Friday, August 31, 2007

"A seminarian reflects: So that they may all be one."

"Geraldo Meza is a seminarian for the Archdiocese of San Antonio and is currently studying in Rome."

Today's Catholic, August 17, 2007.

www.satodayscatholic.org


"The recent motu propio of Pope Benedict XVI Summorum Pontificum on the liturgy was also aimed at promoting unity.

"One of the intentions of the pope is to invite to reconciliation those who separated from the church because of their attachment to the ancient [Latin] form of celebrating the Mass.

"[The pope] likes to listen attentively to all his interlocutors.

"I am a seminarian, and I have talked to him personally during public audiences, not because I have special privileges but because Benedict XVI takes his time to talk to everybody in order to discover and address the needs of the church."

Antiwar.com asks the question !!

Behind the Headlines by Justin Raimundo ...

"December 17, 2001:

"9/11 -- WHAT WAS ISRAEL'S ROLE?

"Fox News revelations point to an ominous conclusion.

"When is American foreign policy going to start puttings America first?

"You gotta problem with that?"

Ladies and gentlemen, so speaks the legendary JUSTIN RAIMONDO ...

But, so far as having a problem with that goes?

Humm .. me?

No, not really .. but still this, too, is a good read!

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j121701.html

Less than 2 weeks to sixth anniversary of 9/11 ...

"The Mitzvah to Remember (09/05/2002)"

Gary Rosenblatt -- Editor and Publisher

THE JEWISH WEEK Serving the Jewish Community of Greater New York.

http://www.thejewishweek.com/bottom/specialcontent.php3?artid=362

"The attacks a year ago on the World Trade Center and Pentagon were not a Jewish tragedy per se but an American one, a human one -- with Jewish victims, mourners, heroes and chroniclers.

"Staff writer Adam Dickter profiles the lives of eight of the victims.

"(While no one knows for certain how many Jews were killed on Sept. 11, the most reliable estimates put the number at about 400.

"This despite the blasphemy spread in the Arab world that no Jews perished, having been warned by the Mossad [Here, he means Israelie Intelligence] agents who supposedly carried out the attacks.)"

A good and poignant read!!

Thursday, August 30, 2007

"Homero gigante desata polémica"

EL UNIVERSAL - Zócalo / Londres, Inglaterra, Miércoles 18 de Julio de 2007

DURANTE LAS VACACIONES ...

"La presencia de Homero Simpson con una enorme rosquilla en la mano, dibujado con pintura blanca en la misma colina donde figura el Gigante de Cerne Abbas, ha desatado la polémica entre los paganos defensores de uno de los más importante símbolos de la fertilidad."

¡Ora, UTEP!

¡Ora, MEChA!

¡Adelante, DESTINO!

"La aparición junto al gigante de Homero Simpson, amante de los donuts y patriarca de esta familia, ha provocado una oleada de críticas entre los paganos, que desean que llueva para que el agua acabe con el dibujo, pintado con productos biodegradables no resistentes al agua."

"... érase una vez un presidente que no creía en los cuentos chinos"

¡Ora, MEChA!

¡Ora, UTEP !

¡Adelante, DESTINO!

DURANTE LAS VACACIONES ...

Fuente: Zócalo / Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico. Miércoles 18 de Julio de 2007.

"Me acusaron de ser un capo de las drogas porque encontraron una máquina en mi casa para elaborar narcóticos, luego le pideron a la Policía mexicana investigar qué clase de máquina puede producir droga en casa, cuántos narcóticos se están produciendo y cuántas drogas hay en mi casa."

Ay, pos tú, ¿qué piensas, guey?"

EXTRACTO DE LA SEGUNDA PARTE DE LA CARTA DE ZHENLI YE GON ...

"Book presents 12 riveting tales of U.S. women fighting in Iraq"

Holmstedt, Kirsten. Band of Sisters: American Women at War in Iraq. New York: Stackpole Books, 2007.

Adapted from book review by Vincent Bosquez, SPECIAL TO THE SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS - NEWS, Sunday, August 26, 2007.

"More than 155,000 women have served in Iraq since 2003 (four times the number of women sent to Desert Storm in 1991) and more than 430 have been wounded and more than 70 killed, almost twice the number of U.S. military women killed in action in Korea, Vietnam and Desert Storm combined.

"While the military still won't allow women to serve in the infantry or to drive a tank, changes in wartime tactics and technology have muddied the waters when it comes to defining combat duty, and females are now dodging bullets and improvised explosive devices next to their male counterparts.

"And, [the women] don't consider themselves heroes for the doing to job they've been trained to do."

Wow! Gotta order this on interlibrary loan, today!

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

"Need help with a federal agency? Don Ciro can DO it!"

For all our fellow veterans in the 23rd District of southwest Texas:

The Online Office of Congressman Ciro Rodriguez, rocks !!

www.rodriguez.house.gov/

Contact personnel:

Ginette Magaña, Field Representative, ginette.magana@mail.house.gov/

Adrian Saenz, Chief of Staff, (202) 225 - 4511 Telephone.

Tomás Larralde, District Director, (210) 922 - 1874 Telehone.

"From tooling around in a shopping cart to attending Rice University!"

Adapted from: Jaime Castillo, San Antonio EXPRESS - NEWS, Monday, August 27, 2007.

"Brackenridge scholar set to make her mark at Rice University."

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS. "Since Ms. Citali Tapia was introduced here last spring, more than a few readers have asked what became of the 4 - foot - 9 - inch teenager who stands tall as the most recent valedictorian from Brackenridge High School.

"When we last checked in, Ms. Tapia was waiting to hear from such elite schools as Rice University, Swarthmore College, MIT and Harvard University.

"Well, today [Monday] is the day Ms. Tapia will enter her first class at ... Rice University.

"The budding civil engineer admits she was a bit disappointed at first about not getting into Harvard.

But there's a purpose for everything, the instensely religious scholar-to-be said in a telephone interview from Houston.

"After all, a free ride to Rice is nothing to feel sad about.

"The private school is paying for her books, tuitiion and room and board."

Ms. Tapia's parents are immigrants.

[These] Mexican immigrants who earned U.S. citizenship and now run a licensed child - care operation on the Southeast Side started as humbel as humble can get.

"During their early days in San Antonio, the Tapias, who didn't own a car, routinely ferried Citlali and her sister Yetlanezy, in a shopping cart across a busy intersection to an H - E - B and back to their apartment.

"An uncle once called the shopping cart the family's Cadillac, a remark which appears to drive the youngest Tapia to this day... "

A good read !!

"To contact JAIME CASTILLO, call (210) 250 - 3174 or e - mail jscastillo@express-news.net . His column appaers on mOndays, Wednesdays and Saturdays."

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

"Prosecutor describes spending spree by former university boss"

Adapted from San Antonio EXPRESS - NEWS, Sunday, August 26, 2007. By Juan A. Lozano, Associated Press.

"HOUSTON -- Texas Southern University's former president answered to no one as she embarked on wasteful spending sprees to lavishly decorate her homes, prosecutors told jurors Friday.

"During opening statements in the trial of Priscilla Slade, prosecutors said she misspent hundreds of thousands of dollars belonging to Texas Southern during seven years of leading the state's largest historically black university.

"The spending scandal cost Slade her job in April 2006.

"The school's former chief financial officer, Quintin Wiggins, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in May."

NOTE: "Say, would UTEP's Chief Financial Officer be someone named Cynthia Villa? Humm ... well, now ... I just wonder!!"

UTSA's Athletic Director talks straight!

"[W]e are a multimillion - dollar business..."

"Sponsorship deal at UTSA draws scrutiny"

Adapted from: Melissa Ludwig, EXPRESS - NEWS staff writer. Monday, August 27, 2007.

"In the lobby of the multidisciplinary building at the University of Texas at San Antonio, a Pepsi rumbled down the chute of a veding machine on its way to Gerardo Guillen, an 18 - year - old freshman from Roosevelt High School.

"On the machine, Guillen noticed a likeness of the school's mascot, Rowdy the Roadrunner, superimposed on a Pepsi can.

"That combination is the result of a $190,000 - a - year corporate sponsorship contract geving Pepsi exclusive rights on the 28,000 student campus.

It's weird because you come here for an education and you are being sold a bunch of different things, Guillen said.

But it doesn't bother me..."

Kathy Clay - Little:

"In Texas, bad company can mean capital punishment"

Note:

Ms. Kathy Clay - Little is publisher of African - American Reflections, online at:

www.aareflections.com

Adapted from the original editorial in the San Antonio EXPRESS -NEWS, Monday, August 27, 2007.

"Kenneth Foster will be executed in three days.

"His execution is unique among Texas' many executions in that he murdered no one.

"Foster was driving the vehicle that Mauriceo Brown exited on a muggy August night in 1996 to shoot and kill Michael LaHood, the son of a prominent attorney in Bexar County.

"Brown was executed last summer.

"Therefore we must make Foster's situation instructive.

"The life lesson learned from his execution is one that every parent or caregiver should forcefully relate to his or her child: shun evil companions.

"Foster is being executed as much for choosing the wrong companions and not having the courage to say no when they robbed two people earlier in the night as he is for driving Brown away from the scene after LaHood was murdered... "

Some good, thoughful reading in this editorial!!

Monday, August 27, 2007

"¡Ora, UTEP!"

"¡Ora, MEChA!"

"¡Adelante, DESTINO!"

DURANTE LAS VACACIONES DEL VERANO....

"Cumplen mexicanos sueño de jugar en la NFL"

"Ambos jugadores aztecas piensan llegar a lo más alto con sus respectivo equipos."

NOTIMEX Zócalo / Mexico Miércoles 18 de julio de 2007.

"Los mexicanos Mauricio López y Juan Wong han visto cumplido su sueño al unirse a las filas de la NFL, tras firmar contratos con las Aguilas de Filadelfia y Jets, de manera respectiva."

"[Eleven year old] Rogelio struggles to understand his family's religious beliefs"

By Rogelio Mariscal, 11.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"¡Ora, UTEP! "

"Welcome back to campus, Fall 2007, everyone!"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Adapted from the above article by el joven señor Rogelio in the San Antonio EXPRESS - NEWS, Sunday August 26, 2007.

"I can't celebrate my birthday because of my religion.

"I don't know why but I can't explain, so I can't write it.

"It does not matter.

"My favorite subjects are math and science.

"I like math because it is so easy to do.

"I like science because it's very fun and osmetimes it's kind of boring.

"I know it's great to know the greatest subject in the world.

"I read a lot.

"I think I will keep reading and be a good reader someday.

"I like to read books about prehistoric creatures.

"I want to go to college but my parents won't let me because they say it's not important because whoever is with the world is going to be destroyed.

"They want me to be with them and to be a Jehovah's Witness.

"I am second generation and I will be a Jehovah's Witness.

"The history of my family is when ....

"... they were in Mexico and my mom became friends with my dad's sister.

"They met each other and my mom got in love with him.

"Then they got married.

"They had me, the big one and then my little brother and then my little sister and that's the history.

"My chores are to clean my room ...

".... and mop the house.

"They are kind of boring because I am kind of lazy sometimes but I'm worth it.

"I am so good at this stuff.

"If there's a fire and I had to get three things I would get my Play - Station, my computer and my portable DVD player: I want to keep my computer because it reminds me of my family.

"My school is very different than other schools because there are more bullies.

"At lunch, our teacher tells us to line up in a single file.

"I go inside and get my ticket 'cause it's free lunch and it's good to have free lunch.

"I don't dream anything.

"I used to have nightmares like a giant monster is following us and destroyed the whole city, even me.

"I don't have dreams anymore.

"In 10 years, I'll be right here in San Antonio, with my family, being a Jehovah's Witness."

Saturday, August 25, 2007

"Former City Manager theft case moved to Del Rio"

Luna believes no fairness to be found in Kinney County....

"Former City Manager David Luna, charged with three countes of theft by a public servant, succesfully petitioned the ccurt to have his case move dout of Kinney County ..."

www.thebrackettnews.com

Thursday, August 23, 2007.

"Hey, all Brackettville Students :

Smiley's big fandango is tonight !"

The Brackett News, Thursday, August 23, 2007.

"PIZZA PARTY !!!..."

"Back to school pizza party at Smiley's Saturday August 25, 7 p.m.

"Free pizza, Free drinks, Free ice cream !!

"Call 830 - 563 - 5960.

"RAIN location will be in the BISD Cafeteria..."

UTEP Philsophy of Religion and Ethics 1318 -- 03!!

"Fall 2007" (heh, heh)!

"¡Adelante, DESTINO !"

Alasdair MacIntyre's:

After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory ....

Chapter 13. "Medieval Aspects and Occasions"

Page 158-159

"That it [Stoicism] did not provide the only or even the most important model for those moralists who later were to make the concept of a moral law into the whole of or almost the whole of morality is due to the fact that another, even sterner morality of law, that of Judaism, converted the ancient world.

"It was of ocurse Judaism in the form of Christianity which thus prevailed.

"But those such as Nietzsche and the Nazis who have understood Christianity as essentially Judaic have in their hostility perceived a truth which has been disguised from many modern would - be friends of Christianity.

"For the Torah remains the law uttered by God in the New Testament as in the Old; and [in] the New Testament view Jesus as Messiah is, as the Council of Trent emphasised in a decree, lawgiver as well as a mediator to whom we owe obedience.

If, writes Karl Barth, agreeing in this at least for once with Trent, He were not the Judge, He would not be the Saviour (K.D., IV 1, p. 216)."

Friday, August 24, 2007

"Research in South Texas focuses on bats' impact as pest removers"

By: Anstasia Ustinova, San Antonio EXPRESS - News. Web Posted: 08/20/2007 01:07 AM CDT [an adaptation, of course!]

"UVALDE -- Standing outside the gaping hole of Frio Cave, Thomas Kunz beamed his headlamp at a small gray bat with broad ears and a naked tail that he carefully held in his gloves.

"Behind him, almost invisible against the night sky, hundreds of thousands of Mexican free - tail bats swirled out of the cave in search of moths and worms to munch on.

"Though scientists have long discovered that bats consume enormous quantities of insects, cutting - edge technology and a $2.4 million grant from the National Science Foundation have allowed scientists to put a price tag on their eating habits and promote bats as one of the most cost - effective and safest pest controls available.

"The U.S. Agriculture Department said these bats eliminate insects before they strike farm fields, preventng crop loss and saving local farmers up to $1.7 million annually.

"Each March, an estimated 100 million bats migrate to Texas from Mexico."

Good, well reserached article !!

"You need to know about the Jewish family in which I was raised..."

Rick Conason's "Oy!"

Source: Madrid, Patrick. Editor. Surprised by Truth. San Diego, California: Basilica Press, 1994. Conason, Rick. "Oy!"

"Before you can understand why I became a Catholic you need to know something about the kind of Jewish family in which I was raised.

"And before you can understand the kind of Jewish family in which I was raised you need to know something about my grandparents, Emil and Cel.

"They were both born to Jewish parents shortly after the turn of the century -- Emil in Poland, Cel in America.

"She was the eldest daughter of the only Jewish family in Iowa (or so I was told).

"Emil's parents emigrated to the U.S. when he ws about two years old, and they settled in Trenton, New Jersey.

"When Emil was twenty years old he made his way to New York City in search of the political and social stimulation to be had there.

"New York in the Roaring Twenties was then, as it is now, a magnet for all stripes of liberalism, everything from avant - garde artists and poets, to left - wing intellectuals, political radicals, and atheists.

"Emil and Cel were quite at home in the political and social chaos that seethed around them."

ROLES OF HENRY MILLER AND COMMUNIST PARTY ....


"Both were close to notable figures of that era, such as Henry Miller (the author of such ocntroversial works as Tropic of Capricorn and Tropic of Cancer), with whom they lived for some time.

"Emil joined the the Communist Party, but left shortly thereafter, disillusoned because it had gotten too Stalinist for his taste.

"One by - product of his short - lived days as a Communist was the validation of his atheism.

"Emil always regarded himself as a Jew, but he did ot believe in God.

"Cel likewise, was strongly Jewish in a cultural sense, she too, was a devout atheist."

CONASON FAMILY LIBERALISM ...

"[My grandparents] brothers and sisters, my great - uncles and aunts, also moved to New York for life, happiness and the pursuit of liberalism.

"It was in this hot house of liberalism that my father was raised, inheriting the ideologies of his parents.

"he met my mom, they married, and began phase three of Conason Family Liberalism.

"In the fullness of time I was born, and I grew up in Brooklyn..."

A good spiritual, rock 'em sock ' em read !!

RICK CONASON
80 Pine Street, 34th Floor
New York, NY 10005

(212) 943 - 1094 voice mail
(212) 425 7513 FAX

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Surprised by Truth 3, rocks !!

Source:

Madrid, Patrick. Editor. Surprised by Truth 3: Eleven converts give the biblical and historical reasons for beocming Catholic. Manchester, New Hampshire: Sophia Institute Press, 2002.

GREG and JULIE ALEXANDER'S story is called: "Sex, Lies, and the Catholic Church"

This tells Greg and Julie's true story of being entrapped by the 1980's era of the so - called American Catholic Church while attending St. Edward's University together in Austin, Texas, starting in 1984.

Page 41:

"GREG: We met in college in 1984, at St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas.

"St. Edward's was a Catholic University, but that had nothing to do with our choosing to go there.

"I was there only because I had a basket ball scholarship."

"JULIE: My parents were excited about St. Edward's because it was a Catholic school, but I chose it because I liked Austin.

"There was a church on campus, but our Faith was not a part of who we were.

"I went to Mass because I was afraid that my dad would find out that I was not going."

"GREG: I felt obligated to go to Mass because I was dating Julie.

"But from the beginning, almost everything that we did was incompatible with the Faith.

"Premarital sex, living together, chasing after money and material things."

"JULIE: I was doing what everyone else was doing, so I did not think I was doing anything wrong.

"I certainly didn't know I had to confess premarital sex or living together.

"I didn't think about the way we were living..."

Then, one fine day came and it was like this:

"WE NEED TO GET A DIVORCE !!"

"JULIE: We even called the kids into the room and told them.

"They were seven and nine.

"The news devastated them.

"I remember them both balled up in a corner, crying...."

Hey Familia!

Hey, UTEP!!

Hey, DESTINO !!!

KNOW ANYBODY OUT THERE THAT NEEDS HELP IN THEIR RELATIONSHIP, LIKE GREG AND JULIE DID ??

Check it out:

(512) 996 - 9098 or email: beige@earthlink.net

THE ALEXANDER HOUSE OF AUSTIN
3610 Shell Road
Georgetown, Texas 78628

(512) 996 - 9098 .

"Sex, Lies and the Catholic Church"

The 1980's St. Edward's University in Austin Story!

"Sex, Lies and the Catholic Church"

How a young couple of "swingers," members of the so - called American Catholic Church, converted to Real Deal Catholicism !

"Sex, Lies and the Catholic Church"

The story behind Greg and Julie Alexander's quest.

"Sex, Lies and the Catholic Church"

How the Diocese of Austin's leading project for helping troubled couples came to be:

THE ALEXANDER HOUSE OF AUSTIN
3610 Shell Road
Georgetown, Texas 78928

(512) 996 - 9098 .

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Magister Petrus Uxomensis = Pedro de Osma.

Fuente: Don Marcelino Menendez y Pelayo. Los heterodoxos españoles. Tomo I. Página 548. [BR 1022 . M5 1880 T. 1 Tulane University, New Orleans ]

"Pocas noticias quedan de él fuera de las relativas á su herejía.

"Su nombre patronímico era Martinez, aunque por su pátria se llamó de Osma.

"Fue colegial de San Bartolomé (desde el año 1444), lo mismo que el Tostado y Alfonso de la Torre, racionero en la iglesia de Salamanca, canónigo en la de Córdoba, lector de Philosphia, y luego maestro de Teología en la universidad salmantina y corrector de libros [ ¿igual a Hans Urs von Balthasar? ] eclesiasticos por delegacion del dean y cabildo de aquella iglesia.

"Tuvo la gloria de contar entre sus discípulos y amigos á Antonio de Nebrija, quien le ensalza en estos términos en su rara Apologia: "

Letter to the Most Reverend José H. Gomez, S.T.D.

Thursday, August 2, 2007.

To: His excellency Archbsihop José H. Gomez
Re: Possible [sic.] inadequate deacon / instructor formation.
Location: St. Mary Magdalene Parish, Brackettville, Texas.

"Dear Excellency:

Over the past two(2) Wednesdays we've been receiving religious instruction at our Parish Charismatic group meetings, using material attributed to the Catechism of the Catholic Church regarding the role of the Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit.

Item One: Sections 1830 - 1832 of my two copies of this catechism, one in English and one in Spanish, appear to me to be in rare agreement:

a.) 1831 refers to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, and names them.
b.) 1832 refers to the twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit, and names them.

Item Two: The enclosed two (2) pages supposedly drawn from this same Catechism of the Catholic Church include the following gifts, so called: Healing, Prophecy, Tongues, Interpretation of Tongues, and Discerning of Spirits, plus one more that was not copied.

Item Three: As of last night, Wednesday, August 1, 2007, we are now all "empowered" to bless one another in the following manner:

"I bless you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen."

Thank you, your Excellency, and yes!

We've chosen to omit any and all references to our favorite standby's: Marcelino Menendez y Pelayo's Historia de los heterodoxos españoles, and Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie's Montaillou, village Occitan de 1294 - a 1324 / Montaillous[sic.]: the Promised Land of Error.

Oh, yes: nor the Roman Catechism of 1984!

Respectfully submitted,

(signed)

Dennis Paul Morony

Copy to: Rev. Father Quang D. Van (absent on vacation)"

A courteous -- and prompt -- response from Archbishop José H. Gomez !!

"Dear Mr. Moroney [sic.],

I received your letter of Agust 2, 2007.

I am glad to see that you are in contact with your pastor.

I am sure that he is happy to hear from you and the faithful of the parish in general.

Be assured of my prayers for you and I ask you to please keep me in yours as well.

May Jesus, through the intercession of Mary, grant you peace and joy.

(signed) José H. Gomez

Most Reverend José H. Gomez, S.T.D.
Archbishop of San Antonio

JHG/lvu"

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

"Reincarnation Meant My Loved Ones Would Cease to Exist."

Source: Joanna Begle's article in the Damascus road section of "This Rock," October, 2005.

"[English University Professor] Paul Williams was a leading member of the local Buddhist community for twenty years.

"He helped build a Buddhist center for study and meditation and raised funds for Buddhist projects.

"Then, five years ago, he became a Catholic.

"He still teaches Buddhism and is a leading member of the academic community, sharing [his] knowledge of Sanskrit and other languages.

"But he i snow a practicing Catholic.

"He has found the truth and intends to live by it.

"Williams' book, The Unexpected Way (Continuum, 2000), has attracted widespread attention.

"As I settle down to hear his story, I learn that he just returned from a conference at a Catholic [heh, heh!] monastery in Germany, where speakers denounced the book for saying that it is impossible to be both a Buddhist and a Christian."

As Professor Williams put it:

"These wishy - washy attempts to dialogue -- pretending that two things are compatible when they aren't -- worry me.

"If people say you can be both Christian and Buddhist, they are not making real choices and taking responsibility for them.

"They are fudging..."

Yep! Another good read !!

"The Role of Deacons: Then and Now."

Source: Article by Tim Drake. "This Rock," October, 2005.

This is a well - researched article written by someone who has done his homework: Marine style, "boots on the ground."

For example he lists for us what Catholic deacons can and can't do.

CAN:

Preach, teach, Bring Communion to others, Assist at Mass, Witness marriages, Baptize, Officiate at wake and funeral services, Lead prayer, Wear clerics.

CAN'T:

Consecrate, Forgive sins, Ordain, Anoint the sick, Confirm, Run for political office, Be younger than thirty - five.

"But, are there problems with the American Catholic Church in at some Deacon Formation Programs?"

He assures us there is, and gives us an example, or two:

"Rich Scanlon is currently applying for the diaconate in the midwest and discerning whether the calling is for him.

"He attended a recent information night for men interested in the diaconate.

"At that meeting, organizers handed out the book Called, Formed, Sent by Fr. Richard Rohr and Thomas Welch, director of the National Association of Diaconate Directors."

Scanlan's verdict on Called, Formed, Sent kicks butt!

I found the book extremely deficient theologically, said Scanlon, who holds a master's degree in theology.

It's contrary to the teachings of the Church.

It denies absolute truth, promotes moral relativism, advances proportionalism, and makes fun of papal authroity.

This is the book being handed out to men interested in the diaconate?"

Organic chicken farmer Deacon Mike Medley "concurs."

There was a lot of rubbish that you had to wade through, said Medley of his own formation five years ago.

The [American Catholic] teachers taught that Moses didn't really part the Red Sea and that Christ didn't really multiply the loaves and fishes."

For yours truly, at least, a good read !!

Monday, August 20, 2007

"Brackettville's Ms. Tanya Marie Molinar named to Dean's List."

At Austin's St. Edward's University!!

"Mr. and Mrs. Tony Molinar and family would like to proudly announce [that] their daughter, Ms. Tanya Marie Molinar, [a] 2006 graduate of Brackettville High School, has been acknowledged for her academic achievement by making the Spring 2007 Dean's List at Saint Edward's University in Austin, Texas."

'Way to go, Tanya!

From:

The Brackett News. Thursday, August 16, 2007.

"Are you sugar sensitive?"

Potatoes not Prozac !!

"A Natural Seven - Step Dietary Plan to:

Stabilize the Level of Sugar in Your Blood.

Control Your Cravings and Lose Weight.

Recognize How Foods Affect the Way You Feel."

Authors: Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D., Addictive Nutrition Foreward by Candace Pert, Ph.D.

"Ask your favorite UTEP Librarian today: get ready to really rock and roll this Fall 2007 term !!"

"Hallan acta de nacimiento de Malverde."

Fuente: El Zócalo de Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila. Miércoles 15 de Agosto de 2007. Selene Baldenegro / Agencia Reforma Zócalo / Culiacán.

"Buscaban documentos de otras personas y encontraron el del santo de los narcos.

"La búsqueda de otras actas de nacimiento llevó a empleados del Archivo Histórico a acabar con el mito de que el llamado santo de los narcos y de los pobres, Jesús Malverde, era invención del pueblo."

¡Guau! ¡Arriba con la Mota!

¡Ora, UTEP! ¡Ora, MEChA!

"There are good people everywhere..."

Source: Book review. Fritz Lanham, the Houston Chronicle. Luttrell, Marcus and Robinson, Patrick. Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2007. (??!!) Sunday, August 19, 2007, S.A. Express - News Books section.

"Former Navy SEAL details battle with the Taliban that resulted in the deaths of his comrades"

One of the lessons I learned was that there are good people everywhere.

That [Afghan] village, Sabray, saved my life.

Me, I've just got to order this one on interlibrary loan.

Why?

'Cause I've just got to learn why those guys -- knowing their harbor site had been compromised -- apparently didn't move after being discovered by several goat herders plus "about 100 goats," and then the SEALs voting to let them both (goats and herders) live and wander off again!.

As the reviewer tells it:

"Within hours, more than 100 Taliban fighters descended on the SEAL Team..."

Well .. o.k. .. but! "Duh !!" Why .....????!!! Were the SEALS still there ? (At least or so it seems!)

Yep! Just got to get that book on Kinney County Library Loan, right here and now this very afternoon!

Because once those 100 Taliban showed up, "the rest was history," as they say....

Saturday, August 18, 2007

"Aspiring chemical engineer achieves summertime success"

"¡Ora, UTEP and MPO!"

The Brackett News. Thursday, August 16, 2007.

www.thebrackettnews.com

Photo caption:

"Chemically Balanced"

"BHS [Brackettville High School] Senior Ms. Gabby Schroeder was selected and successfully completed a five week chemical engineering program at the University of Houston this summer.

"Ms. Schroeder was given the tools she needed to succeed, but soon found out that her success was hers and hers alone.

"Ms. Schroeder said that being the only 1 - A student in attendance had initialy left her feeling a bit intimidated.

"She says that the summer experience working with computer modeling the STD drug Metroridazole against the non - viral STD Trichomoniasis helped confirm her desire to become a chemical engineer."

Go, Gaby! Go, BHS !

Warming up for Fall 2007!

UTEP Philosophy 1301a!

Alasdair MacIntyre: After Virtue. U. of Notre Dame Press. 1981.

After Virtue...

1.

"A Disquieting Suggestion"

"Imagine that the natural sciences were to suffer the effects of a catastrophe.

"A series of environmental disasters are blamed by the general public on the scientists.

"Widespread riots occur, laboratories are burnt down [¡Ora, UTEP Interversity Studies 2350 and Dr. Peter Golding and his loud - mouthed pseudo - Marxists clowns!], physicists are lynched, books and instruments are destroyed.

"Finally a Know - Nothing political movement takes power and successfully abolishes science teaching in schools and universities, imprisoning and executing the remaining scientists.

"Later still there is a reaction against this destructive movement and enlightened people seek to revivie science, although they have largely forgotten what it was.

"But all that they possess are fragments: a knowledge of experiments detached from any knowledge of the theoretical context which gave them significance: half - chapters from books, single pages from articles, not always fully legible because torn and charred...

"Children learn by heart the surviving portions of the periodic table and recite as incantations [just like Harry Potter! Wow! ¡Guau!] some of the theorems of Euclid.

"Nobody, or almost nobody, realises that what they are doing is not natural science in any proper sense at all.

"For everything that they do or say conforms to certain canons of consistency and coherence and those contexts which would be needed to make sense of what they are doing have been lost, perhaps irretrievably...

"The hypothesis which I wish to advance is that in the actual world which we inhabit the language of morality is in the same state of grave disorder as the language of natural science in the imaginary world which I described."

You bet! And for around the next 243 pages he makes his case, and how!

Friday, August 17, 2007

"Herejías del primer siglo de la Reconquista.."

Fuente: Marcelino Menendez y Pelayo. Heterodoxos Españoles, Libro II (Siglo VIII) Capítulo Primero. España: Moroto y Hijos, 1880.

Página 265.

I. PRELIMINARES

"Triste era el estado de la Península al mediar el Siglo VIII.

"En las más fértiles y ricas comarcas imperaban extraños invasores, diversos en raza, lengua y rito, y no inclinados a la tolerancia, aunque tolerantes en un principio por la manera como se hizo la conquista.

"Había dado sus naturales frutos la venganza de los magnates visigodos, que quizá no pensaron llegar tan lejos.

"Coronado con rápido y maravilloso triunfo la extraña intentona [¿?] de Tarik y de Muza, merced á los elementos hostiles que en España hervían; abiertas ciudades y fortalezas por alevosías ó pactos; rendida en Orihuela la débil resisitancia de Teudemiro, único godo que entre la universal ruina levantaba la frente; custódiadas por guarniciones árabes y judías Sevilla y Córdoba, Toledo y Pax Julia, hubieron de pensar los califas de Damasco en la importancia de tan lejana conquista y en necesidad de conservarla.

"Creado, pues, el Emirato, comenzó á pesar sobre el pueblo cristiano de la Península una dominación, tiránica de hecho, aunque en la forma bastante ordenada.

"Indudable parece que los primeros invasores, casi todos bereberes, habían destruido iglesias y santuarios ( Sanctuaria destruuntur, Ecclessiae diripiuntur, dice el Arzobispo D. Rodrigo), pero los emires respetaron, si bien con onerosas condiciones, el culto, y tampoco despojaron de sus propriedades a los vencidos, contentándose con imponerles pesadas gabelas [¿?].

"No es para maravillar ni digna de muchos encomios, esta celebrada moderación y tolerancia.

"Eran los Arabes en número muy corto, para que de otra suerte pudieran asentar su imperio en las tierras occidentales.

"Ni duró mucho tiempo esta virtud primera, puesto que llegado los gloriosos días del Califato cordobes, en que la potencia muslímica se consideró segura, empezaron más ó menos embozados, actos de hostilidad, contra las creencias de la gente Muzárabe, y á la postre una persecución abierta y tenaz, que no acaba sino el exterminio o destierro de una parte de esa raza, y la libertad y salvación de otra -- por los reconquistadores.

"La triste, aunque por más de un concepto, gloriosa historia de ese pueblo cristiano mezclado con los Arabes, ha de ser estudiada bajo el aspecto religioso en el capítulo que sigue."

¡Y, aquí nos vemos, amigos míos....!

Thursday, August 16, 2007

"Martin Luther and Marcel Lefebvre shared more than their initials."

Source: "More Catholic than the Pope No More." Article. Pete Vere, JCL. Surprised by Truth 3. Patrick Madrid, editor.Manchester, New Hampshire: Sofia Institute Press, 2002.

"Who would want to read a story about someone who left the Catholic Church, joined the Lefebvre schism, then came back?

"Stories like mine are few and far between, unlike those of the great number of Protestants who annually convert to Catholicism.

"Yet my story really isn't so different:

"Martin Luther and Marcel Lefebvre shared more than their initials and the sacrament of Holy Orders -- they shared a common spirit of private interpretation and private judgement.

"In a futile attempt to recover what he perceived as an earlier and purer form of Christianity, each separated himself from full communion with the Church founded by Jesus Christ.

"In so doing, Luther and Lefebvre both rebelled against the Church's living Magisterium.

"They asserted their own private interpretation -- of Scripture in the one case and Tradition in the other -- over the authoritative interpretation of the Roman Pontiff, who, as St. Peter's successor, is entrusted with the task of safeguarding both Scripture and Tradition.

"Each man's actions led to movements that continue to divide into ever smaller sects, since with private interpretation every individual enjoys his own little papacy.

"This is in spite of the fact the first followers of both movements steadfastly believed they were still Catholic.

"During my time as a Lefebvrite schismatic, I believed it too."

Amen, amigo! Amen!

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

In her new book, Pitstick destroys Balthasar.

Page 337:

"An idea is known through the words used to express it.

"The history of doctrinal development, and the role of heresies in that history, dictates that linguistic precion is not optional.

"Balthasar's Christology appears subsequently to be a cross between Arianism and monophysitism in that Christ is not perfect God and perfect man, but some third thing."

Alyssa Lyra Pitsick: "Real Life Detective!"

Smokes out the ape - like capering and gibbering insanity of the "real" Hans Urs von Balthasar....

An example:

"And the light shineth in darkness: and the darkness did not comprehend it." John 1:5 (Douay - Rheims )

"The light itself, which shines in the uncomprehending darkness, no longer understands itself within the darkness; that it still shines is its irrevocable obedience to the paternal sun."

Hans Urs von Balthasar, Leben aus dem Tod, 40

Source: Pitstick, Alyssa Lyra. Light in Darkness, Hans Urs von Balthasar and the Ctaholic Doctrine of Christ's Descent into Hell. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2007.

Don Marcelino Menendez y Pelayo !!

Historia de los Heterodoxos Españoles...

Los asuntos de:

"Juan de Osma, Siglo XV"

y

"Hans Urs von Balthasar, Siglo XX."

( Cabe mencionar que este último es con cierta licencia del estilo famoso de "nomás que otro cuento Chino!" )

Fuente: Página 548, Capítulo VI, sección III, "Pedro de Osma."
Menendez y Pelayo, Don Marcelino. Historia de los Heterodoxos Españoles. Madrid, España:: Imprenta de F. Manoto é Hijos, 1880.

III. PEDRO DE OSMA.

"Este es, después de Gundisalvo y Vilanova, el nombre más ilustre entre los heterodoxos españoles de la Edad Media.

"Si hemos de creer á sus contemporaneos, poco le excedian en materia teológica [Tal vez como Hans Urs Von Bathasar en el siglo XX!]

"[A]dvirtió Juan de Valdés (y hubiera podido decirlo de si propio) que:

hombres de grandes ingénios son los que se pierden en herejías y falsas opiniones por la falta de jucio."

[Pobre de Hans Urs Von Balthasar, entonces: si era éste también "nomás que otro viejo loco y sin juicio."]

"Y en Pedro de Osma excedia el ingénio al juicio."