Friday, June 16, 2006

US Bishops Approve N

U.S. Bishops Approve New Mass Translation

By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer 20 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES - The nation's Roman Catholic bishops signed off Thursday on a new English translation for the Mass that would change prayers ingrained in the memories of millions of American parishioners.


The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted at its biannual meeting for a new translation after a brief but vigorous debate over several small changes in wording. The 173-29 vote on the Order of the Mass was aimed at satisfying  Vatican calls for a translation that's closer to the Latin version.

Before Mass changes at the parish level, the Americans' version must go to offices in the Holy See for final approval. The bishops' leader on the issue said that process could take years.

"Without a doubt, this is the most significant liturgical action to come before this body for many years," said Bishop Donald Trautman, chairman of the conference's Committee on Liturgy.

"It will take some adapting, but it is not earth-shattering when you think of the changes we went through 40 years ago," he said, referring to the Second Vatican Council, where the Latin Mass was replaced by the vernacular languages in each country.
The new translation alters the wording of key texts spoken by Catholics during worship, including the Nicene Creed, the Gloria, the Penitential Rite, the Sanctus and Communion.
Some have worried about changing a fundamental rite of worship that is so much a part of Catholic identity, especially now. Mass attendance has been declining, the priest shortage has left a growing number of churches without a resident cleric, bishops and parishioners have been battling over the closure of old churches and schools, and the prelates have been trying to rebuild trust in their leadership after the clergy sex abuse crisis.

Prior to the meeting, the Rev. Thomas Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University and a Jesuit priest, said the new Mass would "cause chaos and real problems and the people who are going to be at the brunt end of it are the poor priests in the parishes."

Trautman acknowledged the adjustment could be difficult. "I think we all recognize that our priests are overburdened now and stretched thin," he said. "We do believe, however, that this is important for the worship life of the Church. These texts are presenting a new richness that we haven't seen in the past so that will have to be the driving force."

Minor changes to the wording of many portions of the Mass will be obvious to Catholics. The repeated exchanges "The Lord be with you" / "And also with you" between a priest and his congregation, for example, become "The Lord be with you" / "And with your spirit" in the updated version.

The prayer said before Communion would become "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof," instead of "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you."
Survey results released by the conference's Committee on Liturgy last November found that U.S. bishops were split over whether the changes were necessary, but in the end the proposal won more than the 168 votes it needed for approval.

Some bishops said the changes would deepen lay people's understanding of Catholicism and Scripture. They said priests could use the changes to spark a discussion of the liturgical reasoning behind them, including citing biblical stories and the Latin version.
"All these changes should require ... a certain amount of explanation and allow the people who are using them to grow in faith and not remain where they are," said Archbishop Oscar H. Lipscomb of Mobile, Ala.

Bishops debated for about 20 minutes on a variety of wording changes, some pitting the familiar against the new. A proposal to change the words of the Nicene Creed from "one in being" to "consubstantial," which is closer to the Latin, failed.

Roman Catholic bishops in Australia, England, Scotland and Wales have already approved translations with at most only slight differences, said Monsignor James. P. Moroney, who leads the liturgy office for the bishops' conference.

On another subject, retiring Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who has been leading the bishops' task force on Catholics in public life, announced that a new ad hoc group will serve as a liaison between the bishops' conference and Catholic politicians. He also said the task force had met with Catholic Democrats and Republicans privately to discuss how to best merge their religious beliefs and their politics.

Catholic politicians' duty to adhere to church teachings — particularly Catholicism's anti-abortion stance — was a hot-button issue in the 2004 campaign when John Kerry, a Catholic who supports abortion rights, was the Democratic presidential nominee.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Bush Explains Medicare Drug Bill

Bush Explains Medicare Drug Bill-Verbatim Quote

Submitted on 2005-12-13 16:35:14

WOMAN IN AUDIENCE: “I don't really understand. How is it the new plan going to fix the problem?”

Verbatim response: PRESIDENT BUSH:  “Because the-all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers.

For example, how benefits are calculated, for example, is on the table.
Whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price
increases.

There's a series of parts of the formula that are being considered.
And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those * changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be-or closer delivered to that has been promised.

Does that make any sense to you?

It's kind of muddled. Look, there's a series of things that cause the -- like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon the increase of wages, as opposed to the increase of prices. Some have suggested that we calculate * the benefits will rise based upon inflation, supposed to wage increases.

There is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect.  In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those-if that growth is affected, it will help on the red.”

Friday, November 25, 2005


Mom and Oqi hanging out at UH-Downtown overlook Nov 19,2005 Posted by Picasa

Sunday, November 13, 2005


Me and the UH-Downtown Ed U. Gator Posted by Picasa

Thursday, October 13, 2005

New Houston Evacuation Plan

Just released!
New Houston Evacuation Plan

Maybe this will help the congestion problems next time!

Hispanics use I-10 West to San Antonio.

Cajuns use I-10 East to Lafayette.

Rednecks use 59 North to East Texas.

Republicans fly Continental to Washington DC.

Yankees and Democrats use 45 South to Galveston.

Longhorns use 290 West to Austin.

Aggies use 610 Loop.    

Saturday, September 24, 2005

Running from Rita

Well, now Oqidaun and I find ourselves refugees from Hurricane Rita.  On Wednesday, we decided to leave as all predictions had the storm coming ashore around Galveston.  With high winds and rains expected, we thought it would be better if we went someplace where there would be dryer weather.

On Wednesday, the university decided it would shut down.  Of course, the students knew well in advance of the faculty!  The official closing came at noon.  We thought about going to see Oqi’s brother in Fort Worth, but since the hurricane would probably track north, I didn’t like that idea. Plus, everyone and their dog was going to Dallas, and I45 was a parking lot.  I decided we should go to West Texas, up by Lubbock to Oqi’s folks house.

The university wanted us to backup our computers and unplug everything.  So, it was nearly 3 by the time I got out of there.  Then I spent about an hour driving around trying to find some gasoline.  I went to about 6 places on the way home, but there were really long lines around those stores with gas.  There were also many stations out of gas altogether.  I got lucky and found a Diamond Shamrock with a short line, and gas.  I only had to wait behind two other people, and gas was only 2.80 for premium!

Oqi had spent the day taking photos of our stuff, and securing the house.  When I got home, I finished some e-mail, put a few things up high, and moved some research documents out of my office area.  By 5:15 pm we were on the road.

The trip from our house to New Braunfels normally takes about 2 ½ to 3 hours depending on traffic, weather, and how many times I have to go to the bathroom.  Traffic Wednesday, however, was backed up all the way to Columbus, about 90 miles from Houston.  Some of this was normal rush hour traffic, but much of it was evacuees heading west toward San Antonio or Austin.  It took us 4 hours to get to Columbus.  After that, it was smooth sailing, just very busy.  Our neighbor said it took her son 23 hours to get to New Braunfels, and he left a few hours after we did.  But he lives in Clear Lake, and I’m sure much of that time was getting north on 45 to the beltway.  It only took us 7 hours to make a 3 hour trip.

We stopped at my folks house for a little while, but I was pretty exhausted.  We were on our way to West Texas, and that was another seven to 9 hours.  We also had our three dogs, and cat.  This was the first trip for the kitty in about 3 years, and cats normally don’t travel well.  The dogs love to ride in the car, so they were no problem.  The cat stayed in his travel crate for 16 hours without a break.  He didn’t soil himself, which I would have done in his shoes, and he only expressed anger a couple of times.  But really, we had no way of letting him out for a potty break.  

In San Angelo, we ran into some folk from Corpus Christi.  They left Wednesday night because at that time it still wasn’t clear if Rita would hit the Corpus or Galveston area.  They were headed to Amarillo because that was the only place they could find a hotel that would take their 8 cats and four dogs.  And we thought we had it bad!  All along the way we passed by motels—normally empty—that were full due to people from all along the Texas Gulf Coast fleeing the hurricane.  When we stopped for gas, convenience store employees told us about how busy they had been all day long.

We finally rolled into Oqi’s folks house at 9:30 am, 16 hours after we left home!  We did spend an hour in New Braunfels, but that was one hell of a trip, and I slept much of Thursday.

Friday we went to Lubbock to Texas Tech.  I saw a couple of old professors, and did some much needed research at the library and Southwest Collection.  Then Oqi got bad news from her mom.  The water well pump went out!  So, we left Houston because of fear of water, and in West Texas ran out of water.  Ironic.

Luckily, the pump was fixed Saturday morning, so we didn’t stay stinky long.    

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Interesting Revelations about Katrina

My Friend:
The name Katrina means pure. The dictionary defines pure as ... free from adulterants or impurities, free of dirt, defilement, or pollution, containing nothing inappropriate or extraneous. It has been previously stated that Katrina was a cleansing, a washing way for those cities & states that have been known for sin.

Calculated stats indicate that Katrina hit almost 5 years to the date of 9/11. But to be a little more exact it had been 1,814 days since 9/11. Here is what Revelations chapter 18, verses 14-19 (1814) says.

Revelation 18:
14: And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.

15: The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing.

** Merchants are those who supported the sin. **

16: And saying, alas, alas that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!

** Purple & gold (The colors of Mardi Gras) **

17: For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off.

** One hour, about the length of time that Katrina stayed over New Orleans. **

18: And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!

19: And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

Desolate - Devoid of inhabitants

Devoid - Completely lacking; destitute or empty

Inhabitant - One that inhabits a place, especially as a permanent resident

My Response

Uhhhhhhh. Whomever did this couldn't count! Therefore, I've made some corrections and added a new twist!


The name Katrina is debate. It could mean "pure." Katrina is also traced to the Gaelic form of Katherine and could originate from the goddess Hecate --meaning "distant." Hecate was a goddess of demons and the underworld.


Calculated statistics state that it was almost FOUR years between 9/11/2001 and 8/29/2005. Whoever wrote that should get a better stat calculator! Maybe new batteries!


It was 3 years, 11 months, 18 days. OR 1448 days OR 206 weeks between the two dates.


1 Kings 19 tells of Elijah encountering a storm
Verse 3: Elijah was afraid and fled for his life, going to Beer-sheba of Judah. He left his servant there.
**** There was plenty of Beer in New Orleans****
Verse 11: Then the Lord said, "Go outside and stand on the mountain before the Lord: the Lord will be passing by." A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the Lord--but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake--but the Lord was not in the earthquake
****Hurricanes have high winds****
Verse 18: Yet I will leave seven thousand men in Israel--all those who have not knelt to Baal or kissed him.
****Ba'al meant lord or master, and was though to control clouds and the weather...just as a hurricane controls weather...the people in the Superdome, over 7,000, refused to bow to the storm****


Proverbs 14:4-8 states:
"Where there are no oxen, the crib remains empty; but large crops come through the strength of the bull. A truthful witness does not lie, but a false witness utters lies. The senseless man seeks in vain for wisdom, but knowledge is easy to the man of intelligence. To avoid the foolish man, take steps! But knowing lips one meets with by surprise. The shrewd man's wisdom gives him knowledge of his way, but the folly of fools is their deception."
***folly: A lack of good sense, understanding, or foresight***senseless: lacking sense***deception: using deceit!


Genesis 2:06: But a stream was welling up out of the earth and was watering all the surface of the ground.
***levies are earth holding back water!

What this all means is that there are many people with too much time on their hands!

Sunday, September 04, 2005


media shantytown Posted by Picasa

John L. volunteering Posted by Picasa

Astrodome-refugee post office Posted by Picasa

Refugees at the Astrodome

We went to the Astrodome today.  One of our friends went down to volunteer this morning. He helped create some forms for people who are looking for lost friends and loved ones.  I didn't want to take too many photos, but here are some of the Astrodome where they are setting up a temporary post office and the media shanty town.
When we got there, they had more volunteers than they could use.  They said that over the past few days they were overrun with refugees, police, and people wanting to help.  We rode Metrorail down to the Astrodome, and the train was full of people from New Orleans trying to find their way around Houston.

Friday, September 02, 2005

FEMA director Michae

FEMA director Michael Brown told CNN that he didn’t know until Thursday, Sept 1 that there were refugees in the Superdome.  WHERE HAS THIS GUY BEEN???  It’s been on TV, EVERYONE knows….except him.  Don’t worry, George Bush says, “Brownie” is doing a good job.

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Do You Need to Pray?

HOW TO TELL IF YOU NEED TO PRAY AT WORK
When a co-worker comes in a little too happy singing "good morning" to everyone and you think, "Somebody needs to slap the s#@! out of her"...You need to pray at work.
When someone comes in and announces "office meeting in 5 minutes," and you think, "what the f*&% do they want now?"..... You need to pray at work.
When your computer is mysteriously turned off and you want to say, "which one of you sons of b*&^%$# turned off my computer?"..... You need to pray at work.
When you and a co-worker are discussing something and a third person comes in and says "well at my last office...," and you want to throw a stapler at him...... You need to pray at work.
When you hear a co-worker call your name and the first thing that crosses your mind is, "what the h*&^ does she want now?" and you try to hide underneath your desk......... You need to pray at work.
When you are asked to stay late and help do someone else's work and the first thing that pops in your head is "both of y'all can kiss my a@@!!".... You need to pray at work.
When you're in the elevator and it stops to pick up someone who stood for five minutes waiting for the darn thing only to go DOWN one floor, and you say "that lazy b*&%$#"...... You need to pray at work.
When you take some vacation time and come back to find a mountain of paperwork sitting on your desk because no one else would do it and you think, "sorry a## M#$^%F%&#s"....... You need to pray at work.
If you have ever thought about poisoning, choking, punching, slapping or flattening someone's tires that you work with...... You need to pray at work.
If you avoid saying more than hello or how are you doing to someone because you know it's going to lead to their life story...You need to pray at work.
If you know all the words that have been bleeped out...You need to pray at work!!!!
LET US ALL BOW OUR HEADS J

Friday, August 19, 2005

The Great Raid

One of the best movies of 2005 is out--"The Great Raid" This is one of the best movies you'll see, I really encourage you to take a couple of hours out and see this on the big screen. We had the opportunity to see an advance premier several weeks ago. I think we were the youngest people there. The director was there, and about half the Filipino population of Houston, and all able-bodied vets.
As a general rule, I do not like war movies, except for two: Saving Private Ryan and The Great Raid. The Great Raid, in case you're not familiar with the story, is about a mission to rescue about 500 POWs at the Cabanatuan POW Camp, which held survivors of the Bataan Death March and other Japanese-held POWS.
If you’ve ever held any doubts about the Japanese atrocities during WWII, this movie will disabuse you of that notion. In one scene, the POWs explain how the Japanese considered anyone who surrendered a coward, a sub-human not deserving of mercy. This is evident from the conditions which the POWs lived, not to mention tales of Japanese torture of prisoners, as well as the War Crimes trials that were held after WWII.
In another scene, Benjamin Bratt portraying Henry Mucci, the raid’s commander, is coordinating with Filipino guerrillas (led by Lapham, Pajoda or Josen?). Mucci warns the guerrilla commander that his plan is dangerous because the Japanese troops will plan a flanking attack. No, the guerrilla commander says, they won’t. They don’t have enough respect for us to consider anything but a head on attack.
But, the scene that really drives the point home is the opening scene which explains part of the basis for the raid. As the Japanese began losing, they decided to simply kill POWs. The Japanese corral POWs in a confined area, pour gas on them and set them on fire.
There are two good books on the Cabanatuan raid, William Breuer’s The Great Raid on Cabanatuan, and Hampton Sides’s Gost Soldiers. There is a monument on the ex-camp site: http://www.abmc.gov/cb.htm

35 Stupid Questions Answered

Normally I don’t fill out these e-mail chain mails, but I’ve gotten so many from friends, I figured someone wants thinks this is interesting.

Welcome to the new edition of getting to know your friends. Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, and try not to be lame and spoil the fun!

Just copy (not forward) this entire e-mail and paste into a new e-mail that you can send. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know, INCLUDING the person who sent it to you.
Some of you may get this several times that means you have lots of friends.

1. What is your occupation? History professor

2. What color is your underwear? Underwear? What underwear?

3. What are you listening to right now? Montel Williams Show

4. What was the last thing you ate? Pillsbury Home-style waffles

5. Do you wish on stars? Not usually, but sometimes I wish on Brittney Spears or
Gwen Stefani

6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Sky blue

7. How is the weather right now? It’s Houston…hot and humid.

8. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Jim Rutledge

9. Do you like the person who sent this to you? One of the people I love in the world.

10. How old are you today? 39

11. Favorite drink? Wylers Green Tea w/Peach

12. Favorite sport to watch? Baseball and Hockey

13. Have you ever dyed your hair? No, but I have had hair that died!

14. Do you wear contacts or glasses? Glasses.

15. Pets? Punkin (heeler), Mia, (cocker spaniel), Bijou (pit/lab) and Paco (cat)

16. Favorite month? August—everyone has a b-day.

17. Favorite food? Chicken curry
.
18. What was the last movie you watched? Spider Man 2

19. Favorite day of the year? Halloween

20. What do you do to vent anger? Yell and stomp.

21. What was your favorite toy as a child? Etch-a-sketch.

22. Fall or Spring? Fall

23. Hugs or kisses? Hugs

24. Cherry or Blueberry? Maraschino Cherries

25. Do you want your friends to email you back? Of course

26. Who is most likely to respond? Lynda, Forrest, Melody.

27. Who is least likely to respond? Chuck

28. Living arrangements? In a house with wife and pets.

29. When was the last time you cried? Movie

30. What is on the floor of your closet? Shoes, luggage, stray socks

31. Who is the friend you have had the longest? Forrest V. Willis…followed by Melody Bradfute Vertucci

32. What did you do last night? Went to meeting for free food, came home and slept

33. What inspires you? Finding out something I didn’t know before

34. What are you afraid of? Spiders

35. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? None of the above. Spicy Chicken Sandwiches or Muffalettas

Monday, September 13, 2004

Open Letter to NBC

This morning, the TODAY SHOW hosted an interview with Kitty Kelly on her new book trashing the George W. Bush family. Kelly is a gossip writer, and she makes some embarrasing little suggestions that Dubya used cocaine while his daddy was in office....go figure. NBC tried to stop the interview, and Matt Lauer was openly hostile with Kelly, while sparing no efforts to help Kelly's source, Sharon Bush, distance herself from what she allegedly saw taking place at Camp David...Dubya and his brother powdering thier noses.

Here's my little letter:


I am writing to express my extreme displeasure with Matt Lauer's pathetic attempt at an interview with Kitty Kelly. I really enjoy the Today Show. I usually think it's one of the best morning shows, but Mr. Lauer's attitude and antagonistic attitude was offensive to watch. I find it interesting that he had the audacity to challenge Ms Kelly's journalistic methods and biases considering his obvious absence of impartiality. I've never considered anything Kitty Kelly has written to be more than gossip column filler, but I'm beginning to think that Matt Lauer reportage is rapidly falling into the same category.

Compared to his subsequent interview with Sharon Bush, I question Mr. Lauer's journalistic methods. I don't think he could have been more blatant in attempting to destroy one accusation concerning the President's alleged cocaine usage at Camp David, and trying to tie Ms Kelley into some strange relationship with the publicist at the Kelley/Bush meeting. I went to college in West Texas, and although was familiar with the younger Bush's alcohol abuses, was very surprised to hear stories of his cocaine abuse, not from one person, but several Midland-area residents. Like the Bush twins party habits, their father was not circumspect about using illegal drugs. Based upon what I've learned about George W. Bush's family, I don't doubt that Bush used cocaine. Simply having a "conversion" experience doesn't negate the strong addictions of cocaine or alcohol. I respect Mr. Bush's religious beliefs, but find him far from perfect. He was a terrible governor in my home state, and his presidential record has not been much better.

I'm also a little upset with the positive spin NBC tried to cast over the Bush twins at the Republican National Convention. These women are not children, but the media seems to believe that by constantly casting them as some sort of political Olsen Twins creation. If Chelsea Clinton had engaged in illegal, underage drinking, or went to the late-night college "thrash" parties that the Bush girls seem to enjoy, I doubt that the TODAY SHOW hosts would have painted her in such a favorable light.

The fact that NBC had concerns about the interview with Ms Kelley and tried to prevent the interview also makes me seriously rethink my loyalty to NBC and its news programming. Mr. Lauer's interview and the NBC complicity with the White House also seem to conflict with the role of the press. Perhaps you have decided to fall in line with Fox News and their "balanced" reporting. In fact, at least they’re honestly biased, and make no attempt to hide behind some pretended impartiality.

Tuesday, August 17, 2004


Hey, it took me 10 years to finish this damn doctoral program....coursework and dissertation, so allow me to gloat for a while. Posted by Hello

Saturday, July 17, 2004


"Landman at Dusk" 7/15/04 Posted by Hello

Saturday, June 19, 2004


Mari's Beach Bannana Posted by Hello

Cheva and I: spring 2004 Posted by Hello