Easter!

Is that not adorable? I couldn't resist.

On a more serious note. I am re-posting one of my essays "Why I am Catholic" from last year. I probably won't be posting again until Monday. I also hope and pray that each of you have a blessed and wonderful Easter Weekend.

Why I am Catholic.

Two years I ago I stood in Saint Peter's Square in awe of it's beauty and majesty that pictures do not do justice. I walked through the Sistine Chapel and attended Mass at Saint Peter's Basilica. I stood a few feet from Saint Peter's Bones under the Basilica. The history of our Church became very real to me then. But my journey to Rome began long ago.

Many have asked me about my conversion story from Baptist to Catholic. But I don't look at it that way. I look at my whole life as a spiritual journey to a place where I could be as close to God as possible.

I was not raised in a very religious home. My parents were Methodist and took us to Church once and awhile. As you may have read in my post about my father, they were Christians, but just didn't love organized religion too much.

I'm not sure I know why my desire to follow God came so strongly around 14 years old. Sitting in the front yard of my Grandma's house in the country, looking at the stars and praying , I was overcome with the spirit of God. I really don't know how to say it any other way. It is a feeling of pure joy. Indescribable really.

From that moment on there has never been a doubt in my mind or soul that God existed and is real. Even in times of deep darkness I have felt His comfort. I have experienced miracles and have come to believe that there is no way to understand or realize how much God loves us, how much He wants our happiness, and how much He suffers with us.

As I have also said before in another post, God and I always had different ideas on how I should live my life. I have argued with him like a daughter argues with her mother. I have been stubborn and stupid, but He has been faithful.

The Catholic Church teaches that we are all united in God, although imperfectly so. The more I learned about the history of Christianity the more I was drawn to Catholism. There was no doubt that man had messed up many times, as Christ knew that we would. But "the gates of hell did prevail against thee." And even now in the year 2005, the Church thrives with more than a billion followers. God's teachings are argued and distorted, but it is quite simply based on love. Such love.

I have a great love for the Protestant Church. I found Christ there, and for that I will always be grateful. But the more I learned about Catholism, the more I realized that this was what I needed to climb the mountain.

We all climb that mountain of faith, whether we realize it or not. Many of us fall and get bruised and hurt, many are lost on the mountain and cannot find their way. I chose the Catholic Church because I felt it gave me a map of that mountain. I climb and I suffer, but I hold fast to that map and I look at it every day to make sure I am on the right path.

My map is worn and torn and tattered but I shall never let it go, for it has brought me up the mountain this far and I have far to go.

Another Day, another try...

to make sure everyone understands...BUSH LIES!

Jeff at Protein Wisdom puts it all together as usual with all the links you need to understand the full story, but let me give you the readers digest version.

Media discovers a tidbit that makes Bush look bad. "BUSH BAD HERE."

Media throws it all over the news hoping for it to stick.

New Alternative Media (blogs and cable) look a bit more closely and discover that it isn't true at all.

Story dies a slow, well deserved death.

Lefties continue ad nauseam to repeat the story as true over and over. "BUSH BAD HERE." No matter what evidence is to the contrary.

You know, this is kind of like the little boy who cried wolf. Bush could actually do something awful and illegal and no one would believe the media anyway.

Update: Deception.and more deception.*sigh*

Just a Bit More On Immigration.

I listened to an immigrant from Laos who immigrated here in 1978 on the radio this morning. Her anger at the illegal immigrants and what she saw as disrespect for America after all she went through to come here, including learning English and going through the legal avenues and not expecting any handouts, was a compelling argument.

I totally understand everyone's anger, but then there is the personal. In the late 80's I had a 2 yr old and a newborn. We had just moved to a new city and I had no friends or relatives in town. I was exhausted. I had been reading some of Dr. James Dobson's child rearing books and he had encouraged young mothers to budget in cleaning or babysitting help. He said it was more important than having a newer car ect. He was right.

We had a small 3 bedroom house that I kept straight, I just wanted help with the deep cleaning. I put an ad in the local paper for a housekeeper once a week for $35. It was all I could afford. I actually had white and black women call me and ask if that was a typo. Not one Hispanic woman asked that. Anyway, that is how I found Pat. She worked for me for 11 years. When I moved to a new house, she came with me. When I had two more children she was there. I helped her get her citizenship and I helped her to convince her daughters to go to college and helped with the applications. I went to her daughter's confirmations. She was a God send. When we moved 7 yrs ago and I had to say goodbye to her we both cried like babies.

I remarked to her that she seemed to enjoy cleaning (something I could not fathom) She said to me, "When I was growing up in Mexico I had to be in the fields to pick beans before the sun rose and we picked all day until our fingers bled and the pain in our backs felt like fire. Now I clean beautiful houses in air conditioning. I love this job."

Pat took WIC until she overheard me discussing WIC with a young mother I was helping through my crisis pregnancy work. She hadn't understood that it was for the very poor. She immediately stopped getting food stamps. She didn't' want to be viewed that way.

Yesterday I stopped to ask some Mexican yard workers I knew around the neighborhood what they thought about all this immigration bill. They didn't know anything about it other than there were some marches. They didn't even know what the marches were for and they didn't care. They just wanted to work, get paid, and go home to their families.

Many complain about things being translated into Spanish everywhere, but it wasn't the Hispanics who demanded that. It was the liberals, of course, who feel they speak for the "little people."

It is our government's fault that we haven't done what needed to be done with these immigrants. The borders, the proper teaching of respect for our country, who and what welfare is for ect.

Our anger is directed at the wrong people. Mexicans only want a better life. I can guarantee you that most that were protesting were only out there a the bidding of some political group. We know that Democrats were handing out flyers about voting Democrat with the Mexican and American flag together.

Finally, the one thing I cannot understand is why can't we focus on sealing the border FIRST. I read the minutemen in Arizona have almost eliminated illegal crossings at the borders they monitor. Which is proof that we CAN do this. Why aren't we working more on this???

Republicans mull changes in immigration bill.

well, hell yeah. You better "mull" some more until you get something decent done!

"The changes involve the two most controversial parts of the House effort, making "illegal presence" a felony and broadening the notion of accessory to potentially include religious outreach and charity workers:

Following huge nationwide protests, Republicans on Tuesday moved to possibly change two key provisions in a get-tough immigration bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.

One would turn millions of illegal immigrants into felons and the other has raised concerns that people who provide them humanitarian relief would be punished. Top Republicans insisted that neither is their intent.

Their verbal commitments to revisit those provisions came a day after hundreds of thousands of people held demonstrations nationwide, provoked by the bill that would also erect a fence along much of the U.S.-Mexican border."

One has to shake one's head at Kennedy's ranting:

"Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, said, "Actions speak louder than words, and there's no running away from the fact that the Republican House passed a bill and Senator Frist offered one that criminalizes immigrants."

Criminalizes? Uhh... they're illegal.

It is to laugh.

Now I don't agree with the felon part either. It's just stupid. As is trying to make any charities liable for helping people.

via The Captain

Some more caption fun!

Cuz life is just too short to be serious all the time.

The Immigration March.

Michelle went to the immigration march in D.C. yesterday and has all kinds of pictures.

Here is what it was like in Houston.

"One counterprotester, a woman who asked to be identified only as Linda, joined the crowd at Allen's Landing with a sign that said laws must be enforced and that illegal immigration was a crime. There was little other evidence of opposition to the protesters."

Could this by my Linda??? Heh.

"While addressing the perceived conflict between blacks and Latinos, Toni McElroy, head of Texas ACORN, summoned cheers when she said: "You didn't cross the border, the border crossed you." (Say what??)

"We as black and brown have more in common than the oppressors would have us believe," said McElroy, who is black. When asked why more blacks were not at the protest, McElroy said: "We have to do a better job of educating our community to see the similarities we share. Traditionally, the Man has played one community against the other." (oppressors??? Who are these oppressors??? You mean the ones who give Hispanics free medical care? The ones who make sure the forms are printed in Spanish? The ones who give Hispanic's children a free education with breakfast and lunch included? I think "the Man" has been pretty dang generous)

I think we are letting the Democrats get away with painting Republicans with a broad brush here. We need to speak up. Those like me who feel that the guest worker program is the way to go and I also believe that most Hispanics DO NOT believe as this Ms. Elroy blathers about, and those who feel the opposite about the guest worker program. Those in the latter camp need to make it clear that this is about illegal, not legal immigrants. Because the Democrats are trying to confuse those who don't know better.

Stop Torturing Me.....

so good!

via LST

On the front cover of this month's Vanity Fair magazine.

"A THREAT GRAVER THAN TERRORISM:

GLOBAL WARMING"

Also:

"A THREAT GRAVER THAN CANCER:

CHICKEN POX"

And:

"A THREAT GRAVER THAN AIDS:

ACNE"

Ok, I'm kidding about all but the first one. But who can tell with these guys?

Al Gore writes in Vanity Fair "A Moment of Truth" where he screeches that we are in a "true planetary emergency." Basically he says we are melting, melting and then goes on to compare our ignoring global warming with how people ignored ...you guessed it....Nazism. The standard by which everything is measured these days. "Katrina," he warns, " may be the first sip of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us over and over again until we act on the truth we have wished would go away."

Poetic?? Oh, he is just getting started.

"This crisis is bringing us an opportunity to experience what few generations in history ever have the privilege of knowing: a generational mission; the exhilaration of a compelling moral purpose; a shared and unifying cause; the thrill of being forced by circumtances to put aside pettiness and conflict that so often stifle the restless human need for trancendence; the opportunity to rise."

Oh, I am just getting goosebumps, aren't you??????? He continues breathlessly:

"When we do rise. It will fill our spirits and bind us together. Those who are now suffocating in cynicism and despair will be able to breathe freely. Those who are now suffering from a loss of meaning in their lives with find hope."

I hope you all are GETTING THIS:

"What is at stake is the survival of our civilization and the habitability of the Earth."

Verbose and dramatic as Al Gore is, The facts don't support it.

Myth #1: Scientists Agree the Earth Is Warming. While ground-level temperature measurements suggest the earth has warmed between 0.3 and 0.6 degrees Celsius since 1850, global satellite data, the most reliable of climate measure-
ments, show no evidence of warming during the past 18 years. [See Figure I.] Even if the earth's temperature has increased slightly, the increase is well within the natural range of known temperature variation over the last 15,000 years. Indeed, the earth experienced greater warming between the 10th and 15th centuries - a time when vineyards thrived in England and Vikings colonized Greenland and built settlements in Canada.

Myth #2: Humans Are Causing Global Warming. Scientists do not agree that humans discernibly influence global climate because the evidence supporting that theory is weak. The scientific experts most directly concerned with climate conditions reject the theory by a wide margin.

• A Gallup poll found that only 17 percent of the members of the Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Society think that the warming of the 20th century has been a result of greenhouse gas emissions - principally CO₂ from burning fossil fuels. [See Figure II.]

• Only 13 percent of the scientists responding to a survey conducted by the environmental organization Greenpeace believe catastrophic climate change will result from continuing current patterns of energy use.

• More than 100 noted scientists, including the former president of the National Academy of Sciences, signed a letter declaring that costly actions to reduce greenhouse gases are not justified by the best available evidence.

While atmospheric carbon dioxide has increased by 28 percent over the past 150 years, human-generated carbon dioxide could have played only a small part in any warming, since most of the warming occurred prior to 1940 - before most human-caused carbon dioxide emissions.

Myth #3: The Government Must Act Now to Halt Global Warming. The belief underlying this myth is that the consequences of near-term inaction could be catastrophic and, thus, prudence supports immediate government action.

However, a 1995 analysis by proponents of global warming theory concluded that the world's governments can wait up to 25 years to take action with no appreciable negative effect on the environment. T.M.L. Wigley, R. Richels and J.A. Edmonds followed the common scientific assumption that a realistic goal of global warming policy would be to stabilize the concentration of atmospheric CO₂ at approximately twice preindustrial levels, or 550 parts per million by volume. Given that economic growth will continue with a concomitant rise in greenhouse gas emissions, the scientists agreed that stabilization at this level is environmentally sound as well as politically and economically feasible. They also concluded that:

• Governments can cut emissions now to approximately 9 billion tons per year or wait until 2020 and cut emissions by 12 billion tons per year.

• Either scenario would result in the desired CO₂ concentration of 550 parts per million.

• Delaying action until 2020 would yield an insignificant temperature rise of 0.2 degrees Celsius by 2100.

In short, our policymakers need not act in haste and ignorance. The government has time to gather more data, and industry has time to devise new ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Myth # 4: Human-Caused Global Warming Will Cause Cataclysmic Environmental Problems. Proponents of the theory of human-caused global warming argue that it is causing and will continue to cause all manner of environmental catastrophes, including higher ocean levels and increased hurricane activity. Reputable scientists, including those working on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations organization created to study the causes and effects of global climate warming, reject these beliefs.

Sea levels are rising around the globe, though not uniformly. In fact, sea levels have risen more than 300 feet over the last 18,000 years - far predating any possible human impact. Rising sea levels are natural in between ice ages. Contrary to the predictions of global warming theorists, the current rate of increase is slower than the average rate over the 18,000-year period.

Periodic media reports link human-caused climate changes to more frequent tropical cyclones or more intense hurricanes. Tropical storms depend on warm ocean surface temperatures (at least 26 degrees Celsius) and an unlimited supply of moisture. Therefore, the reasoning goes, global warming leads to increased ocean surface temperatures, a greater uptake of moisture and destructive hurricanes. But recent data show no increase in the number or severity of tropical storms, and the latest climate models suggest that earlier models making such connections were simplistic and thus inaccurate.

• Since the 1940s the National Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory has documented a decrease in both the intensity and number of hurricanes.

• From 1991 through 1995, relatively few hurricanes occurred, and even the unusually intense 1995 hurricane season did not reverse the downward trend.

• The 1996 IPCC report on climate change found a worldwide significant increase in tropical storms unlikely; some regions may experience increased activity while others will see fewer, less severe storms.

Since factors other than ocean temperature such as wind speeds at various altitudes seem to play a larger role than scientists previously understood, most agree that any regional changes in hurricane activity will continue to occur against a backdrop of large yearly natural variations.

What about other effects of warming? If a slight atmospheric warming occurred, it would primarily affect nighttime temperatures, lessening the number of frosty nights and extending the growing season. Thus some scientists think a global warming trend would be an agricultural boon. Moreover, historically warm periods have been the most conducive to life. Most of the earth's plant life evolved in a much warmer, carbon dioxide-filled atmosphere.

Conclusion. As scientists expose the myths concerning global warming, the fears of an apocalypse should subside. So rather than legislating in haste and ignorance and repenting at leisure, our government should maintain rational policies, based on science and adaptable to future discoveries.

This Brief Analysis was prepared by H. Sterling Burnett, environmental policy analyst

with the

National Center for Policy Analysis

*Forgot to add this. The articles in the magazine gush over Robert F. Kennedy, Julia Roberts, and George Clooney's environmentalism. You see, recently Clooney bought a Tango, an ultra narrow, fully electric, zero emission, two seater that goes from 0-60 m.p.h. in four seconds and has the ability to go 150. Because as Clooney says, "If you're doing a movie about oil consumption and corruption, you can't just talk the talk, you have to walk the walk."

No word yet on whether Clooney will be giving up air conditioning and heating and flying on private jets to his many homes. Oh, yes. The price of this oh so environmental car??? $108,000.

Walk the walk indeed.

Michael Yon.

He gives us what we need to read.

____Michael Yon's_____

FRONTLINE FORUM

No Filters. Just Real Soldiers with Real Stories.

For my lefties, Michael has never endorsed Bush that I know of, so go read...don't be afraid.

h/t BigDog

Did you know Friday was National Cleavage Day?

Because heaven knows we don't obsess enough in this country about breasts.

Here are some fun facts!

"In 1943, aviation technology-inspired film director Howard Hughes to invent a cantilevered, steel-boned bra to hold up Jane Russell's bosom.
It was a man called Otto Titzling, however, who claimed to have invented the modern brassiere in 1912.
Ninety years later, technology has come a long way.
The Ultrabra Airotic can apparently inflate a woman's bust size by up to two cup sizes through the use of airbags.
The Playtex Wonderbra, meanwhile, has received a 21st century update, with the addition of the Variable Cleavage and the Pump Action models to the range.
"For maximum cleavage, just pull the strings together on Variable Cleavage to draw your bust together, said a spokesman.
Or for cleavage that will blow your mind, pump up the impact with Pump Action, the revolutionary new air bra that is simply too good to keep hidden.
Even Marks & Spencer has got in on the act, with their "revolutionary new Bioform bra, which is available in the Worcester store.
The Bioform boasts a special `boomerang' component that creates a superb shape with a three dimensional under-cup, guaranteed to give the most flattering line to the bust, said a spokesman.
We sure have come a long way since 16th and 17th Century upper class French women rubbed pigeon droppings and toads eyes into their breasts."

Leave it to the French to think crap works...Heh.

Isn't all that pump up, inflate, and airbag stuff false advertising??? And btw, is it even necessary to advertise???? You never see sugar advertised, do you? Everyone loves sugar.

I mean, think about it.

via Instapundit

Because life is not a "24" TV show.

Some things take time to get out. If you weren't convinced before that this war had to be fought. Maybe you will be now:

"These documents add to the growing body of evidence confirming the Iraqi regime's longtime support for terrorism abroad. The first of them, a series of memos from the spring of 2001, shows that the Iraqi Intelligence Service funded Abu Sayyaf, despite the reservations of some IIS officials. The second, an internal Iraqi Intelligence memo on the relationships between the IIS and Saudi opposition groups, records that Osama bin Laden requested Iraqi cooperation on terrorism and propaganda and that in January 1997 the Iraqi regime was eager to continue its relationship with bin Laden. The third, a September 15, 2001, report from an Iraqi Intelligence source in Afghanistan, contains speculation about the relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda and the likely U.S. response to it."

h/t BigDog

Just In Time For Passover...

What fun for the kids!

"Ages 3 & up Keeps the kids entertained during Passover. This plush yellow plagues bag contains representations for all of the plagues (not necessarily in the correct order):

A spooky eyed drop of blood
A Frog for frogs—of course
A Giant Lice for lice.
Cow for cattle disease
Black Locust for locusts
A white satin lump of hail
A black cube of darkness
An icky boil on a piece of flesh!
A snarling lion's head for wild beasts

The frog, lice, cow and locust wriggle and roll their eyes, quiver, buzz and move when you pull their string and are apx 4.5" long.
and last of all a very sad head - for death of the first born."

My favorite is an icky boil on a piece of flesh! I mean what kid doesn't love playing with that? And have you ever seen lice? Now that's a cuddly stuffed animal everyone should have.

I can't believe this is real. But it looks legit.

via boing boing

A Good Leak.

President Bush is defended and Joe Wilson is a liar. And we read all about it in the......are you ready???.....drumroll............The Washington Post.

Wonders never cease.

via Ace

Let's talk McCain.

Because I know ya'll love it so much!

The Captain has an excellent post on McCain's ever evolving political moves. I have to disagree a bit with him though. All my libertarian/conservative friends HATE McCain for pushing through the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, which restricts political speech based on proximity to the election. I totally understand it. But did it ever occur to anyone that maybe, just maybe, it might help in all the vile evil last minute personal attacks that might be avoided here? (The last minute revelation of the DWI Bush received when he was young comes to mind) The Democrats waited until the last minute for a reason you know!

I mean, it does have some substance to it. You may disagree, but you have to admit that. It is bad to want to restrict political speech, but given what political speech has become you can hardly blame someone for wanting to do so. Having said that, I DO disagree with it.

The Captain goes on to bash McCain over the immigration compromise. You all know my feelings on this. Compromise is the ONLY solution. It's time for us to all realize this or NOTHING will get done.

It is not hypocritical to reach out to the far right closer to election time. Every Republican candidate does it.

Look. I know McCain isn't perfect, but in the next year I will try to convince you of why he is our best chance to keep the Republicans in power.

Have I mentioned lately that....

Greyhawk from Mudville rocks? Seriously. If you aren't reading this American Warrior, then you don't squat about what is going on in Iraq. It's not just what he writes either. It's about all the warrior blogs he links. They tell a story that all of us who care about this war need to be reading.

Today, Greyhawk takes us down memory lane with pundits who were wrong, stupid, and otherwise just jackasses. But this is the line that does it for me:

"I think when it comes to nations with children's prisons that's all the reason we need for a war.

Which is not to say we can cure all the world's ills - just that I don't mind trying."

I couldn't have said it better myself.

From Powerline:

"This is Iraqi Liberation Day, the third anniversary of the liberation of Iraq. Casualties are declining, and, if Iraq's politicians don't fumble the ball completely, that country should be on the brink of becoming the world's first Arab democracy. Pretty much all the credit goes to our superb armed forces. Check out Families United for Our Troops and Their Mission for more information, and consider lending your support."