Cluster of wheat image Grapes and vines image Cluster of wheat image
March 30th, 2012

OBAMA SHILLS FOR PLANNED PARENTHOOD

Our Commander-in-Chief, our Abortion-Loving President, shills for Planned Parenthood. Is that legal? If we ask him nicely, do you suppose he might do a commercial for Crisis Pregnancy Centers to give help to people who actually want to plan parenthood?  Think of all the good that the Crisis Pregnancy Centers could do if they got the kind of government money that Planned Parenthood gets.

March 28th, 2012

THE NATURAL WOMAN – GONE!

In the olden days, B.B. (before blogging) I was known as an inveterate writer of letters to the editor. People sometimes ask me why I don’t write anymore and I explain that I put what I have to say on my blog. Recently, however, I got sufficiently fired up to email a letter to the News-Times and it was just published today, unedited, for which I am grateful.

 

 

 

Dorothy Vining: ‘Whatever happened to the natural woman’?

Dorothy Vining
Published 04:40 p.m., Tuesday, March 27, 2012

I find it difficult to believe that a person who writes so clearly and logically about the issue of freedom of religion as Lora DeNardis (March 11: “Contraception, health care, religion”) is a Danbury resident and I have not even heard of her!

She makes the point very well that the government should not require Catholics to provide or pay for contraceptives or abortions when it is against a core belief of their religion.

That is as illogical as requiring that Jews conduct business on their Sabbath or a Muslim restaurant must sell ham sandwiches.

Didn’t Obama promise opt-out conscience clauses for religious organizations at the outset of Obamacare?

I saw a cute cartoon recently with Obama in front of his laptop, pressing “delete” to get rid of the First Amendment.

But I want to make an entirely different point in this piece.

Contraceptives such as birth control pills are being promoted as health care for women and therefore something that they “need.” Nothing could be further from the truth.

Birth control pills turn a normal woman into an abnormal woman. They provide (artificial) hormones that make her body think it is pregnant and stop ovulating (or at least that is the intention.) With some of the pills she will ovulate anyway, and even conceive.

Everyone knows that it is possible to become pregnant on the pill every once in a while. The pregnancy may be aborted because the pill makes the uterus inhospitable and it cannot implant, or it may implant and continue to develop until birth. Different people respond differently to the same dosages.

It is against the law to provide steroids to young males.

Teenage girls, on the other hand, can be provided similar steroids (the pill) without the knowledge or consent of their parents. The younger the girl when she starts the pill, the more susceptible she is to bodily harm. And she is usually too young to have any idea that the pill does not render sex “safe.”

The statistics demonstrating the increase in teenage pregnancies and abortions with the increase in contraceptive availability are shocking!

The pill has numerous side effects: migraines, blood clots, increased susceptibility to infection and to sexually transmitted diseases, tubal pregnancy, depression, and on and on. Just read the insert that comes with the pills.

Dentists, for example, are aware that a very painful dry socket is twice as likely if extractions are done while taking the pill.

Several studies have shown that the increased incidence of breast cancer correlates with the increased use of oral contraceptives. A McGill University study reported a 40 percent decline in sex drive in women tho took the pill compared to those who took a placebo.

The pill is more hazardous for patients who smoke or have diabetes or have elevated cholesterol.

Catholics are probably also going to be expected to pay for the “morning-after” contraception pills which, of course, cause an abortion if the woman has become pregnant.

This is being labeled health care?

We’re producing a nation of sterile women who have to buy perfumes containing pheromones because they have no “come-hither” scent of their own!

Man is the only animal that mates year-round. Other animals mate by instinct and most only for a season. We have the option of using our reason and our will to choose our season, to achieve pregnancy or no pregnancy, which is the only true reproductive freedom.

And we can have this without polluting our bodies, without exchanging normal bodily function for years of abnormal function. A woman can become pregnant only a few days a month.

Many women put off having children until “later” and then spend thousands of dollars and years of doctoring, trying to achieve the blessing of a baby.

Whatever happened to the “natural woman,” the kind that is appealing to a real man? Whatever happened to a thing called self-control?

They want to force Catholics to abandon reason and religion and provide harmful steroids to normal women, or be subject to ridiculous fines?

I’ve never heard such nonsense in my life!

Dorothy Vining is a Danbury resident.

Published March 28, 2012, News-Times, Danbury CT div>

 

March 26th, 2012

HOLY! HOLY! HOLY!

I always thought Pope John Paul II was a holy man. This book and this DVD radiate holiness. The book, first written and published in Polish by Pawel Zuchniewicz, is Miracles of John Paul II: Santo Subito. It is a lovely, lovely book. Short, almost 200 pages, it is an account of miracles attributed to John Paul, most of them during his lifetime. The cover photo is touching. It is a pleasing book to hold in your hand.   It has a hard cover, and I like the heft of it.

This book also takes us behind the scenes of the May 13, 1981 assassination attempt on the Pope in St. Peter’s Square, shedding new light on this event by presenting it in the context of the Third Secret of Fatima. World Youth Days are also examined, revealing the incredible spiritual impact the Pope had on the young people as testified by many of the youth at WYD events all over the globe

Neither the book, nor the DVD below, are “inside” revelations of  John Paul.  Rather, they tell of the experiences of others with him, what others saw, what the camera saw.   It almost seems we do not need to hear from John Paul II directly.   These are enough to say “Holy.”

CREDO, a DVD showing  glimpses of John Paul II,  with hymns  and arias by Andrea Bocelli.

As one reviewer wrote:

Who else to sing to my heart as tears flow down my face, realizing the loss we have experienced without our friend’s Polish smile, and quiet, intense piety, which have evolved from a life of suffering and loss. This artform helps to reflect the supernatural clarity and strength of the human condition, which we seem to lose sight of belonging to; It seems that “it (the world) is all about us”, after all.

The cover of the book states that it is available exclusively in the United States at Ignatius Press. However, it,  and the the DVD Credo can also be found on Amazon.

March 26th, 2012

RECEIVING THE WORD WITH JOY

This video captures the moment when the Kimyal tribe of West Papua, Indonesia, received a shipment of New Testaments—translated into their own language for the first time.

Kimyal Tribe Receives the Word for the First Time from GodTube.

A viewer’s comment:

I’m glad they cried, I’m glad the woman translater had tears, I’m glad I had tears. Thank God. No glitz, no entertainment, just raw life, like a new birth, happy for what it is.

Has the Word become “old” to us? Let us pray for fresh eyes and open ears once more.

March 23rd, 2012

“WHAT IF?” JUDGE NAPOLITANO

See how Judge Napolitano got himself fired from Fox News in under five minutes!  FOX NEWS!! Home of “fair and balanced” news??? Does the Judge accuse anyone of anything? He only wonders, “what if?” But apparently even his “what if’s” come too close to the actuality.


John Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute writes his own “what if?” column.

“Everything in our background has prepared us to know and resist a prison when the gates begin to close around us . . . But what if there are no cries of anguish to be heard? Who is prepared to take arms against a sea of amusements? To whom do we complain, and when, and in what tone of voice, when serious discourse dissolves into giggles? What is the antidote to a culture’s being drained by laughter?”—Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business.

 

With less than eight months to go before the next presidential election, political chatter among the candidates is ramping up and serious political discourse is declining. All the while, the corrupt government machine is taking advantage of a populace distracted by the political theater to advance agendas that are completely at odds with the nation’s fiscal, legislative and constitutional priorities. Indeed, the process of voting and electing a new president has become little more than an expensive, sophisticated ruse designed to deceive us into thinking we actually have a say in what happens in our government. However, the sad fact is that the United States government has ballooned into an overreaching, out-of-control bureaucracy accountable to no one in particular—not Congress or the president and least of all the taxpayers.Thus, while the candidates mug for the cameras, American taxpayers are being taken to the cleaners—a different kind of mugging, altogether—by government officials eager to placate their corporate benefactors. While the surveillance state is slowly being erected around us, our civil liberties are systemically being dismantled. While our government wages war after endless war abroad, the war on the American people—fought with sound cannons, tasers and drones—is entering its early stages. And while the partisan rancor over who will occupy the White House becomes more toxic with each passing day, the elephant in the room—what no one is talking about—is the fact that it doesn’t really matter who gets elected, because no matter how often we change out the resident of the Oval Office, the immense, intractable, implacable, bureaucratic colossus that is our federal government remains entrenched.In other words, the more things change, the more they remain the same. Read more.

 

March 23rd, 2012

TEA PARTY DEAD? HARDLY!

8000 to 10,000 are reported to have rallied in Washington DC to protest the unconstitutionality of  Obamacare (HHS mandate)  as three hearings were taking place at the U.S. Supreme Court.

 

Below is a video from last week promoting the gathering.  I think it’s safe to say the Tea Party has not died, or even weakened.

Tea Party Patriot Jenny Beth Martin on PolitiChicks urges attendance at activities in Washington DC starting Saturday, March 24, on The Road To Repeal of the HHS Mandate (aka Obamacare.)

Starting Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear an unprecedented six hours of arguments over three days on the constitutionality of the controversial and massive health-reform initiative known as the Affordable Care Act.

The law — the first national legislative effort to rein in health-care costs — aims to extend insurance coverage to more than 30 million Americans through an expansion of Medicaid and a provision that people buy health insurance starting in 2014 or face a penalty. Read more.

March 18th, 2012

FOUR YEARS OF BLOGGING

March 2012 marks my fourth year of blogging! Who knew I had so much staying power? Looking back over those early efforts, there is an obvious learning curve as I coped with the differences between WordPress on my computer at home and the Word Perfect on my computer at work. Looking back I am still happy with the photo Johnny took, all on his own, of my church for the frontispiece. I have no desire for any bright, cute creation by any blog design expert. I like the homespun quality of what we’ve done.

It surprises me that I still have so much to write about. Life, it seems, keeps happening! Just yesterday, for example, in that one day I went to 7:30 Mass, had lunch with my siblings at a diner in Newtown, and visited with my daughter, my grandson and his wife, and their two kids (who would, of course, be my greatgrandkids).   (That 6 month old Sierra is one bouncing baby girl!) And then, to top the day off, Mass again in the evening and a prayer gathering with some inmates at the Federal Correctional Institution. No wonder I had such a good night’s sleep!

And just minutes ago I read this:

A legitimate and duly constituted law enforcement investigation, that obtained sworn affidavits and testimony from graphics experts, law enforcement experts and private citizens, has uncovered compelling evidence that the “birth certificate” released by Team Obama is a computer-generated forgery and that the man who is presently occupying the Oval Office is potentially occupying that office as a result of FRAUD and FORGERY.

AND NOW… it would appear that we can add RACKETEERING and CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY to the list of charges that must be investigated. If the American people could legitimately ask what a sitting President knew about a third-rate burglary attempt and when he knew about it, then the American people DESERVE to know what Barack Hussein Obama knows about attempts to threaten members of the media over his computer-generated “birth certificate.”

Enough is enough. If people are indeed being threatened with frivolous government “investigations” … if livelihoods are being placed in jeopardy… if people are leaving their positions out of concern for the safety of their loved ones, then Congress can no longer ignore this issue. Our elected officials can no longer stick their heads in the sand. Congress MUST finally investigate this constitutional crisis.

That’s frightening stuff.

What has the past year wrought?  A couple of facial surgeries for skin cancer which I seem to have weathered quite well.  On my last trip to my internist I complained about more slowness in walking.  All he had to say was,  “Better to have a head than legs.”

Lately I have been pleased with my quite long post on Media Blackout in Georgia which I thought necessary to write about because there was, in fact, a media blackout of the Obama citizenship trial. See what you think; look, too, at the comments, which add additional information. I also liked my post on Jesus Loves Whitney Houston, a brief overview of her career, beginning with her perfect rendition of the National Anthem, and topped off with a Taiwanese man singing I Will Always Love You and, amazingly, doing it as well as Whitney.

Today is supposed to be sunny, up to about 68 degrees.   The crocuses are up and blooming, daffodils budding, and the lawn starting to green up.   I have sunflower seeds which are thinking about sprouting and potatoes which are actually sprouting, which will go into the ground pretty soon.  God’s in his heaven and the hillside’s dew-pearled!

Looking forward, there is a trip to Puerto Rico scheduled for late April, a greatgrandbaby due in August, and an important election coming up in November.   I’m not about to fold up my tent and jump ship any time soon if I can help it!

 

March 18th, 2012

SONGS TO CRY BY

A CHILD – Little Boy Blue

A NATION – Have You Forgotten?

A SOLDIER –  The Vacant Chair – In Memory of Lt. William Grout, Killed in Action, Balls Bluff, Virginia, 1861.

DANNY BOY

BEAUTY – Ave Verum

March 10th, 2012

“SONG O’ MY HEART”

Until this very day I did not even know  that  the Irish tenor John McCormack starred in a movie way back in 1930.   It seems so, so strange, after listening to him over these many  years on red label Victor records, vinyl records, and even today on YouTube, that I can all of a sudden see him as he sings The Rose of Traleee  and Plaisir d’Amour  and other beloved songs of old.

It all happened because my son, Dan,  gave me a TV at Christmas-time with a bigger screen, and took away my old TV that was able to play VHS tapes and DVD recordings.   I suddenly realized that I was now unable to play my collection of VHS tapes which meant I would be unable to watch The Passion of the Christ on Good Friday, as has been my custom.  I wailed and moaned until my good friend Dolores said she had a VCR that had never been unwrapped and son  Johnny installed it for me.  Going through my VHS recordings I came across two that I had never listened to — I have a vague recollection of  their being given to me some years back — one was Ferrucio Tagliavini in the opera Cavalleria Rusticana and the other something called Song O’ My Heart.   I must have been busy at the time and they were long recordings so I tucked them into my library and forgot about them.  Until today.

You need to know that my husband loved John McCormack and his songs are engraved on my heart.    When I finally played Song O’ My Heart  there was John McCormack singing (and singing and singing) in a sentimental movie written just to display his talent.   It is really quite quaint, with the horse-and-buggy, the clothing of the twenties, the Irish brogues and those funny old telephones.  Part of it is set in Ireland and it is said McCormack  was paid $500,000 to do it.  That was real money way back then.

Here is what one reviewer of today had to say about Song O’ My Heart.

This is not a great movie. It isn’t really a very good one, frankly. I can’t imagine any reason to watch it other than to see John McCormack. If you like McCormack, however, it is not to be missed and, while he’s on screen, very enjoyable. Unlike so many other opera singers who have taken a turn on the silver screen, McCormack is very natural and relaxed. He’s fun to watch and, when he sings something good – which is too often not the case, alas – a joy to hear.

Much of what he sings is, in fact, forgettable. But there are two numbers that make time stand still. The first is the Rose of Tralee. It’s not great music, perhaps, but McCormack makes each note a perfectly polished gem in one perfectly arranged necklace. It is nice music elevated by great art to a very moving moment.

And then there is I hear you calling me, the most successful of all McCormack’s many successes. This is beautiful music set to a perfect text. And then performed as no song has ever been performed before or since. Yes, perhaps one of his 78 rpm versions is even better, but the version in this film is already great enough to make time, and breath, stop. The song tells a story, and you follow it as it unfolds. In the last verses, when he goes up to the suspended high note on “I hear you CALLING me,” you would think that you in fact heard his beloved calling him from beyond the grave. It makes you understand why Caruso envied McCormack his pianissimos.

So here we have  John McCormack in Song o’ My Heart singing  I Hear You Calling Me.  It was recorded in Los Angeles Philharmonic Auditorium, 5th and Grand, with Edwin Schneider at the piano.  This was the second talkie, after Jazz Singer.

The VHS recording that  I have was apparently videotaped from a Visual Artists International presentation of Firestone Classic Performances.  It can also be purchased in a 1991 release on Amazon.

 

March 8th, 2012

FRAUD AND FORGERY ALLEGED

Over the past six months I have covered here and here questions regarding the validity of the long form birth certificate of Barack Obama put forward by the White House.   It seems to be all coming to a head.

“We need a better process to vet a person running for President of the United States of America.” “We have sworn affadavits of many people all over the world willing to step forward.” “I am not accusing the President of the United States of any crime.” “We have identified a person of interest in the forgery…” “Extremely troubling” “We will do our job and see where it takes us.” “There is too much missing information.” “Mr. President, please come up with some other information as to where you were born.”

New Conference of Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s “Cold Case Posse.”

Who is Barack Obama?

SEALED

Taken from an anonymous Facebook post:

If the facts are correct, this is interesting and you do have to wonder why the media has not picked up on it.

1. Back in 1961 people of color were called Negroes, so how can the Obama birth certificate state he is African-American when the term wasn’t even used at that time?

2. The birth certificate that the White House released lists Obama’s birth as August 4, 1961. It also lists Barack Hussein Obama as his father. No big deal, right? At the time of Obama’s birth, it also shows that his father is aged 25 years old, and that Obama’s father was born in “Kenya, East Africa”. This wouldn’t seem like anything of concern, except the fact that Kenya did not even exist until 1963, two whole years after Obama’s birth, and 27 years after his father’s birth.
How could Obama’s father have been born in a country that did not yet exist?
Up and until Kenya was formed in 1963, it was known as the “British East Africa Protectorate”.

3. On the birth certificate released by the White House, the listed place of birth is “Kapi’olani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital”.
This cannot be, because the hospital(s) in question in 1961 were called “Kaui Keolani Children’s Hospital” and “Kapi’olani Maternity Home”, respectively. The name did not change to Kapi’olani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital until 1978, when these two hospitals merged.
How can this particular name of the hospital be on a birth certificate dated 1961 if this name had not yet been applied to it until 1978?

Why hasn’t this been discussed in the major media?

Please send this to everyone you know with the hope that we can force the media as well OUR NATION to address this CORRUPTION.
Also be sure to send it to all your Liberal friends?!

Finally, mainstream media (CBS) HAS picked up on the charge of felony fraud in this investigation. (March, 2012)

Hollywood producer Bettina Viviano says that Bill Clinton thought Obama was inelibible way back when Hillary was running and she made a film about voter fraud.

Viviano doesn’t think Obama has “the best intents” for this country “and the media covers for him.”