Get Religion: Media shirk debate on religious liberty

... you wouldn’t know it from media coverage but the Obama Administration has issued a strict mandate that deeply concerns many religious liberty observers. Because that mandate requires everyone to pay for abortifacients, sterilization and contraception for their employees — even if they have religious objections to it — the media have decided to adopt the framework that this is a battle over “women” and a battle over “belief” in “birth control.” That’s not even close to an accurate description of what concerns the religious liberty activists, but it doesn’t matter. And it’s a sexist dismissal of all the women, such as myself, who care deeply and passionately about religious liberty. But it doesn’t matter. It’s the way many in the media have decided to frame the issue and they don’t care how many Jews, Lutherans, Baptists, Catholics and Zoroastrians (female or male!) say otherwise, it’s going to be about birth control. And there’s nothing you can do about it.

GetReligion, how I love it. They never let the media off the hook on how they cover religion. Go. Read. And enjoy.

in which Scott finally admits to Julie that he's a digient. Julie knew it all along.

The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang - at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.

“Religious liberty does not depend on the benevolence of who is regulating us.”

Much remains to be done. We cannot rest when faced with so grave a threat to the religious liberty for which our parents and grandparents fought. In this moment in history we must work diligently to preserve religious liberty and to remove all threats to the practice of our faith in the public square. This is our heritage as Americans. President Obama should rescind the mandate, or at the very least, provide full and effective measures to protect religious liberty and conscience.

The broad reaching implications of this impasse finally struck home to me (closing hospitals, schools and the like if the administration doesn't back down) ... and so I've been praying a lot for our bishops to have the courage of their convictions. It's no wonder I am pleased to see this recent statement from Cardinal Timothy Dolan to his fellow bishops.

Via The Curt Jester, whose comments are spot on. He also has some good news from the courts about conscience protection, so go read about it.

Cooking the Books: Weber's Big Book of Grilling

I've been meaning for some time to tell y'all about my personal 2012 Cooking Challenge. I have quite a few cookbooks and yet I cook from them so rarely. Many of them I have read numerous times but still have never been impelled to do more than cook the same two or three recipes that interested me originally.

This year I thought I'd make two-three dishes from a particular cookbook each week. If all goes well, I'll have provided much more variety to my usual round of "go to" default meals.

Find out more at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

About that which is none of your business, shut up.

(Language alert for those who care.)

The herd will not have it. The herd hates outliers. It’s nothing personal; it’s just for protection. If you stray from the herd, you get eaten. It’s as simple as that. It’s natural selection. So stick together.

But nobody’s trying to eat us, so why can’t we get over our herd mentality? Why can’t we relax and let people be? Why do we even care?

You would think there would be strength—and comfort—in numbers. You would think that if 95% of the women you know are wearing Fashion X this year, they wouldn’t need to tease or sneer at the 5% who wear something different. You would think that if 95% of the men you know prefer drinking beer and watching football to drinking wine and watching opera, they wouldn’t feel the need to call the 5% fags. Who cares what the other 5% do, or like, or wear, or think?

But we do care. We’re a herd. And we care a lot. We can’t be “us” unless we’re all us. One weirdo makes us question our us-ness, our whole group. And we don’t like that. So we’d better bring the outliers back into line. It doesn’t have to be through violence or coercion—it can just be gentle mockery. We’re teasing. Don’t take everything so seriously. Don’t take it all to heart. Just take it.

If you’re lucky, as an adult, you find a place or make a place where this kind of nonsense doesn’t occur, where people are genuinely tolerant of difference—or, better, indifferent about it. Indifferent about difference. I don’t want you to tolerate what I am; I want you to not give a shit, one way or the other. I want you to accept the fact that who I am is none of your goddamned business, and live accordingly.

Ah, how much of American political discourse would vanish overnight if we could just apply this one, simple rule: About that which is none of your business, shut up.

Of course, in far too many places, people think that everything is their business. In far too many places, the message is clear: it’s not that we want you to be exactly like us; we need you to be exactly like us. We can have no bell curve here; the outliers must be brought into the fold. We must be one flat line, stretching across the horizon forever. It is an absolutist, totalitarian impulse buried deep in our heart of darkness, and the insecurity and fear it reveals is troubling.

And surprising. I mean, who knew a head cheerleader’s sense of self could be so precarious?

The way I feel right now, this resonates. Andrew Ordover goes on to look at the specific example that spurred him to write, that of his son. Which also resonates. We've all either been there or seen that done.

I still remember the Japanese intern for our Catholic school's third grade class, Maya. She stayed with us for a year and it was a lot of fun. But one of the things that she thought was most wonderful about America was how we were free to be ourselves, to be different.

She told me, "We have a saying, 'The nail that sticks out gets hammered down.' To see how the children treat each other in school, how they pick on each other. It can be terrible. Here in America it is so much better."

Maybe it is wishful thinking to say that it used to be so much better. There has always been a "herd" to bully those who aren't just the same, especially among children. Adults aren't always better.

It is what makes it so important to stand up for the little guy when he's being hammered down. Kudos to Andrew Ordover for articulating it so well.

Lenten Reading Ideas - Updated

WHAT I'M READING
I am already reading two books that are really hitting me where I live. How handy! I can just keep going with them through Lent.

Night of the Confessor by Tomas Halik
Night of the Confessor is rich and deep, with somehow simple ideas. Just when the author says something that I have a knee-jerk reaction of "that's not how faith works" he goes further and deeper so that I understand the reasons behind the surface statement ... and usually agree. This is thoughtful and thought provoking writing which I am letting sink in. And it is enriching my internal life. A fuller review is here with a lengthy excerpt.

Gospel of Mark, The (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture) by Mary Healy
This is a really great commentary. Healy combines a lot of the information that I have in a variety of other commentaries (both Catholic and Protestant), but then pulls it all together with additional observations that make it very accessible while still being scholarly. She follows up many sections with items for reflection.

Sometimes I am enlightened by the factual information which gives me new insights into the text. Sometimes it is from the material for reflection. However, it is a rare day that I fail coming away with an insight that I ponder the rest of the day. Highest recommendation and I will be getting another in the series after I am done with this book.

OTHER GREAT BOOKS
Here are some other books that I either have read for Lent or would gladly read. Some may be familiar because I just can't stop pushing them (or rereading them).

To Know Christ Jesus by Frank Sheed
Sheed looks at Jesus' life by weaving together all four Gospels. He also takes into consideration the times in which Jesus lived, how the people then would have interpreted Christ's teachings and witness, links to the Old Testament, teachings of the Chruch Fathers, archaeology, and more. The goal of all this is to give us a richer, deeper understanding of Jesus since to know the Father you must know the Son ... and there is nowhere better to meet him than through the Gospels.

The School of Prayer: An Introduction to the Divine Office for All Christians by John Brook
Interestingly Brook partially presents this introduction to promote ecumenism for he points out that praying from the Psalms makes Protestants feel right at home in the practice. This book not only tells about the divine office, but has an explication of the psalms commonly prayed so that we more easily find Christ in them.

Beginning to Pray by Anthony Bloom
This book is written with complete simplicity but yet somehow contains depths that one thinks of for some time afterward. Let's just begin with this ... "If you look at the relationship (us and God) in terms of mutual relationship, you would see that God could complain about us a great deal more than we about Him. We complain that He does make Himself present to us for a few minutes we reserve for Him, but what about the twenty-three and half hours during which God may be knocking at our door and we answer 'I am busy..."

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Harry is an incredible Christ-figure as I discovered when I reread the series recently. Of course, this only works for those who have read the series before. For more depth and as accompanying materials, readers may want to listen to Episode 26 of A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast where Scott Danielson and I discuss the book and the entire series from a Catholic point of view.

Contemplating the Trinity: The Path to Abundant Christian Life by Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa
He was the preacher to the papal household for Pope John Paul II and continued in that capacity for Pope Benedict XVI, at least for a while. I always have found his writing and homilies to be both easy to understand and inspirational. This book to be the same sort as The Interior Castle in that reading a few paragraphs a day lets the message sink in each day. I read this during Lent a few years ago and it was wonderful.

In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden
This extraordinarily sensitive and insightful portrait of religious life centers on Philippa Talbot, a highly successful professional woman who leaves her life among the London elite to join a cloistered Benedictine community. That's the official description but it doesn't begin to cover the richly woven tapestry Godden weaves with nuanced personalities, mysteries to solve so that the order may continue, Philippa's internal struggles, and much more.

Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy by Rumer Godden
Another Godden book about a completely different order of nuns. This is an inspiring tale of conversion and redemption told in flashback sequence. We meet Lise when she is being released from prison where she has served her term for murder. She is going to join an order that ministers to those on the fringes of society. Through Lise's thoughts, we watch her go from being a young WWII staffer in Paris, become seduced by a man who has a brothel and eventually turns her into a prostitute where later on she becomes the manager. The reasons behind the murder become clear as the threads come together again in the people around Lise in current time. My full review is here.

Paul Among the People by Sarah Ruden
Sarah Ruden goes to great pains to put St. Paul's writings in the context of Paul's "modern times" of Greek and Roman culture so we can see just what cultural forces he was referring to when he wrote his letters. By juxtaposing her knowledge of those cultures (which were considerably cruder and more hostile to Christian religious concepts than we would think) and writings of the people (not high-brow philosophers) with Paul's writings and concepts, a new picture emerges of just what was being battled and why Christian concepts would be so welcome and revolutionary. My full review is here.

The Reapers Are the Angels by Alden Bell
Of course, I'm still pushing this book. It is rare, to find a book about the zombie apocalypse that addresses the larger themes that one finds in science fiction apocalyptic literature. The Reapers Are the Angels is just such a rarity. Author Alden Bell looks beyond the popular appeal of zombies to the depths of the human soul. The column I wrote for last Lent about this book is at Patheos.

IF THOSE DON'T HIT THE SPOT
Here are last year's recommendations, both nonfiction and fiction.

UPDATE
I have been reminded that there are two other books that make excellent Lenten reading:

Happy Catholic - my book! In either softcover or Kindle / Nook format.

Lord, Open My Heart (this is properly a booklet, but is I wrote it specifically for Lenten meditation)

2011 Nebula Nominees Audio

The 2011 Nebula Nominees have been announced. Tamahome at SFFaudio gives us links to all the available free audio versions. He also gives us the SFsignal link to available online written versions available.

Lest the White House Think Prohibiting the Free Exercise of Religion is Going Unnoticed ...

In one of the boldest, most audacious moves ever made by a President of the United States, President Barack Obama is on the brink of successfully rendering moot the very first clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” (emphasis added). If he forces the Catholic Church to comply with the Health and Human Services ruling to provide its employees with insurance that covers activities the Church has long held sinful — abortion via the morning after pill, sterilization and contraceptives — then the precedent is clear: when religious beliefs conflict with government decrees, religion must yield.

A very clear article from Forbes magazine shows exactly how the White House is trampling religious freedom and why they picked the Catholic Church to be the first victim. Go read it all.

This is not just a cause for Catholics or even those who agree that the HHS's chosen issue for forcing the fight (contraception) is wrong. It is for all Americans.

I am not a Catholic, nor do I believe in the Church’s opposition to contraception. But I pray that the leadership of the Catholic Church will have the faith and courage to stand for its core beliefs and use all of its moral power and political influence to defeat the President’s edict. I pray they will reach out across the political spectrum to people of all faiths, agnostics and atheists in the name of religious freedom and individual liberty. By so doing, they, and the institution of the Catholic Church, will have my love and respect for the rest of my life.

I urge you to contact your legislators again on this issue, beginning with President Obama. Here is the USCCB's page with links and more information.

Blogging Around: Bookish Things

The Psalms of David
Reviewed by Joseph at Zombie Parent's Guide.

This particular edition of the Psalms is the King James Version with illustrations by James Freemantle. Freemantle was a British soldier who traveled all over the Middle East. During his second marriage, he began to transcribe the Psalms and illustrate the book for his wife Clara. He included much of the flora and fauna of the Middle East, practically on every page of the book. It took over thirty years to complete and he died the year he finished it. His son decided many years later to publish his father's work in facsimile edition.

Joseph includes some scanned pages and I now am fascinated by this book. Must. find. copy.

The Spirit of Catholicism
Reviewed by Jeff Miller at The Curt Jester.

It was one of those books I was tempted to highlight every page. If I hadn’t read the ebook version I could have saved myself time by just dipping the book in highlighter yellow.

Been there. Wished I could have done that.

The January Dancer
Reviewed by Will Duquette at The View From The Foothills.

There are a number of authors best known for writing fiction whose non-fiction I generally prefer. Mark Twain is first among them; I’m afraid I’d much rather read Life on the Missippi than Huckleberry Finn. And as it happens, Mike Flynn is another. In the Country of the Blind left me cold; there’s much to like about Eifelheim, but I don’t love it the way many people seem to; but what I really enjoy are his blog posts, which are intelligent, witty, and informative. In fact, I enjoy his blog so much that I truly feel a little bad about not enjoying his books more. It’s like admiring Richard Feynman for his bongo playing.

Luckily, he does enjoy this book quite a lot.

The Kindle Meme
Memes used to be all the rage but now they are few and far between. So it was nice to see The Curt Jester had one posted and even nicer to be called a fellow book addict and tagged.

So, here are the rules. You post the rules and a link back to the person who tagged you. You also tell them that they’ve been tagged on their own blog, rather than just hoping they’ll discover it for themselves. Then you decide what three books are essential reading for anyone with a Kindle. Reasons would be good, but not essential. Then you tag five people.

My problem is that I am finding myself more and more using the Kindle for reading samples from Amazon to be sure I am interested in troubling the library staff to send it to my branch, or reading review books that publishers won't provide in physical form, new book giveaways, or very old books from Project Gutenberg that I can't get any other way although you can often find these books provided free via Amazon.

I find I really prefer actual books. However, I have discovered many old, forgotten books which I truly love but never would have found if not for browsing Amazon via my Kindle during lazy weekend afternoons. I do truly love the Kindle for that purpose.

Therefore, you can see that my "essential" books are going to be old but not necessarily thought of as classics, since that is what Gutenberg is populated with.

1. Jack O' Judgment by Edgar Wallace: a rip-roaring thriller with masked vigilante Jack O' Judgment as the nemesis of the notorious Boundary Gang. I was kept guessing until the end as to Jack's identity by the simple means of misleading me very effectively so that I thought I knew who it was all along. Twists and turns and delightful over-the-top villains who one longs to see Jack bring down in sensational style.
2. Through the Wall by Cleveland Moffett: A noted detective is getting ready to go to Brazil for an important job. He drops by Notre Dame where a young woman he never met says a few sentences to him that leave him pale and canceling his trip. A young woman, deeply in love, spurns her lover's marriage proposal because she loves him too much. A international celebrity is found mysteriously killed in a variation of the locked room mystery. All these events are connected and are set in 1909 Paris, where the atmosphere is romantic and mysterious and the art of detective investigation is very much to the fore in the story.  It is a locked room mystery, which I normally do not like, but the way the author slowly uncovers layers truth behind the mysterious situations is already very apparent. It has the effect of a book of one cliff-hanger after another and a splendid plot.
3. The Essential Works of Norbert Davis which I actually spent .99 on in order to get all the Doan and Carstairs mysteries. These are a great combination of hard-boiled and humorous, which may be typified by the fact that Doan is the toughest private detective around but is short, round, and mild-looking while Carstairs is his Great Dane who is a character in his own right (but without talking or any other goofy attributes ... and he's hard-boiled in his own way).

Bonus books (which Hannah has found for free on her Kindle):

• The Count's Millions by Emile Gaboriau
• Baron Trigault's Vengeance (the second part of The Count's Millions)

I am not sure who else I know who has a Kindle, other than Scott Danielson who just informed me he is so into digital books that he's discarding his actual copies as fast as he can. So I'll tag Scott.

Anyone else? Just jump on this one.

Funny Stuff: Kerning

From the brilliant mind of xkcd. I know kerning's made my life a living hell more than once.

So I'm Reading Jen Fitz's Lenten Reading List ...

... thinking, "I really need to get a list like that together. Maybe I can post one on Monday."

And I'm liking her categories, specifically the first one, "Pure Lenten Fiction Poke-n-the-soul" and am thinking, "Hey, I can do categories!"

Which just makes it that much more fun, right?

(If you like lists, then you know what I mean.)

And then I get to #4, the "Proof that some people can watch TV without rotting their brains" category and just about fall out of my chair.

Now, that was a pleasant surprise!

I never, ever thought I might be someone's Lenten reading.

(Well, except for Lord, Open My Heart but that was designed as Lenten reading so it's different. Somehow.)

Thank you, Jen!

Beware of Dog

From the brilliant Doug Savage.

Blogging Around: Character Building Edition

Gaining the World and Losing Your Soul On "Once Upon a Time" 
Tony Rossi writes about one of my favorite shows.

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The B-Movie Catechism Movie of the Week: Night Breed
Skillfully written as always, this piece takes us from monsters to lepers to how our sin affects our community as well as ourselves.

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The 4 Qualities of a True Statesman
The Art of Manliness has yet another of their trademark pieces on classic qualities, in this case those of a true statesman. Be sure to read it, but here's where they begin:

• A bedrock of principles
• A moral compass
• A vision
• The ability to build a consensus to achieve that vision

This makes a vivid contrast with Deacon Greg's quote of the day from yesterday.

I confess I no longer understand Obama. He did not go to the mat to end the Bush tax cuts for the super-rich. He did not go to the mat for comprehensive immigration reform. He did not go to the mat to close Guantanamo Bay. He did not go to the mat for Card Check. He did not go to the mat for a public option in the health care reform. But, he went to the mat over the principle that a Catholic college or charity or hospital is not really religious.

The quote is from Sean Michael Winters who is sorely disillusioned but still writes with hopefulness and evenhandedness toward all sides. Read his piece here.

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Eating the Frog-With a Side of Soul Food
Betty Beguiles melds two methods to overcome procrastination, making life simpler, and having a joyful life.

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Brandywine Books
It's been too long since I've mentioned Brandywine Books, a blog I depend on for book reviews filtered through a lens of sane Christianity. They lean toward mystery and thrillers, which I like anyway, but are not averse to including other genres. Plus, they throw in links to interesting articles about writing and books. And Lars Walker is an author so there's that.

Lies, Damned Lies and 98 Percent of Catholic Women

Guttmacher did say in its summary that “Among all women who have had sex, 99% have ever used a contraceptive method other than natural family planning. This figure is virtually the same, 98%, among sexually experienced Catholic women.”

But that’s not in any way an accurate statement of what its own survey found.

On the very same page, it explains that its survey was restricted to women aged 15-44, so that cuts out all women who were older than 44 at the time of the survey. And a footnote explains that a rather significant chunk of women were excluded from this figure of “all women” — namely, women who are pregnant, post-partum or trying to get pregnant.” A later footnote says that the only women who had sex in the last three months were included in this group. Finally, included in this 98 percent figure of current contraceptive users are the 11 percent who report no method.

So I guess we could say that among women aged 15-44 who had sex in the last three months but aren’t pregnant, post-partum or trying to get pregnant, 87 percent of women who identify as Catholic used contraception. It’s worth pondering just who is left out of this 87 percent, other than, you know, everyone who doesn’t use contraception. Great stat, team journalist! I mean, the study was designed to find only women who would be most likely to use contraception. And it did.

Tom and I were talking about the "numbers game" as the government's justification for HHS mandate just last night over dinner (yes, riveting conversation goes on at our house).

You can see why this story from GetReligion, Lies, Damned Lies and 98 Percent of Catholic Women, resonated with me. Go read the whole thing to see them examine how the media and the White House have been using these flawed numbers. Go read it to get an eyeful about just how painstaking a lot of these journalists are about what they report.

As Tom pointed out, even if that number were actually true it doesn't make the Church's teachings any less true. It certainly doesn't change our responsibility to try to live by those teachings. And it doesn't mean that our religious freedom can be overrun by the government because they have decided our teachings aren't really being followed. That's not their job.

It just means the Church is full of sinners. So, nothing new there, right? Because we're all human and, therefore, flawed.

Which is something I take comfort in, actually, since it means that I'm among friends who all know just how much we need our Mother the Church. Friends and the Church who help me get back up after I've fallen short, and then try again to follow in Christ's steps.

New Petition
By the way, the White House closed the previous petition against the HHS mandate when Obama came up with his noncompromise. Now there's a new one. Go here to sign it.

Night of the Confessor: Objective, Subjective, and God

Night of the Confessor: Christian Faith in an Age of Uncertainty by Tomas Halik

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a dense book ... so much so, as far as I can tell, that even the back cover blurb forces the reader to slow down, absorb it, and think.

Night of the Confessor is rich and deep, with somehow simple ideas. Just when the author says something that I have a knee-jerk reaction of "that's not how faith works" he goes further and deeper so that I understand the reasons behind the surface statement ... and usually agree. This is thoughtful and thought provoking writing which I am letting sink in. And it is enriching my internal life.

I'm only about halfway through so this is not a final review although I may not be able to ever adequately describe it except to say that it is amazing me every few pages. Tomas Halik's observations about "Christianity in an Age of Uncertainty" hit the mark time after time. In one sense, one must simply sit back and take in the view, letting his writing wash over you until the point is reached; at which point, I dive in and mentally wrestle with the content. Occasionally I may disagree with him, but that is fairly rare and even when I do disagree it is because we have a different perspective. I can always see his point of view and it is not a non-Catholic one but just is different from my own. Which is also valid, as I believe Halik himself would say.

I am going to begin sharing nibbles of this beginning today. This is actually fairly lengthy so "nibble" may not be the right term, but I want you to get an adequate sample.

When reality was separated into the "objective" and the "subjective" at the beginning of the modern era, God was made homeless. Any attempt to place Him into one or another of the categories always resulted in "the death of God." God did not belong in the world of things, the world of visible, measurable, provable, and above all, manipulable "realities." But nor is God a "feeling," a "thought," or an "idea," even if human thoughts and feelings can become attached to Him (until they eventually discover that not even they can penetrate His mystery, and at best they can just about touch the "hem of his garment").

"My Kingdom does not belong to this world." God's place is in the "kingdom of the impossible," in the "kingdom of absurdity," somewhere where a totally different logic applies than in "this world" -- the logic of the paradox: if you want to be bigger, then be the least, be the servant of all; whoever loses his life will gain it; those who have will receive, while from those who have not, even what they have will be taken away; the laborer hired for the last hour will receive the same wage as the one that has "borne the day's burden and the heat"; the master from whom the "dishonest steward" has stolen, praised him for acting prudently; the father shows more feeling toward the prodigal son than toward the son who has been faithful and obedient; the Son of the Most High is born in a stable and executed on a cross with felons; the dead come to life, the blind see, and those who say "we see" have become blind.

Is that any basis for some system, logic, or morality, for some rational, healthy, and successful "lifestyle"?  It's impossible. Viewed "from here" it is the "kingdom of the impossible." "For human beings it is impossible," Jesus often enjoyed saying, "but for God all things are possible." "Nothing is impossible for God." What is impossible for humans is possible for God--and we can see God only in "what is impossible for people." People's attempts to penetrate the mystery of God's essence inevitably go astray; maybe there is only one path where we might conceivably encounter the ever astonishing kingdom of the impossible that is coming. That path is the path of paradox.

Are you a patriot or a vampire?

If loving this trailer is wrong, then I don't wanna be right.

Via Scott Danielson.

Unintended Consequences of President Obama's "Compromise"

Featured in A Second Letter to President Obama, Under the Assumption That He Missed the First from Bad Catholic. Where you may also find explanation as to why President Obama's "compromise" is actually nothing of the sort ... if you hadn't already figured that out for yourself.

The President and His Very Deep Belief

Jacob Lew told “Fox News Sunday” that the compromise offered last week to address objections by the Catholic Church is clear and consistent with the president’s “very deep belief that a woman has a right to all forms of preventive health care, including contraception.” ...

So the President is an allowed a “very deep belief” and Catholics are not allowed a deeply held conviction, in fact teaching, backed up by the whole history of the Church extending back to the book of Genesis. Pro-choice once again means choice for me, but not for you.

The Curt Jester thoughtfully looks at the White House shell game on the HHS mandate to deprive loyal Americans of their right to practice their religion.

Back to Beyond Cana

We're back and we're exhausted. But it's a good kind of exhaustion!

It became quite clear over the weekend that God wanted us back at that retreat and also in the retreat program at our parish. It was like having a giant invisible hand gently shoving you into your spot on the chess board, if I may be allowed to use that analogy. We could have said no at any time but we've learned that God's way is the best and certainly the easiest (even when it doesn't seem like it at the time).

Naturally, we had a grand time reconnecting with all the people who we hadn't seen for about a year. The best part was getting to know the attending couples just a little and watching the transition take place as they worked through the process to greater openness and love. There is nothing like it.

When in L.A. I received an email from a woman who was considering signing up but who was worried that the retreat would be too sappy. She'd read Happy Catholic for some time and seen me mention Beyond Cana so she came to me for the straight scoop. I, naturally, told her that if it were sappy I wouldn't have made it through myself. And then forgot all about it. I wasn't involved with the retreat, right?

Of course you know what happened. I was introducing myself to the arriving attendees when a young woman said, "I'm the person who emailed you when you were in L.A."

Oh! Got it! Just another of God's little jokes.

She and her husband were so much fun to talk to and I look forward to furthering our acquaintance with them ... when that good kind of exhaustion has faded and "real" life seems normal again.

Just one of the many benefits of Beyond Cana, y'all! You might meet friends you didn't know you had!

It's a Little Nuts Around Here

BTW, gonna be scarce for a few days.

Our parish's Beyond Cana marriage enrichment retreat lost their spiritual directors (work conflict) for the retreat this weekend and Tom and I are the only back ups.

So it's a little nuts around here right now since it begins tomorrow and we've got to get free of "usual life" in order to help out.

Awake - Full Trailer

I was intrigued by the shorter trailer that ran during the Super Bowl for this upcoming series. After being urged to watch the longer trailer I am glad that I did. I am curious to see if the show can be as interesting and good as this sample promises.

Read more at /Film.

Julie bought a life-size Johnny Depp doll, and Scott got a little uncomfortable ...

... Luckily, they had a movie called Lars and the Real Girl to talk about. At A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.

Funny Stuff: Car Problems

Just the way they'd be discussed at our house.

From the brilliant xkcd.

Lord, Open My Heart: Scriptural Reflections for Lent by Julie Davis

I know it is too early to be talking about Lent, really. I'm so excited by this booklet though that I just had to mention it now.

I thought I was ghostwriting this for Creative Communications for the Parish. Now I see that they have my name on the cover. Woohoo!

These are brief day-by-day scriptural reflections for use during Lent and I'm much obliged to Will at The View from the Foothills for announcing it ... and also buying it! What a pal!

It's available in booklet, Kindle, and Nook formats. Pick it up in any of these formats at Creative Communications for the Parish or at Amazon for your Kindle or at Barnes & Noble for your Nook.

Here's a sample.

Ash Wednesday
A Transforming Time

Pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. — Matt. 6:6

I have friends who love Lent and eagerly look forward to it every year. I’m not one of those people. I always have to work at the proper frame of mind before I can approach a time of penitence with anything close to sincerity. Let’s face it, I don’t like giving things up.
I have to remind myself that it isn’t about what I am sacrificing so much as it is about what I am making room for. It is a sort of spring-cleaning of the soul.

It is about restoring proper perspective, through denial and sacrifice, so my whole heart is given to God. He generously gives me every good thing in my life. I inevitably come to Lent knowing that I have let some of those good things become more important to me than God himself.

It is a time of transformation. I must approach Lent expecting to be radically changed otherwise there isn’t any point to observing Lent at all. Simply going through the motions doesn’t cut it.

Ash Wednesday begins a time of penitence that I embrace (eventually) with interest and anticipation. What will God transform in me?

Rescind the HHS Mandate Petition ... 24,000 Signatures!

Now that's what I call good news!

Go sign and please pass the word along.

We need 25,000 to get the White House to nod at it, but let's go for gold. Let's show up with numbers they can't refuse!

Especially since Frank from Why I Am Catholic, who began the petition, noticed that NARAL has begun their own petition.

You see, not content with convincing the Administration into drafting a program that will strip religious organizations of their conscience protections, NARAL, and their allies, have launched their own petition too. Last night, when I first sighted it on my scope, it had 290 signatures.

"Which do you think I’ll regret more? Letting you live or letting you die? Andrew, help me make a good decision."

Tony Rossi discusses one of my favorite shows, Person of Interest and what makes it interesting and worthwhile.

I was pulled in by the combination of Jonathan Nolan (creator), Jim Caviezel, and Michael Emerson (from Lost). The stories have been getting more interesting and the larger story arc is complex and talks about revenge as well. In a sense, I have begun feeling that Caviezel's character is Batman-esque in his desire for redemption while doing what is necessary to save other people in violent situations. Which echoes Nolan's roots in working with his brother, Christopher, on the Batman movies.

Anyway, go read.

SUPER Busy!

Work took an unexpectedly busy turn so I'm down to the basics of a bit of art and a quote for today.

However, I will also leave you with this link to the WSJ's article about Super Bowl ads with which our household generally agreed ... Clint Eastwood exhorting America to get up from half time and rally, the fat dog, and the Silverado surviving the Mayan apocalypse are the ads that spring to mind as being our favorites.

Weekend Joke

Thanks to Seth for this one!

An Irishman goes into the confessional box after years of being away from the Church.

He is amazed to find a fully equipped bar with Guinness on tap. On the other wall is a dazzling array of the finest cigars and chocolates in the world.

When the priest comes in, the Irishman excitedly begins..."Father, forgive me, for it's been a very long time since I've been to confession, but I must first admit that the confessional box is much more inviting than it used to be."

The priest replies, "Get out. You're on my side."

Blogging Around: HHS and Komen

Frank's petition is soaring.
There are 16,529 signatures so far. Needed: 8,471 to make the White House blink and take notice.

If you haven't signed, please get over there and do so!

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Lillian Hellman Sticks Up for Our Right to Not Violate Our Consciences

“I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year’s fashions. I was raised in an old-fashioned American tradition and there were certain homely things that were taught to me: To try to tell the truth, not to bear false witness, not to harm my neighbor, to be loyal to my country, and so on. In general, I respected these ideals of Christian honor and did as well with them as I knew how. It is my belief … that you will not expect me to violate the good American tradition from which they spring.”

Ok, she's actually writing during another time that the U.S. government tried to trample citizens' rights, to the The House Un-American Activities Committee investigation of communism in Hollywood. Without opening that can of worms, Deacon Greg's homily points out just how relevant Hellman's words are today and why they resonate (or should) with all lovers of freedom.

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The USCCB has a big post with lots and lots of links, including some national media who have covered the story in a responsible fashion.

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Media Genuflect Before  Church of Planned Parenthood: GetReligion gets down on media who hasn't covered the Komen/Planned Parenthood news well.

What we have embedded here is one of the worst pieces of journalism I’ve ever seen. I probably shouldn’t announce this, lest tmatt tell me to pack my bags, but I rarely if ever watch broadcast or cable news. I read my news online. The last time I watched ABC News was probably in the 1980s. But I was notified that the ABC piece was bad and so I searched it out. I almost wish I hadn’t. The performance of the mainstream media over this Komen funding issue has not reflected well on journalism in general.

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The Day of the Bullies:  The Anchoress has some good points on Komen and Planned Parenthood, especially now that Komen has caved in (disappointingly).

Understand what has happened, here. Komen did not break the news that they were defunding, Planned Parenthood — the “unpolitical” operation — leaked the news in order to sic their buddies in the senate and in the media on Komen. The assault was readied and rolled out, and damn near rabid — all out of proportion to what it should mean for one charity to decline to give $700,000 to another charity worth a billion! The message was clear: get back in line, or we will destroy you; we will bring the full power of the elite media and the government against you.

And so, like a good but weak soldier, Komen has essentially destroyed itself: hardline leftists will never forgive it; hardline rightists will never forgive it for caving. Neither side will trust it, and if no one trusts you, you’re gone.

Another thing that The Anchoress points out is that a lot of Catholics don't know the struggle for freedom of religion is going on (the HHS mandate issue) because mainstream media is not exactly covering it well. We had quite a discussion about it last night at RCIA and one person knew nothing about it. Despite our bishop's letter in the bulletin and a reminder to read it issued from the pulpit before we left Mass. Some people just don't read their bulletins.

So part of our job is to spread the word, be persistent, and above all be patient. If this isn't going to be a flash-in-the-pan struggle, then we must keep at it.

The Politically Incorrect Guide to English and American Literature

The Politically Incorrect Guide to English and American Literature by Elizabeth Kantor
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is two, two, two books in one. There is the enthusiastic author who loves classic literature, understands the context and wants us to read it. And we do want to read it after she discusses it so lovingly.

There there is the angry, bitter hater of modern interpreters who twist the classics' meanings for their own purposes. I get it. I even understand that such is part of the schtick of the Politically Incorrect Guide format. However, this book would have been so much stronger substituting thoughtful "modern interpreters may teach that ... blah, blah, blah ... and here's where they go astray" than in labeling everyone in sight and blasting them into a crater with angry, angry words. It weakened the main message and lessened my respect for the author.

I believe her on both counts, the enthusiastic and the bitter, but since most of the people reading this book already know that the modern twisting exists there was a lot of space wasted in "convincing" us.

Also, as many already have mentioned, Kantor gives American literature unnecessarily short shrift. No Steinbeck? No examination of our longer literary pieces? Despite her claim that we are a short literature and short story nation, there is evidence to the contrary. For example, let's look at one of my newest favorite books, East of Eden. Oh, wait, it's by John Steinbeck and therefore invisible. (ha!)

I still give this good marks because it made me want to read books I'd never considered before. I now wish that Ms. Kantor would write a straight forward, more comprehensive guide to literature that I could use as my own guide in exploring the classics.

I'm going to be on "Meet the Author" on Radio Maria ... in an hour!

I can't believe I forgot to post this. I'm looking forward to talking with Ken Huck about Happy Catholic (the book!).

Radio Maria is very well known around the world with over a thousand stations; however, here in the U.S. it is just getting started with ten stations, smart phone apps, an internet feed, and podcasts.  Radio Maria is a very small operation with mostly volunteers. The studio is in Alexandria, Louisiana where the feed is uplinked to satellite for all ten stations.

Meet the Author is live for 60 minutes on Thursdays at 3 PM ET. The program is rebroadcast the following Sunday at 3 pm eastern.

Flight of the Conchords: Robots

This is for Scott who hasn't had the pleasure of seeing the zaniness contained in The Flight of the Conchords.

For anyone else who hasn't seen the series: Bret and Jermaine try to achieve success as a band in New York City and develop an American fan base. Their songs are woven into the plot of each episode, often as music videos ... truly hilarious and what we're watching before bedtime during weeknights.

Barbara Stanwyck Reads: It's Like Looking in a Mirror

Feel free to imagine this is how I loll around the house when I'm perusing a book.

I myself am going to imagine that very thing the next time I'm lying on the couch reading!

Via Awesome People Reading where there are many wonderful images of readers.

About Time: "Amid abortion debate, Komen cancer charity halting grants to Planned Parenthood"

The nation’s leading breast-cancer charity, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, is halting its partnerships with Planned Parenthood affiliates — creating a bitter rift, linked to the abortion debate, between two iconic organizations that have assisted millions of women.

Washington Post - get whole story there

Planned Parenthood says it is because Komen is bowing to political pressure. Komen says it is because Planned Parenthood is under investigation.

Either way, I approve.

When Choosing Life ... or Death ... is in the Palm of Your Hand

The nurse told me the antibiotics she'd administered, that we'd need to wait some time for HIV testing, and then handed me a box - Plan B, and told me we had 24 hours to use it.

So there it was. The whole moral conundrum of abortion in a little green box in my hand.

You must go read this story at Kissing the Leper.

It is about letting God work when evil visits you. I won't say more because I don't want to spoil it, but this story deserves to be read by many.

L. A. Diary: Lettuce Love

Part 1: We Begin
Part 2: On the Road
Part 3: We Arrive
Part 4: The Strange Encounter
Part 5: The Best Deal (or Two) in L.A.Part 6: Land of Dreams
Part 7: Meeting New Old Friends

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The produce! Oh the produce in the L. A. grocery stores.

Even the average, nonorganic, run-of-the-mill green leaf lettuce is as fresh and crisp as if you had just picked it yourself.

Never let them tell you that travel time doesn't matter, evidently. Every store we tried had the most wonderful produce although it was rather odd to see the "locally grown" and realize it meant "from California."

Also, it was funny to see that they have the same stores but just call them something else. Let's see if I get this right ... Krogers is Ralph's (yes, really), Safeway is Vonn's, and then there's a store called Gelson's which is fairly high end but like a Simon David-ish store would be here.

Also they have Trader Joe's but after being in one in Chicago I am disenchanted. They are nothing special. Cheap but nothing special.

Chilaquiles

Another of those wonderful recipes Rose made for us when she was the cook of the house ... before flitting off to L.A. to seek her fortune. Get it at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

Couch Potato Report

How to Tame Your Dragon
Chosen by our movie night pals, this was a better-than-average Dreamworks animated feature which was quite enjoyable. If the kids were still small, this would have been playing nonstop for a while at our house. Grade: B-

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 2
 My personal afternoon viewing while I finish knitting the border on Rose's afghan. I must be about halfway through because (SPOILER!) Angel has just become Angelus. See, girls? This is why we don't do the nasty with a 200+ year old vampire, no matter how true our love is. I already knew this was coming because I watched Angel first. Still quite satisfying and, I must say, Drusilla does crazy almost as well as Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard.

I love this Catholic theology tip

The other fun part of 10,000 Gun Questions Night is keeping it strictly Catholic. I often hear a double complaint about the Church:

1. How can we possibly have a firm teaching on anything?
2. And if so, why don’t we have a firm teaching on everything?

As if it were somehow more logical to worship a god who gave out brains and then refused to let you use them. [Catholic moral theology tip: If God gives you something, He's got a plan for how it's supposed to be used. Thy body is not a knick knack.]

From Jennifer Fitz, Riparians at the Gate

L. A. Diary: Meeting an Old Friend, for the First Time

Part 1: We Begin
Part 2: On the Road
Part 3: We Arrive
Part 4: The Strange Encounter
Part 5: The Best Deal (or Two) in L.A.

Part 6: Land of Dreams

=============================

There's always a unique tension in meeting people in person who you've only corresponded with ... or whose blogs you've read for a long time. The impressions you gain those ways can be very different sometimes with the person you meet face to face.

It isn't that you don't eventually work your way to that common ground that you both know each other from, but it can take a while and be awkward.

Then there are the people who have the happy knack of diving right into conversation as if you had lunch with them every day.

So you can imagine my pleasure at finding Will Duquette from The View From the Foothills is the second sort. As is his sweet wife, Jane.

Will and Jane were very kind to Tom and Rose on their initial trip to L.A. and both were looking forward to seeing the Duquettes again. We met up at a Mexican restaurant in their neck of the woods, or should I say foothills? We definitely were in beautiful, hilly terrain.

And we dove right into talk as if we were long-lost family members picking up where we left off. Books, California, the faith (of course) were all grist for the mill and we talked nonstop for at least a couple of hours. It was a real treat and hard to tear ourselves away.

I'm already looking forward to our next trip to L.A. in no little part because we'll get more talking time in with Will and Jane (and I can see their remodeled kitchen).

If you haven't dropped by Will's place lately, do make a point to stop by. He's been writing much more lately (you are all welcome very much), mostly about philosophy and sometimes about coffee. I've been enjoying it all a great deal, even if we did have a friendly debate about the Joe Ledger books and Evil.

Don't miss it ... The View From the Foothills.

Tomorrow, we'll fall in love.

HHS Mandate - some mulling over

In reference to my realization that HHS edict is personal since we are an employer, Class Factotum asked:

Do you exclude contraception now? Back in the late 80s, when I worked for a group health insurance company, the only contract where they didn't cover contraception or abortion was the Catholic hospital.

It's funny that she asks that because right before I read her comment, I realized that it never occurred to me to even check what our healthcare covered along those lines.

That's because we are a really tiny company and our employees haven’t been in the demographic where contraception or abortion ever came up.

Also, we are still mulling all this over, but in talking with Tom about it this morning, I was saying that it wasn’t up to me to mandate contraceptive prohibition to those whose beliefs don’t match mine. Obviously, I don't feel as if it is up to us to pay for those sorts of things either. And I'd feel that way whether I were Catholic or not.

Unlike the politicians trying to push this HHS thing through, I actually feel as if those choices are private and personal ... and I'm willing to let them stay that way.

As to where our insurance gets involved and what that means, we’re still mulling and looking into what is in place.

Other Thoughts
Frank says the petition is picking up steam but we're going to need to hit Mach 1 to achieve the 25,000 needed signatures. Sign up here.

The Anchoress has also been mulling things over and feels that we have been given the gift of clarity. Read it here at First Things.

Here Be Dragons. Literally. : Reviewing "The Dragon Factory" by Jonathan Maberrry

"Detective Ledger?" he said, and held out an ID case. "NSA."

"How do you spell that?"

Joe Ledger's back.

In Patient Zero, (SFFaudio review here) he saved the world from a zombie apocalypse and Muslim terrorists. Almost single handed.

How will he do on the island of Dr. Moreau?

In The Dragon Factory Joe is evading government agents trying to shut down the DMS, is the only man alive to have defeated genetically engineered super warriors, and is romancing his beautiful fellow agent Grace Courtland.

And that's just in the first few chapters.

Once again, Jonathan Maberry weaves a threat we know with a threat from fiction. A mad scientist (Cyrus) is using genetic experiments to mold the world in a way that will have horrific results for the population at large. Did I mention he's German? And enjoys cloning as a light pastime?

Meanwhile, a pair of amoral, super intelligent, albino twins are mixing and matching genetics to create creatures of myth and monsters from your worst nightmares.

Joe's got to find and stop all of them before the "Extinction Wave" doomsday program counts down to zero and releases havoc on the world. With a little help from Top, Bunny, Grace, and the enigmatic Mr. Church, of course.

I enjoy the way that Maberry mashes up several genres, with tongue in cheek, and produces a pulp fiction style, action-packed, roller coaster ride that keeps me on the edge of my seat.

This book tells a good portion of the story from the crazed villains' point of view, to good effect. I really love the dysfunctional family of super-villains where the children have disappointed the father by not having enough "vision" and the kids have giant "daddy" issues.

Maberry also dug just a bit deeper than I expected by contrasting the villainous family with Eighty-Two  the clone who Cyrus loves most but who fails every psych test in being "acceptable" (as his henchman, Otto, puts it). I didn't initially realize what that meant when filtered through the horrific mindsets of Otto and Cyrus, but the result was a surprise that led to some interesting musing about free will versus evil and nature versus nurture.  It isn't terribly deep but I still found its inclusion refreshing in a book of this sort.

As in Patient Zero, Ray Porter’s narration was spot on, voicing Joe Ledger as if he were the man himself, with slight variations applied to other characters to make them come alive equally well. I'd rather hear these books narrated than read them myself just for the sheer enjoyment of Porter's style and emphasis.

Make no mistake, The Dragon Factory is a straight-up thriller without a lot of twists and turns in plot. You read it for the hunt, for the action, for the adventure. You also read it for the twists of humor, the pulp fiction style, and the monsters. Especially for the monsters.

It's a good time at high speed. What more can you ask?

(This review originally ran at SFFaudio, whence came the review copy of the book.)

Note to Readers: the book contains violence and sex ... not as much as it could, to be sure, but not the least amount possible either.

L. A. Diary: It Is the Land of Dreams

Part 1: We Begin

Part 2: On the Road

Part 3: We Arrive

Part 4: The Strange Encounter

Part 5: The Best Deal (or Two) in L.A.

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A quick observation.

You can buy liquor in the grocery store in California!

This is not new to anyone from, say, Missouri. Where I also was surprised every time I'd visit my parents and find a fully stocked liquor section.

But it never fails to surprise me.

We took advantage of the novelty by making sure that Rose had what she needed to offer us proper cocktails in the evening.

Ah, it can be very good to be Catholic!

Next, we meet an old friend, for the first time!

The HHS Mandate: Now it's personal.

As I was reading our Bishop's letter contained in our church bulletin, strongly urging people to protest the HHS edict which demands that sterilization, abortifacients and contraception be included in virtually all health plans. No religious exceptions allowed.

It suddenly occurred to me.

We're Catholic employers. Tom and I. In our little company.

Crap.

Here I was taking on the fight for the Church and then I realized that ... duh ... we are the Church. So I've got to go to my insurance agent and talk about this problem. We're a tiny business and although we don't have to provide insurance for our employees we do anyway. It's the whole "treat them like you'd want to be treated" way to live the faith.

Except now maybe we can't without violating our consciences.

Think of the irony. One of our employees is a steadfast Democrat and, I think, an atheist. And he's our best guy and has worked for us for quite a while. If I have to do a work around on his insurance ... it will be the first time that the government has forced us to raise religion in our workplace. Nice going, Mr. O.

Petition
Frank, at Why I Am Catholic, with impeccable timing, has begun a petition at We the People. You have to register but you can leave the zip code part blank if you like. You can view and sign the petition here.

Letters
I also will be writing to President Obama, Kathleen Sebelaius, and my political representatives telling them that I don't appreciate them getting their government all over my religion. The Catholic bishops have info further explaining the HHS mandate, with links for writing.

It's Not Just for Catholics
Remember, this isn't just a Catholic fight. There are other faiths and personal philosophies that don't approve of abortion and certainly don't approve of the government stepping on religious freedom this way.

Speak up. It's the only way they'll get the message.

Conversation and Observations
In the course of a couple of email conversations with pals about this mandate, I mentioned that President Obama's group didn't think this through very well if it was going to suck in little companies like ours. A friend responded:

Julie, don't kid yourself. it's VERY well thought out. They could have glommed onto an exemption idea such as works in Hawaii, where employers have to notify employees by mail that they won't offer coverage for contraception and the worker can purchase a rider to the insurance on their own. They said they didn't have the AUTHORITY to work that exemption in. But they have the authority to overstep the constitution.

This was deliberately done, and meant to provoke a war.

I mentioned that I didn't think they meant for individual employers (Catholics, Mormons, whatever) to begin opting out. I thought they just went after the big guys ...

Because we will opt out. Although it may be a bloodless martyrdom. My pal's response.

Yes, it's going to force Catholics who offer insurance, like you and Tom, and who do it out of the goodness of your hearts and because you're interested in justice, to stop offering insurance. Which will force people to go on the government rolls, which is what Obama has wanted from the start. It puts believers of all stripes between the rock and the hard place and forces their hands -- he benefits.

Food for thought. And definitely when the rubber meets the road.

Other Responses
The Curt Jester has a round-up of "muscular episcopate statements" and his own thoughts. Some I'd seen, some I hadn't. My favorite is Bishop Zubik of Pittsburgh:

The Obama administration has just told the Catholics of the United States, “To Hell with you!” There is no other way to put it.”

L. A. Diary: The Best Deal in L. A. ... Maybe the Best TWO Deals in L. A.

Part 1: We Begin

Part 2: On the Road

Part 3: We Arrive

Part 4: The Strange Encounter

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Once we didn't have to worry about accommodating a dog, hotel selection became somewhat easier.

Or did it?

Once Tom began scouting hotels near Los Feliz it became clear that there weren't many national chains nearby. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise because it forced us to go local.

Normally, we'd have jumped at the "local" option, but we'd experienced enough inconveniences on this trip to make predictable comfort a very desirable thing.

However, we chose wisely.

BrandWood Hotel, a boutique hotel "in the historic and upscale downtown district in city of Glendale" had more good reviews than bad. We figured it couldn't be worse than many of the European hotels we'd stayed at and booked the room. We could always relocate after one night.

For one thing, could any hotel room really be great if it was only $105 per night?

Yes.

Definitely.

We can't praise it highly enough.

Charming decor, comfortable rooms, adequate bathrooms (not luxurious but the hot water never ran out), solicitous and friendly staff ... it was fantastic.

For breakfast it was a hop, skip, and a jump to Portos Bakery down the street, where we quickly became addicted to their rich coffee which was also surprisingly inexpensive ... a large was $1.79. Unheard of!

Likewise, the many fine bakery offerings, which had locals lined up every day, were also quite inexpensive. And delicious. Quite delicious.

Altogether, Glendale turned out to be a felicitous choice!

We were always ready for days of setting up Rose's new digs and dealing with the challenges of setting up Rose's new digs.

Luckily Zoe only needed one night of sleeping in the new place with Rose to decide this was home ... and pick a spot in the nearby park for her very own "safe place." That was the biggest problem off of our minds ... finally!

We were free for other encounters ... of the personal kind. As well as some delightful discoveries. Which we will talk about next week!

L. A. Diary: Happy Catholic and the Strange Encounter

Part 1: We Begin

Part 2: On the Road

Part 3: We Arrive

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So, there we were, beat up from 5 hours of driving, 3 hours of steady box moving, several days of jittery Boxer toilet patrol, and showing it, I am sorry to say.

Looking for the nearest hotel that would take a dog, we wound up at the Hollywood Holiday Inn. Which didn't take dogs, as it turns out, but did afford us a glimpse of the hubbub surrounding big doings at Grauman's Chinese Theater with media lights and a huge crowd as we negotiated the insane traffic.

Finally, after making the wise decision to do a broader computer search for dog-friendly hotels from the Holiday Inn parking lot, we headed for the Marriott near Bob Hope Airport, thinking it would provide a little peace and quiet.

I thoroughly enjoyed the ride by Warner Brothers Studios again, through Burbank which looked quaintly nostalgic for the 1950s (my grandparents went to a pharmacy that looked just like one we passed), and then just a bit further to the Marriott.

The Marriott, however, instead of being that island of peace we imagined, seemed to have a lot going on. As Rose and I waited for Tom to come out, we wondered what event was going on that required so many black ties, limos, and bustling bellboys. Tom emerged, with a bellboy in tow, and dispatched us with Zoe to go to the room while he parked.  We took said bellboy in tow, now pushing a cart laden with our many bags. And Zoe's giant water bowl. (Chic. That's us.)

We got to the lobby well ahead of our escort and paused, nonplussed. There was a huge cocktail party. Everyone was talking just as fast and loud as they could. The noise level was incredible. They were dressed up, some in rather garish clothing. Entering that riot of noise, especially after the day we'd had, was disorienting. We looked down at Zoe who was pressed against Rose's leg, obviously wondering what fresh hell we'd brought her to now. We looked again at that crowd and then the bellboy said, "Straight ahead, ma'am, and then through the bar to the elevators."

What?

We looked again at Zoe, each other, and the gauntlet ahead. I told Rose, "I feel as if we ought to have a greyhound on a fancy leash to take through this crowd." She laughed and we forged ahead.

Everyone turned to look and delightedly gestured, smiled, or cried out, "Look! A Boxer! I love Boxers!"

Zoe pressed harder against Rose's leg, kept her head down, and we all kept going, with everything a blur around us.

(Who builds their elevators behind the bar? Seriously!)

Finally, the gauntlet passed, we were safe in our rooms. I began taking inventory and pulling out the bottles for cocktails. (Yes, we were supplied and never had we been gladder than that evening when every nerve was frayed.)

Tom arrived and we all felt the room service salads crying out to us after all that fast food on the road. Rose left with Zoe to look for the patch of grass the front desk had mentioned. Tom left also (I can't remember why now). I called room service.

"Yes, ma'am, how may we serve you?"

"I'd like to order two Chicken Caesar salads and one Cobb Salad."

"Yes, ma'am. And how many people will be dining?"

Pause. I didn't know what that question meant. Wasn't this fairly straight forward?

Wait. Just how big were those salads?

"I'm sorry. How many people?"

"Yes, ma'am. So we know how many plates and how much cutlery to send up."

"Okaaay. Well, we'd like two Chicken Caesar salads and one Cobb Salad. So that's three salads. One for each of us. So that's three people?"

"Yes, ma'am. Sometimes we might get one person who would order three salads."

Aha.

Had we somehow actually had taken a short jog to Las Vegas? For some reason, I felt a casino vibe in the air now.

Tom came back and I told him about the conversation. His eyes twinkled and he laughed.

"Welcome to Hollywood!"

Rose returned, her eyes twinkling and a grin on her face.

"I found out who all those people are downstairs. It's a convention for the sex industry!"

We gaped at her. And then we all burst out laughing out loud.

"The patch of grass is right next to the convention hall and it has all glass walls. I was just staring into space and then I realized that the exhibit booth I was looking at was for Fleshlight - the number one sex toy for men."

Euwwww. Incredulous laughter from us.

"And then I started looking at the other booths. Trojan. Hustler. That's when I realized what was going on."

Tom got on the computer and we discovered that we'd landed right smack dab in the center of the annual convention for "adult industry" marketers (XBIZ Retail).

Vegas. Definitely a Vegas vibe was what I felt.

Rose got a big Vegas-style dose when waiting for the elevator to return to the room. Her eyes were past twinkling by now. They were gleaming with humor.

"It isn't just marketers here. There must be some of the 'stars' too. The elevator opened and I was eye to eye with a couple of implants that made Pamela Anderson look flat! How can she stand up straight? And who would think that is attractive?"

Zoe continued to be shy about wetting around strangers. We took turns hourly walking her and all had a chance to marvel over the idea of having a marketing convention for the sex industry.

As we would brace ourselves for the elevators to open to the noise of the bar and lobby party, two things became clear.

One: the Boxer just may be America's favorite dog. Every trip had cries wafting after us of, "Look! A Boxer. I love Boxers!" As the evening went on, the numbers did not decrease but they did grow increasingly drunk. My last trip at 11:00 was to shrill whistles and treats being tossed to Zoe as she slid by, ears back.

Tom finally set the alarm and got up at 2:00 a.m. The lobby party was still going strong, but there was finally a lack of outdoor traffic and Zoe gratefully used her toilet privileges in private.

Two: the second thing was that every time I looked at these very normal seeming people, I was filled with pity for them. They had managed to fool themselves into thinking that their marketing jobs were just like any others. Of course, in the sheer mechanics, they are. But in the sheer misery of soul that their industry generates to people ... well, that is hard to measure but it is no less real for being invisible. I began praying for them. And I still do so whenever I think of that evening, which has been fairly often as we have told this story.

The Marriott was a luxurious treat, beyond our budget, but for one evening it was just what we needed. And I'd have never seen "Vegas in Hollywood" without it.

We knew we'd have to find cheaper digs the next day. And, out of the blue we found what just may be the best deal in Los Angeles.

Which I will tell you about ... tomorrow!

Julie marvels at the end of the series, and Scott can't believe he didn't mention Luna Lovegood.

It's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (plus the whole series) under discussion as Scott Danielson and I begin Season 2 at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.

ObamaCare and Religious Freedom - Timothy Dolan at the WSJ

You know, opening my paper in the morning just gets more interesting all the time.

A few days ago, I was bemused to see Bad Catholic quoted, whose blog I enjoy, in the regular Friday op-ed section where there was a thoughtful piece about the viral video Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus. I haven't commented on that video because many others have done so quite effectively ... suffice it to say that it is a shallow bit of thinking representative of the age we live in.

Then this morning I was surprised to see an editorial ObamaCare and Religious Freedom. By none other than Archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan, whose writing I much enjoy. He roundly takes the Obama administration for insisting on pushing the government into religion.

Scarcely two weeks ago, in its Hosanna-Tabor decision upholding the right of churches to make ministerial hiring decisions, the Supreme Court unanimously and enthusiastically reaffirmed these longstanding and foundational principles of religious freedom. The court made clear that they include the right of religious institutions to control their internal affairs.

Yet the Obama administration has veered in the opposite direction. It has refused to exempt religious institutions that serve the common good—including Catholic schools, charities and hospitals—from its sweeping new health-care mandate that requires employers to purchase contraception, including abortion-producing drugs, and sterilization coverage for their employees.

[...]

The Catholic Church defends religious liberty, including freedom of conscience, for everyone. The Amish do not carry health insurance. The government respects their principles. Christian Scientists want to heal by prayer alone, and the new health-care reform law respects that. Quakers and others object to killing even in wartime, and the government respects that principle for conscientious objectors. By its decision, the Obama administration has failed to show the same respect for the consciences of Catholics and others who object to treating pregnancy as a disease.

Do go read it all.

I remember rolling my eyes when the Obama administration announced a few days ago, with an air of paternal well meaning, that they would give religious groups an extra year to come into line with their mandate. How kind of them ... to push it away from the president's reelection campaign timing and pretend they are doing religious institutions a favor.

This inevitably brought to mind President Obama's statement on the occasion of the 39th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, where he fell back on affirming it at the most basic level because, and I quote:

... but also affirms a broader principle: that government should not intrude on private family matters.

Of course, he was being disingenuous. Killing someone is the most basic sort of intrusion of government into rights and abortion is killing. But above that, he shows that intruding into personal privacy is the sort of thing that is only honored when he cares to do so.

Again, I am reminded. I must pray for President Obama and his staff. We are not only under grave attack for our religious rights, but their souls are at grave risk.

L. A. Diary: We Arrive and I Discover that I Love L.A.

Part 1: We Begin

Part 2: On the Road

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Once we got to the other side of those mountains, which actually look like foothills to anyone who grew up visiting Colorado on a regular basis, we hit Los Angeles.

What a surprise it was.

The movies made me think of it as flat.

This was enhanced when Tom told me many years ago that L.A. was like a huge version of Houston. Hmmm. Houston is flat as a pancake, full of clogged highways, and, frankly, not my cup of tea.

This city though was not like the descriptions or movies. It was clumps of hills with houses clinging to the sides and grouped around the base, highways weaving around them. The houses were brightly colored or Spanish-style architecture or just exotic looking.

I feasted my eyes.

This was anything but flat and boring!

As we laboriously made our way through town to Rose's new neighborhood of Los Feliz, my enchantment grew. For some reason Brazil came to mind. Yes, that is just how exotic it felt. I loved it! And that enchantment lasted the entire time we were there.

Rose's apartments, which back up to a huge hill and face a city park, continued my pleasure. Much larger than we expected, with hardwood floors and open courtyards, it was a lovely place to think of Rose and Zoe spending their time.

We crammed the car and U-Haul into Rose's parking place and hurriedly began hauling boxes to and fro. We wanted to unload that darned trailer and only had a couple of hours before the U-Haul office closed. We made the deadline and felt as light as a feather continuing without it behind us in the L.A. traffic. Why, we could even back up! No more determining destinations based on pull-through parking. Woohoo!

Rose and Zoe would spend one more night with us in a hotel. There was no way we were going to abandon them with the bed not even put together and the entire place full of boxes.

But where would take a dog?

Not many places, as it turned out.

However, both the Marriott and the Holiday Inn near the Bob Hope Airport would do so. And they weren't too far away. Based on the photos, Tom thought the Marriott looked quieter and more relaxing.

Thus did we learn that you really cannot judge a hotel by its picture.

Little did we know that we were embarking upon the strangest encounter we would have the entire time. And, now that I think of it, I'm not sure our family has ever had an evening like the one we had at the Marriott.

Once again, that's a story for another day.

L. A. Diary: On the Road

Part 1: We Begin

-----------------------

Adventure or inconvenience ... this one is easy.

Driving is worth it. The scenery is simply fantastic.

As Tom said, it is like that first scene from Silverado. Scott Glenn has been inside a tiny, dark cabin evading shotgun blasts from an unknown assassin on the outside. He prevails and swings open the door and ...

... there taking up the entire screen is a glorious panorama that you can hardly believe is real.

Those filmmakers must have driven through the west.

Not that there weren't inconveniences. We had plenty to make sure we appreciated the boons we were granted (such as that scenery).

The half hour of waiting in traffic just outside of Fort Worth after we'd been driving only about 20 minutes from home. Some genius in the local Transportation department had detoured four lanes through an access road.

Zoe's continual nervousness at the traffic. Every time a big truck roared by she jumped to her feet and whirled to look out the window. This was just for the first day, but she was so nervous that we all had to sit in the car with her so that she'd take a drink of water. And after she did ... she vomited. Luckily, your eagle-eyed Happy Catholic was in the back seat, noticed the gulping (and seconds later, the heaving sides) and grabbed the giant water bowl to hold under her mouth. And my instinct to cover the back seat and environs with old towels gave us a nice mouth-wipe for after.

The food. Dear Lord, the endless outlets for fast food of every sort. This wasn't helped by the fact that the U-Haul dictated our choice of restaurants. If we couldn't pull through, then we didn't dine there. (I use the word "dine" loosely, but you get the idea.)

But without those inconveniences we wouldn't have been able to revel in this glorious Western scenery. Not for the first few hours. West Texas is no treat for the eyes, except possibly in high summer. But as soon as we hit New Mexico the mesas made me remember not only Silverado, but every Western movie I'd ever seen.

It was sunset and the rich golden glow from the west put everything in sharp silhouette. The mesas stood black against the light. It was almost too much for the eyes but we couldn't quit staring.

The next two days saw more mesas, mountains, glorious rolling desert ... and then for a couple of hours before hitting the California mountains, we were back in nondescript landscape. And then we rolled through those hills and saw L.A.

But that's a story for another day. Tomorrow,  in fact.