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?

A Baby's Breath Silent Auction

The Silent Auction to raise funds for a local crisis pregnancy center is on November 9 at Columbia Station. Please come, just don't bid against me for the Wii.

Some of the items up for grabs are: a set of braces (val $5,000, min bid - $2,600), signed Eagles (Westbrook and Dawkins) jerseys, signed Dawkins football, signed Chase Utley baseball, tickets to the Eagles, Sixers, Villanova and Wings games, the hot video game Wii, a home catered dinner for six by Satisfying Suppers, tickets to The High School Musical, Rivercrest, artwork, jewelry and more.

Public Service

I became a catechist for my parish as a way to serve, and to study the schooling system as it exists in the modern world. As a teacher in-service evening, we attended a dinner and presentation designed to give catechists from all over the county (technically cluster) a chance to learn and share ideas and helpful pedagogy.

The discussion amongst me and my fellow teachers was truly invaluable and enlightening. It was the best advice and encouragement I could possibly have received, including support in my desire to have my children homeschooled. Unfortunately, the presentation by Dr. Eileen McGrath of RCL publications was, at best, unhelpful and, at worst, a temptation away from the faith. I could only stomach an hour of the presentation since it was a better use of my time to return home and tuck my girls into bed. Her sources and experts consisted primarily of self-help gurus like Robbins, Dyer, and Chopra. Her main thrust seemed to be the power of positive thinking as "self-care." I had no idea how this applied to catechists and the best application I have come up with in the last week is not to harangue your students. As if I needed that warning.

Some of her talking points seemed to directly contradict Church teaching, such as, "We are not born negative." I believe that original sin and its stain are pretty big negatives. The other tired teaching she spouted was, "We are made in the image of God so we are divine." If I was divine, there would have been a small, concentrated spurt of fire and brimstone at that point, therefore, I am not divine. I can only send out this small public service announcement to my readers. If you want to learn the faith, read a the life of a saint or the Catechism or the Bible just not anything written by Dr. Eileen McGrath.

Real Education

David Warren has another brilliant essay. Not an explicit advocation for homeschooling, yet a mighty strong stab at the beast of industrial education.

What I Need to Know about Feminism, I Learned in Kindergarten

The most basic precept of kindergarten: boys go in the boys' restroom and girls go in the girls' restroom.

I pray that this distinction is never forgotten, although some states are attempting to eradicate it. In this spirit, I have segregated my links appropriately and added two brilliant blogs: Feminine Genius and Et-tu. Check them out if you haven't already.

Class Already!

We will be teaching a class on Friday October 26. It's a feast or famine business, sometimes we have no students for months, other times we have to start one class before we have finished the previous one.

E-mail me if you want to sign up for this class as a refresher or a new student couple.

Too Much, Too Fast

Peter, at With a Grain of Salt, has two excellent posts up. The first pertains to birth control and over-population with an excellent chart showing that while the population has doubled in the last fifty years, the GDP has quintupled. The second deals with some snide comments that Church is not for men.

Thanks Peter, for all the great thoughts to mull over.

In Case You Haven't Considered Homeschooling Yet

This is a great article, I am thankful when anyone on the AP notes that this is happening. The only thing I don't like is the figures used. They naturally encouraged comparison but were not on the same scale. The article says that there were 2,570 teacher who were punished for sexual misconduct in the years 2001-2005. The number given for the Church was 4400 priests accused from 1950-2002. The first problem is comparing punishments to accusations since obviously there are more accusals than punishments. The second problem is comparing a 4 year span to a 52 year span. The yearly rate of abuse is 662 punishments/year for teachers versus 89 accusations/year for priests. That means for every 8 teachers who are found guilty of abuse, one priest is accused.

I know that number is this field are hard to acquire and difficult to trust and I don't fault the AP for reporting what it did, since I'd rather some news about this come out as opposed to the media blackout which is the norm. It would be nice for a follow-up article to go into the governmental protections afforded to public schools (for example, a cap on potential awards in a trial) and the lack of protections afforded to private schools and the Church since this disparity is why so many sharks circled the Church yet none feast on public schools.

CHT: Curt Jester

Stop Me If You've Been Here Before

Well, I've been reading Rich Dad's Prophecy for the past few weeks, and I'm thinking of investigating further. Now, I've read a few books like this and I hate the power of positive thinking but this guy seems different. It could be that I'm frustrated with work. It could be that I've seen a few "signs" and I might be making too much of them. It could be that my daughters are growing faster than daisies on Miracle-Gro and I just want to be home so much. But the author makes a lot of good points based on reason, economics, and law, and I feel obliged to investigate but I don't want this to consume me or my family either through loss of time or loss of money.

I would love to hear from any father who has tread this ground before. I could use some good advisors and prayers. I hope to figure this out quickly.

Paydirt

Every now and then I get the hankering to track down someone I was friends with in college just to see what google can turn up. To that end, I recently made my best discovery ever when I turned up this page. Apparently, the husband of a dear college friend took the time to write a book and get it published by Lulu, a publish-on-demand company. I ordered the paperback yesterday so I am eagerly waiting its arrival. Although my book queue is pretty deep and this book isn't a genre I would usually read, I hope to delve into it soon.

This discovery also allowed me to do one of my favorite hobbies, which is giving free publicity to my friends' various ventures.

You better click all those links! Don't you want to know what my friends are up to? C'mon!

In Unheard News

Not that I follow any major media outlets anymore, but this story is heartening, not just for the right thing being done, but for judges actually judging instead of arbitrarily striking down laws.

Good News

Though many of us were saddened at the loss of ProLifeSearch, it seems a trustworthy group has taken up the mantle and started ProLifeInternet on the same premises. Hopefully, this time the money will do more good.

It's good to have a home page again.

Smart Women Reveal All

There is a great post on Danielle Bean's site. The best quote from the comments is:

Men, generally, do not understand the concept of the "hint."

Guys, read it all to learn what your wives are thinking. There are many treasures in this refreshingly frank conversation.