BAD HABIT

No, I’m not talking about the human race, I’m talking about Catholics.

Just for kicks, I was looking at a psychic blog written by a woman who claims to know the future, Michelle Whitedove. One of her predictions for 2011 was, “In the next two years the Catholic Church will fall, along with other corrupt religions.”

Hmmm….Not so fast lady soothsayer! Maybe her crystal ball needs a tune up because it looks like she missed these images….

WORLD YOUTH DAY IN MADRID, SPAIN

Pilgrims attend the inaugural mass of the World Youth Day at Cibeles square in Madrid, Spain. Hundreds of thousands of sweltering pilgrims crammed into central Madrid for a giant open-air mass, launching a million-strong, six-day youth party for Pope Benedict XVI. Youngsters poured into the city centre for a rock-festival style celebration of World Youth Day, drawing faithful from 193 nations.

A pilgrim reacts as she attends a mass in Arabic with Catholic pilgrims from Palestine, Israel, Jordan and Iraq in La Ciudad de los Angeles (City of Angels), a neighborhood in Madrid, Spain.

Pope Benedict XVI waves to faithful as he arrives in his Popemobile at the Nunciature on August 18, 2011.

Pilgrims scream as Pope Benedict XVI arrives in the Popemobile at the Nunciature in Madrid, on August 18, 2011.

General view of Cibeles square in Madrid, on August 18, 2011, before a welcoming ceremony for Pope Benedict XVI.

Superstar Pope!

Love this dudes haircut!

Pope Benedict XVI waves to faithful from his popemobile after the Via Crucis, a 700-meters-long Way of the Cross between Plaza de Cibeles (Cibeles square) and Plaza de Colon (Colombus square) on August 19, 2011 in Madrid. Fifteen sculptures sets from the Spanish Holy Week tradition will portray the various Stations of an event to be presided by Pope Benedict XVI at the World Youth Day. AFP PHOTO/ RAFA RIVAS

What can I say? The Catholic Church is not, in any way-shape-or form, about to disappear off the face of the Earth. “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18

According to the Vatican, there has been an increase in the number of seminarians in more than 20 countries around the world. The Catholic News Agency reports; “A new survey has revealed that Catholic religious communities in the United States have increased the number of individuals they have in initial formation by 30 percent. Furthermore, 62 percent of communities participating in the survey reported an increase in vocation inquiries last year.”

Some orders are really feeling the love, such as the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist. They’ve witnessed an explosion of vocations. “We have a crisis of another kind,” said Sr. Joseph Andrew Bogdanowicz, the order’s vocations director. “In the last 12 years we have gone from four sisters to 99. The average age of our sisters is 26. If anything, we have a real estate crisis.”

What’s causing this uptick in the faithful who are professing their vows? I’m just taking a stab at this, but I think a big part of it is that the Vatican since Blessed Pope John Paul II and now continued by our current Pope Benedict XVI, has been utilizing communication through the Internet which is reaching out to those who are curious about joining the priesthood, brotherhood, or sisterhood and now have the information right at their fingertips. I also believe that the increase in parishes who are offering Perpetual Adoration is making a huge difference. Not to mention, the airwaves–finally we are able to get some Catholic radio stations to help those who feel the call to find their way toward a vocation. Relevant Radio is one of those radio stations which I believe has been a great contributor to this sudden increase in vocations in the United States.

So…for those who have already written the epitaph for the Catholic Church, don’t waste your time. We’re not going anywhere but up!

So…I went to the White Sox game last night and the beginning of the game just kinda set the tone for the rest of the game. Indian’s won, but it wasn’t the greatest game to watch. In fact after the big hit on Humber’s noggin’, it moved along like molasses. To be perfectly honest, both teams sucked only the White Sox sucked more. It was a battle of sucking sucked up baseball.

Here’s a few pics from the game. I only took a few before and the first couple of innings and then got busy watching the game and catching up with the news with the couple who has the seats next to us. The only time we see each other is at the games, we’ve known them since we’ve had these season ticket seats (a long time!).

PRE-GAME ENTERTAINMENT? WTH???

I have no idea who these guys were, or why one of them had a box head, but they were awful! That was painful and mean of the White Sox to subject us to that torture before a game that was almost equally torturous.

NOW THIS IS THE REAL PRE-GAME ENTERTAINMENT!

I want this guy’s job.

TIME TO CHECK OUT THE INDIANS…SHOW IT TO ME GUYS!

Rolling around the grass? That’s stretching?

Cartwheels. This is more like watching kids gym. Where’s the action guys?

Get out of the way vendor dude! Dang!

Introducing the Cleveland Indians….

I’ve always wondered what the Indian in the Cleveland Indians logo is grinning about. He’s kinda creepy. Couldn’t they draw a pic of a warrior type Indian instead of one that looks like he just found the chief’s stash of fire water?

My favorite guy is Shin-Soo Choo or is it Chin Shin Shoo…or Chinny Chin Chin or something like that. Love those Korean ballplayers, and I think we should play our games like they do….they’re crazy!

What a coincidence that all these people wore orange shirts to the game AND were sitting in the same section. Crazy, eh? Must be one of those anomalies or somethin’.

Trying to convince Humber that a line drive to the head is a good reason to call it a day.

Hero of the Game-Thanks for your service to our country!

My hero, Paulie, just hit a home run. Love that guy…sigh.

After this pic, I got hungry and the camera was put away for the rest of the game. Not sorry I went to the game, though. It was a beautiful night, the food was good, the company was great, and it from what I hear, I was on national tv. Hopefully it wasn’t when I was stuffing my face with food or somethin’.

Camera dude needs to leave Nunly alone!

You’re welcome, White Sox worker dudes. You don’t have to hide behind the signs, it wasn’t your fault the White Sox played like crap.

Why not elect a woman for President?

It seems to me that men are always getting into trouble in politics. Just look at the list of United States Senators who have been expelled or censured. Not one woman. Nada. None. Zilch. On the other hand, men have been expelled for treason, fighting on the Senate floor, use of his office to convert campaign funds to his personal benefit, conduct unbecoming a senator, unethical conduct…the list goes on. The list doesn’t even include the most recent Weinergate, and the Democratic Congressman’s “unwanted sex” with the teenage daughter of a friend. The guys just can’t seem to keep it in their pants.

The media and left-wing blogs have been on overdrive in the last few years as they attack any woman running for President (or VP in the case of Sarah Palin). It’s not just Republican women being torn down with misogynistic attacks, we all remember the ads and the blog posts about Hillary Clinton. “Iron my shirt!” being shouted out at one of her rallies ring a bell?

I’m all for debate on policy with any candidate, man or woman. But when was the last time a woman was taken seriously in a debate? The most recent question lobbed at Michele Bachman, at asking her if she is “submissive” to her husband is just a taste of what is to come in the future election rhetoric.

The only way those attacks are going to come to an end is when women candidates quit taking the bs and throw it right back at them. The only one I’ve seen so far who can do that is Sarah Palin. She doesn’t think twice about setting her opponent straight and hitting them with their own words or their own failed policies. It’s about time for a woman who is running for office to come better prepared for interviews. When they try to misinterpret your policy or lie about what it is, straighten them out! Don’t let them talk over you, and call them on their unprofessional behavior when they do. And most of all…do not give guys like Bill Maher and Jon Stewart the time of day!

If Michele Bachman is going to go anywhere in this primary, she’s going to have to let go of the plastic Barbie looks and get down and dirty. When asked if she would be “submissive” to her husband, she did give an intelligent answer, explaining that “submissive” in the context of her faith meant “respect”. I would have also added, “And I would be respectful to the voters. I won’t lie to them in order to get their vote. I won’t use my office as a tool to live the high life and stick the taxpayers with the bill. I will respect my office as President and you can bet there will not be any sex scandals. I will respect my country by not giving speeches in Europe and describing America’s so-called “arrogant” patriotism. I will respect the flag of our country, and I will respect our Constitution.”

If a woman is going to ever be President of this country, she is going to have to show that she will not ignore the misogyny by the press and her opponents, but when they are attacked they need to take that plastic cup away from them, and the toy truck, and show them who’s superior.

This is the first time in over twenty years since Mr. Nunly has been on one of his camping trips that I wish he was here and I was there. I’ll take the wild animals, mosquitoes, and flies the size of B-52 Bombers over dealing with life issues in Nunlyville. Sigh…

On Friday, I’ll be driving my son back to college so will be away from my computer for most of the day.

While perusing the cable news channels, I saw the Obama media going nuts over a story from the WSJ, asking the question,  “Is Obama Smart?” .  I didn’t have time to check out the story, but I couldn’t help but laugh because all the “progressive” chatter when Obama was running for President centered on how “smart” Obama was.  Personally,  I couldn’t see it.  In fact, I always thought he was pretty much dense as a rock.

Thinking back on one of the Presidential debates during the Primary election, the economy was often brought up.   In the clip below , it shows the difference between Obama and Hillary.  Obama seemed absolutely clueless as to what Capital Gains were. Hillary was against raising taxes on anybody and Obama was all for raising taxes on anyone that made more than $200,000 a year–which includes those who own small businesses.

The other day when I had a little time, I did what I often do,  I checked out some of the smaller blogs that I used to frequent and, to be honest, were friendly with at the beginning of the Democrat Primary.  It wasn’t until the selection was whittled down to Obama vs. Hillary that things got ugly.  Any of us who supported Hillary were branded “racists” and uneducated, the Obama supporters were beyond relentless in their attacks on “Hillbots”, as we were called…or “Puma’s”.   This turned others, like myself,  away from this “new” progressive Democratic Party and we moved to become “Independents”…and some went directly to supporting the Republican party.

One blog, in particular,  had a large number of regular bloggers who went beyond the pail with their insults hurled at those of us who tried to warn them that Obama is not as smart as they think and that he would be a disaster when it came to economic policy, for the simple reason that Obama was not smart enough to understand how the economy works.   In fact,  we warned the Obama supporters that he is not only clueless about the economy, but also totally clueless in foreign policy.  Their response?  “YOU RACIST!”   and “You just can’t accept having a black President!”.

The tune on those blogs have changed, some drastically.  I’ve noticed on one blog in particular,  the overt racist remarks about Obama made me wince…calling him a “lawn jockey” and “ni&&er”.   Today, that same blog has a post which links to the extremist progressive, Cenk Uygur, from “The Young Turks” which questions Obama’s intelligence and his principals.   NOW, the progressives are SHOCKED, SHOCKED I TELL YOU, that Obama is not one of them.

But does anyone think that the guy who hired Tim Geithner, Rahm Emanuel, Larry Summers, William Daley, Peter Orszag, Ben Bernanke, etc. is remotely progressive? If you looked throughout the whole country, could you find more conservative, establishment Democrats? Barely, if at all. And, of course, some of those guys aren’t even Democrats.

Ruh-Ro….Obama’s been “found out”. Looks to me like those in the Progressive wing of the Democratic Party should begin to question their own intelligence for ignoring the warnings of the “Hillbots” during the Primary election. But that would mean they would have to take responsibility for their stupidity and we all know that Obots, much like their leader, don’t take responsibility for their decisions.

This same blog, which spewed some of the most disgusting, misogynistic insults at Hillary and her followers during the campaign, wrote this on a post that sighed with despair about choosing Obama over Hillary.

On the other hand, if Hillary Clinton is anything, she’s a patriot and if enough people called on her to challenge Obama in 2012, how could she not? After all, the ’3 a.m. phone call’ came and no one in the Obama White House answered.

The comments left after that post about Hillary showed that they would be willing to carry Hillary on their shoulders if she challenged Obama in the next Presidential election. Those who screamed for her to “Iron my shirt!” are lining up to lick her shoes.

Obama let that three o’clock phone call go to voice mail. I hope Hillary runs again. She might be the only candidate in either party worth voting for next year.

It hurts me, deeply, but I have to say it. ‘BOY’ George W. Bush was a better President than you have been. Now why don’t you just go back to Kenya… and try negotiating with a pride of Lions. I’d love to see them make a quick meal out of your ass!!!!

Hillary would work for me. I think she’s the leader we need.

I can’t believe I’m saying it but, please Hillary, run. Challenge the moron in the White House in 2012 so we can move this country forward. The absence of leadership is palpable. Obama is sinking and I see no way out for him. With Sunday’s announcement that Geithner informed Obama he’s staying at Treasury (funny, I thought the president made that decision?), I know now Obama can’t lead this nation out of the economic morass that threatens our very survival.

I never thought I’d say this, but I wish Hillary had won. I would now encourage her to get in the race and defeat Obama. We need LEADERSHIP. Who better than Hillary Clinton, who knows where all the bodies are buried and wouldn’t hesitate to kick in a few Republican teeth if necessary.

There’s no doubt, our country is in a big mess and no matter how Obama and his MSM hit-men try to spin it, it’s not the fault of the Tea Party. After yesterday’s election in WI, where the Dems were unable to unseat enough of the Republicans to take away their majority in the Senate, you would think that they (having such superior intelligence compared to those of us who cling to our Bibles and guns) would see the writing on the wall. The majority of Americans are fed up with unions and they actually are willing to give up some perks in order to stabilize our economy and bring in jobs.

Today a post on AmericaBlog gave a backhanded compliment to the TeaParty…well, I wouldn’t call it a compliment, but that is as civil as most “Progressives” can be.  John Aravosis said, “ The Teabaggers, for all their warts, got one thing right.  There’s nothing quite so effective as confronting a member of Congress with true in-your-face ire. “

In other words, if a progressive asks tough questions of a Congressman at a town-hall meeting, they are “confronting” a member of Congress.  If a “Teabagger” (as they like to call them),  did the same in the past,  they were racists, thugs,  uneducated, and of course…un-American.  Now they are only full of warts.  I guess that is supposed to be a step up for progressive communication skills.

Does this mean doom for Obama in a re-election? Not on your life. According to recent polls, Obama still enjoys a 47% approval rating (update: Gallup shows a 40% approval rating now). Although that seems low, it’s still early in the game and the kool-aid will be flowing while Obama campaigns in the Midwest on his upcoming magical bus tour.  Obama will continue to tell his faithful followers that he still has “plenty to do” and deserves re-election.  There will be more promises of shiny, rainbow ponies and your mortgages and car payments will be paid for.  Oh…and as Hillary once said about Obama’s plan for America’s future… “The skies will open, the light will come down, celestial choirs will be singing and everyone will know we should do the right thing and the world will be perfect,”  But this time I think the MSM may be paying more attention to his rhetoric, and maybe, just maybe they will call him on his false promises.  You never know, if Obama’s poll numbers continue to slide south,  the Democratic Party may just throw Obama under his magical tour bus.  Heh.