Mark P. Shea's Blog, page 1308

Rattling the Tin Cup

This month I am working hard on several projects that will require my attention. I will blog as I can, but I'm doing a lot of work and trying hard to make ends meet. If you appreciate what I do here and can spare it, this would be a good month in which to drop something in the Tin Cup by clicking on the "donate" button over there on the left rail (or, if the button is not showing up on your browser, try clicking here). Things are extremely tight.

As a sop, here and here are two new pieces by yr. obdt. svt. More shall follow.

By the way, if you'd rather get something for chucking money in the Tin Cup, you can always buy some of my books and audio/visual stuff here.

Your generosity is much appreciated as I am sole breadwinner for the fambly. May God bless you through our Lord Jesus!

Mark your Calendar, Western Washington!

Since we have longer days, why not come on over to the next Catholic Professionals breakfast meeting, Friday June 3, 2011? Please spread the word about this dynamic gathering too. Attached is a flyer about the next topic: The Commoditization of America's Children for Biomedical Research by Dr. Theresa Deisher

Mass at 7:15 a.m.
Breakfast at 8:00 a.m.
The company is great, the speakers are very interesting, and the food is the best by caterer Angela Kim.

Please RSVP on-line:

Hope to see y'all soon. Enjoy the SUN !

Don't miss it if you can!

Stephen Colbert's...

Cloak and Dagger Catechesis.

It is curious how much sheer catechesis does happen on his show. Where else can you think of that one not only hears the entire creed recited before an audience of millions, but a rousing cheer go up when it is finished:

The Colbert Report
Tags: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Also, gotta love the way he schools this guy:

The Colbert Report
Tags: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Subverting the Dominant Paradigm.

The place to be...

on October 21.

Golly! Who could have possibly foreseen this?

Crisis Pregnancy Centers do honorable work against the culture of death, so it is not surprising that the apostles of death hate them and want to destroy them. For a long time, it's been hard for the Death Eaters to get traction against them. But now, as the prolife movement foolishly embraces Lying for Jesus, we hand the enemies of life a useful tool for slandering CPCs. Turns out Lying for Jesus, like all Faustian Bargains, gives you *nothing* in return for your sin of lying. A reader writes:

The following video outlines the plan to make life difficult for pro-life pregnancy centers.



There are a few things I'd like to bring up.

* Although they don't specifically mention ultrasound machines in the video, it seems they wish to target them by saying CPCs are pretending to be medical facilities (my guess). I don't know the specifics, but the NYC law is preventing CPCs from giving away free ultrasounds.

* They are binding the speech of the CPCs as commercial entities, when they're all volunteer non-profit organizations. I'm not a lawyer, but that seems fishy to me.

* The CPCs are targets of a Lila Rose type stings.

* They are attacking the CPCs for lying and harassment. I don't believe the first, but I do know that CPCs routinely follow up on clients who visit. If someone asked for the follow ups to stop, then it seems to me that this would be honored.

The entire ridiculous notion that, without lying sting operations, there is absolutely no hope for the prolife movement was and remains an insult to the honorable work that has been done for decades by CPCs. Aiming to take moral shortcuts, the main result has been that after a nine day wonder of excitement for people who just wanted to zing Murder Inc. we've now given credibility to the creeps who want to unjustly destroy the CPCs by libeling them as havens for liars.

Sigh.

Seattle University: Education in the Jesuit Tradition

An interview with Sylvia O'Stayformore, whose recent drag show at SU really packed 'em in.

If you are an alum of SU and are still sending them checks, may I ask: why?

Be there! Aloha!

From Dale Ahlquist:

CHESTERTONIANS!!!

Join us for the 30th Annual G.K. Chesterton Conference
"Poet and Prophet"
August 4-6, 2011
Sheraton Westport Plaza
St. Louis, Missouri

THURSDAY, AUGUST 4

7 pm Welcome

Dale Ahlquist
(President of the American Chesterton Society)
The Poetic Prophet, The Prophetic Poet

8:30 pm

Christopher Check
(Executive Vice President of the Rockford Institute)
Lepanto: The Battle and the Poem

FRIDAY, AUGUST 5

9 am

Carl Hasler
(Professor of Philosophy at Collin College)
Chesterton: A Franciscan Thomist?

10:30 am

Robert Moore-Jumonville
(Professor of Religion at Spring Arbor University and columnist for Gilbert Magazine)
Paying Attention: The Poetry of Prayer.

1 pm

Dr. Pasquale Accardo
(Professor of Developmental Research in Pediatrics at Virginia Commonwealth University, and author of several books on medicine, literature, and detective fiction)
The Christian Epic of Freedom – Chesterton's The Ballad of the White Horse

2:30 pm

Redd Griffin
(Instructor at Triton College and founding director of the Ernest Hemingway Foundation)
Battling for Elfland: Chesterton and William Butler Yeats

4:00 pm

Geir Hasnes
(Chesterton's Bibliographer)
The White Elephant: The Inconvenience of Being Chestertonian

7 pm

Leah Darrow
(Former Contestant on the reality TV show America's Next Top Model)
The Mysticism of Modesty and the Poetry of Purity

8:30 pm

A Performance of Magic
A play by G.K. Chesterton

SATURDAY, AUGUST 6

9 am

(A Mystery Speaker!)
Chesterton and Father Brown
10:30 am

Eleanor Bourg Donlon (who is getting married on June 3, and will then be known as Eleanor Bourg Nicholson)
(Assistant executive editor of Dappled Things and assistant editor for the Saint Austin Review, and editor of the Ignatius Critical Edition of Dracula)
Damned Romantics: Chesterton, Shelley, Poetry, and of course, Vampyres

1 PM

Breakout Sessions
Women and ChestertonMen and ChestertonYoung people and ChestertonA Discussion of Chesterton's PoetryA Discussion of the play Magic3 pm

Dr. Tod Worner
(Doctor of Internal Medicine, and Lecturer on the History of World War II)
Cigar-Smoking Prophets: Chesterton and Churchill

5 pm

Mass

7 pm

Closing Banquet

8 pm

Traditions: Jokes, Toasts, Songs, Clerihews, and other Fun.

PRE-REGISTER FOR THE CONFERENCE HERE
PRE-REGISTER FOR ROOMS HERE
AND FOR THE BANQUET HERE

The only meal that must be pre-registered for is the Saturday evening banquet. The cost is $50 per person and includes the meal and wine. It must be pre-registered for separately. All conference attendees are urged to come to the banquet, which is one of the great highlights of the conference. There is no need to pre-register for the other meals. Guests may choose from 15 different restaurants, of all varieties, on the grounds of the Sheraton Westport Plaza.

The cost for the conference is $50 for all three days, or $25 per day. Special student rates are available. The special rate on rooms at the Sheraton is $89 per night.

Pre-registration ends July 8. You may still register for the conference after this date, but rooms and banquet tickets are subject to availability. The conference registration fee after July 8 is $65 for all three days, or $35 per day.

MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS!

To donate to the American Chesterton Society, click here.

A Poem for a Church Made...

of oddballs, losers, and factory rejects.

Tom Kreitzberg...

on how we laypeople can all be winners!

Rich whites to Africa...

Just enough of me, way too much of you.

But they're not racist because they are progressive.