Since our culture is based on fear, we hear a lot about courage as a counterbalance.  I think we have them both wrong.

This really has me bothered right now as we approach election season. John McCain is aboard the Fear Express.  

Obama surprises some of us.

Deep sigh. Where is the wisdom, I cry?

Promoted by PD with anger and sadness. 97 percent of American casualties have come after "Mission Accomplished."

I awoke on Easter Monday to hear that 4 more US service personnel were killed and now the death toll is at 4000.

US service people - 4000. This includes 8 Department of Defense deceased, according to the article I link to here.

Countless contractors, soldiers from other lands and more innocents than we can possibly comprehend.

I feel the scream rise up from deep within.

God have mercy on us all.

Promoted by Rain until after the Vigil

Openness is not gentility in the social arena. It is not polite listening to people with whom we inherently disagree. It is not political or civil or "nice." It is not even simple hospitality. It is the munificent abandonment of the mind to new ideas, to new possibilities. Without an essential posture of openness, contemplation is not possible. God comes in every voice, behind every face, in every memory, deep in every struggle. To close off any of them is to close off the possibility of becoming new again ourselves.

   From Illuminated Life: Monastic Wisdom for Seekers of Light by Joan Chittister (Orbis Books, 2000).

This has been a huge year of transition for me. I have written a little about that on my own blog, recently.  Feel free to look or not.

As a result, my pondering has led to this.  I am aware that this is written from my own very Catholic heart.

However, I also subscribe to the universality that catholic (small c) should represent and the "here comes everybody" idea.

That's why I like it here!

Peace people.

It is kind of hard to not notice Christmas. At many levels. Whether you want to notice it or not.

For example, as a Catholic, you'd think I am all over it. Despite some Christmas-like behavior, I am really spending my time in Advent, possibly for the first time in my life.  Watching, waiting.

Anyway, many of you are not Christian, because- pardoning the expression - Thank God you still get to be what you want in this country.

At least for the moment.

(I have had internet challenges all day and am rushing to get this up... I don't think anyone else has it up, but if I missed it in haste, so sorry!)

Promoted by Rain until after the Vigil

As usual, I show up (ok it is only my second time, but it will be usual) for my Monday vigil supremely unprepared. And also unexpectedly pressed for time.

After some diary trolling and blog visits it came to me from another direction.

And while it is in synch with Advent, it is not simply about Advent.

What is waiting to be born?

This Mike Huckabee ad blew me away.

Not in a good way.

Is this really the ad of a Baptist minister and self-professed conservative  running for president?

I guess it is.

As always,I think Keith Olberman cuts to the heart of the matter.

Daniel Levin was not some left wing blogger type with an axe to grind. He was a DOJ employee who needed his own verification. He got it. He wrote about it. He got canned.

Waterboarded and canned. Nice.

The fact that this administration is even still having these painful hairsplitting discussions is a disgrace.

And a sin.

Ever since I saw this earlier, I have had it on my mind to post this video here. However, I always approach these things with some trepidation.

It is snarky and ironic and angering, so I think... maybe not.

Then I read this great post by uwdomke and I thought... Post I must.  I am hoping it has not been already done, but in my looking around here, I found no evidence of it.

So without further adieu, here it is...

Let the comments fly, I will take my laughs or take my licks!

Promoted by Rain until after the Vigil

Nothing was really coming to me about what to post for this vigil, which I had so boisterously volunteered to do weeks ago. I've been away and not on SP much since my return... No reason, just time. Then I saw the quotations below the fold... And it all came to me, in a cloud of doubt.

So please journey with me into this mystery of doubt as the lever to faith.. whatever faith may mean to any one of us.  It is all very different- no doubt, and that is what makes it beautiful.

Just realized that Blog Action Day was going on here too after reading JCHFleetguy's diary about it. I had posted this at my own blog and now here with very very minor modifications.

See -not being around awhile has caused me to almost miss the boat!

Actually, I am not all that into fighting. I struggle with loving my enemies, a topic that I have mentioned right here .

However, when I saw this MSNBC video of David Shuster interviewing Marsha Blackburn, R-TN, I thought... who is her enemy? The New York Times? MoveOn.org?

Although I am almost sick to death of the MoveOn.Org/Betray Us issue, this is pretty compelling.