Obama's Troop Withdrawal Plan...

So, let me get this straight... before the election, The Obamessiah said that he would get the U.S. Troops out of Iraq within 6 months of his taking office.  Now he says that the troops will be gone by the end of August of 2010.  That's 18 months from now.  And... 35,000-50,000 troops will remain in Iraq after that deadline for at least another year.

Hmmmmmmmmm...

CHANGE-ish!

It's Ash Wednesday! Happy Lent!

Such Reveries - Duncan Sheik in Concert...

Last Thursday night I went to go see Duncan Sheik at the EchoPlex in the Echo Park section of L.A. It was general admission, and I had already purchased tickets... for the Vista Theater in Los Feliz (they changed the venue on everyone a week before the concert). Found the new venue (tucked in an alley), and arrived just as the opening act (Duncan's band mates performing their own material) started playing, and was lucky enough to get seats just five rows from the stage!

The seats, though, were the most uncomfortable folding chairs we've ever sat in. But the music was incredible, with Duncan coming on stage at 8:30 playing some of his solo material, then performing a selection of songs from his Tony Award winning stage play "Spring Awakening". Next, he performed a large selection of new material from his new CD "Whisper House" (from a new play that he is writing songs for), before ending with more of his solo material.

Moody, soulful, singer/songwriter style music with a large band backing him up (including cello, oboe, french horn and grand piano, and backing vocals). Good stuff! Duncan even thanked the audience for "participating in the 'Easter Egg Venue Hunt'." (Hah!)  Check out the pix, below:

Papal Smackdown on Pelosi, et al...

West Coast Catholic (and just about everyone else) beat me to the punch on this one.  But the news is just so darn good.  House Speaker Mrs. Dimwit Pelosi goes to the Vatican, and B16 gives her a full 15-minute lecture on the Church's unchanged teaching on abortion and the tremendous responsibilities leaders like herself have in regards to this crucial issue.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s photo-op with Pope Benedict XVI turned sour when the Pontiff used the 15-minute meeting to reaffirm the teachings of the Catholic Church on the right to life and the duty to protect the unborn.

No photo of Nancy Pelosi and the Pope will be forthcoming, since the meeting was closed to reporters and photographers. The two met in a small room in the Vatican just after the Pope's weekly public audience.

Immediately after the meeting, the Holy See’s press office released a statement saying, "following the general audience the Holy Father briefly greeted Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, together with her entourage."

"His Holiness took the opportunity to speak of the requirements of the natural moral law and the Church's consistent teaching on the dignity of human life from conception to natural death which enjoin all Catholics, and especially legislators, jurists and those responsible for the common good of society, to work in co-operation with all men and women of good will in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development."

The FULL 15 minutes on THE issue on which Pelosi is on the wrong side.  NO picture with the Pontiff for Pelosi to parade around like some badge of honor.  An immediate press release from the Vatican explaining the content and context of the meeting so that Ms. Pelosi cannot claim anything contrary to what actually was said in the closed meeting.  And the public Vatican statement charging ALL Catholics, and ESPECIALLY politicians to get on the right side of the abortion issue.

VP Biden?  Sen. Kerry?  Sen. Kennedy?  Sen. Casey?  And all you other "Catholic" politicians and judges at all levels of government?  Are you listening???

Lots of links (some of which were snerched from WCC):  American Papist here, news reports & commentary here, here, and here, L.A. Catholic here, Curt Jester here and George Weigel here.  And the Anchoress chimes in, as well.

I LOVE IT!!!  GOD BLESS POPE BENEDICT XVI!!!

What Happened on September 15, 2008?

Now THIS is an eye-opener!

"...On Thursday Sept 15, 2008 at roughly 11 AM The Federal Reserve noticed a tremendous draw down of money market accounts in the USA to the tune of $550 Billion dollars in a matter of an hour or two. Money was being removed electronically.

The Treasury tried to help, opened their window and pumped in $150 Billion but quickly realized they could not stem the tide. We were having an electronic run on the banks. So they decided to closed down the accounts.

Had they not closed down the accounts they estimated that by 2 PM that afternoon. Within 3 hours. $5.5 Trillion would have been withdrawn and the entire economy of the United States would have collapsed, and within 24 hours the world economy would have collapsed..."

And THAT is the reason for the first $700 billion bailout boondoggle.  And the continued reason for the latest $800 billion bailout mess.

As Drudge would say, "developing..."

CORRECTED: Date in headline.

Saturday Hodge Podge (Part II)...

Creative Minority Report posts on the so-called "Catholics" in politics today.  Very depressing!

Flopping Aces looks back at the CPAC speech by Tony Snow prior to his passing last year.  Very inspirational!

Flopping Aces also continues with it's regular updates on the Flight 93 Memorial, and the outrageous disaster that it has become.

RWN looks at the Phelps and Pot fallout in a completely different light.

And I have to end with some G.K. Chesterton making a resurgence in colleges and universities.

Saturday Hodge Podge (Obomination Style)...

The Obamessiah will address the nation in a joint session of Congress on Feb. 24th.  But it won't be considered his first State of the Union address.  That won't be until next January.  I'm trying to remember if that's the case for every new President.  Not sure.

I'm curious about the State of The One's Administration Appointees.  It's much more interesting to follow.  He's certainly keeping pace with Bill "The Disappearing Cigar Act" Clinton.

I find it ironic that Mr. Hope is suddenly employing Fear is his motivation of choice now that he's in office.  The Wall Street Journal looks at the impact of the latest pork-filled "stimulus" package that just passed.  This chart looks at the annual deficit as a percentage of GDP. 

Given that GWB had to deal with the "dot com" bust, 9/11, two wars in Iraq & Afghanistan, and the bursting housing/mortgage bubble, his record on deficits is pretty good.  Add to it the fact that the unemployment rate (both the highest monthly rate, as well as the 8-year term average) is exactly the same as Clinton's (who didn't have to deal with those major issues during his administration).  But you won't hear that from the MSM.

Victor Davis Hanson looks at the impending Obama meltdown.

The San Francisco Examiner (as far left-wing as you can get) has a wake-up call for The One. (Hat-Tip to the Paragraph Farmer for this one.)

Kyle-Anne Shriver wonders if Murphy's Law is meeting Peter's Principle.

The "evil" former V.P. Dick Cheney warns the new administration of the likelihood of new attacks from Islamic terrorists.  But we all know it's just a scare tactic.  After all, the vast majority of Muslims are peaceful and moderate.  Kinda like THIS one in New York (just a little beheading in the family, that's all).

Finally, let's take a closer look at the new klutz in the White House (we all know the MSM was unmerciful when this kind of stuff occurred with Gerald Ford and GWB):

That was preceded by this clueless incident when he thought a window was a door:

Oh... and one more... yah gotta have some more Zo:

Crickets...

Yeah-yeah, I know.  Where the heck have I been?

Sometimes real life takes precedent.

I promise to post some things before the weekend is over.

In the meantime, please keep my nephew, Vinny, in your prayers.  He's having eye surgery next week.

Thanx!

Gee... that worked out so well!

Just off the wires:

A lesbian couple who led the fight for gay marriage in Massachusetts has filed for divorce. Julie and Hillary Goodridge were among seven gay couples who filed a lawsuit that led to a court ruling making Massachusetts the first state to legalize same-sex marriages in 2004. The couple became the public face of the debate in the state and married the first day same-sex marriages became legal.

Blaising a Trail to Good Health...

Today is the feast day of St. Blaise, the patron saint of throat maladies.  I remember having my throat blessed on this feast day several times when I was a youngster.  It has to be at least 20 years since the last time I had that blessing.

My Dad reminded me that it was this week, and that my old parish back east had the throat blessings on Sunday.  Of the four parishes near where I live and work here in California, only one was doing the blessings - today, after each mass.  I went this morning at 8 AM before driving to work, and received the blessing.

I particularly need it.  I've had various throat issues ever since I was an infant (having been born with a cleft palate - the soft palate at the back of the throat - which required surgery when I was about 2 years old).  For the past year I've been having persistent tonsillitis (at age 45, go figure!), and it's been acting up again over the past couple months.

Find out if your church is doing the blessings today.

The blessing via the Googling God blog:

Through the intercession of St. Blaise, bishop and martyr, may you be free of every ailment of the throat and from every other evil. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

SuperBowl XLIII...

I'm not devastated that the Steelers won.  They're a very good team, and I had them as the favorite once the playoff teams were selected.  But I was hoping for Arizona to pull it off for three main factors: the underdog status, Ken Whisenhunt who got snubbed by Pittsburgh when Cowher left, and Kurt Warner... especially Kurt Warner.  Class act guy.

The Super Bowl ads were mostly lame... reeeeeeally lame, unfunny, annoying, inane, insulting, stupid, and/or confusingly bad.  IMHO, the best and funniest ad was this one:

The second best ad was this one by Monster.com:

The Man of Steele...

Michael Steele has been voted as the new Chairman of the RNC.

Capt. Ed assesses.

So does Jennifer Rubin.

Sunday Hodge Podge: Part II...

Melissa Clouthier at RWN posts a summary on potential "mistake" of The Obomination presidency.

Gateway Pundit adds to the concern.

Paragraph Farmer links to in intriguing summary of The One and Don Quixote (from a former Soviet perspective).

Warner from RedState posts on "why he wants Obama to fail as president".  And then posts on why he doesn't want Rush Limbaugh as the "voice" of the GOP.  You'll need to read post posts in order to fully understand what he means and where he's coming from.

Finally, via Ace of Spades, a report on the Democrats in Congress voting themselves a nice $93,000/year additional "petty cash" stipend for each member of congress.

The Sunday Hodge Podge...

Carl Olson over at Insight Scoop had a post back in late December.  It was in response to an article in the Nation "Catholic" Reporter.  Carl's summary is priceless.

West Coast Catholic posted an inaugural response from Fr. John Corapi.

American Papist posts a video and link to the campaign, "What The FOCA?"

And L.A. Catholic links to a powerful interview from Archbishop Raymond Burke in which he slams the USCCB.

A document of the US Catholic Bishops is partly to blame for the abandonment of pro-life teachings by voting Catholics and the election of the “most pro-abortion president” in US history, one of the Vatican’s highest officials said in an interview with LifeSiteNews.com.

Archbishop Raymond Burke, the prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, named a document on the election produced by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops that he said “led to confusion” among the faithful and led ultimately to massive support among Catholics for Barack Obama.

The US bishops’ document, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” stated that, under certain circumstances, a Catholic could in good conscience vote for a candidate who supports abortion because of "other grave reasons," as long as they do not intend to support that pro-abortion position. 

Archbishop Burke, the former Archbishop of St. Louis Mo. and recently appointed head of the highest ecclesiastical court in the Catholic Church, told LifeSiteNews.com that although “there were a greater number of bishops who spoke up very clearly and firmly ... there was also a number who did not.” 

But most damaging, he said, was the document “Faithful Citizenship” that “led to confusion” among the voting Catholic population. 

“While it stated that the issue of life was the first and most important issue, it went on in some specific areas to say ‘but there are other issues’ that are of comparable importance without making necessary distinctions.” 

Archbishop Burke, citing an article by a priest and ethics expert of St. Louis archdiocese, Msgr. Kevin McMahon, who analysed how the bishops’ document actually contributed to the election of Obama, called its proposal “a kind of false thinking, that says, ‘there’s the evil of taking an innocent and defenceless human life but there are other evils and they’re worthy of equal consideration.’

“But they’re not. The economic situation, or opposition to the war in Iraq, or whatever it may be, those things don’t rise to the same level as something that is always and everywhere evil, namely the killing of innocent and defenceless human life.”

Archbishop Burke also cited the work of the official news service of the US Catholic Bishops’ Conference, that many pro-life observers complained soft-pedalled the newly elected president’s opposition to traditional morality. 

“The bishops need to look also at our Catholic News Service, CNS, they need to review their coverage of the whole thing and give some new direction, in my judgement,” he said.