Sunday, March 30, 2003
The links page is up finally. Right now it's just a poorly edited list of stuff from my bookmarks. Look to the right and click where it says "Surf Here".
JTC
posted by JTC 10:06 PM
Saturday, March 29, 2003
There are a ton of Blogs out there about the war. Many from soldiers or their families here's just one.
JTC
posted by JTC 1:34 PM
Wednesday, March 26, 2003
Forwarded to me by my Uncle Wayne:
You know the world is going crazy when:
the best rapper is a white guy,
the best golfer is a black guy,
the Swiss hold the America's Cup,
France is accusing the US of arrogance,
and Germany doesn't want to go to war.
posted by JTC 12:54 PM
Tuesday, March 25, 2003
Last one for today...see Dave Barry's Blog!
posted by JTC 11:36 PM
Check out this link about our non-human coalition partners.
posted by JTC 11:28 PM
For nearly a week now I've watched the war on TV along with everyone else. From the first day I've felt that there's something surreal and perhaps dangerous about the news coverage. It reminded me right away of the movie Starship Troopers where a reporter broadcasts live from the battlefield only to be killed by the enemy insects. It could almost have been a prophetic parody of this war as seen on TV. Today's conclusion: we are an impatient, shallow, and greedy people. The media and the pundits can't wait to predict doom and gloom. People are made nervous and frightened by the images they see and the immediate reports of every loss. Tonight, when coverage resumed, I heard that two M1A1 Abrams tanks were knocked out along with a Bradley fighting vehicle. An M1 has never been taken out before lamented the reporter. Of course none of the crew was seriously hurt and he neglected to mention that M1 tanks have barely ever been engaged in battle before. Can you imagine if, during WWII or Vietnam, the news reels and radio reported the loss of every tank, every plane, in fact every man. I do not mean to belittle the loss of any life on either side of this conflict. But it would behoove us to retain a little perspective. War is a dangerous business. In the first use of this type of Blitzkrieg it took the Germans many weeks to conquer Poland and then many more to capture France. In 1991 the air campaign against Iraq lasted about 45 days. The Israelis took six days to conquer the Sinai. We have gone further in only five. And what of the casualties? If you'd like a comparison look here.
ABC did run one brief but interesting piece about the methods the various networks (including their own) use to get you to watch their coverage and to elicit a response. Earlier today I was telling coworker that if he didn't have cable TV he could put the $30 a month towards something more useful. Another responded that then there would be no place for him to go fro news. What he meant was that he couldn't then turn on the news 24/7. But the truth is that watching CNN or Fox News or CNBC all day long he would learn no more than he would by monitoring a good radio station or checking the broadcast TV networks a couple times a day.
Like other things in our American lives; we insist that we must have our news right now and our victories quick & bloodless. History, I suspect, has a longer attention span than we do.
JTC
Warrington, PA
posted by JTC 11:17 PM
Friday, March 21, 2003
Well, we're at war. Generally I'm hawkish about such things this time I've fallen squarely in the middle. The opposition, I think, has been quite disingenuous. Nevertheless as a conservative I can't help but fear the size, scope and intentions of our government. The act of war doesn't really bother me that much. I know that sounds horrible. Not at all Christian. It is said that all war is a defeat (or begins with a defeat). If war is all that's left then you've already done something terribly wrong. I agree but, I think the defeat happened in the garden when Adam & Eve failed the first time. It's not really a surprise to me when people do terrible things. Nor is it very surprising to me that the only solutions we can come up with sometimes are pretty terrible too. Still, last night watching the war begin, I felt a darkness. I didn't feel that in '91. Maybe I'm just more aware now. Maybe something is different this time. Perhaps we'd all do well to remember that while we've started in defeat; there is a path to the victory. We'll celebrate that victory in about a month, on Easter Sunday.
JTC
East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania
posted by JTC 12:33 AM
Tuesday, March 18, 2003
And here are some neat suggestions on how to fast and pray today: Domestic-Church.Com: Fridge Art:The Practice of Lenten Practices
posted by JTC 5:02 PM
Every year during Lent I read about the fasting practices of the Eastern rites of the church (and the Orthodox). Not having lived before Vatican II I've always wondered what the older practices were in the Latin rite. Here are a couple:
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: The Black Fast
Fast Rules from 1888
posted by JTC 4:59 PM
Thursday, March 13, 2003
I had considered writing something about the impending war in Iraq but somehow I've lost the urge. Anyway that's why there are a few stray links posted below about it. In any event, whatever position you take on the issues, remember to pray for all involved.
JTC
posted by JTC 12:00 AM
Wednesday, March 12, 2003
Well I've got some catching up to do. A brief review of this last trip and some thanks are in order. After a few dates in Missouri and Kansas with JMT we returned briefly to Little Portion in Arkansas, then moved on to Houston with a brief stop in Dallas. And there comes one of those occasions for thanks, to Deacon Ken and Susan Reiser (sp?). They're old friends of Viola and John Michael and put all of us up for the night. To top it off Susan showed us one of my new favorite places.....the Half Price bookstore. In Houston we spent a few days downtown at the Doubletree while attending the Fullness of Truth conference. I was able to Fr. John Corapi and Steve Ray among other speakers. Being at these conferences is great in that you get to hear, in person, speakers that you know from radio or TV as well as get to Mass and confession (not always easy on the road). The downside is that they inevitably hav the facility booked solid with events leaving me no time to get loaded in, set up, and sound checked for the concert. I end up scrambling to find a few minutes here and there to get things done and waiting around the rest of the time.
The rest of the trip was spent in Houston on the Itinerant Mission. Rather than the usual tour where we take the tour bus to a different city each day; the Itinerant Mission brings John Michael and others from the Brothers & Sisters of Charity to several parishes in one area. Community members go to the parishes and speak about vocations and life in the community (often to the school children) usually followed by a concert with John Michael at night. In keeping with the nature of the trip we stayed in homes rather than hotels and traveled by minivan rather than bus. That's where more of the thanks come in. First and foremost to Barbara and Rodney Scarbrough for giving me a place to sleep and looking after me for more than a week. Their daughter, Gina, is a domestic member of the BSC. Barbara and Gina also own a bakery and kept us in cookies and pie for the duration of our visit. Thanks to Gina's husband David for getting me to the airport, and for being generally a great and funny guy. Kelly Wells (another BSC domestic) for keeping us all organized and provided for as as for getting me and Kathy to the Saint Peter and the Vatican: The Legacy of the Popes exhibit. Kelly's brother Michael for giving up his townhouse to house the rest of the group (our headquarters). To the Carmelite Sisters in New Caney, who I mentioned previously. And of course to John Michael, Viola, Ken, Kathy & Sr. Betsy for including me and helping me to make at least part of my living working in the church.
The final thanks go to relative strangers. First to the unnamed lady who waited for the train with us at the Philly airport as we fought with the machines to buy tickets. Not only was she successful at getting the machines to work, but she asked us to pray for a young man she met on her flight who was leaving his two month old baby behind to go to Kuwait. Lastly to Betty and Emile from Southhampton, PA. Betty was my seat mate on the flight in, shared the relatively new experience of taking the train from the airport with me, and she and her husband Emile gave me a ride home saving me the hassle of calling a cab and waiting in the cold.
Why all the thanks? It sounds like a bad speech at the Oscars doesn't it? Well one of the minor revelations of this trip has been seeing how hard it is for me to let others help. When your a solitary, ornery, do it yourself type guy like myself it just isn't that easy to let someone else give you a hand. Sometimes letting go and letting God means letting God use someone else in your life. I'm quietly pleased and reassured at how many genuinely nice people I met on this trip. Despite my rampant cynicism I've always secretly felt that people are fundamentally decent. I'm glad to have confirmation. And Mom always insisted that we say thanks.
JTC
Warrington, Pennsylvania
posted by JTC 11:44 PM
Tuesday, March 11, 2003
I've got kind of a thing for the English martyrs slain in the reformation. There's a shrine to them in London but I can never remember the name of it (I've never been there), I just found it online. It's at Tyburn Convent. The gallows that they hung many of the martyrs on, before drawing and quartering them, was called the Tyburn Tree.
posted by JTC 6:15 PM
Catholic Politics
posted by JTC 8:44 AM
Monday, March 10, 2003
I'm Baaacck..
Actually I've been back since last Tuesday night. I got sucked straight back into mayhem at work here. Now to top it off I've got the worse cold/flu/respiratory explosion I've had in years. Frankly I'm just too pooped to write much. I have alot of thins to write about though so hopefully in the next day or two I can get to it.
JTC
Warrington, PA
posted by JTC 8:22 PM
Statement on Iraq, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, D.C., November 13, 2002
posted by JTC 3:04 PM
Statement on Iraq, Most Reverend Wilton D. Gregory, President, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, February 26, 2003
posted by JTC 2:59 PM
STATEMENT OF CARDINAL PIO LAGHI,
SPECIAL ENVOY OF JOHN PAUL II
TO PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH
posted by JTC 2:46 PM
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