How The Networks Put Together a News Story

If you love Monte Python type humor you will love this. If you do not, you will still love it. Either way, it rings with truth.

This is great example how “so-called” truth is often communicated to us via style. Style is not substance. Style is distant to truth in that it plays on emotions and memories. It can be used to deceive. By comparison, style is like the music to the lyrics. Music can sound great, pleasing, and arousing; it can invoke anger or inspire. But it does so through the emotions, not the intellect. The music can be contradictory to the lyrics.

Substance on the other hand can be parsed, examined, dissected, tested, and debated by the intellect. The content, or lyrics in keeping with the song metaphor, can tell a great deal, if not the most important aspects, of the message.

Style is meant to accompany and compliment the substance or content. However, the content is the “meat” of the act. Sadly, today we are so easily sold on style and style is then used as the means to truth (and let’s not forget that the means are everything.)

By its very nature, style can not do what substance does. If it did, one would be able to tell what is on a man’s mind by looking at his hat.

The Wolf Moon

This is Cool.  Go out and enjoy if she is visible tonight!

See the whole story by clicking Here

The Immorality of Suspicion by Fr. Paul

Another terrific article by Fr. Paul.  A must read.

Editorial (01/27/10)


The Immorality of Suspicion

The amount of damage done to souls, to priests, to parishes, to apostolates because of loose tongues is impossible for any human mind to calculate. One of the components of uncharitable speech is, very often, suspicion. Perhaps the suspicions arise from pride, or insecurities, or whatever, but we’ll leave that aside and in this week’s article, we shall focus on the question of suspicion itself.

Atheist Group Blasts Postal Service for Mother Teresa Stamp - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com

Read here for the "Darker Side" of Mother Teresa.  I don't know whether to laugh or cry. 
Atheist Group Blasts Postal Service for Mother Teresa Stamp - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com

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White House insiders say Obama budget axes Constellation program, plan to return astronauts to the moon - OrlandoSentinel.com

I know we are in the middle of a recession and money is tight. However, slow the program down but don't completely shut it down. This makes no sense and speaks to the hypocrisy of this President. On one hand he speaks about creating jobs (albeit he wants more government jobs and that is another matter, wait…isn’t NASA of government institution? anyway…,) then he wants to cut a program that creates many well paying jobs plus the top drawer benefits that will come from exploration and development.      
White House insiders say Obama budget axes Constellation program, plan to return astronauts to the moon - OrlandoSentinel.com

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The JackAss Calendar

I love this calendar.  Check out all the months.  My favorite is April.

The JackAss Calendar

Feline or Canine Anyone?

I’m a little hungry. What’s for dinner anyway? Here kitty..kitty…

Click on the image or this link for the story

Univ. of Florida Awaits Tim Tebow Ad - Campus Chatter

Univ. of Florida Awaits Tim Tebow Ad - Campus Chatter

A Man of Courage. Hope he survives this.

Man Found with Lizard(s) in His Pants

This story…I’d better not say what’s on mine mind. One can think of many puns but I won’t do it.

Click on the image or this link for the story

Open Carry

I have a great deal to say on this.  Unfortunately, my time is short at this moment.  I posted it anyway.  Perhaps, I can get back to it at a later time and write a piece on it.  Interesting issue. 
Click here or on the image for the article

Moral Relativism at Work.... on the Highway

WHAT THE SPANK?!!! Once again, the common sense test is failed by, this time, The State of Colorado and our judicial system. OK, so the Nazi party in Colorado can have a stretch of road adopted by them. Maybe it’s the timing of this story that has set me off. No, it’s not the timing. Its just plain stupid and wrong.


Timing wise, I find this particularly disturbing because two days from today, January 27, 2010, is the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. On the radio this morning, I heard the story told by a, now 90 year old, Debbie Sessler a Jewish-Dutch woman who, with her sister, managed to survive the Holocaust. It was a long, painful, and horror filled story. She and her sister were at Auschwitz toward the end of their 4 year long ordeal, on their death beds from illness and starvation, when another prisoner came to them one day and said, “They are gone,” referring the Nazi’s. Several days later they were liberated by Soviet forces. Her story tore my heart out. She lost her father to the Nazi’s and had to survive on her own all while protecting her younger sister, keeping her alive, a seemly insurmountable task for a 10 year old girl.

What happened to millions under Nazi rule is unthinkable. But, this ideology is what brought the unthinkable to us.  They are NOT gone.  What's worse is that they are held in the same regard as the Kiwanis or the Rotary Club.          

I wonder what would happen if a local Catholic Parish wanted to adopt a highway? Forgive me. Perhaps it has been done already. I sense, however, it being the main topic of a very contentious 6:00 PM news story. This is another example of how amoral our society has become, another example of moral relativism slithering into our lives.  Moral relativism is the unthinking path to the unthinkable. 


Click here or on the image for the full story.

What Does All This Mean?

Yes, well you need to watch this video clip. It calls into question some of what we are doing as humans, our direction, but most importantly, how this defines our “being.” Are we sentient beings or more like a fungus? If we do not slow down and take a look at what we are doing, how we are doing it, and why, we may be more like a fungus. As children made in the image of pure love and perfection, I think we can do better, harness our creativity and potential toward a well conceived end but with well conceived means. Because the means really are everything.

Click here or on the image for the video clip.

Faith, Regrets, and Life

This was posted on Facebook; it rings with truth.

Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Forget about the one's who don't. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it. Post to your wall if you agree!

I would frame it a little differently:

It is only through our Lord and Savior’s sacrifice that we have the path open to us for redemption. And, through redemption the banishment of all regrets. Our free will aligned with His will, that is the challenge. With that challenge, the uphill battle toward true freedom, the tough life at times. But, that end, worth it for all eternity.

Blessing to all.

You want a glimpse of the future? Police spying on us from above.

I find this most disturbing. The UK has gone over the Orwellian edge. As a retired police officer,

Wearable Robot Technology

From our friends at LM. This is utterly fantastic! Yes, the military applications are there. This is at the conceptual stage in some sense. However, this technology can be applied to industrial settings as well as used by persons who have physical disabilities like back or leg problems. It obviously needs to be adapted but this is really good stuff. Once this technology has been refined and miniaturized, try to imagine the potential! This is worth taking a look at.

Click here for the video

Scientologists 'heal' Haiti quake victims using touch

Being a powerful and wealthy nation has its benefits. I wish being able to afford to be nuts were not one of them. These poor people need food, shelter, and medicine coupled with medical science, not America’s version of Voodoo.
Click on the link below for the full comedy.

Scientologists 'heal' Haiti quake victims using touch

Terrorist threat level raised to 'severe' - Times Online

Something is going on. Britain just upped their threat level. Let's pray someone does not get clobbered any time soon.


Terrorist threat level raised to 'severe' - Times Online

McChurch

I really liked this article by Father Paul Ward. It is worth a read and reflection.

Editorial (1/14/10)

McChurch

That is neither a real name nor a real word, but an expression I coined to convey “commercial Catholicism,” or even “consumer Catholicism.” Not only in America, but in many other places as well, the Catholic Church has largely gone the way of pop culture. That is, it became an object of the market.

Hamsters Beware

…Mamas don’t let your babies grow up to be…HAMSTER KILLERS!!

This article certainly lends credence to the argument that in order to be a parent, there ought to be a test or license or something. What do you think?



Police Say Georgia Mom Forced Son to Kill Hamster - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com

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Passing a Stone

This gives new meaning to passing a stone while at the Doctor's office.

FOXNews.com - Meteorite Crashes Through Virginia Doctor's Office

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The EYE

I know this has been around for some time.  It's still fun to take a look at it once in a while.  Move your mouse over the EYE to get the effect.

Click on this to see the EYE!

Trouble in Paradise.

This is a very good article and should give us something to think about. Please take the time to read it. It's about cruise ships keeping their obligations to bring vacationers to Haiti despite what has occurred. It's proof that common sense is not so common.

Click below for the article

Trouble in Paradise.

Yikes! This has got to hurt

Man bites off cop's nipple.  This is a good argument for wearing body armor I suppose.  But he was off duty after all. Still, I can here the talk around the locker room after this one. 

Click here for the full story

X Ray Vision for everyone!

Now this is what I'm talkin' about.  Being able to see around solid objects.  Imagine this intergrated into a set of eyewear, ipod, etc. 

Click on this to see the video

A little to the left...PLEASE!

Korean Defense Force members working on a spinning jump kick. 

Click here for the video

The Horror Continues

Machete wielding gangs in Haiti fighting for food

If ever I encountered a lion doing this on a hike, I’d be worried.

Check out this bad beauty. What’s with the wink anyway?

PACT WITH GAIA | Daily Telegraph Tim Blair Blog

Actor Danny Glover, now an expert on seismology and plate tectonics, is telling us that climate change is responsible for the Haitian quake. To make matters worse, he gives to planet earth (that’s this wonderful chuck of rock we live on) the status of a supernatural sentient being; in other words, planet earth is a God, not a creation. This God, Gaia, is pouring force its wrath upon us for our failure at the Copenhagen summit by zapping poor Haiti. What the Spank? If Gaia were to be truly retributive, she would have zapped Rush Limbaugh’s home in south Florida. Guess she missed by a few hundred miles. If you follow his reasoning, earthquakes should never happen in Hollywood (Los Angeles) or San Francisco were many of her worshipers live and breathe. By the way, when they breathe, they do not exhale CO2.

Click on the link below for the story and video.

PACT WITH GAIA Daily Telegraph Tim Blair Blog

Cocaine mang...At NASA

Now this is what you call a High - High

Click here for the full article

Early Alzheimers Test

This test could detect Alzheimers 20 years early.  What then?  Click here for the full story.

Sometimes when your prayers are answered it comes in the most unlikely package

The U.S. Military is Mobilized for Haiti 

New York embraces California's unwanted Chihuahuas

New York embraces California's unwanted Chihuahuas

East Boston cat called to jury duty

East Boston cat called to jury duty

Moon Speck

I stepped out and saw it, the gibbous waning moon suspended high over the western horizon. And, I was drawn to it. In the mid-morning sunlight, in a bright blue dome of exalted space, it was fixed there, as though it knew its place and I did not. It looked right at me with its dead stare of life, like an old friend of years, but one you see less and less of over time even though you live in the same town. My sad old friend the moon, we had some times. We still do, don’t we old friend.

Haiti Archbishop Killed in Quake as Churches, Cathedral Reduced to Rubble - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News - FOXNews.com

Haiti Archbishop Killed in Quake as Churches, Cathedral Reduced to Rubble - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News - FOXNews.com

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The Avatar Challenge: Can We Separate Style From Content?

I have been wondering about this movie for some time now. Admittedly, I have not seen it. I will confess this right up front. Simply looking at the previews made me recoil a bit though, giving me reason to consider waiting until it comes out on DVD.

So much of what Hollywood puts out is part of a bigger agenda. Friends of mine who have seen it said it scored high on the “wow” factor. When I asked them if it seemed anti-American, their response was fairly universal: “Yes, I guess it is, when you think about it.” I guess they were not thinking when they paid good money to be “wowed” with the latest special effects, all the while being seduced with subliminal messages designed to tear down all that we cherish as good.

Then, I stumbled across this article that gives another angle critical of the movie in a way that is perhaps even more disturbing. It is a subliminal message that erodes and degrades the human being as a unique creation. I am fond of many of James Cameron’s works. I am sure this one rates high on entertainment value through its use of the latest and powerful effects technology. My deepest concern is whether most can “separate style from content” in a critical way. I like a good chocolate bar once in a while, but you can not live on it; it nourishes neither the body nor the soul.

Clikc here for the complete story:  Vatican Says Avatar No Masterpiece

A programing error according to Google. Hmmmm...

FOXNews.com - What's Islam? Don't Ask Google

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