And they call this a crack down?
Gay priests 'must prove chastity for three years': Vatican
An upcoming Vatican document on gays and the priesthood says men who demonstrate homosexual tendencies cannot become priests unless they can show they have lived chastely for at least three years, an Italian newspaper reported today.
http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=158372744&p=y5837345x


I heard it through the grapevine.
At least how we used to find out about the latest gossip. Now we get in from online, not the grapevine.
New draft translation of Mass prayers distributed to bishops
ROME (CNS) -- A new draft translation of the main Mass prayers in English has been distributed to bishops and was auctioned off Oct. 5 on eBay, the Internet auction site.http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0505666.htm


Too bad Terri Schavio's judges didn't hear this.
Italian man "understood everything" during 2-year coma
Oct. 06 (CWNews.com) - An Italian man who had been in a coma for 2 years has awakened and reports that he had been fully aware of his surroundings while he was comatose.
http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=40026

Government failure, private success
by Michael D. Tanner
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4827
"While the response to hurricane Katrina has uncovered failures of government at every level - federal, state, and local - it has also revealed again the amazing generosity and effectiveness of America's private charitable efforts."

I've often thought exactly what this article says. You can't force people to be charitable by taxing them.

Harriett Miers? Who is she?
It seems all the media frenzy today is about who Harriett Miers is. Has the country reached the point where only unknowns can be nominated and successfully seated on the Supreme Court? The fear of being "Borked" keeps the most qualified from ever wanting to be nominated. Can't the Democrats remember that they lost the election in 2004 and stop their guerilla tactics on judicial nominees? The liberals who can't win an election and use the judiciary to get their way are not acting in the best interests of the nation.

A Case Of Life And Death http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/051010/10supreme.htm
The Supreme Court opens its new term with arguments in a case whose implications could not be more profound
By Liz Halloran
"The future of Oregon's 1994 Death With Dignity Act is in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court. This week, with John G. Roberts sitting in the chief's chair, the court opens its new term with arguments in Gonzales v. Oregon.
Balance of power. The central legal question in the case is fairly straightforward: Can a federal official charged with enforcing drug laws disregard the will of Oregon voters and bar physicians from prescribing lethal doses of controlled substances?
Gonzales v. Oregon will be this term's "premier federalism case," says Jonathan Adler, a Case Western Reserve University School of Law associate professor. Whatever its makeup, the court faces a full plate of controversial issues. Abortion, the religious use of drugs, and military recruiting on campuses are all on the court's new docket."

I think this case is as important for the pro-life cause as Roe v. Wade was for the pro-death cause. This Oregon law is a slippery slope that has to be stopped. I don't want our country to end up like the Netherlands.

So what's happening in Catholic morality?
http://www.the-tidings.com/2005/0923/benson.htm
“As we continue to conform ourselves more and more to Christ in all things, the question "What should I do?" will only be authentic if we first ask, "What do I want to be?" And, of course, the answer to that question is, "A disciple of Jesus.”
"What do I want to be?" is indeed an important question.

Shroud of Turin 'shows future of science,' says local expert
http://www.the-tidings.com/2005/0923/shroud.htm
"The image of the shroud and its riddle cannot be solved through the science of the past," said Piczek. Concurring with French physicist and shroud researcher, Dr. William Wolkowski, Piczek believes that transdisciplinary study of the shroud will give birth to a new scientific age. "The shroud shows the future of science," declared Piczek.

How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization: A review
Thomas E. Woods
This book is about what they don't teach you in World History class. I took two college level classes in World History and neither course gave any real hint of the contributions of the Catholic church. There was a small mention that 'Christianity' had monestaries that had schools, but that is misleading because 'Christianity' had only one denomination until 1517. Why did they leave that important fact out? Why did they misrepresent the church's role in science, education, economics, medicine, charity, morals, secular law and international law? This book tells the stuff that biased authors leave out. It is a real eye opener that is fun to read. I couldn't put it down! I finished it in a couple days. It leaves me thirsty to know more. The part I like the most was the contribution of the Catholic Church to the advancement of women. Before Jesus, only the woman was punished for adultery afterward the men were punished too which is much more fair. Also, women could establish convents and do social work, which was very empowering in an age where women were not allowed to work outside the home. Wow! That blows the 'sacred femininism' theory of the DaVinci Code to bits!

A Baptist writing about birth control?
Albert Mohler Author, Speaker, President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
"Deliberate Childlessness Revisited"
http://www.crosswalk.com/news/weblogs/mohler/?adate=8/15/2005#1345708
Clearly, I hit a nerve. Almost two years ago, I published an article entitled "Deliberate Childlessness: Moral Rebellion With a New Face." In that article I addressed the growing phenomenon of married couples who simply choose not to have children. I argued that this development indicates an eclipse of the Christian worldview in terms of the gift of children and a redefinition of marriage itself.

Pope: Faith is not all about rules
http://headlines.virgin.net/story/OOO/A16361311124031900A00
Pope Benedict has rejected the idea of Christianity as a religion of rules and prohibitions, and said he hoped to use his trip next week to Germany for a youth gathering to spur "a wave of new faith" in Europe.
The German-born Pope said "providence wanted my first trip abroad to take me to Germany."
He will fly to Cologne on Thursday to begin a four-day visit for World Youth Day, a Catholic jamboree of rallies and religious services.
Speaking about the hundreds of thousands of youths expected to converge on Cologne for the gathering, Pope Benedict said: "I would like to show them how beautiful it is to be Christian, because the widespread idea which continues to exist is that Christianity is composed of laws and bans which one has to keep and, hence, is something toilsome and burdensome, that one is freer without such a burden."
"I want to make clear that it is not a burden to be carried with great love and realisation, but is like having wings. It is wonderful to be a Christian with this knowledge that it gives us a great breadth, a large community," the pontiff said.
Vatican Radio provided an English translation of the 15-minute interview, which was conducted in Castel Gandolfo, the summer palace in the Alban Hills outside of Rome.
Pope Benedict was asked to describe the "ideal aim" for the Cologne appointment "if all would work out perfectly."
The pope laughed and replied: "Yes, well, a wave of new faith among young people, especially the youth in Germany and Europe."
In Germany, "many Christian things occur, but there is also a great fatigue, and we are so concerned with structural questions that the zest and the joy of faith are missing," the pontiff said.
On Sunday, Benedict raised the same theme of the need to invigorate faith in remarks to pilgrims and tourists at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, in the hills outside Rome.

Biblical Pool of Siloam Is Uncovered in Jerusalem
http://www.drudgereport.com/flash1.htm
Tue Aug 09 2005 00:09:33 ET
Workers repairing a sewage pipe in the old city of Jerusalem have discovered the biblical Pool of Siloam, a freshwater reservoir that was a major gathering place for ancient Jews making religious pilgrimages to the city and the reputed site where Jesus cured a man blind from birth, the LOS ANGELES TIMES reports.
The pool was fed by the now famous Hezekiah's Tunnel and is ``a much grander affair'' than archeologists previously believed, with three tiers of stone stairs allowing easy access to the water, according to Hershel Shanks, editor of Biblical Archeology Review, which reported the find Monday.
``Scholars have said that there wasn't a Pool of Siloam and that John was using a religious conceit'' to illustrate a point, said New Testament scholar James H. Charlesworth of the Princeton Theological Seminary. ``Now we have found the Pool of Siloam ... exactly where John said it was.''
A gospel that was thought to be ``pure theology is now shown to be grounded in history,'' he said.
The discovery puts a new spotlight on what is called the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, a trip that religious law required ancient Jews to make at least once a year, said archeologist Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa, who excavated the pool.
``Jesus was just another pilgrim coming to Jerusalem,'' he said. ``It would be natural to find him there.''
The newly discovered pool is less than 200 yards from another Pool of Siloam, this one a reconstruction built between A.D. 400 and 460 by the empress Eudocia of Byzantium, who oversaw the rebuilding of several Biblical sites.
Developing...---

King David's fabled palace: Is this it?
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/08/04/news/david.php
By Steven Erlanger
The New York Times
FRIDAY, AUGUST 5, 2005 JERUSALEM An Israeli archeologist says she has uncovered in east Jerusalem what she believes may be the fabled palace of the biblical King David. Her work has been sponsored by the Shalem Center, a neoconservative think tank in Jerusalem, and funded by a American Jewish investment banker who would like to help provide scientific support for the Bible as a reflection of Jewish history. Other scholars who have toured the site are skeptical that the foundation walls Eilat Mazar has discovered are David's palace. But they acknowledge that what she has uncovered is rare and important - a major public building from around the 10th century BC with pottery shards that date from the time of David and Solomon and a government seal of an official mentioned in the book of Jeremiah. For nearly 10 years, Mazar thought she knew where the fabled palace built for King David, as described in the Bible, might be - just outside the walls of the ancient city of Jerusalem. Now she thinks she's found it, and if she's right, her discovery will be a new salvo in a major dispute in biblical archaeology - whether or not the kingdom of David and Samuel was of historical importance. For that idea, the Bible is a relatively accurate guide, but some question whether they were more like small tribal chieftains, reigning over another dusty hilltop. Her discovery is also bound to be used in the other major battle over Jerusalem - whether the Jews have their deepest origins there and thus have some special hold on the place, or whether, as many Palestinians believe - including the late Yasser Arafat - that the notion of a Jewish origin in Jerusalem is a religious myth used to justify occupation and colonialism. Hani Nur el-Din, a professor of archaeology at Al Quds University, says that Palestinian archaeologists consider biblical archaeology as an effort by Israeli archaeologists "to fit historical evidence into a biblical context," he said. "The link between the historical evidence and the biblical narration, written much later, is largely missing," he said. "There's a kind of fiction about the 10th century. They try to link whatever they find to the biblical narration. They have a button and they want to make a suit out of it." Other Israeli archaeologists are not so sure that Mazar has found the palace - the house that Hiram, king of Tyre, built for the victorious king, at least as Samuel II, Chapter 5, describes it. It may also be the Fortress of Zion that David conquered from the Jebusites, who ruled Jerusalem before him, or some other structure about which the Bible is silent. But Mazar's colleagues know that she's found something extraordinary - the partial foundations of a sizable public building, constructed in the Phoenician style, dating from the 10th-9th centuries BC, the time of the united kingdom of David and Solomon. "This is a very significant discovery, given that Jerusalem as the capital of the united kingdom is very much unknown," said Gabriel Barkay, a renowned archaeologist of Jerusalem from Bar-Ilan University. "Very carefully we can say that this is one of the first greetings we have from the Jerusalem of David and Solomon, a period which has played a kind of hide-and-seek with archaeologists for the last century." Mazar, 48, is the granddaughter of Benjamin Mazar, a famous archaeologist with whom she trained. She got her doctorate from Hebrew University, is the widow of an archaeologist and has worked on and supervised dozens of digs on her own. "Archaeology is technical, but you dig with a mind open to historical sources, and anything can help," she said, as she clambered over massive stones at bedrock. "I work with the Bible in one hand and the tools of excavation in the other, and I try to consider everything." Based on the chapter from Samuel II, but also on the work of a century of archaeology in this spot, Mazar speculated that the famous stepped-stone structure excavated previously was part of the fortress David conquered, and that his palace would have been built just outside the original walls of the cramped city, to the north, on the way to what his son, Solomon, built as the Temple Mount. "When the Philistines came to fight, the Bible said that David went down from his house to the fortress," she said, her eyes bright. "Maybe it meant something, maybe not. But I wondered, down from where? Presumably from where he lived, his palace. So I said, maybe there's something here," and in 1997 wrote a paper proposing a new excavation in the spot, which is in east Jerusalem. Mazar is building on the archaeologists who went before her, especially Robert Macalister in the 1920s, Kathleen Kenyon in the 1960s and Yigal Shilo in the 1970s and 1980s. Kenyon had found evidence of well-worked stones and protoaeolic capitals, which decorated the tops of columns, evidence of a large, decorative building. David's palace was the topic of a last conversation she had with her famous grandfather, who died 10 years ago, she said. "He said, 'Kenyon found the protoaeolic capitals, so go and find where she found them, and start there."' Five months ago, with special funding and permissions from the Ir David Foundation, which controls the site (and also supports Jews moving into east Jerusalem), and academic sponsorhip from Hebrew University, she finally began to dig - finding evidence of this monumental public building dating from the time of David and Solomon. Amihai Mazar, a renowned professor of archaeology at Hebrew University, and Eilat Mazar's second cousin, calls the find "something of a miracle." He believes the building may be the Fortress of Zion that David is said to have conquered, and where he lived for a time, and which he renamed the City of David. "The interpretation will be debated," he said. "But the achievement is great. What she found is fascinating whatever it is." There is a debate among archaeologists "to what extent Jerusalem was an important city or even a city in the time of David and Samuel," he said. "Some believe it was tiny and the kingdom unimportant." JERUSALEM An Israeli archeologist says she has uncovered in east Jerusalem what she believes may be the fabled palace of the biblical King David. Her work has been sponsored by the Shalem Center, a neoconservative think tank in Jerusalem, and funded by a American Jewish investment banker who would like to help provide scientific support for the Bible as a reflection of Jewish history. Other scholars who have toured the site are skeptical that the foundation walls Eilat Mazar has discovered are David's palace. But they acknowledge that what she has uncovered is rare and important - a major public building from around the 10th century BC with pottery shards that date from the time of David and Solomon and a government seal of an official mentioned in the book of Jeremiah. For nearly 10 years, Mazar thought she knew where the fabled palace built for King David, as described in the Bible, might be - just outside the walls of the ancient city of Jerusalem. Now she thinks she's found it, and if she's right, her discovery will be a new salvo in a major dispute in biblical archaeology - whether or not the kingdom of David and Samuel was of historical importance. For that idea, the Bible is a relatively accurate guide, but some question whether they were more like small tribal chieftains, reigning over another dusty hilltop. Her discovery is also bound to be used in the other major battle over Jerusalem - whether the Jews have their deepest origins there and thus have some special hold on the place, or whether, as many Palestinians believe - including the late Yasser Arafat - that the notion of a Jewish origin in Jerusalem is a religious myth used to justify occupation and colonialism. Hani Nur el-Din, a professor of archaeology at Al Quds University, says that Palestinian archaeologists consider biblical archaeology as an effort by Israeli archaeologists "to fit historical evidence into a biblical context," he said. "The link between the historical evidence and the biblical narration, written much later, is largely missing," he said. "There's a kind of fiction about the 10th century. They try to link whatever they find to the biblical narration. They have a button and they want to make a suit out of it." Other Israeli archaeologists are not so sure that Mazar has found the palace - the house that Hiram, king of Tyre, built for the victorious king, at least as Samuel II, Chapter 5, describes it. It may also be the Fortress of Zion that David conquered from the Jebusites, who ruled Jerusalem before him, or some other structure about which the Bible is silent. But Mazar's colleagues know that she's found something extraordinary - the partial foundations of a sizable public building, constructed in the Phoenician style, dating from the 10th-9th centuries BC, the time of the united kingdom of David and Solomon. "This is a very significant discovery, given that Jerusalem as the capital of the united kingdom is very much unknown," said Gabriel Barkay, a renowned archaeologist of Jerusalem from Bar-Ilan University. "Very carefully we can say that this is one of the first greetings we have from the Jerusalem of David and Solomon, a period which has played a kind of hide-and-seek with archaeologists for the last century." Mazar, 48, is the granddaughter of Benjamin Mazar, a famous archaeologist with whom she trained. She got her doctorate from Hebrew University, is the widow of an archaeologist and has worked on and supervised dozens of digs on her own. "Archaeology is technical, but you dig with a mind open to historical sources, and anything can help," she said, as she clambered over massive stones at bedrock. "I work with the Bible in one hand and the tools of excavation in the other, and I try to consider everything." Based on the chapter from Samuel II, but also on the work of a century of archaeology in this spot, Mazar speculated that the famous stepped-stone structure excavated previously was part of the fortress David conquered, and that his palace would have been built just outside the original walls of the cramped city, to the north, on the way to what his son, Solomon, built as the Temple Mount. "When the Philistines came to fight, the Bible said that David went down from his house to the fortress," she said, her eyes bright. "Maybe it meant something, maybe not. But I wondered, down from where? Presumably from where he lived, his palace. So I said, maybe there's something here," and in 1997 wrote a paper proposing a new excavation in the spot, which is in east Jerusalem. Mazar is building on the archaeologists who went before her, especially Robert Macalister in the 1920s, Kathleen Kenyon in the 1960s and Yigal Shilo in the 1970s and 1980s. Kenyon had found evidence of well-worked stones and protoaeolic capitals, which decorated the tops of columns, evidence of a large, decorative building. David's palace was the topic of a last conversation she had with her famous grandfather, who died 10 years ago, she said. "He said, 'Kenyon found the protoaeolic capitals, so go and find where she found them, and start there."' Five months ago, with special funding and permissions from the Ir David Foundation, which controls the site (and also supports Jews moving into east Jerusalem), and academic sponsorhip from Hebrew University, she finally began to dig - finding evidence of this monumental public building dating from the time of David and Solomon. Amihai Mazar, a renowned professor of archaeology at Hebrew University, and Eilat Mazar's second cousin, calls the find "something of a miracle." He believes the building may be the Fortress of Zion that David is said to have conquered, and where he lived for a time, and which he renamed the City of David. "The interpretation will be debated," he said. "But the achievement is great. What she found is fascinating whatever it is." There is a debate among archaeologists "to what extent Jerusalem was an important city or even a city in the time of David and Samuel," he said. "Some believe it was tiny and the kingdom unimportant." JERUSALEM An Israeli archeologist says she has uncovered in east Jerusalem what she believes may be the fabled palace of the biblical King David. Her work has been sponsored by the Shalem Center, a neoconservative think tank in Jerusalem, and funded by a American Jewish investment banker who would like to help provide scientific support for the Bible as a reflection of Jewish history. Other scholars who have toured the site are skeptical that the foundation walls Eilat Mazar has discovered are David's palace. But they acknowledge that what she has uncovered is rare and important - a major public building from around the 10th century BC with pottery shards that date from the time of David and Solomon and a government seal of an official mentioned in the book of Jeremiah. For nearly 10 years, Mazar thought she knew where the fabled palace built for King David, as described in the Bible, might be - just outside the walls of the ancient city of Jerusalem. Now she thinks she's found it, and if she's right, her discovery will be a new salvo in a major dispute in biblical archaeology - whether or not the kingdom of David and Samuel was of historical importance. For that idea, the Bible is a relatively accurate guide, but some question whether they were more like small tribal chieftains, reigning over another dusty hilltop. Her discovery is also bound to be used in the other major battle over Jerusalem - whether the Jews have their deepest origins there and thus have some special hold on the place, or whether, as many Palestinians believe - including the late Yasser Arafat - that the notion of a Jewish origin in Jerusalem is a religious myth used to justify occupation and colonialism. Hani Nur el-Din, a professor of archaeology at Al Quds University, says that Palestinian archaeologists consider biblical archaeology as an effort by Israeli archaeologists "to fit historical evidence into a biblical context," he said. "The link between the historical evidence and the biblical narration, written much later, is largely missing," he said. "There's a kind of fiction about the 10th century. They try to link whatever they find to the biblical narration. They have a button and they want to make a suit out of it." Other Israeli archaeologists are not so sure that Mazar has found the palace - the house that Hiram, king of Tyre, built for the victorious king, at least as Samuel II, Chapter 5, describes it. It may also be the Fortress of Zion that David conquered from the Jebusites, who ruled Jerusalem before him, or some other structure about which the Bible is silent. But Mazar's colleagues know that she's found something extraordinary - the partial foundations of a sizable public building, constructed in the Phoenician style, dating from the 10th-9th centuries BC, the time of the united kingdom of David and Solomon. "This is a very significant discovery, given that Jerusalem as the capital of the united kingdom is very much unknown," said Gabriel Barkay, a renowned archaeologist of Jerusalem from Bar-Ilan University. "Very carefully we can say that this is one of the first greetings we have from the Jerusalem of David and Solomon, a period which has played a kind of hide-and-seek with archaeologists for the last century." Mazar, 48, is the granddaughter of Benjamin Mazar, a famous archaeologist with whom she trained. She got her doctorate from Hebrew University, is the widow of an archaeologist and has worked on and supervised dozens of digs on her own. "Archaeology is technical, but you dig with a mind open to historical sources, and anything can help," she said, as she clambered over massive stones at bedrock. "I work with the Bible in one hand and the tools of excavation in the other, and I try to consider everything." Based on the chapter from Samuel II, but also on the work of a century of archaeology in this spot, Mazar speculated that the famous stepped-stone structure excavated previously was part of the fortress David conquered, and that his palace would have been built just outside the original walls of the cramped city, to the north, on the way to what his son, Solomon, built as the Temple Mount. "When the Philistines came to fight, the Bible said that David went down from his house to the fortress," she said, her eyes bright. "Maybe it meant something, maybe not. But I wondered, down from where? Presumably from where he lived, his palace. So I said, maybe there's something here," and in 1997 wrote a paper proposing a new excavation in the spot, which is in east Jerusalem. Mazar is building on the archaeologists who went before her, especially Robert Macalister in the 1920s, Kathleen Kenyon in the 1960s and Yigal Shilo in the 1970s and 1980s. Kenyon had found evidence of well-worked stones and protoaeolic capitals, which decorated the tops of columns, evidence of a large, decorative building. David's palace was the topic of a last conversation she had with her famous grandfather, who died 10 years ago, she said. "He said, 'Kenyon found the protoaeolic capitals, so go and find where she found them, and start there."' Five months ago, with special funding and permissions from the Ir David Foundation, which controls the site (and also supports Jews moving into east Jerusalem), and academic sponsorhip from Hebrew University, she finally began to dig - finding evidence of this monumental public building dating from the time of David and Solomon. Amihai Mazar, a renowned professor of archaeology at Hebrew University, and Eilat Mazar's second cousin, calls the find "something of a miracle." He believes the building may be the Fortress of Zion that David is said to have conquered, and where he lived for a time, and which he renamed the City of David. "The interpretation will be debated," he said. "But the achievement is great. What she found is fascinating whatever it is." There is a debate among archaeologists "to what extent Jerusalem was an important city or even a city in the time of David and Samuel," he said. "Some believe it was tiny and the kingdom unimportant." JERUSALEM An Israeli archeologist says she has uncovered in east Jerusalem what she believes may be the fabled palace of the biblical King David. Her work has been sponsored by the Shalem Center, a neoconservative think tank in Jerusalem, and funded by a American Jewish investment banker who would like to help provide scientific support for the Bible as a reflection of Jewish history. Other scholars who have toured the site are skeptical that the foundation walls Eilat Mazar has discovered are David's palace. But they acknowledge that what she has uncovered is rare and important - a major public building from around the 10th century BC with pottery shards that date from the time of David and Solomon and a government seal of an official mentioned in the book of Jeremiah. For nearly 10 years, Mazar thought she knew where the fabled palace built for King David, as described in the Bible, might be - just outside the walls of the ancient city of Jerusalem. Now she thinks she's found it, and if she's right, her discovery will be a new salvo in a major dispute in biblical archaeology - whether or not the kingdom of David and Samuel was of historical importance. For that idea, the Bible is a relatively accurate guide, but some question whether they were more like small tribal chieftains, reigning over another dusty hilltop. Her discovery is also bound to be used in the other major battle over Jerusalem - whether the Jews have their deepest origins there and thus have some special hold on the place, or whether, as many Palestinians believe - including the late Yasser Arafat - that the notion of a Jewish origin in Jerusalem is a religious myth used to justify occupation and colonialism. Hani Nur el-Din, a professor of archaeology at Al Quds University, says that Palestinian archaeologists consider biblical archaeology as an effort by Israeli archaeologists "to fit historical evidence into a biblical context," he said. "The link between the historical evidence and the biblical narration, written much later, is largely missing," he said. "There's a kind of fiction about the 10th century. They try to link whatever they find to the biblical narration. They have a button and they want to make a suit out of it." Other Israeli archaeologists are not so sure that Mazar has found the palace - the house that Hiram, king of Tyre, built for the victorious king, at least as Samuel II, Chapter 5, describes it. It may also be the Fortress of Zion that David conquered from the Jebusites, who ruled Jerusalem before him, or some other structure about which the Bible is silent. But Mazar's colleagues know that she's found something extraordinary - the partial foundations of a sizable public building, constructed in the Phoenician style, dating from the 10th-9th centuries BC, the time of the united kingdom of David and Solomon. "This is a very significant discovery, given that Jerusalem as the capital of the united kingdom is very much unknown," said Gabriel Barkay, a renowned archaeologist of Jerusalem from Bar-Ilan University. "Very carefully we can say that this is one of the first greetings we have from the Jerusalem of David and Solomon, a period which has played a kind of hide-and-seek with archaeologists for the last century." Mazar, 48, is the granddaughter of Benjamin Mazar, a famous archaeologist with whom she trained. She got her doctorate from Hebrew University, is the widow of an archaeologist and has worked on and supervised dozens of digs on her own. "Archaeology is technical, but you dig with a mind open to historical sources, and anything can help," she said, as she clambered over massive stones at bedrock. "I work with the Bible in one hand and the tools of excavation in the other, and I try to consider everything." Based on the chapter from Samuel II, but also on the work of a century of archaeology in this spot, Mazar speculated that the famous stepped-stone structure excavated previously was part of the fortress David conquered, and that his palace would have been built just outside the original walls of the cramped city, to the north, on the way to what his son, Solomon, built as the Temple Mount. "When the Philistines came to fight, the Bible said that David went down from his house to the fortress," she said, her eyes bright. "Maybe it meant something, maybe not. But I wondered, down from where? Presumably from where he lived, his palace. So I said, maybe there's something here," and in 1997 wrote a paper proposing a new excavation in the spot, which is in east Jerusalem. Mazar is building on the archaeologists who went before her, especially Robert Macalister in the 1920s, Kathleen Kenyon in the 1960s and Yigal Shilo in the 1970s and 1980s. Kenyon had found evidence of well-worked stones and protoaeolic capitals, which decorated the tops of columns, evidence of a large, decorative building. David's palace was the topic of a last conversation she had with her famous grandfather, who died 10 years ago, she said. "He said, 'Kenyon found the protoaeolic capitals, so go and find where she found them, and start there."' Five months ago, with special funding and permissions from the Ir David Foundation, which controls the site (and also supports Jews moving into east Jerusalem), and academic sponsorhip from Hebrew University, she finally began to dig - finding evidence of this monumental public building dating from the time of David and Solomon. Amihai Mazar, a renowned professor of archaeology at Hebrew University, and Eilat Mazar's second cousin, calls the find "something of a miracle." He believes the building may be the Fortress of Zion that David is said to have conquered, and where he lived for a time, and which he renamed the City of David. "The interpretation will be debated," he said. "But the achievement is great. What she found is fascinating whatever it is." There is a debate among archaeologists "to what extent Jerusalem was an important city or even a city in the time of David and Samuel," he said. "Some believe it was tiny and the kingdom unimportant."

We got back from vacation in Pensacola, Fl Sunday. Our teens enjoyed the beach and deep sea fishing. I did too. We caught at least two dozen big fish.
My niece, Laura, married Chris Sheperd July 23. We went to the wedding. That was beautiful and fun.
In route, we visited Southeast Missouri State Univ. in Cape Girardeau. My daughter might go there. I visited with a friend that was in our wedding that lives there now.

Option to stem cells found
Pitt experts say placental cells offer palatable alternative
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05217/549236.stm
"University of Pittsburgh researchers have discovered that one type of cell in the human placenta has characteristics that are strikingly similar to embryonic stem cells in their ability to regenerate a wide variety of tissues."

Start Praying Now!!!
Abortion Stance Key to ConfirmationIn an announcement Tuesday night, President Bush picked Roberts to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (search). He is seen as a solid conservative who has done little to give Democrats much cause for complaint.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,163028,00.html
The rabid anti-life forces will have a field day with this nomination. The fate of Christianity in this country is at stake. John Glover Roberts, Jr. is a practicing Catholic! (according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_G._Roberts,_Jr.)

Start Fasting Now!!!
Al-Qaida's U.S. Nuclear Targets
"Al-Qaida's prime targets for launching nuclear terrorist attacks are the nine U.S. cities with the highest Jewish populations, according to captured leaders and documents."
"The optimal dates for the attacks are Aug. 6, the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, Sept. 11 and May 14, the anniversary of the re-creation of the state of Israel in 1948. No specific year has been suggested, however, this Aug. 6 represents the 60th anniversary of the Hiroshima attack."
The cities chosen as optimal targets are New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Boston and Washington, D.C. New York and Washington top the preferred target list for al-Qaida leadership.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45313

FDA Issues Infection Warning on Abortion Pill
WASHINGTON — The government warned doctors Tuesday to be on the lookout for rare but deadly infections in women using the abortion pill RU-486 (search), citing two more deaths after its use.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,163032,00.html

I've been busy taking a class on Morality this summer for my certificate in Lay Ministry. I'm getting a lot out of it. Vatican II replaced the "morality of obligation and duty" with "call to holiness" and "freedom for excellence" according to our textbook. I liked the explaination of the difference between joy and pleasure as the motivators of behavior. Happiness is the goal of a moral life, but it is the joy of the Lord that satisfies our hearts, not a series of pleasurable events.
These insights are mind-blowing for me!
For example, this is what I wrote for one of my assignments:
Insights on collectivism (Marxist communism)
CCC 1885 "The principle of subsidiarity is opposed to all forms of collectivism." Why is the Church opposed to collectivism? This article explains what is wrong with this thinking.
Nietzsche: A Precursor to Hitler?
http://www.conspiracyarchive.com/Commentary/Nietzsche.htm
The appellation of "communism" comes from the Latin root communis, which means "group" living. Fascism is a derivation of the Italian word fascio, which is translated as "bundle" or "group." Both fascism and communism are forms of coercive group living, or more succinctly, collectivism. The only substantial difference between the two is fascism's limited observance of private property rights, which is ostensible at best given its susceptibility to rigid government regulation. Nazism (a variant of fascism) is derivative of Marxism. The historical conflicts between communism and fascism were merely feuds between two socialist totalitarian camps, not two dichotomously related forces. Both tangibly represent the Nietzschean concept of the "human herd," a societal paradigm that subordinates the individual to the collective. Nietzschean philosophy comprises an ideational continuum binding Hitler, Marx, and other socialist totalitarians... "

"In addition to the continuity of political and social thought that pervaded totalitarian socialism, Nietzsche also provided a religious component. The infamous declaration, "God is dead," is but a segue for the introduction of a new god. This god has had numerous manifestations, as is evidenced by the following delineation by W. Warren Wagar:

Nineteenth-and early twentieth-century thought teems with time-bound emergent deities. Scores of thinkers preached some sort of faith in what is potential in time, in place of the traditional Christian and mystical faith in a power outside of time. Hegel's Weltgeist, Comte's Humanite, Spencer's organismic humanity inevitably improving itself by the laws of evolution, Nietzsche's doctrine of superhumanity, the conception of a finite God given currency by J.S. Mill, Hastings Rashdall, and William James, the vitalism of Bergson and Shaw, the emergent evolutionism of Samuel Alexander and Lloyd Morgan, the theories of divine immanence in the liberal movement in Protestant theology, and du Nouy's telefinalism--all are exhibits in evidence of the influence chiefly of evolutionary thinking, both before and after Darwin, in Western intellectual history. The faith of progress itself--especially the idea of progress as built into the evolutionary scheme of things--is in every way the psychological equivalent of religion. (Wagar, 106 -07)"

My comments:
Superhumanity means that Nietzsche believed in preventing the "unhealthy" from procreating and in euthanasia for those he thought were less than perfect.
This kind of thinking is what has led to abortion, free contraception from Planned Parenthood, and the "mercy killing" of disabled Terri Schavio. This is not a slippery slope I want our country to be going down. Christianity is about the only institution standing in the way of these ideas. The USA won the war against Hitler, but his ideas have infected our society to an alarming degree.

Religious agreement on mother of Christ between Anglican and Roman Catholic theologians
London, May 17 (Guardian News Service):
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/003200505171102.htm
After nearly 500 years of intense division, Anglican and Roman Catholic theologians yesterday declared that one of the two faiths' most fundamental differences - the position of Mary, the mother of Christ - should no longer divide them.
This is amazing news! I never thought I'd see the day this would happen.

This is an article about my family. Frankenberger was my maiden name.
Fayetteville : UA dean lauds engineer dynasty a plumber began
http://www.nwanews.com/story.php?paper=adg§ion=News&storyid=116487

Birth Control Pill May Cause Prostate Cancer and Bladder Disease in Mothers’ Children
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/may/05050411.html
COLUMBIA, MO, May 4, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Scientists have determined that boys exposed to estrogen hormones in the abortifacient birth control pill while in utero are at a greater risk of developing prostate cancer and other urinary tract problems later in life.

Poll: American Catholics Support New Pope
http://abcnews.go.com/International/Pope/story?id=700062

Faith May Do More Than Help You Heal
http://www.ksdk.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=78786
Does believing in a higher power make you healthier? There's new evidence from the University of Chicago that in some cases, it really does.
If going to a church, or a mosque, or visiting a Buddhist temple or synagogue could help you lose weight, live longer, and simply feel better and healthier, would you do it?
Americans may wonder after a new study from the University of Chicago.
It found that African-Americans who have a strong religious faith are significantly less depressed than those who don't have it.
Professor John Cacioppo, ph.d., says "In the African-American community [we] found that the stronger their relationship to god, the less depressive symptoms they expressed."
And he says there's also proof that people who trust in God, Buddha, or Mohammed or any higher power just have healthier lives. He says, "They are less likely to smoke, binge drink, less likely to use illicit drugs. They are more likely to engage in fidelity and appropriate sexual behavior."
So do better health and stronger faith go together? An even bigger study at the University of Chicago will now explore the link between life expectancy and religious faith. But there's enough to the idea that University of Chicago divinity professor Clark Gilpin says doctors may start asking you not just what you feel, but what you believe.
He says, "In the same way that physicians need to be able to spot alcohol problems or anything else, they're going to need to be able to interpret the religious dimensions of a person's total life."

John Paul II was the Father the world needed
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/kathleenparker/kp20050414.shtml
Religion under a secular assault
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20050413-122937-3482r.htm
Why Bush threatens secularism
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20050414-124744-9798r.htm

I think these articles are especially interesting.

The Question of Motivation
By Patrick O'Hannigan
Published 4/6/2005 12:06:26 AM
Have you noticed how much commentary about the passing of Pope John Paul II talks about his leadership without addressing what motivated that leadership?
http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=7989

John Paul II inspired me to go door-to-door to evangelize when he wrote that Catholics should go do that.
John Paul II inspired me with his Theology of the Body.
John Paul II's preaching touched my heart when he visited St. Louis in 1999.
John Paul II's preaching touched my daughter's heart when he visited World Youth Day in Toronto. I've been asking him to pray for her while she is on retreat this week.
John Paul II has already inspired a few people I know to join RCIA this week. As parish web master, I've seen a sudden increase in the number of hits on our RCIA page from all over the US and other countries. The most frequent search word to reach our site is "becoming catholic."
John Paul II is still on the job!

"BE NOT AFRAID," as John Paul II said throughout his time on earth as our servant. I'm tempted to be fearful of who will be elected Pope. I have to assure myself that the Holy Spirit is in charge and that I should trust the Cardinals to pick the right man for the job. They did a great job last time, so why should I doubt now?

Poll: What do Catholics think about Pope John Paul II? See the new Zogby poll. I guess they polled Catholics who actually go to Mass often, insted of the In Name Only ones who answered the AP poll.http://zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=981

But what made him great?
Pat Buchanan
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/patbuchanan/pb20050405.shtml

Has Osama bin Laden started a democratic revolution in the Middle East? One of very few universally valid laws of history is the law of unintended consequences.

Hmmm... very interesting, but from a British perspective.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1429001,00.html

Cause of Marital Failure http://www.cuf.org/Laywitness/Articles/Archive/JF05/Jan_Feb05vere.pdf
by Peter Vere in LayWitness magazine
The root cause of marital failure in almost all of these [annulments] cases is abortion, contraception, and premarital sex.Read more articles from LayWitness magazine at http://www.cuf.org/Laywitness/index.asp

http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=35615
Smoking pot doubles mental illness risk
Christchurch, New Zealand, Mar. 02 - New Zealand researchers have established that marijuana use doubles the risk of developing a mental illness like schizophrenia.

I liked these articles. Us baby boomers should have listened to the Church back when.

Job Description for the Next Pope
THE FP MEMO: ADVICE FOR GLOBAL LEADERS http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/files/story2444.php
Job Description for the Next Pope
By R. Scott Appleby Page 1 of 3
January/February 2004
To ensure the vitality of the Catholic Church, the successor to John Paul II must embrace science, reject globalization, reach out to the Islamic world—and brush up on economics.
MEMORANDUM:
TO: The College of Cardinals, Roman Catholic Church FROM: R. Scott Appleby RE: Selecting the Next Pope
In the 21st century, Your Eminences, the Catholic Church must vigorously address three related and pressing challenges that threaten the vitality and relevance of Christianity.
I refer, first, to a new and aggressive secularization, borne into the heart of modern societies by the dynamics of globalization. In traditional as well as developed societies, increasing materialism opens the way to a form of secularism that is indifferent or hostile to religious faith. A second critical development bearing directly upon Catholicism's future is the fierce internal contest for the soul of Islam, the great world religion that is both the Church's main rival for adherents and its potential ally against a purely materialistic concept of human development. And finally, the advent of genetic engineering and related forms of biotechnology underscores the need to upgrade dramatically Catholic education and expertise in the sciences and in bioethics.
The pontiff who succeeds His Holiness John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla) must address these three challenges boldly. In some cases, the new pope will draw on the example of John Paul II, but he must also define new horizons of understanding for the Church. Unless the next pope perceives the links between these challenges and their roots in the context of a historic debate over the relevance of religion to humanity, Catholicism will be unable to provide a viable alternative to the extremes of intolerant religious militancy and the self-absorbed materialism of a global consumer society.
The Challenge of Secularism
The notion that the human experience can be understood through purely empirical and social-scientific analyses, without reference to humankind's transcendent origins and orientation, is certainly not new. The reduction of the human being to an object is the abiding temptation of the modern world; witness the degradation of life in the wars, genocides, torture chambers, and social inequalities of the 20th century. But this erroneous view of humanity has found a powerful counterpart in the robust new form of globalization that now dominates economic, political, and cultural interactions among peoples. The commodification of social relations that turns individuals into cogs in the wheels of industry and politics now shapes virtually all forms of human interaction—even religion.
For more than a century, the Catholic Church has warned against understanding humanity through concepts taken exclusively from biology, economics, and psychology. With renewed vigor since the pontificate of John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), the Church has proclaimed that belief in the sacredness of human life is the only secure foundation for protecting human dignity. In reaffirming this cornerstone of Catholic social teaching, the next pope must display the vigor and creativity of John Paul II, who has traversed the globe proclaiming that human dignity is God's gift to every individual. Advocacy of human rights, including the crucial right of religious freedom, must remain the central message of Roman Catholicism to the world. This task is not easy: John Paul II was rebuked when he spoke out on religious freedom during a trip to India, where Hindu militants accused him of Catholic proselytism. Nor are advocates of religious freedom welcome in secular strongholds such as post-Soviet Central Asia or China, or in nations dominated by an ethno-religious majority, such as Saudi Arabia, Bosnia, or Sri Lanka. Lack of popularity or governmental disapproval never stopped Wojtyla, nor must it impede his successor.
This fundamental embrace of human dignity and human rights is the moral foundation of evangelization. In bringing Christ to those who have or have not heard the gospel, John Paul II dramatically rejected alliances with states and their coercive power. Concordats with friendly nation-states, whose friendship with the Church often came at a terrible moral and spiritual price, are a thing of the past. The next pope cannot return to a pattern of affiliation with any government. Civil society—the cradle of political self-determination and the arena for expressing human freedom in culture and religion—is the milieu within which to enact the divine mission of bringing Christ to the world and the world to Christ.
The next pope must recognize that religious faith is increasingly seen as counterproductive (at best) in a world seduced by material wealth, skeptical of truth, and wary of authority. In much of Western Europe, assertions of religious identity are often met with scorn and almost willful misunderstanding (e.g., the recent spectacle of Muslim girls in France being suspect for wearing veils to school). In Iraq, Syria, Indonesia, Malaysia, Algeria, and parts of Latin America, active religious groups of all kinds have suffered intimidation or outright persecution. In the United States, conservative Christians embrace liberty and the U.S. Bill of Rights, even as they struggle with the temptation to regulate what properly belongs only to God—the consciences and moral compasses of their fellow citizens.

It's been a long time since I posted to this blog. Where did the time go? 2005? It still sounds strange.

It is finally hitting me that one day my children will leave home. We started talking about where they will go to college and how we will pay for it. That's when it started seeming very real. I started going into anticipatory grief. I was miserable for several days until I prayed about it. I think God gave me the wisdom to realize that now is not the time for grieving. I should enjoy what is left of the time they will be with us. I'll cross that bridge when I get there and not sooner. It is not worth losing sleep over now.

My daughter bought an IPOD yesterday with money she earned at her job. I can't tell you how earth-shaking that seems to me. She is not dependent on me for all the money she has now. She can decide to spend $250 without consulting me. It seems like yesterday that she was a tiny baby with a toothless grin. Now she has a shiny metalic-braces smile. That is, when she smiles at me, which is less often than it used to be. She's a teenager, you know.

Merry Christmas to whomever reads this blog!

Wow! It's been a long time since I added anything to this blog! I guess I've been focusing on Christmas fun a lot lately. I get two days off, so I get a four day holiday. Yes!

My husband and I are starting to study how we can pay for college for our kids. How can it be that they are getting old enough to go to college in a couple years? We went to a company that helps parents do this. We got some shocking news last night. The feds expect us to pay for the first $12,000 each year before we would get any help! Yikes! It looks likely they will have to live at home and commute to a local public university to cut costs, especially if they don't earn academic scholarships. So much for saving for retirement!

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/041220/misc/20poll.htmHow we talk to god People pray for everything from the divine to the selfish and profane

Slippery Slope is real - Netherlands Hospital Euthanizes Babies
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20041130/D86MC5NO0.html
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - Raising the stakes in an excruciating ethical debate, a hospital in the Netherlands - the first nation to permit euthanasia - recently proposed guidelines for mercy killings of terminally ill newborns, and then made a startling revelation: It has already begun carrying out such procedures in a handful of cases and reporting them to the government.

Theology of the Body
I'm reading a book called Theology of the Body for Beginners by Christopher West. It discusses how God intended us to be like Adam and Eve - perfectly able to love each other as God loves us. Original sin made that harder to do, but God's grace can redeem us and make it possible. Original sin makes us like driving on flat tires. Everyone else is driving around that way, so it seems normal. God's grace can inflate the tires, but we need to keep getting filled up because we have a slow leak. We have a hard time being patient, unselfish, and forgiving.
I find this to be a very inspiring book. I got it from Catholic.com. You can some articles by Christopher West at:
http://www.theologyofthebody.com/works.htm

Post-abortion psychological problems frequent
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=41496
More than 1/3 of U.S. women surveyed had 'suicidal thoughts' after procedure
Women who undergo abortions suffer serious psychological problems more frequently than was previously thought, according to a new study.

Potentially Stunning News
http://www.jimmyakin.org/2004/11/house_democrats.html
Senate Democrats elect pro-life leader!
According to this CNN.com story, the shrunken Democrat minority, having lost its leader Tom Daschle, has done something that would have seemed unthinkable only a few weeks ago: They've elected a pro-life Democrat to be their leader.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/11/16/senate.democrats.ap/index.html


Government Issues New RU-486 Warnings
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,138756,00.html
FDA Bars Over Counter Morning-After Pill
The FDA has strengthened warning labels for the controversial abortion pill Mifeprex, better known as RU-486 (search), following an August report of a 22-year-old woman who died after taking the drug.

If we need to justify getting rid of Saddam, here is one more reason:
Saddam Hussein funded suicide bombers
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/middleeastreports/s_273762.html
Oil funds paid for bombers
NEW YORK -- Saddam Hussein diverted money from the U.N. oil-for-food program to pay millions of dollars to families of Palestinian suicide bombers who carried out attacks on Israel, say congressional investigators who uncovered evidence of the money trail.

Politically Correct Cartoons - On Depressed Democrats
http://www.conservativecartoons.com/cartoon.php?toon=mother.gif&year=2004
I'm a Republican who is depressed because my mom probably voted for Kerry!

The moral of the story
David Limbaugh
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/davidlimbaugh/dl20041112.shtml
"Democrats will never be able to gain the moral high ground if they fail to take positions congruent with the 'weightier matters of the law' (Matt. 23:23). What could be weightier than protecting innocent life? The right to life is the right to all other rights. Yet it's the Democrats who think social programs are weightier moral matters than the right to life. Again, they have it backwards. … Until the Democrats correct their inverted moral hierarchy and put the right to life at the top, all their other pleas for social justice will ring hollow."

Massachusetts Supreme Court gives Bush victory [in Ohio]
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/joelmowbray/jm20041111.shtml
Joel Mowbray
In a state where only 29% believe their family’s finances have improved in the past four years and nearly 60% rate the local economy as “not so good” or “poor,” the obvious question is: how did Bush manage to win Ohio, the Democrats’ top red state target?

What About Kerry and the Atheist Vote?
Dr. Paul Kengor
http://www.crosswalk.com/news/1295651.html
While liberals complain about the religious vote that went for George W. Bush, they refuse to discuss—and perhaps happily accept—the non-religious vote that went for John F. Kerry. Which ought to be considered a greater liability for an American president: to receive the overwhelming support of devout Protestants and Catholics or to be backed by atheists? Which speaks worse? Don’t we have this backward?

Why we're a divided nation
Walter E. Williams
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/walterwilliams/ww20041110.shtml
"The prime feature of political decision-making is that it's a zero-sum game. One person or group's gain is of necessity another person or group's loss. As such, political allocation of resources is conflict enhancing while market allocation is conflict reducing. The greater the number of decisions made in the political arena, the greater is the potential for conflict. ...
The best thing the president and Congress can do to heal our country is to reduce the impact of government on our lives. Doing so will not only produce a less divided country and greater economic efficiency but bear greater faith and allegiance to the vision of America held by our founders -- a country of limited government."

Catholic vote proves vital to Bush victory
http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=33346

Mad Liberal Disease Erupts
http://www.saint-mike.org/bloggers/bubba/default.asp
Christian bashing is running rampant.

The left has lost. The '60's are over.
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/thomas.html
Cal Thomas
Liberal lamentations
Reaction by the losing side in last week's presidential election would be startling if it weren't predictable.

Blue states buzz over secession
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20041109-122753-5113r.htm
"Secession, which didn't work very well when it was tried once before, is suddenly red hot in the blue states. In certain precincts, anyway."

Good discussion on "Jesusland" from a liberal perspective can be found at:
http://www.bopnews.com/archives/002277.html
"When people threaten to go live elsewhere when they don't get the president of their choosing, it reminds me of the brat on the block who pouted and took his ball home if he did not win the kick ball game. I realize the stakes are much greater than a kick ball game, but before you try to secede from the union take a look at another political map that shows just how the country voted, county by county. Notice that the only truly blue states are Massachusetts, Vermont and Connecticut. It should also be noted that most of the business owners in your blue state are red voters. And if you think you might be contemplating take your whole state by force, remember it is much more likely that the red voters are gun the owners in your county."

Red, Blue, and Purple county map
http://www.princeton.edu/~rvdb/JAVA/election2004/
Secession is illogical because there are a lot of purple counties.

States lining up to outlaw same-sex 'marriage'
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20041109-120703-4973r.htm
The next round of proposals to amend state constitutions to define marriage will begin in a few weeks as lawmakers in as many as nine states promise to get such measures before voters.

Ark. Governor Pushes Covenant Marriages
http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,137995,00.html
Covenant marriages, which also are an option in Louisiana and Arizona, usually require pre-wedding counseling and allow divorce only in cases of adultery, imprisonment, abandonment, abuse and after a substantial waiting period.

Leno

Friday Night November 5
http://www.newsmax.com/liners.shtml
"Down in Arkansas, workmen are putting the finishing touches on the Bill Clinton Presidential Library. Presidential Library? It's really just a Hooters with a magazine rack."

Democrats, get a clue!
I wrote a Missouri pro-life lobbyist today. I'd like to share what I wrote.
Hi Sam,
I don't think Democrats "get it". If they ever nominated a pro-life, pro-family, economic conservative, they might start winning elections again. Heck, I might even vote for them again. (In fact, I voted for one pro-life Democrat and one Independent.) They do exist, I hear. John Kennedy was one. Why aren't the conservative Democrats allowed to run?
I was an economic conservative before I was a pro-life voter. I don't want to be categorized as a single issue voter. Democrats need to change more than just their value positions. Expensive government programs require higher taxes. I think voters now realize there is no such thing as a free lunch. Dems have become almost Socialists. We can see that tax cuts make the economy better and expensive programs don't. Why can't Democrats?
Democrats need to stop catering to the radical feminists, ecology wackos, gays, socialists, anti-gun, peacenik liberals because the majority of Americans aren't believing in that any more. The pendulum swing that began in the 60's is swinging back as baby boomers age and become wiser. They aren't seen as progressive, "this is where America should go" promoters any more. They are seen as radicals intent on destroying the moral fabric of America. Abandon all the radicals to a third party and let voters have two good candidates to pick from again. Voters become Republican because the alternative stinks.
Tell them to get a clue, Sam.

Catholics Put Bush Over the Top in Key States
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/11/3/121400.shtml
NewsMax.com's Fr. Michael Reilly details the critical role played by Catholics in President Bush's election victory.
Exit polls are showing that President Bush has won the Catholic vote 51-48 percent, which was decisive in states that were the key to Bush's victory, especially Ohio and Florida.

Like a broken record
http://www.washingtontimes.com/commentary/20041107-100757-6451r.htm
By Mark Steyn
A postelection analysis column for 2002, 2004, 2006, & 2012. "In this election, the plebs were more mature than the elites: They understood war is never cost-free and that you don't run away because of a couple of setbacks; they did not accept that one jailhouse scandal should determine America's national security interest; they rejected the childish caricature of their president and paranoid ravings about Halliburton; they declined to have their vote rocked by Bruce Springsteen or any other pop culture poser. "

Why Liberals STILL Don't Get It
http://www.conservativepetitions.com/petitions.php?action=full_story&news_id=131172
Ron Marr
In the chic salons of Manhattan and the trendy bistros of Los Angeles they are saying they same thing. "How could Bush have won?" ponder the elitist vanguard of the left-wing status quo. "I don't know a single person who voted for him."

Reaction To Bush's Victory
http://www.rightwingnews.com/archives/week_2004_10_31.PHP#003110
Here are a few quotes from lefties at home and abroad reacting to Bush's win. I think you'll find it to be enlightening...or at least amusing

America's shifting reality
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/will.html
George Will

Political Cartoons
http://www.gop.com/news/cartoonGallery.aspx
Click on them to enlarge the small ones.

Who would I consider an ideal candidate for 2008?
I'd like a pro-life, pro-family, devout Catholic/Christian who understands how to manage the economy, ala Reagan and Bush, that is tough on defense and terrorism, conservative with taxes and spending, and uses market force solutions for health care, jobs and social security. I'd like someone who is personable, if not charismatic, who comes from a middle-class background. I'd like someone to continue bringing freedom to the Middle East and wherever possible and will appoint pro-life/conservative judges. A Hispanic would be a big plus also.

Bush Wins! Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am especially happy that my efforts were not in vain. I worked 10 hours on phone banks and about that doing door-to-door canvassing. I was so anxious that I took the afternoon off to work some more for Bush. I couldn't sit still and take a chance the Dems were working harder than we were.
I stayed up till 1 am till the EV count was 269. I wanted to stay up till Iowa or New Mexico went for Bush, but I'm glad I went to bed because they are still outstanding.

My sentiments exactly:
Moral Issues, More Than War on Terrorism, Motivate Ohio Voters to Support Re-Election of President Bush
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=39340

The only way Democrats will win national elections is to abandon the pro-choice, pro-gay agendas. Americans would have two parties again if that happened. The Dems will continue to lose due to those issues. Get a clue, will ya?
The Evangelical vote went 3-to-1 for Bush and Catholics increased Republican votes by 4%.

Offical Election Day Weather Map
http://hurricane.accuweather.com/adcbin/public/headlines.asp?iws=5

The 2000 Election Map
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1258222/posts
The weather forecast for election day is favorable to Republicans, who tend to go to vote no matter what the weather is doing. Democrats and apathetic voters tend to stay home. Rain is predicted to hit the battleground states. Say some prayers for the weather, folks.

Kerry's policies? I'm still waiting
Bill O'Reilly
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/oreilly.html

Employment Growth Accelerated in October: U.S. Economy Preview
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=71000001&refer=home&sid=avn64.gOLNdI Oct. 31 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. employers probably added 175,000 workers to payrolls in October, the most in five months, while the unemployment rate held at a three-year low of 5.4 percent, the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of economists shows.

Kerry Off the Leash By DAVID BROOKS
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/19/opinion/19brooks.html?oref=login&oref=login

Orson Scott Card October 10, 2004
Hypocrisy and Cynicism in America
http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2004-10-10-2.html
"Here's the greatest irony of all. The things that radical Muslims hate about the United States, apart from their simple jealousy of our wealth and power, are the aspects of American culture that are absolutely the product of the influence of the extremist Left.
Abortion. Sexual promiscuity. Pornography. Open support of homosexuality. Hostility to religion. Denigration of the male sex.
These are the things that radical Islam hates most about America, the reasons they use when they warn fellow Muslims against allowing Western culture to influence them.
Yet, in Al Qaeda's effort to install Osama Bin Laden (or, if he dies, some like-minded successor) as Caliph of all Islam, they find it useful to promote extreme Leftist governments in Western nations. "

Behind the Times
http://www.nationalreview.com/mccarthy/mccarthy200410180840.asp
The “paper of record” doesn’t understand the terrorist threat.

Iraq playing card checklist
http://www.patiopundit.com/archives/002834.html#002834
Story about the top 50+ Iraqis of Saddam's regime on playing cards. Only 10 out of 52 are still on the loose.

368 Economists Against Kerrynomics
http://www.freedomworks.org/informed/issues_template.php?issue_id=2108
The piece originally appeared on National Review Online.
Leading economists have a message for America: “John Kerry favors economic policies that, if implemented, would lead to bigger and more intrusive government and a lower standard of living for the American people.”

Bush pitches for Catholic vote
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20041021-113313-8881r.htm
HERSHEY, Pa. — President Bush yesterday met with Cardinal Justin Rigali, the archbishop of Philadelphia, as he continued his election pitch to the nation's 65 million Catholic voters.

Worried about the the federal budget deficit?
Deficit declines $100 billion
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/jackkemp/jk20041018.shtml
Jack Kemp
"The media and all too many political elites, it seems, never learn. For at least 20 of the past 25 years, there has been constant hand-wringing over the federal budget deficit. Well, they're at it again."
"When the federal budget deficit is measured properly as a share of the economy - 3.5 percent - at this stage of the business cycle it is absolutely nothing to worry about."
Zarqawi Is Using Hostages to Ransom Old Friends, Drs Germ and Anthrax
http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=908
"The two remaining hostages, the American Jack Hensley and British Kenneth Bigley, now face the same dread fate as Armstrong within 24 hours unless Iraqi women prisoners are released from Baghdad jails.
In the White House and 10 Downing Street, president George W. Bush nor prime minister Tony Blair are holding firm against surrendering to the demands of al Qaeda’s operations chief in Iraq. But they are quietly questioning why Zarqawi attaches so much importance to securing the release of the only five Iraqi women left in American hands.
DEBKAfile’s Washington sources say the answer comes in two interrelated parts:
1. Zarqawi is smart enough not to pose wild ransom demands, such as the release of Saddam Hussein or top-flight Iraqi ex-generals like Chemical Ali Majid to buy the lives of hostages, because then, Bush and Blair’s refusal would be fully backed by Western opinion. He is therefore setting the seeming inconsequential price of five Iraqi women. He reckons that if he keeps on snatching hostages and meting out the same barbaric treatment as he did to Eugene Armstrong on a series of videotapes, public pressure will build up and force the two Western leaders to put a stop to the savage slaughter by abandoning their dogged resistance to the hostage-takers’ demands and setting the women free. Such surrender would then be hailed as a major triumph for the al Qaeda terrorist chief and augur a rising scale of increasingly steep demands.
2. The only five Iraqi women held by the Americans are a long way from being inconsequential. They include two senior scientists attached to Saddam Hussein’s biological weapons program: Dr. Rihab Taha, a microbiologist known as Dr. Germ, and Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, head of his anthrax project and member of the Baath ruling command council.
"Scott Taylor's most startling experience was being handed over by members of the US-funded, newly constituted Iraqi Police Service to his captors. A police officer at the Tal Afar checkpoint instructed him to climb into a car full of masked gunmen. Only too late, he realized they were not a special police unit but terrorists who later claimed that many of the police in Mosul donate part of their US salaries to anti-US forces."


Catholics here get controversial voters guide
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/election2004/story/EB06578E4F81449B86256F3400105DC6?OpenDocument&Headline=Catholics+here+get+controversial+voters+guide
My reply to the author was this:
Dear Mr. Townsend:
Since when does a bishop not have the right to guide his flock in moral choices? This election is a crossroads in the moral character of our nation and state. Archbishop Burke not only has the right to guide his flock, it is his duty. I've been disappointed in previous years by the silence of the shepherds, so I am one Catholic who is thrilled that Burke is finally doing the right thing. I don't think I am alone.
You imply that the pocketbook issues like workers rights, environmental issues, housing and education are more important than abortion, euthanasia, cloning, embryonic stem-cell research and same-sex marriage. This ignores what is at stake. Over 1.3 million babies are killed by abortion every year. How can workers rights, environmental issues, housing and education be more important than saving 1.3 million lives a year for the past 31 years and who knows how many more years to come?
The Post-Dispatch gloated over the immorality of the clergy last year. Now you blast the bishop who is acting in a moral way and encouraging Catholics to act morally? How hypocritical of you!

Canon Lawyer seeking to have Senator John Kerry excommunicated
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/19/politics/campaign/19catholic.html?ei=5006&en=b622b6e310a31251&ex=1098849600&adxnnl=1&partner=ALTAVISTA1&adxnnlx=1098191168-rikNpRJ/mVca520364Dutw&pagewanted=print&position=
Letter Supports Anti-Kerry Bid Over AbortionBy PAM BELLUCK BOSTON, Oct. 18 - A canon lawyer seeking to have Senator John Kerry excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church because of his support for abortion rights said on Monday that he had ammunition in the form of a letter issued at the request of a senior Vatican official.
"For a guy who's been known derisively to the Bush crowd as the Breck girl," observes Shearer, vice presidential candidate John Edwards seems "way too interested in his hair." Watch this video.http://slate.msn.com/id/2108216/slideshow/2108085/entry/2108087/speed/100

How Catholicism Can Renew Democracy
http://www.zenit.org/english/

Vote!
This was written in the Daily Record (Ellensburg's paper) on Wed. Oct. 6, 2004. It was written by Mathew (only one t) Manweller who is a Central Washington University political science professor.
The title of the article was "Election determines fate of nation."
"In that this will be my last column before the presidential election there will be no sarcasm, no attempts at witty repartee. The topic is too serious, and the stakes are too high.
This November we will vote in the only election during our lifetime that will truly matter. Because America is at a once-in-a-generation crossroads, more than an election hangs in the balance. Down one path lies retreat, abdication and a reign of ambivalence.
Down the other lies a nation that is aware of its past and accepts the daunting obligation its future demands. If we choose poorly, the consequences will echo through the next 50 years of history.
If we, in a spasm of frustration, turn out the current occupant of the White House, the message to the world and ourselves will be twofold. First, we will reject the notion that America can do big things. Once a nation that tamed a frontier, stood down the Nazis and stood upon the moon, we will announce to the world that bringing democracy to the Middle East is too big of a task for us. But more significantly, we will signal to future presidents that as voters, we are unwilling to tackle difficult challenges, preferring caution to boldness, embracing the mediocrity that has characterized other civilizations.
The defeat of President Bush will send a chilling message to future presidents who may need to make difficult, yet unpopular decisions. America has always been a nation that rises to the demands of history regardless of the costs or appeal. If we turn away from that legacy, we turn away from who we are.
Second, we inform every terrorist organization on the globe that the lesson of Somalia was well learned. In Somalia we showed terrorists that you don't need to defeat America on the battlefield when you can defeat them in the newsroom. They learned that a wounded America can become a defeated America. Twenty-four-hour news stations and daily tracing polls will do the heavy lifting, turning a cut into a fatal blow. Except that Iraq is Somalia times 10. The election of John Kerry will serve notice to every terrorist in every cave that the soft underbelly of American power is the timidity of American voters. Terrorists will know that a steady stream of grizzly photos for CNN is all you need to break the will of the American people. Our own self-doubt will take it from there. Bin Laden will recognize that he can topple any American administration without setting foot on the homeland.
It is said that America's W.W.II generation is its 'greatest generation.' But my greatest fear is that it will become known as America's 'last generation.' Born in the bleakness of the Great Depression and hardened in the fire of WW II, they may be the last American generation that understands the meaning of duty, honor and sacrifice. It is difficult to admit, but I know these terms are spoken with only hollow detachment by many (but not all) in my generation. Too many citizens today mistake 'living in America' as 'being an American.' But America has always been more of an idea than a place. When you sign on, you do more than buy real estate. You accept a set of values and responsibilities.
This November, my generation, which has been absent too long, must grasp the obligation that comes with being an American, or fade into the oblivion they may deserve. I believe that 100 years from now historians will look back at the election of 2004 and see it as the decisive election of our century. Depending on the outcome, they will describe it as the moment America joined the ranks of ordinary nations; or they will describe it as the moment the prodigal sons and daughters of the greatest generation accepted their burden as caretakers of the City on the Hill."
Pro-life Campaigning Idea
I have an idea to help Bush improve his standing among church-going Christians.
How about encouraging Bush supporters to wear a "Bush/Cheny is pro-life. Volunteer to help get out the vote" T-shirt to church on Sunday or to church events? The one who wears it would have the goal of recruiting volunteers. You might be able to recruit more volunteers because there will be someone visible they can talk to about opportunities over coffee and donuts. It would avoid the church vs. state issue because individual church members have a right to free speech and I doubt there is any rule against wearing political T-shirts to church. The Democrat candidates preach in churches, so why not witness your pro-life views on a T-shirt at church?
It might need to be long-sleeve this time of year. It's getting chilly here, so I'd have to wear a coat to stay warm if it were short-sleeved. That would cover up the message.
I wore Bush/Cheny T-shirt to church this Sunday. I had a few people ask me about pro-life candidates. I sent them info by e-mail. It was very easy to do.

Who's Ahead in the Polls?
RealClearPolitics Electoral CountMonday, October 18: Bush 254 - Kerry 220
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Presidential_04/RCP_EC.html
Our earlier analysis suggesting that the race basically boils down to Florida and Ohio stands. However, it looks as if the aftermath of the hurricanes may have given President Bush a decisive edge there, so in reality it is now all about Ohio. If Kerry doesn't win Ohio he will not be President.

http://www.debka.com/
"Day after final US public debate, Bush opens 4-point lead over Democratic challenger Kerry, gaining most among undecideds - according to Reuter-Zogby poll. Bush leads in 42 out of 65 polls conducted in last 24 hours, Kerry in 15. Eight polls record a tie. Pew Research predicts a 16 % win for Bush in Nov. 2 election, Time Magazine – 11%. "

Hit the Streets
I went out Saturday canvassing for Bush/Cheney. I found some undecided voters to talk to, which I enjoyed very much. I just ask them, "What issue is most important for you?" It surprises me how much people want to talk about it with a complete stranger. It's awesome to see them turn toward the Bush camp by the time I'm done. I think I've won a dozen votes, probably. I've become a Republican apologist. I usually hate to talk to strangers, but not about pro-life. Oh, the things my zeal for the pro-life cause will make me do!

Planned Parenthood Unveils TV Ads Backing John Kerry on Abortion
http://www.lifenews.com/nat876.html
Minneapolis, MN (LifeNews.com) -- The political arm of Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion business, today unveiled its initial television advertising campaign on behalf of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

For the Undecided
http://www.presidentialguidester.com/Default.aspx
Zogby International & Decidia Inc. Announce The Launch Of Online Decision Tool: Presidential GuidesterTM(Utica, NY)- Undecided voters now have a tool to help them choose a candidate for president. Polling firm Zogby International and Decidia Inc., the leading producer of web-based decision systems, announced today the launch of the free online tool, Presidential Guidester.

Voters, do your homework!
http://www.time.com/time/question/20041014.html
Viewers of the debates won't get a good idea of the issues from the debates alone. You have to know Kerry's ultra-liberal record to know how much he is a fake and how much it conflicts with what he said in the debates. He will promise anything to get elected even if we have to pay for it (whether we want it or not), not him. He lies with statistics that sound good, but totally distort. He says he never flip-flops, but did it repeatedly during the debate. You have to know the other things he has said to know how waffly this guy is. I don't think Americans are so foolish to fall for the bunk he dished out or the polished airs he put on. I can't believe anybody believing the spin about the debates either. Voters, do your homework! Vote for substance, not spin and false impressions.

Pro-life Witness at Kerry post-debate rally in St. Louis by Kendrick Seminarians
Read about it at:
The Meandering Mind of a Seminarian
http://priesthood.motime.com/
I really admire those guys.

Bush post-debate rally
My husband and I went to the Bush post-debate rally at Queeny Park. I was excited to see the President. There were no such protests there, though it was a tickets-only event and the location was not disclosed in the media or on the tickets. Only the invited knew where to go, but we were not told that Bush would be there until after we were inside. We knew a special guest was coming. My first clue was all the metal detectors outside.

The place was packed. There were thousands (5000?) of us there all cheering for Bush during the debate. This was a really fired up crowd. The respect for the President was palpable. I don't think a lot of Kerry's supporters are that fired up. I think they are motivated by hatred for Bush, but not love for their candidate as the Bush folks are. I hope that translates into apathy for Kerry voters at the polls Nov. 2. I would crawl over broken glass to vote for Bush.

Why Democrats fear Bush's domestic agenda
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/georgewill/gw20041007.shtml
George Will If Sept. 11 had never happened -- if debate about domestic policy had not been drowned out by the roar of war -- the potential domestic ramifications of this election would give it unusual nation-shaping power. To understand why is to understand some of the Democratic rage about the specter of a second term for George W. Bush.

Faith and politics
http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20041006-101940-4653r.htm
ByGeorge J. Marlin
Catholic voters have always voted in record numbers for Catholic presidential candidates. From Alfred E. Smith to John F. Kennedy, Catholics have cast their ballots according to cultural standards determined by their faith.

Here Comes the Judge...There Go the People
http://www.crosswalk.com/news/1288905.html
Jody Brown and Rusty Pugh
Four out of almost every five voters who cast a ballot in Louisiana's September 18 referendum on a constitutional amendment protecting traditional marriage voted in favor of the amendment. But one judge in the Bayou State has now overruled the 619,908 Louisiana residents who believe marriage should be the union of one man and one woman.

Letter to the Editor of the St. Louis Post-DispatchRE: St. Louisans help uncover Iraqi massacres
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/world/story/BF28D9614FE19D4186256F23001B6BD1?OpenDocument&Headline=St.+Louisans+help+uncover+Iraqi+massacres&highlight=2%2CSt.%2CLouisans%2Chelp%2Cuncover%2CIraqi%2Cmassacres 10/03/2004
Dear Editor:
I wonder why your article, "St. Louisans help uncover Iraqi massacres" had to include the comment, "Some critics question whether the U.S. administration's zeal to prosecute Saddam for the mass killings is an election-year effort to divert attention from the failure to find weapons of mass destruction, the justification that President George W. Bush used most often in making his case for the war."
While you accuse the U.S. administration of being political, your accusation is just as political. Isn't this a case of the kettle calling the skillet black?
If you want to know why we needed to stop the genocide in Iraq, look at http://massgraves.info/. There are 60 web pages of photos of those graves and the people who are grieving their dead. On page 51 is a map of the mass graves they have found so far. The atrocity is as heart breaking as Hitler's use of gas chambers.
Are Americans so heartless that we have the power to stop genocide, but will not lift a finger to help? Remember that 19,000 Americans died in 40 days during the Battle of the Bulge. Did that stop us from defeating Hitler? What if Saddam Hussein had had nuclear weapons and we sat on our hands and didn't prevent him from blowing up a few million people? How would history judge us? That's a chance I would not want to take.


Electoral College Projections Based Upon Most Recent Rasmussen Reports Survey Data and Election 2000 Results
September 30, 2004--The latest Rasmussen Reports Electoral College projection shows George W. Bush with 213 Electoral Votes and John Kerry with 169. There are now twelve states with 156 Electoral Votes in the Toss-Up category.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/Electoral%20College%20Projection.htm

Iraqi Documents Show Saddam Possessed WMD, Had Extensive Terror Ties
Scott Wheeler, CNSNews.com Monday, Oct. 4, 2004
Iraqi intelligence documents, confiscated by U.S. forces and obtained by CNSNews.com, show numerous efforts by Saddam Hussein's regime to work with some of the world's most notorious terror organizations, including al-Qaida, to target Americans.
The documents demonstrate that Saddam's government possessed mustard gas and anthrax, both considered weapons of mass destruction, in the summer of 2000, during the period in which United Nations weapons inspectors were not present in Iraq. And the papers show that Iraq trained dozens of terrorists inside its borders.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/10/4/141421.shtml

Compare the candidates in selected U.S. Senate Races
http://www.nrlc.org/EandP/compareindex.html

Look how the St. Louis Post-Dispatch distorts what is in Archbishop Burke's pastoral letter on voting:
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/newswatch/story/B344155F9A1B422786256F2100703DC0?OpenDocument&Headline=When+does+a+vote+become+a+sin+?+http://the-news.net/cgi-local/story.pl?title=Rome%20to%20control%20Fátima?&edition=774

Archbishop Burke's pastoral letter on voting
http://www.stlouisreview.com/article.php?id=7051 October 1, 2004 To Christ’s Faithful of the Archdiocese of St. Louis: ‘On Our Civic Responsibility for the Common Good’ by Archbishop Raymond L. Burke

Debate Facts:
http://www.georgewbush.com/News/Read.aspx?ID=3696
The Real Record