Sissel: Mascagni's Ave Maria

That's Sissel Kyrkjebø, the Norwegian soprano who goes only by her first name.  She's been featured here before (and will be again) because she's one of the world's top performers of classical and sacred music.

Brit Hume on The Cranky (and Rude) Old Man

A Tragedy in Montana

Montana Bear Tragedy

This is a very sad story about a bear... Everybody should heed the warnings not to feed wildlife because they become dependent and don't forage for themselves any longer. It is such a tragedy to see what has been done to our country's wildlife. The photo below captures a disturbing trend that is beginning to affect U.S. wildlife.

Animals that formerly were self-sufficient are now showing signs of belonging to the Democratic Party. They have apparently learned to just sit and wait for the government to step in and provide for their care and sustenance. 

This photo is of a black bear in Montana turned Democrat. He's nicknamed Bearack Obearma. It is believed that he has become a campground organizer.



H/T: dennplo

Biden is Nothing if not Duplicitous

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Last night's vice-presidential debate set a new high for the usual duplicity of the current vice-president.  His comments about Catholic institutions not having to violate their consciences and act against their beliefs under Obamacare were a little bit true, BUT he failed to mention that should they adhere to their beliefs and follow their consciences, they will be severely fined - fined to the extent that they will be forced to close their doors to the people in need whom they now serve throughout the country.  The U. S. Catholic Bishops issued this statement today about Biden's "misstatement."

Anyone who has followed Biden's unremarkable political career have come to expect not only his penchant for hyperbole, obfuscation, and duplicity, but also his childish behavior (smirking and laughing) while his opponent was engaging in serious debate.

At Mass on EWTN this morning, Father Brian Thomas Becket Mullady O.P, the visiting celebrant, spoke briefly about the responsibility of Catholic politicians on the issue of abortion.  He referenced the following quote attributed to Sir Thomas More (speaking against the divorce of Henry VIII from Catherine of Aragon) in "A Man for All Seasons:"

I think that when statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties, they lead their country by a short route to chaos. 

Unfortunately, politicians, dating back to the self-proclaimed Catholic, Mario Cuomo, either are not in agreement with Thomas More (who was separated from his own head for refusing to compromise his beliefs) or they are just more interested in worshipping the false god of power than in obeying the Sixth Commandment of God (Thou shalt not kill).

Truth on Benghazi from The Heritage Foundation

The video is from The Heritage Foundation that published the following on YouTube:

Published on Oct 7, 2012 by HeritageFoundation

An Incriminating Timeline: New evidence shows there were security threats in Benghazi, Libya, in the months prior to the deadly September 11, 2012, attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. Despite these threats, the Obama Administration and State Department left its personnel there to fend for themselves

From the Washington Post:

The conservative Heritage Foundation is continuing to be a leading force against what it considers to be a cover-up within the Obama administration of the death of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans at the U.S. Consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi last month.

A Warrior's Mother Speaks Out

That's the mother of State Department official Sean Smith, who was killed September 11, 2012 in the terrorist attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya.  She appeared with Anderson Cooper on CNN last night.

Warriors Speak Out: Bow to Nobody

H/T: edscis

The Language of Form: Classical Architecture and The Catholic Church

This was posted on Ricochet.com recently, and the following is from YouTube, where it was originally posted by dominicandaily:

Uploaded by dominicandaily on Jun 23, 2011

The Language of Form:

Post-production completed for a new video on Catholic church architecture for St. Paul the Apostle Church in Greensboro, North Carolina. Project features Father John O'Malley, SJ, Allan Greenberg, and James McCrery and has shots of Saint Vincent Ferrer as an example 
of good form.

 

How Could a Jew Vote for Obama?

The Importance of Marriage

This is from Alliance Defending Freedom.

Mitt Romney, according to his website, would "not only appoint an attorney general who will defend the "Defense of Marriage Act," but will also champion a Federal Marriage Amendment to the Constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

Please remember to vote on November 6.

H/T: bmckita

Our Lady of the Rosary, October 7

Today is the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, and the following is from AmericanCatholic.org.

Sunday, October 07, 2012

Our Lady of the Rosary

Pope St. Pius V established this feast in 1573. The purpose was to thank God for the victory of Christians over the Turks at Lepanto—a victory attributed to the praying of the rosary. Clement XI extended the feast to the universal Church in 1716.

The development of the rosary has a long history. First, a practice developed of praying 150 Our Fathers in imitation of the 150 Psalms. Then there was a parallel practice of praying 150 Hail Marys. Soon a mystery of Jesus' life was attached to each Hail Mary. Though Mary's giving the rosary to St. Dominic is recognized as a legend, the development of this prayer form owes much to the followers of St. Dominic. One of them, Alan de la Roche, was known as "the apostle of the rosary." He founded the first Confraternity of the Rosary in the 15th century. In the 16th century the rosary was developed to its present form—with the 15 mysteries (joyful, sorrowful and glorious). In 2002, Pope John Paul II added the Mysteries of Light to this devotion.

Comment:

The purpose of the rosary is to help us meditate on the great mysteries of our salvation. Pius XII called it a compendium of the gospel. The main focus is on Jesus—his birth, life, death and resurrection. The Our Fathers remind us that Jesus' Father is the initiator of salvation. The Hail Marys remind us to join with Mary in contemplating these mysteries. They also make us aware that Mary was and is intimately joined with her Son in all the mysteries of his earthly and heavenly existence. The Glorys remind us that the purpose of all life is the glory of the Trinity.

The rosary appeals to many. It is simple. The constant repetition of words helps create an atmosphere in which to contemplate the mysteries of God. We sense that Jesus and Mary are with us in the joys and sorrows of life. We grow in hope that God will bring us to share in the glory of Jesus and Mary forever.

For more on the role of Our Lady of the Rosary in The Battle of Lepanto, go HERE.

An Imaginary Man of Fantasy

Andrew Klavan, writing yesterday at the Blog of City Journal, perfectly encapsulated the totally media concocted persona of our 44th president.  Some clips below:

A Fantasy Election, an Imaginary Man

Barack Obama has always been less real than dream—a media dream.

5 October 2012

Even before his inauguration, Barack Obama was an imaginary man, the creation of his admirers. Think back to the 2008 Time magazine cover depicting him as FDR, the Newsweek cover of the same year on which he was shown casting Lincoln’s shadow, or the $1.4 million Nobel Peace Prize awarded to him “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples”—this in 2009, less than a year after he had taken office. It was not that Obama had done nothing to deserve these outsized comparisons and honors—it was not just that he had done nothing—it was that he seemed for all the world to be a blank screen on which such hysterical fantasies could too easily be projected, a two-dimensional paper doll just waiting to be dressed in leftist dreams.

 ...To be sure, Obama has disowned the depth of his past associations with such fire-breathing America-haters as William Ayers (“A guy who lives in my neighborhood”) and Jeremiah Wright (“He was never my spiritual mentor”) with startling insouciance. And such previous Obamas as the race-baiting, black-talking demagogue of a 2007 video recently covered in full for the first time by The Daily Caller’s Tucker Carlson are not at all apparent in the Obama of the Oval Office or the campaign trail—whom he himself describes as a “non-threatening” statesman. But I think the real Obama has been more or less plain to see. Norman Podhoretz described him best in a 2011 Wall Street Journal op-ed: a typical product of the anti-American academic left, committed to transforming U.S. capitalism into a social-democratic system like Sweden’s. 

No other modern president could have associated so intimately with lowlifes like Wright and Ayers and the now-imprisoned Tony Rezko and not had those associations exposed in every detail. No other president could have made the radical remarks he’s made—about wealth redistribution, religion, and the federal government’s alleged ill-treatment of blacks—and not had them headlined all over for weeks. No other could have presided over such a crippled economy and such universal failures at war and in foreign policy and escaped almost without mainstream blame.

The Obama of the imagination is the media’s Obama. Out of their fascination with the color of his skin and their mindless awe at his windy teleprompted rhetoric, they constructed a man of stature and accomplishment. Now, with the White House on the line, they’re waging an ongoing battle against the undeniable evidence that he has never been, in fact, that man. The result in these quadrennial autumn days has been media coverage of a fantasy election, an election in the news that may bear no relation whatsoever to the election as it is. Polls consistently skewed to favor Democrats in percentages beyond any reasonable construct of reality have left us virtually ignorant of the state of the race. Orchestrated frenzies over alleged gaffes by Mitt Romney have camouflaged an imploding Obama foreign policy, an Obama economy threatened by a new recession, and an Obama campaign filled with vicious personal attacks and lies.

Governor Romney’s unprecedented dismantling of the president in their first debate—an encounter so one-sided it reminded me of the famous cartoon in which Godzilla meets Bambi, with predictable results—was surprising only for Romney’s warmth and clarity. Obama’s hapless fumbling, bad temper, and inarticulate inability to defend his record were actually thoroughly predictable. They were simply facets of the man as he truly is, unfiltered by the imagination of his media supporters: a man who has succeeded, really, at almost nothing but the winning of elections; a man who cannot distinguish between his ideology and life; a man who does not seem to know how the machinery of the world actually works. 

When You've Lost The Today Show...

Fr. Barron: Seven Great Qualities of a New Evangelist

"Voices Without a Vote"

From YouTube:

The teenagers who speak in this video belong to http://www.im2moro.org. These young people realize that if they don't stand up and speak out for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness today, they will be living in a very different America tomorrow.

H/T: patc547

Wealth and Poverty: George Gilder on Uncommon Knowledge

From the Hoover Institution:

George Gilder, author of Wealth and Poverty, the book that became a best seller during the first year of the Reagan years and a guide to the Reagan administration itself, is now--just in time perhaps for the Romney years--available in a new edition.

It's About Leadership!

H/T: jpa1948

When You've Lost CNN...

Words Should Matter

This is from Wordsmatter2012.com, and we'll be seeing more of these videos before the election.

Vortex: The Transformation of America

Dear Friend in Christ,

Amerika vs. America.  The transformation few people are talking about. Please take a few minutes to watch this episode of the Vortex and pass it to your family and friends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TXHkiw5nQdI

GOD Bless you and your loved ones,

Michael Voris
~senior executive producer at ChurchMilitant.TV