Faith
Kidnapped Priests in both the Phillippians and in Africa – a good place for prayers.   We have five new Saints,  the Pope said,  “Jesus invites his disciples to the total giving of their lives, without calculation or personal gain, with unfailing trust in God.   -The saints welcome this demanding invitation and set about following the crucified and risen Christ with humble docility. Their perfection, in the logic of a faith that is humanly incomprehensible at times, consists in no longer placing themselves at the center, but choosing to go against the flow and live according to the Gospel.”

The Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops is currently meeting in Rome.  Of course some good messages are coming out of it already.  EWTN is reporting on the call for the African Bishops to be wary of Spiritual Toxic Waste — the loathsome moral erosion that accompanies so many otherwise good efforts to assist with real problems in less developed nations.  I think the African Synod is actually ahead of America and Europe in understanding what a culture of life means.  This article is well worth the read on that topic.  Also on social justice is this thought provoking article.

Have you heard of the Apostolic Visitation of American Women Religious?   I find it very interesting – especially how freaked out some orders seem to be and how the Church is trying to calm the waters.

Health Care

Surprise! the health care bill is going to cover abortions – so say our Bishops and raise insurance rates.   If you are surprised by this you haven’t been paying attention.  In another stunning-shocker of the blatantly obvious: patients drive up costs of healthcare. Amazingly when patients start to hop on the internet and diagnose themselves they push for unnecessary procedures and tests – but instead of claiming this as a mandate for top down management of healthcare could someone please point out that patients would be more responsible with their requests if they actually had to foot the costs for their care in a more transparent manner?

The much vaunted British system is looking — really scary,  especially if you are old, young, pregnant,  disabled,  mentally ill or have a broken arm.  But then again they are planning to fine people for tossing out stale bread and wilted lettuce – so I guess anything goes.

Belmont Abby’s efforts to not be forced to cover ABC are heartening — and I love Archbishop Chaput having his say,  “It’s one of the great ironies of the moment that tiny Belmont Abbey would have the courage to challenge Caesar over its right to be faithfully Catholic in its policies, while so many other American Catholics seem eager to give Caesar honors.  If you stand up to evil, you may lose. But if you don’t stand up, you will lose..”

Have you gotten your flu shot and your Halloween Pumpkins?

Science:
Dang it is cold today, maybe all the global warming stuff is a touch over-rated.  The energy crisis has been delayed.   NASA is going interesting things on the moon.   Babies shouldn’t watch TV — did someone pay for that to be researched?  It seems like a no brainer.    Is email going the way of the letter and will technology save classical music?

World News:
Islam isn’t so much Arabic anymore. A quote from Golda Meir comes to mind when I read this story : “Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.”  Netanyahu has some strong thoughts -considering the US’s new “smart diplomacy”  I can understand his concerns — if he had any doubts the way the US news reports the issue should be confirmation enough.

Mexico has so many problems:  How many Mexicans does it take to drill an oil well? Our southern border destabilizing is troubling enough without the dollar teetering as well.   Russia has some interesting things happening – totally my gut feeling, but Russia  seems to be gaining momentum –  now if they stop aborting their children they might well be the next empire.  At any rate Oregon is co-operating in fighting terrorism with the Russians.

Family and  home: An interesting aritcle about marriage and women’s desires – though the title “What Does Woman Want” is causeing problems for my grammar brain – can I get an article in there please or maybe make the whole thing plural?   Alton Brown rocks –  Good eats is really ten years old? Apparently you can get a ticket for catching a Great White Shark in Oregon.  I didn’t know we even HAD Great White Sharks.  The boys are impressed; I am rethinking my enjoyment of coastal waters.  Arizona says social workers can not threaten families to coherce them into cooperation with a social services investigations.   Eating Organically on a Food-Stamp Budget — a very interesting little article — now I would like to see her do the same thing on a real economy budget  instead of the somewhat bloated max foodstamp allotment.

Liberty: Free-speech gets ever more nuanced.  Preserving native languages in Oregon intrests me.  Life News is reporting praise for the New York Times while I appreciate that they are being honest enough to confront the violence that is abortion — it isn’t as though those murdering unborn children aren’t aware of  what they are doing.