I am getting bored with this, kiddies.

I am cutting way back on the time I spend blogging, starting today. If I miss it, I will be back.

Saint of the Day and daily Mass readings.

Today is the Feast of St. Modomnoc, Irish bishop and a disciple of St. David of Wales. Sometimes called Domnoc or Dominic, he was a member of the royal Irish family of O’Neil and ended his years as a hermit at Tibraghny in Kilkenny. When Modomnoc returned to Ireland after studying with St. David, swarms of bees left Wales to follow him, thus supposedly being introduced to Ireland. Pray for us, all you angels and saints.

Everyday links:

The Blessed Virgin Mary
The Rosary
Our Mother of Perpetual Help
Prayers from EWTN
National Coalition of Clergy and Laity (dedicated to action for a genuine Catholic Restoration)
The Catholic Calendar Page for Today
ZENIT - The World Seen From Rome


Just in case you are wondering what exactly Catholics believe, here is

The Apostles Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son Our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen.


Memorare

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that any one who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession,was left unaided.Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins my Mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful; O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy clemency hear and answer me. Amen.


St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse, pray for us.


Anima Christi

Soul of Christ, sanctify me; Body of Christ, save me; Blood of Christ, inebriate me; Water from Christ's side, wash me; Passion of Christ, strengthen me; O good Jesus, hear me; Within Thy wounds hide me; Suffer me not to be separated from Thee; From the malicious enemy defend me; In the hour of my death call me; And bid me come unto Thee; That I may praise Thee with Thy saints and with Thy angels Forever and ever. Amen.


Prayer to St. Anthony, Martyr of Desire

Dear St. Anthony, you became a Franciscan with the hope of shedding your blood for Christ. In God's plan for you, your thirst for martyrdom was never to be satisfied. St. Anthony, Martyr of Desire, pray that I may become less afraid to stand up and be counted as a follower of the Lord Jesus. Intercede also for my other intentions. (Name them.)


Prayer To Saint Michael The Archangel

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the divine power, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.


Prayer to End Abortion

Lord God, I thank You today for the gift of my life, and for the lives of all my brothers and sisters. I know there is nothing that destroys more life than abortion, yet I rejoice that you have conquered death by the resurrection of Your Son. I am ready to do my part to end abortion. Today I commit myself never to be silent, never to be passive, and never to be forgetful of the unborn. I commit myself to be active in the pro-life movement, and never stop defending life until all my brothers and sisters are protected and our nation once again becomes a nation with liberty and justice, not just for some, but for all. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.


Prayer For Vocations

Send forth your Spirit, Lord, into the hearts of your faithful people, that we may be conscious of our vocation to holiness and sevice to others. Grant that many of us may dedicate ourselves to You through the priesthood and the religious life.We pray especially for the needs of our own parish and diocese. Grant that we may always have sufficient good and holy priests, and dedicated Sisters to serve our commumities.We pray, too, for religious orders; that generous men may join them to become zealous missionaries in preaching the Gospel in word and action, especially to the poor and abandoned.We make this prayer through Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Redeemer. Amen.


Prayer Before The Crucifix

Behold, O kind and gentle Jesus, I kneel before Thee and pray that Thou would impress upon my heart the virtues of faith, hope, and charity, with true repentance for my sins and a firm purpose of amendment. At the same time, with sorrow I meditate on Thy five precious wounds, having in mind the words which David spoke in prophecy: "They have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones."

Divine Praises

Blessed be God.

Blessed be His Holy Name.

Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true Man.

Blessed be the Name of Jesus.

Blessed be His most Sacred Heart.

Blessed be His most Precious Blood.

Blessed be Jesus in the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.

Blessed be the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.

Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary most holy.

Blessed be her holy and Immaculate Conception.

Blessed be her glorious Assumption.

Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother.

Blessed be Saint Joseph, her most chaste spouse.

Blessed be God in His angels and in His saints.

May the Heart of Jesus in the most Blessed Sacrament

Be praised, adored and loved

With grateful affection at every moment

In all the tabernacles of the world

Even to the end of time. Amen.

The crackup of the -ism of Luther continues apace.

But Fyodor! They are canning (sorry) an active sodomite minister!

Are they, kiddies? Are they really?

RedNova: Homosexual Lutheran Pastor Removed Over Partner
Atlanta - The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America said Thursday it is removing from the clergy a gay minister who announced he has a partner.

The Rev. Bradley Schmeling, who has led St. John's Lutheran Church in Atlanta since 2000, will be removed from the roster effective Aug. 15, according to a report from the ELCA's disciplinary committee.

The committee, however, also said that the church document that bars practicing homosexuals from the clergy is "bad policy" and encouraged church leaders to abandon it. The delay in Schmeling's removal gives the ELCA a chance to nullify it by changing the document at an August meeting.

Without the language in the document, the panel said it would agree with near unanimity that there is nothing about Schmeling's relationship "that would impede the proclamation of the gospel or the right administration of the sacraments."

Hmmm...It sounds like there is quite a lot of wiggle room (sorry) in that document, kiddies.

Whither Mandaeanism?

The Washington Times: Mandaeanism threatened with oblivion by Iraq war
Among the casualties of the Iraq war is a little-known religious faith called Mandaeanism that has survived roughly two millennia and whose adherents believe that John the Baptist was their great teacher.

While there were more than 60,000 Mandaeans in Iraq in the early 1990s, only about 5,000 to 7,000 remain. Many have fled amid targeted killings, rapes, forced conversions, and property confiscation by Islamist extremists, according to a report released last week by the New Jersey-based Mandaean Society of America.
Among the roughly 1,500 U.S. Mandaeans, there have been continual phone calls with endangered friends and relatives, collections of money, and unsuccessful lobbying efforts in Washington to get Mandaeans out of Iraq, as well as neighboring Jordan and Syria.

"Unfortunately, we're not big in numbers, and numbers talk," said Dr. Suhaib Nashi, a 53-year-old pediatrician who helps run the Mandaean Society of America out of his Morristown home.

Mandaean leaders say tens of thousands of their brethren are now scattered around the world, including a U.S. community located in New York and Detroit.

With the dispersion comes concern that the faith is withering, especially as more Mandaeans marry non-Mandaeans, with no mechanism to bring their children into the fold.

"There's not much hope for us to survive to two or three generations," Dr. Nashi said.

Scholars who study the Mandaean religion and culture say its extinction would be a great loss, the end of an ancient religious movement. Dating to the time of the Roman Empire, it survived primarily in what is today Iraq and Iran, a branch of the Gnostic movement that borrowed elements of Christianity.

Mandaeans view John the Baptist as a great teacher, and engage in baptisms to come in closer contact with a "world of light" that is better than the material world on Earth.

"It represents a slice of the culture of the Middle East before the rise of Islam. It's a view to a former world. And frankly, we don't know very much about it," said Charles G. Haberl, an instructor in Middle Eastern studies at Rutgers University.

Mr. Haberl, who says he is trying to arrange a reprint of one of the Mandaeans' main holy books for the first time in about 150 years, laments that an "enormous literary tradition" may soon disappear.

"It would be as if a museum or library were put to the torch," Mr. Haberl said.

Driven from both Iraq and Iran, many Mandaeans have adapted to their new homes, having financial success as medical doctors, civil engineers and jewelers, Dr. Nashi said.

But being scattered means that many in the younger generation have found spouses outside the community. And because a Mandaean has to be born a Mandaean, the children of such marriages have a questionable status in the religion.

Mamoon Aldulaimi, 60, of Lake Grove, N.Y., is a civil engineer who's a leader in the Mandaean community. Mr. Aldulaimi's son, 20-year-old Hani Aldulaimi, married an American raised as a Baptist.

At the wedding last May in the Phoenix area, where the newlyweds live, Mamoon Aldulaimi's daughter-in-law prominently displayed a darfash, a cross with cloth hanging off of it that's a symbol of Mandaeanism.

"She took that initiative as a matter of respect for us," Mr. Aldulaimi said.

But with the religion's few dozen priests reluctant to agree on a mechanism to bring in the children of mixed marriages, Mr. Aldulaimi and others wonder how long Mandaeanism will survive.

Meanwhile, the few thousand Mandaeans still living in Iraq are finding their lives increasingly in danger, targeted by extremists of every political stripe and religious faith.

Dr. Nashi said a cousin on his father's side, Suhail Jani Sahar, was killed by Shi'ite fighters in November. A more distant cousin on his mother's side, Yahya Al-Chuhaily, was killed by Sunnis in June.

"Where there are areas where the Shia are the majority, they'll kill the Mandaeans and the Christians along with the Sunnis. Where there are areas where the Sunni are the majority, they'll kill the Mandaeans and the Christians along with the Shia," Dr. Nashi said.

Both Dr. Nashi and Mr. Aldulaimi are convinced that there will soon be no Mandaeans left in Iraq.

Thousands of Mandaeans, they said, have taken refuge in Jordan and Syria but are still suffering abuses, with no easy way to escape to countries such as the United States, where they would be safe.

Did anybody see Masterpiece Theater last night?

They had this really radical adaptation of Dracula where the count marketed vampirism as a cure for venereal disease...

Nope. Me neither.

Wow. Australian babes must be super-duper hot if they can make EVERYONE uncomfortable.

AFP: Russell Crowe axes cheerleaders
Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe has banned cheerleaders from his rugby side's ground because he says they make spectators uncomfortable.

I'll believe it when short track speedskating replaces starving the masses as the north's national pastime.

AP: Tentative deal in N. Korea nuclear talks
Peking - Negotiators reached a tentative agreement on initial steps for North Korea's nuclear disarmament, the U.S. envoy to the talks said Tuesday.

Fyodor's teams to watch in this year's NCAA basketball tourney.

March Madness is almost upon us, kiddies. Beware upsets in your brackets from Virginia Commonwealth University, Texas A&M, and the Salukis of Southern Illinois.

BTW, look for my Pitt Panthers in the Final Four...

It Takes A Village To Staff A Gestapo Unit Update.

Senatrix Hitlery Schicklgruber (N-NY) has tried to be a fearsome war-mongerer as well as a cut-and-run coward. Both left and right should heed all her words quoted below. They prove she is nothing less than power-mad.

From OpinionJournal:

One pleasant surprise of Hillary Rodham Clinton's tenure as New York Senator has been her tough-minded approach on national security. She responded to 9/11 by supporting President Bush's strategy of taking on not just terrorists but the states that harbor them. She also voted for the war in Iraq and has refused to follow much of her party in alleging that Mr. Bush "lied" about weapons of mass destruction.

But as Mrs. Clinton bids to win the Democratic Presidential nomination, she is taking a marked turn to the left. Pressured by other candidates and by her party's left wing, she is walking back her hawkish statements and is now all but part of the antiwar camp. The polls show her to be the favorite to be the next Commander in Chief, so what she really believes, and how firmly she'll stick to it, deserves to be debated. Here's a summary of the arc of Mrs. Clinton's public thinking on Iraq:

• October 10, 2002
Mrs. Clinton addresses the Senate on the use-of-force resolution. "The facts that have brought us to this fateful vote are not in doubt," she declares, citing Saddam's record of using chemical weapons, the invasion of Kuwait, and his history of deceiving U.N. weapons inspectors. "As a result, President Clinton, with the British and others, ordered an intensive four-day air assault, Operation Desert Fox, on known and suspected weapons of mass destruction sites and other military targets," she continues, adding that Saddam "has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members."

While she expresses her preference for working through the U.N. if possible, she adds, "I believe the authority to use force to enforce that mandate is inherent in the original 1991 U.N. resolution, as President Clinton recognized when he launched Operation Desert Fox in 1998."

• December 15, 2003
It is clear by now that no large stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction will be found in Iraq. But Mrs. Clinton tells the Council on Foreign Relations that "Yesterday was a good day. I was thrilled that Saddam Hussein had finally been captured. . . . We owe a great debt of gratitude to our troops, to the President, to our intelligence services, to all who had a hand in apprehending Saddam. Now he will be brought to justice."

She adds, "I was one who supported giving President Bush the authority, if necessary, to use force against Saddam Hussein. I believe that that was the right vote." As for Iraq's prospects, she declares herself "a little optimistic and a little pessimistic . . . We have no option but to stay involved and committed."

• April 20, 2004
Mrs. Clinton tells Larry King: "I don't regret giving the President the authority because at the time it was in the context of weapons of mass destruction, grave threats to the United States, and clearly, Saddam Hussein had been a real problem for the international community for more than a decade." Asked whether she thinks she was "fooled," she replies: "The consensus was the same, from the Clinton Administration to the Bush Administration. It was the same intelligence belief that our allies and friends around the world shared about the weapons of mass destruction."

• October 2005
Antiwar fervor on the left is picking up, and activist Cindy Sheehan compares her to Rush Limbaugh after Mrs. Clinton tells the Village Voice: "My bottom line is that I don't want their sons to die in vain. . . . I don't believe it's smart to set a date for withdrawal . . . I don't think it's the right time to withdraw."

• November 2005
Mrs. Clinton posts a letter to constituents that marks her first dovish turn. "If Congress had been asked [to authorize the war], based on what we know now, we never would have agreed," she writes. But invoking retired General Eric Shinseki's estimate of more American troops necessary to pacify Iraq, she demands not withdrawal but a new plan: "It is time for the President to stop serving up platitudes and present us with a plan for finishing this war with success and honor--not a rigid timetable that terrorists can exploit, but a public plan for winning and concluding the war."

• August 3, 2006
Mrs. Clinton calls for Donald Rumsfeld to resign as Defense Secretary, asking for "new leadership that would give us a fighting chance to turn the situation around before it's too late."

• December 18, 2006
Her march left gains speed. On NBC's "Today" show, Mrs. Clinton renounces her war vote unequivocally for the first time: "I certainly wouldn't have voted that way."

• January 13, 2007
From Baghdad, Mrs. Clinton responds to Mr. Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq to secure Baghdad: "I don't know that the American people or the Congress at this point believe this mission can work. And in the absence of a commitment that is backed up by actions from the Iraqi government, why should we believe it?"

• January 17, 2007
Mrs. Clinton calls for capping the number of U.S. troops in Iraq, saying she will introduce legislation to do so. And while she says she won't block money for the troops, she suggests withholding funds for the Iraqi government. It is precisely such a funds cut-off to the South Vietnamese government in 1975 that led to the final U.S. flight from Saigon.

• January 27, 2007
On the campaign trail in Iowa, Mrs. Clinton demands that President Bush "extricate our country from this before he leaves office." And she promises that, if elected, she will end the war quickly.

All politicians change their minds about something at some point, but what's troubling about Mrs. Clinton's record on Iraq is that it tends to follow, rather than lead, public opinion. When the war was first debated, and she couldn't easily walk away from her husband's record against Saddam, she was a solid, even eloquent, hawk. Then for a time she laid low and avoided the antiwar excesses of John Kerry and others.

But now that the war has proven to be difficult, and her fellow Democrats are outflanking her on the antiwar left, she is steadily, even rapidly, moving in their direction. So in the space of merely 14 months and as the Presidential campaign begins in earnest, Mrs. Clinton has gone from advocating a new plan to "win" the Iraq war, with "honor," to vocally opposing President Bush's new strategy to try to do precisely that. And, oh, yes, she now wants the "surge" to be in Afghanistan instead of Iraq.

The question we'd ask is whether this is the kind of stalwart drift that Mrs. Clinton would bring to the Oval Office?

Virgin Gamecock Heat Nazi fear-mongering.

The Daily Gamecock: $25 million prize step in right direction
Our world revolves around money, so I guess it only makes sense that for our world to continue revolving we must offer some cash prize. (At least that is a new one. I guess the SUVs all driving clockwise must be doing it. - F.G.) What I am referring to is the $25 million reward for greenhouse gas removal. The sponsor, Richard Branson, says this is the biggest prize in history.

Name 3 who think it's a neocon put-up job.

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Gates: Iran-Iraq link gets clearer
Serial numbers and markings on explosives used in Iraq provide "pretty good" evidence that Iran is providing either weapons or technology for insurgents there, Defense Secretary Robert Gates asserted yesterday.

1) President Hungadunga
2) The Party of Blasphemy, Buggery, and 'Bortion
3) The AmericaLast Media

Unless, of course, you take your Catholic faith or that whole freedom thingee seriously...or wind up in a commie 're-education' camp, or...

Roto-Reuters: Life expectancy in China expected to jump to 85 years

Senator Token Update.

60 Minutes: Is Barack 'Black enough?'
Presidential candidate Barack Obama says his barber, cab drivers don't question if he's black.

Man, I'd hate to be his barber...What with those gigantinormous ears of his, you're just begging for a lawsuit.

Sometimes a mole is hot. (April Scott)

From the pages of The King Abdullah Gazette: