Another post from the dark side of the moon...

Yes, I'm still alive.

No, my wife didn't buy a wood chipper.

Proof that it's me and not her: she doesn't find this video nearly as funny as I do.

"...if she concealed it from her family, that it would be free..."

Nope, nothing wrong here.

I wonder about Stupak...

I don't mean to start rumors. I have no facts to back this up, and unless someone comes out and says it, I can probably never prove it. But I have to ask the logical question:

Was Stupak given an offer he couldn't refuse?

And yes, I mean it that way. More than one comment came out about the fact that his wife was getting harassing calls at their home. The man who brokered the deal with Bart Stupak is a former lobbyist connected with Planned Parenthood (I'll get the link). This administration is known for its Chicago-thug tactics, its association with ACORN (and we've seen what its employees have no scruples about doing), and its commitment to dividing and conquering any pro-life opposition.

Stupak couldn't have been stupid enough to think that the pro-choice president who overturned the Mexico City policy on his first day in office by Executive Order (thereby allowing taxpayer funds to pay for abortions overseas) would keep his promise to prevent taxpayer funds to pay for abortions domestically. Was this just offered as cover?

Just wondering. And I'd love to hear how I'm a crackpot for asking. But I bet you've wondered, too.

Just a quick post to say...

...I'm still alive. Work went from being like the Maytag repairman to being, well, buried.

I'm taking a much-needed break today to go to a Catholic Men's conference in Woooosta, MA with a bunch of other guys from my area. (Thanks, honey!) Fr. Mitch Pacwa and Dale Alquist are among the speakers. It should be a good day.

Keep praying for votes, not just "no" votes, but "HELL, NO!" votes.

This health care bill is not only an attack on the sanctity of life, but also the freedom of all Americans in this country. Have you called your Congressman?

Did I mention to pray?

Special News

Sometime over the weekend, I got my 22nd follower, named Gabriella. First of all, welcome, Gabriella, and thank you to you and everyone else who spends a few minutes of their time reading here.

Secondly, it was one of those "little gifts" to see her name pop up there, as we celebrated my daughter's first birthday over the weekend with friends and family. At her party, we announced that on Sweetie-Pie Baby Girl's actual birthday a few days earlier, we found out that she is no longer the youngest of our little gaggle, but by God's grace, this year will bring about the debut of the Johnson Five.

And we had already decided that if this is a girl, her name would be Gabriella.

A note to the marketing director at Express.

Director of Marketing
Express, Inc
Online Customer Service
3939 W. Ridge Rd.
Suite D1
Erie, PA 16506

Dear Sir or Madam,

I’d like to bring to your attention an issue that disturbs me. I don’t know how you acquired my five-year-old son’s name or address, but I demand that his name be immediately removed from your soft-porn mailing list. Your catalog is designed to sell clothing that degenerates men and women into sexual objects and is not appropriate for the viewing of chaste adults, let alone impressionable children.

My wife and I are attempting to instill in our children a healthy understanding of themselves, and consequently, when it becomes appropriate, their sexuality. We view human sexuality as a beautiful, life-giving gift from God, the designer and creator of all life. In a chaste, loving, committed marriage, the sexual act is both life-giving and life-affirming. The abuse of human sexuality has in all times and places caused misery and disastrous consequences on the human person.

To defend the dignity of the human person, it is necessary to see one’s worth intrinsically, and not solely as a sexual commodity. Therefore, the practice of chastity and modesty should at all times be among our goals. I’ve attached in this mailing a short reflection on these virtues. I hope that you will find the time to read it and reflect on the work that you and your company do.

I’ve also included your catalog with the mailing label so that my son can be removed from your mailing list.

In the peace of Christ,



Michael Johnson
[I'll let you know if I get a response...]

Letter to the Editor published today

http://www.theday.com/article/20100222/OP02/302229957

The Associated Press article "Genetic testing curbs some inherited diseases," published Feb. 18, is fraught with disastrous consequences.
The author does not understand that good ends don't justify evil means. She also clearly cannot distinguish between a morally good action and a morally bad action as she doesn't hold in her excitement for the reduction of deadly diseases precipitated by killing off babies in the womb who have a deadly disease.
Is this the future of health care? Instead of treating sick people and attempting to cure disease, the medical profession will identify the sick and recommend them for elimination?
In the future, will those in the medical profession recommend abortion, not just for babies with fatal illnesses but for anything that categorizes them as genetically inferior?
I already know the answer, for that is not the nightmare of some far-off distant future, but is already a reality now.
And it seems that we've been down this path before.

You can also read my post on this subject (in more detail) at CatholicVoteAction.org or comment at CMR's post as well.

The Redeemer of the World

Isaiah 53: 3-7

3 Despised, and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with infirmity: and his look was as it were hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows: and we have thought him as it were a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted.

5 But he was wounded for our iniquities, he was bruised for our sins: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his bruises we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray, every one hath turned aside into his own way: and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was offered because it was his own will, and he opened not his mouth: he shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer, and he shall not open his mouth.

Shamelessly copied and pasted from The Crescat.

The Story of Baby Gianna

...is very important to read. Sometimes we can be overwhelmed by the sheer number of abortions that occur every day and even pro-lifers can fail to grasp the humanity of each and every individual baby. The story of baby Gianna reminds us of the love and care every baby deserves.

(Since I'm not free to link everyday to the multi-part series at CMR, click on the sonogram on my sidebar to follow the whole story.)

God bless.

Exultet joins onto CatholicVoteAction.org

Well, I'm no Thomas Peters, but I do get to be in the same room with him (and Josh Mercer, Brian Burch, and a number of other great Catholic bloggers). Check out my first post at CatholicVoteAction.org.

It's my first post there, so go easy on me in the combox? Merci!

Kid theology, part deux

Fric (almost 6) is obsessed with heroes. Just the other day, he complained to me that when he and his younger brothers watch DVD episodes of The Justice League, they don't take it seriously: after the show, they just want to run off and play, whereas he wants to watch the episode again as a training video to become a superhero. (No, I'm not kidding, and neither was he.) I completely expect him to become a cop, firefighter, soldier or priest.

The other day, Fric was at the table coloring with Wifey and he made this picture. What appears below is dictation taken by Mom, verbatim.

This is a map about bad guys, and Moses and Jesus fighting off the bad guys.

I said Jesus tells Moses, "I want you to go in our world and fight off the bad guys who are attacking my people and world, and I want you to command the bad guys to turn their minds into good guys." Jesus tells me to do that so that you stop fighting my people and God tells me to tell you so you can turn your minds into good guys so you can stop doing that. Do things that people do when you're attacking them because that is the reason God sent me here to tell you that and I just want you to be turning your minds so you can turn yourself into good guys and become part of the heroes, but the King of the bad guys says, "Give me a good look" but he meant a bad look and he gave him a stare at Moses and said "Attack Moses!"

But Jesus froze down to the ground and killed all the evil men who were trying to kill Moses.

The End.

It's all there. Old Testament, New Testament, Kingdom of God, conversion, repentance, betrayal, Just War Theory, grace and rejection, divine intervention.

Kid theology, part 1

The theological points my kids make often cause me to stop and wonder if we're doing a good job as Catholic parents or if we're on our way to really screwing them up. Take, for instance, the recent exchange between Fred and myself. (Fred is three)

My wife just started a cantor job for the Saturday vigil Mass at a parish not far from us. We've never gone there as a family, so the munchkins and I sat together while Mom sang. It's a beautiful, very old church built in the 1800's that fortunately never went through the post V2-era recovations, so the original windows and murals are all still intact. Behind the altar are murals of Christ's birth, crucifixion and resurrection. Pointing to the scene of the resurrection, Fred said, "Dad, the soldiers are dead!" No, says I, they're sleeping. "No, Dad, no! They're dead! Jesus killed them!" Sigh.

Champions for Life

Tim Tebow isn't the first football player to speak out about the atrocity of the abortion holocaust in the U.S. Players from the 1986 Suberbowl champion NY Giants speak out here: (I'm sorry, am I allowed to say Superbowl?)



H/T Newsbusters via CMR

Cheezy church signboards

I'll see Crescat's church marketing billboard, and raise you a Bud!, well, uh, a blood...

(this sign is on my way to work.)

Fulton Sheen on the marks of the Church and the Mystical Body

Before I hand off the copy of "Servant of God" Fulton Sheen's Life of Christ to my nephew (who, by the way, is a fine young man, but I suspect is starting to buy into some of the Dan Brown-isms of the day), I thought I would share a few passages from the end:

Christ is living now! He is teaching now, governing now, sanctifying now--as He did in Judea and Galilee. His Mystical Body or the Church existed throughout the Roman Empire before a single one of the Gospels had been written. It was the New Testament that came out of the Church, not the Church which came out of the New Testament. This Body had the four distinctive marks of life; it had unity, because vivified by one Soul, one Spirit, the gift of Pentecost. As unity in doctrine and authority is the centripetal force which keeps the life of the Church one, catholicity is the centrifugal force which enables her to expand and absorb redeemed humanity without distinction of race or color. The third note of the Church is holiness, which means that it endures on condition that it keep itself healthy, pure, and free from the disease of heresy and schism. This holiness is not in each member but rather in the whole Church. And because the Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church, it can be the Divine instrument for the sanctification of souls. The sunlight is not polluted because its rays pass through a dirty window; neither do the sacraments lose their power to sanctify because the human instruments of those sacraments may be stained. Finally, there is the work of apostolicity. In biology, Omne vivum ex vivo or "All life comes from life." So too the Mystical Body of Christ is apostolic, because historically it took its roots in Christ and not from a man separated by centuries from Him. That is why the infant Church met to choose a successor of Judas who had to be a witness of the Resurrection and a companion of the Apostles.
...
Many think they would have believed in Him if they had lived in His day. But actually there would have been no great advantage. Those who do not see Him as Divine living in His Mystical Body today would not have seen Him as Divine living in His physical Body. If there are scandals in some cells of His Mystical Body, there were scandals too in His physical Body; both put forward a human appearance which in moments of weakness of Crucifixion require moral strength to see Divinity. In the Galilean days, it required faith supported by motives of credibility to believe in the Kingdom He came to establish or His Mystical Body through which He would sanctify men through His Spirit, after His Crucifixion. In these days, it requires faith supported by the same motives of credibility to believe in the Head, or the Invisible Christ, governing, teaching, and sanctifying through His visible head and His Body the Church. In each case a "lifting-up" was required. To redeem men, Our Lord told Nicodemus that He had to be "lifted up" on the Cross; to sanctify men in the Spirit, He had to be "lifted up" to heaven in the Ascension.

New Blog Template

...because good videos like this shouldn't get cut off or interfere with the pics of Jesus.

Plus I think this is a cleaner look. And like President Obama, I don't want to hear any attitude about it. The deliberation for the template change was on C-Span, after all. You must have missed it.

Help out a Regular Guy

Fellow blogger and Catholic Dad Paul Mitchell is taking a stand to change things for the better. He's a strong pro-life conservative running for State Representative in the 62nd district in Illinois. Please help him out any way you can, either by prayer, money, or real estate on your blog. Thanks, Paul!

March for Life video

Well, as of yet, The Day hasn't printed my letter. They usually hold my pro-life submission off until Saturday, when fewer people read the paper. And I do have some videos and interviews that my wife and I did with a few people we met on the March. This video below, however, is a great indication of the magnitude of the March for Life, both in numbers and its importance. I've gotta say, the line at the end is especially significant.



Thanks to Leticia for posting it.

Heard on Rush today...

by author unknown:

"The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the presidency. It will be easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails us. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president."

Here here!

Presidential halo sighting!

We've seen these before. Or is this Kabuki?

Non Nobis Network

I join with the guys at Creative Minority Report and the other members of the Non Nobis Network, giving thanks to God for HIS victory in stopping an anti-life, anti-freedom health care bill that would enslave Americans for years to come.

Non nobis, non nobis, Domine
Sed nomini tuo da gloriam.

Not to us, not to us, o Lord,
But to your name give glory.

My favorite version of the Non Nobis is recorded on John Flynn's song titled "Holy Is Our King," on the album Kissing the Heart of God, which can be purchased here.

Note to Newsweek:

We are not here to make the President's job any harder or easier. We're not here for his sake at all.

The job of the President is to serve the American people in ways consistent with the Constitution.

And dismantling the American economy against the will of the people via overreaching legislation propped up with outright bribes and unfair deals is not consistent with the Constitution.

And they wonder why the Tea Parties have become so popular these days.

Letter to Editor, March for Life 2010

With no ill will toward Elissa Bass or the Algiere family, I find it interesting that the Day ran a 500 word, front-page article with large pictures about a missing goat, yet this story doesn't even get mentioned:

Hundreds of area residents joined hundreds of thousands of Americans from across the country to join the largest, longest-running grassroots march on Washington to stand in defiance of the Roe v. Wade decision which enabled approximately 50 million state-sanctioned deaths since 1973.

This is an especially shocking journalistic oversight considering: 1. Current health care legislation dominating news this year has been effectively derailed in part by objections over abortion and other right-to-life issues. 2. Recent polls show that the majority of Americans for the first time since 1973 consider themselves "pro-life" and 3. A federal study released in the April 2009 issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention confirmed a strong link between breast cancer and both abortion and oral contraceptives.

Is there a reason for the Day's oversight? If staff funding is a problem, I would be happy to give a reporter a ride to next year's March for Life. Until then, wait for the call when my cat goes missing.

George Soros met with his advisors this morning...

I've seen a few different versions of this video, but this is the best one yet.



h/t Patrick Madrid

One more thing the Brown win in MA means...

...people like David Marciniak have one less over-reaching incompetent statist nitwit to worry about in Washington.