Dockers "Man-ifesto"...

Big ole' cowboy H/T: to Truemanhood.com for this:

It is a Dockers Ad. It leaves me wanting more... and a little underwhelmed. Sure, it is a nice effort, and I get that it is a product ad and not an actual "Man-ifesto." But what really shocked me is that this ad is somewhat very sarcastic. We live in a culture where these things are so alien to us, that an advertisement can utilize them in a nostalgic way. Nostalgic? Yes, think about about the target audience for this ad or Dockers for that matter? What, 34-65? 24-48? [Think about who wears and buys Dockers.] Regardless... we are looking at around 30-40 years since these things were actually virtues men possessed. So let's do a little math problem:

2009 - 35 = 1974

So... the last time that men en masse possessed these virtues was approximately 1974. Then, you have to figure that it probably took our society about 5-10 years to kill and drain men of these virtues so we need to do a tad more subtraction:

1974 - 5 = 1969

Woodstock Music Festival = 1969

I wonder if there is ANY correlation between the loss of these virtues from Men and the counter-culture revolution of the 1960's? What do you think?

When will MEN reclaim their Manhood? For the sake of our culture and society... hopefully soon.

Nativity... Native City?

Too bad I didn't get this in time for The Crescat's Nativty contest. My wife and I couldn't bring out Nativity up to AK with us, so while out and about tonight she spotted this gem:

I get that we are in Alaska and this is cute... but really? Little Native Baby Jesus doesn't even have seal fur booties on or Musk Ox swaddling. How could he survive in Arctic temperatures? And the sled dog? Really... just one... all the way from the Middle East? Psshaw. Something tells me this isn't an accurate depiction.

At least my wife is happy - Considering it is 11 degrees out and we are in the midst of a **Blizzard WARNING** - whatever that means :)

My take on the Taunton Craziness

By now most of you have heard about the 8-year-old Taunton, Mass. boy that was suspended, forced to undergo a psych eval, and subsequently transfered schools all because he drew a picture of Jesus on The Cross. If you haven't you can check if out here: Catholic.org - "Taunton 8-yo Suspended"

Most blogs have covered this quite well. I have a different take, at least different than I have seen so far.

What bothers me most is that the boy ended up taking the Psych eval. Someone didn't step in beforehand and say, "Wow, we are sorry someone CLEARLY overreacted." If you read a lot of the news accounts of this story, there is a blurb at the end about this same school going through an incident a few years back where a young student drew a picture of a stick figure shooting their teacher and classmates. [This bothers me as well - but I won't get into this part of the story.]

So anyways, we have this student who then is forced to take a psych eval. to ensure that he is "safe" to come back to school. Most people read this and say, how horrible, how invasive, how wrong, and they are all right. What most fail to realize is that having a psych eval., especially a mandatory or ordered eval., is forever on your record. This *could* later affect this boys military, law enforcement, college, or other applications. Now I know this is a stretch, but for something completely out of his control it is very unfair! I am sure he could eventually explain it away, but it is similar to having a misdemeanor on his record that he got charged for and convicted of erroneously. You can't un-ring this bell.

This is just one small feature of how horrible this story is. Again, this is just *another* reason why it is so horrible, not the only or main reason. It is sad that our society has come to this point. It is probably a good thing they didn't ask the kids to draw a picture of their hero... could you imagine if someone drew Saint Sebastian, Saint Joan, John the Baptist, or some other martyr? Heck, that school would *still* be on lockdown!

Catholic Canonical Geekiness - "Omnium in mentem"

This post is going to excite approximately no one!
The Vatican made public.... [WAIT FOR IT] ...."Omnium in mentem" - A Motu Proprio from Pope Benedict XVI - This means 2 changes in the Code of Canon Law!!!

[[crickets]] Told you, no one.
I am NOT a Canon Lawyer. [But if you are rich and don't know how to spend your wealth, I would LOVE to go to school for a Licentiate of Canon Law (J.C.L.)]. Therefore I will not bore you with my ake on it... mainly because I cannot translate the latin well enough, so I won't regurgitate what others have done. Check the links below for some scholarly takes on the changes.

Anyways....you can find out more info here:
"In Light of the Law" - Edward Peters, JD, JCD
"WDTPRS?" - Father Z
The Vatican - (In Latin & Italian so far)

Pro-Life Site: LiveAction

Sometimes things slip by me... I admit it.

This site has unfortunately been one of those things. But alas, no longer!
Go visit, and do it often. This is worthy of our time and attention.

http://liveaction.org/