Listening to Mark Twain travelogues while travelling

When my husband and I travel we enjoy listening to books on tape. Two of my favorites have been travelogues by an author I love, Mark Twain. Two years ago on a trip to Texas we listened to Life on the Mississippi. Passing through Memphis, we decided to stop at Mud Island which has a model of the mighty Mississip. Only one problem. It was January and the park didn't open until Spring. We passed through Memphis again today on our way home from Texas and tried again -- two weeks too early. The island doesn't open until April 12. A big sigh of disappointment again. But perhaps we'll plan a visit sometime when it's sure to be open and refresh our memories by listening again to Twain's adventure as a riverboat pilot with all the colorful descriptions of the river and the many interesting characters who populated his river world.

We are coming to the final leg of another Texas trip (we make them once or twice a year because we have two children in Texas, in Houston and Austin). On this visit we've been listening to Roughing It, Twain's description of his seven years in the wild west. He started out as an unpaid secretary to his brother who was secretary to the Governor of the Nevada territory, but his further adventures took him to the silver mines and a series of disappointing excavations along with some near-death adventures. Then he was offered a job as a reporter which probably began his literary career. The book begins with the journey form St. Louis, MO up river to St. Joseph and from their by stagecoach on the nearly three-week trip to Nevada. The stage changed teams every ten miles at stations along the way and took 19 days to make the trip. We cover in a few hours what took those travellers days. But, oh how much we miss as we hurry through the world.

To hear Twain describe the jackass rabbit, the coyote, the sage grass, the coach driver and his assistant (called the conductor), Lake Tahoe, Virginia City, etc. is entertaining and fascinating. I think Mark Twain could make ai riveting story out of buttoning up his coat. He did at one point describe a desperado who had it in for a man and bragged that he could take out the third button on his jacket from a distance. He did and dispatched his victim at the same time. Twain shares many stories of the rough life of the 19th century west. And the only boring part of the tale is his several chapters reading excerpts from the Book of Mormon which he debunks as a shameless theft from the Bible with many repetitions of "It came to pass" and other phrases added to make it sound archaic. His imaginative conversation with Brigham Young complaining about his large family with wives (identified by number) who all want a stick pin because he gave one to number six, is hilarious.

So if you are off on a trip and looking for an enjoyable companion take along Mark Twain. I guarantee the miles go faster with such a passenger.

Please Join Me in Praying the Novena of St. Joseph for Fr. James Haley and other persecuted priests

If you are unfamiliar with the story of Fr. James Haley pay a visit to my blog outlining the case and those of other persecuted priests who blew the whistle on homosexual immorality in the priesthood. Sadly, it continues as the recent scandal at the Vatican shows. Homosexual priest should be an oxymoron, but unfortunately it isn't. In fact, a number of priests celebrate homosexuality, a sign that they are either homosexual themselves or homosexualists who advance the homosexual agenda. Pray for the poor men driven out of the priesthood because they dared to oppose the homosexual agenda in many dioceses. Please pray for them.

Public School Pimps Kids; Parents Protest

How do you expand the sexual activity of high school kids? Let them know it's the norm and ask them leading questions about what puts them "in the mood." How many youngsters will have an incurable venereal disease before they graduate from high school? Chlamydia, one of the leading causes of infertility, is epidemic among teenagers. Hey, that makes the population controllers happy. The more infertility the fewer little polluters populating the planet. One of the ways the elitists control the population is through out-of-control passions. Read Brave New World. Drugs and sex were the primary means to keep the masses under subjugation. Wake up, America!

Survey Asks Students when they lost their virginity

New York Bill Would Ban Chefs' Use of Salt

I thought it had to be an article in The Onion or an early April Fool's joke, but a little research verified it. There is actually a New York Assemblyman (Felix Ortiz of Brooklyn) who thinks his job is to institute the salt police in New York. His bill A10129 bans the use of salt in restaurant kitchens and imposes a fine of $1,000 for each violation. Add a shake of salt to the salad dressing and you violate the law! Off to the salt mines with you.

This solves the mystery of who was behind the creation of the Soup Nazi in Seinfeld. He had nothing on this lunatic assemblyman. Let's see: women can choose to kill their children, but a restaurant can't choose to sprinkle salt in the soup.

People have joked for years about the government making Big Macs and other fast food illegal. Ortiz is one government busybody who wants to do it. This gives new meaning to the expression, "If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen." 

Two other foolish assemblymen joined in the silly salt shaker shenanigans. Now let's see if an assembly committee will be dumb enough to report this bill out. It deserves a quick death and these three pols should be ridiculed and sent home in the next election.

What goofy laws have been proposed in your state?

Tweeting an Abortion?

Sin makes you do crazy things. It also leads you to confess in public. Did you ever notice all the folks on Dr. Phil, Jerry Springer, Oprah, you name it revealing the most private details of their lives? What kind of sick compulsion drives people to do this?

But twittering your abortion? That's what Angie Jackson decided to do. She says she didn't do it as a publicity stunt but, SURPRISE, Angie has been all over the media since she first appeared on Twitter and YouTube and she's writing a book. She also assures us over and over that she feels no remorse, has no guilt, didn't really kill a baby, and would do it again in a minute.

Personally, I think Angie "doth protest too much." I think she is doing the same justification as Mary Shelly who threw off all moral restraint to shack up with the poet Percy Shelley. His wife later committed suicide which deeply distressed Mary.  E. Michael Jones in Monsters from the Id theorizes that Mary could not publicly admit her guilt and remorse because of her philosophy, but revealed the "monsters" from her subconscious in her novel, Frankenstein.

It appears to me from watching Angie on the internet that she twittered her abortion for two reasons. First, for the publicity. She almost screams for attention in the interview below. Secondly, because she's trying to convince herself killing the child isn't so bad. Note that she claimed the pregnancy threatened her life. But then her one reason is a long labor. And there's only her word for it. Almost every woman I talked to at the abortion mill when I was sidewalk counseling claimed her life was in danger. Most of the time it was nonsense, the rationalization at work. "I don't want an abortion, but I feel guilty so I'll tell people my life is in danger which will justify my decision." I frankly doubt that Angie Jackson's life was in danger at all. And if it was, abortion was likely to be just as much a threat as carrying the child to term. Angie appears to be an exhibitionist.

Killing her baby gave Angie her fifteen minutes of fame and maybe she'll sell a few books and drive a few people to her blog. For that she destroyed the never-ending story of her little unborn baby, the baby she claims she didn't kill. She has also unleashed the monsters from the id. Pray for Angie and her poor little four-year-old son. I remember reading an article years ago about a little Down's Syndrome child who hid from his parents after overhearing them contemplating the abortion of his sibling. Perhaps one day Angie will find her little boy cowering in the closet afraid that she will kill him next.

Wow!

St. Joseph Novena Begins Tomorrow - Please Join!

Everyone has particular needs. Maybe you have children who have left the faith. Maybe you're looking for a job or thinking of starting a business. Maybe you're facing a serious illness. Whatever your needs, you have a friend in St. Joseph. Larry and I have several intentions for the novena and will be praying it along with our daily rosary for our own intentions and those of everyone joining in. How can a novena to the guardian of the Holy Family with the intercession of Mary fail to achieve a response? As St. Teresa of Avila said, "For some years now, I think, I have made some request of [St. Joseph] every year on his feast day and I have always had it granted. If my petition is in any way ill directed, he directs it aright for my greater good." Join the novena to this powerful man of God who shows the world what it is to be a gentleman and a "just" man.

If you have had a prayer answered through the powerful intercession of St. Joseph, please share it in the comments section. Let's build devotion to this great saint who says not one word in Scripture, but immediately responds when God calls. He is truly a man of action who works to build the city of God. So replace the super-hero action figures in your kids' minds with a real live super-hero of God!

Archbishop Chaput discusses the case in Boulder of the lesbian couple with children in school

Catholic schools: Partners in faith with parents
by Archbishop Charles Chaput
Denver news media have reported in recent days on the case of two children of a lesbian couple in Boulder. The couple was informed by Sacred Heart of Jesus parish school that the older child, whom they were enrolling in kindergarten for next year, would be allowed to attend kindergarten but would not be able to continue into first grade the year after. Their younger child would be welcome to finish preschool, but not continue into kindergarten. Many have wondered why. Sacred Heart of Jesus parish has borne the difficult publicity surrounding this issue, but archdiocesan policy was followed faithfully in this matter, and the policy applies to all Archdiocese of Denver schools. (Read complete column....)

In the Year of the Priest, Answer the Call, Young Men!

A big thank-you to Gary for sending this along. The voice on the video is Fr. Corapi. What a witness he is. God bless all our priests and give them the grace to fulfill their vocations faithfully. O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, bring us workers to the vineyard.

Homeschooling and the Gotcha Question

When I was homeschooling I often had conversations with folks about what was involved in the decision to homeschool. After a brief discussion I could always depend on hearing the "gotcha" question: "But what about socialization?" My response was always the same - a laugh and the reply, "Isn't that one of the arguments in favor of home schooling?"

What's normal, I'd like to know, about socialization that involves being together all day with people your own age and one adult, usually a woman, who exercises crowd control? I always found that homeschooled students, unlike their regular schooled peers, were 1. comfortable around adults, 2. had greater eye contact, 3. enjoyed adult conversation, and 4. were often politer in groups.

But now the research is there to support the socialization advantage. Last December J. Michael Smith, president of the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), had an op-ed in the Washington Times reporting on studies showing the success of adult homeschoolers in both the U.S. and Canada. The adults who were homeschooled are happier, more engaged in their communities, more likely to vote, earn higher incomes, and none of them are on welfare. Sounds like homeschooling increased positive socialization and decreased negative socialization.

So congratulations to all you grownup homeschoolers. You are the best advertisement of all that homeschooling works!