The Interwebz is back! And it's a Feast Day...

Since last Friday, I have been without internet in my dorm room. If you're a college student, you will understand how devastating that kind of problem is. If you're not, you will probably think I have an addiction. I don't. I just take FarmVille very seriously.

My guardian angels must have been looking out for me because the internet has decided to come back to Marian Hall!

And of course, today is the feast of the Archangels - St. Michael, St. Gabriel, and St. Raphael.

As you may or may not know, the Archangel is only one of the nine choirs of angels, the others including:

Seraphim
Cherubim
Thrones
Dominions
Virtues
Powers
Principalities
and Regular Angels

Each play their own role in the Kingdom of God, but the Archangels have the distinction of being the leading angels when it comes to revealing God's plan in salvation history.

They also announce critical events - like the Apocalypse and whatnot.

15 Abortions

If you talk to any pro-choice person, at some point in the conversation you will here this line:

"It's a very difficult choice. No woman WANTS to get an abortion. No woman LIKES abortion."

Unfortunately, if you look at the case of Irene Vilar, the above statement is absolutely false.

In one of the most tragic news stories that I stumbled upon today (thanks, again, to YouTube), this woman I named above has suffered through 15 - yes 15 - separate abortions. Although statistics show that once a woman does have one abortion she is more likely to have another one (I think that number is about 45%), it is still hard to believe that a woman could actually go through that torturous ordeal more than once. Why did she do it? According to her autobiography:

She "needed another self-injury to get high."

Yes, because of this woman's disturbing childhood (a suicidal mother and two heroin addicted brothers) and abusive relationship, she was forced into this manic abortion state. Her husband was very stern when it came to having children by stating repeatedly that children ruined his sexual desire. Self-centered much? Of course she was forced to take birth control pills but as she became more and more addicted to abortion, she intentionally started skipping months. All of this occurred in the past 16 years, meaning this woman had abortions scheduled annually. Yikes.

I believe that instead of judging her or praising her (depending on what side of the abortion debate you stand), we should all just pray for her. It seems like she is far beyond any human intervention on the matter and given the troubling history of mental and social problems in her family, she may be unreachable for a very long time. It certainly is a shame that no one had reached out to help her sooner.

I have not read her book and I am not going to. Why? It's not because I am intolerant. It's not because I am judging her. I would love to get to know more of her story. However, this statement on her official website is why I cannot:

" 'Impossible Motherhood' is committed to eliminating the stigma of abortion by creating new ways to talk about abortion honestly and publicly."

All I can say is, may God help her and her family. I am going to the Tomb of the Unborn here at Franciscan tomorrow to pray for the 15 children that have lost their lives.

Mutant Robots from Outer space!!

... well ok, not from outer space.

In a recent interview, Dr. Ray Kurzweil dropped the news that he believes humans will become immortal in 20 years. How is this possible, you might ask?

We will become robots. DUH.

Or to put it in Dr. Kurzweil's term, "cyborgs."

I found the article about this prediction here at Telegraph.co.uk. I assume it's going to spark some interesting debates about bioethics and end of life issues. Not to mention the problem science is having playing God.

Here are some key sentences from the article:

"I and many other scientists now believe that in around 20 years we will have the means to reprogramme our bodies' stone-age software so we can halt, then reverse, ageing. Then nanotechnology will let us live for ever."


"Virtual sex will become commonplace." 


"So we can look forward to a world where humans become cyborgs, with artificial limbs and organs."

Dr. Kurzweil is talking about immortality based around technological advancements that would replace and "improve" on the human body. Effectively this is saying,

"Dear God,

Anything you can do, we can do better. We can do better anything better than you.

In your face,

Humanity"

It doesn't sound like a very nice statement, does it? I think the whole venture into "improving the human body" will lead to incredibly dangerous ramifications.

Come on, Dr. Kurweil, haven't you read any Michael Crichton?

American Universities

Being a student of higher learning, after my catechetics class, I went on YouTube. Although YouTube has a lot of really sketchy and ill-produced videos, there are some gems that can be found.

Today I discovered Steven Crowder. In a recent video, he went on campus to UC Berkeley (you know, the one with all the hippies) and uncovered what has happened to education in the hands of liberal professors.

The video highlights the failings of misinformation, revisionist history, and propaganda - all favorites of socialist, communist, and totalitarian governments. Oh, and also a big favorite among the liberal professors that make up 35% of all university professors.

Watch the video and see why its so crucial that American children learn REAL American history, before they get to the stage of mindlessly following anyone who calls themselves an "intellectual."

The Daily Show Gets it Right?

Since my mother is leading the New Orleans Tea Party, I hear about ACORN from time to time. to time. to time....

It gets mentioned a lot.

BUT FOR GOOD REASON.

So it's not news that they are a very corrupt organization that uses all our tax money for evil. Just about anyone involved in politics has seen at least one clip from Fox News unravelling all that. Most notably, a few weeks ago, the story broke about ACORN helping a man jump start his underage prostitution ring.

Wait, sorry, sorry, his "performance art" ring. My bad.

What may be news to a lot of Tea Party members, Fox News watchers, and Catholics is Jon Stewart's (the host of the Daily Show on Comedy Central) reaction. I was actually pleased.

Watch the September 15 show here.

In this show, Jon Stewart does nothing to defend ACORN (which I would have expected), but instead does what he does best - makes fun of them. AND he proves that Fox News is the only news network out there reliably showing what ACORN is doing to our community.

A+ to Jon Stewart.

Not a Good Start to the Weekend

News blurb from Culture War:


A recognized pro-life activist was shot and killed outside of a Michigan high school. 


His soul, his family and the soul and family of the murderer are in my prayers - they should be in yours too.

Week in Review

Since the school year is still in its beginning stage, a lot of clubs and organizations on campus have been hosting preliminary and educational meetings to welcome new students (and newly interested students) into their ranks. Of the many, I decided to attend two: Students for Life and College Republicans.

I think it might be the same club.

Ok, so there are some differences but central to each is the culture of life movement. I haven't been on campus very long, but I feel as if these two clubs probably work together a lot (along with Democrats for Life).

So really, the hard part is trying to choose which club I want to be the most active in. As one of four or five active members of the Students for Life club back in Mobile, I feel a special calling to be a leader here as well. The only problem? The ENTIRE CAMPUS is in Students for Life here. How would a transfer sophomore, not belonging to any households, really get any recognition at all? I could join core team, but some of their commitments conflict with my class schedule. So it looks like participation in Students for Life will be limited to prayers outside the abortion clinic in Pittsburgh.

At least it's a little more than what I accomplished in Mobile - although our few members were certainly strong enough to hold that club together and keep it as a recognized voice in Mobile (if not only with the 40 Days for Life people...)

So maybe College Republicans?

They do a lot of pro-life work - usually in conjunction with Students for Life - and they have cake on Ronald Reagan's birthday!

Also, I want to make sure I will go with them to protest the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh! My mother would be proud.

Is there a Tea Party in Ohio?

A Little Laughter