Just in time for Halloween?

Tampon Crafts

Okay, so the ghost IS kind of cute, but mostly I just want to shiver and say, "Ewww!"

And the Christmas decorations?

Um...let's just say that some one had wayyyy too much time on their hands!


Tags-Crafts, Oddities

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Winning the Hearts and Minds

Are we making a difference in Iraq?

Read on and you tell me!

What goes around - Comes around

We need to be getting more of this kind of press release out in the MSM!


Tags-Military, Iraq

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A fun read from a Milspouse!

I'm Afraid to Say Rush Limbaugh is Right

Lately I feel like a child caught in the middle of a bitter divorce between my "dad" (we'll just call him "Rush") and my "mom" (let's call her "everyone else on the Left").

Go read the whole thing! ;)


Tags-Military LIfe

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Heh

Just...Heh

;)


Tags-Military Humor

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what's up

Things may get a little interesting over the next few months. I have been following the blog of an old friend who is about as liberal and left wing as one can get. I have promised myself not to engage her over there, because we both know that it won't change anything.

However, on the occasions where I just HAVE to say something (Like in this smear of the Family Research Council) I'll do it here.

I'm doing this for a number of reasons; first, it gets it out of my system, second, we have a mutual friend who is just beginning to become politically aware and I want to make sure she sees both sides of a situation before making a decision (whatever she decides), and finally, because it's high time I put MY activist, ass-kicking boots back on. Too long have I let my current situations and apathy keep me on the sidelines.

So here we go, back into the fray!
(yeah, there's more- on PP's attempt to control the dialog on family planning)


I linked to Planned Parenthood's sky is falling email above. Here's what the press is saying-

Here's the WSJ article on the appointment- Contraception Foe Named to Contraception Post

I did some digging, an found out more about where Ms. Orr stands on the issue of contraception-

Here are some quotes the liberal site Think Progress culled to show how 'disturbing' Susan Or's positions are-

– In a 2001, Orr embraced a Bush administration proposal to “stop requiring all health insurance plans for federal employees” to cover a broad range of birth control. “We’re quite pleased, because fertility is not a disease,” said Orr.

– At the 2001 Conservative Political Action Conference, Orr cheered Bush’s endorsement of Reagan’s “Mexico City Policy,” which required NGOs receiving federal funds to “neither perform nor actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations.” Orr said that it was proof Bush was pro-life “in his heart.”

– In a 2000 Weekly Standard article, Orr railed against requiring health insurance plans to cover contraceptives. “It’s not about choice,” said Orr. “It’s not about health care. It’s about making everyone collaborators with the culture of death.”

– Orr authored a paper in 2000 titled, “Real Women Stay Married.” In it she wrote that women should “think about focusing our eyes, not upon ourselves, but upon the families we form through marriage.”

So, she's pro-marriage, pro-life, and against government REQUIRING insurance companies providing contraception (apparently she's also Catholic!).

From all the uproar I expected to find her vocally wanting to ban ALL contraception from ever being sold to anyone ever again!

What a relief to find that she could be....ME.

But I guess this means that liberals don't want people like me, PRO-FAMILY people to have ANYTHING to do with FAMILY planning. I guess that just goes to show that what they want isn't family planning, it's really family avoidance (which is fine, but they should CALL it that).

I mean, heaven forbid a person who is pro-family and pro-child, like Susan Orr, wanting to help shape polices regarding families and children.

Here's a couple of links, to the Office of Population Affairs, and specifically the OPA/Office of Family Planning

According to the Leftist rhetoric, this is just one small step from FORCING you to crank out babies! Think I'm being over the top? Just take a look at some of the comments in Mysa's Friends LJ posts (or any other leftist blogger posting about this today)...They seriously believe we're coming, ala A Handmaiden's Tale.

But not to worry, after all, she's only an ACTING Deputy Secretary, and it's not like she can change the Title X laws mandating availability to contraception.

Hey, pro-choice liberals should be cheering today, after all, now ELEVEN YEAR OLD GIRLS in Portland Maine now have easy access to contraception IN THEIR SCHOOL.

Tags-Pro-life

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Army Families, Army Strong

Tags-Military

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Regime

I was over on Mysa's LJ again (I know, I"m just a glutton for punishment) and saw this today- Countdown to Regime Change

My first thought was annoyance. Like many, I always think of 'regimes' in terms of military or fascist ones. Now, I know that's how Mysa thinks about this Precidency, but before I went shooting my mouth off over there, I looked up the word-

Regime

In general, it's just another word for government. I like what this part of the entry said though-

A system of government or administration. The most common use of this promiscuous term in recent years has been in the phrase ‘military regime’. So while any government may be termed a regime, be it monarchical, aristocratic, republican, or tyrannical, the term unavoidably conjures up memories of tanks in the streets in Latin America and Eastern Europe. This is to be regretted, since it has two more technical senses in which it may not easily be replaced. First, when governments come and go with bewildering frequency, as in nineteenth-century Spain or post-1945 Italy, there may still be an absence of fundamental or revolutionary change. In these circumstances it is possible to speak of regime continuity. Alternatively, and more rarely, a change of regime (from constitutional monarchy to tyranny, or from dispersed to centralized government) may be achieved without a change in government, as in the move from parliamentary to personal rule by Charles I of England, or under Margaret Thatcher. Secondly, in international relations the difficulty of accommodating the rise of non-state actors within state-centric realist models of explanation has led to use of the term ‘regime’ to cover norm-bound interactions relating to issues such as the global environment or human rights, in which states, international organizations, transnational corporations, individuals, and worldwide pressure groups like Greenpeace or Amnesty International all take part.

(emphasis mine)

So, the Left gets to call the Bush presidency a regime, which is technically accurate, and at the same time brings to mind the military and fascist regimes of the past (as it immediately did with me). So, if I call her out on it, she can claim that the usage is correct, and if I let it go she gets to use the imagery of dictators and evil men. It's a win-win scenario for the Left.

Something to keep in mind if Hillary, Obama or any of their cronies ever end up in the White House. Somehow though, I think that we'd get called 'meanspirited' or some such if we did the same thing.

Oh well...such is politics, and why I have very little I can politely say to Mysa anymore... :( At least I learned the actual meaning of the word, so SOME good came out of it!


Tags-Liberals

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Catholics and Gaming

A friend of mine asked me to find information for her on the Catholic position on gaming in general and Role-Playing Games specifically. I was interested enough that I'm posting what I found here.

Let's start with Jimmy Akin, a convert to the faith, much like my friend and I. I think this part is key to the whole discussion-

There are many individual games that I would not participate in due to moral repugnance, and so I concede the potential force of the argument, but I note that it applies only to particular games and not to the concept of Role-Playing Games as a whole.

Who can morally participate in what games will depend on the nature of the game and the dispositions and moral fortitude of the player. Different people have different temptations, and one ought to stay out of games that foster one's temptations.

I read a lot of Jimmy Akin's writing as I was studying to become Catholic, and it really shouldn't surprise me that he's a gamer too! There's probably more good stuff over on his site, but I'll let you find it! ;)

This message board talks a lot about computer RPGs, but I think most of the things apply to the the pen and paper variety as well. Mostly things about spending too much time in the activity being more of a problem than the game itself.

This guy sounds like he could be one of my circle of friends! He writes a bit about gaming here- mostly about MMORPGs, but I just like his blog. I'll have to bookmark it!

But as to an 'Official' statement from the Vatican or the US Bishops, there is nothing I could find...which means that gaming and RPGs are not intrinsically evil in and of themselves. Some games, like the computer game Grand Theft Auto can be considered evil based on their premise, but most are not. How they affect our lives, our relationships, and our Christian witness is another matter.

As for me and my house, we will fight evil in the world AND in Paragon City!



Tags- Religion, Gaming

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The Weblog awards are coming!

Nominations begin soon, so check it out!



Tags-Weblogs

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Makes me sad

Over on her LJ Mysa posted her support of a Planned Parenthood clinic that was trying to open in Aurora IL. I am sad to have to report that the clinic did in fact open to day and now more women will be hurt both physically and emotionally, and more unborn humans will be killed.

Some interesting info on this battle-


Yeah, I know, biased source...but I AM biased.

So congrats Mysa, you and yours won this battle, and a battle it is. Not just over ideas or worldviews, but also over the very lives of the next generations.

Here's the site of the folks who were trying to prevent this abortion mill from opening- Families Against Planned Parenthood

Now it's back to prayer.

Prayer to End Abortion

Lord God, I thank you today for the gift of my life,
And for the lives of all my brothers and sisters.
I know there is nothing that destroys more life than abortion,
Yet I rejoice that you have conquered death
by the Resurrection of Your Son.
I am ready to do my part in ending abortion.
Today I commit myself
Never to be silent,
Never to be passive,
Never to be forgetful of the unborn and their parents.
I commit myself to be active in the pro-life movement,
And never to stop defending life
Until all my brothers and sisters are protected,
And our nation once again becomes
A nation with liberty and justice
Not just for some, but for all,
Through Christ our Lord. Amen!






Tags-Pro-Life

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