babiegoose.com

I was here today at 6:30 am.

this is an all-time record - career, fiscal, seasonal, and in all other words - ultimate record. The absolute earliest that I have ever been to the office.

at 6:00 am, there is zero traffic...

well, at least in the four miles I have to commute to work.

ok... I am booked solid the whole day through...

so I have nothing to share with you.

well...

for now.

Have a glorious day!

I have read that about three to four percent of adults suffer from adult add...

in the United States that would probably make it around mabe 20,000 people...

perhaps that represents all of the diagnosed cases, because there are probably many people walking around that do not know they have it...

that would have to be the case, because why would a pharmaceutical company mass produce a drug that can only treat 20,000 people...

let us suppose it takes three pills a day, times 365 days a year, times 20,000, time... say $5 a pill...

$109.5 million

um...

so, ok.

I wonder how much those pills actually cost...

because if I had AADD there is no way that I would drop five and a half grand on medicine for myself - especially if I made it this far in life without needing them...

I really do not think that I have AADD, I just probably have a short attention span.

or something.

arrggghhh...

gotta work.

what is natural mango passion flavor?

because the juice that I am drinking is labled "All Natural" and I am wondering how natural is the natural mango passion flavor...

Is it merely a concoction of chemicals that simply taste like mango passions?

What does mango passion taste like?

I did not even know that mangoes were capable of passion?

If mango passion has a taste, does human passion have a taste?

What does my passion taste like?

... ... ...

How natural is ascorbic acid? I am pretty sure that it does not exist in nature as ascorbic acid... I would think that it would require some process that would extract the acid from whatever...

vingar is acetic acid... for that to exist naturally there would have had to have been apples squished (naturally, of course) pool in an area that will not allow evaporation but allow fermentation.

of course, existing naturally does not necessarily mean "natural"...

perhaps, if nothing is added to the ingredient it is deemed "natural"...

so where can I extract citric acid and ascorbic acid in their pure form?

I heard that citric acid is good for cleaning... it must be, they put it in those cleaners... plus it gives it a good dose of tartness.

... ... ...

by the way, I am drinking a nantucket nectars orange mango...

how "natural" is that? there are naturally no oranges in nantucket, and I am positive that mangoes cannot possible be indiginous to the area...

:-P

but it sure beats plain orange juice...

... ... ...

it has got to be all of the natural cane sugar that was added to it.

things are not going your way... and you know that everything is going to be fine in the end and just getting to the end where everything is going to be fine is where you want to be but the place where you are now is not so much fun but you know you need to go through it to get to the end where everything is fine...

yeah...

that sucks.

but...

when you finally get past that place that is not so much fun and you can actually revel in the fact that you are not in that place that is not so much fun and you are that much closer to the end where you know everything is fine...

that rocks.

but then there are times when you get past the place that is not so much fun and you revel in the fact that you are not in that place that is not so much fun and you are closer to the end where everything is going to be fine but you are headed into a place that is not so much fun...

yeah.

I do not like that.

but I will not focus on the place where I am not, because the place where I am is that on which I need to concentrate because if I worry about the past, then I am silly, and if I worry about the future, I forget to cherish the now, and then end...

well, that is inevitable...

besides, we can only do what we are able and what we are willing...

anything past that is not ours to decide.

quantum physics.

superposition of states.

decoherence.

gravity.

SchrÖdinger's cat.

I have been reading about it. trying to understand it.

from what I can grasp is that quantum mechanics tries to describe the behavior of particles - as in atoms or smaller.

apparently they, the atoms or smaller, can be affected by mere observation, so that what you would expect a particle to do will only happen if you are watching it... or not watching it... or vice versa...

it is bending my brain, but it is quite interesting...

if you care...

if you happen to have any knowledge on this subject matter and are fairly confident that you are competent in your ability to speak in lay terms, then please...

let me buy you a cup of coffee and explain it to me....

in small words.

if you stay up late and wake up early...

you really cannot focus while you are at work...

... ... ...

what you end up focusing on is the fact that you do not want to be at work, that you should have gotten more sleep, and that maybe you should not have come in early.

... ... ...

the only good thing about the fact of me coming in early is the fact that I will be leaving early.

... ... ...

at least today, I am actually allowed to leave early...

maybe two, two and a half feet tall.

no real language yet, a good bit of understanding, but an amazing capacity to learn, and the most unblemished ability to trust...

he trots around like he owns the place, taking things as he pleases, not yet knowing the concept of other people's things, but very well versed in my things, which probably includes everything.

no sense of time, except for perhaps now and not now.

he does what he wants, when he can. he knows what he wants, the instant he wants it. he has no worries. he is not concerned for the weather, about getting dirty, about the price of gasoline, about the bills, about getting food, about grades, about how people perceive him, about his looks or clothes, about being good, about being bad...

about being judged.
about being held responsible.
about being loved.

he knows love, although he has not word or idea of it.

he feels it.

he knows when it is gone.
he knows when it is there.

he knows pain.
he knows when he is hurt and he knows when love is gone.

he does not yet know betrayal.
he does not yet know lies.

... ... ...

it is beautiful.

... ... ...


I can see the joy and the hardship of brining a child into this world.

And I think it is one of the most beautiful things imaginable.

To be blessed with life from life...

it amazes me...

every.

time.

sigh...

I hope I am able when I am ready.
I hope I am ready if I have been blessed.

I pray for those who are ready and not able, for those who have been blessed and not ready, and for those who are ready and have been blessed...

my childhood has come to a close.

it was inevitable.

I will be always be a child at heart, but my childhood is officially over.

why, you ask?

here is why:

- I am engaged
- I have a mortgage
- I have bills
- I ended my comic book collection
- I have a career
- I can no longer consistently stay up past 2:00am
- Buffy and Angel have completed their series

Anyone of these alone would not be the harbinger of the end my childhood, my adolescence...

but combined, the form the undeniable fact that I am my own responsibility.

By the grace of God and aside from a few gifts here and there, I am earning all my own money and I am supporting myself. (Holy crap!)

I never really looked at it that way...

... ... ...

you have to appreciate how sobering a fact that is...

... ... ...

and in a few years, that could possibly be taken for granted and I can ignore all of the blessings bestowed upon me and then have a mid-life crisis.

wow, so that said, I can go through life without ever really living it, if I so chose. I can imagine all of the joy and sorrow and love and pain and sunshine and rain and just skip to the end...

but that is no fun...

... ... ...

So, last night was the series finale of Angel, which spun off from Buffy, which was one of the pillars of my adolescence... well... I guess I was in college, but when you are in college you are just a really big kid with no parents running around doing everything and anything you wanted based on whatever guide rails you wish to follow that were laid down by your parents...

whatever.

when Buffy ended I was like "Oh, there is still Angel"

and now that is over...

... ... ...

I feel old now.

... ... ...

My responsibilities are no different now than anyone who has a family... except for the fact that I am lacking everything, to date, to have a family of which I am half of the main contributor...

I will soon be a husband, and eventually a father.

I am happy that I am venturing into a new life...
a better life...

but it just sucks that I no longer can be fiscally, emotionally, physically, and in all other ways irresponsible.

... ... ...

well, I could but the consequences are much more dire at this stage of the game...

... ... ...

but let us not dwell on that...

I have things to do.

I have a purpose now, but how I go about fulfilling that purpose is another matter...

... ... ...

When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things.
At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.
So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians 13:11-13

... ... ...

but we can still play tag, right?

... ... ...

Angel spoilers to follow...

I just beat it this morning... well, by about an hour.

it usually beats me. telling me what to do. when to do it.

I have it set three different ways, but I always have problems getting it to do what I want it to.

Lorie thinks I should move it farther away. I think that would be a good idea too.

it is not like I can see it from where I am, and, as long as I can hear it, it should accomplish what it was meant to do.

except it does not.

I need to get it replaced.

not because of it not working, but because it is broken.

hmm...

if that makes any sense.

... ... ...

my phone works perfectly fine. I can use it to an acceptable degree, enough for me to avoid having to go throught the hassle of getting it replaced.

but I need to get it replaced.

I need to get a real alarm clock.

my last one set my bed on fire.

so I have been l been using my cell phone to wake me up in the morning.

except it does not.

nope. my alarm clock is me ignoring my alarm on my phone, sleeping for another hour and then waking up just enough to check what time it is and then jumping out of bed in a panic because I am already late for work.

this morning was not the case.

I woke up with no alarm at 6:00am.

there was a moment of panic there, because I could see the sun shining into the house and I had thought that my alarms had not gone off because I might have set my ringer volume to nothing...

but it was only 6:00am.

I could have used that opportunity to start the day early, perhaps work out, or read a book, or make breakfast.

but no.

I used it to sleep some more.

because sleep is good.

If I was a person that normally gets enough sleep, I would be inclined to acquiesce to commence my day productively.

but I am not, so I did not.

no, what got me out of bed this morning was the fact that my heater kicked on about two minutes after my third alarm sounded.

I had thought I turned it off, so I jumped out of bed to do so.

then, whilst taking a shower this morning, I was on the verge of the shower being a long hot shower.

but the light in the shower burned out right when I finished rinsing off the soap, which is the last thing I do in the shower before I just stand there for five minutes in a stream of hot water.

so I took a short, hot, and very efficient shower.

so I got to work very on time today (which is early by all of my standards)

tomorrow, I must be at work early (for real early, not my early)...

I have to set my alarm clock earlier...

I hope I awaken at its call...

or better yet...

just beat it.

Imagine life is a game in which you are juggling five balls.

The balls are work, family, health, friends, and integrity, and you're keeping them all in the air.

But one day you finally come to understand that work is a rubber ball.

If you drop it, it will bounce back.

The four other balls - family, health, friends, integrity - are made of glass.

If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered.

And once you truly understand the lesson of the five balls, you will have
the beginnings of balance in your life.

~ Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas, James Patterson

it just begins again...

there really should be three day weekends... simply due to the fact that Muslims hold Friday as the day of rest and worship, Jews the Sabbath is Saturday, and Christians have Sunday...

three days is perfect for a weekend. it would allow those who work too much during the week to get real quality time with their family, still have time to do a project or two, and then run errands that are usually held for the weekend.It also gives the devout time to worship...

to compensate, we could work 9 hour or 10 hour days (since many of us work that anyways) and corporate america should be saited... (but that, of course, would never be true... corporate america will never be satisfied.)

when pinky and the brain take over the world, I will ask them to hook up the three-day weekend...

or maybe I will see if I can get a bill introduced into congress that will force business to allow three-day weekends...

dammit...

I gotta get to work.

Throughout our lives you have guided us. Always seeing the potential, the best we can do. Hoping for the best everytime, and pushing us farther than we thought we could go.

You continue to guide us. You words and wisdom, silliness and support, you love and kindness have shaped us, forged us, into the people we are today.

From reading bedtime stories to taking us to the library.
From enrolling us in every type of lesson imaginable to telling us to practice.
From dealing with our unpleasantness to sharing in our triumphs.
From laughing with us to crying with us.

We know what you have sacrificed. We know that everything you have done was for our benefit (whether we realized it then or not), and for that, you have our deepest and utmost respect, love, and gratitude.

The very core of our family, the very heart of our being.

Your love for us shines back on you.

Times three.

Happy nty-ninth Birthday, Mom...

in an effort to curb the post-lunch, circadian trough I occasionally venture into the office kitchen and create a hot chocolate/coffee beverage...

ingredients as follows:
1 packet hot chocolate
1 tablespoon creamer
10 oz. Starbucks Coffe (hopefully previouslybrewed by a co-worker)

now, many times I use red bull to rescue me from the pit of drowsiness, but I heard that it is not very good for you...

whatever.

so I randomly opt for the hot chocolate/coffee drink.

and for some reason, I feel more jittery from that then I do from the red bull...

so one has to wonder, which drink is less healthy for one's body?

I am sitting here, wide-eyed and twitchy, unable to focus...

... well, I guess that is not so far from the norm, save the twitchiness...

but my leg is bouncing at such an incredible rate that I think I have raised the temperature in the room a good 2 degrees F.

and it is a big room.

so I have to go to a meeting now.

just in case you care.

:-P

we have reached the end of the weekdays... Friday, Vendredi, Viernes, Freitag, Kinyobi, Venerdì...

Fridays are the 4:00pm's of day that is a week long...

and my weekends are the equivalent to 4 hours of free time I can squeeze into the end of a long day...

I really need a vacation...

except, since I do not have any vacation days saved up (save the ones I need for the honeymoon) I cannot take any days off until the end of August.

forgive me if I am repeating myself, because my mind is melting things together and I am having large bouts of deja vu...

it is like a bad tuna melt...

you know...


after eating it, you get to experience it again when your stomach kicks it back out...

mmmm....

maybe I will get one for lunch today.

yours too...

big, like my father's. Do you wanna dance?

with you...

no... with my father...

I do not have cold hands... which could possibly mean, according to the maxim, that I do not have a warm heart...

My hands tend to sweat a lot... I wonder what that means about my heart?

I get sweaty palms when I am nervous, stressed, or if I am overly warm but not moving around much.

so yeah...

they sweat a lot.

I remember when I was a younger, I was always fascinated with my father's hands. they were strong and healthy looking - promiment veins, sturdy fingers, solid palms...

I thought his hands looked cool, compared to my own child-sized hands. the way those hands could grip a hammer, or twist a pipe, or lift a bike, or build a fence always left me in awe...

I never thought about it much as I got older, as my father and grew apart.

I disagreed with him, I fought with him, and was angry with him many times over... for good reasons, for bad reasons, and, sometimes, for no reason at all...

but for some reason, those moments do not stick out in my memory.

they all sort of blur together and smudge into a single feeling...

but as much as we did not get along, I always looked up to him.

How could I not? He was my father. he did his best with what he knew...

the moments that get me the most, though, are the times when I saw him reaching out to me the only ways he knew how... by trying to spend time with me or passing on whatever knowledge he had.

I, of course, did not always accept these moments. I pushed backed or pulled away, wanting to be my own person... my youthfulness straining for independence during the time it most needed to be molded...

As his cancer progressed, I started to realize that those moments were gone, and that they would never come again...

and I know now there is no way for me to relive them...

no way to reminisce...

for the person with whom I would want to share those past experiences...

is gone.

but looking at my hands now...

my hands have grown into his hands...

and I am reminded of him...

I guess that will be the case, every time I look at my hands.

... ... ...

I am glad I got to tell my dad that I loved him before he died.

but I do not know if I ever told him that I appreciated him while he was alive...

... ... ...

in person...

it would have been nice to have had him at mine and my sisters' graduation.

it would have been wonderful to have had him at my sister's wedding

it would have been wonderful to have him at my wedding

and I would have like for him to have met lorie...

... ... ...

in spirit...

I know that he is there...

I know that he will continue to be...

holding my hands...

his hands...

I have been living at my house for a couple of weeks now.

and I have yet to actually cook something.

My meals have been amounted to nothing more than pizza, fast food, take-out, and leftovers.

nothing that required a pot or a pan or a stove.

I have used the oven once.

but that was to defrost and crisp a sub that I froze.

I have cookingware now.

my mom let me take a couple of pots and pans and utensils, because she probably knew that if she did not then I would probably have waited until Lorie and I got our wedding presents before I would actually have something to cook a meal at my house.

I also took my rice cooker, so the 25 pound bag of rice that I first moved into the house during a growing moon can actually be consumed.

I just need to go grocery shopping.

:-P

... ... ...

I just remembered.

I have a few cans of stew and soup.

I think I am just going to buy some bread, and hold out...

I will go grocery shopping just before Lorie comes home.

... ... ...

there are two issues that weigh on my mind at the moment.

I do not have time to think about produce, meat, and baked goods...

man... I really need to stop letting work get to me sometimes...

there are times when I think everything is coming down so hard that I stress about it even when I leave work...

ever since I started work I have always made a concerted effort to forget about work when I leave the office... of course support and deadlines make that a problem sometimes, but for the most part, work stays at work...

Anyhow, I was stressing all weekend about stuff at work... taking away from my unwinding from work.

fortunately a poker tournament and mother's day helped alleviate some of that crap for the most part, but I always came back to the stuff I was worried about at work...

I promised myself that I would believe "It is just work... it is just a job..."

I do know that...

but when I think things are my fault, I stress about it until I get it fixed.

that is how I am and how I was...

that is usually not a problem, but when you have a lot of very important eyes on you or if there is a deadline, then it just piles on top of your already teetering stack...

... ... ...

but I am fine today...

a lot of praying and prioritizing and thinking and examination put things into perspective...

plus some of my problems have been resolved so I do not feel as pressured...

... ... ...

I need to get some new brown shoes...

... ... ...

I still have not seen the inside of my sister's house...

... ... ...

does anyone want to play paintball with me?

I am pro-life.

not because I am told to be as a Catholic.

but because I believe that life, in all of its forms, is important and precious...

no matter how it came into being...

I only bring this up because we live in a world today where much of the mentality is to want all of the benefits without the sacrifice...

to want all of the pleasure but none of the price.

to no longer care about what is right, but instead what can it get away with...

of course, I am only generalizing. I do not believe that people as a whole have such a bleak perspective on human nature...

but from what society has deemed acceptable, from what is "allowed", it is not conducive to a society that will is chock full of moral fiber.

... ... ...

well, all of that and I found the article below...

... ... ...

there have been many changes in my life that have forced me to re-examine the course I have taken. I have decided that I am going to attempt to veer my course into the direction that I believe is the right one. One that is more aligned with my faith. One that is more aligned with my philosophy. One that is more aligned with my conscience.

Conscience has much to do with how you are raised. I believe that we, as humans, have a basic understanding about what is right and wrong that is intrisic to our nature. The environment in which we are brought up reinforces, or diminishes, the natural morals within ourselves and introduce new rules along with the ones we just knew...

Sometimes, things just feel wrong.

It is outside pressure that make us do something that we feel is wrong.

It is the repetition of that behavior that conditions us to ignore that feeling.

I need to get back to listening to that.

I have not contributed to the social health of society.

I am selfish. that happens when there is a lack of trust in the world. you start to believe that at any moment, someone else can take everything you have away.

So you take and burrow away what you can, not thinking about if you really need what it is you are taking.

I am materialistic. that happens when you are bombarded with images of how your life could be, or should be, by people who are trying to sell you something. That maybe, your life would be somehow better because of this product, or that you will feel better about things because of this service.

I am egotistical. that happens when... um... I actually do not know how I got this way.but I have an over-inflated self-image and I know it pisses people off, but because of the nature of egotism, many time, I do not care.

... ... ...

but like I said.

I am trying to be better.

but sometimes life gives you blinders, and you can get lost...

the best you can do is do what you think is right...

right by you, and right by your faith...

and then God will take it from there...

... ... ...

so anyhow, I came across this... I thought it was interesting... so I am putting it up.

... ... ...

Response to the Detroit Free Press Editorial,
October 19, 2002

I am currently without the use of my voice. However, the editorial printed in yesterday's Detroit Free Press (October 19) certainly cannot go by without some response. I am only too aware of how angry many people are (quite justifiably so) after the nonsense they read. Therefore, allow me to summarize again the statements made by three priests and one former priest, and to offer a short response.

Some of the arguments made by Kosnik, et al. and responses.


The Church's teaching regarding abortion has been inconsistent.

Response: This is simply ridiculous. "The tradition of the Church has always held that human life must be protected and cherished from the beginning, just as at all the various stages of its development. Opposing the morals of the Greco-Roman world, the Church of the first centuries insisted on the difference that exists on this point between those morals and Christian morals" (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration on Procured Abortion, 1974, n. 6). For example, as early as the Didache, a late 1st or early 2nd century Christian writing, we read, "You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish" (2.2). (Note: Rodney Stark, a sociologist, in his book The Rise of Christianity (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996), notes emphatically that this practice of the early Church, namely, respect for children, both in the womb and immediately after birth, as well as respect for the mothers of these children, is one of the most significant sociological factors for why the Church attracted so many women so early on.)


The authors point out that the Church has wavered over the years as to when the soul is infused ("ensoulment"). In making their case, the authors cite St. Thomas Aquinas, Pope Pius IX, and Vatican II .

Response: It is true that even today, there is no definitive teaching from the Church as to when, exactly, the soul is infused. It is most important to note, however, whom the authors fail to cite regarding this delicate matter of ensoulment Two of the most crucial documents to cite in this regard would be the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's 1974 Declaration on Procured Abortion, and Pope John Paul II's Gospel of Life (1995).


In the document from the CDF we read, "This declaration leaves aside the question of the moment when the spiritual soul is infused. There is not a unanimous tradition on this point, and authors are as yet in disagreement. For some, it dates from the first instant, for others it could at least precede nidation. It is not within the competence of science to decide between these views, because the existence of an immortal soul is not a question in its field. It is a philosophical problem from which our moral affirmation [i.e., that abortion is gravely immoral] remains independent for two reasons (italics mine): (i) supposing a later animation, there is still nothing less than a human life, preparing for and calling for a soul in which the nature received from its parents is completed; (ii) on the other hand it suffices that this presence of the soul be probable (and one can never prove the contrary) in order that the taking of life involve accepting the risk of killing a man, not only waiting for, but already in possession of his soul" (footnote 13).


The authors also conspicuously fail to cite in any way Pope John Paul II's Encyclical Letter The Gospel of Life. This is especially critical in that the Pope directly speaks about the matter of "ensoulment". He writes, "Some people try to justify abortion by claiming that the result of conception, at least up to a certain number of days, cannot yet be considered a personal human life. But in fact, 'from the time that the ovum is fertilized, a life is begun which is neither that of the father or the mother; it is rather the life of a new human being with his own growth. It would never be made human if it were not already human. This has always been clear, and.modern genetic science offers clear confirmation. It has demonstrated that from the first instant there is established the programme of what this living being will be: a person, this individual person with his characteristic aspects already well determined.' . Even if the presence of a spiritual soul cannot be ascertained by empirical data, the results themselves of scientific research on the human embryo provide a 'valuable indication for discerning by the use of reason a personal presence at the moment of the first appearance of a human life: how could a human individual not be a human person?' What is at stake is so important that, from the standpoint of moral obligation, the mere probability that a human person is involved would suffice to justify an absolutely clear prohibition aimed at killing a human embryo. Precisely for this reason, over and above all scientific debates and those philosophical affirmations to which the Magisterium has not expressly committed itself, the Church has always taught and continues to teach that the result of human procreation, from the first moment of its existence, must be guaranteed that unconditional respect which is morally due to the human being in his or her totality and unity as body and spirit" (60, italics mine).


The Pope continues, "The human being is to be respected and treated as a person from the moment of conception; and therefore from that same moment his rights as a person must be recognized, among which in the first place is the inviolable right of every innocent human being to life" (ibid). Finally, in n. 62 of The Gospel of Life, the Pope confirms that the Church has infallibly taught that direct abortion is intrinsically evil: "Given such unanimity in the doctrinal and disciplinary tradition of the Church, Paul VI was able to declare that this tradition is unchanged and unchangeable. Therefore, by the authority which Christ conferred upon Peter and his Successors, in communion with the bishops . who on various occasions have condemned abortion and who in the aforementioned consultation, albeit dispersed throughout the world, have shown unanimous agreement concerning this doctrine . I declare that direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means, always constitutes a grave moral disorder, since it is the deliberate killing of an innocent human being.No circumstance, no purpose, no law whatsoever can ever make licit an act which is intrinsically illicit, since it is contrary to the law of God, which is written in every human heart, knowable by reason itself, and proclaimed by the Church."


The authors claim that "many of the most respected Catholic theologians in the field (presumably the field of bioethics) conclude .that the lack of differentiation of the individual in the first 14 days of development preclude concluding that we have at this stage a unique individual human being."

Response: First of all, who are these "respected theologians"? Second, the mere fact that a particular theologian, of whatever stripe, maintains a position means nothing. What matters is the strength of the argument they hold . not who they are. Thirdly, as Robert George notes in his book The Clash of Orthodoxies (Wilmington: ISI Books, 2001), it is an incontrovertible scientific fact that when a human sperm fuses with a human egg the result is a single-cell human zygote. This zygote has, normally, 46 chromosomes, which are mixed differently than they are found in either the mother or the father. This zygote is a separate organism from either the mother or the father. It produces specifically human proteins and enzymes. It possesses the active capacity to develop itself into a human embryo, fetus, infant, child, adolescent, and adult. It is a distinct, unitary, complex, actively self-integrating human organism . a human being.


The fact that the phenomenon of "twinning" can occur within 14 days (which is what the authors are referring) does not change this scientific fact. It is true that until implantation, normally 14 days after conception, two or more human individuals with the same genetic composition may come from one original zygote. This becomes a complicated, terminologically challenging matter to discuss in such a short letter as this (I refer those of you who are truly interested to William E. May's Catholic Bioethics and the Gift of Human Life (Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor Books, 2000), esp. pp 166-170, and Patrick Lee's Abortion and Unborn Human Life (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1996), esp. 90-102). In May's words, "The argument that individual human persons cannot begin at fertilization because of such phenomena as identical twinning is based on appearances and alleged common sense, but it fails to prove what it claims to prove.Twinning and similar facts in no way compel us to conclude that individual human persons do not begin to be at conception/fertilization. It is possible that some human individuals begin to be between fertilization and implantation, but most human individuals do come to be at fertilization/conception; it is reasonable to hold that they do and unreasonable to claim that they do not."


Lastly, the authors resort to that age-old favorite: "follow your conscience." They write that Catholics have a "responsibility" to "follow their well-formed conscience."

Response: This is all true. However, what is significant, again, is what is lacking from the authors, namely, any attempt to define what they mean by "conscience", let alone what the description "well-formed" entails. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "Conscience is a judgment of reason whereby the human person recognizes the moral quality of a concrete act that he is going to perform, is in the process of performing, or has already completed. In all he says and does, man is obliged to follow faithfully what he knows to be just and right" (n. 1778). Regarding abortion, then, what would need to be argued by someone advocating it, is not simply that this concrete act is legal, but how the act is "just and right."


The Catechism also helps us understand what the authors do not, namely, how conscience becomes "well-formed." "Conscience must be informed and moral judgment enlightened. A well-formed conscience is upright and truthful. It formulates its judgments according to reason, in conformity with the true good willed by the wisdom of the Creator. The education of conscience is indispensable for human beings who are subjected to negative influences and tempted by sin to prefer their own judgment and reject authoritative teachings" (1783). "Faced with a moral choice, conscience can make either a right judgment in accordance with reason and the divine law, or on the contrary, an erroneous judgment that departs from them" (1788). "Some rules apply in every case: one may never do evil so that good may result from it; the Golden Rule: 'Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them." (1789). "A human being must always obey the certain judgment of his conscience. If he were deliberately to act against it, he would condemn himself. Yet it can happen that moral conscience remains in ignorance and makes erroneous judgments about acts to be performed or already committed" (1789). "This ignorance can often be imputed to personal responsibility. This is the case when a man 'takes little trouble to find out what is true and good, or when conscience is by degrees almost blinded through the habit of committing sin.' In such cases, the person is culpable for the evil he commits" (1790). "The Word of God is a light for our path. We must assimilate it in faith and prayer and put it into practice. This is how moral conscience is formed" (1802).


Pope John Paul II also helps us understand this so-often misunderstood word. He writes, "It is precisely the conscience in particular which determines this dignity [of the human person]. For the conscience is 'the most secret core and sanctuary of a man, where he is alone with God [not merely alone!], whose voice echoes in his depths.' It can 'speak.to his heart more specifically: do this, shun that.' This capacity to command what is good and to forbid evil, placed in man by the Creator, is the main characteristic of the personal subject. But at the same time, 'in the depths of his conscience, man detects a law which he does not impose upon himself, but which holds him to obedience.' The conscience is therefore not an independent and exclusive capacity to decide what is good and what is evil.The conscience is the 'voice of God' even when man recognizes in it nothing more than the principle of the moral order which it is not humanly possible to doubt, even without any direct reference to the Creator. It is precisely in reference to this that the conscience always finds its foundation and justification.If the conscience is upright, it serves 'to resolve according to truth the moral problems which arise both in the life of individuals and from social relationships'; then 'persons turn aside from blind choice and try to be guided by the objective standards of moral conduct.' A result of an upright conscience is, first of all, to call good and evil by their proper name, as we read [in Vatican II's Gaudium et spes, 27]: 'Whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, or willful self-destruction; whatever violates the integrity of the human person.; whatever insults human dignity.All these things and others of their kind are infamies indeed. They poison human society, but they do more harm to those who practice them than those who suffer from the injury. Moreover, they are a supreme dishonor to the Creator'" (Pope John Paul II, The Lord and Giver of Life, 1986, n. 43). Apparently, the authors, when citing the documents of Vatican II, glossed over this quote.

The Declaration on Procured Abortion is also helpful here. "In many countries the public authorities which resist the liberalization of abortion laws are the object of powerful pressures aimed at leading them to this goal. This, it is said, would violate no one's conscience, for each individual would be left free to follow his own opinion, while being prevented from imposing it on others. Ethical pluralism is claimed to be a normal consequence of ideological pluralism. There is, however, a great difference between the one and the other, for action affects the interests of others more quickly than does mere opinion. Moreover, one can never claim freedom of opinion as a pretext for attacking the rights of others, especially the right to life" (italics mine, n.2)


Finally, in a recent discussion with the bishops from Brazil, the Holy Father told them, "Remind your faithful that conscience is an exacting tribunal, whose judgment must always be conformed with the moral norms revealed by God and proposed with authority by the Church."


The authors also wrote in yesterday's editorial, "Certainly Catholics have a responsibility to give careful and prayerful consideration to official Catholic teaching. But when that teaching proves incomplete, or unconvincing, Catholics have both the right and responsibility to follow their well-formed consciences." Three comments need to be made here. 1) Catholics must give more than token "careful and prayerful consideration to official Catholic teaching." As The Catechism makes clear, citing Vatican II's Lumen gentium n. 25, when the Church teaches infallibly on a matter regarding faith or morals (and the teaching on abortion has been infallibly taught), that teaching is to be "adhered to with the obedience of faith" (cf. 891, italics mine). 2) Church teaching on the matter of abortion is hardly "incomplete". And, 3) the evidence amassed by embryologists regarding the beginning of human life from the moment of conception onwards is so overwhelming that no one, using sound reason, should remain "unconvinced." A Catholic person who comes to the judgment that procuring an abortion is a good decision to make for anyone would be seriously in error, and his conscience would be in need of guidance and re­formation


Conclusion: two conclusions seem necessary to make. 1) To choose to have an abortion, i.e., "the deliberate and direct killing, by whatever means it is carried out, of a human being in the initial phase of his or her existence, extending from conception until birth" (The Gospel of Life, 58) is an action. Actions are not simply "legal" or "illegal." In evaluating an action, I need to take into account what is it that is being done, what are the motives, and what are the consequences of the action (foreseeable as they may be). If the action to be done is intrinsically evil (i.e., always and all the time), and in the case of abortion that is so, then the motives and consequences are of no import for making a moral evaluation. A person who maintains the opposite view, namely that abortion is a good action, must confront an overwhelming amount of evidence that demonstrates that the action being chosen is one in which a human being is destroyed. This must then be reconciled with the laws that we have in this country that explicitly forbid the killing of innocent human beings. 2) As regards those whom we elect to political office to promote, defend and safeguard the common good, we have a responsibility to use our reason to make a judgment as to which person gives us the best indicators that he truly believes human life . all human life, and not only certain special interest groups . is dignified and worthy of respect. I again make the simple statement that either all human beings are persons, and therefore, have rights (first of which is the right to life, without which there is nothing else to be gained), or else only some human beings are persons and have rights. If the latter is true, who decides which ones "make the grade", and what "grading scale" is used to make the determination? If a person does not believe human life is worthy of respect . always, all the time, everywhere . then why in the world would we want him to be in charge of defending and making our laws?


Let us continue to pray with faith for our leaders, both in the State and in the Church. We have before us an enormous task, namely, that of building "a civilization of love." It is, most likely, going to take decades to undo what the last three decades have done. This task of ours is not a merely human one; it cannot be done without the Lord's grace and His power at work in our hearts. Let us determine to form our own consciences on this, and other critical matters; let us make every effort to become better educated so that we can help others see the reasons abortion is so harmful; let us pray and fast, for the conversion of leaders; let us pray and fast for courage for ourselves; and, above all, let us pray and fast for charity . not the flimsy, fluffy, disposable "love" this world espouses, but true Christian charity . without which everything we do is in vain (cf. 1 Cor 13).


God's peace to you,
Fr. John

[Father John Riccardo, St John Center for Youth and Family]

A carpenter and a rescuer, an animal trainer and sometimes villain, a plumber, an adventurer, a referee, a golfer, a tennis player, and a go-kart racer, and all-around gamer, Mario Mario is the supreme renaissance man, being both the everyman and the superman.

At four feet five inches, Mario weighs a whopping 140 pounds (but you can bet that is mostly muscle mass... which would explain his uncanny jumping and punching ability - and not to mention is ability to defy the laws of physics!)

Mario started out as a carpenter in Brooklyn, where he was dating his lovely girlfriend, Pauline... but tragedy would strike, and little did Mario know that his life would forever be changed.

Enter Donkey Kong.

Simians and humans and never the twain shall meet... except when one steals the other's girlfriend. Little did DK know that the little carpenter would have the brass to take him on, and eventually, take him out.

A harrowing ordeal like that could change anyone...

and so did it change our carpenter. No longer would he sit idly by waiting for another human female to be abducted. Mario would take matters into his own hands.

or cage rather.

But incarcerating Donkey Kong does have its share of risks.

Donkey Kong Junior, or Diddy as we will know him later, decides that daddy does not deserve detention. Mario, however, has other plans. Armed with mechanical alligator .snap jaws., egg dropping birds, and sparks of electricity, the carpenter tries to stop the young ape from reaching his father, but to no avail.

Mario is seriously injured as Diddy Kong makes off with Donkey Kong...

As you can imagine, such a defeat could leave any many down in the dumps, or in the sewers perhaps.

With Donkey Kong escaped, Pauline gone, and desparate for consolation and support, Mario becomes a plumber and turns to his brother, Luigi. Together they do some good old-fashioned male bonding by stomping on turtles, flies, crabs, and pockets of flames (all the while collecting coins) in the sewers of Brooklyn.

Who would have guessed that those pipes would lead the two to the Mushroom Kingdom...

There they discover their true calling, eating mushrooms and flowers, talking to fungus beings, smashing turtles, beetles, more mushrooms, giant bullets, fish, and who knows what else, whilst trying to save a Princess they barely know from a giant fire-breathing, spiked turtle. (the only difference between Bowser and Gamera is that Bower can talk and Gamera can fly...)

This becomes the theme for pretty much the rest of their lives. But not only do Mario and Luigi pick up more friends and enemies through their adventures, the have honed their bodies into that of a super human athlete - capable of infinite periods of running at full speed, jumping heights and distances unheard of, and have gained the ability to change their trajectory in mid-air. There are also rumors that the two like to dress up like animals and have discovered the secret behind non-mechanical, human flight. All of this, and they still manage to maintain their, um, figures.

Although Mario and Luigi have detailed their chronicles in the Mushroom Kingdom very accurately - from the different go-kart races to all the different parties, accounts vary from various sources (my theory is that they found some shrooms in the sewer and are now perpetually tripping).

Mario and Luigi have also been spotted on the golf course and the tennis courts, and who could have missed Mario as the referee for the Mike Tyson versus Little Mack championship title bout?

The current whereabouts of Mario and Luigi are unknown, but it is said that they moved from their apartment in Brooklyn to a swank Palace in the Mushroom Kindom.

... ... ...

I have rediscovered Super Mario 64.

It came out when I was a senior in highschool and was much harder the first time I played it that it is now...

but then again, is that not the case for everything?

well... mostly.

In any case, I have logged about 5 hours on this game over the past week, and I am tremendously farther than I was eight years ago when I was five hours into the game.

Of course, I know the answers to all of the puzzles now, as well as a few tricks, so you could say that I am comparing apples and oranges...

Fifty stars and a few more Bowser encounters and I will win...

again.

"Thanka you, so much for to playinga my game!"

at any particular moment, anything could be going through my head.

For some reason, everything I come to my Create New Entry screen, I have the urge to type something stupid like "Monkeys flying out of my butt" or "Up your nose with a rubber hose."

No particular reason, save most times I have nothing interesting to share, but that probably has to do with the fact that I am feeling pretty shallow right now.

the two things that have been the priority of my mind is beating my personal best time to finish Super Mario 64 (I thought it would be much harder than it actually is - but that can be attributed to the fact that I still sort of remember where a lot of things are) and getting our house fixed up before Lorie sees how trashed it is... er... not so much trashed as unorganized...

I cannot converse about current events or what is on the television since I really do not care at the moment.

blah.

that is it on this. I will back post this, because it is just blah.

the brilliant sun dancing through the wisps of clouds belies the crisp bitterness of the air. A gust of wind eagerly underlines this fact, while the absence of a coat becomes more apparent. The interior of the vehicle is surprisingly warm, and thankful for the greenhouse effect, he starts his car.

it is strange.

there is always something to do, but there is usually an agenda, although never formal.

the day's specified schedule had been totally reconfigured, and what was once planned, was now postponed.

on a whim, ignoring the temperature (which on any winter day would be considered quite warm), he drives to the nearest Dairy Queen to get a blizzard.

The confection is toffee and cheesecake and it the blizzrd is quickly annihilated.

As he is driving, he spots a seven-eleven and gets a slurpee. Why not? The blizzard made him thirsty.

... ... ...

ten minutes later, he arrives home. The thermostat reading sixty-five degrees.

He sits amidts a pile of pillows and blankets, and turns on the television.
Goosebumps ripple over his skin and he ponders...

"Why the hell am I so cold?"

I am working on my blogs.

these messages will hopefully make sense.

Of course, there are messages within message.

You can never tell...



but then if you did, I do not think that you would care so much...

so yeah.

it is in the foundation where things begin.

dude...

do I look like william hung?

I was told this past weekend that I look like him. I just blew it off because

1. The person who told me was not asian, and I could stereotypically clump him/her into the all-asians-look-the-same-to-me group...

2. I would like to think that I am much better looking that good ole william... (and therefore decidedly not similar in appearance)

3. If you are near sighted and add that to the fact that I was wearing glasses and that I am in need of a hair cut... yeah. I could see that happening

... ... ...

I submit that I am probably not as cool as he, though.

... ... ...

but here for hoping...

"You can only hear the Richard Gere-Gerbil story so many times before you have to start believing it..."