Kevin Gleeson's Serious Blog

CatholicFind

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Gleeson) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:06:00 +0000

No, Catholic Find is no dating site, and there's not an app for that to find your long lost rosary, but CatholicFind.com is a handy tool if you're searching for certain information.

Though the site appears to be under development still, as of now it has searches up and running for the Douay-Rheims Bible, the documents of Vatican II, the writings of Pope John Paul II and G.K. Chesterton, along with a few other searchable works.

A teaser says that the Early Church Fathers are soon to come. We've waited this long, but I'm still looking forward to that.

National Anthem 2.0 is Patriotism that Rocks!

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Gleeson) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 23:34:00 +0000

Do you like those unabashedly proud, flag waving, heavy handed Hooray for the USA, films from the World War II era? I miss that, too. Two twin rock musicians engineered a project to put together this song and video to support our troops, with that self-same unapologetically patriotic feel about it.

I like that this salute to our nation's finest spans several generations and all branches of the armed services, as well as their families on the home front, and those on whom we depend on as first responders. It's a proud loud retort to the sickening spit in the eye our finest men and women are getting from our pop culture mavens, and what gets passed off as news media.

The twin brothers, born Kris and Marc Kancler, love and live rock music so much that they legally changed their names to Super Star and Rock Star. Kris, I mean Super, runs a charity called We Are One, to rescue troubled teens from substance abuse, encouraging them instead to a life of sobriety, especially by directing their energy toward the performing arts.

So, what are you cutting in your household budget to pay for Obama's abortions?

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Gleeson) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:32:00 +0000

Pelosi's making us all pay an "abortion premium" in Obamacare. See John Boehner's blog here.

This must be either prevented or overturned immediately. God help us.

Sprint Stinks, LifeLock Saves

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Gleeson) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:21:00 +0000

I had a mishap involving Sprint cell phone service that began early last week. Mind you, I never ordered the service, which was the problem.

Someone had just applied for phone service in my name over the phone (not in person, and therefore with no forms signed or ID presented). The credit agencies reported the new account, which triggered LifeLock.

Thank God I have LifeLock, whose system automatically sent me an email alert. I went right from bed to my email to my phone and canceled the phone service in minutes, still dressed in the undies I slept in. The problem should have been over before it started, don'tcha think?

Unfortunately, Sprint was in a jolly hurry to send out a box of four very expensive cell phones to my address. Their fraud department was impressive, as they responded professionally with the air of competence in closing out my account and originating a "return kit" with which I could return the phones. By limitation of either law or policy, they don't report these cases to law enforcement. Their role is relegated to closing out accounts and either recovering or writing off lost assets.

In today's mail, my envelope from Sprint contained not the return kit, but full documentation of Sprint's stupidity leak -- in Spanish. It's a full invoice for over 200 dollars for the phones and account. The only English words anywhere on the pages are my name and address.

That tells me that Sprint approved a new account and a very expensive shipment, over the phone, under my very English speaker's looking name in Spanish. All this, and the contact number the applicant left is not in service. A well run company would run due diligence before opening the account and shipping phones out, but Sprint's policy is to clean up the aftermath.

Don't worry about me, folks. My account's being resolved, and I've got LifeLock as backup. But Sprint's an open piggy bank for criminals. I hope you aren't. These days, it's a scary thing indeed how a little personal info in a bad guy's hands buys him a bounty of free stuff at someone else's expense.

Chicago the Beautiful (1948)

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Gleeson) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:04:00 +0000

Here's a 1948 travelogue of Chicago with an Edu-Films feel to it. The main landmarks in this tour yet remain some 60 years later while the rest of the city has risen around them.

The Allen Family in Mozambique

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Gleeson) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 05:23:00 +0000

When my oldest son went to preschool, I would pick him up after school was out and would stay afterwards out back to chat with Dan Allen, one of the few other dads who wasn't working a job that time of day. We would adjourn to the schoolyard, with his kids and mine running ahead and climbing all over the playground equipment.

In those days, Dan and I spoke of many things. Dan is a deeply convicted and devout Protestant, and I the same thing, only Catholic. We discussed abortion, evil cultural influences on children, Islam, and morality. We spoke of sin, redemption, forgiveness, faith, heaven, and hell. We saw something unfold over time, a truism I first heard from Mark Crutcher at one of his seminars I'd attended 15 years before - namely, that because religious conservatives seek, affirm and embrace that which is true, they find more in common with each other beyond sectarian lines than they do with liberals bearing their own denominational label, who reduce and deny that which is true.

All the while our children played near us, sometimes cutting in competing for our attention. His two beautiful little girls had a way of hugging each other "sorry" when they'd accidentally hurt one another, and would hug my kids when they accidentally hurt them.

Those people are very far away from me now. After having given the matter much prayer and thought, the Allen family - Dad, Mom, and girls - sold their home, packed everything up and went off to Mozambique to do missionary work for their church. I've added their new blog to my blogroll.

Personally, I wouldn't do that with my kids. Mozambique is poverty stricken, AIDS ridden, and not as safe as America. By Dan's first blog entry alone, it looks like the country suffers from poor infrastructure, scarcity, and overpricing as well. Personalizing the situation by imagining my own family in it clarifies in my mind why the Catholic Church defines unmarried vocations for missionary priests, brothers, and nuns. But this family feels led there by the Spirit to do God's work, to bring the Gospel and loving hands to the people of Mozambique.

And so they have. And so they do. I pray for their success and eventual safe return.

Boy Eating Halloween Flesh Fries. Yechh!

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Gleeson) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 04:58:00 +0000

Between the school party and trick or treating, our kids got lots of loot on Halloween. And because we strictly ration their candy consumption, they still have lots of Halloween loot.

A couple days ago, Patrick dug through his bag (the one from the school party, not the trick or treat bag) and found a sealed black plastic bag from one of his classmates. Inside that bag was a wrapped french fries cup that held 5 candy severed human fingers.

Here they are out of the package.

Yechh! Even though they're made of the same gummy stuff they make chewy fruit snacks out of, no one would actually raise one to their mouth and take a bite of it, would they?

No, wait. Oops!

Even kiddom has its limits. One bite is all he took, and so they remain back in the cabinet to this very day.

Takers?

Added: Glenn Walker's French Fry Diary has more on these foul confections here.

Can I Get the Padding in Mauve?

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Gleeson) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 05:31:00 +0000

Now that it's official that I'm on board St. Blogustine, I've been given my monk's garb, and writing desk, and shown to my cell.

I had to have my head Photoshopped onto St. Augustine and come up with a personal tag line in Latin, but what to do about the tag line? Since I don't know Latin, I could either coopt a listed saying or motto or run my own concoction through an online translator.

Matt sent word back that he would run the picture I submitted even though my head is too big (which it always has been in the Real World). That's pure inspiration that describes me, and thus became my signature phrase on the front page:

"Meus Caput Capitis Est Nimius Magnus"

(My Head Is Too Big)

All human readers are invited to correct any flaws in the robo translation in the comments or by email.

Update: My friend Todd emailed me this, which I'll go ahead and accept at face value since I know nothing of this subject.

I am a beginning Latin student so take all of this with a grain of salt. Latin uses different "cases" for nouns if they are the subject of a sentence or direct object or indirect object, etc. Caput means head used a subject. Capitis is a possessive meaning of the/my head. Capitis is also second person plural meaning you take or receive. Obviously this was done on purpose to torment Latin students.
Word order in Latin is not terribly important. Latin uses different forms of the word to tell us subject and object, while English more so uses word order. That said, the most common word order is noun adjective verb. For "my head is too big," I suggest Caput meus nimius magnus est. Free advice and worth every penny.

Done. Thanks, Todd!

TheSeriousBlog and StBlogustine

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Gleeson) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:29:00 +0000

The resolution of a few short conferences with Matt Cassens is that St. Blogustine is officially our team blog. Over there, I'll post issues related pieces that are national in scope, and here I'll keep everything else, the lighter and more personal stuff. St. B has a larger, established readership that's come to expect a National Review Online lite, and thus much of what I find amusing to post wouldn't have a happy home life there. The Serious Blog will stick around for the less serious stuff.

On St. Blogustine, we discuss how the USCCB is playing post-election catch-up ball. The bishops are defunding ACORN, now that they've done so much damage over these many years, funded in part by Catholic money.

The conference failed to unify against Obama before the election, and consequently now risk shutting down the nation's Catholic hospitals because of Obama's support for FOCA. There's a little you can do yet to fight FOCA.

If Only He Were President

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Gleeson) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:09:00 +0000

Friday was the parent-teacher conference at the school and, per laws of physics, the chain of parents ahead of me extended over their alloted face time with the teacher; thus, arriving at the appointed time entailed a wait out in the hall. In anticipation of parental wait times, the teacher hung up essays written by the entire first grade class out in the hall, entitled If I Were President.

With one exception, every child's essay's points were confined to the following:

I would stop the war in Iraq.
I would bring all the soldiers home.
I would give the poor people money.
I would give the poor people food.
I would move into the White House.

Two of the boys added "I would play" as the final point.

My son reports that the entire first grade class except himself voted for Obama in the mock election. Were they under the misimpression that we don't give money and food to the poor people now, and that Obama's the only candidate who would do it? Who guided them to think that the only policies worthy of the President are of pacifism and redistributive socialism?

As I said, there was one single exception to the above manifesto; I'm proud to report that my son singly strayed from the lockstep with this opening sentence of his essay:

First, I would stop uborshin.

You done your daddy proud, son!

The Democrats Want to Confiscate Your Retirement Portfolio

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Gleeson) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 06:18:00 +0000

Got money in an IRA, 401k, or pension plan? Now that the election is over, the Democrats have wasted no time to remove the boxing gloves, and hatch plans to reach their bare fingers into your savings - and move all of it to the Social Security Administration fund.

Read my post on St. Blogustine for more.

Now that you Obama voters drunk yourselves blind on Obamania and did something stupid on election day, how come I have wake up with him in the morning?

Show Your Patriotism For President Obama!

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Gleeson) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 05:22:00 +0000

Obama's got me feeling pretty patriotic these days. I was feeling so patriotic I designed my own bumper sticker, and here it is!

Liberals thought they were pret-ty clever by driving around with this slogan stuck on the rears of their cars during the Bush years. Now let's see how they like this updated, patriotic-for-real, NObama version!

While you're at it, show how much smarter you are than they were by not conspicuously displaying their popular misattribution of this quote to Thomas Jefferson.

That it's done up in a Revolutionary War era font adds an extra helping of patriotism with a classic touch. Go on, click the bumper sticker. You know you want one.

Please Don't Call Him 'Obamarx'

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Gleeson) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:34:00 +0000

The results of our pre-election poll are in. Thanks to my 6 readers who responded with me!

Election Day in Cook County

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Gleeson) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:50:00 +0000

I just voted while my two preschoolers were fawned on and given slices of poundcake by the pollworkers. My four year old son gazed all around the place hoping to spot McCain and Obama somewhere in the room, greeting all the voters.

Here in Obama's home state of Illinois, the political winds are blowing in such a way that voting for McCain has about all the effect of voting against Castro. From my small sample of mass going Catholics I've spoken with, I think if McCain wins it'll be by the grace of God that resides in the Protestants. Or maybe that's just the Chicago regional Robocratic hue that stains the Catholics of the Chicago Archdiocese.

In the conversation I had last night with our friend, a practicing Catholic mother of four whose husband is trying to nose into Obama's victory bash in Grant Park without a pass, I brought up the subject of Obama's stance on the Born Alive Infant Protection Act and the promise to sign the Freedom of Choice Act.

1.1 million babies are aborted each year here, and this election is a pivotal moment to change that direction. She replied, "I'm not a one-issue voter," which translates to "I don't give a crap about the 1.1 million babies."

God help us. If He is, I haven't been shown it in my parish.

Update:
When I went to pick up my kids at the parish school this afternoon, an announcement came over the PA with the final count in the mock election, which no doubt correlates with how the children's parents will have voted.

The score: McCain 55, Obama 149. A loud cheer erupted throughout the school. Catholic kids in their uniforms scurried and whooped about the parking lot, cheering and giving each other high fives. I seethed. My two fine sons, raised right, voted for McCain. They know enough about abortion to be against it. The oldest felt sensitive about the defeat on the ride home.

The "Catholic" vote in my home parish is an abrogation of moral responsibility, an abuse of citizenship. God save our country!

Al Franken to Catholics: Vote For Me, You Big Fat Idiots

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Gleeson) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 04:02:00 +0000

In a tight race for Minnesota's contested seat in the US Senate beginning to slightly shift in favor of Republican incumbent Norm Coleman, it doesn't help Democratic candidate-comedian Al Franken to have his anti-Catholic bigotry erupt back in his face at this time. The Catholic League's press release details some choice morsels of Franken's hate speech, including mocking the Eucharist and the crucifixion of Jesus. To the devout and sensitive, that brand of "comedy" is less amusing than sitting on the Kaiser's spiked helmet by mistake. In a race where every single vote's going to count, Catholics should give Franken the spike in remembrance.

The Christian Case Against Obama

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Gleeson) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 02:55:00 +0000

To see the Christian case against voting for Obama, go here. Click the full page spandex thingie in the upper right of the page viewer. It fits on a single printable page, and holds links to supporting evidence on each point made for those who are interested.

The guide comes from CatholicVote.com, but no Christian can afford to draw divisive sectarian lines at a time like this. Heck, I'd say run with it if it were from JehovahsWitnessesVote.com. (Now that, ah say, that's a joke, son!)

Popeye vs. Anime

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Gleeson) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:48:00 +0000

Newer Popeye cartoons have a cheapened, unworked on feel to them compared to the classic Fleischer shorts, and I never got into anime (a.k.a. Japanimation) because it's too oddball to get into. This short captures both of my sentiments.

Obama on Infants Born Alive: Let 'em Die

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Gleeson) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 02:29:00 +0000

Jill Stanek is a controversial figure. Her detractors (and they are legion) on Internet forums and elsewhere say she's a loon, that Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois, fired her as a labor and delivery nurse on grounds of incompetence.

And then there's her side, the one everybody else believes: that Stanek was fired by Christ Hospital because she discovered they were leaving unwanted newborn babies to starve to death in a dark closet with the dirty linens. Stanek went on to testify before the Illinois Senate, where then-State Senator Obama killed the state version of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act.

This video is simply one of the most stirring productions I've ever seen. Watch it and decide for yourself who's the loon, and who's doing God's work. Don't worry. Despite the appearance of the video still, there's no graphic gore or violence. Oh, and please pardon the odd leader and trailer.

More on Jill Stanek: Her home on the Web, syndicated column, and YouTube channel. Mrs. Stanek also heads BornAliveTruth.org, together with the charismatic abortion survivor Gianna Jesson.

Jill's termination by, if you'll excuse my momentary dyslexia, Antichrist Hospital, is a win for the Pro-Life movement and the babies of the world Jill now serves in her greater capacity as a public figure.

Serious Guest Blogging...

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Gleeson) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 03:32:00 +0000

... at St. Blogustine. Matt Cassens and I go back many, many moons. Over 9000 of them. I'm helping Matt through a crunch to keep 'em entertained over there. He's got a bigger readership than my 10 a day here, and he promised me a thousand times my current stipend.

I'll be cross-posting my works that fit both formats here and there. See you there, and it all starts here!

Prolifers for Obama? Yeah, right!

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Gleeson) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 18:11:00 +0000

Yes, there really is a group called "Prolifers for Obama." Liars. If you like that, here's another one for ya!

Mentioned in the site:

Welcome from Doug Kmiec, a former Reagan administration official with expired prolife credentials. Oh, yes, and a link to buy his Probama book.
BO's plans to expand government social spending. Now that's prolife, tell ya what!

Glaringly omitted:

Obama's pledges to Planned Parenthood to have a pro-Roe litmus test for Supreme Court nominees, and to make the first thing he does as President to sign the Freedom Of Choice Act into law.

I'm reminded about something a lady I knew told me from her early childhood. While playing outside, she and her friend shaped poop into small servings and arranged them on supple leaves. Despite their best efforts to pass them off as cake, however, they couldn't fool a single kid into taking a bite. Even though they were very interested in what was being offered, they could tell right away it was really only a bunch of crap.

Vote The Common Good: the Other "Catholics for Obama"

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Gleeson) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 05:05:00 +0000

Out of nowhere last week, I got a visit from a comment poster self-identified as "SisterSharon" from VoteTheCommonGood.com. The comment looked just like this posting on the Blogspot blog she created, and it was peppered on three Obama and abortion related posts here as well as on a few other spots around the Net. SisterSharon's been back to visit this comment thread a couple times.

This video is the centerpiece of the presentation on their web site, and as of now it's got 2,500 views. Compare that to 1.2 million views of RosaryFilms Catholic Vote 2008 I embedded here. The soundtrack is John Lennon's Imagine. The chanters managed to musically moan and sigh through the inconvenient lyrics that go "imagine there's no heaven, no religion too."

"Uhh-hhh! Uhhh-hhhh! Imagine all the people..."

What is The Common Good, and how do we vote for it, you ask? Why, the Common Good is liberal things, of course! Their whole platform is here, and the broadstrokes are to give amnesty to the illegals, get more people in unions, cut and run in Iraq, and end capital punishment. They're also against racism, classism, and sexism. Trade agreements "have to serve the common good," which by definition means we need to sign treaties to trade liberal things.

Fair enough. While I wouldn't agree with these people that there's a religious imperative to vote for liberal things, there's nothing there to stop you from voting for them either. The Church is pro-choice in that regard, with one glaring exception. The Big A, dripping, in brilliant crimson. These guys are totally "Catholic" on abortion, right?

Um, not completely. Their platform statement on abortion, start to finish, reads:

Promote policies that prevent and reduce abortions by supporting women and families. Ensure robust alternatives to abortion, including adoption.

Hasn't it occurred to these people to abolish abortions? You know, "abolish", as in "Abolish capital punishment," which I seem to recall reading just recently. Just under the abortion statement in their very platform, actually.

It wasn't phrased as such either because their hearts really aren't in the Right to Life cause with gusto (being liberals and all), or because such a statement would be incompatible with electing their favorite candidate ever, Obama, and they're not gonna let a little thing like the Freedom of Choice Act stand in the way of electing Obama (being liberals and all) because of all the other Common Good he'll usher in with the tide.

On the tangential issue of health insurance, SisterSharon sent me an article here ("as a point of reference", she says). It's from the National Catholic Reporter (also known as the National Reporter to us orthodoxish Catholics), whose premise is that Obama's health insurance policy is in line with the teaching of the American Bishops. Actually, it compares Obama's and McCain's proposals. Guess which one is described with the words "common good" in the article?

I don't see this as a black/white issue between these two candidates; it's not as if McCain's policy is to "let 'em die and rot," and that we don't have Medicaid already. But let's just say Obama's health insurance is what the bishops want, and McCain's health insurance policy is unacceptable to them.

That still doesn't outweigh the fact that Obama is for keeping abortion legal at every stage and against every restriction on it. 1.1 million dead babies each year, and keeping 'em comin'. Who says the Big A outweighs the other Common Good issues at election time?

The Pope does, that's who! When keeping or ending abortion is at stake, everything else takes the back seat, which is what I've been saying all along.

Pope takes bishop. Checkmate.

Obama's Coming Test?

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Gleeson) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 03:30:00 +0000

As the numbers bleakly continue to point to an Obama victory this election, a historical opportunity is repeated as St. Blogustine draws a convincing comparison of Barack with the most sympathetic character in the historic Nuremberg trials HERE. I don't hold high hopes for him to do anything but stay the course he's navigated his entire political career, during which, from a legal standpoint, Obama has proven never to have met the abortion he didn't like.

The Parable of the Talents comes to mind for me, which ends with an ominous warning I frequently have to remind myself to live up to:

For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

How much graver the implications for such a man so rich with God-given talents, holding the nation's highest office, with a moment presented him where he can choose to save or end millions of innocent lives with the stroke of a pen, literally.

Tough to be a Christian

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Gleeson) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 04:58:00 +0000

I think anyone who's ever been marked as a Christian on the job or in public can relate to this video. It's got an endearing homemade production feel about it, a little camp, and background music reminiscent of those good old Charlie Brown cartoons.

Roll 'em!

Update:

All right, what gives here? I found a different film and cast, same setting and the same exact script. Is this the Joe Biden school of ministry, or what?

The Catholic Vote

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Gleeson) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 03:30:00 +0000

Movie by CatholicVote.com

This movie is moving in more ways than one. While it places abortion at the forefront of the list of issues to vote for, it also contains a segment showing peace demonstrators, which could serve as a loophole for those Catholics who are throwing their support on the wrong side of this election. ("See! Look, Marge, it's OK to support Obama. He's the guy for peace!")

That little peace sign can stuff a sock into the mouth of the conscience of a Catholic voter inclined to cast a ballot for Obama, the candidate who's hellbent on deregulation and permanentizing abortion. Religious Left voters will see what they want to see (as are we all so inclined), but the producers of this film didn't have to go and place that visual sticking out so conveniently for them to grasp onto like that.

As today's polling numbers bear out, the election's nothing like in the bag for McCain. Catholic voters weigh in at 20% of the national total, a key determing factor in who wins US presidential elections. With so many US Catholics wandering astray from the flock, they're not voting overwhelmingly prolife, and it's going to take more than this little viral video to get them to vote the right way.

Join the prayer effort here (or roll your own). Only God Himself can move hardened hearts.

Barack Obama's Promise: No Abortion Left Behind

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Gleeson) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 03:00:00 +0000

Let there be no doubt that Obama pledges to do everything in his power not only to keep abortion the law of the land as it stands, but to remove every restriction on it, great and small, at the national level and in every state.

"Now the first thing I'd do as President is sign the Freedom of Choice Act."

For health care providers, the Freedom of Choice Act is anything but. If made law, it would strip out every single restriction on abortion at all levels of government, including conscience clauses for both individuals and institutions.

It is clear that FOCA would immediately make null and void every current restriction on abortion in all jurisdictions. According to a recent article by Tom McCloskey, "FOCA Would Harm Women and Remove Freedoms," and reported by the Family Research Council, if FOCA was passed it would automatically overturn:
State abortion reporting requirements in all 50 states
Forty-four states' laws concerning parental involvement
Forty states' laws on restricting later-term abortions
Forty-six states' conscience protection laws for individual health care providers
Twenty-seven states' conscience protection laws for institutions
Thirty-eight states' bans on partial-birth abortions
Thirty-three states' laws on requiring counseling before an abortion
Sixteen states' laws concerning ultrasounds before an abortion

More on the Freedom of Choice Act is here. It's nothing short of monstrous on the faults of its brutal inhumanity to the unborn alone, not to mention how the elimination of the conscience clause would deal the nation's health care system a severe body blow when all the birthing centers in the religiously affiliated hospitals go offline and every obstetric doctor and nurse of good will quits the practice.

Here's more complete footage of Obama's speech to Planned Barrenhood:

God help us. We need McCain.