Anglican Bishops to start 2011 as Catholics

Damian Thompson of The Telegraph reported the story here. It was also reported by The Anglo-Catholic.

The blogging world is reporting the reception into full Catholic communion of five (or six) Anglican bishops and their wives, along with three nuns from Walsingham, to take place at Westminster Cathedral on the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God (January 1).

The visit to the UK by Pope Benedict XVI to beatify John Cardinal Newman in November appears to be bearing fruit.

Muslims Killing Catholics in Iraq III

Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch posted this piece of bad news on his website yesterday about the continuing purge of Christians by al-Qaeda in Iraq. This is our third reporting of these killings and we haven't seen a lot of coverage in the main stream media yet. For prior posts on the killings go here and here.

Vortex: The Pope & The U.S. Bishops

Dear Friend in Christ,

The pope is the head of the Roman Catholic Church, the bishop of Rome, the eternal city. And he has very definite views about the state of things. The head of the Catholic Church in America . . . well, he disagrees with his boss. Watch this video to find out why and how, and please pass it to your friends.

http://www.youtube.com/user/RealCatholicTV?feature=mhum#p/a/u/0/ChX29XelFXU

GOD Bless you and your loved ones,

Michael Voris
~senior executive producer, RealCatholicTV.com

Drill Baby, Drill!

Judith Levy posted this on Ricochet four hours ago.

For more on the big news in Israel, you can read this piece in today's Wall Street Journal by Charles Levinson and Guy Chazan.

So, maybe we'll soon be buying oil and natural gas from Israel or Lebanon. As long as we're prohibited from drilling on our own land, or in our own waters, by our own government, we'll have to keep buying it somewhere.

Catholicism: A gorgeous trailer for an exciting project

(Click in bottom right to view on YouTube)

From Elizabeth Scalia - The Anchoress.

The narrator is Father Robert Barron, Director of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries.

Milton Friedman on Uncommon Knowledge, Part 5

Peter Robinson, the host of Uncommon Knowledge (and the former Reagan speechwriter who penned the line, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall") is on Christmas vacation so he is reprising his earlier interviews with Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman (1912-2006). The link below is part 5 of 5.

http://tv.nationalreview.com/uncommonknowledge/post/?q=MzQwMTM0ZmIwNzQxMzQ3YWIxZTBjMmFmOTQ5MjIyNmM=

Death Panels by Fiat: Thomas Sowell

Dr. Thomas Sowell writes today on National Review Online about "Political End-Runs." The Constitution of the United States begins with the words “We the people.” But neither the Constitution nor “we the people” will mean anything if politicians and judges can continue to do end-runs around both.

Bills passed too fast for anyone to read them are blatant examples of these end-runs. But last week, another end-run appeared in a different institution when the medical “end of life consultations” rejected by Congress were quietly enacted by administrators of Medicare through bureaucratic fiat...

The denigration of the Constitution began during the Progressive era of the early 20th century, led by such luminaries as Princeton scholar and future president Woodrow Wilson, future Harvard Law School dean Roscoe Pound, and future Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis.

As a professor at Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson wrote condescendingly of “the simple days of 1787” when the Constitution was written and how, in our presumably more complex times, “each generation of statesmen looks to the Supreme Court to supply the interpretation which will serve the needs of the day.”

One is anxious to inquire: Just whose "needs of the day" did Wilson (and his Progressive progeny) have in mind?

You can read Dr. Sowell's essay by clicking on the link below.

Political End-Runs - Thomas Sowell - National Review Online

And for more on Death Panels, go here and here.

Milton Friedman on Uncommon Knowledge, Part 4

Peter Robinson, the host of Uncommon Knowledge (and the former Reagan speechwriter who penned the line, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall") is on Christmas vacation so he is reprising his earlier interviews with Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman (1912-2006). The link below is part 4 of 5.

http://tv.nationalreview.com/uncommonknowledge/post/?q=ZGNhNjNhMjA2M2U3MTk2ZjdiZWE1NTcyYmMyNzk3YzI=

111th Congress Worst Ever: Washington Examiner

This does not strike me as a minority opinion. Never in memory have members of Congress been so egregious in thwarting the will of the American people they were elected to represent.

Here's a clip: ...This is the Congress that passed Obamacare, against the wishes of a substantial majority of the public, on Christmas Eve of last year. In the dead of night, Democratic lawmakers stuffed the monstrous 2,700-page bill with special-interest goodies and political payoffs like the "Cornhusker Kickback" and the "Louisiana Purchase." As we have learned since, most members were still ignorant of the bill's contents three months later, when it gained final passage in the House. No surprise that its immediate results -- both intended and unintended -- have been almost uniformly bad.

Here's a link to the editorial:
Examiner Editorial: Closing the books on the worst Congress | Washington Examiner

Milton Friedman on Uncommon Knowledge, Part 3

Peter Robinson, the host of Uncommon Knowledge (and the former Reagan speechwriter who penned the line, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall") is on Christmas vacation so he is reprising his earlier interviews with Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman (1912-2006). The link below is part 3 of 5.

http://tv.nationalreview.com/uncommonknowledge/post/?q=ODQ0NTFlZWUwY2MyYTU0YWUzNTA5MDEyNjk0MWFiMjk=

Electric Bills Are Coming

What will it take for this man to abandon his plan that he says will make electricity rates skyrocket? We have to pay his electric bill until January 20, 2012...maybe then he'll understand.

Sundays are for Beauty: Nessun Dorma

Nessun Dorma (Nobody sleeps) was the signature song of the late Luciano Pavarotti. It's from the Puccini Opera, Turandot.


Merry Christmas. Have a Beautiful Sunday.

Christmas Day 2010

(Click twice in bottom right to view on YouTube)

Handel: Messiah, For unto us a child is born (Sir Colin Davis, & The London Symphony Orchestra)

Merry Christmas.

Jingle Bells: Bethlehem 2010 Version

(Click in bottom right to watch on YouTube)

This is from Latma, the Hebrew-language satire site run by Caroline Glick. It's not supposed to be funny (satire can be very disturbing), but it is, unfortunately, reflective of reality in today's Bethlehem. Although there were record crowds visiting the site of the Virgin Birth this year, a lasting peace is still something to be prayed for.

Merry Christmas, and remember the Christians in the Middle East and elsewhere who are unable to celebrate Christmas in public (come to think of it we are slowly becoming a part of the "elsewhere" right here in America).

Vortex: Christmas Eve Message

http://www.youtube.com/user/RealCatholicTV?feature=mhum#p/a/u/0/fOkkrvh7yF8

Handel's Messiah: And The Glory of the Lord

Milton Friedman on Uncommon Knowledge, Part 2

Peter Robinson, the host of Uncommon Knowledge (and the former Reagan speechwriter who penned the line, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall") is on Christmas vacation so he is reprising his earlier interviews with Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman (1912-2006). The link below is part 2 of 5.

http://tv.nationalreview.com/uncommonknowledge/post/?q=NWU4ZTBjNjgyNWVkZjZlODM3ZDFlOTYzMjc0NmRjYmM=

Milton Friedman on Uncommon Knowledge, Part 1

Peter Robinson, the host of Uncommon Knowledge (and the former Reagan speechwriter who penned the line, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall") is on Christmas vacation so he is reprising his earlier interviews with Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman (1912-2006). The link below is part 1 of 5; the rest will be posted here on successive days.

http://tv.nationalreview.com/uncommonknowledge/post/?q=Njg1YzkxNjRmNjA2NzI3NGJjZmQzNzIxOWNmM2IzYWQ=

Death Panels are Real - and Here.

(Click to enlarge)

"No man is an island, entire of itself ... Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

John Donne (1572-1631)

Those of us who are dying of cancer did not (as did homosexuals demanding to serve OPENLY in the military) get good news this week.

Peter Ferrara, writing in The American Spectator yesterday gave us the bad news about the undeniability of the existence of death panels.

Last week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revoked its regulatory approval of the drug Avastin to treat late stage, metastatic breast cancer. Each year, the practicing oncologists chosen by 17,500 American women to save them from their life-threatening, heavily progressed cancer prescribe Avastin to treat them.

The FDA explained that it was revoking approval of the drug for that use because it decided that the drug does not provide "a sufficient benefit in slowing disease progression to outweigh the significant risk to patients." Risk? The drug is prescribed for women who are otherwise going to die from cancer unless the drug saves them at least for a time. The far greater risk to these women is from the FDA, not the drug.

As The Wall Street Journal said last Friday in response to the FDA's explanation:
Ponder that [word] "sufficient." The agency is substituting its own judgment about clinical meaningfulness for those of practicing oncologists and terminally ill cancer patients.

That FDA judgment was determined last summer by an internal agency panel of 13 experts, only two of whom were breast cancer oncologists, and none of whom were breast cancer patients.

Ferrara goes on to recount the plight of a Mrs. Turnage, who could possibly be the first victim of Obamacare's Death Panels. The rest of us have to wonder when our drugs will be deemed by the FDA's "internal agency panel of experts" to not provide "a sufficient benefit in slowing disease progression to outweigh the significant risk to patients."

For a previous post on Death Panels, go here.

We're In Big Trouble!

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Relax! We're in good hands.

Vortex: DREAM & DADT

Dear Friend in Christ,

When it comes to promoting illegal immigration .. bet on many of the bishops cheering it on.  But when it comes to standing up against an immoral law .. well .. not so much.  Please consider the subject of this episode of The Vortex and ask the question - where were the bishops when this was being done?

http://www.youtube.com/user/RealCatholicTV?feature=mhum#p/a/u/0/BSP_l43xnHU

GOD Bless you and your loved ones.

Michael Voris
~senior executive producer, RealCatholicTV.com

Rachel Campos-Duffy: Stay-At-Home Mom

Rachel Campos-Duffy has a great and inspiring story to tell, and she tells it in a new book (see above). She was interviewed by National Review Online Editor Kathryn Jean Lopez about her new book and the change about to take place in her life: her husband, Sean Duffy, was just elected to the U. S. Congress to represent his home district in Wisconsin.

Rachel was also interviewed recently by the lead talker on The View, who "pointed out that Politico has called Rachel and Sean the new D.C. 'hot couple.'” Lopez, in her interview, comments: "That really is quite the witness — if “hot” can now include being a mom who stays in Wisconsin with the kids and an Our Lady of Guadalupe statue in the living room as the Tea Party dad commutes to the nation’s capital." The kids, by the way, now number six.

Here's the interview by Kathryn Jean Lopez. It's a quick, but important read - especially for stay-at-home Moms.

Mama Grizzly Reality TV - Kathryn Jean Lopez - National Review Online

The Christmas Choir

Saw this film last night on TV. It's based on a true story.

Coming soon on DVD. This is an excellent and heartfelt movie about a workaholic whose personal life has collapsed around him, who organizes and leads a Christmas choir of men living at a homeless shelter.

Merry Christmas!

Sodomite Lobby Wins The Day

Despite the irrefutable case made against the repeal of "Don't Ask; Don't Tell" by former Marine Corps Commandant Carl Mundy, Jr., which was detailed here in a prior post, the sodomite lobby with the assistance of Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Democrats in the Senate, finally got their way. Their president is expected to sign the repeal into law tomorrow. Voting for repeal were: 55 Democrats, 8 Republicans, and 2 Independents. Homosexuals, once final arrangements are made, will be able to serve OPENLY (they've always been able to serve, but the rest of us were not forced to accept their "lifestyle") in the Armed Forces of the United States - the same Armed Forces where someone can still be rejected because of "age, physical or mental challenges, education, drug use or abuse, excessive weight, and a number of other reasons."

The question arises, since we have in effect stated we do not believe there is any problem with the lifestyle of homosexuals, what will a military commander in the field be authorized to do when two such homosexuals are found "enjoying" that depraved lifestyle in a combat zone - or even in the barracks in a non-combat zone? Some will say there are already proscriptions in the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) against unlawful sexual acts by heterosexual members of the armed forces and those same proscriptions would apply to unlawful acts by declared homosexuals, but anyone who believes that those same rules could be used against homosexuals, when the entire sodomite community will be standing by waiting to scream discrimination on their way to the courthouse, is not being realistic.

If you'd like to identify how your senator and all the senators voted, you can find the complete list here.

If you're looking for the man who bears the most blame (or credit) for the repeal of DADT, look no farther than the photo at the top of this post. It's said that Mullen wanted the repeal to be his legacy. It will be his legacy, and one hopes he is able to live with it.

Ruminations in a Kayak XIII

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On Modern Parenting

“The thing that impresses me the most about America is the way parents obey their children.” King Edward VIII (1894-1972).

One of the things that modern parenting has brought us, in addition to “time out” for unruly and out of control children, is the attitude that the parent is to be the “best friend” of his or her kids. In order to fill that newly created position, many parents have slipped into what can only be described as a second childhood – or worse – a second attempt at being a teenager. To hear (and see) some parents dressing and talking exactly like their teenage progeny is enough to make a mature adult want to paddle out to sea in a one-seat kayak. When I hear adults end every sentence with a question mark, or start every sentence with “like,” I want to send for help. The sight of middle aged women clad in low slung jeans and too short tops exposing inches of waistline flab walking on the beach with tattooed daughters dressed exactly the same way could easily bring on severe nausea. The lower exposed backs of such women often are decorated with “body art” (a new sophisticated term for tattoo) that can mirror the disfiguration on the same part of the daughter’s body. It’s all simply too much for an old man who grew up in a time when adults were adults and actually advised and supervised the children God had given them. Adults in my day did not talk like or dress like their children, and they certainly did not make any attempt to curry favor with them or tell them unceasingly that they loved them (their love for their children was manifested daily by their actions). They guided them and tried to keep them from going through life lemming-like, following every crazy fad that came along. Those days, though, are long gone it seems, and probably never will return

I‘m willing to bet that most of those mothers who act in the way just described work outside the home, that the children attend schools where discipline is nothing but an anachronistic concept that long ago was trumped by diversity, and a prioritization of self-esteem, and that there is a lot more TV watching than reading going on in their homes. I’ll bet further that those women are quick to disparage stay-at-home Moms, and that virtually none of those kids are home-schooled. There probably are no studies extant that would prove my contentions (such studies would be considered politically incorrect), but maybe as Casey Stengel used to say: “You could look it up.”

All this might seem not to fit in with my usual ruminations in my kayak, but it is something very close to my heart because I have grandkids, and even though they are lucky not to have such mothers I still think about how this new world of ours will affect their futures, and shape their values – and I get nervous.


(On such things does one ruminate while paddling a one-person kayak miles out in the ocean - closer to God.)

Steven Crowder on the UN Climate Summit Scam

Click below to watch Steven Crowder's video made at the UN Climate Summit in Cancun, Mexico.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNMJOhl79XM&feature=player_embedded