Me and God

In the beginning there was my father, my mother and four rowdy siblings, and I almost had the distinction of being the youngest until two more brothers popped up, three and ten years later, respectively. Unfortunately, our Catholic family carried a special kind of shame; my father had been married before he met Mom, so no Holy Communion for them in the Catholic church.

Our family religiously attended Mass every Sunday; and until seventh grade, I attended parochial school, which often meant daily Mass. Back then, service was in Latin. Of course, I didn’t understand a word that was being said; nevertheless, I developed a close relationship with God. In fact, when I was in middle-school, I once told a friend that I spoke with God. Her biting response was, "Well, it’s a one-way conversation!”

By the time I was in my late teens, my religious attendance was more hit-or-miss than faithful. One Sunday morning, I was super late for service and the church was teeming with people crowding the back of the church. Rather than go home, I opted to go to the empty sanctuary in the basement. During the celebration of Mass, I had rarely experienced a sense of intimacy with the Lord, even if by then Catholics were celebrating in English. But on that day, I felt God’s love and light. I'd poured my heart to Jesus and asked for His guidance and forgiveness. I also asked Him to please always be with me.

With hindsight, I have no doubt that His grace on that day paved the way for my deliverance twenty years later. That Sunday was to be the last time I mindfully attended a worship service until two decades later when the lemmings of sin brought me back to my knees and Him. By then, I had married a tormented soul who was wonderful when sober but wretched when drinking. And in 1991, I needed divine help!

Someone once said that coincidence is simply God choosing to remain anonymous. In my case, my ex-husband’s disease was God’s call for me to repent and return to Him. I can now view my life and discern the holy synchronicities that nudged my spirit this way or that way; and it is this perspective that gives me peace. Yes, I still have moments of darkness filled with fear and doubt, but then the Holy Spirit unmistakably raps me on the shoulder and lets me know that Jesus is real; and they are occasions of sheer bliss and delight that I choose to recall during my flashes of mistrust. The Bible tells us in Luke 23:46 that Jesus with his last breaths "cried out with a loud voice, 'Father into thy hands, I commit my spirit.'” For me, these are the words that lead to salvation on earth.

Obama - The Insensitive Wordsmith

In today's news, Howling Latina came across an interesting article about McCain decrying Barry's mean-spirited word usage.

Equal to the time when Obama arrogantly dismissed Hillary's sharp attacks on his shameless unity schtick as simply Hillary doing what she periodically does when there is a full moon, claws out like a she-wolf with no sense of temperance, Obama's threw a rhetorical bomb again. This time it was McCain's turn to feel the hope and unity.

ABC reports that McCain's campaign ain't too happy with the little "insulting dig at Sen. John McCain's age" Obama made during one of his "reach-across-the-aisle-and-rally-the country" interview.

In an interview on CNN, Obama accused McCain of trying to "smear" him by saying that the Palestinian militant group Hamas favored his candidacy.

"And so for him to toss out comments like that I think is an example of him losing his
bearings as he pursues this nomination," Obama said.

The McCain campaign said the "losing his bearings" comment was an underhanded reference to the fact that McCain is 71 years old.

Mark Salter, one of the advisers, said, "Obama's attack today: He used the words 'losing his bearings' intentionally, a not particularly clever way of raising John McCain's age as an issue. This is typical of the Obama style of campaigning." "That quote is a not-so-subtle attempt by Obama to insinuate the age issue into the race," another McCain adviser said. " He attacks viciously with subtlety and innuendo. Nobody suggested he supports Hamas. We have said the North American spokesman (for Hamas) has talked about how wonderful it would be if he were president of the United States."

Are we starting to see a pattern here??? Attack your opponent in ambigious doublespeak. Claim total innocence. Keep attacking and ducking. Bully supporters of opponents; force them to quit; clear the field. Claim your crown.

Yep, that's Barry. Like George Bush, he just can't help uniting folks even if it kills your opponent. Don't worry, you can always claim they had it coming for not quitting.

Obama - The Insensitive Wordsmyth

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Black Agenda Report.

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An “F” for the A-Team

The A-Team has a post about a classified ad from the Webb campaign. That’s right, boys and girls, hot off the press, this non-story has hit the Virginia blogosphere.

Hmmm, isn’t that like writing an entire boring post about how the Washington Zoo pandas took a dump at a nearby tree? In other words, who gives a hoot?!?

Howling Latina supposes that when your candidate has been part of the do-nothing Congress with little to show except for war profiteers, corporate moguls, oil executives, the credit card and insurance industry and the uber rich, what else can you do but talk about your challenger and any sliver of information no matter how ho-hum.

It not like Allen has done anything lately…I mean besides steal a piece of legislation. Oh my dear wingnuts, wonder ye then why Democrats refuse to give you any policy specifics, you band of hatchet thieves?

As to the misnamed A-Team with their fake promise of phone numbers and e-mail addresses; alas, the A-Team was just ‘funning.’ And like a boatload of GOPers, they don't follow through on their implied word.

No phone number. No e-mail. Just as they write, “Did you really think I’d give out the contact information?”

Well, actually I did; henceforth, a big fat “F” for the A-Team on credibility.

Another Gripping Lie

A death-row inmate at Ohio State Penitentiary will be executed unless a federal court intervenes; once again the condemning evidence is mere testimony from witnesses who were either given immunity or had charges reduced.

In the case of Tyrone Noling of Ohio, three gang-bangers testified against him during trial. Of course, an overly ambitious prosecutor had earlier threatened them with the needle or life in prison unless they told the truth. That is, corroborate evidence which he carefully spelled out by giving them exact details of the crime scene and killings or else...

The only eyewitnesses to the murders were Butch Wolcott, the star witness who received immunity, and Gary St. Clair and Joey Dalesandro. There were no matching fingerprints and DNA evidence at the scene did not square with any of the three men.

In other words, without testimony from the former gang members, the prosecution had nada, zip, zero to tie Mr. Noling to the killing of Bearnhardt Hartig and his wife, Cora, an elderly couple in their 80s.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer recently outlined in a 2755-word article how the prosecution won the capital murder case using unscrupulous antics. "The case against Noling." they write, "is shot through with inconsistencies."

[T]he slain couple wasn't robbed. Noling's guns weren't used to kill the Hartigs. A cigarette butt found in the driveway yielded DNA that didn't belong to Noling or members of his gang. Except for the flawed and conflicting statements of Wolcott and others, no evidence points to Noling as the killer.

[...]

Cora's wedding band was on her finger, Bearnhardt's wallet in his pocket, filled with cash. Watches and other jewelry sat untouched. Deputies found $160 in a vanity beneath the bathroom sink. The killer had opened the doors, but left the money behind.

Mr. Noling was a petty thief; as were his three cohorts; and all three eyewitnesses have recanted; one even as he testified during trial.No matter.

The only concern for the court according to U.S. District Judge Donald Nugent is whether or not Mr. Noling's constitutional rights were "preserved." Guilt, as former Virginia Attorney General Ma8�م دل با وفا دل

Another Gripping Lie

A death-row inmate at Ohio State Penitentiary will be executed unless a federal court intervenes; once again the condemning evidence is mere testimony from witnesses who were either given immunity or had charges reduced.

In the case of Tyrone Noling of Ohio, three gang-bangers testified against him during trial. Of course, an overly ambitious prosecutor had earlier threatened them with the needle or life in prison unless they told the truth. That is, corroborate evidence which he carefully spelled out by giving them exact details of the crime scene and killings or else...

The only eyewitnesses to the murders were Butch Wolcott, the star witness who received immunity, and Gary St. Clair and Joey Dalesandro. There were no matching fingerprints and DNA evidence at the scene did not square with any of the three men.

In other words, without testimony from the former gang members, the prosecution had nada, zip, zero to tie Mr. Noling to the killing of Bearnhardt Hartig and his wife, Cora, an elderly couple in their 80s.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer recently outlined in a 2755-word article how the prosecution won the capital murder case using unscrupulous antics. "The case against Noling." they write, "is shot through with inconsistencies."

[T]he slain couple wasn't robbed. Noling's guns weren't used to kill the Hartigs. A cigarette butt found in the driveway yielded DNA that didn't belong to Noling or members of his gang. Except for the flawed and conflicting statements of Wolcott and others, no evidence points to Noling as the killer.

[...]

Cora's wedding band was on her finger, Bearnhardt's wallet in his pocket, filled with cash. Watches and other jewelry sat untouched. Deputies found $160 in a vanity beneath the bathroom sink. The killer had opened the doors, but left the money behind.

Mr. Noling was a petty thief; as were his three cohorts; and all three eyewitnesses have recanted; one even as he testified during trial.No matter.

The only concern for the court according to U.S. District Judge Donald Nugent is whether or not Mr. Noling's constitutional rights were "preserved." Guilt, as former Virginia Attorney General Mary Sue Terry once claimed appears to be "irrelevant."

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Leonard Pitts, Jr., recently observed in an op-ed column how "another man [was] about to be lied to death" in America.

The death penalty is a crude, vestigial remnant of frontier justice and an embarassment to any sense or pretense of moral authority this nation might claim.

[...]

Prosecutor Victor Vigluicci feels differently. He told the [Plain Dealer] none of this causes him to lose sleep, which is pretty much what you'd expect him to say. Belief in the death penalty requires a facade of certitude. Conscience is an inconvenience. Facts even more so. Don't know what you know. Don't ask; don't tell.

Indeed, the "idea that a man can be sent to death-row based on little more than some guy's word," or for that matter, three punk thieves is not only reprehensible, but lawless and barbarian in a nation of laws.

Another Gripping Lie

A death-row inmate at Ohio State Penitentiary will be executed unless a federal court intervenes; once again the condemning evidence is mere testimony from witnesses who were either given immunity or had charges reduced.

In the case of Tyrone Noling of Ohio, three gang-bangers testified against him during trial. Of course, an overly ambitious prosecutor had earlier threatened them with the needle or life in prison unless they told the truth. That is, corroborate evidence which he carefully spelled out by giving them exact details of the crime scene and killings or else...

The only eyewitnesses to the murders were Butch Wolcott, the star witness who received immunity, and Gary St. Clair and Joey Dalesandro. There were no matching fingerprints and DNA evidence at the scene did not square with any of the three men.

In other words, without testimony from the former gang members, the prosecution had nada, zip, zero to tie Mr. Noling to the killing of Bearnhardt Hartig and his wife, Cora, an elderly couple in their 80s.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer recently outlined in a 2755-word article how the prosecution won the capital murder case using unscrupulous antics. "The case against Noling." they write, "is shot through with inconsistencies."

[T]he slain couple wasn't robbed. Noling's guns weren't used to kill the Hartigs. A cigarette butt found in the driveway yielded DNA that didn't belong to Noling or members of his gang. Except for the flawed and conflicting statements of Wolcott and others, no evidence points to Noling as the killer.

[...]

Cora's wedding band was on her finger, Bearnhardt's wallet in his pocket, filled with cash. Watches and other jewelry sat untouched. Deputies found $160 in a vanity beneath the bathroom sink. The killer had opened the doors, but left the money behind.

Mr. Noling was a petty thief; as were his three cohorts; and all three eyewitnesses have recanted; one even as he testified during trial.No matter.

The only concern for the court according to U.S. District Judge Donald Nugent is whether or not Mr. Noling's constitutional rights were "preserved." Guilt, as former Virginia Attorney General Mary Sue Terry once claimed appears to be "irrelevant."

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Leonard Pitts, Jr., recently observed in an op-ed column how "another man [was] about to be lied to death" in America.

The death penalty is a crude, vestigial remnant of frontier justice and an embarassment to any sense or pretense of moral authority this nation might claim.

[...]

Prosecutor Victor Vigluicci feels differently. He told the [Plain Dealer] none of this causes him to lose sleep, which is pretty much what you'd expect him to say. Belief in the death penalty requires a facade of certitude. Conscience is an inconvenience. Facts even more so. Don't know what you know. Don't ask; don't tell.

Indeed, the "idea that a man can be sent to death-row based on little more than some guy's word," or for that matter, three punk thieves is not only reprehensible, but lawless and barbarian in a nation of laws.

Another Gripping Lie

A death row inmate at Ohio State Penitentiary will be executed unless a federal court intervenes; once again the condemning evidence is mere testimony from witnesses who were either given immunity or had charges reduced.

In the case of Tyrone Noling of Ohio, three gang-bangers testified against him during trial. Of course, an overly ambitious prosecutor had earlier threatened them with the needle or life in prison unless they told the truth. That is, corroborate evidence which he carefully spelled out by giving them exact details of the crime scene and killings.

Butch Wolcott, the star witness who received immunity, and Gary St. Clair and Joey Dalesandro, were the only eyewitnesses to the murders. There were no matching fingerprints and DNA evidence at the scene did not square with any of the three men.

In other words, without testimony from the former gang members, the prosecution had nada, zip, zero to tie Mr. Noling to the killing of Bearnhardt Hartig and his wife, Cora, an elderly couple in their 80s.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer recently outlined in a 2755-word article how the prosecution won the capital murder case using unscrupulous antics. "The case against Noling." they write, "is shot through with inconsistencies."

[T]he slain couple wasn't robbed. Noling's guns weren't used to kill the Hartigs. A cigarette butt found in the driveway yielded DNA that didn't belong to Noling or members of his gang. Except for the flawed and conflicting statements of Wolcott and others, no evidence points to Noling as the killer.

[...]

Cora's wedding band was on her finger, Bearnhardt's wallet in his pocket, filled with cash. Watches and other jewelry sat untouched. Deputies found $160 in a vanity beneath the bathroom sink. The killer had opened the doors, but left the money behind.

Mr. Noling was a petty thief; as were his three cohorts; and all three witnesses have recanted and said they were coerced to falsely testify against Mr. Noling; one, even as he testified during trial.

No matter.

The only concern for the court according to U.S. District Judge Donald Nugent is whether or not Mr. Noling's constitutional rights were "preserved." Guilt, as former Virginia Attorney General Mary Sue Terry once claimed appears to be "irrelevant."

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Leonard Pitts, Jr., recently observed in an op-ed column how "another man [was] about to be lied to death" in America.

The death penalty is a crude, vestigial remnant of frontier justice and an embarassment to any sense or pretense of moral authority this nation might claim.

[...]

Prosecutor Victor Vigluicci feels differently. He told the paper none of this causes him to lose sleep, which is pretty much what you'd expect him to say. Belief in the death penalty requires a facade of certitude. Conscience is an inconvenience. Facts even more so. Don't know what you know. Don't ask; don't tell.

Indeed, the "idea that a man can be sent to death row based on little more than some guy's word," or for that matter, three punk thieves is not only reprehensible but criminal as well.