Stamps 41 Cents - Why?

Postal Regulators Want 2-Cent Stamp Hike

I can't understand why the rate keeps going up. Every time I go to my local P.O. either in the a.m. or p.m. (after lunch usually to beat the lunch crowds) there aren't enough workers in the building to work the 'windows'! I then have to shuffle my packages or mail and stand around for 15-20 mins. waiting for an available window/clerk. Now add to the time of waiting in line, the fact that there are now particular P.O.s that offer the applying/filing of passport applications. So, now they'll be burdened with this task and they still won't have filled the need to man all the windows/slots at the counter to assist postal customers. I have first hand of this experience.

So, be prepared (be patient-say a rosary, pray for the souls in purgatory, say the Divine Mercy Chaplet, meditate on a Bible verse,meditate on the face of Christ in your minds-eye) when going to purchase your (new) stamps, as there are others in line trying to do the right thing by following the rules...applying for their passports so they may travel. Oh yeah...one more thing...make sure you have all your required docmentation, correct size of pics. (Rite-Aid, Kinkos, etc. take pics.), and $-check or credit card. You'll help the other customer in line too by being completely prepared!

Life. It's a pilgrimage!

Opinions on J. Cameron's- ' The Lost Tomb of Christ'

Scholars, Clergy Slam Jesus Documentary & this one -Filmmakers Speak About Jesus Documentary

Amos Kloner, the first archaeologist to examine the site, said the idea fails to
hold up by archaeological standards but makes for profitable television.

"They just want to get money for it," Kloner said.

[snip]

Stephen Pfann, a biblical scholar at the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem who was interviewed in the documentary, said the film's hypothesis holds little weight.

"I don't think that Christians are going to buy into this," Pfann said. "But skeptics, in general, would like to see something that pokes holes into the story that so many people hold dear."

Advent & Lent Collide

From the Associated Baptist Press...

Supreme Court will not review policy banning nativity scenes in NY schools

A year after a New York City mother's appeal, the Supreme Court declined Feb. 20 to review a policy banning nativity scenes but allowing other holiday-season displays in the nation's largest public school district.

The justices declined, without comment or recorded dissent, to hear an appeal in Skoros v. City of New York (No. 06-271).

In the case, Catholic mother Andrea Skoros had asked the justices to overturn two rulings by lower federal courts that said the school district did not violate her two sons' religious freedom or her ability to raise her children without governmental religious interference when the district disallowed nativity scenes.

The schools' policy states: "The display of secular holiday symbol decorations is permitted. Such symbols include, but are not limited to, Christmas trees, menorahs, and the [Islamic] star and crescent."

Shortly after implementing the policy in 2001, a group of Catholic activists asked school officials to allow creches or nativity scenes to be included in the displays. However, the school board denied the request.

There's more...preposterous stuff...like this:

In response to Skoros' lawsuit, city attorneys argued that menorahs, dreidels, Christmas trees, Santa Claus and the star and crescent are sufficiently secular to represent the holidays celebrated by students in the diverse district. However, they contended, creches are purely Christian religious symbols.

Why couldn't the school policy include creches & nativity scenes? What's so hard about including the scenes? They wouldn't even have a Christmas tree if it weren't for CHRIST'S birth. Why does everything have to be so hard? Oops, I forgot it's about the battle - spiritually.

That's ok, because I know who WON! We keep on fighting onward and upward! The suffering we endure on this earth allows us to receive such awesome and magnificent grace!
YEA GOD!

We can use this grace for/in Lent: to remember to be charitable and loving in ALL circumstances; always mindful of the battle (I) we should continue to fight for CHRIST so that HE gets all the honor and glory in all circumstances; remain strong, faithful and steadfast and HE will RULE THE DAY!

Prayers for this mother - Mrs. Skoros, her family, her lawyers, her supporters, the Supreme Court Justices, the New York City school district & school board. And as always we offer prayers of reparation!

Angels Singing?

Angels singing caught on tape?

Feast of the Holy Face

"Whoever gazes upon me already consoles me."

Our Lord to Sister Pierina

HOLY FACE ASSOCIATION
Our Lady of the Holy Face-Newsletter 2007

VATICAN - REPLY TO "TIMES" ARTICLE ON CATHOLIC-ANGLICAN RELATIONS

Asbury hosts pope's preacher

This is the first time the two religious organizations have collaborated in such a way, and Cantalamessa said during a news conference yesterday that the cooperation was one of the primary reasons he accepted an invitation to come.

"I saw that there was a convergence," he said. "This particular occasion is very important to me."

He said Pope John Paul II, who appointed him to the post of papal preacher in 1980, stressed "exchanging gifts among the churches, not exchanging accusations." That's something Cantalamessa said he wants to encourage.

"What unites us is much more important," he said. "The Lord put love in my heart for the fellow Christians."

He said the issues that created the division between the Catholic Church and other denominations centuries ago "have lost most of their importance."

Anglicans and the Roman Catholic Church

As reported yesterday...Churches back plan to unite under Pope

More info:

Church deadline to curb gay rights

The US Episcopal Church has been given seven months to change its ways or face being kicked out of the Anglican Communion.

In an unexpectedly hard-hitting set of recommendations, primates of the Anglican Communion demanded an “unequivocal common covenant” under which dioceses in the Episcopal Church agree not to authorise same-sex blessings.

They also demanded late last night that no more gay men or women in active relationships with a person of the same sex be consecrated bishop.

Archbishop of Canterbury -Archbishop’s comments at the final press conference in Tanzania
His press releases.

Other sites:
Commentary...Pray lift your eyes above the belt
Daily Episcopalian-Blog with other listings of commentary
Titus one nine

Catholic, Anglican officials say talk of plans to reunite churches ‘much exaggerated’
Holy reunion!-Catholic, Anglican churches studying reunification, report says

Protect Your Fertility

Sponsored by ASRM...see under 'For Patient'

Female Risk Factors-gosh, no where does it mention the effects of contraception!

I will tho...here- you decide.

College Women & Egg Donation

Increase in Egg Donors Raises Concerns

Jennifer Dziura, a 28-year-old New Yorker, is one of them.

She received $8,000 to donate her eggs in the fall of 2005 and hopes she'll be chosen again before the private egg broker she's registered with considers her too old. She realizes prospective parents who view her profile might think it a minus that her father is adopted, allowing for little medical history from his side. She also figures some are looking for a blonde, instead of a brunette.

[snip]

As more older moms look for help getting pregnant, younger women have become increasingly willing to part with their eggs. Some do it to help relatives and friends, or from a sense of altruism, but others openly acknowledge money is a big factor in their decision, prompting critics to worry that they're helping drive an unregulated market for human tissue.

And why are there older moms? The answer: (most) have delayed having families for their career or selfish needs and have killed their own eggs - contracepting! So again, we take from our young!

Mother of Jesus pray for us!

[snip]

The American Society of Reproductive Medicine, or ASRM, has set a compensation guideline of $5,000, with a limit of $10,000 for special cases - if, for instance, a recipient wants eggs of rare ancestry.

I am not ready to be a donor, despite being egged on

Classified ads are running in college newspapers across the country...(hmmm trying to woo young girls away from their eggs)

Found in local campus newspaper this past weekend:

$5000.00 EGG DONORS NEEDED ASAP $5000.00 min. comp.healthy fit females height/weight proportionate non smoking 21 -29 info confidential 941-741-4994 web openarmsconsultants.com 941.741.4994

So, you'd better keep an eye on your children (and possibly grandchildren!); keep all lines of communication open so that this will not happen to your child. They could be very vulnerable and susceptible to this kind of tactic. Need I say more...spring break is quickly approaching (they need spending $), peer pressure and of course their age (sometimes) prevents good judgement and choices.

While we were sleeping...

Iran Launches Large-Scale War Games

Iran began its largest war games in almost a year Monday, just two days ahead of a U.N. Security Council deadline for Iran to halt uranium enrichment or face further economic sanctions.

The elite Revolutionary Guards began three days of ground maneuvers, state-run media reported Monday.

Culture

Benefits for Gay Couples Start in N.J.

Hundreds of gay couples received the same legal protections as married couples early Monday when a law making New Jersey the third state in the nation to offer civil unions took effect.

The civil unions - which offer the legal benefits but not the title of marriage - were granted automatically to the hundreds of gay New Jersey couples who have been joined in civil unions or married in other states or nations.

Possible RFID - 'PAD cards' for passports & 'Chip' news items

Raytheon Unveils ID Card, Fortifying RFID With Biometrics

The company believes its PAD card, which incorporates a fingerprint scanner for authentication, is well suited for use for the RFID-enabled passport card proposed by the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security and State.

Another news item on chipping humans...VeriChip IPO Focuses Attention on Human Implants

VeriChip Launches IPO

VeriChip Corporation Announces the Pricing of Its Initial Public Offering (notice "the Company"...what's that about I wonder?)

("VeriChip" or "the Company") announced today the pricing of its initial public offering. The Company is offering 3,100,000 shares of its common stock at $6.50 per share, before underwriting discounts and commissions. VeriChip’s common stock will be traded on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol “CHIP”.

Spychips RFID Blog...interesting stuff here.

A reminder of our battles...from the Cardinal Newman Society

Updated List of Schools Planning V-Monologues Performances (as of 2/15/07)

Lord have mercy!

Death for dollars? Ukrainian infants likely killed to harvest stem cell

Evidence from a video obtained by the BBC points to the stomach-churning possibility that healthy babies born in a Ukrainian maternity hospital were taken their mothers and then murdered so that large amounts of stem cells could be harvested from their brains and bone marrow. A spokesman for the hospital denies it is connected in any way with the use of stem cells -- but one Ukrainian couple never saw their newborn daughter again after being told all was well and then told later she had died.

[snip]

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) claims to have a video showing the autopsy examination of 30 infants and fetuses that were exhumed from a cemetery used by the Ukrainian maternity hospital. The video was also turned over to the Council of Europe who is now carrying out its own investigation as a response to about 300 families who are coming forward with charges against the hospital for allegedly taking and killing their newborns.

Pictures from the autopsies reveal tiny dismembered bodies with missing organs and brains. Since dismemberment of bodies is not a standard post-mortem practice, it is likely the babies were harvested for the high amounts of stem cells in their brains and bone marrow.

Our Lady of Guadalupe pray for us!

Interesting News Item...

Co-Inventor of the TV Remote Dies

Hit the mute button for a moment of silence: The co-inventor of the TV remote, Robert Adler, has died. Adler, who won an Emmy Award along with fellow engineer Eugene Polley for the device that made the couch potato possible, died Thursday of heart failure at a Boise nursing home at 93, Zenith Electronics Corp. said Friday.

Medicine & Immigration

Border Troubles
The reality...

The main issue hospital administrators say they face in treating undocumented immigrants is collecting payment for services rendered. In an effort to address this burgeoning problem, the federal government agreed to pay $250 million per year for fiscal years 2005 through 2008 directly to providers who submit “qualified claims”—but meeting that standard has proven to be a sticking point for many providers looking to get paid. To qualify for Section 1011 reimbursement, each hospital must fulfill certain eligibility requirements, such as asking patients whether they are eligible for Medicaid, have a border-crossing card and are foreign-born.

[snip]

“In September we billed $2.94 million and we got $664,000. At the end of the second quarter of our last billing, we billed $2.547 million, and we got $523,389,” says Anderson. So far, providers in Texas have submitted claims totaling $65.4 million to the federal government, according to figures from the Texas Hospital Association, and have received payments of approximately $14.3 million.

Blood oozes from Indian Jesus statue, bishop confirms

Jabalpur, India Bishop Gerald Almeida has called on Catholics to engage in "soul searching" after the eyes of a life-size statue of the Sacred Heart in a church yard began to ooze a blood-like substance.

Statue of Our Lady of Lourdes sheds tears of blood in Jaffna

This area is among the hardest hit by the ethnic conflict between the Tamil rebels and the national army. The image was in a private home and has now been transferred to a neighbouring church.

Genetically-Modified Foods & the Church

Stop US GM food, says Cardinal Rosales

Manila archbishop calls for a moratorium on the importation of genetically-modified GM food. He says scientists have already warned that GM crops and food products could harm the environment and human beings.