Final Exit is a production put on by various evangelical churches around the nature around Haloween time to give teens a "reality" check and make them face their own mortality. It is a sort of religious haunted house where they show videos and have abortions and suicides acted out. I haven't been but I know there is a 3 hour wait every day just ot get in. The kids love it, the only down side is they try to prostelytize the Catholics at the end.
You want to see uncharitable and judgemental? Visit these two sites. First we have this Hell-Bound of the Month from a much larger site. Here's what they have to say about July's selection:
This selection should come as no surprise. Currently Dick Campbell’s chances of making it into Heaven are at a big fat zero. Not just because he cuddles with sodomites and prefers to stand with them rather than those preaching the word of God, but because he neglected to perform his duty.
The next one is Yourgoingtohell.com (aka Laststophell.com). They also have their own Hellbound of the Month. If you look at the left habd frame, you'll see they have something for everybody!
Some of you have been wondering what is with pictures of the behind-kicking tough guys being apparently randomly posted on my blog over the past few days. It has been my attempt to establish equilibrium or balance out the chi or whatever you call it on my blog as a result of all the whining going on over my Valtrex advertisement comments - whining even going on in other blogs. I am usually one to let discussions in the comments area rage without interfering, but the constant harping by certain individuals on this topic and their inability to see what I was really trying to say began to really get on my nerves. I tried banning them, but they have various IP addresses, so they keep coming back. I am going to stick by my policy and not get into any long discussion or interfere, but I will make a brief retort here. I think I have already clarified my statements enough though. But it seems their argument can be summed up in two main points:
1. I am being uncharitable. How is that possible when I was commenting on an advertisement and the way the product was being marketed and not toward a real person? Some were offended - well, personal offense does not necessarily equate with uncharity. And since when is it uncharitable to call a spade a spade? Was Jesus being uncharitable when he called the Pharisees "hypocrites"? Being charitable is not being "nice." You want charity, go read the letters of St. Jerome or the homilies of St. John Chrysostom. The Church Fathers have a lot to teach this milquetoast generation about true charity.
2. I am being judgmental. Ah the paradox, isn't it being judgmental to call me uncharitable and judgmental? Anyhow, my response to this is the picture of Cookie Monster. Cookie Monster with the way he scarfs down those cookies is a glutton and slob. Am I being judgmental? Of course not - how can I "judge" a fictional character? In the same way how can I "judge" the character on some TV ad played by some anonymous actress in a bathing suit. You can't judge fictional characters. Neither can you be uncharitable to them. They aren't real. Are they Cookie Monster?
Alright, I went back and re-read this after a good night sleep and not being so tired nor so irritated with some of the whining that is been going on in the comments section of my blog as of late, and see that what Bush actually said was that Congress would not pass a total ban on abortions nor would it seem that the American people would support it. I can see the first one, but I don't necessarily agree with the last. All in all, I just hope this isn't a vague hint of Bush caving in to the liberals and political pressure on his at one time apparent strong pro-life stance. One last question though, if the culture is not ready for a ban on abortion, are we all then ready to celebrate Ramadan?
Located in Baton Rouge, LA - an abortion mill turned into a museum. The web site (and quite possibly the museum) seems a bit over the top. But then again, it is only fitting.
A request from a friend who does vocation work. She is looking for stories of how some of the saints discovered their vocation and answered the call. She wants "stories that get to the heart of a vocation... ones that show the very personal nature of the call to belong to Jesus entirely. They can be ones that are immediately received or only intimated but eventually consented to with a generous heart."
If you have any stories, please post them in the comments.
While 71 percent of Americans believe in hell, only half of one percent think that they are likely to end up there. And those who are headed that way had better be prepared for a genuinely hellish time.
There's a St. Padre Pio anecdote that tell of a man who went to confession to Padre Pio and told him that he did not believe in hell. Padre responded, "You'll believe in it when you get there."
A San Antonio man who posed as a priest as part of a scam to rip off more than $25,000 from local businesses was given a 30-day jail penance and ordered to pay back the loot by working and living at a quasi-prison center for a year.
George Persyn, 43, advertised his store-front church in a newspaper and offered emergency priest services that included scooting to places in a police-like vehicle.
A family renovating a rural home they had lived in for three years found an old trash bag in an attic crawl space containing the mummified bodies of three infants. Authorities said Sunday they were investigating the deaths as homicides.
Anne Hare and her husband made a momentous decision three years ago: They would not have children. It's not that they don't like kids, she says. They simply don't want to alter the lifestyle they enjoy.
"With kids, especially young kids, infants and toddlers, you really can't do the active stuff we like to do," said Hare, 43, a fitness program coordinator from Gainesville, Ga.
Hare is among 26.7 million women aged 15 to 44 who are childless, a record number, according to new Census Bureau data from a June 2002 survey. They represent nearly 44 percent of women in that age group.
Things Change - A 1988 comedy from David Mamet I had never seen. Perfectly constructed. I give it strong A.
Time Out - Critics loved it. I found it compelling, although I was ultimately disappointed. I give it a low B.
Oleanna - They have finally put Mamet's Oleanna on DVD. Not as good as Glengary GlenRoss, but it gets an A.
Kurosawa's Dreams - Brilliant direction and cinematography, albeit a bit tedious and preachy. A visual delight. I have to give it an A.
The Five Senses - Tries way to hard to be like Egoyan. Doesn't work. C or a C+.
I did not read this book, however I am very interested. It is an autobiography of a Christian man's struggles and trials as a slave at the hands of the "peace loving" Muslims in Sudan. Has anyone read this? Can you recommend it?
After the fall of Constantinople at the hands of the Muslims, St. John of Capistrano was asked to he lead a Crusade against the Muslim Turks in Hungary. At age 70 marched off 70,000 Christian soldiers and accompanied Hunyadi at the battle of Belgrade in the summer of 1456 leading the left wing of the Christian army against the Turks bearing the papal crucifix. Pope Callixtus III asked the entire Catolic world to recite the Angelus everyday for the victory of the Catholic warriors, and under the spiritual leadership of St. John the Turks were handily defeated, losing 40,000 of their numbers while the Christian fatalities were almost non-existent. Pope Calixtus later called the victory "the happiest event of my life".
I came back from a few days off and saw a group of people upset comments on the Valtrex ad. Goodness gracious - don't you understand what I was trying to say with my comments? Maybe you don't read my blog enough. I was not insinuating any of you are your children or relatives were whores. I was commenting ON THE AD FROM TELEVISION. Maybe you didn't see the ad. I do feel for all of those innocent folks who suffer from this disease, but I do not feel for the makers of this ad who are peddling it as a way to continuously engage in licentious sexual practices. Please, do not let your own personal emotions and situation cloud the way you see something which is satirical social commentary as some sort of personal affront. If you cannot help from doing that, please do not frequent my blog.
Jesus accused those persecuting the woman accused of adultery of hypocrisy, but he also told that woman to go and sin no more.
And once again, I remind everyone. If you do not post your e-mail and post a contrary comment, you risk getting banned.
So, I was flipping channels during the World Series rain delay and I stumbled upon the commercial for Valtrex, a medicine for genital herpes. The basic gist of it was this - there was this woman who had herpes (presumably from whoring around) and wanted to keep on with her life, so takes this medicine to keep living her lifestyle. So they show her frolicking and swimming with some anonymous man looking happy and lusty. At the end she says something like "Getting to make the choices I want is true freedom to me." All the while the sung verse "Living the Life I Want" is playing in the background. So the basic message is - Valtrex helps you go back to your harlot lifestyle even though you have genital herpes which should really be making you reconsider the things you did to get this disease. When will these people get it?
If people knew how KFC treats its chickens, they'd never eat another drumstick...Please face the facts: KFC is torturing birds and then trying to pretend that there is nothing wrong with that.
As a side note to the post on beting on the papal elections:
On March 21, 1591, the newly minted Pope Gregory XIV, in his Papal Bull "Cogit nos," forbade under pain of excommunication all wagering on the duration of the pontificate, i.e. when the Pope would die, as well as on the creation of new cardinals and the election of a new pope. Such wagering had reached epidemic proportions in the Curia Romana, the body of congregations, offices and permanent commissions that assist the pope in the government and administration of the Church.
Noted one writer, "Some persons (who were) engaged in that illicit and indecent wagering, in order to save themselves from loss, sometimes disturbed the elections; and others, to increase their chance of winning, did not blush to circulate calumnies against worthy men who were thought likely to be raised to the purple." (The Chevalier Artaud De Montor in The Lives and Times of the Popes, 1911). And surely Gregory didn't want people trying to arrange the end of his pontificate to score some extra lire. He did well to worry; he died on Oct. 15, 1591, after just 10 months and 10 days under the papal tiara.
Betting on cardinals and popes continues to this day; in January 2001, Irish bookmaker Paddy Power was offering odds of 1000-1 against Sinead O'Connor succeeding Pope John Paul II.
The Vatican is in an uproar over a series of visitations from the Virgin Mary that have left Pope John Paul II severely shaken and fearful for the future.
In his private chambers, the aging pontiff was granted a number of visions of the Virgin Mary, including one shared by two cardinals and two nuns during a midday conference. All five witnesses report seeing the same vision, and hearing the same warning of coming troubles-although each heard the warning in his or her native language.
"This was clearly a warning for all humanity,” says a high-ranking source close to the pope. “Currently, it is going through the official process of authentication …"
Although I don't think I can condone all the links on this page, this site is a riot. Check all of these freaky 70's vinyl Halloween costumes out. I don't know which one is my favorite.
"I dream, I hope, I pray for you," the sprightly Teresa character sings to dancing members of the chorus, representing the sick and destitute, in the upbeat production.
To a series of reggae, funk and pop tunes, the show focuses on the five decades Mother Teresa spent caring for slum-dwellers in Calcutta, India - for which she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.
I give up. Just when you think you have found a kook that tops them all, another one rolls around. This Czech fellow here is priime candidate for Kook of the Century. His name is A. Ivo Benda and he is the head of Universe People. From a brief perusal of his page seems he is talking to some cosmic friends who are giving him some type of knowledge. Jesus seems to be a spaceman too. He also has commentary on the Third Secret of Fatima.
“It was like a drug,” Dan says. “I just started to feel so bad about it. I’d think about how these girls I looked at were being exploited, but then I still couldn’t stop. It was totally screwing with the way I thought I should be seeing women.”
I wouldn't normally post an article as "graphic" as this - but it is right on the money. It is from New York Metro and is about the growing problem of Internet pornography, especially among educated metropolitan men. It focuses in on the way it negatively impacts relationships these men have with women. The language and subject matter is a bit harsh at times, but if you can handle it is well worth the read and shows you the problem we as a society are facing.
KENNER, LA -- A sexual fetish convention has been canceled because of the police chief's efforts to stir up opposition to the event, the convention's organizer said. Fearing the event would "seriously jeopardize the family atmosphere" in Kenner, Police Chief Nick Congemi mailed letters last week urging 15 motels not to host the event, dubbed "Fetish in the Fall."
An Irish Government minister has warned that burning incense in churches could be harmful to the altar boys and girls who help Roman Catholic priests celebrate mass.
The burning of incense is popular in Roman Catholic churches
Jim McDaid, who is a former family doctor, said the children were at risk because they inhaled the carcinogenic smoke produced when incense is burnt close by.
So I guess there must be a very high cancer rate at Santiago de Compostela? See more of the amazing thurible (of which I have a key chain) here, here, and here.
Thanks to Nick for this link. She has the nice little graphic below. Only problem with it, is that Father should be in a cassock and surplice - not in a tab collar.
Hello Baby, would you like a copy of The Watchtower?
An Eden Prairie woman, who prefers to be identified only as Rochelle, said, "Door bell rings. My husband runs upstairs and says, 'Prince is at the door!' I said, 'No way.' "
If you thought most secular rock and roll was nothing more than the orgiastic ululations of the concubines of Lucifer and thus you listend to only Christian music - well think again! This fellow here has spent a lot of time on this web page trying to convince the world that most Christian Music is also satanic.
For both breaking news and obscure information alike, people around the world search on Google at www.google.com. With a bit of analysis, this flurry of searches often exposes interesting trends, patterns, and surprises.
On a monthly, weekly, and sometimes daily basis, this Google Zeitgeist page will be updated to reflect lists, graphs, and other tidbits of information related to Google user search behavior.
Looking at the list of the top gaining queries last week, let's see if I can make this work.
While preparing to see the act of Siegfried and Roy, talk show host Rush Limbaugh, was playing in the Premiership Players golf tournament Yom Kippur was approaching, and he was reading a book by Coetzee rather than keeping up with the elections in Ontario. He was to spend the night at the Paradise Hotel then fly out to the next morning to go to the opening of the Rugby World Cup where he was to meet his two friends Halle Berry and the ballerina Anastasia Volochkova.
I was sick a lot as a kid, so I spent a lot of mornings at home watching PBS. My favorite show was "The Letter People," without a doubt. Not many people remeber them. A planet inahbited by 21 male consonants, five vowel women, a detective, and a game show host. Crazy stuff. My favorite Letter Person was Mr. Pointy Patches. What was yours?
Come & meet the Letter People
Come & visit the family
Words are made from Letter People
A B C D, follow me
I remember growing up as a kid and watching Slim Goodbody on PBS and realizing what a weird show this was. This guy with a permed mullet in an entrailed designed body suit nancing around singing about his spleen. Seems he is still around.
Here you have the story of Jerry Sanders who dropped out of a coroner's race because two of "his adult cousins claimed Sanders paddled their bare buttocks in exchange for rent and tuition money."
Then there was Patrick "Live Wire" Landry who ran on the platform that being a virgin whould help him make a good governor. He lost. He also lost in the Senate race last year.
Someone out there can probably explain this better than I can. But it seems some guy named David Fanshawe went to the jungles of Africa in the 70's and took some of their music and mixed it with traditional Latin Chant and came up with the African Sanctus. Read the history here. Anybody know what it sounds like?
For your culinary edification, I am going to be posting about a few of my favorite ROman restaurants over the next few days. The first one is one of my all time favorites - Ristorante Orazio. Tucked away at the head of the Via Porta Latina, named after the ROman Poet Horace (and supposedly situated on his property) Orazio provides a spacious and typically roman dining environment. Run by several Roman brothers whom we all thought were fascists, their menu is excellent. I try to make my own Penne alla Vodka like theirs because they add in a touch of bacon. The best entree is the Cartuccio - a bag filled with veal chops, mushrooms, olives and white wine sauce and cooked in an oven. And then for dolce they have a delicious amaretto cream.
The Federal Communications Commission ruled U2 singer Bono did not violate decency rules when he uttered the F-word on a television program, because he used it as an adjective.
Seven daring souls will try to survive Nugent's all-terrain universe for cash and prizes. The seven include a vegan, a gay man, a New Yorker and a sex kitten. The two-hour reality event will premiere Oct. 5 on VH1.
Did anyone tape this? Are the re-airing it? This sounds like my kind of show!
