Pope Praises Radical Catholic Group

Pope Francis praises the radical Catholic group Knights of Columbus.

Vatican City, 10 October 2013 (VIS) – “I wish to express my gratitude for the unfailing support which your Order has always given to the works of the Holy See”, began the Holy Father's address to the Knights of Columbus, whom he received in audience this morning in the Sala Clementina of the Vatican Apostolic Palace, on the occasion of a meeting held by the Order in Rome. He thanked them for their prayers and witness of faith, and concern for brothers and sisters in need.

Swords are pretty radical, don't you think? I always carry a couple in my trunk. Our Lord told us to do it, so you should carry one or two as well.

"Caught like a rabbit"

Love the dude's voice.

Props to Destiny for saying what needs to be said

I was appalled at the clownish females dressed in pink parading down Center Ridge about a month or two ago, tying up traffic and causing me to feel embarrassment for the ridiculous-looking participants. It was some type of breast cancer walk, I guess, You know to raise awareness about breast cancer, yada, yada, yada. (Wow, I had no idea women could actually get cancer in their breasts, did you? Why aren't the Republicans and the people who own Wal-mart doing something about that?!) There was a huge bread truck with some type of risque boobie theme on the side. I forget the exact innuendo; unmemorable at this point in my life. There were SAVE THE TA-TAS signs everywhere, etc. I only had one son with me and we were going to get his new glasses, so that was probably a small blessing. He did ask me what everyone was doing and I told him the official line: "They are making sure everyone knows about breast cancer." What I wanted to say is "These women are making absolute clowns of themselves in public because they've been brainwashed to think they are doing something helpful."

This is why Destiny's rant is welcome on the even worse phenomenon of Boob-sta-gram, a risque cleavage-picture-rating site which brazenly claims to be about promoting cancer awareness. Her title is true and carries the apropros amount of bluntness: This Just In: Letting Dudes Jerk Off To Your Rack Will Not Cure Breast Cancer.

It might give a giggle (among other things) to the men... if you even want to call them that... who thought up this stupid gimmick, but contrary to popular belief "No Bra Day" is just another dumb ploy to turn young women into pieces of porn. The idea behind the campaign is to raise awareness by going braless on the 13th and then posting pics or your chi-chi's on the internet. Hate to break it to ya, but this will NOT raise breast cancer awareness, ladies. Unless of course "breast cancer awareness" is your gross little codename for trouser tents.

As a matter of fact, a friend of a friend had a wonderful idea just in case the sleazeballs behind this "campaign" really did want to raise awareness...

"If you want to use pictures... show women who have lost their breasts to a mastectomy! Now THAT might scare women into being aware and getting those all important mammograms... but of course MEN won't want to see that."

Of course not. But that's not the point here anyway, is it?

Destiny is a new feminist, pro-life, happily married with kids and realistic about the difference between men and women. She is appropriately funny even when she's incensed. Some people need to read this kind of take-down because these sleazeballs slap a "BREAST CANCER AWARENESS" label on their exploitation site, proclaim it edgy, fun and original, and some people won't think there's anything harmful about it. That's the problem: people don't think, the corollary is that women don't think, men think with their nads, and those facts explains why this kind of thing has 16,000+ Facebook likes.

One of the reasons young women fall for this is because they bought the old guard feminist mantra that this sort of flaunting of their feminine charms empowers them. But even the old guard feminists would realize this website isn't breast cancer prevention but merely what Destiny says it is, jerk off material. The people which are empowered most by women exposing themselves are men who wish to target them and use them. This turns them into lesser beings as well so, in the end, everyone is exploited and made more miserable.

Father Barron on the Pope Francis interview

We are so there

It's Tuesday. It's been one of those days. I have five kids under 10 years of age. Kids eat free at Bearden's on Tuesdays. Orders at the counter equals no waitresses, no tips. Ergo, we are so there.

Mustang Sally, baby.

Your daily dose of awesome

Take it down a few notches

I noticed that this Amazon review of tLWoRL has knocked my awesome review into third place. So please do me a favor and go over there and down-ding it. Well, unless you think it's a better review. If you think the book is a "wonderful depiction of the numinous aspects of reality" or that experiences are presented in an "epistemically humble way" then vote it up, by all means. None of the other reviews use words like epistemic or numinous.

Overhead in overdrive in the stupid college savings boondoggle

Yet another reason to not vote for Ed FitzGerald for Governor of Ohio.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald's college savings account program will cost taxpayers $522,000 in annual overhead, about one-quarter of the program's $2 million budget, county records show.

That percentage is significantly more than the vast majority of large charities spend to administer their programs, according to Charity Navigator, a non-profit watchdog that tracks budgets of $1 million or more.

"I think that it does seem high," Charity Navigator spokeswoman Sandra Miniutti told Northeast Ohio Media Group on Friday.

Of the 7,000 philanthropic agencies Charity Navigator tracks, less than 4 percent spend a quarter or more of their budgets on administrative costs, Miniutti said. Most spend 15 percent or less, she said.

This whole savings account thing is a perfect example of Democrat boondoggling. Tax the parents, funnel money to kids, buy votes, raise the cost of education. Then repeat as often as possible and if anyone attacks the plan, tell them they must hate the children.

The program's likely overhead is drawing criticism from County Councilman Dave Greenspan, a Republican who has frequently questioned initiatives by FitzGerald since the Democratic county executive announced he is running for governor.

"Would you as a taxpayer give to a charity that had at least a [25 percent] administrative burden on the giving?" Greenspan said. "The answer is no. I believe it's no. I wouldn't do it."

But the FitzGerald administration objected Friday to comparing the savings account program's administrative expenses to those of charities.

"This program cannot be easily compared to this broad set of non-profit organizations. It has to be judged on its own merits," said Matt Carroll, chief of staff to FitzGerald.

The "merits" are easy to identify. This government program will give money to kids who will flunk out much more often than private charities will. Also accounts will be opened for everybody, and not everybody goes to college.

A similar program in San Francisco only had a 12 percent participation rate within its first three years. FitzGerald hopes to improve on those results by marketing his version of the program.

The county council's budget and finance committee will debate the request Monday.

The FitzGerald administration had hoped to launch the savings account this month. But concerns from county council over the program's details have delayed it.

The whole culture of savings argument is just dopey. You can't really encourage saving by giving people money they didn't earn. I hope this thing dies an appropriate death and the money is somehow returned to the taxpayer. Why do I live here again?

Emily Stimpson replies to Rod Dreher

Emily's piece is titled "Why I'm never leaving the Catholic Church." Although she doesn't mention Rod Dreher by name, she links to the same TIME article which we did. Her response is excellent; excerpt:

In 2002, as one horror story after another emerged, I never once questioned the truth of my Catholic faith. I’d already done the questioning and found the answers. There was no going back. Once you see that two plus two equals four, you never ask yourself if it equals five.

Don’t get me wrong: As the scandals unfolded, I mourned for the children horrifically abused by sons and daughters of the Church. I still do. I also mourn for all the men and women who are still being cheated, who are still being hurt.

Today, far too many Catholics live as the culture tells them to live and think as the culture tells them to think. They wound others as others wound them. Likewise, in far too many places, the Church’s sons and daughters are helping them do that by continuing to proclaim the Milquetoast “Be Nice” Gospel I learned in school.

That doesn’t just make me sad; it makes me angry.

But it doesn’t make me want to leave the Church.

Rather, it makes me want to work harder to give others what I’ve been given. I want them to find the healing, peace, and joy that comes from knowing the truth, loving the truth, and living the truth.

I can’t do that, however, if I deny the truth. And that’s what leaving the Catholic Church would be—a denial of the truth.

Popes and priests come and go. So do good moments and bad in the life of the Church. If our faith rests in those people or is a product of one moment, it will be a faith without roots. It will never grow strong. It will never mature.

So Emily Stimpson decided to work harder instead of deciding to give up and leave. If she had left, she admits that it would be equivalent to denying the truth. So it might actually demand more work to constantly be writing article after article explaining why she left and keeping all her stories straight. It's sort of one of those paradoxes.

"To whom shall we go?" She's doing the right thing; may she be rewarded on Earth and in Heaven.

So "tolerance" is a genetic trait?

This is why we need the Catholic League. Bill Donohue represents boldness, balance and common sense in defense of the truth.

Bill Donohue comments on the reaction of a gay group, the New Civil Rights Movement, to a Chicago eatery that is featuring a hamburger topped with a Communion wafer:

Five years ago we protested the desecration of a Communion Host by P.Z. Myers, an anti-Catholic atheist professor. Yesterday, I decided not to protest the antics of Kuma's Corner, a Chicago restaurant, for serving a burger with a Communion wafer. The difference: Myers secured a consecrated Host and drove a nail through it; the sandwich shop played games with an unconsecrated wafer. While Kuma's showed disrespect, what Myers did was despicable.

Now I have learned that the New Civil Rights Movement, a homosexual outfit that is ever so sensitive about gay issues, is taking utter delight in the burger spoof. The guys who work there predicted that I would be "stroking out." Sorry to disappoint, boys. In fact, the only angst I feel is toward people like them. They say that what Kuma's Corner did risks the wrath of "every Christian born without a tolerance gene or a sense of humor." I'll remember that the next time they complain about one of my gay quips.

By the way, I thought tolerance was a function of nurture, not nature. So what is it? A preference or an orientation? Please advise as this is very confusing to a straight guy.

"Please advise as this is very confusing to a straight guy." Donohue is a messaging genius.

I've read that some gays are afraid that if a "gay gene" is ever discovered then there will be orientation-based abortions. I suppose if these same gays realized how intolerant they are of people who have a Christian sense of morality, they would be even more scared at the notion of a tolerance gene actually existing. But I'm sure they don't really believe there is a tolerance gene and they have shown time again that they cannot see any intolerance in the mirror.