The most brilliant leader in centuries—Benedict XVI

“It will remember him as the greatest and most learned intellect ever to occupy the Chair of Peter. No public official in our time has been anywhere near his intellectual equal. This disparity is itself the cause of much disorder, if we grant, as we must, that truth is the essence of intellect and indeed order. In reading Benedict, I have always been struck by how familiar he is not just with the Old and New Testaments (in their original languages) but with his constant referring to the Fathers of the Church, especially Augustine, and the intellectual popes like Gregory the Great and Leo the Great, and also Irenaeus, Basil, Maximius, Origen, Bonaventure, and I do not know them all.

He knows German philosophy well, and always cites Plato. He is at home with all the Marxist philosophers. Indeed, in Spe Salvi, he cited two of the most famous ones as witness to the logical need of a resurrection of the body. Benedict is a member of one of the French academies. No one has really begun to do his homework on what this pope has thought his way through. The media and most universities are, basically, hopeless. I suspect his final opera omni in a critical German edition will equal in length that of Augustine, Aquinas, and Bonaventure.”

“What Benedict did [in Jesus of Nazareth, 3 vol.] was to state, in brief, his considered opinion and research. He concluded that all the evidence available to us over a 2,000-year period, including the latest scientific evidence, indicates that Jesus Christ is who He said He was.”

Father James Schall, Georgetown University political science professor 

To our free press

The debt limit—this explains it

How to keep people poor and bankrupt the middle class

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in a report on February 11, about one-sixth of federal spending went to “means-tested welfare” in 2011 through 10 major programs.  Medicaid is the biggest chunk, and the second-largest is the food stamp program. 

                

Eligibility for these programs has expanded as has the generosity of the benefits. They are a disincentive both to work harder or smarter or advance, and a disincentive for marriage, so they have probably hurt women and children the most.

Americans required to pledge allegiance to Mexico in Spanish language class in Texas

“RIO GRANDE VALLEY, Texas - Every day students in Texas public schools pledge allegiance to the flags of the United States and Texas.

But when  teacher  Reyna Santos in a Rio Grande Valley high school assigned students to stand and pledge allegiance to the Mexican flag and sing Mexico's national anthem, one student, Brenda Brinsdon, refused.

The resulting controversy has one East Texas lawmaker wanting changes in the state's curriculum on how culture and patriotism are taught in schools.”

http://www.wfaa.com/news/education/Texas-high-school-students-say-Mexican-pledge-sing-anthem-One-refuses-134287008.html

“As an alternative task to reciting the pledge and anthem, she was assigned an essay on the history of the Mexican revolution — an assignment for which she received a failing grade.

According to a lawsuit, filed in federal court Wednesday (Feb. 27), Brinsdon was not allowed to return to the Spanish class after her story received media coverage. She was made to sit in the office each day instead of attend class and ultimately failed the course.”

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/02/28/texas-teen-suing-school-district-after-she-was-punished-for-not-reciting-mexican-national-anthem-in-class/

The Obama Fan

A teacher asked her 6th grade class how many of them were  Obama fans.

Not really knowing what an Obama fan is, but wanting to be liked by the teacher, all the kids raised their hands except for Little Johnny.

The teacher asked Little Johnny why he has decided to be different…AGAIN.

Little Johnny said, “Because I’m not an Obama fan.”

The teacher asked, “Why aren’t you a fan of Obama?”

Johnny said, “Because I’m a Republican.”

The teacher asked him why he’s a Republican. Little Johnny answered, “Well, my Mom’s a Republican and my Dad’s a Republican, so I’m a Republican.”

Annoyed by this answer, the teacher asked, “If your mom were a moron and your dad were an idiot, what would that make YOU?”
With a big smile, Little Johnny replied,

“THAT WOULD MAKE ME AN OBAMA FAN.”

Let a fictitious physician from Ayn Rand’s imagination almost 60 years ago explain it

A retired doctor posted this on Facebook today and it is the direction our President is taking us in healthcare faster than even his most loyal supporters could have imagined in 2007.  It is from Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (1957): 

“I quit when medicine was placed under State control some years ago,” said Dr. Hendricks. “Do you know what it takes to perform a brain operation? Do you know the kind of skill it demands, and the years of passionate, merciless, excruciating devotion that go to acquire that skill? That was what I could not place at the disposal of men whose sole qualification to rule me was their capacity to spout the fraudulent generalities that got them elected to the privilege of enforcing their wishes at the point of a gun. I would not let them dictate the purpose for which my years of study had been spent, or the conditions of my work, or my choice of patients, or the amount of my reward. I observed that in all the discussions that preceded the enslavement of medicine, men discussed everything—except the desires of the doctors. Men considered only the ‘welfare’ of the patients, with no thought for those who were to provide it. That a doctor should have any right, desire or choice in the matter, was regarded as irrelevant selfishness; his is not to choose, they said, but ‘to serve.’ That a man’s willing to work under compulsion is too dangerous a brute to entrust with a job in the stockyards—never occurred to those who proposed to help the sick by making life impossible for the healthy. I have often wondered at the smugness at which people assert their right to enslave me, to control my work, to force my will, to violate my conscience, to stifle my mind—yet what is it they expect to depend on, when they lie on an operating table under my hands? Their moral code has taught them to believe that it is safe to rely on the virtue of their victims. Well, that is the virtue I have withdrawn. Let them discover the kind of doctors that their system will now produce. Let them discover, in the operating rooms and hospital wards, that it is not safe to place their lives in the hands of a man they have throttled. It is not safe, if he is the sort of man who resents it—and still less safe, if he is the sort who doesn’t.”

http://blog.aynrandcenter.org/the-forgotten-man-of-socialized-medicine-and-us/

Shakespearean Insults

You’re nothing but a yeasty, milk-livered maggot pie; Oh yeah? Take that, you paunchy, rump-fed pignut.

While Chicken Little squeaks about the sky falling, look what’s going on in DC

While Obama threatens the rest of us with miniscule cuts, look what's going up for Homeland Security employees--a palace--the largest ever--1.3 million square foot complex (phase 1) the largest since they built the Pentagon in WWII. My, what do they have in mind for the little people? And this is just one of the many construction projects in and around Washington. There has been no recession there either for gov't employees or private "partnerships" with construction firms and banks. http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/133423

Ayesha shares her son with you

“I remember my first abortion like it was yesterday. There are times I revisit those days and play back all chaos in my life. I think about some of the words spoken to me: "This is for the best" "Trust me", "You are too young, this will ruin your life." "How will you finish school ; what kind of life will you be able to give this child?" I even remember the moment in the room, when I changed my mind and said, "Hello, is there anyone out there, I want change my mind." and the nurse came by and said it was too late. I remember every moment so clearly sometimes and it always sends me to a place of what if. I wonder what he would have looked like, I wonder how it would have changed my life, I wonder what he would have been today?

Yes, there is great sadness, but it is okay because in the end I have let my children live and the lord says that in letting our children live we can find Joy. John 16:21 - A woman when she is in travail has sorrow, because her hour has come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembers no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.

This is part of why so many woman have such pain and shame. They suffer in silence, never admitting to the sin of killing their child and thus never letting go of the burden or travail of pregnancy. In coming out and letting the child live even in such a small way as this, we allow healing to begin. It is hard to relive such painful memories, but I remember the times when I did not even admit I was in pain. I would rather feel the pain and release the shame than live in darkness and allow the enemy to win.

I get to imagine he would have been a great man of God, whom the Lord is well pleased....”

Shared from her Facebook post, March 1, 2013, with permission.

Could the federal government ever do what Starbucks did?

In January 2009 the stock of Starbucks was about $7, and today it’s in the mid-fifties, down a little from a few months ago.  So how did they turn it around without a government stimulus package?

“The company cut costs when a serious recession hit the economy in 2008. Raises were slashed to a minimal amount, vacation and personal time was cut and the health plan was altered to require more out-of-pocket expenses on the part of employees. The company pushed product sales hard, requiring managers to more aggressively market retail items such as coffee mugs, coffee makers and ground coffee to their walk-in customers.

Recently, the company has made some changes to improve its compensation for management employees. Starbucks has maintained health-care coverage as well as a stock-option program, known as Bean Stock. The company has also increased its contributions to its 401(k) program a retirement savings plan that is available to hourly and salaried employees.”

Read more: The Average Salary of a Starbucks Store Manager | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_7486618_average-salary-starbucks-store-manager.html#ixzz2MIILv2l9

Sadly, no one in this administration and very few in Congress have business experience, and when they get to Washington it’s like having play money to spend.

Just a few more weeks ‘til Spring

Reporting on the Pope by the media

Perhaps this is apocryphal, but apparently there was a reporter assigned to the Holy See by a major news agency who got to Rome and wanted to know where the sea was. It was told as an example of how little the regular media know about spiritual matters.

I wondered about Shepard Smith today on Fox Report, when in the afternoon show he gave a few minutes to today's historic event of the Pope becoming emeritus and instead used his time to mention sex scandals in the church involving boys and priests. Fortunately, there was a guest who set him straight (no pun intended). If he had said gay priests, he could have narrowed it down to a few, but then would have been accused of homophobia. But to be anti-Catholic and condemn a faith of l.2 billion people is OK. 

Shepard Smith needs to open a newspaper and see what’s going on in the schools.

I watched his 7 p.m. show on Fox News to see if he’d actually report just the news of this historic day. He did.  Maybe he got my e-mail.

Pope Benedict’s final words

“You know that today is different than previous ones. I’m no longer the Pope. Until 8:00 p.m. I am, but then afterwards I am no longer Pope of the Catholic Church,” he said.

Pope Benedict then offered a window into how he sees this stage of his life.

“I’m simply a pilgrim that is starting the last stage of his pilgrimage on Earth,” he remarked, “but I would still like with my heart, with my love, with my prayer, with my reflection, with all my inner strength to work for the common good of the Church and of humanity, and I feel very supported by your sympathy.
“Let’s go ahead together with the Lord for the good of the Church and of the world,”

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/popes-last-words-thank-you-for-your-friendship-and-love/

A kind of madness

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/27/us-usa-fiscal-woodward-idUSBRE91Q11620130227

I searched through 4 pages of Google trying to find this reported in the MSM.

How more money affects educational success

Or, not much.

Trayvon v. Olijawon

The media decided the death of Trayvon Martin, a black teen, a story worthy to be trumpeted across the nation as race hatred because the man who killed him in FL was, they thought, white (actually he was Hispanic).  But when black teen Olijawon Griffin was robbed of his jacket and phone by nine other black teens and then stabbed to death when he tried to get it back in DC, it only made a blip on the local news there.  Black on black crime just doesn't sell or get the journalism award. (He had a FB page—I looked at his football and h.s. graduation photos).

When his mom, Lunette Griffin, wept and went to court, it didn't make the news in Columbus or LA or the cable news channels like when Trayvon's parents did.  The president didn't expand on or stir up racial tensions with the story and say Olijawon could have been his son.  The one year anniversary of Olijawon's death in November will not be observed except by family and friends. Trayvon's mom is  interviewed on gun violence. No one will interview Lunette about knives or gangs of teens who roam the streets of DC.  Why?  It would meet no political agenda for the President or the media. Black teens robbing and killing a black teenager with a knife will not set any racial fires smoldering or pass any new gun laws. 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/six-teens-indicted-on-murder-charges-in-stabbing-at-woodley-park-metro-station/2013/02/27/d9e20b5a-812d-11e2-b99e-6baf4ebe42df_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines

The decline of Rome

It’s been interesting to see Rome the last few days on TV via Vatican TV as the final 48 hours of Pope Benedict XVI have been broadcast.  But 700 years ago, things weren’t looking good for the mighty city.

"In the early 1400s the Eternal City must have been, in most respects, a wretchedly uninspiring sight, a parent that the Florentines may well have wished to disown. A million people had dwelled in Rome during the height of the Empire, but now the city's population was less than that of Florence. The Black Death of 1348 had reduced numbers to 20,000, from which, over the next fifty years, they rose only slightly. Rome had shrunk into a tiny area inside its ancient walls, retreating from the seven hills to huddle among a few streets on the bank of the Tiber across from St. Peter's, whose walls were in danger of collapse. Foxes and beggars roamed the filthy streets. Livestock grazed in the Forum now known as il Campo Vaccino, 'the Field of Cows.'

"Other monuments had suffered even worse fates. The Temple of Jupiter was a dunghill, and both the Theater of Pompey and the Mausoleum of Augustus had become quarries from which the ancient masonry was scavenged, some of it for buildings as far away as Westminster Abbey. Many ancient statues lay in shards, half buried, while others had been burned in kilns to make quicklime or else fertilizer for the feeble crops. Still others were mangers for asses and oxen. The funerary monument of Agrippina the Elder, the mother of Caligula, had been turned into a measure for grain and salt.

"Rome was a dangerous and unappealing place. There were earthquakes, fevers, and endless wars, the latest of which, the War of the Eight Saints, witnessed English mercenaries laying waste to the city. There was no trade or industry apart from the pilgrims who arrived from all over Europe, clutching copies of Mirabilia urbis romae (The Wonders of Rome), which told them which relics to see during their stay. This guidebook directed them to such holy sights as the finger bone of St. Thomas in Santa Croce, in Gerusalemme, the arm of St. Anne and the head of the Samaritan woman converted by Christ in San Paolo fuori le Mura, or the crib of the infant Savior in Santa Maria Maggiore. There was a hucksterish atmosphere to the city: pardoners sold indulgences from stalls in the street, and churches advertised confessions that were supposedly good for a remission of infernal torture for a grand total of 8,000 years.

"The Mirabilia urbis romae did not direct the attention of the pilgrims to the Roman remains that surrounded them. To such pious Christians these ancient ruins were so much heathen idolatry. Worse, they were stained with the blood of Christian martyrs. The Baths of Diocletian, for example, were built with the forced labor of early Christians, many of whom had died during the construction. Antique images that had survived a millennium of earthquakes, erosion, and neglect were therefore deliberately trampled underfoot, spat on, or thrown to the ground and smashed to pieces."

From Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture by Ross King, Penguin Books, 2000

Obamacare adds to restaurant costs

Thank God for the nanny state. I truly believed Death by Chocolate had fewer calories than mixed vegetables. Now that I know better, I'll never, never eat that bad stuff again.

http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2013/02/21/restaurants-prepare-cost-new-menus-mandated-obamacare

“Section 4205 of Obama’s law requires restaurants and similar retail food establishments with 20 or more locations to list calorie content information for standard menu items on all menus and menu boards, including drive-through boards. The law also requires vending machine operators who own or operate 20 or more vending machines to disclose calorie content for certain items.”

Notice how these regulations on size just keep businesses from expanding, denying jobs to people who need them?

A man for all flavors