Effect of the latest Warholian 15

Check out the seismograph readings on Alexa.

"In the future everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." Andy Warhol, d. 1987

"Sister in the Lord" needs money

Just got this email from gracemichael0401@msn.com. Maybe one of our readers could help her out.

Dear in Christ.

I am Mrs..grace michael an ageing widow suffering from long time illness. i am currently admitted in a privet hospital in Abidjan cote d' ivoire, I have some funds I inherited from my late loving husband Mr Patrick michael, the sum of US$5.500. 000 which he deposited in BANK Here and I need a very honest and God fearing Christian that can use this funds for God's work and 15% out of the total funds will be for your compasation for doing this work of God. I found your email address from the internet and decid to contact you.
Please if you would be able to use these funds for the Lord's work kindly reply me.

Your Sister In The Lord.

Mrs. grace michael

Good news on friend's font abuse

In the continuing saga of large-fonted conspiracy emails, we have some good news. My friend is down to 18-point Calibri which is 2 points lower than where he was at on October 10.

Watching this is never a waste of time

Where's my Almond Joy?

Michele Bachmann says "Contact your legislators"

Here's the new number I'm using which allows you to bypass switchboard operators: 800-833-6354.

Of course, you can go here and get the direct numbers for any of the U.S. Senators.

Lather, Rense, Repeat

I have a new poll question up. So fill it out, and be honest.

No Fake, Dick Tracy

Kudos to Wellpoint for tellling the truth. They'll probably get bitch-slapped by the White House now.

[T]he most important health-care questions continue to be about the policy substance—particularly those that Democrats don't want asked.

Foremost among them is: How will ObamaCare affect insurance premiums in the private health-care markets? Despite indignant Democratic denials, the near-certainty is that their plan will cause costs to rise across the board. The latest data on this score come from a series of state-level studies from the insurance company WellPoint Inc.

At the request of Congressional delegations worried about their constituents—call it a public service—WellPoint mined its own actuarial data to model ObamaCare in the 14 states where it runs Blue Cross plans. The study therefore takes into account market and demographic differences that other industry studies have not, such as the one from the trade group America's Health Insurance Plans, which looked at aggregate national trends.

In all of the 14 states WellPoint scrutinized, ObamaCare would drive up premiums for the small businesses and individuals who are most of WellPoint's customers. (Other big insurers, like Aetna, focus on the market among large businesses.) Young and healthy consumers will see the largest increases—their premiums would more than triple in some states—though average middle-class buyers will pay more too.

This will affect everyone. It will affect my family directly.

Loved this one from Disputations

Our friend, Tom @ Disputations, has some insightful thoughts on the brouhaha being raised in some quarters over the Vatican's outreach to Anglicans.

I do, though, have an opinion about the sort of reaction to yesterday's news exemplified in this comment by Michael Sean Winters:

But, I worry, too, that some of these newcomers will also be nostalgists, anti-feminists, and anti-gay bigots.

Some have suggested this translates to worrying that some of these newcomers will profess Catholic doctrine. But even granting that some Anglicans may join the Catholic Church out of sheer cussedness, I say:

So what?

I joined the Catholic Church out of sheer helplessness. When I was baptized as an infant, I not only lacked a good reason to become Catholic, I lacked any reason; I flat lacked reason altogether.

A Church that practices infant baptism is not a Church with demanding membership requirements.

I thought that part was brilliant, and he anticipates the next objection and deftly answers it:

I get, of course, that someone who has reached the age of reason ought to join the Catholic Church if, and only if, he believes the whole of the Catholic Faith. By the same token, though, parent ought to have their children baptized if, and only if, they believe the whole of the Catholic Faith, and I've heard no one grumble about the children of nostalgists, anti-feminists, and anti-gay bigots joining the Church.

Full communion with Christ's Church is a big deal. Too big, I'd say, for us to screw with it much. Let the Church welcome those who demonstrate the wish to be a part of her, and leave the personal judging to God.

You see, this is the same problem as you see in the hate crimes legislation. People can't just look at intent by asking "is this person going to be a good Catholic?" they just have to suspiciously probe motives. So they put their suspects under a microscope and pick apart their entire thought processes. And this provides us with... what exactly?


I converted from a very "conservative" Protestant denomination, so I didn't have the same axe to grind as some of those now under Mr. Winters's microscope. But I can imagine someone thinking to himself the following in a completely sensible manner, without a hint of prejudice or yen for nostalgia: "I'm watching progressive types whack away at my traditions, I'm listening to angry feminists howl about male domination, I'm seeing gay bishops parade their sins for all to see and the head of my church is conceding to Islamic Sharia Law. I'm just not sure there is much continuity with the historical Christian church here anymore. Maybe I'll look into Roman Catholicism." Those last two sentences describe my journey to the bark of Saint Peter. And the fact that the first part was neither experienced by me as a 20-something, nor Tom as an infant, nor Michael Sean Winters as an open-minded guy with a middle-name is completely irrelevant.