The Unicorn Song

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

A by-the-numbers Look at Obama's First Year

From Breitbart


7,949.09—Dow Jones Industrial Average close on Jan. 20, 2009.

10,609.65—Dow Jones Industrial Average close on Jan. 15, 2010.

13 million—Number of people 16 and older unemployed as of January 2009.

14.7 million—Number of people 16 and older unemployed as of December 2009.

7.7 percent—Unemployment rate January 2009

10.0 percent—Unemployment rate December 2009

$787 billion—Cost of economic stimulus approved by Congress.

$10.6 trillion—Outstanding public debt Jan. 20, 2009.

$12.3 trillion—Outstanding public debt Jan. 14, 2009.

$296.4 billion—Federal spending from the financial crisis bailout fund before Jan. 20, 2009.

$173 billion—Federal spending from the financial crisis bailout fund after Jan. 20, 2009.

$165 billion—Amount of bailout funds repaid by banks and automakers.

139—Bank failures between Jan. 20, 2009, and Jan. 14, 2010.

274,399—Number of properties that received foreclosure-related notices in January 2009.

349,519—Number of properties that received foreclosure-related notices in December 2009.

34,400—U.S. troops in Afghanistan in January 2009.

70,000—U.S. troops in Afghanistan as of Jan. 12, 2010.

319—U.S. military deaths in Afghanistan from January 2009 through Jan. 15, 2010.

139,500—U.S. troops in Iraq in January 2009.

111,000—U.S. troops in Iraq as of Jan. 12, 2010.

152—U.S. military deaths in Iraq from January 2009 through Jan. 15, 2010.

539—Appointments to top federal policy positions submitted to the Senate

352—Appointments confirmed by the Senate.

180—Appointments in top policy positions carried over from the Bush administration.

12—Formal news conferences.

21—Foreign countries visited.

29—States visited.

10—Visits to Camp David.

2—Vacations.

___

Sources:

AP reporting and analysis

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Treasury Department

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

RealtyTrac Inc.

Defense Department

White House Transition Project

Coakley Campaign Highlights

Will this be the next Senator from the State of Massachusetts?

It's Christmas time

As we were saying the Family Rosary this evening, I was reflecting on the fact that my children will not be getting all the Christmas gifts that I would like to give them this year. And in fact the gifts we are giving are practical and essential. Warm socks, long underwear, books... you get the picture. And I thought to myself, what do my children have to be thankful for this Christmas? And then it came to me.

Faithfulness.

While we may not be a family of generous and easy means, while we may struggle and worry, while we may not have everything material advantage we try to be faithful.

To one another.

To the Church.

To our obligations in our state of life to the best of our ability.

To friendships and those struggling- with thanks or without.

And I hope that that will be enough.

Enough to give them happy childhood memories.

Enough to let them know that their father and I love them. And were faithful to one another and to them.

Merry Christmas.

A Nocturnal Upon St Lucy's Day, Being the Shortest Day

St Lucy's burial by Carravagio.

I will admit that my newest interest in John Donne can be traced to the book Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy Sayers and today's sermon about St. Lucy's day but anyway, having made those admissions: Enjoy:

A NOCTURNAL UPON ST. LUCY'S DAY,
BEING THE SHORTEST DAY.
by John Donne

'TIS the year's midnight, and it is the day's,
Lucy's, who scarce seven hours herself unmasks ;
The sun is spent, and now his flasks
Send forth light squibs, no constant rays ;
The world's whole sap is sunk ;
The general balm th' hydroptic earth hath drunk,
Whither, as to the bed's-feet, life is shrunk,
Dead and interr'd ; yet all these seem to laugh,
Compared with me, who am their epitaph.

Study me then, you who shall lovers be
At the next world, that is, at the next spring ;
For I am every dead thing,
In whom Love wrought new alchemy.
For his art did express
A quintessence even from nothingness,
From dull privations, and lean emptiness ;
He ruin'd me, and I am re-begot
Of absence, darkness, death—things which are not.

All others, from all things, draw all that's good,
Life, soul, form, spirit, whence they being have ;
I, by Love's limbec, am the grave
Of all, that's nothing. Oft a flood
Have we two wept, and so
Drown'd the whole world, us two ; oft did we grow,
To be two chaoses, when we did show
Care to aught else ; and often absences
Withdrew our souls, and made us carcasses.

But I am by her death—which word wrongs her—
Of the first nothing the elixir grown ;
Were I a man, that I were one
I needs must know ; I should prefer,
If I were any beast,
Some ends, some means ; yea plants, yea stones detest,
And love ; all, all some properties invest.
If I an ordinary nothing were,
As shadow, a light, and body must be here.

But I am none ; nor will my sun renew.
You lovers, for whose sake the lesser sun
At this time to the Goat is run
To fetch new lust, and give it you,
Enjoy your summer all,
Since she enjoys her long night's festival.
Let me prepare towards her, and let me call
This hour her vigil, and her eve, since this
Both the year's and the day's deep midnight is.

---

Source:
Donne, John. Poems of John Donne. vol I.
E. K. Chambers, ed.
London: Lawrence & Bullen, 1896. 45-46.

House Carpenter

Oh, does this bring back memories.

Joan Baez sings it nearly as well as we did growing up around the campfire.

Did you get yours?

Fr. Tom DiLorenzo summoned to the Chancery in Boston

And it isn't going to be pretty.

Fr. Tom is well known for his ardent and vocal prolife beliefs and his radio show "In Season and Out of Season". Apparently EWTN carries Fr. Tom's show. Eventhough Fr. Tom is a bit of a charismatic but we don't hold that against him.

Apparently Cardinal O'Malley has decided that it's payback time. Fr. Tom made the unfortunate, and probably career-ending mistake of opposing Cardinal Sean's attempt to sign a contract with Centene, an abortion-providing health insurance company. Unfortunately, the Boston Archdiocese lost money (perhaps millions according to my fellow warrioress in the trenches, Carol McKinley) and the opportunity to sell its soul, and give away gratis any integrity they may have had left.

Fr. Tom has been summoned to the Chancery to discuss his "mental health".

The tactics don't change. The villains never come up with anything new.

The Mass begins with the phrase:

"Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cuase against an ungodly nation: deliver me from the unjust and deceitful man."

Somehow I don't think this meeting will make the Cardinal's blog.

I don't think the public relations firm employed (and paid handsomely) by the Archdiocese of Boston would recommend it.

Fireproof

Okay, so I'm a bit behind the times. Can I be forgiven being the mother of 8 children? Overly involved in good works... I hope and employed part time by 2 companies?

Either way, I watched this movie and loved it. We ordered the sound track, the biography of Kirk Cameron and of course the DVD... which we still have NOT received.

I really enjoyed the movie. Cried at the end. Loved the soundtrack and hope that everyone I know watches it.

One of the Best Things About Fall....

...besides the sight of leaves changing color, and the smell of burning leaves, the foreshadowing pre-winter coolness, the feel of wind blowing through the trees, the smell of freshly split wood (some green) in anticipation of the winter wood burning, hot cider, caramel apples and ultimately Christmas is:



picking bittersweet to decorate my dining room chandelier.

I just looked up bittersweet and found this blog "What your wedding means" or something like that and it said that bittersweet meant "truth".

How very apropos.

But can I have a truth-vacation. Can I ignore truth for a while? Read another Oscar Wilde fairytale? Make homemade bread as if the price of propane is not prohibitive?

I really must grow some. On my own land.

And little did I realize that when I began this blog post there was a controversy about "bittersweet" versus invasive oriental bittersweet. (If my dear grandmother were here she would pronounce it as "Or-E-Ent-Ul".

In Tribute to the "Plain Housewife"

Corazon Aquino, who led the bloodless coup.


From a Time Magazine article:

Though hampered by the government's near monopoly of the media, the Aquino campaign attracted millions of fervent supporters, all decked out in yellow, the reluctant candidate's favorite color. And when Marcos cheated her of victory in the February 1986 vote, the outcry was tremendous — and his doom was sealed. Bearing witness to their political allegiance, the millions who crammed the streets to protect reformist soldiers who had mutinied against Marcos chanted the now familiar mantra: "Cory, Cory, Cory." Nuns armed only with rosaries knelt in front of tanks, stopping them in their tracks.

(snip)

Aquino was convinced that her presidency was divinely inspired, even as her political foes mocked her piety. "If the country needs me," she said, "God will spare me." And miracle of miracles, she proved God right and her critics wrong.

And this is what she inspired:



Tomorrow will be part II of the tribute to the plain housewife.

Fr. MCcormack of Chicago , the state of Illinois finds him a danger anyway

Ex-priest, long tolerated in Chicago archdiocese, deemed too dangerous for parole.

Remember this story?

Dog Mania

I can't stand the way dogs have replaced children in our society. I'm sure everyone knows the story of Mother Teresa going up to a baby carriage in London only to find the carriage contained not a baby but a dog!

The following just came through our freecycle list:

I am wanting to make my Chihuahua a few winter coats. Walmart has done away with all their flannel / fleece.
I wondered if anyone had about 2 yards of any print flannel or fleece. Also double wide seam binding.
Also any fabric remnants left overs would be great too - I could make her some dresses.

Thank You Very much.



Like Linus in Peanuts. "I can't stand it!"

And just think Halloween is coming:



In honor of the upcoming Feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, American Catholic has dedicated a significant portion of its website to "Pet Blessings in the U.S. and an editorial asserting that animals will go to heaven.

Good grief! Salvation for animals! What next? But I suppose it goes to the heresy of "universal salvation". After all animals are part of the universe.

What does this mean?

Oh, no. I have the same white ruffled blouse as Michelle Obama.

What does this mean?

She's shopping the clearance rack of Kohl's in an effort to "get in touch" with the people?

If only we were so easily taken it.



But we remember the $540 sneakers at the homeless dinner. This current pretense is merely a distraction from the current takeover of the economy, health care, the WORLD.

Don't fall for it.

And just don't have a garage sale, no matter what.

And finally more shopping advice from the First Lady. A friend sent me this:

Let's say you're preparing dinner and you realize with dismay that you don't have any certified organic Tuscan kale. What to do?

Here's how Michelle Obama handled this very predicament Thursday afternoon:

The Secret Service and the D.C. police brought in three dozen vehicles and shut down H Street, Vermont Avenue, two lanes of I Street and an entrance to the McPherson Square Metro station. They swept the area, in front of the Department of Veterans Affairs, with bomb-sniffing dogs and installed magnetometers in the middle of the street, put up barricades to keep pedestrians out, and took positions with binoculars atop trucks. Though the produce stand was only a block or so from the White House, the first lady hopped into her armored limousine and pulled into the market amid the wail of sirens.

Then, and only then, could Obama purchase her leafy greens. "Now it's time to buy some food," she told several hundred people who came to watch. "Let's shop!"

Cowbells were rung. Somebody put a lei of marigolds around Obama's neck. The first lady picked up a straw basket and headed for the "Farm at Sunnyside" tent, where she loaded up with organic Asian pears, cherry tomatoes, multicolored potatoes, free-range eggs and, yes, two bunches of Tuscan kale. She left the produce with an aide, who paid the cashier as Obama made her way back to the limousine.

Dana Milbank even does some comparison shopping for her:

Obama, in her brief speech to the vendors and patrons, handled the affordability issue by pointing out that people who pay with food stamps would get double the coupon value at the market. Even then, though, it's hard to imagine somebody using food stamps to buy what the market offered: $19 bison steak from Gunpowder Bison, organic dandelion greens for $12 per pound from Blueberry Hill Vegetables, the Piedmont Reserve cheese from Everson Dairy at $29 a pound. Rounding out the potential shopping cart: $4 for a piece of "walnut dacquoise" from the Praline Bakery, $9 for a jumbo crab cake at Chris's Marketplace, $8 for a loaf of cranberry-walnut bread and $32 for a bolt of yarn.

The first lady said the market would particularly appeal to federal employees in nearby buildings to "pick up some good stuff for dinner." Yet even they might think twice about spending $3 for a pint of potatoes when potatoes are on sale for 40 cents a pound at Giant. They could get nearly five dozen eggs at Giant for the $5 Obama spent for her dozen.

They Insisted: the kids

...that I post this. It was too funny.

Are the "sheeple" waking up?"

Is it too late?

Is Tiananmen Square next?

This is Getting Serious:

Largest protest against Obama Since he took office.

It will be time to declare martial law anytime now.

Won't Back Down

Dedicated to my daughter Rose, whose courage inspires me.

Happy 4th Birthday Becca

O'Malley and Obama

O'Malley's Defense of the Indefensible.

I think you will find it as touching as I did. Especially when the Cardinal goes on about Placido Domingo and Yo Yo Ma and the 1000s lining the streets for Ted Kennedy.

From the mob calling for the crucifixtion to the mob storming the Bastille and cheering on the guillotine, has it ever been on the side of morality and right?

And the Cardinal made sure to endorse Obama's universal healthcare program. Heartwarming isn't it?

Candy Floss by Rumer Godden

My Becksie and I just finished reading it.

And Teddy and Stephen and Timmy had to listen in.

It's a very sweet story about a doll who lives in a Cocoanut Shy. And if you don't know what a Cocoanut Shy is then you will just have to read the story.