Is this self-hatred, or what? March 27, 2012
Posted by Tantumblogo in Abortion, Basics, disaster, foolishness, General Catholic, horror, sadness, sickness, Society.comments closed
Yesterday, I posted a video wherein a young woman excoriated the rejection of the natural feminine characteristics so common among feminists and other pro-aborts (perhaps an oxymoron there). Today, comes word that a Pennsylvania state representative referred to pro-life women as “men with breasts.”
Pennsylvania State Rep. Babette Josephs, a Philadelphia Democrat, may have reached a new low in political discourse on the issues of abortion. Upset that pro-life women in the state legislature support a bill allowing women a chance to see an ultrasound of their unborn child before an abortion, she referred to them as “men with breasts.”
As the Patriot-News reports:
“During her remarks, she blasted women lawmakers who co-sponsored the ultrasound bill, asking rhetorically, ‘What are they? Women, or are they men with breasts?’ according to supporters of the bill who watched the rally.
Josephs stood by her words after the rally, arguing that the women lawmakers on the bill – sponsored by Rep. Kathy Rapp of Warren County — are acting like women only in the sense ‘that they will do what the men tell them.’
‘They must believe that they are not capable of making their own health care choices, but they are capable of voting on bills that control all of our behavior,’ Josephs continued. ‘I don’t understand it …
‘I don’t believe they’re really women. … I believe they’re men with breasts.’
Apparently, the only “real women” are those who stifle their femininity and embrace sterility, even baby murder. This logic is so entirely bass-ackwards, upside-down, and inside-out, that it beggars the imagination. How do people come to think like this? How do you conclude that the authentic women are those who abort their children, or at least support others doing so, while those who don’t kill their babies and do all they can to protect others are somehow not? So…women are now not mothers, but men are. And in order to be a real woman, you have to reject motherhood.
In Christian charity, a person like that should be reached out to. But I’m not sure how you reach a person like that. That’s one of the baffling things about evangelization (or even discourse) in this day and age. Some people are so lost in their thinking, their sins, and have such an abyss of hatred towards traditional gender roles and the mores of Christianity, that it would be a years long project just to convert one. That’s if the conversation didn’t end with a backturn and a flipped finger after 10 seconds.
And yet there are millions out there like that.
h/t CMR
Preliminary report of crash of Neptunus Lex March 27, 2012
Posted by Tantumblogo in Admin, sadness.comments closed
Or, Capt. Carroll LeFon, USN, Ret. We exchanged, I discovered, several dozen e-mails over a 3 year period. I read him just about every day. I think that makes us friends. The NTSB released the preliminary report on his crash March 14. I just found it yesterday. The report:
NTSB Identification: DCA12PA049
Nonscheduled 14 CFR Public Use
Accident occurred Tuesday, March 06, 2012 in Fallon, NV
Aircraft: ISRAEL AIRCRAFT INDUSTRIES F21-C2, registration: N404AX
Injuries: 1 Fatal.This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed.
On March 6, 2012 at 0914 pacific standard time, an Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) Kfir F-21C2 single-seat turbojet fighter type aircraft, registration N404AX, operated by Airborne Tactical Advantage Company (ATAC) under contract to Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) as a civil pubic aircraft operation, crashed upon landing at Naval Air Station Fallon, Fallon, Nevada. The sole occupant pilot aboard was killed, and the airplane was substantially damaged by impact forces and fire.The flight had departed Fallon at 0752 the same day, and attempted to return following an adversary training mission. The pilot initiated two Ground Control Approach (GCA) radar approaches to Fallon and then attempted to divert to Reno but was unable to land there as the field was reporting below minimum weather conditions.
The pilot then turned back toward Fallon and stated to air traffic controllers that he was in a critical fuel state. The pilot descended and maneuvered first toward runway 31, then toward runway 13. The airplane struck the ground in an open field in the northwest corner of the airport property and impacted a concrete building on the field.
Weather at the time of the accident was reported as snowing with northerly winds of 23 knots gusting to 34 knots, and visibility between one-half and one and one-half miles.
Well, that answers many questions. From comments I’ve seen other places, it seems there was a white-out, or near white-out, conditions. When you’re flying at 200 knots, what looks like half-mile visibility may be alot less, due to the plane whipping through the snow, fog, and clouds. He tried to land twice, missed the approach both times (which he had complained about numerous times, previously), tried to divert to Reno, only to find it socked in by WX, and finally tried to land again twice at Fallon. On the second attempt, his aircraft flamed out. Apparently, some individuals on the ground, reported as SEALs for some reason (I have no confirmation), heard the aircraft flameout. Lex apparently tried to bring it in to a dead stick landing, it would appear. He did not attempt to eject.
That last bit was bothering me. Why not eject? I guess I felt deprived at my friend. Well, if the winds were in the 25 kt sustained range with higher gusts, that might explain it. Not long ago, Lex had told the story of a pilot he knew at TOPGUN who had died being dragged to death through the rough desert landscape after ejecting from an aircraft and landing on a windy day. The pilot could not get out of the harness because of the wind, and thus died a pretty brutal death. Perhaps that was on his mind. Or perhaps he just didn’t have time, or thought he could make it but ran out of energy. More data may be available in a year or so when the final report is released.
It is really freaking me out, how many things Lex blogged about that foreshadowed his death. The problems with ground controlled approach handling his rather unique aircraft, his own fears of the beast and its high landing speed and voracious appetite for runway, the ejection story, the thirsty J79 engine and small fuel margins of the Kfir, the lack of nearby divert airfields in an emergency – he blogged about all of these, and in the end they all played a role in his death. It’s almost like he knew. What a shame. I’m still sad and mad.
Motives to move us to perfection, pt. 1 March 27, 2012
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, General Catholic, Holy suffering, Interior Life, Our Lady, priests, religious, Saints, Virtue.comments closed
From St. Vincent Ferrer’s Treatise on the Spiritual Life:
1. Consider how God deserves to be loved and honored on account of His goodness, wisdom, and His numberless other perfections. By this you will easily understand that what you conceived to be of importance in your efforts to serve Him, was, in truth, little or nothing compared with what ought to be done in regard to His Divine perfections, and in order to be pleasing to Him. I lay this down as the first reason, because in all our acts we should have principally in view God’s honor, His fear, and His love; He alone deserving of Himself to be loved by all His creatures.
2. Reflect on the contempt, the ignominy, the poverty, the sorrows, and the bitter Passion which our Lord was pleased to suffer out of love for you. If you love and honor him in this light, you will easily perceive that all that you can do to testify your love and respect for Him is but little in comparison of what is due to Him.
3. Consider the purity of life and the perfection to which the law of God, which is so perfect, obliges you, and how this law exacts, with an entire exemption from every vice and sin, the plentitude of virtue, included in the precept of loving God with all your heart, mind, and strength, and you will at once see your weakness, and how far you still are from the innocence and perfection that is required of you.
4. Call to mind the infinite multitude of God’s benefits, the temporal and spiritual blessings which He dispenses to His creatures, and to you in particular, and you will soon be persuaded that all that you do, or all that you can do for God in the future, is nothing compared with the benefits and favors which He has bestowed on you with infinte liberality and goodness.
5. Endeavor to penetrate the magnificence of the reward and glory promised and in store for those who honor God by the holiness of their lives, and to understand that this glory will be measured by their justice and piety. [and, I would add, charity] You will thereby see that your own merits bear no proportion to so great a glory, and you will strive, with all your heart, that your works shall in future be more virtuous and perfect than they have hitherto been.
6. Consider how great and noble virtue is in itself, how it elevates the soul which it adorns; and, on the contrary, how vile and dishonorable vice is. This thought will lead you to make every effort to cultivate virtue, and to shun every occasion of vice. [d’oh!]
7. Reflect on the sublime and perfect lives of the Saints, and the number and excellence of the virtues which they practiced, and you will feel the languor and imperfection of your own works.
That last one I actually do feel, at times pretty strongly. I see that I could and perhaps should do so much more in the practice of virtue, in the avoidance of vice and comfort, to mortify myself, and in terms of selfless service to others. But at the same time, I do not become discouraged, but I strive to offer my failings to the Lord, to have Him take them away and replace them with His Grace. There is the trap of thinking we can work our way to Heaven, that if we read enough or pray enough or do enough mortifications, Heaven is assured. We can do nothing. Or, the best we can do, the only thing we can do, is cooperate with Grace. Our own efforts are doomed to failure and inadequacy. We must try our very best, but we must fundamentally trust in God for our salvation. And we must always recall that His love for us is beyond our comprehension, and that He Wills that all be saved – it is simply up to us to cooperate with that Will.
Our Lady is a tremendous help. Ask her to help you and intercede for you.
More deacons for the FSSP March 27, 2012
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Dallas Diocese, General Catholic, Latin Mass, priests, religious, Tradition, Virtue.comments closed
One of which happens to hail from the Diocese of Dallas. They were ordained by Bishop Sample of Marquette, MI, of whom I hear good things. El Paso, anyone?
The young man from Dallas is second from the left. Charles Vreland (not sure on the spelling).
The FSSP keeps rolling along. They need a new seminary, as the one at Denton, NE, is full. The Diocese of Dallas is truly blessed to have two spectacular FSSP priests. They are all I have really known, since they’ve been at Mater Dei since we’ve been going there (well, there have been occasional fill-in priests when one or the other has to leave town for various business), so maybe all FSSP priests are like that, but the knowledge and commitment and passion is incredible. It’s a total calling for these men. The training they have received is very apparently top notch. We are being blessed in the Church with so many really good men right now, giving their lives to Christ and His Church and serving as spiritual fathers to so many very needful people. What a glorious thing. I pray scenes like the above continue and multiply throughout the Church! Lord, we need so many good men like this, let us have them!
God willing, each of these men should be ordained to the priesthood soon. There aren’t words for the glory of their calling – and that’s not clericalism, it’s simply a recognition of reality, these men will be given the power to turn bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Our Lord! And to hear confessions and grant absolution for sins! What power! What grace!
I pray they may always be faithful, obedient, charitable servants of our Holy Mother the Church.
For those who know him, I had a thought which made me laugh……..Fr. Wolfe with a tonsure!
A quick note about comments March 27, 2012
Posted by Tantumblogo in Admin, foolishness.comments closed
Two commenters, including Tancred from Eponymous Flower, had some of their comments sit in my spam folder for some time. My apologies. I don’t get a notification on comments flagged as spam, they just go there. I have to go manually check to see if any valid comments got put in there. But, there are some characteristics of comments that can lead to them being put in spam. If you have too many links in a comment, it will go to spam. In fact, I think it will happen if you put in more than one, maybe two, links. Secondly, posting too many comments too quickly will get them flagged as spam.
The stinky part is, these comments frequently don’t show for a while – 24 hours, frequently. So even if I check, I may not see them right away. And I usually only check the spam folder once a week or so, because most of the time, spam is all that is in there. But then, like this week, I’ll suddenly have a half dozen or more valid comments thrown in the spam folder for no apparent reason. That happens maybe 2-3 times a year.
So, yes……….I do need to leave wordpress!
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