This is what SUVs looked like in the 60s
February 1, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog
From the wicked cool TV series “Lost in Space,” which I watched religiously, all three seasons it was on . . .
What the . . .?
February 1, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog
Obowma does it again. (But why?)
"A systemic pattern of cooperation with evil"
February 1, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog
LifeSiteNews.com reports on the past involvement of John Carr, a senior USCCB employee, with a group that promotes abortion and the gay agenda:
A national group that promotes abortion and homosexual rights has deep ties with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development, according to a report released Monday.
Top USCCB executive John Carr held simultaneous leadership roles, creating a conflict of interest, with the USCCB and the radical Center for Community Change.“The closer we look at the Bishops Conference [staff and programs], the more we find a systemic pattern of cooperation with evil,” said Michael Hichborn, American Life League’s lead researcher into the USCCB scandal. “The CCC has lodged itself into the highest places of power in the USCCB while working to promote abortion and homosexuality.”John Carr is the USCCB executive director of the Department of Justice Peace and Human Development which oversees the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD). He has been employed by the USCCB since 1987.John Carr’s relationship with the Center for Community Change goes back at least to 1983, serving in leadership roles from 1999 to 2006 – including as chairman of the board. The Reform CCHD Now report details the organization’s promotion of abortion, “reproductive rights” and homosexuality as among the CCC’s core advocacy focuses.In 2001, while Carr served as both a USCCB exec and CCC leader, the Catholic Bishops Conference funneled $150,000 to the pro-abortion group. The USCCB web site currently promotes the group and officials have spoken at CCC events.“Strangely, Carr’s leadership on the CCC’s board shows up on several bios he’s submitted for speaking engagements, but the word for word bio on the USCCB web site mysteriously omits that one detail,” Hichborn said. “Why?”Revelations of John Carr’s involvement in the Center for Community Change come only months after members of the Reform CCHD Now coalition, including American Life League, uncovered 31 CCHD grantees partnered with the CCC.“The CCHD claims it will immediately investigate accusations against organizations it funds yet it is silent on the CCC,” said Hichborn. “How can Carr and the USCCB possibly justify this intimate relationship with such an obvious enemy of the Church?” . . . (continue reading)See also: Deal Hudson’s take on this.Update: Our Sunday Visitor has looked into the allegations made by the American Life League against Mr. Carr and has found several discrepancies. OSV posted this statement from Mr. Carr responding to the ALL article:
Neither the American Life League nor the Bellarmine Institute contacted me, CCHD or the bishops’ conference before making these accusations. If they had, they would have learned that I left the board of the Center for Community Change in February of 2005 and that I had no involvement in or knowledge of the actions alleged in the press release.
My experience with CCC was that it focused on poverty, housing and immigration and had no involvement in issues involving abortion and homosexuality.
When I served, the board never discussed or acted on any position involving these matters and if they had, I would have vigorously opposed any advocacy for access to abortion or gay marriage.
I have spent my personal and professional life defending human life and dignity and Catholic teaching, including current efforts to keep abortion funding out of health care reform. I regret that once again the failure to contact me or CCHD has led to unfair allegations in attempts to undermine the essential work of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.
"It Was Beautiful to Watch." Michael Savage Describes the San Francisco Walk for Life
February 1, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog
How to Fall 35,000 Feet — And Survive
January 30, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog
You have a late night and an early flight. Not long after takeoff, you drift to sleep. Suddenly, you’re wide awake. There’s cold air rushing everywhere, and sound. Intense, horrible sound. Where am I?, you think. Where’s the plane?You’re 6 miles up. You’re alone. You’re falling.Things are bad. But now’s the time to focus on the good news. (Yes, it goes beyond surviving the destruction of your aircraft.) Although gravity is against you, another force is working in your favor: time. Believe it or not, you’re better off up here than if you’d slipped from the balcony of your high-rise hotel room after one too many drinks last night.Or at least you will be. Oxygen is scarce at these heights. By now, hypoxia is starting to set in. You’ll be unconscious soon, and you’ll cannonball at least a mile before waking up again. When that happens, remember what you are about to read. The ground, after all, is your next destination.Granted, the odds of surviving a 6-mile plummet are extra ordinarily slim, but at this point you’ve got nothing to lose by understanding your situation. There are two ways to fall out of a plane. The first is to free-fall, or drop from the sky with absolutely no protection or means of slowing your descent. The second is to become a wreckage rider, a term coined by Massachusetts-based amateur historian Jim Hamilton, who developed the Free Fall Research Page—an onlinedatabase of nearly every imaginable human plummet.That classification means you have the advantage of being attached to a chunk of the plane. In 1972, Serbian flight attendant Vesna Vulovic was traveling in a DC-9 over Czechoslovakia when it blew up. She fell 33,000 feet, wedged between her seat, a catering trolley, a section of aircraft and the body of another crew member, landing on—then sliding down—a snowy incline before coming to a stop, severely injured but alive. . . . (continue reading)
Here's How the TV Networks Report the News
January 29, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog
Atheists "go postal" over new Mother Teresa stamp
January 28, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog
It’s predictable that atheists would work themselves into a froth over this. It’s silly and petty, of course, but it’s also a useful reminder that an increasing number of the God-deniers who walk among us are not content to simply deny the truth and scoff at believers, they are becoming ever more militant and aggressive in their efforts to ramrod their intolerance and narrow-mindedness down everyone else’s throats. Catholics! Stand up to these bullies.
An atheist organization is blasting the U.S. Postal Service for its plan to honor Mother Teresa with a commemorative stamp, saying it violates postal regulations against honoring “individuals whose principal achievements are associated with religious undertakings.”The Freedom from Religion Foundation is urging its supporters to boycott the stamp — and also to engage in a letter-writing campaign to spread the word about what it calls the “darker side” of Mother Teresa.The stamp — set to be released on Aug. 26, which would have been Mother Teresa’s 100th birthday — will recognize the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize winner for her humanitarian work, the Postal Service announced last month.“Noted for her compassion toward the poor and suffering, Mother Teresa, a diminutive Roman Catholic nun and honorary U.S. citizen, served the sick and destitute of India and the world for nearly 50 years,” the Postal Service said in a press release. “Her humility and compassion, as well as her respect for the innate worth and dignity of humankind, inspired people of all ages and backgrounds to work on behalf of the world’s poorest populations.”But Freedom from Religion Foundation spokeswoman Annie Laurie Gaylor says issuing the stamp runs against Postal Service regulations.“Mother Teresa is principally known as a religious figure who ran a religious institution. You can’t really separate her being a nun and being a Roman Catholic from everything she did,” Gaylor told FoxNews.com.Postal Service spokesman Roy Betts expressed surprise at the protest, given the long list of previous honorees with strong religious backgrounds, including Malcolm X, the former chief spokesman for the Nation of Islam, and the Rev. D
r. Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist minister and co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. . . . (continue reading)
Pray the Pater Noster With Pope Pius XII
January 28, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog
"This is not about me!" (No, really)
January 27, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
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The NASCAR of Catholic Apologetics
January 26, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog
Patrick Archbold of Creative Minority Report fame penned a witty and insightful take on Catholic “combat radio” in today’s National Catholic Register. Maybe someday I’ll do an interview with him and tell him “the rest of the story.”
I am a flawed man.
I love to listen to Catholic apologetics. I listen to apologetics CDs, I read apologetic books, and I love to listen to apologetics on the radio. I suspect my reason for listening to apologetics on the radio is different from most people; at least I hope it is.
I think I read once that NASCAR is the biggest spectator sport in the United States. Being a northerner, I am sure that I miss many of the appealing aspects of NASCAR, but I think I know why most people watch it. They want to see the crashes. That is why I listen to apologetics on the radio, particularly Catholic Answers. I want to be around when the crash happens. . . . (continue reading)