Saturday, November 13, 2004

"A naked visitor to the Bronx Zoo leaped into a pool of fierce reptiles yesterday - and to the horror of onlookers reached out to touch one of them."

Just for the record, I was nowhere near the Bronx yesterday, so this was not me.
A few weeks ago I attended Mass in a parish that had a beautiful Church. The only negative in this experience was the woman who, before Mass began, invited all to turn to someone nearby and introduce yourself to them. This is not at all necessary and embarrassing to those of us who are (delightfully) introverted and even anti-social. While this is not a Liturgical abuse, I thought of something to do the next time this happens. I will look directly into the eyes of the person introducing themselves to me, warmly smile, grasp their hands and say "Hi, I'm Lucifer, pleased to meet you". I will then return to gazing at my missalette.
"The diversity of opinion, the diversity of voices, the sheer tumult and rough-and-tumble of some of the interactions are a constant source of inspiration, and, oddly enough, a kind of joy."

Steven Riddle on St. Blog's
"As usual, I felt a lot like a lion in a Christian suit."

Eve Tushnet on speaking at a conference on traditional marriage.

Friday, November 12, 2004

The website for the Diocese of Rockville Centre has a good resource center for the Year of the Eucharist. It includes the Mass schedule for all parishes as well as a schedule for Eucharistic Adoration.

Thursday, November 11, 2004

A reader and fellow Long Islander writes:

Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2004 9:17 AM

"An update from my brother who is stationed in Tikrit:

All, Hope you are well. Things heating up here somewhat. The Fallujah operation is going on now and we have one battalion down there. The battalion, 2-2 Infantry, is doing well but the fight is much harder than the one we did in Samarra last month. The Marines and Army troops are well supported and will be mopping up in a day or so. The hard core 3,000 insurgents down there deserve to get it, as Fallujah is ground zero for beheadings and vehicle-bombs.

We have had some incoming here but not too much over the past week. A few mortars were dropped in but again, no one was hurt. We did lose a few of our Iraqi workers the other day. The tailor who sews on patches, including the ones on the uniform I'm wearing, and his family had all worked here supporting us with their little business. The insurgents followed them home the other day and drove them off the road. They questioned our workers, starting with the wife. She told them that she gave massages to our troops so they cut off her arms. The tailor was next refused to tell so they cut out his tounge. When his helper told them that they were tailors, they cut off both their hands. The helper,the wife, and tailor were then shot in the head on the side of the road.These are the people we're fighting against.

Ramadan ends soon. The final days are called the 'days of power' so we expect a rise in attacks as the martyrs rush to Allah. This may be the most dangerous part of the whole year. Amazingly, we still have a lot of Iraqi National Guard and police working with us. Two police stations were attacked in our area and both times the police fought off the attackers, perhaps knowing that their lives depended on it.

Many of these people hope that we bomb Fallujah into the stone age and be done with them, but that's not an option. With Bush's victory the enemy knows that we are not going to back out soon. The biggest question is still the elections -- can the Iraqis actually pull them off. We'll see. Thanks again for the notes and cards. Sorry to be writing about the gruesomness here.

--Mike"

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

UNBELIEVABLE!
With Federal Agents and The Long Island Press Hot On The Trail, Newsday Continues Its Circulation Frauds


"Unbelievably, with so much at stake, Newsday is still printing up excess copies of its products and taking them straight to recycling centers and landfills. Last week, Long Island Press reporters witnessed a worker fill up a car at Newsday's Hicksville depot and drive it straight to the nearest recycling plant—several times—without even making a pretense of delivery. "


The anti-Catholic newspaper is still committing fraud and of course, the innocent will suffer- layouts will be announced within the next couple of weeks. With Jimmy Breslin thankfully gone, perhaps Newsday should actually consider dropping the bias and the bigotry, particularly against Catholics. We make up the single largest group of potential readers on Long Island. I have a love-hate relationship with the paper Bill Donohue calls the most anti-Catholic in the nation. The paper is far superior to the NY Daily News and the Post when it comes to well written articles and the amount of reading material in each issue. I try not to buy the paper because of the anti-Catholicism but I enjoy reading other people's copies each day. If Newsday would at least try to drop the anti-Catholicism they could easily pick up another 100,000 readers.

Monday, November 08, 2004

Why Dilbert is so true

Things I have heard from people in the workplace:

“The Catholic Church gave an award to John Gotti”

“I think the Pope molested children”

“Look at how many witches were burned at the stake in Massachusetts by the Catholic Church”

“The organist probably got a kick-back from the Church”

“The priest actually DROVE A CAR” (person was astonished that priests could own cars)

“I do clergical work” -she meant clerical work

“President Clinton was not impeached”

“I only care about myself”

“Black people were told to overpopulate the world by their ministers”

“Republicans are evil”

“Hispanic people beat their wives”

“You don’t need to be married to have children”

“The guy on the other team was scoring all kind of points, so when everyone lined up at the end of the game to shake hands, I punched the guy in the face”

“Irregardless” - he meant to say “regardless”

“Immigrants and blacks get all the good jobs and scholarships” - spoken by someone from Levittown- a town that originally did not allow African-Americans to buy houses and still is mostly white.


Sunday, November 07, 2004

I had to blog this experience I just had but I can't decide on a post title -

Tell me again why the traditionalists are so off base...?
or
Maybe islamofacism isn't so bad after all....
or
St. Fido's Mass...
or
God help us all...


I attended Mass today not at my regular parish but one that is actually closer to me. During the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass the priest asked to hear some "good news" from people. Someone mentioned it was their dog's birthday a few days ago and people applauded. This was just before we were asked to recall our sins so luckily I was able to ask for forgiveness for the various thoughts I was having.
Pro-choicers face reality of ultrasound pix

"Today's ultrasound photos come in 3-D and color. At 18 weeks you can easily discern fingers and facial features. At seven months, you have a fully recognizable human baby. It's so clear that even a man can see it."
Jihad This!


"As for the Muslims? they are merely doing their thing, in the footsteps of their prophet. There were no turbulent filmmakers in Muhammad's time, but there were poets, and some of them gave him as much grief as van Gogh apparently did to the young Moroccan. After the battle of Badr, as Muhammad scrutinized his prisoners, his eye fell fiercely on one al-Nadr whom he had never forgiven for captivating the audiences in Mecca with more entertaining tales. He was beheaded on the spot. In Medina Muhammad ordered the murder of Asma bint Marwan, a poetess who made fun of him in verse. Anticipating Henry II's outburst, Muhammad exclaimed, "Will no one rid me of this daughter of Marwan?" One of his followers duly did, that same night, stabbing her as she nursed her youngest child. One Abu Afak, supposedly over a hundred years old, criticized Muhammad in verse. The latter simply commented, "Who will deal with this rascal for me?" Abu Afak did not see the morning. The hatred of artistically inspired detractors was obsessive with Muhammad, and reflected in the Kuranic verdict that poets are inspired by Satan and have gone astray, possessed and no better than soothsayers."


Let's see if I can earn a fatwa:

The heresy of islam is disgusting, backward, evil, violent, anti-woman. Muhommad was a pervert who had sex with a 9 year old girl. Women in muslim countries are routinely beaten, molested, raped, and killed and the men who do these things go unpunished. Western countries should not allow any immigration from muslim countries if they want peace. Theo Van Gogh's murder is just the latest in centuries long violence committed by muslims. Muhommad was a violent, sick, child molester and no one in their right mind would follow him or his violent, disgusting writings.