Voices are gone from the Strand

Gone is the BBC from Bush House. The last people moved out this week.

The cutbacks happened last year, when 30 million listeners were dropped from the Beeb World Service. One sixth of the world listeners no longer have access to the BBC World News Service.

I stood in front of Bush House about three weeks ago, and that eerie feeling one gets in front of an abandoned house was already settling on this great monument of communication. It is a passing of an era, and like so many of the communication hubs of that part of the City, including the old newspaper buildings, a sadness lingers. Voices are gone forever from the Strand.

I remember listening to the BBC World News as a young person in the Midwest. The world opened up for me and it was exciting. I also think the passing of the old technology, of the old ways of radio, is sad. A commentator sent me this link for the video, which I could not get to work on this post.

I was a friend of Harmon Grisewood, who died many years ago, and this video reminded me that he described having to wear formal wear for his position at the BEEB. Mr. Grisewood was a Catholic and a gentleman. He was a lovely man and had many friends. It is hard to imagine someone being gone so long.

Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin

Today in the Novus Order is the feast day of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, St. Therese's great and humble parents. They are among the patrons of this blog. July 13th was the day of their marriage. So, this would have been a preparation day. They were married at midnight in the local church without hardly anyone there, just the witnesses and a few. How wonderful! How private and how sacred! Brides and grooms could take a lesson from this humble couple.

May God raise up other men and women who are married to create saints among us. May the intercession of Louis and Zelie lead us into our vocations and help us to trust in God at all times.

May Zelie comfort those women who have had or have breast cancer, and may she allow those who do not to refrain from judging those who do.

Updates: Here is the link for their joint miracle, which is all that is required for a married couple, as the two are one.  One commentator here, James Ignatius, (and thanks, James), sent me this Collect, which I heard today, but of which I did not have a copy:


Lord,
you have given to Blessed Louis and Marie Zélie
the grace to lead a life of holiness as Christian spouses and parents.
Grant that through their intercession and example
each of us may be able to love and serve you faithfully,
living worthily our own vocation.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

On judging by fruit

Some Catholics want to judge apparitions or visionaries by the fruit of the ministries which pop up around such places. Fruit, by itself, is not sufficient for judging whether a vision or elocution is from God. I have an example which I share when I get into these types of discussions.

A young person I know came to Christ on the dance floor of a club. She was a clubber and a dancer. She may even had a red dress on. So, do we enshrine a club where she was converted?

Another person I know was converted at Niagra Falls. All of the sudden, he knew God was real and he became a strong Christian. Do we have a shrine there?

Because a person became closer to God through a visit to a seer does not mean that those apparitions are true. In logic, we call this "non sequitur" as to cause and effect. 


God can use anything, including Balaam's donkey in the Old Testament, to speak truth or lead someone to Him. 


One of my friends was converted when she went to receive communion at a Protestant service and realized, then and there, it was not the Body of Christ, but bread. The Spirit blows where He will.

Give Cures--John Paul Il Stem Cell Research Institute

I could not get the video to work on this post. Please take a moment and go to the linked site.

Rick Santorum supports this charity. Please consider giving, if you can. (Some good Iowa people here in this video).

Mary, Malta, and Freedom--Can It Happen Again?

I have a special devotion to Our Lady of Carafa, whose beautiful icon, one of the most lovely in the world, is on the right side-bar of this blog. Here are two amazing histories relating to Malta and Our Lady. The war goes on, but it is spiritual warfare. May Our Lady of Carafa save Malta again. Here is her chapel in Valletta. 

 In 1942, during one single month, in an attempt to stem out the attacks on their supply lines to Africa, the Luftwaffe dropped 6,500,000 Kilos of bombs upon the Maltese Islands. If the Maltese Islands were to serve as a British base, food supplies were badly needed for the survival of the starving population. On August 15, 1942, the American Texaco Tanker ‘Ohio’ entered the port of Malta, the event was seen as a grace obtained by Our Lady and the starvation on the Islands was averted. ‘Operation Pedastal’ referred to by the Maltese as ‘Il-Convoy ta Santa Maria’ or ‘Saint Mary’s Convoy,’ initially consisted of two battleships, four aircraft carriers, seven cruisers, sixteen destroyers, and fourteen Merchant ships. By the time this convoy reached the Islands of Malta, off Southern Sicily, fifteen ships were destroyed; many were damaged and left for Gibraltar. Into the Maltese port entered the Tanker SS-Ohio, HMS Penn, HMS Ledbury, HMS Branham, MV Melbourne Star, MV Brisbane Star, Aircraft Carrier Furious, MV Port Chalmers and MV Rochester Castle. The SS-Ohio was towed into port; the convoy brought fifty-five tonnes of supplies, including ammunition and aviation oil. The significance and success of this Allied mission was greater than initially observed. Apart from restocking the garrison of Malta and disrupting the usual supply lines to Africa, the spitfire fighters from the aircraft carrier ‘Furious,’ were transferred onto the Island. These planes were instrumental at blocking Axis supplies to Africa before the second Battle of El Alamein (October 23 – November 3, 1942) which success was a turning point for the Allied forces in the Western Desert Campaign. During the first centuries of Christianity, November 3, was one of the calendar dates reserved for the commemoration of Saint George of Lydda, (Georgian writer George Zosimo also indicates April 23 and November 23 as dedicated to this saint). On September 19, 1946, the SS-Ohio was towed ten miles from shore and sunk by gunfire, Captain Dudley Mason of the Ohio was later awarded the George Cross. So was Malta awarded the George Cross, which is proudly incorporated within the Maltese flag. 

On December 7, 1943, President D. Roosevelt in Malta commemorated the second anniversary of the entry in the war of the American People: “In the name of the people of the United States of America I salute the Island of Malta, its People and defenders, who in the cause of freedom and justice and decency throughout the world have rendered valorous services far above and beyond the call of duty. Under repeated fire from the skies, Malta stood alone but unafraid in the center of the sea, one tiny bright flame in the darkness, a beacon of hope for the clearer days which have come. Malta’s bright story of human fortitude and courage will be read by posterity with wonder and gratitude throughout all the ages. What was done in this Island maintains all highest traditions of gallant men and women who from the beginning of time have lived and died to preserve civilization for all mankind.”(5) The following day on December 8, 1943, the Feast commemorating the Immaculate Conception was celebrated throughout the Christian world. A votive procession of the Icon of Our Lady of Carafa was organized in Malta; the procession exited Saint John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta and passed through the city streets. The Archbishop and Bishop of Malta solemnly read the Act of Consecration by His Holiness Pope Pius XII (October 30, 1942). The telegrams exchanged between the Vatican and the Maltese Curia read as follows: “Cardinal Maglione – Vatican City – Occasion Consecration of Malta and Gozo Immaculate Heart Mary we beg assure HH filial devotion Clergy and Laity two Dioceses fervent prayers His August Person and Peace He desires – Archbishop Caruana, Bishop Gonzi.” The reply, “Archbishop Caruana – Malta – Holy Father acknowledging kind message paternally blesses Pastors Clergy Faithful Dioceses Malta and Gozo – Cardinal Maglione."
Text from:
http://catholicsouthernfront.wordpress.com/chapter-951-the-world-wars-and-our-lady%E2%80%99s-feasts/

Do you have a nickname? Silly, summer question....

Do you have a nickname? My family never gave nicknames, but of course, children and friends have.

I shall share some interesting nicknames in my life, besides "Supertradmum".


One of my brothers could not say my name, so he called me "Dee-Dee". That did not last long, after he learned to speak correctly.

My grandmother from the Czech side called me "Princess" most of my life. She had many grandchildren, but that was my nickname. There was a abundance of boys, so that may be the reason. My second real boyfriend called me "Pinkie", because I looked like and dressed like this painting above by Lawrence. My next real boyfriend called me "Moley" as in "Good Old Mole" as I was reliable and sensible. 


Then, my next name was given to me by my head at a school where I taught; "Pet". Not sure why...I was the only woman on an all male staff, so that could have been the reason. A true feminist would have hated that, but I thought it was sweet. 






Another friend of mine calls me "Diana" at this point in time, and again, not sure why...None of these have stuck, thank God. I was also called "Xena", after the warrior princess by some of my students, although I never dressed like her (I saw one episode and it was idiotic). They put up a picture of her on the door in my classroom, which I had to take down. There might be a Diana connection. There seems to be a warrior and princess theme brewing, along with reliability. 

My son calls me Mum. His nickname, which I did not give him, is Kavi, which is Poet, in Sanskrit. However, I am the poet in the family, while he is the expert in prose.

I suppose if one had to trace characteristics through nicknames, one would have to see mine as a combination of traits. Ah well, why do you not share your nicknames on this silly, summer day?

At least I have, for the most part, literary or artistic names, not counting "Xena"...Needless to say, I do not look like any of these personages, except, maybe, "Good Old Mole"; that is, short and near-sighted. However, I am not black and I do not wear trousers or waistcoats.

Prayer of St. Alphonsus before the Blessed Sacrament

A friend of mine brought this to my attention. It is in most TLM Missals. 

Ask your Guardian Angel for inspirations and help in prayer.

O most lovely, most sweet, 
and dearest Jesus! 
Life, hope, treasure, 
and only love of my soul! 
Oh, how much has it not cost Thee to remain with us in this Sacrament. 
It was necessary for Thee to die 
in order to remain afterwards upon our altars; 
and how many injuries hast Thou not been made to suffer, 
in consequence of this presence among us! 
But Thy love, and Thy desire to be loved by us, 
have surmounted all. 
Come then, Lord, 
come and occupy my heart, 
and afterwards close the gate to it for ever, 
so that no creature may ever enter again 
to take away a part of this love which belongs entirely to Thee, 
and which I am unwilling to give to any other. 
Do Thou alone, my dear Redeemer, reign over me! 
Do Thou alone possess me entirely, 
and if at any time I should not obey Thee perfectly, 
punish me severely, 
that for the future I may be more careful to please Thee, 
according to Thy desire. 
Let me no more desire nor seek 
for any other pleasure than to please Thee, 
to visit Thee often at Thine altar, 
to converse with Thee, 
and to receive Thee in Holy Communion. 
Let them look for other goods who will! 
For me, I love only, 
I desire only the treasure of Thy love. 
The only favour I ask at the foot of this altar is, 
that I may forget myself altogether, 
to remember only Thy goodness. 
Blessed Seraphs, I do not envy you your glory! 
But by the love which you bear to your God and mine, 
oh, teach me what I must do to love Him 
and please Him like you!
O my Lord and King, 
hidden in this Sacrament, 
since Thou dost invite me to converse with Thee, 
I will open my heart with confidence, and speak. 
O my Jesus, ardent Lover of souls, 
I know to well the injustice and ingratitude of men towards Thee. 
Thou lovest them, and they do not love Thee; 
Thou dost confer benefits on them, 
and they return Thee with insults; 
Thou wouldst have them hear Thy voice, 
and they will not listen; 
Thou dost offer them graces, 
and they refuse them.
Ah! my Jesus, I, too,
was once among the number of these ungrateful souls.
O my God, it is only too true.
But I desire to amend,
and I wish to compensate for the injuries I have done Thee,
by doing all I can to please Thee for the remainder of my life.
Tell me, O Lord, what Thou dost require of me.
I will do it without the least reserve.
Make known to me Thy will by the way of holy obedience,
and I hope to accomplish it.
My God, I firmly promise never to leave undone any act
which I know to be agreeable to Thee,
although the performance of it should cost me the loss of all things
– of relations, friends, character, health,
and even life itself.
Let me loose all,
if only I may do Thy will!
Happy loss, when all is sacrificed to content Thy heart,
O God of my soul!
I love Thee, O Sovereign Good,
above all goods worthy of my love,
and in loving Thee I unite my feeble heart
with the hearts of all the Seraphim.
I unite it with the Heart of Mary
and with the Heart of Jesus.
I love Thee with my whole soul;
I wish to love Thee alone,
now and for ever.

Amen.

For a Catechist....

Whaah,  shur, even we can understand the Catechism!

I could not resist this, because of a recent commentator's note.

The Laity and Sippy Cups #2

I have written before on the laity, especially here on this link, and I am distressed at the increasing anti-intellectualism which I am seeing in Catholic adults.

We have the CCC and the Compendium, the encyclicals, bible studies, faith formation material and of course, the Bible. There are no excuses for ignorance.

I am an unusual Catholic of my generation as I grew up reading the Bible in my family, but so did my parents and even my Luxembourgian and Czech ancestors. We, perhaps, were different in our love of the Scriptures and our lack of fear. I, for one, and I am 63, never, never was denied access to the Bible in elementary Catholic school and I never heard a priest say we should not or could not read the Bible.

But, I am convinced that the proliferation of information on private revelations has to do with a lack of real catechesis. We in the West have the highest levels of literacy. Again, the information available to the average Catholic abounds on the Internet. If one has time to follow daily the private revelations, one has time to follow the daily readings, read Scripture, read the CCC.

No excuses. And, as I remind many people in a week, we are responsible for our own souls. STOP the blame game. My several Irish friends, young and old, insist on blaming the priests and the culture.

Get over it! Here is some tidbit from the homily given at the Mass of the beatification of Cardinal Newman on September 19th, 2010:

...what better goal could teachers of religion set themselves than Blessed John Henry’s famous appeal for an intelligent, well-instructed laity: “I want a laity, not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious, but men who know their religion, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold and what they do not, who know their creed so well that they can give an account of it, who know so much of history that they can defend it” (The Present Position of Catholics in England, ix, 390)


The Pope gets it, and St. Paul gets it.

Milk then meat, says St. Paul in l Corinthians 3:2. Not poison....I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able,3for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? 4For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not mere men?

A question of civilization and I told you so...

I told you so....I said this would be a real possibility.
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/what-would-they-do-to-pyramids.html

Muslim clerics are calling for the destruction of the pyramids. Look at my last post on this link above and read this bit from Front Page Magazine online.

From
http://frontpagemag.com/2012/raymond-ibrahim/muslim-brotherhood-destroy-the-pyramids/

According to several reports in the Arabic media, prominent Muslim clerics have begun to call for the demolition of Egypt’s Great Pyramids—or, in the words of Saudi Sheikh Ali bin Said al-Rabi‘i, those “symbols of paganism,” which Egypt’s Salafi party has long planned to cover with wax.    Most recently, Bahrain’s “Sheikh of Sunni Sheikhs” and President of National Unity, Abd al-Latif al-Mahmoud, called on Egypt’s new president, Muhammad Morsi, to “destroy the Pyramids and accomplish what the Sahabi Amr bin al-As could not.”

This is a reference to the Muslim Prophet Muhammad’s companion, Amr bin al-As and his Arabian tribesmen, who invaded and conquered Egypt circa 641.  Under al-As and subsequent Muslim rule, many Egyptian antiquities were destroyed as relics of infidelity.  While most Western academics argue otherwise, according to early Muslim writers, the great Library of Alexandria itself—deemed a repository of pagan knowledge contradicting the Koran—was destroyed under bin al-As’s reign and in compliance with Caliph Omar’s command.

However, while book-burning was an easy activity in the 7^th century, destroying the mountain-like pyramids and their guardian Sphinx was not—even if Egypt’s Medieval Mamluk rulers “de-nosed” the latter during target practice (though popular legend still attributes it to a Westerner, Napoleon).

Now, however, as Bahrain’s “Sheikh of Sheikhs” observes, and thanks to modern technology, the pyramids can be destroyed.  The only question left is whether the Muslim Brotherhood president of Egypt is “pious” enough—if he is willing to complete the Islamization process that started under the hands of Egypt’s first Islamic conqueror.

Nor is such a course of action implausible.  History is laden with examples of Muslims destroying their own pre-Islamic heritage—starting with Islam’s prophet Muhammad himself, who destroyed Arabia’s Ka‘ba temple, transforming it into a mosque.

Asking “What is it about Islam that so often turns its adherents against their own patrimony?” Daniel Pipes provides several examples, from Medieval Muslims in India destroying their forefathers’ temples, to contemporary Muslims destroying their non-Islamic heritage in Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Malaysia, and Tunisia.

There is more....and POTUS supports this present regime in Egypt. Also, see this article on Mali again.

Global surveillance companies in Britain, ACTA, and the EU

I have three posts in one here. Three issues, the last being a selling out of sovereignty in Europe, have or are about to take away freedom of speech in many countries. The West is blind. These speech issues have hit the technology industry in England. In case you have not been following this here are two links here and several more below. The problem is surveillance and a government's right to follow cellphone calls, tweets, and other global networking. Remember last year when Obama stated that no cell phone call was private? Well, he is "technically correct". Of course, my concern would be that any tyranny could instantly take away freedoms we take for granted in the West. It is already and has happened in the East.


On the ACTA, a law Obama wants passed and an agreement he has already signed with the UN.

Global Internet censorship is here.  SOPA and PIPA have been stopped (at least for now) in the United States, but a treaty known as ACTA (the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) is far worse than either of them.  ACTA was quietly signed by Barack Obama back on October 1st, 2011 and most Americans have never even heard of it.  But it could mean the end of the Internet as we know it.  This new treaty gives foreign governments and copyright owners incredibly broad powers.  If you are alleged to have violated a copyright, your website can be shut down without a trial and police may even show up at your door to take you to prison.  It doesn't even have to be someone in the United States that is accusing you.  It could just be a foreign government or a copyright owner halfway across the world that alleges that you have violated a copyright.  It doesn't matter.  So far, the U.S., the EU and seven other nations have signed on to ACTA, and the number of participants is expected to continue to grow.  The "powers that be" are obsessed with getting Internet censorship one way or another.  The open and free Internet that you and I have been enjoying for all these years is about to change, and not for the better.

So how come the U.S. Senate never voted on ACTA?  Doesn't the U.S. Constitution mandate that all treaties must be approved by a two-thirds vote in the Senate?

Of course it does.

But Barack Obama has gotten around this by calling ACTA an "executive agreement".....

One of the big problems with ACTA is that it is way too broad and way too vague.

Vague language allows authorities to "interpret" the law any way that they see fit.

This can often lead to selective enforcement.  Websites that authorities like will be left alone, while those that they don't like will be harassed or completely shut down.

ACTA was written in secret and it has been pushed through very, very quietly.  The following comes from a recent CNN article....

Like many trade agreements, ACTA is a confusing mess. Even its signatories don't agree on how it's supposed to work. The way it's been pushed forward has also been unruly -- talks have been held in secret, without any kind of legislative oversight or input from citizens or public-interest groups. The public only became aware of it in 2008, a couple of years after discussions began, when Wikileaks published a discussion paper. Since then, drafts of the pact have been released to the public, each successively less onerous to critics. Reportedly, though, big media and pharmaceutical lobbyists have been privy to the talks all along

And, last but not least, EU Governments have stepped into the censorship business. READ this. 
The document is aimed at child porn, a good thing, but the problem is two-fold. First, it gives control of the Internet to a Council not a sovereign nation, and two, this type of censorship never works and has not worked.I might add that many pedophiles have been arrested and convicted because of online activity. This will force them underground and the problem will continue. However, censorship will be in place to be used against other things, such as so-called "hate speech". When it comes to censorship, the Catholics should be very, very concerned....


Paris, June 8th, 2012 - In an unanimous decision, EU Member States have decided to promote website censorship at the global scale under the pretext of tackling child pornography. This dangerous initiative must be denounced by lawmakers and citizens: Europe cannot give up on its commitment to the rule of law by legitimizing Net censorship internationally...The Council of the EU adopted conclusions on "a Global Alliance against Child Sexual Abuse Online". Due to a last-minute addition, the document calls for:

"facilitating measures to remove or, where appropriate, block websites containing child pornography".

So far, thanks to the EU Parliament, the EU had successfully avoided promoting website blocking as a tool against child abuse, these measures being inefficient and even counterproductive. The Parliament even imposed important safeguards on Member States who did choose to implement at the national level.

This new initiative marks a dangerous regression: regardless of the goals invoked, website blocking is extremely dangerous for freedoms online, leading to collateral censorship of perfectly legitimate content, and runs counter to the most important principles of the rule of law1.


"It is baffling to see that no EU government opposed the adoption of these conclusions, which legitimize Internet censorship across the world and will therefore have disastrous consequences for freedoms online. In spite of the strong reservations expressed by the European Parliament, governments choose to force through website blocking with the adoption of this document. Such censorship is ineffective for its stated aim and paves the road for other damaging attacks against the free Internet. Only through citizen mobilization will we be able to make our governments accountable and eventually safeguard a universal Internet." said Jérémie Zimmermann, co-founder and spokesperson of the citizen advocacy group La Quadrature du Net.

Freedom of Speech No Longer in Toronto

Today is Free Speech Day on this blog. I have collected items from many countries of the suppression of free speech, all which have happened in the past few days. The world is turning to tyrannies of various sorts and many. many Catholics are asleep.

One reason Catholics do not seem to care is that some tolerate evil. Let me quote again Revelation 2:20, a passage I have quoted most frequently since visiting England:


"But I have against thee a few things: because thou sufferest the woman Jezabel, who calleth herself a prophetess, to teach, and to seduce my servants, to commit fornication, and to eat of things sacrificed to idols."

Catholic brothers and sisters, if you tolerate evil, you are sinning by contributing to evil.

Silence is consent. From LifeSiteNews online:

TORONTO, Ontario, July 9, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Canadian pro-family leaders have expressed outrage over the treatment a sidewalk preacher received at the hands of the Toronto Police Force during the recent Gay Pride parade. As many as 12 police officers surrounded the preacher, who was peacefully spreading Gospel messages, and shut him down, forcing him to vacate the area.

“The Gay community is free to walk around nude on the streets, violating Canada’s Criminal Code, but a preacher is not free to stand up and preach that ‘God loves you’. It’s a pretty dangerous country when it comes to that,” said Dr. Charles McVety, Evangelical minister and show host of The Canadian Times, to LifeSiteNews.

On Canada day, preacher David Lynn and his team from Christ’s Forgiveness Ministries had set up a portable microphone system on a small cart, near the corner of Yonge and Wellesley, from which they preached and handed out religious tracts and free bibles. Lynn told LifeSiteNews that he was there at the parade to preach to the LGBT community about the love of God.

“Jesus died for the entire world,” he said. “Everybody has an opportunity to be saved, including people at the Pride parade. There is no difference between them and me. I am a sinner just like they are. I wouldn’t have wasted my time if I didn’t think God’s loves them, if I didn’t think that there is hope for them.”

But Lynn’s Gospel message earned him the ire of parade participants and attendees. Video cameras captured Lynn’s interactions with attendees at the event and subsequent police intervention.

At one point, Lynn was surrounded by as many as 12 officers.

“Guys, everybody, by staying listening to it you’re helping him get his message across. If you ignore him, it all goes away,” shouted officer T. Adams to the crowd that had gathered around the preacher.

“You’re promoting hate,” Staff Sergeant R. Pasini, 4528, said to Lynn at one point.

There is more. Go here. If you are an adult, watch the video.

St. Benedict

In my Monastic Diurnal and in the NO, today is the feast, and for Benedictines at St. Michael's, a solemnity, of St. Benedict.

To all the Benedictine priest-monks, brother-monks and nuns, all abbots and abbesses,
Happy Feast Day. Happy Name Day to Pope Benedict XVI.

Freedom of Speech a Rare Commodity in the Maldives?

To be a blogger is dangerous and if it gets too dangerous, as it did in 2009 for me, I shall pray about the future. Thankfully, I have few cranks responding and to date on this blog, only one threat. However, if one plays on the beach in the public, one must expect some beach-balls on the head. Here is a news item from the Great Spencer. Can the Maldives' economy withstand a drop in tourism because of such violence?

NEW DELHI - The Maldives' best-known blogger, who nearly died in an attack outside his home last month, has blamed resurgent Islamists for the assault and fled the country.

Ismail Rasheed, known locally as the blogger "Hilath," was on his way home from prayers on the evening of June 4 when three men grabbed him from behind and one of them stabbed him in the throat.

The 37-year-old former journalist with leading daily Haveeru, who had upset the Indian Ocean nation's increasingly influential religious hardliners, slumped in a pool of blood outside his front door in the capital Male.

Rushed to hospital, he remained in intensive care for days where doctors brought him back from the brink. His trachea - but not a vital artery - had been sliced clean through.

"I was attacked because I advocate secularism. The Islamists want Maldives to remain a 100-per cent Islamic country," he told AFP in an interview conducted via Twitter and email in the past few weeks.

The free-speech advocate has been literally silenced. He was unable to talk in person or over the telephone because doctors have advised him not to speak while his throat heals.

Fearful for his future safety, Rasheed has since fled the country and is considering seeking political asylum.

"The Maldives is not safe for me anymore," he said, declining to disclose his present whereabouts....

From Doug Giles..and a request from readers

And I add, what were you like on your wedding day?

This is a great set of bullets on ladies in marriages. From working with women in the past whose marriages were on the rocks or had failed, I know these are real obstacle to peace and love. A Catholic woman of virtue would have enough prudence to avoid such faults, or at least repent and change. Would a reader like to make a column of ten points for husbands? Sadly, I know some men in the last category of a slow emotional tortuous death. Women will answer for these sins on the day of judgement, and, yes, we are judged on such. Remember, only the perfect gain heaven. 

http://townhall.com/columnists/douggiles/2012/07/10/10_ways_women_can_wreck_their_marriage

If some of you ladies want to know how you can suck the life out of your marriage and drive your good husband to insanity, or to the bar, or into the arms of another woman, or to a divorce attorney, or just shrivel him up into a conquered quail who inwardly loathes you as he dies a slow, emotionally tortuous death, well then . . . this is your lucky day.

.......

1. Nag your Husband. One way to torture your hubby is to be a nerve grating, contentious, non-stop dripping faucet of faultfinding and finger pointing.

2. Criticize your husband in public. Yep, publicly shame him. Become an expert at unveiling anything about your spouse that’ll cause him to want to jump in front of a speeding bus.

3. Keep Him On a Short Leash. By short leashing your mate with insane limits your man will quickly feel like a stupid son, controlled by you, his new petulant mommy.

4. Become a Drama Queen. Make the atmosphere of your home tense. Make it crazy. I mean … crazy.

5. Hate his Friends. Sever the ties your companion has with those who have walked to hell and back with him because now . . . it’s all about you. You especially want to steer him clear of friends who feel the liberty to shed light on you, the interesting wife.

6. Hate his hobby. Your goal is to joy steal any pleasure that can be had by the poor schlep. And anyways you don’t want him to enjoy anything that you don’t like. [take away fishing pole]

7. Cut him off sexually. It’s not enough to rag and ridicule him and then run his friends off. No, you must go the second mile and turn into the Sex Nazi. No sex for you!

8. Get your family involved in your marriage. Forget this leave and cleave stuff the Bible dictates. If you want your union to unravel then you’ve got to gang tackle your husband with “The Family.”

9. Never apologize. If, in the odd event you do something that hurts your husband never, I mean never, apologize. You . . . apologize? Please.

10. Do we really need a number 10?

One Victory for Free Speech in Denmark

There was one victory in Denmark on a free speech issue and you can translate the article here. Although not brand new news, it is significant. Lars Hedegaard was acquitted of hate speech. However, the fact that this case even went to the Danish Supreme Court shows the seriousness of the issue. Here is the penal code and a list of links. Tomorrow, I shall have a list of threats to free speech across the globe.

PENAL CODE SECTION 266 B

A person who publicly or with intent to disseminate to a wider circle makes statements or any other communication by which a group of persons is threatened, insulted or degraded on account of race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion or sexual orientation shall be punished by fine or imprisonment for up to 2 years.

DOCUMENTATION Read the decision here by the district court

DOCUMENTATION Read the decision here from the Court of Appeals

DOCUMENTATION Read the decision here from Supreme Court

Non-Cat-lovers can skip this post

One of my young friends sent me these. He is twelve. I was fooled, for a minute...

Well, we know our Papa loves cats... and the cat is Gracey...

I am so glad I am a Catholic....thanks to Andrea for these....

How about some dog shots?

Important Link--Paul on the Life at Conception Act

http://nationalprolifealliance.com/rlacw_petition.aspx?pid=th2b&npla=I1ACAQ12I

Check out this link. Rand Paul is trying to overturn Roe v. Wade. Listen to this video. Please.

The End of France... will happen under Hollande...

Ah, the Hollande effect. In case you missed this, France will most likely see the passage of, not civil unions, but marriage. This means that the traditional definition of marriage will be irrevocably destroyed. Here is a snippet.

REUTERS - France’s new Socialist government is to legalise same-sex marriage next year, a junior minister said on Friday, reflecting a shift in public attitudes in the majority Catholic nation.

President Francois Hollande, who took office last month, had pledged to legalise gay marriage and adoption during his election campaign but had given no timeframe.

Since Hollande’s Socialists won an absolute majority in parliamentary elections two weeks ago, the conservative UMP party, which had opposed the measure under former president Nicolas Sarkozy, can do little to stop it.

"Within a year, people of the same sex will be able to marry and adopt children together," Dominique Bertinotti, junior minister for families, told the daily Le Parisien. "They will have the same rights and duties as any married couple."

A law granting full marriage status to gay couples would bring France, which currently provides only for same-sex civil unions, into line with fellow EU members Denmark, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden.

It would also mark a profound change in French society, where more than two-thirds of people still describe themselves as Roman Catholic, according to a 2010 survey by pollster Ifop.

Hollande is being true to his socialist agenda which is strongly anti-religion, as all true socialists are. He is particularly keen to be the next great socialist tyrant of Europe. He is on his way. I believe he is a communist, not merely a socialist.

There is some objection, but I am afraid that it is a small minority.

"We are convinced that young people’s development requires the presence of a mother and a father," said Thierry Vidor, head of the Familles de France umbrella group, which represents some 70,000 families, and campaigns for traditional family rights.

"We will take action to try to show that this measure is ultimately dangerous for society."

A Gramsci win for France...

The Ekdromoi

As a history teacher, a long time ago, I taught Classical History, Greek and Roman, both at an advanced high school and at the college level. Today, because of a conversation, I am thinking about the Battle of Marathon. The interesting thing is that there is a bit of a mystery as to how the Athenians won that battle against many, many more Persians. Some historians believe that a small group of men from the army of the Persians defected and told the Athenians of the battle plans. Another historian wrote that the superior Persian cavalry left, tired of a stalemate and the Athenians only had to fight the ground troops. Whatever the reasons, the victory was established by the hoplites in the phalanx position, the first soldiers who met the resistance. Now, all hoplites were freemen and middle class as they had to bring their own armor. They were called "iron men" because of the breast plates and helmets. Spears were the main weapons and the first attack, followed by hand to hand sword fighting.

A hoplite was not a slave. He was well-trained and very strong. He had to run into battle with heavy gear and he had to be accurate.

The light runners were called the ekdromoi. They were the out-runners, with only spear and shield. They did not have the breastplate or armor. The drawing above shows the iron men. It is hard to find a drawing of an ekdromoi and the only one I found, on a Greek vase, was a bit too graphic for this blog. I am fond of this group of hoplites, as they were very fast runners and went first, having to be extremely accurate and yet in an irregular formation in order to confuse the enemy.

These hoplites would clear the way for the iron men.

One of the books I taught was the adventures of Xenophon and this book, Anabasis,  or The Persian Expedition, was always a class favorite. In his story of the Ten Thousand, the ekdromoi played a key role. If you have not read the book, do. I love to teach this book.

My point of all this is that some of us in the battle for souls are the hoplites. We are not the generals, nor the strategists. We are the freemen who bring our own weapons into the battle, fighting freely, winning over great odds.

This is the spiritual warfare of the Church Militant. We have all the armor and skills we need through the sacraments of baptism and confirmation. We have all the strategy from the Teaching Magisterium of the Church. We have grace and the virtues. We only need to respond to wherever we are called.

I love Gimli's line in The Return of the King, "Certainty of death, *small* chance of success... What are we waiting for?"


for NS