Archive for the ‘opinion/news’ Category

Up early today and noticed Stacy McCain’s post on festivities at CPAC. There were an awful lot parties and I missed nearly all of them but Stacy has a ton of pictures.

Despite getting back to my Hotel in Largo at 3 a.m. one thing I didn’t miss was mass. The last time I was at one of these national events the next week I went to confession. I had been struggling with a particular sin and was rather pleased at my progress (spiritual pride, very dangerous) and was able to confess that my big sin was only missing mass.

Long shot National Cathedral


Fr.Bob looked at me and told me bluntly, “You had time for this event, that event, you made time to see the monuments and historical sites but you couldn’t find one hour for God?”.

I was deflated really fast and was determined that I would not make that mistake. My friend Steve who now lives in the area told me he would pick me up at 8 a.m. for at 9 a.m. Mass at the national cathedral.

If you’ve never been (and I hadn’t) you can’t imagine the place. By the time I was on the steps I could physically feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. Once I was inside my jaw spent the majority of its time on my chest.

One of the many sights above

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By arriving early I had time to gape at the chapels inside the church where mass can be celebrated. I was very taken by the individual displays of the mysteries of the Rosary.

The Annunciation

The Mass itself had a dozen celebrants and the ushers were all members of the Knights of Columbus. The cantor was incredible and the sermon was pretty solid. I love to sing and I really let myself go but I also found myself choking up a bit.

After Mass we had breakfast downstairs (it was incidentally the best meal I had in DC) I was a bit surprised to see speaker Gingrich eating at the table next to mine and was also able to grab a replacement Angelus prayer card in the gift shop.

Steve and I after mass

One thing that struck me as important. Just before you get to the Cathedral there is a small church (St. Anthony’s). For all of the presence of the holy spirit for all of the emotional and spiritual reaction I had in the Cathedral one must never forget the mass down the street is the same mass, the presence of Christ in the blessed sacrament is no less holy. The difference between empathy and saintliness is the ability to feel the presence of the spirit in the small church like the still small voice. That is the goal.

If I can afford CPAC next year maybe I’ll see about getting making a regular trip and arranging a trip to Mass for Sunday Morning Mass for bloggers who want to come. I don’t know how many I’d get but it would be fun to find out.

Meanwhile here is a slideshow of all the shots there:

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Not all of the candidates at CPAC are federal ones, Jamie Calendar of Ohio talked to me in the vendor room:

I talked to Hadley of the Independent Woman’s forum

In a classic case of horrible timing Andrew Brietbart came into the bloggers lounge just as my Radio show was about to start ( 10 a.m).

Since I had several pre-recorded segments I figured I might be able to grab him for a few minutes, in between, alas that was not the case as my windows were too small, he was however very generous with his time to everyone in the blogger, answered every question and never talked down to anyone despite his national prominence.

When the show was done I went to the lobby and Andrew was talking another group of fans, and again giving of his time. I approached him at that point and he was kind enough to ahem “sit” for an interview:

Well “sit” in a metaphorical sense. As soon as he agreed to be interviewed, he promptly jumped on a table and lay down thus:

Andrew Breitbarts "sits" for an interview at CPAC 2011

When I first saw the photo I instantly thought of this:

But Breitbart is entirely serious, his exposure of the Pigford case has prompted attack after attack from Media Matters desperate to make their twisted version of Breitbart the story. (Hey it’s what Soros pays them for). The problem for Media matters is that Pigford can’t really handle the scrutiny:

“I have to say in the beginning I was cautious…When Andrew called, I [said] ‘I hope you aren’t just trying to gin this whole thing up to make amends for [Sherrod],’” Schafer said. “But this is solid. I mean it is solid background they dug out people, files, times, and dates. They have put together a pretty impressive body of work.”

His presentation on Pigford was devastating:

* Tom Burrell, president the Black Farmers and Agriculture Association, of tells potential claimants what happened when the checks hit the streets: “Where did you get that new truck from? Why is Sears Roebuck visiting your house? … Something’s up.
* “This lawsuit is not a farming lawsuit, it’s a discrimination lawsuit. … Who wants to go through the process today? Get paid?”
* On the four questions that supposedly act as a test for claims in Pigford: “Look at the four questions like a baseball game … When do you get a score?”
* Stranahan then says that Burrell gives them the correct — and allegedly unchallengeable — answers that will win them a Pigford score. “Did he own land? Let’s suppose the answer is no. The judge is going to give you three more shots at it. … Did he ATTEMPT to own? … How does the judge know if you tried? [Laughter] … Congress set up a system … “everyone who says they tried [unintelligible] then you have to give them credit for it.”
* “The issue is not whether you farmed in 1965, but whether you were discriminated against in 1981-1996. … My sister said my daddy went to the USDA office between 1981 and 1996. … The judge says you get paid.”

With a republican House willing to follow-up on this stuff, the subject has to be changed so presto here comes the defamation lawsuit:

Shirley Sherrod has filed a lawsuit against Andrew Breitbart over a video released by the conservative personality that lead to her ouster as an official at the USDA.

Breitbart was served on Saturday at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), according to the New York Times: “In the suit, which was filed in Washington on Friday, Ms. Sherrod says the video has damaged her reputation and prevented her from continuing her work.”

The “We are Acorn Mighty Mighty Acorn” left are positively drooling over this but the ability to deflect one press conference for one day can’t compare to what is going to follow:

This seems like a dangerous play for Mrs. Sherrod, because now Andrew and the Bigs can depose her, her friends, get documents they couldn’t otherwise get, and conduct all manner of discovery on her. In other words, they have the power of the law to dig deeper into the scandal. In fact, it’s probably something Andrew has been dreaming about for months.

Or as his official release puts it:

Mr. Breitbart categorically rejects the transparent effort to chill his constitutionally protected free speech and, to reiterate, looks forward to exercising his full and broad discovery rights.

The real problem for the left is this. Breitbart’s under bright lights shows what he does as the legitimate reporting it is, its what he’s been wanting since day one. The left under light can’t say the same. Expect the left to quietly drop this suit when the heat of discovery process gets too hot for them and expect that to be a single line at the bottom of page F39 for the MSM. If their goal was to try to win one day of media then fine you accomplished that but like the national credit card that the left has been living on for decades, payment will come due WITH INTEREST and Andrew Breitbart will be collecting.