Under-the-Radar Radio

"While the FCC cracks down on Howard Stern, Hispanic shock jocks are as raunchy as ever. So far."

First daytime soaps now this. Have you ever seen the "all night hoochie show" on Univision? Or the puppet that farts all the time on their morning show?

Again, I love a little raunch as much as the next man but things have gotten out of hand (pun intended). Let's spread the misery around.

Besides, its justice: if civil people have to be forced to endure the sacking of Bob Edwards from NPR, the great unwashed will have to do without the AM Zoo.

You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.:

In other words, "You can win people to your side more easily by gentle persuasion and flattery than by hostile confrontation" (The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. 2002)

Unbelieveably, I've had to use this phrase in the past three days when referring to adults who should know better, one of whom is my closest relative. I won't be specific as to the incidents which caused me to reflect on the wisdom of the above statement, but needless to say, I am disappointed that some people just don't get it.

Everybody, everywhere: if you do anything in this life, embrace the above statement. It is not a sign of weakness to approach other human beings, even one's supposed adversaries, with civility. You'll get more accomplished.

Remember, lots of Americans who disagreed with Ronald Reagan voted for him because they liked him.

Buffett, Apple's Jobs Join Kerry Advisers

Buffet is disconnected from reality, not surprising considering the presence of the reality-distortion field.

May Day

This is no special day for me, so I was kinda surprised that MSN's home page suggested May Day be observed?

What?! Russian New Year? Somebody's drinking bad vodka. The case for observance:

"May Day, name popularly given to the first day of May, which for centuries has been celebrated among European peoples. May Day festivals probably stem from the rites practiced in honor of Flora, the Roman goddess of spring."

Another instance of co-opting an existing barbarian practice to serve civilized purposes. Today, we call that "synergy."

"May Day is currently celebrated as a festival for children marking the reappearance of flowers during the spring."

Aren't there enough holidays that revolve around children?

"It is traditionally greeted with joyous dancing around a garlanded pole, called a maypole, from which hang streamers held by the dancers."

Thank goodness it rained today or we'd have to put up with the Society for Creative Anachronism doing a re-enactments with their tights-clad dorks and fat chicks jumping around. Think Tiny Tim on acid. Freaks. Robin Hood never existed!

"May Day is also celebrated in many European countries as a labor holiday, comparable to Labor Day in the United States. It was especially significant in the Soviet Union and other Communist countries."

AH-HA! The liberal academic who wrote this reveals himself. (Okay, so I don't know if this was written by a liberal but it's fun to pretend. Typically, that would be the case, however.)

For those in Baton Rouge, this is the equivalent of the AFL-CIO picketing up and down the street by the UCT hall, bullhorn in hand, screaming insults at Republicans. You'll see marchers like the aptly named "Red" Bourg, head of the local AFL-CIO and that idiot Michael Day, the tiresome wannabe-polemicist who always writes into the paper bitching about how horrible life is now, but how great it was under Bill Clinton. Nothing worth leaving the mall or backyard b-b-q for.

In Soviet Countries, the solidarity of the workers was demonstrated by rolling tanks through Red Square. In other words, you VILL VERK OR ELSE!

"Observance of the holiday by some workers in Europe and the U.S. probably dates from the celebration of May Day by the first congress (1889) of the Second International, an assembly of socialist and labor parties." [emphasis added]

That pretty much rules out my observing this holiday, comrade. I'll observe July 4 instead.

("May Day," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2004
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.)

Kerry Opens Door for Rival Sharpton to Address Democratic National Convention

Please, please, please let this happen! Not only would it be good TV, it would reinforce the divide that exists between the left and the rest of America.

Girl gone off the deep end

Britney's new video, "Everytime". She kills herself in it.

Kerry's Peeps Revile Priests at Pro-Abortion March:

Don't forget who the real enemy is.

"The best way I can explain what I witnessed at today's so-called March for Women's Lives is to reference the movie, The Exorcist. When the possessed child, Regan, is confronted by priests who have come to expel the evil spirit from her, she reacts in shockingly vulgar, profane ways.

"That is how thousands of 'pro-choice' demonstrators reacted to the presence of a lone priest blessing and praying for them along the march route.

"Father Reynolds stood for hours this afternoon on Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, in front of the Navy Memorial. Other members of the clergy and pro-life activists were spread out along the same block. Almost nonstop, he made the sign of the cross with his right arm while speaking to the marchers offering blessings and prayers.

"The response was nothing short of satanic. Father Reynolds was cursed at and flipped off by hundreds of marchers, many of whom sported Kerry stickers. Many other marchers mocked the sign of the cross. Some denounced God while others denied His existence.

"Marchers screamed at the top of their lungs against the priest. He was repeatedly accused of being a child molester by those who support the murder of children.
One woman walked up to the priest and stood just on the other side of the police-manned fence separating the sides. She made the sign of the cross, but finished by thrusting her hips forward at the priest while she dramatically grabbed her crotch."

Notice how the priest kept blessing those who defiled him. Satanic is the right word for describing this.

Fr. Wilson on Redemptionis Sacramentum:

Some snot-nose writes in to an "Ask the Priest" column and says "What liturgical abuse, I don't see nuttin?" The response of Fr. Wilson is on the money. I could not have said it better myself.

"The 'liturgical reform' of the Second Vatican Council produced nothing like the renewal of the Church hoped for, and predicted, by the scholars of the Liturgical Movement of the early twentieth century. In the United States, we have had a Mass attendance decline of more than sixty percent in thirty years. In my Diocese of Brooklyn, Mass attendance was at 18% a couple of years ago; in New York, 19%; in Chicago, 16% -- and these figures were recorded before the clerical sex abuse crisis. The collapse of the Church in her previous bastions of the Netherlands and Quebec, the situation in Western Europe: all of this is well known. Yet we are determinedly told that this is an age of renewal -- an age of MORE active, fruitful liturgical participation.

"There is no sense of crisis in this document. Reading it, one gets the impression that things are, in general, flourishing, with a few details in need of fine-tuning. Certainly, I read nothing that reflects the situation I hear from in the letters, emails and calls I've received from thoroughly exasperated Catholics across the nation, people who want to find a parish where the liturgy is celebrated reverently, the Gospel faithfully preached and devotions fostered. This disconnect is unfortunate. It puts great pressure on Faithful people. Liturgical worship should be renewing and refreshing; instead, it is frustrating for many people sitting in the pews watching Father Bob and the musicians expressing themselves on the altar."

Preach on, preacha!

"Another noteworthy deficiency of this document is its treatment of liturgical music. Chapter three section 57 calls briefly for "true and suitable sacred music." In a document on liturgical abuses, I would suggest that sacred music should have been a major, emphasized point. The preservation of the Church's liturgical music patrimony was a goal clearly expressed by the Second Vatican Council: the fostering of Gregorian chant was an absolute directive of that Council and subsequent Popes. The Holy Mass has been transformed in many places into a kind of sanctified karaoke hour; the phenomenon of the consecrated camp-fire songs we find in many if not most parishes was a big factor in completely changing peoples' approach to the Liturgy. Indeed, nothing so contributed to the transformation of Catholic liturgy into the tawdry, cheesy reality so often encountered today as the abandonment of our sacred music. The Mass is now a vehicle for self-expression, as every priest with a youth group, or who has tried to uphold liturgical reverence during a Funeral or Wedding, knows all too well. The sense of the Liturgy as something we reverently receive, as a treasure, from those who have gone before us -- literally, the "tradition," that which is handed on -- has been profoundly weakened. And the Holy See's recent concern about "inclusive language" liturgical texts is persistently undermined by the rewriting of hymn texts which even avoid referring to Christ as "He."

"I am troubled by the absence of a sense of crisis in this document. It was written for a well-ordered Church which does not exist. It determinedly avoids dealing with the fact that there is widespread disobedience in the Church, and this document itself will fall on deaf ears for that reason. At some point, someone is going to need to say, 'Hey, guys, we have a problem here and it needs FIXING.'"

The Vatican never does that. It's always concerned with being "pastoral" as if we were all lambs in need of tending. While I understand and admire our Pope and his unyielding message of love ("John Paul Two Loves YOU!") quite frankly there are some wolves in the pack who need skinning.

"A very well-known Priest-author once said to me, 'The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (of Vatican II) was to liturgical reform what the Enola Gay was to urban renewal.' That was more than just a clever comment: it was a wise, practical observation. When do we get a document that reflects that reality?"

Amen, brother...I mean Father!

Ancient Latin Mass attracts young worshippers

Elsewhere in the Carolinas, something positive is happening.

"'You're overwhelmed by the reverence almost. As soon as you walk into the Latin Mass, you know that the people believe that God is right there in front of them. You can tell in their behavior and you can tell in their manner.' "

It used to ne that way throughout the church. Now we get hand holding and kumbaya music.

"While contemporary Masses, with guitars and other non-traditional instruments, have become common in Catholic churches, some members of the post-Vatican II generation say that has resulted in a loss of the ancient musical forms that the council intended to retain.

"'We ended up getting lots of hymns from the 1970s and 1980s of questionable long-term spiritual worth,' said Brian Mershon, 40, a regular communicant at the Traditional Latin Mass at Prince of Peace.

""Since Vatican II there's been lots of talk about renewal and other things not in line with the council,' said Mershon, who is completing a master's degree in theology at Holy Apostles College and Seminary through International Catholic University.

"'But I find it interesting that the Fraternity of St. Peter, whose priests offer only the traditional mass and sacraments, is the fastest growing group of priests in the U.S., in an age of otherwise priestly vocations crises.'"

Judge Denies Temporary Restraining Order for Gay Student's Posters

Come on! "A Queer Eye for Hunt High"? That's funny! This idiot prinicipal, hasn't he ever heard of a sympathy vote? Instead of being an aberration who would get a few nonconformist votes, now this guy is going to be portrayed as a crusader by the media. Dumbass.

John Kerry Must Go

Is that a gallows mentality forming on the left? And so soon!

Donkey trapped in elephant's body

Ann Coluter with two guns blazing:

"Thanks to Arlen Specter:

--States can't prohibit partial-birth abortion;

--Voluntary prayer is banned at high-school football games;

--Flag-burning is a constitutional right;

--The government is allowed to engage in race discrimination in college admissions;

--The nation has been forced into a public debate about gay marriage;

--We have to worry about whether the Supreme Court will allow 'under God' to be removed from the Pledge of Allegiance.

More than any other person in America, Arlen Specter is responsible for a runaway Supreme Court that has turned every political issue into a 'constitutional' matter, giving radical liberals an uninterrupted string of victories in the culture wars. That's not a court, it's a junta."

Ancient rite, mod design

Two great tastes that do not go great together.

"The sanctuary, large enough to seat 1,000 when extra chairs are set up, is an unusual design. Congregants are seated in a circular arrangement so they face the altar, the ambo -- the lectern where Gospel passages are read -- and one another. It is rare among American churches, Hubbard said, but symbolic of the mission at Corpus Christi, which is to take the focus off clergy and spread religious responsibility among lay people."

BARF! I don't feel like commenting on this Unitarian-meets-Catholic design. I'll just keep visiting great churches like Old St. Patrick's and St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans and St. Agnes and Sacred Heart in Baton Rouge and pretend no churches like the above even exist.

Journalist debunks myths about the Vatican

It's a shame that in this day and age such an article has to be written. A friend of mine routinely castigated priests for making appeals on behalf of the poor by saying, "why don't you sell that gold chalice you got there, padre!" It was then I had to explain to him that a priest's chalice is usually given to him by his family as a gift upon his ordination. I could have also gone on to say, "what would you prefer to hold the blood of Christ?" but I felt my point was taken.

A similar point:

the Vatican’s annual operating budget is about $260 million. Allen contrasted that to Harvard University, which has an annual operating budget of $1.3 billion.

“ (Harvard) could run five Vaticans every year and still have pocket change left over for an endowed chair,” Allen said, equating the Vatican’s patrimony — all the assets it could sell — to that of a medium-sized Catholic university. Its total patrimony is $770 million. The University of Notre Dame’s endowment is four and a half times greater, he said.

Allen noted that while people often assume a significant monetary value attached to the artwork the Vatican holds, it is not for sale.

“ The Holy See’s point of view is that the artwork is part of the patrimony of humanity,” Allen said. It is listed as having a cash value of one euro.

Viagra users' sperm short on firepower

"Men who use the anti-impotence drug Viagra could be impairing their fertility, say scientists, after laboratory experiments indicated the drug can damage sperm."

This isn't a problem, this is added value!

Mona Lisa Deteriorating

If Mona Lisa needs preserving, she ought to consult with whomever did Teresa Heinz Kerry.

Radar to Detect Terror Attacks

A scattered band of marauding lunatics from the north, colliding with a strong front of whoop-ass originating in west Texas...

Cross

Peter Bart is a legend in Hollywood. He was Robert Evans's right hand during the kid's heyday at Paramount and was charged with publicizing the fantastic product of that time (you know, Rosemary's Baby, Love STory, The Godfather, et al). Here, he offers a fairminded assessment of the New York Times's treatment of Mel Gibson. Yet another voice exposing the bias in the mainstream media, and this voice is about as far from the heartland as they come, yet still very much plugged in to attitudes of the average guy or gal.

Smith Creamery

Smith Creamery in St. Helena Parish makes dairy products with care. I picked some up from Whole Foods and I urge you to support this Louisiana Dairy.

Feeling Whole

I did venture to Whole Foods in Uptown New Orleans today and ran into my old friend Grant Morris, a colleague of mine from the Zephyr days who hadn't aged a day since I saw him last. Maybe it's all that organic produce. Like me, he eschewed the Jazz Fest but unlike me he had gone two days prior and has his fill.

Anyway, Baton Rouge seriously needs that Whole Foods we've been promised. The amount of good stuff is staggering. I don't buy into the organic is better deal - its more expensive but the quality isn't THAT much better - but I do know that homemade is better than processed and there's tons of products there made with a small-business's attention to quality. With Maxwell's Market, Calvin's, Calandro's and Whole Foods, Baton Rouge will be blessed with options. I just hope that our smaller stores like Natural Food Market, Our Daily Bread and Health Nut Hut continue to stay in business.

Unplug

One of the positives that came out of this weekend was my being totally unplugged from the information supernaut. I was all over the place but only once was I in front of a computer. As much as I abhor the turn off your TV zealots, walking away from the in-your-face product placement and rapid-fire news crawls for a couple of days - not a month - has a mental cleansing effect.