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Wednesday, October 09, 2002

Satan, of course, believed this as well.
Is George Barna anti-Catholic? From his latest survey on religious beliefs, it certainly appears that way. First of all, he makes the claim that many Catholics (and Protestants) hold beliefs that conflict with the teachings of the Bible. Uh, who made Mr. Barna, a self described Evangelical Protestant, the authoritative interpreter of the Bible?

Second, his unqualified comments about the "surprising" number of Protestants who like praying to, in his words, "deceased saints", clearly reflects his ignorant belief that such Catholic inspired conduct amounts to idol worshipping and that the saints in Heaven aren't alive.

George Barna clearly has a lot of theological issues he needs to work out. Until then, I would give his statistical findings as much credence as I would to surveys conducted by the California Democratic Party -- almost none.

Tuesday, October 08, 2002

I've been getting a few calls about this new student Satan club in the San Mateo school district. As distressing as it is, this club has as much of legal right to be formed under the Equal Access Act as a Christian club.
Hey, if you happen to be a graduate of North Torrance High School like me, check out this site.

Friday, October 04, 2002

In looking at paragraph 2309 of the Catechism (the elements of the "just war" doctrine"), I'm inclined to think that the Vatican is being a little ignorant in its opposition to a possible U.S. military preemptive strike against Iraq.

"[Archbishop Renato Martino] recalled the Vatican's opposition to the 1991 Gulf War, saying: 'Everyone knows the way it turned out. War doesn't resolve problems. Besides being bloody, it's useless,' he said."

Uh, if I recall, not only did the Gulf War last less than six months, but we got Sadaam's tyrannical fat a** out of Kuwait. How can the Archbishop say that no problems were resolved and it was a useless endeavor? I suppose if there was one mistake about the war, it's that we didn't immediately go after Sadaam back in Iraq. However, if we did, the coalition we had built for the mission in Kuwait probably would have fallen apart. And then Clinton came into office...
Protestants in Mexico are disturbed over religious expressions made by the president of their country -- who happens to be Catholic. Legitimate concern over an establishment of religion or anti-Catholic bigotry?

Thursday, October 03, 2002

Link via RelapsedCatholic.com: Two pro-life Hollywood stars appear and hold their own on TV talkshows.
Jesse Jackson shows up in Brazil to offer support for seemingly anti-Catholic political candidate "Lula".

"But even if he has the lead, Lula is leaving little to chance, insisting to the crowd that he shares the same ideals — and endured the same discrimination — as Jesus.

'Who in human history was more revolutionary than Jesus Christ? Who fought more for social justice?" Lula asked. "The same elite that is prejudiced against us today, had a prejudice against him.'"

Tuesday, October 01, 2002

Go here to check out my choice for California Governor. He's got a funny picture of a guy in chicken suit on there.
Despite the total lack of news coverage, Gov. Gray (out) Davis has vetoed an atrocious bill that would have required foster parents to attend homosexual sensitivity training classes, and prohibited foster child placement agencies from discriminating against foster parent applicants on the basis of their sexual orientation.

The game, of course, isn't over. Believe you me, if Gray-out is reelected this November, expect this and other pro-homo bills that got shot down this year (e.g., the "civil unions" bill) to get reintroduced by the Democrat dominated Legislature and signed into law in a heartbeat.

Monday, September 30, 2002

Too busy to blog today. Hope to have something tomorrow.

Sunday, September 29, 2002

Pat Buchanan helps launch new political magazine called American Conservative.

"...American Conservative magazine was founded with the sole purpose of drawing a line in the sand against the so-called hijackers of the conservative movement, say its leaders.

'We're trying to take back the good name of conservatism from these right-wing impersonators,' Buchanan said at the magazine launch this week."


Friday, September 27, 2002

Aha! The U.S. Supreme Court has recognized secular humanism as a religion in the case of Torcaso v. Watkins, 367 U.S. 488, 495 note 11.

"Among religions in this country which do not teach what would generally be considered a belief in the existence of God are Buddhism, Taoism, Ethical Culture, Secular Humanism and others. See Washington Ethical Society v. District of Columbia, 101 U.S. App. D.C. 371, 249 F.2d 127; Fellowship of Humanity v. County of Alameda, 153 Cal. App. 2d 673, 315 P.2d 394; II Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences 293; 4 Encyclopaedia Britannica (1957 ed.) 325-327; 21 id., at 797; Archer, Faiths Men Live By (2d ed. revised by Purinton), 120-138, 254-313; 1961 World Almanac 695, 712; Year Book of American Churches for 1961, at 29, 47."
Self-worshippers plan march on Washington.

"We are participating in this march to reclaim the American nation as a secular nation because we feel it's being moved more and more to a religious nation," said Katherine Bourdonnay, a spokesperson for the Council for Secular Humanism.

It seems kind of odd that atheists and secular humanists would confine the word religion to those who believe in the existence of and worship a divine being. It is my understanding that the origin of the word religion comes from the Latin word for "relationship", as in a relationship with God or another person. Since atheists and secular humanists have a strong tendency to emphasize relationships with material things like money (indeed, that is how they sadly measure the value of their lives), it would seem that they are trying to foster as much religion, if not more, as a devout Christian might. The only difference, of course, is that you don't hear very many Christians saying that secular humanists and atheists can't be informed by their beliefs in the public square or popular government. Talk about violating the Establishment Clause!

Thursday, September 26, 2002

Speaking of The Civil War, I understand that the writer of the song "Dixie," which the Confederacy sort of adopted as its anthem, was not only a "yankee northerner," he was also Catholic. I've been able to confirm the former (Daniel Decatur Emmett was born in Ohio and was not particularly enamored when the Confederacy coopted his song), but I haven't been able to verify the latter.
I've been watching the digitally remastered edition of The Civil War on PBS over the last few nights, and there's just a chock full of interesting information I missed the first time I saw it several years ago. I just may go out and buy the DVD.

Tuesday, September 24, 2002

Federal death penalty law is ruled unconstitutional. This is only somewhat of a bombshell, because only a particular law involving the death penalty is being ruled upon and not the death penalty itself.

U.S. District Judge William Sessions said the law does not adequately protect defendants' rights.

"If the death penalty is to be part of our system of justice, due process of law and the fair trial guarantees of the Sixth Amendment require that standards and safeguards governing the kinds of evidence juries may consider must be rigorous, and constitutional rights and liberties scrupulously protected," he said.


Monday, September 23, 2002

On my Notre Dame football musing below, a reader informs me that neither Knute Rockne (until he later converted) or Ara Parseghian were Catholic when they were the head coach of the Irish.

Speaking of sports, who are some of the most famous and greatest American athletes who are (or were when they were alive) also faithful Catholics? There must be a few, but for some reason I can only think of Roger Staubach, former great quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. I read somewhere that even during his playing career, Staubach was a daily communicant. How awesome is that?
Governor Gray Davis rationalizes abortion, and now embryonic stem cell research, on the premise that pre-born children are not human, and that such things will better our society. Hitler, of course, had the same perspective regarding the Jews and the involuntary experimentations that were done on them. Thus, to equate people like Gray Davis to Adolf Hitler is justified, although Davis is more of an equal opportunity offender.

Sunday, September 22, 2002

Just a passing curiosity, but I wonder if in addition to being the first black head football coach at Notre Dame, Tyrone Willingham is the first non-Catholic head football coach at said university.

Saturday, September 21, 2002

Cool...Mel Gibson movie on the Passion to be in Latin and Aramaic.

Wednesday, September 18, 2002

Even though the Catholic Church in the United States has significantly grown in the last few years, I'd be curious to know what percentage of new members in other growing religious faiths (e.g., Mormons, Evangelical Protestants, etc.) are fall-away Catholics. I once heard on EWTN that behind the Catholic Church, the second largest Christian "denomination" in the United States are people who were once Catholic.
Students from across the country today will be holding a "See You At The Pole" event at their schools to offer prayers for classmates, parents, friends, and their country. Although it is held out as being "interdenominational" (i.e., Catholics can participate too!) See You At The Pole tends to primarily attract good-hearted folks from the various quarters of Evangelical and Fundamentalist Protestantism. Myself, I see this event as an annual test for school principals and school districts on their understanding of the meaning of free speech.

Tuesday, September 17, 2002

Another Chinese bishop, loyal to the Holy See, is arrested.

"Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake:"

-- Matthew 5:11 (DR)

Monday, September 16, 2002

Unlike their cohorts in academia, liberal pro-abortion activists set sights at destroying another great nominee for the federal judiciary.

Sunday, September 15, 2002

So how bad was anti-Catholicism within America's Protestant subculture? Here's a resolution that the National Association of Evangelicals, a multi-denominational group that many prominent Fundamentalists like Bob Jones think is too "liberal", adopted prior to the presidential election of John F. Kennedy in 1960:

Roman Catholicism And The President Of The United States

Whereas, separation of Church and State is the historic American principle, BE IT RESOLVED that the NAE state its belief:

1. That discussion of the church-state separation principle along with all of its implications is legitimate and inevitable whenever public office is under consideration, and

2. That commitments to the principle of church-state separation are necessary from all political candidates for the Presidency regardless of their religious affiliation, and

3. That the commitment of a Roman Catholic candidate to the separation principle is particularly necessary because the Roman Catholic Church, both as a political and religious organization, has for many centuries fostered the policy of church establishment in various degrees, according to its own political and religious interests within a situation, and has exerted pressures on public officials to that end, and

4. That the real source of unrest in respect to church-state separation is the total lack of any convincing commitment of the Roman Catholic Church to the principle of church-state separation, which could only come from the highest authority of that organization and could only be evidenced by the realignment of Catholic policy in those countries where Catholicism is now the established religion, and

5. That due to political-religious nature of the Roman Catholic Church, we doubt that a Roman Catholic president could or would resist fully the pressures of the ecclesiastical hierarchy.


Prior to the NAE redesigining their website, I pulled some other old resolutions they had regarding, I believe, the "danger" of allowing Bishop Samuel Stritch to be elevated to the College of Cardinals. I've only glanced through the NAE's resdesigned site, and while they actually admit to adopting anti-Catholic resolutions like the one above, I didn't see anything about a subsequent rescinding of them. Very curious.


Outside of the loony fringes of the Bob Jones' and Jack Chicks' of this world, is anti-Catholicism among most of our separated Protestant brothers and sisters really a thing of the past? In taking a look at some of the courses offered by a few of the more popular "born again" Protestant colleges in this country, one has to wonder. For example, here is a course offered at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (BIOLA) University:

TTTH707 Roman Catholic Theology
Units:2.0
School:Talbot School of Theology
Course Description:
A detailed study of the tenets of Roman Catholicism; reading from representative Roman Catholic literature; particular attention given to the distinctions between Roman Catholic and Protestant doctrines. Especially helpful for those contemplating missionary service in countries dominated by Roman Catholicism. Elective .


Here is course offered at Trinity International University, whose law school I am a graduate of (Yes, I did lodge a formal complaint after I discovered it. As expected, they denied the course was designed to train Evangelical missionaries on how to convert Catholics):

ST 737 ROMAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGY
An examination of the claims and practices of traditional Roman Catholicism, of the "revolution" introduced by the Second Vatican Council, and of current modernist and traditionalist trends, together with an evangelical critique and an evaluation of the possibilities of collaboration with and evangelism among Catholics today.


So yeah, while secular humanism is the greatest cause of anti-Catholicism in America today, one can clearly see that some of the hostility toward the Church is still flowing out from this country's Protestant subculture.

Saturday, September 14, 2002

Retired janitor of a Catholic high school in So.California beomes one of its largest donors.

"D'Heygers, who dropped out of school after the eighth grade in Belgium, has spent the bulk of his adult life serving students who begin their Mater Dei years at the age when his own education ended. Now retired from his position as head caretaker, he still lives on campus. His living room displays crosses and Mater Dei memorabilia, including an honorary high school diploma. Announcements from the school's speaker system filter in. Students talk to him around his dining room table, where his black cat, Monarch II, jumps up to be petted."

Friday, September 13, 2002

What are the chances that Mel Gibson is a SSPX sympathizer? Let's hope Jim Caviezel doesn't possess this attitude and is able to talk some sense to Mel.

Tuesday, September 10, 2002

Regarding the item below this, the state court of appeals apparently ignored Bacus v. Palo Verde Unified School District (11 F.Supp.2d 1192), a 1998 federal case in California that held there was nothing unconstitutional about a reference to Jesus Christ in a school board invocation.

And don't give me any lip about California's establishment clause being more narrow than the First Amendment's Establishment Clause. The state Supreme Court has definitively ruled in East Bay Asian Local Dev. Corp. v. State of California, 24 Cal.4th 693 (2000) that if a policy or act by the government does not violate the First Amendment's Establishment Clause, it will not violate the state's establishment clause.

In an apparent fit of "9th Circuit-itis," a California state court of appeals rules that invoking the name of Jesus Christ during a city council invocation is unconstitutional. Curiously enough, the guy who brought the suit against the city council is sitting in jail for allegedly plotting to bomb a mosque and a congressman's office.

Thursday, September 05, 2002

In a straight party line vote, Dummycrats reject nomination of Prescilla Owen to the federal judiciary. This probably would have never happened, of course, if "Jumpin'" Jim Jeffords hadn't switched parties and given the Dummys a one person majority in the Senate, and thus a majority on the Judiciary Committee.
Unsurprisingly, there is a severe shortage of priests in the Sacramento diocese. There are lots of reasons for this, but it certainly doesn't help that the diocese draws most of its priests from questionable and uninspiring seminaries like St. Patrick's in Menlo Park and Mount Angel in Oregon.

"St. Patrick's had as its academic dean, Father Carl Schipper, who was arrested for soliciting sex with minors and distributing child porn over the internet in 2000. San Francisco archbishop William Levada invited Father Gerald Coleman to take his place. Coleman is well known as a supporter of what he calls "chaste" homosexual unions and publicly opposed Proposition 22, the defense of marriage initiative. Michael Rose interviewed seminarians at Mount Angel seminary in Oregon for Goodbye, Good Men, who said their superiors persecuted them for praying the rosary."

Wednesday, September 04, 2002

Arrgh... No time to really blog , so here's something to ponder: To assert that God knows the future wrongly assumes that God has a past and a future. In other words, because God is outside the bounds of time and space, God does not know the future, but "only" knows.

Friday, August 30, 2002

Have a great Labor Day weekend. I intend to use part of it reviewing a case on appeal involving the Boy Scouts and the People's Republic of Berkeley.
I just learned an interesting fact about my native Los Angeles. The city was actually named after the Blessed Mother and the title she holds as the Queen of Angels. As a relatively recent Catholic convert (about 4 years), this was quite a pleasant discovery. However, as a product of the public school system in California, I'm pretty steamed that this kind of information was withheld from me.

Thursday, August 29, 2002

The new NFL season is approaching and, alas, another year will go by without my native Los Angeles having a team. Having a grown up a die-hard Rams fan, I was crushed when they left for St. Louis in the early nineties. I just wish the ownership of the Rams would show some class and change the name of team, like the Browns and Oilers did when they left for Baltimore and Tennessee.

I'm thinking of adopting the New Orleans Saints as my new favorite team, because, well, of the reference to saints. I don't know. Maybe I just won't pay much attention to pro football again like I have for the past 7-8 years.
Ha! In relation to the post below, Bob Jones III apparently quotes a hymn written by a Catholic priest (Frederick Faber) to defend his proposed substitution of the word "fundamentalist" with "preservationist". The hymn, Faith of Our Fathers, was also apparently inspired in part by the awful persecution of Catholics by Henry VIII. Thanks to Kathy C. for the 411.
I've often wondered how to best distinguish a Protestant fundamentalist from a Protestant evangelical. Thanks to some people I know who see themselves as the latter, now I know. A Protestant evangelical is basically a fundamentalist with a college degree.

Speaking of fundamentalists and college, the folks at good 'ol Bob Jones University have apparently been considering adopting a new description of themselves. How does Protestant "preservationist" strike you?

Monday, August 26, 2002

Beam me up! A couple of interesting links from the folks at The Corner. The Democrat Party candidate for governor in Ohio is married to Kate "Captain Janeway" Mulgrew, who is pro-life.
You know, I'm getting pretty sick of some of these ignorant Protestant evangelicals and fundamentalists who ascribe committee documents coming out of the USCCB as a teaching of the Catholic Church. It's obvious that guys like Jim Sibley will jump on any chance they get to slam an institution they have deep seeded contempt for.

Granted, the "reflections" on the evangelization of Jews was sloppy and subject to misinterpretation. But even if it wasn't, unless the document is affirmed by the entire USCCB and by Rome, it amounts to nothing more than a theological opinion piece.

Saturday, August 24, 2002

Link picked up from Amy Welborn's blog: Comic book heroes and their religious faith. The Thing from the Fantastic Four is Jewish. Who knew?

Thursday, August 22, 2002

Ah, Canada. The fascist euro-trash of the Americas.
Information that the goose-stepping pink mafia doesn't want you to know or see. Long live the Internet!

Wednesday, August 21, 2002

It's great that the FCC is considering yanking this radio station's license, but how much do you want to bet that the two moron DJs who encouraged the disrespectful and criminal act at St. Patrick's are going to be hired by some other unscrupulous, money-obsessed station manager.

Monday, August 19, 2002

The push to indoctrinate children to accept homosexuality as normal has gotten more aggressive. For reasons known only to it, the Visalia Unified School District in California has agreed to a settlement with the ACLU whereby VUSD will mandate homosexual sensitivity training for all teachers and students from the 8th grade through the 12th grade.

The alleged purpose, of course, for these re-education camps is to help prevent acts of hostility and violence toward "outed" teens and effeminate teen males. Think there will be any assurances that devout Christian students and teachers who believe homosexuality is a sin won't be targeted for hostile treatment? Probably not, which is what makes this settlement so ironic, stupid and dangerous.

Saturday, August 17, 2002

Link from Relapsedcatholic.com: Luther bobble head dolls. Interesting. You would think Protestants would believe this leads to the kind of "idol worshipping" that we bad 'ol Catholics like to do.

Tuesday, August 13, 2002

The decision by Cardinal Law to allow sexually abusive priests to continue with their duties after receiving "medical intervention" raises some interesting issues. First and foremost, who medically intervened, and what are their credentials? While the scandal in the Church is certainly, well, scandalous, the situation appears to offer a great opportunity to legally attack the credibility of most human sexuality research and studies. It is such research, of course, which has led to the increasingly widespread belief that homosexuality is, at the very least, the equivalent of race and ethnicity. However, once it is shown that the entire basis of this research was formed out of unethical and criminal conduct (e.g., sexually molestation of children), the whole house of cards that is human sexuality studies will tumble. The trick now, of course, is to get the Church to sue those people whom they foolishly relied upon for advice in dealing with sexaully aberrant (i.e., homosexual) priests.

Monday, August 12, 2002

Looks like the baby killers in the California Legislature are getting close to passing a bill that would essentially require all doctors in residency in this state to learn how to perform abortions. Jerks...
The more I read about this garbage occurring in the University of California system, the more I rue the day I ever attended and graduated from one of its schools.

Thursday, August 08, 2002

Convicted sex offender faces 60 molestation counts while acting as a Little League Coach.

To reiterate: it's a values/cultural problem, not a problem with the Church and its positions on sexual morality.
God will not be saving...at Costco.

Despite its feeble attempt to spin a federal judge's order as not particularly significant, the city of Cypress was dealt a crushing blow on Tuesday in its effort to use eminent domain to take a church's property so that it can build a tax-generating Costco retail center instead.
...

The city said that denying Cottonwood the right to build a church would not impose a "substantial burden" on it. But the judge said that "Preventing a church from building a worship site fundamentally inhibits its ability to practice its religion."

Wednesday, August 07, 2002

God again prevails in Minnesota as the reprimand of two state employees who broght Bibles to a mandatory "diversity training" seminar was found to be unlawfully discriminatory.

Tuesday, August 06, 2002

A very sad day for L.A. Sports fans as the legendary voice of the Lakers, Chick Hearn, has passed away. (LA Times requires registration, blah, blah, blah...)
Sacramento Kings fans: Feel the anxiety.
Here's an interesting website that offers a weekly Catechism study. The program officially starts on August 19.

Monday, August 05, 2002

There should not be one complaint about these billboards from "gay marriage" advocates.

Saturday, August 03, 2002

When you crunch the numbers, the ratio between the number of boys who have been sexually abused by the age of 18 and the number of adult bi/homosexual males is around 4 to 1. By stark comparison, the ratio between the number of girls who have been sexually abused by the age of 18 and the number of adult heterosexual males is around 1 to 11.

The numbers don't lie: Every "gay" male IS A POTENTIAL PEDERAST. So why is there even any question about banning homosexually inclined males from the priesthood?
My opinion of Voice of the Faithful: A bunch of hypocritical, power hungry crackheads.

Friday, August 02, 2002

More revelations from the seminar I attended featuring Dr. Reisman: The widespread notion that people with homosexual tendencies are "normal" because they are born that way can be directly traced to the false and criminal "research" on human sexuality done by Alfred Kinsey in the 1940s and '50s. Contemporary purveyors of Kinsey's junk science include Dr. John Money, who helped found the Johns Hopkins Center for Sexual Disorders, and Dr. Fred Berlin, who had apparently advised Cardinal Law on the handeling of pederast priests.

Message to pro-homosexual bloggers in and outside of the Catholic Church (e.g., Andrew Sullivan and Mark Hardy): Unless you are willing to defend the willful raping of children in the name of science, you have absolutley no leg to stand on in defending homosexuality. Every person, particularly a male, who is afflicted with homosexual desires IS A POTENTIAL PEDERAST (see stats below on ratio between number of sexually abused boys and number of bi-homosexual males). Much praise should thus be given to those who recognize the disorderliness of their condition and commit themselves to a life of chastity.

Governor of Louisiana advises women in state to pack "heat".

Thursday, August 01, 2002

Wow. According to data collected byDr. Reisman in 1991, there were approximately 1-2 million practicing bi/homosexual males in the United States and approximately 6-8 million boys in the United States who had been sexually abused. Conceding the fact that some of these boys were probably sexually abused by females, it is highly unlikely that the number of female on boy abuse is very significant (perhaps less than 1/2 of 1 percent). From Dr. Reisman's findings, which are based on census figures, police and social services reports, the intimate link between homosexuality and pederasty seems undeniably clear.
I learned something very interesting today from Dr. Judith Reisman. Prior to 1948, when the Kinsey studies on human sexuality were published, there was no such thing as a "sex specialist". As such, every so-called professional in the area of human sexuality today may rightly be called an Alfred Kinsey disciple. The problem with this, however, is that much of the data that Kinsey and his cohorts collected was derived from illegal (and immoral) conduct that they themselves directly engaged in -- e.g., pedarasty (sp?). This being the case, one can only come to the logical conclusion that every professional sex specialist since 1948 is an outright fraud.
Governor "religion is for losers" Ventura inadvertantly proclaims "Christian Heritage Week". God is amazing, isn't He?

Wednesday, July 31, 2002

Now how are you gonna know if someone is going to Hell if you kill him to test your theory?
There is an intense rivalry between Catholic Church and Protestant sects in Guatemala. As the linked article appears to suggest, much of this rivalry is the result of the missionary work done by various Protestant churches in the United States.

Monday, July 29, 2002

It's been a while since high school spanish class, so forgive me if I muck this up:Quines es Juan Diego?.

Friday, July 26, 2002

The Anti-Christian Lunatics Union once again succeeds in distorting the Establishment Clause; this time for the purpose of telling kids they should have as much sex outside of marriage as possible.

Thursday, July 25, 2002

Accused murderer demands to see child porn in exchange for confession. I'm guessing if it were up to the ACLU, this sick son of a &*@! would get his wish.
A case of "You can't legally dissolve what doesn't (and shouldn't) exist."

Link to news story on a "gay" couple trying to get a divorce.

Preeminent Establishment Clause distorters The Anti-Christian Lunatics Union (ACLU) wins in getting a cross removed from the Mojave National Preserve.
Ailing obese man files a lawsuit against the fast food industry claiming they made him an addict to their products. In light of the amount of money people have gotten from the tobacco cases, this story is hardly a surprise. I'm trying to see if it might be possible to use the tobacco cases to sue the porn industry.

Wednesday, July 24, 2002

The Dems are back in "Bork" mode for the judicial hearings of Priscilla Owens.

"At yesterday's hearing, liberal senators pressed Owen on abortion, on advocacy in decisions, and on allowing personal beliefs to sway decisions. 'I am deeply concerned,' Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California told Owen. 'You've looked in other places to find a rationale not to do what Texas law called for.'"

I'm not certain about the context, but I'm assuming mafiosa princess DiFi is referring to the fact that Justice Owen has rarely voted for allowing a female minor to legally bypass notifying her parents before getting an abortion. The thing of it is, Texas law does not require judges to grant female minors a notice bypass under all circumstances (indeed, the law requires that minors be fully informed of abortion alternatives, which Justice Owens found did not always occur). By her line of questioning, you can pretty much count on Senator "I don't want people to own handguns, but I carry one in my handbag" Feinstein not to vote for confirming Justice Owens. (As a side note, a relative of mine once mooned Feinstein when she was mayor of San Francisco).
Borrowing from Kathy Shaidle, from the Thank God I Don't Live in New York file:

The Bush v. Gore presidential election case is an example of a hypocritical Supreme Court majority that broadens the rights of states only when it serves conservative ends, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday.

What other evidence does one need to show that Hillary is nothing but a pro-centralized government communist?
An appeal has been made to the Supreme Court to challenge the constitutionality of Texas'anti-homosexual acts law. If the case is accepted, the Court will revisit its 1986 decision in Bowers v. Hardwick, which upheld the constitutionality of Georgia's anti-sodomy law.

My hope is that the Court will deny review of the case and simply maintain the status quo regarding the right of states to determine which immoral and disordered acts will be deemed illegal. Long live the 10th Amendment!

Tuesday, July 23, 2002

Mmmm. This cake recipe looks pretty good. I wish I had the time and utensils to make it.
An organization called Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) has filed a lawsuit against the National Education Association for sexual-orientation based discrimination (i.e., discrimination against people who are heterosexual). Although I support the general purpose of PFOX, I'm not so sure this lawsuit is a good thing, if only because it appears to further the treatment of sexual desire as the legal equivalent of race and ethnicity.
The legal and cultural assault on marriages (and morality) moves to Indiana and Washinton, D.C.

Monday, July 22, 2002

Nice little mention of U.S. Senator Sam Brownback's Catholic conversion (you'll need to scroll down). Brownback's sponsor was Senator Rick Santorum, who took an opportunity to rip American cultural liberalism for The Problem.
China continues in its persecution of the Church: "detains" one nun and several children attending a religious class.

Friday, July 19, 2002

Say you work for a secular newspaper that is owned by a religious institution. Now imagine that you believe you have been passed over for raises and promotions at the paper because you do not belong to the religious organization that basically employs you. However, in order to support the claim that you have been unlawfully discriminated against, you need to find out whether those who have been promoted over you are religiously affiliated with the newspaper's owner. Can you do that or is it a violation of the right to privacy? That's a question currently "percolating" in federal court. Personally, this is an issue I need to stew over for a while, but my initial thought is that it should be permissible to delve into a person's religious background given the compelling interest the government has in preventing religious-based discrimination in the secular workplace.
A state court in Washington (figures) has ruled that employment discrimination against people who practice sodomy and lesbianism is unconstitutional. Well hell, why don't we just throw in pedophiles, masturbators and people who like to have sex with animals while we're at it!
It is apparrently okay in Bay Area government schools to physically tape little children to the floor and cause them trauma so long as it is done in the name of education.
The Problem extends beyond denomination and sect.

Thursday, July 18, 2002

Army personnel use charge cards to buy "services" at strip clubs.

"Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said the individuals spent the money 'on lap dancing and other forms of entertainment,' running up a total bill of $38,000. Grassley disclosed the results of the General Accounting Office probe in testimony Wednesday before a House government operations subcommittee."
The reactions of the 9th Circuit judges to the protests over the court's Pledge of Allegiance decision shows just how out of touch and arrogant members of the judiciary are.
Thomas Buchanan on Science and God.

"In our world, theology has taken a back seat to science, but only because we have allowed it to. It is still a much more difficult thing to understand—the workings of the Lord of the Universe—and although many excellent scientists are working today, I know of few world-class theologians. I believe this is because theology is a broad discipline requiring an understanding of many fields—history, philosophy, literature, science, and so on—while science is a far more narrow discipline, requiring specific technical skills and little knowledge of anything else. Most scientists I know do not have the skills to study theology."
Some real interesting lawsuits are coming down the pike, so posts to this blog may be sporadic.

Tuesday, July 16, 2002

Can religious institutions and/or associations, like the Catholic Church, discriminate on the basis of religion in the sale, rental, or occupation of property it owns? Pursuant to Title 42 Section 3607 of the United States Code the general answer is "yes". Guess it's time to break out those "No Baptists Need Apply" signs...
Baptist school rejects Catholic teen even though non-Baptists are allowed to attend. Sad, yet unsurprising.

Monday, July 15, 2002

Friday, July 12, 2002

A couple of days ago, Amy Welborn posted a story on how some parishoners in Ohio had refused to call for the oustering of a priest who had molested a 14-year old girl. I posted a comment expressing my lack of surprise at this if the parish in question was one where people regularly held hands during the "Our Father", received communion in the hand, left Mass right after communion, applauded after Mass, and encouraged the use of altar girls. To me, all of these are signs of dissent and heterodoxy. Well, this guy Jim read my comments and felt the need to send me some e-mail for which I sent a response (the last message is chronologically listed first here).

----------------
Let's put it this way: you got the full extent of communications from me
that I felt was worth my time.

Go pray to you idol, Pio Nono.

-----Original Message-----
From: Roger Ho
Sent: Thursday, July 11, 2002 4:31 PM
To: McCrea, Jim
Subject: Re: YOU ARE A DISTURBED MAN

Is that the best you can do?

The fact that you felt the need to use quotation marks tells me that you
are a relativist who has no qualms toward fomenting dissent.
Theologically, there is a word to describe people like you -- Protestant.

--- "McCrea, Jim" wrote:
> Your version of what is "orthodox" and "hetrodox" in Catholicism is
> sadly
> skewed.
>
>
> Jim McCrea
> E-mail: jim.mccrea@elan.com
---------------------

As any objective observor can see, Jim is pretty feeble minded. I'm praying he isn't Catholic, and I'm also praying for his conversion to the truth.

Wednesday, July 10, 2002

WorldnetDaily.com has done an excellent expose on the targeting of American children by homosexual activists. Through my law practice, I can personally attest that the movement to morally relativize homosexuality in California's public schools is especially aggressive. I find it highly ironic that at the same time public confidence in the Catholic Church is waning because of The Scandal, no widespread outrage is being expressed over a movement that effectively gives rise to state sponsored pedophilia.

Tuesday, July 09, 2002

I've just been informed of a somewhat disturbing trend in the law. Strident homosexual practitioners and activists are apparently using domestic violence statutes to obtain restraining orders against people of faith. There is a case in Minnesota where a teacher at a Catholic school has obtained a restraining order against a parent whose "crime" consisted of writing the school priest and questioning whether the presence of a possibly "gay" teacher was safe and complied with Catholic doctrine. The matter is now on appeal to the Minnesota Court of Appeals.

In Maryland, a lesbian couple obtained a restraining order shortly after a Christian family moved in next door. What did the Christian family do? Your guess is as good as theirs, although they suspect the Christian bumper stickers on their cars might have prompted the lesbians' apprehension. No big surprise to learn that the ACLU is representing the lezbos.

Monday, July 08, 2002

According to reports, it appears as though the daughter of the guy who won the Pledge of Allegiance case is a Christian who has no problem with either reciting the Pledge or saying the words "under God". There is no morality in atheism.