Yep. From The Midwest

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The South
Philadelphia
The West
The Inland North
Boston
North Central
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

The Arborticide Shame Test

Wittingshire has posted the most telling thoughts I have encountered on abortion.

Three times I've had to explain abortion to a child. Each time I, too, felt ashamed. There's no way to soften this blow; children are fascinated by pregnant women, love to point out that not so long ago they were inside their own Mommy's tummy. They may not know the biological details, but they know where babies come from; they know how their own lives began.

Each time circumstances demanded that I explain abortion to a child, I watched that child's eyes grow big with disbelief, then sick with horror. And each time I knew that some fundamental trust of adults, some basic belief that grown-ups were merciful and just, had gone.

Oddly, each of my children said, then, the same thing: "I know it must be true because you say it is, Mommy, but I really don't want to talk about it."

And each turned from me and walked away.

You know, I have never thought about having to have that discussion. Really puts it in perspective, doesn't it?

I found this by way of John C. Wright whose own article on the subject is very good, with some interesting comments dialogue.
As I read it, John's own awakening to the horror of abortion came thusly:

For all the years of my life, they told me that a child in the womb was not a human, or, at least, that whether he was human or not was a matter of personal conviction. Every art and artifice at their command, peer pressure, personal insult, sly propoganda in the midst of otherwise innocent books and movies, all, all was directed toward this end: to deaden my natural sense of right and wrong, so that I would regard as a merely personal choice what was actually the crime of Medea.

When my son was (wrongly) diagnosed as having a spinal disease, the doctor urged us to consider "all our options" by which he meant my wife and I should contemplate the murder of our child. When I finally saw a sonic picture of my son in the womb, even at seven weeks, he was as clearly human as any pro-abortionist with whom I'd been debating (and their ability to reason was not noticeably more acute than his, to judge by their performance).

So, the pro-aborts are basically a group of people tried to get me to kill my son.

Great article on Lack of Samhain/AllSaints Connection

The Cranky Professor has a very informative article on this irritating "Oh, you were just baptising pagan feasts" theme we hear every year around this time.

Well, I had hoped to publish this a week or so ago, but seem to be having some difficulty with performancing. Still a good article, though.

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Jesus in the Sky with the Pearl of Great Price

There is a very thoughtful posting by Jay
at DeoOmnisGloria.com, "What if Jesus Appeared in the Sky Every Night?".

Like one of the commentors, I used to think that with such "hard evidence", even great skeptics would be converted, but now I have seen too much evidence of hardness of heart, in which the person to whom Christ is calling simply does not want to hear the call.

Why? Because the Pearl really does exact a great price. It is so hard for us to let go of our folly and our sin. Even after we hear the voice of the Master and follow, who among as has never fallen, never looked back? I know that, for myself, I could never have succeeded without the powerful helps of God's actual grace. When I first had the stunning encounter with Christ the Good Shepherd, among the first thoughts I had when I came to myself was--"Oh no, not you, Jesus!". Because I knew how "uncool" this would be to my family and friends. And I knew I would have to change.

As each day of my new life in Christ passes (8 years, now) I become more and more grateful that My Good Shpeherd came for me, and that He gave me the grace to hear His voice. Let us pray with great love and compassion for all those whose hearts are hardened by their own desires, who are "looking for love in all the wrong places", that they may at last hear His lovely voice.

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Mostly Cat

You Are: 30% Dog, 70% Cat

You and cats have a lot in common. You're both smart and in charge - with a good amount of attitude. However, you do have a very playful side that occasionally comes out!

Are You More Cat or Dog?

The Gift of Life

Donum Vitae gets it right, as Michelle Arnold points out in this poignant post on lessons of artificial insemination.

I suppose that Cheyenne is lucky that her mother supposed her father had been thoroughly "vetted". Otherwise she might have fallen under the scythe of that other great eugenic technology, which has already decimated generations.

My prayer is that Michelle Jorgenson benefits greatly from the unique gift of her daughter, and comes to prize this gift for the priceless treasure that it is. I am finally beginning to learn so much from my daughter, who has a developmental disability. In some way I can never explain, but only thank God for, she is perfect--for herself, and for me, as a daughter. I only hope that I can give her half of what she has already given to me.

There is something in this post that really struck me with just how sad our efforts to perfect and orchestrate our children really are, and how little we appreciate the mystery and awesomeness of the gift of life.

Tall, Barrel-chested and Handsome?

This Seattle times article explores one idea about what may have happened to our Neanderthal cousins--we may have assimilated them. According to author Faye Flam:

" Around half a million years ago the Neanderthal line spread through Europe and the Middle East, while our dominant ancestral line didn't move into Europe until much later — around 45,000 years ago. There, we overlapped until about 28,000 years ago...

...Biologist Alan Templeton of Washington University in St. Louis has found hints that some people of European ancestry carry genes that emerged in Europe more than 300,000 years ago — far before our main ancestors left Africa."


There is more to be explored, of course, DNA sampling and so forth, but I think they may be on to something.

Thanks to Don Jim at Dappled Things for his post on Interacting with Neanderthals. Oh, we be interacting, all right. We are the interactingest bunch of people I know.

I kind of like this idea, as I always found the Neanderthals to be a romantic, lost group. Maybe they aren't lost at all. Maybe they are us.

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July Prayer Intentions

THE HOLY FATHER'S PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR JULY

Our Holy Father Pope Benedict's general prayer intention for July is: "That all those who are in prison, and especially young people, may receive the necessary support from society to help them rediscover a sense to their own existence."

His mission intention is: "That, in the mission territories, different ethnic and religious groups may live in peace and together build a society inspired by human and spiritual values."

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Scottish Proverb

"Better keep the devil at the door than turn him out of the house."
--Scottish Proverb

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Via Sancta

Via Sancta
Just rejoined St Blog's Parish and looking about a bit, this is the first blog I looked at. Stuart, I hope you go back again in August! What a beautiful calling. Someday I hope to see the Holy Land--actually I long for it; so, I can understand this very well.

God speed!