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Hooray for Congress

  /   Saturday, March 27, 2004   /   Comments(0)

I’m glad that at least enough of the Senate had the common sense to get a bill passed recognizing that harming the unborn child of a pregnant woman is a criminal offence in itself. Maybe this is a stretch, but without this kind of law there is the possibility of a crime that caused an unborn child to die but nothing else to go unpunished by some weirdo judge. This would be a most unusual scenario, but stranger things happen in our courts these days. Of course, this law only applies to events that occur during the commission of a federal crime.

The sad part of this is twofold:

1. The New York Times keeps calling the unborn child a “fetus.” This sidebar even says “Senate Approves Fetus Bill.” While this may be the scientifically correct term, it is often used in such publications such as the New York Times (which is not a scientific publication) as a means to objectify the unborn child to rationalize killing it. Can you imaging a happily pregnant woman telling you that “My fetus is kicking!!!”? Every pregnant woman I have ever met refers to her unborn child as “the baby” or “my baby” if not by the child’s name.

2. Why do we have people, including a presidential candidate, who think that abortion is such a precious right that anything that comes with 12,000 miles of it must be stopped. This is outrageous!

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Pray Tell

  /   Saturday, March 27, 2004   /   Comments(0)

I am really grateful for the fact that Ave Maria University is being built, but pray tell what is the deal with this oratory. Why is it being built as a huge glass structure? This seems a little odd to me.

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Killer Spam Filter

  /   Tuesday, March 23, 2004   /   Comments(0)

I just got an advertisement for this spam filter program, but my computer’s spam filter ate it. The e-mail wasn’t spam because I’ve done business with them before. Oh well!

Category: Posts imported from Danger! Falling Brainwaves, Uncategorized


How Do I Rank?

  /   Tuesday, March 23, 2004   /   Comments(0)

Interesting . . . . according to Alexa.com, my site is ranked 1,749,474th among web sites in traffic. I guess I have a bit far to go in making the top 500.

Category: Posts imported from Danger! Falling Brainwaves, Uncategorized


Antidepressants

  /   Tuesday, March 23, 2004   /   Comments(0)

The FDA wants manufacturers of antidepressants to carry warnings of a risk of suicide when starting antidepressants. It appears that manufacturers are going to comply. Although I am concerned about the way they are often given out like candy, as a pharmacist, I have mixed feelings about the warning.

Do people on antidepressants commit suicide? I’m sure they do if they have depression. As the article mentions, it’s hard to say if the drugs actually worsen the depression or if this is something that they would have likely done anyway. I wonder if the patients who had the problems were told what to expect from the medication. Every antidepressant that I know of takes about 3-4 weeks to start working. There are patients who stop taking their antidepressants after a week because “they don’t work.”

Compliance is also an issue. Do we know that those patients who contemplated or attempted suicide were taking their medication? Studies have shown that patients who have severely painful diseases are no more compliant with therapy than other patients.

Then again, these drugs really aren’t for everyone. I was amazed at the number of prescriptions for them we filled when I did my retail rotation in school. The problem with them is that they don’t solve the underlying problems. Sometimes, the emotions are so strong that people need relief before they can begin to deal with the other problems. Other people have a genuine brain chemistry problem. However, these drugs are overused.

Category: Posts imported from Danger! Falling Brainwaves, Uncategorized


How to Pray

  /   Tuesday, March 23, 2004   /   Comments(0)

Fr. John McCloskey has written this article for Envoy Magazine about how to pray. It’s well worth reading.

If you aren’t a subscriber to Envoy Magazine, it would be worth your while to check it out. They are now also making electronic subscription available at a lower price. It’s a great deal, but I hope you have a broadband connection if you plan to download a 68-page hi-resolution PDF.

Category: Posts imported from Danger! Falling Brainwaves, Uncategorized


Guide to the Passion

  /   Monday, March 22, 2004   /   Comments(0)

Some of you may know by now that Catholic Exchange and Ascension Press have published a book entitled A Guide to the Passion: 100 Questions About The Passion of The Christ. They have sent me an e-mail saying that the book is up to #16 on Amazon.com’s sales ranking. I went to Amazon.com today and found that the book is now at #9. It may be even higher up there by the time you read this.

This book is a great evangelization tool. Not only does it cover aspects of the movie, but it lists resources on the Catholic faith to help people do further reading. I purchased 25 copies at bulk rate to give to my fellow Frassati Society members. I highly recommend it.

Category: Posts imported from Danger! Falling Brainwaves, Uncategorized


New Liturgical Document

  /   Sunday, March 21, 2004   /   Comments(0)

I have seen articles suggesting that the new juridical document on the liturgy is now about to be published. It sounds like there will be no new rules, just a restatement of the old ones. Maybe it will become yet another unenforced pronouncement. Then again, maybe something will come out of it.

I, for one, would like to see something done. However, I wish they would be done in a manner other than what has been used in the recent past. These things require explanation, which we often don’t get. One priest explained it by saying that, in the military, when you get a new weapon, you get training on how to use it. When Vatican II documents came out, no such thing happened.

Even today, with the new GIRM, the transition was not ideal. For example, we were just told to stand before saying “May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands . . . . ” without much of an explanation of the significance of it. The change still seems arbitrary to me. Also, Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist are not allowed on the sanctuary until the priest has his communion. I fully understand this and applaud it, but others are confused by it. The way these things are presented make them seem arbitrary.

The last thing that we need in the Church is changes in the liturgy to appear arbitrary. It leads to the impression that the laws and teachings of the church are, well, arbitrary. It suggests that they are not teachings handed down from Christ but the whim of some dude who wears a pointy hat and thinks he’s bad and who can modify them at will. We badly need teachers who will get their stuff right and teach it to us.

Category: Posts imported from Danger! Falling Brainwaves, Uncategorized


There’s Hope for Me After All

  /   Sunday, March 21, 2004   /   Comments(0)

I found this link on loving your geek on Jeanetta’s blog, and it just shows that a geek and electroholic like me may one day find someone to match. After all, according to the article, “Geeks are among the sweetest and most adoring of boyfriends.” Maybe I should just attend an Electroholics Anonymous meeting.

Category: Posts imported from Danger! Falling Brainwaves, Uncategorized


Girl Scouts and Planned Non-Parenthood

  /   Saturday, March 20, 2004   /   Comments(0)

If this is true, this is really darn scary. According to this article, the CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA told NBC news that the Scouts have a relationship with Planned “Parenthood.” If anyone has the source for this, I’d sure like to see it.

If it is true, it is enough to convince me never to buy another Girl Scout cookie again. I hope it’s not. If it is, I hope that they replace their CEO with one that will give Planned Parenthood directions to the nearest exit.

Category: Posts imported from Danger! Falling Brainwaves, Uncategorized


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