Joint Pro-life & Repeal Obamacare Rally on Jan. 24th, 2011

Please save the date. If you're against legalized abortion and Obamacare, join us in the March to Life this coming Monday, Jan. 24th, 2011 at the National Mall.

Details from source

We are receiving so many inquiries on such a large variety of subjects that it is impossible to address all of them individually.  However, the following information and links should be helpful:    Hotel Reservations:  We have a block of rooms at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill, and at the Washington Court Hotel across the street from the Hyatt.  The rate at both hotels is $161 plus tax for a total of $184.35 per night.  We also have some information on other hotels in downtown Washington and in the Virginia suburbs.  Hotels in the suburbs are located near subway lines and are significantly less expensive than downtown locations.  Please send your inquiry toMarcherRooms@aol.com.   Rose Dinner:  The Rose Dinner will be held on the evening of January 24, 2011, the same day as the March for Life.  Our keynote speaker is Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (MN-6).  The social hour will begin at 6:00 PM and dinner will be served at 7:00 PM.  You can click on the Rose Dinner button in the upper left corner of the home page and follow the links to purchase tickets on line.      March for Life Convention:  Information will be posted  as it becomes available.     March for Life Exhibit Hall:  The Exhibit Hall will be located on the lower level of the Hyatt Regency hotel.  The hours of operation are 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM and 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM on Saturday, January 22, 2011; 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM on Sunday, January 23, 2011; and from 8:00 AM to 11:00 AM and approximately 3:00 PM (following the March) until 6:00 PM on Monday, January 24, 2011.      Tour Bus Information:  The following links should answer most of your questions.  http://washington.org/planning/travel-professionals/dc-in-a-box/transportation/tour-bus-regulations  http://dmv.washingtondc.gov/info/charteredbuses.shtm  http://dmv.washingtondc.gov/info/trippermit.shtm  Subway and Public Transportation Information:  http://www.wmata.com for general information andhttp://www.wmata.com/metrorail/systemmap.cfm for subway routes and stations. The closest Metro Stations to the Rally site are Smithsonian and  L’Enfant Plaza.    March for Life Mini-Rally at the White House:  We will have a gathering in Lafayette Park, across the street from the White House, from 3:00 to 5:00 PM on January 23, 2011, the day before the March for Life.  An agenda will be posted on our website as soon as it is finalized.    March for Life Rally-January 24, 2011:  The location this year is the National Mall at 4th Street NW. The rally will begin at 12:00 PM and continue until about 1:30 PM, followed immediately by the March. Please dispose of your trash properly.  Use the receptacles on the mall.  If you can’t find a receptacle, or if the receptacles are full, please take your trash with you – do not leave it on top of, or on the ground next to, a full trash can.  Do not leave trash anywhere on the mall where someone else will have to pick it up.   March for Life-January 24, 2011:  The March will begin immediately after the rally and follow its customary route up Constitution Avenue to the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill.  If you are returning to the Hyatt Regency or Union Station upon completion of the March, please continue past the Supreme Court building, turn left on East Capitol Street and left again on 2nd Street.  That will allow you to proceed to your destination without going against the flow of marchers who are still arriving at the Supreme Court.  Please do not leave your signs, or trash of any kind, on the streets or anywhere along the route of the March.  Take it with you to your destination and dispose of it properly.    March for Life Annual Report Messages:  Please go to the Annual Report Messages button on the homepage to download the forms.  You can place messages through the website, or by fax or mail. Deadline is January 5, 2011.  National Prayer Vigil on Sunday, January 23, 2011:  Go to www.usccb.org.    Youth Rally and Mass for Life on Monday, January 24, 2011:  Go to www.adw.org.

1000+ sinful infants stoned, choked, left to die in Islamic Pakistan

From YahooNews

Pakistani volunteers are seen taking the corpses of two infants from the cold storage of a private charity's...


by Hasan Mansoor Hasan Mansoor – Mon Jan 17, 2:40 am ET


KARACHI (AFP) – The lifeless bodies of two tiny babies are being given their final bath before burial in Karachi, after they were left to die in the southern Pakistani city's garbage dumps.

"They can only have been one or two days old," says volunteer worker Mohammad Saleem, pointing at the two small corpses being gently washed by his colleagues at a charity's morgue.
In the conservative Muslim nation, where the birth of children outside of marriage is condemned and adultery is a crime punishable by death under strict interpretations of Islamic law, infanticide is a crime on the rise.
More than 1,000 infants -- most of them girls -- were killed or abandoned to die in Pakistan last year according to conservative estimates by the Edhi Foundation, a charity working to reverse the grim trend.
...
Tragic tales abound.
Kazmi recounts the discovery of the burnt body of a six-day-old infant who had been strangled. Another child was found on the steps of a mosque having been stoned to death on the orders of an extremist imam who has since disappeared, he says.

POTUS a Chinese celebrity.

A wallet and a T-shirt bearing an image of U.S. President Barack Obama's face, in place of the usual image of China's late Chairman Mao Zedong, are displayed for sale at a souvenir shop in Beijing, January 18, 2011. (Reuters Pictures)

It takes one, to know one - I guess.  What is the White House not telling us?  Should I enroll my kids to learn Mandarin?

When vocations happen to kids

Last night, my 7 yr old daughter, "Gigi", told me that she wants to become a sister when she turns 18.  This wasn't the first time that she's mentioned it.  A year ago, she met a nun after our Saturday Confessions to whom she confided this wish.  A nun gave her a big medal as a keepsake.

My 11 yr old son, "Grumpy", also said that he wants to enter the seminary and become a priest after high school.  Of course I am overjoyed but I remain subdued because those are long and hard journeys and I want them to do it not to please me but to follow God. "It's not what you want but what God wants that is important" I repied.  "You need to find out what God wants you to do."  Then I speak about the possibility of becoming holy in different ways e.g. being married as well as giving oneself completely to the love and work of God.  I may tend to romanticize the ordained ministry and religious life unconsciously but, I keep them open to all possible callings e.g. my girls have this collection of princess story books where the ending is always finding a loving prince.

But religious life or not, I strive to prepare my children to live a life of holiness from their youth till they die.  And I do pray for my children and did mention to the Lord once that if He would want them in His service, then I would be the happiest to have my children serve Him.

A means that St. John Bosco used to promote vocations is to inculcate the love for purity.  Purity is charity lived out in the body and is manifested by modesty in attire and bearing.  It consists in chastity in thoughts, words and deeds.  The main tool that the enemy uses to destroy purity is the media.  So, we don't have cable.  And the TV antenna is not set up.  My wife has her own portable set because she gets bored;  but, we don't have a fully functioning big screen entertainment center. I made my mind up about that when I saw borderline shows at Nicklodeon.

Then, the net access is filtered for content.  But even that is not enough because when I checked my son's history, I saw web pages with borderline nudity on the side - even if the main page was about tips for an online game.  To that end, I'll move my son's PC to the living room where we can better monitor what he sees.

I also transferred him to a Catholic school this year so his peer group is somewhat pre-selected.  The others are still in public school where the kids are not so malicious yet.  But during pre-adolescence, peers become most influencial factor that is why I spend the extra cash for some extra protection or sheltering.  And there is no culture of sex in the campus. 

I also train them to practice temperance and not give in to gluttony.  They learn to "Eat to live and not live to eat."  And while they have to eat as they are growing kids, I guide them to eat slowly.  That way, they learn to rein in the impulse or drive to woof everything down without chewing.  And temperance in eating becomes transferable to self-control in other things.

Restricting him is not enough though so, we provide some healthy outlets for his energy and gregariousness.  He is with the scouts where they do a lot of outdoor stuff like campings.

Finally, the entire family is steeped into grace as we go to Confession and Communion weekly.  We also pray the Rosary and night prayers before sleeping.  That's when I give them my customary good night talk - in the manner of St. John Bosco to plant a seed of good thought based on some experience during that day followed by the monastic "great silence" where they spend the last minutes of their day thinking and listening to God.