Motherhood vs. The Nanny State

Feminine Genius has a great summary post on why the nanny state is insidiously evil and how motherhood is triumphing.

I am so thankful to have a wife willing to raise our children and the means to provide the best care-giver to my children.

A Brown Thanksgiving

I finally succeeded in reading The DaVinci Code over Thanksgiving, putting my family and in-laws through about two dozen sighs of disbelief and tirades against various egregious errors in the text. I actually kinda like his writing, as an intellectual adventure a la Indiana Jones. I just wish Brown had common sense and the ability to reason, although I am aware that these qualities are often lacking in ex-patriate Americans. I read so much about the book that there weren't many surprises but the surprises that did get me were pleasant. I tried not to complain about the obvious research errors and focused on using reason to point out the stupidities.

Here is my hit list:

1. How secret can a secret organization be if a list of all of its members is in a government library and is titled, "The Secret Dossiers?"

2. Do benevolent organizations that claim to care about the truth, continue to hide that truth, even after 'all the experts' have suggested it?

3. Dan Brown always wants to have his cake and eat it. How can the true nature of the Holy Grail be a secret if dozens of books have been written about it?

4. The left side has been associated with evil since the ancient Greeks. This would make them misogynists as well, since according to him femininity has always been associated with the left side.

5. Judaism in the years B.C. also didn't allow women as priests so the non-conspiracy goes back to them as well.

6. The Catholic Church and Islam are the only major world religions that continue to associate intercourse and fertility, every other one has separated them with contraception. That makes the Church and Islam the only true 'fertility cults.'

The Keystone is not the Only Stone

One of my dear wife's favorite bloggers, MommyLife, has apparently decided to swim the Tiber. I love reading her story and vicariously feeling the rush of conversion that I felt for my wife, Jen of Et-tu, and Francis Beckwith.

However, the comments reminded me of a smaller conversion in my own life, the conversion from "business casual" (sneakers, jeans, sweater) to business casual (shoes, slacks, button-down shirt, tie, sometimes sweater). Everyone always asked why I did it, but no one expected more than one reason. I had at least six reasons but everyone would zone out after one or two. I contemplated the conversion for months, piling up the pros and cons. The final tipping point, or keystone, was when my wife said that she always dreamed of having a husband who came home in professional attire, but there was a large edifice already constructed. MommyLife seemed to have been convince of Catholicism by the political arm of pro-life movement which she saw as mostly Catholic. Her commentors hook onto this little issue and miss the edifice which supports it, doing a dishonor to her and the Christian faith.

Omnipotent Bachelorhood

I noticed during my last bout of bachelorhood that being the only person in a house encourages feelings of omnipotence. The only things that entered the house were those which I brought and everything stayed where I put it. I felt sorta God-like in my humble abode. On the contrary, being part of a family teaches humility, since I had little idea of where things came from, or where they were going when there were little ones toddling about.

Eden Regained

by: James F. Volpe

A review of The Thrill of the Chaste
by: Dawn Eden


I must admit that I was salivating over the thought of reading this book for months. I am an avid reader of Ms. Eden's blog, The Dawn Patrol, and her writing style impressed me. The book does not slack from her witty, concise, and current prose. She shares many of her experiences with unchastity in a humorous, frank manner. Most amazingly, she shares these intimate moments without being gossipy and gratuitous in detail. It is rare these days to find any popular books which don't contain gratuitous sexual imagery or innuendo, so for a book which is dealing heavily with this subject to handle it tactfully is very impressive.

Throughout the book, Ms. Eden wove in the Christian understanding of marital relations by juxtaposing it with the Sex and the City philosophy as espoused by Carrie Bradshaw from the popular television show. Not surprisingly, her experience taught her that television deluded its viewers. Television, and pop culture in general, had shown strong women as those who used sex to get love. She actively followed this philosophy for years until realizing that it had not led to any serious, loving relationship and, furthermore, it was turning her into someone who was incapable of finding such a relationship. Once she knew this, she began actively loving everyone, instead of just those who took her to bed. She turned herself into a loving person, so that she can hopefully find the man that the Lord has for her. Resigned that the Lord may have other plans for her, she shared how she is far closer to marriage now than she ever was in the past.

The book defied my expectations by being more than the memoir of a past, sinful life but also an insightful look into how the ways of the world had deceived a young girl while the ways of the Lord brought her hope and fulfillment, while keeping her clothes on.

Drinking alone

Useful co-sleeping tip #6: Don't drink and sleep.

It seems reasonable to take all possible precautions when co-sleeping, since this is a world that, in general, will not support your choice to co-sleep. This severely reduces the amount of alcohol which can safely be imbibed. I find myself drinking the most when I am alone, that is, on nights when Jen is away with the girls.

I suppose this isn't really a co-sleeping tip, so much as a statement of fact.

And, yes, drinking makes me use appositives more frequently, why do you ask?

Go about Your Business, Nothing to See Here

Yet another study indicating severe medical consequences from contraception. I find it interesting that various life changes (stop smoking, exercise more) are suggested except for the culprit (stop contracepting). Where are medical malpractice attorneys when you need them? Can you imagine the same advice being dished out if Lipitor showed the same consequences?

Only Questions

I love to use this blog to share deep and meaningful insights which draw my readers closer to the great mystery of Love, Himself. However, recently I am full only of questions sparked in bizarre corners of my mind by Robert Kiyosaki. I wish to be a true man, knowing that if I live the truth, I follow Him who is Truth.

This book causes me to think it is truer manhood to be a business owner and investor than to be a well-paid employee. It is all difficult to ponder. Being a provider is one of the standard fatherly criteria which I accept, and now I wonder how independent a provider I have to be, even though I know I am entirely depended on the Provider of All Good Things. But He is independent, isn't He?