Rimshot

Kerry: Knock, Knock
Voters: Who's there?
Kerry: Orange
Voters: Orange who?
Kerry: Orange you glad its not Botox?

Courtesy Gestapo

Sakinah Aaron was walking into the bus area at the Wheaton Metro station several weeks ago, talking loudly on her Motorola cell phone. A little too loudly for Officer George Saoutis of the Metro Transit Police.

The police officer told Aaron, who is five months pregnant, to lower her voice. She told the officer he had no right to tell her how to speak into her cell phone.

Sakinah Aaron says she was speaking loudly on the phone but not cursing.

Their verbal dispute quickly escalated, and Saoutis grabbed Aaron by the arm and pushed her to the ground. He handcuffed the 23-year-old woman, called for backup and took her to a cell where she was held for three hours

Cell phone users can be annoying, but no one -- pregnant or not -- deserves to be manhandled by the police for an offense that should really warrant a twenty dollar ticket.

Graham Parker was a prophet in Get Started, Start a Fire:
"Joan of Arc was burning at the stake
Somebody had made a big mistake
She had lit a cigarette
In an aiport where you get
Your fingers taken off for smoking.
Meanwhile up the road a factory's choking
The ones who killed her work there
I'm not joking"

Bigotry Never Goes Out of Style

The global marketing behind Green Day's 'American Idiot' is making the newly restructured Warner Music look smart under Edgar Bronfman Jr. The politically charged ninth album from the punk-pop trio opened number one on the charts in the UK, Japan and Australia on Sept. 28, 2004, selling more than 1.5 million records worldwide in its first week.

You would have to be an idiot -- American or otherwise -- to get your politics from guys that look like this.

We need to make acts of sorrow for stuff like this.

LA Times Does Hack Job on Legionaries of Christ / Regnum Christi

via Amy Welborn's Open Book

Maciel's photograph hangs on the walls in Legion schools. Students revere him as a hero from the days of Mexico's anti-clerical persecutions. But Maciel was kicked out of two seminaries as a young man. No others would take him, which the official Legion history chalks up to "misunderstandings." Were it not for an uncle (a bishop who had him privately tutored), Maciel would never have become a priest.

Guess what. Every movement within the Church that is worth talking about has revered its founder. St John Vianney had a very hard time getting into the seminary; God uses humble means.

Members call themselves "the Movement."

Cue eerie music. It must be a cult! They have an internal way of referring to themselves! Early Christians used the secret fish symbol to identify themselves and used the mysterious term "The Way"! Ooh, Christianity must be a cult!

The schools have had their share of controversy.

Show me a privately owned school that has not had its share of controversy.

Atlanta's Archbishop John Donoghue, to the dismay of some of his priests, has given the Legion and Regnum Christi near carte blanche to teach catechism to Catholic kids who don't attend parochial schools.

Not teaching catechism! Please, not teaching catechism! What's next? Will their priests try to dispense the sacraments?!

Complaints mounted about secret meetings. One parent likened the Movement to a cult.

Oh, no! The school had staff meetings and did not invite parents! It must be a cult!

Archbishop Chaput calls a Spade a Spade

Next month, October, is Respect Life month. It’s a good time to reflect on the meaning of the Kennedy-Cuomo legacy. In brief, it’s OK to be Catholic in public service as long as you’re willing to jettison what’s inconveniently “Catholic.”

That’s not a compromise. That’s a deal with the devil, and it has a balloon payment no nation, no public servant and no voter can afford.

Ono Ekeh, martyr of pro-abortion "catholics", blogs on this story on DailyKos in an entry called Catholic Bishop says Kerry making deal with Devil. The funny thing is, though, Chaput never mentions Kerry by name.

Ono's thoughtful comment: "It's official. Vote for Bush or you are going to Hell!"

The comments below the post are very revealing of the left's sneering attitude towards Catholicism.

The Humility of Islam

Yusuf Islam, that is.

"Everybody knows me from my charitable work and now there have to be explanations.... A lot of security officers are very pleased because they got my autograph."

Sorry, Cat, very few people under 30 have even heard your music, much less your name.

BTW, "Yusuf" is basically "Joseph". How many RC converts do you know who changed their name to Joe Catholic?

Deal Hudson Steps Down as Publisher of Crisis Magazine

via CRISIS Magazine - e-Letter:

On Friday, I told the board of CRISIS Magazine that I'd like to step down as publisher. They agreed and on January 1 of next year, I'll become the Director of the newly established Morley Institute.

The Institute will have two major functions: 1) To provide continued funding for CRISIS magazine and, 2) To support several new projects that I've wanted to pursue for some time. (The first of which will be a book on how Catholics can get involved in politics... something about which I have firsthand knowledge.)

Not very surprising. Probably the best way to handle a difficult situation.

Program to provide mentors to gay youths

According to Ms. Alston, D.C. Family Court officials would pair children as young as 15 with homosexual mentors, who would act as 'good role models.'

Imagine if D.C. Family Court hooked up paired young female heterosexuals with adult male "mentors". It is surprising that we had to wait for the Williams administration to come up with something like this. Hizzoner Marion Barry would have been all for it.

My friend, Doug, interviews Luke Skywalker

Congratulations, Doug, on getting a by-line!

Doug also reports on the Stars Wars DVD controversy.

Judge says for courts on abortion "facts no longer matter"

The perverse result of the Court's having determined through constitutional adjudication this fundamental social policy, which affects over a million women and unborn babies each year, is that the facts no longer matter

The facts did not matter back in 1973 either. The "facts" that should have been adjudicated were whether or not it was constitutional to have a law making it a crime to kill innocent human beings within the womb. Instead of interpreting the Constitution, the Court, in essence, re-wrote it.

Perfect Arc

A rainbow appears over the Church of the Nativity of Jesus in Magadan, Russia. Nativity of Jesus is the first and only Catholic church built in this city on the east coast of Russia. Two U.S. priests, Fathers Michael Shields of Anchorage, Alaska, and David Means of St. Louis serve the parish.

Nice reminder of God's covenant with Noah and the human race. Don't let the forces of evil co-opt a symbol of the goodness of creation.

Cardinal Arinze: Guard the Liturgy

Because he was speaking to an audience drawn primarily from Third World countries, the cardinal dwelt at some length on the question of "inculturation" and the need to educate the faithful about the liturgy.
...
Cardinal Arinze insisted that "inculturation" must be undertaken with care, to ensure that the essential forms of the liturgy are not disturbed. He urged the bishops to guard against "frequent changes, or the introduction of rites invented by the celebrant."

Would "inculturation" in the US include the Culture of Death™ and giving communion to public figures who encourage it?

Johnny Ramone, RIP

I had the pleasure of seeing the Ramones in 1980 and again in 1986. The former was definitely better than the latter, but they both were incredibly dynamic shows. Johnny was like a jack-hammer. The combination of speed, frenetic energy, and that there was never a pause between songs made me wonder how his hand did not fly off his wrist. Johnny will never be remembered as rivaling Wes Montgomery or Jimi Hendrix, but there was more to his playing than three chords and speed.

Spinout with Elvis!

In the words of Paul McCartney:

It's like a relic from a different age
...
It looks a lot like the one used by Jimmy Page

Can you imagine the King actually trying to play that thing?