Monsters by nature or nurture?

I'm having trouble posting videos to my blog from YouTube, so forgive me for making you click on this link.

When the Archbolds saw this video of Nancy Pelosi, they had one word to say: "Monster." I agree. I also have a few more thoughts about it I'd like to share.

It leaves me stunned that our esteemed Speaker of the House would invoke Glorious St. Joseph to sing the praises of what she calls the "life-affirming legislation" of health care reform. Frankly, it's insulting. She has apparently been meeting with target groups to "talk about what it means to them." (Read: Going around lecturing people to guilt them into supporting--as 11-year-old Curly would call it--the Bill of Death. "This Is What You Need Because I Say So.") If you listen carefully, you might find one reason why Nancy Pelosi is the way she is: Bad catechesis. She mentions the Sisters of Notre Dame, who, along with 60 religious orders, just this past week spit in the face of Catholic teaching and publicly announced their support for what will essentially be FOCA in disguise. She admits that two of the sisters had "taught me in my life," presumably to form her in their version of the Catholic faith.

The other day Glenn Beck remarked that Congress and the Obama administration is full of hippies and Sixties radicals (his loaded language makes me laugh sometimes, but it's kinda scary because he's right), and it made a light bulb go off in my head. If during the '60s and '70s some Catholic leaders decided to pervert the teachings of Holy Mother Church (and the purpose of Vatican II), there must be at least a generation or two of Catholics who reflect those attitudes. They've been brainwashed by rogue Catholic teachers purporting to proclaim the faith. If the people leading our nation have been taught that it's perfectly fine to ignore the Christian principles they supposedly grew up with, what's to stop them from ignoring the Constitution, too?

Let's work all the more to make sure the future leaders of this great nation will stand up for the values America was founded on, and put God's law above Man's evil whims. It's more important than ever to make sure our children learn the teachings of Christ and His Church. Meanwhile, it's time to cast the monsters out.

St. Joseph and St. Michael, pray for us.

Decisions, Decisions...What to read?

I've been in a bit of a reading funk lately. For the last couple of weeks, every book I have picked up and started to read has for some reason lost my interest pretty quickly. The last book I finished was My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Piccoult, one that's been on my to-read list for a long time. The book is very good, and raises some important moral questions. (Don't bother watching the movie. It stinks.) Before that it was Stones into Schools by one of my heroes, Greg Mortenson. The follow-up to Three Cups of Tea, it's written in first person and you can get a sense of Greg's own thoughts and struggles as he works to provide education for children in some of the poorest and most isolated parts of the world. He also discusses some of the history and geography of the parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan where his organization, Central Asia Institute, is building schools.

Since then it's been a struggle for me to choose a book and stick with it. I'm not sure why. First, I started reading The Accused, the third in Craig Parshall's "Chambers of Justice" series. I enjoy Craig Parshall's books, but for some reason I just wasn't getting into this one. Next I picked up If Your Mind Wanders at Mass by Thomas Howard (you can see my blog post about him here). I'm disappointed in myself for giving up on that one--only temporarily!--because as a convert to Catholicism I'm fascinated by the history and the richness of the Mass. (When I read The Lamb's Supper by Scott Hahn about a year ago, I could hardly put it down.) I decided to try something a little lighter, and started Nicholas Sparks' latest novel, The Last Song. After reading about a chapter and a half I realized I just wasn't in a Sparks frame of mind. (This has NEVER happened before. I thought I was ALWAYS in the mood for Nicholas Sparks.) Meanwhile, one day at Costco I ran across A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick. I suddenly remembered--and confirmed with my handy-dandy Droid smart phone--that my online book club (which I haven't participated in for many months, I'm sorry to say) had chosen that book to read in March. I don't know if I'm going to be able to take part in the discussion, because the month is almost half over and I still haven't started the book.

What am I reading now? The Culture of Corruption by Michelle Malkin. I'm borrowing this one from the library, and I know when it comes due I won't be able to renew it because there are likely a couple of hundred people waiting behind me for the book. Yesterday I got another library notice for a book I reserved, Andre Agassi's autobiograpy Open. I've been itching to get my hands on that one. My goal is to do quite a bit of reading this weekend, and to decide already whether or not to finish Michelle Malkin's book. If not, it's a mad dash to the library for Open before they pass it on to the next person. I will make this promise, though (and I don't often make promises on this blog); whatever book I finally read from start to finish, I'll be sure to tell you about it here.

On a side note, I have read very few blogs since the beginning of Lent (trying to limit my time on the computer, don't ya know), and guess what? I'm getting a lot done. My house is looking less and less like a disaster every day! Well, I also have a new best friend to help me--The Fly Lady. But that's a subject for a future post.

What are YOU reading now? Any books you've recently finished and want to recommend?