Devil = Green Beans

Right before going up to receive Jesus in the Eucharist, Marisa made a comment that had us in stitches while going up the aisle towards the altar. She said, "Jesus tastes good, I bet the Devil tastes like green beans!"

Humiliation

About 9 months ago we bought Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for Wii. We were instantly hooked. We all played through the songs starting at the easy stage and we moved our way up to medium, then on to hard. This is where I hit a wall. I told Alex that if he ever scored 100% on an expert (highest level) song, I would bow down to him and kiss his feet.

I shouldn't have said that. I was certain that it would be impossible to do.

He scored a 100% on expert on the new Guitar Hero World Tourgame. At least he did it on a cool song. He played R.E.M.'s "The One I Love" to perfection. He seemed much too happy as I gave his feet a couple of pecks.

The lesson here is to not underestimate what seems impossible. I am not just talking about video games. I am talking about life, too. Hey, even Jesus washed other's feet to show His humility, among other things.

Tempered Rock

Since the in-laws are here visiting, we have built in sitters this week.

We were able to go see a cover band at a local bar and grill. The band is called Tempered. The guitarist, Bill, plays during our Mass. He warned us that this wouldn't be church music. What, no Alleluia or Great Amen?

They were very good. The keyboardist also plays in the church choir. I think I overheard that the drummer is only 16 years old. They played covers of Heart, Gretchen Wilson, Carrie Underwood, Loverboy, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Quarterflash, among others. We only stayed for their first set.

The only thing that Lisa wished for was for there to be a dance floor. She really wanted to get out there and dance. I really didn't want to subject the band and other patrons to my 'rhythm-less two left foot mambo'.

If you happen to be given a chance to see them (they only play about 4 times a year), go check them out.

Sign of Peace

I have heard that the Bishops and the Pope are thinking about moving the 'sign of peace' to a different part of the Mass because it tends to take away from the most important part of the Mass; the reception of the Eucharist. The question is where to place it.

Funny post at Creative Minority Report (read the comments section, too, they are hilarious), where the author really would prefer to change the 'sign of peace' to the 'barely perceptible nod of peace'.

"[M]y preference is that the SOP is moved to before the offertory and is changed into the barely perceptible nod of peace. That way, at weekday mass, I will no longer have to sit in a pew with a minimum 5 empty pews between me and another human to insure that nobody gets any funny ideas. At five pews distance, you typically get the nod or the muted wave of peace. That is more like it. However, if somebody looks overly friendly, I increase the minimum safe distance to 8 pews and try to sit in their blind spot or behind a column if available. No sense taking chances."

I would prefer that we did not have to shake every one's hand, not for any liturgical or anti-social reason. I tend to have very cold and clammy hands, especially when it is cold. I notice that A LOT of people reach for their pant leg or shirt immediately after shaking hands with me to get rid of that wet/sweaty feeling.

That Crazy English Language

I was discussing with Marisa's third grade teacher about grammar and how hard it must be for people of other languages to master the English language. I remembered this email I received awhile ago. I bet you can't read the following twenty sentences without making a mistake. Side note: If the English language is so hard, then can someone explain why Alex is currently getting a 'D' in Spanish, yet an 'A' in Language Arts and in Literature?

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out of his shoes.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? Why do we park on a driveway, but drive on a parkway? Why doesn't 'Buick' rhyme with 'quick'. and why doesn't 'dough' rhyme with 'tough'?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

h/t Katie

The Two Americas by George Weigel

I have always enjoyed reading George Weigel. He says in his latest essay that the two Americas are the "culture of life and the culture of death." As a Catholic, I am taught to be on the side of life. I still cannot believe that 54% of Catholics voted for Obama. I have bolded the part of his article below that I believe is most important step that needs to be done (adult catechesis) to prevent this from happening in the future.


The Two Americas

By the dawn’s early light on November 5, two distinct Americas hove into view. The two Americas are not defined by conventional economic, ethnic or religious categories; it’s not rich America vs. poor America, black America vs. white America, or Catholic America vs. Protestant America. No, what this year’s election cycle clarified decisively is that the great public fissure in these United States is between the culture of life and the culture of death.

In 1995, when Pope John Paul II introduced the phrase “culture of death” in the encyclical Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life), more than a few commentators coughed politely and tried to suggest, if gently, that this terminology was a bit over-the-top—too dramatic, too confrontational, incapable of being heard by those it was intended to persuade. Thirteen years later, it is obvious that the critics were wrong and John Paul the Great was right. The Pope saw more clearly into the future, thanks to his insight into the forces at work beneath the surface of the present. Now those forces are plainly in view, and the results are clear for all with eyes to see:

--The people of the United States have elected the most radically pro-abortion presidential candidate in American history, and by the largest popular vote percentage garnered by a Democrat since Lyndon B. Johnson.

--The people of the State of Washington have adopted, in a landslide, an act permitting the euthanizing of the sick, elderly and burdensome under the Orwellian rubrics of “death with dignity” and “physician-assisted suicide.”

--The people of California have exercised their sovereign will to prevent the parents of minors from being notified if their daughter intends to have an abortion—although you may be quite certain that said parents would be consulted before said minor’s school nurse administered an aspirin tablet.

--And the people of Michigan have decided to authorize a wholesale slaughter of human embryos for research purposes—at precisely the moment that embryonic stem-cell research has lost much of its scientific luster, thanks to developments in the reprogramming of adult stem cells.

Culture of death, indeed.

What is to be done?

The first order of business at the national level is to prevent the new Congress from passing the federal Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), an explicit attempt to destroy every state-based pro-life legal achievement of the past three decades. If prevention is impossible and FOCA is enacted, then it must be vigorously challenged in the federal courts. The stakes are very, very high: in addition to facilitating a greater slaughter of the innocents, FOCA, by eliminating state conscience-clause protections for pro-life health care professionals, would create a situation in which the Catholic health care system as we know it would cease to exist, within a decade at most.

Then we come to adult catechesis. This year, the pro-abortion candidate carried every state in what Maggie Gallagher calls the “Decadent Catholic Corridor”—the Northeast and the older parts of the Midwest. Too many Catholics there are still voting the way their grandparents did, and because that’s what their grandparents did. This tribal voting has been described by some bishops as immoral; it is certainly stupid, and it must be challenged by adult education. That includes effective use of the pulpit to unsettle settled patterns of mindlessness. This year, a gratifying number of bishops began to accept the responsibilities of their teaching office; so, now, must parish pastors.

We need more persuasive ideas and language in the fight against euthanasia. Yes, the good guys were outspent in Washington State by orders of magnitude—and that should cause serious examinations of conscience among Catholic philanthropies and individuals of means. But, as in the debate over embryo-destructive stem-cell research, the culture of life has yet to develop a language that trumps the invocation of “compassion” when that’s misused by the culture of death.

And we need prayer—lots of it. Some demons require special powers to exorcize. As of November 5, it is clear that certain of them have taken up residence in the United States of America.

h/t Ric

How Obama Got Elected

I have always been a fan of John Ziegler. He had a show on KFI-AM 640 in Los Angeles that I listened to all the time until he was unceremoniously fired a couple of years ago. I did not always agree with him, but I always liked his passion and enthusiasm. He recently directed a documentary movie called, "Blocking The Path To 9/11-The Anatomy of a Smear", that I listened to in its entirety. This documentary sets the historical record straight with explosive new revelations. For all those who seek the truth about 9/11 and want to learn the real story behind this shocking saga. Ziegler is also the Pastor of the First Church of Tiger Woods.

His latest project is called, "Media Malpractice...How Obama Got Elected". He interviewed Obama voters on Election Day, and got answers that showed "Obama voters as ignorant, but [also that] the media as complicit in ensuring that they remained ignorant, at least in terms of Obama."

If you just watch the following video, you may get angry like I did while I watched it. But to make matters worse, there was a Zogby poll that shows that the ignorance of the voters (through mainstream media malpractice) in the video is prevalent throughout the country.

Zogby Poll

--512 Obama Voters 11/13/08-11/15/08 MOE +/- 4.4 points
--97.1% High School Graduate or higher, 55% College Graduates

Results to 12 simple Multiple Choice Questions

--57.4% could NOT correctly say which party controls congress (50/50 shot just by guessing)
--71.8% could NOT correctly say Joe Biden quit a previous campaign because of plagiarism (25% chance by guessing)
--82.6% could NOT correctly say that Barack Obama won his first election by getting opponents kicked off the ballot (25% chance by guessing)
--88.4% could NOT correctly say that Obama said his policies would likely bankrupt the coal industry and make energy rates skyrocket (25% chance by guessing)
--56.1% could NOT correctly say Obama started his political career at the home of two former members of the Weather Underground (25% chance by guessing).

And yet...

--Only 13.7% failed to identify Sarah Palin as the person on which their party spent $150,000 in clothes
--Only 6.2% failed to identify Palin as the one with a pregnant teenage daughter
--And 86.9 % thought that Palin said that she could see Russia from her "house," even though that was Tina Fey who said that!!

--Only 2.4% got at least 11 correct.
--Only 0.5% got all of them correct. (And we "gave" one answer that was technically not Palin, but actually Tina Fey)

$1.66

Paid $1.669 for gas today. The last time I filled up, I paid $2.0669. How low can we go? I said the last time, that I filled up for under $30 for the first time in a long time. Today, I filled up for under $20 for the first time in a very long time.

Found a nice site that shows the prices of the gas stations in the area as reported by users. It is called, Colorado Springs Gas Prices. You can probably find your own area at, GasBuddy.Com. Lots of great info on this site.

Merry Tossmas

The message of this video is to support those companies that actually acknowledge the 'reason for the season'. Looks like it was produced by Focus on the Family, which is located here in Colorado Springs. Scenes are familiar. The blooper at the end is great.



h/t Creative Minority Report

The Spam Post

I have heard of some people who are stocking up on food and ammunition because of the election of Obama. That's probably not necessary, but there is an article in the New York Times titled, "Spam Turns Serious and Hormel Turns Out More". It shows that in this tough economic time period, people are purchasing more and more spam. It seems that the factory can't keep up with current demand.

An interesting tidbit from the article is that:

Spam developed a camp following in the 1970s, mainly because of Monty Python, the English comedy troupe. In a 1970 skit, a couple tried to order breakfast at a cafe featuring Spam in nearly every entree, like “Spam, Eggs, Sausage and Spam.” The diners were eventually drowned out by a group of Vikings singing, “Spam, lovely Spam, wonderful Spam.”

(Familiar with the skit, Internet pioneers labeled junk e-mail “spam” because it overwhelmed other dialogue, according to one theory.)

Here is the video of that famous Monty Python skit:

SCHOOL DAYS: 1948 vs. 2008

Scenario: Billy goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack.

1948 - Principal comes over, looks at Billy's shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Billy.
2008 - School goes into lock down, FBI called, Billy hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.


Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.

1948 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up best friends.
2008 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Mark started it.


Scenario: Jeffrey won't be still in class, disrupts other students.

1948 - Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the Principal. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2008 - Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability.


Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.

1948 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.
2008 - Billy's Dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their Dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has affair with psychologist.


Scenario: Sheri gets a headache and takes aspirin to school.

1948 - Sheri shares an aspirin with a student.
2008 - Police called, Sheri expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.


Scenario: Pedro fails high school English.

1948 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.
2008 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.


Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from 4th of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a red ant bed.

1948 - Ants die.
2008 - Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Homeland Security and FBI called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, FBI investigates parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated, Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.


Scenario: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Heather. Heather hugs him to comfort him.

1948- In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
2008 - Heather is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in state prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.

h/t Mom

More Sarah Palin On Today Show

click here for parts 1&2
part 3:


Notice how she dodges the Senate question. I am not sure what would be best for the country in the long run. If she won the seat, she could have a job for life. She would gain valuable Washington D.C. experience just like Obama. If she lost, then her political career would be over, at least nationally. If she chose not to run, and stayed in Alaska, could she still be effective as a Washington outsider on the national ticket in 2012?

You Know You're a Coloradoan...

(We're not quite there, yet. It has been only two years since arrival.)

--98% of Americans scream before going into the ditch on a slippery road. The other 2% are from Colorado and they say, "Hold my soda and watch this."
--You're from Colorado if you'll eat ice cream in the winter.
--When the weather report says it's going to be 65 degrees, women shave their legs and wear a skirt.
--It snows 5 inches and you don't expect school to be canceled.
--You'll wear flip flops every day of the year, regardless of temperature.
--You have no accent at all, but can hear other people's. And then you make fun of them.
--'Humid' is over 25%.
--Your sense of direction is: Toward the mountains and Away from the mountains.
--You say 'the interstate' and everybody knows which one.
--You think that May is a totally normal month for a blizzard.
--You buy your flowers to set out on Mother's day, but try and hold off planting them until just before Father's day.
--You grew up planning your Halloween costumes around your coat.
--You know what the Continental Divide is.
--You don't think Coors beer is that big a deal.
--You went to Casa Bonita as a kid, and as an adult.
--You've gone off-roading in a vehicle that was never intended for such activities.
--You always know the elevation of where you are.
--You wake up to a beautiful, 80 degree day and you wonder if it's going to snow tomorrow.
--You don't care that some company renamed it, the Broncos still play at Mile High.
--Every movie theater has military and student discounts.
--Everybody wears jeans to church.
--You actually know that South Park is a real place not just a show on TV.
--You know what a 'trust fund hippy' is, and you know its natural habitat is Boulder.
--You know you're talking to a fellow Coloradoan when they call it Elitches, not Six Flags.
--A bear on your front porch doesn't bother you.
--Your two favorite teams are the Broncos and whoever is beating the crap out of the Raiders.
--When people out East tell you they have mountains in their state too, you just laugh.
--You go anywhere else on the planet and the air feels 'sticky' and you notice the sky is no longer blue.

h/t Katie

Quote O'Day

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present."

--Oogway, Kung Fu Master in Kung Fu Panda.

School Pictures

Sarah Palin on Today Show

Sarah Palin was interviewed by Matt Lauer for the Today Show. I have to admit that I am mesmerized by her responses. Some might say that I am, "Hypmo-tized." I honestly do not understand how some people can have such a profound hatred toward this woman. I now can relate to how Obama supporters feel about their chosen one. Except that I have deep, philosophical reasons to support Mrs. Palin.

part 1:

part 2:

Joke O'Day

Two guys from Chicago die and wake up in hell.

The next day the devil stops in to check on them and sees them dressed in parkas, mittens and bomber hats warming themselves around the fire. The devil asks them, "What are you doing? Isn't it hot enough for you?" The two guys reply, "Well, you know, we're from Chicago, the land of snow and ice and cold. We're just happy for a chance to warm up a little bit, you know."

The devil decides that these two aren't miserable enough and turns up the heat.

The next morning he stops in again and there they are, still dressed in parkas, hats and mittens. The devil asks them again, "It's awfully hot down here. Can't you guys feel that?" Again the two guys reply, "Well, like we told you yesterday, we're from Chicago, the land of snow and ice and cold. We're just happy for a chance to warm up a little bit, you know."

This gets the devil a little steamed up and he decides to fix the two guys. He cranks the heat up as high as it will go.

People are wailing and screaming every where. He stops by the room with the two guys from Chicago and finds them in light jackets and hats, grilling sausage and drinking beer. The devil is astonished. "Everyone down here is in abject misery, and you two seem to be enjoying yourself." The two Chicagoans reply, "Well, you know, we don't get too much warm weather up there in Chicago, we've just got to have a cook out when the weather's this nice."

The devil is absolutely furious, he can hardly see straight.

Finally he comes up with the answer. The two guys love the heat because they have been cold all their lives. The devil decides to turn all the heat off in hell.

The next morning, the temperature is below zero, icicles are hanging everywhere. People are shivering so bad that they are unable to wail, moan and gnash their teeth.

The devil smiles and heads for the room with the two Chicagoans. He gets there and finds them back in their parkas, bomber hats, and mittens. They are jumping up and down, cheering, yelling and screaming like mad men. The devil is dumbfounded, "I don't understand, when I turn up the heat you're happy. Now its freezing cold and you're still happy. What is wrong with you two?" The Chicagoans look at the devil in surprise.

"Well, don't you know, if hell froze over, that must mean the Cubs won the World Series!"

$1.96

I just saw gasoline selling at $1.969 today. I should have waited.

Obama Ready to "Rule"

this post from NewsBusters:

The co-chair of Barack Obama's Transition Team, Valerie Jarrett, appeared on Meet the Press this weekend and used, shall we say, an interesting word to described what she thinks Barack Obama will be doing in January when he's officially sworn into office. She told Tom Brokaw that Obama will be ready to "rule" on day one. It's a word that reflects the worst fears that people have for Obama the "arrogant," the "messiah," that imagines he's here to "rule" instead of govern.

Jarret told Brokaw that "given the daunting challenges that we face, it's important that president elect Obama is prepared to really take power and begin to rule day one."

Bishop John Ricard to Joseph Biden

There is an open letter written by Bishop John Ricard of Pensacola-Tallahassee, that was written after Vice President-elect Joe Biden visited and received Holy Communion in his diocese last week. We need to see more of this type of teaching to Catholics. It was sad to see that 54% of self proclaimed Catholics voted for the Obama-Biden ticket. I would presume that the majority of these voters were not weekly-Mass-attending-practicing Catholics. It seems that more of the church leaders are speaking out on the issue of life as the most important issue. I pray that the trend continues.

Here are a couple of excerpts from the Bishop's letter:

--Our worship of God during Sunday Mass, which culminates in the reception of Holy Communion, is precisely the moment when we are nourished and strengthened by the Holy Spirit’s gift of courage to stand up in fortitude to protect the weakest among us. The Eucharist, as the real presence of Christ, is also the sign of our unity as a Church, which is built on sharing in the mission of Christ to protect the defenseless....I...observe, by your support for laws that fail to protect the unborn, a profound disconnection from your human and personal obligation to protect the weakest and most innocent among us: the child in the womb.

--I pray that the Catholic faith you have been raised in, the faith by which you pray, and the life of virtue which flows from both may strengthen you so that you may have the strength needed to witness Jesus, even as the martyrs did, and live by the virtue of fortitude as you proclaim your support to the Person of Christ in the most vulnerable of his members: the pre-born child.

Read the full text of his letter here.

Ronald Reagan Quotes

Ever since I posted Ronald Reagan's speech, "A Time for Choosing", he has been on my mind. I miss him. I found a few of his great one-liner quotes.

--Here's my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose.

--The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

--The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so.

--Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong.

--I have wondered at times about what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress.

--The taxpayer: That's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination.

--Government is like a baby: An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.

--The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program.

--It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.

--Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

--Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed, there are many rewards; if you disgrace yourself, you can always write a book.

--No arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is as formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.

--If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.

Piper Palin Radio Interview

Perhaps Piper will be the first Palin to win the Presidency. She's already got my vote. She'll have candy for dinner and order her brothers and sisters around. Awesome! Too cute.

Remember her at the Republican Convention during her Mom's big speech?



Radio interview is here.

An Interesting Coincidence

I am just stating facts. Draw your own conclusions.

On the day after the general election when Barack Obama was voted President-Elect, 11/05, the results of the Illinois State Lottery evening pick 3 were: 6-6-6.

On the date when "Weird Al" Yankovic was born, 10/23, the results of the Illinois State Lottery midday pick 3 were: 6-6-6.

hmmmm...

$2.06

I just filled up the van for under $30 for the first time in a long time. $2.069/gal. A little more than three months ago, I paid $3.859/gal. I wish that I could have waited a few more days to see if I could get it at under two bucks. #@%*! greedy oil companies...

History, Hyperbole, and Horror

Here is a link to a very powerful and thought provoking post from my current favorite Catholic blog called Creative Minority Report.

An excerpt from the post:

In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then...they came for me...And by that time there was no one left to speak up.

When Obama came for the executives making $250,000, I remained silent; I did not earn $250,000.
When Obama came for the babies, I remained silent; I was not a baby...anymore.
When Obama came for conservative talk show hosts, I did not speak out; I didn't have a talk show.
When Obama came for the plumber, I remained silent; I was not a public figure.
When Obama came for me, there was no one left to speak out.

Please take the time to read full post: History, Hyperbole, and Horror

The Speech

Heard this on the Mark Levin Radio Show today. It was a speech delivered by Ronald Reagan on October 27, 1964. It was an address that endorsed Barry Goldwater for President against Lyndon B. Johnson. It also shows the differences between Republican vs. Democrat, right vs. left, conservative vs. liberal (socialist), personal responsibility vs. big government. Forty-four years later, we are still fighting the same battles.

What a speech! Reagan is known as the 'Great Communicator' and this is proof of that apt nickname. The content of this speech is exactly what is going on today. The numbers are in 1964 dollars, but the points are well taken. One line from the speech:

"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so."

Where, oh where is the Reagan of our time? Huck? Sarah? Mitt? Rush?

This is arguably one of the best Reagan speeches ever:
"A Time For Choosing" aka The Speech (video, audio-only, and text versions are available)

The Return of the Conservative

I have been on a nine month hiatus. I had lost a little enthusiasm trying to keep up with this blog. I am back.

Yesterday was Election Day. We will have a new President, Barack Obama in January. He is probably the most liberal mainstream politician in my lifetime. I must work to bring back conservative (both politically and religiously) ideals into people's way of thinking.

After the election was called for Obama, it felt to me that someone had died. I was saddened and wondered if there was anything else that I could have done to save the deceased. There were regrets that I could have and should have done more. Well, I will try not to let it happen again.

Altar Girl

Marisa was an altar server for the first time today. We were a little worried that she wouldn't know what to do when. She did fine. Alex was scheduled as one of the servers, I assume, to be a familiar helper. As 'luck' would have it, Lisa and I were scheduled as Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. I must say that it was neat to have all four of us around the altar at the same time helping out with the liturgy.

I Forgot?

I told you in the previous post that Alex and Marisa gave up the Wii for Lent. They ended up at a neighbor's house and they were playing. Their response, "I forgot!" Three days is not too bad. Luckily, God gives us mulligans.

Ash Wednesday Mass Reflection

The Gospel reading for today is from Mt 6:1-6, 16-18. Today is the start of Lent. I went to the school Mass to receive my ashes. I had given some thought about what I want to change about myself during this time. I seem to get angry at Alex too quickly. He is the only one that I do this. Perhaps it is because he is the most like me. I see a lot of myself in him, both positive and negative.

So my mission for this Lenten season is to be more patient with Alex. Don't let the first response to his actions be one coming from anger. Pray for me.

Alex and Marisa have said that they will give up the Wii for the entire 40 days! Good luck with that...