Please Write

In an interview this week with Katie Couric, President Obama said he would "rather not wade into" the issue of whether or not health care reform should include federal funding for abortions. He said he is trying not "to micro-manage what benefits are covered."

Please join me in contacting your Senators and Congressman to ask them to ensure that health care reform does not include federal funding for abortion. I am blessed to have two senators and a congressman who are pro-life, but I still wrote them in order to add to the flood of letters that are going out after the inter-denominational Stop the Abortion Mandate telephone conference tonight. I'm on the line right now - one of 36,000 callers!

Click here.

Gran Torino

First an update on Honduras - Liz is doing fine and has blogged! We're hopeful that the facilitation by the President of Costa Rica will bring resolution.

Now for Gran Torino...
I thought it was a great movie. If you've seen it, this is a bit long, but very interesting analysis by a priest of Clint's character as a Christ figure.

More on Honduras

I got home too late for the network news so I watched the Directv channel where you can see all the cable news channels at once - hoping to switch to whatever one was showing Latinos in camouflage. I waited, and waited, and waited. This was the one hour 6:00 news and ALL the stations had non-stop Michael Jackson for at least 20 minutes. Finally Fox moved on, and eventually MSNBC did, but CNN kept with it for so long I stopped tracking!! Good Lord!

I talked to Liz today and she had only heard the bit of news they are getting on the radio. But she was sure that someone had "gotten to" the media because they were reporting what surely HAD to be a lie - that countries throughout the world were condemning the coup! I hated to tell her - that it wasn't a lie. She was SO disappointed and had a hard time understanding why no one could see that if the military hadn't done what they did, Zelaya would have rigged the constitutional vote so that he could stay in power.

After reading a lot about the situation I've tentatively formed my opinion. I think they are an amazing, and courageous people who ignored warnings from the US State Dept and did what they thought needed to be done to protect their country's rule of law. When we hear the military was behind the coup we think of a non-populist violent force. But it was non-violent. And the military is in a unique position in Honduras because they deliver ballots in an election. AND the Congress and Supreme Court both supported the move!

Today the new President said something along the lines of "Please leave us alone and let us do what we have to do until November when we will democratically elect a president."

I just saw good news - Hilary Clinton declared that the U.S. will not label what occurred a "coup" since that would result in cutting off millions in aid to Honduras.

In my mind Obama got it all turned around. He should have come out loud and clear immediately in support of the protesters in Iran and thoughtful and restrained on any condemnation of Honduras. Hmmm...

Honduran Coup

I've spent the last hour searching for analysis of the Honduran situation but have not been able to find much. When I talked to Liz today the electricity was off throughout the country and before that the television stations were out of commission.

The people Liz has talked to have been very concerned about the election that was supposed to take place this week. The president was attempting to change the constitution to allow him to run for a second, currently unconstitutional, term.

Unfortunately, the method chosen to prevent Pres. Zelaya from taking a page from Iran's history and rigging the vote, was a military coup. Now they have a newly appointed (by Congress) president that many of the people of Honduras may be recognizing, but an ousted president in exile in Costa Rica that the rest of the world recognizes (Cuba, Venezuela, U.S. - all on the same page on this).

A few minutes ago it was reported that Chavez is threatening to invade Honduras.

SO - the situation is much more unstable than I had thought, after talking with Liz, but she is only able to get information from short telephone calls she's been getting from the Peace Corps. I continue to be impressed with the quick response from the Peace Corps when it comes to safety. If things don't improve I'm sure they'll be sending all volunteers home.

Videos like this one are hard to watch. Fortunately, she is far away from Tegucigalpa, where most of the action is taking place.

Back to Blogging

or not.. who knows? But I realized I've stopped blogging and I decided to change that. We'll see how long it lasts. I'm currently up way to late, playing on the computer and listening to Michael Jackson stuff on CNN. I can't believe I'm doing that! When he died and they interrupted radio and TV, I thought, "Good Lord! This guy is not the president!" But it is pretty fascinating to watch the videos that were popular while I was in a black hole called "early parenting"! He really was very gifted. What a sad life.

BUT it is Friday and I am looking forward to a 3 day week next week. Love ya'll!

What's Unusual About This Picture?

Give up? Scroll down...












It's in color - even though taken around 1909. Read the photographers amazing story here.

A Smile for You

The NY Times to the Rescue

A great article about Brown's Angels and Demons...

Brown’s message has been called anti-Catholic, but that’s only part of the story. True, his depiction of the Roman Church’s past constitutes a greatest hits of anti-Catholicism, with slurs invented by 19th-century Protestants jostling for space alongside libels fabricated by 20th-century Wiccans. (If he targeted Judaism or Islam this way, one suspects that no publisher would touch him.)...

...both “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels and Demons” end with a big anti-Catholic reveal (Jesus had kids with Mary Magdalene! That terrorist plot against the Vatican was actually launched by an archconservative priest!) followed by a big cover-up... Having dismissed Catholicism’s truth claims and demonized its most sincere defenders, Brown pats believers on the head and bids them go on fingering their rosary beads.

he serves up a Jesus who’s a thoroughly modern sort of messiah — sexy, worldly, and Goddess-worshiping, with a wife and kids, a house in the Galilean suburbs, and no delusions about his own divinity.

...The “secret” history of Christendom that unspools in “The Da Vinci Code” is false from start to finish. The lost gospels are real enough, but they neither confirm the portrait of Christ that Brown is peddling — they’re far, far weirder than that — nor provide a persuasive alternative to the New Testament account. The Jesus of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John — jealous, demanding, apocalyptic — may not be congenial to contemporary sensibilities, but he’s the only historically-plausible Jesus there is.

For millions of readers, Brown’s novels have helped smooth over the tension between ancient Christianity and modern American faith. But the tension endures. You can have Jesus or Dan Brown. But you can’t have both.

Cool Video

I saw this while on my trip to Fort Worth last week. So fun!

Another Quote!!

“The important thing is that we do not let a single day go by in vain without putting it to good use for eternity.” Blessed Franz Jägerstätter, martyred by Nazis

Franz was quoted by Archbishop Chaput in this very inspiring article

Another Quote

"When someone asks you 'think about what Jesus would do', remember that a valid option is to freak out and turn over tables" -- Unknown

Quote for the Day

"You are my God. Every moment of my life is in your hands." Psalm 31:15

Two Posts in One Day!!

Watch this wonderful 12 year old who was able to get across points that have been log-jammed in my brain for years!!

Waiting in Kansas City...

I'm not sure why I'm not updating, but, well, I'm not. But I would like to say that I'm in Kansas City with my friend Mary Pat. She was the younger girls' Youth Group Leader (and an amazing one at that!). She's Liz and Sarah's confirmation sponsor. BUT, unfortunately, she had to return to her hometown in Minnesota in order to get health insurance for her husband who was facing a lung transplant. He has had the transplant and is well now.

Sooo - we decided to meet half way (although it's not, but she insisted) and have some fun. I've been here awhile and am now waiting for her to arrive. I got here 2 1/2 hours later than I should have (but we won't talk about that) and only got to see Mary for about 10 minutes before she left for the weekend!!!

Looking forward to a fun time with a great friend!

Phoenix with the Sibs

I just returned from a lovely trip to visit my brothers and sisters (and in-laws and cousin Mary Lynn). We all congregated in Phoenix, where Larry lives. It was so great to see Larry - it's been SEVEN years since I saw him!!! That is too long and it won't be that long again, doggone it!

We stayed at Embassy Suites where the free "lubrication" assisted in relaxed, enjoyable time. We laughed heartily, shared warm (and not so warm!) memories, and had a lot of fun. They all ended up here on their way back to Michigan, which was great - we very rarely are able to have family with us. Once Mary Ellen posts her pics, I'll link.

Love y'all!

PBXVI On the Economy

One thing I really like about Pope Benedict is his habit of gathering priests together for Q&A sessions. What a great contrast to the old days of the papacy where every word is parsed and formal. Recently, in answer to a question about the economy, he made this statement. Click on the "other Vatican officials" link to find a more detailed response from the Archbishop assigned to the U.N.

Earlier the Pope encouraged those who still have jobs to help those who have lost theirs. This helped us to get out of the fearful, clenching, spending less mentality which only engenders more fear. As the crisis continues, my prayer is that I and those I love will be able to remain right in the center of God - His will, His love, His compassion - so we can respond in a way that contributes to the good God is trying to do for us all.

An Oscar Day

Since we hadn't seen any of the Best Picture nominees, Chris and I decided to go to two movies today. The first one:

we thought was a bit over-rated. We gave it 3 stars (our of 4). A good movie, but Best Picture-worthy? Uh-uh.

The next one:

we loved. 4 stars (and that's a RARE rating at the Noble house). What a beautiful story centered on a boy who overcomes a hellish life with his innocence and integrity intact. The kids who acted in the film were approved by their parents at the last minute to attend the awards. That will be fun to watch.

Take a Look...

My Friend

My friend lost his wife today. She died without notice, at 48, of an aneurysm. She was left on life support for a day to enable organ transplants. She left 3 high school girls whose lives were intimately connected with their mom. Things I learned over the last two days:

- loving and helping others after devastation is always good, I will never again question whether I should or shouldn't. I always will at least try and then get a sense of whether I'm needed.
- Williams is a wonderful company, at its best in these crises. The corporate jet was sent to pick up Kathy's family in Pittsburg, my boss gratefully allowed me to spend as much time at the hospital as I needed, just the right number of people came and provided all the support needed, all costs incurred could be expensed, the Board of Directors was meeting and someone who was there said she could actually feel a sense of love and care for the family - she said at her previous employer they would have been asking when he'd be back to work.
- most people in these situations need grandma sitters, mothers or in-laws of the deceased who are lost and alone and need someone to talk to most of the day
- mothers are SO crucial to a family; Kathy's service to her family will be utterly irreplaceable.
- God will provide, I'm sure of it.
- There are special graces at these times - Bryan isn't Catholic, but I felt like he needed something he can put in his pocket and hold when he needs help - something about St. Joseph; I found JUST the thing at the bookstore, a large coin that has St. J's pic with "Patron Saint of Fathers" and a prayer on it.
- My role in this was impressed upon my heart due to something quite amazing that happened the night she woke with the aneurysm. I couldn't sleep and was watching clips of the inaugural. While watching Obama and his wife dance I thought about Bryan and Kathy dancing for some reason - I very rarely think of either of them while at home - they reminded me of them. It was right around the time that she became brain dead. Some day I'll tell Bryan. I think he escorted her, dancing, into heaven.

Please pray for my friend and his daughters Meghan, Kristen and Lauren.

Obama and the Peace Corps

During the short time I had at my desk today, I've been trying to get some time to watch the Inaugural activities. It's amazing to watch the impact on African Americans. No matter how I feel about the election, it is a historic leap in the right direction in the area of race relations.

Anyway, I've only been able to look at the livestream about 4 or 5 times for seconds at a time. And one of those times I saw the Peace Corps alums! I took a screen shot. How cool is that, Elizabeth???