A Day of Mystery

Today is the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima. The Catholic Church recognizes that from May through October, 1917, Mary appeared to three Portuguese children on the 13th day of the month and gave them important messages to deliver to the world.

Throughout his life, Blessed John Paul II had great devotion to the Blessed Mother. His would-be murderer had the misfortune to attempt assassination on May 13, 1981. As John Paul stated in his biography, “One hand fired and another guided the bullet.” The pope firmly believed that Mary had intervened to save his life. On his visit to Our Lady of Fatima’s shrine on May 13, 1982, John Paul II placed the bullet that had nearly killed him in the crown of Mary’s statue.

The Church does not require acceptance of apparitions, but it’s hard to deny their impact and influence. For believers, today is a celebration of a very significant supernatural event during the last century.

As Shakespeare might have remarked, “There are more things in heaven and earth…than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” To that, I can only respond with three Hail Marys and a big “Amen.”

Say Hey, Happy Birthday

"There have been only two geniuses in the world: Willie Mays and Willie Shakespeare."

~ Tallulah Bankhead

Quin Hillyer's salute to the man my father always called "the greatest ballplayer that ever lived" is linked here. The one-and-only Willie Mays turned 80 years old on Friday, May 6.

After Thoughts

As most Americans likely have been doing, I’ve been reading and watching the news more than usual throughout this week. The following thoughts are just my humble opinions.


The Mission

Congratulations and thanks to the Navy SEALs. They were supposed to be an anonymous “small team of Americans,” but of course, “Slow Joe” Biden blabbed their identity.

What a miserable gaffe. No one is supposed to know when or how the SEALs operate. I’ll bet even the heroes of Team Six are annoyed that their achievement has been broadcast worldwide. SEALs are the “quiet professionals”—their own families will probably never know the details of the Bin Laden operation.

As for whether Bin Laden was armed or not, I could not care less. In fact, if we found out the SEALs had hog-tied him and hung him upside down from the rafters before they shot him, that would be fine by me—and I’d bet at least 75% of Americans feel the same way I do.


The President

Without reservation, I give President Obama full props for making the call to go in after Bin Laden. It took guts. Whatever the outcome, it was 100% on him. Bravo.

I’m less impressed by his follow-through. As usual, Obama never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity. The president could have leveraged the aftermath to enhance his--and America’s--image as a strong and decisive world leader. Unfortunately, he completely dropped the ball. Obama did not control his staff. Far too much information was disseminated too quickly, much of it inaccurate or inappropriate. The administration should have agreed to a party line in advance, something along the lines of “we are awaiting confirmation of the details.” They should have taken all the time they needed to get the facts straight and decide exactly what to say and when to say it, instead of letting everyone scatter and grab a microphone. Now they’re doing major damage control, backtracking with a gazillion corrections, and looking like complete fools.

After one a brief shining moment of strength and power, the Obama administration is back to looking like the Keystone Kops on steroids. Which brings me to:


The Photos

What is with the politically correct angst over releasing photos of a dead brutal mass murderer? Why do we care what the radical Islamists think of us? They hate us regardless of what we do, so why not show them what damage we’re capable of inflicting upon them after they attack us? All the maybe/maybe not dithering over releasing the photos just makes us look weak. The Islamists will never respect hand-wringing, but they might take note of a calm ruthlessness. Releasing just one photo would accomplish that.

Why is it that we can see the photos of Americans diving from the top of the World Trade Center, and the puddles of gore on the ground that represented their remains, but we can’t see the shot-up face of the homicidal maniac who planned their massacre?

Don’t tell us that’s “not who we are”—especially after you’ve seen the pictures, but we haven't. We know who we are, and we can decide for ourselves. Americans are a just and fair people. What happened to Osama Bin Laden was justice. If we can handle September 11, and thousands of our troops killed and injured since then, we can tolerate one bloody photo of the maniac who started it all. This country has earned the right to see it. Show it to us.


The Former President

George W. Bush will probably never get the credit he deserves from Obama or the media for putting in place the policies that led us to Bin Laden. But the fact is, it’s only because of the Bush administration’s handling of terror suspects that Bin Laden is dead. I didn’t always agree with him, but Bush knew what he was doing in the battle against the Islamists.

I like the fact that President Obama called former President Bush before making the public announcement. I also was pleased to hear that Obama invited Bush to go to visit Ground Zero with him. However, I was even happier to hear that Bush declined.

This is President Obama’s moment, and Bush knows and respects that reality. I think Bush is a very classy guy.


The Burial at Sea

Although many people object to the shipboard service, I really don’t have a problem with it. I realize that in so many deaths on 9/11, there were no bodies left to bury. But that’s how Bin Laden operated. He had no compassion, no respect, no honor, no goodness in him. He was pure evil. Evil people don’t care what happens to other people.

Americans do care about people. The US is the most charitable nation on earth. Our military has its code of conduct, honor, and integrity. America does not stoop to the level of a mass butcher. We bury the dead with dignity.

Yes, it was more than Bin Laden deserved. But it was the only right way for Americans to do it. And no matter how careful, devout, or thoughtful the service and burial might have been, I don’t believe it helped Bin Laden one iota. By the time Bin Laden’s body hit the brine, the butcher of 9/11 had already met his judgment.

Worth a Thousand Words

Kate's Day

“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.”

~ Catherine of Siena

Kate Middleton got married on her name day, the feast of St. Catherine of Siena, Doctor of the Catholic Church.

Because of my Latvian in-laws, I am well acquainted with my name day, the day that transcends a birthday in celebratory importance in many European cultures. So when the royal wedding date was first announced, I immediately wondered if the day had been intentionally chosen to coincide with St. Catherine's day.

When I saw St. Catherine quoted and her "festival day" mentioned in the opening line of the Bishop of London's wedding sermon, I believe I had my answer. And at least for today, in the dazzling glow of worldwide media coverage and the lavish outpouring of love and support from her countrymen, the former Kate Middleton, now Duchess of Cambridge, has certainly set the world on fire. Rock on, Kate.

The Case for Change

Hugh Hewitt has launched "The Obama Project: The Case for Change," linked here, 50 reasons why no sane American should vote for Obama in 2012.

I've always wanted to see all of Obama's big screw-ups spelled out in one giant master list, but somehow I thought the task would be too daunting. But now, coutesy of Hugh, here it is. The article brought back some really painful memories, but it's required reading. This disturbing list is quite an impressive array of presidential disasters, with a long runway fraught with peril still ahead before the 2012 election.

Let's HOPE for CHANGE in 2012.

Update: More reasons added.

Easter Sunday

He is not here: for he is risen, as he said.

~ Matthew 28:6

Wired to Read

I received a Kindle for Christmas from my daughter. As a lifelong book-lover, I've looked askance at e-readers since their appearance a few years ago. How could any modern gadget possibly rival the look and feel of your favorite book? Having reveled for endless hours in untold thousands of paper books since age 4, I was completely disinterested. It never occurred to me even to investigate the brave new world of e-reading.

Never. Until I got a Kindle.

Well, since it was a gift, I decided I should give the Kindle a try. One download later, it was like I was hooked on e-crack. They're smart, those Amazon geeks. The screen is not backlit, so the print actually looks like that on a book page. No eyestrain, and you need a light to read. Reading glasses aren't needed--the font size can be adjusted. Classics are available for free--F-R-E-E-!!! Many books are just a dollar or two. Bestsellers can be downloaded--in seconds--for considerably less than the hard cover price. There's no fear of running out of space, as this little slice of reading heaven can hold more than 3,500 books. I can now board an airplane with an entire library tossed into my carry-on.

So now, I've had to assign myself a book budget. Otherwise I know I'll go hog-wild buying books. The other night I set up a "collection" (that's Kindle-speak) named "Childhood Favorites." I went berserk downloading all the books I repeatedly read cover-to-cover as I was growing up--including, of course, The Phantom Tollbooth. At $6+, that was the most expensive item. Did I care? When I could have the first three books of the Anne of Green Gables series for 89 cents? And Little Women and Black Beauty, both for F-R-E-E? Ha! Library late fees, I laugh at you!

Currently I'm rereading Black Beauty, which in my childhood I never noticed was quite a forceful indictment against animal cruelty. I'm debating which childhood favorite to rediscover next. But meanwhile, my reading glasses are still getting a workout. I'm in the midst of reading the hard cover of Extraordinary, Ordinary People, the autobiography of Condoleezza Rice, which is on loan to me from a friend. I had actually purchased that hard cover book for his birthday gift. Somehow, I think the book-lover's honored tradition of the "lending library" will continue for a long time.

For reader exchanges alone, paper books need to survive. I insist that paper books are mandatory. Because nobody's going to touch my Kindle.

Steyn Says It Best

Mark Steyn perfectly nails the destructive arrogance of the current administration in Ending Medicare, or ending America?, linked here. As usual, he can make you laugh through his vivid and acerbic depiction of bad news.

My favorite paragraph is below:

"America, 2011: A man gets driven in a motorcade to sneer at a man who has to drive himself to work. A guy who has never generated a dime of wealth, never had to make payroll, never worked at any job other than his own tireless self-promotion literally cannot comprehend that out there, beyond the far fringes of the motorcade outriders, are people who drive a long distance to jobs whose economic viability is greatly diminished when getting there costs twice as much as the buck-eighty-per-gallon it cost back at the dawn of the Hopeychangey Era."

Steyn is incredulous that we are passively witnessing our own demise through the incompetence of our current government. "The death of the greatest nation in the history of the planet," I heard him term our dire financial situation in one radio interview. If only our "leaders" would be as passionately concerned about our longterm fiscal health as Steyn, a Canadian schooled in Britain who chose the U.S.A. to settle for life and career. He is someone who understands the critical importance of our country to the world.

Sadly, that is a fact that seems beyond the grasp of too many of our current "leaders."

Hopeless Change

Politicians have been rearranged

But in Washington, nothing has “change”d.

If you’re searching for “hope”

Good luck as you cope

With "leaders" now fully deranged.