Outside The Asylum

But which it is vitally important that we do:

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

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.

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.

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.

Take that, Elton John!

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 rig...

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.

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.

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

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 fr...

"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 agains...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

And because of that, atheism is irrational.

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: Once a farm gains TAU classification, it can no longer be subdivided, even if covered by an expanding urban growth boundary. Minimum 25% of land area must be for human food production of some sort. 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 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. TAU farms may offer complementary services to consumers, such as hotels, bed and breakfas...

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.

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

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?

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?

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?

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

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.

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

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.

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 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.

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 :

Marriage | Gallup Historical Trends : An excellent example of how even objective morality isn't obvious to most human beings.

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'

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 g...

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'

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'

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 : 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.

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

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

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...

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:

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 : 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.

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...

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.

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?

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?

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 organi...

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

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 t...

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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 ...

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." 'via Blog this'

" 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 gr...

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 : " 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)." 'via Blog this' Also known as "Heads I win, Tails the Church Loses".

'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." 'via Blog this' Weird Al has a degree in architecture?!?!?  I now want to hire him to build a theme park.

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.

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”." 'via Blog this'

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 : "I see pitchforks." 'via Blog this' 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 : "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?" 'via Blog this' 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 : "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." 'via Blog this' I wonder if a good student of St. Francis of Assisi can turn this caliphate into a sultanate?

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, ...

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?

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." 'via Blog this'

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." L ast 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. : "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.)" 'via Blog this' J...

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." 'via Blog this' Viva Christo Rey!

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”) : "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." 'via Blog this'

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.

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.

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 intelle...

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." 'via Blog this' 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.

The clearest case of heterophobia I've ever seen exhibited by a Transgender person. Infant gender assignment: Unnecessary and potentially harmful. : 'via Blog this' 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 : "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%.

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

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.

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.

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 : "“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.”" 'via Blog this' 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 | : "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 th...

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. 'via Blog this'

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) : "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." 'via Blog this' 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.

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

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.

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.

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

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!

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.

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.

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.

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 than people who believe in science without question , I think we have a problem here.