Baghdad plans giant Ferris wheel

The Ferris wheel, dubbed the Baghdad Eye, will soar more than 650 feet over the city and feature air-conditioned compartments that would each carry up to 30 passengers, Baghdad municipal spokesman Adel al-Ardawi said Wednesday.

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Pope Pelosi At the Gate

"In other words, human life begins at conception. That is not a religious posture, but a scientific fact that the lowest paid laborer on the planet can assert without qualm. What we do with that understanding is another matter, but no one in the 21st century should pretend not to know when human life begins."

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Best DUI ever

I have been instructed by my wife to lighten up a bit on my blog posts. "Don't be so serious with the politics all of the time," she says. So, here's something really funny you may have seen before. Peace, love and cute puppies!

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The Next War of the World

I saw this guys (Niall Ferguson) documentary on PBS last night and he, along with several other facts that have come to my attention, and am still investigating, are beginning to fine tune my world view. I believe that I am thinking towards several conclusions here.

Not prepared to put it into words yet...

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Look Before You Judge...or Pope Paul IV Was Right!

Who the hell am I? I mean i don't know everything, even though I am very sure of quite a bit. The world is a crazy place and it is extremely difficult to know who to believe. For me, track record says a lot. If what you say pans out I am going to listen up a little more the next time you have something to say; just makes sense right?

Well Pope Paul IV had something to say 40 years ago, and you could argue that it's all coincidence, that's fine. You should look into it though.

Forty years after "Humane Vitae"

BY FATHER PETER J. DALY

There was an eruption in the Catholic Church 40 years ago over the release of Pope Paul VI's encyclical letter Humanae Vitae ("Of Human Life").

At the time, secular culture pronounced it a "dead letter." Cultural critics said the church was out of touch with the modern age on the role of human sexuality.

"Humanae Vitae" was blamed for the erosion of respect for the church's moral teaching and the departure of many people from the Catholic Church.

But, at the time, secular culture made some pretty extravagant claims for the virtues of artificial contraception. Forty years on, it is worth asking: What about the claims of secular culture? Were they right?

Happier marriages?
The first birth control pill came on the market in the early 1960s. It was featured on the cover of news magazines. It was talked about on television. People said it would usher in a new and happier age of sexual relations.

Did it?

Forty years ago it was said that artificial contraception would make marriages happier and more stable. Freed from the stress of many children, married couples would be better able to concentrate on each other and their marriage.

So what happened?
The divorce rate has skyrocketed. Marriages are less stable. There were many cultural factors involved, of course, but whatever can be said about birth control, it has not made marriages happier or more stable in U.S. culture.

Forty years ago it was said that the pill would mean more fulfilled sex lives. People could be more spontaneous. Sex would be more joyful. People would be less repressed.

Did it happen?

Separating the sexual act from conception has degraded the meaning of sex, caused it to lose its significance. Instead of being special, a sign of love and commitment reserved for husbands and wives, it is now commonplace.
When something becomes commonplace it loses its allure. Ice cream and cake, for example, are special if reserved for birthdays. If eaten all the time, they are boring, even damaging.

Anti-child mentality
The pill has meant that sex is meaningless, the stuff of sit-coms and lurid talk shows.
In our modern world sex has nothing to do with making babies. It also has very little to do with making love. The surreal "Sex in the City" world has turned everyone into a sex object, because sex is seen as an act without meaning or consequence. It has more to do with giving pleasure to the self than showing love for the other.

Forty years ago the advocates for contraception said that it would mean fewer unwanted children. There would be less child abuse and neglect because children would be more wanted since they were more "planned."

Ironically, today children seem less wanted. They are seen not as gifts from God but as financial burdens. Television reporters do stories on the "total cost" of raising a child as if children could be compared to buying a boat or second home.

With the ability to prevent pregnancy came the presumption that you should prevent pregnancy. Babies are now regarded as a burden. Large families are regarded with derision even in Catholic circles.

Birth control has led to an anti-child mentality.

When a woman today begins to show with a third or fourth pregnancy, people ask her, "Did you make a mistake, dear?"

Forty years ago there was an explosion in the church over "Humanae Vitae." Now that the dust has begun to settle a bit, it seems that secular culture was wrong about many of its claims for birth control.

It helps to take the long view. Maybe that is God's view?

Catholic News Service

Father Peter J. Daly writes on church life from his parish, St. John Vianney in Prince Frederick, Md. He may be contacted at cns@Catholicnews.com.

Can Our Economy Afford More Union Corruption?

This union phenomenon constantly boggles my mind. The primary job of any business is to serve it's customers, not to provide jobs to the community. The latter is a result of a well-run, growing company.

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Calling All Marylanders!!!

Is this true?!?!?!

Scared of Maryland

August 20, 2008

In 1991 I had a choice. To best work for term limits, I needed to move close to the nation’s capital. But where? Maryland or Virginia or the District of Columbia? I chose Virginia.

Nowadays I regularly travel through all three jurisdictions, though Maryland makes me nervous.

Prince George’s County police recently barged into the Berwyn Heights mayor’s home and shot his two dogs dead. Turns out their little home invasion was illegal — they lacked a no-knock search warrant, or any real case.

Weeks before this, a man arrested for the alleged homicide of a policeman was murdered in jail. Police working there refuse to cooperate in the investigation. Now we learn that many guards at the jail have criminal records and have committed crimes at the jail.

The Prince George’s County police have a long, sordid history. But you may be thinking, why lump in the whole state?

Well, the ACLU recently obtained documents showing that for 14 months in 2005 and 2006, Maryland state police spied on anti-death penalty and anti-war activists, with no probable cause of any crime. Names of political activists were entered into law enforcement databases as suspected terrorists or drug traffickers.

No wonder when the Washington Post held a contest to pick a new slogan for the state, the winner was: “Maryland — wait, we can explain.”

Hmm. But how exactly do you explain a police state?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Why Africa Is Still Starving

Las Vegas is a desert too, and they are doing quite well. It looks as though they had something positive going and then Congress decided to put our corn into our gas!! Do-gooders never do, they just look like it!! Markets never lie people...until someone restricts them!!

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Stupid in America

If you ever wanted to know what "School Vouchers" are about watch this.

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Obama on Clarence Thomas - WSJ.com

This would be funny, if it were not so very serious. "Delos" also makes a great point, by mentioning that McCain didn't vote against any of those he named when he had the opportunity. However, I must also point out that The President nominating and The Senate confirming require two different levels of agreement. The former usually means a complete agreement with the jurist's philosophy, while the later is simply a "stamp of approval" which is to ensure that The Justice is not a complete buffoon.It is only recently that the nomination process for The Supreme Court became such a difficult and contentious process. Though it is something to look at, I would fault Obama's disparaging words more than I would McCain's following of tradition.

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Hannity's Gospel

A clip of Sean Hannity's "cafeteria" approach to Catholicism in arguing with Fr Thomas Euteneuer of HLI.ORG on FoxNews.This apparently happened last year and I am very shocked by Sean's position here. He obviously is misinformed about the faith he proclaims...Here's the deal, you do not have to be a Catholic, but if you choose to name yourself as an adherent to this faith it is incumbent upon you that you know what it means. Sean is very misguided and is wrong and illogical in the way that he argues. He engages in classic issue switching and relativistic arguments which take away from the central point of the debate. It is not if Sean is a good person, or if the Catholic Church is comprised of perfect people. The point is that if you are going communicate with other people it is critical that you agree on the meaning of terms. In this case Sean is wholly mistaken in his definition of The Catholic Faith; it is not what any one person decides it to be, but rather what Jesus Christ, The Apostles and The Holy Spirit say that it is. this is not a debatable point.

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Most companies in US avoid federal income taxes

I just think it is a scam that people fall for this class-envy/shell-game stuff that politicians put in their heads. The fact of the matter is that ALL companies will always pass along the costs of doing business to their consumer. No matter if the expense is the cost of materials, or taxes, the consumer always absorbs the expense.

The other thing that occurs here is that a politician may claim that they are sticking it to the Big Bad Corporation out of one side of their mouth, but then they will give the company some loophole in the tax code while you are not looking, all the while convincing the unread voter that they are being protected by the great and powerful politician, and then they get large campaign contributions from the very same company.

There are a myriad of other scams that the politicians pull on us, but the single solution is to adhere to the limits in The Constitution and shrink The Goverment down to a size that doesn't allow for so much power in so few hands.

A Limited Federal Goverment baby!! Works every time.

How to Produce Real Change

I do believe that I need to learn more about Mr. Wilberforce and work to adopt his methods...how about you?

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Things Have Not Always Been the Same

This will give you a much-needed shot of perspective...

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Drop Dead, Oregon’s Socialized Health System Tells Patients

Either you value life, or you don't. You cannot have someone put up the cash for something yet still have a say in how that cash is allocated. The procurement of the resource is inextricably tied to the control of it.

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Don't believe everything you see...or read.

I wanted to share this with my loyal readers because you simply cannot go through life turmoiled in the guilt that is constaintly foisted upon you by the fear industry. Is this to say that the truth is not out there? No. It is, but you cannot simply trust that the nightly news, or the daily paper has your best interest at the front of their minds. Bottom line is they are after the same thing that those they deamonize are... sales. They are not the altruistic do-gooders they claim to be.

You may not have liked Ronald Reagan, I did, but he popularized a very intelligent practice. Trust But Verify.

(Click the link in the title) :)

House Dems turn out the lights but GOP keeps talking

You just have to pay attention to this stuff! I hear people all the time saying that this issue or that issue is just politics, or they don't like the name calling or whatever. The bottom line is that maintaining liberty is not an easy sippin' iced tea on the front porch kind of thing. It take guts and fortitude to protect the rights we have by God's grace and enshrined in The Constitution. People like Pelosi and her ilk will always be around trying to steal from us. TYRANTS!!Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Democrats adjourned the House and turned off the light and killed the microphones, but Republicans are still on the floor talking gas prices.

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