Signs of the Times [UPDATED]

You may have noticed a red and pink equal sign floating around on social network sites today signifying support for so-called "marriage equality" (i.e. redefining marriage). Whatever.

I prefer these signs:

UPDATE

Reject the Obama-Romney Ticket - Vote Virgil Goode for President

Obamney/Robama in their own words:

 

There's barely a dime's worth of difference between Obama and Romney, and NEITHER will fight for the principles and priorities that are most important to you.

Don't get stuck choosing between the alleged lesser of two evils. You have a REAL choice, if only you'll escape from the two-party box in which the Republicans think they have trapped you into voting for whoever they nominate just because the other guy is allegedly worse.

 Vote for someone who shares your values, priorities, and political philosophy.

Vote for the only candidate with a 100% pro-life voting record running under the banner of the only 100%-without-exception-pro-life party.


Vote for Constitution Party nominee

Virgil Goode!!!

Fight the Goode Fight!!!

"Game On" - Oklahoma Family's Pro-Santorum Song

A little too saccharine for my tastes, but this is cute:

Paul Zummo on Rick Santorum and It Takes a Family

My friend Paul Zummo writes at The American Catholic on why he is supporting Rick Santorum:

I recently completed Rick Santorum’s It Takes A Family. I quipped on Twitter that had I read this before the campaign started then Santorum would have been my top Rick pick before that other Rick entered the race (though I still maintain that Governor Perry would have been an outstanding nominee, but no need to go there)...

The book title really says it all. The heart of Rick Santorum’s political philosophy is the family, meaning that to him strong families are the heart of any functioning society. The family has been undermined both by big government programs and by the culture at large. Santorum mocks the “village elders” who view more government programs as the solution to all problems. Santorum acknowledges that many of the problems we face don’t have quick and easy fixes, and often no legislative action can be taken. Santorum offers a series of small policy proposals that are aimed at giving parents and individuals in tough economic circumstances some tools to help, but he also emphasizes the doctrine of subsidiarity. Ultimately we must rely principally on local institutions, starting with the family.

Santorum understands what even some on the right fail to appreciate, and that is we can’t divorce social issues from economics. The breakdown of the family coincides directly with economic hardship. If we want a healthier economy, we need healthier families...

[...]

I would like to end on a personal note. When I was a kid I dreamed of running for the presidency in 2012 – the year I turned 35 and became constitutionally eligible. Obviously that has not happened. Yet, running for the presidency now is a slightly dweebish, socially conservative, Italian-American. It’s kind of the next best thing to running myself. Well, when I see the passion with which Santorum writes about issues that matter to me, I can’t help but respect the man. The second half of this book is terrific, and the sincerity of his convictions particularly shines through when he is discussing abortion. Some of you remain skeptical that such a man can actually win a general election. I am not gonna link to the polls that suggest otherwise. I just want you to consider that if you’re like me and believe as I do on the issues that matter most, we might not ever again get a chance to put someone who shares so many of our convictions in the White House. So don’t cast your vote out of some fear of what might happen in November.

[Read the whole thing]

I am in complete agreement with Paul's assessment. Just put up my Santorum yard signs yesterday, and will gladly pull the lever for Santorum in next week's Ohio Primary.

"Sweet Thing"

And I will stroll the merry way
And jump the hedges first
And I will drink the clear
Clean water for to quench my thirst
And I shall watch the ferry-boats
And they'll get high
On a bluer ocean
Against tomorrow's sky
And I will never grow so old again
And I will walk and talk
In gardens all wet with rain

Oh sweet thing, sweet thing
My, my, my, my, my sweet thing

And I shall drive my chariot
Down your streets and cry
'Hey, it's me, I'm dynamite
And I don't know why'
And you shall take me strongly
In your arms again
And I will not remember
That I even felt the pain.
We shall walk and talk
In gardens all misty and wet with rain
And I will never, never, never
Grow so old again.

Oh sweet thing, sweet thing
My, my, my, my, my sweet thing

And I will raise my hand up
Into the night time sky
And count the stars
That's shining in your eye
Just to dig it all an' not to wonder
That's just fine
And I'll be satisfied
Not to read in between the lines
And I will walk and talk
In gardens all wet with rain
And I will never, ever, ever, ever
Grow so old again.

Oh sweet thing, sweet thing
Sugar-baby with your champagne eyes
And your saint-like smile....


Thank you, Sarah, my "Sweet Thing", for the 10 happiest years of my life. Happy 10th Anniversary.

I love you!

An Open Letter to Dodge

"Makes you almost want to have kids ... almost"

Dear Dodge,

I am a loyal Dodge customer whose 2 most recent vehicle purchases were Dodge Grand Caravans, including one in 2010. I recently viewed with horror your ad that depicts having children as something to be avoided. Just who do you think buys minivans anyway (clue: people with children). Which raises the question of why you feel the need to go out of your way to insult them? Is it going to help you sell these family vehicles by making families feel like personae non gratae?

Do you REALLY believe the childless and cynical Daily Show “smart set” to whom the commercial was obviously geared is going to buy a vehicle that averages around 20 mpg? Does it make you feel better about selling a vehicle that gets comparatively crummy gas mileage and thereby pollutes the environment more than other cars if you can make common cause with the sorts of people who view children as just another pollutant with a set of carbon footprints? Although the “smart set” may concur with the sentiment of the ad, they’ll be laughing on their way to buying a Prius.

Meanwhile, you’ve just angered a loyal customer who, although considering buying a Sienna last year, instead relied on my good experience with the Grand Caravan I purchased in 2002 (and still drive) and decided to buy another one. In making that decision, my wife and I took our kids with us to the dealership – they, like the children you disparage in the ad, crawled in and out and all over the interior of the vehicle (and, gasp, may have been a little loud), but I’m sure the salesperson and the dealership were more than happy to have sold the vehicle, which we bought due in no small part to our kids’ enthusiasm for it.

Well, I won’t be making that mistake again, unless I receive a written formal apology and Dodge makes a public statement of regret for running this abysmal ad. Believe me when I tell you that I am NOT the only parent who feels this way. You WILL lose customers over this unless you act to repair the damage you have done by gratuitously insulting those most likely to buy a Dodge minivan.

Yours truly,
James T. “Jay” Anderson
Norwalk, OH

Spring Photos - University of Virginia Pavilion Gardens, April 2011

Glorified Peer Pressure: "The Wrong Side of History"

Quote of the day:

“…the wrong side of history” is one of the most pernicious phrases in the vernacular nowadays. It is meant to intimidate; it’s old-fashioned high school peer pressure as applied by influential progressives. Even in the face of every popular vote to date (as opposed to non-binding opinion polls) going against same-sex marriage, it’s institution and acceptance is commonly treated in the mainstream media as a fait accompli. What is actually meant when “You’re on the wrong side of history” is said is “Eventually, we will win, and when we do, we’ll make certain you and your reputation will be punished for being on the losing side. So you might as well give up right now, and spare yourself the wrath we might wreak upon you.”

Epitomizing such attitudes when it comes to same-sex marriage is Sean Penn’s acceptance speech when he won the Academy Award for his role in the Harvey Milk biopic:

“I think that it is a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect, and anticipate their great shame, and the shame in their grandchildren’s eyes if they continue that way of support.”

Hear that, America? Your precious grandkids that give you those big hugs now will hate your freakin’ guts when we convince them you are all hateful bigots...

Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Outside the Asylum: "How the Next Civil War Will Begin"

Archbishop Chaput: "Systematic Discrimination Against Church Now Seems Inevitable"

Pope Critical of Labour’s "Unjust" Equality Laws Ahead of UK Visit

Same-Sex "Marriage" and Religious Liberty

Bork Predicts “Terrible Conflict” Will Endanger U.S. Catholics’ Religious Freedom

Same-Sex "Marriage" and the Persecution of Civil Society

InsideCatholic on "The Unintended Consequences of Gay Marriage"

Secularist Attacks on the Catholic Church in Britain

Regular Guy Paul on What's Next for Same-Sex "Marriage"

Catholic Provocation?

Federal Judge: Catholic Church’s Position Against Homosexual Adoptions Justifies Government Hostility Towards Church

San Francisco's Hateful Anti-Catholic Resolution Prompts Lawsuit by Thomas More Center

Catholic League Says Gay Adoption Issue Spurring Anti-Catholic Bigotry

9th Circuit Rules Okay to Censor Terms "Marriage" and "Family Values" as Hate Speech

UK Catholic Schools Endangered by Sexual Orientation Regulations

Official Anti-Catholic Bigotry Returns to British Parliament

"A Charter for Suing Christians"

A Catholic Londoner on "The Last Acceptable Prejudice"

British Bishops: U.K. Sex Equality Law "Threatens Catholic Adoption Agencies"

UK: Churches "Could be Forced to Bless Gay Weddings"

The Coming Persecution of Churches Over "Gay Marriage"

The Coming Conflict Between Same-Sex "Marriage" and Religious Liberty

Catholic Blogger Asks God-Hating Libertarian If He's Supposed to Be Outraged by Low-Income Family's Large Tax Refund

Because I'm NOT outraged by it. I think it's great. I'd much rather see tax money go to this family to reimburse them for their costs of adopting and caring for special needs kids than going to Planned Parenthood to make sure such children never get born.

Happy 5th Birthday, Mary Virginia !!!

Look how gray my hair has gotten in 5 years! But that's NOT Mary Virginia's fault. No, that honor goes to her baby sister, the inappropriately named Grace.

;-)

Outside the Asylum: "How the Next Civil War Will Begin"

A sobering must-read post.

I've been warning for several years now (see the links below) that THIS will be the issue that eventually drives the Church back into the catacombs. The persecution and/or civil war is coming ... of that you can be assured.


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Archbishop Chaput: "Systematic Discrimination Against Church Now Seems Inevitable"

Pope Critical of Labour’s "Unjust" Equality Laws Ahead of UK Visit

Same-Sex "Marriage" and Religious Liberty

Bork Predicts “Terrible Conflict” Will Endanger U.S. Catholics’ Religious Freedom

Same-Sex "Marriage" and the Persecution of Civil Society

InsideCatholic on "The Unintended Consequences of Gay Marriage"

Secularist Attacks on the Catholic Church in Britain

Regular Guy Paul on What's Next for Same-Sex "Marriage"

Catholic Provocation?

Federal Judge: Catholic Church’s Position Against Homosexual Adoptions Justifies Government Hostility Towards Church

San Francisco's Hateful Anti-Catholic Resolution Prompts Lawsuit by Thomas More Center

Catholic League Says Gay Adoption Issue Spurring Anti-Catholic Bigotry

9th Circuit Rules Okay to Censor Terms "Marriage" and "Family Values" as Hate Speech

UK Catholic Schools Endangered by Sexual Orientation Regulations

Official Anti-Catholic Bigotry Returns to British Parliament

"A Charter for Suing Christians"

A Catholic Londoner on "The Last Acceptable Prejudice"

British Bishops: U.K. Sex Equality Law "Threatens Catholic Adoption Agencies"

UK: Churches "Could be Forced to Bless Gay Weddings"

The Coming Persecution of Churches Over "Gay Marriage"

The Coming Conflict Between Same-Sex "Marriage" and Religious Liberty

Ohio Mom Jailed for Sending Kids to Better School District

This is a travesty of justice:

An Ohio mother's attempt to provide her daughters with a better education has landed her behind bars.

"It's overwhelming. I'm exhausted," she said. "I did this for them, so there it is. I did this for them."

Williams-Bolar decided four years ago to send her daughters to a highly ranked school in neighboring Copley-Fairlawn School District.

But it wasn't her Akron district of residence, so her children were ineligible to attend school there, even though her father lived within the district's boundaries.

The school district accused Williams-Bolar of lying about her address, falsifying records and, when confronted, having her father file false court papers to get around the system.

Williams-Bolar said she did it to keep her children safe and that she lived part-time with her dad.

"When my home got broken into, I felt it was my duty to do something else," Williams-Bolar said.

[More, including video]

My Comments:
Gov. Kasich should pardon this woman. No parent should be jailed as a felon for trying to get a decent education for her kids. And no parent should be made to feel so desperate and trapped as to be compelled to break the law in order to get a decent education for her kids.

This is not justice. Not only is a pardon warranted for this mother, but a more just education system that doesn't trap kids in failing schools is an absolute necessity. One thing the State of Ohio could do in the short term is to institute state-wide open enrollment in every public school across the state.

Blessed Christmas From Our House To Yours

Rachel Campos Duffy: "Being a Mom is the Best Job in the World!"

Rachel Campos-Duffy writes about her recent appearance, along with her husband Congressman-elect Sean Duffy, on "The View":

During my appearance on The View this week, Barbara Walters asked me, "Did you ever think, 'I wish I had a career and I didn't have six kids?"

It was a provocative question, especially since baby #6 was sitting on my lap at the time. I simply responded, "Being a mom is the best job in the world!"

Politico called the answer "diplomatic", and National Review's Kathryn Lopez tweeted that it was "graceful," but I couldn't help being disappointed with my response. Not that it wasn't true – being a mom is the best job in the world - but I felt that a question as culturally loaded as this one deserved a better answer, especially from someone who has written countless columns and an entire book on the subject of at-home motherhood and the sad fact that our culture does little to applaud or elevate this noble calling.

So, if I had it to do over again, what would I say to Barbara? I'd say, "Barbara, I consider it a privilege and a blessing to have six kids and watch them grow up. As fun as it is to be here with you all (and it is!) I wouldn't trade the precious and fleeting time I have home with my kids for anything."

[More]

My Comments:
In "my view" (which I consider to be much more authoritative than anything emanating from "The View"), Rachel's answer was perfect. Being a parent IS the best job in the world (the toughest, too).

However, I do agree with the assessments that Rachel was and is being "diplomatic" and "graceful" in her response. I have little tolerance for the bigoted anti-family hags that infest that particular program and their complete disdain for the people and the values that inhabit the vast region of this country between the two coasts. (Even Elizabeth Hasselbeck has finally been cajoled into being "pro-choice" and pro-same-sex marriage.)

Considering that Rachel was, unfortunately, passed over for the role of token conservative on "The View" in favor of Hasselbeck (I mean, they couldn't have an actual articulate conservative woman who was passionate about her views and could strongly defend them against the 3-1 onslaught), she is far more gracious than I would be to the women on that program who have shown nothing but derision over the years toward her faith and her values.

Keep up the good work, Rachel. You DO have the best job in the world.


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Mr Duffy Goes to Washington [UPDATED]

Washington Post Profile of Catholic Father of 6 Running for Congress

Rachel Campos-Duffy: "Have We Become Too Casual? Why I Dress My Kids Up for Church"

Catholic Father of 6 Running for Congress Accused by Opponent of Being "Too Busy" With Kids to be Effective Representative

Rachel Campos Duffy: A Real Housewife of Wisconsin

Rachel Living in the Real World; The View Hags, Not So Much [UPDATED]

The 12 Days of a Large Family Christmas

Check out this video at Faith & Family Live!, which puts all the comments that one large family receives from strangers on their 7 children to the tune of "The 12 Days of Christmas".

We only have 4 children, and we've received most if not all of the same comments.

(Hat tip: Matt Archbold at Creative Minority Report)

Matt Archbold on the "Twin Relics of Barbarism"

An excellent post at Creative Minority Report:

When the Republican Party held their first convention in 1856 the delegates adopted a platform stating "It is the duty of Congress to prohibit in the territories those twin relics of barbarism, polygamy and slavery."

What I find most amazing about that is how consistent the problems this country faces are. Over 150 years laters we're facing the same crises now.

[...]

While there have been outrages and sins by the party there is little doubt that the party is the pro-life pro-traditional marriage party.

If the party adopts an agenda of some kind of truce on social issues it will cease to be a party many feel comfortable standing with. The moment the Republican Party accepts the twin relics of barbarism as negotiable it will be time for a new party and a new convention.

[Read the whole thing]

Radical Feminists to Stay-at-Home Moms: "Get a Job!"

Matt Archbold has the scoop at National Catholic Register:

... The New York Times asked Gloria Feldt, the former head of Planned Parenthood, about how women who “flee the work force” impact those who do not.

They make it harder for the rest of us to remedy the inequities that remain. We have to make young women aware of how their choices affect other women. It should be acceptable criticism to point out that, although everyone has the right to make their own life decisions, choosing to “opt out” reinforces stereotypes about women’s priorities that we’ve been working for decades to shatter, so just cut it out. And, the “individual choice” women have to become stay-at-home moms becomes precarious when they try to return to the workplace and find their earning power and options reduced. If we could see child-rearing as a necessary task and not an identity, and if we could collectively recognize that facilitating it benefits us all, we would go much further in guaranteeing women’s choices than we do when we are expected to uncritically celebrate every individual’s decisions.

So let’s get this straight, the former head of Planned Parenthood is telling women to STOP being so selfish and think of someone other than themselves and their kids? Seriously?

In short, she wants you to think of Gloria Feldt’s feelings rather than your kids.

If you thought feminism was all about giving women choices, well it turns out you were wrong. Feminism is about doing what Gloria Feldt wants you to do...

(Hat tip: Creative Minority Report)


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Rachel Campos Duffy: A Real Housewife of Wisconsin

Feminist Manifesto Excoriates Stay-at-Home Moms for Not Going to Work

Dutch Feminazis Want to Punish Educated Mothers

My Favorite Season: Autumn is Here

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.
~ Ecclesiastes 3:1


Fall Foliage in Ohio


"Autumn Leaves" by John Everett Millais


Jack-in-the-Green-and-Brown-and-Orange-and-Gold


Harvest Children


Un-Raking


The Face in the Leaves

Dog and Pumpkin Still Life

Pumpkin Pickin'

Pumpkin Head

Happy Fall, Y'all!

[NB: All of these photos are a few years old. I will try to post some recent Fall photos with all 4 kids at some point during the next 3 months.]


For some reason, George Winston's version of this Vince Guaraldi classic always reminds me of the Fall:


And then there's this one, which has "Fall" written all over it:



And it just wouldn't be Autumn without these classics:

Catholic Priest Urges European Christians to Fight Off Islam by Having Babies

"A prominent Catholic priest wants European Christians to fight off Islam with a unique weapon: babies."

Man vs. Nature: the Inhuman Agenda Behind the Fight Against “Climate Change”

At Inside Catholic, Joe Hargrave writes on the Malthusian assumptions underpinning current efforts to curb carbon emissions blamed for causing "climate change":

... One year ago, a study conducted by Oregon State University concluded that "having one less child" would be the best way for a family in the United States to reduce their impact on the environment, even more so than all of the energy-efficient cars and appliances that they could use in a lifetime. But it is the researchers at the Optimum Population Trust (OPT) at the London School of Economics who consistently make strident arguments for population reduction as the most effective way of combating global warming.

Their decision to look directly at how contraception would affect carbon emissions should be unnerving enough for Catholics: For every $6.63 spent on birth control, it would cost $31.48 to reduce carbon emissions with low-carbon technology by the same amount, in their estimation. But it is the shift in language that we ought to find more disconcerting. To quote the chairman of the OPT: "It's always been obvious that total emissions depend on the number of emitters as well as their individual emissions." Is this how we are to be seen by those who have arrogated to themselves the task of rescuing the planet? As "emitters"?

Those who think that the very question is alarmist would do well to consider the praise some of our Western intellectuals offer the Chinese population-control regime, which includes regimented family size as well as forced abortions and sterilizations. At the Copenhagen summit last year, Chinese officials proclaimed that, due to such policies, "China has seen 400 million fewer births, which has resulted in 18 million fewer tons of CO2 emissions a year." Of course, the majority of those prevented births were not caused by forced abortion; rather, they are largely attributable to the fact that the Chinese government has promoted contraception to the point that "85 percent of the Chinese women in reproductive age use contraceptives, the highest rate in the world."

Around the same time, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman expressed his admiration for the Chinese authoritarian regime, lauding it as "a reasonably enlightened group of people" that can, without any checks or balances, impose whatever policies it sees fit "to move a society forward in the 21st century." While this did not directly praise China's population-control measures, a column in the Financial Post by Diane Francis caused quite a controversy for doing exactly that. In the midst of her alarmist screed forecasting the immanent doom of the planet if governments did not take sharp measures to reduce the population, she identified the main obstacle to this goal: "Leaders of the world's big fundamentalist religions preach in favor of procreation and fiercely oppose birth control."

Used in this pejorative sense, there is of course nothing "fundamentalist" about the largest religious organization on the planet that also happens to preach these unpopular ideas with the most resolve: the Catholic Church. But there is something quite fundamental about the Church's teaching on the sanctity of human life and the true purpose of sexuality. In Evangelium Vitae, Pope John Paul II wrote that, "to defend and promote life, to show reverence and love for it, is a task which God entrusts to every man, calling him as his living image to share in his own lordship over the world" (42). In bringing new life into the world, men and women take part in "a certain special participation" of spouses in the "creative work of God" (43)...

[Read the whole thing]

(Hat tip: The American Catholic)


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
National Academy of Sciences Plots Attacks on AGW Skeptics [UPDATED]

Political Accountability for Scientific Arrogance

Another American Media Failure

World May Not be Warming, Say Scientists

Nope, No Reason for Skepticism Whatsoever

What the One-Child Policy Has Wrought

Baby-Hating Malthusian Nonsense Goes Mainstream at Copenhagen

Sen. Inhofe Sticks Fork in Global Alarming Hysterics

BBC Asks "What Happened to Global Warming?"

China Begins to "Figure it Out" on Demographics

Obama Culture of Death Update™: President's "Science Czar" Supports Forced Population Control Measures [UPDATED]

UK Government Official Says Having More Than 2 Children "Irresponsible"; Catholics Respond

Rich Leonardi on the "Obnoxiousness" of the Concept of "Carbon Footprints"

Malthusian Nonsense Alert: "Save the Planet — Have Fewer Kids"

Deacon Fournier Reviews Population Controllers

Malthusian Nonsense Alert: Babies a Drag on the Economy, Report Says

Darwin Catholic: "Want Sustainable? Try a Family"

Malthusian Nonsense in the Extreme: "When Should You Die?"

Population Control Movement is "Number One Violator of Human Rights," Author Claims

USAToday Columnist: Religion is Killing the Planet

The Pitter-Patter of Carbon Footprints ...

Cardinal Pell Criticizes Australian Medical Ass'n for Publishing Letter Advocating Carbon Tax on Children

Professor Solves Global Warming: Let’s Tax Reproduction

Global Alarming Update: Focus on So-Called "Carbon Footprint" Anti-Family

Malthusian Nonsense from "Global Warming" Alarmists

Cardinal Pell on Global Warming Alarmists: "Scaremongers" and "Zealots"