Author Archive
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008
I Blame Low Gas Prices on ExxonMobil
Do you hear anyone saying that? I don’t either.
The only political debate I listened to was the Vice Presidential one with Biden and Palin, and it seemed like every other phrase out of Biden’s mouth was “ExxonMobil blah blah 4 billion dollars”.
Well, now gas around these parts is no longer $4 per gallon as it [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Grapevines and Nature by Devman
Tuesday, November 18th, 2008
Woman in China Being Forced to Have an Abortion
Going on right now–these Chinese forced abortions are supported by the UN Population Fund, which we are about to begin giving $40 million to every year once Obama takes office.
Where is the outcry by women’s rights groups?
Update 11/19/2008: The woman has been freed and is no longer going to be forced to have an abortion, [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Love and War by Devman
Sunday, November 16th, 2008
Conversion
Stojan (or Sotjan?) Adavesic.
In describing his conversion, Adasevic “dreamed about a beautiful field full of children and young people who were playing and laughing, from 4 to 24 years of age, but who ran away from him in fear. A man dressed in a black and white habit stared at him in silence. The dream [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Love and War by Devman
Friday, November 14th, 2008
Change Is Coming, Volume I, Issue 1, the UNFPA
President-elect Obama said the first thing he would do is sign FOCA into law, but more likely the first thing he will do is reinstate U.S. tax-payer funding of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
This is the UN organization that promotes abortion world-wide, pummels countries with pro-life laws into submission, and supports forced contraception and [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Love and War by Devman
Friday, November 14th, 2008
More Protesting Against the CCHD
I have updated the original post I made about protesting against the CCHD with several more links to information and other resources, including 2 specific groups in Maine which a faithful Maine resident sent me.
No Comments » - Posted in Faith and Reason by Devman
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
What’s Wrong With Civil Unions?
Blog reader FCatholic has posed good questions on the Sexual Morality blog post I made several days ago. I want to answer the question he poses at the end of his comment into this new post (both because people will see the discussion here at the top of the blog and because I wanted to [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Faith and Reason, Love and War by Devman
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
Adoption: Mystery in the Numbers
My dad clued me in to an article published today about adoption, specifically foster-adoption.
The article’s author, Mr. Katz, runs an organization with the laudable goal of improving state welfare systems and their communication with prospective foster-adopt parents, since he has found that many prospective parents, even the majority of them, get discouraged during the exploration [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in Love and War by Devman
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
Bishop’s Office Cuts All Funding to ACORN
My friend George sent me this article: The U.S. Bishops have cancelled all funding to ACORN; they were not able to determine if our Catholic donations were used in fraudulent voter registration et. al., so they axed all further gifts to ACORN.
Great!
3 Comments » - Posted in Catholic Life by Devman
Tuesday, November 11th, 2008
Antibiotic free, Free-range chickens…
…that are injected with antibiotics and don’t get free range: Nature’s Harmony Farms has a good illustration of a case in point with Tyson chicken suing the USDA.
No Comments » - Posted in Grapevines and Nature by Devman
Saturday, November 8th, 2008
Austin Catholics: Let’s Make the Catholic Spirit Better
The Catholic Spirit is our diocesan newspaper.
I have sent a message to the editor, Mrs. Metcalf, because in the November 2008 edition the Catholic Spirit published an article extolling how great it is that the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) is supporting community organizing activities.
Of course, ACORN is an association of community organizing activities [...]
4 Comments » - Posted in Faith and Reason by Devman
Saturday, November 8th, 2008
Natural Procreative Technology Gaining Popularity
Good article from Salt Lake City about NPT growing in popularity.
Which ways are morally permissible (even encouraged) for a couple to conceive and which are immoral is another good example of the need for truthful, consistent principles of sexual morality.
The article correctly mentions that the Catholic Church’s teachings oppose In-vitro Fertilization (IVF). IVF attempts to [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Faith and Reason, Love and War by Devman
Saturday, November 8th, 2008
Sexual Morality
Blog reader and my friend Phil commented on the post about Proposition 8:
The reason homosexuals are so upset is because you are telling them, to their faces, that they do not experience “real love.” How would you feel if I told you that you and Katie don’t experience real love?
What’s missing from your analysis is [...]
10 Comments » - Posted in Catholic Life by Devman
Thursday, November 6th, 2008
Saw V
Remember when Bella came out and was only beaten out in per-screen average by Saw IV?
Well, Saw V is now out, and I am happy to report that just about everyone thinks it stinks. Maybe they’ll finally stop making these movies.
No Comments » - Posted in Entertainment by Devman
Thursday, November 6th, 2008
Anger, Hatred, Confusion
Proposition 8 passed in California, banning same-sex “marriage”, unless and until a liberal activist state supreme court invents a way to overturn it. Maybe one of our readers can explain to me how a state supreme court, which is supposed to interpret the state’s constitution, can overturn an amendment to that constitution?
The very confused persons [...]
6 Comments » - Posted in Faith and Reason, Love and War by Devman
Thursday, November 6th, 2008
Poisonous Fruit From Christian Disunity
Warning: This post contains political as well as religious commentary. If you just can’t take anymore, I understand completely. I could barely finish writing it myself.
Question Set 1:
What church does Sen. McCain attend?
Answer: I have no idea.
What about Obama? Well, he used to go to Trinity United Church of Christ but then of course left [...]
3 Comments » - Posted in Faith and Reason, Politics by Devman
Thursday, November 6th, 2008
Alma Mater
Katie is off to South Bend to visit her alma mater, Notre Dame, where she is attending the Center for Ethics and Culture’s Fall conference.
Fortunately she has old friends from college still there as well as friends from here in Austin who are going to the conference (and presenting).
No Comments » - Posted in Faith and Reason by Devman
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008
Obama Wins
Congratulations to him and his supporters. It was a tough race, and though we knew that Sen. McCain had a small chance due to the unpopularity of the war and the current economic problems, we were hopeful for a president who would defend the sanctity of human life.
That did not happen, so now we must [...]
3 Comments » - Posted in Politics by Devman
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008
The Novena Is Completed
Katie and I prayed the novena everyday–didn’t miss one! This afternoon we prayed while visiting Our Lady of the Rosary Cemetery in Georgetown.
Thank you for praying for our country during this important election.
No Comments » - Posted in Politics by Devman
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008
Maria Roxanna Garcia Ibarrola
Has been born into the world on this day, the memorial of St. Charles Borromeo, patron saint of parish priests!
1 Comment » - Posted in Love and War by Devman
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008
Catholic-Muslim Dialogue Beginning
Pope Benedict called for dialogue with Muslim leaders, and they responded. Now they are about to begin meeting in Rome.
No Comments » - Posted in Catholic Life, Faith and Reason by Devman
Monday, November 3rd, 2008
Welcome, Democrat Blog Readers
Welcome to the Vanguard.
Several liberal blogs have found Katie’s post about our brave pastor, Fr. Joel McNeil, and the letter he sent to the St. William’s parishioners recently.
These bloggers have unfortunately not commented on the post itself but instead made blog posts on their own blogs and linked to ours, which I discovered using my [...]
5 Comments » - Posted in Love and War, Politics by Devman
Sunday, November 2nd, 2008
One Hit Wonders?
Many of the musical artists that I like fall under this category. They have one big hit that plays on the radio a million times and which everyone loves, and then you never hear from them again, unless…
…you go out and find other music by them and listen to it, which is what I sometimes [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Entertainment, La Musica by Devman
Sunday, November 2nd, 2008
Gertrude and Lobelia
Our first two chickens.
Yesterday, Katie and I went over to my friend Nathan’s house and with his help, humanely slaughtered our chickens and processed them.
This was the first time I have ever killed a chicken, and I was anxious about it because I didn’t know how exactly to do it in such a way that [...]
4 Comments » - Posted in Grapevines and Nature by Devman
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
Sen. Obama Supports Crisis Pregnancy Centers, Right?
Wrong.
The National Catholic Register recently interviewed a young Hispanic woman who is attending a Catholic college and asked her about how she was thinking of voting.
“I like to be holistic in my approach to life issues….Crisis pregnancy centers and giving women the emotional support and resources needed to make the decisions are more important to [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Love and War, Politics by Devman
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
The Elder Zosima, Cardinal Ratzinger, and Barack Obama
Bear with me as I, a layman, attempt to synthesize threads of thought from Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov (TBK) and from Cardinal Ratzinger and apply them to our modern culture (in the United States in particular).
Elder Zosima is a (fictitious) pious monk of the Russian Orthodox Church in Dostoevsky’s story, and his talks are recorded [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Faith and Reason, Love and War, Politics by Devman
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
Salt of the Earth
Katie and I are both reading Salt of the Earth, an interview with then-Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict.
He answers questions from his boyhood to being enlisted in the Hitler Youth to becoming a priest, professor, and his role in the second Vatican council.
What is so awesome about it is how clearly he answers the questions. [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Faith and Reason by Devman
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
Next in the Queue?
Europeans call waiting in line “queueing”; I know this because I heard it in a recording of a live U2 concert in Ireland.
After our foster call “false alarm” last week, I called our caseworker and asked her if we were still “next in the queue” as far as getting a call goes. She didn’t understand [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Love and War by Devman
Sunday, October 26th, 2008
Another Double Standard
Sen. Obama’s campaign is apparently up in arms over the recent interview Sen. Biden did with a Florida news station, where–shock of all shocks–the news woman actually asked him tough questions.
They’ve ended all interviews with this station, and I suppose are licking their wounds. What’s interesting is that this is the first interview I have [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Politics by Devman
Saturday, October 25th, 2008
Protest Against the Catholic Campaign for Human Development
Dear readers,
Please join me in protesting against the Catholic Campaign for Human Development’s (CCHD) support of ACORN, the supposedly non-partisan organization which the CCHD has funded with $7.3 million over the past 10 years, and which was used this year alone in registering hundreds of thousands of voters (most in the swing states), many allegedly [...]
6 Comments » - Posted in Politics by Devman
Friday, October 24th, 2008
Five Non-Negotiable Issues
An excellent video just released recently.
Sen. McCain’s beliefs and actions on these issues are far and away better than those of Sen. Obama, who outright supports most of these gravely immoral actions:
1. Abortion
2. Embryo-destructive research
3. Human cloning
4. Euthanasia
5. Same-sex “marriage”
Katie and I have started Our Lady of Victory rosary novena today for the next 9 [...]