Special Kiss

The Ruling

Majorly disappointed in the Supreme Court's Obamacare ruling today.  I thought for sure it would be overturned.  Even more surprising was that Chief Justice John Roberts went with the Left to uphold the abominable Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as it's officially known.  I kept checking Drudge this morning for the announcement and was depressed when it finally came out about 7:15am AZ time.  I honestly feel like this country as we know it is done for.  That something like this passed Congress and was upheld in the Courts is a fundamental shift in the relationship between Americans and their gov't.  No longer are we a country of liberty with a government of, by, and for the people.  We will now be a social democracy based on government goodies and ruled by an elite class.  Far cry from the free republic envisioned and instituted by the Founders.  Guess it was good while it lasted.  Sure wish my two little daughters weren't inheriting such a screwed-up system.

I know a lot of folks who are hopeful that the Opinion holding Obamacare as a tax plays into Romney's and Republicans' hands in November, and that certainly helps.  Obama explicitly stated it wasn't a tax in campaigning for it, and it really will be the largest tax increase in history.  But I remain pessimistic for two reasons.  1) There's no guarantee we can boot out the Democrats in Congress who brought us this abonimation and get the law repealed, even if it is easier since it's a "tax"; and 2) there are A LOT of Americans who want "free" healthcare, who are glad to see this passed and upheld.  Even if Obamacare is repealed, the groundwork -- it's now constitutional -- for its return has already been laid.  I can't help but feel we're pretty much doomed, if not now in a generation or two.  Maybe not my daughters but my grandkids.

Ready for the Gym

                  

Sunglasses

                       

Shade Sails

Bobbins had been hankering for some shade in the backyard and bought some large triangle cloths from Ikea the other day.  Zach came over Sat. and we rigged them up.

            

            

              

               

We also finished the playset, installing the cover on top, the yellow driving wheel for JoJo, some more grips on the climbing wall, and the Olympian rings next to the swings.  I was pretty surprised MM could not only reach the rings but also pull her legs perpendicular to her waist.

I was going to include a photo of the bolt we had to cut out of the driving wheel on the first go around but forgot to snap it.

Only two trips to Home Depot after our original trip...

Pleased to re-use one 2x4 from the side lockers we tore down 2 yrs ago.

Our Gov't's Prioritites Now

Good but also sad chuckles in Mark Steyn's column Sunday:

So today our money-no-object government spends lots of money but to no great object. What are Big Government’s priorities now? Carpeting Catholic universities with IUDs. Regulating the maximum size of milk-coffee beverages. As Obama told us: “That’s how we built this country — together. We constructed railroads and highways. . . . Together, we touched the surface of the moon, unlocked the mystery of the atom.” And as we will one day tell our grandchildren: “Together, we touched the surface of the decaf caramel macchiato and deemed it to be more than 16 ounces. Together, we unlocked the mystery of 30-year-old college students’ womanhood. One small step to the Ikea futon for a lucky Georgetown Law freshwoman, one giant leap for womankind. Who will ever forget the day when the Union Pacific Board of Health Compliance and the Central Pacific Agency of Sustainable Growth Enhancement met at Promontory Community College, Utah, to hammer in the Golden Spike condom dispenser?”

Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day to my own dad and to the other guys out there.  We had a nice blessing from Fr. John at 9am Mass today.  Yesterday MM woke up before us and was playing in JoJo's room when I came out of our room.  She said: "Hey big guy!"  We had quite a laugh about that one.

I got one of the neatest, most special cards today

And later MM took me to the movies, which happened to be her first trip to the cinema.  She was a little scared of the dark going in, and the loud sound, but the soda and peanut M&Ms helped.  It was a nice afternoon.

2 Articles

1) The Kids Aren’t All Right: New Family Structures and the “No Differences” Claim

The widely circulated claim that parents engaged in same-sex relationships do just as well as other parents at raising children—a claim widely known today as the “no differences” thesis—is not settled science. Two new peer-reviewed studies released this week by the academic journal Social Science Research challenge the claim that there are no differences in outcomes between children raised by parents who have same-sex relationships and those raised by their biological mother and father in intact, stable marriages.

2) One is the loneliest number: meet New York’s only new priest

Being the archdiocese’s sole member of the Class of 2012 is a slightly uncomfortable distinction for Father D’Arcy, 33, a soft-spoken man who prefers to stay out of the spotlight. He is not a native New Yorker, nor even an American citizen. Father D’Arcy comes from a small suburb of Toronto, about 80 miles northwest of Niagara Falls, and transferred to the seminary here three years ago, he said, because he had a special interest in working with Latin American immigrants, and had heard that New York needed such priests.

The number of seminarians has been declining, in New York and nationally, since the 1960s. St. Joseph’s, the New York Archdiocese’s stately limestone seminary in Yonkers, opened in 1896 with room for 180 students. It graduated 25 or 30 men annually through the mid-1970s, but since the mid-1990s, most graduating classes have had fewer than 10 priests. Before this year, the archdiocese’s smallest graduating class was in 1998, with two priests.

Tear Down This Wall! 25 Yrs

My brother-in-law Mark pointed out that today is the 25th anniversary of Reagan's "Tear Down this Wall" speech in Berlin.

What a moment for freedom!  Sure wish we had the Gipper running this year.  Could use his leadership and principle.

MM's New Room

Bobbins' innovation in the painting was to do stripes on the lower half of the room in the same color (Casablanca), only a different sheen.  The main color is eggshell while the stripes are hi gloss.  I wasn't sure how it turned out as we peeled the tape, which took about two hours to put up (as evidenced below).

            

As long as it took to put up, JoJo made quick work of it coming down.

The finished product:

           


              
The stripes are hard to see in these photos, but in person you can make them out pretty well.

MM's Old Room

We shipped MM up to Grandma and Grandpa's and took advantage of the long Memorial Day weekend to re-paint her room.  Here's what it looked like before:

             

This was a left-over patch from the house Cat 6 (internet) wiring project, when we tried to run the wire here and it didn't work.  Glad to finally cover it up.



We got to work Sat. afternoon.  You can see how white the new color (officially called Casablanca at Ace) is compared to the old sand color.

            

          

                

JoJo supervising from the Princess bed.

Before You Leave

Thought-provoking article by Jennifer Fulwiler about those who quit the religion for generic spirituality.

"5 Questions Before You Leave the Catholic Church"

"many people who abandon their Catholic faith still believe in God and still strive to be good, moral people; they choose to leave because they think that they will find these things they desire -- God, freedom, equality -- outside the walls of the Church. Such a move certainly fits in with popular cultural beliefs. Common wisdom states that the Catholic Church is a corrupt organization that places oppressive, unnecessary rules on its members. The way to find freedom, the thinking goes, is to ditch the institution and create a spirituality and moral code that works for you.

"To modern ears, this all sounds right. But is it true?"

2012 KofC Tourney

This year we reunited last year's team to defend our title in the St. Bernadette Knights of Columbus golf tournament at Stone Creek.  We came in second in gross score and tied for second in handicap.  We lost the tiebreaker and ended up 3rd, earning $10 gift cards.  Not too bad.  Sean (3rd from left) got closest to the pin on one hole and won back about half his greens fee.

I didn't play as well as last year but had a fun time.  Like last year, we had an eagle putt (courtesy of a booming drive by Sean and nice fairway wood to the green by Uncle Jack) and just missed it.  It was pretty tough -- of the fringe and steeply downhill.  Here's to 2013!

Hosed

The Dog couldn't help himself with the hose the other day.

Dead on Arrival ?

Not sure how this poor guy met his demise

           

Some Interesting Numbers

If we ever get a boy, decent chance he might become a priest if we have some more kids, plunk down the money for Catholic school, and get him into a Catholic college.  Very interesting numbers:

Priest Class of 2012 Is Younger, Prayerful and Catholic-Educated

The 2012 priesthood ordination class continues a six-year trend towards younger priests, according to a survey that indicates new priests come from larger families and are more likely to have attended Catholic schools and colleges.

Two-thirds of the men in this year’s ordination class are between the ages of 25 and 34. The men to be ordained, called “ordinands,” have an average age of 34.6 and a median age of 31.

Most ordinands have been Catholic since birth, though 6% are converts. Eighty-four percent had two Catholic parents, while 37% had a relative who is a priest or a religious. Nearly 70% of ordinands said they regularly prayed the Rosary, and 65% participated in Eucharistic adoration before entering the seminary. About 75% had been altar servers, while more than half participated in a parish youth group.