Damned Yankees

Columbus Day

Does Columbus Day still mean anything beyond better traffic in DC due to the federal holiday? In these days of political correctness, how long will the feds continue to get the day off?

I gave two of my daughters (second grade and kindergarten) a pop quiz to see if they knew who Christopher Columbus was. They passed with flying colors with the forgivable exception that the kindergartener thought that one of his ships was named "The Tina".

Years ago at a public rosary around the Washington Monument someone handed me a tract that claimed that Columbus' voyage was a prophecy that predicated the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego in Mexico. The tract claimed that the ships' names were the key: Nina (girl), Pinta (paints), Santa Maria (St Mary).

This evening I did a little googling of these terms and, of course, found the theory repeated. I did find some other interesting facts. Did you know that:

It was in the Franciscan Friary of Santa Maria de Guadalupe, Spain that Columbus signed the contract with Queen Isabel to make his first voyage

A copy of Juan Diego's tilma with the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was carried on one of the main ships in the battle of Lepanto

Finally a Practical Segway

It's still a concept and currently there are no plans to manufacture it, but the Centaur looks really neat and I could see people actually buying it.

The biggest problem with the original "Ginger", "It", or whatever you want to call the first commercial offering from Segway, was that it was designed to be used on sidewalks. Pedestrians were not too keen about being run down by them and they were too slow for street use.

Scratch a Liberal, Find a Puritan Underneath

Democrats are circulating old newspaper clippings of a 1974 college streaking stunt staged by hundreds of students at what was then called Southwest Texas State University.

One of the participants was an 18-year-old freshman named Pete Sessions -- who grew up to become a conservative Republican congressman.

Wow, if this is the worst they can come up with, Pete Sessions must be squeaky clean.

Modernism confuses license with liberty, but cannot stand when a man turns from license to true freedom. Liberalism leads to the rejection of redemption. Unless it is politically useful, that is.

Dr. Bill Hogan Speaks on Ethics Issues

Nationally known Dr. Bill Hogan will speak at Holy Cross parish in Garrett Park, MD on Friday October 22, 2004. Topics will include:

Stem Cell Research

"Mercy" Killing

Human Cloning

Same Sex Marriage

Partial-Birth Abortion

The talk will start at 7:30 pm.

Holy Cross Parish
4900 Strathmore Avenue
Garrett Park, MD 20896

Mail Bag

The most beautiful woman in the world* writes:

Hey you blogger,

I have an idea for a blog story. Did you hear about the obituary that included telling people to vote for Kerry?

I think this is ludicrous and the man who wrote it at the end of his wife's obituary is insensitive and does the memory of his wife no good. You would think he would have more on his mind than the presidential campaign. He should ask people to pray for her soul to help her get into heaven instead of worrying about getting Kerry into the White House!

Couldn't have said it better.

_{*and best wife and mother}