Archive for April, 2009

The Meat Rap is (kinda) back

Posted: April 23, 2009 by datechguy in catholic
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You likely remember George Carlin’s old joke about someone still being in hell on a meat rap.

What Carlin forgot and what most Catholic’s ignore is that the prohibition on meat WASN’T lifted. You are allowed to substitute some other kind of penance but you still can’t have meat on Friday’s if you don’t.

Well via American Papist it looks like the Diocese of Steubenville under Bishop Conlon has decided to go back to the old ways:

The resumption of year-round abstinence in the Diocese of Steubenville will begin after this coming Easter, one week after Good Friday (April 17). Although the practice will not be a requirement of law, and failing to keep it will not constitute a sin, I hope every one who is old enough to receive Holy Communion and well enough to come to church will take it seriously. Our parishes, schools and organizations should provide meatless food at their Friday activities.

Until 1966, Catholics around the world were required to abstain from meat on all Fridays. That year, Pope Paul VI determined that the rules for fasting and abstinence should be set by the various episcopal conferences according to local circumstances. At the same time, he reminded us that doing penance was commanded by Christ himself and is an important part of our spiritual life.

The bishops of the United States eliminated mandatory abstinence from meat on Fridays except during Lent. However, they insisted that all Catholics should observe some penitential practice on Fridays, in remembrance of the Lord’s passion and death, and they highly recommended continuing abstinence from meat.

So, the present challenge to the people in our diocese is not really radical. It is a call to what many if not most of us have put aside. And it is a way for us, like the apostles, to give up a little food and help Jesus feed the world.

The Papist approves.

What a wonderful idea – and it need not be limited to Catholics living in the diocese of Steubenville, either! Their fine witness, and the words of their bishop, can inspire us to do the same.

Hey that have great fish at the corner coffee shop every Friday.

Well the wait wasn’t long

Posted: April 23, 2009 by datechguy in internet/free speech, opinion/news
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Well the Miss California business is certainly generating press to wit.

With the way some in Hollywood have piled on Miss California Carrie Prejean since Sunday’s Miss USA pageant, one might think the 21-year-old college student had called for a tax on botox, instead of speaking out against gay marriage.

Gay Patriot notices something:

Their preference for slurring gay marriage opponents parallels the way they and their peers respond to the Tea Parties. Instead of listening to their adversaries’ arguments and acknowledging the sincerity of their concerns, they treat them as a bully treats the defenseless kid on the playground.

They think they can get away with it because the MSM encourages their insults. And doesn’t hold them to account for their mean-spirited attempts to demean their adversaries.

Michelle Malkin notes the lack of outrage over misogyny in the feminist mecca of Hollywood:

the Miss USA organizers agree. Instead of apologizing for pageant judge Perez Hilton’s vile behavior, the pageant director of the Miss California contest, Keith Lewis, sent a note to Hilton throwing Prejean under the bus: “I am personally saddened and hurt that Miss CA USA 2009 believes marriage rights belong only to a man and a woman…Religious beliefs have no place in politics in the Miss CA family.”

But gutter profanity and misogyny do?

The winner of Ms. USA comments are available on Hotair:

Her answer’s probably good enough to satisfy the D-list parasites who are dumping on Miss California for not telling them what they want to hear; if she’s bothered at all by the fact that she won only because the judges were biased against her competition, she’s not showing it.

She does have some hollywood defenders:

Republican actress Angie Harmon is standing up for Miss California Carrie Prejean, who has been criticized for saying on Sunday’s Miss USA pageant that she does not support gay marriage.

“If someone is standing up for how they feel and talking about their beliefs, why are we punishing her for that?” Harmon, 36, told Usmagazine.com Tuesday at the opening of the Malibu Lumber Yard in Calif. “I just don’t understand how we’ve gotten to a place in America where, if someone doesn’t agree with everyone, then they are punished for it.”

Roland Martin echos her opinion:

At the end of the day, we all have to be true to ourselves. Whether it’s a gay gossip writer who favors same-sex marriage or a heterosexual woman who is against same-sex marriage. The day we condemn folks for speaking honestly is the day we become a bland society.

And perez Hilton? Crowder strikes:

Wrong is wrong, despite whatever is currently on the politically correct menu. What Perez Hilton did (which has nothing to do with gay marriage in itself) was wrong. His comments afterward were wrong.

I don’t judge people based on race, gender or sexual orientation, and I will no longer hear liberals accuse conservatives of doing so every time they rightfully make a moral judgment based on careless (or in this case, pre-meditated and mean-spirited) actions.

“By the content of his character,” I say.

“Oh, but you need to appreciate me for who I am!” – Okay, Perez Hilton. You’re a jack-ass. Consider it done.

Greg Gutfield too:

Finally, while I disagreed with Miss California`s take on gay marriage, I can still tell she`s a decent person -which is more than I can say for Perez Hilton. Fact is, I don`t give a damn about his sexual orientation. You can paint a turd pink, but it`s still a turd.

Charles Karel Bouley supports gay marriage but is no dummy:

And, well, we see what happened when she answered to the contrary of the question: she loses, is denounced and called a “bitch” and the “c” word by the blogger on national TV and print.

Well, there’s a great representation of my community.

He also notes the other side of the coin:

And there’s the danger, blogger. You set her up to be the patron saint of those who are launching such campaigns as “The Storm” and 2 M4M (no lie, Two Million for Marriage); campaigns that paint those that do not agree with same sex marriage as victims. You just gave them a powder-puffed-coiffed-to-the-teeth statuesque martyr in the form of Miss California.

Well the country Music awards like her:

Prejean will be among the many gospel artists to present during the awards show, including Baltimorean Jonathan Nelson.

And Michael Phelps too:

“Carrie and Michael have been out to baseball games and lunch,” grandma Jeanette Coppolla dished to Radaronline.com. “He always calls her when he is in town and they go out.”

If you wanted to get publicity who would you rather have on your show. Miss California the runner up or Miss 1919 Reds USA?

Meanwhile the debate continues the Greenroom has the funniest headline:

Let Gays Have Marriage; We’re Not Using It

While the other McCain at the American Spectator has the most profound headline:

Marriage: A Hill to Die On

Works for me.

Talk about a reality check

Posted: April 22, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
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Well it will be interesting to see how his friends on the left treat Mr. Roose after this:

Roose had transferred to the Virginia campus from Brown University in Providence, a famously liberal member of the Ivy League. His Liberty classmates knew about the switch, but he kept something more important hidden: He planned to write a book about his experience at the school founded by fundamentalist preacher Jerry Falwell.

and what did he find?…

He lined up a publisher — Grand Central Publishing — and arrived at the Lynchburg campus prepared for “hostile ideologues who spent all their time plotting abortion clinic protests and sewing Hillary Clinton voodoo dolls.”

Instead, he found that “not only are they not that, but they’re rigorously normal.”

He met students who use Bible class to score dates, apply to top law schools and fret about their futures, and who enjoy gossip, hip-hop and R-rated movies — albeit in a locked dorm room.

A roommate he depicts as aggressively anti-gay — all names are changed in the book — is an outcast on the hall, not a role model.

How about that average church going Americans who’s basic moral beliefs are pretty much the same as their grandparents who won world war II are pretty much normal. Who woulda thunk it?

Allahpundit at hotair thinks it was brilliant no matter what the result:

It’s actually a brilliant idea for a book: No matter which way the experiment turned out, he knew he had a built-in audience waiting for him. If Liberty turned out to be as grotesque as the left’s caricature of it, the nutroots would have snapped it up. As it is, he’ll end up on Hannity’s show talking about how believers are people too. Well played, sir.

Newsbusters points out the netroots are taking his results poorly. I guess he did find intolerance after all!

The Obama touch: Clever as a fox?

Posted: April 22, 2009 by datechguy in arthur vs carter, opinion/news
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You know I seem to be noticing something. I could be totally wrong about this and I would like any of my readers on the right and left to tell me why I’m wrong or right on this but I seem to noticing a pattern on the president at least in foreign affairs.

In terms of Rhetoric and visuals he is Carter all the way, from Europe, to Ortega, to Chavez, to Iran, to Cuba his words drive any Bush supporter in general and person on the right in particular up the wall.

In action however the substance doesn’t seem to have followed the talk. He talks a tough game about Gitmo, but its still open and will take a ton of time to close, he talks about Afghanistan and disengaging then increases troops, he releases the memos then the info about the success about protecting LA comes out, he smiles and takes cudos from Chavez but acts with Uribe. He waffles on rendition and prosecutions.

Now on the domestic front it’s a different story but that the subject of this post. Dissenting Justice has been noticing stuff like this for a while and to his credit Sock Puppet extraordinaire Glenn Greenwald has been consistent in his beliefs.

Could the general strategy be to appease the far left with rhetoric but actually decide to do what is needed to keep us safe? His Clinton Era guys are more than savvy enough to play this game. The president has correctly figured out that short of picking Sarah Palin to replace Joe Biden the mainstream media will defend him come what may.

If that’s the case I’m all for it and the reason be damned. After all Johnson’s civil rights pushes in 58 and 64 were more about him than civil rights but who cares? I don’t care if he did it due to a bribe, the result was important.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. If this president successfully protects us from attack and doesn’t neutralize our military I will deem it a success.

We are only three months in and things can turn on a dime but this is what I’m seeing. What do you think? Am I missing something?

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