Fr. Rob Johansen is in Florida with Terri Schiavo's parents. Check out his blog, and send some $ his way (there's a Paypal link here) to help with the expenses of his trip. Most importantly, pray for Terri Schiavo, her parents, and her husband and his lawyers and Judge Greer.

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?' And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.' Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.' Then they will answer and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?' He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.' And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." (Mt. 25:31-46)

If we don't stand up now, when? If we can't stand up for Terri, will we ever have a chance again? What are we waiting for?

Bwahahahaha! Check out this LotR parody. I laughed my ... butt off!

Thanks to Lizzy for the link.

Here's a bit of a sticky wicket -- Canada won't join missile defense shield. Actually it's a great deal for Canada -- they don't have to pay for anything, they get to appear like they are not participating, and yet they can probably count on the US to defend them anyway. What are we supposed to do if we see a missile heading for Canada? Just let it go? Not too likely.

If you want to see how "the other half" thinks, check out this Slashdot discussion on Stem Cell Injections Pioneering Step Forward? Obviously even though most Slashdot readers are geeks, many of them still can't reason from point a to point b, and they don't value human life. It's sad, but not surprising.

A few weeks ago I blogged about the Cookie Samaritans. Now apparently the girls are minor celebrities and the Couple says life is 'horrible' after winning cookie ruling

Good news. Judge orders continued feeding for Florida woman. Don't slack off praying though!

The trail has come to an end... The NYC Medical Examiner has announced that identification of 9/11 victims' remains has ended. Sadly, only 58% of remains were able to be identified.

May they all rest in peace.

I've finally added my friend Rae's blog, Confessions of a Pauline Cooperator, to my list of St. Blog's virtual parishioners. I don't know if she's actually in the St. Blog's webring but if she isn't she ought to be!

Latest news -- New ruling keeps Schiavo feeding tube in place.

The fight for Terri Schiavo's life continues. BlogsforTerri has some up to the minute info on her situation, and it's not good. They are trying to put together an advertisement to help get the word out. Check it out, it's more important than anything else I blog about.

Pete Vere from Catholic Light has suggested we pray for the intercession of Sr. Lucia of Fatima for Terri Schiavo. The suggested prayer:

Merciful Father, you blessed Sr. Lucia of Fatima as a child with a vision of the Virgin Mary, and granted her the grace to live a life of holiness and heroic obedience to Holy Mother Church. By her life she bore witness to the glory of God. Grant, in this hour of need for your daughter Terri Schiavo, that by Sr. Lucia's intercession, those souls hardened by the culture of death may come to believe in the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and be moved to revere and protect her life and all innocent human life. Amen.

Sr. Lucia dies. I just saw that Sister Lucia, the last of the Fatima visionaries, passed away yesterday (Feb. 13th). I'm sure there are many who will conclude all sorts of horrible things are going to happen now. Who knows?

Happy Valentine's Day!

and

Happy Birthday Arizona!

Arizona became a state on February 14, 1912.

Check out Cringely's take on the firing of Carly Fiorina. He thinks it was a smart move to let her go.

Time Magazine reports that the Church is growing in the South. Not only is it growing by leaps and bounds, but it's more orthodox than the Midwest and Northeast. Thanks be to God!

Thanks to Catholic Light for the link.

Happy Lent! I know, what a strange expression. I was out sick yesterday (*bleah*) but dragged myself to 5:30 p.m. Mass to get my ashes. Alas, I got "minimalist" ashes that were barely noticeable later.

I decided to go with getting up an hour earlier on weekdays. It's enough to make me a little uncomfortable, and benefits others (like my employees and boss) so it's a good thing, I think.

Choosing a fast.

With Ash Wednesday only 4 days away I'm still trying to decide on a Lenten fast. In the past I've given up things like soda pop, french fries, and (last year) hamburgers. I've also given up time by going to Mass every day.

I had originally planned on giving up hamburgers again, but in truth I don't eat them nearly as much as I used to; so I'm not sure how challenging that would be. It's occurred to me the last couple of days that I should give up sleeping late, and start getting my butt to work at a more normal time. In some ways this would be quite challenging, and of course probably a good discipline overall.

Comments, readers?

Wow. In the No Good Deed Goes Unpunished file -- Girls sued for delivering cookies . That's just wrong. What kind of society do we live in these days?

Slashdot discusses (yet again) the mythic, long-awaited Knuth's Art of Computer Programming Vol. 4. I really think this book is to computer scientists what the Holy Grail or (perhaps) the message of Fatima were, with one important difference -- we now know the message of Fatima!

Here's the transcript of President Bush's State of the Union speech last night. He's sounding pretty Catholic these days:

Because a society is measured by how it treats the weak and vulnerable, we must strive to build a culture of life. Medical research can help us reach that goal, by developing treatments and cures that save lives and help people overcome disabilities - and I thank Congress for doubling the funding of the National Institutes of Health. To build a culture of life, we must also ensure that scientific advances always serve human dignity, not take advantage of some lives for the benefit of others. We should all be able to agree on some clear standards. I will work with Congress to ensure that human embryos are not created for experimentation or grown for body parts, and that human life is never bought and sold as a commodity. America will continue to lead the world in medical research that is ambitious, aggressive, and always ethical.

Thanks be to God! Vatican: Pope's condition stable.

It's official -- UPN Cancels 'Star Trek: Enterprise'. Another hour a week I'll get back.