm shifting Linux stuff and all that other huge shit) Hello! How many bleeding edge computer or networking innovations have we seen come out of the European continent? Are they even participating in this revolution? Part of this is not really directly their fault; it probably has something to do with the fact that a minimum of venture capital spent in Europe even goes into high tech; most of it goes into high fashion and entertainment instead. No wonder we booger eating Yanks think the Europeans are sissies. Hey, we may be pigs, but at least we are running the Internet. Nah nah na-na nah.

Secondly, the seven layers proposed by OSI are completely out of touch with reality. The defacto networking standard is TCP/IP. TCP/IP is the grandaddy of XNS, IPX/SPX, Banyan, AppleTalk, and a host of other protocols and pre-dates that seven layer thing because it was funded by the largest organization in the world devoted to maintaining Eurocentric socioeconomic domination; the US Military. And for some reason, that makes it better. Yeah.

And yet this seven layer curse won't go away. Companies still have staffs of Marketing inspired artists drawing up elaborate maps of how their protocol maps to the OSI Seven Layer Model. Sham! Its a sham I say! To hell with the OSI Seven Layer Model!

To its credit, we have found that there are indeed a few things in this world that actually follow the seven layer model; but none of them have anything relevant to do with today's high tech world. Case in point; the Taco Bell Seven Layer Burrito.

You can currently buy one of these babies for just a buck (well, 99 cents anyway) and experience for yourself a portable example of what happens when pure Hispanic culinary brilliance gets flattened into consistency by the grinding blandness of American commercialization. I should know; I eat there once a week and suggest Taco Bell to all my friends.

To illustrate my point, I have included a table that compares the Taco Bell Seven Layer Burrito to the sham that is the OSI seven layer model.

OSI Seven Layer Model

Taco Bell Seven Layer Burrito

Layer 1: The Physical Layer The Physical Layer describes physical properties of the media, such as the electrical properties and interpretation of exchanged signals.	Layer 1: Refried Beans Refried beans are always the first thing to be placed on any kind of intelligently built burrito. They not only make a great foundation, but also act as a glue to hold the tortilla together. And due to their high levels of sugars, they are also the largest reason you'll get gas after eating one of them. The resulting gas causes electrical exchanges, most often between married couples aproximately 6-8 hours after ingestion.
Layer 2: The Data Link Layer The Datalink Layer describes the logical organization of data bits transmitted on a particular medium, for example the logical addressing of Ethernet packets.	Layer 2: Seasoned Rice Rice is logically the second ingredient on a burrito. It is also a filler, just as beans are, but don't qualify as a foundation and cannot hold the tortilla together like beans can. Therefore, rice builds upon the foundation that beans have built, and rightfully deserve to always be the second ingredient.
Layer 3: The Network Layer The Network Layer describes how a series of exchanges over various data links can deliver data between any two nodes in a network; basically describing how packets get routed through the 'net.	Layer 3: Lettuce One of the most wonderful properties of Iceberg Lettuce is its almost complete lack of nutritional value and its ability to route itself directly through your digestive tract to your back door. And it, like beans, also gives you gas.
Layer 4: The Transport Layer The Transport Layer describes the quality and nature of the data delivery.	Layer 4: Tomatoes Tomatoes are added to the burrito to give the eater the impression that they are eating something healthy and natural.
Layer 5: The Session Layer The Session Layer describes the organization of data sequences larger than the packets handled by the lower layers. Basically, its the job of the Session Layer to fix what the other layers have screwed up.	Layer 5: Guacamole Guacamole is added to hide any kind of poor or bland flavor that may have come with the Iceberg Lettuce, the rice, or the beans.
Layer 6: The Presentation Layer The Presentation Layer describes the syntax of data being transferred for communication with dissimilar systems.	Layer 6: Cheese There isn't a whole lot of combinations of incompatable foods a bunch of cheese can't gloss over with its unique mixture of fats, cholesterol, and salt. When in doubt, throw in some cheese.
Layer 7: The Application Layer The Application Layer describes how real work actually gets done; its the reason we do things in the first place.	Layer 7: Sour Cream Its been said that the purpose of sour cream is to allow white dudes to eat spicy food. Without sour cream, most white folks couldn't bear to eat exotic foods like the kind that Taco Bell are serving up.

Try and see how many things you can find that honestly conform to this sham of a model, and let me know what you find.

Ok, so this is flawed. I spaced that there is an eighth layer; the flour tortilla. No biggy; here's a better one:

1. Two all beef patties
2. Special sauce
3. Lettuce
4. Cheese
5. Pickles
6. Onions
7. On a sesame seed bun

---

[H O M E]

dogman@europa.com

Why Pro-Islamic liberals aren't very liberal

Fr. Dwight Longnecker explains the problem of mercy without morals or values.

Sedevacantist Catholics, Jansenists, and St. Paul

One of the strange marks of Sedevanatist Catholicism today is a certain amount of anti-semite hysteria. The Gibson clan of Hollywood has made it rather famous in the last 20 years, but the coziness of the Popes to the Jews since WWII has been a point of contention that pushes people towards radical traditionalism.

Radical traditionalists are also considered to have some affiliation with the old Jansenist heresy, which was a form of Catholic Calvinism- fierce loyalty to the Pope but hopelessly elitist, they treated the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, more as reward than as Grace, requiring long years of study to be admitted to the sacraments. And certainly, no non-Christian could be saved in their predestined view of the world.

Which leads us to an interesting bit of prooftexting. Could the modern Popes be right about the lack of any need to evangelize the Jews? Romans 11:25-26 seems to indicate so:

25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers:[a] a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,
“The Deliverer will come from Zion,
he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;

Perhaps the Jews really are our elder brothers in faith. But then again, we know from Luke 15 what elder brothers are like, don't we?

The Sexual Revolution

All revolutions trade away good for evil. The sexual revolution was no different. It thought it was trading away repression and exclusive partnerships for "Free Love", but what it was really trading was a definition of life from conception to natural death, for euthanasia from conception until natural death. It isn't just the unborn, but anybody whose life is deemed not worth saving. There is no right to life left.

The best thing yet on the War On Terror

Once again, a terrorist group claims to speak for Islam, and once again, those claiming that Islam is ONLY violent have come out of the woodwork asking the question Why won't muslims condemn terrorism? I suggest going to that link to find the answer.

I need to watch this

Watch "The Economic Underworld of Social Credit | Gary N…" on YouTube

This isn't about what I thought it was about. Instead, it's generalized rules for building social credit. Rules like:

Start with a text
Stick to the text
Get to the point
Call them to commit
Give them legitimate hope

It's from the Mises Institute, so it's ideologically impure. But Catholics and Libertarians do have a lot in common; especially since they're both minorities in morality. What this video is really about, every leader should know.

Ok, I've listened to it- and the ending was highly disappointing. Don't trust government is his entire real message. Sad. That's where I always part with the libertarians- because a good Catholic knows there is a form of government he CAN trust- a decentralized government that respects solidarity and subsidiarity.

Knights of Columbus Announces Fund to Help Christians Threatened with Extinction in Iraq

Knights of Columbus Announces Fund to Help Christians Threatened with Extinction in Iraq:



I encourage all members of John Clare Council to spread this link around.

Why divine mercy is not indifferentism

One has no need to forgive a virtue. Only sins need forgiving. Likewise, a perfect man like Jesus Christ gives mercy; he doesn't need it himself. Divine Mercy Conquers Sin with Forgiveness.

The only Hackers in this story, are Hold Security

This story is proof to me that the New York Times takes bribes. Let me give you an alternate scenario:

American "White Hat" hacker wants to see how gullible people are. So he invents a story that he discovered 1.2 billion passwords hacked by a mysterious gang in Russia he calls CyberVor. He reports it through the New York Times, paying them to plant a false story. They hire "a security expert" that they do not name to verify at least that he's got a database of 1.2 billion fake e-mail addresses and fake passwords. He then offers on his website a "service" free for the first 30 days, $10/month thereafter, to let you enter your e-mail address and password to check against the fake database- at which point your e-mail address and password go into the real database, which he then sells at the upcoming "Black Hat" conference as proof that users are stupid.

First time I've ever quoted from the Premium This Is True

It's usually a very fine publication. I won't even tell you what story this tagline is from. To find out, you'll have to subscribe to the Premium version of This Is True. However, on to the discussion:

Here’s a hint: if both major parties can agree that it’s a dumb idea, it’s probably a dumb idea.

Some of us are so cynical, so fed up with the Democrats and Republicans, that we think that both major parties agreeing that something is a dumb idea, is a pretty darn good indication that it's a good idea. So good that closer to November, I'm likely to write a blog post on this particular idea, specifically for Californicators.

The topics I most need feedback on

Are the ones nobody ever comments on. For instance, why is the Jesuit "Charitable Interpretation" not simply a presumption of lack of sin?

Gaza: an insane solution

But it's slightly more sane than staying in a country where your rations are restricted and idiots on both sides are using your children for human shields.

The Palestinians don't have much, but they do have junk- some of which floats. I wonder what the Israeli gunships would do if faced with a massive seasteading flotilla , taking advantage of the 1.5 km/hr current to evacuate to Crete?



It would be a harrowing journey, but given the warm waters of the Mediterranian, quite possible.

In support of Iraqi Christians

Download this JPG and use it as your avatar everywhere if you support the right of Iraqis to be Christian.

What happens when you try to cheat somebody with Asperger's

The letter I intend to send to Lifewise Insurance and the State, which are claiming that denial of care for the first $10,500 is the standard Bronze Level Affordable Health Care contract in Oregon. Upon review, they are correct. You pay the premiums, and they do nothing, unless you happen to use more than $10,500 worth of services, at which point they finally step in and do something. ----------------------------------------- I clearly was not given the opportunity to review this Policy Information Sheet before signing. It is equally clear that I signed up for insurance in which I pay premiums and get nothing back until I spend over $10,500 in a year for my family. The enclosed bill for preventative care that I received from my doctor’s office proves this goes far beyond just prescriptions, and well into denial of care; however it is within the terms of the contract. I have no doubt that I have now been told the truth; and that the Affordable Care Act minimums are somehow worse for my particular situation than the plan I had before that did not somehow meet those minimums. Apparently, health insurance that actually bothers to pay something for care, is not within those minimums. You asked how you can avoid these problems in the future. I suggest a big flashing warning on all Bronze Level plans on Cover Oregon: This Plan Will Not Pay Any Claim Until the Full Deductible Is Met, Even if it Pushes Your Family Into Bankruptcy. Where I come from, in Silverton, Oregon, we have a name for a contract like that- fraudulent. However, it is apparently now clearly allowed by the big city lawyers who have rewritten our laws to be against the consumer in every instance. Luckily, as of July 21, I have the chance to sign up for group insurance for my family, and will be doing so. I will remember to avoid any Bronze Level “Affordable Care Act” plan in the future, as it is clear that my government is in collusion with the insurance companies, and such plans are neither Affordable nor Care. Please cancel my Bronze Level Plan, and we will be sending this letter instead of our August Premium. Maybe one day we’ll have the violent revolution we need to get our country back from people who write contracts to avoid actually doing anything for the money they receive, but I’m not holding my breath. I have no faith left that my government is actually doing anything to deserve my taxes.

Feminism causes ISIS

The Gender Confusion Challenge to Army Recruitment - Crisis Magazine: "Psychologists and sociologists have known for a long time that gangs are particularly appealing to fatherless boys because boys who lack the guidance of fathers are most likely to feel insecure about their masculine identity, and thus most likely to seek confirmation of it in the ultra-masculine activities of gangs."



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Every once in a while, John Stewart hides a brilliant idea in a joke.

"Gaza Strip map2" by Gringer (talk) 14:01, 8 January 2009 (UTC) - SVG version of File:Gaza_Strip_map.png, created using Inkscape v. 0.46. with help from GIMP 2.4.7.: For Country Borders: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Gaza-Strip Overview Map For roads, text, and population areas, I traced/typed from File:Gaza_Strip_map.png Minimap made using Israel location map.svg by User:NordNordWest Colours in the main map were changed to those in w:Wikipedia:WikiProject_Maps#Map_colors. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

This is the Gaza Strip. The Joke John Steward made is "They have two borders- Israel and Egypt- and both are closed. Where are they supposed to evacuate to?"

What many people don't know is "Palestine" is a foreign word, an Ottoman name for "Filistinian" or "Philistine", also known as South Syria. The Philistines were the successors to the great Phoenecian Empire, the greatest sailing trade empire of the region. Look at that map, look at that other border- do you think we western countries have a way to evacuate civilians out of the area?

From a CNN alert in my inbox this morning

At least three rockets were fired from Gaza toward southern Israel, about two hours after a temporary lull in hostilities began to allow humanitarian supplies to be delivered to Gaza, the Israeli military said.

Hamas to the rest of the world: We don't need your stinkin' humanitarian supplies.

The Bad Evangelist Club: Sola Scriptura and the “Essentials”? | Catholic Lane

The Bad Evangelist Club: Sola Scriptura and the “Essentials”? | Catholic Lane: "
Belief in God.
Belief in Christ Jesus’ deity and humanity – that He is both God and man (Cf. John 1:1; Colossians 2:9; 1 John 4:1-4; Romans 10:9).
Belief that you are a sinner in need of God’s mercy (Cf. 1 John 1:10).
Belief that Christ Jesus died on the Cross and rose bodily from the grave (Cf. John 2:19-21; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4).
Belief that grace through faith in Christ is necessary for salvation (Romans 5:1; Ephesians 2:8-9; Galatians 3:1-2, 5:1-4)."



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Also known as "Heads I win, Tails the Church Loses".

'Weird Al' Yankovic On Parody In The Age Of YouTube : NPR

'Weird Al' Yankovic On Parody In The Age Of YouTube : NPR: " I went to college and got my degree in architecture, and I thought that someday I would be an adult and have a real job."



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Weird Al has a degree in architecture?!?!?  I now want to hire him to build a theme park.

Crazy idea of the week

Penance cards for common problems. A saint on the front related to the problem, a QR code on the back leading to some form of help for the problem. For instance, a card with St. Augustine of Hippo on the front may have a QR code on the back leading to the website of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Judge compares incest and paedophilia to past attitudes towards homosexuality, claiming they might not be taboo anymore

Australia first, I would not have predicted that.



Judge compares incest and paedophilia to past attitudes towards homosexuality, claiming they might not be taboo anymore: "A Sydney judge has compared incest and paedophilia to homosexuality, saying the community may no longer see sexual contact between siblings and between adults and children as “unnatural” or “taboo”."



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The end of an era, the beginning of the New Orthodoxy

Fr. Longnecker writes that the vocation crisis in the American Branch of the Roman Catholic Church is over, largely because the hyper-partisan, weak faith Baby Boomers are dying out, and the Post Vatican II Conservatives, formed by their generational parents aborting their siblings and basically abandoning the responsibilities of adulthood, are taking over.

The Pitchforks Are Coming… For Us Plutocrats - Nick Hanauer - POLITICO Magazine

The Pitchforks Are Coming… For Us Plutocrats - Nick Hanauer - POLITICO Magazine: "I see pitchforks."



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An interesting letter from a most interesting personality. I heard him on the Lars Larson show yesterday on the way home. He's "not a billionaire" in that his net worth is only in the high 950s. $950 million that is.

He has a very interesting economic theory in which wealth is created not by production, but by consumerism. And to have consumerism, you need consumers- you need people making enough money to buy what you are selling. Therefore, the inflation of the minimum wage is a good thing- because it means more people, who have the money to pay higher prices.

Euthanasia: A Further Erosion of Familial Understanding

Euthanasia: A Further Erosion of Familial Understanding: "For him, reading about this stuff had thrown everything I'd said about abortion into a completely different light. What he'd realized is that once you concede the principle that some lives are not worth as much as others, that many human lives are not worth living, you undermine the whole edifice of universal human dignity. Once you've made one exception, why not others?"



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Yep, that's exactly why euthanasia and abortion- one at the end of life, the other at the beginning, but both taking away life that could be lived- is wrong.

Ten Facts You Probably Should Know about the New Caliphate - Aleteia

Ten Facts You Probably Should Know about the New Caliphate - Aleteia: "Simply put, it’s a government under a caliph, but the implications of a caliphate are enormous. “Caliph” means a “successor,” i.e. of the prophet Muhammad. Therefore, Ibrahim claims to be the supreme worldwide religious and political ruler of all Muslims, the one to whom ALL owe allegiance."



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I wonder if a good student of St. Francis of Assisi can turn this caliphate into a sultanate?

A Lesson in Euthanasia on how to die

How A Woman's Plan To Kill Herself Helped Her Family Grieve : Shots - Health News : NPR: "But it can happen. "Life does come to an end. I know that all too well now, with my wife's passing just a few weeks ago. She died at the end of May," says Dr. Bill Toffler.

Toffler is a physician in Portland, Ore., who opposes assisted suicide. He is critical of Ganzini's study, saying that it includes too few people to make the assertions it makes about assisted suicide not harming family members, particularly since it doesn't include family members like him, who fundamentally oppose suicide for any reason.

"I know personally, having lived in Oregon, that there are people who are hurt — grieved very much by a loved one who thought so little of their relationship that they ended their life," Toffler says.

But Toffler does agree that finding a way to gather before death to memorialize life and acknowledge its end is profoundly helpful. Like the Bems, his family went through the dying process with his wife, Marlene Benedetti Toffler. At the very end, there were four of them there — Bill, a daughter and a son, and a close friend.

They gathered around this person they loved, helping her — and themselves — as she passed."



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A libertarian way to curb bribery

Austrian economists tell us that you tax what you want to discourage and subsidize what you want to encourage. How about a 400% tax on campaign contributions?

Nevada woman whose Obamacare enrollment was delayed died of cancer - NY Daily News

Could have sworn liberals online assured me that this sort of thing could never happen.



Nevada woman whose Obamacare enrollment was delayed died of cancer - NY Daily News: "Linda Rolain, who has battled an aggressive brain tumor but didn’t receive insurance coverage until it was too late — despite numerous attempts to enroll in Nevada’s problem-plagued insurance exchange — succumbed to her cancer Monday, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported."



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Pope Francis says world economic system inevitably leads to war

Pope Francis says world economic system inevitably leads to war: " Pope Francis said the world economic system inevitably promotes military conflict as a way to enrich the most powerful nations."



Last week Pope Francis said this- and the Catholic blogosphere exploded.  But what I don't understand is what did he say that Henry Kissinger didn't tell President Ford in 1974?

"So why don't you just make yourself legal?" How immigration process works (and doesn't) in the U.S.

"So why don't you just make yourself legal?" How immigration process works (and doesn't) in the U.S.: "Obtaining a green card means navigating one of the two principal ways of getting permanent legal status in the U.S.: family or specialized work. To apply for a green card on the basis of family, you need to be a spouse, parent, child or sibling of a citizen. (Green-card holders can petition only for their spouses or unmarried children.) Then it’s time to get in line. For green-card seekers, the U.S. has a quota of about 25,000 green cards per country each year. That means Moldova (population: 3.5 million) gets the same number of green cards as Mexico (population: 112 million). The wait time depends on demand. If you’re in Mexico, India, the Philippines or another nation with many applicants, expect a wait of years or even decades. (Right now, for example, the U.S. is considering Filipino siblings who applied in January 1989.)"



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Jose Vargas is a Filipino whose mother made what I would consider a major parental mistake- when he was 12, she gave up her parental rights, turned his welfare over to smugglers, and sent him to relatives who themselves were undocumented.  I don't understand why she thought newspapers would pay more in the United States or be around longer than in Manila; or why she was willing to turn the welfare of a child over to criminals.  But that's what she did.  And in response, I've learned something that I have been wondering for a long time- that our current green card system cares only about ethnic country of origin, not about individuals.



On this 4th of July of 2014, that is hopelessly outdated.



We have this new thing, Total Information Awareness.  It has been called spying, those who think we still have privacy don't like it, but it is basically anything you do, outside of your house, is recorded.  It's possible with computers today to record the entire economic history of every one of the 7 billion human beings on the planet, with plenty of processing time left over for another 80 billion.



With this, we have opportunities.  For one thing, we can make green card processing individual, not quota based.  We have the full public history of every human being on the planet, it's a basic database lookup for criminals and such, and we can give any individual an answer in 30 minutes or less.



But we can do a lot more if we invest in this technology.  We'll know the dietary habits of every human being on the planet, and can rearrange our supply chains to eliminate hunger and open new markets.



This is also the force multiplier we need if we're going to defeat theSola Jihadi of the Muwahiddun.  The key to solo jihad warfare is the individual; the individual needs tools to attack, and with watching every transaction on the planet, we'll be alerted to purchases of those tools- by anybody.

Privacy is used primarily to do evil things.  To harm our neighbor.  It's time to step up to a new morality- and stop harming our neighbor.

Let Freedom Ring? Let Jesus Reign! - Harvesting the Fruit of the Vatican II

Let Freedom Ring? Let Jesus Reign! - Harvesting the Fruit of the Vatican II: "Don’t get me wrong, being an American is a great privilege, but that’s not going to get us to Heaven; being a faithful Catholic is what will get us to Heaven. As such, I refuse to ignore the uncomfortable truth that the U.S. Constitution, in particular its approach to religious liberty, is fatally flawed."



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Viva Christo Rey!

Why "choosing" a transgender might be wrong

The best thing I've ever read yet on why choosing a false gender for a 5 year old is a perverse act of child abuse- and what a parent should do instead.

Sesame Street Tells Lies that Hurt Kids (OR, Why “Any Group of People / Living Together And Loving Each Other” ISN’T “Doing the Family Thing”)

Sesame Street Tells Lies that Hurt Kids (OR, Why “Any Group of People / Living Together And Loving Each Other” ISN’T “Doing the Family Thing”): "That said, it is exactly because we have a strict definition of family that we have adoption at all!  Children in the adoption system have, for many different reasons, been deprived of a mother and father.  Because we have traditionally had a strict definition of family that recognizes that kids need moms and dads to function at their best, we work hard as a society to hook these children up with moms and dads through adoption."



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Why the Hobby Lobby Decision is actually good

It means, in the end that corporations, at least until they are sold out to the stock market, have to actually be ethical and live by the ethics of the entrepreneurs who created them.

Survival guilt?

Latest idea from the great right-wing looney tunes conspiracy: Liberals have survival guilt.
They believe they are evil and their mothers should have aborted them.
They believe America is evil and that the Native American culture should have prevailed and white people don't belong in America.
It's an interesting theory. And certainly some political rants I've read recently from the liberal side would lend it some force. But I would say there's a bit of pot, kettle, black going on, because conservatives have the same problem with rich folks and guilt over being poor.

Bishops- one area of secular society hasn't lost truth (yet)

Instrumentum Laboris, on the results of the survey on the Synod of the Family, just came out. The news is not good, by any means. Catechisis on the institution of the human family has failed in the last 40 years, not just in America and Europe where it was attacked by the sexual revolution, but everywhere, in a lot of strange ways. Divorce, contraception, abortion, and gay marriage rule in North America and Europe- but male family abandonment is rampant everywhere, and in Africa and Asia it's plagued by polygamy, not homosexuality, being the alternative family structure (you think divorce in the United States is bad, try being one of eight Islamic wives whose husband has decided to go on Jihad and blow himself up in the town square!), not to mention Latin America with problems with marriage extremely young (teens and even pre-teens) and machismo leading to a culture of rape.

In the face of this, it's anthropology that the Bishops are turning to, which while a good intellectual start, doesn't exactly warm the heart and doesn't appeal to today's soundbyte, philosophically free and emotion based culture.

But one area hasn't yielded to the dictatorship of relativism and consent: Popular music still longs for monogamous, heterosexual relationships in a way that the modern and postmodern zeitgiest can't fulfill. So perhaps, that's where we should start: In a love so strong that it even gives one another fertility, to create new life. That is the one arena where traditional marriage still has the ability to be superior- perhaps the only area.

How Scalia's prophecy became a moral crisis – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs

How Scalia's prophecy became a moral crisis – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs: "Back in 2003, when the court handed down the decision in Lawrence v. Texas, striking down all criminal statutes against homosexual acts, Scalia declared that the stage was set for the legalization of same-sex unions. That was 2003."



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This is a year before I noticed that the civil union debate had suddenly, overnight, turned into an attack on the family and on marriage.



Justice Scalia, is a prophet.

Heterophobic extremeism

The clearest case of heterophobia I've ever seen exhibited by a Transgender person.



Infant gender assignment: Unnecessary and potentially harmful.:



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And from a former homosexual turned therapist the way you should really respond to gender confusion in your son or daughter.

Planned Parenthood's War on Women - Aleteia

Planned Parenthood's War on Women - Aleteia: "Think about that. One of every sixteen girls who would have been born in 2014 will see her life ended by a Planned Parenthood employee."



Who has the war on women now?   6% of all the girls conceived in the United States, will be executed by a Planned Parenthood employee.  6%.

Debunking myths

As much for my own reference as anything else, just like the author I too would like to do more research on the first.

Affordable Care Act is neither Affordable Nor Care

At least my old insurance would pay for prescriptions. Both my wife and I are on medications, and we knew our medication cost was high, so when we chose a plan on Cover Oregon, one of our criteria was cheap copay on prescriptions. We were thrilled to find a Bronze plan that promised $0 copay on prescriptions, so we went with Lifewise. The cards came, and sure enough, they said Retail Rx Copay $0. Over the last several weeks, I've had the worst allergy season I've ever had- and it's given me severe asthma. My doctor is very worried, so he prescribed Predisone and Adivar. Adivar was utterly denied, so I ended up going with Q-Var, and then I got hit with this massive co-pay.

Thanks loads, Obamacare. You are WORTHLESS.

How to rid the human race of any given random infectious disease

We know this, it isn't rocket science.

If you truly want to wipe out an infectious disease in a given population of human beings, it only takes four steps. Billions of dollars worth of effort, but only four steps.

1. Create a cheap test that shows positive or negative for the infectious agent, and test *everybody*.
2. Those who test positive, physically separate into a quarantined area.
3. Hire researchers and caretakers to care for and treat the quarantined.
4. Use the quarantined population as a test bed to work on cures.

If you are working for the eradication of an infectious illness, and are not doing these four steps, you simply aren't trying very hard.

The most important office in the world

There is a vocation equal in power to a parish priest, with a smaller congregation. It is a post that only women can occupy; but in traditional Catholicism, it is the one vocation that is more powerful than the Pope himself, a vocation without which no human being would even exist. Do you understand the riddle yet? If not Click through to this cartoon.

Fatal Distraction: Forgetting a Child in the Backseat of a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime? - The Washington Post

Fatal Distraction: Forgetting a Child in the Backseat of a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime? - The Washington Post: "“Memory is a machine,” he says, “and it is not flawless. Our conscious mind prioritizes things by importance, but on a cellular level, our memory does not. If you’re capable of forgetting your cellphone, you are potentially capable of forgetting your child.”"



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This horrific story, in this paragraph, tells me that there is a technological solution.  I do forget my cell phone in the car from time to time; but I have a technological hint that I've done so:  My bluetooth headset says "Phone disconnected".



What if carseats had a small, low power bluetooth signal to our smartphones, on whenever the seatbelt is engaged, and an app that detected whether that signal was present or not?

Marriage Crucifix |

Marriage Crucifix |: "In the town of Siroki-Brijeg in Bosnia and Herzagovina, not one single divorce or broken family has been recorded in living memory among its more than 26.000* inhabitants! So what is the secret of their success?

The answer is the beautiful tradition the Croatian people of Siroki-Brijeg have for marriage. In fact the Croatian marriage tradition is beginning to take hold in the rest of Europe and America among devout Catholics who have seen the blessings it bestows!

For centuries the people in Siroki-Brijeg have suffered cruelly as their Christian Faith was always threatened by first the Moslem Turks and then the Communists. They knew through experience, that the source of salvation comes through the Cross of Christ! It does not come from humanitarian aid, peace treaties or disarmament plans, even if these things may bring limited benefits.

These people possess a wisdom that does not allow them to be duped over questions of life and death. That is why they have indissolubly linked marriage with the Cross of Christ. They have founded marriage, which brings forth human life, on the Cross, which brings forth divine life.

When the bride and bridegroom go to the church to be married they carry a Crucifix with them. The priest blesses the Crucifix and instead of saying that they have found the ideal partner with whom to share their lives, he exclaims, “You have found your Cross! It is a Cross to love, to carry with you, a Cross that is not to be thrown off, but rather cherished.”"



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Tuam Mother & Baby Home Memorial

Tuam Mother & Baby Home Memorial — iCrowdFundiCrowdFund:



We've all heard about the sad case of anonymous graves at this unwed mother's home in Ireland.  Thankfully, the early reports have been proven false, but the 796 children who died at this home in the 20th century are still buried in unmarked graves.  This whole story broke because of the attempt to build a memorial for these children.  Give if you can.



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I said it before

In 1992, when I was a liberal protesting the First Gulf War, I said it. I said that getting involved in the middle east would breed jihadis willing to attack America. In 2003 I said it. I said leaving Afghanistan to go have an adventure in Iraq would just breed more terrorists to attack again in a decade. In 2014, many Iraqi cities fell to Islamic Jihadists. And I will say it again. A military solution to tribal problems will just result in more Jihadists a decade from now. Please don't make me say it again in 2025.

Astronauts to enjoy out-of-this world coffee with ISSpresso machine (Wired UK)

Astronauts to enjoy out-of-this world coffee with ISSpresso machine (Wired UK): "The ISSpresso -- that's what they called it, we swear -- was built by Italian coffee kings Lavazza in conjunction with Argotec and the Italian Space Agency. The machine, which weighs 20kg with all the additional safety mechanisms, will be accompanying Air Force Captain Samantha Cristoforetti -- Italy's first woman into space -- in November this year."



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Oh,  cool, I just found another way to use "blog this", it autoquotes.  Now for the joke:

The only way the Italians could get a woman to go to space is if they guaranteed her the ability to have coffee when she gets there.

You're older than you've ever been

And now you're even older. A bit of perspective, H/T to David Don, my brother in law.

Austism and Touch Starvation

Leah Libresco writes on the topic of human touch and how the sexual revolution has robbed us of the ability to touch each other without it being sexual. But for the autistic, either high functioning or low functioning, Sensory Perception Disorder often robs us of the same joy. I used to say I only had two emotions, angry and happy. A large part of that is the SPD I experience in my skin- it wasn't until Christopher was born and I experienced, in my "Daddy nappies" the ability to just hold another human being. And at times, that can be itchy or even painful if I'm in sensory overload to begin with.

This is a real danger to the autistic community- craving touch, fearing touch, and acting inappropriately because of the push-pull of human touch. I don't have a solution this time, I'm just identifying the problem.

Homosexuality is inherently unjust

Procreation should be not just a right, but a basic good afforded to all human beings. One can voluntarily give up the right to procreate, one can give up that good. But homosexuality claims that procreation isn't a basic good at all- and forces the partners in a homosexual relationship to give up that right and deny that good. This is inherently unjust to homosexuals to claim that once they have a gay relationship, they can never have a straight one, and it is wrong for homosexuals to force the person they claim to love to never procreate.

This isn't important to teenagers, but it is important as people grow older. In my extended family, I know at least four heterosexual couples who have gotten divorced over infertility issues. I expect the same, now that same sex marriage is legal in Oregon, will happen to homosexual couples at a much higher rate.

The 5 most common arguments for abortion (and how to refute)

I had reblogged this earlier, but then the link started working, and the original article is so much better. I leave in place the below references however:

1 Operation Rescue

2 Hillary Clinton on abortion

3 Five bad ways to argue

4 Five minutes

5 Unborn Victims of Violence Act

Junque and Jewels sale setup

7pm on Friday, June 13 we will set up the Gym floor. Saturday, June 14th, we'll set up every table we can find starting at 8am. Volunteering for 4 hours for this enables you to go to the early shopping day. This is a whole family volunteer opportunity, bring teenagers!

Insurance Open House

Meet our new insurance agent. There will be a district wide open house at St. Anthony's O'Reilly Hall in Tigard 10am-2pm on Saturday May 31st.

One more way modern America is more barbaric than ancient pagans

Found in the Swansea University Archives, a small sarcophagas with a 12 week from concpetion fetus inside. Legal to kill in modern America, treated like any other dead human being in Ancient Egypt.

A better attack

Consent removes dingity- what a powerful idea. It is exactly what I was trying to get across with my "sex outside of marriage is rape" idea, that was rejected by so many. Consent doesn't bring dignity- consent to evil DESTROYS dignity.

Of course, to understand this, you have to be working in a framework of objective right and wrong.

Fitness video

My wife is always into fitness videos. I, however, can't seem to get into them.

Here's one I think I could get behind:



(and given the pain when I genuflect, such that my knee can't touch the floor anymore- it's one I need).

When Catholic politicians are better at science

When Catholic politicians are better at science than people who believe in science without question, I think we have a problem here.

Where the LCWR is headed

A playlist of my favorite Spirit of Whatever guy- Stanford Nutting (Stands For Nothing)

The church exists

Because somebody has to say yes when the entire rest of the world is saying no.

Just start the Society of St Pantsuit

Just start the Society of St. Pantsuit and leave the rest of the church alone already.

Using Logical Fallacies in argument online is an Appeal To Authority

All human knowledge, no matter what anybody says, is either an appeal to authority or anecdotal. In fact, in a way, anecdotal is only a special case of appeal to authority where your own lived experience (or the lived experience of somebody else) is the authority. EVERYTHING is thus an appeal to authority, including the appeal to logical fallacy fallacy, which is of course, just an appeal to the authority of logical fallacies.

On Scandal, a new perspective

A priest offers a few thoughts on scandal and how to deal with it philosophically (page 5 of that church bulletin).

Authoritarian Limits

Juliet Lapidos, in normal left wing format predicting the demise of a politician's career over denying global warming, asked these questions:

Does Mr. Rubio think scientists are lying? Or that they don’t know what they’re talking about? Either way, what leads him to believe that the “portrait” of climate change offered by scientists is inaccurate?

.

The answer to your questions are: Yes, Yes, and because they have been unable to accurately predict the climate change over the past 15 years- our observations do not match their models. In fact, there is a distinct possibility that while climate change scientists have been playing the blame game on causes, we've hit a tipping point beyond which killing off the human race isn't a solution anymore.

The window of opportunity on this closed sometime between 1995 and 2003. What we need to do now is stop arguing over the *cause* and start adapting to the *observed effect*. Not the effects the climate change models predict, but the effects we are *observing* in our own neighborhoods, farms, villages, and cities.

Observation beats modeling any day of the week. And journalists like Labidos whose only science is a mere appeal to authority? They don't know anything at all.

The Church is not a democracy, Cardinals are from Mars Edition

No matter what modern feminist nuns think the church is neither misogynistic nor a democracy.

CDF: “Sisters, do you believe and affirm that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of the Father, begotten and not made, the second Person of the Holy Trinity?”

LCWR: “Why are you asking us that question? What gives you the authority to ask it?”


CDF: “Again, Sisters, do you believe and affirm that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of the Father, incarnate by the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary?”


LCWR: “You have no right to pick on us simply because we’re women. You arrogant misogynists! We believe that hierarchical structures must be dismantled!”


CDF: “Sisters, you seem to argue that you are ‘beyond Jesus.’ Do you in fact believe that man may be saved in the name of Jesus alone? That Christ alone reveals the Father to man, and man to himself?”


LCWR: “Why are you using sexist language? We are offended by your pronouns.”


CDF: “Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of the Father?”


LCWR: “We have advanced degrees in theology. We have received awards from our friends – we mean, from prestigious theological societies. Why are you suggesting that we are incompetent? Is it because we’re women?”


Of course, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the United States isn't a democracy either, and the congitive dissonance of that may be what is driving these nuns.

In American Politics, overreaching is common

Joe Scarborough claims that The Left has overreached on climate change, to which I say, absolutely. And on gay marriage. And on abortion. Dissenting opinions are demonized.

But it's not just the Left. It's the Right as well, but largely on economics. No hint of actual social justice is allowed. Have compassion for your fellow neighbor? That's foolishness.

This is why I'm a Catholic first, and an American second.

A challenge to atheists

We're all familiar with the well deserved atheist critique of fundamentalist Christianity. Heck, Catholics even share in it.

But there's a much harder, and more important nut to crack. Fundamentalist Christianity can't withstand the light of the internet- in fact, many of the smaller churches actually forbid their members to go on the internet.

But fundamentalist Islam is the bigger threat, and its theology is even more logically incoherant. And it is on the rise- in a very violent way. So I suggest that perhaps a better use of time would be in disproving Allah, rather than Yahweh. Try the Koran on for size next time you want to criticize a scripture.

Busting the Biblical Money Code

Yep, it's a hoax or at the very least, the wisdom gained is pretty common sense, and the lies are huge. This is the Prosperity Gospel wrapped up in a get rich quick scheme.

But this busting article points out something I have been trying to get across for a long time: anonymity leads to immoral ethics. Publically traded companies will NEVER be pure Christian investing.

How a lie, became the only orthodox truth allowed

The destruction of Aristotle's Telos has led to an entire generation being lied to:

Why I am Pro-Life, and autism

The article yesterday in Crisis Magazine about them finally finding a prenatal test for autism, reminded me of this Letter from a Mother I once found at George Tiller's Abortion Clinic Website.

If there is any doubt left that prenatal testing is pro-abortion and that abortion is a genocide, I offer those two links as my proof.

Just one more link in the chain of why I am the unfit and why I oppose the bigotry against the unplanned.

Fantasy Island was pro-life

Pretty daring for 1978:

Distributist version of a minimum wage law

Another in the Papal Economics series, though my review of the book is completed.

There will always be bad corporate actors. Maybe not as bad as this McDonald's CEO but bad all the same. And there will always be entry level jobs, done by people who are at the very bottom of society.



The moral argument for a minimum wage is clear. But is a dollar value minimum wage, in a large country, where cost of living varies greatly is a single minimum wage just?

Also, when thinking about, how do we encourage a living wage instead of a minimum wage, perhaps a better question would be "what is a just wage?". I'd like to steal something from Plato in this. In The Republic, he suggests that a minimum wage should be a percentage of the maximum wage- 10%. But he was dealing with a simpler time, not a time of abundance, but a time of scarcity. So I'd like to suggest that this equation should be used *instead* of a minimum wage- and that it is both impersonal enough to be used by the most impersonal public corporation, yet personal enough that a business based on justice can change it:

The minimum wage should be ((LastYearCEOSalary+LastYearCEOBonus+LastYearCEOExpenseAccount)/2080)*.01). A more just business might adjust that .01 to some higher percentage based on what they feel their people are worth, but that should be the minimum.

The only thing I can't decide is, based on that bloomberg article I linked to first, whether McDonald's should be paying a minimum wage of $42/hr, or a CEO compensation package of $1.716 million. Most likely something in between.

Cross Reference Catechism of the Catholic Church 2426-2436

Apparently, nobody in South Yarmouth, Mass has heard of a magnet.

Ok, so you want an "environmentally clean" bonfire for a civic event. You have some shipping pallets you want to get rid of, and of course, since they're not painted or have preservatives, they're clean wood to burn, right? Well, somebody forgot about the nails. That's bad enough- let's pollute a beach people go walking barefoot on with a large circle of nails. But worse, I think they've been hiring ex-Oregon Department of Transportation employees for the cleanup. Not quite as bad as trying to remove a dead whale with dynamite, but almost. They tried to pick them up with a garden rake. Which of course, just spread the nails all over the beach.

Ever hear of an electromagnet? Wonderful invention for separating ferrous metal from sand......

Why feminism scares me

BTW, if you're wondering who Mrs Slee is (I kept hearing Sleen and thinking about the Slitheen- monsters who wear human skins on Dr. Who) then this Wikipedia article may be in order- especially note in the right hand section under husbands. Interesting that she also exemplified the modern form of a gold digger- used up the fortune of one husband, became estranged from him, divorced him, then found another sugar daddy to finance her dilettante with death.

One important link for special needs parents in Oregon

If you have an intellectually disabled child in Oregon and are Catholic, you want this link. The Office for People with Disabilities runs adaptive mass around the state and a retreat for the families every year.

Convention time, going off line

It's in my city, so I'll check in from time to time, but for the most part, I'm off line until Sunday night.

On invisible disability

This is for post.
There is a great deal of pain involved in being disabled. You get excluded from all sorts of social opportunities. But with an invisible disability (I grew up with undiagnosed Asperger's) there is additional pain involved because nobody ever tells you WHY. WHY you are picked last for every team sport, WHY you aren't invited to parties, WHY you can't date. NONE of that is ever explained, all you get are the jokers and the bullies.

It took me until I was 28 to live that down and get married, and it took until I was 30 before I had the diagnosis that turned my life around.

So I guess the moral of the story is, get your kids screened. The knowledge you give them about themselves is invaluable.

Slavery would be more Just than the Death Penalty

There was poetic justice in the botched execution of Charles Lockett of a sort. He shot a teenaged girl twice, she didn't die, so he buried her alive. The delay at his execution by injecting the drugs into muscle rather than the bloodstream fit his murder, even if unintentionally.

But his execution did not include penance, did not include recompense to the family of his victim. And I've got to say, having a doctor step in to interfere with the execution was a mercy he didn't give to poor Stephanie.

For this reason, I would still prefer slavery over the death penalty- the inmate should be made to work, hard, and all profit of his work should belong to the family of his victim, until he can work no more and dies of exhaustion.

The interesting thing is that in certain industries, that sentence might actually be *quicker* than the death penalty as currently practiced in the United States.

The funniest thing I've ever heard on Nostra Aetate

Stephen Cobert interprets Nostra Aetate for Americans who can't speak Latin. The only thing he misses- even within the Church, some paths to Heaven are straight and narrow and some are wide, twisty, and with cliffs on either side.

Protestantism for Catholics

This is what I believe, and yes, this only the first generation diagram. I'd LOVE to see a fully detailed one showing all 32,000 "branches". I got this through a comment on:

Catholic In The Ozarks: Protestantism for Catholics:





This is something very important to understand when doing ecumenicism.