David Ancell / Sunday, December 28, 2003 / Comments(0)
At one time, Greg Popcak could gloat over Blogger going on the fritz because he thought people would have to come to his site to read a blog. Well, I tried to go to some BlogSpot sites, and it appears that Blogger is on the fritz. However, you no longer have to rely on Heart, Mind, and Strength because there are people like me out there (and several others nowadays) who remain open because we jumped ship from Blogger. Mr. Popcak can no longer bury us all.
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David Ancell / Saturday, December 27, 2003 / Comments(0)
I really appreciated this article. I just wish I had seen it earlier. I never noticed it before, but this year I’ve found it more disturbing than others. Many people are saying “Happy Holiday” or “Have a Good Holiday” as though this were the only holiday all year. My company has a “Holiday Party” every year around November or December. They are afraid to mention Christmas, although the DJ does play a song like “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” which at least has the word Christmas in it.
I refuse to say this. I would rather say nothing if the choice were to be brought to me. We are not celebrating a generic winter holiday just for the heck of it. We are not celebrating Hanukkah (though it would not offend me if someone said “Happy Hanukkah”) or that made-up “holiday” named Kwanzaa. It is Christmas. Although the actual day is unknown, we are celebrating the birth of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who died on the cross for us and delivered us from Hell. Although not everyone believes this, the fact is that no one would be saved otherwise.
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David Ancell / Saturday, December 27, 2003 / Comments(0)
What is the definition of the word “pathetic”? Well, it would most certainly include the fact that Gonzaga University refuses to grant official status to a pro-life law student group because it “discriminates against non-Christians.” St. Ignatius of Loyola, please pray for the Jesuits.
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David Ancell / Thursday, December 25, 2003 / Comments(0)
To all my readers, Merry Christmas! Please do not say “Happy Holidays” or “Have a Good Holiday.” There is a reason we are having this holiday.
Did you all get any good presents? I got some clothes (which I appreciate because I hate shopping for clothes), and I also got a copy of Visual C#.NET Standard Edition 2003. I haven’t been doing lots of programming in a while, so maybe I can come up with something. I never have gotten too advanced, though.
I made it to Mass this morning, and I found out that the pastor here in my home town parish (I’m at my parents’ house.) has been appointed Vicar General. He said that he gets to go to more meetings now. Just for fun, I had to tell him that our immediate-past Vicar General in Memphis became a bishop.
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David Ancell / Sunday, December 21, 2003 / Comments(0)
Take heed of Karl Keating’s advice on how to increase parish giving.
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David Ancell / Sunday, December 21, 2003 / Comments(0)
It is supposed to be the first day of winter today. However, my thermometer reads 50 degrees at 7:15 PM. It was a beautiful day for winter. It was perfect for delivery of a Christmas surprise.
One of the people in our parish office contacted the Frassati Society group leader and told her about a family in need of some things for Christmas. She got us together, and we bought clothes and some toys. Today, in this nice weather, we delivered what we bought.
The kids were with their grandmother. We went to the mother’s apartment. Under the Christmas tree was . . . . nothing. They had nothing for Christmas. Praised be to the living God that he used us to change that. I only wish that I could be a fly on the wall when those kids came back home and saw the Christmas tree.
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David Ancell / Sunday, December 21, 2003 / Comments(0)
I must say that I don’t view PETA (People for the “Ethical” Treatment of Animals) as a serious political threat because their tactics tend to get them laughed off the stage. It’s hard to take seriously people who do as Domenico Bettinelli reports here. Pretty sick, isn’t it?
This comment from Gene Humphreys was just gold:
Each time I read about the “latest” from PETA, I become more convinced that behind it all are really flesh-eaters creating the most ludicrous ads imaginable in order to ridicule the PETA believers.
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David Ancell / Saturday, December 20, 2003 / Comments(0)
This would be one for Fr. Bryce Sibley. I found this on another blog. Just type in the words you want, and the stars will sing it for you.
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David Ancell / Thursday, December 18, 2003 / Comments(0)
I think all my regular readers know that I hate spam. I not only abhor the adult messages and other questionable stuff that comes through, I hate the consequences that it has brought on us. Not only is it consuming bandwidth that will make everyone’s Internet access more expensive, it is also making it harder to sort though e-mail.
It has another side effect as well. Many people have spam filters on their e-mail system. I do. It is really ridiculous that we have to buy a product to prevent receipt of junk. Sometimes, it is hard to send a friend a legitimate e-mail because they have a strict spam filter. This is necessary because the spammers, in thier infinite lack of wisdom, have developed tools for getting around spam filters. I don’t know why they think they are going to make money by trying to send e-mail to people who don’t want it, and it creates problems for everyone else on the web.
Now, I see that Congress has passed an anti-spam bill, but it sounds pretty lame. It also won’t stop people from sending spam from outside the United States. The author of the article that I linked to suggests a boycott of spammers, but, given their practices, I have to wonder if even that won’t stop them.
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David Ancell / Tuesday, December 16, 2003 / Comments(0)
The New York Times insists that the FDA’s decision to make the “morning-after pill” available over the counter must be based on “science.” I’m sure what they really mean is that it should be available over the counter. Take a look at this:
The potential benefits from making emergency contraception more widely and easily available are enormous. Among other things, it would be an effective strategy for reducing the number of abortions in this country.
The editorial goes on to slam pro-lifers because we oppose abortion and also oppose something that will supposedly reduce the abortions in this country. It also says that Bush tends to make science agree with his ideology (Yeah, and pro-aborts would never do this, right?). Little do they seem to care that the pills themselves cause abortions. Therefore, their availability would increase the number of abortions in this country.
Scientifically, we know that, once conceived, an embryo has all of it’s genetic material. These pills can prevent implantation of a conceived embryo. There is no real scientific justification for an absolute change of this manner at implantation. Furthermore, I seriously doubt that the safety of repeated use of these pills has been tested. Even further, I am quite sure that their availability will lead to greater promiscuity and an increase in STDs.
There is also another problem. Science is a limited field. It can not and should not determine morality. Science may show what is possible, but it never tells us what is acceptable. Moral grounds must be carefully considered. Once someone choose to engage in intercourse, they have chosen to accept the possibility that they may conceive a child, whether they realize it or not.
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