Margaret Sanger's Minions

Finally, a chance to write about NFP and the news. It seems our President has decided that the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives should busy itself with family planning. I was dumbfounded to hear this news since every blurb about this office before January 20, 2009 also included the words "separation of church and state." Apparently the ACLU is okay with this office as long as its mandate is to reduce the unwanted poor children. This is exactly the tactic which Margaret Sanger, foundress of Planned Parenthood, advocated to eliminate the poor and minorities. In light of the Speaker of the House saying that contraception provides financial stimulus through reducing the number of kids on government health insurance, it seems that Margaret Sanger is required at the DNC.

I pray that one day this illusion of "caring for the poor" by preventing their births will be publicly mocked and ridiculed so that we can get back to the scriptural command of feeding the poor (personally, instead of through a giant bureaucracy).

In Case You Still Need a Reason to be Pro-life

From a good friend comes this horrendous story. A warning that the immense evil will probably make you queasy. How come a "clinic" that cares for women would charge a woman $1200 when she doesn't have the means to even support a child? $1200 would easily pay for a child's expense to the age of 6 months. I love the maturity line as well since it reflects society so well and it is completely backwards. To paraphrase G.K. Chesterton, the best thing about children is that they make adults.

At least there are organizations that help people for free. You could almost say that they actually care about women.

Almost Aesop

A book review of "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" by J.K. Rowling

I am surprised by how well the fairy tales of this book stand on their own, not just as small bits in the massive Harry Potter universe. I was expecting a lot of inside jokes and lore pertaining to the world of the boy with the lightning scar but each story made a satisfactory fable all by itself. Since no one other than Dumbledore himself writes the analysis of each fable, all the Potter trivia is still in the book, just not in the stories. This construct works amazingly well with the only hiccup being the forward, where the author has the annoying habit of writing as if she and her charity live in the world of Harry Potter and converse with the characters. Fortunately this small error, like the typo of an unmatched parenthesis on p. 85, are easy to overlook and I only found myself hoping that the book could continue beyond the far too brief hundred pages.

We Bad, We Bad!

Check out our council, all the way at the bottom of this page.

False Idols and Network Marketing

I feel that I've blogged on this before and it seems like quite the stumbling block to people who are otherwise interested in home-based business that I must comment on it.

Basically, the faith spreads like network marketing. Even though there have been some recent, excellent advertising campaigns about the Church and the faith. They are basically a rearguard effort where people who have fallen away return to the Church, which is glorious, but they don't seem to win new converts. The converts that I know either sell themselves into the Church by reading or they meet exceedingly kind and knowledgeable Catholics who listen and answer questions.

It is my sincere hope that network marketing will teach me how to listen to people and answer their questions so that I can transfer that skill to my faith life. Of course, I hope that it can do this without becoming a false idol or I will have to jettison it faster than a lifeboat on the Titanic. I have read accounts of people and even met some who acted as though their business was their God. I firmly believe that this is such a turn-off that these businesses will fail and businesses which know their proper place behind God and family will quietly grow and outlast the misguided ones. That is how good triumphs, a firm foundation and steady growth.

May the Church and my business be so blessed.

PNFPN Conference

Philadelphia Natural Family Planning Network

&

Philadelphia Catholic Medical Association

&

St. Mary Medical Center

Present

THE THRILL OF THE CHASTE

DO ABSTINENCE PROGRAMS REALLY WORK?

Saturday MARCH 7, 2009

8:00 AM- 3:00 PM

OUR LADY OF GOOD COUNSEL TRINITY PARISH CENTER

611 KNOWLES AVE

SOUTHAMPTON, PA 18966

Additional information available at www.pnfpn.org

Dear Jon

I admit that I liked the idea of the Daily Show but it seemed to immediately degenerate into the same ol' political humor. I'm glad that humor is still in.

Free Wisdom

I was going to pay for Berkshire Hathaway's shareholder letters and here they are, free and reproduced with permission. Posting may be light for the next year, while I try to read all this good stuff.

Week of Irony

God bless my pastor for calling last week the most ironic week ever in American history. "The dream was fulfilled" and a black man became president the day after a national holiday honoring the founder of the civil rights cause. Consequently, that newly elected president reversed the Mexico City policy and doomed millions of foreign children to death at an abortionist's hands on the day after such barbarism was made the law of the land in this country. In other words, when the oppressed take charge, the first thing they do is find someone else to oppress.

Continuing my tradition from last year, I gathered photos of the various faiths who joined us in the March for Life. In honor of the great Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King:

Jews

Gentiles

Protestants

Catholics
will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

And I will keep marching until justice is served and equality is extended to all members of the human family. I will be a voice for the voiceless.

Because I Hate Bad Science

I forward a brilliant compilation of the various and voluminous refutations of man-made global warming.

No doubt, our educated and erudite government will take these voices into account before issuing destructive carbon emission rules for vehicles.

Direct Growth

Here is a FOX Business segment on direct selling. I think the vice president of the DSA does a good job of dispelling myths and explaining things in the 3 minutes that she has. I was also amazingly relieved to find that the hosts were not presenting bias against the idea in their questions.

But who is the Fuller Brush Salesman?

Rise of the Female Engineers

Tinkerbell is a female engineer heroine. So the first competent Disney engineer is a fairy. I'm glad that Disney has finally honored us engineers with a lead character considering that up until now, Disney engineers were abysmal. We had Belle's father, "crazy, old Maurice" whose wood-chopper nearly decapitates his daughter with flying logs. For civil engineers, there was the beaver in "Lady and the Tramp" who seems competent, since he nearly finishes a dam, but is vulnerable to charlatans who pass off a muzzle as a log-hauler and is so uncoordinated that he almost brains himself in his own backyard. Not a sterling selection.

Actually, I did forget one competent engineer though he has no lines and dies in the first ten minutes of the movie, Tarzan's dad is an engineer to admire. He builds a treehouse with pieces of a shipwrecked boat and keep his family alive for weeks in a hostile land, ultimately giving his life to save his son. We need more engineers like that.

Natural, Naturally

I've been thinking that I should actually define some of my terms, namely, "natural," "family," and, "life." It seems that many of the arguments held in the public square often ignore this first step and consequently, no one learns anything. This is the power of the media when they define something a "right" or a "choice" but refuse to explain the term. So here is my dictionary:

Natural - I'm not a trained philosopher, but I believe I use this term in the correct philosophical sense of the nature of an object. This is amazingly similar to the Object Oriented software use of the term object. That is to say, an object has certain attributes and should behave in a certain way.

Family - By this term, I refer to the usual nuclear family of husband, wife, and children who came from their union. As John Paul II has stated, the family is the building block of society so I believe that all learning and decisions should revolve around this nucleus.

Life - By this word, I am trying to indicate an integration of everything. My intellect, my will, my emotions, my conscience, my enjoyment of video game, my love of books should all result in a more rounded person. If something is out of proportion, the whole edifice can collapse. In short, an integration of myself with the universe and, ultimately, God. You could call it small "c" catholicism.

Glory and Wonderment

The day has finally arrived! Check out this great news! I love this organization and I am thrilled that this has come to pass. Attend the PNFPN conference and meet Dawn Eden! More information to follow.

What Will You Tell Your Children?

I am so honored to have the chance to participate in the greatest civil rights movement in the history of the United States. I love the feel of leaving my family for the day, safe in the home that I provide, and marching on D.C. to provide witness to the millions who have died on the altar of abortion. I'm blessed to live in a country where I can protest the political establishment and come home to my job, my house, my freedom, and my family.

God bless the U.S.A.

What are you trying to catch?

Should any woman wear fishnet stockings to work? Apparently, fishnets are the latest attempt by fashion designers to take something 'edgy' and mainstream it. Within a week of picking up a magazine for women who are professionals (not to be confused with professional women) and reading that fishnets are a fashion necessity, I saw a co-worker wearing them at work. The magazine set the 'standard' as holes smaller than half an inch so that the stockings are still classy and my co-worker's stockings meet this standard. Now, I greatly appreciate when women dress like women in any situation, but modesty would seem a necessity at work. I'm hoping that my co-workers don't see the recent campaign by Bebe and start showing up to work with handcuffs.

I Love These Guys

I know I should have watched this by now, but I had to post it before I forgot about it. I love this apostolate and I hope to see it grow and succeed beyond its founders dreams. I'm proud that these guys are part of my generation.

And I'll watch it soon. I swear.

I Can't Say it Enough

Those fellows at Creative Minority Report have repeated my favorite news story. They have also re-designed the entire website. Check them out.

Have Babies!

I know this has been floating around for a billion years, but I finally watched it at the urging of a good friend. It is a great compilation of some of the things I've been thinking for years. This rapid population implosion is disastrous for society on every level, and things are only beginning to get worse.

Most interestingly, it backs the conclusion that a strict Darwinist is forced to admit that Religion and Faith are proven to be evolutionarily selected. Darwinism states that traits which are better adapted for survival will lead to more offspring from those members of the species who contain those traits. Therefore, since more offspring come from people of faith, faith is better adapted to survival than secular humanism or atheism or any other worldview.

I think I read something like that in a book. Something like, "The meek shall inherit the earth."

Better Friends through NFP

I had the great fortune recently to join up with the Knights of Columbus and meet many men who are trying to live out the faith. It is always a blessing to start new friendships and grow closer to those who help us on our narrow road.

It is especially a blessing to discover real Catholics who try to adhere to all of the Lord's teachings, like NFP. Not only is it great to have conversations about mucus, or about the spiritual benefits of love-making beyond the fertile years, but there is a palpable sense of understanding and mutual connection that is deeper than the words exchanged. An intimacy that could only be wrought of materials far beyond my comprehension.

NFP - Health, Love, and Friendship.