the real "pro-choice"

For freedom, Christ set us free. - Gal 5:1

It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more
than our abilities. - Albus Dumbledore w.J.K.Rowling _Harry Potter_

One could very well describe Christianity as a philosophy of
freedom. The Christian lives by love and therefore, by freedom. - Thomas
Merton

The fruit of silence is prayer.
The fruit of prayer is faith.
The fruit of faith is love.
The fruit of love is service. - Teresa of Calcutta

for tweeter and teachers

These responses actually appeared on real science tests. All were marked wrong:

The pistol of a flower is its only protection against insects.

Mushrooms always grow in damp places and so they look like umbrellas.

H20 is hot water, and CO2 is cold water.

To collect fumes of sulfur, hold a deacon over a flame in a test tube.

Three kinds of blood vessels are arteries, vanes and caterpillars.

To remove dust from the eye, pull the eye down over the nose.

The alimentary canal is located in the northern part of Indiana.

- Brian q.gcfl

blessings

America magazine has always been a blessing to me. The latest paper issue (2009Feb9) has a fine Faith in Focus article by Frank Moan on his experiences as a retired aging Jesuit entitled Finally, God's Voice. And the commentary on the weekly scriptures never fails to noteworthy.

And then there is the humor. The Without Guile cartoon usually brings a smile. I keep a copy of the one that had the devil going to a seller of lottery tickets and being asked

The usual?

(For those challenged by the question, answer this one

In common culture, what is the devil's favorite number?

)

This issue they have unintentionally outdone themselves.

• Between the article Fighting Poverty to Build Peace by the chairman of the USCCB committee on International Justice and Peace, whose last section is entitled A Call to Further Action
  
• and the interview Roots of Genocide with the special adviser to the UN secretary general for the prevention of genocide
  
• is a full page ad for $125 Thomas Kincaid thingy emblazoned with comforting scenes of affluent churches in rural area and the caption All things are possible with God.

The sword-to-ploughshare works are elsewhere out of site. What are the ethics of beating gold into righteousness?

it's not walking on water but ...

Returning after traveling a great distance by car to get medical supplies for their small clinic, the nuns ran out of gas quite literally "in the middle of nowhere." They knew the area well; no gas for miles in either direction. Not wanting to leave the supplies, and not wanting to be separated, they began to pray. Just then a gas tanker stopped, and the driver asked,

Sisters, what is wrong?

They explained their gas gauge was stuck and they had run out of gas.

He replied that his tanker was empty and he was on his way to load fuel for one of his routes. But on inspection he found he had a little in one of his lines; however, he had no bucket to catch the remaining tidbit of fuel.

Bed pans,

replied one sister.

We have bed pans!

With that, they got out the bed pans and gratefully caught all of the last little bit of gas in the tanker. Then the driver said,

Sisters, I am short on time I must go!

The sisters thanked him and poured the gas into the car.

As they were pouring in the last little bit, a highway patrolman pulled up got out of the patrol car and stared in disbelief.

Sisters, I've no idea what you have done, but I sure admire your faith!

classic

It's not my place
To run the train
The whistle I can't blow
It's not my place
To say how far
The train's allowed to go

It's not my place
To shoot off steam
Nor even clang the bell
But let the train once
Jump the track,
Then see who catches hell.

- On the wall of the Stationmaster's Office, Grand Central Terminal (seen in Korea ~1965 at an especially appropriate moment) [first published tftd 88Nov4, though the poster remembers seeing it on office walls in the 1970s]

Warning (golden oldie)

As safety experts and concerned citizens, we applaud the recent trend towards legislation that requires the prominent placing of warnings on products that present hazards to the general public. Yet we must also offer the cautionary thought that such warnings, however well- intentioned, merely scratch the surface of what is really necessary in this important area.

One Product Warning as written by a Quantam Physicist:

WARNING:

This Product Attracts Every Other Piece of Matter in the Universe, Including the Products of Other Manufacturers, with a Force Proportional to the Product of the Masses and Inversely Proportional to the Square of the Distance Between Them.

- Owen K. Loring _Groaners_ Noted as Stolen.http://www.theattic.us (cobweb)

[The real hoot hear is that the goober who sent this out posts from a university lampooned for the (alleged) intellectual limitations of the student body. Yet a joke based on gravitation is said to be from a "Quantam Physicist". Perchance the joke is that quantum is misspelled.

Merry Christmas - a bit late but worth it

video link

point, counterpoint

point

counterpoint

I agree w/most of what JW says. And I think Newt is a great communicator and idea organizer. However I think the Democrats and the Republicans both face the challenge. The former unified for long enough to win an election. But if you poll the officeholders who won election, I don't think there would be a good consistent definition of what a Democrat is, other than a brand that is currently preferred. Conversely I don't think there would be a good consistent definition of what a Republican is, other than a brand that is currently not preferred. Ditto for liberal and conservative.

I have been a Republican for 47 years. It appears to me that the party is at the moment not focused because it is so divided by people who are so passionate for one tree that they ignore the forest. It has not so much lost its way as it forgot it must always be vigilant to check that it is still on any path much less the right path (pun intended).

for the Kat

Windsor Castle, outside of London, is directly in the flight path of Heathrow International Airport. While a group of tourists was standing outside the castle admiring the elegant structure, a plane flew overhead at a relatively low altitude, making a tremendous noise. One particularly annoyed tourist whined, "Why did they build the castle so close to the airport?"

on sacramentals

One Sunday a priest announced he was passing out miniature crosses made of palm leaves. "Put this cross in the room where your family argues most," he advised. "When you look at it, the cross will remind you that God is watching." When the parishioners were leaving church, a woman walked up to the priest, shook his hand, and said, "I'll take five." - Paula Sanning q.gcfl

on weddings

A bride-to-be called to make a change to her wedding registry. It is common, almost expected, that a bride will change something on her registry at least once (dish pattern, color of towels, etc.). The Customer Service Representative told her that J.C. Penney would be happy to make the change. She asked if the bride wanted to change the dishes or the linens. The bride said, "No, keep all that." She just wanted to change the name of the groom. - _JCPeople_ the company newsletter of J.C. Penney Inc 2001Apr V.3 N.4) q.Thomas Ellsworth q.gcfl

spam and other strange art

http://www.yanceyrichardson.com/artists/rachel-perry-welty/index.html