extreme Catholic 

 
Cleveland Plain Dealer: Battle admits lying; police charge her

Elecia Battle finally admitted Friday that she lied about buying and losing the winning ticket for last week's $162 million Mega Millions jackpot, police said.

Police in South Euclid, where the winning ticket was sold, promptly charged her with filing a false police report, a misdemeanor that carries a maximum six-month jail sentence and a $1,000 fine.

Battle, 40, gained international attention after she filed a police report claiming that she lost the winning ticket outside a convenience store.

"Without a doubt, she unequivocally admits that she filed a false police report," police Lt. Kevin Nietart said during a news conference. Battle is scheduled to appear in South Euclid Municipal Court on Thursday.

She lied.

Somehow she thought that even without a ticket in her possession she just might scam the lottery out of the money.

I think there's more here than a false police report but fraud, but that's for the state's attorney to determine. In another story she is quoted I'm not a bad person. I'm really not," she said at the time. The lesson she teaches here is "truth is for chumps.".

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:58 PM   Permalink  

 
More on Pete Rose

Have we ever heard such an arrogant "repentant" sinner. There's such insincerity in his statements. It's almost like a child who has to be told word by word what the form an apology is, or the Act of Contrition.

It's almost like he's demanding "Gimme a script. Tell me what I gotta say so I can into the Hall of Fame and get to manage a team."

I think it was Fred Barnes who I heard remark that he's yet to apologize to the people who defended him saying that he would never bet on baseball. Rose also has to apologize to all the people he attacked during the period when he was actively lying.

Since Rose was connected to criminals in his gambling -- and as a losing and compulsive gambler -- it's reasonable to conclude that he was pressured to give up information -- or that the people accusing him of gambling would be retaliated against, in order to have kept Rose in baseball back in the 1980's.

Rose didn't have to bet aganist his team by the way to "fix" the game. Once Rose established his betting pattern, his "bookie" would have access to knowledge that no one else would have -- even if Rose never bet against his team:

1. Rose bets big to win.
2. Rose bets a smaller amount of money to win.
3. Rose doesn't make a bet.

These would be signals of Rose's estimation of the outcome of the game -- based on the non-public information that only a manager would be privy to on the condition and rest of the players.

Here's a detail missing from many of the accounts you may have read: Rose agreed in writing to a lifetime ban from baseball, as a concession to the Commissioner of baseball that an investigation would not proceed. Read the text here.

That stalled investigation from 1989 can't be restarted in 2004.

Discussion of Rose's dishonor:

• Dallas Morning News
• Chicago Tribune
• Associated Press Rose doesn't get it: "How can I win if people aren't going to be fair with me?"

This is part of my focus this evening on the Eighth Commandment (Catholic numbering) Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness Against Thy Neighbor.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:13 PM   Permalink  

 
Introducing Church Resources - producers of "CathNews"

Church Resources incorporating Catholic Telecommunications is a charitable trust that seeks to:

1. combine the buying power of Church institutions and members to achieve savings and improved levels of service, for the purpose of increasing Church resources and effectiveness in core mission activities of a religious, social and pastoral nature.
2. provide a national Church telecommunications infrastructure to facilitate Church participation in and contribution to the era of on-line and digital communication for the purpose of proclaiming the Gospel and building community.

Where are they? PO Box 1522, Crows Nest NSW 2065 Australia.

It's a blog-type web site that I imagine is an adjunct to this Church-related business.

They blogged this: Celibacy has largely “broken down” – Dominican Leader (actually is it the former Master General Father Timothy Radcliffe)

This Catholic web site posted an unattributed summary of this BBC radio show teaser

On top of this truly global religion sits the Pope, an Absolute Monarch of the Catholic Church. But as Jean Paul II becomes frailer, what are the major challenges which lie ahead for his successor?

Look at this a bit deeper in the transcript and you see it is cranky Professor Eamon Duffy getting in a dig or two and Pope John Paul II. Which, as one would expect from the BBC would be what they would use to stimulate their web sites readers to tune it.

When blogged by the people at Crow's Nest NSW their emphasis was the "broken down" comment by Radcliffe.

In turn, our new friends at National Catholic Reporter who have over the Clergy Abuse tracker formerly maintained at the media watchdog organization Poynter. decided these criticisms of the Church were related to the problem of clergy abuse in their tracker. Search for Celibacy has largely "broken down" – Dominican Leader on that page.

I'm posting this with all the links to provide evidence that that some Catholic "news" sources make a theme of a connection between the papacy and the sexual abuse scandal, between celibacy and the sexual abuse scandal.

It exposes their bias: against the papacy and denigrating celibacy.

I wonder how far I could get with the BBC, CathNews, and the National Catholic Reporter with an item to praise the Holy Father and to discuss the virtue of celibacy in a positive way. Do items like that get linked? Of course not, it's not connected to the sexual abuse scandal.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:51 AM   Permalink  

 
How different would the world be?

One of the things that I like to do is think about alternate histories, or counter-factual.

One of the things that I wanted to blog on at year-end but missed was "What if 9/11 didn't happen?"

Can you take the trends that were in place in June, July, August 2001 and extend them to the present and future -- taking out 9/11? More later.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:22 PM   Permalink  

 
Manchester Union Leader; Wesley Clark: Life, he said, begins with the mother’s decision.

Democrat Wesley Clark said yesterday he would never appoint a pro-life judge to the federal bench because the judge’s anti-abortion views would render him unable to follow the established judicial precedent of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

The Presidential candidate also told The Union Leader that until the moment of birth, the government has no right to influence a mother’s decision on whether to have an abortion.

"Life," he said, "begins with the mother’s decision."

The image that springs to mind is the Circus Maximus. One gladiator stands over another who lies broken at his feet. The crowd roars and then looks to the Emperor's thumb. The Gladiator's death begins with the Emperor's decision.

I have to add that if life begins with the mother's decision, then life ends with the mother's decision.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 1:18 PM   Permalink  

 
Matt Grills: You've got the wrong Jesus, Howard

Google cache link. The link on Opinion Journals is broken. This appeared on 12/31/2003.

Howard Dean has joined that elite pool of politicians who use Jesus as a prop on the presidential campaign trail.

Unfortunately for Dean, only the stupid will fall for his hearts-and-fish-symbol-on-my-car routine. He did everything but stage an altar call this week, when he announced he’d be trumpeting his faith in Christ during his swing through the Southern states.

I use the word “faith” loosely. I’m not saying Dean is lying about being a Christian. What I am saying is that if a memorial to devout Christians were constructed tomorrow, you’d find his name alongside such stalwarts of the faith as John Lennon and Ted Turner.

Is anyone else weary of this “Jesus was a revolutionary” line Dean and his ilk feed voters? Brace yourselves, people: Jesus wasn’t at all like Gandhi, Confucius or even Martin Luther King Jr. He didn’t have a “dream,” and he didn’t walk around talking about love and peace – at least not liberals’ idea of love and peace.

Either Dean has sat in on a few too many of the “Rev.” Jesse Jackson’s sermons, or he’s modeled his life after that asinine Coca-Cola commercial where people sing about the world being a place of perfect harmony.

Truth? Jesus didn’t have a lofty goal of uniting the people of the world together, hoping to plant the seeds of self-actualization that would guide humanity toward creating a utopia. During his life and the 2,000 years that followed, Jesus has divided people. He intended to. Don’t believe me? Check your New Testament cue cards, Dean.

Jesus split one of the world’s great religions right down the middle by claiming to be God. He said he had the authority to forgive sins, and Scripture records that hundreds witnessed a resurrected Jesus after his painfully excruciating death on a cross. He chose that death, and he told his followers to spread the message of salvation in his name to every nation.

Jesus said he would be on the throne at Judgment Day. He also said he was “the way, the truth and the life” and that no human being comes to God except by him. Jesus told the disciples to go to the surrounding towns with his message. If a town didn’t accept it, the disciples were to brush the dust of that town off their feet and move on. Those who were not for him were against him, Jesus said.

In short, that leaves every man and woman with a decision: Jesus was either crazy or he was God in the flesh, just as he said.

Well, can’t we just set aside both views and call him a great teacher? Wrong-o. Jesus’ teachings aren’t a salad buffet. You don’t just pick what you want. You can’t hold onto “do unto others as you have them do unto you” and ignore the fact that Jesus said he sits at the right hand of God and that he’ll return someday. Believe it all or don’t believe at all.

Howard Dean’s comments place him squarely in the “Jesus of convenience” camp. His wife and children are Jewish. Cool. But I have to wonder: if Howie’s faith in Jesus Christ is so important to him, why didn’t he marry someone with the same faith? Why didn’t he insist on raising his children in that faith? Say it with me, on three: because what faith Howard Dean has in Jesus isn’t central to his life.

Dean talks about Jesus as if he were one of the Democrats’ lawyers at the 2000 election fiasco in Florida. “Christ was someone who sought out people who were disenfranchised, people who were left behind,” he gushes.

Let’s clear this up: people sought Jesus more often than he sought them. And he didn’t just run with the poor. What about Matthew the tax collector? He wasn’t doing so bad before he decided to follow Jesus. And Joseph of Arimathea, the rich man who loved Jesus so much he had his body placed in his own tomb?

Not that Dean would know that. “My father used to tell us how much strength he got from religion, but we didn’t have Bible readings,” he told the Boston Globe. “There are traditions where people do that. We didn’t.”

Um, Howard, reading Scripture isn’t considered “tradition” for most Christians. It’s the best and only way to learn about God, about Jesus and about living a holy life. Even more important to Christians than baptism and communion are the Holy Scriptures. It’s the only written record we have of Jesus and his teachings. The first thing a new Christian is handed is a Bible. It is muy importante.

Dean expounds on his theological expertise when he says that Jesus “fought against self-righteousness of people who had everything.” You mean, like people who grew up on Park Avenue and never had to wonder where their next meal is coming from? People like that, Howard?

Jesus fought mankind’s self-righteousness. Rich, poor – it didn’t matter. Jesus taught that unless you obey God’s Old Testament laws to the letter, you don’t have a fighting chance at getting into heaven. He taught that it all comes down to one question: do you rely on faith alone in God to save you, or are you counting on your own efforts?

As I read and reread Dean’s remarks, I am forced to restrain myself from repeatedly smacking my forehead in amazement. “I don’t get offended when George Bush or Joe Lieberman talk about their religion,” Dean muses. “I have a feeling it has something to do with them as a human being.”

Has Dean listened to himself? A post on the FreeRepublic.com Web site said it best: “That’s like someone saying, ‘I should be a doctor. I understand that medicine has something to do with being healthy.’ His understanding of religion sounds like Jethro Bodine’s understanding of brain surgery.”

I have no doubt Howard Dean believes in Jesus. But whose Jesus?

Matt Grills is a writer and conservative activist living in Indianapolis. Contact him at darthgrills@hotmail.com.

The above article provides a great context for the recent declaration for Dr. Dean

Washington Post: Dean Says Faith Swayed Decision on Gay Unions

Democratic front-runner Howard Dean said Wednesday that his decision as governor to sign the bill legalizing civil unions for gays in Vermont was influenced by his Christian views, as he waded deeper into the growing political, religious and cultural debate over homosexuality and the Bible's view of it.

My take on this is not a criticism of Dean (Matt's piece could not be improved upon) but a criticism of us, or more precisely the American audience that Dean is trying to reach. Dean believes he has the folks hostile to religion locked up. This is Dean reaching out to some people who are more Democrat than they are religious to let them reassure them that as he sees it, his Jesus would never object to gay marriage, abortion, etc. -- all of his policy positions.

Yes, Dean has an audience for that message. As an American, I find some shame in that.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:06 PM   Permalink  

 

	Liza Minelli with friends at her (4th) wedding. The man on the left is the husband of the moment, David Gest. (He's Jewish, She's Catholic)
	AP: Liza Minelli at divorce court yesterday -- wearing a cross. Word appears to be getting around that if you wear a cross, I'll put your picture into ExtremeCatholic Ah.... the power of the blog!

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:58 AM   Permalink  

 
Where are aliens?

This UFO story is more credible than most because it's from three police officers.

World Net Daily: Cops baffled after sighting UFO

Three police officers in Huntington, Ind., claim to have seen an Unidentified Flying Object the day after Christmas hovering over a Catholic church, and UFO investigators now are looking into the incident.

Officer Chip Olinger was warming up his car Dec. 26 about 2:30 p.m. when he reported seeing a circular object in the sky and radioed fellow officers Greg Hedrick and Randy Hoover, who also saw it, reported the Huntington Herald-Press.

Fermi's paradox is if the universe has other intelligent life, why hasn't any of it been detected?

• Why isn't the universe full of robot ships attempting to contact other intelligent civilizations?
• If The Universe Is Teeming With Aliens... Where Is Everybody?

"There may be a million worlds in the Milky Way Galaxy alone which are at this moment inhabited by other intelligent beings" (Cosmos, episode XI, Carl Sagan)

The best explanation for the lack of contact in my opinion is that there's a source of locally catastophic events that swallows up planets the way that a volcano destroys the adjacent villages and towns. This is James Annis's explanation.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:24 AM   Permalink  

 
Busting My Ass To Save Yours -- Operation Iraqi Freedom

This appeared in the Weekly Standard. A paid subscription is required to look at the PDF of the magazine from which this was clipped.

By the way, while I enjoy the Simpsons, for me, South Park exceeds my threshold of bad taste.

Another bumper sticker which I saw in New York City yesterday while I was walking around the prime target area of the next terrorist attack upon New York we this on a Con Ed truck:

May God show you mercy because we won't.

Well, that's bumper sticker bravery for you.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:30 PM   Permalink  

 

Jesus is my Homeboy What were they thinking? (Click on image for full size)

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:30 PM   Permalink  

 
LL Cool J takes the cross.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:19 PM   Permalink  

 
USA Today: Family gift shuts down airport concourses

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A metal device used to christen babies prompted authorities to shut down three concourses at Portland International Airport, causing flight delays.

The cylindrical object looked similar to a pipe bomb when viewed under an X-ray screening machine, officials said Monday.

The man carrying the instrument alarmed airport screeners when he failed to identify the device, which is used in baptism ceremonies, said Jennifer Marty, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration, the federal agency which oversees airport safety.

"He didn't know what it was. His wife had put the package in his carry-on," Marty said. "It's for christening a baby. It's hollow, like a pipe. It has ends that remove on both ends.

"There was some sort of electric music box in the package, too. Wires, that kind of thing."

The music box and the christening instrument were intended as a gift for another family, Marty said.

The identity of the man carrying the object was not released. Officials also declined to comment on the man's religion and whether the metal instrument was intended for a Christian or non-Christian baptism ceremony

Religious Illiteracy: It is used to "christen" babies -- doesn't that refer to a connection to "Christ"?

A container than opens on both ends: what does that have to do with baptism?

What religion besides Christianity has baptism? Is this device connection to the Mormon baptism ritual?

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:39 PM   Permalink  

 

Cardinal Egan: the check is in the mail Associated Press: N.Y. Archdiocese: Abuse Prevention Program Planned A child abuse prevention program will be implemented by the end of the school year in the Archdiocese of New York, bringing it into compliance with national efforts by the Catholic Church to respond to allegations of priest sex abuse, a church official said Tuesday. The New York Archdiocese was among 20 of 195 dioceses nationwide found to be not fully compliant with the new sex abuse policies, according to a church audit released Tuesday. They call it an "audit" but as we use the term in business, this wasn't an audit. An real audit would have taken every complaint and determined if its disposition was correct according to the Dallas guidelines. This wasn't done. The diocesan staff turned over the files that it wanted to and not the ones that it didn't want to. And the bureaucracy loves those numbers and acronyms: "Article 12 non-compliance remedied with selection of VIRTUS for SEP".

Is it safe?

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:46 AM   Permalink  

 
Potential Life?

Remarks I made during Blogger's downtime on the WABC Bulletin Board

Posted: 05 Jan 2004 22:13 Post subject: Why is Arthur Caplan Gambling's only source for bioethics?

Arthur Caplan comes to WABC not with analysis but his own agenda. He refers to the unborn as "potential people". He refers to removing any oversight on experimentation on human life as "cures".

There are plenty of well-qualified experts to tell the other side of the story. Why are they not invited to go on the air?

When it came to callers disputing Caplan's facts or offering a new opinion, Gambling did what he always does. He cuts off the caller and then takes 30 seconds to restate his own opinion. Today was more so than usual.

A disagreeing caller gets 5 seconds. Gambling cuts him or her off, then he restates his opinion for the third, fourth, and fifth time, filling up 30 seconds on each round. "John, were you aware that great progress has been made with adult stem cells?" (that's a good question that leads to a discussion of why the destruction of embryos is necessary) "Well, that's your opinion" and that ends the discussion.

The term "potential life" is a contradiction. Does the dead "potential life" magically come to life? Of course not. It was "living" as a genetically complete human being from conception. After conception, the only thing added to the developing human being is air, water, and food -- that's the same stuff that keeps you and me alive. We are all merely "potentially alive" as long as we continue to get air, water, and food.

I think Gambling is just poor at handling the callers on political subjects. He knows it and therefore avoids any exchange with the caller.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:06 AM   Permalink  

 
Pete Rose

Remarks I made during Blogger's downtime in Amy Welborn's Open Book

Pete Rose's "confession" should include all the lies, threats, and 14 years of slander of Bart Giamatti, and basically everyone who presented to him evidence of his gambling. He wasn't merely a liar, but an especially aggressive one in defending himself from the accusations of lying about gambling, while accusing others of lying about him.

The time and place and limitations of his statements are strategic: to maximize his revenue from the book and to gain sympathy in his time which remains for the sports writers to put him into the Hall of Fame.

I didn't trust him then and I don't trust him now.

Selig can't put him into the Hall of Fame, only make him eligible. I don't think the confession is a quid pro quo, only a act of desperation.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:44 AM   Permalink  

 

Trish Bergin, Courtney Cox, Gwyneth Paltrow. Married with children expecting. Recently announced in the New York Post.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:31 AM   Permalink  

 
South Jersey Courier Post: Newborn rescued from toilet

A borough woman who gave birth into a toilet tried to kill her premature newborn by closing the lid and leaving her there to die, authorities said Sunday.

Denise Marie Winner, 42, of the first block of Mount Ephraim Avenue, was charged with attempted murder and endangering the welfare of a child, Camden County Prosecutor Vincent P. Sarubbi said. If convicted, she faces 30 years in prison.

The infant remained hospitalized in critical condition Sunday but is expected to survive.

She was in the toilet for about 30 minutes before being discovered by Winner's 59-year-old live-in boyfriend, who told told authorities he didn't know his partner was pregnant

Thanks be to God the life of this child was spared and that the presumptive father chose life.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:15 PM   Permalink  

 
Jerusalem Post: Kabbala may have led Britney to marry

Britney Spears's study of the Kabbala, a Jewish mystical practice, may explain her surprise wedding to Jason Alexander in Las Vegas Saturday, claim sources close to the star.

The study of Kabbala is currently in vogue with various Hollywood celebrities, including Paul Newman and Madonna, who is believed to have introduced her young friend Spears to the ancient teachings.

Wow -- I've this story up before Drudge.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:54 AM   Permalink  

 
USA Today: First of Catholic scandal reports due this week

U.S. Catholic bishops on Tuesday will release the first of three major reports promised after the child sexual abuse scandal erupted two years ago. It's expected to account, diocese by diocese, for the church's reform efforts.

Bishop Wilton Gregory had nothing newsworthy to say on ABC This Week by the way.

My observations:

1. No bishop resigned because of the sexual abuse scandal, other than the "retirement" of Cardinal Law. (Although quite a few reached 75.)
2. No bishop made public a demand that another bishop resign because of their neglect or obstruction of justice.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:52 PM   Permalink  

 
Simpsons: Marge Versus Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens and Gays

One of the greatest episodes ever.

Lisa: Maggie vomited into your purse.

Ms. Nagel: And all I have in mine is disposable cash.

The tie-in to the "War of the Worlds" makes turns it from a "10" into an "11".

Added because of the first comment in the comment box:

The Simpson's contain the most biting social commentary against the anti-family trends in popular culture.

Tonights episode mocked the entire anti-family agenda of singles, seniors, childless couples, teens and gays. It was very funny and very pro-family.

The Simpson's is the only regular television series which features people of faith (Christian, Jewish, etc.) acting after reflecting on their religious beliefs.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:48 PM   Permalink  

 
Congratualations, NASA

But you don't have to act so surprised when things work as they were designed to.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:26 PM   Permalink  

 
Religion of Peace Dept.

Al Jazeera: Arms found in Baghdad mosque raid

US soldiers have seized a large cache of weapons in a raid on a Sunni mosque in southwestern Baghdad.

I think as a result of this, every Mosque in Iraq needs to be accessible to US soldiers on a 24x7 basis. Those weapons were intended to kill Americans.

It would be of short-term benefit simply to destroy the mosque in which the weapons were found but in the long-term it would hand the enemy a propaganda victory.

But, of course, there would be a propaganda ploy out of this -- As CNN reports:

A U.S. military commander defended coalition troops Friday against allegations they defiled the Koran during a raid on a Sunni Muslim mosque in Baghdad.

On New Year's Day, coalition soldiers entered the Ibn Taymiyah mosque in the southwestern part of the Iraqi capital, where they found a large weapons cache and arrested 32 people, spokesman Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt.

As if the storage of weapons in the mosque itself was not defilement.

And don't hold your breath waiting for the worldwide outrage that weapons were being stored in a sacred place from the "moderate" Muslims.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:14 PM   Permalink