Our Future

Congress passes $3.5 trillion budget in the dark
by Ed Morrissey

*****"Even the White House’s rosy projections show this to be a disaster. It grows the deficits in every year over the next 12 even under the best of circumstances. In an era where Americans have to tighten their belts and reduce their borrowing in order to shore up their own financial situations, Congress and Obama have shown no such sense of shared sacrifice. Instead, they’re busy borrowing like maniacs to pay for their own pet projects. It’s a disgrace, and even some Democrats have discovered this. read the rest


*****The Iowa Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling yesterday finding that the state's same-sex marriage ban violates the constitutional rights of gay and lesbian couples.

*****The government reported Friday that the unemployment rate soared to 8.5 percent in March, the highest since late 1983.

*****And while all this and much more is going on, our current President is running around Europe apologizing for the United States and all the "bad" things we have done. He is as big a disgrace as his budget.


The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But under the name of 'liberalism' they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.
Norman Thomas 1884-1968 Leading American socialist and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America

I Fell Into A Burning Ring Of Fire
I Went Down, Down, Down
And The Flames Went Higher

And It Burns, Burns, Burns
The Ring Of Fire
The Ring Of Fire

Johnny Cash 1932-2003

“A great civilization cannot be conquered from without until it destroys itself from within” Ariel Durant. 1898 - 1981

*****Last Saturday I had the radio tuned to my favorite (ok - my only) talk radio station while I was busy painting the dining room ceiling. I never did catch the name of the preacher who was giving the sermon. I knew he wasn't Catholic because his talk was centered on Christ crucified and he even used the word "sin" (a lot).

*****To be fair we have many wonderful priests "in the trenches" doing a great job. I'm thankful so many of them decided to embrace the new technology and bring the message of authentic Catholicism to those that suffer under the politically correct version.
*****
*****I'm going to be busy painting today and tomorrow. I will be taking time out to read Father John Speekman's homily. One thing I can always count on is his ability to lift my spirits and put me back on the right path. I'm looking forward to reading his Palm Sunday homily after breakfast.

Lent, the Sorrowful Mother, and Lent
Presented by Sister Mary Eucharista


Last night I attended a wonderful presentation by Sister Mary Eucharista of the new order of the Sisters of Mary, Mother of God.

These are the brave ladies that left their questionable order to form this new order under the Diocese of Spokane. I'll let them tell their own story but we are blessed to have them back as full members of the Church.

Who We Are

Coming Home




*****While these lovely ladies were still at "The Mount", they shopped at the Costco on the north side of Spokane where I worked. They were delightful and I used to wish they were part of the Church. Through the dedicated prayers of the Sisters of the Mission of Charity, my wish came true. Notice the blue band on their veil? When they designed the new habits for their order the blue band was included to honor the Sisters of the Mission of Charity.

*****Sister Marie Francine was a particular favorite and she and I exchanged short letters over the years. When the sisters first left their old convent to start their new order, I searched and searched to see if Sr. Marie Francine was among the group. She was - praise God!





On the 27th - 29th of this month they are having a retreat at the Immaculate Heart Retreat Center in Spokane that I plan to attend.






Death With Dignity???

*****Today the act allowing people to kill themselves with the help of their doctor takes affect in Washington, my close neighboring state. I am pleased to see how many hospitals have "opted out" of this heinous practice. How long will that last under our current President?

International Task Force.org
Addressing Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide, Advanced Directives, Disability rights, pain control, and more

Stealth Care
by Investor's Business Daily

Spending: The stimulus provides for the creation of a federal health care bureaucracy not unlike Hillarycare. Decisions that should be made by doctors and patients will belong to bureaucrats deciding cost-effectiveness. read more

Did You Get a Raise this Year?
Congress Did!

*****Congress gave themselves a raise last month. That extra $4700.00 will sure help with their mortgage payments. They now make $174,000 a year for usually only working 3 days per week.

Get Ready to Buy Everyone's Home Improvements

*****People opposed to the mortgage bailout have erupted in anger over the thought of having to subsidize their neighbors’ house payments when they’ve responsibly managed their own housing decisions. Diana Olick tells her CNBC readers and viewers that that’s not all we’ll subsidize. Thanks to a little-remarked portion of the bill, we’ll pay for their home-equity seconds as well. read more


Brought to you by the children that are "leading" the country
Paid for by Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee


Smoke and Mirrors: The Magic of Barack Obama

*****Every good magician can alter one's perception of reality by use of deception. In context of a magic show, trickery is a good thing; when it comes to a political show, it's not so good. President Obama has come to be known as one of the most eloquent politicians in American history. But it was not eloquence alone that got him into the White House; it was eloquence coupled with pretense. And with those twin characteristics Obama is almost effortlessly imposing his extreme-left agenda on the country. read more


Daily Meditation:

Help us to be eager in doing your will.
In today's lesson we learn more about prayer.
We are touched by the bold, full-hearted prayer of Esther.
We hear with a freshness how sincerely Jesus invites us to:
ask and receive
seek and find
knock and find the door opened.

Dependence is not a virtue we ordinarily admire.
Today we grow in our sense that we need God's grace very much -
even to know what is right -
but certainly to fan our desires into a flame.

Lord, on the day I called for help,
you answered me.
Psalm 138

from Praying Lent

The Evil One at Work in the World

*****The devil would like nothing more than for you to believe he doesn't exist. I tend not to be a "black helicopter" type, but in taking a look at how bad things have become in the world right now, only a fool would not believe there was a master manipulator at work.

*****When following a trail of corruption, it is always best to follow it to the top of the mountain. No sense in stopping half-way and thinking you will be able to get a handle on the situation.

*****No doubt our current President is having his strings pulled by others, and the MSM is all too willing to back up the rhetoric that emanates from the Capitol. Just a few days ago, the headline on Google news was "how well "porkulus" was already working. Why, jobs were already being created or "saved" due to the wonders of "The One." Isn't it wonderful?

*****He even designed a cute little logo to plaster on all over his recovery.com site. I asked Vice-President Biden for directions to this site, but he didn't know the name or the "number", so I had to do the research myself. /sarcasm

*****Folks, this is Orwellian to the nth degree. They'll just continue to tell people how great everything is, and after we hear it enough times, it will become our new reality. Once it becomes our new reality, then it will become the truth. You see, truth is based on reality, and if they change our reality, they can make you believe anything.

*****Let's not forget to throw a bit of class warfare, church bashing, and redistribution of wealth into the mix. Stir it up with direct attacks on the Catholic Church (oh, how the devil hates us), and you have a recipe that is making the devil and his minions very, very happy.

*****When you climb to the top of that mountain, you will find the master manipulator. You will find the Evil One, the one we call the Devil, pulling all those strings. Never lose sight of this.


Catholic Mom Climbing the Pillars has a Lenten reflection that we all benefit from in these turbulent times.

*****Our current President has once again proven himself to be so far right he's off the monitor. Upon assuming office he immediately made sure that women all over the world will be able to kill their children .

*****Now, overturning another Bush policy, before starting a project, government agencies will have to "consult" with with independent federal experts to determine whether their actions might harm threatened and endangered species. Save the spotted owl - kill the babies.

*****Not to mention the enormous costs these environmental policies cost the taxpayer. We already tax businesses and corporations more than any other country. When will people wake up and realize that these are the people who provide jobs.

Rich People and Their Money

*****What our current President doesn't understand is how people who have money think. He really believes that they will just keep spending their money no matter how much the cost goes up. Not so, Bambi!

*****Take away their deduction for charitable giving, for instance, and you won't see very many new hospital wings, new college libraries, or the myriad of huge contributions made to our society. Do you really believe that he's targeting the clothes they take to Goodwill? This, of course, will mean the lower classes will have to rely more and more on government for their needs. And folks, you are the government. It will be your higher taxes that will have to provide for the under-achievers. So tell me how he's "hurting" the rich people.

The Innovation Squelch

Obamanomics is bad news for American entrepreneurs.

3 March 2009

For an academic macroeconomist, Nobel laureate Edmund Phelps can sound shockingly in touch with the real world. In a recent interview, he described the possible implications of the large government-spending programs in President Obama’s stimulus package: “There’s . . . a chance that the perceived increase in the role of government of this sort will have some unanticipated effects on the animal spirits of entrepreneurs.” read more

Ya just can't make this stuff up:

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told the House Ways and Means Committee Tuesday that the Obama administration, which has been riddled with tax problems, is mounting plans to go after tax evaders.

More from Geithner:

Utterly Stupid Geithner Remark

While defending Obama's $630+Bn energy-use tax, Geithner-the-Evader made what is likely to be the moronic-comment-of-the-month, or maybe the entire year! read more from Dad29

Mortgage plan rolling out...

*****You can obtain help if you own a home worth up to $729,750. You heard that right. This is plain 'ol redistribution of wealth. Just remember to work hard because now you have two mortgages to pay - yours and your neighbors.

Yippee! Obama Crackdown on Waste Will 'Save' $40 Billion

Forget about spending trillions and driving us into generations of debt. The genius is announcing a "crackdown" on waste that will ostensibly "save" $40 billion. read more

*****Listening to the dems is like being on the playground of an elementary school. While ostensibly attempting to run a country, we are assailed with their ranting about people such as Rush Limbaugh. Oh, and let's not forget that everything that is wrong is Bush's fault. The rest of the world must be laughing their rear patoots off.

Susan Estrich Warns Democrats About Dangers of Attacking Rush Limbaugh

Susan Estrich is worried. Very worried. She believes that the current coordinated Democrat strategy of attacking Rush Limbaugh is completely counterproductive. And she's right: read more

Doodling While Listening Improves Memory Recall

*****Well, this was nice to hear. All the doodlers out there could have told them this without spending scads of money to run tests. As an adult with ADD, this was an early learned behavior on my part.

*****When I taught at a Catholic boy's school I had one very, very bright student who would draw magnificent war ships while I was teaching. I was criticized by the head-master for allowing such behavior. I tried patiently to explain to him it provided a way for this kid to focus. It never failed, the next day this kid would ace his test on whatever I was teaching the previous day. I just ignored the head master and let him draw to his hearts content.

Gem of the Ocean has another gem:

Ideally, this is how the Dow recovers......
read more (this is hilarious and Lord knows we all need a laugh about now)

Back later with more. This three days only of posting for Lent has been a killer. Surely my Purgatory time is diminishing rapidly......I can hope!

............and, when I went to bed last night my Google reader was at about 45 - now it's at 544. Yikes!

This is What Your Children and Grandchildren Will be Paying For:

Santa on Steroids

• $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts
• $380 million in the Senate bill for the Women, Infants and Children program
• $300 million for grants to combat violence against women
• $2 billion for federal child-care block grants
• $6 billion for university building projects
• $15 billion for boosting Pell Grant college scholarships
• $4 billion for job-training programs, including $1.2 billion for “youths” up to the age of 24
• $1 billion for community-development block grants
• $4.2 billion for “neighborhood stabilization activities”
• $650 million for digital-TV coupons; $90 million to educate “vulnerable populations”
• $15 billion for business-loss carry-backs
• $145 billion for “Making Work Pay” tax credits
• $83 billion for the earned income credit
• $150 million for the Smithsonian
• $34 million to renovate the Department of Commerce headquarters
• $500 million for improvement projects for National Institutes of Health facilities
• $44 million for repairs to Department of Agriculture headquarters
• $350 million for Agriculture Department computers
• $88 million to help move the Public Health Service into a new building
• $448 million for constructing a new Homeland Security Department headquarters
• $600 million to convert the federal auto fleet to hybrids
• $450 million for NASA (carve-out for “climate-research missions”)
• $600 million for NOAA (carve-out for “climate modeling”)
• $1 billion for the Census Bureau
• $89 billion for Medicaid
• $30 billion for COBRA insurance extension
• $36 billion for expanded unemployment benefits
• $20 billion for food stamps
• $4.5 billion for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
• $850 million for Amtrak
• $87 million for a polar icebreaking ship
• $1.7 billion for the National Park System
• $55 million for Historic Preservation Fund
• $7.6 billion for “rural community advancement programs”
• $150 million for agricultural-commodity purchases
• $150 million for “producers of livestock, honeybees, and farm-raised fish”
• $2 billion for renewable-energy research ($400 million for global-warming research)
• $2 billion for a “clean coal” power plant in Illinois
• $6.2 billion for the Weatherization Assistance Program
• $3.5 billion for energy-efficiency and conservation block grants
• $3.4 billion for the State Energy Program
• $200 million for state and local electric-transport projects
• $300 million for energy-efficient-appliance rebate programs
• $400 million for hybrid cars for state and local governments
• $1 billion for the manufacturing of advanced batteries
• $1.5 billion for green-technology loan guarantees
• $8 billion for innovative-technology loan-guarantee program
• $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects
• $4.5 billion for electricity grid
• $79 billion for State Fiscal Stabilization Fund
  

Read more

*****"The Catholic Church has had many different relationships with many different states in many different eras. What we've learned is this: We will never build God's kingdom here on earth. When people have messianic expectations of the state, when they ask politics to deliver more than it can, the story ends badly."

*****"But neither will we ever be released from the duty to sanctify, humanize, and bring Jesus Christ to the public square in which we live. And it is precisely because of this duty that the American experiment is so hopeful --and so important."

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput
Render Unto Caesar

Baby Seats and Homicide

****I sure didn't intend to start WW III by commenting on the woman being charged for putting her child in a rear-facing baby seat on the front passenger seat. I simply thought it was odd that we would take the trouble to prosecute such a case when doctors are allowed to perform what amounts to infanticide with no criminal charges.

****If I had a young child, I would probably put them in a car seat because I think it makes a big difference. I'm not so sure the state should be telling me I have to do this and regulating it to the point where perfect compliance becomes almost impossible. As to those airbags? At 5'2" and a with a very short waist (I all but disappear when seated), I live in mortal terror that my air bag will deploy (which does not keep me any safer than a properly worn seat belt and harness.)

****Now we have that sad case of the child born alive in Florida at 23 weeks, stuffed in a garbage bag, and thrown in the trash. The doctor in question, who I understand was not present, has had many complaints brought against him. How will the state deal with this case?

**** If they charge the perpetrator with homicide, it goes against the exact thing President Obama is trying to protect; the right for a baby to be killed whether it's in the womb, half out, or in this case, completely born. My concern about all these laws is that they harbor a type of legal schizophrenia. If a baby gets part way born and a doctor sticks a scissor in the base of the skull, inserts a tube and sucks the brains out, well, that's okay. But let a poor baby slip out and gasp some air and it's murder. I find it all "odd", which in my world means it feels like a trip down Alice's rabbit hole (where I spend a lot of time)


Notes from the Nanny State
On the tyranny of the baby seat.
by Jonathan V. Last
10/06/2008, Volume 014, Issue 04