Category: Uncategorized

Thought some of you might enjoy this picture I snapped looking out the window into our back yard. The bush on the right in the photo is apparently a favorite deer snack, especially during the winter. I was interested to find that there are two distinct types of White-tail deer in this area. The indigenous herd is almost a grey color. This happens to blend in extremely well with oak trees, and can make them hard to spot. The others (and I have this on very reliable heresay) were introduced from the Great Plains, and are more of a tawny color that might blend well with tall grasses and such.
So, Arkansas deer are, like – STEALTH deer.

Just a note to let folks know that tomorrow (Saturday) at 10 AM I’m going to be speaking in Hopkinsville, Kentucky at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church at 902 E 9th Street.

Look forward to seeing anyone who can make it!

The first time I tuned in to Johnette Benkovic’s show on EWTN I figured (like a true male chauvinist pig) that her "Living His Life Abundantly" program would focus on "women’s issues". I guess I expected her and the female guest to talk about, what, the family budget? How to keep the kids quiet during Mass? I quickly saw how wrong I was. I actually made myself late for work because I became so absorbed in their discussion about the culture of United Nations. I have watched a number of times since, appreciative of her faith, her perspective on cultural issues and her personal warmth.
Her husband has recently been diagnosed with a brain tumor, and she has cancelled personal appearances to be at his side. She is asking for our prayers.
THIS LINK to the story on Catholic Exchange gives more information, as well as an address to which may be sent cards or personal notes.
God Bless You and your family, Johnette, You are in our prayers.

You aspiring comic writers out there, here is an idea that just screams to be inked. The Mesa, Arizona police department is seeking funding for research into training monkeys to do police work.
In real life the monkeys would be used to unlock doors, or search rooms ahead of teams of human officers, but expanding on the concept wouldn’t be difficult.
GET THE STORY.
I’m not a writer, so I don’t know about story arcs and all that, but I’m pretty sure it should involve Kung-Fu. Now, go to it!

There is a ton of analysis out there on BXVI, being that he was already a well known figure before he assumed the papacy, which is unusual in itself. Here is a little snippet from an interview of religion writer David Van Biema on TIME.com., that suggests that this Pope is not fearful of losing members over questions of doctrinal purity.:

He (BXVI) has previously indicated that he would be comfortable with an extremely small Church, preferring a small church of true believers to a larger one whose numbers are swelled by people he would not see as good Catholics. Benedict XVI has previously argued that it is not unhealthy for church to be a counter culture rather than a dominant player in secular Western society.

Gee, I always wanted to be "counter-cultural". It appeals to my internal hippy. I have always said that if Natural Family Planning had been invented by a ponytailed professor in the ’60s, it would be all the rage. Hey, man, no chemicals, no artificial anything. Just you and your soul-mate doing what comes naturally.

Read the whole article HERE.

Already conservatives are on the defensive, trying to calm the irrational fears of the fringe (theological) left of the Church, assuring them that Pope Benedict won’t be that bad. Even FOX News has been sucked into this. Just now I saw a piece all about the concerns of "many American Catholics" that the new Pope is too authoritarian and traditional.

Hel-lo-o-o-o? You could just as easily frame the story this way: "Many American Catholics Elated at Conclave’s Outcome" or "Many American Catholics Eager For New Pope’s Likely Reforms". Why let these shrieking harpies set the agenda?

I confess, I did check in at BeliefNet last night just to revel in Andrew Sullivan’s perplexed rage. His most telling comment was comparing Benedict XVI to JPII. How does Sullivan think the new Pope will stack up against the most beloved figure of modern times? He laments that he will be "even more hardline" than JPII.

Let’s hope pray so!

READ SULLIVAN’S RANT HERE, if you can stomach it. I found it most enjoyable.

One of the sub-sets of modern music that I enjoy is that of historical songs, or songs that reference history in neat ways. Gordon Lightfoot’s Edmund Fitzgerald is good, but his Canadian Railroad Trilogy will make the little hairs stand up on your neck. Al Stewart has some good ones, as well as The Band and others.

So I’m driving around in my SUV (168,000 miles and counting!) and listening to Dire Straits playing Telegraph Road and I look up and notice that I am driving on our very own "Old Wire Road". It runs brokenly through about 3 counties here locally and is obviously, well, old. It is the road that ran along the original telegraph route through these parts, and runs smack past a Civil War battlefield, also. The Dire Straits song is about another telegraph road, around Detroit, and the changes it brings to the generations that grow up around it. Mark Knopfler’s worn-leather voice and lyrics hauntingly capture the emptiness of blind progress, and he can also play guitar like crazy.

Some pictures and info about the road, the song and how Mr. Knopfler was inspired to write it, can be found HERE.

Never thought I’d say this, but…

Go Jesse Jackson!

Excerpts:

"I feel so passionate about this injustice being done, how unnecessary it is to deny her a feeding tube, water, not even ice to be used for her parched lips," said Jackson… "This is a moral issue and it transcends politics and family disputes."

Meanwhile, CNN.com reports that Jackson is lobbying Florida lawmakers to reconsider the bill to resume feeding Terri. There are also reports that some lawmakers may have changed their votes, which could get the measure reintroduced and passed as early as tomorrow.

Mr. Governor,

Suppose Judge Greer issued a ruling authorizing Michael Schiavo to take a twelve-gauge shotgun into Terri’s hospice room and blow her brains out. Okay, to avoid complications with firearms laws, let’s substitute a commando knife and a ruling allowing him to slit her throat.

I know: The Schindlers would appeal. But let’s say that the higher courts continued to circle their wagons and refuse even to hear the appeals. (Sure, that’s crazy, but so are the actual events of this case.)

Would you still be sitting around licking your wounds, doing nothing?

You’re saying as long as you can’t find a judge to give you permission, you can’t stand up for this victimized woman’s right to have an ice chip or a bit of water — mere palliative care given even to dying patients in multi-system failure? You can’t say "This judge has no right to deny palliative care to a dying woman"? You can’t say "If the woman can swallow, she has the right to have some water"? You can’t say "The affidavits against Michael Schiavo warrant taking Terri out of his custody," and act on that?

You’re supposed to be a leader. Leaders don’t always wait for someone to give them permission to act or tell them what they do or don’t have the right to do. Your brother didn’t wait for the rest of the U.N. to tell him he had the right to defy the Security Council and go into Iraq. Bill Clinton didn’t wait for a judge to tell him he had the right to defy the Florida courts and take custody of Elian Gonzalez.

No matter what anyone thinks of either man or either action, they were actions of born leaders, men capable of bucking opposition, of deciding what needed to be done and doing it in spite of what they considered obstructionist opposition.

I do recognize and appreciate the efforts that you have made to save Terri’s life. Given less determined judicial obstructionism, they  might have been enough.

They weren’t..

Terri needs a bolder, stronger defense than she has received. You seem to be a good man. Terri needs more than a good man in the governor’s office. She needs a heroic one.

40 years ago on Good Friday (March 27th) 1964, the second largest earthquake ever recorded shook southern Alaska, generating tsunamis that struck as far away as Japan and California. A whopping 9.2 on the Richter scale, the quake also lasted for over three minutes (not counting the numerous aftershocks), causing landslides, liquefaction and really crazy cracks in the earth in this (mercifully) sparsely populated state. The ground moved like your Grandma shaking out a rug on the back porch, is what I’m sayin’. And why do I care? Because, aside from all the devastation noted above, it also knocked my favorite TV show "Fireball XL-5" off the air, and cracked several of our Easter eggs! That’s right. In the words of Pee Wee Herman, "I lived it.".

On the same street in the picture above was the B&B Cafe. My dad was a city cop at the time, and as he made his way around, looking for survivors, he was surprised to find the cafe entirely intact. Spoons still in soup, soup still in bowls, bowls still on tables. He pulled a piece of pie from the countertop display and, in this cafe now 30 feet below the street, took a much-needed break.

FIND OUT MORE about "THE BIG ONE".

Fortunately, Alaska was home to a relatively small population of outdoor-savvy adventurous types, who took it all in stride, rather than being, say, home to millions, some of whom (being super-rich) might have felt compelled to erect very tall buildings.