Still blaming that other guy

Some friends and I had a lively exchange on Facebook the other day (half of which was subsequently deleted for sheer irrelevence and occasional creepiness). I had posted some legitimate and indeed very clever political satire (alas, it was borrowed, not my own brainchild). To wit:

And an overly sensitive Obama supporter went all Palin-Bushes(yes, both)-Cheney-Reagan (yes! Reagan! 3 decades after the fact!) over it. I thought this was very funny and a little pathetic. After all, it's 2012; Obama has had FOUR years. It's time to stand or fall on his own record, but no. People are still making excuses for the guy--in public! Bill Clinton makes a speech and blames, well, ...who else? for the crappy state of the current U.S. economy:

In fact, Clinton said that if Obama wasn’t handed a bad economy and was able to institute his hope and change agenda, “we’d be roaring.”

So Bush not only handed Obama a bad economy (true enough), but the bad karma he left behind made Barack 'unable' (cue violins) to institute Hope n' Change. Is there no evil that Dubya cannot do, even when he's out of office?

Update: just had to put in some more illustrations...

And then of course this one, which is too funny for words, 

of the recently fired Keith Olbermann. 

.

You go away for a couple of days

And when you come back you have more followers. Welcome, ladies! (Assuming Daisy isn't a guy). This calls for the Iordachescu sisters. Yeah, I know I posted this once before, but dang--it's that beautiful--and so are they. One of my favourite all time operatic duets.

Oh my.

Was I complaining about last week's weather? Woke up this morning to heavy wet SNOW.
.

Slow blogging

...due to school stuff, extracurricular commitments, home renovations (the NeverEndingStory), writing deadlines, and general dismay at the horrid weather. Wind, rain, cold, wind, rain and more wind. It puts me very much in mind of one of my fave Bowie tunes, "Wild is the Wind". Cuz we've had plenty of it this week, gusting for days on end up to 60 kmh. So I'm posting a video.  Only fault with this version:  it's not nearly long enough. Original recording of this song (1976) runs a full six minutes.

University Daze

Or is that 'craze'? Even though Mr. P. and I have eleven years of university between us (and I was mercifully spared from another four by the grace of God via an unintended--on my part anyway--pregnancy), I am not convinced that college is necessarily the best thing to start off a young person's life. You send them off with fear and trepidation, hoping and praying that they will emerge four years later with their faith and morals intact, but it's getting to be more difficult all the time. My latest post at MercatorNet. Content warning.
.

I wish this had come from The Onion

Alas, it's American Spectator. U.S. will make it manadatory by 2015 to have "black boxes" installed on your car, which, as Eric Peters points out, won't really end up being 'yours'.

We'll be told it's all for the sake of (groan) "safety" -- just like the old 55 MPH highway speed limit and every radar trap in the country. Of course, it's really for the sake of revenue -- the government's and the insurance company's. Your rates will be "adjusted" in real time, for every incident of "speeding" or not buckling up. It'll be so much more efficient than using cops to issue tickets. After all, so many fishes escape! With an EDR in every car, no one will escape. Your "adjusted" premium will be waiting for you when you get home.

This, of course is just the tip of the iceberg. If insurance companies (and the government) can track where, when and how fast you're driving, it can also monitor how much and how far. But oh! It's for the children! I mean, the environment.

It's almost Orwellian, to say nothing of tritely redundant, that the bill in question is titled "Moving Ahead For Progress in the 21st Century Act." I think it should be called: All Pigs Who Drive Cars are Equal, but Some are More Equal than Others.

Mrs. B, Thermostate is looking less like satire all the time...
.

Yes, men should be sensitive

But they should not dress like 4-year-old girls. Not ever. What in the name of all that's holy is Björn Ulvaeüs (guy on the far left) wearing? From our "It's just too easy to make fun of the 70s and/or ABBA" file.

And ladies, put on some pants. That is all.
.

Time for a nice hot cup of Patriarchy

George Weigel: The Vatican and the Sisters...

it’s both absurd and dishonest for the media and the Catholic Left to propagate the myth that the 21st-century life of those religious women whose orders are LCWR members is just a modernized version of The Bells of St. Mary’s. Yes, many sisters continue to do many good works. On the other hand, almost none of the sisters in LCWR congregations wear religious habits; most have long since abandoned convent life for apartments and other domestic arrangements; their spiritual life is more likely to be influenced by the Enneagram and Deepak Chopra than by Teresa of Avila and Edith Stein; their notions of orthodoxy are, to put it gently, innovative; and their relationship to Church authority is best described as one of barely concealed contempt.

Mr. Weigel probably hasn't hung around these types of sisters much lately, cuz he's a bit off on the last point. The contempt is not concealed, but in many cases, open and celebrated.

Do read the whole thing, because it gets much, much worse. Remember, these are the sort of Religious Sisters who have moved beyond Jesus.

But of course, the news isn't all bad...

The other fact to be noted about the LCWR congregations — largely unremarked in the Gadarene rush to pit plucky nuns against Neanderthal prelates — is that they’re dying. 

 h/t Pundette

COEXIST

Shea comments here. Steyn explains COEXIST here  (scroll down a tad to p. 78)
.

Life is too short

For all the blogs out there. Garden of Holiness, written by a Catholic convert who used to be a pagan priestess. You can read her conversion story here.
.

Every day is Earth Day

For the Earth is the Lord's and everything in it, and Christ died to redeem it. Man is the pinnacle of creation, and the God-Man is the pinnacle of the pinnacle.

Just what I like in a pundit

Witty, analytical, erudite and easy on the orbs. Daily Caller's Theo Caldwell, on "Mitt Romney and the Ridiculous Modern Presidency".

Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign was embarrassing, what with the chanting and the race-baiting idol-worship and the “Yes we can” rhubarb that resulted in the election of this preening, ridiculous person as president. The intervening, desolate four years and the fatuity of his term of office permit us to call that phenomenon what it was: sheer, mass idiocy, demonstrating Winston Churchill’s aphorism that, “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”

But, his acolytes and self-regard notwithstanding, Obama cannot be blamed for the layers of nonsense that come with the job. To wit, the modern presidency is a pompous absurdity. With its giant airplanes, its 17-car motorcades, its Praetorian Guard of a security detail and on, the office demands more deference than King George III ever did. It has taken longer than most – over two centuries – but the American Revolution has gone the way of all others: The revolutionaries have made themselves royalty.Moreover, the American president is no longer the Leader of the Free World in any meaningful sense. Besides that the nation’s self-imposed, weakened economic state represents a de facto abdication of leadership, America is arguably the least-free country in the West.

[...] 

[I]f Romney’s stunning lack of star power reminds America that its president is just a person, and its politicians work for us, not the other way around, he will have served his country well. 

Pure Steyn

NaPo. 

Raising awareness is a waste of time. Raising awareness is some mumbo jumbo term that allows people the pose of compassion, rather than actually doing anything. And that’s all it’s about now. Earth Day’s a waste of time. Pink Shirt Day is a waste of time. Pink Earth Day is a waste of time. Earth Shirt Day is a waste of time. They’re all a waste of time,” he said.

So I don't feel bad for missing Earth Day. Though we did sort of observe it by spending part of the evening outside in nature --our backyard-- and having the first log-burning firepit marshmallow roast of the season (Oops! I guess that caused some carbon emissions) in between watching playoff hockey on our big screen TV. If it helps, my awareness was raised that we were running short of vodka coolers.

I do, however, feel very bad for missing Steynamite.

Here he is with Ezra.

Wow

There ain't no pandering coming out of this bishop's mouth...

Bishop Jenky (Illinois) homily to a group of Catholic men.

h/t LSN

Funniest question of the day

Courtesy of my youngest:

"Mom, where is that book I can't find?"

Don't shoot the messenger

Brian Lilley on a new tell-all book about the CBC.

CBC is a left wing, anti-business, Toronto-centric broadcaster that doesn’t care about producing shows Canadians actually want to watch.That’s not my verdict — although I may agree with it. That’s the assessment of Richard Stursberg, the former head of English services for both CBC television and radio. Stursberg has just released a tell-all book about his six years at the top of the CBC food chain and it doesn’t always paint a pretty picture.

Critics of the CBC will not be at all surprised by stuff like this, cuz we've been exposed to it forever:

[Stursburg] made enemies of people who felt CBC should make the “art-house fare” that no one would watch and bask in their own superiority.Nowhere was change resisted as much as the news department. Once upon a time, and it was a long time ago, CBC’s The National had been the dominant television newscast in Canada. Now it was third in a three-horse race and showed no signs of improving. Suggestions they should improve were met with contempt. Stursberg writes that the news department — Fort News, he calls it — felt it was above everyone else. 

I never in a million years thought I would actually agree with CBC executives, but I sure do on this point: 

One thing made clear to Stursberg was that CBC should not be involved in making Canadian sitcoms, reality shows or the sorts of American-style programs watched by millions in this country.

Amen! Not because of the "Canadian content" angle, mind you, but because they totally stink at it! What should the CBC produce? I think they should do whatever they want to or feel like doing... Let them produce Season 47 of "GLBT Beatnick Environmental Poetry Readings at Little Mosque on the Return for the Tenth Time to the Road to Avonlea" starring the ghosts of Pierre Burton and Pierre Trudeau-- in a canoe, as long it is required to compete on the open market. Let Canadians decide what they want to watch, and what they want to pay for.  

The books does indeed sound like a must-read. 

.

I no longer have an excuse

For why I can't learn to play the piano/ organ, except laziness. Amazing and inspiring.



h/t Alan Yoshioka on FB.

Mr. Blurn will be so happy

And so will Mrs. Blurn. At last... the secret to picture perfect abs, without the pain and effort!

Transitional Papacy--NOT

Vatian Insider at La Stampa: 

It is turning into a foundational kingdom, created by someone who seeks to work silently, persistently and deeply.[...]
Benedict XVI is adamant that the strength - and weakness - of the Church is found first and foremost in the dioceses, in local Churches.... He studies every dossier prepared for the three candidates [for bishop] in each diocese, he examines the course of studies and professional experience of potential future bishops and finally takes a decision. Indeed, he often asks for other candidates to be presented to him if he is not satisfied by the individuals who have been shortlisted. It is a tedious and not particularly glamorous task, but one for which the Church of the next few decades will be very grateful to him.

AMEN!


h/t Shea
.

March of the spambots Chapter 27

Proffesionle writter "Imogen" wants to join the team at DOH! I'm shocked; flattered; amazed. How did she even HEAR of us? My fisks in red.

Howdy there,

egad, maybe she DOES know us, Mrs. B!

I hope you're keeping well.

Mutual, I'm sure. 

 I'm just getting in touch to ask if you're in need of any freelance writing at Dumb Old Housewives - if so, it'd be an honor to help out and I would love to get involved if you have any need for me.

Lord knows, we need help. And good help is so hard to find these days. Do you do windows? Can you cook? 

I'm 29 have been working full-time as a professional writer and researcher for five years;

Have you been paying your mom and dad rent all that time?  

 in that time there isn't a lot I haven't already covered (there are a few samples below for you to check out). Anything I send over would be written with the site's readership in mind

Hmmm... how can you know the site's "readership" if you're not one of our siblings, cuz that's who makes up 90% of the site's readership. 

 - as long as you're happy with the resulting material,

Sometimes I'm not even happy with what I write. 

 you'd be welcome to publish it as you see fit and the content will be owned by you entirely (in that I won't send it to anyone else, either before or after publication.)

Yeah, we're pretty dang uptight about copyright around here, seeing as how Amazon.com and iTunes are somehow in a position to profit from MY previously published columns without my consent. 

The good news is that I'd be able to offer my services at no charge;

Wow! That's incredibly generous of you! You have totally restored my faith in humanity. But how on earth are you finding time to do this, if you are already working full-time?

the only thing I would ask in return is that I'm able to include a link to a company within the article - nothing adult or in bad taste, just one of the professional businesses for which I freelance.

If they are truly professional, they should already have an advertising budget. And I'm not really sold on the promise that it won't be in bad taste. 

Otherwise I'd be happy to chat about alternative arrangements if you'd rather not link to a corporate site.

Do let me know if you're interested, and if so I can get something written for you over the course of the next few days. Needless to say, the offer is open to any other sites you might own as well as dumboldhousewives.blogspot.com. I appreciate that this kind of offer is not for everyone however, so if I don't hear from you I won't trouble you again.

Yay! but not holding my breath on that promise. 

Very best,
Imogen

Anyhoo, no thank you, "Imogen", we already have enough proffessionale writters who write for this site for free, and who link to things that are sometimes not in bad taste. 

.

Pretty much the only reason (besides Don Cherry) to watch the CBC

Is when they interview The Steyn.

And he was pure Steynamite. On Canadian-citizen-Al Qaeda-terrorist Omar Khadr: "He's technically a child soldier by Canadian standards where we all stay in school until we're 37..."

Tsk Tsk --Evan Solomon. Poor guy. Unarmed, if you will. (Anders Breivik, on trial for "allegedly killing 77 people" Allegedly, Evan? Might it be a case of mistaken identity or summat?) As the host, he got to change the subject every time he was losing the argument, which was... often.
.

Seven years ago today...

I was searching for non-MSM English commentary but I thought, "Why bother?" Not unlike music, joy is a universal language.

Hey kids! Don't be a hero. Don't be a fool with your life.

Aspire to be like these dudes instead (oh, and while you're at it, you might want to look up the word "fool"). I'm not pretending that Bo Donaldson was a huge cultural influence, but I remember singing along with this ditty as a teen and thinking it was all profound and stuff. Its influence may have rubbed off on countless others (as messages in art and/or propaganda are wont to do).

And yet, I can't see sentient beings taking advice from guys in matching white Orlon (TM) jumpsuits with sparkly orange flames curling up the legs.  As an aside, it's funny how people like to enjoy their freedoms (including the freedom to indulge in brainless sentimental political posturing and/or really bad art) without fully realizing or acknowledging that some herioc fool paid for those freedoms with his life.



Golly, it's so effortless and thus maybe even unfair to make fun of the 70s. But having survived them, I think I've earned the right.
.

I'm not the only extremist around

NRO's Michael Walsh also has some dangerous ideas...

Notice the implied premise of the phrase, “tack [too] far to the right,” as if being on the right were an extreme position compared with the sensible center or, God knows, the morally preening Left. But it’s the center and all those wonderful moderates out there in the dark that’s gotten us into this pickle, by accepting the Left’s narrative that “progressivism” is inherently good and “conservatism” inherently reactionary. Since when did fidelity to the Constitution, belief in good old-fashioned American values of individualism and enterprise, and a desire to preserve the country as founded become an “extreme” position?

Just so.
.

Special day for Miss Pinkerton #7

This evening, she will receive the Sacraments of Confirmation and First Holy Communion.




.

So many scathingly brilliant writers and pundits, so little time

Two words: Janet Albrechtsen. Unfortunately, the linked entries are, while excellent, "older"--as in, years (unless there is a more recent blog that I haven't found yet.)  Most of her columns are behind The Australian's paywall.

Those who forensically challenge the orthodoxy by checking primary sources are denounced. Here, in one room, is a neat exhibit of the Left’s addiction to emotion, feel-good symbolism and an infantile rejection of facts as heresy.

I first saw her here, so I guess I have Mark Steyn to thank.
.

Give her a Pulitzer.

I'm not especially impressed, either.

Here's a picture my daughter drew for her homemade newspaper when she was six. She just thought it was really funny that this occurrence had made the news at all, but I offer it to the Pulitzer committee as a subtle and insightful commentary on the state of journalism today. (And besides the headline, it didn't need a single label...do you think the nickname "Broke Obama" could catch on?)

(Also ties in nicely with Mrs. P.'s post below.)
.

Mrs. B, try not to feel envious

Prairie dwellers happiest.

Oh, and it's not just the economy. But you have to have lived here at some point to know why. 

Quebeckers the least satisfied!! Quelle surprise!
.

Dare I steal SDA's heading?

Not waiting for the asteroid...

Mainstream media does it again. Making a "news" story out of well, nothing. In fact: Hillary Clinton drinking a beer from a bottle... and going to a club in Colombia for half an hour!

London's Telegraph latched onto the photos, too. "Is Hillary Clinton becoming an embarrassment as Secretary of State?" the paper's Niles Gardner asked in a blog post.

Well, maybe she is an embarrassment, but not for this. In fact Hillary may have gone up half a notch in my estimation for having once taken part in a vodka-drinking contest with Sen. John McCain.

At any rate, I smell a double standard. Can one even hope to compare Mrs. Clinton's extracurricular activities with those of her "husband"?

If only the MSM would report the actual news.
.

Cut off from the land of the living

Is how I feel after not having functioning internet for TWO DAYS. Thank goodness for the posting feature on this blog that allows you to time the publishing of the posts in advance. But now I'm behind a couple of days on my (paid) researching/writing work, and just in time for our family's big event: Miss P #7's First Confession today and tomorrow First Holy Communion and Confirmation. Well, some things will just have to wait. Priorities.
.

"The Church does not force anyone into a life of chastity."

Powerful testimony: Life after Lesbianism at LSN.
.

Have I caught the "Doug Bug" or is it "Paisleymania"?

Either way, YAY!!

.

Little League 1, Steynamite 0

I told you it would happen, Mrs. P.  While Mark Steyn is crooning "They Made Me Love You" to the Steynamite audience, we will be at Little League tryouts.

Dear Mr. Steyn, I am writing this to you: please don't retire until well after my kids are grown up.
.

I sent this in so long ago

That I had almost forgotten about it. Which means they must be absolutely snowed under with submissions. Which is great. Homeschool Ryan Gosling. 

I'm definitely guilty of this one, even though I didn't make it up. 

.

In memoriam

Jesus, I trust in You

Even if I think your picture is kitschy. Interesting discussion at NCR (Steven Greydanus and comments which follow) on various images of the Divine Mercy. As for me and my house, we go with kitschy on this particular image. Even if it's not great art, one can feel an attachment to what one was raised with. Can't help it.

What's important is perhaps not which image you choose, but that you are grateful for the Mercy of Jesus. And trust in him.

h/t Alan Yoshioka on FB
.

As we approach the Octave of Easter

David Warren, not just a national (Canadian) treasure, but a treasure of the Church:

Take for instance that "separation of church and state." It is hardly an article of the Canadian constitution, yet it is often invoked as if it were. It is taken for granted that no church has the right to intervene in state affairs, not only by the agnostic types, but by almost every Christian I know (and I have met a fair number).

But what of the contrary? It is now also taken for granted that the state has the right to intervene in church affairs, in comprehensive detail. The paperwork alone hamstrings all religious charitable activities, and increasingly the state, out of its bottomless arrogance, acts to legislate which religious doctrines may be taught, which must be ignored, and which must be openly contradicted in, for instance, religious schools.

[...]

All my life I have been haunted by that memory, and my child's knowledge of that plum as "a gift," as if given before all worlds. But to what can I refer except, a particular colour, which later I discerned in a twilight sky, and later still from an illuminator's brush, in a medieval codex.

This is a knowledge that can be banned, suppressed, punished, persecuted, hauled before Pilate by the functionaries of the state, or some self-appointed prosecuting authority. Scourged, mocked, and humiliated, by men "who know not what they do." Through 20 centuries, Christ has been crucified again and again.

And He is with us still.

Christ is Risen. And we get to keep saying it for 50 full days.
.

Whew

Time to sit down. Today, I baked over 9 dozen buns (111 to be exact; I dunno, it's just the way it worked out); made 2 gal. (8 litres) of homemade turkey stock-- which also involved handpicking the salvagable meat off three turkery carcasses, two of which had been in the freezer since Christmas. I think dealing with turkey carcasses is on my top ten list of Mom-things I don't like doing, right up there with cleaning up barf, but you've gotta do it; you can't let all that good meat go to waste (I speak of course, of the turkey, not the barf); washed 8 gazillion dishes (mother of 7, no dishwasher: cue violin), cooked dinner (ok, it was a frozen pizza; sue me. The alternative was to eat buns). I also did a bit of blogging (a girl's gotta have a break now and then), some Sacramental prep with my 7-year-old (Big Day next Wednesday) and lastly, cut my husband's hair (he shaved his winter beard--yay! Now he looks like Hugh Jackman again, and not Charlton Heston --as Moses)

Oh, and I really miss the eldest Miss Pinkerton. Since she moved out, we hardly have any hard liquor left. Who knew all those bottles were hers?
.

President Flexible

Omigosh, if this wasn't so scary it would be hilarious.

Meeting of Canadian Catholic bloggers and bishops?

Why not? Fr. Z. suggests it in the U.S. And don't our bishops like dialogue and seeking common ground and common cause? Of course they do!

As I mentioned in the comments on Deborah's site, it would be well worth a plane ticket to Ottawa or Tornoto. (I have no illusions about such a meeting being held in the west.) Wait, what am I saying? Neither should I have any illusions about getting invited to such a meeting. Oh well, DOH could pray for its success...

h/t Deborah G.

"Sometimes societies become too stupid to survive."

A nation that takes Barack Obama's current rhetorical flourishes seriously is certainly well advanced along that dismal path. The current federal debt burden works out at about $140,000 per federal taxpayer, and President Obama is proposing to increase both debt and taxes. Are you one of those taxpayers? How much more do you want added to your $140,000 debt burden? As the Great Magician would say, pick a number, any number. Sorry, you're wrong. Whatever you're willing to bear, he's got more lined up for you.

Steyn breaks down the Buffet rule so that us folks can understand. Folks have to understand, because the Big 0 is always talking to folks in his folksy way, and he hopes that folks will vote for him.  And if they do, folks are going to have to pay for four more years centuries of him/his policies, but probably not the fat-cat millionaire and billionaire folks he thinks will pay, but ordinary folks. The problem is...

For what Obama's spending, there aren't enough of them, or us, or "the rich" – and there never will be. There is only one Warren Buffett. He is the third-wealthiest person on the planet. The first is a Mexican, and beyond the reach of the U.S. Treasury. Mr. Buffett is worth $44 billion. If he donated the entire lot to the Government of the United States, they would blow through it within four-and-a-half days. OK, so who's the fourth-richest guy? He's French. And the fifth guy's a Spaniard. No. 6 six is Larry Ellison. He's American, but that loser is only worth $36 billion. So he and Buffett between them could keep the United States Government going for a week.

The Hunger Games, human sacrifice and reality TV

Brian Green at The MoralMindfield.

If you are at all interested in the Hunger Games phenomenon, or reality TV, or the history of human civilization (or its future), or all of the above-- this piece is very worth your time.  (Incidentally, I'm gratified that he mentions abortion, cuz it's all part and parcel.)

h/t Shea, with a nod also to Miss P. #3, who has kept me engaged when my preference was to close my mind and keep it that way.
.

Is this life really real?

Or am I in the middle of a Flannery O'Connor story?

"All my stories are about the action of grace on a character who is not very willing to support it." 


--Letter to Elizabeth Hester, April 4, 1958

I have begun to read this book, and even though I'm not yet beyond the introduction, I can tell I'm in for a joyride.

.

When life gives you lemons

And your daughter who is about to have a birthday asks you for one of these (to wit, a lemon-flavoured homemade ice cream cake for which no recipe exists that you know of), you make up a recipe and it turns out like this: 

Reviews were positive, but I was not entirely satisfied. The ice cream part did not taste tangy enough to me. I can't therefore post the recipe until I'm happy with it, so I guess I'll have to do some more tweaking.
.

Almost as good as a Fun Pass

Take a trip to Caine's Arcade. 

 

h/t SDA
.

Oh, if only we could

David Warren asks us to "Disconnect." But it would, indeed, take an asteroid.

Luddite one might aspire to be, but, as George Grant, the great prophet against technology, once said to me (while trying to explain the Volvo in his driveway), "Modern life requires a sense of irony." You could, in fact, retreat to a monastery, but not everyone has a calling for that, and, besides, I've noticed that when I email monks, I get very quick responses. That suggests technology has made serious inroads into the sanctuaries of silence, too.

Now I know

Why I don't seem to get any feedback from Mrs. Beazly on Facebook.

More humour courtesy of Mommy Life.
.

In praise of extremism

After a six-month (unplanned) hiatus, I am back in the pages of Catholic Insight. Many folk have asked why I was absent from so many issues, and the answer is: because. Sometimes when there is a pressing last-minute news story, the lightweight op-ed stuff (such as mine) gets bumped to the next issue, or the next after that. At other times authors (such as I) are invited to write for a particular issue, but due to pressing family circumstances surrounding that particular deadline, they must regretfully decline. And before you realize it, half a year has gone by. The important thing is (for the half-dozen of you devoted readers out there) I am still officially listed as a contributor and will, for the time being, continue writing for the magazine. No telling what the new editor will decide, but that is in God's hands, and I am happy to leave it there.

I know it doesn't mean anything in particular

Because famous media personalities confirm EVERYONE, because well, it makes their audience larger, but it still feels thrilling to actually see the words:

Brian Lilley confirmed you as a friend on Facebook

I dig that guy! And not just for his Blue Rodeo hair. 

For all my sisters

And daughters, readers, and other people I heart. (And because I needed to get the taste of Joe Wise out of my brain.)



From an entertaining little film called That Thing You Do. Song written by Tom Hanks, and I truly believe it's the most profound thing he's ever done artistically (or politically), next to being the voice of Woody. So the joke's on him.
.

Dear dumb old American housewives

And Canadians too, for the U.S. election impacts us more than we know...

It is a comfort and an inspiration to know that the party of Barack Obama thinks we are all totally useless and stupid. I hope the stay-home housewife vote helps kick his arrogant delusional skinny arse out of the White House come November.

Scroll down at the link to see more on the Dem's War on Moms. This one is really rich:

"Obama: We Didn't Have the Luxury for Michelle Not to Work" (this when he was "teaching" or whatever-- and pulling in over $160K) I hope I can convince Mr. P. to give up crop research and go into community organizing, or constitutional law (since he probably knows more than the Big 0 does on that topic). And I should give up homemaking and become a diversity coordinator, like MO. Who knew that could be worth over $300K a year?

The inimitable Pundette weighs in on how the Obamas managed to survive on over $400K a year:

Suffice it to say the Obamas clung bitterly to their lucrative sinecures and personal chef. But they were crying inside all the while, so that makes it admirable.

It turns out that Michelle Obama is so brilliant, that the ultra-boring job of staying home with her children made her physically ill.

Come to think of it, I am beginning to feel that way too. But not because of my children.
.

Dinosaurs, asteroids, whatnot

 Interesting article on the decline and fall of mega-journalim:

How did we move so quickly from bemoaning the size and profitability of media companies (Downie 2002) to advocating government subsidies for those same weakened giants (Downie 2009)? Only by mistaking the fate of journalism’s biggest manufacturers with the fate of the industry as a whole—by conflating A&P with the retail business—and then further muddying the waters by confusing the fortunes of big media companies with the health of democracy itself.

[...]

The most important fact of our modern media world, the engine of such unprecedented creativity and anxiety-inducing destruction, is that the customer is no longer captive. People create their own media, for the sheer bloody hell of it, and no longer adhere permanently to one of a handful of legacy brands.

[...]

No, the reality rarely broached in the media’s own drumbeat of doom is that members of the formerly captive audience are, on a daily basis, beating the professionals at their own game, in the process rendering hollow the claim that our democracy is imperiled when newspapers tremble.

 h/t SDA 
.

In honour of our 15th follower

Because she's a youngster and she needs to know what we gave up Latin chant for. Just don't listen too long, Dear. It causes brain damage.
.

Gosh, where does a year go?

Gracious editor elevated my lowly blog post to the main page of Mercator. (Just a little more caché  than the blogging pages and slightly more cash, but we don't pay attention to that sort of thing do we?) About families who are just too too busy.

Raising kids is not a Sunday stroll in the park, but if you never get there, whose fault is it?

.

Proof of global warming

found at Mommy Life
.

Wow, it must smell REALLY bad by now.

Hide one of these in your buddy's car for a great April Fool's prank.

I love stories like this. They really fill one with a sense of awe at how mysterious and unknown so much of our natural world remains.
.

It is a truth universally acknowledged

that: 

Given enough time, the primary purpose of every bureaucracy becomes the employment and comfort of its employees.

Daniel Hannan, scourge of the European Union, a guy that the whole planet should heed:

It turns out that Herman Van Rompuy and Baroness Ashton travelled in two separate private jets to the same meeting in Russia. Their flights left Brussels within four hours of each other, both with plenty of empty seats.

Eurocrats are forever lecturing the rest of us about carbon emissions. Perhaps they feel that, by imposing their targets and regulations, they have done their bit, and no further action is needed on their part.

Follower Fourteen From Planet Three

No, it's not the gripping sequel to Four From Planet Five. It's just a welcome for our 14th follower.


.

Mark Steyn, in the pink.

And in the National Post:

 According to the Toronto District School Board’s own survey, the most common type of bullying is for “body image” — the reason given by 27% of high school students, 38% of Grades 7 and 8, and yea, back through the generations. Yet there are no proposals for mandatory Fat-Svelte Alliances, or Homely-Smokin’ Alliances. The second biggest reason in Toronto schools is “cultural or racial background.” “Cultural,” eh? Yet there seems no urge to install Infidel-Believer Alliances in Valley Park Middle School’s celebrated mosqueteria, although they could probably fit it in the back behind the menstruating girls. So the pressure for GSAs in every school would seem to be a solution entirely unrelated to the problem. Indeed, it would seem to be a gay hijacking of the issue. Queer Eye For The Fat Chick: “But enough about you, let’s talk about me.”

.

Mess with God's plan

And all hell seems to break loose. Coincidence? I think not.

Nadya Suleman will do anything for her octuplets, but now she admits it was a mistake to have them.

Nice. 

The mother of 14, who recently posed nude to earn rent money for her family, has revealed she thinks it was a bad decision to undergo fertility treatments after already having six babies.

Gee, ya think??


 CMR
.

Art, politics, culture, freedom and stuff

"Government patronage of the arts produces politicized bureaucrats, not artists..." especially in a left-of-centre culture. And no, he's not talking about the CBC (or various other Cdn arts and culure organizations), but about Australia. If the shoe fits, however, it fits all over the globe.

Art critic Giles Auty at The Institute of Public Affairs in Oz. His topic: "Has government killed Western civilization?" One of many videos from this conference. I've already watched Mark Steyn's and Daniel Hannan's presentations. Amazing stuff.
.

Bwahaha

I was visiting the New York Times website, not because I find it edifying, but because I had to. For work. Because my editor sent me there to read an article that I had to comment on for my blogging job with MercatorNet. And a little window pops up, with this message: 

Beginning in April, visitors to NYTimes.com will have access to 10 free articles per month instead of 20.

Meaning that, after the 10 free ones, I'll have to start paying. Paying. To read the New York Times. 


As I said, Bwahaha. 


Truly, they are Not Waiting For the Asteroid.
.

Sinners to redeem and save

He is Risen! Alleluia, Alleluia!

 
 Happy Easter!
.

Good Friday

Adoramus Te Christe, et benedicimus Tibi:
quia per sanctam crucem tuam
redemisti mundum.

We adore Thee O Christ, and we bless Thee;

because by Thy Holy Cross Thou hast

redeemed the world. 

It's Maundy Thursday

The well-trained Catholic child

In anticipation of Good Friday abstinence, Miss Pinkerton #6 and I were whipping up a rather large (baked in a turkey roaster) and rather delicious-looking batch of vegetarian chili this morning. (It is my life's ambition to get beyond merely delicious-looking food, and achieve stuff that tastes good too.) I made up the recipe, so maybe I'll post it if it turns out. If not, we will never speak of it again.

Anyway, Miss P6 was stirring away, inhaling deeply as I added the spices. "I wish I could eat this right now," she said with a hint too much disordered-food-love in her voice. Then she checked herself and added, "I don't think this meal is going to be very Lenten." I guess that depends on whether the recipe succeeds. As I often tell people, most of us are called to carry our crosses; my husband and kids are frequently compelled to eat theirs.
.

Classic Obama, following classic Alinsky

When people don't agree with you, assume it's because they are too stoopit to understand your profundity. Then, isolate, ridicule, destroy. Breitbart's Big Government:

Carney on Wednesday said Obama's remarks were the object of criticism "only because a handful of people didn't seem to understand what he was referring to."

"What is up with leftists and giant papier-mâché puppets of doom?"

I ask myself that question at least three times a day.

And so does Christopher Johnson over at Bad Vestments, a site that I have not visited in a long time, more's the pity. Really hilarious stuff. Think "Cake Wrecks" but on liturgical vestments.

Update: quot. by Christopher Johnson (who, BTW, is not Catholic)...

You see them all the time in secular leftist demonstrations and I sort of understand using them there. Well, no, actually, I don't. If you want to convince me to back your cause, looking as stupid as you possibly can is no way to go about it.

But I really don't understand using them in church. Do these people seriously believe that people like me are going to take one look at ridiculous displays like this and think, "Jeepers, are these people spiritual!! Maybe they're right and I'm wrong."

To paraphrase Flannery

If this is pastoral sensitivity, then to hell with it.

George Neumayr on the ongoing saga of the lesbian Buddhist, the priest who refused her Communion, and the cardinal who made his choice between the two. Warning: not for the faint of heart...

Perversely, Cardinal Wuerl has at once violated the canonical rights of a faithful priest while inventing out of thin air a "policy" that orders his subordinates to distribute the Eucharist to anti-Catholic activists and defiant mortal sinners. In his apology to Barbara Johnson, via one of his auxiliary bishops, Cardinal Wuerl rebuked Fr. Guarnizo for a lack of "pastoral" sensitivity. This is Cardinal Wuerl's euphemism for priestly action that takes orthodox teaching and discipline seriously.

The word "pastoral" should make the faithful groan at this point. It is one of the great weasel words of the "spirit of Vatican II" Church in America. The word "pastoral" invariably dribbles from the lips of bishops like Cardinal Wuerl who regularly expose their flocks to wolves. Jesus Christ said that the "good shepherd" watches the gate. Cardinal Wuerl's "policy" is to leave it wide open for the Church's fiercest enemies. This is why the Pelosis and the Barbara Johnsons just keep coming up for Communion. Since Cardinal Wuerl refuses to control the sacrament, they will.

[...]

A Church official who has watched Wuerl's persecution of Fr. Guarnizo with horror commented to me that if Jesus Christ had served in Cardinal Wuerl's archdiocese "he would be on administrative leave too." 

Will and Grace

...was the original title of this column, my latest at The Record, a Catholic paper in Perth, W. Australia.

.

Great video: Here comes the Catholic Church part XVI

Found at Martha Martha (I feel another "Catholic bloggers" bookmark coming on).

This video was made in response to a request from Cecile Richards, the president of (U.S.) Planned Parenthhood, for women to speak up in the War on Women. There are men in this video, because its makers think that men (incredibly!) should have a say in the future of humanity too.

Hey, it works for me.

Yahoo News on what will happen if the U.S. Supreme Court rules Obamacare unconstitutional:

Such a move would electrify the White House race, puncture Obama's claims to be a reformer in the grand political tradition, and throw the US health care industry into chaos.

...well, I wouldn't rejoice about the chaos part, but I'd say that U.S. health care has been there for a while anyway. (Obamacare will make it a thousand times worse). Safest thing to do is go back to the drawing board. And don't let Obama have the chalk.

h/t Martha Martha, whom I found through Pundette.
.

Steyn teaches Home Ec.

The nationalized family is the key to understanding why the West's economic "downturn" is not merely cyclical.

Read. It. All.

.

I am so getting this book

Pundette reviews  The Jane Austen Guide to Happily Ever After. Sounds like something that might benefit young ladies, and heaven knows our family is well supplied with those.

Now, to find a Mr. Darcy or Mr. Knightley or Colonel Brandon or Captain Wentworth out there...

The other Hunger Games

You've got to feel sad when someone says, speaking of her ex-boyfriend, "Since food was a major part of our relationship..."

My response to a journalistic glimpse into the alternately pathetic and horrifying life of a dedicated hobby glutton. Now all that remains is for the rest of us to say, There but for the grace of God, go I... or not, as the case may be.

My latest post at MercatorNet. A good topic for Holy Week.
. 

"What do you have against Earth Hour?"

Someone asked me the other day. This guy (commenter on SDA) can answer for me:

A few years past on this night, I found myself visiting my socialist parents in Regina. My parents were all in a flutter shutting electrical devices off, even their beloved CBC went silent. They lit a candle.
Then, they gathered at the front door, and peered out the window as they counted off their neighbors who weren't participating, and those that were showing their environmental concern "on their sleeve" as they say...
Their chatter was mostly centered on this, who was in the club of concerned caring citizens, those that were outside their circle of trust, those folks that didn't care how high the oceans would rise... or what became of their way of life as the topsoil blew away in the next drought.
big sigh. ... Why don't those people c_a_r_e? They're probably Saskatchewan Party supporters.
Meanwhile, dad drives his large Buick, there's 2 refrigerators in the house for 2 senior people, another in the garage, the insulation has never been upgraded from R-12, nor the simple dual pane windows since 1966 as [they're] not broken and the wood frames look nice.

Exactly.

Stupid, meaningless, empty, idolatrous gesture.


Then there's always this (courtesy BCF): "Fighting climate change is now about big business and big politics." Fancy that! Global Warm-mongers are now The Man. 
.

Housewives, Mr. Steyn.

You haven't yet demonized housewives. I guarantee they won't even take you to any human rights commission because they will be too busy sitting around eating bonbons and writing blog posts contrived purely to get a link from your site. It's the only thrill the pathetic creatures can count on once the beer and popcorn run dry.
.

Why do I hate thee? Let me count the ways, CBC...

Brain Lilley, who is lucky enough to be on the CBC's enemies list. Yes, they have one. I added the red.

Isn’t that wonderful, the CBC paid for a study [with my tax dollars] on how great they are and then released it exclusively to a reporter from another news outlet, who is also paid by them [with my tax dollars], to write a story about the wonders of the state broadcaster.

We are well beyond the days of The Friendly Giant.

DEFUND.



Mybad. Forgot the hat tip: SCCB
.

Music hath charms, and a whole lot more

One of my favourite Shakespeare quotations is rather obscure. It comes from Much Ado About Nothing, Act II, Scene iii:  

Benedick: Now, divine air! now is his soul ravished! Is it
not strange that sheeps' guts should hale souls out
of men's bodies?

And here it is, accompanied by a great song:

I’m glad there is a God, because if there wasn’t, I might possibly worship music. And that wouldn’t work, because as good as music makes me feel at times, it couldn’t, all by itself, save my soul. (Of course, without a God, the profound beauty and sublimity of music could not have come to be, but let’s not get too theological.)