Double-Edged Rope

So, Saddam got the short drop, and a sudden stop. While Shiites and Kurds (and not a few NeoCons) will be dancing with glee, something tells me that the world has not been markedly improved with the execution of Saddam Hussein. The blood on his hands and in the Iraqi soil, still cries out, but will get no answer. There will never be any penance, and never any reconciliation.

It was a foregone conclusion that Saddam was going to hang, from the moment that they pulled him out of his hidey-hole, and he knew it as well. Despite the efforts to put on an apparently fair trial, it will always the seen as just a veneer of civility to an otherwise delayed execution. There was never any question as to the eventual outcome, it was just a matter of observing formality.

There was a TV movie, in 2000, about the trials at Nuremberg. In the movie, Hermann Goering sums up the trials as such; Yes, I understand, we lost the war and now you're going to hang us. To him, and by extension, many others now, Saddam's hanging will be seen as only a consequence of losing an armed conflict with the United States.

Holy Innocents, Matthew 25, and Abortion

The feast of the Holy Innocents was this week, and I was pondering not a few things about abortion, and how it's usually dismissed by the Social Justice crowd. Matthew 25 figures big into the Social Justice Gospel, as well it should for all of us, but let's apply it to the unborn as well:

"But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.
"All the nations will be (gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;

and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.

"Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;

naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.'

"Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink?

'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?

'When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'

"The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'

"Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;"

I know that the Left will instantly recoil from the thought of the unborn as one of the 'least of them', in an instinctive fear of acknowledging their horrific error. Abortion is the denial of our hospitality to Christ, a refusal to welcome him. A child, in his or her needs, acts in Personae Christi as a recipient of our love and charity. This also implies the inverse, that our hostility to, or neglect of, children will be held against us at the Last Judgment.

The Whinepress of Wrath

Oh no! National Call to Action is going to start bombarding Lincoln, Nebraska Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz with the "Fraternal Correction" suggested by Patricia Ewers. It's like illegal immigrants lecturing a congressman about environmental policy: An attempt to cover one's own illegitimacy by accusing an adversary of an unrelated fault.

They're also going to copy the head of the USCCB, Bishop William "[uncharitable comment edited]" Skylstad on the letters. Might as well CC Santa Claus as well, for all the good that will do, as Bruskewitz gives creedence to the USCCB to the same extent as he might the Tooth Fairy. So, having washed out at the Vatican, are they going to the next higher authority (in their minds) by going to the USCCB?

From CTA's press release:

“Bishop Bruskewitz may try to excommunicate our Nebraska members, but he cannot excommunicate our efforts for justice,” says Rachel Pokora, President of CTA/Nebraska. “We want our daughters to be able to be altar girls and we want to protect the children in our diocese in the wake of the sexual abuse revelations. Every other diocesan bishop in the United States allows altar girls and has complied with the sex abuse-related national Charter for the Protection of Children
and Young People, except Bishop Bruskewitz. The bishop has excommunicated us for simply wanting justice in our diocese.”

Don't be disingenuous, Rachel, those reasons are not why you got excommunicated. The CTA gang was excommunicated 7 years before the abuse scandal even broke out. There's nothing like blatant falsehood to communicate one's innocence. So what does CTA want that got them excommunicated: Birth Control, Abortion, Married Priests, Women Priests, Gay Marriage. Once again they try to clothe the rest of their agenda with the "Protection of Children" issue:

“Does this mean that any Catholic is at risk of excommunication when they disagree with their bishop or Catholic teaching? What about the more than 90% of US Catholics who disagree with the Vatican’s stance on birth control? What about the two-thirds of US Catholics who desire women’s ordination? Does this recent letter from the Vatican mean that any Catholic who advocates for the protection of children in the wake of the sexual abuse crisis could be subject to excommunication?

The devious insinuation of legitimate issues to mask the advance of the illegitimate desires are proof enough that EVERY catholic, in EVERY diocese, should get out of Call To Action, period. Any remaining should be excommunicated.

h/t CWNews/OTR

Et Erit Iste Pax

"He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock
by the strength of the LORD,
in the majestic name of the LORD, his God;
and they shall remain, for now his greatness
shall reach to the ends of the earth;
he shall be peace." (Micah 5:4)

Notice the Things/Institutions that are NOT peace:

The U.N. is NOT Peace.
The U.S.A. is NOT Peace.
Canada is NOT Peace.
The E.U. is NOT Peace.
Russia is NOT Peace.
China is NOT Peace.
Wealth is NOT Peace.
Might is NOT Peace.
Communism is NOT Peace.
Capitalism is NOT Peace.
Democracy is NOT Peace.
Environmentalism is NOT Peace.
Pacifism is NOT Peace.
Sexual Liberty is NOT Peace.
Abortion is NOT Peace.
Buddhism is NOT Peace.
Hinduism is NOT Peace.
Islam is NOT Peace.


Some of the above institutions have their uses, some of the philosophies can placate, and some can even simulate peace. But, only in Christ can we truly find a real peace, a peace that can withstand the ravages and illusions of the above listed ideologies.

Calling Al Sharpton

The lab, DNA Security of Burlington, found during tests performed last April that not only did the DNA not match the three defendants, but that it also did not belong to any of their lacrosse teammates or anyone else who submitted DNA samples to police, including the accuser's boyfriend. Those findings were not turned over to the defense until October, when District Attorney Mike Nifong's office turned over thousands of case-related documents.

The DNA evidence that does not instantly convict must in turn, be repressed, lest someone think that the accused are innocent. Or so thinks District Attorney Mike Nifong. After it hit the presses that Nifong colluded with management of the DNA lab to conceal exculpatory evidence, the case continues to disintegrate, to the point that it's starting to resemble the Tawana Brawley incident.

Nifong said in court papers the accuser told an investigator Thursday she is no longer certain whether she was penetrated vaginally with the men's penises during the alleged March 13 attack, as she had claimed earlier. Without any "scientific or other evidence independent of the victim's testimony" to corroborate that aspect of the case, he said, there is "insufficient evidence to warrant prosecution" for rape.

Now, something terrible may have happened to the young lady in question, but continuing a prosecution with nothing more that scattered and inconsistent testimony smacks more of malicious intent more that upholding the rights of all the citizens involved.

Charges of sexual offense and kidnapping remain, but District Attorney Mike Nifong for the first time admitted weakness in his case: "The state is unable to meet its burden of proof with respect to this offense," he wrote.

D.A. Nifong must be beside himself that he had to drop the Forcible Rape charges against those three, white, college boys. As the case goes forward, it's getting weaker and weaker. When it finally crumbles, Nifong should be fitted for an orange jumpsuit himself.

Better Bread Needed

Headline:

Nun still hungry for experiences

'I want the church to be relevant,' the skydiving, bungee jumping and 88-year-old former NASA employee says

Why doesn’t sister think that the Church is relevant? Let’s look at her career:

Lolich is a nun with the Community of the Holy Spirit, a Catholic order she and 15 other sisters created when they left the more restrictive Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose in 1970.

It was within this new community that she was able to do something unusual for a nun — work outside of the order. For years she was employed by NASA and broke the stereotype of what people typically associate with nuns. In her 70s, she bungee-jumped, and skydived on her 80th birthday — her third time.

Okay, so she helped form a looser religious life, and worked in the world for a scientific organization. So she’s really not so different from us lay-folk, right? What drove her quest for a different religious order?

"The rules were anachronistic," said Lolich, of the order that had very strict rules requiring them to wear wool habits, travel in pairs and not have any money with them.

In 1970, after Vatican II — when the Pope decreed to renew the church, and to lessen the restrictions set on nuns — Lolich and 15 others decided to form the Community of the Holy Spirit, knowing the Dominican Sisters would resist change.

Ahh, yes, the Spirit of Vatican II™, vent of all discontent and dissatisfaction with all things Catholic. Not that the Second Vatican Council was at all bad, but it gave many folks enough rope, like poor Sister here, and now they’re spiritually dangling in the wind.

"We were searching for a way to be authentically religious women, but have the opportunities to develop and grow according to our God-given talents," she said. "That was an innovative thing to do at the time — creating the community from the ground up, and making sure we were well founded."

Faith is not built from the ground up, but centers on Christ, and builds outward. The order may have been well founded, but well formed would have been better. The article leads on to believe that this nun's order was more about personal fulfillment with the veneer of religious life.

And it was within that community where Lolich was able to find her niche in aerospace education.

In 1976, she became an education specialist for NASA at the Ames Research Center, Moffett Field in Mountain View. For six years, Lolich traveled alone in a white work van filled with moon rocks, space suits and models of spacecraft, visiting school assemblies and classroom programs.
After that, she visited inner city schools for NASA's headquarters in Washington, D.C., for another six years.

I wonder if it ever occurred to Sister that instead of evangelizing for NASA, she could have rode around in a van proclaiming Christ to children and adults, or even teaching in a nearby catholic school.

Here’s the whole hook of the story, now that they’ve painted a saintly, albeit secular as possible, portrait of our nun:

She also wants to see change in the Catholic Church.
"I want the church to be relevant," said Lolich who still has close ties with the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose. "I want priests to be allowed to marry if they wish, I want women priests, and bishops selected by the people. I may not see those happen, but I think it will be possible that you will.

Going back to the headline, let’s see if there’s an answer for Sister’s hunger:

John 6:32-36
Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven.
"For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world."
Then they said to Him, "Lord, always give us this bread."
Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.
"But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe.”

h/t CWNews

St. Jimbob Can Party!

Keel-Haul the Scurvy Lot

Pirates are a hot topic these days, and folks are trying to cash in on a salvaged pirate ship display in Tampa, Florida. Oh, but here cometh the baggage:

But before pirates hijacked the Whydah, which sank in 1717, it had been a slave ship, and when leaders of Tampa's black community learned of the vessel's full history late last year, they were outraged.

Ahh yes, it had to be something like that, didn't it?

Many black ministers, lawyers, businessmen and academics here argue that the city's eagerness to embrace the Whydah pirate complex without asking blacks for advice was insulting.

You just cannot avoid insulting someone who is ever seeking insult. And after the outrage is leveraged by the media coverage, the claim of insult pays off:

From a strictly economic point of view, the Whydah could help "create a critical mass of tourism and convention destinations that would be a real magnet," Mr. Schmitt said. Equally important, it would create some 350 permanent jobs as well as hundreds of construction jobs, some of which backers of the project have said they will guarantee go to blacks.

Talk about piracy, eh? Well it's following the tradition of the ship in question:

On its maiden voyage, the Whydah carried slaves from West Africa to Jamaica, then was hijacked by Samuel Bellamy, the pirate known as Black Sam.

Dr. Christopher E. Hamilton, the salvage project's principal archeologist, said research by his team indicated the pirates were an international, multiracial crew who voted on major decisions and shared loot fairly equally...

Mr. Bernstein, however, remains undeterred. "It is a remarkable and compelling irony that blacks and whites lived together as equals on board this pirate ship," he said.

So let me get this straight. African slaves were freed, who then went straight to the vocation of piracy, with the attendant activities of murder and robbery. That doesn't sound like something the black community should be celebrating... oh, wait:



h/t NPR & NYT

Bloggiversary

Happy Blogday to St. Jimbob,
Happy Blogday to St. Jimbob,
Happy Blogdat dear St. Jimbob,
Now start writing something worth reading, eh?

Not all of this has been crappage, has it? Here's a few of my favourite posts:

Preparing the Way

the Invincible Poor ( One of my first, and a musing which prompted me to start blogging in the first place)

Red Friday Cometh

of Food and Marriage

Tolerance ≠ Mercy

And some of you may remember Maoist China, and their treatment of fellow catholics, as being of particular interest to me:

Can We Buy Their Freedom?

Render Unto Mao

Marxist Love

of Mice and Martyrs

Before You Shop..

I've taken time to critically examine heretics and schismatics at both extremes, much to the dismay of traddies who dislike my scorn of the SSPX. Liberals don't really care about what I think of their heretic champions, ordained and not. Here's to another year of dancing on the edges of Detraction and Calumny.

Muslims Protest For Right To Rape

h/t Cosmos-Liturgy-Sex

Ok, the headline is really:

Thousands Rally Over Pakistan Rape Law

Musharraf last week signed into law some amendments to the Hudood Ordinance, a 1979 law against rape that human rights activists said punished rape victims while providing legal safeguards for their attackers.

The ordinance required a rape victim to produce four witnesses in court to prove her assault claim. Under the new amendment, judges can choose whether a rape case should be tried in a criminal court where the four-witness rule does not apply or under the Islamic ordinance.

The new law also drops the death penalty for sex outside of marriage. The offense now would be punishable with five years in prison or a fine of $165.

20,000 Pakistani Muslims fill the streets to bewail the overturning of some portions of Islamic law, which previously shielded assailants, and even punished victims who filed complaints. International scrutiny has been brought to bear on this issue by Mukhtar Mai, a Pakistani woman who was raped on the orders of her village council, imprisoned for reporting it, threatened with murder for calling attention to the issue.


Every daughter's father in this crowd should be ashamed to call himself a man, much less a father. The support of wicked legislation by these Imams would indicate that Allah is nothing more than a demon prince of murderous satyrs.

The new legislation has political ramifications as well: (click 'Read More')

Dawn commentator Ayaz Amir gives the political scoop:

WHETHER anyone designed it this way or not, the Women’s Protection Bill is the best thing to have happened in Pakistan for a long time. Not so much for what it contains but for what it has led to: the entrapment of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) leadership in the web of its own cunning and the prospects of a rapprochement between Gen Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto’s PPP.

The mullahs are trapped, that’s for sure. If they resign from the National Assembly as they have sworn to do, they lose influence without getting anything in return, least of all public sympathy, the Pakistani people tired of the religious leadership’s prowess in the most amazing gymnastics. If they don’t resign, they will become more of a laughing stock than they already are: the butt of endless jokes.

Alas, both [ruling party president] Shujaat and the mullahs miscalculated. Instead of backing down, Musharraf held his ground (perhaps the bravest thing he has done in his career) and insisted that the bill be pushed through parliament.

Musharraf is by no means a saint, but he's a cork in a cracked bottle of potential Islamic radicalism, armed with nuclear weapons.

Dawn contributor Irfan Husain speaks to the religious dimension of Islam's deficiencies in the treatment of women:

The truth is that for many Muslim women today, several Islamic provisions regarding the laws of evidence and inheritance do appear to disadvantage them. And as they give men authority over women, the former are naturally reluctant to contemplate a change in this set-up. Indeed, the entire social order is tilted in favour of men, and when one community or sex wishes to redress the power balance, an intense struggle takes place. This happened in the West over the last century, as women fought for, and won, equal rights. But although western women are equal under the law, pockets of discrimination and gender bias remain.

We need to remember that Muslim societies were not the only ones to treat women unjustly. Across the world, these attitudes have held women back for millennia. But as mankind moved from hunting-gathering to farming to industry, physical strength gave way to education and intelligence in determining an individual’s place in society. Especially in the last 50 years or so, it became clear that to unleash a society’s potential, half the population could not be locked up at home. A major reason why Muslim countries continue to lag behind the rest of the world is because their women are not being allowed to make a full contribution to progress.

And women in the West complain bitterly, yet they've never had it so good. I guess that it's all a matter of perspective.

Preparing the way

I had some reflections on Sunday's readings. Part of the first reading struck me:

(Baruch 5:7)
For God hath appointed to bring down every high mountain, and the everlasting rocks,
and to fill up the valleys to make them even with the ground: that Israel may walk diligently to the honour of God.

In our lives we have both excesses and deficits, which need to be rectified so that we can properly welcome Christ. We may be zealous in defending orthodoxy, but lax in self-discipline. We may spend many hours before the Tabernacle, but don't spare time to help the needy. We may extol the vitues of social justice, but neglect obedience to the Church. Excesses and deficits, Mountains and valleys, all need to be graded and smoothed to prepare the way for Christ.
This preparation is rarely comfortable, as the mountain will complain about the violence done to its heights, and the valley bewail the invasions of its spaces. Penance is not pleasant, but is necessary.

Parate viam Domini rectas facite semitas eius!

Bishop's Judgment Upheld

via CWNews:

In March 1996, Bishop Bruskewitz had announced the excommunication of all Catholics in his diocese who were members of Call to Action or several other dissident groups which he described as “totally incompatible with the Catholic faith.”

The Nebraska chapter of Call to Action appealed the bishop’s decision to the Vatican. In his November 24 letter to Bishop Bruskewitz, Cardinal Re reports that Vatican’s finding that the disciplinary action was “properly taken.”

It's interesting that CTA would bother appealing to an entity who's authority they routinely reject. It's like an anarchist in queue for the dole, he only regards the entity inasmuch as it's beneficial to his ends. In this instance, the Vatican wasn't sympathetic to the plaintiff's cause.

The Vatican has determined that “the activities of ‘Call to Action’ in the course of these years are in contrast with the Catholic Faith due to views and positions held which are unacceptable from a doctrinal and disciplinary standpoint,” Cardinal Re writes. He concludes: “Thus to be a member of this Association or to support it, is irreconcilable with a coherent living of the Catholic Faith.”

This appears to be a fairly potent indictment of the Call To Action movement as a whole, and so begs the question voiced by others: If Call To Action is bad for Catholics in Nebraska, isn't it bad for Catholics everywhere else as well?
I wonder if other bishops are paying attention, or if they're ducking in hopes of not being noticed for being conspicuously silent on this issue.

Update 12/08/06:

The Lincoln Journal Star picked up on the story, and got reactions from local CTA members.

Local CTA member Jim McShane, who signed the original appeal of Bruskewitz’s ruling, said the local group has never received any response from Rome or been given the opportunity to state its case to Vatican officials.

“This letter is very unfortunate,” McShane said. “I’m deeply distressed by it. There’s every evidence that Rome is acting on misinformation.”

Rather than getting correct information about the beliefs and purposes of Call to Action from members of the organization itself, Vatican leaders have received incorrect information from Bruskewitz, McShane said.

Bishop Bruskewitz had advice for the sanctioned group:

Bruskewitz said Re’s letter makes clear the Vatican’s opposition to Call to Action and other groups considered incompatible with the faith.

“My prayer will always be that when people understand they have taken a wrong turn, they will stop and take the right turn,” he said.

The bishop urged local Catholics to “repudiate their membership in these groups” and then seek the Sacrament of Reconciliation in order to be reinstated with the church.

He's giving them every opportunity to repent and reconcile. Why are these people so stubborn?

Rachel Pokora, president of Call to Action-Nebraska, said she plans to continue attending church in the Lincoln Diocese and taking communion, as she has in the past.

“It will be interesting to see what the implications (of Re’s letter) are,” she said. “Will other dioceses take stronger actions against Call to Action?” So far, Bruskewitz is the only bishop to issue an excommunication ruling.

Obstinate, aren't we? But then, it's to be expected that CTA folks won't listen to a Bishop that they didn't vote for. My advice? Either repent and reconcile with the Church, or go join the Episcopalians. If you're going to join the TEC, though, you'd better hurry. They're about to throw themselves over a cliff, and may end up being Unitarians.

Turf War...er, Catfight

From CWNews

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexei II has renewed his frequent complaint that the Catholic Church is engaged in “proselytism” in Russia and other traditionally Orthodox countries of Eastern Europe.

The Russian prelate told the RIA-Novosti news service that the “extremely unfriendly policy” of the Catholic Church is straining relations between the Moscow patriarchate and the Holy See.

I cannot imagine that Catholics living their vocations in Russia are any less friendly than the Russian officials that harass Catholic clergy or deny them entry into the country. I'd hate for this situation to escalate, as russians settle their scores in nasty ways, like poisoning people with Polonium 210.

It seems that the national, autocephalus Orthodox churches' ecumenical attitudes border on xenophobic in their relations with the Catholic Church and protestant denominations. By their reactions, you'd think Catholics were Operating Thetans looking to spread the Word of Hubbard. The Prosperity Gospel is making ground in eastern Europe as it is in South America, so the good patriarch should worry more about Benny Hinn than Pope Benedict XVI.

Holiday Q&A

So tagged by da Clam Rampant

Getting To Know You Holiday Edition
Welcome to the 2006 Holiday Edition of Getting to Know Your Friends! You know the drill. Don't be a scrooge!!!

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? Hot Chocolate, made with hot coffee, so it's more like a po' boy mocha.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? We're doing an experiment, being of a hippie nature when it comes to consumerism, and we're wrapping presents in colored fabric this year. No tape, no tearing, no waste.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? I'm a bit pedestrian in my tastes, and prefer coloured lights. Mrs. St. Jimbob prefers white lights, as do all the lawyers, bankers, legislative aspirants, and legislative has-beens on our street. I like my coloured lights, and everyone else can sod off.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Um, what's missile-toe, some Air Force ground crew ailment? I can see how dropping a Sidewinder on your foot could have repercussions.

5. When do you put your decorations up? Day after turkey day, more to work off the tryptophan than any other reason.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? A good savory, cornbread stuffing/dressing.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child: Watching the Muppet Christmas Special, with John Denver, with 2 siblings, while my aunt gave my mother a manicure. Oh yeah, mom was timing contractions at the time.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? It's foggy, but I remember sneaking to the top of the stairs, and creeping down while my parents were wrapping/placing presents.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? I try not to, but I'm lousy at impulse control, and with the kids keening to get ripping, it's hard to resist.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? I wind lights around it, stream a dozen colourful ribbons down the sides, like a huge may pole, then let people hang other ornaments on it.

11. Snow! Love it or dread it? It's alright, but I'd rather be able to play golf.

12. Can you ice skate? It depends on what you mean by skate. If falling down a lot counts, I'm a pro.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? A car key, on a key ring featuring an electric guitar, when I was 16.

14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you? Trying to repel the materialist frenzy and remind my family not only about the gift of Jesus, but also why we so desperately need Him.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Nugat cookies. Even as I say it, I feel both glee and repulsion. I hate carbs, and I hate that I love carbs so.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Christmas Mass, because everyone sings for once.

17. What tops your tree? A red velvet bow.

18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? It's a draw, especially when I'm giving clever or funny gifts.

19. What is your favorite Christmas song? 'Adeste Fidelis', otherwise known as 'O Come All Ye Faithful' to the non-latin crowd.

20. Candy canes: yuck or yum? Eh, I'm partial to chocolate myself, but a candy cane isn't too bad. The funky flavors can be fun as well.

21. Favorite Christmas movie? 'Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol' for the cartoon lot, and 'A Christmas Carol' with either George C. Scott or Patrick Stewart for serious film.

22. What do you leave for Santa? My credit card bill.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!...or Advent, anyway!

Ejumicashun

Well, I got accepted to the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, which begs the question: Just who were they turning away? Now I need to get registered for classes, and figure out how to get anyone else to pay for the tuition, books, et cetera. Maybe I'll be getting some money from you, American Taxpayer, for which I will now thank you profusely.

Balancing the job, family, and adding classes is going to be tough. My parents, having three kids and one full-time job, tag-teamed their way through college in the late 70's. I remember them working on term papers and the piles of text books, I was in 2nd or 3rd grade when they graduated together. It would have been impossibly expensive, but the G.I. Bill benefits (both were USAF vets) kept the costs under control. I used my G.I. Bill bennies on getting my AA in Audio Engineering, so I'll be financing this new venture on my own.

So, if you'd all be so kind, give word to Sts. Gregory the Great and Jerome to pray for me, that my brain will actually function for this project.

I've been working fiendish hours lately, FYI, hence the general blog quiet.