Since I am blonde and, until very recently, lived in Windermere, FL, I feel the need to go on the record that I have never slept with Tiger Woods.

From the looks of things, I might have an exclusive on that.

I just finished printing and clipping our "thanks but no thanks" coupon for the CCHD collection tomorrow. I hadn't decided where to send the Walkers' widows' mite, but Uncle Di just gave me an idea:

This is the weekend of the special collection for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. Skepticism about the CCHD's bait-and-switch rhetoric has been expressed on this site often (go here, or here, or here, or here), on the grounds that the public appeal is aimed at the relief of poverty, while the funds collected are aimed at overcoming poverty: political manipulation of the state purse.

Bishop Roger Morin finds the criticisms of the CCHD "outrageous." Well, judge for yourself. A complete list of the 2009 grantees can be found here. Go ahead, do a search for the word "Catholic" and see what you come up with.  If you have more time, read the brief prospectus given for each grantee and ask if it corresponds to the notion of aiding the poor by which the Church appealed to your generosity and in response to which your compassion was engaged. 

If your heart is warmed by the CCHD grantees, great: go for it! If not, there are alternatives.

A group calling itself Reform CCHD Now provides a printable coupon that you can put into the collection basket in place of CCHD donation. On the coupon it explains, "This year, I will give the money I would have given to the CCHD to another organization which is fully in agreement with Church teaching on social justice and family and life issues." The point is that the coupon in the basket and (just as important) the redirected donation might help send a message to the right folks.

But where to target the redirected money? Among many worthy recipients, let me single out Mother Teresa's sisters, the Missionaries of Charity. Consider these factors:

• The money will go for the relief of the poorest of the poor.
• The "overhead" is as low as low can go.
• Funds will not be diverted toward feminist consciousness-raising workshops or accessories for business apparel.
• The sisters are exuberantly Catholic; those they feed, bathe, comfort and clothe may be of any faith or none.

Their U.S. address for donation:

Treasurer
Missionaries of Charity
335 E. 145th Street
Bronx, NY 10451

A final point: donors to the Missionaries of Charity get a brief written acknowledgment, but no further solicitation whatsoever.  Your call.

I'm pretty sure the Missionaries of Charity will not use our donation to fund a brothel.

This just in from the bishops:

At their fall general assembly in Baltimore, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops approved by a vote of 180-45 a pastoral letter entitled, “Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan.” The letter, approved on Nov. 17, describes artificial contraception as “objectively wrong" and "essentially opposed to God's plan for marriage and proper human development." In addition, the bishops said cohabitation before sacramental marriage “involves the serious sin of fornication. It does not conform to God's plan for marriage and is always wrong and objectively sinful."

The letter also addresses divorce, saying it is contrary to "God's plan for marriage," but encourages divorced Catholics to "participate in parish life and attend the Sunday Eucharist, even though they cannot ordinarily receive Holy Communion." (The ban on Communion applies to divorced Catholics who have remarried without an annulment, unless they are celibate. A divorced person who has not remarried is also permitted to receive Holy Communion.)

In addition, the bishops remain steadfast in their opposition to same-sex marriage, describing it as "a multifaceted threat to the very fabric of society.” Said the bishops, "To promote and protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman is itself a matter of justice. In fact, it would be a grave injustice if the state ignored the unique and proper place of husbands and wives, the place of mothers and fathers and the rights of children, who deserve from society clear guidance as they grow to sexual maturity."

To read the entire 60-page pastoral letter, Click Here.

From California Catholic Daily, dated November 20, 2009.

Who sees a problem?

FYI...

Political Elite Fund Draconian Programs to "Handle" Opponents

• A new series of DHS grants are being made to local police departments nationwide to purchase military-style "LRADS" short for Long Range Acoustical Devices which the San Diego-based LRAD maker, American Technology Corp., says are not intended to be used as "sonic weapons" but rather to "influence the behavior and gain compliance" from large crowds. In a nutshell, these devices deafen people (even if their ears are plugged) and compels them to flee in order to escape the pain.
• These LRAD sonic devices are aimed at malcontents and have been used by the military in Iraq to disperse crowds. The Times reports that LRADs were actually carried in the early fall for possible use against "unruly behavior" at least two congressional town hall meetings -- including Rep. Susan Davis (D-CA) town hall meeting in Spring Valley, California.

• The Pentagon has a complex of major ammunition-making contractors that cater only to the military. Recent Congressional documents have established these ammo-makers are not working at anywhere near full capacity.
• The private-sector shortage of ammo to some degree reflects increased demand consistent with any Democrat in the White House. But the larger cause of the bullet shortage are millions of dollars in DHS grants to militarize local police departments across the country. Military-style SWAT units, once a rare fixture in major metropolitan areas, have become common to even small and medium-level police departments. And these departments are stocking up on bullets.
• The increasing militarization of local police to support federal emergency "crowd-control" plans is drawing a reaction among ex-military and police officers in the form of the Oath Keepers. This group, founded in March, have pledged themselves to defend the Constitution if they are ever ordered to fire on American citizens on U.S. soil.
• The Oath Keepers are specifically promising they will not obey any order to disarm U.S. citizens in violation of their Second Amendment rights.

I wish I had time to tell you all about our new life. We moved over the weekend and started working at the bookstore (Black Bear Books -- we'll have a real website soon) just in time for the mad rush to get ready for Black Friday.

I now know why they call it black.

The local paper ran a story about us this morning, which you can see here.  (I do not know the source of Caleb's put-upon look. I suspect it has something to do with the uncoolness of smiling.)

Stay tuned for details, when I have time. (That might be after Christmas!)

This made it's way to my e-mailbox, and at the risk of stating the blatantly obvious, I decided to post it.

*****

To President Obama and all 535 voting members of the Legislature,

• The U.S. Post Service was established in 1775 You have had 234 years to get it right and it is broke.  
• Social Security was established in 1935. You have had 74 years to get it right and it is broke.  
• Fannie Mae was established in 1938. You have had 71 years to get it right and it is broke.  
• War on Poverty started in 1964. You have had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our money is confiscated each year and transferred to "the poor" and they only want more.  
• Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965. You have had 44 years to get it right and they are broke.  
• Freddie Mac was established in 1970. You have had 39 years to get it right and it is broke.  
• The Department of Energy was created in 1977 to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. It has ballooned to 16,000 employees with a budget of $24 billion a year and we import more oil than ever before. You had 32 years to get it right and it is an abysmal failure.
  

This just in...

A priest in the Diocese of Scranton has been removed as administrator of three Throop parishes after he inadvertently displayed four photos of what a diocese spokesman called "minimally attired adult males" before the 8 a.m. Mass at St. Bridget's Church on Oct. 25.

The Rev. Edward P. Lyman was using his personal computer to project an informational DVD about the diocesan Annual Appeal fundraiser when he accidentally showed the "inappropriate personal photographs" that were stored on his computer, according to a diocesan statement read at the Throop Masses on Sunday.

Diocese spokesman William Genello said the photos were not pornographic and did not display nudity or sexual activity. The photos were not of the Rev. Lyman, nor did he take the pictures, Mr. Genello said. [source]

Doncha just hate when that happens?

I just heard on the news that there was a shooting in downtown Orlando. We are all fine and accounted for. The college kids are all away at college. Chris and I are at home, about to leave to go to Caleb's school with cupcakes because it's his last day there.

My brother-in-law who works downtown is at home recovering from rotator cuff surgery. I'll bet he's never been happier to be in pain.

I'm sure that The One will be along later in the day to crack a few jokes, give a few shout-outs and plug Obamacare before he expresses his sincere sympathy to the people of Orlando.

In a related story: we are moving tomorrow! We'll be up in the mountains, where people don't shoot at each other because everyone is armed.

When my daughter Julie was small, we used to do a thing we called "Stupid News," where we would use our best anchor lady voices to report anything particularly stupid that we came across. Here's one we would have loved: Having More Than Three Cats Now Requires a Kennel License.

I would love to know how this new law is going to be enforced. Will the Kitty Patrol show up when you least expect it and count your cats? Will the Cat Police hang out in grocery stores and question anyone who is buying too much of kitty litter?

I hope this doesn't become a national law, because I will be compelled to immediately go out and find three more cats.

I apologize for the long absence. Life has been too insane to try to explain.

I have big news, but I didn't want to write about it until all the deals went through. But as of this morning, Chris and I are now the proud owners of Black Bear Books, a great little independent book store in Boone, North Carolina.

Yes, I know what you're thinking. What a GREAT time to buy an independent book store! (Well, one way to look at it is that all the competition is now gone.) And what a great time to be a small family business.

Well, I have always been a contrarian. And we have been threatening to move to North Carolina for many years now. Add that to a gut instinct that now would be a good time to head for the hills, and maybe you'll understand why we acted on a whim and bought the store.

I can't write about the estate sale, because that would require reliving it. Let's just say that I agree with Chris' declaration: "We're never doing that again."

I will be blogging and/or tweeting from the book store, once we have the website up.  That will be sometime between now and Christmas, depending on how long it takes us to unpack, how busy the store is (busy, we hope!) and what my show business work situation turns out to be. I just returned from a week of back-to-back meetings in L.A., so I hope I'll have some news on that front soon.

Anticipating your questions: Yes, I will still be a Gator fan. Yes, Caleb is excited about the move, though we are all dreading the fact that school starts an hour earlier there. And yes, after all these years of Florida, starting the car in the mountains in the dead of winter at 7:30 a.m. every morning is going to be different. But I'm looking forward to the "snow days" of my youth. (Though I remember that those were more fun for my siblings and I than they were for my mom.)

Those are the highlights. It's going to be crazy for awhile, but I will be back when I can.

My glorious alma mater, the oldest college in the country (despite what you might here from Harvard grads in denial), has added another accolade to its long list.

WILLIAMSBURG - History was made without fanfare on Saturday.

Jessee Vasold, William and Mary's first transgender homecoming queen, took the field at halftime of the Tribe's game against James Madison wearing a red shirt, black pants and a small silver lip ring to applause and not much other notice.

Vasold, a junior, and the other members of the homecoming court were introduced to the crowd, posed for pictures, and walked off the field.

"I knew I was nominated, but I was just surprised, because there were a lot of other really good candidates on the ballot," Vasold said. "I know all of the other girls, and they're wonderful people, really friendly. So I was surprised."

Vasold identifies as "gender-queer," a catch-all term for those who identify with something other than traditional male or female gender roles.

"Normally, it really just depends on the day, how I dress," said Vasold, who prefers gender neutral pronouns – "ze" instead of he or she and "zir" instead of him or her. "I don't identify as a woman. It really just depends on the day and the occasion."

Vasold said family members were in town for homecoming, and while they have been "generally" supportive, some were unsure about Vasold's decision to accept the homecoming title.

"They're a little hesitant about this, but they realize that it's my choice to accept," Vasold said.

William and Mary president Taylor Reveley had no problem with Vasold's selection, made in nominations and voting by students.

"I knew Jessee before," he said. "(It's) a little more publicity than normal for a homecoming queen, but it's just fine."

Students were asked to describe how their nominees exemplified school pride, junior class president Mike Tsidulko told The Flat Hat, William and Mary's student newspaper.

Vasold is the student assembly undersecretary of diversity initiatives for the college's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs. Last year, Vasold was co-president of the Lamba Alliance, the school's GLBT advocacy group.

"I got a lot of support from the people I know," Vasold said.

Copyright © 2009, Newport News, Va., Daily Press