The Return of Baseball

Although it is too-bad that the Tigers weren't able to win the World Series, this year will be remembered as the season when baseball made its return to a classic baseball town. For many of us, the 1984 season seems like ancient history. I was 6 years old at the time, so I really have no memories of that year. Growing up, I always wondered what it would be like to see the Tigers in the playoffs. Most of the time, however, the Tigers were just plain awful.....and if I was lucky, just mediocre. Yet, I enjoyed going to ball games, even when they were bad. There really is something about just going down to the ballpark on a warm summer evening, having a hot-dog, and watching the Tigers. So cheers to the 2006 Detroit Tigers for bringing baseball back to the city of Detroit!

BTW: Even though the Tigers lost on Friday, and my MSU Spartans embarrassed themselves again, the weekend hasn't been a total wash........the Lions aren't playing!

Patricia Heaton, Sports Stars Rebut Michael J. Fox on Missouri Stem Cell Ad

I find this ballot issue in Missouri to be important to the rest of the country. It is interesting to see who is coming out to support and oppose this very deceptively worded amendment. Truth is so toxic for some people, that they have to deceive voters.

by Steven Ertelt LifeNews.com
October 25, 2006

St. Louis, MO (LifeNews.com) -- Pro-life advocates in Missouri have prepared a response ad to one that actor Michael J. Fox has made in numerous states that contains misleading information about pro-life candidates and their views on stem cell research. The new ads feature St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jeff Suppan and stars Jim Caviezel of "The Passion of Christ."

Fox recorded an ad that aired during the first game of the World Series and St. Louis-area voters were falsely told that pro-life Sen. Jim Talent, who is in one of the nation's closest Senate races, does not support stem cell research.

"Amendment 2 claims to ban human cloning, but in the 2000 words you won't read, it makes cloning a constitutional right," Suppan says in the ad.

Suppan will be pitching for the Cardinals tonight and the ad is slated to be shown during the World Series.

The ad also features former St. Louis Rams quarterback Kurt Warner, Patricia Heaton of the hit comedy series Everybody Loves Raymond, and Kansas City Royals star Mike Sweeney.
"This is a powerful response to the misleading ads about Amendment 2," Cathy Ruse, a spokeswoman for Missourians Against Human Cloning, tells LifeNews.com.

"The truth is, Amendment 2 would create a constitutional right to human cloning and human egg trafficking in Missouri," Ruse says. "We are so pleased to have this kind of star power behind our efforts to expose the deceptions in Amendment 2.

In the television commercial, Heaton tells viewers how Amendment 2 will exploit women.
"Amendment two actually makes it a constitutional right for fertility clinics to pay women for their eggs. Low income women will be seduced by big checks. And extracting eggs is an extremely complicated, dangerous and painful procedure," Heaton warns.
In the Missouri commercial Fox did, he makes inaccurate generalizations about stem cell research.

"Unfortunately Senator Jim Talent opposes expanding stem cell research," Fox claims. "Senator Talent even wanted to criminalize the science that gives us a chance for hope."
Though the ad makes it appear Talent opposes all kinds of stem cell research, he has voted in favor of spending millions in federal funds for adult stem cell research, the only kind of research that has ever cured a single patient.

What Talent has opposed is forcing taxpayers to pay for studies using embryonic stem cells, which can only be obtained by destroying human life.

A new study by Steven Goldman and colleagues at the University of Rochester Medical Center finds embryonic stem cells cause tumors when inserted into rats that have Parkinson's.
As a result, patients like Fox would likely be killed or face severe problems if treated with embryonic stem cells.

What is truth?

What's That?

Hmmm....what is that stuff on his hand? Todd Jones thought, jokingly, that it might be chocolate cake. Kenny Rogers said it was dirt. Either way, it was removed for the 2nd inning and Kenny still pitched a gem. However, it does bring up the question of cheating. Many would argue that cheating is cheating no matter what the circumstances are. I have read reports that 60% of pitchers use some sort of substance in their hands during cold weather. Does that make it right? What would Pier Giorgio do? (WWPGD sounds like a future wrist band promotion for the Frassati Society!)

I love baseball. I love the Tigers. However, those of us who were critical of Barry Bonds should be consistent right? Hmm....

Who's on First?

This is a clear example of how difficult it is to believe what we hear and read from our mainstream media:

• "Church urges faithful to reject stem cell cures" (The Age) vs. "Catholic Church Not Opposed to All Stem Cell Research, Priest Says" (LifeNews.com)

• "The Church is not political, says Pope" (Ansa.it) vs. "Cardinal McCarrick Shares Political Wisdom" (Zenit)

• '"Jesus Camp' doesn't take sides" (Detroit Free Press) vs."'Jesus Camp' gets heated reactions from all sides" (Miami Herald)

• "Madonna agrees to drop crucifixion scene" (UPI) vs. "NBC forced to cut Madonna crucifixion shot" (Guardian)

• "Warriors get assist from Oracle" (CNET News) vs. "New ways needed to aid disabled vets, panel says" (NavyTimes.com)

Who can we trust? Certainly not the media for the most part. The media is all about one thing: Entertainment. That is a unfortunate reality which I think more people are beginning to understand. The great blessing that we have living in 2006 is the internet. We are thus able to check out various sites in hopes of finding objective reporting.......ooops, I shouldn't use the word objective since that doesn't exist in modern English usage. Yeah, I think those old foggies back when Old Anglo-Saxon was spoken or the days of Shakespeare used that crazy word.

Maybe Madonna? Yeah right....who else is tired of hearing about her? Oh that the world would concern itself with the real Madonna, Our Lady, instead of the false-Madonna. We see in these two women deception and truth. On the one side, you have the false-Madonna who is attempting to adopt, in somewhat obscure circumstances, a child who is or is not actually up for adoption. She is in a sense imposing her will on the situation. On the other hand you have Our Lady, who when the angel Gabriel came to her to tell that she had been chosen to give birth to the Savior of the world, she says: "Let it be done unto me, according to your word." Very interesting! Lets ask Our Lady to intercede on the behalf of our entire country to her Son, Jesus Christ....the Way, the Truth, and the Life.



(from http://insightscoop.typepad.com/)

My Boy Magglio!

A Sad Irony

Vatican official: Pope to loosen restrictions on use of old Latin Mass

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI has decided to loosen restrictions on use of the old Latin Mass, making a major concession to ultraconservatives who split with the Vatican to protest liberalizing reforms, a Vatican official said Wednesday.

The pope's intent is to "help overcome the schism and help bring (the ultraconservatives) back to the church," said the official, who asked that his name not be used because the papal document has not yet been released.

It was not immediately clear when the pope will make his decision public, but the official said it was expected soon. The Times of London, in a report Wednesday, said the pope had already signed the order and it could be published in the next few weeks.

The late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre founded the Swiss-based Society of St. Pius X in 1969 in opposition to the reforms of the 1962-65 Second Vatican Council, particularly allowing Mass to be celebrated in local languages instead of Latin. The Vatican excommunicated Lefebvre in 1988 after he consecrated four bishops without Rome's consent.

Benedict has indicated he wants relations with the St. Pius X group to be normalized. He met last year with the current head of the society, Bishop Bernard.

The Tridentine Mass, the name of the old Latin Mass, can now only be celebrated with permission of the local bishop. In addition to the use of Latin, the priest faces the altar -- his back to the worshippers -- and there are no lay readers as in the modern Mass.

The issue of the Mass will only be one of the points in the papal document that will reach out to the ultraconservatives, the Vatican official said.

Benedict already took a concrete step in that direction when in September he approved an institute for French priests who left the movement. The small group based in Bordeaux, made up of five priests and some seminarians, is allowed to celebrate the old-style Latin Mass in exchange for their recognition of the pope's authority.

Associated Press writer Daniela Petroff contributed to this report from the Vatican.

Go Tigers!!!!